VII. PACTOLUS.
PACTOLUS is a river of Lydia, that washes the walls of
Sardis, formerly called Chrysorrhoas. For Chrysorrhoas,
the son of Apollo and Agathippe, being a mechanic artist,
and one that only lived from hand to mouth upon his
trade, one time in the middle of the night made bold to
break open the treasury of Croesus; and conveying thence
a good quantity of gold, he made a distribution of it to his
family. But being pursued by the king's officers, when he
saw he must be taken, he threw himself into the river
which was afterwards from his name called Chrysorrhoas,
and afterwards changed into that of Pactolus upon this
occasion.
Pactolus, the son of. . . and Leucothea, during the
performance of the mysteries sacred to Venus, ravished
Demodice his own sister, not knowing who she was; for
[p. 486]
which being overwhelmed with grief, he threw himself
into the river Chrysorrhoas, which from that time forward
was called Pactolus, from his own name. In this river is
found a most pure gold sand, which the force of the stream
carries into the bosom of the Happy Gulf.
Also in this river is to be found a stone which is called
the preserver of the fields, resembling the color of silver,
very hard to be found, in regard of its being mixed with
the gold sand. The virtue of which is such, that the more
wealthy Lydians buy it and lay it at the doors of their
treasuries, by which means they preserve their treasure,
whatever it be, safe from the seizure of pilfering hands.
For upon the approach of thieves or robbers, the stone
sends forth a sound like that of a trumpet. Upon which
the thieves surprised, and believing themselves apprehended by officers, throw themselves headlong and break
their necks; insomuch that the place where the thieves
thus frighted come by their violent deaths is called Pactolus's prison.
In this river also there grows an herb that bears a purple flower, and is called chrysopolis; by which the inhabitants of the neighboring cities try their purest gold. For
just before they put their gold into the melting-pot, they
touch it with this herb; at what time, if it be pure and
unmixed, the leaves of the herb will be tinctured with the
gold and preserve the substance of the matter; but if it
be adulterated, they will not admit the discoloring moisture;—as Chrysermus relates in his Third Book of
Rivers.
Near to this river lies the mountain Tmolus, full of all
manner of wild beasts, formerly called Carmanorion, from
Carmanor the son of Bacchus and Alexirrhoea, who was
killed by a wild boar as he was hunting; but afterward
Tmolus upon this occasion.
Tmolus, the son of Mars and Theogone, king of Lydia,
[p. 487]
while he was a hunting upon Carmanorion, chanced to see
the fair virgin Arrhippe that attended upon Diana, and fell
passionately in love with her. And such was the heat of
his love, that not being able to gain her by fair means, he
resolved to vitiate her by force. She, seeing she could by
no means escape his fury otherwise, fled to the temple of
Diana, where the tyrant, contemning all religion, ravished
her,—an infamy which the nymph not being able to survive immediately hanged herself. But Diana would not
pass by so great a crime; and therefore, to be revenged
upon the king for his irreligious insolence, she set a mad
bull upon him, by which the king being tossed up in the
air, and falling down upon stakes and stones, ended his
days in torment. But Theoclymenus his son, so soon as
he had buried his father, altered the name of the mountain, and called it Tmolus after his father's name.
Upon this mountain grows a stone not unlike a pumice-stone, which is very rare to be found. This stone changes
its color four times a day; and is to be seen only by- virgins that are not arrived at the years of understanding.
But if marriageable virgins happen to see it, they can
never receive any injury from those that attempt their
chastity;—as Clitophon reports.
