Part 2 (1/2)
Solicitous for the welfare of mankind, Jupiter often visited the earth, taking great care to a.s.sume some disguise which would enable him to ascertain all he wished without any risk of detection. One day he and Mercury, his special messenger and favorite among the G.o.ds, took the forms of needy, belated travelers, and entered the lowly hut of a worthy old couple, Philemon and Baucis.
Eager to offer their best to the strangers, these poor people decided to kill their sole remaining goose; but their efforts to secure it were vain, and finally the persecuted fowl took refuge between Jupiter's knees. Touched with their zeal, yet anxious to prevent the death of the confiding goose, Jupiter revealed himself to his faithful wors.h.i.+pers, and in grat.i.tude for their intended sacrifice bade them ask any boon, promising by the great river Styx--the most binding and solemn oath a G.o.d could utter--to grant their request.
Contrary to the custom current in similar cases, Philemon and Baucis made a modest and judicious choice, and proffered a timid request that they might serve the G.o.ds as long as life and strength endured, and finally die together. This most reasonable wish was immediately granted; and Jupiter, moreover, changed their humble abode into a superb temple, where they could offer daily sacrifices on his altars.
”Their little shed, scarce large enough for two, Seems, from the ground increased, in height and bulk to grow. A stately temple shoots within the skies, The crotches of their cot in columns rise; The pavement polish'd marble they behold, The gates with sculpture grac'd, the spires and tiles of gold.”
Ovid (Dryden's tr.).
After many years of faithful service, when age had made them long for death, Philemon and Baucis were transformed into majestic oaks, which stood for many a century in front of the temple, monuments of the love and faith which had bound the pair through life.
Although married to Juno, Jupiter often indulged in love affairs with other G.o.ddesses, and even with mortal maidens. The ancients themselves did not practice polygamy, but their G.o.ds were supposed to be able to indulge all their pa.s.sions with impunity. As the personification of the sky, Jupiter, therefore, consorted at times with Juno (the Atmosphere), with Dione (Moisture), with Themis (Justice), etc., without incurring any reproach; for these marriages, in their estimation, were all symbolical.
But Juno being of a jealous disposition, Jupiter was forced to conduct his courts.h.i.+ps with great secrecy and circ.u.mspection, and therefore generally adopted the precaution of a disguise. To win Europa, the fair daughter of Agenor, for instance, he became a bull.
”The G.o.ds themselves, Humbling their deities to love, have taken The shapes of beasts upon them. Jupiter Became a bull, and bellow'd.”
Shakespeare.
[Sidenote: Jupiter kidnaps Europa.]
One day Europa was playing in her father's meadows with her three brothers, Cadmus, Phoenix, and Cilix, when she suddenly saw a white bull coming towards her; not with fiery eyes and lowered horns, but gently, as if to express a mute request to be petted. The maiden, delighted, stroked the beast, and decked him with bright garlands of meadow-blossoms. Then, seeing him kneel, as if to invite her to mount, she lightly sprang upon his broad back, calling to her companions to follow her example; but, before they could do as she wished, the bull had risen to his feet, and galloped off towards the sea with his fair burden on his back.
Instead of turning when he saw the foam-crested waves, he plunged into the midst of them, and in a few minutes disappeared from view, so rapidly did he swim away. To rea.s.sure the frightened girl, the bull now spoke in gentle accents, bidding her dismiss all fear, for he was the great Jupiter in disguise.
”Take courage, gentle maid! nor fear the tide: I, though near-seen a bull, am heavenly Jove: I change my shape at will.”
Moschus (Elton's tr.).
Pleased with the novelty of her situation, and flattered by the G.o.d's evident admiration, Europa ceased to struggle, wound her arms more closely around the bull's neck to prevent the waves from was.h.i.+ng her off her perilous seat, and allowed herself to be carried away.
Jupiter finally deposited his fair burden upon the sh.o.r.es of a new land, to which he gallantly gave her name, Europe. He then resumed his wonted form, explained at length his reasons for so unceremoniously kidnapping her, and finally won her consent to their union. Their three sons were Minos, Rhadamanthus, and Sarpedon. The two former were subsequently appointed judges in the Infernal Regions, while the third found an early but glorious death during the Trojan war.
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE ABDUCTION OF EUROPA.--Albani. (Uffizi Palace, Florence.)]
[Sidenote: Search for Europa.]
All unconscious of their sister's fate, the young princes had returned in haste to their father's palace to announce her sudden involuntary departure. Agenor, whose favorite she had always been, rent his garments for grief, and bade his sons go forth and seek her, and not to return till they had found her. Accompanied by their mother, Telepha.s.sa, they immediately set out on their journey, inquiring of all they met if they had seen their sister. Search and inquiry proved equally fruitless.
At last, weary of this hopeless quest, Phoenix refused his further aid, and allowed his sorrowing relatives to continue without him, remaining in a land which from him was called Phoenicia. Cilix, too, soon followed his example, and settled in a fertile country which they had reached, hence called Cilicia; and finally Telepha.s.sa, worn out with grief and fatigue, lay down to die, charging her oldest son to go on alone.
Cadmus wandered on till he came to Delphi, where he consulted the oracle; but, to his great dismay, the only reply he received was, ”Follow the cow, and settle where she rests.”
In deep perplexity he left the temple, and, from force of habit, journeyed on, patiently questioning all he met. Soon he perceived a cow leisurely walking in front of him, and, mindful of the oracle, he ceased his search and followed her. Urged by curiosity, many adventurers joined him on the way, and, when the cow at last lay down in the land since called Boeotia, they all promised to aid Cadmus, their chosen leader, to found their future capital, which was to be called Thebes.
[Sidenote: Founding of Thebes.]
Parched with thirst after their long walk, the men then hastened to a neighboring spring, but, to Cadmus' surprise, time pa.s.sed and still they did not return. Armed with his trusty sword, he finally went down to the spring to discover the cause of their delay, and found that they had all been devoured by a huge dragon, which lived in the hollow. The prince raised his sword to avenge their death, and dealt the dragon such a deadly blow upon the head, that he put an immediate end to its existence.
While Cadmus stood there contemplating his lifeless foe, a voice bade him extract the dragon's teeth, and sow them in the ground already broken for his future city. No human being was within sight: so Cadmus knew the order proceeded from the immortal G.o.ds, and immediately prepared to obey it. The dragon's teeth were no sooner planted, than a crop of giants sprang from the soil, full grown, and armed to the teeth. They were about to fall upon Cadmus, when the same voice bade him cast a stone in the midst of their close-drawn phalanx. Cadmus, seeing the giants were almost upon him, and that no time was to be lost, quickly threw a stone. The effect produced was almost instantaneous; for the giants, each fancying it had been thrown by his neighbor, began fighting among themselves. In a few minutes the number of giants was reduced to five, who sheathed their bloodstained weapons, and humbly tendered their services to Cadmus. With their aid, the foundations of the city were laid; but their labor was not very arduous, as the G.o.ds caused some of the public buildings to rise up out of the ground, all complete, and ready for use.
To reward Cadmus for his loving and painstaking search for Europa, Jupiter gave him the hand of the fair princess Harmonia, a daughter of Mars and Venus, in marriage. Cadmus, the founder of Thebes, is supposed to have invented the alphabet, and introduced its use into Greece. Although his career was very prosperous at first, he finally incurred the wrath of the G.o.ds by forgetting, on a solemn occasion, to offer them a suitable sacrifice; and, in anger at his dereliction, they changed him and Harmonia into huge serpents.
[Sidenote: Wors.h.i.+p of Jupiter.]
Jupiter was, of course, very widely and generally wors.h.i.+ped by the ancients; and his princ.i.p.al temples--the Capitol at Rome, and the shrine of Jupiter Ammon in Libya--have been world-renowned. He also had a noted temple at Dodona, where an oak tree gave forth mysterious prophecies, which were supposed to have been inspired by the king of G.o.ds; this long lost shrine has recently been discovered.
”Oh, where, Dodona! is thine aged grove, Prophetic fount, and oracle divine? What valley echoed the response of Jove? What trace remaineth of the Thunderer's shrine? All, all forgotten!”
Byron.
A magnificent temple at Olympia, on the Peloponnesus, was also dedicated to Jupiter; and here every fifth year the people of Greece were wont to a.s.semble to celebrate games, in honor of Jupiter's great victory over the t.i.tans. These festivals were known as the Olympian Games; and the Greeks generally reckoned time by olympiads, that is to say, by the s.p.a.ce of time between the celebrations. Within the temple at Olympia stood a wonderful statue of gold and ivory, the work of Phidias. Its proportions and beauty were such, that it was counted one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world. It is said, too, that the artist, having completed this masterpiece, longed for some sign of approval from heaven, and fervently prayed for a token that the G.o.d accepted his labor. Jupiter, in answer to this prayer, sent a vivid flash of lightning, which played about the colossal image, illuminating it, but leaving it quite unharmed.
The Greeks were indebted to Phidias for many of their most exquisite statues of the G.o.ds; but none of the others equaled this figure of Jupiter in size, dignity of att.i.tude, or elaborate finish.
”Wise Phidias, thus his skill to prove, Through many a G.o.d advanc'd to Jove, And taught the polish'd rocks to s.h.i.+ne With airs and lineaments divine; Till Greece, amaz'd, and half afraid, Th' a.s.sembled deities survey'd.”
Addison.
[Ill.u.s.tration: JUNO. (Vatican, Rome.)]
CHAPTER III.
JUNO.
[Sidenote: Juno's marriage.]
Juno (Hera, Here), queen of heaven, and G.o.ddess of the atmosphere and of marriage, was the daughter of Cronus and Rhea, and consequently the sister of Jupiter; but, as soon as the latter had dethroned his parents and seized the scepter, he began to look about him for a suitable helpmate. Juno won his affections by her great beauty; and he immediately began his courts.h.i.+p, which he carried on in the guise of a cuckoo, to infuse a little romance into it. He evidently found favor in her sight, and won her consent to share his throne; for shortly afterward their wedding was celebrated with great pomp on Mount Olympus. It was on this solemn occasion that the immortal conclave of the G.o.ds declared that Juno should be henceforth honored as G.o.ddess of marriage.
”Juno, who presides Supreme o'er bridegrooms and o'er brides.”
Virgil (Conington's tr.).
But although in the beginning this union seemed very happy, there soon arose subjects for contention; for unfortunately Jupiter was inclined to be faithless, and Juno jealous, and, like the element she personified, exceedingly variable in her moods. On such occasions she gave way to her violent temper, and bitterly reproached her husband, who, impatient of her censure, punished her severely, and, instead of reforming, merely continued his numerous intrigues with renewed zest.
[Sidenote: Story of Callisto and Arcas.]
On one occasion he fell deeply in love with a maiden named Callisto, gentle, fair, and slender; but, in spite of all the precautions which he took when visiting her, Juno discovered the object of his affections. Night and day she thought and planned, until she devised a species of revenge which seemed adequate. The graceful girl was suddenly bereft of speech, changed into a rough, ungainly bear, and driven out into the solitudes of the great forests, which were from that time forth to be her home. Jupiter vainly sought his missing ladylove, and it was only long afterward that he discovered her and her little bear son Arcas. In pity for all they had suffered, he transferred them both to the sky, where they are still known as the constellations of the Great and Little Bear.
[Sidenote: Juno's attendant.]