εἰσὶ μέντοι λόγοι περὶ γάμων Θησέως καὶ ἕτεροι, τὴν σκηνὴν διαπεφευγότες, οὔτε ἀρχὰς εὐγνώμονας οὔτε εὐτυχεῖς τελευτὰς ἔχοντες. καὶ γὰρ Ἀναξώ τινα Τροιζηνίαν ἁρπάσαι λέγεται, καὶ Σίνιν ἀποκτείνας καὶ Κερκύονα συγγενέσθαι βία ταῖς θυγατράσιν αὐτῶν· γῆμαι δὲ καὶ Περίβοιαν τὴν Αἴαντος μητέρα καὶ Φερέβοιαν αὖθις καὶ Ἰόπην τὴν Ἰφικλέους·
There are, however, other stories also about marriages of Theseus which were neither honorable in their beginnings nor fortunate in their endings, but these have not been dramatized. For instance, he is said to have carried off Anaxo, a maiden of Troezen, and after slaying Sinis and Cercyon to have ravished their daughters; also to have married Periboea, the mother of Aias, and Phereboea afterwards, and Iope, the daughter of Iphicles;
καὶ διὰ τὸν Αἴγλης ἔρωτα τῆς Πανοπέως, ὥσπερ εἴρηται, τὴν Ἀριάδνης ἀπόλειψιν αἰτιῶνται μὴ καλὴν γενέσθαι μηδὲ πρέπουσαν· ἐπὶ πᾶσι δὲ τὴν Ἑλένης ἁρπαγὴν πολέμου μὲν ἐμπλῆσαι τὴν Ἀττικήν, αὐτῷ δὲ εἰς φυγὴν καὶ ὄλεθρον τελευτῆσαι· περὶ ὧν ὀλίγον ὕστερον εἰρήσεται.
and because of his passion for Aegle, the daughter of Panopeus, as I have already said, he is accused of the desertion of Ariadne, which was not honorable nor even decent; and finally, his rape of Helen is said to have filled Attica with war, and to have brought about at last his banishment and death, of which things I shall speak a little later.
πολλῶν δὲ τότε τοῖς ἀρίστοις ἄθλων γενομένων Ἡρόδωρος μὲν οὐδενὸς οἴεται τὸν Θησέα μετασχεῖν, ἀλλὰ μόνοις Λαπίθαις τῆς κενταυρομαχίας· ἕτεροι δὲ καὶ μετὰ Ἰάσονος ἐν Κόλχοις γενέσθαι καὶ Μελεάγρῳ συνεξελεῖν τὸν κάπρον· καὶ διὰ τοῦτο παροιμίαν εἶναι τὴν οὐκ ἄνευ Θησέως· αὐτὸν μέντοι μηδενὸς συμμάχου δεηθέντα πολλοὺς καὶ καλοὺς ἄθλους κατεργάσασθαι, καὶ τὸν ἄλλος οὗτος Ἡρακλῆς λόγον ἐπʼ ἐκείνου κρατῆσαι.
Of the many exploits performed in those days by the bravest men, Herodorus thinks that Theseus took part in none, except that he aided the Lapithae in their war with the Centaurs; but others say that he was not only with Jason at Colchis, but helped Meleager to slay the Calydonian boar, and that hence arose the proverb Not without Theseus; that he himself, however, without asking for any ally, performed many glorious exploits, and that the phrase Lo! another Heracles became current with reference to him.
συνέπραξε δὲ καὶ Ἀδράστῳ τὴν ἀναίρεσιν τῶν ὑπὸ τῇ Καδμείᾳ πεσόντων, οὐχ ὡς Εὐριπίδης ἐποίησεν ἐν τραγῳδίᾳ, μάχῃ τῶν Θηβαίων κρατήσας, ἀλλὰ πείσας καὶ σπεισάμενος· οὕτω γὰρ οἱ πλεῖστοι λέγουσι· Φιλόχορος δὲ καὶ σπονδὰς περὶ νεκρῶν ἀναιρέσεως γενέσθαι πρώτας ἐκείνας.
He also aided Adrastus in recovering for burial the bodies of those who had fallen before the walls of the Cadmeia, not by mastering the Thebans in battle, as Euripides has it in his tragedy, but by persuading them to a truce; for so most writers say, and Philochorus adds that this was the first truce ever made for recovering the bodies of those slain in battle,
ὅτι δὲ Ἡρακλῆς πρῶτος ἀπέδωκε νεκροὺς τοῖς πολεμίοις, ἐν τοῖς περὶ Ἡρακλέους γέγραπται. ταφαὶ δὲ τῶν μὲν πολλῶν ἐν Ἐλευθεραῖς δείκνυνται, τῶν δὲ ἡγεμόνων περὶ Ἐλευσῖνα, καὶ τοῦτο Θησέως Ἀδράστῳ χαρισαμένου. καταμαρτυροῦσι δὲ τῶν Εὐριπίδου Ἱκετίδων οἱ Αἰσχύλου Ἐλευσίνιοι, ἐν οἷς καὶ ταῦτα λέγων ὁ Θησεὺς πεποίηται.
although in the accounts of Heracles it is written that Heracles was the first to give back their dead to his enemies. And the graves of the greater part of those who fell before Thebes are shown at Eleutherae, and those of the commanders near Eleusis, and this last burial was a favour which Theseus showed to Adrastus. The account of Euripides in his Suppliants is disproved by that of Aeschylus in his Eleusinians, where Theseus is made to relate the matter as above.
τὴν δὲ πρὸς Πειρίθουν φιλίαν τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον αὐτῷ γενέσθαι λέγουσι. δόξαν εἶχεν ἐπὶ ῥώμῃ καὶ ἀνδρείᾳ μεγίστην· βουλόμενος οὖν ὁ Πειρίθους ἐξελέγξαι καὶ λαβεῖν διάπειραν, ἠλάσατο βοῦς ἐκ Μαραθῶνος αὐτοῦ, καὶ πυθόμενος διώκειν μετὰ τῶν ὅπλων ἐκεῖνον οὐκ ἔφυγεν, ἀλλʼ ἀναστρέψας ἀπήντησεν.
The friendship of Peirithous and Theseus is said to have come about in the following manner. Theseus had a very great reputation for strength and bravery, and Peirithous was desirous of making test and proof of it. Accordingly, he drove Theseus’s cattle away from Marathon, and when he learned that their owner was pursuing him in arms, he did not fly, but turned back and met him.
ὡς δὲ εἶδεν ἅτερος τὸν ἕτερον καὶ τὸ κάλλος ἐθαύμασε καὶ τὴν τόλμαν ἠγάσθη, μάχης μὲν ἔσχοντο, Πειρίθους δὲ πρότερος τὴν δεξιὰν προτείνας ἐκέλευσεν αὐτὸν γενέσθαι δικαστὴν τὸν Θησέα τῆς βοηλασίας· ἑκὼν γὰρ ὑφέξειν ἣν ἂν ὁρίσῃ δίκην ἐκεῖνος· Θησεὺς δὲ καὶ τὴν δίκην ἀφῆκεν αὐτῷ καὶ προὐκαλεῖτο φίλον εἶναι καὶ σύμμαχον· ἐποιήσαντο δὲ τὴν φιλίαν ἔνορκον.
When, however, each beheld the other with astonishment at his beauty and admiration of his daring, they refrained from battle, and Peirithous, stretching out his hand the first, bade Theseus himself be judge of his robbery, for he would willingly submit to any penalty which the other might assign. Then Theseus not only remitted his penalty, but invited him to be a friend and brother in arms; whereupon they ratified their friendship with oaths.
ἐκ δὲ τούτου γαμῶν ὁ Πειρίθους Δηϊδάμειαν, ἐδεήθη τοῦ Θησέως ἐλθεῖν καὶ τὴν χώραν ἱστορῆσαι καὶ συγγενέσθαι τοῖς Λαπίθαις. ἐτύγχανε δὲ καὶ τοὺς Κενταύρους κεκληκὼς ἐπὶ τὸ δεῖπνον. ὡς δὲ ἠσέλγαινον ὕβρει καὶ μεθύοντες οὐκ ἀπείχοντο τῶν γυναικῶν, ἐτράποντο πρὸς ἄμυναν οἱ Λαπίθαι· καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἔκτειναν αὐτῶν, τοὺς δὲ πολέμῳ κρατήσαντες ὕστερον ἐξέβαλον ἐκ τῆς χώρας, τοῦ Θησέως αὐτοῖς συμμαχομένου καὶ συμπολεμοῦντος.
After this, when Peirithous was about to marry Deidameia, he asked Theseus to come to the wedding, and see the country, and become acquainted with the Lapithae. Now he had invited the Centaurs also to the wedding feast. And when these were flown with insolence and wine, and laid hands upon the women, the Lapithae took vengeance upon them. Some of them they slew upon the spot, the rest they afterwards overcame in war and expelled from the country, Theseus fighting with them at the banquet and in the war.
Ἡρόδωρος δὲ ταῦτα πραχθῆναί φησιν οὐχ οὕτως, ἀλλὰ τοῦ πολέμου συνεστῶτος ἤδη τὸν Θησέα βοηθοῦντα τοῖς Λαπίθαις παραγενέσθαι, καὶ τότε πρῶτον ὄψει γνωρίσαι τὸν Ἡρακλέα, ποιησάμενον ἔργον ἐντυχεῖν αὐτῷ περὶ Τραχῖνα πεπαυμένῳ πλάνης ἤδη καὶ ἄθλων· γενέσθαι δὲ μετὰ τιμῆς καὶ φιλοφροσύνης καὶ πολλῶν ἐπαίνων ἀμφοτέροις τὴν ἔντευξιν.
Herodorus, however, says that this was not how it happened, but that the war was already in progress when Theseus came to the aid of the Lapithae and that on his way thither he had his first sight of Heracles, having made it his business to seek him out at Trachis, where the hero was already resting from his wandering and labours; and he says the interview passed with mutual expressions of honor, friendliness, and generous praise.
οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον ἄν τις πρόσχοι τοῖς πολλάκις ἐντυχεῖν αὐτοὺς ἀλλήλοις ἱστοροῦσι· καὶ τὴν μύησιν Ἡρακλεῖ γενέσθαι Θησέως σπουδάσαντος καὶ τὸν πρὸ τῆς μυήσεως καθαρμὸν ὡς δεομένῳ διά τινας πράξεις ἀβουλήτους.
Notwithstanding, one might better side with those historians who say that the heroes had frequent interviews with one another, and that it was at the instigation of Theseus that Heracles was initiated into the mysteries at Eleusis, and purified before his initiation, when he requested it on account of sundry rash acts.
Cite This Text