DANAO. Danaus had fifty daughters and his brother Aegyptus had fifty sons. Danaus feared his brother's power and fled to Argos, but his nephews followed and asked for his daughters as their wives. Danaus consented but urged each daughter to kill her husband on the wedding night. One daughter, Hypermnestra, spared her husband Lynceus, who fled, leaving her behind. Danaus then imprisoned her (Heroides XIV; OM II.4587-4796).

Chaucer's version switches fathers and children, LGW 2562-2723. Danao has many sons but loves Lyno best in this version, which appears to be Chaucer's own. The Ovide Moralisé, which he may have used, assigns children and fathers correctly. [Egiste: Lyno: Ypermystra]

The form Danao may have been taken from Filippo Ceffi's Italian translation of the Heroides (c. 1320-1330). It appears once in a medial position, LGW 2600, and twice in final rhyming position, LGW 2563, 2568.