章节正文
which the bees came and stored their honey, and in Egypt he
made the forecourt of the temple of Hephaistos in Memphis,
and a statue of himself within it, and many another wondrous
work. And for Minos he made statues which spoke and moved,
and the temple of Britomartis, and the dancing-hall of
Ariadne, which he carved of fair white stone. And in
Sardinia he worked for I锟絣aos, and in many a land beside,
wandering up and down for ever with his cunning, unlovely and
accursed by men.
But Theseus stood before Minos, and they looked each other in
the face. And Minos bade take them to prison, and cast them
to the monster one by one, that the death of Androgeos might
be avenged. Then Theseus cried -
'A boon, O Minos! Let me be thrown first to the beast. For
I came hither for that very purpose, of my own will, and not
by lot.'
'Who art thou, then, brave youth?'
'I am the son of him whom of all men thou hatest most, AEgeus
the king of Athens, and I am come here to end this matter.'
And Minos pondered awhile, looking steadfastly at him, and he
thought, 'The lad means to atone by his own death for his
father's sin;' and he answered at last mildly -
'Go back in peace, my son. It is a pity that one so brave
should die.'
But Theseus said, 'I have sworn that I will not go back till
I have seen the monster face to face.'
And at that Minos frowned, and said, 'Then thou shalt see
him; take the madman away.'
And they led Theseus away into the prison, with the other
youths and maids.
But Ariadne, Minos' daughter, saw him, as she came out of her
white stone hall; and she loved him for his courage and his
majesty, and said, 'Shame that such a youth should die!' And
by night she went down to the prison, and told him all her
heart; and said -
'Flee down to your ship at once, for I have bribed the guards
before the door. Flee, you and all your friends, and go back
in peace to Greece; and take me, take me with you! for I dare
not stay after you are gone; for my father will kill me
miserably, if he knows what I have done.'
And Theseus. stood silent awhile; for he was astonished and
confounded by her beauty: but at last he said, 'I cannot go
home in peace, till I have seen and slain this Minotaur, and
avenged the deaths of the youths and maidens, and put an end
to the terrors of my land.'
'And will you kill the Minotaur? How, then?'
'I know not, nor do I care: but he must be strong if he be
too strong for me.'
Then she loved him all the more, and said, 'But when you have
killed him, how will you find your way out of the labyrinth?'
'I know not, neither do I care: but it must be a strange
road, if I do not find it out before I have eaten up the
monster's carcase.'
Then she loved him all the more, and said - 'Fair youth, you
are too bold; but I can help you, weak as I am. I will give
you a sword, and with that perhaps you may slay the beast;
and a clue of thread, and by that, perhaps, you may find your
way out again. Only promise me that if you escape safe you
will take me home with you to Greece; for my father will
surely kill me, if he knows what I have done.'
Then Theseus laughed, and said, 'Am I not safe enough now?'
And he hid the sword in his bosom, and rolled up the clue in
his hand; and then he swore to Ariadne, and fell down before
her, and kissed her hands and her feet; and she wept over him
a long while, and then went away; and Theseus lay down and
slept sweetly.
And when the evening came, the guards came in and led him
away to the labyrinth.
And he went down into that doleful gulf, through winding
paths among the rocks, under caverns, and arches, and
galleries, and over heaps of fallen stone. And he turned on
the left hand, and on the right hand, and went up and down,
till his head was dizzy; but all the while he held his clue.
For when he went in he had fastened it to a stone, and left
it to unroll out of his hand as he went on; and it lasted him
till he met the Minotaur, in a narrow chasm between black
cliffs.
And when he saw him he stopped awhile, for he had never seen
so strange a beast. His body was a man's: but his head was
the head of a bull; and his teeth were the teeth of a lion,
and with them he tore his prey. And when he saw Theseus he
roared, and put his head down, and rushed right at him.
But Theseus stept aside nimbly, and as he passed by, cut him
in the knee; and ere he could turn in the narrow path, he
followed him, and stabbed him again and again from behind,
till the monster fled bellowing wildly; for he never before
had felt a wound. And Theseus followed him at full speed,
holding the clue of thread in his left hand.
Then on, through cavern after cavern, under dark ribs of
sounding stone, and up rough glens and torrent-beds, among
the sunless roots of Ida, and to the edge of the eternal
snow, went they, the hunter and the hunted, while the hills
bellowed to the monster's bellow.
And at last Theseus came up with him, where he lay panting on
a slab among the snow, and caught him by the horns, and
forced his head back, and drove the keen sword through his
throat.
Then he turned, and went back limping and weary, feeling his
way down by the clue of thread, till he came to the mouth of
that doleful place and saw waiting for him, whom but Ariadne!
And he whispered 'It is done!' and showed her the sword; and
she laid her finger on her lips, and led him to the prison,
and opened the doors, and set all the prisoners free, while
the guards lay sleeping heavily; for she had silenced them
with wine.
Then they fled to their ship together, and leapt on board,
and hoisted up the sail; and the night lay dark around them,
so that they passed through Minos' ships, and escaped all
safe to Naxos; and there Ariadne became Theseus' wife.
PART IV - HOW THESEUS FELL BY HIS PRIDE
BUT that fair Ariadne never came to Athens with her husband.
Some say that Theseus left her sleeping on Naxos among the
Cyclades; and that Dionusos the wine-king found her, and took
her up into the sky, as you shall see some day in a painting
of old Titian's - one of the most glorious pictures upon
earth. And some say that Dionusos drove away Theseus, and
took Ariadne from him by force: but however that may be, in
his haste or in his grief, Theseus forgot to put up the white
sail. Now AEgeus his father sat and watched on Sunium day
after day, and strained his old eyes across the sea to see
the ship afar. And when he saw the black sail, and not the
white one, he gave up Theseus for dead, and in his grief he
fell into the sea, and died; so it is called the AEgean to
this day.
And now Theseus was king of Athens, and he guarded it and
ruled it well.
For he killed the bull of Marathon, which had killed
Androgeos, Minos' son; and he drove back the famous Amazons,
the warlike women of the East, when they came from Asia, and
conquered all Hellas, and broke into Athens itself. But
Theseus stopped them there, and conquered them, and took
Hippolute their queen to be his wife. Then he went out to
fight against the Lapithai, and Peirithoos their famous king:
but when the two heroes came face to face they loved each
other, and embraced, and became noble friends; so that the
friendship of Theseus and Peirithoos is a proverb even now.
And he gathered (so the Athenians say) all the boroughs of
the land together, and knit them into one strong people,
while before they were all parted and weak: and many another
wise thing he did, so that his people honoured him after he
was dead, for many a hundred years, as the father of their
freedom and their laws. And six hundred years after his
death, in the famous fight at Marathon, men said that they
saw the ghost of Theseus, with his mightybrazen club,
fighting in the van of battle against the invading Persians,
for the country which he loved. And twenty years after
Marathon his bones (they say) were found in Scuros, an isle
beyond the sea; and they were bigger than the bones of mortal
man. So the Athenians brought them home in triumph; and all
the people came out to welcome them; and they built over them
a noble temple, and adorned it with sculptures and paintings
in which we are told all the noble deeds of Theseus, and the
Centaurs, and the Lapithai, and the Amazons; and the ruins of
it are standing still.
But why did they find his bones in Scuros? Why did he not
die in peace at Athens, and sleep by his father's side?
Because after his triumph he grew proud, and broke the laws
of God and man. And one thing worst of all he did, which
brought him to his grave with sorrow. For he went down (they
say beneath the earth) with that bold Peirithoos his friend
to help him to carry off Persephone, the queen of the world
below. But Peirithoos was killed miserably, in the dark
fire-kingdoms under ground; and Theseus was chained to a rock
in everlasting pain. And there he sat for years, till
Heracles the mighty came down to bring up the three-headed
dog who sits at Pluto's gate. So Heracles loosed him from
his chain, and brought him up to the light once more.
But when he came back his people had forgotten him, and
Castor and Polydeuces, the sons of the wondrous Swan, had
invaded his land, and carried off his mother Aithra for a
slave, in revenge for a grievous wrong.
So the fair land of Athens was wasted, and another king ruled
it, who drove out Theseus shamefully, and he fled across the
sea to Scuros. And there he lived in sadness, in the house
of Lucomedes the king, till Lucomedes killed him by
treachery, and there was an end of all his labours.
So it is still, my children, and so it will be to the end.
In those old Greeks, and in us also, all strength and virtue
come from God. But if men grow proud and self-willed, and
misuse God's fair gifts, He lets them go their own ways, and
fall pitifully, that the glory may be His alone. God help us
all, and give us wisdom, and courage to do noble deeds! but
God keep pride from us when we have done them, lest we fall,
and come to shame!
Footnotes:
(1) In the Elgin Marbles.
(2) The Danube.
(3) Between the Crimaea and Circassia.
(4) The Sea of Azov.
(5) The Ural Mountains?
(6) The Baltic?
(7) Britain?
(8) The Azores?
End
made the forecourt of the temple of Hephaistos in Memphis,
and a statue of himself within it, and many another wondrous
work. And for Minos he made statues which spoke and moved,
and the temple of Britomartis, and the dancing-hall of
Ariadne, which he carved of fair white stone. And in
Sardinia he worked for I锟絣aos, and in many a land beside,
wandering up and down for ever with his cunning, unlovely and
accursed by men.
But Theseus stood before Minos, and they looked each other in
the face. And Minos bade take them to prison, and cast them
to the monster one by one, that the death of Androgeos might
be avenged. Then Theseus cried -
'A boon, O Minos! Let me be thrown first to the beast. For
I came hither for that very purpose, of my own will, and not
by lot.'
'Who art thou, then, brave youth?'
'I am the son of him whom of all men thou hatest most, AEgeus
the king of Athens, and I am come here to end this matter.'
And Minos pondered awhile, looking steadfastly at him, and he
thought, 'The lad means to atone by his own death for his
father's sin;' and he answered at last mildly -
'Go back in peace, my son. It is a pity that one so brave
should die.'
But Theseus said, 'I have sworn that I will not go back till
I have seen the monster face to face.'
And at that Minos frowned, and said, 'Then thou shalt see
him; take the madman away.'
And they led Theseus away into the prison, with the other
youths and maids.
But Ariadne, Minos' daughter, saw him, as she came out of her
white stone hall; and she loved him for his courage and his
majesty, and said, 'Shame that such a youth should die!' And
by night she went down to the prison, and told him all her
heart; and said -
'Flee down to your ship at once, for I have bribed the guards
before the door. Flee, you and all your friends, and go back
in peace to Greece; and take me, take me with you! for I dare
not stay after you are gone; for my father will kill me
miserably, if he knows what I have done.'
And Theseus. stood silent awhile; for he was astonished and
confounded by her beauty: but at last he said, 'I cannot go
home in peace, till I have seen and slain this Minotaur, and
avenged the deaths of the youths and maidens, and put an end
to the terrors of my land.'
'And will you kill the Minotaur? How, then?'
'I know not, nor do I care: but he must be strong if he be
too strong for me.'
Then she loved him all the more, and said, 'But when you have
killed him, how will you find your way out of the labyrinth?'
'I know not, neither do I care: but it must be a strange
road, if I do not find it out before I have eaten up the
monster's carcase.'
Then she loved him all the more, and said - 'Fair youth, you
are too bold; but I can help you, weak as I am. I will give
you a sword, and with that perhaps you may slay the beast;
and a clue of thread, and by that, perhaps, you may find your
way out again. Only promise me that if you escape safe you
will take me home with you to Greece; for my father will
surely kill me, if he knows what I have done.'
Then Theseus laughed, and said, 'Am I not safe enough now?'
And he hid the sword in his bosom, and rolled up the clue in
his hand; and then he swore to Ariadne, and fell down before
her, and kissed her hands and her feet; and she wept over him
a long while, and then went away; and Theseus lay down and
slept sweetly.
And when the evening came, the guards came in and led him
away to the labyrinth.
And he went down into that doleful gulf, through winding
paths among the rocks, under caverns, and arches, and
galleries, and over heaps of fallen stone. And he turned on
the left hand, and on the right hand, and went up and down,
till his head was dizzy; but all the while he held his clue.
For when he went in he had fastened it to a stone, and left
it to unroll out of his hand as he went on; and it lasted him
till he met the Minotaur, in a narrow chasm between black
cliffs.
And when he saw him he stopped awhile, for he had never seen
so strange a beast. His body was a man's: but his head was
the head of a bull; and his teeth were the teeth of a lion,
and with them he tore his prey. And when he saw Theseus he
roared, and put his head down, and rushed right at him.
But Theseus stept aside nimbly, and as he passed by, cut him
in the knee; and ere he could turn in the narrow path, he
followed him, and stabbed him again and again from behind,
till the monster fled bellowing wildly; for he never before
had felt a wound. And Theseus followed him at full speed,
holding the clue of thread in his left hand.
Then on, through cavern after cavern, under dark ribs of
sounding stone, and up rough glens and torrent-beds, among
the sunless roots of Ida, and to the edge of the eternal
snow, went they, the hunter and the hunted, while the hills
bellowed to the monster's bellow.
And at last Theseus came up with him, where he lay panting on
a slab among the snow, and caught him by the horns, and
forced his head back, and drove the keen sword through his
throat.
Then he turned, and went back limping and weary, feeling his
way down by the clue of thread, till he came to the mouth of
that doleful place and saw waiting for him, whom but Ariadne!
And he whispered 'It is done!' and showed her the sword; and
she laid her finger on her lips, and led him to the prison,
and opened the doors, and set all the prisoners free, while
the guards lay sleeping heavily; for she had silenced them
with wine.
Then they fled to their ship together, and leapt on board,
and hoisted up the sail; and the night lay dark around them,
so that they passed through Minos' ships, and escaped all
safe to Naxos; and there Ariadne became Theseus' wife.
PART IV - HOW THESEUS FELL BY HIS PRIDE
BUT that fair Ariadne never came to Athens with her husband.
Some say that Theseus left her sleeping on Naxos among the
Cyclades; and that Dionusos the wine-king found her, and took
her up into the sky, as you shall see some day in a painting
of old Titian's - one of the most glorious pictures upon
earth. And some say that Dionusos drove away Theseus, and
took Ariadne from him by force: but however that may be, in
his haste or in his grief, Theseus forgot to put up the white
sail. Now AEgeus his father sat and watched on Sunium day
after day, and strained his old eyes across the sea to see
the ship afar. And when he saw the black sail, and not the
white one, he gave up Theseus for dead, and in his grief he
fell into the sea, and died; so it is called the AEgean to
this day.
And now Theseus was king of Athens, and he guarded it and
ruled it well.
For he killed the bull of Marathon, which had killed
Androgeos, Minos' son; and he drove back the famous Amazons,
the warlike women of the East, when they came from Asia, and
conquered all Hellas, and broke into Athens itself. But
Theseus stopped them there, and conquered them, and took
Hippolute their queen to be his wife. Then he went out to
fight against the Lapithai, and Peirithoos their famous king:
but when the two heroes came face to face they loved each
other, and embraced, and became noble friends; so that the
friendship of Theseus and Peirithoos is a proverb even now.
And he gathered (so the Athenians say) all the boroughs of
the land together, and knit them into one strong people,
while before they were all parted and weak: and many another
wise thing he did, so that his people honoured him after he
was dead, for many a hundred years, as the father of their
freedom and their laws. And six hundred years after his
death, in the famous fight at Marathon, men said that they
saw the ghost of Theseus, with his mightybrazen club,
fighting in the van of battle against the invading Persians,
for the country which he loved. And twenty years after
Marathon his bones (they say) were found in Scuros, an isle
beyond the sea; and they were bigger than the bones of mortal
man. So the Athenians brought them home in triumph; and all
the people came out to welcome them; and they built over them
a noble temple, and adorned it with sculptures and paintings
in which we are told all the noble deeds of Theseus, and the
Centaurs, and the Lapithai, and the Amazons; and the ruins of
it are standing still.
But why did they find his bones in Scuros? Why did he not
die in peace at Athens, and sleep by his father's side?
Because after his triumph he grew proud, and broke the laws
of God and man. And one thing worst of all he did, which
brought him to his grave with sorrow. For he went down (they
say beneath the earth) with that bold Peirithoos his friend
to help him to carry off Persephone, the queen of the world
below. But Peirithoos was killed miserably, in the dark
fire-kingdoms under ground; and Theseus was chained to a rock
in everlasting pain. And there he sat for years, till
Heracles the mighty came down to bring up the three-headed
dog who sits at Pluto's gate. So Heracles loosed him from
his chain, and brought him up to the light once more.
But when he came back his people had forgotten him, and
Castor and Polydeuces, the sons of the wondrous Swan, had
invaded his land, and carried off his mother Aithra for a
slave, in revenge for a grievous wrong.
So the fair land of Athens was wasted, and another king ruled
it, who drove out Theseus shamefully, and he fled across the
sea to Scuros. And there he lived in sadness, in the house
of Lucomedes the king, till Lucomedes killed him by
treachery, and there was an end of all his labours.
So it is still, my children, and so it will be to the end.
In those old Greeks, and in us also, all strength and virtue
come from God. But if men grow proud and self-willed, and
misuse God's fair gifts, He lets them go their own ways, and
fall pitifully, that the glory may be His alone. God help us
all, and give us wisdom, and courage to do noble deeds! but
God keep pride from us when we have done them, lest we fall,
and come to shame!
Footnotes:
(1) In the Elgin Marbles.
(2) The Danube.
(3) Between the Crimaea and Circassia.
(4) The Sea of Azov.
(5) The Ural Mountains?
(6) The Baltic?
(7) Britain?
(8) The Azores?
End
- temple [´tempəl]
n.庙宇；寺院；太阳穴 (初中英语单词) - statue [´stætʃu:] n.塑像，雕像 (初中英语单词)
- cunning [´kʌniŋ] a.&n.狡猾(诡诈)的 (初中英语单词)
- monster [´mɔnstə] n.怪物 a.大得异常的 (初中英语单词)
- hither [´hiðə] ad.到此处 (初中英语单词)
- awhile [ə´wail] ad.少顷；片刻 (初中英语单词)
- greece [gri:s] n.希腊 (初中英语单词)
- hunter [´hʌntə] n.猎人；猎狗；猎马 (初中英语单词)
- waiting [´weitiŋ] n.等候；伺候 (初中英语单词)
- sleeping [´sli:piŋ] n.&a.睡着(的) (初中英语单词)
- glorious [´glɔ:riəs] a.光荣的；辉煌的 (初中英语单词)
- triumph [´traiəmf] n.胜利 vi.得胜，战胜 (初中英语单词)
- welcome [´welkəm] a.受欢迎的；可喜的 (初中英语单词)
- standing [´stændiŋ] n.持续 a.直立的 (初中英语单词)
- revenge [ri´vendʒ] vt.报复 n.报仇；报复 (初中英语单词)
- wisdom [´wizdəm] n.智慧，聪明，才智 (初中英语单词)
- athens [´æθinz] n.雅典 (高中英语单词)
- cavern [´kævən] n.大山洞；大岩洞 (高中英语单词)
- mighty [´maiti] a.强有力的 ad.很 (高中英语单词)
- everlasting [,evə´lɑ:stiŋ] a.永久的，无尽的 (高中英语单词)
- sadness [´sædnis] n.悲哀；悲痛；凄惨 (高中英语单词)
- mildly [´maildli] ad.温和地；适度地 (英语四级单词)
- warlike [´wɔ:laik] a.战争的；好战的 (英语四级单词)
- proverb [´prɔvə:b] n.谚语；格言 (英语四级单词)
- brazen [´breizən] a.黄铜制的；无耻的 (英语四级单词)
- wondrous [´wʌndrəs] a.极好的 ad.惊人地 (英语四级单词)
- grievous [´gri:vəs] a.痛苦的；严重的 (英语四级单词)
- madman [´mædmən] n.疯子；狂人 (英语六级单词)
- doleful [´dəulful] a.悲哀的；忧郁的 (英语六级单词)
- miserably [´mizərəbli] ad.悲惨地；糟糕地 (英语六级单词)
章节正文
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