Plutarch · a new plain-English translation from the Greek
Most people, because of the strangeness of the exploit, think that the ancient histories are inventions and myths. But since I myself have found that similar things have happened even in modern times — events that occurred in the Roman period — I have gathered them, and to each ancient deed I have appended a similar, more recent narrative, recording also the men who reported them.
Datis, the satrap of the Persians, arrived at Marathon with three hundred thousand men, pitched camp in the plain of Attica, and declared war on the inhabitants. The Athenians, scorning the barbarian horde, sent out nine thousand men, appointing as generals Cynegirus, Polyzelus, Callimachus, and Miltiades. When the battle was joined, Polyzelus, having beheld a superhuman apparition, lost his sight and became blind; Callimachus, pierced through by many spears, remained standing even in death; and Cynegirus, seizing hold of a Persian ship as it was putting out to sea, had his hand cut off.
King Hasdrubal seized Sicily and declared war on the Romans. Metellus, chosen general by the Senate, gained the mastery in this victory. In it Lucius Glaucus, a man of noble birth, seizing hold of Hasdrubal's ship, lost both his hands — as Aristides of Miletus records in the first book of his Sicilian History, from which Dionysius of Sicily took his subject matter. Xerxes, with five million men, anchored off Artemisium and declared war on the inhabitants.
The Athenians, thrown into confusion, sent out as a spy Agesilaus, the brother of Themistocles, even though his father Neocles had seen in a dream that he would lose both his hands. Arriving among the barbarians in Persian dress, he killed Mardonius, one of the royal bodyguards, mistaking him for Xerxes. He was seized by the men round about and led as a prisoner before the king. As the aforesaid king was about to sacrifice an ox at the altar of the Sun, Agesilaus laid his right hand upon it, and having endured the torture without a groan, he was freed from his bonds, saying, "All we Athenians are of this sort; and if you disbelieve it, I will lay down my left hand as well." Xerxes, seized with fear, ordered him to be kept under guard — so Agatharchides of Samos records in the second book of his Persian History.
Porsenna, king of the Tuscans, campaigned across the river Thymbris and made war on the Romans, and by seizing the abundance of provisions on which they depended, he wore them down with famine. When the Senate was thrown into confusion, Mucius, a man of distinction, took four hundred of his contemporaries of consular rank and, in the dress of a private citizen, crossed the river. Seeing the tyrant's bodyguard distributing provisions to the generals, he mistook him for Porsenna himself and killed him. Led before the king, he laid his right hand upon the sacrificial fire, and enduring the pain with steadfast spirit, he smiled and said, "Barbarian, I am set free, even against your will; and know that we are four hundred strong against you in the camp, seeking to kill you." The king, seized with fear, made a truce with the Romans — so Aristides of Miletus records in the third book of his History.
While the Argives and the Lacedaemonians were at war over the territory of Thyrea, the Amphictyons decided that both sides should fight it out and that the land should belong to the victors. The Lacedaemonians made Othryades their general, the Argives Thersander. When the fighting was over, only two of the Argives were left, Agenor and Chromius, who carried word of the victory back to their city. In the quiet that followed, Othryades, though still alive, propped himself up on broken spear-shafts and stripped the shields from all the dead, then set up a trophy inscribed, in his own blood, "To Zeus, giver of trophies."
When the two sides disputed the outcome, the Amphictyons, having witnessed it themselves, judged in favor of the Lacedaemonians — as Chrysermus records in the third book of his Peloponnesian History. The Romans, at war with the Samnites, chose as general Misthynius Amblirenus. This man, ambushed at the place called the Caudine Forks — a very narrow passage — lost three legions, and he himself, mortally wounded, fell. Living on a little while in the deep of the night, he stripped the shields from the slain enemy,
dipped his hand in their blood, and set up a trophy inscribed, "The Romans against the Samnites, to Zeus giver of trophies." Maius, surnamed Laemargus, sent out as general and arriving at the place, saw the trophy and gladly welcomed the omen. Joining battle, he won, and taking the king captive, he sent him to Rome — so Aristides of Miletus records in the third book of his Italian History.
When the Persians were advancing on Greece with five million men, Leonidas was sent to Thermopylae by the Lacedaemonians with three hundred men. While they were feasting there, the barbarian horde bore down upon them, and Leonidas, seeing the barbarians, said, "Eat your breakfast as men who will dine in Hades." And charging against the barbarians, though pierced through by many spears, he made his way up to Xerxes himself and tore off his diadem.
When he had died, the barbarian cut open his heart and found it shaggy — as Aristides records in the first book of his Persian History. The Romans, at war with the Carthaginians, sent out three hundred men and, as general, Fabius Maximus. Joining battle, he lost all his men, and he himself, mortally wounded, charged with a rush against Hannibal, and tearing off his diadem, died together with him — so Aristides of Miletus records. Near the city of Celaenae in Phrygia
a chasm opened up together with water and dragged many households, occupants and all, down into the depths. King Midas received an oracle that if he cast in the most precious thing he had, the chasm would close up. He cast in gold and silver, but it did no good. His son Anchurus, reasoning that nothing in life is more precious than a human soul, embraced his father and his wife Timothea, and mounted on horseback rode into
the place of the chasm. When the earth closed over him, Midas made a golden altar, dedicating it by touching it with his own hand to Zeus of Ida. This altar, at the time when the chasm occurred, turns to stone; but when the appointed period has passed, it is seen to be golden — so Callisthenes records in the second book of his Metamorphoses. The Tiber, flowing through the middle of the marketplace, through the wrath of Zeus of Tarsus, tore away
a great embankment and submerged many houses. An oracle was given that the calamity would cease if they cast in what was most precious. When people cast in gold and silver, Curtius, a young man of distinction, understanding the oracle and reckoning the soul more precious, hurled himself on horseback into the chasm and saved his kinsfolk from disaster — so Aristides records in the fortieth book of his Italian History. While the captains feasting together with Polynices were at their meal, an eagle
swooped down, snatched up Amphiaraus's spear, carried it aloft, and let it fall; and where it stuck fast in the ground, it became a laurel tree. The next day, when the fighting resumed, Amphiaraus was swallowed up on that very spot together with his chariot, where now the city called Harma stands — so Trisimachus records in the third book of his Foundations. When the Romans were at war with Pyrrhus of Epirus, Aemilius Paulus received an oracle that he would win if he built an altar wherever he saw hidden in a chasm
a man of distinction together with his chariot. Three days later Valerius Conatus, having seen in a dream that he should put on the priest's regalia — for he was skilled in divination — after serving as general and killing many, was swallowed up beneath the earth. Aemilius, having set up the altar, won the victory and sent one hundred and sixty tower-bearing elephants back to Rome. This altar gives oracles at the very time of year in which Pyrrhus was defeated — as
Critolaus records in the third book of his Epirote History. Pyraechmes, king of the Euboeans, made war on the Boeotians. Heracles, while still a young man, defeated him, and binding Pyraechmes to colts and tearing him in two, cast him out unburied. The place is called "the Colts of Pyraechmes"; it lies by the river Heracleus, and it emits a whinnying sound when horses drink from it — as recorded in the third book On Rivers. Tullus Hostilius, king of the Romans, made war on the Albans,
whose king was Mettius Fufetius, and he kept putting off the battle again and again. His men, thinking him defeated, turned to feasting; and while they were drunk with wine, he attacked them, and yoking the king to two colts, tore him apart — so Alexarchus records in the fourth book of his Italian History. Philip, wishing to sack Methone and Olynthus, and forcing his way across the river Sandanus, was struck in the eye by an arrow shot by one of the Olynthians, a man named Aster, who said as he shot,
"Aster sends a deadly shaft to Philip." Philip swam back to his own men and was saved, though he lost his eye — so Callisthenes records in the third book of his Macedonian History. Porsenna, king of the Tuscans, campaigned across the river Thymbris and made war on the Romans, and by seizing the abundance of provisions on which they depended, he wore them down with famine. Horatius Cocles, chosen general, held the wooden bridge and checked the barbarian horde
that wished to cross. Being overpowered by the enemy, he ordered his men to cut away the bridge, and so prevented the barbarian multitude from crossing. Struck in the eye by a missile, he threw himself into the river and swam back to his own men — so Theotimus records in the second book of his Italian History. The tale of Icarius, whose guest Dionysus became — as Eratosthenes tells it in his Erigone. Cronus, made a guest
of a farmer who had a beautiful daughter named Entoria, forced himself upon her and fathered sons, Ianus, Hymnus, Faustus, and Felix. Having taught the manner of drinking wine and the cultivation of the vine, he saw fit to share it also with the neighbors. When they did so and drank contrary to their custom, they fell into a heavier sleep than usual; and thinking themselves poisoned, they stoned Icarius to death and killed him.
His granddaughters, in despair, ended their lives by hanging themselves. When a plague seized the Romans, the Pythian oracle declared that it would cease if they propitiated the wrath of Cronus and the spirits of those who had died unlawfully. Lutatius Catulus, a man of distinction, built a sacred precinct for the god situated close to the Tarpeian rock, and set up on it an altar with four faces, either on account of the granddaughters, or because
the year has four parts; and he established the month of January. Cronus turned them all into stars, and they are called "the fore-vintagers," while Ianus rises before them; the star is seen before the feet of the Virgin — so Critolaus records in the fourth book of his Phenomena. While the Persians were plundering Greece, Pausanias, general of the Lacedaemonians, having received five hundred talents of gold from Xerxes, was about to betray Sparta.
When this was discovered, his father Agesilaus pursued him as far as the temple of Athena of the Bronze House, and blocking up the doors of the sanctuary with brick, killed him by starvation; his mother even cast him out unburied — so Chrysermus records in the second book of his History. The Romans, at war with the Latins, chose as general Publius Decius. A certain young man of distinction, poor, named Cassius Brutus, wished for an agreed price to open the
gates by night. Discovered, he fled into the temple of Athena the Helper. His father, Cassius Signifer, shut him in and killed him by starvation, and cast him out unburied — so Cleitonymus records in his Italian History. Darius the Persian, having fought Alexander at the Granicus and lost seven satraps and five hundred and two scythed chariots, was about to join battle on the following day. Ariobarzanes, his son, being sympathetic toward
Alexander, promised to betray his father. His father, enraged, cut off his head — so Aretades of Cnidus records in the third book of his Macedonian History. Brutus, elected consul by all, drove into exile Tarquin the Proud, who had been behaving tyrannically. He went to the Tuscans and made war on the Romans. His sons wished to betray their father to him. When they were caught, their heads were cut off — so Aristides of Miletus records in his Italian History. Epaminondas, general of the Thebans,
being at war with the Lacedaemonians, and while the elections were being held, went home, instructing his son Stesimbrotus not to engage in battle. The Lacedaemonians, learning of his absence, reviled the young man as unmanly; he, enraged, and forgetting his father's order, joined battle and won. His father, taking it hard, crowned him and then cut off his head — so Ctesiphon records in the third book of his Boeotian History. The Romans, at war with the Samnites, chose as general Mallius,
surnamed Epitactes. Traveling to Rome for the consular election, he instructed his son not to engage in battle. The Samnites, learning of this, reviled the young man with insults; he, provoked, won the battle, and Mallius cut off his head — so Aristides of Miletus records. Heracles, failing to win the hand of Iole in marriage, sacked Oechalia. Iole threw herself from the wall, but it happened that, her garment billowing out
in the wind, she suffered no harm — so Nicias of Mallos records. The Romans, at war with the Tuscans, chose as general Valerius Torquatus. Having seen the daughter of the king, named Clusia, he asked the Tuscan for his daughter's hand; failing to obtain her, he besieged the city. Clusia threw herself from the towers, and by the providence of Aphrodite, her garment billowing out, she reached the ground safely. Her
the general then violated, and for all these deeds he was banished by common decree of the Romans to the island of Corsica off Italy — so Theophilus records in the third book of his Italian History. When the Carthaginians and Sicilians were preparing an alliance against the Romans, the general Metellus alone failed to sacrifice to Hestia, and she sent a wind against his ships. Gaius Julius, a seer, said the wind would cease if he sacrificed his daughter beforehand.
Compelled, he brought forward his daughter Metalia; but Hestia, taking pity, substituted a heifer in her place, and carried the girl off to Lamusium, and appointed her priestess of the serpent worshiped there — so Pythocles records in the third book of his Italian History. The story of Iphigenia at Aulis in Boeotia is told similarly by Menyllus in the first book of his Boeotian History. Brennus, king of the Gauls, while plundering Asia, came to Ephesus, and fell in love with a maiden, Demonice,
who promised to unite with him if he would give her the bracelets and ornaments of the women, and would betray Ephesus to him. He bade his soldiers throw into her lap, in her greed for gold, all the gold they had. When they did so, she was buried alive beneath the abundance of gold — so Cleitophon records in the first book of his Galatian History. Tarpeia, one of the well-born maidens who guarded the Capitoline,
when the Romans were at war with the Sabines, promised Tatius she would give him entry to the Tarpeian rock if she received as payment the armlets which they wore as ornament. The Sabines did so, and buried her alive — so Aristides of Miletus records in his Italian History. When a long war arose between the Tegeans and the Pheneans, it was decided to send triplet brothers to fight for the victory. The Tegeans put forward the sons of Rheximachus, the Pheneans
the sons of Demostratus. When battle was joined, two of Rheximachus's sons were killed; the third, named Critolaus, got the better of the remaining two by a stratagem — feigning flight, he killed each of his pursuers one by one. When he returned, everyone else rejoiced, but his sister Demodice alone did not rejoice, for he had killed her betrothed, Demodicus. Critolaus, resenting this injustice, killed
...only the sister Horatia did not join in the rejoicing over him for having killed Curiatius, her betrothed husband; and he killed his sister, as Aristides of Miletus says in his Italian Histories.
When the temple of Athena at Troy caught fire, Ilus ran up and seized the Palladium that had fallen from the sky, and was struck blind—for it was not permitted to be seen by a man—but afterward, having propitiated the goddess, he regained his sight, as Dercyllus says in the first book of his Foundations.
Antylus, a man of distinction, was on his way to the suburb when he was stopped by crows striking him with their wings. Frightened by the omen, he turned back to Rome. There he saw the precinct of Vesta on fire, and when he snatched up the Palladium he was struck blind; but afterward, having made atonement, he regained his sight, as Aristides of Miletus says in his Italian Histories.
The Thracians, at war with the Athenians, received an oracle that they would win if they spared Codrus. But he, taking a sickle, went among the enemy in the guise of a common man, and after killing one man was slain by another. Thus the Athenians won the victory, as Socrates says in the second book of his Thracian History.
Publius Decius, while at war with the Albans, saw in a dream that if he died, he would win Rome for the Romans. He charged into the midst of the enemy, killed many, and was slain. In like manner his son Decius, in the war against the Gauls, saved the Romans, as Aristides of Miletus records.
Cyanippus, a Syracusan by birth, alone refused to sacrifice to Dionysus. The god, angered, cast a fit of drunkenness upon him, and in a dark place he raped his own daughter Cyane. She removed his ring and gave it to her nurse, to serve later as a token of recognition. When a plague struck the city and the Pythia declared that the impious man must be sacrificed to the gods who avert evil, and the rest did not know who was meant by the oracle, Cyane, who did know, seized him by the hair and dragged him forth, slaughtered her father with her own hands, and then killed herself, as Dositheus says in the third book of his Sicilian History.
When the festival of Dionysus was being celebrated in Rome, Aruntius, a lifelong water-drinker, scorned the power of the god. The god cast drunkenness upon him and he raped his daughter Medullina. She, recognizing his identity from a ring, and showing a wisdom beyond her years, made her father drunk, crowned him with a garland, led him to the altar of the Lightning-goddess, and in tears killed the man who had plotted against her virginity, as Aristides says in the third book of his Italian Histories.
Erechtheus, at war with Eumolpus, learned that he would win if he sacrificed his daughter beforehand, and after consulting his wife Praxithea he sacrificed the girl. Euripides mentions this in his Erechtheus.
Marius, at war with the Cimbri and being defeated, saw in a dream that he would win if he sacrificed his daughter beforehand—her name was Calpurnia. Valuing his fellow citizens above his own natural feeling, he did the deed and won the victory. And even now there stand two altars in Germany which, at that same hour each year, send forth the sound of trumpets, as Dorotheus says in the fourth book of his Italian Histories.
Cyanippus, a Thessalian by birth, was constantly going out hunting; and his newly wed wife, suspecting that because he so often stayed away in the woods he must be keeping company with another woman, followed his tracks. Hiding herself in a thicket, she waited to see what would happen. When the branches stirred, the dogs, supposing it to be a wild beast, rushed at her and tore apart the loving wife as though she were an irrational animal. Cyanippus, having witnessed with his own eyes this unlooked-for deed, killed himself, as the poet Parthenius records.
In Sybaris, a city of Italy, there was a young man, Aemilius, remarkable for his beauty and fond of hunting; and his newly wed wife, thinking he was keeping company with another woman, went into the glen to watch. When the trees stirred, the dogs ran at her and tore her apart, and he killed himself, as Clitonymus says in the second book of his Sybaritic History.
Smyrna, daughter of Cinyras, because of the wrath of Aphrodite fell in love with her own father, and revealed to her nurse the compulsion of her passion. The nurse led her master on by a trick, saying that a young neighbor woman was in love with him but was too ashamed to approach him openly. He agreed to the meeting. But once, wishing to know who his lover was, he called for a light, and on seeing her he drew his sword and pursued the shameless girl. By the providence of Aphrodite she was transformed into the tree that bears her name, as Theodorus relates in his Metamorphoses.
Valeria of Tusculum, because of the wrath of Aphrodite, fell in love with Valerius, her father, and confided in her nurse. The nurse deceived her master, telling him that the girl was too ashamed to be intimate face to face, and that the maiden was one of the neighbors. Once made drunk with wine, the father asked for a light, but the nurse got ahead of him and roused him first—the nurse who, out on the farm, happened to be pregnant herself; and once, when she had thrown herself down over a cliff, the infant survived; and coming down from there she found herself pregnant again, and at the appointed time gave birth to Aegipan, called in the Roman tongue Silvanus. Valerius, in despair, threw himself down from that same cliff, as Aristides of Miletus says in the third book of his Italian Histories.
After the sack of Troy, Diomedes was cast ashore in Libya, where Lycus was king and had the custom of sacrificing strangers to his father Ares. Callirhoe, his daughter, fell in love with Diomedes, betrayed her father, and saved Diomedes by loosing his bonds; but he, showing no regard for his benefactress, sailed away, and she ended her life by hanging herself, as Juba says in the third book of his Libyan History.
Calpurnius Crassus, a man of distinction serving with Regulus, was sent against the Massylians to storm a hard-to-take fortress named Garaetium. Taken captive, he was about to be sacrificed to Cronus. But Bisaltia, the king's daughter, fell in love with him, betrayed her father, and made him victorious. But when he sailed back home, the girl killed herself, as Hesianax says in the third book of his Libyan History.
Priam sent Polydorus away to Thrace, along with gold, to his son-in-law Polymestor. When the city was on the verge of being sacked, Polymestor, after its fall, killed the boy in order to gain the gold. Hecuba, coming to that region and craftily pretending that she would give him gold along with the captive women, blinded him with her own hands, as Euripides the tragic poet relates.
When Hannibal was ravaging Campania, Lucius Thymbris placed his son Rustius, along with money, in the care of his son-in-law Valerius Gestius. Gestius won out—but when the Campanian heard of the money, greed led him to violate the claims of nature, and he murdered the boy. Thymbris, traveling through the countryside, came upon his son's body and sent word to his son-in-law, as though he would show him buried treasure; and when Gestius came, Thymbris blinded him and crucified him, as Aristides says in the third book of his Italian Histories.
Phocus, born to Aeacus by Psamathe, was much loved by him; Telamon took him hunting, and when a boar appeared, he hurled his spear instead at the brother he hated, and killed him. Their father banished him for it, as Dorotheus says in the first book of his Metamorphoses.
Gaius Maximus had two sons, Similius and Rhesus; the latter he had fathered by Ameria of the hounds. This Rhesus, while hunting, killed his brother, and on returning claimed it had happened by mischance, not by design. But when the father learned the truth he banished him, as Aristocles says in the third book of his Italian Histories.
Ares lay with Althaea and fathered Meleager, as Euripides relates in his Meleager.
Septimius Marcellus, having married Silvia, devoted himself much to hunting; his newly wed wife, in the guise of a shepherd, was raped by Ares and made pregnant. Ares revealed who he was and gave her a spear, saying that the fortune of the child yet to be born rested within it. Thus Septimius came to kill Tuscinus. Mamercus, when sacrificing to the gods for a good harvest, neglected Demeter alone; and she sent a boar against him. Gathering many huntsmen, he killed it, and gave its head and hide to the woman betrothed to him. But Scymbrates and Muthias, her maternal uncles, took the trophies away from the girl. Enraged, Mamercus killed his kinsmen; and the mother burned the spear, as Menyllus says in the third book of his Italian Histories.
Telamon, son of Aeacus and Endeis, went to Euboea and by night eloped with a girl. Her father, discovering this and suspecting one of the citizens, handed his daughter over to one of his guards to be drowned at sea. But the guard, taking pity on her, sold her instead; and when the ship put in at Salamis, Telamon bought her, and she bore Ajax, as Aretades of Cnidus says in the second book of his Island History.
Lucius Troscius had a daughter, Florentia, by his wife Patris. Calpurnius, a Roman, seduced her. Troscius handed the girl over to be drowned; but the guard took pity on her and sold her instead. By chance the ship put in at Italy, and Calpurnius bought her and fathered by her a son, Contruscus.
Aeolus, king of Tyrrhenia, had by Amphithea six daughters and an equal number of sons. Macareus, the youngest, in his passion seduced one of his sisters, and she conceived a child. When it happened, and their father sent a sword, she judged herself guilty of a lawless act and took her own life; and Macareus did likewise, as Sostratus says in the second book of his Tyrrhenian History.
Papirius Tolucer married Julia Pulchra and had six daughters and an equal number of sons. The eldest of these, Papirius Romanus, fell in love with his sister Canulia and got her with child. When their father learned of it, he sent a sword to his daughter; she killed herself with it, and Romanus did the same, as Chrysippus says in the first book of his Italian Histories.
Aristonymus of Ephesus, son of Demostratus, hated women and instead had intercourse with a she-ass; in time she bore a most beautiful daughter named Onoscelis, as Aristotle says in the second book of his Wonders.
Fulvius Stellus, hating women, had intercourse with a mare; in time she bore a beautiful girl whom he named Epona, who is a goddess who watches over horses, as Agesilaus says in the third book of his Italian Histories.
The Sardians, at war with the Smyrnaeans, encamped around their walls, and sent word by envoys that they would not withdraw unless the women of the city were handed over to them to lie with them. Since the Smyrnaeans, under this compulsion, were about to suffer terribly, one of the household's maidservants, a woman of good character, ran to her master Philarchus and said that they should dress up the maidservants and send them in place of the free women—which indeed they did. The enemy, worn out by the servant women, were captured. Hence even now among the Smyrnaeans a festival called the Eleutheria is held, in which slave women wear the finery of free women, as Dositheus says in the third book of his Lydian History.
Atepomarus, king of the Gauls, at war with the Romans, declared he would not withdraw unless the women were handed over to him for intercourse. On the advice of the maidservants, the Romans sent the slave women instead; and the barbarians, worn out by unceasing intercourse, fell asleep. Then Retana—for she was the one who had given this advice—took hold of a wild fig tree, climbed up the wall, and gave word to the consuls, who then attacked and won. From this the festival of the maidservants takes its name, as Aristides of Miletus says in the first book of his Italian Histories.
When the Athenians were at war with Eumolpus and their food supply proved insufficient, Pyrandrus, the steward of the public funds, reduced the ration in order to economize; but his fellow citizens, suspecting him of treachery, stoned him to death, as Callisthenes says in the third book of his Thracian History.
When the Romans were at war with the Gauls and their food supply proved insufficient, Cinna reduced the people's grain ration; and the Romans, suspecting he was aiming at kingship, stoned him to death, as Aristides says in the third book of his Italian Histories.
In the Peloponnesian War, Pisistratus of Orchomenus hated the nobly born and favored the common people. The members of the council plotted to murder him, and having cut him to pieces they threw the parts into their robes, and scraped the ground clean to hide the blood. The common crowd, growing suspicious, ran to the council chamber. But Tlesimachus, the king's younger son, who knew of the conspiracy, drew the crowd away from the assembly, telling them he had seen his father rushing off with great speed to Mount Pisaeus, having taken on a form larger than any man's. And so the crowd was deceived, as Theophilus says in the second book of his Peloponnesian History.
On account of the wars with neighboring peoples, the Roman Senate withdrew the people's grain ration. King Romulus, taking this badly, restored it to the people, and punished many of the great men. These men murdered him in the Senate house, cut him to pieces, and hid the parts in their robes. The Romans then rushed toward the Senate house with fire. But Proclus, a man of distinction, who was responsible for the deed, declared that he had seen Romulus on a mountain, grown larger than any man and become a god. The Romans, believing him, withdrew, as Aristobulus says in the third book of his Italian Histories.
Pelops, son of Tantalus and Euryanassa, married Hippodamia and had by her Atreus and Thyestes; and by the nymph Danais he had Chrysippus, whom he loved more than his legitimate sons. Laius the Theban, desiring him, carried him off. Seized by Thyestes and Atreus, he received mercy from Pelops on account of his love for the boy. Hippodamia tried to persuade Atreus and Thyestes to kill Chrysippus, knowing he would be a rival claimant to the throne; but when they refused, she stained her own hands with the crime. In the dead of night, while Laius slept, she drew a sword, wounded Chrysippus, and left the sword planted in the wound. Laius, suspected because of the sword, was cleared when the half-dead Chrysippus confessed the truth. And Pelops, after burying Chrysippus, banished Hippodamia, as Dositheus says in his Pelopidae.
Hebius Tolieix married Nuceria and had two sons by her; he also had, by a freedwoman, a son named Firmus, remarkable for his beauty, whom he loved more than his legitimate sons. Nuceria, hating this stepson for his wickedness, tried to persuade her own sons to kill him. When they piously refused, she herself carried out the murder, and at night, taking the sword of the bodyguard, dealt the sleeping boy a fatal wound, leaving the sword behind. When the bodyguard came under suspicion, the boy—before dying—told the truth. Hebius buried him and banished his wife, as Dositheus says in the third book of his Italian Histories.
Theseus, in truth a son of Poseidon, who had by the Amazon Hippolyta a son, Hippolytus, married as a second wife Phaedra, daughter of Minos, who fell into desire for her stepson and sent her nurse to him. Hippolytus, however, left Athens, went to Troezen, and devoted himself there to hunting. The shameless woman, failing in her intent, wrote false letters accusing the chaste young man and hanged herself. Theseus, believing them, asked Poseidon to destroy Hippolytus, using one of the three wishes he held from the god. Poseidon sent a bull against him as he happened to be driving his chariot along the shore, and terrified the horses, which dashed Hippolytus to pieces.
Comminius Super Laurentinus, who had a son named Comminius by the nymph Egeria, brought in a stepmother, Gindica; she fell in love with her stepson, and when she failed to win him, ended her life by hanging herself, leaving behind false letters. Comminius, reading the accusations and believing them in his jealous rage, called upon Poseidon, who showed a bull to the boy as he rode along in his chariot, and the horses dragged the young man to his death and destroyed him, as Dositheus says in the third book of his Italian Histories.
When a plague gripped Lacedaemon, the god declared by oracle that it would cease if they sacrificed a nobly born maiden each year. Once, when Helen was chosen by lot and led forth adorned for the sacrifice, an eagle swooped down, snatched away the sacrificial knife, and carried it to the cattle herds, where it dropped it upon a heifer; from that time they abstained from the killing of maidens, as Aristodemus says in the third book of his Mythical Collection.
When plague seized Falerii and destruction spread, an oracle was given that the calamity would abate if they sacrificed a virgin to Hera every year. As the superstition persisted, a woman chosen by lot, Valeria Luperca, was being led to the sacrifice. But when she drew her sword, an eagle swooped down, snatched it, and set upon the sacrificial fire a little rod topped with a hammer, while it cast the sword onto a heifer that was grazing near the temple.
The girl understood, sacrificed the heifer, took up the hammer, and went about from house to house, gently striking those who were sick and rousing them, saying to each one, "Be well." From this the mystery rite is still performed today, as Aristides records in the nineteenth book of his Italian History.
Philonome, daughter of Nyctimus and Arcadia, used to hunt together with Artemis. Ares, taking the form of a shepherd, made her pregnant. When she had borne twin sons and feared her father, she threw them into the river Erymanthus. By providence they were carried along unharmed and were brought to rest inside a hollow oak, where a she-wolf denning there threw her own cubs into the stream and offered her teat to the infants instead. A shepherd named Tyliphus, who witnessed this, took up the boys and raised them as his own, naming one Lycastus and the other Parrhasius; these succeeded to the kingship of the Arcadians, as Zopyrus of Byzantium records in the third book of his Histories.
Amulius, who treated his brother Numitor tyrannically, killed his son Aenitus while hunting and made his daughter Silvia a priestess of Hera at Julia. Ares made her pregnant, and she bore twins and confessed the truth to the tyrant. He, in fear, drowned both children, casting them in beside the banks of the Thymbris.
They were carried to a place where a she-wolf that had just given birth was denning; she threw away her own cubs and nursed the infants instead. A shepherd named Faustus, who witnessed this, raised the boys, and named the one Remus and the other Romulus — the founders of Rome, as Aristides of Miletus records in his Italian History.
After the fall of Troy, Agamemnon was killed together with Cassandra. Orestes, raised by Strophius, avenged his father's murderers, as Pyrander records in the fourth book of his Peloponnesian History.
Fabius Fabricianus, a kinsman of Fabius the Great, sacked Tuxium, the chief city of the Samnites, and sent to Rome the image of Victorious Aphrodite honored among them. His wife Fabia, seduced by a handsome young man named Petronius Valentinus, murdered her husband by treachery.
Fabia saved her brother Fabricianus, still an infant, from the danger and sent him away to be raised in secret. When the young man reached manhood he killed both his mother and her lover, and was acquitted by the Senate, as Dositheus relates in the third book of his Italian History.
Busiris, son of Poseidon and Anippe daughter of the Nile, used to sacrifice travelers under a treacherous show of hospitality; but the vengeance owed to the dead pursued him, for Heracles set upon him with his club and killed him, as Agathon of Samos records.
As Heracles was driving the cattle of Geryon through Italy, he was received as a guest by King Faunus, son of Hermes, who used to sacrifice his guests to his father. When he attempted this against Heracles, he was killed, as Dercyllus records in the third book of his Italian History.
Phalaris, tyrant of the Acragantines, savagely tortured and punished the strangers who passed through his land. Perillus, a bronze-worker by trade, fashioned a bronze bull and gave it to the king, so that he might burn strangers alive within it.
But the king, becoming just for that one occasion only, cast Perillus himself into it; and the bull was said to give out a bellowing sound, as is told in the second book of the Causes. In the city of Aegesta in Sicily there arose a certain savage tyrant, Aemilius Censorinus. This man used to reward those who devised newer instruments of torture. One man, Aruntius Paterculus, fashioned a bronze horse and gave it as a gift to the aforesaid tyrant, so that he might use it to hurl his victims.
The tyrant, then behaving justly for the first and only time, seized the very man who had given him the gift and hurled him in it, so that the torture he had devised for others he himself might suffer first. Seizing him, he then threw him from the Tarpeian Rock. And it seems that those who ruled cruelly afterward were called "Aemilii" after him, as Aristides records in the fourth book of his Italian History.
Evenus, son of Ares and Sterope the daughter of Oenomaus, married Alcippe and fathered a daughter, Marpessa, whom he guarded as a virgin. But Idas, son of Aphareus, seeing her, snatched her from a dance and fled. Her father pursued but, failing to catch him, threw himself into the river Lycormas and became immortal, as Dositheus records in the first book of his Italian History.
Annius, king of the Tuscans, had a beautiful daughter named Salia, whom he kept guarded as a virgin. Cathetus, one of the notable men,
seeing the girl at play, fell in love with her, and unable to contain his passion, seized her and carried her off to Rome. Her father pursued but, failing to catch him, leapt into the river Pareusius, which was renamed the Annio after him. Cathetus, uniting with Salia, fathered Latinus and Salius, from whom the noblest families traced their descent, as Aristides of Miletus and Alexander Polyhistor record in the third book
of his Italian History. Hegesistratus, a man of Ephesus, having committed murder within his own family, fled to Delphi and asked the god where he should settle. Apollo answered that it should be wherever he saw rustic people dancing, crowned with olive branches. Coming to a certain place in Asia and seeing farmers crowned with olive leaves and dancing, he founded a city there and named it Elaeus, as Pythocles of Samos records in the third book
of his Georgics. Telegonus, son of Odysseus and Circe, was sent out to search for his father, and was told to found a city wherever he saw farmers crowned and dancing. Coming to a certain place in Italy and seeing rustic people crowned with branches of holm-oak and given over to dancing, he founded a city, naming it Prinistus after the occasion, which the Romans, by alteration, call Praeneste, as Aristocles records in the third book of his Italian History.