gotten to make the promised change. And thus
was the deserted maiden avenged on the treacherous youth who owed to
her his life.

The ship--or what was believed to be the ship--of Theseus and the
hostages was carefully preserved at Athens, down to the time of the
Macedonian conquest, being constantly repaired with new timbers, till
little of the original ship remained. Every year it was sent to Delos
with envoys to sacrifice to Apollo. Before the ship left port the priest
of Apollo decorated her stern with garlands, and during her absence no
public act of impurity was permitted to take place in the city.
Therefore no one could be put to death, and Socrates, who was condemned
at this period of the year, was permitted to live for thirty days until
the return of the sacred ship.

There is another legend connected with this story worth telling.
Daedalus, the builder of the Labyrinth, at length fell under the
displeasure of Minos, and was confined within the windings of his own
edifice. He had no clue like Theseus, but he had resources in his
inventive skill. Making wings for himself and his son Icarus, the two
flew away from the Labyrinth and their foe. The father safely reached
Sicily; but the son, who refused to be governed by his father's wise
advice, flew so high in his ambitious folly that the sun melted the wax
of which his wings were made, and he fell into the sea near the island
of Samos. This from him was named the Icarian Sea.

There is a political as well as a legendary history of Theseus,--perhaps
one no more to be depended upon than the other. It is said that when he
became king he made Athens supreme over Attica, putting an end to the
separate powers of the tribes which had before prevailed. He is also
said to have abolished the monarchy, and replaced it by a government of
the people, whom he divided into the three classes of nobles,
husbandmen, and artisans. He died at length in the island of Scyrus,
where he fell or was thrown from the cliffs. Ages later, after the
Persian war, the Delphic oracle bade the Athenians to bring back the
bones of Theseus from Scyrus, and bury them splendidly in Attic soil.
Cimon, the son of Miltiades, found--or pretended to find--the hero's
tomb, and returned with the famous bones. They were buried in the heart
of Athens, and over them was erected the monument called the Theseium,
which became afterwards a place of sanctuary for slaves escaping from
cruel treatment and for all