10.24.1 Such was the course of the war. In the fore temple at Delphi are written maxims useful for the life of men, inscribed by those whom the Greeks say were sages. These were: from Ionia, Thales of Miletus and Bias of Priene; of the Aeolians in Lesbos, Pittacus of Mitylene; of the Dorians in Asia, Kleoboulos of Lindus; Solon of Athens and Khilon of Sparta; the seventh sage, according to the list of Plato,^* the son of Ariston, is not Periandros, the son of Kypselos, but Myson of Chenae, a village on Mount Oitē. These sages, then, came to Delphi and dedicated to Apollo the celebrated maxims, “Know thyself,” and “Nothing in excess.”

10.24.2 So these men wrote what I have said, and you can see a bronze statue of Homer on a slab, and read the oracle that they say Homer received:

10.24.3 But the Cyprians, who also claim Homer as their own, say that Themisto, one of their native women, was the mother of Homer, and that Euklos foretold the birth of Homer in the following verses:

10.24.4 In the temple has been built an altar of Poseidon, because Poseidon too possessed in part the most ancient oracle. There are also images of two Fates; but in place of the third Fate, there stand by their side Zeus, Guide of Fate, and Apollo, Guide of Fate. Here [inside the temple] you may behold the hearth [hestiā] on which the priest of Apollo killed Neoptolemos, the son of Achilles. The things concerning the end of Neoptolemos I have told elsewhere.^*

10.24.5 Not far from the hearth [hestiā] has been dedicated a chair [thronos] of Pindar. The chair is of iron, and on it they say Pindar sat whenever he came to Delphi, and there composed his songs to Apollo. Into the innermost part of the temple [nāos] only a few may pass, and there is dedicated in it another statue [agalma] of Apollo, made of gold.

10.24.6 Leaving the temple [nāos] and turning to the left, you will come to an enclosure [peribolos] in which is the tomb [taphos] of Neoptolemos son of Achilles. Every year, the Delphians sacrifice [enagizein] to him as to a hero. Coming further up from the tomb [mnēma], you reach a stone [lithos] of no large size. Over it every day they pour olive oil, and at each festival [heortē] they place on it unworked wool. There is also an opinion about this stone, that it was given to Kronos instead of his child and that Kronos vomited it up again.

10.24.7 Returning to the temple [nāos] after seeing the stone [lithos], you come to the spring [pēgē] called Kassotis. Next to it is a wall of no great size, and the ascent to the spring [pēgē] is through the wall. It is said that the water of this Kassotis sinks under the ground and, inside the inner sanctum [aduton] of the god, it causes the women there to become inspired [mantikai]. She [= Kassotis] who gave her name to the spring [krēnē] is said to have one of the nymphs [numphai] of Parnassus.