CXXVII Telegonus
Telegonus Ulyssis et Circes filius missus a matre ut genitorem quaereret, tempestate in Ithacam est delatus ibique fame coactus agros depopulari coepit. Cum quo Ulysses et Telemachus ignari arma contulerunt. Ulysses a Telegono filio est interfectus, quod ei responsum fuerat ut a filio caveret mortem. Quem postquam cognovit qui esset, iussu Minervae cum Telemacho et Penelope in patriam redierunt, in insulam Aeaeam ad Circen Ulyssem mortuum deportarunt ibique sepulturae tradiderunt. Eiusdem Minervae monitu Telegonus Penelopen Telemachus Circen duxerunt uxores. ⟨ex⟩ Circe et Telemacho natus est Latinus qui ex suo nomine Latinae †linguae nomen imposuit: ex Penelope et Telegono natus est Italus qui Italiam ex suo nomine denominavit.
127. Telegonus
Telegonus, son of Odysseus and Circe, was sent by his mother to look for his father; carried by a storm to Ithaca, he was driven by hunger to ravage the fields. With him Odysseus and Telemachus, not knowing him, fought. Odysseus was killed by his son Telegonus, because it had been told to him that he should beware of death from his son. When he recognised who he was, at the command of Athena they returned to his homeland with Telemachus and Penelope, carried the dead Odysseus to the island of Aeaea, to Circe, and there buried him. On the advice of the same Athena, Telegonus married Penelope and Telemachus Circe. From Circe and Telemachus was born Latinus, who from his own name gave the name to the †Latin language: from Penelope and Telegonus was born Italus, who named Italy from his own name.
CXXVIII Augures
Ampycus Elati filius Mopsus Ampyci filius
Amphiaraus Oeclei vel Apollinis filius
Tiresias Eueris filius Manto Tiresiae filia
Polyidus Coerani filius Helenus Priami filius
Cassandra Priami filia Calchas Thestoris filius
Theoclymenus Thestoris filius Telemus Protei filius Telemus Eurymi filius
Sibylla Samia: alii Cumaeam dixerunt.
128. Seers
Ampycus, son of Elatus; Mopsus, son of Ampycus;
Amphiaraus, son of Oecles or of Apollo;
Tiresias, son of Eueres; Manto, daughter of Tiresias;
Polyidus, son of Coeranus; Helenus, son of Priam;
Cassandra, daughter of Priam; Calchas, son of Thestor;
Theoclymenus, son of Thestor; Telemus, son of Proteus; Telemus, son of Eurymus;
The Sibyl of Samos: others have called her the Cumaean.
⟨CXXIX Oeneus⟩
Liber cum ad Oeneum Parthaonis filium in hospitium venisset, Althaeam Thestii filiam uxorem Oenei adamavit. quod Oeneus ut sensit, voluntate sua ex urbe excessit simulatque se sacra facere: at Liber cum Althaea concubuit, ex qua natus est Deianira; Oeneo autem ob hospitium liberale muneri vitem dedit monstravitque quomodo sereret, fructumque eius ex nomine hospitis oenon ut vocarent instituit.
129. Oeneus and the vine
When Liber (Dionysus) had come as a guest to Oeneus, son of Parthaon, he fell in love with Althaea, daughter of Thestius, Oeneus' wife. When Oeneus perceived this, he left the city of his own accord, pretending that he was going to make sacrifices; Liber lay with Althaea, and from her Deianira was born; to Oeneus, for his generous hospitality, he gave a vine as a gift and showed him how to plant it, and he ordained that its fruit should be called oenon (wine) from the name of the host.
⟨CXXX Icarius et Erigone⟩
Cum Liber pater ad homines esset profectus, ut suorum fructuum suavitatem atque iucunditatem ostenderet, ad Icarium et Erigonam in hospitium liberale devenit. iis utrem plenum vini muneri dedit iussitque ut in reliquas terras propagarent. Icarius plaustro onerato cum Erigone filia et cane Maera in terram Atticam ad pastores devenit et genus suavitatis ostendit. pastores cum immoderatius biberent ebrii facti conciderunt, qui arbitrantes Icarium sibi malum medicamentum dedisse fustibus eum interfecerunt. Icarium autem occisum canis ululans Maera *Erigonae monstravit ubi
pater insepultus iaceret. quo cum venisset, super corpus parentis in arbore suspendio se necavit. ob quod factum Liber pater iratus Atheniensium filias simili poena afflixit. de ea re ab Apolline responsum petierunt. quibus responsum est *, quod Icarii et Erigones mortem neglexissent. quo responso de parentibus supplicium sumpserunt et Erigonae diem festum oscillationis pestilentiae causa instituerunt, et ut per vindemiam de frugibus Icario et Erigonae primum delibarent. — [Qui deorum voluntate in astrorum numerum sunt delati. Erigone signum virginis, quam nos Iustitiam appellamus, Icarius arcturus in sideribus est dictus, canis autem Maera canicula.]
130. Icarius and Erigone
When Father Liber went among human beings to show the sweetness and pleasantness of his fruits, he came to Icarius and Erigone, who received him with generous hospitality. He gave them a wineskin full of wine as a gift and told them to spread it to the other lands. Icarius, with a loaded wagon, with his daughter Erigone and the dog Maera, came to the land of Attica, to some shepherds, and showed them this kind of sweet drink. The shepherds, drinking too immoderately, became drunk and collapsed; thinking that Icarius had given them a bad drug, they killed him with clubs. The dog Maera, howling, showed Erigone * where the slain Icarius
her father lay unburied. When she came there, she killed herself by hanging from a tree over her parent's body. Because of this deed Father Liber in anger afflicted the daughters of the Athenians with a similar punishment. About this matter they sought an oracle from Apollo. They were told *, because they had neglected the death of Icarius and Erigone. Acting on this response they exacted punishment on behalf of the parents, and instituted for Erigone a festival day of swinging (oscillatio) because of the plague, and that at the vintage they should first offer a taste of the fruits to Icarius and Erigone. — [By the will of the gods they were carried up among the number of the stars. Erigone is the sign of the Virgin, whom we call Justice; Icarius is called Arcturus among the stars; and the dog Maera, the Dog-star (canicula).]
⟨CXXXI Nysus⟩
Liber cum in Indiam exercitum duceret, Nyso nutricio suo, dum ipse inde rediret, regni Thebani potestatem tradidit: sed posteaquam inde reversus est Liber, Nysus regno cedere noluit. Liber cum nutricio contendere noluit passusque est eum regnum obtinere, dum occasio sibi regni recuperandi daretur. itaque post annum tertium cum eo redit in gratiam, simulatque in regno se sacra facere velle, quae trieterica dicuntur, quoniam post tertium annum faciebat, militesque muliebri ornatu pro Bacchis introduxit et Nysum cepit regnumque suum recuperavit.
131. Nysus
When Liber was leading an army to India, he handed over the rule of the Theban kingdom to his foster-father Nysus until he himself should return; but after Liber came back from there, Nysus was unwilling to give up the kingdom. Liber did not wish to fight with his foster-father and allowed him to hold the kingdom until an opportunity should be given him to recover it. So after the third year he returned to favour with him, and, pretending that he wished to perform in the kingdom the rites called trieterica, because he performed them after the third year, he brought in soldiers in women's dress in place of Bacchantes, and took Nysus and recovered his kingdom.
⟨CXXXII Lycurgus⟩
Lycurgus Dryantis filius Liberum de regno fugavit. quem cum negaret deum esse vinumque bibisset et ebrius matrem suam violare voluisset, tunc vites excidere est conatus, quod diceret illud malum medicamentum esse, quod mentes immutaret. qui insania ab Libero obiecta uxorem suam et filium interfecit. ipsumque Lycurgum Liber pantheris obiecit in Rhodope, qui mons est Thraciae, cuius imperium habuit. — [Hic traditur unum pedem sibi pro vitibus excidisse.]
132. Lycurgus
Lycurgus, son of Dryas, drove Liber out of his kingdom. When he denied that he was a god, and had drunk wine and, drunk, had wanted to violate his mother, he then tried to cut down the vines, saying that this was a bad drug, because it changed minds. Struck with madness by Liber, he killed his wife and son. Liber threw Lycurgus himself to panthers on Rhodope, a mountain of Thrace, whose rule he had held. — [It is told that he cut off one of his own feet instead of the vines.]
⟨CXXXIII Hammon⟩
Liber in †India cum aquam quaereret nec invenisset, subito ex harena aries dicitur exiise. quo duce Liber cum aquam invenisset petit ab Iove, ut eum in astrorum numerum referret, [qui adhuc hodie aequinoctialis aries dicitur]; in eo autem loco ubi aquam invenerat templum constituit, quod Iovis Hammonis dicitur.
133. Hammon
When Liber was looking for water in †India and had not found any, a ram is said to have suddenly come out of the sand. With this as guide Liber found water and asked Zeus to put it among the number of the stars, [which to this day is called the equinoctial Ram]; in that place where he had found water he set up a temple, which is called that of Zeus Hammon.
⟨CXXXIIII Tyrrheni⟩
Tyrrheni qui postea Tusci sunt dicti cum piraticam facerent, Liber pater impubis in navem eorum conscendit et rogat eos, ut se Naxum deferrent. qui cum eum sustulissent atque vellent ob formam constuprare, Acoetes gubernator eos inhibuit; qui iniuriam ab eis passus est. Liber ut vidit in proposito eos permanere, remos in thyrsos commutavit vela in pampinos rudentes in hederam: deinde leones atque pantherae prosiluerunt. qui ut viderunt, timentes in mare se praecipitaverunt: quos deus in mari in aliud monstrum transfiguravit; nam quisquis se praecipitaverat in delphini effigiem transfiguratus est, unde delphini Tyrrheni * sunt appellati et mare Tyrrhenum est dictum. Numero autem fuerunt duodecim his nominibus: Aethalides Medon Lycabas Libys Opheltes Melas Alcimedon Epopeus Dictys †Simon Acoetes[. hic gubernator fuit], quem ob clementiam Liber servavit.
134. The Tyrrhenian pirates
When the Tyrrhenians, who were afterwards called Etruscans, were practising piracy, Father Liber, as a beardless youth, boarded their ship and asked them to take him to Naxos. When they had taken him on and wanted to ravish him because of his beauty, the helmsman Acoetes restrained them; he suffered injury from them. When Liber saw that they persisted in their purpose, he changed the oars into thyrsi, the sails into vine-leaves, the ropes into ivy; then lions and panthers leapt out. When they saw this, in fear they threw themselves into the sea; there the god transformed them into another monster; for each one who had thrown himself in was transformed into the shape of a dolphin, from which dolphins * were called Tyrrhenian, and the sea was called the Tyrrhenian. They were twelve in number, with these names: Aethalides, Medon, Lycabas, Libys, Opheltes, Melas, Alcimedon, Epopeus, Dictys, †Simon, Acoetes[. he was the helmsman], whom Liber spared because of his kindness.
⟨CXXXV Laocoon⟩
Laocoon †Acoetis filius Anchisae frater Apollinis sacerdos contra voluntatem Apollinis cum uxorem duxisset atque liberos procreasset, sorte ductus ut sacrum faceret Neptuno ad littus, Apollo occasione data a Tenedo per fluctus maris dracones misit duos, qui filios eius Antiphaten et Thymbraeum necarent; quibus Laocoon cum auxilium ferre vellet, ipsum quoque nexum necaverunt. Quod Phryges idcirco factum putarunt, quod Laocoon hastam in equum troianum miserit.
135. Laocoon
Laocoon, son of †Acoetes, brother of Anchises, priest of Apollo, since he had taken a wife and begotten children against the will of Apollo, when he was chosen by lot to make a sacrifice to Poseidon on the shore, Apollo, given the occasion, sent two serpents from Tenedos through the waves of the sea to kill his sons Antiphates and Thymbraeus; when Laocoon wished to bring them help, they killed him too, entangled. The Phrygians thought that this happened because Laocoon had thrown a spear at the Trojan horse.
⟨CXXXVI Polyidus⟩
Glaucus Minois et Pasiphaae filius dum ludit pila, cecidit in dolium melle plenum. quem cum parentes quaererent Apollinem sciscitati sunt de puero. Quibus Apollo respondit: ‘monstrum vobis natum est; quod si quis solverit, puerum vobis restituet’. Minos sorte audita coepit monstrum a suis quaerere, cui dixerunt natum esse vitulum, qui ter in die colorem mutaret [per quaternas horas], primum album secundo rubeum deinde nigrum. Minos autem ad monstrum solvendum augures convocavit. qui cum non invenirent, Polyidus Coerani filius †Bizanti monstrum demonstravit, eum †arbori moro similem esse; nam primum album est, deinde rubrum, cum permatur[a]uit nigrum. tunc Minos ait ei: ‘ex Apollinis responso filium mihi oportet restituas’. quod Polyidus dum auguratur, vidit noctuam super cellam vinariam sedentem atque apes fugantem: augurio accepto puerum exanimem de dolio eduxit. cui Minos ait: ‘corpore invento nunc spiritum restitue’. quod Polyidus cum negaret
posse fieri, Minos iubet eum cum puero in monumento includi et gladium poni. qui cum inclusi essent, draco repente ad corpus pueri processit, quod Polyidus existimans eum velle consumere gladio repente percussit et occidit. altera serpens parem quaerens vidit eam interfectam et progressa herbam attulit atque eius tactu serpenti spiritum restituit: idemque Polyidus fecit. qui cum intus vociferarentur, quidam praeteriens Minoi nuntiavit; qui monumentum iussit aperiri et filium incolumem recuperavit, Polyidum cum multis muneribus in patriam remisit.
136. Polyidus
Glaucus, son of Minos and Pasiphae, while playing with a ball, fell into a jar full of honey. When his parents looked for him they consulted Apollo about the boy. Apollo answered them: ‘A portent has been born for you; if anyone solves it, he will give the boy back to you.’ Minos, having heard the oracle, began to ask his people about the portent, who told him that a calf had been born that changed colour three times a day [for four hours each], first white, then red, then black. Minos called the soothsayers together to solve the portent. When they did not find it, Polyidus, son of Coeranus, †Bizanti showed the portent: it was like a †tree, the mulberry; for it is first white, then red, when ripe, black. Then Minos said to him: ‘On the strength of Apollo's response you must restore my son to me.’ While Polyidus was taking auguries about this, he saw an owl sitting on the wine-cellar and driving off bees: taking the omen, he drew the lifeless boy out of the jar. Minos said to him: ‘The body having been found, now restore his breath.’ When Polyidus said he could not
be done, Minos ordered him to be shut up in a tomb with the boy, and a sword to be placed there. When they were shut in, a serpent suddenly came toward the boy's body; Polyidus, thinking it wanted to devour it, struck it suddenly with the sword and killed it. Another snake, looking for its mate, saw it dead, went forward and brought a herb and by its touch restored the breath of the snake; and Polyidus did the same. When they shouted inside, a passer-by told Minos; he ordered the tomb to be opened and recovered his son unharmed, and sent Polyidus back to his homeland with many gifts.
⟨CXXXVII Merope⟩
Polyphontes Messeniae rex Cresphontem Aristomachi filium * cum interfecisset eius imperium et Meropen uxorem possedit [Cum quo Polyphontes occiso Cresphonte regnum occupavit] filium autem eius infantem Merope mater [quem ex Cresphonte habebat] absconse ad hospitem in Aetoliam mandavit. hunc Polyphontes maxima cum industria quaerebat aurumque pollicebatur si quis eum necasset. qui postquam ad puberem aetatem venit capit consilium, ut exequatur patris et fratrum mortem. itaque venit ad regem Polyphontem aurum petitum, dicens se Cresphontis interfecisse filium et Meropes Telephontem. interim rex eum iussit in hospitio manere, ut amplius de eo perquireret. qui cum per lassitudinem obdormisset, senex qui inter matrem et filium internuncius erat, flens ad Meropen venit negans eum apud hospitem esse nec comparere. Merope credens eum esse filii sui interfectorem qui dormiebat, in chalcidicum cum securi venit inscia, ut filium suum interficeret: quem senex cognovit et matrem ab scelere retraxit. Merope postquam vidit occasionem sibi datam esse ab inimico se ulciscendi redit cum Polyphonte in gratiam. rex laetus cum rem divinam faceret, hospes falso simulavit se hostiam percussisse eumque interfecit patriumque regnum adeptus est.
137. Merope
Polyphontes, king of Messenia, having killed Cresphontes, son of Aristomachus * took over his rule and his wife Merope [with whom Polyphontes, Cresphontes being killed, seized the kingdom]; his infant son, however, his mother Merope [whom she had by Cresphontes] secretly sent to a friend in Aetolia. Polyphontes sought him with the greatest zeal and promised gold if anyone killed him. When he came to the age of puberty he formed a plan to avenge the death of his father and his brothers. So he came to King Polyphontes to claim the gold, saying that he had killed the son of Cresphontes and Merope, Telephontes. Meanwhile the king told him to stay as a guest, so that he might enquire further about him. While he slept from weariness, an old man who was go-between between mother and son came weeping to Merope, saying that he was not with his host and was nowhere to be found. Merope, believing that the man who was sleeping was the killer of her son, came to the hall with an axe, not knowing, to kill her son: the old man recognised him and drew the mother back from the crime. When Merope saw that an opportunity of avenging herself on her enemy had been given her, she returned to favour with Polyphontes. The king, glad, was making a sacrifice, when the guest falsely pretended to have struck the victim, and killed him and gained his father's kingdom.
Cite This Text