Chapter XIII: Salmoneus and Sisyphus

There was a country of Greece called Elis, and there was once a king of Elis named Salmoneus, whom the gods favoured in all manner of ways. If he went to war with another king he was sure to gain the victory. His fields brought forth abundant harvests, and his flocks prospered and increased. Never was there a hailstorm or any other disaster in his country. But Salmoneus was presumptuous and thought he could get everything he wished by his own cleverness, and at last he came to despise the gods and to consider himself on equal terms with them. He commanded the people to call him Zeus and to offer sacrifices to him, and he had a chariot drawn by fiery horses, with dried cows' hides and copper kettles hanging from it, which clashed and rumbled together and made a tremendous noise as he drove along, and then the people had to shout, 'Zeus is thundering!' He had also burning torches in the chariot which he threw right and left among the people, and then they had to shout, 'Zeus is lightning!' And whoever was hit by the torches was immediately killed by the king's spearmen, that it might seem as if he had been struck dead by his lightning. The gods let Salmoneus go on for {43} some time in this foolish way, but at last when he was one day driving through the streets with his thunder and lightning, a real thunderbolt came down from heaven which struck the king and killed him in a moment. Then the people fell to the earth in fear, and one of them said in a half-whisper, 'Zeus has indeed thundered!'

Salmoneus had a brother named Sisyphus, who was king of the city of Corinth, and surpassed all other men in deceit and craftiness. There was a cunning robber, not far from Corinth, who was very clever in stealing cattle, and when he had carried off a herd he took care to make it impossible for it to be recognised again. He painted over any white spots on the bodies or foreheads of the animals, and had various ways of obliterating all other marks by which they could be identified. Sisyphus had a beautiful herd on which the robber had for some time cast envious eyes, and one dark night he stole them away and painted over all the marks that distinguished them from any other animals. The next day Sisyphus went to the robber's dwelling and told him to give up his cattle, but the robber said he had not got them, and that Sisyphus might see for himself whether they were there or not. Then the king said that he had marked each of his cattle with a little notch on the fore foot, and that all the animals he could find marked in that way would be his. The robber had never thought of looking out for such a mark as this, and he was thus outwitted by the king and obliged to give back the beautiful herd.

No one could cheat Sisyphus, but he cheated and robbed many people, and was wicked and treacherous. {44} He lay in wait for those who happened to be passing through his country and spoiled them of their goods, and then he killed them by crushing them beneath a huge stone. He even tried to cheat the gods, for when he died and came into the Lower World, he begged Pluto to give him leave to go back to the Upper World again for one day in order to divide his kingdom between his sons, and as he swore by the most sacred oaths that he would return at the end of that time, Pluto granted his request; but Sisyphus did not return until a messenger was sent to fetch him from the earth for the second time. And because he had been so wicked and deceitful both in life and in death, the gods laid upon him a heavy punishment, to which there was no end. He was told to roll a fearfully heavy stone up the side of a mountain, until he had brought it to the top and let it fall down the further side. But it was an enchanted stone, and every time that, with the greatest effort, Sisyphus had at last got it almost to the top of the mountain, it suddenly rolled back with a crash into the depths from which he had brought it, so that he had to begin his work all over again; and thus he never could succeed in accomplishing his task, and his toil was never at an end.

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