Ἁρπασθείσης Ἰοῦς τῆς Ἀργείας ὑπὸ λῃστῶν, ὁ πατὴρ αὐτῆς Ἴναχος μαστῆράς τε καὶ ἐρευνητὰς ἄλλους καθῆκεν, ἐν δὲ αὐτοῖς Λύρκον τὸν Φορωνέως, ὃς μάλα πολλὴν γῆν ἐπιδραμὼν καὶ πολλὴν θάλασσαν περαιωθείς, τέλος, ὡς οὐχ εὕρισκεν, ἀπεῖπε τὸν κάματον· καὶ εἰς μὲν Ἄργος δεδοικὼς τὸν Ἴναχον οὐ μάλα τι κατῄει, ἀφικόμενος δὲ εἰς Καῦνον πρὸς Αἰγιαλὸν γαμεῖ αὐτοῦ τὴν θυγατέρα Εἱλεβίην· ἔφασαν γὰρ τὴν κόρην ἰδοῦσαν τὸν Λύρκον εἰς ἔρωτα ἐλθεῖν καὶ πολλὰ τοῦ πατρὸς δεηθῆναι κατασχεῖν αὐτόν· ὁ δὲ τῆς τε βασιλείας μοῖραν οὐκ ἐλαχίστην ἀποδασάμενος καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν ὑπαργμάτων γαμβρὸν εἶχεν.
Χρόνου δὲ πολλοῦ προϊόντος ὡς τῷ Λύρκῳ παῖδες οὐκ ἐγίνοντο, ἦλθεν εἰς Διδυμέως χρησόμενος περὶ γονῆς τέκνων· καὶ αὐτῷ θεσπίζει ὁ θεὸς παῖδας φύσειν, ᾗ ἂν ἐκ τοῦ ναοῦ χωρισθεὶς πρώτῃ συγγένηται· ὁ δὲ μάλα γεγηθὼς ἠπείγετο πρὸς τὴν γυναῖκα πειθόμενος κατὰ νοῦν ἂν αὐτῷ χωρήσειν τὸ μαντεῖον.
Ἐπεὶ δὲ πλέων ἀφίκετο ἐς Βύβασσον πρὸς Στάφυλον τὸν Διονύσου, μάλα φιλοφρόνως ἐκεῖνος αὐτὸν ὑποδεχόμενος εἰς πολὺν οἶνον προυτρέψατο, κἀπειδὴ πολλῇ μέθῃ παρεῖτο, συγκατέκλινεν αὐτῷ Ἡμιθέαν τὴν θυγατέρα. Ταῦτα δὲ ἐποίει προπεπυσμένος τὸ τοῦ χρηστηρίου καὶ βουλόμενος ἐκ ταύτης αὐτῷ παῖδας γενέσθαι.
δι’ ἔριδος μέντοι ἐγένοντο Ῥοιώ τε καὶ Ἡμιθέα αἱ τοῦ Σταφύλου τίς αὐτῶν μιχθείη τῷ ξένῳ· τοσοῦτος ἀμφοτέρας κατέσχε πόθος. Λύρκος δὲ ἐπιγνοὺς τῇ ὑστεραίᾳ οἷα ἐδεδράκει καὶ τὴν Ἡμιθέαν ὁρῶν συγκατακεκλιμένην ἐδυσφόρει τε καὶ πολλὰ κατεμέμφετο τὸν Στάφυλον, ὡς ἀπατεῶνα γενόμενον αὐτοῦ· ὕστερον δέ, μηδὲν ἔχων ὅ τι ποιῇ, περιελόμενος τὴν ζώνην δίδωσι τῇ κόρῃ κελεύων ἡβήσαντι τῷ παιδὶ φυλάττειν, ὅπως ἔχῃ γνώρισμα, ὁπόταν ἀφίκοιτο πρὸς τὸν πατέρα αὑτοῦ εἰς Καῦνον, καὶ ἐξέπλευσεν.
Αἰγιαλὸς δὲ ὡς ᾔσθετο τά τε κατὰ τὸ χρηστήριον καὶ τὴν Ἡμιθέαν, ἤλαυνεν τῆς γῆς αὐτόν. Ἔνθα δὴ μάχη συνεχὴς ἦν τοῖς τε τῷ Λύρκῳ προσθεμένοις καὶ τοῖς τὰ Αἰγιαλοῦ φρονοῦσι· μάλιστα δὲ συνεργὸς ἐγίνετο Εἱλεβίη· οὐ γὰρ ἀπεῖπεν τὸν Λύρκον.
Μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἀνδρωθεὶς ὁ ἐξ Ἡμιθέας καὶ Λύρκου ʽΒασίλος αὐτῷ ὄνομἀ ἦλθεν εἰς τὴν Καυνίαν, καὶ αὐτὸν γνωρίσας ὁ Λύρκος ἤδη γηραιὸς ὢν ἡγεμόνα καθίστησι τῶν σφετέρων λαῶν.
From the Lyrcus of Nicaenetus and the Caunus of Apollonius Rhodius
1. When Io, daughter of the King of Argos, had been captured by brigands, her father Inachus sent several men to search for her and attempt to find her. One of these was Lyrcus the son of Phoroneus, who covered a vast deal of land and sea without finding the girl, and finally renounced the toilsome quest: but he was too much afraid of Inachus to return to Argos, and went instead to Caunus, where he married Hilebia, daughter of King Aegialus, 2. who, as the story goes, had fallen in love with Lyrcus as soon as she saw him, and by her instant prayers had persuaded her father to betroth her to him; he gave him as dowry a good share of the realm and of the rest of the regal attributes, and accepted him as his son-in-law. So a considerable period of time passed, but Lyrcus and his wife had no children: and accordingly he made a journey to the oracle at Didyma, to ask how he might obtain offspring; and the answer was, that he would beget a child upon the first woman with whom he should have to do after leaving the shrine. 3. At this he was mightily pleased, and began to hasten on his homeward journey back to his wife, sure that the prediction was going to be fulfilled according to his wish; but on his voyage, when he arrived at Bybastus, he was entertained by Staphylus, the son of Dionysus, who received him in the most friendly manner and enticed him to much drinking of wine, and then, when his senses were dulled by drunkenness, united him with his own daughter Hemithea, having had previous intimation of what the sentence of the oracle had been, and desiring to have descendants born of her: but actually a bitter strife arose between Rhoeo and Hemithea, the two daughters of Staphylus, as to which should have the guest, for a great desire for him had arisen in the breasts of both of them. 5. On the next morning Lyrcus discovered the trap that his host had laid for him, when he saw Hemithea by his side: he was exceedingly angry, and upbraided Staphylus violently for his treacherous conduct; but finally, seeing that there was nothing to be done, he took off his belt and gave it to the girl, bidding her to keep it until their future offspring had come to man’s estate, so that he might possess a token by which he might be recognised, if he should ever come to his father at Caunus: and so he sailed away home. 6. Aegialus, however, when he heard the whole story about the oracle and about Hemithea, banished him from his country; and there was then a war of great length between the partisans of Lyrcus and those of Aegialus: Hilebia was on the side of the former, for she refused to repudiate her husband. In after years the son of Lyrcus and Hemithea, whose name was Basilus, came, when he was a grown man, to the Caunian land; and Lyrcus, now an old man, recognized him as his son, and made him ruler over his peoples.
Ὀδυσσεὺς ἀλώμενος περὶ Σικελίαν καὶ τὴν Τυρρηνῶν καὶ τὴν Σικελῶν θάλασσαν ἀφίκετο πρὸς Αἰόλον εἰς Μελιγουνίδα νῆσον, ὃς αὐτὸν κατὰ κλέος σοφίας τεθηπὼς ἐν πολλῇ φροντίδι εἶχεν· τὰ δὲ περὶ Τροίας ἅλωσιν καὶ ὃν τρόπον αὐτοῖς ἐσκεδάσθησαν αἱ νῆες κομιζομένοις ἀπὸ τῆς Ἰλίου διεπυνθάνετο, ξενίζων τε αὐτὸν πολὺν χρόνον διῆγε.
Τῷ δ’ ἄρα καὶ αὐτῷ ἦν ἡ μονὴ ἡδομένῳ· Πολυμήλη γάρ, τῶν Αἰολίδων τις, ἐρασθεῖσα αὐτοῦ κρύφα συνῆν. Ὡς δὲ τοὺς ἀνέμους ἐγκεκλεισμένους παραλαβὼν ἀπέπλευσεν, ἡ κόρη φωρᾶταί τινα τῶν Τρωϊκῶν λαφύρων ἔχουσα καὶ τούτοις μετὰ πολλῶν δακρύων ἐναλινδουμένη.
Ἔνθα δὴ ὁ Αἰόλος τὸν μὲν Ὀδυσσέα καίπερ οὐ παρόντα ἐκάκισεν, τὴν δὲ Πολυμήλην ἐν νῷ ἔσχεν τίσασθαι. Ἔτυχεν δὲ αὐτῆς ἠρασμένος ὁ ἀδελφὸς Διώρης, ὃς αὐτὴν παραιτεῖταί τε καὶ πείθει τὸν πατέρα αὐτῷ συνοικίσαι.
From the Hermes of Philetas.
1. While Ulysses was on his wanderings round about Sicily, in the Etruscan and Sicilian seas, he arrived at the island of Meligunis, where King Aeolus made much of him because of the great admiration he had for him by reason of his famous wisdom: he inquired of him about the capture of Troy and how the ships of the returning heroes were scattered, and he entertained him well and kept him with him for a long time. 2. Now, as it fell out, this stay was most agreeable to Ulysses, for he had fallen in love with Polymela, one of Aeolus’s daughters, and was engaged in a secret intrigue with her. But after Ulysses had gone off with the winds shut up in a bag, the girl was found jealously guarding some stuffs from among the Trojan spoils which he had given her, and rolling among them with bitter tears. Aeolus reviled Ulysses bitterly although he was away, and had the intention of exacting vengeance upon Polymela; however, her brother Diores was in love with her, and both begged her off her punishment and persuaded his father to give her to him as his wife.
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