And as you return from Cerynea to the high road, and proceed along it no great distance, the second turn to the right from the sea takes you by a winding road to Bura, which lies on a hill. The town got its name they say from Bura the daughter of Ion, the Son of Xuthus by Helice. And when Helice was totally destroyed by the god, Bura also was afflicted by a mighty earthquake, so that none of the old statues were left in the temples. And those that happened to be at that time away on military service or some other errand were the only people of Bura preserved. There are temples here to Demeter, and Aphrodite, and Dionysus, and Ilithyia. Their statues are of Pentelican marble by the Athenian Euclides. Demeter is robed. There is also a temple to Isis. And as you descend from Bura to the sea is the river called Buraicus, and a not very big Hercules in a cave, surnamed Buraicus, whose oracular responses are ascertained by dice on a board. He that consults the god prays before his statue, and after prayer takes dice, plenty of which are near Hercules, and throws four on the board. And on every dice is a certain figure inscribed, which has its interpretation in a corresponding figure on the board. It is about 30 stades from this temple of Hercules to Helice by the direct road. And as you go on your way from the temple of Hercules you come to a perennial river, that has its outlet into the sea, and rises in an Arcadian mountain, its name is Crathis as also the name of the mountain, and from this Crathis the river near Croton in Italy got its name. And near the Crathis in Achaia was formerly the town Ægæ, which they say was eventually deserted from its weakness. Homer has mentioned this Ægæ in a speech of Hera, “They bring you gifts to Helice and Ægæ,”[15] plainly therefore Poseidon had gifts equally at Helice and Ægæ. And at no great distance from Crathis is a tomb on the right of the road, and on it you will find a rather indistinct painting of a man standing by a horse. And the road from this tomb to what is called Gaius is 30 stades: Gaius is a temple of Earth called the Broad-breasted. The statue is very ancient. And the woman who becomes priestess remains henceforth in a state of chastity, and before she must only have been married once. And they are tested by drinking bull’s blood, whoever of them is not telling the truth is detected at once and punished. And if there are several competitors, the woman who obtains most lots is appointed priestess. [14] A euphemism for the Eumenides. [15] Iliad, viii. 203. CHAPTER XXVI.