Æăcus

, son of Jupiter by Ægin a daughter of Asopus, was king of the island of Œnopia, which he called by his mother’s name. A pestilence having destroyed all his subjects, he entreated Jupiter to repeople his kingdom; and according to his desire, all the ants which were in an old oak were changed into men, and called by Æacus myrmidons , from μυρμηξ , an ant . Æăcus married Endeis, by whom he had Telamon and Peleus. He afterwards had Phocus by Psamathe, one of the Nereids. He was a man of such integrity that the ancients have made him one of the judges of hell, with Minos and Rhadamanthus. Horace , bk. 2 , ode 13; bk. 4 , ode 8.— Pausanias , bk. 1 , ch. 44 ; bk. 2 , ch. 29 .— Ovid , Metamorphoses , bk. 7 , fable 25; bk. 13 , li. 25 .— Pro pert i us , bk. 4 , poem 12.— Plutarch , de Consolatio ad A poll onium .— Apollo dor us , bk. 3 , ch. 12 .— Diodorus , bk. 4 .