De saltatione

And next comes Megara, with Nisus and Scylia, the purple lock, the expedient of Minos, and his ingratitude towards his benefactress.[*](Minos tied her to the stern of his ship and dragged her in its wake. In representing this as an “expedient,” Lucian seems to be thinking of it as Minos’ way of carrying out a revious bargain with Scylla to “take her with him,” or the ike. So Tarpeia bargained with the Sabines for what they had on their arms, expecting their bracelets; but they crushed her with their shields. ) To these succeed Cithaeron, with all that befell the Thebans and the house of Labdacus; the advent of Cadmus, the heifer’s taking ground, the serpent’s teeth, and the emergence of the Sown Men; further, the transformation of Cadmus into a serpent, the rising of the walls to the music of the lyre, the madness of the wall-builder,[*](Amphion, who went mad of grief over the slaying of his and Niobe’s children by Apollo and Artemis. ) the boastfulness of his wife Niobe, and her grief-stricken silence, the story of Pentheus and of Actaeon, the story of Oedipus, Heracles with all his labours, and the murder of his children.

Then comes Corinth, also full of myths, since she has Glauce and Creon, and before them Bellerophon and Stheneboea, and the quarrel between Helius and Poseidon;[*](For the possession of Corinth; Briareus, as mediator, awarded the Isthmus to Poseidon, Acro-Corinth to Helius. ) afterwards, the madness of Athamas, the flight of the children of Nephele through the air on the back of the ram, and the reception of Ino and Melicertes.[*](In Corinth, as the sea-divinities Palaemon and Leucothea. )

Next is the story of the descendants of Pelops, with Mycenae and what happened there, and previously—Inachus, Io, and her warder Argus; Atreus, Thyestes, Aerope, and the golden lamb; the defloration of Pelopeia;[*](Daughter of Thyestes, and by him mother of Aegisthus (Hyginus 87 and 88; cf. Frazer, Apollodorus, II, p. 168, n. 1). She is mentioned as a pantomimic réle by Juvenal, VII, 92: praefectos Pelopea facit, Philomela tribunos. ) the slaying of Agamemnon, and the punishment of Clytemestra. Even before that, the expedition of the Seven Captains, with Adrastus’ reception of the exiles who became his sons-in-law, and the oracle about them,[*](One of Adrastus’ daughters was to wed a boar, the other a lion. Tydeus had a boar for his shield-device, Polynices a lion. ) the refusal to bury the fallen, and the death of Antigone and Menoeceus on that account.

Also what happened on Nemean soil, the story of Hypsipyle and Archemorus, is very essential for the dancer to remember.[*](Just why it should be so essential is not very obvious. The infant Archemorus was killed by a dragon when his nurse Hypsipyle left him at a spring in order to point out the way to Thebes to the army of the seven chieftains. But Lucian’s remark may have been called forth by the thought of Hypsipyle’s earlier history as queen of Lemnos—her killing her husband and saving her father, and her love for Jason. ) And from an earlier time he will know the enforced virginity of Danae, the birth of Perseus, and the quest of the Gorgons which he assumed. Related to this is the Ethiopian tale of Cassiopea, Andromeda, and Cepheus, who have been placed in the roll of constellations by the faith of men of after time. And he will also know that ancient tale of Aegyptus and Danaus, and the bride-night plot.

Sparta, too, affords not a few stories of this sort :[*](One wonders whether Lucian’s omission of the story of Leda is careless or intentional. ) Hyacinthus, and Apollo’s rival, Zephyrus; the lad’s slaying with the discus, the flower that came from the blood, and the word of woe (AI) that is written