Amid the sands of Pylus Neleus chose. To Cretheus wedded next, the lovely nymph Yet other sons, Æson and Pheres bore, And Amythaon of equestrian fame. I, next, the daughter of Asopus saw, Antiope; she gloried to have known 310 Th' embrace of Jove himself, to whom she brought A double progeny, Amphion named And Zethus; they the seven-gated Thebes Founded and girded with strong tow'rs, because, Though puissant Heroes both, in spacious Thebes Unfenced by tow'rs, they could not dwell secure. Alcmena, next, wife of Amphitryon I saw; she in the arms of sov'reign Jove The lion-hearted Hercules conceiv'd, And, after, bore to Creon brave in fight 320 His daughter Megara, by the noble son Unconquer'd of Amphitryon espoused. The beauteous Epicaste[44] saw I then, Mother of Oedipus, who guilt incurr'd Prodigious, wedded, unintentional, To her own son; his father first he slew, Then wedded her, which soon the Gods divulged. He, under vengeance of offended heav'n, In pleasant Thebes dwelt miserable, King Of the Cadmean race; she to the gates 330 Of Ades brazen-barr'd despairing went, Self-strangled by a cord fasten'd aloft To her own palace-roof, and woes bequeath'd (Such as the Fury sisters execute Innumerable) to her guilty son. There also saw I Chloris, loveliest fair, Whom Neleus woo'd and won with spousal gifts Inestimable, by her beauty charm'd She youngest daughter was of Iasus' son, Amphion, in old time a sov'reign prince 340 In Minuëian Orchomenus, And King of Pylus. Three illustrious sons She bore to Neleus, Nestor, Chromius, And Periclymenus the wide-renown'd, And, last, produced a wonder of the earth, Pero, by ev'ry neighbour prince around In marriage sought; but Neleus her on none Deign'd to bestow, save only on the Chief Who should from Phylace drive off the beeves (Broad-fronted, and with jealous care secured) 350 Of valiant Iphicles. One undertook That task alone, a prophet high in fame, Melampus; but the Fates fast bound him there In rig'rous bonds by rustic hands imposed. At length (the year, with all its months and days Concluded, and the new-born year begun) Illustrious Iphicles releas'd the seer, Grateful for all the oracles resolved,[45] Till then obscure. So stood the will of Jove. Next, Leda, wife of Tyndarus I saw, 360 Who bore to Tyndarus a noble pair, Castor the bold, and Pollux cestus-famed. They pris'ners in the fertile womb of earth, Though living, dwell, and even there from Jove High priv'lege gain; alternate they revive And die, and dignity partake divine. The comfort of Aloëus, next, I view'd,