Part 6 (1/2)
Several beautiful children were born to Mars and Venus. Hermione, or Harmonia, their daughter, married Cadmus, King of Thebes; and Cupid (Cupido, Eros, Amor), their little son, was appointed G.o.d of love. Although nursed with tender solicitude, this second-born child did not grow as other children do, but remained a small, rosy, chubby child, with gauzy wings and roguish, dimpled face. Alarmed for his health, Venus consulted Themis, who oracularly replied, ”Love cannot grow without Pa.s.sion.”
In vain the G.o.ddess strove to catch the concealed meaning of this answer. It was only revealed to her when Anteros, G.o.d of pa.s.sion, was born. When with his brother, Cupid grew and flourished, until he became a handsome, slender youth; but when separated from him, he invariably resumed his childish form and mischievous habits.
[Sidenote: Venus and Adonis.]
Venus, however, did not lavish all her love upon Mars, for she is said to have felt a tender pa.s.sion for a young man named Adonis, a bold young hunter, whose rash pursuit of dangerous game caused Venus many anxious alarms. In vain she besought him to forego the pleasures of the chase and remain with her. He laughingly escaped, and continued to join the other hunters in his favorite sport. But, alas! one day, after an exciting pursuit, he boldly attacked a wild boar, which, goaded to madness, turned upon him, buried his strong tusk in the youth's unprotected side, and trampled him to death.
”The white tusk of a boar has transpierced his white thigh.
”The youth lieth dead while his dogs howl around, And the nymphs weep aloud from the mists of the hill.”
Bion (Mrs. Browning's tr.).
Venus ran straight to the scene of his tragic death, rus.h.i.+ng through underbrush and briers, tearing her delicate skin, and her blood tingeing all the white roses along her way to a faint pink. When she arrived, she found her beloved Adonis cold in death, and her pa.s.sionate caresses met with no response. Then she burst into such a pa.s.sion of tears, that the wood and water nymphs, the G.o.ds, men, and all nature in fact, joined with her to mourn the beloved youth.
”Her loss the Loves deplore: Woe, Venus, woe! Adonis is no more.”
Bion (Elton's tr.).
[Ill.u.s.tration: SLEEPING LOVE.--Perrault.]
Very reluctantly Mercury at last appeared to lead the soul of the departed down into the Infernal Regions, where it was welcomed by Proserpina, queen of the realm, and led to the place where pure and virtuous mortals enjoyed an eternity of bliss. Venus, still inconsolable, shed countless tears, which, as they dropped upon the ground, were changed to anemones, while the red drops which had fallen from Adonis' side were transformed into red roses.
”As many drops as from Adonis bled, So many tears the sorrowing Venus shed: For every drop on earth a flower there grows: Anemones for tears; for blood the rose.”
Bion (Elton's tr.).
As time did not soften Venus' grief, but, on the contrary, made it more and more unendurable, she went to Olympus, where she fell at Jupiter's feet, imploring him to release Adonis from death's embrace, or allow her to share his lot in Hades.
To allow Beauty to desert the earth was not possible, nor could he resist her pleading: so he finally decreed that Adonis should be restored to her longing arms. But Pluto, whose subject he had now become, refused to yield up Adonis; and after much dispute a compromise was agreed upon, by virtue of which Adonis was allowed to spend one half of the year on earth, providing he spent the remaining six months in the Elysian Fields.
In early spring, therefore, Adonis left the Lower World, and came with bounding tread to join his beloved. On his path the flowers bloomed and the birds sang, to show their joy at his coming. An emblem of vegetation, which rises from the ground in early spring to deck the earth with beautiful foliage and flowers, and cause the birds to sing for gladness, Adonis reluctantly returned to Hades, when Winter, the cruel boar, slew him again with his white tusk, and made nature again droop, and mourn his departure.
”But even in death, so strong is Love, I could not wholly die; and year by year, When the bright springtime comes, and the earth lives, Love opens these dread gates, and calls me forth Across the gulf.”
Lewis Morris.
[Sidenote: Venus and Anchises.]
The G.o.ddess of Beauty also loved Anchises, Prince of Troy, but, ashamed of lavis.h.i.+ng favors upon a mere mortal, extorted from him a promise that he would never reveal their secret marriage. Unfortunately, however, Anchises was of a boastful disposition, and ere long yielded to temptation and revealed the secret, incurring her wrath to such an extent, that some mythologists accuse her of borrowing one of Jupiter's thunderbolts and slaying him. Others, however, report that Anchises lived to a ripe old age, and escaped from burning Troy on his son AEneas' back. Venus' love was, however, all transferred to her son AEneas, whom she signally protected throughout his checkered career.
[Sidenote: Story of Hero and Leander.]
Venus' most ardent admirers and faithful wors.h.i.+pers were the young people, for she delighted in their youthful sentiments, and was ever ready to lend a helping hand to all true lovers when apparently insurmountable obstacles appeared on their path.
This was the case with a lovely maiden by the name of Hero, who was dedicated by her parents to Venus' service, and, as soon as old enough, spent all her time in the temple, ministering to the G.o.ddess, or in a lonely tower by the sea, where she dwelt alone with her aged nurse.
”Honey-sweet Hero, of a princely race, Was priestess to Queen Venus in that place; And at her father's tower, by the sea set-- Herself a Queen of Love, though maiden yet-- Dwelt.”
Edwin Arnold.
The maiden's beauty increased with her years, until the fame of her loveliness spread throughout her native city Sestus, and even pa.s.sed over the h.e.l.lespont and reached Abydus, where Leander, the bravest and handsomest youth of the town, was fired with a desire to view the charming young priestess.
Just at that time a solemn festival in honor of Venus was to be celebrated at Sestus, to which all the youths and maidens were cordially invited. Under pretext of paying homage to the G.o.ddess, Leander entered her temple, and saw the young priestess, whose charms far surpa.s.sed all descriptions.
Venus, as has already been stated, was always deeply interested in young lovers; and when she saw these two, so well matched in beauty and grace, she bade Cupid pierce them with his love darts, which behest the mischief-loving G.o.d immediately obeyed.
”G.o.d Eros, setting notch to string, Wounded two bosoms with one shaft-shooting, A maiden's and a youth's--Leander he, And lovely Hero, Sestos' sweetest, she; She of her town, and he of his, the boast; A n.o.ble pair!”
Edwin Arnold.
An undying pa.s.sion was thus simultaneously kindled in both young hearts; and, thanks to Venus' a.s.sistance, Leander managed to exchange a few words with Hero, declared his love, implored her to view his suit kindly, and, above all, to grant him a private interview, or he would surely die.
The maiden listened to his pleading with mingled joy and terror, for she knew her parents would never consent to their union. Then, afraid lest some one should notice that she was talking to a stranger, she bade him depart; but he refused to go until he had learned where she lived, and proposed to swim across the h.e.l.lespont when the shades of night had fallen, and none could see his goal, and pay her a visit in her lonely tower.
”'Sweet! for thy love,' he cried, 'the sea I'd cleave, Though foam were fire, and waves with flame did heave, I fear not billows if they bear to thee; Nor tremble at the hissing of the sea! And I will come--oh! let me come--each night, Swimming the swift flood to my dear delight: For white Abydos, where I live, doth front Thy city here, across our h.e.l.lespont.'”
Edwin Arnold.
At last his prayers overcame the maiden's scruples, and she arranged to receive him in her sea-girt tower, promising at a given hour to light a torch and hold it aloft to guide him safely across the sea. Then only he departed.
Night came on; darkness stole over the earth; and Leander impatiently paced the sandy sh.o.r.e, and watched for the promised signal, which no sooner appeared, than he exultantly plunged into the dark waves, and parted them with l.u.s.ty strokes, as he hastened across the deep to join his beloved. At times the huge billows towered above his head; but when he had escaped their threatening depths, and rose up on their foamy crests, he could catch a glimpse of the torch burning brightly, and pictured to himself the shy, sweet blushes which would dye Hero's cheek as he clasped her to his pa.s.sionate heart.
”Leander had no fear--he cleft the wave-- What is the peril fond hearts will not brave!”
Landon.
Venus, from the top of ”many-peaked Olympus,” smilingly viewed the success of her scheme, and nerved Leander's arm to cleave the rapid current. At last he reached the tower steps, and was lovingly greeted by Hero, whose heart had throbbed with anxiety at the thought of the perils her lover was braving for the sake of seeing her once more.
It was only when the dawn began to whiten the east, that the lovers finished their interview and parted, he to return to Abydus, and she to prepare for the daily duties which would soon claim her attention. But separation by day was all these fond lovers could endure, and night after night, as soon as the first stars appeared, Hero lighted her torch, and Leander hastened to her, to linger by her side till dawn.
”Thus pa.s.s'd the summer shadows in delight: Leander came as surely as the night, And when the morning woke upon the sea, It saw him not, for back at home was he.”
Hunt.
No one suspected their meetings; and all went well until the first fierce storms of winter swept down over the h.e.l.lespont. Hero, in the gray dawn of a winter's morning, besought her lover not to leave her to battle against the waves, which beat so violently against the stone tower; but he gently laughed at her fears, and departed, promising to return at night as usual.
The storm, which had raged so fiercely already in the early morning, increased in violence as the day wore on, until the waves were lashed into foam, while the wind howled more and more ominously as the darkness came on again; but none of these signs could deter Leander from visiting Hero.
”There came one night, the wildest of the year, When the wind smote like edge of hissing spear, And the pale breakers thundered on the beach.”
Edwin Arnold.
All day long Hero had hoped that her lover would renounce his nightly journey; but still, when evening came, she lighted her torch to serve as beacon, should he risk all to keep his word. The wind blew so fiercely, that the torch wavered and flickered, and nearly went out, although Hero protected its feeble flame by standing over it with outstretched robes.
At sight of the wonted signal, Leander, who had already once been beaten back by the waves, made a second attempt to cross the strait, calling upon the G.o.ds to lend him their aid. But this time his prayers were unheard, drowned in the fury of the storm; yet he struggled on a while longer, with Hero's name on his lips.
[Ill.u.s.tration: HERO AND LEANDER.--Bodenhausen.]