Part 4 (2/2)

When the G.o.d heard this presumptuous request, he started back in dismay, for he alone could control the four fiery steeds which drew the golden-wheeled sun car. Patiently he then explained to Phaeton the great danger of such an undertaking, earnestly begging him to select some other, less fatal boon.

”Choose out a gift from seas, or earth, or skies, For open to your wish all nature lies; Only decline this one unequal task, For 'tis a mischief, not a gift, you ask.”

Addison.

But Phaeton, who, like many another conceited youth, fancied he knew better than his sire, would not give heed to the kindly warning, and persisted in his request, until Apollo, who had sworn the irrevocable oath, was obliged to fulfill his promise.

The hour had already come when the Sun usually began his daily journey. The pawing, champing steeds were ready; rosy-fingered Aurora only awaited her master's signal to fling wide the gates of morn; and the Hours were ready to escort him as usual.

Apollo, yielding to pressure, quickly anointed his son with a cooling essence to preserve him from the burning sunbeams, gave him the necessary directions for his journey, and repeatedly and anxiously cautioned him to watch his steeds with the utmost care, and to use the whip but sparingly, as they were inclined to be very restive.

The youth, who had listened impatiently to cautions and directions, then sprang into the seat, gathered up the reins, signaled to Aurora to fling the gates wide, and dashed out of the eastern palace with a flourish.

For an hour or two Phaeton bore in mind his father's princ.i.p.al injunctions, and all went well; but later, elated by his exalted position, he became very reckless, drove faster and faster, and soon lost his way. In finding it again he drove so close to the earth, that all the plants shriveled up, the fountains and rivers were dried in their mossy beds, the smoke began to rise from the parched and blackened earth, and even the people of the land over which he was pa.s.sing were burned black,--a hue retained by their descendants to this day.

[Ill.u.s.tration: AURORA.--Guido Reni. (Rospigliosi Palace, Rome.)]

Terrified at what he had done, Phaeton whipped up his steeds, and drove so far away, that all the vegetation which had survived the intense heat came to an untimely end on account of the sudden cold.

The cries of mortals rose in chorus, and their clamors became so loud and importunate, that they roused Jupiter from a profound sleep, and caused him to look around to discover their origin. One glance of his all-seeing eye sufficed to reveal the damaged earth and the youthful charioteer. How had a beardless youth dared to mount the sun chariot? Jupiter could scarcely credit what he saw. In his anger he vowed he would make the rash mortal expiate his presumption by immediate death. He therefore selected the deadliest thunderbolt in his a.r.s.enal, aimed it with special care, and hurled it at Phaeton, whose burned and blackened corpse fell from his lofty seat down into the limpid waves of the Erida.n.u.s River.

”And Phaethon, caught in mid career, And hurled from the Sun to utter sunlessness, Like a flame-bearded comet, with ghastliest hiss, Fell headlong in the amazed Erida.n.u.s, Monarch of streams, who on the Italian fields Let loose, and far beyond his flowery lips Foam-white, ran ruinous to the Adrian deep.”

Worsley.

[Sidenote: The Heliades.]

The tidings of his death soon reached poor Clymene, who mourned her only son, and refused to be comforted; while the Heliades, Phaeton's sisters, three in number,--Phaetusa, Lampetia, and AEgle,--spent their days by the riverside, shedding tears, wringing their white hands, and bewailing their loss, until the G.o.ds, in pity, transformed them into poplar trees, and their tears into amber, which substance was supposed by the ancients to flow from the poplar trees like teardrops. Phaeton's intimate friend, Cycnus, piously collected his charred remains, and gave them an honorable burial. In his grief he continually haunted the scene of his friend's death, and repeatedly plunged into the river, in the hope of finding some more scattered fragments, until the G.o.ds changed him into a swan; which bird is ever sailing mournfully about, and frequently plunging, his head into the water to continue his sad search.

Apollo, as the dearly loved leader of the nine Muses,--daughters of Jupiter and Mnemosyne, G.o.ddess of memory,--was surnamed Musagetes.

”Whom all the Muses loved, not one alone; Into his hands they put the lyre of gold, And, crowned with sacred laurel at their fount, Placed him as Musagetes on their throne.”

Longfellow.

Although the Muses united at times in one grand song, they had each separate duties a.s.signed them.

[Sidenote: The nine Muses.]

Clio, the Muse of history, recorded all great deeds and heroic actions, with the names of their authors, and was therefore generally represented with a laurel wreath and a book and stylus, to indicate her readiness to note all that happened to mortal men or immortal G.o.ds.

Euterpe, the graceful ”Mistress of Song,” was represented with a flute, and garlands of fragrant flowers.

Thalia, Muse of pastoral poetry, held a shepherd's crook and mask, and wore a crown of wild flowers.

”Mild pastoral Muse! That, to the sparkling crown Urania wears, And to her sister Clio's laurel wreath, Preferr'st a garland culled from purple heath!”

Wordsworth.

Her graver sister, Melpomene, who presided over tragedy, wore a crown of gold, and wielded a dagger and a scepter; while Terpsich.o.r.e, the light-footed Muse of dancing, was represented treading an airy measure.

[Ill.u.s.tration: APOLLO AND THE MUSES.--Mengs.]

Erato, who preferred lyric poetry to all other styles of composition, was pictured with a lyre; and Polyhymnia, Muse of rhetoric, held a scepter to show that eloquence rules with resistless sway.

Calliope, Muse of heroic poetry, also wore a laurel crown; and Urania, Muse of astronomy, held mathematical instruments, indicative of her love of the exact sciences.

This glorious sisterhood was wont to a.s.semble on Mount Parna.s.sus or on Mount Helicon, to hold their learned debates on poetry, science, and music.

Apollo's favorite attendant was Eos (Aurora), the fair G.o.ddess of dawn, whose rose-tipped fingers opened wide the eastern gates of pearl, and who then flashed across the sky to announce her master's coming.

”Hail, gentle Dawn! mild blus.h.i.+ng G.o.ddess, hail! Rejoiced I see thy purple mantle spread O'er half the skies; gems pave thy radiant way, And orient pearls from every shrub depend.”

Somerville.

[Sidenote: Story of Aurora and t.i.thonus.]

This dainty G.o.ddess loved and married t.i.thonus, Prince of Troy, and won from the G.o.ds the boon of everlasting life to confer upon him. Alas! however, she forgot to ask at the same time for continued youth; and her husband grew older and older, and finally became so decrepit, that he was a burden to her. Knowing he would never die, and wis.h.i.+ng to rid herself of his burdensome presence, she changed him into a gra.s.shopper.

At this time the G.o.ddess fell in love with Cephalus, the young hunter, and frequently visited him on Mount Hymettus.

”'Come,' Phoebus cries, 'Aurora, come--too late Thou linger'st slumbering with thy wither'd mate! Leave him, and to Hymettus' top repair! Thy darling Cephalus expects thee there!' The G.o.ddess, with a blush, her love betrays, But mounts, and, driving rapidly, obeys.”

Keats.

[Sidenote: Wors.h.i.+p of Apollo.]

The princ.i.p.al temples dedicated to the wors.h.i.+p of Apollo were at Delos, his birthplace, and at Delphi, where a priestess called Pythia gave out mysterious oracles purporting to have come from the G.o.d. The ancients everywhere could not fail to recognize the sun's kindly influence and beneficent power, and were therefore ever ready to wors.h.i.+p Apollo.

”I marvel not, O sun! that unto thee In adoration man should bow the knee, And pour his prayers of mingled awe and love; For like a G.o.d thou art, and on thy way Of glory sheddest with benignant ray, Beauty, and life, and joyance from above.”

Southey.

The most renowned among the numerous festivals held in honor of Apollo were, without exception, the Pythian Games, celebrated at Delphi every three years.

A manly, beardless youth of great beauty, Apollo is generally crowned with laurels, and bears either a bow or a lyre.

”The Lord of the unerring bow, The G.o.d of life, and poesy, and light-- The Sun in human limbs array'd, and brow All radiant from his triumph in the fight; The shaft hath just been shot--the arrow bright With an immortal's vengeance; in his eye And nostril beautiful disdain, and might And majesty, flash their full lightnings by, Developing in that one glance the Deity.”

Byron.

One of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world, the famous Colossus of Rhodes, was a statue of Apollo, his head encircled with a halo of bright sunbeams, and his legs spread wide apart to allow vessels, with all their sails spread, to pa.s.s in and out of the harbor, whose entrance he guarded for many a year.

[Ill.u.s.tration: DIANA OF VERSAILLES. (Louvre, Paris.)]

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