“Thus we conferred. Meantime the women came Around me, moved by mighty Proserpine; In throngs they gathered to the dark red blood. Then, as I pondered how to question each, This seemed the wisest—from my sturdy thigh I plucked the trenchant sword, and suffered not All that were there to taste the blood at once; So one by one they came, and each in turn Declared her lineage. Thus I questioned all.
“Then saw I highborn Tyro first, who claimed To be the daughter of that blameless man Salmoneus, and who called herself the wife Of Cretheus, son of Aeolus. She loved Enipeus, hallowed river, fairest stream Of all that flow on earth, and often walked Beside its pleasant waters. He whose arms Surround the islands, Neptune, once put on The river’s form, and at its gulfy mouth Met her; the purple waters stood upright Around them like a wall, and formed an arch, And hid the god and woman. There he loosed The virgin zone of Tyro, shedding sleep Upon her. Afterward he took her hand And said: ‘Rejoice, O maiden, in our love, For with the year’s return shalt thou bring forth Illustrious sons; the embraces of the gods Are not unfruitful. Rear them carefully. And now return to thy abode, and watch Thy words, and keep thy secret. Thou must know That I am Neptune, he who shakes the earth.’
“He spake, and plunged into the billowy deep. And she became a mother, and brought forth Pelias and Neleus, valiant ministers Of mighty Jupiter. On the broad lands Of Iäolchos Pelias dwelt, and reared Vast flocks of sheep, while Neleus made his home In Pylos midst the sands. The queenly dame, His mother, meanwhile brought forth other sons To Cretheus—Aeson first, and Pheres next, And Amythaon, great in horsemanship.
“And after her I saw Antiopè, The daughter of Asopus—her who made A boast that she had slumbered in the arms Of Jove. Two sons she bore—Amphion one, The other Zethus—and they founded Thebes With its seven gates, and girt it round with towers; For, valiant as they were, they could not dwell Safely in that great town unfenced by towers.