°$M4 
 
 & 
 

 
 
 Section .H44 
 
HEATHEN 
 
 MYTHOLOGY, 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
 BY EXTRACTS FROM THE MOST CELEBRATED WRITERS, BOTH ANCIENT 
 AND MODERN, ON THE 
 
 GODS OF GREECE, ROME, INDIA, SCANDINAVIA, ETC. ETC. 
 
 AM) K.MBKl.tlSHKD WITH 
 
 NEAR TWO HUNDRED ENGRAVINGS 
 
 AFTER DKSIGNS BV M. BARON. 
 
 LONDON: 
 W1LLOUGHBY AND CO., 86, ALDERSGATE STREET. 
 
 MTtCCCXI.II. 
 
London: 
 
 Printed by R. Willoughby. 
 
 86, Aldersgate Street, 
 
V- 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Upon a subject which has occupied the thoughts, and employed the pens 
 of our most profound thinkers, and our ablest writers, it is perhaps 
 difficult to say much that is likely to interest the reader, without the chance 
 of being irksome from its proving a thrice told tale : and yet the subject is 
 in itself so interesting, and so intimately connected with all that is most 
 .fascinating to our remembrances, and so blended with all that reminds us 
 of departed greatness, that it is scarcely possible to pass it coldly by, or to 
 speak in the language of others, those ideas which excite our own 
 imaginations. 
 
 There was something very pleasing and very poetical, in the thought, 
 that each river had its nymph, and every wood its god : that a visible 
 power watched over even the domestic duties of the people, ready to punish 
 or reward ; and that, too, in a manner so strange and immediate, that it 
 must have greatly affected their minds, in stimulating to good, or deterring 
 from evil. They were, indeed, the days of ''visible poetry ;" the "young 
 hunter," in the pursuit of his favourite sport, might image to his mind 
 the form and figure of Diana, accompanying him in the chase, not perhaps 
 without a holy fear lest she should become visible to him, and the fate of 
 Acteon should prove to be his. 
 
REFACE. 
 
 The lover, as he sought the presence of his mistress, might, in his 
 enamoured idea of her beauty, fancy that his idolatry was a real one, and 
 that he wooed Venus in the form of a mortal ; or, in the tremor which then 
 as now, pervaded the lover's bosom, he might fear that Jove himself would 
 prove a rival, and swan-like, or in some other as picturesque a form, 
 win her he sought for his own : and thus, every class of society, from the 
 patrician to the peasant, must have been imbued with feelings which, 
 while they believed them to be religious, we regard but as poetical. 
 
 Leigh Hunt, who has said many things upon Mythology, quite as 
 beautiful as his subject, remarks : — 
 
 "From having a different creed of our own, and always encountering the 
 Heathen Mythology in a poetical and fabulous shape, we are apt to have 
 a false idea of the religious feeling of the ancients. We are in the habit 
 of supposing, that they regarded their fables in the same poetical light as 
 ourselves ; that they could not possibly put faith in Jupiter, Neptune, and 
 Pluto ; in the sacrifice of innocent turtle doves, the libation of wine, and 
 the notions about Tartarus and Ixion. 
 
 "The greatest pleasure arising to a modern imagination from the ancient 
 Mythology, is in a mingled sense of the old popular belief, and of 
 the philosophical refinements upon it. We take Apollo, and Mercury and 
 Venus, as shapes that existed in popular credulity, as the greater fairies 
 of the ancient world : and we regard them, at the same time, as 
 personifications of all that is beautiful and genial in the forms and 
 tendencies of creation. But the result, coming as it does too through 
 avenues of beautiful poetry, both ancient and modern, is so entirely 
 cheerful, thai we are apt to think it must have wanted gravity to more 
 believing eyes. Every forest, to the mind's eye of a Greek, was haunted 
 with superior intelligences. Every stream had its presiding nymph, who 
 was thanked tor her draught of water. Every house had its protecting 
 gods which had blessed the inmate's ancestors ; and which would bless him 
 
I'REFACK. 
 
 Vll 
 
 also, if he cultivated the social affections : for the same word which 
 expressed piety towards the Gods, expressed love towards relations and 
 friends. If in all this there was nothing but the worship of a more 
 graceful humanity, there may be worships much worse as well as better. 
 
 " Imagine the feelings with which an ancient believer must have gone by 
 the oracular oaks of Dodona, or the calm groves of the Eumenides, or the 
 fountain where Proserpine vanished under ground with Pluto; or the 
 laurelhd mountain Parnassus, on the side of which was the temple of 
 Delphi, where Apollo was supposed to be present in person. Imagine 
 Plutarch, a devout and yet a liberal believer, when he went to study 
 theology and philosophy at Delphi : with what feelings must he not have 
 passed along the woody paths of the hill, approaching nearer every instant 
 to the presence of the divinity, and not sure that a glance of light through 
 the trees was not the lustre of the god himself going by. This is mere 
 poetry to us, and very fine it is ; but to him it was poetry, and religion, 
 and beauty, and gravity and hushing awe, and a path as from one world to 
 another." 
 
 G. Moir Bussey, has also observed, with much elegance and feeling :— 
 "The Mythology of the Ancients is one long romance in itself, full of 
 poetry and passion— a mysterious compound of supernatural wonders and 
 of human thoughts and feelings. It entrances us by its marvels, in child- 
 hood ; and, in manhood, we ponder over it, if not with the same rapturous 
 delight as formerly, yet at least with such a sense of pleasure as that in- 
 spired by the perusal of a magnificent poem-the product of immortal 
 mind-refreshing, invigorating, exalting. Beauty and strength— the 
 might of man, and the majesty and sublimity of the misunderstood in- 
 telligences of the godhead, not only constituted the worship of the Greeks 
 of old, but governed their lives, their actions, their laws, and the very 
 aspirations of their hearts. They aimed at excellence in the highest, in 
 order that their statues might be installed in their national temples as 
 
Mil PREFACE. 
 
 those of demi-gods, and the struggle brought them sufficient knowledge 
 and energy to win deathless renown among men. All that they achieved, 
 all that they meditated, bespeaks the soaring of a race bent upon con- 
 quering every obstacle— natural or artificial — which stood between them 
 and absolute perfection, whether in legislation, in philosophy, in art, in 
 science, in literature, in poetry, in war, or in dominion." 
 
 The reality of an every day world has now set its seal upon all that 
 delighted the days of our youth, and would even arouse us from our 
 reveries on this most charming of subjects : we will conclude with the 
 words of Barry Cornwall. 
 
 " Oh ! ye delicious fables, where the wave, 
 
 And wood, were peopled ; and the air, with things 
 
 So lovely — why, ah ! why has science grave 
 Scattered afar your secret imaginings ? 
 
 Why seared the delicate flowers that genius gave, 
 And dash the diamond drops from fancy's wings ? 
 
 Alas! the spirit languishes, and lies 
 
 At mercy of life's dull realities. 
 
 " No more by well, or bubbling fountain clear, 
 
 The Naiad dries her tresses in the sun, 
 Nor longer may we in the branches hear 
 
 The Dryad talk, nor see the Oread run 
 Along the mountains, nor the Nereid steer 
 
 Her way among the waves when day is done, 
 Shadows nor shape remain — " 
 
HEATHEN MYTHOLOGY 
 
HEATHEN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Tn the earlier part of the history of nations, Mythology has 
 always been found to exist ; imaginary beings have been adored, 
 and a system of worship established, which, though imperfect in 
 itself, was satisfactory to those, who, looking beyond the abstract 
 circumstance of its idolatry, discovered the grand truth, that how- 
 ever rude, and however barbarous the people, there was a principle 
 evidently acknowledged in their actions, of the necessity of a supreme 
 being ; and a feeling, of which they could not dispossess themselves, 
 that a divine being watched over, and was the rewaider of their 
 good, or the punisher of their evil deeds. 
 
 The priests of Phoenicia and Egypt were the origin of the 
 elements of this profane faith, and through their means, its trans- 
 mission may be traced to the Greeks, who after adopting, purified, 
 or at least assisted in greatly refining it, before its reception by 
 the Romans, who multiplied their Gods in about the same degree 
 that their vices increased ; while their armies, which overran the 
 l 
 
* INTRODUCTION. 
 
 world, doubtless gave to the Scandinavians and the Gauls, their 
 ideas of the faith of Odin ; and the fables of the Hindoos and 
 those of the American people, must be ascribed to the same source. 
 
 It has been with many an endeavour to trace in the mythologies 
 of various nations, a resemblance to the more holy histories of our 
 own faith ; and they assert, that in many of the fables, with which 
 we are familiar, are to be traced the types or symbols of part of that 
 revelation which is the ground work of our own belief, but this is, 
 at best, so vague and shadowy, that its inculcators get lost in their 
 own inventions, and their followers scarcely comprehend the 
 assertions they are called on implicitly to believe. With this we 
 have nothing to do, the object of the present work being the 
 endeavour to offer a brief and succinct history of those Gods whose 
 adventures have created most interest, and by means of them to 
 give an additional zest to the perusal of the great poets and writers 
 of antiquity, whose works are either founded on these actual adven- 
 tures, or abound with allusions to them, and without the knowledge 
 of which, it may be asserted, that the mind is scarcely able to do 
 justice to them any more than to modern writers, since the works 
 of the latter teem with images drawn from classical subjects. Nor 
 indeed is this to be wondered at, when we consider the various 
 subjects connected with fable; and in this view of our subject we are 
 borne out by a distinguished writer in the following elegant remarks : 
 
 " Men of a phlegmatic disposition," observes Dr. Turner, " or of 
 a censorious temper, never cease to rail against the delightful 
 fictions with which Homer and Hesiod, and their poetical imitators 
 have enriched and embellished their works; but although these 
 fictions did not contain many useful instructions, and important 
 truths, would there be any reason to attack and destroy a system, 
 which peoples and animates nature, and which makes a solemn 
 temple of the vast universe ? These flowers, whose varied and 
 shining beauty you so much admire, are the tears of Aurora. It is 
 the breath of Zephyrus which gently agitates the leaves. The soft 
 murmu rings of the waters are the sighs of the Naiades. A god impels 
 the wind ; a god pours out the rivers ; grapes are the gift of Bacchus ; 
 Ceres presides over the harvest ; orchards are the care of Pomona. 
 Does a shepherd sound his reed on the summit of a mountain, 
 it is Pan. who with his pastoral pipe returns the amorous lay. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 na, 
 
 " When the sportsman's horn rouses the attentive ear, it is Diai 
 armed with her bow and quiver, and more nimble than the stag 
 that she pursues, who takes the diversion of the chase. The sun is 
 a god, who, riding in a car of fire, diffuses his light through the 
 world : the stars are so many divinities, who measure with their 
 golden beams, the regular progress of time ; the moon presides over 
 the silence of night and consoles the world for the absence of her 
 brother. Neptune reigns in the sea, surrounded by the Naiades, 
 who dance to the joyous shells of the Tritons. In the highest 
 heaven is seated Jupiter, master and father of men and gods. Under 
 his feet roll the thunders, in the caverns of Etna, forged by the 
 Cyclops ; his smile rejoices nature ; and his nod shakes the foundation 
 of Olympus. Surrounding the throne of their sovereign, the other 
 divinities quaff nectar, from a cup presented them by the young 
 and beautiful Hebe. In the middle of the great circle shines, with 
 distinguished lustre, the unrivalled beauty of Venus, alone adorned 
 with a splendid girdle in which the Graces for ever play, and in her 
 hand is a smiling boy whose power is universally acknowledged by 
 heaven and earth. Sweet illusions of the fancy ! pleasing errors of the 
 mind ; what objects of pity are those cold and insensible hearts who 
 have never felt your charms ! and what objects of pity and indignation 
 those fierce and savage spirits, who would destroy a world that has 
 so long been the treasury of the arts ! a world, imaginary indeed, 
 but delightful, and whose ideal pleasures are so well fitted to com- 
 pensate for the real troubles and miseries of the world in which we live." 
 If we turn to a still higher authority (and we acknowledge that 
 the subject has been treated of so often and in so masterly a style 
 by men of whom, the world was scarcely worthy, that we are willing 
 rather to present their matured opinions, than to obtrude our own) 
 we shall find that Lord Bacon treats of the subject in a manner 
 which maintains his high character as a profound thinker. " I am 
 not ignorant," he says, " how uncertain fiction is, and how liable to 
 be wrested to this or that sense, nor how prevalent wit and discourse 
 are, so as ingeniously to apply such meanings as were not thought 
 of originally ; but let not the follies and license of a few lessen the 
 esteem due to parables; for that would be profane and bold, since 
 religion delights in such veils and shadows: but, reflecting on 
 human wisdom I ingenuously confess my real opinion is, that 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 mystery and allegory were from the original intended in many fables 
 of the ancient poets, this appears apt and conspicuous to me ; 
 whether ravished with a veneration for antiquity, or because I find 
 such coherence in the similitude with the things signified, in the 
 very texture of the fable, and in the propriety of the names which 
 are given to the persons or actors in the fables ; and no man can 
 positively deny that this was the sense proposed from the beginning, 
 and industriously veiled in this manner. . . No one should be moved, 
 if he sometimes finds any addition for the sake of history, or by way 
 of embellishment; or if chronology should happen to be confounded, 
 or if part of one fable should be transferred to another, and a 
 new allegory introduced : for these were all necessary, and to be 
 expected, seeing they are the inventions of men of different ages, 
 and who writ to different ends ; some with a view to the nature of 
 things and others to civil affairs. We have another sign, and that 
 no small one, of this hidden sense which we have been speaking of, 
 which is, that some of these fables are in the narration so foolish and 
 absurd, that they seem to proclaim a parable at a distance. Such 
 as are probable may be feigned for amusement, and in imitation of 
 history ; but where no such designs appear, but they seem to be 
 what none would imagine or relate, they must be calculated for 
 other uses. What has a great weight with me, is, that many of 
 these fables seem not to be invented by those wdio have related 
 them, Homer, Hesiod, and other writers ; for were they the fictions 
 of that age, and of those who delivered them down to us, nothing 
 great and exalted, according to my opinion, could be expected from 
 such an origin ; but if any one will deliberate on this subject 
 attentively, these will appear to be delivered and related as what were 
 before believed and received, and not as tales then first invented and 
 communicated ; besides, as they are told in different maimers, by 
 authors of almost the same times, they are easily perceived to be 
 common, and derived from old tradition, and are various only from 
 the additional embellishments diverse writers have bestowed on 
 them. . . The wisdom of the ancients was either great or happy, 
 great if these figures were the fruits of their industry; and happy 
 if they looked no further, that they have afforded matter and 
 occasion so worthy of contemplation." 
 
BRUCNOT. Sc 
 
 OLYMPUS. 
 
THE DIVINITIES OF FABLE. 
 
 The stars were the first recipients of the homage of mankind ; 
 and thus Heaven is the most ancient of the (sj|>ds. As the world 
 increased, they deified heroes. 
 
 The Gods of the ancients were divided into many classes. The 
 
 principal, or Gods of the first order, amounted to twenty, viz : — 
 
 Jupiter, Juno, Neptune, Ceres, Mercury, Minerva, Vesta, Apollo, 
 
 Diana, Venus, Mars, Vulcan, Destiny, Saturn, Genius, Pluto, 
 
 Bacchus, Love, Cybele, and Proserpine. Besides these more 
 
 important ones, they had others, such as Chaos ; which did not 
 
 belong to any particular class, and which were not the object of any 
 
 faith. 
 
 " Before the seas, and this terrestrial ball, 
 And Heaven's high canopy, that covers all, 
 One was the face of nature — if a face ; 
 Rather a rude and indigested mass; 
 A lifeless lump, unfashioned and unframed, 
 Of jarring seeds; and justly Chaos named. 
 No sun was lighted up, the world to view ; 
 No moon did yet her blunted horns renew ; 
 Nor yet was earth suspended in the sky ; 
 Nor poised, did on her own foundations lie : 
 Nor seas about their shores the arms had thrown ; 
 But earth, and air, and water were in one. 
 Thus air was void of light, and earth unstable, 
 And waters dark abyss unnavigable. 
 No certain form on any was imprest ; 
 All were confused, and each disturbed the rest. 
 For hot and cold were in one body fix'd ; 
 And soft with hard, and light with heavy mix'd. 
 But God, or Nature, while they thus contend, 
 To these intestine discords put an end : 
 Then earth from air, and seas from earth were driven, 
 And grosser air sunk from ethereal Heaven. 
 The force of fire ascended first on high, 
 And took its dwelling in the vaulted sky : 
 Then air succeeds, in lightness next to fire ; 
 Whose atoms from unactive earth retire. 
 Earth sinks beneath, and draws a numerous throng 
 Of ponderous, thick, unwieldy seeds along. 
 About her coasts unruly waters roar, 
 And, rising on a ridge, insult the shore. 
 Thus when the God, whatever God was he, 
 Had formed the whole, and made the parts agree, 
 That no unequal portions might be found, 
 He moulded earth into a spacious round : 
 Then, with a breath, he gave the winds to blow ; 
 And bade the congregated waters flow : 
 
CHAOS. 
 
 He adds the running springs, and standing lakes: 
 And bounding banks for winding rivers makes. 
 Some part in earth are swallowed up; the most 
 In ample oceans disembogued, are lost: 
 He shades the woods, the valleys he restrains 
 With rocfcjF mountains, and extends the plains. 
 And as five zones the ethereal regions bind, 
 Five, correspondent, are to earth assigned : 
 The sun with rays, directly darting down, 
 Fires all beneath, and fries the middle zone : 
 The two beneath the distant poles, complain 
 Of endless winter, and perpetual rain." 
 
 Ovid. 
 
 Chaos is often mentioned in the history of the Gods, but 
 seems only to have had a momentary reign. He is the most 
 ancient of all, for he presided over the elements that composed the 
 universe. He is usually represented at the moment that he assigned 
 
 to each element its place. To create the light of day, he repelled 
 all the dark and thick clouds, and then formed the zodiac, glittering 
 with stars above his head. 
 
 The poetic idea of Chaos is found in sacred history, in the 
 creation, as well as in all mythology where we see the names of 
 Bramah, Vishnu and Siva. 
 
URANUS, OR HEAVEN. 
 
 Uranus, or Heaven, was the son of Day. Espousing his sister 
 Titaea ; from their union sprang the Titans, those giants of antiquity 
 who occupy so important a position in the annals of Fable. Of 
 these children of the earth the principal were Titan, Saturn, and 
 Hyperion, of the males ; whilst among the females were comprised 
 Thea, Rhea, Themis, and Mnemosyne. After this Titaea bore the 
 Cyclops, three of whom became servants to Vulcan, forging, under 
 his direction, the thunderbolts of the great Jove ; while the remain- 
 der wandered around the coast, leading the lives of shepherds. 
 
 " Three sons are sprung from Heaven and Earth's embrace, 
 
 The Cyclops bold, in heart a haughty race, 
 
 Brontes and Steropes, and Arges brave, 
 
 Who to the hands of Jove the thunder gave : 
 
 They for almighty power did lightning frame, 
 
 All equal to the gods themselves in fame ; 
 
 One eye was placed (a large round orb, and bright) 
 
 Amidst their forehead to receive the light; 
 
 Hence were they Cyclops called." 
 
 Hesiod. 
 
 Uranus, however, as time passed, began to fear lest the offspring, 
 which rose to such gigantic strength, should dethrone him ; and by 
 his power he threw them down an abyss, into which the light of 
 day could never penetrate. This tyranny, however, only ripened 
 
 the spirit of rebellion which he feared, and their frightful confine- 
 ment but urged them to greater efforts to escape. They all arose 
 against him, but were compelled to yield after a desperate struggle 
 
H SATURN, OR TIME. 
 
 for supremacy ; while rebellion brought its accustomed curse, in 
 heavier chains and more rigorous captivity, to all save Saturn, who, 
 led by ambition and vengeance, and assisted by his mother in his 
 schemes, dethroned his sire, usurped his empire, and delivered his 
 brethren. 
 
 The defeated monarch fell beneath his son's parricidal hand, and 
 from the blood thus shed sprang the Giants and the Furies, render- 
 ing fruitful also the foam of the sea, of which was born Venus 
 Aphrodite. 
 
 SATURN. 
 
 By right of succession the sceptre of Uranus belonged to Titan, 
 the eldest of the sons of the murdered monarch. 
 
 " Titan, heaven's first born, 
 
 With his enormous brood, and birthright seized 
 By younger Saturn ; he from mightier Jove 
 His own and Rhea's son like measure found. 
 
 Or who with Saturn old 
 
 Fled over Adria to the Hesperian fields, 
 And o'er the Celtic roamed the utmost Isles." 
 
 Mij.ton. 
 Compelled to renounce his claim in favour of Saturn, who delivered 
 them all from their confinement; but with the condition that whatever 
 
BTTfff f fffM 
 
SATTJRN, OR TIME. 
 
 children might be born to him, should be destroyed. Saturn, 
 faithful to his promise, swallowed, at their birth, all the male children 
 
 brought to him by his wife Cybele. But a mother's yearning for her 
 offspring, appears to have filled even the breast of a goddess ; and 
 when delivered of Jupiter and Juno, she placed a stone instead of 
 the newly-born, in the arms of the god, habited in an infant's dress. 
 
 " Jealous of the infant's future power, 
 
 A stone the mother gave him to devour ; 
 Greedy he seized the imaginary child, 
 And swallowed heedless, by the dress beguiled ; 
 Nor thought the w retched god of aught to fear, 
 Nor knew the day of his disgrace was near ; 
 Invincible remains his Jove alive, 
 His throne to shake, and from his kingdom drive 
 The cruel parent ; for to him 'tis given 
 To rule the gods, and mount the throne of heaven." 
 
 Hesiod. 
 
 Saturn devoured this, as he had the previous offerings ; and 
 emboldened by her success, Cybele delivered in the same manner 
 Pluto and Neptune, and afterwards, by administering a potion, 
 compelled him to yield up those he had already swallowed. 
 Jupiter, the first whom the Goddess had saved by her artifice, was 
 brought up secretly in the Isle of Crete, by the Cory ban tes, or 
 warrior priests, who, making a deafening noise with their drums 
 and cymbals, prevented for a period the cries of the infant from 
 reaching the ears of Titan : when, however, the latter discovered, 
 as he eventually did, that his hopes had been deceived, and his 
 2 
 
10 JANUS — THE GOLDEN AGE. 
 
 agreement broken, he assembled an army, marched against Saturn, 
 (who by this time was made aware of the deception, but refused to 
 destroy his children), took him prisoner, and threw him into 
 Tartarus, from whence he was delivered by Jupiter, and replaced 
 upon his throne. But the fears of Saturn rendered him ungrateful 
 to his deliverer, for Destiny having prophesied that Saturn should 
 be dethroned by his son, the God attacked Jupiter in ambush, and 
 finished, by declaring open war against him. Jupiter, however, 
 again proved conqueror, chasing from heaven his father and his 
 king, who took refuge in that part of Italy known as Latium ; 
 Janus, monarch of this city of refuge, succoured and received him, 
 and Saturn, to recompense his hospitality, granted to him the gift 
 of memory, and of looking into the future. From this cause, Janus 
 is represented with a double face. The time which Saturn passed 
 on earth is known as the age of gold. 
 
 " Ere Saturn's rebel son usurped the skies ; 
 When beasts were only slain in sacrifice ; 
 While peaceful Crete enjoyed her ancient lord ; 
 Ere sounding hammers forged the inhuman sword ; 
 Ere hollow (hums were beat ; before the breath 
 Of brazen trumpets rung the peals of death, 
 The good old God his hunger did assuage 
 With roots and herbs, and gave the golden age." 
 
 Virgil. 
 
 " The Golden age was first; when man yet new, 
 
 No rule but uncorrupted reason knew, 
 
 And with a native bent did good pursue ! 
 
 Unforced by punishment, unawed by fear, 
 
 His words were simple, and his soul sincere. 
 
 Needless was written law, when none oppressed, 
 
 The law of man was written in his breast ; 
 
 No suppliant crowds before the judge appeared, 
 
 No court erected yet, nor cause was heard ; 
 
 But all was safe, for conscience was their guard : 
 
 The mountain trees in distant prospects please, 
 
 Ere yet the pine descended to the seas ; 
 
 Ere sails were spread new oceans to explore, 
 
 And happy mortals unconcerned for more, 
 
 Confined their wishes to their native shore : 
 
 No walls were yet, nor fence, nor moat, nor mound, 
 
 Nor drum was heard, nor trumpets' angry sound ; • 
 
 Nor swords were forged, but void of care or crime, 
 
 The soft creation slept away their time ; 
 
 The teeming earth, yet guiltless of the plough, 
 
 And unprovoked did fruitful stores allow ; 
 
SATURN, OR TIME. II 
 
 Content with food, which nature freely bred, 
 On wildings and on strawberries they fed : 
 The flowers unsown in fields and meadows reigned, 
 And western winds immortal spring maintained; 
 In following years the bearded corn ensued, 
 From earth unasked, nor was that earth renewed ; 
 From veins of valleys, milk and nectar broke, 
 And honey sweating thro' the pores of oak." 
 
 Ovid. 
 
 From the gaieties and fetes which then took place arose the 
 name of Saturnalia, or fetes of Saturn, which lasted three, four, 
 and five days, and took place in December. All work was stayed, 
 friend interchanged gifts with friend, the preparations for war and 
 the execution of criminals were alike suspended, while masters 
 waited on their slaves at table, in remembrance of the ideas of 
 liberty and equality, which existed in ancient days. 
 
 Janus was represented supported by a staff, with a key in his 
 hand, as he was believed to be the inventor of doors and of locks. 
 From his name came the month of January. He worshipped at 
 twelve altars, to represent the twelve months ; and wore occasionally 
 four faces, as tokens of the four seasons of the year. At Rome, in 
 which his temple was placed, it was open in the time of war, and 
 shut during that of peace. 
 
 Saturn, or Time, is represented sometimes on a flying chariot, 
 and sometimes on a throne, under the figure of an old and bearded 
 man, severe in aspect, thin and yet robust, his eyes marked by 
 a stern light ; a veil on his head, and a serpent round his waist ; 
 while in his hand he carries a harp. In later times he is represented 
 with a scythe. 
 
 " Unfathomable sea ! whose waves are years ; 
 
 Ocean of Time, wjjose waters of deep woe 
 Are brackish with the salt of human tears ; 
 
 Thou shoreless flood, which in thy ebb and flow 
 Claspest the limits of mortality! 
 And sick of prey, yet howling on for more, 
 Vomitest wrecks on its inhospitable shore. 
 Treacherous in calm and terrible in storm, 
 
 Who shall put forth on thee, 
 
 Unfathomable sea?" 
 
 Shelley. 
 
 With his scythe and with his wings, our eyes are familiar, 
 as, to the present day, he is never drawn without these 
 accompaniments. 
 
12 
 
 SATURN, OR TIME. 
 
 ' ; To one that marks the quick and certain round 
 Of year on year, and finds that every day 
 Brings its grey hair, or hears a leaf away 
 
 From the full glory with which life is crowned, 
 
 Ere youth "becomes a shade, and fame a sound : 
 Surely to one that feels his foot on sand 
 Unsure, the bright and ever visible hand 
 
 Of Time, points far above the lowly bound 
 Of pride that perishes : and leads the eye 
 
 To loftier objects and diviner ends ; 
 A tranquil strength, sublime humility, 
 
 A knowledge of ourselves, a faith in friends, 
 A sympathy for all things born to die, 
 
 With cheerful love for those whom truth attends." 
 
 Laman Blanchard. 
 
 This fable is easy of explanation. Time is the child of heaven 
 and earth ; he has wings because he flies rapidly, a scythe because 
 
 he destroys all, an hour-glass to measure his course equally; and 
 the serpent is the symbol of eternity, which has neither a beginning 
 nor an end. He slew his father, because, the world and time once 
 created, he could exist no longer ; he devoured his infants because 
 time destroys all, and he threw them from his stomach because 
 time returns with the years and days ; and this part of the fable 
 is also an image of the operations which nature accomplishes 
 under the influence of time. He did not devour Jupiter, as 
 he represents the celestial regions, nor Juno, she being the 
 prototype of the air: Time, mighty and all-destroying as he is, 
 iiavlinjf no influence over the elements. 
 
CYBELE, VEST A. 
 
 This goddess was the daughter of Uranus, being the sister and wife 
 of Saturn. As soon as she was born, she was exposed on a mountain, 
 but being preserved and suckled by some of the wild beasts of the 
 forest, she received the name of Cybele from the mountain where 
 her life had been preserved. She is called also the ancient Vesta, 
 to distinguish her from her daughter Vesta, who, with her mother, 
 is also called Cybele. But the Deity of whom we now write is the 
 earth, and is easy to distinguish from her daughter. In several 
 temples of the ancients, the statues of Cybele were only a piece of 
 stone, meant to represent the stability of the earth. 
 
 This great Goddess saw and became enamoured of a shepherd, 
 who repulsed her affection, being in love with a mortal nymph ; 
 and rather than submit to the tyrannical passion of Cybele, he 
 is said to have destroyed himself, and the goddess metamorphosed 
 him into a pine-tree. 
 
 ■&&**' 
 
 In the mythology of every country, this Deity is found, though 
 under various names. She is represented with keys in her hand, 
 her head crowned with rising turrets, and sometimes with the Leaves 
 
11 
 
 THK VESTALS. 
 
 of an oak. She is also seen with many breasts, to intimate that 
 the earth gives aliment to all living creatures. 
 
 To her daughter, who presided over the fiery element, Numa 
 Pompilius consecrated an altar, where virgins, named Vestals, 
 maintained perpetual fire. At Delphi and at Athens the priestesses 
 were not virgins, as at the other temples, but widows who were past 
 the time of marriage. 
 
 It was the employment of the Vestals to take care that the 
 
 sacred (ire of Vesta was not extinguished, for if it ever happened, it 
 was deemed the prognostic of great calamities to the state : the 
 offender was punished for negligence, and severely scourged by the 
 high priest. The privileges of the Vestals were great : they had 
 the most honourable seats at the public games and festivals, a lictor 
 preceded them when they walked in public ; they were carried in 
 chariots when they pleased, and had the power of pardoning 
 criminals if they encountered them on the way to execution, and 
 the meeting was declared to be purely accidental. 
 
 Such of them as forgot their vow, were placed in a large hole 
 under the earth, where a bed was placed, with a little bread, wine, 
 
THE VESTALS. 
 
 15 
 
 oil, arid a lighted lamp : the guilty Vestal was stripped of the 
 habit of her order, and compelled to descend into the subterranean 
 cavity, which was immediately shut, and she was left to die of 
 hunger. 
 
 Vestal. Spare me ! oh spare ! 
 
 Priest. Speak not, polluted one. 
 
 Vestal. Yet spare me ! 
 
 Priest. Thou pleadst in vain — thy destiny is fixed. 
 
 Vestal. Mercy — oh ! mercy ; tho' my sin be great, 
 Life is so beautiful I cannot die ; 
 And earth seems smiling with intenser light, 
 And flowers give forth an odour ever new, 
 The stars look brighter still than when of old 
 I watched them fading from the mountain top : 
 Earth, sky and air, are all so beautiful, 
 I cannot, dare not, will not, think of death ! 
 
 Priest. It is thy doom ! thy living grave is near. 
 Thou hast despoiled the Goddess of her due, 
 The vow thou gavest to her thou hast broken, 
 And thou must pay the awful penalty ! 
 
 Vestal. The grave — a living grave — thou meanst it not — 
 To ope my eyes in th' ever during dark, 
 To breathe a thick and frightful atmosphere, 
 Drawn from my sighs and dampened with my tears J 
 
 Priest. The Gods demand their victim ! 
 
 Vestal. 'Tis blasphemy to think it ; 
 Oh ! if thou ever knew'st a father's love, 
 A mother's sigh, a sister's soft caress, 
 If but one human sympathy be left, 
 Pardon, oh 1 pardon ! 
 
 Priest. Cling not around me, girl, touch, touch me not ; 
 The power to pardon lieth not in man. 
 Thy hour hath come. 
 
 Vestal, (clasping him). I will not quit thee ; 
 Thou art a man with human sympathies ; 
 Madness will touch my brain ; I cannot, will not yield. 
 Grant me some other death : poison or steel, 
 Or aught that sends me suddenly from earth ; 
 But to be wrapt in clay, and yet not of it, 
 To feel the earth crumbling around my brow, 
 To scent its foul and noisome atmosphere, 
 Is more than frail mortality can bear. 
 
 Anon. 
 
JUPITER, 
 
 The nymphs of mount Ida, to whom Cybele had confided her 
 son, educated him with great care ; but his cries being likely to call 
 the attention of Saturn and Titan, the priests invented a dance 
 accompanied with noise, called the Dactyl, in which they inter- 
 changed blows on steel bucklers. His nourishment was received 
 from a goat, who was afterwards placed among the heavenly 
 constellations, having given his skin to form a shield, and one of his 
 horns, which was presented to the nymphs, and named the Horn of 
 Plenty. As Jupiter emerged from infancy, we have seen he had to 
 strive with the Titans, who disputed with him the right to reign in 
 Heaven. 
 
 The first of their feats was to heap mountain on mountain in 
 order to scale the walls of Heaven ; they then threw fragments of 
 rocks and burning trees against " high Olympus." 
 
 " But vainly came Typhreus on, 
 
 And vainly huge Porphyrion, 
 
 Fierce Rhoetus of the vengeful stroke, 
 
 And Minias strong as mountain oak, 
 With bold Encelaedas, to heaven who strove 
 To dart the trees, uprooted, from the grove : 
 
 For weak their might against the shield 
 
 Which Pallas' matchless arm did wield ; 
 
 While quick against the giant foes 
 
 Juno, and ardent Vulcan, rose ; 
 And to the fight the young Apollo sped, 
 Glittering afar with hows and arrows dread, 
 
 Who bathing in Castalian dew, 
 
 His tresses loose of golden hue, 
 
 Rejoicing in his youth is seen 
 
 Amid the Lycian valleys green, 
 Or in the Delian groves will sport oftwhile 
 Amid the flowers that deck his native isle." 
 
 Horace. 
 
 The Gods at first defended themselves with great courage, but at 
 the appearance of the hundred-headed Typhon, all, save Bacchus, 
 sought safety in flight, and hid themselves in Egypt, where they 
 obtained refuge under various forms ■ from the different disguises 
 they then assumed, may be traced the worship rendered by the 
 Egyptians to both animals and vegetables, 
 
THE TITANS WAR AGAINST JUPITER. 17 
 
 Typhon, who thus, by his mere appearance, seemed to turn the 
 tide of war, is thus described : 
 
 " Typbon, whose hands 
 
 Of strength are fitted to tremendous deeds ; 
 And indefatigable are the feet 
 Of the strong God : and from his shoulders rise 
 A hundred snaky heads of dragon growth." 
 
 IIesiod. 
 
 Notwithstanding the dire appearance of this monster, Bacchus 
 fought bravely against the foes of Heaven, and took the form of a 
 Lion, while animated by the cries of Jupiter, who shouted " Courage, 
 courage !" his bravery turned the tide of war. 
 
 " And now the murmur of incitement flies, 
 All ranged in martial order, through the skies ; 
 Here Jove above the rest conspicuous sinned, 
 In valour equal to his strength his mind ; 
 Erect and dauntless see the thunderer stand, 
 The bolts red hissing from his vengeful hand ; 
 He walks majestic round the starry frame; 
 And now the lightnings from Olympus flame. 
 The earth wide blazes with the fires of Jove, 
 Nor the flash spares the verdure of the grove." 
 
 Husiod. 
 
 The invaders, at length, were overthrown, and crushed beneath 
 the mountains which they themselves had prepared to execute their 
 vengeance on Jupiter. Many times, though vainly, the Titans 
 sought to avenge their defeat; and Olympus, from this time, was 
 only troubled by internal dissensions. 
 
 " The bruised Titans mourned 
 
 Within a den where no insulting light 
 
 Could glimmer on their tears ; where their own groans 
 
 They felt, but heard not; hard flint they sat upon, 
 
 Couches of rugged stone and slaty ridge, 
 
 Stubborned with iron. 
 
 Cceus and Gyges and Briareus, 
 
 With many more, the brawniest in assault, 
 
 Were pent in regions of laborious breath ; 
 
 Dungeoned in opague element to keep 
 
 Their clenched teeth still clenched, and all their limbs 
 
 Locked up like veins of metal cramped and screwed : 
 
 Without a motion save of their big hearts, 
 
 Heaving in pain." 
 
 Keats' Hyperion. 
 
 After his victory, Jupiter, who had driven Saturn from Heaven, 
 and was in consequence its undisputed king, espoused Juno his 
 sister. 
 
 3 
 
18 JUPITER AMMON PROMETHEUS. 
 
 The commencement of their union was a happy one, and was 
 
 called the age of silver, being an era of virtue, less pure, however, 
 
 than that of the age of gold. 
 
 " But when good Saturn banished from above 
 Was driven to hell, the world was under Jove. 
 Succeeding times a silver age behold, 
 Excelling brass, but more excelled by gold ; 
 Then summer, autumn, winter did appear, 
 And spring was but a season of the year. 
 The sun his annual course obliquely made, 
 Good days contracted and enlarged the bad. 
 Then air with sultry heat began to glow ; 
 The wings of winds were clogged with ice and snow ; 
 And shivering mortals into houses driven, 
 Sought shelter from the inclemency of heaven. 
 Those houses then were caves or homely sheds, 
 With twining osiers fenced, and moss their beds : 
 Then ploughs for seed the fruitful furrows broke, 
 And oxen laboured first beneath the yoke." 
 
 Ovid. 
 
 Nor was crime long in making its appearance. Hyacon, King of 
 Arcadia, violated all the laws of hospitality by the massacre of his 
 o-uests. He had the cruelty to offer up to Jupiter, in one of the 
 high festivals, the members of a slave, as an offering to the God. 
 But his punishment was as swift as his conduct had been atrocious : 
 his palace was reduced to ashes, and his form was changed into that 
 of a wolf. From this Jupiter took the name which denotes him an 
 avenger of the laws of hospitality. 
 
 Jupiter is also distinguished by the name of Amnion from the 
 following circumstance : 
 
 Bacchus being in the midst of the sands of Arabia, was seized 
 with a thirst so burning, that he was reduced to long even for a drop 
 of water. Jupiter presented himself to him under the form of a 
 battering-ram, and striking the earth, caused the grateful liquid to 
 spring forth in abundance. Bacchus, to commemorate the deed, 
 erected a temple to his benefactor in the deserts of Lybia, under 
 the name of Jupiter Amnion, i. e. — sandy. 
 
 By this time mankind had owed their creation to the King of 
 the Gods. Prometheus, grand-son of Uranus, having deceived 
 Jupiter, he was punished by being withheld from the element of 
 fire; and to enrage his sovereign, he formed a being of clay, 
 of workmanship so exquisite, that it scarcely seemed to need 
 life to add to its beauty, and to complete his performance, assisted 
 
PUNISHMENT OF PROMETHEUS. 19 
 
 by Minerva, he stole fire from the chariot of the sun, wherewith to 
 animate his image. 
 
 Enraged at this daring, Jupiter had him conveyed to Mount 
 Caucasus, where being chained to the rock, a vulture preyed upon 
 
 his entrails, which grew as fast as they were devoured, thus subject- 
 ing him to a never dying torture. 
 
 Awful sufferer 
 
 To thee unwilling, most unwillingly 
 I come, by the great Father's will driven down, 
 To execute a doom of new revenge. 
 Alas ! I pity thee, and hate myself, 
 That I can do no more : aye from thy sight 
 Returning, for a season, heaven seems hell, 
 So thy worn form pursues me night and day, 
 Smiling reproach. Wise art thou, firm and good, 
 But vainly wouldst stand forth alone in strife 
 Against the Omnipotent : as yon clear lamps, 
 That measure and divide the weary years 
 From which there is no refuge, long have taught 
 And long must teach. Even now the Torturer arms 
 With the strange might of unimagined pains 
 The powers who scheme slow agonies in hell ; 
 And my commission is to lead them here, 
 Or what more subtle, foul, or savage fiends 
 People the abyss, and leave them to their task. 
 Oh that we might be spared : I to inflict, 
 And thou to suffer ! once more answer me : 
 Thou knowest not the period of Jove's power ? 
 Prometheus. I know but this, that it must come. 
 First Fury. Prometheus ! 
 Second Fury. Immortal Titan ! 
 Third Fury. Champion of Heaven's slaves ! 
 Pro. He whom some dreadful voice invokes is here, 
 Prometheus, the chained Titan. Horrible forms, 
 Whence and what are ye ? Never yet there came 
 
20 PROMETHEUS PANDORA. 
 
 Phantasms so foul thro' monster-teeming hell, 
 From the all miscreative brain of Jove ; 
 Whilst I behold such execrable shapes, 
 Methinks I grow like what I contemplate, 
 And laugh and stare in loathsome sympathy. 
 
 First Fury. We are ministers of pain, and fear, 
 And disappointment, and mistrust, and hate, 
 And clinging crime ; and, as lean dogs pursue 
 Thro' wood and lake some struck and sobbing fawn, 
 We track all things that weep, and bleed, and live, 
 When the great king betrays them to our will. 
 
 Pro. Oh ! many fearful natures in one name, 
 I know ye ; and these lakes and echoes know 
 The darkness and the clangour of your wings. 
 But why more hideous than your loathed selves 
 Gather ye up in legions from the deep ! 
 
 Second Fury. We knew not that : Sisters, rejoice ! rejoice ! 
 
 Pro. Can aught exult in its deformity ? 
 
 Second Fury. The beauty of delight makes lovers glad, 
 Gazing on one another : so are we, 
 As from the rose which the pale priestess kneels 
 To gather for a festal crown of flowers, 
 The aerial crimson falls, flushing her cheek. 
 So from our victim's destined agony, 
 The shade which is our form invests us round ; 
 Else we are shapeless as our mother night. 
 
 Pro. I laugh your power, and his who sent you here, 
 To lowest scorn. Pour forth the cup of pain. 
 
 First Fury. Thou thinkest we will rend thee bone from bone, 
 And nerve from nerve, working like fire within ! 
 
 Pro. Pain is my element, as hate is thine ; 
 Ye rend me now ; I care not. 
 
 Second Fury. Dost imagine 
 We will but laugh into thy lidless eyes ? 
 
 Pro. I weigh not what ye do, but what ye suffer, 
 Being evil. Cruel is the power which called 
 You, or aught else so wretched into light ! 
 
 Third Fury. Thou think'st we will live through thee one by one, 
 Like animal life, and though we can obscure not 
 The soul which burns within, that we will dwell 
 Beside it, like a vain, loud multitude, 
 Vexing the self-content of wisest men : 
 That we will be dread thought beneath thy brain, 
 And foul desire round thine astonished heart, 
 And blood within thy labyrinthine veins, 
 Crawling like agony. 
 
 Pro. Why use me thus now, 
 Yet am I king over my self's rule, 
 The torturing and conflicting throes within, 
 As Jove rules you when hell grows mutinous." 
 
 Shelley. 
 
 This provoked the vengeance of Jupiter, and he ordered Vulcan 
 to create a female, whom they called Pandora. All the Gods vied 
 in making presents. Venus gave her beauty, and the art of pleasing ; 
 
PANDORA S BOX. ~1 
 
 Apollo taught her to sing ; Mercury instructed her in eloquence ; 
 Minerva gave her the most rich and splendid ornaments. From 
 these valuable presents which she received from the Gods, the 
 woman was called Pandora, which intimates that she had received 
 every necessary gift. Jupiter, after this, gave her a beautiful box, 
 which she was ordered to present to the man who married her ; 
 and by the command of the god, Mercury conducted her to 
 Prometheus. The artful mortal was sensible of the deceit; and as 
 he had always distrusted Jupiter, he sent away Pandora without 
 suffering himself to be captivated by her charms. 
 
 " He spoke, and told to Mulciber his will, 
 And smiling* bade him his command fulfil; 
 To use his greatest art, his nicest care, 
 To frame a creature exquisitely fair; 
 To temper well the clay with water, then 
 To add the vigour and* the voice of men ; 
 To let her first in virgin lustre shine, 
 In form a goddess, with a bloom divine; 
 And next the sire demands Minerva's aid, 
 In all her various skill to train the maid • 
 Bids her the secrets of the loom impart, 
 To cast a curious thread with happy heart ; 
 And golden Venus was to teach the fair 
 The wiles of love, and to improve her air ; 
 And then in awful majesty to shed 
 A thousand graceful charms around her head. 
 Next Hermes, artful god, must form her mind, 
 One day to torture, and the next be kind : 
 With manners all deceitful, and her tongue 
 Fraught with abuse, and with detraction hung; 
 Jove gave the mandate, and the gods obeyed : 
 First Vulcan formed of earth the blushing maid ; 
 Minerva next performed the task assigned, 
 With every female art adorned her mind ; 
 To her the Beauties and the Graces join, 
 Around her person, lo ! the diamonds shine. 
 To deck her brows the fair tressed seasons bring, 
 A garland breathing all the sweets of spring : 
 Each present Pallas gives its proper place, 
 And adds to every ornament a grace ! 
 Next Hermes taught the fair the heart to move 
 With all the false alluring arts of love, 
 Her manners all deceitful, and her tongue 
 With falsehoods fruitful, and detraction hung ; 
 The finished maid the gods Pandora call, 
 Because a tribute she received from all ; 
 And thus 'twas Jove's command the sex began 
 A lovely mischief to the soul of man ! 
 Within her hand the nymph a casket bears, 
 Full of diseases and corroding cares : 
 
22 PANDORA — HOPE. 
 
 Which opened, they to taint the world begin 
 
 And Hope alone remained entire within ! 
 
 Such was the fatal present from above, 
 
 And such the will of cloud compelling Jove : 
 
 And now unnumbered woes o'er mortals reign 
 
 Alike infected is ihe land and main ; 
 
 O'er human race distempers silent stray, 
 
 And multiply their strength by night and day ! 
 
 'Twas Jove's decree they should in silence rove, 
 
 For who is able to contend with Jove ? " 
 
 Hesiod. 
 
 When the box was opened, there issued from it a multitude of 
 
 evils and distempers, which dispersed themselves over the world, 
 
 and which from that fatal moment have never ceased to afflict the 
 
 human race. Hope alone remained at the bottom, and that only has 
 
 the power of easing the labours of man, and rendering his troubles 
 
 less painful. 
 
 " But thou, oh ! Hope, with eyes so fair, 
 
 What was thy delighted measure ? 
 
 Still it whispered promised pleasure, 
 And bade the lovely scenes at distance hail ! 
 
 Still would her touch the strain prolong, 
 And from the rocks, the woods, the vale, 
 
 She called on Echo still throughout the song; 
 And where her sweetest theme she chose 
 A soft responsive voice was heard at every close, 
 
 And Hope, enchanted, smiled and waved her golden hair 1" 
 
 Collins. 
 
 " Hope sets the stamp of vanity on all, 
 
 That men have deemed substantial since the fall, 
 
 Yet has the wondrous virtue to educe, 
 
 From emptiness itself, a real use ; 
 
 And while she takes, as at a father's hand, 
 
 What health and sober appetite demand, 
 
 From fading good derives with chemic art 
 
 That lasting happiness, a thankful heart. 
 
 Hope with uplifted foot set free from earth 
 
 Pants for the place of her ethereal birth ; 
 
 Hope, as an anchor firm and sure, holds fast 
 
 The Christian vessel, and defies the blast. 
 
 Hope ! nothing else can nourish and secure 
 
 His new born virtue, and preserve him pure. 
 
 Hope! let the wretch once conscious of the joy, 
 
 Whom now despairing agonies destroy, 
 
 Speak, for he can, and none so well as he, 
 
 What treasures centre, what delights in thee. 
 
 Had he the gems, the spices, and the land 
 
 That boasts the treasure, all at his command, 
 
 The fragrant grove, th* inestimable mine, 
 
 Were light when weighed against one smile of thine." 
 
 COWPKK 
 
AGE OF STEEL — EUROPA. 
 
 23 
 
 After this commenced the age of steel, when even Jupiter 
 abandoned himself to the fiery passions of love, jealousy, and 
 
 " Hard steel succeeded then : 
 
 And stubborn as the metal were the men. 
 Truth, modesty, and shame the woild forsook ; 
 Fraud, avarice, and force, their places took. 
 Then sails were spread to every wind that blew, 
 Raw were the sailors, and the depths were new : 
 Trees, rudely hollowed, did the waves sustain, 
 Ere ships in triumph, ploughed the watery plain. 
 
 Then landmarks limited to each his right ; 
 For all before was common as the light : 
 Nor was the ground alone required to bear 
 Her annual income to the crooked share, 
 But greedy mortals rummaging her store, 
 Dug from her entrails first the precious ore, 
 Which next to hell the prudent Gods had laid, 
 And that alluring ill to sight displayed. 
 Thus cursed steel, and more accursed gold, 
 Gave mischief birth, and made the mischief bold, 
 And double did wretched man invade, 
 By steel assaulted, and by gold betrayed. 
 Now (brandished weapons glittering in their hands) 
 Mankind is broken loose from moral bands : 
 No right of hospitality remain ; 
 The guest, by him who harboured him, is slain. 
 The son-in-law pursues the father's life, 
 The wife her husband murders, he the wife ; 
 The step-dame poison for the son prepares ; 
 The son inquires into his father's years. 
 Faith flies, and piety in exile mourns ; 
 And justice, here opprest, to heaven returns." 
 
 Ovid. 
 
 He was enamoured of Antiope, Alcmena, Danae, Leda, Semele, 
 Europa, Calista, and a crowd of other goddesses and mortals. 
 
 The principal names given to Jupiter are the Thunderer, the 
 Avenger, the God of Day, the God of the Worlds, and lastly of 
 Olympus, in which he dwelt, and on which poets and painters 
 have exercised their imaginations. 
 
 The figures of Jupiter have varied according to the circumstances 
 and the times in which they have appeared. He has been repre- 
 sented as a swan, a bull, a shower of gold, and as a cuckoo : but 
 Homer appears to have inspired ideas of the most noble kinds to 
 the sculptors of antiquity. The divine poet represents the King of 
 Gods seated on a golden throne, at the feet of which are two cups, 
 containing the principle of good and evil. His brow laden with 
 
24 
 
 JUPITER — OLYMPIAN GAMES. 
 
 dark clouds; his eyes darting lightning from beneath their lids; 
 and his chin covered with a majestic beard. In one hand the 
 sceptre, in the other a thunderbolt. The virtues are at his side : at 
 his feet the eagle who bears the thunderbolt, One frown from his 
 eyes makes the whole earth tremble. 
 
 The Olympian games in Greece were instituted in honour of this 
 God, from those celebrated at Olympus. The following, perhaps 
 the finest description we have of Jupiter, while granting the prayer 
 of Achilles, is from Homer's Iliad. 
 
 " Twelve days were passed, and now the dawning- light, 
 
 The Gods had summoned to the Olympian height. 
 
 Jove first ascending from the watery bowers, 
 
 Leads the long order of ethereal powers. 
 
 When like the morning mist in early days, 
 
 Rose from the flood the daughter of the seas; 
 
 And to the seats divine her flight addressed. 
 
 There far apart, and high above the rest 
 
 The Thunderer sat ; where old Olympus shrouds 
 
 His hundred heads m heaven, and props the clouds. 
 
 Suppliant the Goddess stood : one hand she placed 
 
 Beneath his beard, and one his knees embraced : 
 
 * If e'er, O father of the Gods ! ' she said, 
 
 My words could please thee, or my actions aid ; 
 
 Some marks of honour on my son bestow, 
 
 And pay in glory what in life you owe. 
 
 Fame is at least by heavenly p'romise due, 
 
 To life so short, and now dishonoured too. 
 
 Avenge this wrong, oh ever just and wise; 
 
 Let Greece be humbled, and the Trojans rise ; 
 
 Till the proud king, and all the Aehaian race, 
 
 Shall heap with honours him they now disgrace.' " 
 
 , IIOMitK. 
 
juno. 25 
 
 Jupiter is often described by the ancients as visiting the earth in 
 disguise, and distributing to its inhabitants his punishments or 
 rewards. Ovid relates one in connexion with the luxury of Rome, 
 and in which the hospitality of Baucis and Philemon saved them 
 from the fate of their friends. He is represented as the guardian 
 of man, and dispenser of good and evil. 
 
 " While we to Jove select the holy victim, 
 
 Whom after shall we sing than Jove himself? 
 
 The God for ever great, for ever king, 
 
 Who slew the earth-born race, and measures right 
 
 To heaven's great habitants. 
 
 Swift growth and wondrous grace, oh ! heavenly Jove, 
 
 Waited thy blooming years : inventive wit, 
 
 And perfect judgment crowned thy youthful act 
 
 Thou to the lesser gods hast well assigned 
 
 Their proper shares of power ; thy own, great Jove, 
 
 Boundless and universal. Each monarch rules 
 
 His different realm, accountable to thee, 
 
 Great ruler of the world ; these only have 
 
 To speak and be obeyed ; tt those are given 
 
 Assistant days to ripen the design ; 
 
 To some whole months ; revolving years to some ; 
 
 Others, ill-fated, are condemned to toil 
 
 Their tedious life, and mourn their purpose blasted, 
 
 With fruitless act and impotence of eounsel. 
 
 Hail ! greatest son of Saturn, wise disposer 
 
 Of every good ; thy praise what man yet born 
 
 Has sung ? or who that may be born shall sing ? 
 
 Again, and often, hail ! indulge our prayer, 
 
 Great Father ! grant us virtue, grant us wealth, 
 
 For without virtue, wealth to man avails not, 
 
 And virtue without wealth exerts less power, 
 
 And less diffuses good. Then grant us, Gracious, 
 
 Virtue and wealth, for both are of thy gift ! " 
 
 Prior. 
 
 JUNO 
 
 Juno, who was the daughter of Saturn and Cybele, was also sister 
 and wife to Jupiter. Her pride protected her beauty : for when 
 the God, to seduce her, took the form of a cuckoo, she recognised 
 him in his disguise, and refused to submit to his wishes, unless he 
 would consent to marry her. At their nuptials, invitations were 
 sent to all the Gods, and beings of even a lower order were not 
 forgotten. But one nymph, by the insolence of her refusal, merited 
 
 4 
 
26 
 
 [O CHANGED TO AN HEIFER. 
 
 the punishment she received of being changed into a tortoise, and 
 became the symbol of silence. 
 
 As might be expected, the marriage of Jupiter and Juno, was not 
 productive of much happiness, the jealousy of the latter being a 
 never-failing source of misery ; it was this which caused the cele- 
 brated Trojan war; and this that caused Jupiter to suspend her 
 from Heaven by a golden cord, in the attempt to rescue her from 
 which, Vulcan achieved the wrath of his sire, the Thunderer. 
 
 The intrigue of Jupiter with Io, is also celebrated in the history 
 of his amours. Juno became jealous as usual, discovered the object 
 
 of his affections, and surprised him in the company of Io ; a change 
 soon took place in the appearance of the latter, when, through the 
 
JUPITER AND EUROIM. 2/ 
 
 influence of the God, she assumed the form of a white heifer. Juno 
 instantly discovered the fraud, and requested Jupiter to give her 
 possession of an animal she so much admired. 
 
 The request was too reasonable to be refused, and Io became the 
 property of Juno, who placed her under the control of the hundred- 
 eyed Argus: but Jupiter, anxious for the situation of Io, sent 
 Mercury, who destroyed Argus, and restored her to liberty. 
 
 " Down from die rock fell the dissevered head, 
 Opening its eyes in death, and falling bled, 
 And marked the passage with a crimson trail ; 
 Thus Argus lies in pieces, cold and pale, 
 And all his hundred eyes with all their light 
 Are closed at once in one perpetual night ; 
 These Juno takes, that they no mure may fail, 
 And spreads them in her peacock's gaudy tail." 
 
 Ovid. 
 
 After undergoing the vengeance of Juno, who unrelentingly 
 pursued her, she gave birth to an infant on the banks of the Nile, 
 and was restored by Jupiter to her natural shape. 
 
 All who seemed to be favoured by, or who favoured Jupiter, she 
 persecuted with the utmost rigour: but when it is remembered 
 what cause Juno had for her jealousy, and that her husband 
 metamorphosed himself into a swan for Leda, into a shepherd 
 for Mnemosyne, into a shower of gold for Danae, and into a bull 
 for Europa, she may easily be pardoned her restless spirit. 
 
 When Jupiter had assumed the form of a bull, he mingled with 
 the herds belonging to Agenor, father of Europa, while the latter, 
 with her female attendants, was gathering flowers in the surrounding 
 meadows. 
 
 Europa caressed the beautiful animal, and at last had the courage 
 to sit upon his back. Jupiter took advantage of her situation, and 
 with precipitate steps retired towards the shore, crossed the sea 
 with Europa on him, and arrived safe in Crete. Here he adopted 
 his original shape, and declared his love. The nymph consented, 
 though she had previously taken the vows of perpetual celibacy ; and 
 became the mother of Minos, Sarpedon, and Rhadamanthus. 
 
 " The ruler of the skies, the thundering God, 
 Who shakes the world's foundation with a nod, 
 Among a herd of lowing heifers ran, 
 Frisked in a bull, and gallopped o'er the plain ; 
 
28 STATUE OF JUNO. 
 
 His skin was whiter than the snow that lies 
 Unsullied by the breath of southern skies, 
 His every look was peaceful, and expressed 
 The softness of the lover in the beast. 
 Agenor's royal daughter, as she played 
 Among the fields, the milk white bull surveyed, 
 And viewed his spotless body with delight, 
 And at a distance kept him still in sight ; 
 At length she plucked the rising flowers, that fed 
 The gentle beast, and fondly stroked his head. 
 She placed herself upon his back, and rode 
 O'er fields and meadows, seated on the God. 
 He gently marched along, and by degrees, 
 Left the dry meadows and approached the seas, 
 Where now he dips his hoofs and wets his thighs, 
 Now plunges in, and carries off the prize." 
 
 Ovid. 
 
 At length Juno, unable to bear the many injuries her love 
 had sustained, left Jupiter, and retired to the Isle of Samos, 
 announcing, at the same time, that she should return no more to 
 the court of the King of Heaven. The latter, not disheartened, 
 dressed a statue as Queen of Olympus, placed it in his chariot, and 
 declared it should be the future wife of the ruler of the Gods. This 
 induced Juno to quit her hiding place ; for, unable to restrain her 
 jealousy, she rushed back with all speed, destroyed the statue, 
 laughingly acknowledged her error, and was reconciled to her 
 husband. 
 
 The wife of Jupiter is always represented as superbly arrayed, 
 in a chariot drawn by two peacocks, where she sat with a sceptre 
 in her hand, having always a peacock beside her. She was 
 adored above all at Argos, where her feasts were celebrated by the 
 sacrifice of a hundred bulls. At Rome, hers were the Lupercalian 
 feasts. She was believed to preside over the birth-pangs of the 
 Roman women, and the priests, to render the time fruitful, struck 
 these grave matrons with a portion of the skin of a kid, which they 
 asserted had formed one of the vestments of the Goddess. 
 
 In the spirit of a high mythology, Juno may be considered as 
 representing the sublunary atmosphere ; and, as opposed to Jupiter, 
 the active origin and organizer of all, she is of a passive nature. 
 These ideas are allied with those of Hymen, who is called Juno, the 
 virtuous wife. 
 
 A statue of Juno recently discovered, is thus described : — 
 
 " The countenance expresses a stern unquestioned severity of 
 
CERES. 
 
 21) 
 
 dominion, with a certain sadness. The lips are beautiful, suscepti- 
 ble of expressing scorn, but not without sweetness. With fine lips 
 a person is never wholly bad, and they never belong to the 
 expression of emotions purely selfish, lips being the seat of imagi- 
 nation. The drapery is finely conceived ; and the manner in which 
 the act of throwing back one leg is expressed in the diverging folds 
 of the drapery of the left breast, fading in bold, yet graduated lines, 
 into a skirt, as it descends from the left shoulder, is admirably 
 
 imagined." 
 
 Shelley. 
 
 CERES. 
 
 Ceres, daughter of Saturn and Cybele, was goddess of the pro- 
 ductions of the earth. She taught man the art of agriculture, and 
 is represented crowned with wheat, holding a torch in one hand, 
 and in the other an ear of corn ; sometimes she carries a sceptre, 
 and sometimes a sickle, and her chariot is drawn by lions or by 
 serpents. 
 
 " As tempered suns arise 
 
 Sweet beamed, and shedding- through the lucid clouds 
 
 A pleasing calm : while broad and brown, below 
 
 Extensive harvests hang the heavy head. 
 
 Rich, silent, deep, they stand : for not a gale 
 
 Rolls its light billows o'er the bending plain : 
 
 A calm of plenty ; till the ruffled air 
 
 Falls from its poise, and gives the breeze to blow. 
 
30 PLUTO AND PROSERPINE. 
 
 Rent is the fleecy mautle of the sky, 
 And back by fits the shadows sweep along. 
 A gaily chequered, heart-expanding view, 
 Far as the circling eye can shoot around, 
 Unbounded, tossing in a flood of corn." 
 
 Thomson. 
 
 Loved by Jupiter, she had by the God a daughter called 
 Proserpine, whom Pluto, God of Hell, seized near the beautiful 
 vale of Enna, in Sicily, and carried with him to his dismal king- 
 dom. Ceres, whose love for her child, almost surpassed even 
 the usual love of mothers, placed on Mount Etna two torches, and 
 sought her "from morn to noon, from noon to dewy eve," through- 
 out the world. At last, when she deemed her search well nigh 
 hopeless, she was informed by the nymph Arethusa of the dwelling 
 place of her child, and of the name of him who had torn her beloved 
 one from her paternal care. 
 
 Ceres implored Jupiter to interfere, and withdraw her from the 
 infernal regions, which he agreed to do, but found it would be 
 beyond his power, as, by a decree of Destiny, she would not be 
 able to quit her place of concealment, should she have partaken of 
 any nourishment while there ; and it was discovered that though 
 she had refused all ordinary food, she had been tempted while in 
 the gardens of Pluto, to pluck a pomegranate, and to eat a few of 
 its seeds. This was sufficient ; and the utmost Ceres could obtain, 
 was that she should pass six months of the year with her mother 
 and six months with Pluto, when she became his wife. 
 
 " Near Enna's walls a spacious lake is spread, 
 
 Famed for the sweetly singing swans it bred ; 
 
 Pergusa is its name : and never more 
 
 Were heard, or sweeter sounds than on Cayster's shore. 
 
 Woods crown the lake, and Phcebus ne'er invades 
 
 The tufted fences or offends the shades : 
 
 Fresh fragrant breezes fan the verdant bowers, 
 
 And the moist ground smiles with enamelled flowers, 
 
 The cheerful birds their airy carols sing, 
 
 And the whole year is one eternal spring. 
 
 Here while young Proserpine, among the maids, 
 Diverts herself in these delicious shades ; 
 While like a child with busy speed and care, 
 She gathers lilies here, and violets there ; 
 While first to fill her little lap she strives, 
 Hell's grizzly monarch at the shades arrives ; 
 Sees her thus sporting on the flowery green, 
 And loves the blooming maid as soon as seen. 
 
CERES. 
 
 31 
 
 The frighted Goddess to her mother cries : 
 
 But all in vain, for now far off she flies ; 
 
 His urgent flame impatient of delay, 
 
 Swift as his thought he seized the beauteous prey, 
 
 And bore her in his sooty car away. 
 
 Far she behind her leaves her virgin train ; 
 
 To them too cries, and cries to them in vain. 
 
 And while with passion she repeats her call, 
 
 The violets from her lap and lilies fall : 
 
 She misses them, poor heart ! and makes new moan : 
 
 Her lilies, oh ! are lost, her violets gone. 
 
 O'er hills the ravisher, and valleys speeds, 
 
 By name encouraging his foamy steeds ; 
 
 He rattles o'er their necks the rusty reins, 
 
 And ruffles with the stroke their shaggy manes 
 
 Throws to his dreadful steeds the slackened rein, 
 
 And strikes his iron sceptre through the main ; 
 
 The depths profound thro' yielding waves he cleaves, 
 
 And to hell's centre a free passage leaves ; 
 
 Down sinks his chariot, and his realms of night 
 
 The God soon reaches with a rapid flight." 
 
 Ovid. 
 
 The attempts of Ceres to encourage the art of agriculture were 
 not always favourably received : the King of the Scythians, who 
 loved the sword more than the ploughshare, and the spear more 
 than the reaping hook, having attempted to smother the art taught 
 by Ceres in its infancy, was metamorphosed into a lynx. Nor was 
 this the only instance of the vengeance of the Goddess, who was 
 irritable, and prompt to punish. A young child, whose chief crime 
 was having laughed to see her eat with avidity, was changed into a 
 lizard : while a Thessalian, who had desecrated and attempted 
 to destroy a sacred forest, was doomed to an hunger so cruel, that 
 he devoured his own limbs, and died in the midst of fearful torments. 
 
D E S T I N Y. 
 
 We have already seen that the decrees of Destiny, or Fate, were 
 superior even to the will of Jupiter, as the King of the Gods could 
 not restore Proserpine to her mother, Destiny having decreed 
 otherwise. But of this being, as possessing a place among the 
 heroes of mythology, we are left in considerable ignorance. 
 Scarcely knowing even if he were a God, or only the name or 
 symbol whereby to represent an immutable and unchangeable law. 
 In the antique bas-reliefs he is often to be seen, with a bandage 
 over his eyes, and near him an open book which the gods alone 
 might consult : and in which are written those events which must 
 inevitably come to pass, and which all are so anxious to discover. 
 
 '* Thou power which all men strive to look into ! 
 
 Thou power which dost elude all human search ! 
 
 To thee alone is given the right to gaze 
 
 Into the fate prepared for all who live. 
 
 Oh ! wilt thou ne'er unlock thine iron bars, 
 
 Oh ! wilt thou ne'er enable us to lcok 
 
 Into the volume clasped at thy right hand ? 
 
 The past is known to us, and doth contain 
 
 So much of evil and so little good, 
 
 So much of wrong, and oh ! so little right, 
 
 So much of suffering, and so little peace, 
 
 That we would fain turn o'er the leaves which speak 
 
 Of future things to our sore troubled souls. 
 
 Yet no ! perchance the burden is too much, 
 
 And is in mercy hidden from our eyes. 
 
 Earth is made up of so much care and woe, 
 
 The past, the present, and the future known, 
 
 Would sink us into deep and desperate sorrow." 
 
A P OLLO. 
 
 This Deity, whose name still lives with us, as the presiding 
 divinity of the art of song, was the son of Jupiter, by the beautiful 
 Latona, daughter of the Titan, Coeus. Asteria, her sister, disdain- 
 ing the embraces of the God, threw herself into the sea, and was 
 changed into the isle which bears the name of Delos ; where Latona 
 afterwards sought refuge from the fury of Juno, when about to 
 overwhelm her, for her frailty with her husband. The irritated 
 Goddess, to punish Latona for her crime, excited against her the 
 serpent Python, who pursued her wheresoever she went ; until at 
 last, in the Isle of Delos, alone and unfriended, bearing in her 
 bosom the fruit of her weakness, she gave birth to Apollo and 
 Diana. Weary of her confinement, and wishing to return to her 
 father Coeus, she arrived near his dominions, where, fatigued with 
 
 her journey, she begged a drop of water from the peasants, whose 
 cruel refusal to aid her she punished by changing them into frogs. 
 
 5 
 
34 
 
 NIOBE. 
 
 " The Goddess came, and kneeling on the brink, 
 Stooped at the fresh repast, prepared to drink : 
 Then thus, being hindered by the rabble race, 
 In accents mild expostulates the case : 
 
 * Water I only ask, and sure 'tis hard 
 
 From Nature's common rights to be debarred : 
 This, as the genial sun, and vital air, 
 Should flow alike to every creature's share ; 
 One draught, as clear as life I should esteem, 
 And water, now I thirst, would nectar seem : 
 Oh ! let my little babes your pity move, 
 And melt your hearts to charitable love : 
 They (as by chance they did) extend to you 
 Their little hands, and my request pursue !' 
 Yet they the goddess's request refuse, 
 And, with rude words, reproachfully abuse. 
 Her thirst by indignation was suppressed; 
 Bent on revenge, the Goddess stood confessed ! 
 ' And may you live,' she passionately cried, 
 
 * Doomed in that pool for ever to abide ! ' 
 The Goddess has her wish " 
 
 Ovid. 
 
 During her residence at her father's court, Niobe, daughter of 
 Tantalus, had the insolence to prefer herself to Latona, who had but 
 two children, while Niobe possessed seven sons and seven daughters. 
 She even ridiculed the worship which was paid to Latona, 
 observing, that she had a better claim to altars and sacrifices than 
 the mother of Apollo. This insolence provoked Latona, and she 
 
 entreated her children to punish the arrogant Niobe. Her prayers 
 were granted, and immediately all the sons of Niobe expired by the 
 
APOLLO — PH02BUS. 35 
 
 darts of Apollo, and all the daughters, except one, who was married, 
 were equally destroyed by Diana ; while Niobe, stricken by the 
 greatness of the misfortune which had overwhelmed her, was 
 changed into stone. 
 
 The bodies of Niobe's children were left unburied in the plains 
 for nine successive days, because Jupiter changed into stones all 
 such as attempted to inter them. On the tenth, they were 
 honoured with a funeral by the Gods. 
 
 While Apollo resided at the court of Jupiter, he retained the 
 
 title of the God of Light ; and though many writers consider 
 
 Phcebus and Apollo to be different deities, there can be no doubt 
 
 that the worship which is offered to Phcebus, as the sun, is due 
 
 also to Apollo ; and indeed, under both titles is he addressed by 
 
 ancients, as well as moderns. 
 
 " Giver of glowing light ! 
 Though but a God of other days, 
 The kings and sages, 
 Of wiser ages, 
 Still live and gladden in thy genial rays ! 
 
 " King of the tuneful lyre ! 
 Still poets hymns to thee belong, 
 Though lips are cold, 
 "Whereon of old, 
 Thy beams all turned to worshipping and song ! 
 
 " Lord of the dreadful bow ! 
 None triumph now for Python's death ■ 
 But thou dost save 
 From hungry grave, 
 The life that hangs upon a summer's breath ! 
 
 " Father of rosy day ! 
 No more thy clouds of incense rise ; 
 But waking flowers, 
 At morning hours, 
 Give out their sweets to meet thee in the skies 
 
 " God of the Delphic fane ! 
 No more thou listenest to hymns sublime ; 
 But they will leave, 
 On winds at eve, 
 A solemn echo to the end of time 1" 
 
 Hood. 
 
 By the invention of Phcebus, medicine became known to the world, 
 as he granted to iEsculapius the secrets of this miraculous art, who 
 afterwards sought to raise the dead, and while in the act of bringing 
 
36 
 
 DAPHNE. 
 
 to life Hippolitus, son of Theseus, Jupiter enraged with his 
 impiety, smote him with a thunderbolt. Indignant at the punish- 
 ment which had been awarded iEsculapius, Apollo sought the isle 
 of Lemnos, to immolate the Cyclops to his indignation, who had 
 forged the thunderbolt. 
 
 But so insolent an act could not remain unpunished, and Jupiter 
 exiled him from Heaven. While on earth, he loved the nymph 
 Daphne, and Mercury who had invented the lyre, gave it to him 
 that he might the more effectually give vent to his passion. This 
 lyre, was formed of the shell of a tortoise, and composed of seven 
 cords, while to its harmonious tones were raised the walls of Troy. 
 In vain, however, were the sweet sounds of the lyre tuned, to soften 
 Daphne whose affection rested with another, and was insensible to 
 that of Apollo, though he pursued her with fervour for a year. 
 
 Daphne, still inexorable, was compelled to yield to the fatigue which 
 
 oppressed her, when the Gods, at her entreaty, changed her into a 
 
 laurel. Apollo took a branch and formed it into a crown, and to 
 
 this day the laurel remains one of the attributes of the God. The 
 
 leaves of this tree are believed to possess the property of preserving 
 
 from thunder, and of making dreams an image of reality to those 
 
 who place it beneath their pillow. 
 
 " Her feet she found 
 
 Benumbed with eold, and fastened to the ground, 
 
 A filmy rind about her body grows, 
 
 Her hair to leaves, her arms extend to boughs," 
 
HELIOTROPE. ,'*/ 
 
 " The nymph is all into a laurel gone, 
 The smoothness of her skin remains alone ; 
 To whom the God : " Because thou canst not be 
 My mistress, I espouse thee for my tree ; 
 Be thou the prize of honour and renown, 
 The deathless poet and the poem crown ! 
 Thou shalt the Roman festivals adorn, 
 And after poets, be by victors worn ! 
 Thou shalt returning Caesar's triumph grace, 
 When pomp shall in a long procession pass; 
 Wreathed on the posts before his palace wait, 
 And be the sacred guardian of the gate ; 
 Secure from thunder and unharmed by Jove, 
 Unfading as the immortal powers above ; 
 And as the locks of Phoebus are unshorn 
 So shall perpetual green thy boughs adorn." 
 
 Ovm. 
 
 However earnest Apollo might have been in his pursuit of 
 Daphne, he did not long remain inconsolable, but formed a tender 
 attachment for Leucothoe, daughter of king Orchamus, and to 
 introduce himself with greater facility, he assumed the shape and 
 features of her mother. Their happiness was complete, when 
 Clytie, her sister, who was enamoured of the God, and was jealous 
 of his amours with Leucothoe, discovered the whole intrigue to her 
 father, who ordered his daughter to be buried alive. Apollo passing 
 by accident over the tomb which contained her, heard her last 
 melancholy cries, but unable to save her from death, he sprinkled 
 nectar and ambrosia over her tomb, which penetrating as far as the 
 body, changed it into the beautiful tree that bears the frankincense ; 
 while the unhappy Clytie, tormented by remorse, and disdained by 
 the God, was changed into a sunflower, the plant which turns 
 itself without ceasing, towards itsjleity, the sun. 
 
 " On the bare earth she lies, her bosom bare, 
 Loose her attire, dishevelled is her hair ; 
 Nine times the morn unbarred the gates of light, 
 As oft were spread the alternate shades of night, 
 So long no sustenance the mourner knew, 
 Unless she drank her tears, or sucked the dew, 
 She turned about, but rose not from the ground, 
 Turned to the sun still as he rolled his round ; 
 On his bright face hung her desiring eyes, 
 Till fixed to earth, she strove in vain to rise, 
 Her looks their paleness in a Bower retained, 
 But here and there, some purple streaks they gained. 
 Still the loved object the fond leaves pursue, 
 Still move their root, the moving sun to view 
 And in the Heliotrope the nymph is true." 
 
 Ovid. 
 
3$ HYACINTH. 
 
 These unhappy endeavours of Apollo, determined him to take 
 refuge in friendship, and he attached himself to the young Hyacinth ; 
 
 — " Hyacinth, long since a fair youth seen, 
 
 Whose tuneful voice turned fragrance in his breath, 
 Kissed by sad Zephyr, guilty of his death." 
 
 Hood. 
 But misfortune appeared to cling to all who were favoured by 
 Apollo, for as they played at quoits with Zephyr, the latter fired 
 by jealousy, blew the quoit of Apollo on the forehead of the 
 unhappy mortal, who fell dead upon the green turf on which they 
 were playing; while his blood sinking into the ground, produced 
 the flower which still bears his name. 
 
 " Flower ! with a curious eye we scan 
 
 Thy leaf, and there discover 
 How passion triumphed — pain began — 
 Or in the immortal, or the man, 
 
 The hero, or the lover. 
 
 " The disk is hurled :— ah ! fatal flight ! 
 
 Low droops that beauteous brow : 
 But oh ! the Delian's pang! his light 
 Of joy lies quenched in sorrow's night: 
 
 The deathless record thou. 
 
 " Or, do they tell, these mystic signs, 
 
 The self destroyer's madness ? 
 Phrensy, ensanguined wreaths entwines : 
 The sun of chivalry declines; — 
 
 The wreck of glory's gladness !" 
 
 Apollo was so disconsolate at the death of Hyacinth, that, as 
 we have seen, he changed his blood into a flower which bore his 
 name, and placed his body among the constellations. 
 
CYPARISSUS. 39 
 
 The Spartans established yearly festivals in his honour, which 
 continued for three days ; they did not adorn their hair with gar- 
 lands during their festivals, nor eat bread, but fed only upon 
 sweetmeats. They did not even sing Paeans in honour of Apollo, 
 or observe any of the solemnities usual at other sacrifices. 
 Pitying the sad death 
 
 Of Hyacinthus when the cruel breath 
 Of Zephyr slew him, Zephyr, penitent, 
 Who now, ere Phoebus mounts the firmament, 
 Fondles the flower amid the sobbing rain." 
 
 Keats. 
 
 Saddened by his efforts to form an endearing friendship, Apollo 
 once more sighed for the nymph Perses, daughter of Ocean, and 
 had by her the celebrated Circe, remarkable for her knowledge of 
 magic and venomous herbs. 
 
 Bolina, another nymph to whom he was attached, wishing to 
 escape from his pursuit, threw herself into the waves, and was 
 received by the nymphs of Amphitrion. 
 
 " I staid awhile to see her throw 
 
 Her tresses back, that all beset 
 
 The fair horizon of her brow, 
 
 With clouds of jet. 
 
 " I staid a little while to view 
 Her cheek, that wore in place of red, 
 The bloom of water, tender blue, 
 Daintily spread. 
 
 " I staid to watch a little space 
 Her parted lips, if she would sing ; 
 The waters closed above her face, 
 With many a ring. 
 
 ' And still I stayed a little more, — 
 Alas ! she never comes again, 
 I throw my flowers from the shore 
 And watch in vain." 
 
 Hood. 
 
 After this, Apollo lost the young Cyparissus, who had replaced 
 Hyacinth in his favour, and guarded his flocks ; this young shepherd 
 having slain by accident a stag of which Apollo was fond, expired 
 of grief, and was changed into the tree which bears his name. 
 
 Apollo now attached himself to the sybil of Cumes, and granted 
 to her the boon of prolonging her life as many years as there were 
 grains in a handful of sand which she held. But she lived to repent 
 of this frightful gift. 
 
 Alone in the world, her friends departed, and none to remind 
 
40 
 
 THE MUSES. 
 
 her of the clays of the past, she implored the Gods to release her 
 from the misery which overwhelmed her. Cassandra, daughter of 
 Priam, consented to her prayer, if Apollo would grant to her the 
 
 &iu 
 
 -j - 
 
 
 power of divination. Apollo agreed, and swore to the truth of his 
 promise by the river Styx. Scarcely had he uttered the oath, than 
 the gods, who could not absolve him from it, rallied him on his 
 folly. Irritated at the ridicule they poured upon him, he added to 
 this gift, the restriction, that she should never believe her own pro- 
 phecies. After this he again yielded to the power of Lve, and 
 sought to please Clymene, who was the mother of Phaeton. To 
 this nymph succeeded the chaste Castalia, whom he pursued to the 
 very foot of Parnassus, where the Gods metamorphosed her into a 
 fountain. As Apollo was lamenting his loss on the bank of that 
 river, he heard an exquisite melody escaping from the depth of the 
 wood. He approached the place from whence the sound seemed 
 to issue, and recognized the nine muses, children of Jupiter and 
 Mnemosyne. 
 
 "Mnemosyne, in the Pierian grove, 
 The scene of her intrigue with mighty Jove, 
 The empress of Eleuther, fertile earth, 
 Brought to Olympian Jove the Muses forth ; 
 Blessed offsprings, happy maids, whose powerful art 
 Can banish cares, and ease the painful heart. 
 * * * * * 
 
 Clio begins the lovely tuneful race, 
 Which Melpomene and Euterpe grace ; 
 Terpischore, all joyful in the choir, 
 And Erato, to love whose lays inspire ; 
 To these Thalia and Polymnia join, 
 Urania and Calliope divine." 
 
 Hesiod. 
 
DF.AIH OF MARSYAS. 
 
 II 
 
 The taste and feelings of Apollo responded to those of these 
 noble sisters: they received him in their palace, and assembled 
 together with him to converse on the aits and sciences. 
 
 Among their possessions, the Muses and Apollo had a winged 
 horse, named Pegasus. This courser, born of the blood of Medusa, 
 fixed his residence on Mount Helicon, and, by striking the earth 
 with his foot, caused the spring of Hippocrene to gush from the 
 ground. While the courser was thus occupied, Apollo mounted his 
 back, placed the Muses with him, and Pegasus, lifting his wings, 
 carried them to the court of Bacchus. 
 
 Envious of the fame of Apollo at this court, Marsyas, the 
 Phrygian, declared that, with his flute, he could surpass the melody 
 of the God's divine lyre, and challenged Apollo to a trial of his skill 
 as a musician ; the God accepted the challenge, and it was mutually 
 agreed, that he who was defeated should be flayed alive. The 
 Muses were appointed umpires. Each exerted his utmost skill, 
 
 and the victory was adjudged to Apollo. The God, upon tin's, tied 
 his opponent to a tree, and punished him as had been agreed. The 
 G 
 
42 
 
 MIDAS. 
 
 death of Marsyas was universally lamented ; the fauns, satyrs and 
 dryads, wept at his fate, and from their abundant tears flowed a 
 river of Phrygia, well known by the name of Marsyas. 
 
 Undeterred by this example, Pan, favourite of Midas, King of 
 Lydia, wished al>o to compete with Apollo in the art of which the 
 latter was master. Pan began the struggle, and Midas repeated his 
 songs with enthusiasm, without paying the least attention to his 
 celestial rival. Pan again sang, and Midas repeated ; when, to his 
 surprise, the latter felt, pressing through his hair, a pair of ears, 
 long and shaggy. Alarmed at this phenomenon, Pan took to flight, 
 and the prince, desolate at the loss of his favourite, made one of 
 his attendants, some say his wife, the confidant of his misfortune, 
 begging her not to betray his trust. The secret was too great for 
 the bosom of its holder ; she longed to tell it, but dared not, for 
 
 fear of punishment ; and as the only way of consoling herself, 
 sought a retired and lonely spot, where she threw herself on the 
 earth, whispering " King Midas has the ears of an ass, King Midas 
 has the ears of an ass." Not long after her visit, some reeds arose 
 in this place ; and as the wind passed through them, they repeated, 
 " King Midas has the ears of an ass." Enraged, no less than 
 terrified, at this extraordinary occurrence, Midas sacrificed to 
 Bacchus, who, to console, granted him the special favour of turning- 
 all that he touched into fine gold. 
 
 " Midas the king, as in the hook appears, 
 
 By Ph rebus was endowed with ass's ears, 
 
 Which under his long locks he well concealed ; 
 
 As monarch's vices must not he revealed : 
 
 For fear the people have them in the wind, 
 
 Who long ago were neither dumb nor Wind : 
 
PHAETON. 43 
 
 Nor apt to think from heaven their title springs, 
 Since Jove and Mai's left off begetting kings. 
 This Midas knew, and durst communicate, 
 To none but to his wife his ears of state : 
 One must be trusted, and he thought her fit, 
 As passing prudent, and a parlous wit. 
 To this sagacious confessor he went. 
 And told her what a gift the Gods had sent : 
 But told it under matrimonial seal, 
 With strict injunction never to reveal. 
 The secret heard, she plighted him her troth, 
 (And secret sure is every woman's oath,) 
 The royal malady should rest unknown, 
 Both for her husband's honour and her own. 
 But ne'ertheless she pined with discontent, 
 The counsel rumbled till it found a vent. 
 The thing she knew she was obliged to hide : 
 By interest and by oath the wife was tied : 
 But if she told it not the woman died. 
 Loth to betray her husband and a prince, 
 But she must burst or blab, and no pretence 
 Of honour tied her tongue in self defence. 
 The marshy ground commodiously was near, 
 Thither she ran, and held her breath for fear, 
 Lest, if a word she spoke of any thing, 
 That word might be the secret of the king. 
 Thus full of council to the fen she went, 
 Full all the way, and longing for a vent. 
 Arrived, by pure necessity compelled, 
 On her majestic marrow-bones she kneeled, 
 Then to the water's brink she laid her head, 
 And, as a bittern sounds within a reed, 
 ' To thee alone, oh ! lake,' she said, ' I tell, 
 And as thy queen, command thee to conceal, 
 Beneath liis locks, the king my husband wears 
 A goodly, royal pair of ass's ears. 
 Now I have eased my bosom of the pain, 
 Till the next longing fit returns again ! ' " 
 
 OVID. 
 
 The story of Phaeton, (son of Apollo under the name of Phoebus) 
 is as follows : Venus becoming enamoured of Phaeton, entrusted him 
 with the care of one of her temples. This distinguished favour of the 
 Goddess rendered him vain and aspiring ; and when told, to check 
 his pride, that he was not the son of Phoebus, Phaeton resolved to 
 know his true origin ; and at the instigation of his mother, he 
 visited the palace of the sun, to beg that Phoebus, if he really were his 
 father, would give him proofs of his paternal tenderness, and 
 convince the world of his legitimacy. Phoebus swore by the Styx 
 that he would grant him whatever he required ; and Phaeton 
 demanded of him to drive his chariot (that of the sun) for one day. 
 In vain Phoebus represented the impropriety of his request, and 
 
44 MEMNON — PYTHON. 
 
 the dangers to which it would expose him ; the oath must be 
 
 complied with. When Phaeton received the reins from his father, 
 
 he immediately betrayed his ignorance and incapacity. The flying 
 
 horses took advantage of his confusion, and departed from their 
 
 accustomed track. Phaeton repented too late of his rashness, for 
 
 heaven and earth seemed threatened with an universal conflagration, 
 
 when Jupiter struck the rider with a thunderbolt, and hurled him 
 
 headlong into the river Po. His body, consumed by fire, was 
 
 found by the nymphs of the place, and honoured with a decent burial. 
 
 The Heliades, his sisters wept for four months, without ceasing, 
 
 until the Gods changed them into poplars, and their tears into grains 
 
 of amber ; while the young king of the Ligurians, a chosen friend 
 
 of Phaeton, was turned into a swan at the very moment he was 
 
 yielding to his deep regrets. Aurora is also the daughter of 
 
 Apollo. She granted the gift of immortality to Tithonus, her 
 
 husband, son of the king of Troy ; but soon perceiving that the gift 
 
 was valueless, unless the power of remaining ever young was 
 
 joined with it, she changed him into a grasshopper. From their 
 
 union sprang Memnon, who was killed by Achilles at the siege of 
 
 Troy. The tears of his mother were the origin of the early dew, 
 
 and the Egyptians formed, in honour of him, the celebrated statue 
 
 which possessed the wonderful property of uttering a melodious 
 
 sound every morning at sunrise, as if in welcome of the divine 
 
 luminary, like that which is heard at the breaking of the string of a 
 
 harp when it is wound up. This was effected by the rays of the 
 
 sun when they fell on it. At its setting, the form appeared to 
 
 mourn the departure of the God, and uttered sounds most musical 
 
 and melancholy ; this celebrated statue was dismantled by the 
 
 order of Cambyses, when he conquered Egypt, and its ruins still 
 
 astonish modern travellers by their grandeur and beauty. 
 
 " Unto the sacred sun in Memnon's fane, 
 Spontaneous concords quired the matin strain ; 
 Touched by his orient beam, responsive rings 
 The living lyre, and vibrates all its strings ; 
 Accordant aisles the tender tones prolong, 
 And holv echoes swell the adoring song." 
 
 Darwin. 
 
 Apollo having slain with his arrows, Python, a monstrous serpent 
 which desolated the beautiful country around Parnassus, his victory 
 was celebrated in all Greece by the young Pythians; where crown*, 
 
APOLLO. ^5 
 
 formed at first of the branches of oak, but afterwards of laurel, 
 were distributed to the conquerors, and where they contended foe 
 the prize of dancing, music and poetry. 
 
 It is from his encounter with this serpent, that in the statues 
 which remain of him, our eyes are familiar with the bow placed in 
 his grasp. 
 
 " The lord of the unerring bow, 
 
 The god of life, and poesy, and light, 
 
 The sun in human limbs arrayed, and brow, 
 
 All radiant from his triumph in the fight : 
 
 The shaft hath just been shot — the arrow, bright 
 
 With an immortal's vengeance ; in his eye 
 
 And nostril, beautiful disdain, and might, 
 
 And majesty, flash their full lightnings by, 
 
 Developing in that one glance the Deity. 
 
 " But in his delicate fonn, a dream of love, 
 
 Shaped by some solitary nymph, whose breast 
 
 Longed for a deathless lover from above, 
 
 And maddened in that vision, are exprest 
 
 All that ideal beauty ever blest 
 
 The mind with, in its most unearthly mood, 
 
 When each conception was a heavenly guest, 
 
 A ray of immortality, and stood 
 
 Star'like, around, until they gathered to a God ! 
 
 " And if it be Prometheus stole from Heaven 
 The fire which we endure, it was repaid 
 By him to whom the energy was given, 
 Which this poetic marble hath arrayed 
 With an eternal glory, which if made 
 By human hands, is not of human thought, 
 And Time himself hath hallowed it, nor laid 
 One ringlet in the dust, nor hath it caught 
 
 A tinge of years, but breathes the flame with which 'twas wrought." 
 
 Byron. 
 
 But the gods grew jealous of the homage shewn to Apollo, and 
 recalling him from earth, replaced him in his seat at Olympus. 
 
 The fable of Apollo is, perhaps, that which is most spread over 
 the faith of antiquity. Paeans were the hymns chanted in his 
 honour, and this was the war cry he shouted in his onset against 
 the serpent Python. On his altars are immolated a bull or a white 
 lamb — to him is offered the crow, supposed to read the future, the 
 eagle who can gaze on the sun, the cock whose cry welcomes his 
 return, and the grasshopper, who sings during his empire. 
 
 This God is represented in the figure of a young man without 
 beard, with curling locks of hair, his brow wreathed with laurels, 
 and his head surrounded with beams of light. In his right hand 
 
4G 
 
 THALES — BIAS. 
 
 lie holds a bow and arrows ; in the left, a lyre with seven chords, 
 emblem of the seven planets to which he grants his celestial har- 
 mony. Sometimes he carries a buckler, and is accompanied by the 
 three Graces, who are the animating deities of genius and the fine 
 arts, and at his feet is placed a swan. 
 
 He had temples and statues in every country, particularly in 
 Egypt, Greece, and Italy ; the most famous was that of Delos, 
 where they celebrated the Pythian games, that of Soractes, where 
 the priests worshipped by treading with their naked feet on burning 
 coals, though without feeling pain, and that of Delphi, in which the 
 youth of the place offered to the gods their locks of hair, possibly 
 because this offering was most difficult to the vanity of youth. 
 Apollo made known his oracles through the medium of a sibyl. 
 This was a female, named also a Pythoness, on account of her seat 
 being formed of massive gold resembling the skin of the serpent 
 Python. The history of the tripod will be found to afford much 
 interest. The fishermen who had found it in their nets, sought the 
 oracle to consult its responses. This was to offer it to the wisest 
 man in Greece. They presented it to Thales, who had told them 
 that the most difficult of all human knowledge was the art of 
 knowing ourselves. Thales offered the tripod to Bias. When the 
 
 enemy was reducing his native city to ashes, he withdrew, leaving 
 behind him his wealth, saving, " I carry all that is worthy within 
 myself." After frequent adventures, and passing into the possession 
 of many, the tripod finally returned to Thales, and was deposited in 
 the temple ; where, as we have seen, it served the sibyl for a seat. 
 
THE MUSES. 47 
 
 This story shows us at a glance, the principles and the conduct of 
 the greatest philosophers of Greece. These sages who considered 
 philosophy to consist in the science of practising virtue, and living 
 happily, endeavoured to show by the adventures of the tripod 
 that, though the way was sometimes different, the end was the same. 
 The sibyl delivered the answer of the god to such as came to 
 consult the oracle, and while the divine inspiration was on her, her 
 eyes sparkled, her hair stood on end, and a shivering ran through 
 her body. In this convulsive state, she spoke the oracles of the 
 deity, often with loud howlings and cries, and her articulations were 
 taken down by the priest, and set in order. Sometimes the spirit 
 of inspiration was more gentle, and not always violent, yet Plutarch 
 mentions one of the priestesses who was thrown into such excessive 
 fury, that not only those who consulted the oracle, but also the 
 priests who conducted her to the sacred tripod, and attended her 
 during her inspiration, were terrified and forsook the temple ; and 
 so violent was the fit, that she continued for some days in the most 
 agonizing situation, and at last died. 
 
 It was always required that those who consulted this oracle should 
 make presents to Apollo, and from thence arose the opulence, 
 splendour, and magnificence, of the temple of Delphi. 
 
 There were other temples of Apollo more celebrated, such as 
 that at Palmyra, which was constructed of the most gigantic pro- 
 portions ; and for which nothing was spared to give it a magnificence 
 hitherto unknown. Augustus, who pretended to be the son of 
 Apollo, built a temple to him on Mount Palatine. Delian feasts 
 were those which the Athenian, and the other Greek states cele- 
 brated every four years at Delos. 
 
 The history of the Muses is so closely allied to that of Apollo 
 that we shall present some of their adventures in this part of our work. 
 The first is the struggle which the Muses maintained against the 
 nine daughters of Pierus, King of Macedon, who dared to dispute 
 with them the palm of singing : being overcome, they were turned into 
 magpies, and since their transformation, they have preserved the 
 talent so dear to beauty, of being able in many words to express 
 very little. 
 
 One day when the Muses were distant from their place of abode, 
 a storm surprised them, and they took shelter in the palace oi 
 Pyrenaeus: but scarcely had they entered, when the tyrant shut the 
 
48 
 
 PYREN.EU* 
 
 g<3^?s^* -- 
 
 gates, and sought to offer them insult. They immediately spread 
 their wings and flew away. The king wishing to fly after them, 
 essayed the daring adventure, and throwing himself from the top of 
 the tower as if he had wings, was killed in the attempt. Notwith- 
 standing the high reputation of the Muses, it is pretended by some, 
 that Rheseus was the s:n of Terpsichore, Linus of Clio, and 
 Orpheus of Calliope. Arion and Pindar were also stated to be the 
 children of the Muses, to whom the Romans built a temple and 
 consecrated a fountain. 
 
 mm - 
 
 7T -<&-&%-?■ 
 
DIANA 
 
 The goddess Diana was daughter of Jupiter and Latona, and twin 
 sister to Apollo. In heaven she bore another name, and conducted 
 the chariot of the Moon, while on earth she presided over the chase, 
 was the peculiar deity of hunters, and called Diana. In Hell she 
 is named Hecate and revered by magicians. 
 
 " Hecate, loved by Jove, 
 
 And honour'd by the inhabitants above, 
 
 Profusely gifted from the almighty hand, 
 
 With power extensive o'er tbe sea and land ; 
 
 And great tbe honour, she, by Jove's high leave, 
 
 Does from tbe starry vault of heaven receive. 
 
 When to the gods the sacred flames aspire, 
 
 From human offerings, as the laws require, 
 
 To Hecate tbe vows are first prefer'd ; 
 
 Happy of men whose prayers are kindly heard, 
 
 Success attends his every act below, 
 
 Honour, wealth, power, to him abundant flow " 
 
 Hesiod. 
 
 She was also the Goddess of chastity, and it was in this character 
 
 that her vengeance fell so heavily on Actacon, who following the 
 chase one day with all the ardour of his profession, unhappily came 
 
50 CALISTA. 
 
 suddenly on the retired spot, in which the pure Diana, with her 
 nymphs, was enjoying, in the heat of the summer's day, the luxury 
 of bathing. Horrified by this violation, though unintentional, of 
 her privacy, she changed him into a stag, and inspiring with madness 
 the dogs that accompanied him to the chase, they turned upon 
 their metamorphosed master, who, in horrible dread of the fate he 
 had himself so often inflicted, fled rapidly from them. True to 
 their breed, however, the dogs succeeded in running him down and 
 devouring him. 
 
 Calista, nymph of Diana was seduced by Jupiter, who taking one 
 of the innumerable shapes, which he is described as assuming when 
 his passions were inflamed towards any particular nymph, introduced 
 himself to her in the form of her mistress, and in this shape, what 
 wonder that the nymph lost her virtue, or that the God was success- 
 ful ! Diana herself, however, took a very different view, and 
 though Calista concealed the effects of her divine intrigue from her 
 mistress for a long time, the latter noticed the alteration in her 
 person when bathing in 
 
 " Such streams as Dian loves, 
 
 And Naiads of old frequented ; when she tripped 
 
 Amidst her frolic nymphs, laughing, or when 
 
 Just risen from the hath, she fled in sport, 
 
 Round oaks and sparkling 1 fountains, 
 
 Chased by the wanton Orcades." 
 
 Barry Cornwall. 
 
 To evince her detestation of the crime, her divine mistress 
 changed her into a bear. This however was before 
 
 " The veiled Dian lost her lonely sphere, 
 And her proud name of chaste, for him whose sleep 
 Drank in Elysium on tie Latmos steep." 
 
 Bulwer. 
 
 In great horror at this transformation, Calista fled to the forests 
 and brought forth a son, with whom she dwelt, until one day she 
 was induced to enter a temple at Lycaen (where, with her son 
 Areas, she had been brought), and which it was not lawful to enter. 
 The dwellers in the city, among whom was Areas, enraged at the 
 desecration, attacked her, and in all probability, she would have 
 perished by the hands of her son, had not Jupiter snatched both to 
 the sky, and placed them among the constellations, Calista being 
 called " the Great Bear," and Areas, " the Little Bear," 
 
ISNDYMION. 01 
 
 iEn.eas, king of Calydon, neglecting the worship of Diana, the 
 Goddess revenged it by sending into his kingdom a monstrous wild 
 boar ; and to rid their country of its ravages, he caused the Greek 
 princes to assemble to the chase. Atalanta, daughter of the king 
 of Arcadia, wounded him first, but she would have fallen beneath 
 the fury of its revenge, had it not been for Meleager, son of iE leas, 
 who sleW the boar. A quarrel having arisen for the possession of 
 the head of this monster, Meleager killed his brothers. Indignant 
 at this crime, the wife of iEneas threw into the flames a brand 
 which bore with it the life of Meleager ; a fire immediately spread 
 itself through the vitals of the prince, and he expired in the midst 
 of torments, the most cruel and excruciating, and his mother, 
 stricken with despair at the sight of them, destroyed herself, and 
 the sisters of the unhappy victim were changed into fowls. 
 
 Diana is usually represented in the costume of a huntress, with a 
 quiver on her shoulder, and a bow in her hand; her dress is lilted, 
 and her dog is always by her side ready for his prey. Her hair is 
 banded over her brow, while sometimes a crescent is painted on 
 her head, of which the points are turned towards Heaven. Some- 
 times she is seen in a chariot trained by stags, and in her hand is a 
 torch which serves to frighten away the wild beasts. 
 
 The affection of this Goddess for Endymion — 
 
 Whom she. 
 
 The moonlit Dian on the Latmian hill, 
 
 When all the woods, and all the winds were still, 
 
 Kissed with the kiss of immortality" 
 
 Barry Cornwall. 
 
 has been the cause of many an ode, and many a touching story, 
 and is perhaps, one of the most chaste, or at least most chastely 
 told in Mythology: 
 
 "He was a poet, sure a lover too 
 
 Who stood on Latmos top, what time there blew 
 
 Soft breezes from the Myrtle vale below 
 
 And brought in faintness, solemn, sweet, and slow 
 
 A hymn from Dian's Temple; while up-swelling 
 
 The* incense went to her own starry dwelling. 
 
 But though her face was clear as infant's eyes, 
 
 Though she stood smiling o'er the sacrifice, 
 
 The poet wept at her so piteous fate, 
 
 Wept that such beauty should be desolate : 
 
 So in fine wrath some golden sounds he won, 
 
 And gave meek Cynthia her Kndymion." 
 
 Kb x r<v 
 
52 
 
 ENDYMION, 
 
 The beautiful Endymion, grandchild of Jupiter, having dared to 
 offer his guilty love to Juno, he was condemned to live for ever in 
 the infernal regions. However, smitten with his charms, as Diana 
 saw him sleeping on the mountain of Latinos, she snatched him from 
 
 
 the power of Pluto, and placed him in a grotto, where she came 
 down from Heaven every night to enjoy his society. 
 
 Crescented Dian, who 
 
 'Tis said once wandered from the wastes of blue, 
 And all for love ; filling a shepherd's dreams 
 With beauty and delight. He slept, he slept, 
 And on his eyelids white, the huntress wept 
 Till morning, and looked thro', on nights like this 
 His lashes dark, and left her dewy kiss ; 
 But never more upon the Latmos hill 
 May she descend to kiss that forest boy, 
 And give — receive, gentle and innocent joy 
 When clouds are distant far and winds are still : 
 Her bound is circumscribed, and curbed her will. 
 Those were immortal stories : are they gone ? 
 The pale queen is dethroned — Endymion 
 Hath vanished — ; and the worship of this earth 
 Is vowed to golden gods of vulgar birth !" 
 
 Barry Cornwall. 
 
 The fable of Endymion's amours with Diana, or the Moon, 
 isesfrom his knowledge of astronomy : and as he passed the night 
 
TEMPLE AT EPIIESUS. 
 
 53 
 
 on some high mountain, to observe the heavenly bodies, it lias been 
 reported that he was courted by the Moon. 
 
 Oh ! woodland Queen, 
 
 What smoothest air, thy smoother forehead woos? 
 
 Where dost thou listen to the wide halloos 
 
 Of thy departed nymphs ? Through what dark tree 
 
 Glimmers thy crescent ? Whatsoe'er it he 
 
 'Tis in the breath of Heaven : thou dost taste 
 
 Freedom, as none can taste it, nor dost waste 
 
 Thy loveliness in dismal elements. 
 
 But finding in our green earth sweet contents, 
 
 There livest blissfully." 
 
 Keats. 
 
 The 
 from 
 
 The mode of worship to Diana, differs in different nations, 
 most celebrated of her temples was that at Ephesus, which 
 its grandeur and magnificence has been placed among the seven 
 wonders of the world, but was burned by Erostratus, the same day 
 
 that Alexander the Great was born. This madman had no other 
 end, than to render his name for ever notorious, and he succeeded, 
 notwithstanding the Ephesians having decreed that his name should 
 never be mentioned. 
 
 In one of the temples where Diana was worshipped, the 
 presiding priest was always a slave who had slain his predecessor 
 in office, and warned by the fate he had inflicted on others, he never 
 went without a dagger, to protect himself from those who might be 
 ambitious of his office, and reckless of his crime. 
 
51 DIANA. 
 
 In another, she had an altar, whereon they immolated all those 
 whom shipwreck had thrown on their inhospitable shores. 
 
 " Mother of light ! how fairly dost thou go 
 Over those hoary crests, divinely led ! 
 Art thou that huntress of the silver how 
 Fabled of old? 
 
 ***** 
 
 What art thou like? sometimes I see thee ride 
 A far bound galley on its perilous way, 
 Whilst breezy waves toss up their silvery spray — 
 Sometimes I watch thee on from steep to steep, 
 Timidly lighted by thy vestal torch, 
 Till in some Latmian cave I see thee creep 
 To catch the young Endymion asleep, 
 Leaving thy splendour at the jagged porch ! 
 
 " Oh ! thou art beautiful, however it be, 
 
 Huntress, or Dian, or whatever named, 
 
 And he the veriest Pagan, that first framed 
 
 A silver idol, and ne'er worshipped thee ! 
 
 It is too late, or thou shouldst have my knee ; 
 
 Too late now for the old Ephesian vows, 
 
 And not divine the crescent on thy brows : 
 
 Yet call thee nothing but the mere, mild moon, 
 
 Behind those chesnut boughs 
 
 Casting their dappled shadows at my feet ; 
 
 1 will be grateful for that simple boon 
 
 In many a thoughtful verse, and anthem sweet, 
 
 And bless thy dainty face whene'er we meet. 
 
 " So let it be : before I lived to sigh, 
 Thou wert in Avon, and a thousand rills, 
 Beautiful Dian ! and so whene'er I lie 
 Trodden, thou wilt be gazing from thy hills. 
 Blest be thy loving light, where'er it spills, 
 And blessed thy fair face, O mother mild ! 
 Still shine, the* soul of rivers as they run, 
 Still lend thy lonely lamp, to lovers fond, 
 And blend their plighted shadows into one : 
 Still smile at even on the bedded child, 
 And close his eyelids with thy silver wand." 
 
 Hoon. 
 
B A C C II U S. 
 
 Semele, daughter of Cadmus, king of Thebes, had yielded to 
 the licentious Jupiter, and felt within her the effect of her 
 indiscretion. Jealous at the object who had again taken her lord's 
 affections, Juno sought for some mode in which to punish her, and 
 taking the form of a nurse, suggested the desire of beholding the 
 king of the Gods, arrayed in all his celestial glory. In vain did 
 Jupiter, when pressed by Semele, implore her not to ask him to 
 assume that form, which was too much for mortal eye to bear. 
 Woman's wit and woman's fondness prevailed, and, in a moment of 
 weakness, the God swore by the Styx, he would perform her request, 
 and by this oath he was forced to abide. Armed with thunder, as 
 a proof of his divinity, and in all the glory and majesty of his god- 
 head, he presented himself to the presumptuous mortal, who, 
 unable to bear his presence, fell scorched by his thunderbolt. 
 
 Jupiter, however, took the infant which Semele bore him, and 
 confided it to the guardianship of the nymphs of the mountain of 
 Nysa, who, for their care of the son of Jupiter, in process of time, 
 were translated into heaven. When Bacchus, for thus was he 
 
5(j BACCHUS — PENTHEl'S, 
 
 named, had grown out of their guidance, Silenus became his 
 preceptor and foster-father. This god, who is generally represented 
 as fat and jolly, riding on an ass, crowned with flowers, and always 
 intoxicated, could scarcely be considered as a tutor from whom 
 Bacchus was likely to derive much good. In spite of the education 
 he received through the medium of this being, however, the love of 
 glory shone forth conspicuously in Bacchus. 
 
 After having valiantly combatted for Jupiter against the Giants 
 when they invaded Olympus, he undertook his celebrated expedition 
 into the East, to which he marched at the head of an army, com- 
 posed of men as well as of women, all inspired with divine fury, armed 
 with thyrsuses, and bearing cymbals, and other musical instruments. 
 The leader was drawn in a chariot by a lion and a tiger, and was 
 accompanied by Pan, Silenus, and all the satyrs. His conquests 
 were easy and without bloodshed; the people easily submitted, and 
 gratefully elevated to the rank of a god, the hero who taught them 
 the use of the Vine, the cultivation of the earth, and the manner 
 of making honey ; amidst his benevolence to mankind, he was 
 relentless in punishing all want of respect to his divinity. The 
 refusal of Pentheus to acknowledge the godhead of Bacchus was 
 fatal. He forbad his subjects to pay adoration to this new God, 
 and when the Theban women had gone out of the city to celebrate 
 his orgies, he ordered the God himself who conducted the religious 
 multitude, to be seized. His orders were obeyed, but the doors of 
 the prison in which Bacchus was confined, opened of their own 
 accord. Pentheus became more irritated, and commanded his sol- 
 diers to destroy the band of Bacchanals. Bacchus, however, 
 inspired the monarch himself with an ardent desire of witnessing 
 the orgies. 
 
 Accordingly he hid himself in a wood on Mount Cithceron, from 
 whence he hoped to view all the ceremonies unperceived. But his 
 curiosity proved fatal ; he was descried by the Bacchanals, who 
 rushed upon him. His mother was the first to attack him, her 
 example was instantly followed by his two sisters, and his body 
 was torn to pieces. 
 
 As Bacchus was returning triumphantly in his ship, from the 
 conquest we have recorded, crowned with vine leaves, and flushed 
 with victory, in passing near a beautiful island, he heard a plaintive 
 
BACCHUS — ARIADNE. ?? 
 
 voice and beheld a female, who implored him to yield her his 
 
 support. 
 
 " Oh ! think of Ariadne's utter trance, 
 
 Crazed by the flight of that disloyal traitor. 
 
 Who left her gazing- on the green expanse, 
 
 That swallowed up his track ; oh ! what could mate her 
 
 Even in the cloudy summit of her woe, 
 
 When o'er the far sea-brine she saw him go « 
 
 " For even now she bows and bends her gaze, 
 
 O'er the eternal waste, as if to sum 
 
 Its waves by weary thousands ; all her clays, 
 
 Dismally doom'd ! meanwhile the billows come, 
 
 And coldly dabble with her quiet feet, 
 
 Like any bleaching stones they wont to greet. 
 
 And thence into her lap have boldly sprung, 
 Washing her weedy tresses to and fro, 
 Tfcat round her crouching knees have darkly hung, 
 But she sits careless of waves' ebb and flow: 
 Like a lone beacon on a desert coast 
 Showing where all her hope was wrecked and lost." 
 
 Hoon. 
 
 It was Ariadne who addressed him, daughter of Memnos, whom 
 Theseus, conqueror of the minotaur had abandoned after having 
 seduced her. The God was so smitten with the candour and 
 beauty of his youthful petitioner, that he married her, and offered 
 to her acceptance a crown of seven stars, which after her death, 
 was formed into a constellation. 
 
 8 
 
58 BACCHUS — ICARIUS. 
 
 " Where the rude waves in Dian's harbour play. 
 The fair forsaken Ariadne lay ; 
 Here first the wretched maid was taught to prove, 
 The bitter pangs of ill-rewarded love, 
 Here saw just freed from a fallacious sleep, 
 Her Theseus flying o'er the distant deep ; 
 Wistful she looked, nor what she saw, believed, 
 Hoped some mistake, and wished to be deceived : 
 While the false youth his way securely made, 
 His faith forgotten, and his vows unpaid ; 
 Then sick with grief, and frantic with despair, 
 Her dress she rent, and tore her golden hair. 
 The gay tiara on her temples placed, 
 The fine wrought cincture that her bosom graced, 
 The fillets, which her heaving breasts confined, 
 Are rent, and scattered in the lawless wind. 
 Such trivial cares, alas ! no room can find, 
 Her dear, deceitful Theseus fills her mind ; 
 For him alone she grieves the live-long day, 
 Sickens in thought, and pines herself away. 
 
 * * * * * * 
 
 To her relief the blooming Bacchus ran. 
 And with him brought his ever jovial train : 
 Satyrs and Fauns, in wanton chaces strove, 
 While the God sought his Ariadne's love. 
 Around in wild distorted airs they fly, 
 And make the mountains echo to tlieir cry : 
 Some brandish high an ivy woven spear, 
 The limbs, some scatter, of a victim steer : 
 Others in slippery folds of serpents shine, 
 Others apart, perform the rites divine. 
 To wicked men denied. These, tabors take, 
 These in their hands, the twinkling cymbals shake ; 
 While many swell the horn in hoarser strain. 
 And make the shrill, discordant pipe complain, 
 While Bacchus, now enamoured of his prize, 
 Resolved to make her partner of the skies : 
 She, sweetly blushing, yielded to the God, 
 His car he mounted and sublimely rode : 
 And while with eager arms he grasped the fair, 
 Lashed his fleet tigers through the buxom air." 
 
 Dryden. 
 
 It was not long before Bacchus formed an attachment to Erigone, 
 the daughter of Icarius, and to accomplish his purpose took the 
 form of a bunfch of grapes ; scarcely was it pressed upon her lips, 
 than she felt thrilling through her frame, the effects of the sweet 
 intoxication. 
 
 The shepherds residing in the neighbourhood of Athens, having 
 come into the vine-yard of Icarius, drank to such excess of the juice 
 which was so temptingly presented to their sight, that, in the fury of 
 their intoxication, they slew their host, and threw him into a deep well. 
 
BACCHUS AND THE PIRATES. 54) 
 
 To expiate his crime, the Icarian games were instituted, and Mera 
 the trusty dog of Icarius, having conducted Erigone to the fatal 
 well, she hung herself in the first madness of her grief; while 
 Mera, the faithful animal, overwhelmed with consternation at the 
 loss of all he loved, died in sorrow. Tcarius was changed into the 
 star Bootes, Erigone took the sign of the Virgin, and Mera that of 
 the Dog-star. 
 
 To console himself for his loss, the God of the Grape paid 
 a visit to Proserpine, and the beautiful wife of Pluto, was by no 
 means insensible to his merits ; but after an absence of three years, 
 Bacchus returned to Ariadne, whose truth and sweetness of dispo- 
 sition, were untouched by his forge tfuln ess ; and from this time it 
 is pleasing to relate that her wisdom and her faithfulness were 
 rewarded by a constancy, which never afterwards deceived her. 
 
 One of the most pleasant stories in the whole range of Mytho- 
 logy, is related of the youth Bacchus. 
 
 "When dwelling in the Isle of Naxos, where he had been for 
 some years, becoming oppressed with the heat of the sun, he threw 
 himself on the sea-shore, and fell fast asleep; some pirates who 
 called there for water, struck with his extreme beauty, seized the 
 dreaming boy with the determination of selling him for a slave : 
 and so sound was the sleep of the God, that they had proceeded 
 for a long space on their journey before he awoke. 
 
 Fully aware of his divine origin, the deity determined to make a 
 sport of these bold robbers ; and pretending the utmost terror, he 
 implored them to say how he came there, and what they were 
 going to do with him. 
 
 " You have nothing to fear," was the reply, " only tell us what 
 your wish is, and it shall be complied with." 
 
 " 1 live at Naxos," said the boy, " and there I would fain find 
 
 myself." 
 
 Perceiving that they continued to steer the wrong course for 
 Naxos, Bacchus threw himself at their feet, as they made for 
 shore. 
 
 " Those are not the trees of Naxos," he exclaimed, " 1 do not 
 see the hills and valleys of my native land." 
 
 A speech like this, only drew forth the laughter of his captors, 
 while they continued to row merrily to the shore with their prize. 
 
60 
 
 THP; BACCHANTES. 
 
 " The beauteous youth now found himself betrayed, 
 
 And from the deck the rising waves surveyed, 
 
 And seemed to weep, and as he wept he said, 
 
 • And do you thus my easy faith beguile ? 
 
 Thus, do you bear me to my native isle ? 
 
 Will such a multitude of men employ 
 
 Their strength against a weak defenceless boy ?' " 
 
 But behold ! the vessel becomes motionless ; in vain they plied 
 
 their oars, their bark moved not : and suddenly vine trees seemed 
 
 to spring from the planks of the ship, mingling with the cordage 
 
 and the sails, and twining round the oars, which also became 
 
 immoveable. 
 
 Much as the sailors were astonished at this phenomenon, it was 
 
 equalled by their horror, when Bacchus waved a spear he held in 
 
 his hand, in answer to which, tigers and panthers, with others of the 
 
 most savage beasts of the desert, seemed to swim round the vessel 
 
 and wanton with the waters. 
 
 " The God we now behold with opened eyes, 
 
 An herd of spotted panthers round him lies, 
 
 In glaring forms: the grapy clusters spread, 
 
 On his fair brows and dangle on his head." 
 
 Unable to bear the horror of the sight, the robbers threw them- 
 selves into the sea, and Bacchus turned them into Dolphins, then 
 seizing the helm steered the ship towards Naxos, attended by his 
 train of Dolphins and wild beasts ! 
 
 On the altar of Bacchus the goat was immolated, because he 
 destroyed the bark and leaves of the vine, and the magpie, because 
 wine makes the tongue of man to chatter like that of the bird. The 
 ivy was consecrated to him, on account of its coolness, which 
 dissipated the fumes of wine, and he carried in his hand a dart 
 
, ^ ^ v ^ ^ H ^ ? ^ H H r ^ ^ v ^ i H ^ n U H H § $ k $ k § ■• 
 
 m 
 
 •"!Afctt^l 
 
 : .....': ... -.. .- !.. 
 
THE ORGIES OF BACCHUS. 
 
 Gl 
 
 called the thyrsis, twined round with leaves of ivy, and of vine. 
 The Bacchantes, his ordinary priestesses, bore also in their hands 
 the thyrsis. His feasts were celebrated every three years, and 
 were called orgies, from a word which signifies fury and impe- 
 tuosity. 
 
 The Bacchantes went into the mountains with torches in their 
 
 hands, covered with the skins of tigers and panthers. 
 
 "And as I sat over the light blue hills, 
 There came a noise of revellers ; the rills 
 Into the wide stream came of purple hue, 
 
 'Twas Bacchus and his crew. 
 The earnest trumpet spake, and silver thrills 
 From kissing cymbals made a merry din — 
 
 'Twas Bacchus and his kin. 
 " Like to a moving vintage down they came, 
 Crowned with green leaves, and laces ;ill on flame ; 
 All madly dancing through the pleasant valley, 
 
 To scare thee, melancholy ! 
 O then, o then, thou wast a simple name ! 
 And I forgot thee as the berried holly 
 By shepherds is forgotten, when in June, 
 Tall chesnuts keep away the sun and moon. 
 
 I rushed into the folly ! 
 " Within his car aloft, young Bacchus stood, 
 Trilling his ivy dart, in dancing mood, 
 
 With sidelong laughing, 
 And little rills of crimson wine cnibrucd 
 His plump white arms and shoulders, enough while, 
 
 For Venus pearly bite ; 
 And near him rode Silcnus on his ass, 
 Felted with llowers as he on did pass, 
 
 Tipsily quaffing. 
 
62 BACCHUS. 
 
 " Whence came ye merry damsels ! whence came ye, 
 So many, and so many, and such glee ? 
 " Why have ye left your bowers desolate, 
 
 Your lutes and gentler nature? 
 We follow Bacchus ! Bacchus on the wing, 
 
 A conquering ! 
 Bacchus, young Bacchus ! good or ill betide, 
 We dance before him through kingdoms wide : 
 Come hither, lady fair, and joined be, 
 
 To our wild minstrelsy ! 
 
 " Whence came ye, jolly Satyrs! whence came ye, 
 So many, and so many, and such glee ? 
 Why have ye left your forest haunts, why left 
 
 Your nuts in oak tree cleft ? 
 For wine, for wine we left our kernel tree ; 
 For wine we left our heath and yellow brooms, 
 
 And cold mushrooms ; 
 For wine we follow Bacchus through the earth ; 
 Great God of breathless cups and chirping mirth, 
 Come hither lady fair, and joined be, 
 
 To our mad minstrelsy. 
 
 " Over wide streams and mountains great we went, 
 And save when Bacchus kept his ivy tent, 
 Onward the tiger and the leopard pants, 
 
 With Asian elephants : 
 Onward these myriads — with song and dance, 
 With zebras striped, and sleek Arabians prance, 
 Web-footed alligators, crocodiles, 
 Bearing upon their scaly backs, in files. 
 Plump infant laughers, mimicking the coil 
 Of seamen, and stout galley -rowers' toil: 
 With toying oars and silken sails they glide, 
 
 Nor care for wind or tide. 
 " Mounted on panthers' furs, and lions' manes, 
 From rear to van they scour about the plains ; 
 A three days' journey in a moment done, 
 And always at the rising of the sun, 
 About the wilds they hunt, with spear and horn, 
 
 On spleenful unicorn. 
 
 " I saw Osirian Egypt kneel adown, 
 
 Before the vine-wreathed crown ; 
 I saw parched Abyssinia rouse and sing, 
 
 To the silver cymbal's ring ! 
 I saw the whelming vintage hotly pierce 
 
 Old Tartary the fierce, 
 The kings of eld their jewel sceptres vail, 
 And from their treasures scatter pearled hail ; 
 Great Brahma from his mystic heaven groans, 
 
 And all his priesthood moans, 
 Before young Bacchus' eye-wink, turning pale ' " 
 
 Keats. 
 
 However, Bacchus was often found to be inspired by sentiments 
 of a profoundly tender nature. Corcssus, one of his favourite priests, 
 
CALLIRHOE. 
 
 03 
 
 having unhappily formed a violent attachment to a maiden named 
 Callirhoe, found his love returned with hatred, and the more he 
 sought to impress her with his affection, the more hateful did he 
 become. Unable to gain her, the priest sought the aid of his God, 
 who, to avenge his sufferings, struck the Calydonians with a 
 continual drunkenness, many of them dying of it as of a disease. In 
 the height of their misery they sought the oracle, which declared 
 that their calamity would not cease, until Callirhoe was sacrificed, 
 unless some one could be found to pay the penalty for her. 
 
 The oracle must be obeyed : but who would be the substitute ? 
 Parents wept, and kindred mourned, but none would offer in her 
 stead : and the hour arrived when the unhappy maiden, guilty only 
 of not loving, was crowned and led to the altar, where he who had 
 once been her lover, stood ready to be her slayer. At sight of her, 
 
 his passion, which had slumbered for a while, burst forth anew, and 
 in an agony of transport, rather than strike one so loved, he deter- 
 
G4 
 
 BACCHUS. 
 
 mined to be her substitute, and on the instant slew himself in 
 her stead. 
 
 " Great father Bacchus, to my song repair, 
 For clustering- grapes are thy peculiar care ; 
 For thee large bunches load the bending vine, 
 And the last blessings of the year are thine ; 
 To thee his joys the jolly autumn owes, 
 While the fermenting juice the vat o'erflows, 
 Come steep with me, my god ; come drench all o'er 
 Thy limbs in Nine, and drink at every pore! " 
 ***** 
 
 Thus Roman youth, derived from ruined Troy, 
 
 In rude Saturnian rhymes express their joy; 
 
 With taunts and laughter loud their audience please, 
 
 Deformed with vizards cut from bark of trees : 
 
 In jolly hymns they praise the god of wine, 
 
 Whose earthen images adorn the pine ; 
 
 And there are hung on high, in honour of the vine ! 
 
 A madness so devout the vineyard fills, 
 
 In hollow valleys, and on rising hills, 
 
 On whate'er side he turns his honest face, 
 
 And dances in the wind, those fields are in his grace. 
 
 To Bacchus, therefore, let us tune our lays, 
 
 And in our mother tongue resound his praise." 
 
 Virgil. 
 
 As Bacchus was the god of vintage, of wine and of drinkers, he 
 is generally represented crowned with vine and ivy leaves, with a 
 thyrsus in his hand. His figure is that of an effeminate young man, 
 to denote the joys which commonly' prevail at feasts; and some- 
 times an old man, to teach us that wine taken immoderately, will 
 enervate us, consume our health, render us loquacious and childish 
 like old men, and unable to keep secrets. 
 
 Bacchus is sometimes represented like an infant, holding a thyrsus 
 and clusters of grapes, with a horn. 
 
 His beauty is compared to that of Apollo, and like him, he is 
 represented with fine hair, flowing loosely down his shoulders ; the 
 roundness of his limbs and visage, evidence the generous life he 
 leads; while his smiling countenance and laughing eye, are meant 
 to indicate the merry thoughts that are inspired by the juice of the 
 grape. All writers agree in their delineation of the wild madness 
 which distinguished his festivals : witness the following description 
 of a pedestal, on which was an imitation of an altar to Bacchus. 
 
 " Under the festoons of fruits and flowers that grace the pedestal, 
 the corners of which are ornamented by the sculls of goats, are 
 sculptured some figures of mcenads, under the inspiration of the 
 
BACCHUS. 
 
 65 
 
 God. Nothing can be conceived more wild and terrible than their 
 gestures, touching, as they do, the verge of distortion, into which 
 their fine limbs and lovely forms are thrown. There is nothing, 
 however, which exceeds the possibility of nature, though it borders 
 on its utmost line. 
 
 " The tremendous spirit of superstition, aided by drunkenness, 
 producing something beyond insanity, seems to have caught them 
 in its whirlwinds, and to bear them over the earth, as the rapid 
 volutions of a tempest have the everchanging trunk of a waterspout ; 
 or as the torrent of a mountain river whirls the autumnal leaves 
 resistlessly along, in its full eddies. 
 
 " The hair, loose and floating, seems caught in the tempest of 
 their own tumultuous motion ; their heads are thrown back, leaning 
 with a kind of delirium upon their necks, and looking up to heaven, 
 whilst they totter and stumble, even in the energy of their tempest- 
 uous dance. 
 
 " One represents a faun, with the head of Pentheus in one hand, 
 and in the other a great knife. Another has a spear with its pine 
 cane, which was the thyrsus ; another dances with mad voluptuous- 
 ness ; the fourth is beating a kind of tambourine. 
 
 " This was indeed a monstrous superstition, even in Greece, 
 where it was alone capable of combining ideal beauty, and poetical 
 and abstract enthusiasm, with the wild errors from which it sprung. 
 In Rome it had a more familiar, wicked, and dry appearance ; it 
 was not suited to the severe and exact apprehensions of the Romans, 
 and their strict morals were violated by it, and sustained a deep 
 injury, little analagous to its effect upon the Greeks, who turned all 
 things — superstition, prejudice, murder, madness — to beauty." 
 
 Shru,ky. 
 
VENUS. 
 
 Venus, one of the most celebrated deities of the ancients, was 
 the goddess of beauty, the mother of love, the queen of laughter, 
 the mistress of the graces, and the patroness of pleasure. Some 
 mythologists speak of more than one. Of these, however, the 
 Venus sprung from the froth of the sea 
 
 " Where the moist Zephyrs to the favoured shore, 
 From Ocean's foam the lovely goddess bore," 
 
 after the mutilated body of Uranus had been thrown there by 
 
 Saturn, is the most known, and of her in particular, ancient 
 
 mythologists, as well as painters, make mention. She arose from 
 
 the sea near the island of Cyprus, 
 
 " Cytherea ! whom the favoured earth 
 Of Cyprus claims, exulting in thy birth 
 Bright queen ! adorned with every winning grace, 
 The smile enchanting, and the blooming face. 
 Goddess ! o'er Cyprus fragrant groves who reigns, 
 And Salamis high cultivated plains." 
 
 Horace. 
 Hither she was wafted by Zephyr in a sea-shell, which served as a 
 chariot, and received on the shore by the Seasons, daughters of 
 Jupiter and Themis. 
 
 " -' ~\ 
 
 She was soon after carried to heaven, where all the gods admired 
 l.er beauty, and all the goddesses became jealous of her personal 
 charms. Jupiter even attempted to gain her affections, but Venus 
 refused, and the god, to fulfil her destiny, gave her in marriage 
 to Vulcan, the most ugly and deformed of the Gods. This 
 
VENUS AND ANCH1SES. 6/ 
 
 marriage did not prevent the goddess of love from gratifying her 
 inclinations, and her conduct frequently tended to cast dishonour on 
 her husband. Her love for Mars is perhaps the most notorious on 
 account of the disgrace which accompanied it, while her great 
 partiality for Adonis, induced her to abandon her seat in Olympus. 
 This mortal, who was fond of the chase, was often cautioned by his 
 mistress not to hunt wild beasts, fearful of his being killed in the 
 attempt; this advice he however slighted, and at last received a 
 mortal wound from a wild boar which he had speared; and great 
 was the misery evinced by Venus at his loss. 
 
 " Over one shoulder doth she hang her head ; 
 Dumbly she passions, frantickly she doteth, 
 
 She thinks he could not die, he is not dead; 
 Her voice is stopped, her joints forget to bow, 
 Her eyes are mad, that they have wept till now. 
 ***** 
 
 " She looks upon his lips, and they are pale ; 
 
 She takes him by the hand, that is cold ; 
 She whispers in his ears a heavy tale, 
 
 As if they heard the woeful words she told : 
 She lifts the coffer-lids that close his eyes, 
 Where, lo ! two lamps, burnt out, in darkness lies." 
 
 Shakspere. 
 
 Venus, after shedding many tears at his death, changed him into 
 
 a flower. 
 
 " And in his blood, that on the ground lay spilled, 
 A purple flower sprung up, checkered with white; 
 Resembling well his pale cheeks and the blood, 
 Which in round drops upon their whiteness stood." 
 
 Shakspere. 
 
 Proserpine is said to have restored him to life, on condition of his 
 
 spending six months of the year with her, and six with Venus, but 
 
 this is a fable meant to apply to the alternate return of summer 
 
 and winter. 
 
 " There is a flower, Anemone, 
 
 The mourner's path it cheers : 
 Lo! Venus, bowed with agony, 
 By the slain huntsman bends the knee : — 
 
 It springs, a child of tears. 
 " Then hither, meekest flower '.—here blow 
 
 With Hyacinth :— whate'er 
 The legend, 'tis of ruth, of woe : 
 Companions meet, together grow, 
 
 Twin nurslings of Despair." 
 
 Anon. 
 
 The culection also which Venus entertained for Amhises, a 
 
 youth distinguished by the most exquiste beauty, again drew her 
 
68 VENUS — THE GOLDEN APPLE. 
 
 from heaven, and induced her often to visit, in all her glory, the 
 woods and solitary retreats of Mount Ida. 
 
 " She comes ! the Goddess ; through the whispering air, 
 Bright as the morn, descends her blushing car, 
 Each circling wheel a wreath of flowers entwines, 
 And gemmed with flowers, the silken harness shines; 
 The golden bits with flowery studs are decked, 
 And knots of flowers the crimson reins connect. 
 And now on earth the silver axle rings, 
 And the shell sinks upon its slender springs ; 
 Light from her airy seat the Goddess bounds, 
 And steps celestial, press the pansied grounds." 
 
 Darwin. 
 
 Anchises, however, though warned by her not to speak of their 
 intimacy, boasted of it one day at a feast, and was struck by 
 thunder as a punishment for his disobedience. The power of Venus 
 over the heart, was supported and assisted by a celebrated girdle, 
 called zone by the Greeks, and cestus by the Latins. This myste- 
 rious girdle which gave beauty, grace, and elegance when worn even 
 by the most deformed, was irresistible when around beauty: it 
 excited love, and kindled even extinguished flames. Juno herself 
 was indebted to this powerful ornament in gaining the favours of 
 Jupiter; and Venus, though possessed of every charm, no sooner 
 put on her cestus, than Vulcan, unable to resist the influence of 
 love, forgot all the intrigues and infidelities of his wife, and fabri- 
 cated arms even for her illegitimate children. 
 
 " In this was every art and every charm, 
 To win the wisest, and the coldest warm, 
 Kind love, the gentle vow, the gay desire, 
 The kind deceit, the still reviving fire, 
 Persuasive speech, and more persuasive sighs, 
 Silence that spoke and eloquence of eyes." 
 
 Homer. 
 
 The contest of Venus for the golden apple is well known. The 
 Goddess of Discord, not having been invited to the marriage of 
 Peleus and Thetis, evinced her disappointment, by throwing among 
 the assembly of the gods, who were celebrating the nuptials, a 
 golden apple, on which was inscribed, Detur pulchriori. All the 
 goddesses claimed it as their own, and the contention at first became 
 general ; however, Juno, Venus, and Minerva, were left at last to 
 decide between them, their respective right to beauty. Neither of 
 the gods was willing, by deciding in favour of one, to draw on him 
 
THE WORSHIP OF VENUS. 
 
 69 
 
 the enmity of the remaining two, they therefore appointed Paris 
 to the unenviable task. 
 
 
 The goddesses appeared before their judge, and endeavoured, by 
 profuse offers, to influence his decision. Juno promised a kingdom, 
 Minerva glory, and Venus the fairest woman in the world for a 
 wife. When Paris had heard their several claims, he adjudged the 
 prize to Venus, and gave her the apple, to which she seems entitled 
 from her beauty. 
 
 The worship of Venus was universally established ; statues and 
 temples were erected to her in every kingdom ; and the ancients 
 were fond of paying homage to a divinity who presided over love, 
 and by whose influence alone, mankind existed. In her sacrifices, 
 and at the festivals celebrated in her honour, too much licentious- 
 ness prevailed : victims, however, were seldom offered to her, or her 
 altars stained with blood. The rose, the myrtle, and the apple, 
 were sacred to Venus ; among birds, the dove, the swan, and the 
 sparrow, were her favourites. The goddess of beauty was repre- 
 sented among the ancients in different forms. Among the most 
 highly valued, was that in the temple of Jupiter Olympus, where she 
 was represented by Phidias, as rising from the sea, and crowned by 
 the goddess of Persuasion. 
 
 Phidias his keen chisel swayed 
 
 To carve the marble of the matchless maid, 
 
 That all the youth of Athens, in amaze, 
 
 At that cold beauty, with sad tears did gaze." 
 
 TlU'RLOW. 
 
 She is generally imaged with her son Cupid, in a chariot drawn 
 by doves, or at other times by swans or sparrows. The surnames 
 of the goddess are numerous, and serve to show how well establish- 
 ed her worship was all over the earth. She was called Cypria, 
 
70 THE VENUS ACR.EA. 
 
 because particularly worshipped in the island of Cyprus; and 
 received the name of Paphia, because at Paphos, she had a temple 
 with an altar, on which it was asserted rain never fell, though 
 exposed in the open air. 
 
 " O queen of love ! whose smile all bright 
 Glads Paphos and the Cyprian isle, 
 Forsake those loved retreats awhile, 
 And to the temple bend thy flight, 
 Where Glycera, the young, the fair, 
 
 Invokes thy presence high, 
 While clouds of incense fill the air, 
 And waft her suppliant sigh. 
 
 " Bring in thy train the vengeful boy, 
 
 And Graces (while their robes loose flow 
 
 Gives glances of a breast of snow ;) 
 Wantoning in their thoughtless joy. 
 Let Hermes grace the jocund scene, 
 
 And youth s*j gay and free ; 
 For what is youth, though fair, oh ! queen, 
 
 If destitute of thee ? " 
 
 Horace. 
 
 The Cnidians worshipped her under the name of Venus Acrasa, 
 of Doris, and of Euploca. In her temple of Euploca, at Cnidos, was 
 the most admired of her statues, being the most perfect piece of 
 Praxiteles. It was formed of white marble, and appeared so 
 much like life, that, according to some historians, a youth of the 
 place secretly introduced himself into her temple, to offer his 
 vows of adoration before the lifeless image. 
 
 Hero, in pursuit of whom, Leander braved the Hellespont, and 
 
 whose touching story will be more minutely given hereafter, was 
 
 one of the priestesses of Venus, and it was in this occupation that 
 
 Leander first saw and loved her : a love which led to results so 
 
 disastrous. 
 
 " Come hither, all sweet maidens, soberly, 
 Down looking, aye, and with a chastened light, 
 Hid in the fringes of your eye-lids white, 
 And meekly let your fair hands joined be, 
 As if so gentle that ye could not see 
 Untouched, a victim of your beauty bright, 
 Sinking away to his young spirit's night, 
 Sinking bewildered mid the dreary sea : 
 *Tis young Leander toiling to his death ; 
 Nigh swooning, he doth purse his weary lips 
 For Hero's cheek, and smiles against her smile. 
 O horrid dream ! see how his body dips, 
 Dead — heavy ; arms and shoulders gleam awhile : 
 He's gone — up bubbles all his amorous breath." 
 
 Keats. 
 
THE ANADYOMINE VENUS. 71 
 
 Venus was also surnamed Cytheraea, because she was the chief deity 
 of Cythera ; Phillommeis, as the queen of laughter ; Tellesigama, 
 because she presided over marriage ; Verticordia, because she 
 could turn the hearts of women to cultivate chastity ; Basilea, as 
 the queen of love ; Myrtea, from the myrtle being sacred to her ; 
 Mechanitis, in allusion to the many artifices practised in love ; and 
 also goddess of the sea, because born in the bosom of the waters; 
 
 " Behold a nymph arise, divinely fair, 
 
 Whom to Cythera first the surges bear; 
 
 Hence is she borne, safe o'er the deeps profound, 
 
 To Cyprus, watered by the waves around : 
 
 And here she walks, endowed with every grace 
 
 To charm, the goddess blooming in her face ; 
 
 Her looks demand respect, and where she goes 
 
 Beneath her tender feet the herbage blows ; 
 
 And Aphrodite, from the foam, her name, 
 
 Among the race of gods and men the same ; 
 
 And Cythersea from Cythera came ; 
 
 Whence, beauteous crown'd, she safely cross'd the sea, 
 
 And call'd, O Cyprus, Cypria from thee ; 
 
 Nor less by Philomeda known on earth, 
 
 A name derived immediate from her birth : 
 
 Her first attendants to the immortal choir 
 
 Were Love, the oldest £od, and fair Desire ; 
 
 The virgin whisper, and the tempting smile, 
 
 The sweet allurements that can hearts beguile, 
 
 Soft blandishments which never fail to move, 
 
 Friendship, and all the fond deceits in love, 
 
 Constant her steps pursue, or will she go 
 
 Among the gods above, or men below." 
 
 Hesiod. 
 
 As rising from the sea, the name of Anadyomine is applied to 
 her, and rendered immortal by the celebrated painting of Apelles, 
 which represented her issuing from the bosom of the waves, and 
 wringing her tresses on her shoulder. 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF THE ANADYOMINE VENUS. 
 
 " She has just issued from the bath, and yet is animated with the 
 enjoyment of it. She seems all soft and mild enjoyment, and the 
 curved lines of her fine limbs, flow into each other with a never ending 
 sinuosity of sweetness. Her face expresses a breathless yet passive 
 and innocent voluptuousness, free from affectation. Her lips, without 
 the sublimity of lofty and impetuous passion, the grandeur of 
 enthusiastic imagination of the Apollo of the capital, or the union 
 of both like the Apollo Belvidere, have the tenderness of arch, 
 yet pure and affectionate desire ; and the mode in which the ends 
 
72 THE ANADYOMINE VENUS. 
 
 of the mouth are drawn in, yet lifted or half opened, with the 
 smile that for ever circles round them, and the tremulous curve into 
 which they are wrought, by inextinguishable desire, and the tongue 
 lying against the lower lip, as in the listlessness of passive joy, 
 express love, still love ! 
 
 " Her eyes seem heavy and swimming with pleasure, and her 
 small forehead fades on both sides into that sweet swelling, and 
 then declension of the bone over the eye, in the mode which 
 expresses simple and tender feelings. 
 
 " The neck is full and panting, as with the aspiration of delight, 
 and flows with gentle curves into her perfect form. 
 
 " Her form is indeed perfect. She is half sitting and half rising 
 from a shell, and the fullness of her limbs, and their complete 
 roundness and perfection, do not diminish the vital energy with 
 which they seem to be animated. The position of the arms, which 
 are lovely beyond imagination, is natural, unaffected and easy. This 
 perhaps is the finest personification of Venus, the deity of super- 
 ficial desire, in all antique statuary. Her pointed and pear-like 
 person, ever virgin, and her attitude modesty itself." 
 
 Shelley, 
 
 Breathe softly, flutes 
 
 Be tender of your strings, ye soothing lutes ; 
 
 Nor be the trumpet heard ! O vain, O vain ! 
 
 Nor flowers budding in an April rain, 
 
 Nor breath of sleeping dove, nor river's flow — 
 
 No, nor the QEolian twang of Love's own bow, 
 
 Can mingle music fit for the soft ear 
 
 Of goddess Cytheraea ! 
 
 Yet deign, white queen of beauty, thy fair eyes 
 
 On our souls' sacrifice." 
 
 Keats. 
 
VULCAN. 
 
 Vulcan, the son of Jupiter and Juno, was thrown from heaven by 
 
 the former, for attempting to assist the queen of Olympus when 
 
 under her husband's displeasure. The whirlwind employed by Jove, 
 
 precipitated him into the island of Lemnos. 
 
 " I fell his matchless might, 
 
 Hurled headlong downward from the ethereal height ; 
 
 Tossed all the day in rapid circles round ; 
 
 Nor till the sun descended, touched the ground ; 
 
 Breathless I fell in giddy motion lost ; 
 
 The Sinthians raised me on the Lemnian coast." 
 
 Homer. 
 
 He fell with sufficient velocity to break his thigh, an accident, 
 
 which, as it made him lame, did not at all tend to render his 
 
 appearance less ugly than it is usually described. 
 
 << His hand was known 
 
 In heaven, hy many a towered structure high, 
 
 Where sceptred angels held their residence, 
 
 And sate as princes ; 
 
 Nor was his name unheard, or unadorcd, 
 
 In ancient Greece; and in Ausonian land 
 
 Men called him Mulciher ; and how he fell 
 
 From heaven they fabled, thrown by angry Jove 
 
 Sheer o'er the chrystal battlements : from morn 
 
 To noon he fell, from noon to dewy eve, 
 
 A summer's day ; and with the setting sun, 
 
 Dropped from the zenith like a falling star, 
 
 On Lemnos* the /Eerean isle." 
 
 Mil TON. 
 
 lie was educated by the nymphs of the sea. 
 10 
 
 and trained in his 
 
74 vulcan's skill. 
 
 youth in the art of working metals, and was able to cultivate those 
 mechanical abilities which he is represented to possess. 
 
 " He taught 
 
 Man's earth-born race, that, like the bestial brood, 
 Haunted the rugged cave, or sheltering 1 wood, 
 Th' inventive powers of dcedal art to know, 
 And all the joys from social life that flow ; 
 In search no more of casual seats to roam, 
 But rear with skilful hand the lasting dome." 
 
 Horace. 
 
 In his labours he was assisted by the Cyclops, who are said by 
 
 some, to have possessed but one eye, placed in the middle of the 
 
 forehead. They inhabited the western part of the island of Sicily ; 
 
 but the tradition of their only having one eye originated, in all 
 
 probability, from their custom of wearing small bucklers of steel 
 
 which covered their faces, with a small aperture in the middle, 
 
 corresponding exactly to the eye. They were sometimes reckoned 
 
 among the Gods, and had a temple at Corinth, where worship and 
 
 sacrifices were solemnly offered. 
 
 " The Cyclops brethren, arrogant of heart, 
 
 Who forged the lightning shaft, and gave to Jove 
 
 His thunder; they were like unto the gods, 
 
 Save that a single ball of sight was fixed 
 
 In their mid forehead. Cyclops was their name, 
 
 From that round eye-ball in their brow infixed; 
 
 And strength, and force, and manual craft were theirs." 
 
 He 
 
 sron. 
 
 " Thou trusty pine ! 
 " Prop of my God-like steps, I lay thee by — 
 Bring me a hundred reeds of decent grow th 
 To make a pipe for my capacious mouth — " 
 
 Cay. 
 
 ■^fiE> 
 
 , 
 
 The first fruit of the mechanical skill of Vulcan, was invented as 
 a punishment for Juno, to whom, as it was through her he fell from 
 heaven, he attributed his deformity. This was a throne of go'd, 
 with secret springs, on which the goddess no sooner sate, than jhe 
 
MARRIAGE OF VULCAN. 
 
 /.-> 
 
 found herself unable to move. In vain the Gods attempted to 
 deliver her ; with Vulcan, only rested the secret and the power to 
 disenthral her ; and as the price of her freedom, Juno promised to 
 procure him a wife from amongst the heavenly conclave. Vulcan 
 fixed his desires on Minerva ; the Goddess of Wisdom, however, 
 laughed his suit to scorn, and Vulcan is represented as having been 
 very violent at his rejection. 
 
 Juno then pressed the suit of her son on Venus, whose power 
 was already established at the celestial court. The beautiful 
 Goddess rejected him with horror, and Juno overwhelmed her with 
 supplications ; but as these could not subdue the ugliness of the 
 suitor, she implored Jupiter to exercise his power; and with all the 
 determination of a Goddess, poured so many entreaties, accompanied 
 with tears, that the king of heaven must have complied, had it not 
 been for the more touching and feminine attributes of Venus, the 
 soft eyes of whom filled with tears, and whose downy cheek grew 
 pale, at the idea of the union. 
 
 But Destiny, the irrevocable, interposed, and pronounced the 
 decree by which the most beautiful of the Goddesses, was united to 
 the most unsightly of the Gods. During the festival which followed 
 their union, the altar of Hymen was that which received all the 
 offerings. 
 
 A marriage thus assorted, however, was not likely to prove 
 a happy one, and ere long it was followed by a discovery which 
 
76 THE CYCLOPS. 
 
 created an ecstacy among the scandal-mongers of Olympus. 
 This was no less than an improper liason between Mars, God of 
 War, and the charming Venus. Vulcan, suspecting the infidelity 
 of his wife, formed an invisible net around them, and drew upon 
 the lovers the laughter of the remaining divinities. Mars, betwixt 
 rage and confusion, retired for a time to Thrace, and Venus took 
 refuge in the isle of Cyprus, where she gave birth to Cupid. 
 
 Vulcan, as we have recorded, was celebrated for the ingenious 
 works and automatical figures which he made, and many speak of 
 two golden statues, which not only seemed animated, but which 
 walked by his side, and assisted him in working metals. 
 
 " Then from the anvil the lame artist rose, 
 Wide with distorted leg, oblique he goes ; 
 And stills the bellows, and in order laid, 
 Locks in their chests his instruments of trade : 
 With his huge sceptre graced, and red attire, 
 Came halting forth the sovereign of the fire : 
 The monarch's steps two female forms uphold, 
 That moved and breathed in animated gold. 
 To whom was voice, and sense, and science given 
 Of works divine, such wonders are in heaven ?" 
 
 Virgil. 
 
 The most known of the works of Vulcan, which were presented 
 to mortals, are the arms of Achilles, those of iEneas, and the 
 shield of Hercules described by Hesiod. The chariot of the sun 
 was also by this deity. 
 
 " A golden axle did the work uphold, 
 Gold was the beam, the wheels were orbed with gold : 
 The spokes in rows of silver pleased the sight, 
 The seat with parti-coloured gems was bright." 
 
 Ovid. 
 
 The worship of Vulcan was well established, particularly in 
 Egypt, at Athens, and at Rome. It was customary to burn the 
 whole victim to him and not reserve part of it, as in the immolations 
 to the remainder of the Gods. He was represented as blowing 
 with his nervous arm the fires of his forges. His vast breast hairy, 
 and his forehead blackened with smoke; while his enormous 
 shoulders seemed borrowed from the Cyclops. Some represent 
 him lame and deformed, holding a hammer in his hand, ready to 
 strike ; while with the other, he turns a thunderbolt on his anvil, 
 for which an eagle waits by his side to carry it to Jupiter. 
 
THE VULCAN ALIA. 
 
 / I 
 
 He appears on some monuments with a long beard, dishevelled 
 
 hair, half naked, and a small round cap on his head, while he hold* 
 
 a hammer and pincers in his hand. 
 
 " The Vulcanean dome, eternal frame, 
 
 High, eminent, amidst the works divine, 
 Where Heavens far beaming mansions shine, 
 There the lame architect the goddess found 
 Ohscure in smoke, his forges flaming round ; 
 While bathed in sweat, from fire to fire he flew, 
 And puffing loud, the roaring bellows blew." 
 
 Homer. 
 
 It is stated that Bacchus made him intoxicated after he had been 
 expelled from Olympus, and then prevailed on him to return, where 
 he was reconciled to his parents. He seems, however, to have 
 been retained there more for ridicule than any other purpose ; and 
 was indeed the great butt of Olympus, even his wife laughing at 
 his deformities, and mimicking his lameness to gain the smiles of 
 
 her lovers. 
 
 " Vulcan with awkward grace, his office plies, 
 And unextinguished laughter shakes the skies." 
 
 Homer. 
 
 In the month of August, the Vulcanalia took place at Rome, 
 streets were illuminated, fires kindled, and animals thrown into the 
 flames as a sacrifice. Romulus caused a temple to be erected in his 
 honour, and Tarquin presented to him the arms and spoils of the 
 conquered ; and to him also, was dedicated the lion. 
 
 
 - -%v^r5~ j; «* 
 
CUPID. 
 
 This Deity, " the boy-god," as poets love to call him, was the 
 offspring of Venus and Mars ; when Venus had given birth to him, 
 Jupiter foresaw the mischief he would create in the world, as well 
 as in his more immediate kingdom ; he therefore banished him 
 from his court, and menaced him with his wrath, should he return. 
 The Goddess conveyed him to the isle of Cyprus, where he was 
 suckled by the wild beasts of the forest. 
 
 No sooner had strength come with years, than Cupid, forming a 
 bow of the ash tree, and arrows of the cypress, ungratefully turned 
 against the animals who had supported him. 
 
 " His quiver, sparkling bright with gems and gold, 
 From his fair plumed shoulder graceful hung, 
 And from its top in brilliant chords enrolled, 
 Each little vase resplendently was slung, 
 Still as he flew, around him sportive clung 
 His frolic train of winged Zephyrs light, 
 Wafting the fragrance which his tresses flung : 
 While odours dropped from every ringlet bright, 
 And from his blue eyes beamed ineffable delight." 
 
 Mrs. Tighe. 
 
 Experience gave confidence to the youthful deity, and when an 
 opportunity offered, he sent his arrows to the hearts of men, so bold 
 did he even become, that he ventured to dart one, dipped in the 
 subtle poison against his mother. 
 
 " Love ! oh ! he breathes and rambles round the world 
 
 An idol and idolator : he flies 
 Touching, with passing beauty, ringlets curled, 
 Ripe lips, and bosoms white, and starry eyes, 
 And wheresoe'er his colours are unfurled, 
 Full many a voung and panting spirit lies." 
 
 Barry Cornwall. 
 
 The nymph Perestere felt his vengeance in a different manner. 
 Cupid was wandering with his mother over a meadow, beautifully 
 enamelled with flowers "all fragrance and of various hues," when, 
 in a playful mood, the youthful deity challenged Venus to see which 
 could gather the greatest numberin the least time. Cupid would 
 have been triumphant, had not Perestere, who accompanied them, 
 attempted to win the favour of the goddess, by assisting to fill her 
 basket. In revenge, Cupid changed her into a dove. 
 
 The beautiful fable of the winged deity's love for Psyche, is the 
 most pleasing of thoso r*1 n tori Q f him. 
 
CUPID AND PSYCHE. 79 
 
 The nymph Psyche was one of those exquisite beings, so seldom 
 met with in the present degenerate days ; and even then, so rare 
 was her beauty, that the people of earth looked on her almost as a 
 divinity, and in some instances would have worshipped her in the 
 belief that she was Venus, visiting the earth. 
 
 " In her bower she lay, like a snow-wreath flung - , 
 
 Mid flowers of brightest hue : 
 Pouting roses about her hung, 
 Violets 'neath her mantle sprung, 
 
 Shedding their light of blue. 
 " Pillowed on one fair arm she lay, 
 
 Beneath her silver veil ; 
 Her golden locks in wanton play, 
 As sunbeams through the mist make way, 
 
 Stole round her bosom pale ! 
 " Falling waters afar were heard, 
 
 To lull the slumb'ring fair : 
 Yet ever and aye, her soul seemed stirred, 
 In dove-like murmurs, as if the bird 
 
 Of dreams sat brooding there. 
 " All rude winds were hushed to rest ; 
 
 Only the enamoured south, 
 Wantoning round her swan-like breast — 
 The silken folds of her azure vest 
 Kissed with its fragrant mouth." 
 
 Axox. 
 
 To one so jealous as Venus, this homage paid to Psyche was an 
 enormous crime, and she determined to take vengeance for the 
 offence, by punishing her in the tenderest part of a woman's nature ; 
 for she commanded Cupid to make her fall deeply in love, with 
 the ugliest being he could find. 
 
 With the intention of fulfilling this commission, Cupid visited 
 Psyche, but so beautiful was the being he came to see, that he 
 found himself compelled to pay the same homage to her which 
 others had done; and finished by becoming deeply enamoured 
 himself, as he saw 
 
 " Upon her purple couch sweet Psyche laid, 
 
 Her radiant lips a downy slumber sealed, 
 
 In light transparent veil alone arrayed, 
 
 Her bosom's opening charms were half revealed, 
 
 And scarce the lucid folds her polished limbs concealed. 
 
 " He half relenting on her beauties gazed, 
 
 Just then awaking with a sudden start, 
 
 Her opening eye in humid lustre blazed, 
 
 Unseen he still remained, enchanted and amazed." 
 
 Mrs. Tigiie. 
 
 Fearful, however, of his mother's displeasure, he carried on the 
 
y() CUPID AND PSYCHE. 
 
 affair with great secrecy, and by his divine power, conveyed her to 
 a palace he had formed in a region full of beauty : here, when the 
 
 shadows of night had visited the earth, Cupid sought the presence 
 
 of his love. 
 
 " Who first told how Psyche went 
 
 On the smooth wind to realms of wonderment ? 
 What Psyche felt, and Love, when their full lips 
 First touched ; * * * 
 
 * * * * With all their sighs 
 And how they kist each other's tremulous eyes : 
 The silver lamp — the ravishment — the wonder — 
 The darkness — loneliness, and fearful thunder/' 
 
 Keats. 
 
 But the happiness which had fallen to the lot of the beautiful 
 Psyche, was too delightful and too pure, not to meet with some- 
 thing which should realize the after thought of the poet, that " the 
 course of true love never did run smooth." The restless nature of 
 the nymph would not allow her to remain quietly in possession of 
 her beautiful lot, or in the enchanted place which the power of the 
 God had raised for her, though few could be so delightful, when, 
 
 " In broad pinions from the realms above, 
 
 Descending Cupid seeks the Cyprian grove ; 
 
 To his wide arms enamoured Psyche springs 
 
 And clasps her lover with Aurelian wings, 
 
 A purple sash across his shoulder bends, 
 
 And fringed with gold the quivered shafts suspends; 
 
 The bending bow obeys the silken string, 
 
 And, as he steps, the silver arrows ring. 
 
 Thin folds of gauze, with dim transparence flow, 
 
 O'er her fair forehead and her neck of snow ; 
 
 The winding woof her graceful limbs surrounds 
 
 Swells in the breeze, and sweeps the velvet grounds; 
 
CtTPID AND PSYCHE. 81 
 
 As hand in hand along the flowery meads, 
 His blushing bride the quivered hero leads; 
 Charmed round their heads pursuing Zephyrs throng, 
 And scatter roses as they move along ; 
 Bright beams of spring in soft effusion play, 
 And halcyon hours invite them on their way. 
 
 Delighted Hymen hears their whispered' vows, 
 And binds his chaplets round their polished brows, 
 Guides to his altar, ties the flowery bands, 
 And as they kneel unites their willing hands." 
 
 Darwin. 
 
 The love which had fallen upon Psyche, and the affection which 
 dropped in honied words from Cupid's lips, was so endearing, that 
 the nymph longed to communicate the delightful story of her good 
 fortune to her less gifted, but envious sisters. 
 
 She therefore told them of the glories of her marriage ; though 
 her bridegroom had never made himself visible to her, and though 
 to her he had no name save that fond one of husband, yet still she 
 could talk of the beauties of her magic palace, of the musical voice 
 of her invisible lover, and of the heart-touching and passionate 
 endearments he bestowed on her. 
 
 But all this was no pleasant intelligence to them, for with the 
 malice of ill-nature, they determined to be revenged on her for a 
 happiness which was no fault. They affected to believe that her 
 husband had wicked designs in his concealment, and that he would 
 desert his Psyche if he became visible to her — or they asserted that 
 they had no doubt though the lips and skin of this mysterious being 
 seemed so soft to their sister, it was by the power of enchantment, 
 and that the light would reveal a monster whose presence would 
 astonish no less than it would frighten: and succeeded in persuading 
 her, by their next meeting, to provide herself with the means of 
 procuring a light, and a dagger to stab him, should he prove the 
 monstrous being they averred. 
 
 The next night came, and Psyche, when she heard the thrilling 
 tones of her husband's voice, could scarcely keep her secret. Dread- 
 ing the anger of her sisters, however, she waited until Cupid was 
 locked in slumber, and from its hiding place procured the light and 
 the dagger. 
 
 She softly rose, 
 
 And seized the lamp — where it obscurely lay, 
 
 With hand too rashly daring to disclose 
 
 The sacred veil which hung mysterious o'er her woes." 
 
 TlGBft. 
 
 n 
 
82 CUPID AND PSYCHE. 
 
 For a time the nymph scarcely dared to cast a glance on the 
 being she was so anxious to view ; and stood half shrinking from 
 the desired sight. 
 
 " In her spiritual divinity, 
 
 Young Psyche stood the sleeping Eros by, 
 What time she to the couch had, daring, trod ; 
 And, by the glad light, saw her bridegroom God ! 
 O'er him she knelt enamoured, and her sigh 
 Breathed near and nearer to his silent mouth, 
 Rich with the hoarded odours of the south ! " 
 
 Bulwer. 
 
 But who can conceive her rapturous delight, when, instead of the 
 fearful being she dreaded, she beheld one whose every limb, and 
 every feature, shone with a radiant and celestial beauty. 
 
 " All imperceptibly to human touch, 
 
 His wings display celestial essence light; 
 
 The clear effulgence of the blaze is such, 
 
 The brilliant plumage shines so heavenly bright, 
 
 That mortal eyes turn dazzled from the sight ; 
 
 A youth he seems in manhood's freshest years ; 
 
 Round his fair neck, as changing with delight, 
 
 Each golden curl resplendently appears, 
 
 Or shades his darker brow, which grace majestic wears." 
 
 TiGHE. 
 
 Her eyes were rivetted on his exquisite form, until they forgot 
 all else ; even her love, her kindness, and her passionate endear- 
 ments, all vanished in that long, earnest, and delighted gaze. 
 
 " Speechless with awe ; in transport strangely lost, 
 Long Psyche stood, with fixed, adoring eye ; 
 Her limbs immoveable, her senses tossed 
 Between amazement, i'ear, and ecstacy, 
 She hangs enamoured o'er the deity." 
 
 Tighe. 
 
 In the trembling transport which pervaded her, however, there 
 fell a drop of burning wax from the light which she held, on the 
 marble-like shoulder of Cupid, and he awoke. 
 
 " From her trembling hand extinguished falls 
 
 The fatal lamp. He starts — and suddenly 
 
 Tremendous thunders echo through the halls, 
 
 While ruins hideous crash bursts o'er the affrighted walls." 
 
 Tighe. 
 
 The spell was broken — the palace vanished — the God disappeared, 
 and Psyche, mourning in bitter tears for her foolish curiosity, found 
 herself standing on a desolate rock. 
 
psyche's curiosity 83 
 
 " Dread honor seizes on her ranking heart, 
 
 A mortal chillness shudders at her breast, 
 
 Her soul shrinks, fainting, from death's icy dart, 
 
 The groan scarce uttered, dies, but half expressed, 
 
 And down she sinks in deadly swoon oppressed : 
 
 But when at length, awaking from her trance, 
 
 The terrors of her fate stood all confessed, 
 
 In vain she casts around her timid glance, 
 
 The rudely frowning scenes, her former joys enhance. 
 
 " No traces of those joys, alas 1 remain ; 
 
 A desert solitude alone appears. 
 
 No verdant shade relieves the sandy plain, 
 
 The wide spread waste, no gentle fountain cheers ; 
 
 One barren face the dreary prospect wears ; 
 
 Nought thro' the vast horizon meets her eye 
 
 To calm the dismal tumult of her fears, 
 
 No trace of human habitation nigh, 
 
 A sandy wild beneath, above a threatening sky." 
 
 Tighe. 
 
 The abandoned Psyche attempted to drown herself in the 
 neighbouring waters. The stream, fearing the power of the God, 
 returned her to earth upon a bank of flowers. 
 
 She then went through the world in search of her lost love, 
 persecuted, and subjected to numerous trials by Venus; who, 
 determined on destroying, sent her to Proserpine with a box 
 to request some of her beauty. The mission was accomplished in 
 safety, but Psyche nearly fell a victim to curiosity and avarice ; 
 for she opened the box to look at its contents, and endeavoured to 
 take a portion of it to herself, that she might appear more beautiful 
 in the eyes of her lost husband. On opening it, a deep slumber 
 fell on the unwary mortal, and she lay upon the earth, until Cupid, 
 luckily escaping from the confinement to which his mother had sub- 
 jected him, found his lost love, and reproached her for her curiosity. 
 
 In addition to this, Venus imposed upon Psyche the most diffi- 
 cult tasks ; she poured upon the nymph torments the most excru- 
 ciating, and took delight in rendering her miserable, who, not 
 content with being taken for the goddess of beauty, had concluded 
 by seducing from her the duty of her son. 
 
 Jupiter, however, was moved to pity by this relentless rigour, 
 and by the touching nature of the story ; he took her up to heaven, 
 restored Cupid to his place, and making Psyche immortal, gave her 
 in marriage to the God of love, in the presence of the celestial 
 inhabitants. To use the elegant language of Mr. Keightley, 
 
84 PSYCHE. 
 
 " The hours shed roses through the sky, the Graces sprinkled the 
 halls of heaven with fragrant odours, Apollo plays on his lyre, the 
 Arcadian God on his reeds, the Muses sing in chorus, while Venus 
 dances with grace and elegance, to celebrate the nuptials of 
 her son." 
 
 " So pure, so soft, with sweet attraction shone 
 
 Fair Psyche, kneeling at the ethereal throne ; 
 
 Won with coy smiles the admiring court of Jove, 
 
 And wanned the bosom of unconquered love. 
 
 Beneath a moving shade of fruits and flowers, 
 
 Onward they march to Hymen's sacred bowers ; 
 
 With lifted torch he lights the festive strain, 
 
 Sublime, and leads them in his golden chain ; 
 
 Joins the fond pair, indulgent to their vows, 
 
 And hides with mystic veil their blushing brows. 
 
 Round their fair forms their mingling arms they fling, 
 
 Meet with warm lip, and clasp with nestling wing. 
 
 Hence plastic nature, as oblivion whelms 
 
 Her fading forms, repeoples all her realms ; 
 
 Soft joys disport on purple plumes unfurled, 
 
 And love and beauty rule the willing world." 
 
 Darwin. 
 
 Thus Cupid was at length re-united to his beloved Psyche, and 
 
 their loves were speedily crowned by the birth of a child, whom his 
 
 parents named Pleasure. 
 
 PSYCHE. 
 
 «* Oh ! Goddess, hear these tuneless numbers, wrung 
 
 By sweet enforcement and remembrance dear, 
 And pardon that thy secrets should be sung, 
 
 Even into thine own soft-couched ear : 
 Surely I dreamt to day, or did I see 
 
 The winged Psyche with awakened eyes ? 
 I wandered in a forest thoughtlessly, 
 And, on the sudden, fainting with surprise, 
 Saw two fair creatures, couched side by side, 
 
 In deepest grass, beneath the whispering roof 
 
 Of leaves and trembled blossoms, where there ran 
 A brooklet, scarce espied : 
 'Mid hushed, cool rooted flowers, fragrant-eyed, 
 
 Blue, silver white, and budded Tyrian, 
 They lay calm breathing on the bedded grass ; 
 
 Their arms embraced, and their pinions too ; 
 
 Their lips touched not, but had not bade adieu, 
 As if disjoined by soft handed slumber, 
 And ready still, past kisses to outnumber, 
 
 At tender eye-dawn of aurorean love : 
 The winged boy I knew ; 
 
 But who wast thou, O happy, happy dove? 
 His Psyche true! 
 
cupid. 85 
 
 " O latest born and loveliest vision far 
 
 Of all Olympus' faded hierarchy ! 
 Fairer than Phoebus sapphire-regioned star 
 
 Or Vesper, amorous glow-worm of the sky ; 
 Fairer than these, tho' temple thou hast none, 
 
 Nor altar heaped with flowers ; 
 Nor virgin-choir to make delicious moan 
 
 Upon the midnight hours; 
 No voice, no lute, no pipe, no incense sweet, 
 
 From chain swung censer teeming ; 
 No shrine, no grove, no oracle, no heat 
 
 Of pale-mouthed prophet dreaming. 
 O brightest ! though too late for antique vows 
 
 Too, too late for the fond, believing lyre 
 When holy were the haunted forest boughs, 
 
 Holy the air, the water and the fire." 
 
 Keats. 
 
 Of this deity, poets have written until the God, heeonie identified 
 
 with the passion, which is addressed by many as immortal. 
 
 " They sin who tell us Love can die ; 
 With life all other passions fly, 
 All others are but vanity ; 
 In heaven ambition cannot dwell 
 Nor avarice in the vaults of hell : 
 Earthly these passions of the earth 
 They perish where they have their birth ; 
 
 But Love is indestructible : 
 Its holy flame for ever burnetii, 
 From heaven it came, to heaven returned). 
 Too oft on earth a troubled guest, 
 At times deceived, at times opprest, 
 
 It here is tried and purified, 
 Then hath in heaven its perfect rest : 
 It soweth here with toil and care, 
 But the harvest time of Love is there." 
 
 Southey. 
 
 Cupid is usually represented as a winged infant, naked, armed 
 
 with a bow and quiver full of arrows. On gems and all other 
 
 pieces of antiquity, he is represented as amusing himself with 
 
 childish diversions. Sometimes, like a conqueror, lie marches 
 
 triumphantly with a helmet on his head, a spear on his shoulder, 
 
 and a buckler on his arm, intimating that even Mars himself owns 
 
 the superiority of love. 
 
 " To Love, the soft and blooming child, 
 I touch the harp in descant wild ; 
 To Love, the babe of Cyprian bowers, 
 The boy who breathes and blushes flowers, 
 To Love, for heaven and earth adore him, 
 And gods and mortals bow before him !" 
 
 Anacreon. 
 
 Among the ancients, he was worshipped with the same solemnity 
 
86 L'AMORE DOM1NATORE. 
 
 as his mother Venus ; and as his influence was extended over the 
 heavens, the sea and the earth, and even the empire of the dead, 
 his divinity was universally acknowledged, and vows, prayers and 
 sacrifices, were daily offered to him. 
 
 Bright-winged child ! 
 
 Who has another care when thou hast smiled ? 
 Unfortunates on earth, we see at last 
 All death-shadows, and glooms that overcast 
 Our spirits, fanned away by thy light pinions. 
 O sweetest essence ! sweetest of all minions ! 
 God of warm pulses, and dishevelled hair ; 
 Dear unseen light in darkness ! eclipser 
 Of light in light ! delicious poisoner ! 
 Thy venomed goblet will we quaff, until 
 We fill— we till ! " 
 
 Keats. 
 
 One of the most beautiful of his temples was built within a 
 myrtle grove, the God being extended in the attitude of a 
 sleeping child, under the title of L'Amore Dominatore. 
 "They built a temple for the God, 
 
 'Twas in a. myrtle grove, 
 Where the sweet bee and butterfly, 
 
 Vied for each blossom's love. 
 " I looked upon the altar, — there 
 
 The pictured semblance lay, 
 Of him the temple's lord, it shone 
 
 More beautiful than day. 
 " It was a sleeping child, as fair 
 
 As the first-born of spring : 
 Like Indian gold waved the bright curls, 
 
 In many a sunny ring. 
 " I heard them hymn his name, his power, 
 
 I heard them, and I smiled : 
 How could they say the earth was ruled, 
 
 By but a sleeping child ? 
 " I went then forth into the world, 
 
 To see what might be there ; 
 And there I heard a voice of woe, 
 
 Of weeping, and despair. 
 " I saw a youthful warrior stand 
 
 In his first light of fame, 
 His native city, filled the air 
 
 With her deliverer's name : 
 " I saw him hurry from the crowd, 
 
 And fling his laurel crown, 
 In weariness, in hopelessness, 
 
 In utter misery down. 
 " And what the sorrow, then I asked, 
 
 Can thus the warrior move, 
 To scorn his meed of victory ? 
 
 They told me it was Love ! 
 
CUPID. y~ 
 
 " I sought the Forum, there was one. 
 
 With dark and haughty hrow, 
 His voice was as the trumpet's tone, 
 Mine ear rings with it now. 
 
 " They quailed before his flashing eye, 
 
 They watched his lightest word : 
 When suddenly that eye was dim, 
 
 That voice no longer heard. 
 
 " I looked upon his lonely hour, 
 
 The weary solitude : 
 When over dark, and bitter thoughts, 
 
 The sick hearts' left to brood. 
 
 " I marked the haughty spirit's strife, 
 
 To rend its bonds in vain : 
 Again I heard the cause of ill, 
 
 And heard loves name again. 
 
 " I saw an Urn, and round it hung, 
 
 An April diadem 
 Of flowers, telling they mourned one, 
 
 Faded and fair like them. 
 
 " I turned to tales of other days, 
 
 They spoke of breath and bloom : 
 And proud hearts that were bowed by love, 
 
 Into an early tomb. 
 
 " I heard of every suffering, 
 
 That on this earth can be : 
 How can they call a sleeping child, 
 
 A likeness, love, of thee ? 
 
 " They cannot paint thee, let them dream 
 
 A dark and nameless thing : 
 Why give the likeness of the dove, 
 
 Where is the serpent's sting ? 
 
 L. E. L. 
 
 We cannot better conclude our account of this important Deity 
 than by the following epigram, written under one of his statues. 
 "Whoe'er thou art, thy master see, 
 Who was, or is, — or is to be." 
 
 Voltaire. 
 
MINERVA, 
 
 Minerva, the Goddess of wisdom, war, and all the liberal arts, came 
 forth, armed and grown up, from her father's brain, and was imme- 
 diately admitted into the association of the Gods, becoming one of 
 the most faithful counsellors of her father. She was indeed the 
 only one of all the divinities whose authority, and consequence, 
 were equal to those of Jupiter. 
 
 " From Jove's awful head sprung: forth to light, 
 
 In golden panoply superbly dight ; 
 
 And while the glittering- spear thy hands essayed, 
 
 Olympus trembled at the martial maid. 
 
 Affrighted earth sounds from her deepest caves, 
 
 And swell of Ocean tides the sable waves ; 
 
 The turgid billows sink ; in heaven's high plains 
 
 His steeds the son of Hyperion reins, 
 
 Till Pallas lays her arms divine aside, 
 
 While Jove his daughter views with conscious pride." 
 
 Horace. 
 
 The strife of this Goddess with Neptune is worthy attention : 
 each of them claimed the right of giving a name to the capital of 
 Cecropia, and the assembly of the Gods decided the dispute by 
 promising preference to whichever could produce the most useful 
 and necessary present to the inhabitants of the earth. 
 
 Neptune, upon hearing this, struck the ground with his trident, 
 and immediately a horse issued therefrom. Minerva produced the 
 olive, and obtained the victory by the unanimous voice of the gods, 
 who considered the olive, as the emblem of peace, to be far pre- 
 ferable to the horse, the symbol of war and bloodshed. The 
 victorious deity called the capital Athenoe, and became the tutelar 
 divinity of the place. 
 
 The sandals of celestial mould, 
 
 Fledged with ambrosial plumes and rich with cold 
 Surround her feet : with these sublime she sails 
 Th' aerial space, and mounts the winged gales; 
 O'er earth and ocean wide, prepared to soar, 
 Her dreaded arm a beaming javelin bore, 
 Ponderous and vast : which, when her fury burns, 
 Proud tyrants humbles, and whole hosts o'erturns." 
 
 HoMt.l. 
 
 Arachne, a woman of Colophon, having acquired great perfection 
 in working with her needle, became impressed with a belief that 
 her powers were superior to those of Minerva, goddess of the art. 
 
MINERVA AND ARACHNE. 89 
 
 This wounded Minerva's jealous pride, which was increased by 
 Arachnes challenging her to a trial of skill. 
 
 " From famed Pactolus' golden stream, 
 Drawn by her art the curious Naiads came 
 Nor would the work, when finished, please so much 
 As, while she wrought, to view each graceful touch : 
 Whether the shapeless wool in balls she wound, 
 Or with quick motion turned the spindle round, 
 Or with her pencil drew ihe neat design, 
 Pallas, her mistress, shone in every line. 
 This the proud maid, with scornful air denies, 
 And e'en the goddess at her work defies, 
 Disowns her heavenly mistress every hour, 
 Nor asks her aid, nor deprecates her power." 
 
 Ovid. 
 
 Beautiful as the production of Arachne was, which recorded 
 
 the intrigues of Jove, yet it could not compete with that of Minerva, 
 
 who by her divine skill, surpassed all her rival's efforts. 
 
 " Pallas in figures wrought the heavenly powers, 
 
 And Mars's skill among the Athenean bowers, 
 
 Each god, by proper features was exprest ; 
 
 Jove with majestic mien, excelled the rest, 
 
 His nine forked mace the dewy sea-god shook, 
 
 And, looking sternly, smote the ragged rock ; 
 
 When, from the stone, leaped forth the sprightly steed 
 
 And Neptune claims the city for the deed. 
 
 Herself she blazons with a glittering spear, 
 
 And crested helm that veiled her braided hair, 
 
 With shield, and scaly breast-plate, implements of war. 
 
 Struck with her pointed lance, the teeming earth 
 
 Seemed to produce a new surprising birth, 
 
 When from the glebe, the pledge of conquest sprung, 
 
 A tree, pale green with fairest olives hung." 
 
 Ovid. 
 
 Although her work was perfect and masterly, the Goddess was 
 
 so vexed at the subjects Arachne had chosen, that she struck her 
 
 two or three times on the forehead. 
 
 "The bright goddess, passionately moved, 
 
 With envy saw, yet inwardly approved, 
 
 The scene of heavenly guilt, with haste she tore, 
 
 Nor longer the affront with patience bore ; 
 
 A boxen shuttle in her hand she took, 
 
 And more than once, Arachne's forehead struck." 
 
 The high spirited mortal, indignant at the blows, and in despair 
 
 at her defeat, hung herself, and was changed into a spider by Minen a. 
 
 She sprinkled her with juice, 
 
 Which leaves of baleful aconite produce. 
 Touched with the poisonous drug, her flowing hair 
 Fell to the ground, and left her temples bare. 
 12 
 
90 MINERVA AND MEDUSA. 
 
 Her usual features vanished from (heir place, 
 Her body lessened — but the most, her face, 
 Her slender fingers, hanging on each side, 
 With many joints the use of legs supplied, 
 A spider's bag, the rest, from which she gives 
 A thread, and still, by constant spinning lives." 
 
 Ovid. 
 
 Minerva when amusing herself by playing upon her favourite 
 flute before Juno and Venus, was ridiculed by the goddesses for 
 the distortion of her face while blowing the instrument ; Minerva 
 convinced of the truth of their remarks, by looking at herself in a 
 fountain near Mount Ida, threw the flute away, and denounced a 
 melancholy death to him who should find it. Marsyas was the 
 unfortunate being, and in the history of Apollo may be found 
 the fate he experienced through the veracity of her decree. 
 
 Minerva was called Athena Pallas, either from her killing the 
 giant Pallas, or because the spear which she seems to brandish in 
 her hands is called " pallein." 
 
 According to the different characters in which she nas appeared, 
 has the goddess been represented. Usually with a helmet on her 
 head, and a large plume nodding in the air. In one hand she 
 holds a spear, and in the other, a shield, with the dying head of 
 Medusa upon it. 
 
 " With bright wreaths of serpent tresses crowned, 
 Severe in beauty, young Medusa frowned ; 
 Erewhile subdued, round Wisdom's Mgh rolled, 
 Hissed the dread snakes, and flamed in burnished gold 
 Flashed on her brandished arm the immortal shield, 
 And terror lightened o'er the dazzled field." 
 
 Darwin. 
 
 Sometimes the Gorgon's head was on her breast-plate, with 
 living serpents writhing round it, as well as on her shield and helmet. 
 
 It was in one of her temples that the following occurrence took 
 place, from which she adopted this device. 
 
 Medusa -was the only one of the Gorgons who was subject to 
 mortality, and was celebrated for her personal charms ; particularly 
 for the beauty of her hair. Neptune became enamoured of her 
 
 Medusa once had charms, to gain her love 
 
 A rival crowd of envious lovers strove. 
 
 They who have seen her, own they ne'er did trace, 
 
 More moving features, in a sweeter face : 
 
 Yet above all, her length of hair they own, 
 
 In golden ringlets waved, and graceful shone. 
 
MINERVA AND MEDUSA. 
 
 91 
 
 Her, Neptune saw : and with such beauties tired, 
 Resolved to compass what his soul desired. 
 The bashful goddess turned her eyes away, 
 Nor durst such bold impurity survey." 
 
 This violation of the sanctity of her temple provoked Minerva, 
 iiul she changed the beautiful locks of Medusa, which had inspired 
 
 the love of Neptune, into ghastly and living serpents, as a punish- 
 ment for the desecration of that sanctuary, where only worship and 
 incense should have been offered. 
 
 11 It lieth, gazing on the midnight sky, 
 
 Upon the cloudy mountain peak supine ; 
 Below, the far lands are seen tremblingly : 
 
 Its horror and its beauty are divine. 
 Upon its lips and eyelids seems to lie, 
 
 Loveliness like a shadow, from which shine, 
 Fiery and lurid, struggling underneath, 
 The agonies of anguish and of death. 
 
 " Yet it is less the horror than the grace, 
 
 Which turns the gazer's spirit into stone : 
 Whereon the lineaments of that dead face 
 
 Are graven, till the characters be grown 
 Into itself, and thought no more can trace; 
 
 'Tis the melodious hue of beauty thrown 
 Athwart the darkness and the glare of pain, 
 Which humanize and harmonize the strain. 
 
 " And from its head as from one body grow, 
 
 As grass out of a watery rock, 
 Hairs which are vipers, and they curl and flow, 
 
 And their long tangles in each other lock : 
 And with unending involutions show. 
 
 Their mailed radiance as it were to mock, 
 The torture and the death within, and saw 
 The solid air with many a ragged jaw. 
 
92 STATUE OF MINERVA. 
 
 " 'Tis the tempestuous loveliness of terror ; 
 
 For from the serpents gleam a brazen glare, 
 Kindled by that inextricable error, 
 
 Which makes a thrilling vapour of the air 
 Become a strange, and ever shifting mirror 
 
 Of all the beauty, and the terror there — 
 A woman's countenance, with serpent locks, 
 Gazing in death on heaven, from those evil rocks." 
 
 Shelley. 
 
 Some of the statues of Minerva represented her helmet with a 
 sphinx in the middle, supported on either side by griffins. In some 
 medals, a chariot drawn by four horses, appears at the top of her 
 helmet. 
 
 But it was at the Panathenaea, instituted in her behalf, that she 
 received the greatest honour. On the evening of the first day, 
 there was a race with torches, in which men on foot, and afterwards 
 on horseback, contended. 
 
 To celebrate these festivals, also, the maidens divided into troops, 
 and armed with sticks and stones, attacked each other with fury. 
 Those who were overcome in this combat, were devoted to infamy, 
 while they who conquered, and had received no wounds, were 
 honoured with triumphant rejoicings. 
 
 These fetes, established in Lybia, were transferred to Athens, 
 the city to which Minerva had granted the olive tree, and which 
 she had taken under her protection. 
 
 She was adored at Troy by the title of Pallas, and her statue 
 guarded the city under the name of Palladium. Some authors 
 maintain that this was made with the bones of Pelops — while 
 Apollodorus asserts, it was no more than a piece of clock-work 
 which moved of itself. To its possession, was attached the safety 
 of the city ; and during the Trojan war, Ulysses and Diomedes 
 were commissioned to steal it away. 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF MINERVA IN THE FLORENCE GALLERY. 
 
 " The head is of the highest beauty. It has a close helmet from 
 which the hair, delicately parted on the forehead, half escapes. 
 The attitude gives entire effect to the perfect form of the neck, and 
 to that full and beautiful moulding of the lower part of the face and 
 mouth, which is in living beings the seat of the expression of a 
 simplicity and integrity of nature. Her face, upraised to heaven, 
 is animated with a profound; sweet, and impassioned melancholy, 
 with an earnest, and fervid and disinterested pleading against some 
 vast and inevitable wrong. It is the joy and poetry of sorrow making 
 
JUDGMENT OF PARIS. 
 
 93 
 
 grief beautiful, and giving it that nameless feeling, which, from the 
 imperfection of language, we call pain, but which is not all pain, 
 though a feeling which makes not only its possessor, but the 
 spectator of it, prefer it to what is called pleasure, in which all is 
 not pleasure. It is difficult to think that this head, though of the 
 highest ideal beauty is the head of Minerva, although the attributes 
 and attitude of the lower part of the statue certainly suggest that 
 
 idea. 
 
 " The Greeks rarely in their representations ol the characters ol 
 their Gods — unless we call the poetic enthusiasm of Apollo a 
 mortal passion— expressed the disturbance of human feeling ; and 
 here is deep and impassioned grief animating a divine countenance. 
 It is indeed divine. The drapery of the statue, the gentle beauty 
 of the feet, and the grace of the attitude, are what may be seen in 
 many other statues belonging to that astonishing era which produced 
 
 it : such a countenance is seen in few." 
 
 Shelley. 
 
 We have already seen that Minerva, not satisfied with being 
 
 goddess of Wisdom, claimed also pre-eminence in beauty, although 
 
 Paris by his judgment, gave the palm of loveliness to Venus. 
 
 
 -> T" 
 
MARS. 
 
 Mars, the God of War, was the son of Juno, who jealous of the 
 
 birth of Minerva, consulted Flora, and on the plains near Olenus, was 
 
 shown by her a flower, through the very touch of which she might 
 
 become a mother. The goddess tried, and from her touch sprang 
 
 Mars. His education was entrusted by Juno to the god Priapus, who 
 
 instructed him in dancing, and in every manly exercise. His trial 
 
 before the celebrated court of Areopagus, for the murder of 
 
 Hallirhotius, who insulted a daughter of Mars because she slighted 
 
 his addresses, forms an important epoch in his history. The fiery 
 
 blood of Mars, which would submit to no insult, was immediately 
 
 in arms at so tender a point, and he slew the insulter. Neptune, 
 
 father of the slain, cited Mars to appear before the tribunal of 
 
 justice, to answer for the murder of his son. The cause was tried 
 
 at Athens, in a place which has been called from thence Areopagus, 
 
 and Mars was acquitted. 
 
 " Mars ! God of Armies ! mid the ranks of war, 
 Known by thy golden helm, and rushing car, 
 Before whose lance, with sound terrific, fall 
 The massy fortress and embattled wall. 
 
 " Father of victory ! whose mighty powers, 
 And brazen spears, protect Olympus' towers; 
 By whom the brave to high renown are led, 
 Whom justice honours, and whom tyrants dread. 
 Hail ! friend to man ! whose cares to youth, impart 
 The arm unwearied, and the undaunted heart !" 
 
 Horace. 
 
 During the Trojan war, Mars interested himself on the side of the 
 
 Trojans; but while he defended these favourites of Venus with 
 
 o-reat activity, he was wounded by Diomedes, and hastily retreated 
 
 to Heaven, complaining to Jupiter that Minerva had directed the 
 
 unerring weapon of his antagonist. 
 
 " Wild with his pain, he sought the bright abodes, 
 There, sullen, sate beneath the sire of gods, 
 Shewed the celestial blood, and with a groan, 
 Thus poured his plaints before the immortal throne. 
 Can Jove, supine, flagitious acts survey 
 And brook the furies of the daring day ? 
 Tor mortal men, celestial powers engage, 
 Anil gods on gods exert eternal rage. 
 From thee, O father! all these ills we bear, 
 And thy fell daughter with the shield and spear. 
 
MAUS. 95 
 
 " Thou gavest that fury to the realms of light, 
 Pernicious, wild, regardless of the right ; 
 All Heaven besides, reveres thy sovereign sway, 
 Thy voice we hear, and thy behests obey : 
 'Tis hers to offend, and e'en offending, share 
 Thy breast, thy counsels, thy distinguished care : 
 So "boundless she, and thou so partial grown, 
 Well may we deem, the wondrous birth thine own ; 
 Now frantic Diomed, at her command, 
 Against the immortals lifts his raging hand ; 
 The heavenly Venus first his fury found : 
 Me next encountering, me he dared to wound : 
 Vanquished I fled; e'en I, the god of fight, 
 From mortal madness, scarce was saved by flight, 
 Else hadst thou seen me sink on yonder plain, 
 Heaped round, and heaving under loads of slain, 
 Or pierced with Grecian darts, for ages lie 
 Condemned to pain, though fated not to die.' " 
 
 Homer. 
 
 The Thunderer treated with disregard the complaint of Mars 
 
 against his favourite daughter, and thus upbraided him : 
 
 " ' To me, perfidious ! this lamenting strain, 
 
 Of lawless force, shall lawless Mars complain ? 
 
 Of all the gods who tread the spangled skies, 
 
 Thou most unjust, most odious in our eyes ! 
 
 Inhuman discord is thy dire delight, 
 
 The waste of slaughter, and the rage of fight. 
 
 No bound, no law, thy fiery temper quells, 
 
 And all thy mother in thy soul rebels. 
 
 In vain our threats, in vain our power, we use, 
 
 She gives the example, and her son pursues. 
 
 Yet long the inflicted pangs thou shalt not mourn, 
 
 Sprung since thou art from Jove, and heavenly born : 
 
 Else singed with lightning, hadst thou hence been thrown, 
 
 Where, chained on burning rocks, the Titans groan.' " 
 
 Homer. 
 
 Under the direction of Jupiter, the God of War soon recoveied. 
 
 "Thus he, who shakes Olympus with his nod, 
 
 Then gave to Pceon's care the bleeding god. 
 
 With gentle hard, the balm he poured around, 
 
 And healed th' immortal flesh, and closed the wound. 
 
 Cleansed from the dust and gore, lair Hebe dressed 
 
 His mighty limbs in an immortal vest, 
 
 Glorious he sat, in majesty restored, 
 
 Fast by the throne of Heaven's superior lord." 
 
 Homkr. 
 
 The worship of Mars, was not very universal among the ancients, 
 
 nor were his temples very numerous in Greece, but among the 
 
 warlike Romans he received great homage, as they were proud of 
 
 sacrificing to a deity, whom they considered the patron of their 
 
 city, and the father of the first of their monarch* ; a faith to which 
 
Qg THE WORSHIP OF MARS. 
 
 they loved to give credit. Among this people, it was customary for 
 the consul, before he went on an expedition, to visit the temple of 
 Mars, where he offered his prayers, and shook in a solemn manner, 
 the spear which was in the hand of the statue of the God, exclaim- 
 ing "Mars vigila ! God of War, watch over the safety of this city." 
 "The influence of Cupid, as God of love, was felt even by Mars, 
 who was compelled to acknowledge his power, and the sharpness of 
 his arrows. 
 
 " As in the Lemnian caves of fire, 
 The mate of her who nursed desire, 
 Moulded the glowing steel, to form 
 Arrows for Cupid, melting, warm ; 
 Once to this Lemnian cave of flame, 
 The crested lord of battles came ; 
 'Twas from the ranks of war he rushed, 
 His spear with many a life-drop blushed ; 
 He saw the mystic darts, and smiled 
 Derision on the archer child. 
 1 And dost thou smile ?' said little Love ; 
 ' Take this dart, and thou mayest prove 
 That tho' they pass the breeze's flight, 
 My bolts are not so feathery light.' 
 He took the shaft — and oh ! thy look, 
 Sweet Venus ! when the shaft he took, 
 He sighed, and felt the urchin's art, 
 He sighed in agony of heart ; 
 ' It is not light, I die with pain ! 
 Take, take thine arrow back again.' 
 1 No,' said the child ' it must not be, 
 That little dart was made for thee.' " 
 
 Moore. 
 
 The result of his amour with Venus has been related in another 
 part of this work. 
 
 He is usually represented in a chariot of steel, conducted by 
 Bellona, goddess of War: on his cuirass are painted several 
 monsters ; the figures of Fury and Anger ornament his helmet, 
 while Renown precedes him. 
 
 His priests, named Salii, carried small bucklers, supposed to be 
 sacred, and to have fallen from the skies. To him was consecrated 
 the cock, because it was vigilant and courageous, but they preferred 
 offering the wolf; they sacrificed however, to him, all kinds of 
 animals, and even human victims. 
 
 The statues and portraits of Mars, as the God of War, and con- 
 sequently the winner of victory, have been very numerous. 
 
MA US. 
 
 97 
 
 His most celebrated temple at Rome, was built by Augustus, after 
 the battle of Phillippi, and was dedicated to "Mars the avenger," 
 
 " Rivers. And this is he, the fabled God of War. 
 
 Evadne. Aye, Mars the conqueror, see how he stands ; 
 The lordly port, the eye of fierce command, 
 The threatening brow, and look that seems to dare 
 A thousand foes to battle. 
 — It was a beautiful faith that gave these gods 
 A name and office ! Is he not glorious ? 
 
 Rivers. To my poor thought, there's that within his glance 
 So fierce, I scarce dare meet it. 
 
 Evadne. It is your studious nature, yet methinks 
 To gaze upon that proud and haughty form, 
 To think upon the glorious deeds of war, 
 The pomp and pride and circumstance of battle. 
 The neighing of the steed, the clash of arms, 
 The banner waving in the glowing breeze. 
 The trumpet sound, the shout. 
 Oh ! there is nought so beautiful as this. 
 
 Rivers. Aye, but to see the living and the dead, 
 Lying in mortal agony, side by side, 
 Their bright hair dabbled in unrighteous blood, 
 Their vestures tinctured with its gory red, 
 The quivering limb, the eye that's glazed in death, 
 The groan — 
 
 Evadne. 'Tis lost boy, in the drum and trumpet's voiee, 
 'Tis lost in shouts of glorious victory, 
 'Tis lost in high, triumphal tones of gladness. 
 13 
 
98 
 
 MARS. 
 
 Rivers. But then to tliink upon the hearts that grieve, 
 For those who peril thus their lives in war, 
 The misery that sweeps along- the brain, 
 The widows' moan, the orphans' tears of woe, 
 The love that watcheth at the midnight hour, 
 And hopeth on, but hopeth on in vain. 
 
 Eradne. And that is lost too in their country's shouts 
 The voice of gratitude for those that fell, 
 Drowns every thought in those who live to mourn ; 
 The hand of charity for those who are left 
 Fills every heart and dries up every fear ; 
 The record of a nation's loud applause, 
 Writes on their tombs in characters of brass, 
 And graves within our very souls, the words, 
 ' Here lies his country's saviour.' 
 
 Rivers. But these can never pay the wrung in heart : 
 Pride is a poor exchange for those adored : 
 And even a nation with its giant strength, 
 Cannot supply the vacant place of love ! 
 
 Eradne. Shame on such craven thoughts. 
 The image of the God frowns on your words — 
 All glorious Mars ! be thou my god and guide, 
 Be thou the image to fill up my heart, 
 Be thou the spirit leading me to glory, 
 And be my latest hour still cheered by thee, 
 While round me dwells the shout of victory !" 
 
 Fletcher. 
 
 Mars was the presider over gladiators, and was the god of all 
 exercises, which have in them a manly or spirited character. 
 
N E P T U N E, 
 
 -" The God whose potent hand 
 
 Shakes the tumultuous sea, and solid land: 
 The Ocean Lord, o'er Helicon who reigns, 
 O'er spacious iEgae's wide extended plains; 
 To whom the gods, with equal skill concede, 
 To guide the bark and tame the ikry steed," 
 
 Horace. 
 
 was the son of Saturn, and brother to Jupiter, Pluto, and Juno; 
 
 being restored to life by the draught administered to Saturn, the 
 
 portion of the kingdom allotted to him was that of the sea. This, 
 
 however, did not seem equivalent to the empire of heaven and 
 
 earth, which Jupiter had claimed ; he therefore conspired with the 
 
 other gods to dethrone his brother. The conspiracy was discovered, 
 
 and Jupiter condemned Neptune to assist in building the walls of 
 
 Troy, and to be subservient to his sceptre for a year. When the work 
 
 was completed, Laomedon refused to reward the labours of the god, 
 
 and in retribution, his territories were soon afterwards laid waste 
 
 by the god of the sea, and his subjects visited with a pestilence sent 
 
 by Apollo. 
 
 Besides the dispute this deity had with Minerva, related in her 
 h story, he claimed the isthmus of Corinth from Apollo ; and 
 Briareus, the Cyclops, who was mutually chosen umpire, gave the 
 isthmus to Neptune, and the promontory to Apollo. 
 
 Neptune, as god of the sea, was entitled to more power than any 
 of the other deities, except Jupiter. Not only the oceans, rivers, 
 and fountains, were subjected to him, but he could also cause 
 earthquakes at pleasure, and raise islands from the sea by a blow of 
 his trident. 
 
 King of the stormy sea ! 
 
 Brother of Jove, and co-inheritor 
 
 Of elements Eternally before 
 
 Thee, the waves awful bow. Fast, stuhhom rock ; 
 
 At thy feared trident, shrinking, doth unlock 
 
 Its deep foundations, hissing into foam. 
 
 All mountain-rivers, lost, in the wide home 
 
 Of thy capacious bosom, ever flow. 
 
 Thou frownrst, and old iEolus, thy foe, 
 
 Skulks to his cavern, raid the gruff complaint 
 
 Of all his rebel tempests. Dark clouds faint 
 
 When, from thy diadem, a silver gleam 
 
 Slants over blue dominion. Thy bright team 
 
 Gulfs in the morning light, and studs along 
 
 To bring thee nearer to that golden song 
 
100 NEPTUNE AND AMPH1TR1TE. 
 
 " Apollo singeth, while his chariot 
 
 Waits at the door of heaven. Thou art not 
 
 For scenes like this; an empire stern hast thou ; 
 
 And it hath furrowed that large front : yet now, 
 
 As newly come of heaven, dost thou sit, 
 
 To blend and inter-knit 
 
 Sudued majesty with this glad time. 
 
 O shell born king sublime ! 
 
 We lay our hearts before thee evermore — 
 
 We sing and we adore !" 
 
 Keats. 
 
 He obtained Amphitrite, daughter of Ocean, in marriage, 
 
 through the skill of a dolphin, although she had made to herself 
 
 ^ 
 
 a vow of perpetual celibacy ; and had by him, Triton, one of the 
 sea deities. To the story of Neptune, may be attached the beau- 
 tiful fable of Arion, the illustrious rival of Amphion and Orpheus. 
 This famous lyric poet and musician, having gone into Italy, with 
 Periander, tyrant of Corinth, he obtained immense treasures 
 through his profession. On his return to his native country with 
 his riches, the sailors of the vessel in which he had embarked, 
 resolved to murder him, that they might obtain possession of his 
 wealth ; when the poet discovered their intention, he endeavoured 
 to outwit them. 
 
NEPTUNE AND ARION. 
 
 101 
 
 " Allow me," said Arion, with all the earnestness of an enthu- 
 siast. " Ere I leave this world, oh ! allow me to touch once more, 
 and for the last time, the strings of the lyre which has so often 
 cheered me : let the last moments of my life, be soothed by its 
 gentle influence." 
 
 The boon was granted, and the divine strains of the master, 
 issued in solemn beauty over the deep. At the sound, the 
 traitors were struck silent, and hesitated in their course, but they 
 had gone too far : it was too late to recede, and the poet was thrown 
 into the deep. When lo! the dolphins, attracted by the sweut 
 tones which they had heard, gathered round him; and Arion, 
 
 mounted on the back of one, and accompanied by the remainder, 
 arrived safely at the end of his voyage. It is added, as an instance 
 of the ingratitude of mortals, that the dolphin, having proceeded 
 too far upon the sand, was unable to get back to the water, and the 
 ungrateful Arion allowed his liberator to perish. 
 
 The worship of Neptune was established in almost every part of 
 the earth, and the Libyans in particular, venerated him above all 
 other Gods. 
 
 -" Great Neptune ! I would be 
 
 Advanced to the freedom of the main, 
 And stand before youi vast creation's plain, 
 And roam your watery kingdom thro' and thn 
 
102 NEPTUNE. 
 
 '•And see your branching woods and palace blue, 
 Spar-built and domed with crystal: aye and view 
 The bedded wonders of the lonely deep ; 
 And see on coral banks, the sea-maids sleep, 
 Children of ancient Nereus, and behold 
 Their streaming dance about their father old, 
 Beneath the blue Egean ; where he sate, 
 Wedded to prophecy, and full of fate ! 
 Or rather, as Arion harped, indeed, 
 Would I go floating on my billow-steed, 
 Over the billows, and triumphing there, 
 Call the white syren from her cave to share 
 My joy, and kiss her willing forehead fair." 
 
 Keats. 
 
 To him was consecrated the horse, and in his honour were cele- 
 brated the Isthmian games. His throne was a chariot drawn by 
 four fiery steeds ; his stature is grand, and his appearance imposing ; 
 he wears the look of an old man, his long beard and hair, wet with 
 the vapour of the water. 
 
 In his hand he holds the trident, which bids the waves of ocean 
 to rise, and causes the thunder of its tempests. With this trident 
 also, he shakes the world, and bids the earth to tremble. 
 
 During the Consualia of the Romans, horses were led through 
 the streets, finely equipped, and crowned with garlands, as the God 
 in whose honour the festivals were instituted, had produced the 
 horse, an animal so beneficial for the use of mankind. 
 
 As monarch of the sea, he is supposed to have had possession of 
 
 the deep, and all the treasures which the stormy winds sent to his 
 
 domain. 
 
 " What hid'st thou in thy treasure-caves and cells ? 
 Thou hollow-sounding, and mysterious main ! 
 
 Pale glistening pearls, and rainbow-coloured shells, 
 Bright things which gleam unrecked of, and in vain ; 
 
 Keep, keep thy riches, melancholy sea . 
 
 We ask not such from thee ! 
 
 *" Vet more, the depths have more ! what wealth untold, 
 Far down, and shining thro' their stillness lies ; 
 
 Thou hast the starry gems, the burning gold, 
 Won from ten thousand royal argosies; 
 
 Sweep o'er thy spoils, thou wild and wrathful main ; 
 
 Earth claims not these again ! 
 
 "Yet more, the depths have more! thy waves have rolled, 
 Above the cities ol a world gone by ! 
 
 Sand hath filled up the palaces of old, 
 Sea-wee d o'er-grown the halls of revelry. 
 
 Dash o'er them, ocean ! in thy scornful play ! 
 
 Man yields them to decay 
 
NEPTUNE. 103 
 
 Yet more! the billows and the depths have more ! 
 High hearts and brave are gathered to thy breast ! 
 
 They hear not now the booming waters roar, 
 The battle thunders will not break their rest ; 
 
 Keep thy red gold and gems, thou stormy grave, 
 
 Give back the true and brave 1 
 
 " Give back the lost and lovely ! those for whom 
 The place was kept at board and hearth so long ; 
 
 The prayer went up thro' midnight's breathless gloom, 
 And the vain yearning woke midst festal song ! 
 
 Hold fast thy buried isles, thy towers o'erthrown, 
 
 But all is not thine own ' 
 
 " To thee the love of woman hath gone down, 
 Dark flow thy tides o'er manhood's noble head, 
 
 O'er youth's bright locks, and beauty's flowery crown. 
 Yet must thou hear a voice — restore the dead ! 
 Earth shall reclaim her precious things from thee ! 
 
 Restore the dead thou sea !" 
 
 Hemans. 
 
 PLUTO. 
 
 The name of Pluto, as god of the kingdom of hell, and whatever 
 is under the earth, where 
 
 ** Cerberus, the cruel worm of death, 
 
 Keeps watchful guard, and with his iron throat, 
 Affrights the spirits in their pale sojourn," 
 
 Thuri.ow. 
 
 is as well known to the readers of Mythology as that of his brother 
 Jupiter. 
 
 The place of his residence being gloomy, and consequently 
 unbearable to those goddesses whose hand he sought in marriage, 
 and who looked for a gayer life than he could offer them, they all 
 refused to become the sharer of his possessions. Pluto, however, 
 was by no means willing to sit quietly down in single blessedness, 
 thinking, perhaps, that the very reason which they assigned for 
 their refusal, was an additional one in his favour for wishing a 
 soother of his lot. 
 
 It was in his visit to the island of Sicily, that the God saw and 
 became enamoured of Proserpine, as she gathered flowers in the 
 plains of Enna. 
 
104 
 
 PLUTO AND PROSERPINE. 
 
 He comes to us 
 
 From the depths of Tartarus. 
 For what of evil doth he roam 
 From his red and gloomy home, 
 In the centre of the world 
 Where the sinful dead are hurled? 
 Mark him as he moves along, 
 Drawn by horses black and strong, 
 Such as may belong to night, 
 Ere she takes her morning flight, 
 Now the chariot stops : the God 
 On our grassy world hath trod, 
 Like a Titan steppeth he, 
 Yet full of his divinity. 
 On his mighty shoulders lie 
 Raven locks, and in his eye 
 A cruel beauty, such as none 
 Of us may wisely look upon." 
 
 Barry Cornwall, 
 
 In vain she called upon her attendants for help, the God bore 
 her off to his dominions, and she became his bride. 
 
 u So in Sicilia's ever blooming shade, 
 
 The playful Proserpine from Ceres strayed. 
 
 Led with unwary step her virgin trains 
 
 O'er Etna's steeps, and Enua's golden plains ; 
 
 Plucked with fair hand the silver blossomed bower, 
 
 And purpled mead, — herself a fairer flower ; 
 
PLUTO ORPHEUS. 10f> 
 
 " Sudden, unseen amid the twilight glade, 
 Rushed gloomy Dis, and seized the trembling maid. 
 Her startling - damsels sprung from mossy seats, 
 Dropped from their gauzy laps the gathered sweets, 
 Clung round the struggling nymph, with piercing cries 
 Pursued the chariot, and invoked the skies ; — 
 Pleased as he grasps her in his iron arms, 
 Frights with soft sighs, with tender words alarms ; 
 The wheels descending, rolled in smoky rings, 
 Infernal Cupids flapped their demon wings ; 
 Earth with deep yawn received the fair amazed, 
 And far in night, celestial beauty blazed." 
 
 Darwin. 
 
 At the entrance of the place of torments was an enormous 
 vestibule, tenanted by black Anxieties, Regrets, Groans, Remorse, 
 pale Malady, Decay, Fright, Hunger, Poverty, Death, Sleep, fierce 
 Joy, Rage, and the Eumenides, or Furies, who were seated on a 
 couch of iron, and crowned with blood-stained serpents. A deep 
 and dark cavern led towards Tartarus, which was surrounded by 
 the river Acheron ; Charon conducted over this water the souls of 
 those sent to him by Death, while any to whom the rites of sepulchre 
 had not been granted, were for a hundred years allowed to solicit 
 their passage in vain. If any living person presented himself to 
 cross the lake, he could not be admitted before he showed Charon 
 a golden bough ; and Charon was once imprisoned for a year, 
 because he had ferried Hercules over without this passport. 
 
 Cerberus, a dog with three heads, watched at the entrance to 
 Tartarus. 
 
 " A horrid dog and grim, couched on the floor, 
 Guards, with malicious art, the sounding door; 
 On each, who in the entrance first appears, 
 He fawning wags his tail, and cocks his ears : 
 If any strive to measure back the way, 
 Their steps he watches, and devours his prey." 
 
 Hesiod. 
 
 Surrounded by an outer wall of iron, this terrible place was 
 enclosed within a wall of adamant. 
 
 Pluto is generally represented as holding a trident with three 
 prongs, and has a key in his hand, to intimate that whoever enters 
 can never return. He is considered as a hard-hearted and inexorable 
 deity, with a grim and dismal countenance, for which reason, 
 temples were not raised to his honour, as to the remainder of the 
 gods ; though the story of Orpheus shews that he could be occasion- 
 ally less severe. 
 
 14 
 
106 PLUTO — CYANE. 
 
 " When ill-fated Orpheus tuned to woe 
 
 His potent lyre, and sought the realms below; 
 
 Charmed into life unreal forms respired, 
 
 And list'ning shades the dulcet note admired. 
 
 Love led the sage through Death's tremendous porch, 
 
 Cheered with his smile, and lighted with his torch ; 
 
 Hell's triple dog his playful jaws expands, 
 
 Fawns round the god, and licks his baby hands ; 
 
 In wondering groups the shadowy nations throng, 
 
 And sigh or simper, as he steps along ; 
 
 Sad swains, and nymphs forlorn, on Lethe's brink, 
 
 Hug their past sorrows, and refuse to drink; 
 
 Night's dazzled empress feels the golden flame 
 
 Play round her breast, and melt her frozen frame ; 
 
 Charms with soft words, and sooths with amorous wiles, 
 
 Her iron-hearted lord, and Pluto smiles. 
 
 His trembling bride the bard triumphant led 
 
 From the pale mansions of the astonished dead ; 
 
 Gave the fair phantom to admiring light, 
 
 Ah ! soon again to tread irrevocable night !" 
 
 Darwin. 
 
 Black victims, and particularly the bull, were the only sacrifices 
 which were offered to him, and their blood was not sprinkled on 
 the altars, but permitted to run down into the earth to penetrate 
 the realms of the God. 
 
 The Syracusans paid yearly homage to him near the fountain of 
 Cyane, into which one of the attendant maidens of Proserpine had 
 been metamorphosed, and where he had, according to the received 
 traditions, disappeared with the goddess. 
 
 On the ground, 
 
 She sinks without a single sound, 
 And all her garments float around ; 
 Again, again she rises light, 
 Her head is like a fountain bright, 
 And her glossy ringlets fall 
 With a murmur musical, 
 O'er her shoulders, like a river 
 That rushes and escapes for ever. 
 Is the fair Cyane gone ? 
 Is this fountain left alone 
 For a sad remembrance, where 
 We may in after times repair, 
 With heavy heart and weeping eye, 
 To sing songs to her memory ?" 
 
 Barry Cornwall. 
 
 From the functions, and the place he inhabited, he received 
 different names, and became the god of the infernal regions, of 
 death, and of funerals. 
 
 That he might govern with order and regularity, the spirits who 
 
PLUTO — TANTALUS. 
 
 107 
 
 were inhabitants of his vast dominions, he committed part of his 
 power to three judges of the infernal regions, of whom Minos and 
 
 m ■ 
 
 Rhadamanthus were the most important. He sate in the middle, 
 holding a sceptre in his hand. The dead pleaded their different 
 causes before him, and the impartial judge shakes the fatal urn 
 which is filled with the destinies of mankind. Rhadamanthus was 
 employed in compelling the dead to confess their crimes, and in 
 them for their offences. 
 
 punis 
 
 hing 
 
 " Awful Rhadamanthus rules the state. 
 
 He hears and judges each committed crime, 
 
 Inquires into the manner, place, and time : 
 
 The conscious wretch must all his acts reveal, 
 
 Loth to confess, unable to conceal, 
 
 From the first moment of his vital breath, 
 
 To his last year of unrepenting death." 
 
 Amongst the most notorious criminals plunged in Tartarus, were 
 the Titans ; Sisyphus, a celebrated robber, condemned to roll an 
 enormous stone to the summit of a high mountain, from which it 
 fell again without ceasing, that he might be eternally fin ployed in 
 this punishment ; Ixion who had dared to offer impure vows to .) uno, 
 and was affixed to a wheel which went constantly round, rendering 
 his punishment also eternal ; with Tantalus, condemned to a burning 
 thirst, and surrounded by the grateful liquid which always vanished 
 before his touch. 
 
108 
 
 PLUTO — ULYSSES. 
 
 " Tantalus condemned to hear 
 
 The precious stream still purling in his ear ; 
 Lip-deep in what he longs for, and yet curst 
 With prohibition and perpetual thirst." 
 
 COWPER. 
 
 The Danaides, daughters of Danaus, king of Argos, were also 
 there, who, in obedience to the cruel advice of their parent, had 
 
 caused their husbands to perish ; with Tityus, who having had the 
 audacity to attempt the honour of Latona, was doomed to feel a 
 vulture constantly gnawing his entrails. 
 
 Ulysses sought the realm of Pluto, among his many adventures. 
 
 " When lo ! appeared along the dusky coasts, 
 
 Thin, airy shoals of visionary ghosts : 
 
 Fair, pensive youths, and young enamoured maids ; 
 
 And withered elders, pale and wrinkled shades ; 
 
 Ghastly with wounds the forms of warriors slain, 
 
 Stalked with majestic port, a martial train ; 
 
 These and a thousand more, swarmed o'er the ground, 
 
 And all the dire assembly shrieked around. 
 
 Astonished at the sight, aghast I stood, 
 
 And a cold fear ran shivering through my blood." 
 
 While here he saw the ghosts of all those famed in story, who 
 had descdeden to the infernal regions for punishment. 
 " High on a throne, tremendous, to behold, 
 Stern Minos waves a mace of burnished, gold ; 
 Around, ten thousand, thousand spectres stand. 
 Thro' the wide dome of Dis, a trembling band. 
 Still as they plead, the fatal lot he rolls, 
 Absolves the just, and dooms the guilty souls. t 
 
 There huge Orion, of portentous size, 
 Swift thro' the gloom, a giant hunter flies ; 
 A ponderous mace of brass with direful sway 
 Aloft he whirls to crush the savage prey ! 
 Stern beasts in trains that by his truncheon fell, 
 Now grisly forms, shoot o'er the lawns of hell. 
 
 There Tityus, large and long, in fetters bound, 
 O'erspreads nine acres of infernal ground ; 
 
PROSERPINE. 
 
 109 
 
 Two ravenous vultures, furious for their food, 
 Scream o'er the fiend, and riot in his blood, 
 Incessant gore the liver in his breast, 
 Th* immortal liver grows, and gives the immortal feast. 
 
 There Tantalus along the Stygian bounds 
 Pours out deep groans (with groans all hell resounds) ; 
 Ev'n in the circling floods refreshment craves, 
 And pines with thirst amidst a sea of waves ; 
 When to the water he his lip applies, 
 Back from his lip the treacherous water flies, 
 Above, beneath, around his hapless head, 
 Trees of all kinds delicious fruitage spread ; 
 There figs sky-dy'd, a purple hue disclose, 
 Green looks the olive, the pomegranate grows, 
 There dangling pears exalting scents unfold, 
 And yellow apples ripen into gold : 
 The fruit he strives to seize, but blasts arise, 
 Toss it on high, and whirl it to the skies. 
 
 I turned my eye, and, as I turned, surveyed 
 A mournful vision ! the Sisyphian shade ; 
 With many a weary step, and many a groan, 
 Up the high hill he heaves a huge round stone ; 
 The huge round stone, resulting with a bound, 
 Thunders impetuous down and smokes along the ground, 
 Again the restless orb his toil renews, 
 Dust mounts in clouds, and sweat descends in dews." 
 
MERCURY. 
 
 Though according to Cicero, there were no less than five gods of 
 this name; yet to the son of Jupiter and Maia, the actions of 
 all the others have been probably attributed, as he is the most 
 famous and the best known. 
 
 Mercury was the messenger of the gods and the patron of 
 
 travellers and shepherds ; he conducted the souls of the dead into 
 
 the infernal regions, and not only presided over orators and 
 
 merchants, but was also the god of thieves, pickpockets, and all 
 
 dishonest persons. 
 
 " A babe, all babes excelling, 
 
 A schemer subtle beyond all belief, 
 
 A shepherd of thin dreams, a cow stealing, 
 
 A night watching and door waylaying thief." 
 
 Shelley. 
 
 The day following his birth he offered an early proof of his 
 dishonest propensities, by stealing away the oxen of Admetus 
 which Apollo tended. 
 
 " The babe was born at the first peep of day, 
 He began playing on the lyre at noon, 
 And the same evening did he steal away 
 Apollo's herds." 
 
 Shelley. 
 
 He gave another proof of this propensity, by throwing himself 
 ripon the timid Cupid, and wrestling from him his quivers ; and 
 
 increased his notoriety by robbing Venus of her girdle, Mars of 
 
 his sword, Jupiter of his sceptre, and Vulcan of his mechanical 
 
 instruments. 
 
 " Hermes with gods and men, even from that day 
 Mingled and wrought the latter much annoy, 
 And little profit, going far astray, 
 Through the dun night." 
 
 Shelley. 
 
MERCURY. Ill 
 
 As the messenger of Jupiter, he was entrusted with all his secrets 
 and permitted to make himself invisible whenever he pleased, cr to 
 assume any shape he chose. 
 
 The invention of the lyre and seven strings is ascribed to him, 
 which he gave to Apollo, and received in exchange the celebrated 
 caduceus, with which the God of poetry used to drive the flocks of 
 King Admetus. This celebrated instrument was a rod entwined 
 at one end by two serpents. 
 
 " Come lake 
 
 The lyre— be mine the glory of giving' it — 
 
 Strike the sweet chords, and sing aloud and wake 
 
 The joyous pleasure out of many a fit 
 
 Of tranced sound — and with fleet fingers make 
 
 Thy liquid voiced comrade talk with thee ; 
 
 It can talk measured music eloquently. 
 
 Then bear it boldly to the revel loud, 
 
 Love wakening dance, or feast of solemn state, 
 
 A joy by night or day, for those endowed 
 
 With art and wisdom, who interrogate ! 
 
 It teaches, bubbling in delightful mood 
 
 All things which make the spirit most elate, 
 
 Soothing the mind with sweet familiar play, 
 
 Chasing the heavy shadows of dismay." 
 
 Shelley. 
 
 " Hermes, thou who couldst of yore 
 
 Amphion's bosom warm, 
 And breathe into his strains the power, 
 
 The rugged rocks to charm ; 
 Breathe, breathe into my lyre's soft string, 
 And bid its music sweet notes fling, 
 For what O lyre, can thee withstand ? 
 Touched by an Orpheus' magic hand, 
 
 Thou calm'st the tiger's wrath : 
 The listening woods thou draw'st along, 
 The rivers stay to hear thy song, 
 
 And listen still as death. 
 Tityos with pleasure heard thy strain, 
 And Ixion smiled amid his pain." 
 
 Horace. 
 
 Numerous were the modes of sacrifice to Mercury, and the 
 
 places in which they were offered; among others, the Roman 
 
 merchants yearly celebrated a festival in his honour. After the 
 
 votaries had sprinkled themselves with water, they offered prayers 
 
 to the divinity, and entreated him to be favourable to them, and to 
 
 forgive any artful measures, perjuries, or falsehoods they had used 
 
 in the pursuit of gain ; and this may be considered to have been 
 
 particularly necessary when it is remembered that the merchants, 
 
 who had promised him all the incense in the world to obtain Ilia 
 
112 SALMAEIS. 
 
 protection, proved that they had profited by his principles, by 
 offering him only a hundredth part, when they had secured his 
 good offices. 
 
 Jupiter soon missed the services of his intelligent messenger, and 
 recalled him to Olympus. Here, Mercury rendering some kindness 
 to Venus, the goddess fell in love with him, and bore to him 
 Hermaphrodite, a child which united the talents of his father with 
 the graces of his mother ; at the age of fifteen, he began to travel, 
 and bathing one day in a fountain in Cana, excited the passion of 
 Salmaeis, the nymph who presided over it. 
 
 " From both the illustrious authors of his race 
 The child was named ; nor was it hard to trace 
 Both the bright parents through the infant's face. 
 When fifteen years, in Ida's cool retreat, 
 The boy had told, he left his native seat, 
 And sought fresh fountains in a foreign soil : 
 The pleasure lessened the attending toil. 
 With eager steps the Lycian fields he crossed, 
 And fields that border on the Lycian coast; 
 A river here he viewed so lovely bright, 
 It showed the bottom in a fairer light, 
 Nor kept a sand concealed from human sight. 
 The fruitful banks with cheerful verdure crowned, 
 And kept the spring eternal on the ground. 
 A nymph presides, nor practised in the chase, 
 Nor skilful at the bow, nor at the race ; 
 Of all the blue-eyed daughters of the main, 
 The only stranger to Diana's train ; 
 Her sisters often, as 'tis said, would cry 
 ' Fye, Salmaeis, what always idle ! fye ; 
 Or take the quiver, or the arrows seize 
 And mix the toils of hunting with thy ease.' 
 Nor quivers she, nor arrows e'er would seize, 
 Nor mix the toils of hunting with her ease ; 
 But oft would bathe her in the crystal tide, 
 Oft with a comb her dewy locks divide ; 
 Now in the limped streams she views her face, 
 And dressed her image in the floating glass : 
 On beds of leaves she now reposed her limbs, 
 Now gathered flowers that grew about her streams, 
 And there by chance was gathering as she stood 
 To view the boy — " 
 
 Ovid. 
 
 Hermaphroditus continued deaf to all entreaties and offers ; and 
 Salmaeis, throwing her arms around him, entreated the Gods to 
 render her inseparable from him whom she adored. The Gods 
 heard her prayer, and formed of the two, a being of perfect beauty, 
 preserving the characteristics of both sexes. 
 
MERCURY. 113 
 
 Offerings were made to him of milk and honey, because he was 
 the God of eloquence, whose powers were sweet and persuasive. 
 Sometimes his statues represent him without arms, because the 
 power of speech can prevail over everything. 
 
 The Greeks and Romans celebrated his festivals, principally in 
 the month of May. They frequently placed on his back the statue 
 of Minerva, and offered to him the tongues of the victims whom 
 they immolated to the goddess. 
 
 " Who beareth the world on his shoulders so broad ; 
 Hear me, thou power, who, of yore, by thy words 
 Couldst soften the hearts of the barbarous hordes, 
 And by the Palaestia taught him of the wild 
 To be gentle, and graceful, and meek as a child. 
 Thou messenger fleet of the cloud-throned sire, 
 'Twas thou who inventedst the golden- stringed lyre; 
 I hail thee the patron of craft and of guile, 
 To laugh while you grieve, to deceive while you smile, 
 When you chafed into wrath bright Apollo of old, 
 His dun-coloured steers having stol'n from the fold, 
 He laughed ; for, while talking all fiercely he found 
 That his quiver, alack ! from his back was unbound. 
 'Twas thou, who old Priam didst guide on his way, 
 When he passed unperceived thro' the hostile array, 
 Of the proud sons of Atreus, who sought to destroy 
 The towers of high Ilion, the city of Troy. 
 O Hermes, 'tis thou who conductest the blest 
 To the seats where their souls shall for ever exist, 
 Who governest their shades by the power of thy spell, 
 The favourite of Heaven, the favourite of Hell." 
 
 Horace. 
 
 li 
 
NEREIDS. 
 
 These divinities were children of Nereus and Dorus. As the 
 Dryads and Hamadryads presided over forests — as the Naiads 
 watched over fountains and the sources of rivers — as the Oreads were 
 the peculiar guardians of the hills, so the Nereids guided and com- 
 manded the waves of the ocean, and were implored as its deities. 
 They had altars chiefly on the coast of the sea, where the piety of 
 mankind made offerings of milk, oil, and honey, and often of the 
 flesh of goats. When they were on the sea shore, they generally 
 resided in grottos and caves, adorned with shells. 
 
 There were fifty of them, all children of Nereus, who is 
 represented as an old man with a long flowing beard, and hair of 
 an azure colour. The chief place of his residence was in the Egean 
 
 wwm^milWw 
 
 Sea, where he was attended by his daughters, who often danced 
 in chorus round him. He had the gift of prophecy, and informed 
 those who consulted him, of the fate which awaited them, though 
 such was the god's aversion to his task, that he often evaded the 
 importunities of the inquirers, by assuming different shapes, and 
 totally escaping from their grasp. 
 
DIVINITIES OF THE SECOND CLASS. 
 
 The gods of the first order, were endowed by the writers of 
 antiquity, with natures partly real, and partly imaginary. By 
 their power, the government of the universe was carried on ; but 
 mortals in attributing to these gods their own passions and 
 weaknesses, began to blend with them divinities of a secondary 
 class, to preside over those less important affairs, which might be 
 supposed unworthy the notice of the superior intelligences. 
 
 For the most part, therefore, these Immortals have no origin in 
 history ; but, as allusions are constantly made to them in the 
 eloquent language of the orator, or in the beautiful metaphor of 
 the poet, it is necessary to introduce those who are considered to 
 be the most celebrated. 
 
 And for the future, the poetry offered will principally be that 
 which relates rather to the attributes they were supposed to possess, 
 than to the gods themselves. Thus, with such deities as iEolus and 
 Mors, we shall introduce poems addressed to the Wind and Death, 
 over which they presided, as suited to the modern character of our 
 Mythology, and more generally appreciated by the readers of the 
 nineteenth century. 
 
 DIVINITIES OF THE EARTH. 
 
 PAN. 
 
 Pan was the god of shepherds, and of all inhabitants of the 
 country ; he was the son of Mercury by Driope, and is usually 
 described as possessing two small horns on his head, his complexion 
 ruddy, his nose flat, and his legs, thighs, tail and feet hairy, like 
 those of a goat. When he was brought into the world, the nurse, 
 terrified at sight of him, ran away in horror, and his father wrapping 
 him up in the skins of beasts, carried him to Heaven, where Jupiter 
 and the other Gods, entertained themselves with the oddity of his 
 appearance; Bacchus was delighted with him, and gave him the 
 name of Pan. 
 
 " Sprung the rude God lo light ; 
 
 Of dreadful form, and horrible to sight ; 
 Goat-footed, horned, yet full of sport and joy, 
 The nurse, astonished, fled the wondrous boy: 
 
116 PAN AND SYRINX. 
 
 His shaggy limbs, the trembling matron feared, 
 His face distorted, and his rugged beard : 
 But Hermes from her hands received the child, 
 And on the infant god auspicious smiled. 
 In the thick fur wrapped of a mountain hare, 
 His arms the boy to steep Olympus bear ; 
 Proudly he shows him to imperial Jove, 
 High seated 'mid the immortal powers above. 
 With friendly joy and love, the race divine, 
 But chiefly Bacchus, god of mirth and wine, 
 Received the dauntless god, whom Pan they call, 
 Pan, for his song delights the breast of all." 
 
 Horace. 
 
 This god of the shepherds chiefly resided in Arcadia, where the 
 
 woods and the mountains were his habitation. 
 
 His mighty palace roof doth hang 
 
 From jagged trunks, and overshadoweth 
 
 Eternal whispers, glooms, the birth, life, death, 
 
 Of unseen flowers in heavy peacefulness. 
 
 Who loves to see the hamadryads dress 
 
 Their ruffled locks, where meeting hazels darken, 
 
 And through whole solemn hours, dost sit and barken 
 
 The dreary melody of bedded reeds." 
 
 Keats. 
 
 The flute was invented by Pan, and formed of seven reeds, 
 which he called Syrinx, in honour of a beautiful nymph of the 
 same name, who, refusing his addresses, was changed into a reed. 
 
 -" A nymph of late there was, 
 
 Whose heavenly form her fellows did surpass, 
 
 The pride and joy of fair Arcadia's plains, 
 
 Beloved by deities, adored by swains. 
 
 Like Phoebe clad, e'en Phoebe's self she seems, 
 
 So tall, so straight, such well proportioned limbs, 
 
 The nicest eye did no distinction know 
 
 But that the goddess bore a golden bow, 
 
 Descending from Lycaeus, Pan admires 
 
 The matchless nymph, and burns with new desires. 
 
 A crown of pine upon his head he wore, 
 
 And then began her pity to implore. 
 
 But ere he thus began, she took her flight, 
 
 So swift she was already out of sight, 
 
 Nor staid to hear the courtship of the god : 
 
 But bent her course to Ladon's gentle flood : 
 
 There by the river stopped, and tired before 
 
 Relief from water-nymphs her prayers implore, 
 
 Now while the rural god with speedy pace, 
 
 Just thought to strain her in his strict embrace, 
 
 He filled his arms with reeds, new rising in the place: 
 
 And while he sighs his ill success to find, 
 
 The tender canes were shaken by the wind, 
 
 And breathed a mournful air unheard before, 
 
 That much surprizing Pan, yet pleased him more, 
 
PAN AND OMPHALE. 11/ 
 
 Admiring this new music, ' Thou' he said, 
 ' Who cans't not be the partner of my bed, 
 At least shall be the consort of my mind, 
 And often, often to my lips be joined.' 
 He formed the reeds, proportioned as they are, 
 Unequal in their length and waxed with care, 
 They still retain the name of his ungrateful fair." 
 
 Ovid. 
 
 He was continually employed in deceiving the neighbouring 
 nymphs, and often with success, Though deformed in shape and 
 features, he had the good fortune to captivate Diana in the appear- 
 ance of a beautiful white goat. 
 
 His adventure with Omphale is amusing; while the latter was 
 travelling with Hercules, a sacrifice which was to take place on the 
 following day, caused Omphale and the hero to seek separate apart- 
 ments. In the night, Pan introduced himself, ami went to the bed 
 
118 
 
 PAN AND ECHO. 
 
 of the queen; but there seeing the lion's skin of Hercules, he 
 fancied he had made a mistake, and repaired to that of the hero ; 
 where the female dress which the latter had adopted, deceived the 
 rural God, and he laid himself down by his side. The hero awoke, 
 and kicked the intruder into the middle of the room. The noise 
 aroused Omphale, and Pan was discovered lying on the ground, 
 greatly discomfited and ashamed. 
 
 The worship of Pan was well established, particularly in Arcadia, 
 and his statue was usually placed under the shadow of a pine-tree. 
 
 Upon his altars were laid both honey and milk, fit offerings for a 
 
 rural divinity. 
 
 " With cloven feet and horned front who roves 
 With choirs of nymphs, amid the echoing groves ; 
 He joins in active dance the virgin throng, 
 To Pan, the pastoral god, they raise the song. 
 
 " To Pan, with tangled locks, whose footsteps tread 
 Each snow-crowned hill, and mountain's lofty head ; 
 Or wander careless through the lowly brake, 
 Or by the borders of the lucid lake." 
 
 Horace. 
 
 He loved the nymph Echo, but in this instance was unsuccessful 
 
 in his passion, for the latter adored the beautiful Narcissus, and 
 
NARCISSUS. ]19 
 
 wandered over hill and dale in search of the youth on whom she 
 had lavished all her affections, but who unfortunately returned them 
 not. 
 
 To whom is not the tale of the self-slain Narcissus known, 
 though perhaps the exquisite story of Echo's love for him may be 
 less familiar to the mind. 
 
 After Echo had been dismissed by Jupiter, for her loquacity in 
 
 proclaiming his numerous amours, she fell in love with the beautiful 
 
 Narcissus. 
 
 " And at the sight of the fair youth she glows, 
 And follows silently where'er he goes." 
 
 Unable, however, to address him first, she waited the sound of 
 his beloved voice. 
 
 " Now several ways his young companions gone, 
 And for some time Narcissus left alone, 
 1 Where are you all ?' at last she hears him call, 
 And she straight answers him, ' where are you all '' 
 
 " ' Speak yet again,' he cries, ' is any nigh ?' 
 Again the mournful Echo answers, ' /,' 
 • Why come not you,' he said, • appear in view,' 
 She hastily returns, ' why come not you ?' 
 
 " ' Then let us join,' at last Narcissus said, 
 ■ Then let us join,' replied the ravished maid." 
 
 In vain had the wondering youth up to this moment looked for 
 
 the frolic companions, whom he imagined had hid themselves in play. 
 
 But Echo, charmed with his last exclamation, hastily appeared, and 
 
 threw herself on the bosom of the astonished youth, who, far from 
 
 submitting with pleasure to the intrusion, 
 
 " With all his strength unlocks her fold, 
 And breaks unkindly from her feeble hold ; 
 Then proudly cries, 'life shall this breast forsake, 
 Ere you, loose nymph, on me your pleasure take ;' 
 1 On me your pleasure take,' the nymph replies 
 While from her the disdainful hunter flies." 
 
 As the youth wandered on, anxious only to escape from the 
 
 society of Echo, he suddenly came upon a fountain, in which, as 
 
 he reclined on the ground, he fancied he saw the figure of a 
 
 beautiful nymph. 
 
 "Deep through the spring, his eye-balls dart their beams, 
 
 Like midnight stars that twinkle in the streams, 
 
 His ivory neck the crystal mirror show-. 
 
 His waving hair, above the surface flows, 
 
 His own perfections all his passions moved, 
 
 He loves himself, who for himself was loved." 
 
120 
 
 NARCISSUS. 
 
 Half maddened by the appearance of a beauty, of which hitherto 
 
 he had been unconscious, he made every possible effort to grasp 
 
 what appeared to be the guardian spirit of the water. 
 
 " Oft with his down-thrust arms he thought to fold, 
 About that neck that still deludes his hold, 
 He gets no kisses from those cozening lips, 
 His arms grasp nothing, from himself he slips ; 
 He knows not what he views, and yet pursues 
 His desperate love, and burns for what he views." 
 
 Nothing could win the self-enamoured boy from his devoted 
 passion ; but bending over the lucid spring, he fed his eyes with the 
 delusive shade which seemed to gaze on him from the depths. At 
 last 
 
 " Streaming tears from his full eye-lids fell, 
 And drop by drop, raised circles in the well, 
 The several rings larger and larger spread, 
 And by degrees dispersed the fleeting shade." 
 
 Narcissus fancied that the nymph upon whom he supposed he 
 had been gazing, was deserting him, and unable to bear the misery 
 which the thought occasioned, he wounded himself in his agony, 
 
 deeming that life without her would be insupportable. Echo, 
 however resentful she had felt for the scorn with which he had 
 treated her, hovered near his footsteps and witnessed this last 
 infatuation with redoubled sorrow. 
 
ECHO AND NARCISSUS. 121 
 
 " Now hanging o'er the spring his drooping head. 
 With a sad sigh these dying words he said, 
 ' Ah ! boy beloved in vain,' thro' all the plain 
 Echo resounds, * Ah ! boy beloved in rain !' 
 * Farewell,' he cries, and with that word he died, 
 ' Farewell,' the miserable nymph replied. 
 Now pale and breathless on the grass he lies, 
 For death had shut his miserable eyes." 
 
 The Gods, however, taking pity upon his melancholy fate, 
 
 changed him into the flower Narcissus. 
 
 Many morals have been attempted to be deduced from tin's 
 
 beautiful fable, but in none of them have their authors been wry 
 
 successful, unless we may gather a warning of the fatal effects of 
 
 self-love. 
 
 " What first inspired a bard of old to sing 
 
 Narcissus pining o'er the mountain spring? 
 
 In some delicious ramble, he had found 
 
 A little space, with boughs all woven round, 
 
 And in the midst of all a clearer pool 
 
 Than ere reflected in its pleasant cool 
 
 The blue sky, here and there divinely peeping 
 
 Through tendril wreaths, fantastically creeping; 
 
 And on the bank a lonely flower he spied, 
 
 A meek and forlorn flower with nought of pride, 
 
 Drooping its beauty o'er the watery clearness 
 
 To woo its own sweet image unto nearness; 
 
 Deaf to light Zephyrus, it would not move, 
 
 But still would seem to droop, to pine, to love ; 
 
 So while the poet stood in this sweet spot ; 
 
 Some fainted dreamings o'er his fancy shot ; 
 
 Nor was it long ere he had told the tale 
 
 Of young Narcissus, and sad Echo's vale." 
 
 Keats. 
 
 Poor Pan, undeterred by the zealous passion of Eclio for Nar- 
 cissus, still continued to love her, and pleased himself by wandering 
 in the woods and deserts, there calling upon her, for the ph asure 
 of hearing her voice in reply. 
 
 " In thy cavern-hall, 
 
 Echo ! art thou sleeping ? 
 By the fountain's fall 
 
 Dreamy silence keeping:' 
 Yet one soft note borne 
 From the shepherd's horn. 
 Wakes thee, Echo ! into music leaping. 
 Strange sweet Echo ! into music leaping. 
 " Then the woods rejoice, 
 
 Then glad sounds are swelling, 
 From each sister voic< 
 
 Round thy rocky dwelling; 
 And their sweetness fills 
 All the hollow hills, 
 
 16 
 
122 PAN. 
 
 Witli a thousand notes of one life telling I 
 Softly mingled notes, of one life telling. 
 " Echo ! in my heart 
 
 Thus deep thoughts are lying, 
 Silent and apart, 
 
 Buried, yet undying, 
 Till some gentle tone 
 Wakening haply one, 
 Calls a thousand forth, like thee replying ! 
 Strange sweet Echo, even like thee replying." 
 
 Hemans, 
 
 This god, so adored and loved in the country, had the power of 
 spreading terror and confusion when he pleased. The Gauls, who 
 under Brennus, invaded Greece, when on the point of pillaging the 
 Temple at Delphi, were seized with a sudden panic and took to 
 flight. This terror was attributed to Pan, and they believed all 
 panics, the cause of which was unknown, were produced by him. 
 
 It was by the counsel of Pan, that the Gods at the moment of 
 the assault of Typhon, took the figures of various animals, changing 
 himself into a goat, the skin of which was transported to Heaven, 
 and formed the sign of Capricorn. 
 
 " From the forests and highlands, 
 
 We come, we come ! 
 From the river-girt islands, 
 
 Where the loud waves are dumb, 
 
 Listening to my sweet pipings. 
 The wind in the reeds and the rushes, 
 
 The bees in the bells of the lime, 
 The birds in the myrtle bushes, 
 
 The cicale above in the thyme, 
 And the lizard below in the grass, 
 Were as silent as ever old Tmolus was, 
 
 Listening to my sweet pipings. 
 Liquid Peneus was flowing, 
 
 And all dark Tempe lay 
 In Pelion's shadow, outgrowing 
 
 The light of the dying day, 
 
 Speeded by my sweet pipings. 
 The Sileni, and Sylvans, and Fauns, 
 
 And the nymphs of woods, and waves, 
 To the edge of the moist river lawns, 
 
 And the brink of the dewy caves, 
 And all that did there attendant follow, 
 Were silent with love, as you now, Apollo, 
 
 With envy of my sweet pipings. 
 " I sang of the dancing stars, 
 
 I sang of the daedal earth, 
 And of heaven, and giant wars, 
 
 And love, and death, and birth, — 
 
 And then I changed my pipings. 
 
FAUNS, SYLVANS AND SATYRS. 123 
 
 Singing how down the vale of Menalus, 
 
 I pursued a maiden and clasped a reed ; 
 Gods and men were all deluded thus, 
 
 It breaks in our bosom and then we bleed :. 
 All wept, as I think both ye now would, 
 If envy or age had not frozen your blood, 
 
 At the sorrow of my sweet pipings." 
 
 FAUNS, SYLVANS, AND SATYRS. 
 The Fauns were descended from Faunus, son of Picus King of 
 Italy, who was changed by Circe into a woodpecker. 
 " Faunus who lov'st, thro' woodland glade, 
 To pursue the Sylvan maid, 
 Pass propitious now, I pray, 
 Where my tender lambkins stray : 
 Let each field and mountain high, 
 Own thy genial presence nigh. 
 Since with each returning year, 
 In thy presence, I appear, 
 With the victim's votive blood, 
 Mighty monarch of the wood, 
 And upon thy sacred shrine, 
 Place the love inspiring wine, 
 And, o'er all that hallowed ground, 
 Make the incense breathe around, 
 Hear O Faunus, hear my prayer, 
 My lands to bless, my flocks to spare. 
 When December's nones return 
 Labour's yoke no more is borne, 
 Sport the cattle in the meads, 
 The blylhesome dance the peasant leads, 
 Even, 'mid that time of peace, 
 Beasts of prey their fury cease, 
 The lambkin roams all free and bold, 
 Tho' feeds the wolf beside the fold, 
 Knowing well thy potent arm 
 Then protects from every harm. 
 Lo, to hail the Sylvan king, 
 Woods their leafy honours bring, 
 Strewing in profusion gay, 
 Verdant foliage all the way. 
 Freed from toil, the labourer blvthe 
 Flings aside the spade and scythe, 
 Glad to trip in nimble jig, 
 The earth which he dislikes to dig." 
 
 Horace. 
 
 They were the divinities of the woods and fields, and were 
 represented as having the legs, feet, and cars of goats; the 
 remainder of the body being human; the lamb and kid were 
 ottered to them by the peasants with great solemnity. 
 
124 MIDAS. 
 
 The Sylvans were the children of the foster father of God 
 Bacchus, who accompanied the latter in all his travels. Bacchus 
 having been well received and entertained at the court of Midas, 
 King of Phrygia, he obtained from him the choice of whatever 
 recompense he should name. Midas demanded the power of 
 turning all that he touched into gold. 
 
 " ' Give me/ says he, (nor thought he asked too much,) 
 
 ' That with my body whatsoe'er I touch, 
 
 Changed from the nature which it held of old, 
 
 May be converted into yellow gold :' 
 
 He had his wish : but yet the god repined, 
 
 To think the fool no better wish could find. 
 
 But the brave king departed from the place, 
 
 With smiles of gladness, sparkling in his face : 
 
 Nor could contain, but, as he took his way, 
 
 Impatient longs to make the first essay ; 
 
 Down from a lowly branch a twig he drew, 
 
 The twig strait glittered with a sparkling hue : 
 
 He takes a stone, the stone was turned to gold, 
 
 A clod he touches, and the crumbling mould 
 
 Acknowledged soon the great transforming power, 
 
 In weight and substance like a mass of ore. 
 
 He plucked the com, and straight his grasp appears, 
 
 Filled with a bending tuft of golden ears. 
 
 An apple next he takes, and seems to hold 
 
 The bright, Hesperian, vegetable gold. 
 
 His hand he careless on a pillar lays, 
 
 With shining gold, the fluted pillars blaze. 
 
 And while he wishes, as the servants pour, 
 
 His touch converts the stream to Danae's shower." 
 
 Ovid. 
 
 He was quickly brought however to repent his avarice, when 
 
 the very meat which he attempted to eat, turned to gold in his 
 
 mouth, and the wine to the same metal, as it passed down his 
 
 throat. He was now as anxious to be delivered from this fatal 
 
 gift, as he was before to receive it, and implored the god to revoke 
 
 a present so fatal to the recipient/ 
 
 "The ready slaves prepare a sumptuous board, 
 Spread with rich dainties for their happy lord, 
 Whose powerful hands the bread no sooner hold. 
 But its whole substance is transformed to gold : 
 Up to his mouth he lifts the savoury meat, 
 Which turns to gold as he attempts to eat : 
 1 1 is patron's noble juice, of purple hue, 
 Touched by his lips a gilded cordial grew : 
 I" ii lit for drink, and wondrous to behold, 
 It trickles from his jaws a fluid gold. 
 The rich, poor fool confounded with surprize, 
 Staring on all his various plenty lies : 
 
FAUNS AND SATYRS. 125 
 
 Sick of iiis wish, he now detests the power 
 For which lie asked so earnestly before : 
 Amidst his gold with pinching famine curst, 
 And justly tortured with an equal thirst. 
 At last his shining arms to heaven he real's 
 And, in distress, for refuge flies to prayers. 
 4 O father Bacchus, I have sinned,' he cried, 
 'And foolishly thy gracious gift applied, 
 Thy pity now, repenting, I implore ; 
 Oh ! may I feel the golden plague no more !'" 
 
 Ovid. 
 
 He was told to wash himself in the river Pactolus; he performed 
 the necessary ablution, and the very sands were turned into gold 
 by the touch of Midas. Divine honours were given to Silenus in 
 Arcadia, and from him the Fauns and Satyrs are often called 
 Sileni. 
 
 The Satyrs, also gods of the Country, were considered as mis- 
 chievous, and inspired by their appearance, great fright in the 
 shepherds — although they bore with them a flute or tambourine, 
 to make the nymphs dance, when they inflamed their senses by the 
 
 burning nature of their harmony, and the rapid measure with 
 which they trod to the music of these demi-gods. 
 
 To them were offered the first fruits of everything, and they 
 attended chiefly upon Bacchus, rendering themselves conspicuous 
 in his orgies, by their riot and lasciviousness, It is said, thai a 
 Satyr was brought to Sylla, as thai general returned from 
 Thessaly; the monster had been surprised asleep in a cave; his voice 
 was inarticulate, when brought into the presence of the Roman 
 
126 TERMINUS. 
 
 general, and Sylla was so disgusted with the sight, that he ordered 
 it instantly to be removed. The creature is said to have answered 
 the description which poets and painters have given of the Satyrs. 
 
 Priapus was the most celebrated among them, as the the son of 
 Venus, who meeting Bacchus on his return from his Indian expe- 
 dition, was enamoured of him, and with the assistance of Juno, became 
 the mother of Priapus. Juno having vowed vengeance against 
 the goddess of beauty, took that opportunity to deform her son in 
 all his limbs; notwithstanding which, as he grew up, his inclinations 
 and habits became so vicious, that he was known as the god of lewd- 
 ness. His festivals took place principally at Lampsacus, where they 
 consecrated the ass to him ; and the people naturally indolent, gave 
 themselves up to every impurity during the celebration. When 
 however his worship was introduced into Rome, he became more 
 the God of Orchards and Gardens, than the patron of licentiousness. 
 He was there crowned with the leaves of the vine, and sometimes 
 with laurel or rocket, the last of these plants, which is said to raise 
 the passions and excite love, being sacred to him. 
 
 The Sylvans, were, like the Fauns and Satyrs, the guardian 
 deities of the woods and wild places of the earth. 
 
 Terminus was a somewhat curious divinity, presiding over bounds 
 and limits, and punishing all usurpation. His worship was first 
 introduced by Numa Pompilius, who persuaded his subjects that 
 the limits of their lands and states, were under the immediate 
 inspection of heaven. His temple was on the Tarpeian rock, and 
 he was represented with a human head, though without feet or 
 arms, to intimate that he never moved, wherever he might be 
 placed. 
 
 The people of the country assembled once a year with 
 their families, and crowned with garlands and flowers, the stones 
 which divided their different possessions. It is said that when 
 Tarquin the proud, wished to build a temple on the Tarpeian rock 
 to Jupiter, the God Terminus refused to give place, though the 
 other gods resigned theirs with cheerfulness, and the oracles 
 declared from this, that the extent of the Empire should never be 
 lessened. 
 
HEBE 
 
 was the daughter of Jupiter and Juno ; though by many she is said 
 to be the daughter of Juno only, who conceived her after eating 
 lettuces. 
 
 Being fair, and always possessed of the bloom Of beauty and 
 youth, she was termed the Goddess of youth, and made by her 
 mother the cup-bearer to all the Gods. 
 
 She was dismissed from her office by Jupiter, however, because 
 
 she fell down as she was pouring nectar to the Gods, at a grand 
 
 festival, and Ganymedes, a favourite of Jupiter, succeeded to her 
 
 office. 
 
 " 'Twas on a day 
 When the immortals at their banquet lay, 
 The bowl 
 Sparkled with starry dew, 
 The weeping of those myriad urns of light, 
 Within whose orbs, the almighty Power 
 At nature's dawning hour 
 Stored the rich fluid of ethereal soul. 
 
 * * * * 
 But oh ! 
 
 Bright Hebe, what a tear, 
 And what a blush were thine, 
 When, as the breath of every Grace 
 Wafted thy feet along the studded sphere 
 With a bright cup, for Jove himself to drink, 
 Some star, that shone beneath thy tread, 
 
 Raising its amorous head 
 To kiss those matchless feet. 
 
 And all heaven's host of eyes. 
 
 Checked thy career so fleet : 
 Entranced, but fearful all, 
 Saw thee, sweet Hebe, prostrate fall. 
 
 * * * # 
 
 But the bright cup ? the nectared draught 
 Which Jove himself was to have quaffed ! 
 Alas, alas, upturned it lay 
 By the fallen Hebe's side ; 
 While in slow lingering drops, th' ethereal tide, 
 As conscious of its own rich essence, ebbed away," 
 
 Moore. 
 
 Her mother employed her to prepare her chariot, and to harness 
 her peacocks, when required. To her was granted the power of 
 restoring to age the vigour of youth; and after Hercules wis 
 elevated to the rank of a God, he became reconciled to Juno by 
 marrying her daughter Hebe. 
 
THE CENTAURS. 
 
 After the creation of the Fauns and Sylvans by the poets, the 
 imagination of the latter invented the Centaur, a monster, of which 
 the superior part was that of a man, and the remainder that of the 
 horse. 
 
 Lycus, a mortal, being detained by Circe in her magical dominion, 
 was beloved by a water-nymph who desired to render him immortal ; 
 she had recourse to the sorceress, and Circe gave her an incantation 
 to pronounce. 
 
 As Lycus walked sorrowfully in the enchanted place, astonished 
 at the many wondrous things which met his eye, he beheld 
 
 " The realized nymph of the stream, 
 
 Rising up from the wave, with the bend and the gleam 
 Of a fountain, and o'er her white arms she kept throwing 
 Bright torrents of hair, that went flowing and flowing 
 In falls to her feet, and the blue waters rolled 
 Down her limbs like a garment, in many a fold." 
 
 Hood. 
 
 Struck with each other's charms they loved, but unhappily the 
 nymph, in her anxiety for her lover's immortality, and while calling 
 upon her mistress to assist her, saw 
 
 " The Witch Queen of that place, 
 
 Even Circe the Cruel, that came like a death 
 
 Which I feared, and yet fled not, for want of my breath, 
 
 There was thought in her face, and her eyes were not raised 
 
 From the grass at her foot, but I saw, as I gazed 
 
 Her hate—" 
 
THE CENTAURS. 1 2 ( J 
 
 This hate Lycus soon experienced ; as the spell desired by the 
 nymph, was in the act of being pronounced, 
 
 I felt with a start, 
 
 The life blood rush back in one throb to my heart, 
 And saw the pale lips where the rest of that spell 
 Had perished in terror, and heard the farewell 
 Of that voice that was drowned in the dash of the stream ! 
 How fain had I followed, and plunged with that scream 
 Into death, but my being indignantly lagged 
 Thro' the brutalized flesh that I painfully dragged 
 Behind me — " 
 
 Hood. 
 
 From this time his existence become a torture to him. Though 
 
 there were none of his former beings to consort with, yet still he 
 
 loved to haunt the places of his humanity, and with a beating 
 
 heart and bursting frame, behold the various occupations and 
 
 pleasures in which he had formerly joined. 
 
 " I once had a haunt near a cot. where a mother 
 Daily sat in the shade with her child, and would smother 
 Its eye-lids in kisses, and then in its sleep 
 Sang dreams in its ears, of its manhood, while deep 
 In a thicket of willows I gazed o'er the brooks 
 That murmured between us, and kissed them with looks ; 
 But the willows unbosomed their secret, and never 
 I returned to a spot I had startled for ever ; 
 Tho' I oft longed to know , but could ask it of none, 
 Was the mother still fair, and how big was her son ?" 
 
 Hood. 
 
 Time brought no remedy, for still he was troubled by the absent 
 
 of sympathy, and the repression of that human feeling which yet 
 
 clung like a curse to him. 
 
 " For the haunters of fields, they all shunned me by flight, 
 The 7 men in their horror, the women in fright : 
 None ever remained, save a child once that sported 
 Among the wild blue bells, and playfully courted 
 The breeze ; and beside him a speckled snake lay 
 Tight strangled, because it had hissed him away 
 From the flower at his finger; he rose and drew near 
 Like a son of immortals, one born to no fear, 
 But with strength of black locks, and with eye azure bright, 
 To grow to large manhood of merciful might, 
 He came, with his face of bold wonder, to feel 
 The hair of my side and to lift up my heel, 
 And questioned his face with wide eyes; but when under 
 My lids he saw tears, — for I wept at his wonder, 
 He stroked me, and uttered such kindliness then, 
 That the once love of women, the friendship of men 
 In past sorrow, no kindness, e'er came like a kiss 
 On my heart in its desolate day, such as this 
 17 
 
130 THE CENTAURS, 
 
 And I yearned at his cheeks in my love, and down bent 
 And lifted him up in my arms with intent 
 To kiss him— but he cruel — kindly alas! 
 Held out to my lips a plucked handful of grass ! 
 Then I dropped him in horror, but felt as I fled, 
 The stone he indignantly hurled at my head, 
 That dissevered my ear, but I felt not, whose fate, 
 Was to meet more distress in his love his hate !" 
 
 Hood. 
 
 The only mitigation of his sorrow, was that when in Thessaly 
 " He met with the same as himself," 
 and obtained with them, if not sympathy, at least companionship. 
 
 Chiron was the wisest of the Centaurs. Music, divination, 
 astronomy, and medicine, were equally familiar to him, and his 
 name is blended with those of the principal sages of Greece, whom 
 he instructed in the use of plants and medicinal herbs. 
 
 The battle of the Centaurs with the Lapithae at the bridal of 
 Perithous is famous in history, and was the cause of their destruction. 
 
 The Centaurs inflamed with wine, behaved with rudeness and 
 even offered violence to the bride, and to the women that were 
 present. 
 
 " Now brave Perithous, bold Ixion's son, 
 
 The love of fair Hippodame had won. 
 
 The cloud begotten race, half men, half beast, 
 
 Invited came to grace the nuptial feast : 
 
 In a cool cave's recess the treat was made, 
 
 Whose entrance, trees, with spreading boughs o'ershade, 
 
 They sat ; and summoned by the bridegroom, came, 
 
 To mix with those, the Lapythsean name : 
 
 The roofs with joy resound, 
 
 And Hymen, 16 Hymen, rung around. 
 
 Raised altars shone with holy fires : the bride 
 
 Lovely herself, (and lovely by her side 
 
 A bevy of bright nymphs, with sober grace,) 
 
 Came glittering like a star, and took her place. 
 
 Her heavenly form beheld, all wished her joy ; 
 
 And little wanted, but in vain their wishes all employ. 
 
 For one, most brutal of the brutal brood, 
 
 Or whether wine or beauty fired his blood, 
 
 Or both at once, beheld with lustful eyes 
 
 The bride : at once resolved to make his prize. 
 
 Down went the board, and fastening on her hair, 
 
 He seized with sudden force the frighted fair. 
 
 'Twas Eurytus began; his bestial kind 
 
 His crime pursued, and each as pleased his mind 
 
 On her, whom chance presented, took. The feast 
 
 An image of a taken town expressed." 
 
 Ovid. 
 
FLORA, POMONA, VERTUMNUS, THE SEASONS. 
 
 Flora was unknown among the Greeks, having her birth with the 
 Romans. She was the Goddess of Flowers, 
 
 " which unveil 
 
 Their breasts of beauty, and each delicate bud 
 
 O' the Season, comes in turn to bloom and perish. 
 
 But first of all the Violet, with an eye 
 
 Blue as the midnight heavens, the frail snow-drop, 
 
 Born of the breath of winter, and on his brow, 
 
 Fixed like a pale and solitary star, 
 
 The languid hyacinth, and wild primrose, 
 
 And daisy, trodden down like modesty, 
 
 The fox-glove, in whose drooping bells the bee 
 
 Makes her sweet music : the Narcissus, named 
 
 From him who died for love, the tangled woodbine 
 
 Lilacs and flowering limes, and scented thorns, 
 
 And some from whom the voluptuous winds of June 
 
 Catch their perfumery." 
 
 Barry Cornwall. 
 
 She married Zephyrus, and received from him the privilege of 
 presiding over flowers, and enjoying perpetual youth. 
 
 Pomona was the Goddess of Fruits and Fruit Trees, and sup- 
 posed to be the Deity of Gardens. 
 
 " Her name Pomona, bom hei woodland race, 
 In garden culture none conld her excel, 
 
 Or form the pliant souls <.f plants so well ; 
 Or to the fruit more generous flavours lend. 
 Or teach the trees with, nobler loads to bend." 
 
132 VERTUMNUS AND POMONA. 
 
 Pleased with her office, and unwilling to take upon herself the 
 troubles of marriage, she vowed perpetual celibacy. Numerous 
 were the suitors who attempted to win her from her rash determi- 
 nation, but to all of them the answer was alike in the negative : 
 tho' Vertumnus, one of the most zealous, pursued her with 
 unchanging ardour. 
 
 " Long had she laboured to continue free 
 From chains of love and nuptial tyranny; 
 And in her orchard's small extent immured, 
 Her vovv'd virginity she still secured. 
 Oft would loose Pan, and all the lustful train 
 Of satyrs, tempt her innocence in vain. 
 Vertumnus too pursued the maid no less, 
 But with his rivals, shared a like success." 
 
 Ovid. 
 
 Miserable, but not cast down, by the many refusals he met with, 
 
 Vertumnus took a thousand shapes to influence the success of 
 
 his suit. 
 
 " To gain access, a thousand ways he tries 
 
 Oft in the hind, the lover would disguise, 
 
 The heedless lout comes shambling on, and seems 
 
 Just sweating from the labour of his teams. 
 
 Then from the harvest, oft the mimic swain 
 
 Seems bending with a load of bearded grain. 
 
 Sometimes a dresser of the vine he feigns, 
 
 And lawless tendrils to their boughs restrains. 
 
 Sometimes his sword a soldier shews; his rod 
 
 An angler ; still so various is the God. 
 
 Now, in a forehead cloth some crone he seems, 
 
 A staff supplying the defect of limbs : 
 
 Admittance thus he gains ; admires the store 
 
 Of fairest fruit ; the fair possessor more ; 
 
 Then greets her with a kiss ; th' unpractised dame 
 
 Admired, a grandame kissed with such a flame. 
 
 Now seated by her, he beholds a vine, 
 
 Around an elm in amorous foldings twine, 
 
 " If that fair elm," he cried, " alone should stand, 
 
 No grapes would glow with gold, and tempt the hand ; 
 
 Or if that vine without her elm should grow, 
 
 'Twould creep a poor neglected shrub below. 
 
 Be then, fair nymph, by these examples led, 
 
 Nor shun for fancied fears, the nuptial bed." 
 
 Ovid. 
 
 In this disguise, Vertumnus recommended himself and his virtues 
 
 to Pomona. 
 
 " On my assurance well you may repose, 
 
 Vertumnus scarce Vertumnus better knows. 
 
 True to his choice all looser flames he flies, 
 
 Nor for new faces fashionably dies. 
 
 The charms of youth, and every smiling grace, 
 
 Bloom in his features, and the god confess" Ovin. 
 
SPRING. 133 
 
 The pertinacious wooing of the metamorphosed deity, had, at 
 last its effect, in preparing Pomona for Vertumnus, when he should 
 assume his natural shape. 
 
 " The story oft Vertumnus urged in vain, 
 But then assumed his heavenly form again ; 
 Such looks and lustre the bright youth adorn, 
 As when with rays glad Phoebus paints the mom. 
 The sight so warms the fair admiring maid, 
 Like snow she melts, so soon can youth persuade ; 
 Consent on eager wings succeeds desire, 
 And both the lovers glow with mutual fire." 
 
 Ovid. 
 Pomona had a temple at Rome, and a regular priest, who offered 
 sacrifices to her divinity for the preservation of fruit : she is gene- 
 rally represented sitting on a basket, full of flowers and fruit, 
 holding a bough in one hand, and apples in the other. 
 
 Vertumnus is represented under the figure of a young man, 
 crowned with various plants, bearing in his left hand fruits, and in 
 his right a horn of abundance. 
 
 The Goddess Pomona is often confounded with Autumn, Ceres 
 with Summer, and Flora with Spring. 
 
 The four seasons have also been described with great distinctness, 
 by poets, both ancient and modern, all of whom were delighted to 
 pour forth tributes of praise in their honour; Spring is usually 
 drawn as a nymph, with her head crowned by a wreath of flowers ; 
 and many are the strains attributed to her. 
 
 " I come, I come ! ye hare called me long, 
 I come o'er the mountains with light and song ! 
 Ye may trace my step o'er the wakening earth, 
 By the winds which tell of the violet's birth, 
 By the primrose stars in the shadowy grass, 
 By the green leaves opening as I pass. 
 
 I have breathed in the south, and the chesnut flowers, 
 
 By thousands have burst from the forest bowers, 
 And the ancient graves, and the fallen fanes, 
 Are veiled with wreaths on Italian plains: 
 But it is not for me in my hour of bloom, 
 To speak of the ruin or the tomb. 
 
 I have looked o'er the hills of the stormy north, 
 
 And the larch has hung all his tassels forth, 
 
 The fisher is out in the stormy sea, 
 
 And the rein-deer bounds o'er the pastures free. 
 
 And the fence has a fringe of softer green, 
 
 And the moss looks bright where my foot hath been. 
 
 I have sent thro' the wood-paths a glowing sigh, 
 And called out oaeh voice of the deep blue sky; 
 From the night bird's lay thro' the starry time, 
 
134 
 
 SPRING. 
 
 In the groves of the soft Hesperian clime, 
 To the swan's wild note by the Iceland lakes, 
 When the dark fir-branch into verdure breaks. 
 
 From the streams and founts I have loosed the chain, 
 They are sweeping on to the silvery main, 
 They are flashing down from the mountain brows, 
 They are flinging spray o'er the forest boughs, 
 They are bursting fresh from their sparry caves, 
 And the earth resounds with the joy of waves ! 
 
 Come forth, O ye children of gladness, come ! 
 Where the violets lie may be now your home. 
 Ye of the rose-lip and dew -bright eye, 
 And the bounding footstep to meet me fly ! 
 With the lyre, and the wreath, and the joyous lay, 
 Come forth to the sunshine, I may not stay. 
 
 Away from the dwellings of care-worn men, 
 The waters are sparkling in grove and glen ! 
 Away from the chamber and sullen hearth, 
 The young leaves are dancing in breezy mirth ! 
 Their light stems thrill to the wild wood strains. 
 And youth is abroad in my green domains. 
 
 But ye ! ye are changed since ye met me last ! 
 There is something bright from your features past ! 
 There is something come over brow and eye, 
 Which speaks of a world where the flowers must die ! 
 Ye smile ! — but your smile hath a dimness yet — 
 Oh ! what have ye looked on since last we met ? 
 
 Ye are changed, ye are changed ! and I see not here 
 All whom I saw in the vanished year ! 
 There were graceful heads with their ringlets bright, 
 Which tossed in the breeze with a play of light, 
 There were eyes, in whose glistening laughter lay 
 No faint remembrance of dull decay ! 
 
 There were steps that flew o'er the cowslip's head, 
 
 As if for a banquet all earth were spread ; 
 
 There were voices that rung thro' the sapphire sky, 
 
 And had not a sound of mortality ! 
 
 Are they gone? is their mirth from the mountains passed? 
 
 Ye have looked on death since ye met me last ! 
 
 I know whence the shadow comes o'er you now, 
 Ye have strewn the dust on the sunny brow ! 
 Ye have given the lovely to earth's embrace,' 
 She hath taken the fairest of beauty's race, 
 With their laughing eyes and their festal crown, 
 They are gone from amongst you in silence down ! 
 
 The Summer is coming, on soft winds borne, 
 
 Ye may press the grape, ye may bind the corn ! 
 
 For me I depart to a brighter shore, 
 
 Ye are marked by care, ye are mine no more, 
 
 I go where the loved, who have left you, dwell, 
 
 And the flowers are not death's — farewell, farewell !" 
 
 Hemans. 
 
SUMMER. 135 
 
 Summer is drawn naked, bearing an ear of corn, just arriving at 
 its fulness, to denote the harvest yielded by its light and heat ; 
 with a scythe in her hand, to intimate that it is the season of harvest. 
 A welcome to the summer's pleasant song, 
 A welcome to the summer's golden hour, 
 A welcome to the myriad joys that throng, 
 With a deep loveliness, o'er tree and flower , 
 The earth is glad with beauty, the sky 
 Smiles in calm grandeur over vale and hill, 
 And the breeze murmurs forth a gentle sigh, 
 And the fish leap from out the smiling rill. 
 The town's pale denizens come forth to breathe, 
 The free, fresh air, and lave their fevered brows ; 
 And beauty loves young fairy flowers to wreathe 
 Beneath some stately forest's antique boughs. 
 Oh ! art hath nought like this, the very air 
 Breatheth of beauty, banishing despair." 
 
 Francis. 
 
 At other times, she is represented surrounded by the flowers 
 
 which blossom latest, mingled with the delicious fruits which are 
 
 the offspring of the summer season. 
 
 " Come away ! the sunny hours 
 Woo thee far to founts and bowers ! 
 O'er the very waters now, 
 
 In their play, 
 Flowers are shedding beauty's glow — 
 
 Come away ! 
 Where the lily's tender gleam 
 Quivers on the glancing stream — - 
 
 Come away ! 
 All the air is filled with sound, 
 Soft, and sultry, and profound ; 
 Murmurs through the shadowy grass 
 
 Lightly stray ; 
 Faint winds whisper as they pass— 
 
 Come away ; 
 Where the bee's deep music swells 
 From the trembling fox-glove bells — 
 
 Come away ! 
 
 In the skies the sapphire blue 
 Now hath won its richest hue ; 
 In the woods the breath of song 
 
 Night and <la\ 
 Floats with leafy scents along — 
 Where the boughs with dewy gloom 
 
 Come away ! 
 Darken each thick bed of bloom 
 
 Come away ! 
 
 In the deep heart of the rose 
 Now the crimson love-hue glows; 
 
 Now the glow-\fbrm's lamp by night 
 Sheds a rav, 
 
136 AUTUMN. 
 
 Dreamy, starry, freely bright — 
 
 Come away ! 
 Where the fairy cup-moss lies, 
 With the wild-wood strawberries, 
 
 Come away ! 
 
 Now each tree by summer crowned, 
 Sheds its own night twilight round ; 
 Glancing there from sun to shade, 
 Bright wings play ; 
 Here the deer its couch hath made — 
 
 Come away ! 
 Where the smooth leaves of the lime 
 Glisten in the honey time, 
 
 Come away — away ! 
 
 Hemans. 
 
 Autumn appears clad in a robe red with the juice of the vintage, 
 
 which he yields to gladden the heart of man : while a dog is placed 
 
 at his feet to denote it as the season of the chase. 
 
 " I saw old Autumn in the misty morn, 
 Stand shadowless like silence, listening 
 To silence, for no lonely bird would sing 
 Into his hollow ear from woods forlorn, 
 Nor lowly hedge nor solitary thorn ; 
 Shaking his tangled locks all dewy bright 
 With spangled gossamer that fell by night, 
 
 Pearling his coronet of golden corn. 
 Where are the songs of summer ? with the sun, 
 Openly g the dusky eyelids of the south, 
 Till shade and silence waken up alone, 
 And morning sings with a warm odorous mouth. 
 Where are the merry birds ? Away, away 
 On panting wings through the inclement skies, 
 Lest owls should prey 
 Undazzled at noon-day, 
 And tear with homy beak their lustrous eyes. 
 
 Where are the blooms of Summer ? in the west, 
 Blushing their last to the last sunny hours, 
 When the mild eve by sudden night is prest 
 Like tearful Proserpine, snatched from her flowers 
 
 To a most gloomy breast. 
 Where is the pride of Summer, — the green prime — 
 The many, many leaves all twinkling ? — There 
 On the moss'd elm ; three on the naked lime 
 Trembling, — and one upon the old oak tree ! 
 
 Where is the Dryad's immortality ? 
 Gone into mournful cypress and dark yew. 
 Or wearing the long, gloomy winter through 
 
 In the smooth holly's green eternity. 
 
 The squirrel gloats on his accomplished hoard, 
 The Ants have trimm'd their garners with ripe grain, 
 
 And honey bees have stored 
 The sweets of summer in their luscious cells ; 
 
WINTER. 137 
 
 " The swallows all have winged across the main ; 
 But here the Autumn melancholy dwells, 
 
 And sighs her tearful spells, 
 Amongst the sunless shadows of the plain. 
 
 Alone, alone, 
 
 Upon a mossy stone, 
 She sits and reckons up the dead and gone, 
 With the last leaves for a love-rosary, 
 Whilst all the withered world looks drearily, 
 Like a dim picture of the drowned past 
 In the hushed mind's mysterious far away, 
 Doubtful what ghostly thing will steal the last 
 Into that distance, grey upon the grey. 
 
 O go and sit with her, and he o'ershaded 
 Under the languid downfall of her hair; 
 She wears a coronal of flowers faded, 
 Upon her forehead, and a face of care ; — 
 There is enough of withered every where 
 To make her bower, — and enough of gloom ; 
 There is enough of sadness to invite, 
 If only for the rose that died — whose doom 
 Is beauty's, — she that with the living bloom 
 Of conscious cheeks, most beautifies the light ; 
 There is enough of sorrowing, and quite 
 Enough of bitter fruits the earth doth bear, 
 Enough of chilly droppings for her bowl, 
 Enough of fear and shadowy despair, 
 To frame her cloudy prison for the soul." 
 
 Hood. 
 
 Winter, as the oldest season, is drawn with shrivelled limbs, and 
 
 white and hoary locks, to represent the appearance of old age. 
 
 When first the fiery mantled sun 
 His heavenly race began to run ; 
 Round the earth, in ocean blue 
 His children four the Seasons flew ; — 
 First, in the green apparel dancing, 
 
 The young Spring smiled with angel grace ; 
 Rosy Summer next advancing, 
 
 Rushed into her sire's embrace : — 
 Her bright haired sire, who bade her keep 
 
 For ever nearest to his smiles, 
 On Calpe's olive shaded steep, 
 
 On India's citron covered isles : 
 Now remote and buxom brown, 
 
 The queen of vintage bowed before his throne •, 
 A rich pomegranate gemmed her crown, 
 
 A ripe sheaf bound her zone. 
 But howling Winter fled afar, 
 To hills that prop the polar star, 
 And loves on deer-borne car to ride 
 With barren Darkness by his side, 
 Round the shore where loud Lofoden 
 
 Whirls to death the roaring whale, 
 Round the hall where Runic Odcn 
 
 Howls his war song to the gale ;" 
 
 18 
 
138 DIVINITIES OF THE SEA — OCEANUS AND THETIS. 
 
 " Save when a-down the ravaged globe 
 
 He travels on his native storm, 
 Deflowering Nature's grassy robe, 
 
 And trampling on her faded form : 
 Till light's returning lord assume 
 
 The shaft that drives him to his polar field, 
 Of power to pierce his raven plume, 
 
 And chrystal covered shield. 
 Oh, sire of storms, whose savage ear 
 The Lapland drum delights to hear, 
 When frenzy with her bloodshot eye 
 Implores thy dreadful deity, 
 Archangel ! power of desolation ! 
 
 Fast descending as thou art, 
 Say, hath mortal invocation 
 
 Spells to touch thy stony heart ? 
 Then, sullen Winter, hear my prayer, 
 And gently rule the ruined year; 
 Nor chill the wanderer's bosom bare, 
 Nor freeze the wretch's falling tear. 
 To shuddering want's unmantled bed, 
 Thy horror-breathing agues cease to lead, 
 And gently on the orphan head 
 Of innocence descend. 
 But chiefly spare, O King of clouds, 
 The sailor on his airy shrouds ; 
 When wrecks and beacons strew the steep, 
 And spectres walk along the deep. 
 Milder yet thy snowy breezes 
 
 Pour on yonder tented shores, 
 Where the Rhine's broad billow freezes, 
 
 Or the dark brown Danube roars. 
 Oh, winds of Winter ! list ye there 
 
 To many a deep and dying groan ; 
 Or start, ye demons of the midnight air, 
 
 At shrieks and thunders louder than your own. 
 Alas ! e'en your unhallowed breath, 
 
 May spare the victim fallen low ; 
 But man will ask no truce to death, 
 
 No bounds to human woe." 
 
 Campbell. 
 
 DIVINITIES OF THE SEA. 
 
 OCEANUS AND THETIS. 
 
 Oceanus, one of the most powerful deities of the sea, was, 
 according to Homer, the parent of all the gods, and on that account 
 received frequent visits from the remainder of the deities. He is 
 represented as an old man, with a long, flowing beard, and sitting 
 upon the waves of the sea. He often holds a pike in his hand, 
 whilst ships under sail appear at a distance, or a sea monster stands 
 neai him. 
 
THETIS. 139 
 
 Oceanus presided over every part of the sea, and even the rivers 
 were subjected to his power. The ancients were very reverential 
 in their homage to Oceanus, and worshipped with great solemnity 
 a deity, to whose care they entrusted themselves when going on any 
 voyage. 
 
 He was the father of the Oceanides to the number of three 
 
 thousand. 
 
 "Three thousand graceful Oceanides 
 
 Long-stepping, tread the earth, or far and wide 
 Dispersed, they haunt the glassy depth of lakes, 
 A glorious sisterhood of goddess birth " 
 
 IIksigd. 
 
 Thetis, one of the sea deities, was daughter of Nereus and Doris 
 
 and is often confounded with Tethys, her grandmother. She was 
 
 loved by Neptune and Jupiter ; but when the gods were informed 
 
 that her son would become greater than his father, they ceased their 
 
 addresses, and Peleus, the son of JEblcus, was permitted to solicit her 
 
 hand. Thetis refused him, but the lover had the artifice to catch 
 
 her when asleep, and by binding her strongly, prevented her 
 
 escaping from his grasp. When Thetis found she could not elude 
 
 the vigilance of Peleus, she consented to marry him, though much 
 
 against her inclination. Their nuptials were celebrated on Mount 
 
 Peleon with great pomp, at which all the deities attended. 
 
 " Proteus thus to virgin Thetis said, 
 
 ' Fair goddess of the waves, consent to wed, 
 
 A son you'll have, the terror of the field, 
 
 To whom, in fame and power, his sire shall yield.' 
 
 Jove, who adored the nymph with boundless love, 
 
 Did, from his breast, the dangerous flame remove ; 
 
 He knew the fates, nor cared to raise up one, 
 
 Whose lame and greatness, should eclipse his own. 
 
 On happy Peleus he bestowed her charms, 
 
 And blessed his grandson in the goddess' arms : 
 
 — A silent creek Thessalia's coast can show, 
 
 Two arms project, and shape it like a bow ; 
 
 'Twould make a hay, but the transparent tide 
 
 Does scarce the yellow, gravel bottom hide ; 
 
 A grove of fragrant myrtle near it grows, 
 
 Whose boughs, though thick, a beauteous grot disclose, 
 
 The well wrought fabric, to discerning eyes, 
 
 Rather by art than nature seem to rise. 
 
 A bridled dolphin, oft fair Thetis bore 
 
 To this her loved retreat, her favourite shore : 
 
 Here Peleus seized her slumbering where she lay, 
 
 And urged his suit, with all that love could say : 
 
 The nymph overpowered, to art for succour flies, 
 
 And various shapes the eager youth Surprize." 
 
140 ACHILLES. 
 
 " A bird she seems, but plies her wings in vain, 
 His hand the fleeting substance still detain : 
 A branchy tree, high in the air she grew, 
 About its bark, his nimble arms he threw : 
 A tiger next she glares with flaming eyes, 
 The frightened lover quits his hold and flies. 
 The sea-gods he with sacred rites adores, 
 Then a libation on the ocean pours ; 
 While the fat entrails crackle in the fire, 
 And sheets of smoke in sweet perfume aspire: 
 Till Proteus, rising from his oozy bed, 
 Thus to the poor, desponding lover said, 
 ' No more in anxious thoughts your mind employ, 
 For yet you shall possess the dear, expected joy, 
 You must once more the unwary nymph surprize, 
 As in her cooly grot she slumbering lies : 
 Then bind her fast with unrelenting hands, 
 And strain her tender limbs with knotted bands; 
 Still hold her under every distant shape, 
 Till tired, she tries no longer to escape? 
 Thus he then sunk beneath the glassy flood, 
 And broken accents fluttered where he stood. 
 Bright Sol had almost now his journey done, 
 And down the steepy, western convex run ; 
 When the fair Nereid left the briny wave, 
 And, as she used, retreated to her cave, 
 He scarce had bound her fast, when she arose, 
 And into various shapes her body throws ; 
 She went to move her arms, then found them tied, 
 Then with a sigh ' Some god assists,' she cried, 
 And in her proper shape stood blushing by his side." 
 
 Dryden. 
 
 Thetis became mother of several children by Peleus, but all 
 these she destroyed by fire in attempting to see whether they were 
 immortal. Achilles would have shared the same fate, if Peleus 
 had not snatched him from her hand, as she was going to repeat 
 the cruel operation. She afterwards rendered his body invulnerable 
 by plunging him in the waters of the Styx, excepting that part of 
 the heel by which she held him. As Thetis well knew the future 
 fate of her son, she attempted to remove him from the Trojan war, 
 by concealing him in the court of Lycomedes. This, however, was 
 useless, as he went with the rest of the Greeks. The mother, still 
 anxious for his preservation, prevailed upon Vulcan to make him a 
 suit of armour ; but after it was done, she refused to fulfil the pro- 
 mise she had made to the god. When Achilles was killed by Paris, 
 Thetis issued out of the sea with the Nereids to mourn his death, 
 and after she had collected his ashes in a golden urn, raised a 
 monument to his memory, and instituted festivals in his honour. 
 
TRITON, PROTEUS, PORTUMNUS, GLAUCUS, yEOLUS, 
 
 THE SYRENS, CHARYBDIS AND SCYLLA, 
 
 CIRCE AND THE HARPIES. 
 
 Triton was the son of Neptune and Amphitrite, and was reckoned 
 
 of much importance among the sea deities, being able to raise or to 
 
 calm storms at his pleasure. He is generally represented with a 
 
 shell in his hand. 
 
 " Old Triton blowing his sea horn." 
 
 Wordsworth. 
 
 His body above the waist, is that of a man, but below, a dolphin's, 
 
 while by some he is shown with the fore feet of a horse. He usually 
 
 precedes the chariot of the god of the sea, sounding his shell, and 
 
 is resembled, in this, by his sons the Tritons. 
 
 Proteus, son of Oceanus and Thetis, was guardian of the subjects 
 
 of Neptune, and had the power of looking into the future, from 
 
 that God, because he had tended for him the monsters of the sea. 
 
 "The shepherd of the seas, a prophet, and a god, 
 High o'er the main, in watery pomp lie rides, 
 His azure car and tinny coursers guides. 
 With sure foresight, and with unerring doom 
 He sees what is, and was, and is to come." 
 
 Virgil. 
 
 From his knowledge of futurity, mankind are said to have 
 
 received the greatest benefits. 
 
 " Blue Proteus dwells, 
 
 Great Neptune's prophet, who the ocean quells] 
 
 He in a glittering chariot courses o'er 
 
 The foaming waves, him all the nymphs adore, 
 
 Old Ncreus too. because lie all things kimw^. 
 The past, the present, and the Cut me shows ; 
 
142 PROTEUS — PORTUMNUS. 
 
 So Neptune pleased who Proteus thus inspired, 
 And with such wages to his service hired, 
 Gave him the rule of all his briny flocks, 
 That feed among a thousand ragged rocks." 
 
 The changes which this deity was able to make in his appearance, 
 
 caused the name of Proteus to be synonimous with change. Thus 
 
 " The Proteus lover woos his playful bride, 
 
 To win the fair he tries a thousand forms, 
 
 Basks on the sands, or gambols in the storms. 
 
 A dolphin now, his scaly sides he laves; 
 
 And bears the sportive damsel on the waves ; 
 
 She strikes the cymbals as he moves along, 
 
 And wondering Ocean listens to the song. 
 
 And now a spotted paid the lover stalks, 
 
 Plays round her steps, and guards her favoured walks ; 
 
 As with white teeth he prints her hand, caressed, 
 
 And lays his velvet paw upon her breast, 
 
 O'er his round face her snowy fingers strain 
 
 The silken knots and fit the ribbon-rein. 
 
 And now a swan he spreads his plumy sails, 
 
 And proudly glides before the fanning gales ; 
 
 Pleased on the flowery brink with graceful hand 
 
 She waves her floating lover to the land ; 
 
 Bright shines his sinuous neck with crimson beak, 
 
 He prints fond kisses on her glowing cheek, 
 
 Spreads his broad wings, elates his ebon crest, 
 
 And clasps the beauty to his downy breast." 
 
 Darwin. 
 
 He usually resided on the Carpathian sea, and like the rest of 
 the sea gods, reposed upon the shore, where those resorted who 
 wished to consult him to obtain any revelation ; but it was neces- 
 sary to secure him, lest by taking some unnatural shape, he should 
 elude their vigilance. 
 
 Portumnus, the guardian of doors, was at first known as 
 
CLAUCUS — .EOLUS. 
 
 143 
 
 Melicerta, and was the son of Athamas and Ino. He was saved by 
 his mother from the fury of his father, Athamas, who became 
 inflamed by such a sudden fury, that he took Ino for a Lioness, and 
 her two children for whelps. In this fit of madness, he dashed 
 one of them against a wall ; Ino fled with Melicerta in her arms, and 
 threw herself into the sea from a high rock, and was changed into a 
 sea deity, by Neptune, who had compassion on her misfortunes. 
 It is supposed by many, that the Isthmian games were in honour 
 of Portumnus. 
 
 Glaucus was a fisher of Bceotia, and remarking, on one occasion, 
 that the fish which he threw on the grass, seemed to receive fresh 
 vigour from touching the ground, he attributed it to the grass, and 
 tasting it, was seized with a sudden desire to live in the sea. 
 
 Upon this, he leapt into the water, and was made a sea deity bj 
 Oceanus, at the request of the marine gods. 
 
 Molvs, god of the winds, reigned in the Vulcanean islands, and 
 was under the power of Neptune, who allowed him to give liberty 
 to the winds, or to recall them into their caverns at his pleasure. 
 
 '■ Oh many a voice is thine thou wind ! 
 
 Full many a voice is thine, 
 From every scene thy wing o'ersweeps 
 
 Thou bear'st a sound and sign ; 
 A minstrel wild and strong thou ;irt, 
 
 With a mastery all thine own. 
 And the spirit is thy harp, O wind ! 
 
 That gives the answering tone. 
 "Thou hast heen across red fields of war, 
 
 Where shivered helmets lie, 
 And thou hringest thence the thrilling note 
 
 Of a clarion in the skv:" 
 
144 WIND. 
 
 " A rustling of proud banner folds, 
 
 A peal of stormy drums, — 
 All these are in thy music met, 
 
 As when a leader comes. 
 
 " Thou hast been o'er solitary seas, 
 
 And from their wastes brought back 
 Each noise of waters that awoke 
 
 In the mystery of thy track ; 
 The chime of low, soft southern waves 
 
 On some green palmy shore, 
 The hollow roil of distant surge, 
 
 The gathered billows roar. 
 
 "Thou art come from forests dark and deep, 
 
 Thou mighty, rushing wind ! 
 And thou bearest all their unisons 
 
 In one, full swell combined ; 
 The restless pines, the moaning stream, 
 
 All hidden things and free, 
 Of the dim, old sounding wilderness, 
 
 Have lent their soul to thee. 
 
 " Thou art come from cities lighted up 
 
 For the conqueror passing by, 
 Thou art wafting from their streets, a sound 
 
 Of haughty revelry : 
 The rolling of triumphant wheels, 
 
 The harpings in the hall, 
 The far off shout of multitudes, 
 
 Are in thy rise and fall. 
 
 " Thou art come from kingly tombs and shrines, 
 
 From ancient minsters vast, 
 Through the dark aisles of a thousand years 
 
 Thy lonely wing hath passed ; 
 Thou hast caught the anthem's billowy swell, 
 
 The stately dirge's tone ; 
 For a chief, with sword and shield, and helm, 
 
 To his place of slumber's gone. 
 
 " Thou art come from long forsaken homes, 
 
 Wherein our young days flew, 
 Thou hast found sweet voices lingering there, 
 
 The loved, the kind, the true ! 
 Thou callest back those melodies, 
 
 Though now all changed and fled, 
 Be still, be still, and haunt us not 
 
 With m usic from the dead ! 
 
 " Are all these notes in thee, wild wind ? 
 
 These many notes in thee ? 
 Far in our own un fathomed souls 
 
 Their fount must surely be ; 
 Yes! buried, but unsleeping, there; 
 
 Thought watches, memory lies, 
 From whose deep urn the tones are poured 
 
 Through all earth's harmonies." 
 
 Hemans. 
 
THE WINDS. 
 
 145 
 
 The principal winds are Boreas, Auster, Eurus and Zephyrus. 
 Boreas, God of the North, carried away Orithya, who refused to 
 receive his addresses. By her he had Zetes and Calais, Cleopatra 
 and Cheone. He once changed himself into a horse, to unite 
 himself with the mare of Dardanus, by which he had a female 
 progeny of twelve, so swift, that they ran or rather flew over the 
 sea without wetting a foot. The Athenians dedicated altars to 
 him when Xerxes invaded Europe. 
 
 Auster, God of the south wind, appeared generally as an old man 
 with grey hair, a gloomy countenance, a head covered with clouds, 
 a sable vesture and dusky wings: He is the dispenser of rain and 
 of all heavy showers. 
 
 Eurus, God of the east, is represented as a young man, flying 
 with great impetuosity, and often appearing in a playful and 
 wanton humour. 
 
 Zephyrus, God of the West, the warmest of all the winds, married 
 Flora, and was said to produce flowers and fruits, by the sweetness 
 of his breath. Companion of love, he has the figure of a youth, 
 and the wings of a butterfly. 
 
 SONGS OF THE WINDS. 
 
 " We are free 1 we are free ! in our home the skies, 
 When we calmly sleep, or in tumult rise, 
 When we smile on the vision -like realms below, 
 Or vengefully utter the chords of woe. 
 When we dance in the sunbeams, or laughingly play 
 With the spring clouds that fly from our kisses a way, 
 When we grapple and fight with the bellowing foam, 
 Or slumber and sleep" in our shadowless home." 
 
 NORTH WIND. 
 
 " I've blastingly wandered 
 Where nature doth pant ; 
 
 And gloomily pondered 
 O'er sadness and want. 
 
 An old man was sighing 
 O'er angel lips gone, 
 
 His cherub was dying, 
 And he was alone. 
 
 On his grey locks I clotted 
 An ice-crown cold, — 
 
 f [is sinews T knotted ; 
 His tale is told." 
 
 SOUTH WIND. 
 
 " I met two young lovers, 
 And listed their VDWg, 
 
 Where the woodbine a i 
 
 The old oak boughs. 
 
 Enhancing their pleasures 
 
 I fluttered around, 
 
 And joined with glad mea-ur< 
 Their soft sighs' sound. 
 
 They blessed m« for bringing 
 Sweet perfumi - Dear, 
 
 They blessed me for singinj 
 A cad< nee so dear." 
 
 19 
 
146 ALCYONE — THE SYRENS. 
 
 EAST WIND. WEST WIND. 
 
 " I've wafted through bowers " I've rolled o'er the regions 
 Where angels might muse, Of earth and sea, 
 
 And kiss their bright flowers And laughed at the legions 
 Of loveliest hues. That trembled at me. 
 
 And maidens were singing I've madly gambolled 
 Of beauty and love, With clouds and waves ; 
 
 Their symphonies ringing, And closed, as I rambled, 
 Resounded above. My victim's grave. 
 
 I parted the tresses, I've roared and I've revelled, 
 From fairy-like brows, With fiend-like glee, 
 
 Where the lily impresses Earth's palaces levelled. 
 
 Its earliest vows." Wrecks dashed o'er the sea." 
 
 CHORUS. 
 
 " We are free, we are free, in our realms of air, 
 We list to no sorrow, we own no care ; 
 We hold our carousals aloft with the stars, 
 Where they glitter along in their golden cars, 
 We frolic and bound with the playful wave, 
 Which the prison-like confines of earth doth lave ; 
 We are glad, we are glad, and in breeze or in blast, 
 We will sport round the world as long as 'twill last." 
 
 Jennings. 
 
 Alcyone, the daughter of ^Eolus, married Ceyx, who was drowned 
 as he was going to Claros to consult an oracle. Alcyone was 
 apprized in a dream of her husband's fate, and finding on the 
 morrow his body upon the shore, she threw herself into the sea. 
 The Gods, touched by her fidelity, changed her and her husband 
 into the birds of the same name, who keep the waters calm and 
 serene while they build and sit on their nests in the surface of 
 the sea. 
 
 " O, poor Alcyone ! 
 What were thy feelings on the stormy strand, 
 When thou saw'st Ceyx borne a corse to land ? 
 
 O, I could weep with thee, 
 And sit whole tides upon the pebbly shore, 
 And listen to the waves lamenting roar, 
 
 O, poor Alcyone ! 
 But now thy stormy passion past, 
 Thou upon the wave at last, 
 
 Buildest, from all tempest free, 
 ThoU and Ceyx, side by side, 
 Charming the distempered tide, 
 
 0, dear Alcyone !' ; 
 
 The Syrens were three in number, and were companions of Pros- 
 erpine, at the time of her been carried off; they prayed for wings 
 from the Gods, to unite their efforts with those of Ceres. 
 
SCYLLA AND C11A11 Y11DIS. 
 
 147 
 
 In despair at the uselessness of their search, they retired to the 
 sea shore, where, in the midst of desolate rocks, they sang songs of 
 
 the most enchanting and attractive nature, while those who were 
 drawn by their beauty to listen to them, perished on the spot. 
 
 " Who, as they sang, would take the prisoned soul, 
 And lap it in Elysium : Scylla wept 
 And chid her barking waves into attention, 
 And fell Chary bdis murmured soft applause." 
 
 Ovid. 
 
 Charybdis was an avaricious woman, who, stealing from Hercules, 
 was slain by him, and became one of the divinities of the sea. 
 
 Scylla, daughter of Hecate and of Phorcys, was a beautiful nymph, 
 greatly beloved by Glaucus, also one of the deities of the sea. Scylla 
 scorned his addresses, and the God, to render her propitious, sought 
 the aid of Circe, who no sooner saw him than she became enam- 
 oured, and, instead of assisting him, tried to win his love to herself 
 tho' in vain. To punish her rival, Circe poured the juice of 
 poisonous herbs into the waters of the fountain where Scylla bathed, 
 and no sooner had the nymph entered, than her body, below the 
 
148 THE HARPIES. 
 
 waist, was changed into frightful monsters, like dogs, which never 
 ceased barking, while the remainder of her form assumed an equally 
 hideous appearance, being supported by twelve feet, with six 
 different heads, each bearing three rows of teeth. This sudden 
 metamorphose so alarmed her, that she threw herself into that part 
 of the sea which separates the coast of Italy and Sicily, where she 
 was changed into rocks which continue to bear her name, and 
 which were deemed as dangerous to sailors, as the whirlpool of 
 Charybdis, on the coast of Sicily, and from which has arisen the 
 proverb, " By avoiding Charybdis we fall upon Scylla ! " 
 
 " Upon the beech a winding bay there lies, 
 
 Sheltered from seas, and shaded from the skies ; 
 
 This station Scylla chose ; a soft retreat 
 
 From chilling winds and raging cancer's heat. 
 
 The vengeful sorceiess visits this recess, 
 
 Her charm infuses, and infects the place. 
 
 Soon as the nymph wades in, her nether parts 
 
 Turn into dogs, then at herself she starts. 
 
 A ghastly horror in her eyes appears 
 
 But yet she knows not what it is she fears, 
 
 In vain she offers from herself to run, 
 
 And drags about her what she strives to shun. 
 
 " Oppressed with grief the pitying god appears, 
 
 And swells the rising surges with his tears ; 
 
 From the detested sorceress he flies, 
 
 Her art reviles, and her address denies, 
 
 Whilst happless Scylla, changed to rocks, decrees 
 
 Destruction to those barks that beat the seas." 
 
 Garth. 
 
 The Harpies were monsters with the faces of old women, the 
 
 wings and body of a vulture, the ears of a bear, having claws on 
 
 their feet and hands, and spreading famine wherever they made 
 
 their hideous appearance. 
 
DIVINITIES OF THE INFERNAL REGIONS. 
 
 The Parcse or Fates, were three powerful goddesses, who pre- 
 sided over the birth and life of mankind. Clotho, the youngest of 
 the sisters, governed the moment of birth, and held a distaff in her 
 hand : Lacheses spun out all the events and actions in the time ; 
 and Atropos, the eldest, cut the thread of humanity with her 
 
 scissors. 
 
 " The fates, in vengeance pitiless ; 
 
 Who at the birth of men dispense the lot 
 Of good and evil. They of men and gods 
 The crimes pursue, nor ever pause from wrath 
 Tremendous, till destructive on the head 
 Of him that sins the retribution falls." 
 
 HliSIOD. 
 
 Their powers were great and extensive, and they are repre- 
 sented by some as sitting at the foot of the throne of the King of 
 Hell ; while others make them appear on radiant seats amidst the 
 celestial spheres, clothed in robes spangled with stars, and wearing 
 erowns on their heads. 
 
 Their dresses are differently described by some authors. 
 
 Clotho has on a variegated robe, and on her head a crown of 
 seven stars. She holds a distaff in her hand, reaching from 
 heaven to earth. The garment which Lacheses wore was variegated 
 with a great number of stars, and near her a variety of spindles. 
 Atropos was clothed in black; she held scissors in her hand, with 
 elues of threads of various sizes, according to the length or shortness 
 of the lives whose destinies they were supposed to contain. 
 
 "The three Parcse, Fates fair offspring born, 
 The world's great spindle as its axle turn ; 
 Round which eight spheres in beauteous ordei ran, 
 And as they turn, revolving Time is spun, 
 Whose motions all things upon earth ojdain, 
 Whence revolutions date their fickle reign. 
 These robed in white, at equal distance throned, 
 Sit o'er the spheres, and twirl the spindle round, 
 On each of which a syren loudly rings, 
 As from the wheel the fatal thread she flings ; 
 The Pares answer, in the choir agree 
 And all those voices make one harmony." 
 
 The worship of the Parcrc was well established in Borne parts of 
 Greece, and though mankind knew they were inexorable, and thai 
 
150 NIGHT. 
 
 it was impossible to mitigate their decrees, yet they evinced a 
 respect for their divinity, by raising statues to them. 
 
 NIGHT. 
 
 Nox, one of the most ancient deities among the heathens, was 
 the daughter of Chaos. From her union with her brother Erebus, 
 she gave birth to day and light: she is called by some of the poets, 
 the mother of all things, of gods no less than of men, and was 
 worshipped with great solemnity by the ancients, who erected to 
 her a famous statue in Diana's temple at Ephesus. The cock was 
 offered to her, as the bird which proclaims the coming of the day. 
 She is drawn mounted on a chariot, and covered with a veil 
 bespangled with stars, and the constellations preceded her as her 
 messengers. 
 
 Sometimes she is seen holding two children under her arms, one 
 of which is dark like night, and the other light like dav. 
 
 " Night, when like perfumes that have slept 
 
 All day within the wild flower's heart, 
 Steal out the thoughts the soul has kept 
 
 In silence and apart : 
 And voices we have pined to hear, 
 ^ Through many a long and lonely day, 
 Come hack upon the dreaming ear* 
 
 From grave lands far away, 
 And gleams look forth of spirit eyes 
 Like stars along the darkening skies!" 
 
 Hjkrvey- 
 
NIGHT. 
 
 •51 
 
 She has been described by some of the modern writers, as a 
 woman clothed in mourning, crowned with poppies, and drawn in a 
 chariot by owls and bats. 
 
 SONG OF NIGHT. 
 
 " I come to thee, O Earth ! 
 With all my gifts ; for every flower, sweet dew 
 In bell, and urn, and chalice, to renew 
 
 The glory of its birth. 
 
 I come with every star ; 
 Making thy streams, that on their noon-day track, 
 Give but the moss, the reed, the lily back, 
 
 Mirrors of world's afar. 
 
 I come with peace ; I shed 
 Sleep through the wood walks, o'er the honey bee, 
 The lark's triumphant voice, the fawn's young glee, 
 
 The hyacinth's meek head. 
 
 On my own heart I lay 
 The weary babe; and sealing with a breath 
 Its eyes of love, send fairy dreams, beneath 
 
 The shadowing lids to play. 
 
 I come with mightier things ! 
 Who calls me silent ? I have many tones — 
 The dark skies thrill with low mysterious moans, 
 
 Borne on my sweeping wings. 
 
 I waft them not alone 
 From the deep organ of the forest shades, 
 Or buried streams, unheard amidst their glades 
 
 Till the bright day is done. 
 
 But in the human breast, 
 A thousand still, small voices T awake, 
 Strong in their sweetness, from the soul to shake 
 
 The mantle of its rest. 
 
 I bring them from the past, 
 From true hearts broken, gentle spirits torn, 
 From crushed affections, which, though long overborne, 
 
 Make their tones heard at last. 
 
 I bring them from the tomb ! 
 O'er the sad couch of late repentant love 
 They pass— though low as murmurs of a dove — 
 
 Like trumpets through the gloom. 
 
 I come with all my train ; 
 Who calls me lonely? Hosts around me tread, 
 The intensely bright, the beautiful, the dead, 
 
 Phantoms of heart and brain. 
 
 Looks from departed eyea— 
 
 These are my lightnings! lill'd with anguish rain, 
 Or tenderness too precious to sustain, 
 They smite with agonies. 
 
152 DEATH. 
 
 1 that with soft control, 
 Shut the dim violet, hush the woodland song, 
 I am the avenging one! the arm'd, the strong 1 , 
 
 The searcher of the soul. 
 
 T that shower dewy light 
 Through slumbering leaves, bring storms ! — the tempest birth 
 Of memory, thought, remorse: — be holy, Earth ! 
 
 I am the solemn night !" 
 
 Hemans. 
 
 DEATH. 
 
 Poets have given to Death a heart of iron, bowels of steel, black 
 wings, and a net with which she envelopes her victims. Statuaries 
 carve her under the form of a large skeleton, armed with a scythe, 
 and bearing wings. Sparta and Elis honoured her, but Phoenicia 
 and Spain paid to her more particularly the homage of a divinity. 
 She inhabits the infernal regions ; and though, in more modern 
 times, Death has been always addressed as a divinity of the masculine 
 gender. The Lacedaemonians indeed, regarded her, not as an 
 existing, but as an imaginary being. 
 
 " Mysterious power! whose dark and gloomy sway 
 
 Extends o'er all creation, what art thou ? 
 They call thee ' King of Terrors !' drear dismay 
 
 Followeth thy footsteps, and around thy brow 
 Hovers a thick impenetrable cloud, 
 Which, to some hearts, is Hope's sad funeral shroud. 
 
 Beside the infant on its cradle bed, 
 
 The mother watches thro' the hour of night ; 
 Hope hath not quite her lonely spirit fled, 
 
 Tho' o'er her first-born babe hath passed the blight 
 Of fell disease : wait, wait one moment more, 
 Thy hand has touched it, Death, and hope is o'er. 
 
 Thou turn'st the hall of revelry to gloom, 
 
 The wedding garment to a garb of woe ; 
 Thou com'st in silence to the banquet room, 
 
 Ceased is the noisy mirth, the red wine's flow, 
 And men look pale at thee, and gasp for breath, 
 Thou doest this, thou doest more, oh ! Death 
 
 Thou twin'st the cypress wreath round victory's brow, 
 The brave have won the fight, but, fighting, fell ; 
 
 It was thine arm that laid the victor low, 
 And toll'd amid the triumph, a lone knell 
 
 For his departure : Death — thy gloomy power 
 
 Can throw a sadness o'er the happiest hour. 
 
 Thou comest to the monarch in his hour 
 
 Of pomp, and pride, and royalty's array : 
 And the next victim of thy reckless power 
 
 May be the beggar in his hut of clay : 
 Thy hand can lay the tattered vagrant down 
 Beside the head that wore thekinglv crown 
 
SLEEP. }53 
 
 , " Childhood is thine, its unexpanded bloom, 
 
 Shrinks to decay beneath thy chilling breath : 
 Gay Youth, thou witherest, with thy touch of doom, 
 
 Stern Manhood shrinks beneath thy grasp, oh, death, 
 And fragile Age by worldly cares opprest, 
 Sinks, softly sinks, into those arms for rest. 
 And then methought death's hollow voice replied, 
 
 ' Rash mortal — would'st thou tempt the dangerous gloom, 
 Launch thy frail bark upon the awful tide 
 
 That leaves the lonely islands of the tomb ; 
 Darest thou, in thy vain impotence of pride 
 Demand the knowledge to trail man denied ? 
 Call'st thou me reckless, when I place my hand 
 
 Upon the earliest buddings of the spring ? 
 Had I allowed those sweet buds to expand, 
 
 What would the skies of gloomy autumn bring ? 
 Darkness, dismay: those sweet buds, leaf by leaf, 
 Had sadly faded, full of tears and grief. 
 What though I slew the victor in his pride, 
 
 Tis meet the brave on battle field should die, 
 His name is echoed thro' the nations wide, 
 
 Reared is the column where his ashes lie ; 
 He sought for fame, he won it, bravely won ; 
 He died for fame, when his great task was done. 
 What tho' I turn the banquet room to grief, 
 
 The wedding garment to a garb of woe, 
 Do I not bring to wounded hearts relief? 
 
 Do I not ease the wretched of his woe ? 
 Then taunt me not with wanton cruelty, 
 Man knows 'tis written 'thou must surely die !' 
 But at what hour, no mortal power may know, 
 
 Whether at morn, at dewy eve, or night, 
 When sinks the heart beneath its weight of woe, 
 ^ Or throb the pulses with supreme delight, 
 Vain mortal! cease God's sovereign will to scan, 
 Be thou prepared to meet the son of man ! ' " 
 
 Cl.ARKK. 
 
 S L E E P. 
 
 Sleep, the accustomed companion of night, inhabits tho lower 
 
 regions, though Ovid has placed his palace in the cold Scythia. 
 
 " In his dark abode 
 
 Deep in a cavern dwells the drowsy god. 
 Whose gloomy mansion nor the rising sun 
 Nor setting, v'isits, nor the lightsome noon : 
 But lazy vapours round the region fly, 
 Perpetual twilight and a doubtful sky; 
 No crowing cock does there liis wings dfeplaj 
 Not with his horny bill provoke the day ; 
 Nor watchful dogs, nor the more wakeful geese, 
 Disturb, with nightly noise, the sacred peace • 
 20 
 
154 MORPHEUS. 
 
 " Nor beast of nature nor the laws, are nigh, 
 
 Nor trees with tempests rocked, nor human or), 
 
 But safe repose, without an air of breath, 
 
 Dwells here, and a dumb quiet next to death, 
 
 An arm of Lethe with a gentle flow, 
 
 Arising- upward from the rock below, 
 
 The palace moats, and o'er the pebbles creeps, 
 
 A.nd with soft murmurs calls the coming sleeps. 
 
 Around its entry nodding poppies grew, 
 
 And all cool simples that sweet rest bestow : 
 
 Night from the plants their sleepy virtue drains, 
 
 And passing, sheds it on the silent plains : 
 
 No door there was th' unguarded house to keep, 
 
 On creaking hinges turned to break his sleep. 
 
 But in the gloomy court was raised a bed, 
 
 Stuffed with black plumes, and in an ebon stead; 
 
 Black was the covering too where lay the god, 
 
 And slept supine, his limbs displayed abroad." Ovid. 
 
 The principal minister of Sleep is Morpheus, son of Somnus, 
 who was the presider over sleep : the former was the parent of 
 dreams, of whom, by a beautiful idea, imagination was said to be 
 the mother. The palace of Somnus was a dark cave, where the 
 god lies asleep on a bed of feathers. The dreams stand by him, 
 and Morpheus, as his principal minister, watches, to prevent any 
 noise from awaking him. 
 
 " Oh lightly, lightly tread, 
 
 A holy thing is sleep ; 
 On the worn spirit shed, 
 
 And eyes that wake to weep. 
 A holy thing from heaven, 
 
 A gracious, dewy cloud, 
 A covering mantle given, 
 
 The weary to enshroud ! 
 
 Oh ! lightly, lightly tread ; 
 
 Revere the pale, still brow, 
 The meekly drooping head, 
 
 The long hair's willowy flow. 
 Ye know not what ye do, 
 
 That call the slumberers back, 
 From the world unseen by you 
 
 Unto life's dim faded track. 
 
 Her soul is far away, 
 In her childhood's land, perchance, 
 
 Where her young sisters play, 
 
 Where shines her mother's glance. 
 
 Some old sweet native sound 
 Her spirit Imply weaves; 
 
 A harmony profound, 
 
 Of woods with all their leaves. 
 
SOMNUS — MANES. 155 
 
 " A murmur of the sea, 
 
 A laughing tone of streams; 
 Long may her sojourn be 
 
 In the musie land of dreams. 
 Eaeh voiee of love is there, 
 
 Each gleam of beauty fled, 
 Each lost one still more fair — 
 
 Oh! lightly, lightly tread !" 
 
 Hemans. 
 
 By the Lacedaemonians, the image of Somnus was always placed 
 near that of death on account of their apparent resemblance. 
 
 "How wonderful is death, 
 Death and his brother Sleep ! 
 One, pale as yonder waning moon. 
 
 With lips of lur d blue; 
 The other rosy as the morn 
 
 When throned in ocean's wave, 
 It blushes o'er the world : 
 Yet both so passing wonderful !" 
 
 Shelley. 
 
 " The one glides gentle o'er the space 
 
 Of earth, and broad expanse of ocean waves, 
 Placid to man. The other has a heart 
 Of iron ; yea, the heart within his breast 
 Is brass, onpitying; whom of men he grasps 
 Stern he retains." 
 
 Hesiod 
 
 MANES. 
 
 The Manes was a name applied generally to the soul after it has 
 separated from the body, and were among the infernal deities 
 being supposed to preside over the grave, burial places, and monu- 
 ments of the dead. 
 
 They were worshipped with great great solemnity, particularly 
 by the Romans, and were always invoked by the Augurs before 
 proceeding about their sacerdotal offices. 
 
 It was believed that these spirits quitted, during the hours of 
 night, their melancholy dwelling-place, and u revisit d tin- glimpses 
 of the moon," to exercise their benevolence or their fury. The} 
 were allowed also to leave their tombs three times during the 
 course of the year while their fetes, which were the most pomp< US 
 in Rome, were proceeding in their honour. 
 
NEMESIS. 
 
 Nemesis, Goddess of Justice and of Vengeance, was the daughter 
 of Necessity. This divinity had wings, a fillet of serpents round 
 her brow, and a sword to strike the unhappy criminals who merited 
 its blow ;— though always ready to punish the impious, she was 
 
 equally liberal in rewarding the good and the virtuous. The people 
 of Smyrna were the first who made her statue with wings, to show 
 with what celerity she is prepared to punish the crimes of the 
 wicked, 
 
 The Romans were particularly attentive in their adoration of this 
 deity, whom they solemnly invoked, and to whom they offered sacri- 
 fices before declaring war, to evince to the world that they were 
 commenced upon equitable grounds. 
 
 The Athenians instituted fetes called Nemesia, in memory of 
 deceased persons, as the goddess was supposed to defend the relics 
 and the memory of the dead from insult. 
 
 DOMESTIC DIVINITIES. 
 
 THE LARES AND THE PENATES. 
 
 The Lares were the household divinities who presided over the 
 interests of private families. Their worship is supposed to have 
 
THE PENATES. 157 
 
 arisen from the ancient custom among the Romans and other 
 nations, of burying their dead within their houses, and the belief 
 that the spirits of the departed continually hovered over their former 
 dwellings, for the protection of the inhabitants. Their statues 
 were placed in a niche behind the doors of the houses, or around 
 the hearths; while at their feet was placed a dog barking, to inti- 
 mate the watchfulness they exhibited. Their festivals were 
 observed at Rome in the month of May, when their statues were 
 crowned with garlands of flowers, and fruit offerings presented 
 to them. 
 
 The Penates also closely resembled the Lares, and presided over 
 houses and the domestic affairs of families. It was at the option 
 of every master of a family to choose his Penates, and therefore 
 Jupiter and some of the superior gods, are often invoked as domestic 
 divinities. 
 
 They were originally the manes of the dead, but when mankind 
 had been taught by superstition to pay deep reverence to the 
 statues or images of their deceased friends, that reverence was soon 
 changed for a more regular worship, and they were admitted by 
 their votaries to share immortality and power, with the remainder 01 
 the Gods. 
 
 The statues of the Penates were generally formed of wax, silver, 
 ivory, or earthenware, according to the poverty or riches of the 
 worshipper. 
 
 When offerings were made to them, their shrines were crowned 
 with garlands, and besides one day in every month set apart for 
 their homage, their festivals were celebrated during the Saturnalia. 
 
 HYMN TO THE PEN VI I 8. 
 " Yet one song more ! one high and solemn strain. 
 Ere, Phcehus ! on thy temples mined wall 
 I hang die silent harp : one song more I 
 Penates! hear me! for to yon I hymn 
 The votive lav. Venerable powers ! 
 Hearken your hymn of praise. Though from yoUT rite* 
 Estranged, and exiled from your altars long, 
 I have not ceased to love you, Household Gods! 
 O ye whom youth has'wildered on your way, 
 Or Vice with* fair mask'd foulness, or (he lure 
 Of Fame that ealls ye to her crowded path 
 With folly's rattle, to your HousehoM (m.<1s 
 Return : for not in Vice's gay abodes, 
 
158 
 
 THE GRACES. 
 
 Not in the unquiet, unsafe halls of Fame 
 Doth Happiness abide !" 
 
 ■ " To your Household Gods 
 
 Return, for by their altars, Virtue dwells, 
 
 And Happiness with her; hearken your hymn of praise, 
 
 Penates! to your shrines I come for rest, — 
 
 There only to be found. Household Deities, 
 
 There only shall be Happiness on earth 
 
 When man shall feel your sacred power, and love 
 
 Your tranquil joys; then shall the city stand 
 
 A huge, void sepulchre, and rising fair 
 
 Amid the ruins of the palace pile, 
 
 The olive grow, there shall the tree of peace 
 
 Strike its roots deep, and flourish." 
 
 Southky. 
 
 GENIUS. 
 
 The Genius was a kind of spirit which, as the ancients supposed, 
 presided over the actions of mankind, gave them their private 
 councils, and carefully watched over their most secret intentions. 
 Some of the ancient philosophers maintained, that every man had 
 two of these, the one bad, the other good. They had the power of 
 changing themselves into whatever form they pleased, and of assuming 
 whatever shapes were most subservient to their intentions. At 
 the moment of death, they delivered up to judgment the person 
 with whose care they had been entrusted ; and according to the 
 evidence he delivered, sentence was passed upon the body. The 
 Genius of Socrates is famous in history. That great philosopher 
 asserted that the Genius informed him when any of his friends were 
 going to engage in some unfortunate enterprise, and stopped him 
 from the commission of all crimes and impiety. The Genii, though 
 at first reckoned only as the subordinate ministers of the superior 
 deities, received divine honour for a length of time, and we find 
 altars and statues erected to them. 
 
 PRINCIPAL DIVIMITIES OF THE SECOND ORDER. 
 
 THE GRACES. 
 The Graces, who were daughters of Jupiter and of Venus, pre- 
 sided over the enjoyments of the mind, as well as over those of the 
 heart. Thus the orator received from them the force and brilliancy 
 of his ideas; the artist, his perception of the beautiful; the wise 
 man, that spirit of amiability which appreciates the charms of 
 
THE GRACES. 
 
 159 
 
 virtue; the rich man, a lave of beneficence and desire of giving; 
 
 the poor gaiety and patience; the maiden, candour and modest} ; 
 and the warrior, bravery united with moderation. 
 
 The worship of the Graces appears to have had birth in Samo- 
 thracia ; then Elis, Perinthia, Delphi, and Rome adopted the three 
 sisters. By some it is asserted, that the beautiful trio remained 
 unwedded; Homer, however, has given Sleep to the youngest as a 
 husband. 
 
 During the many sacrifices which were instituted in the various 
 cities, offerings to them were mingled with those to Bacchus, Mer- 
 cury, the Muses, and Apollo. 
 
 The Spartan heroes before going to combat, sacrificed to Love 
 and to the Graces. They were invoked at festivals, and three cups 
 were drunk by those who feasted in honour of Euphrosyne, 
 Aglaia, and Thalia. 
 
 Of them, the greatest statuaries have erected the most groups, 
 and Socrates himself, before he joined the philosophy in which he 
 ultimately became so eminent, had taken the chisel in his hand, and 
 represented them of slight figure, pure countenance, smiling faces, 
 small mouths, hair negligently tied over their head, and with then 
 hands placed in a graceful attitude. 
 
 They sometimes bear with them a branch of myrtle and of roses, 
 the flowers peculiarly consecrated to them. 
 
 PfM K ^JJ>- 
 
 UOUIJ.l.v,i.». 
 
 
 F 
 
COMUS/MOMUS. 
 
 Comus, God of the pleasures of the table and of good living, was 
 the presider over feasts and festivals, and was honoured most by the 
 dissipated youth who, to do him reverence, wandered about at night 
 in masks, dancing to the sound of musical instruments, and knocking 
 at the doors of dwelling places. During his festivals, men and women 
 exchanged each others dresses. He is represented as a young and 
 drunken man, with a garland of flowers upon his head, his face lit 
 up by the deity of wine, and with a flambeau in his hand which 
 appears falling. 
 
 SONG OF COMUS. 
 
 " Welcome joy, and feast, 
 Midnight shout and revelry, 
 Tipsy dance and jollity. 
 Braid your locks with rosy twine, 
 Dropping odours, dropping wine, 
 Rigour now is gone to bed, 
 And Advice with scrupulous head : 
 Strict age and sour severity, 
 With their grave saws, in slumber lie. 
 We, that are of purer fire, 
 Imitate the starry quire, 
 Who, in their nightly watchful spheres, 
 Lead in swift round the months and years. 
 * * * * ' 
 
 What hath night to do with sleep ? 
 Night hath better sweets to prove ; 
 Venus now wakes, and wakens love. 
 
HYMEN. 1C1 
 
 " Come, let us our rites begin ; 
 'Tis only day-light that makes sin, 
 Which these dim shades will ne'er report. 
 Come, knot hands, and heat the ground 
 In a light fantastic round." 
 
 Milton. 
 
 Momus, his companion, is the god of joy and pleasantry, and 
 was the buffoon and satirist of Olympus. He wears as head dress, 
 a cap adorned with small bells, a mask in one hand, and on the 
 other a bauble, the symbol of folly. He was constantly engaged 
 in mocking the Gods, and whatever they did was freely turned into 
 ridicule. He laughed at Minerva, who had made a house, because 
 she had not formed it moveable, that the annoyance of a bad 
 neighbourhood might be avoided. He sneered at Neptune's bull, 
 because the eyes were not placed near enough to the horn, to render 
 his blows surer. He irritated Vulcan, by observing that if he 
 wished to make man perfect, he should have placed a window at 
 his heart ; and when he found the beauty of Venus was too perfect 
 to allow of any truth to be mixed with his bitterness, he declared 
 that the noise made by the goddess in walking was far too loud to 
 be agreeable, and detracted from her beauty. At last these 
 illiberal reflections were the cause of his being turned out of 
 Olympus. 
 
 Momus has been sung many times by the choice spirits whom he 
 inspired, as well as by the dissipated youth of the city, and occupies 
 in poetry, a rank more elevated than that of Comus. He was 
 greatly honoured during the more dissipated times of Rome, and it 
 was the custom to pour libations to him, before commencing a 
 nocturnal revel. 
 
 H Y M E N . 
 This child of Venus and Bacchus presided over marriages, and 
 has the appearance of a beautiful youth, holding a torch in his 
 hand, and in the other a purple garment, with his head ornamented 
 by a crown of roses. 
 
 "Till Hymen brought Ins lore-delighted hour. 
 
 There dwelt no joy in Eden's rosy bowerl 
 
 In vain the viewless seraph lingering there, 
 
 At starry midnight charmed the silent ail ; 
 
 In vain 'the wild bird carolled on the steep 
 
 To hail the sun, vlow wheeling fn in the deep ; 
 
 21 
 
[62 HYMEN. 
 
 In vain, to soothe the solitary shade, 
 Aerial notes in mingling pleasure played ; 
 The Summer wind that shook the spangled trees, 
 The whispering- wave, the murmuring- of the breeze ; 
 Still slowly passed the melancholy day, 
 And still the stranger wist not where to stray. 
 The world was sad ; the garden was a wild ! 
 And man, the hermit, sighed, — till woman smiled !" 
 
 Campbell. 
 
 According to the more received opinions of others, Hymenaeus 
 was a young Athenian of extraordinary beauty, but of low origin. 
 Becoming enamoured of one of the richest and noblest of his 
 countrywomen, he worshipped her at a distance, and followed her, 
 though respectfully, wherever she went : and, on one occasion, 
 joined the nations of Athens in a religious procession, disguising 
 his sex by women's clothes. When they reached Eleusis, a great 
 part of the procession were seized by a band of pirates, who sud- 
 denly appeared amongst them : Hymenaeus shared the captivity of 
 his mistress, and encouraging the captives, they slew their ravishers 
 while they slept. Immediately after this, Hymenaeus repaired to 
 Athens, and promised to deliver them if he were allowed to marry 
 the one he might choose from amongst them. 
 
 The Athenians consented ; and the lover received so much happi- 
 ness in the marriage state, that festivals were instituted in his 
 honour, and he was solemnly invoked at their nuptials. 
 
 " Hail, wedded love, mysterious law, true source 
 Of human offspring, sole propriety, 
 In paradise of all things common else ! 
 By thee adulterous lust was driven from men 
 Among the bestial herds to range ; by thee 
 Founded in reason, loyal, just, and pure, 
 Relations dear, and all the charities 
 Of father, son, and brother, first were known, 
 Far be it that I should write thee sin or blame, 
 Or think thee unbefitting holiest place ; 
 Perpetual fountain of domestic sweets, 
 Whose bed is undefiled, and chaste pronounced, 
 Present, or past, as saints and patriarchs used. 
 Here love his golden shafts employs, here lights 
 His constant lamp, and waves his purple wing?., 
 Reigns here and revels, not in the bought smile 
 Of harlots, loveless, joyless, unendeared, 
 Casual fruition ; nor in court amours, 
 Mixed dance or wanton mask, or midnight ball, 
 Or serenade, which the starved lover sings 
 To his proud fair, best quitted with disdain." 
 
 Milton. 
 
HYMEN. 
 
 163 
 
 It was supposed that he always attended at nuptials; if not, 
 matrimonial connections were fatal, and ended unhappily, and 
 therefore people ran about calling aloud, Hymen ! Hymen ! 
 
 " God of the torch, whose soul-illuming flame 
 Beams brightest radiance o'er the human heart, 
 
 Of many a woe the cure, 
 
 Of many a joy the source. 
 
 Friend to each belter feeling of the soul, 
 I sing to thee, for many a joy is thine, 
 
 And many a virtue comes 
 
 To join thy happy train. 
 
 Parent of every bliss, the busy hand 
 
 Of Fancy, oft will paint in brightest hues 
 
 How calm, how clear thy torch 
 
 Illumes the wintry hour. 
 
 We'll paint the well-trimmed fire, the frugal meal, 
 Prepared with good solicitude to please, 
 
 The ruddy children round, 
 
 Climbing the father's knee. 
 
 And oft will fancy rise above the lot 
 Of honest poverty, and dream how man 
 
 Nor rich, nor poor, enjoys 
 
 His best and happiest state. 
 
 When toil no longer irksome, and restrained 
 By hard necessity, but comes to please, 
 
 To vary the still hour 
 
 Of tranquil happiness, 
 
 Lured by the splendour of thy sacred torch, 
 
 The beacon light of bliss, young Love draws near, 
 
 And leads his willing slaves 
 
 To wear thy flowery chain." 
 
 SoiTHKY. 
 
 " Hymen, late, his love-knots selling, 
 Called at many a maiden's dwelling; 
 None could doubt, who saw, or knew the m, 
 Hymen's call was welcome to them. 
 
 4 Who'll buy my love-knots ? 
 
 Who'll buy my love knots." 
 Soon as that sweet ory resounded, 
 How his baskets were surrounded ! 
 
 Maids, who now first dreamt of trying 
 Those gay knots of Hymen's tying; 
 Dames, who long had sat to watch him 
 Passim by, but ne'er could catch hiin ; 
 'Who'll buy my love-knots? 
 . Who'll buy my love-knots?' 
 All at that sweet cry assembled ; 
 Some laughed, some blushed, and others tn mbled 
 
164 PLUTUS. 
 
 ' Here are knots,' said Hymen, taking 
 Some loose flowers of Love's own making ; 
 ' Here are good ones, you may trust 'em,' 
 (These, of course, found ready custom,) 
 
 ' Come buy my love-knots, 
 
 Come buy my love-knots ! 
 Some are labelled-knots to tie men, 
 Love, the maker — Bought of Hymen.' 
 
 Scarce their bargains were completed, 
 When the nymphs all cried, ' We're cheated ; 
 ' See these flowers, they're drooping sadly, 
 This gold-knot, too, ties but badly' — 
 
 1 Who'll buy my love-knots, 
 
 Who'll buy my love-knots!' 
 Even this tie, with Love's name round it, 
 All a sham, he never bound it ! 
 
 Love, who saw the whole proceeding, 
 Would have laughed, but for good breeding ; 
 While old Hymen, who was used to, 
 Cries like that these dames gave loose to, 
 
 'Take back our love-knots, 
 
 Take back our love-knots !' 
 Coolly said, ' There's no returning 
 Wares on Hymen's hands — Good" morning!' " 
 
 Moore. 
 
 PLUTUS 
 
 All bountiful, who roams 
 
 Earth, and the expanded surface of the sea ; 
 And him that meets him on his way, whose hands 
 He grasps, him gifts he with abundant gold, 
 And large felicity." 
 
 Hesiod. 
 
 Plutus is the god of Riches, and as the minister of the deity of 
 the dead, inhabits the court of Pluto, thereby indicating that the 
 precious metals are in the bowels of the earth. He was brought up 
 by the goddess of peace, and the Greeks spoke of him as a fickle 
 divinity, because represented as blind, he spreads by chance in his 
 rapid course, the gold, silver, and precious stones, which escape 
 from a box he holds in his hands ; as lame, because he came slow 
 and gradually ; and with wings, to intimate that he flew away with 
 greater velocity than he approached mankind. 
 
 Fortuna was the goddess of Fortune, and from her hands were 
 derived riches and poverty, pleasures and misfortunes, blessings 
 and pains. 
 
 Governed by Destiny, she guides by Occasion ; and before her 
 marches Necessity, the inflexible goddess. 
 
II A II POC RATES. 
 
 165 
 
 In Lioeotia she had a statue, represented as holding Plutus in her 
 arms, to intimate that fortune is the source whence wealth and 
 honours flow. She is blind- folded, and her hand rests on a wheel, 
 to intimate her inconstancy. 
 
 HARPOCRATES. 
 
 Harpocrates, the son of Isis and Osiris, is the god of Silence. 
 He is represented, in his statues as young, but with a countenance 
 calm and severe, and on his brow a mitre, divided into two equal 
 portions. His finger is placed upon his lip, to intimate the silence 
 he maintains, and hence, all modern works of art adopt the same 
 sign, when they wish to represent the quality over which Harpo- 
 crates is supposed to preside. 
 
 The Romans placed his statue at the entrance of their temples, 
 
 to intimate that the mysteries of religion should never be revealed 
 
 to the people. 
 
 "There is ;i lake that to the North 
 Of Memphis, stretches grandly forth, 
 
 Upon whose silent shore the dead 
 
 Have a proud city of their own. 
 With shrines and pyramids o'erspread — 
 Where nianv an ancient, kingly head 
 
 Slumbers, immortalized in stone ; 
 And where, through marble grots beneath, 
 
 The lifeless, ranged like sacred things. 
 Nor wanting aught of life, hot breath, 
 
 h'w in their painted loveliness. 
 
166 
 
 THEMIS, ASTR.EA. 
 
 And in cacli new successive race, 
 
 That visit their dim haunts below, 
 Look with the same unwithering face, 
 They wore three thousand years ago. 
 There Silence, thoughtful god, who loves 
 The neighbourhood of death, in groves 
 Of Asphodel lies hid, and weaves 
 His hushing spell among the leaves — 
 Nor ever noise disturbs the air, 
 
 Save the low, humming, mournful sound 
 Of priests, within their shrines at prayer, 
 For the fresh dead, entombed around." 
 Moore. 
 
 THEMIS, ASTRtEA. 
 
 Themis, daughter of heaven and of earth, was the goddess of 
 Justice. She wears a bandage over her eyes, and holds in her 
 hands a sword, scales, and the mirror of truth. Her temple is 
 always open. 
 
 Astraea, with Law and Peace, are her children, the former of 
 whom was worshipped as Justice on the earth during the golden 
 age ; but the wickedness of mankind drove her from the world, 
 during the succeeding periods of brass and iron, and she was placed 
 among the constellations of the Zodiac, under the name of Virgo. 
 She is represented as a maiden, with a stern but majestic counte- 
 nance, holding a pair of scales in one hand, and a sword in the other. 
 
 3 
 
1) LM U; DS, 
 
 The demi-gods are those, who, sprung f rom the union of a mortal 
 with a divinity, have taken their place among the Immortals; and 
 " Fabulous History" is the name given to the recital of their deeds. 
 CASTOR AND POLLUX. 
 
 From the love of Jupiter for Leda, wife of Tyndarus, king of 
 Sparta, sprang these twin-brothers. Under the form of a swan, 
 pursued by Venus: in the shape of an eagle, the God sought refuge 
 in Leda's arms, who in due time produced two eggs, from one of 
 which came Pollux and Helena, and from the other, Castor and 
 Clytemnestra. 
 
 Scarcely had Pollux emerged from childhood, when, being on 
 an expedition with the Argonauts, they shopped in the domains of 
 Amycus, (famous for his skill in the management of the cestus,) 
 who challenged all strangers seeking his dominions to a trial of 
 strength. Pollux accepted his challenge, and Bur passed him in 
 skill, on which Amyeus attempting to conquer by fraud. Pollux 
 slew him on the spot; and became the patron <>f athletic exercises. 
 
 Castor was skilful in the art of guiding chariots, and subduing 
 the most fiery coursers. These brothers fought Theseus fur out- 
 raging their sister Ilelen;i: they destroyed the pirates who infested 
 
163 JASON> 
 
 Hellespont and the neighbouring seas, and from this have always 
 been considered as gods favourable to sailors. During the Argo- 
 nautic expedition, in which they had accompanied Jason, when a 
 violent storm was raging, a couple of flames were seen playing over 
 their heads, and immediately the tempest was appeased, and the sea 
 
 became calm. 
 
 They were invited to a marriage feast, in which Lynceus and 
 Idas were to be wedded to Phoebe and Talaria the daughters of 
 Leucippus, who was brother to Tyndarus. Becoming enamoured 
 of the two women whose nuptials they had met to celebrate, they 
 resolved to carry them off. This violence provoked the bridegrooms : 
 a combat ensued, in which Castor killed LynceMs, and was slam m 
 return by Idas— Pollux revenged the death of his brother, by 
 slaying Idas, but was unable after this to support life, so devotedly 
 was he attached to his brother: and implored Jupiter either to 
 restore him to life, or that he might be deprived himself of his 
 immortality. His prayers were granted, and the two brothers 
 passed in turn six months in the infernal regions, and six months on 
 earth. This fraternal affection Jupiter rewarded by turning the 
 two brothers into constellations, under the name of Gemini. 
 
 Sparta, celebrated in honour of them, a fete called Dioscuna, 
 which was observed with jovial festivity: and in which free use was 
 made of the gifts of Bacchus, accompanied with sports, in which 
 wrestling matches always formed an important part, 
 
 JASON. 
 
 This celebrated hero was the son of Alcemede, by JEson ; the 
 education of the youthful Jason, whose right of succession to the 
 throne of Iolchos had been wrested from him by Pelias, was entrusted 
 to the care of the centaur Chiron, and he was removed from the 
 presence of the usurper of the kingdom of Iolchos, because the 
 latter had been informed by an oracle that one of the descendants 
 of iEolus, (from whom Jason had come) would dethrone him. 
 After he had distinguished himself by the most rapid success m 
 every branch of science, Jason left the country, and by the advice 
 of his preceptor, went to consult the oracle. He was orderec, to 
 
JASON. 169 
 
 go to lolchos, his native country, covered with the spoils of a 
 leopard, and dressed in the garments of a Magnesian. In his 
 
 journey he was stopped by the inundation of a river, over which, 
 however, he was carried by Juno, in the character of an old woman. 
 In crossing the stream, he lost one of his sandals, and on his 
 arrival at lolchos, the singularity of his dress, and the fairness of 
 his complexion, attracted the notice of the people, and drew a 
 crowd round him in the market place. Pelias came to see him with 
 the others, and, as he had been warned by the oracle, to beware of 
 a man who should appear at lolchos with one foot bare, and the 
 other shod, the appearance of Jason, who as we have seen, had 
 lost one of his sandals, alarmed him, and his terrors were soon after 
 augmented, as Jason, accompanied by his friends repaired to tha 
 palace of Pelias, and demanded the kingdom of which he had been 
 unjustly deprived. The boldness of Jason intimidated Pelias; he 
 was unwilling to abdicate the crown, yet he feared the resentment 
 of his adversary. 
 
 As Jason was young and desirous of glory, Pelias reminded him 
 that their common relation, Phryxus, had been inhumanly murdered 
 by Metes, king of Colchis, in order to obtain possession of the 
 golden fleece which belonged to the murdered man ; observing, that, 
 the deed merited punishment, and was one which would produce 
 a crown of glory to him who should inflict it ; adding, that if Jason, 
 were to undertake it, he would resign his own crown and kingdom 
 to him. immediately on his return. Burning with the desire of 
 22 
 
170 JASON AND MEDEA. 
 
 military fame, Jason readily undertook an expedition which seemed 
 to promise so much glory. The expedition was bruited about all 
 Greece, and the young and ardent of the nation were called upon 
 to join him in the glory and the danger. 
 
 They set sail in a ship called Argo and after a series of adventures 
 arrived at Colchis. Alarmed at an invasion which appeared so 
 formidable, iEetes promised to restore the golden fleece for the 
 possession of which he had slain Phryxus, provided the invaders 
 consented to the conditions he should propose, and which were as 
 follows : Jason was to tame bulls whose breath were fierce flames, 
 with feet and horns of brass, and to plough with them, when sub- 
 dued, a field sacred to Mars. He was then to sow in the ground 
 the teeth of a serpent, from which armed men would spring up, 
 whose rage would be directed against him who should be daring 
 enough to plough the field; and as a conclusion to his arduous 
 tasks, he was to kill a frightful dragon which remained ever on the 
 watch at the tree where the golden fleece was suspended. All were 
 in fear for the fate of the Argonauts, but Juno watched over their 
 safety, and extricated them from their difficulties. Medea, the 
 king's daughter, fell in love with Jason, and in an interview with 
 her lover in the temple of Hecate, in which they swore a mutual 
 fidelity, and bound themselves by the most solemn oaths, she 
 pledged herself to deliver her lover from all his dangers. Her 
 knowledge of herbs, enchantments and incantations, was uncommon, 
 and he received from her whatever instruments and herbs could 
 protect him against the coming dangers. 
 
 " She then retires to Hecate's shrine, that strod 
 
 Far in the covert of a shady wood: 
 
 She finds the fury of her flames assauged, 
 
 But, seeing Jason there, again they raged. 
 
 Blushes and paleness did by turns invade 
 
 Her tender cheeks, and secret grief betrayed ; 
 
 As fire, that sleeping under ashes lies, 
 
 Fresh blown and roused, does up in blazes rise, 
 
 New kindled by her lover's sparkling eyes, 
 
 So flamed the virgin's breast. 
 
 For chance, that day, had with uncommon grace. 
 
 Adorned the lovely youth, and thro' his face 
 
 Displayed an air so pleasing, as might charm 
 
 A goddess, and a vestal's bosom warm. 
 
 Her ravished eyes survey him o'er and o'er, 
 
 As some gay wonder never seen before ; 
 
 Transported to the skies she seems to be 
 
 And thinks she gazes on a deity t 
 
THE GOLDEN FLEECE. 171 
 
 But when lie spoke and pressed her trembling hand, 
 
 And did with tender words her heart demand, 
 
 With vows and oaths to make her soon his bride, 
 
 She wept a flood of tears, and thus replied. 
 
 1 1 see my error, yet to ruin move, 
 
 Nor owe my fate to ignorance, but love : 
 
 Your life I'll guard, and only crave of you 
 
 To swear once more— and to your oath be true.' 
 
 He swears by Hecate, he would all fulfil, 
 
 And by her grandfather's prophetic skill 
 
 By everything that doubting love could press, 
 
 His present danger and desired success. 
 
 She credits him, and kindly does produce 
 
 Enchanted herbs, and teaches him their use, 
 
 Their mystic names, and virtues be admires. 
 
 And with his bootv jovfullv retires." 
 
 Ovid. 
 
 He made his appearance in the field of Mars, he tamed the fury of 
 the oxen, he ploughed the earth, and he sowed the teeth of the dragon. 
 Immediately a band of armed men arose and rushed towards Jason : 
 nothing daunted, the hero threw a stone amongst them, and they 
 fell one upon the other till they were entirely destroyed. He 
 lulled to sleep the watchfulness of the dragon, by the power of 
 herbs, and grasped in triumph the golden fleece which was the 
 the object of his expedition. 
 
 44 Impatient for the wonders of the day, 
 Aurora drives the loitering stars away. 
 Now Mars's mount the pressing people fill, 
 The crowd below, the nobles crown the hill : 
 The king himself, high throned above the rest, 
 With ivory sceptre, and in purple drest. 
 
 Forthwith the brass hoofed bulls are set at large, 
 Whose furious nostrils sulphurous flames discharge, 
 The blasted herbage by their breath expires, 
 As forges rumble with excessive fires, 
 And furnaces with fiercer fury glow, 
 When water in the punting mass ye throw, 
 With such a noise from their convulsive breast, 
 Through bellowing throats the struggling vapour pressed. 
 Yet Jason marches up without concern, 
 While on the adventurous youth the monsters turn 
 Their glaring eves, and eager to ni-asro, 
 Brandish their steel-tipt horns in threatening rage : 
 With brazen hoofs they beat the ground, and choke 
 The ambient air, with clouds of dust and smoke. 
 Each gazing Grecian foi his champion shakes, 
 While bold advances he securely in;ik< is 
 Through singeing blasts: such wonders magic art 
 Can work, when love conspires and playi hit part 
 The passive savages like statues stand, 
 While he their dewlap strokes with soothing hand ; 
 
1 T2 DEATH OF ABSYRTUS. 
 
 To unknown yokes their brawny necks they yield, 
 And like tame oxen, plough the wondering field. 
 The Colchians sta:.e, the Grecians shout, and raise 
 Their champion's courage with inspiring praise. 
 
 Emboldened now, in fresh attempts he goes, 
 With serpent's teeth the fertile furrows sows ; 
 The glebe, fermenting with enchanted juice, 
 Makes the snakes' teeth a human crop produce, 
 And from the labouring earth, no single birth 
 But a whole troop of lusty youths rush forth, 
 And what's more strange, with martial fury warmed, 
 And for encounter all completely armed; 
 In rank and file, as they were sowed, they stand 
 Impatient for the signal of command, 
 No foe, but the iEmonian youth appears, 
 As there they level their steep pointed spears. 
 Wonders ensue, among his gazing foes 
 The fragment of a massy rock he throws, 
 This charm in civil war engaged them all, 
 By mutual wounds these earth-born brothers fall. 
 
 One labour more remains, and, though the last, 
 In danger far surmounting all the past ; 
 That enterprize by fate in store was kept 
 To make the dragon sleep, that never slept, 
 Whose crest shoots dreadful lustre ; from his jaw* 
 A triple tier of forked stings he draws, 
 With fangs and wings of a prodigious size ; 
 Such was the guardian of the golden prize. 
 Yet him besprinkled with Lethean dew 
 The fair enchantress into slumber threw ; 
 While the soft guest his drowsy eyelids seals, 
 Th' unguarded golden fleece the stranger steals ; 
 Proud to possess the purchase of his toil, 
 Proud of his royal bride, the richer spoil, 
 To sea both prize and patroness he bore, 
 And lands triumphant on his native shore." 
 
 Ovid. 
 
 All these deeds being performed in the presence of the monarch 
 and his subjects, they were struck with surprise at the boldness 
 and success of the young hero, who immediately embarked for Europe 
 with Medea, the great instrument of his preservation. Enraged at the 
 desertion of his daughter, CEetes sent his son Absyrtus to bring 
 back the fugitives. Absyrtus overtook them, but was slain by 
 Medea, who scattered his limbs upon the path of his father, 
 trusting that CEetes' paternal affection, would make him anxious to 
 render due homage to the remains of his son, and prevent him from 
 following with success. 
 
 On the return of the expedition to Thessaly, they were received 
 with unusual festivity ; but CEson, Jason's father was unable to be 
 there, owing to the infirmities of age, and Medea at her husband's 
 desire, restored him to all the power and vigour of youth. 
 
.■•:<I" 
 
 wwwM^ c ;MiJ^|:^ 
 
JASON VXD mi: UK A. 177, 
 
 With looks averted backward they advance, 
 Who strike and stab, and leave the blows to chance 
 Waking- in consternation, he essays, 
 Weltering in blood, his i'eeble arms to raise ; 
 Environed by so many swords ; ' From whence 
 This barbarous usage? what is my offence? 
 What fatal fury, what infernal charm, 
 'Gainst a kind father does his daughter arm-?' 
 Hearing his voice, as thunderstruck they stopped 
 Their resolution, and their weapons dropped : 
 Medea then the mortal blow bestows." 
 
 The subjects of the deceased king, when they were informed of 
 the cause of his death, were anxious to avenge it, and Medea found 
 herself compelled to fly with Jason to Corinth, in which place they 
 resided forty years. 
 
 Unhappily their matrimonial happiness was disturbed by Jason's 
 infidelity with Glaucus, the daughter of the King of the Country, 
 for whom Medea was divorced, that he might follow his amour in 
 comfort. This infidelity was severely avenged by Medea, who 
 after destroying the children of Glaucus in her presence, presented 
 to her a poisoned gown, and induced her to put it on ; it imme- 
 diately set her whole body on fire, and she died in the most painful 
 torments. 
 
 This deed was followed by one still more revolting to the mind, 
 for Medea slew two of her own children in their father's presence, 
 and when the incensed Jason attempted to avenge their murder on 
 the barbarous mother, she escaped by flying through the air in a 
 chariot drawn by dragons. 
 
 "When Medea left her native soil, 
 Unawed by danger, unsubdued by toil: 
 Her weeping sire, and beckoning friends withstood, 
 And launched enamoured in the boiling flood; 
 One ruddy boy her gentle lips caressed, 
 And one lair girl was pillowed on hei breasl ; 
 While high in air the golden treasure burns, 
 And Love and Glory guide the prow by turnv 
 
 But when Thessalia's inauspicious plain, 
 Received the matron-heroine from the main; 
 
 While hours of triumph sound, and altars burn. 
 
 And shouting nations bail their Queen's return : 
 
 Aghast, she saw new-decked the nuptial bed. 
 And proud Creusa to the temple led ; 
 Saw her in Jason's mercenary anus. 
 Deride her virtues and insult her charms : 
 Saw her dear babes from lame ami empire tin. 
 In foreign realms deserted and forlorn: 
 Her love rejected, and her vengeance braved 
 By him, her beauties won, her virtues tared. 
 
174 PELIAS. 
 
 " To the stern King of Ghosts she next applied, 
 And gentle Proserpine, his ravished bride, 
 That for old iEson with the laws of fate ; 
 They would dispense, and lengthen his short date. . 
 Thus with repeated prayers she oft assails, 
 The infernal tyrant, and at last prevails ; 
 Then calls to have decrepid iEson brought, 
 And stupifies hirn with a sleeping draught ; 
 This done, th' enchantress, with her locks unbound 
 About her altar trips a frantic round ; 
 Piecemeal the consecrated wood she splits, 
 And dips the splinters in the gory pits, 
 Then hurls them on the piles ; the sleeping sire 
 She lustrates thrice, with sulphur, water, fire. 
 ****** 
 
 His feeble frame resumes a youthful air, 
 
 A glossy brown his hoary head of hair, 
 
 The meagre paleness from his aspect fled, 
 
 And in its room sprung up a florid red: 
 
 Through all his limbs a youthful vigour flies, 
 
 His emptied arteries swell with fresh supplies : 
 
 Gazing spectators scarce believe their eyes. 
 
 But iEson is the most surprised to find 
 
 A happy change in body and in mind, 
 
 In sense and constitution the same man, 
 
 As when his fortieth active year began." Ovid. 
 
 Pelias the usurper, was desirous of following so pleasant an example, 
 
 and his daughters persuaded by Medea, who was anxious to avenge 
 
 her husband's wrongs, destroyed him with their own hands. Their 
 
 credulity met with a severe punishment, for Medea refused to 
 
 restore him to life. 
 
 Meanwhile Pelias with his guards lay bound 
 
 In magic sleep, scarce that of death so sound : 
 
 The daughters now are by the Sorceress led, 
 
 Into his chamber and surround his bed, 
 
 4 Your fathers health 's concerned and can ye stay ? 
 
 Unnatural nymphs, why this unkind delay ? 
 
 Unsheath your swords, dismiss his lifeless blood, 
 
 And I'll recruit it with a vital flood : 
 
 Your father's life and health are in your hand, 
 
 And can ye thus, like idle gazers stand ? 
 
 Unless you are of common sense bereft, 
 
 If yet one spark of piety is left, 
 
 Dispatch a father's cure, and disengage 
 
 The monarch from his loathsome load of age. 
 
 Thus urged, the poor deluded maids proceed 
 
 Betrayed by zeal to an inhuman deed, 
 
 And in compassion, make a father bleed. 
 
 Yes, she who has the kindest, tenderest heart, 
 
 Is foremost to perform the bloody part. 
 
 Yet, though to act the butchery betrayed, 
 
 They could not bear to see the wounds they made, 
 
DEATH OF JASON. 175 
 
 Wiih stern regard she eyed the traitor king, 
 
 And felt ingratitude, the keenest sting; 
 
 "Nor Heaven" she cried, " nor earth, nor Hell can hold 
 
 A heart abandoned to the thirst of gold ! 
 
 Stamped with wild foot and shook her torrent brow, 
 
 And called the furies from their dens below !" 
 
 Ovid. 
 
 When in Athens, to which place Medea came after leaving 
 Corinth, she underwent the penance necessary to purify her from 
 the crimes she had committed, after which she became the wife of 
 King iEgeus, to whom she bore a son called Medus. 
 
 Before his intimacy with Medea, iEgeus had a son named 
 Theseus, who had been sent to Athens with his father's sword, by 
 the sight of which he was to introduce himself to his father's 
 knowledge when he grew up ; as Theseus attempted to make 
 himself known to his father, Medea, who had grown jealous of the 
 glory he had achieved, tried to poison him at an entertainment to 
 which he had been invited. She failed in her purpose. The king, 
 recognized by the sword he bore, his long lost son, and Medea had 
 recourse to her dragons once more, to make her escape through the 
 air, to Colchis, where, by some it is stated, she was re-united to 
 Jason ; while according to other authorities, Jason lived a melan- 
 choly and unhappy life; and, as he was reposing one day by the 
 side of the ship which had borne him to Colchis, a large beam fell 
 upon and crushed him to death. Medea also died at Colchis, and 
 after her death is said to have been married to Achilles in Elysium. 
 
 It is asserted by some writers, that the murder of the two 
 youngest of Jason's children, was not committed by Medea, but by 
 the Corinthians themselves, in the Temple of Juno Acrea ; and 
 that to avoid the vengeance of heaven, and to free themselves from 
 a plague which devoured the country after so frightful a massacre, 
 they engaged the poet Euripides to write a tragedy which should 
 tend to clear them of the murder, and throw the crime upon the 
 guilty Medea. Festivals were also appointed, in which the mother 
 was represented as destroying her own offspring, with all the attri- 
 butes of a fury, and was regarded as a day of solemn mourning. 
 
 '• haggard queen ! n» Athens dost thou guide 
 Thy g-lowing chariot, steeped in kindred gore ; 
 
 Or seek to hide thy foul infanticide 
 Where peace and mercy dwell for even 
 
17t> JASON. 
 
 The land where Heaven's own hallowed waters play, 
 Where friendship binds the generous and the good, 
 
 Say, shall it hail thee from thy frantic way, 
 Unholy woman ! with thy hands embrued. 
 
 In thine own children's gore ? Oh ! ere they bleed, 
 Let Nature's voice thy ruthless heart appal ! 
 
 Pause at the bold, irrevocable deed — 
 
 The mother strikes — the guiltless babes shall fall ! 
 
 ***** 
 
 When o'er each babe. you look a last adieu, 
 
 And gaze on Innocence that smiles asleep, 
 Shall no fond feeling beat to Nature true, 
 
 Charm thee to pensive thought — and bid thee weep ? 
 When the young suppliants clasp their parent dear, 
 
 Heave the deep sob, and pour the artless prayer, 
 Ay ! thou shalt melt; and many a heart-shed tear 
 
 Gusli o'er the hardened features of despair ! 
 Nature shall throb in every tender string, — 
 
 Thy trembling heart the ruffian's task deny ; 
 Thy horror smitten hands afar shall fling 
 
 The blade, undrenched in blood's eternal dye. 
 
 CHORUS. 
 
 Hallowed Earth ! with indignation 
 
 Mark, oh mark, the murderous deed ! 
 Radiant eye of wide creation, 
 
 Watch th' accursed infanticide ! 
 Yet, ere Colchia's rugged daughter 
 
 Perpetrate the dire design, 
 And consign to kindred slaughter 
 
 Children of the golden line ! ' 
 Shall mortal hand, with murder gory, 
 
 Cause immortal blood to flow ! 
 Sun of Heaven ! — array'd in glow 
 
 Rise, forbid, avert the blow ! 
 In the vales of placid gladness 
 
 Let no rueful maniac range ; 
 Chase afar the fiend of Madness, 
 Wrest the dagger from Revenge ! 
 
 Say, hast thou, with kind protection, 
 
 Reared thy smiling race in vain ; 
 Fostering Nature's fond affection, 
 
 Tender cares, and pleasing pain ? 
 Hast thou, on the troubled ocean, 
 
 Braved the tempest loud and strong, 
 Where the waves, in wild commotion, 
 
 Roar Cyanean rocks among ? 
 Didst thou roam the paths of danger, 
 
 Hymenean joys to prove ? 
 Spare, O sanguinary stranger, 
 
 Pledges of thy sacred love ! 
 Ask not Heaven's commiseration, 
 
 After thou hast done the deed ; 
 Mercy, pardon, expiation, 
 
 Perish when thv victims bleed." Eiriwdes. 
 
11 E R C ULE S. 
 
 This celebrated hero was, after his death, as a reward for the 
 many courageous deeds he had performed, placed among the gods, 
 and rewarded with divine honours. It has been asserted that there 
 were many of the same name, some writers extending the number 
 to forty-three; though of these the son of Jupiter and AJcmena is 
 the most celebrated, and as such, doubtless, many of their actions 
 have been attributed to him. In order to gain the affections of 
 Alcmena, Jupiter took the form of her husband, and from this 
 union was born Hercules, who was brought up at Tirynthus ; Juno, 
 however, could not look upon him with pleasure, and before he Fas 
 nine months old, sent two snakes intending them to devour him. 
 Far from fearing these terrible enemies, the child grasped them 
 boldly in both his hands, and strangled them, while his brother 
 Iphielus shrieked aloud in terror. 
 
 He was early instructed in those arts in which he afterwards 
 became so famous, for Castor taught him to fight, Eurytus to shoot 
 with the bow and arrows, and Autolycus to drive a chariot ; after 
 this, he perfected himself under the tuition of the Centaur, Chiron. 
 When in the eighteenth year of his age, a huge lion devastated the 
 people, and preyed on the flocks of Amphitryon, laying waste also 
 the adjacent country. From this monster Hercules reli ved them. 
 and when Erginus, King of Orchomedas, sent for his yearly 
 tribute of one hundred crowns, Hercules mutilated the seivants 
 who came to raise it, and on Erginus coming to avenge their 
 death, he slew him, and delivered his country from the inglorious 
 
 tribute. 
 
 These heroic deeds soon became bruited abroad, and Creon, who 
 reigned in Thebes, rewarded his courage by giving him his 
 daughter in marriage, and entrusting him with the government of 
 
 his people. 
 
 As Hercules was by the will of Jupiter, subjected to the power 
 of Eurystheus, the latter, jealous of the fame he was aeh.< 
 ordered him to appear before him. 
 
 Proud of his strength and of his successes, the hero refused, Bnd 
 Juno to punish him, struck him with a sudden madness, in which 
 he killed his own offspring, imagining them to be those ol 
 
 Eurystheus. 
 J 23 
 
1/8 HERCULES. 
 
 Hercules. " Hast thou beheld the carnage of my sons ? 
 
 Theseus. I heard, I saw the ills thou shovvest me 
 
 Hercules. Why hast thou then unveiled me to the Sun ? 
 
 Theseus. Why not ? Can mortal man pollute the Gods ? 
 
 Hercules. Fly, thou unhappy, my polluting guilt! 
 
 Theseus. Friends, from their friends, no stain of guilt contract. 
 
 Hercules. This hath my thanks, indeed, I thought thee good. 
 
 Theseus, And for that good deed, now I pity thee ! 
 
 Hercules. I want thy pity, I have slain my sons. 
 
 Theseus. Thee, for thy grace, in other ills I mourn! 
 
 Hercules. Whom hast thou known involved in ills like these ? 
 
 Theseus. Thy vast misfortunes reach from earth to heaven. 
 
 Hercules. I therefore am prepared, and fixed to die. 
 
 Theseus. And deemest thou the gods regard thy threats ? 
 Hercules. The gods regard not me, nor I the gods ! 
 
 Theseus. Forbear : lest thy proud words provoke worse ill. 
 ^ Hercules. I now am full, and can contain no more. 
 
 Theseus. What dost thou ? Whither doth thy rage transport thee ? 
 Hercules. From whence I came, to death's dark realms I go. 
 
 Theseus. This is the language of a vulgar spirit. 
 Hercules. Thou from misfortune free, canst counsel me; 
 
 Theseus. Doth the much suffering Hercules say this? 
 Hercules. He had not suffered this, had ills a mean. 
 Theseus. The brave protector, the kind friend of men. 
 Hercules. They nought avail me. 
 
 Theseus. Greece will not suffer thee to die thus rashly. 
 
 Hercules. Now hear me whilst my arguments refute 
 
 All thy monitions. Whilst I yet 
 
 Hung on the breast, two hideous serpents came, 
 
 Sent by Juno to destroy me, rolled their spires 
 
 Within my cradle. When my age advanced 
 
 To -youth's fresh bloom, why should I say what toils 
 
 I then sustained ? What lions — what dire forms 
 
 Of Triple Typhous, or what giants, what 
 
 Of monsters banded in the Centaur war, 
 
 Did I not quell ? The Hydra, raged around, 
 
 With heads still spouting from the sword I slew. 
 
 These and a thousand other toils endured, 
 
 To the dark regions of the dead I went, 
 
 To drag the triple headed dog to light, 
 
 That guards the gate of Pluto ; — the command 
 
 Of stern Eurystheus. This last bloody deed, 
 
 (Wretch that I am !) the murder of my sons 
 
 Have I achieved, to crown my house with ills. 
 
 I am reduced to this unhappiness, 
 
 At my loved Thebes I cannot dwell, for here 
 
 What temple, what assembly of my friends 
 
 Can I approach ? Pollutions rank as mine, 
 
 Allow no converse. Should I go to Argos? 
 
 How, since I fly my country, should I seek 
 
 Refuge in other states, malignant eyes 
 
 Would scowl on me when known, and bitter tongues 
 
 Goad me with these reproaches : — Is not this 
 
 The son of Jove, who slew his sons and wife ? 
 
 Then bid me thence with curses on my head. 
 
THE LABOURS OF HERCULES. 179 
 
 And to the man, whose former days were passed 
 
 In happier fortune, mournful is the change ; 
 
 But him, that in distresses hath heen trained, 
 
 Naught grieves, as though he were allied to ills. 
 
 And to this misery shall I come, I ween. 
 
 The earth will cry aloud, forbidding me 
 
 To touch her soil, to pass its waves, the sea, 
 
 And every fountain whence the rivers flow. 
 
 Thus like Ixions, on the whirling wheel 
 
 In chains, will be my stake: and this were best, 
 
 That never Grecian might behold me more, 
 
 With whom in better days I have been happy. 
 
 Why therefore should I live ? What blessing were it 
 
 To gain a useless and unhallowed life ?" 
 
 After his recovery he consulted the oracle of Apollo, and was 
 told that he must act in compliance with the will of Jupiter, and be 
 subservient to the commands of Eurystheus for twelve years, and 
 that after he had been successful in the labours to bo imposed 14)011 
 him, he would be admitted amongst the gods. This answer deter- 
 mined him to bear with fortitude whatever gods or men might 
 command, and Eurystheus, seeing so perfect a hero subjected to 
 him, ordered him to perform the most terrible and dangerous deeds 
 he could imagine, which are now generally known as the twelve 
 labours of Hercules. 
 
 The favors of the gods had completely armed him when lie 
 undertook his labours. He had received a coat of arms and helmet 
 from Minerva, a sword from Mercury, a horse from Apollo, and 
 from Vulcan a golden cuirass and brazen buskin, with a celebrated 
 club of brass, according to the opinion of some writers, hut more 
 generally supposed to be of wood, and cut by the hero himself in 
 the forest of Nemaea. The first labour imposed upon Hcrcul - !>\ 
 Eurystheus, was to kill the lion of Nemaea, which ravaged the 
 country near Mycenae. The hero, unable to destroy him with his 
 arrow, boldly attacked him with his club, pursued him to his den, 
 and after a close and sharp engagement, lie choked him to death. 
 He carried the dead beast on his shoulders to Mycenae, and ever 
 after clothed himself with the skin. Eurystheus was so astonished 
 at the sight of the beast, and at the courage of Hercules, that he 
 ordered him never to enter the gates of the city when he returned 
 from his expeditions, but to wait for his orders without the walls. 
 He even made himself a hiding place into which he retired when- 
 ever Hercules returned. The second labour of Hercules was to 
 destroy the Lernaean hydra, which had seven heads. This cele- 
 
180 
 
 THE LABOURS OF HERCULES. 
 
 brated monster he attacked with his arrows, and soon after he came 
 to a close engagement, and by means of his heavy club, destroyed 
 the heads of his enemy. But this was productive of no advantage, 
 for as soon as one head was beaten to pieces by the club, immedi- 
 ately two sprang up, and the labour of Hercules would have 
 remained unfinished, had he not commanded his friend Iolas, who 
 accompanied him, to burn, with a hot iron, the root of the head 
 which he had crushed to pieces. This succeeded, and Hercules 
 became victorious, opened the belly of the monster, and dipped his 
 arrow in the gall, to render the wounds which he gave, fatal and 
 incurable. He was ordered in his third labour to bring alive and 
 unhurt, into the presence of Eurystheus, a stag, famous for its 
 incredible swiftness, its golden horns, and brazen feet. This cele- 
 brated animal frequented the neighbourhood of CEnoe, and Hercules 
 was employed for a whole year in continually pursuing it; at last, 
 he caught it in a trap, or when tired, or according to others by 
 slightly wounding it, and lessening its swiftness. As he returned 
 victorious, Diana snatched the stag from him, and severely repri- 
 manded him for molesting an animal which was sacred to her. 
 Hercules pleaded necessity, and by representing the commands of 
 Eurystheus, he appeased the goddess and obtained the beast. The 
 
 fourth labour was to bring alive to Eurystheus a wild boar which 
 ravaged the neighbourhood of Erymanthus. In this expedition he 
 
THE LABOURS OF HERCUL] . 1S1 
 
 destroyed the Centaurs, and caught the boar by closely pursuing 
 him through the deep snow. Eurystheus was so fright< ned at the 
 sight of the boar, that, according to Diodorus, he hid himself in a 
 brazen vessel for some days. In his fifth Labour Hercules was 
 ordered to clean the stables of Augias, where three thou. and oxen 
 had been confined for many years. For the sixth, he was ordered 
 to kill the carnivorous birds which ravaged the country near the 
 lake Stymphalis, in Arcadia. In his seventh, lie brought alive into 
 Peloponnesus a prodigious wild bull, which laid waste th< island of 
 Crete. In his eighth, he was employed in obtaining the mar 
 Diomedes, which fed upon human flesh. He killed Dioraedes, an 1 
 gave him to be eaten by his mares, which he brought to Eurystheus. 
 They were sent to Mount Olympus by the King of Mycenae, where 
 they were devoured by the wild beasts; or, according to others, 
 consecrated to Jupiter, and their breed still existed in the ag 
 Alexander the Great. For his ninth labour, he was commanded 
 to obtain the girdle of the Queen of the Amazons. In his tenth, 
 he killed the monster Geryon, King of Gades, and brought to 
 Argos his numerous flocks which fed upon human flesh. The 
 eleventh labour was to obtain apples from the garden of Hesperides, 
 three celebrated daughters of Hesperus, who were appointed to 
 guard some golden apples, given by Jupiter to Juno on the day of 
 their marriage. 
 
 Ignorant of the precise situation of the beautiful garden contain- 
 ing them, Hercules applied to the nymphs in the neighbourhood of 
 the Po for information, and was told that Nereus, ii properly 
 managed, would direct him in his pursuits. The hero seized 
 Nereus while he slept, and the sea god, unable to escape from 
 his grasp, answered all the questions he proposed, which led him 
 to Atlas, in Africa, and of him, he demanded three of the golden 
 apples. Atlas placed the burden of the heavens on the >houlders 
 of Hercules, and went in quest of the apples. At his return, \\< r- 
 cules expressed a wish to ease his load b) putting something on 
 his head, and when Atlas assisted him to remove the inconvenience, 
 he artfully left the burden, and seized the apples which Atlas had 
 thrown on the ground. According to other accounts, Hercules 
 gathered them without the assistance of Atlas, after killin di 
 which guarded the tree, 
 
182 THE DELIVERY OF HESIONE. 
 
 The twelfth and last, and most dangerous of his labours, was to 
 bring upon earth the three-headed dog Cerberus. This was cheer- 
 fully undertaken by Hercules, and he descended into hell by a cave on 
 Mount Taenarus. He was permitted by Pluto to carry away his 
 friends Theseus and Pirithous, who were condemned to punishment 
 in hell ; and Cerberus also was granted to his prayers, provided he 
 made use of no arms, but only force to drag him away. Hercules 
 as some report, carried him back to hell, after he had brou-ht him 
 before Eurystheus. Besides these arduous labours, which the 
 jealousy of Eurystheus imposed upon him, he also achieved others 
 of his own accord, equally great and celebrated. 
 
 He delivered Hesione, a daughter of Laomedon, King of Troy 
 from a sea monster, to whom the Trojans yearly presented a mar- 
 riageable maiden; and when the hero had fulfilled his task 
 Laomedon refused to give him the tribute of six beautiful horses,' 
 which he had promised to him. Hercules, incensed at his treachery,' 
 besieged Troy, and put the king and his family to the sword. 
 
 " First, two dread snakes, at Juno's vengeful nod 
 Climbed round the cradle of the sleeping God ; ' 
 Waked by the shrilling hiss, and rustling sound, 
 And shrieks of fair attendants trembling round 
 Their gasping throats with clenching hands he 'holds ; 
 fill death entwists their convoluted folds. 
 And in red torrents from her seven gold heads 
 Fell Hydra's blood in Lerna's lake he sheds; 
 Grasps Achelous with resistless force, 
 And drags the roaring river to his course : 
 Binds with loud bellowing and with hideous yell 
 The monster bull, and three-fold dog of hell. ; ' 
 
 " Then, where Nemea's howling forests wave, 
 
 He drives the Lion to his dusky cave ; 
 
 Seized by the throat the howling fiend disarms, 
 
 And tears his gaping jaws with sinewy arms ; 
 
 Lifts proud Anteus from his mother-plains, 
 
 And with strong grasp, the struggling- giant strains ; 
 
 Back falls his fainting head, and clammy hair, 
 
 Writhe his weak limbs, and flits his life in air ; — 
 
 By steps reverted o'er the blood-dropped fen 
 
 He tracks huge Ceacus to his forest den ' 
 
 Where breathing flames through brazen lips, he fled 
 
 And shakes the rock-roofed cavern o'er his head ! 
 
 Last, with wide arms the solid earth he tears, 
 
 Piles rock on rock, on mountain, mountain rears • 
 
 Heaves up huge Abyla in Afric's sand, 
 
 Crowns with huge Calpe Europe's salient strand, 
 
 Crests with opposing towers the splendid scene, 
 
 And pours from urns immense, the sea between. 
 
HERCULES MARRIAGE WITH DEJANIRA. 183 
 
 Loud o'er hey whirling flood Charybdis roars, 
 Affrighted Scylla bellows round her shores, 
 
 Vesuvius groans through all his echoing caves, 
 And Etna thunders o'er the insurgent waves." 
 
 When these were performed, he became deeply enamoured of 
 Iole, daughter of Eurystheus, but she, being refused to his 
 entreaties, he became insane a second time, and murdered I phi t us, 
 the only one of the sisters of Iole who was willing to assist him in 
 obtaining her. 
 
 After some time had passed, he was purified from this murder, 
 and his insanity was at an end. However, the gods were not 
 satisfied, but persecuted him still further, for he was smitten with 
 an indisposition which compelled him once more to consult the 
 oracle of Delphi. 
 
 Not being pleased with the manner in which his application was 
 received, he resolved, in the heat of passion, to desecrate the sacred 
 temple by plundering it, and carrying away the holy tripod. Apollo 
 opposed him. and a fierce conflict ensued, to put an end to which, 
 however, Jupiter interfered with his Thunderbolts. 
 
 Indignant at the insult offered to the sacred edifice, the oracle 
 declared that it could only be wiped away by the hero becoming a 
 slave, and remaining in the most abject servitude for three years. 
 
 In compliance with the decree, Mercury, by the order of .1 upiter, 
 sold him to Omphale, Queen of Lydia, as a slave. But his ser- 
 vices to this queen so astonished her, that she freed him from hia 
 servitude and married him. When the term for which he had hern 
 sold expired, Hercules left her, and returned to Peloponnessus, 
 where he re-establislud Tyndaris on the throne of Sparta. 
 
 After this, he became one of the numerous -nil",- of Dejanira, 
 who had been promised by her father in marriage to that one who 
 should prove the strongest of all his competitors. The most dan- 
 gerous foe to Hercules was Achelous, a river god, who. finding 
 himself inferior in strength, changed himself into a serpent, 
 afterwards into an ox. Serpent strangling was, however, nothing 
 new to Hercules, and he had but little trouble with hia enemy 
 as an ox, until at last Achelous retired in disgrace to hia bed 
 of waters. 
 
 After his marriage with Dejanira, he Was compelled to leave hia 
 father-in-law's kingdom, from having accidentally slain one <»l the 
 citizens. 
 
184 
 
 DEATH OF NESSUS. 
 
 On his way to Ceyx, accompanied by Dejanira, he was stopped 
 by a swollen stream, and Nessus, the Centaur, offered to- convey her 
 safely on his back to the opposite side of the river. As the hero's 
 only anxiety was for her, he accepted the offer with thanks, and 
 when he saw them through the worst part of the water in safety, 
 prepared to follow, but no sooner had the Centaur landed with 
 Dejanira, than he attempted to offer violence to his beautiful 
 burthen, and to carry her aw^ay in the very sight of her husband. 
 
 The extraordinary efforts of the enraged Hercules, brought 
 him up in time to let fly a poisoned arrow at the ravisher, 
 which mortally wounded him. In his anguish, and burning for 
 vengeance on his slayer, he gave Dejanira his tunic, which was 
 covered with his blood. 
 
 "Take this," he said, feigning a repentance, "if ever your 
 
 husband prove unfaithful, it will recall him to your arms ;" and 
 
 with this he expired. 
 
 '' For now his bridal charge employed his cares, 
 The strong limbed Nessus thus officious cried, 
 For he the shallows of the stream had tried, 
 ' Swim thou, Alcides, all thy strength prepare, 
 On yonder bank I'll lodge thy nuptial care.' 
 Th' Aonian chief to Nessus trusts his wife. 
 All pale, and trembling for her hero's life : 
 Clothed as he stood in the fierce lion's hide, 
 The laden quiver o'er his shoulder tied. 
 
THE POISONED SCARF. 
 
 m 
 
 "Far cross the stream his bow and club were cast, 
 
 Swii't he plunged in, ' these billows shall be past," 
 
 He. said, nor sought where smoother waters glide 
 
 But stemmed the rapid dangers of the tide. 
 
 The bank lie reached, again the how he hears, 
 
 When, hark ! his bride's known voice alarms his tars, 
 
 ' Nessus, to thee I call,' aloud he cries, — 
 
 ' Vain is thy trust in flight, be timely wise ; 
 
 Thou monster double shaped, my right set free, 
 
 If thou no reverence owe my lame and me, 
 
 Yet kindred should thy lawless lust deny, 
 
 Think not perfidious wretch, from me to fly ; 
 
 Tho' winged with horse's speed, wounds shall pursue,' 
 
 Swift as his words the fatal arrow flew, 
 
 The Ceutaur's back admits the feathered wood, 
 
 And thro' his breast the barbed arrow stood, 
 
 Which when in anguish, thro' the flesh he tore 
 
 From both the wounds gushed forth the spumy gore, 
 
 Mixed with the Lernaean venom, this he took, 
 
 Nor dire revenge his dying breast forsook, 
 
 His garment, in the reeking purple dyed 
 
 To rouse love's passion, he presents the bride." — Ovid. 
 Ceyx received them both with great favour, but Hercules could 
 not forget that he had been refused the hand of Iole, although in 
 possession of the heart of Dejanira, and therefore made war against 
 her father, killing him, with three of his sons, while his former lover, 
 Iole, fell into his hands, and found that she still held no slight pos- 
 session of his affections. 
 
 She accompanied him to OEta, where he was going to raise an 
 altar, and offer a sacrifice to Jupiter. Dejanira, aware of his 
 purpose, and of the affection he had manifested for her rival, sent 
 to him the tunic given her by the Centaur, Nessus, but no sooner 
 had he put it on, than the poison with which it was saturated, pene- 
 trated through his bones, and attaching itself to the flesh, cat into 
 
 it like fire. 
 
 " She now resolves to send the fatal vest, 
 Dyed with Lerna?an gore, whose power mighl move 
 His soul anew, and rouse declining love, 
 Nor knew she what her sudden rage bestows, 
 When she to Lychas trusts her future wets ; 
 With soft endearment she the boy commands, 
 To bear the garment to her husband's hands. 
 Th' unwilling hero takes the gift in haste, 
 And o'er his shoulders LeniaV poison cast, 
 At first the (ire with frankincense he strews, 
 And utters to the gods his holy rows • 
 And on the marble altar's polished frame 
 Pours forth the grapy stream ; the rising flame 
 Sudden dissolves the subtle poisoning juice 
 Which taints his blood, and all his nerves bedew*. 
 21 
 
ISO THE RAGE OF HERCULES. 
 
 With wonted fortitude he bore the smart, 
 
 And not a groan confessed his burning- heart, 
 
 At length his patience was subdued by pain 
 
 (Etes wide forests echo with his cries ; 
 
 Now to rip off the deathful robe he tries. 
 
 Where'er he plucks the vest, the skin he tears 
 
 The mangled muscles and huge bones he bares. 
 
 (A ghastly sight !) or raging with his pain, 
 
 To rend the sick'ning plague, he tugs in vain. 
 
 As the red iron hisses in the flood, 
 
 So boils the venom in his curdling blood. 
 
 Now with the greedy flame his entrails glow, 
 
 And livid sweats down all his body flow. 
 
 The cracking nerves, burnt up, are burst in twain, 
 
 The lurking venom melts his swimming brain." 
 
 Ovid. 
 
 When Lychas, by the command of Dejanira, had brought the fatal 
 
 scarf, and Hercules became aware of its dreadful power, he seized 
 
 the messenger, and hurled him into the sea with fearful violence. 
 
 In vain did he attempt to pull it off, he only tore with it masses 
 
 of flesh. In the midst of his miserable tortures, his groans of 
 
 anguish were mixed with imprecations on the credulity of Dejanira, 
 
 and the jealousy and hatred of Juno, to whom he attributed all 
 
 his pains. 
 
 " Then lifting both his hands aloft, be cries, 
 ' Glut thy revenge, dread empress of the skies ; 
 Sate with my death the rancour of thy heart, 
 Look down with pleasure and enjoy my smart; 
 Or, if e'er pity moved a hostile breast 
 For here I stand thy enemy profest ;' 
 
THE WOKS II IP OF HERCULES. 1^7 
 
 " Meanwhile, whate'er was in the power of flame, 
 Was all consumed ; his body's nervous frame 
 No more was kno\ui ; of human form bereft— 
 The eternal part of Jove alone was left. 
 As an old serpent casts his scaly vest, 
 Wreathes in the Sun, in youthful glory drest ; 
 So, when Alcides' mortal mould resigned, 
 His better part enlarged, ami grew refined : 
 August his visage shone; almighty Jove, 
 In his swift car his honoured offspring drove : 
 High o'er the hollow clouds the coursers fly, 
 And lodge the hero in the starry sky." 
 
 ° Ovid. 
 
 If his fame had been universal, his worship soon became equally 
 so, and Juno, once so inveterate, consented to his receiving her 
 daughter Hebe in marriage. 
 
 Hercules is generally represented as gigantically proportioned, 
 sometimes naked, sometimes covered with the skin of the Nemean 
 lion; a thick and knotted club in his hands, on which he ia often 
 seen leaning. 
 
 Such are the most important parts of the life of Hercules, who is 
 held out by the ancients as a complete pattern of virtue and piety, 
 and is asserted by them to have been employed for the benefit of 
 mankind, and for this was deservedly rewarded with immortality. 
 
 " O worthy end of his laborious life, 
 
 The nectared cup, and Hebe for a wife ! 
 
 Her golden youth did with new transports play, 
 
 And crowned his toils in empyrean day. 
 
 Yet did he oft, though in her arms he lay, 
 
 And tasted to the height immortal youth, 
 
 Sigh for young Iole, who, soft as May, 
 
 And rich as Summer, yielded up her truth j 
 
 There by Euripus, ever fickle stream, 
 
 He won a world in her immortal arm-. 
 
 And found his prized honour but a dream 
 
 Lost in the Ocean of her gentle charms. ' 
 
 '1 111 HI OW. 
 
 He has received many surnames and epithets, either from the 
 place where his worship was established, 01 1'rom the labour* which 
 he had achieved; his temples were numerous and magnificent 
 The Phoenicians offered Quails on his altars, and aa il was .uppoeed 
 that he presided over dreams, the sick and infirm were sen. to deep 
 in his temples, that they might receive in theirviaions the agreeable 
 presages of their approaching recovery. 
 
 The children of Hercules arc as numerous M the labours and 
 difficulties which he underwent, and became so powerful after nia 
 death, that they alone had the braver, to invade the Pelo, leeeue. 
 
188 DEATH OF HERCULES. 
 
 " ; Take hence this hateful life, with tortures torn, 
 
 Inured to trouble, and to labours born. 
 
 Death is the gift most welcome to my woe, 
 
 And such a gift a stepdame may bestow. 
 
 Was it tor this Busiris was subdued, 
 
 Whose barbarous temples reeked with stranger's blood ? 
 
 Pressed in these arms Ins fate Antaeus found, 
 
 Nor gained recruited vigour from the ground. 
 
 Did I not triple-formed Gervon fell ? 
 
 Or, did I fear the triple dog of hell ? 
 
 Did not these hands the bull's armed forehead hold ? 
 
 Are not our mighty toils in Elis told ? 
 
 Did not Stymphalian lakes proclaim my fame ? 
 
 And fail Parthenian woods resound my name ? 
 
 Who seized the golden belt of Thermodon ? 
 
 And who the dragon-guarded apples v\on? 
 
 Could the fair Centaur's strength my force withstand ? 
 
 Or the fell boar that spoiled the Arcadian land ? 
 
 Did not these arms the Hydra's rage subdue, 
 
 Who from his wounds to double fury grew. 
 
 What if the Thracian horses, fat with gore, 
 
 Who human bodies in their manger tore, 
 
 I saw, and with their barbarous lord, o'erlhrew ? 
 
 What if these hands Nemsea's lion slew ? 
 
 Did not this neck the heavenly globe sustain ? 
 
 The female partner of the Thunderer's reign, 
 
 Fatigued at length, suspends her harsh commands, 
 
 Yet no fatigue has slacked these valiant hands ; 
 
 But now, new plagues consume me; neither force, 
 
 Nor arms, nor darts can stop their raging course, 
 
 Devouring flame through my racked entrails strays, 
 
 And on my lungs and shrivelled muscles preys.' " 
 
 Ovid. 
 
 As, however, the distemper was incurable, and death inevitable, 
 lie determined to die the hero he had lived, and giving his bow 
 and arrow to Philoctetes, he erected a funeral pile on Mount CEta, 
 and spreading upon it his lion's skin, lay down with dignity and 
 composure, his head placed upon his club, to await his death. The 
 piie was lighted, and the flames arose in volumes, but the hero 
 gazed calmly upon them, unalarmed at his impending doom. His 
 mind was resolved to meet his fate, when, suddenly, the burning 
 pile was surrounded with dark smoke, the fire burned like a furnace, 
 and when it had consumed the mortal portion of Hercules, a 
 chariot and horses was seen awaiting, which carried his immortal 
 part, to heaven, there to be seated amongst the gods. Loud claps 
 of thunder accompanied his exaltation, and when his friends sought 
 Ins ashes to grant them burial, unable to find them, they erected an 
 altar to his memory, upon the spot where tne burning pile 
 had been. 
 
PERSEUS. 
 
 This hero was the son of Jupiter and Danae, the daughter of 
 Acresius. As the latter had confined his daughter in a brazen 
 
 tower, to prevent her becoming a mother, because, according to the 
 words of an oracle, he was to perish by the hands of his daughter's 
 son, Perseus was no sooner born, than Acresius caused him to be 
 thrown into the sea, with his mother, Danae. The hopes of the 
 father were frustrated; for the slight bark which carried Danae and 
 her son, was driven on the island of Seriphos, one of the 
 Cvclades, where they were found by a fisherman named Dictys, and 
 carried by him to Polydectes, the monarch of the place, by whom they 
 were received with much kindness, and the priests of Minerva's 
 temple had the charge of the youthful Perseus entrusted to them. 
 
 His rising genius and great courage fell under the displeasure of 
 Polydectes, who feared, lest the love with which he soon became 
 inspired towards Danae, and the intentions which he harboured 
 towards her, should meet with the resentment of her son. The 
 monarch, however, resolved to remove every obstacle out of his way. 
 and made a sumptuous banquet, decreeing that all who came 
 should, present him with a beautiful horse. To this feast Perseus 
 was invited, Polydectes being aware that he would not be able to 
 procure the present which the wealth of the remaining guests could 
 enable them to offer. 
 
 To a high spirited man this was unbearable, and unable to submit 
 to the position of being the only one who had brought no present, 
 and unwilling to appear inferior to the remainder of the guests in 
 splendour, he told Polydectes, that though he was unable to give 
 him a horse, he would bring him the head of one of the Grorgons, 
 and Medusa being the only one subject to mortality, she must be 
 the victim. 
 
 For more than one reason this was very agreeable to Polydectes, 
 in the first, place, as it would remove Perseus from the island, and 
 the next that, from its seeming impossibility, the attempt might 
 end in his ruin. 
 
 The god^, however, are the protectors of innocence, and that of 
 Perseus was made their peculiar care. Pluto lent him his helmet, 
 possessing the wonderful power of making the bearer invisible. 
 i he buckler of Minerva, as resplendent as glass, was given him by 
 
190 PERSEUS. 
 
 that goddess. Mercury gave him wings and the Calaria, with a 
 short dagger formed of diamonds. With this assistance Perseus 
 boldly commenced his expedition, traversing the air, conducted by 
 Minerva. He went first to the Graces, the sisters of the Gorgons, 
 who possessed but one eye and one tooth among the three ; with 
 the assistance of Pluto's helmet, which rendered him invisible, 
 Perseus was able to steal their eye and their tooth while sleeping, 
 and refused to return them until they had informed him where 
 their sisters, the Gorgons resided. 
 
 When the necessary information had been received, Perseus 
 sought the habitation of the Gorgons, whom he fortunately found 
 asleep. Knowing that if he fixed his eyes upon them, he would 
 be changed to stone, he used his shield, which was transparent, as a 
 mirror to reflect the object he sought to destroy. Keeping his eyes 
 thus fixed upon them, he approached, Minerva supporting his 
 courage, and with one blow of his sword, cut ofT Medusa's head. 
 
 The noise of the blow awoke the two remaining sisters, who 
 frantic with rage, looked around for the murderer of their sister, 
 but in vain, for he had already put on the invisible helmet of Pluto, 
 and the attempts of the Gorgons to avenge the death of the sister 
 were fruitless. 
 
 The conqueror pursued his way through the air, and from the 
 
 blood which dropped from the head of the slain Gorgon he carried 
 
 with him, arose the innumerable serpents which have for ages 
 
 infested the sandy deserts of Lybia. 
 
 " Where western waves on furthest Lybia beat, 
 Dreadful Medusa fixed her horrid seat. 
 'Twas from this monster, to afflict mankind, 
 That nature first produced the snaky kind : 
 On her at first their forky tongues appeared, 
 From her their dreadful hissings first were heard." 
 
 Ovid 
 
 Chrysaor, who married Callirhoe, one of the Oceanides, sprung 
 with his golden sword from those drops of blood, as well as the 
 winged Pegasus, which flew directly through the air, and stopping 
 on the Mount bearing the same name, became a favorite with the 
 Muses. 
 
 In the meantime young Perseus pursued his flight through the 
 air, across the deserts of Lybia. The approach of night compelled 
 him to seek a brief shelter with Atlas, monarch of Mauritania. 
 
PERSEUS AND ATT.AS. 191 
 
 " The victor Perseus, with the Gorgon head. 
 
 O'er Lyhian sands his airy journey sped. 
 
 The gory drops distilled as Swift lie flew, 
 
 And from each drop envenomed serpents grew. 
 
 The mischiefs brooded on the barren plains, 
 
 And still the unhappy fruitfulness remains. 
 
 Thence Perseus, like a cloud, by storms was driv'n, 
 
 Thro' all the expanse beneath the cope of heaven. 
 
 The jarring winds unable to control, 
 
 He saw the southern and the northern pole : 
 
 And eastward thrice, and westward thrice was whirled, 
 
 And from the skies surveyed the nether world. 
 
 But when grey ev'ning showed the verge of night, 
 
 He feared in darkness to pursue his flight. 
 
 He poised his pinions, and forgot to soar, 
 
 And sinking, closed them on th' Hesperian shore : 
 
 Then begged to rest, till Lucifer begun 
 
 To wake the morn, the morn to wake the sun. 
 
 Here Atlas reigned of more than human size, 
 And in his kingdom the world's limit lies. 
 Here Titan bids his wearied coursers sleep, 
 And cools the burning axle in the deep. 
 The mighty monarch, uncontrolled, aloue, 
 His sceptre sways ; no neighb'ring states are known. 
 A thousand flocks on shady mountains fed, 
 A thousand herds o'er grassy plains were spread : 
 Her wondrous trees their shining stores unfold, 
 Their shining stores too wondrous to be told ; 
 Their leaves, their branches, and their apples, gold. 
 
 Then Perseus the gigantic prince addressed, 
 Humbly implored a hospitable rest : 
 If bold exploits thy admiration fire, 
 (He said), I fancy, mine thou wilt admire : 
 Or if the glory of a race can move, 
 Not mean my glory, for I spring from Jove." 
 
 Ovid. 
 
 He went to his palace, expecting to meet with an hospitable 
 
 reception from Atlas, by announcing himself the son of Jupiter, 
 but he found himself grievously deceived. It occurred to the n col- 
 lection of Atlas, that an ancient tradition had announced that his 
 gardens were to be plundered of their fruits by one of the sons ol 
 the King of Heaven ; and not only did he rudely refuse to shelter 
 him, but offered violence to his person, and attempted to slay him. 
 Finding himself unable to contend with so powerful a Foe, 
 Perseus was obliged to have recourse to the head of Medusa, and 
 Atlas was instantly changed into a large mountain, which bore the 
 same name in the deserts of Africa. 
 
 ''At this confession Atlas ghastly stared, 
 Mindful of what an oracle declared, 
 That the dark womb of time concealed a day, 
 Which should, disclosed, the gloomy gold betraj i 
 
192 PERSEUS AND ANDROMEDA. 
 
 All should at once be ravished from his eyes, 
 And Jove's own progeny enjoy the prize. 
 
 For this, the fruit he* loftily immured, 
 And a fierce dragon the strait pass secured ; 
 ' For this, all strangers he forbade to land, 
 
 And drove them from the inhospitable strand, 
 
 To Perseus then : ' Fly quickly, fly this coast, 
 Nor falsely dare thy acts and race to boast.' 
 
 In vain the hero for one night entreats ; 
 Threatening he storms, and next adds force to threats. 
 
 By strength not Perseus could himself defend, 
 For who in strength with Atlas could contend ? — 
 ' But since short rest to me thou wilt not give, 
 A gift of endless rest from me receive. — ' 
 He said, and backward turned, no more concealed 
 The present, and Medusa's head reveal'd. 
 
 Soon the high Atlas a high mountain stood ; 
 His locks, and beard, became a leafy wood : 
 His hands and shoulders into ridges went, 
 The summit head still crowned the deep ascent : 
 His bones a solid, rocky hardness gained : 
 He thus immensely grown (as fate ordained), 
 The stars, the heavens, and all the gods sustained. 
 
 As Perseus pursued his journey, after inflicting this just punish- 
 ment upon his foe, across the territories of Lybia, he discovered on 
 
 the coast of Ethiopia, the beautiful Andromeda, exposed to the 
 fury of a sea-monster, which for some time had ravaged the country, 
 and to appease which, the oracle of Jupiter Amnion had declared, 
 
PERSEUS AND ANDROMEDA 
 
 19? 
 
 nothing could avail, excepting the exposure of the maiden to its 
 anger. At this moment, when the monster was going to destroy 
 her, Perseus saw, and was captivated with her beauty. 
 
 He offered Cepheus, her father, his aid in delivering her from 
 danger, provided he would give the maiden to him in marriage, as 
 a reward for his exertions. 
 
 "Chained to a rock she stood ; young Perseus stayed 
 
 His rapid flight, to view the hcautcous maid. 
 
 So sweet her form, so exquisitely fine, 
 
 She seemed a statue by a hand divine, 
 
 Had not the wind her waving tresses shewed 
 
 And down her cheeks tlic melting sorrows flowed. 
 
 Her faultless form the here's bosom files, 
 
 The more he looks, the more he still admires. 
 
 Th' admirer almost had forgot to fly, 
 
 And swift descended, fluttering, from on high." 
 
 Ovid. 
 
 This princess had been promised in marriage to Phineus, her 
 uncle, when Neptune sent a sea-monster to ravage the country, 
 because Cassiope, her mother, had boasted herself fairer that. Juno 
 
 and the Nereides. 
 
 " In me the son of thundering Jove behold, 
 Got in a kindly shower of fruitful gold, 
 Medusa's snaky head is now my prey, 
 And through the clouds I bold!) \ouu my way. 
 
 20 
 
194 PERSEUS AND PH1NEUS. 
 
 If such desert be worthy of esteem, 
 
 And, if your daughter I from death redeem, 
 
 Shall she be mine ? Shall it not then be thought, 
 
 A bride, so lovely, was too cheaply bought ? 
 
 For her, my arms, I willingly employ, 
 
 If I may beauties, which I save, enjoy." 
 
 Ovid. 
 
 Cepheus consented to bestow his daughter upon Perseus, and 
 immediately the hero raised himself in the air, flew towards the 
 monster, as it advanced to devour Andromeda, and plunging his 
 dagger in his right shoulder, destroyed it. This happy event was 
 attended with great rejoicings, and the nuptials of Andromeda with 
 Perseus, soon followed. 
 
 The universal joy, was, however, quickly interrupted: for 
 Phineus, dissatisfied with thus losing his promised bride, entered 
 the palace with a number of armed men, and attempted to carry 
 her off. In vain did the father and mother of Andromeda interfere. 
 
 " Chief in the riot, Phineus first appeared, 
 
 The rash ringleader of this boisterous herd, 
 
 And brandishing his brazen pointed lance, 
 
 ' Behold,' he said, 'an injured man advance,' • 
 
 Stung with resentment for his ravished wife, 
 
 Nor shall thy wings Perseus, save thy life ; 
 
 Nor Jove himself, tho' we've been often told 
 
 He got thee in the form of tempting gold. 
 
 His lance was aimed, when Cepheus ran and said ; 
 
 ' Hold, brother, hold, what brutal rage has made 
 
 Your frantic mind so black a crime conceive ? 
 
 Are these the thanks that you to Perseus give ? 
 
 This the reward that to his worth you pay, 
 
 Whose timely valour saved Andromeda ? 
 
 Nor was it he, if you would reason right, 
 
 That forced her from you, but the jealous spite 
 
 Of envious Nereids, and Jove's high degree, 
 
 And that devouring monster of the sea, 
 
 That, ready with his jaws wide gaping stood, 
 
 To eat my child, the fairest of my blood. 
 
 You lost her then when she seemed past relief, 
 
 And wish'd, perhaps, her dealh, to ease your grief 
 
 With my afflictions ; not content to view 
 
 Andromeda in chains, unhelped by you, 
 
 Her spouse and uncle, will you grieve that he 
 
 Exposed his life, the dying maid to free ? 
 
 And shall you claim his merit ? Had you thought 
 
 Her charms so great, you should have bravely sought, 
 
 That blessing on the rocks where fixed she lay ; 
 
 But now let Perseus bear his prize away. 
 
 By service gained, by promised faith possessed ; 
 
 To him I owe it, that my age is blest 
 Still with a child: nor think that I prefer 
 Perseus to thee, but to the loss of her." 
 
 Ovid. 
 
HEROES. 195 
 
 A fierce contest ensued, and Perseus must have fallen a victim 
 to the fury of Phineus, had he not employed the same arms which 
 had proved so successful against Atlas. 
 
 "Fierce Phineus now repents the wrongful fight, 
 And views his varied friends, a dreadful Bight ; 
 He knows their faces, for their help he sues, 
 And thinks, not hearing him, that they refuse, 
 By name he begs their succour, one by one. 
 Then doubts their life, and feels the friendly stone. 
 Struck with remorse, and conscious of his pride, 
 Convict of sin he turn'd his eyes aside ; 
 With suppliant mien to Perseus thus he prays, 
 • Hence with the head, as far as winds and seas 
 Can bear thee : Hence ; oh ! quit the Cephan shore 
 And never curse it with Medusa more ; 
 That horrid head which stiffens into stone, 
 Those impious men who daring death, look on : 
 I warred not with thee out of hate or strife, 
 My honest cause was to defend my wife, 
 First pledged to me ; what crime could I suppose 
 To arm my friends, and vindicate my spouse ? 
 'Twas thine to conquer by Minerva's power, 
 Favoured of heaven, thy mercy I implore, 
 For life I sue, the rest to thee I yield : 
 In pity from my sight remove the shield !' 
 
 Phineus turned to shun the shield, 
 Full in his face the staring head he held, 
 As here and there he strove to turn aside, 
 The wonder wrought, the man was petrified, 
 All marble was his frame, his burned eyes, 
 Dropped tears which hung upon the stone like ice ; 
 In suppliant posture, with uplifted hands 
 And fearful look, the guilty statue stands." 
 
 Ovid. 
 
 He but showed the head of the Gorgon to his adversaries, and 
 they turned to stone in the very attitudes they were when they 
 first beheld it. The friends of Cepheus, however, and those who 
 assisted Perseus, were saved from the same fete by a previous 
 warning of Perseus. 
 
 Soon after this memorable adventure, Perseus went to Seriphos, 
 and arrived there at the very moment that his mother Danae sought 
 the altar of Minerva, to save herself from the violence of Polydectes ; 
 Dictys, who had preserved her and Perseus from the sea, had attempt- 
 ed todefend her from her enemy, and Perseus therefore sensible, of 
 his merit and of his humanity, placed him on the throne of Seriphos, 
 after he had employed Medusa's head to turn the wicked Polyd< 
 
196 
 
 PERSEUS AND PHINEIJS. 
 
 into stone, with those of his court who were accomplices in 
 his guilt. 
 
 When these celebrated exploits were finished, Perseus felt a 
 desire to return to his native country, and arrived with his mother 
 and Andromeda on the Peloponnesian coast, as some funeral games 
 were being celebrated in honour of the deceased King of Larissa. 
 Here he sought to signalise himself in throwing the quoit, but in 
 this he was attended by an evil fate, and had the misfortune to 
 kill a man with a quoit which he had thrown in the air: this 
 proved to be Acresius, who thus met the fate the oracle had 
 decreed, and to avoid which, he had been guilty of the barbarous 
 act of throwing his daughter and her son into the sea. 
 
 This unfortunate murder preyed upon the spirit of Perseus, and 
 though by the death of Acresius he was entitled to the throne of 
 Argos, he refused to accept it, fearing it would constantly remind 
 him of the parricide he had committed ; and exchanged his kingdom 
 for the maritime coast of Argolis. 
 
 The time of the death of Perseus is unknown, it is universally 
 agreed however, that he received divine honours like the rest of the 
 ancient heroes. 
 
 HEROES. 
 
 Heroes are mortals, who, by their glorious achievements, have 
 excited the admiration of their kind, and received the respect due 
 to those immortal spirits, who have distinguished themselves in the 
 service of their country. 
 
 Homer represents a hero as a prince of the ancient time, loved 
 and protected by the Gods: while in Hesiod, they are the early 
 order of beings who preceded the frail human race. 
 
THESEUS. 
 
 " Aye, tins is ho, 
 
 A proud and mighty spirit : how fine his form. 
 
 Gigantic! moulded like the race that Btrove 
 
 To take Jove's heaven by storm, and seare him from 
 
 Olympus. There he sits, a demi-god, 
 
 Stern as when he of yore forsook the maid 
 
 Who, doating saved him from the Cretan toil, 
 
 Where he had slain the Minotaur. Alas ! 
 
 Fond Ariadne, thee did he desert, 
 
 And heartless left thee on the Naiad's shore 
 
 To languish. This is he who dared to roam 
 
 The world infernal, and on Pluto's queen, 
 
 Ceres' own lost Prosperina, did lay 
 
 His hand : thence was he prisoned in the vaults 
 
 Beneath, 'till freed by Hercules. Methinks 
 
 (So perfect is the Phidian stone) his sire, 
 
 The sea god Neptune, hath in anger stopped 
 
 The current of life, and with his trident toucli 
 
 Hath struck him into marble." 
 
 Barry Cornwall. 
 
 This hero, one of the most celebrated of antiquity, was the son 
 of iEgeus, by ^thra, daughter of Pittheus, though not publicly 
 acknowledged to be the King of Athens, being educated at Tnezene, 
 in the house of Pittheus. When he came to maturity, he was sent 
 
 by his mother to Mfrus, and a sword which had been hidden 
 beneath a stone until he became of age, and by which he was to 
 
198 THESEUS AND ARIADNE. 
 
 make himself known to his parent, was shown to him, and ordered 
 to be taken. The usual journey for travellers to his father's court, 
 at Athens, was by sea, but Theseus determined to signalise himself 
 by encountering the dangers which attended the journey on land, 
 and which consisted in robbers and wild beasts, rendering the road 
 almost impassable : however, these obstacles were all met, and des- 
 troyed by his courage. He arrived at Athens in safety, where his 
 reception was not so cordial as he hoped, for Medea, who resided 
 with Mgeus, felt that her influence with this monarch would be 
 destroyed, if once Theseus gained his proper footing in his father's 
 house, and she tried to poison him before his return was known to 
 the Athenians. With a refinement of cruelty, she endeavoured to 
 make iEgeus give a cup of poison to him, as an unknown stranger 
 at a feast ; but the sword at his side saved Theseus, for his father 
 recognised it, and introduced him to the people of Athens as his 
 son, all of whom gladly hailed the illustrious man, who had cleansed 
 them of robbers and pirates, as the offspring of their monarch. 
 
 The Pallantides, however, who expected to succeed their uncle 
 on his throne, were enraged at the reception of Theseus, and 
 attempted to assassinate him ; their barbarous intent recoiled upon 
 themselves, for they were all slain by young Theseus. 
 
 The bull of Marathon which ravaged the neighbouring country, 
 next engaged his attention, and taking the animal alive, he led 
 it through the streets of Athens, previously to sacrificing it on the 
 altar of Minerva. 
 
 At this time, the Minotaur was receiving the annual tribute of 
 
 seven of the noblest youth of Athens, and Theseus could not fail of 
 
 being ranked among them, to be devoured by the monster. 
 
 "The Minotaur was fed, 
 
 With human victims for Androgeos dead. 
 The flower of Athens were compelled to bleed. 
 For thus the cruel oracle decreed, 
 Till Theseus; to preserve his country's blood, 
 Himself devoted for the public good." 
 
 Ovid. 
 
 The wish to deliver his native land from this danger, induced him 
 voluntarily to undertake the expedition ; and before his departure, 
 he promised his father, if he should be successful, to hoist a white 
 sail on his return. 
 
 Ariadne, the daughter of Minos, became enamoured of him and by 
 
THESE* - 1!J') 
 
 assisting him in the entei prise, he was successful and killed the 
 Minotaur. 
 
 On his return from his victory there, he was driven by contrary 
 winds on the Isle of Naxos, where he had the meanness to desert 
 Ariadne, whose conduct had been the means of his glorious 
 triumph, and to whom he was even indebted for his life. 
 
 When he came in sight of Athens, he forgot, in the height of his 
 
 success, to hoist the white sail he had promised his father, who, 
 
 seeing a black sail upon his son's ship, despairingly threw himself 
 
 into the sea. 
 
 " On a high rock that beetles o'er the flood, 
 With daily care the pensive father stood ; 
 And when he saw impatient from afar ? 
 The fatal signal floating in the air, 
 Thinking his Theseus was untimely slain, 
 He rashly plunged himself beneath the main!" 
 
 His ascension to his father's throne w r as received with much 
 pleasure, the country was governed with mildness, new reputation 
 acquired and new laws enacted. 
 
 The renown he gained by his victory and policy, made his alliance 
 courted in general; but Pirithous king of the Lapithae, sought the 
 more singular mode of gaining it by meeting him in fight. 
 
 He invaded the territories of Theseus, and when the latter 
 assembled his forces to meet him, the two foes as they gazed 
 on each other, were seized with a sudden and mutual friendship, 
 and rushed into each others arms: from that time, their affection 
 became proverbial. 
 
 Theseus was present at the nuptials of his friend, and when the 
 brutal Centaurs attempted to insult the bride, was one of the most 
 forward to defend: and when Pirithous, after this, had lost 
 Hippodamia, he agreed with Theseus to carry away one of the 
 daughters of the gods. 
 
 They first attempted their scheme upon Helen, the beautiful 
 daughter of Leda, and when they had obtained their victim, cast 
 lots for her: Theseus was successful, and she became his prize. 
 Shortly after, he assisted his friend in his attempt to descend into 
 the infernal regions and carry away Proserpine, but Cerberus was 
 too watchful, and Pluto apprised of their intentions, stopped them: 
 Pirithous was placed on Ixion's wheel, and Theseus secured to « 
 large stone on which he had seated himself to rest 
 
200 THE WORSHIP OF THESEUS. 
 
 By the assistance of Hercules, however, in his descent into hell, 
 the two heroes were released from their captivity, and when Theseus 
 returned to Athens, he found that Mnestheus had usurped the 
 crown which should have fallen upon his children. In vain did 
 Theseus attempt to eject the usurper, the Athenians remained 
 faithful to their new choice, and Theseus retired in disgust to 
 the court of Lycomedes, King of Scyros. 
 
 Here he met with apparent sympathy, but Lycomedes soon 
 showed his true character, for enticing his guest to the top of a 
 high mountain, he took an opportunity of throwing Theseus over 
 a deep precipice. 
 
 The children of this hero at the death of the usurper, regained 
 the throne of Athens : and that the memory of their father might 
 not be without honour, sent for his remains from Scyros, and gave 
 them a magnificent burial. 
 
 They also raised to him statues and a temple ; festivals and games 
 were also instituted in his honour, to commemorate the actions of a 
 hero who had rendered such signal services to the Athenian people. 
 
 Leonarde. " 'Tis one of those bright fictions that have made 
 The name of Greece only another word, 
 For love and poetry : with a green earth, 
 Groves of the graceful myrtle, summer skies, 
 Whose stars are mirrored in ten thousand streams, 
 With winds that move in perfume and in music, 
 And more than all, the gift of woman's beauty. 
 What marvel that the earth, the sky, the sea, 
 Were filled with all those fine imaginings 
 That love creates, and that the lyre preserves ! 
 
 Alvine. But for the history of that pale girl 
 Who stands so desolate on the sea-shore ? 
 
 Leonarde. She was the daughter of a Cretan king — 
 A Tyrant. Hidden in the dark recess 
 Of a wide labyrinth, a monster dwelt, 
 And every year was human tribute paid 
 By the Athenians. They had bowed in war ; 
 And every spring the flowers of all the ciiy, 
 Young maids in their first beauty, stately youths, 
 Were sacrificed to the fierce king ! They died 
 In the unfathomable den of want, 
 Or served the Minotaur for food. At length 
 There came a royal youth, who vowed to slay 
 The monster or to perish ! Look, AJvine, 
 That statue is young Theseus ! 
 
 Alvine. Glorious! 
 How like a god he stands, one haughty haud 
 Raised in defiance! I have often looked 
 
THESEUS AM) PHjEDRA, 
 
 •joi 
 
 Upon the marble, wondering it could give 
 Such truth to life and majesty. 
 
 Leonarde. You will not marvel Ariadne loved 
 She gave the secret clue that led him Bafe 
 Throughout the labyrinth, and she fled with him. 
 
 Alvine. Ah! now I know your tale: he proved untrue — 
 This ever has been woman's fate, to love. 
 To know one summer day of happiness, 
 And then to be most wretched ! 
 
 Leonarde. She was hit 
 
 By her so heartless lover while she slept. 
 She woke from pleasant dreams — Bhe dreamt of him — 
 Love's power is left in slumber — woke and found 
 Herself deserted on the lonely shore. 
 The bark of the false Theseus was a speck 
 Scarce seen upon the waters, less and less, 
 Like hope diminishing, till wholly past. 
 I will not say, for you can fancy well, 
 Her desolate feelings as she roamed the beach, 
 Hurled from the highest heaven of happy love ! 
 But evening crimsoned the blue sea, a sound 
 Of music and of mirth, came on the wind, 
 And radiant shapes and laughing nymphs danced b\ . 
 And he the Theban god, looked on the maid, 
 And looked and loved, and was beloved again. 
 He has just flung her starry crown on high, 
 And bade it there, a long memorial shine, 
 How a god loved a mortal— He is springing 
 From out his golden car, another bound, 
 Bacchus is by his Ariadne's side." 
 
 L. E. L. 
 
 Theseus married Phaedra, daughter of Minos, sister of the 
 unfortunate Ariadne whom he had left to perish. Phaedra, how- 
 ever, unhappily, felt a guilty love for Hippolytus, son of Theseus l>\ 
 
 a previous union. Venus, having a dislike to Minos, 
 Phaedra, sent Cupid to pierce her with his Bhafts. 
 
 2G 
 
 the father of 
 
202 PH^DRA AND HIPPOLYTUS. 
 
 For a long time she struggled with the pangs which raged within 
 
 her, but they grew too fierce to he endured, and &he revealed to 
 
 him her love. 
 
 PhcB. " * My lord, 'tis said you soon will part from us. 
 
 Hip. Madam! 
 
 Phce. I pray you do not leave us ! 
 
 Hip. My duty, lady' — 
 
 Phce. Would that that duty, were in pleasing me; 
 
 Hip. To please you, lady, were my highest wish, 
 
 To gain your love," my highest privilege. 
 Phce. To gain my lov ? 
 Hip. Aye, madam ! 
 Phce. Hippolytus ! the fearful truth will out, 
 
 My love is gained ! 
 Hip. I hope, indeed so, — as a mother. 
 
 Phce. aside — (How coldly doth he speak, while thro' my veins 
 The hot blood bounds in fierce convulsive starts.) 
 Not as a mother do I love thee, 
 But — as a woman — now my breast is free 
 Of the stern secret which so long hath burned 
 And £iven a fever to my very looks. 
 Hip. Madam ! I do not understand you ; 
 Phce. You must ! fierce, burning love is mine, 
 For you, Hippolytus, the son of Theseus ! 
 Hip. And you his v\ife? 
 Phce. Ave, boy, 'tis even so ; 
 
 Nay, look not so :— I say Hippolytus, 
 That from the very hour I saw, I loved thee ; 
 That from the very moment that thy voice 
 Rang in my ears, it entered in my heart, 
 That from the hour I was Theseus' wife, 
 Even at the altar, where my plight was vowed, 
 My thoughts were all of thee. Speak, speak, and say 
 Thou dost not hate me. 
 Hip. Some sudden frenzy hath upset thy brain — 
 
 Thou knowest not what thou speakest. 
 Phce. I am not mad ! would to the gods I were — 
 Think not that I have yielded willingly, 
 Unto the passion which I now avow, 
 Daily, and hourly, have I striven against it : 
 And night by night, when visions and when dreams 
 Pressed on my brain in many a confused shape, 
 All bearing one image, and that image thine, 
 I have striven, wrestled, fought against this love, 
 But all in vain. 
 Hip. I scarcely dare believe mine tars, a dream 
 Seems on me, like a man in sleep, 
 A mass of dim confusion gathers round me; 
 Am I indeed Hippolytus, and art thou Phaedra ? 
 Phce. 1 am thy Phaedra ! Theseus has my hand, 
 But thou, Hippolytus, thou hast my heart. 
 Hip. Theseus — my father — 
 Phce. Thy father and my husband, what of that ? 
 
 Love knows no ties save those he makes himself, 
 
rii.i in v 
 
 AND HIPFOLYTUS 
 
 _•'■• 
 
 Speak to me— 
 
 Say that 1 yet may hope to laj raj head 
 On that dear bosom, say thou wilt oot spurn 
 The heart that rests its only hope on thee. 
 Say, or, but look, a dear return of love, 
 And I will fall upon my knees adoring thee! 
 Hip. Madam, I would not, could not wrong my lather; 
 And thou, how canst thou meet his face ? 
 Shame, shame, upon the wanton love thai leaves 
 The marriage bea, even were it bul in thought : 
 And thou above thy compeers raised afar, 
 In that thy name is mated with my father's, 
 Shouldst pray the gods to scourge this passion from thee. 
 
 Pfue. Ob! by thine hopes of heaven 1 praj 
 
 Hip. Peace, thou! adultress! peace, thou, shameles 
 
 Away, lesl I should change a husband's Love, 
 
 1 mo a husband's hate. 
 
 / ha. Thou canst not do il ! 
 
 Hip. What if 1 did proclaim to him thj guilt ■' 
 
 What if] said— lather! lb) wife, mj mother, 
 Hath offered me the love due but to : 
 Hath with a shameless lov< . and wanton's inso 
 Deemed she could win me to hei in d — 
 Woman, 1 tell the* — 
 
 leu 
 
204 THESEUS AND HIPPOLYTUS. 
 
 Pluc. And I tell thee, tli.it lie would not believe thee, 
 
 Yet — say it not, Hippolytus ! for I 
 
 Do love thee as — 
 Hip. I'll hear no more ! 
 
 Mother ! I leave thee, and I pray the gods 
 
 To visit not on thee, this awful crime ! ' " 
 
 Racine. 
 
 Fearful lest Hippolytus should betray her, when she found he 
 would not return her sinful passion, Phaedra accused his son to 
 
 Theseus of the very crime of which she had herself been guilty, 
 
 and excited the father's ire against his son in a terrible degree. 
 
 The. " ' Dost thou dare look upon me bov ? 
 
 Hip. My father? 
 
 The. Dost see this sword ? 
 
 Hip. Aye ! 
 
 The. Dost dread it ? 
 
 Hip. No ; the innocent have nought to fear ; 
 
 The. Now by my crown, this is most base effrontery, 
 
 But 'tis in vain, thy mother hath told all, 
 
 Hath told how, with an impious love, thy heart 
 
 Hath turned to her's ; how with an impure lip, 
 
 Thy words have pierced her to the soul. 
 Hip. And dost thou doubt me father? 
 The. Perfidious wretch ! can'st stand before me thus ? 
 
 Monster too long escaped Jove's fearful thunder, 
 
 After a love filled with an awful horror 
 
 And transports of affection fiercely urged, 
 
 That would pollute thy father's marriage bed, 
 
 Thou darest present to me thy traitor brow, 
 
 And vow thine innocence. 
 
 Away from these scenes of thine infamy, 
 
 Away and seek beneath a sky unknown, 
 
 A land where Theseus' name hath never sounded ; 
 
 Flv, traitor! brave no longer here, my hate! 
 
 Within a court that T shall hold with dread, 
 
THESEUS MARATHON. 205 
 
 For ever will the curse clino; to my name, 
 
 And endless infamy my memory, 
 
 That, having- given birth to one SO shameli 
 
 I dared not take the life 1 gave to him ! 
 
 Wretch that thou an, dost thou not answer m< ' 
 Hip. Sire, I am not the wretch that thou would'st make me. 
 
 Horror — astonishment — have kept me silent — 
 The. Darest thou add falsehood to thine infamy ? 
 Hip. Thy words are most unjust ! 
 The. And there thou standest with a brow as calm 
 
 As innocence itself. 
 Hip. In this I am most innocent ! — 
 
 Nay, interrupt me not, for I will speak — 
 
 Thou hast accused me of an awful crime, 
 
 Thou hast accursed me with a father's curse, 
 
 And I must vindicate myself or die? 
 
 Phaxlra, my mother, and thy wife, avowed 
 
 In accents shameless as the wish she breathed, 
 
 A most incestuous passion for my person : 
 
 With fierce disdain I spurned her offered love, 
 
 Implored her to remember that I stood 
 
 Before her as thy son, and did entreat her 
 
 To come back to the straight path of her duty. 
 The. And dost thou think that thou canst thus deceivi 
 
 Away, away, no more pollute my court ; 
 
 Wert thou not called my son, thy time were short.' " 
 
 Racini:. 
 
 Banished thus from the court of his father, the only consolation 
 for a long time that Hippolytus possessed, was the consciousiu 
 innocence. Remorse, however, at last preyed upon the bosom of 
 Phaedra; after taking poison she confessed to Theseus the crime 
 of which she had been guilty, and Hippolvtns was restored to the 
 affections of his father. 
 
 The name of Theseus had been rendered by liis bravery bo con- 
 spicuous and so dreaded by his enemies, tli.it a tradition became 
 popular, to the effect that he appeared at the battle of Marathon t«» 
 light for the Greeks, who Beemed likely to be overwhelmed by 
 the numbers of their opponents. 
 
 " Know ye not when our dead 
 
 From sleep i<> battle sprung .' 
 When the Persian charger's tread 
 
 On their covering greensward rung ! 
 When the trampling march of fo< e 
 
 Had crushed our vines and flow< i~. 
 When jewelled crests arose 
 Through the holj laurel bowers, 
 
 When b.mm rs caught the l>r< • 
 When helms in sunlight slmm-, 
 When ma its were on :li< 
 And spears in Marathon. 
 
206 
 
 MARATHON. 
 
 " There was one a leader crowned, 
 
 And armed for Greece that day ; 
 But the falchions made no sound 
 
 On his gleaming war array. 
 In the battle's front he stood, 
 
 With his tall and shadowy crest; 
 But the arrows drew no blood, 
 
 Though their path was thro' his breast. 
 
 When banners caught the breeze, &c. 
 
 " His sword was seen to flash 
 
 Where the boldest deeds were done ; 
 But it smote without a clash ; 
 
 The stroke was heard by none ! 
 His voice was not of those 
 
 That swelled the rolling blast, 
 And his steps fell hushed like snows, — 
 
 'Twas the shade of Theseus passed ! 
 
 When banners caught the breeze, <Ncc. 
 
 " Far sw eeping thro' the foe, 
 
 With a furious charge he bore, 
 And the Mede left many a bow 
 On the sounding ocean shore, 
 And the foaming waves grew red, 
 And the sails were crowded fast, 
 When the sons of Asia fled 
 
 As the shade of Theseus passed ! 
 
 When banners caught the breeze, 
 When helms in sunlight shone, 
 When masts were on the seas, 
 And spears in Marathon !" 
 
 Hemans. 
 
ORPHEU S. 
 
 The distinguished honour which the ancients rendered to 
 Orpheus, appears to have been an homage paid by the refinement ol 
 the age to music and poetry, of which he was so distinguished an 
 ornament. He was the son of (Eager by the muse Calliope, though 
 some assert him to have been the son of Apollo, because the god, 
 owing to the genius he showed for music-, presented him with a 
 lyre, to the improvement of which Orpheus added two cords,- and 
 upon which he played with so masterly a hand, that the river in its 
 rapid current ceased to flow, the wild beasts of the forest fo 
 their nature, and gazed on him in mute admiration, while the veiy 
 rocks moved towards him to express their joy. 
 
 "The rocks re-echo shrill, the beasts of forest wild 
 
 Stand at the cavern's mouth, in listening trance beguiled. 
 
 The birds surround the den, and, as in weary rest, 
 
 They drop their fluttering wings, forgetful olthe rest, 
 
 Amazed the Centaur saw; his clapping hands he heat, 
 
 And stamped in ecstacy the rock with hoofed and horny feet." 
 
 But though this beautiful art was his master passion, he did not 
 forget the charms of theology and philosophy, in both of which he 
 was a proficient, and in Egypt, to which place he made a voyage, 
 lie was admitted to the sacred mysteries of Isis and Osiris. On his 
 
 turn he was the originator of many changes in the religious cere- 
 
 nials of his country, and was received as the minister and 
 interpreter of the will of the gods. 
 
 Nature itself seemed charmed and animated by Ins presence, and 
 the nymphs made his company their chief desire. It was not long 
 before the winged deity pierced him with his arrows, and Orpheus 
 loved the nymph Kundice, the only one whose charms touched the 
 melodious musician ; with her his happiness was made perfect b\ 
 an union, at which Hymen presided. 
 
 This happiness, however, was not i e tined to last \er\ lor 
 Aristaeus became enamoured of the musician's bride, and with all 
 the violence of an illicit passion, sought to win her from the bride- 
 groom's affections. Eurydice resisted and fled; bul as Bhe Bed 
 from him, a serpent stung her with so deadlj a bite, that Bhe died 
 on the field. 
 
 re 
 
 mo 
 
208 
 
 ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE. 
 
 Deep was the despair felt by Orpheus at his unexpected loss, 
 and the daring determination was formed by him to recover her, or 
 perish in the attempt. 
 
 
 " His own despair the very stones admire 
 
 And rolling follow bis melodious lyre, 
 
 He forced the heart of hardest oak to groan, 
 
 And made fierce tigers leave their rage and moan." 
 
 With his resistless lyre in his hands, he crossed the Styx, pene- 
 trated into the infernal regions, and gained admission to the presence 
 of Pluto! Here the power of his genius was yet more eminently 
 exhibited ; for even the tortures of Hell gave way to it. 
 
 " At his powerful song the very seats 
 
 Of Erebus were moved ; the retreats 
 
 Of all the ghosts were opened, and they swarm 
 
 Like bees in clusters, when the sun grows warm I" 
 
 Not only was the god of the infernal regions delighted, but the 
 
 very wheel of Ixion paused ; the stone of Sisyphus rested, as they 
 
 listened to its sounds : the cooling water reached Tantalus' burning 
 
 mouth, and even the Furies relented. 
 
 " Already had he passed the courts of Death, 
 
 And charmed with sacred verse the powers beneath ; 
 
 While Hell with silent admiration hung, 
 
 On the soft music of his harp and tongue ; 
 
 No longer Tantalus essayed to sip 
 
 The springs that fled from his deluded lip ; 
 
 Their urn the fifty maids no lunger fill, 
 
 Ixion leant and listened on his wheel, 
 
 And Sysiphus' stone for once stood still ; 
 
 The ravenous vulture had forsook his meal, 
 
 And Titius felt his growing liver heal ; 
 
 Relenting fiends to torture souls forbore, 
 
 And Furies wept who never wept before. 
 
ORPHEUS AND EURYDK'E. 
 
 209 
 
 All Hell in harmony was heard to move, 
 With equal sweetness as the spheres above. 
 The wondrous numbers softened all beneath 
 Hell, and the inmost flinty seats of death : 
 Snakes round the Furies heads did upward rear, 
 And seemed to listen to the pleasing air, 
 While fiery Styx in milder streams did roll, 
 And Cerberus gaped, hut yet forbore to howl, 
 No longer was the charming prayer denied, 
 All Hell consented to release his bride." 
 
 Ovid. 
 
 The sorrow and love of Orpheus penetrated the hearts of Pluto 
 and Proserpine; they consented to restore him to the arms of 
 Eurydice, if he could forbear to look behind him before he reached 
 the borders of hell. Gladly were these conditions accepted by 
 Orpheus, and already was he by the river Styx, eager to be conv«\ ed 
 
 across by the infernal boatman, when a touching thought of 
 Eurydice and her love crossed his mind, and he looked back. 
 
 li Near the confines of ethereal air, 
 
 Unmindful and unable to forbear, 
 
 Mistrusting also lest her steps might stray, 
 
 And gladsome of the glimpse of dawning day, 
 
 He stopped— looked back — (what cannot love persuade?) 
 
 To take one view of the unhappy maid. 
 
 His longing eyes impatient backward cast. 
 
 To catch a lover's look— hut looked his last ■ 
 
 27 
 
210 ORFHEUS AND EURYDICE, 
 
 Here all his pains were lost, one greedy look, 
 Defeats his hopes, and Hell's conditions broke, 
 A fatal messenger from Pluto flew, 
 And snatched the forfeit from a second view, 
 For instant dying, she again descends, 
 While he to empty air his arms extends !" 
 
 Ovid. 
 
 The condition being thus broken, he saw her, but at the same 
 
 moment she was turned into a shadow. 
 
 " And fainting cries, 'What fury thee possest? 
 What frenzy,' Orpheus, seized upon thy breast? 
 Once more my eyes are seized with endless sleep, 
 And now farewell, I sink into the deep.' 
 Oblivious cells surrounded all with night. 
 No longer thine : in vain to stop my flight 
 I stretch my arms, in vain thou stretcbest thine, 
 In vain thou grievest, I in vain repine.' " 
 
 Virgil. 
 
DEATH OF ORPHEUS. 21 1 
 
 He returned to the upper world, where the only solace which he 
 could find, was to soothe his grief with the tones of bis musical 
 instrument, to the sound of which, the mountains and caves of his 
 native land bore a melancholy echo. He secluded himself entirely 
 from the company of mankind; in vain was his society sou-lit In 
 the Thracian women ; he rejected their overtures with coldness, 
 until enraged at his behaviour, they attacked him while celebrating 
 the Bacchanalian orgies 
 
 " Here while the Thracian bard's enchanting strain, 
 
 Sooths beasts and woods, and all the listening plain : 
 
 The female Bacchanals devoutly mad, 
 
 In shaggy skins, like savage creatures clad. 
 
 Warbling in air perceived his lovely lay, 
 
 And from a rising ground beheld him plaj : 
 
 When one, the wildest, with dishevelled hair 
 
 That loosely streamed, and ruffled in the ait : 
 
 Soon as her frantic eye the lyrist spied 
 
 ' See, see, the hater of our sex,' she cried, 
 
 Then at his face her missive javelin sent, 
 
 Which whizzed along, and brushed him as it went ; 
 
 But the soft wreaths of Ivy twisted round, 
 
 Prevent a deep impression of the wound, 
 
 Next their fierce hands the bard himself assail, 
 
 Nor can his song against their wrath prevail ; 
 
 In vain he lifts his suppliant hands, in vain 
 
 He tries, before his never failing strain; 
 
 And, from those sacred lips, whose thrilling sound 
 
 Fierce tigers and insensate rocks could wound, 
 
 Ah Gods ! how moving was the mournful sight, 
 
 To see the fleeting soul now take its flight !" 
 
 Dry i>i n. 
 
 After tearing his body to pieces, they threw his head into the 
 Hebrus, which, as it rolled down the current, ejaculated with 
 touching tenderness, * Eurydice ! Eurydice !' until it reached the 
 iEgean sea. 
 
 The inhabitants of Dian asserted that his tomb was in their city, 
 but the people of Mount Libethrus, in Thrace, claimed the same 
 honour, remarking that the nightingales which formed their nests 
 near it, excelled all others in melody and beauty. After his death, 
 he is reported by some to have received divine honours, tin- muses 
 rendering the rites of sepulture to his remains, and his lyre 
 becoming one of the constellations. 
 
A D M E T U S 
 
 was the king of Thessaly, whose nocks were tended by Apollo for 
 nine years, when banished from heaven. During his servitude to 
 this monarch he obtained a promise from the Fates, that Admetus 
 should never die if another person would lay down his life for him. 
 Being one of the Argonauts, he was at the hunt of the Caly- 
 donian boar, when Pelias promised his daughter in marriage to him 
 only, who could bring him a chariot drawn by a lion and wild boar. 
 With the aid of Apollo, Admetus effected this, and obtained the 
 hand of Alcestis. 
 
 By the fortune of war, he became a prisoner, and was condemned 
 to death; Alcestis, with a beautiful display of conjugal affection, 
 laid down her life to save her husband from the cruel death pre- 
 pared for him. 
 
 DEATH-SONG OF ALCESTIS. 
 " She came forth in her bridal robes arrayed, 
 
 And midst the graceful statues round the hall 
 
 Shedding the calm of their celestial mien, 
 
 Stood pale, yet proudly beautiful as they : 
 
 Flowers in her bosom,' and the star-like gleam 
 
 Of jewels trembling from her braided hair 
 
 And death upon her brow ! but glorious death ! 
 
 Her own heart's choice, the token of the seal 
 
 Of love, o'ermastering love ; which till that hour, 
 
 Almost an anguish in the brooding weight 
 
 Of its unutterable tenderness, 
 
 Had burdened her full soul. But now, oh ! now, 
 
 Its time was come— and from the spirit's depths 
 
 The passion and the melody 
 
 Of its immortal voice, in triumph broke 
 
 Like a strong rushing wind ! 
 
 The soft pure air 
 
 Came floating through that hall— the Grecian air, 
 
 Laden with music— flute notes from the vales, 
 
 Echoes of song— the last sweet sounds of life 
 
 And the glad sunshine of the golden clime 
 
 Streamed, as a royal mantle, round her form— 
 
 The glorified of love ! But she— she look'd 
 
 Only on him for whom 'twas joy to die, 
 
 j) ee p_deepest, holiest joy !— or if a thought 
 
 Of the warm sunlight, and the scented breeze, 
 
 And the sweet Dorian songs, o'erswept the tide 
 
 Of her unswerving soul — 'twas but a thought 
 
 That owned the summer loveliness of life 
 
 To him a worthy offering— so she stood 
 
 Wrapt in bright silence, as entranced awhile, 
 
 Till her eye kindled, and her quivering frame 
 
 With the swift breeze of inspiration shook, 
 
 As the pale priestess trembles to the breath 
 
DEATH OF ALCESTIS. 
 
 Of unborn oracles! then flushed hei check, 
 
 And all the triumph, all the agony, 
 Born on the battling waves of love and death 
 All from her woman's heart, in sudden wng 
 Burst like a fount of lire, 
 
 ' I go, I go, 
 Thou sun, thou golden snn, I go 
 Fur from thy light to dwell : 
 Thou shalt not find my place below, 
 Dim is that world— bright sun of Greece, farewell ! 
 The laurel and the glorious rose 
 Thy glad beam yet may see, 
 But where no purple summer glows 
 O'er the dark wave I haste from them and thee. 
 Yet doth my spirit faint to part, 
 I mourn thee not, O sun ! 
 Joy, solemn joy, o'erflows my heart, 
 Sing me triumphant songs ! my crown is won. 
 Let not a voice of weeping rise—, 
 My heart is girt with power 
 Le't the green earth and festal skies 
 Laugh, as to grace a conqueror's closing hour ! 
 For thee, for thee, my bosom's lord ! 
 Thee, my soul's loved ! I die ; 
 Thine is the torch of life restored, 
 Mine, mine the rapture, mine the victory. 
 Now may the boundless love, that lay 
 Unfathomed still before 
 In one consuming burst find way, 
 In one bright flood all, all its riches pour. 
 
 Thou knowest— thou knowest what love is now ! 
 Its glory and its might- 
 Are they not written on my brovi ? 
 And will that image ever quit thy sight ? 
 No! deathless in thy faithful breast, 
 There shall my memory keep 
 Its own bright altar place of rest, 
 While o'er my grave the cypress branches weep. 
 Oh, the glad light ! the light is fair, 
 The soft breeze warm and free; 
 \nd rich notes fill the scented air, 
 And all are gifts, my love's lasl gifts to thee! 
 
 Take me to thy warm heart once more 
 Night falls my pulse beats LoM J 
 
 Seek not to quicken, to restore — 
 Joy is in every pang,— I go, I go ! 
 
 'I feel tl.> tears, I feel thy breath, 
 
 I meet thy fond look, still 
 
 Keen is the strife of love and death } 
 Faint and vet frantic grows my bosom'- thrill. 
 
 Yet swells the tide of rapture strong, 
 
 Though mists o'ershade mine eye! 
 
 Sing PsBansl sing a Conquerors song 
 For thee, for thee, my spirit's lord, I die! 
 
AMPHION AND NIOBE. 
 
 Amphion was king of Thebes, the favourite of Apollo and rival 
 of the celebrated Orpheus in the science of music. It is related of 
 him, that in order to build the walls which surrounded his capital, 
 he played upon his lyre, and by its divine power, the stones came 
 and ranged themselves in order. 
 
 He married Niobe, by whom he had seven sons and seven 
 daughters ; the trials of this princess have been given in the history 
 of Apollo, leaving a touching memorial of the sorrows of maternal 
 love and tenderness. 
 
 (EDI PUS, 
 
 KING OF THEBES. 
 
 CEdipus was the son of Laius and Jocasta ; and being descended 
 from Venus, was compelled to endure all the troubles which Juno 
 might choose to inflict on him, from the hatred she bore to the 
 goddess of beauty. 
 
 S3T 
 
 No sooner had the marriage of Laius taken place with Jocasta, 
 than it was foretold by the oracle, that he would fall by the hands 
 
(F.ni it? 
 
 21 
 
 of his son. Alarmed at so fearful a prediction, lie resolved not to 
 
 approach his wife. Having broken this wise resolution, however, 
 he became the father of GEdipus, but to avert the oracle, he ordered 
 Jocasta to destroy the infant immediately he was born. The 
 mother was unable to obey this cruel command, but gave him in 
 charge to one of her domestics, with directions to leave him on the 
 mountains. Instead of obeying this order, the servant bored a hole 
 in the feet of the child, and hung him on a tree on Mount Cithaeron, 
 where he was soon found by one of the shepherds of Polybus, King 
 of Corinth. 
 
 ■,:~ ' 
 
 The shepherd took him and presented him to Peribaea, the wife 
 of Polybus, who conceived a maternal tenderness foi the deserted 
 
 child, and adopted him as her own. 
 
 The accomplishments of the boy, who was named CEdipUS, soon 
 became the admiration of the age; he was informed thai he was 
 illegitimate, though Peribaea, when be appealed to her, told him, 
 
21G 
 
 OEDIPUS AND LAIUS. 
 
 out of kindness, that his suspicions were unfounded. He remained 
 dissatisfied however, and consulted the Delphian oracle, by which 
 he was told not to return home, or he mus't inevitably become the 
 murderer of his father, and the husband of his mother. 
 
 As he travelled towards Phocis, he met, in a narrow passage, 
 Laius, his father, in a chariot with his arm bearer. Lai us inso- 
 lently ordered the youth to move out of his way, which GEdipus, not 
 knowing him, and irritated at his tone and language, refused. A 
 conflict ensued, and Laius with his companion was slain. 
 
 His demeanour hold, 
 
 Imperative, and arrogant: from far 
 He waved his hand, that I should quit the path. 
 Most narrow was the place, and scarce allowed 
 To one, free passage. I was incensed 
 At his deportment, free myself by birth, 
 Hence I advanced with an undaunted step : 
 He, with a terrible accent, cried, " Make way." 
 I, on the other hand, exclaimed with rage, 
 Returned his menace, and hade him retire. 
 Already had we met : he from his side, 
 Unsheathed a dagger, and upon me leap'd. 
 
urn pus. 21 7 
 
 I had do dagger, but I lacked not courage. 
 Mc he assailed. I combated his onset, 
 
 Grasp'd him, and in less time than I relate it; 
 
 Flung him upon the earth : in vain he Btrovc ; 
 
 When to the contest he perceived himself 
 
 Inadequate, insidiously he feigned 
 
 Terms of submission : 1 consented to them : 
 
 Quitted my grasp, when treacherously a blow, 
 
 Such as thou sees't here, he aimed at me, 
 
 And pierced my clothes. The weapon grazed my flesh 
 
 The wound is slight, but boundless was my rage. 
 
 Blind with revenge I snatched the dagger from him, 
 
 And weltering- in his blood he lay transfixed. 1 " 
 
 A i.i' -ii. in. 
 
 Ignorant of the rank of the man he had killed, he continued his 
 way to Thebes, attracted thither by the noise which had been 
 vented about of the Sphynx, a frightful monster then Laying waste 
 the country around Thebes, and devouring all who could not 
 expound the enigma it proposed, which was — " What animal in 
 the morning w r alks upon four legs, in the afternoon upon two, and 
 in the evening upon three legs." The answer of CEdipua was 
 " That in infancy man goes upon his hands and feet ; in manhood 
 he walks upright, and in old age with the assistance' of a staff.*' 
 Enraged at this solution, the monster dashed its head against a 
 rock, and delivered Thebes from his unwelcome presence. 
 
 The prediction, partly fulfilled, was now entirely brought to 
 pass, for CEdipus mounted the throne, and married Jocasta, hia 
 mother, by whom he had two sons, Polynice and Eteocles, and 
 two daughters, Ismene and Antigone. 
 
 Some years after, a plague visited his territories, and the oracle 
 was consulted, which stated that it would only cease when the 
 murderer of King Laius was banished from the country. The 
 slayer of this king had newr been discovered, and the whole r»i 
 Thebes was in violent excitement, anxious to discover the murderer, 
 to avert the plague which raged; CEdipus himself instituted all 
 possible inquiry, resolved to overcome every difficulty. W hat 
 was his sorrow at learning as the result of hia unwearied zeal, tn i 
 he himself was the unhappy parricide, and still more, thai he wn 
 
 the husband of Ins own mother. 
 
 CEdipus. ut W'liv speak you uol according to mj i 
 
 Bring Forth the rack, since mildm ss ca.ni* t win rou 
 Torment shall force. 
 Phorbas. Hold, hold, Oh ! dreadful sir, 
 
 You will not rack an innocent man. 
 
 28 
 
218 as d i pus. 
 
 (Ed. Speak, then. 
 
 Phor. Alas ! what would you have me say ? 
 
 (Ed. Did this old man take from your arms an infant ? 
 
 Phor. He did, and oh ! I wish to all the gods, 
 
 Phorhas had perished in that very moment. 
 CEd. Moment ! thou shalt he hours, days, years undying, 
 
 Here, bind his hands, he dallies with my fury, 
 
 But I shall find a way — 
 Phor. By the gods, 
 
 I do conjure you to enquire no more. 
 CEd. Furies and Hell ! Hsemon bring forth the rack, 
 
 Fetch hither cords and knives, and sulphurous flames, 
 
 He shall be bound and gashed, his skin flead off 
 
 And burned alive. 
 Phor. O spare my age. 
 (Ed. Who gave that infant to thee ? 
 Phor. O wretched state ! I die, unless I speak ; 
 
 And if I speak most certain death attends me. 
 CEd. Thou shalt not die; speak then, who was it? Speak, 
 
 While I have sense to understand the horror, 
 
 For I grow cold. 
 Phor. The Queen, Jocasta told me 
 
 It was her son by Laius. 
 (Ed. O you gods — break, break not yet my heart, 
 
 Though my eyes burst, no matter, wilt thou tell me, 
 
 Or must 1 ask for ever ? For what end ? 
 
 Why gave she thee her child ? 
 Phor. To murder it. 
 (Ed. O more than savage ! murder her own bowels 
 
 Without a cause. 
 Phor. There was a dreadful one 
 
 Which had foretold that most unhappy son 
 
 Should kill his father, and enjoy his mother. 
 (Ed. 'Tis well ! I thank you gods ! 'tis wondrous well ! 
 
 Dagger and poison — O there is no need 
 
 For my dispatch ; and you, ye merciless powers, 
 
 Hoard up your thunder stones ; keep, keep your bolts 
 
 For crimes of little note. 
 Adrastus. Help— and bow him gently forward, 
 
 Chafe, chafe his temples — He breathes again. 
 
 And vigorous nature breaks through opposition. 
 
 How fares my royal friend ? 
 (Ed. The worse for you. 
 
 O barbarous men, and oh ! the hated light, 
 
 What did you force me back to curse the day, 
 
 To curse my friends, to blast with this dark breath 
 
 The yet untainted earth and circling air ? 
 
 To raise new plagues and call new vengeance down, 
 
 Why did you tempt the gods, and dare to touch me ? 
 
 Methinks there's not a hand that grasps thy hell, 
 
 But should run up like flax, all blazing fire. 
 
 Stand from this spot, I wish you as my friends, 
 
 And come not near me, lest the gaping earth 
 
 Swallow you too.' " 
 
 Sophocles. 
 
DEATH OF (EDIPUS. 
 
 :My 
 
 In the depth of his anguish he deprived himself of sight, as 
 unworthy ever more to behold the light, and banished himself from 
 Thebes for the good of his country ; or as many assert, he was 
 banished from thence by his sons. 
 
 He retired towards Attica, led by his daughter Antigone, and 
 came to a place sacred to the Furies. Here the remembrance 
 
 flashed across his mind, that he was to die in a place like this, that 
 such had been the decree of the oracle, and that he was to become 
 the great source of prosperity to the country in which his bones 
 should be laid. He sent therefore to Theseus, king of the plao , 
 to inform him, that on his arrival he would make known to him 
 the resolution which he had made. Theseus came, and found ( Edipus 
 with his face covered by a black veil, a knife in one hand, and a 
 vessel containing the blood of a sacrifice in the other. \\ ith B 
 prophetic voice he exclaimed : — 
 
 "Lo! the immortal gods have called— the -round on which we 
 stand, shall be mv -rave !" 
 
 As he spoke, he walked without a guide to the appointed Bpol of 
 earth, which in token of approval, opened, and received the victim 
 to its bosom. 
 
 The tomb of GEdipus was near the Areopagus in the age of 
 
220 
 
 ETEOCLES AND POLYNICE. 
 
 Pausanias, and some of the ancient poets have represented him in 
 hell, as the place, which crimes like his, would seem to deserve. 
 
 ETEOCLES AND POLYNICE. 
 
 From the unhappy union of CEdipus with Jocasta sprung 
 Eteocles and Polynice ; when they came to manhood an arrange- 
 ment was made between them, by which it was agreed, that they 
 should exercise the kingly authority for one year alternately. 
 Eteocles was the eldest, and took to himself the first period of 
 government ; but when his year had past, the throne had proved 
 so agreeable, that he refused to keep his promise of abdicating. 
 
 Polynice disgusted at such conduct retired to Argos, where 
 Adrastus, king of the place, gave him his daughter in marriage, and 
 attempted to persuade Eteocles into some feeling of justice ; but not 
 only did the latter persist in his conduct, but sought to slay the 
 famous Tydius, the ambassador of Adrastus, who however escaped 
 this danger with increased renown ; and on his return to his king 
 was appointed by him to join a numerous army, selected to trench 
 against the walls of Thebes ; nor was this an ungrateful task to the 
 warrior who had been so treacherously assaulted. 
 
ALlMflblBAUS AND CALLIRHOE 
 
 -: 1 
 
 " Frowning he speaks, and shakes 
 
 The dark crest, streaming o'er his shaded helm 
 Tn triple wave; whilst dreadful ring around 
 The brazen bosses of his shield ; he stands 
 Close to the river's margin, and with shouts 
 Demands the war, likr an impatient steed, 
 That pants upon the foaming curb." 
 
 Amphiaraus, who was famous for his knowledge of futurity, and 
 a warrior of great renown : knew from his power of divination, that 
 he was sure to perish if he accompanied the expedition, and there- 
 fore secreted himself so successfully, that his wife only, knew the 
 the place of his concealment; she however consented to betray 
 him, bribed by an offer of a bracelet of great worth from Polynice, 
 who was desirous of gaining so important an auxiliary. Previous 
 to Amphiaraus quitting Argos for Thebes, he told his son Alcmeon 
 to slay his mother, if news of his death should reach him; and when 
 Alcmeon heard that his father's chariot had been swallowed by the 
 earth, which opened to receive its victim, he sacrificed Euriphyle 
 to the vengeance of his dead sire. But so execrable a crime could 
 not pass unpunished, and he was tortured by the Furies until he 
 retired to Arcadia, where he married Alphisibaus, To fill up the 
 measure of his crimes, he repudiated her, and took for his spouse 
 Callirhoe. The brothers of his deserted wife however, assassinated 
 him in revenge; and Callirhoe in the extremity of her anguish. 
 
 devoted her two sons in the presence of their dead father, to revengi 
 liis death. 
 
 Her wishes were fulfilled, they slew the murderers of Alcmeon 
 
>2> ETEOCLES AND POLYN1CE. 
 
 but to appease the gods, the fatal bracelet was sacrificed upon the 
 altar of Apollo. 
 
 Meanwhile the war beneath the the walls of Thebes was con- 
 ducted with fierce and vigorous bravery, by the chiefs who had 
 assembled for its attack, until Eteocles and Polynice perceiving 
 that the combat was unlikely soon to terminate, offered to finish 
 the battle by a single combat, on which the crown should depend. 
 
 . " From the flying troops 
 
 Eteocles leaps forth in furious guise, 
 
 And with a terrible accent he exclaims, 
 
 ' To Polynice.' With presumptuous rage, 
 
 His steps he traces, and at last he finds him. 
 
 ' Thebans,' he cried, with a tremendous voice, 
 
 ' Thebans and Argives, cease your guilty rage ! 
 
 Ye have descended to the field of battle 
 
 Iu our contention, prodigal of life • 
 
 Ours is the strife, be ours the forfeiture. 
 
 Let us ourselves, to a conclusion bring 
 
 This unjust waste of blood, within your presence, 
 
 And on this field of death— And thou, whom I 
 
 Should call no more my brother, do thou spare 
 
 The blood of Thebes : thy hate, thy rage, thy sword., 
 
 All, all, on me let fall, on me alone !' 
 
 To speak and leap with fury to the charge 
 
 Were actions of one instant. 
 
 Drunk with blood, 
 And fury, of his own life quite regardless, 
 Provided his antagonist he slew, 
 Eteocles upon his wretched brother 
 Falls with his sword, and all his strength collects. 
 For a long time, intent to ward his blows 
 Stands Polynice. But at length he cries 
 ' 1 call to witness Heaven and Thebes 
 Thou wilPst it !' While to heaven his eyes he raised, 
 And thus exclaimed, his sword he onward thrust: 
 The hovering furies guide the reckless blow 
 To pierce the bosom of Eteocles. 
 He falls— upon his brother spouts his blood !" 
 
 This unnatural combat was brief, though fierce, Eteocles the king 
 was the first who fell, and Polynice regarding him with ill-disguised 
 pleasure; and although the blood was flowing fast and free from his 
 own mortal wounds, exclaimed : 
 
 . ■" ' Thou dicst, and I am king, 
 
 Within these hands, red with a brother's blood, 
 Shall dwell the sceptre thou didst wrest from me. 
 Thy brow on which doth rest the same bright drop, 
 Shall bear the crown thou did'st usurp from me. 
 And that thy soul may fly with more regret 
 Know traitor that thy last blow comes from me.'" 
 
 Racine 
 
TANTALUS, PELOPS, ATREU6, AND THYESTE8. 223 
 
 He approached the fallen monarch, and striking him once more 
 with his sword, Eteocles expired beneath the blow, while Polynice 
 himself exhausted with his efforts to subdue his pain, and the death 
 struggle which tore his bosom, fell in the vcr\ act of striking him. 
 
 Their implacable hatred manifested itself even after death, for 
 when their bodies were placed on the bier, their ashes refused to 
 mingle, and the very flames separated as they arose in bright 
 columns from the funeral pile. 
 
 H^W 
 
 TANTALUS, PELOPS, ATREUS, AND THYESTES. 
 
 Tantalus, son of Jupiter, reigned in Phrygia. Wishing to test 
 the divinity of the gods who were visiting him, he murdered his sen 
 Pelops, and served up to them his limbs, demanding of them to 
 name what the new meat was. The faithless cruelty of Tantalus was 
 discovered, and the Gods refused to touch the horrible repast, with 
 the exception of Ceres, who, thinking only on her lost Proserpin< . 
 eat one of his shoulders, with her accustomed appetite. Jupiter 
 enraged at this atrocious conduct of Tantalus, destroyed his palace 
 with a thunderbolt, and ordered Mercury to precipitate him to the 
 bottom of hell. Here he is represented a, punished with an 
 insatiable thirst, and placed up to tin- chin in the midst Ma pool i I 
 water, that passes around, yet never touches his lips; while, above 
 his head, hangs a bough, laden with delicious fruit, which, when 
 his hand would grasp it, is borne away by a Midden blast of wi.nl. 
 
224 
 
 PELOPS AND HIPPO DA MIA. 
 
 Pelops was restored to life by Jupiter, and supplied with an ivory 
 shoulder, in place of that which had been devoured by Ceres, and 
 to which was granted the power of healing, by its touch, every con- 
 plaint. He succeeded to the throne of his father, and maintained 
 the war against the King of Troy for a long time, but was at last 
 forced to leave Phrygia and seek a retreat in Pisa, where he married 
 Hippodamia, the daughter of the king, that monarch having 
 declared that she should only wed the man who would run on foot 
 as fast as he could proceed in his chariot. This difficulty was over- 
 come by Pelops, who bribed the charioteer to give his master an 
 old chariot which broke down in the middle of the course, and 
 killed CEnomaus ; and when the charioteer would have claimed the 
 reward of his infamy, he threw him into the sea, under pretext of 
 punishing his negligence. 
 
 Thus master of the kingdom of Pisa, and the hand of Hippodamia, 
 he made bold war upon his neighbour, and conquered their land, 
 which he named Peloponnessus, or the isle of Pelops. 
 
 In the family of the Pelopides murder and assassination seem 
 never to have ceased their fearful course. Atreus and Thyestes, 
 the sons of Pelops, having been counselled by Hippodamia to kill 
 
\l KM S. 
 
 Chrysippus, who was an illegitimate son of Pelops, the\ refused to 
 
 obey, which so exasperated her, that she stabbed the child with 
 her own hands. 
 
 Pelops, suspecting his two sons of the crime, banished them from 
 his court. Atreus sought the kingdom of Eurysth< us, King oi 
 Argos, and succeeded him on his throne, after marrying his 
 daughter. Here he treated his brother Thyestes, who had followed 
 him to the court, with great kindness, but he was recompei 
 with ingratitude, for his brother succeeded in winning the affectioi s 
 
 of his wife. 
 
 Irritated at so unlooked for a crime, Atreus took s fearful ven- 
 geance. Having been banished from the city foi - me lime, 
 Thyesteswas again recalled, and invited to a sumptUOUl 
 which was served up the children horn to him by the connexion 
 with his brother's wife, all of whom had been sacrificed to his 
 vengeance. 
 
 When the repast was over he Bhowed to him the heads oi 
 
 29 
 
220 
 
 ATREUS INHUMAN FEAST. 
 
 children, a sight which struck Thyestes with horror. The deed 
 was so cruel and impious, that the very sun is said to have started 
 back in amazement ; and the unhappy Thyestes slew himself with 
 his sword. 
 
 There was now one son left, named Egisthus, who, himself the 
 fruit of a great crime, had been brought up by Agamemnon, and to 
 him did the spectre of Thyestes appear, to exhort him to revenge 
 
 upon his brother the cruel act he had performed ; nor were 
 
 the fates satisfied until the deed had been accomplished, which 
 
 revenged upon Atreus the infamous and atrocious conduct at which 
 
 the very sun itself had started. 
 
 " Asked by his wife to his inhuman feast, 
 
 Tereus, unknowingly, is made a guest: 
 
 While she, her plot the better to disguise 
 
 Styles it some unknown mystic sacrifice : 
 
 And such the nature of the hallowed rite, 
 
 The wife her husband only could invite, 
 
 The slaves must all withdraw, and be debarred the sight. 
 
 Tereus on a throne of antique state, 
 
 Loftily raised, before the banquet sate ; 
 
 And, glutton-like, luxuriously pleased 
 
 With his own flesh, his hungry maw appeased. 
 
 Nay, such a blindness o'er his senses falls, 
 
 That he for Itys to the table calls. 
 
 When Procne, now impatient to disclose 
 
 The joy that from her full revenge arose, 
 
 Cries out, in transports of a cruel mind, 
 
 1 Within yourself, your Itys you may find.' 
 
ATRETJS INHUMAN FEAST. 227 
 
 Still at this puzzling answer with surprise, 
 
 Around the room he winds his curious eyes; 
 
 And, as he still enquired, and called aloud ; 
 
 Fierce Philomela, all besmeared with blood, 
 
 Her hand with murder stained, her spreading hair 
 
 Hanging dishevelled, with a ghastly air, 
 
 Stepped forth, and flung full in the tyrant's face 
 
 The head of Itys, gory as it was : 
 
 Nor ever longed so much to use her tongue, 
 
 And, with a just reproach, to vindicate her wrong. 
 The Thracian monarch from the table flings, 
 
 While with his cries the vaulted parlour rings; 
 
 His imprecations echo down to hell, 
 And rouse the snaky furies from their Stygian cell. 
 One while, he labours to disgorge his breast, 
 And free his stomach from the cursed feast ; 
 Then, weeping o'er his lamentable doom, 
 He styles himself his son's sepulchral tomb, 
 Now, with drawn sabre, and impetuous speed, 
 In close pursuit he drives Pandion's breed ; 
 Whose nimble feet spring with so swift a force 
 Across the fields, they seem to wing their course : 
 And now, on real wings themselves they raise, 
 And steer their airy flight by different ways: 
 One to the woodland's shady covert hies, 
 Around the smoky roof the other Hies; 
 Whose feathers yet the marks of murder stain, 
 Where, stampt upon her breast, the crimson spots remain. 
 Tereus. through grief, and haste to be revenged, 
 Shares the like fate, and to a bird is changed : 
 Fixed on his head, the crested plumes appear; 
 Long is his beak, and sharpened like a spear; 
 Thus armed, his looks his inward mind display, 
 And, to a lapwing turned, he fans his way." 
 
 Ovid. 
 
AGAMEMNON AND MENELAUS. 
 
 Agamemnon and Menelaus were educated with Atreus, until 
 banished the kingdom by Thyestes, they went to Calydonia, and 
 they were treated with great kindness, and from thence to Sparta, 
 where, like the remainder of the Greek princes, they sought the 
 hand of Helen. By the advice and artifice of Ulysses, Menelaus 
 became her husband, Agamemnon marrying Cly temnestra ; and 
 Tyndarus, their father, monarch of Sparta, assisted in recovering 
 for them their father's kingdom. 
 
 Menelaus succeeded to his father in law's throne, and became 
 King of Sparta, and Paris, son of Priam, King of Troy, was one 
 of the numerous visitors at his court. To this prince Venus had 
 promised the possession of the finest woman in Greece. The 
 absence of Menelaus in Crete gave to Paris every opportunity, and 
 he succeeded in corrupting the fidelity of Helen, who abandoned 
 herself to her seducer, and followed him to his palace at Troy. 
 Vainly were ambassadors sent to Priam, to make known to him the 
 infamous conduct of his son. Not only did he refuse all reparation, 
 but he embittered the interview by recalling all the ancient 
 iri ievances of the two kingdoms. 
 
 .-. This unjust conduct gave birth to a terrible war; Agamemnon 
 embraced the cause of his brother with fervour, awoke all Greece 
 
IPHIGENIA, 
 
 ■2-2\) 
 
 to the wrongs of Menelaus, and was proclaimed the chid ol 
 kings, who united their armies beneath the walls of Argos; and 
 showed his personal zeal by furnishing one hundred ships, and 
 lending sixtv more for her assistance. 
 
 The Greek army amounted to sixty thousand soldiers, and their 
 fleet to twelve hundred vessels, but at the very momenl that they 
 reckoned on starting, a deep calm settled on the wain.. 
 
 The oracle was consulted, which declared that nothing less than 
 the sacrifice of Iphigenia, the daughter of Agamemnon, could 
 suffice, as the latter had excited the wrath of Diana, by killing a 
 favourite stag. The father heard the decree with the greatest 
 horror and indignation, and, as chief of the forces, ordered his 
 herald to command them all to retire to their separate homes. 
 
 Ulysses and the other generals interfered; and at last Agam- 
 emnon was persuaded to sacrifice a daughter so tenderly beloved 
 but as she was a great favourite with Clytemnestra, her mother, 
 the Greeks sent for Iphigenia, pretending that they sought her 
 hand in marriage for Achilles. 
 
 \c^,.. u ~ \\^r 
 
 Clytemnestra gladly gave her consent; but when they came to 
 \ulis, [phigenia saw the bloody preparation for her sacrifice. In 
 v;lin did she implore the protection of her father: tears and 
 ^treaties were alike unavailing, but as the fatal blow was about to 
 be struck, a goat of great beauty was found rn her place for the 
 
230 AGAMEMNON AND CLYTEMNESTRA. 
 
 sacrifice. The supernatural change animated the Greeks, the wind 
 suddenly became favourable, and the combined fleet set sail. 
 " Fair Iphigenia, the devoted maid, 
 Was by the weeping priests in linen robes arrayed, 
 All mourn her fate ; but no relief appeared : 
 The royal victim bound, the knife already reared 
 When that offended power who caused their woe 
 Relenting ceased her wrath, and stopped the cominn blow 
 A mist before the ministers she cast, 
 And in the virgin's room a hind she placed." 
 
 After the fall of Troy the beautiful Cassandra came to the share 
 of Agamemnon, and she foretold that his wife Clytemnestra would 
 put him to death. He, however, returned with Cassandra to 
 Argos, where the sad prediction was fulfilled. One day as he 
 came from the bath, Clytemnestra gave him a tunic, the sleeves of 
 which were sewn together, and as he was embarrassed with the 
 folds, she brought him to the ground with the stroke of a hatchet 
 while Egisthus, with whom she had dishonoured herself durin- 
 Agamemnon's absence, gave him the finishing bli 
 
 low, 
 
 " Clytemnestra. What have I done ? 
 
 Where am I ? 
 
 Egisthus. Hast thou slain the tyrant ? Now 
 
 At length thou art worthy of me. 
 
 Cly. See with blood 
 
 The dagger drops:— my hands— my face— mv garment 
 
 All, all are blood. Ah ! for a deed like this 
 
 What vengeance shall be wreaked ? I see already, 
 
 Already to my breast that very sword 
 
 I see hurled back— and by what hand ! I freeze, 
 
 I faint, I shudder, I dissolve with horror ! 
 
 My strength, my utterance fail me. Where am I 
 
 What have I done ? Alas ! 
 
 Egis. Tremendous cries 
 
 Resound on every side throughout the palace. 
 
 Cly. He had no power to escape, or to resist, 
 
 Entangled in the gorgeous robe that shone 
 
 Fatally rich. I struck him twice, and twice 
 
 He groaned, then died. A third time as he lay 
 
 I gored him with a wound ; a grateful present" 
 
 To the stern god that in the realms below 
 
 Reigns o'er the dead. 
 
 There let him take his seat, 
 He lay, and spouting from his wounds a stream 
 Of blood, bedewed me with these crimson drops." 
 
 i^SCHYLUS. 
 
 The tradition of the meeting of Iphigenia with her father in the 
 lower regions, after his death, when the latter was ignorant of the 
 
AGAMEMNON AND [PHIGENIA, 231 
 
 infamy of her mother, and the cause of her father's death, is thus 
 beautifully described : — 
 
 " Iphigenia. Father! I now may lean upon your breast- 
 And you with unreverted eyes will grasp 
 Iphigenia's hand. 
 
 We are not shades 
 Surely ! for yours throbs yet, 
 
 And did my blood 
 Win Troy for Greece ? 
 
 Ah ! 'twas ill done to shrink ; 
 But the sword gleamed so sharp ; and the good priest 
 Trembled, and Pallas frowned above, severe. 
 Agamemnon. Daughter ! 
 Iphig. Beloved father ! is the blade 
 Again to pierce a bosom now unfit 
 For sacrifice ? no blood is in its veins, 
 No God requires it here ; here are no wrongs 
 To vindicate, no realms to overthrow. 
 You standing as at Aulis in the fane, 
 With face averted, holding (as before) 
 My hand; but yours burns not, as then it burned. 
 This alone shews me we are with the blest, 
 Nor subject to the sufferings we have borne. 
 I will win back past kindness. 
 
 Tell me then, 
 Tell how ray mother fares who loved me so, 
 And grieved, as 'twere for you, to see me part. 
 Frown not, but pardon me for tarrying 
 Amid too idle words, nor asking how 
 She praised us both (which most?) for what we did. 
 At/a. Ye Gods who govern here! do human pangs 
 Reach the pure soul thus far below ? do tears 
 Spring in these meadows? 
 Iphig. No, sweet father, no. 
 I could have answered that ; why ask the Gods ? 
 Aga. Iphigenia! O my child ! the Earth 
 Has gendered crimes unheard of heretofore, 
 And nature may have changed in her las( depths, 
 Together with the Gods and all their laws. 
 Iphig. Father ! we must not let you here condemn ; 
 Not, were the day less joyful : recollect 
 We have no wicked here; no king to judge. 
 Poseidon, we have heard, with bitter rage 
 Lashes his foaming steeds against the skies. 
 And, laughing with loud yell at winged fire, 
 Innoxious to his fields and palaces 
 
 Affrights the eagle from the sceptred hand ; 
 While Pluto, gentlest brother oi 'the three 
 
 And happiest in obedience, views sedate 
 His tranquil realm, nor envies (heir's above 
 No change have we, not even da\ for night, 
 
 • Nor Spring for summer, 
 
 All things are sei( ne. 
 Serene too be your spirit | none on earth 
 
232 AGAMEMNON AND IPHIGENIA. 
 
 Ever was half so kindly in his house, 
 
 And so compliant, even to a child. 
 
 Never was snatched your robe away from me, 
 
 Though going to the council. The blind man 
 
 Knew his good king was leading him in doors, 
 
 Before he heard the voice that marshal'd Greece. 
 
 Therefore all praised you. 
 
 Proudest men themselves 
 In others praise humility, and most 
 Admire it in the sceptre and the sword. 
 What then can make you speak thus rapidly 
 And briefly ? in your step thus hesitate ? 
 Are you afraid to meet among the good 
 Incestuous Helen here ? 
 Aga. Oh ! Gods of Hell ! 
 Iphig. She hath not past the river. 
 
 We may walk 
 With oar hands linked, nor feel our house's shame. 
 Aga. Never may'st thou, Iphigenia ! feel it ! 
 Aulishad no sharp sword, thou would'st exclaim, 
 Greece no avenger — I, her chief so late. 
 Through Erebus, through Elysium, writhe beneath it. 
 Iphig. Come, I have better diadems than those 
 Of Argos and Mycenai — come away, 
 And I will weave them for you on the bank. 
 You will not look so pale when you have walked 
 A little in the grove, and have told all 
 Those sweet fond words the widow sent her child. 
 Aga. Oh Earth ! I suffered less upon thy shores! 
 (Aside) 
 
 The bath that bubbled with my blood, the blows 
 That spilt it (0 worse torture) must she know ? 
 Ah ! the first woman coming from Mycenai 
 Will pine to pour this poison in her ear, 
 Taunting sad Charon for his slow advance. 
 Iphigenia ! 
 
 Iphig. Why thus turn away ? 
 Calling me* with such fondness! I am here, 
 Father ! and where you are, will ever be. 
 Aga Thou art my child — yes, yes, thou art my child. 
 All was not once what all now is ! Come on, 
 Idol of love and truth ! my child ! my child ! 
 < Alone) 
 
 ;;, ell woman ! ever false ! false was thy last 
 Denunciation, as thy bridal vow ; 
 And yet even that found faith with me ! the dirk 
 Which severed flesh from flesh, where this hand rests, 
 Severs not, as thou boasted'st in thy scoffs, 
 Iphigenia's love from Agamemnon : 
 The wife's a spark may light, a straw consume, 
 The daughter's not her hearts whole fount hath quenched, 
 Tis worthy of the Gods, and lives for ever. 
 Iphig. What spake my father to the Gods above ? 
 Unworthy am I then to join in prayer? 
 If, on the last, or any day before, 
 
THE TllOJAN WAR. 
 
 Of my brief course on earth, I did amiss, 
 Say it at once, and let me be unblest ; 
 But, O my faultless father ! why should you ? 
 And shun so my embraces ? 
 
 Am I wild 
 And wandering in my fondness 
 
 We are shades ! ! 
 Groan not thus deeply ; blight not thus the season 
 Of full orbed gladness ! Shades we are indeed, 
 But mingled, let us feel it, with the blest. 
 I knew it, but forgot it suddenly, 
 Altho' I felt it all at your approach. 
 Look on me ; smile with me at my illusion— 
 You are so like what you have ever been 
 (Except in sorrow !) 1 might well forget 
 I could not win you as I used to do. 
 It was the first embrace since my descent 
 I ever aimed at : those who love me live, 
 Save one, who loves me most, and now would chide me 
 Aga. We want not O Iphigenia, we 
 Want not embrace, nor kiss that cools the heart 
 With purity, nor words that more and more 
 Teach what we know, from those we know, and sink 
 Often most deeply where they fall most light. 
 Time was when for the faintest breath of thine 
 Kingdom and life were little. 
 Iphig. Value them 
 As little now. 
 
 Aga. Were life and kingdom all ! 
 Iphig. Ah ! by our death many are sad who loved us. 
 They will be happy too. 
 
 Cheer ! king of men ! 
 Cheer! there are voices, songs— Cheer I arms advance 
 Aga. Come to me, soul of peace I these, these alone, 
 These are not false embraces." 
 
 W. S. LaM'OK. 
 
 233 
 
 THE TROJAN WAR. 
 
 The sails were spread, and the vessels destined to the attack <>t 
 Troy advanced quickly towards its shores. Priam and his brave 
 sons though they received the enemy with vigour, could not prevent 
 them from landing, and the siege commenced by a blockade, which 
 lasted for the space of nine years, and might have lasted much 
 longer, as more than valour was i to take the city 3 foi 
 
 destiny had dictated the conditions to be fulfilled, ere its capture 
 could be accomplished. 
 
 An ancient orach- had foretold that anion- the ; ! must be 
 
 one of the descendants of Bachus, who had worked on tin- wall oi 
 30 
 
234 PHILOCTETES. 
 
 of Ilion, and Achilles, son of Thetis, considered Each us as his 
 ancestor. This young hero had been hidden by his frightened 
 mother in the isle of Cyros. Clothed in female garments, he there 
 lived with the beautiful Deidomia, and enslaved by Love, forgot 
 over the cradle of his offspring, the glory of his country, and the 
 precepts of his tutor, Chiron, the centaur. But it was necessary 
 that he should be discovered ; and that he should be animated with 
 higher thoughts and more exalted sentiments. 
 
 Ulysses, King of Ithaca, took upon himself the charge of 
 bringing the young Achilles from his inglorious ease to the post 
 which awaited him in the camp. Disguised as a merchant, Ulysses 
 introduced himself into the palace of the future hero, and as he 
 paraded himself before the women with jewels and arms, one of 
 them disdained the gems, and seized a sword ! — It was Achilles ! — 
 who thus betrayed his manly inclinations. 
 
 Thus discovered, the eloquence of Ulysses was exerted, and the 
 youthful hero listened with astonishment to the King of Ithaca, as 
 he told him of the dangers already overcome, and of the future con- 
 quests which awaited him. Ulysses departed, but not alone, for the 
 spirit of glory was aroused in Achilles, and one more defender 
 was added to the cause of Menelaus. But the besiegers were also 
 to possess the arrows of Hercules, which this hero in dying had 
 
 bequeathed to Philoctetes, who, however, would not give up the 
 terrible arms thatno mortal dared take from him. Ulysses presented 
 himself to Philoctetes, who, at the command of the manes of 
 
SIEGE OF l Ren . 235 
 
 Hercules, .sought the Grecian camp with his terrible weapons to 
 assist them against their enemies. 
 
 But this was not enough. It was necessary to take from the 
 Trojans the talismanic protector of their city, the Palladium. 
 
 Ulysses was also charged with this mission, and the intrepid 
 Diomedes assisted him to triumph over the obstacles which would 
 have resisted his single efforts, and they went forth to seek tin- 
 statue of Pallas, in the very city of their intrepid foes. 
 
 It was necessary likewise that Rhesus, King of Thrace, should 
 be prevented from allowing his horses to drink of the waters of the 
 Xanthus, an ancient oracle having declared that it' they drank of 
 those waters or fed in the Trojan plain, that Troy would never be 
 taken. In this too they succeeded; for Diomedes and Ulysses 
 intercepted him on his journey to the Trojan camp, entered his 
 tent at night and slew him ; they then carried off the horses which 
 had been the innocent causes of his melancholy fate. 
 
 All the oracles being now fulfilled, the siege was commenced with 
 
 vigour, when an unforeseen quarrel stopped the operations of the 
 
 Greeks. Achilles having been deprived by Agamemnon of his 
 
 favourite mistress, retired into his tent. Reverses of fortune 
 
 instantly signalised his absence. A general assault, however, was 
 
 ordered, but directly the army displayed itself before the walls, 
 
 Paris challenged Menelaus to single combat, and promised to return 
 
 Helen if he was vanquished. The King of Sparta, protected by 
 
 his bravery and the justice of his cause, accepted his challenge, and 
 
 would have sacrificed the coward Trojan to his vengeance, when he 
 
 took flight, and escaped by the aid of Venus. 
 
 " Poised in air, the javelin Bent, 
 
 Through Paris' shield the fearful weapon went, 
 His corslet pierces, and his garment rends, 
 And, glancing downward, near his flank descends. 
 The wavy Trojan, bending from the blow, 
 Eludes the death, and disappoints his foe: 
 But fierce Atrides waved his sword, and struck 
 Full on his casque, the crested helmet shook : 
 The brittle stool, unfaithful t<> his hand, 
 Broke short, the fragments glittered on the sand 
 'Idie raging warrior to the spacious skios 
 Raised Ids upbraiding voice and angrj eyes. 
 ' Then is it vain in Jove himself to trust ? 
 And is it thus the Gods assist thejusi ? 
 When crimes provoke us, Heaven success d< oi< -, 
 The dart Tails harmless, and the falchion flies.' 
 
236 DEATH OF PATROCLUS. 
 
 Furious he said, and tow'rd the Grecian crew 
 Seized by the crest, th' unhappy warrior drew ; 
 Struggling he followed, while th' embroidered throng, 
 That tied his helmet dragged the chief along. 
 Then had his ruin crowned Atrides' joy, 
 But Venus trembled for the Prince of Troy ; 
 Unseen she came, and burst the golden band, 
 And left an empty helmet in his hand." 
 
 Homer. 
 
 The Greeks claimed the execution of the promise, and in return 
 a Trojan archer sent an arrow which wounded Agamemnon. A 
 general melee ensued, the formidable Diomedes dashed into the 
 midst of the Trojans, wounded Venus, who protected Paris, and 
 struck Mars himself; and Hector, the brave son of Priam was com- 
 pelled to retire, exhorting the Trojans to supplicate Pallas to 
 withdraw Diomedes from the combat. 
 
 After this bloody action, in which the Gods themselves had taken 
 part, the two armies engaged in several skirmishes without much 
 advantage on either side. The siege still continued, and the anger 
 of Achilles remained, until his revenge was aroused by the death 
 of Patroclus, his friend, who was slain in battle by Hector. 
 
 " Thus by an arm divine and mortal spear 
 Wounded at once, Patroclus yields to fear, 
 Retires for succour to his social train, 
 And flies the fate which Heaven decreed, in vain. 
 Stern Hector as the bleeding chief he views, 
 Breaks through the ranks, and his retreat pursues : 
 The lance arrests him with a mortal wound ; 
 He falls, earth shudders, and his arms resound. 
 With him all Greece was sunk, that moment all 
 Her yet surviving heroes seemed to fall. 
 Patroclus thus, so many chiefs o'erthrown, 
 So many lives effused, expires his own." 
 
 Homer. 
 
 To avenge the death of his comrade in arms, Achilles conducted 
 the Greeks to the attack. The Gods again mingled in the fight. 
 Hector and Achilles met in fierce combat, and the first fell 
 gloriously. The son of Peleus refused to the Trojans the last and 
 only consolation of thinking that the remains should be given to 
 the aged Priam. He had the cruelty to tie the body to his chariot, 
 and in that way to drag it three times round the city, a sacrifice to 
 the tomb of Patroclus, and the unfortunate Priam was obliged to 
 give a large ransom for the remains of Hector. 
 
DEATH Of A( 111 1,1.1 18 287 
 
 "Then his fell soul ;t thought of rengeance bred, 
 
 Unworthy of himself and of the (had. 
 
 The nervous ancles hored, his feci he bound 
 
 With thongs inserted through the double wound ; 
 These fixed up high behind the rolling wain, 
 His graceful head was hauled along the plain. 
 Proud on his car th' insulting nctoi stood, 
 And bore aloft his arms distilling blood. 
 He smites the steeds, the rapid chariot flies; 
 The sudden clouds of circling dust arise 
 Now lost is all that formidable air, 
 The face divine and long descending hair, 
 Purple the ground, and streak the sable sand ; 
 Deformed, dishonoured, in his native land, 
 Given to the rage of an insulting throng, 
 And in his parents sight now dragged along. 
 The mother first beheld with sail s U n< \. 
 She rent her tresses venerably gray : 
 And cast far off the regal veils away. 
 With piercing shriek his hitter fate she moans, 
 While the sad father answers groans with groans; 
 Tears after tears his mournful cheeks o'ernow, 
 And the whole city wears one face of woe." 
 
 IIomi K. 
 
 After this barbarous act, Achilles, led by Destiny, obtained - 
 of Polyxena, the daughter of Priam, in the temple of Apollo. 
 
 Availing himself of treachery, Paris basely slew him bj shooting 
 him in the heel, the only part not rendered invulnerable, 1>\ U in- 
 washed in the river Styx. When Achilles died, the Greeks el 
 a superb tomb to his memory upon the shores of the Hellespont, 
 
 and after the taking of Tro\ 
 
 of Achilles. So glorious bad been his arms, thai r\jax and I • 
 
 disputed for them, and th. \ were given to the King of Ithaca, 
 
238 
 
 LAOCOON. 
 
 which so enraged Ajax that he slew himself, and the blood which 
 flowed from him was turned into a hyacinth. 
 
 JEneas, son of Venus and Anchises, took part in all the battles 
 which preceded the fall of his country, and relates the stratagem by 
 which the Greeks gained possession of the city. Repulsed in many 
 assaults, they constructed an enormous horse of wood, and shut up 
 in it the best and bravest of their soldiers. Then pretending to 
 raise the siege, they left it, and embarked, casting anchor near the 
 isle of Tenedos. The Trojans, happy to see their sails retreating 
 from their shores, left their walls to look at the immense machine 
 which remained behind. Some proposed to destroy it. The most 
 superstitious demanded on the contrary, that it should be conducted 
 to the city, and offered to Minerva. Laocoon, grand priest of 
 Neptune, in the spirit of prophecy, told them to destroy it, and to 
 doubt the gift of an enemy. Vainly he cried, " fear the Greeks 
 and their gifts !" They would not listen to him. At this moment 
 a Greek named Sinon was brought before them, This perfidious 
 man said that his brothers in aims, irritated against him, had aban- 
 doned him, and that this horse was an offering made by the Greeks, 
 to moderate the anger of Minerva, and to obtain from her a happy 
 return. 
 
 In vain did Laocoon persist in his assertion that danger was near, 
 and in vain was he commissioned by the Trojans to offer a bullock 
 to Neptune, to render him propitious. 
 
 Durino- the sacrifice, two enormous serpents issued from the sea, 
 
 and attacked Laocoon's two sons, who stood next to the altar. 
 The father immediately attempted to defend them, but the serpents 
 
|:MS^w«MttM:M'wlmmwi 
 
THE TAKING OF TROY. 239 
 
 coiling round him, squeezed him in their complicated wreaths, so 
 
 that he died in the greatest torture. 
 
 Bv Scamandcr when Lancoon stood, 
 
 Where Troy's proud turrets glittered in the Hood, 
 Raised high his arm and with prophetic call 
 
 To shrinking realms announced her fated fall; 
 Whirled his fierce spear with more than mortal force, 
 And pierced the thick ribs of the echoing horse; 
 Two serpent forms incumbent on the main 
 Lashing the white waves with their redundant train. 
 Arched their blue necks, and shook their towering crests, 
 And ploughed their foamy way with speckled breasts ; 
 Then, darting fierce amid the affrighted throngs, 
 Rolled their red eyes, and shot their forked tongues. — 
 — Two daring youths to guard the hoary sire, 
 Thwart their dread progress, and provoke their ire, 
 Round sire and sons the scaly monsters rolled, 
 Ring above ring in many a tangled fold, 
 Close and more close their writhing limbs surround, 
 And fix with foamy teeth the envenomed wound. 
 With brow upturned to Heaven the holy sage 
 In silent agony sustains their rage ; 
 While each fond youth, in vain, with piercing cries 
 Bends on the tortured Sire his dying eyes." 
 
 Darwin. 
 
 " Laocoon's torture, dignifying pain — 
 A father's love and mortal's agony 
 With an immortal's patience blending : — vain 
 The struggle; vain, against the coiling strain 
 And gripe, and deepening of the dragon's grasp, 
 The old man's clench ; the long envenomed chain 
 Rivets the living links, — the enormous asp 
 Enforces pang on pang and stifles gasp "ii gasp." 
 
 r>\ RON. 
 
 The Trojans following the advice of Sinon, heat down part of 
 the wall to make an entrance for the horse into the city ; tiny then 
 celebrated the deliverance of their country with feasts and festivals. 
 
 Aided by the darkness of night the Greek ships Kit Tern dos and 
 set sail with all haste towards Troy. Their soldiers disembarked, 
 and penetrated through the breach which had been made to admit rhe 
 horse. At the same time the warriors that weir hiddi n within the 
 colossal structure appeared, spreading slaughter and devastation all 
 over the city. Mneaa awoke, put on his arms, and ran to the p 
 of Priam, in time to see, but not to save, tin' aged monarch, his 
 daughters, and his sons, from falling beneath the edge of the sword. 
 
 He then sought to rally the Trojans, and make head against the 
 
240 
 
 ^NEAS SAVES ANCHISES. 
 
 enemy, but when he abandoned himself to feelings of grief and rage 
 at not being able, his mother made known to him the uselessness of 
 his efforts. 
 
 /Eneas followed the council of Venus. He awoke his father 
 Anchises, placed the old man on his shoulders, took the young 
 Ascanius, his son, by the hand, and led him away from the tumult, 
 giving him in charge to Creusa, his wife, telling her to follow 
 closely, and not to leave him. The unfortunate woman, however, 
 lost sight of him, and was put to death by the Greeks. 
 
 After a vain search to find Creusa, the hero joined the Trojans 
 that survived, and all retired to mount Ida, where they constructed 
 a fleet of twenty vessels, in which they set sail, endeavouring to 
 find out a new country. 
 
 The conquerors razed Troy to the ground, and divided the 
 plunder. The widows and daughters of the Trojan princes who 
 were left behind, were obliged to remain in the country. Several 
 of them, famed for beauty, inspired their masters with passions 
 which manifested themselves in quarrels, finishing by many a 
 bloody catastrophe. Among this number was Andromache, widow 
 of Hector, and mother of Astyanax. She fell to the share of 
 
N EOPTOLEM I B. 
 
 24 I 
 
 Neoptolemus, but tliough she conceived an aversion for him, the 
 widow of Hector promised her hand to him, on condition that he 
 would save the life of her son, which was menaced by the (nicks: 
 and accompanied into Epirus the ambassadors sent to claim from 
 Pyrrhus the last scion of a foeman's race; Orestes, the ambassador, 
 explained to the king the object of his mission, he was met by a 
 
 stern refusal, which so irritated the warrior, that he stabb< «1 
 Fyrrhus for attempting that which he designated a base treason. 
 
 Following the fortunes of Ulysses — scarcely had he quitted tin- 
 Phrygian shores, than he and his companions became the sport of 
 Neptune and Juno, and a crowd of miseries beset them. At length, 
 after a thousand reverses on the seas, a tempest precipitated his 
 vessel on a rock, he saved himself on a floating wreck, ami was 
 driven by the waves towards the shores of the isle of tin- Phaeacians. 
 He saw on the shores the beautiful Nausica, who took him to King 
 Alcinous, her father, from whom he received every hospitality. 
 At the end of the repast to which he had been invited, he related 
 his wonderful adventures. 
 
 He told of his arrival in the country of the Lotophagi, people 
 
 who lived on lotos, and of the frightful dangers he encountered in 
 
 the isle of Cyclops. 
 
 "The land of Cyclops fire! kind, 
 
 Nor tamed by manner, doi bj law* confined: 
 
 Untaught to plant, to turn the glebe and sou ; 
 
 They all their products to free nature owe. 
 The soil untill'd a ready barveel yields, 
 With wheat and barley wave tin 1 golden fields, 
 
 31 
 
242 ULYSSES AN!) TOLYPHEMUS. 
 
 Spontaneous wines from weighty clusters pour, 
 And Jove descends in each prolific shower. 
 By these no statutes and no rights are known, 
 No council held, no monarch fills the throne, 
 But high on hills, or airy cliffs, they dwell, 
 Or deep in caves whose entrance leads to hell. 
 Each rules his race, his neighbour not his care, 
 Heedless of others, to his own severe." 
 
 Homer. 
 
 Polyphemus, whose one eye expressed a savage ferocity, shut 
 
 up Ulysses and his companions in a cavern, where he kept his sheep. 
 
 In the morning Polyphemus came, took two sailors and devoured 
 
 them ; at his repast in the evening he took two more. Ulysses, 
 
 horrified at his danger, thought how he could avoid it. He amused 
 
 the Cyclop by his recitals ; and by giving him intoxicating drink, the 
 
 monster slept ; then, assisted by his companions, he put out his eye. 
 
 Ulysses had provided for their escape, for fastening himself under 
 
 the stomach of a sheep when it was going to the fields, and ordering 
 
 his companions to follow his example, they escaped the rage of the 
 
 pflREM PWfOVAi. 
 
 Cyclop, who could only indulge his wrath by throwing at random 
 large pieces of rock after their vessel, which was bearing them 
 quickly away from the scene of their danger. 
 
 He arrived in the isle of iEolia, where reigned iEolus, king of 
 the winds. This monarch treated him with much kindness, and to 
 assure him a prosperous voyage, he gave him, enclosed in a leather 
 bottle, all the dangerous winds. The vessels went first to the 
 
THE RETURN OI I LYSSE8. 243 
 
 borders of Ithaca, when the companions of I Lysses opened the 
 
 leather bottle, believing that a precious wine was contained in it, 
 all the winds escaped, and a furious tempest convulsed the Bea. 
 The vessels were thrown upon the coast of the Lestrigones, who 
 ate human flesh. Two Greeks were devoured by them. In alarm 
 the vessels again put to sea, and they landed in an isle where abode 
 Circe, a famous magician. 
 
 When he had anchored, he sent some of his men on shore, to dis- 
 cover what place it was, but Circe gave them drink under pretence of 
 refreshing them, which transformed them into swine. One only 
 tasted not of the enchanted drink, and escaped to acquaint Ulysses 
 with the strange metamorphose. Ulysses was astonished and 
 resolved to seek the witch in person : and, provided with a certain 
 herb, to preserve himself from witchcraft, he went to her with his 
 drawn sword, to compel her to restore his companions to their 
 previous shapes. The fascinations of Circe proved more powerful 
 than the sword of Ulysses, and he staid with her on the island, in 
 the enjoyment of her society, for the space of a year. 
 
 After concluding his eventful history, he remained some time with 
 Alcinous, who gave him a ship, which carried him safely to Ithaca. 
 It was now the twentieth year of the absence of Ulysses from his 
 home, during which time his wife had held him in continual remem- 
 brance, and though she had been pressed by her numerous suitors 
 to consider him as dead and make a second choice, yet she retained 
 such faithful love for her husband, with such a full and prophetic 
 assurance that she should once more see him, that ail their efforts 
 to influence her were vain. 
 
 In order to put them off more effectually, she undertook to make 
 a piece of cloth, promising that when it was finished, she would 
 choose one of her numerous suitors : but the better to deceive them, 
 she undid at night that which she worked in the day, BO that when 
 Ulysses arrived, she was no nearer its completion than at first 
 
 Meanwhile Ulysses scarcely knew how to discover himself with 
 safety to his own person, fearing that he might he slain by those 
 who were suitors to his wife. By the advice ol Minerva, he dis- 
 guised himself as a beggar, first making himself known to IVle- 
 machus, and one of the old officers of the kingdom. 
 
 In the same disguise he introduced himself to Penelope, bj whom 
 
244 
 
 AENEAS. 
 
 he was received with joy ; and with the assistance of his friends, 
 who flocked around him, he entered in possession of his throne. 
 
 >—-^ Jr ^ 
 
 But still his mind was uneasy and disturbed, as Tyresias, the 
 soothsayer, had informed him that he should be killed by one of his 
 sons. To prevent this misery, he determined to forsake the world, 
 and retire into some solitary place, to end his days in peace. 
 
 About that time, Telegonus, one of his sons by Circe, came to 
 his city to pay unto him his respects ; and, as he was striving to 
 enter the palace, there arose a great tumult, the officers of the place 
 refusing him admission ; at this moment Ulysses stepped out, and 
 Telegonus not knowing him, ran him through with his lance, thus 
 fulfilling the prophecy of the soothsayer. 
 
 J1NEAS. 
 
 Charged to save himself from the wreck of Troy, and to accom- 
 plish the decrees of fate, iEneas embarked with a small band in 
 twenty vessels, which Juno however pursued with her wrath. 
 yEolus obedient to the goddess, dispersed the fleet and menaced 
 them with complete destruction. Neptune appeared, and the 
 winds were silent. TEneas, however, found himself separated from 
 the greater part of his companions, seven only of whom remained 
 with him. 
 
 lie landed on an unknown shuiv and Venus informed him, that 
 
i«NKAS AND DIDO. 
 
 24! 
 
 the rest of his companions were in safety. /Eneas, hidden in a 
 cloud went to the palace of Dido, Queen of Carthage, a new town 
 in which this queen had built the most gorgeous edifices ; in one of 
 which, where she gave to him a splendid entertainment, the hero 
 related to her the history of the siege of Troy and his own adventures. 
 
 The glowing language and animating gestures of the young 
 prince, together with the high deeds which he announced, won tin- 
 heart of Dido. Nor was /Eneas long in perceiving the love hit for 
 him by the beautiful listener, and yielding himself to her charms, 
 staid with her for a considerable time in the enjoyment of all that 
 renders life desirable. 
 
 Jupiter, however, grew dissatisfied with /Eneas, despatched 
 Mercury to him to command him to leave Africa, to try tin- destiny 
 which called him to Italy. 
 
 In vain Dido endeavoured to stop him, she saw in Mneaa a man 
 resolved to leave her, and she loaded him with the curses and 
 reproaches of an infuriated and forsaken lover. 
 
 Unable to bear life in the prospect of a desertion so infamous, 
 
 ,*--<• 
 
 she prepared a funeral pile, determined i«» immolate b< i 
 mounting with a calm resolution sh< j to hei despair. 
 
216 
 
 DEATH OF DIDO. 
 
 " What shall I do ? what succour can 1 iind ? 
 Shall I with this ungrateful Trojan go, 
 Forsake an empire to attend a foe? 
 Himself I refuged and his train relieved, 
 'Tis true, but am I sure to be received ? 
 Can gratitude in Trojan souls have place ? 
 Laomedon still lives in all his race ! 
 Then shall I seek alone the flying crew, 
 Or with my fleet their flying souls pursue ? 
 Rather with steel thy guilty breast invade, 
 And take the fortune thou thyself hast made !" 
 
 Dryden. 
 
 With one strong blow she smote herself to the heart, and fell 
 
 dead upon the pile she had erected. 
 
 " Then swiftly to the fatal place she passed, 
 
 And mounts the funeral pile with furious haste; 
 
 Unsheathes the sword the Trojan left behind, 
 
 Not for so dire an enterprize designed ; 
 
 But when she viewed the garb so loosely spread, 
 
 Which once he wore, and saw the conscious bed, 
 
 She saw and with a sigh the robes embraced, 
 
 Then on the couch her trembling body cast, 
 
 Repressed the ready teais and spoke her last ; 
 
 1 Dear pledges of my love, while heaven so pleased, 
 
 Receive a soul of mortal anguish eased. 
 
 My fatal course is finished, and I go, 
 
 A glorious name among the ghosts below/ 
 
ALLEGORICAL DIVINITIES. 247 
 
 Then kissed the couch 'and must I die,' she said, 
 'And unrevenged, 'tis doubly to be dead ; 
 Yet even this death with pleasure I receive, 
 On any terms 'tis better than to live ; 
 These flames from far, may the false Trojan view, 
 These boding omens, his false flight pursue !' 
 She said and struck ; deep entered in her side. 
 The piercing steel, with reeking purple dyed, 
 Clogged in the wound, the cruel weapon stands ; 
 The spouting blood came streaming on her hands; 
 Her sad attendants saw the deadly stroke 
 And with loud cries, the sounding palace shook. 
 Thrice Dido tried to raise her drooping head, 
 And, panting, thrice fell grovelling on the bed. 
 Thrice ope'd her heavy eyes, and saw the light, 
 But having found it, sickened at the sight, 
 And closed her lids at last in endless night" 
 
 \)k\ i>i n 
 
 ALLEGORICAL DIVINIT1 ES 
 
 The ancients, following- the inspirations of an undisciplined 
 imagination, deified alike Virtues, Vices, and Evil principles. These 
 divinities, the number of whom was constantly increasing, had both 
 altars and temples consecrated to them : and from this kind ol 
 poets, painters, and sculptors have taken ideas, and have blended 
 the deity and the virtue in beautiful unison, giving to them net? 
 and delightful charms. 
 
 \ I KM r 
 
 Daughter of Truth, is represented clothed in white, as an emblem 
 of purity ; sometimes holding a sceptre, at others crowned with 
 
248 TRUTH — HONOUR — PEACE. 
 
 laurel ; while she is in many instances drawn with wings, and 
 placed' upon a block of marble, to intimate her immoveable 
 firmness. 
 
 TRUTH 
 
 Daughter of Jupiter and Saturn, is the parent of Justice and of 
 Virtue. The great Apelles has represented her, in his painting of 
 Calumny, under the appearance of a modest female ; in her hand is 
 placed a round mirror. 
 
 Ancient writers say, that she was for a long time hidden from the 
 world at the bottom of a well, but leaving its quiet on one occasion, 
 she was scared at the reception she met with, and returned to her 
 hiding place, which is intended to intimate, according to Demo- 
 critus, the difficulty with which she is discovered. 
 
 HONOUR. 
 
 The emblems of this god are, the crown of laurel, the lance, and 
 the horn of plenty ; though he is sometimes represented, instead of 
 arms, with the olive branch of peace, as the reward of bravery. 
 
 At Rome he had two temples ; one founded by Marcellus, at the 
 same time with the one to Virtue. An augur having warned 
 Marcellus that these two divinities would not dwell in the circum- 
 ference of the same temple, he built the two distinct edifices to 
 which we have alluded ; but, to arrive at the temple of Honour, it 
 was necessary to pass through that of Virtue. 
 
 PEACE. 
 
 This daughter of Jupiter and Themis, wears a crown of laurel ; 
 in her hand is a branch of the olive-tree, and against her side the 
 statue of Plutus, to intimate that peace gives rise to prosperity and 
 opulence. 
 
 Venus and the Graces were her companions, and an altar was 
 erected to her at Athens; but at Rome, the capital in which the God 
 of War was also peculiarly honoured, several altars were dedicated 
 to her, one of the most magnificent of which was raised by 
 Vespasian, after the war of Judea, and contained all the treasures 
 taken from the temple at Jerusalem, consisting of a splendid 
 library, busts, statues and pictures; with an enormous quantity of 
 natural curiosities. 
 
 This temple was however consumed in the reign of Commodus, 
 previous to which it was customary for men of learning to assemble 
 
FIDELITY — FRIENDSHIP. 249 
 
 there, and even to deposit their most valuable writings as a place 
 of peculiar safety ; and, consequently the loss which took place 
 when it was consumed, could scarcely be estimated. 
 
 FIDELITY 
 
 was adored even before Romulus and Numa had given laws to 
 their people ; and the oath sworn in her name was regarded by 
 them as inviolable. She is represented clothed in white, with 
 clasped hands. Her priests were dressed in a white cloth during 
 her public ceremonies ; but victims were not sacrificed upon her 
 altar, because she was deemed inflexible, and could not yield to 
 prayers, however urgent. 
 
 Two hands, joined together, are the emblems of faith, given and 
 received. 
 
 FRIENDSHIP 
 
 the Greeks represented clothed in a clasped garment, her head bare, 
 her bosom revealed near the heart, holding in the left hand an elm, 
 around which a vine, filled with grapes, is clinging. 
 
 At Rome, she was a young maiden with a white robe, her bosom 
 half bare, her head adorned with myrtle and pomegranate flowers 
 intermixed. On the border of her tunic was written "Death and 
 Life," — on her front " Summer and Winter." — Her side was 
 opened, and the heart visible, bearing these words, " Far and near.'' 
 32 
 
250 
 
 LTBERTY — VICTORY. 
 
 LIBERTY 
 
 wears sometimes a cap, with a rod in her hand, both signs of inde- 
 pendence, as the latter was used by the magistrates in the manu- 
 mission of slaves, and the cap was worn by those who were to be 
 soon liberated, while at other times she appears in a chariot. 
 
 She is, however, more frequently represented holding the book of 
 the laws, and in her hand a sword with which to defend them. 
 
 -^^— 
 
 -»- 
 
 -J 
 
 
 
 
 
 aNW\T 
 
 ^-^s=s=aa 
 
 TJy 
 
 =^ 
 
 
 I i 
 
 -«= 
 
 { 
 
 Vltt 
 
 ^''■striujAC - 
 
 
 ]/" 
 
 A temple was raised to her by Gracchus on Mount Aventine, 
 adorned with elegant statues and brazen columns, with a gallery in 
 which were deposited the public acts of the state. 
 
 VICTORY. 
 
 Styx, daughter of Ocean and Thetis, was the mother of Victory. 
 This deity attended at the conquests of all countries and of all 
 heroes. At Italy and Greece, temples were elevated to her ; at 
 Greece she was named Nice, and Sylla instituted festivals in her 
 honour at the former place. In the temple of Jupiter, on the 
 Capitoline hill, a golden statue of the goddess was placed, weighing 
 three hundred and twenty pounds. 
 
 A thunderbolt having fallen on the statue and broken its wings, 
 Pompey restored the courage of the people, who were dejected at 
 the accident, by crying, 
 
 " Romans ! the gods have broken the wings of Victory ; hence- 
 forth she cannot escape from us." 
 
CALUMNY AND ENVY. 
 
 Victory, by the commands of her mother, aided Jupiter in his 
 battle with the Titans ; and the monarch of Olympus to reward her 
 powerful services, decreed that the Gods should swear by her, and 
 that those who violated the oath, should be exiled ten yens from 
 the celestial court, and deprived of the nectar and ambrosia of 
 Olympus. 
 
 VOLUPTUOUSNESS 
 
 is a female figure, nearly naked, her hair wreathed with roses, and 
 her face and form, full, but exquisitely developed. 
 
 In her hand is a cup of gold, from which a serpen! is drinking, 
 while around her are supposed to exist all the luxuries which att< nd 
 her reign. 
 
 She was the goddess of sensual pleasures, and had a temple at 
 Rome, where she was worshipped under the title of V olupia. 
 
 ( \ia mnv and i.w v 
 are the daughters of Night, and though poets have been peculiarly 
 the victims of these evils, yet they have I'n quentty celebrated them 
 in their verses; nor could more important engines in the hum huts 
 which arose in the world be well chosen ; for, from Calumny, which 
 is the offspring of Falsehood, arises crushed hearts ami broken 
 friendships— while of Envy it has well he. n remarked, "Open 
 your heart once to receive her as a guest, and farewell to joy, 
 peace, and contentment." 
 
252 FAMINE — DISCORD. 
 
 FAMINE 
 
 is the daughter of Night, and inhabited the infernal regions, though 
 the Lacedemonians dedicated to her an altar in the Temple of 
 Minerva. 
 
 She is drawn miserable, pale, wan, meagre, and dejected : her 
 eyes hollow and sunken, her complexion of a leaden hue, her teeth 
 yellow, and her whole appearance worn and melancholy. 
 
 DISCORD, 
 
 daughter of Night, is the mother of a family of evils, almost too 
 numerous to mention. Having been refused admission to the 
 nuptials of Thetis and Peleus, it is said that it was she, who, to 
 revenge herself, threw on the table among the festal company, the 
 apple, with the inscription, " To the most beautiful." 
 
 This apple was the origin of the Trojan war, and of innumerable 
 misfortunes to the Greeks. 
 
 The goddess is represented with a pale and ghastly look, her 
 garments torn, her eyes sparkling with fire, holding a dagger con- 
 cealed in her bosom. Her head is generally enwreathed with 
 erpents, and she is imagined to be the cause of all the miseries, 
 dissensions, and quarrels, which fall upon the inhabitants of 
 the earth. 
 
PHILEMON AM) H\ i < I 253 
 
 We have now enumerated the most remarkable of the Allegorical 
 
 Divinities, the number being too great to mention all. For the 
 same reason we must omit the crowd of Emperors, Kings, and 
 Princes, who, having the folly to believe themselves gods, found 
 mortals sufficiently weak to grant them faith, and to accord them 
 homage. 
 
 In concluding the Greek Mythology, bowever, we must men- 
 tion several fables, which are so intimately connected therewith, as 
 almost to form part of its history. 
 
 PHILEMON AND BAUCIS. 
 
 Philemon and Baucis were an aged couple, of Phrygia, who, 
 
 unblessed by the goods of fortune, found in their mutual and deep 
 
 affection, a happiness, which nothing could overwhelm. 
 
 " There 
 
 Had lived long married and a happy pair 
 
 Now old in love, tho 3 little was their store, 
 Inured to want, their poverty tbej bore, 
 Nov aimed at wealth, professing to he poor." 
 
 As they were sitting together, enjoying the sweets of mutual 
 affection, two travellers, with a melancholy and impoverished 
 appearance, after having asked hospitality, and been refused by the 
 inhabitants of the village, sought refuge under their humble tool'. 
 Unaccustomed to visitors, they were, however, received by them 
 with kindness, and invited to partake of a modest repast 
 
 As they sate in kind communion, the forms of these whom they 
 entertained suddenly changed, and they beheld Jupiter and Mercury 
 in the place of the miserable beings they hid received; the ancient 
 
 couple throwing themselves on their knees, offered to their guests 
 
 the deep homage of their hearts, 
 
 The Gods were pleased with their entertainment; but could not 
 
 forget the inhospitality with which they hid been received bj their 
 
 countrymen, and let loose tin- waves, and sent the thunderholt to 
 
 consume the town and its inhabitants. Philemon and Baucis, 
 were, however, saved, and a superb temple replaced their lowlv 
 
 dwelling, of which they were made the pri< 
 
 They lived long and happily, and having entreated Jupit.r that 
 neither might outlive the other, they both died on the sane day, 
 and their bodies were changed inlo trees, and placed before the 
 
254 
 
 PYRAMUS AND THISBE. 
 
 door of the Temple which had arisen on the ruins of their lowly 
 
 " Lost in a lake the floated level lies ; 
 
 A watery desert covers all the plains, 
 
 Their cot alone, as on an isle, remains 
 
 Woiid'ring with weeping eyes, while they deplore 
 
 Their neighbours' fate, and country now no mere, 
 
 Their litile shed, scarce large enough for two, 
 
 Seems, from the ground, in height and bulk to grow 
 
 A stately temple shoots within the skies, 
 
 The crotchets of their cot in columns rise, 
 
 The pavement polished marble they behold, 
 
 The gates with sculpture graced, the spires and root of gold . 
 
 Ovid. 
 
 PYRAMUS AND THISBE. 
 
 Pyramus and Thisbe were two young Thebans, who, being 
 greatly enamoured of one another, had their union opposed by 
 their friends, between the families of whom there had been a 
 variance for many years. 
 
 " But to prevent their wandering in the dark, 
 
 They both agree to fix upon a mark ; 
 
 A mark that could not their designs expose: 
 
 The tomb of Venus was the mark they chose ; 
 
 There they might rest secure beneath the shade, 
 
 Which boughs, with snowy fruit encumbered, made. 
 
 A wide spread mulberry tree its rise had took 
 
 Just in the margin of a gurgling brook." 
 
 Ovid. 
 
 They determined, however, if possible, to elude the vigilance of 
 their persecutors, and agreed to meet outside the walls of the city, 
 under the mulberry tree which grew there, and then to celebrate 
 
ACIS A NO '.. A I. ATI: \ . 255 
 
 their union. Thisbe was the first who arrived at the place 
 appointed, when the sudden arrival of a lioness so frightened her, 
 that she fled away, dropping her veil in her flight. This tin* 
 lioness smeared with blood, and then disappeared, Leaving it under 
 the trysting tree. 
 
 In a short time Pyramus arrived, but found that she, lor whom 
 he looked, was absent : the bloody veil alone met his anxious gaze, 
 which he instantly recognized, and concluded that she had been 
 torn to pieces by wild beasts. In his despair lie drew his sword 
 and killed himself. 
 
 When the fears of Thisbe were passed away, she returned to the 
 mulberry tree, but found only the lifeless remains of her lover. In 
 the agony whicll overcame her, she fell upon the weapon with 
 which Pyramus had destroyed himself, and joined him in his 
 endless rest. 
 
 " But when her view the bleeding love confessed, 
 
 She shrieked, she tore her hair, she heat her breast, 
 
 She raised the hody, and embraced it round, 
 
 And bathed with tears unfeigned, the gaping wound, 
 
 Then her warm lips to the cold face applied — 
 
 'And is it thus, ah! thus we meet,' she cried 
 
 My Pyramus, whence sprang thy cruel late ? 
 
 My Pyramus; ah ! speak, ere 'tis too late: 
 
 I, thy own Thisbe; but one word implore, 
 
 One word thy Thisbe never a^ked before! 
 
 Fate, though it conquers, shall no triumph gain, 
 
 late, that divides us still divides in vain. 
 
 Now, both our cruel parents, hear my prayer, 
 
 My prayer to offer for us both 1 dare, 
 
 O see our ashes in one urn confined, 
 
 Whom love at first, and fate at last, has joined. 
 
 Thou tree, where now one lifeless lump i^ laid. 
 
 Ere long o'er two shall east a friendly shade, 
 
 Still let our loves from thee he understood, 
 
 Still witness, in thy purple fruit our blood — 
 
 She spoke, and in her bosom plunged the BWOld 
 
 All warm, and reeking from its slaughtered Lord." 
 
 OMI.. 
 
 ACIS AN J) GAL ATE \. 
 
 Polyphemus, the most dreadful and hideous of the Cyclops, loved 
 Galatea, one of the beautiful race of the sea-nymphs, Da? by day, 
 did the giant sit by the Bide of a fountain, neglecting his flocks, 
 and murmuring love songs the most touching and impassioned ; 
 while he adorned his person and endeavoured to render himself IS 
 agreeable, by these and other means, t<» his nymph as possible. 
 
2f)G ACIS AND GALATKA. 
 
 Galatea treated all his attentions with disrespect, and bestowed 
 her affections upon Acis ; meeting him in secret in a grotto, there 
 enjoying the sweet society of one another, unsuspicious of the 
 danger which threatened them. 
 
 Acis knelt 
 
 At Galatea's feet. She gazed awhile, 
 
 One delicate hand was pressed against her cheek, 
 
 That flushed with pleasure, and her dark hair streamed 
 
 Shadowing the brightness of her fixed eye, 
 
 Which on the young Sicilian shepherd's face 
 
 Shone like a star — 
 
 'Twas strange that she, a high sea-nymph should leave, 
 
 Her watery palaces, and coral caves, 
 
 Her home, and all immortal company, 
 
 To dwell with him, a simple shepherd boy." 
 
 Barry Cornwall. 
 
 Polyphemus, however, discovered their retreat, and with it, the 
 ccuse of all the scorn and indifference, with which he had heen 
 treated. 
 
 At once he saw 
 
 His rival, and the nymph he loved so well, 
 Twined in each other's arms. * Away,' he cried, 
 ' Away thou wanton nymph, and thou, my slave. 
 Earth born and base, thou — thou whom t could shake 
 To atoms, as the tempest scatters abroad 
 The sea-sand tow'rd the skies, away, away !' " 
 
 Acis came forth from his retreat, and Polyphemus threw an 
 enormous rock upon him, which crushed him beneath its weight. 
 
 . " The shepherd boy, 
 
 He felt the Cyclop's wrath, for on his head 
 The mighty weight descended : not a limb, 
 Or bone, or fragment, or a glossy hair, 
 Remained of all his beauty." 
 
 Galatea was in despair, and as she could not restore him to life, 
 she changed him into a river, on the banks of which, she could 
 still sport at even time, and sing to her beautiful, but lost love. 
 " She changed, 
 
 As Grecian fables say, the shepherd boy 
 
 Into a stream, and on its banks would lie, 
 
 And utter her laments in such a tone, 
 
 As might have moved the rocks, and then would call 
 
 Upon the murdered Acis. He the while 
 
 Ran to the sea, but oft on summer nights 
 
 Noises were heard, and plaintive music like, 
 
 The songs you hear in Sicily — shepherd swains 
 
 For many an age would lie by that lone stream, 
 
 And from its watery melodies catch an air, 
 
 And tune it to their simple instruments." 
 
 Barry Cornwall. 
 
HERO \ND LEANDER. 
 
 Hero was a priestess of Venus, at Sestos, whom Leander mel 
 
 duiing one of the festivals held annually at the fane of the goddess, 
 
 in honour of Adonis. 
 
 "As thro' the temple passed the Sestian maid, 
 
 Her face a softened dignity displayed ; 
 
 And as she shone superior to the rest, 
 
 In the sweet bloom of youth and beauty dress'd, 
 
 Such softness, tempered with majestic mien. 
 
 The earthly priestess matched the heavenly queen." 
 
 The appearance of Hero inflamed the bosom of Leander, nor 
 
 was he long in expressing his love to the beautiful being who had 
 won it. In the very temple of the goddess, whose priestess Bhe 
 was, and while warmed with the rites at which she had been 
 assisting, Leander avowed his passion. 
 
 "Her lily hand he seized, and gently pressed, 
 
 And softly sighed the passion of his breast, 
 
 Then to the temples last recess conveyed 
 
 The unrehictant, unresisting maid, 
 
 Silent she stood, and wrapt in thought profound, 
 
 Her modest eyes were fixed upon the ground, 
 
 Her cheeks she hid, in rosy blushes drest, 
 
 And veiled her lily shoulders with her vest." 
 
 Rfvaj - - 
 The earnest wooing of Leander was assisted by the boy-god, and 
 Hero, won by his passionate pleading, and by I lots is Strong U \i 
 was sudden, consented to become his bride. 
 
 -" How more than SW< St. 
 
 That moment, as he knelt at Heio'l li 
 Breathing bis passion in each thrilling word, 
 Only by lovers said, and lovers heard. 1 
 
 i !•: I. 
 Before they parted, she told him of her place of abode oyer the 
 
 broad Hellespont, which he must cross, ere he eould enjoy her 
 
 society, and pointed out the spot to which he should look at night 
 for a torch to guide his way. 
 33 
 
258 HERO AND LEANDER. 
 
 " Dimly and slowly the hours passed by, until 
 Leander saw day's bright orb disappear : 
 He thought of Hero and the lost delight, 
 Her last embracings, and the space between ; 
 He thought of Hero, and the future night, 
 Her speechless rapture, and enamoured mien." 
 
 Keats. 
 
 At last the twilight came, followed by the darkness of night, and 
 the bright star of Venus alone looked down on the expectant lover. 
 He saw not the dark rush of Helle's wave, he heard not the fierce 
 sweep of its waters ; he thought only of the beautiful bride, who 
 had sate watching, and waiting for the weary sun to go down ; 
 when, lo 
 
 " Her turret torch was blazing high, 
 
 Though rising gale and breaking foam, 
 
 And shrieking sea birds warned him home ; 
 
 And clouds aloft, and tides below, 
 
 With sighs, and sounds, foibade to go ; 
 
 He could not see, he would not hear, 
 
 Or sound or sign foreboding fear; 
 
 His eye but saw that light of love, 
 
 The only star it hailed above ; 
 
 His ear but rang with Hero's song, 
 
 ' Ye waves divide not lovers long !' " 
 
 With a strong hand and anxious heart, the husband-lover 
 dashed aside the impetuous waves ; and sought and gained in safety 
 the shore which the blazing light had signalled. And, oh ! the 
 tenderness of that meeting ; the obstacles which intervened added 
 an additional zest, and the waves seemed to have nerved the youth 
 to a higher excitement, as he gazed on Hero. But the sorrowful 
 morning came, and 
 
 " They parted, but they met again — ■ 
 
 The blue sea rolled between them — but in vain ! 
 
 Leander had no fear, he cleft the wave, 
 
 What is the peril fond hearts will not brave ! 
 
 Delicious were their moonlight wanderings, 
 
 Delicious were the kind, the gentle things 
 
 Each to the other breathed ; a starry sky, 
 
 Music and flowers, this is earth's luxury. 
 
 The measure of its happiness is full, 
 
 When all around, like it, is beautiful. 
 
 There were sweet birds to count the hours, and roses, 
 
 Like those on which a blushing cheek reposes, 
 
 Violets as fresh as violets could be ; 
 
 Stars over head, with each a history 
 
 Of love told by its light ; and waving trees 
 
 And perfumed breathings upon every breeze." 
 
 L. E. L. 
 
 But their intercourse was soon stopped, it seemed too beautiful 
 
PYGMALION. 
 
 for earth; Leander, however, thought not of this, but with the en- 
 thusiastic ardour of youth, looked forward to a long life of delights. 
 The day to him was a dull blank, and was employed in watching 
 the spot, where at night he saw the beacon which cheered hi, wa\. 
 But alas ! the change came too soon. 
 
 -" One nighl the sky, 
 
 As if with passion, darkened angrily, 
 
 And gusts of wind swept o'er the troubled main 
 
 Like hasty threats, and (hen were calm again ; 
 
 That night, young Hero by her beacon kept 
 
 Her silent watch, and blamed the night and wept, 
 
 And scarcely dared to look upon the sky ; 
 
 Yet lulling still her fond anxiety." 
 
 L. E. L. 
 Morning came, and came after a night of such terror, as but 
 rarely is known to mortals; for the first time Leander had not sought 
 her bower, and an indistinct shadow brooded over her mind, of 
 some vague, uncertain dread, as she wandered down to the 
 sea shore. 
 
 " Her heart sick with its terror, and her eye, 
 
 Roving in tearful, dim uncertainty. 
 
 Not long uncertain,— she marked something glide, 
 
 Shadowy and indistinct upon the tide; 
 
 On rushed she in that despernte energy, 
 
 Which only has to know, and knowing, die — 
 
 — It was Leander!" L. E. L. 
 
 The melancholy tale is told ; storm nor tempest had power to 
 keep the husband from his wile, and in the wildnessof his struggles 
 tor life, when hope was gone and despair succeeded, his last glance 
 sought the watch light in Abydos, and his last sigh was given to 
 the fond being who looked in vain from its rocky strand. 
 
 P Y G M ALIO N 
 
 was a statuary, celebrated in Cyprus for the exquisite slrilJ of his 
 statues. He became disgusted to such a degree with the debauchery 
 of the females of A ma thus, that he resolved never t<> many, but to 
 devote himself to his art. 
 
 In this he became so proficient, that his marble bust> seemed 
 almost like life — and one, the figure of a female, was regarded h\ 
 him with such affection that he grew deeply enamoured of it, 
 
260 SAPPHO AND PHAON. 
 
 worshipping it with all the devotion which mortals usually pay to 
 woman. 
 
 The passion increased, and the gods, pitying his despair, changed 
 the statue into that of a beautiful female, whom he married, and 
 had by her a son called Paphos, who founded the town of the same 
 name in Cyprus. 
 
 H There was a statuary, one who loved 
 
 And worshipped the white marble that he shaped ; 
 
 Till, as the story goes, the Cyprus' queen, 
 
 Or some such fine, kind hearted deity, 
 
 Touched the pale stone with life, and it became 
 
 At last Pygmalion's bride." 
 
 Barry Cornwall. 
 
 ^ SAPPHO AND PHAON. 
 
 The story of Sappho and of Phaon has become almost, if not 
 
 quite as well known, as that of Hero and Leander. Sappho was 
 
 celebrated for her beauty and her poetical talents, all of which she 
 
 bestowed in love on Phaon. 
 
 " A youth so shaped, with such a mien, 
 A form like that of Jove serene, 
 With sparkling eyes, and flowing hair, 
 And wit, that ever charms the fair." 
 
 He gave himself up for a time to the pleasure of her society, but 
 man was as fickle then as now, and he grew tired, even conceiving 
 a disdain for her who had so quickly given herself to his arms. 
 
 To a mind like Sappho's, finely wrought, as that of poets usually 
 
 are, this became insupportable ; life was a burthen ; song, now that 
 
 the one had gone whose praise she valued more than all beside, 
 
 became neglected ; and in a fit of insupportable madness she threw 
 
 herself into the sea. 
 
 u From Leucadia's promontory 
 Flung herself headlong for the Lesbian boy, 
 (Ungrateful he to work her such annoy ;) 
 But time hath as in sad requital, given 
 A branch of laurel to her, and some bard 
 Swears that a heathen God or Goddess gave 
 Her swan-like wings wherewith to fly to heaven : 
 And now, at limes, when gloomy tempests roar 
 Along the Adriatic, in the waves 
 She dips her plumes, and on the watery shore 
 Sings as the love-crazed Sappho sung of yore." 
 
 Barry Cornwall. 
 
SAPPHO. 261 
 
 Of all her compositions, hut two now remain; which, fragments as 
 they are, shew by their uncommon Bweetness and beauty, liow- 
 worthily the praises of the ancients were bestowed upon a poet, 
 whom they even ventured to call the tenth muse. 
 
 "Then came a dark browed spirit, on whose head 
 Laurel and withering roses loosely hung : 
 She held a harp, amongst whose chords her hand 
 Wandered for music — and it came. She sang 
 
 A song despairing, and the whispering winds 
 
 Seemed envious of her melody and streamed 
 
 Amidst the wires to rival her, in vain. 
 
 Short was the strain hut sweel : methought it ->|>"ke 
 
 Of hroken hearts, and still and moonlight seas 
 
 Of love, and loneliness, and faney gone, 
 
 And hopes decayed for ever: and my ear 
 
 Caught well rememhered names, ' Leucadia's rock, 1 
 
 At times, and 'faithless Phaon:' then the form 
 
 Passed not, hut seemed to melt in air awaj : 
 
 This was the Lesbian Sappho " 
 
 Barry Cornwall. 
 
 The Lesbians were so enraptured with her strains, that they 
 
 raised her to divine honours, and erected a temple to her, and even 
 
 stamped their money with her image. 
 
 "Thou! whose impassioned lace 
 
 The poet loves to trace, 
 Theme of the sculptor's art, and poet's story, 
 
 How many a wandering thought 
 
 Thy loveliness hath brought, 
 Wanning the heart with its imagined glory ! 
 
 Yet, was it History's truth. 
 
 That tale of wasted youth, 
 Of endless grief, and love forsaken, pining? 
 
 What wert thou, thou whose woe 
 
 The old traditions show, 
 With Fame's cold light around thee vainly shining/ 
 
 Did'st thou indeed sit there 
 
 In languid lone despair P 
 Thy harp neglected by thee idly lying ? 
 
 Thy soft and earnest gaze, 
 
 Watching the lingering rays, 
 In the far west, where Summer-day was dying? 
 
 Did'st thou, as day by day, 
 
 Rolled heavily away, 
 And left thee anxious, nerveless and dejected. 
 
 Wandering thro' DOWeTS heloved. 
 Roving where he had roved, 
 
 Yearn for his presence, as for one expected ' 
 Did'st thou, with fond wila eyes 
 
 Fix'd on the starry ^kie^. 
 
 Wait feverishly for each new daj t" waken 
 Trusting some glorious morn 
 Might witness hi- return, 
 
262 NUMA POMPILIUS. 
 
 Unwilling to believe thyself forsaken ? 
 And when contrition came, 
 Chilling that heart of flame, 
 
 Did'st thou, O saddest of Earth's grieving daughters, 
 From the Lucadian steep, 
 Dash, with a desperate leap, 
 
 And hide thyself within the whelming waters ? 
 Such is the tale they tell, 
 Vain was thy beauty's spell — 
 
 Vain all the praise thy song could still inspire, 
 Though many a happy band, 
 Rung with less skilful hand, 
 
 The borrowed love notes of thy echoing lyre. 
 Fame, to thy breaking heart, 
 No comfort could impart, 
 
 In vain thy brow the laurel wreath was wearing ; 
 One grief and one alone 
 Could bow thy bright head down, 
 
 — Thou wert a woman, and wert left despairing I" 
 
 Mrs. Norton. 
 
 NUMA POMPILIUS. 
 
 This hero was born on the very day that Romulus laid the foun- 
 dation of the Roman city : he married Tatia, the daughter of the 
 Sabine king, whom however he had the misfortune to lose ; owing 
 to which, he retired into the country that he might devote his 
 time more uninterruptedly to study. 
 
 When, upon the death of Romulus, he was chosen by the 
 senators to be their sovereign, it was with great difficulty that he 
 could be persuaded to undertake the onerous task, which, however, he 
 filled to the satisfaction of his subjects, dismissing the body guards 
 who usually attended upon the Roman Emperor, thus showing he 
 had no distrust of his subjects. 
 
 His great object was to quell the spirit of war and conquest 
 which he found in the people, and to inculcate the love of peace, 
 with a reverence for the deity, whose worship by images he forbade, 
 and established a priesthood for it, the effect of which was to 
 prevent any graven images or statues from appearing in their sanc- 
 tuaries for upwards of one hundred and thirty years. 
 
 This wise monarch, aware that superstition is one of the greatest 
 engines in governing a people, encouraged a report that he regularly 
 visited the nymph Egeria, who indeed, according to Ovid, became 
 his wife. 
 
NUMA POMPILI1 
 
 In her name he introduced all his laws and regulations into the 
 state, and solemlj declared in the presence of h» people, ,I, ; „ ,l„, 
 were sanctified by the approval of that being, an approval, which 
 gave them them additional favour in the eves of tnb superstition, 
 
 people. ■ 
 
 At his death, which took place after a reign of forty-three rears 
 not only the Romans, but the neighbouring nations were anxious 
 to pay their testimony of reverence to a monarch, whom they could 
 not help respecting no less for his abilities, than fur his moderation 
 in the application of them. 
 
 He forbade the Romans to burn his body, after their usual 
 custom, but ordered them to bury it near Mount Jerusalem with 
 some of the books which he had written, which being accidentally 
 found four hundred years after his death, were burned by order of 
 the senate. 
 
 They are stated merely to have contained the reasons why be 
 had made the innovations into the ceremonies of their religion. 
 
 " Egeria ! sweet creation of some heart, 
 
 Which found no mortal resting place so fair 
 
 As thine ideal breast; whate'er thou art 
 
 Or wert,— -a young Aurora of the air, 
 
 The nymphoiepsy of some fond despair; 
 
 Or it might be, a beauty of the earth, 
 
 Who found a more than common votary there 
 
 Too much adoring ; whatso'er thy birth, 
 
 Thou wert a beautiful thought, and softly bodied forth 
 
 Here did'st thou dwell, in this enchanted cover, 
 
 Egeria ! thy all heavenly bosom beating 
 
 For the far footsteps of thy mortal lover ; 
 
 The purple midnight veiled that mystic meeting 
 
 With her most starry canopy, and seating 
 
 Thyself by thine adorer, what betel ? 
 
 This cave was surely shaped out for the greeting 
 
 Of an enamoured goddess, and the cell 
 
 Haunted by holy love— the earliest oracle I 
 
 And did'st thou not, thy breast to his replying. 
 
 Blend a celestial with a human heart ; 
 
 And love, which dies as it was born, in s'iL r liini. r , 
 
 Share with immortal transports? could thine an 
 
 Make them indeed immortal, and imparl 
 
 The purity of heaven to earthly joya, 
 
 Expel the venom and not blunt the dart — 
 
 The dull satiety which all destroys — 
 
 And root from out the soul the doadlj wed which ■ I 
 
 BTBOM. 
 
CADMUS. 
 
 Cadmus was the son of Agenor, and brother of Europa, who was 
 carried away by Jupiter in the likeness of a bull ; this prince 
 being ordered by his father never to return if he was unable to 
 
 find and bring back his sister; he at last consulted the oracle of 
 Delphos, to obtain its assistance in accomplishing his mission. 
 
 « Look no longer for thy sister," replied Apollo, "but follow the 
 first cow which presents itself to thy sight, and wherever that shall 
 stop, build a city for thee and thy successors." Cadmus obeyed, 
 and was guided in this manner towards Boeotia, which he founded. 
 Previous to this, wishing to thank the gods by a sacrifice, he sent 
 his companions to fetch some water from a neighbouring grove ; 
 becoming alarmed at their delay, he went in search of them, and 
 found they had desecrated a fountain sacred to Mars, and that the 
 dragon which presided over it had slain them. He arrived but just 
 in time to witness him finishing the meal, which had followed their 
 destruction. 
 
 In fierce despair Cadmus attacked, and by the aid of Minerva 
 overcame the monster, he then sowed the teeth of the dragon in the 
 plain, upon which armed men rose suddenly from the ground. 
 
 In his alarm he threw a stone at them, and they instantly attacked 
 one another, leaving only five, who assisted him in building the city 
 He soon after married Hermione, the daughter of Venus; and 
 had by her four sons and four daughters, whom Juno, out of hatred 
 to Venus, cruelly persecuted. 
 
CADMUS. 26fi 
 
 Cadmus was the first who introduced the use of letters into 
 Greece, though others maintain that the alphabet brought by him 
 from Phoenicia, was only different from that used by the ancient 
 inhabitants of Greece. 
 
 It was composed of seventeen letters, and to these were added 
 some time after, by Palamedes, an additional four, and by Simonides 
 of Melos, also, the same number. 
 
 In addition to the alphabet, by which the name of Cadmus has 
 become renowned, he introduced likewise, the worship of many of 
 the Egyptian and Phoenician deities, to the inhabitants of Greece, 
 into which country, he is believed to have come about one thousand 
 four hundred and ninety years before the christian era. 
 
 In stories so remote, it is difficult to separate the true from the 
 false, and still more so to give a plausible explanation of apparent 
 incongruities: it has, however, been suggested, that the dragon*! 
 fable, arose from some country which Cadmus conquered ; that the 
 armed men who are stated to have arisen from the field, were men 
 armed with brass, a crop very likely to arise from the attempted 
 subjection of a free country. 
 
 We have now related the most celebrated fables in the Mythology 
 of the Greeks and Romans, without asserting that we have given 
 all of them, some of which would be out of keeping in a work 
 meant to be placed in the hands of youth, while others are not 
 sufficiently authenticated, or do not bear sufficient interest, to 
 induce us to present them to our readers. 
 
BELLEROPHON 
 
 was son of Glaucus, King of Corinth, and named at first Hipponous. 
 The murder of Beller, his brother, by him, procured his second 
 name of Bellerophon or the murderer of Beller; after he had 
 committed which, he fled to the court of Prcetus, King of Argos, 
 where being of a noble and fine person, he won the affections of the 
 wife of the king ; he refused to listen to her passion, and in revenge 
 he was accused by her to her husband, of attempting her virtue. 
 
 Prcetus, was very unwilling to trespass upon the laws of hospita- 
 lity by punishing him, but sent him with a letter to Jobates the 
 father of his queen, entreating him to put to death the man who 
 would have insulted the honour of his daughter. 
 
 Jobates to satisfy his son-in-law, sent Beller to attack a monster 
 called Chimaera, in the full expectation that he would be destroyed. 
 By the assistance of Minerva, however, who lent him Pegasus the 
 winged horse, he succeeded in conquering the monster, and returned 
 victorious to the court of Jobates. 
 
 dV^n^ 
 
 After this he was sent on various expeditions of great danger, 
 in all of which he was so successful, that Jobates imagined he was 
 
MILO. 
 
 267 
 
 under the protection of the gods, and gave him the hand of bis 
 daughter Cassandra in marriage, naming him as his successor to the 
 throne. 
 
 It has been asserted by some that he attempted to fly to Olympus 
 upon Pegasus, but that Jupiter sent an insect which stung the 
 horse, who threw his rider headlong to the earth ; and that lor many 
 years he remained melancholy, languishing, and full of pain and 
 weakness. 
 
 MILO 
 
 was one of the most celebrated of the Greek wrestlers, who having 
 early accustomed himself to carry great burthens, became so strung, 
 that nothing seemed too much for his vast efforts, It is recorded 
 of him that he carried on his shoulders a young bullock, lour yean 
 old, for more than forty yards, that he then killed it with a blow ul 
 his fist, and to crown the feat, afterwards eat it up. 
 
 This man was one of the disciples of Pythagoras, whose life he 
 had saved, by supporting the whole weight of the building on his 
 shoulders, when the roof of the school in which he was teaching 
 gave way. 
 
 In his old age a melancholy fate awaited him; for failing in an 
 attempt to pull up a tree by the roots, his hands remained fast 
 
 pinched in the tree, when a lion suddenly sprang upon him, which 
 he was unable to escape, and fell beneath the fury of the b 
 
THE PRINCIPAL DIVINITIES OF INDIAN 
 MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 It is scarcely possible for any religion to possess a more meta- 
 physical and abstract character, than the creeds of the various sects 
 which distinguish India. They present, however, too much interest 
 to enable us to dispense with a few of the leading ones among them, 
 this work not having for its object a deep research into obscure 
 mysteries, but is meant to excite useful and pleasing ideas, without 
 entering into elaborate explanations. 
 
 BRAHMA 
 
 This deity, according to the Hindoos, is the Eternal, the Creator ! 
 and is one of the three members of the Indian Trinity. 
 
 Previous to his commencing the grand work of creating the world, 
 and all that it contains, he passed thirty six millions of years con- 
 templating the panorama of Chaos, which was spread out before him. 
 
 He then produced seven starry spheres, the Earth, and its two 
 luminaries, with seven inferior regions, lit by the sparkling light of 
 eight Carbuncles, placed on the heads of the same number of 
 Serpents. He next proceeded to the creation of the beings who 
 were to people it, in the accomplishment of which., he was aided by 
 the pure spirits who surrounded him. 
 
vishnu 269 
 
 The earth, being yet uninhabited, he made the first man and the 
 
 first woman wherewith to people it. 
 
 Brahma is the object of the most ancient adoration of the 
 Brahmins; he is considered the intelligence who existed before 
 time, and will continue throughout eternity : he watches over the 
 events of each age and revolution of the universe ; he is the power 
 by which everything was created, and everything is sustained ; he 
 is the invisible head of the Brahmins, and as such, is worshipped by 
 them with devoted respect. 
 
 The Hindoos invoke him regularly morning and evening, and 
 throw waterfront the palms of their hands upon the ground, and 
 towards the sun, which they adore as the likeness of the Eternal, 
 while at mid-day, they renew their homage by the offer of a flower. 
 
 The Hindoo painters always represent Brahma with four heads 
 and four faces, analagous to the four cardinal points, and long beards 
 descending from his four chins. In his four hands he holds the 
 mysterious chain, to which are suspended the worlds, and the book 
 of the law; the pencil to write it, and the fire of sacrifice. 
 
 VISHNU, 
 
 Vishnu, the second deity of the Indian Trinity, is consider 
 the preserver of the world, which Brahma has created out «>t 
 nothingness. He descended on the earth by a sacrifice of which he 
 alone was capable, and to save it from certain rum, submitted fall 
 the weaknesses of humanity. 
 
 He became teacher, warrior, and prophet, that he might leave to 
 
2/0 SIVA — BUDDH. 
 
 the world on his quitting it, the model of a man. He resided 
 in the centre of the worlds, and all the worlds were in him. 
 
 Vishnu is usually represented near his wife, whom he enfolds in 
 his arms. His complexion is blue, his eyes are like the flowers of 
 the lotos, and his visage burns with an eternal youth. He is strong 
 and vigorous in appearance, his four hands are sometimes raised, as 
 if in the act of blessing the human race, while on his head is placed 
 a triple storied crown. 
 
 In the middle of his side sparkles the magnificent diamond in 
 which all things are reflected ; while garments of a costly price 
 clothe his noble form. 
 
 To him are consecrated the eagle, the hawk, and the bee ; at his 
 side is placed a fantastic kind of bird, a beautiful mixture of the 
 man and of the eagle. 
 
 The faith of Vishnu is spread over all India. 
 
 SIVA 
 
 is the third person of the Indian Trinity, and is the destroyer, as 
 opposed to Brahma, who creates, and to Vishnu, who preserves. 
 
 According to the Hindoos, who believe in the doctrine of metem- 
 psychosis, the spirit passes from one form to another. To be born, 
 is to appear under a new shape ; to die, is to appear no longer under 
 the same form. 
 
 But, as it is impossible to disown destruction, as regards material 
 things, they admit the existence of a god, whose power was of a 
 double nature, and who could destroy and produce at the same time. 
 
 Siva is drawn with five heads, four hands, and three eyes in his 
 principal head. He is carried by a bull, and holds in his hands a 
 trident and a dwarf stag. 
 
 When they would paint him menacing and terrible, his sharp 
 teeth start from his gums ; fire breathes from his lips ; and human 
 sculls form his diadem. Serpents are entwining round his waist ; 
 the sword and the lance sparkle in his hands, and the tiger has 
 taken the place of the bull ; while his body assumes the appearance 
 of a white cinder, a terrible symbol of his implacable rage. 
 
 BUDDH, 
 
 This is the being from whom the enormous number of followers 
 take their stand, under the title of Bouddhism, and with whom 
 
RELIGION OF BIIDDH. 271 
 
 Christianity alone has the power of claiming an equal number <>f 
 
 followers. 
 
 The books of his priests signalize twelve great epochs in his 
 career, classed and entitled as follows : — 
 
 1. The celestial origin of Buddh. 
 
 2. His miraculous and divine conception in the bosom <»t ■ 
 mortal mother. 
 
 3. His birth. 
 
 4. His progress in wisdom. 
 
 5. His marriage and royal splendour. 
 
 6. His retreat from the world. 
 
 7. His life as a hermit. 
 
 8. His appearance, whereby he is known as a saint. 
 
 9. His predictions. 
 
 10. His victory over the six chiefs of the earth. 
 
 11. The end of his career. 
 
 12. His burial. 
 
 The doctrine of this deity is founded on the principle that the 
 universe is animated by one spirit, and recommends ten precepts, 
 which are, — 
 
 1. Not to kill. 
 
 2. Not to steal. 
 
 3. To be chaste. 
 
 4. Not to bear false testimony. 
 
 5. Not to speak untruly. 
 (>. Not to swear. 
 
 7. To avoid all impure words. 
 
 8. To be disinterested. 
 
 9. To forgive injuries. 
 
 10. Not to be superstitious. 
 
 This religion, all peace and all love, prescribes gentleness and 
 pity, abolishing the brutalizing and tyrannical distinction of ( 
 and invites the world to peace, life eternal, and to the identification 
 of spirits with the supreme essence. 
 
 The grand lama is the Supreme priest of one of the -.vat parties 
 of this church, which has its principal home in Thibet; and the 
 veneration of his votaries for this human repreaentatiie of their god, 
 is celebrated over Europe. 
 
 Below this sovereign pontiff, are patriarchs charged with the 
 spiritual government of tin- provinces? S COWacil QJ lamas who 
 
272 IMAGES OF BUDDH. 
 
 assemble in conclave, and whose insignia answer to those of the 
 cardinals of the Roman church. They admit oral confession, and 
 make prayers for the dead. 
 
 The images of Buddh are multiplied in great numbers in all the 
 pagodas of India, of Tartary, of China, and the countries of Asia. 
 He is represented on a mat, his limbs crossed, his bust stiff, and his 
 head elevated in an imposing attitude, announcing both instruction 
 and education. 
 
 In ordinary cases he is naked and of a black colour, and with the 
 bosom of a female. 
 
 Near him are groups of domestic animals, in allusion to the 
 gentleness of the worship of this deity, which forbids the shedding 
 of blood. 
 
 Beside the superior gods whom we have described, the numerous 
 populations of India recognize a crowd of secondary divinities, 
 whose history approaches in many instances to those oi the Greek 
 and Roman deities, and if their legends offer an interest by their 
 singularity, they prove at the same time, that the founders of these 
 various faiths have sought to give them a character of obscurity, 
 that they may agree with the general mysticism of the East. 
 
 The fables of India, essentially metaphysical and philosophical, 
 are less agreeable than those of the people of the West, who indulge 
 their sensual ideas to a considerable extent. 
 
 Below the Supreme being, whose belief is spread among all 
 nations, are placed the embodyings of the principal god : then, (of 
 
KlVfclR UA.NGKS, 
 
 
 an order still less important,; are placed idols ot all kinds, and of 
 forms, adored by these ignoiant and credulous people. 
 
 Of the many deities of the second category, the most remarkable 
 
 is Ganga, who is the river Ganges personified, a river sacred alone t-> 
 the Hindoos. 
 
 "A stream descends in Meru mountain, 
 None hath seen its secret fountain ; 
 It had its birth, so sages gay, 
 Upon the memorable day 
 When Parvati presumed to lay, 
 In wanton play, 
 Her hands, too venturous goddess, in her mirth, 
 On Seeva's eves, the light and life of earth. 
 Thereat the heart of the Universe stood still ; 
 The elements ceased their influences-, the hours 
 Stopt in the eternal round ; motion and breath, 
 Time, change, and life, and death, 
 In sudden trance opprest, forgot their power* 
 A moment and the dread eclipse was ended, 
 But, at the thought of nature thus suspended, 
 
 The sweat on Seeva's forehead stood, 
 And Ganges thence upon the world descended, 
 The holv river, the redeeming flood. 
 None hath seen its secret fountain, 
 But on the top of Meru mountain 
 Which rises o'er the hills of earth, 
 In light and clouds, it hath its mortal birth : 
 Earth seems that pinnacle to rear, 
 Sublime above this worldly sphere, 
 Its cradle, and its altar, and it- tin-",' 
 And there the new horn river I 
 Outspread beneath it- native skies. 
 
 As if it (here would love to dwell. 
 
 Alone and unapproachable." !,rv - 
 
 To perform their ablutions in its waters, to die on Ks brin 
 
 be thrown after death into its waves, arc tin- supreme bappin( 
 3 j 
 
274 
 
 GANGA. 
 
 the disciples of Vishnu and of Brahma. The dying carcasses are 
 generally abandoned to the current of the wave. 
 
 The most famous of their places of worship is that point of the 
 peninsula, where the Ganges, suddenly abandoning the mountains, 
 is precipitated down the plains of Hindostan. A temple is elevated 
 in the middle of the waters, and surmounted by two cupolas. 
 
 Here are constantly assembled a large crowd of pilgrims, and a 
 willing contribution is paid to the Brahmins. The two sexes bathe 
 
 together, while the most rigid of the devotees walk to the bath 
 
 escorted by two Brahmins. 
 
 '* How sweetly Ganga smiles and glides 
 
 Luxuriant o'er her broad Autumnal bed! 
 
 Her waves perpetual verdure spread, 
 
 Whilst health and plenty deck her golden sides : 
 
 As when an eagle, child of light, 
 
 O'er her eyry proudly reared, 
 
 Sits brooding and her plumage vast expands, 
 
 Thus Ganga o'er her cherished lands, 
 
 To Brahma's grateful race endeared, 
 
 Throws wide her fostering arms, and on her banks divine, 
 
 Sees temples, groves, and glittering towers, that in her crystal shine. 
 
 " What name, sweet bride, will best allure, 
 
 Thy sacred ear, and give the honour due ? 
 
 Vishnupedi ? mild Bhishmasu ? 
 
 Smooth Suranimnaga ? Trisrota pure ? 
 
 By that I call ; its power confess : 
 
 With growing gifts thy suppliants bless, 
 
 Who with full sails in many a light-oared boat, 
 
 On thy jasper bosom float ; 
 
 Nor frown, dread goddess, on a peerless race, 
 
 With 1 beral heart and martial grace, 
 
 Wafted from colder isles remote : 
 
 As they preserve our laws and bid our terror cease, 
 
 So be their darling laws preserved, in wealth, in joy, in peace!" 
 
 Sir W. Jones 
 
HINDOO WORSHIP. 
 
 2/5 
 
 The elephant plays a prominent part in the Hindoo tales. The) 
 pretend that the world is sustained by four of these animals, who 
 
 are placed at the four cardinal points. In most of their temples 
 one of them is sure to be seen. 
 
 His colour is white, his tusks are sometimes four in number, and 
 all his body is covered with carpet, sparkling in the light of 
 diamonds and precious stones. 
 
 The Hindoos revere also a large serpent as a god : 
 
 * 'The god ! the very god ! ' he cried, and howled 
 
 One long, shrill, piercing, modulated cry ; 
 
 Whereat from that dark temple issued forth 
 
 A serpent, huge and hideous. On he came, 
 
 Straight to the sound, and curled around the priest 
 
 His mighty folds innocuous, overtopping 
 
 His human height, and arching down his head, 
 
 Sought in their hands for food. 
 
 Then quitting, reared, and stretched and waved his neck 
 
 And glanced his forky tongue." 
 
 South iv. 
 
 A cow, of whom the gods disputed the possession, is also wor- 
 shipped by them; she was obtained by one of them throw 
 stratagem very like that employed by Jupiter with Europa, 
 
 They pay homage also to peculiar divinities, Buch as the goddess 
 of pleasure, and the god of war. 
 
 The former was fabled, like Venus, to have arisen from thi 
 when agitated by the gods. 
 
 The poetry of the Kast frequently alludea to fairies of great and 
 
276 
 
 (iOD OF LOVE. 
 
 exquisite beauty, who people the air, the earth, the rivers, and the 
 woods, and are placed by them among the inferior divinities. 
 
 Camdeo, the god of love, takes the same standing in the East, 
 as Cupid in the mythology of which we have already treated ; 
 though the Indian description of his person and his arms, his family, 
 attendants and attributes, has new and peculiar characteristics. 
 
 He is represented as a beautiful youth, sometimes conversing 
 with his mother and consort, in the midst of his gardens and temples. 
 
 His bow of sugar-cane or flowers, with a string of bees, and his five 
 
HYMN TO CAMDKO. 277 
 
 arrows, each pointed with an Indian blossom of a heating quality, 
 are allegories equally new and beautiful. 
 
 This deity is adored in India, under a great number of names, 
 Camdeo, however, being the one by which he is besl known, and 
 
 under which he is most worshipped. 
 
 "What potent god from Agra's orient bowers, 
 Floats through the lucid air while living flowers, 
 With sunny twine the vocal arbours wreathe. 
 And gales enamoured, heavenly fragrance breaths .' 
 
 Hail power unknown ! for at thy bi 
 
 Vales and groves their bosoms deck, 
 
 And every laughing blossom dresses 
 
 With gems of dew, his musky tresses. 
 I feel, I (eel thy genial flame divine, 
 And hallow thee and kiss thy shrine. 
 " ' Knovvest thou not me?' celestial sounds I heat ! 
 1 Knowest thou not me ? Ah ! spare a mortal em ! 
 Behold — ' my swimming eyes entranced I raise, 
 But oh ! they sink before the excessive hla 
 
 Yes, son of Maya, yes, 1 know 
 
 Thy bloomy shafts and cany bow, 
 
 Cheeks with youthful glory beaming, 
 
 Locks in braids ethereal streaming, 
 Thy scaly standards, thy mysterious arms, 
 And all thy pains, and all thy charms. 
 
 4 O thou for ages born, yet ever young, 
 For ages may thy Brahmins' lay be sung! 
 And when thy glory spreads his emerald wings 
 To waft thee high above the tower of kings, 
 
 Whilst o'er thy throne the moon's pale lit; lit 
 
 Pours her soft radiance through the night, 
 
 And to each floating cloud discovers, 
 
 The haunts of blessed or joyless lovers, 
 Thy mildest influence to thy bard impart, 
 To warm, but not consume his heart." 
 
 Sir W. Jonbs* 
 
SCANDINAVIA. 
 
 The Edda, forming the mythological history of the ancient people 
 of the North, is a complete receptacle of poetry no less than of 
 history : and forms of itself a work of great interest. 
 
 The most important of the gods of Scandinavia is Odin, who was 
 in all probability one of their kings, and whose amours, as numerous 
 as those of Jupiter, are perpetuated in a thousand legends. Like 
 
 Jupiter too, he married his sister Frea, and in the sacred books of 
 the priesthood, he is known by upwards of a hundred names, all of 
 them high sounding and magnificent. 
 
SCANDINAVIAN WORSH1 
 
 
 His adventures, which are numberless, are interwoven with the 
 whole of the Scandinavian history. 
 
 Frigga or Frea, his wife, was the most powerful of the -odd, ■ 
 and by many supposed to be identical with Ceres, or the Earth; 
 the future was as familiar to her as to Odin, with whom B he is 
 seated upon his throne, and whose government of the remaining 
 deities she shared. 
 
 When the warriors of the land seek glory in battle, she sends an 
 inferior goddess to watch over the safety of those whom she favours, 
 while they who fall, are honoured by the mighty mother Fi 
 herself mourning over their fate, not indeed for their sake, hut for 
 
 the sake of the country they would have adorned and the laud for 
 which they fought. 
 
 One of the children of Frigga and Odin, by name Thor, pr< sided 
 over the works of creation, and over the variations of the atmos- 
 phere. The tempests and the apparent strife of nature, IS caused 
 by the struggle which Thor constantly has with a famous serpent, 
 whose vast folds embrace the whole circumference of the earth. 
 
 Balder, another son of Odin and Frigga, is described as the finest 
 and the best of their race. lie was distinguished no less f'<>r his 
 
2fc'0 DKATH OF BALDER. 
 
 eloquence than for his kindness and wisdom. It was his doom to 
 meet with a premature death. Aware, from her knowledge of the 
 future, of the destiny which awaited him, Frigga yet sought to 
 avert it : and administered an oath to all the objects of nature, not to 
 injure her beautiful and beloved Balder. The stones, the trees, the 
 fish, the very diseases were sworn to respect his life. 
 
 No sooner had this been done, than his brothers determined to 
 see, if indeed, he had a charmed life, and essayed successively the 
 various means of death on the unhappy Balder, who fell a victim to 
 their folly ; aided by the cunning of Loke, who, through a stratagem 
 which proved successful, showed how impossible it is to avert 
 destiny.* 
 
 His body was placed upon a funeral pile, and his wife was burned 
 with him. No sooner was the funeral terminated, than a fellow-god, 
 
 leading a fleet steed, went to demand the body of Balder from the 
 
 * There is a curious Scandinavian legend extant, relative to this subject. The 
 god Balder dreamt that his life, although made to be immortal, was threat med with 
 an imminent danger. The gods agreed to exercise all the perils which might 
 have the power of injuring Balder. The goddess Frigga, the mother of Balder, 
 undertook this task ; and she exacted an oath from fire, from water, from all the 
 metals, from the stones, from land, from the fishes, from all the animals, and 
 from all the vegetables, that they would do no harm to Balder. On the con- 
 clusion of this solemn compact, the deities, in one of their grand meetings, 
 amused themselves with throwing at Balder, arrows, stones, lighted torches, and 
 with striking him tremendous blows with the sword, his invulnerability pro- 
 tecting him from injury. Loke, an evil genius, and an enemy of the gods, m 
 the disguise of an old woman, went to Frigga, and claimed her hospitality 1 lie 
 kind goddess related the story of her son to the impostor, who enquired whether 
 everything in nature, without exception, had taken the required oath. *ngga 
 replied, that there was only one small shrub, (the mistletoe,) irorn winch she 
 had exacted no promise, because, it being so feeble, she did not dread its power. 
 Loke then departed, and, cutting the mistletoe, converted it into a sharp pointed 
 arrow. He returned to the assembly of the gods, darted his weapon against 
 Balder, and killed him. Everything in nature wept for Balder, and especially 
 the trees, which were for a long time, inconsolable.— Madame de Genlts. 
 
 
SC AN DI N A V I A N WOR6H1 P 
 
 281 
 
 dark goddess Hel, who replied that he should be returned if all 
 created beings would shed a tear for him. One onlv refused, and 
 Balder was doomed, to the great grief of his mother, to rest in the 
 infernal regions. 
 
 Among the amusements of Odin, hunting forms a wry im- 
 portant and prominent part; when the bows, arrows, ami javelins 
 were prepared by one deity ; while another gilded the heavens with 
 
 (mU 
 
 <L ^ v., ■■■- , f ■ -TYx 
 
 stars; a third protected and guided the steps of the hunters in 
 the sacred wood; and the most successful of them received from 
 Odin the gift of immortality. 
 
 Each of the three superior deities had their respective pri 
 who exercised absolute authority over all that was connected with 
 their religion, as well as presided over their sacrifices. Nor u 
 unusual to blend the priestly and the princely chanu '< r, as in the 
 case of Odin. 
 
 Frigga was attended upon by king's daughters, who were entitled 
 goddesses and prophetesses. They uttered orach., devoted them- 
 selves to a lasting virginity, and like the vestals of the Greek ami 
 Roman mythology, kept a perpetual fire in the temple of then- 
 goddess. 
 
 "The power of inflicting pains and penalty M'- Howitt, 
 
 " of striking and binding a criminal, was vested in the priest* alon< ; 
 30 
 
282 
 
 THE SACRIFICE TO TEUTATES. 
 
 and men so haughty that they thought themselves dishonoured if 
 they did not revenge the slightest offence, would tremblingly submit 
 to blows, and even death itself, from the hand of a pontiff, whom 
 they took for the instrument of an angry deity." 
 
 The councils of the divinities were held beneath the branches of 
 an ancient oak, whose roots spread below over a fountain of water, 
 remarkable for the number of serpents which it harboured. 
 
 Teutates, the most celebrated of their minor deities, was the 
 vital and acting principle of the world ; to whom was attributed 
 many of the functions which were supposed to belong to Mars, to 
 Hercules, and to Mercury. They worshipped him under the form 
 of a dart, when they sought his aid in battle, and under that of an 
 oak, when they endeavoured to inspire themselves with his advice ; 
 and his fetes were kept at the hour of night, in high places, or in 
 solemn forests, by the rays of the moon, and the flashing of torches. 
 The field where his holy ceremonies had been celebrated, was sown 
 with stones, and from thenceforth doomed to know no more the 
 voice of the sower, the song of the reaper, or the gladness of 
 harvest time. 
 
 Under very important circumstances, it was by no means unusual 
 to sacrifice human victims to this god, which were accompanied by 
 flaming eyes, wild cries, and fierce gestures. 
 
 " But the general cause which regulated these sacrifices," says 
 Mr. Howitt, (again to quote from his admiral work on priestcraft) 
 " was a superstitious opinion, which made the Northern nations 
 regard the number three as sacred and peculiarly dear to the gods. 
 Thus every ninth month they renewed this bloody ceremony, which 
 was to last nine davs, and every day they offered up nine victims, 
 
WffffffffffffS 
 
 $u> 
 
 Wh 
 
 
 
 ": mmtemmm 
 
 ■i : -:-^ 
 
THE BACRIFICB TO Til l \, 288 
 
 whether men or animals. But the most Bolemn sacrifices were 
 those which were offered at Upsal, in Sweden, every ninth year. 
 Then they chose from among the captives, in time of war, and 
 amongst the slavesin time of peace, nine persons to be sacrificed . Tie- 
 choice was partly regulated by the opinion of bystanders, and partly 
 by lot. The wretches upon whom it fell were then treated with 
 such honours by all the assembly; they were so overwhelmed with 
 caresses for the present, and promises for the life to come, that they 
 sometimes congratulated themselves in their destiny. But thev did 
 not always sacrifice such mean persons. In great calamities, in 
 oppressive famine, for instance, if the people thought thev had a sure 
 pretext to impute the cause of it to the king, tlu\ sacrificed him 
 without hesitation, as the highest price they could pay for the 
 divine favour. In this manner the first King of Vermland was 
 burned in honour of Odin, to put away a great dearth. The ancient 
 history of the North abounds in similar examples. 
 
 " These abominable sacrifices were accompanied with various cere- 
 monies. When the victim was chosen, they conducted him 
 towards the altar on which the sacred fire was kept burning night 
 and day. It was surrounded by all sorts of iron and brazen \< 
 Among them was one distinguished by its superior size; in this 
 they received the blood of their victim. 
 
 " When they offered up animals, they speedily killed them at the 
 foot of the altar; then they opened their entrails, and drew 
 auguries from them, as among the Romans: but when they sacri- 
 ficed men, those they pitched on were laid upon a large Btone, and 
 quickly strangled or knocked on the head." 
 
 Irminsul was another, and not the least celebrated of the 
 adored by the Germans; he had a magnificent temple, and a 
 statue, which represented him in the figure of a warrior, was 
 placed upon a column of marble. A great number of priest 
 both sexes served in the temple. Women acted as prophet 
 while the men employed themselves in sacrifices, and tie- choi 
 victims. The priests of this God possessed great importance in 
 public affairs. During certain solemnities, armed warriors per* 
 formed their evolutions around the idol, and in his sanctuary WSJ 
 placed immense treasure, both in arms and in precious it 
 
 The temple was however destroyed b\ Charlemagne, who broke 
 
284 THE FEAST OF THOK. 
 
 the statue, and with poetical justice, slaughtered the priests on the 
 threshold of the very place which they had so often deluged with 
 human blood. 
 
 One column however remained standing, which was to the eyes 
 of the Saxons, holier and dearer in its melancholy reminiscences, 
 than if it had still possessed the statue of the god, which the emperor 
 threw in the depths of the sea. 
 
 The sacrifices to these deities were sometimes varied ; there was 
 a deep well in the neighbourhood of the temple at Upsal, where 
 the chosen person was thrown in headlong, in honour of the deity 
 representing the earth. If the body fell to the bottom, the goddess 
 was supposed to accept it ; if not, she refused it, and it was hung up in 
 a sacred place. Near this place was a forest, named Odin's grove, 
 every leaf of which was regarded as sacred, and was filled with the 
 bodies of those who had been sacrificed. 
 
 Occasionally the blood of their children was not spared even by 
 the monarchs of the land — Hacon of Norway, shed the blood of 
 his son on the altar to secure a viceroy; and Aune of Sweden, in 
 an attempt to obtain a continuance of life, sacrificed the lives of 
 nine of his offspring ; examples which could not fail to produce an 
 effect upon their people. 
 
 But not only did they delight in the sacrifices of human life, they 
 also o-ave way in their orgies to unbounded licentiousness. While at 
 Uulel, at the feast of Thor, the license was carried to such a pitch 
 as to become merely bacchanalian meetings, where, amidst shouts, 
 dancing, and indecent gestures, so many unseemly actions were 
 committed, as to disgust the wiser part of the community. 
 
A M ERICA. 
 
 The greater part of the American nations were abandoned to 
 Polytheism, and allowed a crowd of divinities: and nearly all 
 adored the Sun, as the best representation of tin- Eternal. 
 
 In Peru, at the time of its discovery by Pizarro, Viracocba was 
 supposed to be the creator of the gods, and below him, tin v believed 
 in two triads; the first was Chuquilla, Catuilla, and [ntyllapa; ami 
 the second Apomti, Churunti, and Inti-quaoqui. 
 
 The creator of the world, according to the Mexicans, \\ n 
 Mexitli, who was seated on an azure coloured stool, placed on a 
 litter; his hand grasped an azure staff, in the shape of a serpent, 
 and to crown all, he was of an azure complexion. Tlaloc was their 
 second, and Tezcallipuca their third deity. This last was considered 
 the god of repentance : and it was by the direction of the first, that 
 they built the magnificent city of Mexico in the midst of a lake. 
 
 They had, besides these, Tangatanga, an idol which was, according 
 to them, three-in-one and one-in three. They possessed also a 
 
 Venus, who, with her three Bisters, presided over love, it 
 unusual to represent her reclining on a couch, while the I 
 lover is shewn sitting by her side, hand in hand, 
 of mutual affection. 
 
 ;in embh m 
 
286 MEXICAN SACRIFICES. 
 
 The Mexicans also had a goddess of old age, to whom they 
 rendered honours of the highest character. They immolated on her 
 altar once every year a female, whom they forced to dance in presence 
 of the idol to whom she was to be sacrificed : while in the evening, 
 the priests ran wildly in the streets, striking children and females 
 with small bundles of hay. 
 
 When any solemn feast was in preparation, they made choice 
 of a young and beautiful slave, whom, after bathing in the lake 
 dedicated to their Gods, they clothed in the richest costume, 
 offering to him the highest honour for a space of forty days ; all 
 that could tend to allure the mind to earth, or render life desirable, 
 was showered upon the victim, his wishes were anticipated, and his 
 desires fulfilled. Nine days, however, before the sacrifice took 
 place, the priest, prostrating himself, uttered this brief sentence, 
 
 " You have yet nine days to live !" 
 
 Intoxicating liquors were then given him, to sustain his courage 
 until the day of the solemnity arrived, when he paid the penalty, by 
 death; his heart was torn from his body, which was afterwards 
 precipitated from the platform of the temple, mid the wild cries 
 of the priests, and the yet more savage greetings of the multitude. 
 
 The religious orgies of the Mexicans were of a gloomy and 
 frightful character ; to enable them to go through which, their 
 priests anointed themselves with a particular ointment, and used 
 various fantastic ceremonies to deprive themselves of timidity. 
 They then would rush forth to celebrate their rites, during which 
 their vestal-virgins, and the priests were wont frantically to cut 
 themselves with knives. 
 
 Quetsalocatl was the deity to whom the highest honours were 
 paid in the valley of Cholula, 
 
 The air, commerce, war, and divination were under his control ; 
 and it was through him that the remarkable prophecy was supposed 
 to originate, which prepared the Mexicans for the coming of the 
 Spaniards into their territory. 
 
 The ceremonials attached to his faith were of an inhuman na- 
 ture, they sacrificed to him an enormous number of human victims. 
 Cholula, was, indeed, the Mecca of this false divinity, and in order 
 to receive the crowd of pilgrims, who day by day assembled, it 
 was found necessary to maintain as many temples as there are (lays 
 in the year. 
 
MEXICAN Worship 
 
 The principal one of these was an immense pyramid of thirteen 
 hundred and fifty -five feet round its base, and about one hundred 
 
 and seventy in height, 
 
 Of all the offerings which could be given to their god, human 
 sacrifices were considered most acceptable: a belief, which, with a 
 superstitious and warlike people, necessarily produced an enormous 
 number of victims ; as every prisoner taken in war soon came to be 
 considered a fitting subject for the cruelties of the temple, and tin- 
 worship of their gods. 
 
 It has been suggested, that some navigators of Phoenicia might 
 have been thrown upon the then unknown shore of America, from 
 which place they did not return, but gave to their descendants their 
 religion, which in the lapse of ages became lost ; because in 8 me 
 things it bears a resemblance that cannot fail to bring that of Egypt 
 to the mind, an idea, which the vestiges of monuments of gigantic 
 proportions, with forms and hieroglyphics, strongly tend to aid. 
 
 "Pyramids," says an able writer of the present day, M not inferior 
 to the Egyptian, exist in many parts of the Mexican Territories 
 and of new Spain. Some of these pyramids are of larger base 
 than the Egyptian, and composed of equally durable materials; 
 vestiges of noble architecture are visible at Choi u la, Otumba, 
 Oaxica, Mitlan, and Tlascola, 
 
 " The ancient town of Palenque, exhibits not only excellent 
 workmanship in the temples, palaces, private houses, and baths, 
 but a boldness of design in the architect, as w. II as skill in the 
 execution, which will not shrink from a comparison with the works, 
 at least, of the earlier ages of Egyptian power. In the sanctuariei 
 of Palenque, are found sculptured representations of Idols, which 
 resemble the most ancient gods of Egypt and Syria ; Planisph 
 and Zodiacs exist, which exhibit a superior astr >mical ami chro- 
 nological system to that which was possessed by tin- Egyptians. 
 
 "Statues, sculptured in a purely classical Btyle, haw been found. 
 and vases, agreeing both in shape and ornament wills the earliest 
 specimens of Egyptian and Etruscan pottery, have been found in 
 their sepulchral excavations. 
 
 "Evidences also exist in Mexico, of two great branches 
 hieroglyphical language, both having striking affinities with tin- 
 Egyptians, and yet distinguished from it by characteristics perfectly 
 American." 
 
288 MEXICAN GODS. 
 
 The same authority says, " The gods of the Tultecans, appear 
 sculptured in has relief, in the dark inner rooms of extant tempies. 
 
 We will take one, as an instance of the analogy to which we 
 allude. Pourtrayed on the inner wall of the Adytum of one of 
 the sanctuaries belonging to the great temple of Palenque, appears 
 the chief god of the Tultecan people. Our opinion is, that he is 
 strongly identifiable with the Osiris of Egypt, and the Adonis of 
 Syria ; or rather, that he is the ancient god, called Adoni-Siris, a 
 well known classical combination, therefore an identification, of 
 both divinities. 
 
 In the first place he is enthroned on a couch, perfectly Egyptian 
 in its model ; it is constructed somewhat in the form of a modern 
 couch, a cushioned plinth, resting on the claws, and four limbs of 
 the American lion: we may at once emphatically say that there 
 is no real difference between the above couch, and that peculiarly 
 designated as Egyptian, and which is observable in all the tombs 
 and palaces of Egypt; on his head he wears a conical cap, not 
 differing much from that which the Osiris of Egypt wears. Two 
 additional symbols, the one Egyptian, the other not, but equally 
 intelligible, namely the lotus and the column affixed to the cap, 
 clearly indicate the same tri-une divinity ?" 
 
 The following description of one of their gods, we think, also affords 
 additional ground for this opinion. " In the midst of an enclosure, 
 
 which does not yield in size or grandeur to the proudest monuments 
 of Egypt, and on the top of an immense pyramid stands the image. 
 It is placed on a throne upheld by an azure globe ; and on its 
 
AFRICA. 
 
 head are plumes of divers colours. His free, Revere and fri btfuJ 
 is marked with two blue lines. He has two vast wings formed like 
 a bat, and the feet of a goat ; while in his middle is drawn the head 
 
 of a lion. 
 
 As a proof of the bloody nature of the religion of the Mexicans, 
 we may mention, that on solemnizing the building of their princip ii 
 temple, sixty thousand prisoners were sacrificed. Cortez found in 
 an enormous edifice the skulls of those who had been slain, the 
 number of which amounted to upwards of one hundred and fiftj 
 thousand. 
 
 AFRICA. 
 
 The supreme deity of the Hottentots, is supposed bv them to 
 possess a human form, and his residence is believed to be in the 
 moon. When he renders himself visible to mortals, be appears 
 in the shape and form of a Hottentot, and is, according t<» their 
 ideas, possessed of exquisite beauty; they never worship him, and 
 their reason for this absence of homage is stated by them I 
 that the god has uttered a curse upon those who shall attempt to 
 serve him; one thing is certain, that this people hold sorcerj in 
 great esteem. 
 
 Ovisara is the supreme being of another part of Africa. In- 
 visible, everywhere present, omniscient, and infinite]) good, he is 
 never invoked. "The better he is" say the Negroes, M the more 
 useless it is to pray to him," and as a natural consequence, their 
 minds have recourse to, and believe implicitly in demons, in 
 shadows and in divination. A pot pierced through tin- bottom in 
 three places, is the organ used by the priests t«. u r i\e their oracles 
 to the people; and from the sound which issues from the vessel, 
 is drawn the good or evil augury: this sound is explained b) 
 jugglers, who, perfect masters of their trade, never find their address 
 at fault. 
 
290 AFRICA. 
 
 The priests take but a small part in the public affairs ; and it is 
 forbidden to them, under very severe penalties, to enter the capital. 
 On great occasions, when a sacrifice of prisoners is to be made, 
 recourse however is had to them, to give an additional solemnity 
 to the proceedings. 
 
 These ceremonies take place before the greater idols, who, 
 according to the negroes, represent the evil spirits; and the num- 
 ber of victims should be five and twenty : unlike most other lands, 
 who in the same circumstances are too eager for blood, they are 
 allowed to ransom their lives, should it be in their power. 
 
 The negroes of Senegal adore a river, trees, and serpents, with a 
 crowd of shapeless idols, the legends of whom neither amuse by 
 their incident, or excite the imagination by the beauty of their 
 poetry. 
 
 In parts of Africa, they worship the soul of the dead, and a 
 being named Molongo, upon whom they are most prodigal in 
 bestowing titles ; such as sovereign of nature, and of the Sun and 
 Moon, and king of the earth and sea ; while on others, they pay 
 deep reverence to monkeys, who are brought up with care, and 
 covered with honours. 
 
 Among the nations of Congo, and in the Caffre-land, the people 
 are abandoned to the grossest superstitions. In the middle and to 
 south of Africa, the worship of idols is universal ; while in 
 Abyssinia and at the Cape, are some faint gleams of Christianity 
 mingled with impure legends, which have doubtless been derived 
 fiom the mythologies of Greece and India. 
 
 >'^HlC^te? - 
 
V()\.\ Nl.siA. 
 The inhabitants of Polynesia, arc, like all those whose faith is 
 primitive and simple, devoted to the worship of the Sun, which 
 they regard as a divinity; and which thej imagine ;it one time to 
 have been a human being: they believe he married his sister, who, 
 when all the rest of her family came upon earth, remain* d by 
 herself in the skies, and from their union sprang the months. 
 
 The Otaheitians, more advanced in civilization, have also more 
 extended ideas of the divinity. They worship a BUpreme deity 
 whose wife is material and corporeal, and of a nature tint 
 entirely different from his own. 
 
 Ihey gave birth to a class of supernatural beings, which 
 correspond with the inferior divinities of other Mythologies, from 
 one of whom, sprang the three persons, forming the Trinity 
 peculiar to this people; of these one is the creator, and lord of 
 the starry hemisphere; another is the Neptune of their seas, the 
 next watches over the hurricanes which sweep along the Pacific 
 Ocean, and presides over the winds. 
 
 But the mode in which they account for the formation of the 
 numerous islands for which the place is remarkable, is not the least 
 curious of their beliefs 
 
 One of their divinities, they say, took his wife, and threw het 
 with so strong an arm into the Sea, that she fell to the bottom, 
 and by the force of the concussion was broken into pieces. As 
 she rebounded, lacerated, and divided into myriads of fragments of 
 all sizes, they turned into the rocks, the shoals, and the liunu rous 
 isles of Polynesia. An enormous fragment floated to the Ea t, 
 and formed America. 
 
 The principal goddess of the Sandwich islands, is remarkable 
 chiefly for her hideous appearance. The lace is tatooed, the 
 nostrils are enormous, and her eyes, which are so small they are 
 scarcely to be seen, resemble a leaf of laurel. Along het mouth 
 are spread rows of teeth, which from the sharpness of tin ir appear- 
 ance, might belong to a wild beast, the neck is of an imi 
 thickness; and the whole appearance is one which m i\ vie ill 
 frightfulness with any deity or demon of this Idolatrous people. 
 
 me 
 
 Our task is now closed ; the religions of those who bav< 
 before us, have been given with as much accuracy as the laj 
 
2^ 2 LINES BY L. E. L. 
 
 ages has permitted. We have sought the hidden beauties of poetry, 
 to aid us in our endeavours, and to render them palatable to our 
 readers ; to those who have accompanied us in our wanderings ; to 
 those who have been with us among the elegant reminiscences of' the 
 Greek mythology, and followed us to the more painful and revolting 
 creed of the American, we can only say, that we hope to them, 
 as to us, the subject has excited interest, and that a perusal of the 
 fables we have been able to lay before them, may induce them to 
 take a greater interest, and place a higher value on that faith, and 
 on those truths which are set before them in the word of the One 
 Great God. 
 
 With the following lines of the lamented L. E. L. we shall close 
 our work, not doubting that our readers will perceive and appre- 
 ciate their beauty. 
 
 — ■ " The clays 
 
 Of visible poetry have long been past ! — 
 No fear that the young hunter may profane 
 The haunt of some immortal, — but there still— 
 For the heart clings to old idolatry, 
 If not with true belief with tenderness- 
 Lingers a spirit in the woods and flowers 
 Which have a Grecian memory, — Some telle 
 Of olden love, or grief, linked with their bloom, 
 Seem beautiful beyond all other ones. 
 The marble pillars are laid in the dust, 
 The golden shrine and its perfume are gone 
 But there are natural temples still for those 
 Eternal, tho' dethroned deities, 
 Where from green altars, flowers send up their incense." 
 
 L. E L. 
 
 > 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Preface . . 
 
 Introduction 
 
 Achilles . . 
 
 Acis 
 
 Acteon . . 
 
 ./Eneas 
 
 JEolus 
 
 jEtes .... 
 
 iEgeus . . 
 
 Admetus . . 
 
 Adonis 
 
 Adrastus . . 
 
 Agamemnon 
 
 Age of Gold 
 
 Age of Steel 
 
 Agenor . . 
 
 Alcestis . . 
 
 Alcyone . . 
 
 Alcmeon . . 
 
 Alphisibaus 
 
 Amphion . . 
 
 Amphitrite 
 
 Amphiaraus 
 
 Anadyomine "V 
 
 Anchises . . 
 
 Andromeda 
 
 Antigone . . 
 
 Apollo 
 
 Arachne . 
 
 Avion 
 
 Ariadne . . 
 
 Argo 
 
 A strata 
 
 Athena Pallas 
 
 Atlas 
 
 Atreus 
 
 Atropos . . 
 
 Autumn . . 
 
 Aurora . . 
 
 Auster 
 
 Balder . . 
 
 Bacchus . . 
 
 Bacchantes, tl 
 
 Battle of the Centau 
 
 Baucis 
 
 Bellercphon 
 
 Boreas 
 
 Brahma . . 
 
 Buddh . 
 
 Camdeo . . 
 
 Cadmus . . 
 
 v 
 
 1 
 
 234 
 
 255 
 
 49 
 
 244 
 
 143 
 
 169 
 
 197 
 
 212 
 
 07 
 
 220 
 
 228 
 
 10 
 
 23 
 
 27 
 
 212 
 
 146 
 
 221 
 
 221 
 
 214 
 
 100 
 
 221 
 
 71 
 
 68 
 
 192 
 
 219 
 
 33 
 
 88 
 
 100 
 
 98 
 
 170 
 
 166 
 
 sx 
 
 191 
 
 233 
 
 149 
 
 136 
 
 44 
 
 145 
 
 280 
 
 55 
 
 01 
 
 is 130 
 253 
 266 
 1 45 
 268 
 270 
 276 
 264 
 
 the 
 
 Calista . 
 
 Calumnj 
 
 Callirhoe 
 
 Cassandra 
 Castalia . 
 Castor 
 Centaurs 
 Cerberus . . 
 Ceres 
 
 Cepheus . . 
 Chaos . . 
 Cbarybdis 
 Charon . . 
 Chiron 
 Chrysaor . . 
 Circe 
 
 Clotho . . 
 Colchis . . 
 Com us . . 
 Clytie 
 
 Clytemnestra 
 Clymene . . 
 Cupid 
 Cyclops, the 
 Cybele 
 Cyparisvus 
 Danaides, the 
 Daphne .. 
 Death of Here 
 Destiny . . 
 Dejanira . . 
 Diana 
 Dido 
 
 Diseord . . 
 Divinities of F 
 Echo 
 
 Egisthus . . 
 End union 
 Envy 
 
 Eri gone . . 
 Erostatus 
 Eteocles . 
 Europa 
 Bums 
 Bury dice 
 Eurystheu 
 Famine . 
 Fates, the 
 Fauns 
 Fidelity . 
 Flora 
 
 in 
 
 50 
 
 2.') I 
 
 <;:< 
 
 230 
 
 40 
 
 11)7 
 128 
 
 1 1 )/, 
 
 2!) 
 I'M 
 
 i; 
 
 117 
 105 
 130 
 190 
 
 :)!> 
 
 149 
 
 ITii 
 
 160 
 
 37 
 
 22!) 
 
 40 
 
 78 
 
 71 
 
 10 
 
 39 
 
 L08 
 
 36 
 188 
 
 32 
 183 
 
 I!) 
 
 245 
 
 252 
 5 
 
 1 is 
 
 •2-2 r> 
 
 :»! 
 
 •J.". I 
 
 220 
 27 
 
 1 15 
 
 •J i '7 
 17!) 
 252 
 
 1 I!* 
 
 129 
 
 2 10 
 13!» 
 
 li, 
 
 Fur! una . . 
 Friendship 
 Frigga . . 
 Ganga 
 Galatea 
 
 (it niils . . 
 
 Glaucua . . 
 Golden Appl< 
 Golden Fit i 
 Gorgous, the . . 
 ('• races, the 
 Harpies, the . . 
 Harpocraies . . 
 Hebe .. .. 
 Hecate 
 
 Hector .. .. 
 Helen .. .. 
 Heliades, the . . 
 I [ercnles 
 Hermaphrodite 
 Hermes 
 I [esione . . 
 Hero ;nnl Leandei 
 Hippodamia . . 
 Hippolytus 
 Honour . . 
 Hope .. .. 
 Hyacinth 
 Hymen .. 
 
 Ie;iriiis . . 
 
 to 
 
 [phigenia 
 [rminsul . . 
 
 Ixit'ii 
 
 Janus 
 Jason 
 
 Jocasts .. 
 Judgme 
 
 Juno 
 
 Jupitei 
 Jupiter \u 
 Labours ol 
 Laios 
 
 I I n . . 
 
 1 ..hum don 
 Lares, die 
 Latona 
 
 I .arlii -r- 
 
 L'Amore Domtnal 
 
 I i r . . 
 
 llioe 
 
 it ol Pa 
 
 mon 
 
 ll(i. iil« 
 
294 
 
 NDEX. 
 
 Liberty 250 
 
 Lychas 186 
 
 Manes, the .. ..155 
 Marathon .. ..205 
 Marriage of Hercnles 183 
 
 Mars 76 
 
 Marsyas 41 
 
 Medea 170 
 
 Medusa .. .. 90-190 
 
 Memnon 44 
 
 Menelaus . . . . 228 
 
 Mercury 110 
 
 Midas .. .. 42-124 
 
 Milo 267 
 
 Minerva 88 
 
 Minos .. .. 27-107 
 Minotaur, the .. 198 
 
 Molongo 290 
 
 Momus 161 
 
 Morpheus . . . . 154 
 Mount Helicon .. 41 
 Narcissus . . . . 119 
 
 Nemesis 156 
 
 Neptune 99 
 
 Nessus . 184 
 
 Nereids, the .. ..114 
 
 Night 150 
 
 Nine Muses, the 40-47 
 
 Niobe 34 
 
 Nox 150 
 
 Numa Pompilius . . 262 
 
 Oceanus 138 
 
 (Edipus 214 
 
 Odin 278 
 
 Olympus 24 
 
 Omphale .. 117-183 
 
 Orpheus .. ..105-207 
 
 Ovisara 289 
 
 Pan 42 115 
 
 Pandora 20 
 
 Paris 235 
 
 Peace 248 
 
 Pegasus 41 
 
 Pelops 224 
 
 Pelias 168 
 
 Penates,'the .. ..157 
 
 Perestere 78 
 
 Perseus 1 89 
 
 Peribaea 215 
 
 Phaeton 43 
 
 Phaon 260 
 
 Phoebus 35 
 
 Phaedra 201 
 
 Philemon 253 
 
 Philoctetes .. ..188 
 
 Phineus 193 
 
 Pluto .. .. 30-103 
 
 Plulus 164 
 
 Polydectes .. ..189 
 Polvphemus .. 242-255 
 Poisoned Scarf, the. . 185 
 
 Pomona 131 
 
 Prometheus . . . . 18 
 Proserpine .. .. 104 
 
 Proteus 141 
 
 Psyche 78 
 
 Pygmalion . . . . 259 
 
 Pyramus 254 
 
 Python, the Serpent 44 
 Pythian Games, the ib. 
 Quetsalocatl . . . . 286 
 
 Salmaeis 112 
 
 Sappho 266 
 
 Saturn 8 
 
 Saturnalia, the. . .. 11 
 
 Satyrs 125 
 
 Scylla 147 
 
 Silenus 61 
 
 Siva 270 
 
 Somnus 155 
 
 Songs of the Winds. . 1 45 
 Song of Night.. .. 151 
 
 Sphynx, the . . . . 217 
 
 Spring 133 
 
 Summer 135 
 
 Sylvans 124 
 
 Syrens, the .. ..146 
 
 Syrinx 116 
 
 Sisyphus 107 
 
 Tangatanta . . . . 235 
 Tantalus.. ..107-223 
 Tartarus .. ..107 
 
 Temple of Apollo .. 47 
 Temple of Diana . . 53 
 Terminus . . • . 126 
 
 Teutates 282 
 
 Themis 166 
 
 Theseus .. .. 57-197 
 
 Thetis 139 
 
 Thisbe 254 
 
 Thor 279 
 
 Titans, the .. .. 17 
 
 Thyestes 223 
 
 Tityus 108 
 
 Trojan War, the . . 233 
 
 Truth 248 
 
 Ulysses 234 
 
 Uranus 7 
 
 Venus ^ 
 
 Venus Acraea . . . . 70 
 Venus Cytheraea . . 71 
 
 Vesta 13 
 
 Vestals, the . . . . 14 
 
 Victory 250 
 
 Viracocha . . . . 285 
 
 Virtue 247 
 
 Vishnu 269 
 
 Voluptuousness .. 251 
 Vulcan . . .... 73 
 
 Vulcanalia, the . . 77 
 
 Winter 137 
 
 Wise Men of Greece 46 
 Zephyrus 145 
 
 LIST OF ENGRAVINGS. 
 
 Frontispiece to face title 
 
 The Dance of the Corybantes y 
 
 The Feast of Bacchus ' 
 
 Jason and Medea J 
 
 Hercules delivering Hesione ! °J 
 
 The Death of Nessus ' Q 
 
 The Anger of Priam 16 ^ 
 
 Pyrrha seizing the Sword before Achilles *** 
 
 The Sacrifice to Teutates 
 
 wii.loughby, pr1ntkr, 86, aldersgatk strkkt. 
 

DATE DUE 
 
 ^0***. 
 
 | 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 GAYLORD 
 
 1 
 
 PRINTED IN U. S A. 
 
BL310.H44 
 Heathen mythology. 
 
 Princeton Theological Seminary-Spe 
 
 brary 
 
 1 1012 00009 3536 
 
 wmm