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Updated: May 3, 2025
They proposed to him that he should come into the king's presence as a stranger, in order to try whether Aegeus would discover in the young man's features any likeness either to himself or his mother Aethra, and thus recognize him for a son. Theseus consented; for he fancied that his father would know him in a moment, by the love that was in his heart.
And you must be surely a stranger here, or you would know why I come, and that I come by right." "I am a stranger here. Tell me, then, why you come." "To fetch the tribute which King AEgeus promised to Minos, and confirmed his promise with an oath.
AEgeus, on parting from Aethra, before the birth of his son, placed his sword and shoes under a large stone, and directed her to send his son to him when he became strong enough to roll away the stone and take them from under it. When she thought the time had come, his mother led Theseus to the stone, and he removed it with ease, and took the sword and shoes.
Aegeus afterwards, knowing her whom he had lain with to be Pittheus's daughter, and suspecting her to be with child by him, left a sword and a pair of shoes, hiding them under a great stone that had a hollow in it exactly fitting them; and went away making her only privy to it, and commanding her, if she brought forth a son who, when he came to man's estate, should be able to lift up the stone and take away what he had left there, she should send him away to him with those things with all secrecy, and with injunctions to him as much as possible to conceal his journey from every one; for he greatly feared the Pallantidae, who were continually mutinying against him, and despised him for his want of children, they themselves being fifty brothers, all sons of Pallas.
And when AEgeus heard of Troezene he turned pale and red again, and rose from his seat trembling, while Medeia watched him like a snake. 'What is Troezene to you? she asked. But he said hastily, 'Do you not know who this Theseus is? The hero who has cleared the country from all monsters; but that he came from Troezene, I never heard before. I must go out and welcome him.
"It is little that I can give you, noble lad, and nothing that is worthy of you; for surely you are no mortal man, or at least no mortal's son." "All that I ask," said Theseus, "is to eat and drink at your table." "That I can give you," said AEgeus, "if at least I am master in my own hall."
Many days passed, and at last the searchers returned and said that the princess could nowhere be found. Then the king covered his head and wept, and said: "Now, indeed, I am bereft of all my treasures!" In the meanwhile, King AEgeus of Athens had sat day after day on a rock by the shore, looking and watching if by chance he might see a ship coming from the south.
And King Aegeus, like most other kings, thought any punishment mild enough for a person who was accused of plotting against his life. He therefore made little or no objection to Medea's scheme, and as soon as the poisonous wine was ready, gave orders that the young stranger should be admitted into his presence.
When they were come near the coast of Attica, so great was the joy for the happy success of their voyage, that neither Theseus himself nor the pilot remembered to hang out the sail which should have been the token of their safety to Aegeus, who, in despair at the sight, threw himself headlong from a rock, and perished in the sea.
Consequently, on his way home, he went to Troezen, and asked the advice of Pittheus about the response of the God, which ran thus: "Great chief, the wine-skin's foot must closed remain, Till thou to Athens art returned again." Pittheus clearly perceived what the oracle must mean, and persuaded or cheated Aegeus into an intrigue with Aethra.
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