P. 193, c. 2.—“Apollo of the Vatican.” See THE CHAUTAUQUAN for November.
“Python.” Grecian legends tell of a deluge in which Jupiter destroyed
all men on account of their wickedness, except one man and his wife.
From the mud left on the earth from this deluge sprang this serpent,
or Python. He lived in the caves of Mount Parnassus, but was slain by
Apollo, who commemorated his victory by establishing the Pythian games.
“Forehead of Jupiter.” Minerva, or the goddess of Wisdom, is said to
have sprung from the forehead of Jupiter.
“Graces.” The Grecian goddesses which had care of social life and its
pleasures. They inspired all the virtues and accomplishments which make
human intercourse delightful, and were the “patronesses of whatever is
graceful and beautiful in nature and art.”
P. 193, c. 2.—“Pygmalion,” pyg-ma´li-on. A legendary king of Cyprus. He
is said to have made an ivory statue of a maiden, of such rare beauty
that he fell in love with it and prayed Venus to endow it with life.
She granted his request, and Pygmalion married the maiden.
“Pantheon,” pan-the´on. Literally, the word means to all the gods; _i.
e._, a temple or work dedicated to all the divinities of a nation.
“Transcendentalists.” Those persons who in their reasoning go beyond
the facts and principles which spring from experience, and claim a
knowledge of spiritual and immaterial things. It is also applied to
those whose philosophy is vague and indefinite.
P. 194, c. 2.—“Voss.” (1751-1826.) A German scholar. He was early
in life a tutor, and afterward an editor at Göttingen. In 1778 he
became rector of the gymnasium at Ottendorf. In 1781 he published
a translation of the Odyssey, which has been the standard German
translation ever since. He followed this by many original poems, an
edition of Virgil’s Georgics, a translation of the Iliad, and in 1799 a
translation of the Æneid. Besides these he made translations from many
other Latin and Greek writers, as well as from the French and English.
He engaged in several controversies with Heyne on literary subjects,
and in 1819 an essay in which he attacked the Roman Catholic and the
Protestant mystics, caused much discussion.
P. 195, c. 1.—“Faustus.” Dr. Johann Faustus, or Faust, is a character
belonging to German tradition. “He was a celebrated Franconian, born
about 1480. He is said to have studied magic at Cracow. Having mastered
all the secret sciences, and being dissatisfied at the shallowness of
human knowledge, he made an agreement with the evil one, according to
which the devil was to serve Faust for full twenty-four years, after
which Faust’s soul was to be delivered to eternal damnation. The
contract, signed by Faust with his own blood, contained the following
conditions: ‘(1) He shall renounce God and all celestial hosts; (2)
he shall be an enemy of all mankind; (3) he shall not obey priests;
(4) he shall not go to church or partake of the holy sacraments; (5)
he shall hate and shun wedlock.’” Faust now is attended by a spirit,
Mephistopheles, who invents all sorts of dissipation to attract him. He
wearies of his life, but can not escape. Toward the end of the period
he seeks the church, but all flee from him. At last he is carried away
by the evil spirit. It is said that a man who was believed to have sold
himself to the devil did live during the time of Melancthon and Luther.
Goethe, in his poem, attempts to solve the mystery of the legend. He
represents his hero as under the influence of evil that his longing for
knowledge has caused, but does not permit the evil to gain the mastery
in the end. Faust is represented as seeking and finding in a work which
is for the benefit of others, the relief which learning, pleasure, art
and culture have denied him. The selection here given is from the first
part of the poem, where Faust is watching the sunset at the close of
Easter Sunday.
P. 195, c. 2.—“Wagner.”—“Is a very dull pedant. All that Faust disdains
as the dry bones and mere lumber of erudition, is choice meat and drink
for the intellectual constitution of Wagner. No amount of our modern
preparations for examinations would have been too great for him. He
is charmed with dead _formulas_, and can not have too many of them
impressed upon his memory. * * * The character of this ‘dry-as-dust’
pedant is admirably contrasted with that of Faustus.”—_Gostwick and
Harrison._
“Propagandist,” prop´a-gan=´=dist. One who devotes himself to extending
any system or principles.
P. 196, c. 1.—“Rose.” In the Gothic system not only the rose was
copied, but the oak, oak leaves, thistle, the ivy, the holly, and all
leaves and vegetable forms that could be copied.
“Foliated.” Where the mullions or bars which separate the lights in
windows are broken into curves, arches and flowing lines, and leaf-like
ornaments are added, we have foliated tracery.