Extracts from Bulfinch's Mythology (1855) linked to Social Science History
The names in (parentheses) are the Greek, the others being the Roman or Latin names.
Jupiter, or Jove (Greek: Zeus), though called the father of gods and men, had himself a beginning. Saturn (Greek Cronos = time) was his father, and Rhea (Ops) his mother. Saturn and Rhea were of the race of Titans, who were the children of Earth [Greek: Gaia] and Heaven [Greek: Uranus], which sprang from Chaos.
Saturn and Rhea were not the only Titans. There were others, whose names were Oceanus, Hyperion, Iapetus, and Ophion, males; and Themis, Mnemosyne, Eurynome, females. Ophion and Eurynome ruled over Olympus till they were dethroned by Saturn and Rhea.
The Titans are spoken of as the elder gods, whose dominion was afterwards transferred to others. Saturn yielded to Jupiter, Oceanus to Neptune, Hyperion to Apollo. Hyperion was the father of the Sun, Moon, and Dawn. He is therefore the original sun-god, and is painted with the splendour and beauty which were afterwards bestowed on Apollo.
| "monster who devoured his children" see Freud |
The representations given of Saturn are not very consistent; for on the one hand his reign is said to have been the golden age of innocence and purity, and on the other he is described as a monster who devoured his children. Jupiter, however, escaped this fate, and when grown up espoused Metis (Prudence), who administered a draught to Saturn which caused him to disgorge his children. Jupiter, with his brothers and sisters, now rebelled against their father Saturn and his brothers the Titans; vanquished them, and imprisoned some of them in Tartarus, inflicting other penalties on others. Atlas was condemned to bear up the heavens on his shoulders.
This inconsistency arises from considering the Saturn of the Romans the same with the Grecian deity Cronos (Time), which, as it brings an end to all things which have had a beginning, may be said to devour its own offspring.
On the dethronement of Saturn, Jupiter with his brothers Neptune (Poseidon) and Pluto (Dis) divided his dominions. Jupiter's portion was the heavens, Neptune's the ocean, and Pluto's the realms of the dead. Earth and Olympus were common property. Jupiter was king of gods and men. The thunder was his weapon, and he bore a shield called Aegis, made for him by Vulcan. The eagle was his favourite bird, and bore his thunderbolts.
Juno (Hera) was the wife of Jupiter, and queen of the gods. Iris, the goddess of the rainbow, was her attendant and messenger. The peacock was her favourite bird.
Vulcan (Hephaestos), the celestial artist, was the son of Jupiter and Juno. He was born lame, and his mother was so displeased at the sight of him that she flung him out of heaven. Other accounts say that Jupiter kicked him out for taking part with his mother in a quarrel which occurred between them. Vulcan's lameness, according to this account, was the consequence of his fall. He was a whole day falling, and at last alighted in the Island of Lemnos, which was thenceforth sacred to him. Milton alludes to this story in "Paradise Lost," Book I.:
"...From morn
To noon he fell, from noon to dewy eve,
A summer's day; and with the setting sun
Dropped from the zenith, like a falling star,
On Lemnos, the Aegean isle."
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Vulcan was the God of fire and blacksmiths. He is often shown with a
hammer.
In 1847 a foundry in Lancashire was renamed the Vulcan Foundry. The Institution of Mechanical Engineers was established in the same year. Its coat of arms (1930 and 1951) depicted Archimedes to signify science and Vulcan to signify craftsmanship. This is the 1950s version. |
Mars (Ares), the god of war, was the son of Jupiter and Juno,
|
"Mars has always held a high rank in the hierarchy of the gods" see
Park
Father of Romulus and Remus, the mythological founders of Rome. |
Phoebus Apollo, the god of archery, prophecy, and music, was the son of Jupiter and Latona, and brother of Diana (Artemis). He was god of the sun, as Diana, his sister, was the goddess of the moon.
Venus (Aphrodite), the goddess of love and beauty, was the daughter of Jupiter and Dione. Others say that Venus sprang from the foam of the sea. The zephyr wafted her along the waves to the Isle of Cyprus, where she was received and attired by the Seasons, and then led to the assembly of the gods. All were charmed with her beauty, and each one demanded her for his wife. Jupiter gave her to Vulcan, in gratitude for the service he had rendered in forging thunderbolts. So the most beautiful of the goddesses became the wife of the most ill-favoured of gods. Venus possessed an embroidered girdle called Cestus, which had the power of inspiring love. Her favourite birds were swans and doves, and the plants sacred to her were the rose and the myrtle.
Cupid (Eros), the god of love, was the son of Venus. He was her constant companion; and, armed with bow and arrows, he shot the darts of desire into the bosoms of both gods and men. There was a deity named Anteros, who was sometimes represented as the avenger of slighted love, and sometimes as the symbol of reciprocal affection. The following legend is told of him:
Venus, complaining to Themis that her son Eros continued always a child, was told by her that it was because he was solitary, and that if he had a brother he would grow apace. Anteros was soon afterwards born, and Eros immediately was seen to increase rapidly in size and strength.
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Minerva (Pallas, Athene, the goddess of wisdom,) was the offspring of Jupiter, without a mother. She sprang forth from his head completely armed. Her favourite bird was the owl, and the plant sacred to her the olive. Byron, in "Childe Harold," alludes to the birth of Minerva thus:
"Can tyrants but by tyrants conquered be,
And Freedom find no champion and no child,
Such as Columbia saw arise, when she
Sprang forth a Pallas, armed and undefiled?
Or must such minds be nourished in the wild,
Deep in the unpruned forest, 'midst the roar
Of cataracts, where nursing Nature smiled
On infant Washington? Has earth no more
Such seeds within her breast, or Europe no such shore?"
| "The owl of Minerva takes its flight only when the shades of night are gathering" see Hegel |
Mercury (Hermes) was the son of Jupiter and Maia. He presided over commerce, wrestling, and other gymnastic exercises, even over thieving, and everything, in short, which required skill and dexterity. He was the messenger of Jupiter, and wore a winged cap and winged shoes. He bore in his hand a rod entwined with two serpents, called the caduceus.
Mercury is said to have invented the lyre. He found, one day, a tortoise, of which he took the shell, made holes in the opposite edges of it, and drew cords of linen through them, and the instrument was complete. The cords were nine, in honour of the nine Muses. Mercury gave the lyre to Apollo, and received from him in exchange the caduceus.*
* From this origin of the instrument, the word "shell" is often used as synonymous with "lyre," and figuratively for music and poetry. Thus Gray, in his ode on the "Progress of Poesy," says:
"O Sovereign of the willing Soul,
Parent of sweet and solemn-breathing airs,
Enchanting shell! the sullen Cares
And frantic Passions hear thy soft control."
Ceres (Demeter) was the daughter of Saturn and Rhea. She had a daughter named Proserpine (Persephone), who became the wife of Pluto, and queen of the realms of the dead. Ceres presided over agriculture.
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Bacchus (Dionysus), the god of wine, was the son of
Jupiter and
Semele. He represents not only the intoxicating power of wine, but its
social and beneficent influences likewise, so that he is viewed as the
promoter of civilisation, and a lawgiver and lover of peace.
"Musical amateurs... are... strangely out of place among philosophers...
they run about at the Dionysiac festivals as if they had let out their ears
to hear every chorus" (Plato's Republic)
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The Muses were the daughters of Jupiter and Mnemosyne (Memory). They presided over song, and prompted the memory. They were nine in number, to each of whom was assigned the presidence over some particular 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.
The Graces were goddesses presiding over the banquet, the dance, and
all social enjoyments and elegant arts. They were three in number.
Their names were Euphrosyne, Aglaia, and Thalia.
Spenser describes the office of the Graces thus:
The Fates were also three- Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos. Their
office was to spin the thread of human destiny, and they were armed
with shears, with which they cut it off when they pleased. They were
the daughters of Themis (Law), who sits by Jove on his throne to
give him counsel.
The Erinnyes, or Furies, were three goddesses who punished by
their secret stings the crimes of those who escaped or defied public
justice. The heads of the Furies were wreathed with serpents, and
their whole appearance was terrific and appalling. Their names were
Alecto, Tisiphone, and Megaera. They were also called Eumenides.
Nemesis was also an avenging goddess. She represents the righteous
anger of the gods, particularly towards the proud and insolent.
Pan was the god of flocks and shepherds. His favourite residence was
in Arcadia.
The Satyrs were deities of the woods and fields. They were conceived
to be covered with bristly hair, their heads decorated with short,
sprouting horns, and their feet like goats' feet.
Momus was the god of laughter, and Plutus the god of wealth.
CHAPTER 2: PROMETHEUS AND PANDORA.
The creation of the world is a problem naturally fitted to excite the
liveliest interest of man, its inhabitant. The ancient pagans, not having
the information on the subject which
we
derive
from the pages of
Scripture,
had their own way of telling the story, which is as follows:
Before earth and sea and heaven were created, all things wore one aspect,
to which we give the name of Chaos- a confused and shapeless mass, nothing
but dead weight, in which, however, slumbered the seeds of things. Earth,
sea, and air were all mixed up together; so the earth was not solid, the
sea was not fluid, and the air was not transparent. God and Nature at last
interposed, and put an end to this discord, separating earth from sea, and
heaven from both. The fiery part, being the lightest, sprang up, and formed
the skies; the air was next in weight and place. The earth, being heavier,
sank below; and the water took the lowest place, and buoyed up the earth.
Here some god- it is not known which- gave his good offices in arranging
and disposing the earth. He appointed rivers and bays their places, raised
mountains, scooped out valleys, distributed woods, fountains, fertile
fields. and stony plains. The air being cleared, the stars began to appear,
fishes took possession of the sea, birds of the air, and four-footed beasts
of the land.
But a nobler animal was wanted, and Man was made. It is not known whether
the creator made him of divine materials, or whether in the earth, so
lately separated from heaven, there lurked still some heavenly seeds.
Prometheus took some of this earth, and kneading it up with water,
made man
in the image of the gods. He gave him an upright stature, so that while all
other animals turn their faces downward, and look to the earth, he raises
his to heaven, and gazes on the stars.
Prometheus was one of the
Titans, a gigantic race,
who inhabited the earth
before the creation of man. To him and his brother Epimetheus was committed
the office of making man, and providing him and all other animals with the
faculties necessary for their preservation. Epimetheus undertook to do
this, and Prometheus was to overlook his work, when it was done. Epimetheus
accordingly 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, etc. But when man came to be
provided for, who was to be superior to all other animals, Epimetheus had
been so prodigal of his resources that he had nothing left to bestow upon
him. In his perplexity he resorted to his brother Prometheus, who, with the
aid of Minerva, went up to heaven, and lighted his torch at the chariot of
the sun. and brought down fire to man. With this gift man was more than a
match for all other animals. It enabled him to make weapons wherewith to
subdue them; tools with which to cultivate the earth; to warm his dwelling,
so as to be comparatively independent of climate; and finally to introduce
the arts and to coin money, the means of trade and commerce.
Woman was not yet made. The story (absurd enough!) is that
Jupiter
made her, and sent her to Prometheus and his brother, to punish them
for their presumption in stealing fire from heaven; and man, for
accepting the gift. The first woman was named Pandora. She was made
in
heaven, every god contributing something to perfect her. Venus gave
her beauty, Mercury persuasion, Apollo music, etc. Thus equipped,
she was conveyed to earth, and presented to Epimetheus, who gladly
accepted her, though cautioned by his brother to beware of Jupiter and
his gifts. Epimetheus had in his house a jar, in which were kept
certain noxious articles for which, in fitting man for his new
abode, he had had no occasion. Pandora was seized with an eager
curiosity to know what this jar contained; and one day she slipped off
the cover and looked in. Forthwith there escaped a multitude of
plagues for hapless man,- such as gout, rheumatism, and colic for
his body, and envy, spite, and revenge for his mind,- and scattered
themselves far and wide. Pandora hastened to replace the lid! but,
alas! the whole contents of the jar had escaped, one thing only
excepted, which lay at the bottom, and that was hope. So we see at
this day, whatever evils are abroad, hope never entirely leaves us;
and while we have that, no amount of other ills can make us completely
wretched.
Another story is that Pandora was sent in good faith, by Jupiter, to bless
man; that she was furnished with a box containing her marriage presents,
into which every god had put some blessing, She opened the box
incautiously, and the blessings all escaped, hope only excepted. This story
seems more probable than the former; for how could hope, so precious a
jewel as it is, have been kept in a jar full of all manner of evils, as in
the former statement?
The world being thus furnished with inhabitants, the first age was an age
of innocence and happiness, called the Golden Age. Truth and right
prevailed, though not enforced by law, nor was there any magistrate to
threaten or punish. The forest had not yet been robbed of its trees to
furnish 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 labour in ploughing
or sowing, Perpetual spring reigned, flowers sprang up without seed, the
rivers flowed with milk and wine, and yellow honey distilled from the oaks.
Then succeeded the Silver Age, inferior to the golden, but better than
that of brass. Jupiter shortened the spring, and divided the year into
seasons. Then, first, men had to endure the extremes of heat and cold, and
houses became necessary. Caves were the first dwellings, and leafy coverts
of the woods, and huts woven of twigs. Crops would no longer grow without
planting. The farmer was obliged to sow the seed, and the toiling ox to
draw the plough.
Next came the Brazen Age, more savage of temper, and readier to the strife
of arms, yet not altogether wicked. The hardest and worst was the Iron Age.
Crime burst in like a flood; modesty, truth, and honour fled. In their
places came fraud and cunning, violence, and the wicked love of gain. Then
seamen spread sails to the wind, and the trees were torn from the mountains
to serve for keels to ships, and vex the face of the ocean. The earth,
which till now had been cultivated in common, began to be divided off into
possessions. Men were not satisfied with what the surface produced, but
must dig into its bowels, and draw forth from thence the ores of metals.
Mischievous iron, and more mischievous gold, were produced. War sprang up,
using both as weapons; the guest was not safe in his friend's house; and
sons-in-law and fathers-in-law, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives,
could not trust one another. Sons wished their fathers dead, that they
might come to the inheritance; family love lay prostrate.
The earth was wet
with slaughter, and the gods abandoned it, one by one, till Astraea* alone
was left, and finally she also took her departure.
It was a favourite idea of the old poets that these goddesses would one day
return, and bring back the Golden Age. Even in a Christian hymn, the
"Messiah" of Pope, this idea occurs:
See, also, Milton's "Hymn on the Nativity," stanzas xiv. and xv.
Jupiter, seeing this state of things, burned with anger. He summoned the
gods to council. They obeyed the call, and took the road to the palace of
heaven. The road, which any one may see in a clear night, stretches across
the face of the sky, and is called the Milky Way. Along the road stand the
palaces of the illustrious gods; the common people of the skies live apart,
on either side. Jupiter addressed the assembly. He set forth the frightful
condition of things on the earth, and closed by announcing his intention to
destroy the whole of its inhabitants, and provide a new race, unlike the
first, who would be more worthy of life, and much better worshippers of the
gods. So saying he took a thunderbolt, and was about to launch it at the
world, and destroy it by burning; but recollecting the danger that such a
conflagration might set heaven itself on fire, he changed his plan, and
resolved to drown it. The north wind, which scatters the clouds, was
chained up; the south was sent out, and soon covered all the face of heaven
with a cloak of pitchy darkness. The clouds, driven together, resound with
a crash; torrents of rain fall; the crops are laid low; the year's labour
of the husbandman perishes in an hour. Jupiter, not satisfied with his own
waters, calls on his brother Neptune to aid him with his. He lets loose the
rivers, and pours them over the land. At the same time, he heaves the land
with an earthquake, and brings in the reflux of the ocean over the shores.
Flocks, herds, men, and houses are swept away, and temples, with their
sacred enclosures, profaned. If any edifice remained standing, it was
overwhelmed, and its turrets lay hid beneath the waves. Now all was sea,
sea without shore. Here and there an individual remained on a projecting
hilltop, and a few, in boats, pulled the oar where they had lately driven
the plough. The fishes swim among the tree-tops; the anchor is let down
into a garden. Where the graceful lambs played but now. unwieldy sea calves
gambol. The wolf swims among the sheep, the yellow lions and tigers
struggle in the water. The strength of the wild boar serves him not, nor
his swiftness the stag. The birds fall with weary win, into the water,
having found no land for a resting-place. Those living beings whom the
water spared fell a prey to hunger.
Parnassus alone, of all the mountains, overtopped the waves; and there
Deucalion, and his wife Pyrrha, of the race of Prometheus, found refuge- he
a just man, and she a faithful worshipper of the gods. Jupiter, when he saw
none left alive but this pair, and remembered their harmless lives and
pious demeanour, ordered the north winds to drive away the clouds, and
disclose the skies to earth, and earth to the skies. Neptune also directed
Triton to blow on his shell, and sound a retreat to the waters. The waters
obeyed, and the sea returned to its shores, and the rivers to their
channels. Then Deucalion thus addressed Pyrrha: "O wife, only surviving
woman, joined to me first by the ties of kindred and marriage, and now by a
common danger, would that we possessed the power of our ancestor
Prometheus, and could renew the race as he at first made it! But as we
cannot, let us seek yonder temple, and inquire of the gods what remains for
us to do." They entered the temple, deformed as it was with slime, and
approached the altar, where no fire burned. There they fell prostrate on
the earth, and prayed the goddess to inform them how they might retrieve
their miserable affairs. The oracle 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 thickest shades of the wood, and revolved the oracle in
their minds. At length Deucalion spoke: "Either my sagacity deceives 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; and I
think this is what the oracle means. At least, it will do no harm to try."
They veiled their faces, unbound their garments, and picked up stones, and
cast them behind them. The stones (wonderful to relate) began to grow soft,
and assume shape. By degrees, they put on a rude resemblance to the human
form, like a block half finished in the hands of the sculptor. The moisture
and slime that were about them became flesh; the stony part became bones;
the veins remained veins, retaining their name, only changing their use.
Those thrown by the hand of the man became men, and those by the woman
became women. It was a hard race, and well adapted to labour, as we find
ourselves to be at this day, giving plain indications of our origin.
The comparison of Eve to Pandora is too obvious to have escaped
Milton, who introduces it in Book IV. of "Paradise Lost":
Prometheus and Epimetheus were sons of Iapetus, which Milton changes
to Japhet.
Prometheus has been a favourite subject with the poets. He is represented
as the friend of mankind, who interposed in their behalf when Jove was
incensed against them, and who taught them civilisation and the arts. But
as, in so doing, he transgressed the will of Jupiter, he drew down on
himself the anger of the ruler of gods and men. Jupiter had him chained to
a rock on Mount Caucasus, where a vulture preyed on his liver, which was
renewed as fast as devoured. 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, and if he would have revealed it, he might have been at once
taken into favour. But that he disdained to do. He has therefore become the
symbol of magnanimous endurance of unmerited suffering, and strength of
will resisting oppression.
Byron and Shelley have both treated this theme. The following are Byron's
lines:
"Thy godlike crime was to be kind;
Byron also employs the same allusion, in his "Ode to Napoleon Bonaparte":
The Sphinx and Oedipus
Laius, king of Thebes, was warned by an oracle that there was danger to his
throne and life if his new-born son should be suffered to grow up. He
therefore committed the child to the care of a herdsman with orders to
destroy him; but the herdsman, moved with pity, yet not daring entirely to
disobey, tied up the child by the feet and left him hanging to the branch
of a tree. In this condition the infant was found by a peasant, who carried
him to his master and mistress, by whom he was adopted and called Oedipus,
or Swollen-foot.
Many years afterwards Laius being on his way to Delphi, accompanied only by
one attendant, met in a narrow road a young man also driving in a chariot.
On his refusal to leave the way at their command the attendant killed one
of his horses, and the stranger, filled with rage, slew both Laius and his
attendant. The young man was Oedipus who thus unknowingly became the
slayer
of his own father.
Shortly after this event the city of Thebes was afflicted with a monster
which infested the highroad. It was called the Sphinx. It had the body of a
lion and the upper part of a woman. It lay crouched on the top of a rock,
and arrested all travellers who came that way, proposing to them a riddle,
with the condition that those who could solve it should pass safe, but
those who failed should be killed. Not one had yet succeeded in solving it,
and all had been slain.
"These three on men all gracious gifts bestow
Which deck the body or adorn the mind,
To make them lovely or well-favoured 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."
"All crimes shall cease, and ancient fraud shall fail,
Returning Justice lift aloft her scale,
Peace o'er the world her olive wand extend,
And white-robed Innocence from heaven descend."
"More lovely than Pandora, whom the gods
Endowed with all their gifts; and O, too like
In sad event, when to the unwiser son
Of Japhet brought by Hermes, she insnared
Mankind with her fair looks, to be avenged
On him who had stole Jove's authentic fire."
"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.
To render with thy precepts less
The sum of human wretchedness,
And strengthen man with his own mind.
And, 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."
"Or, like the thief of fire from heaven,
Wilt thou withstand the shock?
And share with him - the unforgiven -
His vulture and his rock?"
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Oedipus was not daunted by these alarming accounts,
but boldly advanced to the trial. The Sphinx asked him:
"What animal is that which in the morning goes on four feet, at noon on two, and in the evening upon three?" Oedipus replied: "Man, who in childhood creeps on hands and knees, in manhood walks erect, and in old age with the aid of a staff." |
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The Sphinx was so mortified at the solving of her riddle that she cast herself down from the rock and perished.
The gratitude of the people for their deliverance was so great that they made Oedipus their king, giving him in marriage their queen Jocasta.
Picture source |
Oedipus, ignorant of his parentage, had
already become the slayer of his father; in marrying the queen he became
the husband of his mother.
These horrors remained undiscovered, till at length Thebes was afflicted with famine and pestilence, and the oracle being consulted, the double crime of Oedipus came to light. Jocasta put an end to her own life, and Oedipus, seized with madness, tore out his eyes and wandered away from Thebes, dreaded and abandoned by all except his daughters, who faithfully adhered to him, till after a tedious period of miserable wandering he found the termination of his wretched life. |
Agamemnon, Orestes and Electra.
During the absence of Agamemnon, the general-in-chief of the Greeks, his
wife, Clytemnestra, had sexual relations with Aegisthus. When the return of
Agamemnon was expected, Clytemnestra and Aegisthus laid a
plan for his destruction. At the banquet given to celebrate his
return, they murdered him.
It was intended by the conspirators to slay his son Orestes also,
a lad not yet old enough to be an object of apprehension, but from
whom, if he should be suffered to grow up, there might be danger.
Electra, the sister of Orestes, saved her brother's life by sending
him secretly away to his uncle Strophius, King of Phocis. In the
palace of Strophius, Orestes grew up with the king's son Pylades, and
formed with him an ardent friendship which became proverbial.
Electra frequently reminded her brother by messengers of the duty of
avenging his father's death, and when grown up he consulted the oracle
of Delphi, which confirmed him in his design. He therefore repaired in
disguise to Argos, pretending to be a messenger from Strophius, who
had come to announce the death of Orestes, and brought the ashes of
the deceased in a funeral urn.
One of the most pathetic scenes in the ancient drama is that in
which Sophocles represents the meeting of Orestes and Electra, on
his return from Phocis. Orestes, mistaking Electra for one of the
domestics, and desirous of keeping his arrival a secret till the
hour of vengeance should arrive, produces the urn in which his ashes
are supposed to rest. Electra, believing him to be really dead,
takes the urn and, embracing it, pours forth her grief in language
full of tenderness and despair.
After visiting his father's tomb and sacrificing upon it, according to the
rites of the ancients, Orestes made himself known to his sister Electra,
and soon after slew both his mother Clytemnestra and her lover, Aegisthus.
The slaughter of a mother by her son, though alleviated by the guilt of the
victim and the express command of the gods, was abhorrant. The Eumenides,
avenging deities, seized upon Orestes, and drove him frantic from land to
land.
Pylades accompanied him in his wanderings and watched over him. At
length, in answer to a second appeal to the oracle, he was directed to
go to Tauris in Scythia, and to bring thence a statue of Diana which
was believed to have fallen from heaven. Accordingly Orestes and
Pylades went to Tauris, where the barbarous people were accustomed
to sacrifice to the goddess all strangers who fell into their hands.
The two friends were seized and carried bound to the temple to be made
victims. But the priestess of Diana was Iphigenia, the
sister of Orestes, had been snatched away by Diana when she was about to be
sacrificed. Ascertaining from the prisoners who they were, Iphigenia
disclosed herself to them, and the three made their escape with the statue
of the goddess, and returned to Mycenae.
But Orestes was not yet relieved from the vengeance of the
Erinyes. At length he took refuge with Minerva at Athens. The
goddess afforded him protection, and appointed the court of
Areopagus to decide his fate. The Erinyes brought forward their
accusation, and Orestes made the command of the Delphic oracle his
excuse. When the court voted and the voices were equally divided,
Orestes was acquitted by the command of Minerva.
CHAPTER 19: HERCULES - HEBE AND GANYMEDE.
HERCULES.
Hercules was the son of
Jupiter
and Alcmena. As
Juno
was always
hostile to the offspring of her husband by mortal mothers, she
declared war against Hercules from his birth. She sent two serpents to
destroy him as he lay in his cradle, but the precocious infant
strangled them with his own hands. He was, however, by the arts of
Juno rendered subject to Eurystheus and compelled to perform all his
commands. Eurystheus enjoined upon him a succession of desperate
adventures, which are called the "Twelve Labours of Hercules." The
first was the fight with the Nemean lion. The valley of Nemea was
infested by a terrible lion. Eurystheus ordered Hercules to bring
him the skin of this monster. After using in vain his club and
arrows against the lion, Hercules strangled the animal with his hands.
He returned carrying the dead lion on his shoulders; but Eurystheus
was so frightened at the sight of it and at this proof of the
prodigious strength of the hero, that he ordered him to deliver the
account of his exploits in future outside the town.
His next labour was the slaughter of the Hydra. This monster ravaged the
country of Argos, and dwelt in a swamp near the well of Amymone. This well
had been discovered by Amymone when the country was suffering from drought,
and the story was that Neptune, who loved her, had permitted her to touch
the rock with his trident, and a spring of three outlets burst forth. Here
the Hydra took up his position, and Hercules was sent to destroy him. The
Hydra had nine heads, of which the middle one was immortal. Hercules struck
off its heads with his club, but in the place of the head knocked off, two
new ones grew forth each time. At length with the assistance of his
faithful servant Iolaus, he burned away the heads of the Hydra, and buried
the ninth or immortal one under a huge rock.
Another labour was the cleaning of the Augean stables. Augeas,
king of Elis, had a herd of three thousand oxen, whose stalls had
not been cleansed for thirty years. Hercules brought the rivers
Alpheus and Peneus through them, and cleansed them thoroughly in one
day.
His next labour was of a more delicate kind. Admeta, the daughter of
Eurystheus, longed to obtain the girdle of the queen of the Amazons, and
Eurystheus ordered Hercules to go and get it. The Amazons were a nation of
women. They were very warlike and held several flourishing cities. It was
their custom to bring up only the female children; the boys were either
sent away to the neighbouring nations or put to death. Hercules was
accompanied by a number of volunteers, and after various adventures at last
reached the country of the Amazons. Hippolyta, the queen, received him
kindly, and consented to yield him her girdle, but Juno, taking the form of
an Amazon, went and persuaded the rest that the strangers were carrying off
their queen. They instantly armed and came in great numbers down to the
ship. Hercules, thinking that Hippolyta, had acted treacherously, slew her,
and taking her girdle made sail homewards.
Another task enjoined him was to bring to Eurystheus the oxen of
Geryon, a monster with three bodies, who dwelt in the island of
Erytheia (the red), so called because it lay at the west, under the
rays of the setting sun. This description is thought to apply to
Spain, of which Geryon was king. After traversing various countries,
Hercules reached at length the frontiers of Libya and Europe, where he
raised the two mountains of Calpe and Abyla, as monuments of his
progress, or, according to another account, rent one mountain into two
and left half on each side, forming the straits of Gibraltar, the
two mountains being called the Pillars of Hercules. The oxen were
guarded by the giant Eurytion and his two-headed dog, but Hercules
killed the giant and his dog and brought away the oxen in safety to
Eurystheus.
The most difficult labour of all was getting the golden apples of
the Hesperides, for Hercules did not know where to find them. These
were the apples which Juno had received at her wedding from the
goddess of the Earth, and which she had intrusted to the keeping of
the daughters of Hesperus, assisted by a watchful dragon. After
various adventures Hercules arrived at Mount Atlas in Africa. Atlas
was one of the Titans who had warred against the gods, and after
they were subdued, Atlas was condemned to bear on his shoulders the
weight of the heavens. He was the father of the Hesperides, and
Hercules thought might, if any one could, find the apples and bring
them to him. But how to send Atlas away from his post, or bear up
the heavens while he was gone? Hercules took the burden on his own
shoulders, and sent Atlas to seek the apples. He returned with them,
and though somewhat reluctantly, took his burden upon his shoulders
again, and let Hercules return with the apples to Eurystheus.
Chapter 22 The Rural Deities- Erisichthon- Rhoecus- The
Water Deities- The Camenae- The Winds.
The Rural Deities.
Pan, the god of woods and fields, of flocks and shepherds, dwelt
in grottos, wandered on the mountains and in valleys, and amused
himself with the chase or in leading the dances of the nymphs. He
was fond of music, and was, as we have seen, the inventor of the
syrinx, or shepherd's pipe, which he himself played in a masterly
manner. Pan, like other gods who dwelt in forests, was dreaded by
those whose occupations caused them to pass through the woods by
night, for the gloom and loneliness of such scenes dispose the mind to
superstitious fears. Hence sudden fright without any visible cause was
ascribed to Pan, and called a Panic terror.
As the name of the god
signifies all, Pan came to be considered a
symbol of the universe and personification of Nature; and later
still to be regarded as a representative of all the gods and of
heathenism itself.
Sylvanus and Faunus were Latin divinities, whose characteristics are
so nearly the same as those of Pan that we may safely consider them as
the same personage under different names.
The wood-nymphs, Pan's partners in the dance, were but one class
of nymphs. There were besides them the Naiads, who presided over
brooks and fountains, the Oreads, nymphs of mountains and grottos, and
the Nereids, sea-nymphs. The three last named were immortal, but the
wood-nymphs, called Dryads or Hamadryads, were believed to perish with
the trees which had been their abode and with which they had come into
existence. It was therefore an impious act wantonly to destroy a tree,
and in some aggravated cases was severely punished, as in the instance
of Erisichthon, which we are about to record.
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