On Unbelievable Stories (28-31)

It is said that Boreas [the north wind] carried off Oreithyia. Rather, he was king of the region to the north. The same assumption and approach can also be used for the story of Zeus and Ganymede. He was a king who carried off Ganymede, and he was said to have transformed into an eagle because it too is a formidable creature. The same can be said for Eos and Tithonos, and for Aphrodite and Anchises.

It is said that Proteus transformed himself into water, and in the next moment to fire. It is obvious that to good people he was like water but to bad people he handed out punishments, as they deserved. His reputation spread as a result of these actions.

They say that Cephalos’ hound was granted the ability to catch any beast it saw and that nothing could catch the Teumessian fox. When the hound chased the fox – lest fate be contradicted – Zeus turned them both to stone. Such a fiction could not occur, as it violates the ceaseless action of both when they hunt.[*]

They say that Diomedes’ horses were man-eaters. But they were actually a wild-grazing herd. No one had been able to harness them to a chariot – but Heracles managed it.