Heathen mythology Part 8

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"Mother of light! how fairly dost thou go Over those h.o.a.ry crests, divinely led!

Art thou that huntress of the silver bow Fabled of old?---- ---- ---- ---- * * * * * *

What art thou like? sometimes I see thee ride A far bound galley on its perilous way, Whilst breezy waves toss up their silvery spray-- Sometimes I watch thee on from steep to steep, Timidly lighted by thy vestal torch, Till in some Latmian cave I see thee creep To catch the young Endymion asleep, Leaving thy splendour at the jagged porch!

"Oh! thou art beautiful, however it be, Huntress, or Dian, or whatever named, And he the veriest Pagan, that first framed A silver idol, and ne'er wors.h.i.+pped thee!

It is too late, or thou shouldst have my knee; Too late now for the old Ephesian vows, And not divine the crescent on thy brows: Yet call thee nothing but the mere, mild moon, Behind those chesnut boughs Casting their dappled shadows at my feet; I will be grateful for that simple boon In many a thoughtful verse, and anthem sweet, And bless thy dainty face whene'er we meet.

"So let it be: before I lived to sigh, Thou wert in Avon, and a thousand rills, Beautiful Dian! and so whene'er I lie Trodden, thou wilt be gazing from thy hills.

Blest be thy loving light, where'er it spills, And blessed thy fair face, O mother mild!

Still s.h.i.+ne, the soul of rivers as they run, Still lend thy lonely lamp, to lovers fond, And blend their plighted shadows into one: Still smile at even on the bedded child, And close his eyelids with thy silver wand."

HOOD.

{55}

BACCHUS.

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Semele, daughter of Cadmus, king of Thebes, had yielded to the licentious Jupiter, and felt within her the effect of her indiscretion. Jealous at the object who had again taken her lord's affections, Juno sought for some mode in which to punish her, and taking the form of a nurse, suggested the desire of beholding the king of the G.o.ds, arrayed in all his celestial glory. In vain did Jupiter, when pressed by Semele, implore her not to ask him to a.s.sume that form, which was too much for mortal eye to bear. Woman's wit and woman's fondness prevailed, and, in a moment of weakness, the G.o.d swore by the Styx, he would perform her request, and by this oath he was forced to abide. Armed with thunder, as a proof of his divinity, and in all the glory and majesty of his G.o.dhead, he presented himself to the presumptuous mortal, who, unable to bear his presence, fell scorched by his thunderbolt.

Jupiter, however, took the infant which Semele bore him, and confided it to the guardians.h.i.+p of the nymphs of the mountain of Nysa, who, for their care of the son of Jupiter, in process of time, were translated into heaven.

When Bacchus, for thus was he {56} named, had grown out of their guidance, Silenus became his preceptor and foster-father. This G.o.d, who is generally represented as fat and jolly, riding on an a.s.s, crowned with flowers, and always intoxicated, could scarcely be considered as a tutor from whom Bacchus was likely to derive much good. In spite of the education he received through the medium of this being, however, the love of glory shone forth conspicuously in Bacchus.

After having valiantly combatted for Jupiter against the Giants when they invaded Olympus, he undertook his celebrated expedition into the East, to which he marched at the head of an army, composed of men as well as of women, all inspired with divine fury, armed with thyrsuses, and bearing cymbals, and other musical instruments. The leader was drawn in a chariot by a lion and a tiger, and was accompanied by Pan, Silenus, and all the satyrs. His conquests were easy and without bloodshed; the people easily submitted, and gratefully elevated to the rank of a G.o.d, the hero who taught them the use of the Vine, the cultivation of the earth, and the manner of making honey; amidst his benevolence to mankind, he was relentless in punis.h.i.+ng all want of respect to his divinity. The refusal of Pentheus to acknowledge the G.o.dhead of Bacchus was fatal. He forbad his subjects to pay adoration to this new G.o.d, and when the Theban women had gone out of the city to celebrate his orgies, he ordered the G.o.d himself who conducted the religious mult.i.tude, to be seized. His orders were obeyed, but the doors of the prison in which Bacchus was confined, opened of their own accord. Pentheus became more irritated, and commanded his soldiers to destroy the band of Baccha.n.a.ls. Bacchus, however, inspired the monarch himself with an ardent desire of witnessing the orgies.

Accordingly he hid himself in a wood on Mount Cith.o.e.ron, from whence he hoped to view all the ceremonies unperceived. But his curiosity proved fatal; he was descried by the Baccha.n.a.ls, who rushed upon him. His mother was the first to attack him, her example was instantly followed by his two sisters, and his body was torn to pieces.

As Bacchus was returning triumphantly in his s.h.i.+p, from the conquest we have recorded, crowned with vine leaves, and flushed with victory, in pa.s.sing near a beautiful island, he heard a plaintive {57} voice and beheld a female, who implored him to yield her his support.

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"Oh! think of Ariadne's utter trance, Crazed by the flight of that disloyal traitor, Who left her gazing on the green expanse, That swallowed up his track; oh! what could mate her Even in the cloudy summit of her woe, When o'er the far sea-brine she saw him go!

"For even now she bows and bends her gaze, O'er the eternal waste, as if to sum Its waves by weary thousands; all her days, Dismally doom'd! meanwhile the billows come, And coldly dabble with her quiet feet, Like any bleaching stones they wont to greet.

And thence into her lap have boldly sprung, Was.h.i.+ng her weedy tresses to and fro, That round her crouching knees have darkly hung, But she sits careless of waves' ebb and flow: Like a lone beacon on a desert coast Showing where all her hope was wrecked and lost."

HOOD.

It was Ariadne who addressed him, daughter of Memnos, whom Theseus, conqueror of the minotaur had abandoned after having seduced her. The G.o.d was so smitten with the candour and beauty of his youthful pet.i.tioner, that he married her, and offered to her acceptance a crown of seven stars, which after her death, was formed into a constellation. {58}

"Where the rude waves in Dian's harbour play The fair forsaken Ariadne lay; Here first the wretched maid was taught to prove, The bitter pangs of ill-rewarded love, Here saw just freed from a fallacious sleep, Her Theseus flying o'er the distant deep; Wistful she looked, nor what she saw, believed, Hoped some mistake, and wished to be deceived: While the false youth his way securely made, His faith forgotten, and his vows unpaid; Then sick with grief, and frantic with despair, Her dress she rent, and tore her golden hair.

The gay tiara on her temples placed, The fine wrought cincture that her bosom graced, The fillets, which her heaving b.r.e.a.s.t.s confined, Are rent, and scattered in the lawless wind.

Such trivial cares, alas! no room can find, Her dear, deceitful Theseus fills her mind; For him alone she grieves the live-long day, Sickens in thought, and pines herself away.

To her relief the blooming Bacchus ran, And with him brought his ever jovial train: Satyrs and Fauns, in wanton chaces strove, While the G.o.d sought his Ariadne's love.

Around in wild distorted airs they fly, And make the mountains echo to their cry: Some brandish high an ivy woven spear, The limbs, some scatter, of a victim steer: Others in slippery folds of serpents s.h.i.+ne, Others apart, perform the rites divine.

To wicked men denied. These, tabors take, These in their hands, the twinkling cymbals shake; While many swell the horn in hoa.r.s.er strain, And make the shrill, discordant pipe complain, While Bacchus, now enamoured of his prize, Resolved to make her partner of the skies: She, sweetly blus.h.i.+ng, yielded to the G.o.d, His car he mounted and sublimely rode: And while with eager arms he grasped the fair, Lashed his fleet tigers through the buxom air."

DRYDEN.

It was not long before Bacchus formed an attachment to Erigone, the daughter of Icarius, and to accomplish his purpose took the form of a bunch of grapes; scarcely was it pressed upon her lips, than she felt thrilling through her frame, the effects of the sweet intoxication.

The shepherds residing in the neighbourhood of Athens, having come into the vine-yard of Icarius, drank to such excess of the juice which was so temptingly presented to their sight, that, in the fury of their intoxication, they slew their host, and threw him into a deep well. {59} To expiate his crime, the Icarian games were inst.i.tuted, and Mera the trusty dog of Icarius, having conducted Erigone to the fatal well, she hung herself in the first madness of her grief; while Mera, the faithful animal, overwhelmed with consternation at the loss of all he loved, died in sorrow.

Icarius was changed into the star Bootes, Erigone took the sign of the Virgin, and Mera that of the Dog-star.

To console himself for his loss, the G.o.d of the Grape paid a visit to Proserpine, and the beautiful wife of Pluto, was by no means insensible to his merits; but after an absence of three years, Bacchus returned to Ariadne, whose truth and sweetness of disposition, were untouched by his forgetfulness; and from this time it is pleasing to relate that her wisdom and her faithfulness were rewarded by a constancy, which never afterwards deceived her.

One of the most pleasant stories in the whole range of Mythology, is related of the youth Bacchus.

When dwelling in the Isle of Naxos, where he had been for some years, becoming oppressed with the heat of the sun, he threw himself on the sea-sh.o.r.e, and fell fast asleep; some pirates who called there for water, struck with his extreme beauty, seized the dreaming boy with the determination of selling him for a slave: and so sound was the sleep of the G.o.d, that they had proceeded for a long s.p.a.ce on their journey before he awoke.

Fully aware of his divine origin, the deity determined to make a sport of these bold robbers; and pretending the utmost terror, he implored them to say how he came there, and what they were going to do with him.

"You have nothing to fear," was the reply, "only tell us what your wish is, and it shall be complied with."

"I live at Naxos," said the boy, "and there I would fain find myself."

Perceiving that they continued to steer the wrong course for Naxos, Bacchus threw himself at their feet, as they made for sh.o.r.e.

"Those are not the trees of Naxos," he exclaimed, "I do not see the hills and valleys of my native land."

A speech like this, only drew forth the laughter of his captors, while they continued to row merrily to the sh.o.r.e with their prize. {60}

"The beauteous youth now found himself betrayed, And from the deck the rising waves surveyed, And seemed to weep, and as he wept he said, 'And do you thus my easy faith beguile?

Thus, do you bear me to my native isle?

Will such a mult.i.tude of men employ Their strength against a weak defenceless boy?'"

But behold! the vessel becomes motionless; in vain they plied their oars, their bark moved not: and suddenly vine trees seemed to spring from the planks of the s.h.i.+p, mingling with the cordage and the sails, and twining round the oars, which also became immoveable.

Much as the sailors were astonished at this phenomenon, it was equalled by their horror, when Bacchus waved a spear he held in his hand, in answer to which, tigers and panthers, with others of the most savage beasts of the desert, seemed to swim round the vessel and wanton with the waters.

"The G.o.d we now behold with opened eyes, An herd of spotted panthers round him lies, In glaring forms: the grapy cl.u.s.ters spread, On his fair brows and dangle on his head."

Unable to bear the horror of the sight, the robbers threw themselves into the sea, and Bacchus turned them into Dolphins, then seizing the helm steered the s.h.i.+p towards Naxos, attended by his train of Dolphins and wild beasts!

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On the altar of Bacchus the goat was immolated, because he destroyed the bark and leaves of the vine, and the magpie, because wine makes the tongue of man to chatter like that of the bird. The ivy was consecrated to him, on account of its coolness, which dissipated the fumes of wine, and he carried in his hand a dart called the thyrsis, twined round with leaves of ivy, and of vine. The Bacchantes, his ordinary priestesses, bore also in their hands the thyrsis. His feasts were celebrated every three years, and were called orgies, from a word which signifies fury and impetuosity.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The feast of Bacchus.]