[1467]. This is, moreover, the common opinion. Thus Dionysios (Perieg. v. 907, seq.)
—πρῶτοι νήεσσιν ἐπειρήσαντο θαλάσσης,
Πρῶτοι δ᾽ ἐμπορίης ἁλιδινέος ἐμνήσαντο.
They first in ships the billowy ocean tried,
And first sea-wandering commerce gave to man.
On this account Cicero observes: “Eos primos mercatores mercibus suis avaritiam, magnificentiam et inexplebiles cupiditates primum in Græciam intulisse.” De Rep. fr. l. 111. ap. Feith, Antiq. Hom. ii. 10. 1.
[1468]. Some such event as this is no doubt alluded to in the story of Cadmos.
[1469]. Apollodoros, recounting the exploits of the Argonauts, mentions incidentally a curious particular respecting the women of Lemnos, who, he says, were deserted by their husbands on account of the ill odour they exhaled. Their places were supplied by female slaves from Thrace; upon which, in revenge, they murdered all the men in the island, with the exception of Thoas, who was saved by his daughter, Hypsipyle. Biblioth. i. 9. 17. Cf. Pind. Pyth. iv. 159, sqq. ed. Dissen. whose commentary may be consulted, t. ii. p. 235.
[1470]. Odys. θ. 162. Hymn. in Apoll. 397.
[1471]. Odyss. ο. 414, seq.