THE UNIVERSITY 
 
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 LIBRARY 
 
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 Presented by Mrs. Burr ill 
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OF THE 
 
 »v«r- 1;4 
 
ENDYMION. 
 
GRECIAN AND ROMAN 
 
 MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 FOR SCHOOLS. 
 
 WITH A SERIES OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 A. S. BARNES & Co., Ill & 113 WILLIAM STREET, 
 
 (CORNER OF JOHN STREET.) 
 
 1866 . 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Introduction, . . . 7 
 
 Ancient Deities* 19 
 
 Modern, Superior Deities, . • • . . 67 
 
 Genii and Inferior Deities, • • • « 183 
 
 Demi-gods and Heroes, . • . . * • 211 
 
 Mythic Factions, ... . ... 294 
 
 Entered tccording to A<st of Congress, in the year 1849, by 
 M. A. DWIGHT, 
 
 In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court for the Southern District of 
 New York. 
 
 Stereotyped by C. Davison, 
 33 Gold st., N. Y. 
 

 PREFATORY NOTE. 
 
 1 knowledge of Mythology is of so much importance 
 in connection with ancient history, that the subject should 
 be made a study in every school. To render it accessible 
 to all, this work is offered to the public in an abridged 
 form. The information necessary to an understanding of 
 the character and attributes of each deity is retained, and 
 the more general treatment omitted. This method was 
 adopted on the supposition that at the recitations of his 
 class, the teacher would have the larger work to which ha 
 could refer. 
 
 488062 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS, 
 
 ENGRAVED ON WOOD, BY J. D. FELTER. 
 
 Page 
 
 FRONTISPIECE, See p. 139 
 
 PAN, 23 
 
 PARC.®, 26 
 
 FURIES, 30 
 
 HARPY, 38 
 
 RIVER-GOD, 44 
 
 JUPITER AMMON 73 
 
 JUPITER PLUVIUS, 74 
 
 JUNO, 81 
 
 VESTA, * 84 
 
 CYBELE, 92 
 
 NEPTUNE, 96 
 
 PLUTO. 98 
 
 DEMETER, 112 
 
 APOLLO MUSAGETES, 130 
 
 DIANA TRIFORMIS, 139 
 
 MINERVA, 152 
 
 Pag* 
 
 MINERVA’S SHIELD, 155 
 
 VULCAN, 162 
 
 MERCURY, 179 
 
 COUNCIL OF JUPITER, 181 
 
 ONE OF THE LARES, 188 
 
 SILENOS, 193 
 
 CLIO, . 201 
 
 GANYMEDES, 203 
 
 AESCULAPIUS, 205 
 
 TELESPHOROS, 206 
 
 PERSEUS, 213 
 
 MEDUSA, 220 
 
 BELLEROPIIONTES, 221 
 
 HERCULES AND SERPENT, 226 
 
 HERCULES AND CERBERUS, 234 
 
 CASTOR AND POLLUX, 262 
 
 CENT AUK, SCJ 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The word Mythology is compounded of two Greek words, 
 Muthos, a fable, and Logos, a discourse ; and signifies a 
 system of fables, or the fabulous history of the false gods 
 of the heathen world. 
 
 Fable is divided into various kinds ; and the following is 
 an example of the instructive, as used for the purpose by a 
 famous orator : When Philip’s son, the hereditary enemy 
 
 of the liberty of Greece, demanded eight of their leading 
 men to be delivered up to him, as the great impediment 
 of mutual amity, “ On a time,” said Demosthenes to his 
 fellow-citizens, “ an embassy came from the wolves to the 
 sheep, assuring them that the dogs by which they were 
 attended were the sole occasion of the war ; wherefore, if 
 they would give them up, all would be well, and end in 
 lasting peace. The sheep were persuaded, gave up the dogs, 
 and henceforth the wolves devoured them at pleasure.” 
 
 A second sort is political, as the following : When 
 
 Jupiter heard of the death of his son Sarpedon, in the 
 rage of grief he called Mercury, the messenger of the gods, 
 and gave him orders to go instantly to the Fates, and bring 
 from them the strong box in which the eternal decrees 
 were laid up. Mercury obeyed, went to the sisters, and 
 omitted nothing that a wise and well-instructed minister 
 could say to make them pacify the will of Jove. The sis- 
 ters smiled, and told him that the other end of the golden 
 
8 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 chain which secured the box with the unalterable decrees, 
 was so fixed to the throne of Jove, that were it to be 
 unfastened, his master’s seat itself might tremble.” 
 
 A third sort of mythology consists in a material repre- 
 sentation of virtue and vice, or instruction conveyed by 
 wood and stone, instead of a tale. Such in some respects 
 are all the badges and ensigns of the gods, when carved 
 or cast in metal ; — and such the secret symbols delivered 
 to the initiated in the several mysteries, which they care- 
 fully kept from vulgar eyes, showing them only upon cer- 
 tain signs. The example which best illustrates this mate- 
 rial species of mythology, contains at the same time a beau- 
 tiful moral : It was the temple of Honor, that had no 
 
 entrance of its own, and the only passage to it was through 
 the temple of Virtue. Happy the man who truly worships 
 in the first, even if the ignorance of his contemporaries 
 prevent him from entering the second ; he will yet, sooner 
 or later, possess the station due to his merit 
 
 But Mythology is a vast and various compound ; a laby- 
 rinth through which no one thread can conduct us ; since 
 all the powers of heaven and earth, whatever is, whatever 
 acts, whatever changes, and whatever remains the same, is, 
 by some image congruent to its peculiar nature, variously 
 painted in the mimic mirror of the universe. The primary 
 great gods represent its principal parts and powers ; and 
 the numerous inferior train exhibit either the lesser powers 
 of nature or their influences ; or, they belong to human 
 passions, and human transactions as connected with them. 
 The rest are men adopted among the gods, and frequently 
 blended with the original deities. 
 
 The course of time since the commencement of the world 
 has been divided into three periods ; the unknown, the 
 fabulous, and the historical, which may be considered as 
 the origin of mythological fables. The unknown compre- 
 hends all that space which the ancients supposed to have 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 9 
 
 passed since the beginning of things, and of which we have 
 no knowledge. In their opinion, all that was then trans- 
 acted escaped the keenest sight. The fabulous began with 
 the earliest notices of things ; that is, in ancient style, with 
 the births and marriages of the gods, and continued 
 through the heroic ages until records and history intro- 
 duced certainty and unfabled truth. Then commenced 
 the historical period, which preserves its evidence to the 
 present time. 
 
 Instead of this accurate division, the early poets sang, 
 that Saturn (by whom they represent time) lurked long 
 out of sight of heaven, and likewise devoured his own pro- 
 geny as soon as they were born. This is plainly the un- 
 known period. Jupiter, Saturn’s son, together with Juno, 
 Ceres, Pluto, Neptune, and Yesta, were produced without 
 his knowledge, and preserved against his will. They con 
 spired against their relentless parent, seized and bound 
 him with a cord of wool never to be loosed, while almighty 
 Jove holds the reins of government. Here is the fabu- 
 lous period comprehending the birth and adventures of 
 the gods, and the historical in the conclusion. 
 
 Religion, law, and philosophy united, were first taught 
 to mankind in the form of fables ; but these ancient fables 
 convey no such ideas to the modern reader 44 The most 
 ancient theology,” says Plutarch, 44 both of the Greeks and 
 barbarians, was natural philosophy involved in fables, that 
 physically and mystically conveyed the truth to the learn- 
 ed ; — as appears from the poems of Orpheus, the Egyptian 
 rites, and the Phrygian traditions.” A remark which it 
 is necessary to keep in mind, in order to distinguish the 
 pure, primitive doctrine from later inventions ; for the re- 
 gions of fable are wide and fertile, resembling Rabelais* 
 iron work island, where swords grew from the trees, and 
 mushrooms sprang from the earth so exactly under them, 
 
 1 * 
 
10 
 
 INTRODUCT ZON. 
 
 that every ripe sword fell precisely into its own scabbard 1 
 without missing it a hair’s breadth. 
 
 Nature is the parent of real mythology. She was asso- 
 ciated with philosophy in the great work of civilizing the 
 rude tribes of the early ages. Her robe of triple tissue, 
 is a monstrous tale of feigned* allegorical personages en- 
 gaged in action, who speak and act so much in character, 
 as at once to represent causes and narrate transactions, 
 which by striking the fancy and winning the heart, con- 
 vey instruction agreeably to the mind. The history of the 
 creation, or rise of the universe, that the moderns call na- 
 tural philosophy, and the ancients theogony, or the genera- 
 tion of the gods, was the groundwork of the fabric ; the 
 powers that govern the world furnished the figures, and 
 constitute the design; while the human character (moral 
 philosophy), the passions of men as they glow or languish, 
 become tarnished or bloom with life, gave a gloss and color- 
 ing to the whole. But this system of pure, primitive my, 
 thology was corrupted as soon as it spread beyond the 
 nations with whom it originated, and soon became blend- 
 ed with history, and historical personages 
 
 Structures for the worship of heathen deities may be 
 considered as among the most ancient monuments of an- 
 tiquity. As soon as a nation had become in the least 
 degree civilized, they took care to appropriate and conse- 
 crate particular spots to the worship of their deities. 
 
 In the earliest instances, they were contented with erect- 
 ing altars in the open air, either of earth or ashes, and 
 sometimes resorted, for purposes of worship, to the depths 
 of solitary woods At length, they acquired the practice 
 of building cells, or chapels, within the enclosure of which 
 they placed the images of their divinities, and there assem- 
 bled to offer their supplications, thanksgivings, and sacri 
 fices. These places of worship bore some resemblance to 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 f 11 
 
 their own dwellings. The Troglodites adored their gods 
 in grottoes ; and the people who lived in cabins, erected 
 edifices, the form of which was more or less assimilated tc 
 that kind of habitation. Herodotus and Strabo contend 
 that the Egyptians first erected temples to the gods ; 
 and the first one erected in Greece, is attributed by Apol- 
 lonius to Deucalion. Clemens Alexandrinus and Eusebius 
 refer the origin of temples to the sepulchres built for th* 
 dead. 
 
 According to Pausanias, the oracle of Delphi in remote 
 ages was consulted in a kind of arbor formed of laurels. 
 That of Jupiter at Dodona, at a similar era, rendered its 
 oracles by an old oak, as we learn both from Pausanias 
 and Herodotus. In the vicinity of Magnesia, upon the 
 Meander, was a grotto consecrated to Apollo, wherein was 
 to be seen a very ancient statue of that god. 
 
 The first statues erected for the ancient gods hardly 
 deserve the name, being only great stones set on end ; gen- 
 erally square, sometimes conical, sometimes pyramidal, or 
 semicircular, and frequently quite rough, without even the 
 touch of a tool. The oldest statues of Mercury were origi- 
 nally large square stones. The statue of the mother of 
 the gods, brought from Phrygia, was a large black square 
 stone. 
 
 The ancient Phoenicians had an image of the sun, which 
 they believed not to have been formed by human art, but 
 to have fallen immediately from heaven. It was a large 
 black stone, round and broad at the base, but diminishing 
 by degrees towards the top, and terminating in a slender 
 point. The Megareans worshipped a large stone in the 
 form of a pyramid, under the name of Apollo. Their more 
 elegant neighbors, the Athenians, worshipped him in hu- 
 man shape, but with a head long and sharp, like a pyramid, 
 A small globe split in two, and one of the halves set on 
 a pole, was a symbol adored by the ancient PeOnians. 
 
12 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 When the Greeks, at a subsequent period, surpassed alj 
 other people in cultivating the arts, they devoted much 
 time, care, and expense, to the building of temples, ren- 
 dering them in every way worthy of their destination. In 
 every city of Greece, as well as its environs, and in the 
 open country, was a large number of sacred temples ; and 
 the most costly temple of each place was especially dedi- 
 cated to its tutelary deity. Instances of this are found in 
 the temple of Minerva at Athens, that of Diana at Ephesus, 
 of Apollo at Delphi, of Jupiter at Olympia, of Venus at 
 Paphos and Cytherea ; and of Jupiter Capitolinus at 
 Rome. At Panionium, was a temple of Jupiter Heliconius 
 erected by the Ionian colonies, and imported into Attica 
 from Asia Minor. The Dorian colonies of Asia Minor 
 had likewise a common sanctuary, the temple of Apollo 
 Triopius. Near to Mylassa was a temple sacred to Jupiter 
 Carius and common to the Carians, the Lydians, and the 
 Mysians. In the territory of Stratonice was the temple 
 of Jupiter Chrysaoreus belonging to the Carians. In the^ 
 immediate vicinity of these edifices, the people, at fixed 
 seasons, held assemblies for the purpose of sacrificing to 
 the gods ; they also celebrated their fetes on the same 
 spot, and deliberated respecting the affairs of the entire 
 nation. 
 
 The most ancient Greek temples were very small. 
 The cella was barely large enough to contain the statue of 
 the presiding deity of the temple, and occasionally an 
 altar in addition. Even in succeeding ages, when the 
 riches and power, as well as the taste and skill of the Gre- 
 cian states were augmented, they were not built on a great 
 scale ; for their object did not render extent necessary, 
 since the priests alone entered the cella, and the people 
 gathered in masses outside the walls. Exceptions were 
 made in those dedicated to the tutelary divinities of towns* 
 of those of the supreme gods, and of those appropriated to 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 13 
 
 the common use of various communities. But this in- 
 creased extent was chiefly displayed in the porticoes sur- 
 rounding the cella. and was again enlarged by the peribolos, 
 Dr enclosure within a wall, which separated it from the 
 adjoining ground, as a sacred place appertaining to the 
 temple. This enclosure was generally adorned with a pro- 
 fusion of statues, altars, and monuments. Sometimes it 
 contained other smaller temples, or even a grove. The 
 elevation and retirement of these Sacred Enclosures, gave 
 additional beauty, dignity, and sanctity to the temples con- 
 tained within them. 
 
 The Grecian temples had, for the most part, possessions 
 of their own, which served to defray the expenses incurred 
 in the service of the god. These possessions consisted 
 partly in votive presents, which had been consecrated (es- 
 pecially where the divinities of health and prophecy were 
 adored) by the hopes or the gratitude of the suppliants for 
 advice or counsel. We know from several examples, espe- 
 cially from that of the temple of Delphi, that treasures were 
 there accumulated, of more value, probably, than those of 
 Loretto, or any other shrine in Europe. But as they were 
 sacred to the gods, and did not come into circulation, they 
 were for the most part unproductive treasures, possessing 
 no other value than that which they received from the artist. 
 
 The Greeks used three kinds of altars in their mytho- 
 logical worship ; one, upon which they burned incense and 
 made libations ; another served for their sanguinary sacri- 
 fices ; and the third received their burnt offerings and 
 sacred vases. Originally, they were made of heaps of earth, 
 and sometimes of ashes, as that of the Olympian Jupiter, 
 mentioned by Pausanias. There was also an altar of ashes 
 at Thebes, consecrated to Apollo. In process of time, they 
 were formed of brick and stones ; such was the material of 
 the famous altar at Delos. They were at first erected in 
 groves, in the highways, and streets, as well as upon the 
 
14 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 tops of mountains ; but after the introduction of temples, 
 they were of course transferred to those edifices. 
 
 The form of altars, as well as their height, was various 
 among the ancients : sometimes a perfect cube, which was 
 the most common among the Greeks ; at others, a paral- 
 lelopipedon ; sometimes round, at others octaugular, trian- 
 gular, &c., according to the material of which they were 
 formed ; and from some ancient medals we find’there were 
 altars of a circular form. Those which were constructed of 
 metal, were generally triangular and formed like a tripod ; 
 those constructed of brick or stone were most!y cubical, 
 and some have sculptured bases and pedestals like can- 
 delabra. According to Pausanias, some were c instructed 
 of wood ; but by far the greater number that have been 
 preserved to our times, are of marble. 
 
 On solemn festivals, the ancients decorated the altars of 
 their deities with leaves or the branches of trees that were 
 sacred to them ; as those of Minerva with the olive ; Venus 
 with the myrtle ; Apollo with the laurel ; Pan with tho 
 pine, &c. And it was from these temporary decorations, 
 that the ancient sculptors drew those elegant elements of 
 foliage, which embellish the altars of antiquity. On others, 
 that were intended for their sanguinary oblations, and were 
 hollowed at the top to receive the blood of their victims, 
 and the offered libations, are found heads and sculls of 
 animals, vases, paterae,* and other instruments ; also, ves- 
 sels of sacrifice mingled with garlands of flowers, such as 
 were used to bind the victims ; also, bands and other sacri- 
 ficial accessories. When inscriptions were added, they allu- 
 ded to the epoch of their consecration, the names of those 
 who erected them, the motive of their erection, and the 
 name of the deity to whose honor they were dedicated. 
 
 Altars as well as temples were considered so sacred by 
 
 ♦ Patera — A round plate or saucer used at the sacrific#. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 15 
 
 the ancient Greeks, that most of them had the privilege of 
 protecting malefactors and debtors, and even rebellious 
 slaves who fled to them for refuge. Plutarch informs 
 us, that those who killed Cylon and his followers, when 
 holding by the altars, were afterwards stigmatized with 
 the epithets impious and profane; and Justin, in his his- 
 tory, observes, that the murder of Laodamia, by Milo, who 
 had fled to the altar of Diana for protection, was the cause 
 of his death, and of the public calamities of iEolia. In 
 the comedy of Mostellaria, by Plautus, the inviolability 
 of altars and temples appears to have existed among the 
 Romans. Every temple, however, was not a sanctuary ; 
 but only those which had been made so by consecration. 
 The first asylum is generally supposed to have been found- 
 ed at Athens by the Heraclidae, but some writers assert 
 that there was one previously erected at Thebes, by Cadmus. 
 
 Independent of the public altars, the Greeks and Ro- 
 mans had private or domestic altars, which were dedicated 
 to the lares and penates, the household gods of the ancients. 
 
 All the nations of antiquity were at some period of 
 their history addicted to the custom of offering sacrifices 
 to the deities whom they worshipped. The origin of the 
 practice is attributed by some to the Phoenicians, and by 
 others to the Egyptians ; while Ovid imagines, from the 
 import of the words victim and hostia , that no bloody sacri- 
 fices were offered before the prevalence of wars, when na- 
 tions became victorious over their enemies. These, how- 
 ever, are mere hypotheses not borne out by historical re- 
 search or tradition, and are entitled to little regard. 
 
 The principal sacrifices among the Hebrews consisted 
 of bullocks, sheep, and goats ; but doves and turtles were 
 accepted from those who were not able to bring these ani- 
 mals, which were to be perfect and without blemish. The 
 rites of sacrificing were various., and all are minutely de- 
 scribed in the books of Mosea 
 
16 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The manner of sacrificing among the Greeks and Ro- 
 mans was as follows. In the choice of a victim they took 
 care that it was without blemish or imperfection, and the 
 bull was to be one that had never been yoked. Having 
 pitched upon a victim, they gilded the forehead and horns, 
 especially if a bull, heifer, or cow ; the head was adorned 
 with a garland of flowers, a woollen infula,* or holy fillet, 
 from which hung two rows of chaplets with twisted rib- 
 bons ; on the middle of the body was a kind of stole, which 
 hung down on either side ; the lesser victims were also 
 adorned with garlands, and bunches of flowers, together 
 with white tufts, or wreaths. 
 
 The victims thus prepared were brought before the altar, 
 the lesser being driven to the place, and the greater led 
 by a halter ; if they made any struggle, or refused to go, 
 the resistance was considered an ill omen, and the sacrifice 
 frequently set aside. The victim thus brought, was care- 
 fully examined to see that it was without defect ; then the 
 priest, clad in his sacerdotal habit, and accompanied by the 
 sacrificers and other attendants, and being washed and 
 purified according to the ceremonies prescribed, turned to 
 the right and passed round the altar, sprinkling it with 
 meal and holy water, and also sprinkling those who were 
 present. The crier then proclaimed, with a loud voice, 
 “Who is here?” To which the people replied, “ Many and 
 good.” The priest then having exhorted the people to join 
 with him, by saying, “Let us pray,” confessed his own un- 
 worthiness, acknowledging that he had been guilty of 
 divers sins, for which he begged pardon of the gods, and 
 
 * Infula . — A flock of white and red wool, which was tightly twisted, 
 drawn into the form of a wreath or fillet, and used by the Romans as an 
 ornament on festive and solemn occasions. In sacrificing, it was tied 
 with a white band to the head of the victim, and also of the priest, 
 more especially in the worship of Apollo and Diana. The “ torta infula 
 was worn also by the vestal virgins. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 17 
 
 his hope that they would be pleased to grant his requests, 
 accept the oblations offered them, and send them all health 
 and happiness ; and to this general form, the priest added 
 petitions for such particular favors as were then desired. 
 Prayers being’ ended, he took a cup of wine, and having 
 tasted it himself, caused his assistants to do the like ; and 
 then poured forth the remainder between the horns of the 
 victim. The priest or the crier, and sometimes the most 
 honorable person in the company, then killed the beast by 
 knocking it down, or cutting its throat. If the sacrifice 
 was in honor of the celestial gods, the throat was turned 
 up towards Heaven ; but if they sacrificed to the heroes or 
 infernal deities, the victim was killed with his throat to- 
 wards the ground. If by accident the beast escaped the 
 stroke, leaped up after it, or expired with pain and diffi- 
 culty, it was thought to be unacceptable to the gods. The 
 victim being killed, the priest inspected its entrails and 
 made predictions from them. They then poured wine, 
 together with frankincense, into the fire to increase the 
 flame, and then laid the sacrifice on the altar, which in the 
 primitive times was burnt whole to the gods, and thence 
 called a holocaust.; but in after times, only part of the vic- 
 tim was consumed in the fire, and the remainder reserved 
 for the sacrificers ; the thighs, and sometimes the entrails 
 were burnt to their honor, and the company feasted upon 
 the rest. During the ceremony, the priest and the person 
 who gave the sacrifice jointly prayed, laying their hands 
 upon the altar. Sometimes musical instruments were 
 played during the time of sacrifice, and on some occa- 
 sions, the people danced around the altar singing sacred 
 hymns in honor of the gods. 
 
 The barbarous practice of human sacrifices followed that 
 of offering brutes. When men had gone so far as to in- 
 dulge the fancy of bribing their gods by sacrifice, it was 
 natural for them to think of enhancing the value of so 
 
18 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 cheap an atonement by the cost and variety of the offer 
 ing ; and when oppressed with suffering, they never rested 
 until they had offered what they conceived to be the most 
 precious of all, a human sacrifice. 
 
 The Gauls and Germans were so devoted' to this shock- 
 ing custom, that no business of any moment was transacted 
 among them without being prefaced by the blood of men. 
 They were offered up to various gods ; but particularly to 
 Hesus, Taranis, and Thautates. These deities are men- 
 tioned by Lucan, where he enumerates the various nations 
 who followed the fortunes of Caesar. 
 
PART FIRST. 
 
 ANCIENT DEITIES. 
 
 CHAOS. 
 
 Chaos ( void space), a heterogeneous mass, containing all 
 the seeds of nature, was first, according to Hesiod ; then 
 came into being the broad-breasted Earth, the gloomy Tar* 
 tarus, and Love. 
 
 From Chaos were produced Earth, Love, Erebus, Night, 
 and the Universe. 
 
 TERRA OR EARTH. 
 
 Earth was one of the most ancient oracles and deities in 
 mythology. She produced the mountains, the sea, and the 
 heavens. 
 
 Eros, or Love, was probably understood by the ancients 
 to be that attractive principle in nature, by which homoge- 
 neous bodies are united ; and to this principle, they poeti- 
 cally ascribe the attributes of reason and wisdom, to inti- 
 mate, that in the formation of the world, all things were 
 constituted by harmonious laws. 
 
 According to some mythologists, Love is of all gods the 
 most ancient, and is said to have existed before all gene- 
 rations. and first incited Chaos to bring forth darkness, out 
 of which sprang Ether and Day — and also, that his union 
 
20 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 with Chaos gave birth to men, the animals which inhabit 
 the earth, and that even the gods themselves were the 
 offspring of Love, before the foundation of the world. 
 
 Among the ancients. Love was worshipped with great 
 solemnity, and as his influence was supposed to extend over 
 the dead as well as the living, his divinity was universally 
 acknowledged, and vows, prayers, and sacrifices, were offer- 
 ed to him. 
 
 Erebus, properly speaking, is the abode of Night ; in 
 conjunction with which he produced Day. This is the 4 
 commencement of mythological fic.'ions; — the opposite ex- 
 tremes of things are brought together ; — from shapelessness 
 and deformity arise form and beauty, and light is made to 
 spring out of darkness. 
 
 Ancient mythologists and poets say, that the various 
 parts of which the wondrous world consists, would have 
 lain for ever in the abyss of being, if the breath of the tre- 
 mendous Erebus, the spirit that dwells in eternal darkness, 
 had not gone forth and put the mass in vital agitation. 
 Then, the congenial parts began to sever from their hetero- 
 geneous associates, and mingle together. Matter appeared, 
 and inseparable from it, attraction ; different degrees of pow- 
 ers, and all active principles of nature continued and in- 
 creased. 
 
 Order, Figurability, Succession, and Retention, were 
 passive in the genial contest ; but Intention and Aptitude 
 mildiy interfered, and begot Providence (or foresight), who, 
 being joined with his bride, Measure (or perfection ), the 
 daughter of Contemplation, presided over the forming 
 world, called to light the vegetable and animal race, and 
 then crowned his wondrous work with the formation of man. 
 
 NOX OR NIGHT. 
 
 Night covers and conceals, and for this reason she is made 
 
 the mother of the horrible, as well as the charming. 
 
NOX OR NIGHT. 
 
 21 
 
 From uncreated Night. Daylight arose, by which all for- 
 mations are developed, and all creatures enjoy life. She is 
 likewise, according to some, the mother of the inexorable 
 Parcse, of the avenging Nemesis, who punishes hidden 
 crime ; of the Furies, who torment the wicked ; of Charon, 
 the Ferry-man of Hell ; and of the twin brothers, Sleep and 
 Death. 
 
 Night is also the mother of Dreams ; of the Hesperides, 
 who guard the golden apples ; — of Deceit, enveloping him- 
 self in darkness ; — of malicious censure ; — of fretting grief ; 
 — of trouble and hunger ; — of destructive war ; — of dupli- 
 city of speech ; — and finally, of perjury. Among the 
 children of night are comprised all those things which she 
 conceals ; or which Fancy, herself, would fain cover with 
 nocturnal darkness. In night, there is something of which 
 even the gods stood in awe : for Homer says, “ When Jupi- 
 ter was angry at the god of sleep, Night covered him with 
 her veil, and the thunderer restrained his wrath, fearing 
 to offend swift Night.” — (II. xiv. 256.) 
 
 The nightly, mysterious darkness, in which something 
 hidden exercises superior power and influence over gods 
 and men, was not clear to the conception of the ancient 
 poets. They understood not the supreme, over-ruling 
 power, before which all other powers vanish ; but believed 
 in the hidden rule and authority that were apparent in the 
 many miseries which mingled with the happiness of mor- 
 tals. And as danger, fear, and mystery, have their attrac- 
 tions, as well as light, peace, and security, they delighted 
 in the representations of dreadful events and wasting de- 
 struction, allowing their imaginations to stray far away 
 into the dominion of night and the world of shadows. 
 
 -\ Night was considered among the ancients as one of 
 their oldest divinities, and was worshipped by them with 
 great solemnity In the temple of Diana, at Ephesus, was 
 a famous statue of her, to whom, as the mother of the Fu* 
 
22 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 ries, black sheep were offered in sacrifice ; and also a cock, 
 as that bird proclaims the approach of Day, during the 
 darkness of Night. 
 
 On antique gems we find Night represented in a female 
 figure of youthful beauty ; either holdiug in her arms two 
 handsome boys, Death holding an extinguished torch in his 
 hand, and Sleep with the stem of a poppy ; or sitting be- 
 neath a shady tree, distributing poppies to Morpheus and 
 his brothers. Morpheus, the son of sleep and the god of 
 dreams, stands before her in youthful beauty, receiving the 
 poppy from her hands, while his brothers are behind her, 
 bent to the ground gathering the falling leaves. 
 
 It appears from these representations, poetical, as well as 
 plastic, how carefully the ancients endeavored to transform 
 gloom and terror into soothing images. And, on the other 
 hand, what a high conception of tragical subjects, consider- 
 ing the night born, inevitable Fate, as the power that rules 
 over gods and men, and whose old dominion and concealed 
 future, lie far beyond the penetration of human knowledge 
 and foresight. 
 
 PAN. 
 
 Various origins have been given to Pan (dr the Uni- 
 verse), one of which is, that he sprang from Chaos ; that is 
 to say, Chaos contained the seeds of all things". 
 
 Among the most learned of the ancients, Pan was con- 
 sidered as one of the oldest divinities ; and, according to 
 the Egyptians, and the most learned of the Grecian sages, 
 he had neither father nor mother, but sprang from Derno- 
 gorgon (the genius of the earth) at the same instant with 
 the fatal Parcse. A beautiful way of saying that the uni- 
 verse derived its origin from a power unknown to them, 
 and was formed according to the unalterable relations, and 
 eternal aptitude of things, as were the Fates, daughters of 
 Necessity. 
 
PAN. 
 
 23 
 
 The figure of Pan represents the universe, and is a de- 
 lineation of nature and the rough face which it first wore, 
 while his spotted robe of a leopard’s skin represents the 
 starry heavens. His person is a compound of various and 
 opposite parts, rational and irrational, a man and a goat ; 
 so is the world ; — an all-governing mind and heterogene- 
 ous, prolific elements pervade and constitute it. 
 
 ^ Pan’s symbol of the pipes is most eloquently expressive 
 of nature’s divine, harmonious constitution, and of the 
 order and measure that govern all her works, producing 
 that solemn movement called the music of the spheres ; 
 imperceptible indeed to our material organ, but so delight- 
 ful and pleasing to the ear of the mind. This wondrous 
 
24 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 reed on which he incessantly plays, is composed of seven 
 pipes, unequal among themselves, but fitted together in such 
 just proportion as to produce the most unerring and melo- 
 dious notes, calling forth the echo, which poets have made 
 the object of his love. 
 
 The worship and the different functions of Pan, were 
 derived from the mythology of the Egyptians. This deity 
 was one of the eight great gods that they worshipped, 
 ranking before the other gods, which the Romans called 
 Consentes. They regarded him as the emblem of fecundity, 
 and the principle of all things; therefore the Greeks gave 
 him the appellation of Pan. He was worshipped with great 
 solemnity at Mendes. 
 
 By the Arcadians he was venerated as the chief of the 
 rural deities. Herdsmen and shepherds are said to have 
 dreaded the sight of Pan, yet they regarded him as the 
 tutelary deity of themselves, and of their flocks and herds, 
 and brought him frequent offerings of milk and honey. 
 Sacrifices were offered to him in a deep cave in the midst 
 of a wood. The Athenians had a statue of him like that 
 of Mars, and in some antique gems and sculptures his figure 
 is nearly as formidable as that of the Medusa. 
 
 At Rome, there was a yearly festival celebrated in honor 
 of Lupercus, or the Grecian Pan, with whom he was iden- 
 tified. This celebration took place on the 15th of Feb- 
 ruary, and was called Lupercalia. The priests who offi- 
 ciated, and who were dedicated to the service of Pan, were 
 called Luperci. This order of priests was the most ancient 
 and respectable of all the sacerdotal offices. It was divided 
 into two separate colleges, called Fabiani and Quintiliani, 
 from Fabius and Quintilius, two of the high priests. The 
 former were instituted in honor of Romulus, and the latter 
 of Remus. 
 
 A goat was sacrificed to Pan, to which a dog was added 
 because as god of shepherds he protected the sheepfold 
 
PARCvE OR FATES. 
 
 25 
 
 from the devouring wolf. The priests touched with a 
 bloody knife the foreheads of two illustrious youths, who 
 were obliged to smile during the ceremony ; the blood was 
 then wiped off with a bit of wool dipped in milk. After 
 this, the skins of the victims were cut into thongs, with 
 which whips were made for the youths, who ran about the 
 streets, using them freely on all whom they met. 
 
 According to Baronius, Pope Gelasius abolished the 
 Lupercalia in the year 469 of the Christian era. 
 
 PARC.E OR FATES. 
 
 The Parcse were daughters of Night, or an invisible, 
 overruling power. According to some, the daughters of 
 Necessity, or the necessary connection of things — by which 
 is meant the Creator’s eternal and immovable essence, to 
 which the fable of her daughters, and their fatal spindle 
 plainly points. 
 
 This necessary connection of things, or necessity itself, 
 called by the Greeks Moira and Heimarmene, and by the 
 Bomans Fatum, was that mysterious power, which, with in- 
 visible sceptre, ruled over gods and men. The inexorable 
 Parcae were the attendants of this unknown being, and pre- 
 sided chiefly over the life and fate of mortal men. 
 
 They were three in number, according to the triple divi- 
 sion of time into past, present, and future. Their ever- 
 running thread is partly spun and wound up, partly just 
 drawn out and twisting, and partly as yet on the distaff. 
 Clotho holds the distaff, and is ever furnishing the present ; 
 Lachesis (allotment) spinning the thread of life, lays out 
 the future ; and Atropos (irreversion) with the fatal scis- 
 sors cuts it off, severing the past ; so that the grand trans- 
 action of time is not badly represented in the fable. But 
 as Plato has nobly said, 66 All this is nothing but God him- 
 self, who, according to the ancient tradition, having the 
 beginning, middle, and end of all things in his power, 
 
 2 
 
GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 
 keeps one straight, steady course according to nature, with 
 his inseparable adherent, Justice, who is ever ready to 
 avenge the least deviation from his divine law.” 
 
 Although the Parcae signify that terrific power which 
 governs as it were from the dark, whose decrees are passed 
 as soon as conceived, and against which there is no resist- 
 ance, yet, they are represented as beautiful females, spin- 
 ning, and joining at the same time in the song of the 
 Sirens. In high and unlimited power, all things are easily 
 accomplished ; and the resistance even of the mighty finds 
 in this height its termination. To prescribe bounds to all 
 revolutions, only the slightest touch of the fingers is re- 
 quisite, and to manage the mysterious course of events is 
 made the easiest work of a female hand. This beautiful 
 representation of the thread of life, delicately spun and 
 easily severed, cannot be equalled by any other. The 
 thread does not break, but is cut off ; and the cause of this 
 
PARC.® or fates. 
 
 27 
 
 lies in a superior power, which has already firmly and 
 irrevocably disposed of what gods and men still strive to 
 accomplish in their own way. 
 
 Ancient representations of the Parcae by the hand of art 
 are seldom found. Upon the gems which antiquity has 
 left us, Lachesis, who spins the thread of life, and is some- 
 times called the handsome daughter of Necessity, is repre- 
 sented in youthful beauty, seated, and spinning, having 
 one distaff before and another behind her, and at her feet 
 lie a comic and tragic mask. These masks are among the 
 happiest allusions to human life, if we behold it with all 
 its serious and comic scenes. Unaffected by either, she 
 cannot be diverted from her purpose ; but, during their 
 course, the tender and delicate finger of the goddess never 
 ceases to turn the fatal thread. 
 
 Another gem shows Lachesis leaning against a pillar in 
 a quiet posture, carelessly holding a distaff in her left 
 hand, and playing as it were with the thread of destiny. 
 This quiet attitude in which the sublime goddess of des- 
 tiny looks down upon the far extended designs of men, is 
 an extremely beautiful idea of the ancient artist. For 
 while gods exert all their power, and mortals all theii 
 strength to bring their plans and views to bear, this god- 
 dess, smiling, playfully holds the thread on which depend 
 the limits of all things, even the proudest projects of god? 
 and men. 
 
 Jn vain, for instance, does Jupiter endeavor to preserve 
 the life of his son, Sarpedon, in the battle of Troy, against 
 the will of Fate. “Wo ’s me,” he exclaims, t£ that my son t 
 Sarpedon, must fall under the hand of Patroclos, according 
 to the doom of Fate.” And although he would gladly res- 
 cue his son, yet his power must yield before that of the 
 inexorable goddess. Nothing is left to his own will, but 
 to deliver the body to his messengers, Death and sweet 
 
28 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 Sleep, who carry it to his native land, where the friends 
 and relatives may weep over it. (II. xvi. 434.) 
 
 In the same manner Ulysses was doomed by destiny to 
 wander ten years over foreign seas and countries, and at 
 last to reach home without his companions. And in the 
 history of his wanderings it may be seen, that where cir- 
 cumstances appear to afford the greatest pleasure, happi- 
 ness, and security, there the greatest dangers lie concealed. 
 As, for instance, in the quiet harbor of the Lestrigons, on 
 occasion of the song of the Sirens, and in that of Circe’s 
 magic cup. 
 
 It is the history of human life in general. However 
 near at hand Ulysses beholds the accomplishment of his 
 wishes, all recedes ; his tears and fervent prayers are in 
 vain, until it is the will of Destiny that he shall again 
 find his home, and he reaches his native island — sleeping. 
 
 The worship of the Parcae was well established in some 
 cities in Greece, and though mankind were convinced that 
 they were inexorable, and that it was impossible to mitigate 
 their will, yet they wished to show a proper homage to 
 their divine power by raising to them temples and sta- 
 tues. They received the same worship as the Furies, and 
 their votaries yearly sacrificed to them black sheep ; during 
 which ceremony the priests were obliged to wear garlands 
 and flowers. 
 
 NEMESIS. 
 
 Nemesis, like the Parcae, was the daughter of Night. 
 Her office was to baffle pride and haughtiness, and to 
 punish secret vice. She presided over the distribution of 
 retributive justice, and her vengeance, if once provoked, 
 was sure to fall on the offender at last, however long de- 
 layed In this fable is plainly seen the idea of retributive 
 justice, which, though slow in its course, never fails, sooner 
 or later, to overtake the wicked, who must inevitably suffer 
 
THE ERINNYES OR FURIES. 
 
 29 
 
 fche consequences of their own wrong-doing. As a person- 
 ification of the moral reverence for law, of the natural fear 
 of committing a guilty action, and hence of conscience, she 
 is mentioned in Hesiod’s Theogony in connection with 
 Shame. 
 
 Having belonged with the original deities, those myste- 
 rious beings who were regarded with awe and veneration 
 by gods as well as ‘men, she is allowed the same rank among 
 the modern heathen deities, and was particularly worship- 
 ped at Rhamnus in Attica, where she had a celebrated 
 statue. 
 
 The Greeks celebrated a festival in memory of their de- 
 ceased friends, called Nemesia — as the goddess Nemesi3 
 was supposed to preserve the memory and relics of the 
 dead from insult. 
 
 The Romans, also, were particularly attentive to the 
 worship of Nemesis, whom they solemnly invoked, and to 
 whom they offered sacrifices before declaring war against 
 their enemies, to prove to the world that they did not act 
 without the most just occasion. Her statue at Rome was in 
 the Capitol. 
 
 THE ERINNYES OR FURIES. 
 
 The Erinnyes were originally a personification of the 
 curses pronounced upon a guilty criminal. In this sense 
 the word Erinnys is often used in the Homeric poems 
 and the poet, conceiving them as distinct beings, considered 
 them as among the inhabitants of Erebus, whence they 
 were called to life and activity, when some curse is pro 
 nounced upon the guilty. 
 
 The crimes which they are represented as punishing 
 are, disobedience to parents, violation of the respect due 
 to old age, violation of the laws of hospitality, and impro 
 per conduct towards suppliants. As ministers of the ven 
 
 geance of the gods, they were stern and inexorable. Upon 
 
30 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 earth they were employed to inflict 
 vengeance by wars, pestilences, and 
 dissensions, and by the secret stings 
 of conscience ; and in hell they pun- 
 ished the guilty by continual fla- 
 gellations and torments. Gradu- 
 ally they assumed the character of 
 goddesses who punished crime after 
 death, and seldom appeared on 
 earth. 
 
 Neither Homer nor the Greek 
 tragedians designate the Erinnyes 
 by any particular names but the 
 later poets make them three in num- 
 ber, viz. : Tisiphone, the avenger 
 of murder ; Megaera, the wrathful ; 
 and Alecto, the restless ; and so great was the awe in which 
 men stood of these inexorable sisters, that they scarcely 
 ventured to mention their names, or fix their eyes upon the 
 temples dedicated to the Furies. They had a temple in 
 Achaia, which no one guilty of crime could enter without 
 being suddenly deprived of reason and made furious ; and 
 whoever was conscious of having secretly perpetrated an 
 unlawful action, endeavored to propitiate the Furies by 
 prayers and offerings. 
 
 Their temple at Athens was near the Areiopagos, and 
 few even of the superior deities received so much homage 
 as the three avenging sisters ; and their priests formed a 
 tribunal before which no one dared to appear, until he had 
 sworn upon the altar of the Eumenides to tell nothing but 
 the truth. 
 
 Their worship was almost universal ; and in their sacri- 
 fices the votaries used branches of cedar and of alder, haw- 
 thorn, saffron, and juniper. The victims were generally tur- 
 tle doves and black sheep, with libations of wine and honey. 
 
THE HESPERIDES. 
 
 31 
 
 They were represented with snakes around their heads 
 instead of hair, and wearing funereal robes fastened with 
 girdles formed of snakes and scorpions. With one hand 
 they grasp a dagger with whips of serpents and scorpions ; 
 in the other is held a flaming torch : and thus they are 
 represented as pursuing the perpetrators of crime and 
 wickedness. The Grecian artists, however, frequently 
 represented the Furies as young and beautiful ; sometimes 
 with, and sometimes without serpents around their heads. 
 
 The Furies were also called Eumenides ; but the term 
 Eumenides, that is, the kindly disposed goddesses, is applied 
 to them by a euphemism, or antiphrasis. 
 
 Helicon was consecrated to the Muses ; but Cithaeron 
 was the mountain of the Erinnyes, and rang with the fran- 
 tic yells of the wildest nocturnal orgies of Bacchanalian 
 revelry. The aspect of Cithaeron is the reverse of that of 
 Helicon ; it is savage, cold, gloomy, and inhospitable. All 
 the mythological traditions connected with it, partake of 
 the physical sternness which characterizes the mountain 
 itself. 
 
 THE HESPERIDES. 
 
 The Hesperides are called daughters of Night, that is to 
 say their origin and existence are veiled in darkness. Their 
 names were JEgle, Erytheia, and Arethusa ; — and they 
 were appointed to guard the golden apples, which were 
 the gift of Earth to Juno on her wedding day. 
 
 The celebrated gardens of the Hesperides abounded with 
 fruits of the most delicious kinds, and were carefully guard- 
 ed by a dreadful dragon, which never slept. By Hesiod, 
 these gardens were placed beyond the Atlantic Ocean in 
 the dusky horizon of the west, where they rested upon the 
 shoulders of Atlas. By geographical writers they are 
 placed near the ancient Berenice, now Bengazi in Gyre- 
 na'ica on the Mediterranean coast of Africa. 
 
32 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY, 
 
 MORS OR DEATH. 
 
 Mors, born of Night and without a father, was one of 
 the infernal deities. By the ancients she was worshipped 
 with great solemnity, and was represented by them, not as 
 an actually existing power, but as an imaginary being. 
 
 The face of Mors, when they gave her any face, seems 
 to have been of a pale, wan, dead color. The poets describe 
 her as ravenous, treacherous, and furious, and as roving 
 aDout open-mouthed and ready to swallow up all who came 
 in her way. They give her black robes and dark wings ; 
 and often make her of a colossal stature. From the epi- 
 thets pallida and lucida , pale and wan, she must have been 
 represented with a pale face and meagre body, instead of 
 the bare skull and skeleton of some modern painters. 
 
 The description of Death by the ancients was more 
 frightful and dismal than that of modern artists and poets. 
 They describe her as thundering at the doors of mortals 
 to demand the debt they owe her. Sometimes as approach- 
 ing their bedsides ; and sometimes pursuing her prey ; or 
 as hovering in the air, and ready to seize it. 
 
 Death is sometimes represented as a skeleton, wearing 
 a black robe, covered with stars, and having wings of an 
 enormous length' and her fleshless arms supporting a 
 scythe. No temples were dedicated to her, and no sacrifices 
 offered, because Death is inexorable, inaccessible to en- 
 treaties, and unmoved by prayers and offerings. 
 
 SOMNUS. 
 
 Somnus, the son of Night, presided over sleep. Accord- 
 ing to some mythologists, his palace was a dark cave, where 
 the sun never penetrates ; at the entrance are a number of 
 poppies and somniferous herbs. Yirgil places him in the 
 entrance to the infernal shades, on account of his relation 
 to Lethe ; but Ovid and Statius ^ive him a place on our 
 Earth. 
 
MORPHEUS. 
 
 33 
 
 The God of Sleep is represented as a child stretched on 
 a couch in a profound slumber, holding in his hand a 
 bunch of poppies, which serve also for a pillow. The 
 Dreams stand by him ; and Morpheus, as his attendant 
 watches to prevent the disturbance of his repose. Some 
 times his head rests upon a lion’s skin and sometimes on a 
 lion, with one arm either a little over or under his head, 
 and the other hanging carelessly by the side of the couch, 
 having placed in it poppies, or a horn full of poppy juice. 
 
 He is often winged; and so like Cupid as to be fre- 
 quently mistaken for him, notwithstanding the lizard at his 
 feet, the proper attribute of Somnus, as it sleeps during 
 half the year. The lizard is not mentioned by the poets, 
 and may have been used by artists merely for the sake of 
 distinction, though the poppy seems sufficient for the pur 
 pose, except in some few pieces, where the distinguishing 
 attributes of both are blended together. In that case, it 
 may be intended to represent Cupids under the character 
 of Somnus. 
 
 Poets speak often of the wings of Somnus and of their 
 being black, as most proper for the god who chiefly rules 
 at night. For the same reason, the figures of him are of 
 ebony, basalt, or dark-colored marble. 
 
 MORPHEUS. 
 
 Morpheus, the God of Dreams arid son of Night, can 
 assume any shape at pleasure, presenting dreams to those 
 who sleep. To the palace of Somnus there are said to b 
 two gates, one of ivory and the other of horn, out of which 
 dreams pass and repass — the false through the ivory, the 
 true through the transparent horn. 
 
 Morpheus is sometimes represented as a man advanced 
 in years, with two large wings on his shoulders, and two 
 email ones attached to his head. 
 
 2 * 
 
34 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 JViOMUS. 
 
 Mornus (Mockery), a son of Night, was the god of raillery 
 and repartee ; at the feasts of the gods he played the buf- 
 foon. His office was to reprove the faults of the gods, which 
 be did in so sarcastic a manner as to put himself out of 
 favor. He blamed Vulcan, because in the human form 
 which he made of clay, he had not placed a window in the 
 breast, by which whatever was done or thought there might 
 easily be brought to light. He censured the house made 
 by Minerva, because it was not movable, by which means 
 a bad neighborhood might be avoided. Of the bull which 
 Neptune made, he observed, that the blows might have 
 been surer, if the eyes were nearer the horns. Venus 
 herself was exposed to his satire ; and when the sneering 
 god could find no fault in the figure of the goddess, he 
 observed as she retired, that the noise of her feet was too 
 loud, and very improper in the goddess of beauty. For 
 those illiberal reflections upon the gods, he was driven 
 from Heaven. 
 
 Momus is generally represented raising a mask from 
 his face, and holding a small figure in his hand. 
 
 CHARON. 
 
 Charon ? a god of Hell, and son of Erebus and Night, 
 conducted the souls of the dead in a boat over the rivers 
 Styx and Acheron, to the infernal regions. But he con- 
 veyed no one without their tribute, and it was a custom 
 among the ancients in preparing the dead for burial, to 
 place a piece of money under the tongue for Charon. 
 
 When a departed soul presented herself for a passage 
 in his boat he first inquired whether the traveller could 
 furnish the requisite fee ; and if it should happen that the 
 oboius had been forgotten, the poor soul was left to wander 
 on the gloomy shores a hundred years before being con* 
 
NEREUS. 
 
 35 
 
 ducted over the river ; and such as had not been honored 
 with a funeral, were subjected to the same penalty. 
 
 Among the ancients, it was considered an inexpressible 
 cruelty to deny to the dead a burial ; and for this reason, 
 all great commanders were careful, after a battle, to inter 
 the bodies of those whose lives had been lost in their service. 
 
 No living person was received into Charon’s boat, unless 
 he could show a golden bough which he had received from 
 the Sybil as a passport. Yet it is said that ASneas by his 
 piety, Hercules and Theseus by their valor, and Orpheus 
 by his music, obtained the privilege of passing to and fro 
 in old Charon’s ferry boat. 
 
 Charon is represented as an old man with a ragged gar- 
 ment, a long grey neglected beard, and his forehead lined 
 with wrinkles. 
 
 NEREUS. 
 
 Nereus, the son of Pontos and Terra, was the personifi- 
 cation of the smooth sea. 
 
 He married Doris, the daughter of Oceanos, and their 
 children were the Nereides, or the nymphs of the sea. 
 They are said to have been fifty in number, and their 
 names are all mentioned ; yet but few of them are intro- 
 duced into the history of the gods. The greater part of 
 them are represented as forming a splendid retinue when 
 Thetis and Amphitrite, the principal ones, appeared on the 
 sea. 
 
 The imagination of the ancients allowed no place to 
 remain uninhabited, and therefore formed a multitude of 
 creatures, and a variety of abodes, in regions which none 
 but immortals could inhabit ; and the rising of the marine 
 deities from their crystal palaces to the surface of the wa- 
 ters afforded a subject for some attractive fables among 
 the ancient poets. When on the sea shore, the Nereides 
 
36 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 resided in grottoes and caves, which were adorned with 
 shells and shaded with vine branches. 
 
 They are represented as young and handsome virgins, 
 sitting on dolphins, and holding Neptune’s trident, or some- 
 times garlands of flowers. Their duty was to attend upon 
 the more powerful deities of the sea, and to be subservient 
 to the will of Neptune. 
 
 The Nereides were implored as well as the rest of the 
 deities. Their altars were chiefly on the coasts of the sea 
 where the piety of mankind made them offerings of milk, 
 oil, and honey, and often of the flesh of goats ; as they 
 had the power of ruffling or calming the waters, they were 
 always addressed by sailors, who implored their protection, 
 and that they would grant them a favorable voyage and a 
 prosperous return. 
 
 Nereus was represented as an old man, with a long flow- 
 ing beard, and hair of an azure color, and sometimes 
 crowned with sea weed. The chief place of his residence 
 was in the iEgean Sea, where he was surrounded by his 
 daughters, who often danced around him in chorus. 
 
 He had the gift of prophecy, and informed those who 
 consulted him of the different fates that awaited them. 
 
 AMPHITRITE. THETIS. GALATEA. 
 
 Amphitrite became the wife of Poseidon, and Thetv 
 was married to the Thessalian king, Peleus. Galataea loved 
 Acis, the handsome shepherd, and the monstrous Cyclop 
 Polyphemos, sued in vain for her favor. On a certain occa 
 sion, the monster beheld the nymph at the foot of Moun? 
 .ZEtna, embracing his handsome rival. He became di? 
 tracted with furious jealousy, and tearing up a rock froir 
 its roots, raised it in the air, and hurled it upon the lov 
 ers in order to bury them under its weight. 
 
 The nymph swiftly escaped into the sea, but Acis, over- 
 whelmed by the massy stone, sprang forth from beneath 
 
HARPIES. 
 
 3 ? 
 
 it as a purling brook, the waters of which produced a 
 meandering stream that bore his name. 
 
 THAUMAS. 
 
 Astonishment at the grand spectacles of nature rises out 
 of the sea, and with a few leading features, is personified 
 in Thaumas, a son of Pontos. $ 
 
 Thaumas is the father, and the Oceanide, Electra 
 ( Brightness ), the mother of Iris or the rainbow ; that worn 
 derful being, who, on account of the rapidity with which 
 her feet touch the earth, ere her head has left the clouds, 
 is represented as the female messenger of the immortals. 
 She shared with Mercury the honor of conveying to the 
 inhabitants of the earth the mandates of the superior 
 divinities ; especially of J uno, to whose service she was 
 particularly attached, and whose person she constantly 
 attended. 
 
 Her most serious charge was to cut the thread of life 
 which seemed to detain the soul in the expiring body ; she 
 is thus represented by Yirgil, as being sent by Juno from 
 Olympus to release the struggling soul of Dido. 
 
 HARPIES. 
 
 Children of the same parents are the swift-winged Har- 
 pies, Aello, Ocypete, and Celoeno ; who, like raging torna- 
 does, rush forth from the sea and seize their prey — a hor- 
 ror to mortals who are unable to resist their rapacious 
 claws. They are represented as having the faces of virgins, 
 the bodies of vultures, and the claws of lions. 
 
 They were sent by Juno to plunder the tables of Phineus, 
 whence they were driven to the islands called Strophades 
 They plundered iEneias during his voyage towards Italy, 
 and predicted many of the calamities which attended him 
 
 According to Damm, the term Harpya signifies properly 
 a violent wind, carrying off any thing that is exposed to 
 
38 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 its fury ; in other words, a 
 furious whirlwind. Hence 
 the fable of the Harpies. 
 
 To the vivid imagination of 
 the Greeks, the terrors of the 
 storm were intimately asso- 
 ciated with the idea of pow- 
 erful and active daemons 
 directing its fury. The 
 names given to the Harpies 
 indicate this ; viz. Ocypete, 
 rapid ; Celaeno, obscurity ; 
 and Aello, a storm. With 
 Homer, the Harpies are god- 
 desses who suddenly carry 
 off persons unseen and un- 
 heard. 
 
 GRiEiE. 
 
 Phorcys, and his wife Ceto, are the children of Pontos 
 and parents of the monsters. Graeae ( Gray-maids ,) Per- 
 phredo ( horrijier ), Enyo ( shaker ), and Deino ( terrifier ), 
 three decrepit virgins, who were grey with age from their 
 very birth. Their abode was at the end of the earth, 
 where reigns eternal night. 
 
 THE GORGONS. 
 
 The Gorgons, Euryale, Stheino, and Medusa, were 
 daughters of the same parents. Instead of hair their heads 
 were covered with serpents. They had the faces and 
 breasts of women, and their bodies, which terminated in 
 the tails of serpents, were covered with scales. Their very 
 looks had the power of turning the beholder to stone. 
 Medusa, who was killed by Perseus, was the only one of 
 them subject to mortality. 
 
CERBEROS. 
 
 39 
 
 ¥i 7 e find the Grasae always united with the Gorgons, 
 whose guards they w T ere, according to iEschylus. This 
 poet describes them as u three long-lived maids, swan form- 
 ed, having one eye and one tooth in common, and on whom 
 the sun with his beams nor the mighty moon ever looks.” 
 Perseus, he says, intercepted the-eye as they were handing 
 it from one to the other, and having thus blinded the 
 guard, was enabled to approach the Gorgons unperceived. 
 
 CHRYSAOR. 
 
 From the blood of Medusa, sprang Chrysaor with the 
 golden sword, and the winged Pegasos. 
 
 Chrysaor married Callirrhoe, a daughter of Oceanos ; and 
 they became the parents of the triple-bodied Geryon, and 
 Echidna, who was upwards a beautiful nymph, but termi 
 nated below in a hideous coiling dragon. 
 
 With Echidna, the giant Typhoeus produced the triple- 
 headed dog Cerberos, that watched the gates of Pluto’s 
 dismal realm, the two-headed dog Orthrus, the Lernaean 
 Hydra, and the fire-vomiting Chimacra. Echidna is also 
 said to be the mother of the Nemaean Lion and the mys- 
 terious Sphinx. 
 
 CERBEROS. 
 
 Cerberos was variously described by the ancient mytho- 
 logists and poets. According to Hesiod he had fifty 
 heads, and according to others only three. He was sta- 
 tioned at the entrance of Hell as a watchful keeper, to 
 prevent the living from entering the infernal regions, and 
 the dead from escaping their confinement. It was usual 
 for the heroes, who in their lifetime visited the dominions 
 of Aides, to appease the barking mouth of Cerberos with 
 % cake. 
 
40 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 HYDRA. 
 
 The celebrated Hydra, which infested the lake of Lerna 
 in Peloponnesus, had, according to Diodorus, a hundred 
 heads ; according to Simonides, fifty ; and according to 
 the more received opinion of ApMlodorus. the number was 
 nine. As soon as one of these heads was cut off, two im- 
 mediately grew in its place, unless the wound was instantly 
 touched with fire. To destroy the Hydra was one of the 
 twelve labors of Hercules. 
 
 CHIMERA. 
 
 Chimsera was represented as a dreadful monster, having 
 the head and breast of a lion, the body of a goat, and con 
 tinually vomited forth fire. 
 
 This fiction was probably occasioned by a lambent flame 
 of some ignited gas issuing from a small cavity in the side 
 of a lofty mountain of Lycia, and which is still apparent. 
 On the summit of the mountain were lions ; in the middle 
 goats pastured ; and the lower parts of it were infested 
 with serpents. Bellerophon, a famous hero, made this moun- 
 tain habitable, and was therefore said to have killed the 
 Chimsera. 
 
 THE SPHINX. 
 
 The Sphinx was a monster with the face of a woman 
 the breast, feet, and tail of a lion, and the wings of a bird. 
 Juno, always hostile to the city of Dionysos, sent this mou 
 ster to ravage the territory of Thebes. She hau beeu 
 taught riddles by the Muses, and from the Phiceau tiui 
 propounded one to the Thebans: It was this: - What is 
 that which has one voice, is four footed, two-footed, and at 
 last three-footed?” The oracle told the Thebans that tLu-y 
 would not be delivered from the Sphinx until they nuu 
 solved her riddle. They often met to try their skill, and 
 
GIANTS. CYCLOPES. TITANS. 
 
 4i 
 
 when they failed, the Sphinx carried off and devoured one 
 of their number. At length Hsemon, son of Creon, having 
 become her victim, his father, by public proclamation, offered 
 his throne and the hand of his sister Iocasta to whoever 
 should solve the riddle. 
 
 (Edipus, who was then at Thebes, hearing this, came 
 forward and answered the Sphinx, that it was man, who 
 when an infant creeps on all fours ; when a man, goes on 
 two feet ; and when old, uses a staff, a third foot. The 
 Sphinx then flung herself down to the earth and perished. 
 
 GIANTS. CYCLOPES. TITANS. 
 
 Earth united with Heaven produced Oceanos and the 
 giants with fifty heads and a hundred hands — by which is 
 meant, the personification of the great powers of nature — 
 as their names signify : Cottos ( eruption ), Briareos (< hur - 
 ricane ), and G-yes ( earthquake ). The Cyclopes which repre- 
 sented the energies of the sky ; Steropes ( lightning ), Bron- 
 tes ( thunder ), and Arges (the candent holt). Also the Titans 
 and Titanides, whose names signify the milder powers of 
 nature, or some of the planets. Titans (so called from Ti- 
 taia, one of the epithets of Earth), Coeos (he that begets ), 
 Hyperion (superior or wandering on high), Crios (the ruler), 
 Japetos ( intention ), Kronos (time). Titanides — Phoebe (the 
 shining ), Bhea (succession), Themis (justice), Theia (order), 
 Tethvs ( the nourisher), Mnemosyne (retention or memory). 
 
 These productions became formidable to their father, 
 who closely confined them in the grottoes of the earth, and 
 never permitted them to see the light. Earth, displeased 
 at their fate, forged the first sickle or scythe, and giving it 
 to Kronos, the youngest of the Titans, instigated him to 
 limit the power of his father by maiming him. From the 
 drops of blood that Earth received in her lap, arose the 
 giants Porphyrion, Alcyoneus, Cromedon, Encelados, and 
 Rhoetus. What fell into the sea rendered it prolific, and 
 
42 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY, 
 
 from the foam arose Venus, the goddess of Love and Beauty. 
 She was the first beautiful object that arose from the con- 
 test of power against power among the productions of 
 Earth ; and deriving her origin from the creative power 
 of Heaven, she is the representation of all that is beauti- 
 ful and attractive, commanding the homage of gods as well 
 as men. 
 
 THE NYMPHiE. 
 
 According to Hesiod, the Nymphs were also the pro- 
 ductions of Heaven. The Greeks divided them into vari- 
 ous orders according to the place of their abode. 
 
 Thus, the Mountain-Nymphs ( Oreiads ) haunted the moun- 
 tains. The Napaxz, or Dale-Nymphs, the valleys ; the 
 Leimoniades, or Mead-Nymphs, the meadows ; the Naiades , 
 or Water-Nymphs, the rivers, brooks, and springs ; the 
 Limniades , or Lake-Nymphs, the lakes and pools. There 
 were also the Hamadryades , {jr Tree-Nymphs, who were 
 born and died with the trees; the Dryades , or Wood- 
 Nymphs, and the Meliades , the Fruit-tree-Nymphs, or 
 Flock-Nymphs, who watched over gardens, or flocks of 
 sheep. 
 
 The charge of rearing various gods and heroes was com- 
 mitted to the Nymphs ; for instance, they were the nurses 
 of Dionysos, Pan, and even Jupiter himself ; and they also 
 brought up Aristseos and iEneias. They were also the 
 attendants of the goddesses; they waited on Juno and 
 Venus, and in huntress-attire, pursued the deer over the 
 mountains in the company of Diana. 
 
 One of the most interesting species of Nymphs are the 
 Hamadryades, those personifications of the vegetable life 
 of plants. They possessed the power to reward and punish 
 those who prolonged or abridged the existence of their asso- 
 ciate-tree. 
 
 A man named RIicoccns, happening to see an oak just 
 
OCEANOS. 
 
 43 
 
 ready to fall to the ground, ordered his slaves to prop it 
 up. The Nymph, who had been on the point of perishing 
 with the tree, came to him expressing her gratitude for 
 having saved her life, and at the same time desired him to 
 ask what reward he would. Rhoecos then requested per- 
 mission to be her lover, to which the Nymph acceded ; 
 charging him at the same time to avoid the society of other 
 women, and told him that a bee should be her messenger. 
 On a time, the bee happened to come to Rhoecos as he was 
 playing at draughts, when he made a rude reply ; which 
 so incensed the Nymph that she deprived him of sight. 
 
 OCEANOS. 
 
 Oceanos, son of Heaven and Earth ( Uranos and Ge, or 
 Calus and Terra), married Tethys, in connection with 
 whom he produced the Rivers and Fountains, and the 
 Oceanides. 
 
 The name of Oceanos is made to signify an immense 
 stream, which according to the rude ideas pf the ancients 
 circulated round the terraqueous plain, and from which the 
 different seas ran out in the manner of bays. This opinion, 
 which was also that of Eratosthenes, was prevalent even in 
 the time of Herodotus. This same river Oceanos was 
 supposed to ebb and flow thrice in a single day ; and the 
 heavenly bodies were believed to descend into it at their 
 setting, and emerge from it at their rising. 
 
 The ancients were superstitious in their worship of 
 Oceanos, reverencing, with great solemnity, a deity to 
 whose care they intrusted themselves when going on a 
 voyage. He presided over every part of the sea, and even 
 rivers were subject to his power. According to Homer, 
 he was father of all the gods, and on that account received 
 frequent visits from the other deities. 
 
 Oceanos is generally represented as an old man, with a 
 long, flowing beard, and sitting upon the waves of the sea 
 
44 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 He often holds a pike in his hand, and ships under sail 
 appear in the distance. 
 
 RIVERS AND FOUNTAINS. 
 
 As productions of Oceanos, the Kivers and Fountains 
 belong to the ancient Deities ; but in the later history of 
 the gods, ima- 
 gination has 
 given them per- 
 sonality, and 
 they appear as 
 active beings. 
 
 As for exam- 
 ple, Scaman- 
 der, Achelous, 
 
 Peneus, Al- 
 pheios, and In- 
 achos. This 
 personification 
 of the running 
 waters has giv- 
 en rise to some 
 beautiful fic- 
 tions, and the head of a people whose origin is not known, 
 is called a son of the river near the shores of which are 
 found the dwellings of his descendants. iEschylus intro- 
 duces the Fountains as pitying Prometheus, when he was 
 chained to the rock by Jupiter, and complaining with him 
 of the tyranny to which he was subjected. 
 
 There are few streams so celebrated in antiquity as the 
 Alpheios. Its proximity to the scen-e of the Olympic con 
 tests, continually connects its name with the mention of 
 those memorable games. 
 
 There is also a pleasing legend connected with this 
 stream. According to the poets, Alpheios loved and pur* 
 
INACHOS. 
 
 45 
 
 sued the Nymph Are thusa; who was only saved from him 
 by the intervention of Diana, who for that purpose changed 
 her into a fountain. This fountain she placed in the island 
 of Ortygia, near the coast of Sicily. The ardent river- 
 god. however, did not then desist, but worked a passage 
 for himself amid the intervening ocean, and rising again 
 in the Ortygian island, his waters were mingled with those 
 of the fountain Arethusa. 
 
 According to another version of the same legend, it was 
 Diana herself, and not the nymph Arethusa, whom the 
 river-god of the Alpheios pursued ; and when this pursuit 
 ended in the island of Ortygia, then arose the fountain 
 Arethusa. 
 
 This account affords a clew to the true meaning of the 
 entire fable. The goddess, it appears, had an altar at 
 Olympia in common with the god of the Alpheios. To the 
 same Diana water was held sacred ; and this part of her 
 worship, having passed from the Peloponnesus into Sicily, 
 the worship of the Alpheios accompanied it: or, in other 
 words, a common altar for the two divinities was erected 
 by the Syracusans in Ortygia, similar in its attendant rites 
 and Ceremonies to the altar at Olympia. In the island of 
 Ortygia all water was considered sacred, and Diana was 
 worshipped at the fountain of Arethusa. And from this 
 commingling of rites arose the poetic legend, that the Al- 
 pheios had passed through the ocean to Ortygia and blended 
 its waters with those of Arethusa ; or, in other words, its 
 rites with those of Diana. 
 
 INACHOS. 
 
 A considerable portion of ancient history is traced back 
 to Inachos, son of Oceanos. Inachos was a stream that 
 watered the fields of Argolis in Peloponnesus ; fiction gave 
 it personality, and made it the author of the people who 
 lived around its shores. 
 
46 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 His son Phoroneus taught them the use of fire ; and 
 haying previously been dispersed in the woods, he per- 
 suaded them to unite and build themselves contiguous 
 dwellings. Thus. Phoroneus causing his people to make 
 the first step towards civilization, became one of the ear- 
 liest and principal benefactors to mankind. 
 
 Io, a daughter of Inachos, loved by Jupiter, and perse- 
 cuted by Juno, was transformed into a cow, and furiously 
 driven over the whole earth, until she found a resting-place 
 in Egypt. There she had a temple erected, and was wor- 
 shipped as a goddess (Isis). She gave a son to Jupiter, 
 called Epaphos, from whom sprang a royal race, that after- 
 wards reigned in Greece ; founding their right of royal 
 authority on descent from old Inachos. 
 
 Libya, a daughter of the Egyptian king Epaphos, gave 
 two sons to Poseidon, Belus and Agenor ; the latter was 
 king of Tyre. Cadmos, who is said to have brought the 
 first letters into Greece, and to have founded the city of 
 Thebes, was his son ; and Europa, the mother of Minos, 
 his daughter. 
 
 Belus, the other grandson of Epaphos, was the father of 
 Danaos and Egyptus, the former of w T hom came over from 
 Egypt to Greece, and reigned in Argos. From him Acri- 
 sius descended, the father of Danae, and the grandfather of 
 the heroic Perseus. Alcaeus was a son of Perseus ; and a 
 grand-daughter of Alcaeus, Alcmena, was the mother of 
 Hercules. 
 
 These are the principal personages descended from the 
 heroic family of Inachos. From the impossibility of tra- 
 cing back any family of kings further than Inachos, arose 
 the common saying of the ancient poets : u Though thou 
 canst derive thy origin from old Inachos, thou still re- 
 mainest a victim of inexorable Orcus.” 
 
10 . 
 
 47 
 
 io. 
 
 Io, daughter of Inaehos, was priestess of Judo at Argos, 
 and, unhappily for her, was beloved by Jupiter. When 
 this god found that his conduct had excited the suspicions 
 of Juno, he changed Io into a white cow, and declared with 
 an oath that he had been guilty of no infidelity. 
 
 The Goddess, affecting to believe him, asked the cow as 
 a present; and, on obtaining her, set the u all-seeing Ar 
 gus” to watch her. He accordingly bound her to an olive- 
 tree in the grove of Mycenae, and there kept guard over 
 her. Jupiter, pitying her situation, directed Mercury to 
 steal her away. The god of ingenious devices made the 
 attempt ; but, as a vulture always gave A rgus warning of 
 his projects, he found it impossible to succeed. Nothing 
 then remained but open force. Mercury killed Argus 
 with a stone, having first lulled him to sleep with his lyre, 
 and hence obtained the appellation of Argus-slayer. 
 
 The vengeance of J uno, however, was not yet satiated ; 
 and she sent a gadfly to torment Io, who fled over the whole 
 world from its pursuit. She swam through the Ionian 
 Sea, which was fabled to have hence derived its name 
 from her. She then roamed over the plains of Illyria, 
 ascended Mount Hsemus, and crossed the Thracian Strait, 
 thence named the Bosphorus ; she rambled on through 
 Scythia and the country of the Cimmerians, and, after wan- 
 dering over various regions of Europe and Asia, arrived 
 at last on the banks of the Nile, where she assumed her 
 original form, and bore to Jupiter a son named Epaphos. 
 
 The whole story of Io is an agricultural legend, and 
 admits of an easy explanation. Io, whether considered 
 as the offspring of Iasos (the favorite of Ceres), or Peiron 
 (the u experimenter ” or “ tryer ”), is a type of early agri- 
 culture, progressing gradually by the aid of slow and 
 painful experience. Jupiter represents the firmament, the 
 
48 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 genial source of light and life; Juno, on the other hand, 
 is the type of the atmosphere, with its stormy and capri- 
 cious changes. Early agriculture suffers from these chan- 
 ges, which impede more or less the fostering influence of 
 the pure firmament that lies beyond ; and hence, man is 
 obliged to watch with incessant and sleepless care over the 
 labors of primitive husbandry. This ever-watchful super- 
 intendence is typified by Argus with his countless eyes, 
 save that in the legend he becomes an instrument of pun- 
 ishment in the hands of Juno. 
 
 Juno being the t}^pe of the atmosphere, the peacock was 
 considered as sacred to that goddess. 
 
 Ovid gives to Argus a hundred eyes, of which only two 
 ever slept at the same time : he also makes Mercury to 
 have slain him with a harpe, or short curved sword. 
 
 STYX. 
 
 Styx, a daughter of Oceanos and Tethys. Also a cele- 
 brated river of hell round which it flowed nine times. 
 The waters of this subterranean fountain trickle in nightly 
 gloom from a high vaulted rock, forming the stream over 
 which there is no return ; and by this stream the gods 
 swear that inviolable oath, the obligation of which no 
 power of heaven or earth can dissolve. Thus the gods on 
 high swear by the deep where night reigns, and where, 
 according to the ancients, are the foundations of the uni- 
 verse on which depend the preservation of all things. 
 
 If any of the gods were guilty of perjury, Jupiter 
 obliged them* to drink of the water ol the Styx, which for 
 a whole year lulled them to senseless stupidity ; for the 
 nine following years they were deprived of the nectar and 
 ambrosia of the gods ; after the expiration of this period 
 of punishment they were restored to the assembly of the 
 gods and to the enjoyment of their original privileges. 
 
HELIOS OR SOL. 
 
 49 
 
 HYPERION, 
 
 Hyperion and Theia unite and produce Eos [Dawn 
 or Aurora ), Helios, and Luna. Eos married Astraeos 
 (Starry), the son of the Titan Crios, and became the mother 
 of the strong winds, Zephyros, Boreas, and Notos,* and 
 Eosphoros ( Dawn-bearer ), or the morning star. 
 
 Appearing in the grey twilight of morning, Aurora lifts 
 with rosy fingers the veil of Night, sheds a radiant lustre 
 over the earth, and disappears at the entrance of Helios. 
 
 She is represented as standing in a magnificent cha- 
 riot, and sometimes drawn by winged steeds. A brilliant 
 star sparkles upon her forehead, and while with one hand 
 she grasps the reins, she holds in the other a lighted torch. 
 
 HELIOS OR SOL. 
 
 Helios, or Sol, belonged likewise to the ancient deities ; 
 in which, with a few strong features, the grand objects of 
 nature are personified ; for it is the shining sun that ap- 
 pears in the image of Helios. His head is surrounded 
 by rays, and he gives light both to gods and men. He 
 sees and hears every thing, and discovers all that is kept 
 secret. 
 
 To him were sacred those fat oxen that grazed without 
 herdsmen in the island of Sicily, and at the sight of which 
 he was delighted as he passed through the skies. When ? 
 therefore, the companions of Ulysses had killed several of 
 them, the god of the sun threatened J upiter that he would 
 descend into Orcus and carry light to the de£d unless he 
 avenged the injury done him. Jupiter terrified by his 
 threats, immediately dashed the ship in pieces, so that 
 Ulysses’ companions became a prey to the sea. (II. xii. 260.) 
 
 Sometimes the god of the sun is called Titan, on ac- 
 count of his belonging to that family ; or from his father, 
 
 See large edition. 
 3 
 
50 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 with whom he is sometimes confounded in ancient tales ; 
 or Hyperion, a name which signifies height and sublimity ; 
 and it is remarkable that a term of precisely the same im- 
 port ( lkare ) is applied to the same luminary by the Iroquois 
 of North America. 
 
 Sol was an object of veneration among the ancients, and 
 was particularly worshipped by the Persians under the 
 name of Mithras. 
 
 HECATE. 
 
 Coios and Phoebe unite and produce Latona and Asteria. 
 The latter married Perses, and became the mother of He- 
 cate ; who, although of the Titan family, is highly honored 
 by Jupiter as well as the other gods ; for she belonged to 
 that class of beings whose power was supposed to extend 
 throughout the universe. She was considered as one of 
 the fatal deities who distributed either victory or renown 
 according to her pleasure, and in whose hands lies the fate 
 of men. She reigns on earth, in the sea, and in the air; 
 and was called Luna in heaven, Diana on the earth, and 
 Persephone in hell. She was supposed to preside over 
 magic and enchantment ; and to her, kings and nations 
 considered themselves indebted for their prosperity. 
 
 Hecate is undoubtedly a stranger divinity in the my- 
 thology of the Greeks. It would appear that she was one 
 of the hurtful class of deities, transported by Hesiod into 
 the Grecian mythology, and placed behind the more popular 
 deities, as a being of earlier existence. 
 
 Jablonski regards Hecate as the same with the Egyptian 
 Tithrambo. Her actions upon nature, her diversified attri- 
 butes, her innumerable functions, are a mixture of physi- 
 cal, allegorical, and philosophical traditions respecting the 
 fusion of the elements and the generation of beings. 
 Hecate was the night ; and by an extension of this idea, 
 the primitive night, the primary cause or parent of all 
 
HECATE. 
 
 51 
 
 things. She was the moon ; and hence were connected 
 with her all those ideas which are grouped around tho 
 moon ; she is the goddess that troubles the reason of mon ; 
 the goddess that presides over nocturnal ceremonies, and 
 consequently over magic ; hence her identity with Diana 
 for the Grecian mythology, and with Isis for the Egyptian ; 
 and hence also her cosmogonical attributes assigned to 
 Isis in Egypt. 
 
 Dogs, lambs, and* honey were generally offered to Hecate, 
 especially in highways and cross-roads — hence she obtained 
 the name of Trivia. Expiatory sacrifices were offered to 
 her on the thirtieth of every month, in which eggs and young 
 dogs were the principal objects. The remains of the offer- 
 ings, together with a large quantity of all sorts of comesti- 
 bles, were exposed in the cross-roads, and called the supper 
 of Hecate. The poorer classes and cynics seized upon 
 these viands with an eagerness that passed among the an- 
 cients as a mark of extreme indigence, or the lowest degree 
 of baseness. 
 
 The Athenians also paid particular worship to Hecate, 
 who was deemed the patroness of families and children. 
 From this cirumstance the statues of the goddess were 
 erected before the doors of houses. Upon every new 
 moon a supper was provided at the expense of the wealthy, 
 and set in the streets, where the poorest of the citizens 
 were allowed to feast upon it, while they reported that it 
 was devoured by Hecate. This public supper was always 
 held in a place where three ways met, in allusion to the 
 triple nature of the goddess 
 
 There were also expiatory offerings to supplicate the 
 goddess to remove whatever evils might impend on the 
 head of the public. 
 
 Her statues were in general dog-headed ; and were set 
 up at Athens and elsewhere in the market-places and cross 
 roads. It is probable that the dog-headed form was the 
 
52 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 ancient and mystic one of Hecate, and that under which 
 she was worshipped in the mysteries of Samothrace, 
 where dogs were immolated in her honor. Her mysteries 
 were also celebrated at iEgina, and their establishment 
 was ascribed to Orpheus. Numerous statues of the god- 
 dess were to be seen in this island, one by Myron with a 
 single face, others with two faces, attributed to the famous 
 Alcamenes. 
 
 Hecate was generally represented as a woman with the 
 head of a female, a horse, or a dog ; and sometimes with 
 three distinct bodies, having three different faces united in 
 one neck. 
 
 ASTRiEOS. PALLAS. PERSES. 
 
 Crios and Eurybia ( Wide- strength), a daughter of Pontos, 
 gave birth to the Titans, Astraeos [Starry), Pallas ( Shaker ), 
 and Perses [ Bright). 
 
 Pallas married Styx, the daughter of Oceanos, who gave 
 him powerful children ; Zelos [Zeal), Nike ( Victory), Kra- 
 tos [Power), and Bia [Strength). In the war of the gods, 
 Styx, by the advice of her father, went over with her chil- 
 dren to Jupiter, and since that time the latter have their 
 seat near the ruler of Heaven and Earth. Victory became 
 one of the attendants of Jupiter. 
 
 IAPETOS. 
 
 Iapetos marries Clymene, Oceanos’ daughter, and is the 
 parent of the Titans, Atlas, Menoetius, Epimetheus, and 
 Prometheus. Atlas married Phe'ione, one of the Ocean- 
 ides, and had twelve daughters called Atlantides. Seven 
 of the daughters were changed into a constellation cailed 
 Pleiades, and the rest into another called Hyades. Atlas 
 was also the father of the fair nymph, Calypso, who so 
 loug detained Ulysses in her island in the distant west. 
 
ATLAS. 
 
 53 
 
 ATLAS. 
 
 The name of Atlas signifies the Endurer ; and Homer 
 calls him the wise or deep thinking , who knows all the depths 
 of the sea, and keeps the long pillars which hold Heaves 
 and Earth asunder. 
 
 It is hardly necessary to state, that the Atlas of Homer 
 and Hesiod is not the personification of a mountain. In 
 process of time, however, when the meaning of the earlier 
 legend had become obscured or lost, Atlas, the keeper of 
 the pillars that support the Heaven, became a mountain 
 of Libya. It is remarkable, however, that in all the forms 
 which the fable assumes, it is the god or man Atlas who is 
 turned into, or gives name to the mountain. Thus, accord- 
 ing to one mythologist, Atlas was a king of the remotest 
 west, rich in flocks and herds, and master of the trees 
 that bore the golden apples. An ancient prophecy de- 
 livered by Themis, had announced to him, that his pre- 
 cious trees would be plundered by a son of Jupiter. 
 When therefore Perseus, on his return from slaying the 
 Gorgon, arrived in the realms of Atlas, and seeking hospi- 
 tality, announced himself to be a son of the king of the 
 gods, the western monarch, calling to mind the prophecy, 
 attempted to repel him from his doors. Perseus, inferioi 
 in strength, displayed the head of Medusa, and the in- 
 hospitable monarch was turned into the mountain which 
 still bears his name. 
 
 According to another account, Atlas was a man of Libya, 
 devoted to astronomy. Having ascended a lofty mountain, 
 for the purpose of making observations, befell into the sea, 
 and both sea and mountain were named after him. His 
 supporting the heavens was usually explained by making 
 him an astronomer and the inventor of the sphere. 
 
 There is also another curious legend relating to Atlas, 
 which forms part of the fables connected with the adven* 
 
54 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 fcures of Hercules. When this hero in quest of the apples 
 of the Hesperides, had come to the spot where Prome- 
 theus lay chained, moved by his entreaties, he shot the 
 eagle that preyed upon his liver. Prometheus out of gra- 
 titude warned him not to go himself to take the golden 
 apples, but to send Atlas for them, and in the mean time 
 to support the Heaven in his stead. The hero did a? 
 desired, and at his request Atlas went to the Hesperides 
 and obtained three apples from them ; he then proposed U 
 take them himself to Eurystheus, while Hercules remained 
 to support the sky. At the suggestion of Prometheus, the 
 hero feigned consent, but begged him to take hold of the 
 heavens till he made a pad to put upon his head. Atlas 
 threw down the apples and resumed his burden, and Her- 
 cules picked them up and went his way. 
 
 Yarious elucidations of the legend of Atlas have been 
 given by the modern expounders of mythology. The best 
 is that of Vollker. This writer, taking into consideration 
 the meaning of his name, in connection with the position 
 assigned him by Homer and Hesiod, and the species of 
 knowledge ascribed to him, and also his being the father 
 of two constellations, regards Atlas as a personification 
 of navigation ; the conquest of the sea by human skill, 
 trade, and mercantile profit. 
 
 PROMETHEUS AND EPIMETHEUS. 
 
 The origin of men in these fictions is so subordinate, that 
 they are represented as not even owing their existence to 
 the reigning gods, but to a descendant of the Titans. Pro- 
 metheus, a son of Iapetos, is said to have formed the first 
 man out of clay. His three brothers, Atlas, Mencetius. 
 and Epimetheus, were, as well as himself, hated by the 
 gods. Iapetos, their father, was at the same time with the 
 other Titans thrown into Tartarus. His powerful son, Me- 
 ncofcius, on account of his dangerous strength and haughty 
 
PROMETHEUS AND EPIMETHEUS. 
 
 55 
 
 pride, was killed by Jupiter’s lightnings; upon the shoul- 
 ders of Atlas, Jupiter laid the whole burden of the weight 
 of the skies; Prometheus was by his direction fastened to 
 ft rock, where a vulture perpetually gnawed at his liver ; 
 and Epimetheus was destined to bring woe and misery 
 upon mankind. Thus odious to the gods was the family 
 of Iapetos, from which man took his origin, and on whom 
 all immeasurable sufferings were afterwards heaped toge- 
 ther, by which he was made to atone for his grudged exist- 
 ence. 
 
 According to ancient fable, the formation of man was 
 accomplished ii the following manner : — Prometheus took 
 a piece of earth, a portion of clay still impregnated with 
 divine particles, moistened it with water, and formed man 
 after the image of the gods ; so that he alone raises his 
 look to heaven, while all other creatures bend their eyes 
 to the ground. This representation shows that Fancy could 
 not ascribe even to the gods, a form superior to that of 
 man, for there is, in universal nature (and nature is Fan- 
 cy’s great magazine), no being deserving this preference. 
 The beams of the sun give light, but man sees ; the thun- 
 der rolls and the waves of the sea roar, but the tongue of 
 man utters distinct and intelligible sounds; the moon 
 and stars glitter in light and beauty, but the human 
 countenance is indicative of a superior illumination. 
 
 When Prometheus had succeeded in representing the 
 divine form, he burned with desire to bring his work to 
 perfection. He rose therefore to the chariot of Phoebus, 
 in order to kindle the torch, from the fire of which he blew 
 ethereal flames into the breasts of his creatures — thus giv- 
 ing them warmth and life. But the wrath of Jupiter was 
 kindled against him, as a creator of divine formations, and 
 he determined on the destruction of mankind. Prome- 
 theus, having sacrificed two bulls, wrapped the meat in one 
 hide and the bones in the other, and then, in order to try 
 
56 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 Jupiter, asked him which he would prefer as an offering. 
 Jupiter designedly chose the worse part, that he might 
 have a plausible pretext for anger against Prometheus, 
 and of persecuting his creatures, and immediately deprived 
 them of fire. He durst not give vent to his hatred against 
 Prometheus himself. His first object was, to destroy his 
 work ; but in this he did not succeed. The noble son of 
 Earth ascended a second time to the chariot of the sun, 
 and again brought down the ethereal spark, hiding it in 
 the stem of a reed. But when from afar, J upiter descried 
 the light of fire upon the earth, he formed the design of 
 punishing men through their own folly. He therefore 
 requested Yulcan to make a woman of clay, which he in- 
 tended sending to Prometheus for a wife ; he directed him 
 to knead earth and water till it assumed the form of a vir» 
 gin, like the immortal goddesses, and then to give it human 
 voice and strength. Jupiter also desired Minerva to en 
 dow her with artist knowledge, Venus to give her beauty, 
 and Mercury to inspire her with an impudent and artfuJ 
 disposition. When formed, she was attired by the Seasons 
 and Graces, and each of the deities having bestowed upon 
 her the desired gifts, she was called Pandora ( All -gifted ). 
 
 Jupiter then gave her a beautiful box which she was 
 ordered to present to the man who married her; and by 
 the commission of the god, Mercury conducted her to Pro- 
 metheus. In the box was enclosed the whole train of evils 
 that threaten mankind. Prometheus, aware of the fraud, 
 rejected the dangerous gift, and sent Pandora away without 
 suffering himself to be captivated by her charms. 
 
 He continued to teach men every useful art, for which 
 the employment of fire is necessary, and which was the 
 greatest of his benefits ; but deprived them of the view into 
 futurity, lest they should anticipate unavoidable evils. 
 Thus, notwithstanding the efforts of Jupiter, he went on 
 to perfect the creation and formation of mankind, although 
 
PROMETHEUS AND EPIMETHEUS. 
 
 57 
 
 well aware that he must atone for it in a horrible man 
 ner. 
 
 Jupiter, still more enraged by the failure of his cunning 
 attempt, and burning with the desire of revenging him- 
 self upon Prometheus, now ordered him to be fastened to 
 a rock, on Mount Caucasus, where a vulture fed all day 
 upon his liver, which, growing again during the night, con- 
 tinued to be the means of his torments. 
 
 Meanwhile, the misfortunes appointed to men came upon 
 them, in spite of the prudence of Prometheus. The incon- 
 siderate Epimetheus, although warned by his brother, suf- 
 fered himself to be captivated by the charms of Pandora ; 
 who, after he had married her, opened the pernicious box 
 out of which all imaginable evils spread themselves over 
 the whole earth, inflicting misery upon mankind. Pando- 
 ra, perceiving the pernicious contents of the box, imme- 
 diately closed it again. But, alas! it was too late. The 
 evils had all escaped, and nothing remained in the box 
 but Hope ; who, according to Jupiter’s decree, should in 
 due time afford some consolation to mortals. And she 
 alone has the wonderful power of easing the labors of man, 
 and rendering the troubles and sorrows of life less painful. 
 
 Prometheus is represented as feeling deeply the suffer- 
 ings of mankind He may be considered as the never- 
 ceasing disquietude, the restless, never satisfied desire of 
 mortals ; for the liver upon which the vulture preys never 
 dies, and the liver was thought by the ancients to be the 
 seat of desire. His inventive genius introduced fire, and 
 the arts which result from it ; and man, henceforth, became 
 a prey to care and anxiety, the love of gain and other evil 
 passions which torment him, and which are personified in 
 the eagle that fed on the inconsumable liver of Prometheus. 
 
 According to the fable, the pains of Prometheus lasted 
 until a mortal by his valor and invincible courage made 
 himself a path to immortality, and thus, as it were, recon- 
 
 3 * 
 
58 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 ciled Jupiter to mankind. Hercules, son of Jupiter and 
 Alcmene, killed the vulture with his father’s consent, and 
 delivered the sufferer from his long torments. As the mor 
 fcal foe of the Titans, and the unrelenting persecutor of 
 Prometheus, Jupiter strove to ruin the race of men. But 
 as the quiet power that is superior to its own wrath, and in 
 concord with fate, he at last calmly beheld the rising of 
 new generations, that by sufferings, strength, and perse- 
 verance, became assimilated to the gods themselves. 
 
 OGYGES. DEUCALION. 
 
 After Prometheus retreats from the theatre and transac- 
 tions of the world, those who take his place in the great 
 cause of humanity, the new fathers of mankind, by whose 
 assistance they rise as it were from oblivion, are Deucalion, 
 Ogyges, Cecrops, and Inachos. 
 
 During the time of Ogyges, son of Terra, a deluge oc- 
 curred which is anterior to that of Deucalion. The hori- 
 zon of all history is closed by this Ogygian flood, and even 
 the wide field of fable here finds its limits. 
 
 Ogyges reigned in Boeotia, which from him is somenmes 
 called Ogygia ; his power was also extended over Attica, 
 It is supposed that he was of Egyptian or I hcenician ex- 
 traction, but his origin as well as the age in which he lived- 
 and the duration of his reign, are so obscure and unknown, 
 that the epithet Ogygian is often applied to any thing of 
 dark antiquity. 
 
 The Greek legend respecting the deluge of Deucalion is 
 as follows: — Deucalion, son of Prometheus and Clymene. 
 was married to Pyrrha, daughter of Epimctheus and Pan- 
 dora. When Jupiter designed to destroy the brazen race 
 of men on account of their impiety, Deucalion, by the ad* 
 vice of his father, made himself an ark, and putting pro- 
 visions into it, entered it with his wife Pyrrha. Jupiter 
 then poured rain from Heaven, and inundated a greater 
 
OGYGES. DEUCALION. 
 
 59 
 
 part of Greece, so that the people, except a few who escaped 
 to the lofty mountains, perished in the waves. At the 
 same time, the floods burst through the mountains of Thes- 
 saly, and all Greece without the Isthmus, as well as the 
 Peloponnesus, was overflowed. Deucalion was carried along 
 the sea in his ark for nine days and nights, until he reached 
 mount Parnassus. By this time the rain had ceased ; and 
 leaving his ark, he sacrificed to Jupiter,. who sent Mercury 
 desiring him to ask what he would. His request was, to 
 have the earth replenished with men. Thereupon, by the 
 Erection of Jupiter, he and his wife threw stones behind 
 them, and those which Deucalion threw became men, and 
 those thrown by Pyrrha, women. 
 
 Although Deucalion is called the renewer of the de- 
 stroyed family of Prometheus, yet we see that other tradi- 
 tions, still more ancient, are connected with the fictions 
 respecting him, and that they confine Deucalion’s new crea- 
 tion, or formation of men, to a part of Greece. 
 
 Amphictyon, a son of Deucalion, first established a sacred 
 association among the several tribes of Greece, who, by 
 means of common consultations, were so closely united to- 
 gether as to form one nation. This sacred institution was 
 called after the name of its founder, the Amphictyonic 
 council. 
 
 Hellen, Deucalion’s second son, from whose name the 
 Greeks are called Hellenes, reigned in Thessaly, and was 
 the father of Eolus, who became the ancestor of many he- 
 roes. The most renowned among them are Meleager, Bel- 
 lerophon, and Iasion. Meleager killed the Caledonian boar, 
 Bellerophon vanquished the monster Chimeera, and Iasion 
 won the golden fleece. 
 
 These were considered as the most ancient of men, who 
 existed before any other, and whose origin commenced be 
 yond any record, a circumstance which fiction expressed in 
 these words: u They were, ere the moon was.” With this 
 
00 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 'people, too, the original simplicity and innocence of man* 
 ners degenerated into vice and depravity to such a degree, 
 that J upiter continued to hurl his thunderbolts upon the 
 land of Arcadia, till at last even Earth stretched out her 
 arms, imploring mercy. 
 
 KRONOS OR SATURN. 
 
 Kronos ( Time) was the youngest of the Titans, and as 
 the heavens measure out time to us, and earth is considered 
 its beginning, he is said to be born of Uranos and Ge. 
 
 According to ancient fable, Kronos is married to Rhea (oi 
 Succession ), and with them commence a new generation of 
 gods, by whom the former, in future times, are to be de- 
 prived of their power. Lasting forms now gain the superi- 
 ority ; yet not without a long struggle against all-devour- 
 ing Chaos, and all-destroying Time, of which Saturn him- 
 self is a symbol. He creates and destroys ; therefore it is 
 allegorically said, that he devours his own children, and 
 even the stones, because he consumes the most durable 
 substances 
 
 Fable says, that his mother, Earth, had predicted to him 
 that one of his sons would deprive him of his authority, 
 and therefore he swallowed his own children as soon as 
 they were born. Thus the crime which he had committed 
 against his father was revenged. For as Uranos formerly 
 dreaded, so Kronos now dreads seditious power. And while 
 he reigned over his brothers, the Titans, he, in the same 
 manner as his father had done, keeps the hundred armed 
 giants and Cyclopes imprisoned in Tartaros. He fears 
 ruin from his own children. The new-born creatures still 
 rise against the source of creation that threatens to swallow' 
 them up again. Even as Ge formerly groaned on account 
 of her children’s imprisonment, so Rhea now laments the 
 cruelty of her husband — the all destroying power that 
 spares not his own creations. When, therefore, the time 
 
KRONOS OR SATURN 
 
 61 
 
 came in which she was to become the mother of Jupiter, 
 the future ruler of gods and men, she implored Earth and 
 the starry Heaven, for the preservation of her child. But 
 the ancient primitive deities were deprived of government, 
 and the only influence left them was in prophecies and 
 counsel. The supplicated parents, therefore, advised their 
 daughter to conceal her son as soon as it should be born, - 
 in a fertile part of the island of Crete. 
 
 Wild, roving Fancy, now fixing herself upon a certain 
 spot of earth, finds on this island, where the divine child 
 is to be reared, her first resting-place. 
 
 By the advice of her mother, Bhea presented a stone 
 to Kronos instead of her new-born child. The stratagem 
 was successful ; and by means of this stone so often men- 
 tioned by the ancients, bounds were set to destruction ; 
 the destroying power had, for the first time, taken death 
 instead of life ; and thus the latter gained time to rise, se- 
 cretly, as it were, to light, in order to form and unfold 
 itself. But it is not yet secure from the persecutions 
 springing from the very source whence it derives its origin 
 Therefore the tutors of the child, the Curetes, whose na 
 ture as well as origin are enveloped in mysterious dark 
 ness, make a continual noise with their shields and speara 
 lest Kronos should hear the noise of the crying infant. 
 
 The education of Jupiter on the island of Crete form* 
 one of the most attractive fictions of the imagination. 
 
 The goat Amalthea, which was afterwards placed among 
 the stars, and whose horn became the symbol of plenty, 
 suckles him with her milk. Doves bring him nourishment ; 
 golden-colored bees carry him honey j and the nymphs of 
 the wood are his nurses. The physical, as well as intellec- 
 tual powers of this future king of the gods and men, 
 rapidly develope themselves. The old realm of Kronos 
 approaches its end ; — and, in addition to Jupiter, five more 
 
62 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 of his children are saved from destruction: viz. Vesta, 
 Ceres, Neptune, Juno and Pluto. 
 
 United with them, Jupiter, after having delivered the 
 Cyclopes out of prison, and received from them the thun- 
 derbolts, declares war against Kronos and the Titans. And 
 now the modern gods, the descendants of Kronos and 
 Rhea, separate themselves from the ancient deities or 
 Titans, the children of Uranos and Ge. 
 
 The golden years of mortal men were placed by Fancy 
 in those times when Jupiter did not yet rule with his thun- 
 der ; under the reign of Saturn, imagination collected to- 
 gether all that is desirable to man but gone to return no 
 more. 
 
 After having been deprived of his destructive power, 
 Saturn escaped the fate of the other Titans, and 
 
 t( Fled over Adria to the Hesperian fields.” 
 
 There, in the plains of Latium, surrounded by high moun- 
 tains, he concealed himself, and transferred thither the 
 golden age, that happy period, when mankind lived in a 
 state of perfect equality and all things were in common. 
 He is said to have arrived in a ship at the Tiber, in the 
 dominions of J anus, and in union with him to have reigned 
 over men with wisdom and benignity. 
 
 This fiction is extremely beautiful and attractive, be- 
 cause of the unexpected transition from war and destruc- 
 tion, to peace and the quiet exercise of justice and benevo* 
 lence. While J upiter, still in danger of being deprived of 
 his usurped authority, is hurling thunderbolts against his 
 foes, Saturn, far from the scene of violence, has arrived in 
 the quiet fields of Latium, where, under his reign, those 
 happy times pass away which are celebrated in song, as a 
 good that is passed and gone, and now sought for in vain. 
 
 Saturn’s time was the grey time of yore ; he swallowed 
 his own children, buried in oblivion the fleeting years* and 
 
XR0N0S OR SATURN. 
 
 63 
 
 left no trace of bloody wars, destroyed cities, and crushed 
 nations, which constitute the chief subjects of history ever 
 since men began to record the events of the world. All 
 that happy time, when liberty arid equality, justice and 
 virtue, were still reigning, men lived like the gods in per- 
 fect security, without pains and cares, and exempt from the 
 burdens of old age. The soil of the earth gave them fruits 
 without laborious cultivation ; unacquainted with sickness, 
 they died away as if overtaken with sweet slumber ; and 
 when the lap of earth received their dust, the souls of 
 the deceased, enveloped in light air, remained as genii with 
 the survivors. 
 
 In this manner the poets portray those golden times on 
 which imagination, wearied with the scenes of the busy 
 world, dwells with so much delight. 
 
 Saturnalia were festivals celebrated in honor of Saturn, 
 and were instituted long before the foundation of Rome, 
 in commemoration of the freedom and equality that ex- 
 isted among the inhabitants of the earth during the golden 
 reign of Saturn. 
 
 This festival was celebrated in December, and at first 
 lasted but one day (the 19th); it was then extended to 
 three, and subsequently, by order of Caligula and Claudi- 
 us, to seven. This- celebration was remarkable for the lib- 
 erty that universally prevailed during its continuance. 
 Servants were then allowed freedom with their masters; 
 slaves were at liberty to be unruly without fear of pun- 
 ishment; and until the expiration of the festival, wore a 
 cap on the head as a badge of freedom and equality. Ani 
 mosity ceased : no criminals were executed ; nor was war 
 ever declared during the Saturnalia, but every thing gave 
 way to mirth and merriment. Schools were closed ; the 
 senate did not sit ; and friends made presents to each 
 other. It was also the custom to send wax tapers to 
 
64 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 friends as an expression of good feeling ; for the Romans, 
 as a particular respect to this deity, kept torches and ta- 
 pers continually burning upon his altars. 
 
 Among the Romans, the priest always performed the 
 sacrifices with his head uncovered, a custom never observed 
 before any other god. 
 
 Fetters were hung on his statues in commemoration of 
 the chains he had worn when imprisoned by Jupiter. From 
 this circumstance, slaves who obtained their liberty, gen- 
 erally dedicated their fetters to him. During the celebra- 
 tion of the Saturnalia, the chains were taken from the 
 statues, to intimate the freedom and independence that 
 mankind enjoyed during the golden age. 
 
 In his temple, and under his protection, the Romans 
 placed their treasury, and also laid up the rolls contain- 
 ing the names of their people, because, in his time, no 
 one was defrauded, and no theft was ever committed. 
 
 Saturn is generally represented by the ancients, as an 
 old man, bent with age and infirmity ; he holds the sickle 
 or scythe given him by his mother, and a serpent biting its 
 own tail, which is an emblem of time and the revolution 
 of the year : sometimes, he is leaning on his sickle and 
 clothed in tattered garments; to these were added'wings, 
 and feet of wool, to express his fleet and silent course. 
 Upon ancient gems, he is sometimes represented with a 
 scythe in his hand, and leaning on the prow of a ship, on 
 the side of which rises part of an edifice and a wall. This 
 is probably in allusion to Saturn’s having built the old 
 city of Saturnia, near the Tiber, on the hills where Rome 
 was afterwards founded. In this manner, Saturn some- 
 times appears as a symbol of all-destroying time, and some- 
 times, as a king who once reigned in Latium. 
 
 In the representations of the ancient deities, the imagi- 
 nation of the poet plays with grand images only. Its ob* 
 
ANCIENT DEITIES. 
 
 65 
 
 jects are the great spectacles which nature exhibits — tho 
 sky and the earth, the sea and the seditious elements; 
 represented under the images of the Titans, the beaming 
 sun and the shining moon ; all which objects, being en- 
 dowed with personality by a few striking features, afford 
 better materials for poetry than for plastic art. 
 
 Out of the mist which envelopes these beings the more 
 modern divine appearances spring forth in clear light, and 
 distinct forms. Now, we behold Jove, the mighty god of 
 thunder, w r ith the eagle at his feet ; Neptune, the shaker of 
 the earth, with his trident; the majestic Juno, accompa- 
 nied with her peacock ; Apollo in eternal youth, with his 
 silver bow ; the blue-eyed Minerva, with helmet and spear ; 
 the chaste Diana, with her bow and arrow ; Mars, the god 
 of war ; and Mercury, the swift messenger of the divini- 
 ties ; by means of plastic art, these modern deities gain dis- 
 tinct forms, and their individual power and majesty thus 
 embodied, and placed in temples and sacred groves, became 
 to mortals an object of religious veneration and worship. 
 
 But the pristine deities were, in a certain respect, the 
 models for the modern. Fancy merely caused the sublime 
 objects of religious veneration that already existed, to be 
 regenerated in a new and youthful form ; ascribing to them 
 descent, name, and native place, in order to unite them 
 more intimately with the ideas and fates of mortals. But 
 in the productions of Fancy, she does not bind herself to a 
 certain and fixed series of beings, therefore w r e sometimes 
 find the same deity under different forms. For the ideas of 
 divine, supernatural power always existed ; but in the course 
 of time, they became so blended with stories of human life, 
 that in the magic mirror of the dark ages of antiquity, almost 
 all divine images are repeated as in a magnifying reflector; 
 in this contexture of several fables, the imagination found 
 more ample scope; a circumstance by which the poets of all 
 ages did not fail to profit. 
 
66 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 Henceforth the history of the gods is mingled with 
 that of men. The wars among the former having ceased, 
 there is now nothing worthy their attention but the lives 
 and fates of mortals, with which they seem to trifle ; 
 arbitrarily exalting the one, and depressing the other, yet 
 at the same time assisting heroes of eminent virtue and 
 valor, and raising them to immortality. 
 
PART SECOND. 
 
 MODERN, SUPERIOR DEITIES 
 
 ZEUS OR JUPITER. 
 
 Hesiod, in his Theogonia, invokes the Muses who in- 
 habit the heavenly mansions, and whose knowledge of gen 
 eration and birth he had formerly sung. 
 
 “ Tell, ye celestial powers,” continues the poet, “ how 
 first the gods and world were made ; the rivers, and the 
 boundless sea with its raging surge. Also, the bright, 
 shining stars, and wide stretched heaven above, and all 
 the gods that sprang from them, givers of good things ?” 
 
 The Muses answer, t: First of all existed Chaos; next 
 in order the broad-bosomed Earth ; then Love appeared, 
 the most beautiful of immortals. From Chaos, sprang 
 Erebus and dusky Night, and from Night and Erebus, 
 came Ether and smiling Lay. 
 
 “ But first the Earth produced the starry Heavens, 
 commensurate to herself ; and the barren Sea, without mu- 
 tual love. Then, conjoined with Uranos, she produced the 
 tremendous Titans ; after whom, Time, crooked in counsel, 
 was produced, the youngest, and most dreadful of her 
 children. The Cyclops were next engendered ; Brontes, 
 Steropes, and Arges, and besides these, three other rueful 
 eons were born to Heaven and Earth, Cottus, Briareus, 
 
68 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 and Gyes, with fifty heads and a hundred hands ; haughty, 
 hateful, and at enmity with their father from the day of 
 their birth — for which cause, as soon as they appeared, he 
 hid them in the grottoes and caves of the Earth, and never 
 permitted them to see the light. Meanwhile, Oceanos 
 married to Tethys, the eldest of the Titans, produced the 
 rivers and fountains, with three thousand daughters, pro- 
 perties and productions of moisture. Heaven’s usurping 
 son. Time, marrying the second sister, Rhea, had three 
 female children, Yesta, Ceres, and Juno, and as many 
 males; Pluto, Neptune, and designing Jove, Father of 
 gods and men. 
 
 44 No sooner was this sovereign source of light brought 
 forth, that is, disembarrassed of heterogeneous parts, than 
 he seized the reins of the universe, that under him at last 
 assumed a stable form. For associating with Metis (coun- 
 sel, contrivance, thought), by her supreme direction he 
 brought his inhuman parent’s progeny to light, and settled 
 his congenial powers, each in their respective dignity ; 
 Ceres to fructify the Earth; Juno to impregnate the air; 
 Neptune to rule the sea ; and Pluto to reign in the regions 
 below; while Saturn’s first-born, Vesta, remained unmoved, 
 the coercive band of the immense machine. 
 
 44 But in this settlement he met with cruel opposition. 
 The Titan gods (properties of matter) combined against 
 him, and in a long and furious war endeavored to drive 
 him from the throne of Heaven, and reverse the recent 
 dignities of the upstart Saturnian race. And now, the 
 mighty frame had fallen into pristine Chaos, if, prompted 
 by his all-wise associate, he had not first made his kin- 
 dred gods partakers with himself of Nectar and Ambrosia 
 (incense and immortality), *and then released from dark- 
 some durance, the predominant igneous powers, sons of 
 Heaven and Earth, Cottus, Briareus, and Gyes, whom he 
 called up to light and made his allies in the war. By their 
 
ZEUS OR JUPITER. 
 
 60 
 
 irrebihi.il/le strength, he at last vanquished the Titan gods, 
 and confined them fast-bound, in a prison waste and wild, 
 as far under the Earth as Heaven is above it ; a bulwark 
 of brass, with three-fold night brooding over it, and its 
 gates of adamant guarded by three enormous brothers, 
 jailors of Almighty Jove.” 
 
 Here are the seeds of all things, the roots of the opaque 
 Earth, the barren sea, and the beginnings and bounds of 
 the various orders of beings, all now shut up by the will 
 of Jove, in the bottomless chasm, where darkness reigns 
 and tempests howl, tremendous to the gods themselves. 
 And Fable says, that things continued in this state until 
 Honor and Reverence begot Majesty, who filled Heaven 
 and Earth the day she was born ; Awe and Dread sat 
 down by her, and all three being defended by Jove’s thun- 
 ders from the attacks of the Titans, have ever since re- 
 mained by the side of this god, who now rules supreme, 
 having rightly arranged all the immortals, and allotted to 
 each their respective dignity. 
 
 But after having subdued his greatest adversaries, new 
 dangers arose to Jupiter from his own resolutions. He 
 married Metis, daughter of Oceanos ; and it was predicted 
 by an oracle, that she would have a son who should be en- 
 dowed with his mother’s strength and his father’s wisdom, 
 and rule over all the gods. To prevent this, Jupiter, with 
 flattering allurements, drew Metis over into his own per- 
 son, and soon after brought forth Minerva, who, as a full- 
 grown virgin in complete panoply, sprang from his head. 
 
 A similar danger threatened him when he wished to 
 marry Thetis, who, according to another oracle, would have 
 a son who should be more powerful than his father. 
 
 In this manner these fictions represent that a mighty 
 being always dreads a still mightier ; for with the idea 
 of unlimited power, every fiction ceases, Fancy having no 
 ■farther scope. But to have a just conception of Jove. 
 

 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLG 1Y. 
 
 let us first recollect Zeno’s definition of nature — that it is 
 a plastic fire ever generating by rule ; and then obey the 
 most philosophical of all poets, when he bids us 
 
 “Look up, and view the immense expanse of Heaven, 
 
 The boundless Ether in his genial arms 
 Clasping the Earth. Him call thou 
 God and Jove.” 
 
 We can judge of the propriety of his claim to dominion 
 upon reading what Zeno considers one of the highest steps 
 in the scale of creation. “ Ether,” says he, “ or pure, in- 
 visible fire, the most subtle and elastic of all bodies, seems 
 to pervade and expand itself throughout the universe. If 
 air is the immediate agent or instrument in the productions 
 of nature, the pure, invisible fire is the first natural mover 
 or spring whence the air derives its power. This mighty 
 agent is every where at hand, ready to break forth into 
 action, actuating and enlivening the whole visible mass, 
 equally fitted to produce or to destroy; distinguishing the 
 various stages of nature, keeping up the perpetual round 
 of generation and corruption, pregnant with forms which 
 it constantly sends forth and resorbs — so quick in its mo- 
 tion, so extensive in its effects, that it seems no other than 
 the vegetative soul, or vital power of the world. This, 
 then, is the true Zeus ; the source of generation and prin- 
 ciple of life — that heavenly, ethereal, that is, igneous na- 
 ture, which spontaneously begets all things, the supposed 
 parent of gods and men ; and Fancy finding nothing in 
 nature more pure and sublime than the Earth surround- 
 ing ether and sky, it was chosen by her as the archetype 
 of the chief deity.” 
 
 And what was his Hera ? “ The air,” says the same 
 
 author, “ is the receptacle as well as source of all sublunary 
 forms — the great mass or Chaos which imparts or receives 
 them. The atmosphere that surrounds our earth contains 
 a mixture of all the active, volatile parts of all vegetables 
 
ZEUS OR JUPITER. 
 
 71 
 
 minerals, fossils, and animals. Whatever' corrupts or ex 
 Laics, being acted on by solar heat produces within itself 
 all sorts of chemical productions, dispersing again theii 
 salts and spirits in new generations. The air, therefore, is 
 an active mass of numberless different principles ; the gen- 
 eral source of corruption and generation in which the seeds 
 of all things seem to lie latent, ready to appear and pro- 
 duce their kind whenever they shall light on a proper 
 matrix. The whole atmosphere seems alive — there is every 
 where acid to corrode and seed to engender in this common 
 receptacle of all vivifying principles ; and here is the foun- 
 dation of the marriage made by the poets between these 
 kindred gods. And when we consider at what season of 
 the year the air is impregnated with ethereal seed, when 
 it is that all nature teems with life, we shall not wonder at 
 the cuckoo’s being the bird of Hera carved on the top of 
 her sceptre at Argos, or at Zeus transforming -himself 
 into the spring’s genial messenger when he first enjoyed 
 his queen. 
 
 u Truth once lighted up shines on every thing around it, 
 and the same thread of reflection will guide us through the 
 labyrinth of a greater mystery ; for this matron goddess 
 and patroness of marriage, became once a year a pure, un- 
 spotted virgin, upon bathing herself in a sacred fountain 
 in the Argive territory.” 
 
 As the powerful and majestic goddess, Hera typifies the 
 quick and rapidly moving energies of the productive prin- 
 ciple that clothes the earth in the majestic garb of loveli- 
 ness and beauty— and as the repelling and unattractive 
 wife of Zeus, she typifies the cold frowns and chilling frosts 
 of winter. Hence the physical allegories of their jealous- 
 ies and quarrels. 
 
 Hera’s chief archetype was the atmosphere which encom 
 passes the earth, adhering in conjugal union to the ether 
 that rests upon it ; and this fiction of the marriage of Zeus 
 
72 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 and Hera is a representation of Fancy according to human 
 notions and human relations ; ridiculous, indeed, unless 
 beheld with the poetical eye of imagination, that forms her 
 gods after the images of men, and her men after the images 
 of the gods. And here let us not pass an unjust judgment 
 on times of old. Antiquity is not to be viewed and ex- 
 plained according to the ideas and customs of modern 
 times, any more than the plays of childhood by the ear- 
 nest pursuits of maturer life, or the follies of youth by the 
 graver wisdom of old age. While we live, as it were, in 
 the age of reason, the ancients lived in that of imagination ; 
 and the infinite and unlimited, being to Fancy a melan- 
 choly object, she gave life and animation to things formed 
 and limited, in order to use them as models of her own 
 creation. Therefore, to the boundless mass which sur- 
 rounds man, the sky, earth, and sea, the ancients gave form 
 and personality. They endeavored to unite the beauty 
 and grace of formed objects, with the strength of the un- 
 formed and shapeless ; and as in the tall and erect body 
 of man the solidity of the oak is joined to the pliancy of 
 the sapling, so their creative genius connected the power 
 of the raging elements, and the majesty of the rolling 
 thunder, with the majestic form, the eloquent lips, the 
 frowning brows, and the speaking eye of man. And thus 
 is formed the image of Jupiter Olympius ; that being to 
 whose hands imagination intrusted so much power, must 
 be in harmony with the human form ; because the capacity 
 for thought could only be indicated in the expressive fea- 
 tures of the human face, and the power to rule and reign 
 could be represented only in the majestic form of man. 
 And yet the god must be the superior ; and to such a de- 
 gree rose this power of embodying high conceptions in 
 the art of the Greeks, inspired and consecrated as it was 
 by its subjects, that they exhibited works similar indeed, 
 but far superior to their models : for while excluding from 
 
ZEUS OR JUPITER. 
 
 73 
 
 their productions everything contingent, they at the same 
 time succeeded in uniting all that is essential to power, 
 beauty, and sublimity. 
 
 In the character of their gods, the leading idea of the 
 ancients was power ; the expression of which predomi- 
 nates in their most sublime formations. The mighty head 
 of Zeus, from which wisdom was created, bends forward, 
 meditating and directing the changes of events, and pro- 
 ducing their revolutions. Among all the celestials, the 
 power of him who rules the thunder is the most unlimited, 
 being restricted only by the invincible will of Fate, or the 
 wiles of the cunning Hera. 
 
 Almost every nation had its Ju- 
 piter. Among the first was Jupiter 
 Ammon, of Libya. His temple, the 
 ruins of which are still to be seen, 
 was in an oasis or island of verdure 
 in the desert west of Egypt. Ju- 
 piter Serapis, worshipped in Egypt, 
 was also very ancient Jupiter Be- 
 lus, mentioned by Herodotus, was 
 the Jupiter of the Assyrians. The 
 Ethiopians called him Assabinus, 
 the Gauls Taranus, and the inhabitants of the Lower Nile, 
 Apis. The Romans considered him the protecting deity of 
 their empire, and styled him Jupiter Capitolinus from his 
 chief temple on the Capitoline Hill; Jupiter Tonans, or 
 Thunderer; Jupiter Fulminans, or Fulgurator, scatterer 
 of lightning. 
 
 The distinguishing characteristic in all representations 
 of Jupiter, whether by artists or poets, is majesty; and 
 every thing about him indicates dignity and authority. His 
 look is sometimes intended to strike the beholder with 
 terror, and sometimes with gratitude ; and always to com- 
 
 4 
 
74 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 mand respect and veneration. The fulmen in the band of 
 Jupiter was a sort of hieroglyphic, having three different 
 meanings, according to the three ways in which it was re- 
 presented. The first is a wreath of flame in a conical shape, 
 like what we call the thunderbolt. This was adapted to 
 Jupiter, when mild and calm, and was held down in his 
 hand. The second is the same figure, with two transverse 
 darts of lightning, and sometimes with wings on each side 
 of it, to denote swiftness. This was given to Jupiter when 
 he was represented as punishing. 
 
 Jupiter Pluvius 
 is represented as 
 seated in the clouds, 
 holding up his right 
 hand, from which 
 pours a stream of 
 rain and hail, while 
 his fulmen is held 
 down in his lap. 
 
 Jupiter Ammon 
 was represented 
 with the horns of a 
 ram, which is accounted for by the following legend 
 Bacchos being in the midst of the sands of Arabia, was 
 seized with a thirst so burning, that he longed even for a 
 drop of water. Jupiter then presented himself in the form 
 of a ram, and striking the earth, caused the grateful liquid 
 to spring forth in abundance. To commemorate the deed, 
 Bacchos erected a temple in the deserts of Libya, giving it 
 the name of Jupiter Ammon, i. e. Sandy . 
 
 The worship offered to Zeus was the most solemn of 
 any paid to the heathen deities ; it was greatly diversified 
 among different nations, and the stories of his birth in a 
 cave on the island of Crete, or at Thebes in Bceotia, or 
 
ZEUS OP JUPITER. 
 
 75 
 
 on a mountain in Arcadia, are but so many traditions of 
 the several places where his worship became famous and 
 was celebrated with the greatest pomp and ceremony. The 
 reason of its having been so in Crete, is very evident ; for 
 these states were founded by Minos and Cadmos, two Attic 
 princes, who introduced their national rites. But the Ar- 
 cadians, whose lives were devoted to war or pasturage, in 
 a rough, mountainous country, became afterwards a rude 
 and fierce people in comparison to their neighbors, and 
 yet they retained more traditions respecting the birth, edu- 
 cation, and adventures of the gods, than the more civilized 
 tribes of the Peloponnesus. This was owing probably tc 
 their early instruction : first by the descendants of Inachos, 
 and then by the Danaides, in the religion and rites which 
 each brought from their own country. 
 
 The victims most commonly offered, were a goat, a sheep, 
 or a white bull with gilded horns ; though not unfrequently 
 the sacrifice consisted only of flour, salt, or incense. 
 
 At Olympia, every fifth year, the Olympic games were 
 celebrated in honor of Zeus. This festival consisted of 
 religious ceremonies, athletic contests and races, and was 
 under the immediate superintendence of the Olympian 
 Zeus. The exact interval at which they recurred was one 
 of forty-nine and fifty lunar months alternately ; so that 
 the celebration sometimes fell in the month of July and 
 sometimes in August. 
 
 The worship of Apollo was associated with that of Zeus, 
 and the early tradition connects Hercules with the festival. 
 This is another proof of the Dorian origin of the games, for 
 Apollo and Hercules were two of the principal deities of 
 the Doric race. There were altars at Olympia to other 
 gods, which were said to have been erected by Hercules, 
 and at which the victors sacrificed. 
 
 The festival itself may be divided into two parts, the 
 
76 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 games or contests, and the festival rites connected with the 
 sacrifices, with the processions, and with the public ban- 
 quets in honor of the conquerors. The conquerors in the 
 games and private individuals, as well as the theori or 
 deputies from the various states, offered sacrifices to the 
 different gods ; but the chief sacrifices were offered by the 
 Eleans in the name of the Elean state. 
 
 The contests consisted of various trials of strength and 
 skill, which were increased in number from time to time. 
 The earliest of these games was the foot race, and was the 
 only contest during thirteen Olympiads. The space run 
 was the length of the stadium in which the games were 
 held, namely, about six hundred English feet. 
 
 In the 14th Olympiad wrestling was introduced B. 0. 
 708. The wrestlers were matched in pairs by lot. When 
 there was an odd number, the person who was left by the 
 lot without an antagonist, wrestled last of all with him who 
 had conquered the others. The athlete who gave his an- 
 tagonist three throws, gained the victory. There was 
 another kind of wrestling in which if the combatant who 
 fell could drag down his antagonist with him, the struggle 
 was continued on the ground, and the one who succeeded 
 in getting uppermost and holding the other down, gained 
 the victory. 
 
 In the same year was introduced the Pentathlon, which 
 consisted of five exercises, viz. leaping, running, throwing 
 the quoit, throwing the javelin, and wrestling. In leap- 
 ing, they carried weights in their hands, or on their shoul- 
 ders ; and their object was to leap the greatest distance 
 without regard to height. The Discus or quoit was a 
 heavy weight of a circular or oval shape ; neither this nor 
 the javelin was aimed at a mark ; but he who threw the 
 furthest was the victor. In order to gain a victory in the 
 Pentathlon, it was necessary to conquer in each of the five 
 
OLYMPIC GAMES 
 
 77 
 
 parts. Boxing was introduced in the 23d Olympiad (B. C. 
 688). The boxers had their hands and arms covered with 
 thongs of leather called cestus, which served to defend them 
 as well as to annoy their antagonists. The Pancratium 
 consisted of boxing and wrestling combined. In this ex- 
 ercise, and in the cestus, the vanquished combatant ac- 
 knowledged his defeat by some sign ; and this is supposed 
 to be the reason why the Spartans were forbidden by the 
 laws of Lycurgus to practise them, as it would have been 
 esteemed a disgrace to his country, that a Spartan should 
 confess himself defeated. 
 
 The horse races were of two kinds, the chariot race and 
 the horse race. The chariot race, generally with four 
 horse chariots, was introduced in the 25th Olympiad (B. C. 
 680). The course had two goals in the middle, at the 
 distance probably of two stadia from each other. The 
 chariots started from one of these goals, passed round the 
 othe?. and returned along the other side of the Hippodrome. 
 This circuit was made twelve times ; and the great art of 
 the charioteer consisted in turning as close as possible to 
 the goals, but without running against them or agaiust the 
 other chariots. The places at the starting post were 
 assigned to the chariots by lot. There was another race 
 between chariots with two horses, and a race between cha- 
 riots drawn by mules was introduced in the 70th Olympiad 
 and abolished in the 84th. 
 
 There were two sorts of races on horseback — one in 
 which each competitor rode one horse throughout the 
 course, and another, in which as the horse approached the 
 goal, the rider leaped from his back and keeping hold of 
 the bridle, finished the course on foot. In the 37th Olym- 
 piad (B. C. 632), running on foot and wrestling between 
 boys was introduced. There were also contests in poetry 
 and music at the Olympian festivals. 
 
 The Hellanodicse, or judges in the' Olympic games, were 
 
78 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 chosen by lot from the whole body of the Eleans. Their 
 office probably lasted only for one festival, during which 
 time it was their duty to see ‘that all the laws regulating 
 the games were observed by the competitors and others 
 to determine the prizes, and to give them to the conquerors. 
 An appeal lay from their decision to the Elean Senate. 
 Their office was considered most honorable. Their dress 
 was a purple robe, and in the stadium a special seat was 
 appropriated to them. Under the direction of the Heb 
 lanodicse was a certain number of deputies, who formed a 
 kind of police, who carried into execution the commands 
 of the Hellanodicae. 
 
 All persons were admitted to a contest in the Olympic 
 games who could prove that they were free men, that they 
 were of genuine Hellenic blood, and that their characters 
 were free from infamy and immorality. So great was the 
 importance attached to the second of these particulars, that 
 the kings of Macedon were obliged to prove their Hel- 
 lenic descent before gaining admittance. The equestrian 
 contests were necessarily confined to the wealthy, who dis- 
 played in them great magnificence ; but the poorest citizens 
 could contend in the athletic contests. The owners of 
 the chariots and horses were not obliged to contend in per- 
 son ; and the wealthy vied with one another in the mag- 
 nificence of the chariots and horses which they sent to 
 the games. Alcibiades sent seven chariots to one festival, 
 a greater number than had ever been sent by a private 
 person ; three of them obtained prizes. The only prize 
 given to the conqueror was a garland of wild olive.* 
 
 The 6-reek kings in Sicily, Macedon, and other parts of 
 the Hellenic world, contended with one another for the 
 prize in the equestrian contests. 
 
 The Olympic games were celebrated with much splendor 
 
 * For a full account of Olympia, see large edition. 
 
HERA OR JtTNO. 
 
 79 
 
 under the Roman Emperors, by many of whom great privi- 
 leges were awarded to the conquerors. 
 
 In the sixteenth year of the reign of Theodosius, A. D 
 394 (01. 293), the Olympic festival was for ever abolished. 
 
 The description of the Olympic games will, for the most 
 part, serve also for the other three great festivals of Greece, 
 viz. the Isthmian, Nemean, and Pythian games. 
 
 HERA OR JUNO. 
 
 By the poets, Hera is represented as the personification 
 of sublime beauty united with power ; and in her person is 
 represented that high, commanding order of beauty which 
 is superior to the delicacy of female charms and does not 
 need them. She is called the reigning, the large-eyed, 
 the white-armed ; epithets which tend to inspire us with 
 admiration rather than love. It is not the soft and tender 
 eye that graces her image ; it is greatness and majesty 
 commanding awe and veneration ; and of all the charms 
 which constitute the reigrling queen of heaven, poetry 
 celebrates none but the powerful arm. And indeed, Hera 
 acts a part in nearly all the violent events in heaven and on 
 earth. 
 
 The raging elements in which the whole train of human 
 passions is but a copy in miniature, are personated in her ; 
 for the violence of the elements is chiefly displayed in the 
 lower atmosphere. Here they come in collision and inter- 
 fere with each other ; here they rob, and spoil, and breathe 
 revenge ; the rock groans in the furious sea ; and under 
 the blast of the storm the billows howl ; here is a perpetual 
 round of formation and destruction ; — here is the theatre 
 of insurrection and war ; the seat of wrath, and mourning, 
 and misery ; here must Hecuba pull out her grey hairs, and 
 Troy become a prey to the flames. 
 
 But above the atmosphere, in the pure ether, every thing 
 is quiet, permanent, and regular; — there, the celestial 
 
GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 541 
 
 globes complete their courses undisturbed, and nothing 
 interrupts the music of the spheres ; — the top of high Olym- 
 pos rises above the clouds into the still ether, and thither 
 imagination transfers the abodes of the blessed immortals, 
 who, exempt from care and pain, sip the sweet nectar, while 
 charmed with the sound of Apollo’s lyre. 
 
 In this manner, Fancy always unites the human form of 
 her deities with the heavenly archetype. The swan in the 
 bosom of Leda, as the blue ether surrounds the earth ; and 
 the ether opens again to show the ruler of Olympos with 
 his ambrosial locks, holding the nectar cup in his hand. 
 Hera surrounds the globe with a transparent mist, which, 
 pierced by the glittering rays of the sun, produces the 
 rainbow, the archetype of Iris, Hera’s swift messenger ; 
 who, standing in the clouds, announced to mankind the 
 approach of the august queen of heaven ; and the same 
 Hera wanders on foot through this very mist to visit her 
 foster-parents at the bounds of the earth. But Fancy, 
 not choosing to dwell long on these objects, which she in 
 a certain manner attempts to explain by her personifica- 
 tions, rather delights to roam among the beings to whom 
 she has given personality; and represents Hera as oppos- 
 ing herself to the all-powerful Zeus, by whom she is sus- 
 pended from Olympos on a chain into her own dominion, 
 the atmosphere, with an anvil fastened to either foot. The 
 heavenly and sublime is thus made to suffer the disgrace 
 of being lowered down, and all celestials mourned at the 
 sight ; but Fancy, the earth-born daughter, delights in the 
 sport. 
 
 The worship of Hera was solemn and universal in the 
 heathen world. Young geese and the hawk as well as the 
 peacock were sacred to her ; and of plants, the clittany, the 
 poppy, and the lily. The ancients offered on her altars 
 a sow and a ewe lamb the first of every month. 
 
82 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROM IN MYTHOLOGY'. 
 
 Argos is the first place mentioned by Hera herself as 
 among her favored and beloved cities. Urging Zeus tc 
 consent. to the downfall of Troy, a city which she hated, 
 together with Priam’s family, because of the decision of 
 Paris on Mount Ida, she endeavored to carry her point 
 by a kind of barter ; “ There are three cities,” said she, 
 “ which are dearest of all to me, Argos, Sparta, and My- 
 cenae; nevertheless, I willingly part with them, I abandon 
 them entirely to thy will, if thou wilt consent to the down- 
 fall of Troy.” (II. iv. 50.) 
 
 The reason of this partiality to Argos, was the extraordi- 
 nary veneration paid to her by its inhabitants. There, par- 
 ticular festivals were celebrated in her honor, which from her 
 Greek name Hera, were called Heraea. 
 
 The games and contests of the Heraea took place in the 
 stadium, near the temple, on the road to the Acropolis. A 
 brazen shield was fixed in a place above the theatre, which 
 was scarcely accessible to any one, and the young man 
 who succeeded in displacing it, received a shield and a. 
 garland of myrtle as a prize. 
 
 The Argives always reckoned their year from her priest- 
 hood, as the Athenians from their Archons, and the El- 
 mans from their consuls. 
 
 Festivals were celebrated in honor of Hera in all the 
 towns of Greece, where the worship of the divinity was 
 introduced. At JBgina, the Heraea, or Ilecatombaea, were 
 celebrated in the same manner as those at Argos. The 
 Heraea of Samos were derived from Argos, and were, per- 
 haps, the most brilliant of all the festivals of this divinity. 
 A magnificent procession consisting of maidens and mar- 
 ried women in splendid attire and floating hair, together 
 with men and youths in armor, went to the temple of Hera, 
 and on arriving within the precincts, the men deposited 
 their armor, and prayers and vows were offered to the god- 
 dess. 
 
HERA OR JUNO. 83 
 
 The ITersea of Elis were celebrated every fifth year, 
 chiefly by maidens, conducted by sixteen matrons, who 
 wove the sacred Peplus for the goddess. But before the 
 commencement of these solemnities, the matrons sacrificed 
 a pig, and purified themselves in the well of Peoria. One 
 of the principal solemnities, was a race of the maidens in 
 the stadium ; for which purpose, they were divided into 
 three classes according to their age ; the youngest ran 
 first, and the eldest last. The winner of the prize received 
 a garland of olive boughs, together with part of a cow 
 which was sacrificed to Hera. She was also allowed to dedi- 
 cate her own painted likeness in the temple of the god- 
 dess. The sixteen matrons had each a female attendant, 
 and performed two dances. 
 
 Juno, as well as Jupiter, appeared in a variety of charac- 
 ters. Among the Romans, the favorite one was that of 
 Juno Matrona, dressed in a long robe; and thus their em- 
 presses were often represented. She was regarded as the 
 protectress of married women, and was invoked by the Ro- 
 mans under the name of J uno Lucina. 
 
 She is generally represented by plastic art in her whole 
 regal splendor, sitting upon a throne or on the eagle of Ju- 
 piter, holding in one hand a sceptre, and in the other a 
 •veil spangled with stars which flows round her head. 
 Among earthly appearances, the tail of the peacock bears 
 the strongest resemblance to the bright colors of the rain- 
 bow; therefore the chariot of Juno is represented a» drawD 
 through the air by those brilliant and majestic birds. 
 
84 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 HESTIA OR VESTA. 
 
 Hestia was said to trans 
 fuse the earth with sacred 
 warmth ; and her archetype is 
 the sacred flame of life, which 
 invisibly pervades all anima- 
 ted beings. As an emblem of 
 this animating and life-nour- 
 ishing warmth in nature, as 
 well as the pure flame that 
 quickens the chaste bosom of 
 the goddess, a perpetual fire 
 was preserved in her temples. 
 
 This fire signified that pure, 
 unmixed, benign flame that 
 quickens the chaste bosom of 
 the goddess, and is so neces- 
 sary to us, that human life can- 
 not exist without it ; for this 
 latent heat being diffused 
 through all parts of the hu- 
 man body, quickens, cherishes, 
 refreshes, and preserves it ; 
 a flame really sacred and di- 
 vine, moving and actuating 
 the whole system of life, and 
 expiring only with its last 
 breath. 
 
 Poets say, that as it was 
 by the assistance of Hestia, 
 the enlivening, igneous prin- 
 ciple, that Zeus obtained the 
 government of the universe,- 
 he allowed her to choose her own honors and privileges; 
 being incapable of associating with any other element, she 
 
IIESTIA OR VESTA. 
 
 85 
 
 made choice of perpetual virginity, and the first share 
 of every offering made to the other gods. Her priestessesj 
 therefore, must be pure, unspotted virgins, and allowed 
 the precedency at all feasts and sacrifices. 
 
 A pure feeling of gratitude led the ancients to acknow- 
 ledge each benefit of nature by itself, under some signifi- 
 cant emblem ; and it was a particularly beautiful idea to 
 cherish and preserve, as it were, this sacred flame, which 
 serves man so beneficently, and to devote to its service 
 immaculate virgins as its most sacred priestesses. A par- 
 ticular place of refuge was appointed to that element, which 
 is so requisite to man, where it never was employed for 
 human necessity, but always burned for its own sake, 
 attracting the veneration of mortals. 
 
 Among the contemplative priests of the East, Hestia 
 passed for the latent power of fire, or the internal texture 
 and disposition of some sorts of matter that render it 
 combustible, while others are little affected with heat. As 
 such, she was the wife of Uranos and mother of Kronos — - 
 the sacred, eternal fire, worshipped with the greatest rev- 
 erence and most pompous ceremonies by all the eastern 
 nations. But among the less speculative Europeans, who 
 received the knowledge of this goddess at second hand, 
 she was considered only as Saturn’s daughter, and a na- 
 tional tutelary deity. JNuma, the pious Sabine, priest and 
 king, made her the guardian of the infant state, though, 
 generally speaking, she was worshipped as a domestic 
 deity and protectress of the family seat all over Italy, and 
 long before in Greece. 
 
 This goddess, then, the pure, eternal Hestia, appears in 
 a double capacity ; either as the grand, enlivening genius 
 of the terrestrial globe, worshipped with solemn ceremo- 
 nies, and honored by annual processions, under the name 
 of Orosmades by the Persians, and that of Serapis by the 
 Egyptians ; or, as the permanent, immovable seat of gods 
 
86 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 and men, the Earth itself ; — and by an easy transition, the 
 native soil of a nation, or the fixed habitation of a family. 
 Ovid, in his Fasti, hints at them both ; but Plato confines 
 them to the latter ; when describing the movement of the 
 universe, he says that the supreme god, the beneficent Ze- 
 us, driving a winged chariot through the heavens, marches 
 first, directing and inspecting all things ; after whom the 
 whole host of deities and daemons, ranged in twelve bands, 
 follow in order, but that Hestia alone remains at home. 
 
 The very ancient worship of Vesta spread its influence 
 over domestic life, contributing to render it pure and hap- 
 py. She was the genius of the fireside ; and every bene- 
 ficial influence of the fire that tends towards physical 
 preservation, or moral improvement, was considered as her 
 gift. And as the surrounding all of nature itself which 
 she animated with tender glow, was, as it were, her temple, 
 so Vesta is said to have caused man to surround his dwel- 
 ling by a covering for shelter ; teaching him to secure him- 
 self against the severe influence of the elements, and to 
 assemble together and dwell in union with his family 
 around the domestic hearth. For this reason, she was 
 one of the household gods to whom the Romans daily 
 sacrificed. Her statue was placed at the entrance of every 
 dwelling, which was therefore sacred to Vesta, and called 
 Vestibulum. 
 
 In the ancient Roman house, the hearth was the central 
 part, and around it the inmates daily assembled for their 
 common meal. Every meal thus taken was a fresh bond 
 of union among the members of the family, and at the 
 same time an act of worship to Vesta, combined with a sacri- 
 fice to her and the Penates. Every dwelling was there- 
 fore, in some sense, a temple of Vesta, but a public sanc- 
 tuary united all the citizens of the state into one family. 
 This sanctuary stood in the Forum, between the Capito- 
 
HESTIA OR VESTA. 
 
 87 
 
 line and Palatine hills, and not far from the temple of the 
 Penates. 
 
 The mysteries and worship of Yesta were first brought 
 into Italy by iEneias from Phrygia ; where they were 
 originally received from the East. Numa Pompilius built 
 her a temple at Rome, into which no males were allowed 
 to enter; he also instituted those celebrated priestesses 
 who bore the name of Vestals, or Vestal virgins ; and who 
 were, as their name indicates, consecrated to Vesta. Their 
 existence at Alba Longa is connected with the earliest Ro- 
 man traditions ; for Silvia, the mother of Romulus, was a 
 member of the sisterhood. 
 
 Their establishment in the city, in common with almost 
 all matters connected with religion, is generally ascribed to 
 Numa, who first appointed four ; to which Tarquin added 
 two more. They were originally chosen by the monarchs ; 
 but during the republic and empire, this duty was intrusted 
 to the Pontifex Maximus.* The virgins chosen for this ser- 
 vice were between six and ten years of age : and if a suffi- 
 cient number did not voluntarily present themselves as 
 candidates for the office, twenty virgins were selected for a 
 choice, and those among the number upon whom the lot 
 fell, were obliged to become priestesses. Plebeians, as well 
 as Patricians, were eligible to the office, but the choice fell 
 on those who were born of good families, and whose persons 
 were free from blemish or deformity. 
 
 The time of their consecration to this service lasted 
 thirty years. During the first ten yean, the priestess was 
 engaged in learning her mysterious duties ; the ten follow- 
 
 * The institution of that high order of priests called pontijices , was 
 attributed to Numa. The pontifex maximvs , chief of these priests, was 
 interpreter of all .sacred rites, or rather a superintendent of religion; 
 having the care, not only of public sacrifices, but even of private rites 
 and offerings, forbidding the people to depart from stated ceremonies, 
 and teaching them how to honor, and propitiate the gods. 
 
88 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 ing were employed in discharging them with fidelity and 
 sanctity ; and the ten last, in the instruction of those who 
 had entered the novitiate ; while thus employed, she was 
 bound by a solemn vow of chastity ; but after the time 
 specified was completed, she was at liberty to throw aside 
 the emblems of her office, return to the world, and even 
 enter the marriage state. Few, however, availed themselves 
 of these privileges ; those who did so were said to have 
 lived in sorrow and remorse ; hence such a proceeding was 
 considered ominous, and priestesses generally died as they 
 had lived, in the service of the goddess. 
 
 The chief employment of the Vestals was, to maintain 
 the sacred fire which burned in honor of Vesta. If it 
 ever happened to expire, all Rome was in consternation, as 
 it was considered a direful presage, and was made the occa- 
 sion of a general mourning ; and public spectacles were 
 forbidden until the crime was expiated by a severe punish- 
 ment inflicted on the offender, to whose carelessness the 
 calamity was to be attributed. The fire was again rekin- 
 dled by friction. 
 
 Another sacred charge of the Vestals was, to preserve 
 a sacred pledge on which was supposed to depend the very 
 existence of Rome, which, according to some authorities, 
 was the Palladium of Troy, and others, the mysteries of 
 the god of Samothrace. Their other ordinary duties con- 
 sisted in presenting offerings to the goddess at stated 
 times, and in sprinkling and purifying the shrine every 
 morning with water; which, according to the institution of' 
 Numa, was to be drawn from the Egerian fount, although 
 in later limes it was considered lawful to use any water 
 from a living spring or running stream ; but not such as 
 had passed through pipes. When used for sacrificial pur- 
 poses it was mixed with salt which had been pounded in a 
 mortar, then placed in an earthen jar, and dried in an oven 
 
 They also assisted at all the great public, holy rites. 
 
HESTIA OR VESTA. 
 
 59 
 
 such as the festivals of the Bona Dea, and the consecration 
 of temples ; they were invited to the public banquets ; and 
 we are told that they were present at the solemn appeal 
 made to the gods by Cicero during the coi spiracy of Ca- 
 tiline. 
 
 If a Yestal violated her vows of chastity, nothing could 
 save her from a violent death. Numa ordered such to be 
 stoned ; but a more cruel torture was devised by Tarqui- 
 nius Priscus, and inflicted from that time till the abolish- 
 ment of the order by Theodosius the Great. When con- 
 demned by the college of Pontifices, she was stripped of 
 her vittae and other badges of office, scourged, attired like 
 a corpse, placed in a close litter, and borne through the 
 forum, attended by her weeping friends with all the cere- 
 monies of a real funeral, to a rising ground called the 
 Campus Sceleratus, just within the city walls, close to the 
 Colline gate. There, a small vault was prepared under 
 ground, containing a couch, a lamp, and a table with a lit- 
 tle food. The Pontifex Maximus, having lifted up his 
 hands to heaven and uttered a secret prayer, opened the 
 litter, led forth the culprit, and placing her on the steps 
 of the ladder which gave access to the subterranean cell, 
 delivered her over to the common executioner and his as- 
 sistants, who conducted her down, drew up the ladder, and 
 having filled the pit with earth until it was level with the 
 surrounding ground, left her to perish, deprived of all the 
 tributes of respect usually paid to the departed. 
 
 The labors of the Vestals were unremitting, and the 
 rules of the order rigidly enforced ; but as a compensation 
 for their privations, extraordinary honors and privileges 
 were granted them. They were maintained at the public 
 cost, and from sums of money and land bequeathed from 
 time to time to the corporation. From the moment of 
 their consecration, they became, as it were, the property of 
 the goddess alone, and were completely released from all 
 
90 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 parental authority without going through the forms of 
 emancipation. They had a right to make a will, and to 
 give evidence ;n a court of justice without taking an oath ; 
 distinctions first conceded by a Horatian law to a certain 
 Caia Tarratia, or Tufetia, and afterwards communicated to 
 all belonging to the order. 
 
 From the time of the triumviri, each was preceded by a 
 lictor when she went abroad, and so great was the defer- 
 ence paid them by the magistrates, as well as the people, 
 that the consuls themselves made way for them, bowing 
 their fasces * as they passed. Augustus granted to them all 
 the rights of matrons who had borne three children, and 
 assigned them a conspicuous place in the theatre ; a privi- 
 lege they had previously enjoyed at gladiatorial shows. 
 Great weight was attached to their intercession in behalf 
 of those who were in danger and difficulty, of which we 
 have a remarkable example in. the entreaties which they 
 addressed to Sulla on behalf of Julius Osesar, and if they 
 chanced to meet a criminal as he was led to punishment, 
 they had a right to demand- his release, provided it could 
 be proved that the encounter was accidental. Wills, even 
 those of emperors, were committed to their charge, for 
 when in such keeping they were considered inviolable j and 
 in like manner very solemn treaties, such as that of the 
 triumvirs with Sextus Pompeius, were placed in their 
 hands. If any one died in office, her remains were in- 
 terred within the walls of the city ; an honor seldom grant- 
 ed by the Homans. 
 
 * Fasces were rods bound in the form of a bundle, and containing an 
 axe in the middle, the iron of which projected. These rods were carried 
 by the lictors, or public officers, who attended the superior magistrates 
 at Rome. From the representations of the fasces , they appear to have 
 been usually made of birch, but sometimes also of the twigs cf the elm. 
 They are said to have been derived from Vetalonia, a city of Etruria. 
 
HESTIA OR VESTA. 
 
 91 
 
 To offer insult to the Yestals was a capital crime, and 
 if any one attempted to violate their chastity, he was pub 
 licly scourged to death in the Forum. 
 
 The dress of the Yestals was a stola * over which was an 
 upper vestment made of linen ; on the head they wore a 
 close covering called infula, from which hung ribbons or 
 vittae; and in addition to this, they wore, when sacrificing, 
 a peculiar head-dress called suffibulum, consisting of a 
 piece of white cloth bordered with purple, oblong in shape, 
 and secured by a clasp. In dress and general deportment, 
 they were required to observe the utmost simplicity and 
 decorum ; as any fanciful ornaments in the one, or levity 
 in the other, were always regarded with disgust and sus- 
 picion. From a passage in Pliny, we infer that their hair 
 was cut off probably at the period of their consecration ; 
 whether this was repeated from time to time, does not 
 appear ; but they are never represented with flowing locks. 
 
 Animal festivals were celebrated by the Romans, in 
 honor of Yesta, on the 9th of June, and were called Yes- 
 taiia. Banquets were then prepared before the houses, and 
 plates of meat were sent to the Yestals to be offered up to 
 the goddess. Mill-stones were turned by asses, decked 
 with garlands, as they were led in procession around the 
 city ; ladies followed bare-footed to the temple of the god- 
 dess, where an altar was erected to Jupiter, surnamed 
 Pistor. 
 
 By the poets, Mercury and Yesta are made intimate 
 triends : they are the beneficent teachers and keepers of 
 men, in whose songs they are united, and represented as 
 
 * A dress worn over the tunic, which came as low as the ankles or 
 feet, it was fastened round the body by a girdle, and over the shoulder 
 by a clasp. It usually had sleeves, but not always. 
 
 The stola was the characteristic dress of the Roman matrons, as th« 
 toga was of the men. 
 
92 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY, 
 
 dwelling in friendly concord, and teaching the useful 
 arts. 
 
 Whenever ancient art ventured to represent Vesta, the 
 goddess bore a flambeau in her hand ; but a mystical veil 
 always covers her chaste form. 
 
 Vesta, represented with the torch, is sometimes thought 
 to be the ancient Vesta, who probably was the same as 
 Terra. In the fictions of the ancients, the earlier and later 
 deities are often confounded, and, as it were, lost in one 
 another ; and since Earth, one of the pristine deities, no 
 longer makes a distinct appearance among the moderns, she 
 seemed to be renewed in Vesta, as Helios in Apollo. 
 
 CYBELE. 
 
 The Greeks renewed the fiction 
 of Terra in Cybele, and consid- 
 ered her as the mother of all 
 creatures, gods as well as men. 
 
 The archetype of Cybele was 
 likewise the great productive 
 power that gives rise to all for- 
 mations. She was conceived to 
 be the ruler of the elements and 
 the beginning of time ; the high- 
 est goddess of the heavens, as 
 well as the queen of the lower 
 world ; and even the representa- 
 tive of every deity, keeping ihe female character, because 
 of her ever-producing power. 
 
 Although this goddess is represented sitting in a chariot 
 drawn by lions, and bearing a mural or tower crown upon 
 her head, to indicate her all-subduing power, together with 
 her sovereignty of the earth overspread with cities, yet 
 this representation is merely an external cover for her 
 incomprehensible formless character. 
 
 In the temple of the great mother of life, at Pessinus in 
 
POSEIDON OR NEPTUNE. 
 
 93 . 
 
 Galatia, a small stone of a blackish color, and rough, irreg- 
 ular surface, represented the Alma Mater. It was also the 
 idea of this mysterious being which was hidden in the 
 Egyptian Isis, whose temple bore this inscription, tl I am 
 all that is, that was, and that will be, and no mortal has 
 lifted my veil.” 
 
 POSEIDON OR NEPTUNE. 
 
 In the great division of the universe by Zeus, the empire 
 of the sea was committed to Poseidon, who rises in impe- 
 rial majesty as Pontos, Oceanos, and Nereus retreat to 
 the shade He was made the ruler of the waters ; his su- 
 preme command raised the stormy waves, and his mighty 
 trident calmed the seditious floods. Not only the ocean, 
 rivers, and fountains were subjected to him, but he also 
 caused earthquakes at his pleasure, and raised islands 
 from the depths of the se*a, by a blow of his trident Ho- 
 mer represents him as rising from the depths of the sea, 
 and in three steps crossing the whole horizon. im The moun- 
 tains and the forests,” says the poet, “ trembled as he walk- 
 ed; all the hosts of the sea rose to hail their king, and the 
 waves fell back in awful respect.” 
 
 As god of the sea, Poseidon was entitled to more power 
 than any other deity except Zeus ; but though descended 
 from the same father as the Thunderer, Poseidon, like the 
 element in which he reigns, is but a subordinate power. 
 
 Polyphemos was deprived of his only eye by Ulysses ; 
 and this injury done to his beloved son, by mortal hands, 
 Poseidon left not unavenged, but severely punished the 
 daring Ulysses, by rendering vain, as long as possible, all 
 attempts made by the unfortunate traveller to regain his 
 home. He made him endure all dangers and hardships 
 that can befall a seafaring man ; and when, by the will of 
 Fate, he must at last reach his native island, Poseidon 
 avenged himself by transforming into a rock the innocent 
 
94 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 ship of the hospitable Phseacians, which had brought him 
 thither. Thus dangerous was it, even to the favorite of 
 Minerva, to offend the dreadful power of the resistless ele- 
 ment. 
 
 When the Muses were entertaining themselves in the 
 Aonian mountain with song, and play on the lyre, in so 
 gay a manner that all the environs participated in their 
 joy, and Helicon itself leaped under their feet, falling into 
 a passion, Poseidon sent up Pegasos charging him to set 
 limits to the mirth and noisy merriment of those revellers. 
 On arriving at the top of the mount, Pegasos had only to 
 paw the ground, to bring all to its quiet, proper course ; and 
 from beneath his foot arose that well-known fountain, from 
 which the poets sip their inspiration, and which from its 
 origin is called Hippocrene. 
 
 The archetype of Poseidon is the vast sea. which being, 
 as it were, angry at all that is prominent, strives to reduce 
 every thing to its own level. Therefore, when, during the 
 siege of Troy, the Greeks were building a wall around 
 their ships, to serve as a bulwark against their enemies, 
 Poseidon was angry ; and hastening to Zeus, gave vent to 
 the bitterness of his wrath in these words : “ The renown 
 of this wall will spread over the earth ; yet my own wall, 
 which with the assistance of Apollo I built around Troy 
 for Laomedon, will be forgotten.” To which Zeus replied, 
 “ Illustrious shaker of the earth, if another god, less pow- 
 erful than thou, should care for such a work as that, 1 
 should not wonder ; but thy glory already reaches as far as 
 the sun ; and thou wilt, I trust, as soon as the Greeks have 
 departed, sink that wall into the sea, and cover the shores 
 with sand, that no traces of its existence may remain.” 
 With such words Zeus upbraided him for his envy, as well 
 as his regard for the works of mortal men. (II. vii. 546.; 
 
 All that moves rapidly onward affords pleasure to the 
 ruler of the waves. He bends over his spirited steeds, to 
 
POSEIDON OR NEPTUNE. 
 
 95 
 
 encourage them, and the swiftly flying ship is his delight. 
 Poets tell us, that the horse owes to him its existence, say- 
 ing that he produced that animal by striking the ground 
 with his trident. Hence he is called Hippias or Hippodro- 
 mus, and is esteemed the president of the horse race. 
 They also make him the father of the winged Pegasos, and 
 of Arion, the noblest steed that ever bore kings or heroes. 
 Endowed with the swiftness of the wind, he threw off his 
 rider in one of the Grecian games, to win the prize for him- 
 self. 
 
 To the Egyptians, who hated the sea, and seldom left 
 their own country, Poseidon was scarcely known ; but with 
 all maritime nations he was a favorite deity. As the god 
 of ships and all marine affairs, altars were consecrated and 
 temples erected to his honor. 
 
 The Libyans in particular held him in great veneration ; 
 esteeming him above all other gods. His most celebrated 
 temples were at the Corinthian Isthmus, at Onchestos, 
 Helice, and Traezene. 
 
 Some writers suppose that the Romans worshipped Nep- 
 tune as Consus, the god of counsel ; and as such, counsel 
 being generally given in private, his altar was under ground., 
 or in an obscure and private place, where sacrifices were 
 offered to him. 
 
 The Consualia, at Rome, were festivals instituted in 
 honor of Consus. It was during one of these festivals that 
 Romulus carried away the Sabine women, who had assem- 
 bled as spectators of the games. 
 
 The animals offered to him in sacrifice, were a black bull, 
 rams, and a boar-pig ; and the Roman soothsayers always 
 offered to him the gall of their victims, which in taste re- 
 sembles the bitterness of sea water. 
 
 Neptune was generally represented sitting in a chariot 
 made of a scollop shell, and drawn by sea horses, or dol- 
 phins, but sometimes standing, holding his trident, guiding 
 
90 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 winged horses as his chariot flies over the sea. These sea 
 horses had the tails of fishes, with only two feet, which 
 were the fore-feet of a horse, according to the description 
 given in Statius : 
 
 “ Good Neptune’s steeds to rest are set up here 
 In the iEgean gulf; whose fore-parts harness bear; 
 
 Their hinder parts fish-shaped.” 
 
 In the grim as- 
 pect of Neptune is 
 depicted the raging 
 element over which 
 he presides. He is 
 often represented as 
 holding in his right 
 hand the trident, or 
 the three- pointed 
 sceptre, the symbol 
 of his power, and 
 in his left, the 
 reins by which he 
 guides his proud 
 coursers, and his 
 garment waving in 
 the tempest. 
 
 Tim Isthmian games, one of the four great national fes- 
 tivals of £he Greeks, derived their name from the Corinth- 
 ian Isthmus, where they were celebrated. At the nar- 
 rowest part of the Isthmus, between the coast of the Saro- 
 nic and the western foot of the (Enian hills, was the tem- 
 ple of Poseidon ; and near it was a stadium and a theatre 
 of white marble. The entrance to the temple was adornoa 
 
ISTHMIAN GAMES. 
 
 9 1 
 
 with statues of the victors in the Isthmian games, and with 
 groves of pine trees. 
 
 These games were said originally to have been instituted 
 in honor of Melicertes, who was also called Palsemon. 
 Their original mode of celebration, as Plutarch remarks, 
 partook more of the character of mysteries than of a great 
 national assembly with its various amusements, and was 
 performed at night. Subsequent to the age of Theseus, 
 the Isthmian games were celebrated in honor of Poseidon ; 
 this innovation is ascribed to Theseus himself, who, accord- 
 ing to some legends, was the son of Poseidon, and who, in 
 the institution of the games, or Isthmian solemnities, is 
 said to have imitated Hercules, the founder of the Olym- 
 pian games. 
 
 The season of the Isthmian solemnities was, like that of 
 all the great, national festivals, distinguished by general 
 rejoicing and feasting. The contests and games were the 
 same as those of Olympia ; and embraced all the varieties 
 of athletic performances, such as wrestling, the pancratium, 
 together with horse and chariot racing. Musical and poet- 
 ical contests were likewise carried on ; and in the latter, 
 women were allowed to take part, as we must infer from 
 Plutarch, who, on the authority of Polemo, states that in 
 the treasury of Sicyon, there was a golden book which had 
 been presented to it by Aristomache, the poetess, after 
 she had gained the victory at the Isthmia. At a late 
 period of the Roman Empire, the character of the games at 
 the Isthmia appears greatly altered ; for in the letter of the 
 Emperor Julian, above referred to, it is stated that the 
 Corinthians purchased bears and panthers for the purpose 
 of exhibiting their fights at the Isthmia ; and it is not im- 
 probable that the custom of introducing fights of animals 
 on this occasion commenced soon after the time of Caesar. 
 
 The prize of a victor at the Isthmian games consisted at 
 first of a garland of pine leaves and afterwards of a wreath 
 
98 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 of ivy ; but in the end, the ivy was again superseded by a 
 pine garland. Simple as such a reward was, a victor in 
 these games gained the greatest distinction and honor 
 among his countrymen ; and the victory not only rendered 
 the individual who obtained it a subject of admiration, but 
 shed lustre over his family and the whole town or commu- 
 nity to which he belonged. 
 
 Hence Solon established by a law that every Athenian 
 who gained a victory at the Isthmian games, should receive 
 from the public treasury a reward of one hundred drach- 
 mae. His victory was generally celebrated in lofty odes, 
 of which we still possess some beautiful specimens among 
 the Odes of Pindar. 
 
 HADES OR PLUTO. 
 
 Hades was the 
 god of Hell, of rich- 
 es, and funeral ob- 
 sequies. His name, 
 Hades, or Aides, 
 signifies the invisi- 
 ble or unknown ; a 
 name indicating of 
 itself a gloom which 
 no mortal could 
 penetrate: He was 
 also called the sub- 
 terranean or Sty- 
 gian Jupiter, and 
 plastic art repre- 
 sented him like im- 
 perial J ove, but 
 with gloomy, ra- 
 ther than benig- 
 nant features. His 
 
HADES OR PLUTO. 
 
 99 
 
 Latin name was Dis, signifying wealtn — so called because 
 wealth comes from the bowels of the earth ; and because, 
 as Cicero observes, all things proceed from the earth, and 
 return to it again under his direction. 
 
 He is sometimes represented as having on his head an 
 ancient corn measure, the emblem of Earth’s fertility. At 
 others with a helmet, which renders the wearer invisible, 
 and which is supposed to indicate the safety that men find 
 in the grave ; or with his garment drawn over his head to 
 intimate the god concealed. 
 
 Hades was much renowned among the Egyptians, who 
 had frequent representations of funeral ceremonies. In 
 their representations of him. a radiant crown surrounds the 
 head, and a serpent is twined round his body, sometimes 
 accompanied with the signs of the zodiac. According to 
 some mythologists, Hades, as well as many other gods of 
 the Egyptians, was originally worshipped as the sun ; and 
 Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades are considered as the symbols 
 of one solar year, diversified according to the changes of 
 the seasons. 
 
 Tartaros, or Erebos, was the abode of night, where, at 
 the remotest boundary of the Earth, the sun was sup- 
 posed to sink into the sea. There, too, was the mansion 
 of Hades, beneath which, in a dark prison, the Titans be- 
 moaned their fate. 
 
 Fable says, that the residence of Pluto was so obscure 
 and gloomy that all the goddesses refused to marry him, 
 and he therefore determined to obtain a wife by force, and 
 that, after a violent earthquake, he visited the island of 
 Sicily, where he saw Persephone, the daughter of Ceres, 
 gathering flowers in the plains of Enna, surrounded by 
 her female attendants, and immediately carried her away 
 in his chariot, concealing his retreat by opening a passage 
 for himself with a blow of his trident. 
 
100 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 As wife of Pluto, and queen of hell, Proserpina presided 
 over the death of mankind ; and according to the opinion 
 of the ancients, no one could die if the goddess herself, or 
 Atropos, the minister, did not cut off one of the hairs from 
 the head. From this superstitious belief, it was customary 
 to strew some of the hair of the deceased at the door of the 
 house as an offering to Proserpina. 
 
 The Sicilians were very exact in their worship of Pro- 
 serpina ; and as they believed that the fountain Cyane 
 had risen from the earth at the very place where Pluto 
 had opened himself a passage, they annually sacrificed 
 there a bull, the blood of which was suffered to flow into 
 the water. Her worship was universal, and she was known 
 by the different names of Theogamia, Libitina, Hecate, 
 Juno Inferna, etc., etc. 
 
 Hades is represented as sitting on a throne, surrounded 
 by the most gloomy darkness ; his countenance severe and 
 frowning, holding in his hand a two-pointed sceptre, and 
 also a key, which signifies that when once the dead are 
 received into his kingdom, the gates are locked against 
 them, and thence there is no regress. 
 
 Hades was considered as inexorable, and for that reason 
 no temples were erected to him as to the rest of the supe- 
 rior gods. Sacrifices of black sheep and a bull were offer- 
 ed to him in the night. Their blood was not sprinkled 
 upon altars, or received into vessels, as at other sacrifices, 
 but was permitted to run into the earth, as if it could pene- 
 trate the realms of the god. Among plants, the cypress 
 and maiden-hair were sacred to him, as well as every thing 
 deemed inauspicious, particularly the number two. Ac- 
 cording to some of the ancient writers, Hades sat on a 
 throne of sulphur, from which issued the rivers Lethe, 
 Coc-ytus, Phlegethon, and Acheron. The triple-headed 
 dog Cerberos, watched at his feet; the Harpies hovered 
 
HADES OR P1UTO. 
 
 101 
 
 around him ; Persephone sat on his left hand, and near 
 her the Ei'innyes, their heads wreathed with snakes, while 
 the Parcae, each holding the symbol of her office, com- 
 pleted the group. According to others, the gates to his 
 dominions were watched by the triple-headed dog Cerbe- 
 ros ; and before they can be reached, four rivers must be 
 crossed, the very names of which fill the soul with terror. 
 The first is Acheron, the sighing river, a son of Earth. 
 He was born in a cave, and having an unconquerable aver- 
 sion to light, ran down into Orcus, where he was changed 
 into the river which still retains his name. Styx, terrible 
 above all, is a lake rather than a river, and has already been 
 mentioned among the ancient deities. The third river, 
 Coc.ytus, flows out of the river Styx, and the murmur of 
 its waters, the sound of which imitates the bowlings of the 
 damned, is inexpressibly dismal ; Phlegethon, the fourth 
 river, rolls slowly along its waves of fire. 
 
 The entrance to the infernal regions, called Avernus, 
 is described as having around it a host of dreadful forms ; 
 Disease, Old Age, Terror, Hunger, Death. War, Discord, 
 and the Furies, the avengers of guilt, with snaky hair, 
 and whips of scorpions. Near this dismal cavern is the 
 road to the river Acheron, whither resort the departed spir- 
 its, in order to obtain a passage over. Charon, the aged, 
 surly boatman, receives them into his boat, if they have 
 been honored with funeral rites, but inexorably rejects 
 those who have not On the other* side of the river is the 
 gate leading to the palace of Hades the sovereign of those 
 dreary realms, guarded by the triple-headed Cerberos, 
 which is always on the watch. 
 
 Within this seat of horror, are first seen the souls of 
 infants who expired as soon as born. Then those who 
 destroyed themselves, or were put to death unjustly. Be- 
 yond them, wandering in myrtle groves, are the victims tc 
 love and despair. Then succeed the abodes of heroes 
 
102 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 Not far from them, is seen the dread tribunal, where Minos 
 iEacos, and Rhadamthys administer strict justice, and 
 pass the irrevocable sentence. Then Tartaros, the tre- 
 mendous prison, surrounded by three massy walls, having 
 three gates of solid brass, round which the flaming Phle- 
 gethon rolls its waves of fire, and Cocytus extends its stag- 
 nant marsh. Here, likewise, is the river Styx, by which 
 the gods swear their inviolable oath ; and Lethe, whose 
 waters produced forgetfulness of past events to those whe 
 drank them. In Tartaros. according to Virgil, those were 
 punished who had been disobedient to parents ; traitors, 
 faithless ministers, and such as had undertaken unjust 
 or cruel wars ; or had betrayed their friends for the sake 
 of gain. According to Ovid, it was the place where the 
 Danaides, Tantalos, Sisyphos, and others were punished. 
 
 The Elysian fields are represented as adorned with all 
 the beauties of nature which can soothe and delight the 
 mind, and was the abode of the heroic and virtuous. 
 Hills, covered with fragrant shrubs, delightful valleys, 
 flowery plains, shady groves, lucid streams, mild and balmy 
 air, and gentle and unclouded sunshine, all conspire to 
 render the Elysian fields the seat of happiness and tran- 
 quillity. It was the habitation of the blessed ; particu- 
 larly of the souls of those who had lived in the golden age, 
 before man was stained with guilt. Here the souls of the 
 just, freed from the passions and prejudices of mortality, 
 ranged from grove to grove, enjoying the pleasures of 
 friendship and contemplation, until, at the command of 
 Zeus, they drank of the waters of Lethe, and the oblivious 
 draught caused them instantly to lose all remembrance of 
 the past. They then returned again in human form to the 
 earth, where, forgetful of the joys of Elysium, they pa- 
 tiently endured the cares and sorrows of humanity, until 
 the close *of a well-spent life again restored them to the 
 mansions of the just. 
 
HADES OR PLUTO, 
 
 103 
 
 This fiction of the Greeks and Romans is borrowed from 
 the funeral rites of the Egyptians. Near the Egyptian 
 towns was a certain tract of ground appropriated as a 
 common burying-place, and Diodorus Siculus gives an ex- 
 act description of the customs practised at Memphis. Ac- 
 cording to him, their burying-place was on the other side 
 of the Lake Acherusia, on the shore of which sat a tribunal 
 of forty three judges, who inquired into the merits of the 
 deceased person ; and if he had been disobedient to the 
 laws, he was refused the rites of interment. When no 
 accuser appeared, or he who deposed against the deceased 
 was convicted of falsehood, their lamentations for him ceased, 
 and they commended his excellent education, his respect 
 for religion, his equity, chastity, and other virtues. All 
 the attendants applauded these praises, and congratulated 
 the deceased upon being prepared to enter the eternal 
 abode of the virtuous. 
 
 On the shore of the lake was a severe and incorruptible 
 boatman, who, by order of the judges, and never upon any 
 other terms, received the deceased into his boat. The 
 kings of Egypt were treated with the same rigor, and never 
 admitted into the boat without the permission of the judges. 
 The other side of the lake to which they were conveyed, was 
 a plain embellished with meadows, brooks, and groves. This 
 place was called Elizout, or the Elysian fields — that is, a 
 habitation of repose or of joy. At the entrance of the 
 abode was the figure of a dog, with three pair of jaws, called 
 Cerberos. This symbol was expressive of their affection 
 for the departed ; the dog being, of all animals, the em- 
 blem of attachment. To the figure of the dog they gave 
 three heads or throats, to express the three cries made 
 over the friend’s grave, according to the custom which 
 granted that honor to none but good men. Therefore, 
 the placing this figure over the head of a n<?wly-buried 
 person, signified his having been honored with the lamenta- 
 
104 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY 
 
 tions of his family, and the cries which friends never fail 
 to utter over the graves of those whom they have loved 
 and valued for their good qualities. 
 
 These practices among the Egyptians were instructions 
 addressed to the people, who were given to understand by 
 such ceremonies and symbols, that death was followed by 
 an account which must be given before an inflexible tribu- 
 nal ; but that what was so dreadful to the wicked, was to 
 the good only a passage to a state of happiness and bliss. 
 
 The whole Action of Pluto, or Hades, alludes to the 
 grave, whose narrow bounds imagination enlarged into a 
 world of shades. The kingdom of Hades is therefore repre- 
 sented as a desolate empire, and his palace a narrow man- 
 sion. There is the same allusion to decay in the old and 
 leaky boat of Charon, which only creeps, as it were, across 
 the rivers, taking up much slime in its crevices. The dead 
 themselves are represented like a world of dreams ; the 
 empty shades appearing and disappearing in a moment, 
 yet sensible of what they had formerly been, and of what 
 they had possessed ; and still strive to accomplish those 
 pursuits in which they had been engaged when living in 
 the upper world, like a man who works and fatigues him- 
 self during a dream without attaining his object. 
 
 When Ulysses, by the command of Circe, went down into 
 the lower world, the souls of all the departed whom he 
 had known during his life-time assembled round the ditch 
 into which he shed the blood of his victims. His mother 
 presented herself to him ; but when he wished to embrace 
 her, the empty shade retreated, telling him, that after the 
 body was destroyed, the souls evaded' every touch, like a 
 dream. The shade of Agamemnon stretched forth its 
 arms towards his friend and counsellor, but had not the 
 power to embrace him. Ulysses also addressed the shade 
 of Achilles, congratulating him on the renown he had 
 enjoyed while living, and for his being now esteemed among 
 
DEMETER OR CERES. 
 
 105 
 
 the dead To which Achilles replied, that were it pos- 
 sible, he would return to life and serve as a poor day* 
 laborer for scanty wages, rather than reign in his present 
 abode over all the departed. The shade of Heracles too 
 appeared to Ulysses, although he himself had his seat 
 among the celestials. 
 
 DEMETER OR CERES. 
 
 Of the three august daughters of Kronos and Rhea, 
 Hera alone is the reigning queen of Heaven : while Hes- 
 tia and Demeter exercise their beneficent influence upon 
 the earth ; the one impregnating it with sacred, fertilizing 
 warmth, and the other calling forth the nourishing ear of 
 corn. 
 
 Demeter, the mother of Persephone, was evidently a 
 goddess of the earth, whom some ancient system married 
 ,to Zeus, the god of the Heavens. In Homer, she is but 
 slightly mentioned, and she does not appear among the 
 deities of Olympus. She seems to have been early distin- 
 guished from the goddess called Earth, and to have been 
 regarded as the protectress of the growing corn, and of agri- 
 culture in general. 
 
 Demeter was the happy mother of Persephone ; to whom, 
 however, the sweet light of day was granted but a short 
 time ; youth and beauty in her soon becoming a prey of in- 
 exorable Orcus. 
 
 Persephone, sang the Homerid, was in the Nysian plain 
 with the ocean-nymphs gathering flowers. She plucked the 
 rose, the violet, the crocus, the hyacinth, when she beheld a 
 Narcissus of surprising beauty, an object of amazement to 
 “all immortal gods and mortal men,” for one hundred 
 flowers grew from one root, 
 
 ‘And with its fragrant smell wide heaven above 
 And all earth laugh’d, and the sea’s briny flood.” 
 
106 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY, 
 
 Unconscious of danger, the maiden stretched forth her 
 hand to seize the wondrous flower, when, suddenly, the 
 wide earth gaped ; A'idoneus in his golden chariot rose, and 
 catching the terrified goddess, carried her off in it, shriek- 
 ing to her father for aid, unheard and unseen by gods or 
 mortals, save only by Hecate, the daughter of Persseos, who 
 beard her as she sat in her cave, and by king Helios, 
 whose eye nothing on earth escapes. 
 
 So long as Persephone beheld the earth and the starry 
 heaven, the fishy sea, and beams of the sun, so long she 
 hoped to see her mother and the tribes of the gods ; and 
 the tops of the mountains and the depths of the sea re- 
 sounded with her voice. At length her mother heard ; 
 she tore her head attire with grief, cast a dark robe around 
 her, and like a bird hurried over moist and dry. Of all 
 she inquired tidings of her lost daughter ; but neither gods, 
 nor men, nor birds could give her intelligence. Nine 
 days she wandered over the earth with flaming torches in 
 her hand ; she tasted not of nectar nor ambrosia, and never 
 once entered the bath. On the tenth morning Hecate 
 met her ; but she could not tell who had carried away 
 Persephone. Together they proceeded to Helios ; they 
 stand at the head of his horses, and Demeter entreats 
 that he will say who is the ravisher. The god of the Sun 
 fives the required information, telling her that it was Ai'do- 
 neus, who, by the permission of her sire, had carried Per- 
 sephone away to be his queen ; he then exhorts the goddess 
 to patience, by dwelling on the rank and dignity of the 
 ravisher. 
 
 Helios urges on his steeds ; the goddess, incensed at the 
 conduct of Zeus, abandoned the society of the gods, and 
 came and dwelt among men. But she now was heedless 
 of her person and no one recognized her. Under the guise 
 of an old woman — u such,” says the poet, “ as are the 
 nurses of law-dispensing king’s children, and house-keep* 
 
DEMETER OR CERES. 
 
 107 
 
 ers, in resounding houses,” she came to Eleusis and sat 
 down by a well, beneath the shade of an olive. The three 
 beautiful daughters of Keleos, a prince of that place, com- 
 ing to the well to draw water, and seeing the goddess, in- 
 quired who she was, and why she did not go into the town. 
 Demeter told them that her name was Dos, and that she 
 had been carried off by the pirates from Crete, but that 
 when they got on shore at Thoricos, she had contrived to 
 make her escape, and wandered thither. She entreats them 
 to tell her where she is ; and wishing them young husbands 
 and as many children as they may desire, begs that they 
 will endeavor to procure her a service in a respectable 
 family. 
 
 The princess Callidice tells the goddess the names of the 
 five princes, who with her father governed Eleusis, each of 
 whose wives would, she was sure, be most happy to receive 
 into her family a person who looked so god-like : but she 
 prays her not to be precipitate, but to wait till she had 
 consulted her mother, Metaneira, who had a young son in 
 the cradle, of whom, if the stranger could have the nurs- 
 ing, she would obtain a large recompense. 
 
 The goddess bowed her thanks, and the princesses took 
 up their pitchers and went home. As soon as they had re- 
 lated their adventure to their mother, she agreed to hire 
 the nurse at large wages : 
 
 And they as fawns or heifers in spring-time 
 Bound on the mead when satiate with food ; 
 
 So they, the folds fast-holding of their robes 
 Lovely, along the hollow cartway ran ; 
 
 Their locks upon their shoulders flying wide, 
 
 Like unto yellow flowers. 
 
 The goddess rose and accompanied them. As she enter- 
 ed the house a divine splendor shone all around. Metanei- 
 ra, filled with awe, offered the goddess her own seat, which, 
 however, she declined. Iambe, the serving-maid, then pre* 
 
108 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOIOGY. 
 
 pared one for her, where she sat in silence, thinking of her 
 44 deep-bosomed” daughter, till Iambe, by her tricks, con- 
 trived to make her smile and even laugh. Metaneira 
 offered her a cup of wine, which she declined, and would 
 only drink the kykeon , or mixture of flour and water. She 
 undertook the task of rearing the babe, who was named 
 Demophoon, and beneath her care 44 he throve like a god.” 
 He ate no food ; but Demeter breathed on him as he lay in 
 her bosom, and anointed him with ambrosia, and every 
 night she hid him 44 like a torch within the strength of 
 fire,” unknown to his parents, who marvelled at ills growth. 
 
 It was the design of Demeter to make him immortal ; 
 but the curiosity and folly of Metaneira deprived him of 
 the intended gift. She watched one night, and seeing what 
 the nurse was about, shrieked with affright and horror. 
 The goddess threw the infant on the ground, declaring 
 what he had lost by the inconsiderateness of his mother, 
 but announcing that he would be great and honored, since 
 he had 44 sat in her lap, and slept in her arms.” She then 
 tells who she is, and directs that the people of Eleusis 
 should raise an altar and temple to her without the town on 
 the hill Gallichoros. 
 
 Thus having said, the goddess changed her size 
 And form, old age off-flinging, and around 
 Beauty respired ; from her fragrant robes 
 A lovely scent was scattered, and afar 
 Shone light emitted from her skin divine : 
 
 And yellow locks upon her shoulders waved ; 
 
 While, as from lightning, all the house was filled 
 With splendor. 
 
 She left the house, and the maidens waking at the noise 
 iound their infant brother lying on the ground. They took 
 him up, and kindling a fire, prepared to wash him ; but he 
 cried bitterly, finding himself m the hands of such undul 
 ful nurses. 
 
 In the morning the wonders of the night were narrated 
 
DEMETER OR CERES. 
 
 109 
 
 to Keleos, who laid the matter before the people, and the 
 temple was speedily raised. The mourning goddess took 
 up her abode in it, but a dismal year came upon mankind ; 
 and the earth yielded no produce. In vain the oxen drew 
 the curved ploughs in the fields ; in vain was the seed of 
 barley cast in the ground ; u well garlanded Demeter ’* 
 would suffer no increase. The whole race of man ran the 
 risk of perishing, and the dwellers of Olympos of losing 
 gifts and sacrifices, had not Zeus discovered the danger 
 and thought on a remedy. 
 
 He despatches “gold-winged Iris” to Eleusis to invite 
 Demeter back to Olympos, but the dissatisfied goddess will 
 not comply with the call. All the other gGds are sent on 
 the same errand, and to as little purpose. Gifts and 
 honors are proffered in vain ; she will not ascend to Olym 
 pos, or suffer the earth to bring forth, until she shall have 
 seen her daughter. 
 
 Finding there was no other remedy, Zeus sends “gold- 
 roddea Argos-slayer” to Erebos, to endeavor to prevail on 
 Hades to suffer Persephone to see the light. Hermes 
 obeyed, quickly reached the “ secret places of earth,” and 
 found the king at home seated on a couch with his wife, 
 who was mourning for her mother. On making known to 
 Aidoneus the wish of Zeus, “ the King of the Subterra 
 neans smiled with his brows ” and yielded compliance. 
 He kindly addressed Persephone, granting her permission 
 to return to her mother. The goddess instantly sprang 
 up with joy, and heedlessly swallowed a pomegranate which 
 Hades presented to her. 
 
 Then many-ruling Aidoneus yoked 
 His steeds immortal to the golden car : 
 
 She mounts the chariot, and beside her mounts 
 
 Strong Argos-slayer, holding in his hands 
 
 The reins and whip : forth from the house he rushed, 
 
 And not unwillingly the coursers flew. 
 
no 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 Quickly the long road they have gone ; not sea, 
 
 Nor streams of water, nor the grassy dales, 
 
 Nor hills retard the immortal coursers’ speed, 
 
 But o’er them going, they cut the air profound 
 
 Hermes conducted his fair charge safe to Eleusis : Deme- 
 ter, on seeing her, “ rushed to her like a Maenas on the 
 wood-shaded hill,” and Persephone sprang from the car 
 “ like a bird,” and kissed her mother’s hands and head. 
 
 When their joy had a little subsided, Demeter anxiously 
 inquired if her daughter had tasted any thing while below ; 
 for if she had not, she would be free to spend her whole 
 time with her mother ; whereas, if but one morsel had 
 passed her lips, nothing could save her from spending one 
 third of the year with her husband ; and the other two 
 she could pass with her and the gods: 
 
 And when in spring-time with sweet smelling flowers 
 Of various kinds the earth doth bloom, thou’lt come 
 From gloomy darkness back — a mighty joy 
 To gods and mortal men. 
 
 Persephone ingenuously confesses the swallowing of the 
 grain of pomegranate, and then relates to her mother the 
 story of her adventures. They pass the day in delightful 
 converse : 
 
 And joy they mutually received and gave. 
 
 “ Bright-veiled Hecate” arrives to congratulate Perse- 
 phone, and henceforward becomes her attendant. Zeus 
 sends Rhea to invite them back to Heaven. Demeter now 
 complies, 
 
 And instant, from the deep-soiled cornfields fruit 
 ►Sent up ; with leaves and flowers the whole wide earth 
 Was laden. — 
 
 She taught “ Triptolemus, horse-lashing Diodes, the 
 strength of Eumolpos, and Keleos the leader of the people,” 
 the mode of performing her sacred rites. The goddess 
 
DEMETER OR CERES. 
 
 Ill 
 
 then returned to Olympos. “ But conic ,” cries the Ho 
 merid, 
 
 But come, thou goddess who dost keep the land 
 Of odorous Eleusis, and round-flowed 
 Paros, and rocky Anthron, Deo queen, 
 
 Mistress, bright-giver, season-bringer, come; 
 
 Thyself and child, Persephoneia fair, 
 
 Grant freely, for my song, the means of life. 
 
 But I will think of thee and other songs. 
 
 Throughout the whole of this attractive fiction, may be 
 traced the idea of the mysterious development of the grain 
 hidden in the lap of the earth, and of the inward, secret- 
 life of nature. There is no other object found in nature, 
 in which to appearance life and death border so closely 
 together, as in the grain of seed buried in the earth, never 
 again to re*appear to the eye of man ; but, at the moment 
 when life seems entirely extinct, a fuller and richer exist- 
 ence begins anew. Demeter, who is said first to have be- 
 stowed the blessing of grain upon mortal man, is in the 
 chain of divine beings, that one. who, through the medium 
 of her person, carries the blessed influence of the sky 
 down to the dark dominions of Hades. Hades, who is 
 called the subterranean or Stygian Jupiter, is married to 
 the beautiful daughter of Jupiter Olympius, and in this 
 manner the opposite ideas of life and death being united 
 in the person of Persephone, she connects with a mysteri- 
 ous band the high and the deep — Olympos and Orcus. 
 
 Upon ancient marble coffins, the ravishment of Perse- 
 phone is often met with ; and in the mysterious festivals 
 which were celebrated in honor of Demeter and her daugh- 
 ter, it seems as if the close connection of the terrible and 
 beautiful had been intended to fill the minds of the initiated 
 with astonishment and awe ; and at last, all that appeared 
 opposite and contrary in the beginning, melted away, and 
 was lost in harmony and beauty. 
 
112 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 Demeter is represented as one of the most placid and 
 meek among the heathen deities ; yet she made Erisicthon. 
 who violated one of her groves, sensible of her power by 
 afflicting him with perpetual hunger. At another time, 
 during her search for her daughter, she entered a cottage 
 to slake her burning thirst, and was scoffed at bj a rude 
 boy, because of her eagerness in drinking. 
 
 Indignant at the ignominy, she bespattered the offender 
 with water, by which he was immediately transformed into 
 a spotted lizard, and in this shape, bore witness to the 
 power of the formidable goddess. 
 
 Demeter is commonly repre- 
 sented as holding a sickle in 
 her right hand, and in her left, 
 the torch which she lighted at 
 Mount iEtna. At her feet are 
 coiled the dragons which drew 
 her chariot ; a wreath of wheat- 
 en ears confines her golden 
 tresses, and a cornucopia is gen- 
 erally placed near her, to indi- 
 cate the plenty produced by 
 agriculture. She is also repre- 
 sented with a garland of corn 
 upon her head ; in one hand 
 holding a poppy, and in the 
 other a lighted torch. Again 
 she appears as a countrywoman, 
 on the back of an ox, carrying 
 a basket on her left arm, and 
 holding a hoe ; and sometimes riding i.n a chariot drawn 
 by winged horses. In the Vatican, are some fine antique 
 statues of this goddess ; one of them is nearly nine feet 
 high, and was for nearly three centuries the principal orna* 
 
DEMETER OR CERES. 
 
 113 
 
 ment of the theatre of Pompey at Rome. Another of these 
 is smaller, not above three feet six inches high. 
 
 The Romans paid great adoration to Ceres, and her fes- 
 tivals were celebrated yearly by the Roman matrons, dur- 
 ing eight days in the month of April. These matrons 
 abstained for several days from wine, and every carnal en- 
 joyment ; and at the festivals, bore lighted torches in com- 
 memoration of the goddess ; and whoever attended them 
 without a previous initiation, was punished with death. 
 These festivals were called Cerealia, and were the same as 
 the Thesmophoria of the Greeks. 
 
 Sicily was supposed to be the favorite retreat of Ceres, 
 and Diodorus says that she and her daughter first made 
 their appearance to mankind in Sicily, which Pluto received 
 as a nuptial dowry from Jupiter. The Sicilians made a 
 yearly sacrifice to Ceres, every man according to his abili- 
 ty ; and the fountain of Cyane, through which Pluto open- 
 ed himself a passage when conveying away Proserpina, 
 was publicly honored with an offering of bulls, and the 
 blood of the victims was shed in the waters' of the fountain. 
 Resides these, other ceremonies were observed in honor of 
 the goddess who had so peculiarly favored the island. The 
 commemoration of Proserpina’s disappearance was cele- 
 brated about the beginning of harvest, and the search of 
 Ceres, about the time that the corn is sown in the earth. 
 The latter festivals continued six successive days. 
 
 Attica, which has been so eminently distinguisheb dy 
 the goddess, greatly remembered her favors in the cele- 
 bration of the Eleusinian mysteries. 
 
 This great festival was celebrated every fourth year by 
 the Celeans and Philiasians, as also by the Lacedemonians, 
 Parrhasians, and Cretans ; but more particularly by the 
 Atticans at Eleusis, where it was introduced by Eumoipos 
 
114 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 B. C. 1356, and was the most celebrated of all the religious 
 ceremonies of Greece. 
 
 Each of the gods had, besides the public and open, a 
 secret worship paid to him, to which none were admitted 
 who had not previously been through the preparatory cere- 
 monies of initiation. This secret worship was termed the 
 mysteries , and was the most sacred part of the pagan re- 
 ligion. 
 
 The first original mysteries of which we have any ac- 
 count, were those of Osiris or Isis in Egypt, from whence 
 they were derived by the Greeks. They were observed in 
 various places, and always with the same object, viz. to in- 
 culcate the doctrine of a future state of rewards and pun- 
 ishments ; but those celebrated at Athens in honor of 
 Ceres, were termed, byway of eminence, The Mysteries ; 
 and were so superstitiously observed, that if any one ever 
 revealed them, it was supposed he would be followed by 
 divine vengeance. 
 
 In cultivating the doctrine of a future life, it was taught 
 that the initiated would be happier after death than other 
 mortals ; that while the souls of the profane stuck fast to 
 mire and filth, and remained in darkness, the souls of the 
 initiated wing their way to the islands of bliss and the 
 habitations of the gods. But lest it should be mistaken 
 that any other means than a virtuous life should entitle 
 men to future happiness, the restoration of the soul to its 
 original purity was openly proclaimed as the object of the 
 mysteries. “ It was the end and design of initiation,” says 
 Plato, “ to restore the soul to that state from whence it fell, 
 as from its entire native seat of perfection.” They con- 
 trived that every thing should tend to show the necessity 
 of virtue, as appears from Epictetus. Thus the mysteries 
 became useful ; thus we see the true spirit of them, when 
 we begin to apprehend that every thing therein was insti- 
 tuted by the ancients for the amendment of life.” Porphyry 
 
ELEUSINI AN MYSTERIES. 
 
 115 
 
 gives us some of those moral precepts which were enforced 
 in the mysteries ; as to honor parents, to offer up fruits to 
 the gods, and to forbear cruelty to animals. It was re- 
 quired that the aspirant to the mysteries should be of a 
 pure and unblemished character, and free even from the sus- 
 picion of any notorious crime ; and to ascertain the truth 
 on these requisitions, he was severely interrogated by the 
 priests, or hierophantes, who impressed him with the same 
 sense of his obligation to conceal nothing, as is now done 
 at the Roman confessional. 
 
 During the celebration of the mysteries, the greatest 
 purity and elevation of mind was enjoined upon the vota- 
 ries. “ When you sacrifice or pray,” says Epictetus to 
 Arrian, u go with a prepared purity of mind, and with dispo- 
 sitions so previously disposed, as are required of you when 
 you approach the ancient rites and mysteries.” And Pro- 
 clus tells us, that “ the mysteries and the initiation drew 
 the souls of men from a material, sensual, and merely hu- 
 man life, and joined them in communion with the gods.” 
 Nor was a less degree of purity required* of the initiated 
 for their future conduct. They were obliged by solemn en- 
 gagements to commence a new life of strict piety and vir- 
 tue, which was done by a. severe course of penance. Ac- 
 cording to Gregory Nazianzen, no one could be initiated 
 into the mysteries of Mithras, until he had undergone all 
 sorts of mortifying trials, and approved himself holy and 
 impassible. Under this discipline and these promises, the 
 initiated were esteemed the only happy men ; and the ad- 
 vantages conferred by the ceremonies of initiation, both 
 here and hereafter, made its subjects an object of universal 
 regard. Persons of all ages and sexes were initiated, and 
 it was considered so serious a crime to neglect that part of 
 the religion, that the accusation of it contributed to the 
 death of Socrates. 
 
 The chief minister who officiated at these festivals was 
 
116 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 called a hierophantes or mystagogos, the revealer of sacred 
 things. He was a citizen of Athens, and held his office 
 during life ; though, among the Celeans and Philiasians, it 
 was limited to the period of four years. The priest was 
 obliged to devote himself wholly to the deities, and his 
 life must be chaste and single. The Hierophant had three 
 attendants; the first was a torch bearer, and was permitted 
 to marry ; the second was a sacred Herald ; and the third 
 administered at the altar. Besides these, there were other 
 inferior officers, who took particular care to see that every 
 thing was done according to custom. The first was one of 
 the archons, whose duty was to offer prayers and sacrifices, 
 and to see that there was no indecency or irregularity dur- 
 ing the celebration. Four others were elected by the peo- 
 ple called curators, or Epimeletes ; one from the sacred 
 family of the Eumolpids ;* another was one of the Ceryces, 
 and the rest from among the citizens. This celebration, 
 sacred to Ceres and Proserpina, lasted for nine successive 
 days from the l Oth to the 20th of September. These days 
 were consecrated to the ceremonies of preparation aud 
 purification, the particulars of which were founded upon the 
 story of Ceres’ adventures in search of Proserpina. The 
 singing of sacred hymns, in honor of the goddess, always 
 formed a part of the service. 
 
 The first day of celebration was called the assembly, as 
 the worshippers then met together; the second day they 
 were commanded to purify themselves by bathing in the 
 sea ; — on the third day sacrifices were offered ; chiefly a 
 mullet, and also barley from the field of Eleusis. These 
 oblations were considered so sacred, that the priests were 
 not permitted to partake of them, as at other sacrifices. 
 On the fourth day they made a solemn procession, while 
 
 * The Eumolpids were the priests of Derneter, at the celebration of 
 her mysteries. 
 
ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES. 
 
 11 ? 
 
 on every side the people shouted, Hail, Ceres ! Women 
 followed carrying baskets, in which were sesamum, carded 
 wool, grains of salt, a serpent, pomegranates, etc., etc. The 
 night of the fifth day they ran about with torches ; the 
 sixth day the statue of Inachus, holding a torch, was car- 
 ried in solemn procession from Ceranicus to Eleusis ; the 
 statue, as well as those who accompanied it, was crowned 
 with myrtle, and nothing was heard but singing and noisy 
 merriment. The way through which they issued from 
 the city was called the Sacred Way ; on the bridge over 
 the Cephissus they derided those that passed by ; and after 
 passing this bridge, they entered Eleusis, by a place called 
 the mystical entrance. On the seventh day were sports in 
 which the victors were rewarded with a measure of barley, 
 as that grain was first sown in Eleusis. On the eighth day 
 the mysteries were celebrated a second time, when those 
 who had not been initiated were admitted by a repetition 
 of the lesser mysteries. The ninth and last day of the 
 festival, two vessels were filled with wine, one of which was 
 placed towards the east, and the other towards the west ; 
 after the repetition of some mystical words, they were both 
 thrown down, and the wine being spilt on the ground, was 
 offered as an oblation to the goddess. 
 
 The fifth day of the sacred festival was distinguished by 
 a magnificent procession of the initiated, who were clad in 
 purple robes, and bore on their heads crowns of myrtle ; 
 the priests led the way into the interior of the temple 
 through the southern portico, which has been described. 
 The worshippers followed in pairs, each bearing a torch, 
 and in solemn silence. But the evening of the tenth day 
 of this august pageant was the most remarkable. It 
 brought with it the consummation of the mystic ceremo- 
 nies. On it, the initiated were admitted for the first time 
 to a full enjoyment of the privileges which the mysteries 
 conferred. Having gone through the previous rites of fast 
 
113 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 ing and purification, they were clad in the sacred fawn 
 skin, and led at eventide into the vestibule of the temple. 
 The doors of the building itself were as yet closed. Then 
 the profane were commanded by the priests with a loud 
 voice to retire. The worshippers remained alone. Pre- 
 sently strange sounds were heard ; dreadful apparitions, 
 as of dying men, were seen ; lightnings flashed through the 
 thick darkness in which they were enveloped, and thunders 
 rolled around them ; light and gloom succeeded each other 
 with rapid interchange. After these preliminaries, at 
 length the doors of the temple were thrown open. Its in- 
 terior shone with one blaze of light. The votaries were 
 then led to the feet of the statue of the goddess, who was 
 clad in the most gorgeous attire ; in her presence their tem- 
 ples were encircled by the priests with the sacred wreath of 
 myrtle, which was intended to direct their thoughts to the 
 myrtle groves of the blessed in those happy isles to which 
 they would be carried after death ; their eyes were dazzled 
 with the most vivid and beautiful colors, and their ears 
 charmed with the most melodious sounds, both rendered 
 more enchanting by their contrast with those fearful and 
 ghastly objects which just before had been offered to their 
 senses. They were now admitted to behold visions of the 
 creation of the universe, to see the workings of the divine 
 agency by which the machine of the world was regulated 
 and controlled, to contemplate the state of society which 
 prevailed upon the earth before the visit of Ceres to Attica, 
 and to witness the introduction of agriculture, of sound 
 laws, and of gentle manners, which followed the steps of 
 that goddess ; to recognize the immortality of the soul, as 
 typified by the concealment of corn sown in the earth, by 
 its revival in the green blade, and by its full ripeness in the 
 golden harvest ; or, as the same idea was otherwise ex- 
 pressed, by the abduction of Proserpina, the daughter of 
 Ceres, to the region of darkness, in order that she might 
 
ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES. 
 
 119 
 
 pass ?ix months beneath the earth, and then arise again to 
 spend an equal time in the realms of light and joy. Above 
 all, they were invited to view the spectacle of that happy 
 state in which they themselves, the initiated, were to exist 
 hereafter. These revelations contained the greatest happi- 
 ness to which man could aspire in this life, and assured 
 him of such a bliss as nothing could exceed or diminish in 
 the next. 
 
 Besides the various rites and ceremonies described 
 above, several others are mentioned, but it is not known to 
 which day they belonged ; the Eleusinian games, which 
 Mersius assigns to the seventh day, are said to have been 
 the most ancient in Greece. In these contests, the prize 
 of the victors consisted of ears of barley. It was consider- 
 ed the greatest profanation of the Eleusinia, for any to 
 come as a supplicant to the temple with an olive branch, 
 and whoever did so, was put to death without trial, or fined 
 one thousand drachmae. At other festivals, as well as at 
 Eleusis, no man could be seized or arrested for any offence 
 during the celebration. The garments in which the vota- 
 ries were initiated, were held sacred, and considered as effi- 
 cacious in averting evils, charms, and incantations. 
 
 The Eleusinian mysteries lasted about eighteen hundred 
 years ; long surviving the independence of Greece. At- 
 tempts to suppress them were made by the Emperor Ya 
 lentinian, but he met with strong opposition ; and they 
 were finally abolished by Theodosius the Great. 
 
 Respecting the nature and end of these mysteries, vari- 
 ous opinions have been entertained by modern scholars. 
 The following are some of the results of inquiries made by 
 the learned and judicious Lobeck. 
 
 In the very early ages of Greece and Italy, and proba- 
 bly of most countries, the inhabitants of the various in- 
 dependent districts into which they were divided, had very 
 
I 
 
 120 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 little communication with each, other; and a stranger 
 was regarded as little better than an enemy. Each state 
 had its favorite deities, under whose special protection it 
 was supposed to be, and each deity was propitiated by 
 sacrifices and ceremonies which were different in different 
 places. It is further to be recollected that the Greeks be- 
 lieved their gods to be very little superior in moral qualities 
 to themselves, and they feared that if promises of more 
 splendid and abundant sacrifices and offerings were made to 
 them they might not be able to resist the temptation. As 
 the best mode of escaping the calamity of being deserted by 
 their patrons, they adopted the expedient of concealing 
 their names, and excluding strangers from their worship. 
 Private families in like manner excluded their fellow-citi- 
 zens from their family sacrifices ; and in those states where 
 ancient aerolites and the like were preserved as ancient 
 Palladia, the sight of them was restricted to the magis- 
 trates and the principal persons in the state. 
 
 The worship of Ceres and Proserpina was the national 
 and secret religion of the Eleusinians, from which the 
 Athenians were of course excluded, as well as the other 
 Greeks ; but when Eleusis was conquered, and the two 
 states coalesced, the Athenians became participators in 
 the worship of these deities. Gradually, with the advance 
 of knowledge, and the decline of superstition and national 
 illiberality, admission to witness the # solemn rites celebrated 
 each year at Eleusis, was extended to all Greeks of either 
 sex and of every rank, provided they came at the proper 
 time, had committed no inexpiable offence, had performed 
 the requisite previous ceremonies, and were introduced by 
 an Athenian citizen. These mysteries, as they were term- 
 ed, were performed with some splendor at the expense of 
 the state, and under the superintendence of the magis- 
 trates ; hence it follows, as a necessary consequence, that 
 
rixtiiuoS- APOLLO. 
 
 121 
 
 the rites could have contained nothing that was grossly 
 immoral. 
 
 PHQEBOS-APOLLO. 
 
 The Grecian Apollo is one of those divine representa- 
 tions that are completely finished to the finest strokes and 
 features. Fancy, adorning him with the charms of eternal 
 youth, calls him the far-shooting god, who bends the silver 
 bow ; and the father of poetry, who plays on the golden 
 harp. But since Apollo cannot fulfil the various tasks of 
 being on earth the divine patron and teacher of poesy and 
 music — of delighting the gods on Olympos with his lyre 
 and song, and at the same time driving the chariot of the 
 sun, the imagination of the poets seems to have blended 
 the two persons of Helios and Apollo merely for the sake of 
 unity, while in fact they recognized two different beings ; 
 the one going up and down the sky as the shining sun, the 
 other wandering on the earth, a new born, immortal youth, 
 with golden locks, charming the hearts of gods and men 
 with play and song. 
 
 The chief archetype of Apollo is the sun’s rays, in eter- 
 nal and youthful splendor. It assumes human form, and 
 with it, rises to perfect beauty, in which the very expres- 
 sion of destructive power melts away in the harmony of 
 the youthful features. As in the rays of the sun, that are 
 both beneficent and destructive, fertilizing and producing 
 decay, creation and destruction are united, so the divine 
 form of which those rays are the archetype, unites in itself 
 both terror and mildness. For the god of beauty and 
 youth, who delights in lyre and song, carries at the same 
 time the quiver upon his shoulder, draws the silver bow, 
 and in wrath sends his arrows among men to cause by 
 their means contagious sickness ; or he kills them with his 
 *oft weapons. 
 
 The twins of Latona, Apollo and Diana, are the twins 
 6 
 
i 22 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 deities of death, who divide the human race between them. 
 Apollo takes man for his aim, and Diana, woman ; and thus 
 they kill with mild arrow, those who are overcome with 
 old age ; — like the leaves of verdant trees, that keep them- 
 selves in a state of sempiternal bloom and fresh color, 
 merely by successively falling to decay, or like those sacred 
 doves of Jupiter, which, flying by the dangerous Scylla, 
 always lose one of their company, which is instantly re- 
 placed by the father of the gods, lest the number be im- 
 paired. Thus one generation of men imperceptibly makes 
 room for another ; and whoever falls asleep overpowered 
 by age and infirmity, is said, in the language of poetry, to 
 have been killed by a soothing weapon, either from the 
 hand of Apollo or Diana. 
 
 That this was the way of thinking among the ancients, 
 appears from the manner in which they express themselves. 
 <fc The small, happy island where I was born,” relates the 
 swineherd Eumaeos to Ulysses, u is situated beneath a 
 healthy and benevolent sky ; there men are not swept 
 away by odious sickness ; but when old age comes ojfer 
 them, Diana or Apollo appears with silver bow, and kills 
 them with arrows that give no pain.” (Od. xv. 402.) And 
 when Ulysses, in the lower world, asks the shade of his 
 mother in what manner she had died, he receives the 
 answer, “ Not Diana’s soft arrow has killed me, nor has 
 sickness taken me away ; but the longing after thee, my 
 son, and my grief for thy fate, deprived me of sweet life.” 
 (Od. xi. 196.) 
 
 Neither Apollo nor Diana, however, has always this 
 pleasing and beneficent appearance. From time to time, 
 the god of the silver bow is seen angry at the inhabitants 
 of the earth ; and then he walks forth like a black cloud, 
 or the dark night itself, and the quiver rings on his back 
 as he moves on with hasty anger. u Then he sends his 
 arrows into the camp of the Greeks, there to produce con 
 
PHCEBOS- APOLLO. 
 
 123 
 
 tagious sickness, which sweeps away man by man, and 
 suffers not the flames of the funeral piles to be extin- 
 guished.” (II. i. 44.) And in the same manner the wrath 
 of Diana brings destruction upon Actseon and the children 
 of Niobe. 
 
 Still, serenity, benevolence, and loveliness constitute the 
 chief character of Apollo ; and he whose arrow wounds, 
 heals again. Not only is he venerated under the name 
 of the Healing, but he is also the father and teacher of 
 iEsculapius, who is acquainted with the means of soothing 
 every pain, and knows a medicine for every sickness, and 
 who, by his art, can save even from death itself. 
 
 With reference to this turn of character, an ancient poet, 
 endeavoring to fill the mind with serenity and joy, sug- 
 gests the following consolation : “ If thou art afflicted now, 
 and mourning, it will not always be thus ; for not always 
 does Apollo bend his bow ; soon will he awaken again the 
 silent Muse to play and song.” (Horace, Lib. ii. Od. x.) 
 
 In all these fictions, the image of Helios is to be recog- 
 nized : it is the animating sunbeam which awakens the 
 heart to gaiety and song. It is also the all-seeing, the 
 all-discovering sunbeam, that assumed a form in the pro- 
 phesying Apollo, as well as in Apollo the herdsman ; for 
 those flocks that graze without herdsmen and shepherds, 
 are, as fiction asserts, watched by the all seeing sun. Yet, 
 all these grand features are embodied in the more tender 
 form of that Apollo whose parents were Jupiter and La- 
 tona. He is the shepherd of king Admetos’ flocks ; he 
 inspires the divining Pythia ; he leads the choruses of the 
 Muses. n 
 
 Fable says that on the isle of Delos he awoke to life; 
 and soon after his birth, the divine power that dwelt in 
 him speedily developed itself. The august goddesses, The- 
 mis, Rhea, Dione, and Aphrodite, were present at his birth, 
 and wrapped him in soft habiliments. Thetis gave him 
 
124 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 nectar and ambrosia ; and when he had tasted the divine 
 food, his swathing bands no longer confined him ; the di- 
 vine boy stood on his feet, and even his tongue was loosed. 
 “ The golden lyre, 57 cried he, “ shall be my joy ; the carved 
 bow my pleasure ; and in oracles will I reveal the events 
 of futurity. 57 And when he had thus spoken, now a bloom- 
 ing youth, he walked forth majestically over mountains 
 and islands. He came to Pytho, with its craggy summits, 
 and there arose, as swift as thought, into the assembly of 
 the celestials. There then at once reigned lyre and song; 
 the Graces tenderly embracing their friends and com- 
 panions, the Horae, joined with them in the Olympian 
 dance ; while the Muses, with harmonious voice, sang the 
 joy of the blessed immortals ; the grief of mortal men, who 
 know no means of escaping old age and death. 
 
 When Apollo afterwards descended from the Olympian 
 seat, he killed, on the very spot from which his oracles 
 were to spread over the earth, the dragon Python, and the 
 beams of the sun caused the slain monster to decay. 
 There, in the deep, rocky valley of Parnassus, stood the 
 famous temple of Apollo, and over the cleft of a cavern, 
 the tripod was placed on which the priestess sat, through 
 whose mouth the god revealed the future. 
 
 The tradition of the birth of Apollo on the floating island 
 of Delos, is taken from the Egyptian mythology, which 
 asserts that the son <5f Vulcan, supposed to be Or us, was 
 saved by his mother Isis from the persecution of Typhon, 
 and intrusted to the care of Latona, in the island of Chem- 
 nis. The ancient origin of the god is clearly shown, even 
 in his very name ; and a very striking analogy exists 
 between the Apollo of the Greeks and the Crishna of the 
 Hindoos. Both are inventors of the flute ; Crishna is 
 deceived by the nymph Tulasi, as Apollo is by Daphne ; 
 and the two maidens are each changed into trees, of 
 which the Tula<n is sacred to Crishna, and the Bay tree 
 
PHCEBOS-APOLLO. 
 
 125 
 
 to Apollo. The victory of Crishna over the serpent Calya- 
 naga, on the borders of Yamuna, recalls to mind that of 
 Apollo over the serpent Python ; and it is worthy of re- 
 mark, that the vanquished reptiles respectively participate 
 in the homage that is rendered to the victors. 
 
 It appears that the ancient Egyptians, after having 
 ascertained the. great benefit of the inundation, changed 
 the name of their evil genius, the water monster, from Ob 
 to Python, which had reference to the deadly effects of 
 the miasmata, arising from the steam of the mud which 
 the deluge had left upon the earth ; and in this, he is 
 plainly making an allusion to Typhon, which, by a simple 
 transposition, is the same name. In making Python spring 
 from the slime of the deluge, does not the poet intend to 
 point out the noxious vapors that rise in Egypt after the 
 Nile has subsided? And when he says that Apollo slew 
 him with his arrows, does he not conceal, under this em 
 blem, the victory of Orus over Typhon, or. at least, the 
 triumphs of the sunbeams over the vapors of the Nile? 
 Python, says Bailey, is derived from Putho to putrify. and 
 the serpent Python being slain by Apollo, is thus inter- 
 preted : by Python is understood the ruin of the waters : 
 Apollo slew this serpent with his arrows ; that is, the 
 beams of the sun dispersed the noxious vapors which de- 
 stroyed man like a devouring serpent. 
 
 A very strong affinity exists between the religious sys 
 terns of Egypt and Greece. We find the same animal, the 
 wolf, which, by its oblique course, typified the path of the 
 star of day. consecrated to the sun, both at Licopolis and 
 Delphi. This emblem transfers to the Greek traditions, 
 the fables relative to the combats of Osiris. The Egyptian 
 comes to the aid of his son Horus under the figure of a 
 wolf; and Latona, the mother of Apollo, disguises herself 
 in the same form when she quits the Hyperborean region 
 to take refuge in Delos. 
 
1 2b 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 In the festival of the Daphnephoria, celebrated ever} 
 ninth year, in honor of Apollo, it is impossible not to see 
 an astronomical character. It took its name from the 
 laurel, or bay tree, which the finest youths of the city car- 
 ried in solemn procession, and which was adorned with 
 flowers and branches of olives. To an olive tree, decorated 
 in its turn with branches of laurel and flowers intertwined, 
 and the lowest part covered with a veil of purple, were sus- 
 pended brazen globes of different sizes, types of the sun 
 and planets, and ornamented with purple garlands, the 
 number of which (three hundred and sixty-five) was the 
 symbol of the solar year. On the altar, too, burned a 
 flame, the agitation, color, and crackling of which served to 
 reveal the future ; a species of divination peculiar to the 
 sacerdotal order, and which prevailed also at Olympia in 
 Elis, the centre of most of the sacerdotal usages of the day. 
 
 At the head of the procession walked a youth, whose 
 father and mother must be living. This youth was, ac- 
 cording to Pausanias, chosen priest of Apollo every year, 
 and called Bay-Bearer. He was always strong, of a hand- 
 some figure, and selected from the most distinguished 
 families of Thebes. Immediately before this youthful 
 priest, walked his nearest kinsman, who bore the adorned 
 olive wood. The priest followed, bearing in his hand a bay- 
 branch ; his hair dishevelled and floating, wearing a golden 
 crown, and a magnificent robe, which reached down to his 
 feet, and a kind of shoe which was introduced by Iphicra- 
 tes ; behind the priest followed a choir of maidens, with 
 boughs in their hands, and singing hymns. In this manner 
 the procession went to the temple of Apollo Ismenius. It 
 would seem from Pausanias, that all the boys of the town 
 wore laurel garlands on this occasion, and that it was cus- 
 tomary for the sons of wealthy parents to dedicate to the 
 god brazen tripods ; a considerable number of which were 
 seen by Pausanias himself Among them was one which 
 
PHCEBOS-APOLLO. 
 
 127 
 
 was said to have been dedicated by Amphitryon at the time 
 when Hercules was Daphnephoros. • This last circumstance 
 shows that the Daphnephoria, whatever changes may have 
 been subsequently introduced, was a very ancient festival. 
 
 There was a great similarity between this festival and a 
 solemn rite observed by the Delphi ans, who every ninth 
 year sent a sacred boy to Tempe. This boy went on the 
 sacred road and returned home as Bay-Bearer, amid the 
 joyful songs and choruses of maidens. This solemnity was 
 observed in commemoration of the purification of Apojlo 
 at the altar in Tempe, whither he fled after killing the 
 Python. 
 
 The Athenians seem likewise to have celebrated a fes- 
 tival of the same nature ; but the only mention we have of 
 it is in Proclus, who says that the Athenians honored the 
 seventh day as sacred to Apollo ; that they carried bay- 
 boughs, and the basket containing what appertained to the 
 sacrifice, adorned with garlands, and sang hymns. 
 
 The worship of Apollo was universal, and his power ac- 
 knowledged in every country; but more particularly in 
 Egypt, Greece, and Italy, where temples and statues were 
 erected to his honor. His most famous temple was at Del- 
 phi ; his statue, which stood upon mount Action, was par- 
 ticularly famous. It was seen from a great distance at 
 sea, and was a mark to mariners in navigating that dan- 
 gerous coast. Before the battle of Actium, Augustus ad- 
 dressed himself to it for victory. He had a famous colossus 
 at Rhodes which was one of the seven wonders of the 
 world.* 
 
 This colossus, or brazen statue of the sun, was placed 
 
 * The following enumeration is generally given of the Seven Wonders 
 of the World : The Colossus of Rhodes, the Temple of Diana at Ephesus, 
 the statue of Jupiter Olympius, the gardens of Babylon supported on pil- 
 lars, the Walls of Babylon, the Pyramids of Egypt, and the tomb of 
 Mausoleus. 
 
128 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 across the mouth of the harbor ; and its legs stretched tt 
 such a distance, that a large ship under sail might easilj 
 pass between them. It was seventy cubits high, or a hun- 
 dred English feet ; its fingers were as long as ordinary 
 statues ; and few men could with both arms grasp one of 
 its thumbs. Scarcely sixty years had elapsed before this 
 work of art was thrown down by an earthquake, which 
 broke it off at the knees, where it remained till the con- 
 quest of Rhodes by the Saracens (A. D. 684), when it was 
 beaten to pieces, and sold to a Jew merchant, who loaded 
 nine hundred camels with its spoils. 
 
 Apollo is generally represented with long hair, and the 
 Romans were fond of imitating his figure ; therefore, their 
 youth were remarkable for fine hair, which was not cut 
 short until the age of seventeen or eighteen. He is 
 always represented in the perfection of united manly 
 strength and beauty ; holding in his hand either a bow or 
 a lyre, and his head generally surrounded with rays of 
 light. 
 
 Among the poetical fictions of the ancients, that of 
 A.pollo is one of the most sublime and lovely, because it 
 dissolves the idea of a destructive power in that of youth 
 and beauty ; thus harmoniously combining two ideas en- 
 tirely opposite. It seems owing to this circumstance, too, 
 that plastic art in the most beautiful representation of 
 Apollo, which, as a sacred bequest of antiquity, was spared 
 by alhdestroying time, had attained to a degree of perfection 
 comprising all that is truly beautiful, the sight of which 
 fills the soul with admiration, because of the harmonious 
 multiplicity it expresses. The Apollo Belvidere is esteem- 
 ed the most excellent and sublime of all the ancient pro- 
 ductions. It was found about twelve leagues from Rome, 
 in the ruins of ancient Antium, and purchased by Pope 
 Julius II. when a cardinal; he removed it to the Belvi- 
 dere of the Vatican from whence it takes its name. 
 
PHCEBOS-AJOLLO. 
 
 129 
 
 Apollo Musagetes is another celebrated statue which 
 takes its name from his occupation as Musagetes or con- 
 ductor of the songs of the Muses. 
 
 The animals and birds consecrated to Apollo were the 
 wolf and hawk, as symbols of his piercing eye ; the crow 
 and raven, from their supposed faculty of presiding over 
 the future ; the cock, which announces the dawn, and fore- 
 tells the rising of the sun ; the swan, because from Apollo 
 it is supposed to have a faculty of divination, and fore- 
 seeing happiness in death, dies singing ; the grasshopper, 
 from its tuneful powers, and hence the custom among the 
 Athenians of fastening golden grasshoppers in their hair 
 in i nor of Apollo. 
 
 As the natural enemies of the flocks over which he pre- 
 sided, wolves and hawks were offered in sacrifice to him ; 
 also bullocks and lambs. The olive tree was sacred tc 
 him, as its fruits cannot ripen without his influence; and 
 the laurel, always flourishing, ever young, and conducing 
 to divination, furnished the leaves with which he was often 
 crowned. 
 
 The first discovery of the oracle at Delphi is said to 
 have been occasioned by some goats, who were feeding on 
 Mount Parnassos, near a deep and large cavern with a 
 narrow mouth. These goats were observed by a goatherd 
 (called by Plutarch, Ceretas) to leap and frisk strangely, 
 and as they approached the cavern, to utter unusual sounds ; 
 his curiosity excited him to examine it, when he found 
 himself seized with a like fit of madness, skipping, danc- 
 ing, and foretelling things to come. 
 
 At the news of this discovery, multitudes flocked thith- 
 er ; and the place was soon covered with a kind of chapel, 
 originally made of laurel boughs, but finally converted into 
 a temple of great magnitude and splendor. Such indeed 
 was its reputation, and so great the multitude that came 
 
APOLLO MUSAGETES. 
 
PHCEBOS- APOLLO. 
 
 131 
 
 from all parts to consult the oracle, that the riches brought 
 into the temple and city became comparable to that of 
 the Persian kings. 
 
 At first, the whole mystery requisite for obtaining the 
 prophetic gift, was, to approach the cavern and inhale the 
 vapor issuing therefrom ; but at length, several enthusiasts 
 having in the excess of their frenzy cast themselves head- 
 long into the chasm, it was thought expedient, by way 
 of prevention, to place over the hole whence the vapor 
 issued, a machine which they called a tripod, because it 
 stood upon three feet. Upon this a woman was seated, 
 when she imbibed the vapor without danger, as the tripod 
 stood firmly upon the rock. This priestess was named 
 Pythia., the Greek etymology of which word is to inquire. 
 
 The Pythia, before placing herself upon the tripod ? 
 bathed in the waters of the fountain Castalis, at the foot 
 of Parnassos, and also crowned herself with the leaves 
 of a laurel tree that grew near the place. While seated 
 upon the tripod she was closely surrounded by the priests 
 of the temple. The sanctuary itself was entirely covered 
 with bay-branches ; in addition to this, the burning in- 
 cense overclouded every thing as if with mysterious night, 
 which no profane curiosity ventured to investigate. 
 
 The priestess was originally a virgin ; but the institution 
 was changed when Echecrates, a Thessalian, had offered 
 violence to one of them, and none but women above the 
 age of fifty were permitted to enter upon that sacred 
 office. They always appeared dressed in the garments of 
 virgins to intimate their purity and modesty, and they 
 were solemnly bound to observe the strictest laws of temper- 
 ance and chastity, that neither fantastical dresses nor las- 
 civious behavior might bring the religion or sanctity of the 
 place into contempt. 
 
 There was originally but one Pythia, besides subordi- 
 nate priests ; afterwards two were chosen, and sometimes 
 
132 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 more. The most celebrated priestess was Phemonoe, sup- 
 posed to be the first that gave oracles at Delphi. They 
 were said to have been agitated by strange and ghastly 
 contortions on ascending the tripod, which resulted no 
 doubt from the anguish of convulsed and shattered nerves. 
 At times they attempted to escape from the priests, who 
 detained them by force. At length, yielding to the im- 
 pulse of the god, they gave forth some unconnected words, 
 which were put into wretched verse by the poets who 
 attended, giving occasion to the raillery, that Apollo, though 
 prince of the Muses, was the worst of poets. This oracle, 
 like all others, was obscure and ambiguous, and not inac- 
 cessible to the temptation of corruption. 
 
 The oracle could be consulted only on certain days ; 
 and excepting on these, the priestess was forbidden on 
 pain of death to enter the sanctuary of Apollo. Alex- 
 ander, before his expedition into Asia, came to Delphi on 
 one of those forbidden days, and entreated Pythia to 
 mount the tripod, which she steadily refused to do. The 
 impetuous prince, not brooking opposition, drew her by 
 force from her cell ; on their way to the temple, she ex- 
 claimed, “ My son, thou art invincible !” As soon as these 
 words were pronounced, Alexander declared himself satis- 
 fied, and would have no other oracle. It was always re- 
 quired that those who consulted the oracle should make 
 large presents to Apollo ; and hence arose the opulence, 
 splendor, and magnificence of the temple at Delphi. 
 
 The Pythian games celebrated in honor of Apollo near 
 the temple at Delphi, were, according to the most received 
 opinion, first instituted by Apollo himself, in commemora- 
 tion of his victory over the serpent Python. They were 
 originally celebrated once in nine years, and afterwards 
 every fifth year. According to some authors the gods 
 Were among the combatants, and the first prizes won by 
 
PHCEBOS-APOLLO. 
 
 133 
 
 Pollux in boxing, Castor in the horse race, Hercules in 
 the Pancratium, Zetes in fighting with armor, Telamon 
 in wrestling, and Peleus in throwing the quoit. These 
 illustrious conquerors are said to have been rewarded by 
 Apollo himself, who was present with crowns and laurels. 
 Others say, that it was merely a musical contest, in which 
 he who best sang the praises of Apollo obtained the prize, 
 which was presents of gold or silver, and afterwards chan- 
 ged to a garland of the palm tree. The songs which were 
 sung were called the Pythian, and were divided into five 
 parts, containing a representation of the victory of Apollo 
 over the serpent Python. A dance was also introduced ; 
 and in the 48th Olympiad, the Amphictyons, who presided 
 over the games, increased the number of musical instru- 
 ments by the addition of the flute ; but as that instrument 
 was more particularly used in funeral songs and lamenta- 
 tions, it was soon rejected as unfit for merriment, and the 
 festivals which represented the triumph of Apollo over the 
 conquered serpent. 
 
 Pausanias states, that the most ancient temple of Apollo 
 at Delphi was formed with branches of laurel ; and that 
 the branches were cut from the tree that was at Tempe 
 The form of the temple resembled a cottage. After men- 
 tioning a second and a third, the one raised, as the Del 
 phians said, by bees, from wax and wings, and sent b} 
 Apollo to the Hyperboreans, and the other built of brass, 
 he adds, that to this succeeded a fourth and more stately 
 edifice of stone. Here were deposited the numerous pre- 
 sents of Glyges and Midas, Alyattes and Crcesus, as well 
 as those of the Sybarites, Spinatae, and Siceliots ; each 
 prince and nation having their separate chapel or treas- 
 ury for the reception of those offerings, with an inscription 
 attesting the name of the donor, and the occasion of the 
 gift. 
 
134 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 ARTEMIS OR DIANA. 
 
 Artemis, the daughter of Zeus and Leto, or Latona, and 
 twin sister of Apollo, was the goddess of chastity, of the 
 chase and the woods. As a celestial deity, she was Luna 
 or the moon ; as a terrestrial goddess, Artemis or Dictyna ; 
 and in the infernal regions, Hecate, or Persephone. She 
 was supposed to enlighten heaven b}^ her rays, to restrain 
 wild animals by her bow and dart on earth, and to keep in 
 awe the multitude of ghosts in the regions below. 
 
 Her father, Zeus, at her earnest entreaties, granted her 
 the sempiternal state of a virgin ; she then took up her 
 bow and arrows, kindled her flambeau at Zeus’ lightning, 
 and accompanied by her nymphs went forth through the 
 dark forests and woody mountains. Bending her silver 
 bow, she sends forth the fatal shafts on every side ; the 
 tops of the mountains tremble, and the forests resound with 
 the panting of the wounded deer. 
 
 Yet, even in the tumult of the chase, the goddess does 
 not forget her divine brother, whom, of all immortals, she 
 loves most. After having enjoyed herself in the sylvan 
 sport in which she delighted — speeding over the hills, fol- 
 lowed by a train of nymphs, in pursuit of the flying game, 
 she unbends her bow, hastens to Delphi, the residence of 
 the shining Apollo, suspends there her weapon, and leads 
 the choruses of the Muses and Graces, who chant forth the 
 praises of the heavenly Leto because she was the mother 
 of such children; 
 
 Diana shines brightest as the sister of Phoebos-Apollo, 
 who sheds upon her his own glorious splendor. United 
 with him, she with terrible arrows kills the children of 
 Niobe; in union with him, she directs her soothing weap- 
 ons against the families of men, who, like withering leaves, 
 are to make room for generations to come. She is said to 
 have prepared herself for this, by trying her arrows first 
 on trees, then on animals, and lastly on a lawless city, an- 
 
ARTEMIS OR DIANA. 
 
 135 
 
 noying its inhabitants with pernicious shafts that carried 
 sickness and plagues along with them. 
 
 The archetype of Diana is the shining moon ; who, cold 
 and chaste, scatters her modest, silver light over mountain- 
 tops and forest glades. The chasteness of Diana is a fear- 
 ful trait in her character, as witnessed in the fate of Actae- 
 on, the hunter, who surprised her when bathing. He fell 
 a victim to her offended, virgin modesty, for she imme- 
 diately changed him into a stag, and suffered his own dogs 
 to devour him. 
 
 Another example of her severity is afforded in that 
 unfortunate priestess of hers who profaned her sanctuary 
 by receiving into it the youth whom she loved. The 
 offended goddeslS punished the whole country with plagues 
 and pestilence, until the guilty couple were sacrificed upon 
 her altar. Virgins making the vow of chastity devoted 
 themselves to Diana, who, with dreadful punishments 
 avenged the violation of this vow. Whenever therefore, 
 one of the virgins who by sacred promises had become a 
 devoted priestess of Diana, changing her resolution, wished 
 to marry, she trembled at the thought of the vengeance 
 of her goddess, and endeavored to reconcile her by suppli- 
 cations and sacrifices 
 
 During the Trojan war, Diana ventured to challenge the 
 stronger Juno ; but she had reason to repent of her for- 
 ward boldness when made to feel the powerful arm of Ju- 
 piter’s spouse. The deer of the mountain thou canst 
 kill, but not fight against those who are stranger than 
 thou ” Thus saying, Juno, with her left hand laid hold 
 of both Diana’s took off with her right the quiver from 
 the shoulder ^f the poor prisoner, and struck her with it on 
 either cheek so that the arrows were scattered upon the 
 ground Like a timid dove escaped from the claws of a 
 hawk, so fied Diana, weeping, and leaving her quiver 
 
136 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 which, together with the scattered i&afts, were taken up 
 and restored to her by Latona. (II. xi. 480.) 
 
 Although these divine persons act in the manner of hu 
 man beings, the fiction itself, if viewed as a whole, is not 
 destitute of beauty. The same dreadful quiver from which 
 deadly arrows spread over the race of mortals, is an easy 
 toy in the hands of the august Juno, who uses it as an in- 
 strument wherewith to chastise the forward insolence of 
 the less powerful Diana ; and the latter, whose blushing 
 cheeks feel the blows of that quiver inflicted by a stronger 
 hand, accoutred with which she is accustomed to walk forth 
 in majestic pride, affords a striking picture of female power 
 deeply humbled. 
 
 The wiser Apollo, when challenged by Neptune, on the 
 same occasion, returns his antagonist this answer : 44 Why 
 should I fight with thee for the sake of miserable mortals, 
 who, like the leaves of trees, last but a short time, and 
 then wither away? Let us refrain from fighting, and let 
 them carry on the war among themselves.” (II. xi. 461.) 
 
 Diana was supposed to be the same as the Isis ot the 
 Egyptians, whose worship was introduced into Greece, with 
 that of Osiris, under the name of Apollo. In the previous 
 article we have spoken of the change produced by Grecian 
 ideas on the attributes and worship of that Deity, and a 
 change no less remarkable took place in that of Diana 
 
 At Delos she is evidently a cosmogonical power : tor 
 there she is the mother of Eros, who, in the Theogoniea, 
 is always taken for the creative force. With the Scythi- 
 ans, she is a ferocious goddess, of a frightful form, and 
 eager after the blood of men. As such she first appeared 
 to the Spartans ; since, at the very sight of her, they were 
 seized with fright bordering on delirium. In Colchis, she 
 has so little of the Grecian character as to defend the gold- 
 en fleece against the attempts of the Argonauts. Her 
 
ARTEMIS OR DIANA. 
 
 137 
 
 hounds guard the seven doors of the enclosure which con- 
 tains the precious treasure, and her voice issues commands 
 to monsters that recall the fictions of India. At Ephesus, 
 the slightest inspection of her figure betrays the sacerdo- 
 tal imprint. But how different a being is she in the Gre- 
 cian mythology ! And yet, on a closer inspection, we shall 
 find that even here none of her attributes are completely 
 lost. Diana is the goddess of the chase ; and Isis, accom- 
 panied by her faithful hounds and the dog-headed Anubis, 
 searched for the body of her husband ; and the companions 
 of Isis become the pack of Diana. Diana guides in the 
 heavens the silvery globe that dissipates the obscurity of 
 the night, and her bow is adorned with the splendors of the 
 crescent ; Isis is also the moon, and the crescent appears 
 among the ornaments of the goddess at Ephesus. Diana is 
 the cause of the infirmities of women, strikes them with 
 delirium, and sometimes with death ; Isis was once the 
 Tithrambo of Egypt, or the moon viewed with reference to 
 its unhealthy influence. 
 
 In the same manner, Diana becomes Hecate, slain by 
 Hercules and resuscitated by Phorcys. And yet, so great 
 is the repugnance of the Greeks to admit any thing into 
 their religious system which may have a reference to 
 science, that as they separate Apollo and Helios, so they 
 make two distinct deities of Diana and Selene ; and thus 
 render the goddess of the chase more free, more indepen- 
 dent, and possessed of more individuality. 
 
 A chaste virgin, she defies the power of love, and pun- 
 ishes with severity the errors of her attendant nymphs. 
 This notion of virginity, prevalent even in the worship of 
 the savage nations, is an idea natural to man, and which 
 sacerdotal influence seeks to record and prolong. With 
 the Greeks, however, over whom none of this influence was 
 exercised, such an attribute becomes an object of second- 
 ary importance, and is considered the effect of caprice, or 
 
138 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 of the modesty of a young female ; and the poets at one 
 time throw doubts on its reality, and at another upon its 
 duration. Yet, virgin as she is, Diana presides over the 
 birth of children, a combination in which no one can mis- 
 take the union of the power which destroys with that which 
 creates. We see, then, how incoherent are the traces of 
 sacerdotal ideas, which survive this strange metamorphosis. 
 The Hertha of Scythia, the Bendis of Thrace, the Isis of 
 Egypt, the Diana of Ephesus, that motionless, enigmatical, 
 and fettered mummy, become, beneath Grecian skies, a 
 young and active huntress, who, in her course as rapid as 
 the winds, pursues on the mountain tops the timid inha- 
 bitants of the woods. 
 
 # 
 
 Diana is always represented as taller by the head than 
 her attendants ; her face somewhat manly, her legs bare, 
 well shaped and strong, her feet sometimes bare, and some- 
 times covered with the cothurnus* or buskin of the ancient 
 hunters. By poets and artists, she is represented as armed 
 with bow and arrows, and has threescore nymphs in her 
 train. She is also represented with a quiver and attend- 
 ed by dogs, and sometimes drawn in a chariot by two 
 white stags or her nymphs. Again, she appears with 
 wings, holding a lion with one hand and a panther in the 
 Dther ; or in a chariot drawn by two horses, one white and 
 3tie black. 
 
 The representations of this goddess are generally known 
 by the crescent on her head, by the dogs which attend 
 
 * Cothurnus was a kind of boot or buskin worn by the hunters, and 
 ilso by actors of tragedy, when they represented the characters of gods 
 or heroes. They differed from the sandal , which was a mere sole tied 
 about the toes and ancles with thongs and straps of leather, while the co* 
 tkurnus covered the foot and leg as high as the calf, and was orna 
 mented with gold, gems, and ivory. 
 
ARTEMIS OR DIANA. 
 
 139 
 
 her, and by her 
 hunting habit. As 
 the celestial Dia- 
 na, Hie is described 
 by Statius as of 
 m? estic stature ; 
 and, in the council 
 of the gods, ap- 
 pears with the bow 
 and quiver on her 
 shoulders. 
 
 The Diana Tri- 
 form is, also called 
 Hecate, and Trivia 
 by Ovid, Horace, 
 and Virgil, when 
 her statues stood 
 where three roads 
 met. is represented 
 by these poets as 
 having three heads, 
 and sometimes with three bodies. She was frequently in 
 voked in enchantments, as being the infernal Diana, and 
 then appears more like a Fury than a celestial goddess. 
 
 In antique sculpture, Diana is frequently represented 
 as descending with her head veiled to a shepherd who is 
 sleeping. This fable might have originated from an eclipse 
 of the moon ; if so, her veil would be the most significant 
 and characteristic part of her costume. The ancients repre- 
 sented death under the symbol of the sleeping Endymion, 
 aad upon marble coffins, enclosing the ashes of youths who 
 had fallen early into the toinb ; Diana is to be seen descend- 
 ing from on high to the lips of the happy slumberer. 
 
 The inhabitants of Taurica were particularly attached to 
 
140 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 tlie worship of this goddess, and cruelly offered on hei 
 altars all strangers who were shipwrecked on their coasts. 
 In Asia her temple was served by a priest who had always 
 murdered his predecessor, and the Lacedaemonians yearly 
 offered her victims till the age of Lycurgos, who changed 
 this barbarous custom to that of flagellation. Her most- 
 famous temple was that at Ephesus. 
 
 ARES OR MARS. 
 
 Ares, the son of Zeus and Hera, and the god of war, 
 presided over gladiators, and whatever exercises and amuse- 
 ments were manly and warlike. 
 
 From his name the hill at Athens, the assembling place 
 of that court of judicature so renowned for its justice, was 
 called Areiopagos ; and also the hill of Ares, because he 
 was said to have been tried there for the murder of Hallir- 
 rothios, son of Poseidon. 
 
 Ares is generally represented in the figure of a man, 
 armed with a helmet, pike, and shielcf, or in a chariot drawn 
 by furious horses, called by the poets Flight and Terror. 
 Sometimes Discord precedes him in tattered garments, 
 while Clamor and Anger follow behind. 
 
 His companion, Bellona, daughter of Phorcys and Keto, 
 was called Enyo by the Greeks. She was anciently called 
 Duelliona, and according to some was the sister of Ares, or 
 to others, his daughter, or wife, and was often confounded 
 with Athena, the goddess of war. She prepared the chariot 
 of Ares for battle, drove the horses, and also appeared in 
 battles with dishevelled hair, a torch in her left hand, and 
 the right armed with a whip which she used to animate the 
 combatants. 
 
 Thus we see that to the dreadful and terrible, even to 
 destructive war, the imagination of the ancients ascribed 
 personality. Thus they tempered the idea of that wild, 
 impetuous power that rages like a tempest through the 
 
ARES OR MARS. 
 
 141 
 
 host engaged in the bloody strife, that breaks helmets, 
 dashes weapons to pieces, and crushes chariots ; that throws 
 alike to the ground the valiant and the faint-hearted in the 
 whirling 'storm of the battle, triumphing over its wasting 
 destruction. The human form in which this terrible ap- 
 pearance was embodied by imagination, and associated in 
 the assembly of the gods, presented a model to the war- 
 rior, the majesty of which he partly appropriated to him- 
 self by bold and valorous deeds. 
 
 That the human form of Ares should be dissolved from 
 time to time in the idea of the fighting army itself, lies in 
 the nature of poetical representations. Thus, when in a 
 combat before Troy, he was wounded by the valiant Dio- 
 medes, aided by Athena, he roared, as the poet tells us, 
 like ten thousand men, so that on hearing the voice of the 
 brazen god of war, terror seized both Greeks and Trojans. 
 Enveloped in clouds, he immediately ascended to Olympos, 
 appearing to Diomedes as the nightly gloom that precedes 
 a tempest. On arriving at the abode of the immortal 
 gods, he complained to Zeus of the audacity of men. But 
 Zeus reproved him with angry words : u Trouble me not 
 with thy complaints, inconstant ! Thou art to me the most 
 odious of all the gods that dwell in Olympos ; for thou 
 knowest no other pleasure than strife, war. and contest. 
 In thee dwells the whole character of thy mother, and 
 hadst thou been the son of another god, and not my own, 
 thou wouldst long ago have lain deeper than the sons of 
 Uranos .” (II. v. 850.) 
 
 The inconstancy of Mars, with which he is reproached, 
 not only by his father, but also by Minerva, who calls 
 him a deserter, that now sides with one enemy now with 
 another, implies the idea of war itself, represented by poe- 
 try as something that exists, as it were, for its own sake, 
 not caring if the bustle and tumult of the battle are con 
 tinued, who are the conquered, and who the conquerors 
 
142 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY, 
 
 Although the violent and inconstant Mars was often 
 reproved and upbraided by Jupiter and Minerva, the more 
 gentle and meek deities, and for this very reason the more 
 powerful, he still held his seat among the celestials; and 
 on earth, temples and altars were erected to his honor. 
 Indeed, by his youthful impetuosity, he even contrived to 
 win the love of the tender Yenus, who, unmindful of her 
 duty towards her husband, maintained a secret intercourse 
 with the god of war. From this disguised connection be- 
 tween the tender and the violent, Harmonia was produced ; 
 who afterwards became the wife of Cadmos, the founder of 
 Thebes. 
 
 In the same manner as Venus binds the impetuous god 
 of war by her tenderness, Minerva restrains his violence 
 by her wisdom For when on a certain occasion, the threat- 
 ening injunction of Jupiter prohibited the gods from tak* 
 ing any part in the contests between the Greeks and 
 Trojans, and Mars had been apprised that in one of their 
 fights, Ascalaphus was slain, immediately commanded his 
 servants, Fear and Terror, to put hi3 horses to his chariot; 
 then taking up his glittering arms he thus addressed the 
 inhabitants of Oiyinpos: “Be not angry with me, c les- 
 tials, because I go to avenge the death of my son As ;ala*. 
 phus ; my paternal heart will not suffer me to remain tran- 
 quil, even though Jupiter should hurl his lightnings upon 
 me.” Minerva spraug from her seat, and pulling his brazen 
 spear out of his hand, tore the helmet from his head, and 
 the shield from his shoulder. u Madman,” she cried, “ thou 
 wilt bring ruinupon us all, if Jove’s wrath be excited to 
 the utmost ! Refrain from thy anger, for many lie slain 
 who were stronger than thy son, and many stronger than 
 he will yet fall. Who can save mortals from death V 1 Thus 
 spoke the goddess of wisdom, and brought the furious Mars 
 back to his seat. (II. xv. 115.) 
 
 In all these human representations of the gods, who 
 
ARES OR MARS. 
 
 143 
 
 does not perceive the display of great images and sublime 
 ideas, which give beauty and dignity to the fictions them- 
 selves? Wild destruction, tender sublimity, high charms 
 of beauty, and guiding wisdom, are variously mingled and 
 concealed, under the guise of human forms. 4 
 
 Mars, according to his profession as a warrior, is re- 
 presented in complete armor, bearing shield and spear 
 An antique gem preserved in one of the German Muse- 
 ums, shows him as descending from the cloud capt Olym- 
 pos, supporting himself by his right hand upon the cliffs 
 of mountains, and carrying on his left arm a buckler and 
 spear. 
 
 Among the ancients, the worship of Mars was not very 
 universal ; his temples in Greece were not numerous, but 
 in Rome he received the most unbounded honors. The 
 warlike Romans were proud of paying homage to a deity, 
 whom they esteemed the patron of their city, and the 
 father of the first of their monarchs. His most celebrated 
 temple at Rome was built by Augustus, after the battle 
 of Philippi, and dedicated to Mars Ultor, or the Avenger. 
 Among the Romans it was usual for the consul, before en- 
 tering on an expedition, to visit the temple of Mars, where 
 h„e offered his prayers, and in a solemn manner, shook the 
 spear which was in the hand of the statue of the god, at the 
 same time exclaiming, “ Mars , Vigila ! God of War, watch 
 over the welfare and safety of the city.” 
 
 His priests among the Romans were called Salii ; they 
 were first instituted by Numa, and their chief office was, 
 to guard the sacred ancile, which was supposed to have 
 fallen from heaven. The oracle was consulted respecting 
 it, and declared that the empire of the world was destined 
 for the city that should preserve that shield. Numa Pom 
 pilius, second king of Rome, caused several to be made sc 
 exactly like it, that it was almost impossible to distinguish 
 the original. The form was oval. 
 
144 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 His altars were frequently stained with the blood of the 
 horse and the wolf — the former for his warlike spirit, and 
 the latter for his ferocity ; the dog was consecrated to him 
 for his vigilance in the pursuit of his prey ; the raven be- 
 cause he follows the march of armies ; and the magpie and 
 vulture for their greediness and voracity. The Scythians 
 generally offered him asses, and the people of Caria, dogs. - 
 The weed called dog-grass was sacred to him, because it is 
 supposed to grow in places which are fit 'for fields of battle, 
 or where the ground has been stained by the effusion of 
 human blood. 
 
 The Romans paid great adoration to Bellona ; but she 
 was held in still greater veneration by the Cappadocians, 
 where she had above three thousand priests. 
 
 Her temple at Rome, in which the senators gave audience 
 to foreign ambassadors, and to generals returned from war, 
 was without the city, in the Porta Carmentalis. At the 
 gate was a small column, called the column of war, against 
 which a spear was thrown whenever war was declared 
 against an enemy. 
 
 The priests of the goddess were called Bellonarii ; they 
 consecrated themselves by making large incisions, particu- 
 larly in the thigh, and receiving the blood in their hands 
 to offer as a sacrifice to the goddess. Lactantius described 
 them as cutting themselves most furiously in her worship ; 
 and Tertullian adds, that having collected the blood that 
 flows from these gashes, they pledged the neophytes who 
 were initiated into their mysteries, and then, in their wild 
 enthusiasm, predicted bloodshed and wars, the defeat of 
 enemies, and the besieging of towns. 
 
ATHENA OR MINERVA. 
 
 145 
 
 ATHENA OR MINERVA. 
 
 When the blue-eyed Athena sprang forth from the im- 
 mortal head of Zeus, Olympos shook and trembled ; and 
 the charioteer of the sun stopped his snorting steeds, until 
 the new-born goddess took off her radiant armor. 
 
 Athena was immediately admitted to the assembly of the 
 gods, and had great power awarded to her. She could 
 prolong the life of men, bestow the gift of prophecy, and 
 indeed was the only divinity whose authority and conse- 
 quence were equal to those of her father. 
 
 Not being the offspring of a mother, her bosom was as 
 cold as the steel with which it was covered. Her nature 
 approached to manly greatness ; tenderness and female 
 affection dwelt not in her heart. By this disposition, equally 
 adapted to quiet, unprejudiced musing on art and science, 
 and to undaunted participation in warlike occupations, her 
 two fold character, as Goddess of Wisdom and as Heroine, 
 is at once explained and justified ; for in a female, the want 
 of tender feelings is always connected with a desire of de- 
 struction, which constantly gains strength. It is the ten- 
 der-hearted, affectionate Aphrodite, who, merely out of love 
 to Adonis, and not on her own account, pursues with him 
 the roes and fawns of the forest ; but the colder Artemis 
 delights in chase and destruction itself, only forgetting it 
 for a moment, when, with secret fondness, she steals a look 
 at the slumbering Endymion. 
 
 Athena, the cold and chaste virgin, being destitute of 
 every feeling of tenderness and languishing passion, finds 
 her pleasure, like the stern god of battle, in warlike tumult, 
 and delights in the sight of destroyed cities. There is, 
 however, this difference ; she at the same time patronising 
 the peaceful arts, does not share with him the impetuosity 
 and violence of character by which he is distinguished. 
 Repulsive coldness is the chief feature that characterizes 
 
 7 
 
146 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 her, and renders her equally capable of being the directress 
 of just wars, and of practising the laborious task of weav 
 ing ; of inventing useful arts, and guiding the wrathful 
 minds of heroes. When Achilles was about to draw his 
 sword against Agamemnon, his king and chief, the blue- 
 eyed goddess suddenly stood behind him with terrible 
 look, invisible to every one but himself, seized his yellow 
 hair, and assuaged the wrath of the young hero with pru- 
 dent advice. He withdrew his mighty fist from the silver 
 handle, and the sword dropped back into its scabbard. 
 Thus Pallas- Athene, even in the midst of war, appears as 
 a mediator and peace-maker ; nor is she by any means to 
 be confounded with Bellona, who, with terrific counte- 
 nance, and dishevelled hair, brandishes a bloody whip in 
 her right hand, while the other shakes the heavy lance, 
 and drives the chariot of the God of War. Bellona is a 
 subordinate being, who, even by her appearance and de- 
 portment, betrays her inferior standing. In her wild as- 
 pect, no quiet look discloses the divine spark of inward 
 wisdom or inventive genius. Her glaring eye darts rage 
 and fury ; her figure is not graced with that majestic air, 
 in which the just ruler of battles and the august guide 
 of heroes is to be recognized ; her headlong impetuosity, 
 her cruel desire of murder and devastation, discover the 
 worthy companion of Discord, as well as the ferocious dri- 
 ver of Ares’ snorting coursers. 
 
 In the divine person of Athena, warlike disposition was 
 tempered partly by her female sex : yet more so by those 
 faculties which rendered her the benefactress of mankind 
 in bestowing upon them the peaceful arts. For the same 
 goddess who delighted in the din of battle and the shouts 
 of fighting heroes, taught mankind the art of weaving, of 
 building ships, and of pressing oil from olives. When she 
 was engaged in the contest with Poseidon as to the right 
 of giving a name to the capital of Cecropia. than which 
 
ATHENA OR MINERVA. 
 
 147 
 
 none more advanced in the arts and sciences has ever 
 adorned the earth, it was agreed in the council of the 
 gods, that the honor of naming it should belong to which- 
 ever of the claimants should bestow the most useful prosent 
 upon its inhabitants. Poseidon, upon this, struck the 
 ground with his trident, and immediately a horse issued 
 from the earth. Minerva produced the olive, and ob 
 tained the victory by the unanimous voice of the gods, 
 who observed that the olive, as the emblem of peace, is far 
 preferable to the horse, the symbol of war and bloodshed. 
 The victorious deity called the capital Athenae, and be- 
 came the tutelar goddess of the place. 
 
 The opposition of apparently quite different and incon- 
 gruous features in the character of Minerva, is by no 
 means prejudicial to the beauty of her fictitious person. 
 On the coiftrary, fiction becomes thereby, as it were, a 
 sublimer language, which summons together a number 
 of dispersed ideas into tuneful harmony ; as is the case in 
 the representation of Apollo. It is true, that such diver- 
 sified ideas are seldom united in the microcosm of the 
 thinking mind ; yet a single glance into the immense 
 world of nature, must convince us that their prototypes 
 are connected in sisterly union, all apparent differences 
 and contradictions of creation and destruction being dis- 
 solved, and life and death combined in the most perfect 
 and beautiful harmony. 
 
 Nor can it be justly asserted, that the unity and har- 
 mony of the whole in Minerva’s character is distorted by 
 the seeming contradiction of its single features. They all 
 refer to the cold, reflecting wisdom, which, guarded by the 
 want of feeling, and a sort of forbidding callousness, 
 never hears the voice of passion. The petrifying head 
 of Medusa threatens from the shield that covers Minerva’s 
 breast ; and over her head hovers the gloomy, melancholy 
 bird of night. She is the faithful friend of the enduring,, 
 
148 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 persevering, cold, and cunning Ulysses, as well as the ad- 
 monish er, who recalls the enraged heroes to presence of 
 mind. 
 
 The deep sense which lies concealed in all the fictions 
 of the ancients, betrays itself also in the power of Minerva, 
 being represented as superior to that of Mars. The war- 
 like spirit that keeps possession of itself, that looks with 
 quiet eye over the field of battle, and at the same time 
 sufficiently comprehensive to attend to the arts and sciences 
 of peace, gets advantage of the impetuous one who is 
 always ready to fight. When, during the war with Troy, 
 the gods themselves had engaged in the combats, either to 
 aid the Greeks or assist the Trojans, and had challenged 
 each other, the turbulent god of war, rushing on the more 
 tender Pallas, furiously thrust his spear against her shield ; 
 but, against that, even Jupiter’s lightnings ar£ of no avail. 
 The goddess, however, falling back a little, takes up in 
 her strong hand an immense field stone, and hurls it upon 
 the forehead of Mars, so that he is precipitated to the 
 Earth, covering with his body seven acres of ground. 
 
 Notwithstanding the strong, manly features, with which 
 the picture of Minerva is drawn by poetry, she still con- 
 tinues a woman, who shares the foibles common to her sex. 
 She is said to have invented the flute ; but seeing in a 
 fountain the distortion of her face while playing on this in- 
 strument, she threw it away, to the great misfortune of 
 Marsyas, who found it, and challenged Apollo to a trial 
 of skill in music. Like Juno she was jealous, too, and like 
 her, could not rest until Troy stood in flames and Priam’s 
 race was destroyed, because Paris had denied her as well 
 as Juno the prize of beauty, awarding it to the soft charms 
 of Venus. The actions of Minerva are numerous, as well 
 as the kindnesses by which she endeared herself to man. 
 She and Neptune disputed as to which would give a name 
 to the city of Oecropia. Fabulous as the narratives of that 
 
ATHENA OR MINERVA. 
 
 149 
 
 period confessedly are, and prone as the inhabitants of At- 
 tica were to enhance their national glory, by adorning its 
 annals with fictitious embellishments, yet it is not difficult 
 to trace some footsteps of truth in those legendary records 
 which they have handed down to us, of the most distant 
 ages of their own history. 
 
 The earliest monarch of this country whose name is pre- 
 served, was Cecrops. Backward, beyond him, historical 
 tradition did not go. He was therefore an Autochthon or 
 Indigenous — the offspring of the earth. In his days, it 
 is said, the gods began to choose favorite spots among the 
 dwellings of men for their own residence ; or, as the ex- 
 pression seems to mean, particular deities were worshipped 
 with especial homage in particular cities. It was at this 
 time, then, that Minerva and Neptune strove for the pos- 
 session of Attica. The question was to be determined by 
 the natural principle of priority of occupation. Cecrops. 
 the king of the country at that period, was called upon to 
 arbitrate between them in the controversy. It was as 
 serted by Neptune, that he had appropriated the territory 
 to himself, by planting his trident on the rock of the Acro- 
 polis at Athens, before the land had been claimed by Mi- 
 nerva. He pointed to it, there standing erect, and to the 
 salt spring which had then issued, and was flowing from 
 the fissure of the cliff which had opened for the reception 
 of the trident. 
 
 On the other hand, Minerva alleged that she had taken 
 possession of the country at a still earlier period than had 
 been done by the rival deity. She appealed, in support of 
 her claim, to the Olive, which had sprung at her command 
 from the soil, and which was growing near the fountain 
 produced by the hand of Neptune from the same place. 
 
 Cecrops was required to attest Ohe truth of her asser- 
 tion. He had been witness to the act ; and he therefore 
 
150 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 decided in favor of Minerva, who then became the tutelar} 1 
 deity of Athens. 
 
 It is not difficult to perceive that, in this tradition, a 
 record is preserved of the rivalry (which may be consider- 
 ed the natural production of the soil, the form and the sit- 
 uation of Attica itself) between the two classes of its pop- 
 ulation — the one devoted to maritime pursuits, and aiming 
 at commercial eminence — -the other contented with its 
 own domestic resources, and preferring the tranquil occupa- 
 tions of agricultural and pastoral life, which were typified 
 by the emblematical symbol of peace. The victory of Mi- 
 nerva which it commemorates, is a true and significant ex- 
 pression of the condition of this country, and of the hab- 
 its of its people, from the days of Cecrops to those of 
 Themistocles. 
 
 Athena was invoked by all artists, particularly such as 
 worked in wool, embroidery, painting, and sculpture, and 
 it was considered the duty of every member of society to 
 invoke the assistance of a deity who presided over indus- 
 try, taste, and wisdom. Her worship was universal, and 
 she had magnificent temples in Egypt, Phoenicia, and all 
 parts of Greece, Italy, Gaul, and Sicily. 
 
 The Panathensea, the greatest of the Athenian festivals, 
 was celebrated in honor of Athena as the guardian deity 
 of the city of Athens. It is said to have been instituted by 
 Erichthonios, and to have been called originally Athenma ; 
 but in the time of Theseus, it obtained the name of Pana- 
 thensea, in consequence of his uniting into one state the 
 different independent communities into which Attica had 
 been previously divided. 
 
 There were two Athenian festivals which had the name 
 of Panathensea ; one called the Great and the other the 
 Less. The former was celebrated once in every five years, 
 with great magnificence, and attracted spectators from all 
 
ATHENA OR MINERVA. 
 
 151 
 
 parts of Greece. The latter was celebrated every year in 
 tlie Piraeus. In both the Panathenma there were gymnas- 
 tic contests, among which the torch race seems to have been 
 very popular. In the time of Socrates a torch race on 
 horseback was introduced at the. Less Panathenaea. At the 
 Great Panathenaea there was also a musical contest, and a 
 recitation of the Homeric poems by rhapsodists ; in these 
 contests the victors were rewarded with vessels of sacred 
 oil. The most celebrated part of the grand Panathenaic 
 festival, was the solemn procession of the Peplos, or sacred 
 robe of Athena. This Peplos was covered with embroidery, 
 the work of maidens belonging to the noblest families of 
 Athens, representing the battles of the Gods and the 
 Giants, especially the exploits of Zeus and Athena, and 
 also the achievements of the heroes in the Attic mythology ; 
 hence, Aristophanes speaks of men worthy of this land and 
 the Peplos. 
 
 At the celebration of the festival, the Peplos was brought 
 down from the Acropolis where it was wrought, suspended 
 like a sail upon a ship, and then drawn through the princi 
 pal parts of the city to the Parthenon, and there placed 
 before the statue of the goddess within. The old men car- 
 ried olive branches, the young men wore armor, and the 
 young women carried baskets on their heads, and were 
 called Canephores. On this occasion, the sacrifices were 
 very numerous, and during the supremacy of Athens, every 
 subject state was obliged to furnish an ox for the festival. 
 It was made a season of joy, and even prisoners were lib- 
 erated that the) 7 might take part in the general rejoicing. 
 
 The Minerva of the Romans corresponded in some meas- 
 ure with the Pallas- Athene of the Greeks. She was the 
 patroness of arts and industry, and the mental powers were 
 considered as under her peculiar care. She was the deity 
 of schools : her statue was always placed in them, and the 
 five days of the festival called Quinquatria, celebrated in 
 
152 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 the month of March, were holidays to the scholars. At 
 their expiration, they presented their master with a gift 
 called Minerval. According to Varro, Minerva was also 
 the protecting goddess of olive grounds ; but it may be 
 doubted whether this w~as not a transference of one of the 
 attributes of Pallas-Athene. 
 
 The festivals of 
 Minerva were nam- 
 ed Minervalia, or 
 Quinquatria. They 
 were two in num- 
 ber ; the former, 
 called the Greater, 
 were celebrated in 
 March, the time 
 when, according to 
 the Tuscan disci- 
 pline, Minerva cast 
 her lightnings. It 
 was named Quin- 
 quatrus as being 
 on the fifth day af- 
 ter the Ides ; the 
 ignorance of the 
 Romans made them 
 extend the festival 
 to five days ; it was 
 followed by the Tu- 
 bilustrum. The 
 Lesser was in the Ides of J une, and was celebrated by the 
 flute players. As both the trumpet and flute came to the 
 Romans from Etruria, this proves Minerva to have been 
 introduced there from that country. Therefore, no deriva- 
 tion of her name can be given, as it does not seem to be a 
 translation. 
 
ATHENA OR MINERVA. 
 
 153 
 
 Athena is represented as a beauty of the severer kind, 
 and without the grace and delicacy which for instance dis- 
 tinguished Aphrodite. Dignity, and a becoming air, firm- 
 ness and composure, with regular features, and a certain 
 masculine sternness, form the peculiar characteristics of 
 her face and figure. Hence the heads of her are so like 
 Alexander the Great, that they have been occasionally mis- 
 taken for his. Her dress and attributes are adapted to 
 her character. She has a helmet upon her head, and a 
 plume nodding formidably in the air. In her right hand 
 she holds a spear, and in her left grasps a shield with the 
 head of the dying Medusa upon it. The same figure, with 
 all its terrors and beauties, is also on her breast plate ; and 
 sometimes she is represented with serpents about her 
 shoulders. An owl, the bird sacred to her, is sometimes 
 seen hovering over her helmet 
 
 In most of her statues, Athena is represented as seated, 
 and sometimes holds in her hand a distaff instead of a 
 spear. When she was depicted as the goddess of the libe- 
 ral arts, she was arrayed in a variegated veil. Sometimes 
 her helmet was covered with the figure of a cock, which, 
 on account of its great courage, was appropriated to the 
 deity of war. Some of her statues represented her helmet 
 with a sphinx in the middle, supported on either side by 
 griffins ;* and on some medals a chariot drawn by four 
 horses ; and in others a dragon or serpent appears with 
 winding spires at the tops of her helmet. 
 
 The shield or corselet with the Gorgon’s head is supposed 
 by some to represent the full-orbed moon ; by others it is 
 regar led as the emblem of divine wisdom. 
 
 * Griffin — A fabulous animal, said to be generated between the Lion 
 and the Eagle. It is described as having the head and paws of the 
 lion, the ears of the horse, the wings of the eagle, and a crest formed 
 like the dorsal fins of a fish. 
 
 7 * 
 
154 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 Pallas- Athene is in Homer, and in the general, popular 
 system, the goddess of wisdom and skill. In war she is 
 opposed to Ares, the wild war-god, as the patroness and 
 teacher of just and scientific warfare. Therefore she is 
 on the side of the Greeks, and he on that of the Trojans. 
 But on the shield of Achilleus, where the people of the be- 
 sieged town were represented as going forth to lie in am- 
 bush, they are led by Ares and Athena together ; possibly 
 to denote the union and skill required for that service. 
 Every prudent chief was supposed to be under the patron- 
 age of Athena ; therefore, Odysseus (or Ulysses) was her 
 special favorite, whom she relieved from all perils, and 
 whose son Telemachos she also took under her protection, 
 assuming a human form to be his guide and director. In 
 like manner Cadmos, Heracles, Perseus, and other heroes, 
 were favored by this goddess. 
 
 As the patroness of arts and industry in general, Pallas- 
 Athene was regarded as the inspirer and teacher of all 
 able artists. Thus she taught Epios to form the wooden 
 horse, by means of which Troy was taken ; and she also 
 superintended the building of the ship Argo. She was 
 expert in female accomplishments, having woven her own 
 robe and that of Hera, which last she is said to have em- 
 broidered very richly. When Pandora was made for the 
 ruin of man, she was attired by Pallas-Athene ; and when 
 Iason was setting forth in quest of the golden fleece, she 
 gave him a mantle wrought by herself. She is said to 
 have taught this art to mortal females, who had won her 
 affection. 
 
 By the Komerid, Athena and Hephaestos are united as 
 the civiiizers and benefactors of mankind by means of the 
 arts which they taught them, and we find them in intimate 
 union in the mythic systems of Attica. 
 
 The aegis or shield of Zeus and Athena was supposed to 
 
THE JEGIS UR SHIELD. 
 
 155 
 
 have been made originally of the 
 skin of a goat, and afterwards by 
 Hephaestos of brass, and rendered 
 terrible by a Gorgon’s head being 
 sculptured upon it. Lactantius says, 
 that it was made of the skin of the 
 goat which suckled J upiter, and that 
 he first used it against the Titans. 
 iEgis is also used for the pieces of 
 ^oat-skin with which the warriors 
 covered their breasts and shoulders as a guard against the 
 veapons of their enemies. A variety of ancient monuments 
 ittest the antiquity of this practice. 
 
 Homer gives to the aegis of Zeus the power of being 
 Doth offensive and defensive, as all his deities, with what- 
 ever circumstances they are endued in common with mor- 
 tals, are made to possess some peculiar and supernatural 
 power. The blood which issues from their wounds is ichor ; 
 their drink is nectar ; and their food is ambrosia. This 
 poet always personifies the effects which the arms of his 
 gods and heroes, and the charms of his gods and goddesses, 
 have over mortals ; placing in the girdle of Aphrodite the 
 most attractive charms of love, which influence in secret 
 the hearts of the wisest. He who on the buckler of Aga- 
 memnon has placed Fear and Terror, naturally added to 
 the segis of Zeus, Force and Discord ; and to add more 
 honor to the arms of this most powerful god, he places the 
 head of the terrible Gorgon with its intertwined serpents 
 in the middle of his breast-plate. These are the arms 
 which gave to Jupiter the name of JEgiochus , the holder 
 of the iEgis. 
 
 The aegis of Athena, with which she descended into the 
 camp of the Greeks, to excite them to battle and dissuade 
 them from the disgraceful intentions they bad conceived 
 of abandoning Troy and returning home, is described by 
 
156 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 Homer, as precious, in destructible, and eternal, fringed 
 with a border composed of a hundred tufts of gold, each 
 valued at a hundred oxen.* 
 
 The ferocious custom of cutting off the heads of their 
 enemies, or scalping thorn, as practised by barbarous na- 
 tions, and which is undoubtedly the origin of the segis, is 
 sometimes found even among the Greeks ; as in the Iliad 
 we find Diomedes cutting off the head of Dolon. Among 
 ancient nations, the head or scalp of an enemy was carried 
 as a mark of triumph on their shields ; and in later times 
 they imitated it in metal for the centre and ornament of 
 their bucklers. On one of the vases in Sir W. Hamilton’s 
 collection, now in the British Museum, is represented a 
 large buckler, bearing in the middle a human head which 
 has nothing in common with the Gorgon. In more modern 
 times, a head was placed on the cuirass. Homer, in de-« 
 scribing the aegis, does not mention its being covered with 
 scales, but only a skin, in the middle of which is a Gor- 
 gon’s head encircled with snakes. The scales appear to 
 be a posterior addition, and give an idea of greater resist- 
 ance. Virgil has not omitted the scales in describing the 
 aegis forged by the Cyclops in the depths of jEtna. 
 
 As Athena typifies the mind or wisdom of Zeus, there is 
 
 peculiar propriety in her wielding the same aegis with 
 her great parent. But this armor was not peculiar to 
 Zeus and Athena, although generally appropriated to them 
 by the poets. In the fifteenth book of the Iliad, Apollo 
 marches at the head of the Greeks, conducting to combat 
 the people who followed the mighty, terrific, shagged, daz- 
 zling aegis which the artist Hephsestos had given to Zeus. 
 In the temple of Zeus at Olympia, there was a statue 
 of A r ictory which had a golden buckler, on which were the 
 
 * Theseus gave to his money the impression of an ox. Hence the ex- 
 pression, worth ten or a hundred oxen. 
 
THE PALLADIUM. 
 
 157 
 
 aegis and Gorgon, probably because victory proceeded from 
 Jupiter ; and Home, for a similar reason, namely, being 
 under the special protection of Jupiter and Minerva, was 
 personified on a beautiful medallion, as a female warrior 
 armed with the aegis. 
 
 The aegis at length descended from deities to heroes, 
 warriors and emperors. On a fine cameo, in the royal ^ 
 library at Paris, Ulysses is covered with the aegis, as a 
 symbol of the protection of Minerva. This allegory of the 
 protection which the gods offered to men, became a spe- 
 cies of amulet ; and above all, the Gorgon, or Medusa’s 
 head, was conceived by the ancients to have the virtue of 
 averting witchcraft, or enchantment ; for which reason the 
 Roman emperors, without bearing what is more properly 
 the aegis, have a Gorgon’s head sculptured in the middle 
 of their breasts on the Lorica or brigantine. The only in- 
 stance generally known, of the aegis being fixed on the 
 arm, is on an intaglio in the cabinet of the Emperor of Rus- 
 sia, representing Jupiter Axur, or the Beardless. Jupiter 
 is generally represented with the aegis on the left shoulder, 
 as in the beautiful cameo of the royal cabinet at Paris, 
 which represents Jupiter iEgiochus. The aegis on the 
 knees, as in the figure of Tiberius, on the grand cameo of 
 the same cabinet, indicates peace and repose to the world. 
 
 The Palladium, a celebrated statue of the goddess Pal- 
 las- Athene, was about three cubits high, and represented 
 her as in a sitting posture, holding a pike in her right 
 hand and a distaff and spindle in her left. 
 
 The Palladium is said to have fallen from heaven near 
 the tent of Hus, at the time when that prince was employed 
 in building the citadel of Ilion or Troy ; and Apollo, by 
 an oracle, declared that the city should never be taken 
 whilst the Palladium was contained within its walls. Hence, 
 the assailants of Troy became exceedingly anxious to get 
 
158 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 possession of this treasure ; and Ulysses, accompanied by 
 Diomedes, undertook to purloin it. Having entered the 
 citadel at night by stealth, they stole the Palladium away ; 
 the consequence of which act was the fall of Troy. 
 
 The Parthenon, or chief temple of Athena, the virgin 
 .goddess, and patroness of Athens, stood on the summit of 
 the Acropolis. This celebrated structure is now reduced 
 to the last stages of ruin and decay ; little remains of what 
 formerly constituted one of the most elegant, if not the 
 most spacious monuments of heathen superstition, but this 
 little is venerable for its age and history ; and highly in- 
 teresting for the evidences which it still affords of Grecian 
 skill in architecture. Its beautiful proportions are, in- 
 deed, now lost in the surrounding mass of miserable huts ; 
 its glittering whiteness dimmed by the corroding hand of 
 time, and its towering columns shattered and cast down by 
 the merciless engines of modern warfare ; but yet, while a 
 vestige is to be found of such excellence, it will not cease 
 to be inestimable to the scientific traveller, and the philo- 
 sophical inquirer into the state of society in former ages.* 
 
 HEPHiESTOS OR VULCAN. 
 
 Hephoestos, the Olympian artist, is in Homer the son of 
 Zeus and Hera. According to Hesiod, he is the son of 
 Hera alone, who in this wished not to be outdone by Zeus, 
 • who had produced Athena from his own brain. 
 
 Hephmstos is the god of fire, especially as a power of 
 a physical nature, that manifests itself in volcanic districts, 
 and as the indispensable means in arts and manufactures. 
 Hence fire is called the breath of Hephmstos, and the name 
 of the god is used by the Greek and Roman poets as sy- 
 nonymous with it. As a flame arises from a little spark, 
 
 For a full description see large edition. 
 
HEFH^STOS OR VULCAN. 
 
 159 
 
 so the god of fire was delicate and weakly from his birth, 
 for which reason he was so disliked by his mother, that she 
 flung him from Glympos. He was received by Thetis and 
 Eurynome, and dwelt with them for nine years in a grotto, 
 surrounded by Oceanos, and there made for them a variety 
 of ornaments. 
 
 According to later writers, Hephsestos was educated with 
 the rest of the gods in heaven, and was expelled from 
 Glympos by Zeus. Hera raised a storm, which drove 
 Heracles out of his course at sea ; Zeus then tied her 
 
 <r ' 
 
 hands and feet together, and suspended her between heaven 
 and earth. Hephsestos attempted to free his mother, and, 
 for this act, was kicked down from heaven by Zeus. The 
 island of Lemnos is said to have received the god. 
 
 In this island, where earthquakes and eruptions of vol- 
 canoes were frequently experienced, and also in the smok- 
 ing of ACtna, in Sicily, from whose bowels the fire which 
 found no vent often produced a subterranean thundering, 
 imagination has discovered suitable places for the work- 
 shops of liephcBStos, in which the mighty hammers of the 
 Cyclopes resounded. 
 
 Gn Glympos, he is said also to have had his own palace, 
 imperishable and shining like stars. It contained his 
 work shop, with the anvil, and twenty bellows which worked 
 spontaneously at his bidding, and there he made his beau- 
 tiful and marvellous works. All the habitations of the 
 gods were of his workmanship, as were their chariots 
 and arms. He made armor for Achilleus and other mortal 
 heroes. The fatal collar of Harmon ia was the work of 
 his hands. The brass footed, brass-throated, fire-breath 
 ing bulls of iEetes, the king of Colchis, were the gift 
 of Hephaestos ; and he made for Alcinoos, king of the 
 Phaeacians, the gold and silver dogs which guarded his 
 house. For himself he formed the golden maidens, who 
 waited on him, and whom he endowed with reason and 
 
160 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 speech. He gave to Minos, king of Crete, the brazen 
 man Talos, who each day compassed his island three times 
 to guard it from the invasion of strangers. The brazen 
 cup in which the sun-god and his horses and chariot are 
 carried round the earth every night, was also the work of 
 this god. 
 
 The first work of Hephaestos is said to have been a 
 throne of gold, which he presented to his mother, to avenge 
 himself for her want of affection towards him — upon which 
 Hera was no sooner seated than she found herself unable 
 to move. The gods attempted to set her at liberty by % 
 breaking the chains with which she was confined ; but to 
 no purpose, as Hephaestos alone had the power to unloose 
 them. 
 
 It is worthy of remark that the only instances we meet 
 of Hephaestos working in any other substance than metal 
 are in Hesiod, where, at the command of Zeus, he forms 
 Pandora of earth and water, and where he uses gypsum and 
 ivory in the formation of the shield which he makes for 
 Heracles. That framed by him for Achill-eus, in the Iliad, 
 is all of metal. 
 
 He was celebrated by the ancient poets for his inge- 
 nious works. By their imagination, painful and wearisome 
 labor, in a work-shop filled with steam and smoke, joiued to 
 the idea of sublime art, that works there indefatigably 
 with productive genius, was wrought up into this divine 
 being, whose entire strength was concentrated in the 
 mighty arm that managed the weighty hammer upon the 
 anvil, while the lamed feet were enfeebled and tottering. 
 
 He was hurled from heaven, for smoke and black steam, 
 together with half smothered flame, do not agree with pure 
 ether ; they are in contradiction to the idea of serenity, 
 beauty, and divine dignity. Nevertheless, Fancy contrived 
 to usher even this personage into the splendid theatre of 
 high, divine Olympos, securing to him a place among the 
 
HEFII.ESTOS OR VULCAN. 1B1 
 
 celestials, by bestowing upon him the comical port r, the 
 heavenly stage. The gods raise peals of laughter whci 
 they behold Hephmstos in the place of Ganymedes, making 
 the round in the assembly of the immortals, reaching then 
 the nectar cup, and jesting himself at his own bodily do 
 fects. 
 
 Yet the bold imagination of the ancients, which we can 
 not help admiring, found means on the other hand to shrouc 
 again this comical character in divine power and sublimity 
 by connecting with it a dignity superior to every thing 
 human. Her grand picture of the supernatural world, fai 
 from being degraded by a figure like that of Hephaestos 
 becomes, on the contrary, more variously shaded, and gains 
 new charms. The halting son of Hera, on account of his 
 deformity, was thrown from Olympos, and after his re-ad- 
 mission into the community of the gods, ministered the nec 
 tar cup in the place of the graceful Ganymedes in so awk- 
 ward a manner, as to excite the shouting mirth of the im 
 mortals. The same Hephsestos is the inimitable artist 
 with whose assistance even they themselves cannot dispense. 
 
 At his work-shop, the limping feet are not prejudicial 
 to him ; he needs only his arms. And with strong arm, 
 indeed, manages he the stithy ! Air and fire are at his 
 command. At his nod the bellows blow and kindle the 
 flames, producing a greater or gentler heat, according to 
 his wants. Every one of his ideas is instantaneously car- 
 ried into effect with divine genius, and from beneath his 
 skilful hands, the work springs forth majestically. It is 
 also an easy matter to him to infuse life and motion into 
 his creations. He forges twenty tripods rolling upon 
 wheels, which, at his command, enter the assembly of the 
 gods, and return to him again. He formed for himself 
 female servants of gold, that support him when he is walk- 
 ing. When he leaves his stithy, he arrays himself in royal 
 attire and bears a sceptre. 
 
162 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 Though a de- 
 formed cripple, he 
 has the most beau- 
 tiful being that 
 dwells on Olympos 
 for his wife. Thus 
 plastic art, although 
 in its appearance 
 poor and uncome- 
 ly, is, in the repre- 
 sentation of He- 
 phaestos, married to 
 beauty itself. By 
 this marriage be- 
 tween Aphrodite 
 and the god of fire, 
 the comical turn of 
 his character gains 
 the highest charm ; 
 the conjugal una- 
 nimity of the divine couple being disturbed by the jealousy 
 of Hephsestos. The story of the artificial net, which the 
 offended husband contrived to throw over Ares and Aphro- 
 dite. while he called together all the celestials to show them 
 the disgraceful spectacle, and to complain of his misfor- 
 tune, is, in ancient poetry, a source of amusement, both 
 among gods and men. 
 
 Especially in the person of Hephoestos do we find that 
 endeavor to unite opposite and seemingly contradictory 
 features into one character, which is peculiar to the fictions 
 of the ancient3. With regard to what is external, he, the 
 ugliest of all the celestials, is married to the loveliest being 
 that Fancy ever created ; in his character, the ridiculous is 
 united .with dignity; and in his body, feebleness is con- 
 nected with strength ; the strong and skilful arm com- 
 
HEPHAESTOS OR VULCAN. 
 
 163 
 
 pensating for the limping feet We are by no means to 
 consider this apparent inconsistency in the poetical pro- 
 ductions of the ancients as a defect, originating, perhaps, 
 in the heedless play of humor ; on the contrary, we are 
 rather to admire the ingenuity and boldness of Imagina- 
 tion, who shrinks not from seeming difficulties, and suc- 
 ceeds in adjusting the variety of materials, collected together 
 for the picture of her celestial world, into so happy and 
 concordant a composition 
 
 The fiction of Hephaestos also shows us the high estima- 
 tion in which the ancients held the art of working metals j 
 it is. of all the arts, the peculiar business of a god. 
 
 Although Hephaestos first appears in a clear and distinct 
 form among the modern gods, yet his person may be faintly 
 recognized through the clouds in which the ancient deities 
 are shrouded. The Curetes, or Corybantes, were, according 
 to an old tradition, his descendants. He was likewise one 
 of the most ancient Egyptian deities, or perhaps the most 
 ancient of them. The Curetes made a noise with their 
 weapons, which, as tradition relates. • were of iron. The 
 Cyclopes, before the reign of Zeus, had prepared thunder 
 and lightning in the caverns of the earth ; and Earth her- 
 self had already forged the sickle with which Saturn was 
 maimed. According to another tradition, the Oabeiri, a 
 kind of mysterious beings, who, in the remotest times of 
 antiquity, were venerated in Egypt and Saniothrace, were 
 sons or descendants of Hephsestos. His person itself, 
 however, is always hidden in darkness. 
 
 That mythology represents the fine arts as assisting each 
 other, is a fine and significant intimation. ^ When Prome- 
 theus was occupied in forming his men, both Athena and 
 Hephaestos lent him their aid ; and when the latter was 
 afterwards, at the command of Zeus, obliged to fasten the 
 father of mankind to the fatal rock, he, not daring to resist 
 
1(54 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 the will of the thunderer, complied with it, amid tears and 
 lamentations. 
 
 Vulcan, the male artist among the celestials, had a desire 
 to marry Minerva, the female one ; but she withstood his 
 entreaties as well as threats. His son Erichthonios, the 
 earth-born, is said, however, to have been always a favorite 
 with Minerva. She appointed him king of her beloved 
 city of Athens, where the desire of hiding his mis shapeu 
 feet, both of which were those of a dragon,* led him to the 
 invention of the covered four-wheel carriage. 
 
 The God of Fire, represented by Homer, on occasion of 
 Thetis coming to his dwelling to see him and his wife, and 
 to order al the same time a new suit of armor for her son 
 Achilles, is entirely human. No sooner had he heard of 
 the august Thetis, the old friend of his house, than, in 
 order to appear with decency in the presence of the god- 
 dess, he before leaving his work-shop, washed his face, breast, 
 neck and hands, with a wet sponge, lest his visitor should 
 be offended at beholding him covered with dust, to which 
 his occupation necessarily exposed him. 
 
 The worship of Vulcan was well established, particularly 
 in Egypt, at Athens, and at Rome. In the sacrifices that 
 were offered to him, it was usual to burn the whole victim, 
 and not to reserve a part as in immolations to other gods. 
 A calf and a boar-pig were the principal victims offered. 
 
 Vulcan was sometimes represented as lame and deform- 
 ed, holding a hammer in the air, ready to strike ; while 
 with the other hand he turns, with his pincers, a thunder- 
 bolt upon his anvil. He appears in some monuments with 
 a long beard, dishevelled hair, his figure partially covered, 
 and a small, round cap on his head, and holding in his 
 
 * It is worthy of observation, that, in the mythological fictions of the 
 ancients, to almost every being sprung from the earth, or related to it, 
 dragon form, or dragon feet are ascribed. 
 
APHRODITE OR VENUS. 
 
 165 
 
 band the pincers and hammer. The Egyptians represented 
 him under the figure of a monkey. 
 
 Upon antique gems, he is commonly represented as an 
 artist, occupied in his work-shop with forging arrows for 
 Cupid. 
 
 APHRODITE OR VENUS. 
 
 Aphrodite, the perfection of creation, the Goddess of 
 Love and Beaqty, who presided over the propagation of 
 every species of being, was, according to Homer, the daugh- 
 ter of Zeus and the blooming Dione, the youngest of the 
 Titan sisters. 
 
 Besides the numberless local divinities of this name, the 
 first mythologists acknowledged two original powers — the 
 eldest a child of Uranos and last production of Heaven, 
 and therefore of the Titan race, who bore her part in the 
 productions of the universe ; and the youngest, the daugh- 
 ter of Zeus and Dione — the power arising from the vivify- 
 ing, ethereal spirit, acting upon the plenitude of matter. 
 According to Orpheus, the former brought forth the world 
 ind all it contains. u All things are of thee,” says he ; 
 * thou cementest the universe, thou swayest the three-fold 
 Fates ; thou generatest whatever is in the heavens above, 
 )r the teeming earth below, or in the unfathomed depths of 
 ‘he sea.” Euripides makes Aphrodite the daughter of 
 Kronos and Eunomia ( Time and Good Order). 
 
 The Grecian Aphrodite arose from the foam of the sea 
 ivas re eeived by the Horae, who dressed her in divine attire, 
 placed a golden crown upon her head, and adorned her 
 r eck, arms, and ears with golden ornaments. Zeus gave 
 her the Graces for companions, Cupids attended upon her, 
 md her chariot was drawn by doves. Every stroke in this 
 picture breathes tenderness ; yet, the son of the goddess is 
 irmed with bow and arrows, indicating the power nf his 
 heavenly mother, the all-subduing deity. 
 
166 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 The dominion of Aphrodite over the heart was assisted 
 and supported by a famous girdle, called zone by the 
 Greeks, and cestus by the Latins. This mysterious cincture 
 gave beauty and grace to the wearer, even when deformed, 
 and possessed the power of inspiring love. When Hera 
 wished to inspire Zeus with this affection, she borrowed the 
 magic girdle from Aphrodite. 
 
 In this lovely goddess, those charms of grace and beauty 
 are venerated which allude to matrimonial union ; but as 
 the beneficent impulse of love, if not carefully guarded by 
 reason and morality, may prove pernicious, bringing de~ 
 struction on individuals, as well as war and mischief upon 
 -whole nations, the Goddess of Love is represented as a 
 dreadful being. 
 
 Having promised Paris the fairest wife on earth, be- 
 cause he adjudged the prize of beauty to her in preference 
 to all the other goddesses, she incited him to deprive Mene- 
 laos, king of Sparta, of his lawful spouse, the god-like 
 Helena — at the same time instilling into the bosom of this 
 woman inconstancy and unfaithfulness. Thus the goddess 
 kept her word, not caring for the misery and ruin in 
 which it might result ; and at all times, and in every dan- 
 ger, she proves a zealous friend to Paris. During the siege 
 of Troy, the offended Menelaos was about to kill Paris in 
 single combat, when Aphrodite suddenly covered him with 
 nightly darkness, and led him safely to his perfumed closet. 
 
 Should this deity unite in herself the cold wisdom of 
 Athena, or the awful earnestness of Themis, then indeed 
 she would be incapable of the injustice of gratifying the 
 wishes of one favorite at the expense of a whole city ; nay, 
 of a whole country, laid waste on his account. But then 
 she would likewise cease to be exclusively the goddess of 
 Love, or a product of Fancy; in whose person is repre- 
 sented the influence of the passion, indifferent to the con- 
 sequences ; not caring whether it leaves the traces of bloody 
 
APHRODITE OR VENUS 
 
 167 
 
 wars, or ages exhibiting the bliss of peace, together with 
 generations rejoicing in their own existence. 
 
 In the productions of Fancy, it is the very want of com- 
 pleteness, the very appearance of defect, in the features of 
 the person represented, by which alone imagination is ena- 
 bled to create and people a whole world with supernatural 
 beings, each distinguished by its own characteristics. The 
 august Hera is destitute of placid loveliness, and is obliged 
 to borrow the girdle of Aphrodite ; the mighty god of war 
 is deficient in reflection and prudence, and his impetuosity 
 is restrained by Athena. 
 
 Aphrodite is possessed of the highest charms imagina- 
 ble ; but Athena, destitute of female delicacy, is far supe- 
 rior to her in power. In one of the battles fought before 
 Troy, in which the gods themselves at last challenged each 
 other, Aphrodite being on the side of the Trojans, received 
 from the strong hand of Athena (who assisted the Greeks) 
 such a blow as made her knees sink under her. 
 
 u Would to Heaven,” exclaimed Athena, triumphantly, 
 “ that all the Trojans might equal the heroism and valor 
 of Aphrodite !” (II. xii. 423.) And at another time, Aphro- 
 dite, when wounded in her snow-white hand by the cold 
 Diomedes, came to Olympos, complaining to her mother 
 Dione of the daring of mortal men. Athena railed at her 
 in terms like these : “ Aphrodite, forsooth, was persuading 
 a handsomely dressed Grecian lady to follow along with her 
 beloved Trojans ; and, in caressing the fondling, she 
 scratched her delicate hand with the golden clasp which 
 fastened the robe of her favorite.” Then the father of the 
 gods and men smiled, and said, “ Warlike work, my love, 
 is not thy business ; it is thy sweet care to prepare the joys 
 Of the wedding feast ; the care of war’s wild tumult leave 
 to Ares and Athena.” (II. v. 42.) 
 
 Thus the imagination of the ancients sportively trifles 
 with the deities whom she created after the image of man, 
 
168 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 yet always choosing such natural prototypes as are both 
 grand and sublime. 
 
 The worship of Aphrodite was universally established. 
 Statues and temples were erected to her in every kingdom j 
 and the ancients delighted in paying homage to a divinity 
 by whose influence alone mankind was supposed to exist. 
 She was chiefly worshipped at Cythera and Cyprus ; and 
 fable says, that it was to the shores of the latter island 
 that the waves of the sea gently carried the Goddess of 
 Love as she arose from its foam. On this charming island, 
 whole cities, together with groves, temples, and altars, were 
 consecrated to Aphrodite. Her favorite residence, how* 
 ever, was Paphos, where offerings and vows were presented 
 in her temple, from every quarter of the earth. And from 
 the veneration with which all nations here rendered hom- 
 age to the Goddess of Beauty, she was called queen of 
 Paphos. From two other places on Cyprus, Amathus and 
 Idalion, she received the poetical appellations, Idalia and 
 Amathusia * and from the island itself, she had the name 
 of Cypria. 
 
 From the remotest countries pilgrims came to Cnidos, 
 there also to pay homage to the love-inspiring goddess, 
 whom skilful art had endowed with human form, and thus 
 rendered her visible to the eyes of men. There, the image 
 of Aphrodite stood in an open temple, unveiled to the view 
 of mortals. It was the Aphrodite of Praxiteles, a worthy 
 object of admiration. 
 
 The most ancient temple of Aphrodite in Greece, stood 
 on the island of Cythera ; and the idea of the goddess her- 
 self was so intimately connected with the place of her resi- 
 dence, that both names became one, and in poetical lan- 
 guage, the Goddess of Love was called Cythersea. 
 
 In the more ancient temples of this goddess in Cyprus, 
 she was represented under the form of a rude conical stone; 
 
A.PHRODXTE OR VENUS. 
 
 169 
 
 but the Grecian sciflptors and painters. Praxiteles and 
 Apelles, vied with each other in forming her image the ideal 
 of female beauty and attraction. She appears sometimes 
 rising out of the sea and wringing her locks ; sometimes 
 drawn in a conch by Tritons, or riding on some marine 
 animal ; and sometimes drawn in a car by doves. 
 
 The birds sacred to Aphrodite were swans, doves, and 
 sparrows. Horace places her in a chariot drawn by swans, 
 and Sappho gives her sparrows. In one of the odes 
 ascribed to Anacreon, a dove announces herself as a present 
 from the goddess to the bard. The bird called lynx or 
 Fritillus, of which so much use was made in amatory 
 magic, was also sacred to this goddess ; as was likewise the 
 swallow, the herald of Spring, the season of love. Her 
 favorite plants were the rose and the myrtle. 
 
 The husband assigned to this goddess is the lame artist 
 Hephaestos ; and she is fabled to have loved Anchises, the 
 father of iEneias. 
 
 Adonis, son of Cyniras and Myrrlia, was famed for his 
 beauty, and became a favorite of Yenus. The tender god- 
 dess, not able to live without him, partly laid aside her soft- 
 ness for his sake, following him to the chase of the deer. 
 She accompanied him like his faithful genius, warning him 
 to spare his precious life, whenever his daring spirit insti- 
 gated him to pursue the tracks of fierce and dangerous 
 beasts. But, disregarding the entreaties and warnings of 
 the goddess, he soon ran to destruction. Meeting with 
 a fierce boar, he hurled his dart at him ; but, not being 
 mortally wounded, the beast plunged his white tusks into 
 the side of the handsome youth. He sank, the blood gush- 
 ing in abundance from his wound, and when Aphrodite 
 sought her beloved Adonis, she found him in the agony of 
 death. 
 
 In vain did she endeavor to recall him to life, and with 
 
 8 
 
170 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 bitter complaints accused the cruelty of his fate. Dis- 
 tracted, the goddess ran barefoot through the woods and 
 lawns ; her delicate skin was pierced by thorns ; and her 
 blood, dropping upon the rose, changed it from white to 
 red. By degrees, her despair changed to softer mourning; 
 she sprinkled with nectar the ground that received the 
 blood of her beloved Adonis, and gave him a kind of im- 
 mortality by raising from it the flower Anemone, which, 
 by its soon withering, expresses the brief period of life 
 allotted to the beautiful son of Myrrha. 
 
 A festival in honor of Adonis was annually celebrated at 
 Byblos by the Phoenician women during two days ; the 
 first of which was spent in grief and lamentation at his 
 death, and the second in joy and triumph at the fabled 
 resurrection of Adonis from the dead During this festi- 
 val the priests of Babylon shaved their heads, in imitation 
 of the priests of Isis in Egypt. 
 
 In Greece, whither these rites were transplanted, the 
 festival was prolonged to eight days. It is uncertain when 
 the Adoneia was first celebrated in that country ; but we 
 find Plato alluding to the gardens of Adonis, as pots and 
 boxes of flowers used in them were called, and the ill-for- 
 tune of the Athenian expedition to Sicily was in part as- 
 cribed to the circumstance of the fleet having sailed during 
 that festival. 
 
 In Greece it was celebrated in the same manner as in 
 Phoenicia. On the first day the citizens put themselves in 
 mourning, and coffins were placed at every door ; the 
 statues of Yenus and Adonis were borne in procession, 
 with the gardens of Adonis. At the conclusion of the 
 ceremony, they were thrown into the sea or some river, 
 where they soon perished, and thus became emblems of the 
 premature death of Adonis, who, like a young plant, was 
 cut off in the flower of life. 
 
 This tale of Adonis is evidently an Eastern myth. His 
 
APHRODITE OR VENUS. 
 
 171 
 
 own name and those of his parents refer to that part of the 
 world. He appears to be the same with the Thammuz 
 mentioned by the prophet Ezekiel (eh. viii., v. 14), 
 
 Whose annual wound in Lebanon allured 
 The Syrian damsels to lament his fate, 
 
 While smooth Adonis from his native rock 
 Ran purple to the sea, supposed with blood 
 Of Thammuz yearly wounded; 
 
 and to be a Phoenician personification of the sun, who, dur- 
 ing a part of the year is absent, with the goddess of the 
 under world, and during the remainder with Astarte the 
 queen of Heaven. The legend says, that Aphrodite com- 
 mitted Adonis to the care of Persephone, who afterwards 
 refused to part with him ; the matter being referred to 
 Zeus, he decreed that Adonis should have one-third of the 
 year to himself, be another third with Aphrodite, and the # 
 remaining third with Persephone. 
 
 Adonis was an oriental title of the sun signifying Lord ; 
 and the loss of this mighty lord was lamented in all coun- 
 tries where the Assyrian and the Phoenician traditions 
 were received; and his return to impregnate the world 
 with his genial vigor, was welcomed with the highest 
 demonstrations of joy. The boar supposed to have killed 
 him, was the emblem of winter ; during which, the pro- 
 ductive powers of nature being suspended, Aphrodite, Who 
 went hand in hand with spring, was said to lament the loss 
 of Adonis until he was again restored to life ; hence the 
 Syrian and Argive women annually mourned his death, 
 and celebrated his renovation to life. The mysteries of 
 Adonis and Aphrodite, at Byblos in Syria, were held in 
 similar estimation with those of Dem^ter and Dionysos at 
 Eleusis, and of Isis and Osiris in Egypt. 
 
 There is none of the Olympians of whom the foreign 
 origin is so probable as that of Aphrodite. She is generally 
 
172 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 regarded as being the same with the Astarte of the Phoeni- 
 cians. There can be little doubt of the identification of 
 Astarte with the Grecian Aphrodite, for the tale of Adonis 
 sufficiently proves it ; and that this took place at a very 
 early period, is evinced by Homer’s so frequently giving 
 Aphrodite the name of Cypris. Still we look on Aphrodite 
 to be, as her name seems to denote, an originally Grecian 
 deity ; at first, probably, merely cosmogonic, but gradually 
 adopted into the system of the Olympians, and endowed 
 with some of the attributes of Hera (who was also identified 
 with Astarte), and thus became the patroness of marriage. 
 It was probably on account of her being esteemed the same 
 with Astarte, the moon goddess and queen of Heaven, that 
 Aphrodite was so frequently styled the heavenly (Urania). 
 It is very important to observe that she was so named at 
 her temple in Cythera. which was regarded as the holiest 
 and most ancient of her fanes in Greece. Her antique 
 wooden statue in this temple was armed ; as it was also in 
 Corinth and Sparta. In this last city, she was styled 
 Urania, and her worship there was eminently Asiatic in 
 character. 
 
 HERMES OR MERCURY. 
 
 While Hera was sleeping, Zeus went to see Maia, the 
 graceful daughter of Atlas, in a shady cave ; and to this 
 secret visit Hermes is said to have owed his existence. 
 Being born in the morning, he at noon played on the lute 
 invented by himself, and in the evening he stole Apollo’s 
 oxen. 
 
 The lute was invented by him in the following manner. 
 Secretly leaving his cradle at noon, on the first day of his 
 life, and stepping over the threshold, he met a tortoise, 
 whose shell appeared to him a fit instrument for giving 
 musical tones when furnished with strings: u Now thou 
 art dumb / 7 said he, “ but after thy death* thy song will bo 
 
HERMES OR MERCURY 
 
 ns 
 
 heard.” Thus addressing the animal, he immediately 
 killed it, and furnished the shell with seven concordant 
 strings, which he touched with a small stick. As soon as 
 he had tuned the newly-invented instrument with skilful 
 ear, he could not forbear singing to it, and chanted forth 
 the praise of every thing that met his eye, even the tri- 
 pods and vessels in his mother’s house ; till at last, his 
 song, passing into a higher strain, found a worthier sub- 
 ject, in the love of Zeus and Maia, his divine parents. 
 
 When evening came on, and the sun had descended 
 into the ocean, Hermes found himself upon the Pierian 
 mountains, where the herds of the immortal gods were 
 feeding. From these he stole fifty oxen belonging to 
 Apollo, and devising many a crafty trick to avoid detection* 
 as he drove them onward through valleys and over moun- 
 tains, he would have escaped discovery but for an old man, 
 who, digging in the field, saw the boy with the oxen, and 
 afterwards betrayed him to Apollo. On the shores of the 
 river Alpheus, Hermes killed two of the stolen oxen, mak- 
 ing a sacrifice of them to himself. Having done this, he 
 carefully extinguished the fire, hid the ashes in the ground, 
 and threw the remainder of the killed animals into the 
 river, together with the shoes he had made of twigs and 
 p, t upon the feet of the oxen, in order to conceal their 
 tracks, or render them undiscernible. All this he per- 
 formed by moonlight. Before the break of day he gently 
 stole back into his mother’s dwelling, and lay down again 
 in his cradle, pulling the clothes around him, and holding 
 the lute, his dearest plaything, in his hand. 
 
 Apollo, angry at the theft committed on his oxen, ap- 
 peared to call Hermes to account, and to recover his pro- 
 perty. The thief feigned a deep sleep, having the lute 
 lying under his arm. Apollo threatened to precipitate 
 him into Tartaros, if he would not immediately point out 
 the place where the oxen were hidden. Then the cunning 
 
174 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 boy, twinkling his eyes, answered him, 4i How cruelly, son 
 of Leto, dost thou address a little boy who was not born 
 until yesterday, and who cares for things very different 
 from driving oxen ; who is longing for sweet slumber and 
 his mother’s breast, and whose feet are too tender and 
 feeble to tread long and rough paths. Nay, I will swear 
 by Zeus, my father’s head, that neither I myself have 
 stolen the oxen, nor do I know who committed the deed.” 
 
 Upon this, it was agreed between them, that both should 
 appear before the father of the gods on Olympos, that he 
 might reconcile their difference. Apollo stated his com- 
 plaint, while Hermes stood by in his swathing-clothes, in 
 order to refute the charge by the appearance of his tender 
 age. “ Have I then indeed,” said he, u the appearance of 
 a strong man, able to drive away oxen 7 Certainly, father, 
 thou shalt hear nothing but the truth from me. Whilst 
 the oxen were stolen, I was lying in sweet slumber, and 
 did not pass the threshold of my mother’s dwelling. Thou 
 knowest thyself, too, that I am innocent; yet I am ready 
 to protest my innocence with a solemn oath, and I shall 
 one day reward the cruel word of that false one. But 
 thou, father, be the protector of the younger.” Thus spoke 
 Hermes, with twinkling eyes, and Zeus smiled at the boy 
 because he was prudent enough to deny so finely the charge 
 brought against him. But at the same time he commanded 
 him to tell where the oxen were hidden, and when Hermes 
 obeyed the injunction, accompanying Apollo to the hiding- 
 place, a reconciliation took place between them, of which 
 the invented lute was the pledge. 
 
 For when the sweet sound of the instrument had touched 
 the ear of the god of harmony, he was enraptured ; and 
 caressing the inventor, “ Truly,” said he, u this invention 
 is worth fifty oxen.” Upon this, Hermes made him a 
 present of the lute, and Apollo became transported with 
 joy, at the thought of possessing so inestimable a treasure 
 
HERMES OR MERCURY. 
 
 175 
 
 In order, however, to secure it to himself, he requested 
 Hermes to swear by the Styx never to steal the sweetly- 
 sounding lute from its present possessor. In return for 
 his lute, Apollo gave him the golden wand, which had the 
 power of settling all differences ; and these two, now closely 
 united, ascended hand in hand to Olympos. It was art 
 that wove the band that united them, and Zeus rejoiced 
 in the concord 
 
 Hermes became afterwards the messenger of the immor- 
 tals He is the swift, the rapidly moving power among 
 the celestials, who, as if firmly established in their own 
 majesty, send the fleet, inventive idea from heaven to 
 earth, re-admitting it into their divine council as soon 
 as its task is accomplished. 
 
 His archetype is speech. Speech, the tender breath of 
 air, must, as it were, steal into the effective connection of 
 things, in order to make up by thought and prudence for 
 the deficiency of power and strength. The word of speech 
 is winged, because it is only to be heard when accompa- 
 nied by the swift breath of the lungs, and flies like a bird 
 let loose, that cannot be recalled. For this reason, the 
 beautiful expression of the ancients, u The word wants its 
 wings.” 
 
 According to a poetical representation, a golden chain 
 hangs down from, his mouth, reaching from Olympos to the 
 listening ears of the dwellers on the earth, who, in this 
 manner, are persuaded by the irresistible charms of the 
 sweet melody that flows from his lips. 
 
 Irresistible also is his art to settle differences, to recon- 
 cile enemies — in short, to dissolve all dissonant objects in 
 harmonious union. Once, in his boyhood, he found two 
 serpents in his way engaged in furious strife ; he struck 
 between them with his golden wand, and behold ! the rep- 
 tiles instantly forget their fury, and twine themselves in 
 gentlo coil roun I the wand, at the top of which their heads 
 
176 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 meet in eternal concord. There is no emblem to be found 
 more expressive of reconciliation and peace, as well as 
 harmonious connection of what is opposed and contending, 
 than this wand surrounded with coiling serpents, which, 
 in the hand of the divine herald, thenceforward constituted 
 a token of his authority. 
 
 Nothing is more charming and attractive in the fictions 
 of the ancients, than their description of the rapid de- 
 velopment of divine power in these supernatural beings 
 — a power, which, as if having existed long ago, and 
 being only new born in a particular form, does not suffer 
 itself to be long restrained by swathing-clothes and cradle. 
 
 In this light, airy representation, the imagination of the 
 ancients embodied the ideas of quick, inventive faculty, 
 and cunning activity, which displayed itself alike in decep- 
 tive persuasion, and easily accomplished sportive theft, at 
 which even the pilfered himself, hearing the adventurous 
 roguishness, was forced to smile. Jocularity and cunning 
 being here clothed with divinity and immortality, present 
 a new figure in the great picture of the divine assembly ; 
 fitter, upon the whole, to charm our eyes by its variety of 
 composition and splendid colors, than to improve our hearts 
 by its moral exhibitions. 
 
 In the human breast, the voice of an invisible, super- 
 natural power speaks intelligibly, bidding man lift up his 
 eyes from the earth to a higher v T orld. The ancients, too, 
 heard this voice ; but misapprehending it, they formed to 
 themselves a supernatural world, after the pattern which 
 nature and human life presented to them. Therefore, 
 nothing appeared to them mean or unholy, that rose from 
 the general, uncreating influence of nature, and contained, 
 although noxious in itself, the germ of beauty or utility. 
 
 Fancy assigns to her divine beings no bounds with regard 
 to actions ; on the contrary, she gives to the inward im- 
 pulse the fullest scope ; suffering them to stray even to the 
 
JJERMES OR MERCURY. 
 
 177 
 
 extreme limits of mischief, because in her fictions the great 
 contrasts, together with the huge masses of light and shade, 
 which otherwise we perceive merely as scattered and sin- 
 gle, are concentrated in a small compass, and because every 
 one of her beings comprises, as it were, in its own person, 
 the substance of all things considered from some sublime 
 point of view. 
 
 In this respect, the fiction of Hermes is one of the most 
 beautiful and comprehensive. He is the swift herald of 
 the immortals ; the god of speech ; the tutelary genius of 
 the roads ; in him the winged word is renewed when repeat- 
 ed from his lips, in delivering the commands of the gods ; 
 with his golden wand he leads the dead to the world of 
 shadows ; he is likewise the author of all prudent and 
 cunning designs, plots, and artifices ; the patron of thieves, 
 the teacher of men in the art of wrestling, or of conquering 
 strength by agility, and the president over trade and gain. 
 
 As messenger of Zeus, he was intrusted with all his se- 
 crets ; and as the ambassador and plenipotentiary of the 
 Gods, was concerned in all alliances and treaties. In the 
 wars of the giants, he showed himself brave, spirited, and 
 active. He delivered Ares from his long confinement 
 which he suffered from the superior powers of the Aloeids ; 
 he purified the Danaides from the murder of their hus- 
 bands ; he tied Ixion to his wheel in the infernal regions ; 
 he destroyed the hundred-eyed Argos ; he sold Heracles 
 to Omphale, queen of Lydia; he conducted Priamos to 
 the tent of Achilleus to redeem the body of his son Hector ; 
 and he carried the infant Dionysos to the nymphs of Nysa. 
 He gave many proofs of his thievish propensity, and in- 
 creased his fame by robbing Poseidon of his trident, 
 Aphrodite of her girdle, Ares of his sword, Zeus of his 
 sceptre, and Hephaestos of his mechanical instruments. 
 
 Mythologists are pretty well agreed in recognizing a 
 telluric pewer in the Hermes of the Pelasgian system Tho 
 
 8 * 
 
178 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 simplest derivation of his name is from a Greek word, sig- 
 nifying earth , and by the name of liis- mother, Maia, is 
 probably meant Mother Earth. 
 
 He seems to have been the deity of productiveness in 
 general ; but he came gradually to be regarded as presid- 
 ing more particularly over flocks and herds. From this 
 last view some of his Hellenic attributes may be simply 
 deduced. Thus the god of shepherds was naturally re- 
 garded as the inventor of music ; the lyre is ascribed to 
 Hermes, as the pipes are to Pan, music having always been 
 a recreation of shepherds in the warm regions of the 
 south. In like manner, as the shepherd lads amuse them- 
 selves with wrestling and other feats of strength and 
 activity, their tutelar god easily became the president of 
 the 'palcestra. So also trade, having consisted chiefly in 
 the exchange of cattle, Hermes, the herdsman’s god, was 
 held to be the god of commerce ; and the skill and elo- 
 quence employed in commercial dealings, made him to be 
 the god of eloquence, artifice, and ingenuity, and even of 
 cheating. As herdsmen are the best guides in the coun- 
 try, it may be thence that Hermes was thought to protect 
 wayfarers, and thence to be a protector in general. For 
 this cause it may have been, that god-sen ds or treasure- 
 trove were ascribed to him. 
 
 The rural deity, when thus become active, sly and elo- 
 quent, was well adapted for the office which was assigned 
 him of agent and messenger of the gods, to whom we also 
 find him officiating as cup-bearer. As a being whose ope- 
 rations extended into the interior of the earth, Hermes 
 would seem to have been in some points of view identified 
 with Hades. In Pindar, this latter deity himself perforins 
 the office generally assigned to Hermes, that of conduct- 
 ing the departed to Erebos. Possibly it may have been 
 on this account, that Solon directed the Athenians to 
 swear by Zeus, Poseidon, and Hermes. * 
 
HERMES OR MERCURY. 
 
 179 
 
 The Grecian spirit completely modified the Egyptian 
 Hermes, to produce the Hermes or Mercury of the Grecian 
 mythology ; where he is quite a different being. In 
 Egypt he presides over the sciences, writing, medicine, 
 and astronomy, and composes many divine works, contain- 
 ing the elements of these several departments of knowledge; 
 in Greece he is the god of shepherds and merchandise. 
 The interpreter of the gods in Egypt, he becomes in 
 Greece only their messenger ; and it is by virtue of this 
 latter tkle that 
 he preserves his 
 wings, which were 
 among the E- 
 gyptians merely 
 an astronomical 
 symbol. 
 
 The god is usu- 
 ally represented 
 with a chlamys , 
 his petasus or 
 winged cap, and 
 his talaria or 
 winged sandals, 
 and the caduceus 
 or wand present- 
 ed to him by 
 Apollo, which had 
 the power of settling all differences, of putting any one to 
 sleep, and of waking them again, and also of bringing souls 
 out of Hell. The petasus and talaria were gifts from Zeus. 
 
 The ancient statues of Hermes were merely wooden posts 
 with a rude head and pointed beard carved on them. They 
 were what is termed ithyphallic, and were set up on the 
 roads and foot-paths, also in the fields and gardens. From 
 this representation he became with the Romans the god 
 
180 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 Terminus ; but when they were made acquainted with the 
 twelve great deities of the Athenians, they adopted the 
 Grecian Hermes under the name of Mercurius. In* honor 
 of this deity, the Homans celebrated an annual festival in 
 a temple near the Circus Maximus, when sacrifices and 
 prayers were offered to him. 
 
 An ancient gem exhibits the following accurate repre- 
 sentation of Mercury : As god of the roads, he stands be- 
 fore an altar, over which rises an antique milestone, which 
 he touches with his wand. Upon the altar lies a staff, as an 
 intimation of travellers dedicating their walking staves to 
 Mercury, after having accomplished a journey. As a sign 
 of the safety of the roads, an olive branch is entwined 
 around the stone. The god bears on his head the winged 
 cap ; as he is standing, the winged sandals are not fas- 
 tened to his feet. 
 
 The Council of Jupiter, the supreme divinity, was com- 
 posed of six gods, namely, Jupiter, Neptune, Mercury, 
 Apollo, Mars, and Vulcan; and six goddesses: Juno, 
 Ceres, Vesta, Minerva, Diana, and Venus. To this assem- 
 bly no other deities were admitted. 
 
 As soon as fiction descends from Heaven to Earth, 
 divine beings become more numerous. Imagination dis- 
 covers life in fountains, groves, and hills ; — and according 
 to her pleasure, ascribes to this life corporeal form. In 
 this manner all nature becomes sacred : deity fills the 
 whole, and the whole is deity, revealed only in various 
 forms. The ancients not only deified the virtues, but dis- 
 tempers, storms, and passions, and worshipped them that 
 they might be saved from all harm. 
 
 This practice of personifying natural and moral quali- 
 ties, seems to have been coeval with Grecian poetry and 
 religion. It was not, however, by any means peculiar t< 
 Greece ; it will probably be found wherever poetry exist? 
 
THE COUNCIL OF JUPITER. 
 
 181 
 
 But it was only in ancient Greece and Italy, that these 
 personifications were made objects of worship, and re- 
 garded as having a real and personal existence. 
 
 The Genii or Daemons were not considered as equal to 
 the gods, but as superior to mortals. The four natures, 
 Gods, Genii, Heroes and Men, were first distinguished by 
 Hesiod. 
 

 
 
 
PART THIRD. 
 
 GENII AND INFERIOR DEITIES. 
 
 According to the ideas of the ancients, man was inti- 
 mately connected with the Deity by means of the genii or 
 tutelary beings. The highest divinity is multiplied, as it 
 were, in those beings, who, like guardian angels, lead by 
 the hand every individual mortal through life, from the 
 hour of his birth to that of his death. In this sense it 
 was, that man swore by his Jupiter, and woman by her 
 Juno, speaking of their own genius, or tutelary deity. 
 
 On their birthdays, the ancients presented offerings of 
 wine, incense, and garlands of flowers, to their respective 
 genii, who were represented in the form of handsome 
 youths, having their heads crowned with flowers. Thus 
 man, following the dictates of his heart, venerated some- 
 thing higher and more divine than he could find in his 
 own limited individuality, and brought to “ this great un- 
 known of himself” offerings as a god; thus compensating 
 by veneration for the indistinct knowledge of his divine 
 origin. 
 
 It was customary among the Romans to implore per- 
 sons by their genius, as the orientals do by their souls ; 
 and in Latin writers it is not always easy to distinguish a 
 man’s genius from himself. The distinct worship of the 
 
184 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 Genii continued down to the demise of paganism, for we 
 find it noticed in the Theodosian code. 
 
 The worship of the Genius was a remarkable part of the 
 religion of the Romans ; they having derived it from the 
 Tuscans, in whose system it formed a prominent feature. 
 The word Genius is evidently a Latin translation of a Tus- 
 can term, signifying Generator , and the Genius was there- 
 fore viewed as a deity who had the power of producing. 
 In the Tuscan system he was the son of the gods, and the 
 parent of men ; according to the ancient Italian doctrine, 
 all souls proceeded from Jupiter, and returned to him after 
 death ; therefore the Genius J ovialis was viewed as the 
 great agent in giving life, and uniting the soul to the body. 
 
 When Ceres and Pallas bless the growth and animals 
 of the fields, and thereby the house, so cares the Genius 
 Jovialis for the continuance and bloom of the family itself. 
 Through him is Jupiter an eternal, inexhaustible giver of 
 life to the changing generation of man. 
 
 The Genii of the Romans are frequently confounded with 
 the Manes, Lares and Penates ; and they have indeed one 
 great feature in common, viz., that of protecting mortals. 
 There is, however, this essential difference ; the genii are 
 the powers that produce life, and accompany man through 
 it as his second or spiritual self, and the other powers 
 have no influence till life, the work of the genii, has com- 
 menced. Neither were they confined to man, but every 
 living thing, animal as well as man, and also every place, 
 had its genius, or protecting spirit. 
 
 Horace, in speaking of the Genius, calls him “ change- 
 able of countenance, white and black and in the well- 
 known appearance of his evil genius to Brutus, the spirit 
 was black, which would seem to intimate that a man had 
 two Genii, a good and an evil one. x 
 
 This does not appear to have been the Italian belief, 
 though perhaps such a notion prevailed in Greece ; for the 
 
GENII AND INFERIOR DEITIES. 
 
 185 
 
 philosopher Empedocles said, that two Moiree receive us 
 at our birth, and obtain authority over us. 
 
 The whole body of the Roman people also had its genius, 
 who is often represented on the coins of Hadrian and Tra- 
 jan. He was worshipped on sad, as well as on^joyous occa- 
 sions, as for instance at the beginning of the second year 
 of the Hannibalian war. 
 
 When a local genius made himself visible, he appeared 
 in the form of a serpent, that is, the symbol of renova- 
 tion, or of new life. In works of art, the genii are usually 
 represented as winged beings ; and on Roman monuments, 
 a genius generally appears as a youth dressed in a toga, 
 with a patera or cornucopia in his hand, and having his 
 head covered. The genius of a place is represented in the 
 form of a serpent eating fruit placed before him. 
 
 The Greeks called their genii, daemons, and appear to 
 have believed in them from the earliest times, though they 
 are not mentioned by Homer. Hesiod speaks of them as 
 being thirty thousand in number, and says that they dwelt 
 on earth, invisible to mortals, as the ministers of Zeus and 
 the guardians of man and justice. He also considers 
 them as the souls of righteous men who lived in the golden 
 age. Upon this idea the Greek philosophers developed a 
 complete theory of daemons. Thus we read in Plato, that 
 daemons are assigned to men at the moment of their birth, 
 accompany them through life, and after death, conduct 
 their souls to Hades. * Pindar also speaks of the spirit 
 that watches over the fate of man from tho hour of his 
 birth, which appears to be the same as the genius of the 
 Romans — the protecting spirit, analogous to the guardian 
 angels invoked by the church of Rome. 
 
 * Hades anciently signified the grave, or place of the dead in general. 
 All therefore that die, must go to Hades. 
 
GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 186 
 
 Daemons are further described as the ministers and com 
 panions of the gods, who bear the prayers of men to them, 
 and the gifts of the gods to men. and accordingly float in 
 immense numbers in the space between heaven and earth. 
 Daemons who were exclusively the ministers of the gods, 
 seem to have constituted a distinct class. The Corybantes, 
 Dactyls, and Cabeiri, are called the ministering daemons 
 of the great gods; Gigon, Tychon, and Ortharges, are the 
 daemons of Aphrodite ; and Hadreus the daemon of Deme- 
 ter. 
 
 The Penates, or guardians of private families, who are 
 also derived from the Etruscans, appear to have formed an 
 especial class of deities among the Romans. The dii peua- 
 tes are those who are worshipped in the interior of the 
 house. They were gods from whom blessings, cherishing, 
 and prosperity were expected, as the name declares. 
 There is no reason to suppose that the Penates were a 
 class of gods distinctly divided from the others ; but dif- 
 ferent gods and daemons of different orders are honored in 
 different houses. Therefore the great uncertainty and 
 variety in the assertions of the ancients as to who the Pe- 
 nates were. 
 
 According to the Etruscans, they were divided into 
 four classes : Penates of Jupiter, Penates of Neptune, those 
 of the nether gods, and those of mortal men. They con- 
 sidered the daemons who add to the possessions of families, 
 as in part the souls of the dead, in part beings of the earth 
 and lower world, of the water and the heavens ; the fourth 
 class comprised the Genii. 
 
 Among the various deities called Lares, are human 
 souls, as among the Penates. Certain rites are described 
 by which human souls are changed to gods called animals, 
 because they arise from souls. These are renates and 
 way-gods. These rites are the same as those consecrated 
 
PENATES. 
 
 18? 
 
 to the deities of the nether world, which were princi- 
 pally Etruscan ; only the name, and perhaps certain usa- 
 ges, were borrowed from Greece, by which souls were re' 
 deemed and conjured out of the lower world, and thereby 
 became gods. This is the doctrine of the genii. A 
 genius is present at birth ; — his power operates in the life 
 of the mortal whom the gods favor, and also after death ; 
 und of the dead he becomes again the genius. Yet, these 
 elevated and deified souls do not become gods of every 
 sort, but first Penates. The old Latins called the soul 
 of man, as soon as it had left the body, Lemur ; and a 
 Lemur, who retained an interest in posterity, and ruled 
 the house with mild and peaceful disposition, Lar Famili- 
 aris. Those who, for a punishment, wandered about as 
 powerless forms, empty bugbears to the good, and the tor- 
 ment of the bad, were Larva. But when the destiny of the 
 man is uncertain, the term Manes dii is employed, and to 
 the Manes was assigned a subterranean place of abode. 
 There can be little doubt that Jupiter and Juno were wor- 
 shipped as Penates. Yesta, also, is reckoned among them ; 
 fur each hearth, being the symbol of domestic union, had 
 its Yesta. The public Penates of the city of Rome had a 
 chapel near the centre of the city, in a place called Sub 
 Vclia ; the private had their place at the domestic hearth, 
 which, as well as the table, was sacred to them. Every 
 meal taken in the house resembled a sacrifice to the 
 Penates. 
 
 After every absence from the hearth, the Penates were 
 saluted like the living inhabitants of the house. Whoever 
 went abroad, prayed to the Penates and Lares for a happy 
 return ; and when he came back, he hung up his armor and 
 staff by the side of their images. No event, whether sad 
 or joyful, occurred in the family, without offering prayers 
 to the Lares and Penates 
 
188 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 The Lares or domestic dei- 
 ties, were generally two m 
 number, who had their abodes 
 on the domestic hearth. They 
 were represented as youths 
 with hats on their heads, trav- 
 elling staves in their hands, 
 and dogs at their sides. Lamps, 
 the symbol of vigilance, were 
 consecrated to them ; they were 
 crowned with flowerets, and re- 
 ceived offerings of food, which 
 was prepared upon the hearth. 
 
 Again, they are dressed in 
 short habits, to show their 
 readiness to serve, and hold a 
 kind of cornucopia as a signal 
 of hospitality and good house- 
 keeping. Being witness of 
 domestic happiness or misfor- 
 tune, they hallowed the every- 
 day occurrences of life by their 
 presence, rendering every 
 house, as it were, a sacred 
 temple. 
 
 There are various classes of Lares, such as Lares Urba 
 ni , to preside over the cities; Familiares , over houses; 
 Ruslici , over the country ; Marini , over the sea ; Viales , 
 over the roads, etc. 
 
 If we regard the nature of Lares and Penates, wo 
 shall readily perceive why the former have a higher rank 
 assigned them in the hierarchy of the genii than the latter. 
 The Penates were originally gods — the powers of nature 
 personified — powers whose wonderful and mysterious ac- 
 tion produces and upholds whatever is necessary to life, 
 
LARES. 
 
 189 
 
 as well as to the common good and prosperity of families 
 and individuals ; in fine, whatever the human species can- 
 not bestow upon itself. 
 
 The case is quite different with the Lares ; they were 
 originally human beings, who had lived upon earth, and 
 who, becoming pure spirits after death, loved still to hover 
 round the dwellings they had formerly inhabited, watching 
 over their safety, and guarding them from evil. Having 
 lived as mortals, they were familiar with the dangers that 
 surround man, and knew what assistance was required by 
 those whose situation in every respect was once their own. 
 They were therefore supposed to avert danger from with- 
 out, while the Penates, residing in the interior of the 
 dwelling, pour forth benefits upon its inmates with boun- 
 tiful hands. 
 
 The place in which the Lares were worshipped was 
 called the Larariutn — a sort of domestic chapel in the 
 Atrium, where were also to be seen the images and busts 
 of the family ancestors. In the sacrifices offered to them, 
 the first-fruits of every year, with wine and incense, were 
 brought to their altars ; and their images were adorned 
 with chaplets and garlands. The rich had often two Lara- 
 ria, one large and one small ; and also u Masters of the 
 Lares” and u Decurios of the Lares namely, slaves spe- 
 cially charged with the care of these domestic chapels 
 and images of their divinities. The common altar, on 
 which sacrifices were offered to the Lares, was the domes 
 tic hearth ; and in all family repasts, the first thing done 
 was to cast a portion of the viands into the fire that burn- 
 ed on the hearth in honor of the Lares. 
 
 Certain public festivals were also celebrated in honor 
 of the Lares, called Lararia and Compitalia. The period 
 for their celebration fell in the month of December, a lit- 
 tle after the Saturnalia. On this occasion the Lares were 
 worshipped as propitious deities ; therefore these festivi- 
 
190 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 ties were gay and joyful. The Cornpitalia, dedicated to 
 the Lares Comfit ales, were celebrated in the open air : the 
 day of their celebration was not fixed. They were intro- 
 duced at Rome by Servius Tullius, who left to the Senate 
 the care of determining the period when they should be 
 held. 
 
 In early times, children were immolated to the goddess 
 Mania, who, according to some, was the mother of the Lares, 
 in order to propitiate her favor for the protection of the 
 family. This barbarous rite was subsequently abolished, 
 and little balls of wool were hung up at the j^ates of dwell- 
 ings, instead of human offerings. After the expulsion 
 of the Tarquins, Junius Brutus introduced a new form of 
 sacrifice, by virtue of which, heads of garlics and poppies 
 were offered up in place of human heads, in accordance 
 with the oracle of Apollo. During these festivals, every 
 family brought a cake for an offering ; slaves enjoyed a 
 perfect equality with their masters, as on the Saturnalia ; 
 and slaves, instead of freemen, assisted the priests in the 
 sacrifices offered on this occasion to the tutelary genii of 
 the ways. 
 
 In case of death in a family, a sacrifice of sheep was 
 offered to the family Lares. In the form of marriage, 
 called coemtio, the bride always threw a piece of money 
 upon the hearth to the Lares of her family, and deposited 
 another in the neighboring cross-road, in order to obtain 
 admission, as it were, into the dwelling of her husband. 
 Young persons, after their fifteenth year, consecrated to 
 the Lares the bulla * which they had worn from infancy. 
 
 * The bulla was made of metal, and so called from its resemblance in 
 form to a bubble floating upon the water. It was suspended round the 
 neck of a child as a token of paternal affection, and a sign of high birth ; 
 fis it was given to infants, it sometimes served to recognize a lost child. 
 Probably it contained amulets. 
 
 Instead of the bulla of gold, the children of inferior rank wore one 
 made of leather. 
 
NYMPH .E OR NYMPHS. 
 
 191 
 
 Soldiers, when their time of service was ended, dedicated 
 to these powerful genii the arms with which they had 
 fought the battles of their country. Captives and slaves, 
 restored to freedom, consecrated to the Lares the fetters 
 from which they had just been freed. Before undertaking 
 a journey, or after a successful return, homage was paid to 
 these deities, when their protection was implored, or thanks 
 were rendered for their guardian care. The new master 
 of a house crowned the Lares, in order to render them pro- 
 pitious ; a custom which was most universal, and perpetu 
 ated to the latest times. 
 
 As regards the forms under which the Lares were repre- 
 sented, it may be observed that it differed slightly from 
 that of the Penates. Thus, on the coins of the Csesian 
 family, they are represented as two young men, seated, 
 their heads covered with helmets, and holding spears in 
 their hands, while a dog watches at their feet. Some- 
 times the heads of the Lares are represented as covered 
 with the skin of a dog, and sometimes it forms their man- 
 tle. At other times, we find the Lares resembling naked 
 children, with the bulla hanging from the neck, and always 
 accompanied by the attribute of the dog. 
 
 NYMPHiE OR NYMPHS. 
 
 The imagination of the ancients, fond of connecting 
 something divine with objects that are strong and lasting, 
 and that outlive the generations of men, as the firmly- 
 rooted mountain, the overflowing spring, and the solid oak, 
 attributed to hills and fountains, to forests, and even to 
 single trees, immortal souls ; for in this light may those 
 beings be considered, who, under the name of Nymphs, 
 were thought to animate them. 
 
 The Oread roams on the mountains, pursuing with her 
 sisters, in the retinue of Diana, the track of the deer ; and, 
 
192 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 like the unyielding deity whom she follows, closes her heart 
 to every tender affection. 
 
 At the lonely hour of noon, the Naiad sat with her water 
 pitcher at her spring, sending forth from it the warbling 
 brooks. Although less cruel than their mountain-sisters, 
 the caresses of the Naiades proved dangerous. They 
 embraced handsome Hylas, the favorite of Hercules, when 
 he was sent for water, and drew him down into the fountain. 
 
 The sacred gloom of the forest was the abode of the 
 Dryades, while the Hamadryad lived within her own single 
 tree, with which she was born, and with which she died. 
 Whoever therefore spared a tree laid the Nymph who 
 dwelt in it under an obligation for life. 
 
 In this manner inanimate nature itself became to man 
 an object of sympathetic benevolence. 
 
 The Auras, or Sylphs, Nymphs of the air, a species of 
 sportive, happy beings, and well-wishers to mankind, were 
 winged and represented as flying. 
 
 SILENOS. 
 
 According to the Homerid, Hermes and the Silens min- 
 gle in love with the Nymphs in pleasing caverns, and 
 Pindar calls Silenos the Naiad’s husband. Socrates, on 
 account of his wisdom, his baldness, and his flat nose, com- 
 pared himself to the Silens born of the divine Naiades. 
 Others said that Silenos was a son of Earth, and sprung 
 from the blood-drops of Uranos . Marsyas is also called a 
 Silen. 
 
 Like the sea gods, Silenos was noted for wisdom ; and 
 it would therefore appear that a Silen was simply a river- 
 god ; and the name probably comes from the Greek verb, 
 signifying to roll , expressive of the motion of the streams. 
 The connection between Silenos, Bacchos, and the Naiades, 
 thus becomes easy of explanation, all being deities relating 
 to moisture. 
 
SATYRS. 
 
 193 
 
 Silenos was represented as old, 
 bald, and flat nosed, riding on a 
 broad-backed ass, usually intoxi- 
 cated, and carrying his can ( can - 
 tharus ), or tottering along, sup- 
 ported by his staff of fennel 
 (ferula). 
 
 PRIAPOS. 
 
 Priapos, the emblem of fecun- 
 dity, and fabled to have been the 
 son of Bacchos and Aphrodite, was introduced late into the 
 Grecian mythology. He was a rural deity, worshipped by 
 the people of Lampsacus, a city on the Hellespont famous 
 for its vineyards. 
 
 Priapos was not — as is supposed from, the employment 
 usually assigned him by the Romans after they adopted 
 his worship — merely the god of gardens, but of fruitful- 
 ness in general. 
 
 Like the other rural gods, Priapos is of a ruddy com- 
 plexion. His cloak is filled with all kinds of fruit ; he has 
 a scythe in his hand, and usually a horn of plenty. Some- 
 times his statue was placed in gardens, crowned with a 
 wreath of herbs, and bearing a crooked knife in his hand. 
 
 SATYRS. 
 
 The forest, with its shades and deep recesses, is the 
 scene also of those wanton beings, called Satyrs, whose 
 human shape is disfigured by the horns and feet of a goat. 
 They are, as it were, the middle link, which in nature’s 
 great chain connects the brute creation with the human 
 world. 
 
 In these beings the slender feet of a goat is in a bur- 
 lesque manner joined to a human form ; and a similar 
 contrast exhibits youthful wantonness and careless levity, 
 
 9 
 
194 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 blended with the higher spirit that dwells within them. 
 Although mortal, they are superior to the cares and sor- 
 rows of mortal life. 
 
 Belief in the existence of these beings, as well as others 
 of the same kind, must necessarily have been perpetuated 
 from the idea that no one was permitted to behold a nymph 
 or a satyr unpunished. Thus, instead of endeavoring to 
 ascertain the truth or falsehood of their existence, every 
 one shunned the sight of them, avoiding such places as they 
 were reported to have chosen for their haunts. It was the 
 inspired poet alone, who, amid lonely rocks, beheld in the 
 train of Bacchos, nymphs and satyrs, listening to the in- 
 struction of the god, and goat footed satyrs with erect and 
 pointed ears. In the Greek mythology they were insepa- 
 rably connected with the worship of Bacchos, and repre- 
 sent the luxuriant, vital powers of nature. 
 
 In the Satyrs, art has attempted to represent human 
 form bordering as nearly as possible on brutal shape. A 
 Satyr, exhibited upon an antique gem, as he is contending 
 with a he-goat, and pushing him, is scarcely distinguished 
 from that animal, except by his body and arms ; the goat 
 form being extended even to the face, which, although hu- 
 man, betrays the nature of the brute. 
 
 These comic Nymphs, Genii, and Cupids produce an 
 agreeable contrast in the train of Bacchos ; and it would 
 seem as if they were a necessary part of those groups, and 
 of the divine formations in general ; fiction being as it were 
 completed by those beings, half divine and half brute. 
 
 FAUNS. 
 
 The Fauns differ from the Satyrs; at least, according to 
 the technical language of modern times. They are repre- 
 sented entirely in human form, but with erect and pointed 
 ears, and the tail of a goat. Yet without these external 
 marks, a Faun is easily recognized by his rough, ignoblo 
 
SYLVAN US. THEMIS. 
 
 195 
 
 features, which indicate the character attributed to him. 
 Still there are some ancient monuments, which exhibit 
 Fauns of admirable beauty, in whose features that half- 
 brutish, sensual temper is but slightly indicated. 
 
 The peasants sacrificed lambs and kids to the Fauns 
 with great solemnity. 
 
 SYLVANUS. 
 
 Sylvanus was a deity who presided over the woods and 
 the fruits they produced, and was worshipped by the na- 
 tions of Latium. He was represented like Pan, except that 
 he bears a branch of cypress in his hand, which intimates 
 night in the forest, and alludes also to the joyless and 
 melancholy nature of his abode, which rendered him an 
 object of terror to peasants and shepherds. 
 
 THEMIS. 
 
 Zeus, when Lord of all, united with Themis, which sig- 
 nifies possibility or aptitude arising from the necessary 
 connection of things, or the laws of their existence. In 
 action, Themis is the source of law, and her predictions 
 of truth. 
 
 Themis, as goddess of justice, still maintains her place 
 among the modern deities. In this character, presiding 
 over the distribution of justice, she is represented as a 
 noble and majestic woman, having her eyes covered with 
 a fillet, holding a balance in one hand, and a sword in the 
 other. She is said to have succeeded her mother Earth 
 in the possession of the Delphic oracle, and to have volun- 
 tarily resigned it to her sister Phoebe, who gave it as a 
 natal gift to Phoebos- Apollo. 
 
 By some mythologists, Themis is considered merely a? 
 an epithet of earth ; and others consider her as the oldest 
 purely allegorical personification of a virtue. 
 
 The ancient poets also mention, her daughter Astrsea, 
 
196 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 wlio descended from Heaven to be the tutelary deity of 
 mortals, distributing justice, settling differences, teaching 
 the principles of integrity, and inculcating an abhorrence 
 of injustice and crime. Pitying the unfortunate race of 
 Prometheus, she dwelt with them for a long time ; but 
 when she found that, notwithstanding her endeavors, jus- 
 tice was overthrown by the misdeeds of men, and all rever- 
 ence for what is holy banished from their lives, she left 
 them in disgust and fled back to Heaven. 
 
 RORM, 
 
 Having become the wife of Zeus, Themis produced the 
 three amiable guides and guardians of life, the Horse, 
 whose names are Eunomia [order). Dike ['punishment), 
 Irene [peace). Their office was to promote unanimity by 
 the exercise of equity and justice. They likewise stand 
 around the throne of Zeus, and their regular occupation is 
 to open and shut the gates of Heaven, and yoke the steeds 
 to the chariot of the Sun. 
 
 Under the name of the Horae, the ancient fictions com- 
 prise, in the first place, the Genii of justice, children of 
 Zeus and Themis ; and then the Seasons ; which, by a 
 just partition of their benefits, as it were, preserve in 
 continual succession the equipoise of nature. 
 
 The dancing Horae, following each other in measured 
 steps, are an emblem of fleeting time ; and, as friends and 
 companions of the Graces, often mingle with them in a 
 common choir. 
 
 Winkleman’s monuments contain a representation of the 
 three Horae, taken from an antique marble. One of them, 
 crowned with palm leaves, and standing before an altar, 
 bearing fruit in her hands, signifies Autumn ; another, be- 
 fore whose feet a flower has sprung up, is an emblem of 
 Spring ; and near the third, on a pile of stones like an 
 altar, a little fire appears, intimating Winter. Under the 
 
EROS OR CUPID. 
 
 197 
 
 serene and mild sky of Greece, Summer and Autumn vary 
 but little in temperature as well as products, therefore, 
 one emblem is sufficient for both ; the Athenians usually 
 represented but two seasons, Thallo and Carpo, blossom and 
 fruit, the whole year being divided by them into spring 
 and autumn. 
 
 By poets and artists the seasons are all personified. 
 They are frequently seen together on relievi, medals, and 
 gems. On a medal of Commodus, they appear moving 
 over a celestial globe, which lies by the goddess Tellus. 
 The artists have also followed the poets in representing the 
 four ages of life by depicting Yer ( spring ), as infantile and 
 tender ; iEstas (summer), as young and sprightly ; Autum- 
 nus (autumn), mature and manly ; and Hyems (winter), as 
 old and decrepid. 
 
 Again Yer is a youth decorated with a coronet of flow- 
 ers, or a basket of flowers in his hand ; iEstas is crowned 
 with corn or holds a sickle in his hand ; Autumnus is 
 usually distinguished by his crown of different fruits ; and 
 Hyems by his crown of reeds, the birds in his hand, or the 
 beast at his feet ; and also by his warm clothing. 
 
 EROS OR CUPID. 
 
 Eros or Cupid is unnoticed by Homer. In the Theogony 
 he is one of the first beings, and produced without parents. 
 In the Orphic poems he was the son of Kronos. Sappho 
 made him the offspring of Heaven and Earth, while Si- 
 monides assigned him Aphrodite and Ares for parents. 
 In Oleu’s hymn to Eileithyia, that goddess was termed 
 the mother of Love ; and Alcaeus said, that well-sandalled 
 Iris bore Love to gold-locked Zephyros. 
 
 Thespise in Boeotia was the place in which Eros was most 
 worshipped. The Thespians celebrated games in his honor 
 on Mount Helicon. The oldest image of the god in their 
 city was of plain stone ; but Praxiteles afterwards made for 
 
193 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 them one of Pentelican marble of rare beauty. Eros also 
 bad altars at Athens and elsewhere. 
 
 The God of Love was usually represented as a plump- 
 cheeked, rosy boy, with light hair floating on his shoulders. 
 He is always winged and armed with bow and arrows. 
 
 Under the appellation of Eros and Anteros, Love, and 
 Love requited, ancient art represents two Cupids contend- 
 ing for the possession of a palm branch, to signify zeal in 
 mutual love. 
 
 The divine person of Eros is multiplied by the ancients. 
 Those little Cupids or Genii of Love, who every where ap- 
 pear in ancient fictions, are, as it were, sparks of this 
 being. Poetry is inexhaustible in beautiful emblematic 
 representations of the all-conquering god. Thus we find 
 him as breaking the thunderbolts of Zeus : or as arrayed 
 in the lion skin of Heracles, and armed with his club ; or 
 as stepping on the helmet of Ares, whose shield and spear 
 are lying at his feet ; or, finally, as riding on a lion, taming 
 the beast by the strains of his lyre : — a beautiful emblem 
 of the combined power of love and music. 
 
 CHARITES OR GRACES. 
 
 In the Graces are multiplied the eminently dazzling 
 charms of the powerful Goddess of Love. The three sis- 
 ters descended from Heaven, for the benefit of mortal men 
 - — instilling into their bosoms the lovely feeling of grati- 
 tude and mutual benevolence, and gracing their persons 
 with the precious gift of pleasing. 
 
 The Graces were children of Zeus and Eurynome, the 
 beautiful daughter of Oceanos ; and their names were 
 Aglaia ( Splendor ), Thalia (Pleasure), and Euphrosyne 
 (Joy). Temples and altars were every where erected to 
 their honor ; every age and every profession solicited their 
 Caver ; arts and sciences paid homage to them ; their altars 
 
CAMEN;E or muses. 
 
 199 
 
 were never without fragrant incense ; and at every joyful 
 repast, their names were mentioned with veneration. 
 
 Associated in friendly union with Love and the Muses, 
 ^hey had often a temple in common with the former, and 
 still oftener with the latter. In Olympos they surrounded 
 the throne of Jupiter. In heaven, as well as on earth, 
 their dominion was acknowledged, and their influence, 
 without which beauty itself is but a dead picture, was re- 
 spected and honored. In the dancing attitudes of the 
 three graceful sisters, are expressed the charms of personal 
 dignity, of elegant movement, and of attitude and counte- 
 nance by which beauty gains the soul of man ; and walking 
 hand in hand as loving sisters, they indicate also every ten- 
 der emotion of a heart overflowing with affection, friend 
 ship, and benevolence. 
 
 The happy influence which the religious veneration of 
 these lovely and significant beings exercised on the ideas 
 and feelings of the ancients, is to be recognized in the 
 whole life of the Greeks, as well as their works of art and 
 science. The favor of the Graces was no where to be dis- 
 pensed with ; and in order to intimate that, to make even 
 the most extravagant formations of fancy agreeable, grace 
 must be concealed, hollow statues of Satyrs were formed, 
 within which were found little figures of the Graces. 
 
 CAMENiE OR MUSES. 
 
 Mnemosyne, the personification of memory as the source 
 and repository of every art and science, belongs to the an- 
 cient deities ; for she is the daughter of Heaven and 
 Earth ; and as mankind are indebted to memory for their 
 progress in science, Mnemosyne is said to be the parent 
 of the Muses, who divided among themselves that treasure 
 of wisdom which their venerable mother alone possessed. 
 
 The Muses, as well as the Horse and Graces, all of them 
 daughters of Zeus, originally presided over the stars and 
 
200 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 the seasons ; but the later Greeks took away these func- 
 tions, giving them only such as were of a poetic character. 
 An ancient bard thus sings the praises of the nine sisters : 
 u They pour on the lips of man, whom they favor, the dew 
 of soft persuasion ; they bestow on him wisdom, that he 
 may be a judge and umpire among his people, and give 
 him renown among nations : and the poet who wanders on 
 the mountain tops and in the lowly dales, is inspired by 
 them with divine strains, which dispel sorrow and grief 
 from the breast of every mortal.” 
 
 Their appropriate employments are music, song, and 
 dance ; but playful fiction has given to each of the sisters 
 a particular vocation. Calliope was the muse of eloquence 
 and heroic poetry (to her the ancients gave precedence) ; 
 Clio, of history ; Erato, of amorous poetry ; Euterpe, of 
 music ; Melpomene, of tragedy ; Polyhymnia, of eloquence 
 and imitation ; Terpsichore, of dancing ; Thalia, of comic 
 and lyric poetry ; and Urania, of astronomy. On a sar- 
 cophagus, in the Capitoliue Gallery at Rome, there is a re- 
 lievo in which the nine muses are represented ; by the 
 help of this, together with Ausonius’ description of them 
 (Idyl. 20). an attempt has been macle to distinguish one 
 muse from another. Herodotus has annexed their names 
 to the nine books of his history ; and from their arrange- 
 ment, as well as from the relievos, it would appear that 
 their order is quite arbitrary. In the relievo above men- 
 tioned, they are placed and distinguished in the following 
 manner : Clio is first, and distinguished by the roll in her 
 hand, or sometimes with the longer, bolder pipe. Her office 
 was to celebrate the actions of departed heroes ; though 
 Statius makes her descend to lower functions, from the 
 Old notion that every thing penned in hexameters was 
 tn epic poem. (See Engraving on opposite page.) 
 
 Thalia was the Muse of comedy and pastorals, and is 
 
C A M E N JE OR MUSES. 
 
 201 
 
 distinguished by the 
 comic mask in her hand, 
 and her pastoral crook. 
 
 Terpsichore has no- 
 thing to distinguish 
 her ; Ausonius gives 
 her the cithara (or lyre), 
 and sometimes she is 
 represented in a danc- 
 ing attitude. On the 
 medals of the Pompo- 
 nian family, three Mu- 
 ses have stringed in- 
 struments in their 
 hands, and are sup- 
 posed to represent Terp- 
 sichore, Erato, and Poly- 
 hymnia. 
 
 Euterpe presided 
 over music and per- 
 formed on two pipes at 
 once, as in the remarks 
 before Terence’s plays. 
 By these pipes she is 
 distinguished, though 
 sometimes she holds the 
 fistula (or pipe), and is 
 so described by Auso- 
 nius. 
 
 Erato, who presided over amorous poetry, is represented 
 at times as pensive, and again full of gaiety ; both which 
 characters, though directly opposite, suit with the ever- 
 varying moods of lovers, and are appropriate to their pa- 
 troness. Ovid invokes Erato in his Art of Love, and like 
 wise in his Fasti for April, which among the Romans was 
 
 9* 
 
202 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 ‘ V 
 
 considered as peculiarly the lover’s month. But Virgil, 
 in his iEneid, appears with less propriety to invoke her 
 before a field of battle ; unless, indeed, it was that a woman 
 was the occasion of the war. Calliope is called by Ovid 
 the chief of the Muses; and by Horace, Regina, as skilful 
 on all instruments. The tablets in the hand mark her 
 distinguishing character, which was to note down the wor- 
 thy actions of men. 
 
 Polyhymnia is designated by a stringed instrument, 
 perhaps what the Romans call barbiton , for which we have 
 no name. 
 
 Urania presided over astronomy, and is distinguished 
 by the celestial globe and the radius. In statues, the globe 
 is sometimes placed in her hand, and sometimes on a 
 column before her. Melpomene, the Muse of tragedy, was 
 supposed to preside over melancholy subjects of all kinds. 
 She is distinguished by the mask on her head. 
 
 In the Homeric poems, the Muses are the goddesses 
 of song and poetry, and live on Olympos. There they 
 sing the festive songs at the repasts of the immortals. At 
 the funeral of Patroclus they sing lamentations. 
 
 The Muses were sometimes represented as dancing in 
 chorus, to intimate the near and indissoluble connection 
 that exists between the liberal arts and sciences ; but 
 more generally appeared differently attired, and with sym- 
 bols of their respective characters. 
 
 Their worship was universally established, particularly 
 in the enlightened parts of Greece, Thessaly, and Italy. 
 Sacrifices were not offered to them, but no poet ever com- 
 menced his task without addressing a solemn invocation to 
 the Muses who preside over verse. 
 
 The sacred retreats of these divine sisters, from whose 
 lips flowed the stream of song and sweet eloquence, were 
 the celebrated mountains Parnassus, Pindus, and Helicon. 
 
HEBE. 
 
 203 
 
 HEBE. 
 
 Hebe, the goddess of youth, 
 was daughter of Zeus and He- 
 ra. She was employed by her 
 mother to prepare her chariot, 
 and harness her peacocks, when- 
 ever requisite, and was cup- 
 bearer to all the gods. 
 
 Fable says, that Zeus dis- 
 missed her from this office, de- 
 claring her to be unworthy of 
 it, because, on one occasion, 
 when handing nectar to the 
 gods, she, by a fall, violated 
 that gracefulness which must accompany every motion and 
 gesture of the attendants at the table of Olympos. 
 
 She was superseded by Ganymedes (Joy -promoter), a son 
 of Tros, and a great-grandson of Dardanos, the founder of 
 Troy. The poets say, “he was the handsomest of mortal 
 men and on account of his beauty, the gods took him 
 from the earth, that in Olympos he might reach the nec- 
 tar cup to Jove ; henceforth partaking of the constant 
 society of the immortals. In the shape of his eagle, the 
 Thunderer carried away his favorite from the top of Mount 
 Ida, softly bearing him in his crooked talons from earth 
 upward to the sky. In this charming fiction, consoling 
 Fancy veiled the loss of the youth, who, in the prime of 
 life and beauty, could scarcely be thought mortal ; and 
 therefore his vanishing from the earth was explained as a 
 removal to the seat of the celestials. 
 
 The fictions respecting the favorites of the gods, gain a 
 peculiar charm by a kind of dim and melancholy twilight 
 in which they are veiled. Whenever youth and beauty 
 became the prey of death, some deity was said to have re- 
 
204 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 moved her favorite from the earth. In this manner, mourn- 
 ing was mingled with joy ; and lamentations for the de- 
 parted were mitigated. These fictions, therefore, are most 
 frequently represented upon ancient marble coffins. 
 
 When Heracles was translated to the skies, and raised 
 to the rank of a god, Hebe was given to him in marriage 
 — a beautiful fiction, by which the venerated sun-god was 
 united to immortal youth. 
 
 Hebe, the personification of youth, had the power of 
 restoring gods and men to youth, and, at the instance of 
 her husband, performed that kind office to his friend Ielaos. 
 She was worshipped at Sicyon under the name of Dia, and 
 at Rome under the name of Juventas. Hebe is repre- 
 sented as a young virgin, crowned with flowers, and arrayed 
 in a variegated garment. Sometimes she holds the nectar 
 cup ; at others, the eagle stands by her side, which she is 
 in the act of caressing. 
 
 PROTEUS. 
 
 Proteus, a sea-deity, was considered by some as a son 
 of Ocean os and Tethys ; by others, as a son of Poseidon 
 and Phoenice. 
 
 Homer introduces him in the fourth book of the Odyssey, 
 styling him a Sea-elder, and gives him the power of fore- 
 telling the future. He also calls him Egyptian, or servant 
 of Neptune, and says that his office was to keep the seals, 
 or sea-calves, belonging to the Ruler of the waves. 
 
 Proteus could assume any form at pleasure, changing 
 himself into fire or water, plant or animal, which rendered 
 him difficult of access ; and sometimes, when consulted, 
 evaded an answer by a sudden metamorphosis. To those 
 only who held him fast with vigorous arms, did he appear 
 in his real character, and by his spirit of divination reveal 
 to thorn the truth. 
 
ASCLEPIOS OR ^SCULAPIUS. 
 
 205 
 
 ASCLEPIOS OR iESCUL A.PIUS. 
 
 The first beginning 
 of medical science was 
 likewise considired by 
 the ancients as some- 
 thing divine, and its 
 possessor and practiser 
 as worthy of venera- 
 tion. He who first ap- 
 plied medical art was 
 looked upon, even af- 
 ter his death, as a be- 
 neficent human being, 
 to whom the sick 
 would not address 
 their prayers in vain. 
 
 iEsculapius was the 
 son of Apollo and Co- 
 ronis, the daughter of 
 a Thessalian king. By 
 his father he was com- 
 mitted to the care of 
 the wise Centaur, Chei- 
 ron, who taught him 
 Botany, together with 
 the secret efficacy of 
 plants. By means of 
 this information, iEs- 
 culapius became the 
 benefactor of mankind, 
 applying the various 
 remedies that he had 
 learned to the diseases which afflict mankind. 
 
 And so successful was he in the practice of the art, that 
 
GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 206 
 
 fiction speaks of him as having awakened the dead. Pluto, 
 the ever-destroying power, considering this an encroach- 
 ment on his rights, complained before the throne of Jupi 
 ter, of the awaker from the dead as a daring criminal 
 Jupiter then punished the second great benefactor of man- 
 kind, as he had done the first (Prometheus), by hurling 
 lightnings upon his innocent head. He who had assuaged 
 the pains of men, and healed their diseases, thus became 
 himself a victim of his beneficent art. 
 
 After his death, groves, temples, and altars were conse- 
 crated to him ; but Epidaurus, in Greece, was the principal 
 seat of honor. His sons, Machaon and Podaleirios, were 
 heroes and leaders in the Trojan war, and, at the same 
 time, renowned for their skill in medical art. 
 
 The snake, as an emblem of recovery 
 and health, was sacred to Asclepios, prob- 
 ably because of its renewing itself, as it 
 were, by casting its skin. Hence the god 
 of medicine always carries a staff, around 
 which is twined a snake. The figure of a 
 little boy is sometimes found with that of 
 Asclepios, wearing a bonnet on his head, 
 and entirely muffled in a cloak. His name 
 is Telesphoros ; and his infant form, to- 
 gether with his usual covering, seems to 
 allude, in a certain manner, to his conva- 
 lescence, as well as the mysterious art of 
 his master. 
 
 Of his four daughters, Hygeia, iEgle, 
 
 Panacea, and Iaso, Hygeia was the most celebrated. To 
 her, divine honors were paid ; and her occupation, like that 
 of her father, was the preservation of health. This benefit 
 she distributes among mortals as a mild gift, whenever 
 she descends frvm the higher regions to earth. She is 
 
JANUS. 
 
 207 
 
 represented with a snake eating out of a flat cup which sh* 
 holds in her hand. 
 
 The temples of Asclepios were regarded as sanctuaries 
 which none of the profane could approach without repeated 
 purifications ; and the statue of Hygeia at iEgrium, in 
 Achaia, could only be viewed by the priests. The temple 
 at Tithorea was surrounded by a hedge in the vicinity 
 of which no edifice could be erected. This hedge was 
 forty stadia from the building itself. 
 
 The worship rendered to Asclepios had for its object the 
 diversion of the sick, by the ceremonies of which they were 
 the witnesses. 
 
 JANUS. 
 
 The worship of Janus must be ascribed to the Etrus- 
 cans, by whom he was regarded as the inspector of Heaven, 
 and therefore of all transactions. An image of the god 
 with four faces came from Valerii to Rome, which is sup- 
 posed to have reference to the four regions of Heaven. 
 
 In Italy he was usually represented with two faces, one 
 before and one behind, and hence called Bifrons and Bi- 
 ceps. Sometimes he is represented with four faces, and 
 then called Quadrifrons. There was an ancient statue of 
 this deity in the Forum, said to be as old as the time of 
 Numa, of which the Augers were so formed that those of 
 one hand represented three hundred (COC), those of the 
 other fifty-five (LV), the number of the days of the ancient 
 lunar year. All this is explicable on the supposition of 
 Janus being the sun, the author of the year, with its sea- 
 sons, months, and days. 
 
 J anus was invoked at the commencement of most actions ; 
 even in the worship of the other gods the votary began by 
 offering wine and incense to Janus. The first month in the 
 year was named from him ; and under the title of Matu- 
 tinus he was regarded as the opener of the day. Hence he 
 
208 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 had charge of the gates of Heaven, and hence, too, all 
 gates, Januce , were called after him, and supposed to be 
 under his care. Hence, perhaps, it was, that he was repre- 
 sented with a staff and key, and that he was named the 
 Opener ( Palulcius ), and the Shutter ( Clusius). 
 
 The Janus Geminus, or Janus Quirinus, was the cele- 
 brated gate (not temple) which stood on the way leading 
 from the Palatine Quiriual, and which was to be open in 
 time of war, and shut in time of peace. To understand 
 this much mistaken subject (for nothing is more common 
 than to speak of opening or shutting the temple of Janus), 
 we must go back to the early days of Rome. 
 
 The temples of Janus Quadrifrons were built with four 
 equal sides, each side containing a door and three windows. 
 The doors were emblematic of the four seasons, and the 
 windows of the three months belonging to each. 
 
 Comus, the god of gay humor and merry jests, presided 
 at banquets, and in general at all social feasts. 
 
 Hymen, the god of marriage, presided at all nuptial 
 feasts. 
 
 Plutus, the god of riches, was represented by the ancients 
 as blind, and as bestowing his favors indiscriminately upon 
 the good and the bad. 
 
 Libertas (Liberty) was a goddess of Rome. She is 
 represented in the figure of a woman, holding in one hand 
 a rod, and in the other a cap. This cap was a badge of 
 liberty used on all occasions. 
 
 Vertumnus presided over the growth of Spring, the 
 crops of Summer, and the fruits of Autumn. 
 
 Terminus was worshipped at Rome as the guardian of 
 landmarks. 
 
 Pales, the goddess of shepherds, presided over cattle 
 and pastures. 
 
MINOR DEITIES. 
 
 209 
 
 Flora, the goddess of flowers, is fabled to have married 
 Zephyros. 
 
 Pomona, the wife of Vertumnus. presided over fruit 
 trees. 
 
 Feronia was the guardian deity of woods and groves. 
 
 Victory attended the conquests of all heroes. 
 
 Fortuna, the goddess of fortune, was supposed to dis- 
 tribute riches and poverty, blessings and misfortunes, 
 pleasures and pains. 
 
 Fortitudo (Fortitude), a deification of courage and 
 bravery, was one of the moral deities of the Romans. 
 
 Veritas (Truth) is said to be the parent of Justice and 
 Virtue. 
 
 Virtus (Virtue), daughter of Truth, is represented as 
 clothed in white, as an emblem of purity. 
 
 Honos (Honor) was worshipped as a virtue at Rome. 
 
 Pax (Peace) wears a crown of laurel, and holds in her 
 hand the branch of an olive tree. 
 
 Fidelitas (Fidelity) presided over the virtues of men, 
 and the conduct of human life. 
 
 Felicitas (Felicity) was a symbolical, moral deity of 
 the Greeks and Romans. She was the goddess of happi- 
 ness and prosperity. 
 
 Amieitia (Friendship) was represented by the Greeks in 
 a clasped garment, her head bare, her dress open near the 
 heart, holding in her left hand an elm around which a 
 vine is clinging, filled with clusters of grapes. 
 
 At Rome she was represented as a young maiden with 
 a white robe, her bosom partially covered, her head adorn- 
 ed with myrtle and pomegranate flowers intermixed. On 
 the border of her tunic was written “ Death and Life ;” on 
 her front, u Summer and Winter.” Her side was open, 
 and her heart visible, bearing these words, “ Far and near.”* 
 
 * For a full account of these deities see large edition. 
 
PART FOURTH. 
 
 DEMI-GODS AND HEROES. 
 
 In the assembly of the gods, Jupiter is represented as 
 ruling supreme. He frowns, and Olympus trembles ; he 
 smiles, and the sky brightens. But heaven is not his only 
 theatre of action ; enveloping his deity in illusive forms, 
 he descends to earth to propagate his power in a race of 
 heroes. 
 
 From his seat on high, he descends to Danae in the 
 form of a golden shower, and the valiant Perseus springs 
 forth ; who, with powerful arm, subdues monsters. 
 
 In the form of Amphitryon he appears to Alcmena, and 
 makes her the mother of Hercules. 
 
 With the majestic neck of a swan, he clings to Leda 
 for protection, and she becomes the mother of the mag- 
 nanimous Pollux, and the god like Helena, the most beau- 
 tiful woman that earth ever produced. 
 
 In the strength of a mettled bull, he invites the virgin 
 Europa to mount his back, and carries her through the 
 floods of the sea to the shores of Crete, where she brings 
 forth Minos, the wise and powerful law-giver of nations. 
 
 In these fictions all nature is deified ; even animals are 
 considered as sacred beings. Thus nothing mean or abject 
 lies in the idea of representing the supreme divinity in any 
 form that is offered by all-comprising nature. As the wind 
 
212 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 stirs up the quiet sea, so the jealousy of Juno brings life 
 into these fictions of imagination ; and this jealousy is not 
 destitute of sublimity, for, being endowed with divine 
 power, it checks even the boasted omnipotence of the 
 Thunderer. 
 
 That an opposing, jealous, yet eminent power strives to 
 check the highest authority, is likewise entirely appropriate 
 to the genius of these fables ; according to which, the beau- 
 tiful and strong, in developing itself, must struggle against 
 opposition and difficulties, and sustain many trials and 
 dangers before its value is acknowledged and approved. 
 
 The demi-gods were also called Semones, as being de- 
 scended from a mortal and an immortal. The deified mor- 
 tals, or peculiar gods of any country, were called Indigetes. 
 
 In the poems of Homer, the heroes are described merely 
 ns warriors who had distinguished themselves by extraor- 
 dinary strength, courage, and prudence ; these qualities 
 being essential to those who were charged either with the 
 government of the people, or the conduct of the wars. 
 The poets, posterior to Homer, placed the heroes in an in- 
 termediate rank between gods and men ; therefore they 
 were called demi-gods, and temples were erected, and sacri- 
 fices offered to them. Their time is called the Heroic , and 
 in the period to which the achievements of the heroes are 
 attributed, much fable is mingled with true history. 
 
 The heroic times of the ancients is the period when they 
 passed from the savage to the civilized state. That of 
 the Greeks is the most celebrated ; perhaps from its his- 
 tory having been handed down to us by the most distin- 
 guished poets. Those times commenced with the estab- 
 lishment of the kingdom of Sicyon (an ancient city of 
 Greece), about 2164 B. C., and were closed after the siege 
 of Troy, 1245 ; but the greatest events are embraced in the 
 six last centuries of that period. 
 
PERSEUS. 
 
 213 
 
 PERSEUS. 
 
 The history of Perseus belongs to the earliest period of 
 the heroic age, and is therefore the most involved in clouds 
 and fable. 
 
 To trace the earthly descent of this hero, it is necessary 
 to go back to old Inaehos, whose daughter, Io, gave Zeus 
 a son in Egypt, named Epaphos. Libya, the regal daugh- 
 ter of Epaphos, became the mother of Belos and Agenor, 
 the sons of Neptune. Belos was the father of Danaos and 
 JEgyptos. 
 
 Danaos came from iEgyptos over to Greece, to assert 
 and maintain his claims to the kingdom of Argos, against 
 Gelanor, who at that time actually reigned over the coun- 
 try. The claims of the former rested upon his descent 
 from Inaehos ; those of the latter, on the right of possession. 
 The people were called upon to decide to whom the royal 
 crown belonged ; while they were yet wavering, a wolf 
 rushed into a herd of cows and destroyed the bull that 
 defended them. This unexpected accident was considered 
 as a sign from the gods, that the stranger was destined 
 to reign, instead of the native. Accordingly, Danaos as- 
 cended the throne ; and to him the Argives are said to 
 be indebted for the knowledge of digging wells and the 
 building of ships. 
 
 Danaos, according to the legend, had fifty daughters, and 
 iEgyptos as many sons. The latter came over to Greece, 
 each of them intending to marry a daughter of Danaos. 
 But Danaos nad received warning from an oracle, that one 
 of his sons-in-law would deprive him of his royal autho- 
 rity ; and, anxious to retain his throne, he commanded each 
 of his daughters to kill her husband on the first night of 
 their marriage. This cruel order was obeyed by all of them 
 except Hypermnestra, who, notwithstanding the danger 
 that threatened her own life in consequence, suffered Lyn* 
 
214 
 
 GRECIAN A.ND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 ceus, her beloved husband, to fly. But he afterwards re- 
 turned ; for Banaos became reconciled to his daughter, and 
 Perseus and Hercules, the god-like heroes, are descend- 
 ants of Lynceus and Hypermnestra. Endless labor was 
 the punishment inflicted on the Danaides for this crime. 
 They were condemned to pour water incessantly into a ves- 
 sel full of holes, and to see every moment that their labor 
 .is vain. 
 
 Atlas, a son of Lynceus, reigned over Argos after the 
 death of his father, and left two sons, Proetos and Acrisios, 
 who at different times contested with each other for the 
 royal authority. 
 
 Acrisios in his turn feared destruction from his de- 
 scendants. It had been predicted to him that he should 
 be killed by one of his grandsons. He therefore shut up 
 his only daughter, Danae, in a brazen tower, that he might 
 thwart the prediction of the oracle. But his precaution 
 was rendered ineffectual by Jupiter, who, descending in a 
 golden shower through an opening in the roof of the build- 
 ing, made her the mother of Perseus. 
 
 When Perseus was born, his grandfather committed both 
 mother and child to the sea, in a crazy bark. The benevo- 
 lent goddess of the deep, tenderly taking up the divine boy, 
 together with his mother, in the lap of the waters, brought 
 the bark to a haven on the shores of the small island of 
 Seriphos, in the iEgean sea. Here they were found by Dic- 
 tys, a fisherman, and carried by him to Polydectes, king 
 of the island, who kindly received both mother and child, 
 and superintended the education of young Perseus, intrust- 
 ing him to the care of the priests of Minerva’s temple. 
 
 His rising genius and manly courage, however, soon dis- 
 pleased Polydectes ; and the monarch, who wished to get 
 Danae into his power, feared the resentment of her son. 
 Yet Polydectes resolved to remove every obstacle, and in- 
 
PERSEUS. 
 
 215 
 
 vited his friends to a sumptuous entertainment, requiring 
 all who came to present him with a beautiful horse. Per- 
 seus was included, knowing that it was not in his power to 
 furnish the requisite gift. But Perseus, who wished not to 
 appear inferior to the other guests in magnificence, told 
 the king, that as he could not bring him a horse, he would 
 bring the head of Medusa, the only one of the Gorgons 
 who was subject to mortality. This offer was particularly 
 agreeable to Polydectes, as it would remove Perseus from 
 Seriphos ; and as his undertaking seemed impossible, the 
 attempt might perhaps end in his ruin. 
 
216 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 The innocence of Perseus was protected by the gods. 
 Pluto lent him a helmet which had the power of rendering 
 the wearer invisible ; Minerva gave him her buckler, which 
 was as resplendent as glass ; and from Mercury he received 
 wings and the talaria, with a short dagger made of dia- 
 monds, and called harpe. With these arms Perseus com- 
 menced his expedition, and traversed the air, conducted by 
 the goddess Minerva. 
 
 He first went to the Graeae, the sisters of the Gorgons, 
 and with the aid of Pluto’s helmet, which made him invisi- 
 ble, stole from them the eye and tooth which they shared in 
 common, and refused to return them until he was informed 
 of the residence of their sisters. When he had received 
 every necessary information, he flew to the habitation of 
 the Gorgons, and found the monsters asleep. He knew 
 that, by fixing his eyes upon them, he should be instantly 
 changed to stone, he therefore looked continually upon his 
 shield, which reflected all objects as clearly as the best mir- 
 ror. He approached them, his courage supported by the 
 goddess Minerva, and with one blow struck off the head of 
 Medusa. The noise awoke the two immortal sisters, but 
 Pluto’s helmet rendered Perseus invisible, and the attempts 
 of the Gorgons to revenge their sister’s death proved 
 fruitless. The conqueror made his way through the air, 
 and from the blood which dropped from the head of Me- 
 dusa sprang those innumerable serpents which have ever 
 since infested the sandy deserts of Libya. 
 
 Minerva was the chief instigator to this bloody deed ; hav- 
 ing resolved on the destruction of Medusa, because, in com- 
 pany with Neptune, the monster had profaned her sanctu- 
 ary. But when Perseus had brought down the deadly 
 Btroke, Stheino and Euryale sighed and groaned so loud 
 at the view of their slain sister, and the hissing of the snakes 
 upon their heads echoed so mournfully to their groaning, 
 that Minerva, moved at the terrible concert, invented a 
 
V 
 
 PERSEUS. 
 
 217 
 
 flute with which she endeavored to revive these mournful 
 sounds, by imitating their different strains. Thus, even 
 in the midst of sanguinary and terrible destruction, the god- 
 dess of Art shines forth. 
 
 Chrysaor also, with his golden sword; sprang from these 
 drops of blood, as well as the horse Pegasos, which immedi- 
 ately flew through the air, and stopped on mount Helicon, 
 where he became the favorite of the Muses. Meantime, 
 Perseus had continued his journey across the deserts of 
 Libya ; but the approach of night obliged him to alight in 
 the territories of Atlas, king of Mauritania. He went to 
 the monarch’s palace, where he hoped to meet with a kind 
 reception, by announcing himself as the son of Jupiter. 
 But in this he was disappointed ; for Atlas recollected that, 
 according to the prediction of an ancient oracle, his gardens 
 were to be robbed of their fruit by one of the sons of Ju- 
 piter ; he therefore not only refused Perseus the hospi 
 tality he demanded, but even assailed his person with vio- 
 lence. Perseus, finding himself inferior to his powerful 
 enemy, showed him the head of Medusa, and Atlas was in- 
 stantly changed into a large mountain, which bore the same 
 name, in the deserts of Africa. 
 
 On the morrow Perseus continued his flight, and passing 
 the territories of Libya, he fixed his eyes upon the Ethio- 
 pian coast, where he beheld a maiden fastened with chains 
 to a rock, and a monster rising out of the sea ready to de- 
 vour her ; while her parents stood on the shore wringing 
 their hands in despair. Perseus rushed down upon the 
 monster at the very moment it was seizing its prey, struck 
 the deadly blow, and delivered the fair maiden. It was 
 Andromeda, who, to atone for a crime of which she was 
 guiltless, was to have become the victim of divine anger. 
 Cassiopeia, mother of Andromeda, and wife of Cepheus, 
 had dared to compare the beauty of her daughter with that 
 of the powerful daughters of Nereus, and in consequence, 
 1 o 
 
218 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 the whole country was laid waste with plagues, which, ac- 
 cording to the oracle of Jupiter Ammon, were not to cease 
 until Andromeda, swallowed up by a sea-monster, should, 
 by her death, expiate the crime of her mother. 
 
 The parents of Andromeda having been witnesses of 
 their daughter’s rescue, readily complied with the wish of 
 her deliverer, and gave her to Perseus in marriage. Phi- 
 neus, however, brother of Cepheus, to whom Andromeda 
 had been betrothed, accompanied by an armed body, ap- 
 peared at the wedding 'feast, and furiously assailed the 
 bridegroom, who would have been overpowered but for the 
 head of Medusa. Warning his friends of the dangerous 
 power of the Gorgon’s head, they turned away their eyes ; 
 but on showing it to his adversaries, they in a moment 
 became petrified statues, each in the posture and attitude 
 in which he then stood. 
 
 After having accomplished these exploits, Perseus con- 
 ducted his bride to Seriphos, where he again saw his 
 mother and Polydectes. But alas ! he was here compelled 
 to turn the petrifying head against his foster-father and 
 benefactor. Polydectes, fearing him and his mighty arm, 
 made an attempt upon his life ; but was punished for his 
 cowardly suspicion by being transformed into a rock. 
 Dyetis had protected his mother during his absence ; and 
 Perseus, sensible of his merits and humanity, placed him 
 upon the throne of Seriphos. 
 
 He afterwards restored to Mercury his talaria, harpe, 
 and wings; to Pluto his helmet; and to Minerva her 
 shield ; .but as he was more particularly indebted to the 
 Goddess of Wisdom for her assistance and protection, he 
 placed the Gorgon’s head on her iEgis. 
 
 When Perseus heard that his grandfather, Acrisios, 
 had been deprived of his throne by his brother Proetos, 
 far from seeking revenge for the cruelty with which he 
 and his mother had formerly been treated by Acrisios, ho 
 
PERSEUS, 
 
 210 
 
 Magnanimously hastened to Argolis with the design of re- 
 placing his grandfather in possession of his kingdom. He 
 vanquished and killed Prcetos, and after having restored 
 to Acrisios the royal crown, he was recognized by him with 
 joy and gratitude as his beloved grandson, his friend and 
 , benefactor. But Fate, who trifles with the hopes of mor- 
 tals, had not recalled her former threat, .and a tragic end 
 was lurking beneath the seducing appearance. Perseus, 
 knowing how much Acrisios was delighted with his skill in 
 every bodily exercise, was one day resolved to give him a 
 splendid proof of his dexterity ; but alas ! the fatal quoit, 
 as if directed by an evil daemon, missing its aim, struck the 
 head of Acrisios, and he fell lifeless to the grouud. 
 
 In consequence of this unfortunate accident, Perseus 
 passed his future days in melancholy sadness, calling him- 
 self a parricide notwithstanding his innocence of the fatal 
 event. His residence at Argos became insupportable to 
 him, and therefore he induced the son of Prcetos to ex- 
 change territories. But finding nothing at Tyrius, the 
 capital'of his new dominion, to obliterate from his memory 
 the event which distracted him, he built the new city of 
 Mycenae. 
 
 One of the children of Perseus and Andromeda was 
 Alcaeus, the father of Amphitryon, who was married to Alc- 
 mena, Electryon’s daughter, and the mother of Heracles. 
 Another son of Perseus, whose name was Sthenelos, was the 
 father of Eurystheus, who ruled over Mycenae, and whom 
 Heracles was compelled to serve. 
 
 Perseus himself, as well as the chief persons connected 
 with his history, Andromeda, Cassiopeia, and others, were, 
 according to fiction, transposed among the constellations 
 of the sky, where their names are immortalized. In this 
 sense, the heroes of old were really raised to heaven, and 
 a monument most durable and shining was erected tc 
 their names. 
 
220 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 The ancients represent- 
 ed the Gorgons as winged, 
 
 * and with a broad, flat face, 
 and a long tongue protrud- 
 ing from an enormous 
 mouth, which opened from 
 ear to ear. Latter artists 
 banish this hideous mask 
 from their compositions, 
 and represent Medusa as 
 the unhappy beauty who 
 attracted the love of Nep- 
 tune, giving her a melan- 
 choly air, expressive of her 
 regret at finding serpents 
 mingled with her beautiful locks. But few serpents are 
 represented, and so placed as to destroy all deformity ; 
 sometimes brought under the chin, and again forming 
 a necklace. The wings, gracefully placed upon the head, 
 add to the beauty of the composition. 
 
 BELLEROPHONTES OR BELLEROPHON. 
 
 Bellerophon was a son of Glaucos ; and his adventures 
 form a pleasing episode in the Iliad, where they are related 
 to Diomedes by Bellerophon’s grandson. 
 
 The same Proetus by whom Acrisios was deprived of his 
 kingdom, and who was at last vanquished and slain by Per- 
 seus, urged on by a false suspicion, gave to Bellerophontes 
 the first occasion for his heroic feats. He was a grandson 
 of Sisyphos, the founder of Corinth, who was a descendant 
 of Deucalion, and the son of iEolus, from whom the iEolic 
 race of heroes spread through many royal families of 
 Greece. 
 
 Having committed a murder, Bellerophon was forced to 
 flee from Corinth, and he came to Proetus, who at that 
 
BELLEROPHONTES OR BELLEROPHON. 221 
 
 time was reigning in Argos, with whom he found an asy 
 lum. The gods had endowed the hero with manly vigor 
 and beauty ; and Antsea, the wife of Proetus, a daughter 
 of Iobates, king of Lycia, conceived a tender-affection foi 
 the handsome youth, which was soon changed to hatred 
 because it found no return on the part of Bellerophon. 
 She basely accused him of an attempt on her honor, and 
 enjoined her husband to avenge both her and himself. 
 But the rites of hospitality were too sacred to allow of 
 Proetus killing Bellerophon ; he therefore sent him to 
 Iobates, his father-in-law, with a letter, in which he was de- 
 sired to avenge the crime of which the bearer was accused, 
 by putting him to death. Iobates, however, did not read 
 the letter until he had hospitably received Bellerophon, 
 after which, he also abhorred the thought of violating the 
 sacred rites of hospitality. He therefore trusted to chauce, 
 to effect his ruin, bidding him embark in the most danger- 
 ous enterprises, in which his destruction seemed inevitable. 
 
 Of the monsters 
 which descended 
 from Phorcys and 
 fair Ceto, one, the 
 terrible Gorgo, 
 was vanquished 
 by Perseus ; but 
 another, not less 
 formidable, was 
 assigned to Bel- 
 lerophon as a trial 
 of his valor. It 
 was the fire vom- 
 iting Chimaera, 
 with the head of 
 a lion, the body 
 of a goat, and the tail of a dragon. To this bold adven 
 
222 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 ture the. gods lent their assistance. grJn ting Bellerophon 
 the winged horse Pegasos. The hero bestrode him and 
 then in the air commenced the fight. The monster defend- 
 ed herself to the utmost, sending from her mouth whole 
 masses of fire, and coiling her dragon tail in formidable 
 windings. But all this availed her not. After a perse- 
 vering and obstinate struggle, the monster lay stretched oil 
 the ground weltering in her blood. 
 
 Not enough that Bellerophontes had vanquished Chimae- 
 ra, the scourge of the land ; he must now conquer the hu- 
 man enemies of Iobates, the courageous Solymians, and the 
 manlike Amazons. As he was returning victorious, the 
 king laid an ambush for him composed of the bravest men 
 of Lycia, of whom Dot one returned home, as Bellerophon- 
 tes slew them all. The king, now perceiving him to be of 
 divine origin, gave him his daughter in marriage and shared 
 his kingdom with him. 
 
 But the happiness of this hero was of short duration ; for 
 when, elated by his victories, he attempted by means of 
 Pegasos to ascend to Heaven, Zeus, incensed at his bold- 
 ness, sent an insect to sting the steed, which made Pegasos 
 bound so furiously in the air as to throw his rider to the 
 earth, where he wandered in solitude and melancholy until 
 death relieved him of his grief. 
 
 HERACLES OR HERCULES. 
 
 The first Greek tragedian (iEschylus) introduces Prome- 
 theus when chained -to a rock, complaining of his sufferings 
 to the equally unfortunate Io, and predicting the birth of 
 his deliverer, Heracles. 
 
 Io, transformed into a cow, was by Juno’s jealousy driv- 
 en in frantic fury over the whole earth. She wandered tc 
 the solitary corner where Prometheus was suffering, who 
 revealed her future fate as well as his own, telling Tier 
 that the thirteenth of her descendants would be his de< 
 
223 
 
 HERACLES OR HERCULES. 
 
 liverer. The thirteen members of the family in uninter - 
 rupted descent are, Io, E paphos, Libya, Belos, Danaos, 
 Lynceus, Atlas, Acrisios, Danae, Perseus, Alcaeus, Alcme- 
 na,’ Heracles. 
 
 The sons of Perseus, were Efectryon, Sthcnelos, Alcaeus, 
 and Mestor, of whom Electryon succeeded his father in the 
 government of Mycenae. The children of Alcaeus were, 
 Anaxo and Amphitryon. Electryon married Anaxo, and 
 from this marriage sprung Alcmena, the- mother of Hera- 
 cles. Amphitryon lived at Election’s court, and haa 
 confident hopes of becoming his uncle’s successor in the 
 government, by his marriage with Alcmena ; in which he 
 was disappointed. 
 
 Taphios, a grandson of -Mestor, had founded a colony on 
 the island of Taphos, whose inhabitants called themselves 
 Taphians, or, from their living at a great distance from 
 their native country, Teleboans. After the death of T?- 
 phios, Pterelaos, his son and successor, claimed a part of 
 the inheritance of Mycenae, on account of his descent from 
 Mestor, a son of Perseus, and sent his children thither to 
 enforce his claims. Upon Electryon’s denying the justice 
 of them, and refusing to restore any thing of Perseus’ in- 
 heritance, the sons of Pterelaos, with their people, laid 
 waste the country, and drove away the royal herds. The 
 sons of Electryon immediately collecting a body of men, 
 fought a battle with the invaders, in which the leaders on 
 both sides were killed, with the exception of one son of 
 Electryon, Lycimnius, and one of Pterelaos, Eueres. 
 
 Upon this, Electryon resolved on going in person against 
 the Teleboans, to avenge the death of his children ; in the 
 mean time transferring his government to his daughter 
 Alcmena and his nephew Amphitryon, with the promise 
 that they should be united in marriage as soon as he should 
 return victorious. He returned conqueror, bringing back 
 the herds of which he had been deprived by his enemies 
 
 s 
 
224 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMA# MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 Amphitryon, now quite secure of his happiness, went joy- 
 fully forth to meet him ; but as one of the recovered cows 
 strayed from the herd, he, with the intention of turning 
 her back, threw a club at her, which unfortunately hit Elec- 
 tryon, who fell lifeless to th« ground. 
 
 This occurrence blighted his hopes of one day becoming 
 king of Mycenae, for though the act was unintentional, it 
 brought upon him the hatred of the people, and Sthenelos. 
 the brother of the slain Electryon, seized upon the royal 
 crown of Mycenae, without resistance, and Amphitryon was 
 compelled to flee to Thebes, whither Alcmena followed him. 
 Creon, who was at that time king of Thebes, took them* 
 under his protection. Alcmena, however, refused to be- 
 come Amphitryon’s wife, until h$ had avenged the death 
 of her brothers. Amphitryon accordingly entered into an 
 alliance with Cephalos, Eleus, and several other neighbor- 
 princes, for the purpose of waging a new war against 
 the inhabitants of the Taphian islands. Pterelaos was van- 
 quished, and Amphitryon divided the conquered islands 
 among his allies : the one of which, called in ancient times 
 Cephalene, and in ours Cephalonia, received its name from 
 the above-mentioned Cephalos. 
 
 Meanwhile, however, Alcmena’s charms having attracted 
 the Thunderer, he assumed the form,, of Amphitryon re- 
 turning as victor from his expedition and came down from 
 Olympos to see her ; and was afterwards obliged to reveal 
 his divinity to Amphitryon, in order to appease his anger 
 against Alcmena. 
 
 On the day in which Heracles was to be born, Jupiter 
 boastingly spoke in the assembly of the gods, “ I give you 
 to understand, all ye gods and goddesses, that to-day a hero 
 will be born, of a race of men who derive their origin from 
 me, who is destined to reign over all his neighbors.” 
 Brooding artifices, the cunning Juno replied, I shall, 
 nevertheless, very much doubt the accomplishment of thy 
 
HERACLES OR HERCULES. 
 
 225 
 
 words, unless thou swear with the inviolable oath of the 
 gods, that he, who to day shall be born of the race of men 
 that derive their origin from thee, will indeed reign over 
 all his neighbors.” Scarcely had Jupiter uttered the fatal 
 oath, ere Juno left Olympos, and hastening to Argos, for- 
 warded the birth of Eurystheus, and retarded that of Her- 
 acles ; then, returning to Olympos, she thus triumphantly 
 accosted Jupiter, c; The hero who will rule over the Argives 
 is already born ; he is descended from the race of men that 
 sprang forth from thee ; for he is Eurystheus, a son of Sthe- 
 nelos, whose father Perseus was thine offspring ; the pro 
 mised kingdom, therefore, is fallen to the lot of no un- 
 worthy one.” (II. xix. 101.) 
 
 The luckless father of the gods, not able to recall his 
 oath, nor to avenge himself against the wily Juno, burst 
 out in unspeakable wrath, and seizing the bright hand of 
 Ate, the evil breeding power, who was his own daughter, 
 and until now a member of the divine assembly, he hurled 
 her from heaven to earth, swearing with a great oath, that 
 she should never return to Olympos. Since that time, 
 Ate hovers over the heads of mortal men, every where 
 sowing dissensions, broils, and ruin. 
 
 Alcmena became the mother of two* sons; Hercules, 
 whose father was J upiter, and Iphicles, the sou of her hus- 
 band Amphitryon* Which of these was the son of the 
 Thunderer soon became evident. While the two children 
 were cradled in a hollow buckler (a part of the booty which 
 Amphitryon had taken in the war against Ptereiaos), Juno 
 sent two serpents to destroy Hercules ; but the divine 
 babe stifled them with his infant hands. Jupiter then 
 recognized his son; and finding Juno sleeping, laid Her- 
 cules by her side, who by this means obtained the divine 
 milk without her consent. When Juno awoke, she flung 
 far away from her the bold suckling, sprinkling upon the 
 vault of the sky the milk that fell from her breast, the 
 10 * 
 
226 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN*' MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 marks of which formed the galaxy or milky way, on which 
 the gods walk. Fiction here becomes Colossean, and the 
 atmosphere through which the stars shine, appears therein 
 as J uno’s chief archetype. 
 
 At the command of Jupiter, Mercury committed Her- 
 cules to his tutors, who were to instruct him in warLka 
 occupations,, as well as in peaceful arts. Several of them 
 were themselves sons of deities ; — Linus, the son of Apollo, 
 taught him to play on the lyre, and Eumolpoa to singj 
 
HERACLES OR HERCULES. 
 
 227 
 
 Castor taught him how to fight ; Eurytos how to shoot 
 with a bow and a/rows ; Autolicus to drive a chariot ; and 
 like the rest of his illustrious contemporaries, he became 
 the pupil of the wise Centaur, Cheiron, and under him, 
 perfected his accomplishments, and made himself the most 
 valiant of the age. 
 
 •When in pursuit of these occupations, Hercules one day 
 betook himself to a lonely spot, to muse undisturbed on 
 his future life and fate ; and seating himself on a cross- 
 way he sank into deep reflection. On this occasion two 
 females appeared to him, the one of whom was Luxury and 
 the other Virtue. Each endeavored to win the youth to 
 her interest. Luxury, by promising him all the enjoy- 
 ment of a cheerful, careless life, if he would follow her; 
 .Virtue, by announcing to him troublesome and laborious 
 days, but afterwards glory and immortality, if he would 
 choose her for his guide in the path of life. “ Thee will I 
 follow.; to thee devote my life,” exclaimed the youah, with 
 glowing heart, grasping at the same time, the hand of Vir- 
 tue ; and followed her with firm step, resolved^ to endure 
 patiently every trial that awaited him, to bear every bur- 
 den that should fall to his lot, and to shun no labor that 
 should be appointed him, however difficult the task might 
 be. 
 
 Two of the most terrible children of Phorcys and Ceto 
 were vanquished by Perseus and Bellerophon, but the 
 greatest feats of valor, as well as merit, are reserved for 
 Hercules, who is to conquer monsters, to subdue 'tyrants, 
 and to set bounds to the injustice of the Thunderer him- 
 self, by delivering Prometheus from his torments, who was 
 still suffering for the benefits which he had conferred upon 
 mankind. The fate of Hercules was'woven in the com- 
 mencement of his life’s thread by the inexorable Parcae. 
 Born to be a ruler, he was forced by the power x of the 
 Fates to obey, and to achieve his most glorious actions at 
 
228 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 the command of one, who was in every respect his infe- 
 rior, and who dreaded jbhe strength with ^ T hieh he was en- 
 dowed. 
 
 He was not permitted to live long in quiet at the house 
 of his foster-father, Amphitryon; for jealous Juno had 
 infused into the heart of the latteT dread, and suspicion 
 against the young hero. Heracles was therefore sent by 
 him to the qourt of Eurystheus, at Mycenae, where from 
 time to time he was charged with the most difficult labors, 
 and the most dangerous undertakings, which put his cour- 
 age and firmness to the severest test. On his journey to 
 Mycenae, he inquired of the oracle at Delphi concerning 
 his future fate : and received for answer, that twelve labors 
 awaited him at the court of Eurystheus, after the perform- 
 ance of which, immortality should be his reward. For 
 these undertakings the favors of the gods had completely 
 armed him. From Minerva, he received a coat of arms 
 and a helmet; from Mercury a sword; from Neptune a 
 horse; from Jupiter a shield; from Apollo a bow and ar- 
 rows ; and from Yulcan, a golden cuirass and a brazen 
 buskin. 
 
 Eurystheus, seeing so powerful a man completely sub- 
 jected to him, and apprehensive of such an enemy, com- 
 manded him to achieve the most difficult and arduous 
 enterprises ever known ; generally called, 
 
 THE TWELVE LABORS OF HERCULES. 
 
 ls|. The Nemcean Lion . — A monstrous lion, near the 
 forest of Nemgea, wasted the surrounding country and 
 threatened destruction to the herds. His first labor was 
 to destroy this beast of prey, which he did by throwing 
 his sinewy arms around his neck and strangling him. In 
 memory of this deed of valor, he ever afterwards wore the 
 lion skin, which, with the knotty branch of the wild olive 
 tree, was the external mark of his strength aud courage. 
 
HERACLES OR HERCULES. 
 
 229 
 
 2d. The Lerncean Hydra . — The morasses of Lerna, near 
 Argos, was the abode of the Hydra with many heads. 
 Hercules attacked the monster with his sickle-shaped 
 sword, but no sooner severed one head from the trunk than 
 a new one grew out. At last, he commanded his compan- 
 ion, Iolaus, the son of Iphicles, to burn the root of the head 
 with a hot iron before a new one could spring up. This 
 was no sooner accomplished, than Juno sent a crab to 
 gnaw at the heels of Hercules while he was struggling with 
 the monster. The hero soon dispatched his new enemy, 
 and after a long fight, drove the last head of the Hydra 
 into the ground, and covered it with an immense stone. 
 As a reward for his labor, he dipped his arrows into the 
 blood of the Hydra, which, by this fatal poison, became 
 doubly dreadful. 
 
 3d The Erymanthian Boar . — From the Erymanthian 
 mountains, a monstrous boar descended, laying waste the 
 fields of Arcadia. This afforded Eurystheus a wished for 
 occasion to send Hercules on a new and dangerous expedi- 
 tion. To the conqueror of the Nemsean Lion and the 
 many-headed Hydra, however, it was no difficult task to 
 catch the boar alive and carry him to Eurystheus, who, ter- 
 rified at the sight of the monster, concealed himself in a 
 brazen butt. 
 
 4th. The Stag of Diana . — In order to put to the proof 
 the swiftness and agility of Hercules, he was in his fourth 
 labor ordered to bring alive and unhurt into the presence 
 of Eurystheus, the stag of Diana, famous for its swiftness, 
 its golden horns, and brazen feet. 
 
 Hercules, accepting the task, pursued the tracks of this 
 nimble animal during a whole year, and at last caught him 
 in a thicket, and carried him on his shoulders to the gates 
 of Mycenae. This celebrated stag frequented the neigh- 
 borhood of Oenoe, and as Hercules was returning victori- 
 ous, he met Diana, who snatched the stag from him with a 
 
230 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 severe reprimand for molesting an animal sacred to her. 
 He pleaded necessity, and by representing the commands 
 of Eurysthcus, he appeased the goddess, and obtained the 
 stag. 
 
 5th. The Slymphalides . — A kind of ghastly birds inhabit- 
 ed the Stymphalian lake, to which the imagination of the 
 poets ascribes the most frightful aspect. They were repre- 
 sented as furnished with claws and bills of brass, enabling 
 them to pierce any armor, and according to several fic- 
 tions, were armed with darts, which they flung at their ag- 
 gressors. 
 
 These monsters, which Eurystheus commanded Hercules 
 to destroy, had taken up their abode in the deep recesses of 
 an inaccessible morass. And here the divine hero would 
 have been at a loss, notwithstanding his strength and cour- 
 age, but for the aid of Minerva, who wished him success, 
 and gave him a rattle of brass, the noise of which fright- 
 ened the birds from their haunts, driving them into the air, 
 where Hercules easily dispatched them wi th his arrows. 
 
 6th Augias ’ Stables. — Augias, a king in Elis, and called 
 a child of the sun, from the immense number of flocks and 
 herds which he possessed, was one of the wealthiest princes 
 of his time. In those ages, a man’s wealth was estimated 
 in proportion to the abundance of his cattle ; and the occu- 
 pations required by possessions of this kind wera not de- 
 grading ; neither was it considered disgraceful to clean a 
 stable. 
 
 According to the tale of antiquity, Augias had three 
 ihousand oxen in his stables, which had not been cleansed 
 for thirty years, so that at last it seemed an impossibility 
 to clear them of the prodigious accuniulation. But Hercu- 
 les, at the command of Eurystheus, undertook the enor- 
 mous task, which was to be accomplished in the space of 
 a few days. Augias, who doubted the possibility of the 
 
HERACLES OR HER ' TILES. 
 
 231 
 
 performance, promised Hercules, as a reward, the tenth 
 part of his herds. 
 
 By turning the course of the river Alpheus through the 
 stables, Hercules completed the task in one day. After 
 the work was done, Augias withheld the promised reward, 
 on the pretext that Hercules had made use of artifice ; 
 and the son of Alcmena, enraged at this faithlessness, 
 made war upon him, and having conquered and killed him, 
 proclaimed his son Phyleus his successor upon the throne. 
 
 Out of the treasures which he gained in this war, he 
 built a temple in honor of Olympian Jupiter, and renewed 
 the Ol/mpic games. 
 
 7th. The Cretan Bull. — Neptune, being angry at the in- 
 habitants of Crete, because they were deficient in their 
 veneration for him. sent into the island a furious bull, 
 which exhaled fire from his nostrils, and as no one would 
 venture to approach him, laid waste the country. 
 
 Scarcely had Eurystheus heard of this, ere he imposed 
 on Hercules the new task of catching the beast alive. 
 Hercules, whose bodily strength measured itself as it were 
 with the w r hole animal world, subdued the bull sent by 
 Neptune, and carried him on his shoulders to Mycenae. 
 
 8th. The Horses of Diomedes. — Diornedes, a king of 
 Thrace, and son of Mars, had in hi a possession four fire- 
 vomiting horses, which were fed by him with human flesh. 
 All strangers who fell into the hands of this barbarian, 
 were thrown to his horses to be torn and devoured. 
 
 The report of this cruelty having spread every where, Eu- 
 rystheus commanded Hercules to bring to him the fire- 
 vomiting steeds. The hero obeyed, overpowered Diome- 
 des, and by throwing him to the carnivorous beasts, made 
 him suffer the just punishment of his cruelty. 
 
 9th. The Girdle of the Queen of the Amazons . — The pre- 
 vious girdle worn by the queen of the Amazons, and which 
 Hercules was to win, was a present from the god of war. 
 
232 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 and defended as it was by fortitude and bravery, it could 
 only be obtained by invincible courage. 
 
 In this expedition, Hercules was accompanied by These- 
 us, and at the river Thermodon the fight commenced, in 
 which the Amazons with their allies were vanquished, 
 and the queen herself taken prisoner. Hercules, after 
 having on his way accomplished several other bold feats, 
 returned to Mycenae, and presented the girdle to Eurys- 
 theus. 
 
 10th. The Triple-bodied Gcryon. — Geryon, the savage 
 monarch of three islands, situated in the dusky west of 
 the ancient world, has already been mentioned in the pedi 
 gree of the monsters. 
 
 He was in possession of what, in times of antiquity, was 
 considered the greatest treasure ; and the fame of Geryon’s 
 oxen had spread so far, as to induce Eurystheus to impose 
 upon Hercules the commission of leading them away from 
 their pastures, and bringing them as a warlike treasure 
 from the remotest bounds of the earth to Mycenae. 
 
 Hercules made his way over mountains and rocks, per- 
 forming on this expedition many other great exploits. 
 After having overcome the two-headed dog, which guarded 
 the herds, as well as Eurytion the herdsman, he took pos- 
 session of Geryon’s oxen. The triple-bodied monster then 
 rushed upon him, but was killed by Hercules with his club. 
 
 lltb. The Golden Apples of the Hesperides . — The great- 
 est treasure which imagination transferred to the widest 
 distance, and which was thought to be altogether unattain- 
 able, was the golden apples in the gardens of the Hesperi- 
 des. These gardens were watched by a monstrous dragon, 
 and to bring the golden fruit to Eurystheus, was one of 
 the tasks which Hercules was to accomplish in obedience 
 to the command of another. 
 
 The hero, ignorant of the situation of these celebrated 
 gardens, applied to the nymphs in the neighborhood of 
 
HERACLES 01? HERCULES. 
 
 233 
 
 the Po for information ; and was told, that Nereus, if pro- 
 perly ^managed, would direct him in the pursuit. IJercules 
 seized Nereus as he was sleeping, and the sea-god, unable 
 to escape from his grasp, answered all the questions that 
 he proposed. 
 
 After reaching the gardens, Hercules gave the dragon a 
 potion which threw him into a deep sleep ; he then suc- 
 ceeded in killing him, gathered the apples, and returned 
 in triumph to Eurystheus. They were afterwards carried 
 back to the gardens by Minerva, as they could be preserved 
 in no other place. "" 
 
 12th. Cerberus , the Watch-dog of Orcus . — Hercules had 
 now given eleven proofs of the strength and agility of 
 his body, as well as the greatness of his soul ; the last onlj 
 remained. He had not done enough in conquering the 
 monsters of the higher world— Eurystheus also commanded 
 him to descend into the world of shades, and drag to the 
 light of day the triple-headed dog Cerberus, that watched 
 the gates of Pluto. 
 
 Before Hercules went on his way to the lower world, he 
 was initiated in the Eleusinian mysteries, to be as it were 
 prepared for any event, whether life or death : he then 
 boldly entered the cavern at the Promontory of Taenarus, 
 which led to the abode of the shades. He compelled Cha- 
 ron to row him across the Styx, and when reaching the 
 opposite shore, he first beheld the three-headed dog Cerbe- 
 rus. and then, chained to a rock, two well-known heroes, 
 Theseus and Pirithoos. who had ventured to descend into 
 Orcus, with the intention of delivering Proserpine, the 
 Queen of the dead, from Pluto’s dominions. They were 
 overpowered, fastened to an enchanted rock, and doomed 
 never again to see the light of the sun. 
 
 Hercules fought with Pluto himself; seized upon the 
 triple-headed watch-dog of his dominions, loosened The- 
 seus’ bonds, and hastened out of the land of terrors. He 
 
234 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 had also endeavored to free Pirithops from his fetters, but 
 in vain, for Pluto defended his prey with his whole power. 
 
 Hercules brought Cerberus in triumph to the upper 
 world. The terrified Eurysthcus could not bear the sight 
 of the monster, and Hercules, after having kept him tamed 
 between his knees, delivered him from the pain of behold- 
 ing the light of day, and the black monster slunk back 
 to the lower world to resume his watch at its gates. 
 
 These are the proofs which Hercules gave of his strength, 
 his perseverance, invincible courage, and patient submission 
 to the decrees of Fate, in performing the most difficult 
 tasks at the command of an inferior. But besides these 
 
HERACLES OR HERCULES. 
 
 235 
 
 labors imposed upon him by Eurystheus, he voluntarily 
 achieved other deeds of valor, not less glorious, equally 
 celebrated, and perhaps of higher merit. 
 
 He rescued Hesione, who was chained to a rock to be 
 devoured by a sea-monster ; he killed the giant Antseos, 
 who forced all strangers to wrestle with him who came 
 within his reach ; he slew Busiris, a cruel king of Egypt, 
 who sacrificed ail foreigners to Jupiter * he destroyed Ca- 
 cus, a famous robber, who was represented as a three- 
 headed monster, vomiting flames ; he delivered Alceste 
 from Orcus ; he slew the vulture that gnawed at the liver 
 of Prometheus ; and erected the pillars at the straits be- 
 tween Europe and Africa. 
 
 Hercules’ first-marriage was with Megara, the daughter of 
 Creon, prince of Thebes, who was given to him by her 
 father out of gratitude for having freed the city from a 
 burdensome tribute, which had been exacted by the Or- 
 chomenians. After Megara had presented him wi*h four 
 sons, he is said to have been driven distracted by Juno, 
 and in a fit of frenzy to have slain both mother and chil- 
 dren. In their memory obsequies were annually celebrated 
 at Thebes. 
 
 In order to expiate this horrible deed, although it was 
 not perpetrated with design, Heracles the more ~eadily 
 submitted to the labors imposed upon him by Eurystneus ; 
 but wben.hV had nearly completed his tasks, he was en- 
 chained by a new love, and married again, notwithstanding 
 the tragical end of his first nuptials. 
 
 Upon one of his expeditions he came to king CEneus, 
 at Calydon, in .ZEtolia, where he saw the beautiful Deia- 
 neira, the royal daughter, who was the affianced bride pf 
 the river-god, Acheloos. Hercules engaged in battle with 
 him, and Deianeira was the prize of his victory. The hero 
 
236 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 then proceeded on his way, accompanied by his wife. 
 When they arrived at the river Euenus, on the banks of 
 which Nessos, the Centaur, had his dwelling, Heracles 
 committed to him the charge of carrying Deianeira on 
 his back through the river. The Centaur complied the 
 more willingly with the request of one in whose mouth a re- 
 quest amounted to a command, because he harbored the 
 secret intention of depriving Heracles of his wife. Ac- 
 cordingly, when he reached the other bank of the river 
 with his fair burden, he galloped off ; but hearing Deianei- 
 ra’s cries for assistance, Heracles bent his bow, and sent 
 through the faithless Centaur one of those arrows which 
 had been dipped in the poisonous blood of the Lernaean 
 Hydra. Nessos, brooding revenge at the very moment of 
 his death, handed to Deianeira a flask filled with his blood, 
 beseeching her to keep it as a precious gift, by means of 
 which she could secure to herself the attachment of her 
 husband, as well as banish every other love from his breast, 
 by rubbing the blood on the garment which he wore next 
 his bo(fy T . 
 
 Before his marriage with Deianeira, Heracles had seen 
 lole, the daughter of king Eurytos, who reigned over 
 (Echalia, in Euboea, and was conquered by her charms. He 
 sued for her hand from her father, but met with a refusal, 
 at which he was angry, and left the house of his host medi- 
 tating revenge. And soon after, when Iphitos, the son of 
 Eurytos, came to Heracles in quest of his strayed horses, 
 which the hero himself kept concealed, Heracles conducted 
 the son of his host to the rocky walls of Tyrins, and sud- 
 denly pitched him from the steep height. 
 
 By this deed he stained his glory, and was, by the 
 command of the gods, compelled to atone for it in a hu- 
 miliating manner. He must suffer himself to be sold a 3 
 a slave to the voluptuous queen Omphale, in Lydia, at 
 whose command he was obliged to do female work. 
 
HERACLES OR HERCULES. 
 
 237 
 
 Plastic art represents Omphale wearing the skin of the 
 Nema>an lion round her shoulders, and holding the club 
 in her hand, while Heracles is seen in a female dress, sit- 
 ting at the distaff and spinning. The hero, who had al 
 ready completed his heroic course, must nevertheless be- 
 come sensible of the lot of mortals, before he could take 
 his seat in the assembly of the celestials, sinking down 
 from his greatness in proportion to the height of his former 
 elevation. * 
 
 The fixed period of his servitude in Lydia having ex- 
 pired, Heracles made war upon Eurytos, because of his 
 having refused him his daughter ; and carrying the city 
 (Echalia by assault, he destroyed it, slew the king him- 
 self, and sent his daughter Iole as a slave to Deianeira, by 
 whom she was received with kindness. 
 
 Understanding, however, that this very captive was her 
 rival, she thought it was time to make use of the gift of 
 Nessos. Accordingly, she took the long-preserved blood 
 of the Centaur, and having rubbed with it a splendid tunic, 
 she sent it to her husband by her servant Liclras, with 
 the request not to wear the garment until he should have 
 occasion to show himself finely dressed to the immortals 
 at a sacred festival. 
 
 Heracles had long since received the oracle, that his 
 death was not to be apprehended from a living being, but 
 from a dead one. The fulfilment of this prediction was 
 now drawing nigh. 
 
 After his victory over Eurytos, Heracles erected an altar 
 to Jupiter upon the promontory of Censeum, in Euboea, and 
 was about to kill the victims, when Lichas appeared, bring- 
 ing with him Deianeira’s present. The hero was the more 
 rejoiced at the gift, because it arrived at so seasonable a 
 time. Instantly arraying himself in the costly attire, he 
 presented a hecatomb to the immortals, and made the 
 flames blaze from the altars to the sky. Suddenly his 
 
238 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 newly-received tunic adhered to his body as if glued to it, 
 and. convulsions seized all his limbs. It was the poison of 
 the Hydra, mingled with the blood of Nessos, which pen- 
 etrated his body, and was now consuming the very marrow 
 of his bones. 
 
 Suffering unspeakable pain, he called the unfortunate 
 Lichas, who had brought him the garment, and hurled him 
 against a rock with such force that his skull and bones 
 were crushed to pieces. In the* midst of his^ortures the 
 hero was carried to the city of Trachinia, in Thessaly. 
 The unhappy Deianeira no sooner heard of the dreadful 
 effect of her present than she put an end to her life. 
 
 Hyllos, the son of Heracles and Deianeira, assisting his 
 father in his torments, at his command carried him to 
 Mount CEta, where Heracles resolved to put an end to his 
 sufferings by a voluntary death. On Mount (Eta a pile 
 of wood was erected and kindled ; it was the funeral pile of 
 Heracles. After having recommended to his son Hyllos 
 his muchdoved Iole, and given to Philoctetes, the son of 
 Poeas, and his faithful companion, his bow and arrows as 
 an inheritance, the hero ascended his fatal death-bed. 
 
 There, surrounded by the blazing flames, his face became 
 resplendent. Heracles had finished the sufferings of hu- 
 manity, and atoned for her foibles ;. his mortal covering, 
 subject to pains and distress, fell off ; his shade went down 
 to Orcus, but he himself rose to Olympos, and was received 
 into the assembly of the immortals. Juno was reconciled, 
 and Hebe, the goddess of eternal youth, became, according 
 to the decree of Fate, the spouse of the new deity. 
 
 Heracles, according to the theory of Dupuis and others, 
 is the Sun, and his twelve labors are a figurative repre- 
 sentation of the annual course of that luminary through 
 the signs of the zodiac. He is the powerful planet which 
 animates and imparts fecundity to the universe ; whose 
 
HERACLES OR HERCULES. 
 
 239 
 
 divinity has been honored in every quarter of the globsf, by 
 temples and altars, and consecrated in the religious theories 
 of all nations. 
 
 To illustrate the fable of his labors (altering the order 
 in which they are usually given), let us suppose the sun to 
 commence his annual course at the summer solstice, which 
 was indeed considered as the opening of the year, by dif 
 ferent ancient nations. 
 
 In the first month the sun passes into the sign Leo 
 The first labor of Hercules was the slaying of the Nemsean 
 lion. In the second month the sun enters Hydra. The 
 second labor of Hercules was the killing of the Hydra, oi 
 dragon of many heads. The constellation Hydra is pecu 
 liar for its length. It§ head rises with Cancer ; its bodj 
 . extends under the sign Leo, and only ends at the latei 
 degrees of the sign Virgo. Hence the fable of the’ con 
 tinual re-appearance of the' heads of the monster whoa 
 Hercules slew. In the third month the sun enters th * 
 sign Libra, when the constellation of Centaur ris'es, repr* - 
 sented as bearing a wine-skin full of liquor,, and a thyrsus 
 adorned with vine-leaves and grapes. Bayer represents 
 him with a thyrsus in one hand, and a flask of wine in the 
 other ; and the Alphonsine tables, with a goblet in his 
 hand. At this same period, what, by some, is termed 
 the constellation of the Boar rises. In his third labor, 
 Hercules, after being hospitably entertained by a Centaur, 
 encountered and slew the other Centaurs, who fouyht for 
 a cask of wine. He slew also the Erymanthian Be ax. In 
 the fourth month the sun enters Scorpio, when Cassiopeia 
 rises, who was represented, anciently, by a stag In his 
 fourth labor, Hercules caught the famous stag w h golden 
 horns and brazen feet, and breathing fire from i' l nostrils ; 
 aptly representing a constellation studded with blazing 
 stars, and which unites itself with the solstitial fires of the 
 sun. In the fifth month, the sun enters Sagittarius (the 
 
240 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY 
 
 archer), when also appear the constellations of the vulture, 
 swan, and eagle. In his fifth labor, Hercules destroyed, 
 with arrows, the three birds near the lake Stymphalus. In 
 the sixth month, the sun enters Capricornus, said to be a 
 grandson of the luminary. At this period, the stream 
 which flows from Aquarius sets. Its source is between 
 the hands of Aristseus, son of the river Peneus. In his 
 sixth labor, Hercules cleansed, by means of the river Pe- 
 neus, the stables of Augias, son of Phoebus. In the sev- 
 enth month, the sun enters the sign Aquarius ; the con- 
 stellation of the Lyre, or Vulture, sets, which is by the 
 side of the constellation Prometheus ; and the celestial 
 bull, the bull of Pasiphae, or of Marathon, or of Europa, 
 passes the meridian. In his seventh labor. Hercules 
 brought alive, into the Peloponnesus, a wild bull which 
 laid waste the island of Crete. He also slew the vulture 
 which preyed upon the liver of Prometheus. It should be 
 observed that the constellation of the Vulture sets, and 
 that the* Vulture was killed; that the constellation of the 
 bull crosses the meridian merely, and that Hercules brought 
 bis bull to Greece alive. In the eighth month, the sun 
 enters Pisces, and the celestial horse Pegasus, or Arion, 
 rises. Hercules, in his eighth labor, overcame and carried 
 off the horses of Hiomedes. In the ninth month the sun 
 enters the sign Aries (sacred to Mars), the same with the 
 ram of the golden fleece ; the celestial ship Argo rises ; 
 Cassiopeia and Andromeda set ; Andromeda is remarkable 
 for its many beautiful stars, one of which is called her gir- 
 dle. In his ninth labor, Hercules embarked on board the 
 Argo in quest of the golden fleece ; contended with female 
 warriors, and took from their queen, Hippolyta, the daugff 
 tef of Mars, a famous girdle. In the tenth month, the 
 sun enters Taurus : the constellation Orion, fabled to have 
 pursued the Pleiades, daughters of Atlas ; the conductor 
 of the oxen of Icarus, and the river Eridanus, also ; the 
 
HERACLES OR HERCULES. 
 
 241 
 
 Pleiades rise, and the she-goat, fabled to have been the 
 spouse of Faunus. The tenth labor of Hercules was restor- 
 ing from pirates, employed by Busiris. the seven Pleiades 
 to their father ; slaying Busiris, the same as Orion ; bear- 
 ing away the oxen of Geryon, and vanquishing Cacus. In 
 the eleventh month, the sun passes into the sign of Gem- 
 ini ; Procyon set3 ; the Dog-star rises, and the swan. In 
 his eleventh labor, Hercules conquered the Dog Cerberus, 
 and triumphed over Cycnus (Swan), at the time when the 
 dog-star’s influence is felt upon the fields. 
 
 In the twelfth month the sun enters the sign Cancer , 
 the last of the twelve, commencing with Leo. The con- 
 stellations of the river and the Centaur set, that of Hercu- 
 les Ingeniculus also descends towards the western regions, 
 or those of Hesperia , followed by the dragon of the pole, 
 the guardian of the golden apples of the Hesperides, whose 
 head he crushes with his foot In his twelfth labor, Her- 
 cules travelled to Hesperia in quest of the golden fruit, 
 guarded by the dragon. After his, he offers up a sacrifice, 
 and clothes himself in a robe dipped in the blood of the 
 Centaur , whom he had slain in crossing a river. The robe 
 takes fire, and the hero perishes amid the flames, but only 
 to resume his youth in the heavens, and become a partaker 
 of immortality. 
 
 The Centaur thus terminates the mortal career of Her- 
 cules ; and in like manner the new annual period com- 
 mences with the passage of the sun into Leo, marked by a 
 group of stars in the morning that glitter like the flames 
 that issued from the vestment of Nessos. 
 
 Heracles, with Omphale, is the solar god descended into 
 the Omphalos, or navel of the world, amid the signs of the 
 southern hemisphere ; and it was the festival of this power- 
 ful star, in some degree enervated at the period of the winter 
 solstice, which the Lydian people celebrated by the change 
 of vestments made between the weaker and stronger sex. 
 
 II 
 
242 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 DIONYSOS OR BACCHUS. 
 
 Dionysos and Heracles, although born of mortal mothers, 
 are associated in the assembly of the immortal gods. Yet, 
 Dionysos is by far the higher, the more divine person. 
 From the beginning, the plenitude of his being is revealed j 
 and from his very birth, he is ranked among the celestials, 
 while Heracles, by bold deeds and invincible valor, must 
 prepare himself the path to immortality. For this reason, 
 too, the latter, during his life time, was ranked only among 
 the god-like heroes ; while Dionysos was always entitled to 
 the society of the gods. 
 
 The archetype of Dionysos (the reproductive force :: 
 nature, of which wine is the symbol) was the inward swell- 
 ing fulness of nature, typified in the foaming cup. from 
 which she bestows animating enjoyment on the initiated. 
 The worship of Dionysos, therefore, like that of Demeter, 
 was mysterious ; for both deities are the emblems of the 
 whole of nature, which no mortal eye penetrates. 
 
 The fiction of the birth of Dionysos contains a deep 
 meaning. The jealous Hera, appearing to his mother in 
 the character of an old woman, instigated the daughter of 
 Cadmos to express the extravagant wish of enjoying Zeus 
 in his divine character. Semele accordingly, first desired 
 the Thunderer to swear compliance to the request she was 
 about to make to him, and when he had taken the oath, she 
 demanded that he should appear to her in his true, divine 
 person. Zeus, not daring to break the terrible oath by 
 Styx, was compelled to approach her by thunder and light- 
 ning. The wretched Semele, killed by the thunder, and 
 consumed by the lightning, fell a sacrifice to her rash 
 request. Zeus snatched from her his son Dionysos, yet 
 unborn, and placed him in his thigh, where he remained till 
 the regular time of his birth. Mortality is destroyed ere 
 immortality rises. Man, during his life time on earth, not 
 
DIONYSOS OR BACCHUS. 
 
 243 
 
 being able to bear the glory of divinity, is annihilated by 
 its terrible majesty. 
 
 At the birth of the child, Zeus gave him the name of 
 Dionysos, and sent him by Hermes to Iuo, sister to Semele 
 with directions to rear him ; but Hera, whose revenge was 
 not yet satiated, caused Athamas, the husband of Ino, to 
 go mad. Zeus, to save Dionysos from the machinations 
 of Hera, changed him into a kid, under which form Her- 
 mes conveyed him to the nymphs of Nysa, who were to 
 take charge of his education, and by whom he was reared 
 with the greatest tenderness. 
 
 In his boyhood, Dionysos, as if yet half reeling in sweet 
 slumber, does not comprehend the fulness of his being, and 
 appears apprehensive of injuries inflicted by men, until 
 his formidable power suddenly reveals itself through mira- 
 culous events. Lycurgus, king of the Edones, a people of 
 Thrace, surprised the nurses of Dionysos on Mount Nysa, 
 and wounded several of them. The terrified Dionysos 
 threw himself into the sea, when Thetis took him up in 
 her arms ; but he avenged himself by driving Lycurgus 
 mad, when he killed his own son, Dryas, with a blow of an 
 axe, mistaking him for a vine-branch His subjects after- 
 wards bound him, and left him on Mount Pangseon, where 
 he was destroyed by wild horses, for such was the will of 
 Dionysos. 
 
 When Dionysos grew up, he discovered the culture of 
 the vine, and the mode of extracting its precious liquor ; 
 but Hera struck him with madness, and in this state he 
 roamed through a great part of Asia. In Phrygia he was 
 met by Rhea, who cured him, and taught him her religious 
 rites, which he resolved to introduce into Greece. In his 
 course he met with various adventures. 
 
 At one time a body of pirates, who took him for the son 
 of a king, in the hope of obtaining a large ransom, carried 
 him off and placed him on board thgir ship. No sooner 
 
£44 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 however, had they left the shore, than the cords with 
 which the smiling boy was fastened fell off, and a fragrant 
 stream of wine ran through the ship ; then suddenly a 
 vine rose to the top sail, which expanded its branches, 
 loaded with heavy grapes : the mast became entwined with 
 dark ivy, and all the oars were covered with vine leaves. 
 On the deck of the vessel a terrible lion made its appear- 
 ance, casting around him fierce, threatening glances ; ter- 
 ror seized the offenders, who leaped from the ship into the 
 raging sea, where suddenly appearing as swimming dol- 
 phins, they bore witness to the power of the all-conquering 
 deity. 
 
 When Dionysos reached Thebes, the women readily re- 
 ceived the new rites, and ran wildly through the woods of 
 Cithaeron. Peutheus, the ruler of Thebes, set himself 
 against them ; but Dionysos caused him to be torn to 
 pieces by his mother and aunts. The daughters of Min- 
 yas, Leucippe, Aristippe, and Aicathoe, also despised his 
 rites, and continued plying their looms, while the other 
 women ran through the mountains. Dionysos appeared 
 to them as a maiden and remonstrated, but in vain ; he 
 then assumed the form of various wild beasts ; serpents 
 filled their baskets ; vines and ivy twined round their 
 looms, while wine and milk distilled from the roof ; still 
 their obstinacy was unsubdued. He finally drove them 
 mad, when they tore to pieces the son of Leucippe, and 
 then went roaming through the mountains, till Hermes 
 touched them with his wand, and changed them into a bat, 
 an owl, and a crow. 
 
 Dionysos next proceeded to Attica, where he taught Ica- 
 rios the culture of the vine. Icarios having made wine, 
 gave it to some shepherds, who, thinking themselves poi- 
 soned, killed him ; recovering themselves, they buried him. 
 His daughter. Erigone, being shown the spot by his faithful 
 dog Maara, hung herself through grief. 
 
DIONYSOS O £ BACCHUS, 
 
 245 
 
 At Argos the rites of Dionysos were receiveo by the 
 women as at Thebes, an'd opposed by Perseus, the son of 
 Zeus and Danae ; Zeus, however, reduced h s two sons to 
 amity, and Dionysos thence passed over to Naxca, where 
 he met with Ariadne. Afterwards he descended to Ere- 
 bos, whence he brought his mother, whom he named Thy- 
 one, and ascended with her to the abode of the gods. 
 
 The expedition of Bacchos to India, is a beautiful and 
 sublime fiction. With an army of both men and women, 
 who advanced with joyful tumult, he extended his benefi- 
 cent conquests as far as the Ganges, teaching the conquer- 
 ed nations the cultivation of the vine, together with a 
 higher enjoyment of life, and giving them laws. In the 
 divine person of Bacchos, men revered the more cheerful 
 delights of life, as a particular, sublime being, who, under 
 the form of an eternally flourishing youth, subdues lions 
 and tigers that draw his chariot, and who, in divine ecsta- 
 sy, accompanied by the sound of flutes and timbrels, pro 
 ceeds in triumph, from east to west, through all countries 
 
 The victorious expedition, undertaken for the benefit of 
 the nations of earth, was accomplished by Bacchos in three 
 years ; for which reason the festivals afterwards instituted 
 in remembrance of it, were always celebrated after the 
 same interval of time. Then, the joyful tumult which 
 accompanied the march of the god through the earth was 
 repeated, and celebrated anew from every hill and moun- 
 tain. The priestesses of the god of wine, roaming with dis- 
 hevelled hair upon the mountains, filled the air with the 
 noise proceeding from the beating of timbrels, playing upon 
 flutes, &c., and the wild, continual cry, of Euoi ! Bacche! 
 The threatening thyrses in their hands, from which the 
 colored ribbons waved, while the pine apple on its top con- 
 cealed the wounding point, is an emblem of the expedition 
 to India ; on occasion of which, the clamor of war and din 
 
246 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 of battle were hidden under song and the sound of musical 
 instruments. 
 
 Mythologists differ in opinion as to the origin of Bac- 
 chos. Creutzer and others consider his w r orship as evi 
 dently of eastern origin, and that he is identified with the 
 Osiris of the Egyptians and the Schiva of India. The 
 fable of his birth, and his strange translation to the thigh 
 of the monarch of Olympos, bear the impress of oriental 
 imagery. An ivy branch is made to spring forth from a 
 column to cover him with its leaves when he is taken from 
 his mother, and the Ivy was in Egypt the plant of Osiris. 
 In like manner, the coffin of the Egyptian deity is shaded 
 by the plant erica, which springs from the ground and en- 
 velopes it. Bacchos and Osiris both float upon the waters 
 in a chest, or ark, and both have for one of their symbols 
 the head of a bull. 
 
 The Lingam and equilateral triangle, symbols of Bac- 
 chos, were also symbols of Schiva. The two systems of 
 worship have the same obscenities and the same emblems. 
 Schiva is represented, in the Hindoo Mythology, as assum- 
 ing the form of a lion during the great battle of the godo. 
 Ho seizes the monster that attacks him with his teeth 
 and fangs, while Dourga pierces him with his lance. In 
 the Grecian Mythology, the same exploit is attributed to 
 Bacchos, under the same form, against the giant Rhoetos. 
 
 The Grecian festivals, in honor of Dionysos, called Dio- 
 nysia, were observed at Athens with more splendor and 
 superstition than in any other part of Greece. The years 
 were numbered by their celebration, the archon assisted 
 at their solemnity, and the priests who officiated were 
 honored with the most dignified seats at the public games. 
 They were at first celebrated with great simplicity, and the 
 time was consecrated to mirth. It was then usual to bring 
 
DIONYSOS OR BACCHUS. 
 
 247 
 
 a vessel full of wine, adorned with a vine branch, after 
 which followed a goat, a basket of figs, and other emblems. 
 In imitation of the poetical fictions of Dionysos, his wor- 
 shippers were clothed in fawn skins, fine linen, and mitres, 
 and crowned themselves with garlands of ivy, vine, and fir, 
 and carried thyrses, drums, pipes and flutes. Some, in the 
 uncouth manner of their dress, and their fantastic motions, 
 imitated Pan, Silenos, and the Satyrs; and some rode on 
 asses, while others drove the goats to slaughter for the sac- 
 rifice, and in this manner both sexes joined in the solem- 
 nity, and ran about the hills and country, nodding their 
 heads, dancing in ridiculous postures, and filling the air 
 with hideous shrieks and shouts, crying Bacche ! Io ! Io ! 
 Euoi! Iacche ! etc., beating on drums and sounding vari- 
 ous instruments. 
 
 With such solemnities were the Greek festivals of Bac- 
 chos celebrated. In one of these a procession was formed, 
 bearing the various emblems of his worship : and among 
 them a select number of noble virgins carried baskets of 
 gold, filled with all kinds of fruit ; serpents were some 
 times put in the baskets, and by their wreathing and crawl- 
 ing out amused and astonished the beholders. This was 
 the most mysterious part of the solemnity. 
 
 These festivals, in honor of the god of wine, contributed 
 much to the corruption of morals among all classes of peo- 
 ple. They were introduced into Etruria, and from thence 
 to Rome, where both sexes promiscuously joined in the 
 celebration during the darkness of the night; but their 
 vicious excesses called for the interference of the senate, 
 who passed a decree, banishing the Bacchanalia for ever 
 from Rome. 
 
 The women who bore a chief part in these festivals 
 were called Mcenades , Bacchcz , Thyiades , and Euades. 
 
 As the god of wine, Bacchos is generally represented 
 
248 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 crowned with vine and ivy leaves, with a thyrse in his hand. 
 His figure is that of an effeminate young man. 
 
 The golden horns upon the head of Bacchos, which by 
 the plastic art of the Greeks were either entirely hidden, 
 or partly concealed, are a token of the high antiquity of 
 this god ; such horns having been in the remotest times 
 connected with the ideas of inward, divine power. 
 
 Among animals, ^the spotted panther is sacred to Bac- 
 chos ; fierceness, nay, even cruelty is tamed by him, and 
 cringes at his feet ; and he is said to have been clothed in 
 the skin of this animal on his expedition to India. The 
 ever-verdant ivy, and the snake, which, casting its skin, 
 renews itself, are pleasing emblems of perpetual youth ; 
 in which the divine form of Bacchos resembles that of 
 Apollo, only with this difference — the former is represented 
 as more delicate and feminine. His beauty is compared to 
 that of Apollo, and both are represented with fine hair 
 flowing loosely on the shoulders. 
 
 The thyrse was one of the most common and ancient 
 attributes of Bacchos and his joyous crew. It consisted of 
 a lance, the iron point of which was concealed in a pine 
 cone, in memory of the stratagem of his followers in con- 
 cealing their pikes. It was used at all the festivals held in 
 his honor, and often twined with wreaths of ivy or bay. 
 
 MINOS, RHADAMANTHYS, AND SARPEDON. 
 
 Zeus, says the legend, becoming enamored of the beauty 
 of Europa, the daughter of Phoenix or Agenor, changed 
 himself into a beautiful white bull, and w breathing saffron 
 from his mouth, ” he approached her as^ she was gathering 
 flowers with her companions in a mead near the shore. 
 Europa, delighted with the tameness and beauty of the 
 animal, caressed him, crowned him with flowers, and at 
 length ventured to mount his back. The disguised god 
 immediately made off with his lovely burden, ran along 
 
MINOS, RHADAMANTHYS, AND SARPEDON. 249 
 
 the waves of the sea, and made no stop till he arrived at 
 Crete, not far from Gortyna. Here he resumed his own 
 form, and beneath a plane-tree embraced the trembling 
 maiden. By him she had three sons, Minos, Bhadaman- 
 thys, and Sarpedon. 
 
 These three brothers fell into discord for the sake of 
 a beautiful youth named Miletos, the son of Apollo, or of 
 Zeus. The youth testifying the most esteem for Sarpedon, 
 Minos chased them out of Crete. Miletos went to Caria, 
 where he built a town which he named from himself. Sar- 
 pedon went to Lycia, where he aided Cilix against the 
 people of that country, and obtained the sovereignty of a 
 part of it. Zeus is said to have bestowed on him a life of 
 triple duration. 
 
 Bhadamanthys ruled with justice and equity over the 
 islands. Having accidentally committed homicide, he re- 
 tired to Boeotia, where he married Alcinena, the mother 
 of Heracles. According to Homer, Bhadamanthys was 
 placed on the Elysian Plain, among the heroes to whom 
 Zeus allotted that blissful abode. Pindar seems to make 
 him a sovereign or judge in the island of the Blest. Later 
 poets place him with Minos and ASacos in the under world, 
 where their office is to judge the dead. 
 
 Minos is chiefly remarkable for belonging to a period 
 when history and mythology interlace ; and as uniting in 
 his own person the chief characteristics of both. He is a 
 son of Zeus, and yet the first possessor of a navy ; a judge 
 in Hades, and at the same time a king in Crete. 
 
 It is worthy of remark, that Crete, so famous at this age, 
 both for its naval power and for being the birth-place of the 
 Olympian gods, should never afterwards have attained any 
 thing like the celebrity which its position seemed to prom- 
 ise. Its office seems to have been that of leading the way 
 in naval supremacy. Too isolated for power of a durable 
 nature, it was lost in the confederate or opposing glories of 
 
 11 # 
 
250 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 Athens and Sparta ; but while they were yet in their infan- 
 cy, the insular form of Crete (together perhaps with some 
 Asiatic refinement) gave it that concentrated energy, which 
 in an early age is irresistible. 
 
 According to fiction, Minos, in a grotto on Mount Ida, 
 had occasional secret converse with his father Zeus, the pur- 
 port of which he announced to the listening people as the 
 fundamental part of legislation. In consequence of this 
 wise government and justice, fiction transferred to him, to- 
 gether with his brother and counsellor, Rhadamanthys, as 
 the most righteous of mortals, the judicature over the dead 
 in the lower world ; associating with them iEacos, the father 
 of Peleus, and sometimes Triptolemos too, the benefactor 
 of mankind. 
 
 Minos, the legislator, was at the same time a warlike 
 and valiant prince, who, sweeping the pirates from the Me- 
 diterranean sea, rendered sailing and commerce safe. But 
 the hero, who in many respects was the benefactor of man- 
 kind, was obliged to endure misfortunes which shaded his 
 glorious victories in gloom. 
 
 The wife of Minos was Pasiphae, a daughter of the Sun 
 and Perseis, and sister of iEtes. By her he had several 
 children, the most celebrated of whom were Androgeos, 
 Glaucos, Deucalion, Ariadne, and Phaedra. 
 
 After the death of Asterion, the Cretans hesitated whe- 
 ther to give Minos the royal dignity ; to prove his claim 
 to it, he asserted that he could obtain whatever he chose 
 to pray for. Then, sacrificing to Poseidon, he besought 
 him to send him a bull from the bottom of the sea (a bull 
 with the ancients being an emblem of power), promising to 
 sacrifice whatever should appear. Poseidon sent the bull, 
 and Minos received the kingdom. According to Homer, 
 he ruled nine years at Cnossos, and was the intimate 
 friend of Zeus. He was victorious in war, and extended 
 his dominion over the isles of the Aegean. 
 
MINOS, RHAfiAMANTHYS, AND feARPEDON. 251 
 
 The bull which Poseidon had sent out of the sea, being 
 of a large size and brilliant white hue, appeared to Minos 
 too beautiful an animal to be slain; he therefore put him 
 in his herd and substituted an ordinary one in its place. 
 This act offended Poseidon, and he caused the bull to run 
 wild, and at the same time inspired Pasiphae with a strange 
 passion for him, and she became the parent of the monster, 
 half man and half bull, which, under the name of the Mi- 
 notaur, often makes its appearance in ancient fictions. 
 
 Dsedalos, the most skilful artist and architect of that 
 time, had fled to Crete, on account of a crime committed in 
 his native city of Athens ; and Minos, in compliance with 
 an oracle, charged him with making that subterranean 
 building, with many walks and innumerable winding pas- 
 sages, which is known by the name of the Cretan Laby- 
 rinth. In the middle of this Labyrinth was the abode 
 of the Minotaur, visible only to those unfortunate victims 
 who were thrown to the monster to be devoured, or those 
 who had dared to enter the Labyrinth, but were unable to 
 extricate themselves, and thus came withiu the reach of its 
 terrible inmate. 
 
 In the mean while, Androgeos, a son of Minos, accompa- 
 nied by many of his friends, had undertaken a voyage to 
 Athens to participate in the celebration of the Athenian 
 games. Having there excited the jealousy and suspicion 
 of iEgeus, the childless king of Athens, because he had 
 taken the prize in every combat, and gained the applause 
 of the whole people, the promising son of Minos was basely 
 assassinated. No sooner was his father informed of this 
 new misfortune that had befallen him, than he went over 
 to Athens with his whole force to avenge the murder. 
 
 He first besieged Nisa, where Nisos, brother of iEgeus, 
 was king. Nisos, with his city, was betrayed by his own 
 daughter, Scylla, who having an admiration for Minos, in 
 disregard both )f filial love and duty, went to her father 
 
252 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY, 
 
 while he was sleeping, and cut from his head a golden lock, 
 by means of which he had been invincible. She handed 
 this lock, the strength of her father, to Minos ; but instead 
 of gaining favor with the Cretan ruler, as she had expected, 
 she was punished by him according to her deserts : he em- 
 ployed the gift to his advantage but treated the giver with 
 scorn and contempt. 
 
 After the attack on Nisa, which city was afterwards called 
 Megara, Minos immediately moved with his army towards 
 Athens, which oppressed by drought and famine, was already 
 groaning under the wrath of the gods and its distressing 
 fate. In addition to the miseries which they suffered, it 
 was declared by an oracle, that the immortals would not 
 cease to send misfortunes on the city, until it should have 
 given to Minos ample satisfaction for the murder of his 
 son. Upon this, the Athenians sent ambassadors to the 
 ruler of Crete, who appeared before him with humble de- 
 meanor, and supplicated peace. Minos granted peace on 
 this hard condition ; — that Athens should send annually 
 seven of her handsomest youths, and as many of her most 
 beautiful maidens to Crete, in order, as victims of their 
 native land, to expiate the murder of Androgeos, by be- 
 coming the prey of the Minotaur. 
 
 When Theseus had at last killed this monster and fled 
 with Ariadne, the daughter of the Cretan monarch, Minos, 
 unable to avenge himself in any other manner, shut up the 
 Athenian Laedalos, together with his son, Icaros, in the La- 
 byrinth, the work of his own hands. The art of Daedalos, 
 however, supplied him with the means of flying with his 
 son out of prison, and of reaching Sicily, where he met 
 with a friendly reception by Cocalos, king of the island. 
 
 Minos demanded that Daedalos should be delivered up 
 to him ; and having been invited by Cocalos to a personal 
 interview, went to Sicily, where he was received by the 
 king in a friendly manner ; but in the end was secretly 
 
THESEUS. 
 
 253 
 
 suffocated when bathing. Thus Minos, the wise Legislator, 
 the valiant warrior, the benefactor of mankind, found his 
 death in a foreign country, while pursuing the artist who 
 was protected by the immortals. He was succeeded in 
 his kingdom by his son Deucalion, whose sou, Idomeneus 
 led the troops of Crete to the war of Troy. 
 
 THESEUS. 
 
 Theseus, king of Athens, and son of iEgeus by iEthra, 
 the daughter of Pittheus, monarch of Troezen, was one of 
 the most famous heroes of antiquity. iEgeus, who was pri- 
 vately married to HSthra, before leaving Troezen, concealed 
 his sword and sandals under a stone, and told iEthra, that 
 if she should have a son, not to send him to Athens until 
 he had become strong enough to raise it. She obeyed the 
 injunction, and Theseus was educated by Connidas under 
 the supervision of his grandfather, the wise Pittheus ; and 
 as often as the Athenians celebrated a festival in honor of 
 Theseus, the name of Connidas was mentioned with venera- 
 tion. 
 
 When Theseus was grown to the proper age, his mother 
 led him to the stone on which he was to try his strength - 
 Lifting it, he took from beneath his father’s sword and 
 sandals, with w r hich he entered upon his journey to Athens. 
 
 Imitating the example of Heracles, whom the glowing 
 soul of the young hero had embraced as his model, he chose 
 the more dangerous way by land, wh#re he must encoun- 
 ter robbers, who made the roads unsafe, and who treated 
 all strangers who fell into their hands in the most cruel 
 manner. As Theseus, armed with his father’s good sword, 
 was passing on his way from Troezen, through the country 
 of Epidauros, he first met with Periphates, a son of He- 
 phaestos. This ferocious savage was famous for his cruel 
 ty, and trusting to his gigantic strength, laid wait foi 
 travellers with no other weapon than a club, which, how 
 
254 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 ever, was the terror of all the surrounding country. The* 
 seus, assaulted by him, stretched him to the ground by the 
 aid of his good sword, and ever after carried the club of 
 his foe in remembrance of his victory. 
 
 Upon the Isthmus of Corinth he fought a still more 
 cruel murderer, Sinis ( Evil-doer ), who was also called the 
 Pint bender. His strength was so great that he was able 
 to take pine trees by the top, and bend them to the ground. 
 Placing himself by the road side, he obliged all passengers 
 to take hold of a pine with him and bend it ; he would then 
 let go, and the tree flying up, the unhappy stranger was 
 dashed to the ground and killed. Theseus, on being chal- 
 lenged, though he never before attempted such a feat, held 
 down the tree with ease 5 he then conquered the monster, 
 and obliged him to undergo the punishment that his 
 cruelty and crimes deserved, by putting him to death in 
 the same manner in which he had been accustomed to de- 
 stroy his fellow-creatures. 
 
 Theseus likewise delivered the countries through which 
 he passed from the monsters by which they were infested ; 
 killing, among others, the Cromyonian Swine, which, wast- 
 ing the fields, and threatening destruction every where to 
 the inhabitants, was both a plague and a terror to the land. 
 
 As be approached the borders of Megara, he came to 
 the narrow path overhanging the sea, where the robber 
 Sciron (from whom the pass derived its name) had fixed 
 his abode. When #ny stranger came to him, it was the 
 custom of Sciron, instead of giving water to wash the feet 
 of his guest, to insist upon the guest’s washing his feet. 
 This ceremony was performed on the pass ; and Sciron, 
 taking advantage of the opportunity it gave him, tumbled 
 every one into the sea, where was a huge tortoise always 
 ready to devour the bodies of those who were thrown down. 
 Theseus conquered Sciron, and threw him down to the 
 tortoise. 
 
THESEUS. 
 
 255 
 
 In Eleusis, Theseus fought with the robber Cercyon, 
 whom he vanquished and killed ; and upon arriving a short 
 distance further, at Hermione, he found the formidable Da- 
 mastes, who, from the particular kind of cruelty with which 
 he abused foreigners, was called Procrustes ( the Stretcher), 
 For this tyrant is said to have had two iron bedsteads, of 
 different lengths, in which he placed all strangers who ar- 
 rived within his reach ; and in such a manner as to lay the 
 short ones upon the long bedstead, and those who were of 
 a larger stature, upon the short one. He then by force 
 stretched the former to the extremity of the bedstead, and 
 cut off the limbs of the latter to fit their couch of torture. 
 Theseus, after having subdued him in a combat, subjected 
 him to the same pain that he had inflicted upon others, 
 and then delivered the earth from the monster. 
 
 It seems as if fiction here aimed at representing the vio- 
 lation of the rites of hospitality in its most heinous light ; 
 for what can be imagined more cruel and barbarous than to 
 change the very place of repose into a rack ! It was under 
 the sacredness of hospitality, that men could first commune 
 with each other, and contribute to their mutual civiliza- 
 tion. To rid the earth of such as violated these sacred 
 rites, and thereby hinder the progress of improvement 
 among mankind, was a task worthy of the heroes, whose 
 proper reward is, having their names immortalized as the 
 benefactors of the world. 
 
 When Theseus arrived at Athens, he was recognized 
 and acknowledged by iEgeus as his son and successor on 
 the royal throne ; upon which, the sons of Pallas, the bro- 
 ther of iEgeus, who had already flattered themselves with 
 the hope of succeeding their childless uncle in the govern- 
 ment of Athens, excited a revolt, which, however, was im- 
 mediately quelled by Theseus. 
 
 It was then the third year that the Athenians had been 
 obliged to send the sad tribute of fourteen of its handsom- 
 
256 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 est children to the island of Crete, as an atonement for the 
 murder of Androgeos, son of Minos ; and as long as the 
 Minotaur was alive, the Athenians dared not hope to be 
 released from the tribute. When, therefore, the youths 
 and maidens had drawn their lot of death, and as the des- 
 tined victims for the present year were departing, in spite 
 of the entreaties of his father to the contrary, Theseus 
 voluntarily offered himself as one of their number, in the 
 hope of conquering the monster. 
 
 Before his departure, he made a vow to Apollo that, if 
 lie should be successful in this undertaking, he would 
 send annually to his temple on the island of Delos, a ship 
 laden with offerings and presents ; and, upon inquiring of 
 the oracle what the event should be, he received for answer, 
 that if he chose Love for his guide, it would be successful. 
 
 The ship departed as usual, under black sails, which 
 Theseus promised his father to exchange for white in case 
 he should return victorious. The vessel, wafted by favor- 
 able winds, soon arrived at Crete, where, when the victims 
 were presented to Minos, the eyes of Ariadne, his royal 
 daughter, rested upon Theseus, whose beauty and noble 
 stature made an impression on her heart. Theseus chose 
 Love for his guide, receiving from Ariadne the clew that 
 made him secure of a passage out of the Labyrinth. Hold- 
 ing Ariadne’s thread in his hand, he confidently descended 
 into the mazes of the subterranean building, where, as 
 soon as he had found the Minotaur, he began a desperate 
 fight with the monster, and killed him, aided by the ad- 
 vice which he had received from Ariadne. 
 
 The death of the monster freed the Athenians from the 
 horrible tribute which they had twice paid with their own 
 children ; and their sons and daughters, already destined 
 to die a cruel death, owed their preservation to Theseus. 
 The expression of their gratitude became a favorite sub* 
 ject of plastic art, in ancient as well as in modern times. 
 
THESEUS. 
 
 257 
 
 A picture, found in Herculaneum, shows the hero sur- 
 rounded by tender boys, who were saved from death by 
 his exertions, and who, in gratitude, are embracing his 
 knees and kissing his hands. 
 
 Ariadne fled with her beloved Theseus to the island of 
 Naxos, where, however, Theseus was forced by the will of 
 the gods to desert her, because Bacchos, the deity of the 
 island, was captivated by her charms. The god found her 
 sleeping at night in the open air, and when she awoke, he, 
 in token of his divinity, cast the golden crown which he 
 wore upon his head towards the sky, where it immediately 
 appeared as a splendid constellation, and bore witness to 
 the marriage of Bacchos and Ariadne. 
 
 Before returning to Athens, Theseus sailed to the island 
 of Delos, in order to pay his vow to Apollo. At the same 
 time, he there consecrated to Aphrodite, in gratitude for the 
 assistance he had received from her, a statue made by Dae- 
 dalos ; and to preserve the memory of his victory over the 
 Minotaur, he instituted a dance, which imitated the wind- 
 ings of the Labyrinth. 
 
 The sacred vow which Theseus had made to the god of 
 Delos, was, long after his death, fulfilled with the greatest 
 care by the Athenians. In the very same ship in which 
 the hero had returned from Crete,* ambassadors, crowned 
 with olive wreaths, were sent every year to Delos ; and to 
 make the vessel, as it were, everlasting, the injuries of 
 time were carefully repaired, so that at last, although con- 
 sidered the same, she was an entirely different ship from 
 that which had borne the hero. Neither was any criminal 
 put to death while this ship was on its passage to and from 
 Delos — a circumstance which long afterwards spared for a 
 short time the life of Socrates. It was a law worthy of the 
 sublime sentiments of the Athenians during their better 
 times, that while celebrating the delivery of their children 
 
259 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 from destruction, no one should become the victim of a 
 violent death. 
 
 From Delos, Theseus steered directly to Athens, to an- 
 nounce there the happy issue of his enterprise, which was 
 yet to terminate in a tragical event. For when iEgeus, 
 standing on a high rock near the sea-shore, and looking 
 anxiously over the waters for the returning ship, descried 
 at last a black sail, which the pilot had forgotten to ex- 
 change for a white one, in despair he threw himself into 
 the sea, which after him is called the iEgean. 
 
 Theseus was received with loud applause by the Atheni- 
 ans, as their protector and deliverer from the most dis- 
 tressing tribute ; and, succeeding his father on the royal 
 throne, he availed himself of the affection of his people, 
 and introduced a wise course of government, as well as an 
 improved code of laws. Indeed he may be called the cre- 
 ator of the Athenian state, because he united the people 
 (who, until his day, had lived scattered) in small districts, 
 and brought them into one compact body in the city, which 
 he divided into certain sections; he also settled the bor- 
 ders of the Athenian territory, by treaties with the neigh- 
 boring tribes. Having succeeded in modelling the people 
 according to his views, he instituted the religious service 
 of Feitho , the goddess of persuasion. 
 
 After having accomplished his task as a royal magistrate 
 and legislator, Theseus gave an example of magnanimity 
 which rendered him worthy the admiration of all success- 
 ive ages. Voluntarily divesting himself of the greater 
 part of his authority, in compliance with the voice of an 
 oracle, he endeavored to prepare Athens for becoming a 
 republic. In honor of Poseidon, whom Fame called his 
 father, he renewed the Athenian games ; and as all Greece 
 assembled at their celebration, he in this way promoted the 
 intercourse and general improvement among his people. 
 
 Theseus’ civic cares did not prevent him from engaging 
 
THESEUS. 
 
 259 
 
 in warlike occupations. He accompanied Heracles in his 
 expedition against the Amazons, who then dwelt on the 
 banks of the Thermodon ; and as a reward for his distin- 
 guished services in the conflict, Heracles, after the victory, 
 bestowed on him the hand of the vanquished queen. 
 When the Amazons in revenge afterwards invaded the At- 
 tic territory, they again met with a signal defeat by the 
 Athenian prince 
 
 An amiable feature in the history of this hero, is the 
 inseparable friendship which united him with Pirithoos, a 
 Thessalian prince, who ruled over the Lapithee. Their 
 friendship, nevertheless, originated in arms. The renown 
 of Theseus having spread widely over Greece, Pirithoos 
 became desirous not only of beholding him, but of witness- 
 ing his exploits ; he accordingly made an irruption in the 
 plain of Marathon, and carried off the herds of the king 
 of Athens. 
 
 On receiving the information, Theseus went to repel the 
 plunderers. The moment Pirithoos beheld him, he was 
 seized with secret admiration, and stretching out his hand 
 in token of peace, exclaimed, “ Be judge thyself! what 
 satisfaction dost thou require?” Thy friendship,” replied 
 the Athenian, and they thereupon swore eternal fidelity. 
 
 There was now no danger too great for Theseus and 
 Pirithoos to brave ; none that could separate the heroes. 
 They were present at the Calydonian hunt, and both took 
 part in the famous conflict between the Centaurs and Lapi- 
 thae. The cause of the contest was as follows — Pirithoos 
 having obtained the hand of Hippodamia, daughter of 
 A.drastos, king of Argos, the chiefs of his nation, the Lapi 
 thae, were all invited to the wedding, as well as the Centaurs 
 who dwelt in the neighborhood of Pelion. Theseus, Her- 
 cules, and Nestor were likewise present. Heated by 
 wine, the Centaurs began to quarrel during the repast, and 
 threatened to carry away Hippodamia ; and would havo 
 
260 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 made good their threat but for Heracles and Theseus, who 
 valiantly assisted Pirithoos, and punished the haughty 
 pride of the Centaurs, not only on that occasion, hut after- 
 wards also in a regular battle. This is the famous battle 
 between the Centaurs and Lapithse, so often a subject of 
 poetry with the ancients, as well as of art. 
 
 Like faithful comrades, Theseus and Pirithoos aided 
 each other in every project, and the death of Hippodamia 
 having subsequently left Pirithoos free to form a new at- 
 tachment, the two friends, equally ambitious in love, re- 
 solved each to possess a daughter of the king of the gods. 
 Theseus fixed his thoughts on Helena, the daughter of 
 Zeus and Leda, then a child of nine years old. The friends 
 succeeded in their plan of carrying her off, and placing her 
 under the care of his mother, iEthra, at Aphidnse. The- 
 seus then prepared to assist his friend in a bolder and 
 more perilous attempt ; for Pirithoos resolved to venture 
 on the daring deed, of carrying away from the palace of 
 the monarch of the under-world his queen, Proserpina, to 
 take vengeance as it were on Pluto, for having deprived 
 him of his wife, Hippodamia. There is a deep sense hid- 
 den in this latter fiction. The undertaking was one which 
 inevitably involved the most imminent danger, and The- 
 seus, faithful to his friend even unto death, descended with 
 him 
 
 “To the seat of desolation, void of light.” 
 
 They descended together to the region of shadow ; but 
 Pluto, knowing their design, seized them, and placed them 
 upon an enchanted rock, at the gate of his realm. Here 
 they sat, unable to move, till Heracles, passing by in his 
 descent for Cerberos, freed Theseus ; but when he would 
 have done the same for Pirithoos, the earth quaked, atfd 
 he left him. Pirithoos, therefore, remained everlastingly 
 on the rock, as a punishment for his audacious attempt 
 and thus death separated the most faithful of friends. 
 
THESEUS. 
 
 2(51 
 
 This loss was the forerunner of many misfortunes which 
 afterwards befel Theseus, embittering the rest of his days. 
 It was the common lot of heroes to end their lives in a 
 tragical manner, and from this Theseus was not exempt. 
 
 When he returned to Athens, he found the fickle and 
 ungrateful people excited against him by his enemies, and 
 while struggling against a public enemy, a domestic foe 
 arose in the bosom of his family. After Antiope’s death, 
 Theseus married Phaedra, a daughter of Minos, and sister 
 of Ariadne. Conceiving a hatred against Hippolytos. An- 
 tiope’s son, she preferred a false charge against him, in con- 
 sequence of which he lost his life. When Phaedra heard 
 of the fate which had befallen her innocent victim, in bit- 
 ter repentance she put an end to her own life; and 'The- 
 seus, learning too late the innocence of his son, was well 
 nigh driven to despair 
 
 The invasion of Attica by Castor and Pollux, for the 
 recovery of their sister, Helena, and an insurrection of the 
 Pallantidae, brought on Theseus the usual fate of all great 
 Athenians — exile. Oppressed by misfortunes, as well as 
 the ingratitude of his people, he banished himself from 
 Athens, uttering before he went on board the ship that 
 was to take him to a foreign country, the bitterest curses' 
 against the Athenians. The place where this occurred was 
 afterwards called the place of imprecations. 
 
 He retired to the isle of Scyros, where he hoped to 
 spend the rest of his days in quiet, but the treacherous 
 Lycomedes, who was king of the island, feared the ene- 
 mies of Theseus, and violated the sacred rites of hospitali- 
 ty. Under the pretext of showing his guest the island, he 
 conducted him to the summit of a steep rock, and hurled 
 him down unawares. 
 
 Long after his death, the Athenians built temples and 
 altars in honor of Theseus, and revering him as a demi- 
 god. brought offerings to his altars, and instituted festivals 
 
262 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 ; 
 
 to his memory. They also obtained his bones from the 
 island of Scyros, and interred them beneath the soil of 
 Attica. 
 
 CASTOR AND POLYDEUKES OR POLLUX. 
 
 (Ebalus, a king of Lacedaemon, 
 sprung from a scion of the old stem 
 of Inachos, was the father of Tyn- 
 dareos, who succeeded him in the 
 government. Tyndareos married 
 Leda, a daughter of Thestias, king 
 of iEtolia. 
 
 The beauty of Leda attracted the 
 eyes of Zeus ; and, descending from 
 his Olympian seat under the dis- 
 guise of a swan, he took refuge in 
 her lap, while Aphrodite was pursuing him in the shape of 
 an eagle. According to the common legend, Leda pro- 
 duced t^o eggs : from the one came Pollux and Helena, 
 children of Zeus; and from the other, Castor and Clytem- 
 nestra, children of Tyndareos. The former were immor- 
 tal, the latter mortal. 
 
 Notwithstanding their different descent, Castor and Pol- 
 lux were inseparable, loving one another as dear brothers 
 and friends. Both were valiant and glowed with heroic 
 fire, and both were skilled in every bodily exercise ; with 
 this difference only, that Castor was pre-eminent in the art 
 of riding and managing horses, and Pollux in wrestling. 
 
 They were contemporaries of the most renSwned heroes, 
 and accompanied the Argonauts in their expedition to 
 Colchis. On their way thither Pollux slew Amycus, a son 
 of Poseidon, in single combat. It was also in this voyage 
 that, in the midst of a dreadful storm, two flames were 
 seen hovering over the heads of Castor and Pollux, where- 
 upon the storm abated. In remembrance of this, when- 
 
CASTOR AND POLYDEUKES OR POLLUX. 263 
 
 ever fires appeared to seamen in boisterous weather, they 
 were called Castor and Pollux, and considered as a sure 
 sign of health and safety. Nay, the Dioscuri (or twin 
 sons of Zeus, under which name Castor and Pollux are 
 generally designated) were revered above all other deities 
 as benign beings, ever present to those who were in dan 
 ger, and ready to aid them — and were addressed in ever) 
 emergency, on land as well as at sea, by the prayers of such 
 as stood in need of assistance. 
 
 After their return from the expedition to Colchis, they 
 were informed that, during their absence, Theseus had 
 ravished their sister, Helena, and delivered her to the care 
 and custody of his mother, iEthra, in Aphidnse Castor 
 and Pollux conquered the city, delivered their sister, and 
 took with them the mother of Theseus as prisoner ; they, 
 however, committed no violence in the besieged city, or in 
 the whole territory of Attica. This forbearing benignity, 
 which attends the heroic deeds of the Dioscuri, is proba- 
 bly the chief reason why mortal men afterwards looked 
 up to them with truth and confidence, as to friendly-assist- 
 ing genii. 
 
 The fidelity, likewise, with which these inseparable bro- 
 thers assisted each other in dangers, rendered them an 
 object of love and veneration to mankind ; and their fra- 
 ternal friendship is indeed one of the most beautiful cir- 
 cumstances which fiction has interwoven into the records 
 of the splendid heroic age. 
 
 When Castor and Pollux sued for the daughters of 
 Leucippus, Phoebe and Ilaira, each of them was obliged to 
 win his bride by a combat with a rival — Castor with Lyn- 
 ceus, and Pollux with Idas, the sons of Aphareus. Castor, 
 being mortal, was conquered and slain by Lynceus. Al- 
 though Pollux avenged his brother’s death on Lynceus, 
 and fought with Idas also, until the latter was struck by 
 a thunderbolt from Jupiter, yet he could not awaken his 
 
2G4 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY 
 
 beloved brother from death. He then implored Jupiter 
 either to deprive him also of life, or allow his brother tc 
 share his immortality. Jupiter gave him his choice, and 
 Pollux descended one day to his brother, in the abode 
 of the shades, in order to enjoy life with him on the next, 
 under the light of the sky. 
 
 Human love and veneration often dedicated temples and 
 altars to the Dioscuri. Imagination frequently presented 
 them to mortals, when in imminent dangers ; they then 
 appeared in the form of two youths on white horses, ar- 
 rayed in shining armor, and bearing little flames or stars 
 upon their heads. And thus they were commonly repre- 
 sented in works of art, either riding side by side, or stand- 
 ing near together, their spears bent, the stars sparkling on 
 their heads, and each holding a horse by the bridle. The 
 egg shaped caps allude to the manner of their birth. 
 
 JASON. 
 
 Jason was a shoot of the heroic stem of JEolu's, but not 
 the son of a god ; and Juno, while she persecuted the sons 
 of Jupiter, took him under her especial protection. 
 
 iEolus, Deucalion’s grandson, who reigned in Thes- 
 saly, was the father of Salmoneus, Sisyphos, Athamas, 
 and Cretheus. Salmoneus was killed by Jupiter’s light- 
 nings ; Sisyphos atoned in the lower world, for the tyranni- 
 cal exercise of his power while on earth ; and Athamas 
 died in a state of madness. 
 
 Tyro, a daughter of Salmoneus, became the mother of 
 Pelias and Neleus, sons of Neptune. Afterwards marrying 
 her father’s brother, Cretheus, she gave him a son called 
 iEson, who succeeded his father on the throne, and was 
 the parent of Jason, the god like hero, whose mother’s 
 name was Alcimede. 
 
 iEson was dethroned by his brother Pelias, but was not 
 obliged to fly from the city of Iolcos, which was the seat 
 
JASON. 
 
 26 o 
 
 of the Thessalian kings. Of young Jason, however, Pelias 
 was anxious to rid himself ; considering him as a member 
 of the legitimate royal family who might become dangerous 
 to him. The parents of the child, iEson and Alcimede, 
 perceiving the intention of the tyrant, spread the rumor 
 that Jason was sick, and soon after, that he had died At 
 the same time, he was taken by his mother to Mount Pe- 
 lion, where the wise Centaur, Cheiron, well versed in every 
 science, devoted himself to the education of the young 
 hero, sheltering him in his lonely grotto. 
 
 When Jason had attained his growth, and manful cour- 
 age began to awaken in his breast, following the advice of 
 an oracle, he threw the skin of a panther over his shoul- 
 ders, armed himself with a couple of darts, and went to 
 the court of Pelias, at Iolcos. 
 
 Pelias had received an oracle, guarding him against a 
 person who would one day appear before him with only 
 one sandal, having the other foot bare. When Jason, on 
 his way to Iolcos, was going to pass the river Anauras, J uno 
 appeared to him in the shape of an old woman, and entreat- 
 ed him to carry her over the river. Jason readily complied 
 with the request, but on going with his burden through 
 the water, he lost one of his sandals in the mud, and thus 
 presented himself before the palace of Pelias. On per- 
 ceiving him, Pelias recollected, with consternation, the sen- 
 tence of the oracle. 
 
 When the stranger was required to tell who he was, Jason 
 demanded, before all the people, the royal crown which the 
 usurper had received from the head of his father, iEson. 
 “ The revenues of the kingdom,” added he, “ thou mayest 
 keep and enjoy, but of the supreme authority thou must 
 divest thyself.” 
 
 Pelias, being enabled, by this proposal, to penetrate the 
 soul of the young hero, did not doubt that for the present 
 he might avert the storm which was pending over his head ; 
 
266 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 and remove the lion, by offering as a bait, the enticing 
 charm of an extraordinary as well as a glorious enterprise. 
 He therefore feigned a willingness to restore the crown 
 to its rightful possessor, or his family, provided the manes 
 of Phrixos, another descendant of iEolus, who had found 
 an untimely death in Colchis, were propitiated, and that 
 golden fleece recovered which he had deposited there. 
 
 This Phrixos, who died in Colchis, was a son of Atha- 
 mas, and a grandson of JEolus. Athamas, king of Boeo 
 tia, had, by his first wife, Nephele, two children, Phrixos 
 and Helle ; but after Nephele’s death, Athamas married 
 Ino, a daughter of Cadmos, who persecuted these two 
 children, and even resolved to deprive them of life. The 
 shade of Nephele then appeared to her children, apprising 
 them of the danger they were in of becoming the victims 
 of Ino’s hatred, uuless they would seek safety in distant 
 flight ; and, for this purpose, a ram with a golden fleece 
 stood ready, which, at the command of the gods, would bear 
 them on his back over the land and through the sea. 
 
 Phrixos and Helle mounted the ram, which carried them 
 towards the east to the distant country of Colchis, where 
 JEetes reigned, whose father was the sun. But they were 
 not both destined to reach that country ; for, on their 
 journey, Helle fell from the back of the animal into the 
 sea, between Sigeon and the Chersonese, and was drowned. 
 This sea was named from her Hellespontos (Helle 1 s Sea), 
 and still retains its name. Her brother Phrixos arrived 
 safely in Colchis, where he sacrificed to Zeus Phyxios the 
 ram which had borne him thither, and, as a holy token, 
 suspended the skin, or golden fleece, in a grove sacred to 
 Ares. He then married the daughter of iEetes, but soon 
 died in a foreign land. 
 
 The report of the golden fleece which had spread over 
 the earth, had for a long time excited the desire of every 
 one who wished to obtain something particularly excellent 
 
JASON. 
 
 267 
 
 It was in the distant east, what the golden apples of the 
 Hesperides were in the west — a treasure worthy of the 
 greatest toils, pains, and perils. The image of the ram, 
 and its richly covered skin generally implies, with the an- 
 cients, the idea of wealth ; and this probably gave rise to 
 the fiction of the golden fleece, involving the ideas of riches 
 and treasures, as well as the means of gaining them. 
 
 The miraculous which was intermingled with the tales of 
 the golden fleece, and the adventures that were connected 
 with an expedition to a far distant land, were most alluring 
 calls on the heroes of yore, for a trial of courage, as well 
 as of fortune. No sooner did the words of Pelias touch 
 the ear of Jason, than his ardor was excited to perform 
 the glorious deed ; and, pledging his word to bring the 
 treasure, or never to return, he invited the most renowned 
 heroes of Greece to embark with him in the bold adventure. 
 
 For making the voyage to Colchis, a ship was built of 
 pines cut from Mount Pelion, which, although larger than 
 any other previously constructed, moved lightly and easily, 
 and was therefore called the Argo [swift- sailing). From 
 her name, those who embarked in her were, called Argo- 
 nauts. 
 
 The mast of the Argo was taken from the forest of 
 Dodona, where the oaks were endowed with the power of 
 making predictions ; therefore, the ship was regarded as an 
 animated being, in concord with Fate, to which a man might 
 commit himself with confidence. Among the number of 
 heroes who accompanied Jason, the following names are 
 most conspicuous : Heracles, the son of Zeus ; Castor and 
 Pollux, the Dioscuri ; Calais and Zetes, sons of Boreas ; 
 Peleus, the father of Achilleus ; Admetos, the husband of 
 Alceste ; Neleus, the father of Nestor ; Meleagros, the Ca- 
 lydonian ; Orpheus, the divine bard of Thrace ; Telamon, 
 the father of Ajax; Menoetius, the father of Patroclos; 
 
268 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 Lynceus, the son of Aphareus ; Theseus, the Athenian, 
 and his friend Pirithoos, the Lapithsean. 
 
 The fathers of the most renowned heroes who shone in 
 the Trojan war, were still in youthful vigor at the time of 
 the voyage to Colchis. A race of heroes, they advance 
 with their united force to recover a precious treasure ; 
 afterwards, a second race unites to avenge the robbery of 
 beauty by the destruction of Troy. 
 
 When the heroes were all assembled, fifty in number, 
 the auguries being favorable, Jason, standing at the poop, 
 poured a libation from a golden cup, and called on Zeus, 
 the Winds, the Sea. the Bays, the Nights, and the Fate 
 presiding over their return. Thunder then rolled in the 
 clouds, lightnings flashed through the sky ; Orpheus 
 struck his lyre in concert with his voice, and the joyful 
 heroes, each grasping an oar, kept time to his harmony. 
 The gods looked down from the sky, the nymphs of Pelion 
 gazed in wonder at this first of ships, and Cheiron, leaving 
 his mountain cave, cheered them, and prayed for their 
 happy return. The piercing eye of Lynceus penetrated 
 the most distant regions, and the experienced pilot, Tiphys, 
 managed the helm with skilful hands. For a time all things 
 went on successfully; when suddenly a dreadful storm 
 befel the adventurers, and forced them to seek refuge in 
 the harbor of Lemnos. 
 
 It is a remarkable circumstance, that while the heroes 
 were struggling against the raging elements, several of 
 them made a vow to consecrate themselves, by becoming 
 initiated in the Samothracian mysteries ; just as Heracles, 
 when about to engage in the most dangerous enterprise, 
 was first initiated into those of Eleusis. 
 
 At Lemnos, a greater danger threatened the Argonauts 
 than that caused by the storm which drove them thither; 
 for the charms of the Lemnian women kept the heroes in 
 
JASON. 
 
 269 
 
 bonds, protracting, for some time, the progress of their voy- 
 age to Colchis. 
 
 Not long before the arrival of the Argonauts at Lemnos, 
 the female inhabitants had murdered all the males of the 
 island, except king Thoas, who was secreted by his daugh- 
 ter Hypsipyle. The anger of Venus, whom the Lemnian 
 women had not sufficiently honored, was the occasion of 
 this atrocious deed. For the goddess infused into the men 
 of Lemnos, who were at that time warring against the 
 Thracians, an invincible dislike to their wives, and, at the 
 same time, a preference for the female slaves who had be- 
 come their prisoners in the Thracian war. Such an insult 
 the women of Lemnos could not bear ; they conspired, rose 
 hi one night upon their sleeping husbands, fathers, and 
 brothers, and murdered them all. Those who conducted 
 the war in Thrace were saved by their absence. 
 
 When the Argonauts were landing at Lemnos, they were 
 at first opposed by the women, who mistook them for the 
 Lemnians returning from Thrace to avenge the death of 
 their fellow-citizens. But as soon as they perceived their 
 error, they received the strangers with hospitality, who 
 remained on the island two years. 
 
 From Lemnos the heroes sailed to Samothrace, where 
 they were inspired with new courage by their initiation 
 into the mysteries. On landing near Troas, they were 
 abandoned by Heracles, who with Telamon went into the 
 country in search of Hylas. In the city of Oyzicus, on the 
 descent of Mount Dindymus, where the Argonauts next 
 landed, they were hospitably received by the king, who 
 bore the same name as his city, and who dismissed them 
 with presents. But the night after their departure, when 
 the ship was forced back into the harbor by a storm, king 
 Oyzicus mistook the heroes for enemies and attacked them 
 in a hostile manner. In this fight, Jason had the misfor- 
 tune to kill his kind and friendly host. To atone for this 
 
270 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 deed, although unintentional, he brought offerings on 
 Mount Dindymus to the mother of the gods, and built & 
 temple there to her honor. The Argonauts then pro- 
 ceeded on their course, and steering always towards the 
 east, arrived in Bebrycia, where the royal crown was worn 
 by Amycus, who challenged every stranger to fight him 
 with clubs, and who was at last vanquished and slain in a 
 combat with Pollux. 
 
 On their further course, the bold navigators were driven 
 near the coast of Thrace by a storm, and compelled tc 
 enter the harbor of Salmydessus, where the prophesying 
 Phineus reigned, whom the immortals had punished with 
 blindness. To complete his misery, he was perpetually 
 vexed by the daughters of Thaumas, the direful Harpies. 
 Phineus had delivered up his two sons, the children of 
 his first wife, a daughter of Boreas, to the hatred of their 
 stepmother, Idaca, and at her calumnious instigation, had 
 even deprived them of sight ; — a crime which he was 
 obliged to expiate by his own blindness, while the Harpies, 
 those ghastly birds of prey, with maiden faces, seized 
 upon his food, or ruined and defiled whatever he was about 
 to partake. Phineus was deprived of the external light, 
 but with his mental vision anticipated the future, and gave 
 to the Argonauts prudent advice concerning their further 
 voyage ; and also furnished them with a guide to lead them 
 through the Cyanean rocks, or Symplegades, the danger- 
 ous passage of which now awaited the bold navigators. 
 Grateful for these services, the winged sons of Boreas, Ca- 
 lais and Zetes, by their swords affrighted the Harpies from 
 Phineus’ table, pursuing them as far as the Strophades, 
 where, at the command of the gods, they stopped their pur- 
 suit, and returned to their companions. From this re- 
 turn, those islands derived their name. 
 
 The Cyaneae, or Symplegades, through which the Argo 
 nauts were obliged to sail, were two immense rocks, im 
 
JASON. 
 
 271 
 
 mediately opposite each other, at, the entrance into the 
 Black Sea ; and which seemed, according to the different 
 directions in which they were approached, to open and then 
 again to close. This phenomenon gave rise to the ancient 
 fiction, that the rocks really opened and closed like a pair 
 of scissors, crushing every thing that happened to pass be- 
 tween them as they were moving together. Quite natural, 
 therefore, is the subsequent fiction, after the Argonauts 
 had successfully ventured on the passage, and the optical 
 illusion was thus discovered, that Neptune had made the 
 rocks immovable. 
 
 After having safely passed the Symplegades, the heroes 
 next landed in the territory of Lycus, who, being by birth 
 a Greek, gladly received the strangers from his native land. 
 Here the pilot Tiphys died, and his place was succeeded 
 by Ancaeus ; and the sacred Argo, after having long sus- 
 tained the beating of the briny flood, and experienced 
 many a storm, was at last happily conducted into the long- 
 ed for harbor of Colchis. It was here, however, that the 
 greatest danger awaited Jason, the leader of the expedi- 
 tion ; a danger which could hardly be avoided without 
 divine assistance. King iEetes received the strangers, not 
 in a hostile or even unfriendly manner ; but he prescribed 
 to Jason, who demanded the restitution of the golden 
 fleece, such conditions as he thought could not be complied 
 with ; for to the dangers which he had planned, the most 
 undaunted hero must necessarily succumb. 
 
 In order to gain the golden fleece, Jason was, in the 
 first place, to put two fire-exhaling bulls, sacred to He- 
 phaestos, to an adamantine ploughshare, and to break up 
 with them four acres of land, sacred to Ares, and which 
 had never before been ploughed. Then he was to sow 
 the dragon-teeth of Cadmos, which yet remained in the 
 possession of zEetes, in the newly-ploughed furrows, and 
 the armed warriors who would immediately arise from the 
 
272 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 dreadful seed, he must kill to the last man. This done, 
 he was at last to fight with, and conquer the dragon that 
 guarded the golden fleece. 
 
 Medeia, a daughter of iEetes, skilled in charms and 
 witchcraft, had scarcely beheld Jason, when, through the 
 influence and disposal of the gods, a tender affection for 
 the hero was raised in her bosom, which soon kindled to 
 a flame of the most violent passion. 
 
 Jason went to the temple of Hecate to supplicate the 
 mighty goddess, where he was met by Medeia. She dis- 
 closed her love to him, at the same time promising her as- 
 sistance in the dangers which threatened him, and her pow- 
 erful help in accomplishing his glorious undertaking, pro- 
 vided he would swear fidelity to her. Jason complied, and 
 Medeia, reciprocating the oath, rendered the hero invinci- 
 ble by means of her magical incantations. She gave him 
 a stone which he was to cast among the warriors, that 
 would spring up from the dragon-teeth, and also herbs, and 
 a potion for lulling to sleep the dragon that guarded the 
 golden fleece. 
 
 On the following day, Jason, surrounded by his com- 
 panions, appeared on the field of Ares in the presence of 
 the king and a multitude of people ; the fire-breathing bulls 
 were about to be set free, and the hearts of the assembled 
 multitude were chilled with awe and expectation ; a deadly 
 silence reigned, and all eyes were anxiously turned upon 
 the hero, who alone quietly expected his fire-vomiting foes. 
 Fierce and snorting, the bulls rushed upon him; but tho 
 powerful charm with which Medeia had armed him, sud- 
 denly made them tame and obedient ; without resistance 
 they bent their necks under the yoke, suffering J ason to 
 put them to the plough, and quietly made the furrows into 
 which he sowed the dragon-teeth. No sooner were they 
 scattered, than a harvest of armed warriors sprang from 
 the ground, all of them turning their swords against Jason. 
 
JASON. 
 
 273 
 
 The hero then following the directions received by Medeia, 
 flung the enchanted pebble, which she had given him for 
 that purpose, into the midst of the thronged crowd of his 
 enemies : this stone had the power of troubling their senses 
 as well as hardening their hearts, causing them to rise furi- 
 ously against one another, until the ground from which 
 they had just sprung, was covered with their slain bodies. 
 
 Before the king and people could recover from the 
 amazement into which this spectacle had thrown them, 
 Jason was. already hastening towards the grim guardian 
 of the fleece, to lull him to sleep. He succeeded, and after- 
 wards killed the monster, and triumphantly held in his 
 hand the golden fleece. The conqueror then returned 
 with his companions to the ship ; and Medeia, leaving in 
 nightly silence the house of her father, followed her lover, 
 and went on board the Argo, which immediately set sail. 
 
 iEetes, soon roused by the discovered flight of his daugh- 
 ter, went himself with his ships in pursuit of the swift- 
 sailing Argo. Near the mouth of the Danube, Medeia de- 
 scried the sails of her father, and to save herself as well 
 as her lover from the impending danger, she adopted a 
 measure both cruel and desperate. She had taken her 
 little brother Absyrtus, as a kind of hostage, and in the 
 present emergency, seeing no other means of safety, she 
 killed, and cut him in pieces, planting his head and hands 
 upon a high rock, and scattering the rest of his members 
 upon the shore, with the view of retarding her father’s pur- 
 suit, or of inducing him to desist from it altogether. In 
 order to mark this horrible deed in all times to come, sev- 
 eral small islands in that region were afterwards called 
 Absyrtides. 
 
 Medeia’s expectation was realized. Her father, first 
 retarded by collecting together the remains of his unfor- 
 tunate son, afterwards desisted entirely from pursuit, and 
 the Argonauts quietly proceeded on their voyage. Having 
 12 * 
 
274 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 received advice from Phineus not to return to their native 
 land by the same course which they had pursued in com 
 ing to Colchis, they sailed up the Danube ; “ and when 
 they could ascend the river no farther, the strong heroes,” 
 says the fiction, “ took up their lightly-built vessel on their 
 shoulders, carrying her for the space of four miles over 
 hills and dales, as far as the Adriatic gulf” But here, 
 when they were about to embark again, the following oracle 
 was heard to issue from the mast of the Argo : “ You are 
 not destined to reach your home until Jason and Medeia 
 are absolved from the murder of Absyrtus, after having 
 atoned for their crime by a penalty imposed on them.” 
 
 With a view to this atonement, the Argonauts entered 
 the port of iEaea, the abode of Circe, a daughter of the 
 sun, and sister of iEetes. She, however, refused to absolve 
 Jason and Medeia, by presenting the usual offerings to the 
 offended immortals, and by imposing a penalty on the crimi- 
 nals ; but announced to them, that they could not blot out 
 their guilt until they had reached the promontory of 
 Malea. 
 
 Thence the bold navigators steered towards the danger- 
 ous straits of Scylla and Charybdis, which they passed 
 under the guidance of Hera. By the persuasion of Or- 
 pheus, they escaped the danger which threatened them 
 from the Sirens, and happily reached the island of the 
 Phaeacians, where, however, they met with an unexpected 
 enemy. After the funeral obsequies of Absyrtus had been 
 properly celebrated, the Colchian fleet, which had desisted 
 from its pursuit at the mouth of the Danube, took another 
 way to intercept the fugitives ; and here, at the island of 
 the Phaeacians, it was stationed to watch for them. The 
 anger of the Colchians against Medeia, as well as the Ar- 
 gonauts. having in the mean time somewhat abated, they 
 demanded no other restitution than the person of Medeia, 
 provided she had not yet been married to Jason. She 
 
JASON. 
 
 275 
 
 had not yet been made the wife of Jason, but the king of 
 the Phseaciaus immediately procured a private celebration 
 of the matrimonial rites, announcing to the Colchians, on 
 the following day, that his guests, Jason and Medeia, were 
 lawfully married ; whereupon the former, satisfied with the 
 answer, spread their sails to the wind and steered for 
 Colchis. 
 
 The Argonauts, after having taken leave of their friend- 
 ly host, the king of the Phaeacians, endeavored to reach the 
 promontory of Malea, when suddenly a storm cast them on 
 the Libyan Syrtes, where the vessel would have been lost 
 but for the appearance of a Triton, who, for the reward of 
 a precious tripod which Jason carried with him in the 
 ship, promised the heroes to show them the only course by 
 which they could escape. After having received the tri- 
 pod, at the sight of which he was highly delighted, the Tri- 
 ton kept his word, and conducted the Argo in safety out 
 of the surrounding S} 7 rtes. Moreover, he presented Euphe- 
 mos, one of the Argonauts, with a clod of earth, as a pledge 
 that his descendants should reign in Libya. This pledge 
 was afterwards redeemed. 
 
 Argo at last reached the longed-for promontory of Ma- 
 lea, where Jason and Medeia, after having brought rich 
 offerings to the immortal gods, obtained absolution of their 
 crime committed against Absyrtus. They were now, ac- 
 cording to the oracle which they had received from the 
 oak of Dodona, as well as the promise of Circe, permitted 
 to expect soon to reach their native port. And, indeed, 
 without meeting any farther accidents, the Argonauts soon 
 after entered the harbor of Iolcos. The good ship Argo 
 was devoted by Jason to Poseidon, on the isthmus of Cor- 
 inth, from whence fiction afterwards transported her to the 
 vaults of the sky, where she shines as a glittering constel- 
 lation. 
 
 The golden fleece was now gained ; but the purpose for 
 
276 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 which alone Jason had exposed himself, as well as his 
 friends, to every imaginable danger, was frustrated ; his 
 father, iEson, having in the mean while become a de- 
 crepid, childish old man, unable to reign, or to enjoy the 
 glorious feats of his son. 
 
 The first request, therefore, which Jason made to Me- 
 deia, was, to use her magic powers to renew, if possible, the 
 mental as well as physical abilities of bis father. Medeia, 
 complying with her husband’s request, infused a new juice 
 of life, prepared of secret herbs, into the veins of the old 
 man, so as to make him sensible of the return of his gay 
 youth and the renewed strength of life. The daughters 
 of Pelias deprived their father of life in imitating the 
 work of Medeia, so that ^Eson now reigned undisturbed 
 sole king of Iolcos. 
 
 Jason, with Medeia, then went to Corinth, formerly 
 called Ephyra, where iEetes had reigned before going to 
 the fertile Colchis. Medeia took possession of the gov- 
 ernment for her husband, and they lived there quietly 
 during ten years. Behind this calm of peaceful life, how- 
 ever, a dreadful storm was lurking, which threatened Jason 
 with a tragical fate, as was the case also with Heracles, 
 Perseus and Bellerophontes. 
 
 Weary of Medeia, whom he alwaj^s seems to have secret- 
 ly despised, he was about to marry Creon’s royal daughter, 
 unmindful of the revenge of despised jealousy or disre- 
 garded faith. Medeia feigned patience and mildness, en- 
 during with apparent resignation what she could not pre- 
 vent : she even sent to the bride a costly wedding gar- 
 ment. But scarcely had the latter made use of the dan c er- 
 ous present, than she suddenly felt a consuming fire raging 
 through her body, which produced an agonizing death. 
 Medeia, giving full scope to revenge, rained fire~upon Cre- 
 on’s palace, which consumed the king himself, murdered 
 her two children, and then hastened through the air in her 
 
MELEAGROS OR MELEAGER. 
 
 277 
 
 chariot drawn by two dragons, leaving Jason to grief and 
 aespair, which embittered the remainder of his days. 
 
 MELEAGROS OR MELEAGER. 
 
 GEneus, who reigned in Calydon, was the father of re- 
 nowned children ; of Deianeira, the wife of Heracles ; of 
 Meleagros and Tydeus, whose valorous son, Diomedes, en- ^ 
 gaged with the gods themselves in dangerous combat dur-l 
 ing the siege of Troy. (Eneus had the misfortune to draw 
 the wrath of Artemis upon himself as well as his country, 
 by having forgotten her divine personage, while he brought 
 thank-offerings to all the other deities, for the thriving 
 growth of the fruits of the field. 
 
 To punish him and his subjects for this offence, the god- 
 dess of the forest sent a monstrous boar into the Calydo- 
 nian land, which wasted the fields, and threatened death and 
 ruin to the inhabitants of the surrounding country. CEne- 
 us, anxious to subdue this monster, desired the assistance 
 of the strongest, both in his own territories and those be- 
 yond them. Thus the chase of Diana’s Boar again united 
 the flower of the Greek heroes. 
 
 To hunt the Calydonian Boar, some of those heroes 
 again assembled who had shared the dangers of the voyage 
 to Colchis. The most renowned of the Argonauts who as- 
 sisted Meleagros in this hunt, were Jason, Castor and Pol- 
 lux, Idas and Lynceus, Peleus, Telamon, Admetos, Piri- 
 thoos, and Theseus. To this noble troop, the brothers 
 of Althaea, the wife of (Eneus, and daughter of Thestius 
 who reigned in Pleuron, and Atalanta, the daughter of 
 Schoeneus, associated themselves. Atalanta, like Diana, 
 had devoted herself to a state of virginity, and, like her 
 was a lover of the chase. 
 
 Atalanta first wounded the boar with her arrow ; Me- 
 leager then cut off the head of the monster, and presented 
 it to her as the deserved price of victory. The brothers 
 
278 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 of Althaea were offended by this preference given to a 
 woman, and disputing the prize, took it from Atalanta. 
 Diana setting no bounds to her wrath, kindled the spark 
 of anger between Meleager and the sons of Thestius into 
 a flame, that burst out in a bloody fight, and gave to the 
 Calydonian chase a tragical termination. 
 
 Meleager, in the fray, killed the two brothers of his mo- 
 ther, who, beholding the bodies of the slain, swore to 
 avenge their death, even on her own son An easy, too 
 easy means of vengeance was in her power ; for on the birth- 
 day of Meleager, the Fates had placed a piece of wood on 
 the hearth near the fire, with the hint that Althaea’s new- 
 born son should live as long as that piece of wood remained 
 unconsumed. Althaea had preserved the fatal billet as a 
 precious treasure, until the moment when she was pro- 
 voked to anger by the death of her brothers. Then, seiz- 
 ing it in her passion, she threw it into the blazing fire. As 
 it was gradually consuming to ashes, Meleager felt his body 
 withering away, and the marrow of his bones drying up, 
 until he died in convulsive agony. Scarcely had Althaea 
 heard the cruel result of what she had done, than repent- 
 ing the deed, she put a period to her own life. 
 
 CADMOS. 
 
 Poseidon, says the legend, was by Libya the father of two 
 sons, Belos and Agenor ; the former reigned in Egypt, and 
 the latter, having gone to Europe, married Telephassa, by 
 whom he had three sons, Cadmos, Phoenix, and Cilix, and 
 one daughter, Europa. Zeus, becoming enamored of Eu- 
 ropa, carried her away to Crete ; and Agenor, grieved for 
 the loss of his only daughter, ordered his sons to go in 
 search of her, and not to return until they had found her. 
 They went, accompanied by their mother, and by Thasos, a 
 son of Poseidon. Their long search was to no purpose, for 
 they could obtain no intelligence of their sister ; and fear* 
 
CADMOS. 
 
 279 
 
 mg the indignation of their father if they returned with- 
 out her, they resolved to settle themselves in various coun- 
 tries. Phoenix therefore established himself in Phoenicia, 
 and Cilix in Cilicia; Cadmos and his mother went to 
 Thrace, where Thasos founded a town, calling it .after him 
 self. 
 
 After the death of his mother, Cadmos went to Delphi 
 for the purpose of consulting the oracle about Europa. 
 The answer was, to cease from troubling himself about her, 
 but to follow a cow as his guide, and to build a city where 
 she should lie down. On leaving the temple, he went 
 through Pbocis, and meeting a cow belonging to the herds 
 of Pelagon, he followed her through .Boeotia till she came 
 to where Thebes now stands, where she laid herself down. 
 Wishing to sacrifice her to Athena, Cadmos sent his com- 
 panions to the fount of Ares for water ; but the serpent 
 that guarded the fount killed a greater part of them. 
 Cadmos then fought the serpent and destroyed it ; by the 
 direction of Athena he sowed its teeth, and immediately 
 a crop of armed men sprang up, who slew each other, 
 either quarrelling or through ignorance ; for it is said 
 that when Cadmos saw them rising, he flung stones at them ; 
 and thinking it was done by some one of their number, 
 they fell upon and slew each other. Five only survived ; 
 and they joined with Cadmos to build the city of Thebes. 
 
 For killing the sacred serpent, Cadmos was obliged to 
 spend a year in servitude to Ares. At the expiration of 
 that period, Athena herself prepared a palace for him, and 
 Zeus gave him Harmonia, the daughter of Ares and Aphro- 
 dite. All the gods assembled in Cadmeia, the palace of 
 Cadmos, to celebrate the marriage. The bridegroom pre- 
 sented his bride with a magnificent robe, and a collar, the 
 work of ITephmstos, and said to be the gift of the divine 
 artist himself. 
 
 Cadmos endeavored to civilize the people whom he had 
 
280 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 gathered around him, and to whom he is said first to have 
 communicated letters, brought by him from Phoenicia. The 
 date given for the settlement of this colony is B. 0. 1550. 
 
 The offspring of Cadmos and Harmonia, who is some- 
 times called Harmione, were Ino, Agaiie, Autonoe, Semele, 
 and a son named Polydoros. All these children were per- 
 secuted by an inimical fate, or the hatred of Hera, which 
 rested upon their father’s house. Semele, the mother of 
 Bacchos, was consumed by Zeus’ lightnings. Agaiie mar- 
 ried Echion, one of those five warriors who had arisen from 
 the dragon teeth. She became the mother of Pentheus, 
 who opposed the worship of Bacchos, and was torn in 
 pieces by his own mother, and the other votaries of the god. 
 Ino was persecuted by the wrath of Hera, because she had 
 taken care of young Bacchos. She was married to Atha- 
 mas, who, seized by a sudden fury, dashed their first son, 
 Zearchus, against a rock, and then pursued the hapless 
 mother, who fled with her younger son, Melicertes, to the 
 very verge of a rock on the shore. Ino, with her son in 
 her arms, flung herself down, and both were henceforth 
 numbered among the deities of the sea ; Ino under the 
 name of Leucothea, and Melicertes under that of Palaemon. 
 Both were worshipped as benign beings, who assist seafar- 
 ing people in the dangers of their element. Autonoe, the 
 fourth daughter of Cadmos, married Aristaeos, son of Apol- 
 lo and king of Arcadia. He was said first to have taught 
 man how to manage bees and raise honey, as well as to use 
 the milk of animals. Autonoe became the mother of Acti- 
 on, who was punished for the crime of beholding Diana 
 when bathing. 
 
 After the various misfortunes which befel their chil- 
 dren, Thebes became odious to Cadmos and his wife, and 
 they migrated to the country of the Enchelians ; who, being 
 harassed by the incursions of the Illyrians, were told by 
 the craole, that if they made Cadmos and Harmonia their 
 
CADMOS. 
 
 281 
 
 leaders, the}^ would be successful. They obeyed the god, 
 and the prediction was verified. Cadmos became king of 
 the Illyrians, and had a son named Illyrios. 
 
 Cadmos lived with Harmonia to his latest years ; and 
 in order to ascribe to them a kind of immortality, fiction 
 suffers them at last to be transformed into serpents, and 
 sent by Zeus to the Elysian Plain ; or, as some say, they 
 were conveyed thither in a chariot drawn by serpents. 
 
 When Cadmos left Thebes, he placed his son Polydo- 
 ros upon the throne. Labdacos, the son of Polydoros, mar- 
 ried Nicteis, the daughter of Nycteus, and became the 
 father of La'ios. At the time of his father’s death, Laioa 
 was a minor, and therefore his uncle Lycos reigned in his 
 place over Thebes. 
 
 Antiope, another daughter of Nycteus, beloved by Zeus, 
 and rejected by her father, fled to Epopeus, king of Sicyon, 
 who married her. But Lycos, having given to the dying 
 Nycteus a solemn promise to avenge him on his daughter, 
 killed Epopeus, and carried Antiope prisoner to Thebes, 
 where he prepared for her the most cruel treatment, by 
 committing her to his wife, Dirce. 
 
 Antiope had borne Jupiter two sons, Amphion and Ze- 
 thos, who were brought up secretly. As soon as she found 
 means to escape, she hastened to her sons, bidding them 
 avenge the injury of their mother. Amphion and Zethos 
 immediately invaded Thebes, slew Lycos, expelled Laios, 
 and fastened Dirce, by whom their mother had been so 
 cruelly treated, to the horns of a wild bull, thus devoting 
 her to a painful death. 
 
 Amphion then built the walls of Thebes, with their seven 
 gates ; and the persuasive eloquence with which he pre- 
 vailed on the rude inhabitants to assist him in this under- 
 taking, has been veiled by fiction in the fable, that he 
 moved the stones by the notes of his lyre, so that they vol 
 
282 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 untarily united, and formed themselves into walls and tur- 
 rets. 
 
 After the death of Amphion and Zethos, the Thebans 
 invited the expelled Laios to take charge of the govern- 
 ment, which belonged to him by hereditary right. He re- 
 turned and married Jocasta, a Theban princess. 
 
 GEDIPUS. 
 
 It had been predicted to Laios that he should have a son 
 who would be the murderer of his father. Therefore, when 
 Jocasta became the mother of a son, Laios ordered the 
 child to be exposed in a wild desert. The servant who 
 was intrusted with this commission, perforated the ankles 
 of the child, in order to recognize it, if it should ever ap- 
 pear. In this condition it was found by Phorbas, the over- 
 seer of the herds of king Polybos, who reigned in Corinth. 
 The latter, to whom Phorbas delivered the hapless infant, 
 adopted it, and from its swollen feet, gave it the name of 
 (Edipus. 
 
 The foster-parents of (Edipus kept his descent carefully 
 concealed from him, so that until he approached to man- 
 hood, he believed them to be his real parents. But some 
 doubts having been raised in his mind as to his birth, he 
 resolved to inquire at the oracle of Apollo. The oracle, 
 leaving the question of his descent untouched, confined 
 itself to the warning never to return to his native country, 
 because he would there slay his own father, and marry his 
 own mother. 
 
 To escape a fate so horrible, (Edipus voluntarily ban- 
 ished himself from Corinth, which he supposed to be his 
 uative land, and took his way towards Thebes. Thus went 
 the hapless youth directly to meet that doom of fate which 
 he intended to avoid. For on his journey he encountered 
 his father, Laios, in a narrow pass, accompanied only by 
 his herald. Polyphonies. (Edipus was ordered to give 
 
CEDIPUS. 
 
 283 
 
 way; and upon his refusal, the herald killed one of his 
 horses, which so exasperated him, that he slew the king 
 and Polyphontes. He was unconscious of having killed 
 his own father, but he thus made true a part of the oracle 
 which he had received at Delphi. 
 
 Upon his arrival at Thebes, (Edipus found the Sphinx in 
 its vicinity ; a monster in the shape of a lion, with the head 
 of a maiden, the progeny of Echidna, and sent by Juno 
 to terrify the inhabitants of the city and surrounding 
 country. The monster, lying on a steep rock, proposed 
 this riddle to all who passed by : u What animal is it that 
 goes in the morning upon four feet, at noon upon two, and 
 in the evening upon three?” Every one who was unable to 
 interpret this riddle, was hurled into the abyss by the 
 Sphinx, and hundreds had already perished in this way 
 ere (Edipus arrived. He came and explained the riddle. 
 ^ Man,” said he, “ as a child, in the morning of life, creeps 
 upon hands and feet ; at the noon-tide of life, when strength 
 dwells in his members, he goes upright on two feet ; and 
 in the evening, when old age has stolen upon him, he needs 
 a staff for his support, and goes, as it were, upon three feet.” 
 
 (Edipus had scarcely spoken the last words, when the 
 Sphinx flung herself down from the rock ; or, according to 
 another fiction, she was killed by (Edipus. 
 
 Lai'os was dead, and in order to get rid of the monster 
 that desolated the country, the Thebans had promised his 
 widow, together with the throne of Thebes, to the man who 
 should be able to unriddle the enigma of the Sphinx. To 
 (Edipus this apparent fortune, envied by many, was des* 
 tined, and thus was the second part of the oracle fulfilled 
 without mercy ; for in taking Jocasta, the queen of Thebes, 
 for his wife, he ignorantly married his mother, after hav- 
 ing slain his father. His hard and unfriendly fate, having 
 drawn a veil over all these horrors, granted him yet for a 
 short time the enjoyment of life. (Edipus and Jocasta 
 
284 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 had two sons, Eteocles and Polyneices. and two daughters, 
 Antigone and Ismene ; their wretched father being as igno- 
 rant of his own fate, as of the future destiny of his chil- 
 dren. 
 
 Yet the days of this happy ignorance drew to an end. 
 A wasting pestilence spread itself over Thebes. (Edipus 
 himself proposed to ask the oracle whether any man had 
 drawn down the wrath of the gods by secret crimes, and 
 whether the whole land was suffering for the misdeeds of 
 an individual. His advice was followed, and the dreadful 
 sentence fell upon himself. He determined not to cease 
 investigating until he should succeed in bringing the truth 
 to light, or in setting the calumny to rest ; but with every 
 inquiry, the horrible story developed itself with additional 
 evidence. 
 
 When, at length, every doubt had vanished, and (Edipus, 
 with dreadful certainty, had found himself guilty of the 
 worst crimes, no longer able to bear the light of day, he 
 blinded himself. Thus deprived of his eyes, he wandered 
 until death in foreign lands, led by the hand of his daugh 
 ter, Antigone. The unfortunate Jocasta strangled herself. 
 
 Eteocles and Polyneices succeeded their father in the 
 government, with this arrangement : that each of them 
 should enjoy, by turns, the supreme power, every other 
 year. But neither could they escape that hostile destiny 
 which hung over Thebes, and the house of Cadmos. 
 
 ETEOCLES AND POLYNEICES. 
 
 These two brothers became victims of their own dis- 
 cord, arising from envy, and the desire of despotic power 
 Eteocles first entered upon the government ; but when his 
 year had expired, he refused to cede the royal authority 
 to Polyneices for the succeeding year. 
 
 Upon this, Polyneices left Thebes, retiring to Adrastos 
 the ruler of Argos, who kindly received him, gave him his 
 
THE THEBAN WAR. 
 
 285 
 
 daughter in marriage, and promised to defend his claim to 
 the Theban throne to the utmost of his ability. Tydeus 
 also, the son of (Eneus, and brother to Meleager, came 
 at that time as a fugitive to Adrastos, and to him the 
 king of Argos married his second daughter. 
 
 The first step taken by Adrastos, in order to secure for 
 his son-in-law the portion of authority that was due to 
 him in Thebes, was to send Tydeus to Eteocles, that he 
 might prevail on the usurper to share with his brother the 
 throne of their common father. But before he could 
 reach Thebes, Tydeus was treacherously attacked by armed 
 men, who, at the command of Eteocles, lay in wait for him ; 
 and he returned to Argos, after narrowly escaping with 
 his life. Upon relating this treachery, Adrastos immedi- 
 ately prepared war against Eteocles. 
 
 THE THEBAN WAR. 
 
 Adrastos and his two sons-in-law, Tydeus and Polynei- 
 ces, united in the expedition against Thebes, in which sev- 
 eral other heroes were eager to share with them the danger 
 and the glory. The valiant Capaneus of Messene joined 
 them, and Hippomedon, a son of Adrastos 5 sister ; also Par- 
 thenopseos, a handsome and brave youth from Arcadia, the 
 son of Melanion and Atalanta. 
 
 Amphiaraos, the husband of Eriphyle, sister of Adras- 
 tos, could not, for a long time, be prevailed upon to take 
 part in the enterprise, because, anticipating the future, his 
 mind foreboded not only the misfortune that awaited the 
 besiegers of Thebes, but also his own inevitable death. 
 He therefore retired to a private place, where he con- 
 cealed himself from Adrastos and Polyneices, until his 
 wife, bribed by the latter with a costly necklace, discov- 
 ered his hiding-place, and thus Amphiaraos was obliged 
 to embark in the enterprise against his will. 
 
 The leaders in this expedition were seven in number : 
 
286 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 Adrastos, Polyneices, Tydeus, Amphiaraos, Capaneus, Par 
 thenopseos, and Hippomedon. 
 
 On their way to Thebes they met with an accident, 
 which involved unfavorable auspices. Hypsipyle, whose 
 name has already been mentioned in the history of the 
 Argonauts, was compelled, after the departure of Jason 
 and his companions from Lemnos, to leave her home, be- 
 cause she had spared the life of her father, Thoas. At the 
 sea-shore, whither she had fled and where she was wan- 
 dering, she fell into the hands of pirates, who sold her as 
 a slave to Lycurgos, king of Nemea, and there she was em- 
 ployed as nurse to the king’s infant son, Opheltes. 
 
 At that time the seven heroes, with their army, were 
 passing through the dominions of Lycurgos, and found the 
 royal daughter of Thoas with her little nursling in a wood. 
 Hastening to point out a fountain to the Greeks, who were 
 suffering from thirst, she left the little Opheltes alone on 
 the turf ; she returned again to the child, who, in the mean 
 time, had been killed by a snake. The Greeks were con- 
 founded at this accident, but celebrated the funeral of the 
 child in a splendid manner, and, under the name of Arche- 
 morus, instituted sacred games in his honor, which were 
 afterwards periodically repeated at Nemea. 
 
 Having completed these funeral rites, the heroes pro- 
 ceeded on their way, and arrived under the walls of Thebes. 
 Here the seven leaders distributed their army around the 
 seven gates, so that one was to be blocked by each of the 
 heroes with his troop, and thus take the city, if possible, by 
 a regular siege. 
 
 To oppose each of the leaders in the army of Adras- 
 tos, Eteocles placed within the walls one whom he regarded 
 as his equal: against Tydeus, Melanippus ; against Ca- 
 paneus, Polyphontes ; against Hippomedon, Iiyperbius ; 
 Actor against Parthenopseos ; Lasthenes against Amphia- 
 raos j and stationed himself against his brother, Polyneices 
 
THE THEBAN WAR. 
 
 287 
 
 If the besiegers were animated by their just cause, by 
 hatred against the usurper, Eteocles, and by confidence in 
 their superior power, the besieged, on the other hand, were 
 urged to the most desperate struggle by a still more pow- 
 erful motive — the fear of hunger. They made a furious 
 sally, and a battle ensued equally fatal to both parties. 
 Hippomedon and Parthenopaeos fell under the swords of 
 the enemy : Capaneus, who had mounted the walls, was 
 killed by a flash of lightning ; Tydeus fell under the hand 
 of Melanippus ; Eteocles and Polyneices, the two unnatu- 
 ral brothers, killed each other in single combat ; Amphi- 
 araos was swallowed up by the earth ; and Adrastos owed 
 his life only to the swiftness of his good steed, Arion, whose 
 sire was the ruler of the waves. 
 
 The sovereignty of Thebes now devolved on Creon, the 
 brother of Jocasta. He ordered the corpse of Eteocles 
 to be buried with the usual rites and due honors ; but 
 commanded, on pain of death, that the bodies of Polyneices 
 and his fallen friends should remain unburied, a prey to 
 the fowls of the air. 
 
 Antigone, the faithful daughter of (Edipus, prompted by 
 her sisterly love, notwithstanding the interdict of Creon 
 and the danger to which she exposed her life, stole out of 
 the city in a moonlight night, and with her own hands cov- 
 ered the body of her brother with sand. 
 
 Her disobedience to the command of the tyrant was dis- 
 covered, and she was condemned to die by being buried 
 alive ; but she prevented a public execution and a cruel 
 death by strangling herself. 
 
 Haemon, Creon’s son, who had tenderly loved this vic- 
 tim of his father’s cruelty, upon finding Antigone dead in 
 her prison, plunged his sword in his breast ; neither did 
 Haemon’s mother survive the loss of her beloved son. 
 Thus stood Creon, bereft of all who had been related to 
 him by the sacred ties of nature, accusing his destiny. 
 
288 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 In the mean time, Adrastos had solicited the assistance 
 of Theseus, who conquered Thebes, and forced the inhabit- 
 ants to surrender all the slain bodies that belonged to the 
 army of Adrastos, in order to their interment with solemn 
 funeral rites. 
 
 The misfortunes attending this war were insufficient to 
 extinguish the enmity that subsisted among the sons of 
 the fallen heroes. Ten years after, it burst forth in a 
 new war, which, from its being carried on by the descend- 
 ants of the former leaders, was called the war of the 
 Epigones. 
 
 Creon was succeeded on the throne of Thebes by Lao- 
 damas, a son of Eteocles. Thersander, the son of Poly- 
 neices, assisted by the sons of those heroes who were slain 
 in the former war, together with iEgialeus, the son of 
 Adrastos, undertook a new expedition against Thebes, con- 
 quered Laodamas, and seized upon the royal authority, of 
 which his father Polyneices had been unjustly deprived. 
 Laodamas fled to Illyria, which had formerly been also 
 the asylum of Cadmos. In the first Theban war, Adrastos 
 was the only one of the leaders who escaped ; in the second, 
 his son, iEgialeus, was the only one who fell. 
 
 THE PELOPIDiE. 
 
 Pelops, a son of that Tantalos, who, after having been 
 raised by the gods even to their own assembly, was hurled 
 down by them into the depths of Tartaros, came from 
 Phrygia to (Enomaos, king of Pisa, by whom he was hos- 
 pitably received. Struck by the charms of the beautiful 
 Hippodameia, the king’s daughter, Pelops requested her 
 from her father as his wife. But it had been predicted to 
 (Enomaos that his son-in-law would deprive him of life ; 
 and he therefore proposed to every suitor for his daughter 
 to contend with him in the chariot race, putting to death 
 all whom he overtook in the course. The race was from 
 
THE PELGPIDjE. 
 
 289 
 
 the banks of the Clarlios in Elis to the altar of Poseidon, 
 at the isthmus, and was run in the following manner 
 (Enomaos, placing his daughter in the chariot with the 
 suitor, gave him the start ; he then followed with a spear 
 in his hand, with which, on overtaking the suitor, he ran 
 him through. Thirteen had already lost their lives when 
 Pelops appeared. 
 
 “ In the dead of night,” •says Pindar, “Pelops went 
 down to the margin of the sea, and invoked the god who 
 rules it. Suddenly Poseidon stood at his feet ; and ho 
 conjured him by the memory of his affection, to grant him 
 the means of obtaining the lovely daughter of (Enomaos, 
 declaring, that even if he should fail in the attempt, he 
 regarded fame beyond inglorious old age. Poseidon, as- 
 senting to his prayer, gave him a golden chariot, and horses 
 of winged speed.” 
 
 Pelops then went to Pisa, and by alluring promises pre- 
 vailed on Myrtilcs, the charioteer of (Enomaos, to adjust 
 the king’s chariot in such a manner that it would break 
 down in the middle of the course. The king was thrown 
 out and lost his life, when Hippodameia became the bride 
 of Pelops. To celebrate the wedding, Poseidon assembled 
 the Nereides upon the strand of the sea, and raised a bridal 
 chamber of the waves, which arched in bright curves over 
 the marriage bed. 
 
 After his marriage with Hippodameia, Pelops, unwilling 
 to fulfil his promise to Myrtilos for the aid he had given 
 him, threw him unawares from a rock into the sea, which 
 from him derived the name of Myrtoean. One misfortune 
 after another followed this act of injustice and cruelty, 
 although the power of Pelops increased to such a degree, 
 that the whole Peninsula of Greece was called after him 
 Peloponnesus. 
 
 Hippodameia had two sons, Atreus and Thyestes, who 
 btcame jealous of their father’s affection for their step-bro- 
 
 12 
 
290 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 ther, Chrysippos, and put him to death. Pelops supposed 
 Hippodameia to have instigated this murder, and upon 
 being charged with it, she destroyed herself, and her two 
 sons fled from the wrath of their father. 
 
 Atreus went to Eurystheus, king of Mycence, who re- 
 ceived him kindly, and gave him his daughter Areope in 
 marriage. After the death of Eurystheus, Atreus mounted 
 the throne of Myceooe. 
 
 Thyestes followed Atreus, and shared his brother’s good 
 fortune ; but soon brought reproach and misfortune upon 
 himself by his own misdeeds. During the absence of Atre- 
 us, Areope bore two sons to Thyestes. As soon as Atreus 
 became apprised of it, he expelled them, as well as their 
 father from his dominions. Thyestes. breathing revenge, 
 contrived to get a son of Atreus into his power, and edu- 
 cated him as his own, at the same time instilling into his 
 youthful heart a deadly hatred against his father, and 
 finally sent him away to commit a murder at which the 
 Sun veils his face. 
 
 But the youth was unsuccessful in his attempt, and upon 
 the discovery of his design, he was put to death under the 
 most cruel tortures ; and Atreus learned too late that by 
 his command his own son, instead of his brother’s, had suf- 
 fered a cruel death Atreus, now brooding over a still deep- 
 er revenge, feigned a reconciliation with his brother, and by 
 various marks of affection induced him to come to Myce- 
 nae and bring his sons with him. He then had them se- 
 cretly murdered and their flesh served up on the table at 
 which their father sat. After Thyestes had eaten the food 
 prepared for him, Atreus cast their heads and hands be^ 
 fore his eyes. “On beholding the scene,” says the fic- 
 tion, “ the Sun swiftly turned back his course.” 
 
 Thyestes then fled to Sicyon, where he had a son by his 
 daughter P dopia, whose name was iEgisthos, who, on at- 
 taining the years of manhood, murdered Atreus, and ex- 
 
THE PELOPID.E. 
 
 291 
 
 pelled his sons Agamemnon and Menelaos from the king 
 dom, when Thyestes usurped the royal throne of Mycenae 
 
 The fugitive sons of Atreus found a friendly reception 
 at the court of Tyndareos, king of Lacedaemon, where each 
 married a daughter of their host ; Agamemnon, Olytein- 
 nestra, and Menelaos, the beautiful Helena, who after- 
 wards brought wo throughout Greece and destruction on 
 Troy. The two brothers avenged the death of their father, 
 Atreus, and once more expelled Thyestes from Mycenae. 
 Agamemnon then took the reins of government in his fa- 
 ther’s dominions, while Menelaos succeeded Tyndareos in 
 the government of Sparta. 
 
 Menelaos and Helena had no children. Agamemnon 
 and Clytemnestra had two daughters, Iphigeneia and 
 Electra, and one son, Orestes. 
 
 When Agamemnon afterwards took the chief command 
 of the army destined to call Troy to accouut for the 
 offence which his brother Menelaos had suffered from 
 Paris, forgiving iEgisthos, the murderer of his father, he 
 became reconciled to him, and even intrusted him with the 
 gare of Clytemnestra and his house during his absence. 
 iEgisthos, however, abused this confidence, misleading 
 Clytemnestra to infidelity, and bringing ruin upon her 
 husband. For when Agamemnon returned to Mycenae 
 affer an absence of ten years, to enjoy the remainder of his 
 days in quiet and domestic happiness, he was murdered by 
 JEgisthos and Clytemnestra. 
 
 With regard to the children of Agamemnon, Iphigeneia 
 was to have been sacrificed on entering upon the expedi- 
 tion against Troy ; but was rescued by Diana, who carried 
 her to Tauris, where she became a priestess in her temple. 
 Orestes, whose life was threatened with great danger from 
 the hands of iEgisthos, was secretly sent by his sister to 
 Strophios, king of Phocis, and the husband of Agamem 
 
292 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 non’s sister. Electra remained at home, exposed to the 
 abuse of an unnatural mother. 
 
 After the death of her husband, Clytemnestra. fearing 
 neither gods nor men, married JEgisthos, and put the 
 royal crown of Mycenae on his execrable head. But Des- 
 tiny had already decreed the punishment of that guilty 
 couple, although it was to be executed only by the means 
 of a new crime. 
 
 In Orestes, Agamemnon’s son, rose an avenger both of 
 his father’s death and his mother’s infamy. A false report, 
 intentionally circulated, had announced him as dead ; and 
 while iEgisthos and Clytemnestra rejoiced in the thought 
 of being rid of him, Orestes was planning their destruction. 
 As soon as Orestes felt his arm strong enough to meet a foe 
 with his sword, he went to Mycenae and slew the mur- 
 derer of his father, not sparing his own mother who 
 shared in the crime. But on account of this horrible 
 deed, Orestes was punished by the Furies wherever he 
 went ; that is to say, his conscience would not allow him 
 any rest, and suffered him not to be reconciled to himself, 
 until he went to Delphi and consulted the oracle of Apollo, 
 which promised him alleviation of his torments if he would, 
 go to Tauris, and carry the statue of Diana from thence tc 
 Greece. 
 
 Orestes had been brought up with Pylades, the son of 
 king Strophios, at Phocis, and both were so intimately and 
 inseparably united by the tie of friendship, that their union 
 became proverbial in antiquity, and is so even in our own 
 times. This faithful friend, Pylades, who had never left 
 Orestes during all his sufferings, was now his companion 
 on the voyage to Tauris. It was there an old and bar- 
 barous custom to bring human offerings to Diana, the se 
 vere goddess who was the tutelary deity of the country 
 and whose image Orestes was to carry away. Ore?tes and 
 Pylades had no sooner landed, than they were made pris 
 
ACHILLEUS OR ACHILLES. 293 
 
 oners, and doomed to be for ever separated by the sacrifice 
 of one of them to Diana. In the trying hour, when the 
 sentence of the high priest was received, each of the friends 
 offered his life to save that of the other. A contest that 
 was pleasing in th 3 sight of the gods, and worthy of heav- 
 enly assistance. 
 
 Orestes recognized his sister Iphigeneia, the priestess of 
 Diana, and made himself known to her ; and she found 
 means not only to bring the statue of the goddess on board 
 her brother’s ship, but also to rescue both the friends and 
 fly with them to Greece. The oracle of Apollo proved true. 
 The Furies ceased to torment Orestes, who henceforth 
 reigned quietly over Mycenae, and the wrath of the gods 
 which had borne so long and so heavily upon the house of 
 Pelops, seemed now to abate. 
 
 ACHILLEUS OR ACHILLES. 
 
 Achilles w r as the son of Peleus (a descendant of Zeus) 
 aiyl of Thetis, the goddess of the sea. At the festivity of 
 their marriage, the gods brought gifts, the Muses sang, 
 the Nereides danced, and Ganymedes poured forth nectar 
 for the guests. 
 
 When Achilles was born, Thetis plunged him in the 
 river Styx, which made him invulnerable in every part ex- 
 cept the heel, by which she held him. And in this heel 
 he received a fatal wound. Achilleus, like the other he- 
 roes, was reared by the wise Centaur Cheiron. In the 
 Iliad he appears as one of the most prominent heroes.* 
 
 * For the story of the Iliad, see large edition. 
 
PART FIFTH 
 
 MYTHIC FICTIONS. 
 
 LETO AND THE FROGS. 
 
 While wandering from place to place with her children, 
 Leto arrived in Lycia. The sun was shining fiercely, and 
 the goddess was parched with thirst. Seeing a pool of 
 water, she knelt down by it to drink, when some clowns 
 who were there refused to allow her to slake her thirst. 
 In vain the goddess entreated, representing that water was 
 common to ail, and appealing to their compassion for her 
 babes. The brutes were insensible, and not only mocked at 
 her distress, but jumped into and muddied the water. The 
 goddess, though the most gentle of her race, was roused 
 to in lignation ; and raising her hands to heaven, cried, 
 “ May you live for ever in that pool !” Her wish was in- 
 stantly accomplished, and the churls were transformed into 
 
 froorc. 
 
 o 
 
 PHAETHON. 
 
 Phaethon ( Gleaming ) was a son of Helios and the 
 ocean-nymph Clymene. Venus intrusted him with the 
 care of one of her temples. This distinguished favor of 
 the goddess rendered him so vain and aspiring, that Epa- 
 phos, a son of Zeus, to check his pride, disputed his claims 
 
PHAETHON. 
 
 295 
 
 to a celestial origin Phaethon, to refute this bitter re- 
 proach, resolved to know his true origin ; and, at the insti- 
 gation of his mother, visited the palace of the Sun, to beg 
 that Helios, if he really were his father, would give him 
 some proof of his paternal tenderness, and convince the 
 world of his legitimacy. Helios swore by the Styx, that 
 he would grant him whatever he required The ambitious 
 youth instantly demanded permission to guide the solar 
 chariot for one day, in order to prove himself the undoubt- 
 ed progeny of the Sun-god. Not daring to violate the 
 oath by Styx, and finding entreaties and remonstrances 
 unavailing to dissuade him from his perilous enterprise, 
 Helios complied with his wish, and Phaethon courageously 
 and joyfully mounted the chariot of the Sun. 
 
 No sooner, however, did the celestial coursers discover 
 that they were guided by a feebler hand than that of He- 
 lios, than they disregarded the efforts of the new charioteer, 
 and leaving their usual course, now approached too near 
 the heavens, and now again so close to earth, that the moun- 
 tains began to blaze, and the rivers and fountains dried up. 
 Earth, in her extremity, besought Jupiter for help. En- 
 raged at the presumption of this new driver of the celestial 
 horses, Jupiter struck him with one of his thunderbolts, by 
 which he was precipitated into the river Eridanos. There 
 his three sisters, the Heliades, or daughters of the sun, 
 Lampetia, Phaethusa, and iEgle, who tenderly loved their 
 brother, lamented his loss so long, that at length the gods 
 were touched with compassion for their grief, and changed 
 them into poplar trees. Their tears, which still continued 
 to flow, became amber as they dropped into the stream. 
 
 Cycnos, also, the chosen friend of the ill-fated Phae- 
 thon, lamented his death on the banks of the Eridanos, till 
 his form, dissolved in tears, was changed to that of a swan, 
 which always remained on the water that swallowed his 
 beloved friend. 
 
296 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 PHILEMON AND BAUCIS. 
 
 In Phrygia, as a beautiful ancient tale relates, Jupiter 
 laid aside his thunderbolts and Mercury his caduceus, and 
 assuming the form of wayfarers, wandered in disguise 
 among men, in order to try their characters and actions. 
 
 One evening, when as weary travellers they sought for 
 hospitality, the doors of the rich were closed against them. 
 At length they approached the abode of Philemon and 
 Baucis, a pious couple, but poor, and already advanced in 
 years, and in their humble cottage they were received with 
 hospitality and kindness. The gods were served with a 
 supper such as the cottage afforded, and the wine bowl 
 being spontaneously replenished, the quality of the guests 
 was revealed. 
 
 The guests after having declared themselves to be Jupi- 
 ter and Mercury, told their host that they intended to 
 destroy the neighboring town, and desired them to leave 
 their dwelling and ascend the adjacent hill. The aged 
 couple obeyed, and ere they had reached its summit they 
 turned round and beheld the waste and destruction where- 
 with the gods had punished the hard-heartedness of the in- 
 habitants of the country. The houses and palaces of the 
 rich were ruined by a deluge, while the poor, hospitable 
 cottage still raised its roof above the floods, and before the 
 astonished eyes of its late inhabitants, was transformed 
 into a magnificent temple. 
 
 On being desired by Jupiter to express their wishes, 
 they prayed that they might be appointed to officiate in 
 that temple, bringing offerings to Jove, the patron and 
 rewarder of hospitality, and finally be united in death as 
 in life. Their prayer was granted ; and as they were one 
 day standing before the temple, they were changed into 
 trees, an oak and a lime. These trees overshadowe d the 
 temple, and in their memory w r ere long afterwards ^a'lec 
 Philemon and Baucis. 
 
ORPHEUS. 
 
 297 
 
 In this and similar traditions of old, the dreadful as 
 wall as beneficent power of the deities was recognized. 
 Altars were every where erected to Jupiter Hospitalis. 
 Strangers arriving at any place where they were destitute 
 of friends, were under his immediate protection, and 
 guests were considered as sacred and inviolable persons ; 
 for in strangers and guests the celestials were revered, 
 who often came down from Olympos in human form, in 
 order to mingle among mankind. 
 
 ORPHEUS. 
 
 Thrace is fabled to have been the native place of Orphe- 
 us, son of Apollo and the muse Calliope ; that divine bard, 
 who, by his song and the tones of his lyre, tamed the fierce- 
 ness of forest beasts, moved rocks and trees, and, like a 
 being sent from heaven, first taught mortals to isten to his 
 harmonious notes, when he was chanting the praises Oi 
 the celestials. The divine bard, not less renowned for his 
 wisdom than for his skill in poesy and music, became also 
 the founder of religious mysteries. 
 
 His wife, a nymph named Eurydice, died from the bite 
 of a serpent. Orpheus, disconsolate at her loss, determined 
 to descend to the lower world, and obtain permission fcr 
 his beloved Eurydice to return to the regions of ngn . 
 Armed only with his lyre, he entered the realms of Hades, 
 and gained an easy admittance to the palace of Pluto. At 
 the music of his “ golden shell,” to borrow the beautiful 
 language of ancient poetry, the wheel of Ixion stopped, 
 Tantalcs forgot the thirst that tormented him, the VuHurs 
 ceased to prey on the vitals of Tityos, and Pluto and Pro- 
 serpina lent a favoring ear to his prayer. 
 
 Eurydice was allowed to return wP' Orpheus, on con- 
 dition that he should not look c- *k a n until she had 
 reached the higher world, and again beheld the light of day. 
 But when they had nearly attained the opening above, and 
 
 13 * 
 
^98 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 were about to leave the gloomy abode of the shades, tender 
 anxiety, and doubt whether his dear companion was really 
 following him, induced Orpheus to look back. He beheld 
 his wife close behind him, but for the last time. Falling 
 back she again disappeared in the nightly darkness of Or- 
 cus. and all the sweet hope of Orpheus vanished like a 
 dream. The joy of life was now for ever lost, and his 
 lyre was silent. 
 
 From the Thracian mountains resounded the ferocious 
 clamor of the Maenades, at a Bacchic festival, who, angry 
 at the bard for the contempt shown to them by his sor- 
 row for Eurydice, fell upon him and tore him to pieces. 
 Thus Orpheus, the son of Apollo, the divine poet, musician, 
 ~nd philosopher, fell a victim to the frantic fury of the de- 
 votees of Bacchos. 
 
 CUPID AND PSYCHE. 
 
 One of the most charming fictions transmitted to us fror_i 
 antiquity, is that of Cupid and Psyche. It involves the 
 most sublime ; deas of life, death, and immortality, as far 
 as we may look for such ideas among the religious hea- 
 thens of ancient times. The name of Psyche signifies 
 both a butterfly and the human soul. Therefore, when 
 represented with the wings of a butterfly attached to her 
 shoulders, Psyche is, as it were, the emblem of a tender 
 spiritual being, who, freed from the coarser covering of 
 her chrysalis, is too sublimated for this lower world, and 
 rises to a higher existence, where, united with Love, in 
 sacred and mutual marriage, she participates in that b 1 is% 
 which the immortals themselves enjoy. This fiction forms 
 the veil, which in a most agreeable manner conceals the 
 terrors of the lower world. 
 
 Psyche, the most lovely of mortals, was the daughter 
 of a powerful monarch, and the youngest of three sister3. 
 So transcendent was her beauty, that no mortal man darad 
 
CUPID AND PSYCHE. 
 
 299 
 
 sue for her hand ; and her father’s subjects, neglecting the 
 worship ot Venus, raised altars to Psyche. Her parents 
 exulted in this general homage paid to their daughter, and 
 her sisters, somewhat jealous of her superior beauty, 
 pleased themselves with the thought that while they were 
 married, she would never have a husband. Both parents 
 and sisters, however, soon found themselves disappointed 
 in the anticipations in which they had indulged. The 
 former consulted an oracle as to her future fate, and were 
 commanded to array their daughter in festive attire, and 
 then conduct her as if to her burial to the summit of a 
 mountain, and there to abandon her till her destined hus- 
 band should come for her. 
 
 Venus, resolving to revenge herself upon the innocent 
 Psyche, sent Cupid to inspire her with a passion for the 
 ugliest of mortals. But Cupid no sooner saw Psyche, than 
 he laid aside his bow and arrows, and resolved to make 
 her his wife. For this purpose he went to Zephyros, the 
 god of the west-wind, and Somnus, the god of sleep, to ask 
 their assistance. No sooner did Psyche find herself alone, 
 than a profound sleep stole over her senses, and then she 
 was tenderly raised by Zephyr, who carried her to the 
 abode prepared for her by Love. She found herself trans- 
 ported to an unknown region, but the most eharming 
 she had ever seen. A magnificent palace, surrounded by 
 beautiful groves and beds of flowers, was at her disposal j 
 she was mistress of many invisible attendants, by whom 
 her commands were instantly obeyed. But he who had 
 bestowed upon her this delightful abode, she was not per- 
 mitted to behold. He visited her only at night, telling 
 her with a sweetly-sounding voice, that he was the hus- 
 band allotted to her by the immortals, at the same time 
 Warning and entreating her never to inquire who he was, 
 fox jCon she would for ever lose his love, and become mis* 
 erable. 
 
300 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 But in the midst of a heavenly happiness, Psyche longed 
 to see her parents once more, or at least her sisters, that 
 she might dissipate the grief of her family on account of 
 her fate. Her husband, seeing that all the entreaties and 
 remonstrances with which he endeavored to banish this 
 wish from her heart were vain, at last consented that she 
 should receive a visit from her sisters. Zephyr was accord- 
 ingly ordered to convey them to Psyche’s abode. No 
 sooner had they arrived and beheld the happiness which 
 was allotted to their sister, than envy filled their hearts, 
 destroying every better feeling ; and after having heard 
 the particular circumstances under which Psyche enjoyed 
 her matrimonial happiness, they infused into her mind the 
 suspicion that her husband must be a hideous monster, 
 because he dreaded to be seen. Their malevolence even 
 went so far as to persuade their sister, by every possible 
 art, to transgress the positive commands of her husband, 
 and, by the use of a dagger, to rid herself of the monster 
 when buried in sleep. 
 
 The sisters were carried away by Zephyr, and poor 
 Psyche, whose mind was agitated by contending passions, 
 resolved at last to follow the malevolent counsel which 
 they had given her. When Night had expanded her wings 
 over her blessed abode, and her husband was buried in 
 repose, she took the lamp, and a dagger which she had con- 
 cealed, and stepped, with fainting knees and a trembling 
 hand, to the couch of the unknown. But instead of the 
 monster whom she had expected to see, she beheld the most 
 beautiful of the immortals, Cupid, God of Love! 8 he at- 
 tempted gently to withdraw the lamp, but her h^nd trem- 
 bled, and a drop of hot oil fell on the goi s shoulder. Cu- 
 pid started up from his sleep, and beholding his wife, with 
 a lamp and dagger, cast a look on the wretched Psyche, in 
 which rage, scorn, and pity were intermingled. Re then 
 mounted on his wings, never e ore to return. 
 
CUPID AND PSYCHE. 
 
 301 
 
 When Psyche felt that she had lost the love and es- 
 teem of her adored husband, despair took possession of her 
 mind, and she attempted to put a period to her existence. 
 She threw herself into the neighboring stream, but the riv- 
 er-god feared Love, and gently carried her to the opposite 
 bank. Here she met with Pan, who endeavored to console 
 her by the prediction that she was destined at a future f 
 period to be once more happy. f 
 
 Psyche’s sisters, who had anticipated the consequences 
 of their fatal counsel, and who now wished to succeed 
 their unfortunate sister, placed themselves one after the 
 other on the summit of the mountain, from which Psyche 
 had been carried away, hoping that Zephyros would convey 
 them to the wished-for residence ; but being hurled into 
 the abyss by sudden blasts of wind, they atoned by their 
 deaths for the envy and treachery which they had dis- 
 played towards their innocent sister. 
 
 Poor Psyche overran the whole earth in search of her 
 lost husband. But finding all her endeavors vain, she at 
 last took the resolution of applying to Venus, and implor- 
 ing mercy from her. Venus, incensed with the fair sup- 
 pliant, because she had charmed Cupid, and because of 
 her celestial beauty, received her with reproaches, impos- 
 ing upon her the severest tasks, the performance of which 
 seemed impossible. Psyche, however, assisted by benefi- 
 cent beings, whom Cupid, who still loved her, sent to her 
 aid, surmounted all difficulties ; yet for a long time she 
 was obliged to suffer the consequences of her imprudence, 
 until she was again thought worthy of her forfeited hap- 
 piness. At last, she was ordered by Venus to descend 
 into Orcus itself, and to fetch from Proserpina a box con- 
 taining the highest charms of beauty. Psyche- obeyed the 
 command of the cruel goddess, and set out on the dreadful 
 enterprise, despairing of success ; but the voice of hex in- 
 
302 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 visible protector and guide taught lier every necessary 
 precaution, and warned her of every danger. 
 
 Provided with a cake to tame the fury of Cerberos, and 
 a sum of money to gain the good-will of Charon, she ven 
 tured down to the gloomy regions, and arrived safely at 
 the palace of Proserpina. The desired box was delivered 
 to her, but with a strict injunction not to open it. Psyche, 
 who had surmounted so many difficulties, and sustained 
 with heroic fortitude so many trials, suffered herself to be 
 overpowered by this last. Scarcely had she left the do- 
 minions of Pluto, when curiosity and vanity induced her to 
 open the box. She was instantly involved in a black and 
 noxious vapor, which threw her into a deep sleep, from 
 which she would never have risen, had not Cupid, her in* 
 visible protector, hastened to her assistance. He restored 
 her to life, collected the vapor again into the box, and con- 
 ducted his beloved Psyche safely to the throne of Jove, 
 there proclaiming her as his lawful wife, and supplicating 
 for her admission among the immortals. Jupiter com- 
 plied with his request, endowed her with immortality, and 
 Venus became reconciled to her beauteous daughter-in- 
 law. The Hours shed roses through the sky, the Graces 
 sprinkled the halls of Heaven with fragrant odors, Apollo 
 played on his lyre, the Arcadian god on his reeds, the 
 Muses sang in chorus, while Venus danced with grace and 
 elegance, to celebrate the nuptials of her son. Thus the 
 celestials celebrated the second, the heavenly marriage of 
 Cupid and Psyche. 
 
 TRITON. 
 
 According to Hesiod, Triton was a son of Poseidon and 
 Amphitrite, who ' 4 keeping to th bottom of the sea, dwelt 
 with nis niothe ard 'CZjil lather in a golden house.* 
 Later po$ts made him hu. lather’s trumpeter. He was 
 also multiplied, and we read of Tritons in the plural num- 
 
CENTAURS. 
 
 303 
 
 ber. Like the Nereides, the Tritons were degraded to the 
 fish-form. 
 
 OTOS AND EPHIALTES. 
 
 The Aloeids, Otos and Ephialtes, were also sons of Po- 
 seidon. In their ninth year, they were nine cubits in 
 width, and nine fathoms in height. At this early age they 
 undertook to make war upon Zeus ; and, in order to reach 
 the heavens, they strove to place Mount Ossa upon Olym- 
 pos, and Pelion upon Ossa ; but (to use the graphic lan- 
 guage of Homer) u they were destroyed by Apollo before 
 the down had bloomed beneath their temples, and had 
 thickly covered their chins with a well-flowering beard.” 
 According to the animated narrative of the same bard, 
 they would have accomplished their object had they made 
 the attempt, not in childhood, but after having “ reached 
 the measure of youth.” 
 
 CENTAURS. 
 
 The Centaurs were 
 * tribe of Thessaly, 
 fabled to have been 
 half men and half 
 horse, and are always 
 mentioned in connec- 
 tion with the La- 
 piths. The former 
 are twice spoken of 
 in the Iliad, under 
 the name of Wild- 
 men , and once in the 
 Odyssey. They ap- 
 pear to have been a rude, mountain tribe, dwelling on 
 and about Mount Peiion. 
 
304 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 ATALANTA. 
 
 lasos, oi Iasion, a descendant of Areas, was married to 
 Olymenc, a daughter of Minyas. He was anxious for a 
 male offspring, and therefore, disappointed at her birth, he 
 exposed the babe in the mountains, where she was suckled 
 by a bear, and at last found by some hunters, who named 
 her Atalanta, and reared her. She followed the chase, and 
 was alike distinguished for beauty and courage. The Cen- 
 taurs, Rhcecos and Hylaeos, approaching her with evil in- 
 tentions, perished by her arrows. She distinguished her 
 self in the Calydonian hunt, and at the funeral games of 
 Pelias, she won the prize in wrestling. 
 
 Atalanta was afterwards recognized by her parents 
 Her father wished her to marry, to which she consented, 
 on condition that her suitors should run a race with her, 
 promising, if she should be vanquished, to become the 
 wife of the victor ; but the vanquished suitor should be 
 shot by one of her own darts. As she was almost invinci- 
 ble in running, many of her suitors perished in the contest. 
 
 Hippomenes, venturing to enter upon this dangerous 
 race, implored the assistance of Aphrodite, who presented 
 him with three golden apples, which, one after another, he 
 let slip from his hands during the course Atalanta, whose 
 eyes were dazzled by the glitter and beauty of this golden 
 fruit, repeatedly stopped to take it up from the ground, and 
 thus Hippomenes gained time to reach the goal before her. 
 
 Atalanta became the wife of Hippomenes; but unmind- 
 ful of the benefit which he owed to Aphrodite, both were 
 obliged t: atone for his offence against the goddess. Upon 
 her impulse, they profaned a sanctuary of Cybele, who, 
 with formidable power, transformed them into two lions 
 that under one yoke drew her chariot. 
 
IX10N ANP SISYPHO* 
 
 305 
 
 ARACHNE. 
 
 A Maeonian maid, named Arachne, proud of her skill 
 in weaving and embroidery, in which arts the goddess of 
 wisdom had instructed her, ventured to deny her obliga- 
 tion, and challenged her patroness to a trial of skill. 
 The goddess changed her into a spider. 
 
 TANTALOS. 
 
 Tantalos, the favorite of the gods, was admitted to their 
 table, where he feasted on nectar and ambrosia, which made 
 him immortal. 
 
 He once so far forgot himself as to offend Jupiter with 
 some intemperate language, and was immediately plunged 
 from the height of happiness to the immeasurable depths 
 of misery. The punishment of Tantalos was everlasting 
 hunger and thirst, while at the same time he saw the clear 
 flood rising to his lips, but receding as soon as he attempted 
 to taste it, and the branch loaded with fruit hanging over 
 his head, but was never able to grasp it. 
 
 IXION AND SISYPHOS. 
 
 Ixion, who reigned in Thessaly, was subjected to a fate 
 similar to that of Tantalos. He was expelled from Olym- 
 pos, and when he had the temerity to boast on earth of 
 what he had attempted in heaven, Zeus precipitated him 
 into Tartaros, where Hermes fastened him with brazen 
 bands to an ever-revolving fiery wheel. 
 
 Sisyphos, like the Dana'ides, was condemned to perform 
 an endless task. Hades required him to roll a huge rock 
 up a mountain, a never-ending, still beginning toil ; for as 
 soon as he has nearly reached the top, and rejoices in the 
 hope of being permitted to rest from his hard labor, the 
 rock, in spite of all his endeavors, rolls back again to the 
 plain. 
 
306 
 
 GRECIAN AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 MIDAS. 
 
 Pan, favorite of Midas, king of the Phrygians in Mace 
 donia, wished also to compete with Apollo in the art of 
 which the latter was master. Pan commenced the contest, 
 and Midas repeated his songs with enthusiasm, regardless 
 of his celestial rival, when, to his surprise, the latter felt a 
 pair cf ears, long and shaggy, pressing through his hair. 
 Alarmed at this phenomenon. Pan fled. The prince, deso- 
 late at the lore cf his favorite, made his wife the confidante 
 of his misfortujj, begging her not to betray his trust. 
 She longed to tell the secret, but dared not, for fear of 
 punishment : and, by way of relief, sought a retired and 
 lonely spot ; where she threw herself upon the ground, and 
 whispered, u King Midas has the ears of an ass. King 
 Midas has the ears of an ass.” 
 
 Not long after her visit, some reeds arose in this place, 
 and as the wind passed through them, they repeated, 
 “ King Midas has the ears of an ass.” Enraged, no less 
 than terrified at this occurrence. Midas sacrificed to Bac- 
 chos, who, to console him, desired him to ask whatever he 
 wished. According to his desire, every thing he touched 
 turned to gold, even his food and drink. He then prayed 
 to Bacchos to deliver him from the plague. Bacchos di- 
 rected him to wash in the river Pactolus, and hence that 
 river has golden sands. 
 
 MERCURY AND HERSE. 
 
 As Mercury met the maidens that were carrying the sa- 
 cred baskets to the temple of Minerva, he beheld Herse, 
 the beautiful daughter of Cecrops. Admiring her charms, 
 he resolved to have her for a wife, and for that purpose en- 
 tered the royal abode, where dwelt the three sisters, Aglau- 
 ros, Paudrosos, and Herse. Mercury was first met by Ag- 
 lauros, who felt great displeasure at his preference for her 
 
NARCISSOS. ACTION. 
 
 307 
 
 sister. He entreated her good offices, which she promised 
 on condition that he would reward her with a large quan- 
 tity of gold, and immediately drove him from the palace till 
 he should obtain it. 
 
 Minerva, incensed at the cupidity of Aglauros, and 
 provoked with her also for other causes, sent Envy to fill 
 her bosom with that baleful passion. Unable then to en- 
 dure the happiness of her sister, she sat down at the door, 
 determined not to permit the god to enter. He besought 
 her to admit him, but his eloquence was vain. At length, 
 provoked by her obstinacy, he turned her into a black stone. 
 
 NARCISSOS. 
 
 The beautiful youth Narcissos was son of the river-god 
 Cephissos, and the sea-nymph Liriope. 
 
 According to Pausanias, Narcissos had a sister of re- 
 markable beauty, to whom he was tenderly attached. She 
 resembled him in features, was similarly attired, and ac- 
 companied him in the hunt. She died young, and Nar- 
 cissos, deeply lamenting her death, frequented a neighbor- 
 ing fountain to gaze upon his own image in its stream. 
 The strong resemblance that he bore to his sister made his 
 own reflection appear to him, as it were, the form of her 
 vvaorn he had lost. The gods looked with pity upon his 
 £:.: r wf. and changed him to the flower that bears his name. 
 
 ACTION. 
 
 Actaeon was the son of Aristceos and Autonoe, daughter 
 of Cadmos. He was reared by Cheiron, and becoming 
 passionately fond of the chase, passed his days chiefly in 
 pursuit of wild beasts that haunted Mount Cithoeron. One 
 Mil try day as he was rambling alone, he chanced to surprise 
 Artemis and her nymphs while bathing. The goddess, 
 ire msed it his intrusion, threw some water upon him, and 
 ohanyed lim into a stag. She also inspired with madhes3 
 die fifty dogs that attended him, who devoured their master. 
 
INDEX 
 
 THE LATIN NAMES ARE IN ITALICS. 
 
 46, 
 
 AbsyrtGs, - 
 AchelGos, - 
 Acheron, - 
 Acherusia, 
 Achilles, 
 AchilleuSj 
 Acis, - 
 Acrisios, 
 ActaeGn, - 
 Actor, - - 
 AdmGtos, - 
 Adonis, - 
 Adrastos, - 
 AEacos, 
 
 .®aea, - - 
 AEetes, 
 AEgeus, - 
 iEgialeus, 
 iEgis, - - 
 AEgisthos, 
 ^Egle, - 
 ^Egyptos, - - 
 Aello, - - - 
 AEneias, - - 
 AEolos, - - 
 AEsculapius, - 
 ASsGn, - - - 
 AEstas, - - 
 ASthra, - - 
 Agamemnon, 
 Agaue, - - 
 AgGnGr, - - 
 Aglaia, - - 
 Ajax, - - - 
 Aides - - - 
 Alcathoe 
 Alcaeos, 
 AlcGstis, 
 AlcimGde, 
 AlcmGna, 46, 
 Alcyoneus, - 
 Aie^fc - - 
 
 31, 
 
 - 46, 
 
 PAGE 
 
 - 273 
 44, 235 
 34, 100 
 
 - 103 
 146, 293 
 154, 293 
 
 - 36 
 214, 218 
 123, 30 
 
 - 288 
 123, 267 
 
 - 169 
 
 - 259 
 
 249, 284 
 
 - 274 
 
 250, 271 
 251,255 
 
 - 283 
 
 - 157 
 290, 291 
 206, 295 
 
 - 213 
 
 - 37 
 37, 87 
 
 59, 265 
 
 - 205 
 264, 276 
 
 - 197 
 253, 260 
 
 - 291 
 
 - 280 
 46, 213 
 
 - 198 
 
 - 267 
 
 - 98 
 
 - 244 
 219, 223 
 
 - 235 
 
 - 265 
 211,249 
 
 - 41 
 
 - 31 
 
 Aloeids, - 
 
 Alpheios, - 
 
 Althea, 
 
 Amaltheia, 
 
 Amazons, 
 
 Ambrosia, 
 
 Amicitia, - 
 
 Amphiaraos, 
 
 Amphictyon, 
 
 AmphiGn, 
 
 Amphitrite, 
 
 AmphitryGn, 
 
 Amycos, - - 
 Anaxo, - - 
 Ancaeos, - - 
 AnchisGs, 
 AndrogeGs, - 
 Andromeda, - 
 Anteia, - - 
 Antaeos, - - 
 AnterGs, - - 
 Antigone, - - 
 AntiopG, - - 
 Aphareus, 
 AphroditG, 
 
 ApollG, 121, 
 Arachne, - - 
 Areiopagos, - 
 AreopG, - - 
 ArGs, - 140, 
 Arethusa, - - 
 ArgGs, - - - 
 ArgG, - - ■ 
 Argonauts, 
 
 Argos, - - 
 Argus, - - 
 Ariadne, - - 
 Arion, - - 
 Aristaeos, - 
 
 PAGE 
 
 177 
 
 - - 44 
 
 - - 277 
 
 - - 61 
 
 - 222, 231 
 
 - - 68 
 
 - - 209 
 
 - - 285 
 
 - 59 
 
 - - 281 
 
 ■ - 36 
 
 127,211, 
 [219, 223 
 262, 270 
 
 - 223 
 
 - 271 
 
 - 169 
 250, 251 
 
 - 217 
 
 - 221 
 
 - 235 
 
 - 198 
 284, 287 
 261, 281 
 
 - 263 
 123, 145, 
 
 [165 
 173, 180 
 
 - 30 
 30, 140 
 
 - 290 
 272, 279 
 
 31,45 
 
 - 41 
 
 - 267 
 136, 262, 
 
 [267 
 46. 82 
 
 - - 48 
 250, 252 
 
 95, 287 
 240, 2SC 
 
 Aristippc, 
 Artemis, - 
 Ascalaphos, 
 AsclGpios, - 
 Asteria, 
 Asterion, - 
 Astraea, 
 Astraeos, - 
 Atalanta, - 
 AtG, - - 
 Athamas, - 
 Athena, 
 Atlantides, 
 Atlas, - - 
 Atreus, 
 Atropos, - 
 Augeas, 
 Aurora, 
 xXutonoe, - 
 Autumnus, 
 Avernus, - 
 
 ?1GB 
 
 - - 244 
 
 • 134, 145 
 
 - - 142 
 
 - - 206 
 
 - - 50 
 
 - - 250 
 
 - - 195 
 
 - 52 
 
 - 277. 30 
 
 - - ' 225 
 
 - 243, 264 
 
 - - 145 
 
 - - 52 
 
 52, 53, 214 
 
 - - 289 
 
 - - 25 
 
 - - 23C 
 
 - - 49 
 
 - - 28C 
 
 - - 197 
 
 - - 101 
 
 Bacchos, - - 
 Bacchantes, - 
 Baucis, - - 
 Bellerophon, - 
 BellerophontGs, 
 Dellona , 
 
 Belos, - 
 Bia, 
 
 Boeotia, 
 
 Boreas, 
 BriareGs, 
 BrontGs, 
 Busins, 
 
 242 
 247 
 296 
 220 
 220 
 140, 144 
 46,213 
 
 - 52 
 
 - 279 
 49, 267 
 
 - 41 
 
 - 41 
 
 - 235 
 
 Cabeiii, 
 Cacus, 
 Caamos. - 
 Caduoeus, - 
 Calais, - - 
 
 Calliope.. - 
 
 - 163. 186 
 
 - - 235 
 
 - 242, 278 
 
 - - 179 
 
 - 267 
 200,291 
 
INDEX 
 
 309 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Callir 1 oft, - - 39 
 
 Calydonian Chase, 259, 
 f 277 
 
 CaKpJ), - 
 
 - - 52 
 
 CamencE , - ■ 
 
 - - 199 
 
 Canephores, ■ 
 
 - - 151 
 
 Capaneus, 
 
 - - 285 
 
 C^rpo, - - - 
 
 ■ - 197 
 
 Cassiopeia, ■ 
 
 ■ - 217 
 
 Castor, - - 
 
 ■ - 262 
 
 Cecrops, - 
 
 58, 149 
 
 Cel aero, - • 
 
 ■ - 37 
 
 Centaurs. 
 
 259, 30 
 
 Cephalos, - - 
 
 ■ - 224 
 
 COphe^s, - - 
 
 - 217 
 
 Cerber >s, 39, 
 
 101, 233 
 
 Cercy< n, - - 
 
 - 255 
 
 Ceres , 62, 68, 
 
 105, ISO 
 
 Ceto, - - - 
 
 - 221 
 
 Chaos - - - 
 
 - 19 
 
 CharO i, - - 
 
 34, 101 
 
 Chari ijs, - - 
 
 - 193 
 
 Chan idis, 
 
 - 274 
 
 Chim era, - 39, 40, 221 
 
 CheirOn, - - 
 
 - 205 
 
 Chrysaor, - - 
 
 39,217 
 
 Chrysippos, - 
 
 - 290 
 
 Cilix, - - - 
 
 269, 279 
 
 Cithaeron, 
 
 - 31 
 
 Circe, - - 
 
 - 274 
 
 Clio, - - - 
 
 - 201 
 
 Clotho, - - 
 
 - 25 
 
 ClymOnO, - - 
 
 52, 294 
 
 Clytemnestra, 
 
 262,291 
 
 Cocalos, - - 
 
 - 252 
 
 Cocytus, - - 
 
 - 100 
 
 Ccel-us , - - - 
 
 - 43 
 
 Coios, - - - 
 
 41,50 
 
 Coinus, - - 
 
 - 208 
 
 Connidas, - - 
 
 - 253 
 
 Consualia, 
 
 95 
 
 Cons us, - - 
 
 - 95 
 
 Corybantes, 
 
 163, 186 
 
 Cottos, - - 
 
 41,68 
 
 CreOn, 41, 224, 
 
 276, 237 
 
 Cretheus, - - 
 
 - 264 
 
 Crios, - - 
 
 41, 49 
 
 Cromedon, 
 
 - 41 
 
 Cromyonian Swine, 
 
 
 [254 
 
 Cupido , - - 
 
 197, 298 
 
 Curetes, - - 
 
 61, 186 
 
 CybelS, - - 
 
 - 92 
 
 Cycnos, - - 
 
 241, 295 
 
 Cyclopes, - - 
 
 - 41 
 
 Cytheraea, 
 
 - 168 
 
 Cyzicus, - - 
 
 - 269 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Daedalos, - 
 
 _ 
 
 - 251 
 
 Damast&s, 
 
 - 
 
 - 255 
 
 Danae, 
 
 - 
 
 46, 214 
 
 Danaides, - 
 
 - 
 
 102, 177 
 
 Danaos, - 
 
 - 
 
 46, 213 
 
 Daphne, - 
 
 - 
 
 - 30 
 
 Daphnephoria, 
 
 - 126 
 
 Dardanos, 
 
 - 
 
 - 203 
 
 Deianeira, 
 
 - 
 
 - 235 
 
 Deino, 
 
 - 
 
 - 38 
 
 Delphi, 
 
 - 
 
 - 129 
 
 DOmOter, - 
 
 - 
 
 - 105 
 
 Demogorgan, 
 
 - 22 
 
 Deucalion, 
 
 - 
 
 58, 250 
 
 Diana, 45, 134, 180, 229 
 
 Dike, - - 
 
 - 
 
 - 196 
 
 Diom&dOs, 
 
 _ 
 
 156, 231 
 
 Dione, - - 
 
 - 
 
 123, 165 
 
 Dionysos, 40, 
 
 177, 242 
 
 Dionysia, - 
 
 - 
 
 - 246 
 
 Dioscuri, - 
 
 - 
 
 - 263 
 
 DircS, - - 
 
 - 
 
 - 281 
 
 Doris, - - 
 
 . 
 
 - 35 
 
 Dryades, - 
 
 - 
 
 - 42 
 
 Dryas, - - 
 
 - 
 
 - 243 
 
 Echidna, - 
 
 _ 
 
 - 39 
 
 Echion, - 
 
 _ 
 
 - 280 
 
 Egyptos, - 
 
 - 
 
 - 46 
 
 Electra, 
 
 - 
 
 37, 291 
 
 ElectryOn, 
 
 - 
 
 - 219 
 
 Eleus, - - 
 
 - 
 
 - 224 
 
 Eleusis, - 
 
 
 116, 119 
 
 Elysian Fields, 
 
 - 103 
 
 Encelados, 
 
 _ 
 
 - 41 
 
 Endymion, 
 
 - 
 
 - 139 
 
 EnyO, 
 
 - 
 
 38, 140 
 
 Eos, - - 
 
 - 
 
 - 49 
 
 Eosphoros, 
 
 - 
 
 - 49 
 
 Epaphos, - 
 
 - 
 
 46, 213 
 
 Ephesus, - 
 
 - 
 
 - 140 
 
 Ephialtes, 
 
 - 
 
 - 30 
 
 Epigones, 
 
 - 
 
 - 288 
 
 Epimetheus, 
 
 - 
 
 52, 54 
 
 EpOpeus, 
 
 - 
 
 - 281 
 
 Erato, - - 
 
 - 
 
 - 201 
 
 Erebos, 
 
 _ 
 
 - 99 
 
 Erichthonios 
 
 
 - 164 
 
 ErigonS, - 
 
 - 
 
 - 244 
 
 Erisichthon, 
 
 _ 
 
 - 112 
 
 ErOs, - - 
 
 - 
 
 19, 197 
 
 ErymanthianBoar, 229 
 
 Erinnyes, 
 
 - 
 
 29, 101 
 
 EriphylS, - 
 
 - 
 
 - 285 
 
 Erytheia, - 
 
 - 
 
 - 31 
 
 EteoclOs, - 
 
 - 
 
 - 284 
 
 Euades, - 
 
 - 
 
 - 247 
 
 PA-ir } 
 
 Euenos, - - 
 
 - 236 
 
 Eueres, - - 
 
 - 223 
 
 Eumaeos, - - 
 
 - 123 
 
 Eumenides, - 
 
 - 31 
 
 Eumolpos, - 
 
 110, 113 
 
 Eunomia, * - 
 
 165, 196 
 
 Euphrosyne, - 
 
 - 193 
 
 EurOpa, 46,211,248 
 
 Euryale, 
 
 33, 216 
 
 Eurybia, - - 
 
 - 52 
 
 EurydicS, - - 
 
 - 297 
 
 EurynornO, - 
 
 - 198 
 
 Eurystheus, 
 
 219, 225, 
 
 I9QO 
 
 EurytiOn, - - 
 
 - 232 
 
 Eurytos, - - 
 
 - 236 
 
 EuterpS, - - 
 
 - 201 
 
 Fates, - - - 
 
 - 25 
 
 Fauns, - - 
 
 - 193 
 
 F elicit as, - - 
 
 - 209 
 
 Feronia, - - 
 
 - 209 
 
 Fidelitas, - - 
 
 - 209 
 
 Flora, - - - 
 
 - 209 
 
 Fortitudo , 
 
 - 209 
 
 Furtuna , - - 
 
 • 209 
 
 Fountains, - 
 
 - 44 
 
 Furies, - - 
 
 23, 292 
 
 Galataea, - - 
 
 - 36 
 
 Ganymede, - 
 
 161, 203 
 
 GanymOd&s, 
 
 161,203 
 
 Ge, - - - 
 
 - 43 
 
 GelanOr, - - 
 
 - 213 
 
 Genii, - - - 
 
 - 183 
 
 Geryon, - - 
 
 39, 232 
 
 Giants, - - 
 
 - 41 
 
 Glaucos, - - 
 
 - 250 
 
 Golden Apples, 
 
 , 54, 232 
 
 Golden Fleece, 
 
 266 
 
 Gorgons, 38, 
 
 215, 220 
 
 Graces, - - 
 
 - 198 
 
 Graeae, - - - 
 
 33, 216 
 
 Gyes, - - - 
 
 41,68 
 
 HadOs - - - 
 
 - 93 
 
 Haem On, - - 
 
 41, 287 
 
 Halcyone, 
 
 - 000 
 
 Hamadryades, 
 
 - 42 
 
 Harmonia, - 
 
 142, 279 
 
 Harpies, - - 
 
 37,' 100 
 
 Hebe, - - - 
 
 - 202 
 
 Hecabe - - 
 
 - 000 
 
 Hecate, - - 
 
 50, 106 
 
 Heimarmene, 
 
 - 25 
 
 Hei ia, - - ‘ 
 
 26C, 29 • 
 
 Heliades, - - 
 
 - 295 
 
310 
 
 INDEX 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Halicon, - - 31,94 
 
 HSlios, - 49, 106, 295 
 Hellanodicae, - 77 
 
 Hellg, --- - 266 
 Hellen- - - - 59 
 
 Hephsestos, - 154, 158 
 HSra, - - - 70,79 
 
 Heracles, - - 219, 222 
 
 Heraea, - - - 82 
 
 Hercules , 58, 214, 222 
 
 Hermes, - - - 172 
 
 Herse, - - - - 30 
 
 H&siong, - - - 235 
 
 Hesperides, 31, 54, 232 
 Hestia, - - - 84 
 
 H:ppocr&n£, - 94 
 
 Hippodamia, 259, 288 
 Hippodromus, - 95 
 
 Hippolytos, - 240, 261 
 Hippomedon, - 285 
 Honos. - - - - 209 
 
 HGrae, - - - - 196 
 Hyacinthos, - - 30 
 
 Hyades, - - - 52 
 
 Hydra, - 39, 40, 229 
 
 Hi/ems, - - - 197 
 
 Hygeia, - - - 206 
 
 Hvlas, .... 269 
 Hyllos, - - - 238 
 
 Hymen, - - - 208 
 
 Hyperion, - 41, 49 
 
 Hypermnestra, - 213 
 HypsipylS, - - 286 
 
 Janus , - - 
 
 Japetos, - 
 Iasion, - - 
 Iaso, - - 
 lasos, - - 
 Jason, - - 
 Icarios, 
 Icaros, - - 
 Idas, - - 
 Idomeneus, 
 Iiaira, - - 
 Inachos, - 
 Indigetes, - 
 Ino, - - 
 16, - - - 
 IobatSs, - 
 Jocasta, - 
 Iolaos, 
 
 Iole, - - 
 Iphiclfcs, - 
 Iphigeneia, 
 Iphitos, - 
 
 - 62,207 
 
 - 41, 52 
 
 - - 59 
 
 - - 206 
 
 - - 47 
 
 - - 264 
 
 - - 244 
 
 - - 240 
 
 - - 263 
 
 - - 253 
 
 - - 263 
 44, 45, 58 
 
 - - 212 
 
 - 243, 280 
 
 - .46, 47 
 
 - - 221 
 - - 282 
 
 - 264, 275 
 
 - - 236 
 
 - - 225 
 
 - - 291 
 
 - - 236 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Irene, - - - - 196 
 
 Iris, - - - 37, 109 
 
 Isis, - - - 46, 136 
 
 Ism6n6, - - - 284 
 
 Isthmian Games, 79,96 
 Juno, - - 62, 68, 79 
 
 Jupiter , - 62, 67, 180 
 
 Jupiter JEgiochus , 157 
 Jupiter Ammon , 73 
 
 Jupiter Capitolinus , 73 
 Jupiter Fulminans , 73 
 Jupiter Fulgetra , 73 
 
 Jupiter Tonans, 73 
 Juventas , - - - 204 
 
 Ixion, - - - - 177 
 
 Kratos, - - - 52 
 
 Kronos, - - 41, 60 
 
 Lachesis, - - - 25 
 
 Laios, - - - - 281 
 Lampetia, - - 295 
 Laodamas, - - 288 
 Lapiths, - - - 259 
 Lares, - - 184, 186 
 Lasthenes, - - 286 
 Latona, - - 50, 134 
 Leimonaides, - 42 
 
 LSthe, - - - 100 
 Lfitu, - - - 134, 294 
 Leucippe, - - 244 
 Leucippos, - - 263 
 Lcucothea, - - 280 
 LibertaSy - - - 203 
 
 Libya, - - - - 213 
 Lichas, - - - 237 
 Limniades, - - 42 
 
 Linus, - - - - 226 
 Luna , - - - 49 
 
 Lupercus , - - - 24 
 
 Lupercalia , - - 24 
 
 Luperci , - - - 24 
 
 Lybia, - - - - 46 
 
 Lycomedes, - - 261 
 Lycos, - - 271,281 
 Lycurgos, - 243, 286 
 Lynceus, - - 214, 268 
 
 MachaOn, - - - 206 
 Maenades, - 247,298 
 Maia, - - - - 172 
 
 Mars, - - - 140, 180 
 Marsyas, - - 148, 192 
 Medeia, - - - 272 
 Medusa, - - 38 215 
 Megaera, - - - 30 
 
 page 
 
 Megara, - - - 235 
 
 MeJanippos, 286 
 
 Meiiades, - - - 42 
 
 Meleager , - - 59, 277 
 
 Meieagros, - 287, 277 
 Melicert&s, - 97, 2°0 
 Melpomen£, - - 2uQ 
 Menelaos, - - 166, 290 
 Menoetios, 52, 54, 267 
 Mercurius , 91, 172, 180 
 Mestor, - - - 223 
 
 Metis, - - - - 68 
 
 Midas, - - - - 30 
 
 Minerva , 69, 145, 180 
 
 Minos, - - - 248 
 
 Minotaur, - - 251, 256 
 
 Minyas, - - - 244 
 
 Mnemosyne, - 41, 199 
 Moirae, - - 25, 185 
 
 Momus, - - - 34 
 
 Morpheus, - - 33 
 
 Mors, - - - - 32 
 
 Musagetes, - - 129 
 Muses, - - - 199 
 
 Mvrtilos, - - 289 
 
 Naiades, - - - 42 
 
 Napaeae, - - - 42 
 
 Narcissos, - - 30 
 
 Nectar, - - - 68 
 
 N&leus, - - 264, 267 
 
 Neinaean Lion, 39, 228 
 Nemesis, - - - 28 
 
 Nemesia, - - 29 
 
 Nephele, - - - 266 
 
 Neptunus , 62, 93, 180 
 
 Nereides, - - 35 
 
 NSreus, - - 35, 217 
 
 Nessos, - - - 236 
 
 Nestor, - - - 259 
 
 Nike, - - - - 52 
 
 Nisos, - - - - 251 
 
 Nox, - - - - 20 
 
 Nycteis, - - - 281 
 
 Nycteus, - - - 281 
 
 Nymphs, - - 42. 191 
 
 Nysa, - - - 177, 243 
 
 Oceanides, - - 43 
 
 Oceanos, - 35, 43 
 
 Ocypet£, - - - 37 
 
 CEdipus, - - 41, 282 
 OSneus, - - 235. 277 
 CEnomaos, - - 288 
 Ogyges, - - - 58 
 
 Olympic Games, 75 
 
INDEX, 
 
 311 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Cl, mpes - - - 45 
 
 OmpLai' - 177,236 
 
 OpreP^s. • - 286 
 
 Oicus, - - - 235 
 
 Oreiades, - - - 41 
 
 OrestSs, - - - 291 
 Orpheus, - - 267, 297 
 Orthrus, - - - 39 
 
 Drtygia, - - - 45 
 
 Palaemon, - - 97, 280 
 Pales, - - - - 208 
 Palladium, - - 157 
 
 Pallas, - - - 52, 255 
 Pallas-AthenS, - 146 
 
 Pan, - - - - 22 
 
 Panacea, - - - 206 
 Panathenae - - 150 
 
 Panaora, - - - 56 
 
 Parcce, - - 25 100 
 Paris, - - - - 166 
 
 Parthenon, - - 158 
 
 Parthenopaeos, - 285 
 Pasiphae, - 240, 250 
 Patroclos, - 27, 267 
 Pax, - - - - 209 
 
 Pegasos, - - - 94 
 
 Peithu, - - - 253 
 
 Pelagon, - - - 279 
 Peleus, - - - 36 
 
 Pelias, - - - 264, 276 
 
 Pelion, - - - 259 
 
 Pelopidae, - - - 283 
 Pelops, - - - 288 
 
 Penates , - - 86, 186 
 
 Peneus, - - - 44 
 
 Pentheus, - 244, 280 
 Perphrddu, - - 38 
 
 PeriphratSs, - - 253 
 Perseis, - - - 250 
 
 Perses, - - 50, 52 
 
 Persephone. 50,99, 171 
 Perseus, - 33, 53, 213 
 
 Phaedra, - - 250,261 
 Phaethon, - - 294 
 Phaettyusa, - - 295 
 Pheione, - - - 52 
 
 Philemon, - - 296 
 Philoct&tSs, - - 238 
 Phineus, - - 37,270 
 Phlegethon, - - 100 
 
 Phoebe, - - 41,50 
 
 Phoebos-Apollo, 121 
 Phoenix, - - 248, 279 
 
 Phorbas, - - - 282 
 
 PhorcyF. - - - 38 
 
 Phoroneus, 
 
 . 
 
 TAOE 
 
 - 46 
 
 Phrixos, - 
 
 _ 
 
 - 266 
 
 Pirithods, - 
 
 - 
 
 - 259 
 
 Pittheus, - 
 
 - 
 
 - 253 
 
 Pleiades, - 
 
 - 
 
 - 52 
 
 Pluto, - - 
 
 - 
 
 62, 98 
 
 Plutus, 
 
 _ 
 
 - 203 
 
 Podaleirios, 
 
 - 
 
 - 206 
 
 Poe as, - - 
 
 - 
 
 - 238 
 
 Pollux , 
 
 - 
 
 - 262 
 
 Polybos, 
 
 - 
 
 - 282 
 
 Polydectds, 
 
 - 
 
 - 214 
 
 Polydeukds, 
 
 - 
 
 - 262 
 
 PolydOros, 
 
 - 
 
 - 280 
 
 Polyhymnia, 
 
 - 
 
 - 202 
 
 Polyneic&s, 
 
 - 
 
 284, 286 
 
 PolyphSmos, 
 
 
 36, 93 
 
 Polyphontes, 
 
 
 282, 286 
 
 Pomona, - 
 
 - 
 
 - 209 
 
 Pontos, 
 
 - 
 
 - 35 
 
 PorphyriOn, 
 
 - 
 
 - 41 
 
 Poseidon, - 
 
 36, 46, 93 
 
 Priamos, - 
 
 - 
 
 - 177 
 
 Priapos, - 
 
 - 
 
 - 193 
 
 Procrustes, 
 
 - 
 
 - 255 
 
 Proetos, - 
 
 - 
 
 214, 218 
 
 Prometheus, 
 
 - 
 
 52, 54 
 
 Proserpina, 
 
 - 
 
 - 100 
 
 Proteus, - 
 
 - 
 
 - 204 
 
 Psych&, - 
 
 - 
 
 - 298 
 
 Pterolaos, - 
 
 - 
 
 - 223 
 
 Pylades, - 
 
 - 
 
 - 292 
 
 Pyrrha, 
 
 - 
 
 - 58 
 
 Pythia, 
 
 - 
 
 - 131 
 
 Pythian Games, 79,132 
 
 Pytho, - - 
 
 _ 
 
 - 124 
 
 Python, - 
 
 - 
 
 - 125 
 
 Rhadamanthys 
 
 j, - 243 
 
 Rhamnus, 
 
 - 
 
 - 29 
 
 Rhea, - - 
 
 41,60,243 
 
 Rhoecos, - 
 
 - 
 
 - 42 
 
 Rhoetos, - 
 
 - 
 
 - 41 
 
 Rivers, 
 
 - 
 
 - 44 
 
 Salmoneus, 
 
 _ 
 
 - 264 
 
 Salmydessus, 
 
 - 270 
 
 Sarpedon, 
 
 - 
 
 27, 249 
 
 Saturn, 
 
 - 
 
 41,60 
 
 Saturnalia, 
 
 - 
 
 - 63 
 
 Satyrs, 
 
 - 
 
 - 193 
 
 Scamandros, 
 
 - 
 
 - 44 
 
 ScirOn, 
 
 . 
 
 - 254 
 
 Scylla, - - 
 
 - 
 
 251, 274 
 
 seiene, - 
 
 - 
 
 - 137 
 
 SemelA 
 
 - 
 
 - 242 
 
 FACE 
 
 Semones, - - - 212 
 Sitenos, - - - 192 
 Sinis, - - - - 254 
 Sirens, - - - 274 
 Sisyphos, 102, 220, 264 
 
 Sol, 49 
 
 Somnas, - - - 32 
 
 Sphinx, - 39, 40, 283 
 SteropSs, - - - 41 
 
 Sthenelos, - 219, 224 
 Sthei'no, - - 38.216 
 Strophades, - - 270 
 Strophios, - - 291 
 Sjtymphalides, - 230 
 Styx, - 34, 48, 52, 101 
 Sylvanus, - - - 195 
 
 Symplegades, - 270 
 
 Tantalos, 102, 288, 300 
 Taphians, - - 223 
 Taphios, - - - 223 
 Tartarus, - - - 99 
 
 Telamon, - - - 267 
 Teleboans, - - 223 
 Telephassa, - - 278 
 Telesphoros, - 206 
 Per minus, - - 208 
 Terpsichore, - - 200 
 Terra, - - - 19 
 
 Tethys, - - 41, 43 
 
 Thalia, - - 198, 201 
 Thallu, - - - 197 
 Thasos, --- 278 
 Thaumas, - - 37 
 
 Theban War, - 285 
 Theia, - - - 41, 49 
 
 Themis, - - 41, 195 
 Thersandros, - 283 
 
 Theseus, - - - 253 
 Thestias, - - - 262 
 Thetis, - - 36, 69, 293 
 Thoas, - - - - 286 
 Thyestes, - - 289 
 Thyone, - - - 245 
 Tiphys, - - 271 
 
 Tisiphone, - 30 
 
 Titans, - - 41 
 
 Titanides, - - 41 
 
 Triptolemos, - - 110 
 Triton, - - - 275 
 Tros, - - - - 203 
 Tydeus, - - 277, 285 
 Tyndareos, - 262, 291 
 TyphOeus, - - 39 
 
 Tvphon, - - - 125 
 
 Tyro, 264 
 
312 
 
 INDEX, 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Ulysses, - - 28, 104 
 Urania, - - 172, 202 
 
 Uranos, - - - 43 
 
 Venus, 142, 165, 180 
 Ver, - - - 197 
 
 Veritax, - - - 209 
 
 PA GE 
 
 Vertumnus, - - 203 
 
 Vesta, 62, 68, 84, 180 
 Vestalia, - - - 91 
 
 Vestals, - - - 87 
 
 Vest ib alum, - - 86 
 
 Victory, - - 52,209 
 Virtus - - - 209 
 
 pag a 
 
 Vulcdnus, - - 158, 18C 
 
 Zelos, - - - - 52 
 
 Zephyros, 49, 209, 299 
 ZStes, - - - 267 
 
 Zethos, - - - 281 
 
 Zeua, - - - - fc? 
 
PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY. 
 
 In all cases where a vowel is not marked long, — thus, A, — it is short, 
 
 ABSYRTOS .... 
 
 
 
 ABYLA 
 
 
 
 ACHELOOS .... 
 
 
 
 ACHERON 
 
 
 
 ACHERUSIA . . . 
 
 
 
 ACHILLES 
 
 
 
 ACHILLEUS.. .. 
 
 
 
 ACIS 
 
 
 
 ACRISIOS 
 
 
 
 ACTION 
 
 
 
 ACTOR 
 
 
 
 ADMETOS 
 
 
 
 ADONIS 
 
 •••••• 
 
 A-do'-nis. 
 
 ADRASTOS . . . . 
 
 
 
 iEACOS 
 
 
 
 MMk 
 
 
 
 J5ETES 
 
 
 
 HiGEUS 
 
 
 
 JEGIALEUS .... 
 
 
 ( E-ji'-a-lus, or 
 ( E-ji-a'-le-us. 
 
 HJGINA 
 
 
 
 iEGIS 
 
 
 
 ^EGISTHOS .... 
 
 
 
 JEGLE ......... 
 
 
 
2 
 
 PRONOUNCING VOCABULAP.Y. 
 
 ZEGYPTOS 
 
 . E-jip'-tos. 
 
 JENEIAS 
 
 . E-ne'-as. 
 
 ^EOLOS 
 
 . E'-o-los. 
 
 HSSACOS 
 
 . Es'-a-kos. 
 
 AESCULAPIUS 
 
 . Es-ku-la'-pi-us. 
 
 HSSON 
 
 . E'-son. 
 
 AESTAS 
 
 . Es'-tas. 
 
 ^ETHRA 
 
 . E'-thra. 
 
 AELLO 
 
 . A-el'-lo. 
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 . Ag-a-mem'-non. 
 
 AGANIPPE 
 
 . Ag-a-nip'-pe. 
 
 AGAUE 
 
 . A-gaw'-e (A-ga j 
 
 AGENOR 
 
 . A-je'-nor. 
 
 AGLAIA 
 
 . Ag-la' i-a. 
 
 AGLAIOPHEME 
 
 . Ag-la-o-fe'-me. 
 
 AGYRTES 
 
 . A-jyr'-tez. 
 
 AIDES 
 
 . A'-i-dez. 
 
 AJAX 
 
 . A'-jax. 
 
 ALOEOS 
 
 . Al-se'-os. 
 
 ALCATHOE 
 
 . Al-kath'-o-e. 
 
 ALCESTIS 
 
 . Al-ses'-tis. 
 
 ALCIMEDE 
 
 . Al-sim'-e-de. 
 
 ALCINOOS 
 
 . Al-sin'-o-os. 
 
 ALCMENA 
 
 . Alk-me'-na. 
 
 ALCYONEUS 
 
 j Al-si'-o-nus, or 
 ( Al-si-o'-ne-us. 
 
 ALECTO 
 
 . A-lek'-to. 
 
 ALOEIDS 
 
 . A-lo'-e-ids. 
 
 ALPHEIOS 
 
 . Al-fe'-os. 
 
 ALTHEA 
 
 . Al-the'-a. 
 
 AMALTHEIA 
 
 . Am-al-the'-ya. 
 
 AMAZONES 
 
 . A-maz'-o-nez. 
 
 AMBROSIA 
 
 . Am-bro'-shi-a. 
 
 AMICITIA 
 
 . Am-i-sish'-i-a. 
 
 AMPHIARAOS 
 
 . Am-fi-a-ra'-os. 
 
PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY. 
 
 AMPHION 
 
 
 
 AMPH ITRITE .... 
 
 
 
 AMPHITRYON . . . 
 
 
 
 AMPHYCTYON .. 
 
 
 
 AMULIUS 
 
 
 
 AMYCOS 
 
 
 
 ANAXOS 
 
 
 
 ANCJEOS 
 
 
 
 ANCHISES 
 
 
 
 ANDROGEOS .... 
 
 
 
 ANDROMACHE . . . 
 
 
 
 ANDROMEDA .... 
 
 
 
 ANEMOI 
 
 
 
 ANTiEA 
 
 
 
 ANTJEOS 
 
 
 
 ANTEROS 
 
 
 
 ANTIGONE 
 
 
 
 ANTIOPE 
 
 
 
 APHAREUS 
 
 
 j Af'-a-rus, or 
 { Af-a-re'-us. 
 
 APHRODITE 
 
 
 
 APOLLO 
 
 
 
 ARACHNE 
 
 
 
 ARCHEMORUS. . . 
 
 
 
 AREIOPAGOS 
 
 
 
 . . . A-re-op'-a-gos. 
 
 AREOPE 
 
 
 
 ARES 
 
 
 
 ARETHUSA 
 
 
 
 ARGES 
 
 
 
 ARGO 
 
 
 
 ARGONAUTS 
 
 
 
 ARGOS 
 
 
 
 ARGUS 
 
 
 
 ARIADNE 
 
 
 
 ARION 
 
 
 
4 
 
 PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY. 
 
 ARIST^EOS . . . 
 ARISTIPPE . . , 
 
 ARTEMIS 
 
 ASCALAPHOS 
 ASCLEPIOS . . . 
 ASSARACOS . . 
 AST ARTE .... 
 
 ASTERIA 
 
 ASTERION. . . . 
 
 ASTRJ5A 
 
 ASTR^EOS 
 ASTYANAX . . 
 ASTYOCHE . . . 
 ATALANTA. . . 
 
 ATE 
 
 ATHAMAS. . . . 
 
 ATHENA 
 
 ATLANTIDES . 
 
 ATLAS 
 
 ATREUS 
 
 ATROPOS .... 
 
 ATTIS 
 
 AUGEAS 
 
 AURORA 
 
 AUTOLICUS . . 
 AUTONOE. . . . 
 AUTUMNUS . . 
 AVERNUS .... 
 
 BELLEROPHON . . . « 
 BELLEROPHONTES 
 
 Ar-IS-TE' OSi 
 
 Ar-is-tip'-pe. 
 
 Ar'-te-mis. 
 
 As-kal'-a-fos. 
 
 As-kle'-pi-os. 
 
 As-sar'-a-kos. 
 
 As-tar'-te. 
 
 As-te'-ri-a. 
 
 As-te'-ri-on. 
 
 As-tre'-a. 
 
 As-tre'-os. 
 
 As-ti'-a-nax. 
 
 As-ti'-o-ke. 
 
 At-a-lan'-ta. 
 
 A'-te. 
 
 Ath'-a-mas. 
 
 A-the'-na. 
 
 At-lan'-ti-dez. 
 
 At'-las. 
 
 A'-trus, or A'-tre-us. 
 At'-ro-pos. 
 
 At'-tis. 
 
 Aw'-je-as. 
 
 Aw-ro'-ra. 
 
 Aw-tol'-i-kus. 
 
 Aw-ton'-o-e. 
 
 Aw-tum'-nus. 
 
 A-ver'-nus. 
 
 Bak'-ke. 
 
 Bak-kan'-tez. 
 
 Bak'-kos. 
 
 Baw'-sib. 
 
 Bel-ler'-o-fon. 
 
 Bel-ler-o-fon'-tes. 
 
 BACCPLE 
 
 BACCHANTES 
 BACCHOS .... 
 BAUCIS 
 
PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY. 
 
 5 
 
 BELLONA Bel-lo'-na. 
 
 BELOS Be'-los. 
 
 BIA BI'-a. 
 
 BITON Bi'-ton. 
 
 BCEOTIA Be-o'-shi-a. 
 
 BOREAS Bo'-re-as. 
 
 BRIAREOS Bri-a'-re-os. 
 
 BRISEIS Bri-se'-is. 
 
 BRONTES Bron'-tes. 
 
 BUCOLION Bu-ko'-li-on. 
 
 BUSIRIS Bu-si'-ris. 
 
 OABEIRI Ka-bi'-ri. 
 
 CACUS.. Ka'-kus. 
 
 CADMOS Kad'-mos. 
 
 C ADU CEU S K a-du'-she-us. 
 
 CALAIS * Kal'-a-is. 
 
 CALCHAS Kal'-kas. 
 
 CALLIDICE Kal-lid'-i-ce. 
 
 CALLIOPE Kal-lP-o-pe. 
 
 C ALLIRRHOE Kal-lir'-ro-e. 
 
 CALPE Kal'-pe. 
 
 CALYBE Kal'-i-be. 
 
 CALYDONIAN (Chase) Kal-i-do'-ni-an. 
 
 CALYPSO Ka-lip'-so. 
 
 CAMEN JS Ka-me'-ne. 
 
 CANEPHORES Ka-nef'-o-rez. 
 
 CAPANEUS j Kap '- a -™ s > or 
 
 ( Ka-pa'-ne-us. 
 
 CARMENTA Kar-men'-ta. 
 
 CARPO Kar'-po. 
 
 CASSANDRA Kas -san'-dra. 
 
 CASSIOPEIA Kas-si-o-pe'-ya. 
 
 CASTOR Kas'-tor. 
 
 CECROPS Se'-krops. 
 
6 
 
 PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY. 
 
 CELJENO 
 
 
 . . Se-le'-no. 
 
 CENEUS 
 
 
 . . Se'-nus, or Se'-ne-us 
 
 CENTAURS 
 
 
 . . Sen'-tawrs. 
 
 CEPHALOS 
 
 
 . . Sef'-a-los. 
 
 CEPHEUS 
 
 
 . . Se'-fus, or Se'-fe-us. 
 
 CERBEROS 
 
 
 . . Ser'-be-ros. 
 
 CERCYON 
 
 
 . . Ser'-shi-on. 
 
 CERES 
 
 
 . . Se'-rez. 
 
 CETO 
 
 *' 
 
 . . Se'-to. 
 
 CEYX 
 
 
 . . Se'-ix. 
 
 CHAOS 
 
 
 . . Ka'-os. 
 
 CHARITES 
 
 
 ► . Kar'-i-tez. 
 
 CHARON 
 
 
 , . Ka'-ron. 
 
 CHARYBDIS 
 
 
 . . Ka-rib'-dis. 
 
 CHEIRON 
 
 
 , . Ki'-ron. 
 
 CHEVLERA 
 
 
 , . Ki-me'-ra. 
 
 CHRYSAOR 
 
 
 . • Kri-sa'-or. 
 
 CHRYSEIS 
 
 
 , . Kri-se'-is. 
 
 CHRYSIPPOS 
 
 
 , . Kri-sip'-pos. 
 
 CILIX 
 
 
 . Si'-Lix. 
 
 CIRCE 
 
 
 . Sir'-se. 
 
 CmBERON 
 
 
 , . Si-the'-ron. 
 
 CLEOBIS 
 
 
 , . Kle'-o-bis. 
 
 CLEOPATRA 
 
 
 . Kle-o-pa'-tra. 
 
 CLIO 
 
 
 . Kli'-o. 
 
 CLOTHO 
 
 
 , . Klo'-tho. 
 
 CLYMENE 
 
 
 , . Klim'-e-ne. 
 
 CLYTEMNESTRA . . . 
 
 
 , . Klit-em-nes'-tra. 
 
 CLYTIA 
 
 
 . Kli'-shi-a. 
 
 CLYTIOS 
 
 
 . Kli'-shi-os. 
 
 COCALOS 
 
 
 . Kok'-a-los. 
 
 COCYTUS 
 
 
 . Ko-si'-tcts. 
 
 CCELUS 
 
 
 . Se'-lus. 
 
 CCEOS 
 
 
 . Se'-os. 
 
 COIOS 
 
 
 . Ko'-i-os. 
 
PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY. 
 
 1 
 
 COMPITALIA 
 
 COMUS 
 
 CONNIDOS 
 
 CONSUALIA 
 
 CONSUS 
 
 CORNUCOPIA 
 
 CORYBANTES 
 
 COTTOS 
 
 CREON : 
 
 CRETAN (Bull) 
 
 CRETHEUS < 
 
 CREUSA 
 
 CRIOS 
 
 CROMEDON 
 
 CROMYONIAN (Swine) 
 
 CUPIDO 
 
 CURETES 
 
 CYANE^E 
 
 CYBELE 
 
 CYCNOS 
 
 CYCLOPES 
 
 CYPARISSOS 
 
 CYTHERJ3A 
 
 CYZICUS 
 
 Kom-pi-ta'-li-a. 
 
 Ko'-mus. 
 
 Kon'-ni-dos. 
 
 Kon-su-a'-li-a. 
 
 Kon'-sus. 
 
 Kor-nu-ko'-pi-a, 
 
 Kor-i-ban'-tez. 
 
 Kot'-tos. 
 
 Kre'-on. 
 
 Kre'-tan. 
 
 [ Kre'-thus, or 
 ! Kre'-the-us. 
 Kre-u'-sa. 
 Kri'-os. 
 Krom'-e-don. 
 Krom-i-o '-n i-a n. 
 Ku-pi'-do. 
 Ku-re'-tez. 
 Si-a'-ne-e. 
 Sib'-e-le. 
 Sik'-nos. 
 Sl-KLo'-PEZ. 
 SlP-A-RIs'-SOS. 
 Sith-e-re'-a. 
 Siz'-I-KUS. 
 
 D^EDALOS 
 
 DAEMONS 
 
 DAMASTES 
 
 DANAE 
 
 DAN AIDES 
 
 DANAOS 
 
 DAPHNE 
 
 DAPHNEPHORIA 
 
 DARDANOS 
 
 Ded'-a-los. 
 
 De'-mons. 
 
 Da-mas'-tez* 
 
 Dan'-a-e. 
 
 Da-na'-i-dez. 
 
 Dan'-a-os. 
 
 Daf'-ne. 
 
 Daf-ne-fo'-ri-a. 
 
 Dar'-da-nos. 
 
8 
 
 PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY. 
 
 DEIANEIRA 
 DEIDAMEIA 
 DEINO 
 
 DEIONEUS . 
 
 De-ya-nP-ra. 
 
 De-id-a-mP-a. 
 
 DP-no. 
 
 De-P-o-nus, or 
 De-i-o'-ne-us. 
 
 DEIPHOBOS . . 
 
 DELPHI . 
 
 DEMETER 
 DEMOGORGON 
 DEUCALION . . 
 
 DIA 
 
 DIANA 
 
 DIKE 
 
 DIOCLES 
 
 DIOMEDES . . . 
 
 DIONE 
 
 DIONYSIA ... 
 DIONYSOS ... 
 DIOSCURI 
 
 DIRCE 
 
 DORIS 
 
 DRYADES 
 
 DRY AS 
 
 DYCTIS 
 
 DYMAS 
 
 De-if'-o-bos. 
 
 Del'-fi. 
 
 De-me'-ter. 
 
 Dem-o-gor'-gon. 
 
 Du-ka'-li-on. 
 
 Di'-a. 
 
 Di-a'-na. 
 
 DP-ke. 
 
 DP-o-klez. 
 
 Di-o-me'-dez. 
 
 Di-o'-ne. 
 
 Di-o-ni'-shi-a. 
 
 Di-o-nP-sos. 
 
 Di-os-ku'-ri. 
 
 Dir'-se. 
 
 Dorris. 
 
 DrP-a-dez. 
 
 DrP-as. 
 
 DiiP-tis. 
 
 Dr -mas. 
 
 ECHIDNA . . 
 ECHION .... 
 EGERIA .... 
 EGYPTOS .. 
 ELECTRA. . . 
 ELECTRYON 
 ELEUS 
 
 E-kid'-na. 
 
 E-kP-on. 
 
 E-je'-ri-a. 
 
 E-jyp'-tos. 
 
 E-lek'-tra. 
 
 E-lek'-tri-on. 
 
 E^LE-tS. 
 
 ELEUSINIAN (Mysteries) .... El-u-sin'-i-an. 
 ELEUSIS E-lu'-sis. 
 
PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY. 
 
 ELYSIAN (Fields) 
 
 E-liz h'-i- an. 
 
 ENCELADOS 
 
 En-sel'-a-dos. 
 
 ENDYMION 
 
 En-dym'-i-on. 
 
 ENYO 
 
 E-ni'-o. 
 
 EOLUS 
 
 E'-o-lus. 
 
 EOS 
 
 E'-os. 
 
 EOSPHOROS 
 
 E-osf'-o-ros. 
 
 EPAPHOS 
 
 Ep'-a-fos. 
 
 EPHESUS 
 
 Ef'-e-sus. 
 
 EPHIALTES 
 
 E-fi-al'-tez. 
 
 EPIGONES 
 
 E-pig'-o-nez. 
 
 EPIMETHEUS -j 
 
 [ Ep-i-me'-thus, or 
 ! Ep-i-me'-the-us. 
 
 EPOPEUS j 
 
 [ E-po'-pus, or 
 ! E-po'-pe-us. 
 
 ERATO 
 
 Er'-a-to. 
 
 EREBOS 
 
 Er'-e-bos. 
 
 ERECTHEUS ' 
 
 j E-rek'-thus, or 
 t E-rek'-the-us. 
 
 ERICHTHONIOS 
 
 Er-ik-tho'-ni-os. 
 
 ERIDANOS 
 
 E-rid'-a-nos. 
 
 ERIGONE 
 
 E-rig'-o-ne. 
 
 ERINNYES 
 
 E-rin'-ni-ez. 
 
 ERIPHYLE 
 
 Er-i-fi'-le. 
 
 ERIS 
 
 E'-ris. 
 
 ERISICHTHON 
 
 Er-i-sik'-thon. 
 
 EROS 
 
 E'-ros. 
 
 ERYMANTHIAN (Boar) 
 
 Er-I-MAN '-THI-AN. 
 
 ERYTHEIA 
 
 Er-i-thi'-a. 
 
 ERYX 
 
 E'-rix. 
 
 ETEOCLES 
 
 E-te'-o-klez. 
 
 EUADES 
 
 U'-A-DEZ. 
 
 EUENOS 
 
 U-e'-nos. 
 
 EUERES 
 
 U-e'-rez. 
 
 EUM^EOS 
 
 U-me'-os. 
 
10 
 
 PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY. 
 
 EUMENIDES 
 
 U-MEN'-I-DEZ. 
 
 EUMOLPOS 
 
 U-mol'-pos. 
 
 EUNOMIA 
 
 U-NO'-MI-A. 
 
 EUPHROSYNE 
 
 U-FROS'-I-NE. 
 
 EUROPA 
 
 U-RO'-PA. 
 
 EUROS 
 
 U'-ROS. 
 
 EURYALE 
 
 U-Rl'-A-LE. 
 
 EURYBIA 
 
 U-rib'-i-a. 
 
 EURYDICE 
 
 U-RID'-I-SE. 
 
 EURYNOME 
 
 U-rin'-o-me. 
 
 EURYSTHEUS 
 
 U-RIS'-THUS. 
 
 EURYTION 
 
 TJ"Rit / -i-on. 
 
 EURYTOS 
 
 U'-RI-TUS. 
 
 EUTERPE 
 
 U-ter'-pe. 
 
 EVANDER 
 
 E-van'-der. 
 
 FAUNS 
 
 Fawns. 
 
 FAUSTULUS 
 
 Faw'-stu-lus. 
 
 FELICITAS 
 
 Fe-lis'-i-tas. 
 
 FERONIA 
 
 Fe-ro / -ni-a. 
 
 FID.ELITAS 
 
 Fi-dei/-i-tas. 
 
 FLORA 
 
 Flo'-ra. 
 
 FORTITUDO 
 
 For-ti-tu'-do. 
 
 FORTUNA 
 
 For-tu'-na. 
 
 GALATJEA 
 
 Gal-a-te'-a. 
 
 GANYMEDE 
 
 Gan-i-me'-de. 
 
 GANYMEDES 
 
 Gan-i-me'-dez, 
 
 GE 
 
 Je. 
 
 GELANOR 
 
 Je-la'-nor. 
 
 GENII 
 
 Je'-ni-i. 
 
 GERYON 
 
 Je'-ri-on. 
 
 GIGON 
 
 Jl'-GON. 
 
 GLAUCOS 
 
 Glaw'-kos. 
 
 GORGONS 
 
 Gor'-gonz. 
 
GRJBLE 
 GYES . 
 
 PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY. 
 
 11 
 
 Gre-e. 
 
 Jl'-EZ. 
 
 HADES Ha'-dez. 
 
 HADREUS \ Ha'-drus, or 
 
 ( Ha -DRE-US. 
 
 HJEMON 
 
 HALCYONE 
 
 HAMADRYADES . 
 
 HARMONIA 
 
 HARPIES 
 
 HEBE 
 
 HECABE 
 
 HECATE 
 
 HECATOMPEDON . . 
 
 HECTOR 
 
 HEIMARMENE 
 
 HELENA 
 
 HELIADES 
 
 HELICON 
 
 HELIOS 
 
 IIELLANODKLE . . . . 
 
 HELLE 
 
 HELLEN 
 
 HEPHJESTOS 
 
 HERA 
 
 HERACLES 
 
 HER^EA 
 
 HERCULES 
 
 HERMAPHRODITOS 
 
 HERMES 
 
 HERSE 
 
 HESIONE 
 
 HESPERIDES 
 
 HESTIA 
 
 He'-mon. 
 
 Hal-si'-o-ne. 
 
 Ham-a-dri'-a-dez. 
 
 Har-mo'-ni-a. 
 
 Har'-pez. 
 
 He'-be. 
 
 Hek'-a-be. 
 
 Hek'-a-te. 
 
 Hek-a-tom'-pe-don. 
 
 Hek'-tor. 
 
 Hi-mar'-me-ne. 
 
 Hel'-e-na, 
 
 He-lT-a-dez. 
 
 Hel'-i-kon. 
 
 He'-li-os. 
 
 He l-l a- nod '-i- se. 
 Hel'-le. 
 
 Hel'-len. 
 
 He-fes'-tos. 
 
 He'-ra. 
 
 Her'-a-klez. 
 
 He-re'-a. 
 
 Her'-ku-lez. 
 
 Her-maf-ro-di'-tus. 
 
 Her'-mez. 
 
 Her'-se. 
 
 He-si'-o-ne. 
 
 Hes-per'-i-dez. 
 
 Hes'-ti-a. 
 
12 
 
 PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY. 
 
 HIKETAON 
 
 
 HILAEIRA 
 
 
 HIPPOCRENE 
 
 
 HIPPODAMIA 
 
 
 HIPPODROMUS 
 
 
 HIPPOLYTOS 
 
 
 HIPPOMEDON 
 
 
 HIPPOMENES 
 
 
 HONOS 
 
 
 HOR^E 
 
 
 HYACINTHOS 
 
 
 HYADES 
 
 
 HYDRA 
 
 
 HYEMS 
 
 
 HYGEIA 
 
 
 HYLAS 
 
 
 HYLJEOS 
 
 
 HYLLOS 
 
 
 HYMEN 
 
 
 HYMETTUS 
 
 
 HYPERBIUS 
 
 
 HYPERBOREANS .... 
 
 
 HYPERION 
 
 
 HYPERMNESTRA . . . . 
 
 
 HYPSIPYLE ......... 
 
 
 JANUS 
 
 
 JAPETOS 
 
 
 IASION 
 
 
 IASO 
 
 
 JASON 
 
 
 1ASOS 
 
 
 ICARIOS 
 
 
 ICAROS 
 
 
 IDAOA 
 
 
PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY. 
 
 ID^EA I-de'-a. 
 
 IDAS I'-das. 
 
 IDOMENEUS I-dom'-e-nus. 
 
 ILAIRA Il-a-i'-ra. 
 
 ILIA Il'-x-a. 
 
 ILION Il'-i-on. 
 
 ILOS I'-los. 
 
 INACHOS In'-a-kos. 
 
 INDIGETES In-dij'-e-tez. 
 
 INO E-no. 
 
 10 I'-o. 
 
 IOBATES I-ob'-a-tez. 
 
 JOCASTA Jo-kas'-ta. 
 
 IOLAOS I-o-la'-os. 
 
 IOLE I'-o-le. 
 
 IPHICLES If'-i-klez. 
 
 IPIIIGENEIA If-i-je-ni'-a. 
 
 IPHITOS If'-i-tos. 
 
 IRENE I-re'-ne. 
 
 IRIS I'-ris. 
 
 ISIS I'-sis. 
 
 ISMENE Is-me'-ne. 
 
 ISTHMIAN (Games) Isth'-mi-an. 
 
 1TYS P-TIS. 
 
 JUNO J&'-no. 
 
 JUPITER Ju'-px-ter. 
 
 JUVENTAS Ju-ven'-tas. 
 
 IXION Ix-I'-ON. 
 
 KELEOS Ke'-le-os. 
 
 KETO Ke'-to. 
 
 KRATOS Kra'-tos. 
 
 KRONOS Kro'-nos. 
 
 LABDACOS 
 
 Lab'-da-ixos. 
 
14 
 
 PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY. 
 
 LACHESIS 
 
 
 LAERTES 
 
 
 LiESTRY GONI ANS 
 
 
 LAIOS 
 
 
 LAMPETIA 
 
 
 LAMPOS 
 
 
 LAOCOON 
 
 
 LAODAMAS 
 
 
 LAOMEDON 
 
 
 LAPITHH3 
 
 
 LARARIA 
 
 
 LARENTIA 
 
 
 LARES 
 
 
 LASTHENES 
 
 
 LATONA 
 
 
 LEDA 
 
 
 LEIMONIADES 
 
 
 LERN^EAN (Hydra) 
 
 
 LETHE 
 
 
 LETO 
 
 
 LEUCIPPE 
 
 
 LEUCIPPOS 
 
 
 LEUCOTHEA 
 
 
 LEUCOTHOE 
 
 
 LIBERTAS 
 
 
 LIBYA 
 
 
 LICHAS 
 
 
 LIMNIADES 
 
 
 LIMUS 
 
 
 LOTUS (Eaters) 
 
 
 LUNA 
 
 
 LTJPERCALIA 
 
 
 LUPERCI 
 
 
 LUPERCUS 
 
 
 LYCOMEDES 
 
 
PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY. 
 
 15 
 
 LYCOS Li'-kos. 
 
 LYCURGOS Li-kur'-gos. 
 
 LYNCEUS Lin'-sus, or Lin-se'-us. 
 
 MACHAON . . 
 MJENADES .. 
 
 MAIA 
 
 MARS 
 
 MARSYAS . . . 
 
 MEDEIA 
 
 MEDUSA .... 
 MEGARA .... 
 MEGJER A .... 
 MEL ANION . . 
 MELANIPPOS 
 MELEAGER . . 
 MELEAGROS . 
 MELIADES .. 
 MELICERTA . 
 MELICERTES. 
 MELPOMENE 
 MEMNON 
 MENELAOS . . 
 MENCETIOS . . 
 MERCURIUS . 
 MEROPE .... 
 
 MESTOR 
 
 METANEIRA. 
 
 METIS 
 
 MIDAS 
 
 MILETOS 
 
 MILO 
 
 MINERVA . . . 
 
 MINOS 
 
 MINOTAUR . . 
 
 Ma-ka'-on. 
 
 Men'-a-dez. 
 
 Ma'-ya. 
 
 Marz. 
 
 Mar'-shi-as. 
 
 Me-de'-a. 
 
 Me-du'-sa. 
 
 Meg'-a-ra. 
 
 Me-je'-ra. 
 
 Me-la'-ni-on. 
 
 Mel-a-nip'-pus. 
 
 Me-le-a'-jer. 
 
 Me-le-a'-gros. 
 
 Me-li'-a-dez. 
 
 Mel-i-ser'-ta. 
 
 Mel-i-ser'-tez. 
 
 Mel-pom'-e-ke. 
 
 Mkm'-non. 
 
 Men-e-la'-os. 
 
 Me-ne'-shi-os. 
 
 Mer-ku'-ri-us. 
 
 Mer'-o-pe. 
 
 Mes'-tor. 
 
 Met-a-ni'-ra. 
 
 Mentis. 
 
 Mi'-das. 
 
 Mi-le'-tos. 
 
 Mi'-lo. 
 
 MI-ner'-va. 
 
 MI'-nos. 
 
 Min'-o-tawr. 
 
16 
 
 PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY. 
 
 MINYAS 
 
 MNEMOSYNE 
 
 MOIRJE 
 
 MOMUS 
 
 MORPHEUS . 
 
 MORS 
 
 MUSAGETES . 
 MYRTILOS. . . 
 
 Min'-i-as. 
 
 Ne-mos'-i-ne. 
 
 Moi'-re. 
 
 Mo'-mus. 
 
 Mor'-fus, or 
 
 Mor'-fe-us. 
 
 Morz. 
 
 Mu-saj'-e-tez. 
 
 Mir'-ti-los. 
 
 NAIADES 
 
 NAPJEJE 
 
 NARCISSOS 
 
 NAUSICAA 
 
 NAUSITHOOS... 
 
 NECTAR 
 
 NELEUS 
 
 NEM^EA 
 
 NEM^EAN (Lion) 
 
 NEMESIA 
 
 NEMESIS 
 
 NEPHELE 
 
 NEPTUNUS 
 
 NEREIDES 
 
 NEREUS 
 
 NESSOS 
 
 NESTOR 
 
 NIKE 
 
 NIOBE 
 
 N1SOS 
 
 NOTOS 
 
 NOX 
 
 NUMA 
 
 NUM1TOR 
 
 NYCTEIS 
 
 Na-I'-a-dez. 
 
 Na-pe'-e. 
 
 Nar-sis'-sos. 
 
 Naw-sik'-a-a. 
 
 Naw-sith'-o-os. 
 
 Nek'-tar. 
 
 Ne'-lus, or Ne'-le-us. 
 Ne-me'-a. 
 
 Ne-me'-an. 
 
 Ne-me'-shi-a. 
 
 Nem'-e-sis. 
 
 Nef'-e-le. 
 
 Nep-tu'-nus. 
 
 Ne-re'-i-dez. 
 
 Ne'-rus, or Ne'-re-us. 
 Nes'-sos. 
 
 Nes'-tor. 
 
 Ni'-ke. 
 
 NI'-o-be. 
 
 Ni'-sos. 
 
 No'-tos. 
 
 Nox. 
 
 Nu'-ma. 
 
 Nu'-mi-tor. 
 
 Nik-te'-is. 
 
PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY. 17 
 
 NYCTEUS 
 
 NYMPHOLEPSY 
 
 NYSA 
 
 Nik'-tus, or Nik'-tk-us. 
 
 NlM-FO-LEp'-SE. 
 
 Nf-SA. 
 
 OCEANIDES 
 
 OCEANOS 
 
 OCYPETE 
 
 ODYSSEUS j 
 
 CEBALUS 
 
 (EDIPUS 
 
 (ENEUS 
 
 (ENOMAOS 
 
 (ENONE 
 
 OGYGES 
 
 OLYMPIC (Games) 
 
 OLYMPOS 
 
 OMPHALE 
 
 OPHELTES 
 
 ORCIIAMOS 
 
 ORCUS 
 
 OREIADES 
 
 OREITHYIA 
 
 ORESTES 
 
 ORPHEUS 
 
 ORTIIARGES 
 
 ORTHRUS 
 
 ORTYGIA 
 
 OSSA 
 
 OTOS 
 
 0 -she-an'-i-dez. 
 
 O-be'-a-nos. 
 
 O-FIp'-E-TE. 
 
 [ 0-DI8 f BUS, or 
 [ 0-DJ*'-SE-US. 
 Eb'-a-lus. 
 
 Ed'-i-pus. 
 
 E'-Nua, or & '•vus. 
 E-nom'-a os. 
 
 E-no'-ks!. 
 
 Oj'-i-jez. 
 
 O-lim'-pir. 
 
 O-lim'-pos. 
 
 Om'-fa-le. 
 
 O-fel'-tez. 
 
 Or'-ka-mos. 
 
 Or'-kus. 
 
 O-re'-a-dez. 
 
 Or-i-thi'-ya. 
 
 O-res'-tez. 
 
 Or'-fus, or Of ?*-us. 
 
 Or-thar'-jez 
 
 Or'-thrus. 
 
 Or-tij'-i-a. 
 
 Os'-SA. 
 
 O'-TOS. m 
 
 PAL^EMON 
 
 PALES 
 
 PALLADIUM 
 
 Pa-le'-mon. 
 
 Pa'-lez. 
 
 Pal-la'-di-um 
 
 PALLAS . Pal'-las. 
 
18 
 
 PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY, 
 
 PANACEA 
 
 Pan-a-se'-a. 
 
 PANATHENJ3A 
 
 Pa-nath-e-ne'-a. 
 
 PANDION 
 
 Pan-di'-on. 
 
 PANDORA 
 
 Pan-do'-ra. 
 
 PARCAE 
 
 Par'-se. 
 
 PARIS 
 
 Par'-is. 
 
 PARTHENON 
 
 Par'-the-non. 
 
 PARTHEN0PJ20S 
 
 Par-then-o-pe'-os. 
 
 PASIPHAE 
 
 Pa-sif'-a-e. 
 
 PATROCLOS 
 
 Pa-tro'-clos. 
 
 PAX 
 
 Pax. 
 
 PEGASOS 
 
 Peg'-a-sos. 
 
 PEITHO 
 
 PF-THO. 
 
 PELAGON 
 
 Pel'-a-gon. 
 
 PELEUS 
 
 Pe-lus, or Pe'-le-us. 
 
 PELT AS 
 
 Pe'-li-as. 
 
 PELION 
 
 Pe'-li-on. 
 
 PELOPIA G 
 
 Pel-o-pF-a. 
 
 PELOPIDAE 
 
 Pe-lop'-i-de. 
 
 PELOPS 
 
 Pe'-lops. 
 
 PENATES 
 
 Pe-na'-tez. 
 
 PENELOPE 
 
 Pe-nel'-o-pe. 
 
 PENEUS 
 
 Pe-ne'-us/ 
 
 PENTATHLON 
 
 Pen-ta'-thlon. 
 
 PENTHESILEIA 
 
 Pen-the-si-le'-a. 
 
 PENTHEUS j 
 
 [ Pen'-thus, or 
 1 Pen'-the-us. 
 
 PERIPHRATES 
 
 Pe-rif'-ra-tez. 
 
 PERPHREDO 
 
 Per'-fre-do. 
 
 PERSEPHONE 
 
 Per-sef'-o-ne. 
 
 PERSES 
 
 Per'-sez. 
 
 PERSEUS - 
 
 j Per'-sus, or 
 t Per'-se-us. 
 
 PILEACIANS •, 
 
 Fe-a'-shi-ans, 
 
 PELEDRA 
 
 Fe'-dra. 
 
PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY. 
 
 19 
 
 PHAETHON 
 
 
 PHAETHUSA 
 
 
 PHEIONE 
 
 
 PHEMONOE 
 
 
 PHILEMON 
 
 
 PHILOCTETES 
 
 
 PHILOMELA 
 
 
 PHINEUS 
 
 
 PHLEGETIION 
 
 
 PHOBHiTER 
 
 
 PH(EBE 
 
 
 PHCEBOS (Apollo) 
 
 
 PHCENICE 
 
 
 PIKENIX 
 
 
 PHORBUS 
 
 
 PHORCYS 
 
 
 
 ( Fo-ro'-nus, or 
 
 PIIORONEU^. 
 
 f Fo-ro'-ne-us. 
 
 PIIOTLESJE 
 
 
 PHRIXOS 
 
 
 PIRITHOOS 
 
 
 PITTHEUS 
 
 j Pit '-thus, or 
 ( PiT-THjK'-US. 
 
 PLEIADES 
 
 
 PLUTO 
 
 
 PLUTUS 
 
 
 PODALEIRIOS 
 
 
 PODARKES 
 
 
 P(EAS 
 
 
 POLLUX 
 
 
 POLYBOS 
 
 
 POLYDECTES 
 
 
 POLYDEUKES 
 
 
 POLYDOROS 
 
 
 POLYHYMNIA 
 
 
20 
 
 PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY. 
 
 POLYNEICES 
 
 Pol-i-nP-sez. 
 
 POLYPHEMOS 
 
 Pol-i-fe'-mos. 
 
 POLYPHONTES •. . 
 
 PoL-I-FON'-TEZ. 
 
 POLYXENE 
 
 Po-Lix'-E- NE. 
 
 POMONA 
 
 Po-mo'-na. 
 
 PONTOS 
 
 Pon'-tos. 
 
 PORPHYRION 
 
 Por-fir'-i-on. 
 
 POSEIDON 
 
 Po-Sl'-DON. 
 
 PRIAMOS 
 
 Pri'-a-mos. 
 
 PRIAPOS 
 
 Pri-a'-pos. 
 
 PROCNE 
 
 Prok'-ne. 
 
 PROCRIS 
 
 Pro '-kris. 
 
 PROCRUSTES 
 
 Pro-krus'-tez. 
 
 PRCETOS 
 
 Prestos. 
 
 PROMETHEUS j 
 
 [ Pro-me'-thus, or 
 
 ! PrO-ME'-THE-US. 
 
 PROSERPINA 
 
 Pro-ser'-pi-na. 
 
 PROTEUS ' 
 
 [ Pro'-tus, or 
 l Pro'-te-us. 
 
 PSYCHE 
 
 Sl'-KE. 
 
 PTERELAOS 
 
 Ter-e-la'-os. 
 
 PYLADES 
 
 Pil'-a-dez. 
 
 PYRAMUS 
 
 Pir'-a-mus. 
 
 PYRRHA 
 
 Pir'-ra. 
 
 PYRRHUS 
 
 Pir'-rus. 
 
 PYTHIA 
 
 Pith'-i-a. 
 
 PYTHIAN (Games) 
 
 Pith'-i-an. 
 
 PYTHO 
 
 PI'-THO. 
 
 PYTHON 
 
 Pl'-THON. 
 
 REMUS 
 
 Re'-mus. 
 
 RHADAMANTHYS 
 
 Rad-a-man'*this. 
 
 RHAMNUS 
 
 Ram'-nus. 
 
 RHEA 
 
 Re '-a. 
 
 RHCECOS 
 
 Re '- cos. 
 
RHCETOS . 
 ROMULUS 
 
 PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY. 
 
 21 
 
 Re'-tos. 
 
 Rom'-u-lus. 
 
 SALII 
 
 SALMAEIS 
 
 SALMONEUS . 
 
 SARPEDON . . . 
 
 SATURN 
 
 SATURNALIA. 
 
 SATYRS 
 
 SCAMANDROS 
 
 SCIRON 
 
 SOYLLA 
 
 SELENE 
 
 Sa'-li-i. 
 
 Sal-ma'-e-is. 
 
 Sal-mo'-nus, or 
 
 Sal-mo'-ne-us. 
 
 Sar-pe'-don. 
 
 Sat'-urn. 
 
 Sat-ur-na'-u-a. 
 
 Sa'-tirs. 
 
 Ska-man'-dros. 
 
 Sl'-RON. 
 
 Sil'-la. 
 
 Se-le'-ne. 
 
 SEMELE 
 
 SEMONES.. 
 
 SILENOS 
 
 SIMOIS 
 
 SINIS 
 
 SINON 
 
 SIRENS 
 
 SISYPHOS 
 
 SOMNUS 
 
 SPHINX 
 
 SPHRAGITIAN (Nymphs) 
 
 STEROPES 
 
 STHEINO 
 
 STHENELEOS 
 
 STROPHADES 
 
 STROPHIOS 
 
 STRYMO 
 
 STYMPHALIDES 
 
 STYX 
 
 SYLVANUS 
 
 Sem'-e-le. 
 
 Se-mo'-nez. 
 
 Si-le'-nos. 
 
 Sim'-o-is. 
 
 Sl'-NIS. 
 
 SI'-NON. 
 
 Sl'-RENS. 
 
 Sis'-I-FOS. 
 
 Som'-nus. 
 
 Sfinx. 
 
 Sfra-gish'-i-an. 
 
 Ster'-o-pez. 
 
 Sthe'-no. 
 
 Sthen-e-le'-os. 
 
 Strof'-a-dez. 
 
 Stro'-fi-os. 
 
 Stri'-mo. 
 
 Stim-fal'-i-dez. 
 
 Stix. 
 
 Sil-va'-nus. 
 
22 
 
 PIU >NOUNCING VOCA BULA BY. 
 
 SYMPLEGADES 
 
 
 SYRINX 
 
 
 TALOS 
 
 
 TANTALOS 
 
 
 TAPHIOS 
 
 
 TARTAROS 
 
 
 TEIRESIAS 
 
 
 TELAMON 
 
 
 TELEBOANS 
 
 
 TELEGONOS 
 
 
 TELEMACHOS 
 
 
 TELEPHASSA 
 
 
 TELESPHORUS 
 
 
 TEREUS 
 
 
 TERMINUS 
 
 
 TERPSICHORE 
 
 
 TERRA 
 
 
 TETHYS 
 
 
 TEUCROS 
 
 
 THALIA 
 
 
 T HALLO 
 
 
 THAMYRIS 
 
 
 THASOS 
 
 
 THAUMAS 
 
 
 THEIA 
 
 The'-ya. 
 
 THELXEIPEIA 
 
 
 THEMIS 
 
 
 THERSANDROS 
 
 
 THERSITES 
 
 
 THESEUS 
 
 
 THESTIAS 
 
 
 THETIS 
 
 
 THISBE 
 
 
 THOAS 
 
 
PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY. 
 
 23 
 
 THYESTES 
 
 
 THYONE 
 
 
 TIPHYS 
 
 
 TISIPHONE 
 
 
 TITANIDES 
 
 
 TITANS 
 
 
 TITHONES 
 
 
 TRIPTOLEMOS 
 
 
 TRITON 
 
 
 TROAS 
 
 
 TROILOS 
 
 
 TYCHON 
 
 
 TYDEUS 
 
 
 TYNDAREOS 
 
 
 TYPHOEUS 
 
 j Ti-fo'-us, or 
 ( Ti-fo'-e-us. 
 
 TYRESIAS 
 
 
 TYRO 
 
 
 ULYSSES 
 
 
 URANIA 
 
 
 URANOS . . . . , 
 
 
 YENUS 
 
 
 VERITAS 
 
 
 VERTUMNUS 
 
 
 VESTA 
 
 
 VIRTUS 
 
 
 VULCANUS 
 
 
 ZEARCHUS 
 
 
 ZELOS 
 
 
 ZEPHYROS 
 
 
 ZETES 
 
 
 ZETHOS 
 
 
 ZEUS 
 
 
1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 s>]Ooq 40 6uiuj|japun puo 'uojjDiijruu 'jjain 
 
 •Mopq poduiEis oibq jsdjD-| 
 oqi ojopq jo uo imvpj s;i joj ojqisuods 
 -9J si {huo;huj sxq; Sui§JBqo uosjod oqj. 
 

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