Accordingly, Theseus is a favourite Hero (witness the Knight’s Tale in Chaucer) even with the Romance-writers.
Nay, could the very castle of a Gothic giant be better described than in the words of Homer,
High walls and battlements the courts inclose,
And the strong gates defy a host of foes.
Od. B. XVII. ver. 318.
And do not you remember that the Grecian Worthies were, in their day, as famous for encountering Dragons and quelling Monsters of all sorts, as for suppressing Giants?
——per hos cecidere justâ
Morte Centauri, cecidit tremendæ
Flamma Chimæræ.
3. “The oppressions, which it was the glory of the Knight to avenge, were frequently carried on, as we are told, by the charms and enchantments of women.”
These charms, we may suppose, are often metaphorical; as expressing only the blandishments of the sex, by which they either seconded the designs of their Lords, or were enabled to carry on designs for themselves. Sometimes they are taken to be real; the ignorance of those ages acquiescing in such conceits.
And are not these stories matched by those of Calypso and Circe, the enchantresses of the Greek poet?
Still there are conformities more directly to our purpose.
4. “Robbery and piracy were honourable in both; so far were they from reflecting any discredit on the ancient or modern redressers of wrongs.”