ughter named Europa,
and several sons. Among his sons was one named Cadmus. Europa was a
beautiful girl, and after a time a wandering adventurer from some part
of the northern shores of the Mediterranean sea, came into Africa, and
was so much pleased with her that he resolved if possible, to obtain
her for his wife. He did not dare to make proposals openly, and he
accordingly disguised himself and mingled with the servants upon
Agenor's farm. In this disguise he succeeded in making acquaintance
with Europa, and finally persuaded her to elope with him. The pair
accordingly fled, and crossing the Mediterranean they went to Crete,
an island near the northern shores of the sea, and there they lived
together.

The father, when he found that his daughter had deceived him and gone
away, was very indignant, and sent Cadmus and his brothers in pursuit
of her. The mother of Europa, whose name was Telephassa, though less
indignant perhaps than the father, was overwhelmed with grief at the
loss of her child, and determined to accompany her sons in the search.
She accordingly took leave of her husband and of her native land, and
set out with Cadmus and her other sons on the long journey in search
of her lost child. Agenor charged his sons never to come home again
unless they brought Europa with them.

Cadmus, with his mother and brothers, traveled slowly toward the
northward, along the eastern shores of the Mediterranean sea,
inquiring everywhere for the fugitive. They passed through Syria and
Phenicia, into Asia Minor, and from Asia Minor into Greece. At length
Telephassa, worn down, perhaps, by fatigue, disappointment, and grief,
died. Cadmus and his brothers soon after became discouraged; and at
last, weary with their wanderings, and prevented by their father's
injunction from returning without Europa, they determined to settle in
Greece. In attempting to establish themselves there, however, they
became involved in various conflicts, first with wild beasts, and
afterward with men, the natives of the land, who seemed to spring up,
as it were, from the ground, to oppose them. They contrived, however,
at length, by fomenting quarrels among their enemies, and taking sides
with one party against the rest, to get a permanent footing in Greece,
and Cadmus finally founded a city there, which he called Thebes.

In establishing the institutions and government of Thebes, and in
arranging the organization of the people into a social state