‹‹‹ Vitr. 2.8.11 | Table of Contents | Vitr. 2.8.13 ›››
12It is a vulgar error, that those who happen to drink thereat are affected with love-sickness. As, however, this error is general, it will not be amiss to correct the impression. It is not only impossible that the water should have the effect of rendering men effeminate and unchaste; but, on the contrary, that alluded to is clear as crystal, and of the finest flavour. The origin of the story, by which it gained the reputation of the above quality, is as follows. When Melas and Arevanias brought to the place a colony from Argos and Trœzene, they drove out the barbarous Carians and Lelegæ. These, betaking themselves to the mountains in bodies, committed great depredations, and laid waste the neighbourhood. Some time afterwards, one of the colonists, for the sake of the profit likely to arise from it, established close to the fountain, on account of the excellence of its water, a store where he kept all sorts of merchandize; and thus it became a place of great resort of the barbarians who were drawn thither. Coming, at first, in small, and at last in large, numbers, the barbarians by degrees shook off their savage and uncivilized habits, and changed them, without coercion for those of the Greeks. The fame, therefore, of this fountain, was acquired, not by the effeminacy which it is reputed to impart, but by its being the means through which the minds of the barbarians were civilized.
12There 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.