Cadmus, the Alphabet King

There are many ways of building a city, and this is how Cadmus, in the days of myths, built Thebes the beautiful.

Cadmus was just a youth when he began his wanderings that took him from shore to shore of the earth, for he was descended from Neptune, the god of the sea, and had been born with the spirit of the restless tides in his heart. But Cadmus longed to search out and make for himself a home on land where he could gather heroes around him, build temples and a marketplace, and set up fair statues.

So he consulted the oracle of Apollo to know what country he should settle in. A voice issued from that strange, deep cleft in the rock at Delphi, saying that he would find a cow in a field and should pursue her wherever she wandered. Where she stopped, Cadmus should also stop and build a city which he was to call Thebes.

As soon as Cadmus left the cave of the oracle, he was surprised to see a white cow wearing a garland of flowers around her neck, grazing in the grass nearby. She raised her head when Cadmus appeared and walked slowly before him. So he followed her, and she went on until she came to a wide plain in the fertile land of Greece. There she stood still and lifted her broad forehead to the sky, filling the air with her lowing.

Cadmus stooped down and lifted a handful of the foreign soil to his lips, kissing it, and looking with delight at the beauties of the blue hills that surrounded this spot to which Apollo had guided him. He felt he ought to offer thanks to Jupiter, so he went to a nearby fountain to draw pure water to bathe his hands before he lifted them up to the sky.

The fountain spouted crystal-clear from a cave covered with thick bushes and located in an ancient grove that had never been profaned by an axe. Cadmus pushed his way into it. Inside the cave, it seemed as if he had left the world behind, so dark was it with the shadows of the boughs and thick leaves.

Cadmus dipped a vase his servants had brought him in the waters of the fountain. He was about to raise it, brimming full, when it suddenly dropped from his hands. The blood left his cheeks, and his limbs trembled. A venomous serpent, whose eyes shone like fire and who showed triple fangs and triple teeth, raised its head from the waters with a terrible hiss. Its crested head and scales glittered like burnished bronze; it twisted its body in a huge coil and then raised itself, ready to strike, to a height that towered above the trees of the grove. While Cadmus' servants stood still, unable to move for fright, the serpent killed them all—some with its poisonous fangs, some with its foaming breath, and others in its choking folds.

Only Cadmus remained. At last he crept out of the cave, shielding his body behind the bushes, and prepared to take his stand against the serpent. He covered himself from head to foot with a lion's skin. In one hand he carried a javelin and in the other a lance, but in his heart Cadmus carried courage, which was a stronger weapon than either of these. Then he faced the serpent, standing in the midst of his fallen men and looking into its bloody jaws. He lifted a huge stone and threw it straight. It struck the serpent's scales and penetrated to its heart. The creature's neck swelled with rage; the panting breath that issued from its nostrils poisoned the air. Then it twisted in a circle and fell to the ground, lying there like the shattered trunk of a tree. Cadmus, watching for his chance, boldly approached the monster and thrust his spear into its head, pinning it to the tree beneath which it had fallen.

The serpent's weight bent and twisted the tree as it struggled to free itself, but at last Cadmus saw it give up the fight and hang there, quiet in death.

Then a marvelous thing happened. As Cadmus stood looking at his fallen foe, a voice came to him that he could hear distinctly, although he could not tell where it came from. It said, "It is decreed, O Cadmus, that you shall take out the teeth of this dragon and plant them in the plain upon which you are to found the city of Thebes."

So Cadmus obeyed the command. He pulled out the serpent's triple row of sharply pointed teeth. He made a furrow and planted them in it. Scarcely had he covered them with earth when the clods raised themselves. As had happened in the days when Jason traveled all the long way in search of the golden fleece, the ground where the dragon's teeth had taken root was pierced by the metal points of helmets and spears. After these sprouting signs of war came the heads and breasts of an army of warriors, until the entire plain was bright with their shields, and the air smoked and resounded with the din of fearful fighting.

Cadmus was alone against the terrible ranks of these earth-born brothers of his, but he prepared to do his best and face this new enemy. As he advanced, however, he heard the unknown voice again: "Meddle not with civil war, Cadmus."

But Cadmus' spirit was fired with his high desire to build a city that would be a place of peace and industry, and he knew that civil strife was the destruction of such a city. So he entered the battle single-handed and struck one of these fighting brothers with a sword, but fell, pierced in his side by an arrow. He was up and advancing again as soon as he staunched the flow of blood, killing four of the warriors. In the meantime, the warriors seemed to become mad with the spirit of warfare and killed each other until the whole crowd was pitted against one another. At last all the warriors fell, mortally wounded, except five. These five survivors threw aside their weapons and cried, as with one voice, "Brothers, let us live in peace."

And they joined with Cadmus in laying the foundations of a great city, which they called Thebes.

They measured and laid out roads, making them hard and strong for the wheels of heavy chariots that would bear kings to and from the city. They built houses whose decorations of carvings and precious metals were not to be equaled in all Greece, and they filled them with rare furnishings. They painted pictures of the contests of the gods on the walls and shaped golden plates and cups for the tables. They set up a strong citadel at the boundary line of the city to protect it from invasion, and Cadmus built factories for making tools, furniture, and household utensils to attract traders to the city and increase its prosperity through commerce. And there were seven gates to Thebes, in honor of the seven strings of Apollo's lyre from which he drew the sweet strains that brought harmony to the earth.

When Thebes was finished, it seemed to have no rival among the cities of the earth, so good to look upon, so full of industry, peace, and plenty. But Cadmus had yet one more gift to make to Thebes.

For a long time he worked secretly, carving with a sharp pointed tool upon a stone tablet. One day he brought forth the result of his work. Cadmus had invented the alphabet; he had given the power of learning through reading and writing to his people.

That made his city complete, for a people who are through with civil strife and able to work and be educated can be as great as the gods if they will it so.

They became great, and they made Cadmus the king of Thebes for a rule that was long and just and good.