10 Theseus

 

I have followed Apollodorus on the whole, but / have added from Euripides the stories of the appeal of Adrastus, the madness of Hercules, and the fate of Hippolytus; from Sophocles his kindness to Oedipus; from Plu¬ tarch the story of his death, to which Apollodorus gives only a sentence.

 

He had so many adven¬ tures and took part in so many great enterprises that there grew up a saying in Athens, “Nothing without Theseus.”

 

His idea was to become a great hero as quickly as possible, and easy safety was cer-

This was quite natural since the two were cousins.

 

The story does not say which of the two methods was used in his case, but there was not much to choose between them and in one way or the other Procrustes’ career ended.

 

Medea escaped as she always did and got safely away to Asia.

 

The new heir apparent soon had an oppor¬ tunity to endear himself to the Athenians.

 

Years before his arrival in Athens, a terrible misfortune * See next chapter.

THESEUS 151

 

When they reached Crete they were given to the Minotaur to devour.

 

To punish him, Poseidon had made Pasiphae fall madly in love with it.

 

The time had come for the next installment of the tribute.

 

He told his father, however, and prom¬ ised him that if he succeeded, he would have the black sail which the ship with its cargo of misery always carried-changed to a white one, so that Aegeus could know long be¬ fore it came to land that his son was safe.

 

As may he imagined, he made no difficulty about that, and she gave

152 MYTHOLOGY

 

He came upon him asleep and fell upon him, pinning him to the ground; and with his fists—he had no other weapon—he battered the monster to death.

 

As an oak tree falls on the hillside Crushing all that lies beneath,

 

He presses out the life, The brute’s savage life, and now it lies dead.

Only the head sways slowly, but the horns are useless now.

 

The others followed and taking Ariadne with them they fled to the ship and over the sea toward Athens.

 

On his return he found that Ariadne had died, and he was deepl>

afflicted.

 

The sea into which he fell was called the Aegean ever after.

 

Thus Athens became, of all earth’s cities, the happiest and most prosper¬ ous, the only true home of liberty, the one place in the world

154 MYTHOLOGY

 

He had come not to harm Thebes, but to bury the Argive dead, and that duty done he led his soldiers back to Athens.

 

Hercules’ other friends fled, fearing to be polluted by the presence of one who had done so horrible a deed, but Theseus gave him his hand, roused his courage, told him to die would be a coward’s act, and took him to Athens.

 

They were finally defeated and no other enemy entered Attica as long as Theseus lived.

 

He was one of the men who sailed on the Argo Theseus was devoted to

*   See Part Five, Chapter 18.

 

**     See Part Three, Chapter 11.

THESEUS 155

 

And they took a solemn oath of friendship.

 

A terrible battle followed, but the Lapithae conquered and finally drove the whole race of Centaurs out of the country, Theseus helping them to the end.

 

He was on his way to the underworld with Pirithous.

 

The details of their journey and arrival there are not known * See Part Four, Chapters 13 and 14.

156 MYTHOLOGY

 

The King of the Dead knew that it was he who had planned to carry off Persephone, and he held him fast.

 

She was angry at Hippolytus and de¬ termined to punish him to the utmost.

 

With only one thought in her mind, to save her mistress, she went straight to Hippolytus.

 

Give her love for love.”

 

He rushed out into the courtyard,

THESEUS 137

 

He turned in furious indignation on the old woman.

 

I will never enter this house again except when my father is in it.”

 

She had riseij and there was a look on her face which frightened the old woman.

“I’ll help you still,” she stammered.

With that she entered the house and the nurse trembling crept after her.

 

They had just found her, quite dead, but in her hand a letter to her husband.

 

This is your seal—yours who will never more smile up at me.”

 

Then he turned to the servants filling the courtyard.

 

O Poseidon, God, hear me while I curse him, and fulfill my curse.”

 

Hippolytus entered.

 

Do not hide your grief from me.”

Go to your ruin and at once.”

 

May I die in wretchedness if I am guilty.”

 

You are banished from the land.”

 

As he drove along the sea-road

158 MYTHOLOGY

 

The chariot was shattered and he was mortally hurt.

 

Artemis appeared to him and told him the truth.

 

I do not come to bring you help, but only pain,

To show you that your son was honorable.

Your wife was guilty, mad with love for him,

And yet she fought her passion and she died.

But what she wrote was false.

 

As Theseus listened, overwhelmed by this sum of terrible events, Hippolytus still breathing was carried in.

 

My goddess, your huntsman is dying.”

 

“And no other can take your place, dearest of men to me,” she told him.

 

Hippolytus turned his eyes from her radiance to Theseus brokenhearted.

 

“If only I could die for you,” Theseus cried.

 

In song and story men will remember him.”

 

He had started on the road that leads down to the realm of death.

 

At all events, the King, his friend and his host, killed him, we are not told why.

 

They built a great tomb for him and decreed that it should be forever a sanctuary for slaves and for all poor and helpless people, in memory of one who through his life had been the protector of the defenseless.