implements[1] on the ground, smitten by man-slaying Lycurgus with an ox-goad; but Bacchus, too, terrified, sunk under the wave of the sea, and Thetis received him affrighted in her bosom; for dreadful trembling had seized him, on account of the threat of the man. With him the peaceful-living gods were afterward enraged, and the son of Saturn rendered him blind, nor did he live much longer, for he became an object of aversion to all the immortal gods. Wherefore I should not wish to fight with the blessed gods. But if thou art any one of mortals, who eat the fruit of the earth, come hither, that thou mayest speedily reach the goal of death."
Him then the renowned son of Hippolochus addressed in turn: "Magnanimous son of Tydeus, why dost thou inquire of my race? As is the race of leaves, even such is the race of men.[2] Some leaves the wind sheds upon the ground, but the fructifying wood produces others, and these grow up in the season of spring. Such is the generation of men; one produces, another ceases [to do so]. But if thou wouldst learn even these things, that thou mayest well know my lineage (for many know it), there is a city, Ephyra, in a nook of horse-pasturing Argos; there dwelt Sisyphus, who was the most cunning of mortals, Sisyphus, son of Æolus; and he begat a son, Glaucus. But Glaucus begat blameless Bellerophon; to whom the gods gave beauty and agreeable manliness. But against him Prœtus devised evils in his soul: who accordingly banished him from the state (since he was far the best of the Greeks; for Jove had subjected them to his scepter). With him the wife of Prœtus, noble Antea,[3] passionately longed to be united in secret love; but by no means could she persuade just-minded, wise-reflecting Bellerophon. She, therefore, telling a falsehood, thus addressed king Proetus: 'Mayest thou be dead, O Prœtus! or do thou slay Bellerophon, who desired to be united in love with me against my will.' Thus she said: but rage possessed the king at what he heard. He was unwilling, indeed, to slay him, for he scrupled this in
- ↑ Not merely the thyrsi. See Anthon.
- ↑ On this popular Homeric proverb, see Duport, Gnom. Hom. p. 31, sq.
- ↑ She is more frequently called Sthenobœa, or Sthenebœa, as by Apollodor. ii. 3, 1; Serv. on Æn. v. 118. Fulgentius, iii præf., agrees with Homer, giving a ridiculously philosophical explanation of the whole story.
