Heathen mythology Part 41

{239}

--------"By Scamander when Laoc.o.o.n stood, Where Troy's proud turrets glittered in the flood, Raised high his arm and with prophetic call To shrinking realms announced her fated fall; Whirled his fierce spear with more than mortal force, And pierced the thick ribs of the echoing horse; Two serpent forms inc.u.mbent on the main Lashing the white waves with their redundant train, Arched their blue necks, and shook their towering crests, And ploughed their foamy way with speckled b.r.e.a.s.t.s; Then, darting fierce amid the affrighted throngs, Rolled their red eyes, and shot their forked tongues.-- --Two daring youths to guard the h.o.a.ry sire, Thwart their dread progress, and provoke their ire, Round sire and sons the scaly monsters rolled, Ring above ring in many a tangled fold, Close and more close their writhing limbs surround, And fix with foamy teeth the envenomed wound.

With brow upturned to Heaven the holy sage In silent agony sustains their rage; While each fond youth, in vain, with piercing cries Bends on the tortured Sire his dying eyes."

DARWIN.

"Laoc.o.o.n's torture, dignifying pain-- A father's love and mortal's agony With an immortal's patience blending:--vain The struggle; vain, against the coiling strain And gripe, and deepening of the dragon's grasp, The old man's clench; the long envenomed chain Rivets the living links,--the enormous asp Enforces pang on pang and stifles gasp on gasp."

BYRON.

The Trojans following the advice of Sinon, beat down part of the wall to make an entrance for the horse into the city; they then celebrated the deliverance of their country with feasts and festivals.

Aided by the darkness of night the Greek ships left Tenedos and set sail with all haste towards Troy. Their soldiers disembarked, and penetrated through the breach which had been made to admit the horse. At the same time the warriors that were hidden within the colossal structure appeared, spreading slaughter and devastation all over the city. aeneas awoke, put on his arms, and ran to the palace of Priam, in time to see, but not to save, the aged monarch, his daughters, and his sons, from falling beneath the edge of the sword.

He then sought to rally the Trojans, and make head against the {240} enemy, but when he abandoned himself to feelings of grief and rage at not being able, his mother made known to him the uselessness of his efforts.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

aeneas followed the council of Venus. He awoke his father Anchises, placed the old man on his shoulders, took the young Ascanius, his son, by the hand, and led him away from the tumult, giving him in charge to Creusa, his wife, telling her to follow closely, and not to leave him. The unfortunate woman, however, lost sight of him, and was put to death by the Greeks.

After a vain search to find Creusa, the hero joined the Trojans that survived, and all retired to mount Ida, where they constructed a fleet of twenty vessels, in which they set sail, endeavouring to find out a new country.

The conquerors razed Troy to the ground, and divided the plunder. The widows and daughters of the Trojan princes who were left behind, were obliged to remain in the country. Several of them, famed for beauty, inspired their masters with pa.s.sions which manifested themselves in quarrels, finishing by many a b.l.o.o.d.y catastrophe. Among this number was Andromache, widow of Hector, and mother of Astyanax. She fell to the share of {241} Neoptolemus, but though she conceived an aversion for him, the widow of Hector promised her hand to him, on condition that he would save the life of her son, which was menaced by the Greeks: and accompanied into Epirus the amba.s.sadors sent to claim from Pyrrhus the last scion of a foeman's race; Orestes, the amba.s.sador, explained to the king the object of his mission, he was met by a stern refusal, which so irritated the warrior, that he stabbed Pyrrhus for attempting that which he designated a base treason.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Following the fortunes of Ulysses--scarcely had he quitted the Phrygian sh.o.r.es, than he and his companions became the sport of Neptune and Juno, and a crowd of miseries beset them. At length, after a thousand reverses on the seas, a tempest precipitated his vessel on a rock, he saved himself on a floating wreck, and was driven by the waves towards the sh.o.r.es of the isle of the Phaeacians. He saw on the sh.o.r.es the beautiful Nausica, who took him to King Alcinous, her father, from whom he received every hospitality.

At the end of the repast to which he had been invited, he related his wonderful adventures.

He told of his arrival in the country of the Lotophagi, people who lived on lotos, and of the frightful dangers he encountered in the isle of Cyclops.

"The land of Cyclops first, a savage kind, Nor tamed by manner, nor by laws confined: Untaught to plant, to turn the glebe and sow; They all their products to free nature owe.

The soil untill'd a ready harvest yields, With wheat and barley wave the golden fields, {242} Spontaneous wines from weighty cl.u.s.ters pour, And Jove descends in each prolific shower.

By these no statutes and no rights are known, No council held, no monarch fills the throne.

But high on hills, or airy cliffs, they dwell, Or deep in caves whose entrance leads to h.e.l.l.

Each rules his race, his neighbour not his care, Heedless of others, to his own severe."

HOMER.

Polyphemus, whose one eye expressed a savage ferocity, shut up Ulysses and his companions in a cavern, where he kept his sheep. In the morning Polyphemus came, took two sailors and devoured them; at his repast in the evening he took two more. Ulysses, horrified at his danger, thought how he could avoid it. He amused the Cyclop by his recitals; and by giving him intoxicating drink, the monster slept; then, a.s.sisted by his companions, he put out his eye. Ulysses had provided for their escape, for fastening himself under the stomach of a sheep when it was going to the fields, and ordering his companions to follow his example, they escaped the rage of the Cyclop, who could only indulge his wrath by throwing at random large pieces of rock after their vessel, which was bearing them quickly away from the scene of their danger.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

He arrived in the isle of aeolia, where reigned aeolus, king of the winds.

This monarch treated him with much kindness, and to a.s.sure him a prosperous voyage, he gave him, enclosed in a leather bottle, all the dangerous winds.

The vessels went first to the {243} borders of Ithaca, when the companions of Ulysses opened the leather bottle, believing that a precious wine was contained in it, all the winds escaped, and a furious tempest convulsed the sea. The vessels were thrown upon the coast of the Lestrigones, who ate human flesh. Two Greeks were devoured by them. In alarm the vessels again put to sea, and they landed in an isle where abode Circe, a famous magician.

When he had anch.o.r.ed, he sent some of his men on sh.o.r.e, to discover what place it was, but Circe gave them drink under pretence of refreshing them, which transformed them into swine. One only tasted not of the enchanted drink, and escaped to acquaint Ulysses with the strange metamorphose.

Ulysses was astonished and resolved to seek the witch in person: and, provided with a certain herb, to preserve himself from witchcraft, he went to her with his drawn sword, to compel her to restore his companions to their previous shapes. The fascinations of Circe proved more powerful than the sword of Ulysses, and he staid with her on the island, in the enjoyment of her society, for the s.p.a.ce of a year.

After concluding his eventful history, he remained some time with Alcinous, who gave him a ship, which carried him safely to Ithaca.

It was now the twentieth year of the absence of Ulysses from his home, during which time his wife had held him in continual remembrance, and though she had been pressed by her numerous suitors to consider him as dead and make a second choice, yet she retained such faithful love for her husband, with such a full and prophetic a.s.surance that she should once more see him, that all their efforts to influence her were vain.

In order to put them off more effectually, she undertook to make a piece of cloth, promising that when it was finished, she would choose one of her numerous suitors: but the better to deceive them, she undid at night that which she worked in the day, so that when Ulysses arrived, she was no nearer its completion than at first.

Meanwhile Ulysses scarcely knew how to discover himself with safety to his own person, fearing that he might be slain by those who were suitors to his wife. By the advice of Minerva, he disguised himself as a beggar, first making himself known to Telemachus, and one of the old officers of the kingdom.

In the same disguise he introduced himself to Penelope, by whom {244} he was received with joy; and with the a.s.sistance of his friends, who flocked around him, he entered in possession of his throne.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

But still his mind was uneasy and disturbed, as Tyresias, the soothsayer, had informed him that he should be killed by one of his sons. To prevent this misery, he determined to forsake the world, and retire into some solitary place, to end his days in peace.

About that time, Telegonus, one of his sons by Circe, came to his city to pay unto him his respects; and, as he was striving to enter the palace, there arose a great tumult, the officers of the place refusing him admission; at this moment Ulysses stepped out, and Telegonus not knowing him, ran him through with his lance, thus fulfilling the prophecy of the soothsayer.

aeNEAS.

Charged to save himself from the wreck of Troy, and to accomplish the decrees of fate, aeneas embarked with a small band in twenty vessels, which Juno however pursued with her wrath. aeolus obedient to the G.o.ddess, dispersed the fleet and menaced them with complete destruction. Neptune appeared, and the winds were silent. aeneas, however, found himself separated from the greater part of his companions, seven only of whom remained with him.

He landed on an unknown sh.o.r.e and Venus informed him, that {245} the rest of his companions were in safety. aeneas, hidden in a cloud went to the palace of Dido, Queen of Carthage, a new town in which this queen had built the most gorgeous edifices; in one of which, where she gave to him a splendid entertainment, the hero related to her the history of the siege of Troy and his own adventures.

The glowing language and animating gestures of the young prince, together with the high deeds which he announced, won the heart of Dido. Nor was aeneas long in perceiving the love felt for him by the beautiful listener, and yielding himself to her charms, staid with her for a considerable time in the enjoyment of all that renders life desirable.

Jupiter, however, grew dissatisfied with aeneas, despatched Mercury to him to command him to leave Africa, to try the destiny which called him to Italy.

In vain Dido endeavoured to stop him, she saw in aeneas a man resolved to leave her, and she loaded him with the curses and reproaches of an infuriated and forsaken lover.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Unable to bear life in the prospect of a desertion so infamous, she prepared a funeral pile, determined to immolate herself; mounting with a calm resolution she gave way to her despair. {246}

"What shall I do? what succour can I find?

Shall I with this ungrateful Trojan go, Forsake an empire to attend a foe?

Himself I refuged and his train relieved, 'Tis true, but am I sure to be received?

Can grat.i.tude in Trojan souls have place?

Laomedon still lives in all his race!

Then shall I seek alone the flying crew, Or with my fleet their flying souls pursue?

Rather with steel thy guilty breast invade, And take the fortune thou thyself hast made!"

DRYDEN.

With one strong blow she smote herself to the heart, and fell dead upon the pile she had erected.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

"Then swiftly to the fatal place she pa.s.sed, And mounts the funeral pile with furious haste; Unsheathes the sword the Trojan left behind, Not for so dire an enterprize designed; But when she viewed the garb so loosely spread, Which once he wore, and saw the conscious bed, She saw and with a sigh the robes embraced, Then on the couch her trembling body cast, Repressed the ready tears and spoke her last; 'Dear pledges of my love, while heaven so pleased, Receive a soul of mortal anguish eased.