Heathen mythology Part 27

The Romans were particularly attentive in their adoration of this deity, whom they solemnly invoked, and to whom they offered sacrifices before declaring war, to evince to the world that they were commenced upon equitable grounds.

The Athenians inst.i.tuted fetes called Nemesia, in memory of deceased persons, as the G.o.ddess was supposed to defend the relics and the memory of the dead from insult.

DOMESTIC DIVINITIES.

THE LARES AND THE PENATES.

The Lares were the household divinities who presided over the interests of private families. Their wors.h.i.+p is supposed to have {157} arisen from the ancient custom among the Romans and other nations, of burying their dead within their houses, and the belief that the spirits of the departed continually hovered over their former dwellings, for the protection of the inhabitants. Their statues were placed in a niche behind the doors of the houses, or around the hearths; while at their feet was placed a dog barking, to intimate the watchfulness they exhibited. Their festivals were observed at Rome in the month of May, when their statues were crowned with garlands of flowers, and fruit offerings presented to them.

The Penates also closely resembled the Lares, and presided over houses and the domestic affairs of families. It was at the option of every master of a family to choose his Penates, and therefore Jupiter and some of the superior G.o.ds, are often invoked as domestic divinities.

They were originally the manes of the dead, but when mankind had been taught by superst.i.tion to pay deep reverence to the statues or images of their deceased friends, that reverence was soon changed for a more regular wors.h.i.+p, and they were admitted by their votaries to share immortality and power, with the remainder or the G.o.ds.

The statues of the Penates were generally formed of wax, silver, ivory, or earthenware, according to the poverty or riches of the wors.h.i.+pper.

When offerings were made to them, their shrines were crowned with garlands, and besides one day in every month set apart for their homage, their festivals were celebrated during the Saturnalia.

HYMN TO THE PENATES.

"Yet one song more! one high and solemn strain, Ere, Phoebus! on thy temples ruined wall I hang the silent harp: one song more!

Penates! hear me! for to you I hymn The votive lay. Venerable powers!

Hearken your hymn of praise. Though from your rites Estranged, and exiled from your altars long, I have not ceased to love you, Household G.o.ds!

O ye whom youth has 'wildered on your way, Or vice with fair mask'd foulness, or the lure Of Fame that calls ye to her crowded path With folly's rattle, to your Household G.o.ds Return: for not in Vice's gay abodes, {158} Not in the unquiet, unsafe halls of Fame Doth Happiness abide!"

-----------------"To your Household G.o.ds Return, for by their altars, Virtue dwells, And Happiness with her; hearken your hymn of praise, Penates! to your shrines I come for rest,-- There only to be found. Household Deities, There only shall be Happiness on earth When man shall feel your sacred power, and love Your tranquil joys; then shall the city stand A huge, void sepulchre, and rising fair Amid the ruins of the palace pile, The olive grow, there shall the tree of peace Strike its roots deep, and flourish."

SOUTHEY.

GENIUS.

The Genius was a kind of spirit which, as the ancients supposed, presided over the actions of mankind, gave them their private councils, and carefully watched over their most secret intentions. Some of the ancient philosophers maintained, that every man had two of these, the one bad, the other good. They had the power of changing themselves into whatever form they pleased, and of a.s.suming whatever shapes were most subservient to their intentions. At the moment of death, they delivered up to judgment the person with whose care they had been entrusted; and according to the evidence he delivered, sentence was pa.s.sed upon the body. The Genius of Socrates is famous in history. That great philosopher a.s.serted that the Genius informed him when any of his friends were going to engage in some unfortunate enterprise, and stopped him from the commission of all crimes and impiety. The Genii, though at first reckoned only as the subordinate ministers of the superior deities, received divine honour for a length of time, and we find altars and statues erected to them.

PRINc.i.p.aL DIVINITIES OF THE SECOND ORDER.

THE GRACES.

The Graces, who were daughters of Jupiter and of Venus, presided over the enjoyments of the mind, as well as over those of the heart. Thus the orator received from them the force and brilliancy of his ideas; the artist, his perception of the beautiful; the wise man, that spirit of amiability which appreciates the charms of {159} virtue; the rich man, a love of beneficence and desire of giving; the poor gaiety and patience; the maiden, candour and modesty; and the warrior, bravery united with moderation.

The wors.h.i.+p of the Graces appeals to have had birth in Samothracia; then Elis, Perinthia, Delphi, and Rome adopted the three sisters. By some it is a.s.serted, that the beautiful trio remained unwedded; Homer, however, has given Sleep to the youngest as a husband.

During the many sacrifices which were inst.i.tuted in the various cities, offerings to them were mingled with those to Bacchus, Mercury, the Muses, and Apollo.

The Spartan heroes before going to combat, sacrificed to Love and to the Graces. They were invoked at festivals, and three cups were drunk by those who feasted in honour of Euphrosyne, Aglaia, and Thalia.

Of them, the greatest statuaries have erected the most groups, and Socrates himself, before he joined the philosophy in which he ultimately became so eminent, had taken the chisel in his hand, and represented them of slight figure, pure countenance, smiling faces, small mouths, hair negligently tied over their head, and with their hands placed in a graceful att.i.tude.

They sometimes bear with them a branch of myrtle and of roses, the flowers peculiarly consecrated to them.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

{160}

COMUS, MOMUS.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Comus, G.o.d of the pleasures of the table and of good living, was the presider over feasts and festivals, and was honoured most by the dissipated youth who, to do him reverence, wandered about at night in masks, dancing to the sound of musical instruments, and knocking at the doors of dwelling places. During his festivals, men and women exchanged each others dresses.

He is represented as a young and drunken man, with a garland of flowers upon his head, his face lit up by the deity of wine, and with a flambeau in his hand which appears falling.

SONG OF COMUS.

"Welcome joy, and feast, Midnight shout and revelry, Tipsy dance and jollity.

Braid your locks with rosy twine, Dropping odours, dropping wine, Rigour now is gone to bed, And Advice with scrupulous head: Strict age and sour severity, With their grave saws, in slumber lie.

We, that are of purer fire, Imitate the starry quire, Who, in their nightly watchful spheres, Lead in swift round the months and years.

What hath night to do with sleep?

Night hath better sweets to prove; Venus now wakes, and wakens love.

{161} Come, let us our rites begin; 'Tis only day-light that makes sin, Which these dim shades will ne'er report.

Come, knot hands, and beat the ground In a light fantastic round."

MILTON.

Momus, his companion, is the G.o.d of joy and pleasantry, and was the buffoon and satirist of Olympus. He wears as head dress, a cap adorned with small bells, a mask in one hand, and on the other a bauble, the symbol of folly.

He was constantly engaged in mocking the G.o.ds, and whatever they did was freely turned into ridicule. He laughed at Minerva, who had made a house, because she had not formed it moveable, that the annoyance of a bad neighbourhood might be avoided. He sneered at Neptune's bull, because the eyes were not placed near enough to the horn, to render his blows surer. He irritated Vulcan, by observing that if he wished to make man perfect, he should have placed a window at his heart; and when he found the beauty of Venus was too perfect to allow of any truth to be mixed with his bitterness, he declared that the noise made by the G.o.ddess in walking was far too loud to be agreeable, and detracted from her beauty. At last these illiberal reflections were the cause of his being turned out of Olympus.

Momus has been sung many times by the choice spirits whom he inspired, as well as by the dissipated youth of the city, and occupies in poetry, a rank more elevated than that of Comus. He was greatly honoured during the more dissipated times of Rome, and it was the custom to pour libations to him, before commencing a nocturnal revel.

HYMEN.

This child of Venus and Bacchus presided over marriages, and has the appearance of a beautiful youth, holding a torch in his hand, and in the other a purple garment, with his head ornamented by a crown of roses.

"Till Hymen brought his love-delighted hour.

There dwelt no joy in Eden's rosy bower!

In vain the viewless seraph lingering there, At starry midnight charmed the silent air; In vain the wild bird carolled on the steep To hail the sun, slow wheeling from the deep; {162} In vain, to soothe the solitary shade, Aerial notes in mingling pleasure played; The Summer wind that shook the spangled trees, The whispering wave, the murmuring of the breeze; Still slowly pa.s.sed the melancholy day, And still the stranger wist not where to stray.

The world was sad; the garden was a wild!

And man, the hermit, sighed,--till woman smiled!"