19.

These rivers descend from the Phocian mountains, and among them the Cephissus,358 having its source at Lilæa, a Phocian city, as Homer describes it;

“And they who occupied Lilæa, at the sources of Cephissus.”359

It flows through Elateia,360 the largest of the cities among the Phocians, through the Parapotamii, and the Phanoteis, which are also Phocian towns; it then goes onwards to Chæroneia in Bœotia; afterwards, it traverses the districts of Orchomenus and Coroneia, and discharges its waters into the lake Copais. The Permessus and the Olmeius361 descend from Helicon, and uniting their streams, fall into the lake Copais near Haliartus. The waters of other streams likewise discharge themselves into it. It is a large lake with a circuit of 380 stadia;362 the outlets are nowhere visible, if we [Pg 102]
[CAS. 407] except the chasm which receives the Cephissus, and the marshes.