of
revenues, being ruler of all Caria.
11. As for his skill and ingenuity as a builder, they may be seen from
what follows. He was born at Melassa, but recognizing the natural
advantages of Halicarnassus as a fortress, and seeing that it was
suitable as a trading centre and that it had a good harbour, he fixed
his residence there. The place had a curvature like that of the seats in
a theatre. On the lowest tier, along the harbour, was built the forum.
About halfway up the curving slope, at the point where the curved
cross-aisle is in a theatre, a broad wide street was laid out, in the
middle of which was built the Mausoleum, a work so remarkable that it is
classed among the Seven Wonders of the World. At the top of the hill, in
the centre, is the fane of Mars, containing a colossal acrolithic statue
by the famous hand of Leochares. That is, some think that this statue is
by Leochares, others by Timotheus. At the extreme right of the summit is
the fane of Venus and Mercury, close to the spring of Salmacis.
12. There is a mistaken idea that this spring infects those who drink of
it with an unnatural lewdness. It will not be out of place to explain
how this idea came to spread throughout the world from a mistake in the
telling of the tale. It cannot be that the water makes men effeminate
and unchaste, as it is said to do; for the spring is of remarkable
clearness and excellent in flavour. The fact is that when Melas and
Arevanias came there from Argos and Troezen and founded a colony
together, they drove out the Carians and Lelegans who were barbarians.
These took refuge in the mountains, and, uniting there, used to make
raids, plundering the Greeks and laying their country waste in a cruel
manner. Later, one of the colonists, to make money, set up a
well-stocked shop, near the spring because the water was so good, and
the way in which he carried it on attracted the barbarians. So they
began to come down, one at a time, and to meet with society, and thus
they were brought back of their own accord, giving up their rough and
savage ways for the delights of Greek customs. Hence this water acquired
its peculiar reputation, not because it really induced unchastity, but
because those barbarians were softened by the charm of civilization.
[Illustration: THE MAUSOLEUM AT HALICARNASSUS AS RESTORED BY FRIEDRICH
ADLER]
13. But since I have been tempted into giving a description of this
fortified place, it remains to finish m
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