He was enamoured of Antiope, Alcmena, Danae, Leda, Semele, Europa, Calista,
and a crowd of other goddesses and mortals.
The principal names given to Jupiter are the Thunderer, the Avenger, the
God of Day, the God of the Worlds, and lastly of Olympus, in which he
dwelt, and on which poets and painters have exercised their imaginations.
The figures of Jupiter have varied according to the circumstances and the
times in which they have appeared. He has been represented as a swan, a
bull, a shower of gold, and as a cuckoo: but Homer appears to have inspired
ideas of the most noble kinds to the sculptors of antiquity. The divine
poet represents the King of Gods seated on a golden throne, at the feet of
which are two cups, containing the principle of good and evil. His brow
laden with {24} dark clouds; his eyes darting lightning from beneath their
lids; and his chin covered with a majestic beard. In one hand the sceptre,
in the other a thunderbolt. The virtues are at his side: at his feet the
eagle who bears the thunderbolt. One frown from his eyes makes the whole
earth tremble.
[Illustration]
The Olympian games in Greece were instituted in honour of this God, from
those celebrated at Olympus. The following, perhaps the finest description
we have of Jupiter, while granting the prayer of Achilles, is from Homer's
Iliad.
"Twelve days were passed, and now the dawning light,
The Gods had summoned to the Olympian height.
Jove first ascending from the watery bowers,
Leads the long order of ethereal powers.
When like the morning mist in early days,
Rose from the flood the daughter of the seas;
And to the seats divine her flight addressed.
There far apart, and high above the rest
The Thunderer sat; where old Olympus shrouds
His hundred heads in heaven, and props the clouds.
Suppliant the Goddess stood: one hand she placed
Beneath his beard, and one his knees embraced:
'If e'er, O father of the Gods!' she said,
'My words could please thee, or my actions aid;
Some marks of honour on my son bestow,
And pay in glory what in life you owe.
Fame is at least by heavenly promise due,
To life so short, and now dishonoured too.
Avenge this wrong, oh ever just and wise;
Let Greece be humbled, and the Trojans rise;
Till the proud king, and all the Achaian race,
Shall heap with honours him they now disgrace.'"