64 



The Solar Theory of Myths, 



the mother of Theseus, was the beloved of Bellerophon, 

 who with her took refuge in the citadel of Corinth from 

 the attacks of Aigeus, the Attic king. But Bellerophon 

 was defeated, the fortress with its fair occupant fell into 

 the hands of Aigeus and she became the mother of 

 Theseus. Arthur was not to be the acknowledged prince, 

 and was given at the postern gate to a poor peasant. 

 Theseus passed his boyhood in obscurity in Argos. At 

 the death of Pendragon, Britain was torn by rival princes, 

 till, in the great assembly at London, Arthur drew from 

 the stone the brand Excalibur. Theseus remains in poverty 

 till with years comes the strength which enables him to 

 raise the great stone under which lay his father's sword. 

 Arthur, precedent to his coronation, repeated the exploits 

 that had proved him prince, and Theseus, on his way to 

 Athens, performed the works denominated his six labors. 

 Arthur upon his coronation, Theseus upon his recogni- 

 tion, start out on like rounds of conquest. 



As Arthur slew the revolting nobles, so Theseus con- 

 quered the usurping sons of Pallas ; as Arthur laid low 

 the giant, so Theseus slew the Minotaur ; as for Arthur 

 and his knights, the holy grail is the object for which 

 pilgrimage is to be undergone, so must Theseus join the 

 Greeks as they leave their fatherland to search for the 

 golden fleece. Mordred, the bastard son of Arthur, steals 

 from him Guinever, his wedded wife, and Hippolytos, 

 the illegitimate offspring of Theseus, gains the affection 

 of Phaidra, the Attic queen. As Arthur returned vic- 

 torious from the continent to find his kingdom usurped 

 and to die at the hands of the rebel, Theseus, back in 

 triumph from Colchis, finds his fair realm seized by his 

 enemies. Arthur dying is committed to the mourning 

 queens in the mystic barge; Theseus, meeting a harsher 

 fate, is cast into the sea from the Scyrian cliff.^ As the 



' This is tlie earliest extant form of the Thesean myth. The one made 

 familiar to us by the " Oidipous^' was a later and apparently arbitrary in- 

 vention of the dramatist. 



