Текст книги "The Library of Greek Mythology"

Автор книги: Apollodorus

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When he reached the top of the gulf,* Hera sent a gadfly against the cattle and they dispersed among the foothills of the Thracian mountains. Heracles set out in pursuit, and recovering some of them, he drove them towards the Hellespont, but those that he left behind were wild from that time forth. Having had difficulty collecting his cattle together, he blamed the River Strymon, and although it had been navigable previously, he made it unnavigable by filling it with rocks. He took the cattle to Eurystheus, and handed them over; and Eurystheus offered them in sacrifice to Hera.

Eleventh labour: the apples of the Hesperides

¹¹When these labours had been accomplished in eight years and a month, Eurystheus, who would not acknowledge the labour of the cattle of Augeias or that of the hydra, ordered Heracles, as an eleventh labour, to fetch some golden apples from the Hesperides.* These apples were to be found, not in Libya, as some have claimed, but on Mount Atlas in the land of the Hyperboreans.* They had been presented to Zeus [by Ge] at the time of his marriage to Hera, and were guarded by an immortal dragon, the offspring of Typhon and Echidna, which had a hundred heads and could speak with all manner of different voices. And with this dragon, the Hesperides—Aigle, Erytheia, Hesperia, and Arethousa by name—also kept guard. So Heracles proceeded on his way, until he arrived at the River Echedoros, where Cycnos, the son of Ares and Pyrene, challenged him to single combat [. . .] to avenge him, Ares too engaged him in single combat,* but a thunderbolt was hurled between the two combatants, bringing the fight to an end. Travelling through the land of the Illyrians, Heracles hurried to the River Eridanos, where he visited the nymphs who were daughters of Zeus and Themis; and they told him where he could find Nereus. Heracles seized hold of him while he was asleep, and although he transformed himself* into many different shapes, Heracles tied him up and refused to let him go until he had learned from him where the apples and the Hesperides were located. After he had acquired this information, he travelled through Libya, which was then ruled by Antaios,* a son of Poseidon, who compelled strangers to wrestle with him and killed them. When he too was compelled to wrestle with him, Heracles seized him in his arms, lifted him into the air, and crushed him until he was dead; for whenever he touched the earth, Antaios would always grow stronger (which is why some have called him a son of Ge).

Leaving Libya, he passed through Egypt, which was then under the rule of Bousiris, son of Poseidon and Lysianassa, daughter of Epaphos. Bousiris used to sacrifice strangers on an altar of Zeus, in accordance with an oracle; for barrenness had gripped the land of Egypt for nine years, and Phrasios, a skilled diviner who had come from Cyprus, said that the barrenness would come to an end if they slaughtered a male foreigner in honour of Zeus every year. Bousiris began by slaughtering the diviner himself, and continued to slaughter strangers who landed there. So Heracles was arrested and dragged to the altars, but he broke free of his bonds, and killed both Bousiris and his son Amphidamas.

After passing through Asia, he put in at Thermydrai, the harbour of the Lindians. And releasing one of the bullocks from the cart of a drover,* he sacrificed it and feasted on its flesh. The drover, unable to defend himself, stood on a certain mountain and cursed him; and because of that, even to this day, when they sacrifice to Heracles there, they do so to the accompaniment of curses.

Passing by Arabia, he killed Emathion* the son of Tithonos; and he travelled through Libya* to the outer sea, where he received the cup from the Sun. He crossed over to the mainland opposite, and on the Caucasos he shot the eagle, born to Echidna and Typhon, that fed on the liver of Prometheus. He then set Prometheus free, taking the fetters of olive for himself, and presented Cheiron to Zeus as an immortal being who was willing to die in Prometheus’ place.*

When he reached Atlas in the land of the Hyperboreans, Heracles followed the advice of Prometheus, who had told him not to go for the apples himself but to take over the sky from Atlas and send him instead. So Atlas took three apples from the Hesperides and returned to Heracles; and not wishing to hold up the heavens again, [he said that he himself would carry the apples to Eurystheus, and asked Heracles to support the sky in his place. Heracles promised that he would, but passed it back to Atlas by means of a ruse. For Prometheus, when offering his advice, had told him that he should ask Atlas to take the sky back until*] he had prepared a pad for his head. And when Atlas heard his request, he placed the apples on the ground and took the sky back. In this way, Heracles was able to pick up the apples and depart. (It is said by some, however, that he did not get the apples from Atlas, but plucked them himself after killing the guardian snake.*) He brought the apples back, and gave them to Eurystheus; but as soon as he received them, he returned them to Heracles. Then Athene took them from Heracles, and carried them back again; for it was unholy* for them to be deposited anywhere else.

Twelfth labour: the capture of Cerberos

¹²As a twelfth labour, he was ordered to fetch Cerberos* from Hades. Cerberos had three dogs’ heads, the tail of a dragon, and on his back, the heads of all kinds of snakes. When Heracles was about to depart for Cerberos, he went to Eumolpos in Eleusis with a view to being initiated;*† but since it was impossible for him to behold the Mysteries unless he had been purified from the murder of the Centaurs, he was purified by Eumolpos* and initiated thereafter. He made his way to Tainaron in Laconia, where the mouth of the descent to Hades is located, and descended through it. When the souls caught sight of him, they fled, except for Meleager and the Gorgon Medusa.* He drew his sword against the Gorgon as if she were still alive, but learned from Hermes that she was an empty phantom. As he drew close to the gates of Hades, he discovered Theseus there, and Peirithoos,* who had tried to gain Persephone as his bride, and had been imprisoned there for that reason. When they saw Heracles, they stretched their arms towards him, hoping that his strength would enable them to be raised from the dead. He took Theseus by the hand and raised him up, but when he wanted to raise Peirithoos, the earth shook and he let him go. He also rolled aside the stone of Ascalaphos.* Wanting to procure blood for the souls,* he slaughtered one of the cattle of Hades; but their herdsman, Menoites, son of Ceuthonymos, challenged him to a wrestling match. Heracles seized him round the middle and broke his ribs, but let him go when Persephone interceded. When he asked Pluto for Cerberos, Pluto told him to take the beast if he could overpower it without using any of the weapons that he was carrying. Discovering Cerberos by the gates of Acheron,* Heracles, sheathed in his breastplate and fully covered by his lion’s skin, grasped its head between his arms and never relaxed his grip and stranglehold on the beast until he had broken its will, although he was bitten by the dragon in its tail. Then he carried it off and made his way back, ascending through Troezen. As for Ascalaphos, Demeter turned him into an owl.* After Heracles had shown Cerberos to Eurystheus, he returned the beast to Hades.

The murder of Iphitos and Heracles’ enslavement to Omphale

¹After his labours, Heracles returned to Thebes. He gave

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Megara to Iolaos,* and wanting to remarry, he made enquiries and learned that Eurytos, king of Oichalia, had offered the hand of his daughter Iole as a prize to the man who could defeat himself and his sons at archery.* So he went to Oichalia and proved himself superior to them at archery, but even so, he failed to get his bride; for although Iphitos, the eldest of the sons, said that Iole should be given to Heracles, Eurytos and the others refused, saying that they were afraid that if he had children, he would kill his offspring once again. ²Not long afterwards, some cattle were stolen* from Euboea by Autolycos, and Eurytos thought that Heracles was responsible. Iphitos, however, did not believe it, and went to see Heracles. Meeting him as he was returning from Pherae after he had saved the dead Alcestis for Admetos, Iphitos asked him to help in the search for the cattle. Heracles promised to do so and entertained him as a guest; but then, in a fresh fit of madness,* he hurled him from the walls of Tiryns. Wanting to be purified of the murder he visited Neleus, who was king of the Pylians. When Neleus rejected him* because of his friendship with Eurytos, he then went to Amyclai and was purified by Deiphobos, son of Hippolytos.

He was struck by a terrible disease as the result of his murder of Iphitos, and went to Delphi to ask how he could be delivered from it. When the Pythia refused to grant him a response,* he wanted to plunder the temple and tried to carry off the tripod to found an oracle of his own. But Apollo joined battle with him, until Zeus hurled a thunderbolt between them. After they had been separated in this way, Heracles received a response from the oracle, which told him that he would be delivered from his illness if he was sold into slavery, served for three years, and gave the price paid for him to Eurytos as compensation for the murder. ³Following the delivery of this oracle, Hermes put him up for sale, and he was purchased by Omphale, daughter of Iardanos, queen of Lydia, who had been left the kingdom by her husband, Tmolos, after his death. As for the money paid for him, Eurytos refused to accept it when it was brought to him.

While serving Omphale as a slave, Heracles captured and bound the Cercopes* at Ephesus, and at Aulis he killed Syleus —who compelled strangers to dig [in his vineyard*]—and also his daughter, Xenodoce, and burned his vines to their roots. Calling in at the island of Douche, he saw the body of Icaros* cast ashore there, and buried it, calling the island Icaria instead of Doliche. In return, Daidalos made a statue at Pisa in the likeness of Heracles (who failed to recognize it one night, and threw a stone at it, taking it for a living person). It was during the time of his servitude to Omphale that the voyage to Colchis* is said to have taken place, and the hunt for the Calydonian boar, and that Theseus is said to have cleared the Isthmus as he travelled from Troezen.*

The first sack of Troy

⁴After the completion of his servitude, when he was rid of his disease, he sailed against Ilion* with eighteen fifty-oared ships, and an army that he had assembled beforehand from heroes who had volunteered for the expedition. On his arrival at Ilion, he left Oicles behind to guard the ships while he and the other heroes set off to attack the city. Laomedon for his part marched against the ships with the greater part of his force and killed Oicles in the fighting, but he was driven back by the troops of Heracles and put under siege. After the siege was engaged, Telamon was the first to break through the wall and make his way into the city, with Heracles behind him. When Heracles saw that Telamon had entered first, he drew his sword and rushed to attack him, anxious that nobody should be thought a better man than himself. Seeing the situation, Telamon began to heap together some stones that lay at hand; and when Heracles asked him what he was doing, he said that he was building an altar to Heracles the Noble Victor.* Heracles praised him for this, and when he had taken the city and shot down Laomedon and all his sons except for Podarces, he gave Laomedon’s daughter Hesione to Telamon as a prize, allowing her to take with her any person she wished from the captives. When she chose her brother Podarces, Heracles said that he must first become a slave, and that she should then offer something in payment for him so as to acquire him. So when he was sold, she removed the veil from her head and gave it in payment for him; and that was how Podarces came to be called Priam*

¹As Heracles was sailing back from Troy, Hera sent violent

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storms* against him, which so angered Zeus that he suspended her from Olympos.* Heracles wanted to sail in to Cos, but the Coans, taking him for the leader of a band of pirates, tried to prevent his approach by hurling stones. He turned to force and seized the island by night, killing its king, Eurypylos, son of Astypalaia and Poseidon. In the course of the fighting, Heracles was wounded by Chalcodon, but Zeus snatched him away and he suffered no further harm. After ravaging Cos, he went to Phlegra at Athene’s behest, and helped the gods to victory in their war against the Giants.*

Campaigns in the Peloponnese

²Not long afterwards, he mounted an expedition against Augeias,* gathering together an Arcadian army and raising volunteers from the foremost men of Greece. When Augeias heard that Heracles was preparing to make war on him, he appointed as generals of the Eleans Eurytos and Cteatos,* who were two men joined into one, and were superior in strength to all others of their time. They were sons of Molione and Actor (who was a brother of Augeias), although their real father was said to be Poseidon. Now it happened that in the course of the expedition Heracles fell ill, and for that reason he arranged a truce with the Molionides; but later, when they came to learn of his illness, they attacked his army and killed many of his men. So at the time Heracles retreated; but afterwards, when the Isthmian Games were being celebrated for the third time and the Eleans sent the Molionides to take part in the sacrifices, Heracles set an ambush* for them at Cleonai and killed them. Then he marched against Elis and captured the city. After he had killed Augeias and his sons, he recalled Phyleus* and granted him the throne. He also established the Olympic Games, founded an altar of Pelops,* and raised six altars to the twelve gods.

³After the capture of Elis, he marched against Pylos.* He took the city and killed Periclymenos, the bravest of Neleus’ sons, who used to change shape as he fought. He killed Neleus too, and all his sons, except for Nestor, who was still a boy and was being brought up amongst the Gerenians. During the battle, he also wounded Hades, who came to the aid of the Pylians.*

After he had captured Pylos, he mounted an expedition against Lacedaimon, wanting to punish the sons of Hippocoon. He was angry with them because they had fought as allies of Neleus, and was even angrier when they killed the son of Licymnios:* for while he was looking at the palace of Hippocoon, a Molossian hound ran out and dashed towards him, and when he threw a stone and struck the dog, the sons of Hippocoon rushed out and beat him to death with their cudgels. It was to avenge his death that Heracles assembled an army to attack the Lacedaimonians. Arriving in Arcadia, he asked Cepheus to join him as his ally, along with his sons, of whom he had twenty. Cepheus, fearing that the Argives would attack Tegea if he left it, refused to take part in the expedition; but Heracles, who had acquired from Athene a lock of the Gorgon’s hair in a bronze jar, gave it to Cepheus’ daughter, Sterope, saying that if an army attacked, she should hold up the lock three times from the ramparts without looking at it herself and the enemy would turn and flee. As a result, Cepheus joined the expedition with his sons, and in the course of the fighting, he and his sons were killed, together with Iphicles, the brother of Heracles. After he had killed Hippocoon and his sons and taken control of the city, Heracles recalled Tyndareus and entrusted the kingdom to him.

⁴As he was passing by Tegea, Heracles raped Auge, without realizing that she was the daughter of Aleos.* She gave birth in secret and hid her baby in the sanctuary of Athene; but when the country was ravaged by a plague,* Aleos entered the sanctuary, conducted a search, and discovered his daughter’s child. So he had the baby exposed on Mount Parthenion, but it was saved by an act of divine providence: for a doethat had just given birth offered her teatto it, and some shepherds took up the child and named it Telephos*As for Auge, her father handed her over to Nauplios, son of Poseidon, to sell in foreign parts, and Nauplios gave her to Teuthras, king of Teuthrania, who made her his wife.

Marriage to Deianeira; Heracles in northern Greece

⁵Arriving in Calydon, Heracles sought to win Deianeira, the daughter of Oineus,* as his wife. To gain her hand, he wrestled with Acheloos,* and when Acheloos assumed the form of a bull, Heracles broke off one of its horns. So Heracles married Deianeira, and Acheloos recovered his horn by offering that of Amaltheia* in exchange. (Amaltheia was the daughter of Haimonios and she owned a bull’s horn, which, according to Pherecydes, had the power to furnish as much meat or drink as one could wish for, in limitless supply.)

⁶Heracles marched with the Calydonians against the Thesprotians, and after capturing the city of Ephyra,* which was ruled by Phylas, he had intercourse with the king’s daughter, Astyoche, and became the father of Tlepolemos.* During his stay with them, he sent a message to Thespios telling him to retain seven of his sons,* but dispatch three of them to Thebes and send the remaining forty to the island of Sardinia to found a colony. Subsequently, as he was feasting with Oineus, he killed Eunomos,* son of Architeles, with a blow of his fist while the boy (who was a relative of Oineus) was pouring water over his hands. Because this had come about unintentionally, the father of the boy forgave Heracles, but he wanted to suffer exile in accordance with the law, and decided to depart to Ceux at Trachis.

Taking Deianeira with him, he arrived at the River Evenos. The Centaur Nessos had settled there,* and used to ferry travellers across the river for a fee, claiming that he had been granted the post of ferryman by the gods because of his honesty. Heracles for his own part crossed the river without assistance, but he entrusted Deianeira to Nessos and paid him the demanded fee to carry her across. But while Nessos was carrying her over, he tried to rape her; and Heracles heard her cries, and shot Nessos in the heart as he emerged from the water. On the point of death, Nessos called Deianeira to his side and said that if she wanted a love-potion* to use on Heracles, she should mix the semen that he had shed on the ground with the blood that had flowed from the wound made by the arrowhead. She did so, and kept the potion at hand.

⁷While he was passing through the land of the Dryopes, Heracles was short of food, and when he came across Theiodamas* driving a pair of bullocks, he unyoked one of the bullocks, slaughtered it, and feasted on its flesh. When he reached Ceux* in Trachis, he was entertained by him, and then defeated the Dryopes in war.

Later he set out from Trachis to fight as an ally of Aigimios, king of the Dorians;* for the Lapiths, under the command of Coronos, had gone to war with Aigimios over the boundaries of the land, and finding himself besieged, he had summoned Heracles to his aid, offering a share of the land in exchange. So Heracles came to his assistance, killed Coronos and others too, and delivered the whole country to Aigimios without accepting any reward. He also killed Laogoras, king of the Dryopes, along with his children, as he was feasting in a sanctuary of Apollo; for Laogoras was a man of violence and an ally of the Lapiths. As he was passing Itonos, he was challenged to single combat by Cycnos,* son of Ares and Pelopia; so Heracles joined battle with him, and killed him too. When he arrived at Ormenion, its king, Amyntor, appearing under arms, would not allow him to pass through; so, prevented from passing on his way, Heracles killed Amyntor* also.

The sack of Oichalia; the death and apotheosis of Heracles

On his arrival at Trachis, he assembled an army to attack Oichalia, desiring vengeance on Eurytos.* With Arcadians, Melians from Trachis, and Epicnemidian Locrians as his allies, he killed Eurytos and his sons, and captured the city. After burying those of his comrades who had fallen, namely, Hippasos, son of Ceux, and Argeios and Melas, the sons of Licymnios, he plundered the city and took Iole captive. Bringing his ship to anchor at Cenaion, a headland of Euboea, he erected an altar to Cenaian Zeus; and proposing to offer a sacrifice, he sent [Lichas] the herald to Trachis to fetch fine clothing. But Deianeira, learning from Lichas how matters stood with regard to Iole,* was afraid that Heracles might be more in love with Iole than with herself, and thinking that the blood that had flowed from Nessos really was a love-potion, she rubbed it into the tunic. So Heracles put it on, and proceeded with the sacrifice. But as soon as the tunic grew warm, the poison from the hydra began to bite into his skin. In response, he lifted Lichas by the feet and hurled him [into the Euboean Sea*], and tried to tear off the tunic, which had become attached to his body; but his flesh was torn off along with the clothing. In this sorry plight, he was carried back to Trachis by ship; and when Deianeira learned what had happened, she hanged herself. After instructing Hyllos, his eldest son by Deianeira, to marry Iole when he came of age, Heracles made his way to Mount Oeta (which lies on Trachinian territory), and built a pyre there and climbed on to it, ordering that it should be set alight. When nobody was willing to do so, Poias,* who was passing by in search of his flocks, set it alight; and Heracles presented his bow and arrows to him. As the pyre blazed, a cloud is said to have passed beneath Heracles and raised him up to heaven* to the accompaniment of thunder. There he obtained immortality, and becoming reconciled with Hera, he married her daughter Hebe,* who bore him two sons, Alexiares and Anicetos.

The children of Heracles

⁸He had the following sons by the daughters of Thespios.* By Procris, he had Antileon and Hippeus (for the eldest daughter gave birth to twins); by Panope, he had Threpsippas; by Lyse, he had Eumedes; by [. . .], he had Creon; by Epilais, he had Astyanax; by Certhe, he had lobes; by Eurybia, he had Polylaos; by Patro, he had Archemachos; by Meline, he had Laomedon; by Clytippe, he had Eurycapys; he had Eurypylos by Eubote; by Aglaia, he had Antiades; by Chryseis, he had Onesippos; by Oreie, he had Laomenes; he had Teles by Lysidice; he had Entelides by Menippis; by Anthippe, he had Hippodromos; he had Teleutagoras by Eury [. . .]; he had Capylos by Hippo; by Euboia, he had Olympos; by Nice, he had Nicodromos; by Argele, he had Cleolaos; by Exole, he had Erythras; by Xanthis, he had Homolippos; by Stratonice, he had Atromos; he had Celeustanor by Iphis; by Laothoe, he had Antiphos; by Antiope, he had Alopios; he had Astybies by Calametis; by Phyleis, he had Tigasis; by Aischreis, he had Leucones; by Antheia, he had [. . .]; by Eurypyle, he had Archedicos; he had Dynastes by Erato; by Asopis, he had Mentor; by Eone, he had Amestrios; by Tiphyse, he had Lyncaios; he had Halocrates by Olympousa; by Heliconis, he had Phalias; by Hesiocheia, he had Oistrables; by Terpsicrate, he had Euryopes; by Elacheia, he had Bouleus; he had Antimachos by Nicippe; he had Patroclos by Pyrippe; he had Nephos by Praxithea; by Lysippe, he had Erasippos; he had Lycourgos by Toxicrate; he had Boucolos by Marse; he had Leucippos by Eurytele; and by Hippocrate, he had Hippozygos. These were his sons by the daughters of Thespios.

And he had the following sons by other women. By Deianeira, daughter of Oineus, he had Hyllos, Ctesippos, Glenos, and Oneites; by Megara, daughter of Creon, he had Therimachos, Deicoon, and Creontiades; by Omphale, he had Agelaos, from whom the family of Croesus was descended; by Chalciope, daughter of Eurypylos, he had Thettalos; by Epicaste, daughter of Augeias, he had Thestalos; by Parthenope, daughter of Stymphalos, he had Everes; by Auge, daughter of Aleos, he had Telephos; by Astyoche, daughter of Phylas, he had Tlepolemos; by Astydameia, daughter of Amyntor, he had Ctesippos; and by Autonoe, daughter of Peireus, he had Palaimon.

The return of the Heraclids

¹After Heracles had been transported to the gods, his sons

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fled from Eurystheus and took refuge with Ceux; but when Eurystheus told him to surrender them and threatened war, they grew afraid, and withdrawing from Trachis, took flight through Greece. With Eurystheus in pursuit, they made their way to Athens, where they sat down on the altar of Pity* and asked for help. When the Athenians refused to hand them over, they became embroiled in a war with Eurystheus* and killed his sons, Alexander, Iphimedon, Eurybios, Mentor, and Perimedes. Eurystheus himself fled in a chariot, but Hyllos, who had set off in pursuit, killed him* as he was passing the Scironian Rocks, and cut off his head; and he gave it to Alcmene, who gouged out the eyes with weaving pins.

²After the death of Eurystheus, the Heraclids attacked the Peloponnese and captured all its cities. But when a year had elapsed since their return,* the entire Peloponnese was gripped by a plague, and an oracle revealed that the Heraclids were to blame because they had returned before the proper time. Accordingly, they left the Peloponnese and withdrew to Marathon, where they settled.

Before their departure from the Peloponnese, Tlepolemos had accidentally killed Licymnios* (for he had been beating a servant with his stick, and Licymnios had run between them); so he went into exile at Rhodes with a good number of followers, and settled there.

Hyllos married Iole as his father had ordered, and sought to achieve the return of the Heraclids. So he went to Delphi and asked how they could return, and the god declared that they should await the third harvest and then return. Hyllos thought that the third harvest meant three years, and after waiting that length of time, he returned with his army* [. . .] of Heracles to attack the Peloponnese when Tisamenos, son of Orestes, was king of the Peloponnesians.* There was a further battle, which was won by the Peloponnesians, and Aristomachos was killed. When the sons of [Aristomachos*] came of age, they consulted the oracle about their return. The god gave the same response as before, and Temenos admonished him, saying that when they had obeyed this oracle, they had met with misfortune; but the god replied that they were responsible for their own misfortunes because they had failed to understand the oracles, for he meant by the third harvest not a harvest of the earth but of generations of men, and by the narrows, the broad-bellied sea* to the right of the Isthmus. On hearing this, Temenos prepared his army and constructed shipsat the place in Locris which has come to be called Naupactos*for that reason. While the army was there, Aristodemos* was struck dead by a thunderbolt, leaving twin sons, Eurysthenes and Procles, by Argeia, daughter of Autesion.

³And it happened that in Naupactos, a disaster befell the army too. For there appeared amongst them a diviner delivering oracles in a state of inspired abandon, whom they took to be a sorcerer sent by the Peloponnesians to bring ruin to the army. So Hippotes, son of Phylas, son of Antiochos, son of Heracles, hurled a javelin at him, which struck and killed him. As a result, the naval force was destroyed with the loss of all the ships, and the land force was stricken by famine and the army disbanded. When Temenos consulted the oracle about this calamity, the god said that it had all come about because of the diviner,* and he ordered him to banish the murderer for ten years and to take the Three-Eyed One as their guide. Accordingly, they banished Hippotes and searched for the Three-Eyed One; and they came across Oxylos,* son of Andraimon, seated on a one-eyed horse (for its other eye had been struck out by an arrow). He had fled into exile at Elis because of a murder, and was making his way back to Aetolia now that a year had passed. So gathering the meaning of the oracle, they made him their guide. And when they engaged the enemy in battle, they gained the upper hand by land and sea, and killed Tisamenos, son of Orestes. On their own side, Pamphylos and Dymas, the sons of Aigimios,* were killed in the fighting.

⁴When they had gained control of the Peloponnese, they erected three altars to Paternal Zeus, offered sacrifices on them, and then drew lots for the cities. The first draw would be for Argos, the second for Lacedaimon, and the third for Messene; and they brought a jug of water and decided that each of them should cast a lot into it. Temenos, and Procles and Eurysthenes, the two sons of Aristodemos, threw pebbles into the jug, but Cresphontes, wanting to be allotted Messene, threw a clod of earth.* When this had dissolved in the water, the other two lots would of necessity be the ones that came to light. That of Temenos was drawn first, and that of the sons of Aristodemos second, and Cresphontes acquired Messene.

⁵They discovered signs lying on the altars where they had made the sacrifices: a toad for those who had won Argos, a snake for those who had won Lacedaimon, and a fox for those who had won Messene. The diviners said of these signs that those who had found the toad would do best to stay in their city (for the creature lacks the strength to travel), whilst those who had found the serpent would be fearsome in attack, and those who had found the fox would be crafty.

Temenos spurned his sons, Agelaos, Eurypylos, and Callias, and relied instead on his daughter Hyrnetho and her husband Deiphontes.* As a result, his sons bribed some men from Titana*] to murder their father. After the murder had taken place, however, the army decided that the kingdom rightly belonged to Hyrnetho and Deiphontes.