On Unbelievable Stories (5-9)

What they say about the Teumesian Fox is that it snatched up and devoured the Cadmeians. This is naive! For no other land-based animal is able to snatch up and carry off a human, and the fox is small and weak.

Something of the following sort took place. There was once a Theban man called Fox. He was handsome and noble – and cunning. For he surpassed everyone else in craftiness. The king, afraid that Fox was scheming against him, banished him from the city. So Fox raised a great army, hired mercenaries and captured the hilltop called Teumesos. Using this as his base, he raided the Thebans and carried off captives. And so people would say, Fox preys on us and then retreats! But a man called Cephalos, an Athenian by birth, came to the Thebans as an ally with a great army. He killed Fox and drove off his army from Teumesos. It was from these actual events that those myths arose.

They say Actaion was consumed by his own dogs. This is false: a dog loves its master, and especially the one who feeds it, and hunting dogs show affection to everyone. Some say that Artemis turned him into a deer and then his dogs tore the deer apart. I think that Artemis is capable of doing whatever she wants; and yet it can’t be true that a man changed into a deer, or a deer into a man. The poets fabricated these myths so that those who listened to them would not violate the gods’ domain.

The truth is as follows. Actaion was an Arcadian by birth and loved to hunt. Because he was always training his many dogs and hunting in the mountains, he neglected his own affairs. At that time, all men laboured for themselves and did not have slaves; the wealthiest man was the one who was most industrious. Actaion's livelihood was destroyed because he neglected his domestic affairs to go hunting instead. When he had nothing left, people would say, Wretched Actaion - he has been consumed by his own dogs!. It’s just like how even today, when someone wastes their fortune in brothels, we say, He has been consumed by prostitutes. Something like this was what really happened in the case of Actaion.

What they say about the horses of Diomedes is that they were man-eaters: how laughable! Horses much prefer grass and barley to human flesh!

The truth is as follows. In the distant past men laboured for themselves and only by working the land did they get food and other such necessities. At some stage someone figured out how to keep horses and he took such pleasure in his horses that he ended up ruining himself by squandering everything he had to feed them. And from these actual events the myth spread.

They say that Niobe was a living woman who turned into stone on the grave of her children. Whoever believes that a human can turn into a stone or a stone turn into a human is naive.

The truth is as follows. After her children died, someone made a stone statue of Niobe and stood it on the grave. And so passers-by would say, A stone Niobe stands on the grave. We saw her ourselves! It’s just like how some say nowadays, I was sitting beside the bronze Heracles or I was beside the marble Hermes. This was like that too, but Niobe herself was definitely not turned into stone!

It’s said that Lynceus could even see things underground. This is false.

The truth is as follows. Lynceus was the first to mine copper and silver etc. He took lamps down into the mine. He left them down there and brought up sacks of bronze and iron. And so people would say, Lynceus even sees things underground - he goes down there and brings up silver.