τῇ δὲ Ἀττικῇ προσφερομένων ἐκλαθέσθαι μὲν αὐτόν, ἐκλαθέσθαι δὲ τὸν κυβερνήτην ὑπὸ χαρᾶς ἐπάρασθαι τὸ ἱστίον ᾧ τὴν σωτηρίαν αὐτῶν ἔδει γνώριμον τῷ Αἰγεῖ γενέσθαι· τὸν δὲ ἀπογνόντα ῥῖψαι κατὰ τῆς πέτρας ἑαυτὸν καὶ διαφθαρῆναι. καταπλεύσας δὲ ὁ Θησεὺς ἔθυε μὲν αὐτὸς ἃς ἐκπλέων θυσίας εὔξατο τοῖς θεοῖς Φαληροῖ, κήρυκα δὲ ἀπέστειλε τῆς σωτηρίας ἄγγελον εἰς ἄστυ.
It is said, moreover, that as they drew nigh the coast of Attica, Theseus himself forgot, and his pilot forgot, such was their joy and exultation, to hoist the sail which was to have been the token of their safety to Aegeus, who therefore, in despair, threw himself down from the rock and was dashed in pieces. But Theseus, putting in to shore, sacrificed in person the sacrifices which he had vowed to the gods at Phalerum when he set sail, and then dispatched a herald to the city to announce his safe return.
οὗτος ἐνέτυχεν ὀδυρομένοις τε πολλοῖς τὴν τοῦ βασιλέως τελευτὴν καὶ χαίρουσιν, ὡς εἰκός, ἑτέροις καὶ φιλοφρονεῖσθαι καὶ στεφανοῦν αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τῇ σωτηρίᾳ προθύμοις οὖσι. τοὺς μὲν οὖν στεφάνους δεχόμενος τὸ κηρύκειον ἀνέστεφεν, ἐπανελθὼν δὲ ἐπὶ θάλασσαν οὔπω πεποιημένου σπονδὰς τοῦ Θησέως ἔξω περιέμεινε, μὴ βουλόμενος τὴν θυσίαν ταράξαι.
The messenger found many of the people bewailing the death of their king, and others full of joy at his tidings, as was natural, and eager to welcome him and crown him with garlands for his good news. The garlands, then, he accepted, and twined them about his herald’s staff and on returning to the sea-shore, finding that Theseus had not yet made his libations to the gods, remained outside the sacred precincts, not wishing to disturb the sacrifice.
γενομένων δὲ τῶν σπονδῶν ἀπήγγειλε τὴν τοῦ Αἰγέως τελευτήν. οἱ δὲ σὺν κλαυθμῷ καὶ θορύβῳ σπεύδοντες ἀνέβαινον εἰς τὴν πόλιν. ὅθεν καὶ νῦν ἐν τοῖς ὠσχοφορίοις στεφανοῦσθαι μὲν οὐ τὸν κήρυκα λέγουσιν, ἀλλὰ τὸ κηρύκειον, ἐπιφωνεῖν δὲ ἐν ταῖς σπονδαῖς, Ἐλελεῦ, Ἰού, Ἰού, τοὺς παρόντας· ὧν τὸ μὲν σπεύδοντες ἀναφωνεῖν καὶ παιωνίζοντες εἰώθασι, τὸ δὲ ἐκπλήξεως καὶ ταραχῆς ἐστι.
But when the libations were made, he announced the death of Aegeus. Thereupon, with tumultuous lamentation, they went up in haste to the city. Whence it is, they say, that to this day, at the festival of the Oschophoria, it is not the herald that is crowned, but his herald’s staff, and those who are present at the libations cry out: Eleleu! Iou! Iou! the first of which cries is the exclamation of eager haste and triumph, the second of consternation and confusion.
θάψας δὲ τὸν πατέρα, τῷ Ἀπόλλωνι τὴν εὐχὴν ἀπεδίδου τῇ ἑβδόμῃ τοῦ Πυανεψιῶνος μηνὸς ἱσταμένου· ταύτῃ γὰρ ἀνέβησαν εἰς ἄστυ σωθέντες. ἡ μὲν οὖν ἕψησις τῶν ὀσπρίων λέγεται γίνεσθαι διὰ τὸ σωθέντας αὐτοὺς εἰς ταὐτὸ συμμῖξαι τὰ περιόντα τῶν σιτίων καὶ μίαν χύτραν κοινὴν ἑψήσαντας συνεστιαθῆναι καὶ συγκαταφαγεῖν ἀλλήλοις.
After burying his father, Theseus paid his vows to Apollo on the seventh day of the month Pyanepsion; for on that day they had come back to the city in safety. Now the custom of boiling all sorts of pulse on that day is said to have arisen from the fact that the youths who were brought safely back by Theseus put what was left of their provisions into one mess, boiled it in one common pot, feasted upon it, and ate it all up together.
τὴν δὲ εἰρεσιώνην ἐκφέρουσι κλάδον ἐλαίας ἐρίῳ μὲν ἀνεστεμμένον, ὥσπερ τότε τὴν ἱκετηρίαν, παντοδαπῶν δὲ ἀνάπλεων καταργμάτων διὰ τὸ λῆξαι τὴν ἀφορίαν, ἐπᾴδοντες· / εἰρεσιώνη σῦκα φέρει καὶ πίονας ἄρτους / καὶ μέλι ἐν κοτύλῃ καὶ ἔλαιον ἀποψήσασθαι / καὶ κύλικʼ εὔζωρον, ὡς ἂν μεθύουσα καθεύδῃ. / καίτοι ταῦτά τινες ἐπὶ τοῖς Ἡρακλείδαις γίνεσθαι λέγουσιν, οὕτως διατρεφομένοις ὑπὸ τῶν Ἀθηναίων· οἱ δὲ πλείονες ὡς προείρηται.
At that feast they also carry the so-called eiresione, which is a bough of olive wreathed with wool, such as Theseus used at the time of his supplication, and laden with all sorts of fruit-offerings, to signify that scarcity was at an end, and as they go they sing:— Eiresione for us brings figs and bread of the richest, / brings us honey in pots and oil to rub off from the body, / Strong wine too in a beaker, that one may go to bed mellow. / Some writers, however, say that these rites are in memory of the Heracleidae, who were maintained in this manner by the Athenians; but most put the matter as I have done.
τὸ δὲ πλοῖον ἐν ᾧ μετὰ τῶν ἠϊθέων ἔπλευσε καὶ πάλιν ἐσώθη, τὴν τριακόντορον, ἄχρι τῶν Δημητρίου τοῦ Φαληρέως χρόνων διεφύλαττον οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι, τὰ μὲν παλαιὰ τῶν ξύλων ὑφαιροῦντες, ἄλλα δὲ ἐμβάλλοντες ἰσχυρὰ καὶ συμπηγνύντες οὕτως ὥστε καὶ τοῖς· φιλοσόφοις εἰς τὸν αὐξόμενον λόγον ἀμφιδοξούμενον παράδειγμα τὸ πλοῖον εἶναι, τῶν μὲν ὡς τὸ αὐτό, τῶν δὲ ὡς οὐ τὸ αὐτὸ διαμένοι λεγόντων.
The ship on which Theseus sailed with the youths and returned in safety, the thirty-oared galley, was preserved by the Athenians down to the time of Demetrius Phalereus. They took away the old timbers from time to time, and put new and sound ones in their places, so that the vessel became a standing illustration for the philosophers in the mooted question of growth, some declaring that it remained the same, others that it was not the same vessel.
ἄγουσι δὲ καὶ τὴν τῶν ὠσχοφορίων ἑορτὴν Θησέως καταστήσαντος. οὐ γὰρ ἁπάσας αὐτὸν ἐξαγαγεῖν τὰς λαχούσας τότε παρθένους, ἀλλὰ τῶν συνήθων νεανίσκων δύο θηλυφανεῖς μὲν ὀφθῆναι καὶ νεαρούς, ἀνδρώδεις δὲ τὰς ψυχὰς καὶ προθύμους, λουτροῖς τε θερμοῖς καὶ σκιατραφίαις καὶ ταῖς περὶ κόμην καὶ λειότητα καὶ χροιὰν ἀλοιφαῖς καὶ κοσμήσεσιν ὡς ἔστιν ἐξαλλάξαντα κομιδῇ, καὶ διδάξαντα φωνὴν καὶ σχῆμὰ καὶ βάδισιν ὡς ἔνι μάλιστα παρθένοις ὁμοιοῦσθαι καὶ μηδὲν φαίνεσθαι διαφέροντας, ἐμβαλεῖν εἰς τὸν τῶν παρθένων ἀριθμὸν καὶ διαλαθεῖν ἅπαντας·
It was Theseus who instituted also the Athenian festival of the Oschophoria. For it is said that he did not take away with him all the maidens on whom the lot fell at that time, but picked out two young men of his acquaintance who had fresh and girlish faces, but eager and manly spirits, and changed their outward appearance almost entirely by giving them warm baths and keeping them out of the sun, by arranging their hair, and by smoothing their skin and beautifying their complexions with unguents; he also taught them to imitate maidens as closely as possible in their speech, their dress, and their gait, and to leave no difference that could be observed, and then enrolled them among the maidens who were going to Crete, and was undiscovered by any.
ἐπεὶ δὲ ἐπανῆλθεν, αὐτόν τε πομπεῦσαι καὶ τοὺς νεανίσκους οὕτως ἀμπεχομένους ὡς νῦν ἀμπέχονται τοὺς ὀσχοὺς φέροντες. φέρουσι δὲ Διονύσῳ καὶ Ἀριάδνῃ χαριζόμενοι διὰ τὸν μῦθον, ἢ μᾶλλον ὅτι συγκομιζομένης ὀπώρας ἐπανῆλθον· αἱ δὲ δειπνοφόροι παραλαμβάνονται καὶ κοινωνοῦσι τῆς θυσίας ἀπομιμούμεναι τὰς μητέρας ἐκείνων τῶν λαχόντων· ἐπεφοίτων γὰρ αὐτοῖς ὄψα καὶ σιτία κομίζουσαι· καὶ μῦθοι λέγονται διὰ τὸ κἀκείνας εὐθυμίας ἕνεκα καὶ παρηγορίας μύθους διεξιέναι τοῖς παισί. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν καὶ Δήμων ἱστόρηκεν. ἐξῃρέθη δὲ καί τέμενος αὐτῷ, καὶ τοὺς ἀπὸ τῶν παρασχόντων τὸν δασμὸν οἴκων ἔταξεν εἰς θυσίαν αὑτῷ τελεῖν ἀποφοράς· καὶ τῆς θυσίας ἐπεμελοῦντο Φυταλίδαι, Θησέως ἀποδόντος αὐτοῖς ἀμοιβὴν τῆς φιλοξενίας.
And when he was come back, he himself and these two young men headed a procession, arrayed as those are now arrayed who carry the vine-branches. They carry these in honor of Dionysus and Ariadne, and because of their part in the story; or rather, because they came back home at the time of the vintage. And the women called Deipnophoroi, or supper-carriers, take part in the procession and share in the sacrifice, in imitation of the mothers of the young men and maidens on whom the lot fell, for these kept coming with bread and meat for their children. And tales are told at this festival, because these mothers, for the sake of comforting and encouraging their children, spun out tales for them. At any rate, these details are to be found in the history of Demon. Furthermore, a sacred precinct was also set apart for Theseus, and he ordered the members of the families which had furnished the tribute to the Minotaur to make contributions towards a sacrifice to himself. This sacrifice was superintended by the Phytalidae, and Theseus thus repaid them for their hospitality.
Cite This Text