Homepage
Login
Profile
BookClubs
dmBox
Read Ebook: 商君書 by Shang Yang BCE
Font size:
Background color:
Text color:
Add to tbrJar First Page Next Page
Ebook has 56 lines and 3925 words, and 2 pages
"Myths are told and songs are chanted Full of promptings and suggestions."
MYTHOLOGY IN MARBLE
LOUIE M. BELL
Educational Publishing Company Boston New York Chicago San Francisco
"All passes. Art alone Enduring stays to us; The bust outlasts the throne,-- The coin, Tiberius;
"Even the gods must go; Only the lofty rhyme Not countless years o'erthrow,-- Not long array of time.
"Paint, chisel, then, or write; But, that the work surpass, With the hard fashion fight,-- With the resisting mass."
--Austin Dobson.
Index
PREFACE
"They are coming back in might, Olympic gods, to claim their ancient right. Shall then the sacred majesty of old, The grace that holy was, the noble rage, Temper our strife, abate our greed for gold, Make fine our modern age?"
In this practical age it is not to be supposed that busy people in general have time to make a thorough study of mythologic science: but to share understandingly the love of sculpture now awakened in the public mind, and for a better appreciation of our galleries of casts, it is desirable to have at least a suggestive knowledge of the myths and legends which have inspired so many artists in the moulding of their statues, for--
"Even in ruins of their marble limbs They breathe of that far world wherefrom they came, Of liquid light and harmonies serene, Lost halls of heaven and fair Olympian air."
In this book the aim has been to introduce some of the best specimens of mythologic sculpture to those who wish to become acquainted with things which add to the resources of a happy imagination, but who find it impracticable to study set treatises on "fossil theology," or to consider the historical development of art.
An unpretentious exposition of the myths has been given together with their popular interpretations. The poets, ever the best commentators on mythology and sculpture, are freely quoted. These metrical lines, relating either to the statues or the stories, may serve to stamp indelibly on the mind facts otherwise effaceable.
A table of Greek and Roman synonymous deities and a list of suggestive readings in modern literature are appended.
The Gods and Their Makers.
"Want you the brand and scope of man, he is Maker of Gods. A novice at the trade, He made God out of winds and thunder clouds, The unpropitious seasons, threatening moons, And the invisible ambuscade of death. Poor frightened babe, he worshiped with a wail, Clutching his mother earth, and in her face Burying his fears. Then childlike artist grown He craved for form, and from the shapes around Contorted fair the figure of himself, Moulded his deities in wood and stone Around his bed, his banquet board, his tomb As yet a bungler, but when youth infused Into the sap and marrow of his brain The vernal subtleties of love, he dreamed Of gods as fair as he himself would be, Majestic, abstract, yet with solid power To make a goddess tremble; and behold, Under the yearning passion of his thought The embryonic marble sloughed its shell, And gods of strength and beauty trod the earth, Their foreheads high in heaven."
Jupiter.
"The Father of Gods."
--MILTON.
STORY.
THE KING OF THE HEAVENS.
"When gods began with wrath, And war rose up between their brows, Some choosing to cast Cronus from his throne, That Zeus might king it there, and some in haste, With opposite oaths, that they would have no Zeus To rule the gods forever."
Cronus, the father of Jupiter, was in the habit of swallowing his children at birth, but when Jupiter was born his mother, Rhea, hid him in a cave and gave to the unnatural father a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes which he accepted, unaware of the deception.
Jupiter grew up under the care of the nymphs, and, after a mighty conflict, overthrew the dynasty of the old gods and took possession of the throne and dominion of Cronus. He was then supreme ruler of gods and men, but had viceroys of the sea and the regions of the dead in Neptune and Pluto. His lawful wife, Juno, reigned with him in equal sovereignty. Their children were Mars, Vulcan and Hebe. Although wedded to Juno, Jupiter as the deity of the visible heavens, had brides and children in many lands. The abode of this wisest and most glorious of the divinities was on Mt. Olympus in the unclouded ether.
INTERPRETATION.
The strange story of Cronus, who swallowed his own children, has reference to the consumption and reproduction continually going on in nature.
The words Jupiter, Zeus, Jove, mean heaven, father, almighty.
ART.
This Carrara marble head was found at Otricoli, a small town near Rome, in 1775, and is called the most beautiful of all the representations of Jupiter. The high forehead is made to appear still higher by the lines of the hair which meet in the center in a pointed arch. A deep furrow divides the hair from the face. The curled beard seems admirably in keeping with Olympian dignity.
The work was probably executed in Rome in about the first century.
Juno.
"The Ox-eyed Queen."
--E. B. BROWNING.
STORY.
THE GODDESS OF MARRIAGE.
"Wedding is great Juno's crown: Oh, blessed bond of board and bed! 'Tis Hymen peoples every town; High wedlock then be honored; Honor, high honor and renown, To Hymen, god of every town."
Juno's marriage to Jupiter was one of the most auspicious events that ever took place on Mt. Olympus. To their union were traced all the blessings of nature and when they met as on Mt. Ida in a golden cloud, sweet and fragrant flowers sprang up around them.
It is recorded, however, that they had many quarrels and wranglings, the blame of which was usually traced to Juno. She was frequently angry, jealous and quarrelsome, and her character was proud and not free from bitterness. The Romans believed that every woman had her Juno who protected her through life. The peacock was sacred to Juno.
"The white-armed Juno there enthroned was seen, Sovereign of heaven and Jove's imperious queen; Still near his queen her watchful peacock spreads His thousand eyes, his circling luster sheds; Where'er she bends the living radiance burns And floats majestic as the goddess turns."
INTERPRETATION.
Juno is the personification of what may be called the "female powers of the heavens, that is, the atmosphere with its fickle, yet fertilizing qualities." That phase of her life as bride is obviously associated with the phenomena of the heavens in the spring time when the return of dazzling light and warmth spreads everywhere affectionate gaiety and blooming of new life.
ART.
This marble head is in the Villa Ludovisi, Rome, and is considered the most beautiful of all the representations of Juno. It expresses great energy of character united with the utmost feminine grace and purity. The name of the artist is unknown, but he is presumed to have been an Athenian.
Apollo Belvedere.
"And the cold marble leapt to life a god."
--PIKE.
STORY.
A PYTHIAN GOD.
Add to tbrJar First Page Next Page