Heathen mythology Part 42

My fatal course is finished, and I go, A glorious name among the ghosts below,'

{247} Then kissed the couch 'and must I die,' she said, 'And unrevenged, 'tis doubly to be dead; Yet even this death with pleasure I receive, On any terms 'tis better than to live; These flames from far, may the false Trojan view, These boding omens, his false flight pursue!'

She said and struck; deep entered in her side, The piercing steel, with reeking purple dyed, Clogged in the wound, the cruel weapon stands; The spouting blood came streaming on her hands; Her sad attendants saw the deadly stroke And with loud cries, the sounding palace shook.

Thrice Dido tried to raise her drooping head, And, panting, thrice fell grovelling on the bed.

Thrice ope'd her heavy eyes, and saw the light, But having found it, sickened at the sight, And closed her lids at last in endless night."

DRYDEN.

ALLEGORICAL DIVINITIES.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

The ancients, following the inspirations of an undisciplined imagination, deified alike Virtues, Vices, and Evil principles. These divinities, the number of whom was constantly increasing, had both altars and temples consecrated to them: and from this kind of G.o.d, poets, painters, and sculptors have taken ideas, and have blended the deity and the virtue in beautiful unison, giving to them new and delightful charms.

VIRTUE

Daughter of Truth, is represented clothed in white, as an emblem of purity; sometimes holding a sceptre, at others crowned with {248} laurel; while she is in many instances drawn with wings, and placed upon a block of marble, to intimate her immoveable firmness.

TRUTH

Daughter of Jupiter and Saturn, is the parent of Justice and of Virtue. The great Apelles has represented her, in his painting of Calumny, under the appearance of a modest female; in her hand is placed a round mirror.

Ancient writers say, that she was for a long time hidden from the world at the bottom of a well, but leaving its quiet on one occasion, she was scared at the reception she met with, and returned to her hiding place, which is intended to intimate, according to Democritus, the difficulty with which she is discovered.

HONOUR.

The emblems of this G.o.d are, the crown of laurel, the lance, and the horn of plenty; though he is sometimes represented, instead of arms, with the olive branch of peace, as the reward of bravery.

At Rome he had two temples; one founded by Marcellus, at the same time with the one to Virtue. An augur having warned Marcellus that these two divinities would not dwell in the circ.u.mference of the same temple, he built the two distinct edifices to which we have alluded; but, to arrive at the temple of Honour, it was necessary to pa.s.s through that of Virtue.

PEACE.

This daughter of Jupiter and Themis, wears a crown of laurel; in her hand is a branch of the olive-tree, and against her side the statue of Plutus, to intimate that peace gives rise to prosperity and opulence.

Venus and the Graces were her companions, and an altar was erected to her at Athens; but at Rome, the capital in which the G.o.d of War was also peculiarly honoured, several altars were dedicated to her, one of the most magnificent of which was raised by Vespasian, after the war of Judea, and contained all the treasures taken from the temple at Jerusalem, consisting of a splendid library, busts, statues and pictures; with an enormous quant.i.ty of natural curiosities.

This temple was however consumed in the reign of Commodus, previous to which it was customary for men of learning to a.s.semble {249} there, and even to deposit their most valuable writings as a place of peculiar safety; and, consequently the loss which took place when it was consumed, could scarcely be estimated.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

FIDELITY

was adored even before Romulus and Numa had given laws to their people; and the oath sworn in her name was regarded by them as inviolable. She is represented clothed in white, with clasped hands. Her priests were dressed in a white cloth during her public ceremonies; but victims were not sacrificed upon her altar, because she was deemed inflexible, and could not yield to prayers, however urgent.

Two hands, joined together, are the emblems of faith, given and received.

FRIENDs.h.i.+P

the Greeks represented clothed in a clasped garment, her head bare, her bosom revealed near the heart, holding in the left hand an elm, around which a vine, filled with grapes, is clinging.

At Rome, she was a young maiden with a white robe, her bosom half bare, her head adorned with myrtle and pomegranate flowers intermixed. On the border of her tunic was written "Death and Life,"--on her front "Summer and Winter."--Her side was opened, and the heart visible, bearing these words, "Far and near." {250}

LIBERTY

wears sometimes a cap, with a rod in her hand, both signs of independence, as the latter was used by the magistrates in the manumission of slaves, and the cap was worn by those who were to be soon liberated, while at other times she appears in a chariot.

She is, however, more frequently represented holding the book of the laws, and in her hand a sword with which to defend them.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

A temple was raised to her by Gracchus on Mount Aventine, adorned with elegant statues and brazen columns, with a gallery in which were deposited the public acts of the state.

VICTORY.

Styx, daughter of Ocean and Thetis, was the mother of Victory. This deity attended at the conquests of all countries and of all heroes. At Italy and Greece, temples were elevated to her; at Greece she was named Nice, and Sylla inst.i.tuted festivals in her honour at the former place. In the temple of Jupiter, on the Capitoline hill, a golden statue of the G.o.ddess was placed, weighing three hundred and twenty pounds.

A thunderbolt having fallen on the statue and broken its wings, Pompey restored the courage of the people, who were dejected at the accident, by crying,

"Romans! the G.o.ds have broken the wings of Victory; henceforth she cannot escape from us." {251}

Victory, by the commands of her mother, aided Jupiter in his battle with the t.i.tans; and the monarch of Olympus to reward her powerful services, decreed that the G.o.ds should swear by her, and that those who violated the oath, should be exiled ten years from the celestial court, and deprived of the nectar and ambrosia of Olympus.

VOLUPTUOUSNESS

is a female figure, nearly naked, her hair wreathed with roses, and her face and form, full, but exquisitely developed.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

In her hand is a cup of gold, from which a serpent is drinking, while around her are supposed to exist all the luxuries which attend her reign.

She was the G.o.ddess of sensual pleasures, and had a temple at Rome, where she was wors.h.i.+pped under the t.i.tle of Volupia.

CALUMNY AND ENVY

are the daughters of Night, and though poets have been peculiarly the victims of these evils, yet they have frequently celebrated them in their verses; nor could more important engines in the mischiefs which arose in the world be well chosen; for, from Calumny, which is the offspring of Falsehood, arises crushed hearts and broken friends.h.i.+ps--while of Envy it has well been remarked, "Open your heart once to receive her as a guest, and farewell to joy, peace, and contentment." {252}

FAMINE

is the daughter of Night, and inhabited the infernal regions, though the Lacedemonians dedicated to her an altar in the Temple of Minerva.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

She is drawn miserable, pale, wan, meagre, and dejected: her eyes hollow and sunken, her complexion of a leaden hue, her teeth yellow, and her whole appearance worn and melancholy.

DISCORD,

daughter of Night, is the mother of a family of evils, almost too numerous to mention. Having been refused admission to the nuptials of Thetis and Peleus, it is said that it was she, who, to revenge herself, threw on the table among the festal company, the apple, with the inscription, "To the most beautiful."