9

the female race. But Nycteus, her father, not knowing that she was pregnant, sent her to his own brother, Lycus, king of Argos, so that he himself might investigate the matter of her defilement, and if it is true that her seducer is from Argos, he might both punish her, as being a defiled priestess, and take vengeance on him, as one who dared such a thing against a priestly body. But king Lycus, having brought the same Antiope in for examination, and having seen her comeliness, and learned that she was pregnant, had mercy on her, saying that it was necessary to wait until she gave birth, and then to punish her, as one who had disgraced the priestly state. This same king Lycus had a wife, Dirce; and having handed Antiope over to her, he said that she was to be guarded by her until she gave birth; and king Lycus was the uncle of Antiope. The same Antiope gave birth to twins, whom she called Amphion and Zethus. And 47 the infants, once born, were exposed by order of king Lycus in the village called Rhasthea near Mount Cithaeron. Out of pity, a certain farmer, Ordion, who was childless, took these children from those who were exposing the infants, knowing that they were the children of the priestess Antiope; for he knew her as a priestess; and he raised them. After some time, when war was stirred up in the land of the Argives, king Lycus went out to the war; and he spent a long time at war. But Dirce, the wife of king Lycus, reckoning that he had not punished the same Antiope after the birth, but had let her be, as if he loved her and was secretly uniting with her, since she was most comely, taking her with a few soldiers as if to the country, she went away to Mount Cithaeron in the village where her sons had been raised. But Dirce, not knowing this, and having led a wild bull out of the same place, and having fixed a torch in its horns, ordered Antiope to be bound, and the rope to be wound around the neck of the bull, and thus for Antiope to be dragged by the bull and perish. And having heard of the impending death of Antiope and her wailings, all those of the same estate came out of the place so called Deras Theas; and there were many country-folk in it; and likewise the 48 two sons of Antiope were with them along with the farmer Ordion who had raised them. And they pleaded with Dirce not to destroy her by such a fate; but she told them that she was a priestess of the Sun, and had been defiled and had borne two children from fornication, and that she must be punished. And the sons of Antiope, Zethus and Amphion, having heard from Ordion who raised them that their mother was the one about to be punished, Antiope, gathering together the entire country-folk, went with them and killed the soldiers. And taking Dirce, they stripped off the royal ornaments which she wore, and they freed Antiope. And having been freed from her bonds, Antiope permitted her own children, Amphion and Zethus, to kill Dirce; and taking Dirce they bound her to the same wild bull, and being dragged by the bull, Dirce perished. But the bull became thirsty from the running, and finding a spring, it stopped to drink; and the rope being cut left the remains of Dirce near the spring; and from that time until the present that same spring in that land has been called the Dirce. And then Zethus and Amphion took their mother, Antiope, and fled to their own land, Boeotia; and having appeared there they were recognized by the Boeotians. But their grandfather Nycteus, the king of the same land of Boeotia, had grown old, and being struck by a disease, he died. And then after the death of king Nycteus, all the people of Boeotia asked 49 them, Amphion and Zethus, to be their kings, as they were of the royal line of Nycteus. And they were proclaimed kings, and they reigned the

9

γυναικὸς γένος. ἀγνοῶν δὲ ὁ Νυκτεύς, ὁ πατὴρ αὐτῆς, ὅτι ἔγκυός ἐστιν, ἔπεμψεν αὐτὴν εἰς τὸν ἴδιον αὐτοῦ ἀδελφόν, τὸν Λύκον, βασιλέα τοῦ Ἄργους, ἵνα ἐξετάσῃ καὶ αὐτὸς τὸ πρᾶγμα τῆς φθορᾶς αὐτῆς, καὶ εἰ ἀληθές ἐστιν ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ Ἄργους ἐστὶν ὁ αὐτῆς φθορεύς, καὶ αὐτὴν τιμωρήσηται, ὡς φθαρεῖσαν ἱέρειαν οὖσαν, καὶ ἐκεῖνον δὲ ἀμύνηται, ὡς τοιοῦτόν τι τολμήσαντα κατὰ ἱερατικοῦ σώματος. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς Λύκος εἰσαγαγὼν τὴν αὐτὴν Ἀντιόπην εἰς ἐξέτασιν, καὶ ἑωρακὼς αὐτῆς τὴν εὐπρέπειαν, καὶ μαθὼν ὅτι ἔγκυός ἐστιν, ἠλέησεν αὐτήν, λέγων ὅτι δεῖ περιμεῖναι, ἄχρις οὗ τέκῃ, καὶ τότε τιμωρήσασθαι αὐτήν, ὡς ἱερατικὸν ὑβρίσασαν σχῆμα. ὁ δὲ αὐτὸς Λύκος βασιλεὺς εἶχε γυναῖκα τὴν ∆ίρκην· καὶ παραδοὺς αὐτῇ τὴν Ἀντιόπην εἶπεν αὐτὴν φυλάττεσθαι παρ' αὐτῇ, ἄχρις οὗ τέκῃ· ὁ δὲ Λύκος βασιλεὺς ἦν θεῖος τῆς Ἀντιόπης. ἡ δὲ αὐτὴ Ἀντιόπη ἐγέννησε δίδυμα, οὕστινας ἐκάλεσεν Ἀμφίονα καὶ Ζῆθον. καὶ 47 ἐῤῥίφησαν γεννηθέντα τὰ βρέφη κατὰ κέλευσιν τοῦ Λύκου βασιλέως ἐν τῇ κώμῃ τῇ λεγομένῃ Ῥασθέᾳ πλησίον τοῦ Κιθαιρωνίου ὄρους. οὕστινας παῖδας οἴκτου χάριν ἔλαβε παρὰ τῶν ῥιπτόντων τὰ αὐτὰ βρέφη Ὀρδίων τις γεηπόνος, ἄπαις ὤν, γνοὺς ὅτι τέκνα ὑπῆρχον τῆς ἱερείας Ἀντιόπης· ᾔδει γὰρ αὐτήν, ὡς ἱέρειαν· καὶ ἀνεθρέψατο αὐτά. μετὰ δὲ χρόνον πολέμου κινηθέντος τῇ Ἀργείων χώρᾳ, ἐξῆλθεν ὁ Λύκος βασιλεὺς ἐπὶ τὸν πόλεμον· καὶ ἐχρόνισε πολεμῶν. ἡ δὲ ∆ίρκη, τοῦ Λύκου βασιλέως γυνή, λογισαμένη ὅτι οὐκέτι μετὰ τὸν τοκετὸν ἐτιμωρήσατο τὴν αὐτὴν Ἀντιόπην, ἀλλ' εἴασεν αὐτήν, ὡς ἐρῶν αὐτῆς καὶ λάθρᾳ μιγνύμενος μετ' αὐτῆς, ὡς εὐπρεπεστάτης, λαβοῦσα αὐτὴν μετὰ ὀλίγων στρατιωτῶν ὡς ἐπὶ χώραν ἀπῆλθεν ἐπὶ τὸ Κιθαιρώνιον ὄρος ἐν τῇ κώμῃ ὅπου οἱ αὐτῆς υἱεῖς ἦσαν ἀνατραφέντες. τοῦτο δὲ ἀγνοοῦσα ἡ ∆ίρκη, καὶ ἐξαγαγοῦσα ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ χωρίου ταῦρον ἄγριον, καὶ πήξασα δᾷδα ἐν τοῖς αὐτοῦ κέρασι, τὴν Ἀντιόπην ἐκέλευσε δεθῆναι, καὶ τὸν σχοῖνον εἰς τὸν τράχηλον τοῦ ταύρου εἱλιγῆναι, καὶ οὕτως συρῆναι τὴν Ἀντιόπην ὑπὸ τοῦ ταύρου καὶ ἀπολέσθαι. καὶ ἀκούσαντες πάντες οἱ τοῦ αὐτοῦ κτήματος τὸν μέλλοντα γίνεσθαι τῆς Ἀντιόπης θάνατον καὶ τοὺς αὐτῆς ὀλολυγμούς, ἐξῆλθον ἐκ τοῦ ∆έρας Θέας χωρίου οὕτως λεγομένου· ἦσαν δὲ ἐν πλήθει πολλοὶ ἐν αὐτῷ ἄγροικοι· ὡσαύτως δὲ καὶ οἱ 48 δύο υἱοὶ τῆς Ἀντιόπης ἦσαν μετ' αὐτῶν ἅμα τῷ ἀναθρεψαμένῳ αὐτοὺς Ὀρδίωνι γεωργῷ. καὶ παρεκάλουν τὴν ∆ίρκην μὴ τοιούτῳ μόρῳ ἀνελεῖν αὐτήν· ἡ δὲ ἐξεῖπεν αὐτοῖς ὅτι ἱέρεια ἦν τοῦ Ἡλίου, καὶ ἐφθάρη καὶ ἐγέννησε δύο παῖδας ἐκ πορνείας, καὶ δεῖ αὐτὴν τιμωρηθῆναι. καὶ ἀκούσαντες οἱ τῆς Ἀντιόπης υἱοί, Ζῆθος καὶ Ἀμφίων, παρὰ τοῦ ἀναθρεψαμένου αὐτοὺς Ὀρδίωνος ὅτι ἡ μήτηρ αὐτῶν ἐστιν ἡ μέλλουσα τιμωρεῖσθαι, ἡ Ἀντιόπη, συναθροίσαντες πᾶσαν τὴν ἀγροικικὴν χώραν, ἅμα αὐτοῖς ἀπελθόντες ἐφόνευσαν τοὺς στρατιώτας. καὶ λαβόντες τὴν ∆ίρκην ἀφείλοντο ἃ ἐφόρει βασιλικὰ κοσμήματα, καὶ ἔλυσαν τὴν Ἀντιόπην. καὶ λυθεῖσα τῶν δεσμῶν ἡ Ἀντιόπη ἐπέτρεψε τοῖς ἰδίοις αὐτῆς παισίν, Ἀμφίονι καὶ Ζήθῳ, φονεῦσαι τὴν ∆ίρκην· καὶ λαβόντες τὴν ∆ίρκην ἔδησαν εἰς τὸν αὐτὸν ἄγριον ταῦρον, καὶ συρεῖσα ὑπὸ τοῦ ταύρου ἡ ∆ίρκη ἀπώλετο. ὁ δὲ ταῦρος ἐκ τῆς ἐλασίας ἐδίψησε, καὶ εὑρὼν πηγὴν ἔστη πιεῖν· καὶ κοπεῖσα ἡ σχοῖνος εἴασε πλησίον τῆς πηγῆς τὸ λείψανον τῆς ∆ίρκης· καὶ ἐκλήθη ἡ αὐτὴ πηγὴ ἐξ ἐκείνου ἕως τῆς νῦν ἐν τῇ χώρᾳ ἐκείνῃ ἡ ∆ίρκη. καὶ λοιπὸν ὁ Ζῆθος καὶ ὁ Ἀμφίων ἔλαβον τὴν ἑαυτῶν μητέρα, τὴν Ἀντιόπην, καὶ ἔφυγον ἐπὶ τὴν ἰδίαν χώραν αὐτῶν, τὴν Βοιωτίαν· καὶ ἐκεῖ ἀναφανέντες ἐγνώσθησαν τοῖς Βοιωτοῖς. ὁ δὲ αὐτῶν πάππος ὁ Νυκτεύς, ὁ βασιλεὺς τῆς αὐτῆς Βοιωτίας χώρας, γεγήρακε, καὶ νόσῳ βληθεὶς τελευτᾷ. καὶ λοιπὸν μετὰ τὴν τελευτὴν τοῦ Νυκτέως βασιλέως οἱ τῆς Βοιωτίας πάντες ᾔτη 49 σαν αὐτοὺς βασιλεῦσαι αὐτῶν τὸν Ἀμφίονα καὶ τὸν Ζῆθον, ὡς ἐκ γένους βασιλικοῦ ὑπάρχοντας τοῦ Νυκτέως. καὶ ἀνηγορεύθησαν βασιλεῖς, καὶ ἐβασίλευσαν ὁ