That chain be as a serpent, dragging flame to its secrétest part;
So, when he sees me lie on Bacchus’ breast,
Lip glued to lip, eye flashing into eye,
He may lift up his hands and curse the Gods, and cursing, waste and die.
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NOTE.
Ariadne was the daughter of Minos, king of Crete, one of the sons of Jupiter by Europa. Her desertion by Thésëus, whose life she had saved, and with whom she had flown from Crete, has long been a thesis of more than ordinary poetical importance. Thésëus, the son of Ægéus, king of Athens, by Æthra, daughter of Pittheus, monarch of Trœzen, on the discovery of his parentage, visited Athens, and made himself known to his father, who acknowledged him. Sometime before, Androgeos, a brother of Ariadne, set sail for Athens for the purpose of participating in the Athenian games. He was the victor in every conflict. Ægéus, becoming jealous of his popularity, caused him to be assassinated. Minos at once declared war against Athens, conquered the Athenians, and imposed upon them the annual penalty of sending fourteen of their most beautiful male and female children as an offering to the Minotaur, a ghastly monster who inhabited the celebrated Cretan labyrinth, the latest invention of Dædalos, the Athenian sculptor. Thésëus, on the day of the embarcation of the victims, offered himself as one of the number, with the hope of destroying the Minotaur, and thus preserving Athens from any further payment of the terrible tribute. The ship departed, as usual, under black sails, which Thésëus promised to exchange for white, in case he should return victorious. On his arrival in Crete he saw Ariadne, who became enamored of him. She gave him the clew which made him master of the mazes of the subterranean labyrinth. After a desperate conflict he succeeded in destroying the monster, and the same night, fled to Athens, bearing Ariadne with him. On his arrival en route at the island of Naxos, compelled by the gods, he deserted his mistress and returned home. By some accident he neglected to exchange his sails, and his father, Ægéus, filled with grief at the supposed death of his son, precipitated himself from a lofty rock, on which he had taken a position to watch the return of the galley, into the sea, and was drowned. Ariadne afterward became the wife of Bacchus.
THE MOTHERLESS.
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