Part 24 (1/2)
[Footnote 76: _Ho, Arethusa!_--Ver. 625-6. Clarke thus translates these lines:--'And twice called out Soho, Arethusa! Soho, Arethusa! What thought had I then, poor soul!']
[Footnote 77: _To Ortygia._--Ver. 640. From the similarity of its name to that of the G.o.ddess Diana, who was called Ortygia, from the Isle of Delos, where she was born.]
EXPLANATION.
Bochart tells us that the story of the fountain Arethusa and the river Alpheus, her lover, who traversed so many countries in pursuit of her, has no other foundation than an equivocal expression in the language of the first inhabitants of Sicily. The Phnicians, who went to settle in that island, finding the fountain surrounded with willows, gave it the name of 'Alphaga,' or 'the fountain of the willows.' Others, again, gave it the name of 'Arith,' signifying 'a stream.' The Greeks, arriving there in after ages, not understanding the signification of these words, and remembering their own river Alpheus, in Elis, imagined that since the river and the fountain had nearly the same name, Alpheus had crossed the sea, to arrive in Sicily.
This notion appearing, probably, to the poets not devoid of ingenuity, they accordingly founded on it the romantic story of the pa.s.sion of the river G.o.d Alpheus for the Nymph Arethusa. Some of the ancient historians appear, however, in their credulity, really to have believed, at least, a part of the story, as they seriously tell us, that the river Alpheus pa.s.ses under the bed of the sea, and rises again in Sicily, near the fountain of Arethusa. Even among the more learned, this fable gained credit; for we find the oracle of Delphi ordering Archias to conduct a colony of Corinthians to Syracuse, and the priestess giving the following directions:--'Go into that island where the river Alpheus mixes his waters with the fair Arethusa.'
Pausanias avows, that he regards the story of Alpheus and Arethusa as a mere fable; but, not daring to dispute a fact established by the response of an oracle, he does not contradict the fact of the river running through the sea, though he is at a loss to understand how it can happen.
FABLE VII. [V.642-678]
Ceres entrusts her chariot to Triptolemus, and orders him to go everywhere, and cultivate the earth. He obeys her, and, at length, arrives in Scythia, where Lyncus, designing to kill him, is changed into a lynx. The Muse then finishes her song, on which the daughters of Pierus are changed into magpies.
”Thus far Arethusa. The fertile G.o.ddess yoked[78] two dragons to her chariot, and curbed their mouths with bridles; and was borne through the mid air of heaven and of earth, and guided her light chariot to the Tritonian citadel, to Triptolemus; and she ordered him to scatter the seeds that were entrusted {to him} partly in the fallow ground, {and} partly {in the ground} restored to cultivation after so long a time. Now had the youth been borne on high over Europe and the lands of Asia,[79]
and he arrived at the coast of Scythia: Lyncus was the king there. He entered the house of the king. Being asked whence he came, and the occasion of his coming, and his name, and his country, he said, 'My country is the famous Athens, my name is Triptolemus. I came neither in a s.h.i.+p through the waves, nor on foot by land; the pervious sky made a way for me. I bring the gifts of Ceres, which, scattered over the wide fields, are to yield {you} the fruitful harvests, and wholesome food.'
The barbarian envies him; and that he himself may be {deemed} the author of so great a benefit, he receives him with hospitality, and, when overpowered with sleep, he attacks him with the sword. {But}, while attempting to pierce his breast, Ceres made him a lynx; and again sent the Mopsopian[80] youth to drive the sacred drawers of her chariot through the air.
”The greatest of us[81] had {now} finished her learned song. But the Nymphs, with unanimous voice, p.r.o.nounced that the G.o.ddesses who inhabit Helicon had proved the conquerors. Then the others, {thus} vanquished, began to scatter their abuse: 'Since,' said she, 'it is a trifling matter for you to have merited punishment by this contest, you add abuse, too, to your fault, and endurance is not permitted us: we shall proceed to punishment, and whither our resentment calls, we shall follow.' The Emathian sisters smiled, and despised our threatening language; and endeavoring to speak, and to menace with their insolent hands amid great clamor, they beheld quills growing out of their nails, and their arms covered with feathers. And they each see the face of the other shooting out into a hard beak, and new birds being added to the woods. And while they strive to beat their b.r.e.a.s.t.s elevated by the motion of their arms, they hang poised in the air, {as} magpies, the scandal of the groves. Even then their original talkativeness remains in {them} as birds, and their jarring garrulity, and their enormous love of chattering.”
[Footnote 78: _G.o.ddess yoked._--Ver. 642. Clarke renders 'geminos Dea fertilis angues curribus admovit,' 'the fertile G.o.ddess clapped two snakes to her chariot.']
[Footnote 79: _Lands of Asia._--Ver. 648. Asia Minor is here meant; the other parts of Asia being included under the term 'Scythicas oras.']
[Footnote 80: _Mopsopian._--Ver. 661. This very uneuphonious name is derived from Mopsopus, one of the ancient kings of Attica. It here means 'Athenian.']
[Footnote 81: _The greatest of us._--Ver. 662. Namely, Calliope, who had commenced her song as the representative of the Muses, at line 341.]
EXPLANATION.
Triptolemus reigned at Eleusis at the time when the mysteries of Ceres were established there. As we are told by Philochorus, he went with a s.h.i.+p, to carry corn into different countries, and introduced there the wors.h.i.+p of Ceres, whose priest he was. This is, doubtless, the key for the explanation of the story, that Ceres nursed him on her own milk, and purified him by fire. Some have supposed that the fable refers to the epoch when agriculture was introduced into Greece: but it is much more probable that it relates simply to the introduction there of the mysterious wors.h.i.+p of Ceres, which was probably imported from Egypt.
It is possible that, at the same period, the Greeks may have learned some improved method of tilling the ground, acquired by their intercourse with Egypt.
Probably, the dangers which Triptolemus experienced in his voyages and travels, gave rise to the story of Lyncus, whose cruelty caused him to be changed into a lynx. Bochart and Le Clerc think that the fable of Triptolemus being drawn by winged dragons, is based upon the equivocal meaning of a Phnician word, which signified either 'a winged dragon,'
or 'a s.h.i.+p fastened with iron nails or bolts.' Philochorus, however, as cited by Eusebius, says that his s.h.i.+p was called a flying dragon, from its carrying the figure of a dragon on its prow. We learn from a fragment of Stobaeus, that Erectheus, when engaged in a war against the Eleusinians, was told by the oracle that he would be victorious, if he sacrificed his daughter Proserpine. This, perhaps, may have given rise, or added somewhat, to the story of the rape of Proserpine by Pluto.
According to a fragment of Homer, cited by Pausanias, the names of the first Greeks, who were initiated into the mysteries of Ceres, were,--Celeus, Triptolemus, Eumolpus, and Diocles. Clement of Alexandria calls them Baubon, Dysaulus, Eubuleus, Eumolpus, and Triptolemus. Eumolpus being the Hierophant, or explainer of the mysteries of Eleusis, made war against Erectheus, king of Athens. They were both killed in battle, and it was thereupon agreed that the posterity of Erectheus should be kings of Athens, and the descendants of Eumolpus should, in future, retain the office of Hierophant.
BOOK THE SIXTH.
FABLE I. [VI.1-145]
Arachne, vain-glorious of her ingenuity, challenges Minerva to a contest of skill in her art. The G.o.ddess accepts the challenge, and, being enraged to see herself outdone, strikes her rival with her shuttle; upon which, Arachne, in her distress, hangs herself. Minerva, touched with compa.s.sion, transforms her into a spider.
Tritonia had {meanwhile} lent an ear to such recitals as these, and she approved of the songs of the Aonian maids, and their just resentment.
Then {thus she says} to herself: ”To commend is but a trifling matter; let us, too, deserve commendation, and let us not permit our divine majesty to be slighted without {due} punishment.” And {then} she turns her mind to the fate of the Maeonian Arachne; who, as she had heard, did not yield to her in the praises of the art of working in wool. She was renowned not for the place {of her birth}, nor for the origin of her family, but for her skill {alone}. Idmon, of Colophon,[1] her father, used to dye the soaking wool in Phocaean[2] purple.[3] Her mother was dead; but she, too, was of the lower rank, and of the same condition with her husband. Yet {Arachne}, by her skill, had acquired a memorable name throughout the cities of Lydia; although, born of a humble family, she used to live in the little {town} of Hypaepae.[4] Often did the Nymphs desert the vineyards of their own Tymolus, that they might look at her admirable workmans.h.i.+p; {often} did the Nymphs of the {river} Pactolus[5]