GREEK AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY Y TATLOCK GREEK AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY GREEK AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY BY JESSIE M. TATLOCK ILLUSTRATED NEW YORK THE CENTURY CO, Copyright, 1917, by THE CENTURY Co. 297 Printed in U. S. A. PREFACE WHILE familiarity with classical mythology is generally recognized as essential to the under- standing of literature and art and to the preserva- tion of a great and valuable part of our artistic and spiritual heritage, the method of assuring such a familiarity to the rising generation differs in different schools. In many the stories of the gods and heroes are read in the lower grades from one or another of the children's books based on the myths, and any further knowledge of the subject depends upon the study of Vergil and other Latin or Greek writers and on the use of reference books in connection with reading in English literature. In many schools, however, experience has proved that as even the most ele- mentary knowledge of mythology gained in child- hood cannot be presupposed, and as the knowl- edge gained from the occasional use of reference books is unsubstantial and unsatisfactory, a sys- tematic course in mythology for students of high- school age is necessary. It might seem that to such students this subject would be so simple as to present no difficulties, but the fact is that to those who come to its study, as surprisingly many vi Preface do, with such entire un familiarity that the name of Apollo or Venus conveys nothing to them, the mass of new and strange names and the di- vergence of the conceptions from those to which they are accustomed make the study not a little difficult. After many years' experience with such students the writer has been led to believe that there is need for a text book in a style to appeal to those who have outgrown children's books, but of content so limited and treatment so simple as to make it possible for the average boy or girl to assimilate it in a course of about thirty lessons. To secure brevity and simplicity only the most famous and interesting of the stories have been incorporated in this book; certain others are briefly mentioned in the index. In reading a narrative it is difficult for an inexperienced stu- dent to distinguish between the important names and those that merely form part of the setting of the story. The mention of any names beyond those that should be remembered has therefore been avoided, and the effort has been made by reiteration and cross-reference to impress these names upon the student. In preparing an elementar y book on mythology there are naturally two pu /poses to be kept in mind: (i) By a sympathetic and accurate treatment to give understan (ing and appreciation of the character and ideals of the people among whom the mythology developed. Any study that Preface vn gives this understanding and appreciation of one of the peoples through whom our own spiritual life and civilization has come to be what it is is believed by the writer to be important to an in- telligent valuation of our present life and ideals and to a sane building for the future. (2) By placing the familiar stories in their proper rela- tion to enable the student better to understand references in literature and representations in art, ancient and modern. Because of the subjective element in the treatment of mythology in later ages the conceptions have become confused. It is the writer's belief that to avoid confusion and misunderstanding on the student's part the sub- ject should not be treated through the medium of modern writers and artists, whose interpretation of Greek thought and religion has been affected by the thought and religion of their own times, but that by the use of ancient sources, careful study of the people's own understanding of their mythology, direct quotation and free reproduc- tion of the works of Greek and Latin poets, illus- trations drawn from Greek sculpture and paint- ing, the effort should be made to leave an honest picture of the mind of the Greeks. Therefore reference has not been made in the text to Eng- lish poems based upon the myths, but it has been left to the individual teacher carefully to intro- duce such illustrations and parallels ; an appendix suggests a few of the more notable. Another viii Preface misunderstanding that it is sought to avoid is the popular association of these anthropomorphic con- ceptions and imaginative tales with the Romans. The writer has wished to make it clear that what is known as classical mythology is a product of Greece, and that in general the Latin writers have merely retold stories that were not original with their people. The Greek names have therefore been employed primarily, even though they are less familiar than the Latin. It may seem in- consistent that this has been done even when the version of a tale as it appears in the work of some Latin poet, e.g., Ovid, has been followed, but it is not the nomenclature, which is Latin, but the subject matter and the conception of the tale, which is Greek, that has been followed. Where the story is mainly of Latin development Latin names have been used. Perhaps it may seem that too scant attention has been paid to Roman gods, but when one deals with Roman deities one quickly gets out of the realm of mythology into that of ritual and history, subjects which seem out of place in such a book as this. In spelling Greek names the most familiar and the simplest English spellings have been used. In most cases has been transliterated by Eng- lish i. (Poseidon is a common exception, and e takes the place of before the terminations a, as, us, as Me de'a, Au ge'as. ) K has been ren- dered c, at by cc. os by Latin us. In these incon- Preface IX sistencies the usual and permissible custom is fol- lowed. In the index and upon their first mention the accent on names of more than two syllables is indicated, and in an appendix a few simple rules of pronunciation are given. While in many instances in a foot-note the version of a story followed has been indicated, and in case of direct quotation the reference has been given, in an elementary book such as this the use of many notes has been avoided as unde- sirable. In many stories one author has not been followed exclusively, but various features have been borrowed from various sources. Those chiefly followed are : Homer, the Homeric Hymns, Hesiod, Pindar, yEschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Apollodorus, Apollonius Rhodius, Hy- ginus, Pausanius, Vergil, and Ovid. In quoting from the Iliad the translation of Lang, Leaf, and Myers has been used; from the Odyssey, that of Butcher and Lang; and from the Homeric Hymns, that of Lang. Of modern authorities consulted the most important are: Preller's Griechische Mythologie revised by Robert (un- fortunately incomplete) ; Wissowa's Religion itnd Kultus der Romer; separate articles in Roscher's Lexikon der griechischen imd romischen Mythol- ogie; the Pauly-Wissowa Real-Encydopadic der classischen Alter tumszvissenschaft. Frazer's Golden Bough, Jane Harrison's Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion, Lawson's Modern x Preface Greek Folklore and Ancient Greek Religion, Warde Fowler's Roman Festivals, and many other books and articles have been helpful and suggestive. The comprehensive works of Col- lignon, Baumeister, Overbeck, Furtwangler, and others have, of course, been taken as authorities in dealing with representations in art. J. M. TATLOCK. December, 1916. CONTENTS PAGE INTRODUCTION xix PART I. THE GODS CHAPTER I THE WORLD OF THE MYTHS ... 3 II THE GODS OF OLYMPUS: ZEUS . . 16 III HERA, ATHENA, HEPH^STUS ... 36 i Hera 36 ii Athena 40 in Hephaestus 49 IV APOLLO AND ARTEMIS 55 i Apollo 55 ii Artemis 80 V HERMES AND HESTIA 91 i Hermes 91 ii Hestia 98 VI ARES AND APHRODITE 105 i Ares 105 ii Aphrodite 109 VII THE LESSER DEITIES OF OLYMPUS . 122 i Eros 122 ii Other Deities of Olympus . .139 VIII THE GODS OF THE SEA 143 IX THE GODS OF THE EARTH . . . .153 X THE WORLD OF THE DEAD . . . 186 xi xii Contents PART II. THE HEROES CHAPTER PAGE XI STORIES OF ARGOS 199 XII HERACLES 210 XIII STORIES OF CRETE, SPARTA, CORINTH, JE.TOL.IA 228 i Stories of Crete .... 228 ii Stories of Sparta . . . . 234 in Stories of Corinth .... 236 iv Stories of ^tolia . . . . 241 XIV STORIES OF ATTICA . . . . . 244 XV STORIES OF THEBES . . . . . 256 XVI THE ARGONAUTIC EXPEDITION . . 266 XVII THE TROJAN WAR . . . . . 280 XVIII THE WANDERINGS OF ODYSSEUS . . 305 XIX THE TRAGEDY OF AGAMEMNON . . 326 XX THE LEGENDARY ORIGIN OF ROME . 331 APPENDIX A . 355 APPENDIX B ....... 356 INDEX ... . . . ... . 363 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS FIG. PARE 1. Omphalus, copy of a stone bound with fil- lets that was set up at Delphi to mark the center of the earth (Museum at Delphi) 4 2. Rhea offering Cronus the stone in place of Zeus (Vase in Metropolitan Museum) . 6 3. Zeus (Metropolitan Museum) ... 17 4. Dirce tied to the bull (National Museum, Naples) 27 5. Head of Zeus found at Otricoli (Vatican) 31 6. View of ruins at Olympia 33 7. Hera, " Borghese Juno" (Glyptothek Ny Carlsberg, Copenhagen) 37 8. Ganymede and the eagle (Vatican) . . 39 9. Head of Hera (Museo delle Terme, Rome) 40 10. Lemnian Athena (Albertinum, Dresden) 41 11. Birth of Athena (Gerhard Auserlese- ne Vasenbilder) 43 12. Athena " Minerva of Velletri " (Louvre) 45 13. Hephaestus and the Cyclopes preparing the shield of Achilles (Palazzo dei Con- servatori, Rome) 50 14. Apollo from the pediment of the temple at Olympia 54 Xlll xiv Illustrations FIG. PAGE 15. The sun-god in his chariot (Vase in Brit- ish Museum) 56 16. Foundations of Apollo's temple at Delphi 57 17. Apollo as leader of the Muses (Vatican) . 60 1 8. Niobe and her daughter (Uffizi, Florence) 69 19. Asclepius (Capitoline Museum, Rome) . 75 20. Artemis of Versailles (Louvre) . 81 21. Artemis of Gabii (Louvre) .... 83 22. Actaeon killed by his dogs (Vase in Eos- ton Art Museum) 86 23. Sleeping Endymion (Capitoline Museum, Rome) . '. 87 24. Hermes in repose (National Museum, Naples) 93 25. Hermes (Olympia) 97 26. Hestia, so-called (Rome) 99 27. Genius and Lares (Wall-painting from Pompeii) 101 28. Ares with Eros (Museo delle Terme, Rome) 104 29. Bearded Mars (Museo delle Terme, Rome) 106 30. Aphrodite of Cnidos (Museo delle Terme, Rome) 107 31. Birth of Aphrodite from the sea (Museo delle Terme, Rome) no 32. Judgment of Paris (Tomb of the Anicii, Rome) in 33. Venus of Aries (Louvre) 114 34. Eros, or Cupid (Capitoline Museum, Rome) 123 Illustrations xv FIG. PAGE 35. Cupid and Psyche (Capitoline Museum, Rome) 127 36. Clio (Vatican) 140 37. Thalia (Vatican) . . 141 38. Terpsichore (Vatican) 142 39. Poseidon (Athens) 145 40. Marriage of Poseidon and Amphitrite (Vase in Glyptothek Ny-Carlsberg) . 148 41. Head of a sea-god ....... 149 42. Cybele in her car (Metropolitan Museum) 153 43. Demeter (Glyptothek Ny-Carlsberg) . .155 44. Demeter, Triptolemtis, and Persephone (Athens) 159 45. Triptolemus in the dragon-drawn chariot (Eleusis) 162 46. Dionysus (Museo delle Terme, Rome) . 163 47. Silenus with Dionysus (Vatican) . . .167 48. Bacchic procession (National Museum, Naples) 168 49. Youthful Dionysus (National Museum, Naples) 172 50. Bacchic procession (Vase in Metropolitan Museum) 173 51. Pan and a nymph (Terra Cotta from Asia Minor) 175 52. Votive offering to Pan and the nymphs (National Museum, Athens) . . . 179 53. Dancing Satyr (National Museum, Na- ples) 180 54. Faun of Praxiteles (Capitoline Museum, Rome) 181 xvi Illustrations FIG. PAGE 55. Athena and Marsyas (Reconstruction made in Munich) . . . . . . 182 56. Apollo and Marsyas (National Museum, Athens) 183 57. Charon in his skiff (Vase in Metropolitan Museum) 188 58. Heracles carrying off Cerberus (Gerhard. Auserlesene Vasenbildcr) . . . .191 59. Parting of Orpheus and Eurydice (Na- tional Museum, Naples) . . . .193 60. Carpenter making the chest for Danae and Perseus (Vase in Boston Art Mu- seum) 20 1 61. Head of Medusa Rondanini (Glyptothek, Munich) 203 62. Perseus killing Medusa (Metope for Seli- nunte) 205 63. Atlas supporting the heavens (National Museum, Naples) 207 64. Heracles (Vatican) . . . . . .211 65. Heracles strangling the serpents (Wall- painting from Pompeii) 214 66. Five of Heracles' labors (Borghese Gal- lery, Rome) 215 67. Heracles killing the Hydra (Gerhard. Auserlesene Vasenbilder} . . . .217 68. Heracles carrying the boar (Metropolitan Museum) 218 69. Amazon (Capitoline Museum, Rome) . 219 70. Heracles in the bowl of the sun (Gerhard. Auserlesene Vasenbilder) . . . .221 Illustrations xvii FIG. PAGE 71. Nessus running off with Dejanira (Vase in Boston Art Museum) .... 226 72. Europa on the bull (Wall-painting from Pompeii) 228 73. Daedalus and Icarus (Villa Albani, Rome) 231 74. The Dioscuri (Ancient statues now set up before the king's palace in Rome) . . 234 75. Chimsera (Archaeological Museum, Flor- ence) 237 76. Bellerophon and Pegasus (Palazzo Spada, Rome) 239 77. Meleager (Vatican) 242 78. Cephalus and the dawn-goddess (Vase in Boston Art Museum) ..... 246 79. Theseus killing the Minotaur (Vase in Boston Art Museum) 251 80. Theseus and the rescued Athenians (Wall-painting from Pompeii) . . . 252 81. Centaur and Lapith (Metope from the Parthenon) ........ 253 82. Cadmus and the dragon (Vase in Metro- politan Museum) 257 83. CEdipus and the Sphinx (Vase in Boston Art Museum) 261 84. Phrixus and the ram (Metropolitan Mu- seum) 266 85. Centaur (Capitoline Museum, Rome) . 268 86. Medea preparing the magic brew (Ger- hard. Auserlcscnc Vasenbildcr) . . 276 87. Medea preparing to kill her children (Wall-painting from Pompeii) . . . 278 xviii Illustrations PIG. PAGE 88. The persuasion of Helen (National Mu- seum, Naples) 285 89. Sacrifice of Iphigenia (National Museum, Naples) 289 90. Priam ransoming Hector's body (Vase in Vienna) 299 91. Laocoon and his sons (Vatican) . . . 302 92. Priam slain on the altar (Vase in the Louvre) . 304 93. Odysseus and the Sirens (Vase in British Museum) 313 94. Odysseus appearing before Nausicaa (Vase in Munich) 318 95. Odysseus makes himself known to Tele- machus (Vase in Metropolitan Mu- seum) 322 96. Odysseus avenging himself upon the suit- ors (Vase in Munich Museum) . . 325 97. yEneas wounded (Wall-painting from Pompeii) 332 98. yEneas fleeing from Troy (Gerhard. Auserlesene Vasenbilder) .... 337 99. The wolf with Romulus and Remus (Capitoline Museum, Rome) . . . 349 INTRODUCTION PRIMITIVE people, as they have looked out on Myths and * mythology. the world about them, on the sea and the trees, on the sky and the clouds, and as they have felt the power of natural forces, the heat of the sun, the violence of the wind, have recognized in these things the expression and action of some being more powerful than themselves. Able to under- stand only those motives and sensations that are like their own, they have conceived these beings more or less after their own nature. The He- brews, indeed, at an early time recognized one supreme God, who had created and who directed all the world according to his will, but most other early people have seen living, willing beings in the forms and powers of nature, and have wor- shiped these beings as gods or feared them as devils. Physical events, such as the rising and setting of the sun, or the springing and ripening of the grain, are to them actions of the beings identified with sun or grain. In accounting for these acts, whether regularly recurring, as the rising of the sun, or occasionally disturbing the or- dinary course of nature, as earthquakes, eclipses, or violent storms, stories more or less complete xx Introduction grow, are repeated, and believed. These stories told of superhuman beings and believed by a whole people are myths, and all these myths together form a mythology. The interest The mythology of any people is interesting mythology, because it reflects their individual nature and de- veloping life; that of the Greeks is more inter- esting to us than any other, first, because it ex- presses the nature of a people gifted with a pe- culiarly fine and artistic soul ; secondly, because our own thought and art are, in great part, a heritage from the civilization of Greece. Much of this heritage comes to us quite directly from the Greek writers and artists whose works have been preserved. The dramas of Sophocles and Euripides hold an audience in America as they held those in Athens, because their art is true and great; the noble youth of the Hermes of Praxiteles, or the gallant action of the horsemen in the frieze of the Parthenon satisfy us in the twentieth century as they did the Greeks in the fifth and fourth centuries B.C. But more of this heritage comes down to us through the Romans, whose genius taught them to conquer and govern without destroying, and who learned from the nations that they conquered, Egypt, Asia, and Greece, all that centuries of rich civilization had to give. The civilization of the modern world. America as well as Europe, is rooted deeply in the civilization of Rome, and through Rome in that Introduction xxi of Greece. Greek thought and Greek principles run through our law, our government, our stand- ards of taste, our art, and our literature. The very personages of Greek mythology are famil- iarly known to-day in the United States, divorced from religious meaning but set up before our eyes as symbols of truths that are in the very nature of things. The winged Mercury (the god of travelers, whose Greek name was Hermes) waves his magic wand above the main entrance to the Grand Central Station in New York; the noble head of Minerva (the Greek Athena, the goddess of wisdom) is set above the doors of our libraries and colleges, and the adventures of Ulysses (or Odysseus) and of many other Greek heroes are painted on the walls of our Congres- sional Library. Even in our daily language there is still a hint of mythology : our troops still march to martial music, the music of the war-god Mars, and we eat at breakfast cereals, the gift of the corn-goddess Ceres; the Muses of Pieria are not too far away to inspire the music of our western world. These beliefs and stories have been handed classical down through so many ages and modified in so truly Greek* many ways that confusion as to their real origin has naturally arisen. It is Greek, not Roman. The Romans did not develop an original mythol- ogy but took over stories from the Greeks and others and told them of their own gods. It was xxii Introduction the Greek Zeus, not the Roman Jupiter, who had so many love adventures ; it was the Greek Aphro- dite, not the Roman Venus, who received the golden apple from Trojan Paris. Classical mythology is the expression of the nature and thought of the Greeks, not that of the Romans. For the Greeks were by nature artistic; they in- stinctively expressed their ideals, the truth as they saw it, in poetry, story, and sculpture, and be- cause imagination, insight, and love of beauty were united in them, their stories and their art have an appeal that is universal. veiopment ^he ren gi n an d mythology of the Greeks was mythology. not a fi xe( i an d unchanging thing; it varied with different localities and changed with changing conditions. For when we speak of Greece we do not speak of a nation in the strict sense that is, a people under one central government but of the Greek race : " Wherever the Greeks are, there is Greece." So the mythological stories grew and changed as they passed from Asia Minor to Greece, or from Greece to the islands of the ^Lgean Sea, to Italy and Sicily. More- over, the independence of the individual in the Greek states, where men thought for themselves, and no autocratic government or powerful priest- hood exerted undue restraint, fostered variety and permitted artists and poets so to modify tradition as to express something of their individual ideas. This added infinitely to the richness of mythology Introduction xxiii and art. Local conditions, too, and local pride, in a country broken both geographically and po- litically into small divisions, added variety to re- ligious customs. In mountain districts the god of the sky and storms was most feared and wor- shiped, in the fertile plains, the gods of earth and harvest, while on the coast men needed the favor of the gods who were powerful over the sea and protected commerce. Local heroes gath- ered stories about themselves, and local pride led people to place important events, such as the birth of a god or some important manifestation of his power, in their own localities. Many dif- ferent places claimed to be the birthplace of Apollo, and the fires of Hephaestus burned within many a volcano (called after his Latin name, Vulcan). Furthermore, as they came in contact with other peoples and became familiar with their religious stories and ceremonial, they incorporated much that was of foreign origin into their own religion. The stories connected with Dionysus, or Bacchus, and the extravagant rites celebrated in his honor were imported from the East, and the Aphrodite of Asia Minor was far more Asiatic and sensual in character than the Aphrodite of Greece. Finally, since myth- ology is not based on authority but grows from the soul of the people, it necessarily fol- lows that as Greek life and thought grew and developed, as social conditions changed, as art xxiv Introduction was perfected and poetry and philosophy grew less simple, the telling of the myths and their interpretation changed and developed. Mytho- logy was a living, growing thing, impossible to seize and fix in a consistent system. It must be regarded as a mass of legend, handed down through the people and poets of generation after generation, continually reflecting the developing life and soul of a great and vital race. When different versions of a story are found, one is not necessarily more authentic than another; in the present book that version is given which has become most famous in art and literature, rhe character Before proceeding to the mythological stories of the Greek religion, that spring from the Greek religion, it is well to notice some of the more marked characteristics of that religion. (1) It was polytheistic, it was the worship of many gods. The supremacy of Zeus, " father of gods and king of men," over the other gods did not make the religion a monotheism any more than the hegemony or leadership of one Greek state over others made Greece one united nation. (2) The religion was, in origin, a worship of the powers of nature. This is natural to primitive men everywhere, because these are the first powers outside of themselves of which men are conscious. The intensity of the Greek sun, the nearness of the sea and its importance in the daily life of the people, the mountain barriers Introduction xxv about them, all tended to emphasize men's de- pendence upon nature. But as the Greeks de- veloped in intelligence and civilization, as their thoughts and their lives became less simple, and abstract ideas entered into the government of their actions, these nature gods assumed ethical or moral meanings. So the thunder of Zeus. originally his weapon as sky-god, became the symbol of his world power as god of law and or- der. The clear, illuminating brightness of the sun made of the god of light, Apollo, the all- seeing prophet, who in his worshipers required purity. Athena, who, owing to the story of her birth from her father Zeus's head when Hephaes- tus had cleft it, is generally supposed to have represented the descent of the storm when the thunderbolt has opened the heavens, almost lost this original meaning, and became the goddess of practical wisdom and of skill in war. (3) It was an anthropomorphic religion that is, the gods were conceived in the forms of men, greater and more beautiful and of a finer substance, yet such as men could understand and represent. While a more spiritual conception leads to a loftier ideal, this Greek conception of the gods as of like nature with men exalts and ennobles human life and the human body and offers subjects for poets and sculptors. A purely spiritual god can never be so represented as even in part to satisfy his worshipers, but the noble xxvi Introduction dignity of Zeus, the king cf gods, was so realized by the sculptor Phidias that his great gold and ivory statue quite worthily expressed to the peo- ple their ideal. What gulf there was between gods and men was bridged by the existence of heroes or demigods, sons of gods by mortals, and of nature and powers half human, half divine. (4) To worship and propitiate these gods, in nature so close to men, so easily understood, men needed the help of no powerful priesthood gifted with peculiar sanctity and mysterious knowledge and powers. At the great shrines, it is true, there were priests and priestesses devoted to the gods' service, and there were men and women peculiarly inspired by the god to interpret his will and give warning and promise for the future; but these prophets only occasionally or indirectly con- trolled people's actions and had little authority in determining religious belief and practice. Each father was his family's priest; each man could offer his own prayers and his own sacrifice and be understood and accepted by the god he ad- dressed. When the family ate and drank, part of the meat and drink was offered to the gods. When they danced and sang, the gods, called on to be present, enjoyed a pleasure like their own. Even games and athletics were shared by the gods. Apollo threw the discus with his friends, and Hermes was famous for his swift- ness of foot. . So athletic contests became a form Introduction xxvii of worship. Business as well as pleasure was a repetition of divine actions and therefore joined with religion. Hermes was a shepherd and un- derstood the needs of other shepherds; Hephaes- tus was a smith, and no human smith needed an interpreter to call upon him for aid in his craft. The gods experienced and understood, too, the different relations of life. The maiden Artemis readily lent an ear to girls who were in trouble, and the offering of their childish playthings was acceptable to her. Hera, as wife and mother, was always ready to champion mortals in those relations, while the rights of kings were very dear to Zeus, the king of gods. So all the acts of daily life, all the simple things that men used, rinding their counterpart among the Olympians were ennobled and rilled with religious meaning. The gods of the Romans were just as closely The character J r i of . th . e B" connected with daily life as were those of the religion. Greeks, but the number of deities to be recog- nized was vastly multiplied, and they did not ap- pear to their worshipers as distinct personalities. No act of life, from the cooking of the family meal to the declaration of war, but was under the special care of some divinity. No material thing, from the oven in which the bread was baked to the city of Rome, but had its own in- dwelling deity. Even to know the names of all these innumerable divinities, much more to give them all distinct characters and to determine the xxviii Introduction best way to approach each one, was quite im- possible for the busy practical citizen. Hence, a purely conventional system of religious cere- monial and invocation ran through Roman life, just as unquestioningly observed as the other conventions and regulations to which the citizens were subject. Each family under its father as head worshiped its own gods of the home and family about its own hearth, and no one could hold his place in the family without performing his duty to the family gods. So the state, as the greater family, had its own deities, its own hearth in the shrine of Vesta in the Forum, its own religious head, first the king, later under the Republic the Pontifex Maximus. State and religion were one and indivisible; failure in re- ligious duty was failure in national duty, and a wrong committed against the civil law was a sin against the gods. This was a strong civiliz- ing side of religion that made for good morals and good citizenship, but it lacked the inspira- tion of a more personal faith. Nor had the Roman gods sufficient individuality to bring into existence any body of mythology, such as that of the Greeks. The stories we are accustomed to associate with the Roman gods are either bor- rowed from the Greeks or were late creations of imagination inspired by and modeled on the traditions of Greek mythology. PART I THE GODS GREEK AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY CHAPTER I THE WORLD OF THE MYTHS THE knowledge that the world we live in is a Mythical geography. sphere and but one of an endless number that are whirling through space with incredible speed, is not a knowledge that we have by nature or by experience; we must be persuaded of this scien- tific fact. For as we look around us and above us, we seem to stand at the very center of a cir- cular plane, vaulted by the sky, across whose spacious arch the sun travels by day and the moon by night. This was the view held by the Greeks of early times. To them the world was flat and round, a disk whose central point was in their own native land, in Central Greece, at Del- phi, the holy place of all their race. Near and far were counted from Delphi ; it was with the sacred permission of the oracle established there that those daring colonists set out who brought Greece to the shores of Asia Minor, to Africa, and Italy. Beyond those lands to which -Greek enterprise Distant and civilization penetrated lay distant lands in- 4 Greek and Roman Mythology habited by strange people and monsters, the tiny race of Pygmies, one-eyed giants, and serpents. Far in the North lived a good and happy people, the Hy per bo're ans, and to the South " the Fig. i. Omphalus, copy of a stone bound with fillets that was set up at Delphi to mark the center of the earth. blameless Ethiopians.'' These had no dealings with other men, but were specially loved by the gods, who paid them frequent visits and ate at their tables. Beyond all lands, and circling the disk of earth, ran the Stream of Ocean, a great and mysterious river without a farther shore. The World of the Myths 5 The account of the beginning of this world, The begin ning of as the Greek poets tell it, is in one respect quite the wor ii unlike the account that is found in the first chap- ter of Genesis. For while the Hebrews were taught that God, who existed from the beginning, created our universe of heaven, earth, and sea, and all the forms of life, ending in man, the Greeks believed that the natural world came into being by birth or generation, and that even the gods whom they worshiped were the children and successors of an earlier and more elemental race of beings. Thus, in the beginning was Chaos, a formless The earlier gods. misty void; next came Gaea (Earth), and Eros (Love), most beautiful of immortals. From Chaos sprang Er'e bus (the darkness under the earth) and Night. From these two were born ^Ether (the light of heaven) and Day. But Gaea, touched by Eros, bore U'ra nus (Heaven), the sea and all the hills. Then Uranus and Gaea were united by Eros and became the parents of the Titans, who represent the great ungoverned forces of nature, and the three Cyck/pes, who are the rumbling thunder, the lightning, and the thunderbolt; lastly, they gave birth to the hun- dred-handed giants, who represent the violence of the sea. When Uranus, fearing his children, the Cyclopes and the hundred-handed giants, drove them back into the earth, Gaea in her dis- tress called upon the Titans for deliverance. 6 Greek and Roman Mythology The greatest of them, Cronus, obedient to his mother's call, attacked his father, and having maimed him with a sickle, seized his power. Birth of After this, Cronus married his sister Rhea and the gods. became the father of six children ; but since he had been told that a son should overthrow his Fig. 2. Rhea offering Cronus tne stone in place of Zeus. rule, as he had overthrown that of his own father, he adopted the extraordinary precaution of swal- lowing his children as soon as they were born. Thus Hes'tia (Vesta), Deme'ter (Ceres), and Hera (Juno) Posei'don (Neptune), and Hades (Pluto), came to the light only to be devoured. The World of the Myths 7 When Rhea bore her last son, Zeus (Jupiter), she saved him from the fate of his brothers and sisters by giving to Cronus a stone wrapped in baby's clothes in his place. The infant was kept for safety in a cave in Crete, where he was nourished on honey and the milk of the goat Am al the'a, while the Cu re'tes, mountain spirits of Crete or priests of Rhea, drowned his cries by clashing their spears on their shields. When Zeus was grown, by giving Cronus a 5 strong potion he forced him to disgorge the five children he had swallowed. He then declared war upon him. The gods, as Zeus and his brothers and sisters should now be called, forti- fied themselves on Mt. Olympus, in Thessaly, and for ten years the war raged without ceasing. The rugged mountains and jumbled rocks of Thessaly bear witness to the fury of the battles. Finally Gaea advised Zeus to loose from their prison under the earth the Cyclopes and the hun- dred-handed giants. After this, armed with the thunderbolts given him by the Cyclopes, and as- sisted by the convulsions of sea and land caused by the hundred-handed giants, Zeus gained the victory. Those Titans who had taken Cronus' part were buried deep in Tartarus, as far below the earth as earth is below heaven. The three brothers now divided the world be- The division of the worlo. tween them. Zeus, chosen as king, was supreme over heaven and earth, as truly a sky-god as his 8 Greek and Roman Mythology grandfather Uranus had been. Poseidon was lord over all the waters, and to Hades was given the realm that bears his name below the earth, and dominion over the dead. Typhon. Although Gaea had aided and abetted the gods in their war against Cronus, she resented the complete subjugation of her sons. Therefore she brought forth Typhon, a fearful monster, from whose shoulders grew a hundred serpent heads, with darting tongues and fiery eyes, and from whose throats came fearful sounds, like the bellowing of bulls, the howling of dogs, the roar- ing of lions, and the hissing of serpents. Under him all the earth was shaken, the waters seethed ; even Hades below trembled at the convulsion of the world. But Zeus seized the thunderbolts, his gift from the Cyclopes, and overthrew Typhon, scorching all his hundred heads. This monster, too, was buried beneath the earth, but still from his uneasy writhing at times the earth trembles, and the flames from his nostrils shoot up through the craters of volcanoes. The wr with To Zeus were born many sons and daughters, the giants. ' and when other enemies threatened his power, he had their assistance in overcoming them. This new war was brought on by a race of giants who had sprung from the blood of Uranus, when he was wounded by his son Cronus. Not all are agreed as to just what the form of the giants was, but artists sometimes depicted them with The World of the Myths 9 the tails of serpents, and armed, as a tribe of savage men might be, with tree-trunks and rocks. These, too, Zeus with the help of his brothers and children overthrew and buried. After this his rule was undisputed. Much of this story of the world is allegory. Meaning of T^ r , J the myths. Day springs from night; heaven and earth are the parents of the powers of nature. It is all a development from the lower to the higher, from unordered forces of nature, to nature ordered by thought, justice, and beauty. And this de- velopment comes through love and birth, and through struggle, in which the higher gains the rule by crushing the lower. It is the story of science, history, and the spiritual life, told as an allegory. Of the origin of man in the world the Greeks The creation had three explanations : he was born of the earth, as in the story of the earliest king of Athens, who rose from the ground, half man, half serpent; or he was descended from the gods, Zeus is called " Father of gods and men " ; or and this came to be the accepted account he was molded out of clay by the Titan's son, Pro me'theus, and given life by A the'na, the wise daughter of Zeus. A Greek gentleman of the second century A.D., traveling in his own country, was shown a small brick hut in which, he was told by the natives of the place, Prometheus had fashioned the first man. Large masses of clay-colored stone lay 1O Greek and Roman Mythology about, and the credulous tourist says that it had the odor of human flesh. 1 of he fire! ft When he had created man, Prometheus gave him the gift of fire, which raised him above all other animals and enabled him to make use of the world about him by forging weapons and tools for agriculture. Fire was the means and the symbol of civilization. But Prometheus fell under the displeasure of Zeus for his favor to- ward man ; for when a joint meeting was held to determine what part of beasts offered in sacrifice was due to the gods and what to men, he pre- pared a cunning device. He cut up an ox and divided it in two portions; in one was the flesh covered by the hide, and in the other the bones temptingly covered by fat. Then he told Zeus once for all to choose what should be his portion. And Zeus, although he saw the deceit, chose the bones and fat, because he wanted to bring trouble on Prometheus and his creation, man. So the gods deprived men of fire and denied them their means of livelihood, until Prometheus stole it once more from heaven, bringing it secretly in a hollow reed. For this defiance of his power the god punished Prometheus by having him bound to a rock in the Caucasus Mountains, where an eagle ever tore at his liver, which ever grew again. Although at any time he might have won his 1 Pausanias, X. 4. 3. The World of the Myths 11 freedom by telling Zeus a secret which he alone knew, the much-enduring Titan bore this torture for ages. The two were at last reconciled and Prometheus set free, by Her'a cles (Hercules), the son of Zeus, who, as part divine, part human, was suited to act as mediator between the gods and man's self-sacrificing friend and benefactor. Because of the theft of fire, against men, too, Pandor*. Zeus devised evil. For fire will I give them an evil thing wherein they shall rejoice, embracing their own doom. So spake the father of men and gods, and laughed aloud. And he bade glorious Hephaestus speedily to mingle earth with water, and put therein human speech and strength, and make, as the deathless goddesses to look upon, the fair form of a lovely maiden. And Athena he bade teach her handiwork, to weave the embroidered web. And he bade golden Aphrodite shed grace about her head and grievous desire and wasting passion. And Hermes, the messenger, the slayer of Argus, he bade give her a shameless soul. (Hesiod, Works and Days, 56 ft. Translation by A. W. Mair.) Now when he had fashioned the beautiful bane in the place of a blessing, he led her forth where were the other gods and men. . . . And amazement held immor- tal gods and mortal men, when they beheld the sheer de- lusion unescapable for men. For from her cometh the race of woman-kind. .Yea, of her is the deadly race and the tribes of women. A great bane are they to dwell among mortal men, no help-meet for ruinous poverty, but for abundance. (Hesiod, Theogony, 585 ff. Translation by A. W. Mair.) 12 Greek and Roman Mythology Although Prometheus (Forethought) had warned his brother Epimetheus (Afterthought) never to accept anything from Zeus, Epimetheus fool- ishly received this woman, Pan do'ra, at the hands of the gods' messenger, Hermes. She had with her a jar which she was commanded on no account to open. But curiosity was too strong. The instant the lid was raised out flew ten thousand little winged plagues, diseases, pains, and sins; no one on earth could escape them. Only Hope stayed within the mouth of the jar and never flew out. So in this Greek story the hitherto peaceful, innocent world received its burden of trouble through the curiosity of the first woman, just as in the Bible story the inno- cence of the Garden of Eden was lost through Eve. The Four The Greeks were not quite consistent in their Ages. explanations of the coming of sin and trouble into the world, for while in the one account it all came when Pandora opened her jar, the ac- count of the Four Ages shows a gradual deteri- oration. For, first of all, in the Age of Gold mortal men lived like gods, knowing neither sor- row nor toil. The generous earth bore fruit of herself, and there was neither numbing frost nor burning heat to make shelter necessary. This was during the reign of Cronus, known among the Romans as Saturn. The men of this age never grew old and feeble, but when death came, The World of the Myths 13 it came like a peaceful sleep. And when this race was hidden in the earth Zeus made of them good spirits who watch over mortals. The sec- ond race, that of the Silver Age, the gods made inferior to the first in mind and body. The time of helpless infancy was long, and the time of manhood short and troubled, for they could not refrain from injuring one another, and they failed to give worship and sacrifice to the gods. Yet the men of this age, too, had some honor, and lived on as spirits under the earth. Next came the Age of Bronze, when men insolently delighted in war. Of bronze were their homes, of bronze their armor, and their hearts were as hard as their weapons. Last of all was the Age of Iron. By day there was no end to their weariness and woe, nor by night to their anxieties. Family love was lost, parents neglected, and friendship and the rights of hospitality forgotten. Might became right, and respect for truth and plighted faith was made of no account. Reverence and Justice, veiling their heads, forsook men and withdrew to Olympus. When Zeus, then, saw how utterly wicked men The Flood of Deucalion. had become, he resolved to clear the earth of them all. To the council summoned in heaven destruction by fire seemed a method too danger- ous to the homes of the gods; a flood over the earth was a safer plan. To this end, Zeus shut up the north wind and all the others that drive 14 Greek and Roman Mythology away the clouds, and sent out the rainy south wind, and he called upon his brother Poseidon to let out the waters under his control. The flood spread over the fields and broke .down the standing grain; it carried away the flocks with their shepherds, the houses and the holy shrines. Sea and land, all was one now, a limitless ocean. Fishes swam in and out among the branches of the trees, and awkward seals stretched them- selves where lately the nimble goats had played. The water-nymphs swam wonderingly among the houses. The birds, flying long in search of a rest- ing-place, fell exhausted in the watery waste. The human race perished, all but the son of Prometheus, Deu ca'li on, and his wife Pyrrha. These good people, taught beforehand by the wise Titan, had constructed a great chest in which they had gathered all that was necessary for life, and when the flood came they took refuge in it themselves, and floated for nine days until the chest touched ground once more on Mt. Parnas- sus. When Zeus looked down and saw all the violent race of men swept off the earth, and only this one man, a lover of justice and a devout worshiper of the gods, left alive with his wife, he called upon the north wind to disperse the clouds and upon Poseidon to recall his waters. Then Deucalion and Pyrrha stepped out of the chest and saw a waste and unpeopled earth about them, and in their loneliness they called upon The World of the Myths 15 the gods for help. The oracle made answer that they should cast behind them the bones of their mother. Knowing that the god could never or- der them to be guilty of the impiety of disturbing the tomb of their mortal parent, Deucalion di- vined the true meaning of the mysterious com- mand. The earth is the mother of all and the stones are her bones. With heads reverently veiled they descended the mountain, casting stones behind them. Those that Deucalion threw assumed the forms of men, those that Pyrrha threw, the forms of women. So the earth was repeopled. 2 2 Apollodorus, I. 7; Ovid, Metamorphoses, I. 260 ff. CHAPTER II THE GODS OF OLYMPUS: ZEUS Mt, oiympus. WHILE the gods of the Greek religion were personifications of natural powers, yet they were conceived after the fashion of human beings, both in bodily form and in their needs and passions. They were born, grew, married, and suffered, though death never came to them. These beings, like men, only greater and more beautiful, must have cities and homes like those of men, only greater and more beautiful. So the Greeks of the mainland looked up to the cloud-capped peak of Mt. Olympus, majestic, mysterious, eternally enduring, and saw there, under the arch of heaven, the golden halls of the divine city. There, as they say, is the seat of the gods that stand- eth fast forever. Not by winds is it shaken, nor ever wet with rain, nor doth the snow come nigh thereto, but most clear air is spread about it cloudless, and the white light floats over it. Therein the blessed gods are glad for all their days. (Odyssey, VI. 42 ff.) It was a true celestial city, conceived after the model of the Greek city-states. At the gates of cloud the Hours stood as guardians, within the walls rose the palaces of the gods, and on the 16 Fig. 3. Zeus. The Gods of Olympus: Zeus 19 topmost peak, the acropolis, was the great hall where the members of the Olympic Council gath- ered for deliberation or for feasting. Ambrosia was the food served at these banquets, and nectar, poured into the cups by Hebe, the goddess of youth, nourished the ichor flowing in the gods' veins instead of blood. The nostrils of the feast- ers were filled with the rich odor of sacrifices of- fered on earth, and their ears charmed by the songs the Muses sang to the accompaniment of Apollo's lyre. In the place of honor sat Zeus on his golden zeus (Jupiter) , throne, and Hera, his sister and wife, sat beside him, while about them assembled the other ten Olympians, all brothers, sisters, sons, or daugh- ters of the " father of gods and king of men." For after his victory over the Titans Zeus ruled supreme over heaven and earth. He challenges the other Olympians to dispute his power : Go to now, ye gods, make trial that ye all may know. Fasten ye a rope of gold from Heaven, and all ye gods lay hold thereof and all goddesses; yet could ye not drag from Heaven to earth Zeus, counselor supreme, not though ye toiled sore. But once I likewise were minded to draw with all my heart, then should I draw you up with very earth and sea withal. ... By so much am I beyond gods and beyond men. (Iliad, VIII. 18 ff.) As sky-god he drew the clouds over the face of heaven, sending storm and rain upon the earth, 2O Greek and Roman Mythology or he dispersed them and looked down over all as a benignant father. The weapon of his anger was the thunderbolt; Victory stood at his right hand. Yet his rule was not one of arbitrary violence; he was the author and promoter of law and order, of a civilized and regulated inter- course between men, of hospitality and just treat- ment of man by man. Hesiod calls upon the Muses to sing of him in words that recall the song of the Virgin Mary: Muses of Pieria, who glorify with song, come sing of Zeus your father, and declare his praise, through whom are men famed and un famed, sung and unsung, as Zeus Almighty will. Lightly he giveth strength, and lightly he afflicteth the strong; lightly he bringeth low the mighty and lifteth up the humble ; lightly he maketh the crooked to be straight and withereth the proud as chaff; Zeus, who thundereth in Heaven, who dwelleth in the height. (Hesiod, Works and Days, i ff.) HIS marriage Zeus was married to his sister, "Hera of the golden throne," a beautiful, queenly goddess, yet, as Homer portrays her, a very human woman, implacably jealous of Zeus's other loves, in- triguing to get her own way, using against her lord all the traditional weapons of a woman. For all his power and majesty, Olympian Zeus went in dread of his wife's reproaches and persistency and drew the thickest of clouds between them when he indulged in any pleasure of which she would not approve. Though she had no choice The Gods of Olympus: Zeus 21 but to yield when he asserted his will, she re- served to herself the compensation of taunts and a sullen demeanor. On one occasion when he had promised a favor to another of the god- desses, this altercation took place : Anon with taunting words spake she to Zeus, the son of Cronus, " Now who among the gods, thou crafty of mind, hath devised counsel with thee? It is ever thy good pleasure to hold aloof from me and in sweet med- itation to give thy judgments, nor of thine own good will hast thou ever brought thyself to declare unto me the thing thou purposeth." Then the father of gods and men made answer to her : " Hera, think not thou to know all my sayings ; hard are they for thee, even though thou art my wife. But whichsoever it is seemly for thee to hear, none sooner than, thou shalt know, be he god or man. Only when I will to take thought aloof from the gods, then do not thou ask of every matter nor make question.'.' . . . He said, and Hera the ox-eyed queen was afraid, and sat in silence, curbing her heart. (Iliad, I. 539 ff.) Though Hera was Zeus's queen and lawful m s otter wife, he united himself with many other god- desses and mortal women. Many of these unions originated as symbols of natural facts, others as symbols of philosophic truths. Thus as sky-god, god of sun and rain, Zeus must join in marriage union with De me'ter, the grain-goddess, that Per seph'o ne, the young corn of the new year, may be born. Again, as the great, creating, regu- 22 Greek and Roman Mythology lating mind, he must unite with Mnemosyne (nemos'ine) or Memory, that the Nine Muses, the goddesses of poetry, music, and science, may draw from father and mother what is needed for all great creative work. But the extraordinary number of Zeus's unions was due to the fact that Greek mythology was not the creation or in- heritance of one land and people, but was drawn from the religion and traditions of Greeks in many different lands and under many different conditions. The religious traditions of many peoples with whom the Greeks had intercourse were incorporated by them into their own mythology. Moreover, each Greek state had its own local hero, the ancestor or early king of that group, and these heroes were always of divine origin, very many of them the sons of Zeus by mortal women. Thus the Arcadians traced their descent from Areas, a son of Callisto by Zeus, of whose love the following story is told. Cal lis'to was a nymph, a favorite companion of the huntress Ar'te mis. One day, wandering alone in the woods, she lay down upon the ground to rest. Zeus saw her there, and thinking him- self quite safe from the jealous eyes of Hera, came down secretly and wooed her. Callisto would gladly have escaped the attentions of the 'Following the story as told by the Latin poet Ovid (Metamorphoses, II. 410 ff.), but retaining the original Greek names. The Gods of Olympus: Zeus 23 god and gone to rejoin Artemis and her nymphs ; but who could withstand Zeus! Artemis, who, as herself a maiden, would have none but maidens in her company, turned Callisto away when she would have rejoined her. Solitary and sad the nymph lived in the woods until she bore to Zeus a son, Areas. Now Zeus's love for Callisto was known to Hera. " You shall not go unpunished," said she to the nymph, " for I shall take away that beauty by which you charmed my husband's love." In vain Callisto begged for pity. Her arms began to be covered with coarse black hair ; crooked claws grew from her hands, which now served as forefeet; that face which once aroused Zeus's love was deformed by huge ugly jaws. When she would have prayed for mercy, the power to speak was taken from' her, and an angry frightened growl was all that she could utter. But under her bear's form her human heart, her grief and her love remained. How often in her solitary anguish, fearing to rest in the dark woods, she sought her old home! How often she was driven away by the barking dogs ! Once herself a huntress, she was now the hunted. Often she hid from the bears she met in the moun- tains, forgetful that she was now of their kind. So fifteen troubled years passed. One day her son Areas, out hunting wild beasts, met with his mother in the forest. She recognized her child and ran to greet him. Terrified by the rush of 24 Greek and Roman Mythology the great bear, he aimed at her his hunting-spear. Zeus checked his blow and raised Callisto to the heavens, where he set her as the constellation of the Great Bear. Hera's jealousy was not at all satisfied by this. "Behold I took from her her human form and now she is made a goddess! Is this the punishment for a guilty woman! Is this my power! " She went to the sea-gods and prayed that they would never permit Callisto to dip below their waves. The prayer was granted, and thus it is that the Great Bear can always be seen in the heavens and never sinks below the waters. ID.* Another story that shows the unrelenting hatred with which Hera pursued those favored by Zeus is that of lo. lo was the daughter of In'a chus, a river-god. Zeus loved and wooed and won her, coming to her secretly under cover of a cloud spread be- tween their meeting-place and Hera's watchful eyes. But the jealous queen, looking down upon the realm of Argos, and wondering to see the low-lying cloud under a clear sky, at once sus- pected some wrong-doing on her husband's part. She glided down from heaven and bade the cloud recede. Zeus, however, had foreseen the com- ing of his wife and had changed the daughter of Inachus into a beautiful white heifer. Suspect- ing the trick, Hera requested the heifer as a gift, 4 Following Ovid, Metamorphoses, I. 583 ff. The Gods of Olympus: Zeus 25 and Zeus was constrained to yield or acknowledge his love. lo was given by her mistress in charge of Argus, a monster of whose hundred eyes but two were closed at one time. When she would have held out supplicating hands to Argus, she had no hands to hold out. When she tried to speak, she was terrified by her own lowing. She came to the banks of the river Inachus where she was wont to play; when she saw the reflection of her great mouth and new- formed horns, she fled from her own image in terror. The Naiads did not know her; her own father Inachus did not know her. She followed her father and sis- ters and offered herself to be petted and admired. She licked their hands and kissed her father's palms, nor could she keep back the big tears from rolling down her nose. At last with her hoof she traced in the sand the letters of her own name, lo. " Woe is me ! " cried her father, and fell upon the heifer's neck. " I have sought you through all lands. Better were it that I had never found you." Hundred-eyed Argus parted them as they lamented, and put her in a new pasture. But Zeus could not endure to see her so unhappy. He sent Hermes, his son and messenger, most wily of gods, to destroy the ever-watchful Argus. Laying aside his winged sandals and disguised as a shepherd, Hermes approached Argus, who, weary of his lonely and tedious watch, called to him to come and share the shade of his tree. 26 Greek and Roman Mythology Seated beside Argus, Hermes piped to him charm- ingly on his shepherd's pipes, varying with song the long stories with which he beguiled the hours. Two by two the hundred eyes were closed, until at last no eye was awake to watch his charge. Hermes at once slew him and set lo free. The hundred eyes Hera took and placed in the tail of her sacred peacock, where they may be seen to-day. But her jealous wrath still pursued un- fortunate lo. She sent a gad-fly to torment her and drive her from land to land. In her weary search for peace, the heifer passed over the strait that divides Europe from Asia, whence it derives its name, Bosphorus, the way of the cow. Over the sea, too, that bears her name, the Ionian Sea, she wandered, until at last she arrived in Egypt, where she was restored to her natural form and gave birth to a son, the ancestor of the Ionian Greeks. Antiope. An ti'o pe was the daughter of the king of Thebes. By Zeus she became the mother of two sons Am phi'on and Zethus. Immediately after their birth the babies were taken from her and exposed on Mt. Cithaeron, where they grew up among the shepherds. Antiope fell into the power of her uncle Lycus, whose wife Dirce treated her with the greatest cruelty. After some years she made her escape and fled to Mt. Cithreron, where she happened to take refuge in the hut where her sons lived. As one of a company of The Gods of Olympus: Zeus 27 Bacchantes, votaries of the wine-god Bacchus, Dirce came, by chance, to the same place, and finding the hated Antiope, she ordered Amphion and Zethus to kill her by tying her to the horns Fig. 4. Dirce tied to the bull. of a fierce bull. They were about to carry out this barbarous command when the shepherd in- formed them that the victim was their own mother. Releasing her, they now executed the 28 Greek and Roman Mythology same sentence on Dirce, who was instantly torn in pieces by the angry bull. Lycus, too, was killed, and the brothers became kings of Thebes. It is said that when they were building walls about the city Zethus' strength enabled him to lift huge stones into place, but that Amphion's skill as a musician was so great that when he played his lyre stones yet more huge rose of themselves and took their places in the wall. The story of Baucis and Phi le'mon shows how Zeus could reward those who respected the law of hospitality and punish those who violated it. Baucis and i n a certain place where now is a marsh fre- f buemon.D quented by wild birds was once a village. Here Zeus came in the guise of a mortal, and with him his son Hermes, winged sandals laid aside. They went to a thousand dwellings seeking rest and refreshment; all were barred against them. Yet one, a little house thatched with reeds, received them. Here good old Baucis and her husband Philemon had grown old together, making hap- piness even out of their poverty by bearing it together with contented hearts. Here then came the Immortals, and bending down their heads en- tered the low door. The old man placed a seat and bade them sit down, while Baucis bustled to throw over it a coarse covering. Then she gath- ered together the dying embers, added dry leaves and fuel and blew it into a flame with her feeble 5 Following Ovid, Metamorphoses, VIII. 620 ff. The Gods of Olympus: Zeus 29 breath. Her husband brought in a cabbage from the little garden, cut a fat piece from the long- cherished flitch of bacon, and put them over the fire to cook. They shook up their cushion of soft sedge-grass, laid it on the dining-couch, and put over it a covering that, poor and patched though it was, they used only on great festivals. While the gods reclined on the couch, the trem- bling old woman, with skirts tucked up, set out the table. One foot of the table was uneven; a brick steadied it, and a handful of greens cleaned off the top. The feast began with olives, stewed berries, endive, radishes, cottage-cheese, and eggs carefully fried, all served in earthenware dishes. After this the mixing-bowl and cups, made of beech-wood lined with smooth wax, were set out for the wine not rich old wine, but the best they had. There were nuts, figs, dried dates, plums, and fragrant apples served in baskets, and purple grapes gathered from the vines, and in the middle of the table the honey-comb. Above all there were cordial looks and eager good-will. And now the astonished couple began to notice that the mixing-bowl, as often as it was emptied, filled up again of its own accord. They trem- bled, and holding out their hands in supplication, asked forgiveness for the humble fare. There was one single goose, the guardian of the little farm; this its masters now prepared to slaughter for their divine guests. It escaped them, and 30 Greek and Roman Mythology flapping its wings, dodged about the little room and at last took refuge at the feet of the gods. The Immortals forbade its slaughter. " We are gods," said they, " and while this neighborhood pays the penalty for its inhospitality, you shall be free from misfortune. Leave your house and follow us." The two old people obeyed and, hobbling along with their sticks, climbed the hill. When a little way from the top, they looked back and saw all the village covered by a marsh ; only their own house was left. While they wondered and bewailed their neighbors' fate, that little old hut of theirs was transformed. In place of the forked sticks supporting a roof thatched with reeds, rose marble columns crowned with gilded beams; the doors were of embossed metal, and the pavement of marble. Then the son of Cronus spoke : " Ask, righteous old man and worthy woman, what you will." Philemon consulted a moment with Baucis and then answered : " We ask to be priests and to keep your shrines; and since we have lived happily together, let the same hour take us both, and let me never see the grave of my wife nor have to be buried by her hands." Their prayer was granted; they were guardians of the temple as long as they lived. One day as they stood side by side before the temple each saw a change come over the other. Now their forms, bent with age, grew straight and strong and rooted firmly in the earth. Then as the wav- The Gods of Olympus: Zeus 31 ing tree-tops grew over their heads, each said: "Farewell, O Wife! O Husband!" and then the bark covered their mouths. And so, in after years, the shepherds pointed out the oak and the linden growing side by side, and said : " The Fig. 5. Head of Zeus. gods care for the godly, and protect those who do them service." Zeus was represented in art as a man of gener- zeus: MS , .,, , . . , 11 j j appearance ous build and majestic bearing, usually draped and worship, from the waist down. His head was massive, his brows heavy, his hair and beard extremely 32 Greek and Roman Mythology thick, as though his face looked out from masses of piled thunder-clouds. Beneath his overhang- ing eyebrows gleamed those eyes whose glance was lightning, and the heavily lined forehead foreboded that frown at which the heavens shook. His whole appearance was that of the majestic and powerful god of heaven and earth. He was generally represented as seated upon a throne, holding in one hand his scepter or a spear, and in the other his weapons, the winged thunderbolts. With him often appeared the eagle, the bird that by his bold heavenward flight and lightning- descent upon his prey was associated with the sky-god. On his scepter or beside him appeared a winged female figure, Victory, for he held the balances of fate and gave victory to this or that warrior as he willed. Among the Greeks them- selves the statue most admired was that of gold and ivory set up in the temple at Olympia, in southern Greece. Before this representation of the greatest of their gods, Greeks from all parts of the Hellenic world met once in every four years to offer sacrifice and to compete in athletic contests, honoring their divinity by the exhibition of perfect bodies under perfect control. So great was the honor paid to successful contestants that the most famous lyric poets of Greece devoted their. genius to celebrating them in hymns, which were sung by choruses to the accompaniment of The Gods of Olympus: Zeus 33 Fig. 6. View of ruins at Olympia. the lyre or flute when the victors returned to their own cities in triumphal state. Moreover, the greatest sculptors joined to do them honor; for the proudest glory of an Olympic victor was the right he gained of having his statue set up in the precinct of the god. As one walks now through the ruins at Olympia, here he can make out the plan of the palestra in whose wide spaces Greek youth wrestled, ran races, rivaled one another in throwing the discus. Here was the long colon- nade or stoa beneath whose shade poets read their works; in front, long rows of statues of youths, nude as they appeared when winning their 34 Greek and Roman Mythology victories. Here was the line of treasuries of all the states of Greece, and in the center, even now impressive for the great drums of its col- umns, fallen and piled in confusion by the earth- quakes of centuries, rise the high foundations of the great temple of Olympian Zeus. At Do do'na, in Epirus, was a famous oracle of Zeus, one of the oldest holy places in all Greece. Here the priestess read the will of the god from the sound of the rustling leaves of the great oak, a tree especially sacred to Zeus. In every part of the Greek world were places set apart for his worship, and each state claimed his favor for some special reason. As late as early Christian times in Crete the grave of Zeus was pointed out, for conceptions of immortal gods were strangely combined with thoughts of death. Jupiter. Zeus was identified by the Romans with their old Latin god, Jupiter or Jove, and the stories told of the one were transferred to the other. Jupiter was originally a sky-god, as Zeus was, and king of gods and men. Temples in his honor crowned many high hills in Italy, and he was called upon to send rain in time of drought. On the Alban Mount the temple of Jupiter Latiaris was the religious center of the Latin Confederacy. Jupiter Optimus Maximus was worshiped on the Capitoline Hill at Rome as guardian of the state and giver of victory in The Gods of Olympus: Zeus 35 war, and to him generals returning victorious to celebrate a triumph offered the best of the spoils of war. Like Zeus, the Roman Jupiter was pro- tector of right and truth and the sanctity of oaths. CHAPTER III HERA, ATHENA, HEPHAESTUS I. HERA (JUNO) I sing of golden-throned Hera, whom Rhea bore, an immortal queen, in beauty preeminent, the sister and the bride of loud-thundering Zeus, the lady renowned, whom all the Blessed throughout high Olympus honor and revere no less than Zeus whose delight is in the thunder. (Homeric Hymn to Hera. Translation by Andrew Lang.) The wife As wife of the supreme god, Hera was naturally of Zeus. the guardian of the marriage state. The bride sacrificed to her, and matrons of the city were the priestesses of her temple. At Samos the an- nual celebration of her marriage with Zeus was the greatest of festivals. By Zeus she had three children, Ares (Mars), god of war, Hephaestus (Vulcan), god of the forge, and Hebe, goddess of youth. Though Hebe was originally also cup-bearer to the gods, for some reason, perhaps because she slipped one day when pouring the nectar, she was displaced by Gan'ymede, a Tro- jan prince. Zeus saw the boy on earth and loved him for his boyish charm and beauty. Assum- ing the form of his royal eagle, the god came 36 Fig. 7. Hera. Hera, Athena, Hephaestus 39 upon Ganymede when he was watching his flocks on Mt. Ida, and carried him off to Olympus to be his cup-bearer. This aroused Hera's anger, not only against her husband but against the whole race of Trojans, whom ever after she pursued with relentless hatred. Indeed all Zeus's favor- Fig. 8. Ganymede and the Eagle. ites among mortals and his children by mortal wives were objects of jealous hate to Hera. Iris was the wind-footed, fleet messenger of iris. Hera, who bore her commands to other gods and to mortals. As she flew down from Olympus men knew of her coming by the many-colored trail she left behind her; for Iris was the rain- Appearance uid emblems. Juno. The Birth of Atbena. 40 Greek and Roman Mythology bow, the symbol of connection between earth and heaven. Greek artists conceived of Hera as a woman in the full bloom of her age, of majestic form and carriage, with a serene and beautiful face, a concep- tion inspired by the ideal for which she stood, the queenly protector of wifehood and motherhood. As a matron she was portrayed clad in a long full garment, and on her head a crown. Often she held a scepter, sometimes a pomegranate, the symbol of fertility for women and plants. Beside her often ap- pears the peacock, his tail adorned by the hundred Ar- gus eyes. (See p. 26.) Corresponding to Hera as wife of Zeus, in Roman worship stood Juno, the wife of Jupiter. She too in old times had been the special guardian of women and the marriage-tie. n. ATHENA (MINERVA) Of all the children of Zeus the one who most resembled her father in nature and power and who most enjoyed his respect and confidence was the maiden goddess, Pallas Athena. The story Fig. 9. Head of Hera. Fig. 10. Athena (known as " Lemnian Athena"). Hera, Athena, Hephaestus 43 of her birth is consistent with this special rela- tion, since she sprang, fully grown and fully armed, from the head of Zeus. Her did Zeus the counselor beget from his holy head all armed for war in shining golden mail, while in awe did the other gods behold it. Quickly did the goddess leap from the immortal head, and stood before Zeus, shaking her sharp spear, and high Olympus trembled in dread beneath the strength of the gray-eyed maiden, Pig. II. Birth of Athena from the head of Zeus. while earth rang terribly around, and the sea was boil- ing with dark waves, and suddenly brake forth the foam. Yea, and the glorious son of Hyperion checked for long his swift steeds, till the maiden took from her immortal shoulders her divine armor, even Pallas Athena; and Zeus the counselor rejoiced. Hail to thee, child of aegis-bearing Zeus. (Homeric Hymn to Athena.) The birth of Athena is a favorite subject with Her origin and nature. Greek artists. Zeus is represented seated upon his 44 Greek and Roman Mythology throne, while about him are others of the Olym- pian divinities. Before him stands the god of the forge, Hephaestus, still grasping in his hand the ax with which, to assist the miraculous birth, he has cleft the skull of Zeus. Athena stands beside her father, triumphant, brandishing her spear, her breast protected by the aegis, or sacred breast-plate, adorned with the head of the Gor- gon Medusa. (See p. 209.) Originally, in the ancient nature myth, Athena seems to have rep- resented the waters of heaven let loose from the clouds (represented by the head of Zeus) when the thunderbolt (the ax of Hephaestus) cleaves them. The dreadful Gorgon's head with its snaky locks, on the breast-plate, suggests the thunder-cloud and the forked lightning. At an [early time, however, Athena ceased to be regarded as a nature goddess and was worshiped as god- dess of reason and practical wisdom, and as patroness of arts and crafts. On the other hand, she was the goddess of war-strategy, the de- fender of cities, especially her own city of Ath- ens. As champion of civilization and justice, the almighty father granted it to her to wear his aegis. Thus she represents, as has been well said, " the warlike courage that gives peace, and the intellectual activity that makes it fruitful." The To Athena, as guardian of the city of Athens, Parthenon. was dedicated the Parthenon, the temple that crowns the height of the Acropolis. Here was Hera, Athena, Hephaestus 45 the great gold and ivory statue by the sculptor Phidias, and hither each year the Athenians came in procession to offer to the goddess the new peplos or robe, woven by the women of Athens as an offering to the goddess of handicrafts. Athena is represented as of strong and noble form, dressed in a long flowing garment. Her finely molded features express courage and high intellectuality. In addition to the aegis she usually wears a helmet, surmounted by a sphinx and griffins, and she holds in her hand a spear, or, frequently, a small winged figure of Victory. Other em- blems are the snake and the owl. The emblem of the olive is given her as guardian of the city of Athens. Fig. 12. Athena (known as "Minerva of Velletri"). When the great city of Athens was founded The contest . over Athens. all the gods desired to have it as their own. Athena and Poseidon (Neptune) were recog- nized as having the best claim to it, and it was determined that of the two that one should be chosen who should give the best gift to the city. 46 Greek and Roman Mythology The twelve gods assembled to act as judges, and Cecrops, the king of Athens, served as a wit- ness. The scene of the contest was the height of the Acropolis. Poseidon struck the rock with his trident and a salt spring gushed forth. Then Athena advanced and struck the rock with her spear; an olive tree sprang up. To Athena was adjudged the victory, for the olive was al- ways a great source of wealth to the Athenian state. The sacred olive tree was preserved in the temple precinct, and the story of its mirac- ulous sprouting in a night, when the Athenians returned to rebuild their citadel after its burning in the Persian Wars, is told by Greek historians. To this d?; one may see, also, the mark of Poseidon's trident in the rock below the ancient temple. Some say that Poseidon's gift was not a spring, but a horse. In the story of A rach'ne, Athena appears as goddess of handicrafts. Arachne was a mortal who excelled all other maidens in weaving. Her work became so fa- mous that the very nymphs deserted their woods and streams to see it. Nor was it more the finished work that excited this admiration than the grace and skill of the maiden while she wove. One would think that she had been taught by Pallas. Yet she herself denied this and chal- lenged the goddess to compete with her. Angry 6 Following Ovid, Metamorphoses, VI. I ff. Hera, Athena, Hephaestus 47 at this presumption, the goddess determined to humble her. She put on the form of a white- haired old woman, her feeble limbs supported by a stick. " Take the advice of an old woman," she said to Arachne, " you wish to be called more skilful than all mortal women; yield at least to the goddess, rash girl, and ask forgive- ness for your boastful words." The maiden angrily eyed her visitor and answered rudely: " You have grown weak-minded with old age. If you have any daughters, bestow your advice upon them! I can attend to my own affairs. Why does not the goddess come herself? Why does she avoid a trial of skill?" "She has come," said the goddess, and threw aside her disguise. The nymphs and all the bystanders worshiped, only the maiden was unterrified, and obstinately insisted on the contest. The daugh- ter of Zeus did not refuse. Arachne began to weave ; she wove a web as fine as a spider's. A thousand colors were there, so finely shaded that each faded into the other until the whole was like the rainbow. Pallas wove the scene of her contest with Poseidon. There sat the twelve gods in august assembly, kingly Zeus in their midst. There was Poseidon with his trident, and Athena herself, her breast protected by the aegis, and beside her the newly-sprung olive tree. Then, that the presumptuous girl might learn by example, Athena wove the stories of mortals who 48 Greek and Roman Mythology had dared to compete with gods and had suffered punishment. But Arachne was not daunted. She wove into her web stories of the weaknesses and strifes of the gods, Zeus and his loves, and jealous Hera many were the foibles there held up to derision. Then about it she wove a lovely border. Athena herself could not but wonder at the maiden's skill, but her arrogance aroused her resentment. She struck the delicate web with her shuttle, and it crumbled into bits; then she touched Arachne's forehead. A sense of her impiety rushed over the girl; she could not en- dure it, and hanged herself with a skein of her own silk. But Athena did not wish that so skil- ful a worker should die; she cut the skein and, sprinkling upon her the juice of aconite, trans- formed the maiden into a spider, that through all ages she might continue to spin her matchless webs. Minerva. Minerva was an old Etruscan goddess whom the Romans worshiped as patroness of handi- crafts and goddess of practical wisdom. Her festival was celebrated by guilds of artisans and physicians, and on it school-children were given a holiday. By her later identification with the Greek Pallas Athena she became known as god- dess of military strategy and as protectress of cities. Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva formed a di- vine triad worshiped on the Capitoline Hill. Hera, Athena, Hephaestus 49 in. HEPHAESTUS (VULCAN) Half-brother of Athena, and son of Zeus and The god of fire. Hera, was He phses'tus, the lame god of fire, the forge and metal-work, and as such, together with his great sister, a mighty helper of men in their struggle for civilization. He is thus ad- dressed in the Homeric Hymn: Sing, shrill Muse, of Hephaestus, renowned in craft, who with gray-eyed Athena taught goodly works to men on earth, even to men that before were wont to dwell in caves like beasts; but now, being instructed in craft by the renowned craftsman, Hephaestus, lightly the whole year through they dwell happily in their own homes. (Homeric Hymn to Hephastus.) He was born lame, but two stories are told of his fall from heaven that would more than account for any such deformity. According to the one, Hera, chagrined at finding her son physically imperfect, threw him out of heaven. To avenge himself for this cruelty on his mother's part, Hephaestus cunningly constructed a golden chair and brought it as a present to Hera. When she had taken her seat upon it, invisible chains held her fast, nor could she be freed. The gods pleaded with Hephaestus in vain, until Di o ny'sus (Bacchus), the wine-god, made him drunk and so brought him to Mt. Olympus and induced him to undo his own handiwork. According to the other story Zeus, resenting his championship of 50 Greek and Roman Mythology his mother in one of the many quarrels between the royal pair, seized him by the foot and hurled him from Olympus. All day I flew, and at the set of sun I fell in Lemnos, and little life was in me. (Iliad, I. 592.) Appearance Hcphsestus made the glorious palaces of the gods on Olympus; he mac'e the scepter of Zeus Fig. 13. Hephaestus and the Cyclopes preparing the shield of Achilles. and the shield of Achilles; he helped to mold Pandora. His workshops were under the earth, where volcanoes gave an outlet to the fires of his forge. Thus the Greeks saw his home in the volcanic island of Lemnos, and the Greeks of South Italy and Sicily, under Mt. yEtna or on Hera, Athena, Hephaestus 51 one of the Lipari Islands. On the latter, it was the popular belief that if the metal were left over-night near the crater, and due prayer and sacrifice made to the god, a marvelously forged sword would be found in the morning. To aid him in his work he had wonderful maidens of gold. He is described in his workshop by Homer : He said, and from the anvil rose limping, a huge bulk, but under him his slender legs moved nimbly. The bellows he set away from the fire, and gathered all his gear wherewith he worked into a silver chest ; and with a sponge he wiped his face and hands and sturdy neck and shaggy breast, and did on his doublet, and took a stout staff and went forth limping; but there were handmaidens of gold that moved to help their lord, the semblance of living maids. In them is under- standing at their hearts, in them are voice and strength, and they have the skill of the immortal gods. (Iliad, XVIII. 410 ff.) Ever friendly and helpful, often a peace- maker, Hephaestus was beloved of men and gods, though his limping gait subjected him to ridicule. Then he poured forth wine to all the gods, from right to left, ladling the sweet nectar from the bowl. And laughter unquenchable arose among the blessed gods to see Hephaestus bustling through the palace. (Iliad, I. 597 .) Hephaestus is not a favorite subject in art, but when he appears it is as a strongly-built man. his 52 Greek and Roman Mythology lameness only hinted at. He is dressed in a workman's short tunic and wears the workman's cap. Probably he originally represented the lightning; hence the story of his fall from heaven, vuican. Vulcan, the fire-god, was more feared than courted in Rome, with its close-built streets, so subject to destructive fires. His worship, there- fore, as originally that of the war-god Mars, was kept outside the city. Fig. 14. Apollo, from Olympia. CHAPTER IV APOLLO AND ARTEMIS I. APOLLO THE purest and highest worship of the Greeks was perhaps that offered to Phoebus Apollo, the healin g- glorious god of light, who in later mythology took the place of the Titan Helios. In his chariot he drives across the heavens, attended by the Hours and Seasons, and at evening stables his horses in the golden west. Nothing false or impure might be brought near to him; his was a cleansing and enlightening power. With his arrows, the rays of the brilliant Greek sun, he destroyed his enemies and brought pestilence and death upon those that had fallen under his dis- pleasure. But he was a destructive god only when provoked to anger; he was preeminently the god of healing and medicine. It was he that inspired physicians to divine the hidden cause of disease; he was their patron. This healing gift was especially exercised by Apollo's son, the di- vine physician As cle'pi us, who incurred Zeus's wrath by even restoring the dead to life. But Apollo's greatest importance in the Greek The Oracle at Delphi. world was as god of prophecy, the giver of the 55 prophetic gift. The most famous of all oracles was that at Delphi, a town of central Greece situ- ated on the slopes of Mt. Parnassus. Here the priestess, seated on a tripod over a cleft HI the rock, was thrown into an inspired frenzy by the Fig. 15. The Sun-God in his Chariot. vapors that rose about her. Her incoherent ut- terances were interpreted by the priests of the shrine. Hither came those seeking guidance, not only from all the Greek world, but from distant and non-Hellenic lands. No great undertaking might be entered upon without the sanction and Fig. 16. Foundations of Apollo's Temple at Delphi. Apollo and Artemis 59 guidance of the god; especially those seeking to found a new colony must first consult the oracle of Apollo. Thus the god was the founder of cities, the promoter of colonization, the extender of just and civilized law. In all his manifestations Apollo stands for the The god of beauty and Greek ideal of manly strength and beauty, of the music - highest and purest development of body and in- tellect. He inspires not alone physicians with their art and prophets with their power, but to him all poets and musicians owe the divine spark. He is the giver of all beauty and harmony. On Mt. Parnassus he led his chorus of the Nine Muses, and at the banquets of the gods he charmed the Olympians by the music of his golden lyre. Apollo is always represented as in the prime of youth, with smooth face and refined (in later art almost feminine) features. As the archer he is usually entirely nude and holds the bow. As sun-god he appears in his chariot drawn by winged horses, while " rosy-fingered Dawn " throws open before him the gates of the East and the Hours and Seasons accompany the chariot. As god of music and leader of the Muses, he is dressed in the long flowing garment of the Greek bard and holds the lyre. About his forehead he wears the wreath of laurel, sacred to him and always the reward of the poet. Apollo was the son of Zeus and the goddess 60 Greek and Roman Mythology Leto (Lato'na). The story of his mother's wanderings, driven by the cruel jealousy of Hera to seek a birthplace for her children, and of how at last the little rocky isle of Delos 7 offered her a refuge, is told in the Homeric Hymn. Fig. 17. Apollo as leader of the Muses. But the lands trembled sore and were adread, and none, nay not the richest, dared to welcome Phoebus, not till Lady Leto set foot on Delos, and speaking winged 7 Delos had up to that time been a floating island; in return for its hospitable reception of Leto, Zeus fastened it to the bottom with adamantine chains. Apollo and Artemis 6l words besought her : " Delos, would that thou wert minded to be the seat of my son, Phoebus Apollo, and to let build him therein a rich temple. . . ." And forth leaped the babe to light, and all the goddesses raised a cry. Then, great Phoebus, the goddesses washed thee in fair water holy and purely, and wound thee in white swaddling bands, delicate, new-woven, with a golden girdle around thee. Nor did his mother suckle Apollo, the golden sworded, but Themis with immortal hands first touched his lips with nectar and sweet ambrosia, while Leto rejoiced, in that she had borne her strong son, the bearer of the bow. (Homeric Hymn to the Delian Apollo.) After the birth of the twins, Apollo and Arte- mis, the story tells how once in Lycia Leto came, weary and parched with thirst, to a pond where some countrymen were gathering reeds. The boors refused her the privilege she entreated of quenching her thirst, and threatened the fainting goddess with violence. They even waded into the pond and stirred up the mud to make the water undrinkable. In just anger at their boor- ishness and cruelty the goddess prayed that they might never leave that pool. There they live still, often coming to the top to breathe, or squat- ting on the bank, croaking their discontent with hoarse voices. Their backs are green and their bellies are white ; their heads grow out of bloated bodies; their eyes bulge. You can see cold- blooded creatures like them in the nearest frog- pond. 62 Greek and Roman Mythology python. At Delphi, before the coming of Apollo, the site of the oracle was guarded by a pestilential earth-born serpent, Python, who laid waste all the land. This monster of disease and darkness the god of light killed with his golden shafts and made the oracle his own. Exulting in his victory, he now sang for the first time the Paean, the song of triumph and thanksgiving, and on the scene of his victory he planted his sacred laurel tree. How the laurel came to be sacred to Apollo is told by the Latin poet Ovid as follows : Daphne. s Eros (Cupid) was responsible for Apollo's un- happy love for Daphne. Once the sun-god saw him fitting an arrow to the string, and being haughty because of his recent victory over Python, he taunted the little god of love. " Mis- chievous boy, what have you to do with such weapons! These are arms that become my shoulders I, who lately with my arrows laid low swelling Python. Be you content to track out love-adventures with your torch; do not as- pire to my honors! " Aphrodite's son answered him : " Your arrows pierce all things, Phoebus ; mine pierce you." As he spoke he drew from his quiver two arrows; the one with point of gold inspires love, that tipped with lead repels it. With the first he wounded Apollo; with the sec- ond he pierced Daphne, the daughter of a river- 8 Fol!o\vinp- Ovid, Metamorphoses, I. 452 ff. Apollo and Artemis 63 god. Straightway the god loved, but the nymph hated the very name of lover and gave herself, like the maiden goddess Artemis, to hunting wild things in the woods. Many suitors sought her, but she refused them all and persuaded her father to permit her always to live a maiden. But Apollo loved. He saw her hair in charming con- fusion about her neck; he saw her eyes beaming like stars ; he saw her lips and longed to kiss them. He praised her hands and her shapely arms; he thought her all beautiful. She fled from him more elusive than the light breeze, nor did she stay to hear his entreaties : " Nymph, I pray you, stay ! I who pursue you am no enemy. Nymph, stay! love is the cause of my pursuit. Alas! what if you should fall! What if the horrid thorns should wound your innocent ankles, and I should be to you the cause of pain ! The ground is rough; run not so fast! I, too, will follow more slowly. I who love you am no boorish mountaineer; I am no rough shepherd. Rash girl, you know not whom you flee. Jupiter is my father. Through me what was and is and will be is disclosed ; through me the notes ring harmonious on the strings. My arrow is sure, yet one arrow is surer ; it has wounded my heart. Medicine is my invention; I am called savior through all the world. Alas! no medicine can cure my love, nor can the skill that saves all others save its master." 64 Greek and Roman Mythology But the nymph still fled and the god still pur- sued, she swift through fear, he swifter yet as winged with love. Now he drew so close upon her that she felt his breath upon her neck. She felt her strength go from her and in her despair called upon her father, the river-god : " Help me, O Father! Let the earth open for me, or else change this form that has been my ruin ! " As she ceased her prayer a heaviness seized her limbs; her soft bosom was inclosed in a delicate bark ; her locks became leaves, her arms branches. The foot, lately so swift, was rooted in the ground; only her beauty remained. Phcebus still loved her, and placing his hand upon the trunk, he felt her breast tremble beneath the new- formed bark. He put his arms about it and kissed the wood ; the wood shrank from his kisses. Then said the god : " Since you cannot be my wife, you shall surely be my tree, O Laurel, and ever shall you adorn my head, my lyre, and my quiver. And as my head is ever crowned with youth and beauty, so shall your branches ever be crowned with green and glossy leaves." As the ever-green laurel recalls the story of Apollo's unrequited love for a nymph, so the fragrant hyacinth springs from his unhappy at- tachment to a mortal youth snatched away by an untimely death. There was a time when even Delphi was de- 9 Following Ovid, Metamorphoses, X. 162 ff. Apollo and Artemis 65 serted by Apollo, when the bow and the lyre lost their charm for him. He spent all his days with Hy a cin'thus, carrying his hunting-nets, holding in his dogs, accompanying him on the hunt or in his sports. One day the friends, having taken off their clothes and been rubbed with oil, were amusing themselves throwing the discus. Apollo threw it high and far, exhibiting skill and strength in the sport. Hyacinthus rushed for- ward to get the discus, not counting for the strong rebound from such a throw. It glanced upward and struck the boy full in the temple. The god caught him in his fall and held him close, trying to staunch the wound and applying medicinal herbs. For once his art failed him. For as a lily when the rays of the sun have struck hot upon it droops its head towards the earth and faints and dies, so the mortal youth drooped his head upon his breast and fell lifeless from the god's embrace. In his grief Apollo upbraided himself as its cause, and, since he could not restore the boy to life, declared that at least his name should live for- ever, celebrated by him in song. And lo ! where the red blood had flowed out upon the earth, there sprang up a splendid purple flower with a form like a lily. It bore on its petals " Ai, Ai " (Alas, Alas), a memorial of the sun-god's mourning. And as often as the fresh young spring drives away the winter, so often are these 66 Greek and Roman Mythology flowers fresh in the fields. Hyacinthus rises again. Marpessa. There was an occasion when Apollo presented himself as rival to a mortal and was rejected. Mar pes'sa was a beautiful maiden, loved by Idas, who, with the help of winged horses given him by Poseidon, stole her from her father. Apollo overtook the runaway couple and seized the maiden for himself. But Idas, fearing not even the god in defense of his beloved, drew his bow against him. To prevent the unequal contest, Zeus gave Marpessa her choice between the two. On the one side stood the glorious sun-god, of- fering immortality, power, glory, and freedom from all earthly trouble. On the other stood Idas, offering only faithful love and partnership in his life with its mingled joy and sorrow. The woman chose the mortal, fearing unfaithfulness on the god's part, since immortal youth was not granted her with immortal life, and preferring to live, love, grow old, and die, with one capable of a like love and destined to a like fate. Niob. 10 In the tragic fate of Ni'o be and her fourteen children, Apollo with his sister Artemis appears as his mother's avenger, and his golden arrows bring destruction. The story of Arachne's punishment for her presumption towards Athena should have been a warning to all. But Niobe was too haughty 10 Following Ovid, Metamorphoses, VI. 146 ff. Apollo and Artemis 67 to heed it. Many things made her proud. Her husband was a celebrated musician ; on both sides of her family she was descended from the gods, and she ruled over a great kingdom. More than all, she was proud of her children, seven sons and seven daughters. The Priest of Leto had cried through the city: " Come, all ye people, offer to Leto and the chil- dren of Leto the sacrifice of prayer and incense ! Bind your heads with laurel ! Leto bids it by my lips." All the people obeyed and offered sac- rifice. Then came Niobe, dressed in purple and gold, moving stately and beautiful among her subjects and casting haughty looks about. " What madness," said she, " to place celestial beings of whom you have only heard above those seen! Why is Leto worshiped at the altars, while no incense rises in my honor? My grand- father is Atlas, who bears on his shoulders the starry heavens. My other grandfather is Zeus. Wide kingdoms own me as queen. Moreover, my beauty is worthy of a goddess. Add to all this my seven sons and seven daughters, and see what cause I have for pride! I know not how you dare to prefer Leto to me Leto, who is the mother of but two! I am beyond the power of Fortune to injure. Go! enough honor has been paid to her and her offspring. Put off the laurel from your heads!" Niobe was obeyed; the worship of Leto was neglected or celebrated 68 Greek and Roman Mythology in secret. The goddess was indignant and said to her two children : " Lo, I, your mother, proud of having borne you, and second to no one of the goddesses, unless it be Hera, am brought to doubt whether I am a goddess. I am cut off from the honor due, unless you help me. Moreover, this woman adds insults and has dared to set her children above you." Apollo and Artemis heard her. Hidden in clouds they came to the city of Thebes. Two of Niobe's sons happened to be practis- ing their horses on the race-course near the city. The elder was just nearing the end of the course when he received Apollo's arrow full in the breast. Dropping the reins from his dying hand, he fell from his chariot in the dust. His brother, hear- ing the whizz of the arrow and seeing no man, gave free rein to his horses, hoping to escape. Apollo's unescapable shaft overtook him, and his blood reddened the earth. Two others of the sons were wrestling in the palestra. One arrow pierced the two, locked as they were in one an- other's arms. As they fell, another brother rushed up to save them ; he fell before he could reach them. A sixth met his death in the same way. The youngest raised his hands in prayer : " O all ye gods, spare -me! " Apollo might have been moved, but the arrow had already left the string. Chance report and the prayers of those about Apollo and Artemis 69 her first told Niobe of her calamity. Her hus- band, unable to bear his grief, had fallen on his own sword. How different was Niobe now from her who had lately driven the worshipers from Leto's altars and had passed in haughty state through her city ; envied then by all, now pitiable even to her enemies. With her seven daughters Fig. 18. Niobe and her Daughter. she came to the place where the bodies lay and, throwing herself upon them, cried : " Gloat over my grief, Leto, satisfy your cruel heart! Yet are you the victor! More remains to me in my wretchedness than to you in your vengeance." Hardly were the words spoken than the cord of Artemis' bow twanged. One by one six of the daughters fell dead beside their brothers. But 70 one remained, the youngest; her mother tried to shield her with her own body. " Leave one, and that the youngest! " she cried; but she for whom she prayed fell. Niobe sat, childless and a widow, among the corpses of her sons and daugh- ters. In stony grief she sat there ; no breeze stirred her hair; her cheeks were pallid, her eyes unmoved ; her blood was frozen in her veins ; she was turned to stone. Magically borne to her fatherland in Asia, there she still sits on the mountain, and from her marble cheeks the tears still flow. Pha'e thon was the son of Apollo by a nymph, Clym'e ne. When one of his playmates mocked him for believing that Apollo was really his father, Phaethon made no answer, but, coming home, asked his mother to give him some assur- ance of his parentage. Clymene swore to him by all that was sacred that she had told him truly, but suggested that if he was not satisfied, he should go and put the question to his father him- self. The boy eagerly traveled toward the sunrise, beyond the borders of earth, and came to the pal- ace of the sun. Phcebus, dressed in a purple robe, was seated on a throne glittering with gems. To right and left stood the Days, the Months, the Years, and the Ages. There too were the Seasons; young Spring, crowned with 11 Following Ovid, Metamorphoses, I. 750 ff. Apollo and Artemis 71 fresh flowers ; Summer, nude but for her wreaths of grain; Autumn, stained with trodden grapes; and icy Winter, rugged and hoary-haired. Be- fore this company appeared the boy Phaethon, and stood hesitating near the door, unable to bear his father's brightness. But the sun, look- ing at him with those eyes that see all things, greeted him kindly and asked the reason of his coming. Phaethon, encouraged by his recogni- tion, answered : " O light of the vast world, Phoebus, my father, if that name is permitted, I pray you to give me some pledge that I may be recognized as your very son." In answer the father embraced him and promised to grant what- ever he should ask ; he swore it by the Styx, an oath no god might break. But when Phaethon asked for the privilege of driving for one day the chariot of the sun, Phoebus did all in his power to dissuade him, telling him the dangers of the way, and that not even Zeus, who wields the thunder, could drive that chariot. Surely it was no task for a mortal ! But Phaethon was obstinate in his demand, and Apollo had sworn by the Styx. The chariot was Hephaestus' work, all of gold and ivory, set with gems, and marvelously wrought. As Phaethon wondered at the work, wakeful Aurora threw wide the golden gates and opened the courts full of rosy light. The stars fled away. When Phoebus saw the earth grow 72 Greek and Roman Mythology red and the pale moon vanish, he bade the Hours harness the fiery horses. Then he touched his son's face with sacred ointment that it might bear the scorching flame, and on his head he placed the rays, giving him this last advice. " If you can still heed your father's words, my boy, spare the whip and firmly hold the reins! Keep to the middle course, where you will see the tracks of my wheels; for if you go too high you will burn the homes of the gods, if too low, the earth. I commit the rest to Fortune. As I speak, clamp Night has reached its western goal ; we may no longer delay; we are demanded, and Dawn has put the shades to flight. Take the reins, if you are still resolved." The boy joyfully mounted the chariot and thanked his father. The fiery horses sprang for- ward, outstripping the wind that rose at dawn from the east. But the chariot seemed light with- out the accustomed weight of the mighty god, and the horses bolted and left the trodden road. Phaethon neither knew which way to turn, nor, had he known, could he have guided the horses. When from his dizzy height he looked down on the lands lying far below him, he grew pale and his knees trembled in sudden fear; his eyes were blinded by excess of light. And now he wished that he had never touched his father's horses; he wished that he had never even known of his high birth. What should he do? He looked at Apollo and Artemis 73 the great expanse of sky behind his back ; yet more was before him. He measured the two with his eye. Trembling, he saw about him the monsters of which his father had warned him. The Ser- pent, roused from his age-long lethargy by the too near approach of the sun's chariot, hissed horri- bly ; there Scorpio, curving menacing arms, threat- ened death with his poisonous fangs. At sight of this monster Phaethon's heart failed him and he dropped the reins. The horses ran wild. The Moon wondered to see her brother's chariot running nearer the earth than her own, and the clouds all on fire. Then all the moisture in the earth was dried up and the ground cracked. Trees and crops, cities with their inhabitants, all were turned to ashes. They say that this was how the people of Africa were turned black, and how Sahara became a sandy waste. The nymphs pined away, seeing their fountains dried up about them, and the river-beds were dusty hollows. The ground cracked so wide that the light pene- trated even into Tartarus and startled Hades and his queen. The seas shrank and the fishes sought the bottom. Three times Poseidon dared to raise his head above his waters, and each time the heat forced him back. At last Earth, the mother of all, faint and scorched, appealed to Zeus for help, calling him to witness her own un- deserved distress, and the clanger to his own realm of heaven if this wild conflagration continued. 74 Greek and Roman Mythology Then Zeus hurled his thunder-bolt against Apol- lo's son. The horses tore themselves loose and left the chariot a wreck. Phaethon fell, like a shooting star, leaving a trail of fire behind him, until the waters of the river Po in Italy closed over him. Then Apollo hid his face in grief, and they say that one whole day went by without a sun. The raging fires gave light. The water- nymphs found Phaethon's body and buried it, raising over it a tomb with this inscription : " Here lies Phaethon, who drove his father's chariot; if he could not control it, yet he fell nobly daring." Another son of Apollo, As cle'pi us, the divine physician, has already been mentioned. Ascie- pius was widely worshiped as god of medicine, and at his temple in Epidaurus marvelous cures were wrought. Here his priests cared for the sick, and about the shrine rose a great establish- ment to which flocked those needing his ministra- tions. The god appeared by night to the patients, not so often in his own form as in that of the serpent sacred to him. It was in this form that Asciepius (called by the Romans ^Es cu la'pi us) was brought to Rome at the time of a plague. It is said that the serpent left the ship before it came to land and swam to an island in the Tiber. There his worship was established, and it is in- teresting to know that at this day a city hospital is still there. Fig. 19. Asclepius. Apollo and Artemis 77 When Zeus, in anger at Asclepius' presumption in restoring the dead to life, struck and slew him by a thunderbolt, Apollo rashly attempted to avenge his son's death by shooting with his ar- rows the forgers of the thunderbolt, the Cy- clopes. In punishment for this insubordination, Zeus compelled him for one year to serve a mor- tal. During this time of exile he kept the sheep of the just Ad me'tus, a prince of Thessaly. Al ces'tis, the wife of Admetus, gained a place among the women famous in story by an act of noble self-sacrifice. When the day approached that was destined Aicestis. 12 for Admetus' death, that prince won the reward for his just and wise treatment of his divine shepherd ; for Apollo gained for him the prom- ise of a postponement of that evil day, on condi- tion that he could induce some other to take his place. With full assurance that some one of his devoted friends and servants, or, most certainly, one of his parents, would feel disposed to offer his life as a ransom, Admetus appealed to one after another. All refused; even his father, though reminded by his son that in any case he had not long to live, and that he should feel quite content to die since he would leave a son to carry on the family, quite obstinately refused. It al- most seemed that Death must have his own, and Apollo's promise be unfulfilled. Then Admetus' 12 Euripides, Alcestis. 78 Greek and Roman Mythology young wife, Alcestis, took his fate upon herself, and for love of her husband, offered to go to the dark home of Hades in his place. The day of the sacrifice came, and Apollo, whose brightness and purity might not be pol- luted by nearness to the dead, prepared to leave the house of his servitude. Meeting Death by the way, he vainly tried to persuade him to spare Alcestis too, but that relentless enemy passed in- side the house to cut from his victim's head the lock of hair that consecrated her to the gods of the lower world. Meanwhile Alcestis had been preparing herself for her terrible visitor. She put on her finest robes and her ornaments, she decked the house with garlands, and before the shrine of Hestia, the guardian of the home, she prayed that her two little children might find in the goddess a protectress loving as a mother. And when the children came running to her and the servants sadly crowded round her, she bade them each one a loving and courageous farewell. Admetus came and with tears entreated her not to leave him forlorn. He did not offer to meet Death for her. Only one request she made as her strength ebbed, let her husband bring no step- mother to tyrannize over her children. To the house of mourning the hero Heracles (Hercules), on one of his many adventurous journeys, came and begged entertainment. The Apollo and Artemis 79 servants would have turned him away, unwilling that their attentions to their dead mistress should be interrupted, but Admetus, true to the Greek law of hospitality, concealed his trouble and or- dered a feast to be prepared for his guest. The hero, warmed by food and wine, became so noisy in his enjoyment of it that the servants could not contain their indignation and reproached him with his inconsiderate behavior. Great was Heracles' mortification at finding that it was a house of mourning he had unwittingly invaded, and swearing that the courteous Admetus should never regret his kindness, he hurriedly left the house. The funeral ceremonies were over and Alcestis had been committed to the tomb. Her husband returned to his widowed home, bowed with grief and half awakened to the selfishness of his own choice. At this moment Heracles reappeared, leading with him a veiled woman whom he urged the prince to keep for him for a time. Admetus, remembering his promise to Alcestis, was unwill- ing to admit any woman to his roof, wishing to avoid even the appearance of setting up any one in his wife's place. Only by much insistence could the hero induce him to take her by the hand and lead her in. Then Heracles drew off the veil and disclosed Alcestis herself, whom he had rescued by wrestling with and overthrowing Death. 8o Greek and Roman Mythology The worship of the Greek god Apollo was early introduced into Rome under the same name. With the introduction of his worship was asso- ciated the acquisition of the Sibylline Books, sold, according to the legend, to King Tarquin by the Sibyl of Cumae. These precious books of proph- ecy were kept beneath the temple on the Cap- itoline Hill and in time of danger to the state were solemnly consulted by those ordained for that purpose. ii. ARTEMIS (DIANA) The goddess Ar'te mis was the child of Zeus and Leto, twin of the moon and the chase, sister of Apollo. As Apollo took the place of the Titan Helios as god of the sun, so Artemis took the place of Se le'ne as goddess of the moon. In her chariot she too drove across the heavens ; her weapons, like his, were the bow and arrows. But Artemis was more generally known as god- dess of the chase and of all wild things in na- ture. Dressed in the short hunting-dress, pulled up through her belt to give her freedom of mo- tion, with quiver and bow over her shoulder she scoured the forest in pursuit of game. Her companions were the mountain nymphs and the spirits of the woods and streams. To her the huntsman made his prayer and to her he offered the first fruits of his game on rough stone altars. But though a huntress, she was yet the friend and protectress of beasts, both wild and do- Fig. 20. Artemis of Versailles. Apollo and Artemis 83 mestic, and their young were under her special care. Artemis is represented as a graceful, active Appearance and emblems maiden, dressed in a short hunting-dress coming only to the knee, and armed with bow and quiver. When represented as moon-goddess she ap- pears in her chariot. Her emblems are the crescent, and the bow and quiver, and she of- ten has beside her a deer or some other animal of the chase. As Apollo stood for the ideal of youthful manly beauty, so Arte- mis was the ideal of maidenhood, of mod- esty, and of graceful activity. She was the patron goddess of young girls and her worship was served by Fig " 2I " Artemis of Gabii ' them. Before marrying, Greek girls offered in sacrifice a lock of hair, together with their dolls or other toys ; when in trouble it was to her they called for help. Ar e thu'sa, now a fountain in the Sicilian city Artimsa. is 13 Following Ovid, Metamorphoses, V. 577 ff. The patroness of maidens. 84 Greek and Roman Mythology of Syracuse, was once a nymph, a follower of Artemis, and lived in southern Greece. She cared nothing for admiration and love but was wholly devoted to the chase. One day when she was tired and hot, she came upon a clear, cold stream, flowing silently through the woods. She drew near and dipped in, first her toes, then as far as her knees; the cold water was so refresh- ing that she took off her clothes and plunged into the stream. While she was enjoying her bath, she heard a murmur under the water, and as she hastened to the bank in sudden fear, the hoarse voice of the river-god Al phe'us : " Whither are you hastening, Arethusa ? " She fled and the eager god pressed hard upon her. Through fields and pathless woods, over rocks and hills she ran, and ever the sound of his pursuing feet grew nearer. At last she was exhausted and cried to Artemis, the protector of maidens. The goddess heard and threw about her a thick mist to hide her from the eyes of her pursuer. Though baffled, the god still sought her. A cold sweat poured from the maiden's limbs, drops fell from her hair; she was transformed into a spring. But even in this form Alpheus recog- nized her and, to mingle his waters with hers, laid aside the human form he had assumed. Then Artemis opened the earth, and Arethusa flowed down through black underground ways until she rose again across the sea in Sicily. But Apollo and Artemis 85 the river-god endured even the darkness of the under-world in pursuit of his love, and in that bright Sicilian land at last joined his waves with hers. That Artemis could be cruel in punishing one Actaeon. 14 who offended her maiden modesty is seen in the story of Ac tae'on. In a valley thickly wooded with pine and pointed cypress trees was a natural cave, wherein bubbled a spring of clearest water. Here Ar- temis, when tired with hunting, used to bathe. She would enter the cave, hand her hunting-spear to one of her attendant nymphs, her bow and quiver to another, to a third her mantle, while others took off her hunting-shoes. Then she would step into the spring, while the nymphs poured water over her. It was high noon, hot with the heat of the dog- days, and Actaeon, satisfied with the morning's sport, had left the other hunters and wandered innocently into the grove. Hoping to find water he entered the cave. At sight of him the nymphs raised a shrill outcry and crowded about Artemis to hide her from his profane eyes. Insulted by the intrusion, unintentional though it was, Arte- mis protected herself even better. She splashed water from the spring in Action's face, saying as she did so : " Now, if you can, boast that you have seen me unappareled ! " At touch of the 14 Following Ovid, Metamorphoses, III. 138 ff. 86 Greek and Roman Mythology water his human form was changed to that of a stag ; and not his form alone, for trembling fear entered his once bold heart and he fled, dreading alike the woods and his own home and former companions. As he fled, his own dogs, driven mad by Artemis, saw him and gave chase, all fifty of them. Over hills and rocks he fled and Fig. 22. Actaeon killed by his Dogs. longed to stop and cry : " I am Actaeon ; know your master! " But the words would not come, and all the air resounded with the baying of the dogs. They closed in on him and tore him to pieces, while the hunters, who had urged them on, called loudly for Actaeon, eager that he should have a share in such good sport. It is said that Apollo and Artemis 87 when the dogs recovered from their madness, they ran howling through the woods, seeking their master. Once even the maiden Artemis loved a mortal. En dym'i on was a shepherd who kept his flocks Fig. 23. Sleeping Endymion. on Mt. Latmos, in Asia Minor. As she drove her chariot across the sky by night, Artemis looked down and saw the youth sleeping. His beauty as he lay drew the moon-goddess to him in love. Each night she left her course to descend to the mountain-top and kiss the shepherd. Her long absences and her paleness when she returned 88 Greek and Roman Mythology aroused the suspicions of the other Olympians, only too glad to detect a sign of weakness in the cold maiden. Wishing to remove temptation from her way, Zeus gave Endymion his choice between death in any form and perpetual youth with perpetual sleep. Endymion chose the lat- ter, and still he sleeps in his cave on Mt. Latmos, visited each night by the moon-goddess, who si- lently and sadly kisses his pale cheeks. Nor do his flocks suffer, for Artemis drives them by night to rich pastures and watches over their increase. This story was originally told of Selene, but later the Greeks transferred it to the younger goddess. onon. The giant O ri'on, too, won the affection of Artemis, though perhaps, in this case, she looked upon him rather as a congenial companion in hunting than as a lover. He was a son of Po- seidon and had from his father the power of walking through the sea as easily as he walked on the land. Because he was too hasty in his wooing of a certain girl, her father made him drunk and then put out both his eyes. Finding his way by the sound of the hammers to He- phaestus' forge in Lesbos, he borrowed one of the lame god's assistants to act as his guide, and so came to the far east where the sun rises. The brightness of the sun-beams restored his sight, and Orion became a constant companion of Ar- temis. Apollo disapproved of the friendship, Apollo and Artemis 89 and one day he challenged his sister to hit with her arrow a dark speck that was moving on the water; it was too late when she learned that the mark was Orion's dark head. As she could not restore him to life, she put him in the heavens as a constellation, one of the brightest and most beautiful that we can see. All the winter nights he races across the heavens with his dog, Sirius, at his heels, or he pursues the seven Ple'ia des, maidens changed to stars that one sees all crowded together and pale with fright as they flee. In the summer, Orion appears in the east at dawn, for he loves the dawn-goddess and, great and brilliant as he is, grows pale before her. Artemis appeared under quite a different char- Hecate, acter as Hec'a te, for that mysterious deity, who is associated with witchcraft and the horrors of night and darkness, is but another form of the bright moon-goddess. Her dark and mysterious knowledge, such knowledge as sorceresses and witches made use of in their evil charms, came from her association with grave-yards and from the celebration of her worship by night at cross- roads, a time and place that open the supersti- tious mind to impressions of terror and the pres- ence of mysterious powers. 13 She was a goddess 15 In New England, at the time of the witchcraft panics, those people suspected of being in league with the Devil were believed to hold their dark and hateful assemblies by midnight at the cross-roads. QO Greek and Roman Mythology of triple form; her three faces looked down the three forks of the roads where her statue was often set up. The baying of dogs on moonlight nights was thought to be a warning of her ap- proach. Diana. The Latin goddess Diana was originally a spe- cial deity of women. A temple was dedicated to her in a lonely wood beside the lake of Nemi, in the Alban Hills. Here all the towns of the Latins united in her worship. This shrine is famous because of the gloomy legends connected with it. It was said that in the wood grew a tree on which was a golden bough, and that he who could pluck this bough and slay the priest who kept the shrine thereby succeeded to his honor and retained it until he himself was slain by another. Diana, as a goddess of women and of nature, became identified with the Greek Artemis and was then worshiped as goddess of the moon and the chase. CHAPTER V HERMES AND HESTIA i. HERMES (MERCURY) HERMES was the messenger of Zeus, the con- The wind- god's infancy ductor of souls to the lower world, the guardian of ambassadors, of travelers and merchants, the patron of trade, skilled in all wiles, deceit and trickery, the mischievous thief ; on the other hand, a shepherd and patron of shepherds. He was the son of Zeus by Maia, " a fair-tressed nymph," who gave him birth in a cave in Arcadia " rich in sheep." 16 In the morning he was born, and by mid-day he stealthily left his cradle and set forth to seek adventure. On the threshold of the cave he met a tortoise, waddling along on the grass. At once the ingenious boy saw what use he could make of it. " ' Hail darling and dancer, friend of the feast, welcome art thou! Whence gottest thou that gay garment, a speckled shell, thou, a mountain-dwelling tortoise?' Then he scooped out the flesh of the tortoise, bored holes through its shell, covered it with ox-hide, put on it two horns, and stretched across it seven strings. 16 Following the Homeric Hymn to Hermes. Quota- tions from the translation by Andrew Lang. 91 92 Greek and Roman Mythology Touching the strings he sang gaily to the accom- paniment of the newly-invented lyre. When the chariot of Apollo had sunk into the waves of Ocean, this nimble infant left his cave and lyre, and ran to the shadowy hills, where fed the cat- tle of the sun. From the herd he separated fifty cattle and drove them hither and thither to con- fuse their tracks. Next, he made sandals of woven twigs and fastened them on his own feet to obscure his tracks, and so drove the cattle back- ward to the river. Then he made a great fire and roasted two of the beasts. Carefully cov- ering up the marks of the fire and the feast, and throwing aside his sandals, back to his mother's cave he flew, before the sun-god should rise in the east and catch the thief at his work. Through a hole, like a breath of wind, he en- tered the cave, and treading noiselessly, climbed into his cradle and wrapped about himself the swaddling-clothes. But Apollo, when morning rose from the stream of Ocean, missed the cattle and questioned an old man who was digging in a vineyard on the hillside. From the old fellow's account of the marvelous child who had stolen the cattle Apollo at once recognized his new- born brother. When that little thief saw Apollo, bent on vengeance, enter the cave, " he sank down within his fragrant swaddling-bands and curled himself up, feet, head, and hands, into small space, though really wide awake, and his tortoise-shell Fig. 24. Hermes in Repose. Hermes and Hestia 95 he kept beneath his arm-pit." But Apollo saw through the wiles of the cunning baby and angrily threatened to throw him into Tartarus. In vain did Hermes plead that he knew nothing of the cattle : " ' Other cares have I, sleep and mother's milk, and about my shoulders swaddling-bands, and warmed baths.' ' He dared even to add a great oath that he was innocent. As Apollo was far from satisfied, there was nothing for it but to go to Olympus and put their dispute before their father Zeus. Even there the crafty little thief dared to repeat his lies, adding submissively: " ' The Sun I greatly revere, and other gods, and Thee I love, and him I dread . . . but do Thou aid the younger.' ' But perhaps because the in- fant could not refrain from adding a wink to his innocent tale, " Zeus laughed aloud at the sight of his evil-witted child," and bade the brothers be reconciled and Hermes show Apollo his cat- tle. When Apollo was again roused to anger by the sight of the hides of the slain cattle, Hermes drew forth his lyre and played and sang so bewitchingly that Apollo was pacified and gladly formed a compact with his clever little brother; Hermes was to be keeper of the cattle and give to Apollo the lyre, which was ever afterwards his favorite instrument. In this myth, on the nature side, we see Hermes, a wind- god, driving off the clouds, the cattle of the sun- god. We see, too, Hermes as the herdsman, The patron of athletes, traders and travelers. The nerald of Zeus and con- ductor of souls to the lower world. Appearance and emblems. 96 Greek and Roman Mythology the inventor and the cunning thief; perhaps also, in his compact with Apollo, we see him as the trader. Clever and agile, good-humored and young, Hermes was the patron of young men, and to him they prayed, especially for success in athletic contests. His statue was set up in gymnasia ; he presided, too, over games of chance. Both by his speed in hastening from land to land, and by his smoothness of address and his nimble wit, he was the natural patron of traders. In the market-place, the commercial and financial center of Athens, statues of Hermes had a prominent place. As he was the guide of travelers, square blocks topped by a head of Hermes marked the cross-roads and the important street-crossings in the city. It was the mutilation of these Hermre that caused such a panic at the time of the Athe- nian expedition against Sicily. Alcibiades was recalled from the war to answer to the charge of having impiously destroyed them. Hermes is best known as herald of the gods. At Zeus's bidding he binds on his winged sandals, takes his herald's staff in hand, and flies swiftly to earth to carry to men the commands of the father. It is he who conducts to Hades the soul when it leaves the body, and gives it into the charge of the gods of the lower world. Hermes is represented as a young man with close-cropped curly hair, vivacious look, and Hermes and Hestia 97 agile, vigorous frame. He wears his winged san- dals, often a traveler's hat or a winged cap ; other- wise he is usually nude. In his hand he carries his caduceus, or herald's staff, winged at the top, with two serpents twined about it. He most fully expresses the character of the Greek peo- Fig. 25. Hermes from Olympia. pie, as a French writer (Collignon) says, "the inventive genius, the alert intelligence, the physical vigor, developed and made supple by the training of the palestra." The worship of Hermes under the name of Mercury. Mercury was introduced into Rome at a time when there was anxiety about the grain trade 98 Greek and Roman Mythology with South Italy. His function as patron of commerce was, therefore, his most important one in Rome. ii. HESTIA (VESTA) of"t!ie ddes8 While the fire of the forge is typified by He- hearth-fire, phaestus, Hes'ti a represents another aspect, the fire on the hearth, the natural altar and the spir- itual center of family life. About the hearth the gods of the family had their places ; here the family celebrated their festivals; here the stranger found protection, and about it every new-born infant was carried as a symbol of his admission to the family life. So, too, the city, as the larger family, had its common hearth whereon the holy fire of Hestia must always be kept lighted. And when a group of citizens, self-exiled from their home, set out under Apollo's sanction to found a colony, the hearth of the new home on the for- eign shore must receive a fire kindled at the hearth of Hestia in the mother-city. Thus the spiritual bond between. the parted kinsmen remained un- broken, and the same goddess held the new homes under her protection. Moreover, the essential brotherhood of all true Hellenes was symbolized in the great hearth-fire of Hestia at the center of the Greek world, Delphi. So closely is Hestia identified with the fire of the hearth that no fur- ther outward form was needed statues of her are rare. As eldest sister of Zeus she is, how- Hermes and Hestia 99 ever, represented as a woman of stately form and calm, benign expression, dressed in the double Fig. 26. Hestia. chiton or tunic of a Greek lady, her head covered with a veil. A passage in the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite shows the respect that Hestia enjoyed among the gods of Olympus: 10O Greek and Roman Mythology Nor to the revered maiden Hestia are the feats of Aphrodite a joy, eldest daughter of crooked-counseled Cronus, that lady whom both Poseidon and Apollo sought to win. But she would not, nay stubbornly she refused; and she swore a great oath fulfilled, with her hand on Father Zeus of the ^Egis, to be a maiden for- ever, that lady goddess. And to her Father Zeus gave a goodly mede of honor, in lieu of wedlock; and in mid-hall she sat her down, choosing the best portion ; and in all the temples of the gods is she honored, and among all mortals is chief of gods. vesta. The Roman Vesta is identical with Hestia of the Greeks. At Rome the small round temple of Vesta in the Forum was the religious center of the community. Here no image of the god- dess was needed, but her fire, kindled yearly on June 1 5th from the rays of the sun by means of a burning-glass, was kept always lighted by the Vestal Virgins. These maidens were drawn from the noblest families of Rome, and served the goddess for thirty years under a vow of vir- ginity. Every honor was paid them, and they could extend their protection over whom they would ; even a criminal who met a Vestal on his way to execution might thus gain his freedom. Any disrespect to a member of the order was punished by death, and their influence on state affairs was often considerable. On the other hand, as any breaking of the vow of virginity brought pollution to the city hearth and evil to Hermes and Hestia 101 the community, such unfaithfulness was pitilessly punished; the guilty priestess was buried alive. When the Roman emperor wished to demonstrate that he was the center as well of the religious as of the political life of Rome, he transferred the Fig. 27. Genius and Lares. hearth of Vesta from the Forum to the Palatine Hill, where his palace was. Associated with the worship of Vesta at the family hearth was the worship of the Lares and family Pe na'tes, the gods of home and of the household store. Their images must be guarded jealously 1O2 Greek and Roman Mythology by the householder, and must go with him, should he be forced to leave his old home for a new one. So JE ne'as, when fleeing from Troy, bids his father on the flight to hold fast to the penates. (jEneid, II. 717.) Fig. 28, Ares with Eros. CHAPTER VI ARES AND APHRODITE i. ARES (MARS) IF Athena, as the warlike defender of right The god of war. and justice, the protector of cities, enjoyed the honor of all men and the fullest share in her mighty father's confidence, it was far otherwise with Ares, the god of war and battle. Zeus de- clares in his anger, " Most hateful to me art thou of all the gods that dwell on Olympus ; thou ever lovest strife and wars and battles." (Iliad, V. 890.) Athena addresses him as, " Ares, Ares, blood-stained bane of mortals, thou stormer of walls." (Iliad, V. 31.) He was the personification of battle, always- thirsting for blood ; his worship originated among the savage tribes of Thrace. He was drawn in his chariot by his fiery horses, Fear and Dread, borne by a Fury to the North Wind, and was attended by Strife, Rout, Terror, and Battle-din. In art, however, this blood-stained Ares gave 105 io6 Greek and Roman Mythology place to a much milder conception. In the fourth century B.C. he appears as a young man with spir- ited but somewhat thoughtful face, and slender, graceful, nude form. Often he has no arms Fig. 29. Bearded Mars. other than a helmet and a shield or club. He is frequently seen with Aph re di'te (Venus), god- dess of love and beauty, or their child, Eros (Cupid). For Aphrodite, t Thisbe. 20 houses in Babylon, came to know one another, and in time the acquaintance grew into love. They would have married, but their fathers for- bade it. They could speak only by nods and signs, but the more the love was kept secret the more ardent it became. In the high wall that separated the two gardens they had found a tiny crack, through which, without exciting suspicion, they might murmur endearments. " O hateful wall," they would say, " why do you stand in the way of lovers? How small a thing it would be for you to allow us to be united, or, if that is too much to ask, that you would at least open a way for our kisses ! We are not ungrateful ; we con- fess that it is to you we owe the chance to hear each other's voices." Speaking thus they said good-night and pressed their lips each to his own side of the unresponsive wall. One day, after indulging in these vain regrets, they came to a 19 The English poet Byron, who swam the strait as Leander did, says that at this point the Hellespont is not more than a mile wide, but that the swimmer is carried down so far by the swiftness of the current that the dis- tance covered is not less than four miles. 20 Following Ovid, Metamorphoses, VI, 55 ff. 120 Greek and Roman Mythology desperate resolve. When the silence of night had fallen they would escape their guardians' watch- ful eyes and go out from home. They agreed to meet at the tomb of Ninus, where a white mulberry tree grew beside a spring. The long day wore away and at last night came. Thisbe cautiously opened the door and passed out unobserved. She had come to the tomb and seated herself under the mulberry tree, when lo! a lioness, her foaming jaws smeared with the blood of fresh-slain cattle, came to drink at the spring. By the rays of the moon poor Thisbe saw her, and with trembling feet she fled to a cave near by. As she fled she dropped her cloak. The lioness, having drunk her fill, was returning to the forest when she chanced to see the cloak where it lay. She tore it with her bloody jaws and so left it. Pyramus, coming somewhat late, saw in the sand the tracks of the beast. He grew pale. He saw the garment stained with blood. " One night shall destroy two lovers," said he. " Un- happy girl, it is I that have been your death. I bade you come by night to a fearsome place, and came not first myself. Tear my body in pieces and devour my flesh, ye lions that live among the rocks! But it is the part of a coward only to wish for death." He raised Thisbe's mantle, and weeping, pressed kisses upon it. " Receive my blood ! " he cried, and plunged his sword into Ares and Aphrodite 121 his breast. The blood spurted high, and falling upon the mulberry tree stained the white berries a dark purple. Thisbe, still trembling with fright, yet unwill- ing to fail her lover, returned to seek him. When she came to the spot the changed color of the berries made her uncertain whether she was right. While she hesitated in bewilderment, she saw the body lying on the ground. Shudder- ing, she recognized her lover and raised a cry of anguish, beating her breast and tearing her hair. She embraced the limp form and, raining kisses upon the cold lips, cried : " O Pyramus, what cruel fate has snatched you from me ? Pyramus, answer! Your dearest Thisbe calls you. Hear me, and lift your drooping head! " At the name of Thisbe, Pyramus raised his eyes, already heavy in death, and having seen her, closed them. And she, recognizing her cloak and the naked sword, cried aloud again: "If your hand and your love have destroyed you, unhappy Pyramus, I too have a hand bold for this one deed. Love shall give me too strength for the blow. I shall follow you, at once the cause and the companion of your death. You who could be torn from me by death alone shall be torn from me not even by death." She spoke, and placing the point under her breast, fell upon the sword. The ashes of the lovers rest in one urn, and still the mulberry mourns in dark purple. CHAPTER VII THE LESSER DEITIES OF OLYMPUS OF the twelve great gods and goddesses that made up the Olympic Council, ten have been al- ready described. These are : Zeus, Hephaestus, Apollo, Hermes, Ares, Hera, Athena, Hestia, Artemis, Aphrodite. The two that remain are Poseidon, god of the sea, and Demeter, the grain-goddess, of whom later chapters will tell. Besides these greater gods there were many lesser deities. Those that had a place in Olympus are described in this chapter. i. EROS (CUPID) Eros, or Cupid, was the child of Aphrodite, some say by Ares. The conception of him as a little winged boy is later, originally he was con- ceived as a youth. Against his arrows no man or god was safe, for they inspired the passion of love. But once his weapons wounded their master himself and he fell under the spell of Psyche. 122 The Lesser Deities of Olympus 123 THE STORY OF CUPID AND PSYCHE 21 There were once a king and queen who had three daughters. While the beauty of the two Fig. 34. Eros or Cupid. elder sisters was remarkable, that of the youngest was beyond the power of human tongue to ex- 21 Apuleius, a Latin poet of the 2d Century A.D., tells this story in its fully developed form. It differs greatly in style and character from the mythological stories of early 124 Greek and Roman Mythology press. The fame of her beauty drew people from the most distant lands to see her ; men said that this was no mortal maid, but that Venus her- self had deserted the heavens and come to dwell on earth. The shrines of the goddess were de- serted, and the ashes grew cold on her altars; the worship due to her was paid to the maiden. Enraged at this transference of her honors to another, Venus called to her help her winged son Cupid, that pert and mischief-making boy. " I conjure you by your love for your mother," said she, " punish this rebellious beauty and avenge the insult to me. Inspire her with love for the lowest of beings, one so degraded that in the wide world is not his like." Now while the two elder sisters were happily married to princes, the divine perfection of Psyche's beauty and the ill-will of the goddess had hindered suitors from aspiring to her love. Her parents, therefore, suspecting that in some way they had offended the gods, consulted the oracle of Apollo. The answer was given: " Hope for no mortal son-in-law ; the maiden is destined to be the bride of a monster before whose flames and weapons Jupiter himself trem- Greece, and has many of the features of the fairy tales of other European peoples. To omit the details would so de- tract from its interest and charm that it is here given at some length. Following Apuleius, Latin names are em- ployed. The Lesser Deities of Olympus 125 bles. To meet her husband the maiden must be led to the top of the mountain and there left." The king and queen, though overcome with grief, prepared to obey the oracle. Dressed as a bride and accompanied by a procession, funereal rather than bridal, Psyche was led to the destined spot. A day of mourning was proclaimed in the city, and the parents and friends were dissolved in tears. Scarcely was Psyche left alone upon the moun- tain, when Zephyr (the west wind), tenderly lift- ing the trembling maiden, wafted her gently to a flowery valley below. Before her she saw a grove and in the midst of it a fountain. Near the fountain rose a wonderful palace surely the home of some god ! For the ceilings of cedar and ivory were supported on golden columns, while the walls were covered with silver wrought in marvelous designs. The pavement was a mo- saic of precious stones. Filled with wonder and delight, Psyche plucked up courage to enter and examine the unguarded treasures of the place. No one appeared, but a voice spoke softly to her: " Why are you astonished, Lady ? All these riches are yours. Yonder is your bed-chamber. When you have rested and refreshed yourself by the bath, we, your attendants, will wait upon you diligently, dress you and prepare for you a royal banquet." Her fears allayed by the gentle voice, Psyche did as she was bidden, and in due time partook of a feast exquisitely prepared and served by invisible attendants, while bodiless mu- sicians sang to the accompaniment of an unseen lyre. That night the master of the place came to her and made her his wife, but before the light he disappeared. Thus it happened each night, and she learned to look forward to his coming and to love him for his sweet voice and his tender caresses, though she had never seen him. In the day, however, with only the bodiless voices to people her solitude, she felt lonely, and sor- rowed to leave her family in ignorance of her fate. She told her trouble to her husband and entreated him to allow her to see her sisters. At last he unwillingly yielded to her caresses, warn- ing her solemnly, however, that she must not listen to her sisters' persuasions and attempt to see or inquire about her husband's form. " Dis- obedience," said he, " will bring sorrow upon me and destruction upon you, sweet Wife." The following day, when the two sisters came to the mountain and called upon Psyche by name, beating their breasts and lamenting her fate, obedient Zephyr carried them down to the valley and set them before the palace. After they had embraced and rejoiced together, and Psyche had showed them the beauties of the palace and had regaled them with the delicacies prepared by the invisible attendants, envy crept into the hearts of the sisters, and insatiable curiosity to know Fig. 35. Cupid and Psyche. The Lesser Deities of Olympus 129 the happy master of all these riches. Psyche told them that her husband was a beautiful youth, who passed his days hunting on the mountains. Then she loaded them with gifts and bade Zephyr carry them back to the mountain. The more the sisters talked over their visit to the palace the more angry and envious they became. They complained that they were given over to old, bald-headed, stingy kings in foreign lands, while the youngest was married to a beau- tiful god and had control of untold wealth. Even the winds were her servants ! They persuaded themselves that she had acted arrogantly toward them, and they resolved to bring about her down- fall. On their third visit, therefore, assuming a tone of sisterly solicitude, they told her that her husband was well known to be a venomous serpent, who was often seen gliding down the mountain at daybreak. He was keeping her only until she was well fatted ; then he would devour her. Let her conceal in the bed a lamp and a sharp knife, and when her husband was buried in sleep, let her kill him and so make her escape. The simple girl, though at first she indignantly rejected the suggestion, was at last persuaded. Night came, and with the darkness came her hus- band. As soon as he was asleep. Psyche, sum- moning all her courage, uncovered the lamp and seized the knife. But when by its light she saw no awful monster, but the gentlest and loveliest 130 Greek and Roman Mythology of all creatures, Cupid himself, the beautiful God of Love, overcome with delight and shame she fell upon her knees. So enchanted was she with the beautiful sight, the golden curls, the ruddy cheeks, the delicate wings that sprang from his shoulders, that she remained wrapped in admira- tion and forgot to extinguish the light. At the foot of the bed lay his bow and arrows. Curious to try how sharp they were, Psyche pressed the arrow point against her finger. Tiny drops of blood welled out, and thus did Psyche fall in love with Love. But while she pressed kisses on his face and hung over him, bewildered with delight, a drop of burning oil fell upon his shoulder. The god sprang up and, seeing the signs of his wife's faithlessness, tore himself from her frenzied embraces and flew away. Pausing for one instant in his flight, he turned and addressed her : " O simple Psyche, for you I was dis- obedient to my mother Venus, and when she bade me give you over to some base marriage, I chose instead to come to you myself as a lover. I, the most famous of archers, have wounded myself with my own arrow and have made you my wife. And you would believe me to be a monster and would cut off my head ! It was of this that I so often warned you. As for those wicked plot- ters, they shall feel my anger; you will I punish by my flight alone." So saying he spread his wings and flew away. The Lesser Deities of Olympus 131 When Psyche had recovered her senses, she set forth in search of Cupid. Towards evening she found herself close to the city where her eld- est sister lived. To her she recounted what had happened, only that she changed Cupid's parting words. " Quit my house this instant," she quoted him as saying, " I will at once marry your sister." The wicked queen, goaded by love of gold and glory, left her home and her husband and hurried to the mountain. Then calling on Zephyr to waft her to the valley, she leaped from the rock and was dashed in pieces on the stones below. In the same way Psyche visited the sec- ond sister, and in the same manner she, too, suf- fered the penalty of her treachery. In the meantime the sea-gull had brought word to Venus, who was bathing in the sea, that her son was lying at home grievously sick and likely to die. He added malicious gossip that Cupid had been guilty of a disgraceful love affair with a mortal girl, and that, in consequence of his neglect, love had left the world. Hot with anger the goddess hastened to her golden chamber, and finding him as she had been told, cried to him in a passion of rage : " This is fine behavior and becoming your birth and character! You trample upon the commands of your mother and take to wife that base girl whom I had sent you to torment with an ignoble love! But you were always troublesome and disrespectful, even to me; and your father Mars you fear not at all, but are ever driving him into love affairs. You shall repent of it! I shall adopt one of the sons of my slaves and give to him the bow and arrows that you so little know how to use. I must have recourse to my old foe Sobriety; she will soon blunt your arrows and extinguish your torch ! " So she turned her back upon her wounded son and left the house. Meanwhile Psyche, still distractedly wander- ing in search of Cupid, came by chance to a tem- ple of Ceres. Here was a confused heap of corn and grain, and near it scythes and other tools lying in disorder. Piously anxious to win the favor of any goddess that might help her, Psyche set to work to bring order out of the confusion. The goddess came to the temple while she was thus engaged. Throwing herself at her feet the girl besought her : " By thy plenty-giving hand, by the joyful rites of harvest, by thy secret mys- teries, by thy dragon-drawn car, by the Sicilian fields and that thieving chariot and the descent of Proserpina (see p. 154) to a lightless wed- lock, and the return of thy child to the world above, pity your suppliant, luckless Psyche! Amid this heap of grain let me hide for a few days, until the wrath of Venus is abated ! " Ceres was moved but feared to offend Venus. Regretfully she drove Psyche from her temple. As she left the shrine of Ceres, Psyche saw in The Lesser Deities of Olympus 133 the valley beneath a shrine of Juno. Thither she turned her weary steps, and falling down before the altar, prayed the goddess to help her in her desperate need. Juno listened kindly but answered that she could give no protection to a fugitive slave of her daughter-in-law Venus. Then Psyche, convinced that no hope of help lay in any other, resolved to surrender herself to her mistress Venus and humbly to propitiate her. Now Venus, repairing to heaven in her golden dove-drawn chariot, had asked and secured the help of the herald Mercury. He had cried the lost maiden through all the world: " If any one can seize in her flight or can discover the fugitive slave of Venus, a king's daughter, Psyche by name, let him repair to Mercury, the herald, at the temple of Venus ; he shall receive as a reward from Venus herself seven sweet kisses." This proclamation further persuaded Psyche that the only course now open to her was one of sub- mission. She therefore hastened to the house of Venus, who, when she saw her, raised a joyful laugh. " At last," said she, " have you deigned to pay your respects to your mother-in-law ? Or perhaps you came to visit your husband, who lies still in danger from the wound you gave him? But take courage! I shall receive you as a good mother-in-law should. Where are my servants, Solicitude and Sorrow ? " These, immediately appearing, scourged and otherwise tortured the 134 Greek and Roman Mythology unhappy Psyche, and then brought her again be- fore her mistress. Venus next set the girl before a great heap of wheat, barley, millet, poppy, beans, and every other kind of grain and seed, and said scornfully to her : " You seem to me so deformed a slave that only by industry can you deserve your hus- band. I shall make trial of you. Separate the various grains in this heap, and see that the work is finished before evening!" So she left her. Despairing at the impossible task, Psyche sat still without moving a finger to the confused mass. But a little ant took pity on the wife of Cupid and called together the populous tribe from a neighboring ant-hill. In a very short time the grains and seeds were piled neatly into separate heaps. Then the little ants disappeared. Venus, returning from a feast, fragrant with perfumes and wreathed with roses, saw with anger the suc- cess of her hated slave. " Worthless girl," said she, " this is not the work of your hands but that of your wretched lover! " And throwing her a crust of dry bread she retired to rest. At dawn Venus called Psyche, and pointing out to her a wood by the river, ordered her to get a lock of golden wool from the sheep that fed there. Psyche gladly set out, not hoping to secure the lock of wool, but intending to throw herself into the river. But a reed of the river spoke to her : " O sorrowful Psyche, pollute not The Lesser Deities of Olympus 135 my waters, nor dare to approach the sheep on the farther bank ! For while the sun is hot, they are fierce and destroy any who come near them, but when at noon they go to rest under the trees, then with safety you may cross the river, and you shall find the golden wool caught on the bushes. So shall you accomplish the task safely." Venus greeted her successful return with a bit- ter smile : " I know well," said she, " that you did not perform this task by yourself. Now I will make trial of your courage and prudence. Bring me from the fountain on yonder lofty mountain liquid dew in this crystal urn." Psyche hopefully received the urn and hurried to the mountain. But when she reached the top, she saw the impossibility of the undertaking. For the fountain rose from the top of an inaccessible rock and plunged down thence into a terrible chasm where fierce dragons kept perpetual watch. And the roaring waters called to her as they crashed down : " Depart, or you will perish ! " As she shrank back in dismay, the eagle of Jupi- ter came to her : " Can you, a simple mortal, hope to steal one drop of the Stygian waters, terrible to Jove himself ? 'Give me the little urn ! " Psyche, therefore, receiving the full urn, joyfully returned to Venus. The goddess was only the more enraged, and laid on her another task. " Take this box," said 136 Greek and Roman Mythology she, " and direct your steps to the abode of Pluto. There say to Proserpina that Venus begs her to give her a little of her beauty in this box, for she has exhausted all her own in anxious attendance on her sick son. Return at once, for I must dress for the theater of the gods." And now truly Psyche saw that she was face to face with destruction. She therefore ascended to the top of a high tower, meaning to cast herself down and so reach the infernal world by the shortest way. But the tower spoke to her : " O wretched girl, why do you seek to destroy yourself before the last test of your endurance? Listen to me! Near Lacedsemon in Achsea is the cavity through which Pluto breathes. Here is the entrance to the lower world. Go from thence by a straight road to the palace of Pluto. Take with you two pieces of bread soaked in honey, and in your mouth two pieces of money to pay Charon (see p. 1 88) for ferrying you across the river. The bread will appease the fierce three-headed dog, Cerberus. But be careful not to stop to listen to the appeals for help from those you meet, for Venus will send many wretched beings to induce you to stop or lay aside the sop or the coin that you need for your return journey. Proserpina will receive you kindly and will offer you a soft bed and a dainty banquet. Decline them both ! When you have received what you came for, return at once to the upper world. On no ac- The Lesser Deities of Olympus 137 count open or even look at the box that you carry ! " Psyche started on her enterprise, and all fell out as the tower had said. She obeyed his in- structions resolutely until the danger were passed and she was just about to emerge into the light of day. Then she was seized with a rash curi- osity and a longing to take for herself a little of the divine beauty she carried so that she might appear better in the eyes of her lover when she should see him again. But when she opened the box, there came forth no beauty but only a Stygian sleep that instantly overpowered her, so that she fell down where she stood and lay mo- tionless. Cupid, being now quite recovered of his wound, had flown through the window of his room and come to find Psyche. When, there- fore, he saw her lying there motionless, he took the sleep and shut it up again in its little box, and arousing Psyche by the touch of one of his arrows, said: "Unfortunate girl, a second time you would have perished by that fatal curiosity! But now fulfil your task to Venus; I will take care of the rest." So saying he flew away and Psyche carried the box to Venus. Meanwhile Cupid flew straight to heaven, and presenting himself before his grandfather Jupi- ter, asked his aid. The father of gods, smilingly stroking the cheeks of Cupid, answered kindly: ' Though you, my child, presuming on your power, never pay me the reverence that is my due, and by your arrows cause me to act un- worthily of my dignity and so injure my reputa- tion, yet I will do all that you ask." He there- fore sent Mercury to call the gods to a council meeting, and addressing them, he told them that he thought it best that Cupid should marry. Venus he bade submit, promising to make the marriage legal by raising Psyche to the order of the gods. Mercury brought the bride before him, and she received from Jupiter the nectar and ambrosia. " Take this," said he, " and be immortal ; nor shall Cupid ever depart from your embraces, but this marriage shall be eternal." Then the wedding banquet was served. Cupid reclined beside Psyche, Jupiter by Juno, and so all the other gods and goddesses in order. Ganymede poured the nectar for Jupiter, and Bacchus for the other gods, Vulcan prepared the supper, the Hours scattered roses all about, the Graces scattered balsam, and the Muses sang melodiously, while Apollo accompanied them on his lyre and Venus danced to their music. Psyche is the soul. By her own act she de- stroys her happy and inno:ent life with Love, endures in the world every trial and suffering, and even goes down to Haaes, to be in the end reunited with Love and to 'jive with him forever The Lesser Deities of Olympus 139 in heaven. The story as it is told here belongs to a late time. It is a philosophical fairy tale. II. OTHER DEITIES OF OLYMPUS The Graces (or Chart tes) presided over the The Graces, feast and the dance, all the gracious and festive side of social intercourse. For the Greek ideal demanded that men's everyday life, no less than their worship, should be ruled by grace and beauty, and the deities who brought this harmony to life were fittingly conceived as the daughters of no less a one than Zeus. They were three in number and were represented nude or in trans- parent drapery, adorned with spring flowers and roses. , The Nine Muses, daughters of Zeus and Mne- The Nine Muses. mosyne (nemos'ine, Memory), presided, each over a distinct form of poetry, art, or science. They formed the chorus of Apollo, the god of music, and with him haunted the heights of Par- nassus or Helicon, or danced about the springs of Pieria. Their names, their functions, and their emblems are as follows: Clio, the muse of his- tory, holds a roll of writing ; Cal li'ope, the muse of epic poetry, holds a tablet and pen ; Mel pom'- e ne, the muse of tragedy, holds a tragic mask; Tha li'a, the muse of comedy, holds a comic mask or wears the distinctive costume of the actor of comedy ; Terp sich'o re, the muse of the choral lyric and the dance, wears a long garment and 140 Greek and Roman Mythology holds a lyre; Er'ato, the muse of love poetry, wears a thin garment and holds a lyre ; Eu ter'pe, the muse of flute music, holds a double flute; U ra'ni a, the muse of astronomy, holds a globe; Po lym'ni a, the muse of religious poetry or the pantomime, is represented in an attitude of medi- Fig. 36. Clio. tation. To the Muses poets offered prayers and vows : " Fortunate is he whomsoever the Muses love, and sweet flows his voice from his lips." (Homeric Hymn to the Muses.) The Three The Three Fates held in their hands the thread of life, and when man's allotted life was spun, The Lesser Deities of Olympus 141 the shears of the fates cut it off. Their names are given in the little verse from Lowell's Villa Franca: "Spin, spin, Clotho, spin! Lach'e sis, twist ! and At'ro pus, sever ! " They tell of the past, present, and future. Fig. 37. Thalia. Nem'e sis, a darkly mysterious power that overshadowed even the gods themselves, for evil done or for excess of pride brought divine vengeance from which there was no hope of es- cape. 142 Greek and Roman Mythology The winds were under the control of JE'o lus, to whom Zeus gave the power to rouse or to quiet them. In a vast cave in one of the volcanic Lipari Islands, he and his twelve boisterous chil- dren, the winds, lived a life of feasting and merri- Fig. 38. Terpsichore. ment. There they struggle against their prison doors and cause mighty rumbling of the moun- tain. If let loose, Vergil says, they would sweep away earth and sea and sky in their destruc- tive course. Bo're as is the wild north wind ; Zeph'y rus is the gentle west wind. CHAPTER VIII THE GODS OF THE SEA Po SEI'DON was the son of Cronus and Rhea x (Neptune). and brother of Zeus. To him, after the over- throw of the Titans, was given control over all the waters, fresh as well as salt. He supplanted Oceanus of the older dynasty. The early Greeks thought that the waters were beneath the earth and held it up; earthquakes were due to them. Moreover the Ocean flowed all about the circle of the earth as a great salt river. Homer speaks of Poseidon as, " he that girdleth the world, the shaker of the earth." Though he was a member of the Olympic Council, he had his palace in the depths of Ocean. There was his famous palace in the deeps of the mere, his glistering golden mansions builded, imperish- able forever. Thither went he and let harness to his car his bronze-hoofed horses, swift of flight, clothed with their golden manes. He girt his own golden array about his body and seized the well-wrought lash of gold, and mounted his chariot, and forth he drove across the waves. And the sea-beasts frolicked be- neath him, on all sides out of the deeps, for well they knew their lord, and with gladness the sea stood asunder. (Iliad, XIII. 21 ff.) 143 144 Greek and Roman Mythology Beside him was seated his wife, " fair-ankled Am phi tri'te," the daughter of Nereus (see p. 148, while before and about his chariot swam the Tritons, half man, half fish, heralding their lord's approach by blasts on their shells. In addition to his lordship over the waters Poseidon presided over horses and horsemanship. One version of his contest with Athena over Ath- ens, as was said earlier, attributes to him the creation of a salt spring, but the other version attributes to him the creation of the horse. The waiis After the overthrow of the giants, Apollo and Poseidon fell under the displeasure of Zeus, who therefore forced them to serve a mortal. They agreed with La om'e don, king of Troy, for a certain reward to build the walls of his city. When the work was completed, Laomedon re- fused to abide by his bargain and insolently dis- missed the gods. Poseidon in his anger sent floods and a terrible sea-monster to ravage the coast. To appease the monster no sacrifice was acceptable but that of He si'o ne, daughter of Laomedon. The princess was about to be de- voured by the monster when Heracles, that friend of troubled mankind, appeared and res- cued her. How he too was cheated of his re- ward by the faithless Laomedon, and how he avenged his wrongs, will be told later in the story of Heracles. (See p. 220.) Fig. 39. Poseidon. The Gods of the Sea 147 It is as sod of horses and horsemanship that Peiops and Hippodami?. Poseidon appears in the story of Peiops and Hip- po da mi'a. This Hippodamia was the daughter of (En o ma'us, king of Elis. Many young men wished to marry her, but her father had been warned by an oracle to beware of his future son-in-law. As he was the owner of horses as fleet as the wind, he made the condition that he who would win the daughter must first contend with the father in a chariot-race, the reward of success .being the hand of Hippo- damia and the price of failure the suitor's life. Many had staked their lives on the ven- ture, and the maiden remained unmarried. Peiops hajd_been^_granted by Poseidon extraordi- nary skill in horsemanship; now he obtained in addition four winged steeds, and so offered him- self for the perilous race. Nor was Poseidon Peiops' only divine helper, for, by the power of Aphrodite, Hippodamia's heart was so won at first sight that she bribed her father's charioteer Myr- tilus to take out the bolt from his chariot-wheel be- fore starting on the race. So (Enomaus perished and Peiops led away Hippodamia as his wife. The lovers, however, by their ingratitude and treachery brought down upon their already ac- cursed family the further displeasure of the gods, for Peiops, in a fit of rage, hurled Myrtilus into the sea. The tragic history of the race of Peiops 148 Greek and Roman Mythology is associated with the Trojan War and will be told in that connection. (See p. 281.) Neptune. The Romans had from early times worshiped Neptune as god of moisture and of flowing water, when they identified him with the Greek Posei- don, they recognized him- also as god of the sea. Kerens. Ne'reus, the wise and kindly " Old Man of the Sea," lived with his fifty charming daughters below the waters in a great shining cave. He personifies the sea as a source of gain to men, the sea on whose calm and friendly surface mer- chants and sailors venture out in ships. His fifty daughters, the Ne'reids, represent the sea in all its many phases. They live together happily in their deep-sea cave, but often rise to the surface, Fig. 40. Marriage of Poseidon and Amphitrite. and in sunlight or in moonlight may be seen sitting on the shore or on a rock covered with seaweed, drying their long green locks, or riding on the dolphins, or playing in the waves with the Tri- tons. If a mortal comes near, they will slide down into the sea and disappear, for their bodies end in green fishes' tails and the deep water is their real home. Three of the fifty are especially famous: Amphitrite, Poseidon's wife; Thetis The Gods of the Sea 149 (see p. 283), the mother of Achilles, and Gal a te'a, whom the Cyclops Pol y phe'mus loved. A stranger and more mysterious " Old Man of Proteu. the Sea " was Pro'teus, the shepherd of Posei- Fig. 41. Head of a Sea-God. don's flock of seals. He had the gift of proph- ecy, and would tell the future if one could catch and hold him. But, like the sea itself, he con- tinually changed his form, and when one had seized him as a roaring lion, he glided away as a serpent, or if one still held to that slippery 150 Greek and Roman Mythology form, suddenly he was a flame of fire, or as run- ning water he slipped through the hands. The sirens. Although from the earliest times the Greeks were a sea-faring people, they never forgot the perils that lurked in the deep, nor the uncertainty of trusting themselves to its waters. Especially in the west, near Sicily and Italy, fable told of the dangers that lay in wait for the rash voy- ager. Somewhere in that part of the sea was the island of the Sirens, beautiful maidens in face and breast but winged and clawed as birds. By the charm of their singing they lured mariners to drive their ships upon the rocks. He who heard their magic voices no longer remembered his dear native land, nor his wife and children, but only heard the charmer and cast himself into the sea. All the beach below where they sat and sang was white with the bones of men. Fair they seemed as the smooth bright surface of the sea that treacherously smiles over the bones of its victims. The much-enduring Odysseus was warned of these alluring maidens and passed by them safely only by having the ears of his com- panions stuffed with wax, while he himself was kept from the fatal leap by being fast bound to his own mast. me Harpies. Wholly terrible, without the malign charm of the Sirens, were the Harpies, with their huge wings and strong talons. They were goddesses of storm and death, who snatched and carried The Gods of the Sea 151 away their booty as if on the wings of the wind. When weary sailors had ignorantly landed on the Harpies' shores, and, having prepared their feast, sat down to enjoy it, down swooped these vile birds and carried off the food in their claws. Their coming brought not alone famine but the mournful omen of approaching death. The passage between the coasts of Sicily and scyiia and T i i -11 -1-1 Charybdis. Italy was beset with danger. Here in the side of a precipitous cliff was a cave where lurked the monster Scylla. From out the dark cavern she stretched her six heads, armed with rows of great sharp teeth. Woe to the unlucky mariners who had steered too close to shore! Drawn in as by a drag-net by her twelve long arms, they were crunched in the great jaws, and only the bones were left to tell the tale. And if men es- caped this horror, on the other side lay Char- yb'dis, sucking down the water into her black whirlpool and belching it forth again, three times each day. Against these monsters even Posei- don's help was of no avail. Fresh water as well as salt had each its own River-gods and nymphs deity. From the river at any moment its god might rise up, the water streaming from his hair and beard. So Alpheus rose to pursue Are- thusa (see p. 84) ; so the god of the Xanthus near Troy rose and fought with Achilles. (See p. 296. ) Sometimes the river-god took the form of a bull. (See p. 225.) Each little brook and 152 Greek and Roman Mythology spring had its own nymph, a lovely maiden with tossing hair, with laughing voice and lightly dancing feet. These are the Naiads. (See p. 184.) CHAPTER IX THE GODS OF THE EARTH THE skies that rule over all, and the great seas, are male beings; Zeus and Poseidon rule there. The earth, that gives life to plants and animals and men, that cares for and generously nourishes her children, is the great mother goddess, Gsea. Fig. 42. Cybele in her Car. Rhea, the mother of the gods, was also an Rhea or cy- bele the Great earth-goddess. The people of Asia Minor knew Mother, her as Cy'bele or the Great Mother, and repre- sented her crowned with a turreted crown like the wall of a city; for she was the bringer of 154 Greek and Roman Mythology civilization, the protectress of cities. Lions drew her chariot, and about her were the Cor y- ban'tes, who acclaimed her with shouts and the clashing of cymbals, and led her worship with wild dances. This worship never took firm root in Greece, but it was introduced into Rome and was there one of the most influential of the for- eign religious cults. Demeter More characteristic of the Greek people was (Ceres). the worship of De me'ter, the bountiful goddess of the grain. She was the sister of Zeus and had her place in the Olympic Council. We see her, of generous and kindly aspect, draped from head to foot, holding a torch, or ears of wheat and corn mingled with poppies. Per seph'o ne (or Proser'pi na), the fresh young corn of the new year, was her only daughter, looking to Zeus, the giver of rain and sun, as her father. The worship of these two is a beautiful, natural harvesters' worship, but trouble and loss enter in. The Rap? of When Persephone was still a young girl she Persephone . . . , , i j (Proserpina), was playing with the ocean nymphs one day, in the sunny land of Sicily. She had wandered a little way from her friends and stooped to pick a narcissus. As she uprooted the fragrant flower, out of the earth sprang the black horses and golden chariot of Hades, or Pluto, the king of the lower world. In spite of her cries for help, the black god carried the maiden off with Mm; as Fig. 43. Demeter. The Gods of the Earth 157 she passed, the flowers fell from her hands. Then the earth opened at the word of the god, and Pluto descended with his prize into the gloomy regions over which he ruled. Here he made her his queen. Demeter, who had gone to Asia Minor to visit Cybele, heard of her loss, but did not know who the robber was nor where she should begin her search for her daughter. Disconsolately she wandered over all the earth, her serene and kindly face befouled by tears, her clothes torn and soiled, her corn and flowers abandoned. Without her ministry the fields yielded no crops, men and beasts starved, and though they called on her, she would not hear nor answer. At last, in her wan- derings she came to the fountain of Cy'a ne, in Sicily. Now the nymph Cyane had seen Pluto with the stolen girl and had vainly tried to bar his passage. In grief at her failure she had wept herself into a fountain and so had lost the power of speech. All that she could do was to wash up at the mother's feet the girdle that the girl had dropped in her passage. Then Demeter, in her anger and despair, cursed the ground, and above all the lovely land of Sicily that had be- trayed its trust. Not far from Cyane is an- other fountain, once a nymph, Arethusa, who, as was told above (see p. 84), in her flight from the river Alpheus rushed down into the earth in Greece and rose again in Sicily. On her way 158 Greek and Roman Mythology through the lower world she had seen Persephone sharing Pluto's throne. From her, Demeter learned at last the truth and at once went to Zeus to demand redress. Induced, not alone by De- meter's tears and prayers, but by the agonized cries of all the suffering earth, Zeus decreed that Pluto should give up his stolen bride on one condition, that no food had passed her lips during her stay beneath the earth. By ill fortune she had been persuaded by Pluto to taste the seeds of a pomegranate. A compromise was made: Persephone should return to her mother, but each year she should descend again into the lower world to stay as many months as she had eaten seeds of the pomegranate. And so each winter when the seeds of grain are sowed, the daughter of the grain-mother goes down into the dark ground, and the fields are bare and unlovely while the mother mourns. But when the time agreed upon is over, and Persephone comes again to the light, then Demeter is glad and looks to her fields. The fresh young spears of grain come out of the dark earth, and when the time comes and the crops begin to ripen, Demeter makes the fields beautiful with poppies, and then, when the ears are full, men gather them joyfully and bring them into their barns and praise the bountiful Demeter and her lovely daughter. El eu'sis is a small town a few miles distant Mysteries. from Athens. Here were celebrated the Mys- Fig. 44. Demeter, Triptolemus and Persephone. The Gods of the Earth 161 teries in honor of Demeter. All Athens took part in the procession and the purification, but to the Mysteries themselves only those who had been initiated were admitted. The ceremonies were kept very secret, but it seems that the rape of Persephone and her return were dramatically represented, and that the initiate gained some deeper trust in a happy immortality than was known to others. The story of the institution of these El eu sin'i an Mysteries is connected with Demeter's search for her daughter. Exhausted by nine days of fasting and useless Demeter and J Trlptolemus. wandering, Demeter had come to Eleusis and had sat down beside a well. Here came the four daughters of the king of that land to fill their water-jars. Seeing the tired old woman, they spoke to her kindly and brought her with them to their father's house. The king's wife had lately borne a son, and the disguised goddess took the baby to nurse. She anointed him with ambrosia, and each night as he slept she placed him in the embers on the hearth, for so she in- tended to burn away the mortal part and make him as one of the gods. But the anxious queen watched through the door one night, and rushed in with terrified cries to rescue her baby from the fire. Then the goddess rose in all her divine majesty and said to the mother: "O foolish woman! now have you brought incurable evil upon your son ; I would have made him immortal 162 Greek and Roman Mythology and given him everlasting youth, but now must he suffer the common lot of men. Yet I will give him imperishable honor since he has lain on my breast. But come now, build me here a temple, and the rites in it I will myself pre- scribe/' So they built to Demeter a great tem- ple, and when the child Trip tol'e mus had grown Fig. 45. Triptolemus in the dragon-drawn Chariot. up, the goddess taught him to raise grain and corn and sent him in a dragon-drawn chariot through every land to teach men how to sow and reap. Through him, too, she gave the Greeks her Mys- teries and a better hope for the future life. As the Greek poet Pindar says : " Happy is he that hath seen those things ere he go beneath the earth; he knoweth life's end, he knoweth its be- ginning given of God." Fig. 46. Dionysus or Bacchus. The Gods of the Earth 165 It was soon after the expulsion of the kings, ceres, at the time of a failure of crops, that the Romans, in obedience to a command of the Sibylline books 22 introduced the worship of Demeter. Even then she was not worshiped under her Greek name, but was indentified with an old Latin goddess named Ceres, and Persephone was given the Latinized form Proserpina. Ceres was al- ways the special protectress of the plebeians. Di on y'sus or Bacchus is familiarly known as Dionysus or .... ...... Bacchus. the convivial wine-god ; but while the vine is most closely associated with him, he is, in truth, the vital strength of everything that grows, the power of fertility and of joyful, springing life. His mother was Sem / e le, daughter of Cadmus His with and travels. (see p. 256), the founder of Thebes, and his fa- ther was Zeus. Though Semele was of divine descent on both sides of her family, she was her- self a mortal, and to make love to her Zeus put on the form of a mortal. At first she rejected his at- tentions, but when he told her who he was, she yielded and gladly received him. Hera knew of this and was filled with angry jealousy. Dis- guising herself as Semele's old nurse Ber'o e, she led the girl on to talk of her love. When she had heard all the story, she pretended not to believe that the lover was Zeus. "If he were, why should he not come to you in all his glory, 22 Books of prophecy said to have been received by Tar- quin, the legendary king of Rome, from the Sibyl. i66 Greek and Roman Mythology as he does to Hera? He is treating you with very little respect." Semele's pride was touched. The next time her lover came she induced him to swear that he would grant whatever she should demand. Then she asked that he should show himself to her in all his Olympian majesty. The fatal oath by the Styx had been given; even to save one he loved Zeus could not recall it. He came to her as God of Heaven, armed with the thunder-bolts. No mortal could endure his glory or the flame of the lightning; poor Semele was reduced to ashes. So the earth is scorched by the full blaze of the Greek sun at midsummer, or seared by the lightning; only the seeds within it remain alive. Just so Semele's baby, Dionysus or Bacchus, came to birth from his mother's ashes, and ivy sprang up miraculously to shade him from the hot sky. His grieving father took him and gave him to the mountain nymphs of Nysa to nurse. As he grew older Si le'nus, one of the lesser divinities of earth, was given to him as a tutor, and with his help he discovered all the secrets of nature, especially the culture of the vine. He taught his followers, the rustic deities, to make from the grapes wine, the mys- terious source at once of womanish weakness, and invincible power and joyous freedom from care. Intoxicated by the new drink, they thronged together in Bacchic revels. Wherever he went, he was joined by crowds of women, The Gods of the Earth 167 called Bac chan'tes, who celebrated his worship by wild dances, the clashing of cymbals, the beat- ing of drums, shrill flutings, and unrestrained shouts. Always so accompanied, Bacchus trav- eled over the world, teaching the cultivation of Fig. 47. Silenus with Dionysus. the grape and the power of wine. He penetrated to India, where even the panthers and lions fell under his charm and obediently drew his tri- umphal chariot. As a conquering hero he re- turned to Greece and demanded worship every- The Bacchic rites. 168 Greek and Roman Mythology where. And everywhere the women flocked to his revels. Dressed in the skins of beasts, with streaming hair, brandishing snakes or the ivy- twined wand or thyrsus, they joined in the wild dances. With shrill outcries they tore in pieces the sacrificial animals and devoured the raw flesh. At Thebes Pen'theus, the king, forbade the revels, and when the women of his city, in de- Fig. 48. Bacchic Procession. fiance of his commands, went out to join the Bac- chantes, he followed to spy on the secret rites. Enraged at this opposition, Bacchus made the women mad. They mistook the king for a wild beast and tore him to pieces, his own mother leading in the murderous assault. There is prob- ably some historical basis for this story, for these extravagant wild rites, introduced from Thrace The Gods of the Earth 169 or Asia Minor, met with bitter opposition in some parts of Greece. But the promise they offered of raising the worshiper above the bounds of the natural, plodding human life and giving a high and divine power through mystic union with the god, overrode all opposition, and the Bacchic mysteries were received and practised with im- mense enthusiasm. Many stories are told of Bacchus and his trav- The good els, and of how he punished his enemies and re- warded his friends. On one occasion, as he was lying asleep on the shore of an island, some pirates came upon him, and thinking that the beautiful youth might be held for a large ransom, they carried him off to their ship. The helmsman, recognizing the god in his divine grace and beauty, implored his companions to set him free, but they were deaf to his words. When the god awoke he tearfully besought his captors to take him to the island of Naxos. Pretending to consent they steered the other way. Suddenly the ship stood rooted in the sea; ivy trailed up the mast, and vines wreathed the sails; a sweet odor filled the air, and wine flowed about the deck. The cap- tive's bonds dropped from him, and in his place crouched a lion. In their terror the sailors leaped overboard and were instantly transformed into dolphins all but the god-fearing helmsman, whom Bacchus saved and made his follower. 170 Greek and Roman Mythology Midas.23 Midas was a king in Phrygia. One day Silenus in a dazed and drunken condition was brought be- fore him. Recognizing Bacchus' tutor in the muddled old man, Midas entertained him well and sent him back to his pupil. In return for this good office, Bacchus offered to fulfil whatever wish the king should make. When Midas, being excessively fond of riches, asked that whatever he touched might become gold, Dionysus was sorry for the foolish wish, but could not withdraw his offer. Midas returned home in delight. To try his new power he touched an oak branch; it be- came golden. He lifted a stone from the ground : it was a mass of gold. The very earth became hard and yellow at his touch. He picked some ears of grain ; golden was the harvest. He pulled an apple from the tree; one would have thought it one of the golden apples of the Hesperides. If he touched the door-posts with his fingers, the posts shone as gold. When he washed his hands in fresh water, the drops that fell were like the golden shower that deceived Danae. (See p. 200. ) The servants placed a banquet before him; when he touched the bread it hardened under his fingers ; when he raised a dainty morsel to his lips, his teeth closed on a lump of gold. He mingled wine with his water; molten gold flowed down his throat. And now he hated and loathed the wealth that he had loved ; he was 23 Following Ovid. Metamorphoses. XI. 85 ff. The Gods of the Earth 171 starving in the midst of plenty. Raising his hands and gleaming arms to heaven he cried: " Have pity on me, kindly Bacchus, I have sinned ! Oh, pity me, and take away the cursed boon ! " Bacchus heard him. He bade him go to the river Pac to'lus and wash in the spring from which it rises. There the golden touch left him and was transferred to the river, whose sands are mixed with gold to this day. Dionysus married A ri ad'ne, a beautiful prin- Ariadne, cess of Crete, whom the hero Theseus (see p. 250) had carried away from her home and had then deserted on the island of Naxos. Her di- vine lover Dionysus came to her while she slept and wakened her by a kiss. The wedding of the pair was celebrated with great magnificence and joy, and as a wedding gift the god gave his bride a crown studded with brilliant stars. When she died, her grieving husband threw the crown up into the heavens. There it can still be seen as Corona, or Ariadne's Crown. Although the Di on -/si a, or Bac cha-na'li a, The ...... . Dionysia, were always celebrated with wild orgies and ex- travagant enthusiasm, Dionysus also received worship of a different character. Praise was given to him as the hospitable and genial deity who brings joy to the feast, frees men from care, and makes them of friendly and kindly feelings towards one another. He brought to men civili- zation and law ; he was a lover of peace. By his 172 Greek and Roman Mythology Dionysus: appearance and emblems. exhilarating power he inspired poets and mu- sicians and thus is associated with Apollo and the Muses. The Attic drama originated at the festi- vals of Dionysus. The rough dances and music were reduced to form; the choral dances became pantomimic, and the songs took on dramatic character. From this was developed tragedy and comedy. The great theater of Athens is in the precinct of Dionysus. There is much variation in the representations of the god; two distinct types are especially fa- miliar. In the one he appears as a mature man, bearded and heavily draped ; this was the regular type in early times. In the other he appears as a smooth-faced young man, of grace and charm that is almost feminine. His hair is long, sometimes hanging in curls and some- times caught up on his head like that of a woman. He usually is either nude or wears a panther's or lion's skin over his shoulder. His head is crowned with ivy or grape-leaves, and he holds in his hand grapes or a shallow cup of wine. Sometimes he is represented as the eastern conqueror in his Fig. 49. Youthful Dionysus. The Gods of the Earth 173 triumphal car, drawn by lions or panthers, while about him throng his followers, Satyrs, Sileni, Maenads (see p. 179), mingling with his votaries, the Bacchantes, who brandish snakes or ivy- twined staves. Fig. 50. Bacchic Procession. Tell me, Muse, concerning the dear son of Hermes, the goat-footed, the two-horned, the lover of the din of revel, who haunts the wooded dells with dancing nymphs that tread the crests of the steep cliffs, calling upon Pan the pastoral god of the long wild hair. Lord is he of every snowy crest and mountain peak and rocky path. (Homeric Hymn to Pan.) This is that mysterious pastoral god, Pan, the spirit of the mountains and woods of Greece. The daughter of a mortal bore him to Hermes as he tended her father's sheep in the hills of Arca- dia. A strange child he was, as the poet sings, goat-legged, with horns and a goat's beard, laugh- ing and jumping even from his birth. His 174 Greek and Roman Mythology mother was frightened when she saw him, but Hermes was glad and wrapped him in the skins of hares and carried him off to Olympus to show him to the gods. They were all delighted with him, especially Dionysus, and they called him Pan. Hither and thither he goes through the thick copses, sometimes being drawn to the still waters, and some- times faring through the lofty crags he climbs the high- est peak whence the flocks are seen below; ever he ranges over the high white hills, and ever among the knolls he chases and slays the wild beasts, the god with keen eye, and at evening returns piping from the chase, breathing sweet strains on the reeds. . . . With him then the mountain nymphs, the shrill singers, go wan- dering with light feet, and sing at the side of the dark water of the well, while the echo moans along the mountain crest, and the god leaps hither and thither, and goes into the midst, with many a step of the dance. On his back he wears the tawny hide of a lynx, and his heart rejoices with shrill songs in the soft meadow, where crocus and fragrant hyacinth bloom all mingled amidst the grass. (Homeric Hymn to Pan.) So one can almost see him to-day as one listens in the hills to the Greek shepherds piping to their sheep, just as they did in the old days before Pan died. But it is not safe to see him, for he is a shy god and a mischievous, and if one spies upon him when he is sleeping or at play, one may have good cause to repent. Indeed it is best to avoid certain shady spots by springs at noon-day, for there Pan chooses to sleep while the big flies buzz in the sun-light and all else is still, and he does Fig. 51. Pan and a Nymph. The Gods of the Earth 177 not like to be disturbed. At night he lives in caves in the hills, and those places are sacred to him. There is one of these sacred caves in the cliff that forms the Acropolis, right in the city of Athens, but Pan deserted it long ago, and al- tars to Christian saints were set up near by. He had no worship in Athens until the time of the Persian Wars, and then the story goes that just before the battle of Marathon a runner sent to Sparta to ask for help against the- Persians was met on the road by Pan, who told him that he wished well to the Athenians and would help them in the battle, although they had hitherto paid him no honor. And after the battle they remembered the unreasoning fear that had fallen upon the Persians and how they had fled before the Greeks, though so much fewer in number, and they set apart this cave as his shrine. Such fear as this is known as Panic terror. Sometimes it mysteri- ously comes upon men in the woods ; often it seizes a flock of sheep and without cause they rush upon their own destruction. But Pan is not always dangerous or ill-natured ; The syrinx, to those he favors he sends increase of their flocks and keeps their herds safe from harm. Some shepherds whom he loved he taught to play on the pipes, and they taught others, and so the shep- herds in the lonely hills can pipe to their lady- loves as Pan pipes to the nymphs. For Pan loves the nymphs, although they are a little afraid of 178 Greek and Roman Mythology his goat's legs and his queer goat-like face, and sometimes run away from him. So, they say, he wished to press his love on the nymph Syrinx, but she fled from him, and when he had followed her to the bank of a stream and thought he was just seizing her, his hand closed on a bunch of reeds. From his windy sighs a sweet, plaintive sound rose among the hollow reeds, so he broke off a few of unequal length, fastened them to- gether with wax, and so made the syrinx, a mu- sical instrument of that form. The worship As he is the mysterious soul of nature, Pan is of Pan. very wise and knows even what the future holds, and so throughout Greece his oracles were con- sulted, and to Pan and the nymphs people prayed and brought offerings of milk and cheese and honey, or a kid from their flocks. "Great pan But "Great Pan is dead." The story is told is dead." * by Plutarch. In the time of the emperor Tiberius a ship was sailing from Greece to Italy. As it passed by a certain island, all on board heard a voice calling, " Thamus." Three times the call was repeated and at the last an Egyptian of that name, who was of the ship's company, answered. He was told that when they came to a certain place off the coast of Epirus, he was to announce, " Great Pan is dead." When the ship reached this place, a calm fell, and Thamus did as he had been told. Immediately a sound of lamentation answered from the shore, as if an unseen multi- The Gods of the Earth 179 tude were mourning. The Christian tradition told v that this was about the time of Christ's death, and v that the mysterious voice announced the end of the gods of Greece / who withdrew lamenting before the cross of Christ. Fig. 52. Votive Offering to Pan and the Nymphs. Pan is not always represented with the goat's HIS ap- . pearance. legs and beard ; sometimes his form is entirely human except for the slightest indication of horns to mark his animal nature. In this he is almost indistinguishable from the Satyrs. Not only in appearance but in nature and origin satyrs. 180 Greek and Roman Mythology Pan's companions, the Satyrs, bear a close re- semblance to him. They, too, are wild spirits of the woods and hills, half timid, playful ani- mals, and half human. They have short, flat noses, pointed ears, and little tails, sometimes, too, goats' legs. They follow Dionysus, or they dance and play with Pan and the nymphs, and are al- ways hankering after wine and women. The country people feared them, for they sometimes stole away the herds and killed the goats and sheep, but they imitated their rough, lively Fig. 53. Dancing dances and their noisy Satyr - songs, and so developed a popular kind of drama, called satyric drama, in which the chorus was composed of men dressed as Satyrs. These dramas were given in honor of Dionysus. In later times Satyrs appear in art as younger, gentler, and more innocent, just as one may see in the graceful young Satyr or Faun of Praxiteles, who leans pensively against a tree, holding a flute in his hand. Funus. . Faunus was an old Roman god of flocks and herds, who through his power of prophecy and his pastoral character became identified with Pan. The Gods of the Earth 181 Finally many Fauns were conceived of and con- founded with the Satyrs. Another of the company of Dionysus was his * Marsyas and tutor Silemis, he who was brought in an intoxi- Midas, cated condition to King Midas. There were many Sileni, and they were first heard of in Asia Minor, where they were represented with horses' ears and tails and were connected with fountains and running water and were credited with the gift of prophecy. That same King Midas by mixing wine in a fountain is said to have caught a Silenus and forced him to tell him the future. The Sileni, like other rural deities, were musicians. To Athe- na is attributed the dis- covery of the flute, but when she saw what distor- tion of face its use required, she threw it aside in disgust. It was picked up by the Silenus, Mar'- sy as, who became so skilful in its use that he im- pudently challenged Apollo to a musical contest When the prize of victory, as was right, had been adjudged to Apollo and his lyre, Marsyas paid a terrible penalty, for Apollo had him flayed and Fig. 54. Faun of Praxiteles. 18.2 Greek and Roman Mythology his empty skin hung on a tree as a warning to all. Some say that Midas was present at this contest and that in punishment for his foolish judgment in favor of the Silenus he was given Fig. 55. Athena and Marsyas. ass's ears. Ovid, however, tells that this indig- nity came upon him for his decision in favor of Pan in a musical contest with Apollo. The king tried to hide his deformity by wearing a large turban, but his barber, unable to contain the se- The Gods of the Earth 183 cret, dug a hole in the ground and whispered it to the earth. On that place reeds grew up and, as they rustled in the wind, ever repeated, " Midas has ass's ears." 24 The Sileni usually appear as the most repulsive and ludicrous of Dionysus' company. They have short, bloated bodies, and ugly, drunken faces; Fig. 56. Apollo and Marsyas. they are rarely separated from their cherished wine-skins. The original and higher type is re- tained when Silenus appears as the nurse of Di- onysus; in Greece he was sometimes regarded simply as the eldest of the Satyrs and was repre- sented accordingly. 24 Ovid, Metamorphoses, XI. 146 ff. 184 Greek and Roman Mythology The name nymph in Greek simply means young The nymphs. W0 man; it is used of all those nature-spirits of trees and brooks, woods and hills, that were con- ceived under maiden form. In their groves and brooks they lived, spinning and weaving, singing and dancing in the meadows, or, when no one was by to see them, bathing in the clear springs. They accompanied Artemis in the chase, followed Dionysus' noisy throng, or played and quarreled with the mischievous Satyrs. Sometimes, too, they loved mortal men, and many of the heroes had nymphs for mothers or for brides; but it was an uncertain relationship, for often the mor- tal, longing for his own people, deserted his nymph, or she grew tired of human restraints and returned to her wilds. There were different kinds of nymphs. The Naiads were the bright elusive spirits of the springs and brooks, the Oreads were the moun- tain spirits, the Dryads and Hamadryads lived in the trees. Unlike a god, a nymph was not im- mortal, and when the hour came and the tree died, the Dryad died too. When some woods- man felled a great tree in the forest, he turned aside with a murmured prayer as it fell, for then the nymph sighing passed out of her body and vanished. The Greek writer Hesiod says that a crow lives nine times as long as a man, a deer four times as long as a crow, a raven three times as long as a deer, a phoenix nine times as long as a The Gods of the Earth 185 raven, and a nymph ten times as long as a phoenix. Echo was a nymph whom Pan loved and pur- sued, but she loved a Satyr, or, as others say, she loved the beautiful youth Nar cis'sus. He did not return her love, but seeing his own reflexion in a stream, loved that, and ever gazing into his own eyes, withered away with vain passion. Then Echo, too, pined from disappointed love un- til she was nothing but a disembodied voice that lives on among the rocks and hills. The nymphs were worshiped throughout Greece, and offerings of lambs, milk, oil, and wine were brought to their groves and grottoes. CHAPTER X THE WORLD OF THE DEAD The Greek THE Greeks, who found in this world so much view of death. that was interesting, beautiful, and heroic, utterly dreaded the coming of death to take them from this very real present life and plunge them into an unknown future. They believed, indeed, in a life after death,. but it was a shadowy and un- real one, not to be compared to the most hum- drum existence on the sun-lit earth. The great hero Achilles, when his shade appeared before Odysseus on his visit to the world of the dead, earnestly declared : Nay, speak not comfortably to me of death, O great Odysseus ! Rather would I live upon the earth as the hireling of another, with a landless man that hath no great livelihood, than bear sway among all the dead that be departed. (Odyssey, XI. 488 ff.) The realm of T us t where the realm of the dead was is un- the dead. J certain. In the Odyssey Homer tells of a land far to the west, by the river Ocean, beyond the setting of the sun, where in eternal darkness and mist lived the souls of the departed ; but generally people thought of this gloomy land as being far 186 The World of the Dead 187 beneath the earth, in the darkness of the lower world. Near Cumse, in the vicinity of Naples, where volcanic vapors, hot springs, and strange upheavals of the ground suggest the nearness of mysterious powers below the earth, a cave with unexplored depths offered entrance to the land of the dead, and A ver'nus, a lake whence rose deadly vapors, was thought to* be but the over- flow of the rivers of Hades. Other localities in Greece and the islands afforded passage for the departing soul to its long home, and permitted occasional intercourse between the dead and the living. To this gloomy land, wherever it was, the soul, The journey of the soul when it left the body, journeyed under the guid- after death, ance of the god Hermes. Though the body of the dead might lie upon his bed in his own home, or upon the battle-field, the soul, thought of as a tiny winged creature in form like the living man, but insubstantial and shadowy, joined the grea f throng of pale shades that were always unhappily waiting on the shores of the river Ach'e ron. Here he must wait in uneasy expectation until the friends he had left behind him should give his body due burial with sacrifice and provide him with a small coin, an obol, for his passage money. Only then would old Charon, the terrible ferry- man of the dead, receive him into his leaky skiff and set him across the hated stream. For all Hades was cut off from approach by its rivers, i88 Greek and Roman Mythology Acheron, River of Woe, and its branches, Co cy'tus, River of Wailing, and Phleg'e thon, River of Fire. The fourth river of Hades was the Styx, by which the gods swore their unbreak- able oaths. Once across the Acheron . the soul Fig. 57- riiaron in his Skiff. must pass by the three-headed watch-dog, Cer'- ber us, to appease whom he was provided with a little cake made of seed and honey. Then he entered through the wide gates of Hades into that immense home of the dead, open in hospitality to all men, as the Greeks grimly said. The World of the Dead 189 Here Hades, or Pluto reigned, the dark and hateful brother of Zeus, and beside him the stolen Persephone (Proserpina), no longer young and happy as when she played with the nymphs in the bright fields of Sicily, but stern and cruel on the throne beside her black lord. When the Cyclopes gave to Zeus the thunderbolts and to Poseidon the trident as the symbols of their power, they gave to Pluto the helmet of darkness that made its wearer invisible. Only twice do we hear of the infernal king leaving his kingdom to appear in the light of the sun; once when he came to carry off Persephone, and again when the hero Heracles had wounded him, he was forced to visit Olympus to get the help of the divine physi- cian. Pluto had deputed judges to weigh each dead man's good and evil deeds and assign each to his proper place Minos (see p. 230) the former just king of Crete, his brother Rhad a- man'thus, and y'a cus (see p. 283), the righteous grandfather of the hero Achilles. If the soul was condemned, the Furies, or Eu men'i des, avengers of crime, terrible with their snaky locks, drove the criminal before them to a place of punishment yet lower than Hades and buried in threefold night, while the righteous were led to the place of the Blessed. 23 25 This conception of a judgment with its consequent punishment and reward was not developed until long after the time of Homer. 190 Greek and Roman Mythology Tartarus. In the place of torment, Tar'tar us, were those Titans whom Zeus had overthrown, the rebellious giants, and wicked men who here paid the penalty for their crimes against the gods. Impious Ix- i'on for his inhuman cruelties was bound to a fiery wheel and racked and torn by its swift revolu- tions. Sis'y phus (see p. 236) , who tried to cheat even Death, must forever roll up-hill a heavy stone, which ever rolled down. Tantalus (see p. 281), who abused the hospitality of the gods, ever tortured by hunger and consuming thirst, tried vainly to reach fruits hung just above his head, or stooped to drink the water which always eluded his parched lips. From this comes our word tantalize. The forty-nine daughters of Dan'a us, who had murdered their husbands, hopelessly fetched water in leaky vessels. (See p. 199.) All the air sounded with groans and shrieks, and the Furies drove the victims who would escape back to their endless torture. Fie e idf ly8ian "^ e Elysian Fields were originally regarded as the last home only of a few favored heroes, sons of the gods, but afterwards men thought of them as peopled by others too, those who, through their noble lives or perhaps through participation in the Mysteries of Demeter, were admitted to this glorious companionship. These fortunate ones lived in calm happiness in the Elysian Fields or Island of the Blest. The World of the Dead 191 Far from gods and men, at the farthest end of the earth, in the deep-flowing ocean, where the earth bears thrice in a year. Hesiod, Works and Days, 197 ff. No snow is there, nor yet great storm, nor any rain ; but always ocean sendeth forth the breeze of the shrill west to blow cool on men. Odyssey, IV. 566 ff. Here the heroes feasted or wandered together through the flowery fields, contended in games Fig. 58. Heracles carrying off Cerberus. and enjoyed a repetition of the pleasures of the upper world. 26 Though the lower world was generally closed Bt0 the to the living, yet some few heroes visited it in lower world - life. Heracles came to carry off the watch-dog Cerberus. The hero Odysseus (Ulysses) came 2(5 It is not possible to give a simple and consistent ac- count of the life after death that will accord with the various descriptions in the Greek poetry of different periods. 192 Greek and Roman Mythology by the advice of the sorceress Circe, to ask about his future course. ^Eneas, the Trojan ancestor of the Romans, came for the same purpose. These stories will be told in detail later on. (See pp. 223, 311, 343.) Orpheus and One man won his entrance and safe departure Eurydice. . through his divine gift of music. This was Or'pheus, son of Apollo and the Muse Calliope, who had learned from his father to play the lyre so marvelously that at his song wild beasts be- came tame, serpents came out of the earth to listen, the very stones obeyed his will. When his wife Eu ryd'i ce died from the sting of a snake, he followed her to Hades, by his music persuad- ing even grim Charon and the dog Cerberus to let him pass in. Pluto, too, yielded to his song and allowed him to carry away Eurydice, on con- dition that he would not look back at her until he should reach the upper world. But just as they were about to come to the light of earth, the de- sire to see his beloved wife overpowered Orpheus, and he turned and looked at her. Then Hermes gently took Eurydice by the hand and led her back to the home of the dead. Orpheus refused to be comforted and rejected the advances of all other women. In the end, he met his death by the violence of some frenzied Bacchantes. Charmed by his music, the stones they threw fell harmless at his feet, until the mad shouts of the women drowned the strains of his lyre. Then Fig- 59- Parting of Orpheus and Eurydice. The World of the Dead 195 they killed him and tore him limb from limb. His head and lyre, floating down the river, still gave forth melodious sounds. The Muses buried the fragments of his body, and above his grave the song of the nightingale is sweeter than any- where else in the world. PART II THE HEROES CHAPTER XI STORIES OF ARGOS THE family of Dan'a us and his famous de- Danatis ana J his fifty scendant Perseus sprang from that lo, the daugh- daughters. ter of the river-god In'a chus, whom Zeus had loved. (See p. 24.) Still in the form of a hei f er, she came to Egypt, where she was restored to her human form and gave birth to a son. Some of her descendants remained in Egypt and ruled there as kings. One of these Egyptian kings had two sons, JE gyp'tus and Danaus, of whom the former was the father of fifty sons and the latter of as many daughters. Danaus had cause to fear his nephews, and when they wished to marry his daughters, he fled to Argolis; but yEgyptus and his sons followed them and pressed the marriage. While pretending to yield, Danaus ordered his daughters to carry concealed daggers and each to murder her husband on the wedding night. Eorty-nine of the fifty obeyed, but the fiftieth, Hy perm nes'tra, spared her husband, Lynceus. About the fate of the forty-nine there is some dif- ference of opinion. Some say that Danaus found suitors so scarce after this that he was compelled 199 2OO Greek and Roman Mythology to give them to the contestants in a race. Others say that Lynceus killed them all to avenge his brothers, and that they were punished in Hades by being compelled eternally to carry water in leaky vessels. Perhaps these Da na'i des repre- sent the springs of Argolis, whose waters quickly run away and are absorbed by the dry and porous soil of that country. pe? s a eus and Hypermnestra and Lynceus had a grandson named A cris'i us, to whom was born one daugh- ter, Danae, and no son. When he sent to the oracle at Delphi to know whether he might hope for a male child, he received the answer that he was fated to have no son and that he should meet death at the hands of a son of Danae. Hoping to avoid this danger, he had a great bronze cham- ber constructed in the earth, and here he impris- oned his daughter with her nurse. After some years, when he was one day passing near the opening of this strong prison, he was astonished to hear the voice of a little child at play. Sum- moning his daughter before him he inquired who was the father of her child. She answered him that through the opening in the roof of her prison Zeus had come to her in the form of a golden shower, and that it was he who was the father of her child, Perseus. Acrisius, by no means be- lieving this story and determined to be rid of his dangerous grandson, had the mother and child shut up in a great chest and set adrift on the Stories of Arsros 201 Fig. 60. Carpentei making the chest for Danae and Perseus. sea. The Greek poet Simonides tells of the love and despair of the young mother : When, in the carven chest, The winds that blew and waves in wild unrest Smote her with fear, she, not with cheeks unwet, Her arms of love round Perseus set, And said : O child, what grief is mine ! 202 Greek and Roman Mythology But thou dost slumber, and thy baby breast Is sunk in rest, Here in the cheerless brass-bound bark, Tossed amid starless night and pitchy dark. Nor dost thou heed the scudding brine Of waves that wash above thy curls so deep, Nor the shrill winds that sweep, Lapped in thy purple robe's embrace, Fair little face ! But if this dread were dreadful too to thee, Then wouldst thou lend thy listening ear to me; Therefore I cry, Sleep, babe, and sea be still, And slumber our unmeasured ill. Oh ! may some change of fate, sire Zeus, from thee Descend, our woes to end ! But if this prayer, too overbold, offend Thy justice, yet be merciful to me ! - 7 Zeus did not fail to hear her cry, but guided the chest to the island of Se ri'phus, where a fisherman, Dictys by name, drew it ashore in his net. Unlike the other inhabitants of the island, he was a kindly man and he cared for the un- fortunate castaways in his own home. The quest of It happened that a brother of the fisherman, Pol y dec'tes, who was king of the island, fell in love with Danae and, as he was an unjust and cruel man, wished to make her accept his love even against her will. But by this time Perseus had grown into a particularly strong and brave young man, and Polydectes was afraid of him. He therefore formed a plan to get him out of his 27 Translation by John Addington Svmonds. Stories of Argos 203 way. Inviting a number of young men to a feast, he asked them each to bring him some valu- able gift. Perseus impulsively declared that he was ready to attempt anything, even to getting the head of the gorgon Me du'sa, the most im- possible feat imaginable. Now Medusa had once been a beautiful maiden, who was over-proud of her beauty, and especially of her glorious hair. Fig. 61. Head of Medusa. When she dared to compare herself to Athena, the goddess avenged the insult by turning her hair into snakes and her face into so terrible a sight, with its great glaring eyes, and its huge mouth with protruding tongue, that any one who looked upon it was turned to stone. Polydectes caught at Perseus' offer, and while he demanded only a horse as a gift from each of the other young men, he insisted that nothing but this hor- 204 Greek and Roman Mythology rible head would be acceptable from him. One cannot wonder that Perseus was thrown into the depths of despair at the thought of this hopeless adventure. As he wandered along the shore, however, Hermes met him, urged him not to lose hope, and instructed him how he should accomplish the task. For his success three things were neces- sary, the helmet of Hades, which made its wearer invisible, the winged sandals, and the magic wal- let. These were in the care of the nymphs, and no one could tell him where these nymphs were except the Grae'ae, three extraordinary old women who had among them just one tooth and one great bright eye. Hermes, therefore, sent Perseus off under the guidance of Athena, to find these old women. The Grseae. But when Perseus came to them, the Grseae re- fused to tell him where the nymphs lived, and it was only when he adroitly seized the eye, as the old women passed it from one to another, that he compelled them to tell him what he wanted upon pain of being forever deprived of sight. Having thus found the nymphs and having re- ceived from them the helmet of Hades, the winged sandals, and the magic wallet, still under the guidance of Hermes and Athena the young hero flew far away to the west, where the stream of Ocean encircles the world. Here, by the Stories of Argos 205 shore, were sleeping the gorgons, Medusa and her two terrible and immortal sisters. Fig. 62. Perseus killing Medusa. Now the wise Athena had warned Perseus that The gorgon Medusa slain. he must not look directly at the gorgons, but must fly down from above, guiding himself by 2o6 Greek and Roman Mythology the reflection in his brightly polished shield. Perseus did exactly as he was told, and with one blow of his sharp sword severed Medusa's head from her body, and thrust it into the magic wal- let. But the two sisters were awakened by the hissing of the snakes, and as the hero flew away on the winged sandals, they pursued him and would certainly have caught him had not the hel- met of Hades made him invisible, turned On his return journey, Perseus came to the to stone. entrance of the Mediterranean Sea, where the giant Atlas ruled, rich in flocks and herds and proud of his Garden of the Hes per'i des, where grew trees of golden apples. Now Atlas had learned from an oracle that one day a son of Zeus would come who would rob him of the cher- ished golden fruit. When, therefore, Perseus came, announcing himself as the son of Zeus and demanding rest and a hospitable welcome, Atlas not only refused him but tried violently to drive him from his land. Perseus was no match for the giant in strength, but he drew from the wallet the terrible gorgon's head. Atlas was changed into a mountain ; his beard and hair became trees, and his bones, rocks ; his head towered high among the clouds, and the sky with all its stars rested upon his shoulders. This is the Mt. Atlas in Africa that still guards the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea, rising opposite Gibraltar. Stories of Argos 207 Next the hero came to the land of Ethiopia, where Cepheus and his wife Cas si o pe'a ruled. Because the queen had boasted that she was more beautiful than the ocean nymphs, Poseidon in Fig. 63. Atlas supporting the Heavens. anger had sent a terrible sea-monster to devastate the coast, and the oracle had pronounced that only by the sacrifice of the princess An drom'e da could the land be freed from this terror. So, when Perseus came flying by on his winged san- 208 Greek and Roman Mythology dais, he saw a lovely maiden chained to a rock and raising tearful eyes to heaven. He stopped, learned of the cruel sacrifice, and secured from Cepheus the promise that if he should kill the monster and free the maiden, he should have her as his wife. The sword that had severed Me- dusa's head from her body now put an end to Poseidon's monster, and the grateful parents re- ceived the conqueror as a worthy son-in-law. But while they were celebrating the wedding- feast, Phineus, to whom Andromeda's hand had been promised, but who had held back while the terrible sea-serpent threatened, rushed in with a strong band of followers and attempted to claim his bride and slay his courageous rival. Again Medusa's head was drawn out, and Phineus and his company were turned to stone, poiydectes During Perseus' absence Polydectes had be- turned to . \ stone. come more violent and tyrannical than ever, and Dictys and Danae had been compelled to take refuge at a shrine. Here they were when the hero returned in triumph to Seriphus. Polydec- tes was seated in the midst of his wicked court, assembled to witness the discomfiture of the foolish young man who had gone out on such an impossible adventure. Even when Perseus came before them and showed the wallet, the king re- fused to believe that it contained the dreadful head. As the company looked scornfully on him. the hero drew forth the head, and instantly Poly- Stories of Argos 209 dectes and his whole court became stone images. Dictys was made king of Seriphus, the gorgon's head was presented to Athena, on whose breast- plate, or aegis, it ever after appeared, and Per- seus, accompanied by his mother and his bride, returned to his native land of Argos. The hero's grandfather, Acrisius, had heard that his grandson was coming and had fled to an- other town to avoid his fate, but Perseus, inno- cent of any evil intention, followed him, wishing to persuade him to return. In an athletic con- test Perseus threw a discus, which, bounding aside, hit Acrisius on the foot, thus causing his death and bringing the fulfilment of the old prophecy. After this Perseus felt unwilling to succeed to the throne of his grandfather; he therefore effected an exchange with his cousin and became king of My cense and Tiryns. CHAPTER XII HERACLES (HERCULES) OF all the heroes, Her'a cles, better known bv birth. his Roman name, Her'cu les, was by far the most widely honored and the greatest, and the stories of his deeds of prowess are many. His mother was Ale me'na, a grandchild of Perseus, and a daughter of Elec'tryon, king of Mycenae. Her father married her to a famous warrior, Am- phi'tryon by name, who by accident killed his father-in-law and was forced with his wife to flee to Thebes. On one occasion when Amphi- tryon was away fighting, Zeus visited Alcmena in the form of her husband, and later, when twin sons were born to her, the one, Heracles, was declared to be Zeus's son, while the other was the son of Amphitryon. Hera's Now just before Heracles' birth Zeus had de- enuiity. clared in the assembly of the gods that a descend- ant of Perseus would soon be born who should rule mightily over Mycense. Hera, always jeal- ous of Zeus's children by other wives, plotted to foil his purpose. She extracted from him a promise that the child first born on a certain day axo Fig. 64. Heracles. Heracles (Hercules) 213 should be the ruler in that land. Having secured this, she retarded the birth of Heracles and brought his cousin Eu rys'theus first to the light. Nor did her jealous hatred end there, for through- out his life Heracles suffered labors and great unhappiness at her hands. His troubles and dangers began in his baby- Heracles t- J T? u* u TT i j u- Bangles the hood, ror one night when Heracles and his twin serpents, brother were ten months old, their mother had laid them side by side in their father's great curved shield, and rocking the shining cradle had hushed them to sleep : " Sleep, my babes, sleep sweetly and light ; sleep, brothers twain, goodly children. Heaven prosper your slumbering now and your awakening to-morrow." At midnight Hera sent two terrible serpents with evil gleam- ing eyes and poisonous fangs to kill Heracles. Then the babies awoke, and the mortal's son cried aloud and tried to slip from the cradle, but Her- acles gripped the poisonous serpents by the throats and strangled them with his baby hands. Alcmena heard the cry and called upon her hus- band to make haste and see what was wrong. Calling on his slaves to follow, Amphitryon sprang from his bed and rushed to the cradle. There was Heracles capering with joy and hold- ing out the strangled serpents for his father to see. His parents, appalled at the evil omen, con- sulted a seer as to what it might mean, and were told that their son was to be a mighty hero, who, 214 Greek and Roman Mythology after many labors, should go to share the life of the immortals. 28 educa c uon ^ Heracles, commonly known as Amphitry- on's son, grew strong and active ; from his father Fig. 65. Heracles strangling the Serpents. he learned to drive a chariot, from a son of Hermes all kinds of athletic games, and from a son of Apollo he learned music. This unfor- tunate tutor was the first to feel his pupil's power, for in a moment of rage the boy killed him with a blow of his lyre. Then Amphitryon sent him as Theocritus, Idyl XXIV. Heracles (Hercules) 215 to be brought up among the shepherds. It is told that once at cross-roads Heracles met two women, Duty and Pleasure, and that each asked him to take her as his guide. Notwithstanding the en- ticing offers Pleasure made him, the hero chose Duty and followed her through life. When he was grown, Heracles married the The Twelve Labors. daughter of the king of Thebes. But Hera, who Fig. 66. Five of Heracles' Labors. still hated Alcmena's son, sent a cursed madness upon him so that he threw his own children into the fire. Seeking purification from his crime, he left his country and his wife and journeyed to Delphi. The god commanded that he should serve his cousin Eurystheus and so make atone- ment. Thus, as Hera had planned, Zeus's son became the servant of Eurystheus, at whose bid- ding he performed twelve great labors. The 216 Greek and Roman Mythology number was twelve because Heracles is a sun-god, and the labors follow the course of the sun through the months, beginning near at hand in Argolis and ending in the lower world. (1) The A ferocious lion, whose lair was a cave in the Nemean i-ion. mountains of Argolis, was ravaging the country round. Eurystheus ordered Heracles to rid him of this terror. Finding that his arrows did not even pierce the beast's hide, Heracles finally caught him in his cave and strangled him; then he bore him back to Mycenae. But Eurystheus was so terrified by the sight of the dead lion that he ordered the hero never thereafter to enter the city, but to display his spoils outside the walls. The skin of the lion, impervious to all weapons, Heracles always afterwards wore. (2) The In the marsh of Lerna, also in Argolis, lived Lernean Hydra. the Hydra, a serpent with nine heads, and so poisonous that its touch or its foul breath caused death. This beast Heracles attacked with his sword, but finding that as he cut off one head two grew in its place, he ordered his nephew and faithful companion lo la'us, to burn each neck the instant he had severed the head. One head was immortal; this he buried under a stone. The Hydra seems to represent the malaria coming from a marsh, until it is dried up by the sun. <3j The The scene of the next three labors was Ar- ryman a First, Heracles caught a fierce wild boar in a net and brought it alive to Eurystheus, who Heracles (Hercules) 217 was so fearful of it that he jumped into a large jar and only peeped out at it over the rim. Next, a golden-horned doe, unlike most does (4) The very dangerous, had to be caught. Its brazen Doe. hoofs never knew fatigue, and it led Heracles a chase for a whole year before it was caught and brought to Mycenae. Near the Stvm pha'li an Lake lived huge birds (p) The * Stymphaliau with arrow-like feathers and mighty talons, who Birds. Fig. 67. Heracles killing the Hydra. used to snatch men and beasts and carry them away. At Athena's suggestion, Heracles aroused these birds with cymbals and then shot them with arrows which he had dipped in the Hydra's poison. His next task carried the hero to Elis, where (e> The he was sent to clean the stables of Au ge'as, which had not been cleaned in thirty years. This he ac- 218 Greek and Roman Mythology complished by turning the course of the river Al phe'us so that it flowed through the stables. King Augeas cheated him of the reward he had promised, and later, when he was free, Heracles took vengeance upon him and, at the same time, Fig. 68. Heracles carrying the Boar. established in Elis the Olympic Games in honor of his father Zeus. (7> The King Minos of Crete had been presented with a beautiful bull by Poseidon, but, as he refused to offer it in sacrifice, it had been driven mad and was a menace to the whole island. Heracles tamed the brute and rode it across the sea back to Greece. Later the bull escaped and went to Heracles (Hercules) 219 Marathon, where the hero Theseus finally killed it. Di o me'des was a son of Ares and ruled as (8) The king in the savage land of Thrace. He had marvelous horses whom he fed on the flesh of men. When Heracles attempted to capture these fierce beasts, the Thracians in great num- bers attacked him, but he and lolaiis drove them off and bore the horses back to Eurys- theus. Hip pol'y ta was at this time the queen of the Amazons, a warlike tribe of women that lived near the Etixine Sea. Ares had given her a girdle, and Eu- rystheus' daughter cov- eted it. When Hera- cles arrived at her court and asked for the gir- dle, Hippolyta was so struck by his strength and beauty that she would have given it him, had not Hera, unwilling that he should get off so easily, roused the other Amazons to at- (9) The Girdle of Hippolyta, Fig. 69. Amazon. 22O Greek and Roman Mythology tack him. Then Heracles, thinking that the queen had played him false, killed her. On his way home from this adventure, when he had come to Troy, he found the king La om'e don in great trouble. For when Poseidon and Apollo had built for him the walls of his city, he had failed to give them the reward he had promised. Poseidon had, therefore, sent a dreadful sea-mon- ster to ravage the coast, and nothing would free the city from this terror but that He si'o ne, Laomedon's daughter, should be offered to the monster. The maiden was waiting to be de- voured when Heracles came and agreed to kill the serpent in return for the gift of some won- derful horses that Laomedon had received from Zeus in payment for his stolen son, Gan'y mede. The incorrigible king cheated Heracles, too, and later paid for his dishonesty with his life, do) The His tenth labor called Heracles to the far west, where the sun sinks into the stream of Ocean. Here lived Ge'ry on, an extraordinary being with three bodies, six legs and six arms, and a pair of monstrous wings. He was very rich, and thousands of glorious red cattle fed on his land under the guard of an ever watchful dog and a strong herdsman. Heracles sailed thither in a golden bowl, which the sun had given him, using his lion's skin as a sail. As he passed through the straits that separate Europe from Africa, he landed and set up the Pillars of Hercules as a Heracles (Hercules) 221 monument of his feat. On arriving at the coun- try of Geryon he was attacked first by the dog and then by the herdsman, but he killed them both, and finally, after a terrific struggle, crushed Geryon himself and drove off the cattle. Just Fig. 70. Heracles in the bowl of the Sun. what route he took on his homeward way it is difficult to say, but he seems to have visited all the lands of western Europe and to have had many adventures and done many marvelous deeds. On the Aventine Hill, later a part of Rome, he met and killed the giant Cacus, who had stolen 222 Greek and Roman Mythology some of his cattle, dragging them off to his cave by the tails so that their tracks might mislead Heracles. But the other cattle lowed as they passed the cave, and the captives answered them, thus betraying the hiding-place. Approaching Greece from the north, at last he brought the cattle to Eurystheus, who sacrificed them to Hera, an Tho When Zeus had married Hera, she had pre- Apples of the Hesperides. sented him with some golden apples, which were kept up in the north near the land of the Hyper- boreans and were guarded by a dragon. To learn just where to find them Heracles must catch and hold Nereus, the Old Man of the Sea, who, like Proteus, had the power of changing his form. But whether he became a raging lion or a flame of fire or flowing water, Heracles held him fast and at length had his question answered. On his way he had various adventures, for in Libya he met the giant Antaeus, a son of Earth, who was accustomed to challenge all comers to wrestle with him. As every time he fell to earth he rose with redoubled strength, he had always been the victor, and a temple near by was adorned with the skulls of his victims. Heracles conquered him by holding him up in his arms, away from his mother Earth, until he crushed in his ribs. While the hero was sleeping after this combat, the Pygmies swarmed about him and tried to bury him alive in the sand, but he awoke and amused himself by picking them up and bundling Heracles (Hercules) 223 them into his lion's skin to carry home with him. In Egypt the king tried to sacrifice him, as he did all strangers, to Zeus, but Heracles burst his bonds and dashed out the brains of his captors. In the Caucasus Mountains he found and freed Prometheus, who for ages had been bound there for having disobeyed Zeus and given fire to men. (See p. 10. ) At last he came to the gar- den where the apples grew and there found Atlas holding up the heavens. (This would make it seem that the garden was in the west, but mytho- logical geography is sometimes hard to follow.) He persuaded Atlas to get the apples for him, taking the giant's burden while he was gone. Atlas returned with the apples but refused to take up his burden again, preferring to be the bearer of the apples to Eurystheus. Heracles, pretending to agree, asked him to take the heavens only for one moment while he put a cushion on his shoulder. The stupid giant was taken in, and, of course, once the transfer had been made, Heracles went on his way leaving Atlas to his old burden. 29 His twelfth and last labor took Heracles to o?> berus. the lower world. Here he was guided and as- sisted by Athena and Hermes, and with their help safely passed by the dangers of the way and 2a Cf. the story of Perseus turning Atlas to stone, p. 207; such inconsistencies are due to the independent develop- ment of the separate stories. 224 Greek and Roman Mythology came to the presence of King Pluto. The king agreed to let him take the three-headed watch- dog, Cerberus, if he could get him without using a weapon. This his great strength enabled him to do, and he took the dog to Mycenae. Cer- berus was afterwards returned to the lower world. The service Although his twelve labors were now ended, Heracles had no rest ; Hera's hate still pursued him. While he was staying with a certain king, he killed his host's son, out of resentment for an imagined injury, and because of this violation of hospitality he suffered from a painful illness. When he went to Delphi to ask how he might escape this trouble, Apollo refused to answer, whereupon Heracles stole the tripod and was about to set up an oracle of his own. Apollo hastened to defend his sacred shrine, and the combatants were parted only by a thunderbolt from Zeus. They thereupon swore loyal friend- ship with one another, and Apollo gave the hero an answer to his question. He might expiate his crime by having himself sold as a slave at public auction and giving the price to the family of the slain man. Om'pha le, Queen of Libya, having bought him, he served her faithfully for the allot- ted term. Part of the time he was fighting his mistress' enemies and keeping her country from harm, but most of the time he sat at her feet in womanish clothes, employed in spinning and weaving and other feminine tasks. Heracles (Hercules) 225 At the end of his term of service he turned his The destruc- tiom of Troy. attention to avenging himself on the faithless Laomedon. Assembling a force of men and ships he attacked Troy and took it, putting to the sword the king and all his sons except Priam. Him he made king in his father's place. On his return to Greece he married De jan i'ra, 5essus ra and after righting and conquering her former unwel- come lover, the river-god Ach e lo'us. Anchelous in the struggle took the form of a bull, and the horn which Heracles broke off was afterwards used as the horn of plenty or cornucopia. 30 After this victory again he was attacked by his madness and killed a boy at his father-in-law's court. Self -exiled, with his wife, he left the country, and starting again on his wanderings, came to a river where the centaur Nessus acted as ferry- man. When Nessus, after carrying Dejanira over on his back, attempted to run away with her, Heracles drew one of his poisoned arrows and shot him. Before he died he gave Dejanira a vial filled with his own blood, telling her that if her husband's love ever seemed to fail she should clip a robe in the blood and his love would be restored. Not long after this the hero undertook to pun- The death . , , . - , . , . of Heracles. ish a king who had once refused to give him his daughter in. marriage. He took the city and car- 30 Some say that the horn of plenty was the horn of the goat Amalthea; see p. 7. 226 Greek and Roman Mythology ried off the princess To le as his captive. Stop- ping on his way home to sacrifice to Zeus, he sent a messenger to get him a suitable garment to wear Fig. 71. Nessus running off with Dejanira. at the sacrifice. Then Dejanira, fearing that his love had turned from her to the captive lole, remembered the centaur's advice and sent him a robe that she had dipped in the blood. When Heracles (Hercules) 227 Heracles put it on, it clung to his body and ate into his flesh like fire. In his agony he threw the messenger that had brought the garment into the sea, and then, preferring death to such tor- ture, having ordered a great funeral-pyre to be raised on a mountain-top, he laid himself upon it and begged his friends to set fire to it. All re- fused to be responsible for the hero's death, until at length Phil oc te'tes, partly from pity and partly because of Heracles' offer of his famous bow and arrows, applied the torch. Amid columns of smoke, and thunder and lightning sent by Zeus to glorify the end of his son, the hero's spirit left the earth. Thereafter he was taken into Olympus and made a god, and Hera, relenting, gave him to wife her own daughter Hebe. His earthly wife Dejanira, in grief and remorse, killed her- self. Heracles was worshiped both as a hero and as The worship . . . , of Heracles. a god, and was called upon especially in the palestra and in all athletic contests. Young men regarded him as their special friend and helper. In Athens a temple was built in honor of Her- acles, the Warder off of Evil, in memory of his many good deeds to men, and in Rome, as Her- cules, he was worshiped as the Unconquered and the Defender. He is represented as a gigantic man of remarkable muscular development. His lion's skin hangs over his shoulder and his club is in his hand. CHAPTER XIII STORIES OF CRETE, SPARTA, CORINTH, AND I. STORIES OF CRETE Europa.3i n RQ'PA, the daughter of the Phoenician king, with her friends and companions was one day Fig. 72. Europa on the Bull. gathering flowers in the meadows by the sea- shore ; merrily they were filling their baskets with 31 Following Moschus, Idyl II. Stories of Crete 229 daffodils and lilies, violets and roses, contending who could gather the most. Looking down from his high heaven on the pretty group, Zeus marked the princess Europa in the midst, preeminent among her companions, just as Aphrodite is pre- eminent among the Graces. To see her was to desire her for his own, so he laid aside his scepter and his thunderbolt and put on the form of a white bull, a beautiful bull that had never felt the yoke nor drawn the plow. So he came into the flowery meadow, and the maidens did not fear him but gathered around him and began to stroke his snowy sides. At Europa's touch he lowed gently and beseechingly and kneeling down looked back at her with gentle, loving eyes as if to in- vite her to his broad white back. She spoke to her playmates and said : " Come, dear com- panions, let us ride on this bull's back, for he looks kind and mild, not at all like other bulls, and so like a man's is his understanding that he lacks only the power of speech." So she sat down smiling upon his back, and the others would have followed her, but suddenly the bull, having gained what he wanted, stood up and in all haste made for the sea. Then Europa stretched out her hands to her companions, crying aloud for help. But already they had reached the shore, and still the bull rushed on, right over the waves with hoofs un- wet. The Nereids rose from the waters and 230 Greek and Roman Mythology frolicked about them, riding on the dolphins; Poseidon, calming the waves, guided them on their watery path, and the Tritons, trumpeting on their long shells, sounded the marriage-hymn. Europa, holding with one hand to the horn of the bull and with the other holding up her long robe that it might not be wet with the waves, spoke to the bull : " Whither are you bearing me, O godlike bull? It is clear that you are a god, for none but a god could do this thing. Alas! why did I ever leave my father's house to follow you and to journey alone on such a strange sea-voyage ! " And the bull answered : " Take heart, dear maiden, and fear not the salt sea- waves, for I am Zeus himself, and it is love of you that has driven me to journey over the sea in the form of a bull. Soon Crete shall receive you, and the island that nourished me as an in- fant shall be your wedding-place, and there you shall bear me famous sons that shall rule as kings." Minos i, anii In Crete, then, Europa bore to Zeus three sons, of whom one, Minos, became king of the island, and by his just and enlightened rule brought civili- zation and prosperity to his country and extended its power over neighboring lands. After his death, in consideration of his righteousness and wisdom, he and his brother Rhadamanthus were made judges of the dead in the lower world. ( See p. 189.) Minos II, the grandson of this Minos, Fig- 73- Daedalus and Icarus. Stories of Crete 233 seems to have been of very different character ; for when, in answer to prayer, Poseidon had sent him from the sea a splendid white bull for sacri- fice, he offered to the gods an inferior animal and put the bull among his own herds. In punish- ment, Poseidon inspired in his wife an unholy passion for the bull, so that she left her home and followed the beast all over the island. From their union sprang the Minotaur, half bull and half man. During the reign of Minos there had arrived Daedalus, on his shores an exile from Athens, Dae'da lus, who was the most skilful artist and engineer of his time. When a safe place in which to confine the Minotaur was needed, Daedalus built the Laby- rinth, sc winding and complicated a structure that no man or beast once shut inside could ever find the exit. Notwithstanding this and other services the artist fell under the king's displeasure and was himself, with his son, imprisoned in the Labyrinth he had designed. Knowing no way of escape to be possible, he constructed for him- self and his son Ic'a rus wings and fastened them on with wax. Unfortunately, however, though Daedalus had warned his son not to fly too near the sun, Icarus forgot the injunction, and before he could be recalled the wax had melted, and the boy fell into the sea that from him was called the Icarian Sea, the part of the ygean between the Cyclades and Asia Minor. Daedalus himself Castor and Polydeuces. 234 Greek and Roman Mythology made good his escape to Italy and there dedicated his wings in a temple of Apollo. II. STORIES OF SPARTA The Di os cu'ri, Castor and his brother Pol y- deu'ces, the latter better known by his Roman r.arne, Pollux, were the local heroes of Sparta. Fig. 74. The Dioscuri (Ancient statues now set up be- fore the king's palace in Rome). Their mother Leda, whose mortal husband was the king Tyn da're us, had by him two children, Cly tem nes'tra, who became the wife of King Agamem'non of Mycenae, and Castor. But Zeus made love to Leda, taking upon himself Stories of Sparta 235 when he visited her the form of a swan, and to him she bore two other children, Helen, whose divine beauty brought about the Trojan War, and Polydeuces. Castor was famous as a trainer of horses, while Polydeuces was the great- est of all boxers. Between the two brothers there was so great a love that when the mortal's son, Castor, was killed, Polydeuces, immortal by virtue of his divine father, obtained permission to divide his immortality with his brother. Therefore on alternate days after their death the two were among the dead in Hades, and among the gods in heaven, where they are still visible as the bright stars, Castor and Pollux, in the constellation Gemini, or the Twins. They were patrons of sailors, to whom they appear as balls of fire upon the masts, giving promise of clear weather after a storm. 32 Among the Romans they received worship, and after the battle of Lake Regillus, fought between the Romans and the exiled Tarquins, they appeared in the Forum as two glorious youths on white horses and an- nounced to the Romans the victory of their armies. In their honor a temple was built on the spot where they had appeared. 33 32 This may perhaps be identified with the phenomenon known as St. Elmo's Fire. 33 Some say that it was Castor alone who appeared. 236 Greek and Roman Mythology III. STORIES OF CORINTH Sisyphus. Corinth, through its situation on the isthmus holding command of two seas, was from the be- ginning an important commercial city, and its people were known as clever business men able to outwit all comers. This reputation began with the founder of the city, Sis'yphus, who began his career by bargaining with the river-god A so'pus for the never- failing spring Pi re'ne, on the citadel of Corinth, in return for which he was to give the river-god information about his daughter, stolen by Zeus. In punishment for this interference with his plans, Zeus sent Death to take Sisyphus. Death himself, outwitted by the shrewd Corinthian, was caught, and while he was kept in chains, no one on earth could die. This state of things could not be allowed, and Ares succeeded in freeing Death and even in giv- ing Sisyphus over to him. Before he was haled off to the lower world, however, the king exacted in secret a promise from his wife that she would offer no funeral sacrifices. When Pluto com- plained bitterly of this neglect, Sisyphus, feigning righteous indignation, offered to see that his wife did the proper thing, if for the purpose he was allowed to return to the upper air. Permission was given, and once outside the gates of Hades the wily king refused to return, lived to a ripe old age and at last died a natural death. But Stories of Corinth 237 no one may cheat the gods and escape punishment, however clever he may be. In Hades Sisyphus was condemned eternally to roll a weighty stone up a hill, which ever, as it reached the top, rolled down again. Sisyphus' grandson Bel ler'o phon was of very different mold. In his youth he was forced into exile because he had unintentionally killed a man. Hoping to be purified he went to Tiryns, and here the wife of King Proe'tus fell in love with him, and when he would not respond to her love, Fig. 75. Chimaera. falsely accused him to her husband. Fearing di- vine anger if he himself killed a guest, Prcetus sent him to the king of Lycia, and with him a secret message asking to have him slain. The king of Lycia at first treated Bellerophon with generous hospitality, but when he had read the message he sent him off on the dangerous ad- 238 Greek and Roman Mythology venture of killing the Chi mae'ra. This beast had the fore part of a lion, the hinder part of a dragon, and in the middle the head of a goat, and breathed out fire from her nostrils. A seer consulted by Bellerophon told him that his suc- cess depended upon his catching and taming the winged horse Peg / a sus, and advised him to pass a night beside Athena's altar that he might secure the goddess' help. Pegasus was the offspring of Poseidon by Medusa, from whose neck he had sprung when Perseus cut off her head. Athena had given him to the Muses, and he had opened for them by a blow of his hoof the sacred spring of Hip po cre'ne on Mt. Hel'i con. While Bel- lerophon slept by her altar, Athena appeared to him and put into his hand a golden bridle, with which he easily caught Pegasus while he was drinking at the spring of Pirene. Mounted on the winged horse he flew down from above and killed the terrible Chirmera. The Lycian king sent him on other dangerous adventures and at last set an ambush to kill him. But when Bel- lerophon came out safe and victorious from all, the king, seeing that he was favored by the gods, gave him his daughter in marriage and half his kingdom as dowry. In time Bellerophon became so elated by his achievements that he challenged the immortal gods themselves, for he attempted to fly to Zeus's very dwelling on the winged horse. Zeus hurled a thunderbolt, and Bellero- Fig. 76. Bellerophon and Pegasus. Stories of ^Etolia 241 phon fell to earth maimed and blinded an ex- ample to the proud not to attempt flying too high. Pegasus came to the dwelling of Zeus and was given the honor of drawing the thunder-chariot. IV. THE CALYDONIAN BOAR HUNT During the time when the god-descended he- roes lived in Greece, several joint expeditions were undertaken by them. One of these was the Caly- donian boar hunt. Calydon was a town of yEto- lia ruled over by (Eneus, who was the first man of that part of Greece to learn of Dionysus the culture of the vine. He was married to Al the'a, who bore to him a son Mel e a'ger. When the boy was seven days old, the Fates told Althea that he would die when the log that was then burning on the hearth should be consumed. Hearing this Althea quenched the brand and put it away in a box. When Meleager had grown to be a young man, one harvest time his father (Eneus, offering sacri- fice of the first-fruits to all the other gods, passed over Artemis alone. In anger at this neglect the goddess sent into his country a great and ferocious boar, which laid waste all the country around. Meleager summoned the heroes from all parts of Greece, promising to him who killed the boar its hide as a gift of honor. It was a very distinguished company that assembled for the hunt: Castor and Polydeuces, from Lacedae- 242 Greek and Roman Mythology mon, Theseus, from Athens, and his friend Pi rith'o us, Jason, later the leader of the Argo- nauts, Am phi a ra'us of Argos, and many other famous heroes. When the huntress At a lan'ta, Fig. 77. Meleager. daughter of the king of Arcadia, joined their number, many were indignant that they should be expected to share the danger and glory of the enterprise with any woman, however strong, but Stories of ^Etolia 243 Meleager loved Atalanta and insisted upon her being received. (Eneus entertained the company for nine days, and on the tenth they started the hunt. Three of the number lost their lives before any one had even wounded the beast, and Atalanta was the first to strike him, shooting an arrow into his back. Then Amphiaraiis shot him in the eye, but it was Meleager who finally despatched him, piercing between his ribs. The hide, which be- longed to him by right, he gave to Atalanta. This mightily enraged some of the hunters, for they thought it unworthy that a woman should go off with the prize of honor for which so many men had striven ; therefore the two uncles of Mel- eager lay in wait for the maiden and took away the hide, declaring that it belonged to them if Meleager did not choose to keep it. Meleager killed his uncles and restored the hide to Atalanta. When the news of her brothers' murder at the hands of her son came to Althea's ears, she seized the brand from its box and threw it on the fire. As it consumed the vital strength left Meleager's body, and as it fell in ashes the spark of his life went out. Althea too late repented of her act of vengeance and took her own life. The weep- ing women about her were changed into birds. CHAPTER XIV STORIES OF ATTICA cecrops. THE Athenians were proud in their belief that their early kings were not, as were those of other Greek states, foreigners who had come to their shores, but true sons of Attica, born of its soil. The first king, Cecrops, who had been witness to Athena's victory in her contest with Poseidon for the city, was born, half man, half serpent, from the earth. Erectheus. Another earthborn king was E rec'theus, 34 whose form was wholly that of a serpent. At his birth Athena took him under her protection, and gave him in a basket into the care of the three daughters of Cecrops, enjoining them, un- der pain of her displeasure, not to seek to know what the basket contained. Curiosity was too strong for them, and when they saw the serpent lying in the basket, they were driven mad and leaped to death off the rock of the Acropolis. Athena then brought Erectheus up in her own temple and made him king of Athens. It was he that set up the sacred wooden image of the 34 The earthborn serpent was called by some Erecthonius, and his grandson, Erectheus. 244 Stories of Attica 245 goddess in her temple and instituted the Pan- athenaic Festival in her honor. At his death he was buried in the temple precinct and was after- wards worshiped with Athena in the Erectheum. O ri thy'ia, one of the daughters of Erectheus, onthyia and Boreas. was wooed by Bo're as, the northeast wind, but rejected his advances. One day he came upon her as she was carrying sacrifices for Athena on the Acropolis and bore her off to his wild north- ern kingdom of Thrace. Boreas still conscious of his kinship to the Athenians, served the Greeks well at the time of the battle of Thermopylae, when the Persian fleet was threatening the whole coast. The Delphic oracle ordered the Athenians to call upon their son-in-law for help, whereupon they prayed to Boreas, who answered by shatter- ing the Persian ships at Artemisium. Another daughter of Erectheus was Procris, cephaius and Procris. who was married to a young hunter named Ceph'a lus. Aurora, goddess of the dawn, loved Cephaius and stole him away, leaving Procris inconsolable. In her loneliness she took to hunt- ing with Artemis, from whom she received a dog that never grew tired and a javelin that never missed its mark. As Aurora could not make Cephaius forget his love for his wife, she finally sent him back, and he joyfully returned to his life as a hunter, receiving from his wife the won- derful dog and javelin. Unfortunately Procris, being of a jealous disposition and suspecting her 246 Greek and Roman Mythology husband of a love affair with Aura, the morning breeze, one day concealed herself in the bushes to spy on them. Cephalus, hearing a rustling in the underbrush, thought it some wild beast, hurled his unerring javelin, and killed his wife. irocne and Philomela. Fig. 78. Cephalus and the Dawn-Goddess. Procne and Phil o me'la were the daughters of another early king of Athens. The Thracian king Tereus had married Procne, but afterwards he fell in love with the sister, Philomela, and persuaded her to marry him by telling her that Procne was dead. To conceal this deed from his Stories of Attica 247 wife he cut out Philomela's tongue and impris- oned her in a hut in the woods. But she wove her story into the web of a robe and contrived to send it to her sister. At an opportunity of- fered by the celebration of the festival of Diony- sus, Procne visited the lonely hut and brought Philomela in disguise to her palace. The two sisters then wreaked on the faithless Tereus a horrible vengeance, for Procne killed her son It'y lus and served him up to his father at a feast. When Tereus pursued the murderesses and was about to kill them, the gods transformed the three into birds, Tereus into a tufted hoo-poe, Procne into a swallow, and Philomela into the nightingale who still pours out her mournful notes, grieving over the slaying of the boy Itylus. 35 As Heracles was the great hero of the Pelopon- Theseus, nesus, who freed all the country around from danger, so Theseus was the hero of Attica, who cleared the roads of giants and robbers and gave liberty and unity to the city of Athens. There was a question about his birth; some said that his father was Poseidon, and alleged as a proof of this that once when King Minos, to try the hero's divine birth, threw a ring into the sea, Theseus, diving in after it, returned with the ring and a golden crown given him by Amphi- 35 Some identify Procne with the nightingale and Philomela with the swallow. 248 Greek and Roman Mythology trite. It was more generally supposed, however, that his father was ^Egeus, the king of Athens, and his mother yEthra, daughter of the king of Trcezen. Before his son was born, ygeus left ^Ethra at Troezen, after placing his sword and sandals under a great rock with the instructions that the boy, so soon as he was strong enough to lift the stone and get them from under it, should be sent to Athens. Theseus frees Theseus grew up clever and courageous, and the roads of *iants. tall and strong as well, so that at sixteen he easily lifted the stone and joyfully set out for Athens. His mother and grandfather urged him to go by sea, for it was a short and comparatively safe voyage, but, wishing to emulate Heracles, he pre- ferred the perilous journey by land. On his way he met with six great adventures. First he came upon the giant Per i pha'tes, a son of Hephaestus, who brained all travelers with his iron club. Theseus overcame him and took his club. Next he met Sinis, who compelled every passer-by to help him bend down a tall pine tree and then, fastening the unfortunate by the head to the top of the tree, let it go suddenly. This fate Theseus inflicted on the giant himself. He killed a great sow that ravaged the country; some say this sow was really a woman whose foul manners earned her this name. His fourtl ^venture was with Sciron, a giant who kept watch on a narrow pass where the cliff falls abruptly into the sea. This Stories of Attica 249 giant forced all travelers to wash his feet, and when they knelt down to do so he gave them a kick that sent them into the waters below, where an enormous turtle swallowed them. Theseus gave the turtle a final feast on the giant himself. The next giant he met he overthrew in a wrestling match. Last of all he overcame Pro crus'tes, who pressed upon strangers the hospitality of his iron bed; but if they were too long, he cut them off, and if they were too short, he stretched them out to fit the bed. When he had reached Athens and had purified Theseus meet* himself in the river of all this slaughter, he en- ] tered the city. His long hair and his foreign appearance exciting the laughter of some build- ers, he took a cart that contained huge building blocks and tossed it lightly over the roof of a house. At the palace, although he did not dis- close his identity, his father's new wife, the sorceress Me de'a (see p. 279), recognized him and plotted his death. She persuaded /Egeus to invite him to a feast and offer him a cup of poisoned wine. As they feasted, however, The- seus drew his sword to cut a piece of meat, and his father, instantly recognizing the weapon, dashed the poisoned cup to the floor and sprang to embrace his son. In a rage of disappointed hate, Medea called her dragon-drawn chariot and flew away, ^geus now proclaimed Theseus as his heir. 250 Greek and Roman Mythology Theseus kills But the hero, thirsting for glory and adven- tbe Minotaur. J tnre, first went to Marathon, where he captured the bull that Heracles had brought from Crete, and then, when the time came around for seven young men and seven maidens to be sent as a tribute from Athens to King Minos of Crete (see p. 233), he offered himself as one of their num- ber, hoping to win their return. The tribute had come about in this way. King Minos' son had been killed by the Athenians, and Minos had be- sieged the city. The Athenians might have stood out against him and his army, but the gods sent a famine and pestilence upon them, and the oracle declared that the divine displeasure would not be appeased until they should accept whatever terms Minos offered. He demanded that every year seven boys and seven girls should be sent to Crete to be given to the Minotaur. When the ship bearing Theseus and the thirteen other vic- tims started out, it was equipped with a black sail, but Theseus promised his father that should he succeed in his adventure and kill the Minotaur, on the return voyage he would change the black sail for a white one. On their arrival in Crete King Minos' daughter A ri ad'ne fell in love with the hero at first sight and secretly gave him a ball of string to enable him to thread the mazes ' of the Labyrinth, and a sword to kill the Mino- taur. Having succeeded by this means in his difficult adventure, Theseus set sail for home, Stories of Attica 251 carrying with him on his ship his benefactress Ariadne. On the island of Naxos, however, he deserted his bride while she slept, some say because he loved some one else and wanted to get rid of her, others, because he was warned to leave her there to become the wife of Dionysus. Perhaps it was in requital of his faithlessness to Fig. 79. Theseus killing the Minotaur. Ariadne that the gods made him forget his promise to raise a white sail if he returned suc- cessful. For ^geus, having watched long from a high rock for the returning ship, thinking, when he saw the black sail, that his son was dead, threw himself from the rock and was killed. Theseus was recognized as king, and imme- j"L e8eus as diately set about instituting reforms. He gave Ath < 8 - 252 Greek and Roman Mythology up his absolute royal power, and after uniting in one state all the divisions of Attica, he made of it a free self-governing commonwealth. After this he started out again on a career of adven- Fig. 80. Theseus and the rescued Athenians. ture. Like Heracles he went to the Amazon?' country and from there carried off their queei: An ti'o pe. To recover her the Amazons be- sieged Athens, though Antiope herself had fallen Stories of Attica 253 so in love with Theseus that she fought by his side against her own people. The Amazons were driven off, but the queen was killed. Pi rith'o us. king of the Lapiths, having heard The battle of the Lapiths the fame of Theseus and, wishing to make trial and centaurs, of him, drove off some of his cattle. Theseus pursued him, but when they had come near to one another, each was so filled with admiration of the other's noble bearing and courage that by mutual consent they gave up all thought of fight- Fig. 81. Centaur and Lapith. ing and swore an oath of friendship. Soon after this Pirithous celebrated his wedding and invited Theseus to attend. The Centaurs, who were also guests, becoming inflamed with wine, attempted to steal the bride. In the battle that followed Theseus fought bravely by the side of his friend Pirithous and the Centaurs were driven off. 254 The theft of The two f riends were now fired by the am- Helen and prsephone. bition each to have a divine wife; Theseus, there- fore, carried off Helen, the beautiful daughter of Zeus and Leda. As she was not yet of mar- riageable age, he left her under the care of his mother, and before he returned to claim her, her two brothers, Castor and Polydeuces, rescued her and took her back to Sparta. Pirithoiis' attempt was yet more daring, for he induced Theseus to help him carry off Pluto's wife, Persephone. Not even Theseus was strong enough for this ad- venture, and the two heroes were caught and chained in the lower world. Theseus' adventures might have ended here had not the mighty Hera- cles, in his quest for Cerberus, found and freed him. On his return to Athens he found that his people had turned against him and accepted another as king. He therefore retired to the island of Scyros, and there met his death by be- ing thrown from a cliff. The Theseum. The Athenians said that at the battle of Mara- thon a glorious hero, whom they recognized as Theseus, appeared amongst them in full armor and led them on to victory, and after the war the oracle commanded that Theseus' bones should be brought from Scyros and given honorable burial at Athens. The Athenian leader Cimon carried out this command, and having brought the hero's remains home amid great rejoicings, interred them in the middle of the city and erected Stories of Attica 255 a temple in his honor. The wonderfully pre- served temple in Athens called the Theseum is, unfortunately, probably misnamed, and the true shrine of Theseus has disappeared. CHAPTER XV Cadmus' search for Europa. The founding of Tbebes. STORIES OF THEBES WHEN Europa had been carried off to Crete by Zeus in the form of a beautiful white bull, her father A ge'nor had ordered his sons to go out in search of their sister and not to return unless they found her. Cadmus, one of the sons, therefore, set out from Phoenicia and wandered for many years through the islands and coasts of the sea, until at last, despairing of success, he came to Delphi to consult the oracle. Apollo told him that the search was quite vain and com- manded him to follow a cow who would lead him to the spot where he was destined to found a new city. Hardly had Cadmus left the oracle when the cow appeared and going before him into Bceotia lay down near the place where later stood the citadel of Thebes. Wishing to make a sacrifice to his patron god- dess Athena, Cadmus sent his men to the spring of Ares, close at hand, to fetch water for the purification. The spring was guarded by a ter- rible dragon, himself a son of Ares, and no one of Cadmus' men returned to tell the tale. Puz- zled at the long delay, Cadmus went himself to 256 Stories of Thebes 257 the spring. There lay the bloody and mangled bodies of his companions, and over them threat- ened the huge triple jaws and three-forked Fig. 82. Cadmus and the Dragon. tongues of the dragon. At the bidding of Athena Cadmus killed the beast with a stone and sowed in the ground its huge teeth, from which sprang up a crop of armed men of more than 258 Greek and Roman Mythology human size and strength. Still at Athena's bid- ding, Cadmus threw a stone into their midst, whereupon they turned their weapons upon one another and fought on fiercely until only five were left. These five made peace with one an- other and with Cadmus and became under him the founders of the five great Theban families. To atone for the blood of Ares' sacred dragon slain by his hand, Cadmus had to serve the god for eight years. At the end of this time Athena made him king of the new city he had founded, and Zeus gave him as wife Harmo'nia, the daughter of Ares and Aphrodite. All the gods came down from Olympus to honor the wedding, and the Muses, led by Apollo, sang the marriage hymn. Cadmus gave to his bride a marvelous necklace; some say it was made for him by He- phaestus, and others that he received it from Europa, to whom it had been given by Zeus. Whatever was its origin, Harmonia's necklace always brought disaster to its owner ; indeed, not- withstanding the splendor of his marriage, an ill fate pursued Cadmus. Hoping to avoid his des- tiny, he left his city and settled in Illyria, but even there the resentment of Ares pursued him. At last, quite discouraged, he declared in bitter- ness that, since a serpent was so cherished and so faithfully avenged by the gods, he wished that he might be one. Immediately his wish was granted and Harmonia shared his fate. The Stories of Thebes 259 tombs of the hero and his wife were set up in the land of their exile and were guarded by their geniuses in the forms of serpents. Cadmus is credited with having introduced the alphabet into Greece from Phoenicia. The evil fate of Cadmus pursued his descend- The des- cendants of ants. One of his four daughters was Sem'e le, cadmus. the mother of Bacchus, who, as was told in the account of that god (see p. 165), was burned to ashes by the brightness of her lover Zeus. An- other was the mother of that unfortunate Actaeon who was torn to pieces by his own dogs. ( See p. 85.) A third became a votary of Bacchus and in her madness tore to pieces her own son Pen- theus. (See p. 168.) The fourth inflicted and suffered terrible woes through Hera's anger at her for taking care of Semele's child Bacchus. The curse laid upon the family of Cadmus n. the beacon light that was to tell the fall of Troy and the return of his conquering lord, announced that the fiery signal had been passed along and Agamemnon was at hand. Preparations were made for his honorable reception, and the citi- zens joyfully gathered to greet him. He came accompanied by those of his followers who still survived, and bringing with him as a slave, Priam's daughter Cassandra, to whom Apollo, because he loved her, had given the gift of proph- ecy, and because she rejected his love, had added the curse that her prophecies should never be believed. As the king in his chariot drew up be- fore the palace, the great doors opened, and Clytemnestra in festal robes came out to greet her lord and with feigned honor and affection led him within. The palace doors closed behind them. Then Cassandra, who had refused to leave the chariot, raised her prophetic voice in lamen- tation and unintelligible warning of coming trag- edy. All the bloody and unnatural crimes of 328 Greek and Roman Mythology that house rose before her, and she saw them about to be crowned by another yet more terri- ble. But none could understand her warnings; only when a great cry of agony rose from within those closed doors and was repeated again and again did her meaning become plain. Insolent in her vengeance, Clytemnestra threw wide the doors and displayed the body of her husband bleeding from the wounds she had inflicted as he stepped into the bath prepared to make him ready for the feast of his home-coming. Cas- sandra too met death at the hand of jealous Cly- temnestra. orestes The terrible law of retribution in those days avenges his . . father. required of a son to avenge his father, and Cly- temnestra and /Egisthus, knowing this, would have slaughtered Agamemnon's little son O res'tes had not his older sister E lec'tra sent him out of the country for safe-keeping. That Electra herself might never be in a position of influence to arouse a revolt against the murderers, she was compelled to become the wife of a humble serv- ant. She could only pray that the distant brother would return when the time came to fulfil his duty of vengeance. And when the time came and Orestes with his faithful friend Py'la des arrived, the brother and sister, meeting before their father's tomb were in full agreement about the duty before them. Egisthus and Clytemnes- tra were celebrating a religious feast when Ores- The Tragedy of Agamemnon 329 ies came upon them, and taking them unawares, killed them both. This revolting murder of a mother by her son, Orestes- madness and though done in accordance with the law of venge- purification, ance, brought defilement and the anger of the gods. The Eu men'i des, or Furies, the divine avengers of crime, pursued Orestes and drove him mad. He wandered from land to land, al- ways accompanied by his faithful friend Pylades, until at the god's command he came to the land of the Taurians to obtain the sacred image of the goddess Artemis. It was to this land that Iphi- genia had been carried by Artemis when she was saved by her at Aulis, and here she had lived ever since, serving as Artemis' priestess in her temple. In accordance with the barbarous cus- tom of this country all strangers who landed on their shores were offered in sacrifice to the god- dess, and it was to Iphigenia that the duty of this sacrifice fell. When Orestes and Pylades were about to be offered up, however, they be- came known to the priestess, and through her extraordinary power and influence they were en- abled to secure the sacred image of Artemis and escape unharmed, carrying Iphigenia with them. Even then, before Orestes could be purified of his crime, he was compelled to appear before the A re o'pa gus, the great Athenian court of jus- tice. Here the Eumenides acted as his accusers, and though he pleaded in defense Apollo's ap- 330 Greek and Roman Mythology proval of his act, the court was equally divided on the question. Athena cast the deciding vote for acquittal, the Eumenides left him, and the curse on the family of Pelops had run its course. CHAPTER XX THE LEGENDARY ORIGIN OF ROME THE Romans, tracing the history of their raq back beyond the times when events were recordec in history into the realm of tradition and myth, honored yE ne'as, the son of An chi'ses, by the goddess Venus, as the founder of their race. Throughout the Trojan War yEneas had proved himself one of the bravest and ablest leaders of the Trojan forces, standing next, perhaps, to Hector in general esteem. On the occasion of his single combat with Diomedes his goddess- mother had intervened to save his life; he had joined in the contest over Patroclus' body and had even stood to meet the invincible Achilles. So much we learn from Homer, but it is the Latin poet Vergil who narrates the full story of ^Eneas' deeds and wanderings, making him the central fig- ure in his great Roman national epic, the JEneid. On the night when, neglecting the wise coun- sels of Laocoon, the Trojans had drawn the taSuag Troy, wooden horse within their walls, the weary citi- zens, relieved of immediate anxiety by the ap- parent departure of the Greeks, had given them- selves up to much needed rest and sleep. ^Eneas' 33i 332 Greek and Roman Mythology rest was disturbed by the vision of his dead cousin Hector appearing before him, all bloody from the wounds he had received at Achilles' hands, and Fig. 97. Mneas Wounded. bidding him arouse himself and see the destruc- tion that had at last come upon Troy. Spring- ing up, the hero rushed to the roof of his house and from that point could see that the city was The Legendary Origin of Rome 333 already in the hands of its foes. Reckless of personal danger and caring little for his own life if he might yet bring some support to his falling city, he led a band of Trojans in one last desper- ate struggle. Driven from one point to another he came at last to Priam's palace and saw the old king lying slain before his household altar, his last son lying near him and his women huddled together in despair. But the fates decreed that /Eneas should not perish in burning Troy, but should live to found a new and greater city on the banks of Tiber. Venus appeared to her son, and " drawing aside the veil that dims mortal sight," showed him the gods directing the destruction of the city. Then yneas yielded and hurried at once to his home to save his own family. Bid- ding his father Anchises take up the images of the Penates or family gods, he took the old man upon his back, seized his little son As ca'ni us, or I u'lus, by the hand, and bidding his wife Cre- u'sa follow close behind, he made his way through the flames and confusion to a place of safety outside the walls. Not until he had passed the city gate did he discover that his wife was not following. In his distracted and hopeless search for her he met only her shade which came to tell him that the gods detained her on those shores and that it was their will that he should go on his way without her. Other Trojans who had escaped in the course of a few days joined 334 Greek and Roman Mythology the little group in their place of hiding between the mountains and the sea, and here they built and fitted out twelve ships on which the next spring they set sail. Then began a period of wandering almost as wanderings. 3 full of adventure as the nine years of Ulysses' seafaring. First the company landed in Thrace, where ^Eneas hoped to found a new city, but the strange portent of a bush which, when uprooted, dripped blood and spoke in the voice of Priam's murdered son Pol y dor'us 39 drove them to seek a more propitious land. They sailed to Delos to consult Apollo, and understanding a refer- ence of the oracle to an ancestral home as mean- ing Crete, whence, tradition held, their fore- fathers had gone to Troy, they made their way thither. While they were building the new city, a terrible pestilence fell upon them, blighting the grain and killing men and beasts. Then the Pe- nates warned /Eneas in a dream that the ancestral land Apollo prophesied was Hesperia, or Italy, whence, as legend told, Dardanus, the ancestor of the Trojans, had originally come. In pain and grief, but still hopeful, the diminished band started on their western voyage; but a terrible 39 During the war Priam had sent Polydorus, only a boy at the time, to seek protection with the king of Thrace, but when the news of the rail of Troy came to him, the king murdered his charge and seized the treasure that Priam had sent with him. The Legendary Origin of Rome 335 storm drove the ships out of their course to the island of the Strophades, haunted by those dread- ful Harpies which the Argonauts had met. While the exhausted sailors were feasting, these horrible bird-women swooped down and seized the food off the tables. Driven off by the men, they yet left despair behind them, for their leader prophesied a long and destructive voyage, and that finally the day should come when hunger would force the wanderers to eat their own tables. Leaving the Strophades the Trojans sailed north- ward along the coast of Epirus, passing Odys- seus' rocky island of Ithaca and the coast of the Phseacians, and landing finally in a harbor further up the coast. Here they were overjoyed to find a new city modeled on Troy and ruled over by Priam's prophetic son Hel'enus. Hector's wife Andromache, who at the fall of Troy had been given to Achilles' son Neoptolemus, was now liv- ing with Helenus as his wife. At the moment of the Trojans' landing she was occupied in of- fering a sacrifice at the empty tomb of her noble first husband. She and Helenus received their wandering countrymen with enthusiastic hospi- tality, and when ^Eneas felt that they must con- tinue on their divinely guided way, they loaded him with gifts, and after Helenus had warned him of the dangers that lay before him, they unwillingly let him go. Sailing westward they sighted Italy, but knowing that the towns of this 336 Greek and Roman Mythology part of south Italy were Greek they gave the coast a wide berth. As they neared Sicily they saw the cave of dreadful Scylla and the waters thrown high from the whirlpool of Charybdis, but, more fortunate than Ulysses, had no need to pass between. Not knowing the risk they ran, the sailors beached their ships on the south coast of Sicily near the cave of the Cyclops Polyphemus and came on shore to spend the night. But ^Etna belching forth flames and thundering in full erup- tion drove sleep away and kept the men in terri- fied suspense. At dawn a man, hairy, savage, and emaciated, came to them pitifully begging to be taken from this terrible island. He was a Greek, a companion of Ulysses, who had been left behind when those whom Ulysses' craft had saved from being devoured had made their hasty escape, but in the face of the savagery of the in- human Cyclops race-enmity was forgotten and the wretched Greek found refuge on the Trojan ships. They did not get away from the island without seeing Polyphemus and his brothers, however, for Polyphemus, coming down to the water to bathe his bloody eye-socket, heard the sound of their oars and bellowed aloud. The other Cyclopes heard him, and hurrying to the shore, stood there towering up like great trees and threatening the ship with destruction. On the further shore of Sicily a grief of which had not been forewarned awaited him; The Legendary Origin of Rome 339 his old father Anchises, who had nobly borne with him the hardships of these years of wander- ing, died and had to be given a grave in this for- eign soil. From Sicily it was but a short voy- age to the destined home in Italy, but when the ships had been launched and were well out at sea, Juno, still cherishing resentment against the hated Trojan race, persuaded ^Eolus, king of the winds, to let out conflicting blasts against the ships. Driven directly south, they finally sought shelter in an inlet on the coast of Africa where the new city of Carthage was building. yEneas, setting out with his faithful comrade A cha'tes to explore the neighborhood, was met by his mother Venus disguised as a huntress and by her was directed to the city. Though on the coast of Africa, Carthage was tained by a Phoenician city, founded by a Phoenician king's daughter, Dido, who with a large following had secretly departed from her native land after the murder of her husband by her wicked brother. She was well acquainted with the story of Troy, and the name of ^Eneas was familiar to her, so she welcomed the unfortunate strangers cordially and generously, and even urged them to share her new city and happy prospects. Venus had a hand in this extreme good-will shown her son, for she sent her powerful boy Cupid to take the form of little Ascanius and inspire in the wid- owed queen love for the noble stranger. Indeed 340 Greek and Roman Mythology ^Eneas, who, not unresponsive to the queen's ad- vances, had united with her in a secret marriage, might have been tempted to remain in Carthage, had not Jupiter sent Mercury to warn him against such an alliance and to remind him of his great destiny as founder of that Roman race that was to hold the world under its rule. So, obedient to the gods' will, the righteous tineas put behind him his personal feelings and also, from the human standpoint, all thought of grati- tude and honor towards his generous hostess and wife, and fixing his eyes only on the command of the fates, hastened to launch his ships and sail away. Then the unfortunate Dido, thus be- trayed by the goddess into a passionate and un- wise love, and by the god-fearing yEneas deserted while her passion still burned at its hottest, had a great pyre erected in the court of her palace, and mounting to the top, killed herself with the sword her faithless lover had left behind him, on her lips curses against her betrayer. As the Trojans sailed away towards their unknown fu- ture home, the sea behind them was lighted by the red flames of that tragic pyre. The burning But the ships came safely to Sicily, where kind of the ships. * J A ces'tes, the king of Trojan descent who ruled over that part of the island, received them hos- pitably. Here they stayed to offer sacrifices and hold the postponed funeral games in honor of Anchises. While the men were thus employed, The Legendary Origin of Rome 341 unrelenting Juno sent her messenger Iris down to tempt the Trojan women to burn the ships and thus thwart the fates and secure for them- selves an end of their wanderings and the settle- ment they longed for in Sicily. Some ships had been previously lost in the storm, now others were destroyed by fire, and too few were left to transport all the company to the land decreed by fate. Therefore the older and weaker men and the women, already regretting their rash act, were left behind with Acestes, and with his di- minished following /Eneas started on once more. For the final voyage Venus secured from Nep- tune favorable seas; yet one man was demanded as a sacrifice for his favor Pal i nu'rus, the skilful pilot, overcome with sleep, fell backward into the sea and was lost A point of land on the west coast of Italy, where his body came ashore, still retains his name. The friendly seer Helenus had told ^neas that The siby, before he could reach his future home and found a city he must visit the Sibyl of Cumse and through the help of the prophetess descend to the lower world and obtain his father's advice on his future course. Leaving his men on the shore a few miles from where Naples stands, ^neas sought the cave of the Sibyl. This cave with its hundred dark mouths, was near Avernus, a lake mysteriously formed from the waters of the lower world and not far from the cave that 342 Greek and Roman Mythology opened into Hades. Within it sat the Sibyl and uttered her prophecies when the god Apollo in- spired and took possession of her. After the sacrifice had been offered and ^neas had prayed for help, the Sibyl poured forth her prophetic warnings and promises : The Trojans shall come to the kingdom of Lavinium (Italy); dismiss this anxious care from your heart; but they will wish that they had not come. Wars, hor- rid wars, and the Tiber flowing with blood, I see. . . . Yet yield not to misfortune, but go boldly forward. Undaunted, ^Eneas only asked that the Sibyl should open to him the way to the lower world that he might go to see his father, penetrating, as those other sons of the gods, Hercules, The- seus, and Orpheus, had done, the fearful places of the deado The Sibyl answered: Easy is the descent to Avernus; day and night the gates of black Dis (Pluto) lie open, but to retrace your steps, and escape once more to the upper air, that is the toil, that is the difficult task. (JEneid, VI, 126 ff.) Yet it might be done if the hero could first find and pluck the golden branch that Proserpina claimed as her due offering. In the thick wood where the strange tree grew that one golden bough could hardly have been found had not Venus sent two doves to lead the way for her son. The Legendary Origin of Rome 343 After JEneas had offered the proper sacrifice of The r lower world. black sheep to the infernal deities, the Sibyl led him through a black cavern upon the gloomy road that led to the kingdom of Pluto. Here before the gates sat Grief and avenging Cares, pale Dis- ease and sad Old Age, Fear and evil Famine, and shameful Want, and Death's twin brother Sleep, and death-dealing War on the threshold. Here were the iron chambers of the Furies, and here was mad Discord, her snaky locks bound with bloody fillets. In the middle of the open space was a huge elm beneath whose leaves clung de- ceiving Dreams, and about were many other mon- strous forms, Centaurs, Scyllas, flaming Chimaera, Gorgons, and Harpies. Yet these were only un- bodied shades against which, the Sibyl warned the hero, his sword could have no effect. Be- low this place seethed black Acheron, where the foul ferryman Charon waited with his frail skiff. About the bank crowded the shades of the dead whose funeral rites had been left undone, " as many as the leaves that fall in the woods in autumn at the first touch of frost." But the ferryman refused them all and sent them away to wander vainly about the shore until a hun- dred years should pass; then they win a passage to the sunless shore beyond. Here Palinurus greeted ^neas and begged him, when he re- turned to the upper air, to seek his body on the 344 Greek and Roman Mythology shore and give him proper burial. Charon at first refused to accept a living man in his little boat, but the word of the Sibyl and the sight of the golden bough overcame his unwillingness, and he turned out his ghostly passengers to make room for the hero, and so set him across the stream. A honey-cake thrown by the Sibyl paci- fied three-headed Cerberus. Then his guide led ^neas through the places of the dead. First they passed those who had died in infancy and those who had suffered death on false accusa- tions; next were those who had taken their own lives, and the Fields of Mourning inhabited by unhappy lovers, and among these the hero recog- nized unfortunate Dido, fresh from the funeral pyre she herself had built. He would have stopped to talk with her and excuse to the shade his desertion of the living woman, but she si- lently turned from him and glided away, to re- join her first husband. Proceeding they came to where thronged the great warriors. The Greeks fled before the Trojan hero, but his friends and countrymen stayed to speak with him and ask of the world they had left. Then they came to the fiery river Phlegethon, encircling the ada- mantine walls of Tartarus, guarded by the Furies. From here arose groans and the sound of blows and the clank of iron chains. In the pit below writhed the Titans and the rebellious giants and those who had sinned against the gods or had The Legendary Origin of Rome 345 been guilty of unnatural crimes. Into this deep hell yEneas could not look, but the Sibyl told him of it as they passed by. In contrast to the fiery tortures of Tartarus the Elysian Fields spread before them, lighted by their own sun and stars, and bathed in a generous air and rosy light. Here the great heroes, children of the gods, contended in games, or joined in the song and choral dance. Here were the great founders of the Trojan race, Ilus, Dardanus, and others. Afar off in a green secluded valley of this realm at last ^neas met Anchises, reviewing the long line of souls who, having stayed the allotted time in the lower world and having drunk forgetful- ness from the stream of Lethe, were ready to return in other bodies to the upper air as the descendants of ^Eneas, the glorious Roman race, Romulus who was to found Rome; all the seven Roman kings, and the great governors and gen- erals who should make of Rome a world em- pire, all up to Augustus, in whose time Vergil wrote his great poem. When Anchises had shown his son all the future glories of their race, and warned him of the hardships that yet lay before him, he brought him to the Gates of Dreams. Through the gate of horn pass dreams that are to be fulfilled ; through that of ivory, those sent to deceive mortals. From hence ^neas proceeded to the world above. 346 Greek and Roman Mythology The landing Sailing up the west coast of Italy, the Tro- in Italy. J ' jans finally beached their ships near where the Tiber, yellow with the sand it washes down, empties into the sea. When they had landed and prepared a hasty meal, their hunger led them to devour not only the food intended for them but the flat cakes of bread on which the food had been laid out. Seeing this, young Ascanius cried: "See, we are eating our tables!" So /Eneas, recognizing that the prophecy of the Harpy was thus harmlessly fulfilled and that the land granted them by fate had at last been reached, gave thanks and worshiped the divini- ties of the place. The king of this part of the country was La ti'nus, whose daughter La vin'i a was sought as wife by the king of a neighbor- ing tribe, Turnus by name. Though the parents of the girl would have been glad to have this prince as a son-in-law, the gods had warned them against the marriage, since a hero from over the sea was to have her as wife and by her raise up a race that should rule the world. When, therefore, /Eneas sent messengers to Latinus, the king recognized his destined son-in-law in the stranger, and readily formed an alliance and of- fered him his daughter in marriage. But Juno, still implacable towards /Eneas, sent one of the Furies to rouse Turnus and Latinus' queen against the Trojans. Moreover she made trouble be- tween the newcomers and some Latin herdsmen. The Legendary Origin of Rome 347 and finally threw open the gates of Janus' temple and roused all the country in war. 40 By night Father Tiber, the river-god, rose from his stream, and speaking to the sleeping yEneas, bade him proceed up the river to where the good king Evan'der had his palace. With willing obe- dience YEneas made his way up the stream until at noon he came to Evanders settlement, its humble roofs clustered among the seven hills that later bore the massive buildings of imperial Rome. Fitly entertained by Evander on the spot later to be made glorious by his descendants, /Eneas formed a compact of mutual help with the king, and on his new ally's advice proceeded thence northward to Etruria to draw into his alliance an Etruscan king who was already a bitter en- emy of Turnus. Thus reinforced, yEneas re- turned at last to his camp by the Tiber to find a fierce battle in progress. Notwithstanding the superior numbers of the enemy and the brave deeds of Turnus and his allies, the Trojans were victorious, and Turnus died at yEneas' hand. At this point Vergil's story closes, but we know that Lavinia became /Eneas' wife and that in her honor he named the town that he founded La- vinium. yEneas' son Ascanius, or lulus, founded Alba and Remu 40 Janus was the Roman god of beginnings. In time of war the gates of his temple were opened ; in time of peace, closed. 348 Greek and Roman Mythology Longa on the slope of the Alban Mount, and here his descendants continued to rule after his death. The last of the line to hold the 'throne was Nu'mi'tor, whose younger brother A mu'li us wickedly supplanted him, and to preserve his own power, put to death Numitor's only son, and consecrated his daughter Rhea Silvia to the service of the goddess Vesta as a Vestal Virgin. But the virgin was loved by the war-god Mars and by him became the mother of twin sons. When Amulius, persisting in his wicked designs, ordered the babies to be drowned in the river, the trough that held them was carried down the stream into the Tiber, and by the guidance of the gods was washed high up on the bank and left by the retreating waters under a fig tree on the Palatine Hill. A she-wolf, wandering that way, was attracted by the babies' cries, and adopt- ing them as her own whelps, nourished them with her milk. It is said that a wood-pecker, a bird sacred to Mars, also brought the babies food in her beak. After some time a kindly shepherd came upon the little savages and took them home to his hut on the Palatine Hill. As they grew, the twins, called by their foster-parents Romulus and Remus, became the acknowledged leaders of all the young shepherds about and fought against many wild beasts and robbers. After a quarrel with some herdsmen of Numitor Remus was taken before his grandfather and was recognized by him The Legendary Origin of Rome 349 as his daughter's child. Amulius met at the young men's hands the death he deserved, and Numitor was restored to his kingdom. But Romulus and Remus, having a particular affec- tion for the hills where they had lived as boys, put themselves at the head of a band of young men and set out to found a new city on the banks of the Tiber. A dispute arising between the two Fig. 99. The wolf with Romulus and Remus. as to whether the Palatine or the Aventine Hill was the more favorable site, they agreed to leave the matter to be decided by the gods. To Remus, looking for the divine sanction on the Aventine, appeared six vultures, but when he would have claimed the decision in his favor, Romulus on the Palatine reported the flight of twelve vultures. Disappointed in his hopes and wishing to show his contempt for his successful brother's plans, 350 Greek and Roman Mythology Remus mockingly leaped over the wall Romulus was building. Romulus in a rage killed him on the spot. The new settlement was soon enlarged by the people from the country around, who were gladly afforded refuge there from enemies and a hospitable reception. Only wives were lack- ing. To supply this deficiency, when he had vainly tried more peaceful methods, Romulus adopted a somewhat treacherous device. Under pretense of celebrating sacred games, he invited his neighbors, the Latins and Sabines, to visit his city with their wives and daughters, and when the visitors were off their guard, the young Ro- mans seized the Sabine women and drove the men away with violence. After some time the Sa- bines returned in force to recover their women, and a bloody battle was fought in what was after- wards the Roman Forum. In the midst of the fight the Sabine women, whose affections had been won by their violent young captors, but who still were anxious for the safety of their rela- tives, rushed between the combatants and effected a reconciliation. The Sabines were now given a settlement on the Capitoline and Quirinal Hills, and the two races united in one state with a com- mon meeting-place in the Forum, the valley be- tween their respective settlements. Through the wise and strong rule of Romulus the new city grew rapidly, and successful wars were carried on against hostile neighbors. One day when the The Legendary Origin of Rome 351 king was reviewing his army in the Campus Martius, or Field of Mars, outside the city walls, an eclipse of the sun, accompanied by a terrific storm, darkened the heavens and threw the as- semblage into a panic. As the men dispersed, Mars descended in a fiery chariot and carried his son Romulus off to heaven. After this his peo- ple worshiped the deified Romulus under the name of Qui ri'nus, and side by side with the tem- ples of their other gods, religiously preserved the little straw hut he had occupied as a shep- herd. The stories of Romulus's six successors in the kingship, full of interest and adventure, belong rather to the legendary history of Rome than to mythology. APPENDICES APPENDICES APPENDIX A Notes on the Pronunciation of Greek and Latin Proper Names. I. Accent. (1) The last syllable (ultima) is never accented. (2) The next to the last syllable (penult) is accented when it contains a long vowel or a diphthong or when its vowel is followed by two or more consonants or by x or z, e.g., A the'na, He phaes'tus, Min er'va. (3) If the penult is not long, the accent falls on the third syllable from the end (antepenult), e.g., Ju'pi ter, Ni'o be. II. Consonants. (1) Ch is pronounced like k. (2) C is soft before e, i, y, a, ce; elsewhere it is hard. III. Vowels. (1) The vowel e is long in the terminations c and es. (2) The vowel e is long before the terminations a and us. (3) The diphthongs a and ce are pronounced like e. 356 Appendices APPENDIX B A Brief List of Poems and Dramas Based on the Myths. Chapter I. The World of the Myths. Keats, Hyperion; ^Eschylus, Prometheus Bound (translation in Everyman's Library) ; Mrs. E. B. Browning, Prometheus Bound; Shelley, Prometheus Unbound; Byron, Prometheus; Robert Bridges, Prometheus; J. R. Lowell, Prometheus; H. W. Long- fellow, Prometheus and Epimetheus; D. G. Rossetti, Pandora; H. W. Longfellow's Masque of Pandora; Account of the Four Ages and the Flood in Ovid's Metamorphoses I. 89-415 (translation in Bohn's Libraries'). Chapter II. The Gods of Olympus: Zeus. Dean Swift, Baucis and Philemon, imitated from the Eighth Book of Ovid, Metamorphoses (a burlesque), in the Scott-Saintsbury edition of Swift's Works; Ovid, Metamorphoses I. 583 ff., II. 410 ff., VIII. 620 ff. (translation in Bohn's Libraries}. Chapter III. Hera, Athena, Hephaestus. Thomas Moore, The Fall of Hebe; J. R. Lowell, Hebe; John Ruskin, The Queen of the Air (lectures) ; Milton, Paradise Lost I. 740 ff. ; Ovid, Metamorphoses VI. i ff. (translation in Bohn's Libraries'). Chapter IV. Apollo and Artemis. Keats, Hymn to Apollo; Shelley, Hymn of Apollo, Homer's Hymn to the Sun; A. C. Swinburne, The Last Oracle, Delphic Hymn to Apollo; Stephen Phillips, Marpessa; W. S. Landor, Niobe; Chaucer, Prolog of Appendices 357 the Legend of Good Women; W. Morris, The Love of Alcestis; R. Browning, Apollo and the Fates, Balaus- t ion's Adventure; Euripides, Alcestis (translation in Everyman's Library) ; Ovid, Metamorphoses I. 452 ff., X. 162 ff., VI. 146 ff., I. 748 ff.; Shelley, Homer's Hymn to the Moon, Arethnsa; A. H. Clough, Action; John Lyly, Endymion; Keats, Endymion; J. R. Lowell, Endymion; H. W. Longfellow, Endymion, Occupation of Orion; Ovid, Metamorphoses V. 577 ff., III. 138 ff. Chapter V. Hermes and Hestia. Shelley, Homer's Hymn to Mercury. Chapter VI. Ares and Aphrodite. Chaucer, The Compleynt of Mars, Legend of Thisbe (in The Legend of Good Women); Shake- speare, Venus' and Adonis, Midsummer Night's Dream; Shelley, Homer's Hymn to Venus; Keats, Sonnet On a Picture of Leander; Byron, Poem written after swimming from Sestos to Abydos; Thomas Moore, Hero and Leander; Tom Hood, Hero and Leander; Tennyson, Hero to Leander; Sir Edwin Arnold, Hero and Leander; Leigh Hunt, Hero and Leander; D. G. Rossetti, Sonnets, Venus Verticordia, Venus Vicirix, Hero's Lamp (in The House of Life) ; W. S. Landor, Hippomenes and Atalanta; W. Morris, Pygmalion and the Image, Atalanta' s Race (in The Earthly Paradise} : Andrew Lang, The New Pygmalion: Theocritus, Idyl XV.; Bion, Idyl I. (translations in Bohn's Libraries and in The Loeb Classical Library) ; Ovid, Metamor- phoses X. 560 ff., IV. 55 ff. Chapter VII. The Lesser Deities of Olympus. Mrs. E. B. Browning, Paraphrases on Apuleius; Keats, Ode to Psyche; A. C. Swinburne, Eros; W. 358 Appendices Morris, Cupid and Psyche (in The Earthly Paradise) ; Spenser, The Tears of the Muses. Chapter VIII. The Gods of the Sea. D. G. Rossetti, A Sea-Spell; J. R. Lowell, The Sirens. Chapter IX. The Gods of the Earth. Shelley, Homer's Hymn to the Earth, Song of Proserpine, Hymn of Pan; Pan, Echo, and t'~e Satyr; Tennyson, Demeter and Persephone; A. C. Swinburne, Hymn to Proserpine, At Eleusis, Pan and Thalasslus; D. G. Rossetti, Proserpine; Mrs. E. B. Browning, Bacchus and Ariadne (paraphrase on Nonnus), The Dead Pan; R. W. Emerson, Bacchus; W. S. Landor, Cupid and Pan; R. Browning, Pan and Luna; Ovid, Metamorphoses V. 341 ff. Chapter X. The World of the Dead. Dante, The Divine Comedy; Milton, Paradise Lost; Sackville, Induction to the Mirror for Magistrates; L. Morris, The Epic of Hades; A. C. Swinburne, The Garden of Proserpine, Eurydice; A. Lang, The For- tunate Islands; W. Morris, The Earthly Paradise; Shelley, Orpheus; Wordsworth, The Power of Music; R. Browning, Eurydice to Orpheus, Ixion; J. R. Lowell, Eurydice. Chapter XI. Stories of Argos. Chaucer, The Legend of Hypermnestra (in The Legend of Good Women") ; W. Morris, The Doom of King Acrisius (in The Earthly Paradise) ; D. G. Rossetti, Aspecta Medusa; Ovid, Metamorphoses IV. 6ioff. Appendices 359 Chapter XII. Heracles. W. Morris, The Golden Apples (in The Earthly Paradise) ; Theocritus, Idyl X. (translation in Bohn's Libraries and in The Locb Classical Library). Chapter XIII. Stories of Crete, Sparta, Corinth, and Shelley, Homer's Hymn to Castor and Pollux; Macaulay, The Battle of Lake Regillus; H. W. Long- fellow, Pegasus in Pound; W. Morris, Bcllerophon in Argos and Lycia (in The Earthly Paradise) ; G. Meredith, Bcllerophon; A. C. Swinburne, Atalanta in Calydon; Moschus, Idyl II (translations in Bohn's Libraries and in The Loeb Classical Library) ; Ovid, Metamorphoses II. 833 ff., VIII. 183 ff., VIII. 260 ff. Chapter XIV. Stories of Attica. Chaucer, The Legend of Philomela, and The Legend of Ariadne (in The Legend of Good Women), The Knight's Tale (in The Canterbury Tales) ; A. C. Swin- burne, Erectheus, Itylus; Thomas Moore, Cephalus and Procris; M. Arnold, Philomela. Chapter XV. Stories of Thebes. A. C. Swinburne, Tiresias; Tennyson, Tiresias; Shelley, Szvellfoot the Tyrant; Sophocles, CEdipus Tyrannus, CEdipus Coloneus, Antigone (translations in Everyman's Library). Chapter XVI. The Argonautic Expedition. Chaucer, The Legend of Hypsipyle and Medea (in The Legend of Good Women) ; W. Morris, The Life and Death of Jason; Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 360 Appendices (translation in The Loeb Classical Library') ; Theo- critus, Id\l XIII. (translation in Bohn's Libraries and in The Loeb Classical Library) ; Euripides, Medea (translation in Everyman's Library). Chapter XVII. The Trojan War. Chaucer, Troilus and Criseyde; Shakespeare, Troi- hts and Cressida; Keats, Sonnet on Chapman's Homer; Tennyson, (Enone, Dream of Fair Women; W. S. Landor, The Death of Paris and (Enone, Menelaiis and Helen, Iphigenia and Agamemnon, Shades of Iphigenic and Agamemnon; A. Lang, Helen of Troy, The Shade of Helen, Translation of Theocritus, Idyl XVIII.; Mrs. E. B. Browning, Hector and Andromache (a para- phrase of Homer) ; W. Morris, The Death of Paris (in The Earthly Paradise) ; Wordsworth, Laodamia; M. Arnold, Palladium; D. G. Rossetti, Cassandra; Schiller, Cassandra (translation by Lord Lytton) ; Goethe, Iphigenia in Tauris (translation in Bohn's Libraries) ; Sophocles, Aja-x, Philoctetes; Euripides, Iphigenia at Aulis, Iphigenia Among the Taurians, Hecuba, Trojan Women, Andromache. Chapter XVIII. The Wanderings of Odysseus. Tennyson, Ulysses, The Lotns-Eaters; W. S. Landor, The Last of Ulysses, Penelope; Stephen Phillips, Ulysses; M. Arnold, The Strayed Reveller; D. G. Ros- setti, The Wine of Circe; J. R. Lowell, The Sirens; Shelley, The Cyclops (translation from Euripides) ; Milton, Comns (inspired by the story of Circe) ; Pope, Argus; Theocritus, Idyl XI (translation in The Loeb Classical Library). A. Lang, Hesperothen, The Odys* sey, The Sirens, In Ithaca. Appendices 361 Chapter XIX. The Tragedy of Agamemnon. yEschylus, Agamemnon Choephori, Enmenides; Sophocles, Electra; Euripides, Electro, Orestes; Iphigenia in Tauris (translation in Everyman's Li- brary). Chapter XX. The Legendary Origin of Rome. Chaucer, The Legend of Dido (in The Legend of Good Women} ; Christopher Marlowe, The Tragedy of Dido. FOR GENERAL READING: The Iliad (trans- lation by Lang, Leaf and Myers) ; The Odyssey (translation by Butcher and Lang) ; The Homeric Hymns (translation in The Loeb Classical Li- brary} ; translations of the tragedies of JEschylus, Sophocles and Euripides in Everyman's Library; Ovid, Metamorphoses (translations in Bohn's Li- braries and in The Loeb Classical Library}. FOR YOUNGER STUDENTS : A. C. Church, Stories from Homer; Stories from the Greek Tra- gedians; Stories from Virgil. These are excellent reading and retain remarkably well the spirit of the originals. Charles Kingsley, The Heroes. INDEX Ages'tes, 340 A cha'tes, 339 Ach e lo'us, 225 A'cheron, 187, 311, 343 A chil'les, 186, 280. 283, 288f . A cris'i us, 200, 209 Actae'on, 85 f. Ad me'tus, 7/f. Ado'nis, H3f. A dras'tus, 264 /E'acus, 189, 283 /Ee'tes, 267, 273 /E'geus, 248, 279 /Egi'na, 283 /E'gis, 44 /E gis'thus, 326f . yEgyp'tus, 199 /Ene'as, 280, 331!. yE'olus, 142, 309, 339 yEs cu la'pi us. See Asclep- ius yE'son, 267, 276 yE'ther, 5 yE'thra, 248 Agamem'non, 281, 287f., A ga've, daughter of Cad- mus and mother of Pen- theus. A ge'nor, 256 Ages, the Four, 12 A glai'a, one of the Graces. A'jax, 287, 294, 300 Alba Longa. 347 Alqes'tis, 7;f. Al cj'des, name of Heracles. Al gin'o us, king of the Phaeacians. Ale mae'on, one of the Epi- goni, son of Amphiaraus and Eriphyle, who, fol- lowing his father's injunc- tion, killed his mother, and who was, therefore, pursued by the Furies. Ale me'na, 210 A lec'to, one of the Furies Aloe'us, father of Otus and Ephialtes. Al phe'us, 84, 218 Al thae'a, 241 Am al the'a, 7 Am'a zons, 219, 252, 300 Am bro'sia, IQ Am'mon, an Egyptian deity identified with Zeus : he had a famous shrine in an oasis of the Libyan desert. Am phi a ra'us, 242, 264 Am phi'on, 26f. Am phi tri'te, 144, 148, 247 Am phit'ry on, 210 A mul'i us, 348 Anchi'ses, 331, 339, 345 An drom'a che, 298, 304, 335 An drom'eda, 207 An tae'us, 222 Antig'one, 363. 364 Anti'a, Proetus' wife, who 363 364 Index falsely accused Bellero- phon. An tin'o us, one of Penel- ope's suitors. An ti'o pe, 26f ., 252 Aphrodi'te, 106, logf., 286 Apol'lo, ssf., 92, 144, 181, 224, 272, 291, 296 Apple of Discord, 108, 285 A rach'ne, 46f. Ar'cas, 22 A re o'pa gus, 109, 329 A'res, 36, iosf., 256 Arethu'sa, 83f., 157 Ar'go, 269 Argonautic expedition, 269f. Ar'gus (hundred-eyed), 25 Ar'gus (builder of the Argo), 269 Ar'gus (Odysseus' dog), 323 Ariad'ne, 171, 250 Ar is tse'us, son of Apollo and father of Actaeon. It was when he was pursu- ing Eurydice that she stepped upon the serpent from whose sting she died. In punishment, his bees were destroyed by the nymphs. On the ad- vice of Proteus he offered animals in sacrifice to the shades of Orpheus and Eurydice, whereupon bees swarmed in the carcasses. He taught men to keep bees. Ar'temis, 69, 8of-, 241, 288 Asca'nius, 333, 347 Ascle'pius, 55, 74 A so'pus, 236 As sar'a cus, king of Troy, son of Tros. As ty'a nax, Hector's infant son. At a lan'ta in Caledon, 242 At a lan'ta's race, H5f. Ath'a mas, 266 Athe'na, 9, 4of., in, 203, 238, 297 At'las, 206, 223 A'treus, 282 A tri'des, sons of Atreus, Agamemnon and Mene- laus At'ropus, 141 Auge'as, 217 Au'lis, 288 Au'ra, 246 Au ro'ra, 71, 245 Au to'me don, charioteer of Achilles Aver'nus, 187, 341 Bac'cha na'li a, 171 Bacchan'tes, 167, 173, 192 Bac'chus, see Dionysus Bau'qis, 28f. Bear, the Great, 24 Bel ler'o phon, 237 Bel lo'na, 109 Be re cyn'thi a, Cybele, from Mt. Berecynthus in Phry- gia Ber'oe, 165 Bona Dea, divinity wor- shiped in secret by women in Rome Bo'reas, 142, 245, 271 Bos'pho rus, 26 Bri a're us, a hundred-hand- ed giant who aided Zeus [against the rebellious gods Bri se'is, 291 Bronze Age, 13 Index 365 Ca'cus, 221 Cad'mus, 256 Ca du'ge us, 97 Cal'chas, 291 Cal li'o pe, 139, 192 Cal lis'to, 22f. Cal y do'ni an boar, 241 f. Ca lyp'so, 316 Ca mil'la, a princess of Italy who assisted Turnus against ^Eneas Cas san'dra, 304, 327 Cas si o pe'a, 207 Cas 'tor, 234, 241, 254, 269 C,e'crops, 46, 244 Ce lae'no, one of the Harpies C.e'le us, king of Eleusis and father of Triptolemus C.en'taurs, 253 Ceph'alus, 245 C.e'pheus, 207 Cer'ber us, 188, 223, 254 C,e'res, 6, 165. See also Demeter. C,eryne'an doe, 217 C,estus, the girdle of Venus with power to enhance beauty C.e'yx. See Halcyone Cha'os, 5 Char'ites, 139 Cha'ron, 187, 343 Charyb'dis, 151, 314, 315, 336 Chi mae'ra, 238 Chi'ron, 267, 284 Chry se'is, 290 C. i co'ni ans, men with whom Odysseus fought early in his wanderings. C,im me'ri ans, 311 Cir'ge, 310 Cli'o, 139 Clo'tho, 141 Clym'e ne, 70 Cly tern nes'tra, 234, 326f . Cly'ti e, a water-nymph who loved Apollo and was changed into a sun-flower. Co qy'tus, 188, 311 Col'chis, 273 Co lo'nus, 263 Con'sus, a Roman god of agriculture. Co ro'nis, by Apollo, mother of Asclepius. Cor y ban'tes, 154 Cre'on, 263 Cretan bull, 218 Creu'sa, 333 Cro'nus, 6f., 12 Cu'mse, 187 Cupid, 123. See also Eros. Cu re'tes, 7 Cy'ane, 157 Cybele, 117, 153 C,yclo'pes, 5, 7, 189, 306, 336 Qyc'nus, son of Poseidon, Apollo, or Ares, who was turned into a swan. C.yn'thi a, name of Artemis derived from Mt. Cyn- thus in Delos, where she was born- Cypris, 114 Cyth er e'a, name of Aphro- dite, derived from Cyth- era, an island near the Peloponnese. Dae'dalus, 233 Dan'a e, 200 Dan'a ids, 190, 199 Dan'a us, 199 Daph'ne, 62f. Daph'nis, a son of Hermes who was made blind by 366 Index a jealous naiad. He was the ideal shepherd and musician. Dar'danus, 284, 334 Day, 5 De iph'o bus, son of Priam who married Helen at Paris' death. De jan i'ra, 225 De'los, 60 Del'phi, 3, 56, 62, 98, 215, 224, 262 Deme'ter, 6, 21, iS4f. Deu ca'li on, \<\i . Di an'a, go. See also Ar- temis. Dic'tys, 202, 208 Di'do, 339, 344 Diome'des, 287, 301 Di o me'des, horses of, 219 Di o'ne, 109 Di on y'si a, 171 Di on y'sus, i6sf. Di os cu'ri, 234 Di'rae, a name of the Furies. Dir'ge, 26f. Dis, name of Pluto or Hades Do do'na, 34, 269 Dreams, gates of, 345 Dry'ads, 184 E'cho, 185 Ei lei thy'ia, the goddess who aided women in child-birth. Elec'tra, 328 E lec'tra, one of the Pleiads E lec'try on, 210 Eleu'sis, 158 Eleusin'ian Mysteries, 15*8 Ely'sian Fields, 190, 345 En gel'a dus, one of the hundred-handed giants. En d/mi on, 87! E ny'o, goddess of war, companion of Ares. E'os, the dawn goddess. Epe'us, builder of the wooden horse. Eph i al'tes, one of the giants who piled Pelion on Ossa in order to reach the gods. Ep i dau'rus, 74 Ep ig'o ni, 265 Ep i me'theus, 12 Er'a to, 140 Er'e bus, 5 E rech'theus, 244 Er ich tho'ni us, 244 E rin'ys, the Furies E ri'phy le, 264 E'ris, in E'ros, 5, 106, 112, I22f., 273 Er y man'thi an boar, 216 E te'o cles, 264 E thi o'pi ans, 4 Eu mae'us, swineherd of Odysseus. Eu men'i des, 189, 329 Euphros'yne, one of the Graces. Eu ro'pa, 228f. Eu ry'a le , one of the gor- gons Eu ry cle'a, 323 Eu ryd'i ce, 192 Eu ryl'o chus, a companion of Odysseus Eu ryn'o me, mother of the Graces Eu rys'theus, 213 Eu ter'pe, 140 E vad'ne, wife of Capaneus, who, when her husband was killed in the siege of Thebes, threw herself on his funeral pyre. Index 367 Evan'der, 347 Fates, 140 Fau'nus, 180 Flood, 13 Furies, 344. See also Bu- rn enides Gaea, 5, 7, 8, 153 Galate'a (the Nereid), 149 Galate'a (wife of Pygma- lion), 118 Gan'y mede, 36, 220, 284 Garden of the Hes per'i des, 206 Gem'i ni, 235 Genius, the guardian spirit of each man, sometimes symbolized as a snake. Ge'ry on, 220 Giants, 5, 8 Glau'cus, a prophetic sea deity Golden Age, 12 Golden fleece, 266 Golden bough, 90 Gorgons, 203 Graces, 139 Grae'se, 204 Ha'des, 6, 8, 154, :87f., 204, Hse'mon, son of Creon of Thebes. See p. 265. Hal gy'o ne, daughter of ^Eolus who, when her husband perished in a shipwreck, drowned her- self. The two were changed into birds. Ham a dry'ads, 184 Har mo'ni a, 258, 264 Harpies, 150, 271, 335 He'be, 19, 36, 227 Hec'ate, 89, 274, 277 Hec'tor, 284, 292, 297, 332 Hec'u ba, 298 Helen, 112, 235, 254, 286 Hel'enus, 335 Hel'icon, 139, 238 He'lios, 55 Hel'le, 266 Hel'len, son of Deucalion and mythical ancestor of all the Hellenes or Greeks. Hellespont, 119, 267 Hem'er a, Day. See p. 5. Hephaes'tus, 36, 49f-, 106, 295 He'ra, 6, 20, 361., in, 210 Her'acles, n, 78f., 144, 2iof., 269 Her'cu les. See Heracles Her'mes, 25, 91 f., 187, 204 Her mi'o ne, daughter of Menelaus and Helen He'ro, 118 He si'o ne, 144, 220 Hes'per us, the evening star, father of the Hesperides Hes per'i des, 206, 222 Hes'tia, 6, 981. Hip po cre'ne, 238 Hip po da mi'a, 147 Hip pol'y ta, 219 Hip pol'y tus, son of The- seus by Antiope Hip pom'e nes, nsf. Horn of plenty, 225 Hours, 16, 59 Hy a cin'thus, 64f . Hy'a des, seven nymphs placed by Zeus in heaven as a constellation because of their care of the infant Dionysus. Hy'dra. See Lerncean 368 Index Hyge'a, daughter of As- clepius and goddess of health Hy'las, 270 Hy'men, god of marriage, son of Apollo and a Muse Hy per bo're ans, 4 Hy pe'ri on, a Titan, father of Helios and Selene Hy perm nes'tra, 199 Hyp'nos, the god of sleep Iac'cus( a name of Diony- sus I ap'e tus, a Titan, father of Prometheus, Epimetheus, and Atlas Ic'a rus, 233 Ida, Mt., in I 'das, 66 Il'i um (Troy), 284f. I'lus, 284 In'a chus, 24, 199 I'o, 24f., 199 I o'ba tes, king of Lycia who sent Bellerophon af- ter the Chimaera I o la'us, 216 I'o le, 226 I o'ni an Sea, 26 Iph'i cles, son of Amphi- tryon and Alcmena Iph i ge ni'a, 288, 329 I'ris, 39, 271, 294 Iron Age, 13 Islands of the Blest, 190 Is me'ne, 265 Ith'a ca, island home of Odysseus It'ylus, 247 I'tys, same as Itylus I u'lus. See Ascanius Ix i'on, 190 Ja'nus, 347 Ja'son, 242, 267f. Jo cas'ta, 259 Jove. See Jupiter Ju'no, 40, 339. See also Hera Ju'pi ter, 34. See also Zeus Ko're, name of Persephone Lab'da cus, father of Laius of Thebes Lab'y rinth, 233, 250 Lach'e sis, 141 La er'tes, father of Odys- seus Laes try go'ni ans, 309 Lai'us, 259 La oc'o on, 303 La od a mi'a, 290 Laom'edon, 144, 220, 225, 284 Lap'iths, 253 La'res, 101 Lati'nus, 346 Lat'mos, Mt., 87 La to'na. See Le to La vin'i a, 346 Le an'der, 118 Le'da, 234 Ler nae an hydra, 216 Le'the, 345 Le'to, 60, 67f. Leu coth'ea, Ino, wife of Athamas, became a sea nymph under this name. Li'ber, Italian divinity, later identified with Bacchus Li'ber a, Italian divinity, later identified with Pros- erpina Li'chas, attendant of Her- acles who brought him the poisoned garment. Index 369 Li'nus, a song of lamenta- tion personified as a son of Apollo Lotus-eaters, 305 Luna, the moon-goddess Ly ae'us, a name of Bacchus Ly cur'gus, king of Thrace who was killed for perse- cuting Bacchus Ly'cus, 26 Lyn'ceus, 199 Ma cha'on, son of Asclepius, the physician in the Iliad Mae'nads, 173 Mag'na Ma'ter. See Cybele Mai'a, 91 Ma'nes, souls of the dead, worshiped in Rome Mar'a thon, battle of, 254 Marathonian bull, 250 Marpes'sa, 66 Mars, 109. See also Ares Mar'syas, 181 Ma'ter Ma tu'ta, Italian god- dess identified with Leu- cothea or Aurora. Mede'a, 249, 273f. Me du'sa, 203, 238 Mel e a'ger, 241, 269 Mel pom'e ne, 139 Mem'non, 300 Men e la'us, 281, 286, 294, 321 Men'tor, friend and adviser of Odysseus Mer'cu ry, 97f . See also Hermes Mer'o pe, wife of Sisyphus Metis, " insight," Zeus's wife whom he swallowed before Athena's birth. Mi'das, 170, 181 Mi lan'i on. sometimes this name is given to the suitor of Atalanta Mi ner'va, 48. See also Athena Mi'nos, 189, 219, 230, 250 Min'o taur, 233, 250 Mne mos'y ne, 22, 139 Mu sa'ge tes, Apollo as lead- er of the Muses Muses, 22, 59, 139, 238 Myr'mi dons, 283, 293 Myr'ti lus, 147, 282 Mysteries, 158, 190 Nai'ads, 152', 184 Nar cis'sus, 185 Nau sic' a a, 317 Nectar, 19 Neme'an lion, 216 Ne'me sis, 141 Ne'mi, Lake, 90 Ne op tol'e mus, 301, 325 Neph'e le, mother of Phrix- us and Helle Nep'tune, 148. See also Poseidon Ne're ids, 148 Ne'reus, 144, 148, 222 Nes'sus, 225 Nes'tor, 287, 321 Night, 5 Ni'ke. See Victory Ni'o be, 66f. Nu'mi tor, 348 Nymphs, 151, i84f., 204 Nyx. See Night Ocean, 4 O ce'a nus, 143 O dys'seus, 150, 287, 300, 01 0f. 301, 30. CEd'ipus, 259! CE'neus, 241 CEn o ma'us, 147 Index CE no'ne, a nymph, wife of Paris Olympic games, 32f., 218 Olympic Council, 19, 122 Olympus, Mt-, 7, i6f. Om'pha le, 224 Oracle at Delphi. See Del- phi. Or'cus, the god of death and the place of the dead. See Hades O're ads, 184 O res'tes, 328 O ri'on, 88f. Or i thy'ia, 245 Or'pheus, 192, 269 Os'sa, Mt, in Thessaly. The giants tried to pile Pelion on Ossa in their attempt to overthrow the gods. O'tus, one of the giants Pte an, 62 Pa lae'mon, son of Athamas and Ino, who was turned into a sea deity. Pal a me'des, one of the Greek heroes who was driven to death by the enmity of Odysseus. Pa'les, Roman god of flocks Pal i nu'rus, 341, 343 Pal la'di um, 301 Pal'las. See Athena Pan, i73f. Pan di'on, father of Procne and Philomela Pando'ra, nf. Pan'dro sus, a daughter of Cecrops Par'c.ae, the Fates Par'is, in, 284, 286, 300, 301 Par nas'sus, Mt., 14, 56, 59, 139 Par'the non, 44 Par then o pae'us, son of Meleager and Atalanta, one of the Seven against Thebes. Pa siph'a e, wife of Minos and mother of the Mino- taur Pa tro'clus, 288, 293 Peg'a sus, 238 Pe'leus, in, 269, 283 Pe'li as, 267, 276 Pe li'des, " son of Peleus," Achilles Pe'li on, Mt. See Ossa Pe'lops, 147, 282 Pena'tes, 101, 334 Pe nel'o pe, 287, 320, 324 Pe ne'us, a river-god, father of Daphne Pen thes i le'a, 300 Pen'theus, 168 Per i pha'tes, 248 Per seph'o ne, 21, i54f., 189, 254 Per'seus, 2Oof. Phae a'ci ans, 317 Phae'dra, daughter of Minos and wife of Theseus Pha'e thon, 7of. Phi le'mon, 28f. Phil oc te'tes, 227, 301 Phil o me'la, 246 Phi'neus, 208, 271 Phleg'ethon, 188, 311, 344 Phoe'be, name of Artemis Phre'bus. See Apollo Pho'lus, a centaur whom Heracles accidentally killed. Phor'cys, a sea deity, father of Gorgons and Graeat Index 371 Phrix'us, 266 Pi er'i a, 139 Pi re'ne, 236 Pi rith'o us, 242, 253 Ple'ia des, 89 Plu'to. See Hades Plu'tus, god of wealth Pol'lux. See Polydeuces Pol'ybus, king of Corinth who adopted CEdipus Polydec'tes, 202, 208 Polydeu'ces, 234, 241, 254, 269 Pol y do'rus, 334 Po lym'ni a, 140 Pol y ni'ces, 264 Polyphe'mus, 149, 306, 336 Pol yx'e na, daughter of Priam, sacrificed on Achil- les' tomb Po sei'don, 6, 8, 45, I43f., 233 Pri'am, 225, 284, 298f., 304 Pri a'pus, god of fruitful- ness Proc'ne, 246 Pro'cris, 245 Pro crus'tes, 249 Proe'tus, 237 Pro me'theus, gi ., 223, 273 Pro ser'pi na. See Perseph- one Pro tes i la'us, 290 Pro'teus, 149, 321 Psy'che, I23f. Psy'cho pom'pus, " leader of souls," title of Hermes Pyg ma'li on, 118 Pyg'mies, 4, 222 Py'lades, 328 Pyr'a mus, ugf. Pyr'rha, 14 Pyr'rhus. See Neoptolemus Pyth'i a, priestess of Apollo at Delphi Py'thon, 62 Quiri'nus, 35*1 Regil'lus, battle of Lake, 235 Re'mus, 347 Rhad a man'thus, 189, 230 Rhe'a, 6f., 153 Rhe'a Sil'vi a, 348 River-gods, 151 Rom'u lus, 104, 345, 347 Rut'u li, the people of Tur- nus Sabines, 350 Sal mo'neus, a son of ^Eolus who was punished in the lower world for trying to equal Zeus. Sa'mos, 36 Sarpe'don, an ally of the Trojans Sat'urn, 12 Sat ur na'li a, feast of Sat- urn, occurring about the time of our Christmas. Sat'yrs, 173, I79f. Sea man'der, one of the riv- ers by Troy Sci'ron, 248 Sgyl'la, 151, 314 Se le'ne, 80 Sem'e le, 165, 259 Sib'yl, 80, 165, 341 Sile'nus, 166, 173, i8if. Silva'nus, a Roman divinity of woods and fields. Silver Age, 13 Si'nis, 248 Si'non, 303 372 Index Si'rens, 150, 313 Sir'i us, 89 Sis'y phus, 190, 236 Sphinx, 261 Stroph'a des, 335 Stym pha'H an birds, 217 Styx, 188, 283 Sun, cattle of the, 315 Sychae'us, husband of Dido Sym pleg'a des, 271 Syr'inx, 178 Ta'lus, a bronze giant Tan'ta lus, 190, 281 Tar'ta rus, 7, 190, 344 Tau'ri ans, 329 Tel'a mon, 269 Te lem'a chus, 287, 320 Te'reus, 246 Terp sich'o re, 139 Te'thys, one of the Titans Teu'cer (i) First king of Troy, (2) one of the Greek heroes in the Tro- jan War. Tha li'a, one of the Graces Tha li'a, 139 The'mis, goddess of order and justice; by Zeus she was the mother of the Hours and Fates. Ther si'tes, a deformed and impudent Greek at the siege of Troy. The'seus, 242, 247f. The'tis, in, 148, 283, 292 This'be, 1191. Thy es'tes, 282 Thyr'sus, 168 Ti'ber, 347 Ti re'si as, 311 Ti si'pho ne, one of the Furies Ti'tans, 5, 7 Titho'nus, brother of Pri- am, beloved by the Dawn, through whom he gained perpetual life but not per- petual youth. Ti'ty us, a giant who was cast into Tartarus for of- fering violence to a god- dess. Trip tol'e mus, 161 Tritogeni'a, a name of Athena ; origin unknown. Tri'tons, 144 Troi'lus, son of Priam Trojan War, 28of. Tros, 284 Tur'nus, 346 Tyn da'reus, 234 Ty'phon, 8 U lys'ses. See Odysseus Underworld. See Hades U ra'ni a, 140 U'ranus, 5, 8 Ve'nus, 115, 124. See also Aphrodite Ves'ta, zoo. See also Hcstia Vestal Virgins, 100 Victor}', 20, 45 Vul'can, 52. See also He- phccstus Winds. See Wooden horse, 301 X an'thus, 296 Zeph'yr, 125, 142 Ze'thus, 26f. Zeus, 7f., igf., 200, 210, 229 \- UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. Form L9-Series 444 ,.. U . ^JHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY A 000047413 o