92 HISTORY OF GREECE. respecting cattle, and in a fit of passion killed him r 1 moreover the piratical Taphians from the west coast of Akarnania invaded the country, and slew the sons of Elektryon, so that Alkmene alone was left of that family. She was engaged to wed Amphi- tryon ; but she bound him by oath not to consummate the mar- riage until he had avenged upon the Telebooe the death of her brothers. Amphitryon, compelled to flee the country as the murderer of his uncle, took refuge in Thebes, whither Alkmene accompanied him : Sthenelos was left in possession of Tiryns. The Kadmeians of Thabes, together with the Locrians and Pho- cians, supplied Amphitryon with troops, which he conducted against the Telebooe and the Taphians :~ yet he could not have subdued them without the aid of Komgetho, daughter of the Taphian king Pterelaus, who conceived a passion for him, and cut off from her father's head the golden lock to which Poseidon had attached the gift of immortality. 3 Having conquered and expelled his enemies, Amphitryon returned to Thebes, impatient to consummate his marriage: but Zeus on the wedding-night assumed his form and visited Alkmene before him : he had deter- mined to produce from her a son superior to all his prior offspring, "a specimen of invincible force both to gods and men." 4 At the proper time, Alkmene was delivered of twin sons : Herakles the offspring of Zeus, the inferior and unlionored Iphikles, offspring of Amphitryon. 5 When Alkmene was on the point of being delivered at Thebes, Zeus publicly boasted among the assembled gods, at the instiga- tion of the mischief-making Ate, that there was on that day about 1 So runs the old legend in the Hcsiodic Shield of HCraklcs (12-82). Apollodorus (or Pherekydes, whom he follows) softens it down, and repre- sents the death of Elektryon as accidentally caused by Amphitryon. (Apollod. ii. 4, 6. Pherekydes, Fragm. 27, Bind.)
- Hesiod, Scut. Here. 24. Theocrit. Idyll, xxiv. 4. Teleboas, the Epo-
nym of these marauding people, was son of Poseidon (Anaximander ap. Athense. xi. p. 498). 3 Apollod. ii. 4, 7. Compare the fable of Nisus at Megara, infra, chap xii. p. 302. 4 ITesiod, Scut. Here. 29. o<t>pa -deolan 'AixSpuat r' u^.^>rarr/CLv apfc il.KTr)pa forever;.
- Ilesiod. Sc. II. 50-56.
