is likely to interest the reader, without the chance of being irksome from its proving a thrice told tale: and yet the subje

ave greatly affected their minds in stimulating to good, or deterring from evil. They were, indeed, the days of “visible poe

orm, win her he sought for his own: and thus, every class of society, from the patrician to the peasant, must have been imbu

rus and Ixion. “The greatest pleasure arising to a modern imagination from the ancient Mythology, is in a mingled sense of t

and religion, and beauty, and gravity and hushing awe, and a path as from one world to another.” G. Moir Bussey has also

on all that delighted the days of our youth, and would even arouse us from our reveries on this most charming of subjects: w

the delicate flowers that genius gave,     And dash the diamond drops from fancy’s wings. Alas! the spirit languishes and li

modern writers, since the works of the latter teem with images drawn from classical subjects. Nor indeed is this to be wond

ing the throne of their sovereign, the other divinities quaff nectar, from a cup presented them by the young and beautiful H

nuously confess my real opinion is, that ‌ mystery and allegory were from the original intended in many fables of the ancie

bles; and no man can positively deny that this was the sense proposed from the beginning, and industriously veiled in this m

nothing great and exalted, according to my opinion, could be expected from such an origin; but if any one will deliberate on

t the same times, they are easily perceived to be common, and derived from old tradition, and are various only from the addi

ed to be common, and derived from old tradition, and are various only from the additional embellishments diverse writers hav

they thus contend, To these intestine discords put an end: Then earth from air, and seas from earth were driven, And grosser

To these intestine discords put an end: Then earth from air, and seas from earth were driven, And grosser air sunk from ethe

earth from air, and seas from earth were driven, And grosser air sunk from ethereal Heaven. The force of fire ascended first

aulted sky: Then air succeeds, in lightness next to fire; Whose atoms from unactive earth retire. Earth sinks beneath, and d

aven. Uranus, or Heaven, was the Day. Espousing his sister Titæa, from their union sprang the Titans, those giants of an

nd the coast, leading the lives of shepherds. “Three sons are sprung from Heaven and Earth’s embrace, The Cyclops bold, in

ren. The defeated monarch fell beneath his son’s parricidal hand; and from the blood thus shed sprang the Giants and the Fur

With his enormous brood, and birthright seized By younger Saturn; he from mightier Jove His own and Rhea’s son like measure

led to renounce his claim in favour of Saturn, who delivered them all from their confinement; but with the condition that wh

was near; Invincible remains his Jove alive, His throne to shake, and from his kingdom drive The cruel parent; for to him ’t

eir drums and cymbals, prevented for a period the cries of the infant from reaching the ears of Titan: when, however, the la

estroy his children), took him prisoner, and threw him into Tartarus, from whence he was delivered by Jupiter, and replaced

en war against him. Jupiter, however, again proved conqueror, chasing from heaven his father and his king, who took refuge i

he devoured his infants because time destroys all, and he threw them from his stomach because time returns with the years a

ome of the wild beasts of the forest, she received the name of Cybele from the mountain where her life had been preserved. S

n preserved. She is called also the ancient Vesta, to distinguish her from her daughter Vesta, who, with her mother, is also

e Deity of whom we now write is the earth, and is easy to distinguish from her daughter. In several temples of the ancients,

The stars look brighter still than when of old I watched them fading from the mountain top: Earth, sky and air, are all so

ever during dark, To breathe a thick and frightful atmosphere, Drawn from my sighs and dampened with my tears!     Priest.

me some other death: poison or steel, Or aught that sends me suddenly from earth; But to be wrapt in clay, and yet not of it

ey interchanged blows on steel bucklers. His nourishment was received from a goat, who was afterwards placed among the heave

ented to the nymphs, and named the Horn of Plenty. As Jupiter emerged from infancy, we have seen he had to strive with the T

ith bold Encelædas, to heaven who strove To dart the trees, uprooted, from the grove:     For weak their might against the

themselves in Egypt, where they obtained refuge under various forms: from the different disguises they then assumed, may be

emendous deeds; And indefatigable are the feet Of the strong God: and from his shoulders rise A hundred snaky heads of drago

d; Erect and dauntless see the thunderer stand, The bolts red hissing from his vengeful hand; He walks majestic round the st

and; He walks majestic round the starry frame; And now the lightnings from Olympus flame. The earth wide blazes with the fir

though vainly, the Titans sought to avenge their defeat; and Olympus, from this time, was only troubled by internal dissensi

Keats’ Hyperion. After his victory, Jupiter, who had driven Saturn from Heaven, and was in consequence its undisputed kin

owever, than that of the age of gold. “But when good Saturn banished from above Was driven to hell, the world was under Jov

ce and snow; And shivering mortals into houses driven, Sought shelter from the inclemency of heaven. Those houses then were

ws of hospitality. Jupiter is also distinguished by the name of Ammon from the following circumstance: Bacchus being in the

of Uranus, having deceived Jupiter, he was punished by being withheld from the element of fire; and to enrage his sovereign,

and to complete his performance, assisted ‌by Minerva, he stole fire from the chariot of the sun, wherewith to animate his

venge. Alas! I pity thee, and hate myself, That I can do no more: aye from thy sight Returning, for a season, heaven seems h

But why more hideous than your loathed selves Gather ye up in legions from the deep!     Second Fury. We knew not that: Sist

ty of delight makes lovers glad, Gazing on one another: so are we, As from the rose which the pale priestess kneels To gathe

al crown of flowers, The aërial crimson falls, flushing her cheek, So from our victim’s destined agony, The shade which is o

the cup of pain.     First Fury. Thou thinkest we will rend thee bone from bone, And nerve from nerve, working like fire wit

First Fury. Thou thinkest we will rend thee bone from bone, And nerve from nerve, working like fire within!     Pro. Pain is

d splendid ornaments. From these valuable presents which she received from the Gods, the woman was called Pandora, which int

e finished maid the gods Pandora call, Because a tribute she received from all; And thus ’twas Jove’s command the sex began

gin And Hope alone remained entire within! Such was the fatal present from above, And such the will of cloud compelling Jove

o contend with Jove?” Hesiod. When the box was opened, there issued from it a multitude of evils and distempers, which dis

and distempers, which dispersed themselves over the world, and which from that fatal moment have never ceased to afflict th

s at distance hail!     Still would her touch the strain prolong, And from the rocks, the woods, the vale,     She called on

lasting happiness, a thankful heart. Hope with uplifted foot set free from earth Pants for the place of her ethereal birth;

ome to the crooked share, But greedy mortals rummaging her store, Dug from her entrails first the precious ore, Which next t

brandished weapons glittering in their hands) Mankind is broken loose from moral bands: No right of hospitality remain; The

nd evil. His brow laden with ‌dark clouds; his eyes darting lightning from beneath their lids; and his chin covered with a m

his side: at his feet the eagle who bears the thunderbolt. One frown from his eyes makes the whole earth tremble. Insérer i

3 The Olympian games in Greece were instituted in honour of this God, from those celebrated at Olympus. The following, perha

ription we have of Jupiter, while granting the prayer of Achilles, is from Homer’s Iliad. “Twelve days were passed, and now

t, The Gods had summoned to the Olympian height. Jove first ascending from the watery bowers, Leads the long order of ethere

er of ethereal powers. When like the morning mist in early days, Rose from the flood the daughter of the seas; And to the se

Rome, and in which the hospitality of Baucis and Philemon saved them from the fate of their friends. He is represented as t

he celebrated Trojan war; and this that caused Jupiter to suspend her from Heaven by a golden cord, in the attempt to rescue

uspend her from Heaven by a golden cord, in the attempt to rescue her from which, Vulcan achieved the wrath of his sire, the

ent Mercury, who destroyed Argus, and restored her to liberty. “Down from the rock fell the dissevered head, Opening its ey

st, fading in bold, yet graduated lines, into a skirt, as it descends from the left shoulder, is admirably imagined.” Shell

o’er the bending plain: A calm of plenty; till the ruffled air Falls from its poise, and gives the breeze to blow. ‌Rent i

al love of mothers, placed on Mount Etna two torches, and sought her “ from morn to noon, from noon to dewy eve,” throughout

placed on Mount Etna two torches, and sought her “from morn to noon, from noon to dewy eve,” throughout the world. At last,

ace of her child, and of the name of him who had torn her beloved one from her paternal care. Ceres implored Jupiter to inte

paternal care. Ceres implored Jupiter to interfere, and withdraw her from the infernal regions, which he agreed to do, but

hem in vain. And while with passion she repeats her call, The violets from her lap and lilies fall: She misses them, poor he

uls. Yet no! perchance the burden is too much, And is in mercy hidden from our eyes. Earth is made up of so much care and wo

which bears the name of Delos; where Latona afterwards sought refuge from the fury of Juno, when about to overwhelm her, fo

minions, where, fatigued with her journey, she begged a drop of water from the peasants, whose cruel refusal to aid her she

o insolent an act could not remain unpunished, and Jupiter exiled him from Heaven. While on earth, he loved the nymph Daphne

eaves of this tree are believed to possess the property of preserving from thunder, and of making dreams an image of reality

efore his palace wait, And be the sacred guardian of the gate; Secure from thunder and unharmed by Jove, Unfading as the imm

ontained her, heard her last melancholy cries, but unable to save her from death, he sprinkled nectar and ambrosia over her

he drank her tears, or sucked the dew, She turned about, but rose not from the ground, Turned to the sun still as he rolled

rbs. Bolina, another nymph to whom he was attached, wishing to escape from his pursuit, threw herself into the waves, and wa

ayed a little more, — Alas! she never comes again, I throw my flowers from the shore And watch in vain.” Hood. After this,

nd ‌her of the days of the past, she implored the Gods to release her from the misery which overwhelmed her. Cassandra, daug

ely had he uttered the oath, than the gods, who could not absolve him from it, rallied him on his folly. Irritated at the ri

loss on the bank of that river, he heard an exquisite melody escaping from the depth of the wood. He approached the place fr

e melody escaping from the depth of the wood. He approached the place from whence the sound seemed to issue, and recognized

king the earth with his foot, caused the spring of Hippocrene to gush from the ground. While the courser was thus occupied,

ersally lamented; the fauns, satyrs and dryads, wept at his fate, and from their abundant tears flowed a river of Phrygia, w

he wind. Who long ago were neither dumb nor blind: ‌Nor apt to think from heaven their title springs, Since Jove and Mars l

him; the oath must be complied with. When Phaeton received the reins from his father, he immediately betrayed his ignorance

city. The flying horses took advantage of his confusion, and departed from their accustomed track. Phaeton repented too late

here they contended for the prize of dancing, music and poetry. It is from his encounter with this serpent, that in the stat

esy, and light, The sun in human limbs arrayed, and brow, All radiant from his triumph in the fight; The shaft hath just bee

ped by some solitary nymph, whose breast Longed for a deathless lover from above, And maddened in that vision, are exprest A

around, until they gathered to a God! “And if it be Prometheus stole from Heaven The fire which we endure, it was repaid By

he gods grew jealous of the homage shewn to Apollo, and recalling him from earth, replaced him in his seat at Olympus. The f

t those who consulted this oracle should make presents to Apollo, and from thence arose the opulence, splendour, and magnifi

me_heathen-mythology_1842_img048a One day when the Muses were distant from their place of abode, a storm surprised them, and

to fly after them, essayed the daring adventure, and throwing himself from the top of the tower as if he had wings, was kill

oved by Jove, And honour’d by the inhabitants above, Profusely gifted from the almighty hand, With power extensive o’er the

e sea and land; And great the honour, she, by Jove’s high leave, Does from the starry vault of heaven receive. When to the g

lt of heaven receive. When to the gods the sacred flames aspire, Does from the starry vault of heaven receive. From human of

ble dread of the fate he had himself so often inflicted, fled rapidly from them. True to their breed, however, the dogs succ

view, and though Calista concealed the effects of her divine intrigue from her mistress for a long time, the latter noticed

en she tripped Amidst her frolic nymphs, laughing, or when Just risen from the bath, she fled in sport, Round oaks and spark

lover too Who stood on Latmos top, what time there blew Soft breezes from the Myrtle vale below And brought in faintness, s

e vale below And brought in faintness, solemn, sweet, and slow A hymn from Dian’s Temple; while up-swelling The incense went

as Diana saw him sleeping on the mountain of Latmos, she snatched him from the power of Pluto, and placed him in a grotto, w

m the power of Pluto, and placed him in a grotto, where she came down from Heaven every night to enjoy his society. Insérer

logy_1842_img052 ————— “Crescented Dian, who ’Tis said once wandered from the wastes of blue, And all for love; filling a s

wall. The fable of Endymion’s amours with Diana, or the Moon, arises from his knowledge of astronomy: and as he passed the

ations. The most celebrated of her temples was that at Ephesus, which from its grandeur and magnificence has been placed amo

flicted on others, he never went without a dagger, to protect himself from those who might be ambitious of his office, and r

breezy waves toss up their silvery spray — Sometimes I watch thee on from steep to steep, Timidly lighted by thy vestal tor

s, Beautiful Dian! and so whene’er I lie Trodden, thou wilt be gazing from thy hills. Blest be thy loving light, where’er it

wers, and always intoxicated, could scarcely be considered as a tutor from whom Bacchus was likely to derive much good. In s

g the orgies. Accordingly he hid himself in a wood on Mount Cithæron, from whence he hoped to view all the ceremonies unperc

as torn to pieces. As Bacchus was returning triumphantly in his ship, from the conquest we have recorded, crowned with vine

to prove, The bitter pangs of ill-rewarded love, Here saw just freed from a fallacious sleep, Her Theseus flying o’er the d

nd sweetness of disposition, were untouched by his forgetfulness; and from this time it is pleasing to relate that her wisdo

their prize.‌ “The beauteous youth now found himself betrayed, And from the deck the rising waves surveyed, And seemed to

oars, their bark moved not: and suddenly vine trees seemed to spring from the planks of the ship, mingling with the cordage

His feasts were celebrated every three years, and were called orgies, from a word which signifies fury and impetuosity. Insé

d Tartary the fierce, The kings of eld their jewel sceptres vail, And from their treasures scatter pearled hail; Great Brahm

res vail, And from their treasures scatter pearled hail; Great Brahma from his mystic heaven groans,     And all his priesth

drink at every pore!” ……………………………………………………… Thus Roman youth, derived from ruined Troy, In rude Saturnian rhymes express the

ts and laughter loud their audience please, Deformed with vizards cut from bark of trees: In jolly hymns they praise the god

al beauty, and poetical and abstract enthusiasm, with the wild errors from which it sprung. In Rome it had a more familiar,

hologists speak of more than one. Of these, however, the Venus sprung from the froth of the sea “Where the moist Zephyrs to

r, ancient mythologists, as well as painters, make mention. She arose from the sea near the island of Cyprus,     “Cytherea

ormed of the Gods. This ‌marriage did not prevent the goddess of love from gratifying her inclinations, and her conduct freq

this advice he however slighted, and at last received a mortal wound from a wild boar which he had speared; and great was t

, a youth distinguished by the most exquisite beauty, again drew her ‌ from heaven, and induced her often to visit, in all he

ilver axle rings, And the shell sinks upon its slender springs; Light from her airy seat the Goddess bounds, And steps celes

e prize to Venus, and gave her the apple, to which she seems entitled from her beauty. The worship of Venus was universally

e of Jupiter Olympus, where she was represented by Phidias, as rising from the sea, and crowned by the goddess of Persuasion

f women to cultivate chastity; Basilea, as the queen of love; Myrtea, from the myrtle being sacred to her; Mechanitis, in al

re she goes Beneath her tender feet the herbage blows; And Aphrodite, from the foam, her name, Among the race of gods and me

foam, her name, Among the race of gods and men the same; And Cytheræa from Cythera came; Whence, beauteous crown’d, she safe

ous crown’d, she safely cross’d the sea, And call’d, O Cyprus, Cypria from thee; Nor less by Philomeda known on earth, A nam

thee; Nor less by Philomeda known on earth, A name derived immediate from her birth: Her first attendants to the immortal c

will she go Among the gods above, or men below.” Hesiod. As rising from the sea, the name of Anadyomine is applied to her

by the celebrated painting of Apelles, which represented her issuing from the bosom of the waves, and wringing her tresses

shoulder. Description of the Anadyomine Venus. “She has just issued from the bath, and yet is animated with the enjoyment

expresses a breathless yet passive and innocent voluptuousness, free from affectation. Her lips, without the sublimity of l

orm. “Her form is indeed perfect. She is half sitting and half rising from a shell, and the fullness of her limbs, and their

mythology_1842_img073 Vulcan, the son of Jupiter and Juno, was thrown from heaven by the former, for attempting to assist th

f Lemnos. ———— “I felt his matchless might, Hurled headlong downward from the ethereal height; Tossed all the day in rapid

hey fabled, thrown by angry Jove Sheer o’er the chrystal battlements: from morn To noon he fell, from noon to dewy eve, A su

Jove Sheer o’er the chrystal battlements: from morn To noon he fell, from noon to dewy eve, A summer’s day; and with the se

m noon to dewy eve, A summer’s day; and with the setting sun, Dropped from the zenith like a falling star, On Lemnos, the Æg

ing wood, Th’ inventive powers of dædal art to know, And all the joys from social life that flow; In search no more of casua

radition of their only having one eye originated, in all probability, from their custom of wearing small bucklers of steel w

nted as a punishment for Juno, to whom, as it was through her he fell from heaven, he attributed his deformity. This was a t

and as the price of her freedom, Juno promised to procure him a wife from amongst the heavenly conclave. Vulcan fixed his d

which walked by his side, and assisted him in working metals. “Then from the anvil the lame artist rose, Wide with distort

ad blackened with smoke; while his enormous shoulders seemed borrowed from the Cyclops. Some represent him lame and deformed

nd Obscure in smoke, his forges flaming round; While bathed in sweat, from fire to fire he flew, And puffing loud, the roari

s stated that Bacchus made him intoxicated after he had been expelled from Olympus, and then prevailed on him to return, whe

, as well as in his more immediate kingdom; he therefore banished him from his court, and menaced him with his wrath, should

with gems and gold, From his fair plumed shoulder graceful hung, And from its top in brilliant chords enrolled, Each little

, Wafting the fragrance which his tresses flung: While odours dropped from every ringlet bright, And from his blue eyes beam

is tresses flung: While odours dropped from every ringlet bright, And from his blue eyes beamed ineffable delight.” Mrs. Ti

for her, though few could be so delightful, when, “In broad pinions from the realms above, Descending Cupid seeks the Cypr

d fallen upon Psyche, and the affection which dropped in honied words from Cupid’s lips, was so endearing, that the nymph lo

r sisters, however, she waited until Cupid was locked in slumber, and from its hiding place procured the light and the dagge

nce on the being she was so anxious to view; and stood half shrinking from the desired sight. —— “In her spiritual divinity

iant plumage shines so heavenly bright, That mortal eyes turn dazzled from the sight; A youth he seems in manhood’s freshest

ansport which pervaded her, however, there fell a drop of burning wax from the light which she held, on the marble-like shou

mortal chillness shudders at her breast, Her soul shrinks, fainting, from death’s icy dart, The groan scarce uttered, dies,

down she sinks in deadly swoon oppressed: But when at length, awaking from her trance, The terrors of her fate stood all con

ary mortal, and she lay upon the earth, until Cupid, luckily escaping from the confinement to which his mother had subjected

with being taken for the goddess of beauty, had concluded by seducing from her the duty of her son. Jupiter, however, was mo

city, filled the air     With her deliverer’s name: “I saw him hurry from the crowd,     And fling his laurel crown, In wea

isdom, war, and all the liberal arts, came forth, armed and grown up, from her father’s brain, and was immediately admitted

ssayed, Olympus trembled at the martial maid. Affrighted earth sounds from her deepest caves, And swell of Ocean tides the s

ewy sea-god shook, And, looking sternly, smote the ragged rock; When, from the stone, leaped forth the sprightly steed And N

nce, the teeming earth Seemed to produce a new surprising birth, When from the glebe, the pledge of conquest sprung, A tree,

the ground, and left her temples bare. ‌Her usual features vanished from their place, Her body lessened — but the most, he

With many joints the use of legs supplied, A spider’s bag, the rest, from which she gives A thread, and still, by constant

the veracity of her decree. Minerva was called Athena Pallas, either from her killing the giant Pallas, or because the spea

t was in one of her temples that the following occurrence took place, from which she adopted this device. Medusa was the onl

Upon its lips and eyelids seems to lie,     Loveliness like a shadow, from which shine, Fiery and lurid, struggling undernea

the glare of pain, Which humanize and harmonize the strain.     “And from its head as from one body grow,     As grass out

, Which humanize and harmonize the strain.     “And from its head as from one body grow,     As grass out of a watery rock,

ragged jaw,     “’Tis the tempestuous loveliness of terror;     For from the serpents gleam a brazen glare, Kindled by tha

A woman’s countenance, with serpent locks, Gazing in death on heaven, from those evil rocks.” Shelley. Some of the statues

ce Gallery. “The head is of the highest beauty. It has a close helmet from which the hair, delicately parted on the forehead

making ‌grief beautiful, and giving it that nameless feeling, which, from the imperfection of language, we call pain, but w

very touch of which she might become a mother. The goddess tried, and from her touch sprang Mars. His education was entruste

son. The cause was tried at Athens, in a place which has been called from thence Areopagus, and Mars was acquitted. “Mars!

long the inflicted pangs thou shalt not mourn, Sprung since thou art from Jove, and heavenly born: Else singed with lightni

around, And healed th’ immortal flesh, and closed the wound. Cleansed from the dust and gore, fair Hebe dressed His mighty l

o this Lemnian cave of flame, The crested lord of battles came; ’Twas from the ranks of war he rushed, His spear with many a

ii, carried small bucklers, supposed to be sacred, and to have fallen from the skies. To him was consecrated the cock, becau

th Minerva, related in her history, he claimed the isthmus of Corinth from Apollo; and Briareus, the Cyclops, who was mutual

m, but he could also cause earthquakes at pleasure, and raise islands from the sea by a blow of his trident. ———————— “King

he gruff complaint Of all his rebel tempests. Dark clouds faint When, from thy diadem, a silver gleam Slants over blue domin

w-steed, Over the billows, and triumphing there, Call the white syren from her cave to share My joy, and kiss her willing fo

iches, melancholy sea.                                We ask not such from thee! “Yet more, the depths have more! what weal

heir stillness lies; Thou hast the starry gems, the burning gold, Won from ten thousand royal argosies; Sweep o’er thy spoil

r a voice — restore the dead! Earth shall reclaim her precious things from thee!                                Restore the

_img104 “So in Sicilia’s ever blooming shade, The playful Proserpine from Ceres strayed. Led with unwary step her virgin tr

oomy Dis, and seized the trembling maid. Her startling damsels sprung from mossy seats, Dropped from their gauzy laps the ga

rembling maid. Her startling damsels sprung from mossy seats, Dropped from their gauzy laps the gathered sweets, Clung round

condemned to roll an enormous stone to the summit of a high mountain, from which it fell again without ceasing, that he migh

rst amidst a sea of waves; When to the water he his lip applies, Back from his lip the treacherous water flies, Above, benea

s propensity, by throwing himself upon the timid Cupid, and wrestling from him his quivers; and increased his notoriety by r

nonyme_heathen-mythology_1842_img110 “Hermes with gods and men, even from that day Mingled and wrought the latter much anno

ht, It showed the bottom in a fairer light, Nor kept a sand concealed from human sight. The fruitful banks with cheerful ver

ing her arms around him, entreated the Gods to render her inseparable from him whom she adored. The Gods heard her prayer, a

nto wrath bright Apollo of old, His dun-coloured steers having stol’n from the fold, He laughed; for, while talking all fier

hed; for, while talking all fiercely he found That his quiver, alack! from his back was unbound. ’Twas thou, who old Priam d

of the inquirers, by assuming different shapes, and totally escaping from their grasp. Divinities of the Second Class.

g matron feared, His face distorted, and his rugged beard: But Hermes from her hands received the child, And on the infant g

o distinction know But that the goddess bore a golden bow, Descending from Lycæus, Pan admires The matchless nymph, and burn

n’s gentle flood: There by the river stopped, and tired before Relief from water-nymphs her prayers implore, Now while the r

red, and threw herself on the bosom of the astonished youth, who, far from submitting with pleasure to the intrusion, “With

rusion, “With all his strength unlocks her fold, And breaks unkindly from her feeble hold; Then proudly cries, ‘life shall

r pleasure take;’ ‘On me your pleasure take,’ the nymph replies While from her the disdainful hunter flies.” As the youth w

nful hunter flies.” As the youth wandered on, anxious only to escape from the society of Echo, he suddenly came upon a foun

fold, About that neck that still deludes his hold, He gets no kisses from those cozening lips, His arms grasp nothing, from

, He gets no kisses from those cozening lips, His arms grasp nothing, from himself he slips; He knows not what he views, and

d burns for what he views.” Nothing could win the self-enamoured boy from his devoted passion; but bending over the lucid s

, he fed his eyes with the delusive shade which seemed to gaze on him from the depths. At last “Streaming tears from his fu

hich seemed to gaze on him from the depths. At last “Streaming tears from his full eye-lids fell, And drop by drop, raised

o the flower Narcissus. Many morals have been attempted to be deduced from this beautiful fable, but in none of them have th

pipings.” Fauns, Sylvans, and Satyrs. The Fauns were descended from Faunus, son of Picus King of Italy, who was chang

s the wolf beside the fold, Knowing well thy potent arm Then protects from every harm. Lo, to hail the Sylvan king, Woods th

bring, Strewing in profusion gay, Verdant foliage all the way. Freed from toil, the labourer blythe Flings aside the spade

d and entertained at the court of Midas, King of Phrygia, he obtained from him the choice of whatever recompense he should n

ht he asked too much,) ‘That with my body whatsoe’er I touch, Changed from the nature which it held of old, May be converted

think the fool no better wish could find. But the brave king departed from the place, With smiles of gladness, sparkling in

ut, as he took his way, Impatient longs to make the first essay; Down from a lowly branch a twig he drew, The twig strait gl

, as it passed down his throat. He was now as anxious to be delivered from this fatal gift, as he was before to receive it,

ed cordial grew: Unfit for drink, and wondrous to behold, It trickles from his jaws a fluid gold. The rich, poor fool confou

touch of Midas. Divine honours were given to Silenus in Arcadia, and from him the Fauns and Satyrs are often called Sileni.

is said, that a Satyr was brought to Sylla, as that general returned from Thessaly; the monster had been surprised asleep i

mong them, as the the son of Venus, who meeting Bacchus on his return from his Indian expedition, was enamoured of him, and

ther gods resigned theirs with cheerfulness, and the oracles declared from this, that the extent of the Empire should never

made by her mother the cup-bearer to all the Gods. She was dismissed from her office by Jupiter, however, because she fell

his eye, he beheld ——— “The realized nymph of the stream, Rising up from the wave, with the bend and the gleam Of a founta

led woodbine Lilacs and flowering limes, and scented thorns, And some from whom the voluptuous winds of June Catch their per

heir perfumery.” Barry Cornwall. She married Zephyrus, and received from him the privilege of presiding over flowers, and

it Trees, and supposed to be the Deity of Gardens. “Her name Pomona, from her woodland race, In garden culture none could h

erpetual celibacy. Numerous were the suitors who attempted to win her from her rash determination, but to all of them the an

sguise, The heedless lout comes shambling on, and seems Just sweating from the labour of his teams. Then from the harvest, o

mbling on, and seems Just sweating from the labour of his teams. Then from the harvest, oft the mimic swain Seems bending wi

eathed in the south, and the chesnut flowers, By thousands have burst from the forest bowers, And the ancient graves, and th

ain, They are sweeping on to the silvery main, They are flashing down from the mountain brows, They are flinging spray o’er

ey are flinging spray o’er the forest boughs, They are bursting fresh from their sparry caves, And the earth resounds with t

and the joyous lay, Come forth to the sunshine, I may not stay. Away from the dwellings of care-worn men, The waters are sp

gs of care-worn men, The waters are sparkling in grove and glen! Away from the chamber and sullen hearth, The young leaves a

ut ye! ye are changed since ye met me last! There is something bright from your features past! There is something come over

sky, And had not a sound of mortality! Are they gone? is their mirth from the mountains passed? Ye have looked on death sin

race, With their laughing eyes and their festal crown, They are gone from amongst you in silence down! The Summer is comin

d hill, And the breeze murmurs forth a gentle sigh, And the fish leap from out the smiling rill. The town’s pale denizens co

by summer crowned, Sheds its own night twilight round; Glancing there from sun to shade,                Bright wings play; H

stening To silence, for no lonely bird would sing Into his hollow ear from woods forlorn, Nor lowly hedge nor solitary thorn

e mild eve by sudden night is prest Like tearful Proserpine, snatched from her flowers         To a most gloomy breast. Wher

parent of all the gods, and on that account received frequent visits from the remainder of the deities. He is represented a

her when asleep, and by binding her strongly, prevented her escaping from his grasp. When Thetis found she could not elude

re shall yield.’ Jove, who adored the nymph with boundless love, Did, from his breast, the dangerous flame remove; He knew t

re, And sheets of smoke in sweet perfume aspire: Till Proteus, rising from his oozy bed, Thus to the poor, desponding lover

illes would have shared the same fate, if Peleus had not snatched him from her hand, as she was going to repeat the cruel op

tis well knew the future fate of her son, she attempted to remove him from the Trojan war, by concealing him in the court of

he subjects of Neptune, and had the power of looking into the future, from that God, because he had tended for him the monst

certa, and was the son of Athamas and Ino. He was saved by his mother from the fury of his father, Athamas, who became infla

; Ino fled with Melicerta in her arms, and threw herself into the sea from a high rock, and was changed into a sea deity, by

the fish which he threw on the grass, seemed to receive fresh vigour from touching the ground, he attributed it to the gras

when a leader comes.     “Thou hast been o’er solitary seas,     And from their wastes brought back Each noise of waters th

of distant surge,     The gathered billows roar.     “Thou art come from forests dark and deep,     Thou mighty, rushing w

ing wilderness,     Have lent their soul to thee.     “Thou art come from cities lighted up     For the conqueror passing b

cities lighted up     For the conqueror passing by, Thou art wafting from their streets, a sound     Of haughty revelry: Th

hout of multitudes,     Are in thy rise and fall.     “Thou art come from kingly tombs and shrines,     From ancient minste

ld, and helm,     To his place of slumber’s gone.     “Thou art come from long forsaken homes,     Wherein our young days f

changed and fled, Be still, be still, and haunt us not     With music from the dead!     “Are all these notes in thee, wild

e in the sunbeams, or laughingly play With the spring clouds that fly from our kisses away, When we grapple and fight with t

past, Thou upon the wave at last,                           Buildest, from all tempest free, Thou and Ceyx, side by side, Ch

oserpine, at the time of her being carried off; they prayed for wings from the Gods, to unite their efforts with those of Ce

t applause.” Ovid. Charybdis was an avaricious woman, who, stealing from Hercules, was slain by him, and became one of the

o sailors, as the whirlpool of Charybdis, on the coast of Sicily, and from which has arisen the proverb, “By avoiding Charyb

ll upon Scylla!” “Upon the beech a winding bay there lies, Sheltered from seas, and shaded from the skies; This station Scy

n the beech a winding bay there lies, Sheltered from seas, and shaded from the skies; This station Scylla chose; a soft retr

ppears But yet she knows not what it is she fears, In vain she offers from herself to run, And drag’s about her what she str

good and evil. They of men and gods The crimes pursue, nor ever pause from wrath Tremendous, till destructive on the head Of

ead a crown of seven stars. She holds a distaff in her hand, reaching from heaven to earth. The garment which Lacheses wore

nd twirl the spindle round, On each of which a syren loudly sings, As from the wheel the fatal thread she flings; The Parcæ

t, A thousand still, small voices I awake, Strong in their sweetness, from the soul to shake                         The man

        The mantle of its rest.                         I bring them from the past, From true hearts broken, gentle spirits

Make their tones heard at last.                         I bring them from the tomb! O’er the sad couch of late repentant lo

          Phantoms of heart and brain.                         Looks from departed eyes — These are my lightnings! fill’d w

iet next to death, An arm of Lethe with a gentle flow, Arising upward from the rock below, The palace moats, and o’er the pe

ding poppies grew, And all cool simples that sweet rest bestow; Night from the plants their sleepy virtue drains, And passin

nd Morpheus, as his principal minister, watches, to prevent any noise from awaking him.     “Oh lightly, lightly tread,    

On the worn spirit shed,     And eyes that wake to weep. A holy thing from heaven,     A gracious, dewy cloud, A covering ma

Manes was a name applied generally to the soul after it has separated from the body, and were among the infernal deities bei

goddess was supposed to defend the relics and the memory of the dead from insult. Domestic Divinities. The Lares a

erests of private families. Their worship is supposed to have ‌arisen from the ancient custom among the Romans and other nat

The votive lay. Venerable powers! Hearken your hymn of praise. Though from your rites Estranged, and exiled from your altars

ken your hymn of praise. Though from your rites Estranged, and exiled from your altars long, I have not ceased to love you,

were going to engage in some unfortunate enterprise, and stopped him from the commission of all crimes and impiety. The Gen

he mind, as well as over those of the heart. Thus the orator received from them the force and brilliancy of his ideas; the a

he goddess in walking was far too loud to be agreeable, and detracted from her beauty. At last these illiberal reflections w

in the wild bird carolled on the steep To hail the sun, slow wheeling from the deep; ‌In vain, to soothe the solitary shade

d to deliver them if he were allowed to marry the one he might choose from amongst them. The Athenians consented; and the lo

aradise of all things common else! By thee adulterous lust was driven from men Among the bestial herds to range; by thee Fou

his rapid course, the gold, silver, and precious stones, which escape from a box he holds in his hands; as lame, because he

y than he approached mankind. Fortuna was the goddess of Fortune, and from her hands were derived riches and poverty, pleasu

earth during the golden age; but the wickedness of mankind drove her from the world, during the succeeding periods of brass

gy_1842_img166 Demi-Gods. The demi-gods are those, who, sprung from the union of a mortal with a divinity, have taken

God sought refuge in Leda’s arms, who in due time produced two eggs, from one of which came Pollux and Helena, and from the

time produced two eggs, from one of which came Pollux and Helena, and from the other, Castor and Clytemnestra. Insérer image

age anonyme_heathen-mythology_1842_img167 Scarcely had Pollux emerged from childhood, when, being on an expedition with the

d the pirates who infested ‌Hellespont and the neighbouring seas, and from this have always been considered as gods favourab

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

, was entrusted to the care of the centaur Chiron, and he was removed from the presence of the usurper of the kingdom of Iol

had been informed by an oracle that one of the descendants of Æolus, ( from whom Jason had come) would dethrone him. After he

red to Mars. He was then to sow in the ground the teeth of a serpent, from which armed men would spring up, whose rage would

he Argonauts, but Juno watched over their safety, and extricated them from their difficulties. Medea, the king’s daughter, f

es by the most solemn oaths, she pledged herself to deliver her lover from all his dangers. Her knowledge of herbs, enchantm

f herbs, enchantments and incantations, was uncommon, and he received from her whatever instruments and herbs could protect

fury glow, When water in the panting mass ye throw, With such a noise from their convulsive breast, Through bellowing throat

th enchanted juice, Makes the snakes’ teeth a human crop produce, And from the labouring earth, no single birth But a whole

e dragon sleep, that never slept, Whose crest shoots dreadful lustre; from his jaws A triple tier of forked stings he draws,

xious to render due homage to the remains of his son, and prevent him from following with success. On the return of the expe

But when Thessalia’s inauspicious plain, Received the matron-heroine from the main; While hours of triumph sound, and altar

ry arms. Deride her virtues and insult her charms: Saw her dear babes from fame and empire torn, In foreign realms deserted

thful air, A glossy brown his hoary head of hair, The meagre paleness from his aspect fled, And in its room sprung up a flor

of piety is left, Dispatch a father’s cure, and disengage The monarch from his loathsome load of age. Thus urged, the poor d

mped with wild foot and shook her torrent brow, And called the furies from their dens below!” Ovid. When in Athens, to whi

er leaving Corinth, she underwent the penance necessary to purify her from the crimes she had committed, after which she bec

ea; and that to avoid the vengeance of heaven, and to free themselves from a plague which devoured the country after so frig

e friendship binds the generous and the good, Say, shall it hail thee from thy frantic way,     Unholy woman! with thy hands

l maniac range; Chase afar the fiend of Madness,     Wrest the dagger from Revenge! Say, hast thou, with kind protection,  

the affections of Alcmena, Jupiter took the form of her husband, and from this union was born Hercules, who was brought up

as nine months old, sent two snakes intending them to devour him. Far from fearing these terrible enemies, the child grasped

coming to avenge their death, he slew him, and delivered his country from the inglorious tribute. These heroic deeds soon b

Hercules. Fly, thou unhappy, my polluting guilt! Theseus. Friends, from their friends, no stain of guilt contract. Hercu

own involved in ills like these? Theseus. Thy vast misfortunes reach from earth to heaven. Hercules. I therefore am prepar

o. Theseus. This is the language of a vulgar spirit. Hercules. Thou from misfortune free, canst counsel me; Theseus. Doth

, Did I not quell? The Hydra, raged around, With heads still spouting from the sword I slew. These and a thousand other toil

n he undertook his labours. He had received a coat of arms and helmet from Minerva, a sword from Mercury, a horse from Apoll

ours. He had received a coat of arms and helmet from Minerva, a sword from Mercury, a horse from Apollo, and from Vulcan a g

a coat of arms and helmet from Minerva, a sword from Mercury, a horse from Apollo, and from Vulcan a golden cuirass and braz

d helmet from Minerva, a sword from Mercury, a horse from Apollo, and from Vulcan a golden cuirass and brazen buskin, with a

he ordered him never to enter the gates of the city when he returned from his expeditions, but to wait for his orders witho

ing its swiftness. As he returned victorious, Diana snatched the stag from him, and severely reprimanded him for molesting a

which fed upon human flesh. The eleventh labour was to obtain apples from the garden of Hesperides, three celebrated daught

hero seized Nereus while he slept, and the sea god, unable to escape from his grasp, answered all the questions he proposed

42_img182 He delivered Hesione, a daughter of Laomedon, King of Troy, from a sea monster, to whom the Trojans yearly present

olds; Till death entwists their convoluted folds. And in red torrents from her seven gold heads Fell Hydra’s blood in Lerna’

sarms, And tears his gaping jaws with sinewy arms; Lifts proud Antæus from his mother-plains, And with strong grasp, the str

ent strand, Crests with opposing towers the splendid scene, And pours from urns immense, the sea between. Loud o’er her whir

ist him in obtaining her. After some time had passed, he was purified from this murder, and his insanity was at an end. Howe

But his services to this queen so astonished her, that she freed him from his servitude and married him. When the term for

with Dejanira, he was compelled to leave his father-in-law’s kingdom, from having accidentally slain one of the citizens. ‌

et kindred should thy lawless lust deny, Think not perfidious wretch, from me to fly; Tho’ winged with horse’s speed, wounds

harms.” Thurlow. He has received many surnames and epithets, either from the place where his worship was established, or f

epithets, either from the place where his worship was established, or from the labours which he had achieved; his temples we

ssed in these arms his fate Antæus found, Nor gained recruited vigour from the ground. Did I not triple-formed Geryon fell?

ed the Arcadian land? Did not these arms the Hydra’s rage subdue, Who from his wounds to double fury grew. What if the Thrac

reeable to Polydectes, in the first place, as it would remove Perseus from the island, and the next that, from its seeming i

place, as it would remove Perseus from the island, and the next that, from its seeming impossibility, the attempt might end

er were fruitless. The conqueror pursued his way through the air, and from the blood which dropped from the head of the slai

ror pursued his way through the air, and from the blood which dropped from the head of the slain Gorgon he carried with him,

on furthest Lybia beat, Dreadful Medusa fixed her horrid seat. ’Twas from this monster, to afflict mankind, That nature fir

married Callirhoe, one of the Oceanides, sprung with his golden sword from those drops of blood, as well as the winged Pegas

his airy journey sped. The gory drops distilled as swift he flew, And from each drop envenomed serpents grew. The mischiefs

thern pole: And eastward thrice, and westward thrice was whirled, And from the skies surveyed the nether world. But when gre

: Or if the glory of a race can move, Not mean my glory, for I spring from Jove.” Ovid. He went to his palace, expecting t

He went to his palace, expecting to meet with an hospitable reception from Atlas, by announcing himself the son of Jupiter,

, disclosed, the gloomy gold betray: ‌All should at once be ravished from his eyes, And Jove’s own progeny enjoy the prize.

s secured; For this, all strangers he forbade to land, And drove them from the inhospitable strand,     To Perseus then: ‘Fl

But since short rest to me thou wilt not give, A gift of endless rest from me receive. —’ He said, and backward turned, no m

1842_img193 He offered Cepheus, her father, his aid in delivering her from danger, provided he would give the maiden to him

h’ admirer almost had forgot to fly, And swift descended, fluttering, from on high.” Ovid. This princess had been promised

my way. ‌If such desert be worthy of esteem, And, if your daughter I from death redeem. Shall she be mine? Shall it not the

Andromeda? Nor was it he, if you would reason right, That forced her from you, but the jealous spite Of envious Nereids, an

hy mercy I implore, For life I sue, the rest to thee I yield: In pity from my sight remove the shield!’     Phineus turned t

iends of Cepheus, however, and those who assisted Perseus, were saved from the same fate by a previous warning of Perseus. S

nt that his mother Danae sought the altar of Minerva, to save herself from the violence of Polydectes; Dictys, who had prese

the violence of Polydectes; Dictys, who had preserved her and Perseus from the sea, had attempted to defend her from her ene

d preserved her and Perseus from the sea, had attempted to defend her from her enemy, and Perseus therefore sensible of his

ke the race that strove To take Jove’s heaven by storm, and scare him from Olympus. There he sits, a demi-god, Stern as when

god, Stern as when he of yore forsook the maid Who, doating saved him from the Cretan toil, Where he had slain the Minotaur.

ted for the public good.” Ovid. The wish to deliver his native land from this danger, induced him voluntarily to undertake

enterprise, he was successful and killed the Minotaur. On his return from his victory there, he was driven by contrary wind

, With daily care the pensive father stood; And when he saw impatient from afar? The fatal signal floating in the air, Think

ith a sudden and mutual friendship, and rushed into each others arms: from that time, their affection became proverbial. The

ules, however, in his descent into hell, the two heroes were released from their captivity, and when Theseus returned to Ath

ory of their father might not be without honour, sent for his remains from Scyros, and gave them a magnificent burial. They

     She was left By her so heartless lover while she slept. She woke from pleasant dreams — she dreamt of him — Love’s powe

can fancy well, Her desolate feelings as she roamed the beach, Hurled from the highest heaven of happy love! But evening cri

thology_1842_img203     Phæ. “‘My lord, ’tis said you soon will part from us.     Hip. Madam!     Phæ. I pray you do not le

æ. Aye, boy, ’tis even so; Nay, look not so: — I say Hippolytus, That from the very hour I saw, I loved thee; That from the

— I say Hippolytus, That from the very hour I saw, I loved thee; That from the very moment that thy voice Rang in my ears, i

y moment that thy voice Rang in my ears, it entered in my heart, That from the hour I was Theseus’ wife, Even at the altar,

ated with my father’s, Shouldst pray the gods to scourge this passion from thee.     Phæ. Oh! by thine hopes of heaven I pra

darest present to me thy traitor brow, And vow thine innocence. Away from these scenes of thine infamy, Away and seek benea

hou not called my son, thy time were short.’” Racine. Banished thus from the court of his father, the only consolation for

e, and with all the violence of an illicit passion, sought to win her from the bridegroom’s affections. Eurydice resisted an

bridegroom’s affections. Eurydice resisted and fled; but as she fled from him, a serpent stung her with so deadly a bite, t

p and tongue; No longer Tantalus essayed to sip The springs that fled from his deluded lip; Their urn the fifty maids no lon

ok, Defeats his hopes, and Hell’s conditions broke, A fatal messenger from Pluto flew, And snatched the forfeit from a secon

ns broke, A fatal messenger from Pluto flew, And snatched the forfeit from a second view, For instant dying, she again desce

his native land bore a melancholy echo. He secluded himself entirely from the company of mankind; in vain was his society s

savage creatures clad, Warbling in air perceived his lovely lay, And from a rising ground beheld him play: When one, the wi

pliant hands, in vain He tries, before his never failing strain; And, from those sacred lips, whose thrilling sound Fierce t

aly, whose flocks were tended by Apollo for nine years, when banished from heaven. During his servitude to this monarch he o

om heaven. During his servitude to this monarch he obtained a promise from the Fates, that Admetus should never die if anoth

display of conjugal affection, laid down her life to save her husband from the cruel death prepared for him. Death-Song of

ey: Flowers in her bosom, and the star-like gleam Of jewels trembling from her braided hair And death upon her brow! but glo

Had burdened her full soul. But now, oh! now, Its time was come — and from the spirit’s depths The passion and the melody Of

g through that hall — the Grecian air, Laden with music — flute notes from the vales, Echoes of song — the last sweet sounds

umph, all the agony, Born on the battling waves of love and death All from her woman’s heart, in sudden song Burst like a fo

                     ‘I go, I go, Thou sun, thou golden sun, I go Far from thy light to dwell: Thou shalt not find my place

may see, But where no purple summer glows O’er the dark wave I haste from them and thee.     Yet doth my spirit faint to pa

ebes. Œdipus was the son of Laius and Jocasta; and being descended from Venus, was compelled to endure all the troubles w

to endure all the troubles which Juno might choose to inflict on him, from the hatred she bore to the goddess of beauty. Ins

was slain. ———————— “‘His demeanour bold, Imperative, and arrogant: from far He waved his hand, that I should quit the pat

age, Returned his menace, and bade him retire. Already had we met: he from his side, Unsheathed a dagger, and upon me leap’d

, but boundless was my rage. Blind with revenge I snatched the dagger from him, And weltering in his blood he lay transfixed

ion, the monster dashed its head against a rock, and delivered Thebes from his unwelcome presence. The prediction, partly fu

that it would only cease when the murderer of King Laius was banished from the country. The slayer of this king had never be

. Phor. Alas! what would you have me say? Œd. Did this old man take from your arms an infant? Phor. He did, and oh! I wis

grasps thy hell, But should run up like flax, all blazing fire. Stand from this spot, I wish you as my friends, And come not

ight, as unworthy ever more to behold the light, and banished himself from Thebes for the good of his country; or as many as

hebes for the good of his country; or as many assert, he was banished from thence by his sons. He retired towards Attica, le

us for his knowledge of futurity, and a warrior of great renown: knew from his power of divination, that he was sure to peri

sented to betray him, bribed by an offer of a bracelet of great worth from Polynice, who was desirous of gaining so importan

-disguised pleasure; and although the blood was flowing fast and free from his own mortal wounds, exclaimed: —————— “‘Thou

red with a brother’s blood, Shall dwell the sceptre thou didst wrest from me. Thy brow on which doth rest the same bright d

oth rest the same bright drop, Shall bear the crown thou did’st usurp from me. And that thy soul may fly with more regret Kn

y soul may fly with more regret Know traitor that thy last blow comes from me.’” Racine. ‌He approached the fallen monarc

mingle, and the very flames separated as they arose in bright columns from the funeral pile. Insérer image anonyme_heathen-m

42_img225 Pelops, suspecting his two sons of the crime, banished them from his court. Atreus sought the kingdom of Eurystheu

ed for a crime, Atreus took a fearful vengeance. Having been banished from the city for some time, Thyestes was again recall

the table calls. When Procne, now impatient to disclose The joy that from her full revenge arose, Cries out, in transports

ith a just reproach, to vindicate her wrong.     The Thracian monarch from the table flings While with his cries the vaulted

rings; His imprecations echo down to hell, And rouse the snaky furies from their Stygian cell. One while, he labours to disg

l. One while, he labours to disgorge his breast, And free his stomach from the cursed feast; Then, weeping o’er his lamentab

hey went to Calydonia, and they were treated with great kindness, and from thence to Sparta, where, like the remainder of th

to Argos, where the sad prediction was fulfilled. One day as he came from the bath, Clytemnestra gave him a tunic, the slee

o’er the dead.     There let him take his seat, He lay, and spouting from his wounds a stream Of blood, bedewed me with the

winged fire, Innoxious to his fields and palaces Affrights the eagle from the sceptred hand; While Pluto, gentlest brother

And so compliant, even to a child. Never was snatched your robe away from me, Though going to the council. The blind man Kn

spilt it (O worse torture) must she know? Ah! the first woman coming from Mycenai Will pine to pour this poison in her ear,

; And yet even that found faith with me! the dirk Which severed flesh from flesh, where this hand rests, Severs not, as thou

rests, Severs not, as thou boasted’st in thy scoffs, Iphigenia’s love from Agamemnon: The wife’s a spark may light, a straw

e heart With purity, nor words that more and more Teach what we know, from those we know, and sink Often most deeply where t

ns though they received the enemy with vigour, could not prevent them from landing, and the siege commenced by a blockade, w

f Ithaca, took upon himself the charge of bringing the young Achilles from his inglorious ease to the post which awaited him

owever, would not give up the terrible arms that no mortal dared take from him. Ulysses presented himself to Philoctetes, wh

hology_1842_img234a But this was not enough. It was necessary to take from the Trojans the talismanic protector of their cit

s necessary likewise that Rhesus, King of Thrace, should be prevented from allowing his horses to drink of the waters of the

glancing downward, near his flank descends. The wary Trojan, bending from the blow, Eludes the death, and disappoints his f

tire, exhorting the Trojans to supplicate Pallas to withdraw Diomedes from the combat. After this bloody action, in which th

hich so enraged Ajax that he slew himself, and the blood which flowed from him was turned into a hyacinth. Æneas, son of Ven

the isle of Tenedos. The Trojans, happy to see their sails retreating from their shores, left their walls to look at the imm

g made by the Greeks, to moderate the anger of Minerva, and to obtain from her a happy return. In vain did Laocoon persist i

ology_1842_img238a During the sacrifice, two enormous serpents issued from the sea, and attacked Laocoon’s two sons, who sto

see, but not to save, the aged monarch, his daughters, and his sons, from falling beneath the edge of the sword. He then so

ders, took the young Ascanius, his son, by the hand, and led him away from the tumult, giving him in charge to Creusa, his w

the Greeks: and accompanied into Epirus the ambassadors sent to claim from Pyrrhus the last scion of a foeman’s race; Oreste

res the beautiful Nausica, who took him to King Alcinous, her father, from whom he received every hospitality. At the end of

ds, With wheat and barley wave the golden fields, ‌Spontaneous wines from weighty clusters pour, And Jove descends in each

ieces of rock after their vessel, which was bearing them quickly away from the scene of their danger. Insérer image anonyme_

tch in person: and, provided with a certain herb, to preserve himself from witchcraft, he went to her with his drawn sword,

ly to Ithaca. It was now the twentieth year of the absence of Ulysses from his home, during which time his wife had held him

the prophecy of the soothsayer. Æneas. Charged to save himself from the wreck of Troy, and to accomplish the decrees

d, and the winds were silent. Æneas, however, found himself separated from the greater part of his companions, seven only of

easure I receive, On any terms ’tis better than to live; These flames from far, may the false Trojan view, These boding omen

ntly increasing, had both altars and temples consecrated to them: and from this kind of god, poets, painters, and sculptors

ound mirror. Ancient writers say, that she was for a long time hidden from the world at the bottom of a well, but leaving it

pasian, after the war of Judea, and contained all the treasures taken from the temple at Jerusalem, consisting of a splendid

e gods have broken the wings of Victory; henceforth she cannot escape from us.” ‌ Victory, by the commands of her mother, a

her, and that those who violated the oath, should be exiled ten years from the celestial court, and deprived of the nectar a

e anonyme_heathen-mythology_1842_img251 In her hand is a cup of gold, from which a serpent is drinking, while around her are

ngines in the mischiefs which arose in the world be well chosen; for, from Calumny, which is the offspring of Falsehood, ari

y now no more, Their little shed, scarce large enough for two, Seems, from the ground, in height and bulk to grow A stately

d, Ere long o’er two shall cast a friendly shade, Still let our loves from thee be understood, Still witness, in thy purple

— She spoke, and in her bosom plunged the sword All warm, and reeking from its slaughtered Lord.” Ovid. Acis and Galate

abroad The sea-sand tow’rd the skies, away, away!’” Acis came forth from his retreat, and Polyphemus threw an enormous roc

— shepherd swains For many an age would lie by that lone stream, And from its watery melodies catch an air, And tune it to

ancholy tale is told; storm nor tempest had power to keep the husband from his wife, and in the wildness of his struggles fo

dos, and his last sigh was given to the fond being who looked in vain from its rocky strand. Pygmalion was a statuary,

r it, the effect of which was to prevent any graven images or statues from appearing in their sanctuaries for upwards of one

d not blunt the dart — The dull satiety which all destroys — And root from out the soul the deadly weed which cloys?” Byron

k the gods by a sacrifice, he sent his companions to fetch some water from a neighbouring grove; becoming alarmed at their d

teeth of the dragon in the plain, upon which armed men rose suddenly from the ground. In his alarm he threw a stone at them

into Greece, though others maintain that the alphabet brought by him from Phœnicia, was only different from that used by th

in that the alphabet brought by him from Phœnicia, was only different from that used by the ancient inhabitants of Greece. I

stian era. In stories so remote, it is difficult to separate the true from the false, and still more so to give a plausible

ties: it has, however, been suggested, that the dragon’s fable, arose from some country which Cadmus conquered; that the arm

ch Cadmus conquered; that the armed men who are stated to have arisen from the field, were men armed with brass, a crop very

rom the field, were men armed with brass, a crop very likely to arise from the attempted subjection of a free country. We ha

The Hindoos invoke him regularly morning and evening, and throw water from the palms of their hands upon the ground, and tow

es, analagous to the four cardinal points, and long beards descending from his four chins. In his four hands he holds the my

he earth by a sacrifice of which he alone was capable, and to save it from certain ruin, submitted to all the weaknesses of

oos, who believe in the doctrine of metempsychosis, the spirit passes from one form to another. To be born, is to appear und

hen they would paint him menacing and terrible, his sharp teeth start from his gums; fire breathes from his lips; and human

cing and terrible, his sharp teeth start from his gums; fire breathes from his lips; and human sculls form his diadem. Serpe

errible symbol of his implacable rage. Buddh. This is the being from whom the enormous number of followers take their

ogress in wisdom. 5. His marriage and royal splendour. 6. His retreat from the world. 7. His life as a hermit. 8. His appear

ess, on a peerless race, With liberal heart and martial grace, Wafted from colder isles remote: As they preserve our laws an

cried, and howled One long, shrill, piercing, modulated cry; Whereat from that dark temple issued forth A serpent, huge and

and the god of war. The former was fabled, like Venus, to have arisen from the sea when agitated by the gods. The poetry of

best known, and under which he is most worshipped. “What potent god from Agra’s orient bowers, Floats through the lucid ai

ss and wisdom. It was his doom to meet with a premature death. Aware, from her knowledge of the future, of the destiny which

fellow-god, leading a fleet steed, went to demand the body of Balder from the ‌dark goddess Hel, who replied that he should

hunters in the sacred wood; and the most successful of them received from Odin the gift of immortality. Insérer image anony

st offence, would tremblingly submit to blows, and even death itself, from the hand of a pontiff, whom they took for the ins

re his holy ceremonies had been celebrated, was sown with stones, and from thenceforth doomed to know no more the voice of t

which regulated these sacrifices,” says Mr.  Howitt, (again to quote from his admirable work on priestcraft) “was a superst

h were offered at Upsal, in Sweden, every ninth year. Then they chose from among the captives, in time of war, and amongst t

foot of the altar; then they opened their entrails, and drew auguries from them, as among the Romans: but when they sacrific

mnity arrived, when he paid the penalty, by death; his heart was torn from his body, which was afterwards precipitated from

; his heart was torn from his body, which was afterwards precipitated from the platform of the temple, mid the wild cries of

œnicia might have been thrown upon the then unknown shore of America, from which place they did not return, but gave to thei

e architect, as well as skill in the execution, which will not shrink from a comparison with the works, at least, of the ear

having striking affinities with the Egyptians, and yet distinguished from it by characteristics perfectly American.” ‌ T

aces of Egypt; on his head he wears a conical cap, not differing much from that which the Osiris of Egypt wears. Two additio

he organ used by the priests to give their oracles to the people; and from the sound which issues from the vessel, is drawn

to give their oracles to the people; and from the sound which issues from the vessel, is drawn the good or evil augury: thi

ianity mingled with impure legends, which have doubtless been derived from the mythologies of Greece and India. ‌Insérer im

of her family came upon earth, remained by herself in the skies, and from their union sprang the months. The Otaheitians, m

material and corporeal, and of a nature therefore entirely different from his own. They gave birth to a class of supernatur

, which correspond with the inferior divinities of other Mythologies, from one of whom, sprang the three persons, forming th

ble a leaf of laurel. Along her mouth are spread rows of teeth, which from the sharpness of their appearance, might belong t

atural temples still for those Eternal, tho’ dethroned deities, Where from green altars, flowers send up their incense.” L.

a, the mother of Balder, undertook this task; and she exacted an oath from fire, from water, from all the metals, from the s

er of Balder, undertook this task; and she exacted an oath from fire, from water, from all the metals, from the stones, from

, undertook this task; and she exacted an oath from fire, from water, from all the metals, from the stones, from land, from

; and she exacted an oath from fire, from water, from all the metals, from the stones, from land, from the fishes, from all

an oath from fire, from water, from all the metals, from the stones, from land, from the fishes, from all the animals, and

om fire, from water, from all the metals, from the stones, from land, from the fishes, from all the animals, and from all th

er, from all the metals, from the stones, from land, from the fishes, from all the animals, and from all the vegetables, tha

rom the stones, from land, from the fishes, from all the animals, and from all the vegetables, that they would do no harm to

m tremendous blows with the sword, his invulnerability protecting him from injury. Loke, an evil genius, and an enemy of the

Frigga replied, that there was only one small shrub, (the mistletoe,) from which she had exacted no promise, because, it bei

e Niobe of nations,” or says of Venice, “She looks a Sea-Cybele fresh from ocean,” he calls up to the mind of one familiar w

d” would be found “musical as is Apollo’s lute.” Our citations, taken from more than twenty-five poets, from Spenser to Long

pollo’s lute.” Our citations, taken from more than twenty-five poets, from Spenser to Longfellow, will show how general has

ill show how general has been the practice of borrowing illustrations from mythology. The prose writers also avail themselve

. Thus we hope to teach mythology not as a study, but as a relaxation from study; to give our work the charm of a story-book

or the parlor. Most of the classical legends in this book are derived from Ovid and Virgil. They are not literally translate

tive reading. Neither are they in verse, as well for other reasons as from a conviction that to translate faithfully under a

ing so much of the poetry as resides in the thoughts and is separable from the language itself, and omitting those amplifica

rm. The Northern mythological stories are copied with some abridgment from Mallet’s Northern Antiquities. These chapters, wi

opose to tell the stories relating to them which have come down to us from the ancients, and which are alluded to by modern

ructure of the universe which prevailed among the Greeks — the people from whom the Romans, and other nations through them,

so famous for its oracle. The circular disk of the earth was crossed from west to east and divided into two equal parts by

acquainted. Around the earth flowed the River Ocean, its course being from south to north on the western side of the earth,

tempest. The sea, and all the rivers on earth, received their waters from it. The northern portion of the earth was suppose

ce.) Their country was inaccessible by land or sea. They lived exempt from disease or old age, from toils and warfare. Moore

accessible by land or sea. They lived exempt from disease or old age, from toils and warfare. Moore has given us the “Song o

e. Moore has given us the “Song of a Hyperborean,” beginning “I come from a land in the sun-bright deep,     Where golden g

s retired to sleep in their respective dwellings. The following lines from the Odyssey will show how Homer conceived of Olym

the golden shoes with which they trod the air or the water, and moved from place to place with the speed of the wind, or eve

ce of Titans, who were the children of Earth and Heaven, which sprang from Chaos, of which we shall give a further account i

Earth, Erebus, and Love were the first of beings. Love (Eros) issued from the egg of Night, which floated on Chaos. By his

                                       “… From morn To noon he fell, from noon to dewy eve, A summer’s day; and with the se

om noon to dewy eve, A summer’s day; and with the setting sun Dropped from the zenith, like a falling star, On Lemnos, the Æ

, was the daughter of Jupiter and Dione. Others say that Venus sprang from the foam of the sea. The zephyr wafted her along

dom, was the offspring of Jupiter, without a mother. She sprang forth from his head completely armed. Her favorite bird was

onor of the nine Muses. Mercury gave the lyre to Apollo, and received from him in exchange the caduceus. Ceres (Demeter) was

they let it go out, was severely punished, and the fire was rekindled from the rays of the sun. Liber is the Latin name of B

nd to the welfare and prosperity of the family. Their name is derived from Penus, the pantry, which was sacred to them. Ever

own house. The Lares, or Lars, were also household gods, but differed from the Penates in being regarded as the deified spir

ent pagans, not having the information on the subject which we derive from the pages of Scripture, had their own way of tell

at last interposed, and put an end to this discord, separating earth from sea, and heaven from both. The fiery part, being

and put an end to this discord, separating earth from sea, and heaven from both. The fiery part, being the lightest, sprang

him of divine materials, or whether in the earth, so lately separated from heaven, there lurked still some heavenly seeds. P

nd his brother, to punish them for their presumption in stealing fire from heaven; and man, for accepting the gift. The firs

eed, the rivers flowed with milk and wine, and yellow honey distilled from the oaks. Then succeeded the Silver Age, inferior

f gain. Then seamen spread sails to the wind, and the trees were torn from the mountains to serve for keels to ships, and ve

at the surface produced, but must dig into its bowels, and draw forth from thence the ores of metals. Mischievous iron, and

might retrieve their miserable affairs. The oracle answered, “Depart from the temple with head veiled and garments unbound,

, And strengthen man with his own mind.     And, baffled as thou wert from high,     Still, in thy patient energy In the end

ion, in his ode to Napoleon Bonaparte: — “Or, like the thief of fire from heaven,     Wilt thou withstand the shock? And sh

try, and light, The Sun, in human limbs arrayed, and brow All radiant from his triumph in the fight The shaft has just been

e you.” So saying, he took his stand on a rock of Parnassus, and drew from his quiver two arrows of different workmanship, o

ed her hands and arms, naked to the shoulder, and whatever was hidden from view he imagined more beautiful still. He followe

jaws ready to seize, while the feebler animal darts forward, slipping from the very grasp. So flew the god and the virgin — 

ed the branches, and lavished kisses on the wood. The branches shrank from his lips. “Since you cannot be my wife,” said he,

caught at love and filled his arms with bays.” The following stanza from Shelley’s Adonais alludes to Byron’s early quarre

 And whose wings rain contagion: how they fled,     When like Apollo, from his golden bow,     The Pythian of the age one ar

, when Aurora had put out the stars, and the sun had melted the frost from the grass, they met at the accustomed spot. Then,

hey agreed, that next night, when all was still, they would slip away from watchful eyes, leave their dwellings and walk out

iently for the sun to go down beneath the waters and night to rise up from them. Then cautiously Thisbe stole forth, unobser

ing. He saw in the sand the footsteps of the lion, and the color fled from his cheeks at the sight. Presently he found the v

and not being myself on the spot to guard thee. Come forth, ye lions, from the rocks, and tear this guilty body with your te

e, and drawing his sword plunged it into his heart. The blood spurted from the wound, and tinged the white mulberries of the

upposing it some wild animal, he threw his javelin at the spot. A cry from his beloved Procris told him that the weapon had

und her bleeding, and with sinking strength endeavoring to draw forth from the wound the javelin, her own gift. Cephalus rai

w forth from the wound the javelin, her own gift. Cephalus raised her from the earth, strove to stanch the blood, and called

erd. Jupiter, to stop questions, replied that it was a fresh creation from the earth. Juno asked to have it as a gift. What

observing, came and drove her away, and took his seat on a high bank, from whence he could see all around in every direction

, and cap on his head, took his sleep-producing wand, and leaped down from the heavenly towers to the earth. There he laid a

bow was of horn and Diana’s of silver. One day, as she was returning from the chase, Pan met her, told her just this, and a

iated. She sent a gadfly to torment Io, who fled over the whole world from its pursuit. She swam through the Ionian sea, whi

its pursuit. She swam through the Ionian sea, which derived its name from her, then roamed over the plains of Illyria, asce

s to see her gradually recover her former self. The coarse hairs fell from her body, her horns shrank up, her eyes grew narr

frightened by the dogs, did she, so lately a huntress, fly in terror from the hunters! Often she fled from the wild beasts,

so lately a huntress, fly in terror from the hunters! Often she fled from the wild beasts, forgetting that she was now a wi

tment of me, show it, I beseech you, by forbidding this guilty couple from coming into your waters.” The powers of the ocean

                         “—— Some gentle taper! Though a rush candle, from the wicker hole Of some clay habitation, visit us

ader of her privacy. It was midday, and the sun stood equally distant from either goal, when young Actæon, son of King Cadmu

s as delicately fitted as if by the hand of man. A fountain burst out from one side, whose open basin was bounded by a grass

er bow to one, her robe to another, while a third unbound the sandals from her feet. Then Crocale, the most skilful of them,

d possesses this altar, but she whom royal Juno in her jealousy drove from land to land, denying her any spot of earth where

d the sun and moon in fee.” The persecution which Latona experienced from Juno is alluded to in the story. The tradition wa

The tradition was that the future mother of Apollo and Diana, flying from the wrath of Juno, besought all the islands of th

those horses, with their breasts full of fire that they breathe forth from their mouths and nostrils. I can scarcely govern

uest while yet you may. Do you ask me for a proof that you are sprung from my blood? I give you a proof in my fears for you.

rdered the Hours to harness up the horses. They obeyed, and led forth from the lofty stalls the steeds full fed with ambrosi

ave the opposing clouds, and outrun the morning breezes which started from the same eastern goal. The steeds soon perceived

venly road is left behind, but more remains before. He turns his eyes from one direction to the other; now to the goal whenc

n and menacing with his fangs, his courage failed, and the reins fell from his hands. The horses, when they felt them loose

eaven perish, we fall into ancient Chaos. Save what yet remains to us from the devouring flame. O, take thought for our deli

lost unless some speedy remedy were applied, mounted the lofty tower from whence he diffuses clouds over the earth, and hur

launched it against the charioteer, and struck him at the same moment from his seat and from existence! Phaëton, with his ha

t the charioteer, and struck him at the same moment from his seat and from existence! Phaëton, with his hair on fire, fell h

rce believe his eyes when he found a twig of an oak, which he plucked from the branch, become gold in his hand. He took up a

changed to gold. He touched a sod; it did the same. He took an apple from the tree; you would have thought he had robbed th

all shining with gold, in prayer to Bacchus, begging to be delivered from his glittering destruction. Bacchus, merciful dei

s chosen umpire. The senior took his seat, and cleared away the trees from his ears to listen. At a given signal Pan blew on

d its growth, began whispering the story, and has continued to do so, from that day to this, every time a breeze passes over

ygia stands a linden tree and an oak, enclosed by a low wall. Not far from the spot is a marsh, formerly good habitable land

ad a cloth, and begged them to sit down. Then she raked out the coals from the ashes, and kindled up a fire, fed it with lea

er husband collected some pot-herbs in the garden, and she shred them from the stalks, and prepared them for the pot. He rea

village shall pay the penalty of its impiety; you alone shall go free from the chastisement. Quit your house, and come with

love and concord, we wish that one and the same hour may take us both from life, that I may not live to see her grave, nor b

the vale of Enna there is a lake embowered in woods, which screen it from the fervid rays of the sun, while the moist groun

ety.” “Lead on,” said she, “I cannot resist that appeal!” So she rose from the stone and went with them. As they walked he t

her guest was doing, sprang forward with a cry and snatched the child from the fire. Then Ceres assumed her own form, and a

teach men the use of the plough, and the rewards which labor can win from the cultivated soil.” So saying, she wrapped a cl

ariot rode away. Ceres continued her search for her daughter, passing from land to land, and across seas and rivers, till at

te, for I have seen her. This is not my native country; I came hither from Elis. I was a woodland nymph, and delighted in th

t, and rather boasted of my hunting exploits. One day I was returning from the wood, heated with exercise, when I came to a

a pomegranate which Pluto offered her, and had sucked the sweet pulp from a few of the seeds. This was enough to prevent he

n, A type of true love, to the deep they run.” The following extract from Moore’s Rhymes on the Road gives an account of a

lan, called a Dance of Loves: — “’Tis for the theft of Enna’s flower from earth These urchins celebrate their dance of mirt

cheek, like rosebuds in a wreath;     And those more distant showing from beneath         The others’ wings their little ey

and observed with wonder his shape and color. Glaucus partly emerging from the water, and supporting himself against a rock,

t she could not imagine they were a part of herself, and tried to run from them, and to drive them away; but as she ran she

beasts. Disgusted with her treachery and cruelty, he tries to escape from her, but is taken and brought back, when with rep

ect semblance of a maiden that seemed to be alive, and only prevented from moving by modesty. His art was so perfect that it

e moment on her lover. Venus blessed the nuptials she had formed, and from this union Paphos was born, from whom the city, s

sed the nuptials she had formed, and from this union Paphos was born, from whom the city, sacred to Venus, received its name

th prayers in passion flowing,     Pygmalion embraced the stone, Till from the frozen marble glowing,     The light of feeli

and Iole was about to do the same, when she perceived blood dropping from the places where her sister had broken them off t

f the stem. The plant was no other than the nymph Lotis, who, running from a base pursuer, had been changed into this form.

om a base pursuer, had been changed into this form. This they learned from the country people when it was too late. Dryope,

ruck when she perceived what she had done, would gladly have hastened from the spot, but found her feet rooted to the ground

t.   Keats, in Endymion, alludes to Dryope thus: — “She took a lute from which there pulsing came A lively prelude, fashio

s, and Cnidos, and Amathos, rich in metals. She absented herself even from heaven, for Adonis was dearer to her than heaven.

was too noble to heed such counsels. The dogs had roused a wild boar from his lair, and the youth threw his spear and wound

ned her white-winged coursers back to earth. As she drew near and saw from on high his lifeless body bathed in blood, she al

wards blows the petals away; so it is called Anemone, or Wind Flower, from the cause which assists equally in its production

forward to seize it, eager to make his throw, when the quoit bounded from the earth and struck him in the forehead. He fain

pale. “What fault of mine, dearest husband, has turned your affection from me? Where is that love of me that used to be uppe

em. “They rush together,” said she, “with such fury that fire flashes from the conflict. But if you must go,” she added, “de

ssel had receded so far that she could no longer distinguish his form from the rest. When the vessel itself could no more be

either rising, at midday, or setting. Clouds and shadows are exhaled from the ground, and the light glimmers faintly. The b

f human conversation, breaks the stillness. Silence reigns there; but from the bottom of the rock the River Lethe flows, and

Poppies grow abundantly before the door of the cave, and other herbs, from whose juices Night collects slumbers, which she s

d anon dropping his beard upon his breast, at last shook himself free from himself, and leaning on his arm, enquired her err

eping hours, while others move among the common people. Somnus chose, from all the brothers, Morpheus, to perform the comman

wretched wife. His beard seemed soaked with water, and water trickled from his drowned locks. Leaning over the bed, tears st

rickled from his drowned locks. Leaning over the bed, tears streaming from his eyes, he said, “Do you recognize your Ceyx, u

sea has been to me. But I will not struggle, I will not be separated from thee, unhappy husband. This time, at least, I wil

“O dearest husband, is it thus you return to me?” There was built out from the shore a mole, constructed to break the assaul

Then the way is safe to seamen. Æolus guards the winds and keeps them from disturbing the deep. The sea is given up, for the

s given up, for the time, to his grandchildren.   The following lines from Byron’s Bride of Abydos might seem borrowed from

The following lines from Byron’s Bride of Abydos might seem borrowed from the concluding part of this description, if it we

ription, if it were not stated that the author derived the suggestion from observing the motion of a floating corpse. “As s

not its own. She took care, too, that her favorites should not suffer from drought, and led streams of water by them, that t

drink. This occupation was her pursuit, her passion; and she was free from that which Venus inspires. She was not without fe

per! With a hay band tied round him, one would think he had just come from turning over the grass. Sometimes he would have a

lm, would lie prostrate on the ground. Why will you not take a lesson from the tree and the vine, and consent to unite yours

er than the surges which rise in the November gale; harder than steel from the German forges, or a rock that still clings to

ed in coming ages, and add those years to my fame which you have reft from my life.’ Thus he said, and, turning his pale fac

ss its due praise. The fame of her beauty was so great that strangers from neighboring countries came in crowds to enjoy the

sweet waters, the other of bitter. Cupid filled two amber vases, one from each fountain, and suspending them from the top o

d filled two amber vases, one from each fountain, and suspending them from the top of his quiver, hastened to the chamber of

d to the chamber of Psyche, whom he found asleep. He shed a few drops from the bitter fountain over her lips, though the sig

inglets. Psyche, henceforth frowned upon by Venus, derived no benefit from all her charms. True, all eyes were cast eagerly

g with fear and with eyes full of tears, the gentle Zephyr raised her from the earth and bore her with an easy motion into a

, where a table immediately presented itself, without any visible aid from waiters or servants, and covered with the greates

d and the most nectareous wines. Her ears too were feasted with music from invisible performers; of whom one sang, another p

parents, left in ignorance of her fate, and of her sisters, precluded from sharing with her the delights of her situation, p

r husband came one night, she told him her distress, and at last drew from him an unwilling consent that her sisters should

ew out of the window. Psyche, in vain endeavoring to follow him, fell from the window to the ground. Cupid, beholding her as

gardens had vanished, and she found herself in the open field not far from the city where her sisters dwelt. She repaired th

her: “O Psyche, truly worthy of our pity, though I cannot shield you from the frowns of Venus, yet I can teach you how best

out of sight in a moment. Venus at the approach of twilight returned from the banquet of the gods, breathing odors and crow

on their backs. Go, fetch me a sample of that precious wool gathered from every one of their fleeces.” Psyche obediently we

ng, thus to descend the shortest way to the shades below. But a voice from the tower said to her, “Why, poor unlucky girl, d

t contented with coarse bread for her food, she delivered her message from Venus. Presently the box was returned to her, shu

l, but an infernal and truly Stygian sleep, which being thus set free from its prison, took possession of her, and she fell

sleepy corpse without sense or motion. But Cupid, being now recovered from his wound, and not able longer to bear the absenc

t open, flew to the spot where Psyche lay, and gathering up the sleep from her body closed it again in the box, and waked Ps

“Drink this, Psyche, and be immortal; nor shall Cupid ever break away from the knot in which he is tied, but these nuptials

striking and beautiful as the butterfly, bursting on brilliant wings from the tomb in which it has lain, after a dull, grov

ong, Till free consent the gods among Make her his eternal bride; And from her fair unspotted side Two blissful twins are to

a city and call it Thebes. Cadmus had hardly left the Castalian cave, from which the oracle was delivered, when he saw a you

thick covered with the growth of bushes, its roof forming a low arch, from beneath which burst forth a fountain of purest wa

his head out of the cave and uttered a fearful hiss. The vessels fell from their hands, the blood left their cheeks, they tr

ed his head so as to overtop the tallest trees, and while the Tyrians from terror could neither fight nor fly, slew some wit

er his conquered foe, contemplating its vast size, a voice was heard ( from whence he knew not, but he heard it distinctly) c

born brothers with a sword, and he himself fell pierced with an arrow from another. The latter fell victim to a fourth, and

ell you, and will now do so, without more delay, that you may see how from the saddest beginning a happy result sometimes fl

her husband’s female favorites. While the disease appeared to spring from natural causes we resisted it, as we best might,

their work, and lie helpless in the unfinished furrow. The wool fell from the bleating sheep, and their bodies pined away.

ef vanished, and men learned to look upon death as the only deliverer from disease. Then they gave way to every inclination,

hey died, without quenching thirst. Many had not strength to get away from the water, but died in the midst of the stream, a

ld die on the ground. They seemed to hate their friends, and got away from their homes, as if, not knowing the cause of thei

ace, and to parcel out the fields among them I called them Myrmidons, from the ant, (myrmex,) from which they sprang. You ha

he fields among them I called them Myrmidons, from the ant, (myrmex,) from which they sprang. You have seen these persons; t

nd bold in heart.”   This description of the plague is copied by Ovid from the account which Thucydides, the Greek historian

he Greek historian, gives of the plague of Athens. The historian drew from life, and all the poets and writers of fiction si

had occasion to describe a similar scene, have borrowed their details from him. Chapter XIII. Nisus and Scylla — Echo an

m through the hostile ranks; she felt an impulse to cast herself down from the tower into the midst of his camp, or to open

wed to the conquered city, and that the fleet should immediately sail from the island. Scylla was frantic. “Ungrateful man,”

k first, and had her answer ready. One day the youth, being separated from his companions, shouted aloud, “Who’s here?” Echo

nches; but the grass grew fresh around it, and the rocks sheltered it from the sun. Hither came one day the youth, fatigued

f herself reflected in the fountain: — “That day I oft remember when from sleep I first awaked, and found myself reposed Un

here And what I was, whence thither brought, and how. Not distant far from thence a murmuring sound Of waters issued from a

d how. Not distant far from thence a murmuring sound Of waters issued from a cave, and spread Into a liquid plain, then stoo

ity than in hate, That he should be like Cupid blind,     To save him from Narcissus’ fate.” The other is by Cowper: — “On

daily course; for it retains to that extent the feeling of the nymph from whom it sprang.   Hood, in his Flowers, thus all

Hero became aware of his death, and in her despair cast herself down from a tower into the sea and perished.   The story of

st part is almost a mile, and there is a constant current setting out from the Sea of Marmora into the Archipelago. Since By

isdom, was the daughter of Jupiter. She was said to have leaped forth from his brain, mature, and in complete armor. She pre

bow, whose long arch tinges the heavens, formed by sunbeams reflected from the shower,8 in which, where the colors meet they

ich, where the colors meet they seem as one, but at a little distance from the point of contact are wholly different. Minerv

e sea, holds his trident, and appears to have just smitten the earth, from which a horse has leaped forth. Minerva depicted

h terror at the sight of the heaving waves, and to draw back her feet from the water. Arachne filled her canvas with similar

ecurity. I feel myself too strong for Fortune to subdue. She may take from me much; I shall still have much left. Were I to

uld hardly be left as poor as Latona with her two only. Away with you from these solemnities, — put off the laurel from your

two only. Away with you from these solemnities, — put off the laurel from your brows, — have done with this worship!” The p

the first-born, as he guided his foaming steeds, struck with an arrow from above, cried out, “Ah me!” dropped the reins, and

vitable arrow overtook him as he fled. Two others, younger boys, just from their tasks, had gone to the playground to have a

with the blow, destroyed himself. Alas! how different was this Niobe from her who had so lately driven away the people from

rent was this Niobe from her who had so lately driven away the people from the sacred rites, and held her stately course thr

and struck terror into all hearts except Niobe’s alone. She was brave from excess of grief. The sisters stood in garments of

whirlwind to her native mountain, she still remains, a mass of rock, from which a trickling stream flows, the tribute of he

rææ and Gorgons. The Grææ were three sisters who were gray-haired from their birth, whence their name. The Gorgons were

his chief pride was in his gardens, whose fruit was of gold, hanging from golden branches, half hid with golden leaves. Per

ghter Andromeda to be devoured by the monster. As Perseus looked down from his aerial height he beheld the virgin chained to

of your country, and why you are thus bound.” At first she was silent from modesty, and, if she could, would have hid her fa

with a sudden bound the youth soared into the air. As an eagle, when from his lofty flight he sees a serpent basking in the

n the sun, pounces upon him and seizes him by the neck to prevent him from turning his head round and using his fangs, so th

ike a wild boar surrounded, by a pack of barking dogs, turned swiftly from side to side, while the youth eluded its attacks

side, now the flank, as it slopes towards the tail. The brute spouts from his nostrils water mixed with blood. The wings of

house, and the virgin both cause and reward of the contest, descended from the rock.   Cassiopeia was an Æthiopian, and cons

ded themselves and a general conflict ensued, the old king retreating from the scene after fruitless expostulations, calling

ed immovably, a mass of stone!   The following allusion to Perseus is from Milman’s Samor: — “As’ mid the fabled Libyan bri

er with human sagacity and faculties. Others, as the giants, differed from men chiefly in their size; and in this particular

so mortified at the solving of her riddle that she cast herself down from the rock and perished. The gratitude of the peopl

and Œdipus, seized with madness, tore out his eyes and wandered away from Thebes, dreaded and abandoned by all except his d

tain Hippocrene, on the Muses’ mountain Helicon, was opened by a kick from his hoof. The Chimæra was a fearful monster, brea

gallant young warrior, whose name was Bellerophon. He brought letters from Prœtus, the son-in-law of Iobates, recommending B

on in the beginning of the seventh book of Paradise Lost: — “Descend from Heaven, Urania, by that name If rightly thou art

g;) with like safety guided down Return me to my native element; Lest from this flying steed unreined (as once Bellerophon,

nt; Lest from this flying steed unreined (as once Bellerophon, though from a lower sphere,) Dismounted on the Aleian field I

with his beaver on, His cuishes on his thighs, gallantly armed, Rise from the ground like feathered Mercury, And vaulted wi

And vaulted with such ease into his seat, As if an angel dropped down from the clouds, To turn and wind a fiery Pegasus, And

ship.” The Centaurs. These monsters were represented as men from the head to the loins, while the remainder of the

us. The Pygmies. The Pygmies were a nation of dwarfs, so called from a Greek word which means the cubit or measure of

rished, were a one-eyed people of Scythia.   Milton borrows a simile from the Griffins, P. L. Book II.: — “As when a Gryph

o’er hill and moory dale, Pursues the Arimaspian who by stealth Hath from his wakeful custody purloined His guarded gold,”

her away, and took another. Nephele suspected danger to her children from the influence of the step-mother, and took measur

it that divides Europe and Asia, the girl, whose name was Helle, fell from his back into the sea, which from her was called

he girl, whose name was Helle, fell from his back into the sea, which from her was called the Hellespont, — now the Dardanel

the son of Æson. When Jason was grown up and came to demand the crown from his uncle, Pelias pretended to be willing to yiel

n known to the Greeks consisted of small boats or canoes hollowed out from trunks of trees, so that when Jason employed Argu

undertaking. It was accomplished, however, and the vessel named Argo, from the name of the builder. Jason sent his invitatio

, Orpheus, and Nestor were among them. They are called the Argonauts, from the name of their vessel. The Argo with her crew

to Mysia and thence to Thrace. Here they found the sage Phineus, and from him received instruction as to their future cours

zen feet, and sow the teeth of the dragon which Cadmus had slain, and from which it was well known that a crop of armed men

red the hill-sides. The brazen-footed bulls rushed in, breathing fire from their nostrils that burned up the herbage as they

n, and like the first attempts of the kind of all nations, as we know from history, was probably of a half-piratical charact

acian raised his strain, While Argo saw her kindred trees     Descend from Pelion to the main. Transported demigods stood ro

nce of Æson, his father, who was prevented by his age and infirmities from taking part in them. Jason said to Medea, “My spo

o mighty for my aid, could do me one further service, take some years from my life and add them to my father’s.” Medea repli

on a bed of herbs, like one dead. Jason and all others were kept away from the place, that no profane eyes might look upon h

it she put magic herbs, with seeds and flowers of acrid juice, stones from the distant east, and sand from the shore of all-

ds and flowers of acrid juice, stones from the distant east, and sand from the shore of all-surrounding ocean; hoar frost, g

giving random blows, they smote him with their weapons. He, starting from his sleep, cried out, “My daughters, what are you

ou kill your father?” Their hearts failed them and their weapons fell from their hands, but Medea struck him a fatal blow, a

been accustomed to attribute every degree of atrocity. In her flight from Colchis she had taken her young brother Absyrtus

already they were near the monster’s lair. They stretched strong nets from tree to tree; they uncoupled their dogs, they tri

hes on, but stumbling at a projecting root, falls prone. But an arrow from Atalanta at length for the first time tastes the

n rushes on and despatches him with repeated blows. Then rose a shout from those around; they congratulated the conqueror, c

of Meleager’s mother, beyond the rest opposed the gift, and snatched from the maiden the trophy she had received. Meleager,

sire of vengeance on her son. The fatal brand, which once she rescued from the flames, the brand which the Destinies had lin

ice I gave thee, first at thy birth, again when I snatched this brand from the flames. O that thou hadst then died! Alas! ev

menes, and told him how to use them. The signal is given; each starts from the goal and skims over the sand. So light their

She stopped to pick it up. Hippomenes shot ahead. Shouts burst forth from all sides. She redoubled her efforts, and soon ov

That powerful goddess was not to be insulted with impunity. She took from them their human form and turned them into animal

is built on a low island in the Adriatic Sea, borrows an illustration from Cybele: — “She looks a sea-Cybele fresh from oce

borrows an illustration from Cybele: — “She looks a sea-Cybele fresh from ocean, Rising with her tiara of proud towers At a

g of her husband by mortal mothers, she declared war against Hercules from his birth. She sent two serpents to destroy him a

is well had been discovered by Amymone when the country was suffering from drought, and the story was that Neptune, who love

nd them. These were the apples which Juno had received at her wedding from the goddess of the Earth, and which she had intru

ld, find the apples and bring them to him. But how to send Atlas away from his post, or bear up the heavens while he was gon

as of no avail to throw him, for he always rose with renewed strength from every fall, he lifted him up from the earth and s

e always rose with renewed strength from every fall, he lifted him up from the earth and strangled him in the air. Cacus was

n by Hercules. The last exploit we shall record was bringing Cerberus from the lower world. Hercules descended into Hades, a

nto Hades, accompanied by Mercury and Minerva. He obtained permission from Pluto to carry Cerberus to the upper air, provide

Milton thus alludes to the frenzy of Hercules: — “As when Alcides,12 from Œchalia crowned With conquest, felt the envenomed

, and tore, Through pain, up by the roots Thessalian pines And Lichas from the top of Œta threw Into the Euboic Sea.” The g

at my son enjoys your favor. For although your interest in him arises from his noble deeds, yet it is not the less gratifyin

Mount Œta. Only his mother’s share in him can perish; what he derived from me is immortal. I shall take him, dead to earth,

y toil of earth Juno’s hatred on him could impose, Well he bore them, from his fated birth To life’s grandly mournful close.

e, now in the Athenæum gallery. According to this, Hebe was dismissed from her office in consequence of a fall which she met

oy, whom Jupiter, in the disguise of an eagle, seized and carried off from the midst of his playfellows on Mount Ida, bore u

proceed to Athens and present himself to his father. Ægeus on parting from Æthra, before the birth of his son, placed his sw

him when he became strong enough to roll away the stone and take them from under it. When she thought the time had come, his

ns, where new dangers awaited him. Medea, the sorceress, who had fled from Corinth after her separation from Jason, had beco

Medea, the sorceress, who had fled from Corinth after her separation from Jason, had become the wife of Ægeus, the father o

vented the fatal draught. Medea, detected in her arts, fled once more from deserved punishment, and arrived in Asia, where t

in Asia, where the country afterwards called Media received its name from her, Theseus was acknowledged by his father, and

as fed with human victims. Theseus resolved to deliver his countrymen from this calamity, or to die in the attempt. Accordin

y out of the labyrinth. He was successful, slew the Minotaur, escaped from the labyrinth, and taking Ariadne as the companio

ition against the Amazons. He assailed them before they had recovered from the attack of Hercules, and carried off their que

assistance Æsculapius restored him to life. Diana removed Hippolytus from the power of his deluded father and false step-mo

honor of Minerva, the patron deity of Athens. This festival differed from the other Grecian games chiefly in two particular

brated at Olympia in Elis. Vast numbers of spectators flocked to them from every part of Greece, and from Asia, Africa, and

numbers of spectators flocked to them from every part of Greece, and from Asia, Africa, and Sicily. They were repeated ever

f the victors was diffused far and wide. Dædalus. The labyrinth from which Theseus escaped by means of the clew of Ari

the king, and was shut up in a tower. He contrived to make his escape from his prison, but could not leave the island by sea

me manner, and taught him how to fly, as a bird tempts her young ones from the lofty nest into the air. When all was prepare

on his wings, he flew off, encouraging him to follow, and looked back from his own flight to see how his son managed his win

ich disguise Jupiter had concealed himself. Leda gave birth to an egg from which sprang the twins. Helen, so famous afterwar

r sister. When Theseus and his friend Pirithous had carried off Helen from Sparta, the youthful heroes Castor and Pollux, wi

ollux, with their followers, hasted to her rescue. Theseus was absent from Attica and the brothers were successful in recove

alludes to the legend: — “So like they were, no mortal     Might one from other know; White as snow their armor was,     Th

ut him fair Bacchantes,     Bearing cymbals, flutes and thyrses, Wild from Naxian groves of Zante’s     Vineyards, sing deli

nded and said, ‘Let some one else pilot the ship;’ withdrawing myself from any further agency in their wickedness. They curs

depend on you for our safety;’ took any place as pilot, and bore away from Naxos. “Then the god, pretending that he had just

e surface, now under it, scattering the spray, and spouting the water from their broad nostrils. Of twenty men I alone was l

on the prison doors came open of their own accord and the chains fell from his limbs, and when they looked for him he was no

upon him and wound him. In vain he cries to his aunts to protect him from his mother. Autonoë seized one arm, Ino the other

he story of Circe will be found in Chapter XXIX. 3Bacchus that first from out the purple grapes Crushed the sweet poison of

Ariadne, the daughter of King Minos, after helping Theseus to escape from the labyrinth, was carried by him to the island o

limpses that would make me less forlorn; Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea, And hear old Triton blow his wreathed ho

mythology of ancient times in a way which has called forth an answer from a Christian poet, Mrs. E. Barrett Browning, in he

servants to cut it down. When he saw them hesitate he snatched an axe from one, and thus impiously exclaimed: “I care not wh

d utter a groan. When the first blow fell upon the trunk blood flowed from the wound. All the bystanders were horror-struck,

our piety;” and turned against him the weapon which he had held aside from the tree, gashed his body with many wounds, and c

he tree, gashed his body with many wounds, and cut off his head. Then from the midst of the oak came a voice, “I who dwell i

your hands forewarn you that punishment awaits you.” He desisted not from his crime, and at last the tree, sundered by repe

at these two goddesses shall never come together, she called an Oread from her mountain and spoke to her in these words: “Th

er away. Be not alarmed at the distance,” (for Famine dwells very far from Ceres,) “but take my chariot. The dragons are fle

, now into a horse, now a bird, now an ox, and now a stag, — got away from her purchasers and came home. By this base method

trove to nourish his body by eating his body, till death relieved him from the vengeance of Ceres. Rhœcus. The Hamadry

tiful that Jupiter himself sought her in marriage; but having learned from Prometheus the Titan that Thetis should bear a so

ld bear a son who should be greater than his father, Jupiter desisted from his suit and decreed that Thetis should be the wi

him, aiding him in all difficulties, and watching over his interests from the first to the last. Leucothea and Palæmon.

d Palæmon. Ino, the daughter of Cadmus and wife of Athamas, flying from her frantic husband with her little son Melicerte

er frantic husband with her little son Melicertes in her arms, sprang from a cliff into the sea. The gods, out of compassion

and him a god, under that of Palæmon. Both were held powerful to save from shipwreck and were invoked by sailors. Palæmon wa

ick dejection; still serene and pleased, Blessed with divine immunity from ills, Long centuries they lived; their only fate

r, and the rest yielded to us two. He urged in his behalf his descent from Jove and his labors by which he had exceeded the

the king of the waters that flow through your land. I am no stranger from a foreign shore, but belong to the country, a par

w me on the sand. Nor was this enough. His ruthless hand rent my horn from my head. The Naiades took it, consecrated it, and

all, and Libyan Jove, Hid Amalthea and her florid son, Young Bacchus, from his stepdame Rhea’s eye.” Admetus and Alcesti

t. These were the Cyclopes, who have their workshop under Mount Ætna, from which the smoke and flames of their furnaces are

s remembering the declarations of attachment which he had often heard from his courtiers and dependents fancied that it woul

ho would willingly have perilled their lives for their prince, shrunk from the thought of dying for him on the bed of sickne

and old servants who had experienced his bounty and that of his house from their childhood up, were not willing to lay down

ger, and who can feel like them the call to rescue the life they gave from an untimely end?” But the parents, distressed tho

nts, distressed though they were at the thought of losing him, shrunk from the call. Then Alcestis, with a generous self-dev

ethought I saw my late espoused saint     Brought to me like Alcestis from the grave,     Whom Jove’s great son to her glad

he grave,     Whom Jove’s great son to her glad husband gave, Rescued from death by force, though pale and faint.” J. R. L

on. Œdipus in his madness had torn out his eyes, and was driven forth from his kingdom Thebes, dreaded and abandoned by all

rriage with Cadmus, and Polynices had taken it with him on his flight from Thebes. Eriphyle could not resist so tempting a b

entation of Antigone over Œdipus, when death has at last relieved him from his sufferings: — “Alas! I only wished I might h

at he would ever return, Penelope was importuned by numerous suitors, from whom there seemed no refuge but in choosing one o

ture ceased to tear the giant’s liver, the daughters of Danaüs rested from their task of drawing water in a sieve, and Sisyp

not resist, and Pluto himself gave way. Eurydice was called. She came from among the new-arrived ghosts, limping with her wo

rocks and mountains, melting the hearts of tigers and moving the oaks from their stations. He held himself aloof from womank

tigers and moving the oaks from their stations. He held himself aloof from womankind, dwelling constantly on the recollectio

d him and soon were stained with his blood. The maniacs tore him limb from limb, and threw his head and his lyre into the ri

gle nightingale Perched in the rosier by, so richly toned, That never from that most melodious bird Singing a love song to h

nimal would be occupied by the bees for that purpose. It was no doubt from some such incident that the superstition arose th

side and thus addressed her: “O mother, the pride of my life is taken from me! I have lost my precious bees. My care and ski

skill have availed me nothing, and you my mother have not warded off from me the blow of misfortune.” His mother heard thes

nd the clouds. When noon came and the hour when men and herds retreat from the glaring sun to indulge in quiet slumber, Prot

reat from the glaring sun to indulge in quiet slumber, Proteus issued from the water, followed by his herd of sea-calves whi

ur efforts to elude me. I am led hither by divine assistance, to know from you the cause of my misfortune and how to remedy

reward of your deeds, by which Eurydice met her death, for in flying from you she trod upon a serpent, of whose bite she di

ll down to earth, and was found by Marsyas. He blew upon it, and drew from it such ravishing sounds that he was tempted to c

l Penseroso: — “But O, sad virgin, that thy power Might raise Musæus from his bower, Or bid the soul of Orpheus sing Such n

o have told them. In their present form, the first two are translated from the German, Arion from Schlegel, and Ibycus from

eir present form, the first two are translated from the German, Arion from Schlegel, and Ibycus from Schiller. Arion .

t two are translated from the German, Arion from Schlegel, and Ibycus from Schiller. Arion . Arion was a famous musi

. Your life would be too dangerous to us. Where could we go to escape from Periander, if he should know that you had been ro

f little use to us, if on returning home, we could never more be free from fear.” “Grant me, then,” said he, “a last request

vered him, and the seamen held on their way, fancying themselves safe from all danger of detection. But the strains of his m

draw her chariot over the smooth mirror of the deep.” Arion hastened from the shore, and soon saw before him the towers of

ven when as yet the dolphin which him bore     Through the Ægean Seas from pirates’ view,     Stood still, by him astonished

e theatres of the ancients were immense fabrics capable of containing from ten to thirty thousand spectators, and as they we

ood luck to you, ye friendly squadrons,” he exclaimed, “my companions from across the sea. I take your company for a good om

ons from across the sea. I take your company for a good omen. We come from far and fly in search of hospitality. May both of

both of us meet that kind reception which shields the stranger guest from harm!” He paced briskly on, and soon was in the m

h their blood. But what trace or mark shall point out the perpetrator from amidst the vast multitude attracted by the splend

he heart, curdling the blood. “Happy the man who keeps his heart pure from guilt and crime! Him we avengers touch not; he tr

d crime! Him we avengers touch not; he treads the path of life secure from us. But woe! woe! to him who has done the deed of

d winds unseen the skein of destiny. At that moment a cry burst forth from one of the uppermost benches — “Look! look! comra

n every breast. As wave follows wave over the face of the sea, so ran from mouth to mouth the words, “Of Ibycus! him whom we

ployed his talents in panegyric and festal odes, receiving his reward from the munificence of those whose exploits he celebr

Phaon, and failing to obtain a return of affection she threw herself from the promontory of Leucadia into the sea, under a

ife, for she made his flock increase, and guarded his sheep and lambs from the wild beasts. The story of Endymion has a pecu

ambs from the wild beasts. The story of Endymion has a peculiar charm from the human meaning which it so thinly veils. We se

hers slept. So Cynthia, poets feign, In shadows veiled, soft, sliding from her sphere, Her shepherd cheered, of her enamoure

“How the pale Phœbe, hunting in a grove, First saw the boy Endymion, from whose eyes She took eternal fire that never dies;

or Achilles, Memnon fell, and the Trojans fled in dismay. Aurora, who from her station in the sky had viewed with apprehensi

ays of the rising sun fall upon this statue a sound is heard to issue from it, which they compare to the snapping of a harps

been suggested that sounds produced by confined air making its escape from crevices or caverns in the rocks may have given s

r of Nereus, and protected by such a band of sisters, found no escape from the passion of the Cyclops but in the depths of t

ea, save me, my parents!’ The Cyclops pursued him, and tearing a rock from the side of the mountain hurled it at him. Though

honors of his grandfather, the river-god. The purple blood flowed out from under the rock, but by degrees grew paler and loo

e it became clear. The rock cleaved open, and the water, as it gushed from the chasm, uttered a pleasing murmur.” Thus Acis

Ulysses, one of their number, took an oath that they would defend her from all injury and avenge her cause if necessary. She

ty, because there were certain ominous forebodings connected with him from his infancy that he would be the ruin of the stat

one of the noblest characters painted by heathen antiquity. He felt, from the first, a presentiment of the fall of his coun

e army with pestilence, and produced a calm which prevented the ships from leaving the port. Calchas the soothsayer thereupo

s describe her feelings at the moment of sacrifice: — “I was cut off from hope in that sad place,     Which yet to name my

d a view of Troy, and then withered away, while fresh branches sprang from the roots.   Wordsworth has taken the story of P

the oracle had declared that victory should be the lot of that party from which should fall the first victim to the war. Th

that he would take no further part in the war. He withdrew his forces from the general camp and openly avowed his intention

ensued the Trojans were completely successful. The Greeks were driven from the field and took refuge in their ships. Then Ag

er saw nothing of what was going on, for his attention had been drawn from the field by the wiles of Juno. That goddess had

yes downward, he beheld Hector stretched on the plain almost lifeless from pain and bruises, he dismissed Juno in a rage, co

o the field and Neptune betook himself to his own dominions. An arrow from Paris’s bow wounded Machaon, son of Æsculapius, w

bravest warriors. Nestor took Machaon in his chariot and conveyed him from the field. As they passed the ships of Achilles,

ll means of return to Greece. While they spoke the flames burst forth from one of the ships. Achilles, at the sight, relente

gies of valor. Hector was forced to turn his horses’ heads and retire from the enclosure, leaving his men entangled in the f

o Patroclus. Jupiter looked down upon him and would have snatched him from the fate which awaited him, but Juno hinted that

on’s breast and he fell, and, calling to his friends to save his body from the foe, expired. Then a furious contest arose fo

mains of his son to be dishonored, and by his command Apollo snatched from the midst of the combatants the body of Sarpedon

missed its aim, but smote Cebriones, the charioteer, and knocked him from the car. Hector leaped from the chariot to rescue

ebriones, the charioteer, and knocked him from the car. Hector leaped from the chariot to rescue his friend, and Patroclus a

records that Phœbus took part against Patroclus. He struck the helmet from his head and the lance from his hand. At the same

t against Patroclus. He struck the helmet from his head and the lance from his hand. At the same moment an obscure Trojan wo

en quoted, — “Father of heaven and earth! deliver thou Achaia’s host from darkness; clear the skies; Give day; and, since t

d but wait till the morrow, she would procure for him a suit of armor from Vulcan more than equal to that he had lost. He co

ainst Agamemnon and bitterly lamenting the miseries that had resulted from it, he called on them to proceed at once to the f

ily rescued, spread a cloud between the combatants, and lifting Æneas from the ground, bore him over the heads of warriors a

er champions. But none dared stand before him, and Priam looking down from the city walls beheld his whole army in full flig

red Achilles for a while, then turned to fly, and taken the way apart from the city. Achilles pursued and had chased his sup

rom the city. Achilles pursued and had chased his supposed victim far from the walls, when Apollo disclosed himself, and Ach

without determined to await the combat. His old father called to him from the walls and begged him to retire nor tempt the

the shield of Achilles and bounded back. He turned to receive another from the hand of Deiphobus, but Deiphobus was gone. Th

Troy. But I will not fall inglorious.” So saying he drew his falchion from his side and rushed at once to combat. Achilles,

e my body! Let my parents ransom it, and let me receive funeral rites from the sons and daughters of Troy.” To which Achille

ought such dire distress. No! trust me, naught shall save thy carcass from the dogs. Though twenty ransoms and thy weight in

n Hecuba at this sight! His people could scarce restrain the old king from rushing forth. He threw himself in the dust and b

saw the sight there presented, she would have thrown herself headlong from the wall, but fainted and fell into the arms of h

y to be torn or disfigured with all this abuse, but preserved it free from all taint or defilement. While Achilles indulged

a single companion as aged as himself, the herald Idæus, drove forth from the gates, parting there with Hecuba, his queen,

end. Moved with pity of Priam’s silver locks and beard, he raised him from the earth, and thus spake: “Priam, I know that th

neral solemnities. As the litter approached the city and was descried from the walls, the people poured forth to gaze once m

. The story of the Iliad ends with the death of Hector, and it is from the Odyssey and later poems that we learn the fat

the death of Hector, Troy did not immediately fall, but receiving aid from new allies still continued its resistance. One of

tally wounded his foot with one of the poisoned arrows, and the smell from his wound proved so offensive that his companions

ed statue of Minerva called the Palladium. It was said to have fallen from heaven, and the belief was that the city could no

næum; the original is in the Vatican at Rome. The following lines are from the Childe Harold of Byron: —     “Now turning t

will also occasionally borrow a classical allusion. The following is from Swift’s Description of a City Shower: — “Boxed i

And ever and anon with frightful din The leather sounds; he trembles from within. So when Troy chairmen bore the wooden ste

aving incurred the displeasure of the gods they were driven by storms from shore to shore of the Mediterranean, visiting Cyp

s also, a lad not yet old enough to be an object of apprehension, but from whom, if he should be suffered to grow up, there

therefore repaired in disguise to Argos, pretending to be a messenger from Strophius, who had come to announce the death of

menides, avenging deities, seized upon Orestes, and drove him frantic from land to land. Pylades accompanied him in his wand

d to bring thence a statue of Diana which was believed to have fallen from heaven. Accordingly Orestes and Pylades went to T

Diana at the moment when she was about to be sacrificed. Ascertaining from the prisoners who they were, Iphigenia disclosed

he goddess, and returned to Mycenae. But Orestes was not yet relieved from the vengeance of the Erinyes. At length he took r

t the unbalanced scale, great Nemesis! Thou who didst call the Furies from the abyss, And round Orestes bade them howl and h

owl and hiss, For that unnatural retribution, — just, Had it but been from hands less near, — in this, Thy former realm, I c

t been from hands less near, — in this, Thy former realm, I call thee from the dust!” One of the most pathetic scenes in th

ophocles represents the meeting of Orestes and Electra, on his return from Phocis. Orestes, mistaking Electra for one of the

ed air Of sad Electra’s poet had the power To save the Athenian walls from ruin bare.” This alludes to the story that when,

wanderings of Ulysses (Odysseus in the Greek language) in his return from Troy to his own kingdom Ithaca. From Troy the ves

ians, where, in a skirmish with the inhabitants, Ulysses lost six men from each ship. Sailing thence, they were overtaken by

trangers, and growled out to them, demanding who they were, and where from . Ulysses replied most humbly, stating that they w

ere from. Ulysses replied most humbly, stating that they were Greeks, from the great expedition that had lately won so much

on their flesh till no fragment was left. He then moved away the rock from the door, drove out his flocks, and went out, car

self being on the last one that passed. When they had got a few paces from the cavern, Ulysses and his friends released them

ew paces from the cavern, Ulysses and his friends released themselves from their rams, and drove a good part of the flock do

e to their boat. They put them aboard with all haste, then pushed off from the shore, and when at a safe distance Ulysses sh

ss of sight.” The Cyclops, hearing this, seized a rock that projected from the side of the mountain, and rending it from its

d a rock that projected from the side of the mountain, and rending it from its bed, he lifted it high in the air, then exert

g, when immediately the winds rushed forth. The ships were driven far from their course, and back again to the island they h

eir hinder feet, playful as dogs. The sounds of soft music were heard from within, and a sweet female voice singing. Euryloc

of the danger of approaching her. As Ulysses was not to be dissuaded from his attempt, Mercury provided him with a sprig of

The men were restored to their shapes, the rest of the crew summoned from the shore, and the whole magnificently entertaine

his companions the signal to unseal their ears, and they relieved him from his bonds.   The imagination of a modern poet, Ke

too — too high; Only I pray, as fairest boon, to die; To be delivered from this cumbrous flesh, From this gross, detestable,

o a snaky monster by Circe. She dwelt in a cave high up on the cliff, from whence she was accustomed to thrust forth her lon

ous eyes the dreadful whirlpool, they were not equally on their guard from the attack of Scylla, and the monster, darting fo

o urgently pleaded for the rest and refreshment that would be derived from anchoring and passing the night on shore, that Ul

the cattle, vainly attempting to make amends for the deed by offering from them a portion to the offended powers. Ulysses, o

lowed on the spits while roasting. The wind becoming fair they sailed from the island. They had not gone far when the weathe

The following allusion to the topics we have just been considering is from Milton’s Comus, line 252: —                     

test verdure, purpled o’er With violets; it was a scene to fill A god from heaven with wonder and delight.” Calypso with mu

when no other means of escape could be found, the two friends leaped from a cliff into the sea, and swam to a vessel which

   Here too his boy essayed the dreadful leap,     Stern Mentor urged from high to yonder tide; While thus of both bereft th

ps. There, finding a covert sheltered by intermingling branches alike from the sun and the rain, he collected a pile of leav

ong them when they offered sacrifices, and did not conceal themselves from solitary wayfarers when they met them. They had a

ment of it undisturbed by the alarms of war, for as they dwelt remote from gain-seeking man, no enemy ever approached their

to ourselves Ulysses, a shipwrecked mariner, but a few hours escaped from the waves, and utterly destitute of clothing, awa

inerva, who never failed him at a crisis. Breaking off a leafy branch from a tree, he held it before him and stepped out fro

off a leafy branch from a tree, he held it before him and stepped out from the thicket. The virgins at sight of him fled in

anderer, whom it was a duty to cherish, for the poor and stranger are from Jove. She bade them bring food and clothing, for

and Ulysses, retiring to a sheltered place, had washed his body free from the sea-foam, clothed and refreshed himself with

the goddess, and by her power enveloped in a cloud which shielded him from observation, Ulysses passed among the busy crowd,

rveyed the scene. Its splendor astonished him. Brazen walls stretched from the entrance to the interior house, of which the

lothes which he wore as those which her maidens and herself had made) from whom he received those garments. He told them of

     “Dear to the Muse, Who yet appointed him both good and ill, Took from him sight, but gave him strains divine.” He took

, recounted the adventures which had befallen him since his departure from Troy. This narrative raised the sympathy and admi

o displeased at the conduct of the Phæacians in thus rescuing Ulysses from his hands that on the return of the vessel to por

wonders of modern steam navigation. Alcinoüs says to Ulysses, — “Say from what city, from what regions tossed, And what inh

n steam navigation. Alcinoüs says to Ulysses, — “Say from what city, from what regions tossed, And what inhabitants those r

. “Almost the only river in the island is just at the proper distance from the probable site of the city and palace of the k

heir garments.” Fate of the Suitors. Ulysses had now been away from Ithaca for twenty years, and when he awoke he did

ather. He had gone to the courts of the other kings, who had returned from the Trojan expedition. While on the search, he re

from the Trojan expedition. While on the search, he received counsel from Minerva to return home. He arrived and sought Eum

f known to his son. At the same time she touched him, removed at once from him the appearance of age and penury, and gave hi

gar, a character which in the rude old times had different privileges from what we concede to it now. As traveller and story

e. The old beggar was permitted to enter, and provided with a portion from the table. A touching incident occurred as Ulysse

f his brother heroes had given to Ulysses in former times was brought from the armory, and with its quiver full of arrows wa

of the Grecian heroes, Ulysses, in his wanderings on his return home from Troy, and now we propose to share the fortunes of

and conflagration of the city were the result, Æneas made his escape from the scene of destruction, with his father, and hi

terred by a prodigy. Preparing to offer sacrifice, he tore some twigs from one of the bushes. To his dismay the wounded part

smay the wounded part dropped blood. When he repeated the act a voice from the ground cried out to him, “Spare me, Æneas; I

, Æneas; I am your kinsman, Polydore, here murdered with many arrows, from which a bush has grown, nourished with my blood.”

the neighboring land of Thrace, to be there brought up, at a distance from the horrors of war. The king to whom he was sent

ses remembered that there was a tradition that their forefathers came from Crete and thither they resolved to steer. They ar

ty; and whenever a meal was placed before him the Harpies darted down from the air and carried it off. They were driven away

es darted down from the air and carried it off. They were driven away from Phineus by the heroes of the Argonautic expeditio

harpies came rushing down upon them, seizing in their talons the meat from the dishes and flying away with it. Æneas and his

Sicily and passed the country of the Cyclopes. Here they were hailed from the shore by a miserable object, whom by his garm

the shores resounded, and at the noise the other Cyclopes came forth from their caves and woods and lined the shore, like a

ere reprimand. He then soothed the waves, and brushed away the clouds from before the face of the sun. Some of the ships whi

nd followers, both men and women, succeeded in effecting their escape from Tyre, in several vessels, carrying with them the

s high destiny, and commanding him to resume his voyage. Æneas parted from Dido, though she tried every allurement and persu

of the dead in order to confer with his father, Anchises, to receive from him a revelation of his future fortunes and those

picted by one of their most enlightened poets, who drew his doctrines from their most esteemed philosophers. The region wher

c region near Vesuvius, where the whole country is cleft with chasms, from which sulphurous flames arise, while the ground i

the ground is shaken with pent-up vapors, and mysterious sounds issue from the bowels of the earth. The lake Avernus is supp

Virgil’s time were covered with a gloomy forest. Mephitic vapors rise from its waters, so that no life is found on its banks

ere roamed those who had fallen victims to unrequited love, not freed from pain even by death itself. Among these, Æneas tho

certain, but approaching, perceived it was indeed herself. Tears fell from his eyes, and he addressed her in the accents of

was I, alas! the cause? I call the gods to witness that my departure from you was reluctant, and in obedience to the comman

ith dainties, while near by stood a Fury who snatched away the viands from their lips as fast as they prepared to taste them

above his reach. The Sibyl now warned Æneas that it was time to turn from these melancholy regions and seek the city of the

fought, a bride to be won, and in the result a Trojan state founded, from which should rise the Roman power, to be in time

l region may have been wholly imaginary, but possibly may have sprung from the reports of some storm-driven mariners who had

rce Phlegethon Whose waves of torrent fire inflame with rage. Far off from these a slow and silent stream, Lethe, the river

power. In her cave she was accustomed to inscribe on leaves gathered from the trees the names and fates of individuals. The

er — Nisus and Euryalus — Mezentius — Turnus. Æneas, having parted from the Sibyl and rejoined his fleet, coasted along t

ituation of things at that eventful moment. Latinus, third in descent from Saturn, ruled the country. He was now old and had

y his father Faunus, that the destined husband of Lavinia should come from a foreign land. From that union should spring a r

y granted his alliance and sent back the messengers mounted on steeds from his stables, and loaded with gifts and friendly m

ously for the Trojans, felt her old animosity revive, summoned Alecto from Erebus, and sent her to stir up discord. The Fury

unting. She sharpened the scent of the dogs, and led them to rouse up from the thicket a tame stag, the favorite of Silvia,

e of Silvia, the daughter of Tyrrheus, the king’s herdsman. A javelin from the hand of Iulus wounded the animal, and he had

urnus, and the peasants all urged the old king to drive the strangers from the country. He resisted as long as he could, but

t he refused to do so. While they contested, Juno herself, descending from the skies, smote the doors with irresistible forc

open. Immediately the whole country was in a flame. The people rushed from every side breathing nothing but war. Turnus was

e water without dipping her feet. Camilla’s history had been singular from the beginning. Her father, Metabus, driven from h

ory had been singular from the beginning. Her father, Metabus, driven from his city by civil discord, carried with him in hi

ing onward through the wood, they were alarmed at the sight, and rose from the tables. But Pallas forbade the solemnities to

once inhabited by fauns and nymphs, and a rude race of men who sprang from the trees themselves, and had neither laws nor so

They knew not how to yoke the cattle nor raise a harvest, nor provide from present abundance for future want; but browsed li

oraciously on their hunted prey. Such were they when Saturn, expelled from Olympus by his sons, came among them and drew tog

ants, till fortune and resistless destiny brought me hither, an exile from my native land, Arcadia.” Having thus said, he sh

shall guide them to victory, and that their destined leader must come from across the sea. They have offered the crown to me

ke such great affairs, and my son is native-born, which precludes him from the choice. You, equally by birth and time of lif

Trojans were found on their guard, and having received strict orders from Æneas not to fight in his absence, they lay still

w anxiously our chiefs wish to send to Æneas, and to get intelligence from him. Now, I am strongly moved to make my way thro

aid, and would have plunged the sword into his bosom, when Nisus, who from his concealment saw the peril of his friend, rush

t the horse’s head. It pierced his temples and he fell, while a shout from both armies rent the skies. Mezentius asked no me

sist him any longer. Turnus threw his lance, but it recoiled harmless from the shield of Æneas. The Trojan hero then threw h

he instant his eye fell on the belt of Pallas, which Turnus had taken from the slaughtered youth. Instantly his rage revived

portions, and denotes the system of the world. As the numbers proceed from the monad, so he regarded the pure and simple ess

a fourth emanation, the human soul. This is immortal, and when freed from the fetters of the body passes to the habitation

dy, and at last, when sufficiently purified, it returns to the source from which it proceeded. This doctrine of the transmig

passes hither and thither, occupying now this body, now that, passing from the body of a beast into that of a man, and thenc

of the notes of the musical scale to numbers, whereby harmony results from vibrations in equal times, and discord from the r

, whereby harmony results from vibrations in equal times, and discord from the reverse, led Pythagoras to apply the word “ha

in the beginning of his Song for St. Cecilia’s Day: — “From harmony, from heavenly harmony This everlasting frame began; Fr

n, and the five planets. The distances of the various heavenly bodies from one another were conceived to correspond to the p

ing the hammers as they smote The anvils with a different note, Stole from the varying tones that hung Vibrant on every iron

ying place of the nation, and the spot to which pilgrimages were made from all parts of the country. A temple of surpassing

stablished in the following manner: Two black doves took their flight from Thebes in Egypt. One flew to Dodona in Epirus, an

t is, that they were not doves, but priestesses, who were carried off from Thebes in Egypt by the Phœnicians, and set up ora

acles at the Oasis and Dodona. The responses of the oracle were given from the trees, by the branches rustling in the wind,

tone, in such a manner that it could be taken out; and by this means, from time to time, purloined the treasure. This amazed

e. This place could be entered only in the night. The person returned from the cave by the same narrow passage, but walking

overy of their health by sleeping in the temple. It has been inferred from the accounts that have come down to us that the t

he form of a serpent. Arriving in the river Tiber, the serpent glided from the vessel and took possession of an island in th

eived or rejected what was presented to him. If the bull refused food from the hand of the inquirer it was considered an unf

eous hum     Rings through the arched roof in words deceiving. Apollo from his shrine Can no more divine,     With hollow sh

ng. No nightly trance or breathed spell Inspires the pale-eyed priest from the prophetic cell.” In Cowper’s poem of Yardley

on the French revolution, he says, — “For then he was inspired, and from him came,     As from the Pythian’s mystic cave o

ion, he says, — “For then he was inspired, and from him came,     As from the Pythian’s mystic cave of yore, Those oracles

tural theory; according to which all mythological legends are derived from the narratives of Scripture, though the real fact

ry of Æolus, the king and god of the winds, is supposed to have risen from the fact that Æolus was the ruler of some islands

g, and taught the natives the use of sails for ships, and how to tell from the signs of the atmosphere the changes of the we

s. Cadmus, who, the legend says, sowed the earth with dragon’s teeth, from which sprang a crop of armed men, was in fact an

teeth, from which sprang a crop of armed men, was in fact an emigrant from Phœnicia, and brought with him into Greece the kn

ere personifications of the powers of nature. The transition was easy from a personification of the elements to the notion o

led all nature with invisible beings, and supposed that every object, from the sun and sea to the smallest fountain and rivu

an the sounds Which his poor skill could make, his fancy fetched Even from the blazing chariot of the Sun A beardless youth

rksome grove (Not unaccompanied with tuneful notes By echo multiplied from rock or cave) Swept in the storm of chase, as moo

heaven When winds are blowing strong. The Traveller slaked His thirst from rill or gushing fount, and thanked The Naiad. Sun

ills Gliding apace with shadows in their train, Might with small help from fancy, be transformed Into fleet Oreads sporting

fore be more correct to say that the mythology of a nation has sprung from all these sources combined than from any one in p

mythology of a nation has sprung from all these sources combined than from any one in particular. We may add also that there

rticular. We may add also that there are many myths which have arisen from the desire of man to account for those natural ph

enomena which he cannot understand; and not a few have had their rise from a similar desire of giving a reason for the names

ng with a nod the subject world. Phidias avowed that he took his idea from the representation which Homer gives in the first

e of Phidias. Its exterior was enriched with sculptures, many of them from the hand of Phidias. The Elgin marbles, now in th

th. They are characterized by grave and dignified beauty, and freedom from any transient expression, which in the language o

ose. The Venus de’ Medici. The Venus of the Medici is so called from its having been in the possession of the princes

s of ancient sculpture is the statue of Apollo, called the Belvedere, from the name of the apartment of the Pope’s palace at

de, the right arm reaches backward over the shoulder to draw an arrow from the quiver. The Poets of Mythology. [Home

from the quiver. The Poets of Mythology. [Homer.] Homer, from whose poems of the Iliad and Odyssey we have take

ory is that he was a wandering minstrel, blind and old, who travelled from place to place singing his lays to the music of h

hether the Homeric poems are the work of any single mind. This arises from the difficulty of believing that poems of such le

hand it is asked how poems of such length could have been handed down from age to age by means of the memory alone. This is

s 850 B. C. Virgil Virgil, called also by his surname, Maro, from whose poem of the Æneid we have taken the story o

e classed with these illustrious ancients. His poem of Paradise Lost, from which we have borrowed so many illustrations, is

l the latter portion of his life. At the age of fifty he was banished from Rome, and ordered to betake himself to Tomi, on t

etters were all poetical. Though these poems (the Tristia and Letters from Pontus) have no other topic than the poet’s sorro

orrows, his exquisite taste and fruitful invention have redeemed them from the charge of being tedious, and they are read wi

is Metamorphoses and his Fasti. They are both mythological poems, and from the former we have taken most of our stories of G

travellers. The accounts which we are about to give are taken chiefly from the Penny Cyclopedia. The Phœnix. Ovid tel

Ovid tells the story of the Phœnix as follows. “Most beings spring from other individuals; but there is a certain kind wh

n this has grown up and gained sufficient strength, it lifts its nest from the tree, (its own cradle and its parent’s sepulc

arance.” He then gives an account of the bird, not varying materially from the preceding, but adding some details. “The firs

b upon the head, constituting a crown. He was supposed to be produced from the egg of a cock hatched under toads or serpents

is there in him.” It was formerly believed that if killed by a spear from on horseback the power of the poison conducted th

gine his anxiety to know what a cockatrice was like. The following is from Aldrovandus, a celebrated naturalist of the sixte

articular he is so ample on the subject of the cock and the bull that from his practice, all rambling, gossiping tales of do

 Gaze on oppression, till at that dread risk,         Aghast she pass from the earth’s disk. Fear not, but gaze, — for freem

ts horn, and that when hard pressed in pursuit, it would throw itself from the pinnacle of the highest rocks horn foremost,

berance, though it does not exceed a few inches in height, and is far from agreeing with the descriptions of the horn of the

ssibility as any thing can be. The Salamander. The following is from the Life of Benvenuto Cellini, an Italian artist

es is supposed to be the fact that the salamander really does secrete from the pores of his body a milky juice, which when h

ble quantity, and would doubtless, for a few moments, defend the body from fire. Then it is a hibernating animal, and in win

wledge of the religion of the ancient Persians is principally derived from the Zendavesta, or sacred books of that people. Z

certain that his system became the dominant religion of Western Asia from the time of Cyrus (550 B. C.) to the conquest of

fs of temples built by human hands, — The loftiest heights ascending, from their tops, With myrtle-wreathed Tiara on his bro

tan, where they still exist under the name of Parsees, a name derived from Pars, the ancient name of Persia. The Arabs call

d from Pars, the ancient name of Persia. The Arabs call them Guebers, from an Arabic word signifying unbelievers. At Bombay

god of the sun. Brahma is the creator of the universe, and the source from which all the individual deities have sprung, and

rishna, an invincible warrior, who by his exploits relieved the earth from the tyrants who oppressed it. Buddha is by the fo

inguished by a greater tenderness for life, and consequent abstinence from animal food, and a worship less cruel than that o

of the Hindus into classes or castes, with fixed occupations, existed from the earliest times. It is supposed by some to hav

or caste. Others trace it to the fondness of perpetuating, by descent from father to son, certain offices or occupations. Th

esolved to give the earth inhabitants who should be direct emanations from his own body. Accordingly from his mouth came for

itants who should be direct emanations from his own body. Accordingly from his mouth came forth the eldest born, Brahma, (th

ldest born, Brahma, (the priest,) to whom he confided the four Vedas; from his right arm issued Shatriya, (the warrior,) and

he four Vedas; from his right arm issued Shatriya, (the warrior,) and from his left, the warrior’s wife. His thighs produced

d Vaissyas, male and female, (agriculturists and traders,) and lastly from his feet sprang Sudras, (mechanics and laborers.)

in the order of their birth, the Brahmans uppermost, as having sprung from the head of Brahma. A strong line of demarcation

castes and the Sudras. The former are allowed to receive instruction from the Vedas, which is not permitted to the Sudras.

sion of all knowledge. Though the sovereign of the country was chosen from the Shatriya class, also called Rajputs, the Brah

hough they committed the greatest crimes, they could only be banished from the kingdom. They were to be treated by sovereign

termediate classes, whose rank and privileges may be readily inferred from their occupations. The Sudras or fourth class are

e Sudras, for it is not one of the original pure classes, but springs from an unauthorized union of individuals of different

o enter the houses of the other castes; if it is done incautiously or from necessity, the place must be purified by religiou

rn others against using them. They dwell in miserable hovels, distant from cities and villages, and are under no restriction

epravity and misery of mankind, and he conceived the idea of retiring from society and devoting himself to meditation. His f

ll bloody sacrifices, and allow animal food. Their priests are chosen from all classes; they are expected to procure their m

. But they hold that some few individuals have appeared on this earth from time to time, not under the necessity of terrestr

. It is not improbable that the Lamas derived some of these practices from the Nestorian Christians, who were settled in Tar

hristian prince in the country of the Abessines, (Abyssinia,) not far from the Red Sea, concluded that this must be the true

ot to be entirely overlooked, especially as it belongs to the nations from which we, through our English ancestors, derive o

and a world of mist in which flowed a fountain. Twelve rivers issued from this fountain, and when they had flowed far from

Twelve rivers issued from this fountain, and when they had flowed far from their source, they froze into ice, and one layer

er accumulating over another, the great deep was filled up. Southward from the world of mist was the world of light. From th

the ice and melted it. The vapors rose in the air and formed clouds, from which sprang Ymir, the Frost giant and his progen

the giant. The cow got nourishment by licking the hoar frost and salt from the ice. While she was one day licking the salt s

rm endowed with beauty, agility, and power. This new being was a god, from whom and his wife, a daughter of the giant race,

tree Ygdrasill was supposed to support the whole universe. It sprang from the body of Ymir, and had three immense roots, ex

f darkness and cold.) By the side of each of these roots is a spring, from which it is watered. The root that extends into A

n every night. For drink the heroes are supplied abundantly with mead from the she-goat Heidrum. When the heroes are not fea

pieces. This is their pastime; but when meal time comes they recover from their wounds and return to feast in Valhalla.

nd is therefore placed on the borders of heaven to prevent the giants from forcing their way over the bridge Bifrost (the ra

them a residence so well fortified that they should be perfectly safe from the incursions of the Frost giants and the giants

ought himself safe among the gods, especially when Thor should return from an expedition he had then undertaken against the

cruel death if he did not contrive some way to prevent the artificer from completing his task and obtaining the stipulated

covered it. It happened in this way: Frey once mounted Odin’s throne, from whence one can see over the whole universe, and l

at the sight of whom he was struck with sudden sadness, insomuch that from that moment he could neither sleep, nor drink, no

nor drink, nor speak. At last Skirnir, his messenger, drew his secret from him, and undertook to get him the maiden for his

he matter? are there any birds perched on this tree? I felt some moss from the branches fall on my head. How fares it with t

ere.” Hereupon he threw his wallet over his shoulders and turned away from them into the forest, and Thor had no wish to sto

ch outstripped his competitor that he turned back and met him not far from the starting place. Then they ran a second and a

, Thor went to it again with all his might, but when he took the horn from his mouth, it seemed to him that he had drunk rat

h we exercise none but children. It consists in merely lifting my cat from the ground; nor should I have dared to mention su

or put his hand under the cat’s belly and did his utmost to raise him from the floor, but the cat, bending his back, had, no

ther illusions, so that thou wilt only lose thy labor and get no fame from the contest with me.” On hearing these words Thor

em to the assembled gods, who resolved to conjure all things to avert from him the threatened danger. Then Frigga, the wife

the threatened danger. Then Frigga, the wife of Odin, exacted an oath from fire and water, from iron and all other metals, f

. Then Frigga, the wife of Odin, exacted an oath from fire and water, from iron and all other metals, from stones, trees, di

exacted an oath from fire and water, from iron and all other metals, from stones, trees, diseases, beasts, birds, poisons,

ticks, nor any thing else can hurt Baldur, for I have exacted an oath from all of them.” “What,” exclaimed the woman, “have

Mistletoe, and which I thought too young and feeble to crave an oath from .” As soon as Loki heard this he went away, and re

ld to beg every thing to weep in order that Baldur might be delivered from Hel. All things very willingly complied with this

als, just as we have all seen these things weep when they are brought from a cold place into a hot one. As the messengers we

never ceased to work evil among gods and men. So Baldur was prevented from coming back to Asgard.33 The Funeral of Baldu

runners. First will come a triple winter, during which snow will fall from the four corners of the heavens, the frost be ver

he Midgard serpent rise out of her bed in the sea, and Loki, released from his bonds, will join the enemies of the gods. Ami

. The sun becomes dim, the earth sinks into the ocean, the stars fall from heaven, and time is no more. After this Alfadur (

h characters called Runic, which appear at first sight very different from all we know. The letters consist almost invariabl

purpose of ascertaining future events. The sticks were shaken up, and from the figures that they formed a kind of divination

nced, in accents dread, The thrilling verse that wakes the dead, Till from out the hollow ground Slowly breathed a sullen so

which they relate. Iceland. The Eddas and Sagas have come to us from Iceland. The following extract from Carlyle’s lec

e Eddas and Sagas have come to us from Iceland. The following extract from Carlyle’s lectures on Heroes and Hero Worship giv

that strange island, Iceland, — burst up, the geologists say, by fire from the bottom of the sea, a wild land of barrenness

ally their thoughts. Much would be lost had Iceland not been burst up from the sea, not been discovered by the Northmen!”

ul, Britain, and Germany. Our information respecting them is borrowed from notices in the Greek and Roman writers, compared

le of stones (each stone generally of vast size) enclosing an area of from twenty feet to thirty yards in diameter, constitu

great occasions human sacrifices; as for success in war or for relief from dangerous diseases. Caesar has given a detailed a

ain superstitious usages, especially the kindling of the sacred fire, from which all the fires in the district, which had be

valuable specimen is preserved in the Triads of the Welsh Bards, and from this we may gather that their views of moral rect

by the Welsh princes, and after the conquest of Wales, by commission from the kings of England. Yet the tradition is that E

Iona or Icolmkill is situated at the extremity of the island of Mull, from which it is separated by a strait of half a mile

h it is separated by a strait of half a mile in breadth, its distance from the mainland of Scotland being thirty-six miles.

t by his perseverance and zeal he surmounted all opposition, procured from the king a gift of the island, and established th

of which he was the head. To these, as occasion required, others were from time to time added, so that the original number w

se who submitted to the rule were known was that of Culdees, probably from the Latin “cultores Dei” — worshippers of God. Th

of Saxon monk was trod, Long ere her churchmen by bigotry Were barred from holy wedlock’s tie. ’Twas then that Aodh, famed a

foot be trod.” In these respects and in others the Culdees departed from the established rules of the Romish church, and c

st might till the light of the Reformation dawned on the world. Iona, from its position in the western seas, was exposed to

the existence on the island of forms of worship and belief different from those of Christianity. These are the circular Cai

hus, 263. Zeus, 15. Zoroas’ter, 423. 1. This inconsistency arises from considering the Saturn of the Romans the same wit

Peace o’er the world her olive wand extend, And white-robed Innocence from heaven descend.” See, also, Milton’s Hymn to the

. 8. This correct description of the rainbow is literally translated from Ovid. 9. Sir James Mackintosh says of this, “D

, his kingly brow the sire inclined; The large black curls fell awful from behind, Thick shadowing the stern forehead of the

e observed. Further, it was written at such hours as I could withdraw from other literary avocations, and with but a moderat

in facts, as I did not always recollect to verify what I had written from perhaps a bad edition of a classic author. Finall

d have been reasonably anticipated. The praises which it has received from Mr. Thirlwall and other competent judges have nat

ferences in the following pages which I have not made myself directly from the originals. It will also be found to contain t

s many as possible into the pleasing regions of mythology, for I know from experience how delightful it is to escape at time

y, for I know from experience how delightful it is to escape at times from the dull realities of the actual world, and lose

r. The subjects of the plates are all genuine antiques, chiefly taken from the Galérie Mythologique. The errata, which I hav

e excused. It is on a subject — that of literary property — in which, from the nature of my works, I feel myself interested.

ot apply in any way to literature. What, we may ask, is to be derived from Waverley and such books ? Simply amusement ; and

sh cupidity while respecting the rights of property. I am far however from expecting that full justice will be done us by th

nearer to the truth. Artemis is quasi Althemis or Aldemis or Ardemis, from ἄλθω῎ ΑΛ∆Ω (ἀλδαίνω), to nourish or cause to grow

ἰλείθνια (p. 194), which has the form of a perf. part., may have come from ἠλθηνîα, or some word of similar form and signifi

ressive of the qualities and powers of the sea. Nereus is the Flower ( from νάω) ; Tritôn the Wearer-away (from τρύω, tero) ;

of the sea. Nereus is the Flower (from νάω) ; Tritôn the Wearer-away ( from τρύω, tero) ; Amphitrite is nearly the same ; Pro

ύω, tero) ; Amphitrite is nearly the same ; Proteus is quasi Ploteus ( from πλώω), the sailor or swimmer ; Glaucos plainly de

haps satisfactorily prove it, we have a strong notion that Geryoneus ( from γηρύω) is only another form of Hades. They both,

κλύμενοѕ, epithets of Hades. Page 394. — Butes (Βούτηѕ, i. e. βότηѕ, from BOΩ βόσκω, to feed) is the Herdsman, and is the s

«Et per Junonem domini jurante ministro.» The name Juno is contracted from Jovino, as prudens is from pro videns. Page 517.

nte ministro.» The name Juno is contracted from Jovino, as prudens is from pro videns. Page 517. — It appears to us to be q

late ii. 3.) — 5. Hermes, accompanied by Spring, demanding Persephone from Hades. Bas-relief in the Palace Rospigliosi. G. M

oth in her hand. Coin of the Cnidians of the time of Caracalla, taken from the Aphrodite of Praxiteles. G. M. 179. Lachau, S

amp. — 9. Flora. Statue. — 10. Faunus. Statue. — 11. Pomona. Gem. All from Spence's Polymetis. References. EDITIO

popular belief are very frequent actors in its legends, which differ from ordinary tales and fables in this circumstance, a

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

effects, independent of and beyond human power, they felt themselves, from the principle we have already stated, invincibly

rise in the soul of man, and the ready eloquence which at times flows from his lips, being referable to no known cause, woul

gods, deities presiding over and directing them, but totally distinct from them ; regents of them, in the sense in which the

ir dealings with mankind, should gradually arise ; and as they passed from hand to hand, receive various embellishments and

quent pages will present them in abundance. We cannot however refrain from giving in this place the following instance, as i

said that Apollo, incensed at Hercules’ having carried off the tripod from Delphi and brought it to Pheneos, inundated the v

dy and there taking fire, annoyed him beyond measure. To free himself from this inconvenience, the worsted fiend plunged int

ohammedan East examples of this procedure (which was probably learned from the Greeks) are to be found ; the origin of the r

se is ascribed to the Prophet15, and the tulip is said to have sprung from the blood of the unhappy painter Ferhad, the love

India, by saying that the Bramins, that is the priests, were produced from the mouth of Bramah ; the warriors from his arms 

is the priests, were produced from the mouth of Bramah ; the warriors from his arms ; the traders from his thighs ; the Pari

d from the mouth of Bramah ; the warriors from his arms ; the traders from his thighs ; the Parias, or lowest class, from hi

his arms ; the traders from his thighs ; the Parias, or lowest class, from his feet. The poor Laplanders account for the dif

le the Laplander lives in the open air17. 5. Many legends have arisen from the necessity of giving some account of the inven

Elpis saw that a bone was stuck fast in his teeth which prevented him from eating ; he took pity on him, and came down and r

ained by the Jinns (i. e. Genii) in half a day 23. But, as the writer from whom we have taken this legend justly observes, N

ages of Sacred Scripture ; Rudbeck35, who regards them as being drawn from the history of the North of Europe ; the Abbé Ban

8 exercised his ingenuity in deriving ethical and political doctrines from some of the Hellenic mythes. Their concealed wisd

t anxious to warn and guard our readers. In our eyes it is disgusting from its indelicacy as well as its absurdity ; it appr

rd and some others, with the various translations that have been made from the Sanscrit, present a large mass of materials t

e of mythology into neglect and contempt. The ancient Greeks were led from ignorance to give credit to the cunning priesthoo

sthood of Egypt, and to believe that they had received their religion from that country ; and it is but too well known how,

r the mythes themselves should be considered separately, and detached from the system in which they are placed ; for the sin

ced respecting the origin of the people or their mythology. Reasoning from analogy and existing monuments, some men of learn

ds and heroes were communicated by wandering minstrels and travellers from one part of the country to another. Phœnician mar

omewhat harmonious system59. They however either studiously abstained from departing from the popular faith, or were themsel

ous system59. They however either studiously abstained from departing from the popular faith, or were themselves too much af

ed, abstracted, united, separated, at their pleasure ; ideas imported from Egypt were mixed up with the old tales of gods an

s ; and the fable to be represented on the stage often varied so much from that handed down by tradition, that, as is more e

y, began greatly to prevail66. It is probable that this took its rise from the Egyptian priests, who, as we may see in Herod

ted all the powers of his imagination. At a distance of several miles from the chief town, he says, lay a sacred grove, comp

, and their bonnets of gold tissue. The priests derived their lineage from Crete, whence they had been brought by Zeus after

dst of the grove already described, and at a distance of sixty stadia from the chief town, stood an ancient and magnificent

he tidings Selena, who loved her brother beyond measure, cast herself from the roof of the palace and perished. Basileia los

ic sect. It was chiefly physical and ethical truths that they deduced from the ancient mythes, and they generally regarded t

that of the allegorising principle of the Stoics they extracted truth from the legends of Greek theology, and discovered mys

ichorus of Himera. The tragedians followed : they took their subjects from the epic poems, and their remaining works preserv

us, and the remainder of the Pleias, as they were named, formed poems from them ; while Apollodorus, following Pherecydes, a

the mythic tales of Greece, in general pure and unaltered, as appears from the Metamorphoses of Ovid, of whose legends the G

s unnoticed by preceding writers, which had probably been transmitted from father to son from the most remote times. If to t

eding writers, which had probably been transmitted from father to son from the most remote times. If to the sources already

ore common among the Greeks, and districts were continually reclaimed from fable, and brought into the circuit of truth and

s by Hesiod94. It would take, he says, nine days for an anvil to fall from Heaven to Earth ; and an equal space of time woul

n to Earth ; and an equal space of time would be occupied by its fall from Earth to the bottom of Tartaros. The luminaries w

le of Hellas. According to Pindar102 the country of the Hyperboreans, from which the river Ister flowed, was inaccessible ei

ith garlands of the god’s favourite plant, the bay. They lived exempt from disease or old age, from toils and warfare, and,

favourite plant, the bay. They lived exempt from disease or old age, from toils and warfare, and, conscious of no evil thou

southern portion of the terrestrial disk to a nation of dwarfs named, from their diminutive stature110, Pygmies, to whose co

rising out of and sinking into its placid current116. Its course was from south to north up the western side of the earth.

igated by man. It was termed bark-flowing, deepflowing, soft-flowing, from its nature117. Its waters were sweet, and it was

passage of the Ilias121 would seem plainly to speak of it as distinct from the earth ; and the language of the Odyssey respe

ecting it is still more dubious. Were we to follow analogy, and argue from the cosmology of other races of men, we would say

s of the heaven, through which the sun-god and other deities ascended from and went down into the stream of Ocean. The celes

the gods what Erebos was to men, — the abode of those who were driven from the supernal world128. The Titans when conquered

the world he was about to create. It formed a hollow globe, and hung from Heaven by a golden chain, …………in bigness as a st

t the offspring of Heaven and Earth were Oceanos and Tethys, and that from these sprang Kronos, Rhea, and the other deities.

hat he delivered. We will here relate the portion of it which extends from Chaos to the establishment of the empire of Zeus

natural conduct, produced the ‘substance of hoary steel,’ and forming from it a sickle, roused her children, the Titans, to

m, mutilated his unsuspecting sire. The drops which fell on the earth from the wound gave birth to the Erinnyes, the Giants,

wound gave birth to the Erinnyes, the Giants, and the Melian nymphs : from what fell into the sea sprang Aphrodite, the godd

tia, Demeter, Hera, Aïdes, Poseidôn, and Zeus. Kronos, having learned from his parents, Heaven and Earth, that he was fated

d to be deprived by one of his sons of the kingdom which he had taken from his father, devoured his children as fast as they

he Titans. The scene of the conflict was Thessaly ; the former fought from Olympos, the latter from Othrys. During ten entir

he conflict was Thessaly ; the former fought from Olympos, the latter from Othrys. During ten entire years the contest was u

ne the darkness beneath, the other that above the earth, succeed, and from them spring Day the lower, and Æther the higher l

heavy on the ground146; and they were naturally named Hundred-handed, from their acting so extensively at the same moment of

There remain therefore only to be considered the beings which sprang from the blood of the mutilated Uranos. These are the

eanos and Tethys give origin to the rivers and streams of the earth ; from Coios, Crios, Hyperiôn, Theia, and Phœbe spring t

variations in his narrative give convincing proof of its being alien from the ancient cosmogonic mythe. In the hands of the

t is said to be an Oceanis, and the former name is manifestly derived from the symbol for the earth164, it would seem to hav

principle of all cosmogony that darkness preceded light, which sprang from it ; a truth here expressed by making Night the p

nto a slumber, the god on waking sought him, and would have flung him from the sky down into the sea, but that he took refug

r on a griffon, to console and advise the lofty-minded sufferer ; and from the account he gives of his journey it is manifes

; and from the account he gives of his journey it is manifest he came from the West. When Hercules was crossing his stream i

us. As in similar cases, it is not always easy to distinguish the god from the stream over which he rules. The name Oceanos

y enjoyed by the happy Hyperboreans, the lofty Rhipæans concealing it from the rest of mankind200. The cup (λέβης or δέπας)

wever, tell the site of this brilliant spot ; but as the Sun sets out from it on his diurnal course, when his steeds’ manes

d by Epaphos the son of Zeus, he journeyed to the palace of his sire, from whom he extracted an unwary oath that he would gr

rayer of Earth, launched his thunder, and hurled the terrified driver from his seat. He fell into the river Eridanos. His si

origin of the electron or amber232, which seems to have been brought from the Baltic to Greece in the very earliest times.

people of the country was said to be234, that the amber was produced from the tears of the Sun-god, that is Phœbos Apollo a

ed these tears when he came to the land of the Hyperboreans, an exile from heaven on account of the fate of his son Asclepio

ircumstance of amber being regarded as a species of resin which drops from the trees that yield it. The tale of Cycnos is on

at present in the Latin poet Ovid236; but beyond question he took it from a Greek original. Helios, as the god whose eye su

undisturbed possession of the Sun-god, and the isle of Rhodes emerged from the deep. Helios is represented by artists drivin

ting ; 3. Unwearied ; etc. The name Helios (Ἣλιος) is perhaps derived from ἕλα,ἕλη, brightness. It seems, however, akin to t

l treat in its due place. The name Selene (Σϵλήνη) is plainly derived from σέλας, brightness, and is one of the large family

eia was Eôs, or the Dawn. Like Selene she was named by later poets263 from Pallas, and their reason for so doing is not easy

orse had thrown Bellerophôn down to earth, Eôs asked and obtained him from Zeus272. Eôs was, by Astræos, the mother of the w

tality. The sovereign of Olympos assented, and Tithonos became exempt from death ; but the love-sick goddess, having forgott

her beautiful lover. When she saw his hairs blanching, she abstained from his bed, but still kept him and treated him with

n Homer the goddess is less fastidious, and she is escribed as rising from the bed of the ‘illustrious Tithonos, to bear lig

t probable derivation of the name Eôs (Ήὼς, Dor.Ἀὼς) seems to be that from ἂω, to blow, regarding it as the cool morning air

in of the name Krios is not apparent289. Pallas (Shaker ?) would seem from the names of his offspring to be of a moral, not

a daughter of Pontos and Earth, one of a class of beings quite alien from the Titans, and Iapetos with an Ocean-nymph ; whi

Greeks (of which we shall find many instances as we proceed) to form from the epithets of a deity other similar deities, or

l moon-goddess, her epithet of Far-shooter (ἑκάτη) may have separated from her, and have become another moon-goddess, for su

ing is said to have been that she might prevent the souls of the dead from appearing305. A name of this goddess was Brimo306

orus consisted of the twelve Titans, and they came as it would appear from the eastern part of the Ocean-stream. It was fabl

g to Hesiod318, Men lived like gods, with minds devoid of care, Away from toils and misery : then was not Timid old-age, bu

me with the Saturnus of the Latins327. The fabled flight of this last from Olympos to Hesperia, and his there establishing t

ful mythology of Greece : we are in general familiar with its legends from an early age, but we view them detached and uncon

the workmanship of Athena or the Graces359. The gold which proceeded from the workshop of Hephæstos was filled with automat

(πέιλα)361 with which the gods trod the air and the waters, or strode from mountain to mountain upon the earth, which trembl

eme380, and his will is fate. Earthly monarchs obtain their authority from him381; they are but his vicegerents, and are dis

ey are but his vicegerents, and are distinguished by epithets derived from his name382. In his palace on Olympos Zeus lives

Curetes387 danced about him clashing their arms to prevent his cries from reaching the ears of Kronos388. According to anot

other account the infant deity was fed on ambrosia brought by pigeons from the streams of Ocean, and on nectar which an eagl

ms of Ocean, and on nectar which an eagle drew each day with his beak from a rock389. This legend was gradually pragmatised 

e goddess, and smiting the mountain with her staff she caused to gush from it a copious flow of water, which she named the N

ed to gush from it a copious flow of water, which she named the Neda, from one of the nymphs who assisted at her labour, and

o places in Crete392. All, therefore, that we can collect with safety from these accounts is that the worship of the Dictæan

and swallowed her ; and after a time the goddess Pallas Athene sprang from his head. He then married Themis, who bore him th

t Asteria, the sister of Leto, flying the love of Zeus, flung herself from heaven down to the sea and became the isle afterw

os ; and a flame of fire or the plumage of an eagle disguised the god from Ægina, the mother of Æacos. By Semele he was the

ive a detailed account when we come to speak of the heroes who sprang from them. The love of Zeus (and in this there lies a

e honoured with it. Io, for example, underwent a dreadful persecution from Hera, as also did Leto. Semele perished in the fl

g ; and others of similar signification. The epithets of Zeus derived from his offices, such as Xenios, as protector of stra

ardian of oaths, were numerous. He was also named like the other gods from the places where he was worshiped, ex. gr. Clario

that it had been the domestic image of Priamos, and had been brought from Troy by Sthenelos. The three eyes are rightly exp

and the Sanscrit Deva and Deveta 414. The oblique cases of Zeus come from Δὶς and Ζὴν, or Zàv, the former of which is manif

is also the offspring of Poseidôn431. In the Ilias, when Zeus returns from Ida to Olympos, it is Poseidôn that unyokes his h

ven is, that as, according to Herodotus, the worship of Poseidôn came from Libya to Greece, and (the Libyans being an agricu

. The absurd passion of Herodotus for deducing the religion of Greece from abroad is so notorious, that few, we should suppo

d in Egypt, beyond question the historian would have derived Poseidôn from that country. Again, what can be more absurd than

ll ages for their horses437, should have first received these animals from the coast of Africa ? We may therefore, we think,

ath the sea at Ægæ452. Homer gives a noble description of his passage from it on his way to Troy, his chariot-wheels but tou

e simple Doric form of his name, Ποτίδας, shows its true origin to be from the root ΠΟΩ, and that it is of the same family w

. He is described as being inexorable and deaf to supplication, — for from his realms there is no return, — and an object of

Erebos the Oceanis Leuce ; and when she died, he caused a tree, named from her, λεύκη, white poplar,) to spring up in the El

464, was once wounded in the shoulder by the arrows of Heracles ; but from the ambiguity of the phrase used by the poet (έν

yphos, Tityos, Tantalos, are punished for their crimes, but not apart from the rest of the dead471. Nothing can be more gloo

fore them should not have been more attached to life, and more averse from war and everything that might abridge its period,

f Egypt) over the Acherusian lake, after it had received its sentence from the judges appointed for that purpose. Oceanos wa

ing the abode of the departed good, where in calm islands they dwelt ‘ from every ill remote,’ was therefore an obvious one48

e Titans. Pallas Athene, when aiding Diomedes, wore it to conceal her from Ares486. When Perseus went on his expedition agai

rld was represented similar to his brothers, but he was distinguished from them by his gloomy and rigid mien. He usually bea

r-world, he was probably supposed to be himself the agent in removing from the realms of day those who were to be his subjec

nd as it was the custom in commencing a sacrifice to pluck some hairs from the forehead of the victim and burn them on the a

it to be under the guardianship of a peculiar deity, whom they named from it, Hestia. This goddess does not appear in the p

arth505 ; and when her son Hephæstos would aid her, he flung him down from Olympos506. In this poem the goddess appears dwel

dren : later poets speak much of the persecution which Leto underwent from the enmity of Hera, who also, as shall hereafter

en. According to the legend the goddess herself formed this last bird from the many-eyed Argos, whom she had set as keeper o

Indian bird, and was according to Theophrastus introduced into Greece from the East512. Peafowl were first brought to Samos,

tus rose, Crocus and hyacinth, both thick and soft, Which raised them from the ground. On this they lay, And o’cr them sprea

maid, the second when she married Zeus, the third when she separated from him. The real cause of these names will however a

separated from him. The real cause of these names will however appear from a comparison of this legend with the one just giv

s523. Every year an ancient wooden image (βρέτας) of Hera disappeared from the temple ; it was then diligently sought for, a

of this virtue525; she is bound to it probably to prevent her flight from Zeus. The cakes may have had some analogy with th

legians and the Nymphs ; Admeta, daughter of Eurystheus, fled thither from Argos ; the goddess appeared in a vision to her,

heus, appears also to intimate that the worship of Hera came to Samos from Argos, and that it belonged to the ante-Dorian pe

s, renounced his bed and society. The god in perplexity sought advice from the autochthon Alalcomenos, and by his counsel ga

ears of Hera she could not contain herself, but coming down in a rage from Cithærôn, followed by the women of Platæa, she ru

on what tree he sat. They then cut down that tree, and made an image from it. It is probable that the other cities of Bœoti

what difficult to determine. We may venture to reject the derivations from ἀὴρ, air, and from ἐράω, to love 542, of which th

etermine. We may venture to reject the derivations from ἀὴρ, air, and from ἐράω, to love 542, of which the former refers to

rth in the religion of Argos, her name would seem to come very simply from ἔρα, earth ; yet there is great plausibility in t

ess may have been originally merely Earth, and then, as she separated from the object over which she presided and became the

dence of Pallas-Athene, guided by whom Diomedes wounds and drives him from the battle547 ; and in the conflict of the gods54

hes ; for beauty might naturally have been made the spouse of the god from whose workshop proceeded so many elegant producti

odite. This has evidently all the appearance of a physical mythe, for from Love and Strife (i. e. attraction and repulsion)

es (Ἄρϵιος πάγος), at Athens, is said to have derived its appellation from the following circumstance. Halirrhothios, a son

Ares was acquitted562. Another tradition derived the name of the hill from the Amazons having there offered sacrifices to Ar

d his mother was so displeased at the sight of him that she flung him from Olympos. The Ocean-nymph Eurynome and the Nereïs

man Talôs, who each day compassed his island three times, to guard it from the invasion of strangers574. The brazen cup in w

æstos on earth was the isle of Lemnos. It was here he fell when flung from heaven by Zeus for attempting to aid his mother H

e master-smith, to furnish her son Æneas with arms ; and he goes down from Heaven to Hiera, and directs his men the Cyclopes

placed with him. The poetic epithets of Hephæstos were derived either from his lameness or from his skill. He was called586,

poetic epithets of Hephæstos were derived either from his lameness or from his skill. He was called586, 1. Both-feet-lame ;2

rst letter as euphonie, and Hephæstos as Phæstos (Φαȋτος), deduces it from ϕάω, to give light. 588. Ἤβη. Juventas. Youth

at Phliûs and Sicyôn under the name of Dia. It is not improbable that from the name of Ganymedes (Joy-promoter), so well sui

Posterior poets, however, fable much of the persecution she underwent from that goddess602. Her children by Zeus were Phœbos

Her children by Zeus were Phœbos-Apollo, and Artemis. While wandering from place to place with her children, Leto, says a le

correspond with this hypothesis ; for light, which is made to spring from darkness, may, in a reversed order, be regarded a

nt bards, such as Demodocos612, were held to have derived their skill from the teaching of Apollo or of the Muses. Prophets

messenger, remits her anger ; Apollo is born ; a choir of swans comes from the Mæonian Pactolos, and flies seven times round

Apollo resolved to choose the site of his first temple, he came down from Olympos into Pieria : he sought throughout all Th

. There is a serene cheerfulness always ascribed to him, he is averse from gloom and the promoter of joy and innocent pleasu

t times, heroes and heroic families were made to derive their lineage from the residents of Olympos, Phœbos-Apollo was also

ared by Cheirôn, the centaur. To punish the raven, he changed his hue from white to black624. This is probably a legend of s

by her father. Idas, another lover, having obtained a winged chariot from Poseidôn, carried off the apparently not reluctan

ped by it, he slew his horses and cast himself into the stream, which from him derived its name Evenos. Meantime Apollo met

derived its name Evenos. Meantime Apollo met and took the fair prize from Idas. The matter being referred to Zeus, he allow

unable to save his life, changed him into the flower which was named from him, and on whose petals Grecian fancy saw traced

læ, in honour of the god and his unhappy favourite634. The babe saved from the pyre of Coronis was Asclepios, who became so

the vale of Tempe in the north of Thessaly, to be purified as it were from the guilt of the bloodshed ; and having there plu

nquished rival652. The Homeric Apollo is a personage totally distinct from Helios, though probably, as will shortly appear,

lict took place between the religion of Apollo, proceeding southwards from Pieria, or westwards from Delos, and the ancient

e religion of Apollo, proceeding southwards from Pieria, or westwards from Delos, and the ancient religion of the place, the

setting choirs of youths around the tripod, called on the god to come from the Hyperboreans. Having given laws for a whole y

he Delphic tripods also to resound, he directed his swans to fly back from the Hyperboreans. It was then summer, and the ver

then summer, and the very middle of it, when Alcæus leads Apollo back from the Hyperboreans ; for when summer shines and Apo

son of Leto. He was called Delian, Delphian, Pataræan, Clarian, etc. from the places of his worship ; and Smynthian from a

ataræan, Clarian, etc. from the places of his worship ; and Smynthian from a Phrygian word signifying mouse, of which animal

n the destroyer in Troas. He was also styled662, 1. Crooked, probably from the position of the archer when shooting663 ; 2.

killing, but they are of late origin, and formed after the derivation from λύκιος, wolf, had become the prevalent one. Apoll

actice was peculiar to the Dorians666. Apollo was called Pæan, either from his healing power (from παύω or ΠΑΩ), in which ca

he Dorians666. Apollo was called Pæan, either from his healing power ( from παύω or ΠΑΩ), in which case he would be identical

rom παύω or ΠΑΩ), in which case he would be identical with Pæeôn ; or from his protecting and avenging character (from παίω)

identical with Pæeôn ; or from his protecting and avenging character ( from παίω) The hymn sung to him on the cessation of a

of Grecian origin. The former part critics are unanimous in deriving from ϕάω, to shine ; of which the advocates for the or

e ἁγνὸς θϵὸς, as he is sometimes called667. Apollo is by some derived from ὄλω, to destroy ; by others from an old verb ἀπέλ

called667. Apollo is by some derived from ὄλω, to destroy ; by others from an old verb ἀπέλλω, akin to the Latin pello, to d

verb ἀπέλλω, akin to the Latin pello, to drive away ; by others again from ἀέλιος, the sun, with the digamma F between the t

ne, deduces it, according to his system of tracing the Greek religion from the East, from Jabal and Jubal, the first musicia

according to his system of tracing the Greek religion from the East, from Jabal and Jubal, the first musician and herdsman

her asked for sixty Ocean-nymphs as her companions, and twenty nymphs from Amnisos in Crete as her attendants. Of towns and

his appetite. The Amnisiades then unyoke her stags, and bring to them from Hera’s mead some of the trefoil on which the hors

r for the space of nine months, the nymph at times concealing herself from him amidst the trees, at times among the reeds an

of the marshes. At length, being nearly overtaken by him, she sprang from a cliff into the sea, where she was saved in the

tans afterwards worshiped her as a goddess under the name of Dictynna from the above circumstance, which also was assigned a

bove circumstance, which also was assigned as the reason of the cliff from which she threw herself being called Dictæon. At

and a companion of the huntress-goddess. As she was one day returning from the chase she came to the clear stream of the Alp

os was a hunter who was in love with the huntress Arethusa. To escape from his importunities she passed over to Ortygia, whe

o a doe697. Another legend said that Zeus carried away the nymph Arge from Lyctos in Crete to a hill named Argillos on the b

, with whom she must have been identical) she derived her appellation from that town, whose name probably corresponded with

revalent, that Callimachus726 blames those who separate these deities from the sun and moon. This however might have been no

h long unshorn locks, armed with a golden sword and a bow and quiver, from which he sends forth deadly arrows. These waving

mis may in like manner have been regarded as the goddess of the chase from her being armed with arrows, or as the beasts of

le the bow and arrows are a natural symbol of the god who sends death from afar ; that nothing can be concluded from his bei

of the god who sends death from afar ; that nothing can be concluded from his being a patron and protector of agriculture,

s is laid on the fact of Apollo and Artemis being so totally distinct from the sun and moon in all the elder poetry731.

imes called by the same name as her mother. Hesiod740 says she sprang from the foam (ἀϕρὸς) of the sea, into which the mutil

s with mortals. But Zeus resolved that she should no longer be exempt from the common lot. Accordingly he infused into her m

at hand, the goddess poured a profound sleep over Anchises. She arose from the skinstrewn couch, and prepared to depart. Res

d. Hail, goddess, who o’er well-dwelt Cyprus rulest ! But I will pass from thee to another hymn, — concludes the poet, acco

g goddess, and the flower called the anemone or wind-flower sprang up from it, which by its caducity expresses the brief per

the beautiful son of Myrrha748. The rose also derived its present hue from this fatal event ; for as the distracted goddess

on allured The Syrian damsels to lament his fate, While smooth Adonis from his native rock Ran purple to the sea, supposed w

sleep by filling him with these affections, borrowed the magic girdle from Aphrodite755. The animals sacred to Aphrodite wer

f the odes ascribed to Anacreon a dove announces herself as a present from the goddess to the bard. The bird called Iynx or

d the water, and murmured a few words over it. Immediately there rose from the bottom a little boy of a fair complexion and

was one of the loveliest creatures earth ever beheld. People crowded from all parts to gaze upon her charms, altars were er

nforms her of this event, and warns her of the danger likely to arise from it. Moved by the tears of his bride, he however c

roy the monster. When her husband was asleep she arose, took her lamp from its place of concealment, and approached the couc

is beauty, she leaned in rapture over his charms : a drop of oil fell from the lamp on the shoulder of the god : he awoke, a

aised into the air, but fell ; and as she lay, the god reproached her from a cypress for her breach of faith. The abandoned

a false tale of Cupid’s love for them, causes them to cast themselves from the rock on which she had been exposed, and throu

ney to the lower regions, ascends a tower, determined to cast herself from it and end her woes ; but the tower pities her, a

o her husband. She opens the box, when instead of beauty there issues from it a dense black exhalation, and the imprudent Ps

ation, and the imprudent Psyche falls to the ground in a deep slumber from its effects. In this state she is found by Cupid,

the tree of desire. At the impulsion of her sisters she put the lamp from under the bushel, that is, revealed the flame of

he soul, as that of the moth or butterfly bursting on brilliant wings from the dull groveling caterpillar-state in which it

Theogony Zeus swallows Metis, and the ‘blue-eyed Tritogeneia’ is born from his head785, which Pindar786 says Hephæstos opene

f the Sun-god. Stesichorus787 had already sung how the goddess issued from the head of her sire in perfect panoply, — a circ

and Odysseus was therefore her especial favourite, whom she relieved from all his perils, and whose son Telemachos she also

kill. Athena, assuming the form of an old woman, warned her to desist from her boasting ; and when she found her admonitions

ing had given origin to it. Others803 say the goddess formed the pipe from the bone of a stag, and bringing it with her to t

g the same with the Neïth of Saïs in Egypt, or a war-goddess imported from the banks of the lake Tritonis in Libya, and view

s and war alone, need not cause us any hesitation, as that transition from physical to moral agents, of which we shall prese

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

perplexing epithet Tritogeneia would seem to be that which derives it from the three phases of the moon. There are two other

id in his cradle, when he got up and set off for Pieria to steal cows from Apollo. As he was going out he met a tortoise, wh

ook out the flesh, adapted reeds and strings to the shell, and formed from it the phorminx or lyre, on which he immediately

gods fed under the care of Apollo. He forthwith separated fifty cows from the herd and drove them away, contriving to make

eed together to Olympos, where Apollo still suspicious exacts an oath from Hermes that he will never steal his lyre or bow ;

ith Aphrodite, of which the offspring was a son named Hermaphroditos, from the names of his parents, and whose adventure wit

ρόμαχος) : the former was given him for having delivered the citizens from a pestilence, by carrying a ram round the walls ;

sgian system a telluric power. The simplest derivation of his name is from ἔρα, the earth ; and he is, we may observe, the s

Hermes who gave to Nephele the gold-fleeced ram to save her children from their malignant step-mother867. In the poems of t

s, or Argos-slayer, given to this god. The general opinion derives it from the legend of Io, but it has been doubted if that

cal with ἄγρος. The latter half of the compound was generally derived from ϕένω, to kill or destroy ; by some however from ϕ

was generally derived from ϕένω, to kill or destroy ; by some however from ϕαίνω, to show or shine. Hence some interpreted A

satisfied with any of these explanations ; and should the derivation from the story of Io not be approved of, none appears

among the gods on Olympos. She seems to have been early distinguished from the goddess called Earth880, and to have been reg

t to ‘all immortal gods and mortal men,’ for one hundred flowers grew from one root884 ; And with its fragrant smell wide h

d them her name was Dôs, and that she had been carried off by pirates from Crete, but that when they got on shore at Thorico

her size And form, old-age off-flinging, and around Beauty respired ; from her fragrant robes A lovely scent was scattered,

rant robes A lovely scent was scattered, and afar Shone light emitted from her skin divine : And yellow locks upon her shoul

r skin divine : And yellow locks upon her shoulders waved ; While, as from lightning, all the house was filled With splendou

Strong Argos-slayer, holding in his hands The reins and whip : forth from the house he rushed, And not unwillingly the cour

d to her like a Mænas on the wood-shaded hill,’ and Persephone sprang from the car ‘like a bird,’ and kissed her mother’s ha

whereas if but one morsel had passed her lips, nothing could save her from spending onethird of the year with her husband ;

hea to invite them back to heaven. Demeter now complies, And instant from the deep-soiled cornfields fruit Sent up : with l

nd Hellanicus892 said that he was also called Æthôn (Αἴθων, burning), from his insatiate hunger. The destructive mildew is t

hes. The produce of their union was the celebrated steed Areiôn ; and from the anger of the goddess at being thus abused she

Fates to her, at whose persuasion she remitted her anger, and ceased from mourning. She was worshiped at this cave under th

as viewed as the ‘grim’ earth902 of winter when torrents spring forth from its womb. These might very aptly be represented b

bes according to the poet Euphoriôn907. The form of Demeter is copied from that of Hera. She has the same majestic stature a

bability is that the Achæans derived that principle of their religion from their Pelasgian forefathers. In such case the spo

d the expedient of concealing their names, and of excluding strangers from their worship. Private families in like manner ex

rship. Private families in like manner excluded their fellow-citizens from their family-sacrifices ; and in those states whe

and the Kora was the national and secret religion of the Eleusinians, from which the Athenians were of course excluded as we

office in the mysteries ; whose name would rather seem to be derived from his exhibiting the sacred things, — ancient statu

ed imagination the very gods themselves had seemed visibly to descend from their Olympian abodes, amidst the solemn hymns of

ian mysteries by some Fathers of the Church, that this arose entirely from their confounding them with the Bacchic, Isiac, M

acchic, Isiac, Mithraic, and other private mysteries, mostly imported from Asia, which were undoubtedly liable to that imput

tradition of the knowledge and worship of these goddesses having come from the North into Hellas938. Almost all the mountain

he North into Hellas938. Almost all the mountains, grots, and springs from which they have derived their appellations, or wh

Thracian Thamyras in Dorion (in the Peloponnese), as he was returning from Œchalia. He had boasted that he could excel them

nd949. Beside the usual epithets common to all goddesses, and derived from beauty and dress, the Muses were styled950, 1. Sw

erivation of the name Muse (Mοȗσα), seems to be that which deduces it from the obsolete verb MAΩ to inquire or invent. The L

ollonis, and Borysthenis952, two of which names are evidently derived from those of rivers ; and the comic poet Epicharmus i

al Sirens were placed by the poets at the edge of the water, possibly from a feeling of a connexion between that element and

nto hours, these minor parts were placed under their charge and named from them966. Order and regularity being their prevail

regularity being their prevailing attributes, the transition was easy from the natural to the moral world ; and the guardian

o analogy, that the reverse was the case, and that the transition was from moral to physical ideas. By Pindar967 the Horæ ar

. Gold-filleted. The epithets in the Orphic hymns are chiefly derived from the flowers which they produce ; such as, 2. Flow

s they gazed, distilled care-dispelling love ; and they looked lovely from beneath their brows.’ According to Antimachus980,

Fates1006, 1. Unerring ; 2. Severe-minded, etc. Moira probably comes from μϵίρω, and Aisa from δαίω, both signifying to div

ng ; 2. Severe-minded, etc. Moira probably comes from μϵίρω, and Aisa from δαίω, both signifying to divide. It is a very ext

mer, but he says nothing of their origin. In the Theogony they spring from the blood of Uranos when mutilated by his son Kro

ek poets ; but, whenever she is spoken of, she appears quite distinct from the celestial phænomenon of the same name. In Cal

ed ; 4. Swift ; 5. Gold-winged, etc. The name Iris is usually derived from ἐρῶ, ἐἴρω, to say, which suits the office of the

ar to that given in the Book of Genesis. Hermann renders Iris Sertia, from εἴρω to knit or unite, as the rainbow seems to un

may meanwhile give victory to the Achæans, she takes her way thither from Olympos over Lemnos, where she meets Sleep. She a

re sealed the eyes of Zeus in slumber when Heracles was on his return from Troy, during which she raised a storm that drove

g of Zeus and Nemesis1057. The name of this goddess comes most simply from νέμω, to distribute ; and she was originally rega

y, and above all to Mercy1077 ; for with all their faults, and though from the defects of their political constitution they

asios1079. He appears as an actor in the comedy of Aristophanes named from him, and in the Timôn of Lucian. Chapter XIV

Creuzer1080, for example, the prince of mystics, deduces his worship from India, and makes him identical with the Seeva of

s received him in her bosom terrified, — for great fear possessed him from the shouting of the man. The gods, who live at ea

ropriety, as we may term it, which always guides those poets who sing from inspiration and not from art, leading them to asc

it, which always guides those poets who sing from inspiration and not from art, leading them to ascribe to the personages wh

on. Another of these hymns relates, that the Nymphs received Dionysos from his father, and reared him in a fragrant cavern o

r their fellow-mortals, except greater strength and more frequent aid from the gods. But in the Odyssey we find the system o

he sea-goddess Ino-Leucothea, who gives Odysseus her veil to save him from being drowned, was, we are told, a daughter of Ca

nd the poet totally omitting all mention of the wine-god1093. To pass from conjecture to certainty, it appears quite clear t

d continent of Greece : not, however, without considerable opposition from the sober common-sense of several individuals of

vals, though of a joyous cheerful character, were so widely different from the raving orgies and wild licentiousness of this

how Melampûs, who introduced his worship into Greece, had learned it from Cadmos the Phœnician, who had derived his knowled

it from Cadmos the Phœnician, who had derived his knowledge of course from Egypt1102. As the realm of Osiris did not abound

nd the vine ; had built the city Nysa ; and named the mountain Meros, from the circumstance of his birth from the thigh (μηρ

sa ; and named the mountain Meros, from the circumstance of his birth from the thigh (μηρòς) of Zeus1106. At length, during

other useful arts. And thus the knowledge of the vine came to Greece, from a land which does not produce that plant1107. Thi

it her as he was wont to visit Hera. An unwary promise was thus drawn from the god before he knew what he was required to pe

in the flames, and Zeus took the babe, which was prematurely expelled from her womb, and sewed it up in his thigh. In due ti

d Athamas, the husband of Ino, to go mad ; and Zeus, to save Dionysos from the machinations of Hera, changed him into a kid,

vines and ivy twined round their looms, while wine and milk distilled from the roof ; but their obstinacy was unsubdued. He

valent. That most tasteless of historians Diodorus gives us, probably from the cyclograph Dionysius, the following narrative

of her. He made her mistress of the adjacent fruitful country, which from its resembling a bull’s horn in form was named th

jealousy of Rhea, he conveyed to a town named Nysa, situated not far from the Horn, in an island formed by the river Tritôn

ne of the daughters of Aristæos ; while Athena, who had lately sprung from the earth on the banks of the Tritôn, was appoint

and modern mystics endeavour to extract profound and solemn mysteries from them. The women, who bore a chief part in these f

lations. Some of the principal of them are, Bacchos 1120 and Bromios, from the noise with which his festivals were celebrate

from the noise with which his festivals were celebrated ; Bassareus, from the fox-skin dresses named bassaræ worn by the Th

e fox-skin dresses named bassaræ worn by the Thracians ; Dithyrambos, from the odes of that name, or from his double birth (

æ worn by the Thracians ; Dithyrambos, from the odes of that name, or from his double birth (δὶς ϴύρɑ) ; Eleleus and Euios,

f that name, or from his double birth (δὶς ϴύρɑ) ; Eleleus and Euios, from the shouting ; Lyæos, as loosing from care ; Lenœ

(δὶς ϴύρɑ) ; Eleleus and Euios, from the shouting ; Lyæos, as loosing from care ; Lenœos, from the wine-press. Dionysos

and Euios, from the shouting ; Lyæos, as loosing from care ; Lenœos, from the wine-press. Dionysos was also called1121

celebrated in the spring, the season of showers, and it was so named from the flowers and blossoms, of which he was the aut

; and the whole of Greece was so much altered, that if any one passes from the perusal of Homer to that of those writers who

the future, prompt to act, mindless of what they had done, were aloof from all the causes of anxiety and superstition. But w

e. The entrance and traces of this new age of Greece we are prevented from clearly discerning by the obscurity of those time

e, and occupied the whole of life with new superstitions, is manifest from the number of jugglers who then roved through Gre

; and the first colonies were planted by the Æolians along the coast, from the island of Cyzicos in the Propontis to the mou

settled on the Hellespont, they found there a religion very different from their own ; the one being calm and cheerful, the

f Dindymos in the isle of Cyzicos, of Berecynthos, Sipylos, Cybelos ; from which last she is said to have derived her name,

ordingly erected to her at Pessinos by king Midas1139. It is apparent from this account that Cybele, Marsyas, and Attis were

ives. The box-tree and the cypress were considered sacred to her ; as from the former she made the pipes, and Attis was said

pes, and Attis was said to have been changed into the latter. We find from Pindar and the dramatists1141 that the worship an

s king of Pergamus, to request the image at Pessinos which had fallen from heaven. The monarch readily yielded compliance, a

and bears a sceptre in her hand. The name Cybele is probably derived from the cymbals (Κύμβος, Κύμβɑλɑ) used in her worship

goddess worshiped by the Thracians, whose kings were frequently named from her. She was apparently identical with the Phrygi

t statue of the Artemis of Ephesus was a black stone which had fallen from heaven, — an aërolite of course. Her subsequent o

Nothing can be clearer than that this goddess was originally distinct from the Artemis of the Greeks. Yet in after times we

y1155 Egypt, the Egyptians, and the river Ægyptos are spoken of ; and from these passages we may perhaps collect, that the G

rshes of the Delta, he was told by the oracle of Buto that brazen men from the sea would be his avengers. Shortly afterwards

noticed, of the derivation of the religion and civilization of Greece from the land of Nile. From this digression we return

f the battle of Marathôn, when Pheidippides, the courier who was sent from Athens to Sparta to call on the Spartans for aid

uld thus allude to the treatment which he sometimes there experienced from his worshipers : And if thou do so, Pan beloved,

and devoted to the service of Artemis : as she was returning one day from the chase, and passed by Mount Lycæon, Pan beheld

ical sound. The god took the hint, cut seven of the reeds, and formed from them his syrinx (σύριγξ) or pastoral pipe1181. An

e god of Arcadia, and the wind-god in a fit of jealousy blew her down from the summit of a lofty rock. A tree of her own nam

th Dionysos, and they formed the chorus of the species of drama named from them. It is not unlikely that they are indebted f

e Naïdes1198. Others said that Silenos was a son of Earth, and sprung from the blood-drops of Uranos1199. Marsyas is called

that a Silen was simply a rivergod1201 ; and the name probably comes from ἴλλω, ϵἰλέω, to roll, expressive of the motion of

airing ; and Midas1204, or his people, by pouring wine into the fount from which he was wont to drink, intoxicated him, and

e to tell what it were better for you not to know ? Life is most free from pain when one is ignorant of future evils. It is

er version of this legend1209, as Dionysos was in Lydia on his return from the conquest of the East, some of the country peo

ellespont famous for its vineyards. Priapos was not — as is supposed, from the employment usually assigned him by the Romans

and a shepherd prays to him, promising sacrifices if he will free him from love ; and by Virgil1215 bees are placed under hi

was the son of Aphrodite by Dionysos1220, whom she met on his return from his Indian expedition at the Lampsacene town Apar

s, also designated as a goddess and a nymph, it is said, They spring from fountains and from sacred groves, And holy stream

as a goddess and a nymph, it is said, They spring from fountains and from sacred groves, And holy streams that flow into th

eroes ; and many a warrior who fought before Troy could boast descent from a Nais or a Nereïs. “One of the most interesting

profitless. “The scholiast gives on this passage the following tale from Charôn of Lampsacus : A man, named Rhœcos, happen

but was long unable to accost him. At length It happed the youth was from his faithful band Of comrades parted, and he call

nd more grateful answering, Echo cried, Let us meet here, and issued from the wood. But at the sight of her the youth fled

formation. Its name in Persian is Nirgis, which proves the derivation from ναρкέω to be wrong. It was sacred to Demeter and

, says Nicander, a voice as of lamentation is heard at night to issue from the grove. The place is called that of the Nymphs

ad carry it about ; and the head with the horns is like the lyre made from the tortoise1244 ’ The word Nymph (νύμϕη) seems t

η) seems to have originally signified bride, and was probably derived from a verb ΝϒΒΩ, to cover or veil 1245. It was gradua

island of Pharos, opposite Egypt, and he and his crew were suffering from want of food, Eidothea the daughter of Proteus ac

s herds, to seize and hold him till he disclosed some means of relief from his present distress. Menelaos obeys the nymph ;

here Aristæos on the loss of his bees seeks in a similar way a remedy from Proteus. The scene is here transferred to the pen

the water itself1264. Γλαῦκος. Glaucus. Glaucos, as is evident from his name, was an original god of the sea, probabl

 ; but Dionysos seized him, bound him with a vine-band, and drove him from the island. His love for Scylla we shall presentl

Portunus. Ino, the daughter of Cadmos and wife of Athamas, flying from her husband, with her little son Melicertes in he

from her husband, with her little son Melicertes in her arms, sprang from a cliff into the sea. The gods out of compassion

and him a god under that of Palæmôn. Both were held powerful to save from shipwreck, and were invoked by sailors. The fable

ene) were original water-deities. Leucothea is supposed to be derived from the white waves, and Ino may be merely Ilo, and b

ked’ Grææ were daughters of Phorcys and Keto ; they were hoary-haired from their birth, whence their name. They were two in

s’1293. Perseus, he says, intercepted the eye as they were handing it from the one to the other, and having thus blinded the

mythe Medusa (Mistress) — whose name is of a nature totally different from theirs — was added to the Gorgons, the principle

The other winds, he says1317, (probably meaning only those which blow from the East,) are the race of Typhoeus, whom he desc

ter poets and the artists. The names Euros and Zephyros probably come from ἠὼς and ζόϕος, which denoted the East and West132

, which denoted the East and West1324. Boreas is thought to be Oreas ( from ὄρος), as rushing from the mountains. Notos perha

t and West1324. Boreas is thought to be Oreas (from ὄρος), as rushing from the mountains. Notos perhaps signified wet, and i

s of those of Circe and Calypso. The moment he conducts his hero away from Greece, he engages him in magic regions amidst og

1327. The people of this place are said to speak a language different from Greek1328, and this circumstance also would accor

s far as Sidôn1330. Nothing therefore can be collected with certainty from Temesa. But it may be said that the Sikelans, who

to have inhabited Epeiros1332, in which case nothing definite results from the mention of them. Sicania is also spoken of133

Odysseus, when doubling the Cape of Malea in Laconia on his return from Troy1335, encountered a violent north-east wind (

ts. But the Cyclopes, having no ships, could not derive any advantage from it. Odysseus, leaving the rest of his fleet at th

res him to ‘a woody peak of lofty mountains, when it appears separate from others.’ The crash of the bundle of wood which he

inking that it was on the coast of Libya. It lay at no great distance from that of the Lotus-eaters, which was evidently on

d to it, if it had been at anything like the distance which Sicily is from Libya : and further, though the fertility of Sici

thence named Cyclopian, for which purpose they were brought by Prœtos from Lycia1341. Polyphemos’ love for the Nereïs Galate

rom Lycia1341. Polyphemos’ love for the Nereïs Galateia is well known from the bucolic poets1342. The river Acis in Sicily w

h the gods. The stature of this monster reached the sky, fire flashed from his eyes ; he hurled glowing rocks with loud crie

ith loud cries and hissing against heaven, and flame and storm rushed from his mouth. The gods in dismay fled to Egypt, and

oeus, though Hesiod makes a difference between them. Their names come from τύϕω, to smoke, and they are evident personificat

ntry1353. Αἴολος ἐν Αἰολίῃ. Æolus in Æolia. After their escape from the Cyclôps, Odysseus and his companions sailed f

ed it : the winds rushed out, and hurried them back to Æolia. Judging from what had befallen them that they were hated by th

ted by the gods, the director of the winds drove them with reproaches from his isle. As Æolia was a floating isle, it is evi

of the Læstrygonians lay very far to the west. Odysseus, when driven from his isleby Æolos, sailed on further for six days

d the fountain near it Artakia. There was a port at a little distance from the city, which all the ships of Odysseus, but th

‘as large as the top of a mountain.’ She instantly called her husband from the market-place, who seized one of them and kill

ce in Ææa. When Odysseus and his surviving companions had escaped from the Læstrygonians, they sailed on, that is still

to a desert isle of the Ocean, or as some said to the headland named from her in Italy1366 ; for in the localisation of the

ea1369. The Moly (μῶλν), is said by these late writers to have sprung from the blood of a giant slain by Helios, in aid of h

s, in aid of his daughter in her island. Its name, we are told, comes from the fight (μῶλος) ; its flower is white, as the w

tood to mean that Ææa, in opposition to the country beyond the Ocean, from which his hero had just returned, lay within the

d on the Argonautic cycle, and transferred Æætes and Ææa to the West, from their proper place in the East1373 ; and he may h

, or by Sterope, daughter of Porthaôn1381. Some said that they sprang from the blood which ran from him when his horn was to

of Porthaôn1381. Some said that they sprang from the blood which ran from him when his horn was torn off by Heracles1382. S

ngs, and tails of birds. The ordinary derivation of the word Siren is from σϵίρα, a chain, to signify their attractive power

. They promised to depart in the morning, and took an oath to abstain from the cattle of the Sun. During the night a violent

nd to keep him with her for ever : but Hermes arriving with a command from Zeus, she was obliged to consent to his departure

ed Ogygia to lie in the northwestern part of the West-sea, far remote from all the other isles and coasts ; and he thus brou

ast wind carried Odysseus thither on his mast in nine days and nights from Charybdis. When he left Ogygia, sailing on his ra

them when they offered sacrifices1415, and did not conceal themselves from solitary wayfarers when they met them1416. They h

nt of it undisturbed by the alarms of war ; for as they ‘dwelt remote from gain-seeking man’1417, no enemy ever approached t

pilot when impelled by the rowers1420. As Odysseus sailed on his raft from Ogygia, the isle of Scheria appeared to him on th

he supposes some one to say1424, “Is it some stranger who has strayed from his ship that she has taken under her care, since

of Corcyra1428, the modern Corfu, which lies at a very short distance from the coast of Epeiros. It would not perhaps be all

h Eurymedusa, the attendant of Nausicaa, is said to have been brought from Apeiros, which is taken to be Epeiros1429 ; the o

where they sold him to Laërtes. Their course was therefore evidently from the west or north-west toward Sidôn, as Ithaca la

o make commercial voyages in that direction ; and we may also collect from it that it was chiefly ornamental articles (ἀθύρμ

was daughter of Arybas a wealthy Sidonian, who had been carried away from her native country by Taphian pirates, and sold t

urface. The mind feels itself invincibly impelled to this reflection, from observing the changes and revolutions which conti

ach successive stage as unhappily the greater part of mankind do, and from the innocence of childhood, advancing to the self

e in the time when Kronos ruled in heaven. They lived like gods, free from toils and care, and death was to them a sinking i

ined to youth they lived but a short time, for they would not abstain from mutual injury, nor pay the service due to the god

rd, the brazen race of men, unlike the silver race. These were formed from ash-trees : their delight was in war and deeds of

d, Zeus removed them to the ends of the earth, where they dwell, away from man, in the Islands of the Blest, and live in bli

ill possess it. This race, says Hesiod, will never cease day or night from toil and misery ; the gods will give them grievou

d happy state return1444. A mythologist, of whom even when we dissent from his opinions we must always admire the sound lear

the mythe of the races of man. This mythe is an oriental one, derived from the same source with the narrative in the first c

aces was an application of the ancient mythe to the actual world, and from a moral it became a continuation of the narrative

ace who fought at Thebes and Troy, it was necessary to distinguish it from the iron one : hence the cycle is, as it were, re

heus. We find Iapetos frequently joined with Kronos, apart as it were from the other Titans ; and it is worthy of notice, th

d his progeny immediately succeeds that of Kronos and the gods sprung from him. These circumstances, combined with the plain

re in the Titan-war Menœtios was hurled into Tartaros, but this arose from the misunderstanding of that mythe1452. Atlas (Th

be plundered by a son of Zeus. When therefore Perseus, on his return from slaying the Gorgon, arrived in the realms of Atla

western monarch, calling to mind the prophecy, attempted to repel him from his doors. Perseus, inferior in strength, display

hat having ascended a lofty mountain to make his observations he fell from it into the sea, and both sea and mountain were n

ns he fell from it into the sea, and both sea and mountain were named from him1461. His supporting the heaven was usually ex

e deceit, selected the bones and fat, and in revenge he withheld fire from man ; but Prometheus again deceived him, and stea

, and they therefore needed not fire, which Zeus in kindness withheld from them. But the inquisitive, inventive genius of ma

of man (i. e. Prometheus) introduced fire, and the arts which result from it, and man henceforth became a prey to care and

while man was left naked and helpless. As the day for their emerging from the earth was at hand, Prometheus was at a loss w

hen Care went to give it her own name, he insisted on its being named from himself. While they were disputing, Earth arose a

properties and relations of animals. When Prometheus had stolen fire from heaven for the good of mankind, they were so ungr

s brother had warned him to be upon his guard and to receive no gifts from Zeus, dazzled with her charms took her to his hou

rigidly obeyed this direction, and had hitherto kept his brother also from transgressing it. But the case was now altered :

k of creator of mankind, to whom he gave the fire which he had stolen from heaven. Yet even so late as the times of Augustus

d, and which lay in the house of the men, into a box brought with her from heaven by Pandora. It is rather strange how this

striking, that one might be induced to regard it as a rivulet derived from the original fount of tradition. It is however mo

n universal among the moderns that she brought all the evils with her from heaven shut up in a box (πυξίς). We can only acco

y in a late form, and apparently mixed up with circumstances borrowed from the narrative in the Mosaic history. It is to the

isions into it entered it with his wife Pyrrha. Zeus then poured rain from heaven and inundated the greater part of Greece,

e which Deucaliôn cast became men, those thrown by Pyrrha women ; and from this circumstance came the Greek name for people

was a real event, of which the memory had been retained by tradition from times long anterior to Homer and Hesiod, who make

to have retained a recollection of that great event, have inferred it from the evident tokens of inundation which are to be

n various parts of the earth's surface ; a circumstance which, so far from invalidating, tends rather to confirm the truth o

f Greece, or the progenitor of those races which derived their origin from Thessaly, and were believed to have advanced sout

le of Greece at the time of the Trojan war as a race very far removed from the savage state, as being well acquainted with a

e previous intercourse with foreign nations. Nothing can be collected from these poems respecting the origin of the people.

esigned to preserve the wealth of an industrious and civilised people from the rapacity of invaders by sea or by land. The e

which was probably given to a portion of them by more warlike tribes, from their favourite occupation of cultivating the lan

at Thebes and Troy may have been developed by peculiar circumstances from the peaceful one which is usually supposed to hav

for the Greeks, finding themselves to differ in language and manners from the tribes with which they now came in contact, a

storic and even ante-mythic, and its existence is only to be inferred from a few feeble traces : the second is the mythic, w

real assumes the garb of the imaginary, and becomes indistinguishable from it ; where no event can be pronounced absolutely

ôn and Pheres1530. This last built the city of Pheræ, which was named from him : his son Admetos married Alcestis the daught

er of Pelias, a son of Tyro by Poseidôn1531. When Apollo was banished from Olympos, the legend says he became the servant of

etos effected by the aid of his divine herdsman. Apollo also obtained from the Fates that, when the day appointed for the li

the games celebrated on the occasion. Acastos drove Iasôn and Medeia from Iolcos, and they retired to Corinth, where they l

desses1543 who honoured mortal men with their love. Iasôn brought her from the realm of her father Æetes, where he had achie

t this poet supposed Iasôn to have reigned at Iolcos after his return from his great adventure. According to the poem of the

s plainly to be only another form of Hera, and to have been separated from her in the manner of which we have already given

would thus appear that the whole mythe of Æetes and Medeia is derived from the worship of the Sun and Hera at Corinth. Π

od Asopos Zeus was the father of Æacos, who dwelt in the island named from his mother. The children of Æacos were, Peleus, T

aving been slain by his brothers out of jealousy, Æacos banished them from the island. Peleus fled to Phthia, and was there

each night in the fire, to purge away what he had inherited of mortal from his father ; and by day she anointed him with amb

in which several of them were slain. The Centaurs were finally driven from Pelion, and obliged to retire to other regions158

hoös, the son of Zeus, on the day that he drove the ‘shaggy Wild-men’ from Pelion to the land of the Æthicans1589 ; and Nest

on to the land of the Æthicans1589 ; and Nestôr says1590 that he came from Pylos at the invitation of the Lapith chiefs to a

ains. He therefore thinks the exposition of Centaurs as Air-piercers ( from κντϵῐν τὴν αὔραν) not an improbable one, for that

obable. Lapiths may, he thinks, have signified Stone-persuaders 1601 ( from λᾰας πϵίθϵιν), a poetic appellation for the build

eeds her young on the surface of the sea, which then is calm and free from storm, and these are called the Halcyôn-days1606.

TOLIA. The hero-princes of Calydôn in Ætolia derived their origin from Zeus by Protogeneia the daughter of Deucaliôn. He

ected the tradition of Elis having in ancient times received a colony from Thessaly, and also of Eleians, or Epeians as they

omedes brought his body to Argos, and buried it where the town called from him Œnoe was afterwards built1616. Μϵλέαγρος.

e feast (θαλύσια), and her vengeance. Hunters and dogs were collected from all sides, and the boar was, with the loss of sev

er Althæa, he remained with his wife the fair Cleopatra and abstained from the war, noise and clamour rose about the gates,

Curetes the sons of Thestios ; Idas and Lynceus sons of Aphareus came from Messene ; Castôr and Polydeukes, sons of Zeus and

eus came from Messene ; Castôr and Polydeukes, sons of Zeus and Leda, from Laconia ; Atalanta daughter of Iasos, and Ancæos

; Atalanta daughter of Iasos, and Ancæos and Cepheus sons of Lycurgos from Arcadia ; Amphiaraos son of Oïcles from Argos ; T

and Cepheus sons of Lycurgos from Arcadia ; Amphiaraos son of Oïcles from Argos ; Telamôn son of Æacos from Salamis ; These

Arcadia ; Amphiaraos son of Oïcles from Argos ; Telamôn son of Æacos from Salamis ; Theseus son of Ægeus from Athens ; Iphi

from Argos ; Telamôn son of Æacos from Salamis ; Theseus son of Ægeus from Athens ; Iphicles son of Amphitryôn from Thebes ;

lamis ; Theseus son of Ægeus from Athens ; Iphicles son of Amphitryôn from Thebes ; Peleus son of Æacos, and Eurytiôn son of

hitryôn from Thebes ; Peleus son of Æacos, and Eurytiôn son of Actôr, from Phthia ; Iasôn son of Æsôn from Iolcos ; Admetos

of Æacos, and Eurytiôn son of Actôr, from Phthia ; Iasôn son of Æsôn from Iolcos ; Admetos son of Pheres from Pheræ ; and P

, from Phthia ; Iasôn son of Æsôn from Iolcos ; Admetos son of Pheres from Pheræ ; and Peirithoös son of Ixiôn from Larissa1

lcos ; Admetos son of Pheres from Pheræ ; and Peirithoös son of Ixiôn from Larissa1620. These chiefs were entertained during

position. The hunt began : Ancæos and Cepheus speedily met their fate from the tusks of the boar : Peleus accidentally kille

ns of Thestios, offended at this preference of a woman, took the skin from her, saying that it fell to them of right, on acc

way to resentment for the death of her brothers, she took the billet from its place of concealment, and cast it once more i

and his mother went to Thrace, where Thasos founded a town also named from himself1623. After the death of his mother Cadmos

inquire of the oracle respecting Europa. The god desired him to cease from troubling himself about her, but to follow a cow

acrifice her to Athena1624, Cadmos sent his companions to fetch water from the fount of Ares ; but the fount was guarded by

ually regarded as offering a convincing proof of the fact of colonies from the East having come to Greece and introduced civ

est foreign settlement a place situated in a rich fertile valley away from the sea, and only adapted for agriculture, withou

ian Pelasgians, who, at the time of the Dorian migration being driven from Bœotia, settled on the islands in the north of th

r-god Peneios, and king of the Lapiths of Thessaly. Cyrene was averse from all feminine occupations, and passed her days in

drawn by swans1642 conveyed her to the part of Libya afterwards named from her, and ‘silver-footed Aphrodite’ received them

, who feared he would marry Semele1649. Aristæos, it is quite evident from the names given him by Pindar, was an original de

rene, and hence arose the mythe of Apollo's carrying the nymph Cyrene from the foot of Pelion, and having by her a son named

the priest ascended clad in fresh-stript sheep-skins to protect them from the cold, and there sacrificed to the god to aver

n and her daughter, and gave them a gold-fleeced ram she had obtained from Hermes, which carried them through the air over s

n Sigeion and the Chersonese, into which Helle fell, and it was named from her Hellespontos (Helle's Sea). Phrixos went on t

d being closely pursued by her furious husband, sprang with her child from the cliff of Moluris near Corinth into the sea. T

of the oracle, he settled in this place, built a town which he named from himself Athamantia ; and marrying Themisto the da

racle directed that the eldest person of his posterity should abstain from entering the Prytaneion or senate-house, or if fo

to be the descendents of Kytissoros the son of Phrixos, who had come from Colchis and saved his grandfather Athamas, when t

ity. It is not unlikely then that this mythe of Athamas took its rise from the sin-offering (κάθαρμα), a real or symbolic hu

father in the government over Thebes. During his reign, Dionysos came from the East and sought to introduce his orgies into

to pieces by them1667. The name of Pentheus, it is plain, is derived from the grief (πένθος) occasioned by his fate. Agaue

brother of Nycteus. Both Lycos and his brother, it is said, had fled from Eubœa for killing Phlegyas the son of Ares ; and

she was dead : they then cast her body into the fount which was named from her. They expelled Laïos, seized on the governmen

have moved in obedience to the lyre of Amphiôn. Zethos married Thebe, from whom he named the town. Amphiôn espoused Niobe th

e Lydian melody into Thebes. Λάϊος. Laïus. Laïos, when driven from Thebes by the Antiopids, retired to the Peloponne

he would meet his death by means of his offspring. He long abstained from his wife : at length, having one time drunk too m

ribœa to inform him of the truth ; but unable to get any satisfaction from her, he went to Delphi and consulted the oracle.

onysos, sent to afflict Thebes a monster named the Sphinx1687, sprung from Typhôn and Echidna. She had the face of a woman ;

ooted ?” The oracle told the Thebans that they would not be delivered from her until they had solved her riddle. They often

nd husband in his grief and despair put out his eyes. He was banished from Thebes ; and accompanied by his daughters, who fa

e arrived at the grove of the Erinnyes, at Colonos, a village not far from Athens, and there found the termination of his wr

celebrated prophet1701. The name Teiresias1702 is apparently derived from τέρας, prodigy, and that of his daughter from μάν

2 is apparently derived from τέρας, prodigy, and that of his daughter from μάντις. Ϻινύαι кαὶ Φλεγύαι. Minyæ et Phlegyæ.

irst possessed by Andreus, the son of the river Peneios, who named it from himself Andreïs. He was succeeded by his son Eteo

collected the bravest warriors of Greece. These separated themselves from the other people of the country, and took to robb

and reduced them to an annual tribute, which they paid till relieved from it by Heracles. Erginos was father of the celebra

to the mythologists, because the greater part of them were descended from Minyas on the female side1706 ; and the daughters

lth by commerce and navigation ; this is denoted by the names derived from gold which occur in their genealogy, by Poseidôn’

edition was one undertaken by them ; and the assemblage of the heroes from all parts of Greece was the addition of later tim

the universal tradition of an impious people being destroyed by fire from heaven, — the well-known history of the origin of

nto such a reduced state, that in order to retrieve them he abstained from matrimony. As he grew rich and old, he wished to

stone in such a manner that it could be taken out, and by this means from time to time purloined the treasure. This amazed

amed1717 Zeus-Trophonios, that is, the Nourishing or Sustaining Zeus ( from τρέϕω). He is probably a deity from the Pelasgian

he Nourishing or Sustaining Zeus (from τρέϕω). He is probably a deity from the Pelasgian times, a giver of food from the bos

ϕω). He is probably a deity from the Pelasgian times, a giver of food from the bosom of the earth, and hence worshiped in a

Muses would seem to give them a rural character ; while their descent from Poseidôn and Iphimedeia, and the attempt to scale

he misfortune to kill his father-in-law, Amphitryôn was forced to fly from Mycenæ. Alcmena and her brother Licymnios accompa

ight, and he was kindly received at Thebes by Creôn, who purified him from the guilt of bloodshed. While Amphitryôn was abse

r he was the son of Zeus ; his stature was four cubits ; fire flashed from his eyes : his arrow and his dart never missed. I

e the skin of his head serve him as a helmet1732. As he was returning from this hunt, he met the heralds sent by Erginos to

from this hunt, he met the heralds sent by Erginos to receive tribute from the Thebans. The cause of the payment of this tri

irst named him Heracles1736, for hitherto he had been called Alceides from his grandfather, and she desired him to settle at

d rule over all his neighbours. Hera, pretending incredulity, exacted from him an oath that what he had said should be accom

ried it ; setting a heavy stone on the top of it, in the road leading from Lerna to Eleos. He cut the body of the hydra up i

when he met Artemis and her brother Apollo. The goddess took the hind from him, and reproached him for violating her sacred

arrows to Malea. They fled there to Cheirôn, who having been expelled from Pelion by the Lapiths was dwelling at that place.

ssing his willingness to die for Prometheus, he was released by death from his misery. The other Centaurs fled to different

racles buried him, and then set out to hunt the boar, and driving him from his lair with loud cries, chased him into a snow-

eracles was deliberating how he should scare them, Athena brought him from Hephæstos brazen clappers. He stood under a neigh

by Poseidôn when Minôs had vowed to sacrifice whatever should appear from the sea. Struck with the beauty and size of the a

irdle made sail homewards. He stopped at Troy, then in great distress from the wrath of Poseidôn and Apollo. These gods had

d make war on Troy. His tenth task was to bring the oxen of Geryoneus from the island of Erytheia (Ruddy-isle), which lay ne

d as desired, and Atlas at his request went and obtained three apples from the Hesperides ; but he said he would take them h

The twelfth and last task imposed by Eurystheus was to bring Cerberos from the under-world. When preparing for this expediti

rtained him ; but falling again into madness, he precipitated Iphitos from the walls of Tiryns. In order to be purified of t

) instead of Podarkes (Swift-foot). As Heracles was sailing homewards from Troy, he was assailed by a furious storm, sent by

Not long afterwards he collected an army of Arcadians and volunteers from most of the towns of Greece, and marched against

if when a hostile army should approach she would show it three times from the walls without looking at it herself, they wou

me and suckled him ; and the shepherds finding him named him Telephos from that circumstance1777. Aleos gave his daughter Au

bode, and carried over travellers, saying he had received this office from the gods as a reward for his uprightness. Heracle

curing the love of Heracles, to keep carefully the blood which flowed from his wound, — an advice with which she incautiousl

e fate of his son, would avenge him, he received a wound in the thigh from the spear of the hero1781. Returning to Trachis,

ent to Ceÿx for a splendid robe to wear. Deïaneira hearing about Iola from the messenger, and fearing the effect of her char

l garment and prepared to offer sacrifice. At first he felt no effect from it, but when it warmed the venom of the hydra beg

e realms of Hades, while the divine portion, himself (αὐτὸς), ascends from the pyre in a thunder-cloud, and the object of He

jection to this beautiful theory is its making the mythe of Heracles, from the very commencement, one entire and consistent

ese ; and as the Dorians, whose princes were supposed to be descended from Heracles, had relations with all these countries,

aders. The mythology of Heracles at Thebes was, he thinks, introduced from Delphi, or by the Doric Heracleids. That he did n

goddess ; on the contrary, all analogy would lead us to suppose him, from his name, to have been her favourite1789. We woul

eld to have been the first who ruled over the country called Cecropia from him, and Attica from its peninsular form. He is s

first who ruled over the country called Cecropia from him, and Attica from its peninsular form. He is said by mythologists t

s said by mythologists to have been an autochthôn, i. e. one who came from no foreign country, but was born in, and as it we

one who came from no foreign country, but was born in, and as it were from , the land ; and, like autochthones in general, to

ony of Cecrops, they adjudged the place to Athena. She named the city from herself, and Poseidôn testified his anger by layi

istories of Greece is the coming of Cecrops, at the head of a colony, from Saïs in Lower Egypt to Attica, where he civilised

r hand Callistratus and Phanodemus maintained that Saïs was colonised from Athens. In the time of the Ptolemies it became th

hat the Egyptian Cecrops occurs. Few then, we think, will now dissent from the following judgement : “The derivation of Cecr

now dissent from the following judgement : “The derivation of Cecrops from Saïs is a historic sophism and no mythe1796.” Cec

aid to have happened. He married Pedias the daughter of Menytes ; and from his daughter Atthis, who died a maid, he named th

ent Athena struck them with madness, and they precipitated themselves from the Acropolis. Erichthonios was reared by Athena

rother, and the sacerdotal family of the Butads deduced their lineage from him. Erechtheus married Praxithea, a grand-daught

ed ; her husband then discovered himself and reproached her. She fled from him in shame, but soon after they were reconciled

e of Procris had not been proof against the offer of a golden coronet from Pteliôn. Her infidelity being discovered by her h

t the Teleboans, and on their conquest he settled in the island named from him Cephalonia1821. Procris is noticed in the Ody

ing him a son named Ismaros, plainly intended to deduce the Eumolpids from Thrace, while the name Tegyrios would seem to poi

y him were Iôn and Achæos. According to Euripides, in the drama named from him, Iôn was the fruit of the secret love of Creü

he true representative of the Erechtheids he occupied the throne, and from his four sons Teleôn, Hoples, Ergades and Ægicore

his son to him when he was able to roll away the stone and take them from under it. Ægeus returned to Athens ; and when Med

rom under it. Ægeus returned to Athens ; and when Medeia came thither from Corinth, he married her. He also celebrated Panat

of success ; and Ægeus, thinking that his son was lost, cast himself from the Acropolis and perished1833. Θησεύς. These

came to the Isthmus of Corinth. Here he found another ‘faitour,’ who, from the great mischief which he did to all the surrou

mus, Theseus delivered the people of Cromyon, a village near Corinth, from a huge sow which ravaged their lands. He hunted a

ame to the narrow path overhanging the sea, where the robber Scirôn —  from whom the pass derived its name — had fixed his ab

his challenge overcame him, and paid him in his own coin1839. Not far from thence, on the banks of the Cephissos, Theseus me

usy the sceptre in the hands of an old man, and meditated wresting it from his feeble grasp. Thinking however that his death

discovered to him who he was1842. The bull which Heracles had brought from Crete was now at Marathôn, and the country was in

the people over whom he was likely to reign, resolved to deliver them from the ferocious animal. He went in quest of him, ov

orced to pay to Minôs king of Crete. Theseus resolved to deliver them from this calamity, or to die in the attempt. Accordin

ssession of all offices and dignities ; but the choice of the persons from the body of the nobles to fill them was left to t

ly established by Heracles. These civic cares did not prevent Theseus from taking part in military enterprises : he accompan

in revenge invaded the Attic territory, they met with a signal defeat from the Athenian prince. Theseus was also a sharer in

Hippodameia, resolved to venture on the daring deed of carrying away from the palace of the monarch of the underworld his q

for Cerberos free'd Theseus, but was by a divine intimation prevented from aiding his friend, who remained there everlasting

wish he should first form, cursed and implored destruction on his son from the god. As Hippolytos, leaving Trœzên, was drivi

s driving his chariot along the sea-shore, a monster sent by Poseidôn from the deep terrified his horses ; they burst away i

We will now pursue the explanation of the legendary history of Attica from the time of Cecrops. It is not necessary for us,

ean Sea1850.’ That Erichthonios and Erechtheus were the same, appears from this, that Homer and Hesiod tell of the latter wh

serpent-formed son, that is, the tender twining plant which proceeds from the seed, and of which the care was committed to

y of the others. As the Lyceion at Athens was said to have been named from Lycos, and there was on it a temple of Apollo Lyc

t it was also said that Poseidôn was the father of Theseus, who comes from Trœzên (where Poseidôn was the guardian-god — πολ

named Talôs or Perdix, showed a great genius for mechanics ; having, from the contemplation of a serpent’s teeth, invented

kill, and apprehensive of the rivalry of the young man, cast him down from the Acropolis and killed him. For this murder he

king and was thrown into prison. Having by means of Pasiphae escaped from confinement, he determined to fly from Crete ; bu

g by means of Pasiphae escaped from confinement, he determined to fly from Crete ; but being unable to get away by sea, he r

served till late times, and said to be the work of his hands. Icaros ( from εἴκω, like εἰκὼν, ἴκελος) was a suitable name for

The ancient name of Corinth was said to have been Ephyra, so called from one of the Ocean-nymphs1864. Its situation render

Dawn appeared,’ he asked to see the token (σῆμα) which he had brought from his son-in-law. When he had received it, he resol

teia, or to Lycia, and the hero apparently sets out on his adventures from Corinth. It would not surprise us if the ancient

mythe was lost, the King (Prœtos, πρῶτος), and his wife Foe (Anteia, from ἄντα)1886, and the common lovetale were introduce

re enigmatic than Argeiphontes and Persephone. It is probably derived from some word of which no traces are now to be found1

Argolic peninsula ; and here we meet a mythic cycle totally distinct from those of Hellas Proper. The great patriarch of th

ty of Argos1892. By the nymph Laodice Phoroneus had a son named Apis, from whom the peninsula was named Apia ; and a daughte

fspring by the god were Argos and Pelasgos, and the country was named from the former, the people from the latter. Nothing c

s and Pelasgos, and the country was named from the former, the people from the latter. Nothing can be more simple than this

; and she sent a gad-fly to torment Io, who fled over the whole world from its pursuits. She swam through the Ionian Sea, wh

its pursuits. She swam through the Ionian Sea, which derived its name from her ; then roamed over the plains of Illyria, asc

eper Argos had four eyes, and that the isle of Eubœa derived its name from her1901. Pherecydes1902. said that Hera placed an

y supposing the calf-god to be the son of the cowgoddess, they formed from him a son for their Io, whose name was the occasi

by which Grecian vanity derived the rulers of more ancient countries from its own gods and princes. He married, we are told

bia. The latter conquered the country of the Melampodes, and named it from himself. By many wives he was the father of fifty

ed a satyr who was sleeping in the neighbouring thicket1915. Starting from his sleep, he beheld the beauty of the maid, and

of the town. At the command of Zeus, Hermes and Athena purified them from the guilt of their deed. But Hypermnestra had spa

ames of nations have never, except among nomadic tribes, been derived from persons ; they always come from the character of

pt among nomadic tribes, been derived from persons ; they always come from the character of the people or that of the soil19

he legend fights with and vanquishes Danaos1925 ; that is, the stream from Mount Lynceion overcomes the dry nature of the so

em with shouts and a certain inspired kind of dance chase the maidens from the mountains to Sicyôn. In the chase Iphinoe, th

as reflected on his shield, and Athena guiding his hand he severed it from her body. The blood gushed forth, and with it the

with love, and he forthwith promised Cepheus to deliver his daughter from the monster if he would give her to him in marria

her and Dictys had been obliged to fly to the protection of the altar from the violence of Polydectes. He immediately went t

have ever been infested1944. The origin of the coral is also deduced from the sea-weed which Perseus placed under the Gorgo

he land with gloom. This is prevented by Perseus’ freeing the goddess from her opposite the Gorgo, which makes the moonbeams

d at Taphos, and called his people Teleboans, because he had gone far from his native land1963. He had a son named Pterolaos

ing him by oath not to claim a husband’s rights until he had returned from his expedition against the Teleboans. But as Amph

n of Perseus, taking advantage of this unlucky deed, drove Amphitryôn from Mycenæ and Tiryns ; and sending for his nephews A

his Creôn assented, on condition of his guest’s first freeing Cadmeia from the fox which ravaged it, and which was fated nev

be able to restore life to the dead. He is said to have thus recalled from the nether-world Capaneus and Lycurgos1970, Tynda

Apollo in revenge killed the Cyclopes, for which deed he was banished from Olympos. The tradition at Epidaurus (the great se

try. His mother was Arsinoe the daughter of Leucippos, and the places from which his sons led the troops to Troy were in Mes

at Athena had given him the blood of the Gorgon, and with what flowed from the veins of the left side he injured men, while

S OF ARCADIA. Arcadia, fenced in by its mountains, never suffered from the revolutionary movements of the rest of the pe

m Earth, raising her hands and grasping the right-hand of Zeus, saved from the wrath of the avenging deity. According to ano

s hypothesis. It may indeed be said that Zeus derived his appellation from the mountain ; but against this is to be observed

ome versions it is Zeus who turns Callisto into a bear to conceal her from Hera ; and this goddess persuades Artemis to kill

it to Maia to rear. It is also said that Areas, having been separated from his mother and reared among men, meeting her one

ght him agriculture, which he introduced into his country, now called from himself Arcadia, and instructed its inhabitants i

e also showed them how to manufacture wool, — an art which he learned from Aristæos1987. In Callisto we have another instanc

f the practice of converting an epithet into an attendant. On the way from the town to the Academy at Athens there was an in

who first gave Artemis this epithet in his verses, having learned it from the Arcadians. When we add that the Fair-one (ἁ κ

t ; and at the funeral games of Pelias she won the prize in wrestling from Peleus1993. Atalanta was afterwards recognised by

Leda, who laid it up in a coffer, and in due time Helena was produced from it2001. Hesiod, on the other hand, called Helena

oes, who were born at Amyclæ, was the recovery of their sister Helena from the power of Theseus, whose mother Æthra they dra

ich seem to refer to light, or its opposite. Thus Leda differs little from Leto, and may therefore be regarded as darkness ;

who he was, and enjoining secrecy dived into the sea. Tyro conceived from the divine embrace two sons, whom when born she e

stood the voices of the birds which were flying around ; and learning from their tongues the future, he was able to declare

ther declared that he would give her only to him who should bring him from Thessaly the cows of his mother Tyro, which Iphic

fed him on ‘the innocuous venom (ἰὸν) of bees.’ When Æpytos returned from ‘rocky’ Pytho, he inquired after the child which

Iamids of Olympia. The tradition appears to have been that they came from Arcadia. Poseidôn, we may observe, is placed at t

e prize of a race to his sons ; Epeios won, and the people were named from him ; Pæôn retired in resentment to the banks of

ks of the Axios, far away in the north, and the country there derived from him its name, Pæonia2034. Endymiôn, it is also sa

said that their bodies grew together, and Ibycus2044 that they sprang from a silver egg. They married Theronice and Theropho

eign trade, they being the children of the sea, or of Bringer (῎Ακτωρ from ἄγω) and Comer, (Ϻολιόνη from μολέω) and named Ac

ldren of the sea, or of Bringer (῎Ακτωρ from ἄγω) and Comer, (Ϻολιόνη from μολέω) and named Acquirer (Κτέατοѕ) and Wealthy,

eduplication2056, and his mythe is evidently one of those handed down from the ancient serious Pelasgic times. The root of T

e of Zeus, Hermes put all the parts back into the pot, and drew forth from it the boy perfect in all but the shoulder, which

only to him who should conquer him in the chariot-race. The race was from the banks of the Cladios in Elis to the altar of

Lydian origin of Pelops, a thing taken for granted by all historians from Herodotus and Thucydides2069 down to our own days

y related the winning of Hippodameia. In the Cypria it was said, that from the summit of Taÿgetos Lynceus looked over the ‘w

natural quality or property of the land. Some therefore derive Pelops from ἕλα, splendour, and render it the Illustrious, an

advanced in the case of Pegasos, of different kinds of mythes arising from different derivations of the name being related o

rds seduced Aërope the wife of Atreus, who for this offence drove him from his kingdom ; and Thyestes, out of revenge, sent

prove his right he would let them see the Sun and the Pleiades moving from west to east. This miracle Zeus performed in his