daughter of the king. This legend reminds us of Joseph in Egypt.

(M331) We are compelled to omit other interesting legends of the AEolids,
the sons and daughters of AEolus, among which are those which record the
feats of Atalanta, and turn to those which relate to the Pelopids, who
gave to the Peloponnesus its early poetic interest. Of this remarkable
race were Tantalus, Pelops, Atreus, Thyestes, Agamemnon, Menelaus, Helen,
and Hermione, all of whom figured in the ancient legendary genealogies.

(M332) Tantalus resided, at a remote antiquity, near Mount Sipylus, in
Lydia, and was a man of immense wealth, and pre-eminently favored both by
gods and men. Intoxicated by prosperity, he stole nectar and ambrosia from
the table of the gods, and revealed their secrets, for which he was
punished in the under world by perpetual hunger and thirst, yet placed
with fruit and water near him, which eluded his grasp when he attempted to
touch them. He had two children, Pelops and Niobe. The latter was blessed
with seven sons and seven daughters, which so inflamed her with pride that
she claimed equality with the goddesses Latona and Diana, who favored her
by their friendship. This presumption so incensed the goddesses, that they
killed all her children, and Niobe wept herself to death, and was turned
into a stone, a striking image of excessive grief.

(M333) Pelops was a Lydian king, but was expelled from Asia by Ilus, king
of Troy, for his impieties. He came to Greece, and beat Hippodamenia,
whose father was king of Pisa, near Olympia, in Elis, in a chariot race,
when death was the penalty of failure. He succeeded by the favor of
Poseidon, and married the princess, and became king of Pisa. He gave his
name to the whole peninsula, which he was enabled to do from the great
wealth he brought from Lydia, thus connecting the early settlements of the
Peloponnesus with Asia Minor. He had numerous children, who became the
sovereigns of different cities and states in Argos, Elis, Laconia, and
Arcadia. One of them, Atreus, was king of Mycenae, who inherited the
sceptre of Zeus, and whose wealth was proverbial. The sceptre was made by
Hephaestus (Vulcan) and given to Zeus; he gave it to Hermes; Hermes
presented it to Pelops; and Pelops gave it to Atreus, the ruler of men.
Atreus and his brother, Thyestes, bequeathed it to Agamemnon, who ruled at
Mycenae, while his brother, Menelaus, reigned at Sparta. It was the wife of
Menelaus, Helen, who was