ille indignatus ‘cupies dare’ dixit et alto
desiluit saxo; cuncti cecidisse putabant:
factus olor niveis pendebat in aere pennis;
at genetrix Hyrie, servati nescia, flendo 380
delicuit stagnumque suo de nomine fecit.
adiacet his Pleuron, in qua trepidantibus alis
Ophias effugit natorum vulnera Combe;
inde Calaureae Letoidos adspicit arva
in volucrem versi cum coniuge conscia regis. 385
dextera Cyllene est, in qua cum matre Menephron
concubiturus erat saevarum more ferarum;
Cephison procul hinc deflentem fata nepotis
respicit in tumidam phocen ab Apolline versi
Eumelique domum lugentis in aere natum. 390
Tandem vipereis Ephyren Pirenida pennis
contigit: hic aevo veteres mortalia primo
corpora vulgarunt pluvialibus edita fungis.
sed postquam Colchis arsit nova nupta venenis
flagrantemque domum regis mare vidit utrumque, 395
sanguine natorum perfunditur inpius ensis,
ultaque se male mater Iasonis effugit arma.
hinc Titaniacis ablata draconibus intrat
Palladias arces, quae te, iustissima Phene,
teque, senex Peripha, pariter videre volantes 400
innixamque novis neptem Polypemonis alis.
excipit hanc Aegeus facto damnandus in uno,
nec satis hospitium est, thalami quoque foedere iungit.
Iamque aderat Theseus, proles ignara parenti,
qui virtute sua bimarem pacaverat Isthmon: 405
huius in exitium miscet Medea, quod olim
attulerat secum Scythicis aconiton ab oris.
illud Echidnaeae memorant e dentibus ortum
esse canis: specus est tenebroso caecus hiatu,
est via declivis, per quam Tirynthius heros 410
restantem contraque diem radiosque micantes
obliquantem oculos nexis adamante catenis
Cerberon abstraxit, rabida qui concitus ira
inplevit pariter ternis latratibus auras
et sparsit virides spumis albentibus agros; 415
has concresse putant nactasque alimenta feracis
fecundique soli vires cepisse nocendi;
quae quia nascuntur dura vivacia caute,
agrestes aconita vocant. ea coniugis astu
ipse parens Aegeus nato porrexit ut hosti. 420
sumpserat ignara Theseus data pocula dextra,
cum pater in capulo gladii cognovit eburno
signa sui generis facinusque excussit ab ore.
effugit illa necem nebulis per carmina motis;
At genitor, quamquam laetatur sospite nato, 425
attonitus tamen est, ingens discrimine parvo
committi potuisse nefas: fovet ignibus aras
muneribusque deos inplet, feriuntque secures
colla torosa boum vinctorum cornua vittis.
nullus Erecthidis fertur celebratior illo 430
inluxisse dies: agitant convivia patres
et medium vulgus nec non et carmina vino
ingenium faciente canunt: ‘te, maxime Theseu,
mirata est Marathon Cretaei sanguine tauri,
quodque suis securus arat Cromyona colonus, 435
munus opusque tuum est; tellus Epidauria per te
clavigeram vidit Vulcani occumbere prolem,
vidit et inmitem Cephisias ora Procrusten,
Cercyonis letum vidit Cerealis Eleusin.
occidit ille Sinis magnis male viribus usus, 440
qui poterat curvare trabes et agebat ab alto
ad terram late sparsuras corpora pinus.
tutus ad Alcathoen, Lelegeia moenia, limes
conposito Scirone patet, sparsisque latronis
terra negat sedem, sedem negat ossibus unda; 445
quae iactata diu fertur durasse vetustas
in scopulos: scopulis nomen Scironis inhaeret.
si titulos annosque tuos numerare velimus,
facta prement annos. pro te, fortissime, vota
publica suscipimus, Bacchi tibi sumimus haustus.’ 450
consonat adsensu populi precibusque faventum
regia, nec tota tristis locus ullus in urbe est.
Nec tamen (usque adeo nulla est sincera voluptas,
sollicitumque aliquid laetis intervenit) Aegeus
gaudia percepit nato secura recepto: 455
bella parat Minos; qui quamquam milite, quamquam
classe valet, patria tamen est firmissimus ira
Androgeique necem iustis ulciscitur armis.
ante tamen bello vires adquirit amicas,
quaque potens habitus volucri freta classe pererrat: 460
hinc Anaphen sibi iungit et Astypaleia regna,
(promissis Anaphen, regna Astypaleia bello);
hinc humilem Myconon cretosaque rura Cimoli
florentemque thymo Syron planamque Seriphon
marmoreamque Paron, quamque inpia prodidit Arne 465
Siphnon et accepto, quod avara poposcerat, auro
mutata est in avem, quae nunc quoque diligit aurum,
nigra pedes, nigris velata monedula pennis.
At non Oliaros Didymeque et Tenos et Andros
et Gyaros nitidaeque ferax Peparethos olivae 470
Cnosiacas iuvere rates; latere inde sinistro
Oenopiam Minos petit, Aeacideia regna:
Oenopiam veteres adpellavere, sed ipse
Aeacus Aeginam genetricis nomine dixit.
turba ruit tantaeque virum cognoscere famae 475
expetit; occurrunt illi Telamonque minorque
quam Telamon Peleus et proles tertia Phocus;
ipse quoque egreditur tardus gravitate senili
Aeacus et, quae sit veniendi causa, requirit.
admonitus patrii luctus suspirat et illi 480
dicta refert rector populorum talia centum:
‘arma iuves oro pro gnato sumpta piaeque
pars sis militiae; tumulo solacia posco.’
huic Asopiades ‘petis inrita’ dixit ‘et urbi
non facienda meae; neque enim coniunctior ulla 485
Cecropidis est hac tellus: ea foedera nobis.’
tristis abit ‘stabunt’ que ‘tibi tua foedera magno’
dixit et utilius bellum putat esse minari
quam gerere atque suas ibi praeconsumere vires.
classis ab Oenopiis etiamnum Lyctia muris 490
spectari poterat, cum pleno concita velo
Attica puppis adest in portusque intrat amicos,
quae Cephalum patriaeque simul mandata ferebat.
Aeacidae longo iuvenes post tempore visum
agnovere tamen Cephalum dextrasque dedere 495
inque patris duxere domum: spectabilis heros
et veteris retinens etiamnum pignora formae
ingreditur ramumque tenens popularis olivae
a dextra laevaque duos aetate minores
maior habet, Clyton et Buten, Pallante creatos. 500
Whereupon the boy in anger said, “You will wish you had given it,” and leaped forthwith from a cliff. They all thought that he had fallen; but changed to a swan he remained floating in the air on snowy wings. But Hyrie, his mother, not knowing that her son was saved, melted away in tears and became a pool of the same name. Near these regions lies Pleuron, where Combe, the daughter of Ophius, escaped death at the hands of her sons on fluttering wings. After that, she sees the fertile island of Calaurea, sacred to Latona, the island that saw the king and his wife both changed into birds. On her right lies Cyllene, which Menephron was doomed to defile with incest after the wild beasts’ fashion. Far off from here she looks down on the Cephisus, bewailing the fate of his grandson changed by Apollo into a plump sea-calf; and upon the home of Eumelus, who lamented that his son now dwelt in air.
At length, upborne by the snaky wings, she reached Corinth of the sacred spring. Here, according to ancient tradition, in the earliest times men’s bodies sprang from mushrooms. But after the new wife had been burnt by the Colchian witchcraft, and the two seas had seen the king’s palace aflame, she stained her impious sword in the blood of her sons; and then, after this horrid vengeance, the mother fled Jason’s sword. Borne hence by her dragons sprung from Titans’ blood, she entered the citadel of Pallas, which beheld you, most righteous Phene, and you, old Periphas, flying side by side, and the grand-daughter1 of Polypemon upborne by new-sprung wings. Aegeus received her, that one deed enough to doom him ; but he was not content with hospitality: he made her his wife as well.
And now came Theseus, a son that his father knew not; who by his manly prowess had established peace on the Isthmus between its two seas. Bent on his destruction, Medea mixed in a cup a poison which she had brought long ago from the Scythian shores. This poison, they say, came from the mouth of the Echidnean dog. There is a cavern with a dark, yawning throat and a way down-sloping, along which Hercules, the hero of Tiryns, dragged Cerberus with chains wrought of adamant, while the great dog fought and turned away his eyes from the bright light of day. He, goaded on to mad frenzy, filled all the air with his threefold howls, and sprinkled the green fields with white foam. Men think that these flecks of foam grew; and, drawing nourishment from the rich, rank soil, they gained power to hurt; and because they spring up and flourish on hard rocks, the country folk call them aconite.2 This poison, through the treachery of his wife, father Aegeus himself presented to his son as though to a stranger. Theseus had taken and raised the cup in his unwitting hand, when the father recognized the tokens of his own family on the ivory hilt of the sword which Theseus wore, and he dashed the vile thing from his lips. But Medea escaped death in a dark whirlwind her witch songs raised.
But the father, though he rejoiced at his son’s deliverance, was still horror-struck that so monstrous an iniquity could have been so nearly done. He kindled fires upon the altars, made generous gifts to the gods; his axes struck at the brawny necks of bulls with ribbons about their horns. It is said that no day ever dawned for the Athenians more glad than that. The elders and the common folk made merry together. Together they sang their songs, with wit inspired by wine: “You, O most mighty Theseus, Marathon extols for the blood of the Cretan bull; and that the farmer of Cromyon may till his fields without fear of the sow is your gift and your deed. Through you the land of Epidaurus saw Vulcan’s club-wielding son3 laid low; the banks of Cephisus saw the merciless Procrustes slain; Eleusis, the town of Ceres, beheld Cercyon’s death. By your hand fell that Sinis of great strength turned to evil uses, who could bend the trunks of trees, and force down to earth the pine-tops to shoot men’s bodies far out through the air. A way lies safe and open now to Alcathoe and the Lelegeian walls, now that Sciron is no more. To this robber’s scattered bones both land and sea denied a resting-place; but, long tossed about, it is said that in time they hardened into cliffs; and the cliffs still bear the name of Sciron. If we should wish to count your praises and your years, your deeds would exceed your years. For you, brave hero, we give public thanks and prayers, to you we drain our cups of wine.” The palace resounds with the applause of the people and the prayers of the happy revellers; nowhere in the whole city is there any place for gloom.
And yet—so true it is that there is no pleasure unalloyed, and some care always comes to mar our joys—Aegeus’ rejoicing over his son’s return was not unmixed with care. Minos was threatening war. Strong in men and ships, he was yet most strong in fatherly resentment and with just arms was seeking to avenge the death of his son Androgeos. But first he sought for friendly aid for his warfare; and he scoured the sea in the swift fleet in which his chief strength lay. He joined to his cause Anaphe and Astypalaea, the first by promises, the second by threats of war; the low-lying Myconus and the chalky fields of Cimolus; Syros covered with wild thyme, level Seriphos, Paros of the marble cliffs, and that place which impious Sithonian Arne betrayed, and having received the gold which she in her greed had demanded, was changed into a bird which even now delights in gold, a black-footed, black-winged daw.
But Oliaros and Didymae, Tenos, Andros, Gyaros and Peparetlios, rich in glossy olives, gave no aid to the Cretan fleet. Sailing thence to the left, Minos sought Oenopia, the realm of the Aeacidae. Men of old time had called the place Oenopia; but Aeacus himself styled it Aegina by his mother’s name. At his approach a rabble rushed forth, eager to see and know so famous a man. Him Telamon met, And Peleus, younger than Telamon, and Phocus, third in age. Aeacus himself came also, slow with the weight of years, and asked him what was the cause of his coming. Reminded of his fatherly grief, the ruler of a hundred cities sighed and thus made answer: “I beg you aid the arms which for my son’s sake I have taken up; and be a part of my pious warfare. Repose for the dead I ask.” To him Aeacus replied: “You ask in vain that which my city cannot give; for no land is more closely linked to the Athenians than this: so strong are the treaties between us.” The other, disappointed, turned away saying: “Your treaty shall cost you dear”; for he thought it were better to threaten war than to wage it and to waste his strength there untimely. Still the Cretan fleet could be seen from the Oenopian walls, when, driven on under full sail, an Attic ship arrived and entered the friendly port, bringing Cephalus and his country’s greetings. The men of the house of Aeacus, though it was long since they had seen Cephalus, yet knew him, grasped his hand, and brought him into their father’s house. The hero advanced, the centre of all eyes, retaining even yet the traces of his old beauty and charm, bearing a branch of his country’s olive, and, himself the elder, flanked on right and left by two of lesser age, Clytos and Butes, sons of Pallas.
Alcyone.
i.e. “growing without soil.”
Periphetes