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Updated: May 23, 2025
He did not greet them courteously, asking them what manner of men they were and whither they were bound, nor did he offer them hospitality. Instead, he shouted at them insolently: "Listen to something that you rovers had better know. I am Amycus, and any stranger that comes to this land has to get into a boxing bout with me. That's the law that I have laid down.
Here were the oxstalls and farm of Amycus, the haughty king of the Bebrycians, whom once a nymph, Bithynian Melie, united to Poseidon Genethlius, bare the most arrogant of men; for even for strangers he laid down an insulting ordinance, that none should depart till they had made trial of him in boxing; and he had slain many of the neighbours.
Not long had they come unmarked by Lycus, the lord of that land, and the Mariandyni they, the slayers of Amycus, according to the report which the people heard before; but for that very deed they even made a league with the heroes. And Polydeuces himself they welcomed as a god, flocking from every side, since for a long time had they been warring against the arrogant Bebrycians.
And as shepherds or beekeepers smoke out a huge swarm of bees in a rock, and they meanwhile, pent up in their hive, murmur with droning hum, till, stupefied by the murky smoke, they fly forth far from the rock; so they stayed steadfast no longer, but scattered themselves inland through Bebrycia, proclaiming the death of Amycus; fools, not to perceive that another woe all unforeseen was hard upon them.
But by thy skill, Polydeuces, thou didst outwit the giant, and the sun's rays fell full on the face of Amycus. Then came he eagerly on in great wrath and heat, making play with his fists, but the son of Tyndarus smote him on the chin as he charged, maddening him even more, and the giant confused the fighting, laying on with all his weight, and going in with his head down.
But now the Bebrycians and the insolence of Amycus have robbed me, since Heracles dwells far away, for they have long been cutting off huge pieces of my land until they have set their bounds at the meadows of deep-flowing Hypius.
Thence they sailed along the Propontis and the coast of Mysia, not, as we may be sure, without adventures. In the country of the Bebrycians the giant king Amycus challenged any of them to box with him. Pollux accepted the challenge, and killed the giant with a blow. Next they reached Bithynia, where dwelt the blind prophet Phineus, to whom their coming proved a blessing.
Put up thy hands and stand in single combat, man to man. Polydeuces. A boxing-match, or is kicking fair, when we meet eye to eye? Amycus. Do thy best with thy fists and spare not thy skill! Polydeuces. And who is the man on whom I am to lay my hands and gloves? Amycus. Thou see'st him close enough, the boxer will not prove a maiden! Polydeuces. And is the prize ready, for which we two must fight?
Amycus. Polydeuces. On such terms fight the red-crested birds of the game. Amycus. Well, be we like birds or lions, we shall fight for no other stake. So Amycus spoke, and seized and blew his hollow shell, and speedily the long-haired Bebryces gathered beneath the shadowy planes, at the blowing of the shell.
There are several of these intermitting springs in different parts of the world, and they are perhaps all to be explained on the principle of the siphon. In the Idyls of Theocritus there are frequent allusions to springs. It was at a spring and a mountain spring at that that Castor and Pollux encountered the plug-ugly Amycus:
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