Текст книги "The Library of Greek Mythology"

Автор книги: Apollodorus

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Ceux and Alcyone; the Aloads; Endymion

Perimede bore Hippodamas and Orestes to Acheloos; and Peisidice bore Antiphos and Actor to Myrmidon. ⁴Alcyone became the wife of Ceux, son of Heosphoros. Both of them died because of their arrogance: for Ceux said that his wife was Hera, and Alcyone that her husband was Zeus, and Zeus changed them into birds, making her a halcyon*and him a sea-swallow*

Canace bore Hopleus, Nireus, Epopeus, Aloeus, and Triops to Poseidon. Aloeus married Iphimedeia, daughter of Triops, but she fell in love with Poseidon, and went down to the sea again and again, where she would scoop water from the waves with her hands and pour it into her lap. Poseidon had intercourse with her and fathered two sons, Otos and Ephialtes, who are known as the Aloads.* They grew a cubit broader every year and a fathom* higher; and when they were nine years old, and nine cubits across and nine fathoms in height, they resolved to fight against the gods. They piled Ossa on Olympos and Pelion* on Ossa, and threatened to use these mountains to climb up to heaven; and they said that by filling the sea with mountains they would turn the sea into dry land and the dry land into sea. And Ephialtes sought to win Hera, and Otos to win Artemis; they also imprisoned Ares.* But Hermes freed him surreptitiously, and the Aloads met their death on Naxos* as the result of a subterfuge by Artemis; for she changed herself into a deer and leapt between them, and in their desire to hit the beast they struck one another with their javelins.

⁵Calyce and Aethlios had a son, Endymion, who led the Aeolians out of Thessaly and founded Elis. It is said by some, however, that Endymion was a son of Zeus. Because of his exceptional beauty the Moon fell in love with him; and when Zeus allowed him the choice of whatever he wished, he chose to sleep for ever and so remain untouched by either age or death.

Early Aetolian genealogies; Evenos and Marpessa

⁶By a naiad nymph, or according to some, by Iphianassa, Endymion had a son, Aitolos, who killed Apis, son of Phoroneus,* and fled to the land of the Curetes.* There he killed the sons of Phthia and Apollo who had welcomed him, namely, Doros, Laodocos, and Polypoites, and called the country Aetolia after himself.

⁷By Pronoe, daughter of Phorbos, Aitolos had two sons, Pleuron and Calydon, after whom the two cities in Aetolia were named. Pleuron married Xanthippe, daughter of Doros, and had a son, Agenor, and three daughters, Sterope, Stratonice, and Laophonte. To Calydon and Aiolia, daughter of Amy-thaon, were born two daughters, Epicaste and Protogeneia, who bore Oxylos to Ares. Pleuron’s son Agenor married Epicaste, daughter of Calydon, and fathered Porthaon and a daughter, Demonice, who bore Evenos, Molos, Pylos, and Thestios to Ares.

⁸Evenos had a daughter, Marpessa, who, while she was being courted by Apollo, was carried off by Idas, son of Aphareus, in a winged chariot which he had received from Poseidon. Chasing after him* in a chariot, Evenos went as far as the River Lycormas, but finding it impossible to catch up with Idas, he slaughtered his horses and hurled himself into the river, which is now named the Evenos after him. ⁹Idas went on to Messene,* where Apollo happened to meet him and tried to take the girl away from him. As they were fighting for her hand, Zeus separated them and allowed the girl herself to choose which of them she preferred to live with; and Marpessa, fearing that Apollo might leave her when she grew old, selected Idas for her husband.

¹⁰By Eurythemis, daughter of Cleoboia, Thestios had three daughters, Althaia, Leda, and Hypermnestra, and four sons, Iphiclos, Evippos, Plexippos, and Eurypylos.

By Euryte, daughter of Hippodamas, Porthaon had five sons, Oineus, Agrios, Alcathoos, Melas, and Leucopeus, and a daughter, Sterope, who is said to have borne the Sirens to Acheloos.*

Oineus, Meleager, and the hunt for the Calydonian boar

¹Oineus, the king of Calydon, was the first to receive a vine

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plant from Dionysos.* He married Althaia, daughter of Thestios, and fathered Toxeus—who was put to death by Oineus himself for jumping over the ditch*—and two further sons, Thyreus and Clymenos. He also had a daughter, Gorge, who became the wife of Andraimon, and another daughter, Deianeira, who is said to have been Althaia’s child by Dionysos. Deianeira drove a chariot and practised the arts of war; and Heracles wrestled with Acheloos to gain her hand.

²Althaia also bore to Oineus a son, Meleager, whose real father is said to have been Ares. When he was seven days old, it is said that the Fates appeared and announced that Meleager would die when the log burning on the hearth was fully consumed. In response, Althaia snatched it from the fire and placed it in a chest.* Meleager developed into an invulnerable and valiant man, but met his death in the following manner. When Oineus was offering the first-fruits from the annual harvest in the land to all the gods, he forgot Artemis alone. In her anger, she sent a boar of exceptional size and strength, which prevented the land from being sown, and destroyed the cattle and the people who encountered it. To hunt this boar,* Oineus summoned together all the bravest men in Greece, announcing that he would give the beast’s hide to the man who killed it, as a prize for his valour.

These are the people who gathered to hunt the boar: Meleager, son of Oineus, and Dryas, son of Ares, both from Calydon; Idas and Lynceus, sons of Aphareus, from Messene; Castor and Polydeuces, sons of Zeus and Leda, from Lacedaimon; Theseus, son of Aigeus, from Athens; Admetos, son of Pheres, from Pherae; Ancaios and Cepheus, sons of Lycourgos, from Arcadia; Jason, son of Aison, from Iolcos; Iphicles, son of Amphitryon, from Thebes; Peirithoos, son of Ixion, from Larissa; Peleus, son of Aiacos, from Phthia; Telamon, son of Aiacos, from Salamis; Eurytion, son of Actor, from Phthia; Atalante, daughter of Schoineus, from Arcadia; Amphiaraos, son of Oicles, from Argos; and with the aforementioned, also the sons of Thestios.

When they were assembled, Oineus entertained them as his guests for nine days. On the tenth, when Cepheus, Ancaios, and some others considered it beneath their dignity to take part in the hunt with a woman,* Meleager—who wanted to have a child by Atalante although he was married to Cleopatra, the daughter of Idas and Marpessa—compelled them to set out with her on the hunt. When they had surrounded the boar, Hyleus and Ancaios were killed by the beast and, by accident, Peleus struck down Eurytion with his javelin. The first to hit the boar was Atalante, who shot it in the back with an arrow, and the second, Amphiaraos, who shot it in the eye, but Meleager struck the death blow by stabbing it in the side. And when he received the skin, he gave it to Atalante. The sons of Thestios,* however, took it amiss that a woman should get the prize when men were present, saying that it belonged to them by right of birth if Meleager chose not to take it. ³Angered by this, Meleager killed the sons of Thestios and returned the skin to Atalante. But Althaia was so distressed by the loss of her brothers that she rekindled the log, bringing Meleager’s life to a sudden end.

It is said by some,* however, that Meleager met his end not in that way, but as follows. The sons of Thestios raised an argument about the hunt, saying that Iphiclos had been the first to hit the boar, and because of this a war broke out between the Curetes and the Calydonians. When Meleager marched out and killed some of the sons of Thestios, Althaia cursed him, which so enraged him that he confined himself to his house. But when the enemy forces were drawing close to the walls, and the citizens approached him as suppliants and asked him to come to their aid, he was persuaded by his wife, though with difficulty, to march out, and after he had killed the other sons of Thestios, he met his own death in the fighting. After the death of Meleager, Althaia and Cleopatra hanged themselves, and the women who wailed over his dead body were transformed into birds.*

The later history of Oineus, and the birth and exile of Tydeus

⁴After Althaia’s death, Oineus married Periboia, the daughter of Hipponoos. According to the author of the Thebaid, Oineus received her as a prize after the sack of Olenos, but according to Hesiod she had been seduced by Hippostratos, son of Amarynceus, and her father sent her away from Olenos in Achaea to Oineus,* who lived some distance from Greece, with orders that he kill her. ⁵Or according to some, Hipponoos discovered that his daughter had been seduced by Oineus, and he sent her away to him when she was already pregnant. It was by her that Oineus fathered Tydeus. Peisandros says, however, that Tydeus was born to Gorge; for in accordance with the will of Zeus, Oineus conceived a passion for his own daughter.

When Tydeus grew to manhood, he was exiled for having killed, according to some accounts, Alcathoos, a brother of Oineus, or according to the author of the Alcmaeonid, the sons of Melas* who had plotted against Oineus, namely Pheneus, Euryalos, Hyperlaos, Antiochos, Eumedes, Sternops, Xanthippos, and Sthenelaos. According to Pherecydes, however, he killed his own brother,* Olenias. When Agrios tried to bring charges against him, he fled to Adrastos in Argos, and married Adrastos’ daughter, Deipyle, who bore him a son, Diomedes.*

⁶Tydeus joined Adrastos in the expdition against Thebes, where he was wounded by Melanippos and died. The sons of Agrios—Thersites,* Onchestos, Prothoos, Celeutor, Lycopeus, and Melanippos—robbed Oineus of his kingdom and gave it to their father, and furthermore they imprisoned Oineus (who was still alive) and ill-treated him. Afterwards, however, Diomedes arrived in secret from Argos with Alcmaion and killed all the sons of Agrios, apart from Onchestos and Thersites, who had fled beforehand to the Peloponnese; and since Oineus was now an old man, Diomedes gave the kingdom to Andraimon, who had married Oineus’ daughter, and took Oineus back with him to the Peloponnese. But the two sons of Agrios who had managed to escape laid an ambush for the old man near the Hearth of Telephos in Arcadia, and killed him. Diomedes took his body to Argos, and buried him at the place where a city called Oinoe, which is named after him, now lies. After his marriage to Aigialeia, the daughter of Adrastos (or according to some, of Aigialeus), Diomedes took part in the expeditions against Thebes and Troy.

Athamas, Ino, and the origin of the golden fleece

¹To proceed to the sons of Aiolos, Athamas ruled in Boeotia,

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and had a son, Phrixos, and a daughter, Helle, by Nephele. He then married Ino, and had two sons by her, Learchos and Melicertes. But Ino began to scheme against the children of Nephele and persuaded the women to parch the wheat-grain;* and they took the grain and did so, in secret from the men. When the earth was sown with this parched grain, it failed to produce its annual crop, so Athamas sent envoys to Delphi to ask how they could be delivered from this barrenness. But Ino persuaded the envoys to say that, according to the oracle, the infertility would come to an end if Phrixos were sacrificed to Zeus. When Athamas heard this, he was compelled by the inhabitants of the land to bring Phrixos to the altar; but Nephele snatched him away together with her daughter Helle,* and gave them a ram with a golden fleece which she had received from Hermes. Carried through the sky by this ram, they passed over land and sea alike; but while they were over the stretch of sea that lies between Sigeia and the Chersonese, Helle slipped into the waters, and the sea where she died was named the Hellespontafter her. Phrixos for his part went to the land of the Colchians, which was ruled by Aietes, son of the Sun and Perseis, and brother of Circe and of Pasiphae, who became the wife of Minos. Aietes welcomed Phrixos and offered him one of his daughters, Chalciope, as a wife. Phrixos sacrificed the ram with the golden fleece to Zeus God of Escape, and gave its fleece to Aietes, who nailed it to an oak in a grove sacred to Ares. By Chalciope Phrixos had four sons, Argos, Melas, Phrontis, and Cytisoros.

²Later, through the wrath of Hera,* Athamas was also deprived of his children by Ino; for he himself, in a fit of madness, killed Learchos with an arrow, and Ino threw herself into the sea with Melicertes. Exiled from Boeotia, he asked the gods where he should settle, and was told by the oracle to settle at the place where he was offered hospitality by wild beasts. After he had crossed large expanses of land, he chanced upon some wolves as they were sharing out morsels of sheep; and when they caught sight of him, they fled, leaving behind the food that they were sharing. So Athamas founded a colony there, calling the land Athamantia* after himself, and married Themisto, daughter of Hypseus, who bore him four sons, Leucon, Erythrios, Schoineus, and Ptoos.

Sisyphos, Salmoneus, and other sons of Aiolos

³Sisyphos, son of Aiolos, founded Ephyra, now known as Corinth,* and married Merope, daughter of Atlas. A son, Glaucos, was born to them, and by Eurymede, Glaucos had a son, Bellerophon, who killed the fire-breathing Chimaera.* Sisyphos undergoes the punishment in Hades* of rolling a rock with his hands and head in an attempt to roll it over the top of a hill; but however hard he pushes it, it forces its way back down again. He suffers this punishment because of Aegina, daughter of Asopos; for Zeus had carried her off in secret, and Siyphos is said to have revealed this to Asopos, who went in search of her.

⁴Deion, who reigned over Phocis, married Diomede, daughter of Xouthos, who bore him a daughter, Asterodia, and four sons, Ainetos, Actor, Phylacos, and Cephalos, who married Procris, daughter of Erechtheus. But afterwards Dawn fell in love with him and carried him off*

⁵Perieres took possession of Messene, and married Gorgophone, daughter of Perseus, who bore him several sons, Aphareus, and Leucippos and Tyndareus, and also Icarios. But many say that Perieres was a son not of Aiolos, but of Cynortas,* son of Amyclas; and for that reason, we will tell the story of his descendants in our account of the family of Atlas.

⁶Magnes married a naiad nymph, and had two sons, Polydectes and Dictys, who colonized Seriphos.*

⁷Salmoneus lived in Thessaly at first, but later went to Elis and founded a city* there. A man of great arrogance, he wanted to put himself on a level with Zeus and suffered punishment for his impiety. For he claimed that he himself was Zeus, and depriving the god of his sacrifices, he ordered that they should be offered to himself instead. And he dragged dried animal skins and bronze kettles behind his chariot, saying that he was making thunder; and he hurled flaming torches into the sky, saying that he was making lightning. Zeus struck him down with a thunderbolt, and destroyed the city that he had founded, with all its inhabitants.

Pelias and Neleus

⁸Tyro, the daughter of Salmoneus and Alcidice, was raised by Cretheus, the brother of Salmoneus, and she fell in love with the River Enipeus. She would constantly wander down to its flowing waters and tell them of her sorrows. Taking on the appearance of Enipeus, Poseidon had intercourse with her,* and she gave birth in secret to twin sons, whom she exposed. As the babies lay abandoned on the ground, a mare belonging to some passing horse-trainers knocked one of them with its hoof, leaving a black and blue patch on its face. The horse-trainer recovered the two children and brought them up, calling the one with the black-and-bluepatch Pelias*and the other Neleus. When they were grown up, they found their mother and killed her stepmother, Sidero.* For learning that their mother had been ill-treated by Sidero, they set out against her, but she forestalled them by taking refuge at the sanctuary of Hera, only to be killed on the very altars by Pelias, who refused ever afterwards to pay due honour to Hera.

⁹Later the brothers quarrelled, and Neleus was driven into exile. Arriving in Messene, he founded Pylos,* and married Chloris, daughter of Amphion, who bore him a daughter, Pero, and twelve sons, Tauros, Asterios, Pylaon, Deimachos, Eurybios, Epilaos, Phrasios, Eurymenes, Evagoras, Alastor, Nestor, and Periclymenos. Poseidon granted the last of these the power to change his form; and when Pylos was sacked by Heracles, he transformed himself as he fought, now into a lion, now into a snake, now into a bee, but he was killed by Heracles* along with the other sons of Neleus. Nestor alone survived because he was brought up amongst the Gerenians; and he married Anaxibia, daughter of Cratieus, who bore him two daughters, Peisidice and Polycaste, and seven sons, Perseus, Stratichos, Aretos, Echephron, Peisistratos, Antilochos, and Thrasymedes.

¹⁰Pelias settled in Thessaly and married Anaxibia, daughter of Bias (or according to some, Phylomache, daughter of Amphion), and fathered a son, Acastos, and four daughters, Peisidice, Pelopeia, Hippothoe, and Alcestis.

The earlier history of Bias and Melampous

¹¹Cretheus founded Iolcos and married Tyro, daughter of Salmoneus, by whom he had three sons, Aison, Amythaon, and Pheres.

Amythaon, who lived in Pylos, married Eidomene, daughter of Pheres, who bore him two sons, Bias and Melampous. Now Melampous lived in the country, and in front of his house there was an oak tree which housed a nest of snakes. After these snakes had been killed by his servants, Melampous gathered some wood and burned the reptiles, and then reared their young. When they were fully grown, they came up to him while he was asleep, and placing themselves at either shoulder, purified his ears* with their tongues. Melampous rose up in great alarm, to find that he could understand the cries of the birds* flying overhead; and making use of what he discovered from them, he began to predict the future to mankind. He also learned how the victims at sacrifices can be used for divination, and after he had met with Apollo on the banks of the Alpheios, he was the best of diviners from that day forth.

¹²Bias sought to marry Pero, the daughter of Neleus; but since his daughter had many suitors, Neleus said that he would give her to the one who brought him the cattle of Phylacos.* These cattle were kept at Phylace, and were guarded by a dog which neither man nor beast could approach without being detected. Finding himself unable to steal the cattle, Bias sought his brother’s help. Melampous promised his assistance,* and predicted that he would be caught in the act as he tried to steal the cattle, but would finally acquire them after he had been imprisoned for a year. After offering this promise, he departed for Phylace and, as he had predicted, he was caught in the act when he attempted the theft, and was then put in chains and kept under guard in a cell. When the year had almost elapsed, he heard the woodworms talking in the hidden part of the roof: one of them was asking how much of the beam had already been consumed, and the other replied that hardly any of it remained. Without delay, Melampous asked to be moved to a different cell, and not long afterwards, the first cell collapsed. Phylacos was astonished, and realizing that Melampous was an excellent diviner, he released him and asked him to say how his son Iphiclos could come to have children. Melampous promised to tell him if he were given the cattle in return; and then, after sacrificing two bulls and cutting them up, he summoned the birds. When a vulture arrived, he learned from it that Phylacos, as he was gelding lambs one day, had laid down the knife, still covered with blood, next to Iphiclos; and when the child took fright* and ran away, Phylacos had stuck the knife into the sacred oak, and its bark had grown around it and covered it over. The bird went on to say that if the knife were found, and Melampous scraped off the rust and gave it to Iphiclos to take in a drink* for ten days, he would father a son. Discovering all this from the vulture, Melampous found the knife, scraped off the rust, and gave it to Iphiclos for ten days in a drink; and a son, Podarces, was duly born to him. So Melampous drove the cattle to Pylos, and when he was given the daughter of Neleus, passed her on to his brother. He remained in Messene for a time, but when Dionysos drove the women of Argos mad,* he cured them in return for a share of the kingdom and settled there with Bias.

¹³Bias and Pero had a son, Talaos, who had six children by Lysimache, daughter of Abas, son of Melampous, namely Adrastos, Parthenopaios, Pronax, Mecisteus, Aristomachos, and Eriphyle, who became the wife of Amphiaraos. Parthenopaios had a son, Promachos, who joined the Epigoni in the expedition against Thebes, and Mecisteus had a son Euryalos, who went to Troy. Pronax had a son, Lycourgos; and Adrastos and Amphithea, daughter of Pronax, had three daughters, Argeia, Deipyle, and Aigialeia, and two sons, Aigialeus and Cyanippos.

Admetos and Alcestis

¹⁴Pheres, son of Cretheus, founded Pherae in Thessaly, and fathered Admetos and Lycourgos. Lycourgos settled near Nemea, and, marrying Eurydice (or according to some, Amphithea), he had a son, Opheltes, who was later called Archemoros. ¹⁵Admetos for his part became king of Pherae, and at the time when Apollo was serving him* as a labourer, he wanted to win the hand of Alcestis, daughter of Pelias. Now Pelias had announced that he would give his daughter to the man who could yoke a lion and a boar to a chariot; so Apollo yoked them and gave them to Admetos, who took them to Pelias and obtained Alcestis as his wife. While offering the sacrifices at his marriage, however, he forgot to sacrifice to Artemis; and as a result, when he opened up the marriage chamber, he found it to be filled with coils of snakes.* Apollo advised him to propitiate the goddess, and demanded of the Fates that when Admetos was about to die, he should be released from death if somebody would freely choose to die in his place. When the day came for him to die, neither his father nor his mother was willing to die for him, so Alcestis died in his place. But Kore sent her back* to earth again, or, according to some accounts, Heracles fought with Hades for her* [and returned her to Admetos].

3. Jason and the Argonauts

Pelias orders Jason to fetch the golden fleece

¹⁶To Aison, son of Cretheus, and Polymede, daughter of Autolycos, a son, Jason, was born; and Jason lived at Iolcos, which was ruled by Pelias, who had succeeded Cretheus.* When Pelias consulted the oracle about his kingdom, the god told him to beware of the man with one sandal. At first he could make no sense of the oracle, but afterwards he came to under stand it. For when he was about to offer a sacrifice by the sea to Poseidon, he summoned Jason, together with many others, to take part in it. Jason, who lived in the country because of his passion for farming, hurried off to the sacrifice, but as he was crossing the River Anauros, he emerged with only one sandal, after losing the other in the current. So when Pelias caught sight of him, he knew what the oracle meant; and going up to Jason, he asked him what he would do (assuming he had the power) if he had received an oracle saying that he would be murdered by one of his fellow citizens. In response—whether as chance would have it, or as a result of the wrath of Hera,* who wanted Medea to come as an affliction to Pelias (for he had failed to honour the goddess)—Jason declared, ‘I would order him to fetch the golden fleece.’* As soon as Pelias heard his reply, he told Jason to set out for the fleece. It was to be found at Colchis* in a grove sacred to Ares, hanging on an oak tree and guarded by a dragon that never slept.

When he was sent for the fleece, Jason summoned the assistance of Argos, son of Phrixos; and Argos, on the advice of Athene, built a ship with fifty oars, which was named the Argoafter its builder.* To the prow of the ship, Athene fitted a piece of wood that came from the oak at Dodona* and had the power of speech. When the ship was built, Jason consulted the oracle, and was told by the god that he could sail after he had gathered together the finest men in Greece.

Catalogue of the Argonauts

The men who assembled were the following: Tiphys, son of Hagnias, who steered the ship; Orpheus, son of Oiagros; Zetes and Calais, sons of Boreas; Castor and Polydeuces, sons of Zeus; Telamon and Peleus, sons of Aiacos; Heracles, son of Zeus; Theseus, son of Aigeus; Idas and Lynceus, sons of Aphareus; Amphiaraos, son of Oicles; Caineus, son of Coronos; Palaimon, son of Hephaistos or of Aitolos; Cepheus, son of Aleos; Laertes, son of Arceisios; Autolycos, son of Hermes; Atalante, daughter of Schoineus; Menoitios, son of Actor; Actor, son of Hippasos; Admetos, son of Pheres; Acastos, son of Pelias; Eurytos, son of Hermes; Meleager, son of Oineus; Ancaios, son of Lycourgos; Euphemos, son of Poseidon; Poias, son of Thaumacos; Boutes, son of Teleon; Phanos and Staphylos, sons of Dionysos; Erginos, son of Poseidon; Periclymenos, son of Neleus; Augeas, son of the Sun; Iphiclos, son of Thestios; Argos, son of Phrixos; Euryalos, son of Mecisteus; Peneleos, son of Hippalmos; Leitos, son of Alector; Iphitos, son of Naubolos; Ascalaphos and Ialmenos, sons of Ares; Asterios, son of Cometes; and Polyphemos, son of Elatos.

The women of Lemnos; in the land of the Doliones

¹⁷They set out to sea* with Jason in command, and called in at Lemnos. It happened that there were no men at all in Lemnos at that time, and the island was ruled by a queen, Hypsipyle, daughter of Thoas. The reason was this. The Lemnian women had failed to honour Aphrodite, and the goddess had afflicted them with an evil smell; as a result, their husbands had taken women captive from the neighbouring land of Thrace and slept with them instead. The Lemnian women had responded to this slight by murdering their fathers and husbands—Hypsipyle alone had saved her father, Thoas, by hiding him away. So the Argonauts put in at Lemnos while it was under female rule, and they had intercourse with the women there. Hypsipyle slept with Jason and bore him two sons, Euneos and Nebrophonos.

¹⁸After Lemnos, they visited the land of the Doliones, who were ruled by Cyzicos; and he offered them a friendly welcome. But as they were sailing from his land by night, they met with contrary winds, and without realizing it, landed once more amongst the Doliones. The Doliones for their part took them for an army of Pelasgians—for it happened that they were under constant attack from the Pelasgians—and joined battle with them by night, each side failing to recognize the other. The Argonauts killed many of their opponents, including Cyzicos; but when day came, and they saw what had happened, they lamented bitterly, cut off their hair, and offered Cyzicos a splendid burial. After the funeral, they sailed on their way, and put in at Mysia.

The loss of Hylas and abandonment of Heracles

¹⁹There they abandoned Heracles and Polyphemos.* For Hylas, the son of Theiodamas and beloved of Heracles, had been sent to draw water, and was snatched away by nymphs* because of his beauty. Polyphemos heard him cry out, and drawing his sword, he set out after him, thinking that robbers were dragging him off. When he came across Heracles, he told him what had happened; and while the two of them were searching for Hylas, the ship put out to sea. Polyphemos founded the city of Cios in Mysia, and ruled there as king, while Heracles for his part returned to Argos. According to Herodoros, however, Heracles never set out on a voyage at all at that time, but was serving as a slave with Omphale; and Pherecydes says that he was left behind at Aphetai in Thessaly, because the Argohad spoken out to say that she was unable to bear his weight. But Demaratos has recorded that he sailed all the way to Colchis, while Dionysios goes so far as to call him the leader of the Argonauts.*

Polydeuces and Amycos; Phineus and the Harpies; the Clashing Rocks

²⁰They left Mysia for the land of the Bebryces, which was under the rule of Amycos, son of Poseidon and a Bithynian [nymph]. A man of spirit, he made strangers who landed there box with him, and in that way brought about their death. So he went up to the Argoon this occasion too, and challenged the best man present to a boxing match. Polydeuces agreed to take him on and killed him with a blow to the elbow; and when the Bebryces rushed forward to attack Polydeuces, the heroes snatched up their weapons and slaughtered many of them as they were fleeing.

²¹From there they put out to sea again, and called in at Salmydessos in Thrace, the home of Phineus, a diviner who had lost the use of his eyes. Some call him a son of Agenor, others a son of Poseidon. According to some accounts, he was blinded by the gods for foretelling the future to the human race, or, according to others, by Boreas and the Argonauts because he had blinded his own children at the urging of their stepmother,* or again, by Poseidon for having informed the children of Phrixos of the route from Colchis to Greece.

The gods had also sent the Harpies* against him. These were female creatures with wings, and when a table was laid in front of Phineus, they would fly down from the sky and snatch away most of the food, and even the little that they left behind stank so strongly that nobody could touch it. When the Argonauts wanted to consult Phineus about their route, he replied that he would advise them on their route if they would rid him of the Harpies. So they set a table of food in front of him, and the Harpies immediately swooped down with loud cries and snatched the food away. At the sight of this, Zetes and Calais, the sons of Boreas, who were themselves endowed with wings, drew their swords and chased the Harpies through the air. Now it was fated that the Harpies would die at the hands of the sons of Boreas, and equally that the sons of Boreas would die if they failed to catch those they pursued.* During the chase one of the Harpies dropped into the Tigres, a Peloponnesian river, which is now called the Harpys after her; this Harpy was called Nicothoe, or according to others, Aellopous. As for the other, called Ocypete, or, according to some accounts, Ocythoe (or Ocypode according to Hesiod*), she fled along the Propontis until she arrived at the Echinadian Islands, which are now called the Strophades*because of her; for she turnedin her flight on reaching them, and while she was over their shore fell down exhausted along with her pursuer. According to Apollonius, however, in the Argonautica*the Harpies were pursued as far as the Strophades, but they came to no harm after they had sworn an oath that they would stop persecuting Phineus.