Page:The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer (IA iliadodysseyofho02home).pdf/265

Book XI. 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 His daughter Megara, by the noble son Unconquer'd of Amphitryon espoused. The beauteous Epicaste 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 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 In Minuëian Orchomenus, And King of Pylus. Three illustrious sons She bore to Neleus, Nestor, Chromius,