And when Theseus had killed it, Aegeus presented to him a poison which he had
 received the selfsame day from Medea. But just as the draught was about to
 be administered to him, he gave his father the sword, and on recognizing it
 Aegeus dashed the cup from his hands. Compare Plut. Thes.
 12 ; Scholiast on Hom. Il. xi.741 ; Ov. Met. 7.404-424 . According to Ovid, the
 poison by which Medea attempted the life of Theseus was aconite, which
 she had brought with her from Scythia . The incident seems to have been narrated by
 Sophocles in his tragedy Aegeus . See The Fragments of Sophocles , ed. A. C. Pearson, vol.
 i. pp. 15ff. 
 And when Theseus was thus made known to his father and
 informed of the plot, he expelled Medea. And he was numbered among those who were to be sent
 as the third tribute to the Minotaur; or, as some affirm, he offered himself
 voluntarily. Compare
 Plut. Thes. 17 ; Eustathius on
 Hom. Od. xi.320, p. 1688 ; Scholiast on Hom. Od. xi.322,
 and Il. xviii.590 ; Hyginus, Fab. 41 ;
 Lactantius Placidus on Statius, Achill. 192 . The usual
 tradition seems to have been that he volunteered for the dangerous
 service; but a Scholiast on Hom. Il. 18.590 speaks as if
 the lot had fallen on him with the other victims. According to
 Hellanicus, cited by Plut. Thes. 17 , the
 victims were not chosen by lot, but Minos came to Athens and picked them for himself, and
 on this particular occasion Theseus was the first on whom his choice
 fell. And as the ship had a black sail, Aegeus charged his son,
 if he returned alive, to spread white sails on the ship. As to the black and white sails, see
 Diod. 4.61.4 ; Plut. Thes.
 17 and Plut. Thes. 22 ; Paus. 1.22.5 ; Catul.
 64.215-245 ; Hyginus, Fab. 41, 43 ; Serv. Verg. A. 3.74 . According to
 Simonides, quoted by Plut. Thes. 22 , the
 sail that was to be the sign of safety was not white but scarlet, which,
 by contrast with the blue sea, would have caught the eye almost as
 easily as a white sail at a great distance. 
 And when he came to Crete ,
 Ariadne, daughter of Minos, being amorously disposed to him, offered to help
 him if he would agree to carry her away to Athens and have her to wife. Theseus having
 agreed on oath to do so, she besought Daedalus to disclose the way out of
 the labyrinth. And at his suggestion she gave Theseus a clue when he went in; Theseus
 fastened it to the door, and, drawing it after him, entered in. Compare Scholiast on
 Hom. Od. xi.322 , Scholiast on Hom. Il.
 xviii.590 ; Eustathius on Hom. Od. xi.320, p. 1688 ;
 Diod. 4.61.4 ; Plut. Thes.
 19 ; Hyginus, Fab. 42 ; Serv. Verg. A. 6.14 , and on Georg.
 i.222 ; Lactantius Placidus on Statius, Theb.
 xii.676 ; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode,
 i. pp. 16, 116ff. (First Vatican Mythographer 43; Second Vatican
 Mythographer 124) . The clearest description of the clue, with
 which the amorous Ariadne furnished Theseus, is given by the Scholiasts
 and Eustathius on Homer l.c. . From them we learn that it
 was a ball of thread which Ariadne had begged of Daedalus for the use of
 her lover. He was to fasten one end of the thread to the lintel of the
 door on entering into the labyrinth, and holding the ball in his hand to
 unwind the skein while he penetrated deeper and deeper into the maze,
 till he found the Minotaur asleep in the inmost recess; then he was to
 catch the monster by the hair and sacrifice him to Poseidon; after which
 he was to retrace his steps, gathering up the thread behind him as he
 went. According to the Scholiast on the Odyssey 
 (l.c.) , the story was told by Pherecydes, whom later authors
 may have copied. And having found the Minotaur in
 the last part of the labyrinth, he killed him by smiting him with his fists;
 and drawing the clue after him made his way out again. And by night he
 arrived with Ariadne and the children That is, the boys and girls whom he had rescued from
 the Minotaur. at Naxos . There Dionysus fell in love with Ariadne and carried her
 off; Compare
 Diod. 4.61.5 ; Plut. Thes.
 20 ; Paus. 1.20.3 ; Paus. 10.29.4 ; Scholiast on Ap.
 Rhod., Argon. iii.997 ; Scholiast on Theocritus
 ii.45 ; Catul. 64.116ff. ;
 Ovid, Her. x. ; Ovid, Ars Am. i.527ff. ;
 Ov. Met. 8.174ff. ; Hyginus,
 Fab. 43 ; Serv. Verg. G.
 1.222 ; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp.
 116ff. (Second Vatican Mythographer 124) . Homer's account of
 the fate of Ariadne is different. He says ( Hom. Od. 11.321-325 ) that when Theseus was carrying off
 Ariadne from Crete to Athens she was slain by
 Artemis in the island of Dia at the instigation of Dionysus. Later
 writers, such as Diodorus Siculus identified Dia with Naxos , but it is rather “the little island,
 now Standia, just off Heraclaion, on the north coast of Crete . Theseus would pass the
 island in sailing for Athens ” ( Merry on Hom. Od. xi.322 ). Apollodorus
 seems to be the only extant ancient author who mentions that Dionysus
 carried off Ariadne from Naxos to Lemnos 
 and had intercourse with her there. and having brought her to
 Lemnos he enjoyed her, and
 begat Thoas, Staphylus, Oenopion, and Peparethus. Compare Scholiast on Ap. Rhod.,
 Argon. iii.997 . Others said that Ariadne bore Staphylus and
 Oenopion to Theseus ( Plut. Thes.
 20 ). 
 In his grief on account of Ariadne, Theseus forgot
 to spread white sails on his ship when he stood for port; and Aegeus, seeing
 from the acropolis the ship with a black sail, supposed that Theseus had
 perished; so he cast himself down and died. Compare Diod. 4.61.6ff. ; Plut. Thes. 22 ; Paus. 1.22.5 ; Hyginus, Fab. 43 ; Serv. Verg. A. 3.74 ; Scriptores rerum
 mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. p. 117 (Second Vatican Mythographer
 125) . The three Latin writers say that Aegeus threw himself
 into the sea, which was hence called the Aegean after him. The Greek writers say
 that he cast himself down from the rock of the acropolis. Pausanius
 describes the exact point from which he fell, to wit the lofty bastion
 at the western end of the acropolis, on which in after ages the elegant
 little temple of Wingless Victory stood and still stands. It commands a
 wonderful view over the ports of Athens and away across the sea to Aegina and the coast of Peloponnese , looming clear and
 blue through the diaphanous Attic air in the far distance. A better look
 out the old man could not have chosen from which to watch, with
 straining eyes, for the white or scarlet sail of his returning
 son.