were merely the instruments for avenging the insult offered to their
mother; but it was Nemesis who prompted the deed, and presided over its
execution.
Homer makes no mention of Nemesis; it is therefore evident that she was a
conception of later times, when higher views of morality had obtained among
the Greek nation.
Nemesis is represented as a beautiful woman of thoughtful and benign aspect
and regal bearing; a diadem crowns her majestic brow, and she bears in her
hand a rudder, balance, and cubit;--fitting emblems of the manner in which
she guides, weighs, and measures all human events. She is also sometimes
seen with a wheel, to symbolize the rapidity with which she executes
justice. As the avenger of evil she appears winged, bearing in her hand
either a scourge or a sword, and seated in a chariot drawn by griffins.
{142}
Nemesis is frequently called Adrastia, and also Rhamnusia, from Rhamnus in
Attica, the chief seat of her worship, which contained a celebrated statue
of the goddess.
Nemesis was worshipped by the Romans, (who invoked her on the Capitol), as
a divinity who possessed the power of averting the pernicious consequences
of envy.
NIGHT AND HER CHILDREN.
DEATH, SLEEP, AND DREAMS.
NYX (NOX).
Nyx, the daughter of Chaos, being the personification of Night, was,
according to the poetic ideas of the Greeks, considered to be the mother of
everything mysterious and inexplicable, such as death, sleep, dreams, &c.
She became united to Erebus, and their children were Aether and Hemera (Air
and Daylight), evidently a simile of the poets, to indicate that darkness
always precedes light.
Nyx inhabited a palace in the dark regions of the lower world, and is
represented as a beautiful woman, seated in a chariot, drawn by two black
horses. She is clothed in dark robes, wears a long veil, and is accompanied
by the stars, which follow in her train.
THANATOS (MORS) AND HYPNUS (SOMNUS).
Thanatos (Death) and his twin-brother Hypnus (Sleep) were the children of
Nyx.
Their dwelling was in the realm of shades, and when they appear among
mortals, Thanatos is feared and hated as the enemy of mankind, whose hard
heart knows no pity, whilst his brother Hypnus is universally loved and
welcomed as their kindest and most beneficent friend.
But though the ancients regarded Thanatos as a gloomy and mournful
divinity, they did not represent him with any exterior repulsiveness. On
the contrary, he appears as a beautiful youth, who holds in his hand an
inverted {143} torch, emblematical of the light of life being extinguished,
whilst his disengaged arm is thrown lovingly round the shoulder of his
brother Hypnus.
Hypnus is sometimes depicted standing erect with closed eyes; at others he
is in a recumbent position beside his brother Thanatos, and usually bears a
poppy-stalk in his hand.
A most interesting description of the abode of Hypnus is given by Ovid in
his Metamorphoses. He tells us how the god of Sleep dwelt in a
mountain-cave near the realm of the Cimmerians, which the sun never pierced
with his rays. No sound disturbed the stillness, no song of birds, not a
branch moved, and no human voice broke the profound silence which reigned
everywhere. From the lowermost rocks of the cave issued the river Lethe,
and one might almost have supposed that its course was arrested, were it
not for the low, monotonous hum of the water, which invited slumber. The
entrance was partially hidden by numberless white and red poppies, which
Mother Night had gathered and planted there, and from the juice of which
she extracts drowsiness, which she scatters in liquid drops all over the
earth, as soon as the sun-god has sunk to rest. In the centre of the cave
stands a couch of blackest ebony, with a bed of down, over which is laid a
coverlet of sable hue. Here the god himself reposes, surrounded by
innumerable forms. These are idle dreams, more numerous than the sands of
the sea. Chief among them is Morpheus, that changeful god, who may assume
any shape or form he pleases. Nor can the god of Sleep resist his own
power; for though he may rouse himself for a while, he soon succumbs to the
drowsy influences which surround him.
MORPHEUS.
Morpheus, the son of Hypnus, was the god of Dreams.
He is always represented winged, and appears sometimes as a youth,
sometimes as an old man. In his hand he bears a cluster of poppies, and as
he steps with {144} noiseless footsteps over the earth, he gently scatters
the seeds of this sleep-producing plant over the eyes of weary mortals.
Homer describes the House of Dreams as having two gates: one, whence issue
all deceptive and flattering visions, being formed of ivory; the other,
through which proceed those dreams which are fulfilled, of horn.
THE GORGONS.
The Gorgons, Stheno, Euryale, and Medusa, were the three daughters of
Phorcys and Ceto, and were the personification of those benumbing, and, as
it were, petrifying sensations, which result from sudden and extreme fear.
They were frightful winged monsters, whose bodies were covered with scales;
hissing, wriggling snakes clustered round their heads instead of hair;
their hands were of brass; their teeth resembled the tusks of a wild boar;
and their whole aspect was so appalling, that they are said to have turned
into stone all who beheld them.
These terrible sisters were supposed to dwell in that remote and mysterious
region in the far West, beyond the sacred stream of Oceanus.
The Gorgons were the servants of Aïdes, who made use of them to terrify and
overawe those shades, doomed to be kept in a constant state of unrest as a
punishment for their misdeeds, whilst the Furies, on their part, scourged
them with their whips and tortured them incessantly.
The most celebrated of the three sisters was Medusa, who alone was mortal.
She was originally a golden-haired and very beautiful maiden, who, as a
priestess of Athene, was devoted to a life of celibacy; but, being wooed by
Poseidon, whom she loved in return, she forgot her vows, and became united
to him in marriage. For this offence she was punished by the goddess in a
most terrible manner. Each wavy lock of the beautiful hair which had so
charmed her husband, was changed into a {145} venomous snake; her once
gentle, love-inspiring eyes now became blood-shot, furious orbs, which
excited fear and disgust in the mind of the beholder; whilst her former
roseate hue and milk-white skin assumed a loathsome greenish tinge. Seeing
herself thus transformed into so repulsive an object, Medusa fled from her
home, never to return. Wandering about, abhorred, dreaded, and shunned by
all the world, she now developed into a character, worthy of her outward
appearance. In her despair she fled to Africa, where, as she passed
restlessly from place to place, infant snakes dropped from her hair, and
thus, according to the belief of the ancients, that country became the
hotbed of these venomous reptiles. With the curse of Athene upon her, she
turned into stone whomsoever she gazed upon, till at last, after a life of
nameless misery, deliverance came to her in the shape of death, at the
hands of Perseus.
It is well to observe that when the Gorgons are spoken of in the singular,
it is Medusa who is alluded to.
Medusa was the mother of Pegasus and Chrysaor, father of the three-headed,
winged giant Geryones, who was slain by Heracles.
GRÆÆ.
The Grææ, who acted as servants to their sisters the Gorgons, were also
three in number; their names were Pephredo, Enyo, and Dino.
In their original conception they were merely personifications of kindly
and venerable old age, possessing all its benevolent attributes without its
natural infirmities. They were old and gray from their birth, and so they
ever remained. In later times, however, they came to be regarded as
misshapen females, decrepid, and hideously ugly, having only one eye, one
tooth, and one gray wig between them, which they lent to each other, when
one of them wished to appear before the world.
When Perseus entered upon his expedition to slay the Medusa, he repaired to
the abode of the Grææ, in the far {146} west, to inquire the way to the
Gorgons, and on their refusing to give any information, he deprived them of
their one eye, tooth, and wig, and did not restore them until he received
the necessary directions.
SPHINX.
The Sphinx was an ancient Egyptian divinity, who personified wisdom, and
the fertility of nature. She is represented as a lion-couchant, with the
head and bust of a woman, and wears a peculiar sort of hood, which
completely envelops her head, and falls down on either side of the face.
Transplanted into Greece, this sublime and mysterious Egyptian deity
degenerates into an insignificant, and yet malignant power, and though she
also deals in mysteries, they are, as we shall see, of a totally different
character, and altogether inimical to human life.
[Illustration]
The Sphinx is represented, according to Greek genealogy, as the offspring
of Typhon and Echidna.[48] Hera, being upon one occasion displeased with
the Thebans, sent them this awful monster, as a punishment for their
offences. Taking her seat on a rocky eminence near the city of Thebes,
commanding a pass which the Thebans were compelled to traverse in their
usual way of business, she propounded to all comers a riddle, and if they
failed to solve it, she tore them in pieces.
During the reign of King Creon, so many people had fallen a sacrifice to
this monster, that he determined to use every effort to rid the country of
so terrible a scourge. On consulting the oracle of Delphi, he was informed
that the only way to destroy the Sphinx was to solve one of her riddles,
when she would immediately precipitate herself from the rock on which she
was seated.
Creon, accordingly, made a public declaration to the effect, that whoever
could give the true interpretation of a riddle propounded by the monster,
should obtain the crown, and the hand of his sister Jocaste. Oedipus
offered {147} himself as a candidate, and proceeding to the spot where she
kept guard, received from her the following riddle for solution: "What
creature goes in the morning on four legs, at noon on two, and in the
evening on three?" Oedipus replied, that it must be man, who during his
infancy creeps on all fours, in his prime walks erect on two legs, and when
old age has enfeebled his powers, calls a staff to his assistance, and thus
has, as it were, three legs.
The Sphinx no sooner heard this reply, which was the correct solution of
her riddle, than she flung herself over the precipice, and perished in the
abyss below.
The Greek Sphinx may be recognized by having wings and by being of smaller
dimensions than the Egyptian Sphinx.
TYCHE (FORTUNA) AND ANANKE (NECESSITAS).
TYCHE (FORTUNA).
Tyche personified that peculiar combination of circumstances which we call
luck or fortune, and was considered to be the source of all unexpected
events in human life, whether good or evil. If a person succeeded in all he
undertook without possessing any special merit of his own, Tyche was
supposed to have smiled on his birth. If, on the other hand, undeserved
ill-luck followed him through life, and all his efforts resulted in
failure, it was ascribed to her adverse influence.
This goddess of Fortune is variously represented.
Sometimes she is depicted
bearing in her hand two rudders, with one of which she steers the bark of
the fortunate, and with the other that of the unfortunate among mortals. In
later times she appears blindfolded, and stands on a ball or wheel,
indicative of the fickleness and ever-revolving {148}
changes of fortune.
She frequently bears the sceptre and cornucopia[49] or horn of plenty, and
is usually winged. In her temple at Thebes, she is represented holding the
infant Plutus in her arms, to symbolize her power over riches and
prosperity.
Tyche was worshipped in various parts of Greece, but more particularly by
the Athenians, who believed in her special predilection for their city.
FORTUNA.
Tyche was worshipped in Rome under the name of Fortuna, and held a position
of much greater importance among the Romans than the Greeks.
In later times Fortuna is never represented either winged or standing on a
ball; she merely bears the cornucopia. It is evident, therefore, that she
had come to be regarded as the goddess of good luck only, who brings
blessings to man, and not, as with the Greeks, as the personification of
the fluctuations of fortune.
In addition to Fortuna, the Romans worshipped Felicitas as the giver of
positive good fortune.
ANANKE (NECESSITAS).
As Ananke, Tyche assumes quite another character, and becomes the
embodiment of those immutable laws of nature, by which certain causes
produce certain inevitable results.
In a statue of this divinity at Athens she was represented with hands of
bronze, and surrounded with nails and hammers. The hands of bronze probably
indicated the irresistible power of the inevitable, and the hammer and
chains the fetters which she forged for man.
Ananke was worshipped in Rome under the name of Necessitas.
{149}
KER.
In addition to the Moiræ, who presided over the life of mortals, there was
another divinity, called Ker, appointed for each human being at the moment
of his birth. The Ker belonging to an individual was believed to develop
with his growth, either for good or evil; and when the ultimate fate of a
mortal was about to be decided, his Ker was weighed in the balance, and,
according to the preponderance of its worth or worthlessness, life or death
was awarded to the human being in question. It becomes evident, therefore,
that according to the belief of the early Greeks, each individual had it in
his power, to a certain extent, to shorten or prolong his own existence.
The Keres, who are frequently mentioned by Homer, were the goddesses who
delighted in the slaughter of the battle-field.
ATE.
Ate, the daughter of Zeus and Eris, was a divinity who delighted in evil.
Having instigated Hera to deprive Heracles of his birthright, her father
seized her by the hair of her head, and hurled her from Olympus, forbidding
her, under the most solemn imprecations, ever to return.
Henceforth she
wandered among mankind, sowing dissension, working mischief, and luring men
to all actions inimical to their welfare and happiness.
Hence, when a
reconciliation took place between friends who had quarrelled, Ate was
blamed as the original cause of disagreement.
MOMUS.
Momus, the son of Nyx, was the god of raillery and ridicule, who delighted
to criticise, with bitter sarcasm, the actions of gods and men, and
contrived to discover in all things some defect or blemish. Thus when
Prometheus created the first man, Momus considered his work incomplete
because there was no aperture in the breast through which his inmost
thoughts might be read. He {150} also found fault with a house built by
Athene because, being unprovided with the means of locomotion, it could
never be removed from an unhealthy locality. Aphrodite alone defied his
criticism, for, to his great chagrin, he could find no fault with her
perfect form.[50]
In what manner the ancients represented this god is unknown. In modern art
he is depicted like a king's jester, with a fool's cap and bells.
EROS (CUPID, AMOR) AND PSYCHE.
According to Hesiod's Theogony, Eros, the divine spirit of Love, sprang
forth from Chaos, while all was still in confusion, and by his beneficent
power reduced to order and harmony the shapeless, conflicting elements,
which, under his influence, began to assume distinct forms. This ancient
Eros is represented as a full-grown and very beautiful youth, crowned with
flowers, and leaning on a shepherd's crook.
In the course of time, this beautiful conception gradually faded away, and
though occasional mention still continues to be made of the Eros of Chaos,
he is replaced by the son of Aphrodite, the popular, mischief-loving little
god of Love, so familiar to us all.
In one of the myths concerning Eros, Aphrodite is described as complaining
to Themis, that her son, though so beautiful, did not appear to increase in
stature; whereupon Themis suggested that his small proportions were
probably attributable to the fact of his being always alone, and advised
his mother to let him have a companion. Aphrodite accordingly gave him, as
a playfellow, his younger brother Anteros (requited love), and soon had the
gratification of seeing the little Eros begin to grow and thrive; but,
curious to relate, this desirable result only continued as long as the
brothers remained together, for the moment they were separated, Eros shrank
once more to his original size.
{151}
By degrees the conception of Eros became multiplied and we hear of little
love-gods (Amors), who appear under the most charming and diversified
forms. These love-gods, who afforded to artists inexhaustible subjects for
the exercise of their imagination, are represented as being engaged in
various occupations, such as hunting, fishing, rowing, driving chariots,
and even busying themselves in mechanical labour.
[Illustration]
Perhaps no myth is more charming and interesting than that of Eros and
Psyche, which is as follows:--Psyche, the youngest of three princesses, was
so transcendently beautiful that Aphrodite herself became jealous of her,
and no mortal dared to aspire to the honour of her hand.
As her sisters,
who were by no means equal to her in attractions, were married, and Psyche
still remained unwedded, her father consulted the oracle of Delphi, and, in
obedience to the divine response, caused her to be dressed as though for
the grave, and conducted to the edge of a yawning precipice. No sooner was
she alone than she felt herself lifted up, and wafted away by the gentle
west wind Zephyrus, who transported her to a verdant meadow, in the midst
of which stood a stately palace, surrounded by groves and fountains.
Here dwelt Eros, the god of Love, in whose arms Zephyrus deposited his
lovely burden. Eros, himself unseen, wooed her in the softest accents of
affection; but warned her, as she valued his love, not to endeavour to
behold his form. For some time Psyche was obedient to the injunction of her
immortal spouse, and made no effort to gratify her natural curiosity; but,
unfortunately, in the midst of her happiness she was seized with an
unconquerable longing for the society of her {152}
sisters, and, in
accordance with her desire, they were conducted by Zephyrus to her
fairy-like abode. Filled with envy at the sight of her felicity, they
poisoned her mind against her husband, and telling her that her unseen
lover was a frightful monster, they gave her a sharp dagger, which they
persuaded her to use for the purpose of delivering herself from his power.
After the departure of her sisters, Psyche resolved to take the first
opportunity of following their malicious counsel. She accordingly rose in
the dead of night, and taking a lamp in one hand and a dagger in the other,
stealthily approached the couch where Eros was reposing, when, instead of
the frightful monster she had expected to see, the beauteous form of the
god of Love greeted her view. Overcome with surprise and admiration, Psyche
stooped down to gaze more closely on his lovely features, when, from the
lamp which she held in her trembling hand, there fell a drop of burning oil
upon the shoulder of the sleeping god, who instantly awoke, and seeing
Psyche standing over him with the instrument of death in her hand,
sorrowfully reproached her for her treacherous designs, and, spreading out
his wings, flew away.
In despair at having lost her lover, the unhappy Psyche endeavoured to put
an end to her existence by throwing herself into the nearest river; but
instead of closing over her, the waters bore her gently to the opposite
bank, where Pan (the god of shepherds) received her, and consoled her with
the hope of becoming eventually reconciled to her husband.
Meanwhile her wicked sisters, in expectation of meeting with the same good
fortune which had befallen Psyche, placed themselves on the edge of the
rock, but were both precipitated into the chasm below.
Psyche herself, filled with a restless yearning for her lost love, wandered
all over the world in search of him. At length she appealed to Aphrodite to
take compassion on her; but the goddess of Beauty, still jealous of her
charms, imposed upon her the hardest tasks, the accomplishment of which
often appeared impossible. In these {153} she was always assisted by
invisible, beneficent beings, sent to her by Eros, who still loved her, and
continued to watch over her welfare.
[Illustration]
Psyche had to undergo a long and severe penance before she became worthy to
regain the happiness, which she had so foolishly trifled away. At last
Aphrodite commanded her to descend into the under world, and obtain from
Persephone a box containing all the charms of beauty.
Psyche's courage now
failed her, for she concluded that death must of necessity precede her
entrance into the realm of shades. About to abandon herself to despair, she
heard a voice which warned her of every danger to be avoided on her
perilous journey, and instructed her with regard to certain precautions to
be observed. These were as follows:--not to omit to provide herself with
the ferryman's toll for Charon, and the cake to pacify Cerberus, also to
refrain from taking any part in the banquets of Aïdes and Persephone, and,
above all things, to bring the box of beauty charms unopened to Aphrodite.
In conclusion, the voice assured her, that compliance with the above
conditions would insure for her a safe return to the realms of light. But,
alas, Psyche, who had implicitly followed all injunctions, could not
withstand the temptation of the last condition; and, hardly had she quitted
the lower world, when, unable to resist the curiosity which devoured her,
she raised the lid of the box with eager expectation.
But, instead of the