{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/wikisource_The_Age_of_Fable_Chapter_XX/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/wikisource_The_Age_of_Fable_Chapter_XX","id":"wikisource_The_Age_of_Fable_Chapter_XX","license":"Public Domain / CC-BY-SA (see source)","rights_basis":"wikisource_site_inclusion_policy","source":"wikisource","source_url":"https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Age_of_Fable/Chapter_XX","summary":null,"tags":["Headers_applying_DefaultSort_key","Subpages"],"text":"THESEUS; DAEDALUS; CASTOR AND POLLUX\n\nTheseus was the son of Aegeus, king of Athens, and of \u00c6thra,\ndaughter of the king of Tr\u0153zen. He was brought up at Troezen, and\nwhen arrived at manhood was to proceed to Athens and present\nhimself to his father. \u00c6geus on parting from \u00c6thra, before the\nbirth of his son, placed his sword and shoes under a large stone\nand directed her to send his son to him when he became strong\nenough to roll away the stone and take them from under it. When\nshe thought the time had come, his mother led Theseus to the\nstone, and he removed it with ease and took the sword and shoes.\nAs the roads were infested with robbers, his grandfather pressed\nhim earnestly to take the shorter and safer way to his father's\ncountry\u2014by sea; but the youth, feeling in himself the spirit and\nthe soul of a hero, and eager to signalize himself like Hercules,\nwith whose fame all Greece then rang, by destroying the evil-doers\nand monsters that oppressed the country, determined on the more\nperilous and adventurous journey by land.\n\nHis first day's journey brought him to Epidaurus, where dwelt a\nman named Periphetes, a son of Vulcan. This ferocious savage\nalways went armed with a club of iron, and all travellers stood in\nterror of his violence. When he saw Theseus approach he assailed\nhim, but speedily fell beneath the blows of the young hero, who\ntook possession of his club and bore it ever afterwards as a\nmemorial of his first victory.\n\nSeveral similar contests with the petty tyrants and marauders of\nthe country followed, in all of which Theseus was victorious. One\nof these evil-doers was called Procrustes, or the Stretcher. He\nhad an iron bedstead, on which he used to tie all travellers who\nfell into his hands. If they were shorter than the bed, he\nstretched their limbs to make them fit it; if they were longer\nthan the bed, he lopped off a portion. Theseus served him as he\nhad served others.\n\nHaving overcome all the perils of the road, Theseus at length\nreached Athens, where new dangers awaited him. Medea, the\nsorceress, who had fled from Corinth after her separation from\nJason, had become the wife of \u00c6geus, the father of Theseus.\nKnowing by her arts who he was, and fearing the loss of her\ninfluence with her husband if Theseus should be acknowledged as\nhis son, she filled the mind of \u00c6geus with suspicions of the\nyoung stranger, and induced him to present him a cup of poison;\nbut at the moment when Theseus stepped forward to take it, the\nsight of the sword which he wore discovered to his father who he\nwas, and prevented the fatal draught. Medea, detected in her arts,\nfled once more from deserved punishment, and arrived in Asia,\nwhere the country afterwards called Media received its name from\nher, Theseus was acknowledged by his father, and declared his\nsuccessor.\n\nThe Athenians were at that time in deep affliction, on account of\nthe tribute which they were forced to pay to Minos, king of Crete.\nThis tribute consisted of seven youths and seven maidens, who were\nsent every year to be devoured by the Minotaur, a monster with a\nbull's body and a human head. It was exceedingly strong and\nfierce, and was kept in a labyrinth constructed by D\u00e6dalus, so\nartfully contrived that whoever was enclosed in it could by no\nmeans, find his way out unassisted. Here the Minotaur roamed, and\nwas fed with human victims.\n\nTheseus resolved to deliver his countrymen from this calamity, or\nto die in the attempt. Accordingly, when the time of sending off\nthe tribute came, and the youths and maidens were, according to\ncustom, drawn by lot to be sent, he offered himself as one of the\nvictims, in spite of the entreaties of his father. The ship\ndeparted under black sails, as usual, which Theseus promised his\nfather to change for white, in case of his returning victorious.\nWhen they arrived in Crete, the youths and maidens were exhibited\nbefore Minos; and Ariadne, the daughter of the king, being\npresent, became deeply enamored of Theseus, by whom her love was\nreadily returned. She furnished him with a sword, with which to\nencounter the Minotaur, and with a clew of thread by which he\nmight find his way out of the labyrinth. He was successful, slew\nthe Minotaur, escaped from the labyrinth, and taking Ariadne as\nthe companion of his way, with his rescued companions sailed for\nAthens. On their way they stopped at the island of Naxos, where\nTheseus abandoned Ariadne, leaving her asleep. His\nexcuse for this ungrateful treatment of his benefactress was that\nMinerva appeared to him in a dream and commanded him to do so.\n\nOn approaching the coast of Attica, Theseus forgot the signal\nappointed by his father, and neglected to raise the white sails,\nand the old king, thinking his son had perished, put an end to his\nown life. Theseus thus became king of Athens.\n\nOne of the most celebrated of the adventures of Theseus is his\nexpedition against the Amazons. He assailed them before they had\nrecovered from the attack of Hercules, and carried off their queen\nAntiope. The Amazons in their turn invaded the country of Athens\nand penetrated into the city itself; and the final battle in which\nTheseus overcame them was fought in the very midst of the city.\nThis battle was one of the favorite subjects of the ancient\nsculptors, and is commemorated in several works of art that are\nstill extant.\n\nThe friendship between Theseus and Pirithous was of a most\nintimate nature, yet it originated in the midst of arms. Pirithous\nhad made an irruption into the plain of Marathon, and carried off\nthe herds of the king of Athens. Theseus went to repel the\nplunderers. The moment Pirithous beheld him, he was seized with\nadmiration; he stretched out his hand as a token of peace, and\ncried, \"Be judge thyself\u2014what satisfaction dost thou require?\"\n\"Thy friendship,\" replied the Athenian, and they swore inviolable\nfidelity. Their deeds corresponded to their professions, and they\never continued true brothers in arms. Each of them aspired to\nespouse a daughter of Jupiter. Theseus fixed his choice on Helen,\nthen but a child, afterwards so celebrated as the cause of the\nTrojan war, and with the aid of his friend he carried her off.\nPirithous aspired to the wife of the monarch of Erebus; and\nTheseus, though aware of the danger, accompanied the ambitious\nlover in his descent to the under-world. But Pluto seized and set\nthem on an enchanted rock at his palace gate, where they remained\ntill Hercules arrived and liberated Theseus, leaving Pirithous to\nhis fate.\n\nAfter the death of Antiope, Theseus married Ph\u00e6dra, daughter of\nMinos, king of Crete. Ph\u00e6dra saw in Hippolytus, the son of\nTheseus, a youth endowed with all the graces and virtues of his\nfather, and of an age corresponding to her own. She loved him, but\nhe repulsed her advances, and her love was changed to hate. She\nused her influence over her infatuated husband to cause him to be\njealous of his son, and he imprecated the vengeance of Neptune\nupon him. As Hippolytus was one day driving his chariot along the\nshore, a sea-monster raised himself above the waters, and\nfrightened the horses so that they ran away and dashed the chariot\nto pieces. Hippolytus was killed, but by Diana's assistance\n\u00c6sculapius restored him to life. Diana removed Hippolytus from\nthe power of his deluded father and false stepmother, and placed\nhim in Italy under the protection of the nymph Egeria.\n\nTheseus at length lost the favor of his people, and retired to the\ncourt of Lycomedes, king of Scyros, who at first received him\nkindly, but afterwards treacherously slew him. In a later age the\nAthenian general Cimon discovered the place where his remains were\nlaid, and caused them to be removed to Athens, where they were\ndeposited in a temple called the Theseum, erected in honor of the\nhero.\n\n\u00a0\n\nThe queen of the Amazons whom Theseus espoused is by some called\nHippolyta. That is the name she bears in Shakspeare's \"Midsummer\nNight's Dream,\"\u2014the subject of which is the festivities attending\nthe nuptials of Theseus and Hippolyta.\n\nMrs. Hemans has a poem on the ancient Greek tradition that the\n\"Shade of Theseus\" appeared strengthening his countrymen at the\nbattle of Marathon.\n\nTheseus is a semi-historical personage. It is recorded of him that\nhe united the several tribes by whom the territory of Attica was\nthen possessed into one state, of which Athens was the capital. In\ncommemoration of this important event, he instituted the festival\nof Panathen\u00e6a, in honor of Minerva, the patron deity of Athens.\nThis festival differed from the other Grecian games chiefly in two\nparticulars. It was peculiar to the Athenians, and its chief\nfeature was a solemn procession in which the Peplus, or sacred\nrobe of Minerva, was carried to the Parthenon, and suspended\nbefore the statue of the goddess. The Peplus was covered with\nembroidery, worked by select virgins of the noblest families in\nAthens. The procession consisted of persons of all ages and both\nsexes. The old men carried olive branches in their hands, and the\nyoung men bore arms. The young women carried baskets on their\nheads, containing the sacred utensils, cakes, and all things\nnecessary for the sacrifices. The procession formed the subject of\nthe bas-reliefs which embellished the outside of the temple of the\nParthenon. A considerable portion of these sculptures is now in\nthe British Museum among those known as the \"Elgin marbles.\"\n\nOLYMPIC AND OTHER GAMES\n\nIt seems not inappropriate to mention here the other celebrated\nnational games of the Greeks. The first and most distinguished\nwere the Olympic, founded, it was said, by Jupiter himself. They\nwere celebrated at Olympia in Elis. Vast numbers of spectators\nflocked to them from every part of Greece, and from Asia, Africa,\nand Sicily. They were repeated every fifth year in mid-summer,\nand continued five days. They gave rise to the custom of reckoning\ntime and dating events by Olympiads. The first Olympiad is\ngenerally considered as corresponding with the year 776 B.C. The\nPythian games were celebrated in the vicinity of Delphi, the\nIsthmian on the Corinthian isthmus, the Nemean at Nemea, a city of\nArgolis.\n\nThe exercises in these games were of five sorts: running, leaping,\nwrestling, throwing the quoit, and hurling the javelin, or boxing.\nBesides these exercises of bodily strength and agility, there were\ncontests in music, poetry, and eloquence. Thus these games\nfurnished poets, musicians, and authors the best opportunities to\npresent their productions to the public, and the fame of the\nvictors was diffused far and wide.\n\nD\u00c6DALUS\n\nThe labyrinth from which Theseus escaped by means of the clew of\nAriadne was built by Daedalus, a most skilful artificer. It was an\nedifice with numberless winding passages and turnings opening into\none another, and seeming to have neither beginning nor end, like\nthe river M\u00e6ander, which returns on itself, and flows now onward,\nnow backward, in its course to the sea. D\u00e6dalus built the\nlabyrinth for King Minos, but afterwards lost the favor of the\nking, and was shut up in a tower. He contrived to make his escape\nfrom his prison, but could not leave the island by sea, as the\nking kept strict watch on all the vessels, and permitted none to\nsail without being carefully searched. \"Minos may control the land\nand sea,\" said Daedalus, \"but not the regions of the air. I will\ntry that way.\" So he set to work to fabricate wings for himself\nand his young son Icarus. He wrought feathers together, beginning\nwith the smallest and adding larger, so as to form an increasing\nsurface. The larger ones he secured with thread and the smaller\nwith wax, and gave the whole a gentle curvature like the wings of\na bird. Icarus, the boy, stood and looked on, sometimes running to\ngather up the feathers which the wind had blown away, and then\nhandling the wax and working it over with his fingers, by his play\nimpeding his father in his labors. When at last the work was done,\nthe artist, waving his wings, found himself buoyed upward, and\nhung suspended, poising himself on the beaten air. He next\nequipped his son in the same manner, and taught him how to fly, as\na bird tempts her young ones from the lofty nest into the air.\nWhen all was prepared for flight he said, \"Icarus, my son, I\ncharge you to keep at a moderate height, for if you fly too low\nthe damp will clog your wings, and if too high the heat will melt\nthem. Keep near me and you will be safe.\" While he gave him these\ninstructions and fitted the wings to his shoulders, the face of\nthe father was wet with tears, and his hands trembled. He kissed\nthe boy, not knowing that it was for the last time. Then rising on\nhis wings, he flew off, encouraging him to follow, and looked back\nfrom his own flight to see how his son managed his wings. As they\nflew the ploughman stopped his work to gaze, and the shepherd\nleaned on his staff and watched them, astonished at the sight, and\nthinking they were gods who could thus cleave the air.\n\nThey passed Samos and Delos on the left and Lebynthos on the\nright, when the boy, exulting in his career, began to leave the\nguidance of his companion and soar upward as if to reach heaven.\nThe nearness of the blazing sun softened the wax which held the\nfeathers together, and they came off. He fluttered with his arms,\nbut no feathers remained to hold the air. While his mouth uttered\ncries to his father it was submerged in the blue waters of the\nsea, which thenceforth was called by his name. His father cried,\n\"Icarus, Icarus, where are you?\" At last he saw the feathers\nfloating on the water, and bitterly lamenting his own arts, he\nburied the body and called the land Icaria in memory of his child.\nDaedalus arrived safe in Sicily, where he built a temple to\nApollo, and hung up his wings, an offering to the god.\n\nD\u00e6dalus was so proud of his achievements that he could not bear\nthe idea of a rival. His sister had placed her son Perdix under\nhis charge to be taught the mechanical arts. He was an apt scholar\nand gave striking evidences of ingenuity. Walking on the seashore\nhe picked up the spine of a fish. Imitating it, he took a piece of\niron and notched it on the edge, and thus invented the saw. He put\ntwo pieces of iron together, connecting them at one end with a\nrivet, and sharpening the other ends, and made a pair of\ncompasses. D\u00e6dalus was so envious of his nepnew's performances\nthat he took an opportunity, when they were together one day on\nthe top of a high tower, to push him off. But Minerva, who favors\ningenuity, saw him falling, and arrested his fate by changing him\ninto a bird called after his name, the Partridge. This bird does\nnot build his nest in the trees, nor take lofty flights, but\nnestles in the hedges, and mindful of his fall, avoids high\nplaces.\n\nThe death of Icarus is told in the following lines by Darwin:\n\n\"... with melting wax and loosened strings\n\nSunk hapless Icarus on unfaithful wings;\n\nHeadlong he rushed through the affrighted air,\n\nWith limbs distorted and dishevelled hair;\n\nHis scattered plumage danced upon the wave,\n\nAnd sorrowing Nereids decked his watery grave;\n\nO'er his pale corse their pearly sea-flowers shed,\n\nAnd strewed with crimson moss his marble bed;\n\nStruck in their coral towers the passing bell,\n\nAnd wide in ocean tolled his echoing knell.\"\n\nCASTOR AND POLLUX\n\nCastor and Pollux were the offspring of Leda and the Swan, under\nwhich disguise Jupiter had concealed himself. Leda gave birth to\nan egg from which sprang the twins. Helen, so famous afterwards as\nthe cause of the Trojan war, was their sister.\n\nWhen Theseus and his friend Pirithous had carried off Helen from\nSparta, the youthful heroes Castor and Pollux, with their\nfollowers, hastened to her rescue. Theseus was absent from Attica\nand the brothers were successful in recovering their sister.\n\nCastor was famous for taming and managing horses, and Pollux for\nskill in boxing. They were united by the warmest affection and\ninseparable in all their enterprises. They accompanied the\nArgonautic expedition. During the voyage a storm arose, and\nOrpheus prayed to the Samothracian gods, and played on his harp,\nwhereupon the storm ceased and stars appeared on the heads of the\nbrothers. From this incident, Castor and Pollux came afterwards to\nbe considered the patron deities of seamen and voyagers, and the\nlambent flames, which in certain states of the atmosphere play\nround the sails and masts of vessels, were called by their names.\n\nAfter the Argonautic expedition, we find Castor and Pollux engaged\nin a war with Idas and Lynceus. Castor was slain, and Pollux,\ninconsolable for the loss of his brother, besought Jupiter to be\npermitted to give his own life as a ransom for him. Jupiter so far\nconsented as to allow the two brothers to enjoy the boon of life\nalternately, passing one day under the earth and the next in the\nheavenly abodes. According to another form of the story, Jupiter\nrewarded the attachment of the brothers by placing them among the\nstars as Gemini the Twins.\n\nThey received divine honors under the name of Dioscuri (sons of\nJove). They were believed to have appeared occasionally in later\ntimes, taking part with one side or the other, in hard-fought\nfields, and were said on such occasions to be mounted on\nmagnificent white steeds. Thus in the early history of Rome they\nare said to have assisted the Romans at the battle of Lake\nRegillus, and after the victory a temple was erected in their\nhonor on the spot where they appeared.\n\nMacaulay, in his \"Lays of Ancient Rome,\" thus alludes to the\nlegend:\n\n\"So like they were, no mortal\n\nMight one from other know;\n\nWhite as snow their armor was,\n\nTheir steeds were white as snow.\n\nNever on earthly anvil\n\nDid such rare armor gleam,\n\nAnd never did such gallant steeds\n\nDrink of an earthly stream.\u2022\u2022\u2022\n\n\"Back comes the chief in triumph\n\nWho in the hour of fight\n\nHath seen the great Twin Brethren\n\nIn harness on his right.\n\nSafe comes the ship to haven,\n\nThrough billows and through gales.\n\nIf once the great Twin Brethren\n\nSit shining on the sails.\"","title":"The Age of Fable/Chapter XX","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":3148}