Page:History of Greece Vol I.djvu/204

 172 HISTORY OF GREECE. Throughout the whole duration of the Messenico-Dorian king, dom, there never was any town called Messene: the town was first founded by Epameinondas, after the battle of Leuctra. The heroic genealogy of Messenia starts from the same name as that of Laconia from the autochthonous Lelex: his younger son, Polykaon, marries Messene, daughter of the Argeian Triopas, and settles the country. Pausanias tells us that the posterity of this pair occupied the country for five generations ; but he in vain searched the ancient genealogical poems to find the names of their descendants. 1 To them succeeded Perieres, son of ^Eolus ; and Aphareus and Leukippus, according to Pausanias, were sons of Perieres. Idas and Lynkeus are the only heroes, distinguished for personal exploits and memorable attributes, belonging to Messenia proper. They are the counterpart of the Dioskuri, and were interesting persons in the old legendary poems. Marpessa was the daughter of Euenus, and wooed by Apollo : nevertheless Idas 2 carried her off by the aid of a winged chariot which he had received from Poseidon, Euenus pursued them, and when he arrived at the river Lykormas, he found himself unable to overtake them : his grief caused him to throw himself into the river, which ever afterwards bore his name. Idas brought Marpe'ssa safe to Messenia, and even when Apollo there claimed her of him, he did not fear to risk a combat with the god. But Zeus interfered as mediator, and permitted the maiden to choose which of the two she preferred. She attached herself to Idas, being apprehensive that Apollo would desert her in her old age : on the death of her husband she slew herself. Both Idas and Lynkeus took part in the Argonautic expedition and in the KalydSnian boar-hunt. 3 1 Pausan. iv. 2, 1. II. ix. p. 553). Bacchylides Cap, Schol. Pindar. Isthm. iv. 92) celebrated in one of his poems the competition among many eager suitors for the hand of Marpessa, under circumstances similar to the competition for Hippodamcia, daughter of CEnomaus. Many unsuccessful suitors perished by the hand of Euenas : their skulls were affixed to the wall of the temple of Poseidon. 3 Apollod. i. 7, 9. Pausan. iv. 2, 5. Apollonius Rhodius describes Idas as fall of boast and self-confidence, heedless of the necessity of divine aid. Probably this was the character of the brothers in the old legend, as the enemies of the Dioskuri. The wrath of the Dioskuri against Messenia was treated, even in the
 * Iliad, ix. 553. Simonides had handled this story in detail (Schol. Yen.