43
Next is the story of the descendants of Pelops, with Mycenae and what happened there, and previously—Inachus, Io, and her warder Argus; Atreus, Thyestes, Aerope, and the golden lamb; the defloration of Pelopeia;Daughter of Thyestes, and by him mother of Aegisthus (Hyginus 87 and 88; cf. Frazer, Apollodorus, II, p. 168, n. 1). She is mentioned as a pantomimic réle by Juvenal, VII, 92: praefectos Pelopea facit, Philomela tribunos. the slaying of Agamemnon, and the punishment of Clytemestra. Even before that, the expedition of the Seven Captains, with Adrastus’ reception of the exiles who became his sons-in-law, and the oracle about them,One of Adrastus’ daughters was to wed a boar, the other a lion. Tydeus had a boar for his shield-device, Polynices a lion. the refusal to bury the fallen, and the death of Antigone and Menoeceus on that account.
44
Also what happened on Nemean soil, the story of Hypsipyle and Archemorus, is very essential for the dancer to remember.Just why it should be so essential is not very obvious. The infant Archemorus was killed by a dragon when his nurse Hypsipyle left him at a spring in order to point out the way to Thebes to the army of the seven chieftains. But Lucian’s remark may have been called forth by the thought of Hypsipyle’s earlier history as queen of Lemnos—her killing her husband and saving her father, and her love for Jason. And from an earlier time he will know the enforced virginity of Danae, the birth of Perseus, and the quest of the Gorgons which he assumed. Related to this is the Ethiopian tale of Cassiopea, Andromeda, and Cepheus, who have been placed in the roll of constellations by the faith of men of after time. And he will also know that ancient tale of Aegyptus and Danaus, and the bride-night plot.
