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
“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.
“And after her I saw Amphitryon’s wife, Alcmena, her who brought forth Hercules, The dauntless hero of the lion-heart— For she had given herself into the arms Of mighty Jupiter.
I also saw Megara there, a daughter of the house Of haughty Creion. Her Amphitryon’s son, Unamable in strength, had made his wife.
“The mother, too, of Oedipus I saw, Beautiful Epicastè, who in life Had done unwittingly a heinous deed— Had married her own son, who, having slain Her father first, espoused her; but the gods Published abroad the rumor of the crime. He in the pleasant town of Thebes bore sway O’er the Cadmeians; yet in misery He lived, for so the offended gods ordained. And she went down to Hades and the gates That stand forever barred; for, wild with grief, She slung a cord upon a lofty beam And perished by it, leaving him to bear Woes without measure, such as on a son The furies of a mother might inflict.