25.

Sicyon was formerly called Mecone, and at a still earlier period, Ægiali. It was rebuilt high up in the country about 20, others say, about 12, stadia from the sea, upon an eminence naturally strong, which is sacred to Ceres. The buildings anciently consisted of a naval arsenal and a harbour.

Sicyonia is separated by the river Nemea from the Corinthian territory. It was formerly governed for a very long period by tyrants, but they were always persons of mild and moderate disposition. Of these, the most illustrious was Aratus, who made the city free, and was the chief of the Achæans, who voluntarily conferred upon him that power; he extended the confederacy by annexing to it his own country, and the other neighbouring cities.

Hyperesia, and the cities next in order in the Catalogue of the poet, and Ægialus,234 [or the sea-coast,] as far as Dyme, and the borders of the Eleian territory, belong to the Achæans.