LP0109 Bacchy17 The Athenian Youths

Legendary Passages #0109,
Bacchylides' Odes,
[XVII.],
The Athenian Youths.

Previously, Theseus had many adventures on his way to Athens before volunteering to be sent to the Minotaur's Labyrinth. This passage recounts some of those adventures as well as a few others.

Ode 17 begins with the voyage of the seven boys and seven girls to Crete. King Minos throws a ring overboard and challenges the young prince to retrieve it from the sea-god's domain.

Ode 18 is all dialogue between the Greek chorus and Theseus' father Aegeus. Word has come of Theseus and his adventures, and Aegeus fears what will happen when he comes to Athens.

Ode 19 is about Io, a lover of Zeus transformed into a cow. The messenger god Hermes rescues her from a thousand-eyed monster named Argus.

Lastly, Ode 20 is a fragment about Idas and Marpessa, but most of that story has been lost.

https://www.scribd.com/document/49175815/Bacchylides-Ode-17-Dithyramb-3

The Athenian Youths,
a Legendary Passage from,
Sir Richard C. Jebb translating,
Bacchylides' Odes,
[XVII.] -  [XX.]

Ode [XVII.]
Theseus, Or the Athenian Youths and Maidens.

A dark-prowed ship was cleaving the Cretan sea, bearing Theseus, steadfast in the battle din, with seven goodly youths and seven maidens of Athens; for northern breezes fell on the far-gleaming sail, by grace of glorious Athena with warlike Aegis.

And the heart of Minos was stung by the baneful gifts of the Cyprian goddess with lovely diadem; he could no longer restrain his hand from a maiden, but touched her fair cheeks. Then Eriboca cried aloud to Pandion's grandson with breastplate of bronze; Theseus saw, and wildly rolled his dark eyes beneath his brows, and cruel pain pricked his heart as he spake:

'O son of peerless Zeus, the spirit in they breast no longer obeys righteous control; withhold, hero, thy presumptuous force.

'Whatever the restless doom given by the gods has decreed for us, and the scale of Justice inclines to ordain, that appointed fate we will fulfill when it comes. But do thou forgear thy grievous purpose. If the noble daughter of Phoenix, the maiden of gracious fame, taken to the bed of Zeus beneath the brow of Ida, bare thee, peerless among men; yet I, too, was borne by the daughter of wealthy Pittheus, in wedlock with the sea-god Poseidon, and the violet-crowned Nereids gave her a golden veil.

'Therefore, O war-lord of Cnosus, I bid thee restrain thy wantonness, fraught with woe; for I should not care to look on the fair light of divine Eos, after thou hadst done violence to one of this youthful company: before that, we will come to a trial of strength, and Destiny shall decide the sequel.'

Thus far the hero valiant with the spear: but the seafarers were amazed at the youth's lofty boldness; and he whose bride was daughter of the Sun-god felt anger at his heart; he wove a new device in his mind, and said:

'O Zeus, my sire of great might, hear me! If the white-armed daughter of Phoenix indeed bare me to thee, now send forth from heaven a swift flash of streaming fire, a sign for all to know. And thou, if Troezenian Aethra was thy mother by earth-shaking Poseidon, cast thyself boldly down to the abode of thy sire, and bring from the deep this ring of gold that glitters on my hand. But thou shalt see whether my prayer is heard by the son of Cronus, the all-ruling lord of thunder.'

Mighty Zeus heard the unmeasured prayer, and ordained a surpassing honour for Minos, willing to make it seen of all men, for the sake of his well-loved son. He sent the lightning. But the steadfast warrior, when he saw that welcome portent, stretched his hands towards the glorious ether, and said:

'Theseus, there thou beholdest the clear sign given by Zeus. And now do thou spring into the deep-sounding sea; and the son of Cronus, king Poseidon, thy sire, will assure thee supreme renown throughout the well-wooded earth.'

So spake he: and the spirit of Theseus recoiled not; he took his place on the well-built stern, and sprang thence, and the domain of the deep received him in kindness.

The son of Zeus felt a secret awe in his heart, and gave command to keep the cunningly-wrought ship before the wind; but Fate was preparing a different issue.

So the bark sped fast on its journey, and the northern breeze, blowing astern, urged it forward. But all the Athenian youths and maidens shuddered when the hero sprang into the deep; and tears fell from their bright young eyes, in prospect of their grievous doom.

Meanwhile dolphins, dwellers in the sea, were swiftly bearing mighty Theseus to the abode of his sire, lord of steeds; and he came unto the hall of the gods. There beheld he the glorious daughters of blest Nereus, and was awe-struck; for a splendour as of fire shone from their radiant forms; fillets inwoven with gold encircled their hair; and they were delighting their hearts by dancing with lissom feet.

And in that beautiful abode he saw his father's well-loved wife, the stately, ox-eyed Amphitrite; who clad him in gleaming purple, and set on his thick hair a choice wreath, dark with roses, given to her of yore at her marriage by wily Aphrodite.

Nothing that the gods may ordain is past belief to men of a sound mind. Theseus appeared by the ship with slender stern. Ah, in what thoughts did he check the war-lord of Cnosus, when he came unwetted from the sea, a wonder to all, his form resplendent with the gifts of the gods! The bright-throned Nereids cried aloud with new-born gladness; the deep resounded; while the youths and maidens hard by raised a paean with their lovely voices.

God of Delos, may the choruses of the Ceans be pleasing to thy soul; and mayest thou give us blessings for our portion, wafted by thy power divine!


Ode [XVIII.]
Theseus.

Chorus. King of sacred Athens, lord of the delicately living lonians, why has the trumpet lately sounded a war-note from its bell of bronze?

Is the leader of a hostile army besetting the borders of our land? Or are robbers, devisers of evil, driving off our flocks of sheep perforce, in despite of the shepherds? Or what is the care that gnaws thy heart? Speak; for thou, methinks, if any mortal, hast the aid of valiant youth at hand, O son of Pandion and Creusa.

Aegeus. A herald has lately come, whose feet have traversed the long road from the Isthmus; and he tells of prodigious deeds by a man of might.

That man has slain the tremendous Sinis, who was foremost of mortals in strength, offspring of the Earth-shaker, the Lytaean son of Cronus. He has laid low the man-killing sow in Cremmyon's woods, and the wicked Sciron.

He has closed the wrestling-school of Cercyon. The mighty hammer of Polypemon has dropped from the hand of the Maimer, who has met with a stronger than himself. I fear how these things are to end.

Ch. And who and whence is this man said to be, and how equipped? Is he leading a great host in warlike array? Or travelling with his servants only, like a wayfarer who wanders forth to a strange folk, — this man so vigorous, so valiant, and so bold, who has quelled the stubborn strength of such foes? Verily a god is speeding him, so that he shall bring a rightful doom on the unrighteous; for it is not easy to achieve deed after deed without chancing upon evil. In the long course of time all things find their end.

Aeg. Only two men attend him, says the herald. He has a sword, with ivory hilt, slung from his bright shoulders: he carries in his hands a couple of polished javelins; a well-wrought Laconian bonnet covers his ruddy locks; around his breast he wears a purple tunic and a thick Thessalian mantle. A fiery light, as of the Lemnian flame, flashes from his eyes: a youth he is in earliest manhood, intent on the pastimes of Ares, - on warfare and the clangour of battle; and he seeks brilliant Athens.


Ode [XIX.]
Io. (For the Athenians.)

A thousand paths of poesy divine are open to him who has received gifts from the Muses of Pieria, and whose songs have been clothed with worship by the dark-eyed Graces who bring the wreath.

Weave, then, some glorious lay in Athens, the lovely and the blest, thou Cean fantasy of fair renown. A choice strain should be thine, since Calliope has given thee a meed of signal honour.

There was a time when, by the counsels of wide-ruling Zeus most high, the heifer precious in his sight, — the rosy-fingered maid born to Inachus, — was flying from Argos nurse of steeds: when Argus, looking every way with tireless eyes, had been charged by the great queen, Hera of golden robe, to keep unresting, sleepless ward o'er that creature with the goodly horns. Nor could Maia's son elude him in the sun-lit days or in the holy nights.

Did it befall then that the swift messenger of Zeus slew huge Argus, Earth's fierce offspring, [in combat]? Or did the watcher's unending cares [close his dread eyes;] or was he lulled to rest from weary troubles by the sweet melody of the Pierian sisters?

For me, at least, the surest path of song [is that which leads me to the end]; when lo, driven by the gadfly, reached the flowery banks of Nile, bearing in her womb Epaphus, child of Zeus.

There she brought him forth, to be glorious lord of the linen-robed folk, a prince flourishing in transcendent honour; and there she founded the mightiest race among men. From that race sprang Cadmus, son of Agenor, who in Thebes of the seven gates became father of Semele. And her son was Dionysus, inspirer of Bacchants, [king of joyous revels] and of choruses that wear the wreath...


Ode [XX.]
Idas. (For the Lacedaemonians.)

In spacious Sparta of yore the golden-haired maidens of Lacedaemon chanted such a song as this, when bold-hearted Idas was bringing home the fair maiden, Marpessa of the violet locks, after escaping the swift doom of death; when Poseidon, lord of the sea, had given him a chariot, with steeds swift as the wind, and had sped him on his way to well-built Pleuron, to the son of Ares with golden shield...

https://archive.org/stream/bacchylidespoems00bacciala/bacchylidespoems00bacciala_djvu.txt

This passage concludes here. But in our next episode, Theseus journeys to Crete under The Black Sail.