in Vit.

Thes .-- Apollod., l.3.

This story is often borrowed by the Spanish romance-writers, to whom Plutarch was a copious fountain of legendary fable.
[89] Plut.

in Vit.

Thes.
[90] Mr.Mueller's ingenious supposition, that the tribute was in fact a religious ceremony, and that the voyage of Theseus had originally no other meaning than the landings at Naxos and Delos, is certainly credible, but not a whit more so than, and certainly not so simple as, the ancient accounts in Plutarch; as with mythological, so with historical legends, it is better to take the plain and popular interpretation whenever it seems conformable to the manners of the times, than to construe the story by newly-invented allegories.