She roamed all over Syria, because there it was revealed to her that the wife of the king of Byblus was nursing her son18 and having found Epaphus she came to Egypt and was married to Telegonus, who then reigned over the Egyptians. When Zeus learned of it, he slew the Curetes but Io set out in search of the child.
Then she journeyed through Illyria and having traversed Mount Haemus she crossed what was then called the Thracian Straits but is now called after her the Bosphorus.16 And having gone away to Scythia and the Cimmerian land she wandered over great tracts of land and swam wide stretches of sea both in Europe and Asia until at last she came to Egypt, where she recovered her original form and gave birth to a son Epaphus beside the river Nile.17 Him Hera besought the Curetes to make away with, and make away with him they did. But Zeus ordered Hermes to steal the cow, and as Hermes could not do it secretly because Hierax had blabbed, he killed Argus by the cast of a stone13 whence he was called Argiphontes.14 Hera next sent a gadfly to infest the cow,15 and the animal came first to what is called after her the Ionian gulf. Pherecydes says that this Argus was a son of Arestor11 but Asclepiades says that he was a son of Inachus, and Cercops says that he was a son of Argus and Ismene, daughter of Asopus but Acusilaus says that he was earth-born.12 He tethered her to the olive tree which was in the grove of the Mycenaeans. But Hera requested the cow from Zeus for herself and set Argus the All-seeing to guard it. Zeus seduced her while she held the priesthood of Hera, but being detected by Hera he by a touch turned Io into a white cow10 and swore that he had not known her wherefore Hesiod remarks that lover's oaths do not draw down the anger of the gods. Argus and Ismene, daughter of Asopus, had a son Iasus, who is said to have been the father of Io.8 But the annalist Castor and many of the tragedians allege that Io was a daughter of Inachus9 and Hesiod and Acusilaus say that she was a daughter of Piren. He also avenged the murder of Apis by putting the guilty to death. It is said, too, that Echidna,7 daughter of Tartarus and Earth, who used to carry off passers-by, was caught asleep and slain by Argus. He had eyes in the whole of his body,5 and being exceedingly strong he killed the bull that ravaged Arcadia and clad himself in its hide6 and when a satyr wronged the Arcadians and robbed them of their cattle, Argus withstood and killed him. About him I shall speak again.3 But Argus received the kingdom and called the Peloponnese after himself Argos and having married Evadne, daughter of Strymon and Neaera, he begat Ecbasus, Piras, Epidaurus, and Criasus,4 who also succeeded to the kingdom.Įcbasus had a son Agenor, and Agenor had a son Argus, the one who is called the All-seeing. However, Hesiod says that Pelasgus was a son of the soil. He left no child, and being deemed a god was called Sarapis.2 But Niobe had by Zeus (and she was the first mortal woman with whom Zeus cohabited) a son Argus, and also, so says Acusilaus, a son Pelasgus, after whom the inhabitants of the Peloponnese were called Pelasgians. Apis converted his power into a tyranny and named the Peloponnese after himself Apia but being a stern tyrant he was conspired against and slain by Thelxion and Telchis. Aegialeus having died childless, the whole country was called Aegialia and Phoroneus, reigning over the whole land afterwards named Peloponnese, begat Apis and Niobe by a nymph Teledice. He and Melia, daughter of Ocean, had sons, Phoroneus, and Aegialeus. Having now gone through the family of Deucalion, we have next to speak of that of Inachus.1 Ocean and Tethys had a son Inachus, after whom a river in Argos is called Inachus.
0 kommentar(er)
