Heathen mythology Part 38

SOPHOCLES.

{219}

In the depth of his anguish he deprived himself of sight, as unworthy ever more to behold the light, and banished himself from Thebes for the good of his country; or as many a.s.sert, he was banished from thence by his sons.

He retired towards Attica, led by his daughter Antigone, and came to a place sacred to the Furies. Here the remembrance flashed across his mind, that he was to die in a place like this, that such had been the decree of the oracle, and that he was to become the great source of prosperity to the country in which his bones should be laid. He sent therefore to Theseus, king of the place, to inform him, that on his arrival he would make known to him the resolution which he had made. Theseus came, and found Oedipus with his face covered by a black veil, a knife in one hand, and a vessel containing the blood of a sacrifice in the other. With a prophetic voice he exclaimed:--

[Ill.u.s.tration]

"Lo! the immortal G.o.ds have called--the ground on which we stand, shall be my grave!"

As he spoke, he walked without a guide to the appointed spot of earth, which in token of approval, opened, and received the victim to its bosom.

The tomb of Oedipus was near the Areopagus in the age of {220} Pausanias, and some of the ancient poets have represented him in h.e.l.l, as the place, which crimes like his, would seem to deserve.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

ETEOCLES AND POLYNICE.

From the unhappy union of Oedipus with Jocasta sprung Eteocles and Polynice; when they came to manhood an arrangement was made between them, by which it was agreed, that they should exercise the kingly authority for one year alternately. Eteocles was the eldest, and took to himself the first period of government; but when his year had past, the throne had proved so agreeable, that he refused to keep his promise of abdicating.

Polynice disgusted at such conduct retired to Argos, where Adrastus, king of the place, gave him his daughter in marriage, and attempted to persuade Eteocles into some feeling of justice; but not only did the latter persist in his conduct, but sought to slay the famous Tydius, the amba.s.sador of Adrastus, who however escaped this danger with increased renown; and on his return to his king was appointed by him to join a numerous army, selected to trench against the walls of Thebes; nor was this an ungrateful task to the warrior who had been so treacherously a.s.saulted. {221}

--------------"Frowning he speaks, and shakes The dark crest, streaming o'er his shaded helm In triple wave; whilst dreadful ring around The brazen bosses of his s.h.i.+eld; he stands Close to the river's margin, and with shouts Demands the war, like an impatient steed, That pants upon the foaming curb."

Amphiaraus, who was famous for his knowledge of futurity, and a warrior of great renown: knew from his power of divination, that he was sure to perish if he accompanied the expedition, and therefore secreted himself so successfully, that his wife only, knew the the place of his concealment; she however consented to betray him, bribed by an offer of a bracelet of great worth from Polynice, who was desirous of gaining so important an auxiliary. Previous to Amphiaraus quitting Argos for Thebes, he told his son Alcmeon to slay his mother, if news of his death should reach him; and when Alcmeon heard that his father's chariot had been swallowed by the earth, which opened to receive its victim, he sacrificed Euriphyle to the vengeance of his dead sire. But so execrable a crime could not pa.s.s unpunished, and he was tortured by the Furies until he retired to Arcadia, where he married Alphisibaus. To fill up the measure of his crimes, he repudiated her, and took for his spouse Callirhoe. The brothers of his deserted wife however, a.s.sa.s.sinated him in revenge; and Callirhoe in the extremity of her anguish, devoted her two sons in the presence of their dead father, to revenge his death.

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Her wishes were fulfilled, they slew the murderers of Alcmeon, {222} but to appease the G.o.ds, the fatal bracelet was sacrificed upon the altar of Apollo.

Meanwhile the war beneath the the walls of Thebes was conducted with fierce and vigorous bravery, by the chiefs who had a.s.sembled for its attack, until Eteocles and Polynice perceiving that the combat was unlikely soon to terminate, offered to finish the battle by a single combat, on which the crown should depend.

--------------------"From the flying troops Eteocles leaps forth in furious guise, And with a terrible accent he exclaims, 'To Polynice.' With presumptuous rage, His steps he traces, and at last he finds him.

'Thebans,' he cried, with a tremendous voice, 'Thebans and Argives, cease your guilty rage!

Ye have descended to the field of battle In our contention, prodigal of life Ours is the strife, be ours the forfeiture.

Let us ourselves, to a conclusion bring This unjust waste of blood, within your presence, And on this field of death--And thou, whom I Should call no more my brother, do thou spare The blood of Thebes: thy hate, thy rage, thy sword, All, all, on me let fall, on me alone!'

To speak and leap with fury to the charge Were actions of one instant.

Drunk with blood, And fury, of his own life quite regardless, Provided his antagonist he slew, Eteocles upon his wretched brother Falls with his sword, and all his strength collects.

For a long time, intent to ward his blows Stands Polynice. But at length he cries 'I call to witness Heaven and Thebes Thou will'st it!' While to heaven his eyes he raised, And thus exclaimed, his sword he onward thrust: The hovering furies guide the reckless blow To pierce the bosom of Eteocles.

He falls--upon his brother spouts his blood!"

This unnatural combat was brief, though fierce, Eteocles the king was the first who fell, and Polynice regarding him with ill-disguised pleasure; and although the blood was flowing fast and free from his own mortal wounds, exclaimed:

----------------"'Thou diest, and I am king, Within these hands, red with a brother's blood, Shall dwell the sceptre thou didst wrest from me.

Thy brow on which doth rest the same bright drop, Shall bear the crown thou did'st usurp from me.

And that thy soul may fly with more regret Know traitor that thy last blow comes from me.'"

RACINE.

{223}

He approached the fallen monarch, and striking him once more with his sword, Eteocles expired beneath the blow, while Polynice himself exhausted with his efforts to subdue his pain, and the death struggle which tore his bosom, fell in the very act of striking him.

Their implacable hatred manifested itself even after death, for when their bodies were placed on the bier, their ashes refused to mingle, and the very flames separated as they arose in bright columns from the funeral pile.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

TANTALUS, PELOPS, ATREUS, AND THYESTES.

Tantalus, son of Jupiter, reigned in Phrygia. Wis.h.i.+ng to test the divinity of the G.o.ds who were visiting him, he murdered his son Pelops, and served up to them his limbs, demanding of them to name what the new meat was. The faithless cruelty of Tantalus was discovered, and the G.o.ds refused to touch the horrible repast, with the exception of Ceres, who, thinking only on her lost Proserpine, eat one of his shoulders, with her accustomed appet.i.te.

Jupiter enraged at this atrocious conduct of Tantalus, destroyed his palace with a thunderbolt, and ordered Mercury to precipitate him to the bottom of h.e.l.l. Here he is represented as punished with an insatiable thirst, and placed up to the chin in the midst of a pool of water, that pa.s.ses around, yet never touches his lips; while, above his head, hangs a bough, laden with delicious fruit, which, when his hand would grasp it, is borne away by a sudden blast of wind. {224}

Pelops was restored to life by Jupiter, and supplied with an ivory shoulder, in place of that which had been devoured by Ceres, and to which was granted the power of healing, by its touch, every complaint. He succeeded to the throne of his father, and maintained the war against the King of Troy for a long time, but was at last forced to leave Phrygia and seek a retreat in Pisa, where he married Hippodamia, the daughter of the king, that monarch having declared that she should only wed the man who would run on foot as fast as he could proceed in his chariot. This difficulty was overcome by Pelops, who bribed the charioteer to give his master an old chariot which broke down in the middle of the course, and killed Oenomaus; and when the charioteer would have claimed the reward of his infamy, he threw him into the sea, under pretext of punis.h.i.+ng his negligence.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Thus master of the kingdom of Pisa, and the hand of Hippodamia, he made bold war upon his neighbour, and conquered their land, which he named Peloponnessus, or the isle of Pelops.

In the family of the Pelopides murder and a.s.sa.s.sination seem never to have ceased their fearful course. Atreus and Thyestes, the sons of Pelops, having been counselled by Hippodamia to kill {225} Chrysippus, who was an illegitimate son of Pelops, they refused to obey, which so exasperated her, that she stabbed the child with her own hands.

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Pelops, suspecting his two sons of the crime, banished them from his court.

Atreus sought the kingdom of Eurystheus, King of Argos, and succeeded him on his throne, after marrying his daughter. Here he treated his brother Thyestes, who had followed him to the court, with great kindness, but he was recompensed with ingrat.i.tude, for his brother succeeded in winning the affections of his wife.

Irritated at so unlooked for a crime, Atreus took a fearful vengeance.

Having been banished from the city for some time, Thyestes was again recalled, and invited to a sumptuous feast, at which was served up the children born to him by the connexion with his brother's wife, all of whom had been sacrificed to his vengeance.

When the repast was over he showed to him the heads of the {226} children, a sight which struck Thyestes with horror. The deed was so cruel and impious, that the very sun is said to have started back in amazement; and the unhappy Thyestes slew himself with his sword.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

There was now one son left, named Egisthus, who, himself the fruit of a great crime, had been brought up by Agamemnon, and to him did the spectre of Thyestes appear, to exhort him to revenge upon his brother the cruel act he had performed; nor were the fates satisfied until the deed had been accomplished, which revenged upon Atreus the infamous and atrocious conduct at which the very sun itself had started.

"Asked by his wife to his inhuman feast, Tereus, unknowingly, is made a guest: While she, her plot the better to disguise Styles it some unknown mystic sacrifice: And such the nature of the hallowed rite, The wife her husband only could invite, The slaves must all withdraw, and be debarred the sight.

Tereus on a throne of antique state, Loftily raised, before the banquet sate; And, glutton-like, luxuriously pleased With his own flesh, his hungry maw appeased.

Nay, such a blindness o'er his senses falls, That he for Itys to the table calls.

When Procne, now impatient to disclose The joy that from her full revenge arose, Cries out, in transports of a cruel mind, 'Within yourself, your Itys you may find.'

{227} Still at this puzzling answer with surprise, Around the room he winds his curious eyes; And, as he still enquired, and called aloud; Fierce Philomela, all besmeared with blood, Her hand with murder stained, her spreading hair Hanging dishevelled, with a ghastly air, Stepped forth, and flung full in the tyrant's face The head of Itys, gory as it was: Nor ever longed so much to use her tongue, And, with a just reproach, to vindicate her wrong.

The Thracian monarch from the table flings While with his cries the vaulted parlour rings; His imprecations echo down to h.e.l.l, And rouse the snaky furies from their Stygian cell.

One while, he labours to disgorge his breast, And free his stomach from the cursed feast; Then, weeping o'er his lamentable doom, He styles himself his son's sepulchral tomb, Now, with drawn sabre, and impetuous speed, In close pursuit he drives Pandion's breed; Whose nimble feet spring with so swift a force Across the fields, they seem to wing their course: And now, on real wings themselves they raise, And steer their airy flight by different ways: One to the woodland's shady covert hies, Around the smoky roof the other flies; Whose feathers yet the marks of murder stain, Where, stampt upon her breast, the crimson spots remain.

Tereus, through grief, and haste to be revenged, Shares the like fate, and to a bird is changed: Fixed on his head, the crested plumes appear; Long is his beak, and sharpened like a spear; Thus armed, his looks his inward mind display, And, to a lapwing turned, he fans his way."