was so absorbed in thoughts of Ariadne that he forgot to hoist the
white sails which were to announce his safe return. The aged Aegeus
had passed many long hours since his son had left him in sitting on a
high rock from which he could see far over the sea. At last he spied
a sail coming towards him, but when it approached a little nearer, he
saw that it was a black one. Then he thought that the ship was
returning without Theseus, and he threw himself over into the sea
because he could not bear to live any longer. Some of the people who
were on the shore saw what he had done, and they at once got into a
boat and sailed to the place where he had disappeared, hoping to save
him; but they were too late, for when they found him he was already
dead. They laid the {193} corpse on a bier, and were standing sadly
round it when the ship came sailing in. The youths on board raised a
shout of joy at reaching their home again, but the others beckoned to
them to be silent, and pointed to the corpse. When Theseus knew that
his father had killed himself at the sight of the black sail, he was
very much distressed, and he threw himself upon the corpse shedding
bitter tears. In the evening the Athenians carried the bier to the
palace, and the next day they raised a funeral pyre, and when they
had burnt the body, they placed the ashes in a costly urn. Theseus
sorrowed long for his father, and bitterly regretted that he had not
remembered the white sail at the right time. Theseus was now king,
and he ruled over the city of Athens for a great number of years, and
performed many brave deeds. The Athenians had never before had such
a noble hero for their king, and they lived in peace and safety, for
their enemies feared Theseus and did not dare to attack them. It
happened once, that in sailing along the coast of Asia, Theseus
arrived at the country of the Amazons,--a nation of warlike
women,[5]--one of whom was standing on the shore when Theseus landed.
She was so beautiful that he determined to carry her off to be his
wife, but the Amazons never welcomed strangers, and when Theseus went
up to her she raised her lance, intending to pierce him with it.
Theseus however was not afraid, and putting his arms round the
maiden, he carried her off to the ship and his comrades rowed away as
fast as they could. The other Amazons came running down to the shore
when they heard the cries of their sister, but they could not {194}
overtake the ship. The Amazon that Theseus had carried off was named
Hippolyta. At first she was very angry with him, but soon she came
to love him with all her heart and had no wish to go home again.
When they reached Athens, Hippolyta became the wife of Theseus, and
the gods sent them a little son whom they named Hippolytus.
Hippolyta was now queen of Athens; but the Amazons had made up their
minds to deliver their sister and punish the stranger who had run
away with her, and they took ship and sailed to Greece. It was a
strange sight to see women with helmets on their heads and shields at
their sides, managing the vessels; and when they came to Greece every
one was afraid of them. They did not know who it was that had
carried off their sister, so they made inquiries; and when they found
it was Theseus, they set out for Athens, and as soon as they entered
his dominions they began to lay waste the cornfields and kill both
men and women. Some of the people escaped, however, and hastened to
the city to warn the king that the Amazons were marching towards it,
and he armed his people and led them out to the fight. Then a fierce
battle took place, and many of the Athenians were killed. Queen
Hippolyta stood on the wall of the city watching the battle, full of
anxiety lest Theseus should be killed by the Amazons, and she longed
so much to help him that at last she armed herself with a spear and
shield, and went out to take part in the fray. The Amazons thought
at first that she had come to join them, but when they found out what
was the real state of the case they became furious. They were now
more angry with her than with Theseus, and they hurled their lances
at her till one of them hit her in {195} the breast, and she sank
down and died. Theseus was standing by her, and when he saw that she
was dead, he was seized with uncontrollable fury, and he struck down
one after another of the Amazons until they were all killed. It was
a great victory, and the first that any one had ever gained over the
Amazons, but Theseus could take no pleasure in it because of the loss
of Hippolyta.
There was a nation in Greece called the Lapithae, whose king,
Pirithoüs, was a brave and noble hero. He had heard so much about
Theseus that he resolved to try whether he was as much of a hero as
every one said. So he entered his country and stole some cattle and
carried them away. When Theseus heard of it, he set out in pursuit
of Pirithoüs, who took no pains to escape from him, but rather the
contrary, for he had stolen the cattle, not for the sake of having
them, but because he wanted to see what Theseus would be like when he
was angry. When Theseus overtook him, Pirithoüs marvelled at his
strength and beauty and at the fire of his eyes which were glowing
with impatience for the fight, and Theseus on his part was so
delighted with the brave and manly appearance of Pirithoüs that he
quite forgot that he had been angry with him. Pirithoüs went up to
him holding out his hand, and said, 'I will atone for the theft I
have committed; you may impose upon me whatever punishment you will.'
Theseus gave him his hand in return, and said that he would impose no
punishment, but would rather make a sacred friendship with him. They
promised each other that they would be as brothers, and would always
be ready to stand by one another, and called upon Zeus {196} to
witness their oaths and bless their friendship, and then they
returned, each to his own country.
Some time after this, Pirithoüs invited a number of guests to
celebrate his marriage with a beautiful princess, and the most
honoured of all the guests was Theseus. All the great men among the
Lapithae were at the wedding, and also the savage Centaurs, who had
the lower part of their bodies formed like the bodies of horses. But
when the fierce Centaurs became intoxicated, they tried to run away
with the bride of Pirithoüs and the other women, and the marriage
feast ended in a bloody fight. The vessels that had been used at the
feast served for arms, and they threw goblets, dishes, and drinking
cups at one another. The Centaurs were stronger than the Lapithae,
and would certainly have gained the victory if the Lapithae had not
had the help of Theseus, who had brought his iron club with him and
struck down the Centaurs with it, till the dead bodies of those whom
he had killed lay upon the ground in heaps and the few that remained
took to flight. Then peace was restored, though not before a great
number of the Lapithae had perished, and Theseus returned home, glad
that he had been able to give this proof of his friendship for
Pirithoüs.
Theseus was always ready to help those who were in the right, and as
his fame spread far and wide, every one who was oppressed came to
Athens and stood before the Altar of Pity which had been raised in
the centre of the market-place. Then Theseus inquired into his case,
and if he found that he had been wronged, he took care to see that
justice was done. This gained for him the hatred of the wicked
oppressors, but all those who cared for justice honoured and loved
him.
{197}
Theseus had reigned for a long time, and his son Hippolytus had grown
up to be a man, when he resolved to marry again, and asked Minos the
king of Crete to let him have his daughter Phaedra, the sister of
Ariadne, for his wife. Minos had long before this forgiven Theseus
for having killed the Minotaur and carried off Ariadne, and he
willingly consented to give him his younger daughter in marriage.
Phaedra was many years younger than Theseus and had been quite a
child when he was in Crete, but she now became queen of Athens, and
Theseus loved her dearly and did all he could to please her. His
son, who had been named Hippolytus after his mother, did not live at
Athens, but in Troezen with his grandmother who had brought him up
since the death of Hippolyta. He was noble and virtuous, and he
loved the chase and all manly pursuits, and honoured, above all other
gods and goddesses, the huntress-goddess Artemis. Hippolytus came
one day to Athens on a visit, and when Phaedra saw him, she was so
dazzled by his youth and beauty that she began to love him
passionately, and after his return she used to spend many hours every
day sitting on the city walls and looking towards Troezen. She used
to take her old nurse there with her, and talk to her about
Hippolytus, and tell her how willingly she would give up honour and
riches for his sake. The next time Hippolytus came to Athens she had
a secret conversation with him, and begged him to flee away and take
her with him to be his wife. But Hippolytus was angry with her for
plotting such treachery against his father, and he was so shocked at
what she had said that he mounted his chariot and drove his spirited
horses {198} back towards Troezen. Phaedra now hated him for having
spurned her, and she thought of a plan by which she might revenge
herself upon him. She went to Theseus and told him with many tears
that Hippolytus had proposed to her to run away with him and become
his wife, and Theseus believed what she told him, and he was very,
very angry, and said that Hippolytus should atone for it with his
life.
Theseus was loved by the gods, and especially by Poseidon the
sea-god, who had once promised him that if ever he prayed to him in
any time of trouble, he would certainly grant his request, whatever
it might be. Many years had passed away since then, and Theseus had
never had so great a desire for anything as to think of asking the
sea-god for it; but now that Phaedra accused his son of this great
crime, he entreated Poseidon to fulfil his dearest wish and cause
Hippolytus to die immediately. At that moment, Hippolytus who was
driving along the sea-shore, saw the waves suddenly part asunder and
a hideous monster come out of them, who roared horribly. The
frightful appearance of the monster and the noise he made, rendered
the horses quite unmanageable, and Hippolytus could not hold them in.
They ran away with the chariot, dragging it over stones and rocks,
till at last it was upset, and Hippolytus was thrown out and trampled
to death. The people found his body and brought it to Athens, and
Theseus knew that Poseidon had granted his prayer. But when Phaedra
saw the corpse, she was so grieved and sick at heart that she went
into her sleeping chamber and hanged herself, and then the old nurse
told the king the whole truth. When Theseus knew {199} that his
innocent son had perished because of his virtue, he was quite
overcome with grief, and threw himself upon the corpse, kissing it
and weeping passionately, and for many days he shut himself up alone
in his palace and refused either to eat or drink.
Theseus thought that the best way of regaining his spirits would be
to undertake some new exploit which would give a fresh turn to his
thoughts. The wife of Pirithoüs was also dead, and the two heroes
determined to set out together to seek for two beautiful women whom
they might carry off to become their wives. They had heard that
Tyndareus, the king of Sparta, had a lovely daughter named Helena,
and they set out for Sparta, and reached it just at the time of the
festival of Artemis. The maidens of the city kept the festival by
dancing round the altar of the goddess, and Helena was among them,
and was distinguished from all the others by her marvellous beauty.
The two heroes rushed in among the maidens and seized Helena, and
when they had carried her off to a place of safety, they cast lots
for her, to see whose wife she should be. The lot fell to Theseus,
and he took her to his mother Aethra and begged her to take care of
the maiden until he should return for her, for he wanted to go and
help his friend also to carry off a wife by force. They were so bold
as to resolve that they would descend into the Land of Shades and
steal away the queen of the Lower World, although this was in
undertaking so daring that nothing like it had ever before been
attempted by any hero. They passed through the chasm which was the
entrance to the Lower World, and went down far below the earth till
at last they reached the Land of {200} Shades. They were now very
tired, and as they expected to have a hard struggle before they could
get possession of the queen, they thought they would rest a little
first, and sat down on a stone which they saw near them. But when
they wanted to get up again, they found that they had stuck fast to
the stone and could not move. The king of the Lower World, who knew
for what purpose they had dared to come into his dominions, had
prevented their getting up again, and he punished them by obliging
them to sit there for ever.
So the two heroes were kept prisoners in the Lower World; and
meanwhile, the brothers of Helena, whose names were Castor and
Pollux, set out to free their sister. Their mother was the beautiful
Leda, wife of King Tyndareus, who was sitting one day by the river
bank when a snow-white swan came sailing by. Leda was charmed with
his beauty and called him to come to her, and the swan came on shore
and embraced her. It was not a real swan however, but Zeus, who
loved the beautiful Leda, and had come to her in this form. Some
time after this, Leda had four children; there were two large eggs,
and out of each egg there came a little boy and a little girl. Two
of them were the children of Zeus, and their names were Pollux and
Helena; the other two were called Castor and Clytaemnestra. When
they grew up, the two brothers, Castor and Pollux, became glorious
heroes. No one understood so well how to tame wild horses as Castor,
and no one was so skilled in wrestling as Pollux.[6] They were also
kind and gentle, and loved one another so dearly that they shared
everything, and they performed {201} many heroic deeds together, and
won great fame. But in the course of time, Castor died and passed
into the Lower World, where he became an unthinking shade. Pollux
did not die, for it was decreed that as he was a son of Zeus he
should become immortal and live among the gods. But his immortality
was a burden to him, for he could not bear to live without his
brother, and he begged his father Zeus to grant them both the same
fate, so that they might either be both in Olympus or both in the
Lower World. Zeus was pleased at their love for one another, and he
said that they should both be in Olympus one day and both be in the
Lower World on the alternate day, and thus they should always remain
together. The two brothers were named the Dioscuri, or the children
of Zeus, and two bright stars which stand close to one another in the
sky are named after them.
At the time however when Theseus carried off Helena, the brothers
were still alive and in the first bloom of their youth. They set out
with their companions for Athens, thinking that Theseus must have
taken their sister to his capital; but when they reached it they were
told that he had gone away on an adventurous enterprise, and the
Athenians took a solemn oath that the maiden was not within their
walls. The brothers asked where she was hidden, and one of the
citizens who knew, told them; then they went away without doing any
harm to any one, and marched to Troezen, where they compelled Aethra
to let them take their beautiful sister home with them.
Theseus and Pirithoüs sat upon the stone for many years, until the
time came when Heracles was {202} commanded by Eurystheus to descend
into the Lower World and fetch up the three-headed dog Cerberus.[7]
When the captive heroes saw him, they called to him and told him of
their trouble, and begged him to help them. Then Heracles seized the
hand of Theseus with such a mighty grasp that the stone was compelled
to leave go and allow him to get up. He next seized hold of
Pirithoüs, but at that moment the earth quaked, and fearful sounds
were heard, which signified that the gods would not grant freedom to
Pirithoüs, but doomed him to sit upon the stone for ever, because he
had presumed to desire the queen of the Lower World for his wife.
So Theseus was obliged to leave his friend in the Land of Shades, and
he took leave of him and returned to the Upper World; but in the
meanwhile his hair had turned grey, and his appearance had become
very much altered. Now while he was a prisoner in the Lower World, a
mischief-making person had been telling the people that their king
spent all his time in going about on daring expeditions, and was of
no use to his subjects; so when Theseus came back to Athens, he found
that the people had no longer any affection or esteem for him. He
would not live amongst those who did not make him welcome, and he
left his country and got into a ship and sailed to the island of
Scyros. Part of the island belonged to a king named Lycomedes, but
the rest of it belonged to Theseus, and he had resolved to spend the
remaining days of his life there, so he went to the king and told him
so. The king was by no means pleased, for he was a cowardly man and
he thought that Theseus would not leave him in peaceful {203}
possession of his share, but would make himself king of the whole
island. He pretended, however, to welcome Theseus, and said that he
would take him to a mountain where he would have a view of the whole
country. They both climbed up the mountain, which had a steep
precipice on one side of it, and when Theseus was preoccupied in
looking at the country, Lycomedes got behind him and pushed him over
the cliff. Theseus died from the great fall, and thus the strong
hero lost his life at the hands of one cowardly man. They found his
body lying at the foot of the precipice with the bones broken, and
they buried him in the island.
Many years passed away, and the age of the heroes and the sons of the
gods had quite gone by, when the Athenians sent one day to the Oracle
at Delphi to inquire of the Pythia about the future. The Pythia told
them that they had better fetch the bones of Theseus from Scyros and
keep them in their city, because these bones would prove a great
blessing to them. They did not fail to attend to this direction, and
sent ships manned with a large number of Athenians to the island of
Scyros, to seek for the bones of Theseus and bring them home. But no
one could tell them where the grave of the hero was, for during that
long time it had been forgotten. They went all over the island
seeking for it, and at last it was revealed to them by a sign from
heaven: a mighty eagle swooped down on to a hill and pecked the
ground many times with his beak, then he soared up again and
disappeared among the clouds. The Athenians dug into the hill and
found a coffin containing bones much larger than the bones of the men
of that time, and {204} there was also a sword and spear in the same
coffin. They knew by the sign that had been given them from heaven
that these were the bones of Theseus, and they carried the coffin to
their finest ship and sailed home with it. The ship was beautifully
adorned with garlands and streamers, and when it reached Athens the
citizens put on their best clothes and came out to meet it, singing
and playing on the flute, just as if it were Theseus himself who was
returning to his country. They buried his bones in the middle of the
city, and consecrated the spot as a Refuge or place of safety: if,
for example, a slave were pursued by his master and he could succeed
in reaching the tomb of Theseus, the master had no longer any right
to touch him. In this manner the Athenians honoured the memory of
Theseus, who during his lifetime had always been so ready to take the
part of the weak against the strong. They also came in time to look
upon him as a god, and offered sacrifices to him.
[1] This fortress was afterwards called the Acropolis of Athens.
[2] See page 175.
[3] See page 122.
[4] See page 66.
[5] See page 125.
[6] See page 157.
[7] See page 135.
{205}
XXIX.
OEDIPUS.
There was once a king of Thebes called Laïus, and he had a wife whose
name was Jocasta. There was also a soothsayer in Thebes, who said
that if the queen had a son it would be a great misfortune, for that
when he grew up, he would kill his father and marry his mother. Some
time afterwards the queen had a little son, a strong child with
bright merry eyes; but Laïus determined to kill it in order to
prevent the prediction of the soothsayer from coming true, and he
told one of his servants to take the little child to a mountain
called Cithaeron, which was covered with forests, and leave it there
to be devoured by wild beasts; but before he sent it away, the king
tied a string tightly round its ankles, which made the little feet
swell. The servant did as he was told, and left the child lying in
the forest. But it happened that the cattle of Polybus, the king of
Corinth, were at that time pasturing on the mountain, and one of the
herdsmen who was in charge of them, chanced, in searching for a cow
that had gone astray, to go through the forest and to pass by the
spot where the child of King Laïus had been left to perish. He was
sorry for the poor little thing, and he took it up and untied the
string round its feet, and laid cooling {206} herbs upon the sore
places. King Polybus and his wife had no child, though they wished
very much for one, and the herdsman, who knew this, thought that they
might like to have the little stranger to bring up as their own son.
He took the beautiful little boy to Corinth and showed him to the
king and queen, who were very much pleased, and they said they would
keep him for their own, and told the herdsman not to let any one know
that he had found him in the forest. So Laïus thought that his child
had been devoured by wild beasts, while the Corinthians thought that
the gods had granted the wish of their queen and had sent her a
child, and nobody, not even the king and queen themselves, knew that
he was the son of Laïus and Jocasta. The child's feet were still
swollen when he was brought to Corinth, so they called him Oedipus,
which means Swollen-Foot.
Oedipus grew up to be brave and strong, and the king and queen, who
were very fond of him, treated him just as if they were his real
parents and never told him that he had not been born in Corinth.
When he was a young man, he went one day to Delphi to ask the Oracle
what would happen to him, and the priestess answered, 'You will kill
your father and marry your mother.' Oedipus shuddered, and resolved
to leave Corinth at once that he might never fulfil such a horrible
prediction. He ordered his chariot, and let his horses take
whichever road they pleased, for he did not care where he went, so
long as it was away from Corinth. By-and-by he came to a strange
country, and found himself in a narrow lane where there was not even
room for two chariots to pass one another, and whilst {207} he was
still in this narrow lane, he met a king who was coming in his
chariot from the opposite direction. The king commanded Oedipus to
stand aside and let him pass in such a haughty manner that Oedipus
refused to obey him, and after they had exchanged some angry words,
they seized their arms, and Oedipus before long struck the king a
deadly blow. The king was Laïus, the father of Oedipus, and thus a
part of the Oracle was already fulfilled; but Oedipus did not know
this, and he did not feel at all sorry for having killed the
stranger, as it was he who had begun the quarrel. He went on through
Greece and accomplished many brave deeds, and after some time he came
to the neighbourhood of Thebes, where he heard a strange story indeed.
On the mountain near Thebes, there was a monster called the Sphinx,
who could speak. She devoured both men and cattle, and no one had
been able to overcome her. She asked every one who came near her a
riddle which she had learnt from the Muses, who are the goddesses of
song, and she devoured every one who could not answer it; but it had
been decreed by fate that if any one should ever succeed in guessing
it, she would be obliged to throw herself down from the mountain and
die. Many people had already tried to do so, but they had all failed
and had been devoured by the Sphinx in consequence, so that no one
else would attempt it, and there was no end to the misery in the
land. The Thebans met together to consider what could be done, and
they agreed that if any one would answer the riddle and deliver the
city from the monster, he should, as a reward, be made king of
Thebes, and have Jocasta for his wife. King Laïus had been found
{208} dead in the narrow lane some time before, but it was not known
who had killed him.
When Oedipus heard that the Thebans had agreed to give the kingdom to
any one who would deliver them from the Sphinx, he said to himself,
'I dare not return to my father's country, and I will therefore seek
to win a kingdom for myself,' for he still thought that his father
was the king of Corinth. So he set out for the mountain where the
Sphinx lived. She was like a gigantic lioness, with a woman's head,
and powerful wings growing out of her shoulders, and all round her
lay the bones of the men whom she had devoured. It was a horrible
sight, but Oedipus was not afraid, and he desired her to tell him the
riddle. Then she began to sing, 'There is a creature of wondrous
kind; at first it goes on four legs, then on two, and at last it uses
three. There is none like it among all those that walk on the earth,
or swim in the water, or fly in the air.' Oedipus put his hand to
his forehead and thought for a while. Then it came into his mind
that as a little child, man crawls about on four legs, and that in
his old age he uses a stick, which is just like a third leg, and he
said, 'The wonderful creature is man.' As soon as the words had
passed his lips, the Sphinx threw herself from the mountain, and fell
down dead into the valley below. The Thebans, who were watching from
the city, saw what happened, and they came out to meet Oedipus with
shouts of joy. They hailed him as their king and led him into the
palace, and on the same day he was married to Queen Jocasta. Thus he
became the husband of his mother, and the whole of the prophecy was
fulfilled. But he did not know this, and was very happy. {209} He
lived in great riches, and to all seeming, in great honour, so that
there was no one who did not look upon him as a very fortunate man.
Many years had passed away, when there came a messenger to Thebes to
tell Oedipus that King Polybus was dead, and to beg him to return to
Corinth and be king of the city. But Oedipus would not return there
on account of the Oracle, for though King Polybus, whom he believed
to be his father, was dead, the queen was still alive, and he feared
that some madness might come over him and make him desire to marry
his mother. He told this to the messenger, who, as it happened, was
the old herdsman who had found Oedipus in the forest when he was a
child; and he, thinking to do the king a great service, told him in
return that he was not the son of Polybus, but a strange child who
had been found on Mount Cithaeron with his feet tied together by a
string. As soon as Jocasta heard this, she knew that Oedipus must be
her son, and when he began to inquire about his father, he found that
he must have been the king whom he had killed in the narrow lane.
All his prosperity and all his happiness had now left him at a single
blow, and there was not a man in Thebes who did not consider himself
better off than the king. He was so wretched that he put out his own
eyes because he could not bear to face the contemptuous looks of the
Thebans; and as for Jocasta, she went into her bedchamber and hanged
herself.