Read Ebook: Heathen mythology Illustrated by extracts from the most celebrated writers both ancient and modern by Various

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"The Golden age was first; when man yet new, No rule but uncorrupted reason knew, And with a native bent did good pursue! Unforced by punishment, unawed by fear, His words were simple, and his soul sincere. Needless was written law, when none oppressed, The law of man was written in his breast; No suppliant crowds before the judge appeared, No court erected yet, nor cause was heard; But all was safe, for conscience was their guard: The mountain trees in distant prospects please, Ere yet the pine descended to the seas; Ere sails were spread new oceans to explore, And happy mortals unconcerned for more, Confined their wishes to their native shore: No walls were yet, nor fence, nor moat, nor mound, Nor drum was heard, nor trumpets' angry sound; Nor swords were forged, but void of care or crime, The soft creation slept away their time; The teeming earth, yet guiltless of the plough, And unprovoked did fruitful stores allow; Content with food, which nature freely bred, On wildings and on strawberries they fed: The flowers unsown in fields and meadows reigned, And western winds immortal spring maintained; In following years the bearded corn ensued, From earth unasked, nor was that earth renewed; From veins of valleys, milk and nectar broke, And honey sweating thro' the pores of oak."

OVID.

From the gaieties and f?tes which then took place arose the name of Saturnalia, or f?tes of Saturn, which lasted three, four, and five days, and took place in December. All work was stayed, friend interchanged gifts with friend, the preparations for war and the execution of criminals were alike suspended, while masters waited on their slaves at table, in remembrance of the ideas of liberty and equality, which existed in ancient days.

Janus was represented supported by a staff, with a key in his hand, as he was believed to be the inventor of doors and of locks. From his name came the month of January. He worshipped at twelve altars, to represent the twelve months; and wore occasionally four faces, as tokens of the four seasons of the year. At Rome, in which his temple was placed, it was open in the time of war, and shut during that of peace.

Saturn, or Time, is represented sometimes on a flying chariot, and sometimes on a throne, under the figure of an old and bearded man, severe in aspect, thin and yet robust, his eyes marked by a stern light; a veil on his head, and a serpent round his waist; while in his hand he carries a harp. In later times he is represented with a scythe.

"Unfathomable sea! whose waves are years; Ocean of Time, whose waters of deep woe Are brackish with the salt of human tears; Thou shoreless flood, which in thy ebb and flow Claspest the limits of mortality! And sick of prey, yet howling on for more, Vomitest wrecks on its inhospitable shore. Treacherous in calm and terrible in storm, Who shall put forth on thee, Unfathomable sea?"

SHELLEY.

With his scythe and with his wings, our eyes are familiar, as, to the present day, he is never drawn without these accompaniments.

"To one that marks the quick and certain round Of year on year, and finds that every day Brings its grey hair, or bears a leaf away From the full glory with which life is crowned, Ere youth becomes a shade, and fame a sound: Surely to one that feels his foot on sand Unsure, the bright and ever visible hand Of Time, points far above the lowly bound Of pride that perishes: and leads the eye To loftier objects and diviner ends; A tranquil strength, sublime humility, A knowledge of ourselves, a faith in friends, A sympathy for all things born to die, With cheerful love for those whom truth attends."

LAMAN BLANCHARD.

This fable is easy of explanation. Time is the child of heaven and earth; he has wings because he flies rapidly, a scythe because he destroys all, an hour-glass to measure his course equally; and the serpent is the symbol of eternity, which has neither a beginning nor an end. He slew his father, because, the world and time once created, he could exist no longer; he devoured his infants because time destroys all, and he threw them from his stomach because time returns with the years and days; and this part of the fable is also an image of the operations which nature accomplishes under the influence of time. He did not devour Jupiter, as he represents the celestial regions, nor Juno, she being the prototype of the air: Time, mighty and all-destroying as he is, having no influence over the elements.

CYBELE, VESTA.

This goddess was the daughter of Uranus, being the sister and wife of Saturn. As soon as she was born, she was exposed on a mountain, but being preserved and suckled by some of the wild beasts of the forest, she received the name of Cybele from the mountain where her life had been preserved. She is called also the ancient Vesta, to distinguish her from her daughter Vesta, who, with her mother, is also called Cybele. But the Deity of whom we now write is the earth, and is easy to distinguish from her daughter. In several temples of the ancients, the statues of Cybele were only a piece of stone, meant to represent the stability of the earth.

This great Goddess saw and became enamoured of a shepherd, who repulsed her affection, being in love with a mortal nymph; and rather than submit to the tyrannical passion of Cybele, he is said to have destroyed himself, and the goddess metamorphosed him into a pine-tree.

In the mythology of every country, this Deity is found, though under various names. She is represented with keys in her hand, her head crowned with rising turrets, and sometimes with the leaves of an oak. She is also seen with many breasts, to intimate that the earth gives aliment to all living creatures.

To her daughter, who presided over the fiery element, Numa Pompilius consecrated an altar, where virgins, named Vestals, maintained perpetual fire. At Delphi and at Athens the priestesses were not virgins, as at the other temples, but widows who were past the time of marriage.

It was the employment of the Vestals to take care that the sacred fire of Vesta was not extinguished, for if it ever happened, it was deemed the prognostic of great calamities to the state: the offender was punished for negligence, and severely scourged by the high priest. The privileges of the Vestals were great: they had the most honourable seats at the public games and festivals, a lictor preceded them when they walked in public; they were carried in chariots when they pleased, and had the power of pardoning criminals if they encountered them on the way to execution, and the meeting was declared to be purely accidental.

Such of them as forgot their vow, were placed in a large hole under the earth, where a bed was placed, with a little bread, wine, oil, and a lighted lamp: the guilty Vestal was stripped of the habit of her order, and compelled to descend into the subterranean cavity, which was immediately shut, and she was left to die of hunger.

ANON.

JUPITER.

The nymphs of mount Ida, to whom Cybele had confided her son, educated him with great care; but his cries being likely to call the attention of Saturn and Titan, the priests invented a dance accompanied with noise, called the Dactyl, in which they interchanged blows on steel bucklers. His nourishment was received from a goat, who was afterwards placed among the heavenly constellations, having given his skin to form a shield, and one of his horns, which was presented to the nymphs, and named the Horn of Plenty. As Jupiter emerged from infancy, we have seen he had to strive with the Titans, who disputed with him the right to reign in Heaven.

The first of their feats was to heap mountain on mountain in order to scale the walls of Heaven; they then threw fragments of rocks and burning trees against "high Olympus."

"But vainly came Typhaeus on, And vainly huge Porphyrion, Fierce Rhoetus of the vengeful stroke, And Minias strong as mountain oak, With bold Encelaedas, to heaven who strove To dart the trees, uprooted, from the grove:

For weak their might against the shield Which Pallas' matchless arm did wield; While quick against the giant foes Juno, and ardent Vulcan, rose; And to the fight the young Apollo sped, Glittering afar with bows and arrows dread,

Who bathing in Castalian dew, His tresses loose of golden hue, Rejoicing in his youth is seen Amid the Lycian valleys green, Or in the Delian groves will sport oftwhile Amid the flowers that deck his native isle."

HORACE.

The Gods at first defended themselves with great courage, but at the appearance of the hundred-headed Typhon, all, save Bacchus, sought safety in flight, and hid themselves in Egypt, where they obtained refuge under various forms: from the different disguises they then assumed, may be traced the worship rendered by the Egyptians to both animals and vegetables.

Typhon, who thus, by his mere appearance, seemed to turn the tide of war, is thus described:

HESIOD.

Notwithstanding the dire appearance of this monster, Bacchus fought bravely against the foes of Heaven, and took the form of a Lion, while animated by the cries of Jupiter, who shouted "Courage, courage!" his bravery turned the tide of war.

"And now the murmur of incitement flies, All ranged in martial order, through the skies; Here Jove above the rest conspicuous shined, In valour equal to his strength his mind; Erect and dauntless see the thunderer stand, The bolts red hissing from his vengeful hand; He walks majestic round the starry frame; And now the lightnings from Olympus flame. The earth wide blazes with the fires of Jove, Nor the flash spares the verdure of the grove."

HESIOD.

The invaders, at length, were overthrown, and crushed beneath the mountains which they themselves had prepared to execute their vengeance on Jupiter. Many times, though vainly, the Titans sought to avenge their defeat; and Olympus, from this time, was only troubled by internal dissensions.

KEATS' HYPERION.

After his victory, Jupiter, who had driven Saturn from Heaven, and was in consequence its undisputed king, espoused Juno his sister. The commencement of their union was a happy one, and was called the age of silver, being an era of virtue, less pure, however, than that of the age of gold.

"But when good Saturn banished from above Was driven to hell, the world was under Jove. Succeeding times a silver age behold, Excelling brass, but more excelled by gold; Then summer, autumn, winter did appear, And spring was but a season of the year. The sun his annual course obliquely made, Good days contracted and enlarged the bad. Then air with sultry heat began to glow; The wings of winds were clogged with ice and snow; And shivering mortals into houses driven, Sought shelter from the inclemency of heaven. Those houses then were caves or homely sheds, With twining osiers fenced, and moss their beds: Then ploughs for seed the fruitful farrows broke, And oxen laboured first beneath the yoke."

OVID.

Nor was crime long in making its appearance. Hyacon, King of Arcadia, violated all the laws of hospitality by the massacre of his guests. He had the cruelty to offer up to Jupiter, in one of the high festivals, the members of a slave, as an offering to the God. But his punishment was as swift as his conduct had been atrocious: his palace was reduced to ashes, and his form was changed into that of a wolf. From this Jupiter took the name which denotes him an avenger of the laws of hospitality.

Jupiter is also distinguished by the name of Ammon from the following circumstance:

Bacchus being in the midst of the sands of Arabia, was seized with a thirst so burning, that he was reduced to long even for a drop of water. Jupiter presented himself to him under the form of a battering-ram, and striking the earth, caused the grateful liquid to spring forth in abundance. Bacchus, to commemorate the deed, erected a temple to his benefactor in the deserts of Lybia, under the name of Jupiter Ammon, i. e.--sandy.

Enraged at this daring, Jupiter had him conveyed to Mount Caucasus, where being chained to the rock, a vulture preyed upon his entrails, which grew as fast as they were devoured, thus subjecting him to a never dying torture.

SHELLEY.

This provoked the vengeance of Jupiter, and he ordered Vulcan to create a female, whom they called Pandora. All the Gods vied in making presents. Venus gave her beauty, and the art of pleasing; Apollo taught her to sing; Mercury instructed her in eloquence; Minerva gave her the most rich and splendid ornaments. From these valuable presents which she received from the Gods, the woman was called Pandora, which intimates that she had received every necessary gift. Jupiter, after this, gave her a beautiful box, which she was ordered to present to the man who married her; and by the command of the god, Mercury conducted her to Prometheus. The artful mortal was sensible of the deceit; and as he had always distrusted Jupiter, he sent away Pandora without suffering himself to be captivated by her charms.

"He spoke, and told to Mulciber his will, And smiling bade him his command fulfil; To use his greatest art, his nicest care, To frame a creature exquisitely fair; To temper well the clay with water, then To add the vigour and the voice of men; To let her first in virgin lustre shine, In form a goddess, with a bloom divine; And next the sire demands Minerva's aid, In all her various skill to train the maid Bids her the secrets of the loom impart, To cast a curious thread with happy heart; And golden Venus was to teach the fair The wiles of love, and to improve her air; And then in awful majesty to shed A thousand graceful charms around her head. Next Hermes, artful god, must form her mind, One day to torture, and the next be kind: With manners all deceitful, and her tongue Fraught with abuse, and with detraction hung; Jove gave the mandate, and the gods obeyed: First Vulcan formed of earth the blushing maid; Minerva next performed the task assigned, With every female art adorned her mind; To her the Beauties and the Graces join, Around her person, lo! the diamonds shine. To deck her brows the fair tressed seasons bring, A garland breathing all the sweets of spring: Each present Pallas gives its proper place, And adds to every ornament a grace! Next Hermes taught the fair the heart to move With all the false alluring arts of love, Her manners all deceitful, and her tongue With falsehoods fruitful, and detraction hung; The finished maid the gods Pandora call, Because a tribute she received from all; And thus 'twas Jove's command the sex began A lovely mischief to the soul of man! Within her hand the nymph a casket bears, Full of diseases and corroding cares: Which opened, they to taint the world begin And Hope alone remained entire within! Such was the fatal present from above, And such the will of cloud compelling Jove: And now unnumbered woes o'er mortals reign Alike infected is the land and main; O'er human race distempers silent stray, And multiply their strength by night and day! 'Twas Jove's decree they should in silence rove, For who is able to contend with Jove?"

HESIOD.

When the box was opened, there issued from it a multitude of evils and distempers, which dispersed themselves over the world, and which from that fatal moment have never ceased to afflict the human race. Hope alone remained at the bottom, and that only has the power of easing the labours of man, and rendering his troubles less painful.

"But thou, oh! Hope, with eyes so fair, What was thy delighted measure? Still it whispered promised pleasure, And bade the lovely scenes at distance hail! Still would her touch the strain prolong, And from the rocks, the woods, the vale, She called on Echo still throughout the song; And where her sweetest theme she chose A soft responsive voice was heard at every close, And Hope, enchanted, smiled and waved her golden hair!"

COLLINS.

"Hope sets the stamp of vanity on all, That men have deemed substantial since the fall, Yet has the wondrous virtue to educe, From emptiness itself, a real use; And while she takes, as at a father's hand, What health and sober appetite demand, From fading good derives with chemic art That lasting happiness, a thankful heart. Hope with uplifted foot set free from earth Pants for the place of her ethereal birth; Hope, as an anchor firm and sure, holds fast The Christian vessel, and defies the blast. Hope! nothing else can nourish and secure His new born virtue, and preserve him pure. Hope! let the wretch once conscious of the joy, Whom now despairing agonies destroy, Speak, for he can, and none so well as he, What treasures centre, what delights in thee. Had he the gems, the spices, and the land That boasts the treasure, all at his command, The fragrant grove, th' inestimable mine, Were light when weighed against one smile of thine."

COWPER.

After this commenced the age of steel, when even Jupiter abandoned himself to the fiery passions of love, jealousy, and vengeance.

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