The Classic Myths in English Literature and in Art (2nd ed.) (1911)
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Title: The Classic Myths in English Literature and in Art (2nd ed.) (1911)
Author: Charles Mills Gayley
Thomas Bulfinch
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CLASSIC MYTHS IN ENGLISH LITERATURE AND IN ART (2ND ED.) (1911) ***
[Illustration: LEMNIAN ATHENA]
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
IN ENGLISH LITERATURE
AND IN ART
BASED ORIGINALLY ON BULFINCH'S "AGE OF FABLE" (1855)
ACCOMPANIED BY AN INTERPRETATIVE AND
ILLUSTRATIVE COMMENTARY
BY
CHARLES MILLS GAYLEY, LITT.D., LL.D.
PROFESSOR OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
_NEW EDITION_
_REVISED AND ENLARGED_
GINN AND COMPANY
BOSTON · NEW YORK · CHICAGO · LONDON
ATLANTA · DALLAS · COLUMBUS · SAN FRANCISCO
COPYRIGHT, 1893, 1911, BY CHARLES MILLS GAYLEY
ENTERED AT STATIONERS' HALL
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
817.6
+The Athenæum Press+
GINN AND COMPANY · PROPRIETORS · BOSTON · U.S.A.
TO THE MUSES
Whether on Ida's shady brow,
Or in the chambers of the East,
The chambers of the sun, that now
From ancient melody have ceas'd;
Whether in Heav'n ye wander fair,
Or the green corners of the earth,
Or the blue regions of the air,
Where the melodious winds have birth;
Whether on crystal rocks ye rove,
Beneath the bosom of the sea,
Wandering in many a coral grove,
Fair Nine, forsaking Poetry;
How have you left the ancient love
That bards of old enjoyed in you!
The languid strings do scarcely move,
The sound is forc'd, the notes are few!
WILLIAM BLAKE
O antique fables! beautiful and bright
And joyous with the joyous youth of yore;
O antique fables! for a little light
Of that which shineth in you evermore,
To cleanse the dimness from our weary eyes,
And bathe our old world with a new surprise
Of golden dawn entrancing sea and shore.
JAMES THOMSON
PREFACE
In this new edition of "The Classic Myths in English Literature" the
former order of materials has been altered in accordance with the
advice of the teachers who have had longest experience with the use of
the book; the old material has been thoroughly revised; and much new
material has been added. Since most people prefer to begin a story at
its beginning, and not with the career of its author and his genealogy,
I have reserved the history of the myths for the conclusion of the
text. Some of the myths have been restated in more careful form. Some
short narratives, before omitted, have been included. The sketches
of the Iliad and the Odyssey have been considerably expanded; and an
outline--which, I hope, will be deemed adequate--of Wagner's version of
the Ring of the Nibelung has been appended to the account of Norse and
German mythology. That version is, of course, not English literature;
but it has come to be received as the classic modern version of the
story; and the story is needed, at some time or other, by every lover
of music. Fresh examples of the employment of myth in English verse
have, where practicable, been incorporated in the text; and some new
references will be found in the Commentary.
I have thoroughly revised the list of illustrative cuts, have
interpreted the more difficult of the ancient figures, and indicated
the sources. The pictures themselves are a decided improvement upon
those in the former edition. In the determination of sources for
reproduction, I have had the valuable assistance of Dr. E. von Mach,
the author of more than one well-known work on ancient art; and to
him I am indebted, in addition, for the section on The Classic Myths
in Art, which is included in my Introduction. With this new equipment
the book should prove more useful to those who here make their first
acquaintance with art, especially the art of the ancients, as well as
to those who have been in the habit of using it as a guide to paintings
and sculptures of mythological subjects in foreign galleries.
Much of our best English poetry lies beyond the imaginative reach of
many readers because of their unfamiliarity with the commonplaces of
literary allusion, reference, and tradition. Of such commonplaces few
are more frequently recurrent than those furnished by the literature of
myth.
In view of this consideration, the Academic Council of the University
of California, some twenty years ago, introduced into its requirements
for entrance in English the subject of Classical Mythology in its
relation to English Literature, and recommended, as a textbook for
preparation, Bulfinch's "Age of Fable." The experience of English and
classical teachers in the schools of the state attested the wisdom of
the requirement; but the demand for some textbook adapted to the needs
of the classroom made necessary the preparation of this volume. For
while "The Age of Fable" offered a tempting collection of Greek, Norse,
and Oriental narratives, it was designed neither as a schoolbook nor as
a systematized presentation and interpretation of the myths that have
most influenced English literature.
At the request of my publishers I undertook at that time such a
revision and rearrangement of the materials of "The Age of Fable" as
might adapt it to the purposes of teacher and pupil, and to the taste
of readers somewhat more advanced in years than those addressed by the
original work or by the edition which bore the name of the Reverend
Edward Everett Hale. But after a year's work I found that half my
material for copy was new, and that the remainder differed in many
important respects from the book upon which it was based. Consequently,
while the obligation to "The Age of Fable" was acknowledged in full,
a different title was selected for the resulting volume. For neither
my publishers nor I desired that the scholarship or the taste of Mr.
Bulfinch should be held accountable for liberties that were taken with
his work.
In "The Classic Myths in English Literature and in Art," Chapters
XXIII-XXVII, containing sketches of the Fall of Troy, the Odyssey,
the Æneid, and of certain Norse lays, are a revision of corresponding
chapters in "The Age of Fable." Chapters VII-XX, and XXII, comprising
Myths of the Greater Divinities of Heaven, Earth, the Underworld, and
the Waters, Myths of the Lesser Divinities of the same regions, Myths
of the Older Heroes and Myths of the Younger Heroes, and the outline of
the Trojan War, represent a total rearrangement and recomposition of
the original material, section by section, and frequently paragraph by
paragraph,--such portions of "The Age of Fable" as have been retained
being abridged or rewritten, and, in places too frequent to enumerate,
supplemented by new and necessary sentences, paragraphs, and sections.
The Introduction, the first six chapters (on the Greek Myths of the
Creation, and the attributes of Greek and Roman divinities), Chapters
XXI and XXVIII-XXXII (on the Houses concerned in the Trojan War, the
Saga of the Volsungs, the Lay of the Nibelungs, Wagner's Ring of the
Nibelung, and on the origin, elements, distribution, and preservation
of myth), the choice of poetic and artistic illustration, the footnotes
referring to sources, and the Commentary are wholly, or essentially, my
own. In fact, there is little but the scaffolding of "The Age of Fable"
now remaining in the book.
Although in the Index of Mythological Subjects and their Sources the
more common myths of some other nations are briefly stated, no myths
save those known to the Greeks, Romans, Norsemen, or Germans have
been included in the body of the text. The scope of selection has
been thus confined for three reasons: first, the regard for necessary
limits; second, the desirability of emphasizing only such myths as
have actually acclimated themselves in English-speaking lands and have
influenced the spirit, form, and habit of English imaginative thought;
third, the necessity of excluding all but the unquestionably classic.
The term _classic_, however, is, of course, not restricted to the
products of Greece and Rome; nor is it employed as synonymous with
Classical or as antithetical to Romantic. From the extreme Classical to
the extreme Romantic is a far cry; but as human life knows no divorce
of necessity from freedom, so genuine art knows neither an unrelieved
Classical nor an unrestrained Romantic. Classical and Romantic are
relative terms. The Classical and the Romantic of one generation
may merit equally to be the classics of the next. Therefore certain
Hellenic myths of romantic spirit or construction have been included in
this work, and certain Norse and German myths have not been excluded.
Whatever is admitted, is admitted as first-class: first-class, because
simple, spontaneous, and beautiful; because fulfilling the requirements
of perennial freshness, of æsthetic potency, and of ideal worth.
In the matter of illustrative English and American poems the principle
of selection has been that the verses shall translate a myth from
the classic original, or exemplify the poetic idealization and
embellishment of the subject, or suggest the spirit and mien of ancient
art. But in each case regard has been had to the æsthetic value of
the poem or the citation. In the search for suitable examples I have
derived valuable assistance from Mr. E.C. Guild's "Bibliography of
Greek Mythology in English Poetry of the Nineteenth Century" (Bowdoin
College, _Library Bulletin No. 1_). The student is also referred to
A.E. Sawtelle's "Sources of Spenser's Mythology," C.G. Osgood's'
"Classical Mythology of Milton," and R.K. Root's "Classical Mythology
in Shakespeare" (Holt, 1896, 1900, and 1903, respectively).
In the Commentary four things have been attempted: first, an
explanation, under each section, of ordinary textual difficulties;
second, an unpretentious exposition of the myth or a brief statement
of the more evident interpretations advanced by philologists or
ethnologists; third, an indication of certain additional poems or
verses that illustrate the myth; fourth, special mention of such
masterpieces of ancient and modern sculpture and painting as may serve
to introduce the student or the general reader to a field of æsthetic
profit neglected by the great mass of our people. For the poetic
conception of most of the myths contained in Chapters I-XXIV, we are
indebted to the Greek imagination; but since this book is intended
for students of English poetry, and since in English poetry Latin
names of mythological characters are much more frequently employed
than Greek, the Latin designations or Latinized forms of Greek names
have been, so far as possible, retained; and such variations as
Jupiter, Jove--Proserpina, Proserpine, freely used. In the chapters,
however, on the attributes of the Greek gods, names exclusively Greek
have been placed in parentheses after the usual Roman equivalents,
Latin appellations, or designations common to both Greek and Roman
usage. In the transliteration of Greek names I have followed, also,
the prevalent practice of our poets, which is, generally speaking,
the practice of the Romans. The diphthong #ei#, for instance, is
transliterated according to the accepted English pronunciation,
which in individual words perpetuates the preference of the Latins
for the _e_ sound or the _i_ sound respectively. So #Atreidês#
becomes Atr[=i]des; #Iphimedeia#, Iphimed[=i]a. But, on the other
hand, #Kythereia# becomes Cyther[=e]a; #Pêneios#, Pen[=e]us; and
#Mêdeia#, Med[=e]a; while owing to purely popular English custom, such
a name as #Pheidias# has become, not Pheidias nor even Ph[=i]dias,
but--_Ph[)i]dias_. A few names of islands, towns, persons, etc., that
even in Latin retain their Greek forms,--such as Delos, Naxos, Argos,
Aglauros, Pandrosos,--have been transferred without modification.
So also has Poseidon, because that is the common English spelling.
In short, the practice aimed at has been not that of scientific
uniformity, but of acknowledged poetic usage. In the titles of the
illustrative cuts, Greek names have been used for works of Greek
origin, Latin for the Roman.
For the benefit of readers who do not know the fundamental rules for
the pronunciation of Greek and Latin proper names in English, a brief
statement of rules is prefixed to the Index; and in the Index of
Mythological Subjects and their Sources names are not only accented,
but, when necessary, diacritically marked.
In the preparation of the Text and Commentary more or less use has
been made of: Roscher's Ausführliches Lexikon der griechischen und
römischen Mythologie (Lieferungen 1-21, Teubner, Leipzig); Preller's
Griechische Mythologie (2 Bde., Berlin, 1861); Max Müller's Chips from
a German Workshop, Science of Religion (London, 1873), Science of
Language (7th ed., 2 vols., London, 1873), Oxford Essays (1856); Sir
G. W. Cox's Mythology of the Aryan Nations (2 vols., London, 1878);
Frazer's Golden Bough; W. Warde Fowler's Roman Festivals (London,
1899); Welcker's Griechische Götterlehre; Baumeister's Denkmäler des
klassischen Alterthums; Murray's Manual of Mythology (New York, 1880);
Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology; Duruy's
Histories of Rome and Greece; Keightley's Greek and Roman Mythology;
Kelsey's Outline of Greek and Roman Mythology (Boston, 1889); Horn's
Geschichte der Literatur des skandinavischen Nordens (Leipzig, 1880);
Cleasby and Vigfusson's Icelandic Dictionary; Lüning's Die Edda
(Zürich, 1859); Vigfusson and Powell's Corpus Poeticum Boreale (2
vols., Oxford, 1883); Paul's Grundriss der germanischen Philologie,
1 Bd., 5 Lfg. (article _Mythologie_, by E. Mogk); Grimm's Teutonic
Mythology (translated by Stallybrass, 3 vols.); Werner Hahn's Das
Nibelungenlied; Lang's Myth, Ritual, and Religion (2 vols., London,
1887), and _Mythology_ (Encyc. Brit., Vol. 9); Tylor's Anthropology
(New York, 1881) and Primitive Culture (2 vols.); J. W. Powell's Annual
Reports of the Bureau of Ethnology (7 vols., beginning 1879-1880,
Washington, D.C.); Keary's Outlines of Primitive Belief; Fiske's Myths
and Myth-makers (Boston); Whitney's Oriental and Linguistic Studies;
W. P. Johnston's The Origin of Myth; and of other works to which due
reference is made in the footnotes and Commentary. The student is also
referred to F. B. Jevons' edition of Plutarch's Romane Questions,
translated by Philemon Holland (London, 1892) (introduction on Roman
Mythology); and to C.G. Leland's Etruscan-Roman Remains in Popular
Tradition (London, 1892). The Maps, furnished by Messrs. Ginn and
Company from other of their publications, have, with the kind consent
of the authors of those works, in some instances been adapted by me to
suit the present purpose.
The principal authorities used in the selection of the illustrations of
this new edition are: Baumeister, Denkmäler des klassischen Alterthums
(3 vols., Munich, 1888); Furtwängler, Masterpieces of Greek Sculpture
(London, 1905); Ernest Gardner, Ancient Athens (New York and London,
1902); Percy Gardner, A Grammar of Greek Art (New York and London,
1905); and Sculptured Tombs of Hellas (London, 1896); Percy Gardner
and Jevons, A Manual of Greek Antiquities (London, 1895); Gerhard,
Auserlesene griechische Vasenbilder (1840-1858); Gusman, Pompeii
(London, 1900); Harrison and Maccoll, Greek Vase Paintings (London,
1894); E. von Mach, Handbook of Greek and Roman Sculpture (Boston,
1905); and Greek Sculpture, Its Spirit and Principles (Boston, 1903);
A. S. Murray, Handbook of Greek Archæology (London, 1892); History
of Greek Sculpture (2 vols., London, 1883); and Sculptures of the
Parthenon (London, 1903); A. S. Murray and C. A. Hutton, Greek
Bronzes and Terra Cotta Statuettes (London, 1898); C. O. Müller,
Denkmäler der alten Kunst (Göttingen, 1832); Overbeck, Griechische
Kunstmythologie (1871 ----); Emil Presuhn, Pompeii, 1874-1881 (Leipzig,
1882); Salomon Reinach, Peintures de vases antiques (including the
collections of Millin, 1808, and Millingen, 1813 (Paris, 1891)), and
Apollo (Paris, 1907); H. Roux Ainé, Herculaneum and Pompeii; Roscher,
Ausführliches Lexikon der griechischen und römischen Mythologie
(1884 ----) (Lieferungen 1-17 in Vol. I, 18 on in Vol. II); Anton
Springer, Handbuch der Kunstgeschichte (I _Alterthum_, Leipzig, 1904);
Charles Waldstein, The Argive Heræum (2 vols.); and the archæological
periodicals as cited in the List of Illustrations.
The acknowledgment of assistance made in the former edition is here
renewed.
CHARLES MILLS GAYLEY
CONTENTS
PAGE
INTRODUCTION xxix
PART I
MYTHS OF DIVINITIES AND HEROES
CHAPTER I. GREEK MYTHS OF THE CREATION 1
Purpose of the Study. The Fable and the Myth. Origin of the World.
Origin of the Gods. The Rule of Cronus. The War of the Titans.
The Division of Empire. The Reign of Jupiter. The Origin of Man.
Prometheus, a Creator. The Age of Gold. The Silver Age. Prometheus,
Champion of Man. Pandora. Prometheus Bound. Longfellow's
Prometheus. The Brazen Age. The Iron Age. The Flood. Deucalion and
Pyrrha. The Demigods and Heroes.
CHAPTER II. THE GODS OF HEAVEN 18
Olympus. The Great Gods. Jupiter (Zeus). Conceptions of Jupiter.
Juno (Hera). Minerva (Athene or Athena). Mars (Ares). Vulcan
(Hephæstus). Apollo. Shelley's Hymn of Apollo. Diana (Artemis).
Jonson's Hymn to Cynthia. Venus (Aphrodite). The "Venus of Milo."
Mercury (Hermes). Vesta (Hestia). The Lesser Divinities of Heaven.
CHAPTER III. THE GODS OF EARTH 42
Conception of the World. Ceres (Demeter). Gæa (Ge). Bacchus
(Dionysus). The Lesser Divinities of Earth.
CHAPTER IV. THE GODS OF THE UNDERWORLD 47
The Underworld. Tartarus and the Elysian Fields. The Islands of
the Blest. Pluto (Hades). Proserpina (Persephone). The Lesser
Divinities of the Underworld.
CHAPTER V. THE GODS OF THE WATERS 55
The Older Dynasty. The Younger Dynasty. The Lesser Divinities of
the Waters.
CHAPTER VI. THE ROMAN DIVINITIES 59
Gods Common to Greece and Italy. Italian Gods.
CHAPTER VII. MYTHS OF THE GREAT DIVINITIES OF HEAVEN 64
Myths of Jupiter and Juno. Love Affairs of Jupiter. Io. Callisto.
Europa. Semele. Ægina. Antiope. Jupiter, a Friend of Man. Juno's
Best Gift. Myths of Minerva. Arachne. Myths of Mars. Mars and
Diomede. Mars and Minerva. The Fortunes of Cadmus. Myths of Vulcan.
Myths of Apollo. The Wanderings of Latona. Apollo, the Light
Triumphant. Hyacinthus. Phaëthon. The Plague sent upon the Greeks
before Troy. The Punishment of Niobe. The Lamentation for Linus.
Æsculapius. Apollo in Exile. Lowell's Shepherd of King Admetus.
Admetus and Alcestis. Apollo, the Musician. Apollo, Pan, and Midas.
Shelley's Hymn of Pan. Marsyas. The Loves of Apollo. Daphne.
Marpessa. Clytie. Myths of Diana. The Flight of Arethusa. Shelley's
Arethusa. The Fate of Actæon. The Fortunes and Death of Orion. The
Pleiads. Endymion. Myths of Venus. Adonis. Cupid and Psyche. Keats'
Ode to Psyche. Atalanta's Race. Hero and Leander. Pygmalion and the
Statue. Pyramus and Thisbe. Phaon. The Vengeance of Venus. Myths of
Mercury.
CHAPTER VIII. MYTHS OF THE GREAT DIVINITIES OF EARTH 152
Myths of Bacchus. The Wanderings of Bacchus. The Story of Acetes.
The Choice of King Midas.
CHAPTER IX. FROM THE EARTH TO THE UNDERWORLD 159
Myths of Ceres, Pluto, and Proserpine. The Rape of Proserpine. The
Wanderings of Ceres. Triptolemus and the Eleusinian Mysteries.
Orpheus and Eurydice.
CHAPTER X. MYTHS OF NEPTUNE, RULER OF THE WATERS 169
Lord of the Sea. Lord of Streams and Fountains. Pelops and
Hippodamia.
CHAPTER XI. MYTHS OF THE LESSER DIVINITIES OF HEAVEN 172
Myths of Stars and Winds. Cephalus and Procris. Dobson's The Death
of Procris. Ceyx and Halcyone. Aurora and Tithonus. Tennyson's
Tithonus. Memnon.
CHAPTER XII. MYTHS OF THE LESSER DIVINITIES OF EARTH, ETC. 181
Pan, and the Personification of Nature. Stedman's Pan in Wall
Street. Other Lesser Gods of Earth. Echo and Narcissus. Echo,
Pan, Lyde, and the Satyr. The Naiads. The Dryads, or Hamadryads.
Erysichthon. Dryope. Rh[oe]cus. Pomona and Vertumnus. The Cranes of
Ibycus.
CHAPTER XIII. MYTHS OF LESSER DIVINITIES OF THE WATERS 198
Galatea and Polyphemus. Glaucus and Scylla. Nisus and Scylla.
Leucothea. Proteus and Aristæus. Acheloüs and Hercules. Milton's
Sabrina Fair.
CHAPTER XIV. MYTHS OF THE OLDER HEROES: THE HOUSE OF DANAÜS, AND
ITS CONNECTIONS 206
The Older and the Younger Heroes. The Genealogy of Danaüs. The
Danaïds. The Doom of King Acrisius. Perseus and Medusa. Perseus and
Atlas. Perseus and Andromeda. Bellerophon and the Chimæra. Hercules
(Heracles): His Youth. His Labors. His Later Exploits. The Loss of
Hylas. The Rescue of Daphnis. The Expedition against Laomedon. The
Death of Hercules.
CHAPTER XV. THE FAMILY OF ÆOLUS 229
Descendants of Deucalion. The Quest of the Golden Fleece. The
Return of the Argonauts. Medea and Æson. Pelias.
CHAPTER XVI. THE FAMILY OF ÆTOLUS AND ITS CONNECTIONS 237
The Calydonian Hunt. Merope. Castor and Pollux. The Twin Brethren
among the Romans.
CHAPTER XVII. THE HOUSE OF MINOS 246
Minos of Crete. Dædalus and Icarus.
CHAPTER XVIII. THE HOUSE OF CECROPS AND ERICHTHONIUS 249
From Cecrops to Philomela. Matthew Arnold's Philomela. Theseus.
Theseus and Ariadne. Bacchus and Ariadne. The Amazons. Theseus and
Pirithoüs. Phædra and Hippolytus.
CHAPTER XIX. THE HOUSE OF LABDACUS 261
The Misfortunes of Thebes. [OE]dipus and the Sphinx. [OE]dipus, the
King. [OE]dipus at Colonus.
CHAPTER XX. MYTHS OF THE YOUNGER HEROES: THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES
265
Their Exploits. The Seven against Thebes. Antigone. The Epigoni.
CHAPTER XXI. HOUSES CONCERNED IN THE TROJAN WAR 269
Three Families. Peleus. Achilles, Son of Peleus. Atreus. Tyndareus.
CHAPTER XXII. THE TROJAN WAR 277
Its Origin. Iphigenia in Aulis. Protesilaüs and Laodamia. Homer's
Iliad. The Wrath of Achilles. The Enlistment of the Gods. Thetis
intercedes for Achilles. Agamemnon calls a Council. Paris plays
the Champion. Helen surveys the Grecian Host. Menelaüs defeats
Paris. The Two Days' Battle. Hector and Andromache. Neptune aids
the Discouraged Greeks. Jupiter inspirits the Trojans. Achilles
and Patroclus. Patroclus in the Armor of Achilles. The Deaths of
Sarpedon and Patroclus. The Remorse of Achilles. The Reconciliation
of Agamemnon and Achilles. The Death of Hector. Achilles drags the
Body of Hector. Priam in the Tent of Achilles.
CHAPTER XXIII. THE FALL OF TROY 307
The Fall of Troy. The Death of Achilles. Contest for the Arms of
Achilles. Paris and [OE]none. The Palladium. The Wooden Horse.
Laocoön and the Serpents. The Death of Priam. The Survivors. Helen,
Menelaüs, and Agamemnon. Electra and Orestes. Orestes pursued by
the Furies. His Purification.
CHAPTER XXIV. THE WANDERINGS OF ULYSSES 318
From Troy to Phæacia. The Lotos-eaters. The Cyclopes. The Bag of
Winds. The Læstrygonians. The Isle of Ææa. Ulysses visits Hades.
The Sirens. Scylla and Charybdis. The Cattle of the Sun. Calypso's
Island. The Land of the Phæacians. Fate of the Suitors. Tennyson's
Ulysses.
CHAPTER XXV. ADVENTURES OF ÆNEAS 346
From Troy to Italy. The Departure from Troy. The Promised Empire.
The Harpies. Epirus. The Cyclopes Again. The Resentment of Juno.
The Sojourn at Carthage. Dido. Palinurus. Italy at Last. The Sibyl
of Cumæ. The Infernal Regions. The Elysian Fields. The Valley of
Oblivion.
CHAPTER XXVI. THE WAR BETWEEN TROJANS AND LATINS 362
The Fulfillment of Prophecy. The Gates of Janus Opened. Camilla.
Alliance with Evander. The Site of Future Rome. Turnus attacks the
Trojan Camp. Nisus and Euryalus. The Death of Mezentius. The Deaths
of Pallas and Camilla. The Final Conflict.
CHAPTER XXVII. MYTHS OF THE NORSE GODS 373
The Creation. Yggdrasil. Odin and his Valhalla. The Valkyries. Thor
and the Other Gods. Loki and his Progeny. The Conflict with the
Mountain Giants. The Recovery of Thor's Hammer. Thor's Visit to
Jötunheim. The Sword of Freyr. The Death of Balder. The Funeral of
Balder. The Elves. Ragnarok.
CHAPTER XXVIII. MYTHS OF NORSE AND OLD GERMAN HEROES 398
The Saga of the Volsungs. The Lay of the Nibelungs.
CHAPTER XXIX. THE RING OF THE NIBELUNG 410
Wagner's Tetralogy. The Rhine-gold. The Valkyrie. Siegfried. The
Twilight of the Gods.
PART II
THE HISTORY OF MYTH
CHAPTER XXX. THE ORIGIN AND ELEMENTS OF MYTH 431
Kinds of Myth. Divisions of Inquiry. Elements of the Myth.
Reasonable Myths. Unreasonable Myths. Theory of Deterioration.
Theory of Progress.
CHAPTER XXXI. THE DISTRIBUTION OF MYTHS 447
Theories of Resemblance.
CHAPTER XXXII. THE PRESERVATION OF MYTHS 450
Traditional History. In Greece. Roman Poets of Mythology. Records
of Norse Mythology. Records of German Mythology. Records of
Oriental Mythology: Egyptian. Indian Records. Persian Records.
COMMENTARY 465
RULES FOR PRONUNCIATION 541
INDEX OF MYTHOLOGICAL SUBJECTS AND SOURCES 543
INDEX OF MODERN AUTHORS AND ARTISTS 582
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
FIGURE PAGE
1. Jupiter surveying the World. Roman Wall Painting, Naples:
_Herculaneum and Pompeii, by H. Roux Ainé_ 3
2. Athena and Giant. Greek Bronze, Mus. Kircherianum:
_Journal of Hellenic Studies, 4, 90_ 7
3. Zeus and Giants. Ancient Gem: _Baumeister 3, 1791_ 8
4. Prometheus making Man. Roman Sarcophagus in the Capitoline:
_Baumeister 3, 1568_ 9
Upper row, from left to right: Oceanus, the Sun-god, Clotho,
Lachesis, etc. Lower row: Cupid and Psyche, Gæa (Tellus),
Prometheus, the newly created Man to whom Minerva gives life
(the butterfly). Death, Cupid with down-turned torch, the first
man dead, Atropos, Mercury.
5. Poseidon (Neptune), Dionysus (Bacchus) and Goddess. East
Frieze, Parthenon, in the British Museum: _Photograph_ 17
6. Two Hours. Greek Vase Painting, St. Petersburg:
_Roscher 1, 2727_ 18
7. Zeus from Dodona. Greek Bronze: _Photograph_ 20
8. Zeus after Phidias. Coin of Elis: _A. S. Murray, Greek
Bronzes, opp. p. 81_ 21
9. Hera of Argos. Greek Marble: _Argive Heræum, 1_ 22
10. Athena Velletri. Ancient Marble in the Louvre:
_Photograph_ 23
11. Ares Ludovisi. Ancient Marble in Rome: _Photograph_ 24
12. Ares (Mars). Painting by Raphael: _Photograph_ 25
13. The Forge of Vulcan. Roman Relief: _Baumeister 3, 1640_ 25
14. Apollo (so-called Adonis). Ancient Marble in the Vatican:
_Photograph_ 26
15. Apollo Belvedere. Ancient Marble in the Vatican:
_Photograph_ 27
16. Apollo. Greek Bronze from Thessaly, British Museum:
_Murray, Greek Bronzes, Fig. 28_ 28
17. Diana. Painting by Correggio: _Photograph_ 29
18. Diana (Artemis) of Versailles. Ancient Marble in the Louvre:
_Photograph_ 30
19. Artemis Knagia. Ancient Silver Medallion from Herculaneum:
_Roscher 1, 566_ 31
20. Hermes Psychopompos. Greek Stele of Myrrhina: _P. Gardner,
Sculptured Tombs, Fig. 72_ 34
Hermes (Mercury) leading to the underworld the spirit of a lady,
Myrrhina, who has just died. From a relief on her tomb.
21. Eros (Cupid). Ancient Marble, Naples: _Photograph_ 36
22. Rape of Ganymede. Ancient Marble in the Vatican:
_Baumeister 2, 891_ 37
23. Polyhymnia. Ancient Marble, Berlin:
_Baumeister 2, 1185_ 37
24. The Three Fates. Painting attributed to Michelangelo, but
recently conjectured to be by Rosso Fiorentino. Florence:
_Photograph_ 38
25. Boreas. Greek Reliefs, Athens: _Baumeister 3, 2370_ 39
26. Zephyros. Greek Reliefs, Athens: _Baumeister 3, 2370_ 39
27. Boreas carrying off Orithyia. Greek Vase Painting, Munich:
_Baumeister 1, 373_ 40
28. Iris carrying Child. Vase Painting: _Gerhard, Auserlesene
Vasenbilder, 2, 83_ 41
29. Demeter of Knidos. Greek Marble in the British Museum: _E.
von Mach, Handbook of Greek and Roman Sculpture,
Plate 247_ 42
30. Ceres. Roman Wall Painting:
_I. Weir, Greek Painting, p. 343_ 43
31. Dionysus and the Vine. Ancient Marble in the British Museum:
_Roscher 1, 292_ 44
32. Pan the Hunter. Ancient Terra Cotta: _Murray and Hutton,
Plate VI_ 45
33. A Satyr with Grafting Materials. Ancient Gem:
_Pine's Virgil_ 46
34. The Greek Underworld. Ancient Vase Painting from Canusium:
_Baumeister 3, 2042 B_ 48
Center: Hades and Persephone. Above, left: Megara, wife of
Heracles, and two of her children, slain by Heracles when mad.
Above, right: a Fury guarding Pirithoüs and Theseus. Middle,
left: Orpheus playing and dancing, and an unknown family group.
Middle, right: the three judges of the dead. Below: Sisyphus, a
Fury, Hermes, Heracles with Cerberus, a Fury, Tantalus.
35. Hermes conducting a Soul to Charon. Ancient Terra Cotta:
_Archäologische Zeitung, Berlin_ 49
36. Hypnos (_Somnus_, Sleep).
_Murray, Greek Bronzes, opp. p. 72_ 50
37. A Fury. Ancient Vase Painting: _Roscher 1, 1334_ 51
38. Hades. Ancient Marble in the Villa Borghese, Rome:
_Baumeister 1, 690_ 53
39. Death, Sleep, and Hermes laying a Body in the Tomb. Ancient
Vase Painting: _P. Gardner, Sculptured Tombs, Fig. 5_ 54
40. Poseidon from Dodona. Greek Bronze in the British Museum:
_Murray, Greek Bronzes, Fig. 32_ 55
41. Wedding of Poseidon and Amphitrite. Ancient Marble Frieze,
Munich: _Baumeister 3, 1744 B_ 56
42. Triton carrying off a Nymph. Ancient Marble in the Vatican:
_Baumeister 3, 1964_ 57
43. Bearded Janus. Roman Coin: _Baumeister 2, 1166 A_ 60
44. Genius Loci. Wall Painting from Herculaneum in the Naples
Museum: _Gusman, Pompeii, p. 107_ 62
45. Ganymede feeding the Eagle. Ancient Relief:
_Pietro Santi Bartoli, Gli. Antichi Sepolcri_ 64
46. Hermes (Mercury) kills Argus in presence of Zeus. Ancient
Vase Painting: _Roscher 2, 279_ 65
47. Io, Argus, and Mercury. Wall Painting from Herculaneum in
the Naples Museum: _Baumeister 1, 802_ 66
48. Europa on the Bull. Greek Vase Painting:
_Harrison-Maccoll, Plate IV_ 69
49. Nereïds on Sea Beasts. Ancient Marble Frieze in Munich:
_Baumeister 3, 1744 A_ 70
50. Youthful Bacchus embracing Semele in presence of Apollo and
a Satyr. Etruscan Mirror, Berlin: _Baumeister 1, 557_ 71
51. Amphion and Zethus. Ancient Relief in the Palazzo Spada,
Rome: _Roscher 2, 311_ 76
52. Contest of Athena and Poseidon for the Supremacy of Athens.
Ancient Vase Painting, St. Petersburg:
_Baumeister 3, 1542_ 83
53. Athena. Ancient Marble in Hope Collection: _Furtwängler,
Masterpieces, Fig. 27_ 85
54. Cadmus slaying the Dragon. Ancient Vase Painting, Naples:
_Baumeister 2, 822_ 87
Athena counseling. Above: river-god Ismenos, fountain-nymph
Krene, and personification of Thebes.
55. Harmonia in Company of Deities. Greek Vase Painting:
_Ephemeris, 1897-1898, Plate X_ 89
Aphrodite, Eros, Harmonia standing, Peitho (Persuasion)
sitting, and Koré, Hebe, Himeros (Desire).
56. The Forge of Vulcan. Painting by Velasquez:
_Photograph_ 90
57. A Sacrifice to Apollo. Greek Vase Painting:
_Gardner-Jevons Manual, p. 249, Fig. 16_ 91
58. Apollo with Hyacinthus. Ancient Marble in Hope Collection:
_Roscher 16-17, 2765_ 93
59. The Fall of Phaëthon. Roman Relief in the Louvre:
_Baumeister 3, 1449_ 97
Upper left-hand corner: Phaëthon making his request of Helios
(Ph[oe]bus). Below: the Heliades turning into trees. Center:
the maddened horses, one chariot wheel, and Phaëthon falling
into the arms of Eridanus. The horsemen left and right of the
four horses are Castor and Pollux. Earth-gods, sea-gods, and
other figures.
60. A Son of Niobe. Ancient Marble in Florence:
_Baumeister 3, 1751_ 100
61. The Children of Niobe. Ancient Relief, St. Petersburg:
_Baumeister 3, 1759_ 101
62. Niobe and her Youngest Daughter. Ancient Marble, Florence:
_Baumeister 3, 1746_ 102
63. Æsculapius (Asklepios). Ancient Marble, Florence:
_Furtwängler, Masterpieces, Fig. 87_ 104
64. Admetus must Die. Wall painting from Herculaneum in Naples:
_Baumeister 1, 53_ 106
65. Heracles. Ancient Marble in Lansdowne House:
_Photograph_ 108
66. The Palatine Apollo. Ancient Marble in Vatican:
_Baumeister 1, 104_ 110
67. Daphne. Ancient Marble:
_Springer, Kunstgeschichte, 1, 336_ 113
68. Artemis (Diana). Ancient Marble, Dresden:
_Furtwängler, Masterpieces, p. 325_ 117
69. Arethusa. Ancient Coin: _Baumeister 2, 1140_ 118
70. A Young River-god. Ancient Bronze Head:
_Roscher 9, 1489_ 119
71. Actæon. Ancient Marble Relief: _Baumeister 1, 41_ 121
72. The Pleiades. Painting by Elihu Vedder: _Photograph_ 123
73. Endymion. Ancient Relief in the Capitoline, Rome: _E. von
Mach, Handbook of Greek and Roman Sculpture, Plate 306_ 124
74. The Death of Adonis. Ancient Marble in the Louvre:
_Baumeister 1, 17_ 127
Right: Adonis leaves Venus. Center: he is wounded. Left: he is
cared for by Venus, Cupid, and attendants.
75. Psyche at the Couch of Cupid. Painting by Thumann:
_Photograph_ 130
76. Psyche and Cupid on Mount Olympus. Painting by Thumann:
_Photograph_ 136
77. Artemis of Gabii. Ancient Marble in the Louvre: _E. von
Mach, Handbook of Greek and Roman Sculpture, Plate 207_ 139
78. Atalanta's Race. Painting by Poynter: _Photograph_ 140
79. Hero and Leander. Painting by Keller: _Photograph_ 144
80. Thisbe. Painting by Edward Burne-Jones: _Photograph_ 148
81. Hermes and Dog disguised as Pig. Ancient Vase Painting,
Vienna: _Harrison-Maccoll, Plate XXXIIIa_ 151
82. Silenus taking Dionysus (Bacchus) to School. Ancient Terra
Cotta: _Murray and Hutton, Fig. 36_ 152
83. Bearded Dionysus on Mule, attended by Satyr. Old Greek
Terra Cotta Relief: _Baumeister 1, 481_ 153
84. Satyr and Mænad with Child Dionysus. Ancient Relief:
_Baumeister 2, 932_ 154
85. Dionysus at Sea. Greek Vase Painting in the Pinakothek,
Munich: _Harrison-Maccoll, Plate I_ 155
86. Bacchic Procession. Greek Vase Painting: _Arch. Zeit._ 156
87. Dionysus visiting a Poet. Ancient Relief, Naples:
_Baumeister 3, 1849_ 157
88. Rape of Proserpina. Ancient Relief:
_Baumeister 1, 461_ 159
89. Hades and Persephone. Ancient Terra Cotta:
_P. Gardner, Sculptured Tombs, Fig. 29_ 161
90. Sacrifice to Demeter and Persephone. Greek Relief in Paris:
_Baumeister 1, 457_ 162
91. Triptolemus and the Eleusinian Deities. Greek Vase Painting:
_Baumeister 3, 1958_ 164
Demeter behind the chariot and Persephone and the nymph Eleusis
in front.
92. Demeter (Ceres), Triptolemus, and Proserpina. Greek Relief:
_E. von Mach, Handbook of Greek and Roman Sculpture,
Plate 178_ 165
93. Orpheus and Eurydice. Painting by Lord Leighton:
_Photograph_ 166
94. Farewell of Orpheus and Eurydice (Mercury ready to lead her
away). Ancient Marble Relief in Villa Albani, Rome:
_Photograph_ 167
95. Isthmian Poseidon. Ancient Marble in Lateran:
_Springer, Kunstgeschichte, 1, Fig. 495_ 169
96. Pelops winning the Race; Hippodamia looking on. Ancient Vase
Painting: _Baumeister 2, 1395_ 171
97. Phosphor, Eos, and Helios (the Sun) rising from the Sea.
Ancient Vase Painting:
_Gerhard, Akademische Abhandlungen_ 172
98. Sun, rising, preceded by Dawn. Painting by Guido Reni:
_Photograph_ 173
99. Sunrise; Eos (Dawn) pursuing Cephalus. Greek Vase Painting:
_P. Gardner, Grammar of Greek Art, Fig. 71_ 174
The young stars descending; to the left, the moon (Selene)
riding over the hills.
100. The God of Sleep. Ancient Relief: _Baumeister 1, 770_ 176
101. The Death of Memnon (Aurora lifting his body). Greek Vase
Painting in the Louvre: _Harrison-Maccoll, Plate XVIII_ 180
102. Pan blowing his Pipe, Echo answering. Ancient Earthenware
Lamp: _Baumeister 1, 514_ 182
103. The Music Lesson (Pan teaching a Boy). Ancient Marble,
Florence: _Baumeister 2, 1340_ 184
104. Bacchic Dance (Nymph and Satyrs). Ancient Relief:
_Baumeister 3, 1931_ 184
105. Silenus. From an ancient candelabrum in Munich:
_Baumeister 2, 895_ 185
106. Satyr (Marble Faun). Ancient Marble in the Capitoline, Rome:
_Photograph_ 186
107. Satyr swinging Maiden. Greek Vase Painting in Berlin:
_Harrison-Maccoll, Plate XXXII_ 186
108. Satyr drinking from Amphora. Ancient Vase Painting in
Baltimore: _Harrison-Maccoll, Plate IX_ 187
109. Narcissus gazing at his Reflection. Wall Painting from
Pompeii, Naples: _Baumeister 2, 1213_ 188
110. A Rustic. Wall Painting from Herculaneum 195
111. A Rustic. Wall Painting from Herculaneum 196
112. Galatea and Polyphemus. Wall Painting in House of
Germanicus, Rome: _Roscher 9, 1587_ 199
113. A Sea-god, perhaps Glaucus. Ancient Marble in Vatican:
_Baumeister 2, 987_ 200
114. Nereïds and Sea Monsters. Ancient Relief:
_Baumeister 2, 1216_ 204
115. The Danaïds. Ancient Marble Relief in Vatican:
_Roscher 6, 951_ 207
116. Danaë and Perseus and the Chest. Greek Vase Painting in St.
Petersburg: _Harrison-Maccoll, Plate XXXIV_ 208
117. Medusa Rondanini (Front View). Ancient Marble in Munich:
_Furtwängler, Masterpieces, Fig. 63_ 209
118. Medusa Rondanini (Profile). Ancient Marble in Munich:
_Furtwängler, Masterpieces, Fig. 63_ 209
119. Perseus. Marble by Cellini in Florence: _Photograph_ 210
120. Perseus with the Head of Medusa. Ancient Vase Painting:
_Gerhard_ 211
121. Perseus finds Andromeda. Ancient Vase Painting in Museum,
Berlin: _Jahrbuch des D. Arch. Instituts XI (1896),
Plate II_ 212
Right: Aphrodite holding wreath over Perseus' head. Left:
Cepheus seated, Hermes with his wand, and an Æthiopian
inhabitant.
122. Bellerophon and Pegasus. Ancient Relief:
_Baumeister 1, 317_ 215
123. Heracles strangling the Nemean Lion. Greek Vase Painting in
British Museum: _Baumeister 1, 722_ 217
Left: Iolaiis and the local nymph Nemea. Right: Athena and
Hermes.
124. Heracles killing the Hydra (behind him Athena and Iolaiis).
Greek Vase Painting: _Baumeister 1, 724_ 217
125. Heracles bringing Home the Boar (Eurystheus hiding in a
wine jar). Greek Vase Painting: _Harrison-Maccoll,
Plate XII_ 218
126. Heracles with the Bull: Metope of the Temple of Zeus at
Olympia: _Baumeister 2, 1285_ 219
127. Heracles and Cerberus. Greek Vase Painting:
_Baumeister 1, 730_ 220
Left: Athena and Hermes. Right: Goddess of the Underworld.
128. Heracles and Antæus. Greek Vase Painting in Athens:
_Harrison-Maccoll, Plate XXIV_ 221
129. Hercules and Nessus (Dejanira in Chariot). Wall Painting
from Pompeii: _Baumeister 1, 733_ 226
130. The Building of the Argo, Athene directing. Ancient Terra
Cotta Relief in the British Museum: _Baumeister 1, 127_ 229
131. Jason conquers the Bulls and steals the Fleece. Ancient
Relief in Vienna: _Baumeister 2, 981_ 231
Center: Æetes seated. Right: Medea assists her lover.
132. Medea deliberating upon the Murder of her Children. Wall
Painting from Herculaneum: _Baumeister 2, 948_ 234
133. Medea and Daughters of Pelias preparing the Caldron. Ancient
Marble Relief, Berlin: _Photograph_ 235
134. Meleager on the Boar Hunt. Roman Relief:
_Baumeister 2, 990_ 238
Atalanta appears twice,--as before the hunt to the left of the
central figures, as during the hunt in front of Meleager, and
shooting an arrow into the boar.
135. The Death of Meleager. Roman Sarcophagus in the Louvre:
_Baumeister 2, 991_ 241
Right: the contest between Meleager and his uncles. Left:
Althæa putting the fateful brand into the fire; behind her
a Fury whose torch has lighted the fire. Center: the dying
Meleager, and Atalanta seated mourning.
136, 137. Castor and Pollux capturing the Giant Talus. Ancient
Vase Painting: _Baumeister 3, 1804_ 244, 245
Pollux on foot in front of Medea. Seated Deities on right,
Poseidon and Amphitrite.
138. Dædalus and Icarus. Ancient Relief in the Villa Albani,
Rome: _Roscher 6, 934_ 247
139. So-called Theseus. Greek Marble in the Parthenon:
_Baumeister 2, 1370_ 249
140. Æthra caresses Theseus and sends him forth with his
Father's Sword. Greek Vase Painting, St. Petersburg:
_Harrison-Maccoll, Plate XXII_ 251
141. Theseus receiving Thanks from the Rescued after killing the
Minotaur. Campanian Wall Painting in Naples:
_Baumeister 3, 1876_ 252
142. The Sleeping Ariadne. Ancient Marble in Vatican:
_Baumeister 1, 130_ 254
143. Head of Dionysus. Ancient Marble, Leyden:
_Roscher 7, 1128_ 256
144. The Revels of Bacchus and Ariadne. Roman Sarcophagus:
_Baumeister 1, 492_ 257
Large figures from left to right: Priest, Satyr, Mænad,
Mercury, Bacchus and Ariadne seated, Satyr, Mænad, priest.
Small figures: Desire (Himeros) and Love leading Pan captive,
followed by Silenus.
145. Lapith and Centaur fighting. Greek Metope from the
Parthenon, British Museum: _Photograph_ 259
146. [OE]dipus and the Sphinx. Greek Vase Painting:
_P. Gardner, Grammar of Greek Art, Fig. 70_ 261
147. Eteocles and Polynices kill each other. Etruscan Relief,
Florence: _Baumeister 3, 1841_ 266
148. The Gods bring Wedding Gifts. Ancient Relief from the Villa
Albani, Rome: _Baumeister 1, 759_ 271
From right to left, married couple, Vulcan, Minerva, the four
seasons (Winter, Spring, Summer, Autumn) Hymen with torch, Comus,
Amor pushing jealous deity away.
149. Map of the Troad and the Hellespont 273
150. Helen persuaded by Aphrodite; Paris (Alexander) held by
Love. Ancient Relief in Naples:
_E. von Mach, Handbook, Plate 312_ 277
151. Achilles taken from Scyros by Ulysses (to the right) and
Diomedes (to the left). Pompeian Wall Painting, Naples:
_Roscher 1, 27_ 279
152. The Sacrifice of Iphigenia. Pompeian Wall Painting, Naples:
_Baumeister 1, 807_ 281
153. The Surrender of Briseïs. Relief by Thorwaldsen:
_Photograph_ 284
154. Hector's Farewell. Relief by Thorwaldsen: _Photograph_ 291
155, 156. The Embassy to Achilles. Greek Vase Painting:
_P. Gardner, Grammar of Greek Art, Fig. 72_ 294, 295
Left section: Briseïs is led away. Right section: Ajax and
Ulysses, leaning on staff, plead with Achilles; at the right,
Ph[oe]nix.
157. The Battle by the Ships. Greek Vase Painting:
_Baumeister 1, 783_ 296
Perhaps the moment when Ajax retreats. Hector presses upon him
followed by a youth with a torch. At the extreme right, Paris
drawing a bow.
158. Supposed Menelaüs with the Body of Patroclus. Ancient
Marble, Florence: _Baumeister 1, 785_ 298
159. Contest of Achilles and Hector. Ancient Vase Painting:
_Baumeister 1, 788_ 302
Left: Athene. Right: Apollo.
160. Achilles over the Body of Hector at the Tomb of Patroclus
(whose shade is running above the tomb). Greek Vase
Painting: _P. Gardner, Sculptured Tombs, Fig. 40_ 303
161. Priam's Visit to Achilles (under whose couch lies the body
of Hector). Greek Vase Painting: _Baumeister 1, 791_ 304
Achilles has been taking his dinner. Servants bear gifts behind
Priam.
162. Achilles and the Amazon Penthesilea. Greek Vase Painting:
_Baumeister 3, 2123_ 307
163. [OE]none warning Paris not to sail for Greece. Ancient
Relief, in the Villa Ludovisi, Rome:
_Baumeister 2, 1360_ 309
164. The Wooden Horse. Ancient Gem: _Baumeister 1, 794_ 310
165, 166. The Sack of Troy. Greek Vase Painting, Naples:
_Baumeister 1, 795_ 312, 313
Priam on altar, Astyanax on his lap, and Polites, whom Pyrrhus
has just killed, at his feet. Pyrrhus is about to strike Priam.
Behind him rushes Andromache to strike a kneeling soldier.
Below, under the palm tree, sits Hecuba facing the statue of
Minerva (a Palladium) behind which Helen is seen to cower. In
front Cassandra clings to the statue, while Ajax, striding
over the body of her dead lover, tries to drag her away by the
hair. To the left, Æneas, with Anchises in his arms, and little
Ascanius are hastening away.
167. Orestes and Electra at the Tomb of Agamemnon. Greek Vase
Painting: _Baumeister 3, 1939_ 315
168. Orestes pursued by Furies. Greek Vase Painting:
_Baumeister 2, 1313_ 316
169. Orestes and Pylades before the King of the Tauri (Iphigenia
as a priestess on the steps of the temple). Wall Painting
from Pompeii, Naples: _Springer,
Kunstgeschichte, 1, 529_ 316
170. Ulysses offering the Cyclops Wine. Ancient Statuette in the
Vatican: _Baumeister 2, 1251_ 318
171. Boring out the Cyclops' Eye. From an Attic Vase:
_P. Gardner, Grammar of Greek Art, p. 225_ 322
172. Ulysses and Two Companions under the Rams. Greek Vase
Painting: _Harrison-Maccoll, Plate XXIX_ 323
173. The Castle of Circe. Sicilian Vase Painting:
_Baumeister 2, 839_ 325
174. Ulysses and the Sirens. Greek Vase Painting in the British
Museum: _P. Gardner, Grammar of Greek Art, p. 227,
Fig. 78_ 329
175. Ulysses and Scylla. Etruscan Relief:
_Baumeister 3, 1762_ 330
176. Penelope at the Loom, and Telemachus. Greek Vase Painting in
Museum, Chiusi: _Harrison-Maccoll, Plate XLI_ 339
177. Ulysses recognized by Euryclea (behind him Eumæus). Ancient
Terra Cotta Relief: _Baumeister 2, 1257_ 341
178, 179. Ulysses kills the Suitors. Greek Vase Painting, Berlin:
_Baumeister 3, 2139_ 342, 343
It will be seen that the suitors are defending themselves.
180. The Nike (Victory) of Samothrace. Greek Statue in the
Louvre: _Von Mach, Greek Sculpture, Plate facing p. 30_ 345
181. Æneas, Anchises, and Iulus. Ancient Gem, Uffizi, Florence 347
182. Scylla (carved end of ancient table). _Chefs d'[OE]uvres
de l'Art Antique_, Paris, 1867 349
183. The Cumæan Sibyl. Painting by Michelangelo in the Vatican:
_Photograph_ 353
184. Ixion on the wheel. Ancient Vase Painting, Berlin:
_Baumeister 1, Fig. 821_ 358
Below, right: Vulcan looking at his handiwork; a Fury and
Hermes. Above: winged forms, perhaps the Hours, to see that the
motion is perpetual. One is even now shoving the wheel; the
other has just taken off her hand to point "your turn."
185. Amazon. Ancient Marble Statue: _Guhl and Koner_ 364
186. Valkyrie bearing a Hero to Valhalla. Painting by Dielitz:
_Photograph_ 375
187. Loki and Siguna. Painting by Gebhardt: _Photograph_ 393
188. Gunther and Brunhild. Fresco by Julius Schnorr von
Carolsfeld: _Photograph_ 406
189. Siegfried and Kriemhild. Fresco by Julius Schnorr von
Carolsfeld: _Photograph_ 407
FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS
PAGE
Lemnian Athena Frontispiece
Statue, possibly after Phidias, reconstructed by Furtwängler
from torso in Dresden and head in Bologna: _Photograph_.
Hera of the Vatican 22
Ancient Marble in the Vatican: _Photograph_.
Venus (Aphrodite) of Melos 32
Greek Marble in the Louvre: _Photograph_.
Greece in the Fifth Century B.C. 64
The Farnese Bull Group: Amphion, Zethus, Dirce, and Antiope 74
Ancient Marble in Naples: _E. von Mach, Handbook, Fig. 44_.
Apollo and Daphne 112
Marble Group by Bernini, Villa Borghese, Rome: _Photograph_.
Aphrodite (Petworth Head) 126
Ancient Marble in London: _Furtwängler, Masterpieces, Plate
XVII_.
Eros with Bow 136
Ancient Marble in the Capitoline Museum: _Baumeister 1, 539_.
Hermes of Praxiteles 150
Greek Marble in Olympia: _Photograph_.
Perseus freeing Andromeda 212
Ancient Relief in the Capitoline Museum: _Roscher 2, 346_.
The Wedding of Hercules and Hebe 226
Ancient Apulian Vase Painting in Berlin: _Baumeister 1, 700_.
Amazon 306
Ancient Marble in Lansdowne House: _Photograph_.
Laocoön 310
Greek Marble in the Vatican: _Photograph_.
The Outer Geography of the Odyssey 318
Flying Mercury 330
Statue by Giovanni di Bologna in Florence: _Photograph_.
Italy before the Growth of the Roman Empire 346
The Victory (Nike) of Brescia 372
Ancient Bronze Statue: _E. von Mach, Greek Sculpture, Plate
XXXV, No. 4_.
INTRODUCTION
THE STUDY OF MYTHOLOGY IN CONNECTION WITH ENGLISH POETRY AND WITH ART
Our American educational methods too frequently seek to produce the
effect of polish upon a kind of sandstone information that will
not stand polishing. With such fatuity many of our teachers in the
secondary schools exercise their pupils in the study of English
masterpieces and in the critical estimate of æsthetic qualities
before acquainting them with the commonplace facts and fables that,
transmitted through generations, are the material of much of our poetry
because the material of daily converse, imagination, and thought. These
commonplaces of tradition are to be found largely in the literature
of mythology. Of course the evil would be neither so widespread nor
so dangerous if more of the guardians and instructors of our youth
were at home even among the Greek and Latin classics. But for various
reasons,--some valid, as, for instance, the importance of increased
attention to the modern languages and the natural sciences; others
worthless, as the so-called utilitarian protest against the cultivation
of "dead" languages,--for various reasons the study of the classics
is at present considerably impaired. It is, therefore, incumbent upon
our universities and schools, recognizing this fact and deploring it,
to abate so far as possible the unfortunate consequences that proceed
therefrom, until, by a readjustment of subjects of instruction and
of the periods allotted them, the Greek and Latin classics shall be
reinstated in their proper place as a means of discipline, a humanizing
influence, the historic background against which our present appears.
For, cut off from the intellectual and imaginative sources of Greece
and Rome, the state and statesmanship, legislation and law, society
and manners, philosophy, religion, literature, art, and even artistic
appreciation, run readily shallow and soon dry.
Now, one evident means of tempering the consequence of this neglect
of the classics is the study of them through translations and
summaries. Such secondhand study must indeed be ever a makeshift; for
the literature of a people inheres in its language, and loses its
seeming and often its characteristic when caparisoned in the trappings
of another speech,--an utterance totally dissimilar, the outcome
of diverse conditions of physical environment, history, social and
intellectual tradition. But in dealing with the purely imaginative
products of antiquity, the inefficacy of translation may be somewhat
offset if those products be reproduced, so far as possible, not in the
prosaic but in the poetic atmosphere and in the imaginative garb of
art. For though the phenomena of plastic art are not the same in one
continent as in another, or from one century to the next, and though
the fashion of poetry itself varies from age to age and from clime
to clime, the genesis of imagination is universal, its products are
akin, and its process is continuous. For this reason the study of the
imaginative thought of the ancients through the artistic creations
of the moderns is commended to students and readers as feasible and
profitable.
The study of the classic myths stimulates to creative production,
prepares for the appreciation of poetry and other kinds of art, and
furnishes a clew to the spiritual development of the race.
1. Classic mythology has been for succeeding poetry, sculpture, and
painting, a treasure house replete with golden tales and glimmering
thoughts, passions in the rough and smooth, and fancies rich bejeweled.
Like Virgil's Shadows that flit by the Lethean stream until at beck
of Fate they revisit upper day and the ever-tranquil stars, these
ghosts of "far-off things and battles long ago," peopling the murmurous
glades of myth, await the artist who shall bestow on each his new and
predetermined form and restore them, purified and breathing of Elysian
air, to the world of life and ever-young mankind.
2. For the reader the study of mythology does, in this respect, as
much as for poet, sculptor, or painter. It assists him to thrid the
labyrinth of art, not merely with the clew of tradition, but with a
thread of surer knowledge whose surest strand is sympathy.
The knowledge of mythic lore has led men in the past broadly to
appreciate the motives and conditions of ancient art and literature,
and the uniform and ordered evolution of the æsthetic sense. And,
beside enriching us with heirlooms of fiction and pointing us to the
sources of imaginative joy from which early poets of Hellenic verse,
or Norse, or English, drank, the classic myths quicken the imaginative
and emotional faculties to-day, just as of old. How many a man held
by the sorrows of the Labdacidæ or the love of Alcestis, by some
curious wonder in Pausanias, or some woe in Hyginus, has waked to the
consciousness of artistic fancy and creative force within himself!
How many, indifferent to the well-known round, the trivial task, the
nearest care of home, have read the Farewell to Andromache and lived a
new sympathy, an unselfish thrill, a purified delight! And not only as
an impulse toward artistic output, or patriotic devotion, or domestic
altruism, but as a restraining influence, a chastener of æsthetic
excess, a moderator of the "unchartered freedom" that knows no mean
between idolatry and loathing, of the foolish frenzy that affects new
things, abnormal and sensational, in literature, music, and the plastic
arts,--as such a tutor and governor is the study of beautiful myths
invaluable. Long familiarity with the sweet simplicity, the orderly
restraint, the severe regard, the filial awe that pervade the myths
of Greece and Rome,--or with the newness of life and fullness and
wonder of it, the naïveté and the romance, of Eddic lore,--cannot but
graciously temper our modern estimate of artistic worth.
The study, when illustrated by masterpieces of literature and art,
should lead to the appreciation of concrete artistic productions of
both these kinds.
It goes without saying that a rational series of somewhat consecutive
stories is more serviceable to the reader than a congeries of data
acquired by spasmodic consultation of the classical dictionary,--a
mass of information bolted, as it were, but by no means digested. If,
moreover, these stories are narrated in genealogical and realistic
sequence and are illustrated by lyric, narrative, and descriptive
passages of modern literature, there is furnished not only that
material of allusion and reference for which the student nowadays
trusts to meager and disjointed textbook notes, but a potentiality
that should render the general reading of _belles-lettres_ more
profitable. For a previous acquaintance with the material of literary
tradition heightens the appreciation of each allusive passage as it is
encountered; it enables the reader to sympathize with the mood and to
enter into the purpose of the poet, the essayist, the novelist, the
orator; it expands the intellectual lungs for the atmosphere breathed
by the artist, at any rate for a literary and social atmosphere
less asthmatic than that to which so many of us are unconsciously
habituated. Of course all this advantage would far better result
from the first-hand nutriment and discipline of the Greek and Latin
classics; of course direct familiarity with the writers of Greece
and Rome is the _sine qua non_ of level-headed criticism and broad
evaluation of modern literature; and, of course, a sympathy with the
imaginings of old is the best incentive to an æsthetic estimate not
only of art but of nature to-day; but if our American pupils and many
of their teachers cannot quaff Massic and Falernian, they do well
to scent the bouquet. In time a sense of flavor may perchance be
stimulated, and ultimately a desire for nearer acquaintance with the
literatures that we inherit.
The study of these ancient tales serves, then, much more than the
purpose of special information. It refines the æsthetic judgment in
general, and heightens the enjoyment of such works of literature
as, not treating of mythical or classical subjects, still possess
the characteristics of the classic: the unconscious simplicity,
the inevitable charm, and the noble ideality. The Lycidas, the
Adonais, the Thyrsis, the In Memoriam, the Ode to Duty, the Bothie of
Tober-na-Vuolich, the Hymn of Man, Love is Enough, Prospice, Festus,
the Ode of Life, the Dream of Gerontius, Lying in the Grass, and
Simmenthal must mean little to one devoid of the spirit of classicism.
In respect of art a similar inspiration, aid, instruction, are afforded
by the study. This volume is liberally supplied with cuts of famous
paintings and sculptures of mythical subjects. Familiarity with
specimens of ancient art, even through the medium of photography and
engraving, must not only cultivate the historic sense but stimulate
the æsthetic. The cruder efforts of the ancients, no less than the
more refined, are windows through which we view the ancient mind.
The frequent contemplation of their nobler efforts and of the modern
masterpieces here reproduced may avail to lift some from the level of
apathy or provinciality in matters of imagination; some it may spur to
a study of the originals, some to artistic creation. A public which,
from year to year, displays a deeper interest in the art of foreign
lands will despise no auxiliary to a more intelligent appreciation of
that art. A country whose future in artistic achievement cannot be
prophesied in a paragraph will more and more truly recognize the value
of a study that is an introduction to much that is best in art as it
exists.
3. Furthermore, it must be borne in mind that the myths of the
ancients, as the earliest literary crystallization of social order and
religious fear, record the incipient history of religious ideals and
of moral conduct. For though ethnologists may insist that to search
for truth _in_ mythology is vain, the best of them will grant that to
search for truth _through_ mythology is wise and profitable. If we
accept the statement (often stretched beyond its proper limit) that
mythology is primitive philosophy, and the other statement that an
ancient philosophy never dies, but by process of internal growth, of
modification, and of accretion acquires a purer spirit and a new and
higher form,--then, since truth was never yet conceived of error (_ex
nihilo nihil fit_), the truth now recognized, while it did not exist
in that fraction of myth which happens to be irrational, existed as an
archetypal impulse,--set the myth in motion, and, as a process refining
the mind of man, tended steadily to eliminate from primitive philosophy
(that is, from the myths that embodied primitive philosophy) the
savage, ephemeral, and irrational element. For all myths spring from
the universal and inalienable desire to know, to enjoy, to teach. These
impulses of knowledge, of imaginative relaxation, of conduct, are the
throbbing of the heart of reason; the first or the second is the primal
pulse of every myth, and to the life of every myth each impulse may be,
at some period, contributory. This study has led men to trace soberly
the progress of their kind from the twilight of gray conjecture to the
dawn of spiritual conviction and rational individuality; to discern a
continuity of thought, an outward reach of imagination, an upward lift
of moral and religious ideas; to confess the brotherhood of humanity
and an inspiring purpose which holds good for every race and through
all time.
SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS
1. _Of the Classic Myths in their Relation to Literature._ It is
essential that the teacher of mythology, no matter what textbook
or system he uses or what classic epic he proposes to present,
should first make himself acquainted with the meaning of myth, its
origin and elements; the difference between myth and fable, between
myths explanatory and myths æsthetic, myths reasonable and myths
unreasonable, the theories of myth-making as a process of deterioration
or as a process of development. He should also inform himself
concerning the ways in which the leading myths have been disseminated,
and how the survivors have been preserved. Materials for this
preparation he will find in Chapters XXX-XXXII of this book as readily,
perhaps, as elsewhere; but no matter where he obtains this information
he should in a simple and interesting talk pass on the cream of it
to the pupils about to begin the study of the stories themselves. He
will in that way bring them to a reasonable appreciation of the value
of myths and their relation to our civilization, and awaken in them
anticipatory interest in the proposed reading. It is a great mistake to
plunge students of high-school age, without preliminary orientation and
a justification of the study, into a world which may otherwise appear
to them unreasonable in conception and unrelated in experience. Pupils
may, if time permits, read these concluding chapters, and so obtain
a systematic outlook upon the subject, during a brief review in the
senior year, but not earlier.
This book should be studied for its materials and the inspiration
that it affords,--not word by word for its style, or as a dictionary
or scientific authority; nor paragraph by paragraph with a painful
committing to memory of each myth and each episode in the myth.
Discrimination must be made. Some of these myths, and especially the
episodes from the epics (Chapters XXII-XXIX), are to be read rapidly
and in large assignments, sometimes at home with reports in class,
sometimes in class and at sight, but always for the enjoyment. Others
are to be studied in detail, but solely when they are of special and
vital significance, historically, morally, or æsthetically. Emphasis
should be laid only occasionally and sparingly upon interpretations of
mythical materials. What both teacher and student should aim at is the
picture--manners, morals, ideals, heroic figures, epic events, broad
and vivid against the canvas of antiquity: that, and the reality of
classic order, grandeur, and restraint.
The myths are here presented in a logical and genealogical arrangement;
and they should be studied in this order, so that the pupil may carry
away, not a jumble of sporadic recollections, but some conception
of the systems of creative imagination which obtained in earlier
civilizations. The knowledge of the myths and the proper perspective
of their relation, one to another, may further be fixed by the study
of the family ties that motivate many of the incidents of mythical
adventure, and that must have been commonplaces of information to the
inventors and narrators of these stories.
The myths may well be reproduced as exercises in narration, comparison,
description; and they may be regarded as stimulus for imaginative
invention concerning local wonders and beauties of nature. Pupils
may also be encouraged to consider, and to comment upon, the moral
qualities of the heroes and heroines of mythology. Thus they may be led
to recognize the difference between ancient and modern standards of
right and wrong. To this end, and for the supply of further nutriment,
it is important that teachers collect from their reading of the
classic originals, or from translations of the Iliad, the Odyssey,
the Greek dramatists, the Æneid, the Metamorphoses, etc., material
supplementary to the text, and give it freely to their classes. To
facilitate this practice the sources of the myths have been indicated
in the footnotes of this volume, and a few of the best translations
have been mentioned in the Commentary. Instructors should also read to
the classes illustrative English poems, or portions of them based upon
the myths under consideration; and they should encourage the pupils to
collect from their English reading additional examples of the literary
survival or adaptation of ancient story. For this purpose special
sections of the Commentary have been prepared, indicating some of the
best known literary applications of each myth.
The Commentary is numbered in sections corresponding to those of the
text. The Textual Notes should be studied in connection with each
lesson, the Interpretative more sparingly, as I have said. They should
not be suffered to spoil the interest in the stories as such. They
are of interest in themselves only to maturer minds. Allusions and
interpretations which the younger pupil does not appreciate will, if
the book is used for purposes of reference in his further English,
Latin, or Greek studies, be clear before the end of his course.
From the outset care should be taken that pupils give to the classical
names their proper accent, and that they anglicize both vowels and
consonants according to the recognized rules laid down in the Latin
grammars, the English dictionaries, and the pages preceding the Index
of this book.
Mythological and classical geography should not be neglected. The maps
accompanying this volume will be serviceable; but there should be
in the classroom one of Kiepert's maps of the World as Known to the
Ancients (Orbis Veteribus Notus), or maps of Ancient Italy, Greece,
and Asia Minor. The teacher will find the International Atlas (G.
P. Putnam's Sons, New York), A. Keith Johnston's School and College
Atlas of Ancient Geography, or the new edition of the same by James
Cranstoun, issued as Ginn and Company's Classical Atlas, indispensable
in the prosecution of general reading.
When it is the intention to study, in connection with the book,
an Homeric epic or a portion of it, the teacher should first make
sure that the class has an adequate preliminary training in general
mythology (such, for instance, as may be provided by the first
twenty-one chapters); he should then outline rapidly and entertainingly
the epic as a whole, emphasizing its position in the literature of the
world and its relation to the world of its own times, before proceeding
to read it in detail with the class. Excellent suggestions as to this
method of study are offered in the Introduction to Maxwell & Chubb's
Pope's Homer's Iliad, Books I, VI, XXII, and XXIV (Longmans), and in
the Introduction to the Riverside Edition of the Odyssey: Ulysses among
the Phæacians (Houghton Mifflin Company).
The more important myths and the best illustrative poems should provide
not only nutriment for thought, but material for memory. Our youth in
the push for hasty achievement bolt their meals; they masticate little,
swallow everything, digest nothing,--and having agonized, forget. If
fewer things were dispatched, especially in the study of literature,
and if more were intrusted to the memory, there would be something to
assimilate and time to assimilate it; there would be less dyspepsia and
more muscle. Teachers and parents are over-considerate, nowadays, of
the memory in children: they approach it gingerly; they have feared so
much to wring its withers that in most children the memory has grown
too soft for saddling. In our apprehension lest pupils may turn out
parrots, we have too often turned them out loons. It is better that a
few of the facts in their heads be wrong than that no facts be there
at all. With all our study of children and our gabble about methods
of teaching them, while we insist, properly enough, that youth is the
seedtime of observation, we seem to have forgotten that it is also the
harvest-time of memory. It is easy for children to remember what they
learn, it is a delight for them to commit to memory; we act criminally
when we send them forth with hardly a fact or a date or a glorious
verse in the memory of one out of ten of them. Such, unfortunately,
is the case in many of our schools; and such was not the case in the
day of our fathers. Pupils should be encouraged to recite _memoriter_
the best poems and verses that accompany the myths here given; and
they should not be allowed to pass allusions already explained without
recalling verses that contain them.
But above all things should be cultivated, by means of this study, the
spiritual capabilities of our youth. _Pabulum_ for thought, accurate
habits of memory, critical judgment, simplicity and directness of oral
and written expression, may all be furnished or developed by other
educative agencies; but what stimulus to fancy, to poetic sensitiveness
and reflection, to a near kinship with the spirit of nature humanized,
can be found more cogent than the contemplation of the poetic
traditions that abide in verse? Mythology, fraught with the fire of
imagination, kindles the present from the past.
In this new world of ours, shall slopes and mountains, gorges, cañons,
flowery fields and forests, rivers, bays, Titanic lakes, and shoreless
reach of ocean be seen of eyes that lack insight, be known of men for
whom nature does not live? Surely the age of myth is not wholly past;
surely the beauties and the wonders of nature are a fable of things
never fully revealed; surely this new republic of ours, no less than
her prototypes by Tyrrhenian and Ægean seas, utters, in her queenly
form and flowing robes, a spirit, a truth, a potential poetry, and a
beauty of art, the grace of which we Americans, with deeper imaginative
training and sympathy and awe, may yet more highly value and more
clearly comprehend.
2. _Of the Classic Myths in their Relation to Art._[1] The illustration
of a book on ancient mythology offers great difficulties, because
the modern reader expects one thing and the ancient artist, on whose
works one must rely, intentionally offers a very different thing. We
have grown to be a reading people, forming our ideas largely on the
written word, while in antiquity the spoken word opened the door to
understanding. A story which has been committed to writing is fixed
for all time, having lost its power of growth; whereas a tale that
passes from mouth to mouth, with no record by which to check its
accuracy in particulars, is free to expand. It changes with the moods
of those who tell it, and the intellectual and moral standards of those
who listen. People to-day are unimaginative and literal. They also
expect that the pictures which illustrate their books shall follow
the individual conceptions of the author closely. When the story is
dramatized a certain latitude is granted to the actor; the artist,
however, who illustrates the book has no such freedom. He is expected
to take precisely the author's view of a fictitious character, and,
consequently, his individuality may show itself only in the technique.
In antiquity there were no standard books of fiction or of myths.
When writing came into use with the sixth century before Christ, the
individual versions of this or that great epic poem or drama were
preserved; but the great mass of the people knew them, not because they
had read the manuscripts, but because they had heard them acted or
recited. Book illustrations, therefore, were unknown. Yet so powerful
was the impression which the myths made on the people that most of
the artists drew their inspiration from them. Artists and poets alike
wished to make real the powerful characters of Greek tradition. To make
a literally true illustration of any one version of a great myth was
not the aim of a classic artist.
Another difficulty is found in the fact that few ancient myths
continued to be equally interesting to the people all the time. It is
therefore necessary for us, in choosing illustrations, to draw on all
periods of ancient art, the crude beginning and the decline as well as
the brief span of fine art. The comparatively meager store of genuinely
classic works of art acts as one of the greatest obstacles to the
compilation of a continuous record of classic myths in classic art.
To give such a record, however, rather than to _illustrate_ his book,
must be the aim of the author who publishes to-day a version of ancient
mythology together with such pictures or reliefs or statues as are
preserved. The modern reader of such a book should therefore appreciate
this fact: he must make allowance for the gradual development of
ancient art. The picture is not there for the sake of strengthening
the written work, but for its own sake. It often offers an independent
version of the myth which he reads, and at all times may give him an
insight into the mental make-up of the classic people.
Sculpture was the finest art of the Greeks, if one may judge by the
remains. In this province the artists worked according to the best
principles of art, making their appeal directly to the nobler side
of man. Before an ancient statue one feels the power of an idea
immediately, and not by the circuitous route of remembering a sequence
of words which may have aimed to suggest a similar idea. The Greeks
were the least literal in their sculpture. Their marbles, therefore,
cannot yield _illustrations_ which the modern editor can use, except
when they embody, like the Demeter of Knidos (Fig. 29) or the Athena
of Velletri (Fig. 10), a well-defined character-conception. The modern
reader, on the other hand, cannot fail to notice that this conception
never does justice to the character of the goddess as it appears in
all the myths, and very rarely even to that characteristic which may
dominate the particular version of any one myth. If such pictures,
however, were entirely omitted from the book, the best means of
appreciating the essential nobility of the Greek mind would be lost.
None of the Greek masterpieces of painting are extant. Their attenuated
influence, however, may be traced in the Italian wall paintings from
Pompeii and elsewhere. Painting permits greater literalness than
sculpture. The picture from Herculaneum, for instance,--Io, Argus,
and Mercury (Fig. 47),--tells a definite story and one which is also
told by the poets. But the painter has considered the making of a
pleasing picture first, and given only a secondary thought to accuracy
of tradition. This must be so; for while we may without displeasure
listen to the description of a monster, we cannot see his actual
representation without discomfort. When we hear how the companions
of Ulysses were turned into swine, the tragic note is never lost. To
paint this scene, however, and not to border on the ridiculous or
the burlesque is given only to the greatest artist--if it is at all
possible.
Fortunately for our purposes of illustration, there was a class of
secondary artists in Greece which did not always shrink from selecting
subjects ill adapted for art, and from rendering them with slight
variations so that they are neither bad to look at nor altogether
untrue. These were the painters of vases. Some of them were masters of
their craft (cf. Fig. 116), others were of only mediocre skill. All,
however, like their nobler brethren, were primarily concerned with the
decorative and technical side of their art and but secondarily with
their subject. If the story, for instance, called for four persons and
their space for five, they unhesitatingly added the fifth person, and,
vice versa, removed one without compunction if they had place for fewer
figures than the story demanded. Being, moreover, commercial people,
they painted according to fashion. Whatever version of a myth happened
to be popular, that they selected, so that it has been possible to
trace by their vases the changes which several myths underwent from the
sixth century onward.
A careful student notices the similarity of types in many of these
pictures and realizes that the ancient painter of vases started out
with a certain stock-in-trade which he altered as little as possible,
adding something new only where it was absolutely necessary.
From these observations it is clear that the works of men who were
least gifted artistically are the best adapted for the purposes of book
illustrations; for a painter is literal in the inverse ratio of his
worth as artist. Nothing, therefore, could be less fair than to judge
Greek vase painting by the collection of pictures here offered. Only
paintings like Figures 85 and 101, for instance, can give a hint of the
best that these men produced.
Going gradually down the scale of artists one finally comes to the
level of the makers of Roman sarcophagi, in whose honor it can only be
said that to descend lower is impossible. Several myths, however,--the
story of the fall of Phaëthon (Fig. 59), for instance,--are not
illustrated in art before the decadent period of imperial Roman
sculpture. It is therefore necessary to draw also upon this source.
Of course unity of art or school or excellence cannot be preserved in
a set of pictures which groups the Demeter of Knidos (Fig. 29), the
blinding of Polyphemus (Fig. 171), and the fall of Phaëthon (Fig. 59).
But individually the pictures help to fix in memory the particular
stories that they are chosen to illustrate; and collectively they
show how strongly the myths here retold influenced the noblest fancy
of the great artists as well as the receptive minds of mediocre
artisans. The suggestive power of classic myths, moreover, was not
confined to antiquity. When learning and culture returned to the world
in the Renaissance, this power also returned. Raphael (see Fig. 12)
and Michelangelo (see Fig. 183) were under its sway, and so are many
modern artists (see Figs. 72 and 154). They did not all understand the
classic spirit equally, therefore some of their pictures are modern
in everything save the title, while others have caught the truth with
singular accuracy and are modern only in technique. Adding these
Italian and more recent pictures to the collection further destroys
mere unity, but it insures, on the other hand, a full appreciation of
the abiding and ennobling power of ancient mythology.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] See Preface.
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
PART I
MYTHS OF DIVINITIES AND HEROES
CHAPTER I
GREEK MYTHS OF THE CREATION
=1. Purpose of the Study.= Interwoven with the fabric of our English
literature, of our epics, dramas, lyrics, and novels, of our essays
and orations, like a golden warp where the woof is only too often of
silver, are the myths of certain ancient nations. It is the purpose of
this work to relate some of these myths, and to illustrate the uses to
which they have been put in English literature, and, incidentally, in
art.
=2. The Fable and the Myth.= Careful discrimination must be made
between the fable and the myth. A fable is a story, like that of
King Log, or the Fox and the Grapes, in which characters and plot,
neither pretending to reality nor demanding credence, are fabricated
confessedly as the vehicle of moral or didactic instruction. Dr.
Johnson narrows still further the scope of the fable: "It seems to
be, in its genuine state, a narrative in which _beings_ _irrational,
and sometimes inanimate_, are, for the purpose of moral instruction,
feigned to act and speak with human interests and passions." Myths,
on the other hand, are stories of anonymous origin, prevalent among
primitive peoples and by them accepted as true, concerning supernatural
beings and events, or natural beings and events influenced by
supernatural agencies. Fables are made by individuals; they may be told
in any stage of a nation's history,--by a Jotham when the Israelites
were still under the Judges, 1200 years before Christ, or by Christ
himself in the days of the most critical Jewish scholarship; by a
Menenius when Rome was still involved in petty squabbles of plebeians
and patricians, or by Phædrus and Horace in the Augustan age of Roman
imperialism and Roman letters; by an Æsop, well-nigh fabulous, to
fabled fellow-slaves and Athenian tyrants, or by La Fontaine to the
Grand Monarch and the most highly civilized race of seventeenth-century
Europe.
Fables are vessels made to order into which a lesson may be poured.
Myths are born, not made. They are born in the infancy of a people.
They owe their features not to any one historic individual, but to
the imaginative efforts of generations of story-tellers. The myth
of Pandora, the first woman, endowed by the immortals with heavenly
graces, and of Prometheus, who stole fire from heaven for the use of
man; the myth of the earthborn giants that in the beginning contested
with the gods the sovereignty of the universe; of the moon-goddess who,
with her buskined nymphs, pursues the chase across the azure of the
heavens, or descending to earth cherishes the youth Endymion,--these
myths, germinating in some quaint and childish interpretation of
natural events or in some fireside fancy, have put forth unconsciously,
under the nurture of the simple folk that conceived and tended them,
luxuriant branches and leaves of narrative, and blossoms of poetic
comeliness and form.
The myths that we shall relate present wonderful accounts of the
creation, histories of numerous divine beings, adventures of heroes
in which magical and ghostly agencies play a part, and where animals
and inanimate nature don the attributes of men and gods. Many of these
myths treat of divinities once worshiped by the Greeks and the Romans,
and by our Norse and German forefathers in the dark ages. Myths, more
or less like these, may be found in the literatures of nearly all
nations; many are in the memories and mouths of savage races at this
time existent. But the stories here narrated are no longer believed by
any one. The so-called divinities of Olympus and of Asgard have not a
single worshiper among men. They dwell only in the realm of memory and
imagination; they are enthroned in the palace of art.
The stories of Greek, Roman, Norse, and German mythology that have
most influenced our English literature will follow in the order
named. The Romans, being by nature a practical, not a poetic, people,
incorporated in their literature the mythology of the Greeks. We shall,
however, append to our description of the Greek gods a brief account
of the native Latin divinities that retained an individuality in Roman
literature.
[Illustration: FIG. 1. JUPITER SURVEYING THE WORLD]
=3. Origin of the World.=[2] There were among the Greeks several
accounts of the beginning of things. Homer tells us that River Ocean,
a deep and mighty flood, encircling land and sea like a serpent with
its tail in its mouth, was the source of all. According to other myths
Night and Darkness were the prime elements of Nature, and from them
sprang Light. Still a third theory, attributed to Orpheus, asserts
that Time was in the beginning, but had himself no beginning; that
from him proceeded Chaos, a yawning abyss wherein brooded Night and
Mist and fiery air, or Æther; that Time caused the mist to spin round
the central fiery air till the mass, assuming the form of a huge world
egg, flew, by reason of its rapid rotation, into halves. Of these, one
was Heaven, the other Earth. From the center of the egg proceeded Eros
(Love) and other wondrous beings.
But the most consistent account of the origin of the world and of the
gods is given by the poet Hesiod, who tells us that Chaos, the yawning
abyss, composed of Void, Mass, and Darkness in confusion, preceded all
things else. Next came into being broad-bosomed Earth, and beautiful
Love who should rule the hearts of gods and men. But from Chaos itself
issued Erebus,[3] the mysterious darkness that is under Earth,--and
Night, dwelling in the remote regions of sunset.
From Mother Earth proceeded first the starry vault of Heaven, durable
as brass or iron, where the gods were to take up their abode. Earth
brought forth next the mountains and fertile fields, the stony plains,
the sea, and the plants and animals that possess them.
=4. Origin of the Gods.= So far we have a history of the throes and
changes of the physical world; now begins the history of gods and
of men. For in the heart of creation Love begins to stir, making of
material things creatures male and female, and bringing them together
by instinctive affinity. First Erebus and Night, the children of Chaos,
are wedded, and from them spring Light and Day; then _Uranus_, the
personified Heaven, takes _Gæa_, the Earth, to wife, and from their
union issue Titans and hundred-handed monsters and Cyclopes.
The _Titans_[4] appear to be the personification of mighty convulsions
of the physical world, of volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. They
played a quarrelsome part in mythical history; they were instigators of
hatred and strife. Homer mentions specially two of them, Iapetus and
Cronus; but Hesiod enumerates thirteen. Of these, the more important
are Oceanus and Tethys, Hyperion and Thea, Cronus and Rhea, Iapetus,
Themis, and Mnemosyne. The three _Cyclopes_ represented the terrors
of rolling thunder, of the lightning-flash, and of the thunderbolt;
and, probably, for this reason, one fiery eye was deemed enough for
each. The hundred-handed monsters, or _Hecatonchires_, were also three
in number. In them, probably, the Greeks imaged the sea with its
multitudinous waves, its roar, and its breakers that seem to shake the
earth. These lightning-eyed, these hundred-handed monsters, their
father Uranus feared, and attempted to destroy by thrusting them into
Tartarus, the profound abysm of the earth. Whereupon Mother Earth, or
Gæa, indignant, called for help upon her elder children, the Titans.
None dared espouse her cause save Cronus, the crafty. With an iron
sickle he lay in wait for his sire, fell upon him, and drove him,
grievously wounded, from the encounter. From the blood of the mutilated
Uranus leaped into being the Furies, whose heads writhe with serpents;
the Giants, a novel race of monsters; and the Melic Nymphs, invidious
maidens of the ashen spear.
=5. The Rule of Cronus.= Now follows the reign of Cronus, lord of
Heaven and Earth. He is, from the beginning, of incalculable years. In
works of art his head is veiled, to typify his cunning and his reserve;
he bears the sickle not only as memento of the means by which he
brought his father's tyranny to end, but as symbol of the new period of
growth and golden harvests that he ushered in.
For unknown ages Cronus and Rhea, his sister-queen, governed Heaven
and Earth. To them were born three daughters, Vesta, Ceres, and Juno,
and three sons, Pluto, Neptune, and Jupiter. Cronus, however, having
learned from his parents that he should be dethroned by one of his own
children, conceived the well-intentioned but ill-considered device
of swallowing each as it was born. His queen, naturally desirous of
discouraging the practice,--when it came to the turn of her sixth
child, palmed off on the insatiable Cronus a stone carefully enveloped
in swaddling clothes. Jupiter (or Zeus), the rescued infant, was
concealed in the island of Crete, where, nurtured by the nymphs
Adrastea and Ida, and fed on the milk of the goat Amalthea, he in due
season attained maturity. Then, assisted by his grandmother Gæa, he
constrained Cronus to disgorge the burden of his cannibal repasts.
First came to light the memorable stone, which was placed in safe
keeping at Delphi; then the five brothers and sisters of Jupiter,
ardent to avenge themselves upon the unnatural author of their
existence and their captivity.
=6. The War of the Titans.= In the war which ensued Iapetus and all
the Titans, except Oceanus, ranged themselves on the side of their
brother Cronus against Jupiter and his recently recovered kinsfolk.
Jupiter and his hosts held Mount Olympus. For ages victory wavered in
the balance. Finally Jupiter, acting again under the advice of Gæa,
released from Tartarus, where Uranus had confined them, the Cyclopes
and the Hecatonchires. Instantly they hastened to the battle-field
of Thessaly, the Cyclopes to support Jupiter with their thunders
and lightnings, the hundred-handed monsters with the shock of the
earthquake. Provided with such artillery, shaking earth and sea,
Jupiter issued to the onslaught. With the gleam of the lightning the
Titans were blinded, by the earthquake they were laid low, with the
flames they were well-nigh consumed: overpowered and fettered by the
hands of the Hecatonchires, they were consigned to the yawning cave of
Tartarus. Atlas, the son of Iapetus, was doomed to bear the heavens on
his shoulders. But a more famous son of the same Titan, Prometheus, who
had espoused the cause of Jove, acquired dignity hereafter to be set
forth.
=7. The Division of Empire.= In the council of the gods that succeeded,
Jupiter was chosen Sovereign of the World. He delegated to his brother
Neptune (or Poseidon) the kingdom of the sea and of all the waters; to
his brother Pluto (or Hades), the government of the underworld, dark,
unseen, mysterious, where the spirits of the dead should dwell, and
of Tartarus, wherein were held the fallen Titans. For himself Jupiter
retained Earth and the Heaven, into whose broad and sunny regions
towered Olympus, the favored mountain of the greater gods.[5]
=8. The Reign of Jupiter.= New conflicts, however, awaited this new
dynasty of Heaven--conflicts, the subject of many a tale among the
ancients. Gæa, though she had aided her grandson Jupiter in the war
against Cronus, was soon seized with compunctions of conscience; and
contemplating the cruel fate of her sons the Titans, she conceived
schemes of vengeance upon their conqueror. Another son was born to
her--_Typhon_, a monster more awful than his predecessors--whose
destiny it was to dispute the sway of the almighty Zeus. From the neck
of Typhon dispread themselves a hundred dragon-heads; his eyes shot
fire, and from his black-tongued chaps proceeded the hissing of snakes,
the bellowing of bulls, the roaring of lions, the barking of dogs,
pipings and screams, and, at times, the voice and utterance of the gods
themselves. Against Heaven this horror lifted himself; but quailing
before the thunderbolt of Jove, he too descended to Tartarus, his own
place and the abode of his brethren. To this day, however, he grumbles
and hisses, thrusts upward a fiery tongue through the crater of a
volcano, or, breathing siroccos, scorches trees and men.
[Illustration: FIG. 2. ATHENA AND GIANT]
Later still, the _Giants_, offspring of the blood that fell from the
wounded Uranus, renewed the revolt against the Olympian gods. They were
creatures nearer akin to men than were the Titans, or the Cyclopes,
or Typhon. They clothed themselves in the skins of beasts, and armed
themselves with rocks and trunks of trees. Their bodies and lower
limbs were of snakes. They were awful to encounter or to look upon.
They were named, like men, the _earthborn_; and their characteristics
would suggest some prehistoric brutish race, hotheaded, not amenable
to reason.[6] Of the Giants, the more mighty were Alcyoneus of the
winter storms and icebergs, Pallas, and Enceladus, and Porphyrion
the fire-king,--leader of the crew. In the war against them, Juno
and Minerva, divinities of the new dynasty of Heaven, took active
part,--and Hercules, an earthly son of Jupiter, whose arrows aided
in their defeat. It was from the overthrow of Pallas that Athena (or
Minerva) derived, according to certain records, her proud designation
of Pallas-Athena.[7] In due course, like the Titans and Typhon, the
Giants were buried in the abyss of eternal darkness. What other outcome
can be expected when mere physical or brute force joins issue with the
enlightened and embattled hosts of heaven?
[Illustration: FIG. 3. ZEUS AND GIANTS]
=9. The Origin of Man= was a question which the Greeks did not settle
so easily as the Hebrews. Greek traditions do not trace all mankind
to an original pair. On the contrary, the generally received opinion
was that men grew out of trees and stones, or were produced by the
rivers or the sea. Some said that men and gods were both derived from
Mother Earth, hence both _autochthonous_; and some, indeed, claimed
an antiquity for the human race equal to that of the divinities. All
narratives, however, agree in one statement,--that the gods maintained
intimate relations with men until, because of the growing sinfulness
and arrogance of mankind, it became necessary for the immortals to
withdraw their favor.
=10. Prometheus, a Creator.= There is a story which attributes the
making of man to Prometheus, whose father Iapetus had, with Cronus,
opposed the sovereignty of Jupiter. In that conflict, Prometheus,
gifted with prophetic wisdom, had adopted the cause of the Olympian
deities. To him and his brother Epimetheus was now committed the
office of making man and providing him and all other animals with the
faculties necessary for their preservation. Prometheus was to overlook
the work of Epimetheus. Epimetheus proceeded to bestow upon the
different animals the various gifts of courage, strength, swiftness,
sagacity; wings to one, claws to another, a shelly covering to a third.
But Prometheus himself made a nobler animal than these. Taking some
earth and kneading it with water, he made man in the image of the gods.
He gave him an upright stature, so that while other animals turn their
faces toward the earth, man gazes on the stars. Then since Epimetheus,
always rash, and thoughtful when too late, had been so prodigal of his
gifts to other animals that no blessing was left worth conferring upon
the noblest of creatures, Prometheus ascended to heaven, lighted his
torch at the chariot of the sun, and brought down fire. With fire in
his possession man would be able to win her secrets and treasures from
the earth, to develop commerce, science, and the arts.
[Illustration: FIG. 4. PROMETHEUS MAKING MAN]
=11. The Age of Gold.= Whether in this or in other ways the world was
furnished with inhabitants, the first age was an age of innocence and
happiness. Truth and right prevailed, though not enforced by law, nor
was there any in authority to threaten or to punish. The forest had
not yet been robbed of its trees to yield timbers for vessels, nor
had men built fortifications round their towns. There were no such
things as swords, spears, or helmets. The earth brought forth all
things necessary for man, without his labor in plowing or sowing.
Perpetual spring reigned, flowers sprang up without seed, the rivers
flowed with milk and wine, and yellow honey distilled from the oaks.
This Golden Age had begun in the reign of Cronus.[8] And when these
heroes fell asleep in death, they were translated in a pleasant dream
to a spiritual existence, in which, unseen by mortal eyes, they still
attended men as monitors and guardians.
=12. The Silver Age= came next, inferior to the golden. Jupiter
shortened the spring, and divided the year into seasons. Then,
first, men suffered the extremes of heat and cold, and houses became
necessary. Caves were their dwellings,--and leafy coverts of the woods,
and huts woven of twigs. Crops would no longer grow without planting.
The farmer was constrained to sow the seed, and the ox to draw the
plow. This was a race of manly men, but insolent and impious. And when
they died, Jupiter made them ghosts of the underworld, but withheld the
privilege of immortal life.
=13. Prometheus, Champion of Man.= During this age when, as Hesiod
says, the altars of the blessed were neglected, and the gods were
denied their due, Prometheus stood forth--the champion of man against
the Olympians.[9] For the son of Cronus had grudged mortals the use
of fire, and was, in fact, contemplating their annihilation and the
creation of a new race. Therefore, once upon a time, when gods and
men were in dispute at Sicyon concerning the prerogatives of each,
Prometheus, by an ingenious trick, attempted to settle the question
in favor of man. Dividing into two portions a sacrificial bull, he
wrapped all the eatable parts in the skin, cunningly surmounted with
uninviting entrails; but the bones he garnished with a plausible
mass of fat. He then offered Jupiter his choice. The king of Heaven,
although he perceived the intended fraud, took the heap of bones and
fat, and, forthwith availing himself of this insult as an excuse for
punishing mankind, deprived the race of fire. But Prometheus regained
the treasure, stealing it from Heaven in a hollow tube.
=14. Pandora.= Doubly enraged, Jupiter, in his turn, had recourse
to stratagem. He is declared to have planned for man a curse in the
shape of woman. How the race had persisted hitherto without woman is a
mystery; but that it had done so, with no slight degree of happiness,
the experience of the Golden Age would seem to prove. However, the
bewitching evil was fashioned,--in Heaven, properly enough,--and every
god and goddess contributed something to her perfection. One gave her
beauty, another persuasive charm, a third the faculty of music. And
they named her Pandora, "the gift of all the gods." Thus equipped,
she was conveyed to earth and presented to Epimetheus, who, without
hesitation, accepted the gift, though cautioned by his brother to
beware of Jupiter and all his ways. And the caution was not groundless.
In the hand of Pandora had been placed by the immortals a casket or
vase which she was forbidden to open. Overcome by an unaccountable
curiosity to know what this vessel contained, she one day lifted the
cover and looked in. Forthwith there escaped a multitude of plagues for
hapless man--gout, rheumatism, and colic for his body; envy, spite, and
revenge for his mind--and scattered themselves far and wide. Pandora
hastened to replace the lid; but one thing only remained in the casket,
and that was _hope_.
=15. Prometheus Bound.= Because of his unselfish devotion to the cause
of humanity, Prometheus drew down on himself the anger of Olympian
Jove, by whose order he was chained to a rock on Mount Caucasus, and
subjected to the attack of an eagle (or a vulture) which, for ages,
preyed upon his liver, yet succeeded not in consuming it. This state of
torment might have been brought to an end at any time by Prometheus,
if he had been willing to submit to his oppressor; for he possessed
a secret which involved the stability of Jove's throne. This was
that by a certain woman Jove would beget a son who should displace
him and end the sway of the Olympians. The god naturally desired more
accurate information of this decree of Fate. But to reveal the secret
Prometheus disdained. In this steadfastness the Titan was supported by
the knowledge that in the thirteenth generation there should arrive a
hero,--sprung from Jove himself,--to release him.[10] And in fullness
of time the hero did arrive: none other than the mighty Hercules
desirous of rendering the highest service to mankind. No higher
service, thinks this radiant and masterful personage,--who, as we shall
see, had already cleared the world of many a monster,--remains to be
performed than to free the champion of mankind, suffering through the
ages because he had brought light into the world. "The soul of man,"
says Hercules to the Titan--
The soul of man can never be enslaved
Save by its own infirmities, nor freed
Save by its very strength and own resolve
And constant vision and supreme endeavor!
You will be free? Then, courage, O my brother!
O let the soul stand in the open door
Of life and death and knowledge and desire
And see the peaks of thought kindle with sunrise!
Then shall the soul return to rest no more,
Nor harvest dreams in the dark field of sleep--
Rather the soul shall go with great resolve
To dwell at last upon the shining mountains
In liberal converse with the eternal stars.[11]
And he kills the vulture; and sets Jove's victim free.
By his demeanor Prometheus has become the ensample of magnanimous
endurance, and of resistance to oppression.
Titan! to whose immortal eyes
The sufferings of mortality,
Seen in their sad reality,
Were not as things that gods despise,
What was thy pity's recompense?
A silent suffering, and intense;
The rock, the vulture, and the chain,
All that the proud can feel of pain,
The agony they do not show,
The suffocating sense of woe,
Which speaks but in its loneliness,
And then is jealous lest the sky
Should have a listener, nor will sigh
Until its voice is echoless....
Thy godlike crime was to be kind,
To render with thy precepts less
The sum of human wretchedness,
And strengthen man with his own mind.
But, baffled as thou wert from high,
Still, in thy patient energy,
In the endurance and repulse
Of thine impenetrable spirit,
Which earth and heaven could not convulse,
A mighty lesson we inherit[12]....
=16. Longfellow's Prometheus.= A happy application of the story of
Prometheus is made by Longfellow in the following verses:[13]
Of Prometheus, how undaunted
On Olympus' shining bastions
His audacious foot he planted,
Myths are told, and songs are chanted,
Full of promptings and suggestions.
Beautiful is the tradition
Of that flight through heavenly portals,
The old classic superstition
Of the theft and the transmission
Of the fire of the Immortals!
First the deed of noble daring,
Born of heavenward aspiration,
Then the fire with mortals sharing,
Then the vulture,--the despairing
Cry of pain on crags Caucasian.
All is but a symbol painted
Of the Poet, Prophet, Seer;
Only those are crowned and sainted
Who with grief have been acquainted,
Making nations nobler, freer.
In their feverish exultations,
In their triumph and their yearning,
In their passionate pulsations,
In their words among the nations,
The Promethean fire is burning.
Shall it, then, be unavailing,
All this toil for human culture?
Through the cloud-rack, dark and trailing,
Must they see above them sailing
O'er life's barren crags the vulture?
Such a fate as this was Dante's,
By defeat and exile maddened;
Thus were Milton and Cervantes,
Nature's priests and Corybantes,
By affliction touched and saddened.
But the glories so transcendent
That around their memories cluster,
And, on all their steps attendant,
Make their darkened lives resplendent
With such gleams of inward lustre!
All the melodies mysterious,
Through the dreary darkness chanted;
Thoughts in attitudes imperious,
Voices soft, and deep, and serious,
Words that whispered, songs that haunted!
All the soul in rapt suspension,
All the quivering, palpitating
Chords of life in utmost tension,
With the fervor of invention,
With the rapture of creating!
Ah, Prometheus! heaven-scaling!
In such hours of exultation
Even the faintest heart, unquailing,
Might behold the vulture sailing
Round the cloudy crags Caucasian!
Though to all there is not given
Strength for such sublime endeavor,
Thus to scale the walls of heaven,
And to leaven with fiery leaven
All the hearts of men forever;
Yet all bards, whose hearts unblighted
Honor and believe the presage,
Hold aloft their torches lighted,
Gleaming through the realms benighted,
As they onward bear the message!
=17. The Brazen Age.= Next to the Age of Silver came that of brass,[14]
more savage of temper and readier for the strife of arms, yet not
altogether wicked.
=18. The Iron Age.= Last came the hardest age and worst,--of iron.
Crime burst in like a flood; modesty, truth, and honor fled. The gifts
of the earth were put only to nefarious uses. Fraud, violence, war at
home and abroad were rife. The world was wet with slaughter; and the
gods, one by one, abandoned it, Astræa, following last, goddess of
innocence and purity.
=19. The Flood.= Jupiter, observing the condition of things, burned
with anger. He summoned the gods to council. Obeying the call, they
traveled the Milky Way to the palace of Heaven. There, Jupiter set
forth to the assembly the frightful condition of the earth, and
announced his intention of destroying its inhabitants, and providing a
new race, unlike the present, which should be worthier of life and more
reverent toward the gods. Fearing lest a conflagration might set Heaven
itself on fire, he proceeded to drown the world. Not satisfied with his
own waters, he called his brother Neptune to his aid. Speedily the race
of men, and their possessions, were swept away by the deluge.
=20. Deucalion and Pyrrha.= Parnassus alone, of the mountains,
overtopped the waves; and there Deucalion, son of Prometheus, and
his wife Pyrrha, daughter of Epimetheus, found refuge--he a just man
and she a faithful worshiper of the gods. Jupiter, remembering the
harmless lives and pious demeanor of this pair, caused the waters to
recede,--the sea to return to its shores, and the rivers to their
channels. Then Deucalion and Pyrrha, entering a temple defaced with
slime, approached the unkindled altar and, falling prostrate, prayed
for guidance and aid. The oracle[15] answered, "Depart from the temple
with head veiled and garments unbound, and cast behind you the bones
of your mother." They heard the words with astonishment. Pyrrha first
broke silence: "We cannot obey; we dare not profane the remains of
our parents." They sought the woods, and revolved the oracle in their
minds. At last Deucalion spoke: "Either my wit fails me or the command
is one we may obey without impiety. The earth is the great parent of
all; the stones are her bones; these we may cast behind us; this, I
think, the oracle means. At least, to try will harm us not." They
veiled their faces, unbound their garments, and, picking up stones,
cast them behind them. The stones began to grow soft and to assume
shape. By degrees they put on a rude resemblance to the human form.
Those thrown by Deucalion became men; those by Pyrrha, women. It was a
hard race that sprang up, and well adapted to labor.
=21. The Demigods and Heroes.= As preceding the Age of Iron, Hesiod
mentions an _Age of Demigods and Heroes_. Since, however, these
demigods and heroes were, many of them, reputed to have been directly
descended from Deucalion, their epoch must be regarded as subsequent
to the deluge. The hero, Hellen, son of Deucalion and Pyrrha, became
the ancestor of the Hellenes, or Greeks. The Æolians and Dorians were,
according to legend, descended from his sons Æolus and Dorus; from his
son Xuthus, the Achæans and Ionians derived their origin.
Another great division of the Greek people, the Pelasgic, resident in
the Peloponnesus or southern portion of the peninsula, was said to have
sprung from a different stock of heroes, that of Pelasgus, son of
Phoroneus of Argos and grandson of the river-god Inachus.
The demigods and heroes were of matchless worth and valor. Their
adventures form the subject of many of the succeeding chapters. The
Older Heroes, especially, were endowed with godlike qualities, which
they devoted to the service of mankind in the destruction of monsters,
the founding of cities, or the introduction of civilization. Such were
Perseus, the hero of Argos and his descendant Hercules, who came to be
worshiped as the national hero of the Greeks. Such, too, Cadmus, the
founder of Thebes, and Cecrops of Athens, and one of his successors,
Theseus, a "second Hercules." Each city of Greece had its patron hero,
to whom it accorded the honors of divinity. The Younger Heroes were
chieftains in the Theban and the Trojan wars and in numerous other
military or predatory expeditions.
[Illustration: FIG. 5. POSEIDON, DIONYSUS, AND GODDESS]
FOOTNOTES:
[2] Supplementary information concerning many of the myths may be found
in the corresponding sections of the Commentary. For the pronunciation
of names see Index, and Rules preceding the Index.
[3] So far as possible, Latin designations, or Latinized forms of Greek
names, are used.
[4] On the Titans, etc., Preller's Griech. Mythol. 1, 37.
[5] On signification of Uranus, Cronus, Zeus, see Preller, 1, 37, 38,
and Commentary, §§ 4, 24.
[6] Roscher, Ausf. Lex., Article _Giganten_ [J. Ilberg].
[7] The name more probably signifies Brandisher [of the Lance].
[8] Consequently the creation of these men could not be assigned to
Prometheus,--unless they were made by him before the war of the Titans.
[9] There is uncertainty as to the mythical period of these events. The
order here given seems to me well grounded. Hes. Works and Days, 180;
Theog. 790-910.
[10] §§ 156, 161, 191 and Commentary, § 10.
[11] From Herakles, a drama by George Cabot Lodge.
[12] From Byron's Prometheus. See also his translation from the
Prometheus Vinctus of Æschylus, and his Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte.
[13] Prometheus, or The Poet's Forethought. See Commentary.
[14] Compare Byron's political satire, The Age of Bronze.
[15] Oracles, see §§ 24, 30, and Commentary.
CHAPTER II
THE GODS OF HEAVEN[16]
[Illustration: FIG. 6. TWO HOURS]
=22. Olympus.= The heaven of the Greek gods was the summit of an ideal
mountain called Olympus.[17] A gate of clouds, kept by goddesses,
the Hours or Seasons, opened to permit the passage of the Celestials
to earth, and to receive them on their return. The gods had their
separate dwellings; but all, when summoned, repaired to the palace
of Jupiter,--even the deities whose usual abode was the earth, the
waters, or the underworld. In the great hall of the Olympian king the
gods feasted each day on ambrosia and nectar. Here they conversed of
the affairs of heaven and earth; and as they quaffed the nectar that
Hebe poured, Apollo made melody with his lyre and the Muses sang in
responsive strain. When the sun was set, the gods withdrew to their
respective dwellings for the night.
The following lines from the Odyssey express the conception of Olympus
entertained by Homer:
So saying, Minerva, goddess, azure-eyed,
Rose to Olympus, the reputed seat
Eternal of the gods, which never storms
Disturb, rains drench, or snow invades, but calm
The expanse and cloudless shines with purest day.
There the inhabitants divine rejoice
Forever.[18]
=23. The Great Gods.= The gods of Heaven were the following:[19]
Jupiter (Zeus).[20]
His daughter, Minerva (Athena), who sprang from his brain,
full-grown and full-armed.
His sister and wife, Juno (Hera).
His children by Juno,--Mars (Ares), Vulcan (Hephæstus), and Hebe.
His children by Latona,--Apollo, or Ph[oe]bus, and Diana (Artemis).
His daughter by Dione,--Venus (Aphrodite).[21]
His son by Maia,--Mercury (Hermes).
His sister, Vesta (Hestia), the oldest born of Cronus and Rhea.
Of these all were deities of the highest order save Hebe, who must
be ranked with the lesser gods. With the remaining ten "Great Gods"
are sometimes reckoned the other sister of Jupiter, Ceres (Demeter),
properly a divinity of earth, and Neptune (Poseidon), ruler of the sea.
=24. Jupiter[22] (Zeus).= The Greek name signifies the radiant light of
heaven. Jupiter was the supreme ruler of the universe, wisest of the
divinities and most glorious. In the Iliad he informs the other gods
that their united strength would not budge him: that, on the contrary,
he could draw them and earth and the seas to himself, and suspend all
from Olympus by a golden chain. Throned in the high, clear heavens,
Jupiter was the gatherer of clouds and snows, the dispenser of gentle
rains and winds, the moderator of light and heat and the seasons, the
thunderer, the wielder of the thunderbolt. Bodily strength and valor
were dear to him. He was worshiped with various rites in different
lands, and to him were sacred everywhere the loftiest trees and the
grandest mountain peaks. He required of his worshipers cleanliness
of surroundings and person and heart. Justice was his; his to repay
violation of duty in the family, in social relations, and in the state.
Prophecy was his; and his will was made known at the oracle of Dodona,
where answers were given to those who inquired concerning the future.
This oracular shrine was the most ancient in Greece. According to one
account two black doves had taken wing from Thebes in Egypt. One flew
to Dodona in Epirus, and, alighting in a grove of oaks, proclaimed to
the inhabitants of the district that they should establish there an
oracle of Jupiter. The other dove flew to the temple of Jupiter Ammon
in the Libyan oasis, and delivered a similar command. According to
another account, these were not doves but priestesses who, carried off
from Thebes by the Ph[oe]nicians, set up oracles at Oasis and Dodona.
The responses of the oracle were given by the rustling of the oak trees
in the wind. The sounds were interpreted by priests.
[Illustration: FIG. 7. ZEUS]
That Jupiter himself, though wedded to the goddess Juno, should be
charged with numerous other love affairs, not only in respect of
goddesses but of mortals, is, in part, explained by the fact that
to the supreme divinity of the Greeks have been ascribed attributes
and adventures of numerous local and foreign divinities that were
gradually identified with him. It is, therefore, not wise to assume
that the love affairs of Jupiter and of other divinities always
symbolize combinations of natural or physical forces that have repeated
themselves in ever-varying guise. It is important to understand
that the more ideal Olympian religion absorbed features of inferior
religions, and that Jupiter, when represented as appropriating the
characteristics of other gods, was sometimes, also, accredited with
their wives.
Beside the children of Jupiter already enumerated, there should here be
mentioned, as of peculiar consequence, Bacchus (Dionysus), the god of
wine, a deity of earth,--Proserpine, the wife of Pluto and queen of the
underworld,--and Hercules, the greatest of the heroes.
[Illustration: FIG. 8. ZEUS AFTER PHIDIAS]
=25. Conceptions of Jupiter.= The Greeks usually conceived the Jupiter
of war as riding in his thunder-car, hurling the thunderbolt or
lashing his enemies with a scourge of lightning. He wore a breastplate
or shield of storm-cloud like the skin of a gray goat (the _Ægis_),
fearful to behold, and made by the god of fire. His special messenger
was the eagle. It was, however, only with the passage of generations
that the Greeks came to represent their greatest of the gods by
the works of men's hands. The statue of Olympian Jove by Phidias
was considered the highest achievement of Grecian sculpture. It
was of colossal dimensions and, like other statues of the period,
"chryselephantine," that is, composed of ivory and gold. For the parts
representing flesh were of ivory laid on a framework of wood, while the
drapery and ornaments were of gold. The height of the figure was forty
feet, of the pedestal twelve. The god was represented as seated on his
throne. His brows were crowned with a wreath of olive; he held in his
right hand a scepter, and in his left a statue of Victory. The throne
was of cedar, adorned with gold and precious stones.
The idea which the artist essayed to embody was that of the supreme
deity of the Hellenic race, enthroned as a conqueror, in perfect
majesty and repose, and ruling with a nod the subject world. Phidias
informs us that the idea was suggested by Homer's lines in the first
book of the Iliad:
Jove said, and nodded with his shadowy brows;
Waved on th' immortal head th' ambrosial locks,--
And all Olympus trembled at his nod.[23]
Unfortunately, our knowledge of this famous statue is confined to
literary descriptions, and to copies on coins. Other representations
of Jove have been obtained from Greek bronze statuettes, or the
wall-paintings of Herculaneum and Pompeii.
=26. Juno[24] (Hera)=, sister and wife of Jupiter. According to some,
the name _Hera_ means Splendor of Heaven, according to others, the
Lady. Some think it approves her goddess of earth; others, goddess
of the air; still others, for reasons by no means final, say that it
signifies Protectress, and applies to Juno in her original function
of moon-goddess, the chosen guardian of women, their aid in seasons
of distress. Juno's union with Jupiter was the prototype of earthly
marriages. She is the type of matronly virtues and dignity.
[Illustration: FIG. 9. HERA OF ARGOS]
She was the daughter of Cronus and Rhea, but was brought up by Oceanus
and Tethys in their dwelling in the remote west beyond the sea. Without
the knowledge of her parents, she was wedded to Jupiter in this garden
of the gods where ambrosial rivers flowed, and where Earth sent up in
honor of the rite a tree of life, heavy with apples golden like the
sunset. Juno was the most worthy of the goddesses, the most queenly;
ox-eyed, says Homer; says Hesiod, golden-sandaled and golden-throned.
Glorious beyond compare was her presence, when she had harnessed her
horses, and driven forth the golden-wheeled chariot that Hebe made
ready, and that the Hours set aside. Fearful, too, could be her wrath.
For she was of a jealous disposition, which was not happily affected by
the vagaries of her spouse; and she was, moreover, prone to quarrels,
self-willed, vengeful, proud, even on occasion deceitful. Once, indeed,
she conspired with Minerva and Neptune to bind the cloud-compeller
himself. More than once she provoked him to blows; and once to worse
than blows,--for her lord and master swung her aloft in the clouds,
securing her wrists in golden handcuffs and hanging anvils to her feet.
The cities that the ox-eyed goddess favored were Argos, Sparta, and
Mycenæ. To her the peacock and the cow were dear, and many a grove and
pasture rejoiced her sacred herds.
[Illustration: HERA OF THE VATICAN]
[Illustration: FIG. 10. ATHENA VELLETRI]
=27. Minerva= (=Athene= or =Athena=), the virgin goddess. She sprang
from the brain of Jove, agleam with panoply of war, brandishing a
spear and with her battle-cry awakening the echoes of heaven and
earth. She is goddess of the lightning that leaps like a lance from
the cloud-heavy sky, and hence, probably, the name _Athene_.[25] She
is goddess of the storms and of the rushing thunderbolt, and is,
therefore, styled Pallas. She is the goddess of the thundercloud,
which is symbolized by her tasseled breastplate of goatskin, the
_ægis_, whereon is fixed the head of Medusa, the Gorgon, that turns
to stone all beholders. She is also the goddess of war, rejoicing
in martial music and protecting the war horse and the warship. On
the other hand, she is of a gentle, fair, and thoughtful aspect. Her
Latin name _Minerva_ is connected with the Sanskrit, Greek, and Latin
words for _mind_. She is eternally a virgin, the goddess of wisdom, of
skill, of contemplation, of spinning and weaving, of horticulture and
agriculture. She is protectress of cities, and was specially worshiped
in her own Athens, in Argos, in Sparta, and in Troy. To her were
sacrificed oxen and cows. The olive tree, created by her, was sacred to
her, and also the owl, the cock, the serpent, and the crow.
=28. Mars (Ares)=,[26] the war-god, son of Jupiter and Juno.
The meaning of the name _Ares_ is uncertain; the most probable
significations are the _Slayer_, the _Avenger_, the _Curse_. The
Roman god of war, Mars, is the _bright_ and _burning_ one. Homer, in
the Iliad, represents Ares as the insatiable warrior of the heroic
age, who, impelled by rage and lust of violence, exults in the noise
of battle, revels in the horror of carnage. Strife and slaughter
are the condition of his existence. Where the fight is thickest,
there he rushes in without hesitation, without question as to which
side is right. In battle array he is resplendent,--on his head the
gleaming helmet and floating plume, on his arm the leathern shield,
in his hand the redoubtable spear of bronze. Well-favored, stately,
swift, unwearied, puissant, gigantic, he is still the foe of wisdom,
the scourge of mortals. Usually he fights on foot, sometimes from a
chariot drawn by four horses,--the offspring of the North Wind and
a Fury. In the fray his sons attend him,--Terror, Trembling, Panic,
and Fear,--also his sister Eris, or Discord (the mother of Strife),
his daughter Enyo, ruiner of cities, and a retinue of bloodthirsty
demons. As typifying the chances of war, Mars is, of course, not always
successful. In the battles before Troy, Minerva and Juno bring him more
than once to grief; and when he complains to Jupiter, he is snubbed as
a renegade most hateful of all the gods.[27] His loved one and mistress
is the goddess of beauty herself. In her arms the warrior finds repose.
Their daughter Harmonia is the ancestress of the unquiet dynasty of
Thebes. The favorite land of Mars was, according to Homer, the rough,
northerly Thrace. His emblems are the spear and the burning torch; his
chosen animals are haunters of the battle field,--the vulture and the
dog.
[Illustration: FIG. 11. ARES LUDOVISI]
=29. Vulcan (Hephæstus)=, son of Jupiter and Juno, was the god of fire,
especially of terrestrial fire,--volcanic eruption, incendiary flame,
the glow of the forge or the hearth. But as the fires of earth are
derived from that of heaven, perhaps the name _Hephæstus_ (burning,
shining, flaming) referred originally to the marvelous brilliance
of the lightning. Vulcan was the blacksmith of the gods, the finest
artificer in metal among them. His forge in Olympus was furnished
not only with anvils and all other implements of the trade, but with
automatic handmaidens of silver and gold, fashioned by Vulcan himself.
Poets later than Homer assign to Vulcan workshops under various
volcanic islands. From the crater of Mount Ætna poured forth the fumes
and flames of his smithy. He built the dwellings of the gods; he made
the scepter of Jove, the shields and spears of the Olympians, the
arrows of Apollo and Diana, the breastplate of Hercules, the shield of
Achilles.
[Illustration: FIG. 12. ARES (MARS)]
He was lame of gait,--a figurative suggestion, perhaps, of the
flickering, unsteady nature of fire. According to his own story,[28]
he was born halt; and his mother, chagrined by his deformity, cast
him from Heaven out of the sight of the gods. Yet, again,[29] he says
that, attempting once to save his mother from Jupiter's wrath, he was
caught by the foot and hurled by the son of Cronus from the heavenly
threshold: "All day I flew; and at the set of sun I fell in Lemnos, and
little life was left in me." Had he not been lame before, he had good
reason to limp after either of these catastrophes. He took part in the
making of the human race, and in the special creation of Pandora. He
assisted also at the birth of Minerva, to facilitate which he split
Jupiter's head open with an ax.
[Illustration: FIG. 13. THE FORGE OF VULCAN]
His wife, according to the Iliad and Hesiod's Theogony, is Aglaia,
the youngest of the Graces; but in the Odyssey it is Venus. He is a
glorious, good-natured god, loved and honored among men as the founder
of wise customs and the patron of artificers; on occasion, as a god
of healing and of prophecy. He seems to have been, when he chose, the
cause of "inextinguishable laughter" to the gods, but he was by no
means a fool. The famous god of the strong arms could be cunning, even
vengeful, when the emergency demanded.
[Illustration: FIG. 14. APOLLO IN THE VATICAN]
=30. Apollo=, or Ph[oe]bus Apollo, the son of Jupiter and Latona, was
preëminently the god of the sun. His name _Ph[oe]bus_ signifies the
radiant nature of the sunlight; his name _Apollo_, perhaps, the cruel
and destructive heat of noonday. Soon after his birth, Jupiter would
have sent him to Delphi to inculcate righteousness and justice among
the Greeks; but the golden god Apollo chose first to spend a year in
the land of the Hyperboreans, where for six continuous months of the
year there is sunshine and spring, soft climate, profusion of herbs
and flowers, and the very ecstasy of life. During this delay the
Delphians sang pæans,--hymns of praise,--and danced in chorus about
the tripod (or three-legged stool), where the expectant priestess of
Apollo had taken her seat. At last, when the year was warm, came the
god in his chariot drawn by swans,--heralded by songs of springtide,
of nightingales and swallows and crickets. Then the crystal fount
of Castalia and the stream Cephissus overflowed their bounds, and
mankind made grateful offerings to the god. But his advent was not
altogether peaceful. An enormous serpent, Python, had crept forth from
the slime with which, after the flood, the Earth was covered; and in
the caves of Mount Parnassus this terror of the people lurked. Him
Apollo encountered and after fearful combat slew, with arrows, weapons
which the god of the silver bow had not before used against any but
feeble animals,--hares, wild goats, and such game. In commemoration
of this illustrious conquest, he instituted the Pythian games, in
which the victor in feats of strength, swiftness of foot, or in the
chariot race, should be crowned with a wreath of beech leaves. Apollo
brought not only the warm spring and summer, but also the blessings
of the harvest. He warded off the dangers and diseases of summer and
autumn; and he healed the sick. He was patron of music and of poetry.
Through his oracle at Delphi, on the slopes of Parnassus in Phocis, the
Pythian god made known the future to those who consulted him. He was a
founder of cities, a promoter of colonization, a giver of good laws,
the ideal of fair and manly youth,--a pure and just god, requiring
clean hands and pure hearts of those that worshiped him. But though a
god of life and peace, the far-darter did not shun the weapons of war.
When presumption was to be punished, or wrong righted, he could bend
his bow and slay with the arrows of his sunlight. As in the days of his
youth he slew the Python, so, also, he slew the froward Tityus, and so
the children of Niobe. While Ph[oe]bus Apollo is the Olympian divinity
of the sun, fraught with light and healing, spiritual, creative, and
prophetic, he must not be confounded with a god of the older dynasty,
Helios (offspring of Hyperion, Titanic deity of light), who represented
the sun in its daily and yearly course, in its physical rather than
spiritual manifestation. The bow of Apollo was bound with laurel in
memory of Daphne, whom he loved. To him were sacred, also, many
creatures,--the wolf, the roe, the mouse, the he-goat, the ram, the
dolphin, and the swan.[30]
[Illustration: FIG. 15. APOLLO BELVEDERE]
=31. Shelley's Hymn of Apollo.=
The sleepless Hours who watch me as I lie,
Curtained with star-inwoven tapestries,
From the broad moonlight of the sky,
Fanning the busy dreams from my dim eyes,--
Waken me when their mother, the gray Dawn,
Tells them that dreams and that the moon is gone.
[Illustration: FIG. 16. APOLLO]
Then I arise, and climbing Heaven's blue dome,
I walk over the mountains and the waves,
Leaving my robe upon the ocean foam;
My footsteps pave the clouds with fire; the caves
Are filled with my bright presence, and the air
Leaves the green earth to my embraces bare.
The sunbeams are my shafts, with which I kill
Deceit, that loves the night and fears the day;
All men who do or even imagine ill
Fly me, and from the glory of my ray
Good minds and open actions take new might,
Until diminished by the reign of night.
I feed the clouds, the rainbows, and the flowers
With their ethereal colors; the moon's globe
And the pure stars in their eternal bowers
Are cinctured with my power as with a robe;
Whatever lamps on Earth or Heaven may shine,
Are portions of one power, which is mine.
I stand at noon upon the peak of Heaven,
Then with unwilling steps I wander down
Into the clouds of the Atlantic even;
For grief that I depart they weep and frown:
What look is more delightful than the smile
With which I soothe them from the western isle?
I am the eye with which the universe
Beholds itself and knows itself divine;
All harmony of instrument or verse,
All prophecy, all medicine, are mine,
All light of art or nature;--to my song,
Victory and praise in their own right belong.
[Illustration: FIG. 17. DIANA. After Correggio]
=32. Diana (Artemis)=, twin sister of Apollo, was born on Mount
Cynthus in the island of Delos. Latona, the future mother of Diana
and Apollo, flying from the wrath of Juno, had besought, one after
another, the islands of the Ægean to afford her a place of rest; but
they feared too much the potent queen of heaven. Delos alone consented
to become the birthplace of the future deities. This isle was then
floating and unstable; but on Latona's arrival, Jupiter fastened it
with adamantine chains to the bottom of the sea, that it might be a
secure resting-place for his beloved. The daughter of Latona is, as
her name _Artemis_ indicates, a virgin goddess, the ideal of modesty,
grace, and maidenly vigor. She is associated with her brother, the
prince of archery, in nearly all his adventures, and in attributes she
is his feminine counterpart. As he is identified with sunlight, so is
she, his fair-tressed sister, with the chaste brilliance of the moon.
Its slender arc is her bow; its beams are her arrows with which she
sends upon womankind a speedy and painless death. In her prerogative
of moon-goddess she is frequently identified with Selene, daughter
of Hyperion, just as Apollo is with Helios. Despising the weakness
of love, Diana imposed upon her nymphs vows of perpetual maidenhood,
any violation of which she was swift and severe to punish. Graceful
in form and free of movement, equipped for the chase, and surrounded
by a bevy of fair companions, the swift-rushing goddess was wont to
scour hill, valley, forest, and plain. She was, however, not only
huntress, but guardian, of wild beasts,--mistress withal of horses
and kine and other domestic brutes. She ruled marsh and mountain; her
gleaming arrows smote sea as well as land. Springs and woodland brooks
she favored, for in them she and her attendants were accustomed to
bathe. She blessed with verdure the meadows and arable lands, and from
them obtained a meed of thanks. When weary of the chase she turned to
music and dancing; for the lyre and flute and song were dear to her.
Muses, Graces, nymphs, and the fair goddesses themselves thronged the
rites of the chorus-leading queen. But ordinarily a woodland chapel
or a rustic altar sufficed for her worship. There the hunter laid his
offering--antlers, skin, or edible portions of the deer that Artemis of
the golden arrows had herself vouchsafed him. The holy maid, however,
though naturally gracious, gentle, and a healer of ills, was, like
her brother, quick to resent injury to her sacred herds or insult
to herself. To this stern temper Agamemnon, Orion, and Niobe bore
regretful testimony. They found that the "fair-crowned queen of the
echoing chase," though blithe and gracious, was by no means a frivolous
personage.
[Illustration: FIG. 18. DIANA (ARTEMIS) OF VERSAILLES]
Diana was mistress of the brute creation, protectress of youth, patron
of temperance in all things, guardian of civil right. The cypress tree
was sacred to her; and her favorites were the bear, the boar, the dog,
the goat, and specially the hind.
[Illustration: FIG. 19. ARTEMIS]
=33. Jonson's Hymn to Cynthia (Diana).=
Queen and Huntress, chaste and fair,
Now the sun is laid to sleep,
Seated in thy silver chair
State in wonted manner keep:
Hesperus entreats thy light,
Goddess excellently bright.
Earth, let not thy envious shade
Dare itself to interpose;
Cynthia's shining orb was made
Heaven to clear when day did close:
Bless us then with wishèd sight,
Goddess excellently bright.
Lay thy bow of pearl apart,
And thy crystal-shining quiver;
Give unto the flying hart
Space to breathe, how short soever:
Thou that mak'st a day of night,
Goddess excellently bright.[31]
=34. Venus (Aphrodite)=, goddess of love and beauty, was, according to
the more ancient Greek conception, a daughter of Jupiter and Dione;[32]
but Hesiod says that she arose from the foam of the sea at the time
of the wounding of Uranus, and therefore was called, by the Greeks,
Aphrodite, _the foam-born_.[33] Wafted by the west wind, and borne
upon the surge, she won first the island of Cythera; thence, like a
dream, she passed to Cyprus, where the grace and blossom of her beauty
conquered every heart. Everywhere, at the touch of her feet the herbage
quivered into flower. The Hours and Graces surrounded her, twining
odorous garlands and weaving robes for her that reflected the hues and
breathed the perfume of crocus and hyacinth, violet, rose, lily, and
narcissus. To her influence is ascribed the fruitfulness of the animal
and of the vegetable creation. She is goddess of gardens and flowers,
of the rose, the myrtle, and the linden. The heaths and slumberous
vales, pleasant with spring and vernal breezes, are hers. In her
broidered girdle lurk "love and desire, and loving converse that steals
the wits even of the wise." For she is the mistress of feminine charm
and beauty, the golden, sweetly smiling Aphrodite, who rules the hearts
of men. She lends to mortals seductive form and fascination. To a few,
indeed, her favor is a blessing; but to many her gifts are treacherous,
destructive of peace. Her various influence is exemplified in the
stories of Pygmalion and Adonis, Paris and Æneas, Helen, Ariadne,
Psyche, Procris, Pasiphaë, and Phædra. Her power extended over sea as
well as land, and her temples rose from many a shore. On the waters
swan and dolphin were beloved of her; in air, the sparrow and the dove.
She was usually attended by her winged son Cupid, of whom much is to
be told. Especially dear to her were Cyprus, Cnidos, Paphos, Cythera,
Abydos, Mount Eryx, and the city of Corinth.
=35. The "Venus of Milo."= Of artistic conceptions of Aphrodite, the
most famous are the statues called the Venus of Melos and the Venus of
the Medici.[34] A comparison of the two conceptions is instituted in
the following poem.[35] The worshiper apostrophizes the Venus of Melos,
that "inner beauty of the world," whose tranquil smile he finds more
fair than "The Medicean's sly and servile grace":
[Illustration: VENUS OF MELOS]
From our low world no gods have taken wing;
Even now upon our hills the twain are wandering:[36]
The Medicean's sly and servile grace,
And the immortal beauty of thy face.
One is the spirit of all short-lived love
And outward, earthly loveliness:
The tremulous rosy morn is her mouth's smile,
The sky, her laughing azure eyes above;
And, waiting for caress.
Lie bare the soft hill-slopes, the while
Her thrilling voice is heard
In song of wind and wave, and every flitting bird.
Not plainly, never quite herself she shows:
Just a swift glance of her illumined smile
Along the landscape goes;
Just a soft hint of singing, to beguile
A man from all his toil;
Some vanished gleam of beckoning arm, to spoil
A morning's task with longing, wild and vain.
Then if across the parching plain
He seek her, she with passion burns
His heart to fever, and he hears
The west wind's mocking laughter when he turns,
Shivering in mist of ocean's sullen tears.
It is the Medicean: well I know
The arts her ancient subtlety will show,--
The stubble field she turns to ruddy gold;
The empty distance she will fold
In purple gauze; the warm glow she has kissed
Along the chilling mist:
Cheating and cheated love that grows to hate
And ever deeper loathing, soon or late.
Thou, too, O fairer spirit, walkest here
Upon the lifted hills:
Wherever that still thought within the breast
The inner beauty of the world hath moved;
In starlight that the dome of evening fills;
On endless waters rounding to the west:
For them who thro' that beauty's veil have loved
The soul of all things beautiful the best.
For lying broad awake, long ere the dawn,
Staring against the dark, the blank of space
Opens immeasurably, and thy face
Wavers and glimmers there and is withdrawn.
And many days, when all one's work is vain,
And life goes stretching on, a waste gray plain,
With even the short mirage of morning gone,
No cool breath anywhere, no shadow nigh
Where a weary man might lay him down and die,
Lo! thou art there before me suddenly,
With shade as if a summer cloud did pass,
And spray of fountains whispering to the grass.
Oh, save me from the haste and noise and heat
That spoil life's music sweet:
And from that lesser Aphrodite there--
Even now she stands
Close as I turn, and O my soul, how fair!
[Illustration: FIG. 20. HERMES PSYCHOPOMPOS]
=36. Mercury (Hermes)=, born in a cave of Mount Cyllene in Arcadia,
was the son of Jupiter and Maia (the daughter of Atlas). According to
conjecture, his name _Hermes_ means the _Hastener_. Mercury, swift as
the wind, was the servant and herald of Jupiter and the other gods.
On his ankles (in plastic art), and his low-crowned, broad-brimmed
_petasus_, or hat, were wings. As messenger of Heaven, he bore a wand
(_caduceus_) of wood or of gold, twined with snakes and surmounted
by wings, and possessed of magical powers over sleeping, waking, and
dreams. He was beautiful and ever in the prime of youthful vigor.
To a voice sweet-toned and powerful, he added the persuasiveness of
eloquence. But his skill was not confined to speech; he was also the
first of inventors--to him are ascribed the lyre and the flute. He was
the forerunner, too, of mathematicians and astronomers. His agility
and strength made him easily prince in athletic pursuits. His cunning
rendered him a dangerous foe; he could well play the trickster and the
thief, as Apollo found out to his vexation, and Argus, and many another
unfortunate. His methods, however, were not always questionable;
although the patron of gamblers and the god of chance, he, at the same
time, was the furtherer of lawful industry and of commerce by land and
sea. The gravest function of the Messenger was to conduct the souls
of the dead, "that gibber like bats as they fare, down the dank ways,
past the streams of Oceanus, past the gates of the sun and the land of
dreams, to the mead of asphodel in the dark realm of Hades, where dwell
the souls, the phantoms of men outworn."[37]
=37. Vesta (Hestia)=, goddess of the hearth, public and private, was
the first-born child of Cronus and Rhea and, accordingly, the elder
sister of Jupiter, Juno, Neptune, Pluto, and Ceres. Vesta was an old
maid by choice. Averse to Venus and all her ways, she scorned the
flattering advances of both Neptune and Apollo, and resolved to remain
single. Whereupon Jupiter gave her to sit in the middle of his palace,
to receive in Olympus the choicest morsels of the feast, and, in the
temples of the gods on earth, reverence as the oldest and worthiest of
Olympian divinities. As goddess of the burning hearth, Vesta is the
divinity of the home: of settled, in opposition to nomadic, habits of
life. She was worshiped first of the gods at every feast. Before her
shrine in city and state the holy flame was religiously cherished.
From her altars those of the other gods obtained their fires. No new
colony, no new home, was duly consecrated till on its central hearth
there glowed coals from her ancestral hearth. In her temple at Rome a
sacred fire, tended by six virgin priestesses called Vestals, was kept
religiously aflame. As the safety of the city was held to be connected
with its conservation, any negligence, by which it might go out, was
severely punished. Whenever the fire did die, it was rekindled from the
rays of the sun.
=38.= Of the =Lesser Divinities of Heaven= the most worthy of mention
are:
1. _Cupid (Eros)_, small but mighty god of love, the son of Venus and
her constant companion. He was often represented with eyes covered
because of the blindness of his actions. With his bow and arrows, he
shot the darts of desire into the bosoms of gods and men. Another deity
named _Anteros_, reputed the brother of Eros, was sometimes represented
as the avenger of slighted love, and sometimes as the symbol of
reciprocal affection. Venus was also attended at times by another
brother of Eros, _Himeros_, or Longing, and by _Hymen_, a beautiful
youth of divine descent, the personification of the wedding feast and
leader of the nuptial chorus. Of Eros the poet Gosse writes:
[Illustration: FIG. 21. EROS]
Within a forest, as I strayed
Far down a somber autumn glade,
I found the god of love;
His bow and arrows cast aside,
His lovely arms extended wide,
A depth of leaves above,
Beneath o'erarching boughs he made
A place for sleep in russet shade.
His lips, more red than any rose,
Were like a flower that overflows
With honey pure and sweet;
And clustering round that holy mouth,
The golden bees in eager drouth
Plied busy wings and feet;
They knew, what every lover knows,
There's no such honey-bloom that blows.[38]
2. _Hebe_, daughter of Jupiter and Juno, goddess of youth and cupbearer
to the gods. According to one story, she resigned that office on
becoming the wife of Hercules. According to another, Hebe was dismissed
from her position in consequence of a fall which she met with one day
when in attendance on the gods. Her successor was _Ganymede_, a Trojan
boy whom Jupiter, in the disguise of an eagle, seized and carried off
from the midst of his playfellows on Mount Ida, bore up to Heaven, and
installed in the vacant place.
3. _The Graces_, daughters of Jove by Eurynome, daughter of Oceanus.
They were goddesses presiding over the banquet, the dance, all
social pleasures, and polite accomplishments. They were three in
number,--Euphrosyne, Aglaia, and Thalia. Spenser describes the office
of the Graces thus:
These three on men all gracious gifts bestow
Which deck the body or adorn the mind,
To make them lovely or well-favored show;
As comely carriage, entertainment kind,
Sweet semblance, friendly offices that bind,
And all the complements of courtesy;
They teach us how to each degree and kind
We should ourselves demean, to low, to high,
To friends, to foes; which skill men call civility.
[Illustration: FIG. 22. RAPE OF GANYMEDE]
4. _The Muses_, daughters of Jupiter and Mnemosyne (Memory). They
presided over song and prompted the memory. They are ordinarily cited
as nine in number; and to each of them was assigned patronage in some
department of literature, art, or science. Calliope was the muse of
epic poetry, Clio of history, Euterpe of lyric poetry, Melpomene of
tragedy, Terpsichore of choral dance and song, Erato of love poetry,
Polyhymnia of sacred poetry, Urania of astronomy, Thalia of comedy.
[Illustration: FIG. 23. POLYHYMNIA]
5. _Themis_, one of the Titans, a daughter of Uranus. She sat, as
goddess of justice, beside Jupiter on his throne. She was beloved of
the father of gods and men, and bore him the Hours, goddesses who
regulated the seasons, and the Fates.
[Illustration: FIG. 24. THE THREE FATES
From the painting by Michelangelo(?)]
6. _The Fates_, three in number,--Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos. Their
office was to spin the thread of human destiny, and they were provided
with shears with which they cut it off when they pleased.[39] According
to Hesiod, they were daughters of Night.
7. _Nemesis_, daughter of Night. She represented the righteous anger
and vengeance of the gods, particularly toward the proud, the insolent,
and breakers of the law.
8. _Æsculapius_, son of Apollo. By his skill in medicine he restored
the dead to life. Being killed by the lightning of Jove, he was
translated to the ranks of Heaven. His function was the art of healing.
9. _The Winds_,--Boreas, or Aquilo, the north wind; Zephyrus, or
Favonius, the west; Notus, or Auster, the south; and Eurus, the east.
The first two, chiefly, have been celebrated by the poets, the former
as the type of rudeness, the latter of gentleness. It is said that
Boreas loved the nymph Orithyia and tried to play the lover's part, but
met with poor success; for it was hard for him to breathe gently, and
sighing was out of the question.
Weary at last of fruitless endeavors, he acted out his true character,
seized the maiden and bore her off. Their children were Zetes and
Calaïs, winged warriors, who accompanied the Argonautic expedition
and did good service in an encounter with those monstrous birds, the
Harpies. Zephyrus was the lover of Flora (Chloris).
[Illustration: FIG. 25. BOREAS]
Here, too, may be mentioned Æolus, the king of the winds, although he
is not a lesser divinity of Heaven. His palace was on the precipitous
isle of Æolia, where, with his six sons and six daughters, he kept
eternal carouse. The winds, which he confined in a cavern, he let loose
as he saw fit or as he was bidden by superior deities. He is sometimes
called Hippotades.[40]
[Illustration: FIG. 26. ZEPHYROS]
10. _Helios_, _Selene_, and _Eos_, children of the Titan Hyperion.
Helios and Selene were the more ancient Greek divinities of Sun and
Moon respectively. Helios, the charioteer of the sun, is, as has been
already said, frequently identified with his successor, Apollo. The
attributes and adventures of Selene were merged in those of the more
modern Diana. Eos, or, in Latin nomenclature, Aurora, the rosy-fingered
goddess of the Morn, was mother of the stars and of the morning and
evening breezes. Saffron-robed she rises from the streams of Ocean, to
bring light to gods and men.
[Illustration: FIG. 27. BOREAS CARRYING OFF ORITHYIA]
11. _Phosphor_, the morning-star, the star of Venus, son of Aurora
and the hunter Cephalus. _Hesper_, the evening-star, was sometimes
identified with Phosphor. He was king of the Western Land, and, say
some, father of the Hesperides, who guarded the golden apples of the
sunset.
The Spirit in Milton's Comus tells of
... the gardens fair
Of Hesperus, and his daughters three
That sing about the golden tree.
Along the crispèd shades and bowers
Revels the spruce and jocund Spring;
The Graces and the rosy-bosomed Hours
Thither all their bounties bring.
There eternal Summer dwells,
And west winds with musky wing
About the cedarn alleys fling
Nard and cassia's balmy smells.
Iris there with humid bow
Waters the odorous banks, that blow
Flowers of more mingled hue
Than her purfled scarf can shew.
And Tennyson taking the lines as a text has written the melodious and
mystic song of the Hesperides, beginning--
The golden apple, the golden apple, the hallowed fruit,
Guard it well, guard it warily,
Singing airily,
Standing about the charmèd root.
Round about all is mute,
As the snowfield on the mountain-peaks,
As the sandfield at the mountain-foot.
Crocodiles in briny creeks
Sleep and stir not: all is mute.
If ye sing not, if ye make false measure,
We shall lose eternal pleasure,
Worth eternal want of rest.
Laugh not loudly: watch the treasure
Of the wisdom of the West.
Readers of this poem will notice that Tennyson follows the tradition
by which a sleepless dragon is introduced among the guardians of the
Hesperian fruit. Still other versions substitute for Hesperus, the
Titan Atlas.
12. _Various Other Personifications._ The constellation Orion, whose
story will be narrated; Victoria (Nike), the goddess of Victory;
Discors (Eris), the goddess of Strife; and Iris, goddess of the
rainbow, who is represented frequently as a messenger of the gods.
[Illustration: FIG. 28. IRIS CARRYING CHILD]
FOOTNOTES:
[16] Consult, in general, corresponding sections of the Commentary.
[17] Symbolized on earth by Mount Olympus in Thessaly.
[18] Cowper's translation.
[19] See Commentary, § 23, for Gladstone's latest utterance on the
number of the Olympians.
[20] The names included in parentheses represent the Greek, the others
being Roman equivalents, Latin names, or names common to both Greek and
Roman usage.
[21] See Commentary, § 34.
[22] On the Latin name, see Commentary, § 24.
[23] Iliad, I, 622-625, Earl of Derby's translation. See also the
passage in Chapman's translation.
[24] On the name _Juno_, see Commentary.
[25] For the names _Athene_ and _Minerva_, see Commentary.
[26] See Commentary.
[27] Iliad, 5, 590. See also 21, 395.
[28] Iliad, 18, 395.
[29] Iliad, 1, 390.
[30] On the birth of Apollo, his adventures, names, festivals, oracles,
and his place in literature and art, see Commentary. For other
particulars, see sections on _Myths of Apollo_.
[31] From Cynthia's Revels.
[32] Iliad, 5, 370, etc.
[33] A popular etymology.
[34] For Venus in poetry and art, see Commentary.
[35] From the Venus of Milo, by E. R. Sill, formerly professor of
English Literature in the University of California.
[36] The references are to the Berkeley Hills, the Bay of San
Francisco, and the glimpses of the Pacific.
[37] Lang, Odyssey, 24, 1; adapted.
[38] Eros, by Edmund Gosse. For verses on the blindness of Cupid, see
Lyly's Cupid and Campaspe in Commentary.
[39] For description of their spinning, see translation of Catullus,
LXIV, in § 191.
[40] See Commentary.
CHAPTER III
THE GODS OF EARTH[41]
[Illustration: FIG. 29. DEMETER OF KNIDOS]
=39. Conception of the World.= The Greek poets believed the earth to
be flat and circular. In their opinion their own country occupied the
middle of it, and the central point was either Mount Olympus, the abode
of the gods, or Delphi, famous for its oracle. The circular disk of the
earth was crossed from west to east and divided into two equal parts
by the _Sea_, as they called the Mediterranean and its continuation
the Euxine, the only seas with which they were acquainted. Around the
earth flowed _River_ _Ocean_, from south to north on the western side,
in a contrary direction on the eastern. It flowed in a steady, equable
current, unvexed by storm or tempest. The sea and all the rivers on
earth received their waters from it.
The northern portion of the earth was inhabited by the Hyperboreans,
dwelling in bliss and everlasting spring beyond the mountains whose
caverns sent forth the piercing blasts of the north wind. Their country
was inaccessible by land or sea. They lived exempt from disease or old
age, from toils and warfare. "I come" sings one of them,[42]--
I come from a land in the sun-bright deep,
Where golden gardens glow,
Where the winds of the north, becalmed in sleep,
Their conch-shells never blow.
[Illustration: FIG. 30. CERES]
On the south side of the earth, close to the stream of Ocean, dwelt
the Æthiopians, whom the gods held in such favor that they left at
times the Olympian abodes to partake of the Æthiopian sacrifices and
banquets. On the western margin of the earth, by the stream of Ocean,
lay the Elysian Plain, where certain mortals enjoyed an immortality of
bliss.
The Dawn, the Sun, and the Moon were supposed to rise out of Ocean on
the eastern side and to drive through the air, giving light to gods and
men. The stars, also, except those forming the Wain or Bear and others
near them, rose out of and sank into the stream of Ocean. There the
sun-god embarked in a winged boat, which conveyed him by the northern
part of the earth back to his place of rising in the east.
=40. Ceres (Demeter)=, the goddess of sowing and reaping, of harvest
festivals, and of agriculture in general, was sister of Jupiter and
daughter of Cronus and Rhea. She is connected through her daughter
Proserpine, queen of Hades, with the holy ceremonies and rites of
death and of the lower world. Of the institutions founded or favored
by her the most important were the mysteries celebrated at Eleusis,
concerning which we know that, in the presence of individuals initiated
in the secret ritual and perhaps with their coöperation, scenes were
enacted which represented the alternation of death and life in nature
and, apparently, forecast the resurrection and immortality of man.
Sacred to Ceres and to Proserpine were golden sheaves of corn and
soporific poppies; while, among animals, cows, sheep, and pigs were
acceptable to them.
[Illustration: FIG. 31. DIONYSUS AND THE VINE]
=41. Gæa (Ge)=, the Mother Earth, wife of Uranus, belongs to the older
order of gods; so also, another goddess of the earth, _Rhea_, the wife
of Cronus and mother of Jupiter. In Phrygia, Rhea became identified
with _Cybele_, whose worship, as mother of the gods, was at a later
period introduced into Rome. The Greek mother, Rhea, was attended by
the Curetes; the Phrygian mother by the Corybantes, who celebrated her
orgies with enthusiastic din of trumpets, drums, and cymbals. Cybele
presided over mountain fastnesses and fortified places.
=42. Bacchus (Dionysus)=, the god of wine, was the son of Jupiter and
Semele, daughter of Cadmus of Thebes. He was especially the god of
animal life and vegetation. He represented not only the intoxicating
power of wine but its social and beneficent influences, and was
looked upon as a promoter of civilization, a lawgiver, and a lover
of peace. His forehead was crowned with vine leaves or ivy. He rode
upon the tiger, the panther, or the lynx, or was drawn by them in a
car. His worshipers were Bacchanals, or Bacchantes. He was attended by
Satyrs and Sileni and by women called Mænads, who, as they danced and
sang, waved in the air the _thyrsus_, a staff entwined with ivy and
surmounted by a pine cone. Ordinarily, as in the following verses by
Dryden, the convivial qualities of the god overshadow all the rest:
The praise of Bacchus then the sweet musician sung,
Of Bacchus ever fair, and ever young.
The jolly god in triumph comes;
Sound the trumpets, beat the drums;
Flushed with a purple grace
He shows his honest face:
Now give the hautboys breath; he comes, he comes.
Bacchus, ever fair and young,
Drinking joys did first ordain;
Bacchus' blessings are a treasure,
Drinking is the soldier's pleasure;
Rich the treasure,
Sweet the pleasure,
Sweet is pleasure after pain.[43]
[Illustration: FIG. 32. PAN THE HUNTER]
=43. The Lesser Divinities of Earth= were:
1. _Pan_, son of Mercury and a wood-nymph or Dryad. He was the god
of woods and fields, of flocks and shepherds. He dwelt in caves,
wandered on the mountains and in valleys, amused himself with the
chase, led the dances of the Dryads, and made love to them. But his
suit was frequently of no avail, for though good-natured he was not
prepossessing; his hoofs and horns did not enhance his comeliness. He
was fond of music and was himself inventor of the syrinx, or shepherd's
pipe, which he played in a masterly manner. Like other gods who dwelt
in forests, he was dreaded by those whose occupations caused them to
pass through the woods by night; for gloom and loneliness oppress and
appall the mind. Hence sudden unreasonable fright was ascribed to Pan
and called a Panic terror.
2. _The Nymphs._ Pan's partners in the dance, the Dryads, were but one
of several classes of nymphs. There were, beside them, the Oreads,
nymphs of mountains and grottoes; and the Water-Nymphs, who are
mentioned in later sections.
3. _The Satyrs_, deities of the woods and fields. In early art they
appear as bearded creatures with snub noses, goats' ears, and horses'
tails. Later they resemble youths, sometimes with sprouting horns. The
goat-legged satyr is found in Roman poetry.
[Illustration: FIG. 33. A SATYR]
FOOTNOTES:
[41] For references to poetry and works of art, see corresponding
sections in Commentary.
[42] According to Thomas Moore's Song of a Hyperborean.
[43] From Alexander's Feast.
CHAPTER IV
THE GODS OF THE UNDERWORLD[44]
=44. The Underworld= was the region of darkness inhabited by the
spirits of the dead and governed by Pluto (Hades) and Proserpina, his
queen. According to the Iliad, this realm lay "beneath the secret
places of the earth."[45] And from the Odyssey we gather that it is not
in the bowels of the earth, but on the under side at the limits of the
known world, across the stream Oceanus, where is a waste shore, the
land of the Cimmerians, shrouded in mist and cloud, never lighted by
the sun "neither when he climbs up the starry heavens nor when again
he turns earthward from the firmament."[46] From that land one goes
beside the stream till he reaches the dank house of Hades. The realm
of darkness is bounded by awful rivers: the Styx, sacred even among
the gods, for by it they sealed their oaths, and the Acheron, river of
woe,--with its tributaries, Phlegethon, river of fire, and Cocytus,
river of wailing. Hither past the White Rock, which perhaps symbolizes
the bleaching skeletons of the dead, and past the gates of the sun,
it is the duty of Hermes (Mercury) to conduct the outworn ghosts of
mortals. One of the Greek dramatists, Sophocles, tells us that this
shore of death is "down in the darkling west."[47] In later poems we
read that Charon, a grim boatman, received the dead at the River of
Woe, and ferried them across, if the money requisite for their passage
had been placed in their mouths and their bodies had been duly buried
in the world above.[48] Otherwise he left them gibbering on the hither
bank. The abode of Pluto is represented as wide-gated and thronged
with guests. At the gate Cerberus, a three-headed, serpent-tailed dog,
lay on guard,--friendly to the spirits entering, but inimical to those
who would depart. The palace itself is dark and gloomy, set in the
midst of uncanny fields haunted by strange apparitions. The groves of
somber trees about the palace,--the meads of Asphodel, barren or, at
best, studded with futile bushes and pale-flowered weeds, where wander
the shades,--and the woods along the waste shore "of tall poplars and
willows that shed their fruit before the season" are, without any
particular discrimination, celebrated by the poets as the _Garden of
Proserpine_.
[Illustration: FIG. 34. THE GREEK UNDERWORLD]
[Illustration: FIG. 35. HERMES CONDUCTING A SOUL TO CHARON]
Here life has death for neighbor,
And far from eye or ear
Wan waves and wet winds labor,
Weak ships and spirits steer;
They drive adrift, and whither
They wot not who make thither;
But no such winds blow hither,
And no such things grow here.
No growth of moor or coppice,
No heather-flower or vine,
But bloomless buds of poppies,
Green grapes of Proserpine,
Pale beds of blowing rushes,
Where no leaf blooms or blushes
Save this whereout she crushes
For dead men deadly wine.
* * * * *
Pale, beyond porch and portal,
Crowned with calm leaves, she stands
Who gathers all things mortal
With cold immortal hands;
Her languid lips are sweeter
Than love's, who fears to greet her,
To men that mix and meet her
From many times and lands.
[Illustration: FIG. 36. HYPNOS]
She waits for each and other,
She waits for all men born;
Forgets the earth her mother,
The life of fruits and corn;
And spring and seed and swallow
Take wing for her and follow
Where summer song rings hollow,
And flowers are put to scorn.
* * * * *
We are not sure of sorrow,
And joy was never sure;
To-day will die to-morrow;
Time stoops to no man's lure;
And love, grown faint and fretful,
With lips but half regretful
Sighs, and with eyes forgetful
Weeps that no loves endure.
From too much love of living,
From hope and fear set free,
We thank with brief thanksgiving
Whatever gods may be
That no life lives forever;
That dead men rise up never;
That even the weariest river
Winds somewhere safe to sea.
Then star nor sun shall waken,
Nor any change of light;
Nor sound of waters shaken,
Nor any sound or sight;
Nor wintry leaves nor vernal,
Nor days nor things diurnal:
Only the sleep eternal
In an eternal night.[49]
[Illustration: FIG. 37. A FURY]
=45. Tartarus and the Elysian Fields.= With the ghosts of Hades the
living might but rarely communicate, and only through certain oracles
of the dead, situate by cavernous spots and sheer abysms, deep and
melancholy streams, and baleful marshes. These naturally seemed to
afford access to the world below, which with the later poets, such as
Virgil, comes to be regarded as under the ground. One of these descents
to the Underworld was near Tænarum in Laconia; another, near Cumæ in
Italy, was Lake Avernus, so foul in its exhalations that, as its name
portends, no bird could fly across it.[50] Before the judges of the
lower world,--Minos, Æacus, and Rhadamanthus,--the souls of the dead
were brought to trial. The condemned were assigned to regions where
all manner of torment awaited them at the hands of monsters dire,--the
fifty-headed Hydra and the avenging Furies. Some evildoers, such as
the Titans of old, were doomed to languish in the gulf of Tartarus
immeasurably below. But the souls of the guiltless passed to the
Elysian Fields, where each followed the chosen pursuit of his former
life in a land of spring, sunlight, happiness, and song. And by the
Fields there flowed the river Lethe, from which the souls of those that
were to return to the earth in other bodies drank oblivion of their
former lives.
=46. The Islands of the Blest.= Homer mentions, elsewhere, an Elysium
of the western seas, which is a happy land, "where life is easiest
for men: no snow is there, nor yet great storm, nor any rain; but
always ocean sendeth forth the breeze of the shrill West to blow cool
on men."[51] Hither favored heroes pass without dying, and live under
the happy rule of Rhadamanthus. The Elysium of Hesiod and Pindar is
likewise in the Western Ocean, on the Islands of the Blessed, the
Fortunate Isles. From this dream of a western Elysium may have sprung
the legend of the island Atlantis. That blissful region may have been
wholly imaginary. It is, however, not impossible that the myth had
its origin in the reports of storm-driven mariners who had caught a
glimpse of occidental lands. In these Islands of the Blest, the Titans,
released from Tartarus after many years, dwelt under the golden sway of
the white-haired Cronus.[52]
There was no heavy heat, no cold,
The dwellers there wax never old,
Nor wither with the waning time,
But each man keeps that age he had
When first he won the fairy clime.
The night falls never from on high,
Nor ever burns the heat of noon;
But such soft light eternally
Shines, as in silver dawns of June
Before the sun hath climbed the sky!
* * * * *
All these their mirth and pleasure made
Within the plain Elysian,
The fairest meadow that may be,
With all green fragrant trees for shade,
And every scented wind to fan,
And sweetest flowers to strew the lea;
The soft winds are their servants fleet
To fetch them every fruit at will
And water from the river chill;
And every bird that singeth sweet,
Throstle, and merle, and nightingale,
Brings blossoms from the dewy vale,--
Lily, and rose, and asphodel,--
With these doth each guest twine his crown
And wreathe his cup, and lay him down
Beside some friend he loveth well.[53]
=47. Pluto (Hades)= was brother of Jupiter. To him fell the sovereignty
of the lower world and the shades of the dead. In his character of
Hades, the viewless, he is hard and inexorable.
By virtue of the helmet or cap given him by the Cyclopes, he moved
hither and yon, dark, unseen,--hated of mortals. He was, however,
lord not only of all that descends to the bowels of the earth, but
of all that proceeds from the earth; and in the latter aspect he was
revered as Pluto, or the giver of wealth. At his pleasure he visited
the realms of day,--as when he carried off Proserpina; occasionally he
journeyed to Olympus; but otherwise he ignored occurrences in the upper
world, nor did he suffer his subjects, by returning, to find them out.
Mortals, when they called on his name, beat the ground with their hands
and, averting their faces, sacrificed black sheep to him and to his
queen. Among the Romans he is known also as Dis, Orcus, and Tartarus.
But Orcus is rather Death, or the Underworld, than ruler of the shades.
[Illustration: FIG. 38. HADES]
=48. Proserpina (Persephone)= was the daughter of Ceres and Jupiter.
She was queen of Hades,--a name applied both to the ruler of the shades
and to his realm. When she is goddess of spring, dear to mankind,
Proserpina bears a cornucopia overflowing with flowers, and revisits
the earth in duly recurring season. But when she is goddess of death,
sitting beside Pluto, she directs the Furies, and, like her husband, is
cruel, unyielding, inimical to youth and life and hope. In the story of
her descent to Hades will be found a further account of her attributes
and fortunes.
=49. The Lesser Divinities of the Underworld= were:
1. _Æacus_, _Rhadamanthus_, and _Minos_, sons of Jupiter and judges of
the shades in the lower world. Æacus had been during his earthly life a
righteous king of the island of Ægina. Minos had been a famous lawgiver
and king of Crete. The life of Rhadamanthus was not eventful.
2. _The Furies_ (_Erinyes_ or _Eumenides_), Alecto, Tisiphone, and
Megæra, born of the blood of the wounded Uranus. They were attendants
of Proserpina. They punished with the frenzies of remorse the crimes of
those who had escaped from or defied public justice. The heads of the
Furies were wreathed with serpents.
3. _Hecate_, a mysterious divinity sometimes identified with Diana and
sometimes with Proserpina. As Diana represents the moonlight splendor
of night, so Hecate represents its darkness and terrors. She haunted
crossroads and graveyards, was the goddess of sorcery and witchcraft,
and wandered by night, seen only by the dogs whose barking told of her
approach.
[Illustration: FIG. 39. DEATH, SLEEP, AND HERMES LAYING A BODY IN THE
TOMB]
4. _Sleep_, or _Somnus (Hypnos)_, and _Death (Thanatos)_, sons of
Night.[54] They dwell in subterranean darkness. The former brings to
mortals solace and fair dreams, and can lull the shining eyes of Jove
himself; the latter closes forever the eyes of men. _Dreams_, too, are
sons of Night.[55] They dwell beside their brother Death, along the
Western Sea. Their abode has two gates,--one of ivory, whence issue
false and flattering visions; the other of horn, through which true
dreams and noble pass to men.[56]
FOOTNOTES:
[44] For interpretation and illustration, see corresponding sections of
Commentary.
[45] Iliad, 22, 482; 9, 568; 20, 61.
[46] Odyssey, 10, 508; 11, 20; 24, 1.
[47] Sophocles, [OE]dipus Rex, 177.
[48] Æneid, 6, 295.
[49] From The Garden of Proserpine, by A. C. Swinburne.
[50] Æneid, 6.
[51] Odyssey, 4, 561.
[52] Hes. Works and Days, 169.
[53] From The Fortunate Islands, by Andrew Lang.
[54] Iliad, 14, 231; 16, 672.
[55] Odyssey, 24, 12; 19, 560. Æneid, 6, 893. Ovid, Metam. 11, 592.
[56] For genealogical table, see Commentary.
CHAPTER V
THE GODS OF THE WATERS[57]
[Illustration: FIG. 40. POSEIDON]
=50. The Older Dynasty.= There were two dynasties of the sea. The
Older, which flourished during the rule of Cronus, was founded by the
Titans, _Oceanus_ and _Tethys_, from whom sprang three thousand rivers
and ocean-nymphs unnumbered. The palace of Oceanus was beyond the
limits of the bountiful earth,[58] surrounded by gardens and all things
fair. From ages immemorial another dweller in the glimmering caves of
Ocean was _Pontus_ (the _deep sea_ or the _waterway_), who became, by
Mother Earth, father of Nereus. This _Nereus_, a genial old man of the
sea, was distinguished for his prophetic gifts, his knowledge, his love
of truth and justice. Taking to wife one of the daughters of Oceanus,
the nymph Doris, he was blessed with a family of fifty fair daughters,
the _Nereïds_.[59] Of these daughters the most famous are Panope,
Galatea, Thetis, and Amphitrite; the last of whom gave her hand to
Neptune (Poseidon), brother of Jove, and thus united the Older and the
Younger dynasties of the sea.
=51.= Of the =Younger Dynasty= of the waters _Neptune_ and _Amphitrite_
were the founders. Neptune's palace was in the depths of the sea,
near Ægæ in Eub[oe]a; but he made his home on Olympus when he chose.
The symbol of his power was the trident, or three-pronged spear,
with which he could shatter rocks, call forth or subdue storms, and
shake the shores of earth. He created the horse and was the patron of
horse races. His own steeds were brazen-hoofed and golden-maned. They
drew his chariot over the sea, which became smooth before him, while
dolphins and other monsters of the deep gamboled about his path. In his
honor black and white bulls, white boars, and rams were sacrificed.
[Illustration: FIG. 41. WEDDING OF POSEIDON AND AMPHITRITE]
=52. The Lesser Divinities of= =the Waters=[60] were:
1. _Triton_, the son of Neptune and Amphitrite, trumpeter of Ocean. By
his blast on the sea-shell he stirred or allayed the waves.
2. _Proteus_, an attendant and, according to certain traditions, a
son of Neptune. Like Nereus, he was a little old man of the sea. He
possessed the prophetic gift and the power of changing his shape at
will.
3. _The Harpies_, foul creatures, with heads of maidens, bodies, wings,
and claws of birds, and faces pale with hunger. They are the offspring
of Thaumas, a son of Pontus and Gæa.
4. The uncanny offspring of Phorcys and Ceto,--children of Pontus,--who
rejoiced in the horrors of the sea:
_a. The Grææ_, three hoary witches, with one eye between them which
they used in turn.
_b. The Gorgons_, whose glance was icy death.
_c. The Sirens_, muses of the sea and of death, who by their sweet
singing enticed seafarers to destruction.
_d. Scylla_, also destructive to mariners, a six-headed monster whose
lower limbs were serpents and ever-barking dogs.
[Illustration: FIG. 42. TRITON CARRYING OFF A NYMPH]
5. _Atlas_, who stood in the far west, bearing on his shoulders the
vault of heaven. He was once regarded as a divinity of the sea, but
later as a mountain. He was the son of Iapetus and the father of three
classes of nymphs,--the Pleiads, the Hyads, and, according to some
stories, the Hesperids. The last-mentioned, assisted by their mother
Hesperis and a dragon, guarded the golden apples of the tree that had
sprung up to grace the wedding of Jove and Juno. The daughters of Atlas
were not themselves divinities of the sea.
6. _The Water-Nymphs._ Beside the _Oceanids_ and the _Nereïds_, who
have already been mentioned, of most importance were the _Naiads_,
daughters of Jupiter. They presided over brooks and fountains. Other
lesser powers of the Ocean were Glaucus, Leucothea, and Melicertes, of
whom more is said in another section.
In the following statement of the difference between ancient and modern
conceptions of nature, the poet lends new charm to the fabled rulers of
the sea.
The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers:
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
This sea that bares her bosom to the moon;
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are upgathered now like sleeping flowers;
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not.--Great God! I'd rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.[61]
FOOTNOTES:
[57] For references to poetry and works of art, see corresponding
sections of Commentary.
[58] Iliad, 14, 303.
[59] Iliad, 18, 30-50.
[60] For genealogical table, see Commentary.
[61] Wordsworth, Miscellaneous Sonnets.
CHAPTER VI
THE ROMAN DIVINITIES
=53. Gods Common to Greece and Italy.= Of the deities already
mentioned, the following, although they were later identified with
certain Greek gods and goddesses[62] whose characteristics and
adventures they assumed, had developed an independent worship in Italy:
Jupiter (Zeus); Juno (Hera); Minerva (Athene); Diana (Artemis); Mars
(Ares); Venus (Aphrodite); Vulcanus, or Mulciber (Hephæstus); Vesta
(Hestia); Mercurius (Hermes); Neptunus (Poseidon); Ceres (Demeter);
Liber (Bacchus); Libera (Persephone); Magna Mater, the great mother of
the gods (Rhea, Cybele); Orcus (Pluto, Hades); Tellus, the Earth (Gæa).
=54. Italian Gods.= There were also divinities always peculiar to Roman
mythology.[63] Of these the more important are:
1. _Saturn_, an ancient Italian deity (as his name indicates) of seeds
and sowing, the introducer of agriculture. Fanciful attempts were
made to identify him with the Grecian god Cronus; and it was fabled
that after his dethronement by Jupiter he fled to Italy, where he
reigned during the Golden Age. In memory of his dominion, the feast of
Saturnalia was held every year in the winter season. Then all public
business was suspended; declarations of war and criminal executions
were postponed; friends made presents to one another; and even slaves
were indulged with great liberties. A feast was given them at which
they sat at table while their masters served, to show the natural
equality of men, and that all things belonged equally to all in the
reign of Saturn. The wife of Saturn was _Ops_, goddess of sowing and
harvest (later confounded with Rhea). Another Roman deity of earth was
_Consus_, whose name means "the keeper of the stores." He is the god
of the stored-up harvest; and his altar is said to have been discovered
underground by Romulus. It was in the Circus Maximus and was uncovered
only on the days of his festivals, the harvest home of August and the
granary feast of December. The underground altar is a reminiscence
of the ancient custom of storing corn underground or at any rate of
burying the sacrifices offered to deities of the earth. The harvest
festival was celebrated with horse races, which, originating in a very
simple way with the primitive farmers, became in time the distinctive
feature of the Circus Maximus.
[Illustration: FIG. 43. BEARDED JANUS]
2. _Janus_, whose name is derived from the Latin root which means
"going" and is connected with _janua_, a passage or door, is the most
distinctive and most important of the native Italic deities. He is
not only the god of doors, or material openings, but more truly of
beginnings,--especially of good beginnings which insure good endings.
Hence undoubtedly he is represented as facing both ways; for the Romans
very properly believed that beginning and ending were of the same
piece, and that an undertaking ill begun could not achieve success.
His temple, or covered passage, in the Forum had doors facing east and
west for the beginning and ending of the day; and between stood his
two-faced statue. In every home the morning prayer was addressed to
him; in every domestic enterprise his assistance was implored. He was
the god, also, of the opening year; hence his month, January, on the
first day of which words only of good omen were uttered, and gifts were
given (_strenae_, a name still preserved in the French word for New
Year's presents, _étrennes_), and, for good luck, some stroke of work
was bestowed on every undertaking planned for the year. He was publicly
invoked not only on New Year's day, but on the first day of each
month, by priests and people alike; and in these prayers his name was
mentioned even before that of Jupiter. He is the god of civilization,
and is sometimes called Consivius, or the Sower.[64] Of course he was
invoked when wars were commenced. And during their progress the doors
of his temple stood always open. In peace they were closed; but they
were shut only once between the reign of Numa and that of Augustus.
It was natural that his worship should gradually absorb that of Sol,
the Sun, who opens the day and completes the year and blesses with his
rays the seeds that are sown; and such was the case. But Janus and his
wife Jana were not originally connected even in name with Dianus (Sol,
Apollo) and Diana (the moon).
3. _Quirinus_, a war-god, said to be no other than Romulus, the founder
of Rome, exalted after his death to a place among the immortals.
4. _Bellona_, a war-goddess.
5. _Lucina_, the goddess who brings to light, hence the goddess of
childbirth: a title bestowed upon both Juno and Diana.
6. _Terminus_, the god of landmarks. His statue was a rude stone or
post, set in the ground to mark the boundaries of fields.
7. _Faunus_, the grandson of Saturn. He was worshiped as a god of
fields and shepherds and also of prophecy. His name in the plural,
Fauni, expressed a class of gamesome deities, like the Satyrs of the
Greeks. There was also a goddess called _Fauna_, or _Bona Dea_ (good
goddess). To Maia, wife of Vulcan, this designation, _Bona Dea_, was
sometimes applied.
8. _Sylvanus_, presiding over forest-glades and plowed fields.
9. _Pales_, the goddess presiding over cattle and pastures. _Flora_,
the goddess of flowers. _Pomona_, presiding over fruit trees.
_Vertumnus_, the husband of Pomona, was guardian of fruit trees,
gardens, and vegetables.
Pomona loves the orchard,
And Liber loves the vine,
And Pales loves the straw-built shed
Warm with the breath of kine;
And Venus loves the whisper
Of plighted youth and maid
In April's ivory moonlight,
Beneath the chestnut shade.[65]
10. _The Penates_, gods who were supposed to attend to the welfare
and prosperity of the family. Their name is derived from Penus, the
storehouse or inner chamber, which was sacred to them. Every master of
a family was the priest to the Penates of his own house.
The _Lares_, or _Lars_, were also tutelary deities, but they differed
from the Penates since they were regarded as the deified spirits of
ancestors, who watched over and protected their descendants. The
Lares were more particularly divinities presiding over the household
or family; but there were also public Lares, or guardian spirits of
the city, Lares of the precincts, Lares of the fields, Lares of the
highways, and Lares of the sea. To the Penates, to the domestic Lares
(whose images were preserved in a private shrine), and to the _Manes_
(shades that hovered over the place of burial), the family prayers of
the Romans were addressed. Other spirits, the _Lemures_ and _Larvæ_,
more nearly correspond to our ghosts.
[Illustration: FIG. 44. GENIUS LOCI]
The Romans believed that every man had his _Genius_ and every woman her
_Juno_; that is, a spirit who had given them being and was regarded
as a protector through life. On birthdays men made offerings to their
Genius, women to their Juno.
11. Other Italian deities were the gods of the rivers, such as _Father
Tiber_, and the goddesses of the springs and brooks, such as _Juturna_,
whose pool in the Forum was sacred. This nymph was also a goddess of
healing and, according to later tradition, was beloved by Jupiter.
Earlier stories, however, make her the wife of Janus and the mother of
_Fontus_, the god of flowing waters, who had an altar on the Janiculan
hill and was worshiped at an annual festival called the Fontinalia,
when the wells were wreathed with garlands. Held in especial honor were
the _Camenæ_, fountain-nymphs, goddesses of prophecy and healing (later
identified with the Muses). The leader of them was _Carmenta_, who sang
both the future and the past. With her is sometimes associated the
nymph _Egeria_, from whom the Roman king Numa is said to have received
instruction concerning the forms of worship which he introduced.
12. The Romans worshiped, also, _Sol_, the Sun; _Luna_, the Moon;
_Mater Matuta_, the Dawn; _Juventus_, Youth; _Fides_, Honesty;
_Feronia_, goddess of groves and freedmen; and a great number of
personified abstractions of conduct and experience, such as Fortune and
Health.
Many of these Latin divinities were derived from the earlier cult and
ritual of the Etruscan inhabitants of Italy.
FOOTNOTES:
[62] Names of the corresponding Greek divinities are in parentheses.
[63] For illustrative material, see Commentary.
[64] Gellius, 5, 12. Ovid, Fasti, 1, 179. Macrobius, Sat. 1, 9-15.
[65] From Macaulay's Prophecy of Capys.
CHAPTER VII
MYTHS OF THE GREAT DIVINITIES OF HEAVEN
=55. Myths of Jupiter and Juno.= Not a few of the adventures of Jupiter
turn upon his love affairs. Among the immortals his queen had rivals in
his affection; for instance, Latona, a goddess of darkness, daughter
of the Titans C[oe]us and Ph[oe]be. This goddess became, as we have
already seen, the mother of Apollo and Diana. The ire of Juno against
her was never appeased. In consequence of it, numerous trials were
visited upon Latona, some of which find a place among the adventures of
her children.
[Illustration: FIG. 45. GANYMEDE]
=56. Love Affairs of Jupiter.= Not only with immortals but with mortals
were Jupiter's relations sometimes of a dubious character. His devotion
to the beautiful daughters of men involved him in frequent altercations
with his justly jealous spouse. Of his fondness for Danaë, whom he
approached in a shower of gold, particulars are given in the story of
her son Perseus; of his love for Alcmene, the granddaughter of that
Perseus, we are informed in the myths of her son Hercules; and of his
attentions to Leda, whom he wooed in guise of a swan, we learn in the
accounts of their children Pollux and Helen. Other love passages, upon
which narratives depend, concern Io, Callisto, Europa, Semele, Ægina,
and Antiope.
[Illustration: GREECE IN THE FIFTH CENTURY B.C.]
=57. Io=[66] was of divine ancestry. Her father was the river-god
Inachus, son of Oceanus. It is said that Juno one day, perceiving the
skies suddenly overcast, surmised that her husband had raised a cloud
to hide some escapade. She brushed away the darkness and saw him on the
banks of a glassy river with a beautiful heifer standing near. Juno
suspected, with reason, that the heifer's form concealed some fair
nymph of mortal mold. It was Io, whom Jupiter, when he became aware of
the approach of his wife, had changed into that form.
[Illustration: FIG. 46. HERMES KILLS ARGUS]
The ox-eyed goddess joined her husband, noticed the heifer, praised
its beauty, and asked whose it was and of what herd. Jupiter, to
stop questions, replied that it was a fresh creation from the earth.
Juno begged it as a gift. What could the king of gods and men do? He
was loath to surrender his sweetheart to his wife; yet how refuse
so trifling a present as a heifer? He could not, without exciting
suspicion, and he therefore consented. The goddess delivered the heifer
to Argus, to be strictly watched.
Now Argus had a hundred eyes in his head, and never went to sleep with
more than two at a time, so that he kept watch of Io constantly. He
suffered her to graze through the day and at night tied a rope round
her neck. She would have stretched out her arms to implore freedom of
Argus, but that she had no arms to stretch out and her voice was a
bellow. She yearned in vain to make herself known to her father. At
length she bethought herself of writing, and inscribed her name--it
was a short one--with her hoof on the sand. Inachus recognized it,
and, discovering that his daughter whom he had long sought in vain was
hidden under this disguise, mourned over her. While he thus lamented,
Argus, observing, drove her away and took his seat on a bank from
whence he could see in every direction.
[Illustration: FIG. 47. IO, ARGUS, AND MERCURY]
Jupiter, grieved by the sufferings of his mistress, sent Mercury to
dispatch Argus. Mercury took his sleep-producing wand and presented
himself on earth as a shepherd driving his flock. As he strolled, he
blew upon his syrinx or Pandean pipes. Argus listened with delight.
"Young man," said he, "come and take a seat by me on this stone. There
is no better place for your flock to graze in than hereabouts, and here
is a pleasant shade such as shepherds love." Mercury sat down, talked,
told stories till it grew late, and played upon his pipes his most
soothing strains, hoping to lull the watchful eyes to sleep, but in
vain; for Argus still contrived to keep some of his eyes open, though
he shut the rest.
But among other stories, Mercury told him how the instrument on which
he played was invented. "There was a certain nymph," said he, "whose
name was Syrinx,--much beloved by the satyrs and spirits of the wood.
She would have none of them, but was a faithful worshiper of Diana
and followed the chase. Pan, meeting her one day, wooed her with many
compliments, likening her to Diana of the silver bow. Without stopping
to hear him she ran away. But on the bank of the river he overtook
her. She called for help on her friends, the water-nymphs. They heard
and consented. Pan threw his arms around what he supposed to be the
form of the nymph and found he embraced only a tuft of reeds. As he
breathed a sigh, the air sounded through the reeds and produced a
plaintive melody. Whereupon the god, charmed with the novelty and with
the sweetness of the music, said, 'Thus, then, at least, you shall be
mine.' Taking some of the reeds of unequal lengths and placing them
together, side by side, he made an instrument and called it Syrinx,
in honor of the nymph." Before Mercury had finished his story he saw
the eyes of Argus all asleep. At once he slew him and set Io free. The
eyes of Argus Juno took and scattered as ornaments on the tail of her
peacock, where they remain to this day.
But the vengeance of Juno was not yet satiated. She sent a gadfly to
torment Io, who, in her flight, swam through the sea, named after
her, Ionian. Afterward, roaming over many lands, she reached at last
the banks of the Nile. Then Jupiter interceded for her; and upon his
engaging not to pay her any further attention, Juno consented to
restore her to her form.
In a poem dedicated to Leigh Hunt, by Keats, the following allusion to
the story of Pan and Syrinx occurs:
So did he feel who pulled the boughs aside,
That we might look into a forest wide, ...
Telling us how fair trembling Syrinx fled
Arcadian Pan, with such a fearful dread.
Poor nymph--poor Pan--how he did weep to find
Nought but a lovely sighing of the wind
Along the reedy stream; a half-heard strain,
Full of sweet desolation, balmy pain.
=58. Callisto= of Arcadia was another maiden who excited the jealousy
of Juno. Her the goddess changed into a bear. Often, frightened by
the dogs, Callisto, though lately a huntress, fled in terror from the
hunters. Often, too, she fled from the wild beasts, forgetting that
she was now a wild beast herself; and, bear as she was, she feared the
bears.
One day a youth espied her as he was hunting. She saw him and
recognized him as her son Arcas, grown to manhood. She stopped and felt
inclined to embrace him. He, alarmed, raised his hunting spear and was
on the point of transfixing her, but Jupiter arrested the crime and,
snatching away both of them, placed them in the heavens as the Great
and Little Bear.
Juno, enraged at seeing her rival so set in honor, hastened to ancient
Tethys and Oceanus and, complaining that she was supplanted in Heaven,
cried, "So do my punishments result--such is the extent of my power! I
forbade her to wear human form,--she and her hateful son are placed
among the stars. Better that she should have resumed her former shape,
as I permitted Io to do. Perhaps my husband means to take her to
wife, and put me away! But you, my foster parents, if you feel for
me, and see with displeasure this unworthy treatment of me, show it,
I beseech you, by forbidding this guilty couple from coming into your
waters." The powers of the Ocean assented, and consequently the two
constellations of the Great and Little Bear move round and round in
the neighborhood of the pole, but never sink, as do the other stars,
beneath the Ocean.[67]
=59. Europa= was the daughter of Agenor, king of Ph[oe]nicia, son of
the god Neptune. The story of Jupiter's love for her is thus told by
the idyllic poet, Moschus:
To Europa, princess of Asia, once on a time, a sweet dream was
sent by Cypris.... Then she beheld two continents at strife for
her sake, Asia and the further shore, both in the shape of women.
Of these one had the guise of a stranger, the other of a lady of
that land, and closer still she clung about her maiden, and kept
saying how she was her mother, and herself had nursed Europa. But
that other with mighty hands, and forcefully, kept haling the
maiden, nothing loth; declaring that, by the will of ægis-bearing
Jupiter, Europa was destined to be her prize.
But Europa leaped forth from her strown bed in terror, with
beating heart, in such clear vision had she beheld the dream....
And she said, "Ah! who was the alien woman that I beheld in my
sleep? How strange a longing f
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