[5]
But the sons of Egyptus came to Argos, and
exhorted Danaus to lay aside his enmity, and begged to marry his daughters. Now Danaus
distrusted their professions and bore them a grudge on account of his exile; nevertheless
he consented to the marriage and allotted the damsels among them.1 First, they picked out Hypermnestra as the
eldest to be the wife of Lynceus, and Gorgophone to be the wife of Proteus; for Lynceus
and Proteus had been borne to Egyptus by a woman of royal blood, Argyphia; but of the rest
Busiris, Enceladus, Lycus, and Daiphron obtained by lot the daughters that had been borne
to Danaus by Europe, to wit, Automate, Amymone,
Agave, and Scaea. These daughters were borne to Danaus by a queen; but Gorgophone and
Hypermnestra were borne to him by Elephantis. And
Istrus got Hippodamia; Chalcodon got Rhodia; Agenor got Cleopatra; Chaetus
got Asteria; Diocorystes got Hippodamia; Alces got Glauce; Alcmenor got Hippomedusa;
Hippothous got Gorge; Euchenor got Iphimedusa; Hippolytus got Rhode. These ten sons were
begotten on an Arabian woman; but the maidens were begotten on Hamadryad nymphs, some
being daughters of Atlantia, and others of Phoebe. Agaptolemus got Pirene; Cercetes got
Dorium; Eurydamas got Phartis; Aegius got Mnestra; Argius got Evippe; Archelaus got
Anaxibia; Menemachus got Nelo. These seven sons were begotten on a Phoenician woman, and
the maidens on an Ethiopian woman. The sons of Egyptus by Tyria got as their wives,
without drawing lots, the daughters of Danaus by Memphis in virtue of the similarity of their names; thus Clitus got Clite;
Sthenelus got Sthenele; Chrysippus got Chrysippe. The twelve sons of Egyptus by the Naiad
nymph Caliadne cast lots for the daughters of Danaus by the Naiad nymph Polyxo: the sons
were Eurylochus, Phantes, Peristhenes, Hermus, Dryas, Potamon, Cisseus,
Lixus, Imbrus, Bromius, Polyctor, Chthonius; and the
damsels were Autonoe, Theano, Electra, Cleopatra, Eurydice, Glaucippe, Anthelia, Cleodore,
Evippe, Erato, Stygne, Bryce. The sons of Egyptus by Gorgo, cast lots for the daughters of
Danaus by Pieria, and Periphas got Actaea, Oeneus got Podarce, Egyptus got
Dioxippe, Menalces got Adite, Lampus got Ocypete, Idmon got Pylarge. The youngest sons of
Egyptus were these: Idas got Hippodice; Daiphron got Adiante （ the mother who
bore these damsels was Herse）; Pandion got Callidice; Arbelus got Oeme; Hyperbius
got Celaeno; Hippocorystes got Hyperippe; the mother of these men was Hephaestine, and the
mother of these damsels was Crino.
When they had got their brides by lot, Danaus made a feast and gave his daughters
daggers; and they slew their bridegrooms as they slept, all but Hypermnestra; for she
saved Lynceus because he had respected her virginity:2 wherefore Danaus
shut her up and kept her under ward. But the rest of the daugters of Danaus buried the
heads of their bridegrooms in Lerna3 and paid funeral honors to
their bodies in front of the city; and Athena and Hermes purified them at the command of
Zeus. Danaus afterwards united Hypermnestra to Lynceus; and bestowed his other daughters
on the victors in an athletic contest.4
Amymone had a son Nauplius by Poseidon.5 This Nauplius lived to a
great age, and sailing the sea he used by beacon lights to lure to death such as he
fell in with.6 It came to pass, therefore, that
he himself died by that very death. But before his death he married a wife; according to
the tragic poets, she was Clymene, daughter of Catreus; but according to the author of The Returns,7 she was Philyra; and according to Cercops she was Hesione. By her he had
Palamedes, Oeax, and Nausimedon.
This text is part of:
Search the Perseus Catalog for:
1 For the marriage of the sons of Egyptus with the daughters of Danaus, and its tragic sequel, see Zenobius, Cent. ii.6; Scholiast on Eur. Hec. 886 and Or. 872; Scholiast on Hom. Il. iv.171; Hyginus, Fab. 168; Serv. Verg. A. 10.497. With the list of names of the bridal pairs as recorded by Apollodorus, compare the list given by Hyginus, Fab. 170.
2 Compare Pind. N. 7.1.6(10), with the Scholiast; Paus. 2.19.6, Paus. 2.20.7, Paus. 2.21.1; Hor. Carm. 3.11.30ff.; Ovid, Her. xiv.
3 Compare Zenobius, Cent. iv.86. According to Paus. 2.24.2） the heads of the sons of Egyptus were buried on the Larisa, the acropolis of Argos, and the headless trunks were buried at Lerna.
4 Compare Pind. P. 9.112(195), with the Scholiasts; Paus. 3.12.2. The legend may reflect an old custom of racing for a bride. See The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, ii.299ff. It is said that Danaus instituted games which were celebrated every fifth （or, as we should say, every fourth） year, and at which the prize of the victor in the footrace was a shield. See Hyginus, Fab. 170.
5 Compare Strab. 8.6.2; Paus. 2.38.2, Paus. 4.35.2.>
6 See below, Apollod. E. E.6.7-11.
7 Nostoi, an epic poem describing the return of the Homeric heroes from Troy. See Epicorum Graecorum Fragmenta, ed. G. Kinkel, pp. 52ff.; D. B. Monro, in his edition of Homer, Odyssey, Bks. xiii.- xxiv. pp. 378-382.
Apollodorus. Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. Includes Frazer's notes.
The Annenberg CPB/Project provided support for entering this text.
Purchase a copy of this text (not necessarily the same edition) from Amazon.com
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.