The Library of Greek Mythology (Oxford World's Classics) (11 page)

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

⁷
Salmoneus 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.

⁸
Tyro, 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-blue
patch
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.

⁹
Later 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.

¹⁰
Pelias 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.

¹¹
Cretheus 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.

¹²
Bias 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.

¹³
Bias 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.

¹⁴
Pheres, 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.
¹⁵
Admetos 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

¹⁶
To 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
Argo
after 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.

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.

¹⁷
They 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.

¹⁸
After 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.

¹⁹
There 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
Argo
had 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.
*