XIV. Μούνιχος
[Οὐ.]
Μούνιχος ὁ Δρύαντος ἐβασίλευσε Μολοσσῶν καὶ ἐγένετο μάντις ἀγαθὸς καὶ ἀνὴρ δίκαιος. ἔσχε δὲ παῖδας ἐκ Ληλάντης Ἄλκανδρον, ἀμείνονα μάντιν ἑαυτοῦ, καὶ Μεγαλήτορα καὶ Φιλαῖον καὶ θυγατέρα Ὑπερίππην.
14. Munichus
[Ou. — abbreviation in the manuscript, meaning uncertain] [?]
Munichus, the son of Dryas, was king of the Molossians; he was a good seer and a just man. By Lelante he had children: Alcander, a better seer than himself, Megaletor and Philaeus, and a daughter, Hyperippe.
τούτους γενομένους πάντας ἀγαθοὺς καὶ δικαίους ἐφίλησαν οἱ θεοί. ἐπεὶ δὲ αὐτοὺς ἐπὶ τῶν ἀγρῶν νυκτὸς ἐπελθόντες λῃσταὶ συνελάμβανον, οἱ δὲ ἐκ τῶν πύργων ἔβαλλον — οὐ γὰρ ἦσαν αὐτοῖς ἰσόμαχοι — πῦρ ἐνέβαλλον οἱ κλῶπες εἰς τὰ οἰκία. Ζεὺς δ’ οὐ περιεῖδεν αὐτοὺς ὁσιότητος ἕνεκα τελευτήσαντας οἰκτίστῳ θανάτῳ, μετέβαλε δὲ πάντας εἰς ὄρνιθας.
They all turned out good and just, and the gods loved them. But when robbers came upon them by night in the country and tried to seize them, and they shot at them from the towers — for they were no match for them [?] — the thieves set fire to the house. Zeus did not allow them, for the sake of their piety, to die a most pitiful death, but changed them all into birds.
καὶ Ὑπερίππη μὲν ἐπεὶ φυγοῦσα τὸ πῦρ εἰς ὕδωρ κατέδυ γέγονεν αἴθυια· Μεγαλήτωρ δὲ καὶ Φιλαῖος, ὅτι τὸ πῦρ φεύγοντες διὰ τοῦ τοίχου παρὰ τὴν γῆν ἔδυσαν, ἐγένοντο μικροὶ δύο ὄρνιθες· καὶ ἔστιν ὁ μὲν αὐτῶν ἰχνεύμων, Φιλαῖος δ’ ὀνομάζεται κύων.
Hyperippe, because she fled the fire and dived into water, became a diver-bird (aithyia); Megaletor and Philaeus, because, escaping from the fire, they slipped through the wall along the ground, became two small birds; one of them is the ichneumon, and Philaeus is called the 'dog' (kyon).
οἱ δ’ ἄλλοι ἐκ τοῦ πυρὸς ἀνέπτησαν, Μούνιχος μὲν τριόρχης γενόμενος, Ἄλκανδρος δὲ ὀρχίλος. ἡ δὲ μήτηρ αὐτῶν ἐγένετο κνιπολόγος πιπώ· πρὸς ταύτην ἀετῷ πόλεμός ἐστι καὶ ἐρῳδιῷ· κατάγνυσι γὰρ αὐτῶν τὰ ᾠὰ κόπτουσα τὴν δρῦν διὰ τοὺς κνῖπας. καὶ εἰσὶν οἱ μὲν ἄλλοι σύννομοι ἐν ὕλῃ καὶ παρὰ κευθμῶνας, αἴθυια δὲ ἐγένετο πρὸς λίμνας τε καὶ θάλασσαν.
The others flew up out of the fire, Munichus becoming a buzzard (triorches) and Alcander a wren (orchilos). Their mother became a pipo that picks out grubs; the eagle and the heron are at war with her, for she breaks their eggs as she pecks at the oak for the grubs. The others live together in the woods and among the hollows, but the aithyia took to the lakes and the sea.
XV. Μεροπίς
[Ἱστορεῖ Βοῖος ὀρνιθογονίας α΄.]
Εὐμήλου τοῦ Μέροπος ἐγένοντο παῖδες ὑπερήφανοι καὶ ὑβρισταὶ Βύσσα καὶ Μεροπὶς καὶ Ἄγρων. καὶ ᾤκουν Κῶν τὴν Μεροπίδα νῆσον. ἡ δὲ γῆ πλεῖστον αὐτοῖς ἐξέφερε καρπόν, ὅτι μόνην θεῶν ἐτίμων καὶ ἐπιμελῶς αὐτὴν ἠργάζοντο.
15. Meropis
[Boeus tells this story in Book 1 of the Ornithogonia.]
Eumelus, the son of Merops, had arrogant and insolent children, Byssa, Meropis and Agron. They lived on Cos, the Meropian island. The earth bore them very abundant crops, because she was the only deity they honoured and they worked her diligently.
οὗτοι ἀνθρώπων οὐδενὶ συνῆλθον οὔτε εἰς ἄστυ κατιόντες οὔτε πρὸς εἰλαπίνας καὶ θεῶν ἑορτάς, ἀλλ’ εἰ μὲν Ἀθηνᾷ τις ἱερὰ ποιῶν καλέσειε τὰς κόρας, ἀπέλεγεν ὁ ἀδελφὸς τὴν κλῆσιν. οὐ γὰρ ἀγαπᾶν ἔφη γλαυκὴν θεόν, ὅτι ταῖς αὐταῖς κόραις ὀφθαλμὸς ἐνῆν μέλας, ἐχθαίρειν δὲ παράπαν γλαῦκα τὴν ὄρνιν· εἰ δὲ καλοῖεν παρὰ τὴν Ἄρτεμιν, νυκτίφοιτον ἔλεγε μισεῖν θεόν· εἰ δὲ πρὸς Ἑρμοῦ σπονδάς, κλέπτην ἔλεγεν οὐ τιμᾶν θεόν.
They kept company with no one, going down neither to the town nor to feasts and festivals of the gods; if someone sacrificing to Athena invited the girls, their brother refused the invitation, saying that he had no love for a grey-eyed goddess, since his sisters had dark eyes, and that he utterly loathed the owl as a bird; if they were invited to the rites of Artemis, he said that he hated a goddess who roamed by night; and if to libations for Hermes, he said that he did not honour a thief as a god.
καὶ οἱ μὲν πλειστάκις ἐκερτόμουν. Ἑρμῆς δὲ καὶ Ἀθηνᾶ καὶ Ἄρτεμις χολούμενοι νυκτὸς ἐπέστησαν αὐτῶν τοῖς οἴκοις, Ἀθηνᾶ μὲν καὶ Ἄρτεμις ἐοικυῖαι κόραις, Ἑρμῆς δὲ ποιμένος ἔχων στολήν· καὶ τὸν Εὔμηλον καὶ τὸν Ἄγρωνα προσαγορεύσας παρεκάλει παρατυχεῖν εἰς δαῖτα· διδόναι γὰρ ἱερὰ μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων ποιμένων Ἑρμῇ· Βύσσαν δὲ καὶ Μεροπίδα πρὸς τὰς ὁμήλικας ἔπειθεν ἐκπέμπειν εἰς τὸ τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς καὶ Ἀρτέμιδος ἄλσος.
They mocked the gods in this way again and again. Hermes, Athena and Artemis, angered, came to their house by night, Athena and Artemis in the likeness of girls, Hermes wearing a herdsman's clothes; he addressed Eumelus and Agron and invited them to come to a feast, for, he said, he was offering a sacrifice to Hermes together with the other herdsmen; and he urged them to send Byssa and Meropis to the grove of Athena and Artemis to join the girls of their age.
καὶ ταῦτα μὲν εἶπεν Ἑρμῆς· Μεροπὶς δ’ ὡς ἤκουσεν, ἐξύβρισε πρὸς τὸ ὄνομα τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς, ἡ δὲ αὐτὴν ἐποίησεν ὀρνίθιον γλαῦκα· Βύσσα δὲ τῷ αὐτῷ ὀνόματι λέγεται καὶ ἔστι Λευκοθέας ὄρνις· Ἄγρων δ’ ὡς ἐπύθετο, ἁρπάσας ὀβελὸν ἐξέδραμεν, Ἑρμῆς δ’ αὐτὸν ἐποίησε χαραδριόν. Εὔμηλος δὲ τὸν Ἑρμῆν ἐνείκεσεν ὅτι μετεμόρφωσεν αὐτοῦ τὸν υἱόν, ὁ δὲ κἀκεῖνον ⟨μετέβαλε καὶ⟩ ἐποίησε νυκτικόρακα κακάγγελον.
That is what Hermes said; but Meropis, when she heard it, spoke insolently at the name of Athena, and the goddess made her into a small bird, the owl (glaux); Byssa is called by the same name and is the bird of Leucothea; Agron, when he heard, seized a spit and ran out, and Hermes made him a charadrios (plover); Eumelus railed at Hermes for having transformed his son, and Hermes ⟨changed⟩ him too ⟨and⟩ made him a night-raven (nyktikorax), a bird of ill tidings.
XVI. Οἰνόη
[Ἱστορεῖ Βοῖος ὀρνιθογονίας β΄.]
Παρὰ τοῖς λεγομένοις ἀνδράσι Πυγμαίοις ἐγένετο παῖς ὄνομα Οἰνόη τὸ μὲν εἶδος οὐ μεμπτή, ἄχαρις δὲ τὸ ἦθος καὶ ὑπερήφανος. ταύτῃ φροντὶς οὐδεμία ἐγίνετο τῆς Ἀρτέμιδος οὐδὲ Ἥρας.
16. Oenoe
[Boeus tells this story in Book 2 of the Ornithogonia.]
Among the men called Pygmies there was a girl named Oenoe, faultless in looks but graceless and arrogant in character. She had no regard for Artemis or for Hera.
γαμηθεῖσα δὲ Νικοδάμαντι τῶν πολιτῶν ἑνὶ μετρίῳ καὶ ἐπιεικεῖ ἔτεκε παῖδα Μόψον. καὶ αὐτῇ Πυγμαῖοι πάντες κατὰ φιλοφροσύνην πλεῖστα δῶρα πρὸς τὴν γένεσιν τοῦ παιδὸς ἀπήνεγκαν. Ἥρα δὲ μεμφθεῖσα τὴν Οἰνόην, ὅτι αὐτὴν οὐκ ἐτίμα, γέρανον [αὐτὴν] ἐποίησε καὶ τὸν αὐχένα μακρὸν εἵλκυσε καὶ ἀπέδειξεν ὑψιπετῆ ὄρνιθα καὶ πόλεμον ἐνέβαλεν αὐτῇ τε καὶ τοῖς Πυγμαίοις.
She was married to Nicodamas, one of the citizens, a modest and decent man, and bore a child, Mopsus. All the Pygmies, out of goodwill, brought her a great many gifts for the birth of the child. But Hera, offended with Oenoe because she did not honour her, made [her] a crane, stretched out her neck long, turned her into a high-flying bird and set war between her and the Pygmies.
Οἰνόη δὲ διὰ τὸν πόθον τοῦ παιδὸς Μόψου περιεπέτετο τὰ οἰκία καὶ οὐκ ἐξελίμπανε, Πυγμαῖοι δὲ καθοπλισάμενοι πάντες ἐδίωκον αὐτήν. καὶ ἐκ τούτου ἔτι καὶ νῦν Πυγμαίοις καὶ γεράνοις πόλεμος ἐνέστηκεν.
Out of longing for her child Mopsus, Oenoe flew round the house and would not leave it, and all the Pygmies armed themselves and chased her. And from this cause there is war between the Pygmies and the cranes even now.
Cite This Text