As geographers, Sosius, crowd into the edges of their maps partsof the world which they do not know about, adding notes in the marginto the effect, that beyond this lies nothing but the sandy desertsfull of wild beasts, unapproachable bogs, Scythian ice, or a frozensea, so in this work of mine, in which I have compared the lives ofthe greatest men with one another, after passing through those periodswhich probable reasoning can reach to and real history find a footingin, I might very well say of those that are farther off： "Beyond thisthere is nothing but prodigies and fictions, the only inhabitantsare the poets and inventors of fables； there is no credit, or certaintyany farther." Yet, after publishing an account of Lycurgus the lawgiverand Numa the king, I thought I might, not without reason, ascend ashigh as to Romulus, being brought by my history so near to his time.Considering therefore with myself-

    "Whom shall I set so great a man to face？ Or whom oppose？ Who's equal to the place？" （as Aeschylus expressesit）, I found none so fit as him that peopled the beautiful and far-famedcity of Athens, to be set in opposition with the father of the invincibleand renowned city of Rome. Let us hope that Fable may, in what shallfollow, so submit to the purifying processes of Reason as to takethe character of exact history. In any case, however, where it shallbe found contumaciously slighting credibility and refusing to be reducedto anything like probable fact, we shall beg that we may meet withcandid readers, and such as will receive with indulgence the storiesof antiquity.

    Theseus seemed to me to resemble Romulus in many particulars. Bothof them, born out of wedlock and of uncertain parentage, had the reputeof being sprung from the gods.

    "Both warriors； that by all the world's allowed." Both of them unitedwith strength of body an equal vigour of mind； and of the two mostfamous cities of the world, the one built Rome, and the other madeAthens be inhabited. Both stand charged with the rape of women； neitherof them could avoid domestic misfortunes nor jealousy at home； buttowards the close of their lives are both of them said to have incurredgreat odium with their countrymen, if, that is, we may take the storiesleast like poetry as our guide to the truth.

    The lineage of Theseus, by his father's side, ascends as high as toErectheus and the first inhabitants of Attica. By his mother's sidehe was descended of Pelops. For Pelops was the most powerful of allthe kings of Peloponnesus, not so much by the greatness of his richesas the multitude of his children, having married many daughters tochief men, and put many sons in places of command in the towns roundabout him. One of whom named Pittheus, grandfather to Theseus, wasgovernor of the small city of the Troezenians and had the repute ofa man of the greatest knowledge and wisdom of his time； which then,it seems, consisted chiefly in grave maxims, such as the poet Hesiodgot his great fame by, in his book of Works and Days. And, indeed,among these is one that they ascribe to Pittheus,-

    "Unto a friend suffice A stipulated price；" which, also, Aristotle mentions. And Euripides,by calling Hippolytus "scholar of the holy Pittheus," shows the opinionthat the world had of him. Aegeus, being desirous of children, andconsulting the oracle of Delphi, received the celebrated answer whichforbade him the company of any woman before his return to Athens.But the oracle being so obscure as not to satisfy him that he wasclearly forbid this, he went to Troezen, and communicated to Pittheusthe voice of the god, which was in this manner,-

    "Loose not the wine-skin foot, thou chief of men, Until to Athens thou art come again."

    Pittheus, therefore, taking advantage from the obscurity of the oracle,prevailed upon him, it is uncertain whether by persuasion or deceit,to lie with his daughter Aethra. Aegeus afterwards, knowing her whomhe had lain with to be Pittheus's daughter, and suspecting her tobe with child by him, left a sword and a pair of shoes, hiding themunder a great stone that had a hollow in it exactly fitting them；and went away making her only privy to it, and commanding her, ifshe brought forth a son who, when he came to man's estate, shouldbe able to lift up the stone and take away what he had left there,she should send him way to him with those things with all secrecy,and with injunctions to him as much as possible to conceal his journeyfrom every one； for he greatly feared the Pallantidae, who were continuallymutinying against him, and despised him for his want of children,they themselves being fifty brothers, all sons of Pallas.

    When Aethra was delivered of a son, some say that he was immediatelynamed Theseus, from the tokens which his father had put under thestone； others that he had received his name afterwards at Athens,when Aegeus acknowledged him for his son. He was brought up underhis grandfather Pittheus, and had a tutor and attendant set over himnamed Connidas, to whom the Athenians even to this time, the day beforethe feast that is dedicated to Theseus, sacrifice a ram, giving thishonour to his memory upon much juster grounds than to Silanio andParrhasius for making, pictures and statues of Theseus. There beingthen a custom for the Grecian youth, upon their first coming to man'sestate, to go to Delphi and offer first-fruits of their hair to thegod, Theseus also went thither, and a place there to this day is yetnamed Thesea, as it is said, from him. He clipped only the fore partof his head, as Homer says the Abantes did. And this sort of tonsurewas from him named Theseus. The Abantes first used it, not in imitationof the Arabians, as some imagine, nor of the Mysians, but becausethey were a warlike people, and used to close fighting, and aboveall other nations accustomed to engage hand to hand； as Archilochustestifies in these verses：-

    "Slings shall not whirl, nor many arrows fly, When on the plain the battle joins； but swords, Man against man, the deadly conflict try As is the practice of Euboea's lords Skilled with the spear.-"

    Therefore that they might not give their enemies a hold by their hair,they cut it in this manner. They write also that this was the reasonwhy Alexander gave command to his captains that all the beards ofthe Macedonians should be shaved, as being the readiest hold for anenemy.

    Aethra for some time concealed the true parentage of Theseus, anda report was given out by Pittheus that he was begotten by Neptune；for the Troezenians pay Neptune the highest veneration. He is theirtutelar god； to him they offer all their first-fruits, and in hishonour stamp their money with a trident.

    Theseus displaying not only great strength of body, but equal bravery,and a quickness alike and force of understanding, his mother Aethraconducting him to the stone, and informing him who was his true father,commanded him to take from thence the tokens that Aegeus had left,and sail to Athens. He without any difficulty set himself to the stoneand lifted it up； but refused to take his journey by sea, though itwas much the safer way, and though his mother and grandfather beggedhim to do so. For it was at that time very dangerous to go by landon the road to Athens, no part of it being free from robbers and murderers.That age produced a sort of men, in force of hand, and swiftness offoot, and strength of body, excelling the ordinary rate and whollyincapable of fatigue； making use, however, of these gifts of natureto no good or profitable purpose for mankind, but rejoicing and pridingthemselves in insolence, and taking the benefit of their superiorstrength in the exercise of inhumanity and cruelty, and in seizing,forcing, and committing all manner of outrages upon everything thatfell into their hands； all respect for others, all justice, they thought,all equity and humanity, though naturally lauded by common people,either out of want of courage to commit injuries or fear to receivethem, yet no way concerned those who were strong enough to win forthemselves. Some of these, Hercules destroyed and cut off in his passagethrough these countries； but some escaping his notice while he waspassing by, fled and hid themselves, or else were spared by him incontempt of their abject submission： and after that Hercules fellinto misfortune, and, having slain Iphitus, retired to Lydia, andfor a long time was there slave to Omphale, a punishment which hehad imposed upon himself for the murder： then, indeed, Lydia enjoyedhigh peace and security, but in Greece and the countries about itthe like villainies again revived and broke out, there being noneto repress or chastise them. It was therefore a very hazardous journeyto travel by land from Athens to Peloponnesus； and Pittheus givinghim an exact account of each of the robbers and villains, their strength,and the cruelty they used to all strangers, tried to persuade Theseusto go by sea. But he, it seems, had long since been secretly firedby the glory of Hercules, held him in the highest estimation, andwas never more satisfied than in listening to any that gave an accountof him； especially those that had seen him or had been present atany action or saying of his. So that he was altogether in the samestate of feeling as, in after ages, Themistocles was, when he saidthat he could not sleep for the trophy of Miltiades； entertainingsuch admiration for the virtue of Hercules, that in the night hisdreams were all of that hero's actions, and in the day a continualemulation stirred him up to perform the like. Besides, they were related,being born of cousins-german. For Aethra was daughter of Pittheus,and Alcmena of Lysidice； and Lysidice and Pittheus were brother andsister, children of Hippodamia and Pelops. He thought it thereforea dishonourable thing, and not to be endured, that Hercules shouldgo out everywhere, and purge both land and sea from wicked men, andhe himself should fly from the like adventures that actually camein his way； disgracing his reputed father by a mean flight by sea,and not showing his true one as good evidence of the greatness ofhis birth by noble and worthy actions, as by the token that he broughtwith him the shoes and the sword.

    With this mind and these thoughts, he set forward with a design todo injury to nobody, but to repel and revenge himself of all thosethat should offer any. And first of all, in a set combat, he slewPeriphetes, in the neighbourhood of Epidaurus, who used a club forhis arms, and from thence had the name of Corynetes, or the club-bearer；who seized upon him, and forbade him to go forward in his journey.Being pleased with the club, he took it, and made it his weapon, continuingto use it as Hercules did the lion's skin, on whose shoulders thatserved to prove how huge a beast he had killed； and to the same endTheseus carried about him this club； overcome indeed by him, but nowin his hands, invincible.

    Passing on further towards the Isthmus of Peloponnesus, he slew Sinnis,often surnamed the Bender of Pines, after the same manner in whichhe himself had destroyed many others before. And this he did withouthaving either practised or ever learnt the art of bending these trees,to show that natural strength is above all art. This Sinnis had adaughter of remarkable beauty and stature, called Perigune, who, whenher father was killed, fled, and was sought after everywhere by Theseus；and coming into a place overgrown with brushwood, shrubs, and asparagus-thorn,there, in a childlike innocent manner, prayed and begged them, asif they understood her, to give her shelter, with vows that if sheescaped she would never cut them down nor burn them. But Theseus callingupon her, and giving her his promise that he would use her with respect,and offer her no injury, she came forth, and in due time bore hima son, named Melanippus； but afterwards was married to Deioneus, theson of Eurytus, the Oechalian, Theseus himself giving her to him.Ioxus, the son of this Melanippus, who was born to Theseus, accompaniedOrnytus in the colony that he carried with him into Caria, whenceit is a family usage amongst the people called Ioxids, both male andfemale, never to burn either shrubs or asparagus-thorn, but to respectand honour them.

    The Crommyonian sow, which they called Phaea, was a savage and formidablewild beast, by no means an enemy to be despised. Theseus killed her,going out of his way on purpose to meet and engage her, so that hemight not seem to perform all his great exploits out of mere necessity；being also of opinion that it was the part of a brave man to chastisevillainous and wicked men when attacked by them, but to seek out andovercome the more noble wild beasts. Others relate that Phaea wasa woman, a robber full of cruelty and lust, that lived in Crommyon,and had the name of Sow given her from the foulness of her life andmanners, and afterwards was killed by Theseus. He slew also Sciron,upon the borders of Megara, casting him down from the rocks, being,as most report, a notorious robber of all passengers, and, as othersadd, accustomed, out of insolence and wantonness, to stretch forthhis feet to strangers commanding them to wash them, and then whilethey did it, with a kick to send them down the rock into the sea.The writers of Megara, however, in contradiction to the received report,and, as Simonides expresses it, "fighting with all antiquity," contendthat Sciron was neither a robber nor doer of violence, but a punisherof all such, and the relative and friend of good and just men； forAeacus, they say, was ever esteemed a man of the greatest sanctityof all the Greeks； and Cychreus, the Salaminian, was honoured at Athenswith divine worship； and the virtues of Peleus and Telamon were notunknown to any one. Now Sciron was son-in-law to Cychreus, father-in-lawto Aeacus, and grandfather to Peleus and Telamon, who were both ofthem sons of Endeis, the daughter of Sciron and Chariclo； it was notprobable, therefore, that the best of men should make these allianceswith one who was worst, giving and receiving mutually what was ofgreatest value and most dear to them. Theseus, by their account, didnot slay Sciron in his first journey to Athens, but afterwards, whenhe took Eleusis, a city of the Megarians, having circumvented Diocles,the governor. Such are the contradictions in this story. In Eleusishe killed Cercyon, the Arcadian, in a wrestling match. And going ona little farther, in Erineus, he slew Damastes, otherwise called Procrustes,forcing his body to the size of his own bed, as he himself was usedto do with all strangers； this he did in imitation of Hercules, whoalways returned upon his assailants the same sort of violence thatthey offered to him； sacrificed Busiris, killed Antaeus in wrestling,and Cycnus in single combat, and Termerus by breaking his skull inpieces （whence, they say, comes the proverb of "a Termerian mischief"）,for it seems Termerus killed passengers that he met by running withhis head against them. And so also Theseus proceeded in the punishmentof evil men, who underwent the same violence from him which they hadinflicted upon others, justly suffering after the manner of theirown injustice.

    As he went forward on his journey, and was come as far as the riverCephisus, some of the race of the Phytalidae met him and saluted him,and upon his desire to use the purifications, then in custom, theyperformed them with all the usual ceremonies, and, having offeredpropitiatory sacrifices to the gods, invited him and entertained himat their house, a kindness which, in all his journey hitherto, hehad not met.

    On the eighth day of Cronius, now called Hecatombaeon, he arrivedat Athens, where he found the public affairs full of all confusion,and divided into parties and factions, Aegeus also, and his wholeprivate family, labouring under the same distemper； for Medea, havingfled from Corinth, and promised Aegeus to make him, by her art, capableof having children, was living with him. She first was aware of Theseus,whom as yet Aegeus did not know, and he being in years, full of jealousiesand suspicions, and fearing everything by reason of the faction thatwas then in the city, she easily persuaded him to kill him by poisonat a banquet, to which he was to be invited as a stranger. He, comingto the entertainment, thought it not fit to discover himself at once,but willing to give his father the occasion of first finding him out,the meat being on the table, he drew his sword as if he designed tocut with it； Aegeus, at once recognising the token, threw down thecup of poison, and, questioning his son, embraced him, and havinggathered together all his citizens, owned him publicly before them,who, on their part, received him gladly for the fame of his greatnessand bravery； and it is said, that when the cup fell, the poison wasspilt there where now is the enclosed space in the Delphinium； forin that place stood Aegeus's house, and the figure of Mercury on theeast side of the temple is called the Mercury of Aegeus's gate.

    The sons of Pallas, who before were quiet upon expectation of recoveringthe kingdom after Aegeus's death, who was without issue, as soon asTheseus appeared and was acknowledged the successor, highly resentingthat Aegeus first, an adopted son only of Pandion, and not at allrelated to the family of Erechtheus, should be holding the kingdom,and that after him, Theseus, a visitor and stranger, should be destinedto succeed to it, broke out into open war. And dividing themselvesinto two companies, one part of them marched openly from Sphettus,with their father, against the city, the other, hiding themselvesin the village of Gargettus, lay in ambush, with a design to set uponthe enemy on both sides. They had with them a crier of the townshipof Agnus, named Leos, who discovered to Theseus all the designs ofthe Pallantidae. He immediately fell upon those that lay in ambuscade,and cut them all off； upon tidings of which Pallas and his companyfled and were dispersed.

    From hence they say is derived the custom among the people of thetownship of Pallene to have no marriages or any alliance with thepeople of Agnus, nor to suffer the criers to pronounce in their proclamationsthe words used in all other parts of the country, Acouete Leoi （Hearye people）, hating the very sound of Leo, because of the treason ofLeos.

    Theseus, longing to be in action, and desirous also to make himselfpopular, left Athens to fight with the bull of Marathon, which didno small mischief to the inhabitants of Tetrapolis. And having overcomeit, he brought it alive in triumph through the city, and afterwardssacrificed it to the Delphinian Apollo. The story of Hecale, also,of her receiving and entertaining Theseus in this expedition, seemsto be not altogether void of truth； for the townships round about,meeting upon a certain day, used to offer a sacrifice which they calledHecalesia, to Jupiter Hecaleius, and to pay honour to Hecale, whom,by a diminutive name, they called Hecalene, because she, while entertainingTheseus, who was quite a youth, addressed him, as old people do, withsimilar endearing diminutives； and having made a vow to Jupiter forhim as he was going to the fight, that, if he returned in safety,she would offer sacrifices in thanks of it, and dying before he cameback, she had these honours given her by way of return for her hospitality,by the command of Theseus, as Philochorus tells us.

    Not long after arrived the third time from Crete the collectors ofthe tribute which the Athenians paid them upon the following occasion.Androgeus having been treacherously murdered in the confines of Attica,not only Minos, his father, put the Athenians to extreme distressby a perpetual war, but the gods also laid waste their country； bothfamine and pestilence lay heavy upon them, and even their rivers weredried up. Being told by the oracle that, if they appeased and reconciledMinos, the anger of the gods would cease and they should enjoy restfrom the miseries they laboured under, they sent heralds, and withmuch supplication were at last reconciled, entering into an agreementto send to Crete every nine years a tribute of seven young men andas many virgins, as most writers agree in stating； and the most poeticalstory adds, that the Minotaur destroyed them, or that, wandering inthe labyrinth, and finding no possible means of getting out, theymiserably ended their lives there； and that this Minotaur was （asEuripides hath it）-

    "A mingled form where two strange shapes combined, And different natures, bull and man, were joined." But Philochorussays that the Cretans will by no means allow the truth of this, butsay that the labyrinth was only an ordinary prison, having no otherbad quality but that it secured the prisoners from escaping, and thatMinos, having instituted games in honour of Androgeus, gave, as areward to the victors, these youths, who in the meantime were keptin the labyrinth； and that the first that overcame in those gameswas one of the greatest power and command among them, named Taurus,a man of no merciful or gentle disposition, who treated the Atheniansthat were made his prize in a proud and cruel manner. Also Aristotlehimself, in the account that he gives of the form of government ofthe Bottiaeans, is manifestly of opinion that the youths were notslain by Minos, but spent the remainder of their days in slavery inCrete； that the Cretans, in former times, to acquit themselves ofan ancient vow which they had made, were used to send an offeringof the first-fruits of their men to Delphi, and that some descendantsof these Athenian slaves were mingled with them and sent amongst them,and, unable to get their living there, removed from thence, firstinto Italy, and settled about Japygia； from thence again, that theyremoved to Thrace, and were named Bottiaeans； and that this is thereason why, in a certain sacrifice, the Bottiaean girls sing a hymnbeginning Let us go to Athens. This may show us how dangerous it isto incur the hostility of a city that is mistress of eloquence andsong. For Minos was always ill spoken of, and represented ever asa very wicked man, in the Athenian theatres； neither did Hesiod availhim by calling him "the most royal Minos," nor Homer, who styles him"Jupiter's familiar friend；" the tragedians got the better, and fromthe vantage ground of the stage showered down obloquy upon him, asa man of cruelty and violence； whereas, in fact, he appears to havebeen a king and a law-giver, and Rhadamanthus, a judge under him,administering the statutes that he ordained.

    Now, when the time of the third tribute was come, and the fatherswho had any young men for their sons were to proceed by lot to thechoice of those that were to be sent, there arose fresh discontentsand accusations against Aegeus among the people, who were full ofgrief and indignation that he who was the cause of all their miserieswas the only person exempt from the punishment； adopting and settlinghis kingdom upon a bastard and foreign son, he took no thought, theysaid, of their destitution and loss, not of bastards, but lawful children.These things sensibly affected Theseus, who, thinking it but justnot to disregard, but rather partake of, the sufferings of his fellow-citizens,offered himself for one without any lot. All else were struck withadmiration for the nobleness and with love for the goodness of theact； and Aegeus, after prayers and entreaties, finding him inflexibleand not to be persuaded, proceeded to the choosing of the rest bylot. Hellanicus, however, tells us that the Athenians did not sendthe young men and virgins by lot, but that Minos himself used to comeand make his own choice, and pitched upon Theseus before all others；according to the conditions agreed upon between them, namely, thatthe Athenians should furnish them with a ship and that the young menthat were to sail with him should carry no weapons of war； but thatif the Minotaur was destroyed, the tribute should cease.

    On the two former occasions of the payment of the tribute, entertainingno hopes of safety or return, they sent out the ship with a blacksail, as to unavoidable destruction； but now, Theseus encouraginghis father, and speaking greatly of himself, as confident that heshould kill the Minotaur, he gave the pilot another sail, which waswhite, commanding him, as he returned, if Theseus were safe, to makeuse of that； but if not, to sail with the black one, and to hang outthat sign of his misfortune. Simonides says that the sail which Aegeusdelivered to the pilot was not white, but-

    "Scarlet, in the juicy bloom Of the living oak-tree steeped," and that this was to be the signof their escape. Phereclus, son of Amarsyas, according to Simonides,was pilot of the ship. But Philochorus says Theseus had sent him byScirus, from Salamis, Nausithous to be his steersman, and Phaeax hislook-out-man in the prow, the Athenians having as yet not appliedthemselves to navigation； and that Scirus did this because one ofthe young men, Menesthes, was his daughter's son； and this the chapelsof Nausithous and Phaeax, built by Theseus near the temple of Scirus,confirm. He adds, also, that the feast named Cybernesia was in honourof them. The lot being cast, and Theseus having received out of thePrytaneum those upon whom it fell, he went to the Delphinium, andmade an offering for them to Apollo of his suppliant's badge, whichwas a bough of a consecrated olive tree, with white wool tied aboutit.

    Having thus performed his devotion, he went to sea, the sixth dayof Munychion, on which day even to this time the Athenians send theirvirgins to the same temple to make supplication to the gods. It isfarther reported that he was commanded by the oracle of Delphi tomake Venus his guide, and to invoke her as the companion and conductressof his voyage and that, as he was sacrificing a she goat to her bythe sea-side, it was suddenly changed into a he, and for this causethat goddess had the name of Epitragia.

    When he arrived at Crete, as most of the ancient historians as wellas poets tell us, having a clue of thread given him by Ariadne, whohad fallen in love with him, and being instructed by her how to useit so as to conduct him through the windings of the labyrinth, heescaped out of it and slew the Minotaur, and sailed back, taking alongwith him Ariadne and the young Athenian captives. Phercydes adds thathe bored holes in the bottom of the Cretan ships to hinder their pursuit.Demon writes that Taurus, the chief captain of Minos, was slain byTheseus at the mouth of the port, in a naval combat as he was sailingout for Athens. But Philochorus gives us the story thus： That at thesetting forth of the yearly games by King Minos, Taurus was expectedto carry away the prize, as he had done before； and was much grudgedthe honour. His character and manners made his power hateful, andhe was accused moreover of too near familiarity with Pasiphae, forwhich reason, when Theseus desired the combat, Minos readily complied.And as it was a custom in Crete that the women also should be admittedto the sight of these games, Ariadne, being present, was struck withadmiration of the manly beauty of Theseus, and the vigour and addresswhich he showed in the combat, overcoming all that encountered withhim. Minos, too, being extremely pleased with him, especially becausehe had overthrown and disgraced Taurus, voluntarily gave up the youngcaptives to Theseus, and remitted the tribute to the Athenians. Clidemusgives an account peculiar to himself, very ambitiously, and beginninga great way back： That it was a decree consented to by all Greece,that no vessel from any place, containing above five persons, shouldbe permitted to sail, Jason only excepted, who was made captain ofthe great ship Argo, to sail about and scour the sea of pirates. ButDaedalus having escaped from Crete, and flying by sea to Athens, Minos,contrary to this decree, pursued him with his ships of war, was forcedby a storm upon Sicily, and there ended his life. After his decease,Deucalion, his son, desiring a quarrel with the Athenians, sent tothem, demanding that they should deliver up Daedalus to him, threateningupon their refusal, to put to death all the young Athenians whom hisfather had received as hostages from the city. To this angry messageTheseus returned a very gentle answer excusing himself that he couldnot deliver up Daedalus, who was nearly related to him, being hiscousin-german, his mother being Merope, the daughter of Erechtheus.In the meanwhile he secretly prepared a navy, part of it at home nearthe village of the Thymoetadae, a place of no resort, and far fromany common roads, the other part by his grandfather Pittheus's meansat Troezen, that so his design might be carried on with the greatestsecrecy. As soon as ever his fleet was in readiness, he set sail,having with him Daedalus and other exiles from Crete for his guides；and none of the Cretans having any knowledge of his coming, but imaginingwhen they saw his fleet that they were friends and vessels of theirown, he soon made himself master of the port, and immediately makinga descent, reached Gnossus before any notice of his coming, and, ina battle before the gates of the labyrinth, put Deucalion and allhis guards to the sword. The government by this means falling to Ariadne,he made a league with her, and received the captives of her, and ratifieda perpetual friendship between the Athenians and the Cretans, whomhe engaged under an oath never again to commence any war with Athens.

    There are yet many other traditions about these things, and as manyconcerning Ariadne, all inconsistent with each other. Some relatethat she hung herself, being deserted by Theseus. Others that shewas carried away by his sailors to the isle of Naxos, and marriedto Oenarus, priest of Bacchus； and that Theseus left her because hefell in love with another-

    "For Aegle's love was burning in his breast； a verse which Hereas,the Megarian, says was formerly in the poet Hesiod's works, but putout by Pisistratus, in like manner as he added in Homer's Raisingof the Dead, to gratify the Athenians, the line-

    "Theseus, Pirithous, mighty son of gods." Others say Ariadne had sonsalso by Theseus, Oenopion and Staphylus； and among these is the poetIon of Chios, who writes of his own native city-

    "Which once Oenopion, son of Theseus built." But the more famous ofthe legendary stories everybody （as I may say） has in his mouth. InPaeon, however, the Amathusian, there is a story given, differingfrom the rest. For he writes that Theseus, being driven by a stormupon the isle of Cyprus, and having aboard with him Ariadne, big withchild, and extremely discomposed with the rolling of the sea, sether on shore, and left her there alone, to return himself and helpthe ship, when, on a sudden, a violent wind carried him again outto sea. That the women of the island received Ariadne very kindly,and did all they could to console and alleviate her distress at beingleft behind. That they counterfeited kind letters, and delivered themto her, as sent from Theseus, and, when she fell in labour, were diligentin performing to her every needful service； but that she died beforeshe could be delivered, and was honourably interred. That soon afterTheseus returned, and was greatly afflicted for her loss, and at hisdeparture left a sum of money among the people of the island, orderingthem to do sacrifice to Ariadne； and caused two little images to bemade and dedicated to her, one of silver and the other of brass. Moreover,that on the second day of Gorpiaeus, which is sacred to Ariadne, theyhave this ceremony among their sacrifices, to have a youth lie downand with his voice and gesture represent the pains of a woman in travail；and that the Amathusians call the grove in which they show her tomb,the grove of Venus Ariadne.

    Differing yet from this account, some of the Naxians write that therewere two Minoses and two Ariadnes, one of whom, they say, was marriedto Bacchus, in the isle of Naxos, and bore the children Staphylusand his brother； but that the other, of a later age, was carried offby Theseus, and, being afterwards deserted by him, retired to Naxos,with her nurse Corcyna, whose grave they yet show. That this Ariadnealso died there, and was worshipped by the island, but in a differentmanner from the former； for her day is celebrated with general joyand revelling, but all the sacrifices performed to the latter areattended with mourning and gloom.

    Now Theseus, in his return from Crete, put in at Delos, and havingsacrificed to the god of the island, dedicated to the temple the imageof Venus which Ariadne had given him, and danced with the young Atheniansa dance that, in memory of him, they say is still preserved amongthe inhabitants of Delos, consisting in certain measured turningsand returnings, imitative of the windings and twistings of the labyrinth.And this dance, as Dicaearchus writes, is called among the Deliansthe Crane. This he danced around the Ceratonian Altar, so called fromits consisting of horns taken from the left side of the head. Theysay also that he instituted games in Delos, where he was the firstthat began the custom of giving a palm to the victors.

    When they were come near the coast of Attica, so great was the joyfor the happy success of their voyage, that neither Theseus himselfnor the pilot remembered to hang out the sail which should have beenthe token of their safety to Aegeus, who, in despair at the sight,threw himself headlong from a rock, and perished in the sea. But Theseusbeing arrived at the port of Phalerum, paid there the sacrifices whichhe had vowed to the gods at his setting out to sea, and sent a heraldto the city to carry the news of his safe return. At his entrance,the herald found the people for the most part full of grief for theloss of their king； others, as may well be believed, as full of joyfor the tidings that he brought, and eager to welcome him and crownhim with garlands for his good news, which he indeed accepted of,but hung them upon his herald's staff； and thus returning to the seasidebefore Theseus had finished his libation to the gods, he stayed apartfor fear of disturbing the holy rites； but, as soon as the libationwas ended, went up and related the king's death, upon the hearingof which, with great lamentations and a confused tumult of grief,they ran with all haste to the city. And from hence, they say, itcomes that at this day, in the feast of Oschophoria, the herald isnot crowned, but his staff, and all who are present at the libationcry out eleleu, iou, iou, the first of which confused sounds is commonlyused by men in haste, or at a triumph, the other is proper to peoplein consternation or disorder of mind.

    Theseus, after the funeral of his father, paid his vows to Apollothe seventh day of Pyanepsion； for on that day the youth that returnedwith him safe from Crete made their entry into the city. They say,also, that the custom of boiling pulse at this feast is derived fromhence； because the young men that escaped put all that was left oftheir provision together, and, boiling it in one common pot, feastedthemselves with it, and ate it all up together. Hence, also, theycarry in procession an olive branch bound about with wool （such asthey then made use of in their supplications）, which they call Eiresione,crowned with all sorts of fruits, to signify that scarcity and barrennesswas ceased, singing in their procession this song：-

    "Eiresione bring figs, and Eiresione bring loaves； Bring us boney in pints, and oil to rub on our bodies, And a strong flagon of wine, for all to go mellow to bed on." Althoughsome hold opinion that this ceremony is retained in memory of theHeraclidae, who were thus entertained and brought up by the Athenians.But most are of the opinion which we have given above.

    The ship wherein Theseus and the youth of Athens returned had thirtyoars, and was preserved by the Athenians down even to the time ofDemetrius Phalereus, for they took away the old planks as they decayed,putting in new and stronger timber in their place, insomuch that thisship became a standing example among the philosophers, for the logicalquestion of things that grow； one side holding that the ship remainedthe same, and the other contending that it was not the same.

    The feast called Oschophoria, or the feast of boughs, which to thisday the Athenians celebrate, was then first instituted by Theseus.For he took not with him the full number of virgins which by lot wereto be carried away, but selected two youths of his acquaintance, offair and womanish faces, but of a manly and forward spirit, and having,by frequent baths, and avoiding the heat and scorching of the sun,with a constant use of all the ointments and washes and dresses thatserve to the adorning of the head or smoothing the skin or improvingthe complexion, in a manner changed them from what they were before,and having taught them farther to counterfeit the very voice and carriageand gait of virgins so that there could not be the least differenceperceived, he, undiscovered by any, put them into the number of theAthenian maids designed for Crete. At his return, he and these twoyouths led up a solemn procession, in the same habit that is now wornby those who carry the vine-branches. Those branches they carry inhonour of Bacchus and Ariadne, for the sake of their story beforerelated； or rather because they happened to return in autumn, thetime of gathering the grapes. The women, whom they call Deipnopherae,or supper-carriers, are taken into these ceremonies, and assist atthe sacrifice, in remembrance and imitation of the mothers of theyoung men and virgins upon whom the lot fell, for thus they ran aboutbringing bread and meat to their children； and because the women thentold their sons and daughters many tales and stories, to comfort andencourage them under the danger they were going upon, it has stillcontinued a custom that at this feast old fables and tales shouldbe told. For these particularities we are indebted to the historyof Demon. There was then a place chosen out, and a temple erectedin it to Theseus, and those families out of whom the tribute of theyouth was gathered were appointed to pay tax to the temple for sacrificesto him. And the house of the Phytalidae had the overseeing of thesesacrifices, Theseus doing them that honour in recompense of theirformer hospitality.

    Now, after the death of his father Aegeus, forming in his mind a greatand wonderful design, he gathered together all the inhabitants ofAttica into one town, and made them one people of one city, whereasbefore they lived dispersed, and were not easy to assemble upon anyaffair for the common interest. Nay, differences and even wars oftenoccurred between them, which he by his persuasions appeased, goingfrom township to township, and from tribe to tribe. And those of amore private and mean condition readily embracing such good advice,to those of greater power he promised a commonwealth without monarchy,a democracy, or people's government, in which he should only be continuedas their commander in war and the protector of their laws, all thingselse being equally distributed among them；- and by this means broughta part of them over to his proposal. The rest, fearing his power,which was already grown very formidable, and knowing his courage andresolution, chose rather to be persuaded than forced into a compliance.He then dissolved all the distinct statehouses, council halls, andmagistracies, and built one common state-house and council hall onthe site of the present upper town, and gave the name of Athens tothe whole state, ordaining a common feast and sacrifice, which hecalled Panathenaea, or the sacrifice of all the united Athenians.He instituted also another sacrifice called Metoecia, or Feast ofMigration, which is yet celebrated on the sixteenth day of    Hecatombaeon.Then, as he had promised, he laid down his regal power and proceededto order a commonwealth, entering upon this great work not withoutadvice from the gods. For having sent to consult the oracle of Delphiconcerning the fortune of his new government and city, he receivedthis answer：-

    "Son of the Pitthean maid, To your town the terms and fates, My father gives of many states. Be not anxious nor afraid； The bladder will not fail to swim On the waves that compass him." Which oracle, they say, one of thesibyls long after did in a manner repeat to the Athenians, in thisverse：-

    "The bladder may be dipt, but not be drowned." Farther yet designingto enlarge his city, he invited all strangers to come and enjoy equalprivileges with the natives, and it is said that the common form,Come hither, all ye people, was the words that Theseus proclaimedwhen he thus set up a commonwealth, in a manner, for all nations.Yet he did not suffer his state, by the promiscuous multitude thatflowed in, to be turned into confusion and he left without any orderor degree, but was the first that divided the Commonwealth into threedistinct ranks, the noblemen, the husbandmen, and artificers. To thenobility he committed the care of religion, the choice of magistrates,the teaching and dispensing of the laws, and interpretation and directionin all sacred matters； the whole city being, as it were, reduced toan exact equality, the nobles excelling the rest in honour, the husbandmenin profit, and the artificers in number. And that Theseus was thefirst, who, as Aristotle says, out of an inclination to popular government,parted with the regal power, Homer also seems to testify, in his catalogueof the ships, where he gives the name of People to the Athenians only.

    He also coined money, and stamped it with the image of an ox, eitherin memory of the Marathonian bull, or of Taurus, whom he vanquished,or else to put his people in mind to follow husbandry； and from thiscoin came the expression so frequent among the Greeks, of a thingbeing worth ten or a hundred oxen. After this he joined Megara toAttica, and erected that famous pillar on the Isthmus, which bearsan inscription of two lines, showing the bounds of the two countriesthat meet there. On the east side the inscription is,-

    "Peloponnesus there, Ionia here" and on the west side,-

    "Peloponnesus here, Ionia there." He also instituted the games, inemulation of Hercules, being ambitious that as the Greeks, by thathero's appointment, celebrated the Olympian games to the honour ofJupiter, so by his institution, they should celebrate the Isthmianto the honour of Neptune. For those that were there before observed,dedicated to Melicerta, were performed privately in the night, andhad the form rather of a religious rite than of an open spectacleor public feast. There are some who say that the Isthmian games werefirst instituted in memory of Sciron, Theseus thus making expiationfor his death, upon account of the nearness of kindred between them,Sciron being the son of Canethus and Heniocha, the daughter of Pittheus；though others write that Sinnis, not Sciron, was their son, and thatto his honour, and not to the other's, these games were ordained byTheseus. At the same time he made an agreement with the Corinthians,that they should allow those that came from Athens to the celebrationof the Isthmian games as much space of honour before the rest to beholdthe spectacle in, as the sail of the ship that brought them thitherstretched to its full extent, could cover； so Hellanicus and Androof Halicarnassus have established.

    Concerning his voyage into the Euxine Sea, Philochorus and some otherswrite that he made it with Hercules, offering him his service in thewar against the Amazons, and had Antiope given him for the rewardof his valour； but the greater number, of whom are Pherecydes, Hellanicus,and Herodorus, write that he made this voyage many years after Hercules,with a navy under his own command, and took the Amazon prisoner- themore probable story, for we do not read that any other, of all thosethat accompanied him in this action, took any Amazon prisoner. Bionadds, that, to take her, he had to use deceit and fly away； for theAmazons, he says, being naturally lovers of men, were so far fromavoiding Theseus when he touched upon their coasts, that they senthim presents to his ship； but he, having invited Antiope, who broughtthem, to come aboard, immediately set sail and carried her away. Anauthor named Menecrates, that wrote the History of Nicae in Bithynia,adds, that Theseus, having Antiope aboard his vessel, cruised forsome time about those coasts, and that there were in the same shipthree young men of Athens, that accompanied him in this voyage, allbrothers, whose names were Euneos, Thoas, and soloon. The last ofthese fell desperately in love with Antiope, and, escaping the noticeof the rest, revealed the secret only to one of his most intimateacquaintances, and employed him to disclose his passion to Antiope；she rejected his pretences with a very positive denial, yet treatedthe matter with much gentleness and discretion, and made no complaintto Theseus of anything that had happened； but Soloon, the thing beingdesperate, leaped into a river near the seaside and drowned himself.As soon as Theseus was acquainted with his death, and his unhappylove that was the cause of it, he was extremely distressed, and, inthe height of his grief, an oracle which he had formerly receivedat Delphi came into his mind； for he had been commanded by the priestessof Apollo Pythius, that wherever in a strange land he was most sorrowfuland under the greatest affliction, he should build a city there, andleave some of his followers to be governors of the place. For thiscause he there founded a city, which he called, from the name of Apollo,Pythopolis, and, in honour of the unfortunate youth, he named theriver that runs by it Soloon, and left the two surviving brothersintrusted with the care of the government and laws, joining with themHermus, one of the nobility of Athens, from whom a place in the cityis called the House of Hermus； though by an error in the accent ithas been taken for the House of Hermes, or Mercury, and the honourthat was designed to the hero, transferred to the god.

    This was the origin and cause of the Amazonian invasion of Attica,which would seem to have been no slight or womanish enterprise. Forit is impossible that they should have placed their camp in the verycity, and joined battle close by the Pnyx and the hill called Museum,unless, having first conquered the country around about, they hadthus with impunity advanced to the city. That they made so long ajourney by land, and passed the Cimmerian Bosphorus, when frozen,as Hellanicus writes, is difficult to be believed. That they encampedall but in the city is certain, and may be sufficiently confirmedby the names that the places hereabout yet retain, and the gravesand monuments of those that fell in the battle. Both armies beingin sight, there was a long pause and doubt on each side which shouldgive the first onset； at last Theseus, having sacrificed to Fear,in obedience to the command of an oracle he had received, gave thembattle； and this happened in the month of Boedromion, in which tothis very day the Athenians celebrate the Feast Boedromia. Clidemus,desirous to be very circumstantial, writes that the left wing of theAmazons moved towards the place which is yet called Amazonium andthe right towards the Pnyx, near Chrysa, that with this wing the Athenians,issuing from behind the Museum, engaged, and that the graves of thosethat were slain are to be seen in the street that leads to the gatecalled the Piraic, by the chapel of the hero Chalcodon； and that herethe Athenians were routed, and gave way before the women, as far asto the temple of the Furies, but, fresh supplies coming in from thePalladium, Ardettus, and the Lyceum, they charged their right wing,and beat them back into their tents, in which action a great numberof the Amazons were slain. At length, after four months, a peace wasconcluded between them by the mediation of Hippolyta （for so thishistorian calls the Amazon whom Theseus married, and not Antiope）,though others write that she was slain with a dart by Molpadia, whilefighting by Theseus's side, and that the pillar which stands by thetemple of Olympian Earth was erected to her honour. Nor is it to bewondered at, that in events of such antiquity, history should be indisorder. For indeed we are also told that those of the Amazons thatwere wounded were privately sent away by Antiope to Chalcis, wheremany by her care recovered, but some that died were buried there inthe place that is to this time called Amazonium. That this war, however,was ended by a treaty is evident, both from the name of the place