■a.' «<> IP' • _r^^tv ^* •7* r^ *'/.•' .^"^ t'.. % > ^, o ^ V ''o^^*' . -^^^^"^^^ "'^^Z .^^"^^^ *'-^^*' , 'i:^^^ ^•' A, y ^ '^0^ 'oK ^^-^^^ v"^ .*j:^% ^<^, 0^ -».o. v SONGS OF AMERICAN DESTINY T T 'All hail to the God who died — of man's woe, in man's stead ; now deathless and glorified,— King of the blessed dead I " ongs of jflmerican Destiny ^^ ^^^ n Uision of new l)ellTight, 1899 By The Robert Clarke Company StCCi,D oOPiT, To CHARLES B. WILBY, ESQ., 'who sees ''no reason in ndtttre" for those ''hard hearts' that beat not to rhythm and rhyme, this little book is dedicated in token of friendship. PREFACE. OR ten years, the maker of these Songs of American Destiny has experimented more or less incessantly with rhythm and rhyme. It has been his desire not merely to acquaint himself practi- cally with the known technique of English verse, but if possible to increase its extant resources. The Blank Verse of Shakespeare, Milton, Wordsworth and Tennyson has wondrous possi- bilities — but for lyric work seemed unpromising. Every rhyme system on the other hand was necessarily to some extent mechanical — a preexisting form the molten poesy must fill. That rhythm may vary with mood, betray its ebb, announce its flow, its sudden turn of tide — make calms fek and storms — ^he had cause to believe from theory ; and Heine's North Sea poems, certain scenes of Faust, and pieces by Matthew Arnold like ** The Future ** verified the theory. Translating Leopardi's '^Ginestra^' (printed in Modem Poet Prophets : Essays Critical and Inter- A VISION OF NEW HELLAS pretative, as illustration of the poet^s best work) much was learned of the plastic rhythm, picturesque, self-adaptive, in which allignment indicates pauses, usually such as are not syntactic but passional or merely of the verse* ** The Lion,*^ which appeared some months past in ** To Kindle the Yule Log,** was the first experiment that gave its author a sense of success. In the present work the narrative, the dramatic, the descriptive and the directly lyric portions are thus wrought out in rhythms — very much bound indeed, though the fetters, to be sure, are unapparent. A theme is taken, developed, caused to recur, to assert itself in changed guise, with novel stress, and made to characterize an entire section. For the following stanzas some other theme will serve in like fashion. Should a mood or image reappear the theme pre- viously associated therewith may or may not be pressed into service once again. As for the dramatic lyrics — formal digressions from the story, efforts at vivid realization of particu- lar figures or moments of the myth — ^they have been rhymed, but no fixed system was adopted. The rhyme is employed with a full appreciation of its binding energy, its power to hold together looser rhythms, — in fact for its license rather than its tyranny. Besides it sharply distinguished the pas- sages representing song, from those suggestive of PREFACE passionate speech. So the orgyastic rhyme recom- mended itself most especially to the maker of these songSt as serving his peculiar end. There is a disposition in looking at a work — if not such as has already been often done before — to fault the author for every innovation, chari- tably excusing him sometimes on the score of youth and ignorance. This preface appears only to compel such critics to an honester blame, one without reserve and apology — or to praise — their eyes open to the risk they run by failing to censure. In this book no promise is given, but, such as it is, a performance. Let it be considered as that — for good or ill. No true artist wants attention diverted from his work to his person. No true artist wishes his critic to indulge in hopes — ^but to do his business — criticise, u e* study, and %\stz, the public the results of his study. He asks not for advice. He has no need of patronization. Furthermore, the artist should be wholly unreckful of praise or blame how- ever much — yea — overmuch they may concern him as man. The artist hopes to please, to please by what is noble, and knows well that he must also, in his earnest effort to yield novel delight, give offense unto such as make of their past enjoyment a dogma damning the future; appending to their creeds the anathema that shall make new ideas smart because A VISION OF NEW HELLAS of their impertinent desire for objective existence (like Homunculus in his crystal) ere yet their vital hope be realized ! The artist asks only that such as have received a thrill — a moment's joy — shall have the courage to speak of it to others, not that he may get praise, but the work do its duty — of making richer the human world in things of the spirit that quicken and delight. To the carpers — let notice be plainly served : this work did not intend to resemble any known performance — or differ from any, for the matter of that* It had one only ambition — to be the self it is. It announces no successors. It dares to claim a free use of the present tense. Let it be then, condemned by the fit — however few — rather than acclaimed as a pledge and promise by careless perusers, and senseless echoers of other men's opinions. Such arrogance is necessary to the artist's life. Let the public know it can inflict punishment only on the man. For the artist will work on (whether the public purrs, grunts, blinks, winks, looks away,) will never desist from the labor of realizing as best he can such Visions of Beauty as are vouchsafed to him, assured of the truth of Goethe's words : " the Will of Man is his Kingdom of Heaven. A per- petual necessity vexes: impotence in execution is horrible: a continuous volition, however, delights; 10 PREFACE and in a mighty will one may take comfort even for the impotence of execution/' Meanwhile, the printer has been instructed (somewhat to his amazement and discomfiture) to dispense with the usual luxury of initial capitals. An alignment shall indicate a pause — a, rhythmic one — not a syntactical one unless the allignment be reinforced by punctuation marks. Hence what cap- itals appear upon the page will facilitate readings have actual significance. The thread of the poem is given in a series of marginal rubrics (suggested by the Ancient Mar- iner); but no particular pains have been taken to provide them with independent literary merit. They are for use, not ornament. Then too with irregular stanzaic stmcture it seemed distinctly the printer's duty to facilitate reference by numerals. The **Song of Songs/* finally, appears as fourteen poems, so that he who in his sloth of spirit abhorreth a long work — or who like Poe disbelieveth on principle in its right to existence — may read them separately. The Hymns (pieces 3, 5, 7, 9, 10, J 4,) could be taken out of their context with relatively slight loss. The remaining eight parts would suffer more or less severely in consequence of such treat- ment. Still, they are prepared to suffer all things rather than spoil the reader's temper — for theirs at n A VISION OF NEW HELLAS least can be trusted to seek no revenge by slander of the ill user. In conclusion, reverting to the matter previously- touched upon, it must be clear that no disregard of the reader^s prejudices has dictated any innovations ; no wish to be singular, no purpose to shock. Hence can not the maker of these Songs ask in all frankness whether the impertinence of him who praises his own work — suggesting that frequent perusals may possibly be required for a full appreciation of its merits; — whether such usually unprinted imperti- nence is more odious — or less — than the conceit of him who publishes what he professes to be ashamed of, asking on editorial knees pardon for the sin he intends committing with poetical feet? What of arrogancy which professes itself too poor for notice, and whines if the edition be not straightway exhausted ? Should the maker be mistaken, the sorrow is his and the shame. The reader has lost a few minutes, at most hours — the writer years — some of the best of his life. And yet it is great comfort to the maker that his creation has given him pleasure — that as he surveyed it his soul pronounced no mere ** not bad ^* but a decided ** good ** — nay to be honest a **very good*^ — ** better than he had hoped *^ — ** better than some readers may deserve.^^ And he fancies there may be found some of his fellows who 12 PREFACE shall feel with him* The chance is at all events better than his who hath experienced before pub- lication most grievous searchings of heart, blushes of hypocritical shame, and tremors of vanity wounded to the quick. Let the reader be apprized that the beauty of the book to his eye is due to the generous expense of pains and time on the part of the artist, Mr. L. H. Meakin, and the kindly assistance of Mr. J. H. Gest, of the Cincinnati Art Museum, in seeing it through the press. And may not the publishers come in for a share of the purchaser's gratitude — considering that they have attempted to realize an ideal, rather than lose their souls in calculations of sordid cost ? W. N. GUTHRIE. Cincinnati, October, (899. 13 CONTENTS I. THE FORESONG, . n, A SONG OF SONGS, The Vision of Demeter, The Coming of Dionysus, . Hymn to Dionysus, the Elemental, The Colloquy, Hymn to Dionysus, the Hero-God, The Transfiguration, . Hymn to Aphrodite, The Reconciliation, Hymn to Apollo, Rivals Divine, Votive Gifts, Hymns Hymeneal, Interlude, . . ♦ . The Banquet of the Gods, , in. THE AFTERSONG, . Mythological Index, . 19 29-J87 3J 49 6J 71 77 95 109 \\9 13J 145 \53 \6\ 175 J 79 189 203 J5 TO THE MUSE Great was the joy of vision — ^the surprise of its first flash upon my spirit's eyes ; happy the prospect of poetic work, and proud the will no slightest task to shirk imposed by One who gave me to behold part of his beauty seen by men of old in Hellas. Nor could difficulties shake my resolution, however sore the ache of fevered brow and temples* Whence endued was thus my soul with sacred fortitude ? From whom the patience till the stubborn brain, once more obedient to the spirit sane, ecstatic toiled ? From thee, O best One, came the best : thy praise reward sufficient, and thy blame in hesitant look and tone, supplying will for renewed effort. Thou who dost fulfill all prayers of mine for truth, beauty, and good, in thine own self, thy blessed womanhood, intelligent eye, and subtly smiling lip, making earth heaven in the dear fellowship of thee and me, — ^thine be the reader's thank if never the song to ground exhausted sank, if on it speeded, spuming still low things, strong pinions spread of twin imaginings, to leap the chasms that broke athwart its course ; thine be all joy therein — mine the remorse that with thy help the song should not surpass all songs e'er sung of men. My shame, alas ! — yet as thine eye, O dearest, I consult — in what is thine my soul can but exult. 17 PART I THE FORESONG A VISION OF NEW HELLAS r The civiliza- tion of his day, (symbolized by his city in most odious atmos- pheric condi- tions,) fills the poet with a dis- gust of living. Yet he climbs a hill(ofHeUenic culture) thence, to take, above the smoke-pall ofsordidness,his last look at the heaven of all encompassing beauty. T 20 THE FORESONG JO 15 ^ I UT of the town, drenchM by a penetrant wind-driven dust of rain, fast-gluing to the walls soot-flakes from grimy house-tops swept ; paving courts, alleys, streets with a viscous mire ; compacting the smoke-roof, propped by towers, spires, factory-chimneys, that threaten under the mass enormous to topple, and smother all life with gloom and stifling dismay ; out of the dusk, wet, slime of the hideous town my soul was fain to escape — stand on some dominant height for a moment, — behold once again the heaven bare, vibrant with sun. 20 or die ! 2) A VISION OF NEW HELLAS Industry cannot of itself seem noble, nor justi- fy existence. Its modern propor- tions but belittle the soul. ^ And trade com- pletes the deg- radation which industry com- mences, till the things of the spirit are held 22 THE FORESONG ^ n For, one forge of Hephaestus, the lame God, seemed modem civilization. A million anvils ring 25 with the blows of his sledge; to view dissolving, on axles of light, the huge wheels dizzily gyrate ; vast, — as of Titans, in Tartarus fettered, — adamant knees 30 protrude, fold, stretch with an agony rhythmical ; and the force of their breath convulsive, the electric might of their anger, by unwearying pull and push 35 scintillant beams convey in the service of pigmy man ! m For, modern civilization seemed but the temple profane 40 whose God, — Hermes of liars and thieves! Yards, choking with goods, his courts of high praise; ware-houses grim 23 A VISION OF NEW HELLAS ^ cheap because unfit for barter and sale. ^ Arraigning these only Gods, these effectively dominant ideals of his fellows, he did not ad- mit to himself his hope of find- ing a consola- tion in philos- ophy. 24 THE FORESONG his places most holy; thronged marts, ^^ (the booths, his altars!) shops, stores, 45 and their counters for sacrifice constant — the sacred resorts of his popular worship. The streets his, with skurry of vehicles, whirr, rattle, roar 50 of cars that transport votaries from shrine to shrine. On tracks, from all regions convergent, snort, bellow, shriek, jar with their train, 55 locomotives, to freight quick and dead at phrenetical speed for His sake alone, whose victims, whose slaves, whose merchandise are all ! IV Hephaestus, artificer lame, — 60 Hermes, covetous, cunning, — Gods of our time, what have yc made of the race once human? no beauty, no valor, no love! Industry ? — trade ? — an ignoble war, 65 man clutching the throat of his fellow to compel him disgorge his gold ! Disheartened, dispirited, 25 A VISION OF NEW HELLAS But when above the smoke pall of sordidness, he found the heav- en shrouded by vast rain-clouds of philosophic pessimism and of religion false- ly so called* T 26 THE FORESONG yet with one hope unavowed in my soul, I climb'd the steep mount of culture 70 Hellenic, for vision of better things — or, a scornful farewell to the world. Far rollM soon under my sight astonished, the black voluminous surge of smoke — drear sky of who drudge 75 in the city below. But, up-looking, my soul cried, passionate, for instant release: no rift of the heaven so achingly craved ! Overhead, a vague expanse — infinite cloud, — 80 the general despondency thick atheistical, whence — cold wind-driven dust of rain ! Nought, nought, for the baffled eye of the spirit 85 but the grey illimitable, shredding out rags of willess despair loathly loose into the flood of crass murk infernal, whose tumbling waves at my feet 90 frothM pitch I 27 ^ T PART II A SONG OF SONGS T A VISION OF NEW HELLAS There appear- eth to the poet a vision as of the goddess of har- vest-home, who seemeth com- forted of some dole by a spirit- ual solicitude for the weal of others, and self- oblivious benef- ^^ 30 THE VISION OF DEMETER ^ THE VISION OF DEMETER I Behold (if lore of names and of powers godly thou have, to assure fear-fascinate eyes) 5 and declare, O rebellious soul, Who she be that walketh the welter of reek, as glebe blast-pIoughM, gust-harrow*d, rain-sown? 10 Mark (though shrouded in ample, grey mist-robes,) how shy moves she, and hesitant, — wont to solitudes only of fields 15 for miles under noon-sun awave, where crickets, incessant make hysterical mirth lest whispers, (o'er-heard from lips not of flesh in shuddering, heavy wheat-ears,) 20 dismay the silly folk small who flutter, creep, bask in the weeds or the seams of the tolerant ground. J^ 3J A VISION OF NEW HELLAS The poet, awed by the diety, is drawn by the mother in her, and recognizes the great Dem- eter of Eleusis. ^ 32 THE VISION OF DEMETER What shine— ^ wistful, unearthly 25 not glad, — in her eyes ? (Yet so, under banks dusk-green of heart-shap'd shields, fretted at edges, hang not the violets of coy delight their sweet heads ? 30 peep they not timorous, tear-twinkling at foot-sore passers-by ?) Yea, and not sorrowful seemeth her mouth: kind, as of one who her best 35 giveth, for meed no-wise of devotion or praise, but of strenuous necessity, — love, so great that it knoweth itself not, simple, serene ! n 40 Who art thou, lofty of stature, noble of countenance, — hands extended as proffering solace ? Mother of peace by endurance won, and of plenty wrested 45 thro* sweat and patient abiding from soil else barren, I know thee ! Dumb with awe at thy presence, shadowy ^ 3J ** A VISION OF NEW HELLAS ^ ^ ^'t^i:^:p a££ ^n ^:\ The apparition or the poet's o'WTi spirit (which it be he cannot say) addresscth itself to console him, M telling the na- ture of Deme- tcr's immortal sorrow, which sprang of her ioy in love, and her love of joy. THE VISION OF DEMETER Goddess, (whose virginal breast ^# 50 pillowed the turbulent sea-lord, earth-shaker Poseidon,) dumb should I be, undesirously reverend, save that thy mother's palpitant heart, of tenderness 55 infinite for comely Persephone, draweth, Eleusynian Demeter, to thee I m Nigher she came, loving lips parted, and words 50 sorrow-wise, spake she of counsel, of comfort holy (repose in tone, in gracious demeanor, in wonderful gaze benign;) so, that who utter'd I knew not 55 (a voice in my soul ? or the speech of her eyes, of her mouth ?) the soundless confession of truth. IV ** Rightly, O son, thou deemest most ancient of woe-begone, loving Ones 70 me ! Is there gorge of distress impassable, heath snow-bound by savage winds harried, sun-scorch'd 35 A VISION OF NEW HELLAS r r T 36 THE VISION OF DEMETER stony waste, untrod of my feet in the day of cruel bereavement 75 bruis'd sore, and bleeding ? Hot tears, inconsolable, wept I not ages long ? — ^Hearken my tale ! The queen of ploughed lands, purple-mantled at dawn of the year, (through the quiet 80 winter-nights wooed) to the storm-god of sea a daughter I bore* From babe in few days (or so seem'd they) miraculously budded she, bloom'd she to maidenhood gracious, — as sunbeams 85 light-footed, like wells that up-bubbic laughter-brimming* For hers, all bursting buds ; hers, all uncurling fronds tender; all leaves, (goIdcn-pale ere the sky of its blue tint them green,) 90 hers alone : most beloved, most lovable, yea, and of spirits the loveliest. Yet she daughter of Goddess immortal, (mighty to bless, to curse with abundance or famine,) yet she, 95 daughter of God terrific, (whose wave steeds foamy-manM neigh as they run, paw, leap, fierce-rending with bitless mouths the wrecks of stoutest- bowM ships, she, she, rap*d of the fearful gloom, 37 A VISION OF NEW HELLAS r and also how she was com- forted in her be- reavement by a vision of the joy at the core of things^ and all enfolding, — a joy sincere, un- ironical, self- communicative ^ 38 THE VISION OF DEMETER 100 bride of death, queen of hell? She not undying ? Bare wold, cold flood eternal ? — yet she — the blossom sea-fatherM, earth-motherM, she, she perisheth? 105 Ev*r under heaVn hath woman, hath man known pangs that I suffered not direr, acuter ? The evil-eyed, gloating, my torment, insatiate, beheld. Not mine the refuge of silence that brooks no no intrusion; to life without end, to despair everlasting, doom'd ! ** V ** But out of the bed-rock of grief, stark, gelid, — no Zeus-hurl'd bolt 1 15 could shatter, — of its own extreme tension asunder cloven, forth-gush'd Solace, a crystal-pure fount, that quenched (as I stooped me fever-hot lips to cool) the death-thirst. Then I hated no more 120 the order unchanging of causes, the chain link in link of events without first without last. Then, no more wept I, perversely, to see the sun*s vigor of youth unabated; and over the shift 39 A VISION OF NEW HELLAS Learning that death is the author of life's glory, she •wept no more for the lost Persephone. 40 THE VISION OF DEMETER 125 and drift of low cloudy star-radiant still ^^ the blue firmamental, unwrinkled with thought. Then, then I perceivM, the Rapture (in all that is latent, and far out-reaching beyond 130 the uttermost nought) implied for cark and care human no scorn derisive: — reckless of mind-fret and heart-ache (strange to itself, and irrelevant) wherefore ? — if not, in moment of passion's lull, hush J 35 of fury's exhaustion, — audibly sweet as a peace divine to intrude at length in the sufferer's soul ? " VI **Aidoncus! Aidoneus Him I had curs'd, bride-deflowercr, — ^mocker J 40 at sport with rent petals, dead leaves, — blighter, — scatterer — spumcr underfoot of the fair — whom never at heart (since hateful, sullen, foul,) I belieVd to be God, — in his very 145 Self appeared to me then, of living things maker; deviser of form, and of increase in might ; chcrishcr, fosterer silent of beauty; whose mystical touch worketh wonders forever I Astonished, 41 A A VISION OF NEW HELLAS T T 42 THE VISION OF DEMETER 150 yet more I marvelled that ever ^C woe-misted these eyes of mine so blind became to mis-read the myth of the seasons recurrent. For, lo, is it not He who clippeth of wheat, J 55 of rye, the tresses ripe-sunny? and who if not He with flail of affliction from full sheaf driveth, (relaxing the hold of kindly husks) the bare grain ? And whose if not His the harsh breath, 160 to shrill tunes of scorn, as flurry of fine snow whirling aloft, under drear skies ashen, the chaff ? From my hand, tight-cIenchM, 't is He snatcheth the choicest for seed in darkness to waste, damp-swoUen, 165 and rot? Yet who if not He (as the com under sun for nurture of men ground, cometh in blush of maid, glow of youth, battle's might, cometh in mother's milk, joyous cry, laugh of babe,) who if not he in due season J 70 biddeth arise the new year's vaster harvests, ghost-pallid ? Aidoneus, who, if not Thou God of death?" 43 ^ A VISION OF NEW HELLAS And that mor- tal grief might have immortal cure, she shared her heavenly wisdom with such as experi- enced anguish like hers. ^ 44 THE VISION OF DEMETER vn ** Wherefore, summer's Goddess, a rite \ 75 faithful and holy of loyal sons I exact, whensoever thro* rich loam by steer-drawn plough the furrow is cut : — with solemn jubilation, therein newborn shall be laid an infant — the token J 80 that life (yea theirs, as of wheat, as of rye) upspringeth from th* gloom, death-begotten. For my soul, when the sense it conn'd of the mystery erst indiscernible, culIM (dejected no longer) wholesome fruit — heart's ease, 185 quiet cheer of well-doing — ^to men grief-smit the deep lore imparting in grove Eleusynian. And none whom I taught fcar'd darkness thereafter, nor dust, nor cold sweat at the close. Aidoneus, of terrors J 90 grim King, most ruthful I showed to them. Her, (whom folk in their folly awful fabled, the daughter of Styx stagnant river corrupt, inexorable Queen of Hades,) to all I revealed as none J 95 other than pure Persephone, her lap heap'd with red poppies — oblivion of ache, of vexation, — yea and with white poppies, — dream hopes of a whiter 45 A VISION OF NEW HELLAS r w ■»■- ■ ^1^^^^>^?^ ^ 46 THE VISION OF DEMETER dawn. So the grief ^ 200 O my son, thenceforth at parting in glee of welcome is swallowed. The end lo ! no end, — but start more exultant ; the cycle of life no tedious round, — a ring for processional dance; 205 and behold, even I, mother Earth, the venerable, wax youthful again and singing, singing with a myriad myriad stars through the thrillM heaven's vastitude whirl, blissful; for, ever to Aidoneus content 210 I surrender my children, whom Aidoneus again forever restoreth more mighty, more fair ! ** '^V^ 47 A VISION OF NEW HELLAS r From the hori- zon's edge Com- eth sound of singing. When the words wax intelligible they prove to be a greeting to Demeter ; 48 THE COMING OF DIONYSUS THE COMING OF DIONYSUS a The words of Demetcr in my cars still tremulous, 2\S persuasively sweet; — wind-wafted from the mingling of cloud-sky dun and the unquiet sea of dinginess — Voices as of maidens, for an alien grief tear-dew*d, but at heart 220 life-glad, came gradually closer and clearer : — Why sigh we and cry we, as nigher we draw to her, appalled by her tallness and awful demeanor? The violence and silence of Hades are law to her, 225 yet wailing seem*th sweeter Demeter to thee, weeping than smiling, howling than laughter ! Grieved One, bereavM One, thy child — hast thou seen her? Time now brings showers ; yet unfailingly after calls the gay hours to delight us, yea, dry away 230 tears from all eyes, while our doubt-clouds fly away from the bright of the sky, and arc drown'd in the seal 49 4 A VISION OF NEW HELLAS but the singers, it is clear, igno- rant of her cona- fort, miscon- ceive her mood; and, wearying of lament, re- sume the praise of their chosen deity, as though the salutation to another might seem disloyal. ^ 50 THE COMING OF DIONYSUS So fresh were the Voices and so full^ youth-cheery, irresistible; — smiles straight followed 235 in the wake of the sage words sung to a distinct rhythm of dance; and the mother of Persephone, the gracious, replied, sweet-smiling to me* Once more, swellM closer 240 the melodious chorus : — /? Ho I go you and show you a holier joy in him, employ you your voices in boisterous hollos, for know you not, know you not Semele's boy in him, with whom you would toy once, you coy Ones, of old ? 245 Noisily extol him, lowlily sue him ! Woe doth he sow and a joy-crop follows. Lo 1 you owe homage and honor unto him ! Grow you, O grow you, O vines of his choosing, flow you, O flow you, O grapes of his bruising, 250 to the glory alone of your God of the bold ! 51 ^ A VISION OF NEW HELLAS The sire of their God, ack- nowledges his glorious son ; whereupon the maenads (fe- male devotees of Dionysus) ap- pear, and encir- cle Demeter, 52 THE COMING OF DIONYSUS Then knew I, unseen yet, the devout blithe singers. But suddenly, loud roared Zeus, the catacIysmaL His clouds broke, cloven, 255 and a bolt cleared the atmosphere. Luminous the azure of the heavens through the rift burst happily in; sun-showers stream^ laughing from the frayed storm-edges. 260 The surge of crass murk frothed pitch no longer: — bronze-red, ablaze, hurtling to foam of gold, spurting quick spray of fire, 265 tumbling in glory. For, leaping and crying, a rout of wild women, with faun-skins loose-vested, limbs gleaming, locks flying in whirl 270 orgyastic, surrounded the mother majestic and calm : — 53 ^ A VISION OF NEW HELLAS singing of the expected advent of Bacchus; of his miracu- lous divine be- getting and of his beautiful hu- man birth ; »» 54 THE COMING OF DIONYSUS He comcth, he comcth, (T* is he ! 'tis he !) ^ young again from barbarous Thracia, to Icaria, the wild ; o'er the isles of the sea 275 from Phrygia, the rocky, and Asia ! From the gloom of the tomb he came, he came — God of gush, 280 God of flow, the same, O the same God of flush and of glow, and the uproar of flame. 8 285 Oh I heard ye not, heard ye not told and retold the story of his wonderful birth ? begotten of the Highest, he is God of the bold ; of the Fairest bom, God of their mirth ! Speak out, 290 shout, shout his name, his name ! God of wine, God of ire, the same, O the same 295 of divine mad desire of the death-leap, and fame ! m 55 *• A VISION OF NEW HELLAS of his virgin mother, now beyond carnal stain; of Zeus's woo- ing, and recog- nition, by her. of her rapture in the God. S6 THE COMING OF DIONYSUS Blessed Semele, — virgin who daredst to die 300 thy glory to merge in that of Zeus the most high, — passion-whirls that we surge in thy feet cannot wet; rejoice, O white virgin 305 where suns never set ! The God of heaven saw thee and lov*d thee, and wooed; lest his glory o'er-awe thee as shepherd he sued; 3 JO but thou knewest him, Bride of God, thro' the human disguise, sweet Joy of God, Pride of God, Light of his eyes ! e ** O Zeus, who didst fashion it — 315 niy body be thine, so thou flash forth, God passionate, thy glory divine/' In delirious surrender of rosy-hued flesh 320 Thou didst cry : ** Slay with splendor, and create me afresh ! ** 57 A VISION OF NEW HELLAS The maenads see their God a- far, and forget his birth in him. 58 THE COMING OF DIONYSUS He Cometh, he cometh ! *T is he, even he, son of Semele ! — Hail, Dionysus, from the low, and the mean, and the base to set free, — 325 from ourself , to thy height to entice us ! God fearless, God peerless, O come, O come ! At thy glance 330 who, O God, can be dumb ? can be dumb ? Tread the dance, that ye trod, to flute, pipe, and drum ! 59 A A VISION OF NEW HELLAS r A young mae- nad praises Di- onysus as God of elemental fire. ^ 60 DIONYSUS, THE ELEMENTAL t HYMN TO DIONYSUS THE ELEMENTAL. L A Young Maenad Singeth : 335 Stay- near us to cheer us dire God 340 of the panting heat ! Pray hear us, hear, hear us ! Fire- 345 shod be thy alighting feet, that in spasm volcanic thy mount may awake, 350 rend open a chasm, and with panic earth shake ! From the crater, Titan-hater, 355 let the lava-streams fall, 61 A VISION OF NEW HELLAS All the younger maenads laud him as God of raging water- streams, and of luxuriant plant- growth. T 62 DIONYSUS, THE ELEMENTAL and char near and far as they luridly crawl. In thick dark 360 sow the spark to enkindle the pine : higher, higher leap thy fire with a thunder divine ! n. Semi-Chorus of Young Maenads: 365 God of swollen springs bursting ; torrent-roar of wild force, uprooting the trees, and damming its course; — of floods, bowlder-rolling, to the plain down- hurlM;— of the landslip that crasheth on a slumbering world ; — Dionysus, thy ravage 370 at length hath an end : for thy violence savage h the wrath of a friend. Lo ! thy vast vegetation upshooteth to cloak 375 the old devastation with pine, laurel, oak. ^ A VISION OF NEW HELLAS 9^ An older mae- nad prays to Di- onysus as God of secret treas- ures. T 64 All the older maenads extol him as the God DIONYSUS, THE ELEMENTAL in. An Older Maenad Singeth : O God of the mysteries hid below ground, of the bed of thy red 380 gold gloom-hoarded, keep them ever impenetrable to light and to sound from the smutch of the clutch of the sordid. 385 So, the mystical treasures in deeps of man are thine only, O God, with glad eye to scan. Yet, at times (as thy river Pactolus of old 390 for thy faithful adorer washed up nuggets of gold) when the anguish grows sorer than proud souls can bear, with glimpse of our God-self, Life-giver, 395 console us, and vanquish our human despair ! IV. Semi-Chorus of Older Maenads: Man from good unto better must go, from better, ev*r on to the best : m A VISION OF NEW HELLAS of immortality and spiritual vi- 66 DIONYSUS, THE ELEMENTAL thy guest in the life that we know 400 is in death, that we know not, thy guest. God, marshaler of spirits victorious too great for earth longer to house, lead us, lead us to a world more glorious to revel in with thee and carouse I 405 Thy grape-blood burns in our veins, and with madness our brains are on fire I are on fire ! We rise with thee, God, from the real to explore the eternal ideal — 410 inspire us, inspire us, inspire ! Heaven's freedom from earth-bonds that bind us let our spirits, O God, anticipate. For a moment the shadows that bind us dissipate! dissipate! dissipate! 415 We follow thee on, we follow — skim the air more swift than swallow I O ye wicked, ye fools, he hath sapp'd your foundations of carnal joy ! Your lies no more shall win you us : 420 ours, ours the ecstatical rapture of the Gods (Evoi ! O Evoi !) the rapture of onrush continuous ! (Evoi! Evoi!) 67 «c A VISION OF NEW HELLAS r Together all the maenads hail him as the Ti- tan-slain God v/ho secureth everlasting blisses for the faithful. ^ 68 DIONYSUS, THE ELEMENTAL V. Alt the Maenads in Chorus: All hail to the God who died 425 of man^s woe, in man^s stead, now deathless and glorified, King of the blessed dead ! Maenads, wave, wave your green-flaming thyrsus 430 as you leap for his praise in the whirl of the dance : hail, hail him the Saviour of incredible mercies. Lord eternal of fate, God the master of chance ! ^ 69 A A VISION OF NEW HELLAS » Demeter mak- eth known unto Dionysus her office of consol- er, eliciting the human out of the torture of mankind. 70 THE COLLOQUY ^ THE COLLOQUY I Their hymn of worshipful praise 435 declaring the godhead occult of their Lord, to a close devout sung, — a stillness ensued; and Demeter, lifting her eyes to those of the flushM 440 divine youth, became ancient in look, all the light of her wisdom veiFd* —''Art thou Demeter, mother of comfort from sorrow 445 for men ? " —''Yea, son*' answered she mild " by cruel hardship ever the good from the ill are dissevered. Persephone 450 fair, from the grave retumeth whither she went with all mortals down ; but the foul wax old in their death, and each (as memory in turn effaceth 455 memory, recalFd in the mind) ^ 7J A VISION OF NEW HELLAS 9^ Dionysus repli- eth that his function is ever to express from the human the godly. He (life and death being mystically one) identifieth him- self with Aid- oneus ( Hades, Pluto) and set- teth forth his awful anthro- pophagous rite. 72 THE COLLOQUY fades utterly out of the world. ^t Wherefore, my worshippers so teach I pain and bereavement to bear, that they rise 460 from brute up to man — his stature, dignity, calm/* n ** Well,** — retorted the beauteous youth, his eyes as he spake awful with shine 465 inhuman — ** Mother, well hast thou said. To man thou leadest; but I, unbeheld, drive on thy worshippers up to the god. 470 Aidoneus, King of death. King of hell, is none other than I, who greet thee, Dionysus, Lord of life. Lord of earth, 475 leader of the blessed to the highest heaven. The good, who survive the law of thy duty, they my quarry are, mine Dionysus Zagreus, pitiless huntsman, torturer, 480 flesh-feaster, blood-quaffer, the barbarous God. -^ A VISION OF NEW HELLAS T 74 THE COLLOQUY BruisM, crushed, ^C shall the grape-berry be; whence, pouring, the life-juice transmute I to fluid 485 fire! Yea, the hero, strong, brave, soul-fast, faithful, upright, unto death I pursue, that in death deified, 490 they I maddened with murderous hate shall adore Him, (in death life-glories forth-showing they dream'd not of) me in Him whom they slew, even me beholding, their God ; and a love 495 fervent for Him, shall breed of remorseful hearts issue divine, heroes innumerous as stars in the heaven ! 75 A VISION OF NEW HELLAS f0 Enthusiastic^ the maenads celebrate their winter orgies in the mountains to arouse the sleeping God of natural life who would else let the earth perish \(nth him. VW 76 T DIONYSUS, THE HERO-GOD HYMN TO DIONYSUS, THE HERO-GOD Semi-Chorus of the Older Maenads* What is it he said ? Hath he fled? Hath he fled? 500 Dionysus, the Hero-God, dead ? dead? dead? Up, up to the barren hill-pass swept of winter-blast chilling, barefooted, bare- head, ere manhigh the snow-drifts amass ! 505 We will drink not nor eat, but the hard-frozen ground we will beat with our feet, and Pan-hoof shall pound 510 to drum and shrill fife till the Dead come to life ! Bromios! Bromios! hark, the timbrefs hoarse roar, wail of wind, hoot of owl, S\S scream of eagle, woIf-howI, — wilt thou lead us, boisterous God, no more ? n 77 *• A VISION OF NEW HELLAS The pans glory in their deform- ity and in their supernatural powers; 78 DIONYSUS, THE HERO-GOD To the rhythm of our phrcnsy, ye *C north-blasts^ shriek; about us, ye snow-drifts, wheel and reel; 520 till (the death-spell too weak for the God whom we seek,) He shall rise and his glory reveal. Lo, death is dead, and his spell is sped ! 525 Thou hast conquered our mortal shame ! Let the cymbals clash, and the avalanche crash as we summon Thee, God, by name* Semi-Choruses of Pans* \ We Pans, we Pans, 530 to but and to gore we have horns that are sore, and our legs are a goat^s not a man*s. Beware, beware, with our nails 535 we tear, and we lash with our barbed tails. Like beasts, we rend with our teeth the rash 540 who Zagreus, the huntsman, offend. 79 A VISION OF NEW HELLAS ^ and threaten the emissaries of their God who shall dare, obe- dient to his hest, stand in his room. 9^ 80 DIONYSUS, THE HERO-GOD We have ears as the lynx, and a fool I who thinks from the leer of our eyes to escape; 545 for the snow-flake's fall miles off we hear, and a leaf-shadow's shape discern through the thick night's pall Woe ! woe I to the Man — 550 though thou send him — who cometh, great God, in thy place ; we will but, each Pan, gore and rend 555 him, and tear him limb from limb ! devour his flesh torn, lap and gulp his blood spill'd, 560 till we free from the mask thy face, and see the quiet smile of high scorn, and thy spiritual eyes fire-fill'd ! 81 ^ A VISION OF NEW HELLAS Yet they show that in the trag- ic death the God is glorified and the hero made truly his reveal- 82 DIONYSUS, THE HERO-GOD Full Chorus of Pans* 3 565 For blessed, thrice-blest, the death that reveals thee; of thy fury possess^ the great life that feels thee : and deep, deep 570 the abysses be of terrific despair, that steep, steep may the blisses be whose peaks cleave the air ! 575 In the tragic death-strife from the blood-drunk sod springs the beauty of life that showeth Thee, God. ^ 83 A A VISION OF NEW HELLAS Enthusiastict the maenads announce the vernal resurrec- tion of the God of natural life, and praise him. 84 DIONYSUS, THE HERO-GOD ^ HYMN TO DIONYSUS, THE PiERO-GOD Semi-Chorus of the Younger Maenads. \ O Pans, in the waste hill-gorges 580 not vain were our mid-winter orgies : for his earthquake answers the tramp stamp of dancers, 585 in new-got strength appearing at length: Lord of fire, water, gold, wine, song, dance, mirth; 590 the great God of the bold and the strong of the earth ! O flute, O drum, O tabor and cymbal, 595 back you *II us bring with loud scream, and leap nimble to the ancient hill-top bald ! ^ 85 ^^ A VISION OF NEW HELLAS T They describe Ms advent to the heights, a- thwart the flats, and the wild rush of iiis wor- sfiippers to meet 86 DIONYSUS, THE HERO-GOD lacchus is come 'If 600 whom appalFd we caird^ yea, come with miraculous spring. He hath sent a 605 year of plenty that his faithful should fast not. The spell of dark Hell— we knew well 610 it could last not : lacchus hath overcome it ! (how else could the strife resuk ?) Up, up the sheer summit, you Bacchic rout, 615 to exuk, as ye raise the shout of his praise, in the heat of his mystical cuk. 2 620 On a chariot swift-drawn of panthers and leopards at dawn he appeared to the terrified shepherds, Silenus alone for fellow ! 87 A VISION OF NEW HELLAS r him with shout and dance. S8 DIONYSUS, THE HERO-GOD and, behold, the meadow he dashed thro* hl^ grew gold, as his god-glory flashed thro^ with narcissi sunny-yellow; and roses wine-purple, flame-tawny, lily-whitc, burst abloom in his lightning track; 630 the vines hung big clusters of berries, in a night, grapes glaucous, grapes sanguine, grapes swarthy blue-black ; the trees of the orchard, the trees of the forest became quick-quivering, high-roaring, fire- tongues of green. Against death with lifers beauty, O lacchus, thou warrest 635 making lustrous the whole world, thyself unseen. In violent festal glee, brandishing torches aflare, thy mad maidens (as pours the volcano a lava-stream lurid that seethes and that scorches) to the valley 640 forth-sally to the plain, to the plain, O ! to meet with laughter, peals upon peals, jubilant hollo and yell, O ! lacchus the God who our rapture feels 645 and Silenus, his master and fellow. 89 A VISION OF NEW HELLAS The satyrs pro- nounce them- selves, for all their baseness, true servants of the God. For, as tragedy arose from the anthropopha- gous feast, so comedy began •with the drunk- en revel. Theirs also is a high, if not the highest, office. 90 DIONYSUS, THE HERO-GOD Chorus of Satyrs* I Not one of us, fierce quaffers though we shamble, totter, stagger, not one of us, coarse laughers, in the train of the God is a lagger. 650 We are goat-thighed, like Pans, and lascivious, obscene in our humorous jests ; yet, O Maenads, of your lips why give ye us, of your waists, no joy, and your breasts ? Too fleet of foot, agile, alert, you 655 fly on in your spirited folly. Yet, O Maenads, no Satyr would hurt you, bliss-drunken, and amorous-jolly. Little know ye your God if ye scorn us : your God, He is also ours ; 660 for Silenus's sake love hath he borne us and a function assigned to his powers. Dionysus, the only God, jealous. He hateth a rival base. Then who be men's idols, tell us, 665 whose favor they seek, and grace ? 91 V9 A VISION OF NEW HELLAS »^-x ^p ^^M^^ ^^M R^'' ^jyi f'^^^^ ^^^^§ 7^ \>\ ^^ ^iM ^^fej 5T X 1 ^ B W^s i?^ V^\ ^Ib 1^^^^^^ l^j^ V^i uM ^ i^^S ^^^ 92 DIONYSUS, THE HERO-GOD Ours, ours is the God^s commission to shatter their images, free faith from superstition, distinguish what seems from what is ! 670 Stalk forth thou bragging claimant to worship ! ^T is we who shall settle the debt to thee owed of the fool. We must make thee enough and quick payment in truest, most precious metal 675 of comical ridicule. The people with laughter we initiate in the mysteries of heroism divine — would ye wish yet more gods to propitiate having known once the supreme God of wine ? 93 4 A VISION OF NEW HELLAS T The effect of the hymn of wor- ship showeth it- self in a revel- ation to their eyes of the God's glory. T 94 THE TRANSFIGURATION THE TRANSHGURATION I 680 Lo! while the elder Maenads, intoxicate, chanted the winter-praise boisterous of Bromios; while the Thracian huntsman (harrier remorseless 685 of human game, Zagreus, man-eater) the Aegipans ferocious loud lauded in madness of savage rites gory; the while maid Maenads, grief-ignorant, 690 of lacchus, earth-quickener, soul-kindler, ecstatical sang ; and while the Satyrs, mock-awesome, Dionysus exalted (foster child of Silenus, their chief,) for the exhilarant laugh 695 of his mouth ; — behold ! in his votaries^ midst, the one Lord of their various moods shone transfigured — and, ringwise environed with multiplied visions 700 emanative, drave Maenads, Pans, Satyrs back, extending their circle of worship, the more at the center his Godhead forthflashed. 95 A VISION OF NEW HELLAS r For from Dio- nysus emanate the dryads, the oreads, the nai- ads, the three charities and the muses three — various aspects of his deity sep- arately embod- ied. Jb 96 THE TRANSFIGURATION •« n Of bush and of tree the chaste spirits ^^^ into being first leapt, with leafage arrayed, happy Dryads, blossom-crownM, their arms all together upthrown, wildly waving green boughs in his honor; the Oreads, shy, ^^^ the Hill-nymphs, scarce veiling with misty robes their lithe shapes, hand-in-hand glided ; and next the Naiads of bubbling wells, frolic brooks, shamelessly glad ^^^ flaunted as briar-roses fragrant their bare bodies light-dartling, dewy-wet from the pure and cool element. Thus ring within ring expanded, until, to right ^^^ and to left of the deity, gleam'd (their locks tight-looped lest a ray of their naked effulgence, a line of their grace be obscurM,) the Charities three; and as holy as they, their virginal •725 beauty from eyes profane close-drapM, reflecting the fiat creative, their sisters three smil'd — the Muses. ^§ 97 A VISION OF NEW HELLAS The transfigu- ration is com- pleted by the appearance of Persephone as his queen in the midst of all the glory. 98 THE TRANSFIGURATION m Entrance 730 the ordered, yet waywardly fleet interlacings I watch'd of the complicate dance : the shimmer^ the white glow of limbs ; the sweep float, flutter of drapery ; the floor 735 of shine aquiver to the numberless trip incessant — feet of light diffusing quick spiritual rhythm, unheard of the ear, as perfume strange from tropic flower 740 intense, bewildering the mind. Then I turned to scan the noble serene countenance kindly of mother Demeter. But, sudden her eye 745 with bliss unwonted elate, (as of strange recognition, immediate, incredible,) straightway the beam of her gaze I followed perforce. And lo ! 750 at the palpitant life-god's side a tranquil apparition of girlish loveliness, — blue veinM temples, and hair wheat'n-yellow, with poppies enwreath'd! None other, ^ 99 A VISION OF NEW HELLAS 1^ T Thereupon De- meter embrac- eth her child, and addresseth words of love to her. toe THE TRANSFIGURATION assuredly none than the sweet 755 Persephone, so with utter trust as a child^s the God's hand could hold, or as she look in his dreadfully glorious face, with bride's proud blushful regard. IV 760 Demeter's heart brimm'd visibly full, and ran over with blessedness mute. At length her emotion mastering : ** Child,*' she cried, ** O my child, thou of spring's swollen buds, 765 of silken leaves pale, of velvety fronds that ravel, of blossomy shoots, — speak, speak, — is it thee, my own, I behold ? Art thou, in very truth, spouse of the great lifc-giver ? Aidoneus 770 rap'd thee not ? bare thee not hellward ? in hideous gloom secluded thee nev'r ? Or, perchance hast thou chang'd him, thou with thy love, from cruel, obscene 775 King of dearth, desolation, despair, to a God of exuberant excesses and lustrous beatitude?" — Revercndly still the tumultuous host of the God's ^ m ^ A VISION OF NEW HELLAS r T Dcmctcr no'w in her joy re- mcmbereth that in her darkest moment Aph- rodite appeared to her, and, out of gratitude, she wishcth now^ to summon her in- to life again. T 102 THE TRANSFIGURATION adherents became, as daughter ^f 780 and mother, long-parted, embraced speechless ; and Tree-nymphs, Hill-nymphs, Water-nymphs, Charities, Muses, all fastened with tender delight on the twain their eyes, and not few 785 the holy tears that with bliss of reunion sparkled starrily. V '* Daughter dear,*' at last Demeter resumed, ** well knew I indeed 790 ere sight I had of thee, child only-beloved, all, all that befell thee. But knowledge, (unto mourners expounded of me through the ages,) faded, the instant I saw 795 thy face, to memories vague as of some wild adventure, dream-heard, impossible. For verily, child, my child, oft they, who when sorrows oppress have belief, if they meet 800 face to face the desire of the heart are incredulous utterly. Now that however I know what I knew, and believe, well-laiowing, all that ere this I well-knew, 103 A A VISION OF NEW HELLAS I' T Dionysus ac- cepteth Deme- ter iDstead of his lost mother Se- 104 THE TRANSFIGURATION 805 believing — no phrensy predictive sei^eth my soul ; but clearly methinks, and in absolute calm, I forsee such coming of thine with thy lord unto me, 8 JO not without blessing for man shall have happened. My power, of thine seconded, daughter, availeth from dark non-existence to call Aphrodite once more, the beauty 815 of flesh to the light of the world, that she the broken-hearted console, and help the lif e-Ioathing ; — as once thy mother of old she strengthen^ to bear 820 bereavement unspeakable, — yea, with a promise sure of to-day*s encounter. For what signified else her smile insistent, persuasive, unless even this it decIarM : that never 825 i^om earth, sky, sea, could the beautiful wholly pass, or perish from body and spirit of man ? ** VI ** So be it even as thou, mother, hast said,*' replied the bloom-goddess 830 turning in alternate joy ^ A VISION OF NEW HELLAS mele, and Dc- meter loveth him as a son. T JOb THE TRANSFIGURATION of heart and soul from parent ^fc to lord, from lord to parent, — a yearning unknown to herself, beyond speech, in her look. 835 Yet each, understanding, eyed strangely the other, one probing instant ; and first, Dionysus in her his mother beholding, (revered Semele, from infancy mourn'd,) relaxed 840 his scrutiny, extending a hand adoptive ; and she, Demeter (the wise from experience of ill, the glad in goodness perpetual,) knew then in him the son divine of her soul. 845 But aware of the triple felicity, no longer repressible, the Naiads burst into praise : Aphrodite, the queen, hailing, — the blessed, the beauteous, who, unwitting, gave to the sorrow-bowed strength 850 of endurance, and hope to the soul-sick of yore. 107 4 A VISION OF NEW HELLAS 9^ The merry nai- ads sing of their own childish sport; but, hearing strange gossip, they implore 103 THE HYMN TO APHRODITE t THE HYMN TO APHRODITE I Gay spirits we of leaping wells trickled unabashM over mossed knobs, rough fells ; 855 thro' dingles, bloomy dells tinkle-tinkle we plashed ; in hill-hoUows rallied, we rushed with loud laughter-screams ; spray-spurting, dilly-dalli'd 860 in iridescent, foam-pallid green pools for day-dreams ; then, again, wild, uproarious, 865 all, together, we leapt with the waterfalls glorious, and ocean-ward swept. Wondrous news from sandy shore-lands we heard of the summer-breeze ; 109 A VISION OF NEW HELLAS that their father command the sea-nymphs not to withhold the truth from them. They are re- warded for their frantic race to the salt sea, by a vision of Aph- rodite's birth. T no THE HYMN TO APHRODITE 870 for far never, never far ^J are the heights of jutting forelands from the spume of Hellenic seas, Dionysus, O imperious, 875 bid our sisters, — Nymphs of Nereus, — recount us the marvels as they be ; lest they tease us, worry, weary us gay Naiads, tho* we emanate from thee ! O Hill-nymphs, O Tree-nymphs, 880 why stayed ye at home ? for we saw all the Sea-nymphs, joy-drunken, toss the foam. Aphrodite that mom, 885 the mighty, was born a girl-babe merrily cradled of a wave : and they caught her 890 (sweet daughter she, of blue sky, blue sea) yea, and bare her off verily to a crystalline cave with frolic and laughter and boisterous glee I m 4 A VISION OF NEW HELLAS ^ They relate cir- cumstances of her rearing and tell of the mira- cles wrought by her maidenly beauty. Her journey, on the day of her showing to sky and sea, is de- scribed as a tri- umpfial prog- ress to the sa- cred isle of Cy- prus. 9^ U2 THE HYMN TO APHRODITE 4 895 Bubbles, pearls, corals and goldfish red her pretty childish toys ; hide-and-seek, with the Nymphs, o*er the deep seabed — a rollicking, innocent noise ! But quickly their foundling, their foster-child 900 her playmates outgrew and their games : hers the girlhood mild sweet, undefi^d, whose beauty the sea-brute tames ! To men and to Gods it is time she be shown 905 in her loose locks of amber arrayed, that the sea wash her feet with motherly moan and the blue sky acknowledge the maid. 5 In a concave billow they lay her down, 910 white arm for soft pillow, gushing curls for gay gown. 0*er the silk-smooth pellucid boat stretch a rainbow-woof sail — to hill-homed Cypress float 915 bark fair and frail ! Her attendants summon clamorously light Zephyrus to blow. in ^ A VISION OF NEW HELLAS T The charities cheerfully ac- knowledge her superiority to themselves and n4 THE HYMN TO APHRODITE Lo ! he pantcth, heart-amorously, and flying they go ! 920 The Mermaids laugh, sing, and for gladness upfling their beauteous arms bubble-shiny ; whom the Mermen escort with hollo and snort, 925 eyes on fire, cheeks swollen, beards briny. From his ram's horn sends the Triton lustily skyward a musical jet; sea-horses splash, dolphins spout : 930 gustily fl mounts the spray, scattering, to light on ^ the naked Goddess, her maidens devout, — an attire many-beaded of twinkling wet ! Sly old Proteus her wizard forerunner is 935 to quell the waves' turbulent riot; behold I heaven's glory upon her is, and before her the vast sea's quiet* Chorus of the Charities. Finale Between sister, and sister no disparity of beauty age or degree; 940 we are each a gracious Charity, one in love, but in loveliness three. us A VISION OF NEW HELLAS r highly extol her holy virtue. WW n6 THE HYMN TO APHRODITE Yet we hail thee, Aphrodite, who art fairer than we be in worshipping eyes : who soothest with hope the despairer — 945 thy beauty than wisdom more wise. Thy grace never waneth, ever waxeth immortal Delight of mankind ! Thy hold on our hearts who relaxeth ? for thy smiles are the bonds that bind. 950 Thou makest living joys out of griefs that are dead; as thou walkest, silver-footed, the day lust-monsters writhe under thine airy tread whom thy naked lustre doth slay. The Gods, yea, men likewise, no longer fear 955 the glory of flesh and carnal pride if Thou, O peerless, O sane, art near — for by Thee are they purified. ny A VISION OF NEW HELLAS t* ^^ *^^^^^^^^^m. ^^^Mi ^PT^w^^I ^^^^r^ $fv,\"^^ri^ S^B 1 y£*^ ^ n^^w^C^^H M ^^m^ B Dionysus de- dareth that in- deed it is now^ high time beau- ty (Aphrodite) be once again associated with ns THE RECONCILIATION ^ THE RECONCILIATION I Holy Mother, sage and good, heard have thy ears 960 even now, ravishM, my lightsome Naiads, my Charities spiritual, utter in cadence the praise melodious of Her that shall once again charm, 965 (thou hast said,) as in days of their youth, mankind. For verily, O Mother, long hath lasted the night 970 already of toil, unhallowed by joy in the task; the night — all eyes blinding but such as glare cat-like 975 with criminal craft ; too long ! 119 A VISION OF NEW HELLAS He comments on the story of beauty's having wrought relief from acute sor- row, whence, in due season, Demetcr's wis- dom; T 120 THE RECONCILIATION t n When grieving well nigh in Thee, immortal, the goddess had slain, thou wast saVd 980 by the life-joyous smile that in sorrow^s despite a smile responsive compell'd ajar to set the doors of thy soul's 985 prison ? And slid not Hope in tiptoe, and close at her heels. Desire of life, her lover constant, who took each a languid hand of thine, 990 leading with tender violence out of thy cell dark, grim, bare. Thee, to freedom divine once more ? Yet, as therefore Thou to the Cyprian 99S Goddess the debt unpaid remcmberest, Mother, so I to the son, Delos-born, of Leto owe a friend's undying thank. J2J ^ A VISION OF NEW HELLAS and resolveth on his part to arouse disinter- ested intelli- gence (Apollo) from long slum- ber; recalling the service it (A- pollo) rendered to enthusiasm J22 THE RECONCILIATION m Phoebus Apollo I J 000 shimmer quick-shifting of streams that upwell and outflow ; shine of my gold washed pure; light-ray of my fire volcanic ; oracular counsel uttered at large 1005 from my core unconscious of things ; the vision's preternatural clearness in them I intoxicate ; truth serene, (first dimly discern^ from height ecstatic, whither the spirit 1 010 I lifted,) in hours of intelligent quiet remember^ and understood ; O Pythian Phoebus Apollo who slayest ever anew with arrow of sanity J015 the monster of over-faith, Thee of the peak Parnassian, twin mount unto mine. Thee, Thee will I summon from agelong sleep ! IV For, nowise J 020 Demeter, O Mother true of Persephone, thy child 123 4 A VISION OF NEW HELLAS r (Dionysus) by making the lat- ter gentle and Aphrodite and Apollo -wrill both develop the body, each one 124 THE RECONCILIATION I ravish^t pain to inflict ^P on one who lov*d her, and whom not knowing I therefore Iov*d ; but assured 1025 thou couldst never my heart's passion know, nor fate*s doom irreversible whereby thou borest Her, and didst rear to maidenhood only that mine she should thenceforth be ; assured 1030 that willingly not to any couldst Thou, her mother, yield one so desirable; therefore forced was I, Lord of life, J 035 in the odious guise of the Ghost-god unreal on Her whose favor I crav'd violent hands to lay. But thereafter my souFs own brother, Apollo, the fierceness extreme J 040 of my deity ancient, soothed; so that even Persephone, timid and gentle, could forgive, nay, her ravisher cherish as now 1 V Behold, thy labors J 045 (O Mother of Her who is mine and thine) shall be matched 125 A A VISION OF NEW HELLAS IT viewing it asthe supreme means to all good ends. Dionysus ex- presseth the true philosophy of affliction. }26 THE RECONCILIATION by labors as gladsome. For Thou of the rude and gross, (the pressure continuous of pain ennobling, 1050 refining,) wilt fashion, by little and little, the beauty of golden Aphrodite again; while I from the stony-hard gloom at the stroke heroic, death-dealing, at length 1055 shall elicit the fire and the light of the Loxian. To grace She shall perfect, for service of love, the body; which He to feats athletic will harden at the hest J 060 of the manly mind. With charm of the lovely. She and with hope assuageth men's grief; while the end afar off perceiving. He, clearsighted, by knowledge controls the passion that else, rebellious, 1065 would reason overthrow. VI So, sweetened thy memories of the old bereavement shall be, that never again couldst thou wish mother Demeter, the past 1070 altered in ought, or the fatal J27 A A VISION OF NEW HELLAS J28 THE RECONCILIATION decree overrurd. The rougher ^C the rind of life's fruit, the sweeter the juice thereof express^ from the seeded pulp I Wouldst thou J 075 again to reach the broad, warm, fertile plains of peace, not press thro' the icy gorge of anguish — feet bleeding and bruis'd — once more ? 129 ^ A VISION OF NEW HELLAS The oreads sing (by way of pre- lude to their hymn of Apol- lo) the praises of Leto(theIlid- den)hismother» T 130 THE HYMN TO APOLLO H THE HYMN TO APOLLO I J 080 Ever, from the womb of the witless hour, (of her beauty and power unaware,) the wisest thoughts of man 1085 are bom, most holy and most fair. Ever, from the tomb of a right men 1090 scorn, wingeth, (singeth in death^s despite,) a spirit again 1095 of godlier might. Ever, from the gloom of the cloud-hid night folding eaprfi in sadness, springeth nOO at mom the Lord of the light, the King of azure gladness. m A VISION OF NEW HELLAS They remem- ber the fall of Zeus's clandes- tine wooing of Leto; and recount ho'vtr she fared at the hands of wicked man- kind w^ho had not heard there- of. 132 THE HYMN TO APOLLO By the banks of the stream of sleep^ J 105 and the lake of dream still, deep, the dark Night strayed a starry, chaste maid, I no and dipped her feet in the water to wade; when the white skfs Light his splendor effac'd \\\5 to glide undescried as a lustrous, proud swan to her bashful side* But, alas ! of his ruffled plumes unafraid, alas ! for the woe he wrought her, 1 120 poor maid. The home she forsook of her girlhood, in shame, and sought out a lone spot to die ; yet soon for her child^s sake, unborn, she came to abodes of mankind far and nigh, M25 in Zeus*s name, the hospitable, food humbly imploring, and shelter. )33 ^ A VISION OF NEW HELLAS ^ r )34 Zeus Cometh to her aid, mirac- ulously fashion- ing out of a promontory the THE HYMN TO APOLLO But, boorish, men void of pity thought scorn of her plea ; women, rude, insolent when they felt her 1130 sore plight, jeerM, foully-witty: ** What ? Zeus ? God Zeus was thy lover 1 'twere impious to doubt of his truth; so we dare not provide for thy want,** they cried, 1135 '*be assured his sky-roof guest-friendly will cover — and the bread of his board feed — ^the bride of his youth I ** That, cruel, the shaft her sick heart might pierce as Leto tottered and paFd, 1 140 they gloated and laugh'd, and in mockery fierce her as maiden-mother hail'd. They knew not that ever God claimeth the child by man unclaimM ! — 1145 Woe, woe ! who a mother shameth, forsaken — for he shall be shamed ! Horror smitten, of their lowland and highland men saw a rich vale, a steep hill by Zeus, thundering, riven : — an island J 150 afloat at the waves* wild will; ^fi 135 A VISION OF NEW HELLAS ^ floating isic of Delos, where her travail over- taketh her. Leto is bidden note the power and the love of Zeus, in that he hath trans- ferred to Delos the very stream and lake on w^hose banks he w^on her ; and the portents io honor of her son's birth are rehearsed. lb 136 THE HYMN TO APOLLO and swift with the current it carried tK the outcast far from their sight, while the coarse women, maids yea, and married, lay prone on the earth with affright. 1155 Lo I in seabound Delos, bereft of all human comfort and aid, writhes Leto, hid in a rocky cleft, of the awful end afraid. With child of a God, sore be her throes ; n60 loud-shrieldng, is her frail flesh torn, — then, utter hush ensues and repose. Is it death ? Nay, Apollo is bom ! 5 Mother Leto, awake ! What ? Mopus the stream M65 of lifers sleep, and the azure lake of lovers dream still deep, aflash with the sun's clear rise, U 70 do thine eyes not recognize ? Dost thou not feel the earth immense under thee heave, and shake 1 1 75 with a mad, convulsive mirth ? 137 4 A VISION OF NEW HELLAS T 138 THE HYMN TO APOLLO Hark ! the depth of grey Ocean vents ^^ in waves of applause that break on shore-sands shiny, his joy at the wonderful birth. The winds waft fragrance ambrosial from sky- banks af lower ; U80 victorious palms, laurels lustrously ever-green leap from the crag, and the hillside bare, to em- bower Thee, mother of daylight, Thee, Leto, unseen I Flocks of swan-cloudlets from Asia come swim- ming thro* air, and encircle frotn East unto West I J 85 seven times, the risen Apollo hymning, the sacred isle that offerM thee rest. Palm-pillars of gold, laurel-capital'd, vast, up-shoot from truth's unplumbed ground under- sea, the rocking cradle of myth to make fast \ 190 forever, in honor of him and of thee; and the Cyclades all, at the blaze of his power shall encompass it, footing a miraculous reel, transformed to cloud-islands, at the magical hour when the burst of his innermost glory they feel. n95 In welcoming cheer, in musical hollo, let Naiads, let Oreads, let Dryads unite : All-hail, O Apollo! O Apollo! O ApoUo! God, newborn, of the risen sun's light. J39 ^^ A VISION OF NEW HELLAS The three mu- ses petition A- pollo and their sire, surnamed Melpomenos, that they be never required to follow other deities than them twain. ^ 140 THE HYMN TO APOLLO t Litany of the Muses* Finale Of music, of dance and of song J200 wc Three be mystical Muses, To our Lord and sire we belong 1205 and the Soul that for his he chooses. But O best-beloved, brother of Melphomenos, noble Apollo, we pray that he bid us none other but Thee of all deities follow, 1210 For thou art oracular shower — true fore-knower; of things as they be calm seer, fear-freer; of the heart's revengeful ire 1215 purifier; when Thou bendest thy golden bow — woe! woe! — the white bone it will pierce with its arrow to the marrow ! 1220 For, O Pythian hater of disguise and all lies ; ^ A A VISION OF NEW HELLAS W^ 142 THE HYMN TO APOLLO who lovcst the frank and the fair ^J that will dare look Thee, pure God, in the eye — J225 yea, die but not merit his own souFs scorn : — Thou hast sworn who cowardly hatreds cherish shall perish ; J 230 to back-biters and knaves Thou wilt send sore end; but the old, kind death shall obtain without pain of Thee, who men^s piteous ills canst feel 1235 and with death or new life thy suppliant heal ! So, we Muses of dance, of music, of song, to Thee, noble Phoebus Apollo, and Melpomenos, only, our father, belong and no other Gods ever will follow I J43 €^ A VISION OF NEW HELLAS The company divideth, one side prefemng Aphrodite to the left of Per- sephone, and the other side, to the right of Dionystis, par- ticular votaries of Apollo. 144 RIVALS DIVINE t RIVALS DIVINE I 1240 As their praise of the Loxian the Muses three, ended in joy of faith, not without awe or wondering love, — the host of worshippers, subdued 1245 by the singing, divided in twain ranging about the emanative splendors, (seen first in ardors intense of devotion,) a crescent to right of the God Melpomenos : — his Muses white-clad, 1250 his Hill-nymphs diaphanous-shrouded, his green-garmented Dryads of trees, and the terrible Pans, the jeering Satyrs, awaiting his nod to renew their clamor* Likewise 1255 a crescent to left of the fair Persephone : — ^the Qiarities three in snows of nudity chaste, the Naiads light-footed with eyes asparkle, the Maenads scarce J 260 held from resuming the dance orgyastic, (thyrsus in air and locks loose-tumbled, dappled faun-hides m A VISION OF NEW HELLAS t^ A naiad and an oread sing by turns, and ef- fectually mer- ging tlieir rival hymns, illus- trate the fitness of the deities for a spiritual un- ion. ^^ 146 RIVALS DIVINE ill-cIoaking shoulders wine-stain'd and voluptuous rosy-tipped breasts,) J 265 by the stilling look of the bride of their God. From the instant's hush unendurable, loud for sheer bliss cried a Naiad : ** Hail Aphrodite ! ** and answering an Oread 1270 shrillM out: ''Apollo I'' Then each, interrupting the other's flow of rapturous song, alternate pursued the praise of her chosen deity, with reasoning melodious 1275 as rival birds of the new-leav*d bush : — n Love ye the Goddess of gracious fall being? Know ye the God of delighted clear seeing ? She, of the tyrannous affinity 1280 f^t knitting wholes of the several parts) He, stern sundering divinity who searcheth things to their secret hearts ? Beholdf it is She refineth to surfaces smooth all substance material 1285 for the ray of the sun to illumine and <[varm — 147 ^ A VISION OF NEW HELLAS {48 RIVALS DIVINE Behold it is He who shineth ^g and maketh alive and light and ethereal things coarse, dead, heavy, with spiritual form — Yea,, of Her is the splendor caught J 290 to the gladsome eye refracted; beauteous form made real for the human hand*s persistent soft, insatiate caress! By Him, from chaos and nought 1295 things ordered, shapM, compacted, mirror the souPs ideal, and are nigh'r to man when distant — subtilized to loveliness ! Her function to set the senses ashiver^ 1300 {"when heart is sick, and spirit is blind f) an immediate assurance procuring of the 'wealth and the with votive gifts from lovers expert to lovers still in the best of their joy J 350 uninitiatc, — that day of supreme expectancy, prime of united lives ? ** n "What boon/' Persephone, blushing, replied, ** shall we dole unto Gods, 1355 lovers? The Charities three of beautiful givingt and taking, and using, gladly I grant to the Bride, shall she visit Eleusis, the eve of her happy espousals ; and surely, Dionysus 1360 Melphomenos, Lord of rhythm and phrensy poetic, will on the Bridegroom, his dearly lov*d brother bestow the mystic Muses of dance, music, song/* The God's smile her words affirming, — behold 1365 the gaze abstract of his eyes took aureate lustre from worlds mist-molten, remote, (whose life with passionate dream prenatal, throbbeth in fire-seed ;) and straightway his lips parting, one shudder 1370 thriird, beatific, the worshipping host entire, — by fury predictive attained, that each in his own soul only the words of the nuptial prophecy caught. J55 w^ A VISION OF NEW HELLAS whereupon he uttereth a mar- riage blessing upon the tw&in, proclaiming their joys of love and triumphs of their progeny. \Sb VOTIVE GIFTS Aphrodite, J 3 75 Eucharis, full of grace, full of charm, with thy Qiarities three, from whose hands are fair living, and loving ; ApoUo, Musagetes, leader frank J 380 of the sisters three, who translate man from earth-struggle to care-free altitudes human; the time of your blessed return impatient the world expecteth for aeons of righteous J 385 peace without end. And lo! it prepareth for you the privacy bridal, the couch creative of infinite rapture divine; that fatefully, fearfully drawn must ye be to bowers 1390 where droop hot roses their crimson heads close, face by face; and about them hills rise, as in icy array defensive, whose tall lilies in winds of unconscious desire, 1395 ring out their laughter-peals fragrant. And thither, O thither the mystical will of the life self-perpetuate shall tyrannous urge ye, ^ A VISION OF NEW HELLAS r r 158 VOTIVE GIFTS sweet love-maddened lovers; there, mouth ^^ 1400 to mouth, ye shall know not self from the lovM one apart ; and the lilies moon-silvery erst, are sun-fulvid with pollen-stain rich ; and the roses, burst open, storm crimson petals, — 1405 awhirl as they fall, in sign that the flesh, with voluptuous reluctance at last, panting, admitteth the mind^s penetrant stem resolve* Such shall the anguishful 1410 gendering of Gods be, for jocund birth instantaneous. Rejoice, rejoice, O ye who the ancient Olympus rul'd, that, more absolute these — more adorably fair than of yore yourselves, shall effortless fell 1415 the Titans, your foes rearisen, and aloft the summit sublime of the sacred mount, rear homes eternal, whence their sway shall extend all-potent forever o'er a nobler, a larger mankind ! J59 ^9 A VISION OF NEW HELLAS r The gods of E- leusisarepraised for the sincere welcome they extend to more recent claim- ants of worship by maenads, sa- tyrs, pans, nymphs, chari- ties, muses. The muses set forth the neces- sity of polethe- 160 HYMNS HYMENEAL •t HYMNS HYMENEAL L General Chorus 1420 All praise Dionysus^ Demcter^ Persephone, to your united divinity ! Your glories suffice us — blossom, fruit, life-seed, — great Eleusynian trinity. We laud you forever J 425 that hospitable ye are in your gracious affinity; devising new pieties that tighten, not sever, th^ old bonds of devotion; J 430 (the streams of our worship not lost in the ocean the dead-sea of a jealousy bitter and dumb, our longings not drownM in a lonely infinity,) we exalt you for hailing unbegotten societies of Gods that shall brighten 1435 the ages to come. n. The Muses For the Gods are many and various : the good things that men love and desire. The life of the world were precarious if it burnM not with manifold fire. \6\ A VISION OF NEW HELLAS The charities burst into a hymn unto the ancient Eros, God of love, ever young, ever wise, ever glorious, God of gods. 162 HYMNS HYMENEAL J 440 Men's ideals, — flame-gods, aspirations, rare excellences, heroisms sublime, — be innumerable as races and nations, as moods of man, moments of time. But the heights know each other, saluting J445 athwart the vast plains of low land : (the worship of each not confuting the worship of all,) hand in hand the glorious mountains enring us th* old earth of animal strife ; J450 and together, one in spirit, they sing us the paean of man's divine life. in. The Charities Hymn to Eros Yet who shall renew man's universe ? 1455 restore to it a splendor pristine ? in the bath of cleansing fire immerse ? give more and ever more to it of the passionate heat suns kissed in 1460 ere cool'd by the impious curse ? of the pride in spiritual might ere fell on man's bloom a blight, and the better was deem'd the worse ? )63 A A VISION OF NEW HELLAS lb t44 HYMNS HYMENEAL O Erost sole god-head primeval, ^K J 465 invisible witness thou wast of the continents* upheaval, from the warm love-Ianguorous sea ; and again, the whelming urgence of waters that boil'd and toss'd J 470 o'er the slow voluptuous submergence of the lands — from whom but from Thee ? Thou — atom to atom alliest, commingling the alien and strange, dissevering the likest and nighest, 1475 allowing no ultimate rest ; and marshaled from chaos dismal, undergoing mystical change, the molecules stellar and prismal crystals compose at thy hest. J 480 Thou givest flowVs color and fragrance, and honey, that, poUen-shower'd, unawares the air's J 485 sunny vagrants to perform thy sweet tasks be empowered. Thou givest, many-hued iridescent 1490 plumes to the birds ; yea, throats to trill, warble, pipe, whistle, incessant _^ )65 A VISION OF NEW HELLAS The nymphs laud the divine issue of -wedded Apollo and Aphrodite, pre- dicting the con- descension of the goddesses to hu- man lovers. 166 HYMNS HYMENEAL subdued or triumphant rich notes. Of Thee, in thy season, all creatures 1495 have special terror and grace ; softening man^s fiercer features, flushing maid^s meekest face. Of Thee, all friendships, heart-duties, devotions to social good, 1500 all ardent faiths, luminous beauties, pure manhood, strong womanhood. Far to near, and upper to nether, lest they cease from being divine, th' very Gods thou knittest together, 1505 and their glory and honor is thine. O Eros, the new ages shall feel Thee binding earth and heaven so close that lowliest souls shall reveal Thee th* High God in the common and gross I in. The Nymphs* 1510 The God of daylight, the Goddess of form aglow O ancient Eros, *tis Thou shalt affiance : and glorious the race of new Gods that shall owe their being to wedded Art and Science. They shall dwell not idle in sky-courts remote 1515 high-waird on perpetual blue above cloud; nor shall incense that men to their honor devote make them careless, cruel, ignobly proud ; # J67 A VISION OF NEW HELLAS T f68 HYMNS HYMENEAL no hcav'ns shall they promise their worshippers ^P which never the living can hope to enter ; J 520 nor teach scorn of Earth, and all that is hers, on themselves men's devotions to center. They shall live on the heights, but heights ter- restrial of difficult — yet possible — ascent; master, not slay, in man what is bestial, 1525 to subserve the divine intent. Nor icily chaste, without radiant issue, shall the Goddesses, wondrously beautiful, in crystal houses 'neath spreads of gold-tissue, dream, languorous, on couches of cloudy wool. J 530 For the haughtiest hath an Endymion, an Adonis, and knoweth some trysting-spot hallowed and dear, where she with him and her love alone is in wood or glade, by fountain or mere. Because, never ideals can wed one another J 535 though chosen manly spirits they may blessedly love; but twice blessed the mother of a hero who extends over earth her sway; and thrice blessed the hero, the half-divine who in his reflecteth his mother's face, 1540 whose gentleness, purity, sweetness refine and ennoble, in living and dying, his race ! 169 A VISION OF NEW HELLAS The maenads shout jubilant- ly, and extol the ■wisdom and justice shown in the mating of their godly sons to maids of earth. 170 HYMNS HYMENEAL IV O the Gods of masculine might, the splendors eternally fated, in vain with man would fight ; J 545 not so could they wrest of him, the truest, the best of him : for their cruel perfection hated. But, as Semele granted her beauty entire to Zeus the wielder of heavenly fire; J 550 as Danae yielded (when a storm-shower of gold fell through green boughs of hope) in the pas- sionate fold of his arms, to his fierce desire; as once Ariadne, the woe-begone tearful awoke in the blushful dawn J 555 to wed the wine-rapturous God of the bold; as Clymene fair of hair bowed dim in a flare of air radiant and hot from her sunbright Apollo; so the maidens of earth shall in ages to come J 560 be wooed of the gods in terrestrial disguise, and whithersoever they flee will follow Love with lustrous, worshipful eyes. Of ideals joy-begotten and born of earth-agony, womanhood grander shall visit mankind, 1 565 courageous, strong, swift of foot, unable to fly on a skyward ascent of spirit and mind ; JJ J7I A VISION OF NEW HELLAS db 172 HYMNS HYMENEAL beautiful, pure of soul, feminine evermore — ^J sisterly, motherly, wifely sweet : — might of brain, grace of heart, time shall not sever more J 570 married in womanhood final, complete. J73 ^ A VISION OF NEW HELLAS 9^ Satyrst pans and maenads are doomed not to perish, but to endure a benefi- cent transform- ation. J74 INTERLUDE INTERLUDE Satyrs — O Pans, fierce Pans, they have proph- esied the death of your savage day ! Pans — O Satyrs, Satyrs, they lied, they lied— t* is ye who must first give way ! 1575 Satyrs — Nay, Apollo will slay the human beast, and man no more on man shall feast I Pans — Aphrodite will conquer with a smile your drunken lusts, and your laugh- ters vile. Maenads — O Satyr, O Pan, why quarrel for naught ? 1580 Not perish shall ye, but a change endure : — Pan to a terrible courage of thought, Satyr to laughter joyously pure. So shall ye serve man loyally both ; while soothing the wilder in us and the rougher 1585 the ache, the bliss of spiritual growth we Bacchic maidens as surely must suffer. J75 •f 4 A VISION OF NEW HELLAS r MM«M*»MMMNMMC&£tiBia*«NM*af ^ }76 INTERLUDE Maenads — But in all that man thinketh, and feelcth, and willeth, and in all that he doeth shall ours be a part : the self-oblivious enthusiasm that filleth 1590 with a sacred trust the mind and the heart. vn A VISION OF NEW HELLAS The water- nymphs see Aphrodite en- throned with Apollo in New^ Olympus. W^ J78 Tree-nymphs describe the for- est-shaded road that leadeth op the holy mount.^ THE BANQUET OF THE GODS ^ THE BANQUET OF THE GODS K The Naidds Aphrodite Eucharis — 't is She^ in robe of dazzling dews (see, see !) 1595 throning aloft pure^ gentle, soft ! The locks — of Apollo beside her — diffuse halo of sunny bliss, glory of many hues I 2. The Dryads 1600 Tell us! what shining street winds up Olympus sheer ? not surely for happy human feet ? Can men and matrons, youths and maids breathe air so pure ? 1605 a lustre endure that fails not, nor fades ? feel of the Gods no stifling fear ? 179 A A VISION OF NEW HELLAS Hill-nymphs tell of human procession as- cending with ease and jubi- lation. Together the nymphs shout for joy at the splendor and vastness of the divine house. 180 THE BANQUET OF THE GODS 3. The Oreads O happier, devoutcr race ! yours no penance, pleadings J 6 JO humiliant, hero-sorrows vicarious, and sore intercedings ; but footstep resilient \6\S and life-glad face, as ye come with jubilant cry in labyrinthine-various processional dance, each, boldly to occupy 1620 a rightful place in the festal hall : — 4. Chorus of Nymphs Ice-shiny floor, cloud marble wall and roofing expanse 1625 of sky over all ! m A VISION OF NEW HELLAS Whereupon the charities praise the banquet at which Demeter dealeth out her broken bread of sorrow, feeding the soul to holy strength ; T ^ 182 and the muses add thereto, that Dionysus pour- eth forth foriall the blood-w^ine THE BANQUET OF THE GODS H I. The Charities Then at the board shall guest with host^ man with God sit down ; flowers spring forth that each loves most^ J 630 each crownM with an odorous crown; of pearl opalescent the massy dishes are pilM with all fruits that grow; greetings of love^ and pious wishes set every face aglow ! J 635 Then, lol Thou, Demeter, shalt solemnly, slowly, for Gods alike and for men, break bread 1640 most holy— (than all meat sweeter — the loaf of grief and bereavement ground, kneaded, parchM with fire,) that strengtheneth to great achievement, 1645 and maketh the fed aspire ! 2. The Muses Dionysus, then, to their broken bread. Thou wilt pour more and more in crystalline bowls ^ J 650 J83 A VISION OF NEW HELLAS of heroic self- unmolation that iospireth and rendereth divine. The maenads, satyrs, pans, nymphs, chari- ties, muses, all together, exult in the greatness oftheElusynian three, assuring them perpetuity of worship and (84 THE BANQUET OF THE GODS iridescent^ the juices fire-red of grape-clusters bruisM^ sweet-scented J 655 with virtuous herbs aromatic: — the hero-blood that from death-wounds ooz^d as the slayers too late repented. O Wine by worship of grateful souls fermented ; 1660 O Wine effervescent with the final bliss of self-sacrifice ecstatic; O intoxicant Wine without price J 665 from life's death-vat divine, — beget in each drinker, the lover's rapture Elysian, the poet's fury, the prophet's vision, the serene world-sight of the thinker I 3. General Chorus* 1670 Praise, praise everlasting to Thee, O Demeter to Thee, Dionysus, Thee daughter and bride Persephone, — holy Gods of Eleusis : — Thou who feedest the fasting J 675 to nourish the spiritual life of the eater, thy food sanctifying for worthiest uses; 185 A VISION OF NEW HELLAS the tender re- gard of men to the last age of the world. ^ 186 THE BANQUET OF THE GODS Thou who quenchest the thirst *^ for the best in the worst, till at length their desires be satisfied ; 1680 Thou who bindest with love the twain in One; — As on earth so in heaven ye see it is : all thanks are held due, and all honor is done 1 685 *o them who chose pain, not pleasure; great-hearted service, not griping sway ; who their might superhuman to measure build up, give life, — not demolish and slay ! 1690 Wherefore, O noble Eleusynian deities we vow perpetual worship to you : wherefore thro* the ages for ever and aye though new names ye receive again and again, \ 695 no Gods more than You will we serve and believe, sung of children, lov'd of women,hallo Vd of men ! 187 4^ PART III THE AFTERSONG A VISION OF NEW HELLAS The final cho- rus hath caused the poet to fall into an ecstasy ; so that he hath a vision of the city, erst foul and dark, made pure and full of light; ^ J90 THE AFTERSONG I ROM the confluent torrents of praise delirious waxed the dithyramb's worshipful fury : a vortex of rapture 5 symphonious, fast-swirling, spray-bursts of clamor irrepressible, gurgling eddies in eddies of laughter, along on its surface of melody; breaking 10 its uttermost edge to ecstatic surf Against hill-shores reverberant, its own violence engulfing in the abysmal deep of itself. n Rapt to vertiginous pitch 15 above seeing and hearing, my soul soared immobile in hush and void ; till again life-aware, no vision deific disturb^ her incurious content. Below stood f leckless my city, ethereal, clear ; 20 relucent with quivering wet from the holy wash of the rain ; gables, chimneys, towers, pinnacles, spires, m A VISION OF NEW HELLAS ^. / '\}>\ ^ --^^t:'^ ^'i-^ ?(j hio^p ^^^ Mt^ /'^fv^^V^N^ <^ \i f^\! ^-^ --nT M ^:\ and straight- way he compre- hendeth the meaning of the entire vision. J92 THE AFTERSONG to crystal transmuted, clove eager the vitreous, light-vibrant air; 25 sparkrd, gleamM, flickered, flarM, flashed in the downpour of sunshine, whence swollen the fulgurant gold river flowed large to vanish behind proud heights whereon leaned the verge of the sky. m 30 Then, a swift assurance of my mind took unreasoning possession. Before me was the foretold wonder in symbol fulfilled : coarse stuff of earth, deemM hitherto foul, now illustrious with spiritual ardor ; quick beams 35 into wastes of dark nothing hurl'd uselessly forth, iix*d now in substantial splendor for man. And, as Demeter, ancient mother of sorrow, as Dionysus with blood-spotted 40 garment, the bridegroom, undaunted of death, (in mystical fellowship held at Eleusis by love for the daughter, the bride Persephone,) hailM Apollo, Aphrodite haiPd, (in the myth 45 of my dreaming,) their beneficent sway to divide o'er the fortunes of man : So, Life with studied iniquity J93 A VISION OF NEW HELLAS 194 THE AFTERSONG dealing her doom of anguish 50 selective, that the many thereby become few or barren, while the few mother many in their forfeited room at ease; So, Life 55 inspiring his chosen the impossible to dare, with folly of will, that the few thus perish, and live in the marvel of the many a multiplied life of lives ; 60 So, the world^s dire powers propulsive (at one in their passion alone for unfolding might and grace.) Evolution ! — 65 Revolution ! — invite to a share in their secular toil, makers of man than they less cruel ; for, with vital doctrine Science,. 70 enamorM, impregnateth Art, who in joy bringeth deathless ideals to the day, nobler, more vigorous, lords of a higher heaven, earth-transfigurers, begetters brave, yea, and beautiful bearers of men 75 in their likeness, after their kind. J95 A VISION OF NEW HELLAS But his wonder waxeth greater when the city changeth to a vast theatre ; wm 196 and forthwith expandeth to his country — as the stage for the final display to THE AFTERSONG IV Comforted gazed I, though tears of gratitude dimmed my sight. For the city on a sudden became 80 a sun-dazzling arena immense ; and her girdle of hills with their shelving streets (huge benches, tier over tier for intent spectators,) swept B>S amphitheatre-wise about ; and the river a choric procession, white-vested, an altar large encircled solemn and slow with song ; but beyond 90 and above them, larger, arose the altar heroic for human oblation of bravery, rectitude, slain of their slayers but to triumph in them, 95 o'er the wisdom of scarring experience, at last, as faiths inborn, and instinctive smiles ! V Bewildered, I stared (though passionate tears continued to blind me,) far 100 athwart sky-reaches diaphanous, without ^M J97 A VISION OF NEW HELLAS P the world of the God in man. The poet, be- wildered aad amazed, dareth not disbelieve the truth of the vision ; where- fore he declareth it to his fellow- 198 THE AFTERSONG end; the elusive ^k horizon receding apace, till man's arena of achievement 105 outspread to the length, in my view, and the breadth of the land best-beloved, by a monstrous half-ring environed, of eternal 1 10 main-lands sea-welded together (the shine of vast strands with shine of wide waters blent,) — Europe and Africa east, and to southward America; Australia \ \5 with Asia in the west ; — the terrestrial amphitheatre's round, where the nations throng ^g^ps, young and old at the spectacle new, the last act J 20 of hell, — heaven's first : the deification of Man ! VI Then close my eyes shut, by the portent dismayed, lest the former despair had bestowed no miraculous gift 125 of far sight prophetic, but mock'd me instead with hallucinations : ** Too good, too beautiful," cried I aloud, J99 H A VISION OF NEW HELLAS r men, tiiat they may decide whether it shall be proven true or false: — for in present deeds, make they the fate beautiful or hideous of all time to be. 200 THE AFTERSONG *' for wildest belief ! '' But gently my panic allayed to a calm J 30 certitude strange of great joy. Soft at my souFs car Hope whisperM : '* Too good, too beautiful not to be true — yea, and soon true for thee, true for me 1 35 somehow, somewhere, sometime I ** Though the storm of seership stiird, I linger^ serene on the sheer height awhile of Culture Hellenic, at peace with my bliss — 140 and smilM; for I caught myself unawares murmuring (some burden of a hymn in sweet dreams heard,) ** Surely it should be, wherefore it shall be, it must be, it is 145 as I saw it and see it again, and in vision have shown it to thee I " 201 ^ MYTHOLOGICAL GLOSSARY. (^* j^* t^* i^* Dear Reader: Once upon a time it was the custom for an author to address you as "kind," " intelligent," "affable," "discreet," "appreciative;" for he had, of course, a very reasonable expectation of the compliment's return in due season with interest compounded at leisure. Alas, those easy-going days are no more. Fame is not to be so cheaply earned. Meanwhile, every writer, who is also a reader, well knows that with the multiplication of books, good and bad, no sane person is omnivorous nowadays, but, according to temperament and profession, more or less strictly herbivorous, granivorous or carnivorous. There must then surely be those among any author's friends who desire to praise his perform- ance fairly to his face, or fault it candidly behind his back, without the agonizing preparation of a personal perusal thereof. Fully appreciating such friends, and eager to put them in his debt by a piece of thoughtfulness, an old-fash- ioned ' ' argument ' ' is painstakingly set down here. ARGUMENT OF A VISION OF NEW HELLAS. The poet, disgusted with the modem industrial and commercial civilization (symbolized by the city in foul weather), climbs the hill of Hellenic culture in hopes of seeing the eternal blue of heaven. He is disappointed. Though the smoke-pall of sordidness is below him, the cloud-sky of pessimism continues overhead. In his despair, the ancient harvest-home goddess Demeter appears, and explains to the poet what is really going on in the city below: a development of the race by competition. Then arrives the vintage- 203 Mythological Glossary. god of life, Dionysus, and makes himself known to Demeter as the husband of her daughter, Persephone, goddess of bloom, mistakenly- supposed to have been carried off by Aidoneus, the god of death. Dionysus explains that he, the god of life, is indeed the god of death, because he is the god of heroes; that he is the slayer of the good and the noble, only in order that in their torture their true glory might be displayed. Thereupon Demeter adopts Dionysus as her son. In the joy of union between mother, daughter and son, they together resolve to bring again to life Aphrodite, the beauty of form, and Apollo, the light of the mind. Dionysus prophesies that in the modern world these shall be wedded (as they were not in Hellas), and that from them shall in time spring a new race of gods (ideals) which shall mingle with mankind, and uplift them till God and men can feast together at one divine board. Here the poet awakes from his vision. The prophetic storm has cleared the sky. The wind has dissipated the smoke, and the city stands beneath him in august beauty: the arena for the heroes of to-day. The poem concludes with an interpretation of the vision, which justifies our highest hopes for the race that shall inhabit the new and greater Hellas, and shall ever lovingly worship the hero-god as the god of life and death. ♦ * * ^' Furthermore, dear reader, the author would fain observe that although the pedigree of the printer's dexdl is shockingly- brief, stretching back at best only to mediaeval days, this mythological parvenu has intruded his obnoxious person into the hallowed precincts of our classic poem ; and here follows an enumeration of his unseemly pranks. ERRATA. Page 37, verse 98: A parenthesis is missing at the end of the line. Page 55, verse 293: Read Jire instead of ire. Page 113, verse 914: Read Cyprus for Cypress. Page 141, verse 1207, and page 155, verse 1360: Read Melpotnenos for Melphomenos. Page 160: Read (in rubric) polytheism for poletheism. Page 184: Read (in rubric) Eleusynian for Elusynian. ^ ^ ^ ^ 204 Mythoi^ogicai, Glossary. In conclusion, dear reader, lest at some remotely future day "he should wake up and find himself" prematurely " famous," and therefore desire to justify his extollers by a careful examination of this, his first mature performance, but should find himself sorely let and hindered by the then mil- dewed state of his Olympian lore ; provident of contingen- cies, your author has appended (purely for his personal convenience, be it remembered) a mythological glossary, the which Professor Frederick L,. Schoenle, of the University of Cincinnati, has been good enough to compile. Dionysus was god of flippant jest as well as of bloody earnest, so his bard's soberest communication need not be taken altogether seriously ; and if facetiously taken it should prove insipid, he knows you will not hesitate to provide from your own cellar a grain or two of salt with which all solemn asseverations should doubtless be seasoned even when dished in old-fashioned phrase. He laughs best who laughs at his own expense; for his mirth puts him in no neighbor's debt. Wherefore please to excuse, dear, kind, intelligent, discreet, sympathetic, long suffering, affable reader, the epistolary loquacity of your most obliged, humbly obedient servant and sincerest well-wisher, The Author. 205 MYTHOLOGICAL GLOSSARY, ti?* t(9* &?* t^* Adonis (a-do^nis). Son of Cinyrasand Myrrha, favor- ite of Aphrodite, slain by a boar. The death of Adonis (Thammuz) ■was annually wept. He was an oriental God of nature, typifying the cycle of the seasons. Aegipan (e''ji-pan). See Pan. AiDONEUS (a-e-d6n''us). The Invisible; the God of the nether world, son of Kronos and Rhea, brother to Zeus; one of the chief Olympians, commonly call- ed Hades. Aphrodite (af-r6-di''ty). Goddess of love and beauty, born of the foam of the sea off the coast of Cyprus, wife of Hephaestus, paramour of Ares. Probably of Asiatic origin. Apoi,i,o (a-poFo). One of the great Olympian gods, son of Zeus and Leto, brother of Artemis, bom in Delos, originally identical with the Sun-god Helios. Lord of the light and life-giving, as well as of the death-dealing power of the sun; the all-seeing and all-knowing teacher of prophecy and truth; the master of sanity; the lord of healing; the god of harmony, hence of music, song, and poetry; leader of the muses, and patron of artists. Ariadne (ar-i-ad''ny). Daughter of Minos, King of Crete; assists Theseus out of the labyrinth, is abandoned by him on the island of Naxos, where Dionysus finds and weds her. Bacchus (baVus). The Shout er; a title of Dionysus as the riotous god. See lacchus. Bromios (bro'mi-os). The Noisy, the Boisterous; an epithet of Dionysus in his func- tion of Fire-god in the crashing lightning and the roaring of vol- canoes. In the Bacchic orgies the Bacchantes would imitate the noise of their god by the beating and thumping of drums. Charities. The triad, daughters of Chads [ka-'ris], (the personification of social charm and beauty), better known to moderns by their Latin name, Graces. Cl,YMENE (klim^e-ny). Daughter of Oceanus and Tethys, wife of lapetus, and mother of Atlas and Prometheus. CycLADES (sik''-la-dez). A group of twelve islands in the Aegean Sea, forming a ring, a cycle, around the island of Delos. Cyprus (sl''prus). Name derived from its rich copper mines; favorite abode of Aphro- dite. DanaE (dan''a-y). The daughter of Acrisius of Ar- 207 Mythological Glossary. gos. Shut up in a brazen tower by her father, lest she become mother of a son fated to slay him; there she is visited by Zeus in a shower of gold, and gives birth to Perseus (the Slayer). DeIvOS (de'los). The smallest island of the Cycla- des, in the Aegean Sea, sacred to Apollo and Artemis, and their birthplace. According to one Greek legend it was originally a floating island, until Zeus fixed it to receive Leto: according to another legend it became visible on a sudden. DemeTER (de-me/ter). Goddess of agriculture and rural life, protectress of the home and social order, mother of Perse- phone, worshipped specially in Eleusis, and one of the great Olympian deities. Dionysus (di-6-nI''sus). "God of the Heavenly Dew," the god of wine, the god of the fire-spirit of life, the god of en- thusiastic frenzy and orgyastic worship. A god of manifold forms and manifestations, see Bromios, Bacchus, Dithyrambos, Melpomenos, lacchus, Zagreus. Prematurely bom in Thebes, of Semele, the beloved of Zeus, amid thunder and lightning, he was saved by his sire after the death of his mother. Our best source of information concerning his wor- ship is the Bacchae of Euripides. Dithyramb (dith''i-ramb). A choral song, accompanied by flutes and mimic dance, in honor first of Dionysus, afterwards of others, gods and men. Origin of the word unknown . According to the writer's conjecture the word dithyrambos applied originally to the god himself as a special title, like lacchus, and later came to signify the song of worship. The etymological meaning of dithy- rambos the writer believes to be: the-fire-hurled-f rom-heaven . Dryads (dri'adz). Tree-nymphs, nytnphs residing in trees, as their life-spirits. Eleusis (e-la^'sis). An old city of Attica, with an ancient cult of Demeter and Per- sephone, seat of the famous Eleu- sinian mysteries. Ei^YSiAN (e-lizVi-an). The Elysian fields are placed by Homer on the west border of the earth, near to Ocean; favored he- roes passed there without death. Hesiod's and Pindar's Elysium is in the Islands of the Blest. From these legends arose the fabled Atlantis, and Elysium was then placed in the nether world as abode of the souls of the good, answering to Tartarus, the nether region of the damned. Endymion (en-dim^i-on). A beautiful youth who had fallen asleep in a cave on Mount Latmus, where he was kissed by Selene (the moon). Eros (e-'ros). Eros, the primeval God of love, offspring of Chaos; the creative power of affinity and union among the elements of the world; to be distinguished from Eros (Cupid), the youngest of gods, Aphrodite's sportive son. EuCHARis (u''ka-ris). The Graceful, an epithet of the goddess Aphrodite. 208 MYTHOI.OGICAI, Gl^OSSARY. Evoi (e-woi''). Bacchanalian exclamation. Hades (ha'dez). (a) The Lord of the netherworld, identical with Aidoneus, brother of Zeus, husband of Persephone. (<&) The nether world of the spirits of the dead. Hei,i:,Enic (hel-en'ic). Grecian, from Hellenes [Greeks], inhabitants of Hellas [Greece] . Hephaestus (he-fes'tus). Son of Zeus and Hera, god of fire as used in art, and master of all the arts which need the aid of fire, especially of working in metal. Hermes (her'mez). Son of Zeus and of Maia, the goddess of despatch. Hence Hermes is the messenger of the gods; the conductor of defunct spirits; the giver of good luck, with especial reference to the increase of cattle; the god of all secret dealings, of cunning, of craft, of traffic, and skill; the tutelary god of markets, roads, and of heralds. IacchuS (i-ak^us). {a) TheOft-Shouter. The mystic name of Dionysus as companion of Demeter and Persephone in the ritual of the Eleusinian mysteries. {b) The festal shouting-song in honor of the god. lacchus, originally Vi-Vacchus, is the reduplicated form of Bac- chus [the shouter], hence con- veys an intensified meaning. LETO (le'to). The hidden; daughter of the Ti- tans, Cocus and Phoebe, goddess of heavenly night, mother of Apollo and Artemis, god and god- dess of sun and moon. LoxiAN (lox-'i-an). The oblique; epithet of Apollo, originally with reference to the slanting rays of the Sun-god, then applied figuratively to the Proph- et-god's ambiguous oracles. Maenads (me'nads). The Frenzied Ones; a general ep- ithet of the female votaries of Di- onysus, both human and divine. Melpomenos ( mel-pom-'e-nos ) . The Bard; an epithet of Apollo as the lyre-playing leader of the chorus of Muses. Also a special title of Dionysus in his relation to the Muses. MUSAGETES (mii-saj''e-tez). The conductor of the Muses; an epithet of Apollo. Muses (muz''ez). Emanations of Dionysus; accord- ing to the more usual version daughters of Zeus and Mnemos- yne. At first goddesses of mem- ory, then inspiring goddesses of song, finally goddesses of the different kinds of poetry, of the arts and sciences. No definite number is fixed in the Homeric poems; later three, afterwards nine are mentioned. The Muses are intimately connected with Apollo Musagetes. Naiads (na^yads). Water-nymphs; nymphs residing in springs and streams, the life- spirits of springs and streams. NerEUS (ne're-us, or ne'rus). A Sea-god, father of the fifty Nereids, sea-nymphs. 209 Mythologicai, Glossary. Ol^YMPUS (o-lim-'pus). The name of various sacred mountains, but especially of the mountain on the Macedonian frontier of Thessaly. In the Iliad this mountain is conceived as the seat and home of the Olympian gods, who have their mansions on the highest peak and in the dells below. The Iliad draws a sharp distinction between Mount Olympus and the firmament of heaven; but in the Odyssey the two terms seem to be identical and interchangeable. Oreads (6're-ads). Hill-n3Tnphs, mountain-nymphs, nymphs residing in mountains and hills, the life-spirits of mountains and hills. Pactoi,US (pak-to''lus). A small river in Lydia, Asia Minor, celebrated, in early an- tiquity, for its gold Pan (pan). The god of pastures, forests, and flocks. Arcadia his main seat of worship. Son of Hermes by a Nymph; represented with goat's feet (hence the name Aegipan), horns, and shaggy hair. Some- times conceived as surrounded by fellows like himself. Parnassus (par-nas'us). A mountain ridge near ancient Delphi. The ridge has two lower peaks, about 2000 feet above sea- level. These are the twin-peaks of Roman and modem poets. But the simimit rises high above these peaks, about 8000 feet above sea- level. The high ground above the two lower peaks, but below the siunmit of Parnassus, consists of uplands stretching about 16 miles westward from the summit. These uplands were the scene of Dionysiac festivals, as well as the haunts of Apollo, Dionysus, the Muses, and Nymphs. Persephone ( per-sef ''o-ny ) . Daughter of Demeter; wife of Ai- doneus; queen of the under-world, residing six months of the year in Olympus, six months in the infernal regions. Intimately asso- ciated with the mysteries of Eleu- sis. The etymological meaning of the name is, ' ' she who brings [vegetation] to light. ' ' Phoebus (fe''bus). The Shining One; an epithet of Apollo. Poseidon (p6-si'don). Son of Kronos and Rhea, brother of Zeus; one of the chief Olym- pians, god of the water, especially of the sea, husband of Amphitrite. Proteus (pro'te-us, and pro-'tus). A sea-god, son of Oceanus and Tethys, who could assume differ- ent forms; hence protean . Pythian (pith''i-an). An epithet of Apollo, who slew the serpent or dragon Pj^thon possessed of the spirit of sooth- saying. In Delphi, at the foot of Mount Parnassus, deep under the earth the god buried the Python, from whose rotting remains magic vapors would rise through a chasm, to prepare the Pythia, the prophetess of the Delphic oracle, for the inspirations of Apollo. The slaying and burial of the Python [the symbol of Earth Oracular] mark the advent of the Apollinic cult in Delphi, and the absorption of the old by the new cult. MYTHOI.OGICAI, GI.OSSARY. Satyr (sa-ter). Companion of Dionysus, repre- sented with long pointed ears, snub nose, goat's tail, small bud- ding horns behind the ears, and later with goat's legs. Sylvan deity, typifying the luxuriant growth in nature. SEMEI.E (sem'e-ly). Daughter of Cadmus and Har- monia, mother of Dionysus by Zeus. SlI,ENUS (si-le''nus). Foster-father and constant com- panion of Dionysus; father of the Satyrs, a sylvan deity. Styx (stiks). The hateful; a river of the nether world, the tenth part of the water of Oceanus; also the nymph of this river, eldest daughter of Oceanus and Tethys. Tartarus (tar-'tii-nis) . A deep and sunless abyss, as far below Hades, as earth is below heaven, the prison of the Titans. Later, Tartarus was either the nether world generally, synony- mous with Hades, or the regions of the spirits of the damned, as opposed to the Elysian fields. Thyrsus (ther'sus). The Bacchic wand, carried by the votaries of Dionysus in their orgies; a staff tipped with a pine- cone, sometimes wreathed in ivy and vine-branches. The word seems to apply originally to the resinous pine-torch used in the torch-festivals of the god. Titans (tnanz). A race of primordial gods, six sons and six daughters of Uranus and Gaia [Heaven and Earth], viz.: Oceanus, Coeus, Crius, Hy- perion, Japetus, Kronos; Theia, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phoebe, Tethys. At first their abode was in heaven; but when Zeus, the son of Kronos, de- throned his father, he thrust them, after a terrific struggle, into the nether darkness of Tar- tarus. They are the gigantic representatives of the violent forces of Chaos. Triton (tri'ton). Son of Poseidon and Amphrite, a gigantic sea-deity. Later used in the plural to denote a lower race of sea-gods, the companions of the Nereids. ZaGREUS (za'grus). The Hunter of Life; special title of Dionysus in his relation to Hades. ZephyruS (zef^i-rus). The personification of the west wind, soft and gentle. Zeus (zQs). The supreme deity of the world, the chief of the Olympian gods, son of Kronos and Rhea, king and father of gods and men, husband of Hera, lord of the starry heavens, master of all ce- lestial phenomena. ■*"^.^* .*^fe': %/ /^"t \./ .'^fe\ \. ^TvT* .A -/ ^^'\ - .^^■o %. ^"^ v^<^^ '^^ O > <* '^^ c^" \ 't ^°-'* vv ..•* .v'^ "-^%*' o" '►^"t. .- » N,' <^^^