killed the terrible serpent. Eros angrily replied that his arrow should
pierce the heart of the mocker himself, and flying off to the summit of
Mount Parnassus, he drew from his quiver two darts of different
workmanship--one of gold, which had the effect of inspiring love; the other
of lead, which created aversion. Taking aim at Apollo, he pierced his
breast with the golden shaft, whilst the leaden one he discharged into the
bosom of the beautiful Daphne. The son of Leto instantly felt the most
ardent affection for the nymph, who, on her part, evinced the greatest
dislike towards her divine lover, and, at his approach, fled from him like
a hunted deer. He called upon her in the most endearing accents to stay,
but she still sped on, until at length, becoming faint with fatigue, and
fearing that she was about to succumb, she called upon the gods to come to
her aid. Hardly had she uttered her prayer before a heavy torpor seized her
limbs, and just as Apollo threw out his arms to embrace her, she became
transformed {75} into a laurel-bush. He sorrowfully crowned his head with
its leaves, and declared, that in memory of his love, it should henceforth
remain evergreen, and be held sacred to him.
He next sought the love of Marpessa, the daughter of Evenus; but though her
father approved his suit, the maiden preferred a youth named Idas, who
contrived to carry her off in a winged chariot which he had procured from
Poseidon. Apollo pursued the fugitives, whom he quickly overtook, and
forcibly seizing the bride, refused to resign her. Zeus then interfered,
and declared that Marpessa herself must decide which of her lovers should
claim her as his wife. After due reflection she accepted Idas as her
husband, judiciously concluding that although the attractions of the divine
Apollo were superior to those of her lover, it would be wiser to unite
herself to a mortal, who, growing old with herself, would be less likely to
forsake her, when advancing years should rob her of her charms.
Cassandra, daughter of Priam, king of Troy, was another object of the love
of Apollo. She feigned to return his affection, and promised to marry him,
provided he would confer upon her the gift of prophecy; but having received
the boon she desired, the treacherous maiden refused to comply with the
conditions upon which it had been granted. Incensed at her breach of faith,
Apollo, unable to recall the gift he had bestowed, rendered it useless by
causing her predictions to fail in obtaining credence.
Cassandra became
famous in history for her prophetic powers, but her prophecies were never
believed. For instance, she warned her brother Paris that if he brought
back a wife from Greece he would cause the destruction of his father's
house and kingdom; she also warned the Trojans not to admit the wooden
horse within the walls of the city, and foretold to Agamemnon all the
disasters which afterwards befell him.
Apollo afterwards married Coronis, a nymph of Larissa, and thought himself
happy in the possession of her faithful love; but once more he was doomed
to {76} disappointment, for one day his favourite bird, the crow, flew to
him with the intelligence that his wife had transferred her affections to a
youth of Haemonia. Apollo, burning with rage, instantly destroyed her with
one of his death-bringing darts. Too late he repented of his rashness, for
she had been tenderly beloved by him, and he would fain have recalled her
to life; but, although he exerted all his healing powers, his efforts were
in vain. He punished the crow for its garrulity by changing the colour of
its plumage from pure white to intense black, and forbade it to fly any
longer among the other birds.
Coronis left an infant son named Asclepius, who afterwards became god of
medicine. His powers were so extraordinary that he could not only cure the
sick, but could even restore the dead to life. At last Aïdes complained to
Zeus that the number of shades conducted to his dominions was daily
decreasing, and the great ruler of Olympus, fearing that mankind, thus
protected against sickness and death, would be able to defy the gods
themselves, killed Asclepius with one of his thunderbolts. The loss of his
highly gifted son so exasperated Apollo that, being unable to vent his
anger on Zeus, he destroyed the Cyclops, who had forged the fatal
thunderbolts. For this offence, Apollo would have been banished by Zeus to
Tartarus, but at the earnest intercession of Leto he partially relented,
and contented himself with depriving him of all power and dignity, and
imposing on him a temporary servitude in the house of Admetus, king of
Thessaly. Apollo faithfully served his royal master for nine years in the
humble capacity of a shepherd, and was treated by him with every kindness
and consideration. During the period of his service the king sought the
hand of Alcestis, the beautiful daughter of Pelias, son of Poseidon; but
her father declared that he would only resign her to the suitor who should
succeed in yoking a lion and a wild boar to his chariot.
By the aid of his
divine herdsman, Admetus accomplished this difficult task, and gained his
bride. Nor was this the only favour which the king received from the exiled
god, for Apollo obtained from {77} the Fates the gift of immortality for
his benefactor, on condition that when his last hour approached, some
member of his own family should be willing to die in his stead. When the
fatal hour arrived, and Admetus felt that he was at the point of death, he
implored his aged parents to yield to him their few remaining days. But
"life is sweet" even to old age, and they both refused to make the
sacrifice demanded of them. Alcestis, however, who had secretly devoted
herself to death for her husband, was seized with a mortal sickness, which
kept pace with his rapid recovery. The devoted wife breathed her last in
the arms of Admetus, and he had just consigned her to the tomb, when
Heracles chanced to come to the palace. Admetus held the rites of
hospitality so sacred, that he at first kept silence with regard to his
great bereavement; but as soon as his friend heard what had occurred, he
bravely descended into the tomb, and when death came to claim his prey, he
exerted his marvellous strength, and held him in his arms, until he
promised to restore the beautiful and heroic queen to the bosom of her
family.
Whilst pursuing the peaceful life of a shepherd, Apollo formed a strong
friendship with two youths named Hyacinthus and Cyparissus, but the great
favour shown to them by the god did not suffice to shield them from
misfortune. The former was one day throwing the discus with Apollo, when,
running too eagerly to take up the one thrown by the god, he was struck on
the head with it and killed on the spot. Apollo was overcome with grief at
the sad end of his young favourite, but being unable to restore him to
life, he changed him into the flower called after him the Hyacinth.
Cyparissus had the misfortune to kill by accident one of Apollo's favourite
stags, which so preyed on his mind that he gradually pined away, and died
of a broken heart. He was transformed by the god into a cypress-tree, which
owes its name to this story.
After these sad occurrences Apollo quitted Thessaly and repaired to
Phrygia, in Asia Minor, where he met Poseidon, who, like himself, was in
exile, and condemned {78} to a temporary servitude on earth. The two gods
now entered the service of Laomedon, king of Troy, Apollo undertaking to
tend his flocks, and Poseidon to build the walls of the city. But Apollo
also contributed his assistance in the erection of those wonderful walls,
and, by the aid of his marvellous musical powers, the labours of his
fellow-worker, Poseidon, were rendered so light and easy that his otherwise
arduous task advanced with astonishing celerity; for, as the master-hand of
the god of music grasped the chords of his lyre,[30] the huge blocks of
stone moved of their own accord, adjusting themselves with the utmost
nicety into the places designed for them.
But though Apollo was so renowned in the art of music, there were two
individuals who had the effrontery to consider themselves equal to him in
this respect, and, accordingly, each challenged him to compete with them in
a musical contest. These were Marsyas and Pan. Marsyas was a satyr, who,
having picked up the flute which Athene had thrown away in disgust,
discovered, to his great delight and astonishment, that, in consequence of
its having touched the lips of a goddess, it played of itself in the most
charming manner. Marsyas, who was a great lover of music, and much beloved
on this account by all the elf-like denizens of the woods and glens, was so
intoxicated with joy at this discovery, that he foolishly challenged Apollo
to compete with him in a musical contest. The challenge being accepted, the
Muses were chosen umpires, and it was decided that the unsuccessful
candidate should suffer the punishment of being flayed alive. For a long
time the merits of both claimants remained so equally balanced, that it was
impossible to award the palm of victory to either, seeing which, Apollo,
resolved to conquer, added the sweet tones of his melodious voice to the
strains of his lyre, {79} and this at once turned the scale in his favour.
The unhappy Marsyas being defeated, had to undergo the terrible penalty,
and his untimely fate was universally lamented; indeed the Satyrs and
Dryads, his companions, wept so incessantly at his fate, that their tears,
uniting together, formed a river in Phrygia which is still known by the
name of Marsyas.
The result of the contest with Pan was by no means of so serious a
character. The god of shepherds having affirmed that he could play more
skilfully on his flute of seven reeds (the syrinx or Pan's pipe), than
Apollo on his world-renowned lyre, a contest ensued, in which Apollo was
pronounced the victor by all the judges appointed to decide between the
rival candidates. Midas, king of Phrygia, alone demurred at this decision,
having the bad taste to prefer the uncouth tones of the Pan's pipe to the
refined melodies of Apollo's lyre. Incensed at the obstinacy and stupidity
of the Phrygian king, Apollo punished him by giving him the ears of an ass.
Midas, horrified at being thus disfigured, determined to hide his disgrace
from his subjects by means of a cap; his barber, however, could not be kept
in ignorance of the fact, and was therefore bribed with rich gifts never to
reveal it. Finding, however, that he could not keep the secret any longer,
he dug a hole in the ground into which he whispered it; then closing up the
aperture he returned home, feeling greatly relieved at having thus eased
his mind of its burden. But after all, this very humiliating secret was
revealed to the world, for some reeds which sprung up from the spot
murmured incessantly, as they waved to and fro in the wind: "King Midas has
the ears of an ass."
In the sad and beautiful story of Niobe, daughter of Tantalus, and wife of
Amphion, king of Thebes, we have another instance of the severe punishments
meted out by Apollo to those who in any way incurred his displeasure. Niobe
was the proud mother of seven sons and seven daughters, and exulting in the
number of her children, she, upon one occasion, ridiculed the worship of
Leto, {80} because she had but one son and daughter, and desired the
Thebans, for the future, to give to her the honours and sacrifices which
they had hitherto offered to the mother of Apollo and Artemis. The
sacrilegious words had scarcely passed her lips before Apollo called upon
his sister Artemis to assist him in avenging the insult offered to their
mother, and soon their invisible arrows sped through the air. Apollo slew
all the sons, and Artemis had already slain all the daughters save one, the
youngest and best beloved, whom Niobe clasped in her arms, when the
agonized mother implored the enraged deities to leave her, at least, one
out of all her beautiful children; but, even as she prayed, the deadly
arrow reached the heart of this child also. Meanwhile the unhappy father,
unable to bear the loss of his children, had destroyed himself, and his
dead body lay beside the lifeless corpse of his favourite son. Widowed and
childless, the heart-broken mother sat among her dead, and the gods, in
pity for her unutterable woe, turned her into a stone, which they
transferred to Siphylus, her native Phrygian mountain, where it still
continues to shed tears.
[Illustration]
The punishment of Niobe forms the subject of a magnificent marble group,
which was found at Rome in the year 1553, and is now in the gallery of
Uffizi, at Florence.
The renowned singer Orpheus was the son of Apollo and Calliope, the muse of
epic poetry, and, as might be expected with parents so highly gifted, was
endowed with most distinguished intellectual qualifications. He was a poet,
a teacher of the religious doctrines known as the Orphic mysteries, and a
great musician, having inherited from his father an extraordinary genius
for music. {81} When he sang to the sweet tones of his lyre, he charmed all
nature, and summoned round him the wild beasts of the forests, who, under
the influence of his music, became tame and gentle as lambs. The madly
rushing torrents stopped their rapid course, and the very mountains and
trees moved from their places at the sound of his entrancing melodies.
Orpheus became united to a lovely nymph named Eurydice, the daughter of the
sea-god Nereus, whom he fondly loved. She was no less attached to him, and
their married life was full of joy and happiness. But it was only
short-lived; for Aristæus,[31] the half-brother of Orpheus, having fallen
in love with the beautiful Eurydice, forcibly endeavoured to take her from
her husband, and as she fled across some fields to elude his pursuit, she
was bitten in the foot by a venomous snake, which lay concealed in the long
grass. Eurydice died of the wound, and her sorrowing husband filled the
groves and valleys with his piteous and unceasing lamentations.
His longing to behold her once more became at last so unconquerable, that
he determined to brave the horrors of the lower world, in order to entreat
Aïdes to restore to him his beloved wife. Armed only with his golden lyre,
the gift of Apollo, he descended into the gloomy depths of Hades, where his
heavenly music arrested for a while the torments of the unhappy sufferers.
The stone of Sisyphus remained motionless; Tantalus forgot his perpetual
thirst; the wheel of Ixion ceased to revolve; and even the Furies shed
tears, and withheld for a time their persecutions.
Undismayed at the scenes
of horror and suffering which met his view on every side, he pursued his
way until he arrived at the palace of Aïdes. Presenting himself before the
throne on which sat the stony-hearted king and his consort Persephone,
Orpheus recounted his woes to the sound of his lyre.
Moved to pity by his
sweet strains, they listened to his {82} melancholy story, and consented to
release Eurydice on condition that he should not look upon her until they
reached the upper world. Orpheus gladly promised to comply with this
injunction, and, followed by Eurydice, ascended the steep and gloomy path
which led to the realms of life and light. All went well until he was just
about to pass the extreme limits of Hades, when, forgetting for the moment
the hard condition, he turned to convince himself that his beloved wife was
really behind him. The glance was fatal, and destroyed all his hopes of
happiness; for, as he yearningly stretched out his arms to embrace her, she
was caught back, and vanished from his sight for ever.
The grief of Orpheus
at this second loss was even more intense than before, and he now avoided
all human society. In vain did the nymphs, his once chosen companions,
endeavour to win him back to his accustomed haunts; their power to charm
was gone, and music was now his sole consolation. He wandered forth alone,
choosing the wildest and most secluded paths, and the hills and vales
resounded with his pathetic melodies. At last he happened to cross the path
of some Thracian women, who were performing the wild rites of Dionysus
(Bacchus), and in their mad fury at his refusing to join them, they
furiously attacked him, and tore him in pieces. In pity for his unhappy
fate, the Muses collected his remains, which they buried at the foot of
Mount Olympus, and the nightingale warbled a funeral dirge over his grave.
His head was thrown into the river Hebrus, and as it floated down the
stream, the lips still continued to murmur the beloved name of Eurydice.
The chief seat of the worship of Apollo was at Delphi, and here was the
most magnificent of all his temples, the foundation of which reaches far
beyond all historical knowledge, and which contained immense riches, the
offerings of kings and private persons, who had received favourable replies
from the oracle. The Greeks believed Delphi to be the central point of the
earth, because two eagles sent forth by Zeus, one from the east, the other
{83} from the west, were said to have arrived there at the same moment.
The Pythian games, celebrated in honour of the victory of Apollo over the
Python, took place at Delphi every four years. At the first celebration of
these games, gods, goddesses, and heroes contended for the prizes, which
were at first of gold or silver, but consisted, in later times, of simple
laurel wreaths.
On account of its being the place of his birth, the whole island of Delos
was consecrated to Apollo, where he was worshipped with great solemnity;
the greatest care was taken to preserve the sanctity of the spot, for which
reason no one was suffered to be buried there. At the foot of Mount Cynthus
was a splendid temple of Apollo which possessed an oracle, and was enriched
with magnificent offerings from all parts of Greece.
Even foreign nations
held this island sacred, for when the Persians passed it on their way to
attack Greece, they not only sailed by, leaving it uninjured, but sent rich
presents to the temple. Games, called Delia, instituted by Theseus, were
celebrated at Delos every four years.
A festival termed the Gymnopedæa was held at Sparta in honour of Apollo, in
which boys sang the praises of the gods, and of the three hundred
Lacedæmonians who fell at the battle of Thermopylæ.
Wolves and hawks were sacrificed to Apollo, and the birds sacred to him
were the hawk, raven, and swan.
ROMAN APOLLO.
The worship of Apollo never occupied the all-important position in Rome
which it held in Greece, nor was it introduced till a comparatively late
period. There was no sanctuary erected to this divinity until B.C. 430,
when the Romans, in order to avert a plague, built a temple in his honour;
but we do not find the worship of Apollo becoming in any way prominent
until the time of Augustus, who, having called upon this god for aid before
the famous battle of Actium, ascribed the victory which he {84} gained, to
his influence, and accordingly erected a temple there, which he enriched
with a portion of the spoil.
Augustus afterwards built another temple in honour of Apollo, on the
Palatine Hill, in which at the foot of his statue, were deposited two gilt
chests, containing the Sibylline oracles. These oracles were collected to
replace the Sibylline books originally preserved in the temple of Jupiter,
which were destroyed when that edifice was burned.
[Illustration]
The Sibyls were maidens who had received the gift of prophecy, and the
privilege of living to an incredible age. One of these Sibyls (known as the
Cumæan) appeared to Tarquinius Superbus, the last king of Rome, offering
for sale nine books, which she informed him had been written by herself.
Not knowing who she was, Tarquin refused to buy them, upon which she burned
three, and returned with six, demanding the same price as before. Being
again driven away as an impostor, she again retired and burned three more,
returning with the remaining three, for which she still asked the same
price as at first. Tarquin, amazed at her inconsistency, now consulted the
Augurs, who blamed him for not having bought the nine books when they were
first offered to him, and desired him to secure the remaining three, at
whatever price they were to be had. He, accordingly, purchased the volumes,
which were found to contain predictions of great importance to the Romans.
After the disposal of the books, the Sibyl vanished, and was seen no more.
The most beautiful and renowned of all the statues of Apollo now in
existence, is that known as the Apollo Belvedere, which was found in 1503
among the ruins of {85} ancient Antium. It was purchased by Pope Julius
II., who removed it to the Belvedere of the Vatican, from whence it takes
its name, and where it has been, for more than three hundred years, the
admiration of the world. When Rome was taken, and plundered by the French,
this celebrated statue was transported to Paris, and placed in the museum
there, but in 1815 it was restored to its former place in the Vatican. The
attitude of the figure, which is more than seven feet high, is inimitable
in its freedom, grace, and majesty. The forehead is noble and intellectual,
and the whole countenance so exquisite in its beauty, that one pauses
spell-bound to gaze on so perfect a conception. The god has a very youthful
appearance, as is usual in all his representations, and with the exception
of a short mantle which falls from his shoulders, is unclothed. He stands
against the trunk of a tree, up which a serpent is creeping, and his left
arm is outstretched, as though about to punish.
HECATE.
Hecate would appear to have been originally a moon-goddess worshipped by
the Thracians. She became confounded, and eventually identified with Selene
and Persephone, and is one of those divinities of whom the ancients had
various conflicting accounts.
Hecate was the daughter of Perses and "gold-wreathed"
Astræa (the starry
night[32]), and her sway extended over earth, heaven, and hell, for which
reason she is represented in works of art as a triple divinity, having
three female bodies, all young and beautiful, and united together.
In later times, when this divinity becomes identified with Persephone, she
is supposed to inhabit the lower world as a malignant deity, and
henceforward it is the gloomy, awe-inspiring side of her character which
alone {86} develops itself. She now presides over all practices connected
with witchcraft and enchantments, haunts sepulchres, and the point where
two roads cross, and lonely spots where murders have been committed. She
was supposed to be connected with the appearance of ghosts and spectres, to
possess unlimited influence over the powers of the lower world, and to be
able to lay to rest unearthly apparitions by her magic spells and
incantations.
Hecate appears as a gigantic woman, bearing a torch and a sword. Her feet
and hair are formed of snakes, and her passage is accompanied by voices of
thunder, weird shrieks and yells, and the deep baying and howling of dogs.
Her favour was propitiated by offerings and sacrifices, principally
consisting of black lambs. Her festivals were celebrated at night, by
torchlight, when these animals were offered to her, accompanied by many