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Recording by Linnie Bulfinch-Smithology The Age of Fable by Thamas Bulfinch Chapter 32 The Infernal Regions The Sybil The Infernal Regions As at the commencement of our series, we have given the pagan account of the creation of the world So, as we approach its conclusion, we present a view of the regions of the dead depicted by one of their most enlightened poets, who drew his doctrines from their most esteemed philosophers The region where Virgil locates the entrance to this abode is perhaps the most strikingly adapted to excite ideas of the terrific and preternatural of any on the face of the earth It is the volcanic region near Vesuvius, where the whole country is cleft with chasms from which sulfurous flames arise while the ground is shaken with pent-up vapors and mysterious sounds issue from the bowels of the earth The lake Avernus is supposed to fill the crater of an extinct volcano It is circular, half a mile wide and very deep, surrounded by high banks which, in Virgil's time, were covered with a gloomy forest Mephitic vapors rise from its waters, so that no life is found on its banks and no birds fly over it Here, according to the poet, was the cave which afforded access to the Infernal Regions And here, Aeneas offered sacrifices to the Infernal Deities Broserpine, Hecate and the Furies Then a roaring was heard in the earth, the woods on the hilltops were shaken and the howling of dogs announced the approach of the deities Now, said the Sibyl, Summon up your courage, for you will need it She descended into the cave and Aeneas followed Before the threshold of hell they passed through a group of beings who are enumerated as griefs and avenging cares Pale diseases and melancholy age, fear and hunger that tempt to crime Toil, poverty and death forms horrible to view The Furies spread their couches there, and this cord, whose hair was of vipers, tied up with a bloody fillet Here also were the monsters, briar ears with his hundred arms, hydrous hissing and chimerous breathing fire Aeneas shuddered at the sight, drew his sword and would have struck but the Sibyl restrained him They then came to the Black River Cositus where they found the ferryman, Caren, old and squalid but strong and vigorous who was receiving passengers of all kinds into his boat Magnanimous heroes, boys and unmarried girls, as numerous as the leaves that fall at Orton or the flocks that fly southward at the approach of winter They stood, pressing for a passage and longing to touch the opposite shore but the stern ferryman took in only such as he chose, driving the rest back Aeneas, wandering at the sight, asked the Sibyl Why this discrimination? She answered Those who are taken on board the boat are the souls of those who have received due burial rites The host of others who have remained and buried are not permitted to pass the flood but wander a hundred years and flit to and fro about the shore till at last they are taken over Aeneas grieved at recollecting some of his own companions who had perished in the storm At that moment he beheld Pelinurus, his pilot, who fell overboard and was drowned He addressed him and asked him the cause of his misfortune Pelinurus replied that the rudder was carried away and he, clinging to it, was swept away with it He besought Aeneas most urgently to extend to him his hand and take him in company to the opposite shore but the Sibyl rebuked him for the wish thus to transgress the laws of Pluto but consoled him by informing him that the people of the shore where his body had been wafted by the waves should be stirred up by prodigies to give it due burial and that the promontory should bear the name of Cape Pelinurus, which it does to this day Leaving Pelinurus consoled by these words, they approached the boat Caren, fixing his eyes sternly upon the advancing warrior, demanded by what right he, living and armed, approached that shore To which the Sibyl replied that they would commit no violence, that Aeneas's only object was to see his father and finally exhibited the golden branch, at sight of which Caren's wrath relaxed and he made haste to turn his bark to the shore and receive them on board The boat adapted only to the light freight of bodyless spirits groaned under the weight of the hero They were soon conveyed to the opposite shore There they were encountered by the three-headed dog, Cerberus, with his necks bristling with snakes He barked with all his three throats till the Sibyl threw him a medicated cake which he eagerly devoured and then stretched himself out in his den and fell asleep Aeneas and the Sibyl sprang to land The first sound that struck their ears was the wailing of young children who had died on the threshold of life and near to these were they who had perished under false charges Minus presides over them as judge and examines the deeds of each The next class was of those who had died by their own hand, hating life and seeking refuge in death How willingly would they now endure poverty, labour and any other inflection if they might but return to life Next were situated the regions of sadness, divided off into retired paths, leading through grows of myrtle Here roam those who had fallen victims to unrequited love, not freed from pain even by death itself Among these Aeneas thought he described the form of Dido with a wound still recent In the dim light he was for a moment uncertain, but approaching perceived it was indeed herself Tears fell from his eyes and he addressed her in the accents of love Unhappy Dido was then the rumor true that you had perished And was I alas the cause, I called the gods to witness that my departure from you was reluctant And in obedience to the commands of Jove, nor could I believe that my absence would cost you so dear Stop, I beseech you and refuse me not a last farewell She stood for a moment with averted countenance and eyes fixed on the ground And then silently passed on, as insensible to his pleadings as a rock Aeneas followed for some distance, then with a heavy heart rejoined his companion and resumed his route They next entered the fields where roam the heroes who have fallen in battle Here they saw many shades of Grecian and Trojan warriors The Trojans thronged around him and could not be satisfied with the sight They asked the cause of his coming and plied him with innumerable questions But the Greeks at the sight of his armor glittering through the murky atmosphere recognized the hero And filled with terror turned their backs and flat as they used to do on the plains of Troy Aeneas would have lingered long with his Trojan friends, but the Sibyl hurried him away They next came to a place where the road divided, the one leading to Elysium, the other to the regions of the Condemned Aeneas beheld, on one side the walls of a mighty city, around which Phlegithon rolled its fiery waters Before him was the gate of Adamant that neither gods nor men can break through An iron tower stood by the gate on which Tessiphon, the avenging fury, kept guard From the city were heard groans and the sound of the scourge, the creaking of iron and the clanking of chains Aeneas' horrors struck, inquired of his guide, what crimes were those whose punishments produced the sounds he heard The Sibyl answered, here is the judgment hall of Rathamanthus, who brings to light crimes done in life Which the perpetrator vainly thought impenetrably hid Tessiphon applies her whip of scorpions and delivers the offender over to her sister Fyris At this moment, with horrid clang, the brazen gates unfolded, and Aeneas saw within a hydra with 50 heads guarding the entrance The Sibyl told him that the Gulf of Tartarus descended deep, so that its recesses were as far beneath their feet As heaven was high above their heads In the bottom of the spit, the titan race, who warred against the gods, lie prostrate Salmoneas also, who presumed to vie with Jupiter, and built a bridge of brass over which he drove his chariot That the sound might resemble thunder, launching flaming brands at his people, and imitation of lightning Till Jupiter struck him with a real thunderbolt, and taught him the difference between mortal weapons and divine Here also is Titius, the giant, whose form is so immense that as he lies his stretches over nine acres While a vulture prays upon his liver, which, as fast as it is devoured, grows again So that his punishment will have no end Aeneas saw groups seated at tables, loaded with dainties, while nearby stood a fury who snatched away the vines from their lips As fast as they prepared to taste them Others beheld suspended over their heads, huge rocks, threatening to fall, keeping them in a state of constant alarm These were they who had hated their brothers, or struck their parents, or defrauded their friends who trusted them Or who, having grown rich, kept their money to themselves, and gave no share to others The last being the most numerous class Here also were those who had violated the marriage vow, or fought in a bad cause, or failed in fidelity to their employers Here was one who had sold his country for gold, another who perverted the laws, making them say one thing today, and another tomorrow Exean was there, fastened to the circumference of a wheel, ceaselessly revolving And Sisyphus, whose task was to roll a huge stone up to a hilltop But, when the steep was well nigh gained, the rock, repulsed by some sudden force, rushed again headlong down to the plain Again he toiled at it, while the sweat bathed all his weary limbs, but all to no effect There was Tantalus, who stood in a pool, his chin leveled with the water Yet he was sparged with thirst, and felt nothing to assuage it For when he bowed his hoary head, eager to quaff the water flat away, leaving the ground at his feet all dry Tantal trees, laden with fruit, stooped their heads to him, pears, pomegranates, apples, and luscious figs But when, with a sudden grasp, he tried to seize them, winds whirled them high above his reach The Sibyl now warned Aeneas, that it was time to turn from these melancholy regions, and sick the city of the blast They passed through a middle tract of darkness, and came upon the Elysian fields The groves were the happy reside They breathed a freer air, and saw all objects glowed in a purple light The region has a sun and stars of its own The inhabitants were enjoying themselves in various ways Summoned sports on the grassy turf, in games of strength or skill, others dancing or singing Orpheus struck the chords of his lyre, and called forth ravishing sounds Here Aeneas saw the founders of the Trojan state, magnanimous heroes who lived in happier times He gazed with admiration on the war chariots and glittering arms, now reposing in disuse Spears stood fixed in the ground, and the horses, unharnessed, roamed over the plain The same pride in splendid armor and generous steeds, which the old heroes felt in life, accompanied them here He saw another group, feasting and listening to the strains of music They were in a laurel grove, whence the river pole has its origin, and flows out among men Here dwelt those who fell by wounds received in their country's cause Holy priests also, and poets who have uttered thoughts worthy of Apollo And others who have contributed to cheer and adorn life by their discoveries in the useful arts And have made their memory blessed by rendering service to mankind They wore snow-white fillets about their brows The Sybil addressed a group of these, and inquired where Ankaizes was to be found They were directed where to seek him, and soon found him in a verdant valley Where he was contemplating the ranks of his posterity, their destinies and worthy deeds to be achieved in coming times When he recognized Ania's approaching, he stretched out both hands to him, while tears flowed freely Have you come at last, said he, long expected, and do I behold you after such peril's past? Oh, my son, how have I trembled for you, as I have watched your career To which Ania's replied Oh, Father, your image was always before me, to guide and guard me Then he endeavored to unfold his father in his embrace, but his arms enclosed only an unsubstantial image Ania's perceived before him a spacious valley, with trees gently waving to the wind A tranquil landscape through which the river Lethe flowed Along the banks of the stream wandered a countless multitude, numerous as insects in the summer air Ania's, with surprise, inquired who were these, and Ankaizes answered They are souls to which bodies are to be given in due time Meanwhile, they dwell on Lethe's bank, and drink oblivion of their former lives Oh, Father, said Ania's, is it possible that Ani can be so in love with life as to wish to leave these tranquil seats for the upper world? Ankaizes replied by explaining the plan of creation The creator, he told him, originally made the material of which souls are composed of the four elements Fire, air, earth, and water, all which, when united, took the form of the most excellent part, fire, and became flame This material was scattered like seed among the heavenly bodies, the sun, moon, and stars Of this seed the inferior gods created men, and all other animals, mangling it with various proportions of earth By which its purity was alloyed and reduced Thus, the more earth predominates in the composition, the less pure is the individual And we see men and women, with their full-grown bodies, have not the purity of childhood So, in proportion to the time which the union of body and soul has lasted, is the impurity contracted by the spiritual part This impurity must be purged away after death, which is done by ventilating the souls in the current of winds Or emerging them in water, or burning out their impurities by fire Some few of Ankaizes' intimates that he is one are admitted at once to Elysium, there to remain But the rest, after the impurities of earth are purged away, are sent back to life, endowed with new bodies Having had the remembrance of their former lives effectually washed away by the waters of Liti Some, however, there still are so thoroughly corrupted that they are not fit to be entrusted with human bodies And these are made into brittle animals, lions, tigers, cats, dogs, monkeys, etc This is what the ancients called Medanpsychosis, or the transmigration of souls A doctrine which is still held by the natives of India, who scruple to destroy the life, even of the most insignificant animal Not knowing, but it may be one of their relatives in an altered form Ankaizes, having explained so much, proceeded to point out to Anias individuals of his race, who were hereafter to be born And to relate to him the exploits they should perform in the world After this, he reverted to the present and told his son of the events that remained to him to be accomplished before the complete establishment of himself and his followers in Italy Wars were to be waged, battles fought, a bride to be won And, in the result, a Trojan state founded, from which should rise the Roman power to be in time the sovereign of the world Anias and the Sibyl then took leave of Ankaizes and returned by some shortcut which the poet does not explain to the upper world Elysium Virgil, we have seen, places his Elysium under the earth and assigns it for a residence to the spirits of the blast But in Homer, Elysium forms no part of the realms of the dead He places it on the west of the earth, near ocean, and describes it as a happy land where there is neither snow nor cold nor rain And always fend by the delightful breezes of Zephyrus Hither, favorite heroes pass without dying and live happy under the rule of Redamanthus The Elysium of Hesiod and Pinder is in the isles of the blast, or fortunate islands, in the western ocean From these sprang the legend of the happy island Atlantis This blissful region may have been wholly imaginary, but possibly may have sprung from the reports of some storm-driven mariners who had caught a glimpse of the coast of America J. R. Lowell, in one of his shorter poems, claims for the present age some of the privileges of that happy realm Addressing the past, he says, whatever of true life there was in thee leaps in our ages veins Here, mid the bleak waves of our strife and care, float the green fortunate isles Where all thy hero spirits dwell and share our martyrdoms and toils The present moves attended with all of brave and excellent and fair that made the old times splendid Milton also alludes to the same fable in Paradise Lost, Book 3, 1, 568 Like those Hesperian gardens famed of old, fortunate fields and groves and flowery veils thrice happy isles And in Book 2, he characterizes the rivers of Erebus according to the meaning of their names in the Greek language Abhorred sticks the flood of deadly hate, sad, accurate of sorrow, black and deep Cositas, named of lamentation loud, heard on the rueful stream, fears Flegethon, whose waves of torrent fire and inflame with rage Far off from these a slow and silent stream, Levy, the river of oblivion, rolls her watery labyrinth Whereof, who drinks forthwith his former state and being forgets, forgets both joy and grief, pleasure and pain The Sybil As the Nias and the Sybil pursue their way back to earth, he said to her Whether thou be a goddess or a mortal beloved of the gods, by me thou shalt always be held in reverence When I reach the upper air, I will cause a temple to be built to thy honor and will myself bring offerings I am no goddess, said the Sybil. I have no claim to sacrifice or offering I am mortal Yet, if I could have accepted the love of Apollo, I might have been immortal He promised me the fulfillment of my wish, if I would consent to be his I took a handful of sand and, holding it forth, said Grant me to see as many birthdays as there are sand grains in my hand Unluckily, I forgot to ask for enduring youth This also, he would have granted, could I have accepted his love But offended at my refusal, he allowed me to grow old My youth and youthful strength flared long ago I have lived 700 years, and to equal the number of the sand grains I have still to see 300 springs and 300 harvests My body shrinks up as the years increase And in time I shall be lost to sight, but my voice will remain And future ages will respect my saints These concluding words of the Sybil alluded to her prophetic power In her cave, she was accustomed to inscribe on leaves Gathered from the trees the names and fates of individuals The leaves, thus inscribed, were arranged in order within the cave And might be consulted by her votaries But if perchance at the opening of the door, the wind rushed in and dispersed the leaves The Sybil gave no aid to restoring them again, and the oracle was irreparably lost The following legend of the Sybil is fixed at a later date In the reign of one of the Tarquins, there appeared before the king a woman Who offered him nine books for sale The king refused to purchase them, whereupon the woman went away and burned three of the books And returning offered the remaining books for the same price she had asked for the nine The king again rejected them, but when the woman, after burning three books more Returned and asked for the three remaining, the same price which she had before asked for the nine His curiosity was excited, and he purchased the books They were found to contain the destinies of the Roman state They were kept in the temple of Jupiter capital Linus, preserved in a stone chest And allowed to be inspected only by special officers, appointed for that duty Who, on great occasions, consulted them and interpreted their oracles to the people There were various Sybils, but the Cumaean Sybil, of whom Ovid and Virgil write, is the most celebrated of them Ovid's story of her life, protracted to one thousand years, may be intended to represent the various Sybils As being only reappearances of one and the same individual Young, in the night thoughts, alludes to the Sybil Speaking of worldly wisdom, he says A future fate she plans still all in leaves, like Sybil, unsubstantial, fleeting bliss At the first blast it vanishes in air As worldly schemes resemble Sybil's leaves, the Goodman's days to Sybil's books compare The price still rising as in number less End of Chapter 32 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 Leni Belfench's Mythology, The Age of Fable, by Thomas Belfench Chapter 33 Camilla, Evander, Nysus and Orillus, Mesentius, Ternus Heneas, having parted from the Sybil and rejoined his fleet Coasted along the shores of Italy and cast anchor in the mouth of the Tiber The poet, having brought his hero to this spot, the destined termination of his wanderings Invokes his muse to tell him the situation of things at that eventful moment Latinus, third in descent from Saturn, ruled the country He was now old and had no male descendant, but had one charming daughter, Lavinia Who was sought in marriage by many neighboring chiefs One of them, Ternus, king of the Ritulians, was favored by the wishes of her parents But Latinus had been warned in a dream by his father, Faunus That the destined husband of Lavinia should come from a foreign land From that union should spring a race destined to subdue the world Our readers will remember that in the conflict with the harpies One of those half-human birds had threatened the Troians with dire sufferings In particular, she predicted that before their wandering seized They should be pressed by hunger to devour their tables The Spartan now came true, for as they took their scanty meal seated on the grass The men placed their harp biscuit on their laps and put thereon whatever their gleaning in the wood supplied Having dispatched the latter, they finished by eating the crusts Seeing which, the boy yielded sad playfully See, we are eating our tables Aeneas caught the words and accepted the omen All hail promised land, he exclaimed This is our home, this our country He then took measures to find out who were the present inhabitants of the land And who their rulers A hundred chosen men were sent to the village of Latinus Bearing presents and a request for friendship and alliance They went and were favorably received Latinus immediately concluded that the Troian hero was no other than the promised son-in-law Announced by the Oracle He cheerfully granted his alliance and sent back the messengers Mounted on steeds from his stables and loaded with gifts and friendly messages Juno, seeing things go thus prosperously for the Troians Enraged her old animosity revive Summoned Electo from Erebus and sent her to stir up discord The fury first took possession of the queen, Amata Enraged her to oppose in every way the new alliance Electo then speeded to the city of Ternus And, assuming the form of an old priestess Enformed him of the arrival of the foreigners And of the attempts of their prince to rob him of his bride Next, she turned her attention to the camp of the Troians There, she saw the boy, Yulus, and his companions amusing themselves with hunting She sharpened the scent of the dogs And led them to rouse up from the thicket a tame stag The favorite of Sylvia, the daughter of Tyrias, the king's herdsman A javelin from the hand of Yulus wounded the animal And he had only strength left to run homewards and died at his mistress' feet Her cries and tears roused her brothers and the herdsmen And they, seizing whatever weapons came to hand, fearlessly assaulted the hunting party These were protected by their friends And the herdsmen were finally driven back with the loss of two of their number These things were enough to rouse the storm of war And the queen, Ternus, and the peasants all urged the old king to drive the strangers from the country He resisted as long as he could But finding his opposition unavailing Finally gave way and retreated to his retirement Opening the gates of Janus It was the custom of the country when war was to be undertaken For the chief magistrate clad in his robes of office With solemn pomp to open the gates of the temple of Janus Which were kept shut as long as peace endured His people now urged the old king to perform that solemn office But he refused to do so While they contested, Juno herself, descending from the skies Smote the doors with irresistible force and burst them open Immediately the whole country was in a flame The people rushed from every side breathing nothing but war Ternus was recognized by all as leader Others joined as allies, chief of whom was Mazenches A brave and able soldier, but of the testable cruelty He had been the chief of one of the neighboring cities But his people drove him out With him was joined his son, Losus A generous youth, worthy of a better sire Camilla Camilla, the favorite of Diana A huntress and warrior after the fashion of the Amazons Came with her band of mounted followers Including a select number of her own sex And wrench herself on the side of Ternus This maiden had never accustomed her fingers to the distaff or the loom But had learned to endure the toils of war And in speed to outstrip the wind It seemed as if she might run over the standing corn without crushing it Or over the surface of the water without dipping her feet Camilla's history had been singular from the beginning Her father, Metabas, driven from his city by civil discord Carried with him in his flight his infant daughter As he fled through the woods, his enemies in hot pursuit He reached the bank of the river Amazines Which, swelled by rains, seemed to the bar a passage He paused for a moment, then decided what to do He tied the infant to his lands with wrappers of bark And poisoned the weapon in his upraised hand thus addressed Diana Goddess of the woods, I consecrate this maid to you Then hurled the weapon with its burden to the opposite bank The spear flew across the roaring water His pursuers were already upon him But he plunged into the river and swam across And found the spear with the infant safe on the other side Hands forth, he lived among the shepherds And brought up his daughter in woodland arts While a child, she was taught to use the bow and throw the javelin With her sling, she could bring down the crane or the wild swan Her dress was a tiger's skin Many mothers sought her for a daughter-in-law But she continued faithful to Diana And repelled the thought of marriage Evander, such were the formidable allies That ranged themselves against Aeneas It was night, and he lay stretched in sleep On the bank of the river under the open heavens The god of the stream, Father Tiber, Seemed to raise his head above the willows And to say, oh, goddess born Destined possessor of the Latin realms This is the promised land Here is to be your home Here shall terminate the hostility of the heavenly powers If only you faithfully persevere There are friends not far distant Prepare your boats and row up my stream I will lead you to Evander, the Arcadian chief He has long been at strife with Ternus and the Rutulians And is prepared to become an ally of yours Rise, offer your vows to Juno And deprecate her anger When you have achieved your victory, then think of me Aeneas woke and paid immediate obedience to the friendly vision He sacrificed to Juno and invoked the god of the river And all his tributary fountains to land their aid Then, for the first time a vessel Filled with armed warriors floated on the stream of the Tiber The river smoothed its waves and bade its current flow gently While, impelled by the vigorous strokes of the rowers The vessel shot rapidly up the stream About the middle of the day They came in sight of the scattered buildings of the infant town Where, in aftertimes, the proud city of Rome grew Whose glory reached the skies By chance, the old king, Evander Was that day celebrating annual solemnities In honor of Hercules and all the gods Pallas, his son And all the chiefs of the little Commonwealth stood by When they saw the tall ship gliding onward near the wood They were alarmed at the sight and rose from the tables But Pallas forbade the solemnities to be interrupted And, seizing a weapon, stepped forward to the river's bank He called aloud, demanding who they were and what their object Aeneas, holding forth an olive branch, replied We are Troyans, friends to you, and enemies to the Retulians We seek Evander, an offer to join our arms with yours Pallas, in a maze at the sound of so great a name, invited them to land And when Aeneas touched the shore, he seized his hand And held it long in friendly grasp Proceeding through the wood, they joined the king and his party And were most favorably received Seats were provided for them at the tables and their repasse proceeded Infant Rome When the solemnities were ended, all moved towards the city The king, bending with age, walked between his son and Aeneas Taking the arm of one or the other of them And with much variety of pleasing talk, shortening the way Aeneas, with delight, looked and listened Observing all the beauties of the scene And learning much of heroes renowned in ancient times Evander said These extensive groves were once inhabited by fawns and nymphs And a rude race of men who sprang from the trees themselves And had neither loss nor social culture They knew not how to yoke the cattle nor raise a harvest Nor provide from present abundance for future want But browsed like beasts upon the leafy boughs Or fed voraciously on their hunted prey Such were they when Saturn, expelled from Olympus by his sons Came among them and drew together the fierce savages Formed them into society and gave them loss Such peace and plenty ensued that men ever since Have called his reign the golden age But by the Greece far other times succeeded And the thirst of gold and the thirst of blood prevailed The land was a prey to successive tyrants Till fortune and resistless destiny brought me hither An exile from my native land, Arcadia Having thus said, he showed him the Tarpaian rock And the rude spot then overgrown with bushes Where, in after times, the capital rose in all its magnificence He next pointed to some dismantled walls and said Here stood Geniculum, built by Johnus And there Saturnia, the town of Saturn Such discourse brought them to the cottage of poor Evander Whence they saw the lowing herds roaming over the plain Where now the proud and stately forum stands They entered, and a couch was spread for Aeneas Well stuffed with leaves and covered with the skin of a Libyan bear Next morning, awakened by the dawn and the shrill song of birds Beneath the eaves of his low mansion, old Evander rose Clad in a tunic and a panther's skin thrown over his shoulders With sandals on his feet and his good sword girded to his side He went forth to seek his guest Two mastiffs followed him, his whole retina and bodyguard He found the hero attended by his faithful Akates And, Paola soon joining them, the old king spoke thus Illustrious Trojan, it is but little we can do in so great a cause Our state is feeble, hemmed in on one side by the river On the other by the Rutulians But I propose to ally you with a people numerous and rich To whom fate has brought you at the propitious moment The Etruscans hold the country beyond the river Mazzanches was their king, a monster of cruelty Who invented unheard of torments to gratify his vengeance He would fasten the dead to the living, hand to hand And face to face, and leave the wretched victims to die In that dreadful embrace At length, the people cast him out, him and his house They burned his palace and slew his friends He escaped and took refuge with Ternus, who protects him with arms The Etruscans demand that he shall be given up to deserved punishment And would ear now have attempted to enforce their demand But their priests restrain them Telling them that it is the will of heaven that no native of the land shall guide them to victory And that their destined leader must come from across the sea They have offered the crown to me But I am too old to undertake such great affairs And my son is native-born, which precludes him from the choice You equally, by birth and time of life And feign in arms, pointed out by the gods Have but to appear to be hailed at once as their leader With you, I will join Pallas, my son, my only hope and comfort Under you, he shall learn the art of war And strive to emulate your great exploits Then the king ordered horses to be furnished for the Trojan chief And Aeneas, with a chosen band of followers and Pallas accompanying, mounted And took the way to the Etruscan city, having sent back the rest of his party in the ships Aeneas and his band safely arrived at the Etruscan camp And were received with open arms by Tarkin and his countrymen Nices and the realists In the meanwhile, Turnus had collected his bands and made all necessary preparations for the war Juno sent Iris to him, with a message, and citing him to take advantage of the absence of Aeneas And surprise the Trojan camp Accordingly, the attempt was made, but the Trojans were found on their guard And had no choice but to go to the camp But the Trojans had no choice but to go to the camp And had no choice but to go to the camp But the Trojans were found on their guard And having received strict orders from Aeneas not to fight in his absence They lay still in their entrenchments and resisted all the efforts of the Rutulians to draw them into the field Night coming on, the army of Turnus, in high spirits at their fancied superiority Feasted and enjoyed themselves And finally stretched themselves on the field and slept secure In the camp of the Trojans, things were far otherwise Their all was watchfulness and anxiety and impatience for Aeneas' return Nices stood guard at the entrance of the camp And a realist, a youth, distinguished above all in the army For graces of person and fine qualities was with him These two were friends and brothers in arms Nices said to his friend Do you perceive what confidence and carelessness the enemy display? Their lights are few and dim and the men seem all oppressed with wine or sleep You know how anxiously our chief switched to Aeneas and to get intelligence from him Now, I am strongly moved to make my way through the enemy's camp and to go in search of our chief If I succeed, the glory of the deed will be reward enough for me And if they judge the service deserves anything more, let them pay it to you A realist, all on fire with the love of adventure, replied Would you then, Nices, refuse to share your enterprise with me? And shall I let you go into such danger alone? Not so my brave father brought me up Nor so have I planned for myself when I joined the standard of Aeneas And resolved to hold my life cheap in comparison with honor Nices replied I doubt it not, my friend But you know the uncertain event of such an undertaking And whatever may happen to me, I wish you to be safe You are younger than I and have more of life in prospect Nor can I be the cause of such grief to your mother Who has chosen to be here in the camp with you Rather than stay and live in peace with the other matrons in Assisted City A realist replied Say no more In vain you seek arguments to dissuade me I am fixed in the resolution to go with you Let us lose no time They called the guard and committing the watch to them Sought the general's tent They found the chief officers in consultation Deliberating how they should send notice to Aeneas of their situation The offer of the two friends was gladly accepted Themselves loaded with praises And promised the most liberal rewards in case of success Yulis especially addressed a realist Assuring him of his lasting friendship A realist replied I have but one boon to ask My aged mother is with me in the camp For me she left the Troyan soil And would not stay behind with the other matrons at the city of Assestas I go now without taking leave of her I could not bear her tears nor set at now her entreaties But do thou, I beseech you, comfort her in her distress Promise me that I shall go more boldly into whatever dangers may present themselves Yulis and the other chiefs were moved to tears And promised to do all his request Your mother shall be mine, said Yulis And all that I have promised to you shall be made good to her If you do not return to receive it The two friends left the camp And plunged at once into the midst of the enemy They found no watch, no sentinels posted But all about the sleeping soldiers strewn on the grass and among the wagons The laws of war at that early day did not forbid a brave man to slay a sleeping foe And the two Troyan slew as they passed Such of the enemy as they could without exciting alarm In one tent a realist made prize of a helmet brilliant with golden plumes They had passed through the enemy's ranks without being discovered But now suddenly appeared a troop directly in front of them Which under Volsens, their leader, were approaching the camp The glittering helmet of a realist caught their attention And Volsens hailed the two and demanded who and whence they were They made no answer but plunged into the wood The horsemen scattered in all directions to intercept their flight Nyces had eluded pursuit and was out of danger But the realist being missing he turned back to seek him He again entered the wood and soon came within sound of voices Looking through the thicket he saw the whole band surrounding a realist with noisy questions What should he do? How extricate the youth or would it be better to die with him? Raising his eyes to the moon, which now shone clear, he said Goddess, favor my effort And aiming his javelin at one of the leaders of the troop Struck him in the back and stretched him on the plane with a death blow In the midst of their amazement another weapon flew and another of the party fell dead Volsens, the leader, ignorant whence the darts came, rushed sword in hand upon a realist You shall pay the penalty of both, he said, and would have plunged the sword into his bosom When Nyces, who from his concealment saw the peril of his friend, rushed forward exclaiming It was I, it was I, turn your swords against me, retulians, I did it He only followed me as a friend While he spoke, the sword fell and pierced the comely bosom of a realist His head fell over on his shoulder like a flower cut down by the plow Nyces rushed upon Volsens and plunged his sword into his body and was himself slain on the instant by numberless blows Mesentius In Nyces, with his iturian lies, arrived on the scene of action in time to rescue his beleaguered camp And now, the two armies being nearly equal in strength, the war began in good earnest We cannot find space for all the details but must simply record the fate of the principal characters whom we have introduced to our readers The tyrant Mesentius, finding himself engaged against his revolting subjects, raged like a wild beast He slew all who dared to withstand him and put the multitude to flight wherever he appeared At last he encountered Aeneas and the armies stood still to see the issue Mesentius threw his spear, which striking Aeneas' shield glanced off and hit Anthur He was a Grecian by birth, who had left Argos, his native city, and followed Evander into Italy The poet says of him, with simple pathos, which has made the words proverbial He fell, unhappy, by a wound intended for another, looked up at the skies and dying remembered sweet Argos Aeneas now in turn hurled his lance, it tears the shield of Mesentius and wounded him in the tie Losses, his son, could not bear the sight, but rushed forward and interposed himself while the followers pressed round Mesentius and bore him away Aeneas held his sword suspended over Losses and the lay to strike, but the furious youth pressed on and he was compelled to deal the fatal blow Losses fell and Aeneas bent over him in pity Hepless youth, he said, what can I do for you worthy of your praise? Keep those arms in which you glory and fear not, but that your body shall be restored to your friends and have due funeral honors So saying, he called the timid followers and delivered the body into their hands Mesentius, meanwhile, had been born to the riverside and washed his wound Soon the news reached him of Losses' death and rage and despair supplied the place of strength He mounted his horse and dashed into the thickest of the fight, seeking Aeneas Having found him, he rode round him in a circle, throwing one javelin after another while Aeneas stood, fenced with his shield, turning every way to meet them At last, after Mesentius had three times made the circuit, Aeneas threw his lens directly at the horse's head It pierced his temples and he fell, while a shout from both armies rend the skies Mesentius asked no mercy, but only that his body might be spared the insults of his revolted subjects and be buried in the same grave with his son He received the fatal stroke, not unprepared, and poured out his life and his blood together Paulus, Camilla, Ternus While these things were doing in one part of the field, in another, Ternus encountered the youthful Paulus The contest between champions so unequally matched could not be doubtful Paulus bore himself bravely, but fell by the lens of Ternus The victor almost relented when he saw the brave youth lying dead at his feet and spared to use the privilege of a conqueror in the spoiling him of his arms The belt only, adorned with studs and carvings of gold, he took and clasped round his own body The rest he remitted to the friends of this lane After the battle there was a cessation of arms for some days to allow both armies to bury their dead In this interval Aeneas challenged Ternus to decide the contest by single combat, but Ternus evaded the challenge Another battle ensued, in which Camilla, the virgin warrior, was chiefly conspicuous Her deeds of valor surpassed those of the bravest warriors, and many Troians and Etruscans fell pierced with her darts or struck down by her battle axe At last, an Etruscan named Arans, who had watched her long, seeking for some advantage, observed her pursuing a flying enemy whose splendid armor offered a tempting prize Intent on the chase she observed not her danger, and the javelin of Arans struck her and inflicted a fatal wound She fell and breathed her last in the arms of her attendant maidens But Diana, who beheld her fate, suffered not her slaughter to be avenged Arans, as he stole away glad but frightened, was struck by a secret arrow, launched by one of the nymphs of Diana's train, and died ignoble and unknown At length the final conflict took place between Aeneas and Ternus Ternus had avoided the contest as long as he could, but at last, impelled by the ill success of his arms and by the murmurs of his followers he braced himself to the conflict It could not be doubtful. On the side of Aeneas were the expressed decree of destiny, the aid of his goddess mother at every emergency An impenetrable armor fabricated by Vulcan at her request for her son Ternus, on the other hand, was deserted by his celestial allies Juno, having been expressly forbidden by Jupiter to assist him any longer Ternus threw his lands but it recoiled, harmless, from the shield of Aeneas The Troyan hero then threw his, which penetrated the shield of Ternus, and pierced his thigh Then Ternus's fortitude first shook him, and he begged for mercy And Aeneas would have given him his life, but at the instant his eye fell on the belt of Pallas, which Ternus had taken from the slaughtered youth Instantly his rage revived, and explaining, Pallas immolates thee with this blow he thrust him through with his sword Here the poem of the Aeneid closes, and we are left to infer that Aeneas, having triumphed over his foes Obtained Lavinia for his bride Tradition adds that he founded his city, and called it after her name Lavinium His son Yolas founded Alba Longa, which was the birthplace of Romulus and Remus, and the cradle of Rome itself There is an allusion to Camilla, in those well-known lies of Pope, in which illustrating the rule that The sound should be an echo to the sense, he says When Ajax strives some rocks-vest weight to throw, the line too labors and the words move slow Not so, when swift Camilla scours the plane, flies over them bending corn or skims along the main Essay and criticism End of chapter 33 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 Christine Bulfinch mythology The Age of Fable by Thomas Bulfinch Chapter 34 Pythagoras Egyptian deities Oracles Pythagoras The teachings of Anchaesis to Aeneas, respecting the nature of the human soul, were in conformity with the doctrines of the Pythagoreans Pythagoras, born 540 years BC, was a native of the island of Samos, but passed the chief portion of his life at Crotona in Italy He is therefore sometimes called the Samian, and sometimes the philosopher of Crotona When young he traveled extensively, and it is said, visited Egypt, where he was instructed by the priests in author learning, and afterwards journeyed to the east, and visited the Persian and Chaldean Maggi and the Brahmins of India At Crotona, where he finally established himself, his extraordinary qualities collected around him a great number of disciples The inhabitants were notorious for luxury and licentiousness, but the good effects of his influence were soon visible So variety and temperance succeeded 600 of the inhabitants became his disciples, and enrolled themselves in a society to aid each other in the pursuit of wisdom, uniting their property in one common stock for the benefit of the whole They were required to practice the greatest purity and simplicity of manners The first lesson they learned was silence For a time they were required to be only heroes He, Pythagoras said so, Ipset Dixit, was to be held by them as sufficient, without any proof It was only the advanced pupils, after years of patient submission, who were allowed to ask questions and to state objections Pythagoras considered numbers as the essence and principle of all things, and attributed to them a real and distinct existence So that, in his view, there were the elements out of which the universe was constructed How he conceived this process has never been satisfactorily explained He traced the various forms and phenomena of the world to numbers, as their basis and essence The monad or unit he regarded as the source of all numbers The number two was imperfect, and the cause of increase and division Three was called the number of the whole, because it had a beginning, middle and end Four, representing the square, is in the highest degree perfect And ten, as it contains the sum of the four prime numbers, comprehends all musical and arithmetical proportions And denotes the system of the world As the numbers proceed from the monad, so he regarded the pure and simple essence of the deity As the source of all the forms of nature Gods, demons and heroes are emanations of the supreme And there is a fourth emanation, the human soul This is immortal, and when freed from the fetters of the body passes to the habitation of the dead Where it remains till it returns to the world, to dwell in some other human or animal body And at last, when sufficiently purified, it returns to the source from which it proceeded This doctrine of the transmigration of souls met a psychosis Which was originally Egyptian and connected with the doctrine of reward and punishment of human actions Was the chief cause why the Pythagoreans killed no animals Or it represents Pythagoras addressing his disciples in these words Souls never die, but always on quitting one abode passed another I myself can remember that in the time of the Trojan War I was a forbus, the son of Pantus And fell by the spear of Menelaus Lately being in the temple of Juno at Argos, I recognized my shield hung up there among the trophies All things change, nothing perishes The soul passes hither and thither, occupying now this body, now that Passing from the body of a beast into that of a man, and thence to a beast again As wax is stamped with certain figures, then melted, then stamped anew with others Yet is always the same wax, so the soul, being always the same Yet veers at different times, different forms Therefore if the love of kindred is not extinct in your bosoms, for beer I entreat you To violate the life of those who may happily be your own relatives Shakespeare in the Merchant of Venice makes Gratiano allude to the metapsychosis Where he says to Shylock Though almost makes me waver in my face to hold opinion with Pythagoras That those of animals infuse themselves into the trunks of men The cursed spirit governed a wolf who hanged the four human slaughter Infused his soul in thee, for thy desires are wolfish, bloody, starved and ravenous The relation of the notes of the musical scale to numbers Whereby harmony results from vibrations in equal times And discord from the reverse Let Pythagoras to apply the word harmony to the visible creation Meaning by it the just adaptation of parts to each other This is the idea which Dryden expresses in the beginning of his song for Saint Cecilia's Day From harmony, from heavenly harmony this everlasting frame began From harmony to harmony through all the compass of the notes it ran That they are personed, closing full in man In the center of the universe he taught there was a central fire, the principle of life The central fire was surrounded by the earth, the moon, the sun and the five planets The distances of the various heavenly bodies from one another were conceived to correspond to the proportions of the musical scale The heavenly bodies with the gods who inhabited them Were supposed to perform a choral dance around the central fire, not without song It is this doctrine which Shakespeare alludes to when he makes Lorenzo teach astronomy to Jessica in this fashion Look Jessica, see how the floor of heaven is thick and laid with patterns of bright gold Thus not the smallest orbs that do be holed, but in his motion like an angel sings Still acquiring to the young eyed cherubim, such harmony is in immortal souls But whilst this muddy vesture of decay does crossly close it in we cannot hear it Merchant of Venice The spheres were conceived to be crystalline or glassy fabrics arranged over one another like a nest of bowels reversed In the substance of each sphere one or more of the heavenly bodies were supposed to be fixed, those to move with it As the spheres are transparent we look through them and see the heavenly bodies which they contain and carry around with them But as these spheres cannot move on one another without friction a sound is thereby produced which is of exquisite harmony Too fine for mortal ears to recognize Milton in his hymn of the Nativity thus alludes to the music of the spheres Ring out your crystal spheres once bless our human ears if you have power to charm our senses so And let your silver chime move in melodious time and let the base of heaven's deep organ blow And with your ninefold harmony make up full concert with the angelic symphony Pythagoras is said to have invented the lyre Our own poet longfellow in Versus Toy Child thus relates the story As great Pythagoras of yore standing beside the blacksmith's door And hearing the hammers as they smote the anvils with a different note Stole from the varying tones that hung we brunt on every iron tongue The secret of the sounding byre and formed the seven corded lyre See also the same poet's occupation of Orion The Samyans great Aeolian lyre Suberis and Crotona Suberis a neighboring city to Crotona was as celebrated for luxury and effeminacy as Crotona for the reverse The name has become proverbial H. R. Lovell uses it in the sense in his charming little poem to the dandelion Not in mid-June the golden curset bee feels a more summer-like warm rummishment In the white lily's breezy tent he's conquered Suberis Then Ivan first from the dark green the yellowed circle is burst A war arose between the two cities and Suberis was conquered and destroyed Milo the celebrated athlete led the army of Crotona Many stories are told of Milo's vast strength such as his carrying a heifer four years old upon his shoulders and afterwards eating the whole of it in a single day The mode of his death is thus related As he was passing through a forest he saw the trunk of a tree which had been partially split open by woodcutters and attempted to rent it further But the wood closed upon his hands and held him fast in which state he was attacked and devoured by wolves Byron in his ode to Napoleon Bonaparte alludes to the story of Milo He who of old would rent the oak deemed not of the rebound Chained by the trunk he vainly broke alone how looked he round Egyptian deities The Egyptians acknowledged as the highest deity Amun afterwards called Zeus or Jupiter Amon Amun manifested himself in his word or will which created Kneph and Ator of different sexes From Kneph and Ator proceeded Osiris and Isis Osiris was worshipped as the god of the sun the source of warmth, life and fruitfulness In addition to which he was also regarded as the god of denial who annually visited his wife Isis the earth by means of an inundation Therapies or Hermes is sometimes represented as identical with Osiris and sometimes as a distinct divinity the ruler of Tartarus and god of medicine Anubis is the guardian god represented with the dog's head emblematic of his character of fidelity and watchfulness Horus or Harpocrates was the son of Osiris He is represented seated on a lotus flower with his finger on his lips as the god of silence In one of Moore's Irish melodies is an allusion to Harpocrates Thy shelf shawl under some rosy boar sit mute with thy finger on thy lip Like him the boy who born among the flowers that own the Nile stream brush Sits ever thus his only song to earth and heaven Myth of Osiris and Isis Osiris and Isis were at one time induced to descend to the earth to bestow gifts and blessings on its inhabitants Isis showed them first the use of wheat and barley and Osiris made the instruments of agriculture and taught men the use of them as well as how to harness the ox to the plough He then gave men laws, the institution of marriage, a civil organization and taught them how to worship the gods After he had thus made the volley of the Nile a happy country he assembled a host with which he went to bestow his blessings upon the rest of the world He conquered the nations everywhere, but not with weapons, only with music and eloquence His brother Tiffon saw this and filled with envy and malice sought during his absence to asurp his throne but Isis, who held the reins of government, frustrated his plans Still Moore embittered he now resolved to kill his brother this he did in the following manner Having organized a conspiracy of 72 members he went with them to the feast which was celebrated in honor of the king's return He then caused a box or chest to be brought in which had been made to fit exactly the size of Osiris and declared that he would give that chest of precious wood to whosoever could get into it The rest dried in vain, but no sooner was Osiris in it then Tiffon and his companions closed the lid and flung the chest into the Nile When Isis heard of the cruel murder she wept and mourned and then with her hair shorn, closed in black and beating her breast she sought diligently for the body of her husband In this search she was materially assisted by Anubis, the son of Osiris and Neptis They sought in vain for some time for when the chest carried by the waves to the shores of Biblos had become entangled in the reeds that grew at the edge of the water the divine power that dwelt in the body of Osiris imported such strength to the shrub that it grew into a mighty tree and closing in its trunk the coffin of the god This tree with its sacred deposit was shortly after felled and erected as a column in the palace of the king of Phoenicia But at length, by the aid of Anubis and the sacred birds Isis ascertained these facts and then went to the royal city There she offered herself at the palace as a servant and being admitted through of her disguise and appeared as a goddess surrounded with thunder and lightning Striking the column with her wand she caused it to split open and give up the sacred coffin This she seized and returned with it and concealed it in the depths of a forest But Tiffon discovered it and cutting the body into 14 pieces scattered them hither and thither After tedious search Isis found 13 pieces the fishes of the noil having eaten the other This she replaced by an imitation of sycamore wood and buried the body at Felia which became ever after the great burying place of the nation and the spot to which pilgrimages were made from all parts of the country A temple of surpassing magnificence was also erected there in honour of the god and at every place where one of his limbs had been found minor temples and tombs were built to commemorate the event Osiris became after that the tutular deity of the Egyptians His soul was supposed always to inhabit the body of the bull Apis and his death to transfer itself to his successor Apis the bull of Memphis was worshipped with the greatest reverence by the Egyptians the individual animal who was hailed to be Apis was recognized by certain signs It was requisite that he should be quite black have a white square mark on the forehead another in the form of an eagle on his back and under his tongue a lump, somewhat in the shape of a scarabius or beetle As soon as a bull thus marked was found by those sent in search of him he was placed in a building facing the east and was fed with milk for four months At the expiration of this term the priest repaired a new moon with great pomp to his habitation and saluted him Apis He was placed in a vessel magnificently decorated and conveyed down the Nile to Memphis where a temple with two chapels and a court for exercise was assigned to him Sacrifices were made to him and once every year about the time when the Nile began to rise a golden cup was thrown into the river and a grand festival was held to celebrate his birthday The people believed that during this festival the crocodiles forgot their natural ferocity and became harmless So what however one drawback to this happy lot he was not permitted to live beyond a certain period and if when he had attained the age of 25 years he still survived the priest drowned him in the sacred cistern and then buried him in the temple of therapies On the death of this bull whether it occurred in the course of nature or by violence the whole land was filled with sorrow and lamentations which lasted until his successor was found We find the following item in one of the newspapers of the day The tomb of Apis the excavations going on at Memphis be it fair to make the buried city as interesting as Pompeii The monster tomb of Apis is now open after having lain unknown for centuries Milton in his hymn on the nativity alludes to the Egyptian deities not as imaginary beings but as real demons put to flight by the coming of Christ The brutish guard of Nile as fast eases and horrors and the dog Anubis haste Nor is Osiris seen in Memphian grow or green Tampling the unshovered grass with low wings loud Nor can he be at rest within his sacred chest Not but profound as hell can be his road In vain with timbered anthems dark the sable stole sorcerers beer his worshipped ark Food not There being no rain in Egypt the grass is unshovered And the country depend for its fertility upon the overflowing of the Nile The arc alluded to in the last line is shown by pictures still remaining on the walls of the Egyptian temples To have been born by the priests in their religious processions It probably represented the chest in which Osiris was placed End of food not Isis was represented in statuary with the head veiled a symbol of mystery It is this which Tennyson alludes to in mount 48 For the drift of the maker is dark and is this hid by the whale etc. Oracles Oracle was the name used to denote the place where answers were supposed to be given By any of the divinities to those who consulted them respecting the future The word was also used to signify the response which was given The most ancient grecian oracle was that of Jupiter at Dodona According to an account it was established in the following manner Two black doves took their flight from Thebes in Egypt One flew to Dodona in Epirus And alighting in a grove of oaks it proclaimed in human language to the inhabitants of the district They must establish there an oracle of Jupiter The other dove flew to the temple of Jupiter Ammon in the Libyan Oasis And delivered a similar command there Another account is that they were not doves but priestesses Who were carried off from Thebes in Egypt by the Phoenicians And set up oracles at the Oasis and Dodona The responses of the oracle were given from the trees By the branches rustling in the wind The sounds being interpreted by the priests But the most celebrated of the grecian oracles was that of Apollo at Delphi A city built on the slopes of Parnassus in Fockes It had been observed at a very early period That the goats feeding on Parnassus were thrown into convulsions When they approached a certain long deep cleft in the side of the mountain This was owing to a peculiar vapor arising out of the cavern And one of the goat herds was induced to try its effects upon himself Inhaling the intoxicated air He was affected in the same manner as the cattle had been And the inhabitants of the surrounding country Unable to explain the circumstance Imputed the convulsive ravings to which he gave utterance while Under the power of the exhalations to a divine inspiration The fact was speedily circulated widely And the temple was erected on the spot The prophetic influence was at first variously attributed To the goddess earth, to Neptune, Thames and others But it was at length assigned to Apollo and to him alone A priestess was appointed whose office it was to inhale the hallowed air And who was named the Pitya She was prepared for this duty by previous ablution At the fountain of Castalia And being crowned with laurel Was seated upon a tripod similarly adorned Which was placed over the chasm when the divine aphelatus proceeded Her inspired words while thus situated were interpreted by the priests Oracle of Trophonius Beside the oracles of Jupiter and Apollo at Dodona and Delphi That of Trophonius in Boetia was held in high estimation Trophonius and Agamidis were brothers They were distinguished architects who built the temple of Apollo at Delphi And a treasury for King Herius In the wall of the treasury they placed a stone In such a manner that it could be taken out And by this means from time to time Perloined the treasure This amazed Herius for his locks and seals were untouched And yet his wealth continually diminished At length he set a trap for the thief and Agamidis was caught Trophonius unable to extricate him And fearing that when found he would be compelled by torture To discover his accomplice cut off his head Trophonius himself is said to have been shortly afterwards Followed up by the earth The oracle of Trophonius was at Lebadia in Boetia During a great drought the Beotians it is said Were directed by the god at Delphi To seek aid of Trophonius at Lebadia They came thither but could find no oracle One of them however happening to see a swarm of bees Followed them to a chasm in the earth Which proved to be the place sought Peculiar ceremonies were to be performed By the person who came to consult the oracle After these preliminaries he descended into the cave By a narrow passage This place could be entered only in the night The person returned from the cave by the same narrow passage But walking backwards He appeared melancholy and defected And hence the proverb Which was applied to a person low spirited and gloomy He has been consulting the oracle of Trophonius Oracle of Iosculapius There were numerous oracles of Iosculapius But the most celebrated one was at Epidaurus Here the sick sought responses and the recovery of their health By sleeping in the temple It has been inferred from the accounts That have come down to us That the treatment of the sick resembled What is now called animal magnetism or mesmerism Serpents were sacred to Iosculapius Probably because of a superstition That those animals have a faculty Of renewing their use by a change of skin The worship of Iosculapius was introduced into Rome In a time of great sickness And an embassy sent to the temple of Epidaurus To entreat the aid of the god Iosculapius was propitious And on the return of the ship Accompanied it in the form of a serpent Arriving in the river Tiber The serpent glided from the vessel And took possession of an island in the river And the temple was there erected to his owner Oracle of Apis At Memphis the sacred bull Apis Gave answer to those who consulted him By the manner in which he received Or rejected what was presented to him If the bull refused food from the hand of the inquirer It was considered an unfavorable sign And the contrary when he received it It has been a question whether a regular responses Or to be ascribed to mere human contrivance Or to the agency of evil spirits The latter opinion has been most general in past ages A third theory has been advanced Since the phenomena of mesmerism have attracted attention That something like the mesmeric trance Was induced in the pitoness And the faculty of clairvoyance really called into action Another question is As to the time when the pagan oracles Sees to give responses Ancient Christian writers assert That they became silent at the birth of Christ And were heard no more after that date Milton adapts this view in his hymn of the nativity And in lines of solemn and elevated beauty Pictures the consternation of the heathen idols At the advent of the saviour The oracles are dumb No voice or hideous hum Rings through the arched truth in words deceiving Apollo from his shrine can no more divine With hollow shrieks the steep of delve was heaving No nightly trance or breath spell Inspires the pyrotechnics In copper's poem of Yardley Oak There are some beautiful mythological allusions The former of the two following Is to the fable of castor and pollocks The latter is more appropriate to our present subject Addressing the acorn he says Though feld's mature and in the loamy clod Swelling with vegetative force instinct And the fable of castor and pollocks And the fable of castor and pollocks And the vegetative force instinct Did burst sign as there are the fable twins Now stars to our lobes protruding Paired exact A leaf succeed and another leaf And all the elements say Puyuni growth Fostering propitious so becomes the twig Who lived when so was such Of could so speak As in Dodona one secondary trees Oracular I would not curious ask The future best unknown but at their mouth Inquisitive the less ambiguous past Tennyson in his talking oak Alludes to the oaks of Dodona in these lines And I will work in prose and rhyme And praise thee more in both Than Bart has honoured beat or lime Or that the salient growth In which the swore the ring doth set And mystic sentence spoke etc Byron alludes to the oracle of Delphi where Speaking of her soul Whose writings he can see used it much To bring on the French Revolution He says For that he was inspired And from him came As from the Petian's mystic cave of Yor Those oracles Which set the world in flame Nor ceased to burn till kingdoms Were no more End of chapter 34 This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer Please visit LibriVox.org Reading by Robin Cotter Toronto, Ontario January 2007 Bullfinch's Mythology The Age of Fable By Thomas Bullfinch Chapter 35 Origin of Mythology Having reached the close of our series of stories Of pagan mythology An inquiry suggests itself Whence came these stories? Have they a foundation in truth? Or are they simply dreams of the imagination? Philosophers have suggested various theories on the subject And one The scriptural theory And one The scriptural theory And one The scriptural theory According to which all mythological legends Are derived from the narratives of scripture Though the real facts have been disguised and altered Thus Dukalion is only another name for Noah Hercules for Samson Arianne for Jonah Etc. Sir Walter Raleigh In his History of the World Says Tubal and Tubalcain Were Mercury, Vulcan, and Apollo Inventors of Pasteurage, Smithing, and Music The dragon which kept the golden apples Was the serpent that beguiled Eve Nimrod's tower was the attempt of the giants Against heaven There are doubtless many curious coincidences like these But the theory cannot without extravagance Be pushed so far as to account For any great proportion of the stories Two The historical theory According to which all the persons mentioned in mythology Were once real human beings And the legends and fabulous traditions relating to them Are merely the additions and embellishments Of later times Thus the story of Aolus The king and god of the winds Is supposed to have risen from the fact That Aolus was the ruler of some islands In the Terranian Sea Where he reigned as a just and pious king And taught the natives the use of sails for ships And how to tell from the signs of the atmosphere The changes of the weather and the winds Cadmus, who the legend says Sewed the earth with dragons teeth From which sprang a crop of armed men Was in fact an emigrant from Phoenicia And brought with him into Greece The knowledge of the letters of the alphabet Which he taught to the natives From these rudiments of learning Sprung civilization Which the poets have always been prone to describe As the deterioration of man's first estate The golden age of innocence and simplicity Three The allegorical theory Supposes that all the myths of the ancients Were allegorical and symbolical And contained some moral, religious Or philosophical truth or historical fact Under the form of an allegory But came in process of time To be understood literally Thus Saturn Who devours his own children Is the same power whom the Greeks Called Kronos Time Which may truly be said To destroy whatever it has brought The story of Io Is interpreted in a similar manner Io is the moon And Argus the starry sky Which as it were Keeps sleepless watch over her The fabulous wanderings of Io Represent the continual revolutions of the moon Which also suggested to Milton The same idea Quote To behold the wandering moon Riding near her highest noon Like one that had been led astray To heaven's wide, pathless way Unquote Il pensoroso Four The physical theory According to which the elements of air, fire, and water Were originally the objects of religious adoration And the principal deities Were personifications Of the powers of nature The transition was easy From a personification of the elements To the notion of supernatural beings Presiding over and governing The different objects of nature The Greeks, whose imagination was lively Peopled all nature with invisible beings And supposed that every object From the sun and sea To the smallest fountain and rivulet Was under the care of some particular divinity Wordsworth in his excursion Has beautifully developed this view Of Grecian mythology Quote In that fair climb The lonely herdsmen stretched On the soft grass through half a summer's day With music lulled his indolent propose And in some fit of weariness If he, when his own breath was silent Chanced to hear A distant strain far sweeter than the sounds Which his poor skill could make His fancy fetched Even from the blazing chariot of the sun A beardless youth who touched a golden loot And filled the illumined groves with ravishment The mighty hunter lifting up his eyes Toward the crescent moon with grateful heart Called on the lovely wanderer who bestowed That timely light to share his joyous sport And hence a beaming goddess with her nymphs Across the lawn and through the darksome grove Not unaccompanied with tuneful notes By echo multiplied from rock or cave Swept in the storm of chase as moon and stars Glanced rapidly along the clouded heaven When winds are blowing strong The traveller slaked his thirst From rill or gushing fount And thanked the niad Sunbeams upon distant hills Gliding apace with shadows in their train Might with small help from fancy Be transformed into fleet-oreal Shades sporting visibly The zeffers fanning as they passed their wings Lacked not for love-fair objects Whom they wooed with gentle whisper Withered boughs grotesque Stripped of their leaves and twigs by hoary age From depth of shaggy covert peeping forth In the low veil or on steep mountainside And sometimes intermixed with stirring horns Of the live deer or goats depending beard These with the lurking satyrs, wild brood Of gamesome deities or pan himself That simple shepherds awe-inspiring God All the theories which have been mentioned Are true to a certain extent. It would therefore be more correct To say that the mythology of a nation Has sprung from all these sources combined Than from any one in particular We may add also that there are many myths Which have arisen from the desire of man To account for those natural phenomena Which he cannot understand. And not a few have had their rise From a similar desire of giving a reason For the names of places and persons. Statues of the Gods To adequately represent to the eye The ideas intended to be conveyed to the mind Under the several names of deities Was a task which called into exercise The highest powers of genius and art. Of the many attempts four have been most celebrated The first two known to us only by the descriptions of the ancients The others still extant And the acknowledged masterpieces of the sculptor's art. The Olympian Jupiter The statue of the Olympian Jupiter by Phidias Was considered the highest achievement Of this department of Grecian art. It was of colossal dimensions And was what the ancients called Chrysilla Phantene That is composed of ivory and gold. The parts representing flesh being of ivory Layed on a core of wood or stone While the drapery and other ornaments were of gold. The height of the figure was forty feet On a pedestal twelve feet high The god was represented seated on his throne His brows were crowned with a wreath of olive And he held in his right hand a scepter And in his left a statue of victory The throne was of cedar adorned with gold And precious stones. The idea which the artist is said to embody Was that of the supreme deity Of the Hellenic Grecian Nation Enthroned as a conqueror In perfect majesty and repose And ruling with a nod the subject world Phidias avowed that he took his idea From the representation which Homer gives In the first book of the Iliad In the passage thus translated by Pope Quote And awful bends his sable brows Shakes his ambrosial curls and gives the nod The stamp of fate and sanction of the god High heaven with reverence the dread signal took And all Olympus to the center shook The Minerva of the Parthenon This was also the work of Phidias It stood in the Parthenon Or temple of Minerva at Athens The goddess was represented standing In one hand she held a spear In the other a statue of victory Her helmet highly decorated Was surmounted by a sphinx The statue was forty feet in height And like the Jupiter composed of ivory and gold The eyes were of marble and probably painted To represent the iris and pupil The Parthenon in which this statue stood Was also constructed under the direction And superintendence of Phidias Its exterior was enriched with sculptures Many of them from the hand of Phidias The Elgin marbles now in the British museum Are a part of them Both the Jupiter and Minerva of Phidias are lost But there is good ground to believe that we have In several extant statues and busts The artists' conceptions of the continences of both They are characterized by grave and dignified beauty And freedom from any transient expression Which in the language of art is called repose The Venus de Medici The Venus of the Medici is so called From its having been in the possession of the princess Of that name in Rome when it first attracted attention About two hundred years ago An inscription on the base records it to be the work Of Chliomenes, an Athenian sculpture of two hundred BC But the authenticity of the inscription is doubtful There is a story that the artist was employed By public authority to make a statue Exhibiting the perfection of female beauty And to aid him in his task The most perfect forms the city could supply Were furnished him for models It is this which Thompson alludes to In his summer Quote So stands the statue that enchants the world So bending tries to veil the matchless boast The mingled beauties of exulting grace Unquote Byron also alludes to this statue Speaking of the Florence Museum, he says Quote There too the goddess loves in stone And fills the air around with beauty And in the next stanza Quote Blood, pulse and breast Confirm the Darden Shepherd's Prize Unquote See this last allusion explained in Chapter 27 The Apollo Belvedere The most highly esteemed of all the remains of ancient sculpture Is the statue of Apollo Called the Belvedere From the name of the apartment of the Pope's palace at Rome In which it was placed The artist is unknown It is supposed to be a work of Roman art Of about the first century of our era It is a standing figure in marble More than seven feet high Naked except for the cloak Which is fastened around the neck And hangs over the extended left arm It is supposed to represent the god In the moment when he has shot the arrow To destroy the monster python The victorious divinity Is in the act of stepping forward The left arm Which seems to have held the bow Is outstretched And the head is turned in the same direction In attitude and proportion The graceful majesty of the figure Is unsurpassed The effect is completed by the countenance Whereon the perfection of youthful godlike beauty There dwells the consciousness Of triumphant power The Diana al Abish The Diana of the Hind In the palace of the Louvre May be considered the counterpart To the Apollo Belvedere The attitude much resembles that of the Apollo The sizes correspond And also the style of execution It is a work of the highest order Though by no means equal to the Apollo The attitude is that of hurried And eager motion The face that of a huntress Is the excitement of the chase The left hand is extended Over the forehead of the hind Which runs by her side The right arm reaches backward Over the shoulder to draw an arrow From the quiver The poets of mythology Homer, from whose poems Of the Iliad and Odyssey We have taken the chief part Of our chapters of the Trojan War And the return of the Grecians Is almost as mythical a personage Of the heroes he celebrates The traditionary story Is that he was a wandering minstrel Blind and old Who traveled from place to place Singing his laze to the music of his harp In the courts of princes Or the cottages of peasants And dependent upon the voluntary offerings Of his hearers for support Byron calls him The blind old man Of Syos Rocky Isle And a well-known epigram Including to the uncertainty Of the fact of his birthplace says Quote, seven wealthy towns Contend for Homer dead Through which the living Homer Begged his bread Unquote These seven were Smyrna, Sio, Rhodes, Colophon, Salamis, Argos, And Athens Modern scholars have doubted Whether the Homeric poems Or the work of any single mind Or rises from the difficulty Of believing that poems of such length Could have been committed to writing At so early an age As that usually assigned to these An age earlier than the date Of any remaining inscriptions Or coins And when no materials capable Of containing such long productions Were yet introduced into use On the other hand It is asked how poems of such length Could have been handed down From age to age This is answered by the statement That there was a professional body of men Called rhapsodists Who recited the poems of others And whose business it was To commit to memory And rehearse for pay The national and patriotic legends The prevailing opinion Of the learned at this time Seems to be that the framework And much of the structure of the poems Belong to Homer But that there are numerous And additions by other hands The date assigned to Homer On the authority of Herodotus Is 850 B.C. Virgil Virgil Called also by his surname Morrow From whose poem of the Aeneid We have taken the story of Aeneas Was one of the great poets Who made the reign of the Roman emperor Augustus Under the name of the Augustan age Virgil was born in Mantua In the year 70 B.C. His great poem is ranked Next to those of Homer In the highest class of poetical composition The epic Virgil is far inferior to Homer In originality and invention But superior to him In correctness and elegance To critics of English lineage Milton alone of modern poets Seems worthy to be classed With these illustrious ancients His poem of Paradise Lost From which we have borrowed So many illustrations Is in many respects equal In some superior To either of the great works of antiquity The following epigram of Dryden Characterizes the three poets With as much truth As it is usual to find In such pointed criticism Quote On Milton Three poets in three different ages Born Greece, Italy, and England did adorn The first in loftiness of soul surpassed The next in majesty In both the last The force of nature could no further go To make a third She joined the other two Unquote From cowpers, table talk Quote The most air Homer's lamp appeared And age's air the Mantua and Swan was heard To carry nature, lengths unknown before To give a Milton birth Asked ages more Thus genius rose And set at ordered times And shot a dayspring Into distant climbs Ennobling every region that he chose He sunk in Greece In Italy he rose Antidious years of gothic darkness past Emerged all splendor In our isle at last Thus lovely Halcyons dive into the main Then show far off Their shining plumes again Unquote Ovid Ovid, often alluded to in poetry By his other name of Nassau Was born in the year 43 BC He was educated for public life And held some offices Of considerable dignity But poetry was his delight And he early resolved To devote himself to it He accordingly sought the society Of the contemporary poets And was acquainted with Horace And saw Virgil Though the latter died When Ovid was yet too young And undistinguished To have formed his acquaintance Ovid spent an easy life at Rome In the enjoyment of a competent income He was intimate with the family of Augustus The emperor And it is supposed that some serious Offence given to some member of that family Was the cause of an event Which reversed the poet's happy circumstances And clouded all the latter portion Of his life At the age of fifty He was banished from Rome And ordered to butake himself To Tomey on the borders of the Black Sea Here among the barbarous people And in a severe climate The poet who had been accustomed To all the pleasures of a luxurious capital And the society of his most distinguished contemporaries Spent the last ten years of his life Worn out with grief And anxiety His only consolation in exile Was to address his wife And absent friends And his letters were all poetical Though these poems The trista and letters from Pontus Have no other topic than the poet's sorrows His exquisite taste And fruitful invention Have redeemed them from the charge Of being tedious And they are read with pleasure And even with sympathy The two great works of Elvid Are his metamorphosis And his fasty They are both mythological poems And from the former we have taken Most of our stories Of Grecian and Roman mythology A late writer Says these poems Quote The rich mythology of Greece Furnished Ovid As it may still furnish the poet The painter and the sculptor With materials for his art With exquisite taste, simplicity And pathos He has narrated the fabulous traditions Of early ages And given to them that appearance Of reality Which only a master hand Could impart That which is appropriate He rejects the superfluous And when he has completed his work It is neither defective Nor redundant The metamorphoses are read With pleasure by youth And are re-read in more advanced age With still greater delight The poet ventured to predict That his poem would survive him And be read wherever The Roman name was known Quote The prediction above alluded to Is contained in the closing lines Of the metamorphoses Which we give a literal translation below Quote And now I close my work Which not the ire Of jove nor tooth of time Nor sword nor fire Shall bring to naught Come when it will that day Which o'er the body Not the mind has sway And snatch the remnant Of my life away And my renown Endure forever more Where the Roman arms And arts shall spread Thereby the people Shall my book be read And if ought true In poet's visions be My name and fame Have immortality Quote End of chapter 35