previous next
Now listen while I tell you where you must slay the victims. You have within your halls a tripod with brazen feet, which Heracles once, after he had overthrown the foundations of Ilium and was starting on another enterprise, [1200] enjoined you to set up at the Pythian shrine. Over it cut the throats of three sheep; then engrave the oaths within the tripod's hollow belly; and then deliver it to the god who watches over Delphi to keep, a witness and memorial unto Hellas of the oaths. [1205] And bury the sharp-edged knife, with which you shall have laid the victims open and shed their blood, deep in the bowels of the earth, beside the pyres where the seven chieftains burn; for its appearance shall strike them with dismay, if ever against your town they come, and shall cause them to return with sorrow. [1210] When you have done all this, dismiss the dead from your land. And to the god resign as sacred land the spot where their bodies were purified by fire, there by the meeting of the triple roads that lead to the Isthmus. Thus much to you, Theseus, I address; next to the sons of Argos I speak: when you are young men, the town beside Ismenus shall you sack, [1215] avenging the slaughter of your dead fathers; you too, Aegialeus, shall take your father's place and in your youth command the army, and with you, marching from Aetolia, Tydeus' son, whom his father named Diomedes. As soon as the beards overshadow your cheeks [1220] you must lead an armed Danaid army against the battlements of Thebes with sevenfold gates. For to their sorrow shall you come like lion's whelps in full-grown might to sack their city. No otherwise is it to be; [1225] and you shall be a theme for minstrels' songs in days to come, known through Hellas as “the After-born”; so famous shall your expedition be, thanks to the god.

Theseus
Lady Athena, I will hearken to your words; for you set me up, so that I do not go astray. And I will bind this man by an oath; only guide my steps [1230] aright. For if you are friendly to our state, we shall live secure for the future.Athena vanishes.

hide Places (automatically extracted)

View a map of the most frequently mentioned places in this document.

Sort places alphabetically, as they appear on the page, by frequency
Click on a place to search for it in this document.
Greece (Greece) (2)
Thebes (Greece) (1)
Ilium (Turkey) (1)
Delphi (Greece) (1)
Argos (Greece) (1)
Aetolia (Greece) (1)

Download Pleiades ancient places geospacial dataset for this text.

hide References (1 total)
hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: