a,
where Sisyphus lived, who was the craftiest of all mankind. He was the
son of Aeolus, and had a son named Glaucus, who was father to
Bellerophon, whom heaven endowed with the most surpassing comeliness
and beauty. But Proetus devised his ruin, and being stronger than he,
drove him from the land of the Argives, over which Jove had made him
ruler. For Antea, wife of Proetus, lusted after him, and would have had
him lie with her in secret; but Bellerophon was an honourable man and
would not, so she told lies about him to Proteus. 'Proetus,' said she,
'kill Bellerophon or die, for he would have had converse with me
against my will.' The king was angered, but shrank from killing
Bellerophon, so he sent him to Lycia with lying letters of
introduction, written on a folded tablet, and containing much ill
against the bearer. He bade Bellerophon show these letters to his
father-in-law, to the end that he might thus perish; Bellerophon
therefore went to Lycia, and the gods convoyed him safely.

"When he reached the river Xanthus, which is in Lycia, the king
received him with all goodwill, feasted him nine days, and killed nine
heifers in his honour, but when rosy-fingered morning appeared upon the
tenth day, he questioned him and desired to see the letter from his
son-in-law Proetus. When he had received the wicked letter he first
commanded Bellerophon to kill that savage monster, the Chimaera, who
was not a human being, but a goddess, for she had the head of a lion
and the tail of a serpent, while her body was that of a goat, and she
breathed forth flames of fire; but Bellerophon slew her, for he was
guided by signs from heaven. He next fought the far-famed Solymi, and
this, he said, was the hardest of all his battles. Thirdly, he killed
the Amazons, women who were the peers of men, and as he was returning
thence the king devised yet another plan for his destruction; he picked
the bravest warriors in all Lycia, and placed them in ambuscade, but
not a man ever came back, for Bellerophon killed every one of them.
Then the king knew that he must be the valiant offspring of a god, so
he kept him in Lycia, gave him his daughter in marriage, and made him
of equal honour in the kingdom with himself; and the Lycians gave him a
piece of land, the best in all the country, fair with vineyards and
tilled fields, to have and to hold.

"The king's daughter bore Bellerophon three children, Isander,
Hippolochus, and Laodameia. Jove, the lor