Praefatio
Tria quae hic eduntur opuscula, cur uno volumine complectenda putaverim, idque a clarissimo viro qui huic Mythographorum graecorum corpori edendo praeest facile impetrarim, non est quod dicam. Editionis autem consilium elucebit, opinor, ex Prolegomenis, quae ampliora me invito facta sunt, cum de Palaephato multa et controversa occurrerent. De Heraclito contra et Excerptis Vaticanis vix habui quod dicerem. Unum tamen hic liceat affirmare, has quoque obsoletae eruditionis lacinias multo quam antea emendatiores prodire. Apparatus palaephatei molem ingentem nolui varietatibus paene innumeris codicum singulorum onerare; eas tantum lectiones notare studui quae alicuius momenti esse ad archetypos restituendos videbantur. Ne tamen codices illos quibus mea nititur editio, a Vitellio meo diligentissime collatos, iterum inspiciendos esse dicas, ut quae a me sint omissa pro tuo iudicio expendas, hanc quoque variarum lectionum, etiam minutissimarum, interdum rerum farraginem, edendam curavi in studiorum italicorum ad philologiam spectantium vol. IX, p. 495—507. Quae, ubi codicum testimonium defecit, coniecturis vel meis vel aliorum fretus novavi, cum in apparatu vix paucis explicari possent, in Prolegomenis exposita invenies. Restat ut viris clarissimis qui me in hoc opere adiuverunt gratias agam, Vitellio in primis qui regali quadam ut solet munificentia opes ingenti labore a se collectas uberrimas mihi dono dedit, plagulas praeterea totius fere voluminis diligentissime examinavit et saepe correxit. Clarus autem ille studiorum fautor Fr. Ehrle Bibliothecae Apostolicae praefectus liberalitate sua effecit ut Vaticani codicis folia, quibus Heraclitus et Excerpta continentur, aetate corrupta et lectu difficillima, iterum atque iterum, vel importuno anni tempore, inspicere et cum pulvisculo excutere possem. Codicis marciani 453 ad Pal. c. XXXIX collationem misit Lionellus Levi. Codicis neapolitani locum unum et alterum rogatu meo Franciscus D’Ovidio humaniter inspexit et mea dubia solvit. Hoc idem in cod. vaticano x modo Vitellius modo Aeneas Piccolomini fecerunt, cum ego Florentiae adhuc degerem. Wendlandii denique coniecturam Maximilianus Treu amicus vere fidelis mecum communicavit. Quibus omnibus nunquam pro meritis debitas gratias solvere potero; utinam tamen placeat illis opus hoc qualecumque, iniquissimo vitae meae tempore per summas difficultates vix tandem absolutum! Scr. Romae Kal. Dec. a. MCMI. Nicolaus Festa.
Preface (Festa, in Latin)
Why I thought that the three small works published here should be combined in one volume, and why I easily obtained this from the distinguished man who presides over the publication of this corpus of Greek mythographers, I need not say. The plan of the edition will, I think, become clear from the Prolegomena, which grew longer than I wished because many controversial matters arose about Palaephatus. About Heraclitus, by contrast, and the Vatican Excerpts I had hardly anything to say. One thing, however, I may state here: that these shreds of obsolete learning too now appear much more correct than before. I did not want to burden the huge mass of the Palaephatean apparatus with the almost innumerable variants of individual manuscripts; I took care to note only those readings that seemed to be of some importance for restoring the archetypes. Yet lest you say that those manuscripts on which my edition rests, collated most diligently by my friend Vitelli, should be inspected again, so that you may weigh at your own judgement what I have omitted, I have arranged for this medley of variant readings, even the most minute, and sometimes of facts, to be published in the Studi italiani di filologia classica, vol. IX, pp. 495–507. The places where, when the evidence of the manuscripts failed, I have innovated, relying on conjectures either mine or others’, since they could hardly be explained in a few words in the apparatus, you will find set out in the Prolegomena. It remains for me to thank the most distinguished men who have helped me in this work: first of all Vitelli, who with a kind of royal generosity, as is his habit, gave me as a gift the very rich resources collected by him with immense labour, and moreover examined the proofs of almost the whole volume most diligently and often corrected them. That eminent patron of studies, Fr. Ehrle, Prefect of the Apostolic Library, by his generosity made it possible for me to inspect again and again, even in the unseasonable time of the year, and to shake the dust from, the leaves of the Vatican codex that contain Heraclitus and the Excerpts, corrupted by age and very hard to read. Lionello Levi sent a collation of the Marcianus 453 for Pal. ch. XXXIX. Francesco D’Ovidio kindly inspected one or two places in the Neapolitan codex at my request and resolved my doubts. The same was done for the Vatican codex x sometimes by Vitelli, sometimes by Enea Piccolomini, while I was still living in Florence. Finally, Maximilian Treu, a truly faithful friend, communicated to me Wendland’s conjecture. I shall never be able to pay to all of these the thanks due to their merits; yet may this work, such as it is, be pleasing to them, finished at last, scarcely, through the greatest difficulties, in the most unfavourable time of my life! Written at Rome, on the Kalends of December, 1901. Nicolaus Festa.
Προοίμιον
Τάδε περὶ τῶν ἀπίστων συγγέγραφα. ἀνθρώπων γὰρ οἱ μὲν εὐπειθέστεροι πείθονται πᾶσι τοῖς λεγομένοις, ὡς ἀνομίλητοι σοφίας καὶ ἐπιστήμης, οἱ δὲ πυκνότεροι τὴν φύσιν καὶ πολυπράγματοι ἀπιστοῦσι τὸ παράπαν μηδὲ γενέσθαι τι τούτων. ἐμοὶ δὲ δοκεῖ γενέσθαι πάντα τὰ λεγόμενα (οὐ γὰρ ὀνόματα μόνον ἐγένοντο, λόγος δὲ περὶ αὐτῶν οὐδεὶς ὑπῆρξεν· ἀλλὰ πρότερον ἐγένετο τὸ ἔργον, εἶθ᾽ οὕτως ὁ λόγος ὁ περὶ αὐτῶν)· ὅσα δὲ εἴδη καὶ μορφαί εἰσι λεγόμεναι καὶ γενόμεναι τότε, αἳ νῦν οὐκ εἰσί, τὰ τοιαῦτα οὐκ ἐγένοντο. εἰ γάρ ⟨τί⟩ ποτε καὶ ἄλλοτε ἐγένετο, καὶ νῦν τε γίνεται καὶ αὖθις ἔσται. ἀεὶ δὲ ἔγωγε ἐπαινῶ τοὺς συγγραφέας Μέλισσον καὶ Λαμίσκον τὸν Σάμιον „ἐν ἀρχῇ“ λέγοντας „ἔστιν ἃ ἐγένετο, καὶ νῦν ἔσται“. γενομένων δέ τινα οἱ ποιηταὶ καὶ λογογράφοι παρέτρεψαν εἰς τὸ ἀπιστότερον καὶ θαυμασιώτερον, τοῦ θαυμάζειν ἕνεκα τοὺς ἀνθρώπους. ἐγὼ δὲ γινώσκω ὅτι οὐ δύναται τὰ τοιαῦτα εἶναι οἷα καὶ λέγεται· τοῦτο δὲ καὶ διείληφα, ὅτι, εἰ μὴ ἐγένετο, οὐκ ἂν ἐλέγετο. ἐπελθὼν δὲ καὶ πλείστας χώρας ἐπυνθανόμην τῶν πρεσβυτέρων ὡς ἀκούοιεν περὶ ἑκάστου αὐτῶν, συγγράφω δὲ ἃ ἐπυθόμην παρ᾽ αὐτῶν. καὶ τὰ χωρία αὐτὸς εἶδον ὡς ἔστιν ἕκαστον ἔχον, καὶ γέγραφα ταῦτα οὐχ οἷα ἦν λεγόμενα, ἀλλ᾽ αὐτὸς ἐπελθὼν καὶ ἱστορήσας.
Proem
I have written the following about unbelievable tales. Among people, those who are more credulous believe everything that is said, being unacquainted with wisdom and knowledge, while those who are more obstinate by nature and over-curious altogether disbelieve that any of these things ever happened. To me it seems that everything that is told did happen (for it is not merely names that came to be, with no account of them in existence; no, the deed happened first, and only then the account of it). But as for all the kinds and shapes that are said to have existed at that time and do not exist now, such things did not happen. For if ⟨anything⟩ ever happened at some other time, it happens now too and will happen again. I always praise the writers Melissus and Lamiscus of Samos, who say at the outset [of their works]: “There are things that happened, and they will be now as well.” [?] But when certain things had happened, the poets and prose-writers twisted them into something less credible and more marvellous, to make people wonder. I, for my part, know that such things cannot be as they are told; and this too I have worked out: that if it had not happened, it would not have been told. I travelled to very many countries and asked the older people what they had heard about each of these matters, and what I learned from them I write down. The places I saw myself, just as each of them stands, and I have written these things not as they were reported but having gone there myself and made inquiry.
I. Περὶ Κενταύρων
Περὶ Κενταύρων φασὶν ὡς θηρία ἐγένοντο καὶ ἵππου μὲν εἶχον τὴν ὅλην ἰδέαν πλὴν τῆς κεφαλῆς, ταύτην δὲ ἀνδρός. εἴ τις οὖν πείθεται τοιοῦτον γενέσθαι θηρίον, ἀδύνατον· οὔτε γὰρ ἄλλως αἱ φύσεις σύμφωνοι ἵππου καὶ ἀνδρός, οὔτε ἡ τροφὴ ὁμοία, οὔτε διὰ στόματος καὶ φάρυγγος ἀνθρωπείου δυνατὸν ἵππου τροφὴν διελθεῖν. εἰ δὲ τοιαύτη ἰδέα τότε ἦν, καὶ νῦν ἂν ὑπῆρχε. τὸ δὲ ἀληθὲς ἔχει ὧδε. Ἰξίονος βασιλέως ὄντος Θεσσαλίας ἐν τῷ Πηλίῳ ὄρει ἀπηγριώθη ταύρων ἀγέλη, ἥτις καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ τῶν ὀρῶν ἄβατα ἐποίει· εἰς γὰρ τὰ οἰκούμενα κατιόντες οἱ ταῦροι ἐσίνοντο τὰ δένδρα καὶ τὸν καρπόν, καὶ ὑποζύγια συνέφθειραν. ἐκήρυξεν οὖν ὁ Ἰξίων, εἴ τις ἀνέλοι τοὺς ταύρους, τούτῳ δώσειν χρήματα πολλά. νεανίσκοι δέ τινες ἐκ τῆς ὑπωρείας, ἐκ κώμης τινὸς καλουμένης Νεφέλης, ἐπινοοῦσιν ἵππους κέλητας διδάξαι (πρότερον γὰρ οὐκ ἠπίσταντο ἐφ᾽ ἵππων ὀχεῖσθαι, ἀλλὰ μόνον ἅρμασιν ἐχρῶντο). οὕτω δὲ ἀναβάντες τοὺς κέλητας ἤλαυνον ἐφ᾽ οὗ οἱ ταῦροι ἦσαν, καὶ ἐπεισβαλόντες τῇ ἀγέλῃ, ἠκόντιζον· καὶ ὅτε μὲν διώκοιντο ὑπὸ τῶν ταύρων, ὑπέφευγον οἱ νεανίαι (ποδωκέστεροι γὰρ ἦσαν οἱ ἵπποι), ὅτε δὲ σταίησαν οἱ ταῦροι, ὑποστρέφοντες ἠκόντιζον· καὶ τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον ἀνεῖλον αὐτούς. καὶ τὸ μὲν ὄνομα ἐντεῦθεν ἔλαβον οἱ Κένταυροι, ὅτι τοὺς ταύρους κατεκεντάννυσαν (οὐ γὰρ ἀπὸ τῆς ἰδέας τῶν ταύρων, οὐδὲν γὰρ πρόσεστι ταύρου τοῖς Κενταύροις, ἀλλ᾽ ἵππου καὶ ἀνδρὸς ἰδέα ἐστίν· ἀπὸ τοῦ ἔργου οὖν τὸ ὄνομα ἔλαβον). λαβόντες οὖν οἱ Κένταυροι παρὰ τοῦ Ἰξίονος τὰ χρήματα καὶ γαυριῶντες ἐπὶ τῇ πράξει καὶ τῷ πλούτῳ, ὑβρισταὶ ὑπῆρχον καὶ πολλὰ κακὰ εἰργάζοντο, καὶ δὴ καὶ κατ᾽ αὐτοῦ τοῦ Ἰξίονος, ὃς ᾤκει τὴν νῦν καλουμένην Λάρισσαν πόλιν (τότε δὲ ἐκαλοῦντο οἱ τοῦτο τὸ χωρίον οἰκοῦντες Λαπίθαι). καλεσάντων οὖν αὐτοὺς ἐπὶ θοίνην μεθυσθέντες ἁρπάζουσιν αὐτῶν τὰς γυναῖκας, καὶ ἀναβιβάσαντες αὐτὰς ἐπὶ τοὺς ἵππους ᾤχοντο φεύγοντες εἰς τὴν οἰκείαν. ἐντεῦθεν ὁρμώμενοι ἐπολέμουν αὐτοῖς, καὶ καταβαίνοντες μὲν διὰ τῆς νυκτὸς εἰς τὰ πεδία ἐνέδρας ἐποιοῦντο, ἡμέρας δὲ γενομένης ἁρπάσαντες καὶ ἐμπρήσαντες ἀπέτρεχον ἐπὶ τὰ ὄρη. οὕτως ἀπιόντων αὐτῶν κατόπιν τὰ νῶτα τοῖς πόρρωθεν ὁρῶσι μόνον ἐφαίνοντο τοῦ ἵππου πλὴν τῆς κεφαλῆς, τῶν δὲ ἀνδρῶν τὰ λοιπὰ πλὴν τῶν σκελῶν. ξένην οὖν ὄψιν ὁρῶντες ἔλεγον „οἱ Κένταυροι ἡμᾶς οἱ ἐκ Νεφέλης κατατρέχουσιν.“ ἀπὸ δὴ ταύτης τῆς ἰδέας καὶ τοῦ λόγου ὁ μῦθος ἀπίστως ἐπλάσθη, ὡς ἐκ τῆς νεφέλης ἵππος τε καὶ ἀνὴρ ἐν τῷ ὄρει ἐγεννήθη.
1. The Centaurs
About the Centaurs they say that they were beasts, with the whole shape of a horse except the head, which was a man’s. Now if anyone believes that such a creature came to be, it is impossible: for the natures of a horse and a man do not agree in any way, nor is their food alike, nor could a horse’s food pass through the mouth and throat of a human being. And if such a shape existed then, it would exist now. The truth is this. When Ixion was king of Thessaly, a herd of bulls went wild on Mount Pelion and made the rest of the mountains impassable as well: the bulls would come down into the inhabited country, damaging the trees and the crops, and they destroyed pack-animals. So Ixion made a proclamation that he would give a great deal of money to anyone who killed the bulls. Some young men from the foothills, from a village called Nephele, thought of training horses to be ridden (for before that people did not know how to ride on horseback, but used only chariots). So they mounted their riding-horses and drove them to where the bulls were, charged into the herd and hurled javelins; when the bulls chased them, the young men retreated (for the horses were faster), and when the bulls stood still, they turned back and hurled again; in this way they killed them. And the Centaurs took their name from this, because they goaded the bulls (for it was not from the shape of bulls, since nothing of a bull belongs to the Centaurs, but the shape of a horse and a man; so they took the name from the deed). Having received the money from Ixion and exulting in their exploit and their wealth, the Centaurs became insolent and did many wicked things, and in particular against Ixion himself, who lived in the city now called Larisa (at that time the people who lived in that place were called Lapiths). When the Lapiths invited them to a banquet, they got drunk and seized their women, set them on the horses and rode off, fleeing to their own country. Setting out from there they made war on the Lapiths: coming down by night into the plains they set ambushes, and when day came they plundered and burned and ran back to the mountains. As they went off like this, those watching from far away saw behind them only the backs: of the horse, all but the head, and of the men, the rest all but the legs. Seeing a strange sight, they said: “The Centaurs from Nephele are raiding us.” From this appearance and this saying the myth was fancifully invented, that a horse and a man were born from the cloud on the mountain.
II. Περὶ Πασιφάης
Περὶ Πασιφάης μυθεύεται ὡς ἠράσθη ταύρου νεμομένου, Δαίδαλον δὲ ποιῆσαι βοῦν ξυλίνην καὶ ἐγκλεῖσαι τὴν Πασιφάην εἰς αὐτήν, οὕτω δὲ τὸν ταῦρον ἐπιβάντα μιγῆναι τῇ γυναικί, τὴν δὲ κυῆσαι καὶ τεκεῖν παῖδα σῶμα μὲν ἔχοντα ἀνδρός, κεφαλὴν δὲ βοός. ἐγὼ δὲ τοῦτο οὔ φημι γενέσθαι. πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ ἀδύνατον ἐρασθῆναι ζῷον ἕτερον ἑτέρου μὴ ὁμοίως ἔχον τὴν μήτραν τοῖς αἰδοίοις· οὐ γὰρ δυνατὸν κύνα καὶ πίθηκον καὶ λύκον τε καὶ ὕαιναν ἀλλήλοις μίγνυσθαι οὐδὲ βούβαλον ἐλάφῳ (ἑτερογενῆ γὰρ ὑπάρχει), οὐδὲ ἀλλήλοις μιγνύμενα γεννᾶν. ταῦρος δὲ οὐ δοκεῖ μοι πρῶτον μὲν ἀναμιχθῆναι ξυλίνῃ βοΐ· πάντα γὰρ τὰ τετράποδα ⟨ζῷα⟩ ὀσφραίνεται τῶν αἰδοίων τοῦ ζῴου πρὸ τῆς μίξεως, καὶ οὕτως ἀναβαίνει ἐπ᾽ αὐτό· οὐδ᾽ ἂν ἠνέσχετο ταύρου ἐπιβαίνοντος ἡ γυνή, οὐδὲ φέρειν δύναται γυνὴ ἔμβρυον κέρατα ἔχον. τὸ δ᾽ ἀληθὲς ἔχει ὧδε. Μίνωά φασιν ἀλγοῦντα τὰ αἰδοῖα τεθεραπεῦσθαι ὑπὸ Πρόκριδος τῆς Πανδίονος ἐπὶ τῷ κυνιδίῳ καὶ τῷ ἀκοντίῳ ⟨τῷ⟩ ἐπὶ Κέφαλον. κατὰ δὲ τὸν χρόνον τοῦτον Μίνῳ ἠκολούθει νεανίας κάλλει διαφέρων, ᾧ ὄνομα ἦν Ταῦρος. τούτου Πασιφάη ἔρωτι ἁλοῦσα καὶ πείσασα μίγνυται, καὶ ἐγέννησεν ἐξ αὐτοῦ παῖδα. Μίνως δ᾽ ἐπιλογισάμενος τὸν χρόνον τῆς ἀλγηδόνος τῶν αἰδοίων, καὶ ἐπιγνοὺς ὡς οὐκ ἔστιν ἐξ αὐτοῦ ὁ παῖς διὰ τὸ μὴ συγκοιμᾶσθαι, ἐξετάζων τὸ ἀκριβὲς ἐπέγνω ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ Ταύρου ἐστὶ τὸ γεννηθέν. ἀποκτεῖναι μὲν οὖν οὐκ ἔδοξεν αὐτῷ διὰ τὸ δοκεῖν ἀδελφὸν εἶναι τῶν παίδων· ἀποπέμπει δὲ αὐτὸν εἰς τὸ ὄρος ὅπως αὐξηθεὶς ὑπάρχῃ ἐν θεράποντος μοίρᾳ τοῖς ποιμέσιν. ἀνδρωθεὶς δὲ οὗτος οὐχ ὑπήκουε τῶν βουκόλων. πυθόμενος δὲ ὁ Μίνως καταντᾶν αὐτὸν ἐκέλευσεν εἰς τὴν πόλιν, κρατεῖν δὲ αὐτόν· καὶ εἰ μὲν ἑκὼν ἕποιτο, λελυμένον ἐλθεῖν, εἰ δὲ μή, δέσμιον. αἰσθόμενος δ᾽ ὁ νεανίας ἀφίσταται εἰς τὰ ὄρη, καὶ ἁρπάζων βοσκήματα οὕτω διέζη. πέμψαντος δὲ τοῦ Μίνωος πλείονα ὄχλον εἰς τὸ συλλαβεῖν αὐτόν, ὁ νεανίας ὄρυγμα βαθὺ ποιήσας καθεῖρξεν ἑαυτὸν εἰς ἐκεῖνο. ἔνθα ὄντι αὐτῷ τὸν μὲν ἄλλον χρόνον εἰσεβάλλοντο πρόβατα καὶ αἶγας, καὶ ἔζη σιτούμενος· ὁπότε δὲ Μίνως ἄνθρωπον ἠβούλετο τιμωρήσασθαι, τούτῳ καθειργμένῳ ἐν τῷ οἰκήματι εἰσέπεμπε, καὶ οὕτως ἀνῃρεῖτο. καὶ τὸν Θησέα ἄνδρα πολέμιον λαβὼν ὁ Μίνως ἤγαγε ἐπὶ τὸν τόπον ὡς ἀποθανούμενον· ἡ δὲ Ἀριάδνη προεισπέμπει ξίφος εἰς τὴν εἱρκτήν, ἐν ᾧ ὁ Θησεὺς ἀνεῖλε τὸν Μινώταυρον ***. τοιούτου δὲ τοῦ συμβάματος γενομένου, ἐπὶ τὸ μυθῶδες οἱ ποιηταὶ τὸν λόγον ἐξέτρεψαν.
2. Pasiphae
About Pasiphae the story is told that she fell in love with a bull as it grazed; that Daedalus made a wooden cow and shut Pasiphae inside it; that the bull then mounted and had intercourse with the woman, and that she conceived and gave birth to a child with a man’s body and a bull’s head. But I say this did not happen. First, it is impossible for one animal to desire another when its womb is not similar in its private parts; for a dog and an ape, or a wolf and a hyena, cannot mate with one another, nor an antelope with a deer (for they are of different kinds), nor do creatures that mate across kinds produce offspring. And the bull, I think, would not first of all have coupled with a wooden cow: for all four-footed ⟨animals⟩ sniff the private parts of the other animal before mating, and only then mount it; nor would the woman have endured a bull mounting her, nor can a woman carry an embryo with horns. The truth is this. They say that Minos, who was suffering in his private parts, was cured by Procris, the daughter of Pandion, in return for the little dog and the javelin ⟨that went⟩ to Cephalus. At that time a young man of outstanding beauty, whose name was Taurus, was in the following of Minos. Pasiphae fell in love with him, persuaded him and lay with him, and bore a child by him. Minos, reckoning up the time of his painful illness and realising that the child was not his, since they had not been sleeping together, investigated the matter closely and found out that what had been born was from Taurus. He did not think it right to kill it, because it was thought to be a brother of his children; instead he sent it away to the mountain, so that when it grew up it would be in the position of a servant to the shepherds. When he came to manhood he would not obey the herdsmen. Minos, learning that he was turning up, ordered that he be brought to the city and held: if he followed willingly he was to come unbound, otherwise in bonds. The young man, perceiving this, withdrew into the mountains and lived there by plundering livestock. When Minos sent a larger crowd to seize him, the young man dug a deep pit and shut himself in it. While he was there, at other times they threw sheep and goats in to him, and he lived on them as food; but whenever Minos wanted to punish a man, he sent him in to the one shut up in that chamber, and so the man was killed. Minos also took Theseus, an enemy, and led him to that place to be put to death; but Ariadne sent a sword in ahead into the prison, with which Theseus killed the Minotaur *** . When such an event had happened, the poets twisted the account towards the fabulous.
III. Περὶ Σπαρτῶν
Λόγος τις ἀρχαῖος λέγει ὡς ὁ Κάδμος ὄφιν ἀποκτείνας καὶ ἐκλέξας τοὺς ὀδόντας ἔσπειρεν ἐν τῇ ἰδίᾳ γῇ· ἔπειτα ἐξέφυσαν ἄνδρες τε καὶ ὅπλα. εἰ δὲ τοῦτο ἦν ἀληθές, οὐδεὶς ἀνθρώπων ἄλλο τι ἂν ἔσπειρεν ἢ ὀδόντας ὄφεων· καὶ εἰ μὴ ἐν ἄλλῃ γῇ ἐφύετο, ἀλλ᾽ οὖν τέως ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ γῇ ἐσπείρετο ἐν ᾗ καὶ πρώην ἐφύετο. τὸ ἀληθὲς οὖν ἐστι τοῦτο. Κάδμος ἀνὴρ τὸ γένος Φοῖνιξ ἀφίκετο εἰς Θήβας, πρὸς τὸν ἀδελφὸν Φοίνικα ἁμιλλησόμενος περὶ τῆς βασιλείας. ἦν δὲ βασιλεὺς τότε Θηβῶν Δράκων Ἄρεως παῖς, ἔχων ἄλλα τε πολλὰ ὅσα βασιλεύς, καὶ δὴ καὶ ὀδόντας ἐλεφάντων. τοῦτον δὲ Κάδμος ἀποκτείνας αὐτὸς ἐβασίλευσεν· οἱ δὲ φίλοι τοῦ Δράκοντος ἐπολέμουν αὐτῷ, καὶ οἱ παῖδες αὐτοῦ συνέστησαν τῷ Κάδμῳ. οἱ οὖν φίλοι τοῦ Δράκοντος, ἐπεὶ ἥττονες ἐγένοντο τῇ μάχῃ, ἁρπάσαντες τὰ χρήματα τοῦ Κάδμου καὶ τοὺς ἐλεφαντίνους ὀδόντας κειμένους ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ, ᾤχοντο φεύγοντες εἰς τὴν οἰκείαν· ἄλλοι δὲ ἀλλαχῇ διεσπάρησαν, οἱ μὲν εἰς τὴν Ἀττικήν, οἱ δὲ εἰς τὴν Πελοπόννησον καὶ Φωκίδα καὶ Λοκρίδα. ἐντεῦθεν ὁρμώμενοι ἐπολέμουν τοῖς Θηβαίοις, καὶ ἦσαν ἀργαλέοι πολεμισταί, ὁμόγλωσσοι ὄντες καὶ ἐπιστάμενοι τὰ χωρία. ἐπεὶ οὖν τοὺς ὀδόντας διαρπάσαντες ἔφυγον, ταῦτα ἔλεγον οἱ πολῖται· „τοιαῦτα κακὰ ἡμᾶς ὁ Κάδμος εἰργάσατο Δράκοντα ἀποκτείνας· ἐκ γὰρ τῶν ἐκείνου ὀδόντων πολλοὶ καὶ ἀγαθοὶ ἄνδρες γενόμενοι, σπαρτοὶ καταγωνίζονται ἡμᾶς.“ τούτου τοῦ πράγματος ἀληθινοῦ γενομένου ὁ μῦθος προσανεπλάσθη.
3. The Sown Men
An ancient account says that Cadmus killed a serpent, gathered its teeth and sowed them in his own land, and that then men and weapons sprang up. But if this were true, no human being would sow anything but serpents’ teeth; and if it did not grow in some other land, at least it would still be sown in the land where it had grown before. So the truth is this. Cadmus, a Phoenician by birth, came to Thebes to contend with his brother Phoenix for the kingship. The king of Thebes at that time was Draco, a son of Ares, who had many things that a king has, and among them elephants’ teeth. Cadmus killed him and became king himself; the friends of Draco made war on him, and Draco’s own sons joined forces with Cadmus. So the friends of Draco, when they were beaten in the battle, seized Cadmus’ property and the ivory teeth lying in the temple, and went off in flight to their own country; others were scattered in various directions, some to Attica, others to the Peloponnese, Phocis and Locris. Setting out from there they made war on the Thebans, and they were troublesome fighters, speaking the same language and knowing the country. So when they had plundered the teeth and fled, the citizens said: “Cadmus has done us such harm by killing Draco; for from his teeth many brave men have come, and, being sown men, they are defeating us.” Because this really happened, the myth was added to it.
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