I myself weighed the water which comes from the fountain called Pirene in Corinth, and found it lighter than any other water in Greece. For I did not believe Antiphanes the comic writer, who says that in many respects Attica is superior to all other districts, and also that it has the best water of any; for he says:— A. Have you remark'd, my friend,That none can with this favour'd land contendIn honey, loaves, and figs?B. Aye, figs indeed!A. In myrtles, perfumes, wools, in choicest breedOf cattle, and in cheese; and on what groundCan fountains like the Attic springs be found? Eubulus, the writer of comedies, somewhere or other says that Chæremon the tragedian called water the body of the river:— But when we pass'd the folds, and cross'd the water,The river's lucid body, all our troopsIn the pure crystal bathed their weary limbs, There is a fountain in Tenos the water of which cannot be mixed with wine. And Herodotus, in his fourth book, says that the Hypanis, at a distance of five days' journey from its head, is thin and sweet to the taste; but that four days' journey further on it becomes bitter, because some bitter spring falls into it. And Theopompus says that near the river Erigone all the water is sour; and that those who drink of it become intoxicated, just like men who have drunk wine.