The Greek Questions (40-44)

Who was the hero Eunostus in Tanagra, and why may no women enter his grove?

Eunostus was the son of Elieus, who was the son of Cephisus, and Scias. They relate that he acquired his name because he was brought up by the nymph Eunosta. Handsome and righteous as he was, he was no less virtuous and ascetic. They say that Ochnê, his cousin, one of the daughters of Colonus, became enamoured of him; but when Eunostus repulsed her advances and, after upbraiding her, departed to accuse her to her brothers, the maiden forestalled him by doing this very thing against him. She incited her brothers, Echemus, Leon, and Bucolus, to kill Eunostus, saying that he had consorted with her by force. They, accordingly, lay in ambush for the young man and slew him. Then Elieus put them in bonds; but Ochnê repented, and was filled with trepidation and, wishing to free herself from the torments caused by her love, and also feeling pity for her brothers, reported the whole truth to Elieus, and he to Colonus. And when Colonus had given judgement, Ochnê’s brothers were banished, and she threw herself from a precipice, as Myrtis,[*] the lyric poetess of Anthedon, has related.

But the shrine and the grove of Eunostus were so strictly guarded against entry and approach by women that, often, when earthquakes or droughts or other signs from heaven occurred, the people of Tanagra were wont to search diligently and to be greatly concerned lest any woman might have approached the place undetected; and some relate, among them Cleidamus, a man of prominence, that Eunostus met them on his way to the sea to bathe

because a woman had set foot within the sacred precinct. And Diocles[*] also, in his treatise upon the Shrines of Heroes, quotes a decree of the people of Tanagra concerning the matters which Cleidamus reported.

From what cause was a river in Boeotia in the vicinity of Eleon called Scamander?

Deïmachus, the son of Eleon and a companion of Heracles, took part in the expedition against Troy. But since, as it appears, the war was dragging on, he welcomed to his quarters Glaucia, the daughter of Scamander, who had fallen in love with him, and got her with child; then he himself fell in fighting against the Trojans. But Glaucia, fearing detection, fled for refuge, and told Heracles of her love and of her association with Deïmachus. And he, both through pity for the woman, and for j oy that the stock of a brave man who was his close friend should thus survive, took Glaucia oil board his fleet; and when she gave birth to a son, he brought both the child and the mother, and delivered them to Eleon in Boeotia. The child was named Scamander, and he became the king of the country; and he named the Inachus river Scamander after himself, and the stream near by he called Glaucia from his mother. The spring Acidusa he named after his wife; and from her he had three daughters whom even to this day they honour under the name of the Maidens.

Whence arose the proverbial saying, This is valid?

When Deinon of Tarentum, a brave soldier, was

general, his fellow-citizens voted to reject a certain proposal of his. When the herald reported the prevailing majority, he held up his right hand and said, But this is stronger. This is Theophrastus’s[*] version of the story; but Apollodorus has a supplementary version, that when the herald of the Tarentines proclaimed, These are in the majority Deinon said, But these are better! and validated the vote of the minority.

For what reason was the city of the Ithacans called Alalcomenae?

Because Anticleia, while yet a virgin, was violated by Sisyphus and conceived Odysseus. This is related by several authorities[*]; but Ister[*] of Alexandria in his Commentaries has in addition recorded that when Anticlea had been given in marriage to Laërtes and was being conducted to his home, she gave birth to Odysseus near the Alalcomenium in Boeotia. And for this reason, as though referring the name to that of a mother-city, he states that the city in Ithaca acquired its name.

Who were the solitary eaters in Aegina?

Of the Aeginetans who were engaged in the war against Troy many perished in the battles there, but even more were destroyed by the storm on the returnvoyage. So there were but few who survived, and when their relatives had welcomed them home, and observed that the other citizens were in mourning and sorrow, they deemed it proper neither to rejoice

nor to sacrifice to the gods openly; but secretly and separately in their own houses they received with feasting and good cheer those who had reached home in safety. They themselves waited upon their fathers and kinsmen, their brothers and relatives, and no one outside the family was allowed to enter. It is, then, in imitation of this that they hold a sacrifice to Poseidon, which is called thiasoi,[*] in which they feast by themselves in silence for sixteen days, and no slave is present. Then, when they have celebrated the Aphrodisia, they terminate the festival. For this reason they are called solitary eaters.