DANAOS
Herald
PELASGOS, _king of_ Argos
_Chorus of the daughters of_ DANAOS
_ARGUMENT.—When Io, after many wanderings, had found refuge in Egypt,
and having been touched by Zeus, had given birth to Epaphos, it came to
pass that he and his descendants ruled over the region of Canôpos, near
one of the seven mouths of Neilos. And in the fifth generation there
were two brothers, Danaos and Ægyptos, the sons of Belos, and the former
had fifty daughters and the latter fifty sons, and Ægyptos sought the
daughters of Danaos in marriage for his sons. And they, looking on the
marriage as unholy, and hating those who wooed them, took flight and
came to Argos, where Pelasgos then ruled as king, as to the land whence
Io, from whom they sprang, had come. And thither the sons of Ægyptos
followed them in hot pursuit._
SCENE.—Argos, _the entrance of the gates. Statues of_ ZEUS,