Then he sent messengers to the city to announce his
return. They went toward the city, these joyful messengers, but
when they came to the gate they heard the sounds of mourning and
lamentation. The mourning and the lamentation were for the death
of the king, Theseus's father. They hurried back and they came to
Theseus where he stood on the beach. They brought a wreath of
victory for him, but as they put it into his hand they told him
of the death of his father. Then Theseus left the wreath on the
ground, and he wept for the death of Aegeus--of Aegeus, the hero,
who had left the sword under the stone for him before he was
born.
The men and women who came to the beach wept and laughed
as they clasped in their arms the children brought back to them.
And Theseus stood there, silent and bowed; the memory of his last
moments with his father, of his fight with the Minotaur, of his
parting with Ariadne--all flowed back upon him. He stood there
with head bowed, the man who might not put upon his brows the
wreath of victory that had been brought to him.
VIII
There had come into the city a youth of great valor whose name
was Peirithous: from a far country he had come, filled with a
desire of meeting Theseus, whose fame had come to him. The youth
was in Athens at the time Theseus returned. He went down to the
beach with the townsfolk, and he saw Theseus standing alone with
his head bowed down. He went to him and he spoke, and Theseus
lifted his head and he saw before him a young man of strength and
beauty.
Pages:
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221