Page:History of Greece Vol I.djvu/240

 208 HISTORY OF GREECE. tendency of the enlightened men of Athens, from the days of Solon downwards, to refine and politicize the character of The- seus : l even Peisistratus expunge-I from one of the Hesiodic poems the line which described the violent passion of the hero for the fair ./Egle : 2 and the tragic poets found it more congenial to the feelings of their audience to exhibit him as a dignified and liberal sovereign, rather than as an adventurous single-handed fighter. But the logographers and the Alexandrine poets re- mained more faithful to the old fables. The story of Hekale, the hospitable old woman who received and blessed Theseus when he went against the Marathonian bull, and whom he found dead when he came back to recount the news of his success, was treated by Kallimachus : 3 and Virgil must have had his mind full of the unrefined legends when he numbered this Attic Hera- kles among the unhappy sufferers condemned to endless penan.ce in the under-world. 4 Two however among the Theseian fables cannot be dismissed without some special notice, the war against the Amazons, and the expedition against Krete. The former strikingly illustrates the facility as well as the tenacity of Grecian legendary faith ; the latter embraces the story of Daedalus and Minos, two of the most eminent among Grecian ante-historical personages. The Amazons, daughters of Ares and Harmonia, 5 are both 1 See Isokratfis, Panathenaic. (t. ii. p. 510-512, Auger) ; Xcnoph. Memor. iii. 5, 10. In the Helenas Encomium, Isokrates enlarges more upon the per- sonal exploits of Theseus in conjunction with his great political merits (t. ii. p. 342-350, Auger). 3 Plutarch, Theseus, 20. 3 See the epigram of Krinagoras, Antholog. Pal. vol. ii. p. 144 ; cp. xv. ed. Brunck. and Kallimach. Frag. 40. 'Aeidet 6' (Kallimachus) 'E/cuAj/f re (tn^o^eivoio Kafaijv, Kal Qijael Mapaduv oiif itre:-&r]KE novovf. Some beautiful lines are preserved by Suidas, v. 'E7ravAt?>oS;eivoio KaXifig Mvfio6fie&a- gvvbv yap liraiifaov lanv uTraai. 4 Virgil, JEneid, vi. 617. " Sedet aeternumque sedebit Infelix Theseiu ' Pherekyd. Fragm. 25, Didot.