Ixion In Heaven Part 6

'What are you?' inquired Cupid of one of the genii, who accidentally extinguished his candle.

'I am a cloud,' answered the winged genius.

'A cloud! Just the thing. Now do me a shrewd turn, and Cupid is ever your debtor. Fly, fly, pretty cloud, and encompa.s.s yon pavilion with your form. Away! ask no questions; swift as my word.'

'I declare there is a fog,' said Venus.

'An evening mist in Heaven!' said Minerva.

'Where is Nox?' said Jove. 'Everything goes wrong. Who ever heard of a mist in Heaven?'

'My candle is out,' said Apollo.

'And mine, too,' said Mars.

'And mine, and mine, and mine,' said Mercury and Ganymede, and the Muses and the Graces.

'All the candles are out!' said Cupid; 'a regular fog. I cannot even see the pavilion: it must be hereabouts, though,' said the G.o.d to himself.

'So, so; I should be at home in my own pavilion, and am tolerably accustomed to stealing about in the dark. There is a step; and here, surely, is the lock. The door opens, but the cloud enters before me.

Juno, Juno,' whispered the G.o.d of Love, 'we are all here. Be contented to escape, like many other innocent dames, with your reputation only under a cloud: it will soon disperse; and lo! the heaven is clearing.'

'It must have been the heat of our flambeaux,' said Venus; 'for see, the mist is vanished; here is the pavilion.'

Ganymede ran forward, and dashed open the door. Ixion was alone.

'Seize him!' said Jove.

'Juno is not here,' said Mercury, with an air of blended congratulation and disappointment.

'Never mind,' said Jove; 'seize him! He kept me waiting for dinner.'

'Is this your hospitality, aegiochus?' exclaimed Ixion, in a tone of bullying innocence. 'I shall defend myself.'

'Seize him, seize him!' exclaimed Jupiter. 'What! do you all falter? Are you afraid of a mortal?'

'And a Thessalian?' added Ganymede.

No one advanced.

'Send for Hercules,' said Jove.

'I will fetch him in an instant,' said Ganymede.

'I protest,' said the King of Thessaly, 'against this violation of the most sacred rights.'

'The marriage tie?' said Mercury.

'The dinner-hour?' said Jove.

'It is no use talking sentiment to Ixion,' said Venus; 'all mortals are callous.'

'Adventures are to the adventurous,' said Minerva.

'Here is Hercules! here is Hercules!'

'Seize him!' said Jove; 'seize that man.'

In vain the mortal struggled with the irresistible demiG.o.d.

'Shall I fetch your thunderbolt, Jove?' inquired Ganymede.

'Anything short of eternal punishment is unworthy of a G.o.d,' answered Jupiter, with great dignity. 'Apollo, bring me a wheel of your chariot.'

'What shall I do to-morrow morning?' inquired the G.o.d of Light.

'Order an eclipse,' replied Jove. 'Bind the insolent wretch to the wheel; hurl him to Hades; its motion shall be perpetual.'

'What am I to bind him with?' inquired Hercules.

'The girdle of Venus,' replied the Thunderer.

'What is all this?' inquired Juno, advancing, pale and agitated.

'Come along; you shall see,' answered Jupiter. 'Follow me, follow me.'

They all followed the leader, all the G.o.ds, all the genii; in the midst, the brawny husband of Hebe bearing Ixion aloft, bound to the fatal wheel. They reached the terrace; they descended the sparkling steps of lapis-lazuli. Hercules held his burthen on high, ready, at a nod, to plunge the hapless but presumptuous mortal through s.p.a.ce into Hades. The heavenly group surrounded him, and peeped over the starry abyss. It was a fine moral, and demonstrated the usual infelicity that attends unequal connection.

'Celestial despot!' said Ixion.

In a moment all sounds were hushed, as they listened to the last words of the unrivalled victim. Juno, in despair, leant upon the respective arms of Venus and Minerva.

'Celestial despot!' said Ixion, 'I defy the immortal ingenuity of thy cruelty. My memory must be as eternal as thy torture: that will support me.'