Cook, Arthur B.: Zeus: a study in ancient religion (Band 1): Zeus god of the bright sky (Cambridge, 1914)

The Cattle of the Sun 411

'At this same Apollonia are sheep sacred to the sun. By day they feed
beside a river, which flows from Mount Lakmon through the district of Apol-
lonia and enters the sea near the harbour of Orikos. But by night they are
guarded by certain chosen men, the richest and noblest of the citizens, each
guardian keeping watch for a twelvemonth. For the Apolloniates set great
store by these sheep in consequence of an oracle. And the flock is folded in a
cave at a distance from the town. Here then on the occasion of which I speak
this man Euenios, chosen for the post, was mounting guard. One night he fell
asleep while' on duty ; and wolves, creeping past into the cave, destroyed some
sixty of the sheep. He, when he saw what had happened, kept his counsel and
told no man, intending to buy other sheep and substitute them. However, the
Apolloniates discovered the facts, and, on ascertaining what had occurred,
brought him before a tribunal and condemned him to forfeit his eyesight, since
he had slept at his post. But, as soon as they had blinded Euenios, their sheep
ceased to have lambs and their land no longer bore crops as before. Responses
were given them both at Dodona and at Delphoi, when they enquired of the
priests the reason of their present misfortune, to the effect that they had sinned
in depriving of his eyesight Euenios, the guardian of the sacred sheep, for that
they (the gods) had sent the wolves, and now would not desist from avenging
him till the citizens had paid for their misdeeds whatever penalty he himself
chose and deemed right; but that, if this were duly done, the gods on their part
would bestow upon Euenios a gift that would make many a man call him
blessed. These were the oracles delivered to the Apolloniates. They kept
strict silence about the matter, and entrusted the management of it to certain
citizens, who acted in the following way. When Euenios was sitting on his
seat, they came and sat beside him. They began to talk of one thing and
another, and at last fell to sympathising with his calamity. Thus taking him
in, they asked what penalty he would choose, supposing the Apolloniates were
minded to promise reparation for their misdeeds. He, not having heard the
terms of the oracle, made the following choice : if they would give him fields
that belonged to such and such citizens—and here he named those whom he
thought to possess the two finest plots in Apollonia—and in addition a house,
which he knew to be the best in the town, why, once possessed of those, he
said, he would have no grievance left and would be well content with that as a
penalty. So he said his say, and the men sitting beside him replied: "Euenios
the Apolloniates hereby pay you this as a penalty for the blinding of your eyes,
in accordance with oracles that they have received." At this he was much put
out, realising the whole plot, and how he had been deceived : but they bought
the property from its owners and gave him what he had chosen. And from
that time onwards he had prophetic powers implanted in him, so that his fame
spread far and wide1.5

The story of Euenios, who kept the sheep of the Sun-god in a
cave and was blinded for losing them by sleeping at his post,
bears a superficial resemblance to the myth of Polyphemos. But

lived in the time of Julius Caesar and dedicated his work to Archelaos, king of Kappa-
dokia, told the same story, except that he spoke of Ei^tos as ILeid-qvLos (Konon narr. 30
ap. Phot. bibl. p. 136 a 6 ff. Bekker).

1 Hdt. 9. 95 states that Deiphonos, the son of this Euenios, was seer of the Greek
fleet before the battle of Mykale (479 B.C.), but adds, on hear-say, that the former was
a pretender who travelled through Greece usurping the name and fame of the latter.