39
With regard to the Chersonese, it is important to examine the terms of his dispatch to you and also to know what he is actually doing in the matter. For the whole of the land north of Agora, as being his own property and no concern of yours, he has handed over as a private estate to Apollonides of Cardia. Yet the boundary of the Chersonese is not Agora, but the altar of Zeus of the Marches, half way between Pteleum and the White Strand, where there was going to be a canal across the peninsula.
40
This is proved by the inscription on the altar of Zeus, which runs thus: The dwellers here have set this boundary-stone Midway `twixt Pteleum and the Silver Strand, And raised this altar fair, that men may own That Zeus is Warden of our No Mans Land.If the reading is correct,ἀμμοπίηwill be the marches, which belong to no one and are therefore put under the protection of Zeus. Blass reads μοίρης σημέϊον ἀμμορίης τε᾽which leaves the last line rather in the air. Unknown
41
This district, however, of whose extent most of you are aware, he treats as his own, enjoying part himself and bestowing part on others, and so he brings all your property under his own control. Not only does he appropriate the land north of Agora, but he also orders you in his present letter to settle by arbitration any disputes you have with the Cardians to the south of Agora—the Cardians, who are settlers in your own territory!
