Λυκάων

[Lykaon,] the son of Pelasgos, king of the Arcadians, justly guarded the instructions of his father. And because he too wanted to keep his subjects from injustice he said that Zeus came to him all the time, in the guise of a mortal guest, to inspect both the just and unjust. And one time, preparing to entertain the god [at dinner] (as he put it), he made a sacrifice.¹ Those present at the sacrifice wanted to know whether they really were going to having a god as their guest; and, since Lycaon had fifty sons, as they say, from many wives, they sacrificed one of his children and mixed him in with the meat of the sacrifice, so that they would not fail to learn whether a god was really coming. Then great storms and lightning strikes were sent by the divine, and they say all the child’s murderers perished.