After Paris, Hecuba gave birth to some daughters, Creousa, Laodice, Polyxene, and Cassandra. Apollo wanted to sleep with Cassandra and promised to teach her the art of prophecy;* but after she had learned it, she refused to sleep with him. In response, Apollo deprived her prophecies of all power to convince. Afterwards, Hecuba had eight sons, Deiphobos, Helenos, Pammon, Polites, Antiphos, Hipponoos, Polydoros, and Troilos—she is said to have borne this last to Apollo.

And by other women Priam had further sons, Melanippos, Gorgythion, Philaimon, Hippothoos, Glaucos, Agathon, Chersidamas, Evagoras, Hippodamas, Mestor, Atas, Doryclos, Lycaon, Dryops, Bias, Chromios, Astygonos, Telestas, Evandros, Cebriones, Mylios, Archemachos, Laodocos, Echephron, Idomeneus, Hyperion, Ascanios, Democoon, Aretos, Deiopites, Clonios, Echemmon, Hypeirochos, Aigeoneus, Lysithoos, and Polymedon, and also some daughters, Medusa, Medesicaste, Lysimache, and Aristodeme.

⁶Hector married Andromache, daughter of Eetion, and Alexander married Oinone, daughter of the River Cebren. Oinone had learnt the art of prophecy from Rhea, and warned Alexander not to sail for Helen; but when she failed to convince him, she told him to come to her if he were ever wounded,* for she alone could cure him. When he had abducted Helen from Sparta and Troy was under attack, he was struck by an arrow that Philoctetes had shot from the bow of Heracles, and made his way back to Oinone on Mount Ida. But she was bitter at the wrong she had suffered and refused to cure him. So Alexander was carried off to Troy, where he died; and when Oinone had a change of heart and brought the remedies for his cure, she found him already dead and hanged herself.

10. The Asopids

Aiacos in Aegina

The River Asopos was a son of Oceanos and Tethys, or, according to Acousilaos, of Pero and Poseidon, or, according to some accounts, of Zeus and Eurynome. Metope, who was herself a daughter of the River Ladon, married Asopos and bore him two sons, Ismenos and Pelagon, and twenty daughters, one of whom, Aegina, was carried off by Zeus. Asopos set out to find her, and arriving in Corinth, he learned from Sisyphos* that her abductor was Zeus. When Asopos tried to pursue him, Zeus sent him back to his own stream by hurling thunderbolts at him (and because of that, coals are collected to this very day from the waters of the Asopos). Zeus took Aegina away to the island that was then known as Oinone, but is now named Aegina after her, where he slept with her and had a son, Aiacos, by her. Because Aiacos was alone on the island, Zeus turned the ants into people* for him; and he married Endeis, daughter of Sceiron, who bore him two sons, Peleus and Telamon. Pherecydes says, however, that Telamon was a friend of Peleus rather than a brother, and that he was in fact a son of Actaios and Glauce, daughter of Cychreus. Afterwards Aiacos had intercourse with Psamathe, daughter of Nereus, who turned herself into a seal* in the hope of escaping his embraces, and he fathered a son, Phocos.

Of all men Aiacos was the most pious, and for that reason, when Greece was gripped by infertility because of Pelops (who had made war against Stymphalos, king of the Arcadians, and finding himself unable to conquer Arcadia, had feigned friendship with the king and then killed and dismembered him and scattered his limbs), oracles from the gods proclaimed that Greece would be delivered from its present afflictions if Aiacos offered prayers on its behalf; and when he offered the prayers, Greece was delivered from its barrenness.* After his death, Aiacos is honoured in the realm of Pluto also and guards the keys of Hades.*

The exile of Peleus and Telamon

Because Phocos excelled in the games, his brothers, Peleus and Telamon, plotted against him; and when Telamon was selected in the lot, he killed his brother* by hurling a discus at his head while they were exercising together, and then, with the help of Peleus, he carried the body away and hid it in a wood. But the murder was discovered and they were exiled from Aegina by Aiacos.

⁷Telamon went to the court of Cychreus in Salamis. Cychreus, the son of [Poseidon and] Salamis, daughter of Asopos, had gained the throne by killing a snake which was devastating the island; and when he died without offspring, he left the throne to Telamon. And Telamon married Periboia, daughter of Alcathous, son of Pelops; and because Heracles had prayed that he would have a male child and after his prayers an eaglehad appeared, Telamon called the son who was born to him Aias*He then accompanied Heracles on his expedition against Troy, and received as a prize Hesione, daughter of Laomedon, who bore him a son, Teucros.

Peleus in Phthia, Calydon, and Iolcos

¹Peleus for his part fled to Phthia, to the court of Eurytion,

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son of Actor, and was purified by him and received from him his daughter, Antigone, and a third of the country; and a daughter, Polydora, was born to him, who became the wife of Boros, son of Perieres. ²From there he went with Eurytion to join the hunt for the Calydonian boar, but as he threw a javelin at the boar, he struck Eurytion instead, and accidentally killed him. So he went into exile again, leaving Phthia for Iolcos, where he arrived at the court of Acastos and was purified by him. ³And he competed at the games held in honour of Pelias, wrestling with Atalante.

Astydameia, the wife of Acastos, fell in love with Peleus and sent him a message proposing an assignation. When she was unable to persuade him, she sent word to his wife saying that he was intending to marry Sterope, the daughter of Acastos; and when his wife heard this, she hanged herself. Astydameia also made false accusations to her husband against Peleus, claiming that he had tried to seduce her. When he heard this, Acastos, who was unwilling to kill a man whom he had purified, took him hunting on Mount Pelion. There they competed in the chase, and Peleus cut out the tongues of the animals caught by him and put them in his pouch, while Acastos and his companions picked up his prey and made fun of Peleus, alleging that he had failed to catch anything. He produced the tongues, however, and told them that he had killed as many beasts as he had tongues. When Peleus fell asleep on Mount Pelion, Acastos left him, concealing his sword* in a pile of cow dung, and returned home. On arising, Peleus tried to find his sword, and while he was doing so, he was caught by the Centaurs; and he would shortly have lost his life if he had not been saved by Cheiron, who also searched for his sword and restored it to him.

The marriage of Peleus and Thetis, and early life of Achilles

⁴Peleus married Polydora, daughter of Perieres, who bore a son, Menesthios, nominally to Peleus, but in reality to the River Spercheios.* ^sLater he married Thetis, the daughter of Nereus. Zeus and Poseidon had competed for her hand, only to withdraw when Themis had prophesied that the son born to her would be more powerful than his father. It is said by some, however, that when Zeus was set on having intercourse with her, he was told by Prometheus* that the son she would bear to him would become the ruler of heaven; while according to others,* Thetis was unwilling to have intercourse with Zeus because she had been brought up by Hera, and in his anger at this, Zeus wanted to marry her to a mortal. Now Peleus had been advised by Cheiron to seize her and keep a firm grip on her; however, she changed her shape, so he lay in wait and caught hold of her, and though she changed now into fire, now into water, now into a wild beast, he never loosened his grip until she had returned to her original form. And he married her on Mount Pelion, and the gods celebrated his wedding there with feasting and songs. Cheiron gave Peleus an ashwood spear, and Poseidon gave him two horses,* Balios and Xanthos, of immortal stock.