[281] Χλῶριν. Chloris, daughter of Amphion, king of the Minyan Orchomenus, was married to Neleus king of Pylos, and was mother by him of three sons and one fair daughter Pero, whose hand was to be bestowed upon the man who could succeed in bringing from Phylace the cows of Iphiclus. There was a noble prophet who undertook the task, but he was caught and imprisoned for a year by Iphiclus, who then set him free as a reward for his prophetic revelations. This is the whole of the story as it stands here; but it reappears in a somewhat different form, or at any rate with additional details, in Od.15. 225 foll., when Theoclymenus is first introduced upon the scene, the descendant of Melampus, who is the “μάντις ἀμύμων” of the present passage. Melampus, according to this version, had once lived in Pylos, but had sought a new home; for, while he was prisoner in the house of Phylacus, Neleus had seized and kept his possessions. He had fallen into the hands of Phylacus while attempting to carry off his cows, the price demanded by Neleus for the hand of Pero; but at last he succeeded in bringing away the cows to Pylos, when he avenged himself on Neleus, handed the lady he had won to his brother (Bias ), and went to be a great chieftain among the Argives, where he married, and begot among other children Oecles, who was father of Amphiaraus. The steps in the genealogy may be represented thus:—
The story is briefly summed up by Propertius, Eleg. 2. 4. 17 foll. “ Turpia perpessus vates est vincla Melampus,Cognitus Iphicli surripuisse boves.
Quem non lucra, magis Pero formosa coëgit,
Mox Amythaonia nupta futura domo.
”
