Ἡ θ΄ τὰ περὶ Σεμιράμεως λέγει, καὶ Σεμίραμιν οὐχὶ γυναῖκα κατὰ τοὺς ἄλλους φησὶ Νίνου γενέσθαι, ἀλλὰ θυγατέρα· καὶ λόγῳ ἑνί, ὅσα οἱ ἄλλοι περὶ Ἀτόσσης τῆς Ἀσσυρίας ἀναγράφουσι, ταῦθ᾿ οὗτος εἰς Σεμίραμιν ἀναφέρει, οὐκ ἔχω λέγειν εἴτε δυσὶν ὀνόμασι τὴν αὐτὴν νομίζων καλεῖσθαι, ἢ τὰ περὶ Σεμιράμεως ἄλλως οὐκ εἰδώς. λέγει δ᾿ ὡς ἡ Σεμίραμις αὕτη τῷ υἱῷ λάθρᾳ καὶ ἀγνοοῦσα μιγεῖσα, εἶτα γνοῦσα, ἄνδρα ἐν τῷ φανερῷ ἔσχε, καὶ ἐξ ἐκείνου, πρότερον βδελυκτὸν ὄν, Μήδοις καὶ Πέρσαις καλὸν καὶ νόμιμον ἔδοξε μητράσι μίγνυσθαι.
9. Semiramis
The ninth speaks of Semiramis, and says that Semiramis was not, as the others say, Ninus's wife, but his daughter; and, in a word, all that the others write down about Atossa of Assyria this writer refers to Semiramis. I cannot say whether he does so because he thinks that the same woman is called by two names, or because he is otherwise ignorant of the story of Semiramis. He says that this Semiramis lay secretly with her son, not knowing him, and then, when she learned it, kept the man openly as her husband; and that from then on, what had before been abominable seemed to Medes and Persians good and lawful: that men should have intercourse with their mothers.
Ἡ ι΄ δὲ ὡς Σίθων ὁ Ποσειδῶνος καὶ Ὄσσης, ὁ τῆς Θρᾳκίας χερρονήσου βασιλεύς, γεννᾷ θυγατέρα Παλλήνην ἐκ Μενδηίδος νύμφης· ἣν πολλῶν μνηστευομένων, ἆθλον ἔκειτο τῷ μάχῃ κρατήσαντι Σίθωνος καὶ τὴν κόρην ἔχειν καὶ τὴν βασιλείαν. ἀναιρεῖται οὖν ὑπὲρ τοῦ γάμου διαθλῶν Μέροψ ὁ Ἀνθεμουσίας βασιλεὺς καὶ Περιφήτης ὁ Μυγδονίας. ἔπειτα Σίθων ὁρίζει μὴ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀλλὰ πρὸς ἀλλήλους διαμάχεσθαι τοὺς μνηστῆρας, καὶ τῷ νικήσαντι τὸ αὐτὸ ἆθλον εἶναι. διαγωνίζεται τοίνυν Δρύας καὶ Κλῖτος, καὶ πίπτει Δρύας δόλῳ Παλλήνης. οὗ διαγνωσθέντος Σίθωνι ἔμελλε δίκην θάνατον Παλλήνη διδόναι, εἰ μὴ Ἀφροδίτη νυκτὸς ἐπιφοιτήσασα πᾶσι τοῖς πολίταις τὴν κόρην ἥρπασε θανάτου. καὶ τελευτήσαντος τοῦ πατρὸς Παλλήνη καὶ Κλῖτος τὴν βασιλείαν ἐκδέχονται, καὶ ἀπ᾿ αὐτῆς ἡ χώρα Παλλήνη ἔλαβεν ὄνομα.
10. Pallene
The tenth: how Sithon, son of Poseidon and Ossa, king of the Thracian Chersonese, begets a daughter, Pallene, by the nymph Mendeis. Many courted her, and the prize set was that whoever defeated Sithon in combat should have both the girl and the kingdom. So Merops, king of Anthemusia, and Periphetes of Mygdonia, are killed contending for the marriage. Then Sithon ruled that the suitors should fight not against himself but against one another, and that the winner should have the same prize. So Dryas and Clitus compete, and Dryas falls through a trick of Pallene's. When this was discovered, Sithon was about to put Pallene to death, had not Aphrodite, visiting all the citizens by night [?], snatched the girl from death. And when her father died, Pallene and Clitus took over the kingship, and from her the land received the name Pallene.
Ἡ ια΄ τὰ περὶ τῆς Ἡρακλέους θυσίας, ἣν Λίνδιοι μετ᾿ ἀρᾶς θύουσιν αὐτῷ, διέξεισι, καὶ ὡς τὴν ἀρχὴν ἔσχεν ἀπό τινος ἀροτῆρος Λινδίου, ὃς, ἐπεὶ τροφὰς ᾔτει Ἡρακλῆς ὑπὲρ Ὕλλου τοῦ παιδός, ὃν κομιδῇ νέον κατὰ τὴν ὁδὸν συνεπήγετο, ἀντὶ τοῦ παρασχεῖν καὶ προσύβρισεν. Ἡρακλῆς δὲ χαλεπήνας, ἕνα τῶν βοῶν κατασφάξας, αὐτός τε θοινᾶται καὶ τῷ παιδὶ δίδωσιν. ἤρατο δὲ πόρρωθεν ὁ ἀροτήρ. καὶ ὁ Ἡρακλῆς γέλωτι διδοὺς τὰς ἀράς, οὐδέποτε ἀπεφθέγξατο θοίνης ἡδίονος ἀπολαῦσαι ἢ τῆς μετὰ τῶν ἀρῶν.
11. Heracles at Lindus
The eleventh sets out the story of the sacrifice to Heracles which the Lindians offer with curses, and how it began with a certain Lindian ploughman. When Heracles asked for food for his son Hyllus, whom, quite young, he was bringing along on the road, the man, instead of giving it, insulted him as well. Heracles, angered, slaughtered one of the oxen, feasted on it himself and gave some to the boy. The ploughman cursed him from a distance. And Heracles, taking the curses with a laugh, said that he had never enjoyed a sweeter feast than the one accompanied by the curses.
Ἡ ιβ΄ τὰ περὶ Τρωὸς τοῦ Ἐριχθονίου τοῦ Δαρδάνου διαλαμβάνει, ὃς ἐβασίλευσε τῶν περὶ τὴν Ἴδην χωρίων, καὶ γεννᾷ ἐκ Καλλιρρόης τῆς Σκαμάνδρου Ἶλον (ἐξ οὗ τὸ Ἴλιον) καὶ Ἀσάρακον καὶ Γανυμήδην, ὃν ἥρπασε Ζεύς. Ἀσάρακος δὲ σὺν τῷ πατρὶ Δαρδανίας ἐβασίλευσε, καὶ ἦν τοῦτο τῶν Τρώων βασίλειον. Ἶλος δέ, ὃς κτίζει τὸ Ἴλιον, κρατεῖ μάχῃ Βεβρύκων βασιλέως Βύζου ὄνομα, καὶ ἐπὶ μέγα τὸ Ἴλιον αἴρει.
12. Tros and Ilus
The twelfth deals with Tros, son of Erichthonius, son of Dardanus, who was king of the places around Ida, and by Callirhoe, daughter of Scamander, begets Ilus (from whom Ilion has its name) and Assaracus and Ganymede, whom Zeus carried off. Assaracus, together with his father, was king of Dardania, and this was the royal seat of the Trojans. And Ilus, who founds Ilion, defeats in battle a king of the Bebrycians named Byzus, and raises Ilion to greatness.
Ἡ δὲ ιγ΄ τὰ περὶ Αἰθίλλας διέξεισιν, ἥτις ἦν θυγάτηρ μὲν Λαομέδοντος, ἀδελφὴ δὲ Πριάμου. ταύτην Πρωτεσίλαος ἐξ Ἰλίου μετὰ καὶ ἄλλων νηυσὶν ἄγων αἰχμάλωτον, εἰς τὸν μεταξὺ Μένδης καὶ Σκιώνης μετὰ πολλοὺς χειμῶνας μόλις ὁρμίζονται. καὶ πρὸς ὑδρείαν τῶν περὶ Πρωτεσίλαον ἁπάντων τοῦ αἰγιαλοῦ ἄνωθεν πρὸς τὴν χώραν ἀναδραμόντων, ἄλλα τε ἡ Αἴθιλλα ταῖς συναιχμαλώτισιν εἰποῦσα, καὶ ὡς, εἰ ἀφίκοιντο σὺν τοῖς Ἕλλησιν εἰς τὴν Ἑλλάδα, χρυσὸς ἂν αὐταῖς δόξειε τὰ τῆς Τροίας κακά, πείθει πῦρ ἐνεῖναι ταῖς ναυσί. καὶ καταμένουσι σὺν αὐταῖς ἐν τῇ χώρᾳ καὶ ἄκοντες οἱ Ἕλληνες, καὶ πόλιν κτίζουσι Σκιώνην καὶ συνοικίζουσιν.
13. Aethilla and Scione
The thirteenth goes through the story of Aethilla, who was the daughter of Laomedon and sister of Priam. Protesilaus, carrying her off from Ilion as a captive, with other women in his ships, put in at last, after many storms, on the shore between Mende and Scione. And while Protesilaus and all his men ran up from the beach into the country in search of water, Aethilla, among other things that she said to her fellow captives—among them that, if they came with the Greeks to Greece, the troubles of Troy would seem to them like gold—persuades them to set fire to the ships. So the Greeks, even against their will, stay with them in that country, and they found a city, Scione, and settle in it together.
Ἡ ιδ΄ τὰ περὶ Ἐνδυμίωνος ἱστορεῖ, ὅτι τε παῖς ἦν Ἀεθλίου τοῦ Διὸς καὶ Πρωτογενείας τῆς Δευκαλίωνος, καὶ ὡς δύο τέκοι παῖδας Εὐρυπύλην καὶ Αἰτωλόν, ὃς ἐκ Πελοποννήσου τὴν πατρῴαν λιπὼν ἀρχὴν εἰς τὴν ἀντίπερα ταύτης γῆν μετὰ τῆς ἑπομένης μοίρας, Κουρῆτας ἐκβαλών, ᾤκησε, καὶ ἀντὶ Κουρητίδος Αἰτωλίδα καλεῖσθαι δίδωσιν. ὁ δ᾿ Εὐρυπύλης καὶ Ποσειδῶνος παῖς Ἦλις τελευτήσαντος τοῦ μητροπάτορος Ἐνδυμίωνος τὴν βασιλείαν ἐκδέχεται, καὶ τῇ κτισθείσῃ πόλει ὑπὸ Ἐνδυμίωνος Ἦλιν ἐπώνυμον ἔθετο.
14. Endymion's descendants
The fourteenth records the story of Endymion: that he was the child of Aethlius, son of Zeus, and of Protogeneia, daughter of Deucalion, and that he had two children, Eurypyle and Aetolus. Aetolus left his ancestral realm in the Peloponnese for the land opposite it, with the part of the people that followed him, drove out the Curetes and settled there, and caused the Curetis to be called Aetolia. And Elis, son of Eurypyle and Poseidon, when his mother's father Endymion died, took over the kingship, and gave the city founded by Endymion the name Elis after himself.
Ἡ ιε΄ περὶ Φενεατῶν καὶ Δήμητρος καὶ Κόρης, ἣν Πλούτων ἁρπάσας καὶ λαθὼν τὴν μητέρα εἰς τὰ κάτω βασίλεια ἤγαγε· καὶ ὡς Φενεάταις μηνύσασι Δήμητρι τὸ χωρίον δι᾿ οὗ ἡ κάθοδος (ἦν δέ τι χάσμα ἐν Κυλλήνῃ) ἄλλα τε ἀγαθὰ ἐχαρίσατο καὶ μηδέποτε ὑπεριδεῖν ἑκατὸν ἄνδρας Φενεατῶν ἐν πολέμῳ πεσεῖν.
15. Pheneus
The fifteenth concerns the people of Pheneus, and Demeter and Kore, whom Pluto seized and, without her mother knowing, led down to the realm below; and how, when the people of Pheneus pointed out to Demeter the place through which the descent had been made (there was a chasm at Cyllene), she granted them various blessings, and promised never to look on while a hundred men of Pheneus fell in war.
Ἡ ις΄ τὰ περὶ Προμάχου καὶ Λευκοκόμα τῶν Κνωσσίων (πόλις δὲ Κρήτης ἡ Κνωσσός) διέξεισιν, ὡς ἦρα Πρόμαχος νεανίου καλοῦ τοῦ Λευκοκόμα, ὡς ἆθλα αὐτῷ μεγάλα προὔτεινε καὶ κινδύνων μεστά, ὡς πάντα ὑπέστη Πρόμαχος ἐλπίδι τοῦ τυχεῖν, ὡς οὐδ᾿ οὕτω τυγχάνει, καὶ ἀντιλυπεῖ Λευκοκόμαν, τὸ τελευταῖον τῶν ἄθλων (κράνος δ᾿ ἦν περιβόητον) [ἐν] ἑτέρῳ καλῷ νεανίᾳ ὁρῶντος περιθεὶς τοῦ Λευκοκόμα· καὶ ὃς οὐκ ἐνεγκὼν τὴν ζηλοτυπίαν ξίφει ἑαυτὸν διεχρήσατο.
16. Promachus and Leucocomas
The sixteenth deals with Promachus and Leucocomas of Cnossus (Cnossus is a city of Crete): how Promachus loved the handsome young man Leucocomas; how Leucocomas set him great labours, full of danger; how Promachus endured them all in the hope of success, and how even so he does not succeed, and so pains Leucocomas in return: for the last of the labours (a famous helmet) he put the helmet on another handsome young man, while Leucocomas looked on. And Leucocomas, unable to bear the jealousy, killed himself with a sword.
Ἡ ιζ΄ Δίκαιος καὶ Συλεὺς ἀδελφοί, Ποσειδῶνος υἱοί, περὶ τὸ Πήλιον ὄρος τῆς Θεσσαλίας ᾤκουν. καὶ ἦν ὁ μὲν Δίκαιος, καὶ ὡς ὠνομάζετο, οὕτω καὶ ἦν· Συλέα δὲ ὑβριστὴν ὄντα Ἡρακλῆς ἀναιρεῖ. ξενίζεται δ᾿ ὑπὸ Δικαίου, καὶ ἐρᾷ τῆς Συλέως θυγατρὸς ἰδὼν αὐτὴν παρ᾿ αὐτῷ τρεφομένην, καὶ ἄγεται εἰς γυναῖκα. ἡ δὲ ἀποδημήσαντος Ἡρακλέους τῷ περὶ αὐτὸν ἔρωτι καὶ πόθῳ βαλλομένη θνῄσκει· καὶ ἐπὶ προσφάτῳ τῇ κηδείᾳ ἐπανιὼν Ἡρακλῆς ἔμελλεν αὐτὸν τῇ πυρᾷ συγκατακαίειν, εἰ μὴ οἱ παρόντες λόγοις παρηγοροῦσι μόλις ἐκώλυσαν. καὶ ἀπελθόντος Ἡρακλέους τὸ σῆμα τῆς κόρης οἱ πρόσοικοι περιεδείμαντο, καὶ ἀντὶ μνήματος ἱερὸν Ἡρακλέους ἀπέφηναν.
17. Dicaeus and Syleus
The seventeenth: Dicaeus and Syleus, brothers, sons of Poseidon, lived around Mount Pelion in Thessaly. Dicaeus was just, as his name implied; but Syleus was violent, and Heracles kills him. Heracles is entertained by Dicaeus, and falls in love with the daughter of Syleus, seeing her raised in Dicaeus' house, and takes her as his wife. But when Heracles had gone abroad, she died, struck by love and longing for him; and Heracles, returning while the burial was still recent, was about to burn himself on the pyre with her, had not those who were there with difficulty restrained him by words of comfort. And when Heracles had gone away, the neighbours built a wall around the girl's tomb, and made it, instead of a tomb, a sanctuary of Heracles.
Ἡ ιη΄. Λοκροὶ μαχόμενοι, ἐπεὶ συγγενὴς αὐτοῖς Αἴας ἦν, ἐν τῇ παρατάξει χώραν κενὴν ἐῶσιν, ὡς δῆθεν Αἴας ἐν ᾗ παρατάττοιτο. παρατεταγμένων οὖν ἐν τῇ πρὸς Κροτωνιάτας μάχῃ, Αὐτολέων Κροτωνιάτης ἐβουλήθη διὰ τοῦ διαλείποντος διεκπεσεῖν μέρους καὶ κυκλώσασθαι τοὺς πολεμίους, τρωθεὶς δ᾿ ὑπὸ φάσματος τὸν μηρὸν ἀπετράπη, καὶ ἐσφακέλιζεν, ἕως ἂν κατὰ χρησμὸν εἰς τὴν ἐν Πόντῳ Ἀχίλλειον νῆσον (ἔστι δ᾿ αὕτη παραπλεύσαντι τὸν Ἴστρον ὑπὲρ τῆς Ταυρικῆς) ἐκεῖσε παραγεγονὼς καὶ τοὺς τε ἄλλους ἥρωας ἐκμειλιξάμενος, μάλιστα δὲ τὴν Αἴαντος τοῦ Λοκροῦ ψυχήν, ἰάθη. κἀκεῖθεν ἐξιόντα ἀπαγγέλλειν αὐτὸν Στησιχόρῳ Ἑλένη κελεύει τὴν εἰς αὐτὴν ᾠδήν, εἰ φιλεῖ τὰς ὄψεις, παλινῳδίαν. Στησίχορος δ᾿ αὐτίκα ὕμνους Ἑλένης συντάττει καὶ τὴν ὄψιν ἀνακομίζεται.
18. Autoleon and Stesichorus
The eighteenth: the Locrians, in battle, since Ajax was their kinsman, leave an empty space in the line, as if Ajax were to take his place there. When they were drawn up for the battle against the Crotoniates, Autoleon of Croton wished to break through by the gap and encircle the enemy; but, struck in the thigh by an apparition, he turned back and his leg festered, until, by an oracle, he came to the island of Achilles in the Pontus (it is, for one sailing past the Ister, beyond the Taurian country) and, having appeased the other heroes, and above all the spirit of Ajax the Locrian, was healed. And as he left from there, Helen bids him tell Stesichorus to sing the song against her, if he values his eyes: a palinode. And Stesichorus at once composes hymns to Helen and recovers his sight.
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