ἤδη δὲ πεντήκοντα ἔτη γεγονώς, ὥς φησιν Ἑλλάνικος, ἔπραξε τὰ περὶ τὴν Ἑλένην, οὐ καθʼ ὥραν. ὅθεν ὡς δὴ μέγιστον ἐπανορθούμενοι τοῦτο τῶν ἐγκλημάτων, ἔνιοι λέγουσιν οὐκ αὐτὸν ἁρπάσαι τὴν Ἑλένην, ἀλλὰ Ἴδα καὶ Λυγκέως ἁρπασάντων παρακαταθήκην λαβόντα τηρεῖν καὶ μὴ προΐεσθαι τοῖς Διοσκούροις ἀπαιτοῦσιν· ἢ νὴ Δία Τυνδάρεω παραδόντος αὐτοῦ, φοβηθέντος Ἐναρσφόρον τὸν Ἱπποκόωντος ἔτι νηπίαν οὖσαν βιαζόμενον τὴν Ἑλένην λαβεῖν. τὰ δὲ εἰκότα καὶ πλείστους ἔχοντα μάρτυρας τοιαῦτά ἐστιν.
Theseus was already fifty years old, according to Hellanicus, when he took part in the rape of Helen, who was not of marriageable age. Wherefore some writers, thinking to correct this heaviest accusation against him, say that he did not carry off Helen himself, but that when Idas and Lynceus had carried her off he received her in charge and watched over her and would not surrender her to the Dioscuri when they demanded her; or, if you will believe it, that her own father, Tyndareus, entrusted her to Theseus, for fear of Enarsphorus, the son of Hippocoon, who sought to take Helen by force while she was yet a child. But the most probable account, and that which has the most witnesses in its favour, is as follows.
ἦλθον μὲν εἰς Σπάρτην ἀμφότεροι καὶ τὴν κόρην ἐν ἱερῷ Ἀρτέμιδος Ὀρθίας χορεύουσαν ἁρπάσαντες ἔφυγον· τῶν δὲ πεμφθέντων ἐπὶ τὴν δίωξιν οὐ πορρωτέρω Τεγέας ἐπακολουθησάντων, ἐν ἀδείᾳ γενόμενοι καὶ διελθόντες τὴν Πελοπόννησον ἐποιήσαντο συνθήκας, τὸν μὲν λαχόντα κλήρῳ τὴν Ἑλένην ἔχειν γυναῖκα, συμπράττειν δὲ θατέρῳ γάμον ἄλλον.
Theseus and Peirithous went to Sparta in company, seized the girl as she was dancing in the temple of Artemis Orthia, and fled away with her. Their pursuers followed them no farther than Tegea, and so the two friends, when they had passed through Peloponnesus and were out of danger, made a compact with one another that the one on whom the lot fell should have Helen to wife, but should assist the other in getting another wife.
ἐπὶ ταύταις δὲ κληρουμένων ταῖς ὁμολογίαις ἔλαχε Θησεύς· καὶ παραλαβὼν τὴν παρθένον οὔπω γάμων ὥραν ἔχουσαν εἰς Ἀφίδνας ἐκόμισε· καὶ τὴν μητέρα καταστήσας μετʼ αὐτῆς Ἀφίδνῳ παρέδωκεν ὄντι φίλῳ, διακελευσάμενος φυλάττειν καὶ λανθάνειν τοὺς ἄλλους.
With this mutual understanding they cast lots, and Theseus won, and taking the maiden, who was not yet ripe for marriage, conveyed her to Aphidnae. Here he made his mother a companion of the girl, and committed both to Aphidnus, a friend of his, with strict orders to guard them in complete secrecy.
αὐτὸς δὲ Πειρίθῳ τὴν ὑπουργίαν ἀποδιδούς, εἰς Ἤπειρον συναπεδήμησεν ἐπὶ τὴν Ἀϊδωνέως θυγατέρα τοῦ Μολοσσῶν βασιλέως, ὃς τῇ γυναικὶ Φερσεφόνην ὄνομα θέμενος, Κόρην δὲ τῇ θυγατρί, τῷ δὲ κυνὶ Κέρβερον, ἐκέλευε τούτῳ διαμάχεσθαι τοὺς μνωμένους τὴν παῖδα καὶ λαβεῖν τὸν κρατήσαντα. τοὺς μέντοι περὶ τὸν Πειρίθουν οὐ μνηστῆρας ἥκειν, ἀλλʼ ἁρπασομένους πυνθανόμενος συνέλαβε· καὶ τὸν μὲν Πειρίθουν εὐθὺς ἠφάνισε διὰ τοῦ κυνός, τὸν δὲ Θησέα καθείρξας ἐφύλαττεν.
Then he himself, to return the service of Peirithous, journeyed with him to Epirus, in quest of the daughter of Aidoneus the king of the Molossians. This man called his wife Phersephone, his daughter Cora, and his dog Cerberus, with which beast he ordered that all suitors of his daughter should fight, promising her to him that should overcome it. However, when he learned that Peirithous and his friend were come not to woo, but to steal away his daughter, he seized them both. Peirithous he put out of the way at once by means of the dog, but Theseus he kept in close confinement.
ἐν δὲ τῷ χρόνῳ τούτῳ Μενεσθεὺς ὁ Πετεὼ τοῦ Ὀρνέως τοῦ Ἐρεχθέως πρῶτος, ὥς φασιν, ἀνθρώπων ἐπιθέμενος τῷ δημαγωγεῖν καὶ πρὸς χάριν ὄχλῳ διαλέγεσθαι, τούς τε δυνατοὺς συνίστη καὶ παρώξυνε, πάλαι βαρυνομένους τὸν Θησέα καὶ νομίζοντας ἀρχὴν καὶ βασιλείαν ἀφῃρημένον ἑκάστου τῶν κατὰ δῆμον εὐπατριδῶν, εἰς ἓν ἄστυ συνείρξαντα πάντας ὑπηκόοις χρῆσθαι καὶ δούλοις, τούς τε πολλοὺς διετάραττε καὶ διέβαλλεν, ὡς ὄναρ ἐλευθερίας ὁρῶντας, ἔργῳ δὲ ἀπεστερημένους πατρίδων καὶ ἱερῶν, ὅπως ἀντὶ πολλῶν καὶ ἀγαθῶν καὶ γνησίων βασιλέων πρὸς ἕνα δεσπότην ἔπηλυν καὶ ξένον ἀποβλέπωσι.
Meanwhile Menestheus, the son of Peteos, grandson of Orneus, and great-grandson of Erechtheus, the first of men, as they say, to affect popularity and ingratiate himself with the multitude, stirred up and embittered the chief men in Athens. These had long been hostile to Theseus, and thought that he had robbed each one of the country nobles of his royal office, and then shut them all up in a single city, where he treated them as subjects and slaves. The common people also he threw into commotion by his reproaches. They thought they had a vision of liberty, he said, but in reality they had been robbed of their native homes and religions in order that, in the place of many good kings of their own blood, they might look obediently to one master who was an immigrant and an alien.
ταῦτα δὲ αὐτοῦ πραγματευομένου μεγάλην ῥοπὴν ὁ πόλεμος τῷ νεωτερισμῷ προσέθηκε, τῶν Τυνδαριδῶν ἐπελθόντων· οἱ δὲ καὶ ὅλως φασὶν ὑπὸ τούτου πεισθέντας ἐλθεῖν.
τὸ μὲν οὖν πρῶτον οὐδὲν ἠδίκουν, ἀλλʼ ἀπῄτουν τὴν ἀδελφήν. ἀποκριναμένων δὲ τῶν ἐν ἄστει μήτε ἔχειν μήτε γινώσκειν ὅπου καταλέλειπται, πρὸς πόλεμον ἐτράποντο.
While he was thus busying himself, the Tyndaridae came up against the city, and the war greatly furthered his seditious schemes; indeed, some writers say outright that he persuaded the invaders to come.
At first, then, they did no harm, but simply demanded back their sister. When, however, the people of the city replied that they neither had the girl nor knew where she had been left, they resorted to war.
φράζει δὲ αὐτοῖς Ἀκάδημος ᾐσθημένος ᾧ δή τινι τρόπῳ τὴν ἐν Ἀφίδναις κρύψιν αὐτῆς. ὅθεν ἐκείνῳ τε τιμαὶ ζῶντι παρὰ τῶν Τυνδαριδῶν ἐγένοντο, καὶ πολλάκις ὕστερον εἰς τὴν Ἀττικὴν ἐμβαλόντες Λακεδαιμόνιοι καὶ πᾶσαν ὁμοῦ τὴν χώραν τέμνοντες, τῆς Ἀκαδημείας ἀπείχοντο διὰ τὸν Ἀκάδημον.
But Academus, who had learned in some way or other of her concealment at Aphidnae, told them about it. For this reason he was honored during his life by the Tyndaridae, and often afterwards when the Lacedaemonians invaded Attica and laid waste all the country round about, they spared the Academy, for the sake of Academus.
ὁ δὲ Δικαίαρχος Ἐχεδήμου φησὶ καὶ Μαράθου συστρατευσάντων τότε τοῖς Τυνδαρίδαις ἐξ Ἀρκαδίας, ἀφʼ οὗ μὲν Ἐχεδημίαν προσαγορευθῆναι τὴν νῦν Ἀκαδήμειαν, ἀφʼ οὗ δὲ Μαραθῶνα τὸν δῆμον, ἐπιδόντος ἑαυτὸν ἑκουσίως κατά τι λόγιον σφαγιάσασθαι πρὸ τῆς παρατάξεως.
ἐλθόντες οὖν ἐπὶ τὰς Ἀφίδνας καὶ μάχῃ κρατήσαντες ἐξεῖλον τὸ χωρίον.
But Dicaearchus says that Echedemus and Marathus of Arcadia were in the army of the Tyndaridae at that time, from the first of whom the present Academy was named Echedemia, and from the other, the township of Marathon, since in accordance with some oracle he voluntarily gave himself to be sacrificed in front of the line of battle.
To Aphidnae, then, they came, won a pitched battle, and stormed the town.
ἐνταῦθά φασι καὶ Ἄλυκον πεσεῖν τὸν Σκείρωνος υἱόν, συστρατευόμενον τότε τοῖς Διοσκούροις, ἀφʼ οὗ καὶ τόπον τῆς Μεγαρικῆς Ἄλυκον καλεῖσθαι τοῦ σώματος ἐνταφέντος. Ἡρέας δʼ ὑπὸ Θησέως αὐτοῦ περὶ Ἀφίδνας ἀποθανεῖν τὸν Ἄλυκον ἱστόρηκε, καὶ μαρτύρια ταυτὶ τὰ ἔπη παρέχεται περὶ τοῦ Ἀλύκου· τὸν ἐν εὐρυχόρῳ ποτʼ Ἀφίδνῃ / μαρνάμενον Θησεὺς Ἑλένης ἕνεκʼ ἠϋκόμοιο κτεῖνεν. / Οὐ μὴν εἰκὸς αὐτοῦ Θησέως παρόντος ἁλῶναι τήν τε μητέρα καὶ τὰς Ἀφίδνας.
Here they say that among others Alycus, the son of Sciron, who was at that time in the army of the Dioscuri, was slain, and that from him a place in Megara where he was buried is called Alycus. But Hereas writes that Alycus was slain at Aphidnae by Theseus himself, and cites in proof these verses about Alycus:— whom once in the plain of Aphidnae, / Where he was fighting, Theseus, ravisher of fair-haired Helen, / Slew. / However, it is not likely that Theseus himself was present when both his mother and Aphidnae were captured.
ἐχομένων δʼ οὖν τῶν Ἀφιδνῶν καὶ τῶν ἐν ἄστει δεδιότων, ἔπεισε τὸν δῆμον ὁ Μενεσθεὺς δέχεσθαι τῇ πόλει καὶ φιλοφρονεῖσθαι τοὺς Τυνδαρίδας, ὡς μόνῳ Θησεῖ βίας ὑπάρξαντι πολεμοῦντας, τῶν δὲ ἄλλων εὐεργέτας ὄντας ἀνθρώπων καὶ σωτῆρας. ἐμαρτύρει δὲ αὐτῷ καὶ τὰ παρʼ ἐκείνων· οὐδὲν γὰρ ἠξίωσαν ἁπάντων κρατοῦντες ἀλλʼ ἢ μυηθῆναι, μηδὲν ἧττον Ἡρακλέους τῇ πόλει προσήκοντες.
At any rate, Aphidnae was taken and the city of Athens was full of fear, but Menestheus persuaded its people to receive the Tyndaridae into the city and show them all manner of kindness, since they were waging war upon Theseus alone, who had committed the first act of violence, but were benefactors and saviours of the rest of mankind. And their behavior confirmed his assurances, for although they were masters of everything, they demanded only an initiation into the mysteries, since they were no less closely allied to the city than Heracles.
καὶ τοῦτο οὖν ὑπῆρξεν αὐτοῖς, Ἀφίδνου ποιησαμένου παῖδας, ὡς Πύλιος Ἡρακλέα· καὶ τιμὰς ἰσοθέους ἔσχον, Ἄνακες προσαγορευθέντες, ἢ διὰ τὰς γενομένας ἀνοχὰς ἢ διὰ τὴν ἐπιμέλειαν καὶ κηδεμονίαν τοῦ μηδένα κακῶς παθεῖν στρατιᾶς τοσαύτης ἔνδον οὔσης· ἀνακῶς γὰρ ἔχειν τοὺς ἐπιμελομένους ἢ φυλάττοντας ὁτιοῦν· καὶ τοὺς βασιλεῖς ἴσως ἄνακτας διὰ τοῦτο καλοῦσιν. εἰσὶ δὲ οἱ λέγοντες διὰ τὴν τῶν ἀστέρων ἐπιφάνειαν Ἄνακας ὀνομάζεσθαι· τὸ γὰρ ἄνω τοὺς Ἀττικοὺς ἀνεκὰς ὀνομάζειν, καὶ ἀνέκαθεν τὸ ἄνωθεν.
This privilege was accordingly granted them, after they had been adopted by Aphidnus, as Pylius had adopted Heracles. They also obtained honors like those paid to gods, and were addressed as Anakes, either on account of their stopping hostilities, or because of their diligent care that no one should be injured, although there was such a large army within the city for the phrase anakos echein is used of such as care for, or guard anything, and perhaps it is for this reason that kings are called Anaktes. There are also those who say that the Tyndaridae were called Anakes because of the appearance of their twin stars in the heavens, since the Athenians use anekas and anekathen for ano and anothen, signifying above or on high.
Αἴθραν δὲ τὴν Θησέως μητέρα γενομένην αἰχμάλωτον ἀπαχθῆναι λέγουσιν εἰς Λακεδαίμονα, κἀκεῖθεν εἰς Τροίαν μετὰ Ἑλένης· καὶ μαρτυρεῖν Ὅμηρον, ἕπεσθαι τῇ Ἑλένῃ φάμενον· Αἴθρην Πιτθῆος θύγατρα Κλυμένην τε βοῶπιν. / οἱ δὲ καὶ τοῦτο τὸ ἔπος διαβάλλουσι καὶ τὴν περὶ Μουνύχου μυθολογίαν, ὃν ἐκ Δημοφῶντος Λαοδίκης κρύφα τεκούσης ἐν Ἰλίῳ συνεκθρέψαι τὴν Αἴθραν λέγουσιν.
They say that Aethra, the mother of Theseus, who was taken captive at Aphidnae, was carried away to Lacedaemon, and from thence to Troy with Helen, and that Homer bears witness to his when he mentions as followers of Helen:— Aethra of Pittheus born, and Clymene large-eyed and lovely. / But some reject this verse of Homer’s, as well as the legend of Munychus, who was born in secret to Laodice from Demophoon, and whom Aethra helped to rear in Ilium.
ἴδιον δέ τινα καὶ παρηλλαγμένον ὅλως λόγον ὁ Ἴστρος ἐν τῇ τρισκαιδεκάτῃ τῶν Ἀττικῶν ἀναφέρει περὶ Αἴθρας, ὡς ἐνίων λεγόντων Ἀλέξανδρον μὲν τὸν Πάριν ἐν Θεσσαλίᾳ ὑπʼ Ἀχιλλέως καὶ Πατρόκλου μάχῃ κρατηθῆναι παρὰ τὸν Σπερχειόν, Ἕκτορα δὲ τὴν Τροιζηνίων πόλιν λαβόντα διαρπάσαι καὶ τὴν Αἴθραν ἀπάγειν ἐκεῖ καταλειφθεῖσαν. ἀλλὰ τοῦτο μὲν ἔχει πολλὴν ἀλογίαν.
But a very peculiar and wholly divergent story about Aethra is given by Ister in the thirteenth book of his Attic History. Some write, he says, that Alexander (Paris) was overcome in battle by Achilles and Patroclus in Thessaly, along the banks of the Spercheius, but that Hector took and plundered the city of Troezen, and carried away Aethra, who had been left there. This, however, is very doubtful.
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