And The Priests Told Me, When I Inquired, That The Things Concerning
Helen Happened Thus:
- Alexander having carried off Helen was sailing
away from Sparta to his own land, and when he had come
To the Egean
Sea contrary winds drove him from his course to the Sea of Egypt; and
after that, since the blasts did not cease to blow, he came to Egypt
itself, and in Egypt to that which is now named the Canobic mouth of
the Nile and to Taricheiai. Now there was upon the shore, as still
there is now, a temple of Heracles, in which if any man's slave take
refuge and have the sacred marks set upon him, giving himself over to
the god, it is not lawful to lay hands upon him; but this custom has
continued still unchanged from the beginning down to my own time.
Accordingly the attendants of Alexander, having heard of the custom
which existed about the temple, ran away from him, and sitting down as
suppliants of the god, accused Alexander, because they desired to do
him hurt, telling the whole tale how things were about Helen and about
the wrong done to Menalaos; and this accusation they made not only to
the priests but also to the warden of this river-mouth, whose name was
Thonis. Thonis then having heard their tale sent forthwith a message
to Proteus at Memphis, which said as follows: "There hath come a
stranger, a Teucrian by race, who hath done in Hellas an unholy deed;
for he hath deceived the wife of his own host, and is come hither
bringing with him this woman herself and very much wealth, having been
carried out of his way by winds to thy land.
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