Minos, king of Crete, had made war upon Athens. He had come with a great
fleet of ships and an army, and had burned the merchant vessels in the
harbor, and had overrun all the country and the coast even to Megara,
which lies to the west. He had laid waste the fields and gardens round
about Athens, had pitched his camp close to the walls, and had sent word
to the Athenian rulers that on the morrow he would march into their city
with fire and sword and would slay all their young men and would pull
down all their houses, even to the Temple of Athena, which stood on the
great hill above the town. Then AEgeus, the king of Athens, with the
twelve elders who were his helpers, went out to see King Minos and to
treat with him.
"O mighty king," they said, "what have we done that you should wish thus
to destroy us from the earth?"
"O cowardly and shameless men," answered King Minos, "why do you ask
this foolish question, since you can but know the cause of my wrath? I
had an only son, Androgeos by name, and he was dearer to me than the
hundred cities of Crete and the thousand islands of the sea over which I
rule. Three years ago he came hither to take part in the games which you
held in honor of Athena, whose temple you have built on yonder hilltop.
You know how he overcame all your young men in the sports, and how your
people honored him with song and dance and laurel crown. But when your
king, this same AEgeus who stands before me now, saw how everybody ran
after him and praised his valor, he was filled with envy and laid plans
to kill him. Whether he caused armed men to waylay him on the road to
Thebes, or whether as some say he sent him against a certain wild bull
of your country to be slain by that beast, I know not; but you cannot
deny that the young man's life was taken from him through the plotting
of this AEgeus."
"But we do deny it--we do deny it!" cried the elders. "For at that very
time our king was sojourning at Troezen on the other side of the Saronic
Sea, and he knew nothing of the young prince's death. We ourselves
managed the city's affairs while he was abroad, and we know whereof we
speak. Androgeos was slain, not through the king's orders but by the
king's nephews, who hoped to rouse your anger against AEgeus so that you
would drive him from Athens and leave the kingdom to one of them."
"Will you swear that what you tell me is true?" said Minos.
"We will swear it," they said.
"Now then," said Minos, "you shall hear my decree. Athens has robbed me
of my dearest treasure, a treasure that can never be restored to me; so,
in return, I require from Athens, as tribute, that possession which is
the dearest and most precious to her people; and it shall be destroyed
cruelly as my son was destroyed."
"The condition is hard," said the elders, "but it is just. What is the
tribute which you require?"
"Has the king a son?" asked Minos.
The face of King AEgeus lost all its color and he trembled as he thought
of a little child then with its mother at Troezen, on the other side of
the Saronic Sea. But the elders knew nothing about that child, and they
answered:
"Alas, no! he has no son; but he has fifty nephews who are eating up his
substance and longing for the time to come when one of them shall be
king; and, as we have said, it was they who slew the young prince,
Androgeos."
"I have naught to do with those fellows," said Minos; "you may deal
with them as you like. But you ask what is the tribute that I require,
and I will tell you. Every year when the springtime comes and the roses
begin to bloom, you shall choose seven of your noblest youths and seven
of your fairest maidens, and shall send them to me in a ship which your
king shall provide. This is the tribute which you shall pay to me,
Minos, king of Crete; and if you fail for a single time, or delay even a
day, my soldiers shall tear down your walls and burn your city and put
your men to the sword and sell your wives and children as slaves."
"We agree to all this, O King," said the elders; "for it is the least of
two evils. But tell us now, what shall be the fate of the seven youths
and the seven maidens?"
"In Crete," answered Minos, "there is a house called the Labyrinth, the
like of which you have never seen. In it there are a thousand chambers
and winding ways, and whosoever goes even a little way into them can
never find his way out again. Into this house the seven youths and the
seven maidens shall be thrust, and they shall be left there--"
"To perish with hunger?" cried the elders.
"To be devoured by a monster whom men call the Minotaur," said Minos.
Then King AEgeus and the elders covered their faces and wept and went
slowly back into the city to tell their people of the sad and terrible
conditions upon which Athens could alone be saved.
"It is better that a few should perish than that the whole city should
be destroyed," they said.