THESEUS
smiled upon me the first of my conquests. in love. Perigone was tall
and supple. I had just killed her father, and by way of amends I
got her a very handsome son: Menalippes. I have lost track of both
of them-breaking free, as usual, and anxious never to lose any time.
I have never allowed the past to involve or detain me: rather have
I been drawn forward by what was still to be achieved; and the
most important things seemed to me always to lie ahead.
So much so that I won't waste more time with these preliminary
trifles which, after all, meant only too little to me. Here I was on
the threshold of an admirable adventure. Hercules himself never had
one like it. I must tell it at length.
Ill
It's very complicated, this story. I must say first that the island
of Crete was a power in those days. Minos reigned there. He held
Attica responsible for the death of his son Androgeous; and by way
of reprisal he had exacted from us an annual tribute: seven young
men and seven young girls had to be handed over to satisfy, it was
said, the appetites of the Minotaur, the monstrous child which Pasi–
phae, the wife of Minos, had brought forth after intercourse with a
bull. These victims were chosen by lot.
But, in the year in question, I had just returned to Greece.
Though the lot would normally have spared me (princes readily
escape these things) I insisted that I should figure in the list, not–
withstanding the opposition of the king, my father. I care nothing
for privilege, and claim that merit alone distinguishes me from the
herd. My plan was, in point of fact, to vanquish the Minotaur, and
thus at a blow to free Greece from an abominable exaction. Also I
was most anxious to visit Crete, whence beautiful, costly and unusual
objects were constantly arriving in Attica. Therefore I set sail for
the island: among my thirteen companions was my friend Pirithous.
We landed, one morning in March, at Amnisos, a little town–
ship which served as harbor to its neighbor Cnossos, the capital of
the island, where Minos resided and had had his palace built. We
should have arrived the previous evening, but a violent storm had
delayed us.
As
we stepped ashore we were surrounded by armed
guards who took away my sword and that of Pirithous. When they
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