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The usual Greek myth (not in H.) was that Io was turned into a heifer, and wandered till she came to Egypt, where she bore Epaphus (Apis; cf. ii. 38. 1 n.).

βασιλέος. Homer calls him ‘Phoenix’ (Il. xiv. 321), but H. gives the usual form ‘Agenor’ (iv. 147. 4; in vi. 47. 1 we must translate Θάσου τοῦ Φοίνικος ‘Thasus the Phoenician’).

Κρῆτες. This is H.'s own suggestion; the usual form of the legend was that Europa bore Minos and Rhadamanthus to Zeus in Crete; he means that, if this were properly interpreted, it would agree with the Persian version here told; ‘these would then be Cretans.’ The words ταῦτα μὲν κτλ. imply that the balance of criminality now was equal; hence the Greeks were really to blame for the next act of aggression.


μακρῇ. ‘A ship of war’ is emphatic; it was an organized raid.

τἆλλα: i. e. the winning of the Golden Fleece.

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