περὶ δὲ Καύνου καὶ Βυβλίδος, τῶν Μιλήτου παίδων, διαφόρως ἱστορεῖται. Νικαίνετος μὲν γάρ φησι τὸν Καῦνον ἐρασθέντα τῆς ἀδελφῆς, ὡς οὐκ ἔληγε τοῦ πάθους, ἀπολιπεῖν τὴν οἰκίαν καὶ ὁδεύσαντα πόρρω τῆς οἰκείας χώρας πόλιν τε κτίσαι καὶ τοὺς ἀπεσκεδασμένους τότε Ἴωνας ἐνοικίσαι· λέγει δὲ ἔπεσι τοῖσδε· αὐτὰρ ὅ γε προτέρωσε κιὼν Οἰκούσιον ἄστυ κτίσσατο, Τραγασίῃ δὲ Κελαινοῦς εἴχετο παιδί, ἥ οἱ Καῦνον ἔτικτεν ἀεὶ φιλέοντα θέμιστας· γείνατο δὲ ῥαδαλῇς ἐναλίγκιον ἀρκεύθοισι Βυβλίδα, τῆς ἤτοι ἀέκων ἠράσσατο Καῦνος. βῆ δεφερένδιος φεύγων ὀφιώδεα Κύπρον καὶ Κάπρος ὑλιγενὲς καὶ Κάρια ἱρὰ λοετρά· ἔνθ’ ἤτοι πτολίεθρον ἐδείματο πρῶτος Ἰώνων. αὐτὴ δὲ γνωτή, ὀλολυγόνος οἶτον ἔχουσα, Βυβλὶς ἀποπρὸ πυλῶν Καύνου ὠδύρατο νόστον.
οἱ δὲ πλείους τὴν Βυβλίδα φασὶν ἐρασθεῖσαν τοῦ Καύνου λόγους αὐτῷ προσφέρειν καὶ δεῖσθαι μὴ περιιδεῖν αὐτὴν εἰς πᾶν κακοῦ προελθοῦσαν· ἀποστυγήσαντα δὲ οὕτως τὸν Καῦνον περαιωθῆναι εἰς τὴν τότε ὑπὸ Λελέγων κατεχομένην γῆν, ἔνθα κρήνη Ἐχενηίς, πόλιν τε κτίσαι τὴν ἀπ’ αὐτοῦ κληθεῖσαν Καῦνον· τὴν δὲ ἄρα ὑπὸ τοῦ πάθους μὴ ἀνιεμένην, πρὸς δὲ καὶ δοκοῦσαν αἰτίαν γεγονέναι Καύνῳ τῆς ἀπαλλαγῆς, ἀναψαμένην ἀπό τινος δρυὸς τὴν μίτραν ἐνθεῖναι τὸν τράχηλον. λέγεται δὲ καὶ παρ’ ἡμῖν οὕτως· ἡ δ’ ὅτε δὴ ὀλοοῖο κασιγνήτου νόον ἔγνω, κλαῖεν ἀηδονίδων θαμινώτερον, αἵτ’ ἐνὶ βήσσῃς Σιθονίῳ κούρῳ πέρι μυρίον αἰάζουσιν· καί ῥα κατὰ στυφελοῖο σαρωνίδος αὐτίκα μίτρην ἁψαμένη, δειρὴν ἐνεθήκατο, ταὶ δ’ ἐπ’ ἐκείνῃ βεύδεα παρθενικαὶ Μιλησίδες ἐρρήξαντο. φασὶ δέ τινες καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν δακρύων κρήνην ῥυῆναι ἰδίᾳ τὴν καλουμένην Βυβλίδα.
From Aristocritus’ History of Miletus and the Foundation of Caunus by Apollonius of Rhodes
1. There are various forms of the story about Caunus and Byblis, the children of Miletus. Nicaenetus says that Caunus fell in love with his sister, and, being unable to rid himself of his passion, left his home and travelled far from his native land: he there founded a city to be inhabited by the scattered Ionian people. 2. Nicaenetus speaks of him thus in his epic:—
Further he fared and there the Oecusian town / Founded, and took to wife Tragasia, / Celaeneus’ daughter, who twain children bare: / First Caunus, lover of right and law, and then / Fair Byblis, whom men likened to the tall junipers. / Caunus was smitten, all against his will, / With love for Byblis; straightway left his home, / And fled beyond Dia: Cyprus did he shun, / The land of snakes, and wooded Capros too, / And Caria’s holy streams; and then, his goal / Once reached, he built a township, first of all / The Ionians. But his sister far away, / Poor Byblis, to an owl divinely changed, / Still sat without Miletus’ gates, and wailed / For Caunus to return, which might not be.
3. However, most authors say that Byblis fell in love with Caunus, and made proposals to him, begging him not to stand by and see the sight of her utter misery. He was horrified at what she said, and crossed over to the country then inhabited by the Leleges, where the spring Echeneis rises, and there founded the city called Caunus after himself. She, as her passion did not abate, and also because she blamed herself for Caunus’ exile, tied the fillets of her head-dress to an oak, and so made a noose for her neck. 4. The following are my own lines on the subject:—
She, when she knew her brother’s cruel heart, / Plained louder than the nightingales in the groves / Who weep for ever the Sithonian lad; / Then to a rough oak tied her snood, and made / A strangling noose, and laid therein her neck: / For her Milesian virgins rent their robes.
Some also say that from her tears sprang a stream called after her name, Byblis.
Λέγεται δὲ καὶ Κίρκης, πρὸς ἣν Ὀδυσσεὺς ἦλθε, Δαύνιόν τινα Κάλχον ἐρασθέντα τήν τε βασιλείαν ἐπιτρέπειν τὴν Δαυνίων αὐτῇ καὶ ἄλλα πολλὰ μειλίγματα παρέχεσθαι· τὴν δὲ ὑποκαομένην Ὀδυσσέως ʽτότε γὰρ ἐτύγχανε παρὼν’ ἀποστυγεῖν τε αὐτὸν καὶ κωλύειν ἐπιβαίνειν τῆς νήσου.
Ἐπεὶ μέντοι οὐκ ἀνίει φοιτῶν καὶ διὰ στόμα ἔχων τὴν Κίρκην, μάλα ἀχθεσθεῖσα ὑπέρχεται αὐτόν, καὶ αὐτίκα εἰσκαλεσαμένη τράπεζαν αὐτῷ παντοδαπῆς θοίνης πλήσασα παρατίθησιν· ἦν δ’ ἄρα φαρμάκων ἀνάπλεω τὰ ἐδέσματα, φαγών τε ὁ Κάλχος εὐθέως παραπλὴξ γίνεται, καὶ αὐτὸν ἤλασεν ἐς συφεούς. Ἐπεὶ μέντοι μετὰ χρόνον Δαύνιος στρατὸς ἐπῄει τῇ νήσῳ ζήτησιν ποιούμενος τοῦ Κάλχου, μεθίησιν αὐτόν, πρότερον ὁρκίοις καταδησαμένη, μὴ ἀφίξεσθαί ποτε εἰς τὴν νῆσον μήτε μνηστείας μήτε ἄλλου του χάριν.
1. The story is that Calchus the Daunian was greatly in love with Circe, the same to whom Ulysses came. He handed over to her his kingship over the Daunians, and employed all possible blandishments to gain her love; but she felt a passion for Ulysses, who was then with her, and loathed Calchus and forbade him to land on her island. 2. However, he would not stop coming, and could talk of nothing but Circe, and she, being extremely angry with him, laid a snare for him and had no sooner invited him into her palace but she set before him a table covered with all manner of dainties. But the meats were full of magical drugs, and as soon as Calchus had eaten of them, he was stricken mad, and she drove him into the pig-styes. 3. After a certain time, however, the Daunians’ army landed on the island to look for Calchus; and she then released him from the enchantment, first binding him by oath that he would never set foot on the island again, either to woo her or for any other purpose.
Κλύμενος δὲ ὁ Τελέως ἐν Ἄργει γήμας Ἐπικάστην γεννᾷ παῖδας ἄρρενας μὲν Ἴδαν καὶ Θήραγρον, θυγατέρα δὲ Ἁρπαλύκην πολύ τι τῶν ἡλίκων θηλειῶν κάλλει διαφέρουσαν.
Ταύτης εἰς ἔρωτα ἐλθὼν χρόνον μέν τινα ἐκαρτέρει καὶ περιῆν τοῦ παθήματος· ὡς δὲ πολὺ μᾶλλον αὐτὸν ὑπέρρει τὸ νόσημα, τότε διὰ τῆς τροφοῦ κατεργασάμενος τὴν κόρην λαθραίως αὐτῇ συνῆλθεν.
Ἐπεὶ μέντοι γάμου καιρὸς ἦν καὶ παρῆν Ἀλάστωρ, εἷς τῶν Νειλειδῶν, ἀξόμενος αὐτήν, ᾧ καθωμολόγητο, παραχρῆμα μὲν ἐνεχείρισε, πάνυ λαμπροὺς γάμους δαίσας· μεταγνοὺς δὲ οὐ πολὺ ὕστερον διὰ τὸ ἔκφρων εἶναι μεταθεῖ τὸν Ἀλάστορα, καὶ περὶ μέσην ὁδὸν αὐτῶν ἤδη ὄντων, ἀφαιρεῖται τὴν κόρην, ἀγαγόμενός τε εἰς Ἄργος ἀναφανδὸν αὐτῇ ἐμίσγετο.
Ἡ δὲ δεινὰ καὶ ἔκνομα πρὸς τοῦ πατρὸς δόξασα πεπονθέναι τὸν νεώτερον ἀδελφὸν κατακόπτει, καί τινος ἑορτῆς καὶ θυσίας παρ’ Ἀργείοις τελουμένης, ἐν ᾗ δημοσίᾳ πάντες εὐωχοῦνται, τότε σκευάσασα τὰ κρέα τοῦ παιδὸς παρατίθησι τῷ πατρί.
Καὶ ταῦτα δράσασα αὐτὴ μὲν εὐξαμένη θεοῖς ἐξ ἀνθρώπων ἀπαλλαγῆναι μεταβάλλει τὴν ὄψιν εἰς χαλκίδα ὄρνιν· Κλύμενος δέ, ὡς ἔννοιαν ἔλαβε τῶν συμφορῶν, διαχρῆται ἑαυτόν.
From the Thrax of Euphorion and from Dectadas.
1. Clymenus the son of Teleus at Argos married Epicasta and had two sons, who were called Idas and Therager, and a daughter, Harpalyce, who was far the most beautiful woman of her time. Clymenus was seized with love for her. For a time he held out and had the mastery of his passion; but it came over him again with increased force, and he then acquainted the girl of his feelings through her nurse, and consorted with her secretly. 2. However, the time arrived when she was ripe for marriage, and Alastor, one of the race of Neleus, to whom she had previously been betrothed, had come to wed her. Clymenus handed her over to him without hesitation, and celebrated the marriage in magnificent style. 3. But after no long period his madness induced him to change his mind; he hurried after Alastor, caught the pair of them when they were half-way on their journey, seized the girl, took her back to Argos, and there lived with her openly as his wife. Feeling that she had received cruel and flagitious treatment at her father’s hands, she killed and cut in pieces her younger brother, and when there was a festival and sacrifice being celebrated among the people of Argos at which they all feast at a public banquet, she cooked the boy’s flesh and set it as meat before her father. 4. This done, she prayed Heaven that she might be translated away from among mankind, and she was transformed into the bird called the Chalcis. Clymenus when he began to reflect on all these disasters that had happened to his family, took his own life.
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