Page:History of Greece Vol I.djvu/174

 J42 HISTORY OF GREECE. quitted Peloponnesus in consequence of having slain Apis. 1 The country on the north of the Corinthian gulf, between the rivere F.uenus and Achelous, received from him the name of ^Etolia instead of that of Kuretis ; he acquired possession of it after having slain Dorus, Laodokus and Polypcetes, sons of Apollo and Phthia, by whom he had been well received. lie had by his wife Pronoe (the daughter of Phorbas) two sons, Pleuron and Kalydon, and from them the two chief towns in .ZEtolia were named. 2 Pleuron married Xanthippe, daughter of Dorus, and had for his son Age- nor, from whom sprang Portheus, or Porthaon, and Demonike : Euenos and Thestius were children of the latter by the god Ares.3 Portheus had three sons, Agrius, Melas and CEneus : among the offspring of Thestius were Althaea and Leda, 4 names which bring us to a period of interest in the legendary history. Leda marries Tyndareus and becomes mother of Helena and the Dios- curi: Althaea marries CEneus, and has, among other children, Meleager and Deianeira ; the latter being begotten by the god Dionysus, and the former by Ares. 5 Tydeus also is his son, the 1 Ephorus said that ./'Etolus had been expelled by Salmoneus king of the Epeians and Pisatae (ap. Strabo. viii. p. 357) : he must have had before him a different story and different genealogy from that which is given in the text. 2 Apollodor. i. 7, 6. Dorus, son of Apollo and Phthia, killed by JEtulns, after having hospitably received him, is here mentioned. Nothing at all is known of this ; but the conjunction of names is such as to render it probable that there was some legend connected with them : possibly the assistance given by Apollo to the Kuretes against the JEtolians, and the death of Melca- gcr by the hand of Apollo, related both in the Eoiai and the Minyas CPausan. x. 31, 2), may have been grounded upon it. The story connects itself with what is stated by Apollodorus about Dorus son of Hellen (see supra, p. 136). 3 According to the ancient genealogical poet Asius, Thestius was son of Agenor the son of Pleuron ("Asa Fragm. 6, p. 413, cd. Marktsch.). Compare the genealogy of JEtolia and the general remarks upon it, in Brandstater, Gcschichte des JEtol. Landes, etc., Berlin, 1844, p. 23 seq. etc. (Schol. Apollon. Rhod. i. 146). The reference to the Corinthiaca of Eumelus is curious : it is a specimen of the matters upon which these old genealogical poems dwelt. 5 Apollodor. i. 8, 1 ; Euripide's, Meleager, Irag. 1. The three sons of Portheus arc named in the Iliad (xiv. 116) as living at Pleuron and Kalyd6n The name CEncus doubtless brings Dionysus into the legend.
 * Respecting Lda, sec the statements of Ibykus, PhcrekydSs, Hellanikus,