THESEUS
arts reanimate it and it becomes an enduring symbol. That is how it is
that Orion the hunter is riding still, across Elysian fields of asphodel, in,
search of the prey which he has already killed on earth; and mean–
while the night-sky bears the eternal, constellated image of him and
his baldric. That is how Tantalus' throat is parched to all eternity, and
how Sisyphus still rolls upward towards an unattainable summit the
heavy and ever-rebounding weight of care which tormented him in
the days when he was King of Corinth. For you must realize that in
Hell the only punishment is to begin over and over again the actions
which, in life, one had failed to complete.
"In the same way, in the animal kingdom, the death of a creature
in no way impoverishes its species, for this retains its habitual shape
and behavior; there are no individuals among the beasts. Whereas
among men it is the individual alone who counts. That is why Minos
is already leading at Cnossos the life which will fit him for his career
as a judge in Hell. That is why Pasiphae and Ariadne are yielding to
their destiny in such exemplary fashion. And you yourself, Theseus,
may appear carefree, and you may feel it, but you will not escape the
destiny which is shaping you-any more than did Hercules, or Jason,
or Perseus. But know this (because my eyes have learnt the art of
discerning the future through the present) -there remain great things
for you to do, and in a sphere quite different from that of your previous
exploits; things beside which these exploits will seem, in the future, to
have been the amusements of a child. It remains for you to found the
city of Athens, and there to situate the supremacy of the human mind.
"Do not linger, therefore, in the labyrinth, or in the embrace of
Ariadne, after the hideous combat from which you will emerge trium–
phant. Keep on the move. Regard indolence as treachery. Seek no rest
until, with your destiny completed, it is time to die. It is only thus that,
on the further side of what seems to be death, you will live for ever
re-created by the gratitude of mankind. Keep on the move, keep well
ahead, keep on your own road, 0 valiant gatherer of cities."
"And now listen carefully, Theseus, and remember what I say. No
doubt you will have an easy victory over the Minotaur. Taken in the
right way he is not so redoubtable as people suppose. (They used to say
that he lived on carrion; but since when has a bull eaten anything but
grass?) Nothing is easier than to get into the labyrinth, nothing less easy
than to get out. Nobody finds his way, in there, without first losing it.
And for your return journey (for footsteps leave no trace in the laby–
rinth) you must attach yourself to Ariadne by a thread. I have prepared
several reels of this, and you shall take them away with you. Unwind
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