hand in his. 'Not yet,' said Theseus, kindly, 'till water has clean
washed away that which is between thee and me. But wherefore, maiden,
being in fear as you were, did you not call to the gods in heaven to
keep you, but to the asparagus thorns that cannot hear or help?'
'My father, sir,' she said, 'knew no gods, but he came of the race of
the asparagus thorns, and to them I cried in my need.'
Theseus marvelled at these words, and said, 'From this day you shall
pray to Zeus, the Lord of Thunder, and to the other gods.' Then he went
forth from the wood, with the maiden following, and wholly cleansed
himself in the brook that ran by the way.
So they passed down to the rich city of Ephyre, where the king received
him gladly, when he heard of the slaying of the Maceman, Periphetes, and
of Sinis the Pine-Bender. The Queen, too, had pity on Perigyne, so
beautiful she was, and kept her in her own palace. Afterwards Perigyne
married a prince, Deiones, son of Eurytus, King of Oechalia, whom the
strong man Heracles slew for the sake of his bow, the very bow with
which Ulysses, many years afterwards, destroyed the Wooers in his halls.
The sons of Perigyne and Deiones later crossed the seas to Asia, and
settled in a land called Caria, and they never burned or harmed the
asparagus thorn to which Perigyne had prayed in the thicket.
Greece was so lawless in these days that all the road from Troezene
northward to Athens was beset by violent and lawless men. They loved
cruelty even more than robbery, and each of them had carefully thought
out his particular style of being cruel. The cities were small, and at
war with each other, or at war among themselves, one family fighting
against another for the crown. Thus there was no chance of collecting an
army to destroy the monstrous men of the roads, which it would have been
easy enough for a small body of archers to have done. Later Theseus
brought all into great order, but now, being but one man, he went
seeking adventures.
On the border of a small country called Megara, whose people were much
despised in Greece, he found a chance of advancing himself, and gaining
glory. He was walking in the middle of the day along a narrow path at
the crest of a cliff above the sea, when he saw the flickering of a
great fire in the blue air, and steam going up from a bronze caldron of
water that was set on the fire. On one side of the fire was a foot-bath
of glittering bronze. Hard by was built a bower of green branches, very
cool on that hot day, and from the door of the bower stretched a great
thick hairy pair of naked legs.
Theseus guessed, from what he had been told, that the owner of the legs
was Sciron the Kicker. He was a fierce outlaw who was called the Kicker
because he made all travellers wash his feet, and, as they were doing
so, kicked them over the cliff. Some say that at the foot of the cliff
dwelt an enormous tortoise, which ate the dead and dying when they fell
near his lair, but as tortoises do not eat flesh, generally, this may be
a mistake. Theseus was determined not to take any insolence from Sciron,
so he shouted--
'Slave, take these dirty legs of yours out of the way of a Prince.
'Prince!' answered Sciron, 'if my legs are dirty, the gods are kind who
have sent you to wash them for me.'
Then he got up, lazily, laughing and showing his ugly teeth, and stood
in front of his bath with his heavy wooden club in his hand. He whirled
it round his head insultingly, but Theseus was quicker than he, and
again, as when he slew the Pine-Bender, he did not strike, for striking
is slow compared to thrusting, but like a flash he lunged forward and
drove the thick end of his iron club into the breast of Sciron. He
staggered, and, as he reeled, Theseus dealt him a blow across the thigh,
and he fell. Theseus seized the club which dropped from the hand of
Sciron, and threw it over the cliff; it seemed long before the sound
came up from the rocks on which it struck. 'A deep drop into a stony
way, Sciron,' said Theseus, 'now wash my feet! Stand up, and turn your
back to me, and be ready when I tell you.' Sciron rose, slowly and
sulkily, and stood as Theseus bade him do.
Now Theseus was not wearing light shoes or sandals, like the golden
sandals of Aegeus, which he carried in his wallet. He was wearing thick
boots, with bronze nails in the soles, and the upper leathers were laced
high up his legs, for the Greeks wore such boots when they took long
walks on mountain roads. As soon as Theseus had trained Sciron to stand
in the proper position, he bade him stoop to undo the lacings of his
boots. As Sciron stooped, Theseus gave him one tremendous kick, that
lifted him over the edge of the cliff, and there was an end of Sciron.
Theseus left the marches of Megara, and walked singing on his way, above
the sea, for his heart was light, and he was finding adventures to his
heart's desire. Being so young and well trained, his foot and hand, in a
combat, moved as swift as lightning, and his enemies were older than he,
and, though very strong, were heavy with full feeding, and slow to move.
Now it is speed that wins in a fight, whether between armies or single
men, if strength and courage go with it.
At last the road led Theseus down from the heights to a great fertile
plain, called the Thriasian plain, not far from Athens. There, near the
sea, stands the famous old city of Eleusis. When Hades, the God of the
Dead, carried away beautiful Persephone, the daughter of Demeter, the
Goddess of corn and all manner of grain, to his dark palace beside the
stream of Ocean, it was to Eleusis that Demeter wandered. She was clad
in mourning robes, and she sat down on a stone by the way, like a weary
old woman. Now the three daughters of the king who then reigned in
Eleusis came by, on the way to the well, to fetch water, and when they
saw the old woman they set down their vessels and came round her, asking
what they could do for her, who was so tired and poor. They said that
they had a baby brother at home, who was the favourite of them all, and
that he needed a nurse. Demeter was pleased with their kindness, and
they left their vessels for water beside her, and ran home to their
mother. Their long golden hair danced on their shoulders as they ran,
and they came, out of breath, to their mother the Queen, and asked her
to take the old woman to be their brother's nurse. The Queen was kind,
too, and the old woman lived in their house, till Zeus, the chief God,
made the God of the Dead send back Persephone, to be with her mother
through spring, and summer, and early autumn, but in winter she must
live with her husband in the dark palace beside the river of Ocean.
Then Demeter was glad, and she caused the grain to grow abundantly for
the people of Eleusis, and taught them ceremonies, and a kind of play in
which all the story of her sorrows and joy was acted. It was also taught
that the souls of men do not die with the death of their bodies, any
more than the seed of corn dies when it is buried in the dark earth, but
that they live again in a world more happy and beautiful than ours.
These ceremonies were called the Mysteries of Eleusis, and were famous
in all the world.
Theseus might have expected to find Eleusis a holy city, peaceful and
quiet. But he had heard, as he travelled, that in Eleusis was a strong
bully, named Cercyon; he was one of the rough Highlanders of Arcadia,
who lived in the hills of the centre of Southern Greece, which is called
Peloponnesus. He is said to have taken the kingship, and driven out the
descendants of the king whose daughters were kind to Demeter. The strong
man used to force all strangers to wrestle with him, and, when he threw
them, for he had never been thrown, he broke their backs.
Knowing this, and being himself fond of wrestling, Theseus walked
straight to the door of the king's house, though the men in the town
warned him, and the women looked at him with sad eyes. He found the gate
of the courtyard open, with the altar of Zeus the high God smoking in
the middle of it, and at the threshold two servants welcomed him, and
took him to the polished bath, and women washed him, and anointed him
with oil, and clothed him in fresh raiment, as was the manner in kings'
houses. Then they led him into the hall, and he walked straight up to
the high seats between the four pillars beside the hearth, in the middle
of the hall.
There Cercyon sat, eating and drinking, surrounded by a score of his
clan, great, broad, red-haired men, but he himself was the broadest and
the most brawny. He welcomed Theseus, and caused a table to be brought,
with meat, and bread, and wine, and when Theseus had put away his
hunger, began to ask him who he was and whence he came. Theseus told him
that he had walked from Troezene, and was on his way to the court of
King Peleus (the father of Achilles), in the north, for he did not want
the news of his coming to go before him to Athens.
'You walked from Troezene?' said Cercyon. 'Did you meet or hear of the
man who killed the Maceman and slew the Pine-Bender, and kicked Sciron
into the sea?'
'I walk fast, but news flies faster,' said Theseus.
'The news came through my second-sighted man,' said Cercyon, 'there he
is, in the corner,' and Cercyon threw the leg bone of an ox at his
prophet, who just managed to leap out of the way. 'He seems to have
foreseen that the bone was coming at him,' said Cercyon, and all his
friends laughed loud. 'He told us this morning that a stranger was
coming, he who had killed the three watchers of the way. From your legs
and shoulders, and the iron club that you carry, methinks you are that
stranger?'
Theseus smiled, and nodded upwards, which the Greeks did when they meant
'Yes!'
'Praise be to all the gods!' said Cercyon. 'It is long since a good man
came my way. Do they practise wrestling at Troezene?'
'Now and then,' said Theseus.
'Then you will try a fall with me? There is a smooth space strewn with
sand in the courtyard.'
Theseus answered that he had come hoping that the king would graciously
honour him by trying a fall. Then all the wild guests shouted, and out
they all went and made a circle round the wrestling-place, while Theseus
and Cercyon threw down their clothes and were anointed with oil over
their bodies. To it they went, each straining forward and feeling for a
grip, till they were locked, and then they swayed this way and that,
their feet stamping the ground; and now one would yield a little, now
the other, while the rough guests shouted, encouraging each of them. At
last they rested and breathed, and now the men began to bet; seven oxen
to three was laid on Cercyon, and taken in several places. Back to the
wrestle they went, and Theseus found this by far the hardest of his
adventures, for Cercyon was heavier than he, and as strong, but not so
active. So Theseus for long did little but resist the awful strain of
the arms of Cercyon, till, at last, for a moment Cercyon weakened. Then
Theseus slipped his hip under the hip of Cercyon, and heaved him across
and up, and threw him on the ground. He lighted in such a way that his
neck broke, and there he lay dead.
'Was it fairly done?' said Theseus.
'It was fairly done!' cried the Highlanders of Arcadia; and then they
raised such a wail for the dead that Theseus deemed it wise to put on
his clothes and walk out of the court; and, leaping into a chariot that
stood empty by the gate, for the servant in the chariot feared the club
of iron, he drove away at full speed.
Though Cercyon was a cruel man and a wild, Theseus was sorry for him in
his heart.
The groom in the chariot tried to leap out, but Theseus gripped him
tight. 'Do not hurry, my friend,' said Theseus, 'for I have need of you.
I am not stealing the chariot and horses, and you shall drive them back
after we reach Athens.'
'But, my lord,' said the groom, 'you will never reach Athens.'
'Why not?' asked Theseus.
'Because of the man Procrustes, who dwells in a strong castle among the
hills on the way. He is the maimer of all mortals, and has at his
command a company of archers and spearmen, pirates from the islands. He
meets every traveller, and speaks to him courteously, praying him to be
his guest, and if any refuses the archers leap out of ambush and seize
and bind him. With them no one man can contend. He has a bed which he
says is a thing magical, for it is of the same length as the tallest or
the shortest man who sleeps in it, so that all are fitted. Now the
manner of it is this--there is an engine with ropes at the head of the
bed, and a saw is fitted at the bed foot. If a man is too short, the
ropes are fastened to his hands, and are strained till he is drawn to
the full length of the bed. If he is too long the saw shortens him. Such
a monster is Procrustes.
'Verily, my lord, King Cercyon was to-morrow to lead an army against
him, and the King had a new device, as you may see, by which two great
shields are slung along the side of this chariot, to ward off the arrows
of the men of Procrustes.'
'Then you and I will wear the shields when we come near the place where
Procrustes meets travellers by the way, and I think that to-night his
own bed will be too long for him,' said Theseus.
To this the groom made no answer, but his body trembled.
Theseus drove swiftly on till the road began to climb the lowest spur of
Mount Parnes, and then he drew rein, and put on one of the great shields
that covered all his body and legs, and he bade the groom do the like.
Then he drove slowly, watching the bushes and underwood beside the way.
Soon he saw the smoke going up from the roof of a great castle high in
the woods beside the road; and on the road there was a man waiting.
Theseus, as he drove towards him, saw the glitter of armour in the
underwood, and the setting sun shone red on a spear-point above the
leaves. 'Here is our man,' he said to the groom, and pulled up his
horses beside the stranger. He loosened his sword in the sheath, and
leaped out of the chariot, holding the reins in his left hand, and bowed
courteously to the man, who was tall, weak-looking, and old, with grey
hair and a clean-shaven face, the colour of ivory. He was clad like a
king, in garments of dark silk, with gold bracelets, and gold rings that
clasped the leather gaiters on his legs, and he smiled and smiled, and
rubbed his hands, while he looked to right and left, and not at Theseus.
'I am fortunate, fair sir,' said he to Theseus, 'for I love to entertain
strangers, with whom goes the favour and protection of Zeus. Surely
strangers are dear to all men, and holy! You, too, are not unlucky, for
the night is falling, and the ways will be dark and dangerous. You will
sup and sleep with me, and to-night I can give you a bed that is well
spoken of, for its nature is such that it fits all men, the short and
the tall, and you are of the tallest.'
'To-night, fair sir,' quoth Theseus, 'your own bed will be full long for
you.' And, drawing the sword of Aegeus, he cut sheer through the neck of
Procrustes at one blow, and the head of the man flew one way, and his
body fell another way.
Then with a swing of his hand Theseus turned his shield from his front
to his back, and leaped into the chariot. He lashed the horses forward
with a cry, while the groom also turned his own shield from front to
back; and the arrows of the bowmen of Procrustes rattled on the bronze
shields as the chariot flew along, or struck the sides and the seat of
it. One arrow grazed the flank of a horse, and the pair broke into a
wild gallop, while the yells of the bowmen grew faint in the distance.
At last the horses slackened in their pace as they climbed a hill, and
from the crest of it Theseus saw the lights in the city of Aphidnae.
'Now, my friend,' he said to the groom, 'the way is clear to Athens, and
on your homeward road with the horses and the chariot you shall travel
well guarded. By the splendour of Lady Athene's brow, I will burn that
raven's nest of Procrustes!'
So they slept that night on safe beds at the house of the sons of
Phytalus, who bore rule in Aphidnae. Here they were kindly welcomed, and
the sons of Phytalus rejoiced when they heard how Theseus had made safe
the ways, and slain the beasts that guarded them. 'We are your men,'
they said, 'we and all our people, and our spears will encircle you when
you make yourself King of Athens, and of all the cities in the Attic
land.'
IV
THESEUS FINDS HIS FATHER
Next day Theseus said farewell to the sons of Phytalus, and drove slowly
through the pleasant green woods that overhung the clear river Cephisus.
He halted to rest his horses in a glen, and saw a very beautiful young
man walking in a meadow on the other side of the river. In his hand he
bore a white flower, and the root of it was black; in the other hand he
carried a golden wand, and his upper lip was just beginning to darken,
he was of the age when youth is most gracious. He came towards Theseus,
and crossed the stream where it broke deep, and swift, and white, above
a long pool, and it seemed to Theseus that his golden shoon did not
touch the water.
'Come, speak with me apart,' the young man said; and Theseus threw the
reins to the groom, and went aside with the youth, watching him
narrowly, for he knew not what strange dangers might beset him on the
way.
'Whither art thou going, unhappy one,' said the youth, 'thou that
knowest not the land? Behold, the sons of Pallas rule in Athens,
fiercely and disorderly. Thy father is of no force, and in the house
with him is a fair witch woman from a far country. Her name is Medea,
the daughter of Aetes, the brother of Circe the Sorceress. She wedded
the famous Jason, and won for him the Fleece of Gold, and slew her own
brother Absyrtus. Other evils she wrought, and now she dwells with
Aegeus, who fears and loves her greatly. Take thou this herb of grace,
and if Medea offers you a cup of wine, drop this herb in the cup, and so
you shall escape death. Behold, I am Hermes of the golden wand.'
Then he gave to Theseus the flower, and passed into the wood, and
Theseus saw him no more; so then Theseus knelt down, and prayed, and
thanked the gods. The flower he placed in the breast of his garment,
and, returning to his chariot, he took the reins, and drove to Athens,
and up the steep narrow way to the crest of the rock where the temple of
Athene stood and the palace of King Aegeus.
Theseus drove through to the courtyard, and left his chariot at the
gate. In the court young men were throwing spears at a mark, while
others sat at the house door, playing draughts, and shouting and
betting. They were heavy, lumpish, red-faced young men, all rather like
each other. They looked up and stared, but said nothing. Theseus knew
that they were his cousins, the sons of Pallas, but as they said nothing
to him he walked through them, iron club on shoulder, as if he did not
see them, and as one tall fellow stood in his way, the tall fellow spun
round from a thrust of his shoulder. At the hall door Theseus stopped
and shouted, and at his cry two or three servants came to him.
'Look to my horses and man,' said Theseus; 'I come to see your master.'
And in he went, straight up to the high chairs beside the fire in the
centre. The room was empty, but in a high seat sat, fallen forward and
half-asleep, a man in whose grey hair was a circlet of gold and a golden
grasshopper. Theseus knew that it was his father, grey and still, like
the fallen fire on the hearth. As the king did not look up, Theseus
touched his shoulder, and then knelt down, and put his arms round the
knees of the king. The king aroused himself with a start. 'Who? What
want you?' he said, and rubbed his red, bloodshot eyes.
'A suppliant from Troezene am I, who come to your knees, oh, king, and
bring you gifts.'
'From Troezene!' said the king sleepily, as if he were trying to
remember something.
'From Aethra, your wife, your son brings your sword and your shoon,' said
Theseus; and he laid the sword and the shoon at his father's feet.
The king rose to his feet with a great cry. 'You have come at last,' he
cried, 'and the gods have forgiven me and heard my prayers. But gird on
the sword, and hide the shoon, and speak not the name of "wife," for
there is one that hears.'
'One that has heard,' said a sweet silvery voice; and from behind a
pillar came a woman, dark and pale, but very beautiful, clothed in a
rich Eastern robe that shone and shifted from colour to colour. Lightly
she threw her white arms round the neck of Theseus, lightly she kissed
his cheeks, and a strange sweet fragrance hung about her. Then, holding
him apart, with her hands on his shoulders, she laughed, and
half-turning to Aegeus, who had fallen back into his chair, she said:
'My lord, did you think that you could hide anything from me?' Then she
fixed her great eyes on the eyes of Theseus. 'We are friends?' she said,
in her silvery voice.
'Lady, I love you even as you love my father, King Aegeus,' said Theseus.
'Even so much?' said the lady Medea. 'Then we must both drink to him in
wine.' She glided to the great golden mixing-cup of wine that stood on a
table behind Aegeus, and with her back to Theseus she ladled wine into a
cup of strange coloured glass. 'Pledge me and the king,' she said,
bringing the cup to Theseus. He took it, and from his breast he drew the
flower of black root and white blossom that Hermes had given him, and
laid it in the wine. Then the wine bubbled and hissed, and the cup burst
and broke, and the wine fell on the floor, staining it as with blood.
Medea laughed lightly. 'Now we are friends indeed, for the gods befriend
you,' she said, 'and I swear by the Water of Styx that your friends are
my friends, and your foes are my foes, always, to the end. The gods are
with you; and by the great oath of the gods I swear, which cannot be
broken; for I come of the kin of the gods who live for ever.'
Now the father of the father of Medea was the Sun God.
Theseus took both her hands. 'I also swear,' he said, 'by the splendour
of Zeus, that your friends shall be my friends, and that your foes shall
be my foes, always, to the end.'
Then Medea sat by the feet of Aegeus, and drew down his head to her
shoulder, while Theseus took hold of his hand, and the king wept for
joy. For the son he loved, and the woman whom he loved and feared, were
friends, and they two were stronger than the sons of Pallas.
While they sat thus, one of the sons of Pallas--the Pallantidae they were
called--slouched into the hall to see if dinner was ready. He stared,
and slouched out again, and said to his brothers: 'The old man is
sitting in the embraces of the foreign woman, and of the big stranger
with the iron club!' Then they all came together, and growled out their
threats and fears, kicking at the stones in the courtyard, and
quarrelling as to what it was best for them to do.
Meanwhile, in the hall, the servants began to spread the tables with
meat and drink, and Theseus was taken to the bath, and clothed in new
raiment.
While Theseus was at the bath Medea told Aegeus what he ought to do. So
when Theseus came back into the hall, where the sons of Pallas were
eating and drinking noisily, Aegeus stood up, and called to Theseus to
sit down at his right hand. He added, in a loud voice, looking all round
the hall: 'This is my son, Theseus, the slayer of monsters, and his is
the power in the house!'
The sons of Pallas grew pale with fear and anger, but not one dared to
make an insolent answer. They knew that they were hated by the people
of Athens, except some young men of their own sort, and they did not
dare to do anything against the man who had slain Periphetes and Sinis,
and Cercyon, and Sciron, and, in the midst of his paid soldiers, had
struck off the head of Procrustes. Silent all through dinner sat the
sons of Pallas, and, when they had eaten, they walked out silently, and
went to a lonely place, where they could make their plans without being
overheard.