Зображення сторінки
PDF
ePub

Parnassus alone, of the moun

[ocr errors]

§ 29. Deucalion and Pyrrha. tains, overtopped the waves; and there Deucalion, son of Prometheus, and his wife Pyrrha, daughter of Epimetheus, found refuge he a just man and she a faithful worshipper of the gods. Jupiter, remembering the harmless lives and pious demeanor of this pair, caused the waters to recede, the sea to return to its shores, and the rivers to their channels. Then Deucalion and Pyrrha, entering a temple, defaced with slime, approached the unkindled altar, and, falling prostrate, prayed for guidance and aid. The oracle' answered, "Depart from the temple with head veiled and garments unbound, and cast behind you the bones of your mother." They heard the words with astonishment. Pyrrha first broke silence: "We cannot obey; we dare not profane the remains of our parents." They sought the woods, and revolved the oracle in their minds. At last Deucalion spoke: "Either my wit fails me, or the command is one we may obey without impiety. The earth is the great parent of all; the stones are her bones; these we may cast behind us; this, I think, the oracle means. At least, to try will harm us not." They veiled their faces, unbound their garments, and, picking up stones, cast them behind them. The stones began to grow soft, and to assume shape. By degrees, they put on a rude resemblance to the human form. Those thrown by Deucalion became men; those by Pyrrha, women. It was a hard race that sprang up, and well adapted to labor.

$ 30. The Demigods and Heroes. As preceding the Age of Iron, Hesiod mentions an Age of Demigods and Heroes. Since, however, these demigods and heroes were, many of them, reputed to have been directly descended from Deucalion, their epoch must be regarded as subsequent to the deluge. The hero, Hellen, son of Deucalion and Pyrrha, became the ancestor of the Hellenes or Greeks. The Æolians and Dorians were, according to legend, descended from his sons Æolus and Dorus; from his son Xuthus, the Achæans and Ionians derived their origin.

Another great division of the Greek people, the Pelasgic, resi

1 Oracles, see §§ 33, 38, and Commentary.

dent in the Peloponnesus or southern portion of the peninsula, was said to have sprung from a different stock of heroes, that of Pelasgus, son of Phoroneus of Argos, and grandson of the rivergod Inachus.

The demigods and heroes were of matchless worth and valor. Their adventures form the subject of many of the succeeding chapters. They were the chieftains of the Theban and the Trojan wars and of numerous other military or predatory expeditions.

Since most of the myths in Chapters IV to XXVII are best known to English poetry in their Latin form, the Latin designations, or Latinized forms of Greek names, have been retained; but, for the poetic conception of all these stories, except such as are contained in Sections 55, 56, 98 and 124, we are indebted not to the Roman but the Greek imagination.

q

CHAPTER V.

ATTRIBUTES OF THE GODS OF HEAVEN.1

1. Olympus.-The heaven of the Greek gods was the summit of an ideal mountain called Olympus. 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." 8

1 Consult, in general, corresponding sections of the Commentary.

2 Symbolized on earth by Mt. Olympus in Thessaly.

3 Cowper's translation.

[ocr errors]

§ 32. The Great Gods. - The gods of Heaven were the following:

Jupiter (Zeus).2

His daughter, Minerva (Athene), 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 Phœbus, and Diana (Artemis). His daughter by Dione, - Venus (Aphrodite).3

[blocks in formation]

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 (Posidon), ruler of the sea.

:

$33. Jupiter (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 worshipped with various rites in different lands, and to him were sacred everywhere the loftiest trees and the grandest mountain peaks. He required of his worshippers 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

1 See Commentary, § 32, for Gladstone's latest utterance on the number of the Olympians.

2 The names included in parentheses are distinctively Greek, the others being Roman equivalents, Latin names, or names common to both Greek and Roman usage. 3 See Commentary, § 40. 4 On the Latin name, see Commentary, § 33.

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 Phoenicians, 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.

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.

[ocr errors]

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

« НазадПродовжити »