Ἐλέχθη δὲ καὶ περὶ Λαοδίκης ὅδ’ ὁ λόγος, ὡς ἄρα παραγενομένων ἐπὶ Ἑλένης ἀπαίτησιν Διομήδους καὶ Ἀκάμαντος πολλὴν ἐπιθυμίαν εἶχεν μιγῆναι παντάπασι νέῳ ὄντι Ἀκάμαντι· καὶ μέχρι μέν τινος ὑπ’ αἰδοῦς κατέχεσθαι, ὕστερον δὲ νικωμένην ὑπὸ τοῦ πάθους ἀνακοινώσασθαι Περσέως γυναικὶ ʽΦιλοβίη αὐτῇ ὄνομἀ παρακαλεῖν τε αὐτὴν ὅσον οὐκ ἤδη διοιχομένῃ ἀρήγειν αὐτῇ.
Κατοικτείρουσα δὲ τὴν συμφορὰν τῆς κόρης δεῖται τοῦ Περσέως ὅπως συνεργὸς αὐτῇ γένηται, ἐκέλευέ τε ξενίαν καὶ φιλότητα τίθεσθαι πρὸς τὸν Ἀκάμαντα. Περσεὺς δὲ τὸ μὲν καὶ τῇ γυναικὶ βουλόμενος ἁρμόδιος εἶναι, τὸ δὲ καὶ τὴν Λαοδίκην οἰκτείρων, πάσῃ μηχανῇ τὸν Ἀκάμαντα εἰς Δάρδανον ἀφικέσθαι πείθει ʽκαθίστατο γὰρ ὕπαρχος τοῦ χωρίοὐ, ἦλθε δὲ καὶ Λαοδίκη ὡς εἰς ἑορτήν τινα σὺν ἄλλαις τῶν Τρῳάδων ἔτι παρθένος οὖσα.
Ἔνθα δὴ παντοδαπὴν θοίνην ἑτοιμασάμενος συγκατακλίνει καὶ τὴν Λαοδίκην αὐτῷ, φάμενος μίαν εἶναι τῶν τοῦ βασιλέως παλλακίδων. Καὶ Λαοδίκη μὲν οὕτως ἐξέπλησε τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν, χρόνου δὲ προϊόντος γίνεται τῷ Ἀκάμαντι υἱὸς Μούνιτος ὃν ὑπ’ Αἴθρᾳ τραφέντα μετὰ Τροίας ἅλωσιν διεκόμισεν ἐπ’ οἴκου· καὶ αὐτὸν θηρεύοντα ἐν Ὀλύνθῳ τῆς Θράκης ὄφις ἀνεῖλεν.
From the first book of the Palleniaca of Hegesippus
1. It was told of Laodice that, when Diomede and Acamas came to ask for the restoration of Helen, she was seized with the strongest desire to have to do with the latter, who was still in his first youth. For a time shame and modesty kept her back; but afterwards, overcome by the violence of her passion, she acquainted Philobia, the wife of Perseus, with the state of her affections, and implored her to come to her rescue before she perished utterly for love. 2. Philobia was sorry for the girl’s plight, and asked Perseus to do what he could to help, suggesting that he should come to terms of hospitality and friendship with Acamas. He, both because he desired to be agreeable to his wife and because he pitied Laodice, spared no pains to induce Acamas to come to Dardanus, where he was governor: 3. and Laodice, still a virgin, also came, together with other Trojan women, as if to a festival. Perseus there made ready a most sumptuous banquet, and, when it was over, he put Laodice to sleep by the side of Acamas, telling him that she was one of the royal concubines. 4. Thus Laodice accomplished her desire; and in due course of time a son, called Munitus, was born to Acamas by her. He was brought up by Aethra, and after the capture of Troy Acamas took him home with him; later, he was killed by the bite of a snake while hunting in Olynthus in Thrace.
λέγεται δὲ καὶ Περίανδρον τὸν Κορίνθιον τὴν μὲν ἀρχὴν ἐπιεικῆ τε καὶ πρᾶον εἶναι, ὕστερον δὲ φονικώτατον γενέσθαι δι’ αἰτίαν τήνδε. ἡ μήτηρ αὐτοῦ κομιδῇ νέου πολλῷ πόθῳ κατείχετο, καὶ τέως μὲν ἀνεπίμπλατο τῆς ἐπιθυμίας περιπλεκομένη τῷ παιδί· προϊόντος δὲ τοῦ χρόνου τὸ πάθος ἐπὶ μεῖζον ηὔξετο, καὶ κατέχειν τὴν νόσον οὐκέτι οἵα τε ἦν, ἕως ἀποτολμήσασα προσφέρει λόγους τῷ παιδὶ ὡς αὐτοῦ γυνή τις ἐρῴη τῶν πάνυ καλῶν, παρεκάλει τε αὐτὸν μὴ περιορᾶν αὐτὴν περαιτέρω καταξαινομένην.
Ὁ δὲ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον οὐκ ἔφη φθερεῖν ἐζευγμένην γυναῖκα ὑπό τε νόμων καὶ ἐθῶν, λιπαρῶς δὲ προσκειμένης τῆς μητρὸς συγκατατίθεται. Κἀπειδὴ νὺξ ἐπῆλθεν, εἰς ἣν ἐτέτακτο τῷ παιδί, προυδήλωσεν αὐτῷ μήτε λύχνα φαίνειν ἐν τῷ θαλάμῳ, μήτε ἀνάγκην αὐτῇ ἐπάγειν πρὸς τὸ διαλεχθῆναί τι· ἐπιπροσθεῖσθαι γὰρ αὐτὴν ὑπ’ αἰδοῦς.
Καθομολογησαμένου δὲ τοῦ Περιάνδρου πάντα ποιήσειν κατὰ τὴν ὑφήγησιν τῆς μητρός, ὡς ὅτι κράτιστα αὑτὴν ἀσκήσασα εἰσέρχεται παρὰ τὸν παῖδα, καὶ πρὶν ἢ ὑποφαίνειν ἕω λαθραίως ἔξεισιν.
Τῇ δ’ ὑστεραίᾳ ἀναπυνθανομένης αὐτῆς εἰ κατὰ νοῦν αὐτῷ γένοιτο καὶ εἰ αὖτις θέλοι αὐτὴν παρ’ αὐτὸν ἀφικέσθαι, ὁ Περίανδρος σπουδάζειν τε ἔφη καὶ ἡσθῆναι οὐ μετρίως. Ὡς δὲ ἐκ τούτου οὐκ ἀνίει φοιτῶσα πρὸς τὸν παῖδα καί τις καὶ ἔρως ὑπῄει τὸν Περίανδρον, ἤδη σπουδὴν ἐτίθετο γνωρίσαι τὴν ἄνθρωπον ἥτις ἦν.
Καὶ ἕως μέν τινος ἐδεῖτο τῆς μητρὸς ἐξικετεῦσαι ἐκείνην ὅπως τε εἰς λόγους αὐτῷ ἀφίκοιτο κἀπειδὴ εἰς πολὺν πόθον ἐπαγάγοιτο αὐτόν, δήλη ποτὲ γένοιτο· νυνὶ δὲ παντάπασι πρᾶγμα ἄγνωμον πάσχειν διὰ τὸ μὴ ἐφίεσθαι αὐτῷ καθορᾶν τὴν ἐκ πολλοῦ χρόνου συνοῦσαν αὐτῷ· ἐπεὶ δὲ ἡ μήτηρ ἀπεῖργεν αἰτιωμένη τὴν αἰσχύνην τῆς γυναικός, κελεύει τινὰ τῶν ἀμφ’ αὑτὸν οἰκετῶν λύχνα κατακρύψαι.
Τῆς δὲ κατὰ τὸ σύνηθες ἀφικομένης καὶ μελλούσης κατακλίνεσθαι, ἀναδραμὼν ὁ Περίανδρος ἀναίρει τὸ φῶς, καὶ κατιδὼν τὴν μητέρα ὥρμησεν ἐπὶ τὸ διεργάσασθαι αὐτήν· κατασχεθεὶς δὲ ὑπό τινος δαιμονίου φαντάσματος ἀπετράπετο, κἀκ τούτου παραπλὴξ ἦν νοῦ τε καὶ φρενῶν κατέσκηψέ τε εἰς ὠμότητα καὶ πολλοὺς ἀπέσφαξε τῶν πολιτῶν· ἡ δὲ μήτηρ πολλὰ κατολοφυραμένη τὸν ἑαυτῆς δαίμονα, ἀνεῖλεν ἑαυτήν.
1. It is said that Periander of Corinth began by being reasonable and mild, but afterwards became a bloody tyrant: and this is the reason of the change. When he was quite young, his mother was seized with a great passion of love for him, and for a time she satisfied her feelings by constantly embracing the lad; 2. but as time went on her passion increased and she could no longer control it, so that she took a reckless resolve and went to the lad with a story that she made up, to the effect that a lady of great beauty was in love with him; and she exhorted him not to allow the poor woman to waste away any more for unrequited love. 3. At first Periander said he would not betray a woman who was bound to her husband by all the sanctions of law and custom, but, at the urgent insistence of his mother, he yielded at last. Then, when the pre-arranged night was at hand, she told him that there must be no light in the chamber, nor must he compel his partner to address any word to him, for she made this additional request by reason of shame. 4. Periander promised to carry out all his mother’s instructions; she then prepared herself with all care and went in to the youth, slipping out secretly before the first gleam of dawn. The next day she asked him if all had gone to his taste, and if he would like the woman to come again; to which Periander answered that he would like it particularly, and that he had derived no little pleasure from the experience. 5. From that time onward she thus visited the lad constantly. But he began to feel real love for his visitant, and became desirous of knowing who she really was. For a time then he kept asking his mother to implore the woman to consent to speak to him, and that, since she had now enmeshed him in a strong passion, she should at last reveal herself: for as things stood, he found it extremely distasteful that he was never allowed to see the woman who had been consorting with him for so long a time. 6. But when his mother refused, alleging the shame felt by the woman, he bade one of his body-servants conceal a light in the chamber; and when she came as usual, and was about to lay herself down, Periander jumped up and revealed the light: and when he saw that it was his mother, he made as if to kill her. 7. However, he was restrained by a heaven-sent apparition, and desisted from his purpose, but from that time on he was a madman, afflicted in brain and heart; he fell into habits of savagery, and slaughtered many of the citizens of Corinth. His mother, after long and bitterly bewailing her evil fate, made away with herself.
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