Gortys has a river called Lusius flowing by it, so called in the neighbourhood from the tradition of Zeus being washed there after his birth. But those who live at some distance call the river Gortynius from the name of the village Gortys. This Gortynius is one of the coldest of streams. The Ister, the Rhine, the Hypanis, the Borysthenes, and other rivers that are congealed in winter, one might rightly call in my opinion winter rivers: for they flow through country mostly lying in snow, and the air in their neighbourhood is generally frosty. But those rivers which flow in a temperate climate, and refresh men in summer both in drinking and bathing, and in winter are not unpleasant, these are the rivers which I should say furnish cold water. Cold is the water of Cydnus that flows through the district of Tarsus, cold is the water of Melas by Side in Pamphylia: while the coldness of the river Ales near Colophon has been celebrated by elegiac poets. But Gortynius is colder still especially in summer. It has its sources at Thisoa on the borders of Methydrium, the place where it joins the Alpheus they call Rhæteæ. Near the district of Thisoa is a village called Teuthis, formerly a town. In the war against Ilium it furnished a leader whose name was Teuthis, or according to others Ornytus. But when the winds were unfavourable to the Greeks at Aulis, and a contrary wind detained them there some time, Teuthis had some quarrel with Agamemnon, and was going to march back with his detachment of Arcadians. Then they say Athene in the semblance of Melas the son of Ops tried to divert Teuthis from his homeward march. But he in his boiling rage ran his spear into the goddess’ thigh, and marched his army back from Aulis. And when he got back home he thought the goddess shewed him her wounded thigh. And from that time a wasting disease seized on Teuthis, and that was the only part of Arcadia where the land produced no fruit. And some time after several oracular responses were given from Dodona, shewing them how to propitiate the goddess, and they made a statue of Athene with a wound in her thigh. I have seen this statue with the thigh bound with a purple bandage. In Teuthis there are also temples of Aphrodite and Artemis. So much for Teuthis. On the road from Gortys to Megalopolis is erected a monument to those who fell in the battle against Cleomenes. This monument the people of Megalopolis call the Treaty Violation, because Cleomenes violated the treaty. Near this monument is a plain 60 stades in extent, and on the right are the ruins of the town of Brenthe, and the river Brentheates flows from thence, and joins the Alpheus about 5 stades further. CHAPTER XXIX.