45
Because when Heracles had slain Hippolytê, together with her other arms he took her axe and gave it as a present to Omphalê. The Lydian kings who succeeded Omphalê used to carry it as a part of the sacred regalia, handing it down one to the other until it carne to Candaules. He deemed it of little worth and gave it to one of his CompanionsTechnically a Hellenistic court office, but Plutarch seems to assume such a relation in early Lydian history. to carry. But when GygesThe many ancient variants of the Gyges legend are collected and discussed by K. F. Smith, American Jour. Phil., 1902 pp. 261 ff., 362 ff.; 1920, pp. 1 ff. revolted and was at war with Candaules, Arselis carne from Mylasa with an army as an ally for Gyges and slew both Candaules and his Companion and brought the axe to Caria together with the other spoils. He therefore constructed a statue of Zeus and placed the axe in its hand, and called the god Labrandeus; for the Lydialis call the axe labrys.One is reminded of the many representations of the double axe on Cretan monuments.
46
Why is it that the people of Tralles call vetch purifier and make particular use of it for expiations and purifications?
46
Is it because the Leleges and Minyae in days of old drove them out and took possession of their city and their land, and because later the Trallians returned and prevailed, and as many of the Leleges as had not been slain nor had fled away, but had been left behind there because of their destitution and weakness - of these they took no account either of their life or of their death, and they established a law that any Trallian who killed a Miriyan or a Lelegian should be free from pollution when he had measured out a bushel of vetch to the relatives of the murdered man?
47
Why is there a proverb among the Eleans to suffer more terribly than Sambicus?
