"MELPOMENE. 143

£>elphi, to consult the oracle concerning the imper-
;cVion of his voice: the answer he received was this:

AaW- Hence, Battus! of your voice inquire no more;
.5i But found a city on the Libyan shore.

This is the same as if she had said in Greek," Inquire
10 more, O king, concerning your voice." To this
iattus replied," O king, I came to you on account of
r»y infirmity of tongue ; you, in return, impose upon
ne an undertaking which is impossible; for how can
i, who have neither forces nor money, establish a
;olony in Libya?" He could not, however, obtain
my other answer, which when he found to be the
f-ase, he returned to Thera.

CLVI. Not long afterwards, he, with the rest of the
Thereans, was visited by many and great calamities;
and not knowing to what cause they should impute
them, they sent to Delphi, to consult the oracle on
the subject. The Pythian informed them, that if, un­
der the conduct of Battus, they would colonize Cyrene
in Libya, things would certainly go better with them;
they accordingly despatched Battus to accomplish
this,-with two fifty-oared vessels. These men acting
from compulsion, set sail for Libya, but soon returned
to Thera; but the Thereans, forcibly preventing their
landing', ordered them to return from whence they
came. Thus circumstanced, they again set sail, and
founded a city in an island contiguous to Libya, call­
ed, as we have before remarked, Platea; this city is
said to be equal in extent to that in which the Cy-
reneans now reside.

CLVII. They continued in this place for .the space
of two years, but finding their ill-fortune still pursue
them, they again sailed to Delphi, to inquire of the
oracle, leaving only one of their party behind them:
when they desired to know why, having established
themselves in Libya, they had experienced no fa­
vourable reverse of fortune, the Pythian made them
this answer:—

Know'st thon then Libya better than the God,
Whose fertile shores thy feet have never trod ?
He who has well explor'd them, thus replies j
I can but wonder at a man so wise.'