24. The name of Eteonus was changed to that of Scarphe, which belongs to Parasopia. [Parasopia belongs to the Thebais,] for the Asopus and the Ismenus flow through the plain in front of Thebes. There is the fountain Dirce, and also Potniæ, where is laid the fable of Glaucus of Potniæ, who was torn in pieces near the city by Potnian mares. The Cithæron[373] terminates not far from Thebes. The Asopus flows by it, and washes the foot of the mountain, and occasions the Parasopii to be distributed among several settlements, but all of these bodies of people are subject to the [CAS. 409] Thebans. (Other writers say, that Scolus, Eteonus, and Erythræ, are in the district of Platææ, for the Asopus flows past Platææ, and discharges its waters into the sea near Tanagra.) In the Theban territory are Therapnæ and Teumessus, which Antimachus has extolled in a long poem, enumerating excellencies which it had not; “There is a small hill exposed to the winds,” &c.: but the lines are well known. 25. He calls the present place Thespiæ[374] by the name of Thespia, for there are many names, of which some are used both in the singular and in the plural number, in the masculine and in the feminine gender, and some in either one or the other only. It is a city close to Helicon, lying more to the south. The city itself and Helicon are situated on the Crisæan Gulf. Thespiæ has an arsenal Creusa, or, as it is also named, Creusia. In the Thespian territory, in the part lying towards Helicon, is Ascra,[375] the birth-place of Hesiod. It is on the right of Helicon, situated upon a lofty and rocky spot, at the distance of about 40 stadia from Thespiæ. Hesiod has satirized it in verses addressed to his father, for formerly emigrating (to this place) from Cume in Ætolia, as follows: “He dwelt near Helicon in a wretched village, Ascra; bad in winter, in summer intolerable, and worthless at any season.”[376] Helicon is contiguous to Phocis on its northern, and partly on its western side, as far as the last harbour of Phocis, which is called from its characteristic situation, Mychus, or the Recess. Just above this part of the Crisæan Gulf, Helicon, Ascra, Thespiæ, and its arsenal Creusa, are situated. This is considered as the part of the Crisæan and of the Corinthian Gulf which recedes most inland. The coast extends 90 stadia from the recess of the harbour to Creusa, and thence 120 as far as the promontory called Holmiæ. In the most retired part of the Crisæan Gulf, Pagæ and Œnoa, which I have already mentioned, are situated.