The Student's Mythology Part 12

JUDGES OF THE DEAD.

Punishments inflicted on the Condemned.

_Ques._ Besides Pluto, who were appointed judges of the dead?

_Ans._ Minos, Rhadamanthus and acus. These were princes, who governed so justly during life, that the fate of the dead was entrusted to them.

_Ques._ What offices were a.s.signed to each?

_Ans._ Rhadamanthus judged the Asiatics, acus the Europeans; and when a very difficult case arose it was referred to Minos.

_Ques._ Who were the most famous among the condemned?

_Ans._ The giants whom Jupiter conquered. Typhon was the most enormous; when he was overthrown, Jupiter was obliged to lay the whole Island of Sicily upon him to keep him down. Briareus was another giant, remarkable for having fifty heads and a hundred hands.

According to the ancient poets, he is imprisoned under Mount Etna, and whenever he tries to move he causes terrible eruptions of the volcano.

t.i.tyus was still more cruelly punished. He was chained to the ground in the infernal regions, and such was his stature, that he covered nine acres. A frightful vulture fed continually upon his liver, which grew as fast as it was consumed, that his punishment might be eternal.

_Ques._ Who was Ixion?

_Ans._ He was the son of Phlegyas, or, according to some, of Mars. He boasted falsely that he had gained the affections of Juno. For this insolence Jupiter cast him down into h.e.l.l, where he was fastened to a wheel which revolved continually.

_Ques._ Who was Sisyphus?

_Ans._ He was a famous robber who was slain by Theseus. In h.e.l.l, he was obliged to roll a huge stone up a steep mountain. When it touched the top it rolled down again, so that he was tormented with unceasing toil.

_Ques._ Who was Tantalus?

_Ans._ He was the son of Jupiter. He invited the G.o.ds to a feast, at which he served up the flesh of his son Pelops to try their divinity.

In h.e.l.l he is tormented by continual hunger and thirst. He stands up to his lips in a cool fountain, whose waters recede whenever he attempts to drink. Branches laden with tempting fruit hang over him, but they are carried out of reach by a sudden gust of wind whenever he attempts to pluck them.

_Ques._ Who were the Belides?

_Ans._ They were fifty maidens, daughters of Danaus and grand-daughter of King Belus, from whom they are called. They all murdered their husbands on the wedding night, for which crime they are obliged to draw water from a deep well until they have filled an immense sieve. Their labor is therefore perpetual.

_Ques._ Who was Salmoneus?

_Ans._ Salmoneus was king of Elis, and was cast into h.e.l.l for imitating Jupiter's thunder.

_Ques._ What became of the souls of good men?

_Ans._ After being purified from whatever slight offences they had committed in life, they were conducted to a place abounding in delights, called Elysium. When they had pa.s.sed many ages in this blissful abode they returned to earth, but before doing so, they drank of the river Lethe, that they might forget the happiness they had enjoyed.

CHAPTER XXIV.

FABULOUS MONSTERS.

_Ques._ Were there any fabulous monsters besides those of h.e.l.l?

_Ans._ Yes, many; the Centaurs, who were half man and half horse; also Geryon, who was king of the three Balearic Islands, now known as Ivica, Minorca and Majorca. For this reason, he was said to have three heads and three bodies, and pa.s.sed into fable as a monster. He was probably a wicked and cruel prince. There were also the Harpies, which had the faces of women and the bodies of birds.

_Ques._ What was the Chimra?

_Ans._ A fabulous monster, which vomited fire. It had the head and breast of a lion, the body of a goat, and the tail of a dragon.

_Ques._ What was intended by this fable?

_Ans._ Poets thus described a volcano in Lycia, on the summit of which were lions; in the middle was pasture-land frequented by goats; and the lowest part was infested by serpents. Bellerophon made this mountain inhabitable, and was therefore said to have killed the Chimra. At present anything which is quite imaginary is called a Chimra.

_Ques._ What was the Sphinx?

_Ans._ It was a monster with the head and shoulders of a woman, the wings of a bird, and the paws of a lion. She infested the country about Thebes, so that the people, in their distress, went to consult the oracle of Apollo. An answer was given that no remedy could be found until some one should solve the riddle that the Sphinx had proposed, and which she had learned from the Muses. The question was this: "What animal is that which goes on four feet in the morning, on two at noon, and on three in the evening?" The Thebans often met to try their skill, and when they had failed, the Sphinx carried off and devoured one of their number. At length Hmon, son of Creon, was destroyed by the monster, and the king made a public proclamation, that he would give the throne, with the hand of his sister Jocasta, to that man who should solve the riddle. dipus, who was then at Thebes, came forward and answered the Sphinx, that the animal was Man, because when an infant he creeps on all fours; in manhood, he walks on two feet, and when old uses a staff as a third foot. Upon hearing this answer, the Sphinx dashed her head against a rock, and expired.

_Ques._ Why is the story of the Sphinx interesting?

_Ans._ Because there still remains in Egypt an enormous statue of the monster, carved in solid rock. Formerly, little was visible save the head and neck, but the sand which has been gathering around it for so many centuries, is now cleared away. The body is one hundred and twenty-five feet long; and the fore-paws extend about fifty feet more.

The face has been much disfigured by the arrows and lances of the Arabs, who are taught by their religion to hold all images of men or animals in detestation.

_Ques._ What was the Phnix?

_Ans._ A fabulous bird of which there never existed more than one at the same time. It excelled all other birds in beauty of plumage, and fed only on frankincense and sweet gums. When the Phnix had attained the age of five hundred years, it built a funeral pile of odorous wood, on which it was consumed. A new Phnix also immediately arose from the flames. The first care of the young bird was to collect the ashes of its parent, which it carried, enclosed in myrrh, to the temple of the Sun in Egypt.

CHAPTER XXV.

Household Divinities.

PENATES--LARES.

_Ques._ What were the Penates?

_Ans._ This name was given to a certain cla.s.s of household deities, which were wors.h.i.+pped by the Romans in the penetralia, or innermost part of their dwellings. The greater Penates governed kingdoms and provinces; others presided over cities; and the lesser Penates watched over particular houses and families.

_Ques._ What were the Lares?

_Ans._ They were, according to some, the children of Mercury and the nymph Lara; they were domestic G.o.ds, and presided over houses, streets and roads. They warded off danger from without, while the Penates watched over the interior of the dwelling. The spirits of ancestors sometimes watched as Lares, over the fortunes of families. This idea of the spirits of the deceased watching over their descendants, made the Romans wish to bury the dead within, or very near their dwellings.

This custom was condemned by the laws of the Twelve Tables. Besides the spirit which watched over the family, each individual was supposed to have his Lar, or familiar genius, who watched over him from his birth. In early times, children were sacrificed to the G.o.ddess Mania, who was supposed by some to be the mother of the Lares. After the expulsion of the Tarquins, Junius Brutus abolished this barbarous rite, and subst.i.tuted little b.a.l.l.s of wool, and heads of garlic and poppy, in place of the human heads which had been formerly offered.

The ordinary altar of the Lares was the domestic hearth; hogs, sheep and steers were among the sacrifices offered to these divinities, but the first fruits of the season were always laid upon the hearth. No family repast was properly begun, unless some portion of the viands had been first cast into the fire; in the more solemn form of marriage, the bride always threw a piece of money on the hearth, to the Lares of her family, and another on the cross roads, that they might grant her free pa.s.sage to her husband's house. The Roman boy, on attaining the age of fifteen, put off his childish dress, and consecrated the golden bulla, which he had worn around his neck from infancy, to the domestic Lares.

The soldier whose term of service had expired dedicated his arms to these powerful genii; while captives, and slaves restored to freedom, hung up their fetters, in token of grat.i.tude, by the altar of the Lares.

_Ques._ How were the Lares represented?