"Histórias Paralelas", de (Pseudo-)Plutarco
Estas Histórias Paralelas, de (Pseudo-)Plutarco, que já vi incluídas nas Morais mas que não devem ser confundida com as Vidas Paralelas do famoso autor, apresenta 41 paralelismos entre diversas histórias da Antiguidade. Algumas delas eram reais, muitas outras eram puramente míticas, mas os paralelismos são perfeitos ao ponto de cada um deles apresentar histórias que, fora o nome dos intervenientes, se apresentam como quase iguais. Agora, a menção à obra neste espaço deve-se ao facto de, por vezes, mencionar mitos obscuros. Não irei citar os paralelismos, por economia de espaço, mas aqui ficam três dos mitos que achei mais interessantes.
Em primeiro lugar, mais um mito do Rei Midas, o mesmo que tinha o famoso toque de ouro:
At the city of Celaenae in Phrygia the earth yawned open, together with a heavy rain, and dragged down many homesteads with their inhabitants into the depths. Midas the king received an oracle that if he should throw his most precious possession into the abyss, it would close. He cast in gold and silver, but this availed nothing. But Anchurus, the son of Midas, reasoning that there is nothing in life more precious than a human life, embraced his father and his wife Timothea, and rode on his horse into the abyss. When the earth had closed, Midas made an altar of Idaean Zeus golden by a touch of his hand. This altar becomes of stone at that time of the year when this yawning of the earth occurred; but when this limit of time has passed, it is seen to be golden.
Depois, a sucinta história de uma infrequente relação:
Aristonymus of Ephesus, the son of Demostratus, hated women and used to consort with an ass; and in due time the ass gave birth to a very beautiful maiden, Onoscelis by name.
Para terminar, uma prova de que a divinização dos homens nem sempre era tão verdadeira como se poderia pensar, já que aqui é usada como um simples truque para apaziguar o povo:
During the Peloponnesian War Peisistratus of Orchomenus hated the aristocracy and strongly favoured the poorer citizens. The members of the Council plotted to kill him; they cut him up into bits, thrust these into the folds of their garments, and scraped the earth clean. But the crowd of commoners caught a suspicion of this deed and hurried to the Council. Tlesimachus, however, the younger son of the king, was privy to the plot and drew the crowd away from the assembly by declaring that he had seen his father, endowed with more than mortal stature, being swiftly borne toward mount Pisa and thus the crowd was deceived.
(Fonte das três citações)