remain unaltered, and nearly two-thirds of it are new matter, or have been rewritten. The causes of this change (of which I

f literature, it may be said to have had more success than could have been reasonably anticipated. The praises which it has

es have naturally given me much gratification ; for as they must have been well aware of its defects, it is plain that they

ions of fame that led me to make literature my profession ; for had I been free to choose, I had certainly trodden the falle

classic literature, but many may be better cultivated than they have been hitherto. Thus the private life of the ancient Gr

d as the mother of dews (p. 61). Another name of the goddess may have been ἡ ἀλθέоυσυ, ἀλδέоυσα or ἀρδέоυσα, and θ and ϕ bei

, The Gazers ; Idem, Parting, last stanza. The original seems to have been Sidney's Arcadia, which commences thus : — «It wa

onysos and Kora of the Greeks, by whom Dionysos does not seem to have been united with the two goddesses, as Liber was at Ro

the Aventine and belonged to the plebeians, to whom it seems to have been what the Capitoline temple was to the patricians.

In the latter centuries of the republic the preference seems to have been given to the termination in inus, and hence we me

ry tales and fables in this circumstance, and in that of their having been at one time matters of actual belief. Mythology m

into that of a plurality ; or the numerous deities of the people have been by the philosopher reduced to one, possessed of t

slowly retracing the steps of error, returned to the truth which had been lost. It is utterly impossible to fix historicall

ong any people. Supposing, for the sake of hypothesis, a race to have been from some unassignable cause in a state of total

st Chryses was, would pronounce, with as full conviction as if it had been something which they had seen and experienced the

ver of the fair Shîrîn16. Many changes in the natural world have also been effected by the Saints, according to the popular

onary ceremonies and observances, the memory of whose true origin had been lost. The festival of the Hyacinthia at Sparta, f

s. 6. The epithets of gods, when their true origin was unknown or had been lost, were usually explained by some legend. Of t

er of the vine. A person born on the bank of a lake or river may have been called its son29 ; one coming by sea have been st

lake or river may have been called its son29 ; one coming by sea have been styled a son of the sea ; and when the metaphor c

phor came to be understood literally, persons thus spoken of may have been looked upon as children of the riveror sea-god, a

been looked upon as children of the riveror sea-god, and legends have been devised accordingly30. A branch or shoot of Ares

, both in ancient and modern times, theories of a different kind have been advanced, and supported with much ingenuity and l

Grecian mythology ; in this place we will enumerate those which have been most prevalent in modern times. These may, we thi

y esteem every legend, ceremony, usage, vessel, and implement to have been symbolical, they seek to discover what truth, mor

whose names will appear in the following pages, it has in our opinion been reduced to its true principles, and brought withi

Polier, Ward and some others, with the various translations that have been made from the Sanscrit, present a large mass of m

not to suppose any connexion between it and any other till both have been examined minutely and carefully, and so many poin

known how, in our own days, Sir William Jones and his followers have been deceived by their own imaginations, and the impos

t every mythe must have an important meaning, for certainly some have been but the creation of capricious fancy52. On these

art which they themselves exhibit. Modern mythologists have therefore been naturally led to the supposition of there having

have therefore been naturally led to the supposition of there having been in ancient Greece aœdic schools, in which the ver

ulty by saying, that those gods had indeed reigned, but that they had been overcome by their Zeus ; and that the goddesses h

d that the goddesses had indeed cohabited with Zeus, but they had not been his lawful wives. And this, if I mistake not, is

he consorts of the Olympian king, each of whom we look upon as having been his sole and lawful wife in the creed of some one

od, the original cause and support of all. Anaxagoras is said to have been the first who openly taught this truth ; and he w

ical truths were enveloped ; in which in reality many such truths had been studiously enveloped by ancient priests and sages

ly enveloped by ancient priests and sages61. After an intercourse had been opened with Asia and Egypt, mysteries came greatl

tissue. The priests derived their lineage from Crete, whence they had been brought by Zeus after he had succeeded his predec

llar in the temple the deeds of Uranos, Zeus, Artemis, and Apollo had been inscribed by Hermes in Panchæic letters, which th

acters of the Egyptian priests. Zeus had, according to this monument, been the most potent of monarchs : the chief seat of h

been the most potent of monarchs : the chief seat of his dominion had been Crete, where he died and was buried, after having

women of the mythic ages ; but of this also only a few fragments have been preserved. The same is the case with the poems na

mythic narratives unnoticed by preceding writers, which had probably been transmitted from father to son from the most remo

rincipal authorities for the contents of the following pages. We have been thus succinct on the present occasion, as it is o

y meet the Ptolemaïc astronomy and judicial astrology, after both had been exploded. The Greeks of the days of which Homer s

n time, though well acquainted with navigation, do not appear to have been in the habit of making distant voyages. The Creta

mbians104, are also mentioned by Homer, and the Greeks appear to have been well acquainted with the people of the west coast

l fountains and rivers on the earth. As it was a stream, it must have been conceived to have a further bank to confine its c

bow. The ideas of the ancient Italians and other nations seem to have been similar. Hence we might be led to infer that Olym

were resolved to leave nothing unexplained. The stars appear to have been regarded as moving under the solid heaven, for th

days ‘through the frighted deep.’ At length Hell, which had meantime been created, Yawning received them whole and on them

cosmological ideas above developed144. Void Space must naturally have been first : Earth, which was to occupy the centre of

 that of punishers of the violators of the order of nature — may have been their original one, and their origin have been as

r of nature — may have been their original one, and their origin have been ascribed to the first violation of filial duty. W

h Briareôs again comes to his aid163. There would also appear to have been some other ancient system of the celestial dynast

estly derived from the symbol for the earth164, it would seem to have been one of the systems in which earth and water were

It was, as we shall see, the custom of the poets (or perhaps such had been previously the popular creed) to bestow chariots

n sets out from it on his diurnal course, when his steeds’ manes have been adorned by Lucifer and Aurora, we may presume tha

nhabitants of the isle of Rhodes227. The Graces are also said to have been daughters of Helios by Ægle (Splendour)228. The O

count for the origin of the electron or amber232, which seems to have been brought from the Baltic to Greece in the very ear

nt for the origin of remarkable animals. The Eridanos is said to have been a mere poetic name, there being no stream actuall

ions of the original deity. In this manner, supposing Artemis to have been an original moon-goddess, her epithet of Far-shoo

oddess, for such is the real character of Hecate ; or Hecate may have been the primitive name of the moon-goddess of one of

etimes only re-united those which were really the same, but which had been separated in the progress of time. In Hecate we s

Hecate had eaten them304. The reason of this offering is said to have been that she might prevent the souls of the dead from

appearing305. A name of this goddess was Brimo306. This seems to have been chiefly employed to denote her terrific appearanc

throw of the latter by Zeus and his other children, the Kronids, have been already narrated. According to the Theogony310 al

ern Ocean317. The golden age, so celebrated by poets, is said to have been in the reign of Kronos, when, according to Hesiod

mpos to Hesperia, and his there establishing the golden age, may have been indebted for its origin to the legend of the reig

 ; but their dress, especially that of the goddesses, appears to have been the workmanship of Athena or the Graces359. The g

Athena, Aphrodite, and Artemis369. This arrangement could hardly have been known to Homer, who never mentions Hestia, and bu

fixed on as that of the Titans and the Olympians371 ; or it may have been because twelve was the political number of the Io

ds who appear in his poems, and it follows thence that they must have been born in some definite places, he never indicates

to creep in among the Greeks, each people supposed the deity to have been born among themselves. The Cretan legend must how

st came the poets, who detailed the amorous history. It seems to have been an ancient opinion that the gods used to assume t

which had a third eye in its forehead. The tradition was that it had been the domestic image of Priamos, and had been broug

tradition was that it had been the domestic image of Priamos, and had been brought from Troy by Sthenelos. The three eyes ar

hat when Rhea brought him forth, she pretended to Kronos that she had been delivered of a foal, which she gave him to devour

s being an agricultural, not a seafaring people) the agents must have been the Phœnicians, who also, we are assured, brought

ay any stress on his testimony in these matters. Had a god of the sea been worshiped in Egypt, beyond question the historian

in Plautus439 one of the characters says, “That is to say, you have been carried on a wooden horse along the azure roads ;

, that men who had such a dreary prospect before them should not have been more attached to life, and more averse from war a

future mistress. In reading the ‘portentous lies’ (as they have well been termed481 ) of the Egyptian priests on this subje

hone under that of Subterrane (χθονία). The former would seem to have been placatory, like Eumenides that of the Erinnyes. T

tion of a very remarkable notion of the Greeks. The dead seem to have been regarded in the light of victims offered to Hades

ndant opportunities of noticing her. By Hesiod496 she is said to have been the daughter of Kronos and Rhea. The hymn to Aphr

scerned. The tradition of Stymphalos in Arcadia was521, that Hera had been brought up there by Temenos, who raised three tem

, this Samian custom was pragmatised529. The temple, it was said, had been built by the Lelegians and the Nymphs ; Admeta, d

ssion of the Dædala, where a cow also was the victim. It has likewise been supposed, not without reason, that the ancient ep

o derivations may in a certain sense be correct. The goddess may have been originally merely Earth, and then, as she separat

t over which she presided and became the Olympian queen, she may have been regarded as the great Mistress545. Ἄρης. Mars

er a combination of two such mythes ; for beauty might naturally have been made the spouse of the god from whose workshop pr

tation being gained by deeds of valour554. To the above tale has also been appended by later writers a legendary origin of t

f the universe557. Terror and Fear are also said by Hesiod558 to have been the offspring of Ares and Aphrodite, of whose uni

er to look to ἔρα, earth, for its origin, and to regard him as having been one of the telluric powers in the Pelasgian creed

Renowned Artist ; 5. Very-renowned ;6. Wise, etc. Hephæstos must have been regarded originally as simply the fire-god, a vie

(Joy-promoter), so well suited to a cup-bearer, a feminine title had been formed for Hebe. Hebe was called by the poets599,

he Pythôn, a being of demon-origin, deems the original legend to have been a still bolder stretch of fancy, and that it was

the names which occur in the legend : for Admetos, he says, must have been an epithet of Hades ; Clymene, the name of Admeto

both, and even to sell the latter for a slave. The task of Apollo had been to tend the herds of the Trojan king in the valle

the lyre of Apollo, was pronounced overcome by Mount Tmolos, who had been chosen judge ; and all present approved the decis

otaries. As the Homeric poems prove the worship of this deity to have been common to the Achæan race, and well known on the

los and Delphi. We cannot assent to this theory. Apollo seems to have been one of the original gods of the Grecian race ; an

Phrygian word signifying mouse, of which animal a legend said he had been the destroyer in Troas. He was also styled662, 1.

led Dictynna, a goddess of that name, and of a similar nature, having been perhaps united with her. There was a similar deit

on of the place was, that they, who were two Hyperborean maidens, had been the companions of Apollo and Artemis when they fi

a question whether (like Artemis of Ephesus, with whom she must have been identical) she derived her appellation from that

ann716, Völcker717, Nitzsch718 and Müller719,) maintains such to have been the original conception of these deities, while H

separate these deities from the sun and moon. This however might have been nothing more than the arbitrary procedure of prie

mployment of the lyre in his worship. Artemis may in like manner have been regarded as the goddess of the chase from her bei

foam (ἀϕρὸς) of the sea, into which the mutilated part of Uranos had been thrown by his son Kronos. She first, he adds, app

at case the mournful and the joyful parts of the festival should have been held at different times of the year, and not join

s to be so little superior to men, may not have believed them to have been really and not metaphorically put to death. And i

light. The two embraced, and clung round the philosopher as if he had been their father ; and after caressing them for some

me, he restored them to their native element. His companions, who had been previously disposed to regard him as an impostor,

r them, causes them to cast themselves from the rock on which she had been exposed, and through their credulity they perish.

d by Cupid, who had escaped by the window of the chamber where he had been confined by his mother : he awakens her with the

t amusing narrative. The story of Cupid and Psyche may after all have been , as some think, nothing more than a Milesian tale

Ephesus783. We, however, rather incline to the opinion of its having been originally a philosophic allegory. Ere we quit th

this is her constant title in Homer, it is manifest that she had long been regarded as the tutelar deity of Athens. We may t

ined in her temples at Athens and Alalcomenæ815. It could hardly have been from any other cause than that of her being regar

an Tritôn in the days of Homer, or probably till after the colony had been settled at Cyrene, this theory seems to have litt

robable that the Pelasgian goddess of Argos and other places, who had been identified with the Athenian Maid, may have origi

, who had been identified with the Athenian Maid, may have originally been the same with Hera and Demeter826. Ἐρμϵίας, Ἐρ

-nymph Maia, in a cavern of Mount Cyllene in Arcadia. He had scarcely been laid in his cradle, when he got up and set off fo

the son of Zeus and Maia, probably Mother Earth856. He seems to have been the deity of productiveness in general, but he ca

e is ascribed to Hermes as the pipes are to his son Pan, music having been always a recreation of the shepherds in the warm

a protector in general861. For this cause, among others, it may have been that godsends or treasure-trove were ascribed to

ns extended into the interior of the earth, Hermes would seem to have been in some points of view identified with Hades. In

rmes, that of conducting the departed to Erebos. Possibly it may have been on this account that Solôn directed the Athenians

and she does not appear among the gods on Olympos. She seems to have been early distinguished from the goddess called Earth

een early distinguished from the goddess called Earth880, and to have been regarded as the protectress of the growing corn a

o into the town. Demeter told them her name was Dôs, and that she had been carried off by pirates from Crete, but that when

cavern on Mount Elæon, to which Demeter retired when her daughter had been carried off, clothing herself in deep black. The

ter being the causes of growth and increase in the natural world have been enveloped901. Perhaps the Demeter-Erinnys was vie

sgians. For as there appears reason to suppose their religion to have been of a very rural character, the view generally tak

mn occasions. The delivering of a public discourse would in fact have been quite repugnant to the usages of the Greeks in th

ers, the lesser stars. These fancies of priests and philosophers have been by modern writers formed into a complete system,

scribes the Eleusinian mysteries with as much minuteness as if he had been actually himself initiated924. It is to be observ

, or carried a roll. Pieria in Macedonia is said by Hesiod937 to have been the birth-place of the Muses ; and everything rel

would hardly have thus represented them, as the humour would not have been fully appreciated by the audience. We may further

e962. Some made them seven or ten in number963. The Horæ seem to have been originally regarded as the presidents of the thre

illed with shame she flies to Paphôs976. Yet though they seem to have been particularly attached to the goddess of love, the

Dark-skinned ; 4. Swift-footed. The Greek term ἐρινὺς has, we think, been justly defined1024 as a “feeling of deep offence,

Momus. This god of raillery and ridicule does not appear to have been known to Homer. By Hesiod1053 he is classed among

lities (of which the preceding articles are instances), seems to have been coeval with Grecian poetry and religion. It was n

n Homer in which there is any mention of or allusion to this god have been suspected by the ancient critics, either on accou

of Cadmos (a name which does not occur in the Ilias), ‘who had before been a speaking mortal, but was now allotted the honou

ained the power of a god1092. Supposing therefore Dionysos to have been , as his name might appear to indicate, one of the

ce, with which the ‘sons of the Achæans’ were so familiar, could have been without a presiding god,) he may have been regard

re so familiar, could have been without a presiding god,) he may have been regarded as a son of Zeus by a goddess named Seme

times, in pursuance of a practice hereafter to be explained, may have been degraded to the rank of a heroine, and Dionysos h

festivity ; and the festival of the deity presiding over it may have been a very joyous one, and celebrated with abundance

celebrated with abundance of noise and mirth. Such, we say, may have been (for we venture not to assert it) the original Di

ionysiac religion, that it is quite evident the latter could not have been known in Greece during the Achæan period1098. The

religion, with its nocturnal orgies and indecent extravagance, having been very prevalent among the Greeks at the time when

; so little suspicion does the Father of History betray of his having been played upon by the grave linen-clad personages wh

d by the Egyptian priesthood was, that all the religion of Greece had been imported into that country by colonies of Egyptia

me of poets, especially of the dramatists, they do not appear to have been narrated in continuity, like those of Heracles, u

Bacchic fable, perhaps deserving of more attention than has hitherto been bestowed on it1116. The worship of this god preva

ver growth and increase in general ; and as Hermes, who seems to have been originally of coextensive power with him, was gra

ually restricted and made a god of cattle alone, so Dionysos may have been limited to the care of plants, particularly the v

and the insignia of the priests, especially when the regal power had been abolished, increased. But that at the same time t

t should be solemnly purified, — of which laws Dracôn is said to have been the author ? This religion was also confirmed by

ancient poems of Bacis, Pamphôs, Olên, and the Sibyls, appear to have been patched up, and all the avenues of pious frauds t

eir eyes to the former realms of the Trojan monarchs, whose power had been broken ; and the first colonies were planted by t

é kind between them and the Phrygians, whose religion we know to have been different1136. It does not however seem to have b

we know to have been different1136. It does not however seem to have been the practice of the Aœdi to attend to distinction

r ; as from the former she made the pipes, and Attis was said to have been changed into the latter. We find from Pindar and

tructor of Apollo in divination1169. The worship of Pan seems to have been confined to Arcadia till the time of the battle o

l 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

ow, and the threatened penalty was inflicted1238.” The nymph Echo had been , as we have seen, beloved by the god Pan. She was

re vanquished ; and the nymphs cried out to them, “O youths, you have been contending with the Epimelian nymphs ! you shall

the god is described as of a blue colour, the hue which painters had been pleased to bestow on the marine deities : he has

262. Those who embraced the theory of representing the gods as having been originally mere men, said that Proteus was a king

sea. Glaucos, we are told1274, seeing Ariadne in Naxos, where she had been abandoned by Theseus, became enamoured of her ; b

re aided by a serpent named Ladôn1283. These apples were said to have been the gift of Earth to Hera on her weddingday1284.

them Phor-cys and Keto for parents1285. Their names are said to have been Ægle, Erytheia, Hestia, and Arethusa1286, or rath

the golden fruit, and other places of light and bliss. When Atlas had been fixed as a mountain in the extremity of Libya, th

. Their apples are supposed, and not entirely without reason, to have been a fiction, indebted for its origin to the account

ons and the Grææ are always mentioned together, and they seem to have been appropriated to the mythe of Perseus. We might th

ated to the mythe of Perseus. We might therefore suppose them to have been a pure poetic fiction, were it not that, as we sh

rted when they had ceased to be regarded as personifications, and had been introduced into the mythe of Perseus. As in this

ed Carpos (Fruit) 1323. The South- (Νότος) and East-wind (Εὔρος) have been left without adventures. The Winds have all wings

is to Crete, we must suppose the country of the Lotus-eaters to have been far more to the west. They seem in the poet’s vie

have been far more to the west. They seem in the poet’s view to have been the last tribe of ordinary men in that direction,

westwards1336, and came to that of the Cyclopes, which could not have been very far distant, or the poet would in that case,

there, inquired who they were ; and on Odysseus saying that they had been shipwrecked, and appealing to his mercy and rever

ing the son of Poseidôn and a sea-nymph : he is also said1337 to have been the strongest of the Cyclopes. It is not a little

ail on further, and come to the land of the Cyclopes ;’ and if it had been an island, he would, as usual, have noticed the c

e would also have told us with what wind they sailed to it, if it had been at anything like the distance which Sicily is fro

eogony became one-eyed giants in the hands of our poet. When they had been localised in the neighbourhood of volcanoes it wa

the fiction of a Giant-war. The peninsula of Pallene is said to have been the place of conflict, and with the aid of the he

ad no other tenants. The office of directing and ruling the winds had been conferred on Æolos by Zeus ; and when he was dism

hat of Laputa1355. At the time when Odysseus came to it, it must have been lying near the country of the Cyclopes ; but we a

ich we shall show to be near the extremity of the Sea, could not have been considerable, as the length of time consumed in t

an island offered no difficulty, as it was asserted that it once had been surrounded with water to a great extent1367. The

their own scanty mythology. It was fabled, for example, that she had been married to king Picus, whom by her magic art she

equence of her intimacy with Poseidôn1400. Charybdis was said to have been a woman who stole the oxen of Heracles, and was i

isle of the god 1406, whose peculiar property it therefore must have been  ; that according to the analogy of the Odyssey it

have been ; that according to the analogy of the Odyssey it must have been a small island, for such were Ææa, Ogygia, and al

ed it to lie much more to the west than Sicily, for it could not have been more than the third day after leaving Ææa that Od

Corcyra, for we know not what the Ionian Singer’s idea of it may have been . All we will say is, that his language respecting

at if the Cyclopes were on the coast of Libya, Corcyra could not have been Scheria. The firm persuasion of the identity of t

he firm persuasion of the identity of these two islands seems to have been produced by two passages of the poem, the one in

e one in which Eurymedusa, the attendant of Nausicaa, is said to have been brought from Apeiros, which is taken to be Epeiro

oracle at Dodona were so well known to the poet as they seem to have been , he never could have described the Phæacians, sup

he nurse of Eumæos was daughter of Arybas a wealthy Sidonian, who had been carried away from her native country by Taphian p

men, and commerce and agriculture display their stores. Has it always been so ? is the question man naturally asks himself.

as led almost all races to conceive the original state of man to have been one of peace and happiness. At all periods of his

ythe. Völcker1446 on the other hand considers the Heroic race to have been an essential part of the original mythe, which he

owever there is great confusion, for its original sense seems to have been lost very early, and Prometheus to have been view

inal sense seems to have been lost very early, and Prometheus to have been viewed as a Titan and the creator or instructor o

t. In the house of these first men stood a closed jar, which they had been forbidden to open. Forethought, as may be suppose

ecian literature, except in the fable of Babrius, who is said to have been anterior to Phædrus, in Nonnus1490, who left noth

holar as Buttmann was deceived by it, and led to suppose such to have been the prevalent opinion among the ancients. Δευκ

caliôn, yet at the same time intimates that he and his wife alone had been preserved in the catastrophe. What is said of the

irreconcilable mythes. The circumstance of the ark would seem to have been learned at Alexandria1496, for we elsewhere find

le of Thessaly, which is on all sides shut in by lofty mountains, had been closed by some accident, they overflowed the whol

assert that this inundation was a real event, of which the memory had been retained by tradition from times long anterior to

erdotal caste, and as some of the early tribes of Europe seem to have been similarly situated, some modern writers assume su

have been similarly situated, some modern writers assume such to have been the early state of Greece, and even fancy that th

martial character of the race who fought at Thebes and Troy may have been developed by peculiar circumstances from the peac

tion, which is an undoubted historic event, there is supposed to have been some commotion in Thessaly, produced probably by

st probable hypothesis on this subject, to suppose the Greeks to have been always one people, under different denominations,

ans, that is of the people of Greece before the Achæan period, having been chiefly of a rural character1520, such as it cont

ginal meaning also of many mythes may have gone out of use ; what had been symbolical and allegorical may have been understo

e gone out of use ; what had been symbolical and allegorical may have been understood literally and regarded as a real event

literally and regarded as a real event ; purely imaginary beings have been esteemed actual personages, and the legends relat

een esteemed actual personages, and the legends relating to them have been treated as genuine history ; and hence have arise

arisen many of the mythic persons, whose names indicate them to have been personifications of natural objects, or epithets

him next day, asked him what he would do, if he had the power, had it been predicted to him that he should be slain by one o

Medeia returning unknown to Colchis, found that her father Æetes had been robbed of his throne by his brother Perses : she

ed. Medeia seems plainly to be only another form of Hera, and to have been separated from her in the manner of which we have

which there were legends of Medeia, was Corcyra, an island which had been colonised by the Corinthians. Æetes himself was,

children of Æacos were, Peleus, Telamôn, and Phocos. The last having been slain by his brothers out of jealousy, Æacos bani

sleep on Mount Pelion, and Acastos taking his famous sword, which had been made by Hephæstos, and hiding it under the cowdun

rriage. The spouse selected for him was the sea-nymph Thetis, who had been wooed by Zeus himself and his brother Poseidôn, b

nded only prevailed in the heroic age. Its chief object seems to have been to inspire horror for the violation of the duties

We also find the name Centaurs in the Odyssey1584. They seem to have been a rude mountaintribe, dwelling on and about Mount

f the most celebrated of the Lapiths was Cæneus, who was said to have been originally a maiden named Cænis. Poseidôn having

skill in surgery1597, which he taught the two last heroes. But having been accidentally wounded by one of Heracles’ poisoned

former, the rude horse-riding tribes which tradition records to have been spread over the north of Greece ; the latter, the

ance as he gallops along. But he regards the idea of κένταυρος having been in its origin simply κέντωρ 1600 as much more pro

owns. He supposes Hippodameia, as her name seems to intimate, to have been a Centauress, married to the prince of the Lapith

prince of the Lapiths1602, and thus accounts for the Centaurs having been at the wedding. Müller1603 regards the Lapiths as

ntroduced into the mythe of Heracles, whose friend he is said to have been . The Marriage of Ceÿx (Τάμος Κήϋκος) was a celebr

ation. We may observe that the genuine mythic legends of Calydôn have been connected with the ethnographic genealogy. Οἰν

os ; in the Odyssey1629 the sea-goddess Ino-Leucothea is said to have been a mortal, and daughter to Cadmos. Hesiod1630 says

the Eupatrids, or ancient nobility of Thebes, of which there may have been only five Houses (γένεα). As such were fond of re

hamas, son of Æolos, and king of Orchomenos. Athamas, it is said, had been already married to Nephele (Cloud), by whom he ha

s fate. Agaue (Illustrious) is an epithet of Persephone, who may have been made a heroine, as Thebes was a principal seat of

cattle ; the latter passed his time in the practice of music, having been presented with a lyre and taught to play on it by

, as at Sparta and at Rome in its origin, and he conceives it to have been established by one of the ancient houses, as Nyct

as others say, the neatherds of Polybos found the infant after it had been exposed, and brought it to Peribœa the wife of Po

e breast, feet, and tail of a lion ; and the wings of a bird. She had been taught riddles by the Muses, and she sat on the P

revious to revealing to him the future1696. Teiresias is said to have been the son of Eueres and the nymph Chariclo, of the

lf Andreïs. He was succeeded by his son Eteocles, who is said to have been the first who sacrificed to the Graces. Eteocles

he descendents of Athamas and Phrixos. Clymenos, one of these, having been slain in a quarrel with the Thebans at the feast

δης. Trophonius et Agamedes. When Erginos, king of Orchomenos, had been overcome by Heracles, his affairs fell into such

accomplice, cut off his head1713. Trophonios himself is said to have been shortly afterwards swallowed up by the earth1714.

derground treasuries or granaries, the brothers may in one sense have been the builders, in another the plunderers of these

cient form of the mythe, and the original conception of them may have been similar to that of the Molionids. It was possibly

o his heralds, Erginos made war anew on Thebes ; but Heracles, having been furnished with arms by Athena, and being appointe

le. The Pythia then first named him Heracles1736, for hitherto he had been called Alceides from his grandfather, and she des

nder with his arrows to Malea. They fled there to Cheirôn, who having been expelled from Pelion by the Lapiths was dwelling

against his father ; and Augeas in a rage, even before the votes had been given, ordered both his son and Heracles to depar

s1747. His seventh task was to fetch the Cretan bull. This animal had been sent up by Poseidôn when Minôs had vowed to sacri

n to Eurystheus, who sacrificed them to Hera. The preceding tasks had been performed in the space of eight years and a month

oracle, offered up strangers on the altar of Zeus : for Egypt having been afflicted with a dearth for nine years, a Cyprian

ess carried them back to the garden of the Hesperides whence they had been taken1764. The twelfth and last task imposed by E

esirous to be initiated ; but he could not be admitted, as he had not been purified of the blood of the Centaurs. Eumolpos h

ös, who had attempted to carry off Persephone, and had in consequence been fixed on an enchanted rock by the offended monarc

Coronos, and put Ægimios in possession of the whole country that had been in dispute. He afterwards killed Laogoras king of

s the constant guardian of the hero. The number of tasks may not have been originally twelve, though most accounts agree in

ion, which they were intended to justify ; there may, he allows, have been an Argive hero of perhaps the same name, who was

ever may be obviated by supposing the name of the Dorian hero to have been different, and that of the Argive to have been ad

he Dorian hero to have been different, and that of the Argive to have been adopted in its stead. But again, it does not seem

ary, all analogy would lead us to suppose him, from his name, to have been her favourite1789. We would therefore hint as a p

es, in whose time the Bœotic flood is placed, is said by some to have been the first who reigned over Attica and Bœotia : hi

os was the founder of Eleusis. But in general Cecrops is held to have been the first who ruled over the country called Cecro

d Attica from its peninsular form. He is said by mythologists to have been an autochthôn, i. e. one who came from no foreign

82. It may therefore seem strange that Cecrops should apparently have been utterly unknown to Homer and Hesiod ; that the cy

is, and instituted the festival of the Panathenæa. He is said to have been the first who used the four-horsed chariot. He ha

, according to others, by the goddess herself, whose favourite he had been , and whom in life she had often visited1801. Anot

and elsewhere he is said1813 to have related that the nightingale had been deprived of all her sleep, the swallow of one hal

put the faith of Procris to the test. Procris on finding how she had been deceived fled to Crete, where Minôs gave her an i

lated1818. According to another account the virtue of Procris had not been proof against the offer of a golden coronet from

t the daughter of a king of Attica ; yet the real Erechtheus may have been her mythic sire. Κρέουσα, Ξοȗθος καὶ ῎Ιων. Cr

to Ægeus, fearing the loss of her influence when Theseus should have been acknowledged by his father, resolved to anticipat

hero now turned his thoughts to legislation. The Attic territory had been divided by Cecrops into twelve Demes or villages,

united for a common political and religious object, — could not have been a real person, much less a king of Attica. We wil

een the Erechtheids and Theseus ; and Pylos would probably never have been king of Megara, if the Neleids of Pylos had not c

roducers of the worship of Apollo into Attica, where it seems to have been originally confined to the military class. The na

ality as any of the others. As the Lyceion at Athens was said to have been named from Lycos, and there was on it a temple of

d and the prince were the same person. Pallas may in like manner have been connected with the patron-goddess of the city1856

month, which was the sacred day of Poseidôn1861. There seems to have been a distinction between the ancient Poseidôn-Erecht

MYTHES OF CORINTH. The ancient name of Corinth was said to have been Ephyra, so called from one of the Ocean-nymphs186

so took vengeance on the murderers for the death of Apis. When Io had been changed into a cow, Hera gave the charge of watch

, he changed Io into a white cow, and swore to his spouse that he had been guilty of no infidelity. The goddess, affecting t

e attracted so much of the attention of the elder poets as might have been expected. Homer never alludes to it, unless his e

chæans. The names of nations have never, except among nomadic tribes, been derived from persons ; they always come from the

intercourse with the great land of mystery, and like that of Io have been subsequently modified so as to suit the new theor

hey contended for the kingdom ; and on this occasion are said to have been the inventors of shields. Prœtos was worsted, and

romeda ; but Phineus the brother of Cepheus, to whom the princess had been betrothed, plotted to destroy the hero ; who, com

proceeded to Seriphos, where he found that his mother and Dictys had been obliged to fly to the protection of the altar fro

ave origin to the numerous broods of serpents by which they have ever been infested1944. The origin of the coral is also ded

of as a well-known event. There does not however appear to have ever been a poem solely dedicated to the adventures of Pers

guide of heroes at the time when the mythe was extended, she may have been substituted for the original goddess1962. We cann

clepios is called by Homer an excellent physician (Tάνταλος), who had been instructed by Cheirôn. His sons Podaleirios and M

ed Pelasgian ; and its principal deities are those which seem to have been worshiped by that people, namely Zeus, Hermes, De

Lycæon, at the foot of which stood the town of Lycosura, said to have been built by Lycaôn, who established there games call

for Zeus, to whom he raised an altar, and he could not therefore have been described as impious in the primitive legend. The

nfant and gave it to Maia to rear. It is also said that Areas, having been separated from his mother and reared among men, m

sacrifice of Iphigeneia, and that it was a bear, not a hind, that had been substituted1991. The resemblance between Arcas an

re is no necessity for supposing two of the same name, as has usually been done. They are both, as we see, connected with th

pharids were not objects of worship ; perhaps because they had merely been devised as opponents to the Tyndarids, to give a

and the part of Thessaly about the Pagasaïc bay there appears to have been a very early connexion, as its mythic heroes are

ôr, who was a child, and reared among the Gerenians. Periclymenos had been endowed by Poseidôn with the power of changing hi

officiate2032. The Theban bard here sings the mythic origin which had been assigned to the soothsaying Iamids of Olympia. Th

d to the soothsaying Iamids of Olympia. The tradition appears to have been that they came from Arcadia. Poseidôn, we may obs

o a hero in the usual manner. As the ancient Epeians are said to have been Lelegians, and this people also dwelt in the neig

with the moon is the author of the months ; or supposing this to have been a Lelegian mythe, and therefore long anterior to

erior to the institution of the Olympic games, the daughters may have been the weeks of the year (the round number being emp

ed of the same object, Pelops, i. e. the Pelopians2077, may also have been regarded as a physical being, and the mythes abov

In Patræ stood a temple of the Calydonian Dionysos, whose statue had been brought thither from Calydôn. The following legen

on the victims given to him2100 . The principal actions of Minôs have been already related2101 . He is said to have fallen i

on, of which last the names of the Minoïc family would appear to have been appellations. Thus Europa (Broad-face) is the dau

ea on a bull is an ancient expression of this idea. The same may have been the origin of the tale of Pasiphae's love for the

ycle only personifications of the moon, Minôs and his family may have been real persons named after their favourite deity. W

Arcadia, and scattered the pieces about2115 ; and application having been made to the oracle, the response given was, that

town of the Tanagraïc or Theban territory in Bœotia, is said to have been the birth-place of Oriôn. As Zeus, Poseidôn, and

heroines2137 ; but with Oriôn and these nymphs the case seems to have been reversed, the constellations having been brought

ymphs the case seems to have been reversed, the constellations having been brought down from the sky, and not the mortals ra

was possessed by the Dolionians, whose king was named Cyzicos. Having been hospitably entertained by this prince, and having

y the vanity of those whose patron-heroes they were. It may also have been that the commercial voyages of the Minyans were u

ained that they must have gone up the Tanaïs ; in this however he had been preceded by the historian Timæus2170. According t

s son Æsacos, by a former wife Arisbe the daughter of Merops, who had been reared and taught to interpret dreams by his gran

d, but on returning at the end of five days, he found that a bear had been nursing the infant. Struck with this strange even

ay perform her obsequies. Thersites railing at the hero, as if he had been in love with the slain, is killed by him ; this c

the throne ; but Orestes the son of Agamemnôn was still alive. He had been saved by one of his sisters, and sent to Phocis t

ngs of Odysseus until his arrival in the island of the Phæacians have been already related2237. He was most hospitably recei

ing parts of the Cycle ; to judge by those of the Cypria it must have been a very beautiful poem ; those of the others are t

anuscript Homer at Venice. It is by these fragments that critics have been able to ascertain what the Epic Cycle really was.

e commencement of the Christian æra, and various poems appear to have been made from it. That of Quintus Smyrnæus in fourtee

ed a host thither and taken and plundered a large city. This may have been at first a simple tradition ; it may have been th

ge city. This may have been at first a simple tradition ; it may have been then expanded in ballads ; the number of warriors

may have been then expanded in ballads ; the number of warriors have been increased as colonists from other parts of Hellas

, the tombs probably of princes and warriors of an extinct race, have been regarded as those of Trojan and Achæan chiefs2242

eems to be more satisfactorily ascertained, than that of Italy having been long before the foundation of Rome a highly popul

ned those oracles called the Sibylline Books, which are known to have been Greek, and which always enjoined the adoption of

y suppose, bore much resemblance to that of the Latins. It has always been asserted that a great portion of the Roman religi

ruria, had a temple on the Aventine. During the siege of Veii she had been evoked in the usual manner and promised a stately

nd flute came to the Romans from Etruria, this proves Minerva to have been introduced from that country. No derivation of he

name and office. There is every reason to believe her worship to have been unborrowed by the Romans, and a part of the relig

several of the streets2307. Stata Mater is generally supposed to have been Vesta. We find this last also called Mater. 2308

t everything peculiar to her has disappeared. She cannot however have been one of the original deities of Rome, as her name

that she was unknown in the time of the kings2314. She seems to have been a deity presiding over birth and growth in genera

stivals at Rome named Vinalia, in each of which there appears to have been a reference to this goddess. The first was on the

. L. iv. p. 13. Bip.). 98. Herod. iv. 37-41. 99. Asia seems to have been at first nothing more than the rich land on the b

ood of Delphi (Hes. Th. 498. Pausanias, x. 24. 6.), the legend having been transplanted thither from Crete, its original soi

thither from Crete, its original soil. The whole fable seems to have been unknown to Homer, who always speaks of Zeus as th

bt if the favourite theory of Voss (of which the idea appears to have been given by Eustathius) of these soles having a magi

vidence. He founds it on Il. xiv. 201. 387. These beings, which have been confounded with the Corybantes and others, and ma

4. seq. Ilesiod, Works, 217. seq. 400. Met. viii. 620. seq. We have been unable to discover his Greek original. 401. The

unt of Lot and the angels in the book of Genesis, which last may have been carried to Greece, or have been learned by the Gr

book of Genesis, which last may have been carried to Greece, or have been learned by the Greeks at Alexandria. See Leclerc’

o be passed is mentioned in the Ilias (xxiii. 73.), but that may have been the ocean-stream. 474. The earliest mention of C

-10. Eur. Hec. 457. seq. We may observe that the tale of Delos having been an invisible or floating island, does not appear

having been an invisible or floating island, does not appear to have been devised when this hymn was composed. We meet the

This critic gives strong reasons for supposing the Hyacinthia to have been originally a feast of Demeter. The legend in the

f the wall is spoken of elsewhere (vii. 452.), and it is said to have been the work of both the gods. 646. Apollod. i. 4. l

allusion to the rural character of the god. 861. He is said to have been called στρϕαȋος (Et. Mag. s. v.), from the turnin

e Dionysius, which treated of this war. 1116. Nonnus appears to have been well versed in the various poems ascribed to Orph

12. 1335. Od. ix. 80. 1336. Ἔνθϵν δὲ προτέρω πλέομϵν. The wind had been north-east, and it is not said that it had change

an poet was however disposed to regard all the popular gods as having been originally mere men. 1484. Πίθos, akin to the L

. Herod. vii. 176. Müller, Orchom. 377. 1517. These are said to have been the Bœotians, who conquered and expelled the Cadm

es. This event is a mere conjecture, and it would rather seem to have been the Epigoni who destroyed the Cadmeian power. The

nultimate. If he did not read by accent, the line would probably have been , as Pearce proposed to read, And Phineus and Tir

Hymn to Pyth. Apoll. 118. 1713. The same trick is also said to have been played on Augeas, king of Elis, by Trophonios the

of the tales which the Egyptians (who, by the way, seem never to have been an inventive people,) borrowed from the Greeks.

1745. The proper scene of the adventure with the Centaurs must have been Thessaly, as in Euripides, Her. Fur. 365. seq.

d to be the very same one in which Theseus had sailed ; though it had been so often repaired, as to give occasion to a celeb

ld the wandering moon Riding near her highest noon, Like one that had been led astray Through the heaven’s wide pathless wa

e was a legend in Italy that Ardea, the capital of the Rutulians, had been founded by Danae. (Virg. Æn. vii. 372. 410. Serv.

lcker, Myth. der Jap. 200. seq. 1959. The chamber of Danae may have been called brazen to denote the hardness of the groun

e above, p. 32.), but the ancient Cyclopian treasuries appear to have been lined with brass. See Leake, Travels in the Morea

nserted, as was often done. See Schwenk, 193. Possibly there may have been a Pelasgian word akin to the German zünden and A.

is. In the poem named ‘The Wedding of Ceÿx,’ Heracles is said to have been left behind at Aphetæ, where he went for water (S

r in Homer. 2209. In the Ilias (xxiv. 765.) Helena says that she had been twenty years at Troy. According to Tzetzes (Anteh

s then invented to account for the similarity. There may however have been an ancient Grecian legend of Iphigeneia. See Müll

12. 6. Quint. Smyr. x. 259. seq. Conôn, 22. Parthen. 4. It must have been in the Epic Cycle. 2221. Here ends the Little Il

logies, will be found a pleasing addition, as these subjects have not been treated in the ordinary text-books. The chapter o

“Histoire de France,” and the “Monuments Celtiques” of Reynaud, have been consulted, together with the Irish Chroniclers an

hs. The idea of propitiating the deity in such a manner seems to have been universal both in the old and the new world, and

tire system of religion. They shared a tradition, which seems to have been universal, of a time of primeval innocence, when

nown; men had not learned to slay animals for food, nor had the earth been disturbed by the plough. Neither the labors of th

Ans. Many absurd and impossible adventures are told. He seems to have been very vain of his musical skill, as we see from th

r sisters, were the leaders in this act, which was considered to have been performed under a divine impulse. Ques. What was

ize of beauty adjudged to Venus? Ans. All the gods and goddesses had been invited to the marriage of Peleus and Thetis, Dis

rsonified Night, under the name of Latona; hence she was said to have been the first wife of Jupiter, the mother of Apollo a

ree by the modern Carnival. Saturn is thought by some persons to have been the same as Noah. Janus. Ques. Who was Jan

all public and private business was suspended until the accident had been expiated. Ques. What laws existed with regard to

here were seven Vestals always in office, the entire number must have been twenty-one. The thirty years being ended, the Ves

ould betray the secret, or even witness the ceremonies without having been regularly initiated. Disclosures were made, howev

hese rites, because they believed that the souls of those who had not been initiated were left to wallow in mud and filth in

of law and justice. Her origin is uncertain; but she is said to have been a Titaness. Ques. Who was Astræa [Astræ′a]? Ans

holding scales in one hand, and a sword in the other. The scales have been variously explained, but they are generally suppo

into the hands of the Athenians, and a sculptor, said by some to have been Phidias, afterwards carved from it a beautiful st

ceus. His origin is uncertain, but he is said by some authors to have been a son of Mercury and a nymph of Arcadia. Ques. H

tored to its former splendor. The inhabitants of Ephesus seem to have been particularly attached to the worship of Diana. We

ths in the reign of Gallienus; and the materials of the building have been since used in the construction of other edifices.

e dead to the other side of the lake. The ghosts of those who had not been buried with funeral rites, were obliged to wander

and heads of garlic and poppy, in place of the human heads which had been formerly offered. The ordinary altar of the Lares

mily repast was properly begun, unless some portion of the viands had been first cast into the fire; in the more solemn form

s, or Fidelity, had a temple near the Capitol, which was said to have been founded by Numa Pompilius. The symbols of this go

was worshipped by the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans. Her emblems have been described in the article on the goddess Astræa. H

unlawful to take any one from it by force. This altar is said to have been erected by the kindred of Hercules, after the dea

built, in the Via Longa, a temple similar to that from which she had been expelled, and dedicated it likewise to Pudicitia.

that he must obey Eurystheus, which he accordingly did. Hercules had been carefully instructed by the Centaur Chiron, and h

heir queen, Hippolyte [Hippol′yte]. Seventh. Three thousand oxen had been kept thirty years in the stables of Augeas [Au′ge

kept thirty years in the stables of Augeas [Au′geas], which had never been cleaned during the entire period. Hercules was re

she could secure his constancy by making him wear a garment which had been sprinkled with this potion. The credulous Deianir

philter, which was nothing else but the venom of the hydra which had been infused into the Centaur’s blood; and it was not

and it was not long before her jealousy led her to use it as she had been directed. Hercules had plundered Œchalia, and car

the midst of all human miseries, hope yet remains. The fable may have been derived from some ancient tradition of Eve’s curi

is represented as sustaining the heavens on his shoulders. Atlas had been warned that he would suffer much from a son of Ju

Danaë, the only daughter of Acrisius, king of Argos. This prince had been warned by an oracle that his daughter would have

bribed the guards. When Acrisius discovered that his precautions had been of no avail, he enclosed Danaë and her infant son

into a rock, which was long famous upon that coast. Phineus, who had been betrothed to Andromeda, opposed her marriage with

much kindness by Prœtus, king of Argos. Bellerophon had not, however, been long at Argos when the king was prejudiced by a c

of all, they gathered stones which they cast behind them, as they had been commanded, when a great prodigy ensued. The stone

dalus. Ques. Who was Dædalus [Dæd′alus]? Ans. He is said to have been a native of Athens, eminent for his skill in arch

in the erection of many splendid edifices. Various explanations have been given of the fable of Dædalus. The most probable

ntroduced the use of masts and sails in ships, and he is said to have been the first who represented statues in natural and

n despair, she clung to the prow of his ship; but Nisus, who had just been transformed into a hawk, swooped down upon her fr

the care of cattle, the raising of bees, etc. These peaceful arts had been much neglected in Italy during the civil wars; Vi

the ostensible reason set forth by the emperor; but these verses had been written many years before. It is evident, therefo

sed copies, and the poem was thus preserved. If the Metamorphoses had been destroyed by this rash act, we would have lost ma

this rash act, we would have lost many interesting fables which have been rendered immortal by the beauty of Ovid’s verse a

e daughters of Priam, fell to the lot of Agamemnon. This princess had been endowed by Apollo with the gift of prophecy, but

n after the sad fate of her son Polydorus. This young prince, who had been commended by Priam to the care of Polymnestor, ki

ysses. Ques. Who was Ulysses? Ans. He was king of Ithaca, and had been , like many other princes of Greece, a suitor of t

hen a violent storm arose, in which he would have perished had he not been aided by a compassionate sea nymph; Minerva, also

im, and he swam safely to land. The Phæacians, on whose shores he had been cast, received him kindly, and fitted out a ship

the present distress of Penelope. Telemachus, the son of Ulysses, had been absent for a long time in search of his father. H

suitors were amazed to see him handle the mighty weapon as if it had been a plaything. Their surprise was still greater, wh

its ruins. Diligent search was therefore made for the child, who had been concealed by his mother in the recesses of Hector

to be entombed alive. The misfortunes of Œdipus and his children have been celebrated by three Greek tragedians: Æschylus, S

us, who was endowed with the gift of prophecy, now confirmed what had been already foretold. He rendered his exiled countrym

permanent settlement in the country. This proposal seems not to have been displeasing either to Æneas or to the Trojans. Fo

ca. This prince had one child, a daughter named Lavinia. Her hand had been promised to Turnus, prince of the Rutulians, but

ituated in the valley now called Joannina, but the exact site has not been ascertained. In the earlier times Jupiter gave an

purpose. Many remarkable oracles are recorded by Herodotus as having been delivered at Delphi, but as a general thing the a

th night the brothers died in their sleep. The oracle is said to have been discovered on the following occasion: In a time o

h. It is about five degrees west of Cairo. The temple is said to have been founded by Bacchus under the following circumstan

s were reckoned only from the year 776, B. C., although the games had been revived by Iphitus more than a century earlier. T

ere free, of pure Hellenic blood, and that their characters had never been stained by any base or immoral act. So great was

ut from a tree in the sacred grove of Olympia, which was said to have been brought by Hercules from the land of the Hyperbor

he owner of the horse or chariot, although he himself should not have been present at the games. The Greek historians relate

ed as the haunt of the lion slain by Hercules. They were said to have been restored by that hero, and were celebrated every

d the actors, and made them appear stiff and unnatural. This may have been true to a certain extent, but we must remember th

dience, the changes of expression, and the play of feature would have been quite lost, while the large and finely colored ma

it was theirs to wreak on the secret murderer, on him whose crime had been vainly hidden from mortal eye. Thus they sang in

d to seize the man who had spoken, and the one to whom his speech had been addressed. The wretched murderers, thus betrayed

e crime, and suffered the punishment they had deserved. Attempts have been made by French and German tragedians, to revive t

at the expense of the state. The cost of the entertainments must have been heavy, if we are to judge by the descriptions giv

ng trees from the forest were planted on the stage. Whatever may have been the faults of the Greek drama, there is no doubt

with statues and other ornaments. This magnificent temple would have been sufficient in itself to confer immortal glory on

e Medicis? Ans. This statue, still perfect, is so called from having been in the possession of the Medicis family. An inscr

o were these divinities? Ans. The names Baal and Moloch seem to have been , at first, different appellations of the Sun; lat

e Parsees of Hindostan say that they have sacred fire which has never been extinguished since the time of Zoroaster. All the

Castes? Ans. They are different classes into which the Hindoos have been divided from the earliest times. Ques. How many

. Ques. Who was Buddha? Ans. Buddha is said by the Vedas to have been a delusive incarnation of Vishnu, but his followe

Lao-tze spent some time in Persia and Syria. The Ten Tribes had just been dispersed over Asia by the conquests of Salmanasa

is mythology transmitted by oral tradition only? Ans. This must have been the case for a long time; as the oldest of the Ed

nd the stories which it contains of the Northern gods and heroes, had been long familiar to the people in the recitations of

hts of mead. Loki bade him not to wonder at this, as her thoughts had been so much occupied by her approaching nuptials that

lves, or good fairies. Freya was invoked by lovers, and seems to have been a sort of Scandinavian Venus. Bragi. Ques.

was not lawful for any god to pronounce his name. Hodur seems to have been a personification of night. The Valkyrior.

runes were used for inscriptions, of which more than a thousand have been found. The language is a dialect of the Gothic, c

d Ireland. Ques. Where did it originate? Ans. Various theories have been advanced on this subject. Some refer it to the Si

uilt. We read that Zenodorus, a famous sculptor, said by some to have been a native of Gaul, executed a statue of Teutates w

hey counted the year by lunations; astronomical instruments have also been found among the druidical remains in Ireland, whi

rary, as the actions performed during its last state of existence had been good or evil. According to the Druids, death was

ns assembled at Tara. It was Easter Eve, and the Saint, who must have been well aware of the penalty of death attached to su

e idolatrous rites peculiar to the season of the summer solstice have been long forgotten but the custom of lighting fires u

ands. This missionary was a native of Ireland, where Christianity had been established for nearly a century. Ques. What tra

the miracle. Jacob marked in the same manner the spot on which he had been favored by a celestial vision. In certain places

gaps in the stony lines, as every house in the vicinity seems to have been built from this convenient quarry. At Stonehenge,

tre of the work is a massive slab of fine sandstone, supposed to have been an altar. This cromlech is surrounded by a trench

p were marked by a spirit of unexampled ferocity. Ques. How has this been explained? Ans. It is supposed that the religion

hem in the arts of civilized life. It is singular that he should have been described with every characteristic of the Europe

d is 1425 feet square; it covers 45 acres. It is very ancient, having been built before the Aztecs conquered Anahuac, as tha

upposed to represent. When the fatal day arrived, the victim, who had been trained to perform his part with calmness and dig

trine did not, however, lead to the practical results that might have been expected. Ques. What name did the Peruvians give

in his honor; that which stood near the present site of Lima, having been erected before the country came under the sway of

distributed among the people. Ques. What points of resemblance have been noticed between the religious observances of the

propitiate him by any form of worship. Cupay seems, in fact, to have been only a personification of sin. Supplement. A

ry on the value of human greatness. His constitution, which had never been strong, was weakened by excess. He was tormented

e mingled largely with those of his royal patron. A mortal might have been content to share his honors with the divine pair;

an eminence which, from the water-marks surrounding it, seems to have been formerly an island in the lake. So great a change

e being cut from a single stone. Some of the buildings appear to have been of pyramidal form, and to have covered several ac

e stumbling-blocks in the pathway of a young reader. Just enough have been given to hold the reader’s interest and to make h

stories there are poems bearing directly on the subjects. These have been selected with the utmost care. They are designed

). One day he took his bow and arrows, and started out alone. He had been hunting a long time, when, in following a deer’s

and sea she journeyed, bearing in her right hand the torch which had been kindled in the fiery volcano. All her duties were

story of a beautiful woman and two helpless little children, who had been treated very cruelly. While he was thinking about

d, although it made Latona very sad to go from the home where she had been so happy, she hastened away, for she feared that

e mother was glad to suffer anything for her children’s sake. She had been walking for days and days, the hot sand burning h

r way, by taking from her the power of that tongue with which she had been too ready. Poor Echo found that she could no long

ll night, with only his bow and arrows for companions. One day he had been tracking the game through the forest for many hou

seen in all its loveliness. Poor Narcissus! He, with whom so many had been in love, was at last in love himself, and with a

reece, there lived a young girl named Arachne, whose parents had once been very poor and humble. Arachne, however, brought w

y. Thus it might have gone on until they died, had not Arachne’s head been turned by the praises that were showered upon her

er in Minerva’s face, she suddenly felt how foolish and wrong she had been . It was too late now for repentance. The goddess

than he fell deeply in love with her; and just as quickly, Daphne had been made to hate Apollo, and she turned to flee from

wife Proserpine. To this gloomy place, the bright, happy Eurydice had been brought by the boatman Charon, whose business it

c that the dog crouched down at his feet, and licked the hands he had been ready to bite. So Orpheus passed through the gate

me when once they had caught scent of the trail. One day, Actaeon had been out hunting for many hours. He was tired and thir

his face, and then something very strange happened. Poor Actaeon had been so bewildered, at sight of Diana’s beauty and at

ese words, he trembled in his winged shoes. However, he need not have been afraid, for the sisters fell to quarreling about

ore, he had asked for their daughter as his wife, and the parents had been afraid to say no. But the girl hated this old man

ed from the house; and the merrymaking went on as though it had never been interrupted. After that Perseus took his wife to

ave Jupiter care for any one besides herself. So one day, when he had been away from home for many hours, she suddenly made

g; but the watchman never closed more than half his eyes. So they had been sitting for a long time, when at last Argus asked

g the city of Thebes, to see the festival in her honor; for there had been so much sorrow in her life that she took all the

terrible grief, felt almost sorry for their deed, and thought she had been punished enough. But when she spoke these words o

spare me this last and youngest one!” But the fatal arrow had already been loosed, and as the words left the mother’s lips’,

th light and air for food, Ere their sweet and tender juices     Have been hardened into wood, That to the world are childr

appy, — she made him a slave to the king of Argos. Nothing could have been harder for Hercules to bear than slavery; for he

ory of a Poisoned Shirt When Hercules and the king’s daughter had been married, and the feasting was over, they started

lower parts; so of course he could cross a stream when it would have been impossible for a man to do so. Hercules accepted

es away from the creeping, leaping flames. The mortal part of him had been burned away by the fire, and from that time, so t

er the edge of the cliff into the sea below. Perdix would surely have been drowned, had he not been rescued by Minerva, the

into the sea below. Perdix would surely have been drowned, had he not been rescued by Minerva, the goddess of wisdom, who lo

himself and his son, and fly from this island in which he had so long been an unwilling prisoner. The same evening, he set t

or I have betrayed it for your sake. I will follow you; for if I have been a traitor to my people, I have at least been a fr

ollow you; for if I have been a traitor to my people, I have at least been a friend to you.” The soldiers pushed her roughly

sinking in the waves; but suddenly her body grew light as air she had been changed into a bird. Sorrowfully she flew above t

ed into a bird. Sorrowfully she flew above the city that had formerly been her home. She longed to speak to the people in th

alone,” answered the king. “Let him do so.” All this time Ariadne had been looking with blushing cheeks and a beating heart

he ground, worn out with his struggle and his wanderings. Ariadne had been waiting all the while, and she now brought him fo

noticed that the honey was far sweeter and yellower than it had ever been before, and that the poor little grapes from the

n the morning sunlight. The wicked people and their dwellings had all been destroyed. But most wonderful of all, in place of

couple. “My good people,” said he, “you alone of all the village have been saved, and your humble cottage I have changed int

t as simple and hospitable in their days of good fortune, as they had been in their poverty. So. they grew very old — so old

it shone with a splendor of light and color such as had never before been known within the place. Awakened by the brightnes

k to his beloved Halcyone.” Halcyone awoke with a cry. The vision had been so real that she looked for wet footprints on the

where she and her husband had exchanged their last farewell. She had been standing there some time, when she saw, far out a

was at the loss of their lovely young mother Nephele. Nephele had now been gone a long, long while. The sky was cloudless da

, and then Chiron told him that he was the son of King Aeson, who had been robbed of his throne; and that he must go and rec

started to go on, he saw, to his dismay, that one of his sandals had been lost in the rushing water; so he had to walk the

ou have never heard the story of the Golden Fleece? Long years have I been waiting for a hero to bring it hither, for it wou

too, were a child. One hot summer’s day, Cyparissus and the stag had been wandering through the grove for many hours, and a

e Cyparissus, telling him that he must not blame himself for what had been a mere accident; and at last he induced him to gi

a love him. Now it so happened that Circe herself had for a long time been in love with Glaucus; so she told him that Scylla

pe; and at last she screamed aloud in terror, for where her limbs had been , there were now six horrible, loudmouthed, fierce

ook no interest in the outside world. Many women of Cyprus would have been glad to marry this maker of beautiful things, but

that King Midas was sometimes not so wise a monarch as he should have been . You remember reading in another story how Pan, t

ely about his shoulders. A strange and beautiful picture it must have been , and I wish all of you could have been there to s

beautiful picture it must have been, and I wish all of you could have been there to see it. Pan was the first to play, and,

he trees, with now and then a strange cry, as though a wild beast had been suddenly startled from its lair. Yet for the firs

, Cox, Berens, Brinton, Seemann, Keightley, Bulfinch, and others have been consulted, and when quoted, proper credit has bee

onsulted, and when quoted, proper credit has been given. Accents have been marked, so that pupils will have no difficulty in

elating to the gods, heroes, demons, or other beings whose names have been preserved in popular belief. “The gods, in almost

sun, the clouds, and all other things when their original meaning had been quite forgotten. Thus, mythology, as we call it n

een gods of different nations whose names, apparently different, have been resolved into the same root-word, or to a root of

n of the gods. An ancient Greek legend represents the world as having been formed from Chaos, which was regarded as a hetero

elios had finished his daily course, a winged boat, or cup, which had been made for him by Hephæstus* (Vulcan), conveyed him

, the point where two roads cross, and lonely spots where murders had been committed. She was supposed to be connected with

ocess of nature under the figure of a lost love. She was said to have been tenderly attached to a youth of remarkable beauty

tian, Sati*. Hera, daughter of Chronos and Rhea, was believed to have been educated by Oceanus and Tethys. She seems, origin

phodel* was a place where spirits waited for those whose fate had not been decided. In the dominions of Aides were several r

an enormous vulture prey without ceasing upon his liver, Tantalus had been deemed worthy to hold intercourse with the gods,

wicked, and to torment the consciences of those whose crimes had not been made public. “Erinnys appears in Sanskrit as Sar

s who, during their earthly career, had committed crimes, and had not been reconciled to the gods before descending to Hades

i, and then defended him before the court of the Areopagus, which had been founded by Athene. Orestes was here acquitted, fo

s and commanded him to build a temple for her in Eleusis. When it had been hastily completed, with the assistance of the god

man, Minerva; Hindu, Ushas; Egyptian, Neith*. Athene was said to have been produced from the head of Zeus, which Hephæstus h

said to have been produced from the head of Zeus, which Hephæstus had been ordered to cleave open. The goddess of war, in fu

was a moon as well as an owl and olive branch. It could scarcely have been from any other cause than that of her being regar

nd established the general worship at Athens. The Athenæa*, which had been instituted by Erechthonius* (a serpent-legged son

bled at Athens, bringing sacrifices consisting of oxen that had never been under the yoke, rams, cows, and lambs. The prizes

ression of the head. The Venus de Medici is so called from its having been in the possession of the princes of that name in

the boon, she refused to comply with the conditions upon which it had been granted. Unable to recall his gift, he rendered i

aughter of Minos*, king of Crete, on the isle of Naxos, where she had been abandoned by Theseus*, and she became his wife. T

ve the desired information. Glaucus*. Glaucus* was said to have been originally a fisherman. One day, he saw the fish

ple stood a vessel of stone or brass containing holy water (which had been consecrated by putting into it a burning torch ta

empire being destroyed, the prediction of the oracle was said to have been fulfilled. Soothsayers (Augurs). In additio

and conveyed them to earth hidden in a hollow tube. Furious at having been outwitted, Zeus determined to be revenged first o

Pandora removed the cover and these escaped, and men have ever since been tormented by disease and care. She closed the jar

all religious matters, and the doctrine they taught was, that man had been created by the gods, and that there had been succ

taught was, that man had been created by the gods, and that there had been successive ages which were called Golden, Silver,

e former, the rude horseriding tribes which tradition records to have been spread over the north of Greece; the latter, the

al at Thebes he found the people afflicted by the Sphinx,13 which had been sent by Hera to torment them. This monster had th

er to Adrastus. On the occasion of the marriage of Amphiaraus, it had been agreed, that if he ever differed in opinion with

hould decide the question. Polynices offered her the collar which had been presented to Harmonia, if she would induce her hu

epulture to his remains, and Creon buried her alive. His son, who had been betrothed to Antigone, in despair threw himself u

Atlas refused the hospitality which the hero demanded, because it had been predicted that his orchard, in which the trees bo

chained to a rock close to the sea. The parents of Andromeda, having been witnesses to their daughter’s rescue, readily com

arriage. Phineus*, however, brother of Cepheus, to whom Andromeda had been betrothed, appeared at the wedding-feast, accompa

y his warriors, and furiously assailed the bridegroom, who would have been overpowered but for the head of Medusa. Warning h

y his bride, returned to Seriphos, where he found that Polydectes had been treating Danae with great cruelty. He proceeded t

e had good reasons for his conduct, and that probably Bellerophon had been guilty of a crime which deserved death, so he dec

ating upon what use to make of the wonderful powers with which he had been endowed by the gods. Two female figures appeared

ughter, Hesione, to be devoured by the monster. The princess had just been chained to a rock when Heracles arrived. He offer

n this undertaking he was assisted by Hermes and Athene. After having been initiated in the Eleusinian Mysteries, Heracles m

es Theseus* and Pirithous seated on an enchanted rock, where they had been placed by Aides as a punishment for attempting to

cles, and had advocated his cause with Eurytus, and that Heracles had been suddenly seized with insanity. Heracles sought in

monster, and presented the head and hide to Atalanta, because she had been the first to wound the boar. The uncles of Meleag

hasty deed, put an end to her own life. Atalanta. Atalanta had been told by the oracle to avoid marriage, as it would

m, shuddered when he saw the youth had but one sandal, because he had been warned by the oracle to beware of the one-sandale

of their danger, and, placing them on a golden-fleeced ram which had been given her by Hermes, and which, like the celestia

rilous passage in safety. The rocks then became immovable, for it had been decreed they should if any vessel passed through

e assailed by a storm, and a voice was heard from the plank which had been taken from the speaking oak of Dodona, “You are n

e severely reprimanded them for the horrible murder of which they had been guilty. The Argo at length arrived safely at Iolc

int between the fabulous and the authentic. Various explanations have been given. One writer thinks the Golden Fleece was th

all the privileges of a prince of Troy. Hesione, sister of Priam, had been carried away captive by Heracles, and given in ma

to who should be the first to set foot on the enemy’s soil, it having been predicted that the one who did so would fall a sa

out between Achilles and Agamemnon respecting a female slave that had been taken captive. Achilles, in his wrath, retired to

d the corpse, and the Trojans celebrated the obsequies of him who had been the hope and stay of Troy. Penthesilea*. Im

into the heart of the city. The Trojans, believing that the siege had been abandoned, and that they now had a sacred object

ve had another site. Now, when the very existence of Homer’s Troy had been declared a fable, the palace and the traces of th

declared a fable, the palace and the traces of the conflagration have been found. Dr. Schliemann has excavated the legendary

consequence of the acts of desecration and cruelty of which they had been guilty during the destruction of Troy, the wrath

orning two more of the Greeks were despatched as their companions had been the night before. Polyphemus then moved away the

trangers, were tame and harmless as lambs. All these animals had once been men, but had been changed by Circe’s enchantments

e and harmless as lambs. All these animals had once been men, but had been changed by Circe’s enchantments into the forms of

h took a man out of every ship that passed. It was said Charybdis had been an avaricious woman, and was changed into a whirl

icily), where the sun-god pastured his flocks and herds. Odysseus had been warned by both Tiresias and Circe to avoid this i

r husband, but he longed to return to his wife Penelope. After having been detained on the island seven years, he was releas

nous had bestowed upon him. It was now twenty years that Odysseus had been away from Ithaca, and when he awoke he did not re

ded that his own bed should be brought from his chamber. This bed had been made by Odysseus himself from an ohve-tree, which

to whom he was sent murdered him, and seized the treasures which had been sent with him. Æneas and his companions hastened

yclopes dwelt. Here, meeting one of the companions of Ulysses who had been left behind, and had since lived in constant drea

ly, where he celebrated funeral games in honor of his father, who had been dead exactly a year. He left with Acestes*, a Tro

“Yield not to disasters, but press onward the more bravely.” Having been directed in a dream to seek the abode of the dead

governed the country. He had a daughter named Lavinia, whose hand had been promised to Turnus*, prince of the Rutulians*; bu

mythology grew up quite independently of each other. After Egypt had been thrown open to Greek commerce, the Greeks were so

in of people weeping and beating their breasts in grief; then, having been expensively embalmed and bandaged in gayly-colore

as a delusive incarnation of Vishnu, is said by his followers to have been a mortal sage named Guatama, and also Buddha, the

d of spreading it in the adjacent countries. Buddhism appears to have been introduced into China about the year 65 of our er

Edda, is dated 1640; so that for a long time this mythology must have been transmitted by oral tradition only. The word Edda

t, although all the other gods had sworn not to hurt him, no oath had been taken from Loki, who destroyed him with the mistl

uttered musically their thoughts. Much would be lost had Iceland not been burst up from the sea, not been discovered by the

s. Much would be lost had Iceland not been burst up from the sea, not been discovered by the Northmen!” The Druids*.

ons in Gaul, Britain, and Germany. The word Druid is supposed to have been derived from “De,” God, and “rouyd,” speaking. It

the sacred fire, from which the fires in the district — which had all been extinguished — might be relighted. This custom of

preaching of St. Columba, a native of Ireland, where Christianity had been established for nearly a century. American Myt

ich became branches. It was said that he married the muskrat that had been of such service to him, and they were the ancesto

every class of society, from the patrician to the peasant, must have been imbued with feelings which, while they believed t

1 In the earlier part of the history of nations, Mythology has always been found to exist; imaginary beings have been adored

ions, Mythology has always been found to exist; imaginary beings have been adored, and a system of worship established, whic

fierce and savage spirits, who would destroy a world that has so long been the treasury of the arts! a world, imaginary inde

other sign, and that no small one, of this hidden sense which we have been speaking of, which is that some of these fables a

ever, the latter discovered, as he eventually did, that his hopes had been deceived, and his ‌agreement broken, he assembled

she received the name of Cybele from the mountain where her life had been preserved. She is called also the ancient Vesta,

fering to the God. But his punishment was as swift as his conduct had been atrocious: his palace was reduced to ashes, and h

was discovered that though she had refused all ordinary food, she had been tempted while in the gardens of Pluto, to pluck a

, smote him with a thunderbolt. Indignant at the punishment which had been awarded Æsculapius, Apollo sought the isle of Lem

al green thy boughs adorn.” Ovid. However earnest Apollo might have been in his pursuit of Daphne, he did not long remain

God, upon this, tied his opponent to a tree, and punished him as had been agreed. The ‌death of Marsyas was universally lam

brow, All radiant from his triumph in the fight; The shaft hath just been shot — the arrow, bright With an immortal’s venge

duced to enter a temple at Lycaen (where, with her son Arcas, she had been brought), and which it was not lawful to enter. T

but she would have fallen beneath the fury of its revenge, had it not been for Meleager, son of Æneas, who slew the boar. A

f the youth Bacchus. When dwelling in the Isle of Naxos, where he had been for some years, becoming oppressed with the heat

f not loving, was crowned and led to the altar, where he who had once been her lover, stood ready to be her slayer. At sight

oam the lovely goddess bore,” after the mutilated body of Uranus had been thrown there by Saturn, is the most known, and of

or the golden apple is well known. The Goddess of Discord, not having been invited to the marriage of Peleus and Thetis, evi

wever, laughed his suit to scorn, and Vulcan is represented as having been very violent at his rejection. Juno then pressed

ed with tears, that the king of heaven must have complied, had it not been for the more touching and feminine attributes of

Homer. It is stated that Bacchus made him intoxicated after he had been expelled from Olympus, and then prevailed on him

n, where he was reconciled to his parents. He seems, however, to have been retained there more for ridicule than any other p

could gather the greatest number in the least time. Cupid would have been triumphant, had not Perestere, who accompanied th

o the different characters in which she has appeared, has the goddess been represented. Usually with a helmet on her head, a

cration of that sanctuary, where only worship and incense should have been offered. Insérer image anonyme_heathen-mythology_

Jove, and heavenly born: Else singed with lightning, hadst thou hence been thrown, Where, chained on burning rocks, the Tita

Mars, as the God of War, and consequently the winner of victory, have been very numerous. ‌ His most celebrated temple at R

ent to him by Death, while any to whom the rites of sepulchre had not been granted, were for a hundred years allowed to soli

n of Cyane, into which one of the attendant maidens of Proserpine had been metamorphosed, and where he had, according to the

et to the son of Jupiter and Maia, the actions of all the others have been probably attributed, as he is the most famous and

y had used in the pursuit of gain; and this may be considered to have been particularly necessary when it is remembered that

Echo’s love for him may be less familiar to the mind. After Echo had been dismissed by Jupiter, for her loquacity in procla

Half maddened by the appearance of a beauty, of which hitherto he had been unconscious, he made every possible effort to gra

_img120 Narcissus fancied that the nymph upon whom he supposed he had been gazing, was deserting him, and unable to bear the

ancholy fate, changed him into the flower Narcissus. Many morals have been attempted to be deduced from this beautiful fable

ced from this beautiful fable, but in none of them have their authors been very successful, unless we may gather a warning o

acchus, who accompanied the latter in all his travels. Bacchus having been well received and entertained at the court of Mid

ght to Sylla, as that general returned from Thessaly; the monster had been surprised asleep in a cave; his voice was inartic

Ceres with Summer, and Flora with Spring. The four seasons have also been described with great distinctness, by poets, both

fringe of softer green, And the moss looks bright where my foot hath been . I have sent thro’ the wood-paths a glowing sigh

thy harp, O wind!     That gives the answering tone.     “Thou hast been across red fields of war,     Where shivered helm

ese are in thy music met,     As when a leader comes.     “Thou hast been o’er solitary seas,     And from their wastes bro

ies. They were originally the manes of the dead, but when mankind had been taught by superstition to pay deep reverence to t

th, they delivered up to judgment the person with whose care they had been entrusted; and according to the evidence he deliv

sted ‌Hellespont and the neighbouring seas, and from this have always been considered as gods favourable to sailors. During

outhful Jason, whose right of succession to the throne of Iolchos had been wrested from him by Pelias, was entrusted to the

ence of the usurper of the kingdom of Iolchos, because the latter had been informed by an oracle that one of the descendants

market place. Pelias came to see him with the others, and, as he had been warned by the oracle, to beware of a man who shou

red to the palace of Pelias, and demanded the kingdom of which he had been unjustly deprived. The boldness of Jason intimida

f glory, Pelias reminded him that their common relation, Phryxus, had been inhumanly murdered by Æetes, king of Colchis, in

efore his intimacy with Medea, Ægeus had a son named Theseus, who had been sent to Athens with his father’s sword, by the si

had achieved, tried to poison him at an entertainment to which he had been invited. She failed in her purpose. The king, rec

eath. Medea also died at Colchis, and after her death is said to have been married to Achilles in Elysium. It is asserted by

e most celebrated, and as such, doubtless, many of their actions have been attributed to him. In order to gain the affection

ier fortune, mournful is the change; But him, that in distresses hath been trained, Naught grieves, as though lie were allie

t never Grecian might behold me more, With whom in better days I have been happy. Why therefore should I live? What blessing

to the commands of Eurystheus for twelve years, and that after he had been successful in the labours to be imposed upon him,

ordered to clean the stables of Augias, where three thousand oxen had been confined for many years. For the sixth, he was or

im from his servitude and married him. When the term for which he had been sold expired, Hercules left her, and returned to

fter this, he became one of the numerous suitors of Dejanira, who had been promised by her father in marriage to that one wh

hem both with great favour, but Hercules could not forget that he had been refused the hand of Iole, although in possession

s fly, And lodge the hero in the starry sky.” Ovid. If his fame had been universal, his worship soon became equally so, an

complete pattern of virtue and piety, and is asserted by them to have been employed for the benefit of mankind, and for this

cted an altar to his memory, upon the spot where the burning pile had been . Perseus. This hero was the son of Jupiter

heir sisters, the Gorgons resided. When the necessary information had been received, Perseus sought the habitation of the Go

swift descended, fluttering, from on high.” Ovid. This princess had been promised in marriage to Phineus, her uncle, when

hall thy wings O Perseus, save thy life; Nor Jove himself, tho’ we’ve been often told He got thee in the form of tempting go

thus met the fate the oracle had decreed, and to avoid which, he had been guilty of the barbarous act of throwing his daugh

o maturity, he was sent by his mother to Ægeus, and a sword which had been hidden beneath a stone until he became of age, an

Naxos, where he had the meanness to desert Ariadne, whose conduct had been the means of his glorious triumph, and to whom he

accused his son to Theseus of the very crime of which she had herself been guilty, and excited the father’s ire against his

ter taking poison she confessed to Theseus the crime of which she had been guilty, and Hippolytus was restored to the affect

was restored to the affections of his father. The name of Theseus had been rendered by his bravery so conspicuous and so dre

uished honour which the ancients rendered to Orpheus, appears to have been an homage paid by the refinement of the age to mu

the son of Œager by the muse Calliope, though some assert him to have been the son of Apollo, because the god, owing to the

had seven sons and seven daughters; the trials of this princess have been given in the history of Apollo, leaving a touchin

continued his way to Thebes, attracted thither by the noise which had been vented about of the Sphynx, a frightful monster t

aius was banished from the country. The slayer of this king had never been discovered, and the whole of Thebes was in violen

ross his mind, that he was to die in a place like this, that such had been the decree of the oracle, and that he was to beco

lls of Thebes; nor was this an ungrateful task to the warrior who had been so treacherously assaulted. ‌ —————— “Frowning

hould reach him; and when Alcmeon heard that his father’s chariot had been swallowed by the earth, which opened to receive i

iter, and supplied with an ivory shoulder, in place of that which had been devoured by Ceres, and to which was granted the p

their fearful course. Atreus and Thyestes, the sons of Pelops, having been counselled by Hippodamia to kill ‌Chrysippus, who

d at so unlooked for a crime, Atreus took a fearful vengeance. Having been banished from the city for some time, Thyestes wa

born to him by the connexion with his brother’s wife, all of whom had been sacrificed to his vengeance. When the repast was

on left, named Egisthus, who, himself the fruit of a great crime, had been brought up by Agamemnon, and to him did the spect

act he had performed; nor were the fates satisfied until the deed had been accomplished, which revenged upon Atreus the infa

me; smile with me at my illusion — You are so like what you have ever been (Except in sorrow!) I might well forget I could n

son of Thetis, considered Eachus as his ancestor. This young hero had been hidden by his frightened mother in the isle of Cy

ent at night and slew him; they then carried off the horses which had been the innocent causes of his melancholy fate. All t

oreseen quarrel stopped the operations of the Greeks. Achilles having been deprived by Agamemnon of his favourite mistress,

oy, Polyxena was sacrificed to the manes of Achilles. So glorious had been his arms, that Ajax and Ulysses disputed for them

eir soldiers disembarked, and penetrated through the breach which had been made to admit the horse. At the same time the war

received every hospitality. At the end of the repast to which he had been invited, he related his wonderful adventures. He

me his wife had held him in continual remembrance, and though she had been pressed by her numerous suitors to consider him a

Calumny and Envy are the daughters of Night, and though poets have been peculiarly the victims of these evils, yet they h

ses crushed hearts and broken friendships — while of Envy it has well been remarked, “Open your heart once to receive her as

e mother of a family of evils, almost too numerous to mention. Having been refused admission to the nuptials of Thetis and P

holy and impoverished appearance, after having asked hospitality, and been refused by the inhabitants of the village, sought

rtainment; but could not forget the inhospitality with which they had been received by their countrymen, and let loose the w

nion opposed by their friends, between the families of whom there had been a variance for many years. “But to prevent their

xious gaze, which he instantly recognized, and concluded that she had been torn to pieces by wild beasts. In his despair he

th it, the cause of all the scorn and indifference, with which he had been treated. ————— “At once he saw His rival, and th

e priestess she was, and while warmed with the rites at which she had been assisting, Leander avowed his passion. “Her lily

e a plausible explanation of apparent incongruities: it has, however, been suggested, that the dragon’s fable, arose from so

the very diseases were sworn to respect his life. No sooner had this been done, than his brothers determined to see, if ind

and the flashing of torches. The field where his holy ceremonies had been celebrated, was sown with stones, and from thence

s regarded as sacred, and was filled with the bodies of those who had been sacrificed. Occasionally the blood of their child

s. It has been suggested, that some navigators of Phœnicia might have been thrown upon the then unknown shore of America, fr

the Egyptians. “Statues, sculptured in a purely classical style, have been found; and vases, agreeing both in shape and orna

nt with the earliest specimens of Egyptian and Etruscan pottery, have been found in their sepulchral excavations. “Evidences

iced. Cortez found in an enormous edifice the skulls of those who had been slain, the number of which amounted to upwards of

ams of Christianity mingled with impure legends, which have doubtless been derived from the mythologies of Greece and India.

they regard as a divinity; and which they imagine at one time to have been a human being: they believe he married his sister

k is now closed; the religions of those who have gone before us, have been given with as much accuracy as the lapse of ‌ages

to those who have accompanied us in our wanderings; to those who have been with us among the elegant reminiscences of the Gr

ubject has excited interest, and that a perusal of the fables we have been able to lay before them, may induce them to take

preciate their beauty. —————— “The days Of visible poetry have long been past! — No fear that the young hunter may profane

om those licentious and indelicate stories, with which it has so long been encumbered and defaced, and which are totally unf

ases where evident morals are inculcated by Fables, observations have been given; while poetical extracts have been selected

by Fables, observations have been given; while poetical extracts have been selected, which cannot fail to show how Mythology

em certain powers and qualities; but, as very few of their works have been transmitted to us, a knowledge of their mythology

nations, admired whatever related to the worship of the gods that had been brought into their country by the colonies from P

besides the Grecians and Romans, a mythology? Have not the Scriptures been looked upon as the grand source from which the an

e gods. The fourth order contained the virtues by which great men had been distinguished, as fidelity, concord, courage, pru

anus. Janus, a god in the Roman calendar, is said by some to have been the son of Cœlus, and a brother of Saturn; but by

small town called Janiculum. Saturn, as has been shown, after having been dethroned by his son Jupiter, was hospitably rece

, to make bread, and to raise temples and altars to the gods, who had been previously worshipped in groves. Janus presided o

Cybele was so called from the name of the mountain upon which she had been exposed. Some etymologists suppose this name to b

is, Eurynome, Ceres, Mnemosyne, Latona and Juno. Juno appears to have been the last and the most celebrated of his wives. By

put his father to a violent death. In process of time, Saturn having been dethroned by his son Jupiter was treated by him a

ns having taken refuge in Spain, the poets represented them as having been driven into the Infernal Regions. So they gave th

me of Tartarus to the river Tartese, in Spain; and, the Titans having been beaten near that river, and drowned in its waters

ear that river, and drowned in its waters, were represented as having been plunged into Tartarus. Some of them having been r

represented as having been plunged into Tartarus. Some of them having been recalled from Italy or Spain were said to have be

me of them having been recalled from Italy or Spain were said to have been delivered from the Infernal Regions. By the comba

he is said to have repented of the improper demeanor of which she had been guilty, put on mourning garments, and kept hersel

bow-man.) He represents the Centaur Chiron, who draws his bow. He had been the preceptor of Hercules; but in the battle of t

, Hercules wounded him accidentally with one of his arrows, which had been dipped in the blood of the hydra. The wound cause

r a frightful serpent, called Python, which the poets suppose to have been formed of the mud left on the earth by the waters

mother. Niobe herself was changed into a rock. His son Æsculapius had been killed by Jupiter with his thunderbolts for raisi

y, and remained nine years in his service; and hence he has sometimes been called the god of shepherds. He assisted Neptune

” for prefering Pan’s music to his. Jupiter, thinking that he had now been sufficiently punished, recalled him to heaven, an

f giving light to the world; and from this circumstance, he has often been considered as the sun. No god was more honoured t

isfortunes of the queen, which caused the poets to say, that they had been changed into stones. Amphion soon died of sorrow

where she ended her days in sorrow. The poets gave out, that she had been turned into a rock, because the excess of her suf

rels which grew along its banks, caused the poets to say that she had been transformed into a laurel. Pliny the naturalist a

lways inclined itself towards the sun, they published that Clytia had been turned into a sunflower, and that her form, havin

er against him? Whither did he retire? Of what is Apollo said to have been the inventor? Had Apollo any other adventures whi

ess in knowledge. The name of the Muses is generally supposed to have been derived from the Greek muein, to explain the myst

captain of the Muses was often given to Hercules, who appears to have been confounded with the sun. Mr.  Court de Gebelin so

because her father brought her forth three months after his head had been struck, or because she was educated on lake Trito

en. Obs. 1. — The idea of this poetical generation, appears to have been taken from the Sacred Books, where Wisdom says, t

erce. The poets consecrated this judgment by saying, that Neptune had been surpassed by Minerva, and that the twelve great g

tory for the brilliant attire of poetry. They gave out, that Mars had been acquitted by the twelve great gods, because the j

er of Cupid, and the patroness of the Graces, is said by some to have been the daughter of Jupiter and Dione; by others to h

ur is deceitful and love is precarious. Hesiod supposes Cupid to have been the son of Nox and Æther, and to have been produc

iod supposes Cupid to have been the son of Nox and Æther, and to have been produced at the same time with Chaos and Earth. H

er with additions of their own. Obs. 2. — The Cyclops appear to have been the aboriginals of Sicily. Ignorance of their ori

ntions five deities of this name, but the actions of all but one have been attributed to the son of Jupiter and Maia. Mercur

lla, Charybdis. The Sirens were three in number, supposed to have been the daughters of Achelaus and Melpomene: their na

f into the sea, and was turned into a rock. Charybdis is said to have been an avaricious woman, who stole away Hercules’ oxe

Æolus, the god of the winds and tempests, is usually supposed to have been the son of Jupiter, by Acesta or Sergesta, the da

thus greatly protracted his voyage home. The Winds are fabled to have been the sons of Aurora and Astræus, one of the giants

d to her. It was once said to be on fire; but no sooner had her image been removed thence, than the grove became green again

e goddess of groves and flowers. Obs. 2. — Vertumnus is said to have been an ancient king of Etruria, celebrated for his lo

nder the city of Delphi, at whose sight they fled, as if an enemy had been at their heels. Others say that it originated fro

those to whom, on account of crime or debt, the honours of burial had been refused. When the descendants of the poor became

de is found an eternal increase of departed souls, some of which have been justly driven from the tracts of light, and some

onsidered as belonging to Pluto’s kingdom. The Styx is fabled to have been the daughter of the Ocean; and hence, gods swore

on account of his having informed Asopus where his daughter Ægina had been carried by Jupiter; but most writers assign the f

refused the performance of the usual ceremony by which he might have been purified of murder. But he obtained his pardon fr

who promoted him to heaven. Such a favour, for which he ought to have been thankful, increased his insolence. He attempted t

as so lascivious as to carry away Ganymede; and of hers, that, having been introduced at the table of the gods, he had revea

onourable acquital. Some suppose that Lynceus murdered Danaus, as had been predicted by an oracle. According to some, the si

onsters, described as half men, and half horses, and are said to have been born of a cloud by Ixion, whence they are called

ed a temple to Filial Piety on the foundations of the house which had been inhabited by the Roman woman who fed her father i

mingled in the train of the god of war. The two sons of Medea having been massacred by the Corinthians, a cruel plague dest

a window in his breast, through which his inmost thoughts might have been seen. When Neptune had formed the bull, he observ

ne, was the son of Apollo, by the nymph Coronis. After his mother had been shot for her infidelity by Apollo, he was exposed

a serpent. To him were sacrificed a goat, because he is said to have been nourished by that animal, and a cock, which is co

r name of Æsculapius, whom the Greeks called Asclepios, seems to have been derived from the oriental languages. It is certai

ettled in Italy, where he changed his name to Viribus, because he had been a man twice. Phædra was so tormented with the gna

sed by his absence, killed herself. The poets published, that she had been changed into an almond-tree. The name of Phyllis,

milky-way, which is called in Greek, Galaxia. Lilies are said to have been created by the fall of it on the earth, and are t

the stable of Augeas, king of Elis, in which three thousand oxen had been kept for thirty years, and from which the filth h

en had been kept for thirty years, and from which the filth had never been removed. This he effected by turning the river Ac

ed Busiris, king of Egypt, on the same altar on which that tyrant had been wont to immolate strangers to his father Neptune.

ed fire in a little box, and sent it to Creusa. No sooner had the box been opened, than the fire burst forth, and burnt her

ty, and from the other, Castor and Clytemnestra, who are said to have been mortal like their mother. Castor and Pollux were

is, Thoas was slain, and the image of Diana was removed, after it had been hidden in a bundle of sticks: and from that circu

ed down. Sinon opened the horse’s flanks, and fifty warriors, who had been concealed in it, appeared with Ulysses at their h

n of a new empire. It is from Æneas that the Romans pretended to have been descended. Virgil acquaints us with the life of

e succeeded against Troy. He removed the ashes of Laomedon, which had been preserved upon the gate Scæa in Troy. He carried

ifies rainy. Obs. 3. — The golden apples of Juno, some fancy to have been merely oranges, a fruit very rare in ancient time

e form, being mingled together by their nature; but afterwards having been separated, the world began to take its present fo

his ordinary figure was a living bull. Obs. — Osiris appears to have been the Moses of the Jews, and the Bacchus of the Gre

ere was also an ox worshipped at Heliopolis; but this is said to have been sacred to Iris. Apis had generally two temples or

to have the direction of mundane affairs. A parallel reformation had been accomplished by Camugers, great-grand-son of Noah

rge apes, and other animals. They believe that Vishnu, having already been nine times incarnate in various shapes, will once

ese wretched fanatics. They hang themselves upon spikes, until having been religiously fed, they expire. In ancient times, v

have left behind him some writings, in which he taught that there had been a time in which every thing was darkness and wate

to be religious, and after they should discover the memoirs which had been deposited at Sippara, to proceed to Babylon. In t

f the god. After this, they drank for a medicine some water which had been blessed by the priest. Coat-li-cue, the Flora of

the sea of brass, and the other utensils of the same metal, which had been taken from the temple at Jerusalem. This tower of

was a golden altar, upon which were immolated animals which had just been born. Near that place was a great altar, on which

allowed to present their offerings. Hence, these offerings must have been multiplied almost without end, for nothing was re

is was consecrated to all the gods. It is generally supposed to have been built by the direction, and at the expense of Agr

of St. Angelo. The statues of the gods, which filled the niches, have been plundered or concealed under ground. When the cel

ld oracles have so long preserved their credit and eclat, if they had been the result of mere deception? This is a grave que

of credulous consulters appeared. These two doves, says Servius, had been given by Jupiter to his daughter Thebe. They had

an oak, a small chapel in honour of Jupiter, whose priestess she had been at Thebes. Herodotus adds that the name of the do

e gave out that the dove, or Pleiai, had spoken. Such is said to have been the origin of the famous oracle of Dodona. Servi

heir Ammon on any motion or sign of the statue. — These accounts have been transmitted to us by Quintus Curtius and Diodorus

ity, by saluting him as the son of Jupiter; but Alexander had already been covered with glory, and all obeyed his nod. Ch

the verses of the Sibyls were written in Greek; which would not have been the case, if the Sibyls had been of different cou

itten in Greek; which would not have been the case, if the Sibyls had been of different countries. He believes this mysterio

ected with as much care as the oracles of the Pythian, could not have been translated into Greek. However, we will present w

phi by the Grecians. As to the other oracles of the Sibyls, which had been collected, policy and ambition well knew how to e

tol; but, as there were many Apocryphas, as much faith in them as had been placed in their predecessors, they never received

ducted herself and her son Pisidorus to Olympia. The young man having been declared victor, his mother leaped over the barri

that I can scarcely consent to yield to the various proofs which have been adduced in its favour. It is, doubtless, more rat

most important points. The religion of the Scythians appears to have been simple in early times. It inculcated but few tene

are very rare in the isle of Selande; for which reason they must have been transported a great distance — monuments more las

lled Odin’s, was filled up with bodies of men and of animals that had been sacrificed. They were sometimes carried off and b

e smoke arose quickly, the people doubted not but these offerings had been most agreeable to him. When they immolated a vict

ginians, and, indeed, almost all the nations of Europe and Asia, have been covered with the same opprobrium. The Peruvians a

te victim of superstition, whilst pleading for his life, after having been stripped, by crime and force, from all other righ

uth of the Obi in Russia to Cape Finisterre. The same language having been adopted among those nations separated from each o

the north, and gradually peopled the whole island. Whatever may have been the origin of the inhabitants of Great Britain, t

the druids. Tremnor, great-grandfather to the celebrated Fingal, had been elected vergobert by the victorious tribes that h

of collecting the poesies of the celebrated Ossian. After having long been the first instructers and the early historians of

less he had sung over him the funeral hymn. This hymn appears to have been the only essential ceremony of their obsequies. T

ed, yet how deeply interesting and touchingly charming they must have been ! They were enough to feast and fill up the most p

sea and land. This view clearly explains the parallel which has often been drawn between the Magi and the Druids, and shows

e Druids had the same origin; the differences between them might have been easily caused by wars, separation, and time. The

eparation, and time. The religion of the Gauls appears to have always been purer than that of other heathen nations.’ Their

obe; and then made to pass into the left with swiftness, as if it had been stolen. The one who gathered it, must, moreover,

expiation in which they employed fruits and honey. This plant having been thus collected, possessed, they believed, every v

re could produce this visible world without media; since, if this had been the case, all things must have been, like himself

without media; since, if this had been the case, all things must have been , like himself, ineffable and unknown. It is neces

hey may have existed in the mouths of the people. Embellishments have been introduced after the manner of the fairy-tale, an

een introduced after the manner of the fairy-tale, and the plots have been shortened and simplified. There have been some om

ry-tale, and the plots have been shortened and simplified. There have been some omissions, also, to suit the immaturity of t

omissions, also, to suit the immaturity of the pupils, but none have been made without careful consideration, and it is bel

s lived there, and the ghosts of men who had died, or who had not yet been born. But the gods the Greeks loved most were the

nd, Pluto, the king of the underworld, came up to see what damage had been done; for he feared that the earth might have bee

ee what damage had been done; for he feared that the earth might have been so harmed that the sun would shine through into h

nd of ghosts must be. Even Elysium, the place where men lived who had been brave and good on earth, Proserpina thought was s

the great goddess. Yet she was able to tell the news. Proserpina had been carried off by some one in a black chariot. The n

were her subjects; but her face was pale, and they say she has never been known to smile, nor will she eat anything.” When

serpina was carried off, the world began to be less happy than it had been . In the winter men shivered and froze, and even t

. Never since Apollo tended the flocks of King Admetus had such music been heard upon earth. The birds would cease singing,

was soon celebrated, and the guests agreed that never upon earth had been seen a nobler or a happier pair, for Orpheus and

e him, how they were happily married, and how, without cause, she had been snatched from him in an hour. He told how he had

e her loss, and how he had felt it more and more until at last he had been driven to come down into the underworld, not sear

t go, I, too, will return no more to light and life.” So sweet had been the music of Orpheus that when he ended, dark Plu

s the inside of a bronze shield. The babes were healthy, and they had been given a good warm bath and plenty of milk before

hey came gliding swiftly toward the cradle, and there might then have been an end of both of its little occupants, but at th

ht them as a bridal gift at the wedding of Juno and Jupiter. Juno had been so pleased with them that she had asked Earth to

lmost out. Then Nereus changed back to the form of an old man. He had been handled roughly, but he admired the courage of He

ount Caucasus. There he found Prometheus, bound to a cliff, as he had been for ages, exposed to wind and snow and rain, and

of heroic champions. Song of Hercules to his Daughter. “I’ve been , oh, sweet daughter,    To fountain and sea, To s

And see, while I’m speaking,    Yon soft light afar; — The pearl I’ve been seeking    There floats like a star! In the deep

ight. He had asked Pelias if he might sue for Alcestis’ hand; and had been told that he might, but that Alcestis should beco

d think she saw dark Death approaching, and brave and true as she had been , the grim, dark look of the god frightened her. P

and beautiful as ever. That day there was joy such as there had never been , even in the happy land of Thessaly, and the reig

t on a throne and was so dazzlingly bright that human eyes would have been blinded to look at him, and Phaëton dared not rai

es were now free to go whither they would. The people of earth had been gazing up with horror at the scene. Now the sun w

y on, but sunset was as far distant as ever. When the day should have been ending, the chariot of the sun was careering towa

y child is called Perseus. Because of ill omens at his birth, we have been driven from home to die.” “Fear no longer,” said

golden cup, did King Polydectes receive that day. But Perseus had not been able to bring anything, and the others mocked him

. If they had but touched him, no mortal sword or strength would have been of any avail. Sometimes he rose high in the air,

t was not long before the whole land felt the good rule. Never had it been so prosperous. But all was not yet done. On a cer

uddenly the door opened and in came the princess herself. She had not been able to rest since she had seen Theseus, and now

fled,    Down in the great sea’s twilight deep, Some silent grot had been our bed,    Where many a long-haired Nereid, With

ime a fair shepherd youth. He was a son of old King Priam, but he had been born under such an evil omen that, for the safety

nder such an evil omen that, for the safety of the kingdom, Priam had been compelled to cast the infant forth upon the mount

em gladly. He did not know that the fair shepherd was his son who had been cast forth to die, but Cassandra, the prophet-dau

of Paris, he gave no heed to the evil omen under which the youth had been born, but took him to live in his own royal house

down to the tent of Achilles, her son. Never on earth had such armor been seen. It shone like the sun, and the friends of A

ten years. Finally the beautiful Paris was slain, and that might have been an occasion to end the struggle, but even then th

jeering at a captive they had caught — a dirty, ragged Greek, who had been found in the reeds by the shore. He was trembling

d lamenting, but no one paid any attention to her. When the horse had been dragged to its place in the citadel and sacrifice

horse had been dragged to its place in the citadel and sacrifices had been offered to Minerva, a feast was held throughout t

John Lewis March. The Wanderings of Ulysses. After Troy had been taken and destroyed, the Grecian chiefs, laden wi

hen it cleared away the fleet was far beyond where any ships had ever been before. On the tenth day they came to a land that

amemnon at Troy, and now, when we thought to reach our homes, we have been driven from our course and lost on the ocean. In

ch force that he killed them instantly. Then he ate them as if he had been some wild animal, and lay down to sleep among his

nto the deep and back to the floating island of King Æolus. Æolus had been kind, but now he refused to do anything more for

since dead. Your son, Telemachus, is now almost a man, so long has it been . Consider well, for we all shall remain in the pa

how much his home had need of him. “For years these lawless men have been rioting in your palace, and wooing your wife, Pen

all had recognized him. When every sign of the dreadful conflict had been removed, Euryclea, the aged nurse, went to bear t

m (e-lyzh΄um), or Ely΄sian Fields. Abode of departed spirits who have been brave and good, 22, 38. En΄na. A valley in Sicil

Mt. I΄da. A mountain near Troy, 212. It was here that Pans, who had been cast forth to die, was cared for by kind shepherd

lete the subject, though it is believed these topics have not usually been presented in the same volume with the classical f

re not very consistent; for on the one hand his reign is said to have been the golden age of innocence and purity, and on th

ided for, who was to be superior to all other animals, Epimetheus had been so prodigal of his resources that he had nothing

an the former; for how could hope, so precious a jewel as it is, have been kept in a jar full of all manner of evils, as in

as there any magistrate to threaten or punish. The forest had not yet been robbed of its trees to furnish timbers for vessel

ls to ships, and vex the face of ocean. The earth, which till now had been cultivated in common, began to be divided off int

ich was renewed as fast as devoured. This state of torment might have been brought to an end at any time by Prometheus, if h

ight have been brought to an end at any time by Prometheus, if he had been willing to submit to his oppressor; for he posses

ity of Jove’s throne, and if he would have revealed it, he might have been at once taken into favor. But that he disdained t

and brow All radiant from his triumph in the fight The shaft has just been shot; the arrow bright With an immortal’s vengean

the ground, tossed and rent it with her bloody mouth. Pyramus, having been delayed, now approached the place of meeting. He

ound the veil all rent and bloody. “O hapless girl,” said he, “I have been the cause of thy death! Thou, more worthy of life

y love is as strong as thine. I will follow thee in death, for I have been the cause; and death which alone could part us sh

or it was Io, the daughter of the river god Inachus, whom Jupiter had been flirting with, and, when he became aware of the a

mbracing her white neck, exclaimed, “Alas! my daughter, it would have been a less grief to have lost you altogether!” While

n such rewards are the consequence of my displeasure? See what I have been able to effect! I forbade her to wear the human f

ret that he should be away. He earnestly wished he was. He would have been well pleased to see the exploits of his dogs, but

, as it happened, were stretching out their arms. “Who would not have been moved with these gentle words of the goddess? But

old schoolmaster and foster-father, Silenus, missing. The old man had been drinking, and in that state wandered away, and wa

olemn charm, then went and laid him in the ashes. His mother, who had been watching what her guest was doing, sprang forward

ile they were overcome with astonishment, she said, “Mother, you have been cruel in your fondness to your son. I would have

r ever visited by any but himself. On a sudden, the fishes, which had been laid on the grass, began to revive and move their

ailed behind him on the water; his shoulders grew broad, and what had been thighs and legs assumed the form of a fish’s tail

y to it.” Then he told the story of his metamorphosis, and how he had been promoted to his present dignity, and added, “But

no other than the nymph Lotis, who, running from a base pursuer, had been changed into this form. This they learned from th

, as if she would hold back the advancing wood, and would gladly have been enveloped in the same bark. At this moment Andræm

, since thou wouldst go, thou hadst taken me with thee! It would have been far better. Then I should have had no remnant of

er in marriage. Her two elder sisters of moderate charms had now long been married to two royal princes; but Psyche, in her

r? and what cowardice makes thee sink under this last danger who hast been so miraculously supported in all thy former?” The

for a libation. Near by there stood an ancient grove which had never been profaned by the axe, in the midst of which was a

of them?” Æacus groaned, and replied with a voice of sadness, “I have been intending to tell you, and will now do so, withou

their course. A sea-eagle soaring aloft, — it was her father who had been changed into that form, — seeing her, pounced dow

was her children; and truly the happiest of mothers would Niobe have been if only she had not claimed to be so. It was on o

elt she thus addressed her son and daughter: “My children, I who have been so proud of you both, and have been used to hold

aughter: “My children, I who have been so proud of you both, and have been used to hold myself second to none of the goddess

e; she was indignant that the gods had dared and amazed that they had been able to do it. Her husband, Amphion, overwhelmed

y of Florence. It is the principal figure of a group supposed to have been originally arranged in the pediment of a temple.

f men and animals which had chanced to catch a glimpse of her and had been petrified with the sight. Perseus, favored by Min

ach of the serpent. She was so pale and motionless that if it had not been for her flowing tears and her hair that moved in

hould be killed. Not one had yet succeeded in solving it, and all had been slain. Œdipus was not daunted by these alarming a

.” Vol. II, p. 12. Pegasus, being the horse of the Muses, has always been at the service of the poets. Schiller tells a pre

the service of the poets. Schiller tells a pretty story of his having been sold by a needy poet and put to the cart and the

a moment motionless, then shut those great round eyes, that had never been known to shut before, and turned over on his side

t before they discovered her treachery, or their vengeance would have been terrible. She escaped, however, but had little en

ceress, a class of persons to whom both ancient and modern poets have been accustomed to attribute every degree of atrocity.

say was boyish for a girl, yet too girlish for a boy. Her fortune had been told, and it was to this effect: “Atalanta, do no

f Argos, and dwelt in a swamp near the well of Amymone. This well had been discovered by Amymone when the country was suffer

king of Elis, had a herd of three thousand oxen, whose stalls had not been cleansed for thirty years. Hercules brought the r

slept. That their foot-prints might not serve to show where they had been driven, he dragged them backward by their tails t

he obtained the liberty of Theseus, his admirer and imitator, who had been detained a prisoner there for an unsuccessful att

attendants returned whom he had despatched to seize Bacchus. They had been driven away by the Bacchanals, but had succeeded

o arms, and curving his mutilated body, jumped into the sea. What had been his legs became the two ends of a crescent-shaped

ryads or Hamadryads, were believed to perish with the trees which had been their abode and with which they had come into exi

uired of about herself. She replied, “Pardon me, stranger, but I have been so intent upon my line that I have seen nothing e

her fish if I believe any woman or other person except myself to have been hereabouts for some time.” He was deceived and we

ready to fall, ordered his servants to prop it up. The nymph, who had been on the point of perishing with the tree, came and

; Notus or Auster, the south; and Eurus, the east. The first two have been chiefly celebrated by the poets, the former as th

cost; but there was no remedy. The condition imposed by the Fates had been met, and the decree was irrevocable. Alcestis sic

relaxed somewhat of their hardness, softened by his notes. Hymen had been called to bless with his presence the nuptials of

dvantage. Hence sprang the art of keeping bees. Honey must first have been known as a wild product, the bees building their

ting and tending the flocks. Meanwhile Antiope, their mother, who had been treated with great cruelty by Lycus, the usurping

could we go to escape from Periander, if he should know that you had been robbed by us? Your gold would be of little use to

d uncomplaining to my fate.” This prayer, like the others, would have been unheeded, — they thought only of their booty, — b

d, Perseus, when grown up became a famous hero, whose adventures have been recorded in a previous chapter. Simonides passed

imilar occasions, and one might suppose an ordinary mortal might have been content to share the praises of the sons of Leda.

an whom Venus had destined for Paris, the fairest of her sex. She had been sought as a bride by numerous suitors, and before

was the son of that Thetis at whose marriage the apple of Discord had been thrown among the goddesses. Thetis was herself on

and Paris, the shepherd and seducer of Helen, was his son. Paris had been brought up in obscurity, because there were certa

he Grecian armament now in preparation was the greatest that had ever been fitted out. Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, and broth

ut Troy was no feeble enemy. Priam, the king, was now old, but he had been a wise prince and had strengthened his state by g

jans, Jupiter saw nothing of what was going on, for his attention had been drawn from the field by the wiles of Juno. That g

also how, at the time of departing for Troy, Achilles and himself had been charged by their respective fathers with differen

r likewise. But Achilles was so close in pursuit that that would have been impossible if Apollo had not, in the form of Agen

s, when Apollo disclosed himself, and Achilles, perceiving how he had been deluded, gave up the chase. But when the rest had

Hercules. They were in possession of Philoctetes, the friend who had been with Hercules at the last and lighted his funeral

inon by name, and that in consequence of the malice of Ulysses he had been left behind by his countrymen at their departure.

her daughter Cassandra were carried captives to Greece. Cassandra had been loved by Apollo, and he gave her the gift of prop

ictions should never be believed. Polyxena, another daughter, who had been loved by Achilles, was demanded by the ghost of t

general-in-chief of the Greeks, the brother of Menelaus, and who had been drawn into the quarrel to avenge his brother’s wr

fortunate in the issue. During his absence his wife Clytemnestra had been false to him, and when his return was expected, s

hem howl and hiss, For that unnatural retribution, — just, Had it but been from hands less near, — in this, Thy former realm

ess! Circe, feel my prayer!” Scylla and Charybdis. Ulysses had been warned by Circe of the two monsters Scylla and Ch

he crew perished.   The following allusion to the topics we have just been considering is from Milton’s Comus, line 252: —

e sites explain the Odyssey. The temple of the sea-god could not have been more fitly placed, upon a grassy platform of the

to wash their garments.” Fate of the Suitors. Ulysses had now been away from Ithaca for twenty years, and when he aw

re than a hundred nobles of Ithaca and of the neighboring islands had been for years suing for the hand of Penelope, his wif

and to their astonishment learned that certain Trojan exiles, who had been carried there as prisoners, had become rulers of

s appearance; a terrible monster, shapeless, vast, whose only eye had been put out. 21 He walked with cautious steps, feeli

e Trojans plied their oars and soon left them out of sight. Æneas had been cautioned by Helenus to avoid the strait guarded

for whatever might await him. He had but one request to make. Having been directed in a dream to seek the abode of the dead

him by informing him that the people of the shore where his body had been wafted by the waves should be stirred up by prodi

he legend of the happy island Atlantis. This blissful region may have been wholly imaginary, but possibly may have sprung fr

mortal; yet if I could have accepted the love of Apollo I might have been immortal. He promised me the fulfilment of my wis

Rutulians, was favored by the wishes of her parents. But Latinus had been warned in a dream by his father Faunus, that the

ezentius, a brave and able soldier, but of detestable cruelty. He had been the chief of one of the neighboring cities, but h

surface of the water without dipping her feet. Camilla’s history had been singular from the beginning. Her father, Metabus,

y stream; I will lead you to Evander, the Arcadian chief, he has long been at strife with Turnus and the Rutulians, and is p

wers and delivered the body into their hands. Mezentius meanwhile had been borne to the riverside, and washed his wound. Soo

on the other hand, was deserted by his celestial allies, Juno having been expressly forbidden by Jupiter to assist him any

the universe was constructed. How he conceived this process has never been satisfactorily explained. He traced the various f

he was passing through a forest he saw the trunk of a tree which had been partially split open by wood-cutters, and attempt

g’s return. He then caused a box or chest to be brought in, which had been made to fit exactly the size of Osiris, and decla

re in honor of the god, and at every place where one of his limbs had been found minor temples and tombs were built to comme

at Delphi, a city built on the slopes of Parnassus in Phocis. It had been observed at a very early period that the goats fe

ntoxicating air, he was affected in the same manner as the cattle had been , and the inhabitants of the surrounding country,

his accomplice, cut off his head. Trophonius himself is said to have been shortly afterwards swallowed up by the earth. The

derived from the narratives of Scripture, though the real facts have been disguised and altered. Thus Deucalion is only ano

udiments of learning sprung civilization, which the poets have always been prone to describe as a deterioration of man’s fir

ld the wandering moon Riding near her highest noon, Like one that had been led astray In the heaven’s wide, pathless way.”

at simple shepherd’s awe-inspiring god.” All the theories which have been mentioned are true to a certain extent. It would

the highest powers of genius and art. Of the many attempts four have been most celebrated, the first two known to us only b

s de’ Medici. The Venus of the Medici is so called from its having been in the possession of the princes of that name in

from the difficulty of believing that poems of such length could have been committed to writing at so early an age as that u

se. On the other hand it is asked how poems of such length could have been handed down from age to age by means of the memor

among the barbarous people and in a severe climate, the poet, who had been accustomed to all the pleasures of a luxurious ca

rn Monsters. There is a set of imaginary beings which seem to have been the successors of the “Gorgons, Hydras, and Chime

assical writers, but their chief popularity and currency seem to have been in more modern times. We seek our accounts of the

re blaspheme Freedom and thee? a new Actæon’s error Shall theirs have been , — devoured by their own hounds!         Be thou

out of whose account of the unicorn most of the modern unicorns have been described and figured, records it as “a very fero

e adds that “it cannot be taken alive;” and some such excuse may have been necessary in those days for not producing the liv

animal upon the arena of the amphitheatre. The unicorn seems to have been a sad puzzle to the hunters, who hardly knew how

of age, my father, happening to be in a little room in which they had been washing, and where there was a good fire of oak b

der the Macedonian monarchy the doctrines of Zoroaster appear to have been considerably corrupted by the introduction of for

ions, existed from the earliest times. It is supposed by some to have been founded upon conquest, the first three castes bei

as a delusive incarnation of Vishnu, is said by his followers to have been a mortal sage, whose name was Gautama, called als

rning, and are supported at the principal temples, most of which have been richly endowed by the former monarchs of the coun

eral centuries after the appearance of Buddha, his sect seems to have been tolerated by the Brahmans, and Buddhism appears t

penetrated the peninsula of Hindustan in every direction, and to have been carried to Ceylon, and to the eastern peninsula.

o scatter it widely over adjacent countries. Buddhism appears to have been introduced into China about the year 65 of our er

ore of the toilsome work than his master. Their bargain, however, had been concluded, and confirmed by solemn oaths, for wit

forward and try his skill with Loki. A trough filled with meat having been set on the hall floor, Loki placed himself at one

alds — Iceland. The Death of Baldur. Baldur the Good, having been tormented with terrible dreams indicating that hi

frequently used for inscriptions, of which more than a thousand have been found. The language is a dialect of the Gothic, c

ions may therefore be read with certainty, but hitherto very few have been found which throw the least light on history. The

s an animated account of the region where the strange stories we have been reading had their origin. Let the reader contrast

uttered musically their thoughts. Much would be lost had Iceland not been burst up from the sea, not been discovered by the

s. Much would be lost had Iceland not been burst up from the sea, not been discovered by the Northmen!” Chapter XLI. Th

fire, those within are encompassed by the flames.” Many attempts have been made by Celtic writers to shake the testimony of

the sacred fire, from which all the fires in the district, which had been beforehand scrupulously extinguished, might be re

cular Cairns which are found in various parts, and which seem to have been of Druidical origin. It is in reference to all th

. —  Virgil . A horrible monster, misshapen, vast, whose only eye had been put out. No. 11. Page 350. Tantæne animis

pictures still remaining on the walls of the Egyptian temples to have been borne by the priests in their religious processio

y to the noble pasturage from which these “flowers of Parnassus” have been culled, and they will enable the reader to apprec

r more versions of the same myth occur, the preference has invariably been given to the most popular, that is to say, to the

Æneid,” and to Sir Lewis Morris and others whose works have similarly been placed under contribution. Chapter I: The Begi

and motion. Gæa, roused from her apathy, admired all that had already been done for her embellishment, and, resolving to cro

Pope’s tr.). The scene of this mighty conflict was supposed to have been in Thessaly, where the country bears the imprint

solemn council, they decided to create woman; and as soon as she had been artfully fashioned, each one endowed her with som

ectual efforts to escape, closed over the homes where they might have been so happy, and drowned their last despairing cries

n spite of the general depravity, the lives of this couple had always been pure and virtuous; and when Jupiter saw them ther

he desolate earth, they came to the shrine of Delphi, which alone had been able to resist the force of the waves. There they

a command seemed sacrilegious in the extreme; for the dead had always been held in deep veneration by the Greeks, and the de

sudden involuntary departure. Agenor, whose favourite she had always been , rent his garments in grief, and bade his sons go

ing to discover the cause of their delay, and found that they had all been devoured by a huge dragon, which lived in the hol

oduced was almost instantaneous; for the giants, each fancying it had been thrown by his neighbour, began fighting among the

ak-tree gave forth mysterious prophecies, which were supposed to have been inspired by the king of gods; this long-lost shri

been inspired by the king of gods; this long-lost shrine has recently been discovered. “Oh, where, Dodona! is thine aged gr

s seldom seen; and no one would have known she had passed, had it not been for the brilliant trail her many-coloured robe le

en by the name of Arachne. Pretty, young, and winsome, she would have been loved by all had it not been for her inordinate p

etty, young, and winsome, she would have been loved by all had it not been for her inordinate pride, not in her personal adv

and Latona, or Leto, the goddess of dark nights. Juno’s jealousy had been aroused by Jupiter’s preference for her rival. To

but only on condition, that, when the time came which had previously been appointed for the good king’s death, some one sho

mortality, left his service, and went to assist Neptune, who had also been banished to earth, to build the walls of Troy. Sc

lurking fiend malaria from making further inroads. Apollo has always been a favourite subject for painters and sculptors. T

clared should henceforth be used to shade the graves of those who had been greatly beloved through life. The Story of Dap

own apartment, and sent in hot haste for a barber, who, after having been sworn to secrecy, was admitted, and bidden to fas

ed none of his artistic tastes. Hearing that their mother Antiope had been repudiated by her second husband, Lycus, so that

d brow All radiant from his triumph in the fight; The shaft hath just been shot — the arrow bright With an immortal’s vengea

lo and Diana, Latona boasted far and wide that such as hers had never been , for they excelled all others in beauty, intellig

nter’s pride has melted. As soon as the young Goddess of the Moon had been introduced into Olympus, all the gods expressed a

away across the deep blue sky, he felt sure the whole occurrence had been but a dream, but so sweet a dream that he cast hi

limbs. But unfortunately the goddess and her attendant nymphs had not been the only hunters out that day. Actæon, the huntsm

of the soft speech of love; and Hymen, god of marriage. A throne had been prepared for the expected goddess, and, when she

s, whose charms far surpassed all descriptions. Venus, as has already been stated, was always deeply interested in young lov

d robes. At sight of the wonted signal, Leander, who had already once been beaten back by the waves, made a second attempt t

.). Since that ominous day the fruit of the mulberry tree, which had been white, assumed a blood-like hue, dyed by the bloo

ones. By Permission of Mr. Frederick Hollyer. As Pygmalion had always been an obdurate bachelor, and had frequently declared

ermission of Mr. Frederick Hollyer. Now, the elder sisters had always been jealous of Psyche’s superior beauty; and when the

o appointed such difficult tasks, that the poor girl would never have been able to accomplish them had she not been aided by

e poor girl would never have been able to accomplish them had she not been aided by all the beasts and insects, who loved he

cattered leaves. Suddenly he remembered that the babe whose birth had been announced early that morning in high Olympus had

whose birth had been announced early that morning in high Olympus had been appointed god of thieves. He therefore lost no ti

there. Carelessly the god pointed to the heifer, and declared he had been whiling away the time by creating it; but the exp

, seeing no other living creature near, suspected that her spouse had been engaged in a clandestine flirtation, and had scre

ut, contrary to all previsions, the babes survived, and, after having been suckled for a time by a she-wolf, were found and

of the gods. His aversion to Olympus was of old standing. He had once been tenderly attached to his mother, had lavished upo

ion Here in Tartarus, too, was Ixion, king of the Lapithæ, who had been given the hand of Dia in marriage on condition th

e of Athamas, King of Thebes, who nursed him as tenderly as if he had been her own child. But all her love could not avail t

eys, Bacchus, as was inevitable, met with many adventures, which have been fertile themes for poetry and art. On one occasio

alone on the sandy shore. Ariadne, for such was the girl’s name, had been forsaken there by her lover, Theseus, who had sai

entertainment. Rumours of the noise and disorder, which seem to have been the invariable accompaniment of the god’s presenc

n her child. The fountain then went on to tell how she had not always been a mere stream, but was once a nymph, called Areth

ps and eyelids thin.’” Keats. The misty cloud in which Arethusa had been enveloped by Diana’s protecting care was soon blo

spite of her previous efforts to escape him, Arethusa must still have been very glad to see him once more, for Ceres heard h

all men were regarded as enemies unless by a special compact they had been made friends, so Vesta presided especially over t

, — remained always a virgin. The Romans fancied that her worship had been introduced into Italy by Æneas, their famous ance

aly, and blessed them with such prosperity that their reign has often been called the Age of Gold                  “Saturn

and hastened to the sea-shore to convince herself that the dream had been false; but she had no sooner reached the beach, t

by these animals were in an incredibly filthy state, as they had not been cleaned for years; and now Hercules was given the

ow in what portion of the world he would find these apples, which had been given to Juno as a wedding present, and which she

he had seen and loved in the beginning of his career, but whom he had been obliged to leave to fulfil his arduous tasks. She

in was greater than he could bear. In his rage at the trick which had been played upon him, he seized Lichas — the unfortuna

Acrisius and Danae The life of Acrisius, King of Argos, had been a burden to him ever since the unfortunate day wh

cted that he would be killed by his grandson. Until then the king had been very fond of his only child, Danae, and until the

had never had any claims to beauty; but Medusa, when only a girl, had been considered very handsome indeed. Her home, in a l

opeia, who claimed she was fairer than any of the sea nymphs, she had been exposed there as prey for a terrible sea monster

ey gladly gave him her hand, although in early youth the princess had been promised to her uncle Phineus. Preparations for t

r the marriage were immediately begun; and the former suitor, who had been too cowardly to venture a single blow to deliver

guished, and restored to his wonted honours, by the very youth he had been taught to fear. Perseus. Canova. But the god

nfortunate war between the Cretans and Athenians, the latter, who had been vanquished, were obliged to pay a yearly tribute

e city, heard of his father’s death; and when he realised that it had been caused by his carelessness, he was overwhelmed wi

rrible struggle which ensued between the conflicting parties has ever been a favourite subject in art, and is popularly know

bered and refreshed by a long night’s rest, perceived how foolish had been his vow, he would fain have recalled it; but, min

met the king’s daughter, Medea, a beautiful young sorceress, who had been charmed by his modest but firm bearing, and who w

in full armour, he was filled with dismay, and would have fled had it been possible. However, aware that such a performance

both. When Althæa saw her brothers’ corpses, and heard that they had been slain by her son, she vowed to avenge their death

im, and taunted him with his origin, declaring that those whom he had been accustomed to call parents were in no way related

er.” Sophocles ( Francklin’s tr.). What! kill Polybus, who had ever been such an indulgent father, and marry the queen, wh

es, where he found the whole city in an uproar, “because the king had been found lifeless by the roadside, with all his attt

ared the plague would cease only when the former king’s murderers had been found and punished.             “The plague, he

nce was complete, and now Œdipus discovered that he had involuntarily been guilty of the three crimes to avoid which he had

as grazing, he vaulted boldly upon his back. Pegasus had never before been ridden by a mortal, and he reared and pranced, an

is dearest wishes, might have settled down in peace; but his head had been utterly turned by the many lofty flights he had t

s a favourite subject in sculpture and painting, which has frequently been treated by ancient artists, a few of whose most n

eat retain’d.” Ovid ( Pope’s tr.) One of Dryope’s last requests had been that her child might often play beneath her shady

s. By Permission of Mr. Frederick Hollyer. When but a babe, Paris had been exposed on a mountain to perish, because an oracl

tive city. Although thus cruelly treated, he had not perished, having been found and adopted by a shepherd, who made him fol

ndra. This princess was noted for her beauty, and it is said had even been wooed by Apollo, who, hoping to win her favour, b

surrendered his captive, and thus disarmed Apollo’s wrath, which had been kindled by his rude refusal to comply with the ag

mn covenant of peace.’” Homer ( Bryant’s tr.). This proposal having been received favourably, Menelaus and Paris soon enga

here, at the gate, took place the parting scene, which has deservedly been called the most pathetic in all the Iliad, in whi

led the Trojan hearts with terror; but the hero, although Briseis had been returned unmolested, paid no heed to their entrea

is’ son had once caught sight of Polyxena, daughter of Priam, and had been deeply smitten by her girlish charms. He now vain

ng of Philoctetes. This hero had started with the expedition, but had been put ashore on the Island of Lemnos on account of

or poets and artists. The Fall of Troy Meanwhile the Greeks had been hiding behind Tenedos; but when night came on the

and slaves. But the homeward journey was not as joyful as might have been expected; and many, after escaping from the enemy

vourite ram, how art thou now the last To leave the cave? It hath not been thy wont To let the sheep go first, but thou dids

and by an inadvertent movement had fallen to the ground, where he had been found dead. The Sirens These obsequies over

leader free Charybdis and Scylla Now, although this danger had been safely passed, Ulysses was troubled in spirit, fo

ed the inhabitants, and set fire to the beautiful buildings which had been the king’s pride and delight. Now you shall hear

s. Gilbert Bayes. A trysting-place near a ruined temple had already been appointed for his servants, and thither Æneas tur

ormer friend Polydorus, sent to Thrace to conceal some treasures, had been murdered there by an avaricious king, and this gr

chises!” Virgil ( Conington’s tr.). Juno, in the meanwhile, had not been idle, and gloated over the dangers she had forced

s husband, Sychæus, King of Tyre, the possessor of untold riches, had been murdered by Pygmalion, his brother-in-law; but th

ing would gladly have received him for a son-in-law, had he not twice been warned by the gods to reserve his daughter for a

r.). The Story of Camilla When but a babe in arms, Camilla had been carried off by her father, as he fled before the

.” As the names of the Greek gods and heroes have in a great measure been found to correspond with the Sanskrit names of ph

und to correspond with the Sanskrit names of physical things, we have been able to read some of the first thoughts of primit

od and personification of the bright sky or the heavens, has likewise been traced to the Sanskrit root div or dyu, meaning “

sease, so their offspring (Æsculapius) was naturally supposed to have been endowed with marvellous curative powers. The sun,

oated down the stream murmuring “Eurydice,” may also, perchance, have been intended to represent either the last faint breat

a sudden storm of thunder.” The story of Diana and Endymion has also been interpreted as a sun myth, in which the name “End

, a story arose without any conscious effort, that Endymion must have been a young lad loved by a young maiden, Selene. In t

mpts to recover his children, the dawn and light (?), after they have been borne away by the all-conquering sun. Glauce (the

returns to her husband and her allegiance. The siege of Troy has thus been interpreted to signify “a repetition of the daily

ere he vanishes in the west. The greater part of the dawn myths have been explained simultaneously with the sun myths, with

Cora (or Proserpina), whose loss she grievously mourned; for she had been carried away by Pluto to the underworld, whence s

when summer faded into winter, they said that the beautiful child had been stolen away from her mother by dark beings, who k

ng, which streamed in upon the darkness of the night. Semele has also been interpreted as the earth, the chosen bride of the

Oceanides, Nereides, and the alluring Sirens; who, however, have also been viewed as personifications of the winds. Cloud

loud Myths The cloud myths, to which frequent allusion has already been made, comprise not only the cattle of the sun, th

tive meaning to a great extent, “she continued to the end, as she had been from the beginning, the household altar, the sanc

e myths of drought, darkness, and of the underworld have sufficiently been dwelt upon as personified by Python, the Hydra, G

cal myths which form the staple of classic literature, and which have been a fount of inspiration for poets and artists of a

soon deprived him of his sight. Since then the blind god’s gifts have been distributed indiscriminately.

rc’d, the notes are few! William Blake. Preface. It has long been evident to me that much of our best English poetr

or the taste of Mr. Bulfinch held accountable for liberties that have been taken with his work. In the Classic Myths in Engl

y paragraph by paragraph, — such portions of the Age of Fable as have been retained being abridged or rewritten, and, in pla

ths save those known to the Greeks, Romans, Norsemen, or Germans have been included in the body of the text. The scope of se

refore certain Hellenic myths of romantic spirit or construction have been included in this work; and certain Norse and Germ

en included in this work; and certain Norse and German myths have not been excluded. Whatever is admitted is admitted as fir

College, Library Bulletin, N°. I). In the Commentary four things have been attempted: first, an explanation, under each sect

reek, the Latin designations, or Latinized forms of Greek names, have been , so far as possible retained. In the chapters, ho

er, on the attributes of the Greek gods, names exclusively Greek have been placed in parentheses after the usual Roman equiv

r Greek forms, such as Delos, Naxos, Argos, Aglauros, Pandrosos, have been transferred without modification. In short, the p

ith the kind consent of the authors of those works, in some instances been adapted by me to suit the present purpose. I take

eading of proof, and for critical suggestions not a few of which have been adopted. Berkeley, California, May 27th, 1893. Fo

ay 27th, 1893. Fourth Edition. To this and the preceding edition have been added a number of full-page illustrations of whic

essor Harold N. Fowler of Western Reserve, for suggestions which have been of assistance in the revision of the text and com

ivate many of the incidents of mythical adventure, and that must have been commonplaces of information to the inventors and

r classes. To facilitate this practice, the sources of the myths have been indicated in the footnotes of this volume, and a

the footnotes of this volume, and a few of the best translations have been mentioned in §§ 10-12 of the Commentary. Instruct

cient fable. For this purpose special sections of the Commentary have been prepared indicating some of the best-known litera

te some of these myths, and to illustrate the uses to which they have been put in English literature, and, incidentally, in

he diverse and contradictory significations that have in recent years been proposed for one and the same myth could not all,

oposed for one and the same myth could not all, at any one time, have been entertained by the myth-makers. On the other hand

beautiful practices and adventures. These contradictory elements have been called the reasonable and the senseless. A myth o

upiter, Odin, and Hercules were accordingly men who, after death, had been glorified, then deified, then invested with numer

derived from the narratives of Scripture, though the real facts have been disguised and altered. Thus, Deucalion is only an

sult of such scientific investigation, numerous races of savages have been found who at this present day accept and believe

uld survive in the literature of these nations after the nations have been civilized, they would appear senseless and silly

ic myth, under various guises, in lands remote one from another, have been advanced; but none of them fully unveils the myst

his theory leaves us no wiser than we were. (2) That the stories have been borrowed by one nation from another. This will ac

istorical myths may have descended from a mother race, it has already been demonstrated (§ 7.1) that the historical (Euhemer

erm or idea in common would not, with any probability, after they had been developed independently of each other, possess th

ny that stories may conceivably have spread from a single centre, and been handed on from races like the Indo-European and S

peculiar to no one national taste or skill, they are what might have been expected of human conditions and intelligence. “M

from the difficulty of believing that poems of such length could have been committed to writing in the age usually assigned

e. On the other hand, it is asked how poems of such length could have been handed down from age to age by means of the memor

es of our knowledge of Greek mythology. He is thought by some to have been a contemporary of Homer, but concerning the relat

of our stories of Grecian and Roman mythology. These poems have thus been characterized: — “The rich mythology of Greece f

and Roman coins. Of the old Scandinavian runes several specimens have been found—one an inscription on a golden horn of the

xon runes were derived. Inscriptions in later Scandinavian runes have been discovered in Sweden, Denmark, and the Isle of Ma

ties, ditties of the eleventh century, and love-spells have, however, been found. The Skaldic Poems. —The bards and poets o

s of the Norse are the Eddas and the Sagas. The word Edda has usually been connected with the Icelandic for great-grandmothe

een connected with the Icelandic for great-grandmother;35 it has also been regarded as a corruption of the High German Erda,

re, in general, Snorri’s, the treatises on grammar, and rhetoric have been , with more or less certitude, assigned to other w

that time many theories of the composition of the Nibelungenlied have been advanced. It has been held by some that the Germa

nzaic form of the Nibelungenlied, the epic must be his.48 It has also been urged that the poem, having been written down abo

the epic must be his.48 It has also been urged that the poem, having been written down about 1140, was altered in metrical

is, however, a brief outline of the means by which some of them have been preserved. Egyptian Records. — These are (1) The

name, Vyasa, means simply the Arranger. The Râmâyana purports to have been written by the poet Vâlmîki. It tells how Sita, t

Then since Epimetheus, always rash, and thoughtful when too late, had been so prodigal of his gifts to other animals that no

ere any in authority to threaten or to punish. The forest had not yet been robbed of its trees to yield timbers for vessels,

ways. And the caution was not groundless. In the hand of Pandora had been placed by the immortals a casket or vase which sh

, yet succeeded not in consuming it. This state of torment might have been brought to an end at any time by Prometheus, if h

ight have been brought to an end at any time by Prometheus, if he had been willing to submit to his oppressor; for he posses

Prophet, Seer; Only those are crowned and sainted Who with grief have been acquainted, Making nations nobler, freer. “In th

owever, these demigods and heroes were, many of them, reputed to have been directly descended from Deucalion, their epoch mu

form, the Latin designations, or Latinized forms of Greek names, have been retained; but, for the poetic conception of all t

explained by the fact that to the supreme divinity of the Greeks have been ascribed attributes and adventures of numerous lo

coins. Other representations of Jove, such as that given above, have been obtained from the wall-paintings of Herculaneum a

of sun. I fell in Lemnos, and little life was left in me.” Had he not been lame before, he had good reason to limp after eit

s; on occasion, as a god of healing and of prophecy. He seems to have been , when he chose, the cause of “inextinguishable la

Auster, the south; and Eurus, the east. The first two, chiefly, have been celebrated by the poets, the former as the type o

and ferried them across, if the money requisite for their passage had been placed in their mouths, and their bodies had been

r their passage had been placed in their mouths, and their bodies had been duly buried in the world above.95 Otherwise he le

prung the legend of the island Atlantis. The blissful region may have been wholly imaginary. It is, however, not impossible

ons of Jupiter and judges of the shades in the lower world. Æacus had been during his earthly life a righteous king of the i

g his earthly life a righteous king of the island of Ægina. Minos had been a famous lawgiver and king of Crete. The life of

Water-nymphs. — Beside the Oceanids and the Nereïds, who have already been mentioned, of most importance were the Naiads, da

nd how graciously she herself did welcome me, and regard me as it had been her own child! Ye blessed gods, I pray you, prosp

inform her children of her kinship to them. As it happened, they had been ordered to execute the cruel sentence upon their

r perish by her own device.120 While among the herdsmen, Amphion had been the special care of Mercury, who gave him a lyre

— … Slowly old Cydippe rose and cried: ‘Hera, whose priestess I have been and am, Virgin and matron, at whose angry eyes Ze

ou born of any other god unto this violence, long ere this hadst thou been lower than the sons of Heaven.” So spake he and b

for a libation. Near by there stood an ancient grove which had never been profaned by the axe, in the midst of which was a

serpent, Cadmus served Mars for a period of eight years. After he had been absolved of his impiety, Minerva set him over the

Clymene. She sent him to Phœbus to ask for himself whether he had not been truly informed concerning his parentage. Gladly P

iobe was the daughter of a certain Tantalus, king of Phrygia, who had been received at the table of the gods by his father,

top she thus addressed her son and daughter: “My children, I who have been so proud of you both, and have been used to hold

aughter: “My children, I who have been so proud of you both, and have been used to hold myself second to none of the goddess

e, she was indignant that the gods had dared and amazed that they had been able to do it. Her husband, Amphion, overwhelmed

cost; but there was no remedy. The condition imposed by the Fates had been met, and the decree was irrevocable. As Admetus r

left her place that she might not behold the ruin of Troy, which had been founded by her son Dardanus. The sight had such a

sight had such an effect on her sisters that they blanched, and have been pale ever since. But Electra became a comet; her

s easy to imagine the satisfaction with which Venus, who so often had been reproached by Diana with her undue fondness of be

hen, finally, her love was discovered, Jupiter gave Endymion, who had been thus honored, a choice between death in any manne

s, derived no benefit from her charms. Her two elder sisters had long been married to princes; but Psyche’s beauty failed to

at the enormous task, sat stupid and silent, nor would the work have been accomplished had not Cupid stirred up the ants to

anta’ s Race. 183 — Atalanta, the daughter of Schœneus of Bœotia, had been warned by an oracle that marriage would be fatal

nd the veil all rent and bloody. “O, hapless girl,” cried he, “I have been the cause of thy death; but I follow thee!” So sa

famous exploit of the Messenger, the slaughter of Argus, has already been narrated.195 Chapter XI. Myths of the Great

t. § 103. The Story of Acetes. — Soon the attendants returned who had been despatched to seize Bacchus. They had succeeded i

ward found Ariadne, — the daughter of Minos, king of Crete, — who had been deserted by her lover, Theseus. How Bacchus comfo

olemn charm, then went and laid him in the ashes. His mother, who had been watching what her guest was doing, sprang forward

le they were overcome with astonishment, she said, “Mother, thou hast been cruel in thy fondness; for I would have made thy

ce. § 114. Aurora and Tithonus. 220 — Aurora seems frequently to have been inspired with the love of mortals. Her greatest f

and the Naiads were immortal. The love of Pan for Syrinx has already been mentioned, and his musical contest with Apollo.22

e hunt. But they were believed to perish with certain trees which had been their abode, and with which they had come into ex

ve sacred to Ceres. A venerable oak, whereon votive tablets had often been hung inscribed with the gratitude of mortals to t

one other than a nymph, Lotis, who, escaping from a base pursuer, had been thus transformed. Dryope would have hastened from

g to see an oak just ready to fall, propped it up. The nymph, who had been on the point of perishing with the tree, expresse

who was punished in Hades for his treachery to the gods. Glaucus had been a comely young fisherman; but having noticed that

a,271 a terrible monster who had laid waste the country. She had once been a maiden whose hair was her chief glory; but as s

of men and animals that had chanced to catch a glimpse of her and had been petrified at the sight. Perseus, favored by Miner

s, a noise was heard of warlike clamor; and Phineus, who had formerly been betrothed to the bride, burst in demanding her fo

his own. In vain, Cepheus remonstrated that all such engagements had been dissolved by the sentence of death passed upon An

, if possible, the horse Pegasus for the conflict. Now this horse had been caught and tamed by Minerva, and by her presented

king of Elis, had a herd of three thousand oxen, whose stalls had not been cleansed for thirty years. Hercules bringing the

o, obtained the liberty of Theseus, his admirer and imitator, who had been detained there for an attempt at abducting Proser

e hero slept. That their footprints might not indicate where they had been driven, he dragged them backward by their tails t

word and shield, kept his assailants at bay; but he surely would have been overwhelmed by the numbers had he not resorted to

donian Hunt. 307 — One of the heroes of the Argonautic expedition had been Meleager, a son of Œneus and Althæa, rulers of Ca

h wax. Then poising themselves in the air, they flew away. Icarus had been warned not to approach too near to the sun, and a

inotaur, dwelling in the labyrinth of Crete, — a penalty said to have been imposed by Minos upon the Athenians because Ægeus

Minos a happier fate was yet reserved. This island, on which she had been abandoned, was Naxos, loved and especially haunte

ces had taken it with him on his flight from Thebes. It seems to have been still fraught with the curse of the house of Cadm

his Tiresias in his youth had by chance seen Minerva bathing; and had been deprived by her of his sight, but afterwards had

edily. Therefore, the story of Theseus and Ariadne, which has already been recounted, was here displayed in cunning handiwor

. Its Origin. — At the nuptials of Peleus and Thetis all the gods had been invited with the exception of Eris, or Discord. E

nately the prize destined for Paris. This fair queen had in time past been sought by numerous suitors; but before her decisi

to the palace, and offered for sale female ornaments, among which had been placed some arms. Forgetting the part he had assu

ll painting: Roscher 1: 27.] It seems that from early youth Paris had been reared in obscurity, because there were forebodin

he Grecian armament now in preparation was the greatest that had ever been fitted out. Agamemnon, king of Mycenæ and brother

Laomedon and brother of Tithonus and Hesione, was now old; but he had been a wise prince, and had strengthened his state by

jans, Jupiter saw nothing of what was going on, for his attention had been drawn from the field by the wiles of Juno. That g

how, at the time of the departure for Troy, Achilles and himself had been charged by their respective sires: the one to asp

r likewise. But Achilles was so close in pursuit that that would have been impossible if Apollo had not, in the form of Agen

Hercules. They were in possession of Philoctetes, the friend who had been with Hercules at the last, and had lighted his fu

non by name; and that in consequence of the malice of Ulysses, he had been left behind by his countrymen at their departure.

her daughter Cassandra were carried captives to Greece. Cassandra had been loved by Apollo, who gave her the gift of prophec

ictions should never be believed. Polyxena, another daughter, who had been loved by Achilles, was demanded by the ghost of t

fortunate in the issue. During his absence, his wife Clytemnestra had been false to him; and when his return was expected, s

in Tauris was no other than Iphigenia, the sister of Orestes, who had been snatched away by Diana, at the moment when she wa

Circe’s art, for she was a powerful magician. These animals had once been men, but had been changed by Circe’s enchantments

she was a powerful magician. These animals had once been men, but had been changed by Circe’s enchantments into the forms of

imes called by the Siren’s name. Scylla and Charybdis. — Ulysses had been warned by Circe of the two monsters Scylla and Ch

he mouth of the harbor. § 173. Fate of the Suitors. — Ulysses had now been away from Ithaca for twenty years, and when he aw

than a hundred nobles of Ithaca, and of the neighboring islands, had been for years suing for the hand of Penelope, his wif

ithful servant of his house. Telemachus, his son, had, for some time, been absent in quest of his father, visiting the court

and to their astonishment learned that certain Trojan exiles, who had been carried there as prisoners, had become rulers of

Trojans plied their oars, and soon left them out of sight. Æneas had been cautioned by Helenus to avoid the strait guarded

for whatever might await him. He had but one request to make. Having been directed in a dream to seek the abode of the dead

him by informing him that the people of the shore where his body had been wafted by the waves should be stirred up by prodi

rtal, yet, could I but have accepted the love of Apollo, I might have been immortal. He promised me the fulfilment of my wis

Rutulians, was favored by the wishes of her parents. But Latinus had been warned in a dream by his father Faunus, that the

ezentius, a brave and able soldier, but of detestable cruelty. He had been the chief of one of the neighboring cities, but h

surface of the water without dipping her feet. Camilla’s history had been singular from the beginning. Her father, Metabus,

y stream; I will lead thee to Evander the Arcadian chief. He has long been at strife with Turnus and the Rutulians, and is p

wers and delivered the body into their hands. Mezentius meanwhile had been borne to the river-side, and had washed his wound

on the other hand, was deserted by his celestial allies, Juno having been expressly forbidden by Jupiter to assist him any

ore of the toilsome work than his master. Their bargain, however, had been concluded and confirmed by solemn oaths, for with

forward and try his skill with Loki. A trough filled with meat having been set on the, hall floor, Loki placed himself at on

lost his sword. § 182. The Death of Balder. — Balder the Good, having been tormented with terrible dreams indicating that hi

the midst stood Branstock, a great oak tree, about which the hall had been built, and the limbs of the tree spread over the

e Hall of the Niblungs, and, though she knew well the deceit that had been practised on her, she made no sign; nay, was wedd

cret sources of her strength, and leaving her to imagine that she had been conquered by her bridegroom, Gunther. The ring an

uring this ungallant intrigue; and we are led to infer that there had been some previous acquaintance and passage of love be

Brunhild resented the lack of homage paid by Siegfried, whom she had been led to regard as a vassal, to Gunther, his repute

cquainted her haughty sister-in-law with the deception that had twice been practised upon her by Siegfried and Gunther; nay.

ne spot where the hero was vulnerable. Then the crafty Hagen, who had been suborned by Brunhild to the baleful deed, bided h

ful source of information, and four books of Poetical Astronomy, have been attributed. The works, as we have them, could not

omy, have been attributed. The works, as we have them, could not have been written by a friend of the cultivated Ovid. Tran

t from Lycia in Asia Minor, where the god was said originally to have been worshipped. To explain certain rational myths of

l, etc., 2: 201), this is intelligible, “if the vermin which had once been sacred became a pest in the eyes of later generat

pest in the eyes of later generations.” Oracle of Delphi. — It had been observed at a very early period that the goats fe

ntoxicating air, he was affected in the same manner as the cattle had been ; and the inhabitants of the surrounding country,

nd brow All radiant from his triumph in the fight; The shaft has just been shot — the arrow bright With an immortal’s vengea

scher, 390, etc.) The native Greek deity of love would appear to have been , however, Dione, goddess of the moist and product

rous less important branches, families, and mythical individuals have been intentionally omitted, it is hoped that this redu

ivate many of the incidents of mythical adventure, and that must have been commonplaces of information to those who invented

d the wandering moon, Riding near her highest noon, Like one that had been led astray, Through the heaven’s wide pathless wa

t Artemis inherited a more ancient worship of the bear, that may have been the totem, or sacred animal, from which the Arcad

and solemn; the Mygdonian, or Phrygian, were supposed by some to have been the same as the Lydian; but more probably they we

an and Dorian. Shaker of the World: Neptune. Crete: where Jupiter had been concealed from his father Cronus, and nourished b

two mythical personages, a Greek Cadmus and a Phœnician Cadmus, have been confounded; that the Theban Cadmus is merely the

, are in Thessaly. Libyan desert: in Africa. Libya was fabled to have been the daughter of Epaphus, king of Egypt. Tanaïs: t

rence. It is the principal figure of a group supposed wrongly to have been arranged in the pediment of a temple. The figure

ical ability. It seems that the flute, an invention of Minerva’s, had been thrown away by that goddess because Cupid laughed

g of the sun’s splendor in the western ocean. Midas is fabled to have been the son of the “great mother” Cybele, whose worsh

renced in Phrygia; the acquisition of ass’s ears may. therefore, have been originally a glory, not a disgrace. Illustrative

e initiated, and were invested with a veil of secrecy which has never been fully withdrawn. The initiates passed through cer

is the gray glimmer of the morning heavens. The flocks of birds have been explained as the glowing clouds that meet in batt

135. § 130. Cyrene was sister to Daphne (§ 85). Honey must first have been known as a wild product, the bees building their

exhausted. The unsuccessful toil of the Danaïds in Tartarus may have been suggested by the sandy nature of the Argive soil,

by the splendor of morning. The sandals of Hermes have, accordingly, been explained as the morning breeze, or even as the c

egasus. This horse belongs to the Muses, and has from time immemorial been ridden by the poets. From the story of Belleropho

bout 1518. Hesperides: the western sky at sunset. The apples may have been suggested by stories of the oranges of Spain. The

Argonauts are certainly survivals of various local legends that have been consolidated and preserved in the artistic form o

ide thy glowing chariot.” Translations of the Medea of Euripides have been made by Augusta Webster, 1868; by W. C. Lawton (T

he human counterpart of the huntress Diana. The story has, of course, been allegorically explained, but it bears numerous ma

a son of Apollo and Creiisa, daughter of Erechtheus. This son, having been removed at birth, was brought up in Apollo’s temp

h of Theseus. As the female semblance of Bacchus, she appears to have been a promoter of vegetation; and, like Proserpina, s

1) the general method followed by the unravellers of myth has already been sufficiently illustrated; (2) the attempt to forc

e sites explain the Odyssey. The temple of the sea-god could not have been more fitly placed, upon a grassy platform of the

e Ostrogoth, who, between 493 and 526 a.d., ruled from Italy what had been the Western Empire. In these poems, however, his

Hunnish king; and, even so, is confounded with uncles of his who had been retainers of Attila: for the historic Theodoric w

llisto. Her husband, Cresphontes, the Heraclid, king of Messenia, had been slain with two of his sons by rebellious nobles,

reigned in his stead. But Æp′y-tus, the third son of Merope, who had been concealed by her in Arcadia, returned thence, in

from whose Ovid and Vergil illustrations not assigned to Roscher have been taken, give the following list of Authorities: Ar

pted a sentence. 3. Myths and Myth-Makers, p. 18. Proper names have been anglicized. 4. Ruskin, Queen of the Air. 5. Se

n by W. N. Lettsom, London, 1890. Werner Hahn’s Uebersetzung has also been used. 397. From Carlyle’s translation of fragmen

ew not whom, she was not so distressed as some timid girls would have been : she said, “The gods command me to leave my paren

will take care of me.” Psyche had a good conscience, she knew she had been good, and she hoped no misfortune would happen to

ho does the messages of all the gods, and telling him that Psyche had been insolently compared with her, and moreover attemp

d the thought of murdering her unknown husband: she confessed she had been guilty of that unworthy design — she could not ex

some severer punishment, when a messenger of the gods, it might have been Mercury, or Iris, whispered her that Cupid had fa

o me unknown, has thought fit to interfere with my commands. You have been assisted in the task I gave you, but I shall assi

clared that Psyche was worthy of a place among the immortals. She had been tried by many sorrows and much persecution, and n

nd much persecution, and now that she had repented of her faults, and been punished for them, it might be hoped she would be

It is true people once believed that there were such gods as you have been reading about. Ann. But there never were such go

. No; they are become Christians. The people of Greece and Italy have been taught something of our religion — the religion w

rn from the Bible. Ann. How long have the people of Greece and Italy been Christians. Mother. Some of them learned to be C

e gods and goddesses? Mother. They did not know better. They had not been told, like the Hebrews, that there was one true G

of wood and stone? Mother. Most likely those gods and goddesses had been men and women, who were very useful and sometimes

gh to tell the truth to her mother or to Pluto; she hoped she had not been seen, but one Ascalaphus saw her eating the pomeg

h him at his table. Go; but haste thee home again.” All things having been prepared for her departure, Pandion attended his

nduct is human manners. These are in the world, and there always have been good and bad people. When you read of the unworth

r. Glass was known two thousand years ago, but glass windows have not been in fashion in Europe more than three hundred year

ouses which were in Greece and Rome. Those fine houses could not have been very comfortable without glass windows. Mother.

rn Asia. She is called in poetry, Philomela, from that fable you have been reading. The fable might be concluded by saying,

it is not very likely to be true. Ann. What part of the story I have been reading is true? Mother. That Cecrops was king o

heard what each party had to say, and then he told Juno that she had been wrong, and Jupiter was right. Jupiter was satisfi

dmus built an altar, and slew a victim. This was the heifer which had been his guide. Water was necessary in these solemn se

em. This fountain was consecrated to the god Mars; that means, it had been dedicated, by the rude people living near, to Mar

Among the city-ways, all reverend looked With a mild worship, as he’d been a god.” Conversation: Mother and Ann. Ann

r. He might have followed a heifer; and where she lay down might have been a spot on which he thought fit to build a city.

r. Yes; it teaches caution, or care, in all that we do. If Acteon had been cautious, he would not have gone to sleep in a pl

ual silence reigned. There the indolent, those who in their lives had been of no service to others, had their portion after

delicious fruits and sweet waters. Beside these was Sisyphus, who had been a noted robber. He was condemned to roll, to the

drawn, and the juice of water hemlock. These and other substances had been boiled in a brazen helmet. When Athamas and Ino b

and women at this time do not worship false gods, and that they have been taught to worship God properly. Mother. These st

t into a chest, and thrown into the waves. Many pathetic stories have been written concerning poor Danæ, tossed about upon t

ctys spoke first. “Unhappy lady,” said he, “whence came you? Have you been shipwrecked? Have all your companions perished? T

e he was manly, and generous, and kind. But Polydectes, though he had been very kind to Dana; and her son, did not love Pers

refore she might be killed; but her sisters were immortal. Medusa had been very beautiful, but she once behaved improperly i

cturing what the scene meant. It was caused by a prediction which had been made long before, but which Atlas now recollected

time at Seriphus. Polydectes became the persecutor of Danæ, as he had been of her son, and to protect herself from his insul

d they sent offerings to him yearly to Delos, because that island had been the refuge of Latona, and the birth-place of her

ry of the Python, if I could. Mother. The Python is supposed to have been some fatal disease, which had destroyed great num

word is, laurels. Mother. You understand, I perceive, what you have been told concerning literal and figurative language.

in it is the Belvidere Apollo. A print of him is in the book you have been reading. Belvidere signifies beautiful view. This

e another day some few more Classical Tales; but when they shall have been finished, you must return to something useful. A

e estimable because other persons who are related to us, are, or have been wise and virtuous. Our own goodness, knowledge, a

as they throw light upon the history of mankind, so far as they have been incorporated in our literature, either with the d

ism. ——— Mythology is the history of the gods and goddesses who have been worshipped by heathen nations in different countr

s time, all that God had taught the patriarchs concerning himself had been altered or corrupted, as it was told from one per

e prince of peace, while mankind enjoyed a memorable peace, has often been noticed as a remarkable occurrence. Who was Janu

ean, and Pluto, the ruler of the infernal regions. He is said to have been educated in the island of Crete. Very solemn wors

ned as the sun himself. We sometimes hear of Sol. Sol appears to have been a name for the sun, distinct from Apollo. Apollo

o die instead of her husband. This act of generous devotion has often been commended. It is asserted by the poets that Apoll

him invisible, which he lent to Perseus. Mercury is supposed to have been the Hermes of the Egyptians. The ancient Egyptian

, and deriving improvement from successive races of men, seem to have been brought to much higher utility and beauty by them

cter of every artificer in brass and iron.” This Tubalcain might have been the same man whom the Greeks described either as

ngement of these stones, before the machines existed which have since been invented to assist labour, must have required imm

he use of fire, and the fusion of metals, and he also is said to have been the inventor of letters; he instructed men to cul

ung and old, bond and free; and by means of these figures, which have been preserved, we are enabled to know the style of dr

something not commonly known. The Mysteries of Eleusis seems to have been an institution resembling modern Masonry, in the

ost child. Ceres, after a while, discovered whither Proserpine had been carried. Angry and grieved at this act of violenc

the reflection of their own faces, who would send the mirror they had been accustomed to use, and hang it up in the temple o

ylla was a whirlpool called Charybdis. Charybdis was supposed to have been a female robber killed by Hercules. It was said t

seeing the corpse of her husband driven on shore by the tide, who had been shipwrecked on his return from consulting the Ora

dia, Phrygia, Egypt, and Syria. The conquests of Bacchus seem to have been of a pacific nature. They represented the triumph

poet Anacreon wrote some pretty verses to the grasshopper, which have been translated by Thomas Moore. Oh thou, of all c

d, and no misrepresentations deceive. The judges were reputed to have been men — kings, who ruled upon the earth with such i

shears, ready to cut the thread of life. ——— Besides those which have been enumerated as infernal deities, were Nox or Night

ified by the society of each other, and by those occupations that had been agreeable to them during their lives. Whence is

she might dwell among men; but, says the mythology, she has sometimes been driven into solitudes, and now comes among men no

bour was the cleansing of the stables of Augias, where 3,000 oxen had been confined many years. This was effected by turning

f a river, and that when the waters had subsided, the soil, which had been overflowed, produced fruits and flowers. Before t

ich he might gain in a voyage of traffic, though such a one had never been before attempted by any Greeks. After stopping at

pped him, would tie his limbs to the branches of trees, which, having been bent down, suddenly would spring up, and tear the

the little Œdipus, as the foundling was called, as well as if he had been her own son; as well as the Egyptian princess lov

r story is told concerning the taking of Troy. It is said that it had been decreed by the gods that Troy should not fall til

e Trojans should be slain by the arrows of Hercules. These arrows had been dipped in the blood of the Lernean Hydra, and com

is described by the Greek dramatists, Eschylus and Sophocles, to have been exceedingly good; abhorring the conduct of her mo

d brought them back to Scythia, but Minerva informed him that all had been done according to the will of the gods. The three

nd resumes my prize. Iliad , Book  V. Achilles is supposed to have been buried near the promontory of Sigæum, not far fro

lochus in the battles of Troy; but his old age is represented to have been passed in the piety and peace, which the sovereig

the most obdurate heart. The wretched Priam kissed the hands that had been stained with the blood of his dear son, and suppl

taught by the revelation of God, and some, alas! among those who have been instructed in the gospel of peace. Who was the m

riven upon the coast of Africa. Carthage is commonly supposed to have been founded about eight hundred years before the Chri

ing of the country, who gave him his daughter Lavinia, though she had been previously promised to Turnus, for a wife. Eneas

s. Those kings who are mentioned in the history of Abraham, must have been the proprietors of small tracts of land, who exer

or assumes on earth, the form of some animal; unless its offence had been so heinous as to merit a vegetable, or even a min

is yet encouraged by the Brahmins, and which civil authority has not been able effectually to check. The Hindus offer relig

ervices to certain animals. They believe that Vishnu, who has already been incarnate nine times, in different forms, will ap

ee were spent on the shores of the ocean. Niorder is supposed to have been a king of some part of Sweden, and high priest of

d, and where, either in the Catholic or Protestant form, it has since been cherished. The Hell of the Druids was a region of

of the temple, and inquired for the god in whose honour the fane had been built, one of the pastophori, an attendant of the

y, and is of little use to investigate. This religion appears to have been strangely compounded of degrading superstitions a

shipped only the immortal, uncreated God: and for this reason to have been exempted from contributing to the maintenance of

acred animals, adored in Lower Egypt. The sun and moon appear to have been the chief objects of Egyptian worship, under vari

he form of the ox Apis. Isis, the consort of Osiris, appears to have been an emblem of the moon. She was esteemed as the ca

an established fact that any people discovered by civilized men have been found entirely destitute of the belief of a super

to these false gods, add stories of virtuous men, to those that have been related of the gods, and call these virtuous men

ice of Jephthah’s daughter. The Greeks had a fable that the world had been drowned; that a good man and woman, Deucalion and

f the god; and after that ceremony, some consecrated water, which had been blessed by the priest, was given to be drunk as a

lower people two. The number of these gods, besides those which have been briefly noticed, was very great; and little clay

he Ausonian land, (Italy.) The religion of the Romans appears to have been that of Greece — a mixture of Syrian and Egyptian

both people were the same; the demi-gods, or deified men, might have been a little different; because the Romans more readi

ly expressions, was drawn by their united force to a trench which had been marked in the soil, for the reception of the foun

augurs, after some mysterious consultations, told Tarquin that he had been guilty of impiety in refusing a gift from the god

ern travellers admire the skill, and mechanic powers, which must have been exerted, in conveying the immense masses of marbl

d upon it? What statue adorned the Parthenon, and how has that fabric been impaired? What further injury has the Parthenon s

he temples; these were either designed to pacify the deity, if he had been offended, or to procure some favour, or to expres

ariners was to thank the gods for their preservation; and if they had been safely landed after tempests, their custom was to

Flood, the Tower of Babel, and the exploits of Samson, appear to have been celebrated by the heathens under the deluge of De

piety and virtue, which were the weightier matters of the law. Having been shown some of the most remarkable differences bet

oman Mythology, illustrated by selections from Homer and Virgil, have been added brief accounts of the Buddhic, Indian, Pers

off during the festival of the Saturnalia, to shew that his reign had been that of happiness and liberty. He is frequently r

underbolts. What was the fabulous history of this God? Jupiter having been saved from the devouring fury of his father Satur

f his father Saturn, by the address of Rhea his mother, as has before been recounted, and nourished by the milk of the goat

mortality. In his real history, as an earthly monarch, he would have been a truly illustrious Prince, had he not been exces

ly monarch, he would have been a truly illustrious Prince, had he not been excessively addicted to pleasure, and indulgent t

s who became its slaves, although their genius and talents might have been bright, as the stars in the firmament. Circe. Th

the other heathen divinities, the following exploits are said to have been performed by Apollo. He destroyed the Cyclops, hu

n Egypt, and educated at Nysa, a city in Arabia Felix; whither he had been sent by his father, Jupiter Ammon. From them it a

ave left forty-two volumes of his works. These famous books have long been lost, and all that is known of them, is, that the

ocean. Who were Scylla and Charybdis? The former was supposed to have been a most beautiful woman, who, having excited the j

ther, from the deck of any passing vessel. Charybdis was said to have been a formidable woman, who used to plunder traveller

of Ceyx, king of Trachinia, seeing the corpse of her husband (who had been shipwrecked on his return from consulting the ora

on4, the aged, surly, boat- man, receives those into his bark who had been honoured with funeral rites, but rejects inexorab

g a river through it, he cleansed the stable of Augeas, which had not been emptied for thirty years, though three thousand o

his was an expedition undertaken to recover some treasures, which had been carried thither from their own country. This ente

venth. The Palace of Cyrus, king of Persia, which is recorded to have been a most splendid edifice, of which the stones were

or assumes, on earth, the form of some animal; unless its offence had been so heinous, as to merit a vegetable, or even a mi

adoration to the sun and moon? The worship of the sun appears to have been the very source and fountain of idolatry in India

e rocks between Ceylon and the western peninsula of India, which have been absurdly named Adam’s bridge. A large breed of Ap

e manifestations of Vishnu, or the preserving power, supposed to have been made in various forms, to answer benevolent purpo

is yet encouraged by the Brahmins, and which civil authority has not been able effectually to check. The Vedas themselves e

which they account sacred. They believe that Vishnu, who has already been incarnate nine times, in different forms, will ap

nd reduced to a system of symbolical representations, appears to have been the popular religion of the most civilized nation

objects of worship to the Egyptians? The Sun and Moon appear to have been the chief objects of Egyptian worship, under vari

was said to have drifted on the coast of Phenicia, and Osīris to have been restored to life and liberty. The Egyptians annua

s, his son, and Isis his consort. Some writers imagine Osīris to have been the Israelitish Patriarch Joseph; and others rega

ox, Apis. Who was Isis? Isis, the consort of Osīris, appears to have been an emblem of the moon. She was esteemed as the ca

she was imagined to indicate remedies in dreams. She was said to have been translated into the moon, and to be the general m

was received with great pomp, and reconducted to Egypt, after he had been exhibited at the annual festival of the Ethiopian

nd receiving into his jaws the descending sun. Papremis seems to have been a form of Typhon, the genius of destruction. The

crated to Thoth was the Ibis, a bird of which prodigious numbers have been found embalmed in mummy pits; and which, when see

aving equal sides, each forty cubits in length. Bouto appears to have been the personification of night and darkness. Her sa

istics of the Persian Mythology? The Persian religion appears to have been founded chiefly upon the doctrine of the two prin

fices, and simple rites. Who was Mithras? Mithras is supposed to have been a personification of the sun. He was esteemed to

e religion of the ancient Scythians, or Cuthites, is supposed to have been the first corruption of Patriarchism, or the prim

tem. They associated to the Supreme God, many of those genii, who had been always considered as subordinate to him, and, by

e chief object of the idolatrous worship of the Scandinavians. Having been a mighty warrior, he was accounted the God of bat

ee were spent on the shores of the ocean. Niorder is supposed to have been a king of some part of Sweden, and high priest of

psal. Irminsul, or the column of the universe. He is imagined to have been a deification of Arminius, the noble leader of th

upied the country between Mecca and Medina. Manah is supposed to have been represented by the black stone placed in the Caab

rabian writers describe five antediluvian idols, who are said to have been men of exemplary virtue and high reputation. Thei

the Grecian Deities was he identified? How has the allegory of Horus been explained? In what part of Egypt was the uncreate

, whom the Arabians venerated? By whom was the Caaba supposed to have been built? What was the nature of the Babylonian supe

, and where was his celebrated temple? Who was Belus supposed to have been ? Who were the Chaldeans? Who was Astarte? What is

nce, and we conclude that back again of that creating Power must have been another originating cause, and perhaps still anot

r, and so on without limitation. And yet we know that there must have been a period when everything was void, or, in other w

became crystallized into a literature, or mythology, which has since been the inspiration alike of romancers and poets. The

as defeated, and finally turned himself into a river, which has since been known by his name. Ach′eron [Acheron] (see “The

winds. Jupiter was his reputed father, and his mother is said to have been a daughter of Hippotus. Æolus is represented as h

of Æsculapius, and votive tablets were hung therein by people who had been healed by him; but his most famous shrine was at

Hippolyte, their queen, to Theseus for a wife. The race seems to have been exterminated after this battle. Ambarva′lia [Amb

loponnessus, a favorite place of the gods. Apollo was reputed to have been King of Arcadia. Ar′cas [Arcas], a son of Calist

r of the stable which Hercules cleansed after three thousand oxen had been kept in it for thirty years. It was cleansed by t

hirlpool on the coast of Sicily. Personified, it was supposed to have been a woman who plundered travelers, but was at last

theus what were thought to be twelve impossible tasks which have long been known as the “Twelve Labors of Hercules.” They we

Fifth, To cleanse the stable of King Augeas, in which 3,000 oxen had been kept for thirty years, but had never been cleaned

as, in which 3,000 oxen had been kept for thirty years, but had never been cleaned out. Sixth, To destroy the Stymphalides,

es being called Januæ. Ja′nus [Janus]. A king of Italy, said to have been the son of Cœlus, others say of Apollo; he shelte

woman who is a great enemy to new-born children. She was said to have been Adam’s first wife, but, refusing to submit to him

Mari′na [Marina]. A name of Venus, meaning sea-foam, from her having been formed from the froth of the sea. See Aphrodite.

rus]. A priest of Bacchus, said to have married Ariadne after she had been abandoned by Theseus. Onu′va [Onuva]. The Venus

olk, and chief of the inferior deities, is usually considered to have been the son of Mercury and Penelope. After his birth

n away though no one pursued them; and the word panic is said to have been derived from this episode. The Fauns, who greatly

is], the son of Priam, king of Troy, and of his mother Hecuba. It had been predicted that he would be the cause of the destr

red him to be strangled as soon as he was born; but the slave who had been entrusted with this mission took the child to Mou

the famous nuptial feast of Peleus and Thetis, Discordia, who had not been invited, attended secretly; and when all were ass

first be cut up and put in a caldron of boiling water. When this had been done, Medea refused to fulfil her promise. Pelias

ful that Sappho became enamored of him; but when the ointment had all been used Phaon returned to his former condition, and

eath of Hercules, and received from him the poisoned arrows which had been dipped in the blood of Hydra. These arrows, an or

ain in Thessaly, near Mount Olympus, where they were supposed to have been born. Also, the daughters of Pierus, a king of Ma

ortal, and was ashamed to show herself among her sisters, who had all been married to gods.                                

aily preyed upon his liver, which grew in the night as much as it had been reduced in the day, so that the punishment was a