ATT 
the roads had been exceedingly infefted by banditti. The- 
feus, however, who had already began to difcover marks 
of uncommon ftrength and courage, no fooner heard the 
name of Hercules mentioned, than he became delirous of 
imitating fo great a pattern ; and after performing a num¬ 
ber of glorious exploits, for which fee the article The¬ 
seus, he arrived fafe at his father’s capital. 
The atchievements of this young hero procured him a 
welcome reception at the court of ./Egeus, though his 
birth was unknown to all except Medea, to whom the 
king had lately been married. This queen being a force- 
refs, it is not to be fitppofed any thing could be concealed 
from her: (he therefore, by her diabolical penetration, 
quickly found out that Thefeus was the king’s fon ; alter 
which fhe became fo jealous of him on account of his va¬ 
lour, that (lie perfuaded her old hufband to invite the 
young ftranger to a banquet, and poifon him in a glafs of 
wine. The poifon was accordingly prepared, and Thefeus 
invited ; but, the prince fuddenly drawing his fword, it 
was immediately recognized by Aigeus to be the fame he 
had formerly buried below the (lone. Upon this he Hep¬ 
ped forward to Thefeus, throwing down the poifoned 
draught in his way ; and, embracing him with much ten- 
dernefs, owned him for his fon before all the court. 
At that time the king of Attica had great occalion for 
fuch a champion as Thefeus. The fons of Pallas, who 
had all along behaved with great infolence, upon Thefeus 
being difeovered to be the king’s fon, and heir apparent 
to the crown, broke out in open rebellion. They were 
foon difeomfited ; but jEgeus and the whole country of 
Attica were Hill in great dillrefs on the following account. 
Some years before, Androgeus, the fon of Minos king of 
Crete, came to Athens to be prefent at one of their feafts. 
During this vifit he contracted fuch an intimacy with the 
fifty fons of Pallas, that ^Egeus, fearing fome fatal con- 
fequences, caufed him to be privately murdered. Ac¬ 
cording to others, Androgeus, having undertaken to en¬ 
counter the Marathonian bull, was killed by it. Be that 
as it may, Minos, having received news of his fon’s death, 
imputed it to the people of Attica ; and therefore, after 
feveral unfuccefsful attempts to revenge his own quarrel, 
prayed to the gods to do it for him. The Athenians, in 
confequence of this prayer, are (aid to have been viiited 
with earthquakes, famine, and peftilence ; on account of 
which they applied to the oracle. Here they were in¬ 
formed, that no relief was to be had till they were recon¬ 
ciled to the Cretan king. Minos, refolving to make them 
pay dear for their deliverance, impofed upon them a tri¬ 
bute of feven young men and as many virgins, whom he 
condemned to be devoured by the minotaur, a monfter 
feigned by the poets to have been half man and half bull. 
This bloody tribute had been twice paid, and Minos had 
already fent his meffengers the third time, when Thefeus 
willingly offered himfelf to be one of the unhappy victims; 
and, embarking with them in one fnip, he gave the pilot 
two fails, the one black to fail with, and the other white 
to be hoifted up at his return, in cale he came off victo¬ 
rious. Thefeus had all the fuccefs he could wifti : he 
killed the minotaur, prevailed with Minos to remit the 
tribute, and his daughter Ariadne to run away with him; 
but her he left with child in the ifle of Naxos. Unfor¬ 
tunately, however, for .Tigeus, the joy of Thefeus and 
his company was fo great, that at their return they forgot 
to hoift the white flag in token of their viClory : upon 
which the old king, taking for granted that his fon was 
killed, threw himfelf into the fea, which ever Once ha? 
from him been called the jEgta.il Sea. 
Thefeus, being thus left in poffellion of the kingdom of 
Attica, began immediately to think of indulging his war¬ 
like genius, and rendering the civil affairs of his kingdom 
as little troublefome as poffible. To accomplilh his pur- 
pofe, he began with gathering moft of the people of At¬ 
tica into the old and new town, which he incorporated into 
«>ne city. After this he divefled himfelf of all his regal 
power, excqpt the title of king, the command of the ar- 
T C A. 499 
my, and the gtiardianfhip of the laws. The reft he com¬ 
mitted to magiflrates chofen out of three different orders 
of the people, whom he divided into nobles, hulbandmen, 
and artificers. The firll he inverted with the power of in¬ 
terpreting and executing the laws, and regulating whatever 
related to religion. The other two chofe their inferior 
magiflrates from among themfelves, to take care of what¬ 
ever related to their (eparate orders : fo that the kingdom 
was in fome meafure reduced to a common-wealth, in 
which the king had the greatell port, the nobles were 
next to him in honour and authority, the hulbandmen had 
the greateft profit, and the artills exceeded them in num¬ 
ber. He likewife abolifhed all their dirtinCt courts of ju¬ 
dicature, and built one common council-hall called Pry- 
taneum, which flood for many ages afterwards. 
Having thus new-modelled the government, his next 
care was to join to his dominions the kingdom of Megara, 
in right of his grandfather Pandion II. who had married 
the daughter of Pylas as above-mentioned. On this oc- 
calion he erected the famous pillar in the Ifthmus, which 
(hewed the limits of the two countries that met there. On 
the one fide of this pillar was inferibed, “ This is not 
Peloponnefus, but Ionia;” and on the other, “This is 
Peloponnefus, not Ionia.” After this he undertook an 
expedition againft the Amazons, whom he overcame, took 
their queen Hippolita, and afterwards married her. Soon 
after this, Thefeus contracted an intimacy with Perithous, 
the fon of Ixion : and being invited to his nuptials, a Hi fl¬ 
ed him in killing a number of Centaurs, or rather Tlief- 
falian horfemen (who in their cups had offered violence to 
their female guelts), and drove the red out of the country. 
Thefe two affociates then proceeded to Sparta, where 
Thefeus fell in love with the famed Helena, at that time 
not above nine years old, while lie himfelf was upwards 
of fifty. Her they carried off': and of the rape there are 
various accounts; but the following one, which is given 
by Plutarch, is generally allowed to be the moft authentic. 
According to that hiftorian, they dole this beauty, the 
greateft in the world, out of the temple of Diana Ortia,, 
where Helena happened to be dancing. They were pur- 
fued as far as Tegea, but made their efcape out of Pelo¬ 
ponnefus; and, thinking themfelves now fecure of their 
prey, they agreed to call lots for her, upon condition that 
he towhofe lot (lie fell fhould affilt the other in procuring 
fome celebrated beauty. Fortune having declared for 
Thefeus, he affifted his companion in the like attempt up¬ 
on Proferpina daughter of Aidonius king of the Moloili 
in Epirus; who, being the next beauty to Helena, was 
guarded, as the poets feign, by the dog Cerberus, which 
had three heads, and confequently a very formidable ene¬ 
my. Her father, however, underftanding that they de- 
figned to deal away his daughter, threw Perithous to be 
torn in pieces by Cerberus, and put Thefeus in prifon, 
from whence he was aftenvards relieved at the interceflion 
of Hercules. After thefe adventures, Thefeus returned 
to Athens, but found himfelf very coolly received by his.- 
fubjeiSts. Mneftheus, the fon of Peteus, and great-grand- 
fon of EreCtiieus, had made ufe of the king’s abfence tO' 
ingratiate himfelf wfith the people ; and, upon the com¬ 
mencement of a war with Caftor and Pollux, the two bro¬ 
thers of Helena, he perfuaded the people of Athens to 
open their gates to the two brothers. Upon this, Thefeus 
was under the neceffity of conveying away himfelf and 
family with all pollible privacy. This he luckily accom- 
pliihed ; and defigned to have failed to Crete, to have ob¬ 
tained affiftance from Deucalion, the fon of Minos, and 
now brother-in-law to Thefeus, he having married Phrc- 
dra, lifter to Deucalion. Unfortunately, however, The¬ 
feus was (hipwrecked on the ifland of Scyros. Here 
he was at firft kindly received by Lycomedes, king of 
that ifland; but was foon after killed by a fall from a 
high rock, over which fome fay he was puftied by Lyco¬ 
medes himfelf, who had been prevailed upon to deftroy 
Thefeus in that manner by Mneftheus, that lie might with 
the more fecurity enjoy the kingdom of Attica. 
Mneftheus 
