CHAPTER XVI.
And Argos his daughter’s son, who reigned after Phoroneus, gave Argos his own name. And to Argos were born Pirasus and Phorbas, and to Phorbas Triopas, and to Triopas Iasus and Agenor. Io the daughter of Iasus went to Egypt, either as Herodotus tells the story or as the Greeks tell the story, and Crotopus the son of Agenor had the rule after Iasus, and the son of Crotopus was Sthenelas. And Danaus sailed from Egypt against Gelanor the son of Sthenelas, and expelled from the kingdom the descendants of Agenor. All the world knows the history, how his daughters acted to their cousins, and how after his death Lynceus had the kingdom. And his grandsons, the sons of Abas, divided the kingdom, Acrisius remained at Argos, and Prœtus had Heræum and Midea and Tiryns and all the maritime parts of Argolis: and there are to this day remains of Prœtus’ palace at Tiryns. And some time afterwards Acrisius, hearing that Perseus was alive and a mighty man of valour, retired to Larissa by the river Peneus. And Perseus, as he wished excessively to see his mother’s father and greet him with kind words and deeds, went to him to Larissa. And being in the prime of life, and rejoicing in the invention of the game of quoits, he displayed his prowess to all, and by fatality Acrisius was unintentionally killed by the throw of his quoit. Thus was the prophecy of the god fulfilled to Acrisius, nor did his contrivances against his daughter and her son turn away his fate. But when Perseus returned to Argos, for he was ashamed of the infamy of this murder of his grandfather, he persuaded Megapenthes the son of Prœtus to exchange kingdoms with him, and founded Mycenæ, where the scabbard of his sword fell off, for he thought this an indication that he should build a city there. Another tradition is that when thirsty he took up a fungus from the ground, and when some water flowed from it he drank it and was pleased, and called the name of the place Mycenæ [which means both scabbard and fungus.] Homer indeed in the Odyssey[20] has recorded the lady Mycene in the following line,
“Tyro and Alcmene and Mycene adorned with garlands;”
and the poem called the Great Eœæ, by Hesiod, represents her as the daughter of Inachus and the wife of Arestor: and from her some say the city got its name. But the tradition of Acusilaus which they also add, that Myceneus was the son of Sparton, and Sparton the son of Phoroneus, I could not accept, far less would the Lacedæmonians. For they have at Amyclæ the image of a woman called Sparta, and if they heard that Sparton was the son of Phoroneus they would marvel at once.
Now the Argives destroyed Mycenæ in jealousy. For though they took no part against the Medes, the people of Mycenæ sent to Thermopylæ 80 men, who shared in the glory of the famous 300. This public spirit brought about their destruction, by provoking the Argives to jealousy. But there are still some remains of the precincts and the gate, and there are some lions on it: which were they say executed by the Cyclopes, who built the wall at Tiryns for Prœtus. And among the ruins at Mycenæ is a fountain called Perseus’, and some underground buildings belonging to Atreus and his sons, where their treasures were. And there is the tomb of Atreus, and of those whom Ægisthus slew at a banquet on their return from Ilium with Agamemnon. As to Cassandra’s tomb the Lacedæmonians of Amyclæ claim that they have it. And there is the tomb of Agamemnon there, and that of Eurymedon the charioteer, and the joint-tomb of Teledamus and Pelops, who were twins of Cassandra, and were butchered by Ægisthus (while still babes) after their parents. There is also the tomb of Electra, who married Pylades, and Orestes gave her away. And Hellanicus has recorded that Medon and Strophius were the issue of the marriage. And Clytæmnestra and Ægisthus were buried a little outside the walls, for they were thought unworthy to lie within the city, and mingle their ashes with Agamemnon and those who were murdered with him.