him, save only the sun, and the earth and the winds, and the winding
river and the distant sea, he broke forth in grievous cries and
lamentations:--
"'O pitying sky, and swift-winged winds, and river-springs, and the
many-twinkling smile of ocean, I cry to you! O mother Earth, and thou
all-seeing Sun! behold what I endure because I gave honor to mortals!
Behold what torture is in store for me, while for ten thousand years I
writhe in these unseemly chains! Yet the things that come are all
foreknown to me, and nothing happens unexpected; and I must bear as best
I may the ills that will perforce be mine, knowing that the end of all
these things shall come to me at last.'
"Then the Ocean nymphs, with the fragrance of flowers and a rustling
sound like the whirr of birds, came floating through the air, and
hovered about the crag where Prometheus was bound. They had heard the
clank of the iron and the heavy blow of the sledge resounding to the
very cavern-depths of Ocean; and they had hastened to come, and offer
him their sympathy.
"Following them, came old Oceanus himself, riding in his winged chariot;
for no firmer friend had Prometheus than this hoary-headed ancient of
the encircling sea. He came to condole with the suffering Titan, and to
counsel patience and submission. But he staid not long.
"'I will drink the cup of bitterness to its very dregs,' said
Prometheus, 'and will bide the time when Zeus shall have quenched his
wrath.'
"And Oceanus, feeling that he had come in vain, turned about, and gladly
hastened homeward to his halls beneath the ocean billows.
"After this many others came, weeping tears of sorrow for the
sufferer,--tears of anger at the tyranny of Zeus. And wails of mourning
were borne thither on the wings of the wind from all the tribes that
dwelt in Asia,--from the warrior maidens on the Colchian coasts, from
the savage horsemen of the Scythian plains, and from the dwellers on the
farther shores of Araby. But the Titan, chained to the desolate crags,
suffered on. Above him the vultures hovered, and the wild eagles
shrieked; and sun and storm beat mercilessly upon his head, as the weary
days and the lengthening years passed by. And yet no deliverance came.
"One day, as he writhed helplessly in his chains, Prometheus saw in the
valley below him what at so great distance seemed to be a beautiful
heifer, having a fair face like that of a woman. 'Surely,' said he
aloud, 'it is the child of Inachus, she who warmed the heart of Zeus,
and is now through Here's hate changed into an unseemly shape, and
driven to weary wanderings.'
"Then the maiden gazed at him in wonder, and asked, 'Who are you whom
the gods have doomed to suffer in this solitary place? And how came you
to know my father's name, and the sorrows that have come upon me? And
tell me, I pray, if such knowledge be yours, whether there shall ever be
any help for me, and when my sufferings shall have an end.'
"The Titan answered, 'I who speak to thee am Prometheus, who brought
down fire to men, and gave them knowledge, and taught them how to do
godlike things. And I know that thou art Io, once the lovely daughter of
Inachus, king of Argos; but what thou art now, let thy own lips speak
and answer.'
"'I cannot choose but tell you all,' the maiden answered, 'though my
speech shall with sobs be broken when I recall the memory of happy days
forever gone. There was a time when in my father's halls I dwelt in
maidenly freedom, a spoiled and petted child. But as I grew to
womanhood, dreams came to me which told me that I was beloved by Zeus.
Such trouble did these visions bring to me, that I was fain to tell my
father of them. He knew not what to do. But he sent swift messengers
to Delphi and Dodona to ask the oracles what the dreams portended, and
how he could best give pleasure to the gods. The answer came, that he
should drive me from his doors into the wide and cruel world, or
otherwise the fiery bolts of Zeus would burn up all his household and
destroy him utterly. Reluctantly and weeping bitter tears, he shut me
out; and lo! straightway my body was changed into the loathed form which
stands before you, and a gad-fly stung me with its fangs, and I rushed
away in madness, vainly hoping to find relief at Lerne's fountain water.
But there the herdsman Argus, with his hundred eyes, did track me out;
and with his scourge and the goading fly, I was driven along unending
ways. Then Hermes, seeing my distress, took pity on me, and sought to
free me from my cruel keeper. But Argus never slept; and with his
hundred eyes he saw every danger, and shunned it while it was yet afar.
At last Hermes bethought him of the power of music. Playing a soft
melody on his lute, he stole gently towards the herdsman; the sweet
sounds charmed the savage ear, and sleep overpowered the hundred eyes.
Then Hermes drew his sword quickly, and smote off the head of Argus,
thus gaining for himself the name of the Argus-queller. But the shade
of the terrible herdsman still follows me, and I find no rest; and
aimlessly I have come, thus goaded onward, to this wild mountain
region.'
[Illustration: PROMETHEUS.]
"Then Prometheus in pitying accents said, 'Listen now to me, and I will
tell thee, Io, what other sorrows thou must bear from Here; for it is
she who brought this woe upon thee and who hounds thee thus from land to
land. Thou shalt journey onward from these mountain regions through the
Scythian land, and the region of the uncouth Chalybes who work in iron.
Thence thou shalt cross the mountains to the dwelling-place of the
Amazons, who shall lead thee to the place where the ocean-gates are
narrowest. There thou shalt plunge into the waves, and swim with
fearlessness of heart to Asia's shore. And that strait shall by its
name, Bosphorus, tell to latest ages the story of thy wandering. But
what I have told thee is only the beginning of thy doom.'
"Then Io wept.
"'Were it not better to die,' she asked, 'than to endure this hopeless
misery?'
"'Not so, O maiden,' answered the Titan; 'for if thou livest, then a son
of thine shall loose me from my fetters, and perchance shall shake the
throne of Zeus himself. When thou hast crossed the sea-ways which part
the continent, thou shalt wander on until thou hast reached the outmost
islands where the Gorgons dwell; then returning thou shalt pass through
the country of the griffins and the region of Ethiopia, and shalt come
at last to the three-cornered ground where flows the Nile. There thou
shalt rest, and thy maiden form with all its comeliness shall be thine
again. In Canobus, a fair city by the sea, shall a home be made for
thee; and there shall Epaphos thy son be born, from whom in after-times
shall spring great Heracles, who shall break my bonds and set me free
from these hated fetters.'
"Then Io, with a sigh of mingled hope and despair, went on her weary
way, and left Prometheus alone again in the everlasting solitudes. And
the wild eagles swooped down from their high-built nests, and circled
with threatening screams about him; a grim vulture flapped its wings in
his face, and buried its talons in his bosom; a mighty storm came
hurtling down through the mountain passes; the earth shook to and fro,
and the peaks of Caucasus seemed as if toppling to their base; a
hurricane of snow and hail and rattling ice smote the Titan about the
head, and wrapped his body in eddying gusts; the lightnings leaped with
lurid glare athwart the sky, and the thunders crashed with deafening
roar among the crags; and earth and air and sea seemed blent together in
a mighty turmoil, and whirling into utter chaos. Yet, in the midst of
all, the old Titan quailed not; but with voice serene and strong he sang
of the day when right shall triumph over might, when truth shall trample
error in the dust, and the reign of Zeus give place to that of a nobler
monarch just and perfect in all his ways.
"Thus years upon years passed, and ages circled by, until thirteen
generations of men had lived and died upon the earth. Then came
Heracles, the descendant of Io, to purge the world of vile monsters, and
to give freedom to those who were in bonds. And as he wandered from
land to land, to do the bidding of his master Eurystheus, he passed
through Ethiopia, and came to the region of the Caucasus, close by the
eastern Ocean's stream. There, as he gazed upward at the everlasting
peaks, he saw the great Titan fettered to the naked rock, while the
eagles circled about him, and the grim vulture digged its talons into
his flesh; and Heracles knew that this was Prometheus the ancient, the
friend of the human race and the foe of tyrants. He drew his bow, and
with his unerring arrows slew the eagles and the vulture; and then, with
mighty blows of his club, he broke the chains which Hephaestus of old
had wrought, and with his strong hands he loosed the long-suffering
prisoner from his fetters. And the earth rejoiced; and men everywhere
sang paeans of triumph, because freedom had been given to him who raised
them from the dust, and endowed them with the light of reason and the
fire of god-like intelligence."
This was the tale which Menelaus told to a company of eager listeners
seated about him, in the prow of the swift-sailing vessel.
"Now you should know," he added, "that every lover of freedom in Hellas
is in truth a child of Prometheus. And so when Apollo, through his
oracle, bade me fetch from Ilios the bones of the old Titan's children,
I understood that I was to gather the dust of all the Hellenes who have
died in the Trojan land, and carry it to Lacedaemon for honored burial.
And such is the errand upon which we are sailing to-day."
"But why is it said that every Hellene is a child of Prometheus?" asked
the captain. "Is it simply because he is a lover of freedom and a hater
of tyrants, as the old Titan was? Or is there a real line of kinship
reaching from us up to him?"
"I will tell you," answered the king. "While Prometheus hung fettered
to the bleak crag of Caucasus, and in grim patience bided the day of
deliverance, his son Deucalion tilled the plains of Phthia, and gathered
the ripe fruits on its sunny hills. And he dwelt in peace with all men,
cherishing in his heart the words which his father had spoken to him in
former times. But the world was full of wickedness, and there was
violence and bloodshed everywhere; and men no longer had respect for the
gods, or love for one another. 'We are a law unto ourselves,' they
cried. 'Why then should any one obey the behests of a master whom he
has not seen?' And they went on eating and drinking and making merry,
and gave no thanks to the giver of every good.
"At length, when their wickedness waxed so great that it was past all
bearing, Zeus spoke the word, and a mighty flood burst upon the land.
The west wind came sweeping in from the great sea, bringing in its arms
dark clouds laden with rain. And when Deucalion saw the veil of
darkness covering the sky, and heard the roar of the hurricane in the
valley below him, he called to Pyrrha, his golden-haired wife, and said,
'Surely, now, the day has come of which my father told me often,--the
day when floods of water shall come upon the earth to punish the
wickedness of men. Hasten into the ark which I have built, that, if so
be, we may save ourselves from the merciless waves.'
"And they made the ark ready, and put a great store of food in its broad
hold, and waited for the rising of the waters. Nor was it long; for the
torrents gushed down from the hillsides and filled the valleys, and the
plains were covered over, and the forests sank from sight beneath the
waves. But Deucalion and Pyrrha sat in the ark, and floated safely on
the bosom of the heaving waters. Day after day they drifted hither and
thither, until at last the ark rested on the lofty peak of Parnassus.
Then Deucalion and Pyrrha stepped out upon the dry ground; the rain
ceased to fall, the clouds were scattered, and the waters fled down the
valleys and hastened to the sea; but all the people of Hellas, save only
Deucalion and Pyrrha, had perished in the flood. And feeling their
loneliness in the midst of the ruin and death which had come upon the
land, these two built an altar to the gods, and offered thanks for their
deliverance. Then Zeus sent Hermes, the bright messenger, to speak
words of comfort to them.
"'Among all the folk of this land,' he said, 'you alone have lived
blameless lives, and with your clean hands and pure hearts have pleased
the immortals. Ask now what you most desire, and it shall be given to
you.'
"Then Deucalion wept as he bowed before the messenger. 'Grant that we
may see the earth teeming again with busy men,' he said.
"'It shall be as you wish,' answered Hermes. 'As you go down the
mountain into the plain, cover your faces with your mantles, and throw
the bones of your mother behind you.'
"Then the messenger left them, and they wondered between themselves what
was the meaning of his words.
"'Who is our mother?' asked Pyrrha.
"'Is not the earth the mother of us all?' then answered Deucalion. 'His
meaning is plain enough now.'
"So, as they went down Parnassus, they took up stones, and threw them
behind them. And the stones which Deucalion threw sprang up and were
mighty armed men; and those which Pyrrha threw became fair women. Thus
the hills and the valleys were peopled anew; and the earth smiled and
was glad that a new and happier day had dawned.
"But Deucalion went with Pyrrha into Locris; and there he built the city
of Opus, where he reigned king for many years; and there sons and
daughters, noble and beautiful, were born; but the noblest was Hellen,
from whom the Hellenes are descended, and our country of Hellas takes
its name.
"Do you understand now how every one of us can claim to be a son of
great Prometheus?"
_*ADVENTURE XVII.*_
*A CAUSE OF WAR.*
Time passed.
Menelaus had returned from Ilios, bringing with him the bones of his
countrymen who had died in that distant land. The great plague had been
stayed, for the anger of Apollo had been assuaged. And it had seemed
for a time that the old days of peace and plenty had come again to
Lacedaemon, never to depart.
Yet within a few weeks all was changed once more. There was silence in
the golden halls of Menelaus, and guests sat no longer as of yore around
the banquet tables. Anger and grief and uneasiness were plainly seen in
every face. Men gathered in the streets, and talked in wild, excited
tones about the strange things which had lately happened in Lacedaemon;
and the words "Helen," and "Paris," and "Troy," and "Ilios" seemed to be
on every tongue, and repeated with every sign of love and hatred, of
admiration and anxiety.
"Our good king, by his visit to Ilios, lifted the scourge of pestilence
and famine from our land," said one of the elders of the city; "but he
brought to our shores a greater evil,--even Paris, the handsome prince
of Troy. And now the glory of our country, the sun which delighted all
hearts, the peerless Helen, has been stolen by the perfidious one, and
carried to his home beyond the sea."
"And do you think there will be war?" asked a long-haired soldier,
toying with the short dagger in his belt.
"How can it be otherwise?" answered the elder. "When Menelaus won
peerless Helen for his wife, the noblest princes of Hellas promised with
solemn oaths that they would aid him against any one who should try
either by guile or by force to take her from him. Let the word be
carried from city to city, and all Hellas will soon be in arms. The
king, with his brother Agamemnon, has even now crossed over to Pylos to
take counsel with old Nestor, the wisest of men. When he comes back to
Lacedaemon, you may expect to see the watch-fires blazing on the
mountain-tops."
"No sight would be more welcome," answered the soldier.
"None, indeed, save only the towers and palaces of Troy in flames!"
returned the other earnestly.
* * * * *
Meanwhile, with troubled brow and anxious heart, Menelaus sat in
Nestor's halls, and told the story of his wrongs. Before him, seated on
a fair embroidered couch, was the aged king, listening with eager ears.
Behind him stood his brother Agamemnon, tall and strong, and with eye
and forehead like mighty Zeus. Close by his feet two heroes sat: on this
side, Antilochus, the valiant son of Nestor; and on that, sage
Palamedes, prince of Euboea's distant shores. The last had just arrived
at Pylos, and had not learned the errand which had brought the king of
Lacedaemon thither.
"Tell again the story of your visit to Troy," said Nestor. "Our guest,
good Palamedes, would fain understand it all; and I doubt not that he
may be of service to your cause."
Then Menelaus began once more at the beginning,--
"There is no need that I should speak of the long voyage to Ilios, or of
the causes which persuaded me to undertake it. When I drew near the
lofty citadels of Troy, and through the Scaean gates could see the rows
of stately dwellings and Athene's marble temple, and the busy
market-place of that great city, I stopped there in wonder, fearing to
venture farther. Then I sent a herald to the gates, who should make
known my name and lineage, and the errand upon which I had come; but I
waited without in the shade of a spreading beech, not far from the
towering wall. Before me stood the mighty city; behind me the fertile
plain sloped gently to the sea; in the distance I could see the tomb of
Ilus and the sparkling waters of Scamander; while much farther, and on
the other side, the wooded peak of Ida lifted itself toward the clouds.
But I had not long to view this scene; for a noble company of men led by
Paris himself, handsome as Apollo, came out of the gates to welcome me.
With words of kind greeting from the king, they bade me enter within the
walls. They led me through the Scaean gates and along the well-paved
streets, until we came, at last, to Priam's noble hall. It was a
splendid house, with broad doorways and polished porticos, and marble
columns richly carved. Within were fifty chambers, joining one another,
all walled with polished stone; in these abode the fifty sons of Priam
with their wedded wives. On the other side, and opening into the court,
were twelve chambers, built for his daughters; while over all were the
sleeping-rooms for that noble household, and around were galleries and
stairways leading to the king's great hall below.
"King Priam received me kindly, and, when he understood my errand, left
naught undone to help me forward with my wishes. Ten days I abode as a
guest in his halls, and when I would return to Lacedaemon he pressed me
to tarry yet a month in Troy. But the winds were fair, and the oracles
promised a pleasant voyage, and I begged that on the twelfth day he
would let me depart. So he and his sons brought many gifts, rich and
beautiful, and laid them at my feet,--a fair mantle, and a doublet, and
a talent of fine gold, and a sword with a silver-studded hilt, and a
drinking-cup richly engraved that I might remember them when I pour
libations to the gods.
"'Take these gifts,' said Priam, 'as tokens of our friendship for you,
and not only for you, but for all who dwell in distant Hellas. For we
too are the children of the immortals. Our mighty ancestor, Dardanus,
was the son of Zeus. He it was who built Dardania on the slopes of Ida,
where the waters gush in many silvery streams from underneath the rocky
earth. To Dardanus a son was born named Erichthonius, who, in his time,
was the richest of mortal men. And Erichthonius was the father of Tros,
to whom were born three noble sons, Ilus, Assaracus, and Ganymedes. The
last was the handsomest of men, and for his beauty's sake the gods
carried him to Ida's sacred summit to be the cup-bearer of Father Zeus
and the companion of the immortals. Then Ilus had a son, famous in song
and story, named Laomedon, who in his old age became my father. He,
though my sire, did many unwise things, and brought sore distress upon
the people of this land.
"'One day Apollo and Poseidon came to sacred Troy, disguised as humble
wayfarers seeking some employment. This they did because so ordered by
mighty Zeus.
"'"What can you do?" asked my father, when the two had told their
wishes.
"'Poseidon answered, "I am a builder of walls."
"'And Apollo answered, "I am a shepherd, and a tender of herds."
"'"It is well," answered Laomedon. "The wall-builder shall build a wall
around this Troy so high and strong that no enemy can pass it. The
shepherd shall tend my herds of crook-horned kine in the wooded glens of
Ida. If at the end of a twelvemonth, the wall be built, and if the
cattle thrive without loss of one, then I will pay you your hire: a
talent of gold, two tripods of silver, rich robes, and armor such as
heroes wear."
"'So the shining archer, and the shaker of the earth, served my father
through the year for the hire which he had promised. Poseidon built a
wall, high and fair, around the city; and Apollo tended the shambling
kine, and lost not one. But when they claimed their hire, Laomedon
drove them away with threats, telling them that he would bind their feet
and hands together, and sell them as slaves into some distant land,
having first sheared off their ears with his sharp sword. And the twain
went away with angry hearts, planning in their minds how they might
avenge themselves.
"'Back to his watery kingdom, and his golden palace beneath the sea,
went great Poseidon. He harnessed his steeds to his chariot, and rode
forth upon the waves. He loosed the mighty winds from their
prison-house, and sent them raging over the sea. The angry waters
rushed in upon the land; they covered the pastures and the rich plain of
Troy, and threatened even to beat down the mighty walls which their king
had built. Then, little by little, the flood shrank back again; and the
people went out of the city to see the waste of slime and black mud
which covered their meadows. While they were gazing upon the scene, a
fearful monster, sent by angry Poseidon, came up out of the sea, and
fell upon them, and drove them with hideous slaughter back to the city
gates; neither would he allow any one to come outside of the walls.
"'Then my father, in his great distress, clad himself in mourning, and
went in deep humility to the temple of Athene, where stands the
heaven-sent statue which we call Palladion. In sore distress, he called
unto the goddess, and besought to know the means whereby the anger of
Poseidon might be assuaged. And in solemn tones a voice came from the
moveless lips of the Palladion, saying,--
"'"Every day one of the maidens of Troy must be fed to the monster
outside of the walls. The shaker of the earth has spoken. Disobey him
not, lest more cruel punishments befall thee."
"'Then in every house of Troy there was sore distress and lamentation,
for no one knew upon whom the doom would soonest fall. And every day a
hapless maiden, young and fair, was chained to the great rock by the
shore, and left there to be the food of the pitiless monster. And the
people cried aloud in their distress, and cursed the mighty walls and
the high towers which had been reared by the unpaid labors of Poseidon;
and my father sat upon his high seat, and trembled because of the dire
calamities which his own deeds had brought upon his people.
"'At last, after many humbler victims had perished, the lot fell upon
the fairest of my sisters, Hesione, my father's best-loved daughter. In
sorrow we arrayed her in garments befitting one doomed to an untimely
death; and when we had bidden her a last farewell, we gave her to the
heralds to lead forth to the place of sacrifice. Just then, however, a
noble stranger, taller and more stately than any man in Troy, came down
the street from the Scaean gate. Fair-haired and blue-eyed, handsome
and strong, he seemed a very god to all who looked upon him. Over his
shoulder he wore the tawny skin of a mighty lion, while in his hand he
carried a club most wonderful to behold. And the people, as he passed,
prayed him that he would free our city from the dread monster who was
robbing us of our fair loved ones.
"'"I know that thou art a god!" cried my father, when he saw the
stranger. "I pray thee, save my daughter, who even now is being led
forth to a cruel death!"
"'"You make mistake," answered the fair stranger. "I am not one of the
gods. My name is Heracles, and like you I am mortal. Yet I may help
you in this your time of need."