herodotus

112. After him, they said, there succeeded to the throne a man ofMemphis, whose name in the tongue of the Hellenes was Proteus; forwhom there is now a sacred enclosure at Memphis, very fair and wellordered, lying on that side of the temple of Hephaistos which facesthe North Wind. Round about this enclosure dwell Phenicians of Tyre,and this whole region is called the Camp of the Tyrians.[94] Withinthe enclosure of Proteus there is a temple called the temple of the"foreign Aphrodite," which temple I conjecture to be one of Helen thedaughter of Tyndareus, not only because I have heard the tale howHelen dwelt with Proteus, but also especially because it is called bythe name of the "foreign Aphrodite," for the other temples ofAphrodite which there are have none of them the addition of the word"foreign" to the name. 113. And the priests told me, when I inquired,that the things concerning Helen happened thus:--Alexander havingcarried off Helen was sailing away from Sparta to his own land, andwhen he had come to the Egean Sea contrary winds drove him from hiscourse to the Sea of Egypt; and after that, since the blasts did notcease to blow, he came to Egypt itself, and in Egypt to that which isnow named the Canobic mouth of the Nile and to Taricheiai. Now therewas upon the shore, as still there is now, a temple of Heracles, inwhich if any man's slave take refuge and have the sacred marks setupon him, giving himself over to the god, it is not lawful to layhands upon him; and this custom has continued still unchanged from thebeginning down to my own time. Accordingly the attendants ofAlexander, having heard of the custom which existed about the temple,ran away from him, and sitting down as suppliants of the god, accusedAlexander, because they desired to do him hurt, telling the whole talehow things were about Helen and about the wrong done to Menelaos; andthis accusation they made not only to the priests but also to thewarden of this river-mouth, whose name was Thonis. 114. Thonis thenhaving heard their tale sent forthwith a message to Proteus atMemphis, which said as follows: "There hath come a stranger, aTeucrian by race, who hath done in Hellas an unholy deed; for he hathdeceived the wife of his own host, and is come hither bringing withhim this woman herself and very much wealth, having been carried outof his way by winds to thy land.[95] Shall we then allow him to sailout unharmed, or shall we first take away from him that which hebrought with him?" In reply to this Proteus sent back a messenger whosaid thus: "Seize this man, whosoever he may be, who has done impietyto his own host, and bring him away into my presence, that I may knowwhat he will find to say." 115. Hearing this, Thonis seized Alexanderand detained his ships, and after that he brought the man himself upto Memphis and with him Helen and the wealth he had, and also inaddition to them the suppliants. So when all had been conveyed upthither, Proteus began to ask Alexander who he was and from whence he