and they made him the keeper of their sheep, of all that grazed on the
Athamantian plain of Phthia and round steep Othrys and the sacred stream
of the river Apidanus. But when from heaven Sirius scorched the Minoan
Isles, and for long there was no respite for the inhabitants, then by
the injunction of the Far-Darter they summoned Aristaeus to ward off the
pestilence. And by his father's command he left Phthia and made his home
in Ceos, and gathered together the Parrhasian people who are of the
lineage of Lycaon, and he built a great altar to Zeus Icmaeus, and duly
offered sacrifices upon the mountains to that star Sirius, and to Zeus
son of Cronos himself. And on this account it is that Etesian winds from
Zeus cool the land for forty days, and in Ceos even now the priests
offer sacrifices before the rising of the Dog-star.

So the tale is told, but the chieftains stayed there by constraint, and
every day the Thynians, doing pleasure to Phineus, sent them gifts
beyond measure. And afterwards they raised an altar to the blessed
twelve on the sea-beach opposite and laid offerings thereon and then
entered their swift ship to row, nor did they forget to bear with them a
trembling dove; but Euphemus seized her and brought her all quivering
with fear, and they loosed the twin hawsers from the land.

Nor did they start unmarked by Athena, but straightway swiftly she set
her feet on a light cloud, which would waft her on, mighty though she
was, and she swept on to the sea with friendly thoughts to the oarsmen.
And as when one roveth far from his native land, as we men often wander
with enduring heart, nor is any land too distant but all ways are clear
to his view, and he sees in mind his own home, and at once the way over
sea and land seems plain, and swiftly thinking, now this way, now that,
he strains with eager eyes; so swiftly the daughter of Zeus darted down
and set her foot on the cheerless shore of Thynia.