Some say that he waylaid him by Oinoe, on the road which goes to Thebes; and some that he sent him against the bull of Marathon, that the beast might kill him.

But AEgeus says that the young men killed him from envy, because he had conquered them in the games.

So Minos came hither and avenged him, and would not depart till this land had promised him tribute--seven youths and seven maidens every year, who go with me in a black-sailed ship, till they come to hundred-citied Crete.' And Theseus ground his teeth together, and said, 'Wert thou not a herald I would kill thee for saying such things of my father; but I will go to him, and know the truth.' So he went to his father, and asked him; but he turned away his head and wept, and said, 'Blood was shed in the land unjustly, and by blood it is avenged.

Break not my heart by questions; it is enough to endure in silence.' Then Theseus groaned inwardly, and said, 'I will go myself with these youths and maidens, and kill Minos upon his royal throne.' And AEgeus shrieked, and cried, 'You shall not go, my son, the light of my old age, to whom alone I look to rule this people after I am dead and gone.

You shall not go, to die horribly, as those youths and maidens die; for Minos thrusts them into a labyrinth, which Daidalos made for him among the rocks,--Daidalos the renegade, the accursed, the pest of this his native land.