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The first fruit of the mechanical skill of Vulcan, was invented as a
punishment for Juno, to whom, as it was through her he fell from heaven, he
attributed his deformity. This was a throne of gold, with secret springs,
on which the goddess no sooner sate, than she {75} found herself unable to
move. In vain the Gods attempted to deliver her; with Vulcan, only rested
the secret and the power to disenthral her; and as the price of her
freedom, Juno promised to procure him a wife from amongst the heavenly
conclave. Vulcan fixed his desires on Minerva; the Goddess of Wisdom,
however, laughed his suit to scorn, and Vulcan is represented as having
been very violent at his rejection.
Juno then pressed the suit of her son on Venus, whose power was already
established at the celestial court. The beautiful Goddess rejected him with
horror, and Juno overwhelmed her with supplications; but as these could not
subdue the ugliness of the suitor, she implored Jupiter to exercise his
power; and with all the determination of a Goddess, poured so many
entreaties, accompanied with tears, that the king of heaven must have
complied, had it not been for the more touching and feminine attributes of
Venus, the soft eyes of whom filled with tears, and whose downy cheek grew
pale, at the idea of the union.
But Destiny, the irrevocable, interposed, and pronounced the decree by
which the most beautiful of the Goddesses, was united to the most unsightly
of the Gods. During the festival which followed their union, the altar of
Hymen was that which received all the offerings.
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A marriage thus assorted, however, was not likely to prove a happy one, and
ere long it was followed by a discovery which {76} created an ecstacy among
the scandal-mongers of Olympus. This was no less than an improper liason
between Mars, God of War, and the charming Venus. Vulcan, suspecting the
infidelity of his wife, formed an invisible net around them, and drew upon
the lovers the laughter of the remaining divinities. Mars, betwixt rage and
confusion, retired for a time to Thrace, and Venus took refuge in the isle
of Cyprus, where she gave birth to Cupid.
Vulcan, as we have recorded, was celebrated for the ingenious works and
automatical figures which he made, and many speak of two golden statues,
which not only seemed animated, but which walked by his side, and assisted
him in working metals.
"Then from the anvil the lame artist rose,
Wide with distorted leg, oblique he goes;
And stills the bellows, and in order laid,
Locks in their chests his instruments of trade:
With his huge sceptre graced, and red attire,
Came halting forth the sovereign of the fire:
The monarch's steps two female forms uphold,
That moved and breathed in animated gold.
To whom was voice, and sense, and science given
Of works divine, such wonders are in heaven!"