Sowed Erycina first those brambly cares in thy bosom,What while issuing fierce with will enstarkened, TheseusForth from the bow-bent shore Piraean putting a-seawardsReacht the Gortynian roofs where dwelt the injurious Monarch.For 'twas told of yore how forced by pestilence cruel,Eke as a blood rite due for the Androgeonian murder,Many a chosen youth and the bloom of damsels unmarriedFood for the Minotaur, Cecropia was wont to befurnish.Seeing his narrow walls in such wise vexed with evils,Theseus of freest will for dear-loved Athens his bodyOffered a victim so that no more to Crete be deportedLives by Cecropia doomed to burials burying nowise;Then with a swifty ship and soft breathed breezes a-stirring,Sought he Minos the Haughty where homed in proudest of Mansions.Him as with yearning glance forthright espied the royalMaiden, whom pure chaste couch aspiring delicate odoursCherisht, in soft embrace of a mother comforted all-whiles,(E'en as the myrtles begot by the flowing floods of Eurotas,Or as the tincts distinct brought forth by breath of the springtide)Never the burning lights of her eyes from gazing upon himTurned she, before fierce flame in all her body conceived sheDown in its deepest depths and burning within her marrow.Ah, with unmitigate heart exciting wretchedmost furies,