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CYCNUS or SWAN
Nicander tells this tale in the third book of his Metamorphoses, as
also Areus the Laconian in his Ode to Cycnus.
Apo1l0145 and Thyrie,'46 daughter of Amphinomus,'47 had a son
called Cycnus.
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He was of fine appearance, but graceless
and boorish in character. He was extraordinarily devoted
to hunting. He lived in the country between Pleuron and
Calydon.149 There were many who became his lovers because
of his beauty.
Because of his disdainfulness Cycnus attained understanding
with no one. Very soon he came to be thoroughly disliked by
his admirers and abandoned by them. Phylius alone stood by
him. But Cycnus treated him with immoderate arrogance. At
that time there appeared among the Aetolians a great monster
of a lion
150
that savaged the inhabitants and their flocks.
Cycnus ordered Phylius to kill the lion without using a
weapon. He promised to do so and made away with the animal
by the following trick. Knowing at what hour the lion was going
to go prowling, he filled his stomach with a great deal of food
and wine. When the beast came up, Phylil.ls sicked up the
food.
The lion, hungry, availed himself of this food and was spiked
down by the wine.
'51
Phylius, throwing his arm round the lion,
blocked his maw with the clothing he wore. Having killed the
beast, he put it on his shoulders and carried it to Cycnus. He
gained wide renown for this achievement.
Cycnus then demanded an even stranger feat. There had
appeared in this land some vultures,152 monstrous and enor-
mous. They killed many people. Cycnus ordered him to catch
them alive and to bring them to him, by whatever method.
Phylius was wondering how he was to achieve this task
when, by divine intervention, an eagle that had snatched up a
hare let it fall half-dead before it could take it to its eyrie.
Phylius tore open the hare, besmeared himself with the blood
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Cycnus or Swan
and lay on the ground. The birds swooped on him as a cadaver.
Phylius caught hold of two birds by their legs and, getting a
good hold, carried them off to Cycnus.
Cycnus then imposed on him an even more difficult feat. He
ordered him to carry a bull
'53
away from its herd, using only his
hands, and to haul it off all the way to the altar of Zeus. Phylius,
not knowing how he was to accomplish the task, prayed to
Heracles to assist him in this. In answer to this prayer there
came into view two bulls, both in rut for a cow; they butted
with their horns hurling each other to the ground. When he
saw the bulls sprawling helplessly, Phylius caught one by the
leg and dragged it off to the altar. Heracles desired him to pay
no more attention to the orders of that youth.
Cycnus felt fearsomely and unexpectedly disgraced. In his
depression he flung himself into the lake called Conope
'S4
and
was seen no more. After his death, his mother, Thyrie, threw
herself into the same lake. By the will of Apollo they both
became lake birds.
After their disappearance, the lake's name was changed and
became the Swan Lake. Many swans appear there at ploughing
time. The tomb of Phylius stands nearby.
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