THESEUS
"And now," said Minos, "you must go and have something to
eat. Your companions are already at table, and will be waiting for
you. Mter such a disturbed night you must be quite peckish, as they
say here. Have a good rest. I shall expect you to be present towards
the end of the day at the ceremonial games in honor of your visit.
Then, Prince· Theseus, we shall take you with us to Cnossos. You will
sleep at the palace, and tomorrow you will dine with us; a simple,
family meal, where you will feel quite at home, and these ladies
will be delighted to hear you tell of your first exploits. And now they
are going to prepare themselves for the festivities. We shall meet
again at the games, where you will sit, with your companions, imme–
diately beneath the royal box. This courtesy we owe to your princely
rank; and as I do not wish to distinguish you openly from your com–
panions they shall, by contagion, rank with you."
The games were held in a vast semi-circular arena, opening onto
the sea. Huge crowds, both of men and of women, had come to see
them, from Cnossos, from Lyttos and even from Gortyne (a matter
of two hundred stades, I was told), from other towns and their
neighboring villages, and from the thickly-populated open country.
All my senses were taken by surprise, and I cannot describe how
foreign the Cretans appeared to me to be.
As
there was not room for
them all on the tiers of the amphitheater, they pushed and jostled
their way up the staircases and along the aisles. The women, no less
numerous than the men, were for the most part naked to the waist. A
very few wore a light bodice; but even this was generously cut away,
in a fashion which I could not help thinking rather immodest, and
exposed both breasts to the air. Men and women alike were tightly,
even absurdly laced round the hips with belts and corselets, which
gave to each the figure of an hour-glass. The men were nearly all
brown-skinned, and at their fingers, wrists and throats wore almost
as many rings, bracelets and necklaces as the women who, for their
part, were perfectly white. All the men were clean-shaven, except for
the king, Rhadamanthus his brother and his friend Daedalus. The
ladies of the court sat on a platform which was just above our own,
and dominated the arena from a considerable height. They had in–
dulged a prodigious extravagance of dress and ornament. Each wore
a flounced skirt; billowing out oddly below the hips, this fell in em–
broidered furbelows to their feet, which were shod in little boots of
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