ἐν τῷ Πελοποννησιακῷ πολέμῳ Πεισίστρατος Ὀρχομένιος τοὺς μὲν εὐγενεῖς ἐμίσει, τοὺς δʼ εὐτελεῖς ἐφίλει. ἐβουλεύσαντο δὲ οἱ ἐν τῇ βουλῇ φονεῦσαι, καὶ διακόψαντες αὐτὸν εἰς τοὺς κόλπους ἔβαλον, καὶ τὴν γῆν ἔξυσαν. ὁ δὲ δημότης ὄχλος ὑπόνοιαν λαβὼν ἔδραμεν εἰς τὴν βουλήν. ὁ δὲ νεώτερος υἱὸς τοῦ βασιλέως Τλησίμαχος εἰδὼς τὴν συνωμοσίαν ἀπὸ τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἀπέσπασε τὸν ὄχλον, εἰπὼν ἑωρακέναι τὸν πατέρα μεθʼ ὁρμῆς εἰς τὸ Πισαῖον ὄρος φέρεσθαι, μείζονα μορφὴν ἀνθρώπου κεκτημένον. καὶ οὕτως ἠπατήθη ὁ ὄχλος· ὡς Θεόφιλος ἐν δευτέρῳ Πελοποννησιακῶν. διὰ τοὺς ἀστυγείτονας πολέμους ἡ σύγκλητος τῶν Ῥωμαίων τοῦ δήμου τὸ σιτόμετρον ἦρε· Ῥωμύλος δὲ ὁ βασιλεὺς βαρέως ἐνεγκὼν τῷ δήμῳ ἀπέδωκε· πολλοὺς δὲ τῶν μειζόνων ἐκόλαζεν. οἱ δὲ φονεύσαντες αὐτὸν ἐν τῇ συγκλήτῳ βουλῇ καὶ διακόψαντες εἰς τοὺς κόλπους ἔβαλον. Ῥωμαῖοι δὲ μετὰ πυρὸς εἰς τὴν σύγκλητον ἔδραμον. αἴτιος δὲ Πρόκλος τῶν ἐπισήμων ἀνὴρ εἶπε τὸν Ῥωμύλον ἐν ὄρει ἑωρακέναι μείζονα παντὸς ἀνθρώπου θεὸν γεγενῆσθαι. Ῥωμαῖοι δὲ πιστεύσαντες ἀνεχώρησαν· ὡς Ἀριστόβουλος ἐν τρίτῳ Ἰταλικῶν.
In the time of the Peloponnesian war, Pisistratus an Orchomenian had a spite at the nobility, and to make himself popular, favored the common people. The Senate conspired against him, and treacherously killed him, cutting him into small gobbets which they carried away with them in their bosoms, and paring off the surface of the ground that no signs of the murder might appear. The common people, however, upon a jealousy of the matter, went tumultuously to the senate house; but the king’s younger son Telesimachus that was dipped in the conspiracy, diverted them with a sham story, telling them that he himself had seen his father in a form more than human, walking as lively as was possible up the Pisaean mountain. And so he imposed upon the people.—Theophilus’s Second Book of Peloponnesian Histories.
The Senate of Rome, being hard put to it for the maintaining of a war with so many of their neighbors, thought it good husbandry to shorten the people’s allowance of corn, which Romulus the king took very ill; and not only did he restore it to the people, but several great men were punished for it. Upon this he was murdered in the Senate by a conspiracy of the nobles, who cut him all to pieces, and carried them severally away in the lappets of their garments. The Romans came to the senate house in a hurry, and brought fire with them to set all in a flame; but Julius Proculus, one that was in the plot, told them that he saw Romulus upon a mountain, of a size larger than any man, and that he was translated into the number of the Gods. The Romans believed him, and quietly withdrew.—Aristobulus, in the Third Book of his History of Italy.
Πέλοψ Ταντάλου καὶ Εὐρυανάσσης γήμας Ἱπποδάμειαν ἔσχεν Ἀτρέα καὶ Θυέστην· ἐκ δὲ Δαναΐδος νύμφης Χρύσιππον, ὃν πλέον τῶν γνησίων ἔστερξε. Λάιος δὲ ὁ Θηβαῖος ἐπιθυμήσας ἥρπασεν αὐτόν. καὶ συλληφθεὶς ὑπὸ Θυέστου καὶ Ἀτρέως ἐλέους ἔτυχε παρὰ Πέλοπος διὰ τὸν ἔρωτα. Ἱπποδάμεια δʼ ἀνέπειθεν Ἀτρέα καὶ Θυέστην ἀναιρεῖν αὐτόν, εἰδυῖα ἔσεσθαι ἔφεδρον βασιλείας. τῶν δʼ ἀρνησαμένων, αὐτὴ τῷ μύσει τὰς χεῖρας ἔχρισε. νυκτὸς γὰρ βαθείας κοιμωμένου Λαΐου, τὸ ξίφος ἑλκύσασα καὶ τρώσασα τὸν Χρύσιππον ἐγκαταπήγνυσι τὸ ξίφος. ὑπονοηθεὶς δὲ ὁ Λάιος διὰ τὸ ξίφος ῥύεται ὑπὸ ἡμιθνῆτος τοῦ Χρυσίππου τὴν ἀλήθειαν ὁμολογήσαντος· ὁ δὲ θάψας τὴν Ἱπποδάμειαν ἐξώρισεν· ὡς Δοσίθεος ἐν Πελοπίδαις. Ἤβιος Τολίειξ γήμας Νουκερίαν ἔσχε δύο παῖδας ἐκ ταύτης. ἔσχε δὲ καὶ ἐξ ἀπελευθέρας κάλλει περίβλεπτον Φίρμον, ὃν τῶν γνησίων μᾶλλον ἔστεργε. ἡ δὲ Νουκερία πρὸς τὸν πρόγονον μισοπονήρως διακειμένη τοὺς παῖδας ἀνέπειθεν αὐτὸν ἀναιρεῖν. τῶν δʼ εὐσεβῶς ἀνανευσάντων, αὐτὴ τὸν φόνον ἐνήργησε, καὶ νυκτὸς τοῦ σωματοφύλακος τὸ ξίφος ἑλκύσασα καιρίως ἔτρωσε τὸν κοιμώμενον, ἐγκαταλιποῦσα τὸ ξίφος. τοῦ δὲ σωματοφύλακος ὑποπτευθέντος, ὁ παῖς τὴν ἀλήθειαν λέγει. ὁ δὲ τοῦτον θάψας τὴν γυναῖκα ἐφυγάδευσεν· ὡς Δοσίθεος ἐν τρίτῳ Ἰταλικῶν.
Pelops the son of Tantalus and Euryanassa, had two children, Atreus and Thyestes, by his wife Hippodamia; and by the Nymph Danais he had Chrysippus, whom he loved better than his lawful children. But Laius the Theban in the heat of his lust forcibly abused his body; and being taken by Atreus and Thyestes, obtained his pardon from Pelops, in regard that love had provoked him to it. Hippodamia’s advice to Atreus and Thyestes was, that they should kill Chrysippus, as one that would interpose between them and the crown. Upon their refusal to do so base a thing, she herself put her own hands to the work, and in the dead of the night took Laius’s sword when he was asleep, wounded Chrysippus with it, and left the weapon in his body. This circumstance of Laius’s sword brought him into suspicion of the murder, till he was cleared by Chrysippus himself, who, being as yet but half dead, gave his testimony to the truth. Pelops buried his son, and then banished his wife.—Dositheus, in his Pelopidae.
Ebius Toliex had two sons by his wife Nuceria, and a third called Firmus by an enfranchised woman, who was very handsome and better beloved by the father than those that were legitimate. Nuceria that hated this by-blow, advised her sons to despatch Firmus; but upon their refusal, she did it herself; and in the dead of the night got the sword of him that guarded the body of Firmus, gave him a mortal wound, and left the weapon sticking in his body. The boy cleared his keeper by a particular account of the matter of fact; the father buried his son, and sent away his wife into banishment.—Dositheus, Book Third of his Italian History.
Θησεύς ταῖς ἀληθείαις παῖς Ποσειδῶνος, ἔχων δʼ ἐξ Ἱππολύτης Ἀμαζόνος Ἱππόλυτον, ἐπέγημε μητρυιὰν Φαίδραν τὴν Μίνωος, ἥτις τοῦ προγόνου εἰς ἐπιθυμίαν ἐμπεσοῦσα τὴν τροφὸν ἔπεμψεν· ὁ δὲ καταλείψας Ἀθήνας καὶ εἰς Τροιζῆνα παραγενόμενος κυνηγεσίαις προσανέκειτο. τῆς δὲ προαιρέσεως ἡ ἀσελγὴς ἀποτυχοῦσα ψευδεῖς κατὰ τοῦ σώφρονος ἐπιστολὰς ἐχάραξε καὶ βρόχῳ τὸ ζῆν ἀνήρτησε. Θησεὺς δὲ πιστεύσας ᾐτήσατο παρὰ Ποσειδῶνος ἀπολέσθαι τὸν Ἱππόλυτον, ἐκ τῶν τριῶν εὐχῶν ἃς εἶχε παρʼ αὐτοῦ. ὁ δὲ παρʼ αἰγιαλὸν ἐπὶ ἅρματος τυχόντι ταῦρον ἔπεμψε καὶ ἐπτόησε τοὺς ἵππους, οἳ συνέτριψαν τὸν Ἱππόλυτον. Κομμίνιος Σοῦπερ Λαυρεντῖνος ἔχων υἱὸν ἐξ Ἐγερίας νύμφης Κομμίνιον ἐπήγαγε μητρυιὰν Γινδίκαν· ἥτις ἐρασθεῖσα τοῦ προγόνου καὶ ἀποτυχοῦσα βρόχῳ κατέστρεψε τὸν βίον, ἐπιστολὰς καταλείψασα ψευδεῖς. ὁ δὲ Κομμίνιος ἀναγνοὺς τὰ ἐγκλήματα καὶ τῷ ζήλῳ πιστεύσας ἐπεκαλέσατο τὸν Ποσειδῶνα. ὁ δὲ τῷ παιδὶ ἐπὶ ἅρματος ὀχουμένῳ ταῦρον ἔδειξε, καὶ οἱ ἵπποι τὸν νέον σύραντες ἀπώλεσαν· ὡς Δοσίθεος ἐν τρίτῳ Ἰταλικῶν.
Theseus, the true son of Neptune, had Hippolytus by the Amazon Hippolyta, and afterward married Phaedra the daughter of Minos, who fell deep in love with Hippolytus, and made use of the nurse’s mediation to help forward the incest. But Hippolytus upon this left Athens and went away to Troezen, where he diverted himself with hunting. Now this lascivious woman, finding her design disappointed, forged several scandalous letters to the prejudice of the chaste young man, and ended her days with a halter. Theseus gave credit to the slander, and Neptune having promised him a grant of any three things he would ask, he made it his request that he would destroy Hippolytus. So Neptune sent a bull to the coast where Hippolytus was driving his chariot, which put his horses into such a fright, that they ran away with them, and overturning the chariot killed the master.
Comminius Super, a Laurentine, had a son by the nymph Egeria, whom he called Comminius; after which he married one Gidica, who fell passionately in love with her son-in-law. And receiving a repulse, she framed slanderous letters against him, which she left behind her, and so hanged herself. Comminius, reflecting upon the crime and believing the calumny, applied himself to Neptune, who with a terrible bull frighted the horses so, while the youth was in the chariot, that they overturned all, and killed him with the fall.—Dositheus, Book Third of Italian Histories.
λοιμοῦ κατασχόντος Λακεδαίμονα, ἔχρησεν ὁ θεὸς παύσασθαι, ἐὰν παρθένον εὐγενῆ κατὰ ἔτος θύωσιν. Ἑλένης δέ ποτε κληρωθείσης καὶ προαχθείσης κεκοσμημένης, ἀετὸς καταπτὰς ἥρπασε τὸ ξίφος καὶ ἐς τὰ βουκόλια κομίσας ἐπὶ δάμαλιν κατέθηκεν· ὅθεν ἀπέσχοντο τῆς παρθενοκτονίας· ὡς Ἀριστόδημος ἐν τρίτῃ μυθικῇ συναγωγῇ. λοιμοῦ κατασχόντος Φαλερίους καὶ φθορᾶς γενομένης, χρησμὸς ἐδόθη λωφῆσαι τὸ δεινόν, ἐὰν παρθένον τῇ Ἥρᾳ θύωσιν κατʼ ἐνιαυτόν. ἀεὶ δὲ τῆς δεισιδαιμονίας μενούσης, κατὰ κλῆρον καλουμένη Οὐαλερία Λουπέρκα ἤγετο εἰς θυσίαν· σπασαμένη δὲ τὸ ξίφος, ἀετὸς καταπτὰς ἥρπασε καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἐμπύρων ἔθηκε ῥάβδον μικρὰν ἔχουσαν σφῦραν, τὸ δὲ ξίφος ἐπέβαλε δαμάλει τινὶ παρὰ τὸν ναὸν βοσκομένῃ. νοήσασα δὲ ἡ παρθένος καὶ τὴν βοῦν θύσασα καὶ τὴν σφῦραν ἄρασα, κατʼ οἰκίαν περιῆλθε, καὶ τοὺς ἀσθενοῦντας ἠρέμα πλήττουσα διήγειρεν, ἐρρῶσθαι ἑνὶ ἑκάστῳ λέγουσα. ὅθεν καὶ νῦν τὸ μυστήριον τελεῖται· ὡς Ἀριστείδης ἐν ἐννεακαιδεκάτῳ Ἰταλικῶν.
In the time of a great plague in Lacedaemon, they were told by the oracle, that the pestilence would cease upon the sacrificing of a noble virgin every year. It fell one time by lot to Helena, who was brought out and dressed up ready for the sacrifice. An eagle at that time flying by took away the sword, and carrying it into a herd of cattle laid it down upon a heifer; whereupon they spared the virgin.—Aristodemus, in his Third Collection of Fables.
There was a dreadful plague in Falerii, which the oracle said would be removed upon the sacrificing of a virgin to Juno every year. While this superstition was in course, it fell to Valeria Luperca’s lot to be the sacrifice. An eagle flew away with the drawn sword, but laid a stick upon the fuel prepared for the fire, with a little mallet fixed to it. The sword he threw upon a heifer feeding near the temple. The virgin perceiving this sacrificed the heifer; and taking up the mallet, went about from house to house, and with a gentle knock called to those that were sick, bidding them be of good health. And this was the rise of the ceremony which continues to this day. —Aristides, in his Nineteenth Book of Italian Histories.
Φιλονόμη Νυκτίμου καὶ Ἀρκαδίας θυγάτηρ ἐκυνήγει σὺν τῇ Ἀρτέμιδι· Ἄρης δʼ ἐν σχήματι ποιμένος ἔγκυον ἐποίησεν. ἡ δὲ τεκοῦσα διδύμους παῖδας καὶ φοβουμένη τὸν πατέρα ἔρριψεν εἰς τὸν Ἐρύμανθον. οἱ δὲ κατὰ πρόνοιαν ἀκινδύνως περιφερόμενοι προσηνέχθησαν ἐν κοίλῃ δρυΐ· λύκαινα δʼ ἐμφωλεύουσα τοὺς μὲν ἰδίους σκύμνους εἰς τὸν ῥοῦν ἔρριψε, τοῖς δὲ βρέφεσι θηλὴν παρέσχε. Τύλιφος δὲ ποιμὴν αὐτόπτης γενόμενος καὶ ἀναλαβὼν τοὺς παῖδας ὡς ἰδίους ἔθρεψε, τὸν μὲν καλέσας Λύκαστον τὸν δὲ Παρράσιον, τοὺς διαδεξαμένους τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν Ἀρκάδων· ὡς Ζώπυρος Βυζάντιος ἐν τῷ τρίτῳ Ἱστορικῶν. Ἀμούλιος πρὸς Νομίτορα τὸν ἀδελφὸν τυραννικῶς διακείμενος, τὸν μὲν υἱὸν Αἴνιτον ἐπὶ κυνηγίᾳ ἀνεῖλε, τὴν δὲ θυγατέρα Σιλουίαν ἐν Ἰουλίᾳ τῆς Ἥρας ἱέρειαν ἐποιήσατο. ταύτην Ἄρης ἐγκύμονα ποιεῖ· ἡ δʼ ἔτεκε διδύμους, ὡμολόγησέ τε τῷ τυράννῳ τὴν ἀλήθειαν. ὁ δὲ φοβηθεὶς ἀμφοτέρους κατεπόντισε, βαλὼν παρὰ τὰς ὄχθας τοῦ Θύμβρεως. οἱ δὲ προσηνέχθησαν ἐν τόπῳ, ἔνθα λύκαινα ἦν φωλεύουσα νεοτόκος· καὶ τοὺς μὲν σκύμνους ἔρριψε, τὰ δὲ βρέφη ἔτρεφε. Φαῦστος δὲ ποιμὴν αὐτόπτης γενόμενος τοὺς παῖδας ἀνέθρεψε, καὶ τὸν μὲν Ῥῶμον τὸν δὲ Ῥωμύλον προσηγόρευσε, τοὺς κτίστας Ῥώμης· ὡς Ἀριστείδης Μιλήσιος ἐν τοῖς Ἰταλικοῖς.
Philonome, the daughter of Nyctimus and Arcadia, went many times to the chase with Diana. Mars lay with her in the shape of a shepherd, and fetched up her belly. She was delivered in time of twins, which for fear of her father she threw into the river Erymanthus. By a strange fatality of providence they were driven safe into a hollow oak, which happening to be the kennel of a wolf, this wolf threw her whelps into the river, and suckled the children. Tyliphus a shepherd, that had seen this with his own eyes, took these children and brought them up as his own, calling one of them Lycastus, and the other Parrasius, which reigned successively in Arcadia.—This is reported by Zopyrus Byzantius, in the Third Book of his Histories.
Amulius dealing very tyrannically with his brother Numitor, killed his son Aenitus as they were a hunting, and made his daughter Sylvia . . . a priestess of Juno. Mars got her with child, and when she had laid her belly of twins, she confessed the truth to the tyrant; which put him in such an apprehension, that he exposed them both on the side of the river Tiber, where they were carried by the stream to a place where a she-wolf had her whelps. The wolf cast away her own, and gave suck to these children. Faustus a shepherd, observing this, took the children to himself, and called them by the names of Romus and Romulus, which came afterwards to be the founders of Rome.—Aristides’s Italian Histories.
μετὰ τὴν Ἰλίου ἅλωσιν Ἀγαμέμνων μετὰ Κασάνδρας ἀνῃρέθη. Ὀρέστης δὲ παρὰ Στροφίῳ ἀνατραφεὶς τοὺς φονεῖς τοῦ πατρὸς ἐτιμωρήσατο· ὡς Πύρανδρος ἐν τετάρτῳ Πελοποννησιακῶν. Φάβιος Φαβρικιανὸς τοῦ μεγάλου συγγενὴς Φαβίου, πορθήσας Τούξιον μητρόπολιν Σαυνιτῶν, τὴν παρʼ αὐτοῖς τιμωμένην νικηφόρον Ἀφροδίτην ἔπεμψεν εἰς Ῥώμην. τούτου γυνὴ Φαβία μοιχευθεῖσα ὑπό τινος εὐπρεποῦς νεανίου τοὔνομα Πετρωνίου Οὐαλεντίνου, τὸν ἄνδρα ἐδολοφόνησε. Φαβία δὲ τὸν ἀδελφὸν ἔτι νήπιον Φαβρικιανὸν τῶν κινδύνων ἐρρύσατο καὶ ἔπεμψε κρύφα τραφησόμενον. ἀκμάσας δὲ ὁ νεανίας τήν τε μητέρα καὶ τὸν μοιχὸν ἀπέκτεινε, καὶ ἀπελύθη ὑπὸ τῆς συγκλήτου· ὡς ἱστορεῖ Δοσίθεος ἐν τρίτῳ Ἰταλικῶν.
After the destruction of Troy, Agamemnon and Cassandra were killed; but Orestes, that was brought up with Strophius, revenged the death of his father.—Pyrander’s Fourth Book of Peloponnesian Histories.
Fabius Fabricianus, a kinsman of Fabius Maximus, having taken Tuxium, the chief city of the Samnites, sent to Rome the image of Venus Victrix, which among them was held in great veneration. His wife Fabia was debauched by Petronius Valentinus, a handsome young man, and afterwards she treacherously murdered her husband; but for her son Fabricianus who was yet in his infancy, she shifted him away to be privately brought up, and so provided for his security. When he was grown up, he destroyed both his mother and the adulterer, and was formally acquitted for it by a decree of the Senate.—Dositheus’s Third Book of Italian History.
Βούσιρις, παῖς Ποσειδῶνος καὶ Ἀνίππης τῆς Νείλου, τοὺς παριόντας ὑπούλῳ φιλοξενίᾳ κατέθυε· μετῆλθε δʼ αὐτὸν ἡ τῶν τετελευτηκότων νέμεσις· Ἡρακλῆς γὰρ ἐπιτεθεὶς τῷ ῥοπάλῳ διεχρήσατο· ὡς Ἀγάθων Σάμιος. Ἡρακλῆς τὰς Γηρυόνου βοῦς ἐλαύνων διʼ Ἰταλίας ἐπεξενώθη Φαύνῳ βασιλεῖ, ὃς ἦν Ἑρμοῦ παῖς καὶ τούς γε ξένους τῷ γεννήσαντι ἔθυεν· ἐπιχειρήσας δὲ τῷ Ἡρακλεῖ ἀνῃρέθη· ὡς Δέρκυλλος ἐν τρίτῳ Ἰταλικῶν.
Busiris, the son of Neptune and Anippe the daughter of Nilus, was used to invite strangers in to him under a pretence of hospitality, and then to murder them; but divine vengeance met with him at last, for Hercules found out the villany, and killed him with his club. —Agatho the Samian.
Hercules, as he was driving Geryon’s oxen through Italy, took up his lodging with King Faunus there, the son of Mercury, whose custom it was to sacrifice strangers to his father. He set upon Hercules, and had his brains beaten out for his pains.—Dercyllus’s Third Book of Italian History.
Φάλαρις Ἀκραγαντίνων τύραννος ἀποτόμως τοὺς παριόντας ξένους ἐστρέβλου καὶ ἐκόλαζε· Πέριλλος δὲ τῇ τέχνῃ χαλκουργὸς δάμαλιν κατασκευάσας χαλκῆν ἔδωκε τῷ βασιλεῖ, ὡς ἂν τοὺς ξένους κατακαίῃ ζῶντας ἐν αὐτῇ· ὁ δὲ μόνον τότε γενόμενος δίκαιος αὐτὸν ἐνέβαλεν. ἐδόκει δὲ μυκηθμὸν ἀναδιδόναι ἡ δάμαλις· ὡς ἐν δευτέρῳ Αἰτιῶν. ἐν Αἰγέστῃ τῇ πόλει τῆς Σικελίας ἐγένετό τις ὠμὸς τύραννος Αἰμίλιος Κενσωρῖνος. οὗτος τοὺς καινότερα βασανιστήρια κατασκευάσαντας ἐδωροδόκει. εἷς δέ τις Ἀρούντιος Πατέρκουλος δημιουργήσας ἵππον χαλκοῦν τῷ προειρημένῳ δῶρον ἔδωκεν, ἵνα βάλλῃ αὐτούς. ὁ δὲ τότε πρῶτον νομίμως ἀναστραφεὶς τὸν χαρισάμενον πρότερον ἔβαλεν ὡς ἄν, ἣν ἐπενόησε βάσανον ἄλλοις, αὐτὸς πάθῃ πρῶτος. τοῦτον συλλαβὼν ἀπὸ τοῦ Ταρπηίου ὄρους ἔρριψε. καὶ δοκοῦσιν οἱ ἀποτόμως βασιλεύσαντες ἀπʼ ἐκείνου Αἰμίλιοι προσαγορεύεσθαι· ὡς Ἀριστείδης ἐν τετάρτῳ Ἰταλικῶν.
Phalaris of Agrigentum, a cruel tyrant, was wont to put strangers and travellers to the most exquisite torment. Perillus, a brass-founder, made a cow of brass, and presented it to the king for a new invention, that he might burn strangers alive in it. Phalaris for this once was just, in making the first proof of it upon Perillus himself; and the invention was so artificial, that upon putting it in execution, the engine itself seemed to bellow.—Second Book of Questions or Causes.
In Egesta, a city of Sicily, there was a certain tyrant called Aemilius Censorinus, who was so inhuman that he proposed rewards to the inventors of new tortures. There was one Aruntius Paterculus that had framed a brazen horse, and made a present of it to the tyrant to practise with it upon whom he pleased. It was the first piece of justice that ever the tyrant did, to make trial of the torment upon the author of it, that he might first feel himself the torments he had provided for others. He was afterwards thrown down from the Tarpeian Rock. It may be thought that unmerciful rulers are from this tyrant called Aemilii. —Aristides’s Fourth Book of Italian History.
Εὔηνος Ἄρεος καὶ Στερόπης τὴν Οἰνομάου γήμας Ἀλκίππην ἐγέννησε θυγατέρα Μάρπησσαν, ἣν παρθένον ἐφρούρει. ἰδὼν δʼ Ἴδας ὁ Ἀφάρητος καὶ ἁρπάσας ἐκ χοροῦ ἔφυγεν. ὁ δὲ πατὴρ διώξας καὶ μὴ συλλαβὼν εἰς τὸν Λυκόρμαν ἔρριψεν ἑαυτὸν ποταμὸν καὶ ἀθάνατος ἐγένετο· ὡς Δοσίθεος ἐν πρώτῳ Ἰταλικῶν. Ἄννιος δὲ Τούσκων βασιλεὺς ἔχων θυγατέρα εὔμορφον τοὔνομα Σαλίαν, παρθένον ἐτήρει. Κάθητος δʼ ἐκ τῶν ἐπισήμων ἰδὼν τὴν παρθένον παίζουσαν ἠράσθη, καὶ μὴ στέγων τὸν ἔρωτα ἥρπασε καὶ ἦγεν εἰς Ῥώμην. ὁ δὲ πατὴρ ἐπιδιώξας καὶ μὴ συλλαβὼν ἥλατο εἰς τὸν Παρεούσιον ποταμόν, ὃς Ἀννίων μετωνομάσθη· τῇ δὲ Σαλίᾳ συγγενόμενος Κάθητος ἐποιήσατο Λατῖνον καὶ Σάλιον, ἀφʼ ὧν οἱ εὐγενέστατοι κατῆγον τὸ γένος· ὡς Ἀριστείδης Μιλήσιος καὶ Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ Πολυΐστωρ ἐν τρίτῳ Ἰταλικῶν.
Evenus, the son of Mars and Sterope, had a daughter Marpessa by his wife Alcippe, the daughter of Oenomaus; and this girl he had a mind to keep a virgin. But Idas, the son of Aphareus, ran away with her from a choir. Evenus pursued him, and finding he could not overtake him, he threw himself into the river Lycormas, and became immortal.—Dositheus’s First Book of Italian History.
Anius, a king of the Tuscans, had a delicate, handsome daughter, whose name was Salia, and he took great care to keep her a virgin. But Cathetus, a man of quality, seeing her sporting herself, fell passionately in love with her, and carried her away to Rome. The father made after her, and when he saw there was no catching of her, he threw himself into a river that from him took the name of Anio. Cathetus begot Latinus and Salius upon the body of Salia, the root of a noble race.—Aristides Milesius, and Alexander Polyhistor’s Third Book of Italian History.
Ἡγησίστρατος ἀνὴρ Ἐφέσιος ἐμφύλιον φόνον δράσας ἔφυγεν εἰς Δελφοὺς καὶ ἠρώτα τὸν θεὸν ποῦ οἰκήσειεν. ὁ δʼ Ἀπόλλων ἀνεῖλεν, ἔνθα ἂν ἴδῃ χορεύοντας ἀγροίκους θαλλοῖς ἐλαίας ἐστεφανωμένους. γενόμενος δὲ κατὰ τὸν τόπον τῆς Ἀσίας καὶ θεασάμενος φύλλοις ἐλαίας ἐστεφανωμένους γεωργοὺς καὶ χορεύοντας, ἔκτισεν αὐτοῦ πόλιν καὶ ἐκάλεσεν, Ἐλαιοῦντα· ὡς Πυθοκλῆς ὁ Σάμιος ἐν τρίτῳ Γεωργικῶν. Τηλέγονος Ὀδυσσέως καὶ Κίρκης ἐπʼ ἀναζήτησιν τοῦ πατρὸς πεμφθεὶς ἔμαθε πόλιν κτίσαι, ἔνθα ἂν ἴδῃ γεωργοὺς ἐστεφανωμένους καὶ χορεύοντας. γενόμενος κατά τινα τόπον τῆς Ἰταλίας καὶ θεασάμενος ἀγροίκους πρινίνοις κλάδοις ἐστεφανωμένους καὶ ὀρχήσει προσευκαιροῦντας, ἔκτισε πόλιν, ἀπὸ τοῦ συγκυρήματος Πρίνιστον ὀνομάσας, ἣν Ῥωμαῖοι παραγώγως Πραίνεστον καλοῦσιν· ὡς ἱστορεῖ Ἀριστοκλῆς ἐν τρίτῳ Ἰταλικῶν.
Hegesistratus an Ephesian committed a murder in his family, and fled to Delphi; on consulting the oracle what place to settle in, the answer was, that when he should come to a place where he should see the country people dancing with garlands of olive-leaves, he should settle there. He travelled into a certain country of Asia, where he found as the oracle told him, and there built a city which he called Elaeus.—Pythocles the Samian, in the Third Book of his Georgics.
Telegonus, the son of Ulysses by Circe, was sent to find out his father, and commanded by an oracle to erect a city where he should see the country people dancing with garlands. He came into a certain place of Italy, where he found the countrymen dancing with wreaths of ilex about their heads; so that there he built a city, and called it Prinistum, for an ilex in Greek is πρῖνος. The Romans corruptly call this city Praeneste.—Aristocles, in the Third Book of his Italian History.
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