 This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. BULFINCH'S METHOLOGY THE AGE OF FABLE CHAPTER XXVIII THE FALL OF CHROY RETURN OF THE GREEKS ORESTES AND ELECTRA THE FALL OF CHROY The story of the Iliad ends with the death of Hector, and it is from the Odyssey and later poems that we learn the fate of the other heroes. After the death of Hector, Troy did not immediately fall, but receiving aid from new allies still continued its resistance. One of these allies was Memnon, the Ethiopian Prince, whose story we have already told. Another was Penthesalia, Queen of the Amazons, who came with a band of female warriors. All the authorities attest their valor and the fearful effect of their war cry. Penthesalia slew many of the bravest warriors, but was at last slain by Achilles. But when the hero bent over his fallen foe, and contemplated her beauty, youth, and valor, he bitterly regretted his victory. Therestes, an insolvent brawler and demagogue, ridiculed his grief, and was in consequence slain by the hero. Achilles by chance had seen Polly Zena, daughter of King Priam, perhaps on the occasion of the truce which was allowed the Trojans for the burial of Hector. He was captivated with her charms, and to win her in marriage, agreed to use his influence with the Greeks to grant peace to Troy. While in the temple of Apollo, negotiating the marriage, Paris discharged at him a poisoned arrow which, guided by Apollo, wounded Achilles in the heel, the only vulnerable part about him. For Thetes, his mother, had dipped him when an infant in the river Styx, which made every part of him invulnerable, except the heel by which she held him. The story of the invulnerability of Achilles is not found in Homer, and is inconsistent with his account. For how could Achilles require the aid of celestial armor if he were invulnerable? The body of Achilles, so treacherously slain, was rescued by Ajax and Ulysses. Thetes directed the Greeks to bestow her son's armor on the hero who of all the survivors should be judged most deserving of it. Ajax and Ulysses were the only claimants. A select number of the other chiefs were appointed to award the prize. It was awarded to Ulysses, thus placing wisdom before valor, whereupon Ajax slew himself. On the spot where his blood sank into the earth, a flower sprang up, called the hyacinth, bearing on its leaves the first two letters of the name of Ajax. I, the Greek for woe, thus Ajax is a clement with the boy Hyacinthus, for the honor of giving birth to this flower. There is a species of Larkspur, which represents the hyacinth of the poets in preserving the memory of this event, the Delphinium Ajakis, Ajax Larkspur. It was now discovered that Troy could not be taken but by the aid of the arrows of Hercules. They were in possession of Philoctetes, the friend who had been with Hercules, at the last and lighted his funeral pyre. Philoctetes had joined the Grecian expedition against Troy, but had accidentally wounded his foot with one of the poisoned arrows, and the smell from his wound proved so offensive that his companions carried him to the Isle of Lemnos and left him there. Diomed was now sent to induce him to rejoin the army. He succeeded. Philoctetes was cured of his wound by Machaeon, and Paris was the first victim of the fatal arrows. In his distress Paris bethought him of one whom in his prosperity he had forgotten. This was the nymph, Oh Inoni, whom he had married when a youth, and had abandoned for the fatal beauty Helen. Oh Inoni, remembering the wrongs she had suffered, refused to heal the wound, and Paris went back to Troy and died. Oh Inoni quickly repented and hastened after him with remedies, but came too late, and in her grief hung herself. There was in Troy a celebrated statue of Minerva called the Palladium. It was said to have fallen from heaven, and the belief was that the city could not be taken so long as this statue remained within it. Ulysses and Diomed entered the city in disguise, and succeeded in obtaining the Palladium which they carried off to the Grecian camp. But Troy still held out, and the Greeks began to despair of ever subduing it by force, and by advice of Ulysses resolved to resort to stratagem. They pretended to be making preparations to abandon the siege, and a portion of the ships were withdrawn, and lay hid behind a neighboring island. The Greeks then constructed an immense wooden horse, which they gave out was intended as a propitiatory offering to Minerva, but in fact was filled with armed men. The remaining Greeks then betook themselves to their ships and sailed away, as if for a final departure. The Trojans, seeing the encampment broken up and the fleet gone, concluded the enemy to have abandoned the siege. The gates were thrown open, and the whole population issued forth, rejoicing at the long prohibited liberty of passing freely over the scene of the late encampment. The great horse was the chief object of curiosity. All wondered what it could be for. Some recommended to take it into the city as a trophy, others felt afraid of it. While they hesitate, Lycun, the priest of Neptune, exclaims, What madness, citizens, is this? Have you not learned enough of Grecian fraud to be on your guard against it? For my part, I fear the Greeks, even when they offer gifts. So saying, he threw his lance at the horse's side. It struck, and a hollow sound reverberated like a groan. Then perhaps the people might have taken his advice and destroyed the fatal horse and all its contents. But just at that moment a group of people appeared, dragging forward one who seemed a prisoner and a Greek. Stupified with terror, he was brought before the chiefs, who reassured him, promising that his life should be spared on condition of his returning true answers to the questions asked him. He informed him that he was a Greek, Sinon by name, and that in consequence of the malice of Ulysses he had been left behind by his countrymen at their departure. With regard to the wooden horse, he told them that it was a propitiatory offering to Minerva, and made so huge for the express purpose of preventing its being carried within the city. For Calcas the prophet had told them that if the Trojans took possession of it, they would assuredly triumph over the Greeks. This language turned the tide of the people's feelings, and they began to think how they might best secure the monstrous horse and the favorable algories connected with it, when suddenly a prodigy occurred which left no room to doubt. There appeared, advancing over the sea, two immense serpents. They came upon the land, and the crowd fled in all directions. The serpents advanced directly to the spot where Lycun stood with his two sons. They first attacked the children, winding round their bodies and breathing their pestilential breath in their faces. The father, attempting to rescue them, is next seized and involved in the serpents' coils. He struggles to tear them away, but they overpower all his efforts and strangle him and the children in their poisonous folds. This event was regarded as a clear indication of the displeasure of the gods at Lycun's irreverent treatment of the wooden horse, which they no longer hesitated to regard as a sacred object, and prepared to introduce with due solemnity into the city. This was done with songs and triumphal acclamations, and the day closed with festivity. In the night the armed men, who were enclosed in the body of the horse, being let out by the traitors seen on, opened the gates of the city to their friends, who had returned under the cover of the night. The city was set on fire. The people, overcome with feasting and sleep, put to the sword, and Troy completely subdued. One of the most celebrated groups of statuary in existence is that of Lycun and his children in the embrace of the serpents. A cast of it is owned by the Boston Athenium. The original is in the Vatican at Rome. The following lines are from the child Harold of Byron. Now turning to the Vatican, go see Lycun's torture dignifying pain. A father's love and mortal's agony, with an immortal's patience blending. Vain, the struggle. Vain against the coiling strain, and gripe and deepening of the dragon's grasp, the old man's clinch, the long, inventum'd chain, rivets the living links, the enormous asp, enforces pang on pang, and stifles gasp on gasp. The comic poets will also occasionally borrow a classical illusion. The following is from Swift's description of a city shower. Quote, boxed in a chair, the bow impatient sits, while spouts run clattering o'er the roof by fits, and ever and anon, with frightful din, the leather sounds, he trembles from within. So when Troy Chairman bore the wooden steed, pregnant with Greeks, impatient to be freed, those bully Greeks, who, as the moderns do, instead of paying Chairman, run them through, Lycun struck the outside with a spear, and each imprisoned champion quaked with fear. King Priam, end quote, King Priam lived to see the downfall of his kingdom, and was slain at last on the fatal night when the Greeks took the city. He had armed himself, and was about to mingle with the combatants, but was prevailed on by Hecuba, his aged queen, to take refuge with herself, and his daughters, as a suppliant at the altar of Jupiter. While there, his youngest son, Pilates, pursued by Pyrrhus the son of Achilles, rushed in wounded, and expired at the feet of his father, whereupon Priam, overcome with indignation, hurled his spear with feeble hand against Pyrrhus, and was, forthwith, slain by him. Queen Hecuba, and her daughter Cassandra, were carried captives to Greece. Cassandra had been loved by Apollo, and he gave her the gift of prophecy. But afterwards, offended with her, he rendered the gift unavailing, by ordaining that her predictions should never be believed. Polly Zena, another daughter, who had been loved by Achilles, was demanded by the ghost of that warrior, and was sacrificed by the Greeks upon his tomb. Menelaus and Helen. Our readers will be anxious to know the fate of Helen, the fair but guilty occasion of so much slaughter. On the fall of Troy, Menelaus recovered possession of his wife, who would not cease to love him, though she had yielded to the might of Venus, and deserted him for another. After the death of Paris, she aided the Greeks secretly on several occasions, and in particular, when Ulysses and Diomed entered the city in disguise to carry off the Palladium. She saw and recognized Ulysses, but kept a secret, and even assisted them in obtaining the image. Thus she became reconciled to her husband, and they were among the first to leave the shores of Troy for their native land. But having incurred the displeasure of the gods, they were driven by storms from shore to shore of the Mediterranean, visiting Cyprus, Phoenicia, and Egypt. In Egypt they were kindly treated, and presented with rich gifts, of which Helen's share was a golden spindle, and a basket on wheels. The basket was to hold the wool and spools for the queen's work. Dyer, in his poem of The Fleece, thus alludes to this incident. A golden distaff gave that buttious nymph to buttious Helen no unquartly gift. Milton also alludes to a famous recipe for an invigorating drought called Nepenth, which the Egyptian queen gave to Helen. Not that Nepenthys, which the wife of Thone in Egypt gave to Jove born Helena, is of such power to stir up joy as this to life so friendly or so cool to thirst. Comus Menelaus and Helen at length arrived in safety at Sparta, resumed their royal dignity, and lived and reigned in splendor. And when Telemachus, the son of Ulysses, in search of his father, arrived at Sparta, he found Menelaus and Helen celebrating the marriage of their daughter, Hermione, to Neoptolemus, son of Achilles, Agamemnon, Orestes, and Electra. Agamemnon, the general-in-chief of the Greeks, the brother of Menelaus, and who had been drawn into the quarrel to avenge his brother's wrongs, not his own, was not so fortunate in the issue. During his absence, his wife, Clinton Nestra, had been false to him. And when his return was expected, she, with her paramour, I guessed this, laid a plan for his destruction, and at the banquet given to celebrate his return, murdered him. It was intended by the conspirators to slay his son Orestes also, a lad not yet old enough to be an object of apprehension, but from whom, if should be suffered to grow up, there might be danger. Electra, the sister of Orestes, saved her brother's life by sending him secretly away to his uncle Strophius, king of Focus. In the palace of Strophius, Orestes grew up with the king's son by ladies, and formed with him that ardent friendship which has become proverbial. Electra frequently reminded her brother by messengers of the duty of avenging his father's death, and when grown up he consulted the Oracle of Delphi, which confirmed him in his design. He therefore repaired in disguise to Argos, pretending to be a messenger from Strophius, who had come to announce the death of Orestes, and brought the ashes of the deceased in a funeral urn. After visiting his father's tomb, and sacrificing upon it, according to the rites of the ancients, he made himself known to his sister Electra, and soon after slew both Igestis and Clintonestra. This revolting act, the slaughter of a mother by her son, though alleviated by the guilt of the victim, and the express command of the gods, did not fail to awaken in the breasts of the ancients the same abhorrence that it does in ours. The humanities of avenging deities seized upon Orestes, and drove him frantic from land to land. Pilates accompanied him in his wanderings, and watched over him. At length, in answer to a second appeal to the Oracle, he was directed to go to Tauris, in Scythia, and to bring thence a statue of Diana, which was believed to have fallen from heaven. Accordingly, Orestes and Pilates went to Tauris, where the barbarous people were accustomed to sacrifice to the goddess, all strangers who fell into their hands. The two friends were seized and carried bound to the temple to be made victims, but the priestess of Diana was no other than Iphigenea, the sister of Orestes, who, our readers will remember, was snatched away by Diana at the moment when she was about to be sacrificed. Assertaining from the prisoners who they were, Iphigenea disclosed herself to them, and the three made their escape, with the statue of the goddess, and returned to my senai. But Orestes was not yet relieved from the vengeance of the Arenes. At length he took refuge with Minerva at Athens. The goddess afforded him protection, and appointed the court of Iropagus to decide his fate. The Arenes brought forward their accusation, and Orestes made the command of Delphic Oracle his excuse. When the court voted, and the voices were equally divided, Orestes was acquitted by the command of Minerva. Byron, in Child Harold, Canto IV, alludes to the story of Orestes. One of the most pathetic scenes in the ancient drama is that in which Sophocles represents the meeting of Orestes and Electra on his return from focus. Orestes, mistaking Electra for one of the domestics, and desirous of keeping his arrival a secret till the hour of vengeance should arrive, produces the Earn in which his ashes are supposed to rest. Electra, believing him to be really dead, takes the Earn, and embracing it, pours forth her grief in language full of tenderness and despair. Milton, in one of his sonnets, says, quote, the repeated air of sad Electra's poet had the power to save the Athenian walls from ruin-bear, end quote. This alludes to the story that when, on one occasion, the city of Athens was at the mercy of her Spartan foes, and it was proposed to destroy it. The thought was rejected upon the accidental quotation by some one of a curious of a chorus of Euripides. Troy The facts relating to the city of Troy are still unknown to history. Antiquarians have long sought for the actual city and some record of its rulers. The most interesting explorations were those conducted about 1890 by the German scholar Henry Schliemann, who believed that at the mound of his surrelic, the traditional site of Troy, he had uncovered the ancient capital. Schliemann excavated down below the ruins of three or four settlements, each revealing an earlier civilization, and finally came upon some royal jewels and other relics said to be Priam's treasure. Scholars are by no means agreed as to the historic value of these discoveries. End of Chapter 28 This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Lizzie Driver Bullfinch's Mythology, The Age of Fable, by Thomas Bullfinch Chapter 29 Adventures of Ulysses The Lotus-eaters, Cyclops, Cersei, Sirens, Scylla and Charybdis, Calypso Return of Ulysses The romantic poem of the Odyssey is now to engage our attention. It narrates the wanderings of Ulysses, Odysseus in the Greek language, in his return from Troy to his own kingdom Ithica. From Troy the vessels first made land at Ismarus, city of the Sisonians, where, in a skirmish with the inhabitants, Ulysses lost six men from each ship. Sailing vents, they were overtaken by a storm which drove them for nine days along the sea till they reached the country of the Lotus-eaters. Here, after watering, Ulysses sent three of his men to discover who the inhabitants were. These men, on coming among the Lotus-eaters, were kindly entertained by them, and were given some of their own food, the Lotus plant, to eat. The effect of this food was such that those who partook of it lost all thoughts of home and wished to remain in that country. It was by main force that Ulysses dragged these men away, and he was even obliged to tie them under the benches of the ships. Footnote. Tennyson, in the Lotus-eaters, has charmingly expressed the dreamy, languid feeling which the Lotus-food is said to have produced. How sweet it were, here in the downward stream, with half-shut eyes ever to seem, falling asleep in a half-dream. To dream and dream, like yonder amber light which would not leave the merbush on the height, to hear each other's whispered speech, eating the Lotus day by day, to watch the crisping ripples on the beach, and tender curving lines of creamy spray, to lend our hearts and spirits wholly to the influence of mild-minded melancholy, to muse and brood and live again in memory, with those old faces of our infancy heaped over with a mound of grass, two handfuls of white dust shuttered in an urn of brass. They next arrived at the country of the Cyclops. The Cyclops were giants who inhabited an island of which they were the only possessors. The name means round eye, and these giants were so called because they had but one eye, and that placed in the middle of the forehead. They dwelt in caves and fed on the wild productions of the island, and on what their flocks yielded, for they were shepherds. Ulysses left the main body of his ships at anchor, and with one vessel went to the Cyclops' island to explore for supplies. He landed with his companions, carrying with them a jar of wine for a present, and coming to a large cave they entered it, and finding no one within examined its contents. They found it stored with the riches of the flock, quantities of cheese, pales and bowls of milk, lambs and kids in their pens, all in nice order. Presently arrived the master of the cave, Polyfamous, bearing an immense bundle of firewood which he threw down before the cavern's mouth. He then drove into the cave the sheep and goats to be milked, and, entering, rolled to the cave's mouth an enormous rock that twenty oxen could not draw. Next he sat down and milked his ewes, preparing a part for cheese, and setting the rest aside for his customary drink. Then, turning round his great eye, he discerned the strangers, and growled out to them, demanding who they were and where from. Ulysses replied most humbly, stating that they were Greeks, from the great expedition that had lately won so much glory in the conquest of Troy, that they were now on their way home, and finished by imploring his hospitality in the name of the gods. Polyfamous dying no answer. But reaching out his hands, these two of the Greeks, whom he hurled against the side of the cave, and dashed out their brains. He proceeded to devour them with great relish, and having made a hearty meal, stretched himself out on the floor to sleep. Ulysses was tempted to seize the opportunity and plunge his sword into him as he slept, but recollected that it would only expose them all to certain destruction, as the rock, with which the giant had closed up the door, was far beyond their power to remove, and they would therefore be in hopeless imprisonment. Next morning the giant seized two more of the Greeks, and dispatched them in the same manner as their companions, feasting on their flesh till no fragment was left. He then moved away the rock from the door, drove out his flocks, and went out, carefully replacing the barrier after him. When he was gone, Ulysses planned how he might take vengeance for his murdered friends, and effect his escape with his surviving companions. He made his men prepare a massive bar of wood, cut by the Cyclops for a staff, which they found in the cave. They sharpened the end of it, and seasoned it in the fire, and hid it under the straw on the cavern floor. Then four of the boulders were selected, with whom Ulysses joined himself as a fifth. The Cyclops came home at evening, rolling away the stone, and drove in his flock as usual. After milking them, and making his arrangements as before, he seized two more of Ulysses' companions, and dashed their brains out, and made his evening meal upon them, as he had the others. After he had supped, Ulysses, approaching him, handed him a bowl of wine, saying, Cyclops, this is wine, taste and drink after thy meal of man's flesh. He took and drank it, and was hugely delighted with it, and called for more. Ulysses supplied him once again, which pleased the giant so much, that he promised him as a favour, that he should be the last of the party devoured. He asked him his name, to which Ulysses replied, My name is No Man. After his supper, the giant lay down to repose, and was soon sound asleep. Then Ulysses, with his four select friends, thrust the end of the stake into the fire, till it was all one burning coal. Then, poising it exactly above the giant's only eye, they buried it deeply into a socket, twirling it round as a carpenter does his auger. The howling monster, with his outcry filled the cavern, and Ulysses, with his aids, nimbly got out of his way, and concealed themselves in the cave. He, bellowing, called aloud on all the Cyclops' dwelling in the caves around him, far adieu. They, on his cry, flocked round the den, and inquired what grievous hurt had caused him to sound such an alarm, and break their slumbers. He replied, O friends, I die, and No Man gives the blow. They answered, If No Man hurts thee, it is the stroke of Jove, and thou must bear it. So, saying, they left him groaning. Next morning, the Cyclops rolled away the stone to let his flock out to pasture, but planted himself in the door of the cave, to feel of all as they went out. That Ulysses and his men should not escape with them. But Ulysses had made his men harness the rams of the flock three abreast, with Oziers, which they found on the floor of the cave. To the middle ram of the three, one of the Greeks suspended himself, so protected by the exterior rams on either side. As they passed, the giant felt of the animals' backs and sides, but never thought of their bellies. So the men all passed safe. Ulysses himself being on the last one that passed. When they had got a few paces from the cavern, Ulysses and his friends released themselves from their rams, and drove a good part of the flock down to the shore to their boat. They pushed them aboard with all haste, then pushed off from the shore, and went at a safe distance, Ulysses shouted out, Cyclops, the gods have well requited thee for thy atrocious deeds. Know it is Ulysses to whom thou always thy shameful lot of sight. The Cyclops, hearing this, seized a rock from that projected from the side of the mountain, and rending it from its bed, he lifted it high in the air, then exerting all his force hurled it in the direction of the voice. Down came the mass, just clearing the vessel's stern. The ocean, at the plunge of the huge rock, heaved the ship towards the land, so that it barely escaped being swamped by the waves. When they had, with the utmost difficulty, pulled offshore, Ulysses was about to hail the giant again, but his friends besought him not to do so. He could not forbear, however, letting the giant know that they had escaped his missile, but waited till they had reached a safer distance than before. The giant answered them with curses, but Ulysses and his friends plied their oars vigorously, and soon regained their companions. Ulysses next arrived at the island of Iolus. To this monarch Jupiter had instructed the government of the winds to send them forth or attain them at his will. He treated Ulysses suspiciously, and at his departure gave him, tied up in a leaven bag with the silver string, such winds as might be hurtful and dangerous, commanding fair winds to blow the barks towards their country. Nine days they sped before the wind, and all that time Ulysses had stood at the helm, without sleep. At last, quite exhausted, he lay down to sleep. While he slept, the crew conferred together about the mysterious bag, and concluded it must contain treasures, given by the hospitable king Iolus to their commander. Tempted to secure some portion for themselves, they loosed the string, when immediately the winds rushed forth. The ships were driven far from their course, and back again to the island they had just left. Iolus was so indignant at their folly that he refused to assist them further, and they were obliged to labour over their course once more by means of their oars. The Lestragonians Their next adventure was with the barbarous tribe of Lestragonigans. The vessels all pushed into the harbour, tempted by the secure appearance of the cove, completely landlocked, only Ulysses mortised vessel without. As soon as the Lestragonians found the ships completely in their power, they attacked them, heaving huge stones which broke and overturned them, and with their spears dispatched the seamen as they struggled in the water. All the vessels with their crews were destroyed, except Ulysses' own ship, which had remained outside, and finding no safety but in flight, he exhorted his men to ply their oars vigorously, and they escaped. With grief for their slain companions mixed with joy at their own escape, they pursued their way till they arrived at the Aean Isle, where Cersei dwelt, the daughter of the sun. Landing here, Ulysses climbed a hill, and gazing round saw no signs of habitation except in one spot at the centre of the island, where he received a palace embellished with trees. He sent forward one half of his crew, under the command of Uralochus, to see what prospect of hospitality they might find. As they approached the palace they found themselves surrounded by lions, tigers and wolves, not fierce, but tamed by Cersei's art, for she was a powerful magician. All these animals had once been men, but had been changed by Cersei's enchantments into the form of beasts. The sounds of soft music were heard from within, and a sweet female voice singing. Uralochus called aloud, and the goddess came forth and invited them in. They all gladly entered, except Uralochus, who suspected danger. The goddess conducted her guests to a seat, and had them served with wine and other delicacies. When they had feasted heartily, she touched them one by one with her wand, and they immediately changed into swine, in head, body, voice and bristles, yet with their intellects as before. She shut them in her sties, and supplied them with acorns, and such other things as swine-love. Uralochus hurried back to the ship, and told the tale. Ulysses thereupon determined to go himself, and try if by any means he might deliver his companions. As he strode on wood alone, he met a youth who addressed him familiarly, appearing to be acquainted with his adventures. He announced himself as Mercury, an inform Ulysses of the arts of Cersei, and of the danger of approaching her. As Ulysses was not to be dissuaded from his attempt, Mercury provided him with a sprig of the plant molly, of wonderful power to resist sorceries, and instructed him how to act. Ulysses proceeded, and reaching the palace was courtesely received by Cersei, who entertained him as she had done with his companions, and after he had eaten and drank, touched him with her wand, saying, hence, seek the star and wallow with thy friends. But he, instead of obeying, drew his sword and rushed upon her with fury in his countenance. She fell on her knees and begged for mercy. He dictated a solemn oath that she would release his companions and practice no further harm against him or them, and she repeated it, at the same time promising to dismiss them all in safety after hospitably entertaining them. She was as good as her word. The men were restored to their shapes, the rest of the crew summoned from the shore, and the whole magnificently entertained day after day, till Ulysses seemed to have forgotten his native land, and to have reconciled himself to an inglorious life of ease and pleasure. At length his companions recalled him to nobler sentiments, and he received their admonition gratefully. Cersei aided their departure, and instructed them how to pass safely by the coast of the Sirens. The Sirens were sea-nymphs, who had the power of charming by their song all who heard them, so that the unhappy mariners were irresistibly impelled, to cast themselves into the sea to their destruction. Cersei directed Ulysses to fill the ears of his seamen with wax, so that they should not hear the strain, and to cause himself to be bound to the mast, and his people to be strictly enjoined, whatever he might do or say, by no means to release him till they should have passed the Sirens Island. Ulysses obeyed these directions. He filled the ears of his people with wax, and suffered them to bind him with cords firmly to the mast. As they approached the Sirens Island the sea was calm, and over the waters came the notes of music so ravishing and attractive that Ulysses struggled to get loose, and by cries and signs to his people begged to be released. But they, obedient to his previous orders, sprang forward and bound him still faster. They hurled on their course, and the music grew fainter, still it ceased to be heard. When, with joy, Ulysses gave his companions a signal to unseal their ears, and they relieved him from his bonds. The imagination of a modern poet, Keats, has discovered for us the thoughts that passed through the brains of the victims of Cersei, after their transformation. In his endymion he represents one of them, a monarch in the guise of an elephant, addressing the sorceress in human language, thus I soon art from my happy crown again, I soon art from my phalanx on the plane, I soon art from my lone, my widowed wife, I soon art from my ruddy drops of life, my children fair, my lovely girls and boys, I will forget them, I will pass these joys, ask nought so heaven would, so too, too high. Only I pray, as fairest moon to die, to be delivered from this cumbrous flesh, from this gross, detestable, filthy mesh, and merely given to the cold, bleak air. Have mercy, goddess! Cersei, feel my prayer! Scylla and Caribdis Ulysses had been warned by Cersei of the two monsters Scylla and Caribdis. We have already met with Scylla in the story of Glaucus, and remember that she was once a beautiful maiden, and was changed into a snaky monster by Cersei. She dwelt in a cave high up on the cliff, from whence she was accustomed to thrust forth her long necks, for she had six heads, and in each of her mouths to seize one of the crew of every vessel passing within reach. The other terror, Caribdis, was a gulf, nearly on a level with the water. Thrice each day the water rushed into a frightful chasm, and Thrice was disgorged. Any vessel coming near the whirlpool, when the tide was rushing in, must inevitably be engulfed, not Neptune himself could save it. On approaching the haunt of the dread monsters, Ulysses kept strict watch to discover them. The roar of the waters as Caribdis engulfed them gave warning at a distance, but Scylla could nowhere be discerned. While Ulysses and his men watched with anxious eyes the dreadful whirlpool, they were not equally on their guard from the attack of Scylla, and the monster darting forth her snaky heads, caught six of his men, and bore them away, shrieking to her den. It was the saddest sight Ulysses had yet seen, to behold his friends thus sacrificed, and hear their cries, unable to afford them any assistance. Cersei had warned him of another danger. After passing Scylla and Caribdis, the next land he would make was Thurinkia, an island whereupon were pastured the cattle of Hyperon the sun, tended by his daughters Lampetia and Pethiusa. These flocks must not be violated, whatever the wants of the voyages might be. If this injunction was transgressed, destruction was sure to fall on the offenders. Ulysses would willingly have passed the island of the sun without stopping, but his companions so urgently pleaded for the rest and refreshment, that would be derived from anchoring and passing the night on the shore, that Ulysses yielded. He bound them, however, with an oath that they would not touch one of the animals of the sacred flocks and herds, but content themselves with what provision they yet had left of the supply which Cersei had put on board. So long as this supply lasted, the people kept their oath. But contrary winds detained them at the island for a month, and after consuming all their stock of provisions they were forced to rely upon the birds and fishes they could catch. Tharin pressed them, and at length one day, in the absence of Ulysses, they slew some of the cattle, vainly attempting to make amends for the deed by offering from them a portion to the offended powers. Ulysses, on his return to the shore, was horror-struck at perceiving what they had done, and the more so on the count of the potential signs which followed. The skins crept on the ground, and the joints of meat lowed on the spits while roasting. The winds became fair, they sailed from the island. They had not gone far when the weather changed, and a storm of thunder and lightning ensued. A stroke of lightning shattered their mast, which, in its fall, killed the pilot. At last the vessel itself came to pieces, the keel and mast floating side by side. Ulysses formed of them a raft to which he clung, and the wind changing, the waves bore him to Calypso's island, or the rest of the crew perished. The following allusion to the topics we have just been considering is from Milton's Commiss, line 252. I have often heard my mother Cersei and the Sirens three amidst the flowery, curled nades, culling their potent herbs and baneful drugs, who as they sung would take the prison's soul and lap it in Elysium. Cilla wept, and chired her barking waves into attention, and fell Charybdis murmurs soft applause. Cilla and Charybdis have become proverbial, to denote opposite dangers which beset one's course. Calypso Calypso was a sea nymph, which named denotes a numerous class of female divinities of lower rank, yet sharing many of the attributes of the gods. Calypso received Ulysses hospitably, entertained him magnificently, became enamoured of him, and wished to retain him for ever, conferring on him immortality. But he persisted in his resolution to return to his country and his wife and son. Calypso at last received the command of Jove to dismiss him. Mercury bought the message to her, and found her in her grotto, which is thus described by Homer. A garden vine, luxuriant in all sides, mantled the spacious cavern. Cluster hung, profuse. Four fountains of Serena's lymph, their sinuous course pursuing side by side. Strayed all around. And everywhere appeared meadows or softest verdure, purple doer with violets. It was a scene to fill a god from heaven with wonder and delight. Calypso, with much reluctance, proceeded to obey the commands of Jupiter. She supplied Ulysses with the means of constructing a raft, provisioned it well for him, and gave him a favouring gale. He sped on his course prosperously for many days, till at length, when in sight of land, a storm arose that broke his mast, and threatened to rend the raft asunder. In this crisis he was seen by a compassionate senymph, who, in the form of a cormorant, alighted on the raft, and presented him a girdle, directing him to bind it beneath his breast. And if he should be compelled to trust himself to the waves, it would boy him up and enable him by swimming to reach the land. Fenelon, in his romance of Telemachus, has given us the adventures of the son of Ulysses in search of his father. Among other places at which he arrived, following on his father's footsteps, was Calypso's Isle. And, as in the former case, the goddess tried every art to keep him with her, and offered to share her immortality with him. But Minerva, who in the shape of Mentor, accompanied him and governed all his movements, made him repel her allurements, and when no other means of escape could be found, the two friends leaped from a cliff into the sea, and swum to a vessel which they becalmed offshore. Byron elues to the sleep of Telemachus and Mentor in the following stanza. But not in silence pass Calypso's Isles, the sister tenants of the Middle Deep. There for the weary still are Haven smiles, though the fair goddess long has ceased to weep. And o'er her cliffs a fruitless watch to keep, from him who dared prefer immortal bride. Here too is Boyeusade, the dreadful leap, stern Mentor urged from high to yonder tide. While thus of both bereft, the nymph queen doubly sighed. The Age of Fable by Thomas Bullfinch Chapter 30 The Physians Fate of the Suiters The Physians Ulysses clung to the raft while any of its timbers kept together, and when it no longer yielded him support, binding the girdle around him, he swam. Minerva smoothed the billows before him, and sent him a wind that rolled the waves towards the shore. The surf beat high on the rocks, and seemed to forbid approach. But, at length, finding calm water at the mouth of a gentle stream, he landed, spent with toil, breathless and speechless, and almost dead. After some time, reviving, he kissed the soil, rejoicing, yet at a loss what course to take. At a short distance he perceived a wood, to which he turned his steps. There, finding a covert sheltered by intermingling branches alike from the sun and the rain, he collected a pile of leaves and formed a bed, on which he stretched himself, and heaping the leaves over him fell asleep. The land where he was thrown was scarier, the country of the Physians. These people dwelt originally near the Cyclops, but being oppressed by that savage race, they migrated to the Isle of Scaria, under the conduct of Nothius, their king. They were, the poet tells us, a people akin to the gods, who appeared manifestly and feasted among them when they offered sacrifices, and did not conceal themselves from solitary wayfarers when they met them. They had abundance of wealth, and lived in the enjoyment of it understood by the alarms of war. For as they dwelt remote from gain-seeking men, no enemy ever approached their shores, and they did not even require to make use of bows and quivers. Their chief employment was navigation, their ships, which went with the velocity of birds, were imbued with intelligence, they knew every port and needed no pilot. Alcinous, the son of Nothius, was now their king, a wise and just sovereign, beloved by his people. Now it happened that the very night on which Ulysses was cast ashore on the Phocian island, and while he lay sleeping on his bed of leaves, Norsacar, the daughter of the king, had a dream sent by Minerva, reminding her that her wedding-day was not far distant, and that it would be better prudent preparation for that event to have a general washing of the clothes of the family. This was no slight affair, for the fountains were at some distance, and the garments must be carried thither. On Awaken the princess hastened to her parents to tell them what was on her mind, not alluding to her wedding-day, but finding other reasons equally good. Her father readily assented, and ordered the grooms to furnish forth a wagon for the purpose. The clothes were put therein, and the queen-mother placed in the wagon. Likewise, an abundant supply of food and wine. The princess took her seat, and plied the lash, her attendant virgins following her on foot. Arrived at the riverside, they turned out the mules to graze, and unloading the carriage bore the garments down to the water, and working with cheerfulness and alacrity, soon dispatched their labour. Then, having spread the garments on the shore to dry, and having themselves bathed, they sat down to enjoy their meal, after which they rose, and amused themselves with a game of ball, the princess singing to them while they played. But when they had refolded the apparel, and were about to resume their way to the town, Minerva calls the ball-throne by the princess to fall into the water, whereat they all screamed, and Ulysses awaked at the sound. Now we must picture to ourselves Ulysses. A ship-direct mariner, but a few hours escaped from the waves. An utterly destitute of clothing. Awaking and discovering that only a few bushes were interposed, between him and a group of young maidens, whom, by their deportment and attire, he discovered to be not mere peasant girls, but of a higher class. Sadly needing help, how could he adventure, naked as he was, to discover himself and make his once known? It certainly was a case worthy of the interposition of his patron goddess Minerva, who never failed him at a crisis. Breaking off a leafy branch from a tree, he held it before him, and stepped out from the thicket. The virgins at the sight of him fled in all directions, Nossaka alone accepted. For her, Minerva aided and endowed with courage and discernment. Ulysses, standing respectfully aloof, told his sad case, and besought the fair object, whether queen or goddess he professed he knew not, for food and clothing. The princess replied courteously, promising present relief and to father's hospitality, when he should become acquainted with the fax. She called back her scattered maidens, chiding their alarm, and reminding them that the faecians had no enemies to fear. This man, she told them, was an unhappy wanderer, whom it was a duty to cherish, for the poor and stranger are from Jove. She bade them bring food and clothing, for some of her brother's garments were among the contents of the wagon. When this was done, and Ulysses, retiring to a sheltered place, had washed his body free from the sea foam, clothed and refreshed himself with food, palestylated his form and diffused grace over his ample chest and manly brows. The princess, seeing him, was filled with admiration, and scrupled not to say to her damsels that she wished the gods were sent as such a husband. To Ulysses she recommended that he should repair to the city, following herself and train, so far as the way lay through the fields. But when they should approach the city, she desired that he would no longer be seen in her company, for she feared the remarks which rude and vulgar people might make on seeing her return accompanied by such a gallant stranger. To avoid which, she directed him to stop at a grove adjoining the city, in which were a farm and garden belonging to the king. After allowing time for the princess and her companions to reach the city, he was then to pursue his way thither, and would easily be guided by any he might meet the royal abode. Ulysses obeyed the directions, and in due time proceeded to the city, on approaching which he met a young woman bearing a pitcher forth for water. It was Minerva who had assumed that form. Ulysses accosted her and desired to be directed to the palace of Alcinius the king. The maiden replied respectfully, offering to be his guide, for the palace she informed him, stood near her father's dwelling. Under the guidance of the goddess, and by her power enveloped in a cloud, which shielded him from observation, Ulysses passed among the busy crowd, and with wonder observed their harbour, their ships, their forum, the resort of heroes, and their battlements, till they came to the palace, where the goddess, having first given him some information of the country, king, and people he was about to meet, left him. Ulysses, before entering the courtyard of the palace, stood and surveyed the scene. It splendor astonished him. Brazen walls stretched from the entrance to the interior house, of which the doors were gold, the doorpost silver, the lintel silver ornamented with gold. On either side were figures of mastiffs wrought in gold and silver, standing in rows as if to guard the approach. Along the walls were seats spread through all their length, with mantles of finest texture. The work of Fassian maidens. On these seats the princes sat and feasted, while gold and statues of graceful youths, held in their hands lighted torches, which shed radiance over the scene. Full fifty female menials served in household offices, some employed to grind the corn, others to wind off the purple wool or ply the loom. For the Fassian woman as far exceeded all other women in household arts, as the mariners of that country did the rest of mankind in the management of ships. Without the court a spacious garden lay, four acres in extent. In it grew many a lofty tree, pomegranate, pear, apple, fig, and olive. Neither winter's cold nor summer's drought arrested their growth, but they flourished in constant succession, some budding while others were maturing. The vineyard was equally profilic. In one quarter you might see the vines, some in blossom, some loaded with ripe grapes, and in another observe the vintages treading the wine-press. On the garden's borders flowers of all hues bloomed all the year round, arranged with the neatest art. In the midst two fountains poured forth their waters, one flowing by artificial channels over all the garden, the other conducted through the courtyard of the palace, whence every citizen might draw his supplies. Ulysses stood gazing in admiration, unobserved himself, for the cloud which Minerva spread around him still shielded him. At length, having sufficiently observed the scene, he advanced with rapid step into the hall, where the chiefs and senators were assembled. Pouring liberation to Mercury, whose worship followed the evening meal. Just then Minerva dissolved the cloud, and disclosed him to the assembled chiefs. Advancing to the place where the queen sat, he knelt at her feet and implored her favour and assistance to enable him to return to his native country. Then, withdrawing, he seated himself in the manner of supplicants at the half-side. For a time none spoke, at length an aged statesman addressing the king said, It is not fit that a stranger who asks our hospitality should be kept waiting in suppliant guise, none welcoming him. Let him therefore be led to a seat among us, and supplied with food and wine. At these words the king Rising gave his hand to Ulysses, and led him to a seat, displacing thence his own son to make room for the stranger. Food and wine were set before him, and he ate and refreshed himself. The king then dismissed his guests, notifying them that the next day he would call them to council, to consider what had best be done for the stranger. When the guests had departed, and Ulysses was left alone with the king and queen, the queen asked him who he was and whence he came, and, recognising the clothes which he wore as those which her maidens and herself had made, from whom he received those garments. He told them of his residence in Calypso's Isle, and his departure thence. Of the wreck of his raft, his escape by swimming, and of the relief afforded by the princess. The parents heard approvingly, and the king promised to furnish a ship in which his guest might return to his own land. The next day the assembled chiefs confirmed the promise of the king. A bark was prepared, and a crew of stout rowers selected, and all betook themselves to the palace, where a bounty as reparsed was provided. After the feast the king proposed that the young men should show their guests their proficiency in manly sports, and all went forth to the arena for games of running, wrestling, and other exercises. After all had done their best, Ulysses, being challenged to show what he could do, at first declined. But being taunted by one of the youths, seized a quite of weight far heavier than any of the sians had thrown, and sent it farther than the utmost throw of theirs. All were astonished, and viewed their guest with greatly increased respect. After the games they returned to the hall, and the herald led in Demodocus, the blind bard. Dear to the muse, who yet appointed him both good and ill, took from him sight, but gave him strains divine. He took for his theme the wooden horse, by means of which the Greeks found entrance into Troy. Apollo inspired him, and he sang so feelingly the terrors and the exploits of the eventful time, that all were delighted. But Ulysses was moved to tears. Observing which, Alcinius, when the song was done, demanded of him why, at the mention of Troy, his sorrows awaked. Had he lost their father, or brother, or any dear friend? Ulysses replied by announcing himself by his true name, and at their request recounted the adventures which had perfallen him, since his departure from Troy. This narrative raised the sympathy and admiration of the Fascians for their guest, to the highest pitch. The king proposed that all the chiefs should present him with a gift, himself setting the example. They obeyed, and vied with one another, in loading the illustrious stranger with costly gifts. The next day Ulysses set sail in the Fascian vessel, and in a short time arrived safe at Ithaca, his own island. When the vessel touched the strand he was asleep. The mariners, without waking him, carried him on shore, and landed with him the chest containing his presence, and then sailed away. Neptune was so displeased at the conduct of the Fascians in thus rescuing Ulysses from his hands, that, on the return of the vessel to port, he transformed it into a rock, right opposite the mouth of the harbour. Homer's description of the ships of the Fascians has been thought to look like an anticipation of the wonders of modern steam navigation. Alcinius says to Ulysses, Say from what city, from what regions tossed, and what inhabitants those regions boast, in wondrous ships, self-moved, instinct with mind. No helm secures their course, no pilot guides. Like man-intelligence they plough the tides, conscious of every coast in every bay, that lies beneath the sun's all-seeing ray. Odyssey, Book 8 Lord Carl Isle, in his Diary in the Turkish and Greek Waters, thus speaks of Corfu, which he considers to be the ancient Fascian island. To explain the Odyssey, the Temple of the Seagod could not have been more fitly placed. Upon a grassy platform of the most elastic turf, on the brow of a crag, commanding harbour and channel and ocean. Just at the entrance of the inner harbour, there is a picturesque rock with a small convent perched upon it, which by one legend is the transformed pinnacle of Ulysses. Almost the only river on the island is just at the proper distance, from the probable site of the city and palace, of the king, to justify the Princess Norsica, having had resort to a chariot, and to luncheon when she went with the maidens of the court to wash their garments. Fate of the suitors Ulysses had now been away from Ithaca for twenty years, and when he awoke he did not recognise his native land. Minerva appeared to him in the form of a young shepherd, informed him where he was, and told him the state of things at his palace. More than a hundred nobles of Ithaca, and of the neighbouring islands, had been for years suing for the hand of Penelope, his wife, imagining him dead and lauding it all over his palace and people, as if they were owners of both, that he might be able to take vengeance upon them. It was important that he should not be recognised. Minerva accordingly met a morphoste him into an unsightly beggar, and as such he was kindly received by Umaris, the swine-herd, a faithful servant of his house. Telemachus, his son, was absent in quest of his father. He had gone to the courts of the other kings who had returned from the Trojan expedition. While on the search he received counsel from Minerva to return home. He arrived and sought Umaris to learn something of the state of affairs at the palace, before presenting himself among the suitors. Finding a stranger with Umaris, he treated him cautiously, though in the garb of a beggar, and promised him assistance. Umaris was sent to the palace to inform Penelope privately of her son's arrival, for caution was necessary with regard to the suitors. Who, as Telemachus had learned, were plotting to intercept and kill him. When Umaris was gone, Minerva presented herself to Ulysses, and directed him to make himself known to his son. At the same time she touched him, removed at once from him the appearance of age and punery, and gave him the aspect of vigorous manhood that belonged to him. Telemachus viewed him with astonishment, and, at first, thought he must be more than mortal. But Ulysses announced himself as his father, and accounted for the change of appearance by explaining that it was Minerva's doing. Then, through Telemachus, his arms around his father's neck and wept. Desire-intensive lamentation seized on both. Soft murmurs uttering, each indulged his grief. The father and son took counsel together, how they should get the better of the suitors, and punish them for their outrages. It was arranged that Telemachus should proceed to the palace, and mingle with the suitors as formerly, that Ulysses should also go as a beggar. A character, which in that rude old times, had different privileges from which we concede to it now. As traveller and storyteller, the beggar was admitted in the halls of Chieftains, and often treated like a guest, though sometimes, also, no doubt, with contumely. Ulysses charged his son not to betray, by any display of unusual interest in him, that he knew him to be other than he seemed. And even if he saw him insulted or beaten, not interposed otherwise, then he might do for any stranger. At the palace they found the usual scene of feasting and riot going on. The suitors pretended to receive Telemachus, with joy at his return, though secretly mortified at the failure of their plots to take his life. The old beggar was permitted to enter, and provided with a portion from the table. A touching incident occurred as Ulysses entered the courtyard of the palace. An old dog lay in the yard almost dead with age, and seeing a stranger enter, raced his head with ears erect. It was Argus, Ulysses' own dog, that he had in other days often led to the chase. Soon as he perceived long lost Ulysses' nigh, down fell his ears, clapped close, and with his tail glad sign he gave of congratulation, impotent to rise, and to approach his master as of old. Ulysses, noting him, wiped off a tear unmarked. Then his destiny released, old Argus, soon as he had lived to see Ulysses in the twentieth year restored. As Ulysses sat eating his portion in the hall, the suitors began to exhibit their insolence to him. When he mildly remonstrated, one of them, raised a stool and with it gave him a blow. Tlemachus had hard work to restrain his indignation at seeing his father so treated in his own hall. But remembering his father's injunctions, said no more than what became him as master of the house, though young, and protector of his guests. Penelope had protracted her decision, in favour of either of her suitors, so long, that there seemed to be no further pretence for delay. The continued absence of her husband seemed to prove that his return was no longer to be expected. Meanwhile, her son had grown up, and was able to manage his own affairs. She therefore consented to submit the question of her choice to a trial of skill among the suitors. The test selected was shooting with the bow. Twelve rings were arranged in a line, and he whose arrow was sent through the whole twelve was to have the queen for his prize. A bow that one of his brother heroes had given to Ulysses in former times was brought from the armory, and with its quiver full of arrows was laid in the hall. Tlemachus had taken care that all other weapons should be removed, under pretence that in the heat of competition there was danger, in some rash moment, of putting them to improper use. All things being prepared for the trial, the first thing to be done was to bend the bow in order to attach the string. Tlemachus endeavoured to do it, but found all his efforts fruitless, and modestly confessing that he had attempted a task beyond his strength, he yielded the bow to another. He tried it with no better success, and, amidst the laughter and jeers of his companions, gave it up. Another tried it, and another. They rubbed the bow with tallow, but all to no purpose. It would not bend. Then spoke Ulysses, humbly suggesting that he should be permitted to try. Four said he, Beggar as I am, I was once a soldier, and there is still some strength in these old limbs of mine. The suitors hooted with derision, and commanded to turn him out of the hall for his insolence, but Tlemachus spoke up for him, and, merely to gratify the old man, bade him try. Ulysses took the bow, and handled it with the hand of a master. With ease he adjusted the cord to its notch. Then, fitting an arrow to the bow, he drew the string, and sped the arrow unerring through the rings. Without allowing them time to express their astonishment, he said, Now for another mark, and aimed direct at the most insolent one of the suitors. The arrow pierced through his throat, and he fell dead. Tlemachus, Umias, and another faithful follower, well armed, now sprang to the side of Ulysses. The suitors, in amazement, looked round for arms, but found none. Neither was there any way for escape, for Umias had secured the door. Ulysses left them not long in uncertainty, and he announced himself as the long-lost chief, whose house they had invaded, whose substance they had squandered, whose wife and son they had persecuted for ten long years, and told them he meant to have ample vengeance. All were slain, and Ulysses was left master of his palace and possessor of his kingdom and his wife. Tennyson's poem of Ulysses represents the old hero, after his dangers passed, and nothing left but to stay at home and be happy, growing tired of inaction and resolving to set forth again in quest of new adventures. Come, my friends, it is not too late to seek a newer world. Push off, and setting well in order smite the sounding furrows, for my purpose holds to sail beyond the sunset, and the baths of all the western stars until I die. It may be that the gulfs will wash us down. It may be we shall touch the happy aisles, and see the great Achilles whom we knew, etc. End of Chapter 30 This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Ryan Williams Bullfinch's Mythology, The Age of Fable by Thomas Bullfinch, Chapter 31 Adventures of Aeneas, The Harpies, Daito, Palinuris, Adventures of Aeneas We have followed one of the Grecian heroes, Ulysses, in his wanderings on his return home from Troy, and now we propose to share the fortunes of the remnant of the conquered people under their chief Aeneas in their search for a new home after the ruin of their native city. On that fatal night, when the wooden horse disgorged his contents of armed men and the capture and conflagration of the city were the result, Aeneas made his escape from the scene of the destruction with his father and his wife and young son. The father and Caesis was too old to walk with the speed required and Aeneas took him upon his shoulders. Thus burdened, leading his son and followed by his wife, he made the best of his way out of the burning city. But in the confusion, his wife was swept away and lost. On arriving at the place of Rendezvous, numerous fugitives of both sexes were found who put themselves under the guidance of Aeneas. Some months were spent in preparation and at length they embarked. They first landed on the neighboring shores of Thrace and were preparing to build a city but Aeneas was deterred by a prodigy. Preparing to offer sacrifice, he tore some twigs from one of the bushes. To his dismay, the wounded part dropped blood. When he repeated the act, a voice from the ground cried out to him, Spare me, Aeneas, I am your kinsman, Palador, here murdered with many arrows from which a bush has grown, nourished with my blood. These words recalled to the recollection of Aeneas that Palador was a young prince of Troy, whom his father had sent with ample treasures to the neighboring land of Thrace, to be there brought up at a distance from the horrors of war. The king to whom he was sent had murdered him and seized his treasures. Aeneas and his companions, considering the land accursed by the stain of such a crime, hastened away. They next landed on the island of Delos, which was once a floating island, till Jupiter fastened it by Edamantine chains to the bottom of the sea. Apollo and Diana were born there, and the island was sacred to Apollo. Here Aeneas consulted the oracle of Apollo and received an answer, ambiguous as usual. Seek your ancient mother, there the race of Aeneas shall dwell and reduce all other nations to their sway. The Trojans heard with joy and immediately began to ask one another, where is the spot intended by the oracle? And Caesis remembered that there was a tradition that their forefathers came from Crete, and thither they resolved to steer. They arrived at Crete and began to build their city, but sickness broke out among them, and the fields that they had planted failed to yield a crop. In this gloomy aspect of affairs, Aeneas was warned and a dream to leave the country and seek a western land called Hesperia, when Stardanus, the true founder of the Trojan race, had originally migrated. To Hesperia, now called Italy, therefore they directed their future course and not till after many adventures in the lapse of time sufficient to carry a modern navigator several times around the world, did they arrive there. Their first landing was at the island of the Harpies. These were disgusting birds with the heads of maidens. With long claws and faces pale with hunger, they were sent by the gods to torment a certain Phineas, whom Jupiter had deprived of his sight and punishment of his cruelty. And whenever a meal is placed before him, the Harpies darted down from the air and carried it off. They were driven away from Phineas by the heroes of the Argonautic expedition and took refuge in the island where Aeneas now found them. When they entered the port, the Trojan saw herds of cattle roaming over the plain. They slew as many as they wished and prepared for a feast, but no sooner had they seated themselves at the table than a horrid clamor was heard in the air and a flock of these odious Harpies came rushing down upon them, seizing in their talons the meat from the ditches and flying away with it. Aeneas and his companions drew their swords and dealt vigorous blows among the monsters, but to no purpose. For they were so nimble it was almost impossible to hit them and their feathers were just like armor and penetrable with steel. One of them perched on a neighboring cliff screamed out, Is it thus Trojans, you treat us innocent birds, first slaughter our cattle and then make war on ourselves? She then predicted dire sufferings to them in their future course and having vented her wrath flew away. The Trojans made haste to leave the country and next found themselves coasting along the shore of a puris. Here they landed and to their astonishment learned that certain Trojan exiles, who had been carried there as prisoners had become rulers of the country. Andromache, the widow of Hector, became the wife of one of the victorious Grecian chiefs to whom she bore a son. Her husband dying, she was left regent of the country as guardian of her son and had married a fellow captive, Hellenus, of the royal race of Troy. Hellenus and Andromache treated the exiles with the utmost hospitality and dismissed them loaded with gifts. From hence Aeneas coasted along the shore of Sicily and passed the country of the Cyclops. Here they were hailed from the shore by a miserable object, whom by his garments, tattered as they were, they perceived to be a Greek. He told them he was one of Ulysses' companions, left behind by that chief in his hurried departure. He related the story of Ulysses' adventure with Polyphemus and besought them to take him off with them as he had no means of sustaining his existence where he was but wild berries and roots and lived in constant fear of the Cyclops. While he spoke, Polyphemus made his appearance a terrible monster, shapeless, vast, whose only eye had been put out. He walked with cautious steps, feeling his way with the staff down to the seaside to wash his eye socket in the waves. When he reached the water, he waded out towards them and his immense height enabled him to advance far into the sea so that the Trojans, in terror, took to their oars to get out of his way. Hearing the oars, Polyphemus shouted after them so that the shores resounded, and at the noise the other Cyclops came forth from their caves and woods and lined the shores like a row of lofty pine trees. The Trojans plied their oars and soon left them out of sight. Aeneas had been cautioned by Hellenists to avoid the strait guarded by the monsters Scylla and Charybdis. Their Ulysses, the reader will remember, had lost six of his men seized by Scylla while the navigators were wholly intent upon avoiding Charybdis. Aeneas, following the advice of Hellenists, shunned the dangerous pass and coasted along the island of Sicily. Juno, seeing the Trojans speeding their way prosperously towards their dust and shore, felt her old grudge against them revive, for she could not forget the slate that Paris had put upon her and awarding the prize of beauty to another. In heavenly minds can such resentment dwell. Accordingly, she hastened to Aeolus, the ruler of the winds, the same who had supplied Ulysses with favoring gales, giving him the contrary ones tied up in a bag. Aeolus obeyed the goddess and sent forth his sons Boreus, Typhon, and the other winds to toss the ocean. A terrible storm ensued, and the Trojans were driven out of their course towards the coast of Africa. There they were in imminent danger of being wrecked and were separated, so that Aeneas thought that all were lost except his own. At this crisis, Neptune, hearing the storm raging, and knowing that he had given no orders for one, raced his head above the waves and saw the fleet of Aeneas driving before the gale. Knowing the hostility of Juno, he was at no loss to account for it, but his anger was not the less of this interference in his province. He called the winds and dismissed them with a severe reprimand. He then sued the waves and brushed away the clouds from before the face of the sun. Some of the ships, which had got on the rocks, he pried off with his own Trident, a Triton and a Senith, putting their shoulders under others, set them afloat again. The Trojans, when the sea became calm, sought the nearest shore, which was the coast of Carthage, where Aeneas was so happy as to find that one by one the ships all arrived safe, but badly shaken. Waller, in his panergic to Lord Protector, Cromwell, alludes to the stealing of the storm by Neptune. Above the waves as Neptune showed his face to chide the winds and save the Trojan race, so has your highness raced above the rest, storms of ambition tossing us repressed. Dido. Carthage, where the exiles had now arrived, was the spot on the coast of Africa opposite Sicily, where, at that time, a Tyrian colony under Dido, their queen, were laying the foundations of a state destined in later ages to be the rival of Rome itself. Dido was the daughter of Bellus, king of Tyre, and the sister of Pygmalion, who succeeded his father on the throne. Her husband was Sicaeus, a man of immense wealth, but Pygmalion, who coveted his treasures, caused him to be put to death. Dido, with a numerous body of friends and followers, both men and women, succeeded in affecting their escape from Tyre in several vessels, carrying with them the treasures of Sicaeus. On arriving at the spot which they had selected as the seat of their future home, they asked of the natives only so much land as they could enclose with a bull's hide. When this was readily granted, she caused the hide to be caught into strips and with them enclosed a spot on which she built a citadel, and called it Bursa, a hide. Around this fort, the city of Carthage rose and soon became a powerful and flourishing place. Such was the state of affairs when Aeneas and his Trojans arrived there. Dido received the illustrious exiles with friendliness and hospitality. Not on Aquania would distress, she said, I have learned to secure the unfortunate. The queen's hospitality displayed itself in festivities at which games of strength and skill were exhibited. The strangers contended for the poem with her own subjects on equal terms, the queen declaring that whether the victor were Trojan or Tyrian, it should make no difference to her. At the feast which followed the games, Aeneas gave at her request a recital of the closing events of Trojan history and his own adventures after the fall of the city. Dido was chimed with his discourse and filled with admiration of his exploits. She conceived an ardent passion for him and he, for his part, seemed well content to accept the fortunate chance which appeared to offer him at once a happy termination of his wanderings, a home, a kingdom, and a bride. Months rolled away in the enjoyment of pleasant intercourse and it seemed as if Italy and the empire destined to be founded on its shores were alike forgotten. Seeing which, Jupiter dispatched Mercury with a message to Aeneas recalling him with a sense of his high destiny and commanding him to resume his voyage. Aeneas parted from Dido though she tried every allurement and persuasion to detain him. The blow to her affection and her pride was too much for her to endure and when she found that he was gone she mounted a funeral pile which she had caused to be erected and having stabbed herself was consumed with the pile. The flames rising over the city were seen by the departing Trojans though the cause was unknown gave to Aeneas some intimation of the fatal event. The following epigram we find in elegant extracts from the Latin unhappy, Dido, was thy fate in first and second married state one husband caused thy flight by dying thy death the other caused by flying. Palinurus after touching at the island of Sicily were Assestes a prince of Trojan lineage in the last way who gave them a hospitable reception the Trojans re-embarked and held on their course for Italy. Venus now interceded with Neptune to allow her son at last to attain the wish for a goal and find an end to his perils on the deep. Neptune consented stipulating only for one life as ransom for the rest the victim was Palinurus the pilot. As he sat watching the stars with his hand on the helm Palinurus sent by Neptune approached in the guise of Forbus and said Palinurus the breeze is fair, the water smooth and the ship sails steadily on her course lie down a while and take needful rest I will stand at the helm in your place. Palinurus replied tell me not of smooth seas or favoring winds me who has seen so much of their treachery shall I trust Aeneas the chances of the weather and the winds and he continued to grasp the helm and to keep his eyes fixed on the stars but Somnus waved over him a branch moistened with lethy and dew and his eyes closed in spite of all his efforts then Somnus pushed him overboard and he fell but keeping his hold upon the helm it came away with him Neptune was mindful of his promise and kept the ship on her track without helm or pilot Aeneas discovered his loss and sorrowing deeply for his faithful steersman took charge of the ship himself there is a beautiful allusion to the story of Palinurus and Scots Marmian introduction to Canto 1 where the poet speaking of the recent death of William Pitt says oh, think how to his latest day when death just hovering claimed his prey with Palinurus on altered mood firm at his dangerous post he stood each call for needful rest repelled with dying hand the rudder held till in his fall with fatal sway the steerage of the Rome gave way the ships at last reached the shores of Italy and joyfully did the adventures leap to land while his people were employed in making their encampment Aeneas sought the abode of the Sibyl it was a cave connected with a temple and a grove sacred to Apollo and Diana while Aeneas contemplated the scene the Sibyl accosted him she seemed to know his airing and under the influence of the deity of the place burst forth in a prophetic strain giving dark intimations of the labors and perils through it he was destined to make his way to final success she closed with the encouraging words which have become proverbial yield not to disasters but press onward the more bravely Aeneas replied that he had prepared himself for whatever might await him he had but one request to make having been directed in a dream to seek the abode of the dead in order to confer with his father and Caesis to receive from him a revelation of his future fortunes and those of his race he asked her assistance to enable him to accomplish the task the Sibyl replied the descent to Avernus is easy the gate of Pluto stands open night and day but to retrace one steps and return to the upper air that is the toil that is the difficulty she instructed him to seek in the forest a tree on which grew a golden branch this branch was to be plucked off and borne as a gift to Proserpene and if fate was propituous it would yield to the hand and quit its parents' trunk but otherwise no forest could rend it away if torn away another would succeed Aeneas followed the directions of the Sibyl his mother Venus sent two of her doves to fly before him and show him the way and by their assistance he found the tree plucked the branch and hastened back with it to the Sibyl End of chapter 31