who was a mere child. For this reason some who wish
to clear him of this, the heaviest of all the charges against him, say
that it was not he who carried off Helen, but that Idas and Lynkeus
carried her off and deposited her in his keeping. Afterwards the Twin
Brethren came and demanded her back, but he would not give her up; or
even it is said that Tyndareus himself handed her over to him, because
he feared that Enarsphorus the son of Hippocoon would take her by force,
she being only a child at the time. But the most probable story and that
which most writers agree in is the following: The two friends, Theseus
and Peirithous, came to Sparta, seized the maiden, who was dancing in
the temple of Artemis Orthia, and carried her off. As the pursuers
followed no farther than Tegea, they felt no alarm, but leisurely
travelled through Peloponnesus, and made a compact that whichever of
them should win Helen by lot was to have her to wife, but must help the
other to a marriage. They cast lots on this understanding, and Theseus
won. As the maiden was not yet ripe for marriage he took her with him to
Aphidnae, and there placing his mother with her gave her into the charge
of his friend Aphidnus, bidding him watch over her and keep her presence
secret. He himself in order to repay his obligation to Peirithous went
on a journey with him to Epirus to obtain the daughter of Aidoneus the
king of the Molossians, who called his wife Persephone, his daughter
Kore, and his dog Cerberus. All the suitors of his daughter were bidden
by him to fight this dog, and the victor was to receive her hand.
However, as he learned that Peirithous and his friend were come, not as
wooers, but as ravishers, he cast them into prison. He put an end to
Peirithous at once, by means of his dog, but only guarded Theseus
strictly.

XXXII. Now at this period Mnestheus, the son of Peteus, who was the son
of Orneus, who was the son of Erechtheus, first of all mankind they say
took to the arts of a demagogue, and to currying favour with the people.
This man formed a league of the nobles, who had long borne Theseus a
grudge for having destroyed the local jurisdiction and privileges of
each of the Eupatrids by collecting them all together into the capital,
where they were no more than his subjects and slaves; and he also
excited the common people by telling them that although they were
enjoying a fancied freedom they really had been deprived of their
ancestral privileg