-NRLF
HERA
From an Ancient Statue now in the Vatican Museum at Rome
MYTHS OF HELLAS
OR
GREEK TALES
TOLD IN GERMAN BY
PROFESSOE C. WITT
HEAD MASTER OF THE ALTSTADT GYMNASIUM AT KOMGSBEKG
TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH
(with the Author's sanction)
BY
FRANCES YOUNGHUSBAND
WITH A PREFACE
BY
ARTHUR SIDGWICK, M.A.
FELLOW AND TUTOR OP CORPUS CHMSTI COLLEGE, OXFORD
LATE ASSISTANT-MASTER AT RUGBY SCHOOL
FIFTH EDITION
LONDON
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
AND NEW YORK : 15 EAST 16 th STREET
1891
All rights reserved
PRINTED BY
SPOTTISWOODE AXD CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE
LONDON
TO ALL ENGLISH CHILDREN
BUT ESPECIALLY TO C. I. W. AND TO E. R. Y. AND O. Y.
WHOSE PLEASURE IN THESE STORIES
HAS MADE ME WISH
TO BRING THEM WITHIN THE REACH OF OTHER CHILDREN
I DEDICATE THIS TRANSLATION
F. M, Y.
033
PEEFACB.
THE FOLLOWING COLLECTION OF LEGENDS about the
Greek gods and heroes, to which I have been asked to
write a few words of introduction, is a translation of a
little book by Professor C. Witt which has been received
in Germany with great favour by the public and the
press. This popularity has been due, not merely to
the intrinsic beauty of the stories, but to the skill
shown in the selection, and in the simplicity of the style.
The last quality it has been the aim of the translator to
retain in the English version ; and the success of the
book in Germany suggests a hope that the translation
may become a favourite in this country.
That there still exists a demand for some such
book, notwithstanding the deserved popularity of
Kingsley's 'Heroes,' Cox's Mythological Tales, and
Church's Stories from Greek and Latin Writers, seems
to be shown by the large number of encouraging
letters received by the translator from persons engaged
or interested in education.
viii PEEFACE.
That Greek stories, simply told, will be acceptable
to children, common sense would tell us, even apart
from experience. Children impartially welcome all
tales of incident and wonder, if they can understano
the language in which they are written, and if theii
pleasure is not dashed by the medicinal flavour of a
moral. And even a moral will not deter them if it be
not too explicit or obtrusive.
Again, from the teacher's point of view as well as
the child's, there seems to be every reason in favour of
presenting to them at an early age the stories of Greek
mythology. There is first the obvious fact that such
reading trains and cultivates the imaginative faculties,
and that it is good to vary the ' Arabian Nights ' and
the German and Norse fairy-tales with such totally
different material as the Greek stories. There are
also other reasons arising from the altered position of
Greek in education.
Without entering on any controverted question, it
is clear that even in classical schools the teaching of
Greek will have in the future to occupy fewer hours,
and probably to begin at a later age, than hitherto. The
much greater number of subjects now taught, and
necessarily and rightly taught, makes this inevitable.
And if the same good, or anything like the same good,
is to be got out of the fewer hours, there must be con-
siderable modification of method. And one obvious
PREFACE. IX
modification is, that much which before was taught
slowly and painfully by means of the Greek authors,
should be learnt quickly and pleasurably by means of
an English rendering. To take a very humble example :
The present writer would have a much less weary
memory of his early struggles with the ' Alcestis ' of
Euripides at the age of twelve, if he had been familiar
from the age of six with such a version of the story as
is presented in this volume. In short, to bring to the
study of a language always a difficult and tedious
business to a beginner some knowledge of the matter
with which the literature deals, and some interest in
the people and their life, must tend to lighten and
shorten the process of learning. And to this end the
following little book is offered as a small contribution.
The aim and hope of the translator may be thus
summed up in two or three words. All children will
get pleasure out of these stories, and that is much.
Many children will perhaps get the elements of cul-
ture, and that is more. And some may get at once
pleasure, culture, and a little real preparation for
severer studies ; and so receive a benefit, though
doubtless of a humbler kind, yet something like that
which Pope's ' Homer ' has given to so many genera-
tions of schoolboys.
A. S.
OXFORD : November, 1882.
NOTES.
NOTE ON THE SOUECES OF THE STORIES.
The stories have been taken by the Author from many
sources, but chiefly from a Greek writer, A pollodorus, who
lived in the second century B.C., and collected the old mytho-
logical tales. A good deal has also been taken from the
poems of Hesiod and Homer, and from the tragedies of
Sophocles ; but in these cases it has been necessary to exer-
cise some care in the selection of what would be suitable for a
book intended to be placed in the hands of children. Several
of the details have been supplied by the ancient works of art
which have come down to us.
NOTE ON THE NAMES OF THE GODS.
As it is probable that many readers will be more familiar
with the Latin names of the gods, whilst the stories in this
book, being derived from Greek sources, give naturally the
Greek names, the following list will perhaps be useful,
which shows the corresponding names of each god in the
two languages :
Greek.
Aphrodite.
Apollon.
Artemis.
Athene.
Kronos.
Demeter.
Dionusos or Bacchos.
Latin.
Venus.
Apollo.
Diana.
Minerva.
Saturnus.
Ceres.
Bacchus.
Hephaistos. Vulcanus,
Hera. luno.
Hermes. Mercurius.
Persephone. Proserpina.
Plouton. Pluto.
Poseidon. Neptunus.
Zeus. luppiter.
Also the hero and demi-god Herakles is called Hercules by the
Komans.
NOTES. xi
The young reader will naturally ask why, if the stories
are the same, the names are in most cases so different. And
the answer is briefly this : Each nation had originally its
own gods, with different names and quite different ideas
attaching to them. But the Greeks were a far more gifted
and imaginative people than the Romans, and, when com-
munication was established between the countries, became in.
many ways their teachers. Many Romans learned Greek,
and the Greek stories became current. But as the Romans
naturally adhered to the old names of their own gods, there
arose in this way an identification. The old Latin ideas
about their gods gave way to, or were incorporated with, the
much richer and more poetical Greek fancies and traditions ;
and thus the Greek mythology was almost bodily adopted by
the Roman writers.
For example, the god Saturnus was originally a Latin
rustic god, presiding (as the name shows) over the important
work of sowing corn. But when the identification took
place, all the stories about Kronos were gradually attached
to him, and thus we find him in the Roman poets the father
of luppiter, and the old dispossessed king of the gods.
In a few cases (as Apollo, Pluto, Bacchus), the name was
adopted as well as the story, the termination being Latinised.
Sometimes it was corrupted, as Proserpina from Persephone ;
and sometimes a chance resemblance (as that between the
Latin Hercules, originally Herculus, and the Greek Herakles)
determined the identification.
Accordingly when we say, as is often said, that the
Greek Artemis (for example) is * called Diana in Latin/ we
are using language which, without the above explanation, is
liable to mislead the beginner.
A. S.
v
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER
I. THE BEGINNING OP ALL THINGS ... 1
II. THE GOLDEN AGE 8
III. PROMETHEUS AND EPIMETHEUS .... 9
IV. DEUCALION AND PYERHA 13
V. THE RAPE OF PERSEPHONE ..... 16
VI. MARPESSA 20
VII. ARTEMIS :>3
VIII. THE GIANTS OTUS AND EPHIALTES . . . 27
IX. ENDYMION ........ 29
X. lo ,31
XI. DANAUS AND AEGYPTUS . r , 34
XII. PHAETHON . . . 39
XIII. SALMONEUS AND SISYPHUS 42
XIV. BELLEROPHON 45
XV. DAEDALUS AND ICARUS 62
XVI. EUROPA AND CADMUS 54
XVII. THE BUILDING OF THEBES 69
XVIII. SEMELE . 61
XIX. DIONYSUS 63
XX. MELAMPUS AND BIAS . . . . . . 68
XXI. TANTALUS. PELOPS 75
XXII. NIOBE 80
XXIII. MELEAGER AND ATALANTA 83
XXIV. ADMETUS AND ALCESTIS ... 91
xiv CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PACK
XXV. PEESEUS .... . 95
XXVI. HEEACLES :
1. The War with the Teleboae . . 104
2. The Birth and Youth of Heracles . . . 108
3. The Madness of Heracles, and his First Six
Labours ... ... 112
4. The I*^t Six Labours 122
5. The Murder of Iphitus and the Vengeances of
Heracles 137
6. The Marriage of Heracles with Deianira, and
his Death .... ... 142
XXVII. THE QUEST OF THE AEGO^AUTS:
1. The Golden Fleece 148
2. The Journey to Colchis 151
3. The Fight for the Golden Fleece . . . 159
4. The Journey Home 165
5. Medea's Revenge 171
XXVIII. THESEUS 176
XXIX. OEDIPUS ... .... c 205
XXX. THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES . . . .212
XXXI. THE EPIGONI f . 224
XXXII. EROS AND PSYCHE . , , . 231
MYTHS OF HELLAS.
THE BEGINNING OF ALL THINGS.
LONG AGO, in the beginning of time, there was nothing
but a huge dark mass called Chaos. In this Chaos were
hidden all things that now exist, the earth and the sky,
light and darkness, fire and water, and everything else,
but they were not yet severed one from the other, and
were so mingled and confused that nothing had a
separate form of its own. After the Chaos had lasted
for a long time it parted asunder, and the earth was
divided from the heaven. The sun and the moon anci
the stars mounted up above into the sky, but the water
and the stones and the trees liked better to remain
below with the earth.
There was a god in the sky called Uranus, and on
earth there was a goddess called Gaea. They became
husband and wife, and had several children, of whom
six were ugly and twelve were beautiful. The ugly
ones had, each of them, either a hundred arms, or else
only one eye. Those who had a hundred arms had also
fifty heads, and they were as big as mountains, and very
6
2 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
frightful. The others had only one eye apiece, and it
was placed in the middle of their foreheads and was as
large as a cart wheel. But the beautiful brothers and
sisters were formed like men, only they were much
larger and grander. Six of them were gods, and were
called Titans; there were also six goddesses, who were
called Titanides.
The gods lived on the summit of a very high mountain
called Mount Olympus, which almost reached the sky,
and Uranus was king over them all. He could not bear
the sight of his hundred-armed and one-eyed children
because they were so hideous, so he thrust them into a
dark pit below the earth, called Tartarus, and would
not let them come out of it again. But the mother
Gaea loved even her ugly children, and was angry with
Uranus for banishing them into darkness and misery.
And she said to her son Cronus, who was the youngest
of the beautiful gods, that if he would promise to fetch
up his hundred-armed and one-eyed brothers out of
Tartarus, she would help him to dethrone Uranus and
himself become king of the gods. Cronus promised
that he would do this, and Graea created the bright
cutting steel, and made with it a sharp sickle which
she gave to her son, and told him to stab Uranus with
it when he was asleep. Cronus did as she desired him,
and thus Uranus lost his kingly power.
, Cronus now ruled over the world in his father's
stead, and the other gods had to obey him. He took
one of the Titanides called Rhea to be his wife, and
made her the queen. He also fetched up his ugly
brothers from Tartarus, but he soon became afraid of
tl.em and drove them back into the dark pit. The
TUP, BEGINNING OF ALL THINGS.
mother Gaea now saw how little she had gained by her
treachery to her husband, and she told Cronus that
he should lose his kingly power through one of his
children just as Uranus had done. This frightened
him so much that whenever Ehea had a child, he took
it and swallowed it. He swallowed five of them in this
way, and poor Khea was very sad because she had no
children left. Then Gaea told her, next time she
had a child, to take a stone and wrap it in swaddling
clothes and give it to Cronus to swallow as if it were
the baby, but keep the real child in some safe place till
it was grown up. Rhea did so, and Cronus swallowed
the stone she gave him, thinking it was the little
boy that had just been born, but Rhea hid the child in
a cave in the island of Crete where a beautiful goat
named Amalthea nourished him with her milk. And
there were armed men there, who, whenever the baby
cried, danced about and clashed their shields and spears
together as if they were treading a war-dance for their
own amusement, but it was really to prevent Cronus
from hearing the crying. The boy was named Zeus,
and in a year he was quite grown up, and was the most
beautiful and most powerful of all the gods. When
Cronus was asleep, Rhea used to go to the cave and
talk to him.
At last the time came when Zeus was to wage war
against his father, and then Gaea gave her daughter
Rhea a bowl containing a sweet medicine for Cronus
to drink. Rhea went to her husband and said, ' The
mother Gaea is no longer angry with you, and she has
sent you this sweet drink.' Cronus took the bowl and
drank it up ; it tasted very nice, but after he had
4 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
swallowed it he began to feel very uncomfortable, and
presently he was sick. Then out came the stcne and
the children that he had swallowed, the youngest first,
and the eldest last ; there were two gods and three
goddesses, and they were all quite grown up. The
lames of the gods were Poseidon and Pluto, and the
names of the goddesses were Hera, Denieter, and
Kestia.
Then the young gods made war against the old ones,
and they sent for the hundred-armed and one-eyed
monsters out of Tartarus, that they might help them.
The One-eyed were very skilful at smith's work, and
they were so grateful to Zeus for setting them free that
they forged for him valuable weapons, thunder and light-
ning. The old gods took their stand on Mount Othrys,
and the young ones on Mount Olympus, and between
them was a wide far-stretching valley where they fought.
When there was a battle the whole earth resounded
at the tread of the gods. The Hundred-armed always
threw a hundred pieces of rock at once, and Zeus hurled
thunderbolt after thunderbolt, till the woods were in
flames and the rivers boiled. The war lasted for ten years,
but at last the young gods triumphed. They thrust
their enemies into Tartarus, and set the Hundred-armed
and the One-eyed to keep guard over them.
Zeus was now the king of the gods, and he married
his sister Hera and made her the queen. He also gave
an empire to each of his brothers : all the sea was made
subject to Poseidon, and Pluto became king of the
Lower! World, where the dead are. These gods had
children, who were also gods, and had each their part
in the government of the universe. The good goat
THE BEGINNING OF ALL THINGS. O
Arnalthea was already dead, but Zeus honoured her bv
making one of her horns a wonder, which becama
famous all over the world. Whoever had it might wish
for anything he liked to eat or drink, and immediately
it was there ; and for this reason it was called the Horn
of Plenty, because it produced in abundance everything
that could be desired in the way of food.
The mother Gaea had planned the overthrow of
Cronus because he had driven back his hundred-armed
and one-eyed brothers into Tartarus. But she found
herself worse off than ever, for the only result of her
revenge was that now her beautiful children were
imprisoned instead of the ugly ones. This made her
very angry with the young gods, and she could not bear
to see them powerful and happy. So she brought into
the world some hideous monsters to make war against
the young gods. They were called Giants, and had
enormous strength and courage. They tore up masses
of rock and dashed them up into the air till the vault
of heaven rang again, but the gods only laughed at it,
for the stones were powerless to hurt them by the time
they had reached so great a height, and there was no
mountain high enough for the Giants to climb from it
to the top of Mount Olympus.
The Giants went on in this way for a long time, but
they found that, do what they would, they could not
inflict any injury upon the gods, and only got laughed
at for their pains, so they resolved to try another
plan. They made up their minds to build a ladder by
which they might climb up to the abode of the gods,
and they set to work to uproot a mountain called Ossa,
and roll it on to the top of another mountain called
MYTHS OF HELLAS.
Pelion. But whilst they were doing this, Zeus hurled
a mighty thunderbolt against Ossa and made it falJ
down again, and the gods rushed down to the earth to
fight the Giants, shouting their war-cry. The fight
lasted for a whole day, for the Giants were very strong,
but at last the gods gained the victory, and they
crushed each of the Giants beneath a huge mountain,
which did not kill him, but prevented his ever getting
up again. One of them tried to escape over the Medi-
terranean Sea, but the goddess Athene, who was the
daughter of Zeus, tore off a great three-cornered piece
of land and threw it after him. It hit him just as he
was in the middle of the sea, and he fell down and was
buried beneath it. After some time the land became
covered with forests and cities, and it is now called the
Island of Sicily. Every now and then the Giants turn
on one side beneath their mountains, and then people
say, 'It is an earthquake'; and sometimes they become
quite furious with impatience, and then their fiery
breath bursts through the mountains and puffs out
molten iron and stones.
After the Giants were conquered, Gaea created a
truly terrific being, far worse than they had been.
She brought him out of a great crack that she made
in the earth, and she called her son Typhoeus and was
quite pleased to see how hideous he was, for she
thought that such a monstrous creature would surely
be able to conquer the young gods. He could see
over the tops of the highest mountains, and when he
stretched out his hands they reached right round the
world. He had a hundred heads, each -of them with a
different kind of voice, so that he could speak like a
THE BEGINNING OF ALL THINGS. 7
man, bellow like a bull, roar like a lion, bark like a dog,
and hiss like a snake. All the other gods were afraid of
him and hid themselves, but Zeus armed himself with
thunderbolts and went out to fight him. Typhoeus
threw large masses of rock at him, and screamed with
all his hundred mouths at once, but Zeus scorched him
with lightning, till at last bright flames burst out all over
the giant's body. Then Typhoeus howled and dashed
himself to the ground, rolling over and over to try and
put out the flames, but he could not succeed in doing
so, for Zeus went on hurling thunderbolts at him, and
the trees all round became red hot. At last Gaea began
bo fear that the whole earth would melt, and so she
seized Typhoeus and flung him down into Tartarus,
where he died.
After this Graea gave up fighting with the young
gods, for she knew that they were stronger than she
was, but it was a very long time before she really made
friends with them.
MYTHS OF HELL A &
II.
THE GOLDEN AGE.
IT was during the time when Cronus was reigning
over the gods that men were first created, and this was
called the Golden Age. In the Golden Age it was
always springtime, and beautiful flowers blossomed the
whole year round in the woods and meadows. It was
not necessary for men to labour at tilling the ground,
for the earth brought forth of itself everything they
could possibly require : apples and melons and grapes
and other fruits grew wild everywhere, and in the brooks
there flowed a delicious kind of water that tasted like
milk. Men, too, were good and happy, and they all lived
for a long time, for three hundred years and more,
and did not get old and grey, but always remained
young. They had no need of houses, but lived out of
doors with the beautiful earth for a carpet' and the
sky for a roof. Neither were there any distinctions
such as we have now between rich and poor, or the
upper and lower classes, but all were equal and lived
together as friends. When they had lived for a long
time and had had enough of life, they fell into a deep
sleep and never woke again: that was their death.
The Golden Age came to an end at last, but those
who had lived during that time became guardian
spirits who still wander unseen over the earth and ar-j
kind to us who are now alive.
in.
PROMETHEUS AND EPIMETHEUS.
AFTER the Golden Age was over, the world went on just
as it does now; summer and winter followed each
other, and there were times of bad weather as well as
of bright sunshine ; there were also many people who
had not everything they wanted, but were obliged to
struggle against hunger and cold and other evils.
But they were happy and contented, and had still a
spark of the god-like spirit left in them, so that under
the pressure of need they learnt all kinds of useful
arts.
There were two brothers of the race of the gods, whose
father had been a Titan and had fought against Zeus.
These brothers were kind to men and lived among
them ; one of them was called Prometheus, or the Fore-
thinker, because he was always looking forward and
planning for the future ; and the other was called Epi-
metheus, or the Afterthinker, because he never thought
seriously about things till they had already taken place.
Zeus had not gifted men with fire, but Prometheus
foresaw that by the help of fire they would be able to
make out of bronze and iron many useful tools and
weapons which would add to their comfort. So he
begged Zeus to give it to them, but Zeus said, ' They
will become too clever, and at last they will think
10 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
themselves equal to the gods.' Prometheus thought it
would be a noble thing to scorn the anger of Zeus and
bring down fire to the earth in order to benefit man-
kind, and though he knew that Zeus would punish
him severely for doing so, he was willing to bear that.
He took a reed in which there was a great deal of pith
of the same kind that still grows in warm countries and
is used for fuel, and he climbed up to the sun with
this reed in his hand, and held it in the blaze till it
caught fire and burned like tinder. Then he came
down to earth again, and made a fire which gave out
warmth and a clear blaze, so that all men wondered at
it. And when it was dark Zeus looked down upon the
earth. There appeared to be a great many stars there,
but the lights which he saw were not stars, they were
the flickering fires that men had kindled, and Zeus
knew it, and was very, very angry.
Now at that time there were no such things as
diseases and cares among men, so Zeus resolved to
send them these unwelcome guests, because they had
obtained fire against his will. The god Hephaestus
fashioned a marvellously beautiful woman out of clay,
and Zeus gave life to her, and the other gods endowed
her with many of those gifts that call forth the love of
men. They gave her goodly gifts indeed good-nature,
pleasant speech, and skill in many arts, but no one
gave her an honourable, straightforward mind. The
gods called her Pandora, or the All-gifted, because
they had all brought her some gift. Hermes, the
messenger of the gods, took her to Epimetheus and
said, 'Zeus sends this beautiful woman to be your
wife.' Prometheus had warned his brother not to
PROMETHEUS AND EPIMETHEUS. 11
accept any gift from Zeus, because he knew that he
would act treacherously, but when Epimetheus saw the
lovely woman, he forgot that she had come from Zeus
and took her home to live with him. Pandora showed
him a golden casket which she said contained her
dowry, and as he was very anxious to see the precious
jewels he expected to find in it, he begged her to open
it. But when she had taken off the lid, instead of
any jewels, there were a number of winged figures in-
side with corpse-like faces who struggled out and flew
about all over the world : these were the diseases and
cares that Zeus had said he would send. They fly into
the houses of men and nestle beside them without
anyone being able to see or hear them come in. Even
now it often happens that when a man is seated at
dinner with his guests, well and happy, one of the
diseases flies in without any one knowing it, and in
the night it seizes upon him and puts an end to all his
enjoyment. Zeus had meant to send into the world a
still worse fellow, called Foreboding, so that men might
know all their troubles beforehand, and thus lose all
pleasure in life. Foreboding was in the casket with
the others, but when Pandora took off the lid, he was
in such a hurry to get out that his wings caught in
the inner edge of the casket, and when Pandora shut
down the lid again she did not see that he was left
behind. If Foreboding had come into the world, every-
one would have known in childhood of the diseases and
troubles in store for him in his old age, and would
thus have lost all his spirits, even in his days of
health.
Thus did Zeus punish men by sending disease and
12 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
care among them ; but for Prometheus, who had taken
the fire to them, he reserved a far severer punishment.
He commanded two gods to carry him to Mount Cau-
casus, and the god Hephaestus, who was an excellent
smith, bound him to a rock with strong iron chains so
that he could neither move hand nor foot ; but Heph-
aestus did so very unwillingly, for it seemed to him
that Prometheus had done a great and god-like thing
in braving the wrath of Zeus. Every morning a huge
eagle came and pecked open the body of Prometheus
arid ate his liver, and every night the liver grew again
and the body healed over it. Prometheus suffered in-
expressible agony, but he never would beg for mercy
from Zeus nor say that he was sorry for having brought
down the fire, for he was still of the same mind
about it.
But after many years had passed, there came a
great hero named Heracles, who shot the eagle with
his bow and arrow and delivered Prometheus. Pro-
metheus was now free, but he was still obliged to wear
on his finger a ring of the chain with which he had
been bound to remind him of his punishment, and
from that time it has always been the custom for people
to wear rings as reminders.
13
IV.
DEUCALION AND PYRRHA.
AFTER disease and care had come into the world, men
became unkind and unfriendly ; instead of peace there
was now constant war, and murder and theft were more
common every day. The gods were much displeased
at these crimes, and Zeus said he would destroy the
whole race of men by a great flood. There were, how-
ever, one man and one woman, Deucalion and Pyrrha,
who took no part in the crimes that were committed,
but who lived peacefully and uprightly, fearing the
gods. Deucalion was the son of Prometheus, who knew
everything that the gods had resolved upon though he
was chained to Mount Caucasus, and when the great
flood was about to take place, he advised Deucnlion to
provide against it by building a chest that could float
on the water, so that when the flood began, he and his
wife might take shelter in it.
Then a mighty rain poured down from heaven
which lasted for nine days and nine nights. The
valleys were soon filled with water, and the people fled
for safety to the tops of the highest mountains ; but
the flood rose higher and higher till at last the waves
washed right over the mountains, so that the people
perished miserably in the water. The great chest
14 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
floated about on the top of the waves, and Deucalion and
Pyrrha who were safely shut up inside it, could hear
the pouring rain and the cries of the drowning people.
When they were all drowned, the rain ceased and the
waters began to abate, and on the next day the bottom
of the chest grated against dry land. Then Deucalion
burst it open, and he and Pyrrha came out into the
sunshine, but all they could see was a wide stretch of
sea with only the tops of the highest mountains
standing out above it. The mountain where the chest
had stranded was called Parnassus, and was specially
dedicated to the gods. Before this time Zeus had
once wanted to know where the middle of the earth was,
and had let fly two doves at the same moment from the
two ends of the world to see where they would meet :
they met on Mount Parnassus, and thus it was proved
beyond a doubt, that this mountain must be the centre
of the earth.
Deucalion and Pyrrha were now the only ones re-
maining of the whole human race, and it was on ac-
count of their piety that Zeus had allowed them to
save themselves instead of destroying them with the
others. The waters abated until they no longer covered
the earth, and then the grass and flowers and trees
bloomed forth again' as they do in spring, and Zeus
sent Hermes, the messenger of the gods, to tell Deuca-
lion and Pyrrha that they might ask for anything they
pleased, and he would grant it. They determined to
ask that there might again be men on the earth, and
Hermes told them to go into the valley where there
were a great many stones lying, and to take up the
stones and throw them over their shoulders. They did
DEUCALION AND PYRRHA. 15
so, and this was what happened : every stone that Deuca-
lion threw became a man, and every stone that Pyrrha
threw became a woman. Deucalion was their king,
and he taught them to cultivate the land, and many
other useful arts. And after some time had passed
the whole earth was filled with people as before, and
no one would have known that the great Flood had ever
taken place.
16 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
V.
THE RAPE OF PERSEPHONE.
THE goddess Demeter had a daughter named Perse-
phone, who lived in the island of Sicily. Her mother
had given her several maidens to be her playfellows,
and she herself often came down from Mount Olympus
to see her daughter. The maidens played and danced
together, or wandered about over the hills and valleys
looking for beautiful flowers, and were as happy as the
days were long. One day whilst they were all scattered
about looking for flowers, it happened that Persephone
strayed away from the others and was quite alone.
Then suddenly the earth opened beside her, and out of
it there came a chariot drawn by fierce coal-black
horses, in which was a man with a pale face and a
black beard and a golden circlet round his hair. He
put out his hand and took hold of the beautiful Per-
sephone, and drew her into the chariot beside him.
She screamed out to her companions, but it was of no
use, for the man with the pale face and the black
beard held her fast, and the horses ran like lightning
till very soon they had disappeared under the earth
and she could no longer be seen or heard. Her com-
panions had heard her cries and they ran to look for
THE RAPE OF PEESEPHONE. 17
her, but they could not tell what had become of
her.
Now when Demeter found that her daughter had
been carried off she was very much distressed, and she
lighted a torch and wandered all over the world trying
to find her. She lit up every cranny and cavern with
her torch, and climbed all the highest mountains, asking
gods and men if they had seen her child, but no trace
of her could she find.
I must tell you that the pale dark man was the god
Pluto, the kinor of the Lower World. It was so dismal
' O
down there that no woman would consent to be his
wife, so he made up his mind to carry off the beautiful
Persephone by force, and Zeus had given him leave to
do this, but he did not tell Demeter about it. Demeter
wandered about for a whole year, growing every day
sadder and sadder, till at last the sun-god, Helios,
took pity on her. Helios could see everything that
happened on the earth, and he had been looking on
when Pluto ran away with Persephone, so he told
Demeter that her daughter was in the Lower World,
and that the gods knew all about it and allowed it.
Then Demeter was angry with Zeus and the other
gods for having given her so much pain, and she
refused to live with them any longer, but remained on
earth among men.
The gods were sorry for this, for they honoured and
loved Demeter, so after a little while Zeus proposed
that a council of all the gods should be held, and that
they should judge between Demeter and Pluto. A day
was appointed, and they all came together, Demeter
and Pluto among the rest; and it was decided that if
c
18 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
Persephone had as yet eaten nothing since she left the
earth she should return to her mother, but that other-
wise she should remain in the Lower World. Now
Persephone had been so sad in the Lower World that
during all this time she had neither eaten nor drunk
anything but once. This was one day when, as she was
walking by the side of the river that flows through the
Lower World and came to some pomegranate trees
laden with beautiful red fruit, she plucked a pome-
granate and ate it ; and Pluto told this in the assembly
of the gods, hoping that it would make good his claim
to keep her. But the gods decreed that as she had
eaten nothing but a pomegranate in the Lower World
she should not remain there altogether, but only for a
third of the year, and that during the remaining two
thirds she should be allowed to live on the earth. So
it was arranged in this way : as long as the ears of
corn were below the ground, Persephone had to remain
in the Lower World with her husband, but as soon as
the blades appeared above the soil, she too came up
into the sunlight to her mother.
At this time corn was already growing upon the
earth, for Demeter had created it for the use of men,
and she often wore a wreath of wheat-ears round her
head. But when she was wandering over the earth
looking for her daughter, she found that no one under-
stood the best means of making it grow, and as she
knew that men would be more peaceful and friendly if
they cultivated the ground and surrounded themselves
vvith beautiful plants, she determined to teach them
how to do so. Demeter loved all men, but most of
all a man named Triptolemus, and sue gave him a
THE EAPE OF PERSEPHONE. 10
cluiriot drawn by two winged dragons, and put into hij
hand a quantity of corn, which she told him to strew
over the earth. Triptolemus flew through the air in his
chariot, scattering the grains of corn as- he went; and
then there fell a gentle rain which made them sink
into the ground, so that they became firmly rooted,
and soon shot forth little blades. The people were
much pleased when the corn grew up and ripened, and
Triptolemus taught them all that he had learnt from
Demeter about the best way of cultivating it and turn-
ing it to good account. Soon there were fields of waving
corn all over the earth, and instead of always going out
hunting, men tilled the ground and waited for the
harvest. When it was ripe, they raised altars of earth
and green grass, and laid the fresh ears upon them as
a thank-offering to the gods for having sent rain and
sunshine to make the corn grow. Demeter especially
was held in great honour, and they prayed to her when
they sowed their crops.
20 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
VI.
MARPESSA.
THERE was once a king of Greece named Evenus, who
had a beautiful daughter called Marpessa. There was
also a brave and noble hero called Idas, and he came
one day to the king and asked him to let him have
Marpessa for his wife. Marpessa would have been
quite willing to agree to this, but the old king was
very selfish, and he said that he would not let his
daughter leave him to marry anyone. So Idas had to
go away with a heavy heart, but the sea-god Poseidon
was his friend, and he gave him a wonderful chariot
in which to carry off the beautiful Marpessa by stealth.
The chariot was drawn by very swift horses, and it had
wings on both sides which flapped as the horses ran,
so that nothing on earth could go faster than this
chariot.
One day when Marpessa went to the well to draw
water, she found Idas waiting there for her in the
winged chariot, and she got up beside him and drove
away. The old king saw them go, and he was very angry
and said that he would fetch back Marpessa and kill
Idas. He had the swiftest team of horses in the whole
country, and he drove them furiously along the track
of the other chariot, but even at their utmost speed
MARPESSA. 21
they could not go fast enough to please him. At last
he came to a river, and then he knew that it was hope-
less to pursue his daughter and Idas any further, and
he starbbed the horses and broke the chariot to pieces,
and then he threw himself into the river and was
drowned.
Idas was for on in front, and he thought there was
no fear now of anyone attempting to interfere between
him and the beautiful Marpessa. But there was a
mighty god named Apollo, who loved Marpessa, and
was not willing that Idas should have her for his wife,
for he wanted to marry her himself. He was very
beautiful in face and in form, and had the appearance of
a youth just reaching the age of manhood. He was
the brother of Artemis the goddess of the woods, and
carried a bow of pure silver, while round his neck there
hung a golden quiver full of arrows, and he could
always hit whatever he aimed at, even if it were many
miles off. He came and seized the horses' bridle, and
said to Idas that he must either give up the maiden or
else fight with him. Idas was very brave and was
always quite ready to fight, and he at once jumped
down from the chariot and prepared to begin the
struggle. But at that moment there fell a thunderbolt
on the ground between them, and they heard the voice
of Zeus calling to them, and saying, k The maiden shall
decide.'
So Marpessa had to choose between a god and a
hero, and she looked down and thought for a mo-
ment. Then she raised her eyes and held out her
hand to Idas, and said, ' When I am old, you will be old
also, and will honour me and take care of me, but
22 'MYTHS OF HELLAS.
Apollo always remains young, and iu my old age he
would thrust me away and would take another wife.'
So Marpessa made her choice and preferred to marry
the hero Idas, and Apollo had to go away without
her.
23
YIL
ARTEMIS
ARTEMIS was the goddess of the woods. She was the
daughter of Zeus and of the goddess Leto, who had
gone through many troubles before Artemis was born.
For Zeus had married the beautiful Leto secretly, and
when Hera heard of it she was very angry, and drove
her away from Mount Olympus. Leto took shelter on
the earth, but Hera commanded the earth to deny her
rest, and whenever she lay down it began to tremble
under her and quaked horribly. She fled like a
hunted deer from one end of the world to the other,
till after long wanderings she came to the floating
island of Delos over which the earth had no power,
and here at last she could rest. The island was not
fixed to the bottom of the sea, and the waves played
roughly with it and tossed it about, so the sea-god
Poseidon, who was sorry for Leto, caused four granite
pillars to spring up and hold it fast, and ever since
that time it has stood perfectly still. Leto had two
children, a boy and a girl, and Zeus named them Apollo
and Artemis. After the children were born, Hera be-
came kinder, and allowed Leto to come back to Mount
24 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
Olympus, and desired the earth to give her re^,t wher-
ever she wished. The island of Delos was ever after-
wards held m great esteem by the Greeks, and they
came from long distances in beautifully decked ships
to honour the island by offering sacrifices upon it.
Artemis was a glorious goddess, and she chose the
woods for her dominion, and the chase for her occupa-
tion. She delighted in wandering through the forests
with the nymphs who attended her, killing wolves and
wild-boars. But she was kind to the tame animals
that she met, and stroked and petted them. Her
favourite creatures were some beautiful hinds, and she
punished anyone who killed them. Artemis towered a
head above all her nymphs, and she was also easily to
be recognised by her godlike beauty, and by her
golden bow and quiver of golden arrows. In the even-
ing she often laid aside her weapons and danced in the
moonlight with her maidens ; their light footsteps did
not even bend the grass, only the next morning, traces
of them could be seen in the dew. Often too, when
the chase led them past a clear forest lake overshadowed
by sweet-smelling trees, they undressed and bathed in
the pleasant pool, and the nymphs splashed about in
the water and had all kinds of games. Artemis did not
marry, for she said she would neither be the wife of
9 god nor of a man, but would always have her home
in the forest among her nymphs.
There was once a hunter named Actaeon, who loved
hunting better than anything else, and who honoured
Artemis, the goddess of the chase, above all other gods
and goddesses. He had fifty splendid hounds who
were very fond of their master, and in the morning
ARTEMIS. 20
when he came out of his house they used to crowd
round him barking for joy and licking his hands; he
had given each of them a special name, and he patted
them and talked to them as if they could understand
him. They always went out hunting with him, and
chased the wild animals which he shot with his arrows.
One day Actaeon was out hunting, and it was so hot
that about noon he gave his dogs a rest and let them
go to sleep, whilst he himself strolled about among 1 the
cool bushes looking for a spring where he might quench
his thirst. Presently he heard a splashing of water
and the laughter of maidens' voices, and going a little
nearer, he pushed aside the branch of a tree and beheld
the glorious goddess and her nymphs in the bath. He
could not turn away his eyes, and for a little while
Artemis did not notice him, but when she looked up
and saw the hunter who had so forgotten himself, her
eyes filled with anger at his having dared to watch her.
She raised her beautiful hand, and in a moment Actaeon
was changed into a stag with long light feet and branch-
ing horns, but still able to think like a man. He
shuddered and rushed away to the place where he had
left his dogs ; they awoke, but they did not know him,
and gave chase to him. He tried to make them under-
stand by looking back and calling to them, but no
words would come out. of his mouth, only a sound like
the cry of a stag, and at last they overtook him and
tore him to pieces. Thus he was miserably killed by
his own dogs, as a punishment for not having turned
away his eyes when he came upon the severe goddess
at her bath. The dogs wandered for a long time
through the forest looking for their master, pining
26 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
because they could not find him, and refusing to eat.
But there was a skilled artist who took pity on them,
and lie made an image of clay so exactly like Actaeon,
that the dogs thought it was their master himself, and
were comforted.
27
VI11,
THE GIAXTS OTUS AND EPHIALTES.
THERE was once a woman who had so great a love for
the sea that she was never tired of looking at it. One
day, as she was sitting on the shore, the god Poseidon
came driving over the waves in his chariot, for the sea
was subject to him. When he saw the beautiful woman
who was gazing at it so tenderly, a great love for her
sprang up in his heart, and he took her to be his wife.
Some time afterwards she had two children, called Otus
and Ephialtes, and by the time they were a year old
they were two yards in height and a yard in width.
Every year the children grew two yards in height and a
yard in width, so that when they were nine years old
they were so big and strong that they could tear up the
largest oak trees and break them in two across their
knees. But they were ignorant and foolish, and instead
of honouring the gods, they made a silly plan to get up
to Mount Olympus, where the gods lived, and overturn
everything that they had arranged. They settled that
Hera, the queen of the gods, should be the wife of Otus,
and that Artemis, the goddess of the woods, should be
the wife of Ephialtes, and that the other gods should be
loaded with chains and imprisoned in dark caves ; and
they said they would change everything on the earth,
28 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
and throw all the mountains into the sea till it was
choked up, and then make rivers flow where there had
been land before.
The gods could hear this foolish talk, for the giants'
voices were as loud as the most tremendous gale, and
Ares, the god of war, armed himself and went out to
fight them. But the giants were stronger than he, and
they fastened him to the ground with two iron rings
round his body, attached to chains which they held in
their hands and pulled whenever he tried to get up, so
that he could not move without great pain. They gave
him nothing to eat or drink, and at mid-day the sun
beat down upon his face and scorched him with its heat.
None of the gods dared to try and free Ares by force, so
Zeus commanded Hermes, the Messenger, to get him
away by stealth. Hermes was the most cunning of all
the gods, and at night, when the giants were asleep, ho
went and drew Ares out of the iron rings so cautiously
that they made no noise, and the giants did not awake.
The two gods then ran away, and the next morning
the giants sa\v that their rings were empty, which
made them very angry.
They went on for some time in their old way, boast-
ing of all the wonderful things they were going to do,
till one day the goddess Artemis changed herself into
a little white doe. The giants were lying in the forest
side by side, with their great hunting spears in their
hands, when the little doe came running out of the
wood and passed right between them. They both
raised their spears at the same moment and threw them
at her, but she was so swift that they did not hit her,
instead of that each giant was stabbed by his brother's
spear, and Ihey both bled to death.
29
IX.
ENDYMION.
As long as Zens was with the gods on Mount Olympus,
Hera, the queen of the gods, was his wife, but from
time to time he came to live on the earth for a little
while, and then he married a noble and beautiful
woman who was his wife whilst he remained among
men.
Once Zeus married a very beautiful princess whom
he loved dearly, and they had a little boy named
Kndymion. When Endymion had grown up to be a
young man, his father told him that he might wish for
whatever he liked and he would grant it. Endymion
might have chosen to become a mighty king, but he
had no desire for anything of the sort. Instead of that,
his wish was that he might go to sleep and never wake
again, but always have pleasant dreams. And Zeus
granted him what he asked. There was a lonely valley
which no one ever came near. Soft green grass grew there,
and sweet-smelling flowers, and there were shady trees,
with birds singing and making their nests among the
branches, and a brook flowing through it that chattered
pleasantly night and day. Endymion lay down under
a tree beside the brook and went to sleep, and he never
grew any older, but slept on for ever, dreaming happily,
immortal like the gods.
30 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
Now there was a mild, gentle goddess, the goddess
of the moon, whose name was Selene. As she passed
along the heaven with the little stars by her side, she
used to look down upon Endymion lying asleep, and
she gazed at the beautiful son of Zeus until she felt a
deep love for him spring up in her heart, so that he was
continually in her thoughts. She shed her softest and
mildest rays upon him, and then Endymion dreamt
more happily than ever. It was like no other love, for
she could neither speak to him nor caress him, she
could only look at him from a distance ; but she has
always remained true to him, and has never loved
another as she loved the sleeping Endymion.
10
THERE was once a princess named lo, whose father was
king of the town of Argos, in Greece. Zeus loved lo be-
cause she was fair and gentle, and he often carne down
to earth in order to be with her. But Hera was angry
with Zeus for going away from her, and one day when
he went to see the beautiful lo, she followed him.
Then Zeus changed lo into a white cow, and pretended
that he had only come to look at the cow. .But Hera
knew it was lo, and she begged him so earnestly to
make her a present of the cow that he could not refuse.
Hera gave the white cow into the charge of the watch-
man Argus, who had a hundred eyes that slept by
turns so that half of them were always on the watch.
He took her to a sacred grove and tied her to an olive
tree, and then he climbed a little hill that was close
by, and sat there day and night watching her. lo ate
grass and flowers when she was hungry, but she was
very sad and lowed mournfully, for she longed to see
her father and her playfellows again.
After some time Zeus commanded the crafty god
Hermes to steal away the cow, and Hermes went into
the wood and began to play upon the shepherd's flute.
Argus called him to his side for the playing pleased
32 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
him well, so Hermes came and played all his most
beautiful tunes, whilst Argus stretched himself out on
the grass and enjoyed himself more than he had ever
done in his life before. Then all the hundred eyes fell
asleep at once, and Hermes took a sharp sickle and cut
off his head. After that he loosed the cow, and was
preparing to take her home to her father, but Hera,
who had seen what he had done, was very angry,
and she came down and commanded him to let go the
cow. As Hera was mightier than he, Hermes was
obliged to obey, and then Hera made a great insect as
large as a bat, which buzzed horribly and tormented lo.
She ran away in order to try and escape from it, but it
pursued her all over the country, and even though she
swam across a wide sea and went on through the
country on the further side, still the insect kept flying
round and round her and gave her no peace. For a
whole year she fled from it, till at last when she had
reached the land of Egypt in Africa she was so tired
that she could go no further. Hera was just then
asleep, and Zeus was able to come quickly down and
kill the cruel gad-fly ; then he stroked the back of
the cow with his hand and she received back her
human form, but she was pale and wasted, and not so
beautiful as before. After this she remained in Egypt
where the people of the country were good to her, but
Hera was even more unkind than before, and when
after a time lo had a little son, she caused the child to
be stolen from her. Then lo was again in great
distress, and she set out to seek for her child. She
journeyed from morning to night without stopping,
and she had gone through the whole country without
ro. 33
being able to find it and was beginning to be terribly
afraid that it must have perished, when someone
told her that Hera had given it to a queen in the
land of Syria to take care of. It was a long way off,
and the journey was full of danger on account of rob-
bers and wild beasts, but lo set off at once for the land
of Syria, and when she got there, the queen gave back
the child to her.
After this, Hera left off persecuting lo, and the
King of Egypt asked her to be his wife and made her
the queen. But she could never forget her past
troubles, and as often as she saw a white cow, she
thought of how she too had once been a cow, and had
eaten grass and flowers.
34 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
XL
DANAUS AND AEGYPTUS.
THERE were once two kings, called Danaus and Aegyptus,
who were brothers, and whose dominions lay side by
side. They lived in Africa, and were descended from
lo, who had now been dead a long time. Aegvptus
had fifty sons, and Danaus had fifty daughters. But
the sons of Aegyptus were wicked men, and they tried
to kill their uncle; so Danaus built a great ship with
fifty oars, and when it was ready, he and his fifty
daughters got into it and sailed away ; each daughter
took an oar, and Danaus steered. They sailed far
away over the sea till they came to the country of
Argos in Greece, where the father of lo had been king.
The Argives (as the people of Argos were called)
wondered when they saw the ship with the old man
and the fifty maidens in it, but they received them
kindly and gave them a large piece of land to live upon,
and also a herd of fine cattle. Danaus tilled the ground,
and his daughters took care of the cattle. Danaus was
very wise, and he gave the Argives much good counsel,
till at last they wished he could be their king. But
the} 7 had a king already, who though he was not nearly
eo wise as Danaus, had a great many soldiers to fight
DANAUS AND AEGYPTUS. 35
for him, and he was by no means willing to give up
the kingdom. This led to many disputes among the
people, and a civil war had nearly broken out, when it
happened that the king, and Danaus, and many of the
Argives, were assembled one day in a field where there
were a number of sheep and cattle feeding, and all at
once a great wolf rushed out of the forest, who, passing
by the sheep and cows, ran straight at the great bull
that belonged to the flock and tore him to pieces.
The Argives felt sure that this must be a sign from
heaven, for never before had a wolf been able to kill a
strong bull. And there was a soothsayer among them
who declared that as the bull had been overcome by the
wolf, so would the king be overcome by Danaus and
deprived of his kingdom. When the king heard that,
he was afraid that he might lose his life as well as his
dominions, and he fled hastily out of the country.
So Danaus became king, and lived in the beautiful
palace with his daughters. His brother's sons heard
that he was king of Argos, and that his daughters were
beautiful maidens, and they thought they would like to
be reconciled to their uncle and to have their cousins for
their wives. So they built a ship like the one that
Danaus had sailed away in, and came to Argos, and
when they arrived there, they said to their uncle that
they desired to be at peace with him, and begged him to
give them his daughters in marriage. Danaus agreed to
do so, and he called his daughters together and allotted
one of them to each brother. A few days afterwards
the wedding was celebrated with the greatest mag-
nificence, and many sacrifices were offered to the gods.
But Danaus took his daughters aside and gave to each
D 2
36 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
one a shining dagger, telling her to hide it in her dress
and kill her husband with it when he was asleep.
That night the fifty princes slept in fifty chambers and
their wives with them, and about midnight each wife
took out her dagger and stabbed her husband with it.
The only one who did not do so was Hypermnestra, the
most beautiful of all, who was married to one of the
brothers named Lynceus. He was not wicked like the
rest, but noble and brave, and Hypermnestra awoke him
and said, ' Thy brothers have been killed by their wives,
prepare to flee for thy life.' She gave him an unlighted
torch, and told him, when he reached the mountain near
the city, to light it and hold it up in the air, so that she
might know that he had not been seized by the king's
soldiers, but had been able to make his escape. She
led him out of the palace and pointed out to him the
direction in which he was to go ; then she ascended to
the roof, which, like all the roofs of the Greek houses,
was not sloping like ours, but flat, so that people could
walk upon it. Hypermnestra remained there for a
long time with her eyes fixed on the mountain before
any light appeared, but at last she saw a little flame
which came from the torch, and then she knew that
Lynceus was safe. Then she went down again with a
brave heart, though she had good reason to fear that
her father would be very angry.
The next morning, Hypermnestra's sisters came to
Danaus, each holding in her hand the bloody head of
her husband which she had seized by the hair, and
Danaus praised them for what they had done; but
when he asked Hypermnestra why she had not also
brought him a bloody head, she said, ' I have helped
DANAUS AND AEGYPTUS. 37
Lynceus to escape.' Now Hypermnestra was the king's
favourite daughter, but he was so angry with her for
having disobeyed him, that he struck her and pushed
her away from him, and said that she should be tried
publicly, and shut up meanwhile in a dark under-
ground dungeon, as if she had been guilty of some
crime. He called together all the old wise men in
the land to be her judges, and they came and sat in
the market-place to pass sentence. Danaus declared
that whatever they decided on should be certainly
carried out, and when the judges asked him if he
would indeed abide by what they said, he swore that
even if they condemned Hypermnestra to death, the
sentence should be executed. The beautiful Hyperm-
nestra was led into the market-place by the king's
spearmen, and the judges questioned her. Then they
consulted together and found that they were all agreed,
and they said, ' What Hypermnestra deserves is that
she be the king's best-beloved daughter, and that
Lynceus come back and be the king's son-in-law.'
That did not please Danaus, for he wished to have
Hypermnestra punished, but because of his oath, he
was obliged to let her go free and live in the palace as
before. He also made a sacred treaty with Lynceus,
and he came back to be the husband of Hypermnestra.
As Jong as Danaus lived, he was next to him in power
and wealth, and after the death of his father-in-law, he
succeeded him as king of Argos.
The other daughters of Danaus, who had killed their
husbands, were held in greater esteem by their father,
but the gods caused them to die early, and when they
came into the Lower World, they inflicted on them a
38 MYTHS OF BELLAS.
never-ending punishment. There was a stream of
rushing water, close to which a great vessel had been
placed, and each of the Danai'des, or daughters of
Danaus, was given a bucket and commanded to fill the
vessel with water from the stream, and was told that
she was never to stop pouring in the water till the
vessel was quite full. The Danaides did as they were
required, but the vessel was full of holes, so that as fast
as they tried to fill it, the water ran back again into the
stream, and though they did their utmost by pouring
it in as fast as possible, it was of no use, they were
never able to accomplish their task, and were obliged toj
go toiling on at it in vain for ever-
XII.
PHAETHOtf.
HELIOS was the sun-god, and he used to drive along
the sky in his shining chariot drawn by four milk-white
horses, who bathed themselves every evening in the
great stream Ocean us that flows right round the world.
As he looked down from the sky, he saw a beautiful
woman whom he loved and longed to have for his wife,
so he came down to the earth and was married to her,
and they had a son named Phaethon. When Phaethon
was a little boy, his mother used to point up to the sky
where his father was, and teach him to throw up kisses
to him. As he grew up to be a young man he was
distinguished from all others by his brave spirit and
remarkable beauty, but though it was evident that he
was the son of a god, there were many people who,
because they were jealous of him, tried to vex him by
saying that this was not really the case. This made
him very anxious to show that Helios was in truth his
father, and he resolved to find some means of proving
it beyond a doubt. So he set out for the stream
Oceanus, and when Helios brought his horses there in
the evening he was rejoiced to find his son waiting for
him, and he kissed him many times. Then he asked
him if he had any special reason for taking such a long
40 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
journey in order to see him, and Phaethon said it was
because lie had something to ask him, which he longed
for more than anything else in the world. Helios
promised to grant bis wish, never suspecting what it
was, and to please Phaethon, he even sealed the
promise by his oath as a god that he would give him
whatever he should ask. The gods swore by the river
Styx which flowed through the Lower World, and any-
one who ventured to break that oath had to suffer a
severe punishment, for nine years he had to lie on the
ground as if he were dead, and for nine years after-
wards he was shut out from the company of the other
gods. So when Helios had confirmed his promise by
this solemn oath, Phaethon was full of joy, and he said
that his wish was that on the following day he might
be allowed to take his father's place in driving the
chariot of the sun. Helios was terrified at his audacity,
and he told him that this was what no mortal could do
and that he must give up all thought of such a thing.
But Phaethon was light-hearted, and he delighted in
danger and thought he could accomplish anything he
pleased, however hard it might be. He thought too, that
if he had once driven the chariot of the sun and could
tell people of all he had seen whilst he was doing this,
everyone would be ready to acknowledge that he was
indeed the son of Helios. So he would not give up his
wish, and as Helios had sworn by the Styx, he was
obliged to grant it, though he felt sure that it would be
the death of the boy. The next morning the fiery
horses were harnessed as usual, and Phaethon clambered
up into the shining chariot, more proud and happy than
he had ever been in his life. The horses flew along
PHAETHON. 41
the usual path, and Phaethon, looking down, could see
the trees and houses and rivers on the earth. As long
as he was near the earth he was very happy, but when
they had got higher than eagles can fly, his head began
to swim, and the horses soon found out that it was not
Helios who was guiding them with his godlike wisdom,
and they refused to obey the rein and keep in the right
path, but flew up and down just as they pleased. First
they went too near the heaven, and then they flew
down lower and came too near the earth ; and the flowers
withered and the streams dried up, and it became so
hot that the mountains began to melt. As they passed
over Africa they came so near to the earth that all the
people of the land were burnt black by the heat of the
sun, and the black colour continued in their children
and grandchildren, so that they were given the name
of Moors, or black people. The goddess Gaea, who was
queen of the earth, saw the trees and flowers and
springs perishing miserably from the fierce blaze of the
sun, and she begged Zeus not to let the earth be
destroyed. Then Zeus took a thunderbolt and hurled
it at Phaethon, who fell dead from the chariot. Helios
saw it with deep sorrow. He rushed forward and seized
the reins and guided the chariot back into the right
path, but for many days after this the heaven was
covered with black clouds, and the sun-god would not
let his face be seen.
MYTHS OF HELLAS.
xin.
SALMONEUS AND SISYPHUS.
THERE was a country of Greece called Elis, and there
was once a king of Elis named Salmoneus, whom the
gods favoured in all manner of w r ays. If he w r ent
to war with another king he was sure to gain the
victory. His fields brought forth abundant harvests,
and his flocks prospered and increased. Never was
there a hailstorm or any other disaster in his country.
But Salmoneus was presumptuous and thought he
could get everything he wished by his own cleverness,
and at last he came to despise the gods and to consider
himself on equal terms with them. He commanded
the people to call him Zeus and to offer sacrifices to
him, and he had a chariot drawn by fiery horses, with
dried cows' hides and copper kettles hanging from it,
which clashed and rumbled together and made a
tremendous noise as he drove along, and then the
people had to shout, ' Zeus is thundering ! ' He had
also burning torches in the chariot which he threw
right and left among the people, and then they had to
shout, f Zeus is lightning! ' And whoever was hit by
the torches was immediately killed by the king's spear-
men, that it might seem as if he had been struck dead
by his lightning. The gods let Salmoneus go on for
SALMONEUS AND SISYPHUS. 43
gome time in this foolish way, but at last when he was
one day driving through the streets with his thunder
and lightning, a real thunderbolt came down from
heaven which struck the king and killed him in a
moment. Then the people fell to the earth in fear,
and one of them said in a half-whisper, ' Zeus hay
indeed thundered ! '
Salmoneus had a brother named Sisyphus, who was
king of the city of Corinth, and surpassed all other
men in deceit and craftiness. There was a cunning
robber, not far from Corinth, who was very clever in
stealing cattle, and when he had carried off a herd he
took care to make it impossible for it to be recognised
again. He painted over any white spots on the bodies
or foreheads of the animals, and had various ways of
obliterating all other marks by which they could be
identified. Sisyphus had a beautiful herd on which
the robber had for some time cast envious eyes, and
one dark night he stole them away and painted over
all the marks that distinguished them from any other
animals. The next day Sisyphus went to the robber's
dwelling and told him to give up his cattle, but the
robber said he had not got them, and that Sisyphus
might see for himself whether they were there or not.
Then the king said that he had marked each of his
cattle with a little notch on the fore foot, and that all
the animals he could find marked in that way would be
his. The robber had never thought of looking out for
such a mark as this, and he was thus outwitted by the
king and obliged to give back the beautiful herd.
No one could cheat Sisyphus, but he cheated and
robbed many people, and was wicked and treacherous.
'U MYTHS OF HELLAS.
He lay in wait for those who happened to be passing
through his country and spoiled them of their goods,
and then he killed them by crushing them beneath a
huge stone. He even tried to cheat the gods, for when he
died and came into the Lower World, he begged Pluto
to give him leave to go back to the Upper World again
for one day in order to divide his kingdom between his
sons, and as he swore by the most sacred oaths that he
would return at the end of that time, Pluto granted his
request; but Sisyphus did not return until a messenger
was sent to fetch him from the earth for the second time.
And because he had been so wicked and deceitful both
in life and in death, the gods laid upon him a heavy
punishment, to which there was no end. He was told
to roll a fearfully heavy stone up the side of a mountain,
until he had brought it to the top and let it fall down
the further side. But it was an enchanted stone, and
every time that, with the greatest effort, Sisyphus
had at last got it almost to the top of the mountain, it
suddenly rolled back with a crash into the depths from
which he had brought it, so that he had to begin his
work all over again; and thus he never could succeed
in Accomplishing his task, and his toil w^as never at an
end.
XIV.
BELLEROPHOIS.
IN the city of Corinth there were two young brothers,
the sous of Glaucus, the son of Sisyphus, one of
whom was called Bellerophon, and was gifted by the
gods with great strength and beauty. But one day,
when he was out hunting with his brother, he threw
his spear at a hind, and the spear missed its aim and
accidentally hit his brother, who died of the wound.
Bellerophon was very much grieved, and wished he
could have been killed himself rather than have done
this ; but nevertheless he had to leave his father's house
and the city of Corinth, for everyone who killed
another by accident was banished. He set out, not
knowing who would receive him, but he determined
first of all to seek for someone who would purge him
from the stain of blood ; for the Greeks held that who-
ever had killed another, even though unintentionally,
was denied, and needed to be purified by means of
sacrifices and baths. It was not everyone who under-
stood how to do this, but Bellerophon heard that King
Proetus was learned in these matters, and he went to
him and begged him to purify him. Proetus did what
was necessary, and as the young hero pleased him, he
begged him to stay with him and be his guest, and
46 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
treated him as his own son. But the queen was so
much struck with the beauty of Bellerophon that she
longed to have him for her husband, and she had a
secret conversation with him, and proposed that they
should both flee out of the country and be married.
But Bellerophon could not have acted so ungratefully
towards his kind host if the queen had been the most
beautiful woman in the world, and he told her plainly that
he would not do as she wished. Then all her fondness
was turned into hatred and a fierce desire to kill him,
and she went to her husband and said that Bellerophon
had begged her to go away with him and be his wife,
and that when she had refused, he had got angry and
had said he should put the king to death. The king be-
lieved his wife and was exceedingly angry, but as Belle-
rophon was his guest, he would not himself lay hands
on him. He thought of another way of taking his life,
and concealing his resentment, asked Bellerophon if
he would take a message from him to his father-in-law
lobates, who was king of Lycia. It was a long dis-
tance by sea as well as by land to the country of Lycia,
but Bellerophon was glad to do anything to please
Proetus, and he at once promised to go. Proetus took
a wooden tablet, and made signs upon it to signify that
his father-in-law was to put the messenger to death,
and then he covered the tablet with another, and tied a
string round it. This was the way in w T hich all letters
were sent at that time, for paper and ink were not yet
invented.
Bellerophon took the letter and set out, suspecting
nothing. He travelled for some time till he came to
the sea, where he found a ship about to sail to the
BELLEROPHON. 47
opposite coast, so lie got into it, and after a few days'
journey, arrived at the country of King lobates
who received him in a very friendly manner. It was
not then the custom to ask a guest his name and his
business as soon as he arrived, and for nine days
lobates entertained Bellerophon without knowing who
he was, and every day he sacrificed a bull, and feasted
with his guest. The Greeks used to cut off the thigh-
bones of the animals they sacrificed, for the gods ; they
covered these bones with skin and placed them in the
fire to make a pleasant odour for them, and then they
consumed the rest of the animal themselves. On the
tenth day, King lobates asked his guest what his name
was and whether he had brought any message, and
Bellerophon told his name and delivered the letter
which Proetus had sent. But when the king had made
out the meaning of the signs, he was greatly troubled,
for he had become very fond of the young hero, and
the idea of killing him had been far from his thoughts.
Still, as his son-in-law urged him to do this, he supposed
that Bellerophon must have committed some great
crime, and he determined to carry out the wishes of
Proetus. He might have murdered Bellerophon in his
sleep, but he would not do that, he willed rather that
he should die like a hero, fighting for his life. There
was at that time in the land of Lycia a horrible monster
called the Chimaera, whose forepart was like a lion, her
back like a dragon, and in the middle she was a goat.
At night the Chimaera remained on her mountain,
but in the daytime she came down and laid waste the
cornfields and devoured men and cattle, causing great
distress all over the country. The king asked Belle-
48 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
rophon whether he had courage enough to encounter
the monster, and Bellerophon said yes, for he longed to
be a real hero whose exploits men relate in song, arid
he was ready to venture upon any errand howevei
dangerous it might be. So he armed himself with
spear and sword, and set out in search of the Chimaera.
The gods were pleased with him for his courage,
but they knew that he must perish in the fight if they
did not help him. He had not gone far when there
came down from heaven a beautiful horse with wings
like a bird, which flew round and round him. This
horse was called Pegasus, and belonged to the gods.
Bellerophon was delighted with the beautiful animal,
and tried to attract him by whistling and coaxing. At
last he persuaded him to come near enough to be
stroked, and after that the hero soon succeeded in
placing himself on his back, and they flew away together
through the air. Bellerophon was the first man who
had ever ridden upon such a horse. He would have
found Pegasus a perfect steed if he had understood
what was said to him, but instead of doing as he wished,
he always went the wrong way. So he dismounted and
continued his journey on foot, and Pegasus flew round
him in beautiful curves, and was his travelling com-
panion. By-and-by he met an old man who was a
soothsayer, and he asked the hero how he came to
possess such a beautiful animal. Bellerophon told him
all about it, and added that he wished he knew how to
make the horse obedient to his will, and then the
soothsayer said that he would soon come to a place-
dedicated to the goddess Athene, and that if anyone
who was in need of counsel chose to sleep in the temple,
BELLEROPHON. 49
the goddess would often help him by a dream. Belle-
rophon resolved to try this, and as the stars were
beginning to shine, he reached the temple of Athene ;
and he went in and stretched himself on the floor with
his head resting on the step of the altar for a pillow,
while the horse slept outside the door. When it was
nearly morning, the goddess Athene appeared to him in
a dream and told him that she loved all brave heroes,
and was glad to help him. She showed him a golden
ribbon, and said that if he put it into the mouth of
the horse and held the two ends in his hand, it would
be a means of communication between them. She
placed the golden ribbon in his hand, and he awoke,
still holding it. It was the first bridle, and had been
invented by the goddess Athene. He went out at
once, put the ribbon into the mouth of the horse, and
swung himself on to his back. Then they flew away,
and the steed obeyed the rein, and went just where
the hero wished. Bellerophon was very much pleased
at this, and he offered up prayers and thanks to
Athene for the help she had given him.
After this Bellerophon continued his journey through
the air, and when it was evening he came to a moun-
tain by the sea from which he saw a flame of fire as-
cending, and this showed him where the Chimaera was.
He flew towards the place on the back of Pegasus,
and perceived the horrible form of the monster. Pe-
gasus hovered over her, and Bellerophon shot an arrow
which wounded her in the neck and gave her great
pain ; this made her furious, and she stood up on her
hind feet and puffed out her fiery breath into the air,
hoping to scorch Bellerophon to death. But he was so
50 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
high up that he was not hurt by it, and he shot her in
the back with another arrow, so that she rolled about
in pain, howling horribly, and then he sent a third
arrow into her side. She had now only strength
enough to moan, and in a little while she was dead.
Then Bellerophon could come down to the mountain
which was no longer unsafe for people to set foot upon ;
he slept there that night, and in the morning he cut
off the head of the Chimaera, and set out upon his way
home again.
When Bellerophon stood before lobates with the
head of the Chirnaera in his hand, the king was very
much astonished, for he had thought there was not a
chance that he would escape being killed by her. But
he was still desirous of carrying out the wishes of
Proetus, and he therefore sent the hero to fight against
a barbarous people on the outskirts of his kingdom,
who lived by plunder and robbery. No one who had
hitherto been sent against them had ever returned
alive, but the gods helped Bellerophon, and he slew a
great many of the robbers and drove away the rest.
A third time the king sent him away, and now it
was to fight against a still stronger people. But after
a few days had passed, there came messengers to tell
him that the hero had put the enemy to flight and
was about to return. Then the king chose out the
strongest I.ycian youths, and set them in ambush on
the road leading to the city. In the evening, however,
Bellerophon entered the palace unhurt. The king
thought he must have come by another road, and he
asked him if he had met nothing on the way. Belle-
rophon answered, ' Near the city there were some
BELLEROPHON. 61
cowardly knaves lying in ambush, whom I slew.' Then
the king knew that Bellerophon must be under the
protection of the gods, and he laid aside all thoughts
of doing him any injury, and told him that on account
of the request of Proetus he had sent him on these
expeditions in order that he might meet his death, but
that from henceforth he would be his friend. He gave
him the most beautiful of all his daughters for his
wife, and begged him to stay with him and take part
in the government of the country. The wedding soon
took place, and from that time Bellerophon had a kingly
staff like lobates, and sat beside him on the throne to
give judgment in all cases of difficulty. The Lycians
gave him some of their land for his own, of which one
part consisted of corn-fields, another part was a wine
country, and the third was planted with beautiful fruit
trees. The winged horse Pegasus was well taken care of,
and Bellerophon ever treasured him as one of his dearest
friends.
E2
52 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
XV.
DAEDALUS AND ICARUS.
THERE was once a king of Crete called Mines, who had
a great many ships and soldiers ; and there was also a
clever artist named Daedalus, who had built a wonder-
ful house for Minos with such an immense number of
rooms in it that no one who entered it could ever find
his way out again. There lived a monster in the house,
and every year prisoners were taken to it, who wandered
about trying in vain to find their way out again, until
at last the monster came and devoured them. This
wonderful house was called the Labyrinth. 1 The king
wanted Daedalus to spend his time and skill in invent-
ing other wonderful things for him, and when he wished
to leave the island he refused to let him go, and placed
soldiers all along the shore to prevent him from getting
to any ship. Then Daedalus said to himself, ' My art
has hitherto served the king, it shall now serve me.'
So he went into his workshop, and made a pair of large
wings for himself and a pair of small ones for his
little son Icarus, and every night when it was dark they
fastened their wings on to their shoulders with wax, and
practised flying like the birds; and they so<m became
<{iiite accustomed to using them. When they had
1 For more about the Labyrinth, aee p. lad.
DAEDALUS AND ICARUS. 53
learnt to fly properly, they fastened on their wings early
one morning and set off to fly to the island of Sicily,
although that is a good hundred miles from the island
of Crete. On the shore stood the soldiers whom the
king had placed there to prevent them from leaving,
but they could not catch them, and the two flew away
together over the wide sea. At tirst Icarus was timid,
but when a good stretch of the way lay behind them
he became bolder, and began to think that flying was
very pleasant work. At mid-day, however, the sun
came out very hot, and Daedalus, who was flying on in
front to show the way, called out to his child to tell
him to beware of the sun and not go too near it. But
Icarus thought, ' The sun looks so kind, I am sure he
will do me no harm.' And he flew higher and higher,
for Daedalus was on in front and did not see him, until
the wax with which his wings were fastened began to
melt. He felt the strokes becoming more feeble, and
called to his father for help, but though Daedalus
turned quickly round it was too late, the boy could
no longer support himself in the air, and he fell into
the sea before his father's eyes. All the great skill of
Daedalus was of no avail now, for Icarus was killed by
the great fall, and he could do nothing to save him,
but was obliged to fly on to the end of his journey ail
alone.
54 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
XVI.
EUROPA AND CADMUS.
IN the land of Phenicia which lies in Asia, there was
once a king who had a son named Cadmus and a
daughter named Europa, and he was both fond and
proud of his children, for Cadmus was brave, and Europa
was beautiful. One day Europa was by the sea in
a meadow full of lovely flowers, when there came a
stately bull, who walked round and round her. It was
Zeus, who had changed himself into a bull in order to
carry off the beautiful maiden to be his wife. At first
Europa was afraid of the bull, but he had such nice
soft eyes that she could not help being kind to him.
She stroked him and made friends with him, and then
she gathered seme flowers and twined them into a
wreath, and when the bull stretched himself on the
ground, she climbed on to his back and placed the beauti-
ful wreath round his horns. But he instantly sprang up,
and ran away with her so fast that she did not venture
to jump off, but could only hold on to his horns and
scream with all her might. The people in the field
heard her cries, and soon they saw the bull run into
the sea with her and swim away. They went and told
the old king, and he at once sent off a ship in pursuit,
but though it sailed about in all directions, it came
EUROPA AND CADMUS. 55
back in the evening without having been able to find
any trace of Europa. The old king was very much
troubled and would neither eat nor drink, and on the
third day he called his son Cadmus and commanded
him to set out in search of his sister and not to turn
back until he had found her.
Cadmus chose companions for his journey, and they
launched a ship and sailed away. They passed through
many lands inquiring for the beautiful Europa aad the
bull, but nobody had seen them. At last they came
into the land of Greece, and when Cadmus again
inquired for his sister, the people told him that he had
better go to Delphi and ask the priestess of Apollo
about her. The city of Delphi was on Mount Parnassus,
the centre of the earth, and there was a temple of
Apollo there which was an Oracle or prophetic temple.
If anyone wished to know something past or future
which he could not find out in any other way, he went
to the temple of Apollo and asked the priestess, who
was called the Pythia, about it. There was a narrow
opening in the floor of the temple which had not been
made by man, and which went deep down into the
earth. A wonderful odour ascended from the crevice,
and a golden three-legged stool, called a Tripod, was
placed over the opening. When anyone came to ask a
question, the Pythia seated herself upon the Tripod and
became inspired by the odour, and the god Apollo
directed what she should say in answer, so that her
predictions were divine utterances. These predictions
were called Oracles.
Cadmus accordingly went to Delphi, and took with
him a beautiful golden cup as a present for the god, that
56 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
he might answer him graciously. There were many
costly vessels of gold and silver and other similar
things in the temple, which had been given in this way
as presents. Cadmus asked the Pythia where Europa
had gone, and she answered that it was Zeus who in
the form of the bull had carried her away and had
hidden her from all men, and that Cadmus was no longer
to seek for her, but to follow the white cow and to
found a city in the place where she should lie down.
She. also told him that his father was dead and that a
stranger had taken possession of his kingdom.
Cadmus did not understand which was the cow he
was to follow, but he left the temple, and when he came
outside he saw a spotless white cow who looked at him
as if she had been waiting for him. She started off
along the road, and he followed her. They walked on
all day and all night, and in the morning they found
themselves on a beautiful hill with a fertile country all
round, and there the cow lay down. Cadmus desired
to sacrifice the cow to the gods, and he sent one of his
companions to some bushy ground near at hand where
he heard a spring bubbling, to draw some water for the
sacrifice. But the companion did not come back, so
Cadmus sent another, but he did not come back either.
Then he went himself, and found a hideous dragon
keeping watch by the spring, who had devoured his two
companions. The dragon started up with the intention
of devouring him also, but Cadmus drew a sharp sword,
and thrust it into the neck of the monster with such
force that a great stream of blood gushed out and he
died. Cadmus was still standing looking at the dragon
when the goddess Athene appeared to him and told
EUROPA AND CADMUS. 57
him that he must take out the dragon's teeth and sow
them in the ground, and that from this strange seed
there would spring warriors who would help him to
build a city and would be his subjects. Then the
goddess disappeared, and Cadmus took out the teeth, of
which there were a great many, and put them into his
helmet; and as he turned away from the spring, he saw
a plough standing in the field with two bulls yoked to
it. Cadmus drove the plough up and down, and dropped
the teeth one by one into the furrows which it had
made. For a short time they remained just where he
had placed them, but presently they began to disturb
the soil by their movements and to rise above it by
degrees. First there appeared a row of brazen helmets,
and then a row of bearded faces underneath the helmets,
and then followed glittering coats of mail, and when
the warriors got their arms free, they were able to help
themselves completely out, and brushed off the dust
that was clinging to them. They were clothed in brass
from head to foot, and each held in his right hand a
spear, and in his left a shield. Cadmus was afraid of
the armed band, and thought of a plan for making them
quarrel with one another. He took up a number of
little stones and threw them at the newly-born warriors
from behind a bush, and as they could not see where
the stones came from, each of them thought that his
neighbour had struck him, and hit him back again, so
that there was soon a fierce battle raging among them,
and man after man was killed. When there were only
five left, Cadmus stepped forward and proclaimed peace,
and said, ' The gods have given you to me as my
bubjects ; let us build a city.' They agreed to do as
58 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
he said, and built a city on the hill which they called
the Cadmea, after Cadmus their king, and by degrees
many people came to settle in it. The five warriors
who had sprung from the dragon's teeth were called
Sparti or Sown Men, and they were the next in power
to the king. The gods loved Cadmus, and they gave him
a beautiful wife called Harmonia, who was the daughter
of Ares, the god of war, and of Aphrodite, the goddess
of beauty. All the gods gave costly wedding gifts, and
when the marriage was celebrated in the Cadmea, the
guests, both gods and men, feasted together.
Zeus had carried Europa across the Mediterranean
Sea to the land which lies opposite to Asia, and all the
country on this side of the Mediterranean Sea has ever
since that time been called Europe.
XVII.
THE BUILDING OF THEBES.
AFTER the death of Cadmus many more people came
to live in the Cadmea, and when there was no more
room on the hill, they established themselves in the
plain round it and built more and more houses, till
there came to be a great city to which they gave the
name of Thebes. The Cadmea then became the castle
or citadel of Thebes; the king's palace was inside it,
and it was fortified with very strong walls, so that it
the city were besieged by enemies, the inhabitants
could take shelter in the citadel and hurl darts and
javelins at their enemies from its walls.
There was once a king of Thebes named Amphion,
who could sing most beautifully, and also play upon
the lyre. When he sang, it was impossible for anyone
to resist stopping to listen, however great a hurry he
might be in, and even the very stones would detach
themselves from their places in order to come nearer
to him. Amphion knew this, and one day he said to
himself, ' Since I have such power over the stones, I
will make them eerve me.' So he sat down in the
middle of the city, and began to sing in a loud voice
which was echoed by the distant hills. Then there
was a sound of rumbling and scuffling, for every stone
60 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
that heard the song, no matter how far off it was, came
rushing towards Amphion, and they heaped themselves
one upon the other till at last a great stone wall was
built up all round the city; and the Thebans took
hatchets and crowbars and broke open seven spaces in
it, where they erected seven great gates.
61
XV11I.
S E M E L E.
CAJXMUS and Harmonia had two daughters, one of
whom was a very beautiful maiden named Semele.
Zeus loved Semele and made her his wife secretly, and
she was so happy that she wished for nothing else than
that the king of the gods should always continue to
love her as he did then. But Hera was very angry
about it, and she took the form of an old nurse to
whom Semele told all her secrets, and came one day into
the palace when the nurse had gone to the river to wash
clothes. She was the only person who knew that Zeus
was the husband of Semele, and Hera, who had taken
her form, pretended that she had come back in order
to give her some advice about it. She told her that
she ought to make trial of Zeus, and beg him to corne
to her, if it were only for once, in all the glory and
splendour with which he surrounded -himself when he
was with Hera, and that if he refused to do so, it
would prove that he was not really Zeus, but some
mortal who had deceived her. She said this in order
to make Semele suspicious and distrustful, and because
she wanted to bring about her destruction ; and when
she had finished talking she went quickly back to
Mount Olympus, and no one knew that she had been
in the Cadmea.
62 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
Semele did not for a moment believe that her
husband was any other than Zeus, but she was dazzled
with the thought that she might persuade her lover
to come to her surrounded with the glory of the gods,
and so she took Hera's advice, and next time that Zeus
came to see her, she begged him to swear by the Styx
that he would grant her the request she was about to
make. Hera had advised her to make him swear by
the Styx, because that was the oath which the gods
could never break if they bound themselves by it.
Zeus swore without any misgiving, for he expected her
to wish that suddenly beautiful flowers should spring
up all round the Cadmea, or that he should fly with
her through the air, or perform some other such miracle ;
but when Semele begged that he would come to her
that evening exactly as if he were coming to Hera, he
regretted that he had sworn so rashly, and told her
that the fulfilment of such a wish as that, would cost
her her life. But Semele thought that he despised
her, and did not care to show himself to her in all his
godlike splendour, and she persisted in her request;
and as he had sworn by the Styx, Zeus was obliged to
submit to her foolish will. When the evening came,
a terrible rumbling sound was heard in the air, and it
thundered and lightened, and Zeus came down from
Mount Olympus in the chariot of the gods. He
entered the Cadmea, and Semele beheld his countenance
glowing with unspeakable beauty and majesty, but the
splendour and glory that surrounded him was a sight
which no mortal could bear, and she was struck dead
by that one look.
63
XIX.
DIONYSUS.
DIONYSUS was the son of Zeus and of Semele, and
Hera hated him as she had hated his mother, and
w ould have killed him if she could ; so as soon as he
was born, Zeus commanded Hermes to take him away
secretiy to a king called Athamas, that Hera might not
know where he was. Athamas promised to take care
of him, and the queen, whose name was Ino, told every-
one that he was her own child, and brought him up
with her two little boys. But Hera found out where
the little Dionysus was, and she was so angry with
King Athamas for having consented to hide him from
her, that she punished him by making him quite mad.
She falsified his sight so that everything seemed to
him quite different from what it really was, and one
day when he was coming home from hunting and saw
Ino sitting on the grass in front of the house with her
two little boys by her side, he thought she was a doe
with two little fawns, and he took an arrow and shot
one of the children right through the heart, so that he
was killed instantly. Ino saw that her husband was
mad, and she immediately snatched up the other child
and fled away with it, but Athamas pursued her with
another arrow on his bow-string till they came to the
04 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
sea, and then, as Tno could flee no farther, she rushed
into the sea with her little boy, and they were both
drowned. They were scarcely dead when Athamas
regained his right senses and knew what he had done,
and he was so grieved and shocked that he left his
country altogether, and wandered for a long time in
strange lands, till at last he settled down again, as you
will hear in another story. 1
Meanwhile Hera was looking everywhere for the
little Dionysus, but she could not find him, for she did
not know that a young heifer who was grazing in front of
the house was the form into which Zeus had changed
the child to hide him from her. In the night Hermes
came and took the heifer up into his arms, and it became
a child again. Then he took the boy a long, long
journey, almost to the end of the world, till at last he
reached a lonely region where seven nymphs lived by
a beautiful river far from the dwellings of men, and
he gave him into the charge of the nymphs, who pro-
mised to bring him up and take great care of him.
Hera was seated on Mount Olympus, the throne of the
gods, and she cast her eyes all round the world to see
what had become of Dionysus, but as she expected to
find him again in the charge of some king, she did
not think of looking for him in the country of the
nymphs.
When Dionysus grew up to be a young man, he
was very beautiful, and Zeus loved him so much that
he gifted him with the might of a god. Immediately
his face gained a new expression, and his eyes glowed
with a fire that is never seen in the eyes of men.
1 See page 1 50.
DIONYSUS. 60
Dionysus thought he would like to give proof of his
new power by bestowing some precious gift upon men,
and he resolved that he would create out of water and
sunshine a sweet drink that should give them courage
and cheerfulness, and that a beautiful plant should be
the means of producing this drink. So he created the
Vine with its purple grapes, in which, ever since that
time, the sun has every year brewed the drink bestowed
upon men by the god Dionysus.
Dionysus did not wish to live in concealment any
longer, for Hera had no power to injure him now that
he had become a god, and he desired to be known and
honoured like the other gods. He determined there-
fore to travel through the whole world, and Zeus gave
him a train of men and women to follow and serve him
who were called Bacchantes, or followers of Bacchus,
which is another name for Dionysus. He set out on
his pleasure-journey, driving in a golden chariot drawn
bv two tame spotted panthers which he guided with a
golden rein, and round him danced the Bacchantes,
holding in their hands wands twined round with ivy,
and with ivy wreaths on their heads. Cups of tlie
most delicious wine were passed from mouth to mouth,
and the whole air was filled with the sounds of singing
and flute-playing. There was an old man named
Silenus, who had formerly lived with the nymphs, and
had been accustomed to play with Dionysus when he
was a child, and dance him on his knees. He now
joined in the procession, and he was so fond of the
wine that he was always intoxicated. His body became
bloated with drinking so much wine, so that he could
nut walk steadily, but was obliged to ride on an ass, and
F
66 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
often in his drunken condition, he sate facing the
wrong way and holding the tail of the ass in his hands
as a bridle.
Wherever Dionysus went he caused the vine to
grow, and he was good to those who honoured him,
but he punished all who disobeyed him. One day,
while he was on his journey through the world, he
halted at mid-day in a cool wood near the sea, and
when the Bacchantes had given the thirsty panthers
some sweet wine to drink, the whole train of followers
lay down under the trees and went to sleep. Dionysus,
however, was filled with a desire to visit the island of
Naxos, which he loved above all other lands, and he
went down to the shore where there was just then a
ship sailing by, and asked the ehip-men if they would
carry him to Naxos ; and they said ' Yes,' and sailed up
to the land and took him in. They did not know who
he was, but supposed him to be a mortal youth, and
seeing that he was so beautiful, they made up their
minds to sell him for a slave, for they were not good
men, but thieves. Dionysus lay down in the ship and
went to sleep. When he awoke, they had already sailed
past the island, so he begged them to turn back and
set him on shore at Naxos, but they laughed and told
him they were going to sell him for a slave. Dionysus
had only wanted to make trial of them, and now the
ship suddenly stood still, and though they tried with
all their might to row on farther, it was as immovable
as if it had been fastened to the bottom of the sea
with a hundred chains. And vines and ivy-bushes
sprang up and covered the sides of the ship with green
foliage, and a spray of ivy twined itself round the mast
DIONYSUS. G7
right up to the top, so that the ship looked like a beau-
tiful garden in the middle of the sea. But the sight
of it gave no pleasure to the ship-men ; their flesh
began to creep, and they were seized with an irresistible
desire to jump into the sea. And as they jumped they
were changed into dolphins, and for the rest of their
lives they swam about in the sea, thieving fishes as
they had been thieving men. Then Dionysus clapped
his hands, and the panther-drawn chariot came over
the sea to him followed by the Bacchantes, the sea
making a pathway for them so that they scarcely
wetted their feet. Dionysus got into his chariot and
guided it to Naxos, and the Bacchantes followed it,
skipping along on the crests of the waves.
After Dionysus had travelled over the whole world,
it was fitting that he should take up his abode on
Mount Olympus with the other gods, and Hera did
not make any difficulty about it. But before he did
so, he brought his mother Semele from out of the Lower
World, and Zeus made her immortal, so that she also
had a place among the gods, and Hera no longer bore
her any ill-will.
F 2
68 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
XX.
MELAMPUS AND BIAS.
IN the city of Pylos there lived a man named Melam-
pus, who was very rich, and had a great deal of land
and many servants. One day, as the servants were
coming home from their work in the fields, they found
a nest of snakes in a hollow oak, and they drove out
the snakes and began to beat them to death with their
sticks and cudgels. Just then Melampus came by, and
when he saw what the servants were doing, he let them
kill the old snakes, but finding among them two young
ones less than a foot long, he took them up and carried
them home. The little snakes were now very well off,
for Melampus made them a bed of leaves and gave
them plenty of food to eat. They were not poisonous
snakes, but nice harmless little creatures, and when
they grew older they had a great wish to do Melampus
some service, as a return to him for having saved their
lives and taken such care of them. So one day, when
he was asleep, the snakes crept up to him, one on each
side, and licked his ears with their fine sharp little
tongues, and when he awoke he found he could under-
stand what the birds and insects said, and he was ever
afterwards able to discover things that were hidden from
other men, because the birds told him about them.
MELAMPUS AND BIAS. 69
At this time there reigned over the city of Pylos a
king named Neleus, who had an only daughter called
Peru. She was so beautiful that no one who had once
seen her ever cared to look at any other woman, and
many princes came to Pylos to ask for her hand in
marriage, but King Neleus said thit whoever wished
to have her for his wife must first bring him the cattle
of Iphiclus, and that he would not part with her on
any other condition. These cattle were renowned for
their strength and beauty, and they were always spoken
of as the cattle of Iphiclus, although Iphiclus himself
had been dead a long time, and his son Phylacus now
owned them. They were guarded by a great fierce
dog with a terrific voice, and if anyone came to try
and steal them, he barked so loudly that all the ser-
vants of Phylacus came rushing out to seize the thief
and carry him off to prison. Nor could Phylacus be
induced to part with the cattle for any sum of money ;
so when the suitors heard that the king insisted upon
having the cattle of Iphiclus, they thought it was a
hopeless case and went away home again.
Now amongst those who came to sue for the hand
of the beautiful Pero, there was a man named Bias, the
brother of Melampus, who loved her so dearly and
wished so much to have her for his wife, that he lost
all his spirits and fell into deep despondency because
he could not think of any means of obtaining the
cattle. Melampus had a great affection for his bro-
ther and longed to help him in this difficulty, so he
asked the birds if there was any way by which he
could succeed in procuring the cattle for Bias. The
birds answered that if he would be willing to be seized
70 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
by the servants and put into prison for a year, he would
be able to obtain the cattle at the end of that time.
Melarnpus was quite ready to do this for his brother,
and he set out at once, promising Bias that at the end
of the year he would return with the. beautiful herd.
When he came to the field where the cattle of Ipliiclus
were grazing, it happened to him just as the birds had
foretold, and he was taken prisoner by the servants
and thrust into a dark dungeon. He could never see
the sun there, but he was able to count the days, for
he could hear the birds singing, and when they began
to chirp in the morning, he knew that a new day must
have dawned upon the earth. At last, when there was
only one day wanting to make up the full year, he
hoard some wood-worms talking together in one of the
rafters of the house, and he listened to what they were
saying. One asked, ' Have you nearly finished the work ? '
and the others answered, ' Before the sun goes down, the
beam will be eaten through and the house must fall.'
Then Melampus understood that the house was not safe,
and he called the gaoler and told him that they ought
both to leave it without delay, for that before the setting
of the sun it would fall. The gaoler was not inclined
to believe him, for the house appeared to be in perfect
condition, but Melampus would not leave otf warning
and entreating him, and at last he took him to another
prison. They had scarcely left the house when they
heard a great noise, and as they looked back it fell in
ruins. The gaoler was very much astonished that Me-
lampus should have known of this beforehand, and he
told King Phylacus about it.
The old king was at this time in great sorrow on
MELAMPUS AND BIAS. 71
Account of his son, who was named Iphiclus after his
grandfather. He had been married for many years,
hut the gods gave him no children, and the old king
feared that after his death the kingdom would fall into
the hands of a stranger instead of being still governed
by one of his own race. He did not know why the
gods were angry with his son, and no one was able to
tell him. When therefore he heard from the gaoler
how Melampus had foretold the downfall of the prison,
he thought that he must be a wise man, and he asked
him whether he could find any means of freeing him
from his anxiety. Melarnpus answered that he would
try to do so if the king would promise him the beautiful
cattle as his reward, and Phylacus did not think this
t^oo great a price, but swore to give them to him.
Melampus then begged that the king's servants might
kill a cow and cut it in pieces, and that they would
take him to an open field, and leave him alone with
the flesh beside him. They did as he wished, and
when the servants had gone away, a number of birds of
all sizes came flocking towards the pieces of flesh.
Melampus, however, would not let them come too near,
but kept them off with a stick, and said, ' Whichever
of you can tell me why the gods are angry with Iphi-
clus the Younger, shall have the best piece of meat as
a reward.' Then an old raven, nearly a hundred years
old, began to croak and said, ' When Iphiclus was a
little boy, his father placed a sacrifice under a sacred
oak, but found himself obliged to return to the house
for something he had forgotten. Meanwhile the little
Iphiclus was left alone, and he took the sacrificial
knife and thrust it into the oak because he was fright-
72 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
ened at the way it glittered. I was sitting on the tree
looking on when he did this. In the course of time,
however, the bark has quite grown over the knife, so
that it cannot now be seen.' Melampus gave the
raven a great piece of flesh, and he took it in his claws
and flew away with it, and Melampus said, 'Whichever
of you can tell me how this maybe expiated, shall have
the next best piece.' Then a vulture came forward
who was skilled in medicine, and a physician among
the birds, and who knew how to give counsel, and he
said, ' You must dig the knife out of the tree, and
when you have found it, scrape off the rust and pour it
into a bowl of wine. Let the king's son drink that,
and then the gods will send him an heir.' The vul-
ture received the second best piece, and Melampus
went away, leaving the birds to feast upon the re-
mainder of the flesh. He went back to the palace
and asked for an axe, with which he struck the oak,
and at the first stroke he discovered the knife. It was
quite red with rust, and he drew it out and ecraped off
the rust into a bowl of wine and told the king that his
son must drink some of this every morning for ten
days, and then the gods would be gracious to him.
Some time after this the wife of Iphiclus had a little
son, which was a great joy to the old king.
He did not fail to give Melampus the reward he had
promised, and Bias took the cattle to the palace of
Neleus and again asked to be allowed to marry the
beautiful Pero. The king made no further objection,
and the wedding was celebrated that very same day.
The god Apollo loved Melampus because he was a
MELAMPUS AND EIAS. 73
good man, and lie gifted him with the art of knowing
the future by means of various signs, and of understand-
ing how to propitiate the wrath of the gods. .Many
people came to ask advice of him when they were in
trouble or difficulty, and among others, Proetus the king
of Argos, sent to beg for his help, for he was in great dis-
tress. This king had three daughters who were beaut i ful
and virtuous, but they refused to offer sacrifices to the
god Dionysus, and therefore Dionysus punished them
by taking away their reason, so that they became mad.
They ran about the city, dancing and screaming and
tearing their clothes, and if anyone tried to restrain them
they became wilder still, and foamed at the mouth, so that
no one could see them without feeling deeply grieved.
It was on account of this that Proetus sent to Melampus
to beg him to make his daughters well again. Melampus
agreed to do so if the king would promise him a third
of his dominions as a reward ; but when Proetus heard
of the condition, avarice prevailed over his love" for his
daughters, and he refused to part with any of his land.
But the evil became worse and worse, for all the women
in the country were seized with the same disease as the
princesses, and ran about the streets and fields, raging
as if they were intoxicated. Many had taken their
little children with them, thinking that they w^ere
young deer which they must sacrifice to Dionysus,
and it was a ghastly sight to see them murder their
own children, not knowing what they were doing.
The whole land was in such great trouble that the
king sent a messenger to tell Melampus that he
would give him the third part of his dominions if
he would put an end to the misery, but Melampus
74 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
now said that he must also give his brother Bias a
third, or he would do nothing for him. The king
was very loth to give away so much fertile territory,
but he feared that he might at last be obliged to win
over Melampus at any price, and perhaps lose his whole
kingdom, so he promised to give him what he asked.
Then Melampus went to Argos and placed himself at
the head of all the young men in the city, whom he
had told beforehand what they were to do. They
marched out of the city in an orderly band, till they
met the raving women who had formed themselves
into a sort of wild army with the princesses at their
head. As soon as they saw the army of youths they
took flight, and the men pursued them, shouting as if
they were at war, till they reached the sea and could go
no farther. Then Melampus offered many sacrifices,
until the gods were propitiated and the women had
their reason restored. After this, they all returned to
the city. The eldest princess, who was the most
afflicted of all, had fallen down dead during the chase,
but the other two came back to the palace and lived
with their father as before, and from this time they
honoured Dionysus and offered sacrifices to him.
Melampus and Bias now became princes, and they
ruled over the land which King Proetus gave them
according to his promise.
75
XXI.
TANTALUS. PELOPS.
IN the land of Phrygia, which lies in Asia Minor, there
was once a king named Tantalus, whom the gods
loaded with all manner of favours. They gave him
great wealth, so that he was richer than any other king,
and the)- treated him as a friend and came to his house
as guests, and sometimes they allowed him to ascend
to Mount Olympus in one of their chariots and to
drink nectar and eat ambrosia at their table. But
Tantalus was presumptuous, and turned the friendship
with which the gods honoured him to bad uses, for he
stole nectar and ambrosia and gave them to other men
to taste, and he also repeated things that he had heard
the gods speak of among themselves, about which he
ought to have kept silence. He even once invited the
gods to a banquet in order to try and deceive them,
and for this purpose he killed his beautiful young son
Pelops, and cut him in pieces and roasted the flesh ; and
when the gods sat down to the banquet he brought in
the flesh and laid it before them, thinking that they
would eat it without knowing what it was. The goddess
Demeter was at this time in great trouble because her
daughter Persephone had been stolen away from her,
and as she sat buried in sad thoughts, she eat a shoulder-
76 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
piece without paying attention to what she was doing.
But the other gods did not eat any of the flesh, for
they knew directly what it was, and they were very
angry with Tantalus. Zeus commanded that Pelops
should come to life again, and he was even more
beautiful than before, but his right shoulder was
missing, for Demeter had eaten it. The goddess could
not replace it, but she took a piece of ivory and cut
out a shoulder, which she fitted into the right place, so
that it looked like the other limbs, only it was more
white and shining.
After this the gods would have nothing more to do
with Tantalus, and as they no longer blessed his fields
or flocks, his prosperity was now at an end, for the
fields produced miserable crops, and the flocks were
diminished by plagues and diseases, and also by the
ravages of wolves and lions. Tantalus became worse
and worse, and committed many other crimes, and
after his death the gods laid upon him a never-ending
punishment. He found himself standing in beautiful
clear water which reached up to his chin, and close
above his head there Lung branches of magnificent
fruit trees quite weighed down with the quantity of
fruit they bore, but whenever he tried to sip the water
it sank before him till there was nothing to be seen hut
the black earth, and whenever he tried to gather some
fruit the branches raised themselves into the air, so
that though he was parched with thirst and was
perpetually straining to quench it, if but for a moment,
he was never able to reach either the water or the
fruit. 1
1 From this story comes the English word ' to tantalize.'
TANTALUS. PELOPS. 77
After the death of Tantalus, his son Pelops was king
of Phrygia. But there came another king, with an
army of soldiers, who fought against him and drove him
away, so that he was obliged to leave his country and
travel into strange lands. After some time he came to
the city of Elis, in Greece, where at that time, there
was a king called Oenomaus who had a lovely daughter
named Hippodarnia. A great many heroes desired to
marry her, and the king had sent to ask the Oracle
which of them he should choose for her husband, but
the answer that he received was that when his daughter
married, he himself would die. He at once determined
that his daughter should never marry ; and as he had
two horses that could run like the wind and there
were none in the whole country that could compare
with them in speed, he said that anyone who wished to
marry his daughter must compete with him in a chariot
race, and if he won the race he should have the maiden
for his wife, but if he foiled to do so he must die.
Hippodarnia was so beautiful that many heroes were
willing to risk their lives for the chance of winning her,
and agreed to the conditions. At some distance from
the city there stood an altar to Poseidon, which was the
goal, and on each occasion the princess drove with the
suitor for her hand. Oenomaus used to let them start
on in front whilst he remained behind to sacrifice a ram
to the gods, and when the sacrifice was offered, he
mounted the chariot with his lance in his hand, and
urged on the horses to their utmost speed. The race
never lasted long, for he very soon overtook the suitor
and pierced him through the back with his lance, so
that he fell down dead from the chariot.
78 MYTHS OF HMLLAS.
Thirteen heroes had already lost their lives, and
Oenomaus thought that he had -found a very good way
of preventing his daughter from ever being married. But
Pelops heard of the beautiful Hippodamia, and though
he heard, too, of the cruel king who put all her suitors
to death, he resolved to set out for Elis and try his
chance of winning the maiden, for he was a true hero,
brave and fearless. It was a prize well worth trying
for, for whoever won it would not only have the
beautiful princess for his wife, but would also inherit
the kingdom, for Oenomaus had no other child. Pelops
came to Elis, and Oenomaus told him, as he had told
the others, that he must be prepared to race with him,
and fixed the race for the following day. The king had
outrun many swifter horses than those of Pelops, and
if the hero had not set to work cunningly he must
have lost his life, but he had thought of a plan by
which he might get the better of the king, if he could
secure the help of the man to whom was entrusted the
care of the horses and chariot of Oenomaus. He
watched until this man took the horses to bathe in the
river, and he followed him there to have an opportunity
of speaking to him privately and promised him a great
reward if, on the next day, he would leave out some
necessary part of the king's equipment, so that he
might be delayed in the race. Oenomaus was such a
cruel man that his servants had no affection for him,
and the man promised Pelops that he would help him
to win the race.
The next day, many people came to the open space
outside the city where the race was to be run. They
felt sorry for the hero, for his horses were far less
TANTALUS. PELOPS. 7 9
strong and spirited than those of the king, which
pawed the ground with impatience, and snuffed the air
in their eagerness to set out. Oenomaus told his
daughter to get into the chariot with Pelops, and
when he had the beautiful maiden sitting by his side,
Pelops felt how happy he would be if he could obtain
her for his wife, and he urged on his horses with all his
might. Meanwhile Oenomaus took a sacrificial knife
and killed a ram, and then he laid a part of the flesh
in the flame of the fire that burnt on the altar, and
prayed to the gods to enable him to get the better of
Pelops and kill him. When the sacrifice was ended, he
mounted his chariot, with the reins in his left hand
and a sharp-pointed lance in his right hand, and the
moment he shook the reins, the horses started off at
their utmost speed, and the chariot could not be seen
for the dust that it raised. He came close to Pelops,
and raised his lance to smite him. But the unfaithful
servant had taken out the nails which prevent the
wheel from slipping off the axle, and just as Oenomaus
was overtaking the other chariot, the wheel rolled on
one side, and the chariot turned over. The king was
thrown out, and he fell upon a stone and was killed
instantly.
So Pelops was the victor, and the sentence of the
Oracle was fulfilled. As soon as the beautiful Hippo-
lamia had ended her mourning for her father, she was
married to Pelops, who became king of Elis and ruled
the country well and wisely. Long after his death the
Greeks still remembered him, and named the great
peninsula in which Elis lies, Peloponnesus, or the
Island of Pelops.
80 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
XXII.
NIOBE.
NIOBE was the daughter of Tantalus, and the wife of
King Ampliion, who by means of his singing and
playing had built a wall round Thebes. 1 She and her
husband were rich and prosperous, but beyond all their
other treasures they prized their twelve noble and
beautiful children. There were six sons and six
daughters, and they were the pride of Niobe's heart.
She looked down upon all other women because they
were none of them so fortunate as herself, and once
she even dared to say that she was superior to the
goddess Leto, for that Leto had only two children, and
she had six times as many. AVhen Leto heard this
she was stung to the quick, and she went weeping to
her children and told them of it. These children were
the god Apollo and the goddess Artemis, and they
were very angry with Niobe for vexing their mother,
and resolved to punish her for her pride.
One day the sons of Niobe were in the courtyard
wrestling with each other, for they were skilled in
wrestling as becomes young heroes, and the mother and
1 See p. 50.
NIOBK 81
sisters were standing by, watching them. All at once
one of the youths groaned, sank down, and died. He
had been hit by one of the arrows of Apollo, which
were invisible and deadly, killing instantly whoever
was hit by them. The mother, brothers arid sisters
gathered round the youth, unable to believe that he
was dead, when suddenly a maiden sank upon her
knees, heaved a sigh, and died also. She had been hit
by one of th^ arrows of Artemis, which were invisible
like those of Apollo. Son after son, and daughter after
daughter was killed by the unseen arrows, and Niobe
knew that this was a punishment for her pride. The
youth who was first struck down was not yet cold when
the only one of all her children left to Niobe was the
youngest daughter, whom she loved best of all. The
little girl had always found protection in her mothers
lap, and now, when the fear that she must die like her
brothers and sisters came over her, she ran to her mother
and clung to her knees for shelter. Niobe took her up
in her arms, and wrapping her veil round her as if it
could shield her from the unseen enemy, she looked up
to heaven and cried from her inmost soul, ' Spare
me but this one ! ' But at that moment she felt her
daughter convulsed in her arms, and the last of her
children was dead.
There was great distress throughout the city. King
Amphion tore his hair and threw himself on the earth
with frantic cries of grief, and the citizens wept and
lamented. But Niobe shed no tears, no word of sorrow
came out of her mouth, and she kept her eyes fixed on
the ground, still clasping her youngest daughter to her
82 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
breast, while the other corpses lay around her. The
night came on and the others went into the house, but
Niobe remained standing in the starlight amongst her
dead children, and when the people came back in the
morning, she had turned to stone.
XXIII.
MELEAGER AND ATALANTA.
KING OEXEUS lived in the city of Calydon with his wife
Althaea, and they had already several children when
another little FOU was born to them. When the child
was about seven davs old, his mother awoke one night
and saw a fire burning on the hearth, and by the fire
three women standing, who were taller and statelier
than any women she had ever seen before: they were
the three Fates, who are the goddesses that decide
whether the lives of men shall be brightened by hap-
piness or made heavy with misfortune. One of them
said, * 1 gift this child with bravery.' The second said,
4 1 bestow upon him a generous heart.' The third said,
'I grant him life until the day when this firebrand
shall be burnt to ashes.' Then they all disappeared,
and Althaea, to once got up and took the piece of stick
from the fire, and when she had put it out by pouring
water upon it, she stowed it away in the chest where
she kept her most precious treasures. The parents
named their child Meleager, and he grew up to be a
strong and noble youth, fond of the chase and of war.
After Meleager had become a man, it happened one
year that King Oeneus raised a number of altars of
green turf in the fields at harvest-time, and placed on
o 2
8i MYTHS OF HELLAS.
each altar some of the corn that was fhst cut, in order
to show his gratitude to the gods for having caused the
fruits of the earth to grow and ripen ; every god and every
goddess had an altar except Artemis the goddess of the
chase, who was forgotten. She was very angry with the
king on account of this, and sent a fierce wild boar to
destroy his land. This boar was much larger than any
other that had ever been seen, and he had two long
pointed tusks which made him very frightful to look
at. He roamed about the country, and wherever he
found a newly-sown field he tore up the ground and
laid it waste, and he ripped open the young trees with
his tusks, and broke in among the flocks, killing men
and cattle. He was so fierce and powerful that no
hunter had courage to attack him, and at last the evil
became so serious that the king sent messengers to a
number of heroes to ask them to come to Calydon, and
all set out together to hunt the boar. All who were
summoned promised to come, and at the appointed
time they assembled at Calydon. There came also a
maiden who was armed with a hunting-spear, and who
would not play with the king's daughters, but said she
wished to go to the hunt with the heroes.
The maiden's name was Atalanta, and she had a
strange history. She was the child of a king and queen
who had wished very much to have a little son, and had
begged the gods to send them one. Instead of this,
however, a girl was born to them, and the father was
so angry that he commanded his servants to take the
child to a mountain that was clothed with forests, and
leave it there to be devoured by wild beasts. For a
ni^-ht and a day the child lay in the forest, and it was
MELEAGER AND ATALANTA. 85
nearly dead of starvation when a she-bear came by, wh'-
drooped her head sadly because her little cubs had
been taken from her by some hunters. The child was
frightened at the great black beast and began to cr\,
but the bear looked kindly at it, and when she saw
what bright eyes the baby had, she growled gently and
licked it with her warm tongue. Soon the child forgot
its fear, and when the bear put her full udder to
its mouth, it began to suck, for it was hungry and
thirsty ; and from that time the bear came again every
day and gave it food and played with it. After
some time had passed, it happened that some hunters
came up the mountain in pursuit of a deer, and one
of them in bending back a bush caught sight of the
beautiful little girl, who was lying on the grass playing
with flowers. He took her up and called to the other
hunters to come and look at her, and they were so de-
lighted at finding her that they let the deer escape.
One of them carried her home in his arms, and they
were as well satisfied as if they had had a most
successful hunt. The house where the hunters lived
was in the midst of the green- wood, and they made a,
soft bed for the child, and fed her with sweet milk.
At first she cried continually, for she missed her bear
sadly, but the hunters played with her and were so
kind to her that she soon became happy again. The
hunters named her Atalanta, and when she grew
bigger, they took her with them when they went out
hunting. Atalanta enjoyed roaming through the woods
and running after the wild animals more than anything
else, and she let the hunters have no peace till they
gave her a spear of her own. Her feet became swift and
86 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
her arms strong, and she killed many animals and was
a very skilful huntress, but whenever a she-bear came
across her path she took gre.'t care to do her no harm.
She was taller and stronger than other maidens, and at
the same time very beautiful. When she heard of the
hunt that King Oeneus had proclaimed, she at once set
out for Calydon, expecting greatly to enjoy the dangerous
chase.
King Oeneus entertained the heroes for nine days,
and they amused themselves with feasts and all kinds
of games. The tenth day was fixed for the hunt, and
it was agreed that whoever should kill the boar was to
receive the skin and the head as the prize of honour.
Theiv were present, however, some brothers of Queen
Althaea who were ill-mannered and discourteous, and
who said that Atalanta should not go with them, for
that it would be a disgrace to them all their lives if
they went out hunt ing with a woman ; but Meleager
had conceived a great love for Atalanta., and would not
allow her to be excluded. So she set out with the
others for the forest where the boar had his lair. They
were attended by their servants, who roused the wild
beast by making a great clapping with their hands,
and drove him out into an open space in the middle of
the forest, while the heroes stood round among the
trees. At first he remained in the middle of the open
space tearing up th^ earth with his tusks, his eyes
burning like fire and his bristles standing up straight
from his back, and grunting so frightfully that the
heart of many a brave hero beat, and that not altogether
for joy. Bat when the heroes hurled their spears at
him, the boar rushed to where the first spear came
MELEAGER AND ATALASTA. 87
from and ripped open the body of the hero with his
tusks, so that he was soon lying dead in a pool of his
own blood. After this he spied another hero, and with
him it fared no better than with the first. Then another
hero aimed at him, but he shot too high, and the spear
hit one of his friends and pierced him through ; so three
lives were already sacrificed, and yet the boar had not
lost a drop of blood. It was now the turn of Atalanta
to throw her spear, and she hit the wild boar in the
back causing the blood to gush out; then someone else
hit him in the eye, and at last the spear of Meleager
pierced his side at a vital spot and inflicted a mortal
wound. He could no longer stand up, and was obliged
to vent his fury on the innocent earth, and after rolling
about in great pain for a little while, he died.
The heroes cut off his head, and severed his skin
from his body and gave it to Meleager as the prize of
honour, because it was he who had given the wild boar
his death-wound. But Meleager said, ' Atalanta was
the first to hit the beast,' and he presented her with
the prize as a token of love and regard. The skin made
in truth a splendid mantle, reaching from the maiden's
shoulder right down to her feet, and as she stood in the
forest, radiant with beauty, with the skin thrown over
her left shoulder, and with the bleeding head in one
hand while in the other she held her hunting-spear,
she looked like the goddess Artemis returning from the
chase. But the brothers of Queen Althaea who had
wished to prevent Atalanta from going out hunting
with them, were greatly annoyed, and they spoke
rudely to her and snatched away the prize from her.
This made Meleager very angry, and a violent quarrel
88 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
took place, in which Meleager drew his sword and slew
his uncles: he was quickly roused to anger, and they
had provoked him beyond his power of endurance, but
as soon as they were dead he felt very sorry for hi?
mother's sake, for he knew that she was very fond of
her brothers, unmannerly fellows though they were.
The servants made biers out of green branches and
laid the dead men upon them, and they all, both heroes
and servants, went back together into the city.
But a man who had taken the part of the two
brothers went on in front to the palace and told
the queen that her brothers had been murdered by
Meleager. Then the queen's sorrow passed all bounds,
and she wept and tore her hair. It was the custom at
that time, that if a man was murdered his relations
should avenge his death upon the murderer, as this
was considered a way of doing honour to his memory,
and in the first burst of her resentment she fetched
the piece of stick on which the life of Meleager de-
pended, and threw it into a fire that happened to be
burning on the hearth. The flames gradually consumed
it, and as the last spark went out, Meleager, who was
on his way home with the other heroes, fell down dead.
By the time the queen heard that her son was dead
however, her anger had already passed away, arid she
was filled with unspeakable remorse for having cut
short his life. She did not weep as she had done
before, but she felt that she could not bear to live any
longer, and she went into her bed-chamber and hanged
herself. When this was known, everyone was deeply
grieved; the old king would not leave his room, and
for a long time refused to eat or drink, and the heroes
MELEAGER AND ATALANTA. 89
dispersed to their homes without caring to stay for the
hunting feast.
Atalaiita went back to her forest leaving the skin
of the boar behind her, for she would have had no
pleasure in keeping what would always have reminded
her of the death of Meleager. She roamed about the
forest as before from morning till night, and was never so
happy as when she was among the green trees. Now the
fame of her beauty had spread far and wide, and many
suitors came to ask her to marry them. But she did
not "wish to marry, and as her suitors would not leave
off pressing her, she said that anyone who liked might
race with her, and if he beat her he should be her hus-
band, but if she overtook him he must die. Many of
her lovers lost their lives in this manner, for though
Atalanta always gave a good start, she very soon over-
took her competitor and stabbed him in the back with
her hunting-spear.
After a time, however, a ma-n named Milanion re-
solved to try his chance, who was beloved by the god-
dess Aphrodite on account of his great beauty, and as
she was unwilling that he should lose his life like the
others, she gave him three golden apples and told
him how to make use of them. He hid them in the
folds of his dress, and as soon as he heard Atalanta
coming up behind him, he took out one of the apples
and threw it down on the ground where it glittered so
beautifully in the sunshine that Atalanta could not
resist stooping to pick it up. Milanion thus gained a
minute, and the next time he found that she was close
behind him he threw down the second apple, and again
Atalanta allowed him to escape while she stopped for
90 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
it. A third time the same thing happened when they
were at a very short distance from the goal, and thus
Milunion reached it first and won the race, and Atalanta
became his wife and went home with him. And he was
such a noble hero that she never repented of having
allowed herself to be conquered by the golden apples.
91
XXIV.
ADMETUS AND ALCESTIS.
APOLLO once displeased Zeus by acting against his
wishes, and the king of the gods said that for a punish-
ment he must serve a mortal for the space of a year,
and that the mortal must not know that he was a god,
but treat him just like any other slave. So Apollo
entered the service of the young king Admetus, who
made him the keeper of his flocks. Admetus was a
good master, and Apollo found himself well-treated,
and he repaid the kindness he received by making the
flocks prosper and increase till there were none like
them in the whole country. Admetus had never had
such a good herdsman, and he treated him even better
than his other servants. When the year had passed,
Apollo told him who he was, and said that if ever
Admetus was in need and prayed to him, lie would
come and help him. Then Apollo went back to Olym-
pus, and Admetus had another herdsman, but Apollo
still blessed the flocks, so that they continued to
prosper.
Time passed by and Admetus wished to marry, and
he travelled through the country seeking for the fairest
and noblest woman in the laud to be his wife. He
heard that no one could compare with Alcestis, the
92 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
daughter of King Pelias, and he went to her father
and asked to be allowed to marry her. But the king
said that his daughter was not to be won so easily, and
that whoever wanted her for his wife must come and
sue for her in a chariot drawn by a lion and a wild
boar. Admetus was a brave hero and a skilled hunts-
man, but his heart sank when he heard this, for he
feared he should never be able to procure such a team
as this, and tame them for his service Then he re-
membered how Apollo had promised to help him in
the time of need, and he prated to him, and Apollo
came and asked what he wanted. When he had been
told what it was, he went into the forest with Admetus,
and gave chase to a lion whom he caught arid held fast
by the mane, although the lion roared horribly and
tried to snap at him with his great jaws. Presently
he spied a boar and pursued him also, making the
lion run by his side ; and when he had caught the boar,
he grasped him by the ear and dragged him along too,
so that he had the lion on one side of him and the
boar on the other. The wild animals looked at each
other angrily and tried to bite one another, but Apollo
would not let them do so. He brought them out of
the forest and harnessed them to a magnificent chariot,
and he had a goad w^ith which he pricked them when-
ever they tried to hurt one another, until at last they
were tame and obedient to the rein. Admetus how-
ever would not have been able to keep them under
control, so Apollo drove them himself, and thus Ad-
raetus arrived at the palace of King Pelias with the
god for his charioteer, and with the team that the king
had required, and a second time asked for his daughter's
ADMETUS AND ALCI'^TIS. J3
hand in marriage. The king could no longer refuse,
and when he had promised that Admetus should have
the beautiful Alcestis for his wife, Apollo drove back
into the forest and released the two wild animals.
Soon afterwards the wedding was celebrated in the
palace with great magnificence, and Apollo was one of
the guests. As a wedding-present, he brought a pro-
mise from the goddesses of Fate, that if ever Admetus
were sick and in danger of death and one of his
nearest relations would consent to die instead of him,
the life thus offered would be accepted instead of the
life of Admetus, and he would become well again.
Admetus and Alcestis loved each other dearly, and
lived happily together for many years. But after some
time had passed, Admetus was smitten with a sore
sickness, and everyone said that he must die unless his
life could be saved according to the promise of Apollo.
The people thought that as his father and mother were
now very old and could not hope to live much longer
in any case, they would be willing to die instead of
Admetus ; but they loved life more than they loved
their son, and would not part with it until they were
obliged. Then the beautiful Alcestis went into her
chamber and prayed to the gods that they would
allow her to give up her life to save her husband,
and when she had ended her prayer, she lay down
on the bed and died. At the same moment Admetus
became suddenly well, and was able to stand up and
walk about. He did not know how it was that he
had been so quickly cured until he went into the
chamber of Alcestis, and saw her lying dead upon the
couch ; then he understood how it was, but lie felt that
94: MYTHS OF HELLAS.
he would much rather have died himself. All through
the palace there was loud lamentation, for all the house-
hold loved Alcestis dearly because she was so good and
kind to them. Admetus would not leave her couch,
but sat beside it holding her cold hand, which wan
ever wet with his tears. Night came on, and morning
dawned again, but he gave no heed to it, and the corpse
had already become quite cold when suddenly it began
to grow warm again, and presently Alcestis heaved a
deep sigh, opened her eyes, and was once more alive.
Never before had such a wonder taken place, and
this was how it came to pass. When Alcestis died,
her shade passed into the Lower World, and the Shadow-
Leader, who conducted the dead thither, told the queen
of the Lower World the reason of her death. So many
shadows came into their dominions who had had a sad
end, that the gods of the Lower World had at last ex-
hausted all their pity, and ceased to weep for them.
But when the queen heard how Alcestis had died in
the full bloom of her youth and beauty in order that
Admetus might live, she was deeply moved, and com-
manded the Shadow-Leader to take her back to the
Upper World and restore her to life.
So Alcestis awoke to life again, and she lived with
her husband in happiness and prosperity for many
years after this ; gods and men united to do them
honour, and when they had reached a good old age,
thev both died at the same time.
XXV.
PERSEUS.
THERE was once a king of Argos called Acrisius, who
had an only daughter. Her name was Danae and she
was very beautiful, but the Oracle said that she would
have a son through whom Acrisius would lose his life.
This frightened Acrisius very much, and he had a large
brazen room made for Danae to live in under the earth,
where she had everything she wished for, but she was
never allowed to see the light of day, nor any man.
Her father thought he would thus be able to pre-
vent her from marrying secretly and having a son, and
for a time everything went on according to his wishes.
But Zeus, the king of the gods, loved Danae, and he
one day changed himself into a beautiful golden shower
of rain, whose shining drops fell down through the
brazen roof. Thus Zeus was married to Danae, and
not long afterwards she had a son. Acrisius was very
angry, and he had the mother and son shut up in a
wooden chest and cast into the sea.
The chest was tossed about on the waves, and floated
far away. On the third day it reached an island where
there happened to be a man on the shore fishing, who
was the brother of the king of the island. He drew
the chest to land and forced open the lid, and when he
06 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
saw the lovely woman and her child inside it, he took
them, just as they were, into the house to show them to
the king his brother, who promised to protect them
and treat them kindly. Acrisius thought they had
perished in the sea, but they were safe on the island,
and Danae was quite happy in taking care of her son,
whom she named Perseus. In the course of time,
Perseus grew up to be a young man, and he was beauti-
ful and brave and strong.
The king of the island wanted to have Danae for
his wife, but she did not wish to marry him. Then
the king thought that if it were not for Perseus he
might compel her to do so, and he sought to find some
excuse for sending Perseus away on a far journey.
So one day he called his friends together, and Perseus
among the rest. He told them that he was going to
sue for a bride, and that he wished each of them to
bring him some present to offer to her father ; for it
was the custom in those days that anyone who wanted
to win a bride should give costly presents to the father
of the lady he wished to marry. They all agreed to do
as the king desired, and he asked most of his friends to
give him splendid horses, but from Perseus he demanded
a gift that would involve a difficult and dangerous
journey to a distant land. At the far end of the world
there lived three sisters called Gorgon s, who instantly
turned to stone everyone that looked at them ; the
only one of the three who was mortal was called
Medusa, and the king commanded Perseus to bring him
her head, hoping that he would perish in the attempt.
Perseus had no fear, and at once set out in quest
of the Gorgon's head. There were three nymphs who
PERSEUS. 97
had three precious things without which it would have
been useless for him to try and obtain it, but no one
knew where these nymphs lived except the three Grey
Sisters, who lived far away from any inhabited land,
and would never reveal the secret of where the nymphs
were to be found unless they were compelled to do so*
They were the sisters of the Gorgons, and had been
quite grey ever since their birth, and they had only
one tooth and one eye between them, which they used
in turns. Perseus went to the cavern where the Grey
Sisters lived, and watched till one of them took out the
eye and the tooth to pass them to her sister, when he
sprang forward and snatched them out of her hand,
and said that he would not give them back till they
told him where the nymphs lived. So they were
obliged to tell him, and then he gave them back their
eye and tooth, and went on to the nymphs who were
kind to him and gave him the three precious things.
These were, first, a pouch in which to place the head
of Medusa after he had cut it off; secondly, a pair of
sandals which enabled anyone who put them on to fly
through the air ; and, thirdly the helmet of Pluto,
which made whoever wore it invisible. The gcds loved
Perseus because he was so brave, and Hermes came
down to earth and gave him a sickle of very sharp steel
with which to cut off the head of the Gorgon. Perseus
put on the sandals, and taking the other things with
him, he flew to the great stream Oceanus which flows
round the world. There was a rocky island in the
middle of the stream covered with rank weeds and full
of serpents, and here the Gorgons lived in a cave.
When Perseus reached them it was about noonday, and
u
98 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
they were asleep. They were larger than mortal
women, and had great teeth like tusks and brazen
hands and golden wings, and they had live snakes
twined among their hair, and everyone who looked at
them was turned to stone. Perseus heard them snoi-
ing, and he went into the cave on tip-toe so as not to
wake them. He was obliged to go backwards, for if he
had looked at them he would have been turned to stone ;
but he had a polished shield which he held up before
him as a mirror, and he could see them in the mirror
without being harmed. They had stretched them-
selves out in a row, and lay asleep leaning one against
the other ; Medusa was smaller than the others, and by
this he was able to recognise her. Her head was rest-
ing on a stone, and Perseus held up the shield before
her and cut through her neck with the sickle till
the head fell off, and then he took it up, put it into
the pouch without looking at it, and flew away. But
the bleeding trunk still palpitated, and the other two
Gorgon s awoke and saw it, and they darted out of the
cavern after Perseus, that they might seize him and
tear him to pieces with their iron claws. They flew
through the air looking for him, and they had sharp
eyes with which they could see to a great distance, but
they could not find Perseus because he had on the
helmet of Pluto which made him invisible, and were
obliged to return without him. Perseus was mean-
while on his way home with the dead head in his
pouch.
After some days he came to a country in Africa,
where there was a king whose name was Cepheus. The
queen was called Cassiopea, and she was very beautiful
PERSEUS. yo
and very proud of her beauty, and every day she went
down to the sea that she might have the pleasure of
looking at her picture in the water. One day she said
that she was more beautiful than the sea-nymphs, and
the nymphs heard it and were so angry with her that
they begged Poseidon, the sea-god, to punish her for
her pride. Then Poseidon created a huge monster
which came up every day out of the sea and wasted
the land, devouring men and cattle, so that there was
great distress among the people. They asked the Oracle
what they should do, and the Oracle said that they must
give the king's daughter to the monster to devour, and
then he would not come again any more. The king's
daughter was called Andromeda, and she was beautiful
like her mother, but she was not vain of her beauty,
and the king and queen loved her very dearly. She
was their only child, and they cherished her as their
most precious treasure, and refused to give her up to
be food for the horrible monster. But at last they
were obliged to consent to this, and the day came when
Andromeda was to be taken to a rock in the sea and
bound fast with iron chains, so that she could not run
away when the monster came to devour her. The king
and queen wept bitterly, and many people followed
them to the shore, weeping also.
They had just reached the rock when Perseus also
approached it, and he took the helmet off his head so
that he could be seen, and asked why the beautiful
princess was to be chained to it. They told him all
about it, and he said that if they would promise to let
him have Andromeda for his wife, he would undertake
to kill the monster and deliver her. The king had
H 2
100 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
already promised Andromeda in marriage to a brother
of his named Phineus, but though she was in such
great peril, Phineus did not trouble himself much about
it, and had no intention of risking his life for her.
Perseus, however, felt very differently; he longed to
have her for his wife, and the parents promised him
that if he slew the monster he should be their son-in-
law. Soon afterwards the monster appeared, rising up
from the bottom of the sea, and making great waves as
he swam along. Perseus waited till he came near the
shore, and then flew down and struck him a mighty
blow on the neck with his sword. The monster
snapped at him with his great jaws, but Perseus had
already flown up high above him, and before the mon-
ster could look round he had received another wound,
and he lashed his tail in fury till the water was quite
red with his blood, but he could not reach Perseus who
flew round him and struck him again and again, till at
last he bled to death.
Then there was great joy among the people : the
chains were taken off from Andromeda, and the king
and queen kissed her, feeling as if she had been raised
from the dead. They went back into the city, and
Perseus walked by the side of Andromeda who liked
well the appearance of the brave and noble hero. On
the seventh day the marriage took place, and they
offered sacrifices, and danced and sang and feasted.
Phineus however was not there, but in the middle of
the marriage feast he came into the hall of the palace
at the head of a large band of armed servants, and said
that he would kill Perseus and all who sided with him,
for that Andromeda had been promised to him, and
PERSEUS. 101
ought to be his wife. Then a struggle took place in
the hall, and Perseus slew several of the servants, but
they were twenty to one, and it was no fair fight. At
last Perseus cried out with a loud voice, 4 Let all who
are on my side turn away their faces,' and then he
thrust his hand into the pouch, drew forth the head
of Medusa, and held it out towards Phineus and his
servants, and in a moment they were all turned to
stone.
The king gave Perseus a beautiful ship, in which
he sailed with Andromeda to the island where his
mother was. He found her in sore distress, for the
king 1 of the island had tried to compel her to marry
him, and she had fled for refuge to the altar. Those
who took refuge at an altar were under the protection
of the gods as long as they remained there, and no one
dared to touch them ; but the king commanded that no
one should bring Danae anything to eat, and he placed
watchmen all round to see that his orders were obeyed,
for he thought that when she was absolutely starving
she would be compelled to leave the altar, and then he
would be able to seize her and make her his wife. But
at this moment Perseus arrived at the island in his
ship, and when he heard where his mother was, he
went to her, and she told him everything, which made
him very angry. The treacherous king heard that
Perseus had come back, and he was afraid, and sum-
moned his servants to go with him to the altar to kill
Perseus. Then Perseus again drew forth the head of
Medusa and turned them all to stone, and he gave the
kingdom to the king's brother, who had always been
kind to Danae.
102 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
Danae had a great love for her father, although he
had thrust her away from him, and as Perseus also
wished very much to see his grandfather, they deter
mined to pay him a visit, and they sailed with An-
dromeda to Argos in the ship that Cepheus had given
them. But when the old Acrisius heard that his
daughter and her son were coming, he was afraid,
lor he remembered what the Oracle had said, and he
left the country, telling no one where he was going ; so
that when the ship reached Argos, Acrisius was not
there. And as it happened that a rich king had
lately died, and that games were to be celebrated in his
honour, Perseus thought he would go and take part in
these games, for anyone could go that liked, and those
who did best would receive prizes by which their
names would become known and honoured throughout
Greece. Acrisius also went to the games, for he wanted
to see what was going on, and he thought that there
he would surely be safe from his grandson. No one
knew who Perseus was, but he excelled all others and
won the best prizes. One of the things they did was to
try who could throw farthest a plate of stone called a
discus. Perseus was just going to take his turn at throw-
ing the discus, when it slipped out of his hand, and fly-
ing sideways, hit the old Acrisius on the head and killed
him. Thus it happened that Acrisius was running to
meet his fate at the very moment when he thought he
was escaping from it. Perseus was very sorrowful when
he heard that it was his grandfather, the king of Argos,
whom he had killed accidentally, and he had the corpse
brought to Argos and buried with great magnificence.
The kingdom of Argos was now his, but he could never
PEKSEUS. 103
forget that he had killed his grandfather, and this made
the country so distasteful to him that he was glad to
exchange with another king who ruled over the cities
of Mycenae and Tiryns.
Perseus gave the three precious things by means of
which he had obtained the head of Medusa, to Hermes,
to be returned to the nyrnphs, and the Gorgon's head
he presented to the goddess Athene, who fastened it to
her shield. He lived honoured and esteemed to the
end of his days, and his wife Andromeda bore him
many beautiful children.
104 MYTHS OF HELLAS..
XXVi.
HERACLES.
1. The War ivith the Teleboae.
PERSEUS had been dead a long time, and his son
Electryon who succeeded him as king was already an
old man, when a dispute arose between him and a
nephew of his named Pterelaus. Pterelaus was king
of the Teleboae, who lived on several islands, and he
maintained that he had a better right to the cities of
Mycenae and Tiryns than Electryon, because he was
descended from the eldest son of Perseus ; and one day
he sent his sons, and many of the Teleboae with them,
in ships to Mycenae, and told them to say to Electryon
that he must be prepared to give up the kingdom to
him. Electryon was very angry, and sent the Tele-
boae away without paying any attention to their mes-
sage. They left the city, but on their way back to their
ships they came upon the king's droves of cattle which
were tended by his sons and servants, and they began
to fight with them, and the fight did not stop till all
the sons of Electryon were killed but one, and also
all the sons of Pterelaus except one, who had remained
behind with the ships and had taken no part in the
fight. The Teleboae had however got rather the best
HERACLES. 105
of it, and those of them who were left drove the cattle
to their ships and sailed away. Some time afterwards
it happened that Electryon got back his cattle, for the
Teleboae had given them as a present to a king who
paid them to him for ransom ; but the cattle could not
make up for the loss of his sons for whom he grieved
bitterly, and he determined to be revenged on Ptere-
laus and told his servants to prepare to start with him
for the islands of the Teleboae.
There was at that time at Mycenae a young hero
named Amphitryon, who had come to ask for the hand
of Electryon's daughter Alcmene in marriage, and it
was arranged that he should have charge of the king-
dom during the absence of Electryon. But one day,
just before the king was to start on his expedition, it
happened that he was overlooking his flocks with
Amphitryon, when the young hero threw his stick at
a cow that was leaving the herd, and the stick bounded
back by accident from the cow's horns and hit the aged
Electryon on the head, so that he was killed instantly.
Amphitryon was obliged to leave the kingdom on ac-
count of this unintentional murder, and he went to
Thebes, where King Creon purged him from the stain
of blood by means of numerous sacrifices. During his
absence, however, a brother of Electryon, named
Sthenelus, contrived to gain possession of the kingdom
for him self, and to banish the two children of Electryon,
his daughter Alcmene, and the one son who had not been
killed by the Teleboae. They were obliged to give way
to Sthenelus, who was stronger than they, and came to
live in Thebes where Amphitryon was, but Alcmene
said that though she loved him she would never marry
106 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
lain till he had avenged the murder of her brothers.
Amphitryon accordingly prepared to march against the
Teleboae, and sought to find brave heroes who would
consent to go with him.
He first of all asked KingCreon for his help, but Creou
was just then in great trouble at home, for a fox had
for some time taken up his abode in the fortress Cad-
mea, and had devoured numbers of people ; he was
under the protection of the gods, and it had been
decreed by the Fates that he should never be caught.
So the Thebans, finding that they could not get rid of
him, had made a truce with him by which they agreed
to give him a -boy every month to devour, and on this
condition he spared the rest of the people. Creon
therefore promised to go with Amphitryon if he would
first help him to deliver the country from the terrible
fox. Now Amphitryon had heard that there was a
wonderful dog in Athens which was also under the
protection of the gods, and that it had been decreed
that nothing that he pursued <;ould ever escape him ; so
he went to the hero who owned the dog, and promised
him a share of the spoil which he hoped to bring back
from the islands of the Teleboae if he would lend him the
dog for a time, and the hero agreed to do so. Amphi-
tryon took the dog back to Thebes and set out with
him in pursuit of the fox, and the dog ran after him as
fast as lightning. The Thebans thought that now one
or other of the prophecies must prove false ; either the
fox who was never to be caught would be overtaken, or
the dog who was never to pursue in vain would be
battled. But when the dog had got so close to the fox
that he was on the point of snapping at him, they both
HERACLES. 107
remained motionless, and the Thebans saw that they
had been turned to stone.
Then Creon said that he was quite willing to ac-
company Amphitryon, and the hero of Athens agreed to
go also, and many other heroes, and they all embarked
for the islands of the Teleboae, but they could not con-
quer King Pterelaus, for he had many soldiers and knew
well the art of war. The daughter of Pterelaus, however,
had seen Amphitryon from the city walls and had con-
ceived a great love for him which made her secretly
sorry when the Teleboae conquered, and glad when one
day they were the losers ; and she resolved to betray
her father and her fellow-citizens into the hands of
Amphitryon, because she thought that if she helped
him to gain the victory, he would feel grateful to her
and would make her his wife. .Now Pterelaus was im-
mortal through the good- will of Poseidon, who had
given him a golden hair wirich he kept carefully hidden
away under his grey locks, for it had the power of
keeping him alive. Bat one day while he was asleep,
his daughter came in on tiptoe, sought for the golden
hair and pulled it out, and immediately his breath
stopped short, and Pterelaus was dead.
The Teleboae could no longer resist their enemies
now that they were deprived of the advice of their wise
king, and in a short time Amphitryon had gained pos-
session of the chief town and of all the islands, and had
avenged upon the Teleboae the slaughtej of the sons of
Electryon. The daughter of Pterelaus thought that
she would now be the w T ife of Amphitryon, but things
turned out very differently from her expectations, for
as soon as Amphitryon saw her, he drew his sword and
108 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
stabbed her ; lie knew that she had killed her father,
but he did not know why she had done so. Then the
heroes carried the booty to their ships and sailed away
home.
2. The Birth and Youth of Heracles.
Alcmene was so very beautiful that Zeus, the king
of the gods, loved her, and when Amphitryon was far
away with the other heroes, Zeus took his form and
went to Alcmene. He acted and spoke just like
Amphitryon, and told her all about the battles and
how they had won the victory, and he even showed her
the helmets and shields of the Teleboae, for he had
made Hermes, the messenger of the gods, steal them
from the booty of Amphitryon. Alcmene had no sus-
picion that it was any other than her lover who had
come back after fulfilling her wishes with regard to the
Teleboae. and she promised to marry him that very
day ; and Zeus kissed her and became her husband.
Some time after this, Amphitryon returned to Thebes
and was very much astonished when Alcmene told him
that she had already been married to him. They could
not understand it, and asked the seer Tiresias what it
meant. He told them that it w r as Zeus in the form of
Amphitryon who had been with Alcmene, and the
Tbeban women thought it was a great honour for her
to have been married for a time to the king of the
gods. The wedding was now celebrated over again,
and all the heroes who had been to the war with the
Teleboae feasted with Amphitryon and Alcmene till far
into the night. Some time afterwards, Alcmene had
two children whom she named Heracles and Iphicles ;
HERACLES. 109
one was the son of Zeus, and the other the son of Am-
phitryon. There was no difficulty in knowing which
was the child of the god, for Heracles was far bigger
than such young children usually are. Gods and men
took pleasure in the fine strong child, all but the god-
dess Hera, who hated him, and even before his birth
began to do all she could to injure him. Zeus had
decreed that the next child born of the race of Perseus
should rule over the cities of Mycenae and Tiryns,
thinking that this would be Heracles, for Alcmene was
the granddaughter of Perseus ; but Hera persuaded the
goddesses who arranged about the birth of children to
let a son of Sthenelus, Alcrnene's uncle, be born first.
His father named him Eurystheus, and as he had been
born before Heracles, he became king of the two cities of
Mycenae and Tiryns after the death of Sthenelus.
Heracles was about eight months old, when one
morning, just as it was beginning to grow light, Hera
sent two great snakes into the room where he was
sleeping, near the bed of Alcmene, in one of the shields
which Amphitryon had brought back from the country
of the Teleboae as part of the spoil. The snakes crept
into the shield and began to twine themselves round
the child. Just then Alcmene woke, and she jumped
up and ran to call the people of the house to kill the
snakes, though she was afraid it was even then too late,
and that the child must have already been crushed to
death by them. But when she came back with the
others, she saw Heracles sitting up in the shield and
holding one of the snakes in each hand ; he had seized
them each by the neck, and was squeezing them so
tight that their tongues were hanging out, and very
110 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
soon they were dead. Then he threw them away and
went to sleep again; and the Thebans knew that a
mighty hero had been born in their city.
When Heracles grew older, he learned all the
things that heroes need to know, how to guide the
war-chariot, how to use the spear and bow, and how to
fight with the fist and the sword. He was taught all
this by the noblest heroes, and also by a Centaur named
Chiron, who, like all the Centaurs, had a curious form
- half of their body was that of a man, and the other
half that of a horse. Chiron had been specially gifted
with immortality, and he was very wise, and taught
Heracles many things, especially how to know the stars,
and how to heal wounds, and he told him stories of
the gods and of the old heroes.
Heracles could easily be distinguished from all other
men, for when he was eighteen years old he measured
eight feet in height, and he had marvellous strength,
and his eyes glittered like coals of fire. He had more-
over a generous nature, and was always ready to help
all true and good men. Amphitryon made him keeper
of his flocks which pastured on Mount Cithaeron, and
never before had such a lordly herdsman been seen.
It happened once that a lion took up his abode on the
mountain, and broke in among the flocks, and Heracles
thought to himself, < If I were to kill the lion, my flocks
would not only be able to feed in safety, but I should
also get a handsome skin to dress myself in.' So he
set out for the mountain-passes where the lion had his
lair, armed with nothing but a strong stick and a
knife. When he came to the lion's cave, the huge
beast sprang out upon him, but Heracles gave him a
HERACLES. Ill
good blow on the nose which made him stagger back,
and when he had nearly beaten him to death with
his stick, he finally gave him a mortal blow with
the knife. Then he sat down quietly, and cut open the
body of the lion and took off the skin, which he put on
as a cloak as soon as it was dry. The jaws covered his
head like a helmet, while the rest of the skin fell from
his shoulders to his knees, and he twisted the fore-feet
into a knot over his chest in order to prevent the wind
from blowing it off. In this fashion he came down
from the mountain, and anyone who had seen him
from behind would have thought that a lion had grown
out of his shoulders. It never occurred to him, how-
ever, that he had done anything out of the way in
killing the lion.
Some time afterwards, there came along the road
some men who had been sent by Erginus, the king of
the powerful Minyae, to demand tribute from the
Thebaus. Ten years before this a Theban had thrown
a stone at the father of Erginus and hit him on the
head, so that he was carried home dying. Before he
expired he charged his son to avenge his blood, and
Erginus made war upon the Thebans and killed a
number of them. He had also made them give him a
hundred cows every year for the last nine years, and the
messengers were now on their way to fetch the tribute
for the tenth time. Heracles asked them who they were
and where they were going, and when he heard that
they were the messengers of the Minyae, his blood
boiled so that he grew quite red in the face, for it
angered him to think that the city of Thebes, to which
he himself belonged, should pay tribute to a foreign
112 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
king. He told the messengers to return and never
come again, and when they refused to obey, he threw
them on the ground, notwithstanding their numbers,
and tied their hands behind their backs ; then he cut
off their ears and noses, and told them to take these to
the king for tribute. Thus outraged, the messengers
returned and entreated the king to avenge them, and
Erginus swore that he would not leave a man alive in
Thebes, nor one stone upon another. But Heracles
went to Thebes and called the citizens to arms, saying
that he would be their leader. The gods equipped him
right gloriously for the fight : Hermes gave him a sword,
Apollo a bow and arrows, Hephaestus trappings of pure
gold, and Athene a coat of mail. But a sword was too
light and delicate a weapon for the powerful hand of
Heracles, so he went out into the forest and tore up a
stout young oaktree, which he trimmed and used as
a club. When the battle began, Heracles looked, in
comparison with the Minyae, like a lion among a flock
of sheep. He killed King Erginus and put his army
to flight, and obliged the Minyae to give the Thebans
two hundred cows every year tor the future. King
Creon had a beautiful daughter named Megara, and he
gave her to Heracles for a wife out of gratitude to
him for having conquered the Minyae.
3. The Madness of Heracles, and his First Six Labours.
Heracles loved his wife very dearly, and the gods sent
them three beautiful children, all of whom were sons.
They lived a peaceful and happy life together, Heracles
went out hunting and killed wild beasts, and when he
HERACLES. 1 1 3
came home he played with his children. But Hera still
hated him, and she one day afflicted him with such
terrible madness that in his delusion he seized his
children and threw them into the fire, so that they
perished miserably. When the madness left him he
could hardly endure life, so distressed was he at what he
had done, and he could not bear to remain in the place
where such a misfortune had happened to him. He
left Thebes and went, first of all, to a man who knew
how to purge him from the stain of blood ; then he be-
took himself to Delphi and asked the Pythia where he
must live in the future. The Pythia answered, ' Go to
Mycenae and serve King Eurystheus for twelve years ;
allow him to impose upon you twelve hard Labours, and
accomplish these to the best of your power.' Heracles
was well pleased with this sentence, and was quite willing
to perform the most difficult tasks, even such as would
be set him by a deadly enemy like Eurystheus who
hated and feared Heracles, thinking that he would some
day take away the kingdom from him because it had
belonged to his own grandfather Electryon. Heracles
went to Mycenae and said to Eurystheus that he would
serve him for the space of twelve years, and that during
fhat time he would accomplish any twelve tasks that
Eurystheus might choose to set him. The king was
very glad to hear this, and he at once commanded
Heracles to bring him the skin of the Nemean lion,
hoping that he would perish in trying to secure it.
The Nemean lion had his lair near the town of
Nemea, and his fame had spread far and wide. He had
never bled from a wound, for his skin was so thick that
no steel could pierce it. Heracles set out in pursuit tf
I
114 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
the lion, and when he had found him, he shot at him
with, his bow and arrows, but they bounded off as if
from the hardest stone. Finding that the arrows were
of no use, Heracles then attacked him with his club,
but the lion did not care to fight with him and ran
away into the thickest part of the forest. Heracles
ran after him, and chased him from morning till night.
At last he came to a great cave and ran in there.
Heracles noticed that the cave had another mouth, and
he thought to himself, ' If I were to go in after him,
he would still be able to escape.' So he first of all
brought stones and blocked up one of the entrances,
while the lion, who had never run so far before in
one day, lay quietly in the dark inside, tired and
frightened, and then he went into the cave and
wrestled with him. The roaring of the lion echoed
horribly from the walls of the cave, but Heracles was
not frightened, and he wound his arm round the neck
of the beast and pressed him with all his might against
his own body until he died. Heracles could not take
off his skin for he had brought no knife with him,
so he hoisted the whole lion on to his shoulders, and
went back to Mycenae. When he threw the huge
beast on to the ground before Eurystheus, the king
turned pale for his bad conscience made him afraid,
and he thought, ' If he can strangle a lion like this,
he would certainly not find it difficult to make an end
of me.' So he at once sent him off to perform his
second Labour, which was to destroy the Lernean
Hydra, and during his absence he had an iron room
built under the earth that looked like a cage for wild
beasts, for it had a grating of iron bars. This was for
HERACLES. 115
Eurystheus to get into when Heracles carne back, in
order that he might speak to him through the grating ?
so terribly afraid was he of the strong man.
Heracles set out in a war chariot, taking with him
his young cousin lolaus as his charioteer, and they
soon came to the marshy district near the town of
Lerne, where the Hydra lived. The Hydra was a huge
snake with one body and nine heads, the centre one of
which was immortal. She devoured any men or beasts
that came near her, and destroyed the fields of corn.
She had her den in a cavern close by a clear running
stream, and when Heracles and lolaus arrived at the
place, she was lying stretched out on the ground, for
she had just swallowed a few cows. She looked at the
heroes with all her staring eyes, but did not move,
because she was not hungry. However Heracles did
not care to wait, so he threw burning javelins at her,
which scorched her skin and made her furious with
pain. She crept out of the cavern and glided up a tall
oak tree, and all her nine heads shot down venom at
Heracles from above him. But Heracles was on the
alert ; he held his club in his right hand, and twined his
left arm round the Hydra just at the place where the
ninefold neck grew out of her body, and when she lashed
her tail about, he pressed her still more tightly against
himself, so that she would have been only too glad to
run away if she could. Now the Hydra had formed a
friendship with a great lobster, and he, seeing that
his friend was in danger, crept up to Heracles and
scratched his foot with his claws. But he got decidedly
the worst of it, for Heracles smote his shell with his
club and broke it into a thousand pieces, so that the
i 2
U6 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
poor lobster died. Then Heracles heaved a mighty
blow on one of the Hydra's nine heads and struck it
off, but two new heads immediately sprang from the
bleeding neck, and every time he smote off a head, two
more sprang up to replace it. Heracles now saw that
he must set to work in a different manner, so he told
lolaus to set- the forest on fire, and to pass a piece of
burning wood over each neck as soon as he had cut off
the head. In this way all the roots from which the
heads grew were burnt away, and Heracles was thus able
to kill all the heads that were mortal. The last was
immortal, but he hewed it off also, and buried it, arid
rolled a huge stone on to the top of it. After this, there
came a rain which extinguished the burning forest.
The gall of the Hydra was the worst poison in the
world, so Heracles cut open the Hydra's body and
dipped his arrows into the gall, which made them
absolutely deadly : if a man were only scratched even,
by an arrow poisoned in this way, he must die.
Eurystheus was in his cage when Heracles came
back from his conflict with the Hydra, and he com-
manded him to catch the Ceryneian hind, and .bring
her alive to Mycenae. This hind was under the pro-
tection of Artemis the goddess of the chase, and was
very beautiful : her coat was milk-white, and her horns
were of the purest gold. She could run so fast that
the wind was quite out of breath when he tried to race
with her, and, after having run the whole day long, she
would skip about quite merrily without being in the
least tired. At the command of Eurystheus, Heracles
gave chase to her, and they took neither rest nor food,
nor did they need rain or sunshine, but ran on day and
HERACLES. 1 \'i
right without stopping for a whole year. At last they
came to a river, and while the hind was hesitating
whether she should jump into it, Heracles quickly took
an unpoisoned arrow and shot at her. The purple-red
biood flowed out over her little white coat, and she
groaned with pain. She forgot to run away, and
Heracles was able to seize her. He had only wounded
her slightly with the arrow because he did not want to
do her any harm, and now he laid cooling herbs upon
the wound, and placing the hind on his shoulder, he
carried her to Mycenae, and as soon as Eurystheus had
seen her, he set her free again and let her run back
into the forest.
That was the third Labour of Heracles. For the
fourth, Eurystheus commanded him to catch the
Erymanl hian boar alive. This boar lived on Mount
Erymanthus, and no huntsman who had tried to kill
him had ever come back alive, for the boar had always
ripped open his body with his tusks.
On his way to Mount Erymanthus, Heracles came
to the country of the Centaurs. They were a savage,
unfriendly race, who had no regard for the duties of
hospitality ; but one of them, named Pholus, was better
than the others, and he gave Heracles shelter in his
cave. He made a fire and roasted a calf for his guest,
but he himself ate raw meat as he was accustomed to
do. Heracles enjoyed his meal very much for the long
journey had made him hungry, and as he was also
thirsty, he asked the Centaur for a draught of wine.
Pholus said, ' It is true that I have a great cask of wine
in my cave, but it belongs to all the Centaurs in common,
and if they knew that you had drunk an} r of it, they
118 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
might kill you.' But Heracles said he was not afraid,
so Pholus rolled out the cask and drew some wine from
it. But the wine had such a strong odour that the
Centaurs smelt it, and they all came to the cavern with
clubs and spears to kill Heracles. At first he defended
himself with firebrands only, as he did not wish to do
more than drive them away, but finding that they would
not leave him alone, he seized his bow and shot at them
with the poisoned arrows, and everyone who was hit
fell down dead. When the others saw that, they took
to flight, but Heracles had by this time grown furious,
and vowing that he would not leave one of them alive,
he pursued them, and they could not escape from his
aiTows. In their distress they ran to the wise Centaur
Chiron who had been the teacher of Heracles, and em-
braced his knees, entreating him to ask Heracles to
have mercy on them. But Heracles would not stop
shooting, and only took care not to hit Chiron, and his
eye was so true that he could be sure of hitting nothing
that he did not aim at. But an arrow went right
through the arm of one of the Centaurs who had
embraced Chiron *s knees, and its point grazed his skin.
Heracles was very much distressed, he threw his bow
down on the ground, and ran to get herbs that heal
poisonous wounds. But no herb had any power to heal
the Hydra's poison, and Chiron suffered horrible tor-
ture, so that his immortality was a burden to him.
Then he prayed to Zeus to take away his immortality,
and Zeus heard him and allowed him to die. But
Heracles did not stay with him till his death, for he was
now more angry with the Centaurs than ever, and he
ran after them and overtook them. They would all
HERACLES. 119
have perished if Poseidon had not had pity on them
and caused a wall of granite to spring up suddenly
out of the earth round the Centaurs to protect them
from him. Then Heracles was obliged to leave them,
and he turned back and went on his way with a heavy
heart, full of sad thoughts about Chiron. As soon as
he was out of sight, the wall sank back into the earth,
and the Centaurs were able to go home in peace.
When Heracles reached the foot of Mount Ery-
manthus he prepared a noose in which to catch the
wild boar, and soon afterwards he saw him sharpening
his tusks against an oak tree. Heracles raised a cry
which made the whole forest echo, and the strong boar
took to flight. It was winter, and the upper part of
the mountain was covered with deep snow. Heracles
chased the boar up the mountain till he had driven
him into a snow-field, through which the wild beast
plodded panting, till he was quite tired out and could
go no further, and then Heracles slipped the noose over
his neck and secured him. Then he tied his feet to-
gether and threw him, feet uppermost, over his left
shoulder, putting his arm round his neck to prevent him
from using his tusks, and in this manner he journeyed
back to Mycenae. Most men would not have thought
it very cheerful work to travel with such a companion,
but Heracles was not at all concerned; on the contrary,
it was the boar who was trembling. Heracles showed
the boar to Eurystheus through the grating, and then
killed him.
Heracles now set out to perform his fifth Labour,
and this time his task was to cleanse the stables of
Augeas in a single day. Augeas was a rich king of
120 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
Elis, who had three thousand cattle. At night the
cattle always stood in a great court surrounded with
walls, close to the king's palace, and as it was quite ten
years since the servants had cleaned it out, there was
enough refuse in the court to build up a high mountain.
Heracles went to Augeas and asked if he would give
him the tenth part of his flocks if he thoroughly cleansed
his stables in a single day. The king looked upon this
as such an absolutely impossible feat that he would not
have minded promising his kingdom as a reward for it,
so he laughed and said, ' Set to work, we shall not
quarrel about the wages,' and he further promised dis-
tinctly to give Heracles what he asked, and this he did
in the presence of Phyleus, his eldest son, who happened
to be there. The next morning Heracles set to work,
but even his strong arms would have failed 'to accom-
plish the task if they had not been aided by his mother-
wit. He compelled a mighty torrent to wqfk for him,
but you would hardly guess how he did it. First he
opened great gates on two opposite sides of the court,
and then he went to the stream, and when he had
blocked up its regular course with great stones, he
conducted it to the court that required to be cleansed,
so that the water streamed in at one end and streamed
out at the other, carrying away all the dirt with it.
Before evening the stream had done its work and was
restored to its usual course.
But when Heracles demanded his reward, Augeas
denied that he had promised it. However he said that
he would summon a court of justice and would abide by
its decision, for he thought to himself, The only one
who heard me make the promise i, my son, and he
HERACLES. 121
will not witness against me.' A number of wise old
men were accordingly summoned to the palace to be
judges, and Phyleus was called upon to witness. But
Phyleus cared more for justice than for his father's ad-
vantage, and he said that Augeas had promised the
tenth part of his flocks to Heracles as a reward for
cleansing the stables. Then Augeas grew furious, and
would not allow the judges to pronounce the sentence,
but banished both Heracles and Phyleus from the
country, threatening that if ever they were caught in
his kingdom they would forfeit their lives. Heracles
went away without his reward, but he promised himself
that when the twelve Labours were accomplished, he
would come back and punish the king for his faith-
lessness.
Again Heracles set out at the command of Eurys-
theus, and this time he had to drive away the . Stym-
phalian birds, this was his sixth Labour. Near the
city of Stymphalus, in the land of Arcadia, there was a
great lake, whose shores were covered with very dense
forests where countless birds had built their nests.
These birds were as large as cranes, and very thievish,
and there was such a number of them that if they had
all flown out at once and assembled above the water, it
would have been pitch-dark all over the great lake.
Heracles went to the edge of the lake and listened to
the noise that the birds made, but he could not get at
them, for they kept themselves hidden among the thick
boughs where no arrow could reach them. Heracles
could not think of any means of chasing them from
among the trees, and was almost in despair, when the
goddess Athene, who loved all good and brave men,
122 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
came to his assistance. She gave him a great iron
rattle that Hephaestus had made, and when Heracles
shook it, it made such a fearful noise that all the birds
flew out screaming. Then Heracles shot arrow after
arrow among them ; a great many of them fell dead
into the lake, and the rest were so much frightened
that they flew far away and never came back again.
4. The Last Six Labours.
The seventh Labour that Eurystheus imposed upon
Heracles was to bring the Cretan bull to Mycenae. In
the island of Crete lived King Minos, who was very
wise, and who was allowed to hold intercourse with the
gods. One day, when the Cretans were on the sea-
shore offering sacrifices to Poseidon, the king prayed
that Poseidon would send him a bull out of the sea for
sacrifice, for he wanted to show the Cretans \vhat great
regard the gods had for him. Immediately there came,
borne to the shore upon the swelling waves, a most
beautiful bull, and Minos was so fascinated by its
beauty that he did not keep his word, but sacrificed
another bull and put the one that came out of the sea
among his flocks. Poseidon punished him by making
the bull mad ; he killed the herdsmen and escaped into
the forest, and did so much damage that the king re-
pented of having broken his word. When Heracles
came to him and said that he wanted to catch the bull,
Minos gladly supplied him with ropes and spears, for
he would not have minded paying a heavy price in order
to get the plague removed from the country. Heracles
went into the forest and soon found his way to the bull,
HI RAGLES. 123
for he was guided to him by the bellowing he made.
When he came near, he threw a spear at him in order
to irritate him. The bull ran at him furiously, lower-
ing his horns to toss him into the air, but Heracles
waited quietly till he came up, and then he seized his
horns and held them fast, so that the bull could not raise
his head again. They went on for some time pulling at
each other, and the bull dragged Heracles about from
place to place, bellowing horribly all the time. He was
a huge powerful animal, but he could not get his horns
free, and only tired himself to no purpose. At last he
was quite exhausted, and Heracles made a halter out
of the rope he had brought with him and wound it
round his neck, and the bull followed him quite quietly.
The Cretans ran together to look at the strong man
leading the fierce bull, and were astonished to see the
bull walking so quietly by his side. Heracles got into his
ship and sailed back to Mycenae with the bull, and when
he had led him through the city, he let him go free.
You will hear more of him again by-and-by. 1
The eighth Labour of Heracles was that of procuring
the horses of Diomedes. Diomedes was a king of Thrace,
a savage and cruel man, who cared for nothing in the
world but his fierce horses which he fed upon human
flesh ; and every stranger that came into his country
was thrown to the horses. Heracles knew that he would
not be able to obtain the horses unless he first con-
quered the king and his people, and he therefore took
with him a number of brave heroes who were glad to
accompany him on this expedition. As soon as the ship
landed in Thrace, the heroes went to the stables, killed
1 For the rest of the story of the Cretan bull, see p. 184.
12-i MYTHS OF HELLAS.
the keeper, and brought away the horses ; one of them
was going to bite, but Heracles gave him such a sound
blow that he had something else to think of. They had
almost reached the shore, when they looked back and
saw King Diomedes coming after them followed by a
number of soldiers, so they tied up the horses and
turned round again. Then a fierce battle took place,
for the Thracians were a warlike people, but at last
they were all killed, and their king made prisoner.
Heracles said that he should die by the same death that
he had inflicted on others, and he loosed the horses of
Diomedes and gave him to them to devour. The king
cried out in an agony to his horses, ' Have I not been kind
to you and taken care of you ? ' But they had become
so fierce through eating human flesh that they did not
spare even their own master. One tore off his arm,
another bit him in the chest, and a third in the thigh,
and they soon tore him to pieces, so that he perished
miserably. Heracles then caught the horses again and
took them home, and when he had shown them to
Eurystheus, he drove them to the foot of Mount
Olympus where they were devoured by wild beasts.
King Eurystheus had a daughter, who was con-
tinually begging him to procure for her the girdle of
the Queen of the Amazons. This beautiful girdle was
world-famed ; it had been given to the queen by Ares,
the god of war, and she wore it as a mark of royalty.
Eurystheus knew that to secure the queen's girdle
would be a task of great danger and difficulty, and
therefore he told Heracles that this was to be his ninth
Labour. So Heracles again set sail with his companions,
and they journeyed for many days till they came to the
HERACLES. 12")
country of the Amazons, who lived in Asia, near the
river Thermodon. There were no men amongst them.
f but they were all women, and very remarkable women,
too. They liked war better than anything else, and
were so well skilled in riding and in shooting with the
bow that no army was feared so much as the army of
the Amazons. When Heracles reached their country,
they happened to be in a meadow near the sea practising
with their weapons of war, all but the queen, who was
sitting on the shore looking out over the sea, with her
girdle glittering in the sunshine. When she saw the
ship coining, she wondered who could be the strangers
that ventured into her country, and most of all she
marvelled at the sight of Heracles who was standing
in the fore-part of the ship, dressed in his lion's skin
and grasping his club. She. asked him who he was and
what he wanted, and he answered, ' I am Heracles, the son
of Zeus, and I am performing hard labours in the service
of Eurystheus; he has sent me here to fetch your girdle
and take it back to Mycenae.' When the queen heard
that it was Heracles, whose deeds were spoken of all over
the world, she said that she would make him a present
of the girdle, and came towards the ship to greet him,
holding out her hand. But Hera would not allow
Heracles to carry off the girdle without a struggle,
and taking the form of an Amazon, she went to the
meadow where the others were, and called out to them,
' A stranger is going to rob our queen.' They all rushed
down to the shore and began to shoot at the strangers,
killing many a brave man ; but when Heracles saw
that they treated him and his followers as enemies, he
thought that the queen had meant to act treachous'ly,
126 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
and he slew her, and shot at the Amazons with his
arrows, and killed so many of them that they were soon
obliged to fly. He took the girdle from off the dead
queen and laid her corpse on the shore, and after the
ship had sailed away, the Amazons came and buried
her.
Some days after this, the heroes landed at the city
of Troy, where they found all the people very sorrow-
ful because an innocent maiden was to suffer death on
account of the crime of her father Laomedon, the king
of Troy. The gods Poseidon and Apollo, in order to
try Laomedon, had entered into an engagement with
him, by which they undertook to build a wall round the
city that could never be destroyed. The wall was soon
finished, but Laomedon, who was very miserly and who
did not know that he had to deal with gods instead of
men, refused to give the reward that had been agreed
upon. Both the gods punished him for this. Apollo
sent a pestilence into the land which destroyed both
men and cattle, and Poseidon created a monster who
came up every day out of the sea, and laid waste the
fields devouring every living thing that he met with.
Even after the pestilence had ceased, the monster still
came every day, and took his fill of blood. The Trojans
asked the Oracle how they could get rid of him, and the
Oracle answered that the king's young daughter Hesione
must be given him to eat. The Trojans were very
fond of the beautiful maiden, but as they were all in
danger of perishing, they demanded of Laomedon that
he should give up his daughter as a victim. The king
shed many tears, but at last he consented, and when the
heroes landed, Hesione had just been brought to the
HERACLES. 127
shore, and chained to a rock at the spot where the
monster was accustomed to leave the sea. Heracles
heard from the Trojans how it had all happened, and
he went to the king and said that if he would give him
the two horses he had received from Zeus, he woull
slay the monster. These horses had been given to
Laomedon by Zeus to make up for the loss of his son
Ganymede, a most beautiful boy, whom Zeus had caused
his sacred eagle to steal away and carry off to Mount
Olympus, where Granymede lived from that time with
the gods, gifted with immortality and eternal youth.
When Heracles demanded these horses as his reward
for rescuing Hesione, Laomedon did not hesitate to
promise them, though they were the most beautiful
horses in all the world, for he felt willing to part with
anything he possessed in order to save his daughter.
Then Heracles placed himself by the side of Hesione
with a naked sword in his hand, and when the horrible
monster came out of the sea, opening his huge jaws to
devour the maiden, Heracles jumped down his throat and
wriggled himself down into his body, and then he cut
away all his entrails, so that the monster rolled about
on the ground in pain, howling horribly. When Heracles
thought he was dead, he crept up again out of the body
and washed himself clean in the sea. The king was
very glad that his daughter was saved, but avarice
again took possession of him and prevented him from
keeping his promise to Heracles. He tried to deceive
him with fair speeches, but Heracles understood per-
fectly well that he was a faithless man, and he told him
that he would return and punish him.
Heracles sailed back to Mycenae, and gave the girdle
128 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
of the Queen of the Amazons to Eurystheus. The
king 1 gave it to his daughter who was very much
pleased with it, and at the same time he told Heracles
that for his tenth Labour he was to fetch the cattle
of Geryon. Wonderful stories had been brought by
sailors of an island in the stream Oceanus, near the
setting sun, where there lived a king named Geryon
who possessed the strength of three men, for he had
three bodies, six arms, and six legs. The sailors also
told of the king's wonderful reddish-brown cattle which
formed the chief part of his riches, and how no one
dared to rob his flocks, because they were guarded day
and night by a dog with two heads, who barked until
he had roused a strong herdsman by whom the robber
was killed without much loss of time.
Heracles set out to look for the island, and went on
and on towards the West till he came to countries where
the people were quite savage and barbarous. By-and-
by he reached the extreme end of Europe where
Africa is only separated from it by a narrow channel,
and as he wished to leave some token to show how far
he had journeyed, he broke off two huge rocks and set
them up in the sea, and ever since that time, the sailors
who pass through these two mountains of rock look up at
them and say, ' Those are the Pillars of Heracles.' At last
he came to the end of the land, and as he stood on the
shore wondering how he should manage to reach the
island of Geryon, the sun, which is much hotter in those
parts than it is here, smote upon his head. This
annoyed him very much, and as he was in the habit of
paving back anyone who did him an injury, he now
took his bow and arrows and shot at the sun-god- But
HEKACLLS. 129
instead of being angry with, him, Helios the sun- god
admired him for his boldness in being so ready to
fight even with gods, and he came down and gave him
the golden shell in which he travels from West to East
in the evening after sunset. It was an exceedingly
large shell, and Heracles sailed over the sea in it till
he came to the island of Geryon. The beautiful herd
was in a meadow where the' grass stood so high that
it reached far above their knees. When Heracles came
to the herd, the great dog started up, barking out of
his two heads, but Heracles quickly put an end to that,
for he gave him such a blow with his club that his
backbone was broken through. The herdsman had
however already awoke, and he came running down,
intending to kill the robber as he had killed many
a one before, but this time he himself met with his
death by a blow from the list of Heracles, who then
drove off the cattle towards the sea. But someone
told King Geryon that his cattle were being stolen,
and he ran after the robber in a great rage, throwing
big stones at him and screaming with all his might.
Heracles waited till he came up, and then they wrestled
together. Geryon wound his six arms round him
hoping to throw him, but they both fell at the same
time, and Geryon was the undermost. Heracles set
one knee on his body, but as he leaned over to reach a,
stone to kill him with, Geryon managed to spring up
and tried to run away. Heracles, however, shot three
arrows through his three hearts, and he fell down dead.
Then Heracles went off with the herd, and when he
had brought them safely to the mainland he returned
the shell to the sun-god, thanking him heartily for his
K
130 MYTIJrf OF HOLLAS.
help. He had to Lake the cattle through many lands
before they finally arrived in Greece, and on his way
lie came to the part of Italy where Rome was after-
wards built. It happened to be the hot noontide, and
Heracles lay down under the shade of a tree and let the
herd graze. Now it chanced that in a cave under the
Mount Aventinus there lived the giant Cacus, who was
very hideous to look at, and who could cook his food in
his own mouth, for fire and flames spouted out of it
whenever he liked. Cacus was a great robber, and
when he saw the beautiful cattle he set his mind on
having some of them, but Heracles looked so strong
that he did not dare to take them by force, so he waited
till he was asleep, and then he came out of his cave
and pulled several of the cows backwards into it by
their tails, so that the footprints in the sand looked
like those of cows that had been driven out of the cave
to pasture. When it became cooler, Heracles awoke
and counted his cattle ; there were too few of them, but
he could not find any traces of the direction in which
they had gone, and was obliged to pass on without
them. But just as they were going over Mount
Aventinus one of the bulls chanced to bellow, and those
in the cave of Cacus answered, because they wanted to
go on with the others. Heracles immediately knew
what had become of his cattle, and hastened down to
the cave. The giant had shoved a huge fragment of
rock in front of the entrance, but Heracles in his
anger was even stronger than usual, and he threw
down the rock with a noise that made the whole moun-
tain tremble. Cacus was afraid of him, and sat cower-
ing in a corner of the cave, spouting out smoke and
HERACLES. 131
flames to prevent him from coming near. But Heracles
did not inind the flames, and he seized Cacus by the
neck and strangled him; then he dragged him out to
the light, and wondered to see how ugly he was. The
stolen cattle came out of the cave of their own accord
and joined the others, and Heracles drove them on
further.
Some time after this, when he had nearly reached
Mycenae and was travelling along the sea-shore, Hera
sent a great gnat that flew about among the cattle
humming and buzzing and stinging first one and then
another, till they became quite unmanageable and ran
away in different directions. Several jumped into the
sea, and Heracles jumped in after them and brought
back all that he could reach, pulling in some by their
horns and driving others in front of him, but the greater
number of them swam out into the open sea and
perished. Then he set to work to collect those that
had escaped into the forest, and tired himself till night-
fall with running after them, which gave Hera great
pleasure. All that he could recover he brought to
Mycenae, and Eurystheus sacrificed them to Hera.
Heracles had now only two more Labours to accom-
plish, and Eurystheus pondered night and day as to
what would be the most difficult and dangerous task
he could set him. At last he told him that for his
eleventh Labour he was to fetch three apples from the
Garden of the Hesperides, although no mortal knew
where the Garden was. When Zeus and Hera were
married, the Earth had caused an apple tree to spring
up, which she gave them as her present, and which was
covered with apples of pure gold. Hera planted the tree
K 2
132 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
on an island in Oceanus which had never been trodden
by the foot of any mortal, and in course of time a
whole garden grew from it, in which all the trees bore
golden apples. The garden was tended by three nymphs
called the Singing Hesperides, and it was guarded by a
dragon. Heracles never allowed himself to be discour-
aged, however hard his task might lie, but always set
about it in good spirits, confident of success, and he
now went about asking everyone where the Hesperides
lived. One day he came to a river, and some nymphs
who were sitting on the bank asked him where he was
going. He said, ' King Eurystheus has sent me to
fetch him three apples from the Garden of the
Hesperides, but I do not know where the Garden is.'
One of the nymphs said, 'We do not know either, but
ISereus, the old sea-god, can tell you, for he knows
everything, both in earth and heaven.' Then they told
Heracles where to find Nereus, and what to do in order
to oblige him to answer his questions. Nereus lived in
the sea, but about mid-day he came up on to the land
and lay down in a grotto to sleep. When he was
asleep, Heracles came and seized him by the arms, and
Nereus, waking up, found himself a prisoner. He
changed himself first into a wolf, and then into a lion,
and lastly into a dragon, hoping that Heracles would
be frightened and let go, but the nymphs had prepared
him for these tricks, and instead of loosening his hold
on the sea-god, he on the contrary held him tighter
and tighter, till at last Nereus had to give in, and ask
him what he wanted. When he heard what it was, he
gave Heracles an exact description of where the Hespe-
rides lived, and how to get there ; it was a very long
HERACLES. 133
way off, even farther than to the island of King Geryon,
but Heracles would not be disheartened, and at once
began his journey.
On the way he came to Libya, where there reigned
a king named Antaeus who would not allow any
stranger to pass through his land without wrestling
with him ; and hitherto he had overcome and killed them
all, for he was a son of the Earth, and his mother gave
him new strength every time he touched her. Heracles
wrestled with Antaeus and threw him on to the ground
three times, but each time the king sprang up again
stronger than before. Then Heracles perceived that the
Earth gave him strength, and he raised him up in the
air so that he did not touch the earth at all, and
squeezed him against his own body till he died.
After this he continued his journey till he came to
Egypt, where King Busiris lived, who every year sacri-
ficed a stranger to the gods. Some time before this,
the land had been unfruitful for nine years, so that
many people died of hunger, and a soothsayer in a dis-
tant island who heard of this and hoped to earn a good
reward without much trouble, went to Egypt and told
the king that he knew by his art that the only way in
which he could be reconciled to the gods was by sacri-
ficing a stranger to them every year. But instead
of giving him the reward he looked for, the king
offered him up as the first sacrifice, and after this he
seized a stranger every year for the same purpose.
When Heracles entered the country, the king's servants
happened to be on the look-out for a stranger, for the
time of the yearly sacrifice had come round, and finding
Heracles asleep by the wayside, they bound him with
134 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
many strong cords and brought him before the king.
Heracles acted as if he had no choice but to submit to this
treatment, but when the priest came with the sacrificial
knife in his hand to give him the death-blow, he burst
asunder the cords, and snatching the knife from the
priest, stabbed the king whom nobody interfered to
save, for lie was a cruel man and greatly dreaded by his
subjects. After this, the Egyptians offered no more
human sacrifices, and yet their land remained fruitful,
for the soothsayer who had commanded the sacrifice
was a false prophet.
Heracles passed on through other lands till he came
to the extreme end of the world where the giant Atlas
lived, who had had an irksome task imposed upon
him by the gods. He had to support the vault of
heaven with his head and hands, and if he had
neglected his duty even for a moment, the heaven
would have fallen and crushed the earth to atoms.
Heracles told Atlas of the errand on which he had been
sent, and Atlas, who was only too glad to have an
opportunity of resting his shoulders and stretching his
legs, said that he would go and fetch the apples, if
Heracles would meanwhile take his place in supporting
the heaven. So Atlas went to the Garden, and the
nymphs gave him the apples because he was their
uncle, so that it was not long before he returned with
them. But he found freedom so much more agreeable
than the fulfilment of his task, that when he eame back
he said to Heracles, C I have supported the heaven
quite long enough, and now you must take your turn.
Heracles thought to himself, c If my wits fail me now,
there will be no help for me.' so he pretended to agree,
HERACLES. 135
and said, ' Very well, but just let me first put my lion's
skin over my head to keep the heaven from pressing so
heavily upon it.' Then Atlas laid down the apples
upon the ground and took up his burden again, think-
ing it was just for a minute, but Heracles took up the
golden apples and went away and left him, and Atlas has
ever since been obliged to support the heaven because he
let himself be duped in this way. Heracles returned
to Mycenae and showed Eurystheus the golden apples,
which glittered so brightly that when the sun shone
one could hardly bear to look at them ; then he gave
them to the goddess Athene, who took them back to
the Garden of the Hesperides, for Hera would have been
angry if she had kept them.
Eurystheus decreed that the twelfth and last Labour
of Heracles should be to fetch the hideous dog Cerberus
from the Lower World. There was a chain of bare,
rugged mountains, in the centre of which was a yawn-
ing chasm stretching down far below the earth, and
anyone who had the courage to go down it, came at
last to the Lower World, where the shades of the dead
go when they leave the earth. The gate of the Land of
Shades was guarded by the great dog Cerberus, who
stood there as watchman, and let everyone go in, but no
one pass out again. His appearance was truly fright-
ful, for he had three heads glistening all over with
serpents which grew there instead of hair, and his tail
was also an angry serpent with sharp teeth. As
Heracles went down the chasm, he made up his mind
that he would not try and steal the dog, but would tell
Pluto that Eurystheus had commanded him to fetch him,
and beg that he might be allowed to take him away. At
136 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
last he reached the Land of Shades, where there is
neither day nor night, but always grey twilight, and he
saw many thousand shades flitting about like moths in
the dusk. They slipped aw,iy as soon as he came near
them, but their flight could not be heard but only seen,
for their forms were without substance. They were
also without any power of thinking, but Heracles knew
that they could gain both speech and consciousness by
drinking blood, and as the flock of Pluto was grazing
near, he seized a cow with the intention of killing it ;
but before he could do so, the herdsman ran after him
in a rage and struck him. Heracles let go the cow, and
turning to the herdsman, he rained blows upon him with
his fists until he screamed with all his might for help.
Queen Persephone heard his cries, and coming out of
her palace, she begged Heracles to leave off beating the
herdsman, which he did for her sake. Then she asked
him why li. had corne into the Lower World, and when
he told her, she took him to her husband, King Pluto,
who said he would allow him to take the dog to the
Upper World on condition that he captured him without
the help of any weapons. Heracles put on a shield
that Pluto gave him and went back to the gate, where
Cerberus greeted him with a growl, showing all his
great teeth. However Heracles did not mind that,
but grasping the part of his neck which belonged to
the middle head, he pinched it tightly with his power-
ful fingers. The serpents bit him in the arm and the
leg, causing him great pain, but instead of letting go
the head he only pinched it the harder, so that at last
the dog was forced to give in, and he led him up the
path without any further difficulty. When they came
HERACLES. 137
to the daylight however, Cerberus moaned, and would
not have gone any farther if Heracles had not com-
pelled him, being the stronger of the two, for the light
of the sun struck him just between the eyes, and hurt
him so much that foam dropped from his mouth ; and
wherever a drop of it fell on the ground, there sprang
up a plant called Nightshade, which still grows, and is a
deadly poison. When Heracles had taken the dog to
Mycenae and shown him to Eurystheus, he brought
him to the mouth of the chasm, and released him.
Then Cerberus rushed back with great bounds into his
beloved darkness, and Heracles heard him barking joy-
fully, long after he w r as out of sight.
5. The Murder of Iphitus, and the Vengeances of
Heracles.
Heracles had now served Eurystheus for twelve
years, and had performed twelve great La hours for him,
the hardest that have ever been accomplished by any
man. During this time Megara had died, and Heracles
now wished to take another wife. He heard that
in Oechalia there was a beautiful maiden named lole,
the daughter of Eurytus, the king of the island of
Kubcea, but that Eurytus had proclaimed that no one
should marry her who could not shoot with the bow
better than himself and his sons. They were the best
archers in the w T hole country, and although many
suitors came to Oechalia, yet when they saw how well
Eurytus could shoot, they all thought it was useless
even to string their bows, and went away home again
in despair. Heracles resolved that he also would go
1 38 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
and sue for lole, and he went out into the open field
with Eurytus and his sons, in order to contend with
them for the prize. All showed marvellous skill in
shooting, but the arrow of Heracles pierced the breast
of a w T ild dove so far off that the others could scarcely
see it till it was brought down, and they were obliged
to confess that he had beaten them. But Eurytus
taunted him and said, ' Would you have me give you
my daughter for your wife ? When the gods send you
children you throw them into the fire.' Heracles was
enraged with Eurytus for mocking at his misfortune,
and he went away vowing that he would one day be
revenged upon him.
Some time after this, a robber stole twelve of the
finest cattle that Eurytus possessed, and he sent his
son Iphitus to look for them. Iphitus went to several
places in search of them, and finally came to Tiryns
where Heracles was. When Heracles saw Iphitus he
was reminded of the way in which his father had in-
sulted him, and it made him so angry that he struck
the boy dead, though afterwards when he became
calmer he would gladly have recalled the deed. He
went to Neleus, the king of Pylos, and begged him to
purge him from the stain of blood, but Neleus, who
was a friend of Eurytus, refused to do so, but on
the contrary banished him from the country, blam-
ing him for what he had done. Heracles found
another wise man who consented to purify him, but
the gods were, notwithstanding this, still angry with
him on account of the murder of Iphitus, and as a
punishment, they visited him with a sore sickness, of
which he could neither get well nor die, and which
HEKACLES. 139
caused him terrible suffering. Heracles went to the
Oracle at Delphi and asked the Pythia what he could
do to have the sickness taken aw T ay from him, but
Apollo, who inspired the Pythia as to what she should
Fay, would not give any answer. Then Heracles got
into a great rage, and he tore up from the ground the
sacred Tripod on which the priestess sat, and carried it
u way on his back. Apollo saw the theft, and he came
down from heaven and demanded the Tripod back
again. No other would have dared to meet his
angry look, but Heracles was not in the least afraid,
and he refused to give it up. They were just going
to fight about it, and had already taken their places
for the struggle, when a thunderbolt fell upon the
ground between them. They knew that this was a
warning from their father Zeus, and they agreed to lay
aside their ill-feeling and make peace; Heracles gave
back the Tripod, and Apollo pronounced the Oracle.
It was that Heracles must serve as a slave for the space
of three years and give the money for which he was sold
to Eurytus, and that then his illness would be at an end.
So Heracles allowed himself to be sold as a slave by
Hermes, the messenger of the gods, and he was bought
by the beautiful Omphale, queen of Lydia. Eurytus
refused to take the money, but the gods decided that
it was the same as if he had done so, and Heracles was
freed from his sickness. Omphale made use of her
strong slave for all kinds of service, both in freeing the
land from wild beasts, and in punishing wicked robbers,
so that the Lydians lived in peace and safety ; and
Heracles loved the beautiful Omphale with all his heart,
ani was ready to do anything in the world in order to
140 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
please her. She was very proud of being able to com-
mand the mighty hero as if he were a little child,
and in order to show the people how obedient he was
to her, she made him sit among her maidens in women's
clothes spinning at the distaff, whilst she dressed her-
self up in the lion's skin, as if she were the man arid he
the woman, and Heracles allowed her to do just as she
would with him because of the great love he bore her.
When the three years were ended, Heracles left
the palace of Ornphale, and went through the cities of
Greece asking if any heroes would set out with him for
Troy, for he meant to carry out his threat of punishing
King Laomedon for his faithlessness. So many heroes
came that they filled six large ships, and they sailed to
Troy and besieged the city. They set up ladders with
which to climb over the walls, and pressed on not-
withstanding the stones and javelins that the Trojans
threw down upon them, but they would never have
succeeded in entering the city without the help of
Heracles. When the city was taken, Heracles passed
a sentence of death upon the king and his sons, and
shot them all together, only sparing the youngest
whose name was Podarces, because he was too young to
have had any part in the treachery of his father.
Heracles gave the beautiful Hesione to the hero
Telamon who had been the first to scale the wall,
and as she wept very much at leaving Troy, he told
her that she might take one of the prisoners with her.
She did not take long to consider who it should be, but
immediately held out her hand to her little brother
.Podarces. Then Heracles said that she must buy him,
so she took off her veil, which was the only one she had.
1IEUACLLS. 141
and threw it down fur the purcnase-money ; and from
that time her brother was called Priam, which means
Bought. He came to Greece with his sister Hesione,
but when he grew up to be a man he returned to Troy
and became king of the country.
When Augeas and the others who had wronged
Heracles heard of the punishment that had overtaken
Laomedon, they were afraid, and assembled all their
warriors to protect them, for Heracles had announced
his intention of inarching against them as soon as he
returned to Greece. But Hera, who still hated him,
tried to destroy him on his way home. She commanded
the god of Slumber to send Zeus into a deep sleep,
and while he lay unconscious, she raised a tremendous
storm on the sea through w r hich Heracles was sailing.
All his companions were very much frightened, but
Heracles was not in the least disturbed, and before the
waves could make a wreck of the ship, Zeus awoke,
and seeing his son in danger, calmed the sea so that it
became quite smooth and the fishes came up again
from the bottom to play. Zeus knew that it was Hera
who had raised the storm, and he punished her for it.
He tied her hands together with a golden chain, and
attached a heavy weight to each of her feet, and then
he suspended her in the clouds, where she was obliged
to hang all day long in great pain, with the winds and
storms for her only companions.
Heracles was none the worse for the storm, and as
soon as he had landed in Greece with the other heroes,
he led them against Elis, the city of King Augeas, and
conquered it. Augeas would now have gladly parted
with his whole herd if that would have saved his life,
142 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
but Heracles killed him and all his sons except Phylens,
the one who had refused to bear false witness against
him and had been banished by his father in con-
sequence. He gave the country into the hands of
Fhyleus, and then he led his followers from Elis to
Pylos, where he punished King Neleus for having re -
fused to purge him from the stain of blood. Of the
whole race of the king, the only one who remained
alive after the visit of Heracles was a little boy named
Nestor, whom his father Neleus had sent to be brought
up in a neighbouring country, and who grew up to be a
brave and wise hero.
6. The Marriage of Heracles with Deianira, and
his Death.
There was still one man left whom Heracles desired
to punish, and this was Eurytus. But he deferred his
revenge for a time, in order to undertake a pleasanter
expedition to the court of King Oeneus, of Calydon,
whose beautiful daughter Deianira he wished to marry.
Deianira was a maiden who delighted in driving horses
that had never been broken in, and who knew how to use
the lance and the bow. She had another distinguished
lover, the river-god Acheloiis, and as neither he nor
Heracles would give way to the other, they determined
to fight it out, and agreed that whichever conquered
should have the bride. Acheloiis came out of his stream
in the form of a bull, and Heracles had a hard struggle
with him, for his opponent had the strength of a bull,
and at the same time the wisdom of a god. Acheloiis
ran at him intending to gore him with his horns, and
if Heracles had not been on his guard, he would have
HEKACLES. 143
been pierced through. For a long time the struggle,
lasted, each trying to overpower the other, by strength
or by craft, and when the river-god laid his fore-feet
upon the shoulders of Heracles who was clothed in his
lion's skin, and pressed his strong chest against him in
the hope of throwing him, it looked as if a lion and a
bull had embraced each other. But at last Heracles
laid hold of one of the horns of Acheloiis and tore at it
with all his might till he succeeded in breaking it off,
and then the bull bellowed horribly, and ran back,
bleeding, into the river.
So Heracles remained the victor, and Oeneus gave
him Deianira to be his wife, and she was glad to have
such a noble hero for her husband. Heracles wanted
to keep the horn as a trophy, but Acheloiis gave him
instead of it the wonderful horn of the goat Amalthea
wrio had been the nurse of Zeus. 1 This horn had been
blessed by Zeus, and anyone who held it in his hand
might wish for anything he liked to eat or drink, and
immediately it was there. For this reason it was called
the Horn of Plenty, because it produced all kinds of
food in abundance.
Heracles lived many years in Calydon with Deianira,
not spending his time slothfully, but fighting against
all the robbers and wicked men in the neighbourhood.
But one day it happened that the boy who held the wash -
ing-basin and poured water over his hands before meals,
was careless and showered the water all over hirn.
Heracles gave him what he intended to be a little
box on the eais, but a blow from him came with such
violence that the boy immediately fell down dead.
1 See page 3.
144 MY ills OF HELLAS.
Heracles was very much grieved, and he determined
to leave the city of Calydon, and set out with Deianira
for Trachis where an old friend of his lived. On the
way they came to a broad river over which there was no
bridge, but the Centaur Nessus used to carry travellers
across on his horse's back for a trifling payment.
Heracles entrusted Deianira to him, and said that he
himself would follow without help. The Centaur, how-
ever, was so greatly charmed with the beauty of Deianira,
that as he swam with her across the stream he made
up his mind that he would carry her off. So when he
had reached the other side, instead of letting her jump
off his back, he held her fast and ran away with her.
Deianira stretched out her arms to Heracles who was
still on the farther bank, and screamed for help. Then
Heracles took his bow and shot a poisoned arrow into
the shoulder of the Centaur, and he fell down and was
obliged to let go his hold of Deianira. Nessus felt
that the poison would soon kill him, and he longed to
revenge himself on Heracles by doing him some injury.
So he said to Deianira, ' Take a cloth and dip it in my
blood, and do not let Heracles see it ; but if ever you
are afraid that he loves another woman better than you,
sprinkle the blood over his clothing, and he will be un-
able to leave you. You must take care, however, not
to touch it yourself.' The blood had been poisoned by
the arrow of Heracles, and anyone whose skin was even
touched by it must die, but Deianira did not know
this ; she thought the Centaur was speaking in good
faith and determined to follow his advice, for she loved
Heracles with all her heart, and desired above all things
that he should always love her as much in return.
HERACLES. 145
Nessus died soon after he had spoken to Deianira,
and Heracles continued his journey with her. When
they came to Trachis which is not far from Euboea,
he remembered the vengeance that he had purposed
to execute upon Eurytus, and assembling all his com-
panions, he set sail for his island, Eurytus armed his
sons and all his men of war, and met him outside the
walls of Oechalia. Then a battle was fought in which
many wounds were given and received, and Heracles
slew Eurytus and his sons, which, when the others saw,
they gave up all hope and betook themselves to flight.
Heracles entered the city with his companions and
gave them leave to take any plunder they chose, for all-
the people surrendered themselves and their possessions
to him, only asking that their lives might be spared.
Heracles now desired to offer a solemn sacrifice to
Zeus as a token of his gratitude for the victory, and he
sent the herald Lichas to procure from Deianira a
festal robe suitable for the occasion. Deianira wa&
greatly afraid that Heracles might forsake her for the
beautiful lole whom he had formerly wished to marry,
and remembering what the Centaur had told her to do
if ever she had any special reason for desiring that
Heracles should be true to her, she took the cloth
which had been soaked in his blood, and smeared all
the inner side of the robe with it. Lichas took the
robe to Heracles, and he put it on. But when the
blood had become warmed by the heat of his bod}*, it
burst out into flames and burnt Heracles so terribly
that in his agony he seized Lichas by the feet and
flung him three times against the rocks, till his face
was so battered that none of the features could be dis-
L
146 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
tinguished. Then he tried to tear off the dress, bnt it
clung so closely to his skin that pieces of his flesh came
off with it. He suffered unspeakable tortures, which
made him cry out with the pain and roll on the ground
in agony, and then he moaned so piteously that the
very stones might have felt for him, but no one dared
to go near him. For a short time the pain made him
quite mad ; then he controlled himself with a mighty
effort and resolved what he would do. He got into a
ship that was going to Greece, and when he arrived
there he ascended Mount Oeta, accompanied by some
of his friends ; the poison still caused him terrible suf-
fering, but he was able to bear it in silence now. On
the top of Mount Oeta he built a huge funeral pile and
mounted to the top of it ; then he asked his friends to
set fire to it, but none of them would do so, they only
stood round weeping. Presently however a herdsman
came along the road, and Heracles called out to him,
and said that he would give him his bow and arrows if
he would set fire to the funeral pile. The herdsman
consented to do so for the sake of the beautiful bow,
and he brought a burning torch with which he set the
wood alight. The wind fanned the flames and they
mounted higher and higher, but before they reached
Heracles himself, a sound of thunder and lightning was
heard, and a cloud came down which covered the
funeral pile and in which he was carried up to the top
of Mount Olympus. The gods gifted him with im-
mortality as a recompense for his noble deeds, and
they said that he should henceforth be as one of them-
selves. Even Hera did not grudge him this reward,
for her hatred had at last been conquered by his grand
HERACLES. 147
and godlike Labours, and when Heracles appeared
among the Immortals in the form of a god, she led
her daughter, the goddess Hebe, towards him, and said
that he should have her for his wife. Poor Deianira
was already in the Lower World, for when she heard of
the evil that had been wrought by the robe, she went
into her bed-chamber and hanged herself.
Heracles was honoured on the earth as a god, and
men built temples to him, and kept his great deeds in
constant remembrance.
L2
148 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
XXVII.
THE QUEST OF THE ARGONAUTS.
1. The Golden Fleece.
THERE was once a king in the land of Greece called
Athamas, and he had a wife and two children, whose
names were Phrixus and Helle. But the king loved
another woman better than his wife, and he thrust
away his wife and made the other woman queen. The
children had now a step-mother, who at first was very
kind to them, but afterwards when she had children of
her own it was a different thing, and Phrixus and Helle
had a bad time of it. Their own mother remained in
the city living on a dole that she received from the king,
but she was not allowed to enter the palace ; sometimes,
however, she used to come secretly after dark, and then
she kissed the children and gave them little presents,
which made them very happy. The step-mother was
always trying to find some means of getting rid of the
children, and at last she thought of a plan which she
hoped would be successful. When the time for sowing
the corn came round, she ordered all the women in the
country to roast the seed secretly, so that though the
corn was sown as usual it did not spring up, for the
seeds were dead because they had been cooked. Then
there was great distress all over the country, and the
THE QUEST 0* JfHE ARGONAUTS. 149
king sent messengers to Delphi to ask the Oracle how
the land could be made fruitful again. But the wicked
queen took the messengers aside and bribed them by
the promise of a great reward to deceive the king.
They did not go to Delphi at all, but hid themselves
outside the city until there would have been time to go
and come back again, and then they sprinkled their
clothes with dust as if they had taken a long journey,
and went to the king and took him the message that
the queen had put into their mouths, which was that
he must sacrifice his son Phrixus to the gods, or else
the fields would never be fruitful again. The king was
very unwilling to do this, but the people pressed him
until he consented to the sacrifice, for they were afraid
they would all die of hunger.
The true mother was very sad, and she wept all day
and all night because her son was going to be killed.
And the gods had pity on her, and sent Hermes, the
messenger, to take her a rain covered all over with
golden wool that shone like the beautiful sun, and tell
her that the ram should carry away her children to a
place of safety. Then the mother was comforted, and
after dark she fetched the children from the palace by
stealth and placed them both on the ram's back.
Phrixus sat in front and held on fast by the horns, and
Helle was behind with her arms round her brother.
When they had taken leave of their mother, 'the Golden
Ram set out on his journey ; first he flew up as high as
the clouds, and then he trotted along the path of the
birds, mid-way between heaven and earth, and it
seemed to the children, as they looked down, as if the
houses and trees were all running away from them.
150 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
They journeyed on all night in the bright star-light, and
when the sun rose they were already far from home,
and found themselves above the sea which lies between
Europe and Asia. Helle wanted to take a last look at
the beautiful land of Greece and turned round that she
might see it better, but in her eagerness she let go of her
brother and fell far down into the sea, and even before
she touched the water she was dead from the effect of
the great fall. Phrixus was very, very sorry, and he
shed so many tears that the fishermen below thought it
was beginning to rain. Ever since that time the
Greeks have called that sea the Hellespont, which
means the sea of Helle.
The Golden Ram flew on and on till he had passed
over the Black Sea and reached the city of Colchis,
which was a very long way from the kingdom of Atha-
mas. Phrixus sacrificed the ram to the gods, and he
presented its golden fleece to Aeetes the king of the
country, who hung it on a tree in a forest near the city
and placed beside it a powerful dragon that never went
to sleep. Phrixus was kindly treated by the king ; he
lived in his palace and sat at his table, and when he
grew up, Aeetes gave him his daughter for a wife.
After this, a great misfortune befell King Athamas
and the wicked step-mother. He had incurred the
anger of Hera, 1 and she afflicted him with madness.
One day as he was returning from hunting, he saw his
two young children playing in front of the palace, but
they seemed to him to be two young deer, and he took
his bow and shot the eldest boy right through the
heart. He was just going to shoot the other child, but
1 See page 63.
THE QUEST OF THE ARGONAUTS. 151
the mother, who was close by, saw that the king was
mad, and she took it up in her arms and ran away as
fast as she could. Athamas pursued her with his arrow
on the string, until the queen finding that she coulo
not escape, threw herself into the sea with her child,
and they were both drowned. Athamas was overcome
with grief when his reason returned to him, and he left
the kingdom and went to the Oracle to ask what he
should do. The answer he received was that he was
to settle in a land where he would be the guest of wild
beasts. Athamas did not know how this could be, but
after wandering about for a long time he came to an
almost uninhabited country, where he one day saw two
or three wolves devouring a sheep which they had
killed. When Athamas came near them they ran
away, and as he had eaten nothing for several days
and was almost starving, he cut off a piece of the raw
sheep and eat it hastily, and then it occurred to him
that he had eaten the wolves' dinner, and was therefore
their guest. So he wandered no longer, but settled
down in that place, and when others came to live in
the same neighbourhood, Athamas became their king,
and ruled over them until his death some years later.
2. The Journey to Colchis.
Some time had passed away and Phrixus was
already dead, when it happened that the king of lolcus,
in Greece, whose name was Pelias, sent one day to the
Oracle at Delphi to ask what would befall him in the
future, and the Oracle in reply told him to beware of
the One-sandalled man : the Greeks did not wear shoes
152 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
like ours, but sandals, which were soles of leather, tied
on co the feet with straps. Many years passed by,
and the king never saw a man with only one sandal
on, and had almost forgotten the warning of the
Oracle. But one day when he was going to offer a
great sacrifice to Poseidon, he invited all his friends to
the banquet, and amongst others, Jason his brother's
son, who lived at some little distance from the city.
On his way to lolcus, Jason had to pass through a
brook which had become swollen by heavy rain, and
one of his sandals got loose in the water and remained
sticking in the marshy soil. He could not get it again
because the water was too deep, and was obliged to
walk half bare-foot into the city. As soon as Pelias
saw him, he was put in mind of the Oracle, and he said
to him, ' What should you do to get rid of a man if you
had been told that he was likely to kill you.' Jason
laughed and answered, ' I should send him to fetch
the Golden Fleece.' For it was a dangerous journey
to Colchis, and the powerful King Aee'tes would have
parted with one of his eyes rather than with the Golden
Fleece, so there was every chance that anyone who
ventured on such an undertaking as that, would perish.
Then Pelias said, ' The Oracle has warned me to beware
of you ; choose your companions and set out in search
of it.'
Jason was a brave and fearless hero, and was quite
ready for the expedition. He sent messengers to
summon all the noblest heroes to come with him, and
fifty were found willing to undertake the journey, be-
sides the strong Heracles, who also said that he would go
with them. There was a man in lolcus, named Argus,
THE QUEST OF THE ARGONAUTS. 153
who was skilled in shipbuilding, and he fashioned for
them a great vessel with places for fifty rowers. The
goddess Athene sent a beam for it, made of sacred oak,
which could speak, and it was inserted in the front part
of the ship. She was a noble vessel, and all w r ho saw
her were filled with wonder and delight. They called
her the Argo, after the name of the builder, and the
heroes who sailed in her were called Argonauts. When
she was ready they pushed her out to sea, and each man
took his oar in his hand. Besides the rowers there was
a hero who sat at the helm, and Jason the leader, who
had no special place assigned to him in the ship.
Many people came down to the shore to watch them
sail away, and wish them a prosperous journey. The
ship went as fast as a bird can fly, the helmsman steered,
the rowers rowed, and the Sacred Beam warned the
heroes of the rocks below the water, so that they might
steer the ship clear of them.
After sailing for some days, they came to the
beautiful island of Lemnos, and as they were tired of
rowing and wanted to rest, they went on shore. There
was not a single man in the island, only women. Some
time before this, the men had purposed to thrust away
their wives and take others, and so the women had
killed them all, not even excepting the old men and
boys, and they determined to be a nation of women
only, like the Amazons. The only man left alive in the
whole island was the father of the Queen, Hypsipele,
whom she loved very dearly and resolved to save at any
cost. There was a secret room in the palace in which
she hid him, and every day she took him food by
stealth, for if the other women had discovered what
154 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
she had done they would perhaps have killed her. 1 The
Argonauts were very much astonished at seeing women
do all the things that are usually undertaken by men,
such as ploughing fields, felling trees in the wood, and
practising with weapons of war. The heroes asked where
the men were, and they told them why they had killed
them. They did not however refuse to receive the
strange heroes, but entertained them hospitably, and
the Argonauts enjoyed themselves very much on the
island. Many of them found it much more agreeable
than sitting at their oars in the ship, but after some
time had passed, Jason called them together, and they
went back to the Argo and continued their journey.
They did not stop again till they had reached the
country of the Doliones, and then they knew that they
had left Europe behind them.
The Doliones always kept watchmen near the sea to
give notice of any ships that were coming, for there
were a great many pirates cruising about that sea who
fell upon honest folk and robbed them, and the Doliones
had lately suffered much at their hands. When the
Argo came near their land, a number of the Doliones
assembled on the shore and asked the heroes what they
wanted. Jason said, ' We are going to Colchis to fetch
the Golden Fleece, and we should like to rest here.'
On hearing this the Doliones received them kindly, and
their king came down to the shore and sent for several
cattle and great skins of wine to be brought. Fires
were lighted, the cattle were killed and roasted, and the
Doliones feasted till the evening with the heroes, who
then sailed away. But a great storm came on, and it
was so dark that they could not even see the mast of
1 For what afterwards happened to Hypsipele, see pages 216-17
THE QUEST OF THE AEGONAUTS. 155
the ship. They were unable to make head against the
high waves, so they pulled in the oars arid let the ship
dance to the whistling of the wind, but in this way
they lost their reckoning, and no longer knew either
the direction from which they had come, or that in
which they desired to go. At last the storm subsided,
and they made for some land which they could just
distinguish not far from where they werej but when
they tried to land, the inhabitants came with weapons
to drive them away, for they thought they were pirates.
The Argonauts killed many enemies, but when the day
dawned they discovered that they were the Doliones,
neither party had recognised the other in the darkness.
Then there was great weeping for the dead, especially
for the king who had entertained the heroes so royally
the day before, and had been slain by them in the
night. The Argonauts remained three days longer in
that country and celebrated magnificent games in
honour of the king, running races, wrestling with one
another, and measuring their skill in shooting with the
bow and in throwing the lance, and whoever did the
best obtained the prize.
Then for the second time they sailed away from
the land of the Doliones. They were now not far from
the Black Sea, and were coasting along by the country
of Mysia, when it happened that some of the oars
broke, and they had to stop and go into a forest to get
some new ones. Heracles went far into the forest to
look for the best trees, taking with him a boy named
Hylas who served him and whom he loved as his own
son. Heracles was thirsty after his work, and he told
the boy to go to the nearest stream and draw him some
156 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
water in a pitcher. Hylas found a clear transparent
pool fringed with lovely flowers, and stooped down to
draw the water, but the nymphs to whom it belonged
saw him and were so struck by his great beauty, for he
was tJi/3 most beautiful boy in all Greece, that they
came up from the bottom to draw him down into the
pool ; and they seized him, one by the hand and another
by the foot, and said, ' Come down to our house,
beautiful boy, and we will play with you.' Hylas did
not want to go, and he screamed and struggled with all
his might, but the nymphs were stronger than he, and
dragged him down. When Heracles heard his cry, he
thought the boy must have been carried off by robbers,
so he took his oar and ran down to the brook, and not
finding him there, he rushed frantically through the
forest in search of him, saying that be would not go
back to the ship without Hylas. Meanwhile evening
had come on, the other heroes had all returned to the
ship, and they sailed away, unmindful of Heracles.
The next morning they saw indeed that he was not
there, but they could not sail all the way back again,
and they trusted that they would be able to bring
home the Golden Fleece without him. So Heracles
returned to Greece, where he accomplished his twelve
great Labours.
Some days afterwards the heroes landed again, and
this time it was in a country where the king compelled
every stranger who came into his dominions to measure
his strength with him in boxing, and he was so
practised a boxer that he had overcome and killed all
who had contended with him. When he heard that a
ship with many heroes in it had come to his land, he said
THE QUEST OF THE ARGONAUTS. 157
that if there was any brave man among them, he was
prepared to fight with him. Now there were two
heroes on board the Argo named Castor and Pollux,
who were twin brothers. Castor was skilled in managing
untamed horses, and Pollux excelled in boxing. Pollux
resolved to punish the haughty king, so he accepted his
offer of boxing with him and very soon dealt him a
fatal blow. A great many of his followers had come to
watch the fight, expecting to see their king fell the
stranger to the ground, and when they saw that he was
dead, they tried to kill Pollux in order to avenge him ;
but the Argonauts seized their weapons, and soon a
number of their enemies were dead and the rest had
taken to flight.
Farther on, the Argonauts came to a country where
there lived a seer named Phineus, who would gladly
however have parted with his power of reading the
future if that would have delivered him from his
misery. He had once revealed the future contrary to
the will of the gods, and as a punishment they made
him blind, and prevented him from having any/thing to
eat. Whenever a meal was spread before him, there
came from heaven two monstrous beings with faces and
bodies like maidens, but whose feet and wings were
those of ravens. They were called Harpies, and their
names were Storm-foot and Swift-wing. They snatched
away the best part of the food and gobbled it up, and
what they left smelt so badly that Phineus could not
eat it for loathing. The old man was wasted away with
hunger, and there was nothing left of him but skin and
bones. The Argonauts begged him to give them good
advice about their journey, and he promised to do so if
158 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
they would rid him of the Harpies. It happened that
among them were two sons of Boreas, the god of the
north wind; they had wings on their shoulders and could
fly like birds, but it had been decreed by fate that if ever
they failed to catch what they set out in pursuit of, they
must die immediately. They were quite willing to
attack the Harpies, and next time they came to snatch
away the food from Phineus, the heroes drew their
swords, spread their wings, and set out in chase of them.
The Harpies flew backwards and forwards in all directions
over both sea and land, but at last Storm-foot was
obliged to give in, and her pursuer was just going to
seize her when her wings failed altogether, and she
fell down into a river below, where she was drowned.
Swift-wing was still able to flutter a little, but presently
she also gave in, and fell among some soft grass. Her
pursuer came after her and pierced her through with
his sword, and then the heroes returned, the sword of
one of them being still wet with the blood of Swift-wing.
From that time Phineus could eat his meals in peace
which was a great comfort to him. He told the Argo-
nauts that they would soon come to two wonderful rocks,
and instructed them what to do when they reached
them, and he said that if they passed these in safety
they would arrive at Colchis without further danger.
After rowing for half a day, the heroes came to the
rocks of which Phineus had told them, and never in
their lives had they seen anything so wonderful. They
were two huge rocks, not fastened to the bottom of the
sea, but sailing about separately, and every now and
then they clashed together and great waves broke over
thenij and there was a noise as if the rocks were going
THE QUEST OF THE ARGONAUTS. 159
to break in pieces, but as they were made of the hardest
stone, they remained quite sound. They darted about
so quickly, and clashed against each other so constantly,,
that no ship had ever been able to pass them ; every
vessel that had attempted it had been crushed to atoms,
with every soul on board. But the Argo was very swift,
being rowed by fifty heroes, and Phineus had told them
to send out a dove in front of them, and that if the
dove passed through the rocks safely, they also might
venture ; but if it were crushed, they would have to
turn back, for the speed of the Argo was just equal to
that of a dove. So when the rocks separated from one
another, they sent out the dove, and it arrived happily
at the other side, with only a few of its tail-feathers
torn out. Next time the rocks opened a pathway, they
also steered through them, rowing with all their might.
The ship shot through like an arrow, and just the same
thing happened to the Argo as to the dove, for the de-
coration of the hinder-part of the vessel was torn off,
just as the bird's feathers had been. And when the
heroes looked back, they saw the rocks standing still :
they had played their game for the last time, for it had
been decreed by fate that if ever they allowed a ship to
pass them, they would become rooted to the ground.
So that ever since that time, ships have been able to
sail past these rocks, as fast or as slowly as they please.
3. The Fight for the Golden Fleece.
Some days after this, the heroes reached Colchis.
Many people came together to look at them, for never
before had a ship reached their country from Greece,
160 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
and besides this, the Argo was a noble vessel, unlike
anything the Colchians had ever seen, and she had a
number of brave heroes on board. The Argonauts had
fastened ropes to the ship with great stones at the end,
and these they threw into the sea to serve as anchors.
Then Jason said that some one must take him to the
king, and a number of people accompanied him as far as
the palace. Jason was a noble-looking man, and for a
mantle he wore the skin of a spotted panther that he
had killed himself. When he saw king Aeetes, he said
that he had come from the home of Phrixus, and that
King Pelias had sent him to fetch the Golden Fleece.
Now Aeetes prized the Golden Fleece moie than all his
other treasures, and had no intention of parting with it ;
but as he was a crafty man, he said that he would give
it to Jason if he would be willing to give a proof of his
real desire for it, by ploughing a piece of land with two
wild bulls and sowing it with dragon's teeth. The
king thought that if Jason ventured to undertake this
he would certainly perish, for the bulls had brazen feet,
and out of their mouths issued a stream of fire which
burnt up everything that came near them; besides this,
he knew that when the dragon's teeth were sown, armed
men would rise up from them and kill Jason, so that
even if he succeeded in managing the wild bulls, it
would not be of much avail. Bat Aeetes did not tell
Jason all this ; and though Jason felt sure that the task
which the king assigned to him would be no easy one,
he accepted it without hesitation and agreed to meet
him the next day in a field near the city in order to
accomplish it. When Jason went back to the ship, the
heroes asked him what the king had said, and he told
THE QUEST OF THE ARGONAUTS. 161
them. Then as night was coming on r they lay down
on the shore, wrapped themselves up in their cloaks, and
went to sleep.
King Aeetes had a daughter called Medea who was
a powerful enchantress, and knew the properties of all
kinds of herbs and how to make use of them for good
or evil. She used to go to the mountains at night
when the moon was shining to pluck herbs, and pre-
pared all manner of magic drinks from them ; she also
understood other kinds of witchcraft. When she saw
Jason standing in her father's palace, she thought he
looked like a true hero, and she felt a great love for
him and longed to help him. So in the night she left
the palace and came to the shore where the heroes were
asleep. She at once recognised Jason and awoke him,
and he rubbed his eyes in astonishment at seeing the
maiden standing beside him in the moonlight, tall and
beautiful, with her long white veil thrown back. She
said to him, 'My father, the king, intends to kill you, but
if you will swear to be my friend, I will help you.' She
told him all about the bulls and the dragon's teeth, and
said that it would not be possible for him to overcome them
without her help. The beautiful princess pleased Jason
well, and he promised that if he obtained the Golden
Fleece through her assistance, he would take her home
Avith him to be his wife. Then Medea gave him a box
containing ointment which protected any one who used
it from being burnt by fire or wounded by steel for the
space of one whole day. She told him to anoint his
shield his spear and his body with it the next morning,
and then the bulls and the armed men would not be
able to do him any harm ; she also taught him a trick
M
162 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
which she said he would find useful as a means of
defence against the armed men. When they had
talked for some time longer, Medea wrapped her veil
round her and went home ; the people in the palace
were not surprised, for they thought she had been
wandering about on the mountain as usual, collecting
herbs.
At day-break the king betook himself to the field
with all his courtiers and many other people, and
Medea went also, attended by her women. Near the
field was a sacred forest in which the two bulls were
feeding; and in this same forest hung the Golden Fleece,
from which bright rays of light might be seen stream-
ing as the trees were swayed backwards and forwards
by the wind. The plough was standing ready in the
field, and one of the king's servants held in his hand a
helmet which contained the dragon's teeth. Soon
afterwards Jason arrived with the Argonauts looking
in such good spirits that the king and his followers
were astonished, for they did not know about the oint-
ment that had made him proof against fire and steel,
the Argonauts knew about it, however, for Jason had
told them. The king commanded Jason to fetch the
bulls, and he went into the forest and soon found them.
They came towards him bellowing loudly, with the
bright fire streaming from their mouths and nostrils,
meaning to kick him to death with their hoofs. But
their fiery breath had no effect on Jason, and their
brazen hoofs could not do him any harm. He seized
them by the horns and dragged them along, and he
was so strong that although they struggled with all
their might and tried to pull first to the right and
THE QUEST OF THE ARGONAUTS.
then to the left, they were obliged to follow him. It
was a strange sight to see him coming out of the forest
with the fire streaming over his face and body, and the
bulls kicking him with their brazen hoofs, yet notwith-
standing this, whole and unscathed. He dragged the
bulls to the plough and laid the yoke upon their necks,
then he drove them through the field making furrows
as he went along, and when they were stubborn and
refused to go on, he pricked them with a goad that he
had in his hand. He went up and down three times,
until the king said it was enough, and then he un-
harnessed the bulls and let them go back into the
forest. The king was very much astonished at his
having performed the first part of his task so success-
fully, but when he gave him the helmet with the
dragon's teeth in it, he felt sure that the armed men
would at all events make an end of him. Jason walked
up and down the furrows, and every here and there he
threw in a tooth and stamped down a clod over it with
his foot. When he had finished he looked round, the
armed men were already rising out of the ground, and
in a little while the whole fifty had sprung up ; they
were completely covered with brazen armour, and had
very angry faces. Then Jason remembered the trick
that Medea had taught him, and he took up stones
from the ground and threw them among the band of
warriors without letting the king see what he was doing.
Every time one of the armed men felt a stone strike
him, he began to fight with his neighbour because he
thought it was he who had thrown it. So in a short
time there was a fierce battle raging amongst the
armed men, and Jason found his task an easy one : he
164 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
took his shield and spear, and killed the warriors in the
confusion, till at last they all lay dead on the ground,
and the earth was quite red with their blood.
All the people were full of admiration of the brave
hero, and when Jason took off his helmet and wiped his
forehead, they thronged round him, praising his great
achievement. But the king was angry, and went away
with his courtiers without speaking a word to Jason.
He was still determined not to part with the Golden
Fleece, and made up his mind to kill the hero who had
come to ask for it. AVhen he reached the palace, he
chose out the strongest of his soldiers and told them
that he would himself lead them to the shore early the
next morning while the Argonauts were still asleep,
and that they would kill the heroes and burn the ship.
Aee'tes expected to take the Argonauts by surprise, bub
.Medea went again that evening to Jason and told him
what her father intended. She also said that she
would get the Golden Fleece for him, and that they must
flee away that night. So they went together into the
forest in which the Fleece hung ; high up among the
branches shone the golden light, and at the foot of the
tree was the dragon that never slept. Jason waited at
a little distance while Medea went alone to the dragon,
for she was accustomed to take him his food every day,
and he knew her and allowed her to stroke him.
M : 3dea spoke kindly to the dragon, and gave him some
bread that she had brought with her. But the bread
had been soaked in a sweet juice which throws every
one who tastes it into the deepest sleep, so when the
dragon had swallowed it, his eyes closed for the first
time in his life and he fell asleep and snored so loudly
THE QUEST OF THE ARGONAUTS. 165
that all the birds in the wood awoke and flew away.
Then Jason came forward and climbed up the tali oak
and fetched down the Fleece, and when he had done
this, they went back to the shore. Jason had thrown
the Fleece over his arm, and the Argonauts, who were
on the look-out for him, could see him coming towards
them with his shining prize while he was still a long
way off, and they pulled up the great stones which had
been used as anchors, and made everything ready for
their departure. But Medea went back once more to
her father's palace, and creeping quietly upstairs, she
took her little brother Absyrtus gently out of his bed,
and then set out on her flight. She took him with
her, not because she loved her brother, but because she
thought he might be found useful in case her father
should pursue them. You will soon hear what
happened to him.
4. The Journey Home.
When they were all in the ship, the heroes pushed
off and sailed away. As it was midnight the helmsman
had to steer by the stars, but he knew how to guide
v,he ship towards the setting sun which was the direc-
tion in which Greece lay, and by daybreak they were
already far from the land. King Aee'tes came down to
the shore with his followers, who took with them
weapons to fight with, and also torches for burning the
ship. But when they reached it, they stood rubbing
their eyes, for they could see neither the ship nor the
heroes, and when they looked towards the forest, there
was the dragon in a deep sleep, and the Golden Fleece
166 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
was gone. Soon the king heard that Medea had fled
and had taken with her the little Absyrtus, and then
he knew who it was that had helped the Argonauts, and
he was more angry than he had ever been in his life.
He made his men get ready the swiftest ship the} had,
and promised to reward them nobly if they succeeded
in overtaking the Argo.
They rowed with all their might, and towards even-
ing they came in sight of the Argo. Medea knew that
all on board would be killed if they fell into the hands
of her father, and when his ship had almost overtaken
the Argo, she took a long knife and stabbed her brother
Absyrtus to death, and cut him in pieces before the
eyes of Aeetes and flung the pieces into the sea. The
king who had been so angry, now tore his hair for
grief; he no longer cared about the Golden Fleece, and
his only desire was to obtain the corpse of his son in
order to bury it, for at that time it was believed that
those whose bodies were not buried had no rest in the
Lower World, and the king would not for the world have
let his child's body be eaten by the fishes. He com-
manded his men to stop and look for the pieces, and
by the time they had collected them all, the Argo was
far out of sight, and they were obliged to turn back.
The king grieved bitterly for his dead son, and when he
came home he buried him with great magnificence.
When that was done, the wish nearest his heart was to
catch the Argo, and he manned three ships with sailors,
and told them to go in search of her and never to
return till they had found her. They sailed about in
all directions, but could not find a trace of the ship
anywhere, so as they were afraid to go back to the king
THE QUEST OF THE ARGONAUTS. 167
without her, they moored on a strange island, where
they settled down and built houses and remained for
the rest of their lives. Aeetes was meanwhile spending
all his days in watching for their return.
A violent storm now overtook the Argo. The sea
was stirred up and refused to carry peacefully on her
bosom the ship in which the sister had murdered her
brother, and the waves rose as high as mountains, so
that those who were on board the ship had to hold on
to the sides and mast in order to avoid falling into the
sea. At last the Sacred Beam which was planted in
the fore part of the vessel, spoke, and said that the
storm would not cease, nor would they have any pro-
sperity in their voyage, until Medea and Jason had been
purged from the stain of blood, and that they had better
go to the enchantress Circe and beg her to do this for
them. So they sailed to the island where Circe lived,
and Medea and Jason left the others in the ship and
went ashore to the palace of the enchantress and
placed themselves on the hearth, which was the place
sacred to those who came to sue for help. Circe asked
what their request was, and Medea told her all that had
happened and begged her to atone for their crimes.
At first she refused to do this, for King Aeetes was her
brother, and it was her nephew that they had murdered ;
but at last she was persuaded, and purified them with
sacrifices and baths. When this had been done, they
went back to the ship and continued their voyage, and
they had now such lovely weather that the fishes came
up from the bottom of the sea and played merrily in
the sunshine.
After some time the Argonauts came to the wicked
168 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
Sirens, who were treacherous nymphs that lived in the
sea. Their faces were marvellously beautiful, and they
sang so enchantingly that every one who heard them
was bewitched and could not help going to them.
But under the water they had great ugly claws instead
of hands, and their bodies ended in a hideous fish-tail.
They clutched those who came to them with their
claws and ate them up, and all the reef where they
lived was strewn with the bones of the men they had
eaten. But even those who knew how cruel and
treacherous they were, could no longer believe it when
they heard them sing, and could never resist jumping
into the sea and swimming towards them. When the
Sirens saw the ship approaching, full of noble heroes,
they thought they were going to have a grand feast
and began to sing their sweetest songs. They would
have enticed even the Argonauts, and all the witchcraft
of Medea would have been powerless to save them, if
there had not been a hero on board, named Orpheus,
who was famous all over Greece for his singing and
playing, and who had such marvellous power over the
hearts of men that no one who heard him could refrain
from weeping, however cruel and hard he might be. So
the moment the Sirens began, Orpheus took his lyre and
sang in opposition to them, and he sang so gloriously
that the heroes listened to him rather than to the Sirens,
and the dolphins, who are very fond of music, came and
followed the ship till the song was ended.
The Argonauts next came to the Wandering Rocks,
which swam about in the sea and were shrouded in
thick smoke, through which flames of fire could be seen
coming out of crevices in their sides. It seemed as if
THE QUEST OF THE AEGONAUTS.
it were a sort of amusement to them to give chase to
ships and destroy them, and when they had dashed
them to pieces, there was the fire ready at hand to
burn them up. No ship had ever yet reached home in
safety after passing them. But the goddess Hera was
unwilling to see the brave heroes on board the Argo
perish miserably, so she commanded the nymphs who
lived at the bottom of the sea to protect tht; vessel;
these were not wicked nymphs like the Shens, but
kind and friendly to brave heroes. A great splashing
was heard in the water, and ever so many nymphs
came up from the bottom of the sea, each one more
beautiful than the last. They swam round the ship,
and when one of the rocks came towards her from the
right, meaning to crush her, they pushed her away to
the left, and when a rock came from the left, they
pushed the ship to the right, and they did it so fast
that the rocks could not overtake her. This amused
them very much, and they laughed out merrily when-
ever the rocks shot past them. Soon the Argonauts
were again out in the open sea, and they thanked
the nymphs many times for their help. Then the
nymphs went back to their homes at the bottom of the
sea.
After rowing for a long time, the heroes came to
the island of Crete. They would have liked to go on
shore, but there was an iron watchman who refused to
allow any one to land without the king's express per-
mission. His name was Talos, and he had been made
out of iron by the black smith -god Hephaestus, who
gave him to Minos the king of Crete. Minos used
him as a watchman, and made him run round the
170 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
whole isiand three times every day and drive awaj any
strangers who might approach it. He was all iron, ex-
cepting a single vein that ran from his head right
down to his feet, and was fastened underneath with
iron nails which held in the life blood that ran through
the vein and kept him alive. When Talos saw the
ship full of heroes coming, he stood still and threw great
stones at her. It would have been of no use for the
Argonauts to shoot spears and arrows at him in return,
for he could not be wounded ; so Medea called out to
him over the water, ' Talos, if you will be kind to us
and let us land, I will show you how you may become
immortal.' Talos was pleased at this, and he began to
make friendly grimaces, and shouted back his answer
in a voice that came out of his iron body like the
sound of a great trumpet. He said, < First tell me how
I may become immortal, and then I will let you land.'
But Medea answered him deceitfully, and she called
back, < Draw out the nail that is in your foot, and all
that is mortal in you will flow out/ Talos believed
her, and he sat down on the shore and drew out the
nail with some difficulty, for it had been well ham-
mered in. Then the red blood flowed out, and Talos
was glad, for he thought it was his mortality which was
leaving him ; but he became weaker and weaker, and
when the last drop of blood had flowed out of his body,
he was dead, and there was nothing left but a cold
lump of iron. The Argonauts could now sail to the
land without hindrance, and they clambered down out
of the ship and hunted some wild animals, which they
cooked and made a feast of, on the shore.
The Argonauts sailed from Crete to Greece without
THE QUEST OE THE ARGONAUTS. 171
stopping, for the gods gave them favourable winds, and
when at last they came in sight of the Grecian coast,
they all rejoiced greatly at seeing their beloved country
again. They landed at that part of it which is called
the Isthmus, and is the road between the peninsula
of Peloponnesus and the rest of Greece, and there they
drew the Argo up on to the shore. The brave ship had
been beaten against many a rock, and had been so long
in deep water that she was covered with green slime.
The Argonauts said that she should never be used for
any other journey, and they dedicated her to the sea-
god Poseidon as a thank-offering to him for having
brought them home in safety. She remained for a
very long time standing on the Isthmus, and every one
who went by, looked at her and thought of the many
dangers and difficulties that the Argonauts had passed
through. At last however, the Sacred Beam died, and
soon afterwards the Argo herself fell to pieces, for the
boards of which she was made had become quite rotten.
5. Medea's Revenge.
When the heroes arrived in Greece, they separated
and returned to their own homes, and Jason and Medea
went to lolcus where king Pelias lived. Pelias had
thought that it would be quite impossible for Jason ever
to return, because of all the dangers he would meet with
ingoing to fetch the Golden Fleece, and he had killed his
brother, Jason's father, for fear he should in some way
avenge the death of his son, so that when the young
hero walked into the palace with the Golden Fleece
hanging over his arm, the king turned red and pale by
172 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
turns. Jason did not know as yet of the injury that
Pelias had done him ; but when he went to his father's
house he found it empty, and the people told him that
his father had been killed by order of the king. Jason
was very sad at hearing this, and could no longer take
any pleasure in the thought of all the great deeds he
had done ; but Medea told him not to grieve, for she
would avenge the wrong he had suffered. She thought,
too, that if Pelias were dead, Jason would be the king
of lolcus and she the queen, and she advised Jason to
dissemble, and behave as if he had forgiven the king,
whilst she herself went every day to the palace and
made friends with his daughters. One day she told
them that if they had spirit enough to venture on it,
they could make their old father young again, though
his hair was already white and his face was covered
with wrinkles. The princesses would not believe Medea,
but she said she would prove it, and she took an old
ram and slew him, and cut him up into several pieces,
and laid the pieces in a great caldron of boiling water,
and when she had poured a magic juice over them, a
3 T oung lamb jumped out of the caldron, and no trace of
the ram could be seen. Then the girls believed Medea,
and begged her to give them the magic juice with
which to make their old father young again ; but Medea
gave them instead, a liquid, which looked just like it,
but which had no power whatever. The king's daugh-
ters did not delay a single day, but the next time their
father was asleep, they went to him and killed him, and
one struck off his head, while the others cut the rest of
his body into pieces. They had a huge caldron stand-
ing ready on the fire, into which they threw the pieces,
THE QUEST OF THE ARGONAUTS. 173
and then they poured over them the liquid tli.it Medea
had given them, expecting to see their father come out
a young man. But Pelias was dead, and dead he
remained. The princesses watched the caldron for a
long time, but at last they were obliged to give up all
hope, and then they broke out into bitter wailing and
rushed about the streets with dishevelled hair, crying
out that Medea had deceived them and made them
kill their father without knowing what they were
doing. The people had not cared for Pelias because
he had been a cruel and severe man, but they would
not sanction the treachery by which he had come to his
end, and instead of choosing Jason for their new king,
they chose the son of Pelias, so that things turned out
very differently from Medea's expectations, and she and
Jason had to leave the country.
They went to the city of Corinth, where King Creon
ruled. He received them with open arms, for he had
heard of Jason's brave deeds and was glad that he had
come to live in his country, and he gave him a beautiful
house with meadows and vineyards and orchards ail
round it. Jason and Medea lived there in peace for
ten years, and the gods sent them two children whom
Medea loved dearly ; they were the first human beings
she had ever really cared for. But the king had a
daughter named Glauce, who was only a child when
Jason first went to Corinth but had now grown up to
be a very beautiful maiden, and Creon was anxious that
she should marry a noble hero, for she was his only
child, and her husband would be king of Corinth after
his death and would inherit all his riches. And as
Jason pleased him well, he said to him that if he would
174 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
get rid of Medea, lie would give him his daughter
Glauce for his wife. Jason no longer cared for Medea
as he had once done, because she was of a gloomy, dis-
contented nature, and he thought that if he were rich,
he could make up to her for the wrong he would do her
by taking another wife. So he told the king that he
would agree to his proposal, and he said to Medea that
he would give her a great deal of gold and silver, and
the most beautiful dresses that could be made, and that
she should never want for anything, but live just as if
she were the richest queen in the world. He also told
her that he was making this new marriage for the sake
of his children, in order that they might have a king
for their father. Medea was very angry about it in
her heart, but she pretended to agree, and when the
day came on which the marriage was to be celebrated,
she gave Jason a magnificent robe and begged him to
take it to Glauce as a present from herself. Jason took
it without any suspicion, and Glauce was very much
pleased with it and went into her bedchamber to put
it on for the wedding. But the robe had been dipped in
a poisonous juice, and as soon as it became warm it
burst out into flames. Glauce could not tear it off, and
she screamed for help; her father and Jason came
running to try and put out the fire, but nothing they
could do was of any use, and Glauce perished miserably.
Creon threw himself upon the dead body of his daugh-
ter and tore his hair and wept bitterly, but Jason drew
his sword and rushed home to kill Medea. But as he
came near the house, he looked up at the sky and saw
a chariot drawn by two winged dragons, in which Medea
was driving away. Medea had purposed to kill her two
THE QUEST OF THE ARGONAUTS. 175
children before she went, because of the pain which she
knew this would cause Jason ; but when she had taken
up the dagger, the children, who did not know what was
in her mind, stood looking at her with their pretty blue
eyes, and she had not the heart to carry out her inten-
tion, but caught them up in her arms and covered them
with kisses, and then fled away in the enchanted
chariot.
176 MYTHS 0^ HELLAS.
XXVIII.
THESEUS
THERE was a great and famous city in Greece called
Athens, about which, when it was first built, there arose
a strife between the sea-god Poseidon and the wise
goddess Athene, as to which of them should be its pro-
tector, for the Greek cities were each under the special
care and guardianship of some god or goddess. As
they could not agree about it, the other gods said that
they must each bring a present to the city, and that it
should belong to whichever of them gave it the best
present. The gods assembled one day in the fortress,
which had been built on a hill in the middle of the
city. 1 Poseidon struck the ground with his trident
and out sprang a noble animal which was the first
horse that had ever been seen, and the gods admired
the beautiful creature very much. Then it was the
turn of Athene, and she brought forth the olive tree,
which bears the olives from which oil is made, and ex-
plained how the fruit could be made use of. After this
the gods gave their judgment, and they said : ' This
is such a stony land that the citizens would find the
noble horse of little service, for the horse cannot go well
1 This fortress was afterwards called the Acropolis of Athens.
THESEUS. 177
over uneven ground, but the olive-tree would flourish,
and would be useful to the citizens in many ways.' So
the city was placed under the guardianship of Athene
and was named after her, and the citizens planted olive-
trees all over the country and found in these their chief
wealth. They took great care of the tree in the fortress
from which all the others had sprung, and it outlived
its children and its grandchildren. But after many
years had passed, the country was invaded by some
enemies who laid waste all the beautiful houses and
temples and even burnt the sacred olive-tree itself
down to the roots. On the next day, however, when
all round it there was nothing to be seen but smoking
ruins, behold ! a new olive-tree had sprung from the
ashes of the old one, which grew, and became in time a
large tree.
The cit} r of Athens was at one time ruled over by a
king named Aegeus, who had a wife but no children.
This was a great sorrow to him, but his brother Pallas
was very glad of it, for he had fifty sons, and he thought
that if Aegeus died without children his sons would
inherit the kingdom. After a time however the wife
of Aegeus died, and soon afterwards he went to stay
with a king who lived in the city of Troezen, which
was several days' journey from Athens ; there he
was secretly married to the king's beautiful daughter
Aethra, and his great wish was fulfilled, for Aethra
had a young son. Aegeus would not however take
him back to Athens with him, for he feared that his
brother's sons, the wild Pallantidae, would try to kill
him. So he resolved to leave the child to be brought up
by his mother in Troezen, and before he set out on
H
178 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
his journey home he buried his sword and his sandals
underneath a huge stone, and told Aethra that when
the child was strong enough to heave up the stone
and take the sword and sandals from under it, he must
leave her and come to him at Athens. After this he
went back to his kingdom without telling any one
that the gods had given him a son. Aethra loved
her son very dearly ; she named him Theseus, and
brought him up with great care, and he grew hand-
some and strong, and delighted above everything in
listening to his mother whilst she told him stories
about all the old heroes, and especially about the
strong Heracles, who had killed so many monsters and
driven away all the robbers out of the land. Theseus
did not know who his father was, but when he had
become a young man and the down was beginning
to grow upon his chin, Aethra thought he would be
strong enough to lift the stone, and she took him
to the place where it lay, and told him that under-
neath it were the sword and sandals of his father
who was Aegeus, the king of Athens. Without much
difficulty Theseus heaved up the huge stone, though
it had become deeply embedded in the earth ; and then
Aethra told him that his father was still alive, and
that he was to take the sword and sandals and go to
him at Athens ; and Theseus rejoiced at hearing this,
and prepared to set off at once. It was a very danger-
ous journey from Troezen to Athens for there were
many robbers on the way, and the old king wanted to
give Theseus a ship, so that he might go by sea with
much less risk. His mother also was anxious that he
should take the easier journey, but Theseus was a brave
THESEUS. 179
hero, and instead of being afraid of the robbers, he was
only eager to meet with them. So they were obliged
to let him have his own way, and comforted themselves
by praying to the gods to protect him.
Theseus accordingly set out on his journey, and he
had not long left Troezen when he came to a savage
robber who lurked by the roadside, and who was called
the Club-carrier. He had a very ugly face, and was
lame, but very strong; and he used to lie on the grass
among the trees, and whenever a traveller passed by, he
sprang out and struck him down with a heavy iron club
which he wielded quite easily, and then he robbed him
of his goods. When Theseus came along the road, the
robber sprang out to kill him ; but Theseus avoided the
blow, so that the heavy club struck the earth beside
him, and then he wrestled with the robber. He at
last succeeded in wrenching the club out of his hand,
and then he battered his head with it, so that the Club-
carrier died by the same weapon with which he had
killed others. This was the first heroic deed that
Theseus had performed, and he took the iron club away
with him to serve both for a weapon and a trophy.
Soon afterwards he came to a fir-wood, where there
lived a robber called the Fir-bender. He was tall and
strong, with long bristly hair, and he looked very fierce
and wild. It was his delight to seize travellers and
torture them cruelly : he used to bend two flexible fir-
trees down to the ground, and tie each of the traveller's
feet to one of these trees, and then he let them spring
apart, and broke out into a hideous laugh when he saw
the body torn in two and one half hanging to each of
the trees. Theseus knew that the robber lived in the
x 2
180 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
forest, and he went straight to his house. The Fir-
bender came out to seize him, but Theseus wrestled
with him and threw him. He resolved to punish him
with the torture that he had himself devised, and he
bent down two young fir-trees and tore the robber's body
in two, though he screamed horribly and entreated
Theseus to spare him. The Fir-bender had a daughter
called Perigune who lived with him in the forest. She
was not at all like her father, but was, on the contrary,
gentle and good, and she used to tend the plants and
flowers that grew near their house. When she saw that
Theseus had killed her father, she was afraid and thought
he would kill her too, so she hid herself among some
large-leaved plants, and said to them, just as if they
could understand her, that if they would shelter her
she would never pluck any of them again. Theseus
looked everywhere for her, but he could not see her on
account of the thick leaves. He guessed that she must
have hidden herself, and so he called out to her not to
be afraid, for he would not do her any harm. His voice
sounded so kind that she was encouraged to come out,
and they sat and talked together, and Perigune gave
him some food, after which Theseus took leave of
her and went away. The girl never plucked any flowers
from the plants among which she had hidden herself,
nor from any others of the same kind, and when she
became the wife of a hero she taught her children that
they must never do so either, and they in turn brought
up their children in the same way, so that no one wljo
was of the race of the robber ever injured any plants of
that kind.
Theseus had heard that there was a fierce she-boar
THESEUS. 181
in the neighbourhood that did a great deal of damage,
and he resolved that he would rid the people of her.
He came upon her footprints in the grass, and followed
them till he had tracked her to her den. She started
up to kill him with her tusks, and a fierce struggle
followed, in which Theseus handled his club valiantly,
and at last hit the boar a mighty blow on the head
which cracked her skull and made an end of her. Then
Theseus wiped the dew from his forehead and continued
his journey. His road now lay along a rocky path above
the sea, and he presently came to a rock which was the
abode of the robber Sciron. He was a strong, powerful
man, who amused himself in a very horrible manner.
He used to sit on a rock above the sea, blocking up the
road so that no one could pass, and he compelled every
traveller who came that way to wash his feet, and while
they were doing this he kicked them over the cliff, so
that they fell down into the sea where there lurked a
great tortoise ready to eat them up. Theseus treated
the robber just as he had treated others ; he was the
stronger of the two, and he compelled Sciron to do as
he told him, and wash his feet, and then he kicked him
over the cliff, and the tortoise seized him by the neck
and gobbled him up.
That same evening Theseus reached the house of
the wicked Stretcher, whose custom it was to sit before
his door and invite travellers to lodge with him for the
night. He always fed them sumptuously, but at bed-time
he brought out two bedsteads, a big one and a little one,
and he took the short people to the big bedstead and
killed them by stretching out their limbs till they were as
long as the couch, (for which reason he was called the
I 2 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
Stretcher) and the tall people he laid upon the little
bedstead and lopped off as much of their limbs as
extended beyond it, and then he left them to bleed to
death. Theseus behaved as if he did not know about
the robber's wicked practices : he ate and drank and
carried on a cheerful conversation, but when the robber
led him into the sleeping-chamber, Theseus seized him
round the body, threw him on to the short bedstead,
and then drew his sword and hewed off his legs above
the knees ; then two great streams of blood gushed
forth, and the robber died. Theseus dragged the body
out into the open air where it was devoured by wolves,
vultures, and ravens, but he himself lay down to rest in
the house and slept till the morning, and when the day
dawned, he went on his way. The Stretcher was the
last robber he met with, and ever after this journey
of his, travellers could go from Troezen to Greece
without fear of being robbed and killed, and as they
journeyed they thought of the young hero Theseus to
Avhom they owed their safety.
Theseus soon afterwards arrived in Athens. He
first of all bathed himself in a stream near the city, for
he was covered with dust and blood, and when he was
cleansed, he entered the town and was conducted to his
father's palace. He went in saying that he was a
stranger, and begged the king to show him hospitality.
Aegeus was now old, and he was very sorrowful, for he
thought that his son must be dead and that the wicked
Pallantidae would succeed to the kingdom. The witch
Medea was with him, for he had received her when she
fled from Corinth in her chariot drawn by dragons. 1
1 See page 175.
THESEUS. 18S
She was wise and crafty in speech, and she had succeeded
in gaming so great an influence over the king that he
asked her advice in all things, and followed it. No one
knew who Theseus was except Medea, but she knew,
for she could find out any secret by means of her rnagic
arts. She was not at all pleased that Theseus had come
to Athens, for she feared that the king would set greater
store by his son than by her, and that her power would
now be at an end. So she told Aegeus that the stranger
was a kinsman of the Pallantidae, and that he had come
for the purpose of killing him. The poor old king be-
lieved what she told him and was seized with fear, and
he asked her what he had better do to save his life.
Medea answered that she would mix some poison with
the wine that Theseus was to drink, and Aegeus gave
her leave to do so. But while they were at dinner, it
happened that Theseus wanted to cut off a piece of
roasted meat, and he drew his sword to cut it, for
the Greeks had not at that time learnt the use of
knives and forks. Then Aegeus recognised the sword,
and he sprang up and dashed the goblet from the table ;
the poisoned wine flowed all over the floor, but Aegeus
paid no attention to it, for he had flung his arms round
Theseus, and was embracing him and crj ing out, ' My
son, my son.' Both the father and son rejoiced greatly
at thus finding each other, and they had many things
to ask and to tell, and when Theseus related how he
had destroyed the robbers, the joy of the old king was
doubled at finding that his son was so brave a hero.
Meanwhile he gave no thought to the wicked Medea
who had intended to poison Theseus, and she went out
and called her dragon-car. It came rushing through
184 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
the air towards her, and she got into it and flew away,
and has never been seen again.
The old king was quite happy now, and he sent a
herald to proclaim all through the city that Theseus
was his son and the heir to his kingdom. No one
grudged him his happiness except the wicked Pallas
and his sons, who till now had been the chief men in
the city. They were rich and had a great many ser-
vants, and they assembled them all in a little wood near
the city, intending to leave some of them there in
ambush, and to lead the others towards the city and
shout to Theseus to come out and fight them. They
thought that he would come out against them with a
few men only, and that after the battle had begun, they
would be joined by the servants left in the wood which
would make the odds very unequal ; and they hoped that
they would thus be able to kill Theseus, and then go
on into the city and murder the old king. But after
they had made all their preparations, one of the ser-
vants went to Aegeus and revealed the treachery they
were planning. Then Theseus went out towards the
wood, followed by a number of the citizens, and slew
the men who were in ambush there, and when the rest
heard that, they were afraid, and fled from the country.
Theseus was anxious to perform some heroic deed
which would benefit the Athenians and make them
love and honour him. There was at that time a fierce
bull in the country who killed men and cattle, and who
was called the Bull of Marathon, because he lived near
Marathon, which is close to Athens. It was the same
beast that had formerly been called the Cretan Bull, and
had been brought by Heracles from Crete, at the com-
THESEUS. 185
maud of Eurystheus, as his seventh Labour. 1 Ever since
that time the savage bull had been at large in Greece,
doing much damage. Theseus went out against him
without either sword or club, for he wished to overcome
the bull by his own hero-strength alone, and bring him
alive to Athens ; some of the citizens went with him,
but only to* look on at a distance. When Theseus came
in sight of the bull, he stood still, and the bull rushed
at him, bellowing and lowering his head to run his
horns into him and toss him up high into the air, as he
had tossed many a one before. But Theseus seized
him by the horns and dragged him aside, and then a
mighty wrestling took place, the eyes of the young hero
glowed like fire, and the veins of his arms were swollen
high with the effort he had to make. When they had
wrestled for some time, the bull grew tired and tried to
get free, but Theseus held him fast and dragged him
into the city, and all the Athenians came out to meet
him, and they praised him and said that he was like
Heracles. Theseus then took the bull to the temple of
Apollo to sacrifice him to the god. He cut off the
hairs from the animal's forehead, as the custom was,
and laid them in the flame of the fire that was burning
on the altar and prayed to Apollo, and then he took
up the sacrificial axe, and felled the great bull to the
ground with a single blow. The sacrifice was then
performed in the usual manner, and it was the most
splendid animal that had ever been offered to any god.
The Athenians were proud of their strong young prince,
and they loved and honoured him.
Not long after this, the time came round when the
1 See page 122.
186 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
Athenians were obliged to send their tribute to the
king of Crete ; it was, indeed, a shameful tribute,
seven youths and seven maidens, who were sent to
perish there miserably. Minos> the king of Crete,
had had a son named Androgeus, who had once hap-
pened to come to Athens just when there was a feast
going on, and sports in which all the young men vied
with one another in feats of skill and strength; and he
had taken part in the sports, and had excelled all others
and won the prize of honour. But the Athenians were
very angry at his having beaten them, and they lay in
wait for him as he was on his way home, and fell upon
him and killed him. When his father, King Minos,
heard of this, he swore that the Athenians should suffer
for it, and he prepared his ships and sailed with a
mighty army to fight against Athens. The gods took
the part ol Minos and sent a pestilence among the
Athenians ; they also dried up their rivers and spoiled
their harvests, so that there was great distress through-
out the country. At last the Athenians were obliged
to sue for peace, and Minos granted it on condition
that every nine years they should give him a tribute of
seven youths and seven maidens. There was a wonderful
house in Crete where the youths and maidens who were
sent as tribute met with a miserable death. The house
was called the Labyrinth, and it was as large as a town,
and had countless courts and galleries. Those who
entered it without being familiar with its passages could
never find their way out again, and they hurried from
one to another of the numberless rooms looking for the
entrance door, but all in vain, they only became more
and more hopelessly lost in the bewildering house, and
THESEUS. 187
at last a monster who lived there, came and ate them
up. He was called the Minotaur, and he had the form
of a man, excepting his head, which was that of a bull,
and he had a bull's voice.
When the time for paying the tribute came round,
all the youths and maidens of Athens had to assemble
in the market-place. Then two brazen vessels were
brought out, and they put a number of balls into each
of them ; into one vessel they put as many balls as
there were youths in the city, and into the other as
many balls as there were maidens ; seven of the balls
in each vessel were black, and all the rest were white.
All the youths and maidens in turn had to put their
hand into one of the vessels and draw out a ball with-
out looking, and those who drew the black balls had to
go on board the ship that was waiting to take them to
Crete. For this sorrowful journey the ship always had
black sails instead of white ones.
For the third time the Athenians were now
obliged to pay the tribute of seven youths and seven
maidens to the king of Crete. When Theseus heard
about it, he begged his father to let him sail with
them, for he hoped that he would be able to kill the
monster and deliver the Athenians. The king was
afraid that Theseus would never come back, notwith-
standing the great deeds he had already performed, and
he refused at first to give his consent; but Theseus said
that it would be a disgrace to him if he did not go, and he
persisted in his request till his father granted it. When
the others had been chosen by lot, they all went on
board the ship which was ready to sail, and Aegeus and
many others went down to the shore to take leave of
188 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
them. All were heart-broken at the parting except-
ing Theseus, but he was in very good spirits, for he
hoped this would be the last time that such a journey
would have .to be made. The old king gave him a
white sail which he begged him to hoist if he came
back in safety, saying, ' If you are alive when the ship
returns, let me know it by this signal ; but if on the
contrary you have perished, the black sail will tell me
the sad news as soon as the ship comes in sight.'
Theseus promised to do as his father wished, and then
he went on board the vessel and gave the signal to the
sailors, who plied their oars and pushed off from
the land. And Aegeus returned home and prayed to
the gods to bring his son back to him in safety.
After some time the voyage came to an end, and
the ship with the black sails arrived in Crete. Minos
sent his soldiers to conduct the youths and maidens to
a dungeon where they were to remain till the next day,
and as they passed through the streets many people
crowded to look at them, lamenting that the young
lives should be sacrificed. The procession went past
the palace gate where King Minos was standing with
his daughter Ariadne, who was a very beautiful girl.
When Ariadne saw Theseus she could not help gazing
at him, for she thought he looked more like a true hero
than any one she had ever seen, though many heroes
came to her father's court. She could not bear to think
that he must perish, and all night long, when every one
else was asleep, she lay awake on her couch thinking
how she could save him. In the morning she watched
for an opportunity and went to the prison, where she
had no difficulty in getting in because she was the
THESEUS. 189
king's daughter. She called Theseus apart, and told him
that she loved him and longed to save him, and she
gave him a ball of thread and said that he must secretly
fasten one end of it to the entrance of the Labyrinth
and unravel it as he went along, so that he might be
able to find his way out again. She also gave him a
sharp sword which she had taken from her father's
armoury, that he might be armed for his struggle
with the Minotaur. Theseus thanked the beautiful
Ariadne, and told her that he was the son of the king
of Athens, and that if he escaped in safety from the
Labyrinth he would take her home with him to be his
wife. She willingly consented to this, and then left
the prison, and soon afterwards the guards came to
take the prisoners to the Labyrinth ; they did not see
the sword and the ball of thread which Ariadne had
given to Theseus, for he had hidden them in his robe.
When they reached the Labyrinth they led the prisoners
a long way into it and then left them, thinking that
they would never find their way out again, for they
did not notice that Theseus had unfastened his ball
at the entrance and let the thread pass through his
fingers as he went along. When the guards had turned
back, the youths and maidens thought they would have
to wander about hopelessly until the Minotaur came
and devoured them, but Theseus spoke to them en-
couragingly, and said that by the help of the gods he
would slay the monster and bring them out of their
trouble. About mid-day they heard the monster bel-
lowing in the distance ; he was still some way from
them, but he scented human blood, and as he came
nearer his bellowing grew louder and louder. The
190 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
others crowded together in a corner, each wanting to
be the last to meet him, but Theseus stood forward in
the middle of the room with his naked sword raised,
waiting for his approach. He was as tall again as a
man, and he had powerful fists and a huge mouth, and
on his head were two great horns. He stretched out
his arm to seize Theseus and opened his mouth to bite
off his head, but Theseus sprang behind him and hewed
off one of his legs at the knee joint, and then the huge
giant fell down and bellowed until the walls shook with
the noise he made. Theseus measured with his eye to
see where his ,heart must be, and taking careful aim,
he stabbed him through the back at that place. A
great stream of blood gushed out, and the monster lay
on the ground groaning and moaning and beating about
wildly with his arms ; he did not hit any one, however,
and before long he was dead. The youths and maidens
all came round Theseus, and they fell down and kissed
his feet and hands. They waited till it was dark, and
then set out to leave the Labyrinth, Theseus going in
front and winding up the ball of thread as he went.
They passed through room after room and court after
court, till at last they reached the door, where they
found Ariadne waiting for them ; she had stolen away
from the palace, and was full of joy when she saw them
arrive. Then they all went together to the ship, which at
once put out to sea, and by daybreak they were already
far away. King Minos thought his daughter must have
been carried off by robbers, for it never occurred to him
that she could have sailed away with the prisoners whom
he believed to have been devoured by the Minotaur,
and he searched for her all over the island. When he
THESEUS. 191
heard, some time afterwards, what had really happened,
he was so amazed at the bravery of Theseus that he
never again ventured to demand the tribute from the
Athenians.
When Theseus and his companions had sailed for
some days, they came to the island of Naxos, and as it
was evening, they went ashore to sleep. Naxos was the
favourite country of Dionysus, the wine-god ; he often
used to stay in the island, and he caused the finest
vines to grow there. Theseus and his companions slept
on the shore, and towards morning, Dionysus appeared
to Theseus in a dream and said to him, ' Rise up and
return home at once with your friends, but leave Ariadne
behind you, for T myself have chosen her to be my
wife.' Theseus awoke very sorrowful at having to leave
the beautiful Ariadne, but he knew that he must do as
the god commanded, and he roused his companions and
told them his dream, and then they went softly down
to the ship and sailed away, leaving Ariadne asleep on
the island. When it was bright daylight, Ariadne
awoke and found herself alone. She sprang up and ran
down to the shore, and seeing the ship some way out
at sea, she thought they had forgotten her, and waved
her veil as a signal for them to come back. The ship's
crew saw her, but they sailed on all the same, and then
Ariadne sat down on the shore and wept bitterly, for
she thought that Theseus had abandoned her because
he did not love her, and that she was left to perish in
misery and distress. As she sat thus weeping, -with her
beautiful head resting on her hand, and with her mind
full of sad thoughts, she heard a sound of flute-playing
on the island, which came nearer and nearer, and a
192 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
crowd of men and women appeared before her in a
strange procession. The foremost was a marvellously
beautiful youth, who had a crown of vine-leaves on his
head, and drove in a golden chariot drawn by two
spotted panthers. The youth was Dionysus, and he
went up to Ariadne and said, 'Do not be afraid ; I am
the god who created the vine, and I love you, and am
going to make you my wife.' The marriage was cele-
brated that very day, and all the woods and valleys in
the island resounded with sweet music ; the Bacchantes
danced and sang, and the old Silenus who had taken care
of Dionysus in his childhood l was intoxicated the whole
day long by way of doing honour to his master. Ariadne
was now the wife of the god Dionysus, and she became
immortal, and was gifted with perpetual youth.
The ship that carried away Theseus soon reached
Athens, but Theseus was so absorbed in thoughts
of Ariadne that he forgot to hoist the white sails
which were to announce his safe return. The aged
Aegeus had passed many long hours since his son had
left him in sitting on a high rock from which he could
see far over the sea. At last he spied a sail coming
towards him, but when it approached a little nearer, he
saw that it was a black one. Then he thought that the
ship was returning without Theseus, and he threw him-
self over into the sea because he could not bear to live
any longer. Some of the people who were on the shore
saw what he had done, and they at once got into a boat
and sailed to the place where he had disappeared,
hoping to save him ; but they were too late, for when
they found him he was already dead. They laid the
' See page 65.
THESEUS. 193
corpse on a bier, and were standing sadly round it
when the ship came sailing in. The youths on board
raised a shout of joy at reaching their home again, but
the others beckoned to them to be silent, and pointed
to the corpse. When Theseus knew that his father
had killed himself at the sight of the black sail, he was
very much distressed, and he threw himself upon the
corpse shedding bitter tears. In the evening the
Athenians carried the bier to the palace, and the next
day they raised a funeral pyre, and when they had burnt
the body, they placed the ashes in a costly urn. Theseus
sorrowed long for his father, and bitterly regretted that
he had not remembered the white sail at the right time.
Theseus was now king, and he ruled over the city of
Athens for a great number of years, and performed
many brave deeds. The Athenians had never before
had such a noble hero for their king, and they lived in
peace and safety, for their enemies feared Theseus and
did not dare to attack them. It happened once, that in
sailing along the coast of Asia, Theseus arrived at the
country of the Amazons, a nation of warlike women, l
one of whom was standing on the shore when Theseus
landed. She was so beautiful that he determined to
carry her off to be his wife, but the Amazons never
welcomed strangers, and when Theseus went up to her
she raised her lance, intending to pierce him with it.
Theseus however was not afraid, and putting his arms
round the maiden, he carried her off to the ship and
his comrades rowed away as fast as they could. The
other Amazons came running down to the shore when
they heard the cries of their sister, but they could not
1 See page 125.
O
MYTHS OF HELLAS.
overtake the ship. The Amazon that Theseus had
carried off was named Hippolyta. At first she was very
angry with him, but soon she came to love him with all
her heart and had no wish to go home again. When
they reached Athens, Hippolyta became the wife of
Theseus, and the gods sent them a little son whom
they named Hippolytus. Hippolyta was now queen
of Athens ; but the Amazons had made up their
minds to deliver their sister and punish the stranger
who had run away with her, and they took ship
and sailed to Greece. It was a strange sight to see
women with helmets on their heads and shields at their
sides, managing the vessels ; and when they came to
Greece every one was afraid of them. They did not
know who it was that had carried off their sister, so
they made inquiries ; and when they found it was
Theseus, they set out for Athens, and as soon as they
entered his dominions they began to lay waste the corn-
fields and kill both men and women. Some of the
people escaped, however, and hastened to the city to
warn the king that the Amazons were marching towards
it, and he armed his people and led them out to the
fight. Then a fierce battle took place, and many of the
Athenians were killed. Queen Hippolyta stood on the
wall of the city watching the battle, full of anxiety lest
Theseus should be killed by the Amazons, and she longed
so much to help him that at last she armed herself with a
spear and shield, and went out to take part in the fray.
The Amazons thought at first that she had come to
join them, but when they found out what was the real
state of the case they became furious. They were now
more angry with her than with Theseus, and they
hurled their lances at her till oue of them hit her in
THESEUS. 195
the breast, and she sank down and died. Theseus was
standing by her, and when he saw that she was dead,
he was seized with uncontrollable fury, and he struck
down one after another of the Amazons until they
were all killed. It was a great victory, and the first
that any one had ever gained over the Amazons, but
Theseus could take no pleasure in it because of the loss
of Hippolyta.
There was a nation in Greece called the Lapithae,
whose king, Pirithoiis, was a brave and noble hero. He
had heard so much about Theseus that he resolved to
try whether he was as much of a hero as every one said.
So he entered his country and stole some cattle arid
carried them away. When Theseus heard of it, he set
out in pursuit of Pirithoiis, who took no pains to escape
from him, but rather the contrary, for he had stolen the
cattle, not for the sake of having them, but because
he wanted to see what Theseus would be like when he
was angry. When Theseus overtook him, Pirithoiis
marvelled at his strength and beauty and at the fire of
his eyes which were glowing with impatience for the
fight, and Theseus on his part was so delighted with
the brave and manly appearance of Pirithoiis that he
quite forgot that he had been angry with him.
Pirithoiis went up to him holding out his hand, and
said, ' I will atone for the theft I have committed ; you
may impose upon me whatever punishment you will.'
Theseus gave him his hand in return, and said that he
would impose no punishment, but would rather make
a sacred friendship with him. They promised each
other that they would be as brothers, and would always
be ready to stand by one another, and called upon i
o 2
196 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
to witness their oaths and bless their friendship, and
then they returned, each to his own country.
Some time after this, Pirithoiis invited a number of
guests to celebrate his marriage with a beautiful
princess, and the most honoured of all the guests was
Theseus. All the great men among the Lapithae were
at the wedding, and also the savage Centaurs, who had
the lower part of their bodies formed like the bodies of
horses. But when the fierce Centaurs became intoxi-
cated, they tried to run away with the bride of Pirithoiis
and the other women, and the marriage feast ended in
a bloody fight. The vessels that had been used at the
feast served for arms, and they threw goblets, dishes,
and drinking cups at one another. The Centaurs were
stronger than the Lapithae, and would certainly have
gained the victory if the Lapithae had not had the help
of Theseus, who had brought his iron club with him
and struck down the Centaurs with it, till the dead
bodies of those whom he had killed lay upon the
ground in heaps and the few that remained took to
flight. Then peace was restored, though not before a
great number of the Lapithae had perished, and Theseus
returned home, glad that he had been able to give this
proof of his friendship for Pirithoiis.
Theseus was always ready to help those who were
in the right, and as his fame spread far and wide, every
one who was oppressed came to Athens and stood before
the Altar of Pity which had been raised in the centre
of the market-place. Then Theseus inquired into his
case, and if he found that he had been wronged, he
took care to see that justice was done. This gained for
him the hatred of the wicked oppressors, but all those
who cared for justice honoured and loved him.
THESEUS. 197
Theseus had reigned for a long time, and his son
Hippolytus had grown up to be a man, when he resolved
to marry again, and asked Minos the king of Crete to
let him have his daughter Phaedra, the sister of Ariadne,
for his wife. Minos had long before this forgiven
Theseus for having killed the Minotaur and carried off
Ariadne, and he willingly consented to give him his
younger daughter in marriage. Phaedra was many
years younger than Theseus and had been quite a child
when he was in Crete, but she now became queen of
Athens, and Theseus loved her dearly and did all he
could to please her. His son, who had been named
Hippolytus after his mother, did not live at Athens,
but in Troezen with his grandmother who had brought
him up since the death of Hippolyta. He was noble
and virtuous, and he loved the chase and all manly
pursuits, and honoured, above all other gods and
goddesses, the huntress-goddess Artemis. Hippolytus
came one day to Athens on a visit, and when Phaedra
saw him, she was so dazzled by his youth and beauty
that she began to love him passionately, and after his
return she used to spend many hours every day sitting
on the city walls and looking towards Troezen. She
used to take her old nurse there with her, and talk to
her about Hippolytus, and tell her how willingly she
would give up honour and riches for his sake. The next
time Hippolytus came to Athens she had a secret con-
versation with him, and begged him to flee away and
take her with him to be his wife. But Hippolytus was
angry with her for plotting such treachery against his
father, and he was so shocked at what she had said that
he mounted his chariot and drove his spirited horses
198 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
back towards Troezen. Phaedra now hated him for
having spurned her, and she thought of a plan by which
she might revenge herself upon him. She went to
Theseus and told him with many tears that Hippolytus
had proposed to her to run away with him and become
his wife, and Theseus believed what she told him, and
he was very, very angry, and said that Hippolytus
should atone for it with his life.
Theseus was loved by the gods, and especially by
Poseidon the sea-god, who had once promised him that
if ever he prayed to him in any time of trouble, he
would certainly grant his request, whatever it might
be. Many years had passed away since then, and
Theseus had never had so great a desire for anything as
to think of asking the sea-god for it ; but now that
Phaedra accused his son of this great crime, he en-
treated Poseidon to fulfil his dearest wish and cause
Hippolytus to die immediately. At that moment,
Hippolytus who was driving along the sea-shore, saw
the waves suddenly part asunder and a hideous monster
come out of them, who roared horribly. The frightful
appearance of the monster and the noise he made,
rendered the horses quite unmanageable, and Hippo-
lytus could not hold them in. They ran away with the
chariot, dragging it over stones and rocks, till at last it
was upset, and Hippolytus was thrown out and trampled
to death. The people found his body and brought it
to Athens, and Theseus knew that Poseidon had granted
his prayer. But when Phaedra saw the corpse, she was so
grieved and sick at heart that she went into her sleep-
ing chamber and hanged herself, and then the old nurse
told the king the whole truth. When Theseus knew
THESEUS. 199
that his innocent son had perished because of his
virtue, he was quite overcome with grief, and threw
himself upon the corpse, kissing it and weeping
passionately, and for many days he shut himself up
alone in his palace and refused either to eat or drink.
Theseus thought that the best way of regaining his
spirits would be to undertake some new exploit which
would give a fresh turn to his thoughts. The wife of
Pirithoiis was also dead, and the two heroes determined
to set out together to seek for two beautiful women
whom they might carry off to become their wives.
They had heard that Tyndareus, the king of Sparta, had
a lovely daughter named Helena, and they set out for
Sparta, and reached it just at the time of the festival
pf Artemis. The maidens of the city kept the festival
by dancing round the altar of the goddess, and Helena
was among them, and was distinguished from all the
others by her marvellous beauty. The two heroes
rushed in among the maidens and seized Helena, and
when they had carried her off to a place of safety, they
cast lots for her, to see whose wife she should be. The
lot fell to Theseus, and he took her to his mother
Aethra and begged her to take care of the maiden
until he should return for her, for he wanted to go and
help his friend also to carry off a wife by force. They
were so bold as to resolve that they would descend into
the Land of Shades and steal away the queen of the
Lower World, although this was in undertaking so daring
that nothing like it had ever before been attempted by
any hero. They passed through the chasm which was
the entrance to the Lower World, and went down far
below the earth till at last they reached the Land of
200 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
Shades. They were now very tired, and as they ex-
pected to have a hard struggle before they could get
possession of the queen, they thought they would rest
a little first, and sat down on a stone which they saw
near them. But when they wanted to get up again,
they found that they had stuck fast to the stone and
could not move. The king of the Lower World, who
knew for what purpose they had dared to come into his
dominions, had prevented their getting up again, and he
punished them by obliging them to sit there for ever.
So the two heroes were kept prisoners in the Lower
World ; and meanwhile, the brothers of Helena, whose
names were Castor and Pollux, set out to free their
sister. Their mother was the beautiful Leda, wife of
King Tyndareus, who was sitting one day by the
river bank when a snow-white swan came sailing by.
Leda was charmed with his beauty and called him to
come to her, and the swan came on shore and embraced
her. It was not a real swan however, but Zeus, who
loved the beautiful Leda, and had come to her in this
form. Some time after this, Leda had four children ;
there were two large eggs, and out of each egg there
came a little boy and a little girl. Two of them were
the children of Zeus, and their names were Pollux
and Helena ; the other two were called Castor and Cly-
taemnestra. When they grew up, the two brothers,
Castor and Pollux, became glorious heroes. No one
understood so well how to tame wild horses as Castor,
and no one was so skilled in wrestling as Pollux. 1 They
were also kind and gentle, and loved one another so
dearly that they shared everything, and they performed
1 See page 157.
THESEUS. 201
many heroic deeds together, and won great fame. But
in the course of time, Castor died and passed into the
Lower World, where he became an unthinking shade.
Pollux did not die, for it was decreed that as he was a
son of Zeus he should become immortal and live among
the gods. But his immortality was a burden to him,
for he could not bear to live without his brother, and
he begged his father Zeus to grant them both the same
fate, so that they might either be both in Olympus or
both in the Lower World. Zeus was pleased at their love
for one another, and he said that they should both be
in Olympus one day and both be in the Lower World
on the alternate day, and thus they should always
remain together. The two brothers were named the
Dioscuri, or the children of Zeus, and two bright stars
which stand close to one another in the sky are named
after them.
At the time however when Theseus carried off
Helena, the brothers were still alive and in the first
bloom of their youth. They set out with their com-
panions for Athens, thinking that Theseus must have
taken their sister to his capital; but when they
reached it they were told that he had gone away on
an adventurous enterprise, and the Athenians took a
solemn oath that the maiden was not within their walls.
The brothers asked where she was hidden, and one of
the citizens who knew, told them; then they went
away without doing any harm to any one, and marched
to Troezen, where they compelled Aethra to let them
take their beautiful sister home with them.
Theseus and Pirithoiis sat upon the stone for many
years, until the time came when Heracles was com-
202 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
manded by Eurystheus to descend into the Lower World
and fetch up the three-headed dog Cerberus. 1 When
the captive heroes saw him, they called to him and told
him of their trouble, and begged him to help them.
Then Heracles seized the hand of Theseus with such
a mighty grasp that the stone was compelled to leave
go and allow him to get up. He next seized hold of
Pirithous, but at that moment the earth quaked, and
fearful sounds were heard, which signified that the gods
would not grant freedom to Pirithous, but doomed him
to sit upon the stone for ever, because he had presumed
to desire the queen of the Lower World for his wife.
So Theseus was obliged to leave his friend in the
Land of Shades, and he took leave of him and returned
to the Upper World ; but in the meanwhile his hair had
turned grey, and his appearance had become very much
altered. Now while he was a prisoner in the Lower
World, a mischief-making person had been telling the
people that their king spent all his time in going abou f .
on daring expeditions, and was of no use to his subjects ;
so when Theseus came back to Athens, he found that
the people had no longer any affection or esteem for
him. He would not live amongst those who did not
make him welcome, and he left his country and got
into a ship and sailed to the island of Scyros. Part of
the island belonged to a king named Lycomedes, but
the rest of it belonged to Theseus, and he had resolved
to spend the remaining days of his life there, so he
\\ent to the king and told him so. The king was by
no means pleased, for he was a cowardly man and he
thought that Theseus would not leave him in peaceful
1 See page 135.
THESEUS. 203
possession of his share, but would make himself king of
the whole island. He pretended, however, to welcome
Theseus, and said that he would take him to a moun-
tain where he would have a view of the whole country.
They both climbed up the mountain, which had a steep
precipice on one side of it, and when Theseus was pre-
occupied in looking at the country, Lycomedes got
behind him and pushed him over the cliff. Theueus died
from the great fall, and thus the strong hero lost his life
at the hands of one cowardly man. They found his body
lying at the foot of the precipice with the bones broken,
and they buried him in the island.
Many years passed away, and the age of the heroes
and the sons of the gods had quite gone by, when the
Athenians sent one day to the Oracle at Delphi to
inquire of the Pythia about the future. The Pythia
told them that they had bettei fetch the bones of
Theseus from Scyros and keep them in their city,
because these bones would prove a great blessing to
them. They did not fail to attend to this direction,
and sent ships manned with a large number of
Athenians to the island of Scyros, to seek for the
bones of Theseus and bring them home. But no one
could tell them where the grave of the hero was, for
during that long time it had been forgotten. They
went all over the island seeking for it, and at last it
was revealed to them by a sign from heaven : a mighty
eagle swooped down on to a hill and pecked the ground
many times with his beak, then he soared up again and
disappeared among the clouds. The Athenians dug
into the hill and found a coffin containing bones much
larger than the bones of the men of that time, and
204 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
there was also a sword and spear in the same coffin.
They knew by the sign that had been given them from
heaven that these were the bones of Theseus, and they
carried the coffin to their finest ship and sailed home
with it. The ship was beautifully adorned with garlands
and streamers, and when it reached Athens the citizens
put on their best clothes and came out to meet it, sing-
ing and playing on the flute, just as if it were Theseus
himself who was returning to his country. They buried
his bones in the middle of the city, and consecrated the
spot as a Kefuge or place of safety : if, for example, a
slave were pursued by his master and he could succeed
in reaching the tomb of Theseus, the master had no
longer any right to touch him. In this manner the
Athenians honoured the memory of Theseus, who during
his lifetime had always been so ready to take the part
of the weak against the strong They also came in
time to look upon him as a god, and offered sacrifices
to him.
205
XXIX.
OEDITUS.
THERE was once a king of Thebes called Lai'us, and he
had a wife whose name was Jocasta. There was also a
soothsayer in Thebes, who said that if the queen had
a son it would be a great misfortune, for that when he
grew up, he would kill his father and marry his mother.
Some time afterwards the queen had a little son, a
strong child with bright merry eyes; but Lai'us de-
termined to kill it in order to prevent the prediction
of the soothsayer from coming true, and he told one of
his servants to take the little child to a mountain called
Cithaeron, which was covered with forests, and leave it
there to be devoured by wild beasts ; but before he sent
it away, the king tied a string tightly round its ankles,
which made the little feet swell. The servant did as
he was told, and left the child lying in the forest. But
it happened that the cattle of Polybus, the king of
Corinth, were at that time pasturing on the mountain,
and one of the herdsmen who was in charge of them,
chanced, in searching for a cow that had gone astray,
to go through the forest and to pass by the spot where
the child of King Laius had been left to perish. He
was sorry for the poor little thing, and he took it up
and untied the string round its feet, and laid cooling
206 MYTHS OF! HELL AS.
herbs upon the sore places. King Polybus and his wife
had no child, though they wished very much for one,
and the herdsman, who knew this, thought that they
might like to have the little stranger to bring up as
their own son. He took the beautiful little boy to
Corinth and showed him to the king and queen, who
were very much pleased, and they said they would keep
him for their own, and told the herdsman not to let
any one know that he had found him in the forest. So
Laius thought that his child had been devoured by
wild beasts, while the Corinthians thought that the gods
had granted the wish of their queen and had sent her
a child, and nobody, not even the king and queen
themselves, knew that he was the son of Lai'us and
Jocasta. The child's feet were still swollen when he
was brought to Corinth, so they called him Oedipus,
which means Swollen-Foot.
Oedipus grew up to be brave and strong, and the king
and queen, who were very fond of him, treated him just
as if they were his real parents and never told him
that he had not been born in Corinth. When he was
a young man, he went one day to Delphi to ask the
Oracle what would happen to him, and the priestess
answered, 'You will kill your father and marry your
mother.' Oedipus shuddered, and resolved to leave
Corinth at once that he might never fulfil such a
horrible prediction. He ordered his chariot, and let his
horses take whichever road they pleased, for he did not
care where he went, so long as it was away from Corinth.
By-and-by he came to a strange country, and found
himself in a narrow lane where there was not even
room for two chariots to pass one another, and whilst
OEDIPUS. 207
he was still in this narrow lane, he met a king who was
coming in his chariot from the opposite direction. The
king commanded Oedipus to stand aside and let him
pass in such a haughty manner that Oedipus refused to
obey him, and after they had exchanged some angry
words, they seized their arms, and Oedipus before long
struck the king a deadly blow. The king was Lai'us,
the father of Oedipus, and thus a part of the Oracle was
already fulfilled ; but Oedipus did not know this, and he
did not feel at all sorry for having killed the stranger,
as it was he who had begun the quarrel. He went on
through Greece and accomplished many brave deeds,
and after some time he came to the neighbourhood of
Thebes, where he heard a strange story indeed.
On the mountain near Thebes, there was a monster
called the Sphinx, who could speak. She devoured
both men and cattle, and no one had been able to over-
come her. She asked every one who came near her a
riddle which she had learnt from the Muses, who are
the goddesses of song, and she devoured every one who
could not answer it ; but it had been decreed by fate
that if any one should ever succeed in guessing it, she
would be obliged to throw herself down from the moun-
tain and die. Many people had already tried to do so,
but they had all failed and had been devoured by the
Sphinx in consequence, so that no one else would
attempt it, and there was no end to the misery in the
land. The Thebans met together to consider what
could be done, and they agreed that if any one would
answer the riddle and deliver the city from the monster,
he should, as a reward, be made king of Thebes, and
bave Jocasta for his wife. King Lai'us had been found
208 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
dead in the narrow lane some time before, but it war
not known who had killed him.
When Oedipus heard that the Thebans had agreed
to give the kingdom to any one who would deliver them
from the Sphinx, he said to himself, ' I dare not return
to my father's country, and I will therefore seek to win
a kingdom for myself,' for he still thought that his father
was the king of Corinth. So he set out for the moun-
tain where the Sphinx lived. She was like a gigantic
lioness, with a woman's head, and powerful wings grow-
ing out of her shoulders, and all round her lay the bones
of the men whom she had devoured. It was a horrible
sight, but Oedipus was not afraid, and he desired her
to tell him the riddle. Then she began to sing, ' There
is a creature of wondrous kind ; at first it goes on four
legs, then on two, and at last it uses three. There is
none like it among all those that walk on the earth, or
swim in the water, or fly in the air.' Oedipus put his
hand to his forehead and thought for a while. Then it
came into his mind that as a little child, man crawls
about on four legs, and that in his old age he uses a
stick, which is just like a third leg, and he said, ' The
wonderful creature is man.' As soon as the words had
passed his lips, the Sphinx threw herself from the
mountain, and fell down dead into the valley below.
The Thebans, who were watching from the city, saw
what happened, and they came out to meet Oedipus
with shouts of joy. They hailed him as their king and
led him into the palace, and on the same day he was
married to Queen Jocasta. Thus he became the hus-
band of his mother, and the whole of the prophecy was
fulfilled. But he did not know this, and was very happy.
OEDIPUS. 209
He lived in great riches, and to all seeming, in great
honour, so that there was no one who did not look upon
him as a very fortunate man.
Many years had passed away, when there came a
messenger to Thebes to tell Oedipus that King Polybua
was dead, and to beg him to return to Corinth and be
king of the city. But Oedipus would not return there
on account of the Oracle, for though King Polybus,
whom he believed to be his father, was dead, the queen
was still alive, and he feared that some madness might
come over him and make him desire to marry his
mother. He told this to the messenger, who, as it
happened, was the old herdsman who had found Oedipus
in the forest when he was a child ; and he, thinking to
do the king a great service, told him in return that he
was not the son of Polybus, but a strange child who
had been found on Mount Cithaeron with his feet tied
together by a string. As soon as Jocasta heard this,
she knew that Oedipus must be her son, and when he
began to inquire about his father, he found that he.
must have been the king whom he had killed in the
narrow lane. All his prosperity and all his happiness
had now left him at a single blow, and there was not
a man in Thebes who did not consider himself better
off than the king. He was so wretched that he put
out his own eyes because he could not bear to face the
contemptuous looks of the Thebans ; and as for Jocasta,
she went into her bedchamber and hanged herself.
The Greeks believed that the presence of any one
who had committed a great crime, even though he had
done so unintentionally, made them unholy and brought
misfortune upon them, and on account of this, the
p
210 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
Thebans resolved to banish Oedipus from their city. He
had two sons who w r ere strong youths and might have
protected their father if they had chosen, but they
would not interfere, because they wanted to rule over
the city themselves. The blind king was led out
of the city, but when he came to the gate he turned
round and prayed to the gods to punish his sons. He
would have been left quite alone to stumble over every
stone that lay in his path, if it had not been for one of
his daughters, who resolved to share his misery, and who
left the beautiful palace in order to take care of her
unhappy father in his distress. She was hJs eldest
daughter, and her name was Antigone. She and
Oedipus wandered from place to place, living on the
food that kind people threw to them, and their couch at
night was often beneath the blue sky with a hard stone
for their pillow, for the people were afraid to allow the
blind king to come into their houses, because of the
crimes that he had committed. Antigone suffered from
hunger and cold, and her feet were torn and bleeding
from the thorns, but she did not think much about
that, it was the misery of her father that pierced her
heart.
After they had wandered for many years, they came
-at last to Athens where Theseus, who was always willing
to help those who were in trouble was then king. In
the middle of the city was the Altar of Pity which he
had erected, 1 and Oedipus seated himself on one of the
steps of the altar as a sign that he sought for help.
Then Theseus came and asked who he was, and when
he heard his name, instead of turning away from him
1 See page 196.
OEDIPUS. 211
with a shudder as every one else did, he took him by
the hand and led him into the palace, where he lived
with Antigone during the rest of his life. Before long,
however, Oedipus died, and his body was solemnly
burnt by the Athenians, for the Oracle said that they
must take great care of his ashes, which would prove a
blessing to the city.
212 MYTHS OF HiLLLAS.
XXX.
THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES.
THE sons of Oedipus were twins, and their names
were Eteocles and Polynices. When their father was
banished from Thebes they succeeded to the kingdom,
and agreed that they would each reign in turn for one
year. Eteocles had his turn first ; but he found it so
pleasant to be king that when the year came to an end
he refused to give up the sovereignty and drove his
brother from the city. Polynices was now an exile ; but
he determined that he would take no rest till he had
found some friends who would promise to help him to
revenge himself upon his brother. He set out for Argos,
where King Adrastus lived, and arrived there after dark
one evening. In the darkness he happened to jostle
against another hero who was also going into the palace,
and from angry words they soon came to blows, and
drew their swords to fight one another. King Adrastus
heard the clash of arms from within the palace, and he
took a torch and went out to see what was the matter.
He commanded the heroes to stop fighting, and asked
them what they wanted. Then Polynices explained
how he had been driven away from his country by his
brother, and how he hcped that the king would help
THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES.
him to claim his rights. The other hero, whose name
was Tydeus, had been driven from his country on
account of a murder that he had committed uninten-
tionally, and he had come to request the king to help
him to return home again. Whilst the heroes were
speaking, the king saw by the light of the torch the
shining brazen figures upon their shields. The Greek
heroes used to wear various kinds of devices on their
shields by which they could be recognised, such as ser-
pents, griffins, eagles, and so forth. Now, on the shield
of Polynices there was a lion, and on that of Tydeus a
boar's head, and when Adrastus saw these, he remem-
bered that once when he had asked the Oracle to whom
he should give his two daughters in marriage, the Oracle
had replied, ' To a lion and a wild boar.' Adrastus had
not understood the answer at the time, but he now per-
ceived that it must have referred to the two heroes, and
he therefore received them kindly, and said that he
would give them his daughters in marriage, and restore
them to their homes. The wedding soon took place,
and Tydeus was married to the elder daughter, and
Polynices to the younger.
The king said that he would first help Polynices,
and he assembled his soldiers, and summoned several
brave heroes to march with them. Three heroes,
Capaneus, Hippomedon, and Parthenopaeus, promised
to do so, which made six with the king and his two
sons-in-law. There was another hero in Argos, named
Amphiaraus, who was very wise and could foretell the
future, and the king did not like going to war unless he
went too, for he was not only brave and fearless, but he
always gave good counsel. But when Adrastus summoned
214 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
him to march against Thebes, he said he would not go,
for he knew that they would not conquer the city, but
would all perish excepting Adrastus, who would return
alone. Amphiaraus knew this because he could see into
the future, but the others did not believe what he said
and thought he was afraid of going to the war, and
Capaneus, who was a very headstrong man, said, ' If the
gods themselves should declare against the expedition,
I am resolved to conquer the city in spite of them.'
Even Adrastus did not believe that the war would end
unhappily, and he said so to Amphiaraus, and pressed
him to accompany them. At last it was agreed that
Eriphyle, the wife of Amphiaraus, who was also the
sister of Adrastus, should decide the matter. There
had once been a bitter quarrel between Amphiaraus and
Adrastus which had led to their taking arms against
each other, and when peace was restored, they had
agreed that if ever any dispute should again arise
between them, Eriphyle should decide about it, and
that whatever she determined should be done. So
now Eriphyle had to decide about the going to war.
Amphiaraus foresaw that Polynices would try to bribe
her and he warned her to take no present from him,
and she promised to obey. But Polynices came to her
secretly with a beautiful necklace and veil, and said
that he would give them to her if she would decide
that Amphiaraus should go to the war. These were no
ordinary ornaments, but had been given by the god
Hephaestus to Cadmus and Harmonia when they cele-
brated their marriage in the Cadmea, 1 and had been
handed clown from father to son in the royal family of
1 See page 58.
THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES. 215
Thebes, till they had been worn, last of all, by Queeu
Jocasta. When Eriphyle saw the glittering necklace
and the snow-white veil, she could not overcome her
desire to possess them, and although she knew quite
well that if she counselled war it would cost her husband
his life, she promised to do so ; and when the heroes
came together to hear her decision, she said, * Amphiaraus
shall go to the war.' Amphiaraus knew that she must have
been bribed by Polynices, but he did not dare to make
any further difficulty, and accordingly prepared to set
out ; but before he left the city he called aside his two
sons, who were still young boys, and told them that
when they were grown up they were to kill their
mother because she had decided upon his death.
There were thus seven princes who set out to march
against Thebes, and they were accompanied by a goodly
band of soldiers, and all except Amphiaraus were merry
and in good spirits, for they did not know that they
were marching to their death. It was a long journey
to Thebes, and they had to travel for several days before
they came in sight of it. One day, as they were
approaching the city of Nemea, they had to pass
through a forest where they met a woman carrying a
young child in her arms. The woman was a servant of
King Lycurgus, who ruled over the city of Nemea, and
it was his child that she was taking care of. Her name
was Hypsipele, and her home was in the island of
Lemnos, where she had once been a queen herself. 1
The women of Lemnos had killed all the men in the
island and formed a kingdom composed entirely of
women, and they had made a law that any woman who
1 See page 153.
216 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
should spare even her husband or son and not kill him,
should be severely punished. But Hypsipele loved her
old father too dearly not to be willing to brave the
punishment, and she kept him alive secretly, and used
to take him food and talk to him when the others were
asleep. This went on for a great many years, but at last
the other women found it out, and then they killed the
old father, and sold the queen as a slave to some pirates
who happened to be sailing past the island at the time.
The pirates sold her again in Nemea, and this was how
she came to be the slave of King Lycurgus, and the
nurse of his child. The heroes were very thirsty, for
it was just then mid-day, and they asked Hypsipele
if she knew of a spring where they could quench their
thirst. She told them that farther down in the valley
there was a spring of beautiful clear water, and said
that she would show them the way to it. The child
was frightened at their shining armour and clanging
weapons, so she left it playing on the grass, and went
alone with the men. They soon reached the spring and
quenched their thirst, and then they returned to the
place where they had left the child. But the child was
gone, and on a tree close by, there sat a great ugly
serpent who had eaten him up. The serpent was soon
punished for his wickedness, for one of the heroes
pierced him through and through with his lance and
killed him, but Hypsipele wept and sobbed, for she felt
sure that King Lycurg-us would kill her. The heroes
were very sorry for her, and they went with her to
Nemea in the hope that they might be able to save her
from being punished. King Lycurgus thought at first
that they were enemies who were cominor to attack the
THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES. 217
city, but Adrastus explained why they had come, and
begged him not to be angry with Hypsipele, as it was
really they who were the cause of the child's death.
Lycurgus was very sorrowful at hearing about it, so the
heroes tried to comfort him, and said that they would
honour his child as no child had ever been honoured
before, by celebrating magnificent funeral games over
its tomb. They took the child out of the snake's body
and burnt it on a pyre, and then they put the ashes into
a beautiful urn and buried them and heaped up a mound
over them. After this they held games near the mound,
and vied with each other in all kinds of sports such as
heroes take pleasure in. Such games as these were at
that time only celebrated in memory of rich and famous
kings, and Lycurgus thanked the heroes for honouring
his child in this manner. From that time games were
celebrated every third year at Nemea, which were called
the Nemean G-ames, and were famed far and wide.
Numbers of people came to them from all countries,
and whoever did best in any trial of skill received a
crown as a prize.
When the funeral festivities were at an end, the
heroes took leave of Lycurgus, who promised that for
their sake he would not do any harm to Hypsipele.
Amphiaraus warned them once again that they had
better return home, and said that the death of the child
was a bad omen. But when the gods meant to let
misfortune overtake people, they blinded their eyes and
prevented them from listening to any warning or good
counsel, and thus the heroes rejected the advice of
Amphiaraus, and continued their march. After some
days they came to a mountain from which they could
218 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
see Thebes in the distance, and there they halted and
held a council, at which it was resolved that before they
began the war, Tydeus should go to Thebes and tell
Eteocles that he had better give up the kingdom to his
brother peaceably, for if he did not, the Argives would
take possession of the city by force. Tydeus set out for
Thebes, and finding the Theban heroes at a banquet, he
delivered his message to them there. Eteocles answered
that he hated his brother and would rather die than
share the kingdom with him, and that he was not
afraid of the Argives, but was quite ready to fight them.
On hearing this, Tydeus prepared to return to the camp,
but as Eteocles asked him to stay and feast with him,
he accepted the invitation, and they talked together in
a friendly manner as host and guest, although they
were just going to meet one another in deadly conflict.
In those days when heroes met they always took the
opportunity of vying with one another in feats of
strength, and so when the banquet was over, Tydeus
challenged the Theban s to wrestle with him. First
one presented himself, and then another, but Tydeus
was stronger than any of them, and overcame them all.
The Thebans were ashamed of themselves and furious
with Tydeus, and they placed an ambush of fifty
youths in a copse not far from the city, who rushed out
and fell upon him as he was returning home. It was
an unequal struggle, but Tydeus killed them all except
one, who fled back into the city and told the Thebans
what had become of the others, and then they wondered
still more at the extraordinary strength of Tydeus.
When the princes understood that Eteocles would
not give up the kingdom peaceably, they led their army
THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES. 219
against the city in order to get possession of it by force.
The gates were fastened with strong bars, and on the
walls stood the Thebans in arms, prepared to beat off
the enemy. There were seven gates in the walls of
the city, and Adrastus allotted one gate to each of the
princes to attack with his band of followers. The
Thebans, on their side, had also placed the seven gates
under the special charge of their seven most valiant
heroes, each of whom had a band of men to fight under
him. Then a fierce battle took place, the Argives
tried to scale the walls by means of ladders, and hurled
javelins and arrows at their enemies, while the Thebans
rolled great stones to the top of the walls, and just
when there were a number of Argives upon one of the
ladders and they were hoping that in another moment
they would have gained possession of the wall, the
Thebans let fall a huge stone, which broke the ladder
and crushed to death all those who were upon it.
Capaneus was the most impetuous of all the Argives,
and wherever he fought the Thebans gave way before
him. He set up a ladder against the wall and had
climbed almost to the top of it, when, thinking that
the city was already in his hands, he looked up at the
sky and cried out in a mocking tone, 4 The strength of
heroes is mightier than the will of the gods.' But as
the presumptuous hero raised his foot to place it upon
the wall, there came a flash of lightning which destroyed
him in a moment, and the Thebans, who were inspired
by this with fresh courage, drove back the band of
soldiers that he had been leading. All day long the
Argives fought against the city, but at last the sun went
down, and they were obliged to give over for the time.
220 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
The next day Eteocles ascended a tower, and took
with him a herald whom he caused to make a proclama-
tion to the Argives in the following words : ' Ye heroes
of Argos, Eteocles offers to fight alone with Polynices,
on the understanding that whichever of them gets the
better of the other shall be king of Thebes.' Polynices
on his part was also eager to fight with his brother, and
readily accepted the challenge to single combat. Then
the Thebans came and encamped outside the city to
watch the fight ; and the Argives in the plain beyond
planted their spears in the ground by their side, thinking
they would have no more use for them. Between the two
armies was a field, where the brothers were to engage
in the deadly struggle. As each of them took his shield
and sword from his friends, he eyed the other angrily,
longing to begin the fight, and as soon as they were
armed they both rushed at one another, each of them
so intent on killing his brother that he forgot to cover
himself with his shield. And thus, at the same moment,
each of the brothers ran his spear through the body of
his opponent, and they both sank down dead. But this
did not end the quarrel, for the two armies rose up,
each desirous of avenging the death of its champion
npon the enemy, and a fierce battle took place. Zeus
gave the victory to the Thebans, and all the Argives,
heroes and followers alike, were slain : and thus the
prophecy of Amphiaraus was fulfilled. As for the seer
himself, he was standing in his war-chariot, urging on his
horses that he might not be overtaken by the enemy,
when a Theban hero pursued him hotly and gained
steadily upon him till he had almost come up with
him. But Zeus, who loved Amphiaraus, hurled a
THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES. 221
thunder-bolt which clove the ground asunder in front
of him, and he sank far down into the earth. It closed
over him before the eyes of his pursuer who was thus
unable to reach him, and Zeus granted him immor-
tality and took him to live among the gods on Mount
Olyrnpus. All the rest of the Argives had by this time
perished, excepting only Adrastus. He had a horse,
named Arion, who was of divine origin and was swifter
than any other horse in the world, so when the king
took to flight, the Thebans could not overtake him,
and he returned alone to Argos, as Amphiaraus had
foretold.
A brother of Jocasta's, whose name was Creon, now
became king of Thebes, and he commanded that the
fallen Thebans should be buried with great honour,
but that Polynices and the Argives should be left un-
buried on the field of battle, to be food foi dogs and
vultures. The Greeks believed that those whose bodies
were not buried found no rest in the Lower World, and
they never offered such an insult as this to the memory
of any but their most deadly enemies. A herald went
through the city, proclaiming to the Thebans that
if any one dared to give burial to Polynices or any of
the Argives, he would have to answer for it with his
life. Every one was afraid to disobey excepting one,
and that one was a woman, Antigone, the sister of
Polynices. She had been very angry with her brothers
for casting oft' their father Oedipus in his time of need,
but now that they were dead, she wept for them and
could not bear that either of them should be dis-
honoured. So in the night she went to the field where
the corpses lay, and sought for that of her brother. It
222 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
was disfigured with dust and blood, but she recognised
it, and she covered it over with loose sand and poured
out the libations for the dead which consisted of wine,
milk, and honey, over the mound. When a corpse had
been covered over in this manner and had received the
due libations for the dead, the gods accepted it as if it
had been properly buried, so that everything that was
necessary had now been done for the corpse of Poly-
nices. But Creon had set watchmen round the field to
catch any one who should come to disobey his orders,
and just as Antigone had finished her work, the watch-
men seized her and took her as a prisoner to Creon,
although they were loth to do this, for every one loved
the noble maiden. The king was very angry when he
heard what she had done, but nevertheless, if she would
have consented to admit that she had done wrong in
disobeying his orders and to beg for mercy, he would
have been willing to spare her life. But she scorned
to save her life by such means, and instead of begging
for forgiveness, she spoke out boldly, and said : f Higher
than thy commands do I esteem those laws which set
before us that which is noble and right.' Then the
king was still more angry with her for not being
afraid of him, and he condemned her to a cruel death.
There was a cave outside the city, and the king com-
manded that she should be shut up there and left to
die of hunger. Her friends accompanied her as far as
the cave, weeping bitterly, but Antigone herself shed
no tears. A pitcher of water and a little bread had
been placed in the cave, and when Antigone had taken
leave of her friends, she went inside, and the workmen
piled up stones against the mouth of the cave and
THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES. 223
walled her in. Thus the noble Antigone died ; but she
did not wait for the lingering death of starvation,
instead of that she made her veil into a noose and
hanged herself.
King Adrastus heard with grief and anger that
Creon had refused to allow the Argives to be buried,
but as all the heroes of Argos had died in the war and
there were none but young boys left in the city, he
was unable to raise an army in order to compel him to
do so. So he went to Athens with a twig in his hand
(which it was the custom for those who wanted help to
carry) and seated himself on the steps of the Altar of
Pity. 1 Theseus came and asked what he wanted, and
Adrastus told him of his misfortune and begged him
to procure an honourable burial for the Argives. When
Theseus heard about it all, he was very sorry for him,
and he marched to Thebes at the head of a band of
heroes, and said that unless Creon at once counter-
manded his wicked orders, he would destroy the city.
Creon was afraid of Theseus, so he granted all that he
required, and the heroes were buried with due honours.
1 See page 196.
MYTHS OF HELLAS.
XXXT.
THE EPIGONI.
KING ADRASTUS never ceased to grieve over his heroes
who had been slain by the Thebans, and when ten years
had gone by, and the boys who were then quite young
had grown up to be men, he assembled them and pro-
posed to them to march against Thebes in order to
avenge their fathers. They were quite ready to do
this, for they were true heroes, with strong arms and
brave hearts. Each of the seven heroes who had
accompanied Adrastus on the former expedition had
left a son, and these young men were called the Epi-
goni, or ' Those who come after.' They chose a strong
band of followers from among the youths of Argos, and
when they were all armed in readiness for the war, they
sent to the Oracle at Delphi to ask whom they should
take for their leader, for Adrastus was now too old and
grey to head them himself. The Oracle said that they
had better choose the son of Amphiaraus, who was
named Alcmaeon, and who was wise and brave. Adras-
tus was full of joy at seeing the army of young men
set out on its march, and trusted that the gods would
give them the victory. The Epigoni took the same
road by which their fathers had gone ten year? before,
THE EPIGONI. 225
but instead of meeting with bad omens on the way,
everything was now most prosperous.
Creon was by this time dead, and the son of Eteocles,
whose name was Laodamas, was king of Thebes. When
he heard that the Epigoni were coming to avenge their
fathers, he armed the citizens and marched out to meet
them, and a battle took place in front of the city gates,
in the very same field where the heroes who accom-
panied Adrastus had fallen. The Epigoni thought of
their fathers and fought the more bravely, and though
the Thebans held their ground steadily at first, their
courage gave way after their king, Laodamas, had been
slain by Alcmaeon, and they fled back into the city.
The Epigoni encamped before Thebes, saying that they
would not raise the siege until they had conquered it,
and the Thebans meanwhile held counsel as to how
they might best save themselves from their vengeance.
Among them was the blind seer, Tiresias, who had long
ago foretold to Laius that if a child were born to him,
he would sin against both his father and mother. He
was now very old, with hair as white as snow, and he
had lived through all the prosperity and all the calami-
ties of the Thebans, and was greatly honoured by them,
so they went to him to ask his advice as to what they
had better do. He said that they could only hope to
save their lives by artifice, and told them how to set to
work. According to his directions they sent a herald
the next day to the Epigoni, to announce that the
Thebans were willing to make some atonement for the
slaughter of their fathers. The Epigoni did not suspect
any trick, and began to negotiate with the herald as to
what form the atonement should take, without per-
Q
226 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
ceiving what was going on in the city. But meanwhile
the Thebans were pouring out of it on the further side
and taking with them whatever they regarded as the
most precious of their possessions, and they suc-
ceeded in carrying off, not only their children, but
also a good deal of treasure. When the Epigoni had
announced what they would demand as an atonement,
the herald returned to the city ; but he only entered it
by one gate in order to pass out on the further side by
the gate through which the Thebans had fled, and he
was not long in overtaking them. Tiresias had accom-
panied the Thebans, led by a boy ; on the way he asked
for something to drink, and the boy took him to a cool
spring, but as soon as he had tasted the water he
sank down and died. The Thebans buried him by the
roadside, and then they marched on till they came to
a strange land, where they built another city.
Meanwhile a day went by, and then another, and
still the Epigoni waited for the herald to return. But
when two days had passed without any further sign of
him, and no one appeared upon the city walls, neither
was there any smoke to be seen rising from the houses,
they began to suspect that the Thebans had fled.
They climbed over the walls without any resistance
and entered the city, but they found no one there.
There was, however, a great deal of treasure in the
houses, for the Thebans had not been able to carry
everything away with them, and the heroes took an
enormous booty. They chose out the best things and
sent them to Delphi as a present to Apollo, and the
remainder they divided among themselves. They made
Thersander, the son of Polynices, king of Thebes, and
THE EPIGONI. 227
proclaimed that those among the Argives who chose
to remain in Thebes instead of returning home with
Aicmaeon might settle there and have portions of the
land assigned to them for their own. Many people
from the neighbourhood came also into the city with
their wives and children, so that before long all the
houses were once more inhabited. Aicmaeon led back
the remainder of the Argives to their own homes, for
the Epigoni had now avenged their fathers, and had
won for themselves glory and renown.
Aicmaeon now remembered the oath that he had
once sworn to his father, before he set out with the
other princes to march against Thebes. Amphiaraus
had then made both his sons swear that they would
avenge him upon Eriphyle for having allowed herself
to be bribed by the veil and necklace to give her voice
in favour of what she knew would cost him his life. 1
But it was a hard task for Aicmaeon, for Eriphyle was
his mother. He did not know what to do, so he went
to Delphi and asked the Oracle whether he should keep
his promise to his father or not. The Oracle said yes,
that he must do this ; and so he returned home and
killed his mother. When Eriphyle was dying, she
cursed every country that should shelter her murderer,
and the curse of the dying mother had such power that
everything must needs carry it into effect. Aicmaeon
became mad, and wandered about from one country to
another till he came to a king named Phegeus, who
knew how to purify murderers, and who had compassion
on him and purged him from the stain of blood. Then
the madness left him, and he was able to rest once
1 Seep. 215.
Q 2
228 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
more. Phegeus gave him his daughter in marriage,
and said that he should live in his country and have
an honourable position there. Alcmaeon was very glad
of this, and he presented the veil and necklace to
his wife who was very much pleased with them. In
the spring however, the seed did not come up, which
caused a dearth throughout the land, and this was
owing to the curse of Eriphyle. The king consulted a
seer about it, and he said that the land would not bear
fruit so long as Alcmaeon remained in the kingdom.
So Alcmaeon had to take leave of his wife and quit
the country, and he set out not knowing whither to go.
He went to Delphi and asked the Pythia if there was
any land that could receive him without suffering for it ;
and she answered that he must go to the river-god Ache-
loiis and ask him to help him, for that no one else could
do so. Alcmaeon therefore went to the river and called
to Acheloiis, who came up out of the water and asked
what he wanted. Alcmaeon told him of his distress and
begged for his help, and the river-god took pity on him
and made his stream bring down sand and silt from the
heights above, until a new and fruitful country was
formed by the side of the river ; and as it had not been
in existence when Eriphyle cursed the land that should
give her son rest, Alcmaeon was able to remain there,
and he ploughed and sowed seed, and the earth brought
forth fruit. Acheloiis had a very beautiful daughter,
and Alcmaeon became so much attached to her, that
he was unfaithful to his wife, and married the daughter
of the river-god. Several years passed by in peace and
prosperity ; the gods sent them two sons, and Alcmaeon
had no thought of ever leaving his place of shelter.
THE EPIGONI. 229
Hat the daughter of Acheloiis had heard of the beautiful
veil and necklace, and she never ceased to beg her hus-
band to go and fetch them for her, till at last he was
obliged to yield, and set out for the country of King
Phegeus. He did not tell Phegeus the truth how-
ever, but said that he was still obliged to wander about,
and could only obtain rest by taking the veil and neck-
lace to Delphi and dedicating them to Apollo. The
daughter of Phegeus did not doubt his sincerity, and
readily parted with the precious ornaments for the sake
of her husband whom she loved dearly. But before
Alcmaeon had reached home again, King Phegeus
heard that he had been unfaithful and had married
the daughter of Acheloiis, and he was very angry, and
commanded his sons to go after him and kill him. They
were wild headstrong youths who delighted in deeds of
blood, and they overtook Alcmaeon and killed him and
took away both the treasures. Then they returned home,
thinking that their sister would rejoice at the vengeance
that had overtaken her husband ; but though he had
married another woman, she was very sorry for his death
and was angry with her brothers for having killed him.
The daughter of Acheloiis waited long for Alcmaeon
to return home ; but a good while afterwards, a stranger
who happened to be passing that way told her that he
had been put to death by the sons of Phegeus. Then
it was her greatest wish to avenge his death, and she
begged Zeus that her two sons might at once become
grown-up men. In that same night the children grew
up to be men, and their mother provided them with
weapons, and told them that their father had been
murdered by the sons of Phegeus, and that they were
230 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
to avenge him. They set off for the country of Phegeus,
but on their way they stopped to rest at the house of a
prince where it happened that the sons of Phegeus
were also staying, for they too were on a journey, and
.hey had with them the veil and the necklace. The
young men did not know each other, but as they were
talking together at the feast, the sons of Phegeus
brought out the precious ornaments and showed them
to the others who thus recognised the murderers of
their father, and they drew their swords and killed
them. Then they returned home to their mother with
the precious treasures. But the wise river-god said
that they were no real treasures, for they brought mis-
fortune to whoever possessed them ; and he made his
grandsons carry them to Delphi, and present them as
an offering to the god Apollo.
231
XXXIL
EROS AND PSYCHE.
THERE lived once a king and queen who had three
daughters. The youngest of them was named Psyche,
and she was so wonderfully beautiful that when she
went through the streets, the people threw flowers before
her and kissed their hands to her, as they used to do
to the statues of the gods. The only one who did not
delight in her was the goddess Aphrodite. She was
accustomed to drive through the city in a chariot
drawn by doves, and every time she did so it vexed her
afresh to see that the townspeople neglected her worship
in order to pay homage to the lovely Psyche, as if it
were she and not Aphrodite who was the goddess of
beauty. And she called her son Eros, who was the god
of love, and commanded him to cause the princess whom
she hated to set her love upon the most unworthy of all
mortals.
Not long afterwards the old king asked the Oracle
to whom he should give his daughter Pyche in marriage,
and the answer he received was that she must be dressed
as a bride and led to the top of a rocky cliff that stood
up high above the city, and that then all her friends
must say good-bye to her for ever, and leave her ther^
alone to be taken to the house of the husband ap-
232 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
pointed for her. And that if he refused to obey the
Oracle, grievous misfortune would befall him and all his
household. The king and queen were greatly dis-
tressed at this sentence, and the whole land mourned
with them, for why should the Oracle speak so mysteri-
ously if it did not mean that the appointed husband
tvas some horrible monster ? But they weie obliged
to obey, lest some worse misfortune should overtake
them. Psyche was dressed as a bride and led to the
rock, in a procession of the citizens. The flutes and
other musical instruments gave forth joyous sounds ; but
louder still was heard the sound of mourning and
lamentation. The grey-haired father and mother wept
bitterly as they kissed their child for the last time, and
then the wedding torches were put out, and the pro-
cession wound sadly and silently back to the city.
Psyche meanwhile was left alone upon the desolate
rock ; but very soon a Wind-god came, who seized her in
his arms and flew through the air with her, till at last
he put her down in a valley on the further side of the
hill. Psyche hid her face in her hands at first that she
might not see the horrible things she expected to find
all round her ; but when she did venture timidly to open
her eyes, she could scarcely believe what she saw. She
found herself seated in a meadow full of flowers, with
a clear stream running through it, and a wood near by,
in front of which there stood a most beautiful palace ;
its roof was supported by pillars of pure gold, and
its walls were covered with sculptures wrought in
silver. Full of astonishment, Psyche rose and went
towards the palace. As she approached it, she noticed
that the air was filled with a delicious scent, and when
EKOS AND PSYCHE. 233
she entered the palace, she met with some new splendour
at every step. The rooms were furnished with great
magnificence, and were filled with beautiful ornaments
of gold and silver. Then there fell upon her ear the
sweet voice of a nymph, which said, ' We are at your
service, and prepared to carry out your wishes, what-
ever they may be.' Psyche thought she would like to
refresh herself with some cool water, and in a moment a
beautiful bath was drawn forward by unseen hands and
placed before her. After she had bathed and anointed
herself, she went into the next room where she found
a table spread with a tempting meal, and all the while
she was eating, sounds of sweet music were heard and
songs were sung by unseen nymphs. When Psyche
had finished, she felt in need of rest, and she lay
down on a couch and went to sleep. Meanwhile it
became quite dark, and by-and-by she was awakened
by a gentle movement, and a sweet voice said to her,
* I am thy husband, and this house is thine and mine,
all its splendours are for thy pleasure, but never seek
to see my face, for then I should be obliged to leave
thee for ever.' The husband remained with her until
the day was about to dawn, and then he vanished.
The next day, and each following day, everything
happened as before : the unseen nymphs waited on
Psyche and shortened the hours by singing and playing
to her, and with the darkness came the husband who
remained in the palace until morning.
The heart of Psyche was divided between joy and
sorrow. Her kind husband and the wonders and delights
of the palace filled her with joy, but tears often came
to her eyes in thinking of her parents and her play-
234 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
fellows. Once when she was looking towards the
high rock from which she had been brought by the
Wind-god, she saw her two sisters there, and she was
filled with so great a longing to see them again that
when next her husband came to her, she begged him
to send for them. For a moment he hesitated, but
then he promised to do as she wished, and told her
also that she might give them anything she liked
out of the treasures of the palace to take away with
them as presents ; ' but,' he added, 4 take care not to
let them delude you into making any attempt to see
my face.' Psyche promised without any misgiving, for
she felt herself perfectly free from curiosity.
On the following day when the two sisters again
appeared on the rock, the Wind-god took them up on
his shoulders and carried them into the beautiful
valley. Psyche received them with many embraces,
and asked them endless questions about her parents
and play-fellows. Then she led them into the palace
and desired the music to sound, whilst she showed
them all the beautiful things. They were dumb with
amazement, and stood looking at one another; and
then Psyche asked them to choose whatever they
liked best to take away with them, for they were
quite welcome to it. But the two sisters had wicked,
envious dispositions, and were not pleased that Psyche
should be so much better off than they were. They
asked who was her husband, and when she told them
that he was kind and good, but that she had never
seen him and that she was forbidden ever to seek to do
so, they made a sign one to the other, and one of them
pretended to cry, and said, ' Ah, dear sister, it must
EROS AND PSYCHE. 235
ihen be true what the people say. They say that every
evening a hideous monster is seen to creep into this
valley, a horrible serpent with bloody jaws.' And the
other sister pretended to weep also, and she said, ' When
he gets to the palace he takes the form of a man ; but
no doubt his countenance bears the traces of his cruel
nature, and that is the reason why he will not let you
look at him. Alas ! only too soon shall we have to
deplore your miserable death.'
Psyche was herself so entirely free from falseness
that she had no suspicion of the treachery of her sisters.
She was horror-struck at what they said, and though at
first she refused to believe that the gentle voice she had
so often heard could come from the jaws of a monster,
yet they so persisted in tormenting her with their crafty
speeches, that at last she ended by believing them, and
was only anxious to escape from the dreadful creature.
When the eldest sister saw this, she said to her, ' There
is just one means of saving your life. You must summon
up your courage, and to-night, when the monster is
asleep, take your lamp in your hand and a sharp knife,
and go to his couch and pierce him through the heart
with the knife.' She said this because she thought that
if Psyche disobeyed her husband by looking at him
when he was asleep, all her happiness would be at an
end. The two sisters gave Psyche no peace till she had
made up her mind to do as they said. Then they took
as many of the treasures of the palace as they could
carry, and Psyche called to the Wind-god to come and
take them away again.
When it was dark, her husband came as usual ; but
she was afraid of him, and could hardly find a word to
236 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
say in answer to his friendly greeting. And at mid-
night, when he was fast asleep, she lit a lamp, and taking
a knife in her hand, went to his couch with the inten-
tion of killing him. The light fell upon the couch,
and there she saw, no monster, but Eros himself, the
winged god of love, radiant with beauty. The knife
fell from her hand, and she felt that she could never be
weary of gazing at his glorious form. But as she bent
over him she forgot to take care that the lamp in her
hand was held straight, and a drop of hot oil was spilt,
which fell upon his shoulder and awoke him. He
opened his eyes and saw Psyche bending over him
with the lamp in her hand. He looked at her very
sorrowfully, and said, 4 Thou hast mistrusted me and
transgressed my command ; my dwelling is no longer
here. I am Eros, as thou hast discovered. My mother
Aphrodite is angry with thee, and she commanded me
to cause thee to love the most unworthy of men. But
when I saw thee, I was myself filled with love for thee,
and determined to hide thee from my mother that thou
mightest be my wife. Only in the deepest secrecy have
I dared to act against her will. And now thou hast dis-
obeyed my command, and I must leave thee for ever.'
When he had said this, he took up his bow and quiver
which stood by the side of the couch, and flew away.
Psyche was filled with the bitterest remorse, and
desired to live no longer. When the day dawned, she
went to the river and threw herself into it. But the
river-god was unwilling to kill anything so beautiful,
and he carried her on the top of his waters to the
farther shore, and set her down there. The birds were
chirping in the trees, and the morning sun looked down
EROS AND PSYCHE. 237
BO pleasantly on the river and the meadows that a ray
of hope sprang up in her heart, and she thought, 6 How
if I could succeed in winning him back ? They say
that he is the kindest of all the gods. I will go all over
the world seeking him.' So she set out, and took no
heed of the roughness of the way or of the thorns
that pierced her feet, and wandered into all corners of
the world, hoping to find some trace of him.
After she had wandered for a long time, she came
to the palace of Aphrodite, and she said to herself,
'The goddess is indeed angry with me, but is her
anger mightier than my grief? I will enter her
service, and it may be that I shall succeed in gaining
her good will.' So she went into the palace, and
offered herself as servant to the goddess. Now
Aphrodite knew that instead of doing Psyche any injury,
Eros had secretly married her, for a sea-gull that had
made its nest for a time in the valley had told her
about it. She felt therefore a grim joy when the
unhappy girl put herself into her power, and in a
haughty tone she said to her, * If your mind is set on
being beloved by a god, you will have to accomplish
hard tasks, and it will be the worse for you if you fail
to perform them.' Then she set her the first task. She
piled up in front of the palace a great heap of seeds,
wheat, beans, poppies, and peas, all mixed together,
and saying, ' Before night comes all the seeds must be
sorted,' she went away. Psyche could not have done it
in ten days. She sat down by the heap, buried her face
in her hands, and wept bitterly. But there lived close
by a great nation of ants, and one of them saw the
beautiful girl crying, and was sorry for her, and called
238 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
the others to come and help her. Then there came an
endless array of ants, who set to work and soon sorted
the seeds, though some of them were so large that it
took four, eight, or even ten ants to roll a single seed
to its place, and when Psyche looked up, the work was
done and the ants were marching away again. She
kissed her hands to them, and thanked them prettily
for their kindness. When Aphrodite came home in the
evening and saw the seeds laid out in order, she could
find no fault with her industrious servant, but she gave
her a look that was far from friendly, for she would
much rather have had some excuse for blaming her.
The next morning she said to Psyche, ' There is a
copse near by, where there graze some sheep with golden
fleeces. Goand fetch me three tufts of their wool.' Psyche
pet out, and went slowly along the river-side towards the
wood. On the bank stood some reeds which rustled in
the morning breeze, and the rustling turned into words
like these, ' Take care what you do, for the golden-
fleeced sheep are fierce animals, and their bite is
poisonous. Wait till mid-day, and then go into the
copse and look at the bushes.' So said the reeds, and
then they rustled again as before. Psyche thanked them,
and sat down by the side of the river until the
shadows were at their shortest. Then she knew it was
mid-day, and she went into the copse and found the
sheep all lying asleep. She trod gently so as not to wake
them, and looked at the bushes which were covered
with tufts of golden wool, for the sheep had rubbed
themselves against the bushes and left part of their
fleeces sticking to the thorns. Psyche took the three
best tufts and left the copse. When she came back
EROS AND PSYCHE. 239
and gave them to her mistress, Aphrodite was sur-
prised, for she had expected that Psyche would be
bitten to death by the fierce sheep. She said to her
with an angry look, ' You have not yet finished your
day's work. Take your pitcher and ascend that hill.
At the top of it there is some black water. Fetch me
some.'
Psyche started off obediently with her pitcher.
When she reached the hill, she saw before her a steep
path leading up to the spring, but near it were two
dreadful dragons who looked as if they would not let
any one pass them alive. The water fell into a dark
ravine by the side of the path, and flowed deep down
into the Lower World. It bubbled angrily in the
hollow, and called out to PsycLe, ' What do you want
here? Go away, arjd be quick about it, or your
life is not worth much.' Psyche put down her pitcher
and stood still, weeping bitterly. But she had not been
there long when there appeared a great eagle, which
circled round her several times and then seized the
handle of her pitcher in his beak and flew off with it
to the spring. The dragons howled, and raised them-
selves as high as they could in the air that they might
be the better able to shoot out flames at him from their
mouths, but their fiery breath was powerless to scorch
him. He came back with the filled pitcher which he
set down beside Psyche, and then he spread his wings
again and had soon disappeared among the clouds.
Psyche cast a grateful glance after him, took up her
pitcher, and set out joyfully on her way home. When
Aphrodite saw her returning, she felt sure that she had
come with an empty pitcher, for she knew that if she
240 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
had attempted to pass the dragons they would have
killed her, and she thought that she would now be able
to imprison her in a damp dungeon and keep her with-
out sufficient food or sunshine. But when she looked
Anto the vessel, she saw that it was full of the black
water which Psyche had been desired to fetch. She
was very angry, and poured it out upon the ground, for
it was of no use to her, and began to ponder what task
she could impose upon Psyche which would bring about
her death without .fail.
The next morning Psyche was summoned to the
presence of her harsh mistress, who said to her, ' Take
this golden casket to the Queen of the Lower World,
and ask her to send me some of the Salve of Beauty.*
Psyche left the palace, but she made up her mind that
she would kill herself at once rather than attempt to
take the message, for she shuddered at the horrors of
the Lower World, and moreover she could not hope
that if she once entered its gates she would ever be
allowed to come out again. She ascended a high tower
which was grey with old age, meaning to throw herself
down from it ; but as she stood on the top, the stones
began to utter sounds, and the aged tower said, ' Do
not despair, I will give you good counsel. Go to Mount
Taenarus, and there you will find a dark chasm that
lea is down to the Lower World. The ferry- man who
will row you across the river Acheron demands passage
money ; put two copper coins between your teeth, and
hold out your mouth to him, so that he may take his
fare for himself. At the gate of the Land of Shades
there stands the hideous dog Cerberus. For him take
a honey-cake in each of your hands, and throw him one
PJROS AND PSYCHE. 241
when you go in at the gate, and the other when you
come out again. And beware of letting either of the
cakes out of your hand, for then you would find your-
self imprisoned for ever in the Lower World. Perse-
phone will fill the casket for you. Do not let anything
induce you to open it.' Then the tower ceased speak-
ing, and Psyche resolved to summon her courage and
undertake the dreadful journey. She put two copper
coins between her teeth, and taking a honey-cake in
each hand, she went along the dark road until she
reached the gloomy twilight of the Lower World.
Presently she met a lame man, who was driving a lame,
heavily-laden ass. He was holding up the burden
which was falling from off the ass, and he called out to
Psyche in a piteous voice, begging her to pick up a
piece of rope from the ground for him that he might
tie the burden on with it. The tender-hearted Psyche
found it difficult to refuse, but she could not have done
what he wanted without neglecting the warning of the
tower on no account to let go of her honey-cakes ; so
she passed on without answering, and immediately the
man and the ass vanished. Psyche next came to the
river Acheron, and the surly ferryman Charon rowed
her over it in his boat after he had taken one of the
copper coins from her mouth. Close to the boat there
swam an old man whose appearance was most pitiful,
his strength was evidently failing him, and he seemed
about to sink. He stretched out one of his thin arms
towards Psyche, and begged her with beseeching
gestures to hold out her hand to him. But Psycue
rememoered the warning, and immediately the old
man disappeared. When they reached the further
R
242 MYTHS OF HELLAS.
shore, there sat three old women by the road-sidt>
spinning, who called out to her in a pleasant voice and
asked her to cut their thread for them. They were nice,
kind-looking old women, but Psyche remembered the
warning, and immediately they disappeared as the
others had done.
After this, Psyche soon arrived at the gate of the
Land of Shades, in front of which stood the three-
headed dog Cerberus. She threw him a cake, and he
let her go by. Then she saw flitting about her on all
sides, pale, silent shades, and she was seized with horror,
but she overcame it, and went on bravely to the palace
of Queen Persephone and delivered her message,
Persephone filled the box and gave it back to her. The
fierce dog let her pass out when she gave him the
second honey-cake, Charon took the second coin out
of her mouth and rowed her back across the river, and
at last she found herself in the sunshine once more.
She was very tired and sat down on a stone to rest a
little, and she thought to herself, c I have gone through
the horrors of the Lower World, and have fulfilled the
command of the cruel goddess. But will she give me
any thanks for it ? ' For some time she sat buried in
sad thoughts ; then she said, c How if I were to open
the casket and test the power of the wonderful salve ?
Perhaps it would give me such beauty that Eros would
come back to me.' Quickly she lifted the cover, but
there came out of the casket a cloud of stupefying
vapour which threw her into a deep sleep. Before
Psyche entered the Lower World, Aphrodite had sent a
messenger to the Queen to beg her, instead of filling
the casket with the Salve of Beauty, to put into it a
EROS AND PSYCHE. 243
narcotic vapour, for she thought that even if Psyche
surmounted all the other difficulties in her path, she
might at last be conquered by the temptation of curiosity
and open the casket.
But Eros was not far off. He had seen how Psyche
had gone through so many dangers and horrors for love
of him, and now he came and wiped away the magic
vapour which had settled on her face, and shut it up
again in the casket. Then he soared up to Olympus,
the abode of the gods, and entreated Zeus to gift
Psyche with immortality, and allow him to be married to
her. Zeus granted his request, and sent down Hermes,
the messenger, to raise Psyche from the earth and
bring her into the assembly of the gods. Before them
all, Zeus held out to her a shell filled with nectar,
the drink of the gods, and said to her, ' Drink immor-
tality.' Even Aphrodite kissed her and blessed the
marriage, for her anger had been overcome by Psyche's
faithful love. The marriage was celebrated with great
joyfulness, Apollo and the Muses sang, the Graces
danced, and the whole vault of heaven resounded with
the mirth of the wedding guests.
The envious sisters were already dead. After they
had plunged Psyche into misery, they each hoped to
become the bride of the unknown husband, and each in
turn went to the rock and threw herself from it, expect-
ing the Wind-god to carry her into the valley as he had
done before, but instead of that, they both fell down
among sharp stones and perished miserably. Thus did
they come to a bad end ; but Psyche was enthroned as
a goddess beside her Love, in the unending joy of the
blessed Immortals.
R 2
INDEX.
ABS
ABSYRTUS. Son of Aeetes
king of Colchis. Is taken
on board the Argo by his sister
Medea, 165. Is killed by Medea
in order to delay Aeetes in his
rursuit of the Argonauts, 166.
A( he/o /in. A river-god. Fights
with Heracles for Deianira, and
is conquered by him, 142 and
143. Helps Alcmaeon in his
distress and gives him his daugh-
ter in mnrriHge, 228.
Acheron. One of the rivers of the
Lower World. Psyche is rowed
across it by Charon, 241.
Acrisius. King of Argos. Builds
a brazen room for his (laughter
Danae. and afterwards shuts her
up with her child in a chest and
turns them adrift, 9o. Is acci-
dentally killed by his grandson
Perseus, 102.
Act aeon. Is turned into a stag as
a punishment for looking at, the
goddess Artemis when bathing,
24 and 25.
Ad met us. Is helped by Apollo to
win the hand of Alces-tis, 91 to
93. Is restored to life through
the sacrifice of Alcestis, 93 and
94.
Adrastus. King of Argos. Re-
ceives Polynices when banished
by Eteocles, 212 and 213.
AET
Marches with him against
Thebes, 213 to 221. Escapes
through the speed of his horse
Arion, 221. Begs Theseus to
procure an honourable burial
for the Argives, 223. Sends the
Epigoni to avenge their fathers,
224.
Aeetes. King of Colchis. Re-
ceives Phrixus when brought to
his country by the Golden Ram,
150. Promises to let Jason
have the Golden Fleece on cer-
tain conditions, 160. Plots to
kill him, 164 and 165. Pursues
Jason and Medea, but turns back
to bury his son Absyrtus, 166.
Acgeus. King of Athens. Mar-
ries Aethra and becomes the
father of Theseus, 177- Re-
ceives Theseus at Athens. 182
and 183. Parts unwillingly
with Theseus that he may go to
Crete to slay the Minotaur, 187
and 188. Kills himself at si^ht
of the black sail which he be-
lieves to be the announcement
of his son's death, 192.
Aegyptus. Brother of Danaus
and king of a part of Africa, 34.
Aethra. Marries Aegeus and be-
comes the mother of Theseus
177. Keeps her son at Tree/en
til! he is grown up, and then
246
INDEX.
AFR
sends him to his father at Athens,
177 to 179. Takes charge of
Helena for a time, till she is res-
cued by her brothers, 199 am!201.
Africa. lo is kindly received in
Africa by the king of Egypt, 32
and 33. Danaus, her descendant,
leaves the country for Argos, 34.
The inhabitants are burnt black
by Phaethon, 41. Cassiopea,
wife of Cepheus, king of a part
of Africa, is punished by Po-
seidon for her pride, 98 and 99.
Perseus arrives and delivers
Andromeda from the monster,
99 and 100.
Alcestis. Daughter of King Pelias,
91. Is sued for by Admetus, 92
and 93. Dies in order that her
husband may live, 93. Is re-
stored to life by Persephone, 94.
Alcmaeon. Son of Amphiaraus.
Leads the Epigoni against
Thebes, 224 to 226. Returns
home and kills his mother in
obedience to the command of
his father, 227- Goes to King
Phegeus to be purified, and mar-
ries his daughter, 227 ; but is
obliged to leave the country,
228. Asks the help of Acheloiis,
who has pity on him and forms
an island on which he can live,
228. Marries the daughter of
Acheloiis, 228. Is killed by the
brothers of his former wife, 229.
Alcmene. Daughter ? Electryon.
Is driven away from Mycenae
after her father's death by her
uncle Sthenelus, and takes refuge
in Thebes, 105. Induces Am-
phitryon to make war upon the
Teleboae, 105 and 1<>6. Is
married to Zeus during his
absence, but afterwards marries
Amphitryon. 108. Becomes the
mother of Heracles and Iphirles,
108. Finds Heracles attacked
by serpents, 109.
AMP
Altar / Pity. Erected by The-
seus in the market-place of
Athens, 196. Oedipus goes
there to sue for help, 210. Also
Adrastus, 223.
Althaea. Wife of Oeneus king of
Calydon, and mother of Mele-
ager, whose death she hastens
by burning the brand o-i which
his life depends, 83 and 88.
Amalthea. The goat thatnourished
Zeus, 3. Her horn is converted
into the Horn of Plenty, 5 ;
and becomes the property of
Heracles, 143
Amazons. A nation of women-
soldiers. Heracles is sent by
Eurystheus to fetch the girdle
of the Queen of the Amazons,
124 to 126. The women of
Lemnos try to imitate them, 153.
Theseus cai-ries off Hippolyta to
be his wife, 193; and is in
consequence attacked by the
Amazons, 194. He wins the
first victory ever gained over
them, 195.
Awphiaratis. A seer, brother-in-
law of Adrastus king of Argos,
213. Advises against the ex-
pedition to Thebes, 214 and
217; but is over-ruled by his
wife Eriphyle, 214 and 215.
Zeus interposes to prevent his
being killed in thd battle, and
takes him to dwell among the
gods. 220 and 221.
Amphlnn. King of Thebes, and
husband of Niobe, 59 and 80.
Builds a wall round the city by
singing to the stones, 59 and
60. Grieves for his children
slain by Apollo and Artemis,
81.
Amphitryon. Comes to Mycenne
to sue for the hand of Alcmene.
and accidentally kills her father,
Electryon, 105. Takes refuge
with Creon, king of
INDEX.
247
AND
105 ; and delivers the city from
a destroying Fox, 106. Makes
war upon the TeJeboae at the
desire of Alcmene, 105 to 108-
Marries Alcmene, 108.
Androgeus. Son of Minos king of
Crete. Goes to Athens to take
part in some games, and is killed
by the Athenians on bis way
home, 186.
Andromeda. Daughter of Cepheus
and Cassiopea, 98. Is delivered
by Perseus from the monster
who was to have devoured her,
99. Is married to him, 100.
Autaeiis. King of Libya. Com-
pels Heracles to wrestle w>th
him, 133. His mother the
Earth gives him new strength
each time he touches her, but
Heracles raises him in his arms,
and strangles him to death, 133.
Antigone. Daughter of Oedipus,
210. Chooses to share her
father's fate when he is banished
from Thebes, and accompanies
him through all hi* wanderings,
2 10 aii' I 2 1 1. Buries her brother
Polyniees notwithstanding the
pronibition of Creon, and is im-
mured for having dared to dis-
obey h m, 221 to 223.
Aphrudlt.c. Goddt ss of beauty, 231 .
Gives her daughter IJarmonia
to be the wife of Cadmus, 58.
Gives Milanion three golden
apples that lie may conquer
Atalanta in the race, 89. Is
angry with Psyche, 231; and
treats her cruelly. 237 to 243;
but is afterwards reconciled to
her marriage with Eros, 243.
Apollo. Son of Zeus and Leto,
and brotl'.er of Artemis, 23.
Disputes with Idas lor Mar-
pessa, 21. Gifts Melumpus
with the power of knowing the
future, 72. Punishes the pride
of Niobe, 80 and 81. Become* for
ARG
a time the slave of Admetus, 91.
Helps Admetus to win Alcestis,
92 and 93. Helps to arm
Heracles for his fight with th*>
Minyae, 112. Rei'uses to prt-
nounce the oracle demanded by
Heracles, 139. 131 esses the mar-
riage of i^ros and Psyche, 243.
Theseus sacrifices the Cretan
Bull to Apollo, 185. For the
Temple of Apollo at Delphi see
page 55, also Delphi.
Arcadia. Heracles drives the
Stympbalian birds out of the
country, 121 and 122.
Ares. The god of war. Is made
prisoner by Otusand EphiHltes,
28. Gives his daughter H*r-
monia to be the wife of Cadmus,
58. Gives a beautiful girdle to
the Queen of the Amazons, 124.
Argo. The vessel in which Jason
and his friends sail to fetch the
Golden Fleece, 153. She is de-
dicated to Poseidon, 171.
Argonauts. The heroes who sailed
in the Argo. For their adven-
tures, see pages 153 to 171.
Argos. The home of To, 31. Her
descendant Danaus finds a re-
fuge in Argos when obliged to
flee from Egypt, and becomes
king, 34 and 35. Lynceus suc-
ceeds him, 37. Melampus is
sent for to Argos to deliver the
daughters of King Proetus from
their mania, 73 and 74. Danaii
is driven away from Argos by
her father, King Acrisius, 95.
Perseus becomes king ot Argos,
but exchanges it for the cities
of Mycenae nd Tiryns, 03.
Polyniees comes to Ar_o* to ask
for help, 212. King Adrastus
leadstheArgivesagaiustThebes, .
213 to 223. Their de'eat is after-
wards avenged by the Epigoni,
224 to 227
Argus. (1) The hundred-eyed
248
ART
watchman placed by Hera in
charge of lo, 31. (2) The
builder of the Argo,l52 and 1.33.
Ariadne. Daughter of Minos,
king of Crete. Helps Theseus
to overcome the Minotaur, and
flees away with him, 188 to
190. At Naxos, Theseus is com-
manded to abandon her, 191 ;
and she become* the wife of the
god Dion vans, 192.
.irioit. A horse of divine origin.
Carries Adra&tus back to Argos
after his defeat before Thebes,
221.
Anemis. Goddess of the chase,
24. Daughter of Zeus and Leto,
and sister of Apullo, 23. Pun-
ishes Acraeon for looking at her
when bathing, 25. Causes the
death of Ottis and Ephialtes,
28. Punishes Niobe for her
pride, 80 and 81. Semis a wild-
boar to lay waste the country
round Calydon, 84. Festival of
Artemis celebrated at Sparta,
199.
Asia. The home of Europa and
Cadmus, 54. The country of
the Amazons lies in Asia, 125
and 193. Phrixus is brought to
the city of Colchis in Asia by
the Golden Ram, 150.
Atalauta. Is exposed in a forest
and brought up by hunters, 84
to 86. Takes part in the Caly-
donian boar-iiunt, 86 to 89.
Allows herself to be conquered
by the golden apples in the race
with Milanion. 89 and 90.
Athamas, King. Father of Phrixus
and Helle, 148. Dionysus is
placed under his charge* by
Zeus, 63. Hera is angry at
this and punishes Athamas by
making him mad, 63 and 150
He kills his wife and children
in his madness, and is con-
demned to wander about till
A XL
he becomes the guest of wild
beasts, 150 and 151.
Athene. Daughter of Zeus, and
goddess of wisdom. Buries one
of the Giants beneath the island
of Sicily, 6. Teaches Bellerophon
how to control the winged hor^o
Pegasus, 49. Directs Cadmus
to sow i he dragon's teeth and
build a city with the help of the
warriors who should spring from
them, 56 and 57. Receives from
Perseus the Gorgon's head and
fastens it to her shield, 103.
Helps to arm Heracles for hi.s
fiffht with the Minyae, 112.
Helps Heracles to drive away
the Stymphalian birds, 121 ami
122. Returns the apples procured
by Heracles from the Garden of
the Hesperides, 135. Sends a
Sacred Beam for the Artjo. 153.
Claims the guardianship of the
city of Athens, 176 and 177.
Athens. Is named after Athene,
176 and 177. Amphitryon goes
there to fetch the dog who could
not be baffled of his prey, 106.
The city is ruled over by Aegeus,
177. Theseus arrives at Athens
182 ; delivers the land from the
Bull of Marathon, 184 and 185 ;
and from the tribute imposed
by Minos, 185 to 19i ; succeeds
his father as king of Athens,
193 ; defeats the Amazons, 195 ;
sets up an Altar of Pity in the
market-place, 196. Hippolvtus
comes to stay at Athens, 1 97 and
198. Oedipus finds a refuge
there, 210. Adrastus comes to
sue for help, 223. The bones of
Theseus are brought to Athens,
203 and 204.
Atlas. Is compelled to support the
viulr of heaven, 1 34. Fetches
the golden apples from the
Garden of the Hesperides fur
Heracles, 134 and 135.
INDEX.
249
ATTG
Augcas. King of Elis. Has his
stables cleansed by Heracles in
a single clay, 119 and 120. Re-
fuses to give the reward agreed
upon, 120 and 121. Is punished
by Heracles for his treachery,
141 and 142.
Aventlnus, Mt. A mountain in
Italy over which Heracles is
driving the cattle of Geryon
when they are stolen by the
Giant Caeus, 130.
BACCHANTES. Followers of
Dionysus or Bacchus, 65 to
67.
Beam, The Sacred. A beam with
the power of speech, sent by
Athene to be inserted in the
Argo, 153. It reproves Jason
and Medea for their crime, 167.
Dies of old age, 171.
Bollerophon. Sou of Glaucus, and
grandson of Sisyphus, kings of
Corinth. 45. Kills his brother
unintentionally, and goes to
King Proetus to be purged from
the stain of blood, 45. Is sent
by Proetus to lobates king of
Lycia, 46. Slays the Chimaera
by the help of the winged horse
Pegasus, 47 to 50. Marries the
king's daughter and settles in
the country, 51.
Bias. Brother of Mel am pus. Ob-
tains the hand of Pero, daughter
of king Neleus, through the
kindness of his brother, 69 to
72. Obtains also a third part
of the dominions of Proetus, king
of Argos, 73 and 74.
Black Sea. Crossed by Phrixus
when carried by the Golden
Kara to Colchis, 150. Pa>sed
through by the Argonauts on
their way to Colchis, 155.
Boreas. The god of the North
W.nd, 158.
Bull of Crete or of Marathon,
Sent by Poseidon to Minos f.r
sacrifice, 122. Taken to My-
cenae by Heracles,! 23. Captured
by Theseus and sacrificed to
Apollo, 184 and 185.
Busiris. A king of Egypt who
sacrificed a stranger every ye ir
to the gods. Is killed by'He-a-
cles, 133 and 134.
QACUS. A giant living on
Mt. Aventinus. Steals the
cattle of Heracles and is killed
by him, 130 and 131.
Cadmea. The fortress of Thebes.
Named after Cadmus, 58. Hera
enters and gives bud advice to
Semele, 61. It is visited by a
devastating Fox, whom Am-
phitryon overcomes with the
help of the Athenian Dog, 106.
Cadmus. Sets tff in search of his
sister Enropa, 53. Is directed
to found a city, 56. Sows
dragon's teeth, from which
spring warriors who help him
to build the Cadmea, 57 and
58. Marries Harmonia, 58. Is
the father of Semele, 61.
Calydon. The country of Oeneus
and the scene of the great
boar-hunt in which Meleager
and Atalanta take part, 83-89.
Heracles goes there to sue for
Deianira, 142, and spends some
years there, 143.
Capaneus. One of the Seven He-
roes who march against Thebes,
213 and 214. Is killed by light-
ning, 219.
Cassiopea. Wife of Cepheus and
mother of Andromeda. Punished
by Poseidon for her pride, 98 and
99.
Castor. Son of Tyndareus and
Leda, and twin -brother of Pol-
lux. 200. Takes part in the
expedition of the Argonauts.
250
INDEX.
CAtr
157. Rescues his sister Helena,
201. Shares the fate of his
brother Pollux after death as
well as through life, 201.
Caucasus, Mt. Prometheus is
chained there, 12.
Centaurs. Monstrous creatures,
halt' men, half horses. Quarrel
with Heracles, 117 to 119.
Fight with the Lapithae, who
overcome ihem with the help
of Theseus, 196. (See also
Chiron, Kessu*, and Pholus.}
Cepheus. King of a part of
Africa. Husband of Cassiopea
and father of Andromeda, 9 9 and
100.
Cerberus. A three-headed dog
who stood as watchman at the
gate of the land of Shndes.
Heracles is sent to fetch him to
the Upper World, 135. He
allows Psyche to pass him, 242,
Ceryneian Hind. A hind under
the protection of Artemis, cap-
tured by Heracles as his third
Labour, 11G and 117
Chaos. The state of the universe
before the creation of the heaven
and the earth, 1.
Charon. The ferryman who con-
ducted mortals to the Lower
World. Bows Psyche across the
river Acheron, 241.
Chimaera. A monster half-lion,
half-goat, with a serpent's tail,
47. Killed by Bellerophon,
48 to 50-
Chiron. The wisest and best of
the Centaurs. L structs Hera-
cles, 100. Is killed !>y him un-
intentionally, 118 and 119.
Circe. An enchantress, sister of
KingAeetes. Purges Jason and
Medea from the blood of Absyr-
tus, 167.
Cithaeron, Mt. Heracles pas-
tures the flocks of Amphitryon
on this mountain, and elays the
ORE
lion whose skin he afterwards
wears, 110 and 111. Oedipug
is h-ft there to perish by his
parents, 205.
Club-carrier. One of the robbers
killed by Theseus on his jour-
ney to Athens, 179.
Clytfiemnetstra. Daughter of Tyn-
dareus and Leda. 200.
Colchis. The city of King Aee'tes.
Phrixus is brought there by the
Golden Rum, 150. The Argo-
nauts reach Colchis, 159.
Corinth. The country of Sisy-
phus, 43. Bellerophon is ob-
liged to leave Corinth on ac-
count of the nmr.ler of his
brother, 45. Jason and Medea
settle there, 173. Oedipus is
brought there and adopted by
King Polybus, 205 anil 206.
Crcon (1). King of Corinth. Re
ceives Jason and Medea, and
offers his daughter Ghiiu-e to
Jason for a wife, 173 and 174.
(2). King of Thebes Purges
Amphitryon from the blood of
KU'Ctryon, 105. Accompanies
him on his expedition against
the Teleboae, 106 & 107. Gives
his daughter Megara to Heracles
fora wife, 112. (3). Brother
Jocasta. Becomes King of
Thebes, 221 . Refuses burial to
the Argives and condemns Anti-
gone to denth for disobeying
his orders, 221 to 223. Is com-
pelled l>y Theseus to rescind
them, 223.
Cnte. Zeus is hidden in this
island from his father when a
child, 3. Daedalus makes the
Labyrinth for Kirg Minos, 52.
Daedalus escapes from Crete
Avith his son Icarus, 52 and 53.
Heracles is sent by Eurystheus
to fetch the Cretan bull to My-
cenae, 122 and 123. The Argo-
nauts laud after having caused
INDEX.
251
CRO
Talos to kill himself, 169 and
J70. Theseus goes to Crete as
part of the tribute given by
the Athenians, kills the Mino-
taur and escapes with Ariadue,
. 187 to 190.
Cronus. Son of Uranus and
Gala. Det lirones his father
and succeeds him as king of
the gods, 2. Marries Rhea, 2.
Is dispossessed by his son Zeus,
'A and 4.
J^AEDALUS. An artist em-
ployed by Minos king of
Crete. Builds the Labyrinth,
52. Escapes with his sonlcarus,
52 and 53.
Danae. Daughter of Acn'sius,
king of Argos. Is married to
Zeus, and becomes the mother
of Perseus, 95 and 96. Js shut
tip in a chest by her father and
cast adrift, 95. Is allowed to
take refuge on an isl"d, 96. Is
delivered by Perseus from the
king. 101.
Danaides. The daughters of Da-
naus. They bail to Argos with
their father, 34. Kill their
husbands at his command, 35
and 36 Are condemned to un-
ending punishment in the
Lower World, 37 and 38.
Dtt'iaus. A descendant of lo.
Flees from his home in Africa
with his daughters, and settles
in Argos, 34. Becomes king of
Argos, 35. Commands hisdaugh-
ters to kill their husbands, and
wishes to punish Hypermnestra
for failing to obey him, 36 a nd 37-
Deiaiiira. Daughter of Oeneus
king of Calydon. Is wooed by
both Heracles and the river-
god Acheloiis, who agree to
tight for her, 142. Marries
Heracles, 143. Receives from
the Centaur Nessus a cloth dip-
DIO
ped in his blood, 144. Smears
with this cloth the robe of He-
racles, and thus causes his death,
145 and 146. Hangs herself in
despair, 147.
DC os. A Hotting island. Leto
trikes refuge on it, and Poseidon
causes four pillars to spring up
and hold it fast, 23. Apollo
and Artemis are born there, 23.
The island is honoured by the
Greeks, 24.
Delphi. A city of Greece in which
there was an oracl" of Apollo, 55.
(See Oracle.} Heracles carries
off the sacred Tripod. 139. The
Epigoni present to Apollo the
best of the spoil taken from
Thebes, 226. Acheloiis advises
his grand-children to offer the
veil and necklace of Hannoni*
to Apollo at Delphi, 230.
Dimeter. Daughter of Cronus, 4.
Seeks for her daughter Perse-
phone, 16 to 18. Creates corn
and teaches Triptolemus how to
cultivate it, 18 arid 19. E;its by
mistake the shoulder of Pelops,
75 and 76.
Deucalion. Son of Prometheus.
Saves himself and his wife
Pyrrha in a wo 'den chest at the
tune of tho great Flool, 13 and
14. They re-peoplo the earth
by throwing stones behind them
which become men and womt n,
15.
Diomedes. A king of Thrace who
fed his horses on human flesh.
Heracles is sent by Emys.,heu.s
to fetch the horsos to M. cenc;
heconquers the kingand throws
him to be enten by his own
horses, 123 and 124.
Dionysus. Son of Zeus and Se-
mele. Js placed under the
chnrge of Athniha*, 63 ; then
under that of some nymphs, 04.
Is gifted by Zeus with divine
252
INDEX.
DTO
power, 64 and 65. Creates the
Vine, 65. Sets out upon a tri-
umphal journey round the world,
65. Punishes the sailors who
refuse to t'iko him to Naxos, 66
and 67. Punishes the daugh-
ters of Proetus who refuse to
honour him, 73. Is received
into the abode of the gods, 67.
Marries Ariadne, 192.
Dioscuri. The brothers Castor
and Pollux, 201
Doliones. A people in whose
country the Argonauts land on
their way to Colchis, 154 and 155.
JfARTFf, The. Gives a golden
^ apple-tree to Hera on her
marriage with Zeus, 131. Gives
her &on Antaeus new strength
every time he touches her, 133.
Egypt. Io is kindly received by
the king, and becomes his wife,
32 and 33. Danaus leaves Egypt
for Argos, 34. Heracles kills
King Bfisiris, 133 and 134.
Electryon. Son and successor of
Perseus. His right is disputed
by Pterelaus king of the Tele-
boae, 104. He prepares to make
an expedition against the Tele-
boae, but is killed accidentally
by Amphitryon, 105.
EUs. A country of Greece. Ruled
over by Salmoneus, 42. Pelops
goes to Elis to sue for Hippo-
damia, conquers her father in
the chariot-race, and becomes
king, 77 to 79. Heracles cleanses
the stables of Auge;is, king of
Elis, 119 and 120. HP marches
against Elis to punish Augeas
for his faithlessness, and trans-
fers the kingdom to Phyleus,
141 and 142.
Evd'/mion. A son of Zeus. Asks
that he may sleep for ever, 29.
Is beloved by the god .ess Selene,
30.
EUB
Ephialte*. Brother of Otus, and
son of Poseidon, 27. The bru-
thers fight against the gods, and
make Ares prisoner, 28. They
are killed through a device of
the goddess Artemis, 28.
Epiqoni. The sons of the Seven
Heroes defeated before Thebes.
They march against Thebes to
avenge the death of their fathers,
and take possession of the city,
224 to '227.
Epimetheus. Brother of Prome-
theus, 0. Zeus sends Pandora
to be his wife, 10 and 11.
Erylnus. King of the Minyae.
Demands tribute from the The-
bans, 111. Is attacked and
conquered by Heracles, 1 1 2.
Eriphyle. Wife of Amphiaraus
and sister of Adrastus, 214.
Decides that Amphiaraus shall
march against Thebes, 215. Is
killed by her son Alcmaeon, 2'?7.
Eros. The god of Love son of
Aphrodite, 231. Is commanded
by his mother to do Psyche an
injury, but instead of that,
marries her secretly, 231 to 236.
Is obliged to leave her. 236.
Obtains the gift of immortality
for Psyche, and the sanction of
the gods to his marriage with
her, 243.
Eri/manthus, Mt. The home of
the boar captured by Heracles
as his Fourth Labour, 117 to
no.
Eteodes. Son of Oedipus and .To-
casta. Banishes his brother
Pol ynices from Thebes, 212. De-
fies the summons of the Argives
to surrender the kingdom, 218.
Challenges Polynices to a single
combat, in which each brother
kills the other, 220.
Euboca. Tlie country of Eurytus.
Heracles goes there to sue for
lole, 137. Heracles conquers
IJSDEX.
253
EUR
the city and kills Eir-ytus and
his sons, 145.
Europe. Sister of Cadmus. Is
carried off by Zeus in the form
of a bull, 54 and 58.
Europe. The country to which
Europa was carried by the bull,
aud which was called after her,
58. Heracles reaches the ex-
treme limit of Europe, 128.
Phrixus and Helle are carried
away from it into Asia by the
Gold en 1 Earn, 150.
Eiirystheus. Son of Sthei^ns.
Becomes king of Mycenae and
Tiryns, 109. Is served for
twelve years by Heracles who
performs twelve Labours at his
command, 113 to 137.
Eurytus. King of Euboea. Ee-
fuses to give his daughter lole
in marriage to Heracles and
taunts him with his former mad-
ness, 137. He and his sons are
killed by Heracles, 145.
Evenus. Father of Marpessa. Ee-
fuses to let his daughter marry
Idas, 20. Pursues Idas and Mar-
pessa, and being unable to over-
take them, drowns himself, 21.
TpATRS. Three goddesses who
determine the course of
men's lives. They are present
at the birth of Meleager, 83.
They promise that Admetus
shall recover if one of his
relatives will die for him, 93.
They decree that the Theban
Fox shall never be caught, and
that the Athenian Dog shall
never pursue in vain, ] 06.
Ftr-bend^r. One of the robbers
killed by Theseus on his jour-
ney to Athens, 170 and 180.
Flood. Zeus destroys the whole
race of men by a great Flood,
excepting Deucalion and Pyrrha,
13 to lo.
GOL
QAEA. Wife of Uranus and
goddess of the eaith, J.
Helps her son Cronus to de-
throne his father, 2. Plans the
overthrow of Cronus, 3. Cre-
ates Giants to fight against the
gods, 5; also a monster named
Typhoeus, 6. Interferes to pre-
vent Phaethon from burning up
the earth, 41.
Ganymede. Son of Laomedon
king of Troy. Is carried off't->
Olympus by the sacred eagle of
Zeus, 127.
Garden of the Hesperides. A
garden in Oceanus where Hera
planted the golden apple-tree,
given her by the Earth at her
marriage with Zeus. Heracles
is sent by Etirystheus to fetch
three gclden apples from it, 131
to 135.
Geryon. A three-headed king in
the far West, possessor of a
beautiful herd of red-brown
cattle. He loses his lite in
defending them against Hera-
cles, 128 and 129.
Giants. Huge monsters created
by Gaea to fight against the
gods. They are defeated in a
great battle, and buried beneath
volcanic mountains, 6.
Glance. Daughter of Creon king
of Corinth. Is offered 10 Jasou
as a bride, 173 and 174 Her
death is caused by Medea,
174.
Glaucus. Son of Sisyphus, and
father of Bellerophon, 45.
Golden Age. The time when men
were first created, and lived
long and happy lives, 8.
Golden, Fleece. The fleece of the
ram who carried Phrixus to
Colchis. It is hung up on a
tree in a forest near Colchis,
150. Jason is sent to fetch it,
152. He cuiTUS it oft' fiora
254
INDEX.
GOR
the forest, 165 ; and brings it
safely to lolcus, 171.
Gorf/ons. Three sisters with iron
claws and golden wings and
live serpents instead of hair,
who turned to stone everyone
that looked at them, 96 and 98.
Person* cuts off the head of Me-
dusa, the youngest Gorgon, 98.
Graces. Three beautiful daugh-
ters of Zens. They dance
at the wedding of Eros and
Psyche, 243.
Grey Sisters. Sisters of the Gor-
gons \\ho had only one eye and
one tooth between them. Per-
seus goes to their cave and
obliges them to tell him where
to find the nymphs who can
heJp him obtain the head of
Medusa, 97.
TJARMONIA. Daughter of
Ares and Aphrodite. Is
married to Cadmus, 58. Is pre-
sented by Hephaestus with a
beautiful veil and necklace, 211
Harpie*. Creaturrs wit h the bo-
' dies of maidens and the feet and
wings of ravens. They torment
Phineus until.they are killed by
the Argonauts, 167 and 158.
Hebe. A goddess, daughter of
Hera. Is given by her in mar-
riage to Herficles, 147.
Helena. Daughter of Zeus and
Loda, 200. Is carried off by
Theseus and Pirithoiis, 1C 9.
Is rescued by her brothers, Cas-
tor and Pollux. 201.
Helios. The sun -god. Tells
Dfmeter that Plu'o has carried
off her daughter, 17. Unwill-
ingly grants the request of his
son Phaethon to be allowed to j
drive the chariot of the sun, 39
to 41. Lends Heracles his golden
shell that he may sail in it to
the island of Geryou, 129.
HER
HeUe. Daughter of King Atha-
mas and sister of Phrixus.
Is carried away, with her
brother, bv the Golden Earn,
but, falls off his back into the
sea and is drowned, 148 to
150.
Hellespont. The sea which lies
between Europe and Asia. Called
after Helle, 150.
Hephaestus. Fashions Pandora out
of clay, 10. Binds Prometheus
to a rock on Mt. Caucasus, 1 2.
Helps to arm Heracles for his
fight with the Minyae, 112.
Makes the rattle which Hera-
cles uses to drive away the
Sfymphalian birds, 122. Makes
an iron watchman for Minos
king of Crete, 169. Presents a
beautiful veil and necklace to
Cadmus and Harmonia, 214
Hera. Daughter of Cronus, 4.
Becomes the wife of Zeus and
queen of the gods, 4. Is pre-
sented by the Earth at her
marriage with a golden apple-
tree, 131. Persecutes Leto, 23 ;
arid lo, 31 to 33. Gives trea-
cherous advice to Semele, 61.
Punishes Athamas for receiving
Dionysus, 63 and 150. Is re-
conciled to Dionysus and Semele,
67. Causes Eurystheus to be
born before Heracles and thus
become heir to the cities of
Mycenae and Tiryr s, 109.
Sends serpents to kill Heracles
when a child, 109. Affiicts him
with madness, 113. Tb.kes the
form of an Amazon acd leads
an attack upon Heracles, 125.
Sends a great gnat to torment
his cattle, 131. Raises a storm
to destroy him, 141 ; and is
punished for this by Zeus, 141.
Is reconciled to Heracles and
welcomes him among the gods,
147. Protects the Argon* uts
INDEX.
255
II RE
in their passage through the
"Wandering Rocks, 169.
Heracles. Son of Zeus and Alc-
mene, 108 and 109. Strands
two serpents sent by Hera to kill
him in his sleep, 109. Is taught
by the Centaur Chiron, 110.
Kills a lion on Mt. Cithaeron
and dresses himself in the skin,
110 and 111. Conquers the
Minyae and kills their king,
rginuB, 11 1 and 112. Marries
Megara, 112. Becomes mad,
and throws his children into the
lire, 113. Leaves Thebes in
consequence, and enters the
service of Eurystheus for whom
he performs trvwlre Labours :
1st Labour. Killing the Ne-
mean Lion, 1 13 and 1 14.
2nd Labour. Killing the Ler-
nean Hydra, 114 to 116.
3rd Labour. Capturing the
Ceryneiau Hind, 116 and
117.
4th Laliour. Bringing the
Erymanthian Boar to
Mycenae, 117 and 119.
5ih Labour. Cleansing the
stables of Augeas in a
single day, 119 to 121.
6th Labour. Driving away
the Stymphalian Birds,
121 and 122.
7th Labour. Bringing the
Cretan Bull to Mycenae,
122 and 123.
8th Labour. Bringing to My-
cenae the fierce horses of
Diomedes, 123 and 124.
9th Labour. Obtaining the
girdle of the Queen of
the Amazons, 124 to 126.
10th Labour. Fetchingthe cat-
tle of G-eryon, l28to!31.
Ufch Labour. Procuring three
golden apples from the
Garden of the Hespe-
rides, 131 to 135.
HER
12th Labour. Fetching the
three-headed dog Cerbe-
rus from the Lower
World, 135 to 137.
Heracles delivers Prometheus*
from the eagle, 12. Fights
with the Centaurs and causes
the death of Chiron uninten
tionally, 117 to 119. Delivers
Hesione from the monster, 126
and 127. Punishes Laomedon
her father for breaking his word
to him, 140. Kills the giant
Cacus for stealing his cattle,
130 and 131. Wrestles w th
Nereus the sea - g'>d, 132.
Wrestles with Antaeus, son of
the Earth, and squeezes him to
death, 133. Kills Busiris who
had been accustomed to sacrifice
a stranger every year to the
gods, 133 and" 134. Visits
Atlas, and takes his plnce for a
time in supporting the heaven,
134 and 13;"). Goes to Oechalia
to sue for lole daughter of King
Kurytus, and is taunted by her
father with his former madness,
137 and 138. Punishes Eury-
tus for this, 145. Kills Iphitus,
son of Eurytus, 138. Is smitten
with sickness, and when ho
asks the Oracle what he shall
do, is refused an answer, 139.
Quarrels with Apollo about tliis
and carries off the s-icred Tri-
pud, 139. Enters the service
of Omphale queen of Lydii,
with whom he remains fort hive
years, 139 and 140. Punished
Augeas for his faithlessness, 141
and 142. Goes to Calydon to
sue for Deianira, and wins her
in a contest with the river-god
Acheloiis, 142 and 143. Mar-
ries Deianira and lives with
her for some time in Calydon,
143. Accidentally kills his
servant-boy and has to leave, and
256
INDEX.
TIER
go to Trachin to be purified, 113
and 144. Is about to celebrate
his victory over Eurytus when
he receives from Deianira a
robe poisoned with the blood of
the Centaur Nessus, -which
causes him such terrible suffer-
ing that he rt-solves to die, 145
and 146. Ascends Mt. Oeta
and builds a funeral pile which
he causes to be st t alight, 146.
But before the flames reach him,
he is carried up to Mt. Olympus
and enthroned among the gods,
146 and 147. The goddess Hebe
is given to him for a wifs, 147.
Hermes. The Messenger of the
gods. Takes Pandora to Epi-
metheus, 10. Is sent to tell
Deucalion and Pyrrha that
they may make any request they
like, 14. Helps Ares to escape
from captivity, 28. Kills the
watchman Argus, and rescues
lo, 31 and 32. Takes Dionysus
to King Athamus, 63 ; and
afterwards to be brought up by
some nymphs, 64. Gives Perseus
a sickle with which to cut off
the head of Medusa, 97. Re-
turns to the nymphs the three
Precious Things they had lent
to Perseus, 103. Steals part of
the booty of Amphitryon for
Zeus, 108. Helps to arm
Heracles for his fight with the
Minyae, 112. .Brings the
Golden Rum to carry away
Phrixus and Helle, 149. Brings
Psyche into the assembly of the
gods, 243.
Ilcslone. Daughter of Laomedon
king of Troy. Is rescued by
Heracles from the monster, 126.
Is given to the hero Telamon
after the conquest of Troy, and
allowed to take her little brofher
Podarces or Priam with her,
140 and HI.
Hespcrides. Three nymphs who
tended the garden of golden
apple-trees, 132. (See Garden
or Hespcrides.)
Hivtia. Daughter of Cronus, 4.
Hippudamia. Daughter of Oena-
maus king of tlis. Her father
compels all her suitors to com-
pete with him in a chariot-race,
77. Pelops wins, and marries
Hippodamia, 78 and 79.
Hippolyta. An Amazon carried
off bv Theseus to be his wile,
193 and 194. She is killed,
fighting for him against her
country-women, 195.
Hippolytus. Son of Theseus and
Hippo'yta, 194. Js beloved by
Phaedra, Avile of Theseus, 197.
She causes his death, 198.
Hippomcdon. One of the Seven
Heroes who march against
Thebes. 213.
Horn of Plenty. The horn of the
goat Amalthea, converted by
Zeus into a miraculous horn, 5.
Is given to Heracles in exchange
for the horn of Acheloiis, 143.
Hundred-armed. Monsters, child-
ren of Uranus and Gaea, 1. Are
thrust into Tartarus, 2 and 3.
Are released by Zeus and help
him to fight against the old
gods, 4.
Hydra. A monster killed by
Heracles, 114 to 116. Heracles
poisons his arrows with the
Hydra's gall, 116; and uses
them in shooting at the Centaurs,
118; and 144.
Hylas. The most beautiful boy in
Greece. Is dragged down into
a forest pool by the nymphs who
live there, and never seen again,
165 and 156.
Hypsipile. Queen of Lemnos.
Saves the life of her father
when all the other men in the
island are killed, 153 and 154.
INDEX.
257
ICA
Is banished in consequence, and
becomes nurse to the child of
Lycurgus king of Neruea, 215 to
217.
TCAKUS. Son of Daedalus.
Flies away from Crete with
his father, but falls into the sea
and is drowned, 52 and 53.
Idas. Carries off Marpessa in a
winged chariot, 20. Is preferred
by her to the god Apollo, 21
and 22.
Ino. Wife of Athamas, and step-
mother of Phrixus and Helle,
63 and 148. Tries to get
Phrixus put to death, 148 and
149. Is killed in trying to
< j scnpe from her husband in his
madness, 63 and 150.
To. Daughter of a king of Argos.
Is beloved by Zeus, and changed
by him into a white cow to save
her from Hera, 31. Hera gets
possession of the cow and puts
her under the charge of the
watchman Argus, 31. She is
rescued by Hermes, 31 and 32.
Hera however continues to tor-
ment her till she is protected by
the king of Egypt who marries
her, 32 and 33.
lobatcs. King of Lycia. Receives
Bellerophon kindly, 47 ; but at
the request of Proetus, sends
him on dangerous missions in
the hope of his being killed, 47
to 50 ; until, finding that he is
under the protection of the gods,
he begs him to settle in the
country and gives him his daugh-
ter in marriage, 51.
lolavs. A cousin of Heracles.
Accompanies him on his expedi-
tion to destroy the Lernean
Hydra, 115 and 116.
lolcus. The city of King Pelias,
151. Jason sets out from lolcus
in quest of the Golden Fleece,
JAS
152 and 153. Returns with the
Fleece, 171. Is obliged to leave
the city, 173.
lole. Daughter of Eurytus king of
Oechalia. Is sought i n marriage
by Heracles, but refused to him
by her father, 137 and 138.
Iphicles. Son of Amphitryon and
Alcmene, and half-brother of
Heracles, 108 and 109.
Iphiclus. (1) The owner of a
famous herd of cattle demanded
by Neleus king of Pylos in re-
turn for the hand of his daughter
Pero, 69. (2) Grandson of the
above. Melampus instructs him
how to propitiate the gods and
obtain an heir, 71 and 72.
Iphitus. Son of Eurytus, king of
Oechalia. Is killed by Heracles
in a fit of anger, 138.
Isthmus. The neck of land which
connects the peninsula of Pelo-
ponnesus with the rest of Greece.
The Argonauts land there on
their return from Colchis, 171.
Italy. Heracles passes through
the country when driving home
the cattle of Geryon to Mycenae,
130.
JASON. Nephew of Pelias,
king of lolcus, by whom he
is sent to fetch the Golden
Fleece, 152. Reaches Colchis,
159; and accomplishes the tasks
demanded by Aeetes, 1 60 to 1 64.
Obtains possession of the Fleece
by the help of Medea, and es-
capes with her, 165. Is purified
by Circe from the blood of Ab-
syrtus, 167. Arrives at lolcus
and shows Pelias the Golden
Fleece, 171. Goes to Corinth,
where King Creon offers him
Glance for his wife, 173. Pre-
sents her with a marriage-robe
which, unknown to him, has
been poisoned by Medea, 174.
258
INDEX.
JOC
Sees Medea drive away in her
dragon -car, 175.
Jocasta. Wife of Lai'us king of
Thebes, and mother of Oedipus,
205. Marries Oedipus, not
knowing who he is, 207 and
208. When it is discovered, she
hangs herself in her despair and
grief, 209.
LABYRINTH. A wonderful
house made for Minos king
of Crete by the artist Daedalus,
52 and 186. Theseus enters it
and kills the Minotaur, 189 and
190.
Ld'zus. King of Thebes and hus-
band of Jocasta. Exposes his son
Oedipus on Mt. Cithaeron,
205. Is killed by his son un-
knowingly, 206 and 207.
Land of Shades. See Lower
World.
Laodamas. Son of Eteocles. Suc-
ceeds his father as king of
Thebes, and is killed in fighting
against the Epigoni, 225.
Laomedon. King of Troy, and
father of Ganymede, Hesioue
and Priam. Tries to cheat the
gods Apollo and Poseidon, and
is punished by them, 126. Re-
ceives from Zeus two horses of
the gods to console him for the
loss of Ganymede, 127. Pro-
mises the horses to Heracles if
he will deliver Hesione from the
monster, but fails to keep his
word, 126 and 127. Is punished
by Heracles for his faithlessness,
140.
Lapithae. The sxibjects of Piri-
thoiis the friend of Theseus, 195.
They conquer the Centaurs with
the help of Theseus, 196.
Leda. Wife of Tyndareus king of
Sparta. Marries Zeus in the
form of a swan, and becomes
the mother of Pollux and Helena, ,
LTC
as well as of Castor and Cly-
taemnestra, 200.
Lemnos. An island inhabited by
women only. The Argonauts
rest there on their way to Col-
chis, 153 and 154.
Lerne. The city near which was
the abode of the Lernean
Hydra destroyed by Heracles,
115.
Leto. Marries Zeus, and becomes
the mother of Apollo and Arte-
mis, 23 and 24. Begs her chil-
dren to punish Niobe, 80.
Libya. The country of Antaeus.
Heracles wrestles with him, 133.
Lichas. A herald. Brings to
Heracles the robe poisoned by
Deianira which causes him such
agony that he beats Lichas to
death against the rocks, 145
and 146.
Lower World. Pluto is made
king of the Lower World, 5.
Persephone is carried off to it
by Pluto, 16 to 18. The Dana-
ides are condemned to never-
ending punishment, 37 and 38.
Tantalus is condemned to a
similar punishment, 76. Al-
cestis is allowed to return from
the Lower World, 94. Heracles
goes there to fetch Cerberus,
135 to 137. Theseus and Piri-
thoiis descend with the in-
tention of carrying off Per-
sephone, 199 to 202. Castor
and Pollux spend alternate days
in Olympus and in the Lower
World, 201. The helmet of
Pluto is lent to Perseus, 97.
Lycia. The country of King
lobates. Bellerophon slays the
Chimaera, and afterwards settles
in the country, 47 to 51.
Lycomedes. King of part of the
island of Scyros, 202. Kills
Theseus by treachery, 203.
Lycitrgus. King of N emea. The
INDEX.
259
LTD
HITS
Nemean games are instituted in
memory of his child by the
heroes marching through his
country on their way to Thebes,
215 to 217.
Lydia. The country of Queen
Omphale, whom Heracles serves
as a slave for three years, 139
and 140.
Lynceus. Son of Aegyptus. Is
saved from death by his wife
Hypermnestra, 36. Succeeds
Danaus as king of Argos, 37.
JMTARPE88A Daughter of
Erenus. Runs away with
Idas, 20. Prefers him to the
god Apollo, 21 and 22.
Medea. Daughter of Aeetes king
of Colchis. Helps Jason to win
the Golden Fleece, and escapes
with him, 161 to 165. Kills
her brother Absyrtus, 166. Is
purged by Circe from the stain
of blood, 167. Deceives Talos
and makes him destroy himself,
169 and 170. Deludes the
daughters of Pelias into killing
their father, 172 and 173.
Sends a poisoned robe to Glauce,
174. Flees away from Corinth
in her dragon-car, 175. Is at
the court of Aegeus at Athens
when Theseus arrives, 183. Her
plan for poisoning him fails, and
she flees away in her winged car,
183 and 184.
Mediterranean. The sea which one
of the Giants is in the act of
crossing when buried by Athene
under the island of Sicily, 6.
Europa is carried across it by
ZPUS, 58.
Medusa. One of the three Gor-
gons. Is killed by Perseus, 96
to 98. Her head turns his
enemies to stone, 101.
Msgara. Daughter of Cm>n, king
of Thebes. Becomes the wife
of Heracles, 112. Dies, 137.
Melampus. Loams the language
of birds and insects, 68 ; and the
art of knowing the future, 72.
Obtains the cattle of Iphichis
for his brother Bias, 69 to 72.
Restores the reason -of the
daughters of Proetus, 73 and 74.
Meleager. Son of Oeneus and
Althaea, king and queen of
Calydon. Takes part in the
great boar-hunt which Atalanta
also attends, and dies in con-
sequence of a quarrel with his
uncles, 83 to 88.
Milanian. Wins the race with
Atalanta by the help of three
golden apples which he drops
at intervals, 89 and 90.
Miiios. King of Crete. Father of
Ariadne and Phaedra. Refuses
to lot Daedalus leave his country,
52. Is sent a bull for sacrifice
by Poseidon, but fails to kill it,
122. Receives Heracles who de-
livers him from the mad bull, ! 22
and 123. Is furnished by Heph-
aestus with an iron watchman,
169. Demands from the Athe-
nians a tribute of seven youths
and seven maidens, 186. Hears
that Theseus has slain the Mi-
notaur and carried offhis daugh-
ter Ariadne, 190 and 191. Gives
his daughter Phaedra in mar-
riage to Theseus, 197.
Minotaur. A monster, half man,
half bull, who lived in the
Labyrinth of Crete, 187. Is
killed by Theseus, 189 and 19<.
Minyae. The subjects of King
Erginus. They are conquered
by Heracles and obliged to pay
tribute to the Thebans, 112.
Moors. Name given to the people
of Africa, burnt black by
Phaethon, 41.
Muses. Nine beautiful goddesses
260
INDEX.
MTC
of poetry, art and science. They
teach a riddle to the Sphinx, 207.
They sing at the marriage of
Eros and Psyche, 243.
Mycenae. A city of Greece.
Perseus exchanges his kingdom
of Argos for the cities of
Mycenae and Tiryns, 103. The
right of his son Electryon to
succeed is disputed by Pterelaus,
104. Amphitryon comes to
Mycenae to sue for Alcmene,
but is obliged to leave on ac-
count of the unintentional
murder of Electryon, 105.
Sthenelus drives away Alc-
mene and seizes the kingdom,
105. His son Eurystheus suc-
ceeds him as king, 1<$. He-
racles goes to Mycenae and
serves Eurystheus for twelve
years, 118.
Mt/xia. A country of Asia Minor.
The Argonauts land on their
way to Colchis, and leave He-
racles and Hylas behind when
they sail away, 155 and 156.
~JAXOS. An island, the favour-
ite land of the god Dionysus,
66 and 67. He finds Ariadne on
the island and marries her, 191
and J92.
Ae/ew*. King of Pylos. De-
mands the cattle of Iphiclus in
return for the hand of his
daughter Pero, 69. Gives her
in marriage to Bias, 72. Re-
fuses to purge Heracles from
the murder of Iphitus, 138.
Heracl< s marches against him
and kills him and all his family,
142.
Nemea. A city of Greece. He-
racles goes there to kill the
Nemean lion, 113. The Nemean
Games are instituted in memory
of the child of King Lycurgus,
815 to 217.
OED
Nereus. A sea-god. Is com-
pelled by Heracles to tell him
how to obtain the golden apples
from the Garden of the Hesper-
ides, 132.
Fesstts. A Centaur. Carries
Deianira across the river and
tries to run away with her, but
is shot by Heracles with a
poisoned arrow, 144.
Nestor. Son of Neleus king of
Pvlos. The only member of the
family of Neleus left alive after
the revenge of Heracles, 142.
Niobe. Daughter of Tantalus,
and wife of Amphion king of
Thebes. Boasts of her supe-
riority to the goddess Leto, and
is punished by having all her
children taken from her at once,
80 to 83.
QCEANUS. The great stream
that flows right round the
world. The horses of Helios
bathe in it every evening, 39.
The Gorgons live on an island
in Oceanus, 97. On an island in
Ocean us lives the three-head- d
king Geryon, whose cattle He-
racles is sent to fetch, 128. The
golden apple-tree from which
the Garden of the Hesperides
grows, is planted by Hera in
Oceanus, 131 and 132.
OecJialia. The capital of Eurytus
king of Euboea. The city is
destroyed b_y Heracles, 145.
Oedipus. Son of La'ius and
Jocasta, kir>g and queen of
Thebes. Is exposed by his pa-
rents on Mt Cithaeron because
of the prediction that he shall
kill his father and marry his
mother, 205. Is found by a
herdsman and taken to Polybus
king of Corinth who adopts
him, 206. Kills his father not
knowing who he is, 207. Goes to
INDEX.
261
OEN
Thebes where he delivers the
country from the Sphinx, and is
rewarded with the kingdom and
the hand of Jocasta, 207 and
208. Puts out his eyes in de-
spair, on discovering his parent-
age, 209. Is banished from
Thebes, and finds a refuge at
Athens, where he dies, 210 and
211.
Oeneus. King of Calydon, and
father of Meleager and Deia-
nira. Inaugurates the great
Calydonian boar-hunt, 83 to 88.
Eeceives Heracles, who comes
to sue for Deianira, 142.
Oenomdus. King of Elis. Makes
all the suitors of his daughter
Hippodamia, vie with him in a
chariot -race, and is killed in
racing with Pelops, 77 to 79.
Oeta, Mt. Heracles ascends the
mountain and builds his funeral
pile upon it, 146.
Olympus, Mt. The abode of the
gods, 2. The Giants try to
climb up into it, 5 and 6. De-
meter comes down from it to
the earth, 16 and 17. Hera
drives Leto from it, 23 ; but
afterwards receives her back
again, 24. Hera descends from
it to give bad advice to Semele,
61. Zeus descends and shows
himself to JSemele in god-like
splendour, 62. Dionysus and
Semele are received among the
gods, 67. Tantalus is allowed
sometimes to ascend to Mt.
Olympus, 75. Ganymede is
brought to Mt. Olympus by the
sacred eagle of Zeus, 127.
Heracles is enthroned as a god,
147. Psyche is received among
the Immortals, 243. Heracles
drives the hor&es of Diomedes
to the fo t of Mt. Olympus, 1 24.
Omphale. Queen of Lydia. He-
racles sells himself to her as a
PAN
slave for three years, 139 ana
140.
One-eyed, The. Monstrous children
of Uranus and Gaea, 1. Are
thrust into Tartarus, 2 and 3.
Are released by Zeus, and forge
weapons for him, '4.
Oracle. A temple of Apollo at
Delphi, where the god vouch-
safed prophetic answers (also
called Oracles) to those who
came to enquire concerning the
future. Answers are given to
Cadmus, 56; Oenomaus. 77;
Acrisius, 95 ; the parents of
Andromeda, 99; Heracles. 113
and 139 ; the Trojans, 126 ; Pe-
lias, 151 ; the Athenians, 203 ;
Oedipus, 206; Adrastus, 213:
Alcmaeon, 227 ; the parents of
Psyche, 231.
Orpheus. Delivers the Argonauts
from the Sirens by overpower-
ing their song, 168.
Ossa, Mt. The Giants propose
to set up this mountain on the
top of Mt. Pelion, and so
climb up to Olympus, 6.
Othrys, Mt. The mountain
from which the old gods fight
with the younger ones, 4.
Otus. Son of Poseidon and brother
of Ephialtes, 27- He nd his
brother fight against the gods
and make Ares prisoner, 28.
They are killed through a device
of Artemis, 28.
PALLANTIDAE. Sons of Pai-
las, the brother of Aegeus,
177. They lay a plot to kill
their Uncle and Theseus, 184.
Pallas. Brother of Aegeus king
of Athens, 177.
Pandora. Is fashioned by Heph
aestus out of clay, and endowed
with gifts by all the gods, 10.
Is sent to be the wife of Epi-
metheus, anil takes with her,
262
INDEX.
PAR
as her dowry, a casket full of
Diseases and Cares, 10 and 11.
Parnassus. A mountain sacred to
the gods. Zeus proves it to be
the centre of the earth, 14. The
chest in which Deucalion and
Pyrrha have been preserved
during the Flood, strands there,
14. The sacred Oracle of Apollo
is located in Delphi, a city on
Mt. Parnassus, 55.
Parthenopacus. One of the Seven
Heroes "who marched against
Thebes, 213.
Pegasus. A beautiful winged
horse. Bellerophon becomes
his master, is taught by the
goddess Athene how to control
him, and by his help overcomes
the Chimaera, 48 to 50.
Pelias. King of lolcus, 151; and
father of Alcestis, 92. Gives
his daughter in marriage to
Admetug, 92 and 93. Sends
Jason to fetch the Golden Fleece,
152. Kills the father of Jason
during his absence, 171. Is put
to death by his own daughters,
through the treachery of Medea,
172 and 173.
Pelion, Mt. The Giants propose
to climb up from this mountain
to Olympus, 6.
Peloponnesus. A peninsula of
Greece, named after Pelops, 79.
Pdops. Is killed by his father,
and served up to the gods at a
banquet, 75 ; but is brought to life
again by Zeus, 76. Is dispos-
sessed of his kingdom ofPhrygia,
77. Travels to Elis, and through
craft conquers Oenomaus in the
chariot-race, 77 to 79. Marries
Hippodamia, and becomes king
of Elis, 79.
Perigune. Daughter of the Fir-
bender, one of the robbers slain
by Theseus on his way to
Athens, 180.
PHE
Pero. Daughter of Neleus, king
of Pylos, 69. Becomes the wife
of Bias, 72.
Persephone. Daughter of Deme-
ter. Is carried off by Pluto to
be queen of the Lower World,
16 to 18. Sends back Alcestis
to live again for a time in the
Upper World, 94. Receives
Heracles when he visits the
Lower World, 136. Gives
Psyche the casket for which she
has been sent by Aphrodite,
2 ' 2
Perseus. Son of Zeus and Danae,
95 and 96. Is sent by the king
of the island where his mother
has taken refuge, to fetch the
head of Medusa, 96 to 98. Res-
cues Andromeda from the mon-
ster, and is married to her, 99 to
101. Returns with the head of
Medusa, and rescues his mother
from the king, who wants to
marry her, 101. Kills his
grandfather unintentionally, and
succeeds to the kingdom of
Argos, 102; but exchanges it
for the cities of Mycenae and
Tiryns, 103.
Phaedra. Daughter of Minos king
of Crete. Is married to Theseus,
197. Loves Hippolytus an I
asks him to marry her, 197.
Causes his death when he re-
fuses, and then hangs herself in
despair, 198.
Phaef/wn. Son of Helios, 39.
Obtains leave from his father to
drive the chariot of the sun for
a single day, 40. Falls from it,
and is killed by a thunderbolt,
41.
Pheffeils. Purges Alcmaeon from
the stain of blood, and gives him
his daughter in marri-ao-e, 227.
Sends his sons to kill Alcmaeon
on account of hia faithlessness,
229.
INDEX.
263
PHE
Phenicia. The home of Europa
and Cadmus, 54.
Phincus. (1) Brother of Cepheus.
Disputes the right of Perseus to
marry Andromeda, and is turned
to stone, 100 and 101. (2) A
seer whom the Argonauts de-
liver from the Harpies, 157 and
158.
Pholus. One of the Centaurs. En-
tertains Heracles in his cave,
117 and 118.
Phrixus. Son of King Athamas,
and brother of Helle. His step-
mother lays a plot to kill him,
hut he is rescued by a Golden
Ram and carried away to Colchis,
where he marries the daughter
of King Aeetes, 148 to 150.
Phrygia. The country of Tanta-
lus, 75. His son Pel ops is driven
away from his kingdom, 77.
Phylacus. Inherits the cattle of
his father Iphiclns, 69. Agrees
to give them to Melampus if he
will teach him how his son may
propitiate the gods and obtain
an heir, 70 to 72.
Phyleus. Son of Augeas king of
Elis. Refuses to bear false
witness against Heracles, and is
banished by his father, 120 and
121. Heracles restores him,
and makes him king, 142.
Pillars of Heracles. Two moun-
tains of rock set up by Heracles
in the sea between Europe and
Africa, 128.
Plrithous. King of the Lapithae.
Forms a friendship with
Theseus, 195; who helps him
to defeat the Centaurs, 196.
Pirithoiis is compelled to sit for
ever on an iron seat in the
Lower World. 200 and 202
Pluto, Son of Cronus, 4 Is made
king of the Lower World, 3.
Carries off Persephone. 16 to
18. Allows Sisyphus to return
POS
to the earth for a single day, 44.
Allows Heracles to take Cer-
berus to the Upper World on
condition that he captures him
without weapons, 136.
Podarces. Son of Laomedon king
of Troy. Is rescued by his
sister Hesione when the town
is sacked by Heracles, 140.
Receives the name of Priam,
141.
Pollux. Son of Zeus and Leda,
and brother of Castor, 200 and
201. Rescues his sister Helena,
201. Takes part in the expe-
dition of the Argonauts, 157.
Petitions Zeus that he and his
brother Castor may be allowed
to share the same fate, 201.
Polylms. King of Corinth, 205.
Adopts Oedipus, 206.
Polymces. Son of Oedipus and
Jocasta. Is banished from
Thebes by his brother Eteocles,
and takes refuge with Adrastus
king of Argos, 212 and 213.
Induces Adrastus to march an
army against Thebes, 213.
Accepts his brother's challenge
to single combat, in which he
gives and receives- a mortal
blow, 220.
Poseidon. Son of Cronus, 4. The
sea is made subject to him, 4
and 5. Gives Idas a winged
chariut in which to carry off
Marpessa, 20. Becomes the
father of Otus and Ephialtes,
27. Punishes Cassiopea for
being vain of her beauty, 99.
Gives Pterelaus a golden hair
which preserves him from
death, 107. Sends Minos a bull
for sacrifice, and punishes him
for keeping it back, 122.
Punishes Laomedon for his
faithlessness, 126. The Argo is
dedicated to Poseidon, 171.
Poseidon disputes with Athene
264
INDEX.
PRI
the guardianship of Athens,
176. At the request of Theseus,
he creates the monster that
destroys Hippolytus, 198.
Priam. See Podarces.
Proetus. KingofArgos. Cleanses
Bellerophon from the murder of
his brother, 45 ; but thinking
he has done him an injury, sends
him to lobates, whom he desires
to kill him, 46. Sends to beg
Melampus to restore his daugh-
ters to their right minds, 73 and
74.
Prometheus. Brings down fire to
the earth against the will of
Zeus, 9 and 10. Is chained, as
a punishment, to Mt. Cauca-
sus where an eagle preys upon
his liver, 12. Is delivered by
Heracles, 12. Warns his son
Deucalion of the great Flood
about to take place, 13.
Psyche. Is hated by Aphrodite
on account of her beauty, 231.
Is carried away by the Wind-
god, and secretly married to
Eros, 232 and 233. She dis-
obeys his command that she
shall never seek to see him, and
he is obliged to leave her, 236.
psyche enters the service of
Aphrodite, who requires her to
accomplish hard tasks, 237 to
242. Zeus gifts Psyche with
immortality, and sanctions her
marriage with Eros, 243.
Ptereldus. Grandson of Perseus
and king of the Teleboae. Dis-
putes the right of Electryon to
the cities of Mycenae and
Tiryns, 104. Amphitryon leads
an expedition against him, and
conquers him through the treach-
ery of his daughter, 106 and 107.
Ptjlos. The home of Melampus,
68 ; also of King Neleus and
his daughter Pero, 69. Heracles
conquers the city, 142.
Pyrrha. Wife of Deucalion, who
is saved with him in a wooden
chest at the time of the great
Flood, 13 to 15.
Pythia. The Priestess of Apollo,
through whom the prophetic
answers vouchsafed by the god
were transmitted, 55. Answers
are given by her to Cadmus,
56; to Heracles, 113; to the
Athenians, 203 ; to Oedipus,
206. An answer is refused to
Heracles, 139.
ftHEA. Wife of Cronus, 2.
Saves her son Zeus from
being devoured by his father, 3.
Pome. Heracles passes the spot
where Kome was afterwards
built, in bringing the cattle of
G-eryon to Mycenae, 130.
CALMONEU8. King of Elis.
Tries to imitate Zeus, and is
destroyed by a thunderbolt, 42
and 43.
Sciron. One of the robbers killed
by Theseus on his journey to
Athens, 181.
Scyros. The island where Theseus
proposed to spend the last days
of his life, 202. He is trea-
cherously killed there by Lyco-
medes, 203. The Athenians
fetch his bones from the island,
203 and 204.
Selene. Goddess of the moon.
Loves Endymion, 30.
Semele. Daughter of Cadmus and
Harmonia. Is secretly married
to Zeus, 61. Prevails on him
to come to her clothed in the
glory of the gods, and dies at
the sight, 61 and 62. Is gifted
by Zeus with immortality. 67.
Shadow-leader. The conductor of
dead souls to the Lower World.
He takes Alcestis thither, 94.
265
sic
Sicily. The goddess Athene
buries one of the Giants beneath
the island, 6. Persephone is
carried off from it by the god
Pluto, 16. Daedalus flies to it
from the island of Crete, 53.
Silemis. Plays with Dionysus
when a child, 64. Follows him
in h'S journey through the
world, 65 and 66 ; and helps to
celebrate his marriage with
Ariadne, 192.
Sirens. Treacherous sea-nymphs,
who attract sailors by their
magic singing and then tear
them to pieces. The Argonauts
escape them through listening
to the song of Orpheus, 168.
Sisyphus. King of Corinth. Tries
to cheat gods as well as men,
and is tormented in the Lower
World with an unending
punishment, 43 and 44.
Sparta. The country of King
Tyndareus, husband of Leda.
Theseus and Pirithoiis go there
and carry off Helena, 199.
Sparti. The warriors who sprang
from the dragon's teeth sown
by Cadmus, 58.
Sphinx. A monster with the head
of a woman and the body of a
lioness. iShe propounds a riddle
and devours everyone who fails
to answer it, 207 and 208. Oedi-
pus guesses tho riddle, and the
Sphinx dies, 208.
Sthenelus. Brother of Electryon.
Drives his niece Alcmene and
her brother from Mycenae, and
seizes the kingdom, 105. Be-
comes the father of Eurystheus,
109.
Storm-foot. One of the Harpies
from whom the Argonauts de-
liver Phineus, 167 and 158.
Stretcher, The. One of the robbers
killed by Theseus on his way to
Athens, 181 and 182.
Stymphalus. A city in Arcadia.
Heracles drives away the birds
that infest the Stymphalian
lake, 121 and 122.
Styx. A river of the Lower World,
by which the gods swore an in-
violable oath, 40 ; 62.
Swift-wing. One of the Harpies
from whom Phineus is delivered
by the Argonauts, 157 and 158.
Syria. lo travels to Syria to find
her child, 33.
fTAENARUS, MT. Psyche is
directed to go there to find an
entrance to the Lower World,
240.
Talos. An iron watchman, made
by Hephaestus tor Minos king of
Crete. Medea deludes him into
killing himself, 169 and 170.
Tantalus. King of Phrygia, 65 ;
and father of Niobe, 80. Kills his
son Pelops and offers the flesh
to the gods at a banquet, 75. Is
condemned in the Lower World
to an unending punishment, 76.
Tartarus. A dark pit below the
earth into which the hundred-
armed and one-eyed monsters
are banished by Uranus, 2.
They are released by Zeus, and
the old gods whom he has
defeated, take their place, 4. Ty-
phoeus is thrust into Tartarus, 7.
Telamon. Receives the beautiful
Hesione as a reward for having
been the first to scale the walls
of Troy, 140.
Teleboae. The subjects of King
Pterelaus. They are sent on an
embassy to Electryon, and a
quarrel takes place, 104. Am-
phitryon marches against them
at the desire of Alcmene, and
conquers their land, 105 to 107.
Thebes. Built by the descendants
of Cadmus, 59. A wall is built
round it by means of the song
266
INDEX.
THE
of Amphion,59and60. Alcmene
takes shelter there when driven
by Sthenelus from Mycenae, 1 05.
Amphitryon delivers the city
from the destroying Fox, 106.
Heracles is born in Thebes, 108
and 1 10. He delivers the land
from the tribute imposed by the
Minyae, 111 and 112; but leaves
the city after his madness, 113.
Lai'us and Jocasta are king and
queen of Thebes, and Oedipus is
born there, 205. Oedipus de-
livers the land from the Sphinx,
and becomes king, 207 and 208 ;
but on the discovery of his pa-
rentage, he is banished, 209 and
210. His sons Eteocles and Poly-
nices succeed him, but Polynices
is banished by his brother, 212.
Polynices goes to Argos, 212 ;
and persuades Adrastus to lead
an army against Thebes, 213.
The Argives are defeated before
Thebes, 218 to 220. Creon king
of Thebes refuses burial to the
Argives, and immxires Antigone
for disobeying his orders, 221 to
'2.23. The Epigoni march against
Thebes, 224 and 225. The The-
bans decide to abandon the city,
225 and 226. The Epigoni and
others re-people it, 226 and 227.
Thcrmodon. A river in Asia, near
which was the country of the
Amazons, 125.
Tkersander. Son of Polynices.
Made king of Thebes by the
Epigoni, on their taking posses-
sion of the city, 226.
Theseus. Son of Aegeus king of
Athens. Is brought up at
Troezen by his mother Aethra,
177 and 178. Is tent by her to
the court of his father at Athens,
179. Or: his way there, he kills
many robbers, the Club-car-
rier, 179; the Fir-bender, 179 and
ISO ; Sciron, 181 ; the Stretcher,
TIR
181 and 182. Eeaches Athens,
182; and is recognised by Ae-
geus, 183. Medea's attempt to
poison him fails, 183. The
Pallantidae are foiled in their
plan to murder him, 184.
Theseus captures the Bull of
Marathon, 184 and 185. Goes
to Crete as part of the tribute
of seven youths and seven
maidens, kills the Minotaur,
and escapes with Ariadne, 187
to 190. Is compelled to leave
Ariadne at Naxos, 191. Forgets
to hoist the white sn.il, and thus
causes the death of his futher,
192 and 193. Carries off Hip-
polyta to be his wife, 193.
Conquers the Amazons, 194 and
195. Makes a friendship with
Pirithoiis, and helps him to
defeat the Centaurs, 1 95 and 1 96.
Erects an Altar of Pity in the
marker-place of Athens, 19(3.
Marries Phaedra, 197. Prays
for the death of Hippolytus, 198
Joins Pirithoiis in carrying off
the beautiful Helena, 199 ; and
descends with him to the Lower
World to try and get possession
of Persephone, 199. Finds him-
self unable to leave a stone on
which he had sat, down for a
moment, 200 ; but after many
years is released by Heracles,
201 and 202. On his return to
Athens, finds himself forgotten,
and retires to Scyros, 202. Is
there killed treacherously by Ly-
comedes,203.His bones are trans-
ferred to Athens, 203 and 2C4.
'ITirace. The country of Diomedes,
whose fierce horses Heracles
goes to fetch, at the command
of Eurystheus, 123.
Ttrevas. A blind seer of Thebes.
Explains the visit of Zeus to
Alcmene, 108. Foretells the
fate of Oedipus. 205 ; and 225.
INDEX.
267
TIB
Advises the Thebans to abandon
the city, 225. Goes with them,
and dies during the flight, 226.
Tiryns. Perseus exchanges his
kingdom cf Argos for the cities
of Mycenae and Tiryns, 103.
The right of his son Electryon
to succeed is disputed by Ptere-
lans, 104. Sthenelus takes pos-
session of the kingdom, 1 05. He
is succeeded by Eurystheus,
109.
Titans, Titanides. Children of
Uranus and Gaea, 2. The father
of Prometheus was a Titan, 9.
Trachis. A city of Greece. He-
racles leaves Calydon for Tra-
chis, 144 ; and goes from Trachis
to Euboea, 145.
Tripod. A three-legged stool on
which the Priestess of Apollo
pat when uttering her divine
predictions, 55. Heracles car-
ries off the sacred Tripod from
Delphi, 139.
Triptolemus. Is taught by De-
meter how to sow corn and cul-
tivate the land, 19.
Troezen. The home of Aethra, wife
of King Aegeus, 177. Theseus
is brought up by her at Troezen,
177 and 178. Helena is placed
there under her care for a time,
but is rescued by her brothers,
199 and 201.
Troy. The country of King Lao-
medon, father of Ganymede.
Apollo and Poseidon build a
wall round Troy, and punish
Laomedon for withholding the
reward he has promised, 126.
Heracles lands at Troy, and res-
cues Hesione from the monster,
126 and 127. Returns to pun-
ish Laomedon for his faithless-
ness, and conquers the city, 140.
Ti/dnls. Is driven from his coun-
try on account oi' an uninten-
tional murder, and goes for re-
ZETT
fuge to Adrastus king of Argos.
212 and 213. Takes part in the
expedition against Thebes, 213.
Bears a message to Eteocles,
and distinguishes himself by
feats of strength, 218. Is
killed before Thebes, with all
the other heroes, 220.
Tyndarrus. King of Sparta, 199 ;
and husband of Leda, 200.
Typliot-Us. A monster created by
Gaea to fight against the gods,
6. Is conquered by Zeus, and
flung into Tartarus, 7.
TTRANUS. God of the sky, 1.
Is killed by his son Cronus, 2.
WANDERING BOCKS. The
Argonauts pass through
them in safetv by the help of
Hera, 168 and 169.
Wind-god. Carries Psyche into
the beautiful valley, 232.
Brings her two sisters to see
her, 234 ; and takes them home
again, 235.
yEUS. Son of Cronus and Rhea.
Is hidden in the island of
Crete and nourished by the goat
Amalthea, 3. Makes war^gainst
his father and thrusts him into
Tartarus, 4. Marries Hera, 4.
Conquers the Giants, 6 ; and
Typhoeus, 7. Sends Pandora to
bring Disease and Care into the
world, 10 and 11. Punishes
Prometheus for bringing down
fire to the earth, 12. Destroys
the world by a Flood, 13 and
14 ; and allows Deucalion and
Pyrrha to re- people it, 14 and
15. Stops the fight about to
take place between Apollo and
Idas, 21. Marries Let.o and
becomes the father of Apollo
and Artemis, 23. Becomes the
father of Endymion whom he
268
INDEX.
ZET7
gifts with perpetual sleep, 29.
Hurls athunderbolt at Phaethon
to prevent him from destroying
the earth, 41. Carries off Europa
in the form of a bull, 64 and 58.
Marries Semele, and at her wish
goes to her surrounded with the
glory of the gods, 62. Ixuises
her from the Lower World to
Olympus, 67. Conceals his son
Dionysus from Hera, 63 ; and
gifts him with divine power,
64 and 65. Imposes a punish-
ment upon Apollo, 81. Marries
Dunae in the form of a golden
shower, and becomes the father
of Perseus, 95 and 96. Marries
Alcmene,and becomes the father
ZEU
of Heracles, 108 and 109. De-
crees that the next child boru
of the race of Perseus shall rule
over the cities of Mycenae anil
Tiryns, 109. Sends his sacred
eagle to steal away Ganymede,
127. Interposes between He-
racles and Apollo, 139. Punishes
Hera for trying to destroy Hera-
cles, 141. Marries Letla in the
form of a swan, and becomes the
father of Pollux and Helena,
200. Grants the wish of Pol-
lux to share the fate of his
brother Castor, 201. Causes
the two sons of Alcmaeon to
grow up to manhood in a single
night, 229.
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Certain Difficulties felt by Anglicans !
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Apologia Pro Vita Sua.
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Essays on Biblical and Ecclesiastical
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SOPHOCLES. Translated into English Verse. By ROBERT WHITE-
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STANLEY (E.). A FAMILIAR HISTORY OF BIRDS. With 160 Wood-
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STEEL (J. H.). A TREATISE ON THE DISEASES OF THE DOG;
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