21.

The water of the Axius is turbid. Homer, however, says that the water is “most beautiful,” probably on account of a spring called Æa which runs into it, the water of which is of surpassing clearness. This is sufficient to prove that the present reading in the poem is erroneous. After the Axius is the Echedorus,2891 20 stadia distant. Then Thessalonica, founded by Cassander, 40 stadia farther on, and the Egnatian Way. He named the city after his wife Thessalonice, the daughter of Philip Amyntas, and pulled down nearly 26 cities in the district of Crucis, and on the Thermæan Gulf, collecting the inhabitants into one city. It is the metropolis of the present Macedonia. The cities transferred to Thessalonica were Apollonia, Chalastra, Therma, Garescus, Ænea, and Cissus. Cissus, it is probable, belonged to Cisseus, who is mentioned by the poet. “Cisseus educated him,” meaning Iphidamas.    E.