[2]
Not long afterwards he collected an Arcadian
army, and being joined by volunteers from the first men in Greece he marched against Augeas.1 But Augeas, hearing of the war that
Hercules was levying, appointed Eurytus and Cteatus2 generals of the Eleans. They were two men
joined in one, who surpassed all of that generation in strength and were sons of Actor by
Molione, though their father was said to be Poseidon; now Actor was a brother of Augeas.
But it came to pass that on the expedition
Hercules fell sick; hence he concluded a truce with the Molionides. But
afterwards, being apprized of his illness, they attacked the army and slew many. On that
occasion, therefore, Hercules beat a retreat; but
afterwards at the celebration of the third Isthmian festival, when the Eleans sent the
Molionides to take part in the sacrifices,
Hercules waylaid and killed them at Cleonae,3 and marching on Elis
took the city. And having killed Augeas and his sons, he restored Phyleus and bestowed on
him the kingdom.4 He also celebrated the
Olympian games5 and founded
an altar of Pelops,6 and built six
altars of the twelve gods.7
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1 For the expedition of Herakles against Augeas, see Diod. 4.33.1; Paus. 5.1.10ff.; Paus. 5.2.1; Paus. 6.20.16; Scholiast on Pind. O. 9.31(40).
2 As to Eurytus and Cteatus, who were called Actoriones after their father Actor, and Moliones or Molionides, after their mother Molione, see Hom. Il. 2.621, Hom. Il. 11.709ff.,Hom. Il. 11.751ff., Hom. Il. 13.638; Paus. 5.1.10ff.; Paus. 5.2.1ff. and Paus. 5.2.5ff. According to some, they had two bodies joined in one （Scholiast on Hom. Il. 13.638, 639）. According to others, they had each two heads four hands, and four feet but only one body （Scholiast on Hom. Il. xi.709）. Compare Eustathius on Hom. Il. xi.749, p. 882. The poet Ibycus spoke of them as twins, born of a silver egg and “with equal heads in one body” （ἰσοκεφάλους ἑνιγυίους）. See Athenaeus ii.50, pp. 57ff. Their story was told by Pherecydes （Scholiast on Hom. Il. xi.709）, whom Apollodorus may have followed in the present passage.
3 Compare Pind. O. 10.26(32)ff.; Diod. 4.33.3; Paus. 2.15.1, Paus. 5.2.1.
4 Compare Pind. O. 10.34(43)ff.; Diod. 4.33.4; Paus. 5.3.1; Scholiast on Hom. Il. xi.700.
5 Herakles is said to have marked out the sacred precinct at Olympia, instituted the quadriennial Olympic festival, and celebrated the Olympic games for the first time. See Pind. O. 3.3ff., Pind. O. 6.67ff., Pind. O. 10.43(51)ff.; Diod. 4.14.1ff., Diod. 5.64.6; Paus. 5.7.9; Paus. 5.8.1 and Paus. 5.8.3ff.; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 41; Scholiast on Hom. Il. xi.700; Hyginus, Fab. 273.
6 Apollodorus is probably mistaken in speaking of an altar of Pelops at Olympia. The more accurate Pausanias describes （Paus. 5.13.1ff.） a precinct of Pelops founded by Herakles at Olympia and containing a pit, in which the magistrates annually sacrificed a black ram to the hero: he does not mention an altar. As a hero, that is, a worshipful dead man, Pelops was not entitled to an altar, he had only a right to a sacrificial pit. For sacrifices to the dead in pits see Hom. Od. 11.23ff.; Philostratus, Her. xx.27; Scholiast on Eur. Ph. 274; Paus. 9.39.6; Fr. Pfister, Der Reliquienkult im Altertum, pp. 474ff.
7 As to the six double altars, each dedicated to a pair of deities, see Pind. O. 5.4(8)ff.; Pind. O. 10.24(30); Scholiast on Pind. O. 5.4(8) and Pind. O. 5.5(10), who cites Herodorus on the foundation of the altars by Herakles.
Apollodorus. Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. Includes Frazer's notes.
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