THE GODS OF HEAVEN[16]
[Illustration: FIG. 6. TWO HOURS]
=22. Olympus.= The heaven of the Greek gods was the summit of an ideal
mountain called Olympus.[17] A gate of clouds, kept by goddesses,
the Hours or Seasons, opened to permit the passage of the Celestials
to earth, and to receive them on their return. The gods had their
separate dwellings; but all, when summoned, repaired to the palace
of Jupiter,--even the deities whose usual abode was the earth, the
waters, or the underworld. In the great hall of the Olympian king the
gods feasted each day on ambrosia and nectar. Here they conversed of
the affairs of heaven and earth; and as they quaffed the nectar that
Hebe poured, Apollo made melody with his lyre and the Muses sang in
responsive strain. When the sun was set, the gods withdrew to their
respective dwellings for the night.
The following lines from the Odyssey express the conception of Olympus
entertained by Homer:
So saying, Minerva, goddess, azure-eyed,
Rose to Olympus, the reputed seat
Eternal of the gods, which never storms
Disturb, rains drench, or snow invades, but calm
The expanse and cloudless shines with purest day.
There the inhabitants divine rejoice
Forever.[18]
=23. The Great Gods.= The gods of Heaven were the following:[19]
Jupiter (Zeus).[20]
His daughter, Minerva (Athena), who sprang from his brain,
full-grown and full-armed.
His sister and wife, Juno (Hera).
His children by Juno,--Mars (Ares), Vulcan (Hephæstus), and Hebe.
His children by Latona,--Apollo, or Ph[oe]bus, and Diana (Artemis).
His daughter by Dione,--Venus (Aphrodite).[21]
His son by Maia,--Mercury (Hermes).
His sister, Vesta (Hestia), the oldest born of Cronus and Rhea.
Of these all were deities of the highest order save Hebe, who must
be ranked with the lesser gods. With the remaining ten "Great Gods"
are sometimes reckoned the other sister of Jupiter, Ceres (Demeter),
properly a divinity of earth, and Neptune (Poseidon), ruler of the sea.
=24. Jupiter[22] (Zeus).= The Greek name signifies the radiant light of
heaven. Jupiter was the supreme ruler of the universe, wisest of the
divinities and most glorious. In the Iliad he informs the other gods
that their united strength would not budge him: that, on the contrary,
he could draw them and earth and the seas to himself, and suspend all
from Olympus by a golden chain. Throned in the high, clear heavens,
Jupiter was the gatherer of clouds and snows, the dispenser of gentle
rains and winds, the moderator of light and heat and the seasons, the
thunderer, the wielder of the thunderbolt. Bodily strength and valor
were dear to him. He was worshiped with various rites in different
lands, and to him were sacred everywhere the loftiest trees and the
grandest mountain peaks. He required of his worshipers cleanliness
of surroundings and person and heart. Justice was his; his to repay
violation of duty in the family, in social relations, and in the state.
Prophecy was his; and his will was made known at the oracle of Dodona,
where answers were given to those who inquired concerning the future.
This oracular shrine was the most ancient in Greece. According to one
account two black doves had taken wing from Thebes in Egypt. One flew
to Dodona in Epirus, and, alighting in a grove of oaks, proclaimed to
the inhabitants of the district that they should establish there an
oracle of Jupiter. The other dove flew to the temple of Jupiter Ammon
in the Libyan oasis, and delivered a similar command. According to
another account, these were not doves but priestesses who, carried off
from Thebes by the Ph[oe]nicians, set up oracles at Oasis and Dodona.
The responses of the oracle were given by the rustling of the oak trees
in the wind. The sounds were interpreted by priests.
[Illustration: FIG. 7. ZEUS]
That Jupiter himself, though wedded to the goddess Juno, should be
charged with numerous other love affairs, not only in respect of
goddesses but of mortals, is, in part, explained by the fact that
to the supreme divinity of the Greeks have been ascribed attributes
and adventures of numerous local and foreign divinities that were
gradually identified with him. It is, therefore, not wise to assume
that the love affairs of Jupiter and of other divinities always
symbolize combinations of natural or physical forces that have repeated
themselves in ever-varying guise. It is important to understand
that the more ideal Olympian religion absorbed features of inferior
religions, and that Jupiter, when represented as appropriating the
characteristics of other gods, was sometimes, also, accredited with
their wives.
Beside the children of Jupiter already enumerated, there should here be
mentioned, as of peculiar consequence, Bacchus (Dionysus), the god of
wine, a deity of earth,--Proserpine, the wife of Pluto and queen of the
underworld,--and Hercules, the greatest of the heroes.
[Illustration: FIG. 8. ZEUS AFTER PHIDIAS]
=25. Conceptions of Jupiter.= The Greeks usually conceived the Jupiter
of war as riding in his thunder-car, hurling the thunderbolt or
lashing his enemies with a scourge of lightning. He wore a breastplate
or shield of storm-cloud like the skin of a gray goat (the _Ægis_),
fearful to behold, and made by the god of fire. His special messenger
was the eagle. It was, however, only with the passage of generations
that the Greeks came to represent their greatest of the gods by
the works of men's hands. The statue of Olympian Jove by Phidias
was considered the highest achievement of Grecian sculpture. It
was of colossal dimensions and, like other statues of the period,
"chryselephantine," that is, composed of ivory and gold. For the parts
representing flesh were of ivory laid on a framework of wood, while the
drapery and ornaments were of gold. The height of the figure was forty
feet, of the pedestal twelve. The god was represented as seated on his
throne. His brows were crowned with a wreath of olive; he held in his
right hand a scepter, and in his left a statue of Victory. The throne
was of cedar, adorned with gold and precious stones.
The idea which the artist essayed to embody was that of the supreme
deity of the Hellenic race, enthroned as a conqueror, in perfect
majesty and repose, and ruling with a nod the subject world. Phidias
informs us that the idea was suggested by Homer's lines in the first
book of the Iliad:
Jove said, and nodded with his shadowy brows;
Waved on th' immortal head th' ambrosial locks,--
And all Olympus trembled at his nod.[23]
Unfortunately, our knowledge of this famous statue is confined to
literary descriptions, and to copies on coins. Other representations
of Jove have been obtained from Greek bronze statuettes, or the
wall-paintings of Herculaneum and Pompeii.
=26. Juno[24] (Hera)=, sister and wife of Jupiter. According to some,
the name _Hera_ means Splendor of Heaven, according to others, the
Lady. Some think it approves her goddess of earth; others, goddess
of the air; still others, for reasons by no means final, say that it
signifies Protectress, and applies to Juno in her original function
of moon-goddess, the chosen guardian of women, their aid in seasons
of distress. Juno's union with Jupiter was the prototype of earthly
marriages. She is the type of matronly virtues and dignity.
[Illustration: FIG. 9. HERA OF ARGOS]
She was the daughter of Cronus and Rhea, but was brought up by Oceanus
and Tethys in their dwelling in the remote west beyond the sea. Without
the knowledge of her parents, she was wedded to Jupiter in this garden
of the gods where ambrosial rivers flowed, and where Earth sent up in
honor of the rite a tree of life, heavy with apples golden like the
sunset. Juno was the most worthy of the goddesses, the most queenly;
ox-eyed, says Homer; says Hesiod, golden-sandaled and golden-throned.
Glorious beyond compare was her presence, when she had harnessed her
horses, and driven forth the golden-wheeled chariot that Hebe made
ready, and that the Hours set aside. Fearful, too, could be her wrath.
For she was of a jealous disposition, which was not happily affected by
the vagaries of her spouse; and she was, moreover, prone to quarrels,
self-willed, vengeful, proud, even on occasion deceitful. Once, indeed,
she conspired with Minerva and Neptune to bind the cloud-compeller
himself. More than once she provoked him to blows; and once to worse
than blows,--for her lord and master swung her aloft in the clouds,
securing her wrists in golden handcuffs and hanging anvils to her feet.
The cities that the ox-eyed goddess favored were Argos, Sparta, and
Mycenæ. To her the peacock and the cow were dear, and many a grove and
pasture rejoiced her sacred herds.
[Illustration: HERA OF THE VATICAN]
[Illustration: FIG. 10. ATHENA VELLETRI]
=27. Minerva= (=Athene= or =Athena=), the virgin goddess. She sprang
from the brain of Jove, agleam with panoply of war, brandishing a
spear and with her battle-cry awakening the echoes of heaven and
earth. She is goddess of the lightning that leaps like a lance from
the cloud-heavy sky, and hence, probably, the name _Athene_.[25] She
is goddess of the storms and of the rushing thunderbolt, and is,
therefore, styled Pallas. She is the goddess of the thundercloud,
which is symbolized by her tasseled breastplate of goatskin, the
_ægis_, whereon is fixed the head of Medusa, the Gorgon, that turns
to stone all beholders. She is also the goddess of war, rejoicing
in martial music and protecting the war horse and the warship. On
the other hand, she is of a gentle, fair, and thoughtful aspect. Her
Latin name _Minerva_ is connected with the Sanskrit, Greek, and Latin
words for _mind_. She is eternally a virgin, the goddess of wisdom, of
skill, of contemplation, of spinning and weaving, of horticulture and
agriculture. She is protectress of cities, and was specially worshiped
in her own Athens, in Argos, in Sparta, and in Troy. To her were
sacrificed oxen and cows. The olive tree, created by her, was sacred to
her, and also the owl, the cock, the serpent, and the crow.
=28. Mars (Ares)=,[26] the war-god, son of Jupiter and Juno.
The meaning of the name _Ares_ is uncertain; the most probable
significations are the _Slayer_, the _Avenger_, the _Curse_. The
Roman god of war, Mars, is the _bright_ and _burning_ one. Homer, in
the Iliad, represents Ares as the insatiable warrior of the heroic
age, who, impelled by rage and lust of violence, exults in the noise
of battle, revels in the horror of carnage. Strife and slaughter
are the condition of his existence. Where the fight is thickest,
there he rushes in without hesitation, without question as to which
side is right. In battle array he is resplendent,--on his head the
gleaming helmet and floating plume, on his arm the leathern shield,
in his hand the redoubtable spear of bronze. Well-favored, stately,
swift, unwearied, puissant, gigantic, he is still the foe of wisdom,
the scourge of mortals. Usually he fights on foot, sometimes from a
chariot drawn by four horses,--the offspring of the North Wind and
a Fury. In the fray his sons attend him,--Terror, Trembling, Panic,
and Fear,--also his sister Eris, or Discord (the mother of Strife),
his daughter Enyo, ruiner of cities, and a retinue of bloodthirsty
demons. As typifying the chances of war, Mars is, of course, not always
successful. In the battles before Troy, Minerva and Juno bring him more
than once to grief; and when he complains to Jupiter, he is snubbed as
a renegade most hateful of all the gods.[27] His loved one and mistress
is the goddess of beauty herself. In her arms the warrior finds repose.
Their daughter Harmonia is the ancestress of the unquiet dynasty of
Thebes. The favorite land of Mars was, according to Homer, the rough,
northerly Thrace. His emblems are the spear and the burning torch; his
chosen animals are haunters of the battle field,--the vulture and the
dog.
[Illustration: FIG. 11. ARES LUDOVISI]
=29. Vulcan (Hephæstus)=, son of Jupiter and Juno, was the god of fire,
especially of terrestrial fire,--volcanic eruption, incendiary flame,
the glow of the forge or the hearth. But as the fires of earth are
derived from that of heaven, perhaps the name _Hephæstus_ (burning,
shining, flaming) referred originally to the marvelous brilliance
of the lightning. Vulcan was the blacksmith of the gods, the finest
artificer in metal among them. His forge in Olympus was furnished
not only with anvils and all other implements of the trade, but with
automatic handmaidens of silver and gold, fashioned by Vulcan himself.
Poets later than Homer assign to Vulcan workshops under various
volcanic islands. From the crater of Mount Ætna poured forth the fumes
and flames of his smithy. He built the dwellings of the gods; he made
the scepter of Jove, the shields and spears of the Olympians, the
arrows of Apollo and Diana, the breastplate of Hercules, the shield of
Achilles.
[Illustration: FIG. 12. ARES (MARS)]
He was lame of gait,--a figurative suggestion, perhaps, of the
flickering, unsteady nature of fire. According to his own story,[28]
he was born halt; and his mother, chagrined by his deformity, cast
him from Heaven out of the sight of the gods. Yet, again,[29] he says
that, attempting once to save his mother from Jupiter's wrath, he was
caught by the foot and hurled by the son of Cronus from the heavenly
threshold: "All day I flew; and at the set of sun I fell in Lemnos, and
little life was left in me." Had he not been lame before, he had good
reason to limp after either of these catastrophes. He took part in the
making of the human race, and in the special creation of Pandora. He
assisted also at the birth of Minerva, to facilitate which he split
Jupiter's head open with an ax.
[Illustration: FIG. 13. THE FORGE OF VULCAN]
His wife, according to the Iliad and Hesiod's Theogony, is Aglaia,
the youngest of the Graces; but in the Odyssey it is Venus. He is a
glorious, good-natured god, loved and honored among men as the founder
of wise customs and the patron of artificers; on occasion, as a god
of healing and of prophecy. He seems to have been, when he chose, the
cause of "inextinguishable laughter" to the gods, but he was by no
means a fool. The famous god of the strong arms could be cunning, even
vengeful, when the emergency demanded.
[Illustration: FIG. 14. APOLLO IN THE VATICAN]
=30. Apollo=, or Ph[oe]bus Apollo, the son of Jupiter and Latona, was
preëminently the god of the sun. His name _Ph[oe]bus_ signifies the
radiant nature of the sunlight; his name _Apollo_, perhaps, the cruel
and destructive heat of noonday. Soon after his birth, Jupiter would
have sent him to Delphi to inculcate righteousness and justice among
the Greeks; but the golden god Apollo chose first to spend a year in
the land of the Hyperboreans, where for six continuous months of the
year there is sunshine and spring, soft climate, profusion of herbs
and flowers, and the very ecstasy of life. During this delay the
Delphians sang pæans,--hymns of praise,--and danced in chorus about
the tripod (or three-legged stool), where the expectant priestess of
Apollo had taken her seat. At last, when the year was warm, came the
god in his chariot drawn by swans,--heralded by songs of springtide,
of nightingales and swallows and crickets. Then the crystal fount
of Castalia and the stream Cephissus overflowed their bounds, and
mankind made grateful offerings to the god. But his advent was not
altogether peaceful. An enormous serpent, Python, had crept forth from
the slime with which, after the flood, the Earth was covered; and in
the caves of Mount Parnassus this terror of the people lurked. Him
Apollo encountered and after fearful combat slew, with arrows, weapons
which the god of the silver bow had not before used against any but
feeble animals,--hares, wild goats, and such game. In commemoration
of this illustrious conquest, he instituted the Pythian games, in
which the victor in feats of strength, swiftness of foot, or in the
chariot race, should be crowned with a wreath of beech leaves. Apollo
brought not only the warm spring and summer, but also the blessings
of the harvest. He warded off the dangers and diseases of summer and
autumn; and he healed the sick. He was patron of music and of poetry.
Through his oracle at Delphi, on the slopes of Parnassus in Phocis, the
Pythian god made known the future to those who consulted him. He was a
founder of cities, a promoter of colonization, a giver of good laws,
the ideal of fair and manly youth,--a pure and just god, requiring
clean hands and pure hearts of those that worshiped him. But though a
god of life and peace, the far-darter did not shun the weapons of war.
When presumption was to be punished, or wrong righted, he could bend
his bow and slay with the arrows of his sunlight. As in the days of his
youth he slew the Python, so, also, he slew the froward Tityus, and so
the children of Niobe. While Ph[oe]bus Apollo is the Olympian divinity
of the sun, fraught with light and healing, spiritual, creative, and
prophetic, he must not be confounded with a god of the older dynasty,
Helios (offspring of Hyperion, Titanic deity of light), who represented
the sun in its daily and yearly course, in its physical rather than
spiritual manifestation. The bow of Apollo was bound with laurel in
memory of Daphne, whom he loved. To him were sacred, also, many
creatures,--the wolf, the roe, the mouse, the he-goat, the ram, the
dolphin, and the swan.[30]
[Illustration: FIG. 15. APOLLO BELVEDERE]
=31. Shelley's Hymn of Apollo.=
The sleepless Hours who watch me as I lie,
Curtained with star-inwoven tapestries,
From the broad moonlight of the sky,
Fanning the busy dreams from my dim eyes,--
Waken me when their mother, the gray Dawn,
Tells them that dreams and that the moon is gone.
[Illustration: FIG. 16. APOLLO]
Then I arise, and climbing Heaven's blue dome,
I walk over the mountains and the waves,
Leaving my robe upon the ocean foam;
My footsteps pave the clouds with fire; the caves
Are filled with my bright presence, and the air
Leaves the green earth to my embraces bare.
The sunbeams are my shafts, with which I kill
Deceit, that loves the night and fears the day;
All men who do or even imagine ill
Fly me, and from the glory of my ray
Good minds and open actions take new might,
Until diminished by the reign of night.
I feed the clouds, the rainbows, and the flowers
With their ethereal colors; the moon's globe
And the pure stars in their eternal bowers
Are cinctured with my power as with a robe;
Whatever lamps on Earth or Heaven may shine,
Are portions of one power, which is mine.
I stand at noon upon the peak of Heaven,
Then with unwilling steps I wander down
Into the clouds of the Atlantic even;
For grief that I depart they weep and frown:
What look is more delightful than the smile
With which I soothe them from the western isle?
I am the eye with which the universe
Beholds itself and knows itself divine;
All harmony of instrument or verse,
All prophecy, all medicine, are mine,
All light of art or nature;--to my song,
Victory and praise in their own right belong.
[Illustration: FIG. 17. DIANA. After Correggio]
=32. Diana (Artemis)=, twin sister of Apollo, was born on Mount
Cynthus in the island of Delos. Latona, the future mother of Diana
and Apollo, flying from the wrath of Juno, had besought, one after
another, the islands of the Ægean to afford her a place of rest; but
they feared too much the potent queen of heaven. Delos alone consented
to become the birthplace of the future deities. This isle was then
floating and unstable; but on Latona's arrival, Jupiter fastened it
with adamantine chains to the bottom of the sea, that it might be a
secure resting-place for his beloved. The daughter of Latona is, as
her name _Artemis_ indicates, a virgin goddess, the ideal of modesty,
grace, and maidenly vigor. She is associated with her brother, the
prince of archery, in nearly all his adventures, and in attributes she
is his feminine counterpart. As he is identified with sunlight, so is
she, his fair-tressed sister, with the chaste brilliance of the moon.
Its slender arc is her bow; its beams are her arrows with which she
sends upon womankind a speedy and painless death. In her prerogative
of moon-goddess she is frequently identified with Selene, daughter
of Hyperion, just as Apollo is with Helios. Despising the weakness
of love, Diana imposed upon her nymphs vows of perpetual maidenhood,
any violation of which she was swift and severe to punish. Graceful
in form and free of movement, equipped for the chase, and surrounded
by a bevy of fair companions, the swift-rushing goddess was wont to
scour hill, valley, forest, and plain. She was, however, not only
huntress, but guardian, of wild beasts,--mistress withal of horses
and kine and other domestic brutes. She ruled marsh and mountain; her
gleaming arrows smote sea as well as land. Springs and woodland brooks
she favored, for in them she and her attendants were accustomed to
bathe. She blessed with verdure the meadows and arable lands, and from
them obtained a meed of thanks. When weary of the chase she turned to
music and dancing; for the lyre and flute and song were dear to her.
Muses, Graces, nymphs, and the fair goddesses themselves thronged the
rites of the chorus-leading queen. But ordinarily a woodland chapel
or a rustic altar sufficed for her worship. There the hunter laid his
offering--antlers, skin, or edible portions of the deer that Artemis of
the golden arrows had herself vouchsafed him. The holy maid, however,
though naturally gracious, gentle, and a healer of ills, was, like
her brother, quick to resent injury to her sacred herds or insult
to herself. To this stern temper Agamemnon, Orion, and Niobe bore
regretful testimony. They found that the "fair-crowned queen of the
echoing chase," though blithe and gracious, was by no means a frivolous
personage.
[Illustration: FIG. 18. DIANA (ARTEMIS) OF VERSAILLES]
Diana was mistress of the brute creation, protectress of youth, patron
of temperance in all things, guardian of civil right. The cypress tree
was sacred to her; and her favorites were the bear, the boar, the dog,
the goat, and specially the hind.
[Illustration: FIG. 19. ARTEMIS]
=33. Jonson's Hymn to Cynthia (Diana).=
Queen and Huntress, chaste and fair,
Now the sun is laid to sleep,
Seated in thy silver chair
State in wonted manner keep:
Hesperus entreats thy light,
Goddess excellently bright.
Earth, let not thy envious shade
Dare itself to interpose;
Cynthia's shining orb was made
Heaven to clear when day did close:
Bless us then with wishèd sight,
Goddess excellently bright.
Lay thy bow of pearl apart,
And thy crystal-shining quiver;
Give unto the flying hart
Space to breathe, how short soever:
Thou that mak'st a day of night,
Goddess excellently bright.[31]
=34. Venus (Aphrodite)=, goddess of love and beauty, was, according to
the more ancient Greek conception, a daughter of Jupiter and Dione;[32]
but Hesiod says that she arose from the foam of the sea at the time
of the wounding of Uranus, and therefore was called, by the Greeks,
Aphrodite, _the foam-born_.[33] Wafted by the west wind, and borne
upon the surge, she won first the island of Cythera; thence, like a
dream, she passed to Cyprus, where the grace and blossom of her beauty
conquered every heart. Everywhere, at the touch of her feet the herbage
quivered into flower. The Hours and Graces surrounded her, twining
odorous garlands and weaving robes for her that reflected the hues and
breathed the perfume of crocus and hyacinth, violet, rose, lily, and
narcissus. To her influence is ascribed the fruitfulness of the animal
and of the vegetable creation. She is goddess of gardens and flowers,
of the rose, the myrtle, and the linden. The heaths and slumberous
vales, pleasant with spring and vernal breezes, are hers. In her
broidered girdle lurk "love and desire, and loving converse that steals
the wits even of the wise." For she is the mistress of feminine charm
and beauty, the golden, sweetly smiling Aphrodite, who rules the hearts
of men. She lends to mortals seductive form and fascination. To a few,
indeed, her favor is a blessing; but to many her gifts are treacherous,
destructive of peace. Her various influence is exemplified in the
stories of Pygmalion and Adonis, Paris and Æneas, Helen, Ariadne,
Psyche, Procris, Pasiphaë, and Phædra. Her power extended over sea as
well as land, and her temples rose from many a shore. On the waters
swan and dolphin were beloved of her; in air, the sparrow and the dove.
She was usually attended by her winged son Cupid, of whom much is to
be told. Especially dear to her were Cyprus, Cnidos, Paphos, Cythera,
Abydos, Mount Eryx, and the city of Corinth.
=35. The "Venus of Milo."= Of artistic conceptions of Aphrodite, the
most famous are the statues called the Venus of Melos and the Venus of
the Medici.[34] A comparison of the two conceptions is instituted in
the following poem.[35] The worshiper apostrophizes the Venus of Melos,
that "inner beauty of the world," whose tranquil smile he finds more
fair than "The Medicean's sly and servile grace":
[Illustration: VENUS OF MELOS]
From our low world no gods have taken wing;
Even now upon our hills the twain are wandering:[36]
The Medicean's sly and servile grace,
And the immortal beauty of thy face.
One is the spirit of all short-lived love
And outward, earthly loveliness:
The tremulous rosy morn is her mouth's smile,
The sky, her laughing azure eyes above;
And, waiting for caress.
Lie bare the soft hill-slopes, the while
Her thrilling voice is heard
In song of wind and wave, and every flitting bird.
Not plainly, never quite herself she shows:
Just a swift glance of her illumined smile
Along the landscape goes;
Just a soft hint of singing, to beguile
A man from all his toil;
Some vanished gleam of beckoning arm, to spoil
A morning's task with longing, wild and vain.
Then if across the parching plain
He seek her, she with passion burns
His heart to fever, and he hears
The west wind's mocking laughter when he turns,
Shivering in mist of ocean's sullen tears.
It is the Medicean: well I know
The arts her ancient subtlety will show,--
The stubble field she turns to ruddy gold;
The empty distance she will fold
In purple gauze; the warm glow she has kissed
Along the chilling mist:
Cheating and cheated love that grows to hate
And ever deeper loathing, soon or late.
Thou, too, O fairer spirit, walkest here
Upon the lifted hills:
Wherever that still thought within the breast
The inner beauty of the world hath moved;
In starlight that the dome of evening fills;
On endless waters rounding to the west:
For them who thro' that beauty's veil have loved
The soul of all things beautiful the best.
For lying broad awake, long ere the dawn,
Staring against the dark, the blank of space
Opens immeasurably, and thy face
Wavers and glimmers there and is withdrawn.
And many days, when all one's work is vain,
And life goes stretching on, a waste gray plain,
With even the short mirage of morning gone,
No cool breath anywhere, no shadow nigh
Where a weary man might lay him down and die,
Lo! thou art there before me suddenly,
With shade as if a summer cloud did pass,
And spray of fountains whispering to the grass.
Oh, save me from the haste and noise and heat
That spoil life's music sweet:
And from that lesser Aphrodite there--
Even now she stands
Close as I turn, and O my soul, how fair!
[Illustration: FIG. 20. HERMES PSYCHOPOMPOS]
=36. Mercury (Hermes)=, born in a cave of Mount Cyllene in Arcadia,
was the son of Jupiter and Maia (the daughter of Atlas). According to
conjecture, his name _Hermes_ means the _Hastener_. Mercury, swift as
the wind, was the servant and herald of Jupiter and the other gods.
On his ankles (in plastic art), and his low-crowned, broad-brimmed
_petasus_, or hat, were wings. As messenger of Heaven, he bore a wand
(_caduceus_) of wood or of gold, twined with snakes and surmounted
by wings, and possessed of magical powers over sleeping, waking, and
dreams. He was beautiful and ever in the prime of youthful vigor.
To a voice sweet-toned and powerful, he added the persuasiveness of
eloquence. But his skill was not confined to speech; he was also the
first of inventors--to him are ascribed the lyre and the flute. He was
the forerunner, too, of mathematicians and astronomers. His agility
and strength made him easily prince in athletic pursuits. His cunning
rendered him a dangerous foe; he could well play the trickster and the
thief, as Apollo found out to his vexation, and Argus, and many another
unfortunate. His methods, however, were not always questionable;
although the patron of gamblers and the god of chance, he, at the same
time, was the furtherer of lawful industry and of commerce by land and
sea. The gravest function of the Messenger was to conduct the souls
of the dead, "that gibber like bats as they fare, down the dank ways,
past the streams of Oceanus, past the gates of the sun and the land of
dreams, to the mead of asphodel in the dark realm of Hades, where dwell
the souls, the phantoms of men outworn."[37]
=37. Vesta (Hestia)=, goddess of the hearth, public and private, was
the first-born child of Cronus and Rhea and, accordingly, the elder
sister of Jupiter, Juno, Neptune, Pluto, and Ceres. Vesta was an old
maid by choice. Averse to Venus and all her ways, she scorned the
flattering advances of both Neptune and Apollo, and resolved to remain
single. Whereupon Jupiter gave her to sit in the middle of his palace,
to receive in Olympus the choicest morsels of the feast, and, in the
temples of the gods on earth, reverence as the oldest and worthiest of
Olympian divinities. As goddess of the burning hearth, Vesta is the
divinity of the home: of settled, in opposition to nomadic, habits of
life. She was worshiped first of the gods at every feast. Before her
shrine in city and state the holy flame was religiously cherished.
From her altars those of the other gods obtained their fires. No new
colony, no new home, was duly consecrated till on its central hearth
there glowed coals from her ancestral hearth. In her temple at Rome a
sacred fire, tended by six virgin priestesses called Vestals, was kept
religiously aflame. As the safety of the city was held to be connected
with its conservation, any negligence, by which it might go out, was
severely punished. Whenever the fire did die, it was rekindled from the
rays of the sun.
=38.= Of the =Lesser Divinities of Heaven= the most worthy of mention
are:
1. _Cupid (Eros)_, small but mighty god of love, the son of Venus and
her constant companion. He was often represented with eyes covered
because of the blindness of his actions. With his bow and arrows, he
shot the darts of desire into the bosoms of gods and men. Another deity
named _Anteros_, reputed the brother of Eros, was sometimes represented
as the avenger of slighted love, and sometimes as the symbol of
reciprocal affection. Venus was also attended at times by another
brother of Eros, _Himeros_, or Longing, and by _Hymen_, a beautiful
youth of divine descent, the personification of the wedding feast and
leader of the nuptial chorus. Of Eros the poet Gosse writes:
[Illustration: FIG. 21. EROS]
Within a forest, as I strayed
Far down a somber autumn glade,
I found the god of love;
His bow and arrows cast aside,
His lovely arms extended wide,
A depth of leaves above,
Beneath o'erarching boughs he made
A place for sleep in russet shade.
His lips, more red than any rose,
Were like a flower that overflows
With honey pure and sweet;
And clustering round that holy mouth,
The golden bees in eager drouth
Plied busy wings and feet;
They knew, what every lover knows,
There's no such honey-bloom that blows.[38]
2. _Hebe_, daughter of Jupiter and Juno, goddess of youth and cupbearer
to the gods. According to one story, she resigned that office on
becoming the wife of Hercules. According to another, Hebe was dismissed
from her position in consequence of a fall which she met with one day
when in attendance on the gods. Her successor was _Ganymede_, a Trojan
boy whom Jupiter, in the disguise of an eagle, seized and carried off
from the midst of his playfellows on Mount Ida, bore up to Heaven, and
installed in the vacant place.
3. _The Graces_, daughters of Jove by Eurynome, daughter of Oceanus.
They were goddesses presiding over the banquet, the dance, all
social pleasures, and polite accomplishments. They were three in
number,--Euphrosyne, Aglaia, and Thalia. Spenser describes the office
of the Graces thus:
These three on men all gracious gifts bestow
Which deck the body or adorn the mind,
To make them lovely or well-favored show;
As comely carriage, entertainment kind,
Sweet semblance, friendly offices that bind,
And all the complements of courtesy;
They teach us how to each degree and kind
We should ourselves demean, to low, to high,
To friends, to foes; which skill men call civility.
[Illustration: FIG. 22. RAPE OF GANYMEDE]
4. _The Muses_, daughters of Jupiter and Mnemosyne (Memory). They
presided over song and prompted the memory. They are ordinarily cited
as nine in number; and to each of them was assigned patronage in some
department of literature, art, or science. Calliope was the muse of
epic poetry, Clio of history, Euterpe of lyric poetry, Melpomene of
tragedy, Terpsichore of choral dance and song, Erato of love poetry,
Polyhymnia of sacred poetry, Urania of astronomy, Thalia of comedy.
[Illustration: FIG. 23. POLYHYMNIA]
5. _Themis_, one of the Titans, a daughter of Uranus. She sat, as
goddess of justice, beside Jupiter on his throne. She was beloved of
the father of gods and men, and bore him the Hours, goddesses who
regulated the seasons, and the Fates.
[Illustration: FIG. 24. THE THREE FATES
From the painting by Michelangelo(?)]
6. _The Fates_, three in number,--Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos. Their
office was to spin the thread of human destiny, and they were provided
with shears with which they cut it off when they pleased.[39] According
to Hesiod, they were daughters of Night.
7. _Nemesis_, daughter of Night. She represented the righteous anger
and vengeance of the gods, particularly toward the proud, the insolent,
and breakers of the law.
8. _Æsculapius_, son of Apollo. By his skill in medicine he restored
the dead to life. Being killed by the lightning of Jove, he was
translated to the ranks of Heaven. His function was the art of healing.
9. _The Winds_,--Boreas, or Aquilo, the north wind; Zephyrus, or
Favonius, the west; Notus, or Auster, the south; and Eurus, the east.
The first two, chiefly, have been celebrated by the poets, the former
as the type of rudeness, the latter of gentleness. It is said that
Boreas loved the nymph Orithyia and tried to play the lover's part, but
met with poor success; for it was hard for him to breathe gently, and
sighing was out of the question.
Weary at last of fruitless endeavors, he acted out his true character,
seized the maiden and bore her off. Their children were Zetes and
Calaïs, winged warriors, who accompanied the Argonautic expedition
and did good service in an encounter with those monstrous birds, the
Harpies. Zephyrus was the lover of Flora (Chloris).
[Illustration: FIG. 25. BOREAS]
Here, too, may be mentioned Æolus, the king of the winds, although he
is not a lesser divinity of Heaven. His palace was on the precipitous
isle of Æolia, where, with his six sons and six daughters, he kept
eternal carouse. The winds, which he confined in a cavern, he let loose
as he saw fit or as he was bidden by superior deities. He is sometimes
called Hippotades.[40]
[Illustration: FIG. 26. ZEPHYROS]
10. _Helios_, _Selene_, and _Eos_, children of the Titan Hyperion.
Helios and Selene were the more ancient Greek divinities of Sun and
Moon respectively. Helios, the charioteer of the sun, is, as has been
already said, frequently identified with his successor, Apollo. The
attributes and adventures of Selene were merged in those of the more
modern Diana. Eos, or, in Latin nomenclature, Aurora, the rosy-fingered
goddess of the Morn, was mother of the stars and of the morning and
evening breezes. Saffron-robed she rises from the streams of Ocean, to
bring light to gods and men.
[Illustration: FIG. 27. BOREAS CARRYING OFF ORITHYIA]
11. _Phosphor_, the morning-star, the star of Venus, son of Aurora
and the hunter Cephalus. _Hesper_, the evening-star, was sometimes
identified with Phosphor. He was king of the Western Land, and, say
some, father of the Hesperides, who guarded the golden apples of the
sunset.
The Spirit in Milton's Comus tells of
... the gardens fair
Of Hesperus, and his daughters three
That sing about the golden tree.
Along the crispèd shades and bowers
Revels the spruce and jocund Spring;
The Graces and the rosy-bosomed Hours
Thither all their bounties bring.
There eternal Summer dwells,
And west winds with musky wing
About the cedarn alleys fling
Nard and cassia's balmy smells.
Iris there with humid bow
Waters the odorous banks, that blow
Flowers of more mingled hue
Than her purfled scarf can shew.
And Tennyson taking the lines as a text has written the melodious and
mystic song of the Hesperides, beginning--
The golden apple, the golden apple, the hallowed fruit,
Guard it well, guard it warily,
Singing airily,
Standing about the charmèd root.
Round about all is mute,
As the snowfield on the mountain-peaks,
As the sandfield at the mountain-foot.
Crocodiles in briny creeks
Sleep and stir not: all is mute.
If ye sing not, if ye make false measure,
We shall lose eternal pleasure,
Worth eternal want of rest.
Laugh not loudly: watch the treasure
Of the wisdom of the West.
Readers of this poem will notice that Tennyson follows the tradition
by which a sleepless dragon is introduced among the guardians of the
Hesperian fruit. Still other versions substitute for Hesperus, the
Titan Atlas.
12. _Various Other Personifications._ The constellation Orion, whose
story will be narrated; Victoria (Nike), the goddess of Victory;
Discors (Eris), the goddess of Strife; and Iris, goddess of the
rainbow, who is represented frequently as a messenger of the gods.
[Illustration: FIG. 28. IRIS CARRYING CHILD]
FOOTNOTES:
[16] Consult, in general, corresponding sections of the Commentary.
[17] Symbolized on earth by Mount Olympus in Thessaly.
[18] Cowper's translation.
[19] See Commentary, § 23, for Gladstone's latest utterance on the
number of the Olympians.
[20] The names included in parentheses represent the Greek, the others
being Roman equivalents, Latin names, or names common to both Greek and
Roman usage.
[21] See Commentary, § 34.
[22] On the Latin name, see Commentary, § 24.
[23] Iliad, I, 622-625, Earl of Derby's translation. See also the
passage in Chapman's translation.
[24] On the name _Juno_, see Commentary.
[25] For the names _Athene_ and _Minerva_, see Commentary.
[26] See Commentary.
[27] Iliad, 5, 590. See also 21, 395.
[28] Iliad, 18, 395.
[29] Iliad, 1, 390.
[30] On the birth of Apollo, his adventures, names, festivals, oracles,
and his place in literature and art, see Commentary. For other
particulars, see sections on _Myths of Apollo_.
[31] From Cynthia's Revels.
[32] Iliad, 5, 370, etc.
[33] A popular etymology.
[34] For Venus in poetry and art, see Commentary.
[35] From the Venus of Milo, by E. R. Sill, formerly professor of
English Literature in the University of California.
[36] The references are to the Berkeley Hills, the Bay of San
Francisco, and the glimpses of the Pacific.
[37] Lang, Odyssey, 24, 1; adapted.
[38] Eros, by Edmund Gosse. For verses on the blindness of Cupid, see
Lyly's Cupid and Campaspe in Commentary.
[39] For description of their spinning, see translation of Catullus,
LXIV, in § 191.
[40] See Commentary.