Part 10 (1/2)
Another criminal was Sisyphus, who, while king of Corinth, had misused his power, had robbed and killed travelers, and even deceived the G.o.ds. His reprehensible conduct was punished in Tartarus, where he was condemned to roll a huge stone to the top of a very steep hill; and just as he reached the summit, and fancied his task done, the rock would slip from his grasp and roll to the foot of the hill, thus obliging him to renew all his exertions.
”With many a weary step, and many a groan, Up the high hill he heaves a huge round stone; The huge round stone, resulting with a bound, Thunders impetuous down, and smokes along the ground. Again the restless...o...b..his toil renews, Dust mounts in clouds, and sweat descends in dews.”
Homer (Pope's tr.).
[Sidenote: Salmoneus.]
Salmoneus, another king, had vainly tried to make his subjects believe he was Jupiter. To that effect, he had once driven over a brazen bridge to imitate the roll of thunder, and, to simulate the thunderbolts, had thrown lighted torches down upon the mult.i.tude, purposely a.s.sembled below.
”Th' audacious wretch four fiery coursers drew: He wav'd a torch aloft, and, madly vain, Sought G.o.dlike wors.h.i.+p from a servile train. Ambitious fool, with h.o.r.n.y hoofs to pa.s.s O'er hollow arches of resounding bra.s.s, To rival thunder in its rapid course, And imitate inimitable force!”
Virgil (Dryden's tr.).
This insolent parody so incensed Jupiter, that he grasped one of his deadliest thunderbolts, brandished it aloft for a moment, and then hurled it with vindictive force at the arrogant king. In Tartarus, Salmoneus was placed beneath an overhanging rock, which momentarily threatened to fall, and crush him under its ma.s.s.
”He was doomed to sit under a huge stone, Which the father of the G.o.ds Kept over his head suspended. Thus he sat In continual dread of its downfall, And lost to every comfort.”
Pindar.
[Sidenote: t.i.tyus.]
Still farther on was the rec.u.mbent form of t.i.tyus, a giant whose body covered nine acres of ground. He had dared offer an insult to Juno, and in punishment was chained like Prometheus, while a vulture feasted on his liver.
”There t.i.tyus was to see, who took his birth From heav'n, his nursing from the foodful earth: Here his gigantic limbs, with large embrace, Infold nine acres of infernal s.p.a.ce. A rav'nous vulture in his open side Her crooked beak and cruel talons try'd: Still for the growing liver digg'd his breast, The growing liver still supply'd the feast.”
Virgil (Dryden's tr.).
[Sidenote: Ixion.]
Here in Tartarus, too, was Ixion, king of the Lapithae, who had been given the hand of Dia in marriage on condition that he would give her father a stipulated sum of money in exchange, but who, as soon as the maiden was his, refused to keep his promise. The father-in-law was an avaricious man, and clamored so loudly for his money, that Ixion, to be rid of his importunities, slew him. Such an act of violence could not be overlooked by the G.o.ds: so Jupiter summoned Ixion to appear before him and state his case.
Ixion pleaded so skillfully, that Jupiter was about to declare him acquitted, when he suddenly caught him making love to Juno, which offense seemed so unpardonable, that he sent him to Tartarus, where he was bound to a constantly revolving wheel of fire.
”Proud Ixion (doom'd to feel The tortures of the eternal wheel, Bound by the hand of angry Jove) Received the due rewards of impious love.”
Sophocles (Francklin's tr.).
[Sidenote: Elysian Fields.]
Far out of sight and hearing of the pitiful sounds which so constantly rose out of Tartarus, were the Elysian Fields, lighted by a sun and moon of their own, decked with the most fragrant and beautiful of flowers, and provided with every charm that nature or art could supply. No storms or wintry winds ever came to rob these fields of their springlike beauty; and here the blessed spent eternity, in pleasant communion with the friends they had loved on earth.
”Patriots who perished for their country's rights, Or n.o.bly triumphed in the fields of fight: There holy priests and sacred poets stood, Who sang with all the raptures of a G.o.d: Worthies whose lives by useful arts refined; With those who leave a deathless name behind, Friends of the world, and fathers of mankind.”
CHAPTER XIII.
BACCHUS.
Among all the mortal maidens honored by the love of Jupiter, king of the G.o.ds, none was more attractive than Semele, daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia.
”For Semele was molded in the form Of elegance; the beauty of her race Shone in her forehead.”
Nonnus (Elton's tr.).
[Sidenote: Story of Semele.]
Although conscious of these superior attractions, Semele was excessively coy, and it was only with the greatest difficulty that Jupiter, disguised as a mortal, could urge his love suit. When he had at last obtained a hearing, he told her who he was, calculating upon the effect which such a revelation must necessarily produce.
He was not mistaken in his previsions, for Semele, proud of having attracted the greatest among the G.o.ds, no longer offered any resistance, and consented to their union. Their love grew and prospered, and Jupiter came down from Olympus as often as possible to enjoy the society of his beloved. His frequent absences finally aroused Juno's suspicions, and, as usual, she spared no pains to discover what powerful charm could draw him from her side. After a few days she knew all, and straightway determined to have her revenge, and punish her fickle spouse. To accomplish this successfully, she a.s.sumed the face and form of Beroe, Semele's old nurse, and thus entered the young princess's apartment quite unsuspected.
”Old Beroe's decrepit shape she wears, Her wrinkled visage, and her h.o.a.ry hairs; Whilst in her trembling gait she totters on, And learns to tattle in the nurse's tone.”
Ovid (Addison's tr.).
There she immediately entered into conversation with her supposed nursling, artfully extracted a complete confession, heard with suppressed rage how long Jupiter had wooed ere he had finally won the maiden's consent, and received a rapturous and minute catalogue of all his personal charms and a synopsis of all they had both said.
The false nurse listened with apparent sympathy; but in reality she was furious, and, to put an end to it all, asked Semele if she were quite sure he was king of the G.o.ds, as he a.s.serted, and whether he visited her in all the pomp of his regal apparel. The maiden shamefacedly replied that he was wont to visit her in the guise of a mortal only; whereupon Beroe, with feigned indignation, told her nursling he must either be a vile impostor, or else that he did not love her as dearly as he loved Juno, in whose presence he seldom appeared except in G.o.dlike array.
With artful words she so worked upon the guileless nature of her rival, that, when Jupiter next came, the maiden used all her blandishments to extort from him a solemn oath to grant any request she chose to make. A lover is not very likely to weigh his words under such circ.u.mstances, and Jupiter took the most solemn of all the oaths to gratify her whim.
”'Bear me witness, Earth, and ye, broad Heavens Above us, and ye, waters of the Styx, That flow beneath us, mightiest oath of all, And most revered by the blessed G.o.ds!'”
Homer (Bryant's tr.).
The promise won, the delighted Semele bade her lover speedily return to Olympus, don his own majestic form and apparel, and hasten back to her side, surrounded by all his heavenly pomp, and armed with his dreaded thunderbolts. Jupiter, horrified at this imprudent request, implored her to ask something else, and release him from a promise fraught with such danger to her; but all in vain. Semele, like many another fair lady, enjoyed having her own way, and fairly forced him to obey.
Jupiter returned to Olympus, modified his costume as much as possible, dimmed his glory wherever he could, and chose the feeblest of all his bolts, for well he knew no mere mortal could endure the shock of his full glory. Then, mounted on a pale flash of lightning, he darted back to Semele.
”To keep his promise he ascends, and shrouds His awful brow in whirlwinds and in clouds; Whilst all around, in terrible array, His thunders rattle, and his lightnings play. And yet, the dazzling l.u.s.ter to abate, He set not out in all his pomp and state, Clad in the mildest lightning of the skies, And arm'd with thunder of the smallest size: Not those huge bolts, by which the giants slain, Lay overthrown on the Phlegrean plain. 'Twas of a lesser mold, and lighter weight; They call it thunder of a second-rate. For the rough Cyclops, who by Jove's command Temper'd the bolt and turn'd it to his hand, Work'd up less flame and fury in its make, And quench'd it sooner in the standing lake. Thus dreadfully adorn'd, with horror bright, Th' ill.u.s.trious G.o.d, descending from his height, Came rus.h.i.+ng on her in a storm of light.”
Ovid (Addison's tr.).
But, although so much milder than usual, this apparition was more than poor Semele's human nerves could bear, and she dropped to the floor in a swoon at the first glimpse of her lover. Oblivious of all but her alarming condition, Jupiter sprang to her side; but the lightning which played about his head set fire to the whole palace, which was reduced to ashes.
[Sidenote: Birth of Bacchus.]
Semele herself perished, burned to death; and the only person in all the building who escaped uninjured was Bacchus (Liber, Dionysus), the infant son of Jupiter and Semele, who was saved by his father's powerful hand. Jupiter was at first inconsolable at the death of Semele; and, to testify to all mortals how fondly he had loved her, he brought her spirit up to heaven, where he raised her to the rank of a deity.
”Semele of the flowing hair, Who died in Thunder's cras.h.i.+ng flame, To deified existence came.”
Prior.
The infant Bacchus was first intrusted to the care of his aunt Ino, the second wife of Athamas, King of Thebes, who nursed him as tenderly as if he had been her own child. But all her love could not avail to screen him from the effects of Juno's persistent hatred: so Jupiter, fearing lest some harm might befall his precious son, bade Mercury convey him to the distant home of the Nysiades,--nymphs who guarded him most faithfully.
Juno, not daring to continue her persecutions, wreaked all her anger upon poor Ino and her unhappy household by sending the Fury Tisiphone to goad Athamas to madness. In a fit of deluded frenzy, he pursued his wife and children as if they were wild beasts. One of his sons, Learchus, fell beneath his arrows; and, to escape his murderous fury, Ino plunged headlong into the sea with her second child in her arms. The G.o.ds, in pity for her sufferings, changed her into the G.o.ddess Leucothea, and her son into a sea deity by the name of Palaemon.
[Sidenote: Bacchus' attendants.]