The pits were lined with stone-work
faced with smooth cement, and it seems most probable that these
were the dungeons of the palace, in which we may imagine that the
miserable captives brought back by the great King's fleet from its
voyages of conquest and plunder, and the human tribute paid by the
conquered states, dragged out their existence until the time came
for them either to be trained for the cruel sport to which they
were devoted, or actually to take their places in the bull-ring.
If it be so, then the dungeons of Minos would keep their captives
securely enough; escape from the deep pits, with their smooth and
slippery walls, must have been practically impossible, save by
connivance on the part of the guards, or by the intervention of
some tender-hearted Ariadne.
If those dark walls could only reveal the story of the doomed lives
which they once imprisoned, we should probably be able to realize,
even more fully than we do, the shadowed side of all the glittering
splendour of Knossos, and the grim element of barbaric cruelty
which mingled with a refined artistic taste and a delight in all
forms of beauty. In none of these great civilizations of the ancient
world were splendour and cruelty separated by any great interval
from one another, nor was a very remarkable degree of refinement
inconsistent with a carelessness of life, and even such a thirst
for blood, as we would consider more natural in a savage state;
but it is seldom that the evidences of the two things lie so close
to one another as where at Knossos the innocent figure of the
crocus-gatherer almost covers the very mouth of the horrible pit
in which the captives of Minos waited for the day when their lives
were to be staked on the hazard of the arena.
Pages:
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111