Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/289

Rh GLAUCUS. Nacldrag, p. 175, Die Grieeh. Tragocd. vol. i. pp. 30, 52.) 2. A son of Hippolochus, and grandson of Bel- lerophontes. He was a Lycian prince, and led his hosts from Xanthus to the assistance of Priam in the war with the Greeks. (Hom. II. ii. 875, vi. 206 ; Herod, i. 147.) He was one of the most eminent heroes on the side of the Trojans, and connected with Diomedes by ties of hospitality, which shows a very early intercourse between the Greeks and Lycians. (Horn. II. vii. 13, xii. 387, xiv. 426, xvi. 492, &c., xvii. 140, &c.) He was slain by Ajax, but his body was carried back to Lycia. (Quint. Smym. Faralip. iii. 236, iv. 1, &c.) 3. A son of Antenor, fought in the Trojan war, and was slain by the Telaraonian Ajax. (Paus. x. 27; Diet. Cret. iv. 7.) 4. One of the numerous sons of Priam. (Apol- lod. iii. 12. §13.) 5. A son of the Messenian king Aepytus, whom he succeeded on the throne. He distinguished himself by his piety towards the gods, and was the first who offered sacrifices to Machaon. (Paus. iv. 3. § 6.) 6. One of the sons of the Cretnn king Minos by Pasiphae or Crete. When yet a boy, while he was playing at ball (Hygin. Fab 136), or while pursuing a mouse (Apollod. iii. 3. § 1, &c.), he fell into a cask full of honey, and died in it. Minos for a long time searched after his son in vain, and was at length informed by Apollo or the Curetes that the person who should devise the most appro- priate comparison between a cow, which could assume three different colours, and any other ob- ject, should find the boy and restore him to his father. Minos assembled his soothsayers, but as none of them was able to do what was required, a stranger, Polyidus of Argos, solved the problem by likening the cow to a mulberry, which is at first white, then red, and in the end black. Po- lyidus, who knew nothing of the oracle, was thus compelled by his own wisdom to restore Glaucus to his father. By his prophetic powers he discovered that Glaucus had not perished in the sea, and being guided by an owl {yXav^) and bees, he found him in the cask of honey. (Aelian, H.A. v. 2.) Minos now further demanded the restoration of his son to life. As Polyidus could not accom- plish this, Minos, who attributed his refusal to obstinacj', ordered him to be entombed alive with the body of Glaucus. When Polyidus was thus shut up in the vault, he saw a serpent approaching the dead body, and killed the animal. Presently another serpent came, carrying a herb, with which it covered the dead serpent. The dead serpent was thereby restored to life, and when Polyidus co- vered the body of Glaucus with the same herb, the boy at once rose into life again. Both shouted for assistance from without ; and when Minos heard of it, he had the tomb opened. In his delight at having recovered his child, he muni- ficently rewarded Polyidus, and sent him back to his country. {Com^.'^ziiiz. ad Lyeoph. 811; Pa- laephat. 27 ; Apollod. iii. 10. § 3 ; Schol. ad Eu- rip. Alcest. 1 ; Hygin. P. A. ii. 14; Schol. ad Find. Pyth. iii. 96.) The story of the Cretan Glaucus and Polyidus was a favourite subject with the ancient poets and artists ; it was not only re- presented in mimic dances (Lucian, de Saltat. 49), but Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides made it GLAUCUS. 275 the subject of separate dramatic compositions. (Welcker, Die Grieeh. Tragoed. vol. i. pp. 62, 416, vol.ii. p.767, &c.) 7. Of Anthedon in Boeotia, a fisherman, who had the good luck to eat a part of the divine herb which Cronos had sown, and which made Glaucus immortal. (Athen. vii. c.48 ; Claud, de Nupt.Mar. X. 158.) His parentage is different in the different traditions, which are enumerated by Athenaeus ; some called his father Copeus, others Polybus, the husband of Euboea, and others again Anthe- don or Poseidon. He was further said to have been a clever diver, to have built the ship Argo, and to have accompanied the Argonauts as their steersman. In the sea-fight of Jason against the Tyrrhenians, Glaucus alone remained unhurt ; he sank to the bottom of the sea, where he was visible to none save to Jason. From this moment he be- came a marine deity, and was of service to the Ar- gonauts. The story of his sinking or leaping into the sea was variously modified in the different tra- ditions. (Bekker, Anecdot. p. 347; Schol. ad Plat, de Leg. x. p. 611.) There was a belief in Greece that once in every year Glaucus visited all the coasts and islands, accompanied by marine mons- ters, and gave his prophecies. (Paus. ix. 22. § 6.) Fishermen and sailors paid particular reverence to him, and watched his oracles, which were believed to be very trustworthy. The story of his various Icves seems to have been a favourite subject with the ancient poets, and many of his love adventures are related by various writers. The place of his abode varies in the different traditions, but Aris- totle stated that he dwelt in Delos, where, in con- junction with the nymphs, he gave oracles ; for his prophetic power was said by some to be even greater than that of Apollo, who is called his dis- ciple in it. (Schol. ad Apollon. Rkod. i. 1310 ; Tzetz. ad Lycoph. 753 ; Eustath. ad Hom. p. 271 ; Ov. Met. xiii. 904, &c. ; Serv. ad Virq. Georg. i. 437, Aen. iii. 420, v. 832, vi. 36 ; Strab. p. 405.) A representation of Glaucus is described by Phi- lostratus {Imag. ii. 15): he was seen as a man whose hair and beard were dripping with water, with bristly eye-brows, his breast covered with sea-weeds, and the lower part of the body ending in the tail of a fish. (For further descriptions of his appearance, see Nonn. Dionys. xiii. 73, xxxv. 73, xxxix. 99 ; Schol. ad Eurip. Oresi. 318, 364 ; Stat. Silv. iii. 2, 36, T/i/^b. vii. 335, &c. ; Veil. Pat. ii. 83.) This deified Glaucus was likewise chosen by the Greek poets as the subject of dra- matic compositions (Welcker, Die Aescliyl. Tri- logie^ pp. 311, &c., 471, &c., Nacldrag., p. 176, &c.), and we know from Velleius Paterculus that the niimus Plancus represented this marine daemon on the stage. [L. S.] GLAUCUS (rXaC/fos), the son of Epicydes, a Lacedaemonian, of whom an anecdote is related by Herodotus (vi. 86) that in consequence of his having the highest reputation for justice, a Mi- lesian deposited with him a large sum of money ; but when, many years afterwards, the sons of the owner came to demand back their property, Glau- cus refused to give up the money, and disclaimed all knowledge of the transaction. Before, how- ever, he ventured to confirm his falsehood by an oath, he consulted the oracle at Delphi, and, terrified at the answer he received, immediately restored the deposit. But the god did not suffer the meditated perjury to go unpunished, and the T 2