nature myths and stories for little children by flora j. cooke chicago. _a. flanagan, publisher._ nature myths and stories for little children by flora j. cooke of the cook county normal school chicago revised edition chicago a. flanagan, publisher. copyright 1895 by flora j. cooke. preface. feeling the great need of stories founded upon good literature, which are within the comprehension of little children, i have written the following stories, hoping that they may suggest to primary teachers the great wealth of material within our reach. many teachers, who firmly believe that reading should be something more than mere _word-getting_ while the child's _reading habit_ is forming, are practically helpless without the use of a printing press. we will all agree that myths and fables are usually beautiful truths clothed in fancy, and the dress is almost always simple and transparent. who can study these myths and not feel that nature has a new language for him, and that though the tales may be thousands of years old, they are quite as true as they were in the days of homer. if the trees and the flowers, the clouds and the wind, all tell wonderful stories to the child he has sources of happiness of which no power can deprive him. and when we consider that here, too, is the key which unlocks so much of the best in art and literature, we feel that we cannot rank too highly the importance of the myth in the primary schoolroom. for instance the child has been observing, reading, and writing about the sun, the moon, the direction of the wind, the trees, the flowers, or the forces that are acting around him. he has had the songs, poems, and pictures connected with these lessons to further enhance his thought, interest, and observation. he is now given a beautiful myth. he is not expected to interpret it. it is presented for the same purpose that a good picture is placed before him. he feels its beauty, but does not analyze it. if, through his observation or something in his experience, he _does see a meaning_ in the story he has entered a new world of life and beauty. then comes the question to every thoughtful teacher, "can the repetition of words necessary to the growth of the child's vocabulary be obtained in this way?" this may be accomplished if the teacher in planning her year's work, sees a close relation between the science, literature, and number work, so that the same words are always recurring, and the interest in each line of work is constant and ever increasing. the following stories are suggested in the standard books of mythology and poetry, and have been tested and found to be very helpful in the first and third grades. a full list of myths, history stories and fairy tales for the children in the different grades can be found in emily j. rice's course of study in history and literature, which can be obtained of a. flanagan, no. 262 wabash avenue, chicago. [illustration] contents. animal stories:- donkey and the salt } 59 fox and the stork } _adapted from æesop_ 91 grateful foxes 43 _adapted from edwin arnold's poem. permission of chas. scribners' sons._ how the spark of fire was saved 79 _adapted from john vance cheney's poem._ how the chipmunk got the stripes on its back 89 _adapted from edwin arnold's poem._ an indian story of the mole 77 bird stories:- an indian story of the robin 26 _adapted from whittier's poem, "how the robin came."_ how the robin's breast became red 24 the red-headed woodpecker 29 _adapted from phoebe cary's poem._ cloud stories:- palace of alkinoös 36 _adapted from the odyssey._ swan maidens 54 flower stories:- clytie 9 golden-rod and aster 13 insect stories:- arachne 19 aurora and tithonus 22 king solomon and the ants 18 _adapted from whittier's poem._ king solomon and the bee 16 _adapted from saxe's poem._ mineralogy stories:- sisyphus 33 the story of the pudding stone 31 sun myths:- balder 83 persephone 48 _adapted from "story of persephone," told by helen ericson, class of 1895, cook county, (ill.), normal school._ phaethon 39 tree stories:- daphne 74 fairy story 66 philemon and baucis 71 poplar tree 56 the secret of fire 61 miscellaneous stories:- hermes 97 iris' bridge 101 prometheus 92 clytie. clytie was a beautiful little water nymph who lived in a cave at the bottom of the sea. the walls of the cave were covered with pearls and shells. the floor was made of sand as white as snow. there were many chairs of amber with soft mossy cushions. on each side of the cave-opening was a great forest of coral. back of the cave were clytie's gardens. here were the sea anemones, starfish and all kinds of seaweed. in the garden grotto were her horses. these were the gentlest goldfish and turtles. the ocean fairies loved clytie and wove her dresses of softest green sea lace. with all these treasures clytie should have been happy, but she was not. she had once heard a mermaid sing of a glorious light which shone on the top of the water. she could think of nothing else, but longed day and night to know more of the wonderful light. no ocean fairy dared take her to it, and she was afraid to go alone. one day she was taking her usual ride in her shell carriage. the water was warm and the turtles went so slowly that clytie soon fell asleep. on and on they went, straight towards the light, until they came to an island. [illustration] as the waves dashed the carriage against the shore clytie awoke. she climbed out of the shell and sat down upon a large rock. she had never seen the trees and flowers. she had never heard the birds chirping or the forest winds sighing. she had never known the perfume of the flowers or seen the dew on the grass. in wonder, she saw a little boy and girl near her and heard them say, "here it comes! here it comes!" as she looked away in the east she saw the glorious light that she had so longed for. in its midst, in a golden chariot, sat a wonderful king. the king smiled and instantly the birds began to sing, the plants unfolded their buds, and even the old sea looked happy. clytie sat on the rock all day long and wished that she might be like the great kind king. she wept when he entered the land of the sunset and she could see him no longer. she went home, but she could scarcely wait until the morning. very early the next day her swiftest goldfish carried her to the rock. after this, she came every day, wishing more and more to be like the great kind king. one evening as she was ready to go home, she found that she could not move her feet. she leaned out over the sea and knew that she had her wish. instead of a water nymph a beautiful sunflower looked back at her from the water. her yellow hair had become golden petals, her green lace dress had turned into leaves and stems, and her little feet had become roots which fastened her to the ground. the good king the next day sent her into many countries, into dry and sandy places, that the people might be made happy by looking at her bright face, so like his own. [illustration] golden-rod and aster. golden hair and blue eyes lived at the foot of a great hill. on the top of this hill in a little hut lived a strange, wise woman. it was said that she could change people into anything she wished. she looked so grim and severe that people were afraid to go near her. one summer day the two little girls at the foot of the hill thought they would like to do something to make everybody happy. [illustration] "i know," said golden hair, "let us go and ask the woman on the hill about it. she is very wise and can surely tell us just what to do." "oh, yes," said blue eyes, and away they started at once. it was a warm day and a long walk to the top of the hill. the little girls stopped many times to rest under the oak trees which shaded their pathway. they could find no flowers, but they made a basket of oak leaves and filled it with berries for the wise woman. they fed the fish in the brook and talked to the squirrels and the birds. they walked on and on in the rocky path. after a while the sun went down. the birds stopped singing. the squirrels went to bed. the trees fell asleep. even the wind was resting. oh, how still and cool it was on the hillside! the moon and stars came out. the frogs and toads awoke. the night music began. the beetles and fireflies flew away to a party. but the tired little children climbed on towards the hilltop. at last they reached it. there at the gate was the strange, old woman, looking even more stern than usual. the little girls were frightened. they clung close together while brave golden hair said, "we know you are wise and we came to see if you would tell us how to make everyone happy." "please let us stay together," said timid blue eyes. as she opened the gate for the children, the wise woman was seen to smile in the moonlight. the two little girls were never seen again at the foot of the hill. the next morning all over the hillside people saw beautiful, waving golden-rod and purple asters growing. it has been said that these two bright flowers, which grow side by side, could tell the secret, if they would, of what became of the two little girls on that moonlight summer night. [illustration] the wise king and the bee. long ago there lived in the east the greatest king in the world. it was believed that no one could ask him a question which he could not answer. wise men came from far and near, but they were never able to puzzle king solomon. he knew all the trees and plants. he understood the beasts, fowls and creeping things almost as well as he did people. the fame of his knowledge spread into all lands. in the south, the great queen of sheba heard of the wonderful wisdom of solomon and said, "i shall test his power for myself." she picked some clover blossoms from the field and bade a great artist make for her, in wax, flowers, buds and leaves exactly like them. she was much pleased when they were finished, for she herself could see no difference in the two bunches. she carried them to the king and said, "choose, oh wise king, which are the real flowers?" at first king solomon was puzzled, but soon he saw a bee buzzing at the window. "ah," said he, "here is one come to help me in my choice. throw open the window for my friend." then the queen of sheba bowed her head and said: "you are indeed a wise king, but i begin to understand your wisdom. i thank you for this lesson." [illustration] king solomon and the ants. one morning the queen of sheba started back to her home in the south. king solomon and all his court went with her to the gates of the city. it was a glorious sight. the king and queen rode upon white horses. the purple and scarlet coverings of their followers glittered with silver and gold. the king looked down and saw an ant hill in the path before them. "see yonder little people," he said, "do you hear what they are saying as they run about so wildly? "they say, 'here comes the king, men call wise, and good and great. 'he will trample us under his cruel feet.'" "they should be proud to die under the feet of such a king," said the queen. "how dare they complain?" "not so, great queen," replied the king. he turned his horse aside and all his followers did the same. when the great company had passed there was the ant hill unharmed in the path. the queen said, "happy indeed, must be your people, wise king. i shall remember the lesson. "he only is noble and great who cares for the helpless and weak." arachne. arachne was a beautiful maiden and the most wonderful weaver that ever lived. her father was famed throughout the land for his great skill in coloring. he dyed arachne's wools in all the colors of the rainbow. people came from miles around to see and admire her work. they all agreed that queen athena must have been her teacher. arachne proudly said that she had never been taught to weave. she said that she would be glad to weave with athena to see which had the greater skill. in vain her father told her that perhaps athena, unseen, guided her hand. arachne would not listen and would thank no one for her gift, believing only in herself. one day as she was boasting of her skill an old woman came to her. she kindly advised her to accept her rare gift humbly. "be thankful that you are so fortunate, arachne," said she. "you may give great happiness to others by your beautiful work. "queen athena longs to help you. "but i warn you. she can do no more for you until you grow unselfish and kind." arachne scorned this advice and said again that nothing would please her so much as to weave with athena. "if i fail," she said, "i will gladly take the punishment, but athena is afraid to weave with me." then the old woman threw aside her cloak and said, "athena is here. "come, foolish girl, you shall try your skill with hers." both went quickly to work and for hours their shuttles flew swiftly in and out. athena, as usual, used the sky for her loom and in it she wove a picture too beautiful to describe. if you wish to know more about it look at the western sky when the sun is setting. arachne's work, though her colors were in harmony and her weaving wonderfully fine, was full of spite and selfishness. when the work was finished arachne lifted her eyes to athena's work. instantly she knew that she had failed. ashamed and miserable she tried to hang herself in her web. athena saw her and said in pity, "no, you shall not die; live and do the work for which you are best fitted. "you shall be the mother of a great race which shall be called spiders. "you and your children shall be among the greatest spinners and weavers on earth." as she spoke, arachne became smaller and smaller until she was scarcely larger than a fly. [illustration] from that day to this arachne and her family have been faithful spinners, but they do their work so quietly and in such dark places, that very few people know what marvelous weavers they are. aurora and tithonus. the beautiful youth, tithonus, loved aurora, the queen of the dawn. he was the first one to greet her each day as she drew back the purple curtains of the east. he made his bed on the green grass in the meadow that he might not miss her coming. aurora grew to expect his welcome and to love the youth dearly. one morning when she came tithonus was not in his usual place. as she looked anxiously around she saw him with pale face and closed eyes lying upon the ground. she darted down to earth and carried his almost lifeless body to zeus. she begged the great king to promise that tithonus should never die. but alas, in her haste, she forgot to ask that he might forever remain young. therefore he grew old and bent, and could no longer walk. in misery, he begged to go back to the cool grass in the meadow where he had been so happy. aurora in pity said, "you shall go, my tithonus. to make you happy is my dearest wish. "you shall be free from all care. "you shall not be a man, lest you be compelled to work for your food in your old age. "you shall be a grasshopper, free to dance in the meadow grass all the long summer days. "i have prepared a dress for you, which shall protect you well." then she gave tithonus the wonderful grasshopper coat of mail which had been unknown on earth until this time. she tinted it a soft green so that he might not be noticed in the grass. tithonus went that day to live in the meadow and there, any summer day, you may find him and his family hopping merrily about in the sunshine. [illustration] how the robin's breast became red. long ago in the far north, where it is very cold, there was only one fire. a hunter and his little son took care of this fire and kept it burning day and night. they knew that if the fire went out the people would freeze and the white bear would have the northland all to himself. one day the hunter became ill and his son had the work to do. for many days and nights he bravely took care of his father and kept the fire burning. the white bear was always hiding near, watching the fire. he longed to put it out, but he did not dare, for he feared the hunter's arrows. when he saw how tired and sleepy the little boy was, he came closer to the fire and laughed to himself. one night the poor boy could endure the fatigue no longer and fell fast asleep. the white bear ran as fast as he could and jumped upon the fire with his wet feet, and rolled upon it. at last, he thought it was all out and went happily away to his cave. a gray robin was flying near and saw what the white bear was doing. she waited until the bear went away. then she flew down and searched with her sharp little eyes until she found a tiny live coal. this she fanned patiently with her wings for a long time. her little breast was scorched red, but she did not stop until a fine red flame blazed up from the ashes. then she flew away to every hut in the northland. wherever she touched the ground a fire began to burn. soon instead of one little fire the whole north country was lighted up. the white bear went further back into his cave in the iceberg and growled terribly. he knew that there was now no hope that he would ever have the northland all to himself. this is the reason that the people in the north country love the robin, and are never tired of telling their children how its breast became red. [illustration] an indian story of the robin. when an indian boy was eleven years old, he was sent into a forest far away from his home. he had to stay there all alone and fast for seven days and nights. the indians thought that at this time a spirit came into the youth which helped him to become a great chief and warrior. the spirit also told the boy what his name should be in the tribe. once there was a fierce indian war chief who had only one son. the little boy was not strong, but his father loved him more than anything else on earth. when this boy was eleven years old, the chief went out into the forest and built a small lodge for him to stay in. in it he placed a mat of reeds which his good squaw had woven with great care. by the side of the mat he laid a bow, some arrows and his own great tomahawk. next he painted pictures upon the trees along the path leading from the wigwam to the lodge. he did this that the little boy might easily find his way home. when everything was ready he sadly sent his son away into the forest. he missed him so much that he went every morning to look at him. each day he asked him if the spirit had not come to him. each day the little boy shook his head without opening his eyes. on the fifth day his son said to him, "father, take me home or i shall die. no spirit will come to me." the old chiefs pride was greater than his pity and he said, "no, my son, you must not be a coward. you shall be as wise as a fox and as strong as a bear. "better that you should die than that boy and squaw should cry 'shame' upon your father's son. "be patient, i will come in two days and bring you food." the sixth day came and the little boy lay upon the mat white and still. on the seventh, when the chief came with the sun's first rays, his son was not in the lodge nor about it. above the door sat a bird with brown coat and red breast, which until this time had been unknown to man. sadly the chief listened to the bird and understood its message. "mourn me not, great chief," it sang. "i was once your son. "i am happy now and free. "i am the friend of man and shall always live near him and be his companion. "i shall bring the tidings of spring. "when the maple buds shoot and the wild flowers come, every child in the land shall know my voice. "i shall teach how much better it is to sing than to slay. "chief, listen, chief, be more gentle; be more loving. chief, teach it, chief, be not fierce, oh, be not cruel; love each other! love each other!" the red-headed woodpecker. there was an old woman who lived on a hill. you never heard of any one smaller or neater than she was. she always wore a black dress and a large white apron with big bows behind. on her head was the queerest little red bonnet that you ever saw. it is a sad thing to tell, but this woman had grown very selfish as the years went by. people said this was because she lived alone and thought of nobody but herself. one morning as she was baking cakes, a tired, hungry man came to her door. "my good woman," said he, "will you give me one of your cakes? i am very hungry. i have no money to pay for it, but whatever you first wish for you shall have." the old woman looked at her cakes and thought that they were too large to give away. she broke off a small bit of dough and put it into the oven to bake. when it was done she thought this one was too nice and brown for a beggar. she baked a smaller one and then a smaller one, but each one was as nice and brown as the first. at last she took a piece of dough only as big as the head of a pin; yet even this, when it was baked, looked as fine and large as the others. so the old woman put all the cakes on the shelf and offered the stranger a dry crust of bread. the poor man only looked at her and before she could wink her eye he was gone. she had done wrong and of course she was unhappy. "oh, i wish i were a bird!" said she, "i would fly to him with the largest cake on the shelf." as she spoke she felt herself growing smaller and smaller until the wind whisked her up the chimney. she was no longer an old woman but a bird as she had wished to be. she still wore her black dress and red bonnet. she still seemed to have the large white apron with the big bows behind. because from that day she pecked her food from the hard wood of a tree, people named this bird the red-headed wood-pecker. the story of the pudding stone. once upon a time a family of giants lived upon the high mountains in the west. one day the mother giant was called away from home. she arose early in the morning and made ready the bread and butter for the little giants to eat while she was gone. when she had finished her work it was not yet time to start upon her journey. she said to herself, "my children are the best children in the world and they shall have a treat. i have many plums left from the christmas feast. i will make them a plum pudding for a surprise. the good woman brought together the plums which it had taken her many days to prepare with the help of all her children. indeed she had emptied several mountain lakes to get water enough to wash them all. she now mixed these wonderful plums into a pudding and put it into an oven to bake. the mixing took so long that she had to hurry, and she quite forgot to say anything about the pudding to the little giants. she had intended to tell them about it just before she left them. it was afternoon when the giant children found the pudding. it was badly burned upon the top by that time. they had already eaten the bread and butter and were not hungry. one little giant said to the others, "let us make balls of the pudding and see who can throw the farthest." you know that giants are very strong, and away went the pudding up into the air. the little giants made little balls and the older giants threw pieces as big as a house. many pieces went over the mountains and fell down into the valley beyond. indeed this wonderful pudding was scattered for miles over the whole land, for the giants did not stop throwing as long as there was any pudding left in the pan. when the sun had shone upon it many days and dried and hardened it, people called it pudding stone. you may find it to-day thrown all over the land, full of the plums which the good woman washed with the waters of many lakes. story of sisyphus. little white cloud was the ocean's daughter. the ocean loved her, and wished always to keep her near him. one day, when her father was asleep, white cloud went out to walk alone. the sun saw her and said, "come, white cloud, i am your king, i will give you a ride upon my bright rays." white cloud had often longed for this very thing, so she went gladly, and soon found herself among the fleecy clouds in the sky. when the ocean awoke he called his little daughter. she did not answer. he called again and again, louder and still louder, until the people said, "listen, it is thundering!" but the ocean only heard the echo of his own voice from the shore. he rushed high up on the beach and moaned aloud. he ran into all the caves but white cloud could not be found. every one had loved white cloud, so by this time all the water was white with the crests of the weeping sea nymphs. a great giant was sitting upon the shore near the sea. his name was sisyphus. he felt sorry for the ocean and said, "listen, friend ocean, i often watch you carrying the great ships and wish that i, too, had a great work to do. "you see how dry it is on this side of the mountain. few people come this way. you are not even now as lonely as i, yet i want to help you. promise me that you will put a spring upon this mountain side, where all the tired and thirsty people may drink, and i'll tell you where white cloud is." [illustration] the ocean said, "i cannot put a spring upon the mountain, but if you will follow my son, river, he will take you to a spring where he was born." the giant told the ocean how the sun ran away with white cloud. the sun heard him and was angry. he placed sisyphus in the sea saying, "you are far too strong to sit idly here upon the shore. you say you want a great work to do; you shall have it. you shall forever use your strength to push these stones upon the shore, and they shall forever roll back upon you." the giant began his work at once, and has worked faithfully every day since that time. many people do not yet know what his work is. do you? do you know what sisyphus is making? [illustration] the palace of alkinoös. on a high plain covered with flowers once lived good king alkinoös and his gentle people, the phaiakians. they were great sailors and went about in silver ships without rudders or sails. these wonderful ships went slowly or very fast just as the sailors wished. for many years the phaiakians were peaceful and happy. though they were as brave as they were gentle, they hated war. far below the phaiakians, in a valley, lived a people larger, darker, fiercer than themselves. these dark people cared for nothing so much as war and conquest. when they saw the silver ships with the golden prows, they wanted them for their own. they armed themselves and made ready for a great battle. to be sure of victory, they borrowed the thunder and lightning from zeus. the day came and all was ready for the dark people to advance. they reached the land of the phaiakians in the morning and king alkinoös came forward to meet them. they soon saw that he alone was more powerful than their entire army. he was dressed in armor so bright that it dazzled their eyes to look at it. it was covered with millions of golden arrows tipped with diamonds. the king showed the frightened people how he could shoot the arrows in all directions at the same time. the dark people trembled with fear, but king alkinoös smiled at them, and then he and his people sailed slowly away toward the west. on and on they went, until they came to a great silver sea. here they stopped and built a palace for their king. this palace was made of silver and gold and precious stones. its towers were rose color and shone with a wonderful light. its steps were of pure gold. on each side of the silver gates were huge dogs which guarded the palace. there were boys in the halls dressed in white, holding burning torches. there were girls weaving wonderful curtains and painting pictures upon the walls. there were mountains and fountains, and rivers and lakes. there were singing birds and flower gardens, and little children everywhere. even to this day, the great king often sits in his palace in the west when his day's work is done. he loves to see the people glide about upon the silver sea, in their ships without rudders or sails. the fierce, dark people still go to war. they seldom let the gentle king see them fighting. yet often after a brave battle, alkinoös comes out of his palace and smiles brightly upon them. the dark people blush and seem to smile at the king. you must find out how much good these dark people do and how the king of the phaiakians helps them in their work, if you wish to understand their friendship. [illustration] phaethon. phaethon was the son of helios, who drove the chariot of the sun. he lived with his mother, the gentle clymene, in a beautiful valley in the east. one day when phaethon was telling his companions about his father, the sky king, they laughed and said, "how do you know that helios is your father? you have never seen him. if, as you say, he cannot safely come nearer to the earth, why do you not sometimes go to his land." phaethon answered, "my father's throne is far away from this valley. my mother has promised that when i am stronger, i shall go to my father's palace. i often watch his golden chariot roll by in its path and think perhaps some day i shall drive the glorious horses of the sun. "i shall go now to my mother, and ask her how much longer i must wait." when phaethon told his mother what his companions had said she answered, "go, my child, ask great helios if you are his son. if you are worthy to be the son of helios you will be given strength and courage for the journey." phaethon gladly and bravely climbed the unused path which led to the palace of the sun. at last he came in sight of the throne. he had never seen anything so beautiful. on one side were standing the days, months and the old years. on the other side were the seasons; spring, covered with flowers; summer, with her baskets of fruit and grain; autumn, in a many-colored dress; and young winter, with a crown of icicles. as phaethon came nearer to the throne, the light was greater than his eyes could bear. its wonderful colors dazzled him. helios saw the brave youth and knew that it was phaethon, his son. he took his glittering crown from his head and went forward to meet him. phaethon cried, "great helios, if you are my father give me and others proof that it is so." helios took him in his arms and kissed him. "you are indeed my son," he said. "i will put an end to your doubts. ask any gift you will, and it shall be yours." phaethon had always had one wish in his heart and said, "o, my father, let me drive the wonderful golden chariot of the sun for just one day." helios shook his head sadly and said, "that is the one thing which you must not ask to do. "you are my son, and i love you. for your own sake, i cannot let you do this. you have neither the strength nor the wisdom for the great work. "the first part of the way is very steep and rugged. in the middle part, even i dare not look below at the far stretching earth, and the last part is full of terrible dangers." phaethon would not listen, but threw his arms around his father's neck and begged to go. helios said at last, "if you persist, foolish boy, you shall have your wish, for i cannot break my promise. i beg of you choose more wisely. ask the most precious thing on earth or in the sky, and you shall have it." already dawn had drawn back the purple curtains of the morning and the hours were harnessing the horses to the chariot. the stars and moon were retiring for the day. the chariot glittered with jewels which sent the light in all directions. phaethon looked upon it with delight and longed impatiently for the great joy of driving it. helios said, "o, my dear son, go not too high or you will scorch the dwelling of heaven, nor too low, lest you set the world on fire. "keep the middle path; that is best, and do not use the whip; rather, hold the horses in." phaethon was too happy to hear what his father was saying. he leapt into the golden chariot and stood erect as the fiery horses sprang forth from the eastern gates of day. they soon missed the strong steady hand of their master. up, up they went, far into the sky, above the stars, and then plunged downward toward the earth. the clouds smoked, the mountain tops caught fire, many rivers dried up and whole countries became deserts. great cities were burning, and even poseidon cried out in terror from the sea. then the people on earth learned with what great wisdom the path of the sun was planned. helios saw that the whole world would soon be on fire, and cried to father zeus to save the earth from the flames. zeus searched all the heavens for clouds and hurled his thunderbolts from the sky. phaethon fell from the chariot, down, down into a clear river. the naiads cooled his burning brow, and gently sang him to sleep. his sisters came to the banks of the river and wept. that they might be always near phaethon, zeus, in pity changed them into poplar trees, and their tears became clear amber as they fell into the water. at last the tired horses became quiet, and the great car rolled slowly back into its old path. but the deserts and barren mountain tops still tell the story of the day phaethon tried to drive the chariot of the sun. the grateful foxes. it was springtime in japan, and the blossoms hung thick on the cherry trees. butterflies and dragon flies fluttered over the golden colza flowers in the fields. the rice birds chirped merrily. everything seemed to say, "how good it is to live in days like these." a beautiful princess, o haru san, sat on the bank of a stream gaily pulling the lilies. all the maidens of her court were with her. along the river bank came a troop of noisy, laughing boys, carrying a young cub fox. they were trying to decide who should have its skin and who its liver. at a safe distance from them, in a bamboo thicket, father fox and mother fox sat looking sadly after their little cub. the princess' heart was filled with pity, and she said: "boys, pray loose the little fox. see his parents weeping in the rocks." the boys shook their heads. "we shall sell the fox's skin," they said. "the liver, too, if well powdered, will be used to cure fevers in the fall." "listen," cried o haru san, "it is springtime, and everything rejoices. how can you kill such a small soft beast? "see, here is twice your price; take it all," and she drew copper money and silver money from her girdle. the boys placed the little frightened animal in her lap and ran away, pleased to be so rich. the cub felt the touch of her soft hand, and trembled no longer. she loosened carefully the knot and noose and string. she stroked the red fur smooth again, and bound up the little bleeding leg. she offered it rice and fish to eat, but the black eyes plainly said, "this is very nice, but i hear my parents grieving near yonder beanstraw stack. i long to go and comfort them." she set the little fox gently on the ground, and, forgetting its wounded leg, it leaped through the bushes at one happy bound. the two old foxes gravely looked it over neck and breast. they licked it from its bushy tail to its smooth, brown crown. then, sitting up on their haunches, they gave two sharp barks of gratitude. that was their way of saying, "we send you thanks, sweet maid." as she walked home by the river side, all the world seemed more beautiful to o haru san. * * * * * the summer time came and the blossoms upon the cherry trees became rich, ripe fruit. but there was no joy in the emperor's house. his daughter, the gentle o haru san, was ill. she grew paler and weaker each day. physicians came from far and near, and shook their wise heads gravely. when the emperor's magician saw her, he said, "no one can heal such sickness. a charm falls upon her every night which steals away her strength. he alone can break the spell, who, with sleepless eyes, can watch beside her bedside until sunrise." gray haired nurses sat by her until morning, but a deep sleep fell upon them at midnight. next fourscore maidens of the court, who loved her well, kept bright lights burning all the night, yet they, too, fell asleep. five counselors of state watched with her father at the bedside. though they propped their eyes open with their fingers, yet in the middle of the night slumber overcame them. all believed that the gentle maid must die. the emperor was in despair, but ito, a brave soldier, said, "i shall not sleep; let me one night guard the sweet o haru san." her father led him to the chamber. just at midnight ito felt his eyes grow heavy. he rose and held his sword above his head. "rather will i die than sleep," he said. then came a great struggle. often his head nodded, but by his love and strength ito conquered sleep. suddenly he heard a voice which said, "grate foxes' livers in the princess' rice broth and all her ills will disappear." the next morning the hunters searched far and near for foxes. they knew that to the emperor a fox was worth its weight in gold. all day and night they were in the woods without food or rest. at last they came sadly back to their homes. they brought no fox. "all the foxes know," they said, "and have hidden themselves away." the emperor in grief and anger cried, "must my child perish? shall a princess die for the lack of one poor fox? "she was never willing that one should be slain and this is her reward." ito said, "i will get the fox." he started out with knife and net to seek it. at the entrance of the town he met a woman dressed in strange garments. very small and stooped she seemed to ito. she carried a jar in her arms. she bowed low before ito, and said, "what you seek is in the jar. i have brought it from afar." "here is gold," said ito. "what is the price?" the woman pulled the blue hood farther over her face and said, "another time will do, i can wait. hasten now to the princess." gladly ito obeyed. they made the broth in a bowl of beaten gold and fed it to o haru san. immediately she was well and all was joy in the emperor's house. the emperor said, "ito, is she, who brought this blessing, paid?" ito answered, "yonder she waits at the entrance of the town." the emperor himself in his great joy went with ito to meet her. but they found only a dog-fox dead. around his neck they read this message, "this is my husband here. "for his child he gives his liver to the princess, dear. i, his very lowly wife, have brought it." [illustration] persephone. demeter had the care of all the plants, fruits and grains in the world. she taught the people how to plow the fields and plant the seeds. she helped them gather in their harvests. they loved the kind earth-mother and gladly obeyed her. they also loved her daughter, the beautiful persephone. persephone wandered all day in the meadows among the flowers. wherever she went the birds, singing merrily, flocked after her. the people said, "where persephone is, there is the warm sunshine. "flowers bloom when she smiles. "listen to her voice; it is like a bird's song." demeter wished always to have her child near her. one day persephone went alone into a meadow near the sea. she had made a wreath for her hair, and gathered all the flowers that her apron could hold. far away across the meadow she saw a white flower gleaming. she ran to it and found that it was a narcissus, but far more beautiful than any she had ever seen. on a single stem were a hundred blossoms. she tried to pick it, but the stem would not break. with all her strength she grasped it, and slowly it came up by the roots. it left a great opening in the earth which grew larger and larger. persephone heard a rumbling like thunder under her feet. then she saw four black horses coming toward her from the opening. behind them was a chariot made of gold and precious stones. in it sat a dark, stern man. it was hades. he had come up from his land of darkness, and was shading his eyes with his hands. he saw persephone, beautiful with flowers, and instantly caught her in his arms and placed her in the chariot beside him. the flowers fell from her apron. "oh! my pretty flowers," she cried, "i have lost them all." then she saw the stern face of hades. frightened, she stretched out her hands to kind apollo who was driving his chariot overhead. she called to her mother for help. hades drove straight toward his dark underground home. the horses seemed to fly. as they left the light, hades tried to comfort persephone. he told her of the wonders of his kingdom. he had gold and silver and all kinds of precious stones. persephone saw gems glittering on every side as they went along, but she did not care for them. hades told her how lonely he was, and that he wished her to be his queen and share all his riches. persephone did not want to be a queen. she longed only for her mother and the bright sunshine. soon they came to the land of hades. it seemed very dark and dismal to persephone, and very cold, too. a feast was ready for her, but she would not eat. she knew that any one who ate in hades' home could never return to earth again. she was very unhappy, though hades tried in many ways to please her. everything on the earth was unhappy, too. one by one the flowers hung their heads and said, "we cannot bloom, for persephone has gone." the trees dropped their leaves and moaned, "persephone has gone, gone." the birds flew away and said, "we cannot sing for persephone has gone." demeter was more miserable than any one else. she had heard persephone call her, and had gone straight home. she searched all the earth for her child. she asked every one she met these questions, "have you seen persephone? where is persephone?" the only answer she ever received was, "gone, gone, persephone is gone!" demeter became a wrinkled old woman. no one would have known that she was the kind mother who had always smiled on the people. nothing grew on the earth and all was dreary and barren. demeter said that she would do nothing until persephone returned to her. it was useless for the people to plow the soil. it was useless to plant the seeds. nothing could grow without the help of demeter. all the people were idle and sad. when demeter found no one on earth who could tell her about persephone, she looked up toward the sky. there she saw apollo in his bright chariot. he was not driving as high in the sky as he was wont to do. often he gathered dark mists about him so that none saw him for many days. demeter knew that he must know about persephone, for he could see all things on earth and in the sky. apollo told demeter that hades had carried persephone away and that she was with him in his underground home. demeter hastened to the great father zeus, who could do all things. she asked him to send to hades for her daughter. zeus called hermes. he bade him go as swiftly as the wind to the home of hades. hermes whispered to everything on the way that he was going for persephone so that all might be ready to welcome her back. he soon arrived in the kingdom and gave hades the message from zeus. he told about the barren earth and of how demeter was mourning for her child. he said she would not let anything grow until persephone came back. the people must starve if she did not soon return. then persephone wept bitterly, for that very day she had eaten a pomegranate and swallowed six of its seeds. hades pitied her and said that she need only stay with him one month for each seed she had eaten. joy gave her wings, and as swiftly as hermes himself, persephone flew up into the sunshine. apollo saw her and rose higher and higher into the sky. a gentle breeze came rustling from the southeast, and whispered something to everything he met. suddenly the flowers sprang up; the birds flocked together and sang; the trees put on bright green leaves. everything, great and small, began to say in his own language, "be happy for persephone has come! persephone has come!" demeter saw these changes and was puzzled. "can the earth be ungrateful? does she so soon forget persephone?" she cried. it was not long however before her own face became beautiful and happy, for she held again her beloved child in her arms. when demeter found that persephone could stay with her only half the year, she brought out the choicest treasures from her storehouse and while persephone stayed, the world was filled with beauty and joy. when she had gone, demeter covered the rivers and lakes, and spread a soft white blanket over the sleeping earth. then she, too, fell asleep and dreamed such pleasant dreams that she did not awake until she felt persephone's warm kiss on her forehead. [illustration] the swan maidens. a long, long time ago there was born in the east a wonderful king. he was called "the king of the golden sword." every day he came in his golden chariot scattering heat, light and happiness among his people. every day he passed from his palace in the east far over to his throne in the west. he never missed a day for he wanted to see that everyone had a full share of his gifts. throughout the kingdom the birds sang and the flowers bloomed. the sky was full of beautiful pictures which were constantly changing. the king had many daughters who were called swan maidens. they were as graceful as swans and usually wore white featherlike dresses. the swan maidens loved their good father and each one longed to help him in his work. sometimes the king saw that the grass was brown or the buds were not coming out. then he called the swan maidens to him and said, "my children, this must not be. there is nothing more beautiful in the kingdom than the green grass and the trees. they need your care." gladly each maiden changed her dress and set out at once on her journey. often they could not all work upon the grass and the buds. some of them ran off to play with the stones in the brook. the best ones went down to feed the roots and worms, and worked out of sight. when their tasks were finished they always hurried back to their father, the king. they went so noiselessly and swiftly that for a long time their way of travelling was a mystery. in the fall, the king called the bravest swan maidens to him. he told them they must go away for a long time. the swan maidens wrapped themselves in white, feathery blankets and came softly down to the shivering flowers. gently they placed a white spread on the earth and left no small seed uncovered. at last, when the king smiled and their work was done, they stole away so softly and happily that no one missed them. [illustration] the poplar tree. one night, just at sunset, an old man found the pot of gold which lies under the end of the rainbow. his home was far beyond the dark forest, through which he was passing. the pot of gold was heavy, and he soon began to look for a safe place in which to hide it until morning. a poplar tree stood near the path stretching its branches straight out from the trunk. that was the way the poplar trees grew in those days. "ah," said the man, "this tree is the very place in which to conceal my treasure. "the trees are all asleep, i see, and these leaves are large and thick." he carefully placed the pot of gold in the tree, and hurried home to tell of his good fortune. very early the next morning, iris, the rainbow messenger, missed the precious pot of gold. she hastened to zeus and told him of the loss. zeus immediately sent hermes in search of it. hermes soon came to the forest where it was hidden. [illustration] he awakened the trees, and asked them if they had seen the pot of gold. they shook their heads sleepily, and murmured something which hermes could not understand. then zeus himself spoke to them. "hold your arms high above your heads," he said, "that i may see that all are awake." up went the arms, but alas, down to the ground came the pot of gold. the poplar tree was more surprised than any one else. he was a very honest tree and for a moment hung his head in grief and shame. then again he stretched his arms high above his head, and said, "forgive me, great father; hereafter i shall stand in this way that you may know that i hide nothing from the sun, my king." at first the poplar tree was much laughed at. he was often told that he looked like a great umbrella which a storm had turned inside out. but as years went by every small poplar was taught to grow as fearless, straight and open hearted as himself, and the whole poplar family became respected and loved for its uprightness and strength. [illustration] the donkey and the salt. one time a merchant went to the seashore for a load of salt. there were many hills and streams to cross on the journey. as the path was narrow and rocky, the man made his donkey carry the salt in large bags upon his back. it was a warm day, and the donkey did not like his heavy load. he hung down his head and went as slowly as he could. after a while they came to a stream which had only a foot bridge over it. the donkey went through the water, splash! splash! splash! in the middle of the stream was a large stone which he did not see. he stumbled and fell, and the water ran over the bags of salt. soon the donkey was glad that he had fallen, for he found his load much lighter. they came to another stream, but the donkey did not stumble this time. he lay down in the middle of the brook. he was a wise donkey. this time he lost so much salt that his master was angry, for he was obliged to go back to the seashore for another load. as they were walking along, the merchant laughed to himself. he thought he knew a way to cure the donkey of this trick. when they came to the seashore, he filled the bags with sponges, and started for home. the donkey thought, "what a light load i have," and trotted gaily along over the rough road. again they came to the brook. "ah!" thought the donkey, "i will make my load still lighter." he lay down in the middle of the brook. this time he found his load so heavy that he could scarcely rise. his master kindly helped him, but the donkey was not happy. the water ran down his sides and made him more miserable. "oh," thought he, "i will never lie down in the water again." once more his master led him back to the seashore. he filled the bags with salt. the donkey was wiser now and carried the salt safely home. the secret of fire. a tree story. one summer night a great army of pine trees settled down in a quiet valley to rest. they were a tall, dark, grave-looking company. they held their heads high in the air, for they were the only trees in the world who knew the wonderful secret of fire. high above this valley, on the hillside, lived a little company of oaks. they were young, brave, and strong-hearted. when they saw the great band of pines marching into the valley, the tallest one said: "let us make them divide the gift of fire with us." "no," said the oldest, wisest oak, "we must not risk, foolishly, the lives of our acorns. we could do nothing against so many." all the acorns had been listening to what the tree said. each one longed to help in finding out the great secret. one of them became so excited that he fell from the limb, down upon the hard ground. he did not stop at the foot of the tree, but rolled over and over, far down into the valley. here a brook picked him up and hurried him away; but as he stopped to rest by a stone, he heard his good friend, the wind, talking to a pine tree. "what is the secret of fire which the pine trees know?" asked the wind. "don't you think it is selfish to keep it all to yourselves?" the pine tree loved the wind and answered: "great wind, it is, indeed, a wonderful secret; you must never tell it." then she whispered it to the wind. the little acorn went on and on down the stream. he came to an old log, which was the home of a large family of squirrels. the mother squirrel was very sad. the last flood had brought her and her children far away from her old forest home. her family had all been saved, but food was scarce and winter was near. the acorn felt very sorry for her and said: "i am too small to do you much good alone. if you will carry me back to my home, i will show you a forest with plenty of nuts. you can take your family there in the fall." this the squirrel was very glad to do. as they went along the acorn called to all the elms, maples, willows and hickories to meet that night on the hilltop. "come to the hill across from the great blue mountains," he said. "there you will learn the secret of fire." by evening they were all there, in great companies, ready for war on the pines. when the squirrel came to the forest and saw all the nuts she was much pleased. she offered to carry the acorn to the very top of the tallest tree. the trees were all glad of this, for every one wanted to hear what he said. when the acorn began to speak, even the wind stopped whispering and listened. "friends," he said, "there must be no battle. the pine trees have only the same gift of fire that you have. to every tree that stretches out its arms the glorious sun gives this gift. but it was in this way that the pine trees learned the secret of getting the fire from the wood: they saw an old indian chief with two curious pieces of wood. one was round and smooth, the other was sharp-pointed. with all his strength he was rubbing them together. soon he had worn a groove in the round stick. he rubbed faster and faster, and there in the groove was a tiny spark of fire. then the indian blew his breath upon the spark and a little yellow flame leaped up. all the pine trees saw it. 'see, it is fire!' they said." when the great company of trees had heard the acorn's story they shook their heads in doubt. then the acorn said: "this is the true secret of fire. if you do not believe it why do you not try it for yourselves." they took this advice and all the trees learned that what he had said was true. they were so happy that they spent the whole night in singing and dancing. in the morning, when they saw the great blue mountains and the beautiful valley, many of them settled down upon the hillside for life. the pines looked up and saw hundreds of trees with their shining arms. they were so frightened that they climbed high up on the mountain side. there they stayed a long, long time. [illustration] they grew sad and lonely, and often sighed and wished for their old home and comforts. but they were brave and strong-hearted, and helped each other. at last, some of them came down into the valley again. through suffering they had grown strong and unselfish. they gave their best trees to the people and their fairest to the children at christmas time. indeed, there is not a tree in the world to-day more loved than the pine tree, who first had the secret of fire. [illustration] a fairy story. some fairies once lived in a dark glen in a pine forest. they were real fairies, many of them not higher than a pin. their greatest treasure was a magic cap which had been in the fairy family for many generations. the most wonderful thing about the cap was that it fitted exactly any one who wore it. when one fairy put it on, he and all the others became invisible. a stupid race of giants lived among the mountains near them. they wanted the fairy cap more than anything else in the world. one warm day when the elves were away from home, a giant came into the glen. he was seeking just such a cool place for his afternoon nap. he was so large and the glen so small that when he lay down he almost filled the valley. the music of a fairy brook soon lulled him to sleep. perhaps you have heard how a giant snores, and how his breath comes in great puffs. the giant was snoring and puffing when the fairies came towards home. they heard the strange sound and thought a great storm was brewing. "there has never been such a wind in the glen," said the fairy queen. "we will not go down into it. we must seek shelter for to-night on this hillside." just then they came to the giant's ear. "here is a fine cavern," the queen said, and she stopped and waved her wand. a fairy hastened forward to carry the cap to a safe place in the cave, for that was always their first care. just then the giant awoke. he raised his great head. oh, how miserable the fairies were! they wept and moaned until even the dull ear of the giant heard them. it was a sound like the tolling of tiny silver bells. he listened and understood what the wee voice of the prisoner in his ear was saying. he was the wisest and most kind-hearted of all the giants. he helped the little creature gently out into his hand, and looked at him in wonder. he had never before seen a fairy. in vain the brave little fellow tried to conceal the precious cap. the giant saw the wonderful star and knew at once that he had the treasure cap of the elves. he set the fairy carefully upon the ground, and shouted for joy as he found that the cap exactly fitted his own great head. the poor fairies could no longer see him, but they heard a sound like thunder, as he hurried over the stones towards his home. they were now afraid to move about while the sun shone. they crept under leaves and into shells and cried bitterly. by sundown every plant in the glen was wet with their tears. the sharp eyes of the eagle on the mountain top saw them and a great pity filled his heart. "i must help the fairies," he said, "otherwise i should not be worthy to be called the 'king of birds'." he went directly to the home of the giants and demanded the cap, but they refused to give it up. [illustration] all that an eagle could do, he did, but as the giants wore the invisible cap he could not see them. he could only hear their great voices. he knew however that the giants were proud of their great size and strength, and liked, above all things, to be seen. he was sure that they would not wear the cap in battle, and he did not lose hope. one day they carefully placed it under a large stone on the mountain side below them. the keen eye of the eagle was watching. he flew fearlessly to the spot as soon as the giants had left it. he lifted the stone in his great talons, and was soon flying away with the cap to the fairy glen. the giants saw him, and knew at once what he was doing. they began a fierce attack upon him. the air was filled with flying arrows and sharp rocks. drops of blood fell on the mountain side, and many feathers fluttered down, but the brave eagle was soon out of their reach. he did not stop until the cap was safe in the fairy queen's lap. there was great rejoicing among the fairies that day. they had a feast in the eagle's honor, and healed his wounds with fairy magic. on the mountain side, wherever the blood and feathers fell, there sprang up trees with featherlike leaves and blood-red berries. all the giants, fairies, plants and animals knew why they grew. the unselfish love in the eagle's blood could not die, but lived again in the beautiful trees. but people who did not know how they came there, called them mountain ash trees. [illustration] philemon and baucis. on a high hill in greece, long ago, lived philemon and baucis. they had always been poor but never unhappy. at the time of this story the people in the valley below them were very busy. zeus, their king, had sent word that he was about to visit them. hermes, his messenger, was to come with him. the people were getting ready great feasts, and making everything beautiful for their coming. for miles out of the city, men were watching for the golden chariot and white horses of the king. one night, just at dark, two beggars came into the valley. they stopped at every house and asked for food and a place to sleep. but the people were too busy or too tired to attend to their needs. footsore and weary, at last they climbed the hill to the hut of philemon and baucis. these good people had eaten scarcely anything for several days that they might have food to offer the king. when they saw the strangers, philemon said, "surely these men need food more than the king." baucis spread her one white table cloth upon the table. she brought out bacon and herbs, wild honey and milk. she set these before the strangers with all the good dishes that she had. then a wonderful thing happened. the dishes which the strangers touched turned to gold. the milk in the pitcher became rich nectar. philemon and baucis dropped upon their knees. they knew that their guests could be no other than zeus and hermes. zeus raised his hand and said, "arise, good people, ask what you will and it shall be yours." philemon and baucis cried in one voice: "grant, oh zeus, that one of us may not outlive the other, but that both may die in the same instant." this had long been the wish in each heart, and the fear of being left alone in the world was the one trouble of their old age. zeus smiled and changed their rude hut into a beautiful castle, and granted them many years of happy life. one morning the people in the valley noticed that the castle had disappeared. they hurried to the spot and found growing in its place two beautiful trees, an oak and a linden. no trace of the good couple could be found. many years after, however, a traveller lying under the trees heard them whispering to each other. he lay very still and soon learned that in them philemon and baucis still lived, happy and contented, and protected by zeus from all harm. [illustration] daphne. daphne was the daughter of the river peneus. she was a beautiful child and her father loved her more than anything else in the world. her home was in a cave which he had cut for her in a great white cliff. the walls of the cave were of marble. from the roof hung crystal chandeliers which peneus' servants had made. on the floor was a soft green carpet woven by the water fairies. peneus brought his most beautiful pebbles to daphne's cave every night. he sang songs to her in the evenings and told her stories of his travels. she visited with him the great island which he was building in the sea. when the morning star shone in the sky it was daphne who awakened the birds and flowers. with her golden hair flying behind her, she sped into the forest. everything awoke when they felt the touch of her rosy fingers, and smiled as they saw her happy face. the trees and the forest animals were her playfellows, and she had no wish for other friends. she learned their ways, and the deer could not run more swiftly than she, nor the birds sing more sweetly. one day as she was running over the stones near the cave, king apollo saw her. "ah, little maid," said he, "you are very beautiful. your feet are too tender for the hard rocky earth. "come, you shall live with me in my palace in the sky." but daphne fled from him. she did not want to leave her beautiful earth home. fear gave her wings, and faster and faster she flew. her hair streamed behind her like a cloud of golden light. apollo followed more swiftly than the wind. "stop and listen," he cried; "i am not a foe, foolish girl. it is apollo who follows you. i shall carry you to a home more beautiful than anything you have ever seen." she felt his breath upon her hair, and saw his hand as he stretched it forth to seize her. "father, save me from apollo," she cried. "let the earth enclose me." peneus heard her voice and instantly her feet became fastened in the soil like roots. a soft bark covered her body and her beautiful hair became the leaves of the laurel tree. apollo sadly gathered some of the leaves and wove them into a wreath. he laid his hand upon the tree and said, "i would have made you happy, but you would not listen to me. "at least you shall be my tree. your leaves shall be ever green, and heroes shall be crowned with them in sign of victory." [illustration] an indian story of the mole. an indian once saw a squirrel sunning himself in a tree top. the squirrel saw the hunter and leaped upon a passing cloud. he had escaped into cloudland before an arrow could reach him. the indian set a trap for him hoping that he would soon return to the tree for food. the sun happened to be coming that way and was caught in the trap. suddenly, in the middle of the day, it became dark. the indian was frightened and said, "ah me, what have i done, i have surely caught the sun in my trap." he sent many animals up to set it free, but all were instantly burned to ashes. at last the mole said, "let me try, i shall bore through the ground of the sky and gnaw off the cords which hold the trap." he did this, but just as he loosened the last cord the sun sprang forth and the bright light shone full in his eyes. the poor mole dropped to the earth and though his friends were able to save his life, he was blind. "you need not pity me," he said, "i prefer to live underground, where really there is no use for eyes." all the moles were so proud of this hero mole that they tried to be like him in every way. they, too, went to live in a dark hole in the earth. their eyes, which they did not need to use, became so small that they were entirely hidden by their fur. indeed it is now so hard to find them that many people think the entire mole family is blind. [illustration] how the spark of fire was saved. long ago when fire was first brought to earth, it was given into the care of two beldams at the end of the world. the cahroc indians knew where it was hidden. they needed fire and were always planning ways to get it. they went at last to the wise coyote. "that is simple enough," said he, "i will show you a way to get it. fire is a great blessing and should be free to all people." the coyote knew every inch of the road to the beldams' hut. along the path leading to it, he stationed beasts, the strongest and best runners nearer the hut and the weaker ones farther off. nearest the guarded den, he placed one of the sinewy cahroc men. then he walked boldly up to the door of the hut and knocked. the beldams, not fearing a coyote in the least, invited him in. they were often lonely, living so near the end of the world. when the coyote had rested before the fire for some time, he said, "the cahroc nation need fire. could you not give them one small spark? you would never miss it. here it is of no use." the beldams answered, "we do not love it, but we dare not give it away. we must guard it while we live." the coyote had expected them to say this. he sprang to the window, and instantly outside were heard such sounds, that the beldams rushed out to see what the frightful noise could be. each animal in the line was sounding the watch-word of fire in his own way. the wild horse neighed, the mountain lion roared, the gray wolf howled, the serpent hissed, the buffalo bellowed, and every small animal did its part equally well. indeed, it is no wonder that the beldams were frightened nearly to death. the cahroc man brought water and told them not to fear for themselves. the coyote seized a half-burned brand and was off in an instant. the beldams sprang after him and followed him closely over hill and valley. faster than the wind they flew. they were stronger than he, and though he put all his wild-wood nerve to the strain, they steadily gained. soon the race must end! but puma, the monstrous cat, was watching, and leaped up just in time to save the brand. each animal was in its place and the good fire passed on. it came at last to the cahroc nation, and was afterwards free to all people under the sun. there were only two mishaps in all the race. as the squirrel turned a corner of stumps and bowlders, his beautiful tail caught fire, and a brown track was burned up over his back to his shoulders, and the curl has remained in his tail to this day. the frog had a harder fate. he was the last one in the line of beasts. when the brand reached him it was smaller than the smallest coal in the grate. he seized it carefully and jumped forward as fast as he could, but the hand of the foremost beldam caught him and held him fast. how his heart beat! his eyeballs bulged out of his head, and he has looked ever since much in the same scared way. he did not lose his courage, however. he swallowed the coal and sprang into the water. sad to tell, the beldam still held in her hand his special pride and care, his tail. henceforth only the tadpoles could wear tails. the frog sought a log and sat down upon it to think. "i did my duty, even if i lost my beauty," he thought; "that is enough for a frog. this spark must be saved." after much choking he spat the swallowed spark well into the bark. the gift came, in this way, to all men; for, in even the wettest weather, if you rub two sticks together, fire is sure to come. because we know how the frog hurt his throat that day, we like to listen to his hoarse voice when we hear him singing to his children in the spring. balder. the people in the north once believed that high above the clouds was the beautiful plain of asgard. odin, ruler of asgard, mighty thor, and many other heroes lived on the plain. their homes were great castles, splendid with silver and gold. in the middle of the plain, and apart from the other dwellings, stood a pure white palace. nothing that was not fair and good had ever dared to enter it. it was the home of balder. because of his great beauty and wisdom, he was called "balder the beautiful," and "balder the good." everything loved him. the dull rocks and the gray old mountains met him with a smile. the flowers opened, the birds sang and the water sparkled when they saw his face. one night he dreamed that he must soon leave asgard and all the things that he loved. the next night he dreamed that he was living in the gloomy underground world. the third night, when the same terrible dream came to him, he was greatly troubled. he told odin, his father, and frigga, his mother, about it. odin, in great fear, called together his wisest heroes. they shook their heads but could do nothing to help him. frigga cried, "it shall not be! i, his mother, will save him." she went straight way to heimdal, who guarded the rainbow bridge. bifrost, which was the name of the bridge, was the only path which led from asgard to the earth. heimdal allowed only those who lived in the plain to pass over it. all feared heimdal, yet they loved him. he could see to the ends of the world. he could hear the wool growing on the sheep's back, and knew when each grass blade broke into the sunshine. heimdal loved balder and when he heard what troubled frigga, pitied her. he gave her his swift black horse and showed her the way to the ends of the earth. for nine days and nights she traveled without food or rest. she asked everything she met to promise not to harm balder. animals, flowers, trees, water, air, fire, everything she asked gladly gave the promise. they smiled in wonder at the question. who could wish to hurt the gentle balder? alas, the mistletoe did not promise. frigga saw it growing high up on an oak tree. it seemed too small and weak to do any harm. she did not ask it to promise. on the tenth day of her journey, she came back again to asgard. she told the sorrowing odin and his friends what she had done. in their joy they found a new way to do balder honor. he stood in their midst while the most skillful heroes hurled their arrows at him. at first, they threw only small twigs and pebbles. everything, however, had soon proved itself true to its promise. then the heroes lost all fear of harming him and threw their warlike weapons. balder stood unharmed and smiling among them. each day they met on the plain and in this sport proved the love of all things for him. the blind höder was the only one in asgard who could not join in the game. he was balder's brother and loved him very dearly. höder was not unhappy, but always cheered and shouted as gaily as the others. one day as he stood alone, loki saw him. loki was a mischief maker. his jokes were often cruel; indeed, most of the unhappiness in asgard was caused by loki's unkindness. "höder, why do you not do balder honor?" asked loki. "i am blind," höder answered, "and besides i have nothing to throw." "here is my arrow," said loki. "take it; i will guide your hands." alas, the cruel loki had made the arrow of mistletoe. he knew that this was the only way in which balder could be harmed. he longed to see the surprise of the heroes when balder should at last be wounded. away flew the arrow. balder, the beautiful, fell lifeless to the ground. then all asgard was dark with sorrow. strong heroes wept and would not be comforted. the earth grew cold, white and still. the water would not flow, and the seeds refused to grow. the birds were silent. no flowers breathed their perfumes into the air. there was not a smile in all the world. odin said, "this cannot be. "balder shall return. i, myself, will go and bring him from hela's dark regions." but frigga had already sent a messenger to the spirit world to beg queen hela to release balder. while waiting for the messenger to return, the heroes were not idle. for twelve days and nights they worked as only love can make men work. they did not pause for food nor rest. they built a great funeral pyre, and no one was too small to help in the work of love. they found balder's ship upon the seashore. they brought great logs from the forest and bound them upon the deck. upon these they placed his beautiful white horse, his dogs, his shining armor, and many things which he had loved on earth. when it was finished, they raised the sails, set the ship on fire and pushed it out upon the sea. they sang and wept all night until at sunrise the sails fell. they watched the flames die down and the waves wash over the sinking ship. as they turned sadly from the shore, they met the messenger from hela's regions. "rejoice," he said, "hela says, 'if everything living and lifeless weep for balder, he may return to us.'" there was great happiness in asgard that day. "surely," they thought, "everything in the world will weep for balder." they had forgotten the cruel loki. he sat with dry eyes though rocks and trees, birds and flowers, wind and clouds were shedding tears. when odin found that balder could not return to life, his anger and grief were terrible to see. in fear, loki hid himself deep in the earth under a mountain. frigga knew that he was conquered, and she patiently waited for the time when balder should again be allowed to bring gladness to the earth, and fill all the heavens with the glory of his smile. [illustration] how the chipmunk got the stripes on its back. do you all know the little striped chipmunk which lives in our woods? he has a cousin in far off india called the geloori. it is said the stripes came on the back of the geloori in a wonderful way. one day the great shiva saw a little gray chipmunk on the seashore. he was dipping his bushy tail into the sea, and shaking out the water on the shore. twenty times a minute he dipped it into the ocean. in wonder, shiva said, "what are you doing, little foolish, gray, geloori? why do you tire yourself with such hard labor?" the geloori answered, "i cannot stop, great shiva. "the storm blew down the palm tree, where i built my nest. "see! the tree has fallen seaward, and the nest lies in the water; my wife and pretty children are in it; i fear that it will float away. therefore all day and all night i must dip the water from the sea. "i hope soon to bale it dry. "i must save my darlings even if i spoil my tail." shiva stooped and with his great hand stroked the little squirrel. on the geloori's soft fur from his nose to the end of his tail, there came four green stripes! they were the marks of shiva's fingers, placed there as signs of love. shiva raised his hand, and the water rolled back from the shore. safe among the rocks and seaweeds, the palm tree lay on dry land. the little squirrel hastened to it; his tail was now high in the air. he found his wife and children dry and well in their house of woven grass-blades. as they sang their welcomes to him, the geloori noticed with delight that each smooth little back was striped with marks of shiva's fingers. this sign of love is still to be seen upon the back of chipmunks. that is the reason why in india, good men never kill them. a man who loves both children and chipmunks says, when he tells this story, "perhaps our squirrels, though shiva never stroked them, would be grateful if we left them, unharmed, to play in the maples in our woods." the fox and the stork. a fox met a stork and invited him to dinner. "with all my heart, friend," said the stork. when they arrived at the home of the fox and dinner was served, he was not so happy. the fox had fine hot soup, but he served it in shallow plates. the poor stork could only stand by and watch the fox eat. the fox seemed to think that it was a very good joke. the next day the stork met the fox and invited him to dinner. the stork brought out fine hot soup in a high narrow necked bottle, but the fox could not see the joke at all. the stork said, "friend fox, enjoy your dinner. i hope that the soup is as well flavored as yours was yesterday." as he said this he poured out half of the soup into a bowl and set it before the fox. the cunning old fox felt so ashamed that he has never looked anyone straight in the face since that day. prometheus. greece is far away to the east over a great ocean. it is a very small country with high mountains in every part of it. the people who lived there long ago could not easily go from one place to another. some of the mountains reached above the clouds and made great walls around their homes. men sometimes lived all their lives near the sea and never saw it. these people who were shut up in the little valley of greece did many wonderful things. as they could not go far from their homes they had time to see how beautiful the things around them were. perhaps they looked at the sky so much that they wished to have everything on earth just as beautiful. they gave their children work to do which made them strong and graceful. some of the greeks carved statues from the marble in the mountains. some built great temples of it. some painted pictures, while others made gardens more beautiful than pictures. others wrote books. many of the stories you like were written by the poets who lived in greece long ago. in all these ways the greeks showed their love for their country and made it a better place in which to live. though they were so wise they had many thoughts which seem strange to us. they believed that long before they were born a race of giants had lived among the mountains. at one time the giants grew angry with zeus, their king, and wished to take his throne away from him. there was a wise giant, named prometheus, who begged them not to attempt to do this. he tried to show them how foolish they were. they would not listen to him. zeus lived upon mount olympus, the highest mountain in greece. the giants brought great rocks to this mountain and piled them up, higher and higher, until they reached the sky. zeus waited until the giants had finished their work and were ready for battle. then he put out his hand and touched the great mound. instantly it fell over into the sea. prometheus and his brother were now the only people on earth. they were so lonely that zeus told them to model some people from clay. prometheus made animals and men and epimetheus, his brother, gave them gifts of courage, swiftness and strength. to some he gave feathers and wings, to others fur and claws, and to others a hard shelly covering. when he came to man he had no covering left. zeus said, "i will clothe man," and that is the reason his covering is so delicate and beautiful. prometheus' people could not breathe. zeus sent him to æolus, the god of the winds, for help. æolus sent his strong son, north wind, back with prometheus. when north wind saw the people of clay he whistled with surprise. he blew his breath upon them. they turned as white as snow and began to breathe. they were a cold people, however, and prometheus did not love them. he went to æolus again and this time south wind and the zephyrs came with him. south wind brought the people green grass and flowers and birds. the zephyrs showed them how to laugh and cry and sing and dance. but the people were stupid. they lived like ants in dark caves. prometheus saw that there was only one thing which would help them. that was _fire_. fire was the most precious thing zeus had, and he kept it ever burning around his throne. when prometheus asked for fire zeus was angry. "i have already given too much to your people," he said. "let them now help themselves." prometheus was sad, indeed. he loved his people more than he did himself. at last he said: "they shall have the fire. i will pay for it with my life." he went straight to zeus' throne and filled a ferule with it, and carried it to his people. then the people began to be wise. he taught them to cook, and to build houses, and to sail their ships upon the ocean. he showed them how to get rich ores from the mountains and prepare them for use. they learned how to plow and to reap and to store up their food for the winter. zeus was angry with prometheus. he chained him to a rock on the top of a high mountain. he sent a great bird each day to torment him. zeus said that he must stay there until he repented and returned the fire to heaven. there prometheus stayed and suffered for many burning summers and long, cold winters. sometimes he grew faint-hearted and wished to be free. then he looked down and saw how the fire was helping the people and how happy they were, and he grew strong again. after many, many years, a greek hero who was sailing over the mountain in a golden cup, saw prometheus. it was hercules. he shot the bird with a golden arrow, unbound the chains and set the wise prometheus free. [illustration] hermes. æolus was the father of all the winds, great and small. long ago, they all lived happily together in a dark cave near the sea. on holidays, north wind, south wind, east wind and west wind and their faithful sisters, came home and told of their travels. the whirlwinds performed their most wonderful feats, and the zephyrs sang their sweetest songs. these holidays, however, did not come often. there were no idle children in the family of æolus. they swept and dusted the whole world. they carried water over all the earth. they helped push the great ships across the ocean. the smaller winds scattered the seeds and sprinkled the flowers, and did many other things which you may find out for yourselves. indeed, they were so busy that æolus was often left alone in his dark home for several days at a time. he was glad when one summer morning a baby came to the cave. the baby's name was hermes, but æolus called him "little mischief," because he was so little and so full of tricks. zeus was hermes' father and his mother was the beautiful queen maia. she was often called "star of spring," because people thought that wherever she stepped flowers sprang from under the snow. æolus loved hermes dearly. he taught him many secrets which only the winds know. hermes was a wise baby and understood all that æolus told him. when he was only two days old he could run and whistle as well as north wind. one day while he was very young he climbed out of his cradle and ran down to the seashore. there he found an old tortoise shell. he picked it up and put a row of holes along each edge of the shell. through these holes he wove some reeds which he found upon the seashore. then he blew softly upon the reeds. the birds heard such wonderful music that they stopped to listen. the leaves on the trees began to dance, and nodded to the flowers to keep still. the waves on the shore caught the tune and have been singing it ever since. hermes had invented the lyre and brought a new kind of music into the world. he soon tired of his lyre and went back to his cradle in the cave. as he lay there he could see a beautiful blue meadow with many white cows upon it. hermes knew that the cows belonged to his brother, king apollo. "what fun," thought he, "i will go and make the cows run." off he ran after them until he was tired and out of breath. then he drove them all backward into a cave, and fastened them in. king apollo soon missed the cows and searched all the meadow for them. he traced them to the cave, but when he came closer to it, he found that all the tracks led from the opening, not into it. near the cave he saw an old man who told him that he had seen the cows. he said that with them he had seen a baby with wings on his cap and heels. apollo knew at once that the baby was his brother, hermes. he went straight to the cave of æolus. there was hermes in his cradle playing with the shell just like any other baby. apollo was angry and commanded him to stop laughing and crowing and tell him where the white cows were. hermes only picked up the shell and breathed softly upon it. apollo forgot his anger and everything but the beautiful music. he took hermes in his arms and kissed him and begged him to teach him his secret. hermes was glad to be so easily forgiven. he gave apollo the lyre and taught him many ways to play upon it. apollo was soon able to make even sweeter music than hermes, and he afterwards became the god of music. he was so thankful to hermes for his gift that he gave him a wonderful rod called the caduceus. whatever hermes touched with the rod became wise, loving and unselfish. one time he saw two hissing serpents about to spring at each other in fury. he touched them with the caduceus. instantly they twined themselves lovingly around the rod and never again left it. apollo also gave hermes charge over all the cows in the blue meadow. hermes loved the cows and often took them with him on his journeys. he was a wild youth and a great traveler, and so it happens that in nearly all the countries of the world hermes and his white cows have been seen. iris' bridge. in the sky where the amber tints are seen on the clouds, iris was born. she loved her home and all the beautiful things around her. perhaps she sailed in the moon's silver boat and knew why the stars kept twinkling. perhaps she feasted on sunshine and dew, and slept on the soft white clouds. more than anything in her sky-home, iris loved her grandfather, the stern old ocean. when he was merry, and drove his white horses over the water, she was happy. when he was troubled, and the sky grew dark and sad, she quietly slipped her hand into his. instantly he smiled, and became gentle again. he longed always to keep her with him, but the sun said: "no, iris belongs to both ocean and sky. "let her be the messenger between heaven and earth." they placed golden wings upon her shoulders and made her a bridge of beautiful colors. one end of the bridge they rested in the sky, but the other iris could fasten to the earth with a pot of gold. this was the way iris' path was made: the earth gave the tints of her fairest flowers, the sea brought great ribbons of silvery mist, the wind was the shuttle, the sky was the loom and the sun himself was the weaver. it is no wonder that the most beautiful thing in all the world is iris' bridge, the rainbow. [illustration] generously made available by the internet archive.) told to the children series edited by louey chisholm the faerie queen [illustration: i should like the crystal ball to shew me what my husband will be like (page 33)] stories from the faerie queen told to the children by jeanie lang with pictures by rose le quesne [illustration] london: t. c. & e. c. jack, ltd. new york: e. p. dutton & co. to diana printed in great britain by thomas nelson and sons, ltd. about the faerie queen more than three hundred years ago there lived in england a poet named edmund spenser. he was brave and true and gentle, and he loved all that was beautiful and good. edmund spenser wrote many poems, and the most beautiful of all is the one called 'the faerie queen.' he loved so dearly all things that are beautiful and all things that are good, that his eyes could see fairyland more clearly than the eyes of other men ever could. there are many, many stories in 'the faerie queen,' and out of them all i have told you only eight. some day you will read the others for yourself. in this little book miss rose le quesne has made one pretty picture for each story. but when you are old enough to read for yourself 'the faerie queen' that edmund spenser wrote, you will find that there is a picture on every page. jeanie lang. list of stories page una and the lion, 1 st. george and the dragon, 15 britomart and the magic mirror, 32 the quest of sir guyon, 45 pastorella, 60 cambell and triamond, 79 marinell, the sea-nymph's son, 89 florimell and the witch, 101 list of pictures britomart and the magic mirror. 'i should like the crystal ball to show me what my husband will be like, _frontispiece_ at page una and the lion. he followed her like a faithful dog, 6 st. george and the dragon. the dragon was dead, 30 the quest of sir guyon. great heaps of gold lay about him on every side, 48 pastorella. in the middle of the ring of girls sat pastorella, 64 cambell and triamond. she asked the fates to let her sons have long, long lives, 80 marinell, the sea-nymph's son. but the knight was britomart, the fair lady with a man's armour and a man's heart, 92 florimell and the witch. florimell's golden hair flew behind her, 102 i una and the lion once upon a time, in a country not far from fairyland, there lived a king and queen and their daughter, whose name was una. una was one of the most beautiful princesses that ever were seen, and she was as good as she was beautiful. she and her father and mother loved each other very dearly, and they were very happy together, until a dreadful thing happened in their kingdom and took all their happiness away. a hideous dragon came from another country, and killed men and women and little children. with its fiery breath it turned the trees and grass and flowers into black ashes, and it slew everybody that it came across. it would have killed una's father and mother too, but they and some of their servants shut themselves up in a tower made of brass. the dragon tried very hard to get in and eat them up, but it could not break into a tower so strong. for seven years the king and queen hid in their tower, while the dragon lay outside. many brave knights came and fought with the horrible monster and tried to save the king and queen. but the dragon was stronger than all the knights, and killed every one of them. at last una made up her mind to ride to fairyland and ask the queen of the fairies to send one of her knights to kill the dragon. una took no soldiers nor servants with her, but a dwarf carried for her the food and clothes she needed, and she rode on a little white ass. her dress was of white, but she covered it and her beautiful, shining, golden hair up with a black cloak to show that she felt sad. her lovely face was very sorrowful, for she was so unhappy at the cruel things the dragon had done, and the danger her dear father and mother were in. una safely got to the court of the faerie queen, and a young knight, fearless and faithful and true, offered to come back with her to kill the dragon. his name was george, but on the breast of his silver armour, and on his silver shield, a red cross was painted. so people called him the red cross knight. the sun shone bright, and the birds sang sweetly, as una and her knight rode away through the woods that lay between her father's kingdom and the lands of the faerie queen. the knight's great war-horse pranced and champed at its bit, and una's little donkey put down its dainty feet gently on the grass and wondered at the great big horse and his jingling harness as they went along side by side. before they had gone very far a storm came on. the sky grew dark and rain fell heavily, and they would have been drenched had they not found shelter in a thick wood. there were wide paths in this wood, and tall trees whose leafy branches grew so close that no rain could come through. it was such a beautiful wood, and they were so happy talking together and listening to the birds' sweet song, that they rode along without noticing where they went. so when the rain stopped and they wished to get back to the open road, they could not find the way. on and on they went, until they came to the mouth of a great dark cave. the knight sprang from his horse, and giving his spear to the dwarf to hold, went forward to see what might be hidden in the darkness. 'do not be so rash!' cried una; 'i know that this is a terribly dangerous place, and that a dreadful monster stays in that black den!' the frightened dwarf also begged him to come away, but the knight said, 'i should be ashamed to come back. if one is good, one need have no fear of the darkness.' so into the darkness he went, and in the faint light that came from his shining armour he saw a hideous monster. it had a great ugly head and a long speckled tail like a serpent's, and it rushed at the knight, roaring furiously. he struck at it with his sword, but it wound its horrible tail around him, until he was nearly crushed to death. una called to him not to fear, but to strike the monster bravely. and he, smiting it with all his might, cut off its head. then una and he rode joyfully onwards, and, as evening fell, they found a way out of the wood. on the road they met an old man who looked kind and good. he asked them to stay all night in his cottage in a little valley near at hand, and they gladly went. this old man was a wicked magician, and all he wanted was to do them harm. when they had lain down to rest, he began to work his magic on them. so well did he do it, that he made the red cross knight believe that una was very false and wicked, and that the best thing he could do was to go away from her. very early in the morning the knight made the dwarf saddle his horse, and they went off together and left una asleep in the house of the wicked magician. when she awoke and found them gone, una could only weep bitterly at what seemed to her their cruelty. she rode after them as quickly as she could, but her little donkey could only go slowly, and in his anger and sorrow the knight had made his horse gallop so fast that she had no chance of overtaking them. day after day, up hill and down dale, in woods and on lonely moors, she sought her knight. and her heart was very sad, because he whom she loved had left her so ungently. one day when she was very tired she lay down to rest under the trees in a thick wood. she took off her black cloak, and her beautiful golden hair fell loosely round her face. her face was so fair and so full of goodness that it seemed to make sunshine in the shady place. suddenly there rushed at her from out of the wood a furious lion. he was hunting for something to kill and eat, and when he saw una he ran at her greedily, with hungry gaping jaws. but when it had looked at her lovely face, instead of tearing her in pieces it gently licked her little white hands and feet. and una's sad heart was so grateful to the noble beast that her tears dropped on him as he did it. the lion would not leave her. he kept watch while she slept, and when she was awake he followed her like a faithful dog. [illustration: he followed her like a faithful dog (page 6)] together they wandered on, but never met any one that una could ask if he had seen the red cross knight. at last, one evening, they saw a young woman walking up a steep mountain path, and carrying a pot of water on her back. una called to her, but when the woman looked round and saw a lovely lady and a lion, she got such a fright that she threw down the pot and ran for her life. her old mother was blind, and they lived in a hut on the mountain, and when she got there she rushed in and shut the door. una and the lion followed her, and the lion, with one blow from his strong paw, drove the door in. the two women were hiding in a dark corner, half-dead from fear. una tried to comfort them, and asked them if she and her lion might shelter there for the night. when darkness came she lay down, very tired, to sleep, while her lion lay and watched at her feet. in the middle of the night a knock came to the door. it was a wicked robber, who used to bring the things he stole and give them to those two bad women. the women were so afraid of the lion that they dared not come out of their hiding-place. so the thief, in a rage, burst the door open, and when he did this, the lion rushed at him and tore him in pieces. next morning una rose early and went away with the lion. when she had gone, the women came out, and when they saw the robber's dead body, they were filled with rage at una and her lion. they ran after her, calling her bad names, but they could not overtake her. as they were going home they met the wicked magician. they told him about una, and he rode quickly after her. by his magic he made himself armour the same as that of the red cross knight, and when una saw him she thought it was her own true knight come back to her at last. he spoke to her as if he was really her knight, and her heart was filled with gladness. but she was not the only one who thought that the wicked magician was the red cross knight. sansloy, a rough and wicked man, whose brother had been killed in a fight with the knight of the red cross, came riding along and met them. when he saw the red cross on the magician's breast he rode at him furiously. the old magician had to fight, whether he wanted to or not, and sansloy fought so fiercely that he wounded him and cast him bleeding on the ground. then sansloy dragged off his helmet and was going to kill him, when he found, instead of the red cross knight's handsome young face, the wicked old face and grey hair of the magician. sansloy was afraid of the magician, so he drew back and did not hurt him more. but when he saw how beautiful una was, he roughly dragged her off her ass, and made up his mind to take her away with him and make her his wife. when the lion saw the knight roughly take hold of una, he made a fierce rush at him, and would have torn him in pieces; but sansloy beat the lion back with his shield, and when the lion would have torn the shield from him, he drove his sword deep into the lion's faithful heart. with a great roar the noble beast fell dead, and sansloy threw una before him on his horse and galloped away with her. she wept and sobbed and begged him to let her go, but sansloy would not listen. and it seemed as if una had no friend left, or, at least, no friend that could help her. for the little white donkey trotted after her, afraid of nothing except to be left alone without his mistress. the darkness fell, and the stars that came out looked down like weeping eyes on una's sorrow and helplessness. sansloy stopped his horse at last and lifted una down. when she shrank from him in fear, he was so rough that she screamed for help until the woods rang and echoed her screams. now in the woods there lived wild people, some of whom were more like beasts than men and women. they were dancing merrily in the starlight when they heard una's cries, and they stopped their dance and ran to see what was wrong. when sansloy saw them, with their rough long hair and hairy legs and arms and strange wild faces, he was so frightened that he jumped on his horse and galloped away. but the wild people of the woods were more gentle than the cowardly knight. when they saw una, so beautiful and so frightened and so sad, they smiled at her to show her that they meant to be kind. then they knelt before her to show her that they would obey her, and gently kissed her feet. so una was no longer afraid, and when the wild people saw that she trusted them, they were so glad that they jumped and danced and sang for joy. they broke off green branches and strewed them before her as she walked, and they crowned her with leaves to show that she was their queen. and so they led her home to their chief, and he and the beautiful nymphs of the wood all welcomed her with gladness. for a long time una lived with them and was their queen, but at last a brave knight came that way. his father had been a wild man of the woods, but his mother was a gentle lady. he was brave and bold as his father had been. when he was a little boy and lived with the wild people, he used to steal the baby lions from their mothers just for fun, and drive panthers, and antelopes, and wild boars, and tigers and wolves with bits and bridles, as if they were playing at horses. but he was gentle like his mother, although he was so fearless. and when una told him the story of the red cross knight and the lion, and of all her adventures, his heart was filled with pity. he vowed to help her to escape, and to try to find the red cross knight. so one day he and she ran away, and by night had got far out of reach of the wild men of the woods. when the wicked magician knew of una's escape, he dressed himself up like a pilgrim and came to meet her and the brave knight of the forest. 'have you seen, or have you heard anything about my true knight, who bears a red cross on his breast?' asked una of the old man. 'ah yes,' said the magician, 'i have seen him both living and dead. to-day i saw a terrible fight between him and another knight, and the other knight killed him.' when una heard this cruel lie she fell down in a faint. the brave young knight lifted her up and gently tried to comfort her. 'where is this man who has slain the red cross knight, and taken from us all our joy?' he asked of the false pilgrim. 'he is near here now,' said the magician. 'i left him at a fountain, washing his wounds.' off hurried the knight, so fast that una could not keep up with him, and sure enough, at a fountain they found a knight sitting. it was the wicked sansloy who had killed una's lion and carried her away. the brave knight rushed up to him with his drawn sword. 'you have slain the red cross knight,' he said; 'come and fight and be punished for your evil deed.' 'i never slew the red cross knight,' said sansloy, in a great rage. 'your enemies have sent you to me to be killed.' then, like two wild beasts, they fought, only resting sometimes for a moment that they might rush at each other again with the more strength and fury. blood poured from their wounds, the earth was trampled by their feet, and the sound of their fierce blows rang through the air. una was so terrified at the dreadful sight that she ran away and left them fighting furiously. before she had gone far she saw a little figure running through the woods towards her. it was her own dwarf, and his woful face told her that some evil thing had happened to the red cross knight. the knight had had many adventures since he left her in the magician's hut, and at last a giant had caught him, and kept him a prisoner in a dreary dungeon. the dwarf had run away, lest the giant should kill him. una loved the red cross knight so much that her heart almost broke when she heard the dwarf's story. but she made up her mind to find her knight and free him. so on she went, up hill and down dale, beaten by driving rain and buffeted by bitter winds. at last, by good chance, she met a knight and his squire. this knight was the good prince arthur, of all the knights of the faerie queen the bravest and the best. to him she told her sorrowful tale. 'be of good cheer and take comfort,' said the good prince. 'i will never leave you until i have freed the red cross knight.' and the prince kept his promise. the story of st. george and the dragon will tell you how una and her knight met together again and were married, and forgot their past sorrows in their great happiness. ii st. george and the dragon long, long ago, before the things that happened were written down in history books, a spiteful fairy came into the castle of an english king. she saw a beautiful baby-boy, the king's little son, lying asleep, and, out of mischief, she ran away with him and left her own ugly little fairy baby there instead. but when she had stolen the baby, she could not be troubled to take care of him. so she laid him down in the furrow of a ploughed field. soon a ploughman, with his horses, came that way. he was a kind man, and he lifted the baby up off the cold brown earth and carried him home to his cottage. he called him georgos, and brought him up as if he were his own boy. when georgos was a big boy he did not care to be a ploughman. he wished to be a knight and fight for people who were not as strong as he was. so he went to the court of the faerie queen, and she took him for one of her knights. she called him george, and gave him armour all shining with silver and with a red cross on his shield and on his breast. you have heard the story of una, so you know that it was george of the red cross who left the fairy court to fight for her and to be her knight. there was no sadder knight to be found in all fairyland than george of the red cross, after the wicked magician had made him think that una was false and bad. with a heavy heart he rode away from the magician's cottage in the grey dawn, with the dwarf sadly following him. as he went through the woods he met a knight riding with a beautiful lady in red robes that sparkled with jewels. the lady's horse was all decked out with gold, and from its bridle hung golden bells. although she was so beautiful, she was really a wicked witch, who was never so happy as when she was making men fight and kill each other. when she saw george coming, she said to the knight with whom she rode, 'here comes a knight! you must fight with him.' so the knight rode furiously at george, and george met him as fiercely, and both their spears splintered as they crashed against each other. then, with their swords they cut and thrust and hacked. the knight cut through a piece of george's helmet by the fury of one blow, but george gave him such a stroke in return, that his sword went through the steel helmet right into the knight's head, and he fell dead. when the witch saw him fall, she galloped away, screaming with fear. george rode after her and begged her not to be afraid, but the witch pretended to cry bitterly. she told him she did not cry for sorrow that the knight was dead, but only because she was frightened. she said that the knight who lay there had wished to marry her, but that she did not love him, and liked george much better. the witch looked so beautiful, with her red robes and splendid jewels, and pretended so well to be simple and good, that george believed all that she said. 'do not be afraid,' he said, 'i will take care of you, and be your friend.' so he did not think of una any more, but rode away happily with the witch, who said her name was fidessa. in the middle of the day, when the sun had grown very hot, they rested in the shade of two great trees. the spreading branches of the trees were overgrown with grey moss, and their green leaves were never still, but whispered and trembled as if the wind was blowing on them. george thought he would make a garland of these fresh leaves to put on fidessa's dark hair. he plucked a little branch, and, as he broke it, red drops of blood trickled down from the place where it was broken. then a sad voice spoke out of the tree, and told him that the trees were not really trees, but a knight and a lady, who had been bewitched by the magic of a wicked witch. the witch who had done it was fidessa, and when fidessa heard the tree speak, she was afraid that george would find her out. but george was too simple and too true to think that beautiful fidessa could be so wicked. he was very sorry for having hurt the tree-man, and with some earth plastered up the place that bled. then he and fidessa hurried away from the place of the shivering trees. when they had ridden for a long time they came to a gorgeous palace where only bad people stayed. fidessa made george come with her into the palace, and while they stayed there she got some of the wicked knights of the palace to fight with george and try to kill him. but george was braver and stronger than any of these knights, and instead of their killing him, he killed them. one day fidessa went from home, and, while she was away, una's dwarf, who had never left george, went wandering through the palace. in a dark and horrible dungeon he found many knights, and kings, and ladies and princes shut up as prisoners. the dwarf ran and told george, and the red cross knight, fearing that he also would be made a prisoner and cast into the dungeon if he stayed longer in the enchanted palace, rode away. the wounds he had got in his last fight were still unhealed, so that he could not go fast. when fidessa got back and found him gone, she rode after him as fast as ever she could. when she found him he was resting, with his armour off, on the mossy grass by the side of a sparkling fountain. he was peacefully listening to the sweet song of birds, and to the tinkling water, when fidessa's red robes showed through the trees. she talked to him so cunningly that soon she persuaded him to think that she loved him very much and meant him nothing but kindness. now the witch knew that the water of the fountain was magic water, and if any one drank it all his strength would leave him. so she made george lie down on the sandy gravel and drink. in one minute his strength all went from him and he was no stronger than a tiny boy. no sooner had this happened than there walked out from amongst the trees an enormous ugly giant. in his hand, for a club, he carried a big oak-tree that he had pulled out of the earth by the roots. when he saw george he rushed at him like an earthquake, and smote him such a mighty blow that george fell fainting to the ground. then the giant picked him up as if he had been a helpless little baby, and carried him away, and threw him into the darkest dungeon of his castle in the woods. una's dwarf, who had hidden in the bushes and seen all that happened, ran away, lest the giant should kill him. but fidessa, the wicked witch, made friends with the giant, and he made her his wife. he gave her a robe of purple and gold to wear, and put a splendid gold crown on her head. and to make people more afraid of her than they were already, he gave her a horrible beast with seven heads and a long scaly tail of brass to ride on. for months and months george was a prisoner in the gloomy dungeon. the light never came into it, nor any air. he was chained with heavy iron bands, and was given scarcely anything to eat or to drink. his face grew white and thin, and his eyes grew hollow. his strong arms became only skin and bone, and his legs were so feeble that he could not stand. he looked more like a shadow than a man. one day, as he lay on the floor of the dungeon, feebly moaning and longing to die, the door burst open. a knight in shining armour of diamonds and gold stood before him, and before george could speak to him, there ran into the dreary cell, like a sunbeam in the dark, his own beautiful una. una nearly cried for joy at seeing her knight again, and for sorrow because he looked so terribly ill. she told him that prince arthur, the knight who had saved him, had cut off the giant's head, and slain the seven-headed monster, and made fidessa prisoner. then prince arthur tore off fidessa's robe of purple and gold, and her golden crown and all her sparkling jewels. and all her beauty faded away, and she looked like the hideous, wicked old witch that she really was. george shrank away from her in horror, and wondered how she could ever have made him forget una, or have made him think that she herself was good and beautiful. and fidessa, frightened at being found out, ran away and hid herself in a dark cave in the lonely desert. then una took george, who was now no stronger than a little child who has been ill, to an old house not far away from the giant's castle. it was called the house of holiness. there lived there a good old lady and her three good and beautiful daughters, and they helped una to nurse george until he grew strong again. and as he grew stronger, from the rest and their care and the dainty food they gave him, those ladies of the house of holiness taught the young knight many things. he learned to be more gentle than he had been before, and never to be proud nor boastful, and to love nothing that was not wholly good. he learned, too, not to hate any one, nor to be angry or revengeful, and always to be as generous and as merciful as he was brave. when he was quite strong once more, he went from the house of holiness to a place where an old hermit stayed, and from him george learned still more of what was good. george had always thought that he was a fairy's son, but the hermit told him the story of how the bad fairy had stolen him from his father's castle when he was a baby. and although george loved his faerie queen and the fairy knights and ladies, he was glad to think that he was the son of an english king. the old man told him that if, all through his life, he was true, and brave, and merciful and good, one day he should be called a saint. and he would be the saint who belonged especially to all englishmen and englishwomen, and to english boys and girls. '_saint george shalt thou callã¨d be, saint george of merry england, the sign of victory._' then did george, his shining armour with its red crosses, and his sharp sword and glittering spear buckled on again, ride away once more with una, to kill the dragon and set free the king and queen. it was a dreary country that they rode through, for the dragon had laid it all waste, but from far away they saw the tower of brass shining in the sun. as they drew nearer they saw a watchman on the top of the tower gazing across the plain. day after day for a long, long time he had looked for una to come back with a knight to slay the dragon. when he saw una and george crossing the plain, he ran and told the king and queen, and the old king climbed up to the top of the tower to see for himself that the good news was true. as they drew near the tower, george and una heard a hideous roaring sound. it filled all the air and shook the ground like an earthquake. it came from the dragon, that was stretched out in the sun on the side of a hill. when it saw the knight in gleaming armour riding towards it, it roused itself joyfully up to come and kill him, as it had killed all the other knights. george made una go to a high piece of ground, from whence she could see the fight, and where she would be out of danger, and then rode to meet the terrible beast. half running and half flying, with its great ugly wings, the dragon came swiftly towards him. it was so big that its shadow looked like the dark shadow of a mountain on a valley. its body was monstrous and horrible and vast, and was all swelled out with rage. it had scales all over it that shone like brass, and that were as strong as steel. its wings were like big sails, and when it flapped them and clashed its scales, the sound was like the sound of a great army fighting. its long tail was spotted red and black, and at the end of it two sharp stings stuck out. it had cruel long claws, and its gaping jaws had each three rows of iron teeth, all stained and wet with the blood of the people it had eaten last. it had eyes like flames, and its breath was fire and smoke. when it rushed at george, george rode hard at it with his spear. but no spear was ever made that was strong enough to pierce that dragon's scales. the spear glanced off from its ugly, speckled breast, but the dragon, furious at the hard thrust that george had given him, lashed out with its tail so furiously that both the horse and his rider were thrown to the ground. lightly they rose up again, and again george smote with his spear. then the dragon, spreading its wings, rose from the ground like a giant bird, and seizing george and his horse in its claws, flew away with them. right across the plain it flew, then, finding them heavy, it dropped them on the ground. as it did this, george thrust with his spear under the dragon's stretched-out wing, and made a great gaping wound. the spear broke, but the spear-head stuck in the wound, until the dragon, mad with rage and pain, plucked it out with its teeth. then did fire and smoke rush out more terribly than before from the jaws of the furious dragon. it lashed its long tail so savagely that it folded in its coils george's foaming horse. the frantic horse, in its struggles to get free, threw george on the ground amongst the horrible blood. but george sprang to his feet, and with his sharp sword struck again and again at the dragon's head. the sword could not pierce it, but the dragon, annoyed at george's fierce attack, thought it would fly out of his reach. but when it tried, the wound george had made in its wing prevented it. then its rage at george grew fifty times more furious. it roared till the whole land shook, and it sent out from its inside such blazing flames that george's face was scorched and his armour grew so hot that it burned into his flesh. george was so tired and so faint and sore, that when he was burned as well, he feared that the end had come. the dragon saw his faintness, and smiting him a tremendous blow with its great tail, it threw him down, and george fell backwards into a pool of water. now this pool of water was a magic spring. when george fell into it, all his faintness and weariness vanished. una, who feared he was dead, saw him spring out of the water even fresher and stronger than he had been at the beginning of the fight. the dragon could not believe its eyes, and thought that george must be a new knight who had come to fight it. before it had got over its surprise, george struck its head so fiercely with his sword, which still dripped from the magic water, that he made a great wound. the dragon, roaring like a hundred lions, struck at george with the stings on the end of its tail. one of them went right through george's shield, and through his armour, and firmly stuck in his shoulder. though george was faint with the pain it caused, he hit the dragon's tail such a blow that he hewed off five joints and left only the ugly stump. mad with rage, the dragon, belching out smoke and fire, and giving fearful cries, seized george's silver shield in its claws and tried to drag it from him. again and again, and yet again, george struck at it with his sword. at last he hit the joint and cut the paw clean off. even then, so tight was the grip that the claws had got, that it still hung bleeding from the shield. then was the dragon's rage so frightful, that the flames and smoke from its mouth were like the flames and smoke that pour out of a burning mountain. all the sky was darkened, and as george shrank back in horror from the burning, choking, smelling darkness, his foot slipped in the mire, and he fell. now there grew in that land a magic tree, all hung with fruit and rosy apples. from the trunk of the tree there flowed a little stream of sweet balm that could cure even deadly wounds and make weak people strong. the dragon was afraid of this tree and its magic stream, and dared not go near it. all night george lay as if he were dead, and una, on the hillside, waited with a heavy heart for morning to come. he lay so close to the magic tree that the dragon dared not come near him, but it thought that he must have died of his wounds. when the black night had rolled away and daylight spread over the land, george arose from his sleep. his wounds were all healed by the magic balm, and he was stronger than before. when the dragon rushed at him with its great fierce mouth gaping wide, george thrust his sword down its throat and wounded it so terribly that it rolled over like a huge mountain in an earthquake. the ground shook as it fell, and the last breaths that it drew stained the beautiful morning sky, like smoke from a furnace. at first it seemed to una too good to be true that the dragon was dead. but when the last of the black smoke had cleared away, and the monster lay quite still, she knew that george had won the fight and slain the dragon. the watchman on the brazen tower had also seen the dragon fall, and so the king had the gates of brass, that had been closed for so long, thrown wide open. with sounds of trumpets and shouts of joy the king and queen and their people came out to greet george and una, and to thank george, who had saved them and their land from the horrible dragon. the people crowded round the dead body of the monster. the children wished to look at it closely, and when a bold little boy took hold of its claws, his mother screamed with fright, and dragged him back. so long had they been in terror of their savage enemy, that even when it lay dead they still feared that it might do them some harm. [illustration: the dragon was dead (page 30)] there never was a happier wedding than the wedding of una and george, the red cross knight, nor was there ever any bride more beautiful than una. her dress was spotless, like a white lily. it was not made of silver nor silk, yet like silver and silk it shone and glistened. her golden hair hung round her happy face, and her face was like the freshest flower of may. fairy music rang through the air, and there was nothing but happiness in the land on the day that una wedded brave george of merry england. iii britomart and the magic mirror long years ago there lived a beautiful princess whose name was britomart. when she was a little girl she did not care to play with dolls nor to sew, but she loved to ride and to play boys' games. and when she grew older she learned to fight with spears and swords like the knights at her father's court. now a great magician called merlin had once given a wonderful gift to the king, britomart's father. it was a magic mirror, that looked like a ball of the clearest crystal. when the king looked in this mirror he saw all that was going to happen to him, and which of his friends were false and which true. there was no hidden secret which that crystal ball could not tell. one day britomart went into her father's room and looked into his magic mirror. 'what shall i wish to see?' she asked of herself. then she thought, 'some day i shall marry. i should like the crystal ball to show me what my husband will be like.' even as she thought this, she saw, like a moving picture, a knight riding across the crystal. he was tall and broad and strong, and looked very brave. the front of his shining helmet was drawn up, and from under it looked out the handsome face that his friends loved and his foes feared. he wore beautiful armour, all inlaid with gold, and she knew what his name was, and that he had won this armour in a fight with another great knight, for on it was written: '_achilles' armes which artegall did win._' from that day britomart could think of nothing but the knight whose picture had ridden across the mirror and vanished away. she grew thoughtful and sad, and could not sleep, for she feared it was a dreadful thing to love a shadow. her old nurse slept in her room, and at night when she heard britomart tossing about in bed and softly crying to herself, the old woman was very unhappy. night after night she heard her, till she could bear it no longer. she asked britomart what was wrong, and britomart sobbingly told her. then the good old nurse comforted britomart. she said she was sure that artegall must be a real man, and not just a shadow, and that she would find him. then she tucked the bedclothes round britomart, and put out the flickering lamp. when britomart, much comforted, had fallen quietly asleep, her nurse sat and watched beside her, and dropped some tears because britomart was no longer a little baby-girl for her to take care of, but a grown-up girl who loved a knight. next day the old nurse went to the woods and gathered all sorts of herbs. she boiled them down together, and mixed them with milk and other things, and put them in an earthen pot. round the pot she bound three of her hairs plaited together. then she said a charm over the pot, and made britomart turn round and round and round about it. she thought that this charm would cure britomart of loving the knight, and make her gay and happy again. but the old nurse's charm was no good. britomart grew thin and sad and ill. then the old woman thought of merlin, the magician who had made the mirror. 'it is all his fault that my princess is so sad,' she said; 'he must make her happy again.' so she dressed britomart and herself in shabby old clothes, and went to seek merlin. the magician lived in a dark cave under a rock. the rock lay near a swift-rushing river that ran down between thickly wooded hills. hollow, fearful sounds, and a clanking, as of chains, were always heard there. when britomart and her nurse reached the lonely cave, and heard the noise of moans and groans and clanking chains, they were too frightened at first to go in. but at length they plucked up courage and entered the cave, and found merlin writing magic words on the dark floor. he knew very well, although they wore shabby old clothes, that his visitors were the princess britomart and the princess's nurse. but he pretended that he did not know them, and asked them what they wanted. 'three moons have come and gone,' said the nurse, 'since this fair maid first turned ill. i do not know what ails her, but if you cannot cure her, she will die.' merlin smiled. 'if that is all you want,' he said, 'you had better take her to a doctor.' 'if any doctor could have done her good,' said the nurse, 'i should not have troubled you. but i fear that a witch or a wicked fairy must have bewitched her.' then merlin burst out laughing. 'why do you go on pretending to me?' he said. 'i know all about it. this is the beautiful princess britomart, and you are her nurse.' at that britomart blushed rosy red, but the nurse said: 'if you know all our grief, then have pity on us, and give us your help.' then merlin told britomart not to be sad, for artegall was a real living knight, and one of the bravest and noblest that lived. his home was in fairyland, but he was a king's son that the fairies had stolen away when he was a baby. 'you shall marry artegall,' said the magician, 'and bring him back from fairyland to his own country, where he shall be king.' then he gave her much advice, and told her of the great things that should be done in the days to come by the sons that were to be hers and artegall's. and britomart and her nurse, with happy hearts, came away from the magician's gloomy cave. 'but how shall we seek my knight?' asked britomart of her nurse. 'how shall we find him?' the nurse said: 'let us dress ourselves in some of the armour that your father has taken from his enemies. you shall be a knight, and i will be your squire. together we will ride to fairyland and find artegall.' when britomart was dressed in shining armour of silver and gold, she looked a very handsome, tall, young knight. her nurse dressed her as carefully as she had dressed her long ago in her baby-clothes, and, when all her armour was on, she put into her hand a long spear. it was a magic spear, and there had never yet been born a knight who could sit on his saddle when it struck him. in the silent night they got on their horses and rode away, no longer a princess and her nurse, but a gallant knight and a little old squire, who seemed to find his big shield much too heavy for him. before britomart and her nurse had ridden very far, they saw two knights riding towards them. these were guyon and the red cross knight. guyon rode furiously at britomart, but britomart rode as furiously at him with her magic spear. and, for the first time in his life, guyon found himself thrown from his horse and sitting heavily down on the ground. he was very much ashamed and very angry, and would have rushed at britomart with his sword. but the old palmer, who was with him, calmed his rage, and he made friends with britomart. and for some time britomart and those two brave knights rode on together, and shared fights and adventures. one day as they rode together, britomart asked the red cross knight if he knew a wicked knight called artegall. 'he is not a wicked knight,' said the red cross knight angrily. 'he is one of the bravest and the best.' britomart was so glad to hear him say this of artegall, that she could scarcely hide her joy. but she went on pretending that she thought artegall bad and cruel, just that she might hear his friend praise him. 'there is no knight more brave than artegall,' said the red cross knight. 'ladies who suffer wrong, and little children who have none to care for them, are always sure of having artegall to fight for them. he is as good as he is brave, and as brave as he is good.' britomart loved the red cross knight because he was so true to his friend, and more than ever she loved artegall, the knight of the mirror. presently her way and that of the red cross knight parted, and she rode on with her squire until they came to the sea-shore. the sea was beating against the rocks, and moaning as it cast itself against the high crags. britomart made her old nurse unlace her helmet, and sat down and watched the cold grey waves. 'i feel like a little boat beaten about by the sea,' she said. 'when shall i ever reach my harbour, and find the knight i seek?' for a long time she sat, sadly thinking. but at last she saw a knight cantering along the sand, and quickly put on her helmet and leaped on her horse, and rode to meet him. he was a bold knight, and told her to fly, or he would kill her. '_fly!_' proudly said britomart. 'words only frighten babies. i will not fly. i will fight you!' then they fought, and with her spear britomart gave the knight a terrible wound, and rode away, leaving him lying senseless on the shore. many other fights had britomart as she sought artegall, and always her magic spear made her the winner. one day she came to a place where a great many knights were having a tournament. a beautiful golden girdle, sparkling with jewels, was to be the prize for the knight that fought the best. for three days they had fought and fought, until the ground was strewed with broken spears and swords. on the last day of the tournament a stranger knight had appeared. his armour did not shine with silver and gold like those of the other knights, but looked like an old tree all overgrown with moss. his horse was decked with oak-leaves, and he carried a battered old shield. 'the savage knight,' the others called him, and they would have laughed at him and his shabby armour, had he not fought so well. all day long he fought, and one knight after another he threw wounded or dead on the ground. at sunset they feared him as they might have feared a fierce lion, and none dared stand against him. just then britomart rode up with her golden armour gleaming against the sunset sky. she couched her spear and rode at the savage knight, and threw him to the ground. the other knights then all rode at her, but them, too, she threw down with her magic spear. so they had to own that britomart was the victor, and had won the golden girdle. now the savage knight was not really a savage knight. he was no other than artegall, the knight of the crystal ball. artegall was so ashamed, and so angry with britomart for having thrown him from his horse, that when the tournament was over, he rode away to a wood, through which he knew that britomart must pass. 'the stranger knight with his magic spear shall fight me once again,' he angrily said, 'and this time he shall not be the victor.' presently, as he sat under the trees, and watched his horse grazing, he saw britomart riding up, brave and fearless, in her golden armour. artegall sprang on his horse, and furiously rode at britomart with his steel-headed lance. but, in the twinkling of an eye, he found himself lying on the turf, again unseated by the magic spear. he rushed at britomart then with his sword, and cut and thrust at her so savagely that her horse backed away from him. at last he struck a great blow at her head, and the sword, glancing down her armour, struck her horse with such force on its back that it fell to the ground, and britomart had to jump off. she threw aside her spear and furiously smote artegall with her sword. she cut his armour through, and wounded him so deeply that blood from his wound streamed to the ground. the blows from artegall's sword fell on her like hail, but she struck him as fiercely as he struck her. the grass got trampled down and stained with blood, yet still they smote and thrust and smote again. at last artegall grew very tired, and britomart was more tired still. when artegall saw how tired she was, he gathered up all his strength and struck her a terrific blow, hoping to kill her quite. but the blow only sheared off the front part of her helmet, and left her face uncovered. and as artegall's arm rose again for another deadly stroke, it stopped short in the air. for instead of the grim face of the fierce knight he thought he was fighting, there looked out a face that artegall thought was the loveliest he had ever seen. britomart's cheeks were hot and pink, and her hair, that was so long that it reached her feet, had burst from its band and framed her fair face like a golden frame. the sword slipped from artegall's fingers to the ground. he knelt at britomart's feet and begged her to forgive him for having treated her so roughly. but britomart was still angry with him for that last fierce stroke of his. 'rise!' she said, 'or i shall kill you!' and she held her sword over his head. but artegall would not rise, but only prayed her the more earnestly to forgive him. then the old nurse drew near and begged britomart to have a truce. 'rest yourself for a little,' she said, 'and let the savage knight rest too.' britomart agreed, and the knight raised the front of his helmet that he might breathe more freely. when britomart saw his face, so handsome and so brave, she knew at once that the savage knight that she had tried to kill was artegall, the knight of the mirror. her arm dropped, and her sword fell from her hand. she tried to speak roughly to him, but her tongue would not say the words. together they rode off to a castle, where they stayed till they were rested and their wounds were healed. and each day that they were together artegall loved britomart more and more, until at last he could stay no longer silent, but told her that he loved her more than all the world. so it was that the beautiful princess britomart found her husband, the gallant knight of the magic mirror. iv the quest of sir guyon long ago, on the first day of every year, the queen of the fairies used to give a great feast. on that day all the bravest of her knights came to her court, and when people wanted help to slay a dragon or a savage beast, or to drive away a witch or wicked fairy, they also came and told their stories. to one of those feasts there came an old palmer dressed in black. his hair was grey, and he leaned heavily on his long staff. he told a sad tale of the evil things done in his land by a wicked witch. the faery queen turned to guyon, one of the bravest and handsomest of her young knights. 'you shall go with this old man and save his land,' she said to him. 'i am not worthy,' said sir guyon, 'but i will do your bidding and my best.' so he rode away with the palmer. his good horse had never paced so slowly before, for guyon made him keep step with the feeble old man. it was not possible to go far from the fairy court without having fights and adventures, but in every fight guyon was the victor, because he listened to what the good old palmer said, and did not think that he himself knew better. one day they came to a wide river on which floated a little boat, all decked out with green branches. in it sat a fair lady, who sang and laughed and seemed very happy and very gay. she was a servant of the wicked witch for whom guyon was looking, but this guyon did not know. she offered to ferry guyon across the river, but she said there was no room in her boat for the palmer. guyon thought she looked so pretty and merry, and so kind, that he gladly went with her. together they gaily sailed down the river. when the birds sang, she sang along with them, and when little waves gurgled and laughed against the side of the boat, she laughed too. but soon guyon found that she was not really good, and he loved her gay laugh no longer, and presently left her and wandered on alone in the island to which she had brought him. at last he came to a gloomy glen where trees and shrubs grew so thickly that no sunlight could get in. sitting there in the darkness he found a rough and ugly man. his face was tanned with smoke and his eyes were bleared. great heaps of gold lay about him on every side. when he saw guyon, he dashed in a great fright at his money, and began to try to pour it into a hole and hide it, lest guyon should steal it from him. but guyon ran quickly at him and caught him by the arm. 'who are you,' he asked, 'who hide your money in this lonely place, instead of using it rightly or giving it away?' to which the man answered, 'i am mammon, the money god. i am the greatest god beneath the sky. if you will be my servant, all this money shall be yours. or if this be not gold enough for you, a mountain of gold, ten times more than what you see, shall be your very own.' but guyon shook his head. 'i want none of your gold,' said he. 'fair shields, gay steeds, bright arms be my delight, those be the riches fit for an adventurous knight.' then said the money god, 'money will buy you all those things. it can buy you crowns and kingdoms.' 'money brings wars and wrongs, bloodshed and bitterness,' said guyon. 'you may keep your gold.' the money god grew angry then. 'you do not know what you refuse,' he said. 'come with me and see.' guyon the fearless followed him into the thickest of the bushes and down a dark opening in the ground. on and on they went through the darkness. ugly things came and glared at them, and owls and night ravens flapped their wings, but guyon had no fear. at length they came to a huge cave whose roof and floor and walls were all of gold, but the gold was dimmed by dust and cobwebs. a light like the light of the moon from behind a dark cloud showed guyon great iron chests and coffers full of money, but the ground was strewn with the skulls and dry bones of men who had tried to get the gold, and who had failed and perished there. [illustration: great heaps of gold lay about him on every side (page 47)] 'will you serve me now?' asked mammon. 'only be my servant, and all these riches shall be yours.' 'i will not serve you,' answered guyon. 'i place a higher happiness before my eyes.' then mammon led him into another room where were a hundred blazing furnaces. hideous slaves of the money god blew bellows and stirred the flames, and ladled out of huge caldrons on the fires great spoonfuls of molten gold. when they saw guyon in his shining armour, they stopped their work and stared at him in fear and amazement. never before had they seen any one who was not as horrible and as ugly as themselves. once again mammon offered him the gold he saw, but again guyon refused it. then did he bring him to a place where was a gate of beaten gold. through this gate they passed, and guyon found himself in a vast golden room, upheld by golden pillars that shone and sparkled with precious stones. on a throne in this room sat a beautiful lady, dressed in clothes more gorgeous than any that the greatest king on earth ever wore. 'that is my daughter,' said mammon. 'she shall be your wife, and all these treasures that are too great to be counted shall be yours, if only you will be my servant.' 'i thank you, mammon,' said guyon, 'but my love is given to another lady.' the money god was full of rage, yet still he thought that he might win guyon to his will. he took him to a garden where dark cypresses hung their heads over the flaming blossoms of poppies that made men sleep for ever, and where every sort of poisonous flower and shrub flourished richly. it was called the garden of proserpine. the most beautiful thing in the garden was a great tree, thickly leaved and heavily hung with shining golden apples. the branches of the tree hung their golden fruit over a dark river. when guyon went to the river's brink and looked in, he saw many men struggling and moaning in the dark and fearful water. some were trying to grasp the fruit that hung just beyond their reach, and others were trying vainly to get out. 'you fool!' said mammon, 'why do you not pick some of the golden fruit that hangs so easily within your reach?' but guyon, although for three long days and nights he had been without sleep and meat and drink in the dark land of the money god, was too true and good a knight to do what mammon wished. had he picked the fruit, he would have put himself in mammon's power, and at once been torn into a thousand pieces. 'i will not take the fruit,' he said; 'i will not be your slave.' and then, for days and days, guyon knew no more. when he came to himself and opened his eyes, he found that his head was resting on the knee of the good old palmer. after the witch's beautiful servant had rowed guyon away, the palmer had tried and tried to find a means of crossing the river, until at last he succeeded. day after day he sought guyon, until one day a fairy voice called to him, loud and clear, 'come hither! hither! oh come hastily!' he hurried to the place from whence the voice came, and in the dark thicket where mammon had sat and counted his gold, he found guyon lying. a beautiful spirit with golden hair and shining wings of many colours, like the wings of a lovely bird, sat by guyon's side, keeping all enemies and evil things far from him. when guyon felt able for the journey, he and the palmer went on with their travels, and he had many fights and many adventures. but ever after he had been tempted to be mammon's slave and had resisted him, he was a better and a braver knight. all his battles ended in victories, and he helped all those who needed help, and at last he and the palmer reached the shore of the sea across which was the land of the wicked witch. they got a little boat, and a boatman to row them, and for two days they were far out at sea. on the morning of the third day, guyon and the others heard the sound of raging water. in the trembling light of the dawn that was spreading across the sea they saw great waves casting themselves high into the sky. it was a gulf, called the gulf of greediness, and in its furious waves many ships were wrecked. but the palmer steered so straight and well that he guided the little boat without harm through the angry seas. on one side of the gulf was a great black rock where screaming seamews and cormorants sat and waited for ships to be wrecked. it was a magic rock, and the water round it tried to draw guyon's boat against its ragged sides, that it might be smashed to pieces like the other boats and ships whose broken fragments tossed up and down in the tide. but so wisely did the palmer steer, and so strongly did the boatman row, that they safely passed the magic rock and got into calm water. and still the boatman rowed so hard that the little boat cut through the water like a silver blade, and the spray dashed off the oars into guyon's face. 'i see land!' at last called guyon. on every side they saw little islands. when they got nearer they found that they looked fresh and green and pleasant. tall trees with blossoms of white and red grew on them. 'let us land!' cried guyon. but the boatman shook his head. 'those are the wandering islands,' he said. 'they are magic islands, and if any one lands on one of them he must wander for ever and ever.' on one island sat a beautiful lady, with her long hair flowing round her. she beckoned and called to them to come on shore, and when they would not listen she jumped into a little boat and rowed swiftly after them. then guyon saw that it was the wicked witch's beautiful servant, and they took no notice of her. so she got tired of coaxing, and went away, calling them names. a terrible whirlpool, where the waves rushed furiously round and round, was the next danger that they met. then, when they were free of that, a great storm arose, and every fierce and ugly fish and monster that ever lived in the sea came rushing at the boat from out the foaming waves, roaring as if they were going to devour them. 'have no fear,' said the palmer to guyon. 'these ugly shapes were only made by the wicked witch to frighten you.' with his palmer's staff he smote the sea. the waves sank down to rest, and all the ugly monsters vanished away. when the storm had ceased they saw on an island a lady, who wept and wailed and cried for help. guyon, who was always ready to help those who wanted help, wished at once to go to her. but the palmer would not let him. 'she is another of the servants of the witch,' he said, 'and is only pretending to be sad.' they came then to a peaceful bay that lay in the shadow of a great grey hill, and from it came the sweetest music that guyon had ever heard. five beautiful mermaids were swimming in the clear green water, and the melody of their song made guyon long to stop and listen. they had made this song about guyon: 'o thou fair son of gentle fairy, thou art in mighty arms most magnified above all knights that ever battle tried. o! turn thy rudder hitherward awhile, here may thy storm-beat vessel safely ride. this is the port of rest from troublous toil, the world's sweet inn from pain and wearisome turmoil.' the rolling sea gently echoed their music, and the breaking waves kept time with their voices. the very wind seemed to blend with the melody and make it so beautiful that guyon longed and longed to go with them to their peaceful bay under the grey hill. but the palmer would not let him stop, and the boatman rowed onwards. then a thick, choking, grey mist crept over the sea and blotted out everything, and they could not tell where to steer. and round the boat flew great flocks of fierce birds and bats, smiting the voyagers in their faces with wicked wings. still the boatman rowed steadily on, and steadily the palmer steered, till the weather began to clear. and, when the fog was gone, they saw at last the fair land to which the faerie queen had sent guyon, that he might save it from the magic of the wicked witch. when they reached the shore the boatman stayed with his boat, and guyon and the palmer landed. and the palmer was glad, for he felt that their task was nearly done. savage, roaring beasts rushed at them as soon as they reached the shore. but the palmer waved his staff at them, and they shrank trembling away. soon guyon and his guide came to the palace of the witch. the palace was made of ivory as white as the foam of the sea, and it glittered with gold. at the ivory gate stood a young man decked with flowers, and holding a staff in his hand. he impudently held out a great bowl of wine for guyon to drink. but guyon threw the bowl on the ground, and broke the staff with which the man worked wicked magic. then guyon and the palmer passed on, through rich gardens full of beautiful flowers, and came to another gate made of green boughs and branches. over it spread a vine, from which hung great bunches of grapes, red, and green, and purple and gold. a beautiful lady stood by the gate. she reached up to a bunch of purple grapes, and squeezed their juice into a golden cup and offered it to guyon. but guyon dashed the cup to the ground, and left her raging at him. past trees and flowers and clear fountains they went, and all the time through this lovely place there rang magic music. sweet voices, the song of birds, the whispering winds, the sound of silvery instruments, and the murmur of water all blended together to make melody. the farther they went, the more beautiful were the sights they saw, and the sweeter the music. at last, lying on a bed of red roses, they found the wicked witch. softly they crept through the flowery shrubs to where she lay, and before she knew that they were near, guyon threw over her a net that the palmer had made. she struggled wildly to free herself, but before she could escape, guyon bound her fast with chains. then he broke down and destroyed the palace, and all the things that had seemed so beautiful, but that were only a part of her wicked magic. as guyon and the palmer led the witch by her chains to their boat that waited by the shore, the fierce beasts that had attacked them when they landed came roaring at them again. but the palmer touched each one with his staff, and at once they were turned into men. for it was only the witch's magic that had made them beasts. one of them, named gryll, who had been a pig, was angry with the palmer, and said he had far rather stay a pig than be a man. 'let gryll be gryll, and have his hoggish mind, but let us hence depart whilst weather serves and wind,' said the palmer. so they sailed away to the fairy court, and gave their wicked prisoner to the queen to be punished. and sir guyon was ready once again to do the faerie queen's commands, to war against all evil things, and to fight bravely for the right. v pastorella long, long ago, in a far-away land, there lived a great noble, called the lord of many islands. he had a beautiful daughter named claribel, and he wished her to marry a rich prince. but claribel loved a brave young knight, and she married him without her father's knowledge. the lord of many islands was fearfully angry when he found out that she was married. he threw the young knight into one dark dungeon and claribel into another, and there they were imprisoned for years and years, until the lord of many islands was dead. claribel was rich then, and she and her husband would have been very happy together, but for a great loss that they had had. while she was in prison a little baby girl came to claribel. she feared that her angry father might kill the baby if he knew that it had been born, so she gave it to her maid, and told her to give it to some one to take care of. the maid carried the child far away to where there were no houses, but only wild moors and thick woods. there was no one there to give it to, but she dared not take it back in case its grandfather might kill it. she did not know what to do, and she cried and cried until the baby's clothes were quite wet with her tears. it was a very pretty baby, and the maid noticed that on its little breast there was a tiny purple mark, as if some one had painted on it an open rose. she drew its clothes over the mark, and then laid the baby gently down behind some green bushes, and went home crying bitterly. when the baby found herself lying out in the cold with no one to care for her, she cried too. and she cried so loudly and so long, that a shepherd called meliboeus heard her cries, and came to see what was wrong. when he found the beautiful baby, he wrapped her in his warm cloak and carried her home to his wife. from that day the baby was their little girl. they called her pastorella, and loved her as if she were really their own. pastorella grew up amongst shepherds and shepherdesses, yet she was never quite like them. none of the shepherdesses were as beautiful as she was, and none were as gentle nor as full of grace. so they called pastorella their queen, and would often crown her with garlands of flowers. when pastorella was grown up, there came one day to the country of plains and woods where she lived a brave and noble knight. his name was calidore, and of all the knights of the faerie queen there was none so gentle nor so courteous as he. he always thought of others first, and never did anything that he thought would hurt the feelings of any one. yet he was brave and strong, and had done many gallant deeds. he was hunting a monster that had done much harm, when he came near the home of pastorella. sheep were grazing on the plain, and nibbling the golden buds that the spring sunshine had brought to the broom. shepherds were watching the sheep. some were singing out of the happiness of their hearts, because of the blue sky and the green grass and the spring flowers. others were playing on pipes they had made for themselves out of the fresh young willow saplings. calidore asked them if they had seen the monster that he sought. 'we have seen no monster, nor any dreadful thing that could do our sheep or us harm,' they answered, 'and if there be such things, we pray they may be kept far from us.' then one of them, seeing how hot and tired sir calidore was, asked him if he would have something to drink and something to eat. their food was very simple, but calidore thanked them, and gladly sat down to eat and drink along with them. a little way from where they sat, some shepherds and shepherdesses were dancing. hand in hand, the pretty shepherdesses danced round in a ring. beyond them sat a circle of shepherds, who sang and piped for the girls to dance. and on a green hillock in the middle of the ring of girls sat pastorella. she wore a dainty gown that she herself had made, and on her head was a crown of spring flowers that the shepherdesses had bound together with gay silken ribbons. 'pastorella,' sang the shepherds and the girls, 'pastorella is our queen.' calidore sat and watched. and the more he looked at pastorella, the more he wanted to look. and he looked, and he looked, and he looked again at pastorella's sweet and lovely face, until pastorella had stolen all his heart away. he forgot all about the monster he was hunting, and could only say to himself, as the shepherds had sung, 'pastorella ... pastorella ... pastorella is my queen.' all day long he sat, until the evening dew began to fall, and the sunset slowly died away, and the shepherds called the sheep together and drove them home. as long as pastorella was there, calidore felt that he could not move. but presently an old man with silver hair and beard, and a shepherd's crook in his hand, came and called to pastorella, 'come, my daughter, it is time to go home.' it was meliboeus, and when calidore saw pastorella rise and call her sheep and turn to go, he did not know what to do, for he could only think of pastorella. but when good old meliboeus saw the knight being left all alone, and the shadows falling, and the trees looking grey and cold, he said to him, 'i have only a little cottage, turfed outside to keep out the wind and wet, but it is better to be there than to roam all night in the lonely woods, and i bid you welcome, sir knight.' [illustration: in the middle of the ring of girls sat pastorella (page 63)] and calidore gladly went with him, for that was just what he was longing to do. all evening, as he listened to the talk of meliboeus, who was a wise and good old man, calidore's eyes followed pastorella. he offered meliboeus some gold to pay for his lodging, but meliboeus said, 'i do not want your gold, but, if you will, stay with us and be our guest.' so, day after day, calidore stayed with the shepherds. and, day after day, he loved pastorella more. he treated her and said pretty things to her as knights were used to treat and to speak to the court ladies. but pastorella was used to simpler things, and liked the simple things best. when calidore saw this, he laid aside his armour and dressed himself like a shepherd, with a crook instead of a spear. every day he helped pastorella to drive her sheep to the field, and took care of them and drove away the hungry wolves, so that she might do as she liked and never have any care, knowing that he was there. now, one of the shepherds, whose name was corydon, for a long time had loved pastorella. he would steal the little fluffy sparrows from their nests, and catch the young squirrels, and bring them to her as gifts. he helped her with her sheep, and tried in every way he knew to show her that he loved her. when he saw calidore doing things for pastorella he grew very jealous and angry. he sulked and scowled and was very cross with pastorella. one day when the shepherd who piped the best was playing, the other shepherds said that calidore and pastorella must dance. but calidore put corydon in his place, and when pastorella took her own garland of flowers and placed it on calidore's head, calidore gently took it off and put it on corydon's. another time, when the shepherds were wrestling, corydon challenged calidore to wrestle with him. corydon was a very good wrestler, and he hoped to throw calidore down. but in one minute calidore had thrown corydon flat on the ground. then pastorella gave the victor's crown of oak-leaves to calidore. but calidore said 'corydon has won the oak-leaves well,' and placed the crown on corydon's head. all the shepherds except corydon soon came to like calidore, for he was always gentle and kind. but corydon hated him, because he thought that pastorella cared for calidore more than she cared for him. one day pastorella and corydon and calidore went together to the woods to gather wild strawberries. pastorella's little fingers were busy picking the ripe red fruit from amongst its fresh green leaves, when there glided from out the bushes a great beast of black and yellow, that walked quietly as a cat and had yellow, cruel eyes. it was a tiger, and when pastorella heard a twig break under its great pads, and looked up, it rushed at her fiercely. pastorella screamed for help, and corydon, who was near her, ran to see what was wrong. but when he saw the savage tiger, he ran away again in a fearful fright. calidore was further off, but he, too, ran, and came just in time to see the tiger spring at pastorella. he had no sword nor spear, but with his shepherd's crook he struck the tiger such a terrific blow, that it dropped, stunned, to the ground. before it could rise, he drew his knife and cut off its head, which he laid at pastorella's feet. from that day pastorella loved calidore, and he and she were very, very happy together. it chanced that one day calidore went far into the forest to hunt the deer. while he was away a band of wicked robbers attacked the shepherds. they killed many of them, and took the rest prisoners. they burned down all their cottages, and stole their flocks of sheep. amongst those that they drove away as captives were meliboeus and his wife, corydon, and pastorella. through the dark night they drove them on, until they came to the sea. on an island near the coast was the robbers' home. the island was covered with trees and thick brushwood, and the robbers lived in underground caves, so well hidden amongst the bushes that it was hard to find them. the robbers meant to sell the shepherds and shepherdesses as slaves, but until merchants came to buy them they kept their prisoners in the darkest of the caves, and used them very cruelly. one morning the robber captain came to look at his captives. when he saw pastorella in her pretty gown, all soiled now and worn, with her long golden hair and beautiful blue eyes, and her face white and thin with suffering, he thought her so lovely that he determined to have her for his wife. from that day she was kindly treated. but when the robber told pastorella that he loved her and wanted her for his wife, she pretended she was ill. 'i am much too ill to marry any one,' she said. to the island there came one day the ships of some merchants who wished to buy slaves. they bought meliboeus and corydon and all the others. then one of the robbers said to the captain: 'they are all here but the fair shepherdess.' and he told the merchants that pastorella would make a much more beautiful slave than any of those they had bought. then the captain was very angry. 'she belongs to me,' he said. 'i will not sell her.' to show the merchants that pastorella was ill and not fit to be a slave, at last he sent for her. the cave was lighted only by flickering candles, and pastorella's fair face looked like a beautiful star in the darkness. although she was so pale, she was so beautiful that the merchants said that they must certainly have her. 'i have told you i will not sell her,' said the captain sulkily. they offered him much gold, but still he would only say, 'i will not sell her.' 'if you will not sell this slave,' said the merchants, 'we will not buy any of the others.' then the other robbers grew very angry with their captain, and tried to compel him to give in. 'i shall kill the first who dares lay a hand on her!' furiously said the captain, drawing his sword. then began a fearful fight. the candles were knocked down, and the robbers fought in the dark, no man knowing with whom he fought. but before the candles went out, the robbers in their fury killed all their prisoners, lest they might take the chance of escaping, or fight against them. old meliboeus and his wife were slain, and all the other shepherds and shepherdesses, excepting corydon and pastorella. corydon, who was always good at running away, escaped in the darkness. the robber captain put pastorella behind him, and fought for her. at last he was stabbed through the heart and fell dead. the sword that killed him pierced pastorella's arm, and she, too, fell down in a faint. when she opened her eyes the robbers who were left had stopped fighting, and had lighted the candles, and were counting their dead and wounded. when she saw her dear father and mother and her friends lying cold and still beside her, she began to sob and cry. as soon as the robbers knew that she lived, they thrust her back into the darkest of their caves. the most cruel of all the robbers was her gaoler. he would not allow her to bind up her wound, and he gave her scarcely anything to eat or to drink. he would not even let her rest, and so, in pain and hunger and sadness, pastorella passed her weary nights and days. now when calidore got back from his hunting, he expected to hear the shepherds' pipes, and their songs, and the bleating of the sheep, and to see pastorella in her dainty gown and with flowers in her golden hair coming to meet him. instead of that, the place which had been so gay was sad and silent. the cottages were smouldering black ruins, and there was no living creature there. calidore wildly sought everywhere for some trace of pastorella. but when he sought her in the woods and called 'pastorella ... pastorella ...', only the trees echoed 'pastorella.' in the plains he sought her, but they lay silent and lonely under the stars, and they, too, only echoed 'pastorella ... pastorella....' week after week he searched for her, until one day he saw a man running across the plain. the man's hair was standing up on his head as if he were in a terrible fright, and his clothes were in rags. when he got near, calidore saw that it was corydon. 'where is pastorella?' eagerly asked calidore. corydon burst into tears. 'ah, well-a-day,' he said, 'i saw fair pastorella die!' he then told calidore all about the robbers' raid, and all that had happened in that dreadful cave. only one thing he did not know. he did not know that pastorella was alive. he had seen her fall down, and he thought that she was dead. so calidore's heart was nearly broken, and he vowed a vow that he would not rest until he had punished the wicked men who had killed pastorella. he made corydon come with him to show him the way to the robbers' island. at first corydon was too frightened to go, but at last calidore persuaded him. together they set off, dressed like shepherds. but although calidore carried only a shepherd's crook, under his smock he wore his steel armour. when at last they had reached the island, they found some sheep grazing, and knew them for some of those that had belonged to meliboeus. when corydon saw the sheep he had taken care of in the days when he was most happy, he began to cry. but calidore comforted him, and they went on to where some robber shepherds lay asleep in the shade. corydon wanted to kill them as they slept, but calidore had other plans, and would not let him. he awoke them, and they talked together. the robbers told him that they did not care to look after sheep, but liked better to fight and rob and kill. when calidore and corydon said that they would help them to keep the sheep, the robbers were glad. all day they stayed with the flocks, and at night the robbers took them home to their dark caves. there calidore and corydon heard news that made them glad, but made calidore the more glad, for he loved pastorella more than corydon had ever done. they learned that pastorella was alive. and so, day after day, they went on with their work, and waited and watched for a chance to set pastorella free. one night when the robbers had been away all day stealing and killing, and were all very tired, calidore knew that the time had come to try to save pastorella. corydon was too frightened to go with him. so all alone, at dead of night, calidore went to the cave where the new robber captain, pastorella's gaoler, slept. calidore had managed to get a little sword belonging to a robber, but he had nothing else to fight with. when he came to the cave, he found the door fastened. he put his strong shoulder against it, and burst the door in. the crash awoke pastorella's gaoler, and he ran to see what it was. with one blow of his sword calidore killed him. then he called, till his voice rang through the gloomy cave, '_pastorella!_' pastorella heard the noise, and lay trembling lest some new dreadful thing had come upon her. but when, again and again, calidore called her name, her heart jumped for joy, and she ran out of the darkness right into her true knight's arms. and calidore threw his arms about her, and kissed her a thousand times. the robbers had waked up, hearing the crash of the door, and the yell of the robber as he died, and calidore's cry of 'pastorella.' like a swarm of angry wasps they flocked to the door of the cave, but in the doorway stood calidore with his sword, and slew every man who dared to try to kill him. he slew and slew until the doorway was blocked with dead bodies. then those robbers that still lived were afraid to touch him, and went away to rest until morning. calidore also rested, and when daylight came he found amongst the dead robbers a better sword than the one he already had, and with that in his hand he walked out of the cave. the robbers were lying in wait for him, and rushed at him from every side when he appeared. but calidore was like a lion in a herd of deer. with his sharp sword he thrust and smote, until the robbers who did not lie dead around him fled in terror, and hid themselves in their caves. then calidore went back to where he had left pastorella, and cheered and comforted her. together they went through the robbers' caves, and took the richest of their treasures of gold and precious jewels. all the sheep they gave to corydon, who gladly drove them away. then calidore took pastorella to the castle of one of his friends, a noble knight, whose gentle wife was called claribel. calidore had to go to hunt the monster that he was pursuing when he first met the shepherds, so he left pastorella with the knight and his lady. pastorella was so gentle and beautiful that they loved her for her own sweet sake, as well as for calidore's, and cared for her as if she was their own daughter. an old woman who had always been claribel's maid was given as maid to pastorella. one morning as this woman helped her to dress, she noticed on pastorella's white breast a curious little mark. it was as if some one had painted on the fair skin a tiny purple rose with open petals. the old woman ran to her mistress, claribel. 'your baby lives!' she cried; 'the little baby i left crying under the green bushes is the beautiful pastorella who is to marry sir calidore!' claribel ran to pastorella's room, and looked at the little rose, and asked many questions. and when pastorella had answered her, she was quite satisfied that she was indeed the baby-girl for whom her heart had been so hungry through all those years. 'my daughter, my daughter, that i mourned as dead!' she sobbed, as she held pastorella in her arms and kissed her again and again. when the knight knew that he was pastorella's father, he was as glad as claribel. so they lived happily together until calidore had slain the monster and come back to marry pastorella. then instead of pastorella, the shepherd's daughter, with her little dainty gown and her wreath of wildflowers, he found a pastorella in jewels, and silks, and satins, who was the daughter of a great knight and his lady, and grand-daughter of the lord of many islands. yet the pastorella who married brave sir calidore was evermore pastorella, the simplest and sweetest bride that any knight ever brought to the court of the faerie queen. vi cambell and triamond once upon a time a fairy had a lovely daughter called cambina, and three sons who were born on the same day. the eldest son she named priamond, the second diamond, and the third triamond. priamond was very stout and big, but he could not strike hard. diamond struck very hard, but he was little and thin. but triamond was tall and stout and strong as well. priamond used to fight on foot. triamond fought on horseback. but diamond could fight equally well on a horse or off it. triamond fought with a spear and shield. diamond fought with a battle-axe. but priamond could fight just as well with an axe as he could with a spear and shield. their fairy mother was so fond and so proud of her gallant sons, that she could not bear to think of one of them dying. so she went to see three witches called the three fates, who lived in a dark place underground, and worked at their spinning-wheels day and night. she asked the fates to let her sons have long, long lives. that they would not promise, but they promised that if priamond died first, all his strength should go into the other two. and if diamond should then die, all his strength and priamond's were to go into their brother triamond. priamond, diamond, and triamond loved each other very dearly. when they grew up and all fell in love with the same lady, it did not make them less good friends. the name of this lady was canacee. she was very beautiful, and was the cleverest lady in all that land. she knew all about birds and beasts and plants and flowers, and was as witty as she was wise. many knights wished to marry her, and these knights were so jealous of each other that they were constantly fighting about her. canacee had a brother named cambell, a wise young knight, who was sorry to see how often the knights fought with each other about his sister. one day, when they were all gathered together, cambell told them that he had made a plan by which they could decide which of them was to marry canacee. [illustration: she asked the fates to let her sons have long, long lives (page 80)] 'choose from amongst yourselves,' said he, 'the three knights that you all think the bravest and the best fighters, and i shall fight them, one by one. the knight who beats me shall have my sister canacee for his wife.' now all the knights knew that canacee had given her brother a magic ring, and that, as long as he wore it, no matter how deep a wound he got, the wound would not bleed, and he would not die. 'it is very well for cambell,' they said. 'we cannot kill him, but he can kill us.' so they would not fight, even to win canacee. but the three brothers, priamond, diamond, and triamond, were not afraid. 'we will fight with you, cambell,' they said, 'for all of us love canacee.' so a day was fixed for this great fight. on the morning of the day, no sooner was it light than the three brothers in their shining armour were ready on the field. crowds of people came to watch the fight, and there were six judges to see that the knights fought fairly. canacee, in a beautiful dress, sat on a high platform whence she could see all that went on. when cambell strode into the field, he looked as if he were quite sure of defeating all three knights. then came priamond, diamond, and triamond, marching together, in splendid armour, with their gay-coloured banners flying. they bowed low before canacee, the lady they loved, and the trumpets sounded and sweet music played. then a trumpet blew loudly, and cambell and stout priamond began to fight. furiously they struck at each other, and at last priamond's spear went through cambell's shoulder. but although the shoulder was pierced, and the pain from the wound was terrible, not a single drop of blood fell from it. so they fought and fought, until cambell's spear was driven through brave priamond's neck. like a great oak-tree that the storm has struck, priamond tottered, then fell with a mighty crash. there, on the ground, he lay bleeding and dead. when he died, all his strength passed into his two brothers, as the three fates had promised to his fairy mother. a second time the trumpet sounded, and slight little diamond, his battle-axe in his hand, fiercely rushed at cambell. so furiously did they hew and hack at each other, that their armour was cut and gashed as if it had been rotten wood. no blood flowed from cambell's wounds, but diamond's blood gushed fast, and reddened the green turf. fierce little diamond grew tired at last of hacking and hewing and yet never killing cambell. so he put all his strength into one terrible stroke, and swung his axe round with all his might. had the blow reached cambell it must have chopped his head in two, but cambell swerved aside. diamond had used so much force, that when he missed his aim his foot slipped. cambell took the chance, let drive at him with all his power, and with his axe cut diamond's head clean off. for a moment diamond's headless body stood still. then gallant little diamond fell dead on the ground. as he fell, all his strength, and the strength of priamond, went into triamond, the youngest brother. then triamond, stronger and more angry than he had ever been before, lightly sprang up from where he had sat to watch the fight. his strokes fell like hail on cambell's armour. he struck, he thrust, he hewed, he hacked, till the sparks flew from his sword like the shining drops that are dashed from a waterfall. sometimes triamond seemed to be winning; sometimes cambell. the blood gushed from triamond's wounds, till he grew faint. but although cambell was covered with wounds the magic ring stopped his blood from flowing, so that he grew no less strong. when he saw triamond growing weak, he smote him in the throat with all his might, and triamond fell down as if he were dead. but triamond did not die. from the fearful wound all the strength that had belonged to his brother priamond ebbed away. still he had his own strength and diamond's strength left. so he rose up again, and cambell, who had thought him dead, was so amazed that triamond gave him a hard stroke before he had time to defend himself. then cambell fought with more care, and seemed rather to try to save himself than to try to kill triamond. triamond, seeing this, thought that cambell must be tired, and that he could easily beat him now. with that he whirled up his sword to give a fearful blow. but cambell, quick as lightning, thrust his sword under triamond's upraised arm, so that it passed right through his body and came out at the other side. even then the blow that triamond struck was such a terrible one, that it cut through cambell's steel helmet and gashed open his head, and he fell senseless to the ground. triamond, too, fell down, and out of his wound all diamond's strength ebbed away. when those who looked on saw this, they thought that the fight was at an end, because the fighters all lay dead. canacee began to cry because her brother and the brave knight who loved her were slain. but in a moment both knights rose to their feet again. those who watched could not believe their eyes when they saw them begin to fight as fiercely as before. while every one stared in wonder and in fear, because they knew that soon the knights must surely kill each other, a loud noise suddenly drowned the clash of weapons. it was a sound as of women and boys shouting and screaming in a panic. cambell and triamond stopped their fight for an instant to listen and to look at the place from whence the noise came. they saw a golden chariot, decked with wonderful ornaments, whirling towards them with the force of a storm. two fierce lions drew the chariot, and in it sat a lady, whose face shone with beauty and goodness. it was triamond's sister, cambina, who knew more about magic than almost any one else in all fairyland. when the crowds who watched saw her and her growling lions, they huddled together like frightened sheep. some laughed, most of them screamed, and all of them ran till the dust flew up in clouds. in one hand cambina carried a magic wand with two serpents twisted round it. in the other she held a golden cup filled with a magic drink, that made those who drank of it forget all anger and bitterness, and filled their hearts with happiness and friendship and peace. when cambina came to the wooden barrier that shut off the watchers from the field where the knights had fought, she softly struck the rail with her wand. it flew open, and the lions dashed in with cambina's glittering chariot. she got out of her chariot and ran up to the two knights, and begged them to fight no more. but they would not listen, and began to fight again. then she knelt on the bloodstained ground, and besought them with tears to lay down their swords. when they still went fiercely on, she smote them lightly with her magic wand. their swords fell to the ground, and while they stared at each other in wonder, cambina handed them her golden cup. they were so hot and thirsty that they gladly drank. and, as they drank, all anger went out of their hearts, and love for each other took its place. they kissed, and shook hands, and vowed that they would be friends for evermore. when the people saw this, they shouted and cheered for gladness till all the air rang. and canacee ran down from her platform and kissed cambina, who had stopped the fearful fight and made canacee's brother and her lover friends. then the trumpets sounded, and cambina took canacee into her chariot beside her, and the lions galloped off to canacee's palace. and all the people thought how beautiful were these two lovely ladies, whose faces were fresh as morning roses and radiant with happiness. cambell and canacee gave a great feast that lasted for days and days. and triamond married canacee, and cambell married cambina, and they all lived happily and peacefully ever afterwards. vii marinell, the sea-nymph's son sometimes when the sun is rising on the sea and making the waves all pink and gold, the sailors whose boats are sailing out of the grey night fancy that they see fair ladies floating on the white crests of the waves, or drying their long yellow hair in the warm sunshine. sometimes poets who wander on the beach at night, or sit on the high cliffs where the sea-pinks grow, see those beautiful ladies playing in the silver moonlight. and musicians hear them singing, singing, singing, till their songs silence the sea-birds harsh cry, and their voices blend with the swish and the rush of the sea and the moan of the waves on the shore. the sailors tell stories of them, and the musicians put their songs into their hearts. but the poets write poems about them, and say:- 'there are no ladies so fair to see as the nymphs whose father is a king. nereus is their father, and they are the nereids. their home is under the sea; as blue as the sea are their eyes. their long, long hair is yellow like sand. their silver voices are like lutes, and they steal men's hearts away.' long, long ago, one of these nymphs became the wife of a brave knight, who found her sleeping amongst the rocks and loved her for her beauty. cymoã«nt was her name, and the other nymphs called her cymoã«nt the black browed, because dark lashes and eyebrows shaded her sea-blue eyes. the knight and the nymph had a son as strong and as brave as his father, and as beautiful as his mother, and cymoã«nt called him marinell. 'my son must be richer than any of the knights who live on the land,' said cymoã«nt to the king her father. 'give him riches.' so the sea-king told the waves to cast on the shore riches that they had stolen from all the ships that had ever been wrecked. and the waves strewed the strand with gold and amber and ivory and pearls, and every sort of jewel and precious stone. the shore sparkled and shone with marinell's riches, and no one dared touch them, for marinell had beaten a hundred knights in battle, and fought every man who dared venture to ride along these sands. cymoã«nt feared that as marinell had won so many fights, he might grow reckless and get killed. now neptune, who was king of all the seas, had a shepherd who could tell what was going to happen in the future. 'tell me,' cymoã«nt said to him, 'how long my marinell will live, and from what dangers he must take most care to keep away.' 'do not let him go near any women,' said the shepherd of the seas. 'i can see that a woman will either hurt him very much, or kill him altogether.' so cymoã«nt warned her son never to go near any woman. and many ladies were sad because handsome marinell would not speak to them, and the lovely lady florimell was the saddest of all. one day as marinell proudly rode along the glittering sand, he saw a knight in armour that shone as brightly as the gold that the little waves had kissed. 'i am lord of the golden strand!' said marinell angrily, 'how dare the knight ride on the shore that is all my own!' he rode furiously up, and told the knight to fly. but the knight was britomart, the fair lady with a man's armour and a man's heart. she scorned his proud words, and smote him with her magic spear. and britomart rode away, leaving marinell lying as if he were dead. his red blood stained his armour, and reddened the little waves that crept up to see what was wrong. the water washed over his feet. 'he is asleep,' said the little waves. 'we will wake him.' but marinell lay cold and still, and the blood dripped and dripped on to the golden sand. then the waves grew frightened, and the sea-birds screamed, '_marinell is dead, is dead_ ... _dead_ ... _dead_....' so the news came to his mother cymoã«nt. cymoã«nt and her sisters were playing by a pond near the sea, round which grew nodding yellow daffodils. they were picking the daffodils and making them into garlands for their fair heads, when they heard the message of the birds, '_marinell is dead, dead, dead_.' cymoã«nt tore the daffodils from her hair, and fell on the ground in a faint. all her sister nymphs wailed and wept and threw their gay flowers away, and cymoã«nt lay with white face, and her head on the poor, torn daffodils. [illustration: but the knight was britomart, the fair lady with a man's armour and a man's heart (page 92)] at last she came out of her faint, and asked for her chariot, and all her sisters sent for their chariots too. a team of dolphins drew the chariot of cymoã«nt, and they were trained so well that they cut through the water as swiftly as swallows, and did not even leave a track of white foam behind. other fishes drew the chariots of the other nymphs, and neptune, king of all the seas, was so sorry for the sorrow of cymoã«nt and the other nereids, that he told his waves to be gentle, and let them pass peacefully to where marinell lay on the golden strand. when they got near where he lay, they got out of their chariots, for they feared that the dolphins and other fishes might get bruised and hurt by the rocks and pebbles on the shore. and with their strong white arms they swiftly swam to where marinell lay, still and silent in his blood. when cymoã«nt saw her son's white face, she fainted again, and when she had recovered from her faint, she cried and moaned so bitterly, that even the hard rocks nearly wept for sorrow. she and her sisters carefully looked at marinell's wound, and one of them, who knew much about healing, felt his pulse, and found that a little life was still left in him. with their soft, silver-fringed mantles they wiped the blood from the wound, and poured in soothing balm and nectar, and bound it up. then they strewed cymoã«nt's chariot with flowers, and lifted marinell gently up, and laid him in it. and the dolphins, knowing to go quietly and swiftly, swam off with cymoã«nt and marinell to cymoã«nt's bower under the sea. deep in the bottom of the sea was the bower. it was built of hollow waves, heaped high, like stormy clouds. in it they laid marinell, and hastily sent for the doctor of all the folk under the sea, to come and try to cure the dreadful wound. so clever and so wise was this doctor, that soon the nymphs could laugh and sport again because marinell was well. but cymoã«nt was afraid that some other harm might come to him if he went on to the land. so she made him stay beside her, under the sea, until marinell grew tired of doing nothing. he longed to gallop away on his horse, his sword clanking by his side, and see the green woods and grey towers of the land, instead of idling away the hours in a bower under the sea, where there was nothing for him to do, but to watch the fishes of silver and blue and red, as they chased each other through the forests of seaweed. one day two great rivers were married, and all the sea-folk went to the wedding. a feast was given in the house of the shepherd of the seas, and while cymoã«nt and the other nymphs were there, marinell wandered about outside. for because marinell's father had been a knight and not one of the sea-folk, marinell might not eat the food they ate. while the feast went gaily on, marinell heard piteous cries coming from under a black cliff. and when he listened, he knew that the voice was the voice of florimell. the wicked old shepherd of the seas had found her tossing on the waves in a little boat, and had taken her home to his deep-down caves to make her his wife. but florimell did not love the old man. she loved only marinell. so nothing that the shepherd could do would make florimell say that she would marry him. at last, in a rage, he shut her up in a gloomy place under a dark rock, where no sunshine ever came. 'she will soon grow tired of the dark and the loneliness,' he thought, 'and then she will give in, and become my wife.' but florimell would not give in. she was crying and sobbing when marinell came to the rock, and he heard her say, 'marinell, marinell, all this i suffer for love of thee.' marinell stood still and listened. then he heard her say:- 'in spite of all this sorrow, yet will i never of my love repent, but joy that for his sake i suffered prisonment.' then she gave yet more pitiful sobs, for she was very sad and cold and hungry. yet always she would say again, between her sobs, 'i will never love any man but marinell.' now marinell had never in all his life truly loved any one. but when he heard florimell's piteous voice, and knew how she loved him, and how much she had suffered for his sake, his heart, that had been so hard, grew soft. 'poor little maid,' he said to himself, 'poor, beautiful little florimell.' no sooner had he begun to love florimell, than he began to think of a plan by which to save her from the bad old shepherd. at first, he thought he would ask the shepherd to let her go. but he knew that that would be no good. then he thought that he would fight with the shepherd, and win her in that way. but that plan he also gave up. 'i will break into her prison, and steal her away,' he thought next. but he had no boat, and the sea flowed all round the rock, so that it was not possible. while he still thought and planned, the marriage-feast came to an end, and marinell had to go home with his mother. he looked so miserable that no one would have taken him for a wedding-guest. each day that passed after the wedding found him looking more and more sad. he could not eat nor sleep for thinking of florimell, shut up in a dreary dungeon from which he could not free her. for want of sleep and food, and because he was so unhappy, marinell grew ill. he was so weak that he could not rise, and his mother, cymoã«nt, was greatly distressed. 'the wound he got from britomart cannot be rightly healed,' she said. so she sent for the wise doctor of the seas. 'the old wound is quite whole,' said the doctor. 'this is a new pain which i cannot understand.' then cymoã«nt sent for a doctor who was so wise and so great that he was chief of all the doctors on the land. when he had examined marinell he said, 'the name of this illness is love.' then cymoã«nt begged marinell to tell her which of the sea-nymphs it was that he loved. 'whoever she is that you love,' she said, 'i shall help you to gain her for your wife.' so marinell told his mother that it was no nymph of the sea that had given his heart a deeper wound than ever britomart's spear had dealt. 'i love florimell,' he said, 'and she lies, a dreary prisoner, in the darkest cave of the herd of the seas.' at first cymoã«nt was sorry, for she did not wish her son to wed a maiden from the land. but when she knew how much marinell loved florimell, she went to neptune, the king of all the seas, as he sat on his throne, his three-pronged mace in his hand, and his long hair dripping with brine. to him she told all the tale of marinell and florimell and the wicked old shepherd. and neptune wrote a royal warrant, and sealed it with the seal of the sea gods, commanding his shepherd to give up florimell at once to cymoã«nt the sea-nymph. thankfully cymoã«nt took the warrant, and swiftly swam to the shepherd's sea-caves. the shepherd was very angry, but all the sea-folk had to obey neptune, so he sulkily opened the prison door and let florimell go free. when the black-browed cymoã«nt took hold of the little white hand of the maiden her son loved, and looked on her lovely face, she was no longer sorry that marinell did not wish to marry a sea-nymph. for no maiden in the sea was as beautiful or as sweet as florimell. she led florimell to her bower, where marinell lay so pale and weak and sad. and when marinell saw florimell standing blushing beside him, her hand in his mother's, all his sadness went away and his strength came back, and the pain in his heart was cured. and if you listen some night when the stars are out, and the moon has made a silver path on the sea, you will hear the little waves that swish on the shore softly murmuring a little song. and perhaps, if your ears are very quick, and the big waves' thunder does not drown the sound of their melody, you may hear them whispering the names of two happy lovers, florimell and marinell. viii florimell and the witch in fairyland, where all the knights are brave, and all the ladies beautiful, the lady who was once the most beautiful of all was called florimell. many knights loved florimell and wished to marry her. but florimell loved only one, and he was marinell, the son of a sea-nymph and a fairy knight and marinell loved no one, not even florimell. marinell was a bold knight, who had no sooner fought one fight than he was ready for another. one day there was brought to the court news of his latest fight. britomart, the maiden who feared no one, and who wore man's armour and carried a magic spear, had fought with marinell, and marinell was dead. so said they who brought the news. 'what will florimell do?' whispered the court ladies, one to the other. and all the knights were sad at heart for beautiful florimell. when florimell was told what had befallen marinell, she rose up from where she sat. 'i go to find him,' she said. 'living or dead, i will find marinell.' florimell had long, long golden hair. florimell's eyes were blue as the sky, and her cheeks were pink, like the sweetest rose in the garden. a circlet of gold and jewels crowned her head. she mounted her snow-white palfrey with its trappings of gold, and rode away through the green woods to look for marinell. four days she rode, but she did not find him. on the fourth day, as she passed through a lonely forest, a wicked robber saw her. he rode after her with his heavy boar-spear, and drove his spurs into the sides of his tired horse till the blood ran down. when florimell saw him, she made her palfrey gallop. off it flew, like the wind, with the thud of the other horse's hoofs and the crash of branches to urge it on. florimell's golden hair flew behind her, till it looked like the shining track of a shooting star. her face was white, and her frightened eyes shone like crystal. some knights who saw her flash through the trees on her white palfrey, like a streak of light, thought that she must be a spirit. [illustration: florimell's golden hair flew behind her (page 102)] but when they saw the ugly robber on his panting horse, they knew that he was real enough. they rode hard after him, and frightened him so much that he hid himself in the thickest part of the forest. florimell passed the knights without seeing them. and even after the robber had ceased to follow her, she fancied that she heard his rough voice and the thud of his horse's hoofs, and made her white palfrey go faster and yet more fast. at last, as the palfrey tossed its head in its stride, it jerked the reins from out her tired little hands, and went on where it pleased. all through the night they fled. the wild deer ran, startled, before them, and all the other beasts of the woods wondered at the sight of a white palfrey that galloped where it would under the grey boughs of the forest, carrying a lady whose hair gleamed like gold in the light of the stars. when rosy dawn had come, the horse stopped at last, too tired to do anything but stand and pant with foam-flecked mouth and heaving sides. then florimell got off his back and coaxed him slowly on. when they had wandered thus for hours, they came to a hill that shaded a thickly wooded valley. over the tops of the tall trees in the valley florimell saw a little blue curl of smoke. glad at heart to think of finding a shelter and resting-place for her horse and herself, she led her palfrey towards it. in a gloomy glen she found a little cottage built of sticks and reeds and turf. a wicked, ugly old witch and her wicked, ugly son lived in this hut. when florimell came to the door, the old woman was sitting on the dusty floor, busy with some of her evil magic. when she looked up and saw beautiful florimell, with her golden hair, and her face like a drooping white lily, she got a great fright. for she thought that florimell was a good spirit come to punish her for all the bad things she had done. but florimell, with tears trickling down and making her face look like a lily in the dew, begged her, in gentle, pleading words, to give her shelter. and so gentle and beautiful and sorrowful was florimell, that, for the first time in the whole of her wicked life, the old witch felt some pity in her cruel heart. she told florimell not to cry, and bade her sit down and rest. so florimell sat down on the dusty floor and rested, as a little bird rests after a storm. she tried to tidy her robes that were rent by the branches and briars through which she had passed, and she smoothed her hair, and arranged her sparkling jewels. the old hag sat and stared at her, and could not say a word, so much did she marvel at florimell's wondrous beauty. when it was midday, the witch's son came in. at the sight of florimell he was as frightened as his mother had been, and stared in wonder and in fear. but florimell spoke to them both so gently and so kindly that soon they no longer feared her. she stayed with them in the wretched little hut for some time. and in that time the witch's son came to love her, and to long to have her for his wife. he tried to do everything that he thought would please her. he would bring her from the woods the rosiest of the wild apples, and the prettiest of the wildflowers he made into garlands for her hair. he caught young birds and taught them to whistle the tunes she liked, and young squirrels he caught and tamed and gave to her. but florimell feared both him and his wicked old mother. when her palfrey had rested, and grazed on the grass in the glen until it was quite strong once more, at daybreak one morning she put its golden trappings on again and rode away. she shivered at each shadow, and trembled at each sound, because she was so afraid that the witch or her son would follow her. but these two wicked people slept until it was broad daylight and florimell was far away. when they awoke and found her gone, they were furiously angry, and the witch's son was so frantic that he scratched his own face and bit himself, and tore at his rough long hair. 'i shall bring her back, or else kill her!' said the witch. then she went to a dark cave, and called out of it a horrible beast like a hyena. its back was speckled with a thousand colours, and it could run faster than any other beast. 'fetch florimell back to me!' said the witch, 'or else tear her in pieces!' off the beast rushed, and before long it saw florimell on her white horse riding through the trees. there was no need to make the palfrey gallop when it saw the hideous beast with long, soft strides coming swiftly after it. the white palfrey went as fast as a race-horse, but the beast went as fast as the wind. as they came out of the forest, the beast's hot breath was close behind florimell. and by that time her horse was so tired that its pace slackened. they had come to where there were no more trees, and in front of them lay yellow sand, and a long, long stretch of blue-green sea. when florimell saw the sea, she leaped from her tired horse and ran and ran. 'i had rather be drowned,' she thought, 'than be killed by that loathsome monster.' now, an old fisherman had been drying his nets on the sand, and while they dried he slept in the bottom of his little boat, that lay heaving gently up and down in the shallows. when florimell saw this boat, she ran towards it and jumped in, and, with an oar, pushed it off into deeper water. the beast got to the water's edge just too late, for it was afraid of the sea and dared not follow her. in a rage it fell upon the white palfrey and tore it in pieces, and was eating it when a good knight who knew florimell passed that way. he knew that the white horse was florimell's, so he attacked the beast, and cut it and struck it so furiously with his sword that all its strength was beaten out of it and he could easily have killed it. but the knight thought that he would rather catch the strange beast and lead it home with him. lying on the sand near the dead white palfrey, he saw a golden girdle that sparkled with jewels, and that he had seen worn by florimell. with this girdle he bound the beast, and led it after him like a dog. as he led it, he met a wicked giantess, and while he fought with her the beast escaped and ran away back to the witch's hut. when the witch saw florimell's jewelled girdle she was glad, for she thought that the beast must have killed florimell. she ran with it to her son, but the sight of it, without florimell, made him so angry that he tried to kill both the beast and his mother. the witch was so frightened that she set all her magic to work, to try to comfort her son. with snow and mercury and wax she made an image as like florimell as she could. its cheeks were rosy, like florimell's, and she took two little burning lamps and put them in silver sockets, so that they looked just like florimell's bright eyes. her hair she made of the very finest golden wire. she dressed the image in some clothes that florimell, in her flight, had left behind her, and round its waist she fastened florimell's jewelled girdle. then she put a wicked fairy inside the image, and told him to do his very best to act and to talk and to walk like florimell. this image she then led to her son, and he thought it was the real florimell come back, and was delighted. the false florimell was not afraid of him as the real florimell had been, and would walk in the woods with him, and listen, quite pleased, to all that he had to say. but as they were in the forest one day, a bad knight saw them, and thought the false florimell so beautiful that he seized her and rode away with her, and left the witch's son more sad and angry than ever. when the real florimell had escaped from the beast, the little boat that she pushed off from the shore went gaily sailing onward and onward with the tide. they were far out at sea when the old fisherman awoke. he got a great fright when he found himself far from the shore, and with a lovely lady beside him. but he was a very bad old man, and when he saw florimell's fine jewels and beautiful clothes he thought he would rob her. he knocked her down into the bottom of his boat amongst the fishes' scales, and might have killed her, had not florimell screamed and screamed for help. there was no ship near, and the waves and the sea-birds could not help her. but it chanced that the shepherd of all the flocks in the sea was driving his chariot that way. he was an old man with long white hair and beard. sometimes on a stormy day one may see him far out at sea, as he drives his flocks that look from far away like snowy froth and foam. when the shepherd saw the wicked fisherman struggling with florimell, he beat the old robber so hard with his staff that there soon was very little life left in him. then he lifted florimell, all tearful and trembling, into his chariot. when she could only cry, he gently kissed her. but his lips were frosty cold, and icicles from his long white beard dropped on to her breast and made her shiver. he took her to his home in a hollow rock at the bottom of the sea, and he asked her to be his wife. 'i cannot marry you,' said florimell. 'i do not love you. my only love is marinell.' then the cunning old shepherd by magic made himself look like a fairy knight, and thought that florimell would love him. 'i do not love you. i love marinell,' still was florimell's answer. he then tried to frighten florimell and make her marry him, whether she would or not. he turned himself into dreadful shapes--giants, and all sorts of animals and monsters. he went inside the waves, and made terrifying storms rage. but nothing that he might do would make florimell consent to marry him. at last he imprisoned her in a dark cavern. 'she will soon tire of that, and then she will marry me,' said he to himself. but florimell said the more, 'i love only marinell. i am glad to suffer, because i suffer for marinell's dear sake.' she might have died there, and been buried under the sea-flowers of scarlet and green, and had the gay little fishes dart over her grave, and none might ever have known. but, by happy chance, marinell came that way. he heard her voice coming out of her prison far beneath the sea, like the echo of a sad song, and suddenly he knew that he loved her. the sea-nymph, his mother, told neptune, king of the seas, that his shepherd had imprisoned a beautiful maiden in his darkest cave, and begged him to set florimell free, that she might become marinell's wife. so florimell was set free at last, and all her troubles were ended. marinell took her away from the kingdom under the sea back to fairyland, and they were married in a castle by the golden strand. every beautiful lady and every brave knight in fairyland was there. they had tournaments every day, and each knight fought for the lady he thought the most beautiful and loved the best. marinell was victor in every fight but one, and in this he was beaten by another brave knight. this knight had on his shield a device of a blazing sun on a golden field. when he had fought and won the prize, this shield was stolen from him by the wicked knight who had run away with the false florimell. no one could see the faces of the knights, for their helmets covered them. so when the wicked knight came forward, carrying the blazing shield, and pretended that he had won the prize, florimell, who was queen of the revels, handed him the victor's garland, and praised him for having fought so well. 'i did not fight for you!' roughly answered the knight. 'i would not fight for you! i fight for one more beautiful.' florimell blushed for shame, but before any one could answer him, the knight drew forward the false florimell and threw back her veil. and even marinell could not tell that she was not his own beautiful bride that he loved so dearly, so exactly like the real florimell had the witch made the image. just then the knight whose shield had been stolen pushed through the crowd. 'you false coward with your borrowed plumes!' he cried. 'where is the sword you pretend that you fought with? where are your wounds?' with that he showed his own bloody sword, and his own bleeding wounds, and every one knew that the wicked knight had lied when he said that it was he who had won the fight. 'this is not the real florimell!' said the brave knight of the blazing shield, pointing at the image. 'it is a wicked fairy, who is a fit mate for this base coward. bring forward florimell the bride, and let us see them side by side!' so florimell, blushing till her face looked like a nosegay of roses and lilies, was led forward, and stood beside the image of herself. but no sooner did she come near the image, than the image melted away, and vanished altogether. nothing of it was left but the girdle of gold and jewels that florimell had lost on the day she escaped from the witch's hut. and this the brave knight picked up, and clasped round florimell's waist. the wicked knight had his armour taken from him, and was beaten until he ran howling away. and florimell, the fairest lady in all fairyland, lived happily ever after with her gallant husband, marinell, the lord of the golden strand. printed in great britain by thomas nelson and sons, ltd. the christian mythology. by brigham leatherbee "knowledge is power, but ignorance is the mother of devotion." new york: the truth seeker company, 62 vesey street. contents. i. the virgin birth. ii. pagan miracles. iii. spurious relics. iv. trial and execution myths. v. distorted prophecies. vi. the resurrection. vii. miracles. viii. atonement and salvation by faith. ix. the trinity--mariolatry. x. saints--good and evil spirits. xi. religious holidays and rites. xii. the eucharist. xiii. spread of christianity. the christian mythology. that christianity, as to-day presented by the orthodox, is far different from the christianity promulgated by the early fathers, few are so blinded as to doubt. christianity, like all other religions, came not into the world full-grown, but from the simple conceptions of its early followers became gradually elaborated by the introduction of pagan forms and customs until it supplanted its early rivals and gave its adherents a compact and solid theology not very different from that of its predecessors. however, before considering the genealogy of christianity, or its heirlooms from paganism, let us turn our attention to what were presumably the beginnings of the religious views of mankind. probably the true source of that human characteristic which is defined as the religious instinct and which is supposed to be an elevating and moral agent, is to be found in the superstition which originated in fear of the unknown. the first ages of human life were so devoted to the animal needs that little attention was given to anything else, but later the craving for protection and help from some power greater than himself led primitive man to look about him for something to sustain and aid him in his struggle for existence. surrounded by natural phenomena of which he could give no explanation satisfactory to his experience, he came to the conclusion that he was in an environment permeated with bodiless intelligences who governed these matters by supernatural power. awed to fear by the inexplicable workings of nature, he sought to propitiate the spiritual agencies by bribes, and he did all things for them which he thought would be agreeable to them to keep them in good-natured interest or indifference toward him. and, naturally, he considered that what would be pleasing to himself would be pleasing to them. therefore, his offerings and his conduct towards these spirits were such as he would have desired shown toward himself. death and its imitation, sleep, being the greatest mysteries confronting him, he naturally began to consider the spirits of the dead, with whom he seemed to have intercourse in his dreams, as being influential factors in his career; and thus originated ancestor-worship with its highly-developed rites and sacrifices, which in a modified form still exists in the roman church in the practice of reading masses for the souls of the dead. at the same time, noticing the great benefits derived from the warmth of the sun, to whose rays he owed his subsistence and whose glorious and awful presence was constantly before him, man began to feel grateful to that mighty power which was the source of all his welfare, and, appreciating that all terrestrial life depended upon it, he came to recognize it as the great creative power. from such superstitious fear and weakness of primitive man arose all those religious feelings which the pious call instinctive and which have, through progress, evolution, and elaboration, controlled certain races, and from whose union have arisen all the religious systems that have ever flourished. owing to the varied influences of climate, environment, and racial character, the various forms of worship predominating in different geographical situations have naturally assumed different characteristics, but, when stripped of their surrounding, and often enveloping rites, ceremonies, and superficialities they may all be traced to the above-mentioned fundamental sources. it is my intention to show, as briefly as possible, that in the christianity of to-day we have nothing new nor of vital difference from what has always been taught and believed in the many epochs of the past. in common with all religious systems, christianity has a hero--the personified sun-god of all time--who is of obscure origin, who passes through various episodes common to all, who is finally executed, and who rises once more to renewed power. in our perusal of the subject, we shall first consider the life of jesus as taught by the christian church; secondly, the dogmas affecting the source of his power and the results of his influence; and, thirdly, the rites and ceremonies with which his worship is performed. i--the virgin birth. some two thousand years ago there is said to have appeared in the notoriously rebellious province of galilee, the headquarters of hebrew radicalism, a wandering teacher called jesus, who passed from village to village expounding certain ethical and socialistic ideas, which were condemned by the roman government and which resulted in this man's arrest and subsequent execution. after his death, his various pupils continued to preach his theories, and, separating, spread these ideas over various parts of the then civilized world. these pupils, naturally, having a firm belief in their former leader, and desiring to strengthen in every possible manner their faith as well as to increase the number of their proselytes, and, also, being themselves more or less affected by the ancient messianic idea, did not deny jesus more than mortal powers, and allowed certain pagan theories of deity to creep into their faith. later, when the vicious and crafty constantine found it advisable for political reasons to adopt christianity as the state religion, the great mass of roman worshipers merely transferred the attributes of their ancient deities to the objects venerated by the new sect. there was nothing new in bestowing a divine origin on jesus. all the lesser gods of antiquity were the sons of zeus, and, in later times, monarchs were accorded the same origin. it was a common myth of all ancient peoples that numerous beings derived their birth from other than natural causes. virgins gave birth to sons without aid of men. zeus produced offspring without female assistance. almost all the extraordinary men that lived under the old heathen mythology were reputed to have been the sons of some of the gods. the doctrine of the virgin birth is perhaps one of the oldest of religious ideas; it is so universal that its origin is impossible to trace. therefore, no wonder is excited when we find that most of the religious leaders have been of celestial origin. krishna, the indian savior, was born of a chaste virgin called devaki, who, on account of her purity, was selected to become the mother of god. gautama buddha was born of the virgin maya and "mercifully left paradise and came down to earth because he was filled with compassion for the sins and miseries of mankind. he sought to lead them into better paths, and took their sufferings upon himself that he might expiate their crimes and mitigate the punishment they must otherwise inevitably undergo." the great father of gods and men sent a messenger from heaven to the mexican virgin, sochiquetzal, to inform her that it was the will of the gods that she should immaculately conceive a son. as a result she bore quetzalcoatl, the mexican savior, who "set his face against all forms of violence and bloodshed, and encouraged the arts of peace." the mexican god huitzilopochtli was likewise immaculately conceived by a woman who, while walking in a temple, beheld a ball of feathers descending in the air. she grasped this and placed it in her bosom. it gradually disappeared and her pregnancy resulted. the mexican montezumas were later supposed to have been immaculately conceived by a drop of dew falling on the exposed breast of the mother as she lay asleep. the siamese have a virgin-born god and savior whom they call codom; the chinese have several virgin-born gods, one being the result of his mother's having become impregnated by merely treading on the toe-print of god; while the egyptians bowed in worship before the shrine of horus, son of the virgin isis. setting aside the mythological interpretation of the miraculous conception of jesus and the theory that his history is entirely fictitious, and viewing his birth from a natural human standpoint, even admitting that he may have been a "divinely inspired man," a little better than any other human being, there seems to be only one explanation for his peculiar conception as recorded in luke i. some critics of the rational school have not failed to notice a solution of the problem in the appearance of the angel gabriel and his private interview with mary (luke i, 28-38). say they very pertinently, why may not some libidinous young man, having become enamoured of the youthful wife of the aged joseph, and, knowing the prophecy of the messiah, have visited the object of his desire in angelic guise and, having won her confidence in this rôle, gained those favors that produced the miraculous birth? and such an explanation is not improbable when we consider that it is an historical fact that young and confiding women often resorted to the pagan temples at the instigation of the unscrupulous, where they enjoyed the embraces of ardent but previously unsuccessful lovers, under the impression that they were being favored by deities. so those christians whose reasoning powers will not allow them to believe in the absurdity of an unnatural conception, and whose superstitious adoration will not permit of their believing mary guilty of an intentional faux pas, try in this manner to reconcile the two, and declare joseph the guilty man. according to the gospels, joseph, the husband, knowing mary to be with child, married her (matt. i, 18); but that is no reason for believing that he regarded the holy ghost's responsibility for his wife's condition with faith. he told of a dream in which he had been informed that such was the case (matt. i, 20-23). he may have believed the dream, and he may not. the most sensible view is that he, "being a just man," took this method of preserving her reputation, and that he himself was the actual parent. having betrayed the girl, he honestly married her, but, to defend her and himself from the accusation of a serious misdemeanor among the jews (deut. xxii), he invented the dream story to account for her unfortunate condition. girls have ever told improbable stories to explain like misfortunes. danæ concocted the shower of gold yarn; leda preferred to accuse herself of bestiality with a swan to acknowledging a lover, and europa blamed a bull. modern damsels have invented more modern but just as innocent agents. it would seem from the subsequent actions and words of mary that she must have forgotten that her son was miraculously conceived of god, for we find her reproaching him for remaining in the temple of jerusalem to argue with the rabbis with, "son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and i have sought thee sorrowing" (luke ii, 48). again, when simeon and anna proclaimed the messiahship of jesus (luke ii, 25-32; 36-38), we are told that "joseph and his mother marveled at those things which were spoken of him" (luke ii, 33). this would hardly have been the case had they already known him as "the son of the highest, who shall reign over the house of jacob forever" (luke i, 32-33). neither would mary, had she realized that she was the mother of god, have considered it necessary to resort to the temple (luke ii, 22-24) to be purified from the stains of her childbirth. women, having borne natural children, were considered to have become defiled in the act of parturition, through the contact of the perpetually active agency of original sin, whereof they must be purified. the mere fact of her submitting to such a churching is evidence that mary did not know that she had done anything remarkable in bearing jesus, and was ignorant of an unusual conception. their neighbors, despite the dream, always recognized jesus as joseph's son (matt. xii, 55; luke iv, 22; john ii, 45; vi, 42; nicodemus i, 2). the orthodox explain this on the supposition that joseph and mary kept all these things in their hearts, and did not tell the actual facts of the case, which seems unlikely. joseph would want to explain the early birth of jesus, and mary would be desirous of saving her reputation, and both would naturally boast of the honor conferred by the holy ghost, had they known of it, for in such case joseph's relation to his god was the same as that of the peasant to his seigneur in the days of the jus primæ noctis. the liaison was an honor, and would have been related to save jesus from the disagreeable allusions made by his neighbors regarding his birth (john viii, 41). conforming to the narrations of the miraculous conception in luke, mary, and the protevangelion, is an old miracle play called "joseph's jealousy," in which we find a very natural picture of the good old husband discovering a condition in his wife for which he is not responsible and accusing her in plain old english of adorning his brow with antlers. the following is the dialogue as given in hone's "ancient mysteries described": jos. say me, mary, this childys fadyr who is? i pry the telle me, and that anon? mry. the fadyr of hevyn, & se, it is, other fadyr hath he non. to which joseph very naturally replies in a burst of anger: jos. goddys childe! thou lyist, in fay! god dede nevyr rape so with may. but yit i say, mary whoos childe is this? mry. goddys and your, i sey, i wys. then in wrath at her obstinacy he breaks forth: jos. ya, ya! all olde men, to me take tent, & weddyth no wyff, in no kynnys wyse. alas! alas! my name is shent; all men may me now dyspyse, & seyn olde cokwold. mary tries to explain and says that her child is from god alone and that she was so informed by an angel. the suspicious joseph will not be deceived, and gives way to some words that have since been accepted as a true explanation of the miraculous conception: jos. an a'gel! alas, alas! fy for schame! ye syn now, in that ye to say; to puttyn an a'ngel in so gret blame. alas, alas! let be do way; it was s'n boy began this game, that closhyd was clene and gay, & ye geve hym now an a'ngel name. the old prophecy in isaiah (vii, 14) that a virgin shall bear a son loses its utility when we recognize that this was the sign given ahaz that god would preserve his kingdom, although he was then threatened by a coalition of the kings of ephraim and syria. if the prophecy referred to the christ, how could it have any influence on ahaz? how could he be calmed and made to preserve his courage in the face of danger by a sign which would not be given until centuries after he slept with his fathers? but such was not the case. isaiah made his sign appear as he had promised (vii, 16), "before the child shall know to refuse evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings" (the rulers of israel and syria). now, this prophecy was fulfilled, either by the trickery of the prophet or the compliance of a virgin, for we find in the next chapter (isaiah viii, 3), "and i went unto the prophetess; and she conceived and bare a son." and that is the whole story. to apply it to the mythical birth of jesus is puerile. no one can doubt that so good a jew as josephus believed in the prospect of a messiah, yet so little did isaiah's prophecy impress him that he did not even mention the virgin episode. probably, on the whole, he thought it a rather contemptible bit of trickery and rather detrimental to the memory of isaiah. james orr, in his treatise written expressly to prove the historical fact of the virgin birth, denies that the prophecy of isaiah could be applied to jesus. here we have an orthodox writer who firmly believes in the miraculous conception, shattering the great cornerstone of the church's foundation for this belief. he says that the word "almah" was not hebrew for virgin at all, but meant only a marriageable young woman. he says it can have no connection with jesus, and thus he agrees with thomas paine, but for opposite reasons. while orr evidently considers that all pagan tales of divine paternity are legends, he affirms that the case of jesus is genuine. just why god became deus genetrix only once, he does not explain. if god approved of this method of creation, he would surely have performed it more than once. that he should have chosen a woman at all seems strange, when he could have produced jesus without female assistance. why should he have given his son, coexistent with the father, and, as such, undoubtedly of a fully developed intelligence, all the discomfort and danger of infantile life? if jesus were but another phase of the godhead, one of the divine eternal trinity, it was degrading and ridiculous to have inflicted him with the processes of foetal life, with all the embryonic phases of development from ovule, through vertebrate and lower form to human guise; to have given him the dangers of human gestation and parturition, the inconvenience of childhood, with teething and other infantile discomforts, and the slow years of growth. why did he inflict all these things on a part, a third, of himself, in many years of preparation for but a few years of preaching, when he could have produced the christ in a wonderful manner, full grown in all the beauty and dignity and strength of perfect and sublime manhood? probably some will answer that then jesus would have been regarded as an impostor. but no more doubt could be cast on such an appearance than has been thrown on the doubtful story of the purity of mary. orr, in his haste to prove his belief, gives a very good argument against it (page 82) in the words, "the idea of a virgin birth ... was one entirely foreign to jewish habits of thought, which honored marriage, and set no premium on virginity." therefore, it could not have been of jewish origin. the jews never accepted it, and it grew up only under the influence of gentile converts. it was an idea of classic paganism, an adoption of universal phallism, this conception of a divine impregnation. the doctrine that by conjunction with a woman, god begat the christ is merely another phase of the phallic idea of the procreative principles of the deity--it is another form of the deus genetrix, the generative principle of male procreation. ii.--pagan parallels. the orthodox church denies that the christ had any brothers and declares that jesus was the only child of mary, in spite of gospel testimony to the contrary. matthew i, 25, referring to joseph, says, "and he knew her not till she had brought forth her first-born son," which implies that after his birth marital relations began between joseph and mary, from which other children were born, for how, otherwise, could jesus have been the "first-born"? that jesus had both brothers and sisters is declared in matthew xii, 46; xiii, 55, 56; mark iii, 31; vi, 3; luke viii, 19-20; john ii, 12; vii, 3, 5, 10, and acts i, 14, while paul in galatians i, 19, expressly names "james, the lord's brother." as the veneration for mary increased under the influence of the pagan conceptions of an immaculate mother-queen of heaven, these simple and natural consequences of her marriage could not be tolerated, even allowing for the exceptional conception of jesus, and the orthodox began to assert that mary was not only an uncontaminated virgin at the birth of jesus, but that by miracle she did not lose her virginity by that event. they attempted to explain the above references, first, by asserting that these children were of joseph by a previous marriage, and later, when they felt it necessary to endow the consort of their pure mother with perfect celibacy, they named them as cousins only. jerome was so strong a champion for joseph's virginity that he considered epiphanius guilty of impious invention for supporting the earlier belief regarding jesus' brethren. the buddhists were far wiser than the christians and eluded all such difficulties by causing maya to die seven days after the birth of sakyamuni, and by asserting such to have been the case with all the mothers of the buddhas. at the time of jesus' birth a brilliant star is believed to have heralded the event, and has passed into tradition as "the star of bethlehem." there is nothing novel in this idea, as all ancient peoples were very superstitious about the celestial bodies, firmly believing in astronomical influences on human affairs, and it seems to have been a common idea that the births of great men were announced by the presence of peculiar stars. in china, a new star appeared at the birth of yu, founder of the first dynasty, as was also the case when the sage laoutze was born, while in mexico the "morning star" was the symbol of the national savior quetzalcoatl. the primitive christians, however, did not have to look so far for such an idea, but easily found a parallel in the unusual star reported by the friends of terah to have appeared on the night of abraham's birth, which they said shone so brightly in the east. not only was the birth of the messiah announced by the brilliant star, but it was also celebrated by the singing of the heavenly host. similar phenomena occurred at the birth of krishna, when "the clouds emitted low pleasing sounds and poured down a rain of flowers." on the eve of the birth of confucius "celestial music sounded in the ears of his mother"; at buddha's a "marvelous light illumined the earth"; and at the birth of osiris a voice was heard proclaiming that the ruler of the earth was born. the savior having been born, he must necessarily be recognized, so the myth of the wise men and their gifts follows--in a fashion very similar to that told of the other saviors. the marvelous infant buddha was visited at the time of his birth by wise men who immediately recognized in him all the characteristics of divinity. at the time of confucius' birth "five celestial sages entered the house whilst vocal and instrumental music filled the air." mithras, the persian savior, was visited by wise men called magi at the time of his birth, and was presented by them with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh; and the same story is told by plato in relation to the birth of socrates. while it is claimed for all the world's saviors that they were borne by virgins and begotten by god, genealogies of royal descent are traced for them through the husbands of their mothers in a most illogical manner. as may be seen in the new testament, the pedigree of jesus is most elaborately set forth in both matthew and luke, who claim that through joseph (whose parentage is denied) the christ was a direct descendant of king david, though, strange to relate, the connecting generations are different in one inspired gospel from what they are in the other. krishna, in the male line, was of royal descent, being of the house of yadava, the oldest and noblest of india; and buddha was descended from maha sammata, the first monarch of the world. therefore, it is not surprising to find a royal pedigree for the god christ, especially when the religious position occupied by the king in rude societies is considered. the kaffres acknowledge no other gods than their monarch, and to him they address those prayers which other nations are wont to prefer to the supreme deity. every schoolboy knows of the apotheosis of the roman emperors, and the monarchs of mexico and peru were regarded as divinities. every king of egypt was added to the list of gods and declared to be the son of ra, and even, in some cases, was made the third person of a trinity. each denied that he owed his birth to the father from whom he inherited the crown, and claimed to have been miraculously begotten. special temples were erected for the worship of the kings, which was conducted by special priests. the parthian rulers of the arsacid house, likewise, claimed divinity and styled themselves brothers of the sun and moon. the fable of the slaughter of the innocents, which was merely a new form of the ancient myth of the dangerous child whose life is a constant menace to some tyrant, was copied from several ancient religions, and the flight of the holy family into egypt has its counterpart in other tales. king kansa sought the life of krishna and sent messengers to kill all infants in the neighboring places, but a heavenly voice warned his foster-father to fly with him across the river jumna, which was immediately done. salivahana, a virgin-born savior anciently worshiped in southern india, had a similar experience; and fable tells that at abraham's birth nimrod sought his life, fearing a prophecy that a child was born who should overthrow his power, and, as a result, he murdered 70,000 newly-born male children. at the time of moses' birth, pharaoh is said to have dreamed that a new-born child would cause egypt's ruin, and he ordered that all the new-born sons of israel should be cast into the nile. similar stories, familiar to all readers of the classics, are told of perseus, herakles, paris, jason, bacchus, romulus and remus. all these tales of the birth and early life of jesus are similar to those of the other and more ancient saviors, and so is the story of the temptation and the forty days' fast. moses fasted "forty days and forty nights" on the mount where he received the law (ex. xxiv, 18; xxxiv, 28; deut. ix, 9, 11). elijah fasted "forty days and forty, nights" on mt. horeb (i kings xix, 8). joachim, in shame at being childless, retired to the wilderness for a fast of "forty days and forty nights" (protevangelion i, 6, 7). buddha fasted and held his breath until he became extremely weak, when mara, prince of evil, appeared and tempted him to break his fast by offering to make him emperor of the world. quetzalcoatl was also tempted by the devil during a forty days' fast; and the temptation of zoroaster forms the subject of many legends. all these myths readily implanted themselves in the christian mythology, but the execution of its hero gave a great opportunity for mythical expansion and elaboration. it is taught that jesus was crucified; whether he was or not nobody knows, although there are more pieces of the "true cross" extant than could ever have flourished as trees on mount calvary. if such a person as jesus of nazareth ever lived and was ever executed by the romans, it is very probable that he was hanged, and the gallows may, very likely, have been of a form similar to that of a rude cross. the term crucifixion does not necessarily imply that one must be nailed outspread upon a symmetrical cross. it was the ancient custom to use trees as gibbets for execution, or a rude cruciform gallows, often called a "tree" (deut. xxi, 22, 23; nicodemus ix, 10). to be hung on such a cross was anciently called hanging on a tree, and to be hung on a tree was crucifixion. this rough method of execution was later modified by the christians to the present theory of the crucifixion, as they very naturally desired to appropriate the cross for their own especial emblem, owing to the fact that its great antiquity as a universal religious symbol would aid in the propagation of their faith, and since its earliest inception, christianity has been ever prone to aid its proselyting by the adoption of pagan dogmas, symbols and practices from the so-called heathen theologies. of all religious symbols, the cross is the most ancient and sacred. it has from the earliest antiquity been the mystic emblem for reverence and awe, and appears to have been in the aboriginal possession of every ancient people. populations of essentially different culture, tastes, and pursuits have vied with one another in their superstitious adoration of it. greek crosses of equal arms adorned the tomb of midas of phrygia; and long before the time of the eutruscans, the inhabitants of northern italy erected crosses over the graves of their dead. the cross was common to mexico; white marble crosses were found on the island of saint ulloa by its discoverers; and it was greatly revered in paraguay and peru. while the origin of the cross, shrouded as it is in the mists of the remotest antiquity, has been the subject of much speculation which has resulted in numerous theories, it is, undoubtedly, a conventionalized result of primitive phallic ideas. sexual motives underlie and permeate all known religious systems. the idea of a creative god naturally gave rise to characteristic symbolical expression of the male and female principles, which were gradually modified and reduced to the tau (a gothic t), representing the male principle, and the ring, representing the female principle. as a complete expression of the creative power, these two symbols were often placed in conjunction; and the most ancient form of the conjunction was, probably, that of the crux ansata, known to the egyptians as "the emblem of life," which was very simply formed by placing the ring above the t. this emblem is sometimes called the "cross with the handle," because in ancient sculpture it is often represented as being carried by the ring. (see doane, "bible myths"; inman, "ancient faiths," etc.). this handled cross was also sacred to the babylonians and occurs repeatedly on their cylinders, bricks and gems. in ancient scandinavian mythology the great warrior god thor was always closely associated with a cruciform hammer, this being the instrument with which he killed the great mitgard serpent, with which he destroyed the giants, and performed other acts of heroism. cruciform hammers, with a hole at the intersection of the arms for the insertion of the haft, have been discovered in denmark, and were used in consecrating victims at thor's altars. the cross, or hammer, of thor is still used in iceland as a magical sign in connection with wind and rain, just as the corresponding sign of the cross is now used among the german peasantry to dispel a thunderstorm; both being expressions of the same idea that the cross is sacred to the god of thunder. as christians blessed the full goblet with the sign of the cross, so the ancient vikings made the sign of the hammer over theirs; and the signs were identical. the practice of making the sign of the cross before eating, which has, in protestant sects, degenerated to the saying of grace, which again has assumed the form of a prayer of thanks to god for bestowing the sustenance, was originally merely a method of prevention against demonical possession. it was thought that demons abounded everywhere and that one was very likely to imbibe one of these spirits unless he took the precaution of making the sign of the cross, which they could not endure and from which they fled. this belief in the efficacy of a talisman, universal among all peoples from the most barbarous to so-called civilized communities, was not only countenanced but encouraged by christianity, and even today we find orthodox christians who--although they cannot be called educated in the highest sense, yet are not to be classed as illiterate--who are still practicing it. every good catholic wears a scapular, and many a one carries a little image of some saint to ward off disaster. the sign of the cross is still used in time of danger and is considered a weapon of miraculous power. sword hilts are still constructed in the form of the cross to give fortune in battle, and the masts of ships with yards were once considered the symbol of the cross. the burial of the dead about churches is another modern form of the ancient superstition that within the shadow of the cross demons dare not disturb the body, which was necessary for resurrection and immortality. this idea is a descendant of the ancient savage notion that bodies in the vicinity of the idol were protected. even in our modern protestant cemeteries we constantly find crosses erected over the graves in the same superstitious manner, although in most cases it has become merely a surviving custom, the origin of which the performers do not know. iii.--spurious relics. accompanying the worship of the cross, we find among orthodox christians the adoration of the three nails of the passion which are nothing more than a union of the two egyptian forms of architecture--the obelisk, expressing the male idea, and the inverted pyramid, expressing the female. two of these nails are supposed to have been found in the time of constantine, who adorned his helmet and horse's bridle with them. rome, milan and treves each boast of possessing one of them, while still another may be seen at the church of the holy cross of jerusalem, where it is annually exposed to the veneration of the people. in 1353 pope innocent vi. appointed a festival for these holy nails. despite these facts, a legend arose in the latter part of the sixteenth century that these three nails were fashioned into an iron ring three-eighths of an inch broad and three-tenths thick and presented by the empress helena to constantine to protect him in battle, and that this ring was later used to support the golden plates of the celebrated iron crown of lombardy. in reference to the practice of relic worship in the christian church, it is interesting to note that numerous objects of worship seem endowed with remarkable powers of multiplication. the church of coulombs, diocese of chârtres; the cathedral of pry, the collegiate church of antwerp, the abbey of our savior at charroux, and the church of st. john lateran at rome, all boast themselves the sole possessors of the only authentic "holy prepuce," which was circumcised from jesus on the eighth day after his birth (luke ii, 21), and preserved by the midwife in oil of spikenard, which was later poured upon his head and feet by mary magdalene (infancy ii, 1-4). likewise, there are numerous "holy shrouds." that at besancon, which was brought from palestine by crusaders about the beginning of the twelfth century, won fame by delivering the city from a destructive plague in 1544, while that at turin had a festival instituted for it by pope julius ii. in 1506. other authentic shrouds may be found at the church of st. cornelius at compeigne, in rome, milan, lisbon, and aix la chapelle. another much multiplied relic is the virgin's ring, supposed to have been the marriage ring used at the nuptials of joseph and mary. this sacred souvenir was discovered in 996 by a jeweler of jerusalem and was readily recognized by its remarkable powers of healing and self-multiplication. many european churches claim to possess this ring and profess to expose it to the devout for veneration, but, undoubtedly, the most celebrated is that held by the cathedral of perouse. relic worship and belief in the miraculous powers residing in the bones of departed saints, which continues, despite the more general education of the laity, is by no means of christian origin. in ancient greece the bones of heroes were superstitiously regarded and those of hector of troy were sacredly preserved at thebes; the tools used in the construction of the trojan horse were kept at metapontum; the sceptre of pelops was held at chæroneia; the spear of achilles at phaselis; and the sword of memnon at nicomedia. miraculous statues of minerva that brandished spears, abounded, and paintings that could blush and images that could sweat also existed. in india there are numerous teeth of buddha which his worshipers believe capable of performing miracles; and his coat, which as prince siddhatto he laid aside on entering the priesthood, has been miraculously preserved, and is still shown. jerome, in defending the worship of relics which had been attacked by vigilantus of barcelona, did not deny that it was adopted from paganism, but commended it and explained that as this reverence had been previously "only given to idols, and was then to be detested, was now given to martyrs, and therefore to be received." iv.--trial and execution myths. that jesus should have been executed, either as an historical fact or as a mythological theory, is not remarkable; and even when considered in the light of his being one of the godhead, there is nothing new in the relation of his death. the idea of a dying god is very old. the grave of zeus was shown at crete, and the body of dionyseus was buried at delphi. osiris and buddha both died, and numerous deities were crucified. krishna, the indian god, suffered such execution, as did also the mexican savior quetzalcoatl. representations of krishna abound wherein he is depicted as nailed to a cross and having a round hole in his side. prometheus was nailed by hands and feet to mount caucasus, with arms extended in the form of a cross. so immeasurably voluminous have been the writings of the orthodox upon the trial, execution, and resurrection of jesus that it seems advisable to consider these matters, from a rational point of view, upon the hypothesis that such a man really lived and suffered experiences similar to those narrated in the gospels. with that premise the following views are offered: the attitude of jesus before pilate shows him to have been a willing martyr, yea, desirous of martyrdom. in all probability his fanatical mind believed that when the supreme moment should come, when his execution should take place, and when his death seemed instantly imminent, some great natural phenomenon would occur to save him. he undoubtedly believed that he would not die, but that god would miraculously interpose to rescue him and that at that time he would not only be saved, but that the kingdom of heaven would be established under his control. that this was his belief seems to be shown by his cry of disappointment when he realized that nothing supernatural was to prevent his death. when that moment of realization came, his surprise was evident and, unlike many of his courageous followers who died in calmness and bravery, he cried aloud in mental and physical anguish, "my god, my god, why hast thou forsaken me?" (matt. xxvii, 46; mark xv, 34.) his indifferent bearing before pilate showed this faith in his redemption, for when the roman procurator courteously asked him if he were the king of the jews, he replied ambiguously, as had always been his practice, "thou sayest it" (matt. xxvii, 11; mark xv, 2; luke xxiii, 3; john xviii, 37; nicodemus iii, 10). but such ambiguity, which had served very well among the lower classes who had flocked to hear and question him, was of no avail before the matter-of-fact roman, who, as an imperial officer, desired straightforward answers, and was little impressed by jesus' silence, except that he was rightfully astonished that when given the chance the prisoner should not have availed himself of it to explain his position. therefore, seeing jesus had no will to answer his questions except in an exasperating manner, after he had shown a willingness to save him, pilate delivered jesus over to the jews according to the custom of the romans in regard to the theological disputes of a subject people--but not until he had requested them to spare the preacher. had jesus given the roman a frank explanation of his position as an itinerant preacher, pilate would probably have saved him, but the chimerical idea of the interposition of god by a miracle, which would glorify him above all else that could occur, led jesus to make a willing sacrifice of himself and throw away the opportunity offered him by pilate. there is nothing noble nor grand in this impudent conduct toward the roman officer, but there is a good deal of justice and consideration in the conduct of pilate. there is nothing noble in jesus' willingness to die nor in his courting death at this trial, for it was entirely unnecessary and was desired on his part only because he expected a miraculous salvation. according to his belief, he was to be the gainer, and he staked his life for a heavenly glory and lost, although he was probably keen enough to see that in any case his death would increase his fame, for the execution of a fanatic always lends a little glory to a cause, no matter how base, as witness the desire of anarchists for martyrdom and the attitude with which they view those who die for their horrible ideas. the only question with the roman was as to whether jesus had proclaimed himself the king of the jews, and as he declined to answer this question, pilate could do nothing to save him. the blind hatred of orthodox christianity toward pilate is absurd. aside from the argument above, there is another reason why his memory should be leniently treated. according to the christian dogma, jesus was the son of god, and it was only by his sacrifice, by his actual death, that he could save man. by dying he took the sins of mankind upon himself, and thus became the savior. as the eternal son, knowing all things, as a part of the godhead, he knew his death must occur--that was his mission on earth. therefore, as instruments in the accomplishment of this grand plan, by which mankind was saved, and jesus became the savior, caiaphas and pontius pilate should be regarded as divine agents worthy of glory and praise. any other conclusion is entirely illogical. but then, who will look for logic in the dogmas of christianity? when one makes a logical investigation of this faith, he abandons its unreasonable teachings, which cannot be accepted by a logical mind. the person who allows his reason to govern his belief cannot in any way accept the teachings of the absurd and ridiculous christian cult. while suffering his execution, jesus, according to the gospel writers, lost both his moral and physical courage, and cried aloud in agony, "eli, eli, lama sabachthani?" in view of this fact, it seems impossible for reasonable creatures to accept the christian dogmas of the atonement and the trinity, for, if jesus were one of the godhead and had left his heavenly abode to descend to earth for the especial purpose of saving mankind by shedding his blood for them, he must necessarily have been aware of what was in store for him and have known all the details attendant upon his execution. looking at this fable rationally, jesus was inferior in courage to many of his followers. when we recall the innumerable martyrs who went to meet death with smiling lips, in perfect confidence, the wailing savior, with his doubting cry to god, presents anything but an impressive figure. surely, to burn at the stake, to lie under the axe, to endure the awful tortures of the inquisition, were fully as agonizing as a crucifixion; and yet men--and delicate women--who have never pretended to divinity, have borne these things silently. to be sure, the whole story of the christ is largely legendary and very uncertain, but, according to the gospels of matthew and mark, jesus was weak in his convictions, afraid to die for his own teachings, and on the whole, his conduct at the supreme moment reminds one of the weak french peasants of revolutionary times rather than the brave nobility. his peasant blood rose to the surface and in his fear he cried, "why hast thou forsaken me?" although but a few moments before he had assured one of the malefactors who suffered beside him that on this day he should be in paradise (luke xxiii, 43). everything considered, it is not strange that the jews would not accept jesus as the awaited messiah who should free them from the yoke of rome. they desired a strong and powerful leader, not a socialistic wandering teacher, and the prophecies promised a ruler surpassing the wisdom and power of the gorgeous solomon. there is not one prophetic passage in the old testament that can properly be applied to jesus, although many have been distorted for such purpose. the jews looked upon him as an impostor and a revolutionist who not only pretended to be what he was not, but who disregarded their ancient laws and preached a doctrine contrary to that held by their rabbis. it was not until long after his death that he was regarded as a prophet, and it was not until every proof of his very existence had vanished that divine honors were paid him. to the jews he was a vagrant revolutionist worthy of death, and the jews knew him personally; to a large majority of twentieth century christians, he is a god, and they know absolutely nothing about him, save a collection of puerile myths which tax their credulity as children, but which as adults they accept. however, regarding the execution of jesus, there is always the legitimate doubt that it ever occurred. aside from the fact that the usual mode of death for criminals was by hanging, there is much internal evidence in the gospels themselves which points to the conclusion that the whole story of the execution and resurrection is mythical and was composed from various hebrew and pagan legends. the dying cry was copied verbatim from psalms xxii, 1, wherein david "complaineth in great discouragement" over his diseased condition. v.--distorted "prophecies." the jews, desirous that the spectacle of the execution should not pollute the sanctity of their sabbath, requested that the death of the victim might be hastened (john xix, 31). therefore, according to custom, the roman soldiers broke the legs of the thieves, but, finding jesus already dead, they did not break his legs (john xix, 33). in this the writer of john sees the fulfillment of a prophecy (john xix, 36). in exodus xii, 46, occur the words "neither shall ye break a bone thereof," which were nothing more than a command of "the ordinance of the passover" (ex. xii, 43), and applied to the sacrificial animals to be eaten then. but the gospel writers, delving for prophecies, saw with their queerly distorted eyes a prophecy in this and numbers ix, 12, regardless of the fact that for centuries, in celebrating the passover, the jews had conformed to this practice of not breaking the bones of the animals eaten. but the biographers saw jesus as the paschal lamb, and associated him with the meat of the passover. the tendency to regard his body as the solid of the eucharist has likewise aided in this construction of the passages in exodus and numbers into a prophecy. in david's apostrophe to the righteous he says that though their afflictions are many, "the lord delivereth him out of them all" and preserves him. "he keepeth all his bones; not one of them is broken" (psalm xxxiv, 19-20). this has no reference to the christ, but the distorted vision of the apostolic writer saw in it such an intent. he says (john xix, 36), "for these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, a bone of him shall not be broken." in order, however, to be sure that jesus was actually dead and, in case he was not, to hasten that event, one of the soldiers pierced his heart with a lance. here john sees another prophecy fulfilled (john xix, 37), "they shall look on him whom they pierced." this refers to zechariah xii, 10, where we find the words, "and i will pour upon the house of david, and upon the inhabitants of jerusalem, the spirit of grace and supplications; and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced." this was the language of a prophet in a diatribe against the enemies of juda. how could the writer of john have seen a prophecy in this, when the context reads "in that day i will seek to destroy all the nations that come against jerusalem" (zech. xii, 9), and when at the time of the crucifixion, jerusalem was in the hands of the romans? likewise, the writers of matthew and john saw in the drawing of lots by the soldiers at the foot of the cross for the garments of jesus--the usual custom regarding the minor possessions of executed criminals, which were always considered the spoil of the military guard--"the fulfillment of a prophecy" (matt. xxvii, 35 john xix, 23, 24) found in psalms xxii, 18, "they part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture," which really was a metaphorical expression of david concerning the treatment accorded him by his enemies. in the preceding verse 16, in the same relation and rhetorical figure, he says "they pierced my hands and my feet." on the whole, psalm xxii was a particularly happy composition for the christian adepts at misconstruction. neither mark nor luke refers to the fulfillment of a prophecy regarding the vestments, but content themselves with narrating the event (mark xv, 24; luke xxiii, 34). it was customary to give the condemned a drink of wine and myrrh to stupefy him and thus decrease the sufferings of execution. when this was offered to jesus he refused it (mark xv, 23), probably because he wished to be perfectly conscious at the time when god should miraculously reprieve him. matthew, xxvii, 34, intentionally falsifies the episode and calls the drink vinegar and gall, so bound is he to see a messianic prophecy in psalms xix, 21, "they gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink," which words were really applied by david to his own personal enemies. vi.--the resurrection. regarding the resurrection, it is interesting to note that, whereas most crucified men lived a number of hours and even a day in this torture, the wounds in the hands not being mortal and the position only affecting the circulation, causing death by exhaustion or starvation, jesus lived only three hours. therefore, it may have been that he was not actually dead, but merely in a state of coma, or perhaps a cataleptic condition. the custom he had of using his subjective mind in telepathic cures, as told in the gospels, seems to point to this conclusion, that, being strongly subjective, his condition here was cataleptic. many cases are known of men having been restored after crucifixion, and, as the embalming given jesus in the jewish custom consisted in nothing more than a wrapping in a shroud with myrrh and aloes, there is nothing to oppose this hypothesis. after resting for a while in the tomb, he may have revived and gone out and been seen by others, after which he wandered away again to die in solitude from exhaustion and lack of food. it is more probable, however, that this legend was copied from those of other religious heroes, who likewise rose from the dead, as there seems to be much variance between the different versions of the visit of mary magdalene to the sepulchre and her meeting with christ. matthew says (xxviii, 1) that mary magdalene and the other mary visited the sepulchre (3), where they saw a male angel descend from heaven during an earthquake and roll back the stone from the door and sit upon it (7). and he told them to "go quickly, and tell his disciples" that he had risen, which they did. but as they were going (9) "jesus met them ... and they came ... and worshiped him." mark tells a similar story with some variations as to the angel, but he relates that jesus appeared first to mary magdalene "early the first day of the week" (xvi, 9), and not on her visit with mary, the mother of james, and salome at the tomb. according to luke, the women went to the tomb, where they were informed by (xxiv, 4) "two men in shining garments" that jesus had risen, and they left and told the apostles. no mention is made here of the encounter of mary magdalene. john, however, gives a more elaborate version. he narrates (xx) that mary, going early and alone to the tomb, which she found entirely empty, ran and informed peter, who verified her story and departed. after she was left alone she looked into the sepulchre again, where she beheld two angels, and on turning away saw jesus standing by her. setting aside the idea of a mythical plagiarism in these tales, and also the cataleptic theory already mentioned, and considering them from yet another point of view, we can still find a rational explanation. the meeting of jesus with mary may have been the hallucination of a hysterical woman. according to mark xvi, 9, and luke viii, 2, jesus had cast seven devils out of her, which is surely sufficient proof that she was of neurotic temperament and had been subject to delusions and hysteria. undoubtedly after the shock of witnessing the crucifixion and death of her master, for three gospels agree in stating that she was present (matt. xxvii, 56; mark xv, 40; john xix, 25), this fond woman's mind, which seemed more normal in his presence, again gave way and she returned to her hysterical condition. on visiting the tomb, she found it empty because "his disciples came by night and stole him away," that they might declare he had risen from the dead, "as is commonly reported among the jews until this day" (matt. xxviii, 11-15). as she was leaving, she heard his voice (a common delusion of hysterical subjects) and saw his form (another hallucination), but when she went to touch him, she could not do so. the relation has all the marks of simple neurosis, and yet many modern christians base their whole faith upon the words of paul in 1 corinthians xv, 14, "if christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain." as noted in various parts of this work, unless christians believe in the possibility of miracles, the power of a personal devil, and the physical resurrection of the body, there is no foundation for their faith, and it is a mockery. not satisfied with having executed their god according to the most approved methods of antiquity, christians felt the necessity of the presence of some remarkable natural phenomena at the time of his death, for among all ancient peoples it was customary to attribute some remarkable natural convulsions to the death of a great man. when prometheus was crucified on mount caucasus "the earth quaked, thunder roared, lightning flashed, wild winds rent the air and boisterous billows rose." on the death of romulus, there was "darkness over the face of the earth for six hours," and when quetzalcoatl died the sun became black! even in historical times, we find narrations of similar phenomena accompanying the deaths of royalty; and we read in many authenticated histories of the frightful thunderstorms that were coincident with the deaths of isabella of castile, charles the fifth, napoleon the great, and oliver cromwell. therefore, it is not surprising to find mention of such occurrences at the time of the execution of the christian god, although we are not prepared for such astonishing and unprecedented phenomena as related by the ever exaggerating author of the "gospel according to st. matthew," who states very seriously that "the vail of the temple was rent in twain from top to bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many." but the execution, while it completes the mortal life of the incarnate christian deity, by no means finishes the legend. like the gods of antiquity, the christ must also descend into hell and perform wonders similar to those of the ancient heroes. all the saviors of mankind had done so--zoroaster, the persian; osiris, the egyptian; baldur, the scandinavian; quetzalcoatl, the mexican; and krishna, the hindu; while ishtar voluntarily descended into the assyrian inferno. having descended into hell, resurrection was necessary, for it was unreasonable that the savior of mankind, the son of the supreme god, should remain perpetually in the place of punishment; and, as his life on earth was over, he could no longer abide there, and so the only plausible sequence was an ascension to heaven. krishna, the crucified hindu savior, rose from the dead and ascended bodily into the celestial regions, as did rama, another avatar of vishnu. buddha also ascended bodily into heaven when his mission on earth was fulfilled, and marks on the rocks of a high mountain are shown as the last impressions of his footsteps on earth. zoroaster and æsculapius also had similar experiences, as did elijah and adonis. osiris rose from the dead and bore the title of "the resurrected one," his ascension being celebrated in egypt at the vernal equinox, as is the christ's and as was adonis'. other saviors who rose from the dead were dionysius, herakles, memnon, baldur and quetzalcoatl. modern catholics are still taught the fables of the bodily ascension of jesus, mary the virgin, and mary the magdalene and many other holy persons, as actual miraculous truths, not to be questioned nor denied. very good, but how can educated catholics of today reconcile such truths with their actual scientific knowledge? they know that the earth is spherical, that the stars and planets are members of solar systems, that outside the terrestrial atmosphere is nothing but vast space. there is no such place as a heaven anywhere in these celestial regions, and the zenith of any geographical situation changes every moment. clouds are mere masses of vapor, not furniture for the repose of the glorified dead. then whither did these adored beings ascend? certainly, god in his love for them never flung them far into space to whirl about for eternity. these catholics also know the law of gravitation, which would not allow of such a method of transportation. but why ask these questions? no religious person is capable of thinking sensibly on the teachings of his faith, no matter how ridiculous. he accepts, as an adult, what he questions as a child. while the idea of bodily ascension of the christ was probably copied into his biography from that of enoch (gen. v, 24) and elijah (2 kings ii, 11), such stories form a large part of the annals of classical mythology, almost every hero of antiquity having been translated to the heavens when his earthly life was spent. the custom of converting the tombs of prominent christians into shrines likewise aided this belief, as, it being impossible to discover the burial places of the most conspicuous, the idea arose that they had been physically removed to heaven. the principal weakness of all the great theological systems now in practice is that they are terrestrial in their conception of god and man. their foundations were laid at a period when mankind knew little, and cared less, about the planets; at a period when it was presumed that the sun, moon, and stars were either beneficent deities or natural objects placed in the firmament to light the world and please the eye of man by their beauty. therefore god, as recognized in these systems, takes heed of naught else than this particular world. he totally ignores the other innumerable spheres of matter floating in space, many of which may support life. all his interests center on this infinitesimal portion of his creation. it is with the doings of the inhabitants of this planet that he is engaged. for this earth alone he creates man, animals and vegetables; to this alone, he sends his only son, or savior; and it is here, in the purified state, that the souls of men shall eternally dwell after the great judgment. since science has proved that our solar system is but one of the many, and that in this system the earth is not the largest nor most important body, should not such absurd theological ideas be abandoned and a grander and vaster conception of the deity be inaugurated? should not organized theology turn to nobler thoughts and say with paul, "when i was a child ... i thought as a child; but when i became a man, i put away childish things" (1 cor. xiii, 11)? all such doctrines as predestination, which are based upon the sin of adam, are now anachronistic. the acceptance of the theory of evolution, which entirely destroys the reality of the mythical adam, sweeps away his biography and leaves no foundation for such dogmas. if the christian church desires to remain, she must cast aside these worthless doctrines, founded upon false hypotheses, when the minds of men were in darkness regarding the origin of species, and when they saw in these the only solution of their problem. having accomplished his ascension and entered on his eternal kingdom, one of the christ's attributes is that of judging the dead. this idea undoubtedly came from the alexandrian school of theology, where so many of the christian theories were promulgated, for one of the best-known attributes of osiris was that of the judge, and he was generally represented as seated on his throne of judgment, bearing a staff (the crozier of the modern bishop) and holding the crux ansata. buddha is also supposed to be the judge of the dead. in connection with the idea of the christ as the divine judge of men, certain sects of christians have advocated that of his return to earth at some future period, which will terminate all terrestrial life as it is known to-day, basing this belief upon jesus' own proclamation of his second advent, although in his prophecy he declared the coming of the kingdom of heaven to be soon after his death. he even told his disciples that they could not visit all the cities of israel before he should come again (matt. x, 23); that their own generation should see these things (matt. xxiv, 34; mark xiii, 30); that some of those then listening to him should live to see his kingdom (matt. xvi, 28; xxiii, 36; xxiv, 34; mark viii, 38; luke ix, 1-27; xxi, 32). such were his words, and it seems strange that people, believing these words, can still regard him as a very part of god. such improbabilities did jesus gradually grow to preach, and so wild did he become in his exhortations that even his disciples at times appear to have believed him mad (mark iii, 21), an opinion in which his enemies agreed (mark iii, 22; john vii, 5-20; viii, 48-52; x, 20). they certainly had good cause for their suspicion. was not his conduct in cursing the fig tree for not bearing fruit out of season an act of lunacy (matt. xxi, 19-20; mark xi, 13-14), and likewise his arrogant assertion of the power of faith (matt. xvii, 20; xxi, 21; mark xi, 23; luke xvii, 6)? it is, however, quite probable that this idea of a second advent was copied from the persian theology, it being one of the tenets of the zoroastrian religion that in the end ormuzd, god of light, should conquer ahriman, god of darkness, and that he should then summon the good from their graves, remove all evil from the face of nature, and permanently establish the kingdom of righteousness and virtue upon the earth. but such ideas are not unique to christians and persians. the hindus believe that vishnu will have another avatar; the siamese live in constant expectation of the second coming of codom; the buddhists are looking forward to the return of buddha; the jews are awaiting the messiah; and the disciples of quetzalcoatl expected that deity's second advent--and most unfortunately thought their dream realized on the arrival of the spaniards, who took advantage of their consequent submissiveness to exterminate them. vii.--miracles. it is customary among orthodox christians to assert that the godhead of their christ was fully proven by the many miracles attributed to him in the new testament. but one must not forget that the performance of miracles is one of the most common attributes of founders of new sects, and one which all religious charlatans claim. krishna lulled tempests, cured lepers, and restored the dead; buddha, zoroaster (who walked on water on his way to mount iran to receive the law), horus, æsculapius, and innumerable others did likewise. mohammed, not content with miracles of the omnipotent physician type, juggled the moon through his sleeve. even to-day faith in miracles is not dead, and miracle-working attributes have been claimed for mrs. eddy, founder of christian science, dowie, founder of zion city, and sandford, leader of the holy ghost and us. there can be no doubt in the mind of a student of comparative theology that moncure d. conway was correct when he stated in his essay on christianity that "among all the miracles of the new testament not one is original. bacchus changed water into wine.... moses and elias also fasted forty days.... pythagoras had power to still waves and tempests at sea. elijah made the widow's meal and oil increase; elisha fed a hundred men with twenty loaves.... as for opening blind eyes, healing diseases, walking on water, casting out demons, raising the dead, resurrection, ascension, all these have been common myths--logic currency of every race." "one of the best attested miracles of all profane history is that which tacitus reports of vespasian, who cured a blind man in alexandria by means of his spittle, and a lame man by the mere touch of his foot, in obedience to a vision of the god serapis," says hume in his "essay on miracles," and we might here mention the numerous attested cures resulting from the laying on of royal hands by divinely appointed sovereigns. the rulers of france, aragon, and england touched for scrofula, this practice being continued by the latter from the period of its origin with edward the confessor until the accession of william the third, whose good sense put an end to it. james the second, the last practitioner of this art, had so great a belief in his curative powers that he set aside certain days on which he touched the afflicted from his throne at whitehall, while the sufferers came in throngs to kneel at his feet. the princes of the house of austria likewise held divine power and were supposed to be capable of casting out devils and curing stammering by the touch of their aristocratic fingers. numerous cases are narrated in which jesus, by simply touching the person of the afflicted, effected instantaneous cures. such were those of the leper (matt. viii, 2-3; mark i, 40-42; luke v, 12-13); the curing of peter's mother-in-law of a fever (matt. viii, 14-15; mark i, 30-31; luke iv, 38-39), although in the luke version he "rebuked" the fever; and the opening of the eyes of two blind men (matt. ix, 27-30). another method seems to have been by allowing the ill to touch him or his garments (matt. ix, 20-22; xiv, 36; mark iii, 10; v, 25-34; luke vi, 19; viii, 43-48). at other times he simply told the patient, or the agent of the patient, that faith had effected the cure, as with the centurion's servant (matt. viii, 5-13; luke vii, 2-10) and the daughter of the canaanite (matt. xv, 22-28; mark vii, 25-30); or told the stricken to hold forth a withered arm or pick up his bed and walk, by which command the cure was completed (matt. ix, 2-7; xii, 10-13; mark ii, 3-12; luke v, 18-25). among all primitive peoples, the principal cause of disease was supposed to lie in the displeasure of some deity toward the afflicted person, who was punished by this deity for some offense or neglect (psalms xxxviii, 3). one of the favorite methods of the gods in afflicting was sending evil and tormenting spirits into the body of the victim. after more was learned of disease, this theory gradually diminished in strength as regarded some troubles, but for centuries it was the universal theory that mental derangements and nervous afflictions were solely due to demoniacal possession, and all priests and medicine-men resorted to various exorcisms, from the primitive banging of gongs and tooting of trumpets to scare away the spirit, to the prayers and sprinkling of holy water of the mediæval church to rid the patient of the unwelcome inhabitant of his body. that jesus believed in this demoniacal possession is undoubted, and he effected his cures by ordering or calling out the devil from the body of the possessed. for example, there is a story of jesus driving devils into an innocent herd of swine (matt. viii, 28-33; mark v, 2-14; luke viii, 26-34). we also find him casting out and rebuking devils in various instances (matt. ix, 32-34; xii, 22-24; xvii, 14-18; mark i, 23-24, 34; iii, 11; luke iv, 33-36, 41; ix, 37-42). in all probability, these medical miracles of jesus were copied from older legends by his biographers. but, even if they actually occurred, they were not miracles at all, for a miracle must be, in the very meaning of the word, performed by the suspension of a natural law, and from all gospel accounts the mental therapeutics of the christ were performed, if at all, in perfect accordance with well-established psychological laws. they had been performed years before his birth, and they have continued to be performed years after his death, even to the present time. through the force of faith, the patients were placed in passivity (hypnosis) and treated by suggestions being impressed upon their subjective minds, when present; at a distance, they were cured by the telepathic suggestions conveyed from the healer to their subjective mentalities. there is no miracle here; it is merely a demonstration of telepathic and hypnotic phenomena, governed by psychic laws, and does not place the christ on a higher intellectual plane than modern hypnotists and mental healers, who consciously and knowingly work within the dispensation of these laws. they are anything but proofs of the godhead of jesus. it would seem that the pharisees had some such idea in mind when they demanded an astronomical miracle and requested "a sign from heaven." but, unable to comply, he evaded this performance by calling them hypocrites and "an evil and adulterous generation," and saying, "there shall no sign be given unto this generation" (matt. xii, 38-39; xvi, 1-4; mark viii, 11-13; luke xi, 16, 29; john ii, 18, 24; vi, 30). one of the commonest miracles ascribed to religious leaders of all sects and times, and one which never fails to convince witnesses and hearers of the authenticity of such a leader's claims, is that of restoring the dead to life. such miracles have been so well attested that there seems little reason to suppose them entirely fictitious. everyone has heard of cases of catalepsy, and medical history teems with cases of "suspended animation"; in fact, the only actual proof of death is the entire decomposition of the vital organs; therefore, the cruelty and crime of embalming corpses before such a condition is apparent. some undertakers actually insist upon embalming before such conditions, because the dead can then be made to "present a better appearance"! there are numerous well-proven cases of people lying for days in cataleptic conditions, even with slight signs of decomposition due to restricted circulation, and then returning to renewed lives and perfectly healthy states. all eastern travelers are familiar with the practices of hindu fakirs who allow themselves to be buried alive for weeks, and are "resurrected" without having suffered. therefore, it does not seem improbable that some such acts on the parts of various religious leaders may have occurred which have excited wonder with the ignorant, and interest among the educated. the early christians proclaimed many such wonderful works, albeit when challenged by a wealthy pagan to produce even one such case, in payment for which he would become a convert, a failure was the result. orthodox christians proclaim that jesus raised from death jairus' daughter, in entire forgetfulness of the actual words accredited to their leader, which were, "the maid is not dead, but sleepeth" (matt. ix, 24; mark v, 39; luke viii, 52), showing his opinion that she was in a cataleptic condition. while neither of the first three gospels says aught of the raising of lazarus, we find it in john, who seems to have substituted it for the story of jairus' daughter, which does not appear in his gospel. according to this hyperbolical and probably demented authority, jesus raised lazarus to life after he had been dead four days (john xi, 17), although jesus maintained that lazarus was not dead (john xi, 11). he declared that "this sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of god, that the son of god might be glorified there-by" (john xi, 4), or, in other words, jesus believed that the unfortunate lazarus was obliged to undergo this frightful experience that his seeming resurrection might cause gaping among the vulgar, and add to the prestige of the miracle worker. for this reason, he purposely postponed going to the dying man, whom he might have saved, that he might later have the glory of bringing him to life! excellent ethics! finally, however, when he did depart, he said positively, "our friend lazarus sleepeth; but i go, that i may awake him out of sleep" (john xi, 11). having arrived at the sepulchre, he approached it, groaning and weeping, in a most theatrical manner, such as would appeal to a highly strung audience, and cried in a loud voice, "lazarus, come forth!" whereupon the dead man arose and came out (john xi, 33, 35, 43). now, this may have been catalepsy, and it may have been the strong voice and will of the christ which caused the awakening, but, in all probability, if the affair ever occurred, it was a preconceived dramatic incident. all the actors were partisans of the professed messiah, and the whole story reads like a play, and undoubtedly the words "come forth" were the cue for the waiting man to appear. it is by such contemptible methods that religions are established. if the tale were due to the imagination of the author of john, it is most discreditable to him, and places his hero in a very bad light. if it actually occurred, it shows jesus as a vain-glorious boaster, anxious to show his power to the vulgar, and desirous of gaining a following by charlatanry, either by raising a hypnotized man or by creating a cheap melodrama. it had been prophesied (2 esdras xiii, 50) that the messiah should be a miracle worker, which probably caused jesus to affect this rôle when he accepted the part of the messiah, and to condescend to soil his mission by charlatanism, even to the raising of the dead in imitation of the former prophets, elijah and elisha (i kings xvii, 16-24; ii kings iv, 18-37). it is rather amusing to hear theodore christlieb, that well-named, sturdy old german supporter of orthodoxy, boldly assert in irrevocable simplicity and straightforwardness, in his "modern doubt and christian belief": "however much in other respects our opponents may differ, they all agree in the denial of miracles, and unitedly storm this bulwark of the christian faith; and in its defense we have to combat them all at once. but whence this unanimity? because with the truth of miracles the entire citadel of christianity stands or falls. [the italics are his own.] for its beginning is a miracle, its author is a miracle, its progress depends upon miracles, and they will hereafter be its consummation. if the principle of miracles be set aside, then all the heights of christianity will be leveled with one stroke, and naught will remain but a heap of ruins. if we banish the supernatural from the bible, there is nothing left us but the covers" (pages 285-6). viii.--atonement and salvation by faith. the dogma of the atonement which very naturally resulted from the theological interpretation of the crucifixion, was readily accepted by the christian church. the idea of averting disasters by sacrifice and thus causing one devoted victim to bear the load of the sins of others, in payment of which his death was acceptable, is one of the greatest antiquity, and we find sacrifices of various kinds offered to propitiate the deities, from the simple offerings of primitive man to the more elaborate sacrifices of a more complicated society. finally came the idea of human sacrifice and then the culminating theory of the sacrifice of a divine being whose suffering should atone for all the sins of mankind. the belief of redemption from sin by the sufferings of a divine incarnation was general and popular centuries before the time of jesus. in the temple of the moon the albanians of the eastern caucasus kept a number of sacred slaves. when one exhibited more than usual symptoms of inspiration, the high priest maintained him in the utmost luxury for a year, after which he was anointed and led forth to be sacrificed. after his death, the people stood upon the body as a purificationary ceremony, it being believed that the dead man was possessed of a divine spirit. the ancient greeks were also familiar with the use of the human scapegoat, and it was customary at marsailles, one of the busiest and most brilliant of the greek colonies, to sacrifice an inspired man when the city was ravaged by the plague. all are familiar with the old jewish practice of using the scapegoat as the vehicle for the expiation of sins, and the whole theory of the atonement is little more than a modernized expression of the old idea that the sins of the community may be delegated to one agent to be sacrificed for the purification of the rest. the prophecy, as it is called by john, made by caiaphas, the high priest, "it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not" (john xi, 50; xviii, 14), which has been seized upon by the christians as a reference to the vicarious atonement, is nothing more than the opinion of an ardent orthodox jew that if jesus were permitted to live and preach he would destroy the ancient faith and his converts would abandon the old religion. the words "it is expedient for us" qualify the whole statement. they signified that the priesthood would be without a following were he allowed to continue. the idea of a vicarious atonement for all the people would have been of no expediency whatever to caiaphas and his class. they felt that if orthodoxy fell by jesus' preaching, the romans could easily crush them, for it was only by their union and the support of their ancient rites that they could form any front to the imperial government; it was by these alone that they had any political significance. once dismembered, the jews would be scattered to the corners of the earth (john xi, 52). this was the meaning of caiaphas' words, and he was correct, for such was the actual case. when orthodoxy was undermined, the jewish nation was ruined. the doctrine that god was angry with humanity because of its ancestors' transgressions, and would forgive its sins only on its acceptance of belief in the godhead of jesus, is so entirely at variance with the jewish teachings, which held that god freely forgave penitents on the confession of their sins (ex. xxxiv, 6-7; neh. ix, 17; ps. ciii, 3; cxxx, 4; is. xxxiii, 24; dan. ix, 9) that it was never accepted by them. some old christian writers believed that it was to the devil that the christ was sacrificed. their belief in the justice of the supreme would not allow them to think that he demanded the sacrifice of an innocent for the sins of the guilty. proclus of constantinople, in the age of austin, wrote that "the devil held us in a state of servitude, boasting that he had bought us. it was necessary, therefore, that all being condemned, either they should be dragged to death, or a sufficient price be paid; and because no angel had the wherewithal to pay it, it remained that god should die for us." while such an idea is certainly of a higher moral nature than that which states that god sacrificed his own innocent son for man, it has the unfortunate result of attributing to the devil greater power than to god; for if the devil could demand and receive a part of the god-head as ransom, then god himself was weaker than the arch fiend. hislop, in his "two babylons," commenting upon the chaldean doctrine that it was "by the works and merits of men themselves that they must be justified and accepted of god," utterly condemns it, and glories in the dogma of the atonement with great and illogical pleasure. having reviewed the egyptian belief that anubis weighed the merits and defects of departed souls, so that osiris, in accordance with the result, might judge and sentence them; and the parsee belief that the angel of justice sat on the bridge of chinevad, which connected heaven and earth, weighing souls to decide whether or not they should enter paradise, he condemns such theories as "utterly demoralizing," and asserts that no believer can ever have "any solid feeling of comfort, or assurance as to his prospects in the eternal world," which very fact would seem conducive to clean lives and good deeds. then he continues in ecstasy to exalt the immoral christian doctrine of "justification by faith alone," which he declares alone "can produce a life of loving, filial, hearty obedience to the law and commands of god," and by which man may reach salvation "absolutely irrespective of human merits, simply and solely through the righteousness of christ." this is one of the most absurd and immoral doctrines of all the absurd and immoral doctrines of christianity, and one which leads to all varieties of crime and misery. a man who believes that simple faith alone is a perfect and acceptable passport to eternal bliss will take no pains to lead either a decent or useful life. he is at liberty to commit all the crimes known to his nature; he may murder, steal, rape, and lie with impunity, for his faith in christ will save him from his well-deserved punishment; while a man of high ethical standards and immaculate moral principles, who spends his whole life in self-sacrifice for the progress of humanity is doomed to damnation, unless he believe! what a horrible doctrine! what a blasphemous conception of the justice of god! every student of comparative theology knows that such views of atonement were centuries old at the date of the supposed birth of the christ, and that all sorts of sacrifices were made at the altars of different gods with the same idea of atonement; but, aside from this, is there not something cowardly and mean in trying to shirk the responsibilities of one's actions upon either an animal, a man, or a god? is it not contemptible to suppose that the death and suffering of another will allow one to go unpunished, or that such suffering is a license for humanity to sin? all that is ridiculous, blasphemous, and illogical appears in this stupid dogma. ix.--the trinity--mariolatry. the dogma of the trinity, which was introduced, strongly advocated, and finally successfully lobbied through the famous council of nicaæ in 315, by that astute theological politician athanasius, bishop of alexandria, split the christian church in twain and threw europe into turmoil and bloodshed. athanasius was the leader of the alexandrian school of christian theology which drew its inspirations and ideas largely--one might almost say, exclusively--from ancient egyptian sources. the egyptians were an essentially religious people whose deistic ideas were surrounded by ceremony, priestcraft, and mysticism, all of which made such a deep impression upon the pliant minds of the alexandrian christians that they molded their new faith in the form of their old. the egyptians highly revered the number three, which they generally represented under the form of a triangle. to the egyptians nothing could be perfect or complete unless it was of three component parts. therefore, their gods were generally grouped in sets of three, many cities having their own especial trinities. horus was divided into three persons, and osiris, isis and horus were worshiped under the sign of the triangle. but egypt was not alone in her trinitarian ideas. the theory of sex worship had a strong hold on all the peoples of antiquity, and it is not surprising to find similar religious expressions in india. one of the most prominent features of indian theology is the doctrine of the divine triad governing all things. this triad is called the tri-murti and consists of brahma, the creator, vishnu, the preserver, and siva, the destroyer. it is an inseparable unity though three in form. the inhabitants of china and japan, most of whom are buddhists, worship god in the form of a trinity. the persians have a similar triad composed of ormuzd, the creator, mithras, the son, and ahriman, the destroyer. the ancient scandinavians likewise worshiped a triple deity who was yet one god, and consisted of odin, thor, and frey. one of the many weak points in the doctrine of the trinity, and one that must be noticeable even to christians, is that, according to the new testament, the apostles themselves never seem to have recognized the divinity of jesus, but always treated him as a human jew like themselves. this attitude of the early christian disciples is noted by priestley, who remarks in his "corruptions of christianity" (page 136): "it can never be thought that peter and the others would have made so free with our lord, as they sometimes did, if they had considered him as their maker, and the being who supported the whole universe; and therefore must have been present in every part of creation, giving his attention to everything, and exerting his power upon everything, at the same time that he was familiarly conversing with them. moreover, the history of the temptation must be altogether improbable in such a supposition. for what could be the offer of the kingdoms of this world to him who made the world, and was already in possession of it?" numerous texts which tend to affirm the humanity of jesus have been stumbling blocks in the paths of the trinitarians, and they have taken great pains to explain away these embarrassing texts, even at the cost of much ingenuity and absurdity. paul, the real founder of the faith, in his first epistle to timothy, says: "for there is one god, and one mediator between god and men, the man christ jesus" (1 tim. ii, 5); and again in his first epistle to john he remarks: "no man hath seen god" (1 john iv, 12). such phrases as "why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is god" (matt. xix, 17), and "but now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which i have heard of god" (john viii, 40), do not appear to be fitting remarks for the second person of the trinity. again, the words, "my father is greater than i" (john xiv, 28), were likewise difficult of explanation by those who held that every member of the trinity is coequal, but austin got around this by declaring that "christ having emptied himself of his former glory, and being in form of a servant, was then less, not only than his father, but even than himself"! the same writer asserts that the words, "that the son knew not the time of the day of judgment, but only the father" (mark xiii, 32), means that while jesus did know something of the trinity, he would not make it known to others--thus making a downright liar of his god. the whole of trinitarianism is epitomized in the phrase of peter lombard, who, having made the impossible arithmetical assertion that no one person of the trinity is less than the other two, says: "he that can receive this, let him receive it; but he that cannot, let him, however, believe it; and let him pray that what he believes he may understand." jesus having been ordained one of the godhead, the only begotten son of the most high god, the worship of his mother naturally followed; for who could reasonably refuse to bend the knee to the one virgin of all humanity, considered worthy of the honor of bearing the incarnate deity? it was all the easier for the christian church to adopt this practice, that it had been one of the principal features of the ancient theologies. all nations have worshiped a pure, chaste queen of heaven, a personification of that beautiful celestial body that smiles so benignly down on earth every month. in every land the moon was worshiped as a mother goddess, pure, beautiful, and loving; for there is not the slightest doubt that the virgin queen of heaven, so commonly worshiped by all nations, was merely a personification of the moon. isis, mother of the egyptian savior horus, was worshiped as a virgin and was styled "our lady," "queen of heaven," "mother of god," "intercessor," and "immaculate virgin." she was commonly represented with the divine infant seated on her lap, or standing on a crescent moon, and having a glory of twelve stars about her head. with the adoption of the worship of isis to christianity, the crescent moon became a sacred symbol of mary, who was often portrayed standing upon one. it was held peculiarly sacred by the greek church and a large crescent moon of gold adorned the dome of st. sophia at constantinople. when the city fell in 1453 before the turkish arms, the sultan adopted the crescent as a symbol of his victorious power and as a humiliation to his christian enemies, and thus again the religious significance of the crescent changed, and as an emblem of a mohammedan power soon came to be regarded by the forgetful christians with horror and a deadly hatred. the ancient chaldees believed in a celestial virgin-mother to whom the erring sinner might appeal, and shin-moo, the mother goddess, occupies a conspicuous place in chinese worship. the babylonians and assyrians worshiped a goddess called mylitta, whose son tammuz is said to have arisen from the dead. in india they have worshiped for ages devaki, the mother of krishna, and maya, the mother of buddha, both of whom are represented with the infant saviors in their arms. their statues, similar to the christian madonnas, are found in hindu temples, and their portraits are always accompanied by halos. sochiquetzal, mother of quetzalcoatl, was worshiped in mexico as the mother of their crucified savior. as queen of heaven and the chaste and immaculate protectress of women, the greek hera and her roman prototype, juno, were worshiped by the ancient classical world, while the virtuous diana of ephesus held a similar place in phoenician mythology. all the ancient beliefs in the virgin queen of heaven and her miraculous child probably had more or less effect on the growth of virgin worship in the christian church; but it was undoubtedly egyptian influence which was most powerful in the adoption of it, just as it was in regard to the trinitarian dogma. the worship of isis and horus was introduced into rome during the early days of the empire and was readily accepted. and with its introduction came those basalt images of the goddess and her child which have since been adopted by the christians as ancient representations of mary and jesus, albeit they are as black as ethiopians. many centuries before, the worship of the greek goddess hera had been instituted at rome under the name of juno, and she was especially regarded as the chaste and immaculate protectress of women. and it was the combination of the worship offered to these two deities that the christian church condensed into the worship of the mother of jesus, to which it added the attributes of diana, making mary the patroness of chastity as well as fruitfulness! in dante's day it was customary to invoke the virgin mary at childbirth just as juno lucina was invoked by the pagan ancestors of the italians. the worship of the virgin as theotokos, the mother of god, was promulgated at the general council of ephesus, which was called by the emperor theodosius ii in 431, and, after that date, and up to the present time, we find this lowly jewish peasant girl delineated in all the insignia of royalty and portrayed in the most beautiful and patrician type of classical beauty. with the adoration of mary rose the legend that she, too, had ascended bodily into heaven and was there crowned by her son and bidden to sit eternally upon his right hand that she might plead with him to mitigate the punishments of sinners, thus allowing that the judgment of this second member of the holy trinity might be fallible, or at least open to influence. having raised the virgin to this immense height, the natural sequence was to go a step farther and grant to her also immaculate origin. this idea was first noticed in the eleventh century and steadily grew until in 1494 sextus the fourth officially recognized it and gave it the solemn sanction of the church, and in july, 1615, paul the fifth instituted the office commemorating her immaculate conception. virgin worship has continued to grow and flourish, and even so late as 1854, pius the ninth issued a bull officially declaring mary the "mediatrix" between christ and the faithful. mary is not, however, the only intercessor that stands between man and his god. there is an immense horde of saints who also occupy positions of honor about the heavenly throne. these immortal semi-human beings are created by a decree of the roman pontiff and their canonization has often been due to whimsical reasoning. that all the apostles, martyrs, and early christian fathers should have been raised to this holy peerage is not so remarkable; but that such honor should have been conferred on the wicked, unscrupulous, and vicious constantine, and his almost unknown mother helena; on the powerful and warlike charlemagne; and on the ambitious and ungrateful thomas à becket, seems strange to say the least. x.--the saints--good and evil spirits. that this army of saints was originally created to replace the body of heroes and demi-gods of antiquity cannot be doubted. the compliance with which the church converted pagan deities into christian heroes is perfectly well known, and it is shown in many ways. ancient statues were declared to represent newly canonized saints to whom pagan attributes were unhesitatingly given--often most ridiculously. at the temple of sebona, in nubia, the christians replaced the figure of the old god of the temple, which appeared in a fresco, by that of st. peter, thus depicting king rameses the second as presenting his offering to the christian saint! the statue of jupiter in st. peter's at rome has been declared that of the erstwhile fisherman, and its original thunderbolts have been replaced by the keys, which the christian mythologists have filched from the god janus to bestow on their revered patron in accordance with the promise of matthew xvi, 19. rome is full of proofs of this conversion of heathen to christian deities. the temple formerly sacred to the bona dea was dedicated to the virgin mary; the church of saint apollinaris stands on the spot formerly dedicated to apollo; and the temple of mars was given to st. martina. the very names of some of the saints have an old familiar sound--as st. baccho, st. quirinus, st. romula, st. redempta, st. concordia, st. nympha, and st. mercurius. the christian symbolism of its heroes has also a decidedly pagan flavor. the ancient winged lion of the egyptian mythology is made to portray st. mark; the sacred bull denotes st. luke; while st. john is generously supplied with both the eagle of jove and the hawk's head of horus. the idea of intercession, which is the principal attribute of all the saints, is also a very ancient religious theory and probably came with the other dogmas already mentioned from alexandria, as we find that the egyptians believed that some of their gods--and particularly the four gods of the dead--acted as mediators with the stern judge osiris and attempted to turn aside his wrath and the punishment of sins. much akin to the saints, though differing from them in form and in never having been mortal, are the angels. these beings combine the wings of the roman victories with the sweet voices of the teutonic elves and the classical sirens, and are in many ways similar to the famous northern valkyries who wore shirts of swan plumage and hovered over scandinavian battlefields to receive the souls of falling heroes. the hindu apsaras and moslem houris belong to the same family. a few years ago a bitter controversy arose in new york episcopal circles as to the sex of these unearthly creatures, some strenuously advocating their masculinity, while others gallantly asserted that they were essentially feminine, but the earlier idea was that they were entirely sexless, combining the characteristic virtues of both sexes. apart from both saints and angels stands another figure in the christian mythology--one, however, that has no actual counterpart in the ancient faiths. this is satan. the classical religious systems had no such conception, their king of the dead being a gloomy and austere deity without any of the malicious or mischievous propensities of the more modern devil, and having no designs upon the welfare of mankind. the medieval conception of the devil was a grotesque compound of elements derived from all the pagan mythologies which christianity superseded. from the sylvan deity pan he gets his goat-like body, his horns and cloven hoofs; his lameness was due to his fall from heaven, in imitation of the fall of the roman vulcan; and his red beard was taken from the lightning god thor, as was also his power over the thunderbolts; while his pitchfork is the converted trident of neptune. that much of the absurd fabric of christianity is built upon a belief in satan cannot be denied, for the whole theology is based upon the necessity of a savior whose death atones for the sins of mankind, which were consequent upon man's fall from grace through the machinations of the devil. had man never fallen, there were no need of a savior. had man never been tempted, he would never have fallen, and in no words was the necessity of a belief in the devil more plainly set forth than by that most orthodox writer, des mousseaux, in his "moeurs et pratiques des demons," published in 1852. he says: "the devil is the chief pillar of faith. he is one of the grand personages whose life is closely allied to that of the church, and without his speech, which issued out so triumphantly from the mouth of the serpent, the fall of man could never have taken place. thus, if it were not for him, the savior, the crucified, the redeemer, would be but the most ridiculous of supernumeraries and the cross an insult to good sense!" in his preface to "les hauts phenomènes de la magie," des mousseaux repeats this theory: "if magic and spiritualism were both but chimeras, we would have to bid an eternal farewell to all the rebellious angels now troubling the world; for thus we would have no more demons down here.... and if we lost our demons, we would lose our savior likewise; for, from whom did that savior save us? and then there would be no more redeemer; for, from whom or what could that redeemer redeem us? hence, there would be no more christianity." he evidently regards satan as "the prince of this world" (john xii, 31; xvi, 11); "the god of this world" (cor. iv, 4); and "the prince of the power of the air" (eph. ii, 2). the universally accepted belief of christendom in the almost absolute power of the devil was the cause of the most awful persecution of innocence that the world has ever seen. while the tortures of the heretics by the inquisition had some cause of a political as well as ecclesiastical nature, the houndings of those accused of witchcraft and sorcery had no foundation save in superstition and gross ignorance. during the christian era millions of persons have been destroyed for this crime in conformity to the command, "thou shalt not suffer a witch to live" (ex. xxii, 18). the roman church recognized and punished the crime; luther approved of the burning of witches; the scotch reformers did likewise, and the puritans of new england delighted in the persecution. while all religiously orthodox people accept the narrative of scriptural miracles with unquestioning faith and never cast a doubt on the greatest improbabilities so long as they are told of biblical heroes, these very people assign all the seeming supernatural affairs of post-scriptural times to the devil. psychical phenomena which, if performed two thousand years ago by jesus (such as the resurrection of lazarus and the materialization to the magdalene), they accept without hesitation, they brand as trickery or a delusion or satan, when placed before them by a professed spiritualist. witches and wizards were condemned to horrible deaths by the medieval church for performing the very identical acts for which the same church canonized departed saints and instituted offices for their adoration and worship; and modern christians smile and sneer derisively at fortune tellers, but condemn in holy horror as heretics those who refuse to believe in the foreseeing powers of the ancient hebrew prophets. this christian devil-worship, for it can be called little else, crept into judaism during the babylonian captivity, and was originally a recognition of the dual powers of good and evil, seemingly coequal. by placing satan in opposition to god, in giving him eternal life, and endowing him with miraculous powers, and even allowing him to upset and vanquish the plans of god, christians have made satan equal, if not superior, to the deity. a puritan bigot hanging witches in new england was admitting in the plainest manner his faith in satan's power, though it never occurred to him for an instant that these curious happenings might be attributed to god. the power of god to perform miracles was then, as now, a matter of the past. with the protestant reformation came the idea that no longer did god interfere for the benefit of man. in the seventeenth century god had ceased to work by other than natural agencies. his miraculous powers, if not lost, were at least suspended. but not so satan--that archfiend was as powerful as ever, if not more so. he could inflict magical tortures on god's divinely elect and make them writhe in agony. pious cotton mather had ceased to believe in divine miracles, but he had no doubt of devilish ones, and it appears to all students of that dark and shameful period of our history that the belief was rampant among the majority that god was vanquished and satan ruled. never was belief in the dual principles of good and evil more surely set forth in ancient persia than it was in new england by such harsh, cruel, and bigoted priests as mather and parrish. today, while all churchmen have grown more liberal, we still find both in pulpit and pew innumerable believers in the power of satan to tempt and force erring humanity into wrong and sinful paths in miraculous salvation from which by god they have no faith. today, instead of earthly and present salvation by the deity from the clutches of satan, the belief seems prevalent that a post-mortem salvation is more efficacious, and that all that is required for eternal bliss is belief in the vicarious atonement of the christ. to hear our orthodox friends declaim on the powers of satan almost makes one ready to believe that god is dead and satan rules supreme. such is the blasphemy of demonic faith. while satan, as the arch-enemy, is somewhat similar to the persian ahriman, he is not alone in his wickedness. when christianity came into power and supplanted paganism as the roman state religion, it immediately debased all of the pagan gods, whom it did not appropriate to itself as saints, to devils and assigned them subordinate positions in hell, under command of the great satan. and thus, all the beautiful water sprites, sylvan nymphs, spirits of the air, and other lesser deities, became the associates of wickedness, and, as such, continued, until a very recent date, to hold sway over the superstitious imaginations of the majority of europeans. the mediæval church likewise invented the famous succubæ and incubi, the former demons impersonating the beautiful nymphs of the old mythology and attacking the virtue of youths with their seductive arts, while the latter, in imitation of the ancient satyrs, sought the virginity of unsuspecting maidens; all of which may readily be learned of in accounts of the many trials held by "the holy inquisition," in which such were condemned as had held intercourse with these demons. in many cases, women swearing to have had intercourse with incubi were merely suffering from erotic and nymphomaniac hallucinations, while others may have found it a convenient excuse for explaining illicit impregnations. men, falling under the charms of women, found it a convenient method for disposing of their loves, after the infatuation had passed, by declaring them succubæ; and monks, who had contracted venereal diseases, laid their sufferings to these same fair demons. in the case of the monks, however, the succubæ were often of purely hallucinary origin, due to excessive asceticism together with the suppression of natural desires and a too faithful conformity to the ordinance of celibacy. nymphomania is also prevalent in convents, owing to the unnatural sexual lives led by the nuns, who either remain truly chaste or abandon themselves to all sorts of debauchery and perverted lubricities. in former times these rages of demented women were supposed to have been caused by possession of demons, which tormented them at the orders of magicians, and advantage was often taken by the unscrupulous to accuse their enemies of the crime of sorcery, and thus cause their execution. one of the most famous of these horrible affairs was that of loudin in poitiers, where the nuns of the ursuline convent, becoming hysterical and demented, swore themselves afflicted by urbain grandier, a priest of the local church, and despite the attempts of the rational bailiff and sensible civil lieutenants, some enemies of the curé among the exorcists managed to secure the arrest, torture, and final burning of the unfortunate man in 1632. later, it was discovered that, being personally attractive, handsome and gallant, grandier, who never denied his numerous amours, had incurred the enmity of the loudin nuns by entirely ignoring their advances; and hell hath no fury like a woman scorned! these libidinous women, constantly brooding over disappointment to their fond hopes, gave such a character of demonic possession to their neurosis that advantage could be taken of it by rival priests to rid themselves of an envied enemy. the writhings, gesticulations, convulsions, etc., of these unfortunate women, combined with the indecency of their actions on the approach of the exorcists (caused merely by the approach of a male), were believed by the vulgar to be demonstrations of demonic possession. other nuns, seeing the attention and notoriety thus gained by these sisters, although themselves free from dementia, could not resist the temptation to simulate its forms and thus acquire renown for themselves. thus arose those horrible demonical scenes which occupied the attention of all europe during the seventeenth century and seemed to point to the possession of all convents by devils. and not convents alone, for other hysterical women, without the walls, possessed of the same rage for notoriety, took up the character of demonic possessed and spread the vulgar superstition until it seems that every woman in europe who was so unfortunate as to be in any way afflicted with tendencies to hysteria, neurosis, idiocy, or dementia of any character whatever, came to be regarded as in the power of a demon, which in turn was the slave of some magician. and thus, through the influence of an ignorant and unscrupulous priesthood, a powerful engine was placed at its disposal for the removal of enemies. executions for sorcery continued until their very number and barbarity palled, and the wearied people were ready for their abolition, when the reformation opened and with the accession of power, protestantism, in this matter, at least, swayed the masses to reason once more. dr. figuier, in his "histoire du merveilleux," explains these demonical possessions as entirely due to hypnotism, and, ignoring the nymphomaniac theory, asserts that the exorcists themselves hypnotized the nuns for their own glory and for purposes of vengeance. one page 234 of volume i he says: "l'appareil deployé par les exorcistes, leurs adjurations, leurs gestes imposants et forcenés, tenaient lieu des manipulations que nos magnetiseurs emploient pour endormir leurs sujets. operant sur des jeunes filles nerveuses, malades, melancoliques, les exorcistes produisaient chez elles une partie des phenomènes auxquels donné lieu le somnambulisme artificiel." the universal belief in evil spirits became a powerful engine for the advancement of the church. by its use all those who were inimical to the church could be put out of the way as comrades of devils, and, furthermore, the theory was advanced that only by the exorcisms of the church could man be protected from malevolent powers. holy water, signs of the cross, repetitions of the name of mary had full power to annul all the machinations of the demons, but only in the hands of the true believers was this efficacious. to preserve one from the dangers of demonic spite, absolute orthodoxy was essential, and thus a great premium was imposed upon strict adherence to the church. thus was gross superstition a most powerful factor in the growth and spread of christianity. according to lecky: "there was scarcely a village or a church that had not, at some time, been the scene of supernatural interposition. the powers of light and the powers of darkness were regarded as visibly struggling for the mastery. saintly miracles, supernatural cures, startling judgments, visions, prophecies, and prodigies of every order, attested the activity of the one, while witchcraft and magic, with all their attendant horrors, were the visible manifestations of the other.... tens of thousands of victims perished by the most agonizing and protracted torments, without exciting the slightest compassion.... nations that were separated by position, by interests, and by character, on this question were united." and the germ of all this evil lay in the very foundation of christianity--the faith held in supernatural agencies. the belief in the supernatural agency in the temptation of eve, the temptations of jesus, the possibility of the miraculous conception, and the miracles of christ, were but stepping-stones to faith in innumerable invisible but potent powers. one who can conscientiously believe in the supernatural as found between the covers of the bible can, by but a slight stretch of the imagination, believe any preposterous tale that is woven about a supernatural agency. if one can believe a woman can conceive without contact with semen, one can believe some old woman can dry up his cow. if one can believe that jesus actually raised lazarus from the dead, one can believe that a man can kill him by sticking pins in a wax effigy. if one can believe that elijah ascended to heaven in a fiery chariot, one can believe that goody jones rode a broomstick through the air. if one can believe that the christ was actually tempted by the devil, one can believe in succubæ and incubi. it is all a matter of logical reasoning. as soon as a christian's intellectual powers develop to a point where he can find no place for the miraculous in the world about him, he begins to doubt that which was in the world before him; but, regarding theological tales, he either places them in another category or ignores them, unless faced with them, when he crawls and calls them "sacred mysteries." that an old woman can sour his milk or kill his child by the evil eye he does not believe, for reason has taught him otherwise. and for the same reason he would not believe his daughter if she told him she was pregnant with a miraculous child. he did not believe josephine woodbury when she made a similar statement in boston a few years ago. but he does believe it of mary, because it is a "holy mystery," and is in another category. he has inherited his faith from a long line of orthodox ancestors, and he has never stopped to consider it by the light of pure reason. it is fortunate for the dogma of the virgin birth that it took root when people believed such things, otherwise mary would have been adorned with the scarlet letter. feasts, fasts and elaborate ceremonials were important features of the most ancient worships, and it is not, therefore, strange to find somewhat modified adaptations of them in the christian church. for, wherever christianity wandered and found firmly implanted religious theories and customs, it immediately gave them new significations and accepted them, until finally the greater part of paganism was gathered from all parts of the civilized world and amalgamated into one strong theological organization. finding in almost every nation a festival at the winter solstice, in commemoration of the accouchement of the celestial, virgin queen of heaven, and the birth of the sun-god, the christian fathers decided to adopt the 25th of december as the natal day of their christ. mithras, osiris, horus, bacchus, adonis and buddha were all said to have been born on this day, and it is the date of one of the greatest religious festivals of india, during which the people decorate their houses with garlands and make presents to relatives and friends; a custom adopted by the christians in much the same manner as was that of the ancient german yule-log, burned in honor of the sun-god. xi.--religious holidays and rites. the winter solstice was also the time of the great scandinavian festival in honor of frey, son of odin and frigga, who was supposed to have been born at this time. the jews, likewise, have a feast beginning on the 25th of december, which lasts eight days, and is in memory of the victory of the maccabees over the greeks. it is called the feast of hanuca. a great annual festival, called the "feast of lamps," was held by the egyptians in the early part of the year in honor of the goddess neith, during which lamps of oil were burned all night before the houses. this festival was renamed candlemas or the "purification of the virgin," and was adopted by the christian church. the ancient pagan inhabitants of europe annually celebrated a spring festival which began with a week's indulgence in all kinds of sports and was called the carne-vale, or taking farewell of meat, because a fast of forty days immediately followed. in germany this was held in honor of the saxon goddess hertha, or ostara, or eostre--as you may prefer to call her--whose name was adopted as easter by the christians as the name to be applied to the end of their lenten period. among the syrians it was the custom to celebrate an elaborate festival at the time of the spring equinox in honor of the glorious adonis, beloved of the great goddess astarte. this worship was later introduced into greece, whence it traveled to rome with the majority of grecian mythological theories. it was later introduced into egypt, where it was annually celebrated at alexandria, the cradle of christianity, until the latter part of the fourth century, when a christian significance was given it. the myth of adonis is too well known to need repetition here, and its parallel to that of the christ is readily seen. the ceremonies now held in rome at easter are but slightly different from those held there at the same time of year centuries ago. this similarity was explained away by the assertion of the christian fathers "that a long time before there were christians in existence, the devil had taken pleasure to have their future mysteries and ceremonies copied by his worshipers"--a very simple and satisfactory explanation! that easter is in reality an astronomical festival in honor of the sun-god seems conclusive from the fact that it occurs on no settled date, but takes place on the first sunday after the first full moon after the passing of the vernal equinox, which, for convenience, is fixed at march 21. among the many christian fasts of pagan origin none is more familiar to all than the weekly friday abstinence from meat. under the old mythology, friday, the dies veneris, was sacred to venus, and on that day the devout worshipers of this charming goddess ate nothing but fish, as all the "finny tribe" were sacred to her, and considered proper diet for those that worshiped at her shrine. when the bishop of rome assumed the power and dignity of head of the western church, he also assumed all the prerogatives of the ancient pontifex maximus (who was supposed to be the direct physical communication between the people and the deities), and many of the attributes of the emperors. he adopted the gorgeous vestments of the ancient high priest and even stretched forth a foot to be kissed, as heliogabalus had done. he considered himself capable of raising such as he saw fit to semi-divine honors by canonization, just as the emperors had raised altars to their favorites, and he claimed precedence over every monarch of the earth, just as they also had done. but the roman pontiff is not unique in his position of viceroy of the deity. the grand lama of thibet is considered as the representative of buddha and has the power of dispensing divine blessings on whomsoever he will. taoism also has a pope who resides on the lung-hû mountain, in the department of kwang-hsi, who bears the surname chang and is called "heavenly master." the best known rites of the christian church are probably those of baptism, confession and communion, with which are associated the ideas of purification, prayer and transubstantiation. the rite of baptism, like all ideas which refer to the purification of sin by water, is a most ancient one. rivers, as sources of purification, were at an early date invested with a sacred character, and every great river was supposed to be permeated with a divine essence and its waters were believed to cleanse from all mortal guilt and contamination. the ganges and the jordan are well known examples of this faith, and vases of ganges water are to be found in almost every dwelling in india for religious purposes. in mongolia and thibet children are named by the priests, who immerse them in holy water while reading a prescribed prayer, after which the name is bestowed. baptism preceded initiation into the mysteries of both the egyptian isis and the persian mithras, and was held to be the means of regeneration and of remission of sins. tertullian, noticing the great similarity between the christian and pagan baptisms, naïvely remarked that the devil "baptizes some, of course, such as believe in him and are faithful to him; he promises expiation of sins from the bath, and, if my memory of mithras serves me still, in this rite he signs his soldiers on their foreheads." much akin to baptism is the general use by the christian church of so-called holy water, which is ascribed to pope alexander the first, who ruled during the first century. this pontiff probably did little more than officially to condone, by his papal sanction, the very general use of lustral water, which the romans had inherited from their pagan ancestors; for lustral water was always kept in vases at the entrance of the roman temples, that those passing in and out might sprinkle themselves with it; and the priests used a sprinkling brush called the aspersorium with which they threw the purifying water over their congregations, in the same manner as modern priests use the hyssop. the druids gave, or sprinkled upon, the worshipers water in which mistletoe had been immersed or steeped. similar to the idea of purification by baptism is that of purification by confession and prayer. the idea involved in confession is that the declaration of the crime relieves the conscience of its criminality. in iceland and among the scandinavian and teutonic peoples in general, murder ceased to be a crime when the slayer had declared himself guilty. among the jews confession was practiced, the purpose of its institution being that the priest might judge of the sacrifice required for the expiation of the sin committed, and, also, that every crime might be rehearsed over the scapegoat. the peruvians confessed their sins to their priests with the exception of the incas, who confessed to the sun. at the famous samothracian mysteries a priest was especially charged with hearing the confessions of great criminals and with granting them absolution. among protestant christians confession is often made directly to the supreme deity in the form of prayer, which, like most other religious practices, is an eminently pagan custom. the assyrians, babylonians, greeks, romans, persians, and most other ancient peoples offered sacrifices on the altars of their gods to propitiate them, and accompanied these offerings with prayers. today, instead of presenting wines and viands to his god, the devout christian offers verbal expressions of a contrite spirit or, more often, asks a favor. he demands, begs, or advises through this method, according to his own nature and disposition. the expression used in modern orthodox protestant prayers, "through our lord, jesus christ," is merely the concrete expression of the idea of mediation. the great supreme god was looked upon by most nations of antiquity as being too great, too sublime, too holy, to be addressed directly; and, in this lofty conception of the deity, they prayed for favors to mediators whom they created to request boons from the real ruler of heaven and earth. among the hindus, supplications were addressed to the various apotheosized incarnations of vishnu, rather than to the great brahma; the greeks made supplication to numerous lesser gods, rather than to zeus; persians addressed mithras instead of ormuzd; and the modern romanist kneels to saints and martyrs, or jesus or his mother, at whose shrines they place offerings which are bribes for favors; but almost never do they immediately supplicate the supreme god. in this they are certainly less blasphemous than their protestant fellows, who do not hesitate to talk familiarly to god of the most trivial affairs. belief in the efficacy of prayer is an absurdity which owes its origin to a hereditary trait of humanity, descended through a long line of superstitious ancestors. primitive man prayed to his dead fathers for their good will, believing them more powerful in their post mortem state than during life. the ancients offered prayers at the shrines of their various gods and, among all nations, from time immemorial, deities have been supplicated to bestow gifts and avert misfortunes. the overcharged mind of the superstitious has ever found relief in expressing its troubles to the imaginary beings on whom it has bestowed superhuman attributes. all over the world, in all languages, have arisen various petitions to the deities, and still do they continue to arise. savages pray to their idols, moslems crouch facing mecca to pray to allah, hindus pray to the avatars of vishnu, and all christendom besieges the throne of god in constant supplication. can any rational mind believe that these numerous, varied and even antagonistic petitions will be answered? some are praying for rain, some for a cessation of it, some for health, some for happiness, some for material blessings, and some for spiritual welfare. vain repetitions! the material universe is governed by immutable laws which all the breath in creation wasted in prayer cannot in any way affect; while such spiritual benefits as morality, character and virtue "are equally dependent on the invariable laws of cause and effect." prayers for forgiveness of sins are perhaps the most common, as well as the most absurd, that are daily offered. sin is the breaking of a material or moral law, and no law can be broken without the transgressor's incurring the penalty. is it not absurd of the church to preach the immutable justice of god, and at the same time declare that sinners may escape punishment by prayer? communion, or union with the deity, is an idea of great antiquity and has been common to all religions; although the methods practiced are numerous and varied. the more common mode, however, is by the consumption of consecrated foods and drinks, with the idea that these have acquired (by the act of consecration) a divine character of which the communicant becomes a partaker through their reception. the dogma of the eucharist was instituted many centuries before the christian era and was believed in by the ancient egyptians (from whom the christians probably received it through the alexandrian school), who, at the time of the celebration of the resurrection of osiris, ate a sacred wafer, which, after consecration by a priest, was declared the flesh of the god. in ancient greece, bread was worshiped as ceres and wine as bacchus; and, when the devout ate the bread and drank the wine, they claimed they were eating the flesh and drinking the blood of their deities. the ancient mexicans used bread of corn meal mixed with blood, which, after, having been consecrated by the priests, was given to the people to eat as the flesh of quetzalcoatl, much to the surprise and horror of the first spanish missionaries, who ascribed it to mockery of their holy eucharist due to satan. xii--the eucharist. the primal origin of the eucharist probably occurred far back in the period of universal anthropophagy. most savage and semi-savage peoples have practiced cannibalism because they believed that by eating the flesh of the dead they gained the qualities of the deceased. just as some africans eat tiger to become brave, savages ate their courageous foes to attain their virtues. following this same idea further, the belief was established that by consuming the flesh of a god, supernatural powers might be acquired. thus the early christian missionaries to the new world found such customs in peru and mexico. father acosta described one of these festivals which occurred annually each may in mexico, wherein the statue of a god was made of dough, and "killed" by an arrow in the hand of a priest. the god was then broken in pieces which by means of "certain ceremonies ... were blessed and consecrated for the flesh and bones of this idoll." these pieces the priest gave "to the people in manner of a communion who received it with such feare, and reverence, as it was an admirable thing, saying that they did eate the flesh and bones of god." likewise came the idea that sacrifices to the gods in some way attained godlike characteristics, and so the guatemalan priests ate the bodies of the sacrificed. the words of the modern roman priest, "hoc est corpus meum," which are supposed, by some magical influence, to cause the actual transubstantiation in the celebration of the eucharist, remind one forcibly of the dotting of the memorial chinese tablet by a mandarin, by which official act the spirit of the departed, to whom it is dedicated, is presumed to take up residence in the new abode. as a logical deduction from a given hypothesis, any roman priest is greater than the virgin. she conceived god but once, while the priest may through his mass create the body of the christ whenever he so desires. every time a priest performs this function he is the father of god. however, in spite of the absurdity of the practice, to deprive the communion of the real presence is to make it a senseless and useless ceremony. while the communicants believe in the efficacy of the wafer as the actual body, there is reason for absorbing it, as they thus unite themselves with the actual spirit of the christ. but the moment this dogma is rejected, the rite becomes futile, and nothing is more ridiculous than its perpetuation in the protestant churches. the quibble that it is performed in memory of jesus is a fallacy. in unitarian churches it is an arrant absurdity (one that is retained in many cases simply because the old historical churches of that denomination have inherited fine old communion plate which is proudly displayed), and one can only respect and admire ralph waldo emerson's stand in the matter, when he preferred to relinquish his remunerative and honorable pastorate in the second church of boston (the only pulpit he ever filled) rather than celebrate this anachronistic and indefensible rite. jerome carried his reverence for the eucharistic bread [1] so far that he considered that the table on which it was consecrated, together with the cloth in which it was wrapped, and the other utensils connected with its service, were to be worshiped with equal respect as that given the body and blood of the savior. this theory led to the consecration of altars, which by a decree of the council of epaone, in 517, in imitation of the jewish and pagan sacrificial altars, were ordered to be of stone, which material had been originally chosen as the most suitable material for the execution of the sacrifices, whose blood should flow over it, without danger of absorption. another of the ancient pagan ideas which took a strong hold upon christianity and rose to an abnormal power during the middle ages was that of monasticism with its accompanying asceticism. there is scarcely a religion of ancient and modern times that does not recognize asceticism as an element of its system. buddha taught his disciples a religion of abstinence, and, among the buddhists, there are ordained and tonsured priests, living in monasteries under vows of celibacy, while there are similar asylums for women. brahmanism also has its orders of ascetics and hinduism has its fakirs. fasting and self-denial were observances required by the greeks of those who desired initiation into the mysteries; the jews observed many fasts; and the egyptian priests passed their novitiate in the deserts engaged in prayer and living in caves. like many other christian customs, the monastic habit probably came from egypt, and it was considered by gibbon to have had a potent influence on the fall of the western empire, in that it removed from active and useful life so many able-bodied men and women. xiii.--spread of christianity. having now shown that there is nothing new in christianity; nothing in which it differs essentially from the older faiths; having shown that it brought no new ideas in its dogmas, practices, or morality, but a few words are necessary to explain its marvelous growth and rapid acceptance. christianity grew so rapidly, and was adopted so readily in many parts of the world simply because it was so cosmopolitan and elastic. it went forth to proselyte in a very conciliatory manner, embracing and absorbing every deeply rooted theological idea and custom which obstructed its path, and, in every way, exerting itself to propitiate its converts. and it was not until it became strong and powerful and was well supported by fanatical adherents that it dared to assume the rôle of conqueror. then, when the period of its strength was full, its tone changed and, strong in self-confidence, christianity became militant and strode forth in armor to vanquish with the sword and fill the world with blood. one of the reasons for the rapid acceptance of christianity among the romans and its remarkable growth in their dependencies was that for centuries the people had ceased to take their religion seriously. the vulgar masses, undoubtedly then as now, and at all times, unthinkingly swallowed all that was taught them of their deities, but the writings of cultivated men show clearly that for centuries the worship and reverence of their ancestral gods had but slight influence upon their ethical ideas. lucretius (95-52 b. c.), the exponent of the epicurean doctrines, regarded the gods as the creations of human fear. ennius (239-169 b. c.) translated and expounded the writings of euhemerus (316 b. c.), wherein it was claimed that all the ancient myths were historical events, that the gods were originally kings who were accorded post mortem worship by their grateful subjects. the stoics regarded the gods as personifications of the different attributes of nature. cicero adopted the platonic conception of the deity as mind freed from all taint of matter, while ovid made the gods ridiculous in his mocking "metamorphoses," and, in his lascivious descriptions of their amours, degraded them forever as ethical models. horace likewise mocked them. the glorious military conquests of the roman arms in asia and africa brought the soldiers into contact with alien religions, and the germs instilled in the minds of the armies spread among all the peoples of rome's domains, upon their return. likewise the ever-increasing influx of foreigners, bringing with them their native gods and theological systems, had more or less influence, while the apotheoses of the emperors gave a powerful impetus to the degradation of the ancient faith. the vulgar clung to their ancient shrines and the cultured sneered at them for so doing. they bent the knee in public and they laughed mockingly in private. in such a state was the religion of rome when the first christians began to proselyte; and on such fertile ground, amid the ruins of an ancient faith, the seed readily took root and rapidly spread out. any other faith, supported by sturdy, conscientious and indomitable missionaries, would have done the same. the old faith was dead and the time was ripe for something new and vigorous. as the civilized world was then under one powerful government, which allowed no political discord within its borders and which granted absolute religious freedom, the christian missionaries could travel in safety from one province to another and, without fear of molestation, could propagate their doctrines among the people through the media of the greek and latin tongues, which were universal throughout the empire. early christianity was merely a sect of judaism, and as the jews were scattered all through the roman provinces, every jewish settlement having its synagogue which the christian missionaries visited in order to preach their message, "the new religion, which was undertaken in the name of the god of abraham, and moses, found a sphere already prepared for itself." the new sect was naturally welcomed by the roman jews, as it was a purely national religion, founded upon the teachings of a jewish peasant for the jewish people. there is nothing in the gospels which portrays jesus as anything other than a prophet to his own nation. while his moral doctrines, like all ethical principles, are applicable to all races, he was ignorant of all peoples save his own, and it was to them alone that he preached, proclaiming his messiahship for them only. he was content to remain within the boundaries of his own country and expressed no wish nor desire to visit other lands. had it remained as jesus desired, christianity would never have been separated from judaism. it was owing to the direct disobedience of peter and paul in this particular, that christianity spread among the gentiles (acts xiv, 46). in sending forth his apostles to preach his mission, jesus commanded, "go not into the way of the gentiles, and into any city of the samaritans enter ye not: but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of israel" (matt. x, 5-6). when appealed to by the canaanite woman, he said, "i am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of israel" (matt. xv, 24). it was to the jews that he spoke when he said, "ye are the salt of the earth" (matt. v. 13). "ye are the light of the world" (matt. v, 14). it was in reference to the twelve tribes of israel that he so numbered his apostles (matt. xix, 28). and it was of his compatriots that he thought when prophesying his resurrection, "ye shall not have gone over the cities of israel, till the son of man be come" (matt. x, 23). there is no thought of a universal mission in all this. his mission and sacrifice were for his own nation, and, as paul writes to titus, he "gave himself that he might purify unto himself a peculiar people" (tit. ii, 14). thinking probably of the political strife which his messiahship would cause, jesus said, "i came not to bring peace, but a sword" (matt. x, 34), in which remark he was a truer prophet than the heavenly host that sang at his birth "on earth peace, good will toward men" (luke ii, 14). "the church of rome has shed more innocent blood than any other institution that ever existed among mankind," says lecky in his "rationalism in europe" (vol. ii, p. 40). the holy office in spain burned over 31,000 persons and condemned to punishment hardly less severe 290,000. during the reign of charles the fifth 50,000 heretics were executed in the netherlands and on february 16, 1508, the holy office condemned all the inhabitants, numbering 3,000,000 of people, to death as heretics, and philip the second confirmed the decree and ordered its instant execution. the whole history of christianity, in all its forms, reeks with blood and smells to heaven with carrion. in the first centuries christians persecuted pagans or, divided among themselves, persecuted each other as heretics. later arose the feuds of orthodox and arian, then came a united christendom against islam, followed by protestant wars. in these catholics murdered, pillaged, and devastated protestants and burned and tortured them as heretics by ecclesiastical tribunals; protestants persecuted and executed catholics and, divided among themselves, persecuted one another. in the sixteenth century anglican episcopalians persecuted catholics and nonconformists. in the seventeenth century puritans persecuted catholics, episcopalians, and quakers, and so on. the whole history of this religion is a long narration of blasphemous and degrading theories propagated by violence, hypocrisy and crime. christian charity is a delusion which is found only among the persecuted, who, the instant the scale turns, become the ruling faction, forget its meaning, and hasten to avenge their sufferings in persecutions. no other religion has so bloody a history as christianity. the old heathen religions went calmly on their way, indifferent to one another and showing the most perfect toleration. rival gods of rival nations were worshiped in temples side by side, without conflict or ill feeling. buddhists and brahmins mildly flourish in proximity. but christians who believe that the christ was sacrificed for love of humanity, that their gospel is one of love, peace, and good will, vie with one another to outstrip the ferocity of wild beasts. while many students believe that jesus was a purely mythical being, without actual existence save in the brains of religious christians, i see no reason to doubt that a certain jewish rabbi may have come out of the rebellious province of galilee about the time of herod. such messiahs had come before him and such have succeeded him. some of the messiahs subsequent to jesus were: one who appeared in persia in 1138, another in arabia in 1167, and one in moravia at the close of the twelfth century. eldavid proclaimed himself messiah in persia in 1199, sabathai tzevi assumed the title of "king of kings" in 1666 and was executed at constantinople by the sultan. so late as 1829 there appeared in india the eight-year-old son of a peasant who was a wonderful serpent charmer and was called marayum powar. it was an ancient belief that the ability to handle serpents unharmed was a proof that one had become perfectly holy--absorbed in god! therefore, numerous people came to believe powar a god and in ten months ten thousand followers were about him, baptizing and performing miraculous cures--and his cult seemed well on the road to establishment when, over-confident of his power, he was bitten by a serpent and died. his followers, after vainly awaiting his resurrection, dispersed. that jesus' whole career is lost in encircling myth is no proof that the original figure never existed. there is plenty of historical evidence to show that the central portion of europe was once ruled by a king named karl, and we do not doubt this simply because a great cloud of myths has been gathered about the name of st. charlemagne, any more than we feel bound to believe that because he once lived he must now necessarily exist, sleeping in a mountain, until it shall be necessary for him to spring forth and save the german fatherland. one set of students assert that the christ was merely the personification of vegetable life, claiming that his death and resurrection typify the death and revivification of vegetation. others hold that he is the modern phase of the eternal sun-god. to sustain this hypothesis the following allegorical interpretation of his supposed career is offered as an explanation. he was born on the early dawn of the twenty-fifth day of december, the day on which commences the sun's apparent revolution around the earth; his birth was announced by the brilliant morning star; his virgin mother was the pure and beautiful dawn; his temptation was his struggle with the adverse clouds which he dispersed; his trial, execution, and death were emblematic of the solar decline and crucifixion at the beginning of winter; his descent into hell was typical of the three days of the winter solstice; and his resurrection and ascension refer to the return of the sun after its seeming extinction. i have now shown that among the great majority of the nations of antiquity, no matter as to how they may have differed in the details, all held one general idea of faith in a savior-mediator between man and the supreme deity. some such medium seemed necessary to them, for they had not reached that intellectual plane on which one feels able to hold direct communication with the creator. modern christianity, in all its forms, still panders to this ancient superstition that man must needs have an agent between himself and his god. he must have an intercessor between his weakness and god's power--and vengeance. but when the human mind is freed from superstition and men learn that right living and a clean ethical code is all that is required, then they will cease to bow, either physically or mentally, to any humanly invented mediator, and their enlarged ideas of the justice of the supreme deity will prohibit any belief in impossible demi-gods. however, for the majority, that happy time of emancipation is still in the distant future, and, until its dawn lightens the general intelligence, men will continue to adore and supplicate the mediator whom inheritance and environment have taught them to revere, as krishna, buddha, mithras, or the christ, as the case may be. bibliography. apocryphal new testament, being all the gospels, epistles and other pieces now extant, attributed in the first four centuries to jesus christ, his apostles, and their companions, and not included in the new testament by its compilers. london. printed for william hone, 1821. baring-gould, s.--curious myths of the middle ages. london. 1877. legends of the patriarchs and prophets, and other old testament characters. new york. 1872. the origin and development of religious beliefs. new york. 1870. 2 vols. blavatsky, h. p.--isis unveiled: a master-key to the mysteries of ancient and modern science and mythology. new york. 1891. 2 vols. bourke, john g.--scatalogic rites of all nations. washington. 1891. bunsen, christian charles josias.--christianity and mankind; their beginnings and prospects. london. 1854. 7 vols. god in history; or, the progress of man's faith in the moral order of the world. london. 1868. 3 vols. castan, l'abee em.--les origines du christianisme d'apres la tradition catholique. paris. 1869. 2 vols. les origines du christianisme d'apres la critique rationaliste contemporaine. paris. 1868. chantepepie de la saussaye, p. d.--the religion of the teutons. boston. 1902. cheetham, s.--the mysteries--pagan and christian. london. 1897. christlieb, theodore.--modern doubt and christian belief. new york. 1874. clodd, edward.--myths and dreams. london. 1885. colenso, john william.--lectures on the pentateuch and moabite stone. london. 1873. conway, moncure daniel.--idols and ideals, with an essay on christianity. new york. 1877. doane, t. w.--bible myths and their parallels in other religions. new york. dorman, rushton m.--the origin of primitive superstitions, etc. philadelphia. 1881. draper, john william.--history of the conflict between religion and science. new york. 1881. history of the intellectual development of europe. new york. 1878. 2 vols. farrar, j. a.--paganism and christianity. london. 1891. primitive manners and customs. new york. 1879. figuier, louis.--histoire du merveilleux dans les temps modernes. paris. 1880. 4 vols. fiske, john.--myths and myth-makers. boston. 1901. frazer, j. c.--the golden bough. london. 1890. 2 vols. frothingham, octavius brooks.--the cradle of the christ. new york. 1877. gibbon, edward.--the history of the decline and fall of the roman empire. philadelphia. 1876. 6 vols. de gubernatis, angelo.--zoological mythology; or, the legends of animals. london. 1872. 2 vols. hardwick, charles.--christ and other masters. london. 1874. hargraves, jennings.--the rosicrucians. their rites and mysteries. london. 1870. 2 vols. harnack, adolph.--the expansion of christianity in the first three centuries. translated by james moffatt. new york. 1904. 2 vols. herodotus.--translation of g. c. macauley. london. 1890. 2 vols. hislop, alexander.--the two babylons; or, the papal worship, etc. edinburgh. 1862. hone, william.--ancient mysteries described, etc. london. 1823. hudson, thompson jay.--the law of psychic phenomena. chicago. 1896. inman, thomas.--ancient faiths and modern. london. 1876. ancient pagan and modern christian symbolism. london. 1869. jameson, mrs.--legends of the madonna. london. 1852. jevons, frank byron.--an introduction to the history of religion. london. 1896. lang, andrew.--custom and myth. london. 1884. myth, ritual, and religion. london. 1887. 2 vols. lecky, william edward hartpole.--history of european morals from augustus to charlemagne. london. 1877. 2 vols. history of the rise and influence of the spirit of rationalism in europe. new york. 1866. 2 vols. kundy, j. p.--monumental christianity. london. 1889. macdonald, james.--religion and myth. london. 1893. middleton, conyers.--a letter from rome. london. 1847. des mousseaux.--les haunts phenomenes de la magie moeurs et pratiques des demons. 1852. muller, max.--chips from a german workshop. london. 1867. 2 vols. orr, james.--the virgin birth of christ. new york. 1907. picart, bernard.--the ceremonies and religious customs of the various nations of the known world, etc. london. 1733. 7 vols. priestley, joseph.--an history of the corruptions of christianity. birmingham. 1793. 2 vols. renan, ernest.--the life of jesus. translated by c. e. wilboir. new york. 1865. sharpe, samuel.--egyptian mythology and egyptian christianity. london. 1863. smith, w. robertson.--lectures on the religion of the semites. edinburgh. 1889. strauss, david friedrich.--the life of jesus. translated by george eliot. london. 1892. tuttle, hudson.--the career of the christ-idea in history. boston. the career of the god-idea in history. boston. note [1] the use of unleavened bread by the greek church caused great disputes between it and the latin in the eleventh century, but the latter finally accepted it on the argument that as the christ instituted the supper during the passover, he must have used it, as there was no leaven procurable at that time. carleton's condensed classical dictionary. being brief but succinct information concerning the prominent names in classical history and mythology, together with the most conspicuous incidents associated with them. _carefully prepared and edited_ by george w. carleton, author of "our artist in cuba, peru, algiers and spain." "knowledge is of two kinds. we know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it."--_boswell's life of johnson._ new york copyright, 1882, by _g. w. carleton & co., publishers_. madison square. mdccclxxxii. carleton's condensed classical dictionary. =aby´dos.= a city of asia opposite sestos in europe. it is famous for the loves of hero and leander, and for the bridge of boats which xerxes built there across the hellespont. leander was in the habit of swimming across the hellespont to see hero, till at length, on a stormy night, he was drowned. =aby´dos.= a town of egypt, where was the famous temple of osiris. =acade´mi´a.= a place surrounded with trees, near athens, belonging to academus, from whom the name is derived. here plato opened his school of philosophy, and from this every place sacred to learning has ever since been called academia. =acha´tes.= a friend of æneas, whose fidelity was so exemplary that _fidus achates_ has become a proverb. =achelo´us.= the son of oceanus and terra, or tethys, god of the river of the same name in epirus. as one of the numerous suitors of dejanira, he entered the lists against hercules, and being inferior, changed himself into a serpent, and afterwards into an ox. hercules broke off one of his horns and defeated him, after which, according to some, he was changed into a river. =ac´heron.= one of the rivers of hell; often used to signify hell itself. =achil´les=, the son of peleus and thetis, was the bravest of all the greeks in the trojan war. during his infancy, thetis plunged him in the styx, thus making every part of his body invulnerable except the heel by which she held him. to prevent him from going to the trojan war, thetis sent him privately to the court of lycomedes, where he was disguised in a female dress. as troy could not be taken without his aid, ulysses went to the court of lycomedes in the habit of a merchant, and exposed jewels and arms for sale. achilles, choosing the arms, discovered his sex, and went to the war. vulcan made him a strong suit of armor, which was proof against all weapons. he was deprived by agamemnon of his favorite briseis, and for this affront he would not appear on the field till the death of patroclus impelled him to vengeance. he slew hector, who had killed patroclus, and tying his corpse to his war-car, dragged it three times round troy. he is said to have been killed by paris, who inflicted a mortal wound in his vulnerable heel with an arrow. =a´cis.= a shepherd of sicily, son of faunus and the nymph simæthis. galatea passionately loved him, upon which his rival, polyphemus, crushed him to death with a piece of broken rock. the gods changed acis into a stream, which rises from mount etna. =actæ´on.= a famous huntsman, son of aristæus and autonoe, daughter of cadmus. he saw diana and her attendants bathing, for which he was changed into a stag and devoured by his own dogs. =ac´tium.= a town and promontory of epirus, famous for the naval victory which augustus obtained over antony and cleopatra, b. c. 31. =a´des or hades.= the god of hell amongst the greeks; the same as the pluto of the latins. the word is often used for hell itself by the ancient poets. =adher´bal.= son of micipsa, and grandson of masinissa, was besieged at cirta, and put to death by jugurtha, after vainly imploring the aid of rome, b. c. 112. =adme´tus.= son of pheres and clymene, king of pheræ in thessaly. apollo, when banished from heaven, is said to have tended his flocks for nine years. =ado´nis=, son of cinyras and myrrha, was the favorite of venus. he was fond of hunting, and was often cautioned not to hunt wild beasts. this advice he slighted, and at last was mortally wounded by a wild boar. venus changed him into the flower anemone. proserpine is said to have restored him to life, on condition that he should spend six months of the year with her, and the rest of the year with venus. this implies the alternate return of summer and winter. =adras´tus=, son of talaus and lysimache, was king of argos. polynices, being banished from thebes by his brother eteocles, fled to argos, where he married argia, daughter of adrastus. the king assisted his son-in-law, and marched against thebes with an army. he was defeated with great slaughter, and fled to athens, where theseus gave him assistance, and was victorious. adrastus died from grief, occasioned by the death of his son ægialeus. =adria´nus.= a famous emperor of rome. he is represented as an active, learned, warlike, and austere general. he came to britain, where he built a wall between the modern towns of carlisle and newcastle-on-tyne, to protect the britons from the incursions of the caledonians. =ædi´les.= roman magistrates, who had the charge of all buildings, baths, and aqueducts, and examined weights and measures. the office of an ædile was honorable, and the primary step to a more distinguished position in the state. =ægeus.= king of athens, son of pandion. being desirous of having children, he went to consult the oracle, and on his return stopped at the court of pittheus, king of troezene, who gave him his daughter æthra in marriage. he directed her, if she had a son, to send him to athens as soon as he could lift a stone under which he had concealed his sword. æthra became mother of theseus, whom she sent to athens with his father's sword, ægeus being at that time living with medea, the divorced wife of jason. when theseus came to athens, medea attempted to poison him, but he escaped; and upon showing ægeus the sword, discovered himself to be his son. when theseus returned from crete, after the death of the minotaur, he omitted to hoist up white sails, as a signal of success, and at sight of black sails, ægeus, concluding that his son was dead, threw himself into the sea, which, as some suppose, has since been called the ægean sea. ægeus died b. c. 1235. =ægis.= the shield of jupiter. he gave it to pallas, who placed medusa's head on it, which turned into stones all those who gazed at it. =ægy´ptus=, son of belus, and brother to danaus, gave his fifty sons in marriage to the fifty daughters of his brother. danaus, who had established himself at argos, and was jealous of his brother, obliged all his daughters to murder their husbands on the first night of their nuptials. this was done, hypermnestra alone sparing her husband lynceus. ægyptus himself was killed by his niece polyxena. =ælia´nus clau´dius.= a roman sophist of præneste in the reign of adrian. he taught rhetoric at rome. he wrote treatises on animals in seventeen books, and on various other subjects in fourteen books. ælian died at the age of sixty, a. d. 140. =æne´as.= a trojan prince, son of anchises and venus. he married creusa, the daughter of priam, and they had a son named ascanius. during the trojan war æneas behaved with great valor in defense of troy. when the city was in flames he is said to have carried away his father anchises on his shoulders, leading his son ascanius by the hand, his wife following them. subsequently he built a fleet of twenty ships, with which he set sail in quest of a settlement. he was driven on the coasts of africa, and was kindly received by dido, queen of carthage, who became enamored with him; but he left carthage by the order of the gods. he has been praised for his piety and his submission to the will of the gods; the term "pius" is generally appended to his name. =æne´is.= the æneid, a grand poem by virgil, the great merit of which is well known. the author has imitated the style of homer, and is by some thought to equal him. =æolus=, the ruler of storms and winds, was the son of hippotas. he reigned over æolia. he was the inventor of sails, and a great astronomer, from which the poets have called him the god of wind. =æs´chines.= an athenian orator who lived about 342 b.c.; and distinguished himself by his rivalship with demosthenes. =æs´chylus=, a soldier and poet of athens, son of euphorion. he was in the athenian army at the battles of marathon, salamis, and platæa; but his most solid fame rests on his writings. he wrote ninety tragedies, forty of which were rewarded with a public prize. he was killed by the fall of a tortoise, dropped from the beak of an eagle on his head, b.c. 456. =æscula´pius=, son of apollo and coronis, or, as some say, of apollo and larissa, daughter of phlegias, was the god of medicine. he married epione, and they had two sons, famous for their skill in medicine, machaon and podalirus; of their four daughters, hygeia, goddess of health, is the most celebrated. =æson=, son of cretheus, was born at the same birth as pelias. he succeeded his father in the kingdom of iolchos, but was soon exiled by his brother. he married alcimeda, by whom he had jason, whose education he intrusted to chiron. when jason reached manhood he demanded his father's kingdom from his uncle, who gave him evasive answers, and persuaded him to go in quest of the golden fleece. on his return jason found his father very infirm, and at his request medea drew the blood from æson's veins and refilled them with the juice of certain herbs, which restored the old man to the vigor of youth. =æso´pus.= a phrygian philosopher who, originally a slave, procured his liberty by his genius. he dedicated his fables to his patron croesus. the fables which we have now under his name doubtless are a collection of fables and apologues of wits before and after the age of æsop, conjointly with his own. =agamem´non=, king of mycenæ and argos, was brother to menelaus, and son of plisthenes, the son of atreus. he married clytemnestra, and menelaus helen, both daughters of tyndarus, king of sparta. when helen eloped with paris, agamemnon was elected commander-in-chief of the grecian forces invading troy. =agesila´us.= of the family of the proclidæ, son of archidamus, king of sparta, whom he succeeded. he made war against artaxerxes, king of persia, with success; but in the midst of his conquests he was called home to oppose the athenians and boetians. he passed over in thirty days that tract of country which had taken up a whole year of xerxes' expedition. he defeated his enemies at coronea, but sickness interfered with his conquests, and the spartans were beaten in every engagement till he again appeared at their head. he died 362 years b.c. =agrip´pa, m. vipsanius.= a celebrated roman who obtained a victory over s. pompey, and favored the cause of augustus at the battles of actium and philippi, where he behaved with great valor. in his expeditions in gaul and germany he obtained several victories, but refused the honor of a triumph, and turned his attention to the embellishment of rome and the raising of magnificent buildings, among them the pantheon. augustus gave him his daughter julia in marriage. he died universally lamented at rome, aged fifty-one, b.c. 12. =agrip´pa.= a son of aristobulus, grandson of the great herod. he was popular with the jews, and it is said that while they were flattering him with the appellation of god he was struck with death, a.d. 43. his son of the same name was with titus at the siege of jerusalem, and died a.d. 94. it was before him that st. paul pleaded. there were a number of others of the same name, but of less celebrity. =a´jax=, son of telamon and periboea, or eriboea, was one of the bravest of the greeks in the trojan war. after the death of achilles, ajax and ulysses both claimed the arms of the dead hero, which were given to ulysses. some say that he was killed in battle by paris, but others record that he was murdered by ulysses. =alari´cus.= a famous king of the goths, who plundered rome in the reign of honorius. he was greatly respected for his valor, and during his reign he kept the roman empire in continual alarm. he died after a reign of twelve years, a.d. 410. he was buried in the bed of a river which had been turned from its course for the reception of his corpse, in order that it might be said that no one should tread on the earth where he reposed. =al´bion=, son of neptune and amphitrite, came into britain, where he established a kingdom, and introduced astrology and the art of building ships. great britain is called "albion" after him. =alcæ´us.= a celebrated lyric poet of mitylene, in lesbos, about 600 years before the christian era. he fled from a battle, and the armor in which he left the field was hung up in the temple of minerva as a monument of his disgrace. he was enamored of sappho. of his works only a few fragments remain. =alces´te= or =alces´tis=, daughter of pelias, married admetus. she, with her sisters, put her father to death that he might be restored to youth and vigor by medea, who had promised to effect this by her enchantments. she, however, refused to fulfill her promise, on which the sisters fled to admetus, who married alceste. =alcibi´ades.= an athenian general, famous for his enterprise, versatile genius, and natural foibles. he was a disciple of socrates, whose lessons and example checked for a while his vicious propensities. in the peloponnesian war he encouraged the athenians to undertake an expedition against syracuse. he died in his forty-sixth year, b.c. 404. =alcme´na.= daughter of electrion, king of argos. her father promised her and his crown to amphitryon if he would revenge the death of his sons, who had been killed by the teleboans. in the absence of amphitryon, jupiter assumed his form and visited alcmena, who, believing the god to be her lover, received him with joy. amphitryon, on his return, ascertained from the prophet tiresias the deception which had been practiced. after the death of amphitryon alcmena married rhadamanthus. hercules was the son of jupiter and alcmena. =alcy´one= or =halcy´one=, daughter of æolus, married ceyx, who was drowned as he was going to consult the oracle. the gods apprised alcyone in a dream of her husband's fate, and when she found his body washed ashore she threw herself into the sea, and she and her husband were changed into birds. =alec´to.= one of the furies. she is represented with her head covered with serpents, and breathing vengeance, war, and pestilence. =alexan´der=, surnamed the great, was son of philip and olympias. he was born b. c. 355, on the night on which the famous temple of diana at ephesus was burnt. this event, according to the magicians, was a prognostic of his future greatness, as well as the taming of bucephalus, a horse which none of the king's attendants could manage. philip, it is recorded, said, with tears in his eyes, that his son must seek another kingdom, as that of macedonia would not be large enough for him. he built a town, which he called alexandria, on the nile. his conquests were extended to india, where he fought with porus, a powerful king of the country, and after he had invaded scythia, he retired to babylon laden with spoils. his entry into the city was predicted by the magicians as to prove fatal to him. he died at babylon in his thirty-second year, after a reign of twelve years and eight months of continual success, b. c. 323. there were a number of others of the same name, but of less celebrity. =althæ´a=, daughter of thestius and eurythemis, married oeneus, king of calydon, by whom she had many children, amongst them being meleager. when he was born the parcæ put a log of wood on the fire, saying, as long as it was preserved the life of the child would be prolonged. the mother took the wood from the flames and preserved it, but when meleager killed his two uncles, althæa, to revenge them, threw the log in the fire, and when it was burnt meleager expired. althæa then killed herself. =amaryl´lis.= the name of a countrywoman in virgil's eclogues. some commentators have supposed that the poet spoke of rome under this fictitious name. =amaz´ones or amazonides.= a nation of famous women who lived near the river thermodon in cappadocia. all their lives were employed in wars and manly exercises. they founded an extensive empire in asia minor along the shores of the euxine. =ambra´cia.= a city of epirus, the residence of king pyrrhus. augustus, after the battle of actium, called it nicopolis. =amphiara´us=, son of oicleus and hypermnestra, was at the chase of the calydonian boar, and accompanied the argonauts in their expedition. he was famous for his knowledge of futurity. =amphic´tyon=, son of deucalion and pyrrha, reigned at athens after cranaus. some say the deluge happened in his age. =amphic´tyon=, the son of helenus, who first established the celebrated council of the amphictyons, composed of the wisest and most virtuous men of some cities of greece. =amphi´on=, son of jupiter and antiope. he cultivated poetry, and made such progress in music that he is said to have been the inventor of it, and to have built the walls of thebes by the sound of his lyre. =amphitri´te.= a daughter of oceanus and tethys, who married neptune. she is sometimes called salatia. she was mother of triton, a sea deity. =amphit´ryon.= a theban prince, son of alcæus and hipponome. his sister anaxo married electryon, king of mycenæ, whose sons were killed in battle by the teleboans. electryon gave his daughter alcmena to amphitryon for avenging the death of his sons. =anachar´sis=, a scythian philosopher 592 years b. c., who, on account of his wisdom, temperance, and knowledge, has been called one of the seven wise men. he has rendered himself famous among the ancients by his writings, his poems on war, the laws of the scythians, etc. =anac´reon.= a famous lyric poet of teos, in ionia, favored by polycrates and hipparchus, son of philostratus. he was of intemperate habits and fond of pleasure. some of his odes are extant, and the elegance of his poetry has been the admiration of every age and country. he lived to the age of eighty-five, and after a life of voluptuousness was choked with a grape stone. he flourished b. c. 532. =anadyom´ene.= a famous painting by apelles of venus rising from the sea. =anaxag´oras.= a clazomenian philosopher, who disregarded wealth and honors to indulge his fondness for meditation and philosophy. he applied himself to astronomy, and obtained a knowledge of eclipses. he used to say he preferred a grain of wisdom to heaps of gold. he was accused of impiety and condemned to die, but he ridiculed the sentence, which he said had already been pronounced on him by nature. he died at the age of seventy-two, b. c. 428. =anaxar´ete.= a girl of salamis, who so arrogantly rejected the addresses of iphis, a youth of ignoble birth, that he hanged himself at her door. she saw the spectacle without emotion, and was changed into stone. =anchi´ses.= a son of capys and themis. he was so beautiful that venus came down from heaven on mount ida to enjoy his company. æneas was the son of anchises and venus, and was intrusted to the care of chiron the centaur. when troy was taken, anchises had become so infirm that æneas had to carry him through the flames upon his shoulders, and thus saved his life. =androm´ache.= daughter of eetion, king of thebes. she married hector, son of priam, and was the mother of astyanax. her parting with hector, who was going to battle, is described in the iliad, and has been deemed one of the most beautiful passages in that great work. pope's translation of the iliad (book 6) describes with great pathos and beauty the parting of hector from his wife and child. =androm´eda.= a daughter of cepheus, king of æthiopia, and cassiope. she was promised in marriage to phineus when neptune drowned the kingdom and sent a sea monster to ravage the country, because cassiope had boasted that she was fairer than juno and the nereides. the oracle of jupiter ammon was consulted, but nothing could stop the resentment of neptune except the exposure of andromeda to the sea monster. she was accordingly tied to a rock, but at the moment that the monster was about to devour her, perseus, returning from the conquest of the gorgons, saw her, and was captivated with her beauty. he changed the monster into a rock by showing medusa's head, and released andromeda and married her. =anthropoph´agi.= a people of scythia who fed on human flesh. they lived near the country of the messagetæ. shakspeare makes othello, in his speech to the senate, allude to the anthropophagi thus:- "the cannibals that each other eat, the anthropophagi, and men whose heads do grow beneath their shoulders." =antig´one.= a daughter of oedipus, king of thebes. she buried by night her brother polynices, against the orders of creon, who ordered her to be buried alive. she, however, killed herself on hearing of the sentence. the death of antigone is the subject of one of the finest tragedies of sophocles. the play has been adapted for representation on the english stage, miss helen faucit performing the heroine with exquisite pathos. =antig´onus.= one of alexander's generals, who, on the division of the provinces after the king's death, received pamphylia, lycia, and phrygia. eventually his power became so great that ptolemy, seleucus, cassander, and lysimachus combined to destroy him. he gained many victories over them, but at last was killed in battle at the age of eighty, b.c. 301. there were others of the same name, but much less conspicuous. =antin´ous.= a youth of bithynia of whom the emperor adrian was so extremely fond that, at his death, he erected a temple to him, and wished it to be believed that he had been changed into a constellation. =anti´ochus=, surnamed _soter_, was son of seleucus and king of syria. he made a treaty of alliance with ptolemy philadelphus, king of egypt. he wedded his step-mother stratonice. he was succeeded by his son antiochus ii., who put an end to the war which had begun with ptolemy, and married his daughter berenice, but being already married to laodice, she, in revenge, poisoned him. antiochus, the third of that name, surnamed the great, was king of syria, and reigned thirty-six years. he was defeated by ptolemy philopater at raphia. he conquered the greater part of greece, and hannibal incited him to enter on a crusade against roma. he was killed 187 years before the christian era. antiochus epiphanes, the fourth of the name, was king of syria after his brother seleucus. he behaved with cruelty to the jews. he reigned eleven years, and died unregretted. there were many others of the same name of less note. =ant´iope=, daughter of nycteus, king of thebes, and polyxo, was beloved by jupiter. amphion and tethus were her offspring. =antip´ater=, son of iolaus, was a soldier under king philip, and raised to the rank of a general under alexander the great. when alexander went to invade asia, he left antipater supreme governor of macedonia. he has been suspected of giving poison to alexander to advance himself in power. =antoni´nus=, surnamed _pius_, was adopted by the emperor adrian, whom he succeeded. he was remarkable for all the virtues forming a perfect statesman, philosopher, and king. he treated his subjects with affability and humanity, and listened with patience to every complaint brought before him. he died in his seventy-fifth year, after a reign of twenty-three years, a.d. 160. =anto´nius mar´cus.= mark antony, the triumvir, distinguished himself by his ambitious views. when julius cæsar was killed in the senate house, antony delivered an oration over his body, the eloquence of which is recorded in shakspeare's tragedy of julius cæsar. antony had married fulvia, whom he repudiated to marry octavia, the sister of augustus. he fought by the side of augustus at the battle of philippi, against the murderers of julius cæsar. subsequently he became enamored with cleopatra, the renowned queen of egypt, and repudiated octavia to marry her. he was utterly defeated at the battle of actium, and stabbed himself. he died in the fifty-sixth year of his age, b.c. 30. =anto´nius, ju´lius=, son of the famous triumvir antony, by fulvia, was consul with paulus fabius maximus. he was surnamed africanus, and put to death by order of augustus, but some say he killed himself. =anto´nius m. gni´pho.= a poet of gaul who taught rhetoric at rome. cicero and other illustrious men frequented his school. there were a number of others of the same name, but of less repute. =apel´les.= a celebrated painter of cos, or, as others say, of ephesus, son of pithius. he lived in the age of alexander the great, who forbade any one but apelles to paint his portrait. he was so absorbed in his profession that he never allowed a day to pass without employing himself at his art: hence the proverb of _nulla dies sine linea_. his most perfect picture was venus anadyomene, which was not quite finished when he died. he painted a picture in which a horse was a prominent feature, and so correctly was it delineated that a horse passing by it neighed, supposing it to be alive. he was ordered by alexander to paint a portrait of one of his favorites--campaspe. apelles became enamored with her and married her. he only put his name to three of his pictures--a sleeping venus, venus anadyomene, and an alexander. the proverb, _ne sutor ultra crepidam_, has been used in reference to him by some writers. =aphrodi´te.= the grecian name for venus, from the greek word [greek: aphros], _froth_, because venus is said to have been born from the froth of the ocean. =apic´ius.= a famous gourmand in rome. there were three of this name, all noted for their voracious appetites. =a´pis.= one of the ancient kings of peloponnesus, son of phoroneus and laodice. some say that apollo was his father, and that he was king of argos, whilst others called him king of sicyon, and fix the time of his reign above 200 years earlier. varro and others have supposed that apis went to egypt with a colony of greeks, and that he civilized the inhabitants and polished their manners, for which they made him a god after death, and paid divine honors to him under the name of serapis. =a´pis.= a god of the egyptians, worshiped under the form of an ox. some say that isis and osiris are the deities worshiped under this name, because they taught the egyptians agriculture. =apol´lo.= son of jupiter and latona; called also phoebus. he was the god of the fine arts and the reputed originator of music, poetry, and eloquence. he had received from jupiter the power of knowing futurity, and his oracles were in repute everywhere. as soon as he was born he destroyed with his arrows the serpent python, which juno had sent to persecute latona; hence he was called pythius. he was not the inventor of the lyre, as some have supposed, but it was given to him by mercury, who received in return the famous caduceus. he received the surnames of phoebus, delius, cynthius, pæan, delphicus, etc. he is in sculpture generally represented as a handsome young man with a bow in his hand, from which an arrow has just been discharged. =appia´nus.= an historian of alexandria, who flourished a.d. 123. his universal history, which consisted of twenty-four books, was a history of all the nations conquered by the romans. =ap´pius clau´dius.= a decemvir who obtained his power by force and oppression. he grossly insulted virginia, whom her father killed to save her from the power of the tyrant. =arca´dia.= a district of peloponnesus, which has been much extolled by the poets. it was famous for its mountains. the inhabitants were for the most part shepherds, who lived upon acorns. they were skillful warriors and able musicians. pan lived chiefly among them. =archil´ochus.= a poet of paros, who wrote elegies, satires, odes, and epigrams. he lived b.c. 685. =archime´des.= a famous geometrician of syracuse, who invented a machine of glass that represented the motion of the heavenly bodies. when marcellus, the roman consul, besieged syracuse, archimedes constructed machines which suddenly raised into the air the ships of the enemy, which then fell into the sea and were sunk. he also set fire to the ships with burning-glasses. when the enemy were in possession of the town, a soldier, not knowing who he was, killed him, b.c. 212. =arethu´sa=, a nymph of elis, daughter of oceanus, and one of diana's attendants. as she returned one day from hunting she bathed in the alpheus stream. the god of the river was enamored of her, and pursued her over the mountains, till arethusa, ready to sink from fatigue, implored diana to change her into a fountain, which the goddess did. =ar´go.= the name of the famous ship which carried jason and his companions to polchis, when they went to recover the golden fleece. =argonau´tæ.= the argonauts, those ancient heroes who went with jason in the argo to aolchis to recover the golden fleece, about seventy-nine years before the capture of troy. the number of the argonauts is not exactly known. =ar´gus.= a son of arestor, whence he is sometimes called arestorides. he had a hundred eyes, of which only two were asleep at one time. juno set him to watch io, whom jupiter had changed into a heifer, but mercury, by order of jupiter, slew him, by lulling all his eyes to sleep with the notes of the lyre. juno put the eyes of argus in the tail of the peacock, a bird sacred to her. =ariad´ne=, daughter of minos, second king of crete, and pasiphæ, fell in love with theseus, who was shut up in the labyrinth to be devoured by the minotaur. she gave theseus a clue of thread by which he extricated himself from the windings of the labyrinth. after he had conquered the minotaur he married her, but after a time forsook her. on this, according to some authorities, she hanged herself. according to other writers, after being abandoned by theseus, bacchus loved her, and gave her a crown of seven stars, which were made a constellation. =ari´on.= a famous lyric poet and musician, son of cyclos of methymna in lesbos. he went into italy with periander, tyrant of corinth, where he gained much wealth by his profession. afterwards he wished to revisit the place of his nativity, and he embarked in a ship, the sailors of which resolved to kill him for the riches he had with him. arion entreated them to listen to his music, and as soon as he had finished playing he threw himself into the sea. a number of dolphins had been attracted by the sweetness of his music, and it is said that one of them carried him safely on its back to tænarus, whence he went to the court of periander, who ordered all the sailors to be crucified. =aristæ´us.= son of apollo and cyrene, famous for his fondness for hunting. he married autonoe, the daughter of cadmus, actæon being their son. he was after death worshiped as a demigod. =aristar´chus.= a celebrated grammarian of samos, disciple of aristophanes. he lived the greatest part of his life at alexandria. he wrote about 800 commentaries on different authors. he died in his seventy-second year, b.c. 157. =aristi´des.= a celebrated athenian, son of lysimachus, in the age of themistocles, whose great temperance and virtue procured for him the name of the "just." he was rival to themistocles, by whose influence he was banished for ten years, b.c. 484. he was at the battle of salamis, and was appointed to be chief commander with pausanias against mardonius, whom they defeated at platæa. =aristip´pus=, the elder, a philosopher of cyrene, a disciple of socrates, and founder of the cyrenaic sect. =aristogi´ton= and =harmo´dis=. two celebrated friends of athens, who, by their joint efforts, delivered their country from the tyranny of the pisistratidæ, b.c. 510. =aristoph´anes.= a celebrated comic poet of athens, son of philip of rhodes. he wrote fifty-four comedies, of which eleven have come down to us. he lived b.c. 434, and lashed the vices of the age with a masterly hand. =aristot´eles.= a famous philosopher, son of nicomachus, born at stagira. he went to athens to hear plato's lectures, where he soon signalized himself by his genius. he has been called by plato the philosopher of truth, and cicero complimented him for his eloquence, fecundity of thought, and universal knowledge. he died in his sixty-third year, b.c. 322. as he expired he is said to have exclaimed: _causa causarum miserere mei_, which sentence has since become famous, and is by some attributed to cicero. the term stagirite has been applied to aristotle from the name of his birthplace. =artaxerx´es= the first succeeded to the kingdom of persia after xerxes. he made war against the bactrians, and reconquered egypt, which had revolted. he was remarkable for his equity and moderation. =artaxerx´es= the second. king of persia, surnamed mnemon. his brother cyrus endeavored to make himself king in his place, and marched against his brother at the head of 100,000 barbarians and 13,000 greeks. he was opposed by artaxerxes with a large army, and a bloody battle was fought at cunaxa, in which cyrus was killed and his forces routed. =ar´temis.= the greek name of diana. her festivals, called artemesia, were celebrated in several parts of greece, particularly at delphi. =asca´nius=, son of æneas and creusa, was saved from the flames of troy by his father, whom he accompanied in his voyage to italy. he was afterwards called iulus. =aspa´sia.= daughter of axiochus, born at miletus. she came to athens, where she taught eloquence. socrates was one of her scholars. she so captivated pericles by her accomplishments that he made her his wife. the conduct of pericles and aspasia greatly corrupted the morals of the athenians, and caused much dissipation in the state. =aspa´sia.= a daughter of hermotimus of phocæa, famous for her personal charms. she was priestess of the sun, and became mistress to cyrus. =astar´te.= a powerful divinity of syria, the same as the venus of the greeks. she had a famous temple at hierapolis in syria, which was attended by 300 priests. =astræ´a.= a daughter of astræus, king of arcadia, or, according to others, daughter of titan and aurora. some make her daughter of jupiter and themis. she was called justice, of which virtue she was the goddess. =asty´anax.= a son of hector and andromache. he was very young when the greeks besieged troy, and when the city was taken his mother saved him in her arms from the flames. according to euripides he was killed by menelaus. =atalan´ta.= daughter of schoeneus, king of scyros. according to some she was the daughter of jasus, or jasius, and clymene, but others say that menalion was her father. she determined to live in celibacy, but her beauty gained her many admirers, and to free herself from their importunities she proposed to run a race with them. as she was almost invincible in running, her suitors, who entered the lists against her, were defeated, till hippomenes, the son of macareus, proposed himself as an admirer. venus gave him three golden apples from the garden of the hesperides, and with these concealed about him he entered the lists to race against atalanta. as the race proceeded he dropped the apples, which she stopped to pick up, thus enabling hippomenes to arrive first at the goal, and obtain her in marriage. =a´te.= daughter of jupiter, and goddess of all evil. she raised such discord amongst the gods that jupiter banished her from heaven, and sent her to dwell on earth, where she incited mankind to evil thoughts and actions. =athana´sius.= a bishop of alexandria, celebrated for his determined opposition to arius and his doctrines. he died a.d. 373, after filling the archiepiscopal chair for forty-seven years. the famous creed which is named after him is no longer supposed to have been written by him, and its authorship remains in doubt. =at´las.= one of the titans, son of iapetus and clymene. he married pleione, daughter of oceanus (or of hesperis, according to some writers). he had seven daughters, who were called the atlantides. =a´treus.= a son of pelops and hippodamia, was king of mycenæ. his brother chrysippus was illegitimate, and hippodamia wished to get rid of him, and urged atreus and another of her sons, thyestes, to murder him, which, on their refusal, she did herself. atreus retired to the court of eurystheus, king of argos, and succeeded to his throne. =at´ticus, t. pomponius.= a celebrated roman knight, to whom cicero wrote a number of letters, containing the general history of the age. he retired to athens, where he endeared himself to the citizens, who erected statues to him in commemoration of his virtues. he died at the age of seventy-seven, b.c. 32. =at´tila.= a celebrated king of the huns, who invaded the roman empire in the reign of valentinian, with an army of half a million of men. he laid waste the provinces, and marched on rome, but retreated on being paid a large sum of money. he called himself the "scourge of god," and died a.d. 453, of an effusion of blood, on the night of his marriage. =angus´tus, octavia´nus cæ´sar=, emperor of rome, was son of octavius, a senator, and accia, sister to julius cæsar. he was associated in the triumvirate with antony and lepidus, and defeated the armies of brutus and cassius at philippi. octavia, the sister of augustus, married antony after the death of his wife fulvia. octavia, however, was slighted for the charms of cleopatra, which incensed augustus, who took up arms to avenge the wrongs of his sister, and at the great battle of actium (b.c. 31), the forces of antony and cleopatra suffered a disastrous defeat. =aurelia´nus=, emperor of rome, was austere and cruel in the execution of the laws, and in his treatment of his soldiers. he was famous for his military character, and his expedition against zenobia, queen of palmyra, gained him great honors. it is said that in his various battles he killed 800 men with his own hand. he was assassinated near byzantium, a.d. 275. =aure´lius, m. antoni´nus=, surnamed "the philosopher," possessed all the virtues which should adorn the character of a prince. he raised to the imperial dignity his brother l. verus, whose dissipation and voluptuousness were as conspicuous as the moderation of the philosopher. during their reign the quadi, parthians, and marcomanni were defeated. verus died of apoplexy, and antoninus survived him eight years, dying in his sixty-first year, after a reign of nineteen years and ten days. =auro´ra.= a goddess, daughter of hyperion and thia or thea. she is generally represented by the poets as sitting in a chariot and opening with her fingers the gates of the east, pouring dew on the earth, and making the flowers grow. the greeks call her eos. =bac´chus= was son of jupiter and semele, the daughter of cadmus. he was the god of wine, and is generally represented crowned with vine leaves. he is said to have married ariadne after she had been forsaken by theseus. =belisa´rius.= a celebrated general who, in the reign of justinian, emperor of constantinople, renewed the victories which had rendered the first romans so distinguished. he died, after a life of glory, suffering from royal ingratitude, 565 years before the christian era. =beller´ophon=, son of glaucus, king of ephyre, and eurymede; was at first called hipponous. he was sent by iobates, king of lycia, to conquer the monster chimæra. minerva assisted him in the expedition, and by the aid of the winged horse pegasus he conquered the monster and returned victorious. after sending him on other dangerous adventures, iobates gave him his daughter in marriage, and made him successor to his throne. =bello´na=, goddess of war, was daughter of phorcys and ceto; called by the greeks enyo, and is often confounded with minerva. she prepared the chariot of mars when he was going to war, and appeared in battles armed with a whip to animate the combatants, and holding a torch. =be´lus=, one of the most ancient kings of babylon, about 1800 years before the age of semiramis, was made a god after death, and was worshiped by the assyrians and babylonians. he was supposed to be the son of the osiris of the egyptians. the temple of belus was the most ancient and magnificent in the world, and was said to have been originally the tower of babel. =bereni´ce.= a daughter of philadelphus, who married antiochus, king of syria, after he had divorced his former wife laodice. =bereni´ce.= the mother of agrippa, whose name occurs in the history of the jews as daughter-in-law of herod the great. a number of others of minor celebrity were known by the same name. =bi´on.= a philosopher of scythia who rendered himself famous for his knowledge of poetry, music, and philosophy. another of the same name was a greek poet of smyrna who wrote pastorals. he was a friend of moschus, who says that he died by poison about 300 years b.c. =boadice´a.= a famous british queen who rebelled against the romans and was defeated, on which she poisoned herself. her cruel treatment by the romans is the subject of an ode by cowper. =bo´reas.= the name of the north wind blowing from the hyperborean mountains. according to the poets, he was son of astræus and aurora. he was passionately fond of hyacinthus. =bren´nus.= a general of the galli senones, who entered italy, defeated the romans, and marched into the city. the romans fled into the capitol, and left the city in possession of the enemy. the gauls climbed the tarpeian rock in the night, and would have taken the capitol had not the romans been awakened by the cackling of some geese, on which they roused themselves and repelled the enemy. =bri´a´reus.= a famous giant, son of coelus and terra. he had a hundred hands and fifty heads, and was called by men by the name of ægeon. =bru´tus l. junius.= son of m. junius and tarquinia. when lucretia killed herself, b.c. 509, in consequence of the brutality of tarquin, brutus snatched the dagger from the wound and swore upon the reeking blade immortal hatred to the royal family, and made the people swear they would submit no longer to the kingly authority. his sons conspired to restore the tarquins, and were tried and condemned before their father, who himself attended their execution. mr. john howard payne, the american dramatist, has written a tragedy, of which brutus is the hero. =bru´tus, mar´cus ju´nius=, father of cæsar's murderer, followed the party of marius, and was conquered by pompey, by whose orders he was put to death. =bru´tus, mar´cus ju´nius=, the destroyer of cæsar, conspired with many of the most illustrious citizens of rome, against cæsar, and stabbed him in pompey's basilica. the tumult following the murder was great, but the conspirators fled to the capitol, and by proclaiming freedom and liberty to the populace, for the time established tranquillity. antony, however, soon obtained the popular ear, and the murderers were obliged to leave rome. brutus retired into greece, where he gained many friends. he was soon pursued by antony, who was accompanied by the young octavius. the famous battle of philippi followed, in which brutus and his friend cassius, who commanded the left wing of the army, were totally defeated. brutus fell on his own sword, b.c. 42, and was honored with a magnificent funeral by antony. plutarch relates that cæsar's ghost appeared to brutus in his tent before the battle of philippi, warning him of his approaching fall. =buceph´alus.= a horse of alexander's, so frequently named by writers that the term has become proverbial. alexander was the only person that could mount him, and he always knelt down for his master to bestride him. =ca´cus.= a famous robber, son of vulcan and medusa, represented as a three-headed monster vomiting flames. he resided in italy, and the avenues of his cave were covered with human bones. when hercules returned from the conquest of geryon, cacus stole some of his cows, which hercules discovering, he strangled cacus. =cad´mus=, son of agenor, king of phoenicia, and telephassa, or agriope, was ordered by his father to go in quest of his sister europa, whom jupiter had carried away. his search proving fruitless, he consulted the oracle of apollo, and was told to build a city where he saw a heifer stop in the grass, and call the country around boeotia. he found the heifer, as indicated by the oracle. requiring water, he sent his companions to fetch some from a neighboring grove. the water was guarded by a dragon, who devoured those who were sent for it, and cadmus, tired of waiting, went himself to the place. he attacked the dragon and killed it, sowing its teeth in the ground, on which a number of armed men rose out of the earth. cadmus threw a stone amongst them, and they at once began fighting, and all were killed except five, who assisted him in building the city. cadmus introduced the use of letters in greece--the alphabet, as introduced by him, consisting of sixteen letters. =cadu´ceus.= a rod entwined at one end with two serpents. it was the attribute of mercury, and was given to him by apollo in exchange for the lyre. =cæ´sar.= a surname given to the julian family in rome. this name, after it had been dignified in the person of julius cæsar and his successors, was given to the apparent heir of the empire in the age of the roman emperors. the first twelve emperors were distinguished by the name of cæsar. they reigned in this order--julius cæsar, augustus, tiberius, caligula, claudius, nero, galba, otho, vitellius, vespasian, titus, and domitian. suetonius has written an exhaustive history of the cæsars. c. julius cæsar, the first emperor of rome, was son of l. cæsar and aurelia, the daughter of cotta. he was descended, according to some accounts, from julus, the son of æneas. his eloquence procured him friends at rome, and the generous manner in which he lived equally served to promote his interest. he was appointed for five years over the gauls. here he enlarged the boundaries of the roman empire by conquest, and invaded britain, which till then was unknown to the romans. the corrupt state of the roman senate, and the ambition of cæsar and pompey, caused a civil war. neither of these celebrated romans would endure a superior, and the smallest matters were grounds enough for unsheathing the sword. by the influence of pompey a decree was passed to strip cæsar of his power. antony, as tribune, opposed this, and went to cæsar's camp with the news. on this cæsar crossed the rubicon, which was the boundary of his province. the passage of the rubicon was a declaration of war, and cæsar entered italy with his army. upon this pompey left rome and retired to dyrrachium, and cæsar shortly afterwards entered rome. he then went to spain, where he conquered the partisans of pompey, and on his return to rome was declared dictator, and soon afterwards consul. the two hostile generals met in the plains of pharsalia, and a great battle ensued b.c. 48. pompey was defeated and fled to egypt, where he was slain. at length cæsar's glory came to an end. enemies had sprung up around him, and a conspiracy, consisting of many influential romans, was formed against him. conspicuous among the conspirators was brutus, his most intimate friend, who, with others, assassinated him in the senate house in the ides of march, b.c. 44, in the fifty-sixth year of his age. he wrote his commentaries on the gallic wars when the battles were fought. this work is admired for its elegance and purity of style. it was after his conquest over pharnaces, king of pontus, that he made use of the words, which have since become proverbial, _veni, vidi, vici_, illustrative of the activity of his operations. shakspeare's tragedy of julius cæsar, in the third act of which he is assassinated, uttering as his last words, "_et tu, brute!_ then fall cæsar"--is devoted to the conspiracy and its results, ending with defeat and death of brutus and cassius at philippi. =calig´ula=, a roman emperor, was son of germanicus by agrippina. he was proud, wanton, and cruel. he was pleased when disasters befell his subjects, and often expressed a wish that the romans had but one head, that he might have the pleasure of striking it off. he had a favorite horse made consul, and adorned it with the most valuable trappings and ornaments. the tyrant was murdered a.d. 41, in his twenty-ninth year, after a reign of three years and ten months. =calli´ope.= one of the muses, daughter of jupiter and mnemosyne, who presided over eloquence and heroic poetry. =cal´ydon.= a city of ætolia, where oeneus, the father of meleager, reigned. during the reign of oeneus diana sent a wild boar to ravage the country on account of the neglect which had been shown of her divinity by the king. all the princes of the age assembled to hunt the calydonian boar. meleager killed the animal, and gave the head to atalanta, of whom he was enamored. =calyp´so.= one of the oceanides, or one of the daughters of atlas, according to some writers. when ulysses was shipwrecked on her coasts she received him with hospitality, and offered him immortality if he would remain with her as a husband, which he refused to do, and after seven years' delay he was permitted to depart from the island where calypso reigned. =camby´ses=, king of persia, was the son of cyrus the great. he conquered egypt, and was so disgusted at the superstition of the egyptians, that he killed their god apis and plundered their temples. =camill´us, l. fu´rius.= a celebrated roman, called a second romulus from the services he rendered his country. he was banished for distributing the spoils he had obtained at veii. during his exile rome was besieged by the gauls under brennus. the besieged romans then elected him dictator, and he went to the relief of his country, which he delivered after it had been some time occupied by the enemy. he died b.c. 365. =cam´pus mar´tius.= a large plain without the walls of rome, where the roman youth were instructed in athletic exercises and learnt to throw the discus, hurl the javelin, etc. =can´næ.= a village of apuleia, where hannibal defeated the roman consuls æmylius and varro, b.c. 216. =capitoli´num.= a celebrated temple and citadel at rome on the tarpeian rock. =caracal´la=, son of the emperor septimius severus, was notorious for his cruelties. he killed his brother geta in his mother's arms, and attempted to destroy the writings of aristotle. after a life made odious by his vices he was assassinated, a.d. 217, in the forty-third year of his age. =carac´tacus.= a king of the britons, who was conquered by the romans and taken prisoner to rome. =cartha´go.= carthage, a celebrated city of africa, the rival of rome, and for a long period the capital of the country, and mistress of spain, sicily, and sardinia. the time of its foundation is unknown, but it seems to be agreed on that it was built by dido about 869 years before the christian era, or, according to some writers, 72 or 73 years before the foundation of rome. it had reached its highest glory in the days of hamilcar and hannibal. =cassan´der=, son of antipater, made himself master of macedonia after his father's death, where he reigned for eighteen years. =cassan´dra=, daughter of priam and hecuba, was passionately loved by apollo, who promised to grant her whatever she might require, and she obtained from him the power of seeing into futurity. some say she received the gift of prophecy, with her brother helenus, by being placed when young one night in the temple of apollo, where serpents were found wreathed round their bodies and licking their ears, which gave them a knowledge of futurity. she was allotted to agamemnon in the division of the spoils of troy, and was slain by clytemnestra, agamemnon's wife. =cas´sius c.= a celebrated roman who became famous by being first quæstor to crassus in his expedition against parthia. he married junia, the sister of brutus, and joined brutus in the conspiracy formed to assassinate cæsar, after which he returned to philippi with brutus, and commanded one wing of the army in the famous battle fought there. on the defeat of his forces he ordered one of his freedmen to kill him, and he perished by the sword which had inflicted a wound on cæsar. he was called by brutus "the last of all the romans." =casta´lius fons=, or =casta´lia=. a fountain of parnassus sacred to the muses. =castor= and =pollux= were twin brothers, sons of jupiter and leda. mercury carried them to pallena, where they were educated. as soon as they arrived at manhood they embarked with jason in quest of the golden fleece. in this expedition they evinced great courage. pollux defeated and slew amycus in the combat of the cestus, and was afterwards considered to be the god and patron of boxing and wrestling. castor distinguished himself in the management of horses. =catili´na, l. ser´gius=, a celebrated roman, descended from a noble family. when he had squandered his fortune he secretly meditated the ruin of his country, and conspired with many romans as dissolute as himself to extirpate the senate, plunder the treasuries, and set rome on fire. this plot, known as the catiline conspiracy, was unsuccessful. the history of it is written by sallust. catiline was killed in battle b.c. 63. =ca´to, mar´cus=, was great-grandson of the censor cato. the early virtues that appeared in his childhood seemed to promise that he would become a great man. he was austere in his morals and a strict follower of the tenets of the stoics. his fondness for candor was so great that his veracity became proverbial. in the catilinian conspiracy he supported cicero, and was the chief cause of the capital punishment which was inflicted on some of the conspirators. he stabbed himself after reading plato's treatise on the immortality of the soul, b.c. 46, in the fifty-ninth year of his age. =catul´lus c.=, or =q. vale´rius=. a poet of verona whose compositions are the offspring of a luxuriant imagination. he was acquainted with the most distinguished people of his age. he directed his satire against cæsar, whose only revenge was to invite him to a sumptuous banquet. =cel´sus=, a physician in the age of tiberius, who wrote eight books on medicine, besides treatises on agriculture, rhetoric, and military affairs. =centau´ri.= a people of thessaly, half men and half horses. they were the offspring of centaurus and stilbia. =centum´viri.= the members of a court of justice at rome. though originally 105 in number, they were known as centumvirs, and this name they retained when they were increased to 180. =cer´berus.= a dog of pluto. according to hesiod he had fifty heads, but according to other mythologists he had three only. he was placed at the entrance to the infernal regions to prevent the living from entering, and the inhabitants of the place from escaping. =ce´res=, the goddess of corn and harvests, was daughter of saturn and vesta. she was the mother of proserpine, who was carried away by pluto whilst she was gathering flowers. =chærone´a=, a city of boeotia celebrated for a great battle fought there, in which the athenians were defeated by the boeotians, b.c. 447, and for the victory which philip of macedonia obtained there over the confederate armies of the thebans and athenians, b.c. 338. it was the birth-place of plutarch. =cha´ron.= a god of the infernal regions, son of nox and erebus, who conducted the souls of the dead in a boat over the rivers styx and acheron. =che´ops.= a king of egypt, after rhampsinitus, famous for building pyramids. =chimæ´ra.= a celebrated monster which continually vomited flames. it was destroyed by bellerophon. =chi´ron.= a centaur, half a man and half a horse, son of philyra and saturn. he was famous for his knowledge of music, medicine, and shooting, and taught mankind the use of plants and medicinal herbs. =chrysos´tom.= a bishop of constantinople who died a.d. 407. he was a great disciplinarian, and by severely lashing the vices of his age he made many enemies. =cic´ero, m. t.=, born at arpinum, was son of a roman knight and lineally descended from the ancient kings of the sabines. in youth he displayed many abilities, and was taught philosophy by philo, and law by mutius scævola. he applied himself with great diligence to the study of oratory, and was distinguished above all the speakers of his time in the roman forum. he signalized himself in opposing catiline, whom he publicly accused of treason against the state, and whom he drove from the city. after a number of vicissitudes of fortune he was assassinated, b.c. 43, at the age of sixty-three. =cincinna´tus, l. q.= a celebrated roman, who was informed, as he plowed in the fields, that the senate had chosen him to be dictator. on this he left the plow and repaired to the field of battle, where his countrymen were opposed by the volsci and æqui. he conquered the enemy, and entered rome in triumph. =cir´ce.= a daughter of sol and perseis, celebrated for her knowledge of magic and venomous herbs. she was carried by her father to an island called æaea. ulysses, on his return from the trojan war, visited her coasts, and his companions were changed, by her potions, into swine. ulysses, who was fortified against enchantments by an herb which he had received from mercury, demanded of circe the restoration of his companions to their former shape; she complied with his wishes, and eventually permitted him to depart from her island. =claudia´nus.= a celebrated poet, in the age of honorius, who is considered by some writers to equal virgil in the majestic character of his style. =clau´dius, t. drusus nero=, son of drusus, became emperor of rome after the death of caligula. he went to britain, and obtained a triumph for victories achieved by his generals. he suffered himself to be governed by favorites, whose avarice plundered the state and distracted the provinces. he was poisoned by agrippina, who wished to raise her son nero to the throne. =cleopa´tra=, queen of egypt, daughter of ptolemy auletes, was celebrated for her beauty. antony became enamored of her and married her, ignoring his connection with octavia, the sister of augustus. he gave her the greatest part of the eastern provinces of the roman empire. this caused a rupture between augustus and antony, and these two famous men met at actium, when cleopatra, by flying with sixty ships, ruined the battle for antony, and he was defeated. cleopatra destroyed herself by applying an asp to her breast. =cli´o.= the first of the muses, daughter of jupiter and mnemosyne. she presided over history. =cloaci´na.= a goddess at rome who presided over the cloacæ, which were large receptacles for the filth of the whole city. =clo´tho=, the youngest of the three parcæ, who were daughters of jupiter and themis, was supposed to preside over the moment of birth. she held the distaff in her hand and spun the thread of life. =clytemnes´tra.= a daughter of tyndarus, king of sparta, and leda, married agamemnon, king of argos, in whose absence in the trojan war she misconducted herself with his cousin ægysthus. on the return of agamemnon clytemnestra murdered him, as well as cassandra, whom he had brought with him. after this clytemnestra ascended the throne of argos. in the meantime her son orestes, after an absence of seven years, returned, resolved to avenge the death of his father agamemnon. on an occasion when ægysthus and clytemnestra repaired to the temple of apollo, orestes, with his friend pylades, killed them. =clyt´ia= or =clyt´ie=. a daughter of oceanus and tethys, beloved by apollo. she was changed into a sun-flower. =co´cles, p. horatius.= a celebrated roman who alone opposed the whole army of porsenna at the head of a bridge whilst his companions were cutting off the communication with the other shore. when the bridge was destroyed, cocles, though wounded by the darts of the enemy, leapt into the tiber and swam across it, armed as he was. for his heroism a brazen statue was raised to him in the temple of vulcan. =co´drus.= the last king of athens, son of melanthus. when the heraclidæ made war against athens, the oracle said that the victory would be granted to that nation whose king was killed in battle. the heraclidæ on hearing this gave orders to spare the life of codrus, but the patriotic king disguised himself, and engaging with one of the enemy, was killed. the athenians obtained the victory, and codrus was regarded as the savior of his country. =coe´lus= or =ura´nus=. an ancient deity supposed to be the father of saturn, oceanus, and hyperion. =col´chis= or =col´chos=. a country of asia famous for the expedition of the argonauts, and as being the birthplace of medea. =collati´nus, l. tarquinius.= a nephew of tarquin the proud. he married lucretia. he, with brutus, drove the tarquins from rome. =colos´sus.= a celebrated brazen image at rhodes, which was considered to be one of the seven wonders of the world. =com´modus, l. aure´lius antoni´nus=, son of m. antoninus, succeeded his father in the roman empire. he was naturally cruel and fond of indulging his licentious propensities. desirous of being likened to hercules, he adorned his shoulders with a lion's skin, and carried a knotted club in his hand. he fought with the gladiators, and boasted of his skill in killing wild beasts in the amphitheatre. he was strangled by a wrestler in the thirty-first year of his age, a.d. 192. =co´mus.= the god of revelry, feasting, and nocturnal amusements. he is represented as a drunken young man with a torch in his hand. =concor´dia.= the goddess of peace and concord at rome, to whom camillus raised a temple in the capitol. =confu´cius.= a chinese philosopher, as much honored amongst his countrymen as if he had been a monarch. he died about 499 years b.c. =co´non.= a famous general of athens, son of timotheus. he was made governor of all the islands of the athenians, and was defeated in a naval battle by lysander. he defeated the spartans near cnidos, when pisander, the enemy's admiral, was killed. he died in prison b.c. 393. =constan´tia.= a granddaughter of the great constantine, married the emperor gratian. =constanti´nus=, surnamed the great from the greatness of his exploits, was son of constantius. it is said that as he was going to fight against maxentius, one of his rivals, he saw a cross in the sky with the inscription, _in hoc vince_. from this he became a convert to christianity, ever after adopting a cross for his standard. he founded a city where old byzantium formerly stood, and called it constantinopolis. there he kept his court, and made it the rival of rome in population and magnificence. he died a.d. 337, after a reign of thirty-one years of the greatest glory. =constan´tius chlo´rus=, son of eutropius, and father of the great constantine. he obtained victories in britain and germany. he became the colleague of galerius on the abdication of dioclesian, and died a.d. 306, bearing the reputation of being brave, humane, and benevolent. =con´sul.= a magistrate at rome with real authority for the space of a year. there were two consuls, who were annually chosen in the campus martius. the first two were l. jun. brutus and l. tarquinius collatinus. =corin´na.= a celebrated woman of thebes, whose father was archelodorus. it is said that she obtained a poetical prize five times against the competitorship of pindar. =coriola´nus.= the surname of c. martius, from his victory over corioli. after a number of military exploits, and many services to his country, he was refused the consulship. he was banished, and went to the volsci, where he met with a gracious reception from tullus aufidius, whom he advised to make war against rome, marching with the volsci as general. his approach alarmed the romans, who sent his mother and his wife to meet him and appease his resentment against his countrymen, which with difficulty they succeeded in doing. =corne´lia.= a daughter of scipio africanus, famous for her learning and virtues, and as being the mother of the gracchi, tiberius and caius gracchus. her husband was t. sempronius gracchus. =cras´sus, m. licin´ius.= a celebrated roman, who by educating slaves and selling them, became very wealthy. he was made consul with pompey, and was afterwards censor, and formed one of the first triumvirate, his associates in it being pompey and cæsar. in the hope of enlarging his possessions he left rome, crossed the euphrates, and hastened to make himself master of parthia. he was met by surena, the parthian general, and in the battle which ensued 20,000 of the romans were killed and 10,000 made prisoners. crassus surrendered, and was put to death b.c. 53. =cre´on=, king of corinth, was son of sisyphus. he promised his daughter glauce to jason, who had repudiated medea. to revenge herself on her rival, medea sent her a present of a dress covered with poison. glauce put it on, and was seized with sudden pain. her body took fire, and she expired in the greatest agony. the house in which she was was also consumed, and creon and his family shared glauce's fate. =cre´on.= king of thebes, whose territories were ravaged by the sphinx. creon offered his crown to any one who would explain the enigmas proposed by the sphinx. oedipus solved the riddles, and ascended the throne of thebes. =croe´sus=, the fifth and last of the mermnadæ, who reigned in lydia, was the son of alyattes, and was considered the richest man in the world. his court was an asylum for learning, and æsop, the famous fable writer, with other learned men, lived under his patronage. "as rich as croesus," has become a proverb. =cupi´do=, god of love, son of jupiter and venus, is represented as a winged infant, naked, armed with a bow and arrows. on gems and ornaments he is represented generally as amusing himself with some childish diversion. cupid, like the rest of the gods, assumed different shapes, and we find him in the æneid putting on, at the request of his mother, the form of ascanius, and going to dido's court, where he inspired the queen with love. =cur´tius, m.= a roman who devoted himself to the service of his country, about 360 years b.c., by leaping on horseback, and fully armed, into a huge gap in the earth, at the command of the oracle. =cyb´ele.= a goddess, daughter of coelus and terra, and wife of saturn. she was supposed to be the same as ceres, rhea, ops, vesta, etc. according to diodorus, she was the daughter of a lydian prince. on her birth she was exposed on a mountain, where she was tended and fed by wild beasts, receiving the name of cybele from the mountain where her life had been preserved. =cyclo´pes.= a race of men of gigantic stature, supposed to be the sons of coelus and terra. they had only one eye, which was in the center of the forehead. according to hesiod they were three in number, and named arges, brontes, and steropes. =cy´rus.= a king of persia, son of cambyses and mandane, daughter of astyages, king of media. xenophon has written the life of cyrus; and delineates him as a brave and virtuous prince, and often puts in his mouth many of the sayings of socrates. =cy´rus= the younger was the son of darius nothus, and the brother of artaxerxes, the latter succeeding to the throne at the death of nothus. cyrus was appointed to the command of lydia and the sea-coasts, where he fomented rebellion and levied troops under various pretenses. at length he took the field with an army of 100,000 barbarians and 13,000 greeks under the command of clearchus. artaxerxes met him with 900,000 men near cunaxa. the engagement ended fatally for cyrus, who was killed 401 years b.c. =dæd´alus=, an athenian, was the most ingenious artist of his age; he was the inventor of the wedge and many other mechanical instruments. he made a famous labyrinth for minos, king of crete, but incurred the displeasure of minos, who ordered him to be confined in the labyrinth. here he made himself wings with feathers and wax, and fitted them to his body, adopting the same course with his son icarus, who was the companion of his confinement. they mounted into the air, but the heat of the sun melted the wax on the wings of icarus, and he fell into the ocean, which after him has been called the icarian sea. the father alighted safely at cumæ, where he built a temple to apollo. =dan´ae=, daughter of acrisius, king of argos, and eurydice. jupiter was enamored with her, and they had a son, with whom danae was exposed in a boat on the sea by her father. the winds carried them to the island of seriphus, where she was saved by some fishermen, and carried to polydectes, king of the place, whose brother, named dictys, educated the child, who was called perseus, and kindly treated the mother. =dana´ides.= the fifty daughters of danaus, king of argos, who married the fifty sons of their uncle ægyptus. danaus had been told by the oracle that he would be killed by a son-in-law, and he made his daughters promise to slay their husbands immediately after marriage. all of them fulfilled their father's wishes except one, hypermnestra, who spared her husband lynceus. =daph´ne.= a daughter of the river peneus, or of the ladon, and the goddess terra, of whom apollo became enamored. daphne fled to avoid the addresses of this god, and was changed into a laurel. =dar´danus.= a son of jupiter, who killed his brother jasius to obtain the kingdom of etruria. he built the city of dardania, and was reckoned to have been the founder of troy. =dari´us.= a noble satrap of persia, son of hystaspes, who usurped the crown of persia after the death of cambyses. darius was twenty-nine years old when he ascended the throne, and he soon distinguished himself by his military prowess. he besieged babylon, which he took after a siege of twenty months. he died b.c. 485. =dari´us=, the second king of persia of that name, ascended the throne of persia soon after the murder of xerxes. he carried on many wars with success, aided by his generals and his son cyrus the younger. he died b.c. 404, after a reign of nineteen years. =dari´us.= the third king of persia of that name. he soon had to take the field against alexander, who invaded persia. darius met him with an enormous army, which, however, was more remarkable for the luxuries indulged in by its leaders than for military courage. a battle was fought near the granicus, in which the persians were easily defeated, and another conflict followed near issus, equally fatal to the persians. darius escaped and assembled another powerful army. the last and decisive battle was fought at arbela, alexander being again victorious. when the fight was over darius was found in his chariot covered with wounds and expiring, b.c. 331. =dejani´ra.= a daughter of oeneus, king of ætolia. her beauty procured her many admirers, and her father promised to give her in marriage to him who should excel in a competition of strength. hercules obtained the prize, and married dejanira. =del´phi.= a town of phocis, at the south-west side of mount parnassus. it was famous for a temple of apollo, and for an oracle celebrated in every age and country. =deme´trius.= a son of antigonus and stratonice, surnamed poliorcetes, _destroyer of towns_. at the age of twenty-two he was sent by his father against ptolemy, who had invaded syria. he was defeated at gaza, but soon afterwards obtained a victory. the greater part of his life was passed in warfare, his fortunes undergoing many changes. he was distinguished for his fondness of dissipation when in dissolute society, and for military skill and valor in the battle-field. he died b.c. 286. =deme´trius.= surnamed _soter_, king of syria. his father gave him as a hostage to the romans. after the death of his father, seleucus philopator, antiochus epiphanes usurped the throne of syria, and was succeeded by his son antiochus eupator. demetrius procured his liberty, and established himself on the throne, causing eupator to be put to death. =deme´trius.= son of soter, whom he succeeded after he had driven from the throne a usurper, alexander bala. demetrius gave himself up to luxury, and suffered his kingdom to be governed by his favorites, thus becoming odious to his subjects. he was at last killed by the governor of tyre, where he had fled for protection. =deme´trius phale´reus.= a disciple of theophrastus, who gained such influence over the athenians by his eloquence and the purity of his manners that he was elected decennial archon, b.c. 317. he embellished the city, and rendered himself popular by his munificence, but his enemies plotted against him, and he fled to the court of ptolemy lagus, where he was received with kindness. he put an end to his life by permitting an asp to bite him, b.c. 284. there were several others of the name of demetrius of minor note. =democ´ritus.= a celebrated philosopher of abdera, one of the disciples of leucippus. he travelled over the greatest part of europe, asia, and africa, in quest of knowledge, and returned home in the greatest poverty. he indulged in continual laughter at the follies of mankind for distracting themselves with care and anxiety in the short term of their lives. he told darius, who was inconsolable for the loss of his wife, that he would raise her from the dead if he could find three persons who had gone through life without adversity, whose names he might engrave on the queen's monument. he taught his disciples that the soul died with the body. he died in his 109th year, b.c. 361. he has been termed "the laughing philosopher." =demos´thenes.= a celebrated athenian, was son of a rich blacksmith and cleobule. he became pupil of plato, and applied himself to study the orations of isocrates. at the age of seventeen he gave early proof of his eloquence and abilities in displaying them against his guardians, from whom he obtained restitution of the greater part of his estate. to correct the stammering of voice under which he labored he spoke with pebbles in his mouth. in the battle of cheronæa he evinced cowardice, and saved his life by flight. he ended his life by taking poison, which he always carried in a quill, in the sixtieth year of his age, b.c. 322. =deuca´lion.= a son of prometheus, who married pyrrha, the daughter of epimetheus. he reigned over part of thessaly, and in his age the earth was covered by a deluge of water, sent by jupiter as a punishment for the impiety of mankind. deucalion constructed a ship, and by this means saved himself and pyrrha. the ship, after being tossed on the waves for nine days, rested on mount parnassus. the deluge of deucalion is supposed to have occurred b.c. 1503. =dia´na.= the goddess of hunting. according to cicero there were three of the name--viz.: a daughter of jupiter and proserpine, a daughter of jupiter and latona, and a daughter of upis and glauce. the second is the most celebrated, and all mention of diana by ancient writers refers to her. to shun the society of men she devoted herself to hunting, and was always accompanied by a number of young women, who, like herself, abjured marriage. she is represented with a quiver, and attended by dogs. the most famous of her temples was that at ephesus, which was one of the wonders of the world. =dicta´tor.= a magistrate at rome, invested with regal authority. =di´do.= a daughter of belus, king of tyre, who married sichæus or sicharbus, her uncle, who was priest of hercules. pygmalion killed sichæsus to obtain his immense riches, and dido, disconsolate at the loss of her husband, set sail with a number of tyrians in quest of a place in which to form a settlement. a storm drove her fleet on the african coast, and she bought of the inhabitants as much land as could be covered by a bull's hide cut into thongs. on this land she built a citadel called byrsa, which was the nucleus of a great city. her subjects wished her to marry again, but she refused, and erected a funeral pile, on which she ascended and stabbed herself to death. =diocletia´nus, cai´us valer´ius jo´vius.= a celebrated roman emperor, born of an obscure family in dalmatia. he was first a common soldier, and by merit gradually rose to the position of a general, and at length he was invested with imperial power. he has been celebrated for his military virtues, and though he was naturally unpolished by education, yet he was the friend and patron of learning and genius. his cruelty, however, against the followers of christianity, has been severely reprobated. after reigning twenty-one years in great prosperity, he abdicated, a.d. 304, and died nine years afterwards, aged sixty-eight. =diodo´rus, sic´ulus.= celebrated as the author of a history of egypt, persia, syria, media, greece, rome and carthage. it was divided into forty books, of which only fifteen are extant, with a few fragments. =dio´genes.= a celebrated cynic philosopher of sinope, banished from his country for coining false money. from sinope he retired to athens, where he became the disciple of antisthenes, who was at the head of the cynics. he dressed himself in the garment which distinguished the cynics, and walked about the streets with a tub on his head, which served him as a house. his singularity, joined to his great contempt for riches, gained him reputation, and alexander the great visited the philosopher and asked him if there was anything in which he could oblige him. "get out of my sunshine," was the reply of the cynic. such independence pleased the monarch, who, turning to his courtiers, said, "were i not alexander, i would wish to be diogenes." he was once sold as a slave, and his magnanimity so pleased his master, that he made him the preceptor of his children and the guardian of his estates. he died, b.c. 324, in the ninety-sixth year of his age. the life of diogenes does not bear strict examination: whilst boasting of his poverty, he was so arrogant that it has been observed that his virtues arose from pride and vanity, not from wisdom or sound philosophy. =dio´genes laer´tius.= an epicurean philosopher, born in cilicia. he wrote the lives of the philosophers, in ten books. this work contains an accurate account of the ancient philosophers, and is replete with anecdotes respecting them. it is compiled, however, without any plan, method, or precision, though neatness and conciseness are observable in it. =diome´des=, a son of tydeus and deiphyle, was king of ætolia, and one of the bravest of the grecian chiefs in the trojan war. he often engaged hector and æneas, and obtained much military glory. =diome´des.= a king of thrace, son of mars and cyrene, who fed his horses with human flesh. hercules destroyed diomedes, and gave him to his own horses to be devoured. =di´on.= a syracusan, son of hipparina, famous for his power and abilities. he was related to dionysius the first, who constantly advised with him, and at whose court he obtained great popularity. he was assassinated 354 years before the christian era by one of his familiar friends. his death was greatly lamented by the syracusans, who raised a monument to his memory. when dionysius the second ascended the throne he banished dion, who collected some forces, and in three days made himself master of syracuse. =di´on cas´sius.= a native of nicæa in bithynia, who was raised to some of the greatest offices of state in the roman empire. he is celebrated as the writer of a history of rome which occupied him twelve years in composing. =dionys´ius= the elder was son of hermocrates. he signalized himself in the wars which the syracusans carried on against carthage, and made himself absolute at syracuse. his tyranny rendered himself odious to his subjects. he made a subterraneous cave in a rock in the form of a human ear, which was called "the ear of dionysius." the sounds of this cave were all directed to one common tympanum, which had a communication with an adjoining room, where dionysius spent part of his time in listening to what was said by those whom he had imprisoned. he died in the sixty-third year of his age, b.c. 368, after a reign of thirty-eight years. =dionys´ius= the younger was son of dionysius the first and doris. he succeeded his father, and as soon as he ascended the throne he invited plato to his court and studied under him for some time. plato advised him to lay aside the supreme power, in which he was supported by dion. this highly incensed dionysius, who banished dion, who collected forces in greece, and in three days rendered himself master of syracuse, and expelled the tyrant, b.c. 357. he, however, recovered syracuse ten years afterward, but was soon compelled to retire again by the corinthians under timoleon. =dionys´ius= of halicarnassus. a historian who left his country and came to reside in rome that he might study all the authors who had written roman history. he was occupied during twenty-four years on his work on roman antiquities, which consisted of twenty books. =dir´ce.= a woman whom lycus, king of thebes, married after he had divorced antiope. amphion and zethus, sons of antiope, for cruelties she practiced on antiope, tied dirce to the tail of a wild bull, by which she was dragged over rocks and precipices till the gods pitied her and changed her into a fountain. =discor´dia.= a malevolent deity, daughter of nox, and sister to nemesis, the parcæ, and death. she was driven from heaven by jupiter because she sowed dissensions amongst the gods. at the nuptials of peleus and thetis she threw an apple amongst the gods, inscribed with the words, _detur pulchriori_, which was the primary cause of the ruin of troy, and of infinite misfortunes to the greeks. =dolabel´la, p. corn.= a roman who married the daughter of cicero. during the civil wars he warmly espoused the cause of julius cæsar, whom he accompanied at the famous battles of pharsalia and munda. =domitia´nus, ti´tus fla´vius=, son of vespasian and flavia domitilla, made himself emperer of rome on the death of his brother titus, whom, according to some accounts, he destroyed by poison. the beginning of his reign promised hopefully, but domitian became cruel, and gave way to vicious indulgences. in the latter part of his reign he became suspicious and remorseful. he was assassinated a.d. 96, in the forty-fifth year of his age. =dra´co.= a celebrated lawgiver of athens, who made a code of laws, b.c. 623, which, on account of their severity, were said to be written in letters of blood. hence the term "draconic," applied to any punishment of exceptional severity. =dru´sus.= a son of tiberius and vipsania, who became famous for his courage displayed in illyricum and pannonia. =dru´sus, m. liv´ius.= a celebrated roman, who renewed the proposals bearing on the agrarian laws, which had proved fatal to the gracchi. =dru´sus, ne´ro clau´dius.= a son of tiberius nero and livia. he distinguished himself in the wars in germany and gaul, and was honored with a triumph. there were other romans of the same name, but of smaller distinction. =dry´ades.= nymphs that presided over the woods. oblations of milk, oil, and honey were offered to them. sometimes the votaries of the dryads sacrificed a goat to them. =duum´viri.= two patricians at rome, first appointed by tarquin to keep the sibylline books, which were supposed to contain the fate of the roman empire. =ech´o.= a daughter of the air and tellus, who was one of juno's attendants. she was deprived of speech by juno, but was allowed to reply to questions put to her. =ege´ria.= a nymph of aricia in italy, where diana was particularly worshiped. egeria was courted by numa, and, according to ovid, became his wife. ovid says that she was disconsolate at the death of numa, and that she wept so violently that diana changed her into a fountain. =elec´tra.= a daughter of agamemnon, king of argos. she incited her brother orestes to revenge his father's death by assassinating his mother clytemnestra. her adventures and misfortunes form the subject of one of the finest of the tragedies of sophocles. =eleu´sinia.= a great festival observed by the lacedæmonians, cretans, and others, every fourth year, and by the people of athens every fifth year, at eleusis in attica, where it was introduced by eumolpus, b.c. 1356. it was the most celebrated of all the religious ceremonies of greece. the term "mysteries" is often applied to it. the expression "eleusinian mysteries," as applied to anything that is inexplicable, has become proverbial. =elys´ium.= the elysian fields, a place in the infernal regions, where, according to the ancients, the souls of the virtuous existed after death. =emped´ocles.= a philosopher, poet, and historian of agrigentum in sicily, who lived 444 b.c. he was a pythagorean, and warmly espoused the belief in the transmigration of souls. =endym´ion.= a shepherd, son of æthlius and calyce. he is said to have required of jupiter that he might be always young. diana saw him as he slept on mount latmus, and was so struck with his beauty that she came down from heaven every night to visit him. =en´nius.= an ancient poet, born in calabria. he obtained the privileges of a roman citizen on account of his learning and genius. =e´os.= the name of aurora among the greeks. =epaminon´das.= a famous theban descended from the ancient kings of boeotia. at the head of the theban armies he defeated the spartans at the celebrated battle of leuctra about 370 b.c. he was killed in battle in the forty-eighth year of his age. =eph´esus.= a city of ionia, famous for a temple of diana, which was considered to be one of the seven wonders of the world. =epicte´tus.= a stoic philosopher of hieropolis, originally the slave of epaphroditus, the freedman of nero. he supported the doctrine of the immortality of the soul. =epicu´rus.= a celebrated philosopher, born in attica of obscure parents. he distinguished himself at school by the brilliancy of his genius. he taught that the happiness of mankind consisted in pleasure, which arises from mental enjoyment, and the sweets of virtue. his death occurred 270 b.c., his age being seventy-two. =er´ato.= one of the muses. she presided over lyric poetry, and is represented as crowned with roses and myrtle, and holding a lyre in her hand. =er´ebus=, a deity of the infernal regions, son of chaos and darkness. the poets often use the word to signify the infernal regions. =ete´ocles.= a king of thebes, son of oedipus and jocasta. after his father's death it was agreed between him and his brother polynices that they should reign a year each alternately. eteocles first ascended the throne, but at the end of the year he refused to resign the crown. thus treated, polynices implored assistance from adrastus, king of argos, whose daughter he married, and who placed an army at his disposal. eteocles marshalled his forces, and several skirmishes took place between the hostile hosts, when it was agreed on that the brothers should decide the contest by single combat. they fought with inveterate fury, and both were killed. =eucli´des.= a famous mathematician of alexandria, who lived b.c. 300. he wrote fifteen books on the elements of mathematics. euclid was so much respected that king ptolemy became one of his pupils. =eu´menes.= a greek officer in the army of alexander. he was the most worthy of all alexander's generals to succeed him after his death. he conquered paphlagonia and cappadocia, of which he obtained the government, till the power of antigonus obliged him to retire. eventually, after many vicissitudes of fortune, he was put to death in prison by order of antigonus. =eumen´ides.= a name given to the furies. they sprang from the drops of blood which flowed from a wound which coelus received from saturn. according to some writers they were daughters of the earth, and sprung from the blood of saturn. others make them to be daughters of acheron and night, or pluto and proserpine. according to the generally received opinion they were three in number--tisiphone, megara, and alecto, to which some add nemesis. =euphor´bus.= a famous trojan. he wounded patroclus, whom hector killed. he died by the hand of menelaus. =euphra´tes.= a large river in asia which flowed through the middle of the city of babylon. =eurip´ides.= a celebrated tragic poet born at salamis. he studied eloquence under prodicus, ethics under socrates, and philosophy under anaxagoras. he often retired to a solitary cave, where he wrote his tragedies. it is said that he met his death by being attacked and torn in pieces by dogs, 407 years before the christian era, in the seventy-eighth year of his age. he is accredited with the authorship of seventy-five tragedies, of which only nineteen are extant. one of his plays, "ion," has become familiarized in name to general readers by the exquisite play thus called written by the late judge talfourd, and first acted at covent garden theater, may 26, 1836. =euro´pa.= a daughter of agenor, king of phoenicia, and telaphassa. her beauty attracted jupiter, and to become possessed of her he assumed the shape of a handsome bull, and mingled with the herds of agenor while europa was gathering flowers in the meadows. she caressed the animal, and mounted on his back. the god crossed the sea with her, and arrived in crete, where he assumed his proper form, and declared his love. she became mother of minos, sarpedon, and rhadamanthus. =euryd´ice.= the wife of the poet orpheus. as she fled from aristæus, who was enamored with her, she was bit by a serpent, and died of the wound. orpheus was disconsolate at her loss, and descended to the infernal regions in search of her, and by the melody of his lyre he obtained from pluto the restoration of eurydice, provided he did not look behind him till he reached the earth; but his eagerness to see his wife caused him to violate the conditions, and he looked behind him, thus losing eurydice forever. =euryd´ice.= wife of amyntas, king of macedonia. alexander, perdiccas, and philip were their sons, and they had a daughter named euryone. she conspired against amyntas, but was prevented from killing him by euryone. =eurys´thenes.= a son of aristodemus, who lived in perpetual dissension with his twin brother procles whilst they both sat on the spartan throne. the descendants of eurysthenes were called eurysthenidæ, and those of procles proclidæ. =eurys´theus.= a king of argos and mycenæ, son of sthenelus and nicippe. juno hastened his birth by two months that he might come into the world before hercules, the son of alcmena, as the younger of the two was doomed by jupiter to be subservient to the other. this natural right was cruelly exercised by eurystheus, who was jealous of the fame of hercules, and who, to destroy him, imposed upon him the most dangerous enterprises, known as the twelve labors of hercules, all of which were successfully accomplished. =euse´bius.= a bishop of cæsarea, in favor with the emperor constantine. he was mixed up in the theological disputes of arius and athanasius, and distinguished himself by writing an ecclesiastical history and other works. =euter´pe.= one of the muses, daughter of jupiter and mnemosyne. she presided over music. =entro´pius.= a latin historian in the age of julian. he wrote an epitome of the history of rome from the age of romulus to the reign of the emperor valens. =fa´bii.= a noble and powerful family at rome. they fought with the veientes, and all of them were slain. one of the family, of tender age, remained in rome, and from him descended the family which afterwards became so distinguished. =fa´bius, max´imus rullia´nus=, was the first of the fabii who obtained the name of "maximus." he was master of the horse, and his victory over the samnites in that capacity nearly cost him his life. he was five times consul, twice dictator, and once censor. =fa´bius, q. max´imus.= a celebrated roman who was raised to the highest offices of state. in his first consulship he obtained a victory over liguria, and the battle of thrasymenus caused his election to the dictatorship. in this office he opposed hannibal, harassing him more by countermarches and ambuscades than by fighting in the open field. he died at the age of 100, after being consul five times. others of the family were of minor distinction, though their names occur in roman history. =fabric´ius, cai´us.= a distinguished roman, who in his first consulship obtained several victories over the samnites and lucanians. he had the most consummate knowledge of military matters, and was distinguished for the simplicity of his manners. =faler´nus.= a fertile mountain and plain of campania, famous for its wine. falernian wine was held in great esteem by the romans, and it is often alluded to by the poets. =fau´ni.= rural deities represented as having the legs, feet, and ears of goats, and the rest of the body human. =flac´cus.= a consul who marched against sylla and was assassinated. =flamin´ius, t. q.= a famous roman who was trained in the art of war against hannibal. he was sent in command of the roman troops against philip of macedonia, and met with great success. =flo´ra.= the goddess of flowers and gardens among the romans. she was the same as the chloris of the greeks. =fortu´na.= a powerful deity among the ancients, daughter of oceanus, according to homer, or one of the parcæ according to pindar. she was the goddess of fortune, and bestowed riches or poverty on mankind. =ful´via.= an ambitious woman, wife of the tribune clodius, afterwards of curio, and lastly of antony. antony divorced her for cleopatra. she attempted to avenge her wrongs by persuading augustus to take up arms against antony. =galatæ´a.= a sea nymph, daughter of nereus and doris. she was loved by polyphemus, the cyclops, whom she treated with disdain, while she was in love with acis, a shepherd of sicily. =gal´ba, ser´vius sulpi´cius.= a roman who rose to the greatest offices of the state, and exercised his powers with equity till he was seated on the throne, when his virtues disappeared. he was assassinated in the seventy-third year of his age. =gallie´nus, pub. licin´ius.= a son of the emperor valerian. he reigned conjointly with his father for seven years, and then became sole emperor, a.d. 260. in his youth he showed military ability in an expedition against the germans and sarmatæ, but when possessed of the purple he gave himself up to pleasure and vice. he was assassinated in his fiftieth year, a.d. 268. =gal´lus, corne´lius.= a roman knight famous for his poetical as well as his military talents. he was greatly attached to his slave lycoris (or cytheris), whose beauty he extolled in his poetry. =ganyme´des.= a beautiful youth of phrygia. he was taken to heaven by jupiter while tending flocks on mount ida, and he became the cupbearer of the gods in place of hebe. =gel´lius au´lus.= a roman grammarian in the age of m. antoninus. he wrote a work called "noctes atticæ," which he composed at athens. =german´icus cæ´sar.= a son of drusus and antonia, the niece of augustus. he was raised to the most important position in the state, and was employed in war in germany, where his successes obtained him a triumph. he was secretly poisoned, a.d. 19, in the thirty-fourth year of his age. he has been commended not only for his military talents but for his learning and humanity. =ge´ryon.= a monster, represented by the poets as having three bodies and three heads. it was killed by hercules. =gigan´tes.= the sons of coelus and terra, who, according to hesiod, sprang from the blood of a wound inflicted on coelus by his son saturn. they are represented as huge giants, with strength in accordance with their size. =glau´cus.= a son of hippolochus, the son of bellerophon. he aided priam in the trojan war, and was noted for his folly in exchanging his golden armor with diomedes for an iron one. =glau´cus.= a fisherman of boeotia. he observed that the fishes which he caught and laid on the grass became invigorated and leaped into the sea. he tasted the grass, and suddenly felt a desire to live in the sea. he was made a sea deity by oceanus and tethys. =glau´cus.= a son of minos the second and pasiphae, who was smothered in a cask of honey. the soothsayer polyidus, on being commanded by minos to find his son, discovered him, and by rubbing his body with a certain herb restored him to life. =gordia´nus, m. anto´nius africa´nus.= son of metius marcellus. he applied himself to poetry, and composed a poem in thirty books. he was sent as proconsul to africa, and subsequently, when he had attained his eightieth year, he was proclaimed emperor. he strangled himself at carthage a.d. 236, and was deeply lamented by the army and the people. =gordia´nus, m. anto´nius africa´nus=, son of gordianus, was made prefect of rome, and afterwards consul, by alexander severus. he was elected emperor in conjunction with his father. he was killed in a battle fought with maximinus in mauritania. =gordia´nus m. anto´nius pius=, was grandson of the first gordian. he was proclaimed emperor in the sixteenth year of his age. he married the daughter of misetheus, who was distinguished by his virtues, and to whom gordian intrusted many of the chief offices of the state. gordian conquered sapor, king of persia, and took many cities from him. he was assassinated a.d. 244. =gor´dius.= a phrygian who, from the position of a peasant, was raised to the throne consequent on a prediction of the oracle. the knot which tied the yoke to the draught-tree of his chariot was made so cunningly that the ends of the cord could not be seen, and a report arose that the empire of asia was promised by the oracle to him who should untie the gordian knot. alexander cut the knot with his sword. =gor´gones= (the gorgons). three sisters, daughters of phorcys and ceto, whose names were stheno, euryale, and medusa. they possessed the power of turning into stone those on whom they looked. perseus attacked them and cut off medusa's head, which he gave to minerva, who placed it on her ægis, which turned into stone those who fixed their eyes on it. =grac´chus, t. sempronius=, was twice consul and once censor. he married cornelia, of the family of the scipios, a woman of piety and learning. their children, tiberius and caius, rendered themselves famous for their obstinate attachment to the interests of the populace, which at last proved fatal to them. the gracchi stand out conspicuously in roman annals. the history of gaius gracchus has been dramatized by james sheridan knowles. it was one of his earliest efforts in dramatic literature, and has long been obsolete as an acting play. =gymna´sium.= a place among the greeks where all the public exercises were performed, and where not only dancers and wrestlers exhibited, but where poets and philosophers repeated their compositions. =ha´des=, see ades. =halicarnas´sus.= a maritime city in asia minor, where a mausoleum, one of the seven wonders of the world, was erected. it is celebrated as being the birthplace of herodotus, dionysius, and heraclitus. =hamadry´ades.= nymphs who lived in the country and presided over trees. =hamil´car.= a famous carthaginian, father of hannibal. he was engaged in sicily during the first punic war. he used to say of his three sons that he kept three lions to devour the roman power. =han´nibal.= a celebrated carthaginian general, son of hamilcar. while a child he took a solemn oath never to be at peace with rome. his passage of the alps with a great army was achieved by softening the rocks with fire and vinegar, so that even his armed elephants descended the mountains without difficulty. he defeated the romans in the great battle of cannæ, but was subsequently conquered by scipio at zama. he died by poison taken from a ring in which he kept it concealed. this occurred in his seventieth year, about 182 years b.c. =harmo´dius.= a friend of aristogiton who assisted in delivering his country from the tyranny of the pisistratidæ. =harpy´læ.= the harpies, winged monsters who had the face of a woman, the body of a vulture, and feet and fingers armed with claws. they were three in number--aello, ocypete, and celeno. they were daughters of neptune and terra. =has´drubal.= a son of hamilcar, and brother of hannibal. he crossed the alps and entered italy, where he was defeated by the consuls, m. livius salinator and claudius nero. he was killed in the battle b.c. 207, and his head was sent to hannibal. one of the finest passages in professor nichol's tragedy of hannibal is the invocation over hasdrubal's head at the close of the play. =he´be.= a daughter of jupiter and juno. she was made cup-bearer to the gods, but was dismissed from the office by jupiter, because she fell down in a clumsy posture as she was pouring out nectar at a festival, and ganymedes succeeded her as cupbearer. =hec´ate.= a daughter of persus and asteria. she was called luna in heaven, diana on earth, and hecate or proserpine in hell. =hec´tor=, son of king priam and hecuba, was the most valiant of all the trojan chiefs who fought against the greeks. he married andromache, the daughter of eetion, astyanax being their son. hector was made chief of the trojan forces when troy was besieged by the greeks, and it is said that thirty-one of the most valiant greek chiefs were killed by him, but when he met achilles he fled. achilles pursued him, and hector was killed, and his body dragged in triumph at the chariot wheels of the conqueror. =hec´uba=, daughter of dymas, a phrygian prince, or, according to some, of cisseus, a thracian king, was the second wife of priam, king of troy. when her son paris was born, she exposed him on mount ida, hoping he would perish, as the soothsayers had predicted that he would be the ruin of his country. in the trojan war she saw most of her children perish. after enduring many misfortunes, she threw herself into the sea, and was drowned. =hel´ena.= one of the most beautiful women in the age in which she lived. her beauty was so universally admired, even in her infancy, that theseus, with his friend pirithous, carried her away when she was ten years of age and concealed her with his mother, but she was recovered by castor and pollux, and restored to her native country. she married menelaus, son of atreus, but when paris visited menelaus he persuaded her to fly with him to troy, b.c. 1198. on this, menelaus sent ambassadors to the court of priam to demand her restitution, but in vain, and the result was the trojan war. when troy was taken she returned to menelaus, and after his death she retired to rhodes, where she was strangled by order of polyxo, who reigned there. her beauty and misfortunes have been a theme for the poets in all ages. =hel´icon.= a mountain of boeotia on the borders of phocis. it was sacred to the muses, who had a temple there. the fountain hippocrene flowed from this mountain. =heliogab´alus, m. aure´lius antoni´nus.= a roman emperor who had been priest to a divinity in phoenicia. under his sway rome became the scene of cruelty and vice. he raised his horse to the honors of consulship, and indulged in a number of absurdities which rendered him odious to his subjects. his head was cut off by his soldiers a.d. 222. =hel´le.= a daughter of athamas and nephele. she fled from her father's house to avoid the oppression of her mother-in-law ino. according to some accounts she was carried through the air on a golden ram, when, becoming giddy, she fell into the sea, which received from her the name hellespont. =hellespon´tus.= a narrow strait between europe and asia, which received its name from helle, who is said to have been drowned in it. it is celebrated as being the scene of the love and death of leander. =heracli´tus.= a celebrated greek philosopher of ephesus, who lived about 500 years before the christian era. he received the appellation of the obscure philosopher and the mourner, from his custom of weeping at the follies and frailties of human life. =hercula´neum.= a town of campania swallowed up by an earthquake, produced by an eruption of mount vesuvius, a.d. 79. =her´cules.= a celebrated hero who, after death, was ranked among the gods. according to the ancients there were many persons of the same name, but the son of jupiter and alcmena, generally called the theban, is the most celebrated. the birth of hercules was attended with many miraculous events. before he was eight months old juno sent two snakes to devour him, which he seized, and crushed them to death. he achieved a series of enterprises known as the "twelve labors of hercules." these comprised the slaughter of the nemæan lion, the destruction of the lernæan hydra, the catching of a stag having golden horns and remarkable for his swiftness, the seizing alive a wild boar which committed great ravages, the cleansing of the stables of augias, the killing of the carnivorous birds near lake stymphalis, the taking captive a prodigious wild bull, the obtaining the mares of diomedes which fed on human flesh, the getting possession of the girdle of the queen of the amazons, the destruction of the monster geryon, the obtaining the apples from the garden of the hesperides, and the bringing to the earth the three-headed dog cerberus. besides these labors he aided the gods in their wars with the giants, and performed numerous difficult feats. he was conducted by mercury to omphale, queen of lydia, whom he married, and whom he permitted to dress in his armor while he was sitting to spin with her female servants. he delivered dejanira from the centaur nessus, whom he killed. the centaur, as he expired, gave dejanira a mystic tunic, which, in a jealous paroxysm, she gave to hercules to put on, which he had no sooner done than he was seized with a desperate distemper which was incurable. he erected a burning pile on mount ætna, on which he cast himself. jupiter surrounded the burning pile with smoke, amidst which hercules, after his mortal parts were consumed, was carried to heaven in a chariot drawn by four horses. =her´mes.= a name of mercury among the greeks. =hermin´ius.= a valiant roman who defended the bridge with cocles against the army of porsenna. =hermi´one.= a daughter of mars and venus who married cadmus. she was changed into a serpent, and placed in the elysian fields. =hermi´one.= a daughter of menelaus and helen. she was privately promised in marriage to orestes, the son of agamemnon, but her father, ignorant of the engagement, gave her hand to pyrrhus, the son of achilles, whose services he had experienced in the trojan war. =hermip´pus.= a freedman, disciple of philo, in the reign of adrian, by whom he was greatly esteemed. he wrote five books on dreams. =hermoc´rates.= a general of syracuse, who was sent against the athenians. his lenity towards the athenian prisoners was regarded with suspicion. he was banished from sicily, and was murdered on his attempt to return to his country. =hermodo´rus.= a philosopher of ephesus who is said to have assisted, as interpreter, the roman decemvirs, in the composition of the ten tables of laws which had been collected in greece. =he´ro.= a beautiful girl of sestos, greatly beloved by leander, a youth of abydos. the lovers were greatly attached to each other, and often in the night leander swam across the hellespont to hero in sestos, till on one tempestuous night he was drowned, and hero in despair threw herself into the sea and perished. =hero´des=, surnamed the great, followed the fortunes of brutus and cassius, and afterwards those of antony. he was made king of judæa by the aid of antony, and after the battle of actium he was continued in power by submission to and flattery of augustus. he rendered himself odious by his cruelty, and as he knew his death would be a cause for rejoicing, he ordered a number of the most illustrious of his subjects to be confined and murdered directly he expired, that there might appear to be grief and shedding of tears for his own death. herod died in the seventieth year of his age, after a reign of 40 years. =herod´otus.= a celebrated historian of halicarnassus. he ranks amongst historians as homer does amongst the poets and demosthenes amongst the orators. his great work is a history of the wars of the persians against the greeks, from the age of cyrus to the battle of mycale in the reign of xerxes; besides which it gives an account of many celebrated nations. a life of homer is attributed to his pen, though by some the authorship is doubted. =hesi´odus.= a celebrated poet, born at ascra in boeotia. he lived in the age of homer, and obtained a poetical prize in competition with him, according to varro and plutarch. quintilian, philostratus, and others, maintain that hesiod lived before the age of homer. hesiod, without possessing the sublimity of homer, is admired for the elegance of his diction. =hesi´one.= a daughter of laodemon, king of troy. it was her fate to be exposed to a sea-monster, to whom the trojans presented yearly a young girl to appease the resentment of apollo and neptune, whom laodemon had offended. hercules undertook to rescue her, and attacking the monster just as he was about to devour her, killed him with his club. =hesper´ides.= three nymphs, daughters of hesperus. apollodorus mentions four, ægle, erythia, vesta and arethusa. they were appointed to guard the golden apples which juno gave to jupiter on the day of their marriage. the place where the hesperides lived was a celebrated garden, abounding with delicious fruit, and was guarded by a dragon which never slept. it was one of the labors of hercules to procure some of the golden apples, which he succeeded in doing after slaying the dragon. =hieron´ymus.= a tyrant of sicily, who succeeded to the throne when he was fifteen years old. he rendered himself odious by his cruelty and oppression. =hieron´ymus.= a christian writer, commonly called st. jerome. he was distinguished for his zeal against heretics. he wrote commentaries on the prophets, st. matthew's gospel, &c. he died a.d. 420, in his eightieth year. =hippar´chus.= a son of pisistratus, who succeeded his father, as tyrant of athens, with his brother hippias. he patronized some of the learned men of his age, and distinguished himself for his love of literature. =hippoc´rates.= a celebrated physician of cos. he delivered athens from a dreadful pestilence in the beginning of the peloponnesian war, for which he was rewarded with a golden crown. he died in his ninety-ninth year, b.c. 361. =hippocre´ne.= a fountain of boeotia, near mount helicon, sacred to the muses. it rose from the ground when struck by the feet of the horse pegasus. =hippodami´a.= a daughter of oenomaus, king of pisa, who married pelops, son of tantalus. her father would marry her only to some one who should conquer him in a chariot race. her beauty was great, and many were competitors for her hand, though the conditions involved death in case of defeat in the race. after thirteen suitors had been defeated, pelops entered the lists, and by bribing the charioteer of oenomaus, obtained the victory and married hippodamia. =hippol´yte.= a queen of the amazons, given in marriage to theseus by hercules. hippolytus was their son. =hippol´ytus.= son of theseus and hippolyte. his step-mother phædra fell in love with him. he fled to the sea-shore, where, his horses taking fright and rushing among the rocks, his chariot was broken in pieces, and he was killed. according to some accounts he was restored to life by diana. =hippo´nax.= a greek poet born at ephesus, 540 years before the christian era. he cultivated satirical poetry, which was marked by its beauty and vigor. =home´rus.= a celebrated greek poet, the most ancient of all the profane writers. the age in which he lived is not known, though some suppose it to be about 168 years after the trojan war. uncertainty prevails, also, as to the place of his nativity, seven cities claiming to be thus honored. these are smyrna, chios, colophon, salamis, rhodos, argos, and athenæ. in his two famous poems, the iliad and odyssey, he has displayed the most consummate knowledge of human nature, and rendered himself immortal by the sublimity and elegance of his poetry. in the iliad be gives a narrative of the siege of troy, and the odyssey deals with the wanderings of ulysses after the fall of the city. =hono´rius.= an emperor of the western empire of rome, who succeeded his father, theodosius the great. he conquered his enemies by the ability of his generals, and suffered his people to be governed by ministers who took advantage of his indolence and indifference. he died a.d. 423. =hora´tii.= three brave romans, born at the same time, who fought against the three curiatii about 667 years before christ. at the beginning of the fight two of the horatii were killed, and the surviving one pretended to fly, thus separating his antagonists as they pursued him, and then, attacking them singly, he slew them all. =hora´tius q. flac´cus.= a celebrated poet born at venusia. his rising talents obtained the attention of virgil and varius, who recommended him to the care of mæcenas and augustus, the celebrated patrons of literature. under this fostering patronage horace gave himself up to indolence and pleasure. he was warm in his friendships, and if he at any time gave offense he was ready to make any concession to effect a reconciliation. in his satires and epistles he displays much wit and satirical humor. he died in his fifty-seventh year, b.c. 8. =hora´tius.= see =cocles=. =horten´sius, q.= a celebrated orator who began to distinguish himself in the roman forum when he was nineteen years old. cicero speaks eulogistically of his oratorical powers, and of his retentive memory. quintilian alludes to his orations in terms of high commendation. =hyacin´thus.= a son of amyclas and diomede, greatly beloved by apollo and zephyrus. he was accidentally killed by apollo, who changed his blood into a flower which bore his name. =hy´bla.= a mountain in sicily, famous for the odoriferous herbs which grew on it. it was famous for its honey. =hy´dra.= a celebrated monster which infested the neighborhood of lake lerna in peloponnesus. it was one of the labors of hercules to destroy the monster, which he effected with the aid of iolas. =hyge´ia.= the goddess of health, daughter of æsculapius. she was held in great veneration among the ancients. =hymenæ´us= or =hy´men=, the god of marriage among the greeks, was the son of bacchus and venus, or, according to some, of apollo and one of the muses. =hymet´tus.= a mountain of attica, about two miles from athens, famous for its bees and honey. =hyperi´on.= a son of coelus and terra, who married thea. aurora was their daughter. hyperion is often used by the poets to signify the sun. also in "troilus and cressida" and other of shakspeare's plays, the same license is used. =hypermnes´tra.= one of the danaides, who were the fifty daughters of danaus. she was ordered by her father to murder her husband lynceus on the night of their marriage, which she refused to do. danaus wished to punish her for her disobedience, but afterwards forgave her, and left his kingdom at his death to lynceus. =hypsip´yle.= a queen of lemnos, daughter of thoas. during her reign, venus, whose altars had been slighted, punished the lemnian women by causing their husbands' affections to be estranged from them. this enraged the women, and they put to death their male relations, except in the case of hypsipyle, who spared her father thoas. =ic´arus.= a son of daedalus, who, with his father, took a winged flight from crete to escape the anger of minos. his flight was too high, and thus the sun melted the wax which cemented his wings, and he fell into the sea and was drowned. =idom´eneus= succeeded his father deucalion on the throne of crete, and accompanied the greeks to the trojan war, during which he rendered himself famous for his valor. on his voyage home, being caught in a great tempest, he vowed to neptune that if he escaped he would make an offering to the god of the first living creature he saw on his arrival at the cretan shore. he escaped the storm, and the first to meet him on his landing was his son. he performed his vow, and became so odious to his subjects that he had to leave his dominions. =igna´tius.= a bishop of antioch, torn to pieces by lions in the amphitheater at rome a.d. 107. his works consisted of letters to the ephesians, romans, etc. he zealously supported the doctrine of the divinity of christ. =i´lus=, fourth king of troy, was son of tros by callirrhoe. he married eurydice, the daughter of adrastus. he embellished the city of ilium, called also troy from his father tros. =i´no.= a daughter of cadmus and harmonia, who nursed bacchus. she married athamas, king of thebes, after he had divorced nephele. =i´o=, a daughter of inachus, was a priestess of juno at argos. juno changed her into a beautiful heifer, and eventually restored her to her own form. she was greatly persecuted by juno. she married telegonus, king of egypt, or osiris, according to others, and treated her subjects with such kindness that after death she received divine honors, and was worshiped under the name of isis. =i´olas= or =iola´us=. a son of iphiclus, king of thessaly, who assisted hercules in conquering the hydra; he burnt with a hot iron the place where the monster's heads had been cut off to prevent their re-growth. =iph´iclus.= a son of amphitryon and alcmena, twin brother of hercules. as the children were cradled together, juno, jealous of hercules, sent two large serpents to destroy him. at the sight of the snakes iphiclus showed great alarm, but hercules seized them, one in each hand, and squeezed them to death. =iphic´rates.= a celebrated general of athens, who, though son of a shoemaker, rose to the highest offices in the state. he made war against the thracians, and assisted the persian king against egypt. =iphigeni´a.= a daughter of agamemnon and clytemnestra. when the greeks, going to the trojan war, were detained at aulis by contrary winds, they were informed by a soothsayer that to appease the gods they must sacrifice iphigenia to diana. as the fatal knife was about to be plunged into her, iphigenia suddenly disappeared, and a goat of great beauty was found in the place where she had stood ready for the sacrifice. =iph´itus.= a son of eurytus, king of oechalia. when his father had promised his daughter iole to any one who could excel him or his sons in drawing the bow, hercules accepted the challenge and was victorious. eurytus, however, refused to fulfill the compact by giving his daughter to the conqueror. afterwards some oxen were stolen from eurytus, and iphitus was sent in quest of them. in his search he met hercules, who aided him in seeking the lost animals, but on recollecting the faithlessness of eurytus he killed iphitus. =irenæ´us.= a native of greece, disciple of polycarp, and bishop of lyons. he wrote on different subjects, and suffered martyrdom a.d. 202. =i´ris.= one of the oceanides, messenger of the gods, and more particularly of juno. her office was to cut the thread which seemed to detain the soul of those who were expiring. she is the same as the rainbow. =i´sis.= a celebrated deity of the egyptians, daughter of saturn and rhea, according to diodorus of sicily. some suppose her to be the same as io, who was changed into a cow, and restored to her human form in egypt, where she taught agriculture, and governed the people with mildness and equity, for which she received divine honors after her death. =isoc´rates.= a celebrated orator, son of a musical instrument maker at athens. he opened a school of eloquence at athens, where he was distinguished for the number, character, and fame of his pupils. he was intimate with philip of macedon, but the aspiring ambition of philip displeased isocrates, and the defeat of the athenians at chæronea had such an effect on him that he did not long survive it. he died, after being four days without taking any aliment, in his ninety-ninth year, about 338 years b.c. he was honored after death by the erection of a brazen statue to his memory by timotheus, one of his pupils, and aphareus, his adopted son. milton, in one of his sonnets, speaks of him as "that old man eloquent" when alluding to his death as being caused by the news of the battle of chæronea. =i´tys.= a son of tereus, king of thrace, and procne, daughter of pandion, king of athens. he was killed by his mother when he was six years old, and served up to his father to be eaten by him. he was changed into a pheasant, his mother into a swallow, and his father into an owl. =ixi´on.= a king of thessaly, son of phlegias, or, according to hyginus, of leontes, or, according to diodorus, of antion and perimela. jupiter carried him to heaven and placed him at the table of the gods, where he became enamored with juno, which so incensed jupiter that he banished him from heaven, and ordered mercury to tie him to a wheel in hell, which continually whirled round, keeping ixion in perpetual torture. =ja´nus.= an ancient king who reigned in italy. he was a native of thessaly, and, according to some writers, a son of apollo. he built a town which he called janiculum. some authors make him to have been son of coelus and hecate. he is represented with two faces, because he was acquainted with the past and future. his temple was always open in time of war, and was shut when peace existed. =jap´etus.= a son of coelus or titan and terra, who married asia, or, according to some writers, clymene. the greeks looked on him as the father of all mankind. =ja´son.= a celebrated hero, son of æson and alcimedes. his education was entrusted to the centaur chiron. the greatest feat recorded of him is his voyage in the argo to colchis to obtain the golden fleece, which, aided by juno, he succeeded in doing. medea, daughter of ætes, king of colchis, fell in love with jason. she was a powerful magician, and on jason having vowed eternal fidelity to her, she gave him charms to protect him from danger. after securing the fleece, jason set sail from the country with his wife medea. after some years he became enamored with glauce, daughter of creon, king of corinth, whom he married, having divorced medea. this cruel act was revenged by medea, who destroyed her children in the presence of their father. jason is said to have been killed by a beam which fell on his head as he was reposing by the side of the ship which had borne him to colchis. =jocas´ta.= a daughter of menoeceus, who married laius, king of thebes, oedipus being their son. she afterwards married oedipus without knowing who he was, and on the discovery she hanged herself. by some mythologists she is called epicasta. =jose´phus, fla´vius.= a celebrated jew, born in jerusalem, who signalized himself in a siege conducted by vespasian and titus in a small town in judæa. he was present at the siege of jerusalem by titus, and received all the sacred books which it contained from the conqueror's hands. he wrote a history of the wars of the jews, in syriac, and afterwards translated it into greek. he also wrote a work, which he divided into twenty books, on jewish antiquities. he died a.d. 93, in his fifty-sixth year. =jovia´nus, fla´vius clau´dius.= a native of pannonia elected emperor of rome by the soldiers after the death of julian. he refused the purple at first, but on being assured that his subjects were favorably disposed towards christianity he accepted the crown. he died about seven months after assuming the supreme power, being found in bed suffocated by the vapors of charcoal which had been lighted in his room, a.d. 364. =ju´ba.= a king of numidia and mauritania who favored the cause of pompey against julius cæsar. he defeated curio, whom cæsar had sent to africa, and after the battle of pharsalia he joined his forces to those of scipio. he was conquered in a battle at thapsus, and killed himself. his kingdom became a roman province, of which sallust was the first governor. =ju´ba=, the second of that name, was led captive to rome to give lustre to the triumph of cæsar. he wrote a history of rome, which was often commended and quoted by the ancients. =jugur´tha.= a distinguished numidian who went with a body of troops to the assistance of scipio, who was besieging numantia. jugurtha endeared himself to the roman general by his bravery and activity. his uncle micipsa appointed him successor to the throne, with his two sons adherbal and hiempsal, the latter of whom was slain by jugurtha, and the former had to fly to rome for safety. cæcilius metellus was sent against jugurtha, who was betrayed and delivered into the hands of the romans. he died in prison b.c. 106. =ju´lia.= a daughter of julius cæsar and cornelia, famous for her virtues and personal charms. she was obliged by her father to divorce herself from her first husband to marry pompey the great, with the object of cementing the friendship between him and her father. =ju´lia.= daughter of augustus, remarkable for her beauty, genius, and vices. her father give her in marriage to marcellus, after whose death she united herself to agrippa, and again becoming a widow she married tiberius. her conduct now became so unseemly that she was banished to a small island on the coast of campania, where she was starved to death. =ju´lia.= a daughter of germanicus and agrippina, born at lesbos, a.d. 17. she married m. vinucius, a senator, when she was sixteen years old. she was banished on suspicion of conspiracy by her brother caligula. she was notorious for her licentious conduct, and was put to death when she was about twenty-four years of age. =ju´lia.= a celebrated woman born in phoenicia. she applied herself to the study of philosophy, and was conspicuous for her mental as well as her personal charms. she came to rome, where she married septimius severus, who was afterwards invested with the purple. she was also called domna. =julia´nus.= a son of julius constantius, the brother of constantine the great, born in constantinople. the massacre which attended the elevation of the sons of constantine to the throne nearly proved fatal to julian and his brother gallus. the two brothers were privately educated and taught the doctrines of the christian religion--which afterwards julian disavowed, and in consequence of this the term "apostate" is generally affixed to his name. he died, a.d. 363, in his thirty-second year. his last moments were spent in a conversation with a philosopher about the immortality of the soul. julian's character has been admired by some writers, but generally he is censured for his apostasy. =ju´no.= a celebrated deity among the ancients, daughter of saturn and ops. jupiter married her, and the nuptials were celebrated with the greatest solemnity in the presence of all the gods. by her marriage with jupiter, juno became the queen of all the gods, and mistress of heaven and earth. she presided over marriage, and patronized those of her sex who were distinguished for virtuous conduct. paris gave her great offense by giving the golden apple, as an award to beauty, to venus instead of herself. =ju´piter.= the chief of all the gods of the ancients. according to varro there were three hundred persons of that name. to him of crete, who passed for the son of saturn and ops, the actions of the rest have been attributed. jupiter was educated in a cave on mount ida, in crete, and fed with the milk of the goat amalthæa. while he was very young he made war on the titans, whom he conquered. the beginning of his reign in the supernal regions was interrupted by the rebellion of the giants, who were sons of the earth, and who were desirous of revenging the death of the titans, but by the aid of hercules, jupiter overpowered them. jupiter married metis, themis, ceres, euronyme, mnemosyne, latona, and juno. his worship was universal: he was the ammon of the africans, the belus of babylon, and the osiris of egypt. =juvena´lis, d. ju´nius.= a poet born at axuinum in italy. he came to rome at an early age, where he applied himself to the writing of satires, some of which are extant. he died in the reign of trajan, a.d. 128. his writings are distinguished by a lively style, but abound with ill humor. =labe´rius, j. dec´imus.= a roman knight famous for his skill in writing pantomimes. cæsar made him appear on the stage in one of his plays, which he resented by throwing out aspersions on cæsar during the performance, and by warning the audience against tyranny. =lach´esis.= one of the parcæ, or fates. she presided over futurity, and was represented as spinning the thread of life, or, according to some, as holding the spindle. =laer´tes.= a king of ithaca who married anticlea, daughter of autolycus. ulysses was their son, and succeeded him on the throne, laertes retiring to the country, and devoting his time to gardening, in which employment he was found by ulysses on his return from the trojan war, after twenty years´ absence. =la´gus.= a macedonian of mean extraction, who married arsinoe, daughter of meleager. on the birth of a child it was exposed in the woods by lagus, but an eagle preserved its life by feeding and sheltering it with her wings. the infant was afterwards known as king ptolemy the first of egypt. =la´is.= a woman of immoral character, daughter of timandra and alcibiades. diogenes, the cynic, was one of her admirers, and gained her heart. she went to thessaly, where the women, jealous of her charms, assassinated her. =laoc´oon.= a priest of apollo who in the trojan war was opposed to the admission of the wooden horse to the city. for this, as a punishment, two enormous serpents were sent to attack him, which they did whilst, accompanied by his two sons, he was offering a sacrifice to neptune. the serpents coiled round him and his sons, and crushed them to death. =laom´edon.= son of ilus, and king of troy. he married strymo, called by some placia or leucippe. podarces, afterwards known as priam, was their son. laomedon built the walls of troy, in which he was assisted by apollo and neptune. =lap´ithus.= a son of apollo and stilbe. he married orsinome, phorbas and periphas being their children, to whose numerous descendants was given the name lapithæ, a number of whom attended the nuptials of pirithous with hippodamia, the daughter of adrastus, king of argos. the centaurs also attended the festivity, and quarrelled with the lapithæ, which resulted in blows and slaughter. many of the centaurs were slain, and they were at last obliged to retire. =la´res.= gods of inferior power at rome, who presided over houses and families. they were two in number, sons of mercury and lara. =lati´nus.= a son of faunus and marica, king of the aborigines in italy, who from him were called latini. =lato´na.= a daughter of coeus, the titan, and phoebe. she was admired for her beauty by jupiter. juno made latona the object of her vengeance, and sent the serpent python to persecute her. =lean´der.= a youth of abydos. he was passionately in love with hero, a young girl of sestos. he was in the habit of swimming across the hellespont to visit her, in doing which, on a tempestuous night, he was drowned. lord byron performed the same feat in 1810, an exploit which he has celebrated in verse in his occasional pieces. he expresses surprise that, as the truth of leander's story had been questioned, no one had hitherto tested its practicability. =le´da.= a daughter of king thespius and eurythemis, who married tyndarus, king of sparta. she is famous for her intrigue with jupiter. she brought forth two eggs, from one of which sprang pollux and helena, and from the other castor and clytemnestra. she is said to have received the name of nemesis after death. =lem´ures.= the manes of the dead. the ancients supposed that after death the departed souls wandered over the world and disturbed the peace of its inhabitants. =leon´idas.= a celebrated king of lacedæmon who went to oppose xerxes, king of persia, who had invaded greece with a vast army. a great battle was fought at thermopylæ, the entire army of leonidas consisting of 300 men who refused to abandon him. for a time this small army resisted the vast legions of xerxes, till at length a traitor conducted a detachment of persians by a secret path to the rear of leonidas, when his soldiers were cut to pieces, one only of the 300 escaping. =lep´idus, m. æmil´ius.= a celebrated roman, one of the triumvirs with augustus and antony. he was of an illustrious family, and, like many of his contemporaries, remarkable for ambition. he was unable to maintain his position as triumvir, and, resigning power, he sank into obscurity. =le´the.= one of the rivers of hell, whose waters were imbibed by the souls of the dead which had been for a certain period confined in tartarus. those who drank of this river forgot what they had previously known. in this sense the word is constantly used by the poets. =leucip´pus.= a celebrated philosopher of abdera, about 428 years before christ. he was a disciple of zeno. his life was written by diogenes. there were several others of the same name. =leuc´tra.= a village in boeotia, famous for the victory which epaminondas, the theban general, obtained over the superior force of cleombrotus, king of sparta, b.c. 371. =licin´ius, c.= a tribune of the people, celebrated for his intrigues and ability. he was a plebeian, and was the first of that class that was raised to the office of master of the horse to the dictator. there were a number of other romans of the same name. =liv´ius, ti´tus.= a native of padua, a celebrated historian. he passed the chief part of his time at naples and rome, but more particularly at the court of augustus, who liberally patronized him. the name of livy is rendered immortal by his history of the roman empire. the merit of this history is admitted by all, and the high rank which livy holds amongst historians is undisputed. =liv´ius androni´cus= was a dramatic poet who flourished at rome about 240 years before the christian era. =longi´nus, dionys´ius cas´sius.= a celebrated greek philosopher of athens. he was preceptor of the greek language, and afterwards minister, to zenobia, the famous queen of palmyra. =luca´nus m. annæ´us.= a native of corduba in spain. at an early age he went to rome, where his rising talents recommended him to the emperor nero. he unwisely entered into a poetical contest with nero, in which he obtained an easy victory, which greatly offended the emperor. after this lucan was exposed to much annoyance from nero, and was induced to join in a conspiracy against him, on which he was condemned to death, the mode of which he had the liberty of choosing. he decided to have his veins opened in a warm bath, and died quoting some lines from his "pharsalia." of all his works none but the "pharsalia" remains. =lucia´nus.= a celebrated writer of samosata. his works are numerous, consisting chiefly of dialogues written with much force. he died a.d. 180, being, as some say, torn in pieces by dogs for his impiety. =lu´cifer.= the name of the planet venus, or morning star. it is called lucifer when appearing in the morning before the sun, but when it appears after its setting it is called hesperus. =lucil´ius, c.= a roman knight, who is regarded as the first satirical writer amongst the romans. of thirty satires which he wrote only a few verses remain. he died at naples b.c. 103. =lucil´ius luci´nus.= a famous roman who fled with brutus from the battle of philippi. he was taken prisoner, but the conquerors spared his life. =luci´na.= daughter of jupiter and juno. she was the goddess who presided over the birth of children. =lucre´tia.= a celebrated roman lady, daughter of lucretius and wife of tarquinius collatinus. a number of young noble romans at ardea, among whom were collatinus and the sons of tarquin the proud, were discussing the virtues of their wives at home, and it was agreed to go to rome to ascertain how their wives employed themselves in their husbands' absence in the camp. while the wives of the others were indulging in feasting and dissipation, lucretia was found in her house employing herself with her servants in domestic duties. she was brutally treated by sextus tarquin, a relative of collatinus, and stabbed herself. this was the signal for a rebellion, the result being the expulsion of the tarquins from rome. =lucre´tius, ca´rus t.= a celebrated roman poet and philosopher. the tenets of epicurus were embraced by him, and were explained and elucidated in a poem which he wrote, _de rerum natura_. this poem is distinguished by genius and elegance, but the doctrines it inculcates have an atheistical tendency. lucretius is said to have destroyed himself b.c. 54. =lucul´lus, lu´cius licin´ius.= a roman noted for his fondness of luxury and for his military abilities. he was born about 115 years before the christian era, and distinguished himself by his proficiency in eloquence and philosophy. he was soon advanced to the consulship, and intrusted with the management of the mithridatic war, in which he displayed his military talents. =lycur´gus.= a celebrated lawgiver of sparta, son of king eunomus and brother to polydectes. he succeeded his brother on the spartan throne. in the laws which he enacted he maintained a just equilibrium between the throne and the people; he banished luxury and encouraged the useful arts, and adopted a number of measures having for their object the well-being of the people. lycurgus has been compared with solon, the celebrated legislator of athens. =lyn´ceus=, son of aphareus, was one of the hunters of the calydonian boar, and one of the argonauts. he was so sharp-sighted that he could see through the earth and distinguish objects at a great distance from him. there was another person of the same name who married hypermnestra, daughter of danaus. =lysan´der.= a celebrated general of sparta in the last years of the peloponnesian war. he drew ephesus from the interest of athens, and gained the friendship of cyrus the younger. he gave battle to the athenian fleet, and destroyed it all except three ships. in this battle, which was fought 405 years before the christian era, the athenians lost a great number of men, and in consequence of it forfeited their influence over neighboring states. lysander was killed in battle 394 years b.c. =lysim´achus.= a son of agathocles, who was one of the generals of alexander. after the death of that monarch lysimachus made himself master of thrace, where he built a town which he called lysimachia. =lysip´pus.= a famous statuary of sicyon. he applied himself to painting, but he was born to excel in sculpture. he lived about 325 years before the christian era, in the age of alexander the great. =macro´bius.= a latin writer, who died a.d. 415. he has rendered himself famous for a composition called _saturnalia_, a miscellaneous collection of antiquarian and critical literature. =mæan´der.= a celebrated river of asia minor flowing into the ægean sea. it is famous amongst the poets for its windings, and from it the application of the word "meandering" to a winding stream has become proverbial. =ma´ecenas=, or =meca´enas, c. cilnius=, a celebrated roman knight, has rendered himself immortal by his liberal patronage of learned men. to the interference of maecenas virgil was indebted for the restitution of his lands. maecenas, according to the received opinion, wrote a history of animals and a journal of the life of augustus. virgil dedicated his georgics to him, as did horace his odes. =ma´nes.= a name applied by the ancients to the soul when departed from the body. =man´lius, mar´cus.= a celebrated roman who, at an early age, distinguished himself for valor. when rome was taken by the gauls, he, with a body of his countrymen, fled to the capitol, which he defended when it was surprised in the night by the enemy. this gained him the surname of _capitolinus_, and the geese which had awakened him to action by their clamor were afterwards held sacred among the romans. =mar´athon.= a village of attica, celebrated for the victory which the athenians and platæans, under the command of miltiades, gained over the persian army, 490 b.c. =marcel´lus, mar´cus clau´dius.= a famous roman general. he was the first roman who obtained some advantage over hannibal. he conquered syracuse, with the spoils from which he adorned rome. he was killed in battle in his fifth consulship. =marcel´lus.= a roman who distinguished himself in the civil wars of cæsar and pompey by his firm attachment to the latter. he was banished by cæsar, but was afterwards recalled at the request of the senate. there were some other romans of the same name, of minor repute. =mardo´nius.= a general in the army of xerxes who was defeated in the battle of platæa, where he was slain, b.c. 479. =ma´rius, c.= a celebrated roman who signalized himself under scipio at the siege of numantia. he was appointed to finish the war against jugurtha, who was defeated and betrayed into the hands of the romans. after this new honors awaited marius. he was elected consul, and was sent against the teutones. the war was prolonged, and marius was a third and fourth time invested with the consulship. at length two engagements were fought, and the teutones were defeated, a vast number of them being left dead on the battlefields. after many vicissitudes marius died, b.c. 86, directly after he had been honored with the consulship for the seventh time. there were a number of others of the same name, but of minor note. =mars=, the god of war, was the son of jupiter and juno, or of juno alone, according to ovid. the loves of mars and venus are greatly celebrated. on one occasion, while in each other's company, vulcan spread a net round them, from which they could not escape without assistance. they were thus exposed to the ridicule of the gods till neptune induced vulcan to set them at liberty. during the trojan war mars interested himself on the side of the trojans, and defended the favorites of venus with great determination. =mar´syas.= a celebrated piper of celæne in phrygia. he challenged apollo to a trial of skill in music, which challenge was accepted, the muses being appointed umpires. the palm of victory was awarded to apollo, who tied his antagonist to a tree and flayed him. =martia´lis, mar´cus vale´rius.= a native of spain who came to rome when he was about twenty years old, where he became noticeable by his poetical genius. martial wrote fourteen books of epigrams, and died in the seventy-fifth year of his age. =masinis´sa.= a king of a small part of africa, who at first assisted the carthaginians in their wars against rome, but who subsequently became an ally of the romans. after his defeat of syphax he married sophonisba, the wife of syphax, which gave offense to the roman general, scipio, on which masinissa induced sophonisba to end her life by poison. in the battle of zama, masinissa greatly contributed to the defeat of hannibal. he died in his ninety-seventh year, 149 years before the christian era. =mauso´lus.= a king of caria. his wife artemisia was very disconsolate at his death, and erected one of the grandest monuments of antiquity to perpetuate his memory. this famous building, which was deemed to be one of the seven wonders of the world, was called "mausoleum," which name has been since applied to other grand sepulchral monuments. =maximi´nus, ca´ius ju´lius ve´rus=, was the son of a peasant of thrace. he entered the roman armies, where he gradually rose till he was proclaimed emperor a.d. 235. he ruled with great cruelty, and was eventually killed by his own soldiers. he was of immense size and strength, and was able to break the hardest stones between his fingers. =mede´a.= a celebrated magician, daughter of ætes, king of colchis, and niece of circe. when jason came to colchis in quest of the golden fleece, medea fell in love with him, and they exchanged oaths of fidelity, and when he had overcome all the difficulties which he had to encounter, medea embarked with him for greece. she lived in corinth with her husband jason for ten years, with much conjugal happiness, when he became enamored with glauce, daughter of creon, king of corinth. to avenge herself on jason she caused the destruction of glauce, and killed her two children in his presence. =medu´sa.= one of the three gorgons, daughter of phorcys and ceto. she was the only one of the gorgons subject to mortality. she was celebrated for her personal charms and the beauty of her hair, which minerva changed into serpents. according to apollodorus and others, the gorgons were born with snakes on their heads instead of hair, and with yellow wings and brazen hands. perseus rendered himself famous by his conquest of medusa. he cut off her head and placed it on the ægis of minerva. the head had the power of changing those who looked at it into stone. =melea´ger.= a celebrated hero of antiquity, who signalized himself in the argonautic expedition, and especially by killing the calydonian boar, a famous event in mythological history. =melpom´ene.= one of the muses, daughter of jupiter and mnemosyne. she presided over tragedy. she is generally represented as a young woman wearing a buskin and holding a dagger in her hand. =mem´non.= a king of ethiopia, son of tithonus and aurora. he came with ten thousand men to assist priam in the trojan war, where he behaved with great courage, and killed antilochus, nestor's son, on which nestor challenged memnon to fight, but he refused on account of the great age of the challenger; but he fought achilles, who killed him. a statue was erected in his honor, which had the property of uttering a melodious sound every day at sunrise. =menan´der.= a celebrated comic poet of athens, educated under theophrastus. he was universally esteemed by the greeks. he wrote 108 comedies, but of which only a few fragments remain. =menela´us.= a king of sparta, brother to agamemnon. he married helen, the most beautiful woman of her time. paris, having arrived in sparta in the absence of menelaus, persuaded her to elope with him, which was the cause of the trojan war. in the tenth year of the war helen, it is said, obtained the forgiveness of menelaus, with whom she returned to sparta, where, shortly after his return, he died. =mene´nius agrippa.= a celebrated roman who appeased the roman populace in the infancy of the consular government by repeating to them the well-known fable of the belly and limbs. he lived b.c. 495. =menip´pus.= a cynic philosopher of phoenicia. he was originally a slave, and, obtaining his liberty, became notorious as a usurer. he wrote thirteen books of satires. =men´tor.= a faithful friend of ulysses, and guide and instructor of his son telemachus. the term mentor has become proverbial as applied to any one who is an educator of youth. =mercu´rius.= a celebrated god of antiquity, called hermes by the greeks. he was the messenger of the gods, and conducted the souls of the dead into the infernal regions. he presided over orators, merchants, and was also the god of thieves. the invention of the lyre is ascribed to him. this he gave to apollo, and received in exchange the caduceus, which the god of poetry used to drive the flocks of king admetus. =mer´ope.= one of the atlantides. she married sisyphus, son of æolus, and was changed into a constellation. =me´rops.= a king of the island of cos, who married clymene, one of the oceanides. he was changed into an eagle, and placed among the constellations. =messali´na, vale´ria=, was notorious for her vices. she married the emperor claudius, who, wearied with her misconduct, cited her to appear before him and reply to the accusations which were brought against her, on which she attempted to destroy herself, but failing to do so, was slain by one of the tribunes who had been sent to summon her. =metel´li.= the surname of the family of the cæcilii at rome, the most noted of whom are--a general who defeated the achæans, took thebes, and invaded macedonia; quintus cæcilius, rendered famous by his successes against jugurtha, the king of numidia; q. cæcilius celer, who distinguished himself against catiline. he died fifty-seven years b.c., greatly lamented by cicero, who was one of his warmest friends; l. cæcilius, a tribune in the civil wars of cæsar and pompey, who favored the cause of pompey; q. caæilius, a warlike general who conquered crete and macedonia; metellus cimber, one of the conspirators against cæsar. he gave the signal to attack and murder the dictator. =micip´sa.= a king of numidia, son of masinissa, who, at his death, b.c. 119, left his kingdom between his sons adherbal and hiempsal, and his nephew jugurtha. =mi´das.= a king of phrygia, son of gordius or gorgias. according to some traditions, in the early part of his life he found a treasure, to which he owed his greatness and opulence. he showed hospitality to silenus, in return for which bacchus permitted him to choose whatever recompense he pleased. he demanded of the god that whatever he touched might be turned into gold. his wish was granted, but when the very food which he attempted to eat became gold in his mouth he prayed bacchus to revoke the favor, and he was ordered to wash himself in the river pactolus, the sands of which were turned into gold by the touch of midas. afterwards, in consequence of maintaining that pan was superior to apollo in singing and playing the flute, he had his ears changed into those of an ass by the god. =mi´lo.= a celebrated athlete of crotona in italy. he is said to have carried on his shoulders a bullock for a considerable distance, and to have killed it with a blow from his fist, and eaten it in one day. in his old age he attempted to pull up a tree by the roots, which, when half-cleft, reunited, and his hands remaining imprisoned in the tree, he was eaten by wild beasts about 500 years before the christian era. =milti´ades=, son of simon, was sent by the athenians to take possession of the chersonesus. on his arrival he seized some of the principal inhabitants of the country, made himself absolute in chersonese, and married the daughter of olorus, king of the thracians. he was present at the celebrated battle of marathon, where the command was ceded to him, owing to his superior abilities. he obtained the victory, but an olive crown, which he demanded from his fellow-citizens as a reward for his valor, was refused. afterwards he was intrusted with a fleet of seventy ships, with which to punish some islands which had revolted to the persians. at first he was successful, but afterwards fortune frowned on him. he was accused of treason and condemned to death, but his sentence was, owing to his great services, commuted. he died in prison of some wounds he had received, which became incurable. =miner´va=, the goddess of wisdom, war, and all the liberal arts, sprang, full-grown and armed, from the head of jupiter, and was immediately admitted to the assembly of the gods, and became one of the most faithful counselors of her father. her power in heaven was great: she could hurl the thunders of jupiter, prolong the life of men, and bestow the gift of prophecy. she was known amongst the ancients by many names. she was called athena, pallas, parthenos, tritonia (because she was worshiped near the lake tritonis) and hippia (because she first taught mankind how to manage the horse), sais (because she was worshipped at sais), and some other names. she is usually represented with a helmet on her head with a large plume on it, in one hand holding a spear, and in the other a shield with the head of medusa on it. temples were erected for her worship in different places, one of the most renowned of which was the parthenon at athens. from this building a large collection of ancient sculpture was brought to the british museum by lord elgin more than sixty years ago, which is known as the "elgin marbles." =mi´nos.= a king of crete, son of jupiter and europa, who gave laws to his subjects, b.c. 1406, which remained in full force in the age of plato. =mi´nos the second= was a son of lycastes, the son of minos the first, and king of crete. he married pasiphae, the daughter of sol and perseis. =minotau´rus.= a celebrated monster, half a man and half a bull, for which a number of young athenian men and maidens were yearly exacted to be devoured. the minotaur was confined in a famous labyrinth, where at length it was slain by theseus, who was guided out of the labyrinth by a clue of thread given to him by ariadne, daughter of king minos. =mithrida´tes first=, king of pontus. he was tributary to the crown of persia: his attempts to make himself independent of that fealty proved fruitless, being defeated in a battle which he had provoked, and having to sue for peace. =mithrida´tes=, surnamed "eupator" and "the great," succeeded to the throne of pontus when eleven years of age. the beginning of his reign was marked by ambition and cruelty. at an early age he inured himself to hardships by devoting himself to manly exercises, and sleeping in the open air on the bare earth. he was constantly engaged in warfare against the romans, and his contests with them are known as the mithridatic wars. his hatred of the romans was so great that, to destroy their power, he ordered all of them that were in his dominions to be massacred, and in one night 150,000, according to plutarch, or 80,000, according to another authority, were slaughtered. this cruel act called for revenge, and great armies were sent against him. after varied fortunes mithridates had to succumb to pompey, and, worn out with misfortune, attempted to poison himself, but unsuccessfully, as the numerous antidotes to poison which in early life he had taken strengthened his constitution to resist the effect. he then ordered one of his soldiers to give him the fatal blow with a sword, which was done. he died about sixty-three years before the christian era, in his seventy-second year. he is said to have been the most formidable opponent the romans ever had, and cicero estimates him as the greatest monarch that ever sat upon a throne. it is recorded of him that he conquered twenty-four nations, whose different languages he knew and spoke fluently. there were a number of persons of the same name, but of inferior note. =mnemos´yne.= a daughter of coelus and terra, mother of the nine muses. jupiter assumed the form of a shepherd in order to enjoy her company. =mo´mus=, the god of mirth amongst the ancients, according to hesiod, was the son of nox. he amused himself by satirizing the gods by turning into ridicule whatever they did. =mor´pheus.= a minister of the god somnus, who imitated very naturally the gestures, words, and manners of mankind. he is sometimes called the god of sleep. he is generally represented as a sleeping child, of great corpulence, with wings. =mos´chus.= a greek bucolic poet in the age of ptolemy philadelphus. his eclogues are characterized by sweetness and elegance, and are said to be equal in merit to the productions of theocritus. =mure´na.= a celebrated roman who invaded the dominions of mithridates, at first with success, but afterwards he met with defeat. he was honored with a triumph on his return to rome. =mu´sæ.= the muses, certain goddesses who presided over poetry, music, dancing, and all the liberal arts. they were daughters of jupiter and mnemosyne, and were nine in number, clio, euterpe, thalia, melpomene, terpsichore, erato, polyhymnia, calliope, and urania. =myce´næ.= a town of argolis, said to have been built by perseus. it received its name from mycene, a nymph of laconia. it was taken and destroyed by the argives. =nai´ades.= inferior deities who presided over rivers, springs, wells, and fountains. the naiads generally inhabited the country, and resorted to the woods and meadows near the stream over which they presided. they are represented as young and beautiful girls leaning on an urn, from which flows a stream of water. ægle was the fairest of them, according to virgil. the word naiad has become anglicized, and is in frequent use, especially by the poets. =narcis´sus=, a beautiful youth, son of cephisus and the nymph liriope, was born at thespis in boeotia. he saw his image reflected in a fountain and became in love with it, thinking it to be the nymph of the place. his fruitless attempts to reach this beautiful object so provoked him, that he killed himself. his blood was changed into a flower which still bears his name. =nemæ´a.= a town of argolis, with a wood where hercules in the sixteenth year of his age killed the celebrated nemæan lion. it was the first of the labors of hercules to destroy the monster, and when he found that his arrows and clubs were useless, against an animal whose skin was impenetrable, he seized it in his arms and strangled it. =nem´esis.= one of the infernal deities, daughter of nox. she was the goddess of vengeance. she is made one of the parcæ by some mythologists, and is represented with a helm and a wheel. the term is sometimes used to signify vengeance itself. =neoptol´emus.= a king of epirus, son of achilles and deidamia, called also pyrrhus. he greatly signalized himself during the siege of troy, and he was the first who entered the wooden horse. he was inferior to none of the grecian warriors in valor. ulysses and nestor alone were his superiors in eloquence and wisdom. =ne´pos, corne´lius.= a celebrated historian in the reign of augustus, and, like the rest of his literary contemporaries, he enjoyed the patronage and obtained the favor of the emperor. he was the intimate friend of cicero and atticus, and recommended himself to notice by delicacy of sentiment and a lively disposition. of all his valuable works the only one extant is his lives of illustrious greek and roman generals. =neptu´nus.= one of the gods, son of saturn and ops, and brother to jupiter and pluto. he was devoured by his father as soon as he was born, and restored to life again by a potion given to saturn, by metis, the first wife of jupiter. neptune shared with his brothers the empire of saturn, and received as his portion the kingdom of the sea. he did not think this equivalent to the empire of heaven and earth, which jupiter had claimed, therefore he conspired to dethrone him. the conspiracy was discovered, and jupiter condemned neptune to build the walls of troy. he married amphitrite, who thus broke a vow she had made of perpetual celibacy. =nere´ides.= nymphs of the sea, daughters of nereus and doris. according to most of the mythologists, they were fifty in number. they are represented as young and handsome girls, sitting on dolphins and armed with tridents. =ne´ro, clau´dius domit´ius cæ´sar.= a celebrated roman emperor, son of caius domitius ahenobarbus and agrippina, the daughter of germanicus. his name is the synonym for cruelty and vice. in the night it was his wont to sally out from his palace to visit the meanest taverns and the different scenes of depravity that were to be found. he appeared on the stage, sometimes representing the meanest characters. he resolved to imitate the burning of troy, and caused rome to be set on fire in different places, the flames being unextinguished for nine days, and he enjoyed the terrible scene. during the conflagration he placed himself on the top of a tower and sang, accompanying himself on a lyre, of the destruction of troy. many conspiracies were formed against him, the most dangerous of which he was saved from by the confession of a slave. he killed himself a.d. 68, in the thirty-second year of his age, after a reign of thirteen years and eight months. wretch that he was, it is said that he had some few to mourn for him, and suetonius records that some unseen hand had placed flowers on his tomb. =ner´va, m. cocce´ius.= a roman emperor after the death of domitian a.d. 96. he rendered himself popular by his mildness and generosity. in his civil character he set an example of good manners and sobriety. he made an oath that no senator should suffer death during his reign, which he carried out by pardoning two members of the senate who had conspired against his life. he died in his seventy-second year, a.d. 98, and was succeeded by his son trajan. =nes´sus.= a celebrated centaur killed by hercules for insulting dejanira. =nes´tor.= a son of neleus and chloris, nephew to pelias, and grandson to neptune. he was present at the bloody battle between the lapithæ and the centaurs, which took place at the nuptials of pirithous. as king of pylos he led his soldiers to the trojan war, where he distinguished himself among the grecian chieftains by eloquence, wisdom, and prudence. homer makes his character as the most perfect of all his heroes. after the trojan war nestor retired to greece, where he lived during his declining years in peace and tranquillity. the manner and time of his death are unknown. =ni´nus.= a son of belus. he built nineveh and founded the assyrian monarchy, of which he was the first sovereign, b.c. 2059. he married semiramis, whose husband had destroyed himself through fear of ninus. he reigned fifty-two years. =ni´obe.= a daughter of tantalus, king of lydia, and euryanassa, or dione. she married amphion, and, according to hesiod, they had ten sons and ten daughters. all the sons of niobe expired by the darts of apollo, and all the daughters, except chloris, were destroyed by diana. niobe, overwhelmed with grief, was changed into a stone. =nito´cris.= a celebrated queen of babylon, who built a bridge across the euphrates in the middle of that city, and dug a number of reservoirs for the superfluous water of the river. =nom´ades.= a name given to people who had no fixed habitation, and who continually changed their place of residence in quest of fresh pastures for the cattle they tended. there were nomades in scythia, india, arabia, etc. the word is in constant use as anglicized--nomad--meaning any one who leads a wandering and unsettled life. =nox.= one of the most ancient deities among the heathens, daughter of chaos. she gave birth to the day and the light, and was mother of the parcæ, hesperides, dreams, death, etc. =nu´ma pompil´ius.= a celebrated philosopher of cures. he married tatia, daughter of tatius, king of the sabines, and at her death he retired into the country to devote himself to literary pursuits. at the death of romulus the romans fixed on him to be their new king. numa at first refused the offer of the crown, but at length was prevailed on to accept it. he endeavored to inculcate into the minds of his subjects a reverence for the deity, and he did all he could to heal their dissensions. he encouraged the report of his visits to the nymph egeria, and made use of her name to give sanction to the laws which he had made. he dedicated a temple to janus, which, during his whole reign, remained closed as a mark of peace and tranquillity at rome. numa died after a reign of forty-three years (b.c. 672), during which he had given encouragement to the useful arts, and had cultivated peace. =nym´phæ.= certain female deities among the ancients. they were generally divided into two classes--nymphs of the land and nymphs of the sea. of the former some presided over woods, and were called dryades and hamadryades. of the sea nymphs some were called oceanides, nereides, naiades, etc. =ocean´ides and oceanit´ides.= sea nymphs, daughters of oceanus, from whom they received their name. according to apollodorus they were 3000 in number, whilst hesiod speaks of them as consisting of forty-one. =oce´anus.= a powerful deity of the sea, son of coelus and terra. he married tethys, the oceanides being their children. =octa´via.= a roman lady, sister to the emperor augustus, celebrated for her beauty and virtues. she married claudius marcellus, and, after his death, antony, who for some time was attentive to her, but eventually deserted her for cleopatra. =octavia´nus, or octa´vius cæ´sar.= a famous roman who, after the battle of actium, had bestowed on him by the senate the surname _augustus_, as expressing his dignity and greatness. =odena´tus.= a celebrated prince of palmyra. at an early period of his life he inured himself to bear fatigue by hunting wild beasts. he was a faithful ally of the romans, and gave great offense to sapor, king of persia, in consequence. in the warfare which ensued he obtained advantage over the troops of sapor, and took his wife prisoner, besides gaining great booty. he died by the hand of one of his relations whom he had offended. zenobia succeeded him on the throne. =oe´dipus.= a son of laius, king of thebes, and jocasta. laius was informed by the oracle, as soon as he married jocasta, that he would perish by the hands of his son. on his birth oedipus was given to a domestic, with orders to expose him to death on the mountains, where he was found by one of the shepherds of polybus, king of corinth. periboea, the wife of polybus, educated him as her own child, tending him with great care. in after life he met laius in a narrow lane in a chariot, and being haughtily ordered to make way for laius, a combat ensued in which laius was slain. after this oedipus was attracted to thebes by the fame of the sphinx, who devoured all those who attempted to explain without success the enigmas which she propounded. the enigma proposed by the sphinx to oedipus was:--what animal in the morning walks upon four feet, at noon upon two, and in the evening upon three? oedipus solved the riddle by replying that the animal was man, who in childhood crawls on his hands and feet, on attaining manhood walks on two feet erect, and in the evening of life supports his tottering steps with a staff. the monster on hearing the correct solution of the riddle, dashed her head against a rock and perished. =oe´neus.= a king of calydon, son of parthaon or portheus and euryte. he married althæa, their children being clymenus, meleager, gorge, and dejanira. in a general sacrifice he made to the gods he slighted diana, who, in revenge, sent a wild boar to waste his country. the animal was killed by meleager in the celebrated calydonian boar hunt. after this misfortunes overtook oeneus, and he exiled himself from calydon, and died on his way to argolis. =oenom´aus.= king of pisa, in elis, and father of hippodamia. he was told by the oracle that he would perish by his son-in-law. being skillful in driving a chariot, he announced that he would give his daughter in marriage only to some one who could defeat him in a race, death being the result of those who were defeated. after a number of aspirants had contended and failed, pelops, son of tantalus, entered the lists, and by bribing the charioteer of oenomaus, who provided a chariot with a broken axle-tree, pelops won the race, and married hippodamia, becoming king of pisa. oenomaus was killed in the race. =olym´pia.= celebrated games which received their name either from olympia, where they were observed, or from jupiter olympius, to whom they were dedicated. =olym´pus.= a mountain in macedonia and thessaly. the ancients supposed that it touched the heavens, and thus they have made it the residence of the gods, and the place where jupiter held his court. on the top of the mountain, according to the poets, eternal spring reigned. =om´phale.= a queen of lydia, daughter of jardanus. she married tmolus, who at his death left her mistress of his kingdom. she had heard of the exploits of hercules, and wished to see him. after he had slain eurytus, hercules was ordered to be sold as a slave, and was purchased by omphale, who gave him his liberty. he became in love with omphale, who reciprocated his passion. he is represented by the poets as being so infatuated with her that he sat spinning by her side surrounded by her women, whilst she garbed herself with his lion's skin, arming herself with his club. =oppia´nus.= a greek poet of cilicia. he wrote some poems celebrated for their sublimity and elegance. caracalla gave him a piece of gold for every verse in one of his poems. oppian died of the plague in the thirtieth year of his age. =ops.= a daughter of coelus and terra, the same as the rhea of the greeks, who married saturn, and became mother of jupiter. she was known amongst the ancients by the different names of cybele, bona dea, magna mater, thya, tellus, and proserpina. =ores´tes.= a son of agamemnon and clytemnestra. his father was slain by clytemnestra and ægisthus, but young orestes was saved from his mother's dagger by his sister electra, called by homer laodicea, and was conveyed to the house of strophius, king of phocis, who had married a sister of agamemnon. he was indulgently treated by strophius, who educated him with his son pylades. the two young princes formed the most inviolable friendship. when orestes had arrived at years of manhood he avenged his father's death by killing his mother clytemnestra. =or´igen.= a greek writer, celebrated for his learning and the sublimity of his genius. he suffered martyrdom in his sixty-ninth year. his works are numerous, consisting of commentaries on the scriptures and various treatises. =or´pheus.= a son of oeger and the muse calliope. some suppose him to be the son of apollo. he received a lyre from apollo, or, according to some, from mercury, on which he played in such a masterly manner that the melodious sounds caused rivers to cease to flow, and savage beasts to forget their wildness. he married eurydice, who died from the bite of a serpent. orpheus felt her death acutely, and to recover her he visited the infernal regions. pluto, the king of the infernal regions, was enraptured with the strains of music from the lyre of orpheus, and, according to the poets, the wheel of ixion stopped, the stone of sisyphus stood still, tantalus forgot his burning thirst, and even the furies relented, so fascinating were the sounds extracted from the lyre. pluto was moved by the sorrow of orpheus, and consented to restore eurydice to him, provided he forebore to look behind him till he had reached the extremity of his domain. orpheus agreed to this, but forgot his promise, and turned round to look at eurydice, who instantly vanished from his sight. after this he separated himself from the society of mankind, and the thracian women, whom he had offended by his coldness, attacked him whilst they celebrated the orgies of bacchus, and after they had torn his body to pieces they threw his head into the hebrus. =osi´ris.= a great deity of the egyptians, husband of isis. the ancients differ in opinion concerning this celebrated god, but they all agree that as ruler of egypt he took care to civilize his subjects, to improve their morals, to give them good and salutary laws, and to teach them agriculture. =ovid´ius, p. na´so.= a celebrated roman poet born at sulmo. he was sent at an early age to rome, and afterwards went to athens in the sixteenth year of his age, where his progress in the study of eloquence was great. his natural inclination, however, was towards poetry, and to this he devoted his chief attention. his lively genius and fertile imagination soon gained him admirers; the learned became his friends; virgil, propertius, horace, and tibullus, honored him with their correspondence, and augustus patronized him with unbounded liberality. these favors, however, were transitory, and he was banished to a place on the euxine sea by order of the emperor. the true cause of his banishment is not known. his friends ardently entreated the emperor to permit him to return, but in vain, and he died in the seventh or eighth year of his banishment, in the fifty-ninth year of his age, a.d. 17. a great portion of his works remains. these consist of the "metamorphoses," "fasti," "epistolæ," etc. whilst his works are occasionally disfigured by indelicacy, they are distinguished by great sweetness and elegance. =pacto´lus.= a celebrated river of lydia. it was in this river that midas washed himself when he turned into gold whatever he touched. =pæ´an.= a surname of apollo, derived from the word _pæan_, a hymn which was sung in his honor for killing the serpent python. =palæ´mon= or =pale´mon=. a sea deity, son of athamas and ino. his original name was melicerta. he assumed the name of palæmon after being changed into a sea deity by neptune. =palame´des.= a grecian chief, son of nauplius, king of euboea, and clymene. he was sent by the greek princes, who were going to the trojan war, to bring ulysses to the camp, who, to withdraw himself from the expedition, had pretended to be insane. palamedes soon penetrated the deception, and ulysses was obliged to join in the war, but an inveterate enmity arose between the two, and by an unworthy artifice ulysses procured the death of palamedes. palamedes is accredited with the invention of dice, backgammon, and other games. =palati´nus, mons.= a celebrated hill, the largest of the seven hills on which rome was built. =palinu´rus.= a skillful pilot of the ship of æneas. he fell into the sea whilst asleep, and was exposed to the waves for three days, and on reaching the shore was murdered by the inhabitants of the place where he landed. =palla´dium.= a celebrated statue of pallas. it represented the goddess as holding a spear in her right hand, and in her left a distaff and spindle. it fell down from heaven near the tent of ilus as he was building the citadel of ilium, whilst, according to others, it fell in phrygia; another account says dardanus received it as a present from his mother electra; other accounts are given of its origin. it is generally agreed, however, that on the preservation of the statue the fate of troy depended. this was known to the greeks during the trojan war, and they contrived to obtain possession of it. but some authors say that the true palladium was not carried away by the greeks, but only a statue which had been placed near it, and which bore some resemblance to it. =pal´las.= a name of minerva. she is said to have received the name because she killed a noted giant bearing that name. =palmy´ra.= the capital of palmyrene, a country on the eastern boundaries of syria, now called tadmor. it is famous as being the seat of government of the celebrated queen zenobia. =pan.= the god of shepherds, huntsmen, and the inhabitants of the country. he was in appearance a monster; he had two small horns on his head, and his legs, thighs, tail, and feet were like those of the goat. =pan´darus.= a son of lycaon, who aided the trojans in their war with the greeks. he broke the truce which had been agreed on by the contending armies, and wounded menelaus and diomedes. he was at last killed by diomedes. =pandi´on.= a king of athens, father of procne and philomela. during his reign there was such an abundance of corn, wine, and oil in his realm, that it was supposed that bacchus and minerva had personally visited the country. =pando´ra.= a celebrated woman; the first mortal female that ever lived, according to hesiod. she was made of clay by vulcan, and having received life, all the gods made presents to her. venus gave her beauty and the art of pleasing; the graces gave her the power of captivating; apollo taught her how to sing, and mercury instructed her in eloquence. jupiter gave her a beautiful box, which she was ordered to present to the man who married her. this was epithemeus, brother of prometheus, who opened the box, from which issued a multitude of evils, which became dispersed all over the world, and which from that fatal moment have never ceased to affect the human race. hope alone remained at the bottom of the box. =pan´sa, c. vib´ius.= a roman consul, who, with hirtius, pursued the assassins of cæsar, and was killed in a battle near mutina. =pan´theon.= a celebrated temple at rome, built by agrippa in the reign of augustus, and dedicated to all the gods. =par´cæ.= the fates, powerful goddesses who presided over the birth and life of mankind. they were three in number, clotho, lachesis, and atropos, daughters of nox and erebus, according to hesiod, or, according to what he says in another place, of jupiter and themis. =par´is.= the son of priam, king of troy, and hecuba; he was also called alexander. he was destined before his birth to cause the ruin of his country, and before he was born his mother dreamt that he would be a torch which would set fire to her palace. the soothsayers predicted that he would be the cause of the destruction of troy. in consequence of these foretold calamities priam ordered a slave to destroy the child immediately after birth, but instead of acting thus the slave exposed the child on mount ida, where some shepherds found him and took care of him. paris gave early proofs of courage, and his graceful countenance recommended him to oenone, a nymph of ida, whom he married. at the marriage of peleus and thetis, the goddess of discord, who had not been invited, showed her displeasure by throwing into the assembly of the gods, who were at the nuptials, a golden apple, on which were the words: let it be given to the fairest. the apple was claimed by juno, venus, and minerva. paris, who had been appointed to award it to the most beautiful of the three goddesses, gave it to venus. subsequently paris visited sparta, where he persuaded helen, wife of menelaus, the most beautiful woman of the age, to elope with him. this caused the trojan war. different accounts are given of the death of paris. by some he is said to have been killed by one of the arrows of philoctetes which had once belonged to hercules. =parme´nio.= a celebrated general in the armies of alexander the great, by whom he was regarded with the greatest affection. the firm friendship which existed between the two generals was broken in a sudden fit of anger by alexander, who ordered his friend to be put to death, b.c. 330. =parnas´sus.= a mountain of phocis sacred to the muses, and to apollo and bacchus. it was named thus after a son of neptune who bore that designation. =parrha´sius.= a famous painter of ephesus in the age of zeuxis, about fifteen years before christ. he contended, on one occasion, with zeuxis for the palm in painting, and zeuxis acknowledged that he was excelled by parrhasius. =par´thenon.= a temple of athens sacred to minerva. it was destroyed by the persians, and was rebuilt by pericles. =pasiph´ae.= a daughter of the sun and of perseis, who married minos, king of crete. she became the mother of the minotaur, which was killed by theseus. =patro´clus.= one of the grecian chiefs during the trojan war. he contracted an intimate friendship with achilles, and when the greeks went to the trojan war patroclus accompanied them. he was the constant companion of achilles, living in the same tent, and when his friend refused to appear in the field of battle, because of being offended with agamemnon, patroclus imitated his example. nestor, however, prevailed on him again to take the field, and achilles lent him his armor. hector encountered him, and after a desperate fight slew him. the greeks obtained his dead body, which was brought into the grecian camp, where achilles received it with great lamentation, and again taking the field, killed hector, thus avenging the death of his friend. =pau´lus æmil´ius.= a roman celebrated for his military achievements, surnamed "macedonicus" from his conquest of macedonia. in early life he distinguished himself by his application and for his love for military discipline. in his first consulship he reduced the ligurians to subjection, and subsequently obtained a great victory over the macedonians, making himself master of the country. in the office of censor, which he filled, he behaved with great moderation, and at his death, about 168 years before the christian era, the romans mourned deeply for him. =pausa´nias.= a spartan general who greatly signalized himself at the battle of platæa against the persians. he afterwards, at the head of the spartan armies, extended his conquests in asia, but the haughtiness of his behavior made him many enemies. he offered, on certain conditions, to betray greece to the persians, but his perfidy was discovered, on which he fled for safety to a temple of minerva, where he was starved to death, b.c. 471. =peg´asus.= a winged horse sprung from the blood of medusa. according to ovid he fixed his abode on mount helicon, where, by striking the earth with his foot, he raised a fountain which has been called hippocrene. =pe´leus.= a king of thessaly, son of æacus and endeis, the daughter of chiron. he married thetis, one of the nereids. =pe´lias.= son of neptune and tyro. on his birth he was exposed in the woods, but his life was preserved by some shepherds. subsequently tyro was married to cretheus, king of iolchos. they had three children, of whom æson was the eldest. pelias visited his mother after the death of cretheus, and usurped the authority which properly belonged to the children of the deceased monarch. jason, the son of æson, who had been educated by chiron, on attaining manhood demanded the kingdom, the government of which pelias had usurped. jason was persuaded by pelias to waive his claim for the present, and start on the argonautic expedition. on his return, accompanied by the sorceress medea, she undertook to restore pelias to youth, explaining that it was necessary first to cut his body to pieces and place the limbs in a caldron of boiling water. this was done, when medea refused to fulfill her promise, which she had solemnly made to the daughters of pelias, who were four in number, and who had received the patronymic of the "peliades." =pe´lion=, sometimes called pelios. a celebrated mountain of thessaly, the top of which is covered with pine-trees. =pelop´idas.= a celebrated general of thebes, son of hippoclus. it was owing to his valor and prudence, combined with the ability of epaminondas, that the famous victory of leuctra was won. =pe´lops.= a celebrated prince, son of tantalus, king of phrygia. he was killed by his father, and served up as a feast to the gods, who had visited phrygia. he was restored to life, and married hippodamia, having won her through defeating her father in a chariot race. =pena´tes.= certain inferior deities among the romans, who presided over the domestic affairs of families. =penel´ope.= a celebrated princess of greece, daughter of icarius, and wife of ulysses, king of ithaca. she became the mother of telemachus, and was obliged to part, with great reluctance, from her husband, when the greeks obliged him to go to the trojan war. the strife between the hostile forces continued for ten years, and when ulysses did not return home at the conclusion of the war her fears and anxieties became overwhelming. she was beset by a number of suitors, who told her that her husband would never return, and she ought to give herself to one of her admirers. she received their advances with coldness, but as she was devoid of power, and, as it were, almost a prisoner in their hands, she temporized with them. after twenty years' absence ulysses returned, and at once delivered her from the persecutions of her suitors. penelope is described by homer as a model of female propriety, whilst some more modern writers dispute the correctness of this view. the accounts given by different authors respecting her, in fact, differ materially. by some she is said to have been the mother of pan. =penthesile´a.= a queen of the amazons, daughter of mars. she came to assist priam in the last years of the trojan war, and was slain by achilles. =per´gamus.= the citadel of the city of troy. the word is often used to signify troy. from it xerxes reviewed his troops as he marched to invade greece. =per´icles.= an athenian of noble family, son of xanthippus and agariste. his naturally great mental powers were greatly improved by attending the lectures of zeno and other philosophers. he became a commander, a statesman, and an orator, and gained the esteem of the people by his address and liberality. in his ministerial capacity, pericles did not enrich himself. the prosperity and happiness of athens was his primary object. he made war against the lacedæmonians, and restored the temple of delphi to the care of the phocians, who had been improperly deprived of that honorable trust. the peloponnesian war was fomented by his ambitious views. he at length lost his popularity, but only temporarily, and he was restored to all the honors of which he had been deprived. a pestilence which prevailed proved fatal to him in his seventieth year, about 429 years before christ. =per´seus.= a son of jupiter and danae, the daughter of acrisius. it had been predicted by the oracle that acrisius was to perish by his daughter's offspring, so perseus, soon after his birth, was, with his mother danae, thrown into the sea. both were saved and reached the island of seriphos, where they were treated kindly by polydectes, the king, who, however, soon became jealous of the genius of perseus. perseus had promised polydectes to bring him the head of the gorgon medusa. to enable him to obtain this pluto lent him a helmet which made the wearer invisible. minerva gave him her buckler, and mercury furnished him with wings. thus equipped he found the gorgons, and cut off medusa's head, with which he fled through the air, and from the blood which dropped from it, sprang the horse pegasus. during his flight perseus discovered andromeda chained to a rock to be devoured by a sea monster, which he destroyed, and married andromeda. he now returned to seriphos, where he turned into stone polydectes by showing him medusa's head. by an accident, in throwing a quoit he killed acrisius, thus fulfilling the prediction of the oracle. =per´seus= or =per´ses=. a son of philip, king of macedonia. he distinguished himself by his enmity to the romans, and when he had made sufficient preparations he declared war against them. he, however, wanted courage and resolution, and though he at first obtained some advantages over the roman armies, his timidity proved destructive to his cause. he was defeated at pydna, and soon after was taken prisoner, and died in prison at rome. =per´sius, au´lus flac´cus.= a latin poet of volaterræ. he was of a good family, and soon became intimate with the most illustrious romans of his day. the early part of his life was spent in his native town, but at the age of sixteen he was removed to rome, where he studied philosophy. he died in his thirtieth year, a.d. 62. the satires of persius were read with pleasure and avidity by his contemporaries. =per´tinax, pub´lius hel´vius.= a roman emperor after the death of commodus. he was descended from an obscure family, and for some time was employed in drying wood and making charcoal. he entered on a military life and by his valor rose to offices of the highest trust, and was made consul. at the death of commodus he was selected to succeed to the throne. his patriotism gained him the affection of the worthiest of his subjects, but there were some who plotted against him. he was killed by his soldiers, a.d. 193. =petro´nius ar´biter.= a favorite of the emperor nero, and one of the ministers and associates of his pleasures and vices. he was made proconsul of bithynia, and afterwards was honored with the consulship. eventually he became out of favor with nero, and resolved to destroy himself, which he did by having his veins opened, a.d. 66. petronius distinguished himself by his writings as well as by his voluptuousness. he is the author of many elegant compositions, which are, however, often characterized by impropriety of language. =phæ´dra.= a daughter of minos and pasiphæ, who married theseus. she became the mother of acamas and demophoon. she brought an unjust accusation against hippolytus (a son of theseus before she married him), who was killed by the horses in his chariot taking fright, causing him to be thrown under the wheels and crushed to death. on hearing this phædra acknowledged the falseness of the charge she had brought against hippolytus, and hanged herself in despair. =phæ´drus.= a thracian who became one of the freed men of the emperor augustus. he translated the fables of æsop into iambic verse. =pha´ethon.= a son of the sun, or of phoebus and clymene. according to hesiod and pausanias he was son of cephalus and aurora, or of tithonus and aurora, according to apollodorus. he is, however, generally acknowledged to be son of phoebus and clymene. phoebus allowed him to drive the chariot of the sun for one day. phaethon, on receiving the reins, at once showed his incapacity; the horses became unmanageable, and heaven and earth were threatened with a conflagration, when jupiter struck phaethon with a thunderbolt, and hurled him into the river po, where he perished. =phal´aris.= a tyrant of agrigentum, who treated his subjects with great cruelty. perillus made him a brazen bull, inside of which he proposed to place culprits, and by applying fire burn them to death. the first to be thus burnt in this manner was perillus himself. the cruelties practiced by phalaris were revenged by a revolt of his people, who put him to death by burning him in the bull. =pha´on.= a boatman of mitylene, in lesbos. he received a box of ointment from venus, who had presented herself to him in the form of an old woman. when he had rubbed himself with the unguent he became beautiful, and sappho, the celebrated poetess, became enamored with him. for a short time he devoted himself to her, but soon treated her with coldness, upon which she threw herself into the sea and was drowned. =pharnaba´zus.= a satrap of persia who assisted the lacedæmonians against the athenians, and gained their esteem by his devotion to their cause. =pha´ros.= a small island in the bay of alexandria, on which was built a tower which was considered one of the seven wonders of the world. it was erected in the reigns of ptolemy soter and ptolemy philadelphus, the architect being sostratus, the son of dexiphanes. =pharsa´lia.= a town of thessaly, famous for the great battle fought there between julius cæsar and pompey, in which the former obtained the victory. =phid´ias.= a celebrated sculptor of athens, who died b.c. 432. he executed a statue of minerva, which was placed in the pantheon. =philip´pi.= a town of macedonia, celebrated for two battles fought there, b.c. 42, between augustus and antony and the republican forces of brutus and cassius, in which the former were victorious. =philip´pus=, king of macedonia, was son of amyntas, king of macedonia. he learnt the art of war from epaminondas. he married olympias, the daughter of neoptolemus, king of the molossi, and became father of alexander the great. amongst the most important events of his reign was the battle of chæronea, which he won from the greeks. the character of philip is that of a sagacious, prudent, but artful and intriguing, monarch. he was assassinated by pausanias at the celebration of the nuptials of his daughter, in the forty-seventh year of his age and the twenty-fourth of his reign, about 336 years before the christian era. =philip´pus.= the last king of macedonia of that name was son of demetrius. he aspired to become the friend of hannibal. his intrigues were discovered by the romans, who invaded his territories, and extorted peace from him on terms which were humiliating. he died in the forty-second year of his reign, 179 years before the christian era. =phi´lo.= a jewish writer of alexandria, a.d. 40. his works related to the creation of the world, sacred history, and the laws and customs of the jewish nation. =philocte´tes= was one of the argonauts. he received from hercules the arrows which had been dipped in the gall of the hydra. the greeks, in the tenth year of the trojan war, were informed by the oracle that troy could not be taken without these arrows. philoctetes repaired to the grecian camp, where he destroyed a number of the trojans, among whom was paris, with the arrows. the adventures of philoctetes are the subject of one of the best tragedies of sophocles. =philome´la.= a daughter of pandion, king of athens. her sister procne had married tereus, king of thrace, and being separated from philomela spent her time in great melancholy. she persuaded her husband to go to athens and bring her sister to thrace. tereus, on the journey, treated philomela with great cruelty, and cut off her tongue, confining her in a lonely castle, and reporting to procne that she was dead. philomela, however, found means to inform procne that she was living. in revenge for the cruelty of tereus, procne murdered his son and served him up as food at a banquet. on hearing this tereus drew his sword to slay the sisters, when he was changed into a hoopoe, philomela into a nightingale, and procne into a swallow. =philopoe´men.= a celebrated general of the achæans, born at megalopolis. at an early age he distinguished himself in the field of battle, at the same time appearing fond of agriculture and a country life. he adopted epaminondas as his model, and was not unsuccessful in imitating the prudence and other good qualities of the famous theban. when megalopolis was attacked by the spartans, philopoemen, then in his thirtieth year, gave the most decisive proofs of his valor. raised to the rank of commander, he showed his ability to discharge that important trust, by killing with his own hand mechanidas, the tyrant of sparta, and defeating his army. sparta having become, after its conquest, tributary to the achæans, philopoemen enjoyed the triumph of having subdued one of the most powerful states of greece. he was at length made prisoner by the messenians, and was treated by their general, dinocrates, with great severity. he was poisoned in his seventieth year, about 183 years before the christian era. =philos´tratus.= a famous sophist, born at lemnos, or, according to some, at athens. he came to rome, where he was patronized by julia, the wife of the emperor severus. she intrusted him with some papers referring to apollonius, whose life he wrote. this biography is written with elegance, but contains many exaggerated descriptions and improbable stories. =phi´neus.= a son of agenor, king of phoenicia, or, according to some, a son of neptune, who became king of thrace. he married cleopatra (called by some cleobula), the daughter of boreas, their children being plexippus and pandion. after the death of cleopatra, he married idæa, the daughter of dardanus, who, jealous of cleopatra's children, accused them of an attempt on their father's life, and they were condemned by phineus to have their eyes put out. this cruelty was punished by the gods, phineus being made blind, and the harpies were sent by jupiter to keep him in continual alarm. he recovered his sight by means of the argonauts, whom he received with great hospitality. =phleg´ethon.= a river in the infernal regions, between the banks of which flames of fire flowed instead of water. =phle´gon.= one of the emperor adrian's freedmen. he wrote a historical account of sicily, an account of the principal places in rome, and treatises on different subjects. his style was inelegant, and he evinced a want of judgment in his writings. =pho´cion.= an athenian celebrated for his public and private virtues. he was distinguished for his zeal for the general good, and for his military abilities. the fickleness of the athenians, however, caused them to lose sight of his virtues, and being accused of treason, he was condemned to drink poison, which he took with the greatest heroism. his death occurred about 318 years before the christian era. =phoe´nix=, son of amyntor, king of argos, and cleobule or hippodamia, was preceptor to achilles. he accompanied his pupil to the trojan war, and achilles was ever grateful for the precepts he had received from him. after the fall of troy he died in thrace, and, according to strabo, was buried near trachinia, where his name was given to a river. =phry´ne.= a beautiful woman who lived at athens about 328 years before the christian era. she was beloved by praxiteles, who painted her portrait. it is said that apelles painted his venus anadyomene after he had seen phryne on the sea-shore with disheveled hair. there was another woman of the same name, who was accused of impiety. when her judges were about to condemn her she unveiled her bosom, and her beauty so captivated them that they acquitted her. =phryx´us.= a son of athamas, king of thebes, and nephele. on the plea of insanity, nephele was repudiated by athamas, who then married ino, who persecuted phryxus with inveterate hatred, because he was to succeed to the throne in preference to one of her own children. being apprised that ino had designs on his life, he started with his sister helle to go to ætes, king of colchis. according to the poets they mounted on a ram, whose fleece was gold, which soared into the air, directing its course to colchis. helle became giddy, and falling into the sea (afterwards called the hellespont), was drowned. phryxus arrived at the court of ætes, whose daughter chalciope he married. sometime afterwards he was killed by his father-in-law. the murder of phryxus gave rise to the famous argonautic expedition under jason, the object being to recover the golden fleece, which jason succeeded in obtaining. =phyl´lis.= a daughter of sithon, or, according to other writers, of lycurgus, king of thrace. she received demophoon, who landed on her coasts on his return from the trojan war, and fell in love with him, and he reciprocated her affection; but afterwards proving faithless, phyllis hanged herself, and according to an old tradition, was changed into an almond tree. =pi´cus.= king of latium, son of saturn, who married venilia. as he was hunting he was met by circe, who became enamored with him. she changed him into a woodpecker. =pier´ides.= a name given to the muses, because they were born in pieria, or, as some say, because they were supposed to be the daughters of pierus, a king of macedonia, who settled in boeotia. =pin´darus.= a celebrated lyric poet of thebes. when he was young it is said that a swarm of bees settled on his lips and left on them some honey, which was regarded as a prognostic of his future greatness. after his death great respect was shown to his memory, and a statue was erected in his honor in one of the most public places in thebes. pindar is said to have died at the age of eighty-six, b.c. 435. of his works, the odes only are extant; they are admired for sublimity of sentiment and grandeur of expression. =piræ´us.= a celebrated harbor at athens about three miles from the city. it was joined to the town by two walls, one built by pericles, and the other by themistocles. =pirith´ous.= son of ixion and dia, the daughter of deioneus. he was king of the lapithæ, and wished to become acquainted with theseus, king of athens, of whose fame and exploits he had heard. they became cordial friends. pirithous married hippodamia, and invited the centaurs to attend his nuptials, where, having become intoxicated, they behaved with great rudeness, on which they were attacked and overcome by theseus, pirithous, hercules, and the rest of the lapithæ. many of the centaurs were slain, and the rest saved their lives by flight. =pisan´der.= a commander in the spartan fleet during the peloponnesian war. he was greatly opposed to democracy at athens. he was killed in a naval battle near cnidus, b.c. 394. =pisis´tratus.= a celebrated athenian who distinguished himself by valor in the field and by eloquence at home. he obtained a bodyguard of fifty men to defend his person, and having thus got a number of armed men on whom he could rely, he seized the citadel of athens, and soon made himself absolute. after this a conspiracy was formed against him, and he was banished from the city. he soon, however, re-established himself in power, and married the daughter of megacles, one of his greatest enemies, whom he afterwards repudiated. on this his popularity waned, and he fled from athens, but after an absence of eleven years he returned, and was received by the people with acclamation. he died about 527 years before the christian era. =pi´so.= a celebrated family at rome, eleven of whom had obtained the consulship, and some of whom had been honored with triumphs for their victories. of this family the most famous were--lucius calpurnius, who was tribune of the people about 149 years before christ, and afterwards consul. he gained honor as an orator, a statesman, and a historian. caius, another of the family, distinguished himself during his consulship by his firmness in resisting the tumults raised by the tribunes and the clamors of the people. cenius, who was consul under augustus, rendered himself odious by his cruelty. he was accused of poisoning germanicus, and, being shunned by his friends, destroyed himself. lucius, a governor of spain, who was assassinated by a peasant. lucius, a governor of rome for twenty years, during which time he discharged his duties with moderation and justice. caius, who was at the head of a conspiracy against nero. he committed suicide by venesection. =pit´tacus=, a native of mitylene in lesbos, was one of the seven wise men of greece. he died in the eighty-second year of his age, about 570 years b.c., the latter part of his life being spent in retirement. many of his maxims were inscribed on the walls of apollo's temple at delphi, to show how high an opinion his countrymen entertained of his abilities as a moralist and philosopher. =plau´cus l. muna´tius.= a roman conspicuous for his follies and extravagance. he had been consul, and had presided over a province, but he forgot his dignity, and became one of the most servile flatterers of antony and cleopatra. =platæ´a.= a town of boeotia, near mount citheron, celebrated as the scene of a battle between mardonius, the general of xerxes, king of persia, and pausanias, who commanded the athenians. the persians were defeated with great slaughter. =pla´to.= a celebrated philosopher of athens. he was educated carefully, his mind being cultivated by the study of poetry and geometry, whilst his body was invigorated by the practice of gymnastics. he began his literary career by writing poetry and tragedies. at the age of twenty he was introduced to socrates, with whom he was for some time a pupil. after traveling in various countries, he retired to the neighborhood of athens, where his lectures were attended by a crowd of learned, noble, and illustrious pupils. he died on his birthday in the eighty-first year of his age, about 348 years before the christian era. his writings were so celebrated, and his opinions so highly regarded, that he was called the divine. =plau´tus, m. ac´cius.= a dramatic poet born in umbria. he wrote twenty-five comedies, of which only nineteen are extant. he died about 184 years before the christian era. =plei´ades.= a name given to seven daughters of atlas and pleione. they were placed after death in the heavens, and formed a constellation. =plin´ius, c. secun´dus=, called the elder, was born at verona, of a noble family. he distinguished himself in the field, and was appointed governor of spain. when at misenum in command of the roman fleet, pliny observed the appearance of a cloud of dust and ashes, which was the commencement of the famous eruption of mount vesuvius which overwhelmed herculaneum and pompeii. he sailed for the scene of the eruption, where he was suffocated by the vapors emitted. this occurred in the seventy-ninth year of the christian era. =plin´ius, c. cæcil´ius secun´dus=, surnamed the younger pliny, was son of l. cæcilius by the sister of pliny the elder. at the age of nineteen he distinguished himself at the bar. when trajan was invested with the purple pliny was created consul. he died in the fifty-second year of his age, a.d. 113. pliny had much to do with the persecutions of the christians in the early promulgation of the christian religion. the rev. james copland, m. a., in an admirable little work entitled "reasons why we believe the bible," gives a very interesting letter from pliny to the emperor trajan, asking instructions how to deal with the christians when they were cited to appear before him. =plutar´chus=, the celebrated biographer, was born at chæronea, his father being distinguished for his learning and virtues. after traveling in quest of knowledge, he retired to rome, where he opened a school. subsequently he removed to chæronea, where he died at an advanced age about the 140th year of the christian era. his most esteemed work is the lives of illustrious men. =plu´to=, son of saturn and ops, inherited his father's kingdom with his brothers, jupiter and neptune. he received as his portion the kingdom of the infernal regions, of death, and funerals. he seized proserpine as she was gathering flowers, and carrying her away on his chariot, she became his wife and queen of the infernal regions. =plu´tus=, the god of riches, was the son of jason, or jasius, and ceres. =pol´lio, c. asin´ius.= a roman consul in the reign of augustus, who distinguished himself equally by his eloquence and exploits in war. he wrote a history and some tragedies, and died in his eightieth year, a.d. 4. =pol´lux.= a son of jupiter and leda, brother to castor. =polyb´ius.= a native of megalopolis. he distinguished himself by his valor against the romans in macedonia, he wrote an universal history in greek, and died about 124 years b.c. =polydec´tes.= a son of magnes, king of seriphos. he received with kindness danae and her son perseus, who had been exposed on the sea. polydectes was turned into stone by being shown medusa's head by perseus. =polyhym´nia.= one of the muses, daughter of jupiter and mnemosyne. she presided over singing and rhetoric. =polyni´ces.= a son of oedipus, king of thebes, and jocasta. he inherited his father's throne with his brother eteocles, and it was agreed that they should reign a year alternately. eteocles first ascended the throne, but refused to resign the crown. polynices upon this fled to argos, where he married argia, the daughter of adrastus, the king of the country, and levied an army with which he marched on thebes. the battle was decided by a combat between the brothers, who killed each other. =polyphe´mus.= a celebrated cyclops, son of neptune and thoosa, the daughter of phorcys. he is represented as a monster with one eye in the middle of his forehead. ulysses was his captive, but escaped by putting a firebrand in the monster's eye. =pomo´na.= a nymph at rome, who was supposed to preside over gardens and to be the goddess of fruit trees. =pompe´ii or pompei´um.= a town of campania. it was partly destroyed by an earthquake, a.d. 63, and sixteen years afterwards it was swallowed up by another earthquake. herculaneum, in its vicinity, shared the same fate. =pompe´ius, cnei´us=, surnamed magnus from his exploits, was son of pompeius strabo and lucilia. in the contentions which existed between marius and sylla, pompey linked himself with the latter. subsequently he united his interest with that of cæsar and crassus, thus forming the first triumvirate. a breach soon occurred, and at the great battle of pharsalia, where the forces of cæsar and pompey met, the latter was totally defeated, and fled to egypt, where he was assassinated in the fifty-eighth year of his age, b.c. 48. he left two sons, cneius and sextus, who at their father's death were masters of a powerful army, with which they opposed cæsar, but were defeated at the battle of munda, where cneius was slain. sextus escaped, and was put to death by antony about thirty-five years before the christian era. =por´cia.= a daughter of cato of utica, who married bibulus, and after his death brutus. she was distinguished for her prudence and courage. after her husband's death she killed herself by swallowing burning coals. she is said to have given herself a severe wound to show that she could bear pain. =porphyr´ius.= a platonic philosopher of tyre. he studied eloquence at athens under longinus, and afterwards retired to rome. his most celebrated work was in reference to the christian religion. porphyry died a.d. 304, aged seventy-one years. =porsen´na or por´sena.= a king of etruria, who declared war against the romans because they refused to restore tarquin to the throne; he was prevented from entering the gates of rome by the valor of p. horatius cocles, who at the head of a bridge kept back porsenna's army, whilst the bridge was being cut down by the romans to prevent the entry of their enemies into the city. eventually porsenna abandoned the cause of tarquin. =praxit´eles.= a famous sculptor of greece, who lived about 324 years before the christian era. the most famous of his works was a cupid, which he gave to phyrne. he executed a statue of phyrne, and also one of venus. =pri´amus.= the last king of troy was son of laomedon, by strymo, called placia by some writers. he married arisba, whom he divorced in order to marry hecuba, by whom he had a number of children, the most celebrated of whom were hector, paris, deiphobus, helenus, laodice, and cassandra. after he had reigned some time, priam was anxious to recover his sister hesione, who had been carried into greece by hercules, and to achieve this, he manned a fleet, the command of which he gave to his son paris, who, instead of obeying the paternal instructions, carried away helen, the wife of menelaus, king of sparta. this caused the trojan war, which lasted for ten years. at the end of the war priam was slain by neoptolemus, the son of achilles. =pro´bus, m. aure´lius.= a native of pannonia. his father was a gardener, who became a military tribune. his son obtained the same office in the twenty-second year of his age, and distinguished himself so much by his probity and valor that he was invested with the imperial purple. he encouraged the arts, and by his victories added to the glory of his country. he was slain by his soldiers in the fiftieth year of his age, b.c. 282. =proco´pius=, born of a noble family in cilicia, was related to the emperor julian. he signalized himself under julian, and afterwards retired to the thracian chersonesus, whence he made his appearance at constantinople, and proclaimed himself master of the eastern empire. he was defeated in phrygia, and beheaded a.d. 366. there was a famous greek historian of the same name, who wrote the history of the reign of justinian, and who was secretary to belisarius. =prome´theus.= a son of iapetus and clymene, one of the oceanides. he ridiculed the gods and deceived jupiter himself, who, to punish him and the rest of mankind, took fire away from the earth; but prometheus climbed the heavens by the assistance of minerva, and stole fire from the chariot of the sun, which he brought down to the earth. this provoked jupiter, and he ordered prometheus to be chained to a rock, where a vulture was to feed on his liver, which was never exhausted. he was delivered from his torture by hercules, who killed the vulture. =proper´tius, sex´tus aure´lius.= a latin poet born in umbria. he came to rome, where his genius greatly recommended him to the great and powerful. his works consist of four books of elegies which are marked by much ability. he died about nineteen years b.c. =proser´pina=, a daughter of ceres and jupiter, called by the greeks persephone. as she was gathering flowers pluto carried her off to the infernal regions, where he married her. ceres, having learnt that her daughter had been carried away by pluto, demanded of jupiter that pluto should be punished. as queen of hell, proserpine presided over the death of mankind. she was known by the names of hecate, juno inferna, libitina, and several others. =protag´oras.= a greek philosopher of abdera in thrace. he wrote a book in which he denied the existence of a supreme being, which book was publicly burnt at athens, and its author was banished from the city. =pro´tesila´us.= a king of part of thessaly, who married laodamia, and shortly afterwards went to the trojan war. he was the first of the greeks who entered the trojan domain, and on that account, in accordance with the prediction of the oracle, was killed by his countrymen. =pro´teus.= a sea deity, son of oceanus and tethys, or, according to some writers, of neptune and phenice. he had received the gift of prophecy from neptune, but when consulted he often refused to give answers, and puzzled those who consulted him by assuming different shapes. =psy´che.= a nymph who married cupid. venus put her to death because of this, but jupiter, at the request of cupid, granted immortality to her. =ptolemæ´us= first, called ptolemy, surnamed lagus. a king of egypt, son of arsinoe and lagus. he was educated in the court of the king of macedonia, and when alexander invaded asia ptolemy attended him. after alexander's death ptolemy obtained the government of egypt, where he gained the esteem of the people by acts of kindness. he made himself master of phoenicia and syria, and rendered assistance to the people of rhodes against their enemies, for which he received the name of _soter_. he laid the foundation of a library, which became the most celebrated in the world. he died in his eighty-fourth year, about 284 years b.c. he was succeeded by his son, ptolemy philadelphus, who showed himself to be a worthy successor of his father. his palace was an asylum for learned men, and he greatly increased the library his father had founded. ptolemy third succeeded his father philadelphus on the egyptian throne. he conquered syria and cilicia, and returned home laden with spoils. he was, like his predecessors, a patron of learning and the arts. ptolemy fourth, called philopater, succeeded to the throne, his reign being marked by acts of cruelty and oppression. he died in his thirty-seventh year, after a reign of seventeen years, 204 years b.c. numerous members of this celebrated family in succession occupied the throne, not, however, approaching to the greatness of the founders of the family. =ptolemæ´us.= a celebrated geographer and astronomer in the reign of adrian and antoninus. he was a native of alexandria, or, as some say, of pelusium. in his system of the world, designated the ptolemaic system, he places the earth in the center of the universe, which was generally received as correct till it was confuted by copernicus. =pyr´rhus.= a famous king of epirus, son of æacides and phthia. he is celebrated for his military talents; and not only his friends, but his enemies, have been warm in extolling him. he is said to have had no superior in the art of war. he wrote several books on encampments and the ways of training an army. he fought against the romans with much valor, and they passed encomiums on his great military skill. he was killed in an attack on argos, by a tile thrown on his head from a housetop. =pyr´rhus.= see neoptolemus. =pythag´oras.= a celebrated philosopher born at samos. he first made himself known in greece at the olympic games, where, when he was eighteen years old, he obtained the prize for wrestling. he also distinguished himself by his discoveries in geometry, astronomy, and mathematics. he was the first who supported the doctrine of metempsychosis, or transmigration of the soul into different bodies. he believed that the universe was created from a shapeless mass of passive matter by the hands of a powerful being, who was the mover and soul of the world, and of whose substance the souls of mankind were a portion. the time and place of death of this great philosopher are unknown, but some suppose that he died at metapontum about 497 years b.c. =py´thon.= a celebrated serpent sprung from the mud and stagnated waters which remained on the surface of the earth after the deluge of deucalion. apollo killed the monster. =quintilia´nus, mar´cus fa´bius=, a celebrated rhetorician, born in spain. he opened a school of rhetoric at rome, and was the first who obtained a salary from the state as a public teacher. he died a.d. 95. =quin´tus cur´tius ru´fus.= a latin historian supposed to have lived in the reign of vespasian. he wrote a history of the reign of alexander the great. this work is admired for the elegance of its diction. =regil´lus.= a small lake in latium, famous as being the scene of a great roman victory, which forms the subject of a fine poem by lord macaulay, called "the battle of the lake regillus," included in his "lays of ancient rome." =reg´ulus, m. attil´ius.= a consul during the first punic war. he reduced brundusium, and in his second consulship he captured a great portion of the carthaginian fleet. after further successes he was taken prisoner by the carthaginians, who put him to death with refined tortures. =rhadaman´thus.= a son of jupiter and europa. he reigned in the cyclades, where his rule was characterized by marked justice and impartiality. =rom´ulus.= according to tradition the founder of rome. he was a son of mars and ilia, and was twin brother of remus. the twins were thrown into the tiber, but were saved and suckled by a she-wolf till they were found by fautulus, a shepherd, who brought them up. disputes arising between the brothers in reference to the building of the city, romulus caused remus to be slain. =ros´cius.= a celebrated roman actor. he died about 60 years b.c. =ru´bicon.= a small river in italy. by crossing it, and thus transgressing the boundaries of his province, cæsar declared war against the senate and pompey. "passing the rubicon" has become a proverbial expression, indicating an irrevocable step taken in any weighty matter. =sa´cra, vi´a.= an important street in rome, where a treaty of peace was made between romulus and tatius. =sal´amis.= an island of attica celebrated for a battle fought there between the fleets of the greeks and the persians, in which the latter suffered defeat. =sallus´tius cris´pus.= a celebrated latin historian. he wrote a history of the catalinian conspiracy, and died thirty-five years before the christian era. =sanchoni´athon.= a phoenician historian born at berytus, or, as some say, at tyre. he lived a few years before the trojan war; and wrote on the antiquities of phoenicia. =sa´por.= a king of persia, who succeeded to the throne about the 238th year of the christian era. he wished to increase his dominions by conquest, but was defeated by odenatus, who defeated his army with great slaughter. he was assassinated a.d. 273. =sa´por.= the second king of persia of that name. he fought against the romans, and obtained several victories over them. died a.d. 380. =sap´pho=, celebrated for her beauty and poetical talents, was born at lesbos about 600 years before christ. she became enamored with phaon, a youth of mitylene, but he not reciprocating her passion, she threw herself into the sea from the rock of leucadia. =sardanapa´lus.= the last king of assyria, celebrated for his luxury and indolence. his effeminacy induced his subjects to conspire against him with success, on which he set fire to his palace and perished in the flames, b.c. 820. =satur´nus.= the son of coelus, or uranus, by terra. it was customary to offer human victims on his altars till this custom was abolished by hercules. he is generally represented as an old man bent with age, and holding a scythe in his right hand. =sat´yri.= demigods whose origin is unknown. they had the feet and legs of a goat, their body bearing the human form. =scævola, mu´tius=, surnamed cordus, was famous for his courage. he attempted to assassinate porsenna, but was seized; and to show his fortitude when confronted with porsenna, he thrust his hand into the fire, on which the king pardoned him. =scip´io.= the name of a celebrated family at rome, the most conspicuous of which was publius cornelius, afterwards called africanus. he was the son of publius scipio, and commanded an army against the carthaginians. after obtaining some victories he encountered hannibal at the famous battle of zama, in which he obtained a decisive victory. he died about 184 years before christ, in his forty-eighth year. =scip´io, lu´cius corne´lius=, surnamed asiaticus, accompanied his brother africanus in his expedition in africa. he was made consul a.u.c. 562, and sent to attack antiochus, king of syria, whom he completely routed. he was accused of receiving bribes of antiochus, and was condemned to pay large fines which reduced him to poverty. =scip´io, p. æmilia´nus.= called africanus the younger. he finished the war with carthage, the total submission of which occurred b.c. 147. the captive city was set on fire, and scipio was said to have wept bitterly over the melancholy scene. on his return to rome he was appointed to conclude the war against numantia, the fall of which soon occurred, and scipio had numantinus added to his name. he was found dead in his bed, and was presumed to have been strangled, b.c. 128. =sem´ele.= a daughter of cadmus and hermione, the daughter of mars and venus. she was the mother of bacchus. after death she was made immortal under the name of thyone. =semir´amis.= a celebrated queen of assyria, who married the governor of nineveh, and at his death she became the wife of king ninus. she caused many improvements to be effected in her kingdom, as well as distinguishing herself as a warrior. she is supposed to have lived 1965 years before the christian era. =sen´eca, l. annæ´us=, at an early period of his life, was distinguished by his talents. he became preceptor to nero, in which capacity he gained general approbation. the tyrant, however, determined to put him to death, and he chose to have his veins opened in a hot bath, but death not ensuing, he swallowed poison, and was eventually suffocated by the soldiers who were in attendance. this occurred in his fifty-third year, and in the sixty-fifth of the christian era. his works, which were numerous, were chiefly on moral subjects. =sera´pis.= one of the egyptian deities, supposed to be the same as osiris. he had a magnificent temple at memphis, another at alexandria, and a third at canopus. =sesos´tris.= a celebrated king of egypt, who lived long prior to the trojan war. he was ambitious of military fame, and achieved many conquests. on his return from his victories he employed himself in encouraging the fine arts. he destroyed himself after a reign of forty-four years. =seve´rus, lu´cius septim´ius.= a roman emperor, born in africa, noticeable for his ambition. he invaded britain, and built a wall in the north as a check to the incursions of the caledonians. he died at york in the 211th year of the christian era. =sile´nus.= a demigod, who is represented generally as a fat old man riding on an ass, with flowers crowning his head. =sil´ius ital´icus, c.= a latin poet who retired from the bar to consecrate his time to study. he imitated virgil, but with little success. his poetry, however, is commended for its purity. =simon´ides.= a celebrated poet of cos, who lived b.c. 538 years. he wrote elegies, epigrams, and dramatic pieces, esteemed for their beauty. =sire´nes.= the sirens. they lured to destruction those who listened to their songs. when ulysses sailed past their island he stopped the ears of his companions with wax, and had himself tied to the mast of his ship. thus he passed with safety, and the sirens, disappointed of their prey, drowned themselves. =sis´yphus.= son of æolus and enaretta. after death he was condemned, in the infernal regions, to roll a stone to the summit of a hill, which always rolled back, and rendered his punishment eternal. =soc´rates.= the most celebrated philosopher of antiquity, born near athens, whose virtues rendered his name venerated. his independence of spirit created for him many enemies, and he was accused of making innovations in the religion of the greeks. he was condemned to death by drinking hemlock, and expired a few moments after imbibing the poison, in his seventieth year, b.c. 400. his wife was xanthippe, remarkable for her shrewish disposition, for which her name has become proverbial. =so´lon=, one of the wise men of greece, was born at salamis, and educated at athens. after traveling over greece he returned, and was elected archon and sovereign legislator, in which capacity he effected numerous reforms in the state, binding the athenians by a solemn oath to observe the laws he enacted for one hundred years. after this he visited egypt, and on returning to athens after ten years' absence, he found most of his regulations disregarded by his countrymen. on this he retired to cyprus, where he died in his eightieth year, 558 years before the christian era. =som´nus=, son of nox and erebus, was one of the infernal deities and presided over sleep. =soph´ocles.= a celebrated tragic poet of athens. he was distinguished also as a statesman, and exercised the office of archon with credit and honor. he wrote for the stage, and obtained the poetical prize on twenty different occasions. he was the rival of euripides for public applause, each having his admirers. he died at the age of ninety-one, 406 years before christ. =sophonis´ba.= a daughter of hasdrubal, the carthaginian, celebrated for her beauty. she married syphax, prince of numidia, and when he was conquered by the romans she became a captive to their ally, the numidian general masinissa, whom she married. this displeased the romans, and scipio ordered masinissa to separate from sophonisba, and she, urged to this by masinissa, took poison, about 203 years before christ. =soz´omen.= a historian who died 450 a.d. he wrote an important work on ecclesiastical history. =sphinx.= a monster, having the head and breasts of a woman, the body of a dog, the tail of a serpent, the wings of a bird, and the paws of a lion. the sphinx was sent into the neighborhood of thebes by juno, where she propounded enigmas, devouring those who were unable to solve them. one of the riddles proposed was--what animal walked on four legs in the morning, two at noon, and three in the evening? oedipus solved it, giving as the meaning--a man, who when an infant crawled on his hands and feet, walking erect in manhood, and in the evening of life supporting himself with a stick. on hearing the solution the sphinx destroyed herself. =stagi´ra.= a town on the borders of macedonia, where aristotle was born; hence he is called the stagirite. =sta´tius, p. papin´us.= a poet, born at naples in the reign of domitian. he was the author of two epic poems, the thebais, in twelve books, and the achilleis, in two books. =sten´tor.= one of the greeks who went to the trojan war. he was noted for the loudness of his voice, and from him the term "stentorian" has become proverbial. =sto´ici.= a celebrated sect of philosophers founded by zeno. they preferred virtue to all other things, and regarded everything opposed to it as an evil. =stra´bo.= a celebrated geographer, born at amasia, on the borders of cappadocia. he flourished in the age of augustus. his work on geography consists of seventeen books, and is admired for its purity of diction. =styx.= a celebrated river of the infernal regions. the gods held it in such veneration that they always swore by it, the oath being inviolable. =sueto´nius, c. tranquil´lus.= a latin historian who became secretary to adrian. his best known work is his lives of the cæsars. =sul´la.= see sylla. =syb´aris.= a town on the bay of tarentum. its inhabitants were distinguished by their love of ease and pleasure, hence the term "sybarite." =syl´la= (or =sulla=), =l. corne´lius=. a celebrated roman, of a noble family, who rendered himself conspicuous in military affairs; and became antagonistic to marius. in the zenith of his power he was guilty of the greatest cruelty. his character is that of an ambitious, tyrannical, and resolute commander. he died about seventy years before christ, aged sixty. =sy´phax.= a king of the masæsyllii in numidia, who married sophonisba, the daughter of hasdrubal. he joined the carthaginians against the romans, and was taken by scipio as a prisoner to rome, where he died in prison. =tac´itus, c. corne´lius.= a celebrated latin historian, born in the reign of nero. of all his works the "annals" is the most extensive and complete. his style is marked by force, precision, and dignity, and his latin is remarkable for being pure and classical. =tac´itus, m. clau´dius.= a roman, elected emperor by the senate when he was seventy years of age. he displayed military vigor, and as a ruler was a pattern of economy and moderation. he died in the 276th year of the christian era. =tan´talus.= a king of lydia, father of niobe and pelops. he is represented by the poets as being, in the infernal regions, placed in a pool of water which flowed from him whenever he attempted to drink, thus causing him to suffer perpetual thirst; hence the origin of the term "tantalizing." =tarquin´ius pris´cus=, the fifth king of rome, was son of demaratus, a native of greece. he exhibited military talents in the victories he gained over the sabines. during peace he devoted attention to the improvement of the capital. he was assassinated in his eightieth year, 578 years b.c. =tarquin´ius super´bus.= he ascended the throne of rome after servius tullius, whom he murdered, and married his daughter tullia. his reign was characterized by tyranny, and eventually he was expelled from rome, surviving his disgrace for fourteen years, and dying in his ninetieth year. =tar´tarus.= one of the regions of hell, where, according to virgil, the souls of those who were exceptionally depraved were punished. =telem´achus.= son of penelope and ulysses. at the end of the trojan war he went in search of his father, whom, with the aid of minerva, he found. aided by ulysses he delivered his mother from the suitors that beset her. =tem´pe.= a valley in thessaly through which the river peneus flows into the ægean. it is described by the poets as one of the most delightful places in the world. =teren´tius pub´lius= (=terence=). a native of africa, celebrated for the comedies he wrote. he was twenty-five years old when his first play was produced on the roman stage. terence is admired for the purity of his language and the elegance of his diction. he is supposed to have been drowned in a storm about 159 b.c. =te´reus.= a king of thrace who married procne, daughter of pandion, king of athens. he aided pandion in a war against megara. =terpsich´ore.= one of the muses, daughter of jupiter and mnemosyne. she presided over dancing. =tertullia´nus, j. septim´ius flor´ens.= a celebrated christian writer of carthage, who lived a.d. 196. he was originally a pagan, but embraced christianity, of which faith he became an able advocate. =tha´is.= a celebrated woman of athens, who accompanied alexander the great in his asiatic conquests. =tha´les.= one of the seven wise men of greece, born at miletus in ionia. his discoveries in astronomy were great, and he was the first who calculated with accuracy a solar eclipse. he died about 548 years before the christian era. =thali´a.= one of the muses. she presided over festivals and comic poetry. =themis´tocles.= a celebrated general born at athens. when xerxes invaded greece, themistocles was intrusted with the care of the fleet, and at the famous battle of salamis, fought b.c. 480, the greeks, instigated to fight by themistocles, obtained a complete victory over the formidable navy of xerxes. he died in the sixty-fifth year of his age, having, as some writers affirm, poisoned himself by drinking bull's blood. =theoc´ritus.= a greek poet who lived at syracuse in sicily, 282 b.c. he distinguished himself by his poetical compositions, of which some are extant. =theodo´sius, fla´vius.= a roman emperor surnamed _magnus_ from the greatness of his exploits. the first years of his reign were marked by conquests over the barbarians. in his private character theodosius was an example of temperance. he died in his sixtieth year, a.d. 395, after a reign of sixteen years. =theodo´sius second= became emperor of the western roman empire at an early age. his territories were invaded by the persians, but on his appearance at the head of a large force they fled, losing a great number of their army in the euphrates. theodosius was a warm advocate of the christian religion. he died, aged forty-nine, a.d. 450. =theophras´tus.= a native of lesbos. diogenes enumerates the titles of more than 200 treatises which he wrote. he died in his 107th year, b.c. 288. =thermop´ylæ.= a narrow pass leading from thessaly into locris and phocis, celebrated for a battle fought there, b.c. 480, between xerxes and the greeks, in which three hundred spartans, commanded by leonidas, resisted for three successive days an enormous persian army. =thersi´tes.= a deformed greek, in the trojan war, who indulged in ridicule against ulysses and others. achilles killed him because he laughed at his grief for the death of penthesilea. shakspeare, who introduced thersites in his play of "troilus and cressida," describes him as "a deformed and scurrilous grecian." =the´seus=, king of athens and son of ægeus by æthra, was one of the most celebrated heroes of antiquity. he caught the bull of marathon and sacrificed it to minerva. after this he went to crete amongst the seven youths sent yearly by the athenians to be devoured by the minotaur, and by the aid of ariadne he slew the monster. he ascended his father's throne b.c. 1235. pirithous, king of the lapithæ, invaded his territories, but the two became firm friends. they descended into the infernal regions to carry off proserpine, but their intentions were frustrated by pluto. after remaining for some time in the infernal regions, theseus returned to his kingdom to find the throne filled by an usurper, whom he vainly tried to eject. he retired to scyros, where he was killed by a fall from a precipice. =thes´pis.= a greek poet of attica, supposed to be the inventor of tragedy, b.c. 536. he went from place to place upon a cart, on which he gave performances. hence the term "thespians" as applied to wandering actors. =the´tis.= a sea deity, daughter of nereus and doris. she married peleus, their son being achilles, whom she plunged into the styx, thus rendering him invulnerable in every part of his body except the heel by which she held him. =this´be.= a beautiful girl of babylon, beloved by pyramus. =thrasybu´lus.= a famous general of athens, who, with the help of a few associates, expelled the thirty tyrants, b.c. 401. he was sent with a powerful fleet to recover the athenian power on the coast of asia, and after gaining many advantages, was killed by the people of aspendos. =thucid´ydes.= a celebrated greek historian born at athens. he wrote a history of the events connected with the peloponnesian war. he died at athens in his eightieth year, b.c. 391. =tibe´rius, clau´dius ne´ro.= a roman emperor descended from the claudii. in his early years he entertained the people with magnificent shows and gladiatorial exhibitions, which made him popular. at a later period of his life he retired to the island of capreæ, where he indulged in vice and debauchery. he died aged seventy-eight, after a reign of twenty-two years. =tibul´lus, au´lus al´bius.= a roman knight celebrated for his poetical compositions. his favorite occupation was writing love poems. four books of elegies are all that remain of his compositions. =timo´leon.= a celebrated corinthian, son of timodemus and demariste. when the syracusans, oppressed with the tyranny of dionysius the younger, solicited aid from the corinthians, timoleon sailed for syracuse with a small fleet. he was successful in the expedition, and dionysius gave himself up as a prisoner. timoleon died at syracuse, amidst universal regret. =ti´mons.= a native of athens, called the misanthrope from his aversion to mankind. he is the hero of shakspeare's play of "timon of athens" in which his churlish character is powerfully delineated. =timo´theus.= a famous musician in the time of alexander the great. dryden names him in his well-known ode, "alexander's feast." =tire´sias.= a celebrated prophet of thebes. juno deprived him of sight, and, to recompense him for the loss, jupiter bestowed on him the gift of prophecy. =tisiph´one.= one of the furies, daughter of nox and acheron. =tita´nes.= the titans. a name given to the gigantic sons of coelus and terra. the most conspicuous of them are saturn, hyperion, oceanus, iapetus, cottus, and briareus. =ti´tus vespasia´nus.= son of vespasian and flavia domitilla, known by his valor, particularly at the siege of jerusalem. he had been distinguished for profligacy, but on assuming the purple, he became a model of virtue. his death, which occasioned great lamentations, occurred a.d. 81, in the forty-first year of his age. =traja´nus, m. ul´pius crini´tus.= a roman emperor born at ithaca. his services to the empire recommended him to the notice of the emperor nerva, who adopted him as his son, and invested him with the purple. the actions of trajan were those of a benevolent prince. he died in cilicia, in august a.d. 117, in his sixty-fourth year, and his ashes were taken to rome and deposited under a stately column which he had erected. =tribu´ni ple´bi.= magistrates at rome created in the year, u.c. 261. the office of tribune to the people was one of the first steps which led to more honorable employments. =triptol´emus.= son of oceanus and terra, or, according to some authorities, son of celeus, king of attica, and neæra. he was in his youth cured of a severe illness by ceres, with whom he became a great favorite. she taught him agriculture, and gave him her chariot drawn by dragons, in which he traveled over the earth, distributing corn to the inhabitants. =tri´ton.= a sea deity, son of neptune and amphitrite. he was very powerful, and could calm the sea and abate storms at his pleasure. =trium´viri.= three magistrates appointed to govern the roman state with absolute power. =tul´lus hostil´ius= succeeded numa as king of rome. he was of a warlike disposition, and distinguished himself by his expedition against the people of alba, whom he conquered. =typhoe´us=, or =ty´phon=. a famous giant, son of tartarus and terra, who had a hundred heads. he made war against the gods, and was put to flight by the thunderbolts of jupiter, who crushed him under mount ætna. =tyrtæ´us.= a greek elegiac poet born in attica. of his compositions none are extant except a few fragments. =ulys´ses.= the famous king of ithaca, son of anticlea and laertes (or, according to some, of sisyphus). he married penelope, daughter of icarius, on which his father resigned to him the crown. he went to the trojan war, where he was esteemed for his sagacity. on the conclusion of the war he embarked for greece, but was exposed to numerous misfortunes on his journey. in his wanderings, he, with some of his companions, was seized by the cyclops, polyphemus, from whom he made his escape. afterwards he was thrown on the island of æea, where he was exposed to the wiles of the enchantress circe. eventually he was restored to his own country, after an absence of twenty years. the adventures of ulysses on his return from the trojan war form the subject of homer's odyssey. =ura´nia.= one of the muses, daughter of jupiter and mnemosyne. she presided over astronomy. =valentinia´nus= the first. son of gratian, raised to the throne by his merit and valor. he obtained victories over the barbarians in gaul and in africa, and punished the quadi with severity. he broke a blood-vessel and died, a.d. 375. immediately after his death, his son, valentinian the second, was proclaimed emperor. he was robbed of his throne by maximus, but regained it by the aid of theodosius, emperor of the east. he was strangled by one of his officers. he was remarkable for benevolence and clemency. the third valentinian was made emperor in his youth, and on coming to maturer age he disgraced himself by violence and oppression. he was murdered a.d. 454. =valeria´nus, pub´lius licin´ius.= a celebrated roman emperor, who, on ascending the throne, lost the virtues he had previously possessed. he made his son gallienus his colleague in the empire. he made war against the goths and scythians. he was defeated in battle and made prisoner by tapor, king of persia, who put him to death by torture. =var´ro.= a latin author, celebrated for his great learning. he wrote no less than five hundred volumes, but all his works are lost except a treatise de re rusticâ, and another de linguâ latinâ he died b.c. 28, in his eighty-eighth year. =ve´nus.= one of the most celebrated deities of the ancients; the goddess of beauty, and mother of love. she sprang from the foam of the sea, and was carried to heaven, where all the gods admired her beauty. jupiter gave her in marriage to vulcan, but she intrigued with some of the gods, and, notably, with mars, their offspring being hermione, cupid, and anteros. she became enamored of adonis, which caused her to abandon olympus. her contest for the golden apple, which she gained against her opponents juno and minerva, is a prominent episode in mythology. she had numerous names applied to her, conspicuous amongst which may be named anadyomene, under which cognomen she is distinguished by the picture, representing her as rising from the ocean, by apelles. she was known under the grecian name of aphrodite. =vespasia´nus ti´tus fla´vius.= a roman emperor of obscure descent. he began the siege of jerusalem, which was continued by his son titus. he died a.d. 79, in his seventieth year. =ves´ta.= a goddess, daughter of rhea and saturn. the palladium, a celebrated statue of pallas, was supposed to be preserved within her sanctuary, where a fire was kept continually burning. =vesta´les.= the vestals, priestesses consecrated to the service of vesta. they were required to be of good families and free from blemish and deformity. one of their chief duties was to see that the sacred fire of vesta was not extinguished. =virgil´ius, pub´lius ma´ro=, called the prince of the latin poets, was born at andes, near mantua, about seventy years before christ. he went to rome, where he formed an acquaintance with mæcenas, and recommended himself to augustus. his bucolics were written in about three years, and subsequently he commenced the georgics, which is considered one of the most perfect of all latin compositions. the æneid is supposed to have been undertaken at the request of augustus. virgil died in his fifty-first year b.c. 19. =virgin´ia.= daughter of the centurion l. virginius. she was slain by her father to save her from the violence of the decemvir, appius claudius. =virgin´ius.= a valiant roman, father of virginia. (see virginia.) the story of virginius and his ill-fated daughter is the subject of the well-known tragedy of "virginius," one of the early productions of j. sheridan knowles. it is rarely performed in the present day. =vulca´nus.= the god who presided over fire, and who was the patron of those who worked in iron. according to homer, he was the son of jupiter and juno, and was so deformed, that at his birth his mother threw him into the sea, where he remained nine years; but other writers differ from this opinion. he married venus at the instigation of jupiter. he is known by the name of mulciber. the cyclopes were his attendants, and with them he forged the thunderbolts of jupiter. =xanthip´pe= or =xantip´pe=. the wife of socrates, remarkable for her ill-humor and fretful disposition. she was a constant torment to her husband, and on one occasion, after bitterly reviling him, she emptied a vessel of dirty water on him, on which the philosopher coolly remarked, "after thunder rain generally falls." =xenoc´rates.= an ancient philosopher born at calcedonia, and educated in the school of plato, whose friendship he gained. died b.c. 314. =xen´ophon.= a celebrated athenian, son of gryllus, famous as a general, philosopher, and historian. he joined cyrus the younger in an expedition against artaxerxes, king of persia, and after the decisive battle of cunaxa, in which cyrus was defeated and killed, the skill and bravery of xenophon became conspicuous. he had to direct an army of ten thousand greeks, who were now more than six hundred leagues from home, and in a country surrounded by an active enemy. he rose superior to all difficulties till the celebrated "retreat of the ten thousand" was effected; the greeks returning home after a march of two hundred and fifteen days. xenophon employed his pen in describing the expedition of cyrus, in his work the "anabasis." he also wrote the "cyropædia," "memorabilia," "hellenica," etc. he died at corinth in his ninetieth year, about 360 years before the christian era. =xer´xes= succeeded his father darius on the throne of persia. he entered greece with an immense army, which was checked at thermopylæ by the valor of three hundred spartans under king leonidas, who, for three successive days, successfully opposed the enormous forces of xerxes, and were at last slaughtered. from this period the fortunes of xerxes waned. his fleet being defeated at salamis, and mortified with ill-success, he hastened to persia, where he gave himself up to debauchery, and was murdered in the twenty-first year of his reign, about 464 years before the christian era. =za´ma.= a town of numidia, celebrated as the scene of the victory of scipio over hannibal, b.c. 202. =ze´no=, a celebrated philosopher, the founder of the sect of stoics, was born at citium in cyprus. he opened a school in athens, and soon became noticed by the great and learned. his life was devoted to sobriety and moderation. he died at the age of ninety-eight, b.c. 264. =ze´no.= a philosopher of elea or velia, in italy. he was the disciple, or, according to some, the adopted son of parmenides. being tortured to cause him to reveal his confederates in a plot he had engaged in, he bit off his tongue that he might not betray his friends. =zeno´bia.= a celebrated princess of palmyra, the wife of odenatus. after her husband's death, the roman emperor aurelian declared war against her. she took the field with seven hundred thousand men, and though at first successful, she was eventually conquered. aurelian, when she became his prisoner, treated her with great humanity and consideration. she was admired for her literary talents as well as her military abilities. =zeux´is.= a celebrated painter born at heraclea. he flourished 468 years before the christian era. he painted some grapes so naturally that the birds came to peck them on the canvas; but he was disgusted with the picture, because the man painted as carrying the grapes was not natural enough to frighten the birds. =zo´ilus.= a sophist and grammarian of amphipolis, b.c. 259. he became known by his severe criticisms on the works of isocrates and homer. =zoroas´ter.= a king of bactria, supposed to have lived in the age of ninus, king of assyria, some time before the trojan war. he rendered himself known by his deep researches in philosophy. he admitted no visible object of devotion except fire, which he considered the proper emblem of a supreme being. he was respected by his subjects and contemporaries for his abilities as a monarch, a lawgiver, and a philosopher, and though many of his doctrines may be deemed puerile, he had many disciples. the religion of the parsees of the present day was founded by zoroaster. =zos´imus.= a greek historian who lived about the year 410 of the christian era. he wrote a history of some of the roman emperors, which is characterized by graceful diction, but he indulges in malevolent and vituperative attacks on the christians in his history of constantine. a list of common abbreviations of words used in writing and printing. =a 1=, first class. =a= or =aa= (gr. _ana_), in _med._, of each the same quantity. =a.b.=, bachelor of arts. =a.d.= (l. _anno domini_), in the year of our lord. =ad lib.=, or =ad libit.= (l. _ad libitum_), at pleasure. =æ.=, =æt.= (l. _ætatis_), of age; aged. =a.m.= (l. _artium magister_), master of arts. =a.m.= (l. _ante meridiem_), before noon. =a.m.= (l. _anno mundi_), in the year of the world. =anon.=, anonymous. =a.r.a.=, associate of the royal academy. =a.r.s.a.=, associate of the royal scottish academy. =a.r.s.s.= (l. _antiquariorum regiæ societatis socius_), fellow of the royal society of antiquaries. =as.=, anglo-saxon. =a.u.c.= (l. _anno urbis conditæ_, or _anno ab urbe conditâ_), in the year of, or from the building of the city, viz., rome. =b.a.=, bachelor of arts. =bart.= or =bt.=, baronet. =b.c.=, before christ. =b.c.l.=, bachelor of civil law. =b.d.=, bachelor of divinity. =b.ll.=, also =ll.b.=, bachelor of laws. =b.sc.=, bachelor of science. =b.s.l.=, botanical society of london. =c.= (l. _centum_), a hundred. =cantab.= (l. _cantabrigiensis_), of cambridge. =cantuar.=, canterbury. =cap.= (l. _caput_, the head), chapter; =cap.=, capital; =cap.=, a capital letter; =caps.=, capital letters. =c.b.=, companion of the bath. =c.e.=, civil engineer. =cent.= (l. _centum_), a hundred. =cf.= (l. _confer_), compare. =chap.=, chapter. =con.= (l. _contra_), against; in opposition. =cos.=, cosine. =cres.=, crescendo. =crim. con.=, criminal conversation; adultery. =ct.=, cent; also (l. _centum_), a hundred. =curt.=, current--that is, in this period of time, as month, year, or century. =cwt.= (_c._ for l. _centum_, a hundred; _wt._ for eng. weight), a hundred-weight. =d.c.= (it. _da capo_), in _music_, again; from the beginning. =d.c.l.=, doctor of civil or canon law. =d.d.= (l. _divinitatis doctor_), doctor of divinity. =d.g.= (l. _dei gratiâ_), by the grace of god; (l. _deo gratias_), thanks to god. =do.= or =do.=, the same. =doz.=, dozen. =dr.=, doctor; debtor. =d.s.= (it. _dal segno_), from the sign. =d.sc.=, doctor of science. =dunelm.=, durham. =d.v.= (l. _deo volente_), god willing. =dwt.= (l. _denarius_, a silver coin, a penny; and first and last letters of eng. _weight_), pennyweight. =ebor.= (l. _ebor[)a]cum_), york. =e.c.=, established church. =ed.=, editor. =e.e.=, errors excepted. =e.g.=, (l. _exempli gratiâ_, for the sake of example), for example; for instance. =e.i.=, east indies; east india. =e.i.c.=, east india company; =e.i.c.s.=, east india company's service. =e. long.=, east longitude. =e.n.e.=, east-north-east. =e.s.e.=, east-south-east. =esq.= or =esqr.=, esquire. =etc.= (l. _et cætera_), &c.; and others; and so forth. =et seq.= (l. _et sequentia_), and the following. =ex.=, example; exception; =ex=, "out of," as, a cargo _ex_ maria. =exch.=, exchequer; exchange. =exon.= (l. _exonia_), exeter. =f.=, feminine; farthing or farthings; foot or feet. =fahr.=, fahrenheit. =far.=, farriery; farthing. =f.a.s.=, fellow of the society of arts. =f.a.s.e.=, fellow of the antiquarian society, edinburgh. =f.b.s.e.=, fellow of the botanical society of edinburgh. =f.c.=, free church. =fcp.=, foolscap. =f.d.= (l. _fidei defensor_), defender of the faith. =f.e.i.s.=, fellow of the educational institute of scotland. =f.e.s.=, fellow of the entomological society; fellow of the ethnological society. =f.g.s.=, fellow of the geological society. =f.h.s.=, fellow of the horticultural society. =fl.=, flemish; florida; florin. =f.l.s.=, fellow of the linnæan society. =f.m.=, field-marshal. =fo.=, =fol.=, folio. =f.p.=, fire-plug. =f.p.s.=, fellow of the philological society. =fr.=, france; french. =f.r.a.s.=, fellow of the royal astronomical society. =f.r.c.p.=, fellow of the royal college of preceptors, or of physicians. =f.r.c.p.e.=, fellow of the royal college of physicians, edinburgh. =f.r.c.s.=, fellow of the royal college of surgeons. =f.r.c.s.e.=, fellow of the royal college of surgeons, edinburgh. =f.r.c.s.i.=, fellow of the royal college of surgeons, ireland. =f.r.c.s.l.=, fellow of the royal college of surgeons, london. =f.r.g.s.=, fellow of the royal geographical society. =f.r.s.=, fellow of the royal society. =f.r.s.e.=, fellow of the royal society, edinburgh. =f.r.s.l.=, fellow of the royal society of literature. =f.s.a.=, fellow of the society of arts, or of antiquaries: =f.s.a., scot.=, an f.s.a. of scotland. =ft.=, foot or feet. =f.t.c.d.=, fellow of trinity college, dublin. =f.z.a.=, fellow of the zoological academy. =g.a.=, general assembly. =g.c.b.=, knight grand cross of the bath. =g.p.o.=, general post-office. =gtt.= (l. _gutta_ or _guttæ_), a drop or drops. =h.b.c.=, hudson bay company. =h.e.i.c.=, honorable east india company. =h.g.=, horse guards. =hhd.=, hogshead; hogsheads. =h.i.h.=, his (or her) imperial highness. =h.m.s.=, her (or his) majesty's steamer, ship, or service. =h.r.h.=, his (or her) royal highness. =h.s.s.= (l. _historiæ societatis socius_), fellow of the historical society. =ib.=, =ibid.= (l. _ibidem_), in the same place. =id.= (l. _idem_), the same. =i. e.= (l. _id est_), that is. =i.h.s.= (l. _iesus hominum salvator_), jesus the saviour of men. =incog.= (l. _incognito_), unknown. =in lim.= (l. _in limine_), at the outset. =in loc.= (l. _in loco_), in its place. =inst.=, instant--that is, the present month. =in trans.= (l. _in transitu_), on the passage. =i.o.u.=, three letters being identical in sound with the three words "i owe you,"--written as a simple acknowledgment for money lent, followed by sum and signature. =ir.=, ireland; irish. =i.q.= (l. _idem quod_), the same as. =j.p.=, justice of the peace. =k.c.b.=, knight commander of the bath (great britain). =k.g.=, knight of the garter (great britain). =k.g.c.=, knight of the grand cross (great britain). =k.g.c.b.=, knight of the grand cross of the bath (great britain). =knt.=, knight. =k.p.=, knight of st. patrick (ireland). =kt.= or =knt.=, knight. =k.t.=, knight of the thistle (scotland). =k.s.e.=, knight of the star of the east. =l.= or =lb.= (l. _libra_), a pound in weight. =lat.=, latitude, n. or s. =lb.=--see =l.= =leg.= (it. _legato_), smoothly. =l.g.=, life guards. =lib.= (l. _liber_), a book. =linn.=, linnæus; linnæan. =ll.b.=, (l. _legum_, of laws, and _baccalaureus_, bachelor), bachelor of laws, an academic title. =ll.d.=, (l. _legum_, of laws, and _doctor_, doctor), doctor of laws, an academic title, higher than ll.b. =long.=, longitude, e. or w. =l.s.d.=, or =£ s. d.= (said to be from l. _libra_, a balance, a pound in weight; _solidus_, a coin of the value of 25 denarii, subsequently only a half of that value; and _denarius_, a silver coin worth about 8-1/2d. eng.), pounds, shillings, pence--that is, in any written statement of money, l. is put over pounds, s. over shillings, and d. over pence; in _printing_, £ for l. is put before the sum, as £15, s. and d. in single letter, after, as 4s. 6d. =m.= (l. _mille_), a thousand. =m.a.= (l. _magister artium_), master of arts, an academic title. =m.c.s.=, madras civil service. =m.d.=, (l. _medicinæ_, of medicine, _doctor_, doctor), doctor of medicine. =m.e.=, mining engineer. =mdlle.= (f. _mademoiselle_), miss. =mme.= (f. _madame_), madam. =mons.= (f. _monsieur_), mr.; sir. =m.p.=, member of parliament. =m.p.s.=, member of the philological society; member of the pharmaceutical society. =m.r.a.s.=, member of the royal asiatic society; member of the royal academy of science. =m.r.c.p.=, member of the royal college of preceptors, or of physicians. =m.r.c.s.=, member of the royal college of surgeons. =m.r.g.s.=, member of the royal geographical society. =ms.=, manuscript; =mss.=, manuscripts. =mus. b.=, bachelor of music; =mus. d.=, doctor of music. =n.b.=, north british; north britain, that is scotland; new brunswick; (l. _nota_, note, _bene_, well), note well, or take notice. =n.e.=, north-east; new england. =n.n.e.=, north-north-east. =n.n.w.=, north-north-west. =non obst.= (l. _non_, not, _obstante_, standing over against, withstanding), notwithstanding. =non pros.= (l. _non_, not, _prosequitur_, he follows after, he prosecutes), he does not prosecute--applied to a judgment entered against a plaintiff who does not appear. =non seq.= (l. _non_, not, _sequitur_, it follows), it does not follow. =n.p.=, notary public. =n.s.=, new style; nova scotia. =n.t.=, new testament. =n.w.=, north-west. =ob.= (l. _obiit_), he died. =obs.=, obsolete. =o.s.=, old style. =oxon.= (l. _oxonia_), oxford. =oz.=, ounce. =p.=, page; =pp.=, pages. =p.c.=, privy council or councillor. =p.d.= or =ph.d.=, doctor of philosophy. =per an.= (l. _per annum_), by the year. =per cent.= (l. _per_, by; _centum_, a hundred,) by the hundred. =pinx., pxt.= (l. _pinxit_), he or she painted it. =p.m.=, postmaster; (l. _post meridiem_), afternoon. =p.m.g.=, postmaster-general. =p.o.=, post-office; =p.o.o.=, post-office order. =pp.=, pages. =p.p.=, parish-priest. =p.p.c.=, (f. _pour prendre congé_, to take leave), put on calling cards to intimate leave-taking. =pr.= (l. _per_, by), by the. =pres.=, also =preses=, _pr[)e]s´-[)e]s_; president. =prof.=, professor. =pro tem.= (l. _pro tempore_), for the time being. =prox.= (l. _proximo_), next; of the next month. =p.s.=, (l. _post scriptum_), postscript. =p.t.=, post-town. =pxt.= (l. _pinxit_), he or she painted it. =q.= or =qu.=, question; query. =q.c.=, queen's counsel; queen's college. =q.e.= (l. _quod est_), which is. =q e.d.= (l. _quod erat demonstrandum_), which was to be demonstrated. =q.e.f.= (l. _quod erat faciendum_), which was to be done. =q.e.i.= (l. _quod erat inveniendum_), which was to be found out. =q.l.= (l. _quantum libet_), as much as you please. =q.m.g.=, quartermaster-general. =qr.=, quarter; quire: =qrs=., quarters. =qt.=, quart: =qts.=, quarts. =q.v.= (l. _quod vide_), which see. =r.=, l. _rex_, king; _regina_, queen. =r.=, l. _recipe_, take. =r.a.=, royal academy, or academician; royal artillery; rear-admiral; right ascension. =r.c.=, roman catholic. =ref. ch.=, reformed church. =reg. prof.=, regius professor. =r.i.p.= (l.), requiescat in pace. =r.rev.=, right reverend. =r.s.a.=, royal society of antiquaries; royal scottish academy. =r.s.s.= (l. _regiæ societatis socius_), fellow of the royal society. =rt.=, right. =s.=, south. =s.a.=, south america; south africa; south australia. =sarum=, salisbury. =s.a.s.= (l. _societatis antiquariorum socius_), fellow of the society of antiquaries. =s. caps.=, small capital letters. =sc.= or =sculp.= (l. _sculpsit_), he or she engraved it. =s.= or =scil.= (l. _scilicet_), to wit; namely. =scr.=, scruple. =sculp.= or =sculpt.= (l. _sculpsit_), he or she engraved it. =s.e.=, south-east. =sec.=, secretary; second. =sep.= or =sept.=, septuagint; also lxx. =seq.= (l. _sequentes_ or _sequentia_), the following; the next. =s.g.=, solicitor-general. =s.h.s.= (_societatis historiæ socius_), fellow of the historical society. =s.j.=, society of jesus. =s.l.=, solicitor-at-law. =sol.-gen.=, solicitor-general. =s.p.c.k.=, society for promoting christian knowledge. =s.p.g.=, society for the propagation of the gospel. =sq.=, square: =sq. ft.=, square feet: =sq. in.=, square inches: =sq. m.=, square miles: =sq. yds.=, square yards. =s.r.i.= (l. _sacrum romanum imperium_), the holy roman empire. =s.s.=, steamship. =s.s.e.=, south-south-east. =s.s.w.=, south-south-west. =s.t.p.= (l. _sacræ theologia professor_), professor of theology. =super.=, superfine. =supp.=, supplement. =s.w.=, south-west. =syn.=, synonym; synonymous. =t.o.=, turn over. =tr.= or =trs=., transpose. =u.c.=, upper canada; (l. _urbe condita_, the founding of the city), the year of rome. =univ.=, university. =u.p.=, united presbyterian. =u.s.=, united states. =v.g.= (l. _verbi gratiâ_), for example. =vid.= (l. _vide_), see. =viz.= (a corruption of l. _videlicet_), namely; to wit. =vol.=, volume: =vols.=, volumes. =v.p.=, vice-president. =vul.=, vulgate. =w.=, west; western. =winton=, winchester. =w. long.=, west longitude. =w.m.s.=, wesleyan missionary society. =w.n.w.=, west-north-west. =w.s.w.=, west-south-west. =wt.=, weight. =x.= or =xt.=, christ: =xm.= or =xmas.=, christmas: =xn.= or =xtian.=, christian. =yd.=, yard: =yds.=, yards. the end. * * * * * 1883.--1883. g. w. carleton & co. new books and new editions, recently issued by g. w. carleton & co., publishers, madison square, new york. the publishers, on receipt of price, send any book on this catalogue by mail, _postage free_. all handsomely bound in cloth, with gilt backs suitable for libraries. =mary j. holmes' works.= tempest and sunshine $1 50 english orphans 1 50 homestead on the hillside 1 50 'lena rivers 1 50 meadow brook 1 50 dora deane 1 50 cousin maude 1 50 marian grey 1 50 edith lyle 1 50 daisy thornton 1 50 chateau d´or (new) 1 50 darkness and daylight 1 50 hugh worthington 1 50 cameron pride 1 50 rose mather 1 50 ethelyn's mistake 1 50 millbank 1 50 edna browning 1 50 west lawn 1 50 mildred 1 50 forrest house 1 50 madeline (new) 1 50 =marion harland's works.= alone $1 50 hidden path 1 50 moss side 1 50 nemesis 1 50 miriam 1 50 at last 1 50 helen gardner 1 50 true as steel (new) 1 50 sunnybank 1 50 husbands and homes 1 50 ruby's husband 1 50 phemie's temptation 1 50 the empty heart 1 50 jessamine 1 50 from my youth up 1 50 my little love 1 50 =charles dickens--15 vols.--"carleton's edition."= pickwick and catalogue $1 50 dombey and son 1 50 bleak house 1 50 martin chuzzlewit 1 50 barnaby rudge--edwin drood. 1 50 child's. england--miscellaneous 1 50 christmas books--two cities 1 50 david copperfield 1 50 nicholas nickleby 1 50 little dorrit. 1 50 our mutual friend 1 50 curiosity shop--miscellaneous 1 50 sketches by boz--hard times 1 50 great expectations--italy 1 50 oliver twist--uncommercial 1 50 sets of dickens' complete works, in 15 vols.--[elegant half calf bindings] 50 00 =augusta j. evans' novels.= beulah $1 75 macaria 1 75 ines 1 75 st. elmo $2 00 vashti 2 00 infelice (new) 2 00 =may agnes fleming's novels.= guy earlscourt's wife $1 50 a wonderful woman 1 50 a terrible secret 1 50 a mad marriage 1 50 norine's revenge 1 50 one night's mystery 1 50 kate danton 1 50 silent and true 1 50 heir of charlton 1 50 carried by storm 1 50 lost for a woman 1 50 a wife's tragedy 1 50 a changed heart 1 50 pride and passion 1 50 sharing her crime (new) 1 50 =allan pinkerton's works.= expressmen and detectives $1 50 mollie maguires and detectives 1 50 somnambulists and detectives 1 50 claude melnotte and detectives 1 50 criminal reminiscences, etc. 1 50 rail-road forger, etc. 1 50 bank robbers and detectives 1 50 gypsies and detectives 1 50 spiritualists and detectives 1 50 model town and detectives 1 50 strikers, communists, etc. 1 50 mississippi outlaws, etc. 1 50 bucholz and detectives 1 50 =bertha clay's novels.= thrown on the world $1 50 a bitter atonement 1 50 love works wonders 1 50 evelyn's folly 1 50 under a shadow (new) 1 50 a woman's temptation 1 50 repented at leisure 1 50 between two loves 1 50 lady damer's secret 1 50 a struggle for a ring (new) 1 50 ="new york weekly" series.= brownie's triumph--sheldon $1 50 the forsaken bride. do. 1 50 earle wayne's nobility. do. 1 50 a new book. do. 1 50 his other wife--ashleigh 1 50 curse of everleigh--pierce 1 50 peerless cathleen--agnew 1 50 faithful margaret--ashmore 1 50 nick whiffles--robinson 1 50 grinder papers--dallas 1 50 lady leonora--conklin 1 50 =miriam coles harris' novels.= rutledge $1 50 frank warrington 1 50 louie's last term, st. mary's 1 50 a perfect adonis 1 50 missy (new) 1 50 the sutherlands 1 50 st. philips 1 50 round hearts for children 1 50 richard vandermarck 1 50 happy-go-lucky 1 50 =a. s. roe's select stories.= true to the last $1 50 the star and the cloud 1 50 how could he help it? 1 50 a long look ahead 1 50 i've been thinking 1 50 to love and to be loved 1 50 =julie p. smith's novels.= widow goldsmith's daughter $1 50 chris and otho 1 50 ten old maids 1 50 his young wife 1 50 lucy (new) 1 50 the widower 1 50 the married belle 1 50 courting and farming 1 50 kiss and be friends 1 50 =artemas ward.= complete comic writings--with biography, portrait and 50 illustrations $1 50 =the game of whist.= pole on whist--the english standard work. with the "portland rules" $ 75 =victor hugo's great novel.= les miserables--translated from the french. the only complete edition $1 50 =mrs. hill's cook book.= mrs. a. p. hill's new southern cookery book, and domestic receipts $2 00 =carleton's popular quotations.= carleton's new hand-book--familiar quotations, with their authorship $1 50 carleton's classical dictionary--condensed mythology for popular use 75 =celia e. gardner's novels.= stolen waters. (in verse) $1 50 broken dreams. do. 1 50 compensation. do. 1 50 a twisted skein. do. 1 50 tested 1 50 rich medway 1 50 a woman's wiles 1 50 terrace roses 1 50 ="new york weekly" series.= thrown on the world. $1 50 a bitter atonement. 1 50 love works wonders. 1 50 evelyn's folly. 1 50 lady damer's secret. 1 50 a woman's temptation. 1 50 repented at leisure. 1 50 between two loves. 1 50 peerless cathleen. 1 50 brownie's triumph. 1 50 the forsaken bride. 1 50 his other wife. 1 50 nick whiffles. 1 50 lady leonore. 1 50 the grinder papers. 1 50 faithful margaret. 1 50 curse of everleigh. 1 50 =artemas ward.= complete comic writings--with biography, portrait, and 50 illustrations. $1 50 =charles dickens.= dickens' parlor table album of illustrations--with descriptive text. $2 50 =m. m. pomeroy= ("=brick="). sense. a serious book. $1 50 gold dust.--do. 1 50 our saturday nights. 1 50 nonsense. (a comic book). 1 50 brick-dust.--do. 1 50 home harmonies. 1 50 =ernest renan's french works.= the life of jesus. translated. $1 75 lives of the apostles.--do. 1 75 the life of st. paul. translated. 1 75 the bible in india--by jacolliot. 2 00 =g. w. carleton.= our artist in cuba, peru, spain, and algiers--150 caricatures of travel. $1 00 =miscellaneous publications.= the children's fairy geography--with hundreds of beautiful illustrations. $2 50 hawk-eyes--a comic book by "the burlington hawkeye man." illustrated. 1 50 among the thorns--a new novel by mrs. mary lowe dickinson. 1 50 our daughters--a talk with mothers, by marion harland, author of "alone," 50 redbirds christmas story--an illustrated juvenile. by mary j. holmes. 50 carleton's popular readings--edited by mrs. anna randall diehl. 1 50 the culprit fay--joseph rodman drake's poem. with 100 illustrations. 2 00 l'assommoir--english translation from zola's famous french novel. 1 00 parlor amusements--games, tricks, and home amusements, by f. bellew. 1 00 love [l'amour]--translation from michelet's famous french work. 1 50 woman [la femme].--do.--do.--do. 1 50 verdant green--a racy english college story. with 200 comic illustrations. 1 00 solid for mulhooly--the sharpest political satire of the day. 1 00 a northern governess at the sunny south--by professor j. h. ingraham. 1 50 laus veneris, and other poems--by algernon charles swinburne. 1 50 birds of a feather flock together--by edward a. sothern, the actor. 1 00 beatrice cenci--from the italian novel, with guido's celebrated portrait. 1 50 morning glories--a charming collection of children's stories. by louisa alcot. 1 00 some women of to-day--a novel by mrs. dr. wm. h. white. 1 50 from new york to san francisco--by mrs. frank leslie. illustrated. 1 50 why wife and i quarreled--a poem by author "betsey and i are out." 1 00 west india pickles--a yacht cruise in the tropics. by w. p. talboys. 1 00 threading my way--the autobiography of robert dale owen. 1 50 debatable land between this world and next--robert dale owen. 2 00 lights and shadows of spiritualism--by d. d. home, the medium. 2 00 yachtman's primer--instructions for amateur sailors. by warren. 50 the fall of man--a darwinian satire, by author of "new gospel of peace." 50 the chronicles of gotham--a new york satire.--do.--do. 25 tales from the operas--a collection of stories based upon the opera plots. 1 00 ladies and gentlemen's etiquette book of the best fashionable society. 1 00 self culture in conversation, letter-writing, and oratory. 1 00 love and marriage--a book for young people. by frederick saunders. 1 00 under the rose--a capital book, by the author of "east lynne," 1 00 so dear a dream--a novel by miss grant, author of "the sun maid". 1 00 give me thine heart--a capital new love story by roe. 1 00 meeting her fate--a charming novel by the author of "aurora floyd". 1 00 the new york cook-book--book of domestic receipts. by mrs. astor. 1 00 =miscellaneous works.= dawn to noon--by violet fane $1 50 constance's fate--do. 1 50 french love songs--translated 50 a bad boy's first reader 10 lion jack--by p. t. barnum 1 50 jack in the jungle--do. 1 50 cats, cooks, etc--by edw. t. ely 50 drumming as a fine art 50 how to win in wall street 50 the life of sarah bernhardt 25 arctic travels--isaac i. hayes 1 50 college tramps--fred. a. stokes 1 50 gospels in poetry--e. h. kimball 1 50 me--by mrs. spencer w. coe 50 n.y. to san francisco--leslie 1 50 don quixote--illustrated $1 00 arabian nights--do. 1 00 robinson crusoe--do 1 00 swiss family robinson--illus. 1 00 debatable land--r. dale owen 2 00 threading my way.--do. 1 50 spiritualism--by d. d. home 2 00 fanny fern memorials 2 00 orpheus c. kerr--4 vols. in one 2 00 northern ballads--e. l. anderson 1 00 offenbach's tour in america 1 50 stories about doctors--jeffreson 1 50 stories about lawyers--do. 1 50 mrs. spriggins.--by widow bedott 1 50 how to make money--davies 1 50 =miscellaneous novels.= doctor antonio--by ruffini $1 50 beatrice cenci--from the italian 1 50 madame--by frank lee benedict 1 50 a late remorse--do. 1 50 hammer and anvil--do. 1 50 her friend laurence--do. 1 50 prairie flower--emerson bennett 1 50 among the thorns--dickinson 1 50 women of to-day--mrs. w.h. white 1 50 braxton's bar--r. m. daggett 1 50 miss beck--tilbury holt 1 50 sub rosa--chas. t. murray 50 hilda and i--e. bedell benjamin 1 50 a college widow--c. h. seymour 1 50 old m'sieur's secret--translation 50 petticoats and slippers 50 shiftless folks--fannie smith 1 50 peace pelican.--do. 1 50 price of a life--r. forbes sturgis 1 50 hidden power--t. h. tibbles 1 50 two brides--bernard o'reilly 1 50 sorry her lot--miss grant 1 00 two of us--calista halsey 75 cupid on crutches--a. b. wood 75 parson thorne--e. m. buckingham 1 50 marston hall--l. ella byrd 1 50 ange--florence marryatt 1 00 errors--ruth carter 1 50 unmistakable flirtation--garner 75 wild oats--florence marryatt 1 50 widow cherry--b. l. farjeon 25 solomon isaacs.--do. 50 edith murray--joanna mathews 1 50 doctor mortimer--fannie bean 1 50 outwitted at last--s. a. gardner 1 50 vesta vane--l. king, r. 1 50 louise and i--c. r. dodge 1 50 my queen--by sandette 1 50 fallen among thieves--rayne 1 50 san miniato--mrs. hamilton 1 00 all for her--a tale of new york 1 50 all for him--author "all for her" 1 50 for each other.--do. 1 50 the baroness--joaquin miller 1 50 one fair woman.--do. 1 50 saint leger--richard b. kimball $1 75 was he successful?--do. 1 75 undercurrents of wall st.--do. 1 75 romance of student life.--do. 1 75 to-day.--do. 1 75 life in san domingo.--do. 1 75 henry powers, banker.--do. 1 75 led astray--octave feuillet 1 50 she loved him madly--borys 1 50 thick and thin--mery 1 50 so fair yet false--chavette 1 50 a fatal passion--c. bernard 1 50 a woman's case--bessie turner 1 50 marguerite's journal--for girls 1 50 rose of memphis--w. c. falkner 1 50 spell-bound--alexandre dumas 75 heart's delight--mrs. alderdice 1 50 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book form, have consented, and have now made arrangements for such publications with the well-known new york house of g. w. carleton & co., publishers. the intention is to issue in book form such novels, stories, humorous writings, etc., as have run through the _the new york weekly_, and have proved to be the most popular. thus the millions of _new york weekly_ readers, who have been particularly pleased and delighted with certain stories in the paper, and who would like to have them in book form for preservation and re-reading, will have an opportunity to buy such works, and gradually form a beautiful library of choice books, the very cream of the contributions to _the new york weekly_. _the volumes already published are as follows:_ =thrown on the world.=--a novel, by bertha m. clay. =peerless cathleen.=--a novel, by cora agnew. =faithful margaret.=--a novel, by annie ashmore. =nick whiffles.=--a novel, by dr. j. h. robinson. =lady leonora.=--a novel, by carrie conklin. =charity grinder papers.=--by mary kyle dallas. =a bitter atonement.=--a novel, by bertha m. clay. =curse of everleigh.=--by helen corwin pierce. =love works wonders.=--a novel, by bertha m. clay. =evelyn's folly.=--a novel, by bertha m. clay. =lady damer's secret.=--a novel, by bertha m. clay. =a woman's temptation.=--a novel, by bertha m. clay. =brownie's triumph.=--a novel, by mrs. georgie sheldon. =repented at leisure.=--a novel, by bertha m. clay. =forsaken bride.=--a novel, by mrs. georgie sheldon. =between two loves.=--a novel, by bertha m. clay. =his other wife.=--a novel, by rose ashleigh. ==>these books are handsomely printed, and elegantly bound in cloth, with gold back stamps, price, $1.50 each. ==>sold by booksellers everywhere--and sent by mail, _postage free_, on receipt of price. $1.50, by =g. w. carleton & co., publishers, madison square, new york.= * * * * * mrs. mary j. holmes' works. tempest and sunshine. english orphans. homestead on hillside. 'lena rivers. meadow brook. dora deane. cousin maude. marian grey. edith lyle. daisy thornton. (_new_). darkness and daylight. hugh worthington. cameron pride rose mather. ethelyn's mistake. millbank. edna browning. west lawn. mildred. forrest house. (_new_). opinions of the press. "mrs. holmes' stories are universally read. her admirers are numberless. she is in many respects without a rival in the world of fiction. her characters are always life-like, and she makes them talk and act like human beings, subject to the same emotions, swayed by the same passions, and actuated by the same motives which are common among men and women of every day existence. mrs. holmes is very happy in portraying domestic life. old and young peruse her stories with great delight, for she writes in a style that all can comprehend."--_new york weekly._ =the north american review=, vol. 81, page 557, says of mrs. mary j. holmes' novel, "english orphans":--"with this novel of mrs. holmes' we have been charmed, and so have a pretty numerous circle of discriminating readers to whom we have lent it. the characterization is exquisite, especially so far as concerns rural and village life, of which there are some pictures that deserve to be hung up in perpetual memory of types of humanity fast becoming extinct. the dialogues are generally brief, pointed, and appropriate. the plot seems simple, so easily and naturally is it developed and consummated. moreover, the story thus gracefully constructed and written, inculcates without obtruding, not only pure christian morality in general, but, with especial point and power, the dependence of true success on character, and of true respectability on merit." "mrs. holmes' stories are all of a domestic character, and their interest, therefore, is not so intense as if they were more highly seasoned with sensationalism, but it is of a healthy and abiding character. almost any new book which her publisher might choose to announce from her pen would get an immediate and general reading. the interest in her tales begins at once, and is maintained to the close. her sentiments are so sound, her sympathies so warm and ready, and her knowledge of manners, character, and the varied incidents of ordinary life is so thorough, that she would find it difficult to write any other than an excellent tale if she were to try it."--_boston banner._ ==>the volumes are all handsomely printed and bound in cloth, sold everywhere, and sent by mail, _postage free_, on receipt of price [$1.50 each], by g. w. carleton & co., publishers, _madison square, new york._ * * * * * a valuable new book _that should be on every scholar's table._ carleton's hand-book of popular quotations. a book of _ready reference_ for such phrases, extracts and familiar quotations from popular authors, as are oftenest met with in general literature; together with their authorship and position in the original. embracing, also, the best list of quotations from foreign languages ever published. elegantly printed and bound. price, $1.50. if you want to _find_ any familiar quotation, appropriate to any particular subject or sentiment--this book will give it to you. if you want to know who is the author, and _where_ any particular familiar quotation comes from--this book will tell you. if you remember _part_ of a familiar quotation and want to know the whole of it, and know it _exactly_--this book will tell you. if you want to know the exact meaning and correctness of any latin, french or familiar quotation, in any _foreign language_--this book will tell you. if you simply want a delightful book to have lying upon your table, convenient to pick up and entertain you with charming and familiar thoughts and quotations of all authors--this is the book that will exactly suit you. *** there's none more fascinating in the english language. *** the demand for this remarkable work is enormous. the publishers can hardly print them fast enough. they are for sale by every bookseller, and will be sent by mail, _postage free_, on receipt of, the price, $1.50, by g. w. carleton & co., publishers, _madison square, new york._ charles dickens' works. a new edition. among the many editions of the works of this greatest of english novelists, there has not been until _now_ one that entirely satisfies the public demand.--without exception, they each have some strong distinctive objection,--either the form and dimensions of the volumes are unhandy--or, the type is small and indistinct--or, the illustrations are unsatisfactory--or, the binding is poor--or, the price is too high. an entirely new edition is _now_, however, published by g. w. carleton & co., of new york, which, in every respect, completely satisfies the popular demand.--it is known as "=carleton's new illustrated edition.=" complete in 15 volumes. the size and form is most convenient for holding,--the type is entirely new, and of a clear and open character that has received the approval of the reading community in other works. the illustrations are by the original artists chosen by charles dickens himself--and the paper, printing, and binding are of an attractive and substantial character. this beautiful new edition is complete in 15 volumes--at the extremely reasonable price of $1.50 per volume, as follows:- 1.--pickwick papers and catalogue. 2.--oliver twist.--uncommercial traveller. 3.--david copperfield. 4.--great expectations.--italy and america. 5.--dombey and son. 6.--barnaby rudge and edwin drood. 7.--nicholas nickleby. 8.--curiosity shop and miscellaneous. 9.--bleak house. 10.--little dorrit. 11.--martin chuzzlewit. 12.--our mutual friend. 13.--christmas books.--tale of two cities. 14.--sketches by boz and hard times. 15.--child's england and miscellaneous. the first volume--pickwick papers--contains an alphabetical catalogue of all of charles dickens' writings, with their exact positions in the volumes. this edition is sold by booksellers, everywhere--and single specimen copies will be forwarded by mail, _postage free_, on receipt of price, $1.50, by g. w. carleton & co., publishers, madison square, new york. * * * * * typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber: hercules was the son of jupiter and almena.=> hercules was the son of jupiter and alcmena. {pg 11} pelops and and hippodamia=> pelops and hippodamia {pg 25} mathemathics=> mathematics {pg 57} asissted=> assisted {pg 69} briqing the charioteer=> bribing the charioteer {pg 106} ane minerva=> and minerva {pg 112} tales of the enchanted islands of the atlantic by thomas wentworth higginson to general sir george wentworth higginson, k. c. b. _gyldernscroft, marlow, england_ this book is inscribed, in token of kindred and of old family friendships, cordially preserved into the present generation these legends unite the two sides of the atlantic and form a part of the common heritage of the english-speaking race preface hawthorne in his _wonder book_ has described the beautiful greek myths and traditions, but no one has yet made similar use of the wondrous tales that gathered for more than a thousand years about the islands of the atlantic deep. although they are a part of the mythical period of american history, these hazy legends were altogether disdained by the earlier historians; indeed, george bancroft made it a matter of actual pride that the beginning of the american annals was bare and literal. but in truth no national history has been less prosaic as to its earlier traditions, because every visitor had to cross the sea to reach it, and the sea has always been, by the mystery of its horizon, the fury of its storms, and the variableness of the atmosphere above it, the foreordained land of romance. in all ages and with all sea-going races there has always been something especially fascinating about an island amid the ocean. its very existence has for all explorers an air of magic. an island offers to us heights rising from depths; it exhibits that which is most fixed beside that which is most changeable, the fertile beside the barren, and safety after danger. the ocean forever tends to encroach on the island, the island upon the ocean. they exist side by side, friends yet enemies. the island signifies safety in calm, and yet danger in storm; in a tempest the sailor rejoices that he is not near it; even if previously bound for it, he puts about and steers for the open sea. often if he seeks it he cannot reach it. the present writer spent a winter on the island of fayal, and saw in a storm a full-rigged ship drift through the harbor disabled, having lost her anchors; and it was a week before she again made the port. there are groups of islands scattered over the tropical ocean, especially, to which might well be given herman melville's name, "las encantadas," the enchanted islands. these islands, usually volcanic, have no vegetation but cactuses or wiry bushes with strange names; no inhabitants but insects and reptiles--lizards, spiders, snakes,--with vast tortoises which seem of immemorial age, and are coated with seaweed and the slime of the ocean. if there are any birds, it is the strange and heavy penguin, the passing albatross, or the mother cary's chicken, which has been called the humming bird of ocean, and here finds a place for its young. by night these birds come for their repose; at earliest dawn they take wing and hover over the sea, leaving the isle deserted. the only busy or beautiful life which always surrounds it is that of a myriad species of fish, of all forms and shapes, and often more gorgeous than any butterflies in gold and scarlet and yellow. once set foot on such an island and you begin at once to understand the legends of enchantment which ages have collected around such spots. climb to its heights, you seem at the masthead of some lonely vessel, kept forever at sea. you feel as if no one but yourself had ever landed there; and yet, perhaps, even there, looking straight downward, you see below you in some crevice of the rock a mast or spar of some wrecked vessel, encrusted with all manner of shells and uncouth vegetable growth. no matter how distant the island or how peacefully it seems to lie upon the water, there may be perplexing currents that ever foam and swirl about it --currents which are, at all tides and in the calmest weather, as dangerous as any tempest, and which make compass untrustworthy and helm powerless. it is to be remembered also that an island not only appears and disappears upon the horizon in brighter or darker skies, but it varies its height and shape, doubles itself in mirage, or looks as if broken asunder, divided into two or three. indeed the buccaneer, cowley, writing of one such island which he had visited, says: "my fancy led me to call it cowley's enchanted isle, for we having had a sight of it upon several points of the compass, it appeared always in so many different forms; sometimes like a ruined fortification; upon another point like a great city." if much of this is true even now, it was far truer before the days of columbus, when men were constantly looking westward across the atlantic, and wondering what was beyond. in those days, when no one knew with certainty whether the ocean they observed was a sea or a vast lake, it was often called "the sea of darkness." a friend of the latin poet, ovid, describing the first approach to this sea, says that as you sail out upon it the day itself vanishes, and the world soon ends in perpetual darkness:- "quo ferimur? ruit ipsa dies, orbemque relictum ultima perpetuis claudit natura tenebris." nevertheless, it was the vague belief of many nations that the abodes of the blest lay somewhere beyond it--in the "other world," a region half earthly, half heavenly, whence the spirits of the departed could not cross the water to return;--and so they were constantly imagining excursions made by favored mortals to enchanted islands. to add to the confusion, actual islands in the atlantic were sometimes discovered and actually lost again, as, for instance, the canaries, which were reached and called the fortunate isles a little before the christian era, and were then lost to sight for thirteen centuries ere being visited again. the glamour of enchantment was naturally first attached by europeans to islands within sight of their own shores--irish, welsh, breton, or spanish,--and then, as these islands became better known, men's imaginations carried the mystery further out over the unknown western sea. the line of legend gradually extended itself till it formed an imaginary chart for columbus; the aged astronomer, toscanelli, for instance, suggesting to him the advantage of making the supposed island of antillia a half-way station; just as it was proposed, long centuries after, to find a station for the ocean telegraph in the equally imaginary island of jacquet, which has only lately disappeared from the charts. with every step in knowledge the line of fancied stopping-places rearranged itself, the fictitious names flitting from place to place on the maps, and sometimes duplicating themselves. where the tradition itself has vanished we find that the names with which it associated itself are still assigned, as in case of brazil and the antilles, to wholly different localities. the order of the tales in the present work follows roughly the order of development, giving first the legends which kept near the european shore, and then those which, like st. brandan's or antillia, were assigned to the open sea or, like norumbega or the isle of demons, to the very coast of america. every tale in this book bears reference to some actual legend, followed more or less closely, and the authorities for each will be found carefully given in the appendix for such readers as may care to follow the subject farther. it must be remembered that some of these imaginary islands actually remained on the charts of the british admiralty until within a century. if even the exact science of geographers retained them thus long, surely romance should embalm them forever. cambridge, mass. contents i. the story of atlantis ii. taliessin of the radiant brow iii. the swan-children of lir iv. usheen in the island of youth v. bran the blessed vi. the castle of the active door vii. merlin the enchanter viii. sir lancelot of the lake ix. the half-man x. king arthur at avalon xi. maelduin's voyage xii. the voyage of st. brandan xiii. kirwan's search for hy-brasail xiv. the isle of satan's hand xv. antillia, the island of the seven cities xvi. harald the viking xvii. the search for norumbega xviii. the guardians of the st. lawrence xix. the island of demons xx. bimini and the fountain of youth _notes_ i the story of atlantis the greek sage socrates, when he was but a boy minding his father's goats, used to lie on the grass under the myrtle trees; and, while the goats grazed around him, he loved to read over and over the story which solon, the law-giver and poet, wrote down for the great-grandfather of socrates, and which solon had always meant to make into a poem, though he died without doing it. but this was briefly what he wrote in prose:-"i, solon, was never in my life so surprised as when i went to egypt for instruction in my youth, and there, in the temple of sais, saw an aged priest who told me of the island of atlantis, which was sunk in the sea thousands of years ago. he said that in the division of the earth the gods agreed that the god poseidon, or neptune, should have, as his share, this great island which then lay in the ocean west of the mediterranean sea, and was larger than all asia. there was a mortal maiden there whom poseidon wished to marry, and to secure her he surrounded the valley where she dwelt with three rings of sea and two of land so that no one could enter; and he made underground springs, with water hot or cold, and supplied all things needful to the life of man. here he lived with her for many years, and they had ten sons; and these sons divided the island among them and had many children, who dwelt there for more than a thousand years. they had mines of gold and silver, and pastures for elephants, and many fragrant plants. they erected palaces and dug canals; and they built their temples of white, red, and black stone, and covered them with gold and silver. in these were statues of gold, especially one of the god poseidon driving six winged horses. he was so large as to touch the roof with his head, and had a hundred water-nymphs around him, riding on dolphins. the islanders had also baths and gardens and sea-walls, and they had twelve hundred ships and ten thousand chariots. all this was in the royal city alone, and the people were friendly and good and well-affectioned towards all. but as time went on they grew less so, and they did not obey the laws, so that they offended heaven. in a single day and night the island disappeared and sank beneath the sea; and this is why the sea in that region grew so impassable and impenetrable, because there is a quantity of shallow mud in the way, and this was caused by the sinking of a single vast island." "this is the tale," said solon, "which the old egyptian priest told to me." and solon's tale was read by socrates, the boy, as he lay in the grass; and he told it to his friends after he grew up, as is written in his dialogues recorded by his disciple, plato. and though this great island of atlantis has never been seen again, yet a great many smaller islands have been found in the atlantic ocean, and they have sometimes been lost to sight and found again. there is, also, in this ocean a vast tract of floating seaweed, called by sailors the sargasso sea,--covering a region as large as france,--and this has been thought by many to mark the place of a sunken island. there are also many islands, such as the azores, which have been supposed at different times to be fragments of atlantis; and besides all this, the remains of the vanished island have been looked for in all parts of the world. some writers have thought it was in sweden, others in spitzbergen, others in africa, in palestine, in america. since the depth of the atlantic has been more thoroughly sounded, a few writers have maintained that the inequalities of its floor show some traces of the submerged atlantis, but the general opinion of men of science is quite the other way. the visible atlantic islands are all, or almost all, they say, of volcanic origin; and though there are ridges in the bottom of the ocean, they do not connect the continents. at any rate, this was the original story of atlantis, and the legends which follow in these pages have doubtless all grown, more or less, out of this first tale which socrates told. ii taliessin of the radiant brow in times past there were enchanted islands in the atlantic ocean, off the coast of wales, and even now the fishermen sometimes think they see them. on one of these there lived a man named tegid voel and his wife called cardiwen. they had a son, the ugliest boy in the world, and cardiwen formed a plan to make him more attractive by teaching him all possible wisdom. she was a great magician and resolved to boil a large caldron full of knowledge for her son, so that he might know all things and be able to predict all that was to happen. then she thought people would value him in spite of his ugliness. but she knew that the caldron must burn a year and a day without ceasing, until three blessed drops of the water of knowledge were obtained from it; and those three drops would give all the wisdom she wanted. so she put a boy named gwion to stir the caldron and a blind man named morda to feed the fire; and made them promise never to let it cease boiling for a year and a day. she herself kept gathering magic herbs and putting them into it. one day when the year was nearly over, it chanced that three drops of the liquor flew out of the caldron and fell on the finger of gwion. they were fiery hot, and he put his finger to his mouth, and the instant he tasted them he knew that they were the enchanted drops for which so much trouble had been taken. by their magic he at once foresaw all that was to come, and especially that cardiwen the enchantress would never forgive him. then gwion fled. the caldron burst in two, and all the liquor flowed forth, poisoning some horses which drank it. these horses belonged to a king named gwyddno. cardiwen came in and saw all the toil of the whole year lost. seizing a stick of wood, she struck the blind man morda fiercely on the head, but he said, "i am innocent. it was not i who did it." "true," said cardiwen; "it was the boy gwion who robbed me;" and she rushed to pursue him. he saw her and fled, changing into a hare; but she became a greyhound and followed him. running to the water, he became a fish; but she became another and chased him below the waves. he turned himself into a bird, when she became a hawk and gave him no rest in the sky. just as she swooped on him, he espied a pile of winnowed wheat on the floor of a barn, and dropping upon it, he became one of the wheat-grains. changing herself into a high-crested black hen, cardiwen scratched him up and swallowed him, when he changed at last into a boy again and was so beautiful that she could not kill him outright, but wrapped him in a leathern bag and cast him into the sea, committing him to the mercy of god. this was on the twenty-ninth of april. now gwyddno had a weir for catching fish on the sea-strand near his castle, and every day in may he was wont to take a hundred pounds' worth of fish. he had a son named elphin, who was always poor and unsuccessful, but that year the father had given the son leave to draw all the fish from the weir, to see if good luck would ever befall him and give him something with which to begin the world. when elphin went next to draw the weir, the man who had charge of it said in pity, "thou art always unlucky; there is nothing in the weir but a leathern bag, which is caught on one of the poles." "how do we know," said elphin, "that it may not contain the value of a hundred pounds?" taking up the bag and opening it, the man saw the forehead of the boy and said to elphin, "behold, what a radiant brow" (taliessin). "let him be called taliessin," said elphin. then he lifted the boy and placed him sorrowfully behind him; and made his horse amble gently, that before had been trotting, and carried him as softly as if he had been sitting in the easiest chair in the world, and the boy of the radiant brow made a song to elphin as they went along. "never in gwyddno's weir was there such good luck as this night. fair elphin, dry thy cheeks! being too sad will not avail, although thou thinkest thou hast no gain. too much grief will bring thee no good; nor doubt the miracles of the almighty: although i am but little, i am highly gifted. from seas, and from mountains, and from the depths of rivers, god brings wealth to the fortunate man. elphin of lively qualities, thy resolution is unmanly: thou must not be oversorrowful: better to trust in god than to forebode ill. weak and small as i am, on the foaming beach of the ocean, in the day of trouble i shall be of more service to thee than three hundred salmon. elphin of notable qualities, be not displeased at thy misfortune: although reclined thus weak in my bag, there lies a virtue in my tongue. while i continue thy protector thou hast not much to fear." then elphin asked him, "art thou man or spirit?" and in answer the boy sang to him this tale of his flight from the woman:- "i have fled with vigor, i have fled as a frog, i have fled in the semblance of a crow scarcely finding rest; i have fled vehemently, i have fled as a chain of lightning, i have fled as a roe into an entangled thicket; i have fled as a wolf-cub, i have fled as a wolf in the wilderness, i have fled as a fox used to many swift bounds and quirks; i have fled as a martin, which did not avail; i have fled as a squirrel that vainly hides, i have fled as a stag's antler, of ruddy course, i have fled as an iron in a glowing fire, i have fled as a spear-head, of woe to such as have a wish for it; i have fled as a fierce bull bitterly fighting, i have fled as a bristly boar seen in a ravine, i have fled as a white grain of pure wheat; into a dark leathern bag i was thrown, and on a boundless sea i was sent adrift; which was to me an omen of being tenderly nursed, and the lord god then set me at liberty." then elphin came with taliessin to the house of his father, and gwyddno asked him if he had a good haul at the fish-weir. "i have something better than fish." "what is that?" asked the father. "i have a bard," said elphin. "alas, what will he profit thee?" said gwyddno, to which taliessin replied, "he will profit him more than the weir ever profited thee." said gwyddno, "art thou able to speak, and thou so little?" then taliessin said, "i am better able to speak than thou to question me." from this time elphin always prospered, and he and his wife cared for taliessin tenderly and lovingly, and the boy dwelt with him until he was thirteen years old, when elphin went to make a christmas visit to his uncle maelgwyn, who was a great king and held open court. there were four and twenty bards there, and all proclaimed that no king had a wife so beautiful as the queen, or a bard so wise as the twenty-four, who all agreed upon this decision. elphin said, on the contrary, that it was he himself who had the most beautiful wife and the wisest bard, and for this he was thrown into prison. taliessin learning this, set forth from home to visit the palace and free his adoptive father, elphin. in those days it was the custom of kings to sit in the hall and dine in royal state with lords and bards about them who should keep proclaiming the greatness and glory of the king and his knights. taliessin placed himself in a quiet corner, waiting for the four and twenty bards to pass, and as each one passed by, taliessin made an ugly face, and gave a sound with his finger on his lips, thus, "blerwm, blerwm." each bard went by and bowed himself before the king, but instead of beginning to chant his praises, could only play "blerwm, blerwm" on the lips, as the boy had done. the king was amazed and thought they must be intoxicated, so he sent one of his lords to them, telling them to behave themselves and remember where they were. twice and thrice he told them, but they could only repeat the same foolishness, until at last the king ordered one of his squires to give a blow to the chief bard, and the squire struck him a blow with a broom, so that he fell back on his seat. then he arose and knelt before the king, and said, "oh, honorable king, be it known unto your grace that it is not from too much drinking that we are dumb, but through the influence of a spirit which sits in the corner yonder in the form of a child." then the king bade a squire to bring taliessin before him, and he asked the boy who he was. he answered:- "primary chief bard i am to elphin, and my original country is the region of the summer stars; i am a wonder whose origin is not known; i have been fostered in the land of the deity, i have been teacher to all intelligences, i am able to instruct the whole universe. i was originally little gwion, and at length i am taliessin." then the king and his nobles wondered much, for they had never heard the like from a boy so young. the king then called his wisest bard to answer taliessin, but he could only play "blerwm" on his lips as before, and each of the king's four and twenty bards tried in the same way and could do nothing more. then the king bade taliessin sing again, and he began:- "discover thou what is the strong creature from before the flood, without flesh, without bone, without vein, without blood, without head, without feet; it will neither be older nor younger than at the beginning; great god! how the sea whitens when first it comes! great are its gusts when it comes from the south; great are its evaporations when it strikes on coasts. it is in the field, it is in the wood, without hand and without foot, without signs of old age, it is also so wide, as the surface of the earth; and it was not born, nor was it seen. it will cause consternation wherever god willeth. on sea and on land it neither sees, nor is seen. its course is devious, and will not come when desired. on land and on sea it is indispensable. it is without equal, it is many-sided; it is not confined, it is incomparable; it comes from four quarters; it is noxious, it is beneficial; it is yonder, it is here; it will decompose, but it will not repair the injury; it will not suffer for its doings, seeing it is blameless. one being has prepared it, out of all creatures, by a tremendous blast, to wreak vengeance on maelgwyn gwynedd." and while he was thus singing his verse near the door, there came suddenly a mighty storm of wind, so that the king and all his nobles thought the castle would fall on their heads. they saw that taliessin had not merely been singing the song of the wind, but seemed to have power to command it. then the king hastily ordered that elphin should be brought from his dungeon and placed before taliessin, and the chains came loose from his feet, and he was set free. as they rode away from the court, the king and his courtiers rode with them, and taliessin bade elphin propose a race with the king's horses. four and twenty horses were chosen, and taliessin got four and twenty twigs of holly which he had burnt black, and he ordered the youth who was to ride elphin's horse to let all the others set off before him, and bade him as he overtook each horse to strike him with a holly twig and throw it down. then he had him watch where his own horse should stumble and throw down his cap at the place. the race being won, taliessin brought his master to the spot where the cap lay; and put workmen to dig a hole there. when they had dug deeply enough they found a caldron full of gold, and taliessin said, "elphin, this is my payment to thee for having taken me from the water and reared me until now." and on this spot stands a pool of water until this day. iii the swan-children of lir king lir of erin had four young children who were cared for tenderly at first by their stepmother, the new queen; but there came a time when she grew jealous of the love their father bore them, and resolved that she would endure it no longer. sometimes there was murder in her heart, but she could not bear the thought of that wickedness, and she resolved at last to choose another way to rid herself of them. one day she took them to drive in her chariot:--finola, who was eight years old, with her three younger brothers,--aodh, fiacre, and little conn, still a baby. they were beautiful children, the legend says, with skins white and soft as swans' feathers, and with large blue eyes and very sweet voices. reaching a lake, she told them that they might bathe in the clear water; but so soon as they were in it she struck them with a fairy wand,--for she was of the race of the druids, who had magical power,--and she turned them into four beautiful snow-white swans. but they still had human voices, and finola said to her, "this wicked deed of thine shall be punished, for the doom that awaits thee will surely be worse than ours." then finola asked, "how long shall we be in the shape of swans?" "for three hundred years," said the woman, "on smooth lake darvra; then three hundred years on the sea of moyle" (this being the sea between ireland and scotland); "and then three hundred years at inis glora, in the great western sea" (this was a rocky island in the atlantic). "until the tailkenn (st. patrick) shall come to ireland and bring the christian faith, and until you hear the christian bell, you shall not be freed. neither your power nor mine can now bring you back to human shape; but you shall keep your human reason and your gaelic speech, and you shall sing music so sweet that all who hear it shall gladly listen." she left them, and ere long their father, king lir, came to the shore and heard their singing. he asked how they came to have human voices. "we are thy four children," said finola, "changed into swans by our stepmother's jealousy." "then come and live with me," said her sorrowing father. "we are not permitted to leave the lake," she said, "or live with our people any more. but we are allowed to dwell together and to keep our reason and our speech, and to sing sweet music to you." then they sang, and the king and all his followers were at first amazed and then lulled to sleep. then king lir returned and met the cruel stepmother at her father's palace. when her father, king bove, was told what she had done, he was hot with anger. "this wicked deed," he said, "shall bring severer punishment on thee than on the innocent children, for their suffering shall end, but thine never shall." then king bove asked her what form of existence would be most terrible to her. she replied, "that of a demon of the air." "be it so," said her father, who had also druidical power. he struck her with his wand, and she became a bat, and flew away with a scream, and the legend says, "she is still a demon of the air and shall be a demon of the air until the end of time." after this, the people of all the races that were in erin used to come and encamp by the lake and listen to the swans. the happy were made happier by the song, and those who were in grief or illness or pain forgot their sorrows and were lulled to rest. there was peace in all that region, while war and tumult filled other lands. vast changes took place in three centuries--towers and castles rose and fell, villages were built and destroyed, generations were born and died;--and still the swan-children lived and sang, until at the end of three hundred years they flew away, as was decreed, to the stormy sea of moyle; and from that time it was made a law that no one should kill a swan in erin. beside the sea of moyle they found no longer the peaceful and wooded shores they had known, but only steep and rocky coasts and a wild, wild sea. there came a great storm one night, and the swans knew that they could not keep together, so they resolved that if separated they would meet at a rock called carricknarone. finola reached there first, and took her brothers under her wings, all wet, shivering, and exhausted. many such nights followed, and in one terrible winter storm, when they nestled together on carricknarone, the water froze into solid ice around them, and their feet and wings were so frozen to the rock that when they moved they left the skin of their feet, the quills of their wings, and the feathers of their breasts clinging there. when the ice melted, and they swam out into the sea, their bodies smarted with pain until the feathers grew once more. one day they saw a glittering troop of horsemen approaching along the shore and knew that they were their own kindred, though from far generations back, the dedannen or fairy host. they greeted each other with joy, for the fairy host had been sent to seek for the swans; and on returning to their chiefs they narrated what had passed, and the chiefs said, "we cannot help them, but we are glad they are living; and we know that at last the enchantment will be broken and that they will be freed from their sorrows." so passed their lives until finola sang, one day, "the second woe has passed--the second period of three hundred years," when they flew out on the broad ocean, as was decreed, and went to the island of inis glora. there they spent the next three hundred years, amid yet wilder storms and yet colder winds. no more the peaceful shepherds and living neighbors were around them; but often the sailor and fisherman, in his little coracle, saw the white gleam of their wings or heard the sweet notes of their song and knew that the children of lir were near. but the time came when the nine hundred years of banishment were ended, and they might fly back to their father's old home, finnahã . flying for days above the sea, they alighted at the palace once so well known, but everything was changed by time--even the walls of their father's palace were crumbled and rain-washed. so sad was the sight that they remained one day only, and flew back to inis glora, thinking that if they must be forever solitary, they would live where they had lived last, not where they had been reared. one may morning, as the children of lir floated in the air around the island of inis glora, they heard a faint bell sounding across the eastern sea. the mist lifted, and they saw afar off, beyond the waves, a vision of a stately white-robed priest, with attendants around him on the irish shore. they knew that it must be st. patrick, the tailkenn, or tonsured one, who was bringing, as had been so long promised, christianity to ireland. sailing through the air, above the blue sea, towards their native coast, they heard the bell once more, now near and distinct, and they knew that all evil spirits were fleeing away, and that their own hopes were to be fulfilled. as they approached the land, st. patrick stretched his hand and said, "children of lir, you may tread your native land again." and the sweet swan-sister, finola, said, "if we tread our native land, it can only be to die, after our life of nine centuries. baptize us while we are yet living." when they touched the shore, the weight of all those centuries fell upon them; they resumed their human bodies, but they appeared old and pale and wrinkled. then st. patrick baptized them, and they died; but, even as he did so, a change swiftly came over them; and they lay side by side, once more children, in their white night-clothes, as when their father lir, long centuries ago, had kissed them at evening and seen their blue eyes close in sleep and had touched with gentle hand their white foreheads and their golden hair. their time of sorrow was ended and their last swan-song was sung; but the cruel stepmother seems yet to survive in her bat-like shape, and a single glance at her weird and malicious little face will lead us to doubt whether she has yet fully atoned for her sin. iv usheen in the island of youth the old celtic hero and poet usheen or oisin, whose supposed songs are known in english as those of ossian, lived to a great old age, surviving all others of the race of the feni, to which he belonged; and he was asked in his last years what had given him such length of life. this is the tale he told:-after the fatal battle of gavra, in which most of the feni were killed, usheen and his father, the king, and some of the survivors of the battle were hunting the deer with their dogs, when they met a maiden riding on a slender white horse with hoofs of gold, and with a golden crescent between his ears. the maiden's hair was of the color of citron and was gathered in a silver band; and she was clad in a white garment embroidered with strange devices. she asked them why they rode slowly and seemed sad, and not like other hunters; and they replied that it was because of the death of their friends and the ruin of their race. when they asked her in turn whence she came, and why, and whether she was married, she replied that she had never had a lover or a husband, but that she had crossed the sea for the love of the great hero and bard usheen, whom she had never seen. then usheen was overcome with love for her, but she said that to wed her he must follow her across the sea to the island of perpetual youth. there he would have a hundred horses and a hundred sheep and a hundred silken robes, a hundred swords, a hundred bows, and a hundred youths to follow him; while she would have a hundred maidens to wait on her. but how, he asked, was he to reach this island? he was to mount her horse and ride behind her. so he did this, and the slender white horse, not feeling his weight, dashed across the waves of the ocean, which did not yield beneath his tread. they galloped across the very sea, and the maiden, whose name was niam, sang to him as they rode, and this so enchantingly that he scarcely knew whether hours passed or days. sometimes deer ran by them over the water, followed by red-eared hounds in full chase; sometimes a maiden holding up an apple of gold; sometimes a beautiful youth; but they themselves rode on always westward. at last they drew near an island which was not, niam said, the island they were seeking; but it was one where a beautiful princess was kept under a spell until some defender should slay a cruel giant who held her under enchantment until she should either wed him or furnish a defender. the youth usheen, being an irishman and not easily frightened, naturally offered his services as defender, and they waited three days and nights to carry on the conflict. he had fought at home--so the legend says--with wild boars, with foreign invaders, and with enchanters, but he never had quite so severe a contest as with this giant; but after he had cut off his opponent's head and had been healed with precious balm by the beautiful princess, he buried the giant's body in a deep grave and placed above it a great stone engraved in the ogham alphabet--in which all the letters are given in straight lines. after this he and niam again mounted the white steed and galloped away over the waves. niam was again singing, when soft music began to be heard in the distance, as if in the centre of the setting sun. they drew nearer and nearer to a shore where the very trees trembled with the multitude of birds that sang upon them; and when they reached the shore, niam gave one note of song, and a band of youths and maidens came rushing towards them and embraced them with eagerness. then they too sang, and as they did it, one brought to usheen a harp of silver and bade him sing of earthly joys. he found himself chanting, as he thought, with peculiar spirit and melody, but as he told them of human joys they kept still and began to weep, till at last one of them seized the silver harp and flung it away into a pool of water, saying, "it is the saddest harp in all the world." then he forgot all the human joys which seemed to those happy people only as sorrows compared with their own; and he dwelt with them thenceforward in perpetual youth. for a hundred years he chased the deer and went fishing in strangely carved boats and joined in the athletic sports of the young men; for a hundred years the gentle niam was his wife. but one day, when usheen was by the beach, there floated to his feet what seemed a wooden staff, and he drew it from the waves. it was the battered fragment of a warrior's lance. the blood stains of war were still on it, and as he looked at it he recalled the old days of the feni, the wars and tumult of his youth; and how he had outlived his tribe and all had passed away. niam came softly to him and rested against his shoulder, but it did not soothe his pain, and he heard one of the young men watching him say to another, "the human sadness has come back into his eyes." the people around stood watching him, all sharing his sorrow, and knowing that his time of happiness was over and that he would go back among men. so indeed it was; niam and usheen mounted the white steed again and galloped away over the sea, but she had warned him when they mounted that he must never dismount for an instant, for that if he once touched the earth, she and the steed would vanish forever, that his youth too would disappear, and that he would be left alone on earth--an old man whose whole generation had vanished. they passed, as before, over the sea; the same visions hovered around them, youths and maidens and animals of the chase; they passed by many islands, and at last reached the shore of erin again. as they travelled over its plains and among its hills, oisin looked in vain for his old companions. a little people had taken their place,--small men and women, mounted on horses as small;--and these people gazed in wonder at the mighty usheen. "we have heard," they said, "of the hero finn, and the poets have written many tales of him and of his people, the feni. we have read in old books that he had a son usheen who went away with a fairy maiden; but he was never seen again, and there is no race of the feni left." yet refusing to believe this, and always looking round for the people whom he had known and loved of old, he thought within himself that perhaps the feni were not to be seen because they were hunting fierce wolves by night, as they used to do in his boyhood, and that they were therefore sleeping in the daytime; but again an old man said to him, "the feni are dead." then he remembered that it was a hundred years, and that his very race had perished, and he turned with contempt on the little men and their little horses. three hundred of them as he rode by were trying to lift a vast stone, but they staggered under its weight, and at last fell and lay beneath it; then leaning from his saddle usheen lifted the stone with one hand and flung it five yards. but with the strain the saddle girth broke, and usheen came to the ground; the white steed shook himself and neighed, then galloped away, bearing niam with him, and usheen lay with all his strength gone from him--a feeble old man. the island of youth could only be known by those who dwelt always within it, and those mortals who had once left it could dwell there no more. v bran the blessed the mighty king bran, a being of gigantic size, sat one day on the cliffs of his island in the atlantic ocean, near to hades and the gates of night, when he saw ships sailing towards him and sent men to ask what they were. they were a fleet sent by matholweh, the king of ireland, who had sent to ask for branwen, bran's sister, as his wife. without moving from his rock bran bid the monarch land, and sent branwen back with him as queen. but there came a time when branwen was ill-treated at the palace; they sent her into the kitchen and made her cook for the court, and they caused the butcher to come every day (after he had cut up the meat) and give her a blow on the ear. they also drew up all their boats on the shore for three years, that she might not send for her brother. but she reared a starling in the cover of the kneading-trough, taught it to speak, and told it how to find her brother; and then she wrote a letter describing her sorrows and bound it to the bird's wing, and it flew to the island and alighted on bran's shoulder, "ruffling its feathers" (says the welsh legend) "so that the letter was seen, and they knew that the bird had been reared in a domestic manner." then bran resolved to cross the sea, but he had to wade through the water, as no ship had yet been built large enough to hold him; and he carried all his musicians (pipers) on his shoulders. as he approached the irish shore, men ran to the king, saying that they had seen a forest on the sea, where there never before had been a tree, and that they had also seen a mountain which moved. then the king asked branwen, the queen, what it could be. she answered, "these are the men of the island of the mighty, who have come hither to protect me." "what is the forest?" they asked. "the yards and masts of ships." "what mountain is that by the side of the ships?" "it is bran my brother, coming to the shoal water and rising." "what is the lofty ridge with the lake on each side?" "that is his nose," she said, "and the two lakes are his fierce eyes." then the people were terrified: there was yet a river for bran to pass, and they broke down the bridge which crossed it, but bran laid himself down and said, "who will be a chief, let him be a bridge." then his men laid hurdles on his back, and the whole army crossed over; and that saying of his became afterwards a proverb. then the irish resolved, in order to appease the mighty visitor, to build him a house, because he had never before had one that would hold him; and they decided to make the house large enough to contain the two armies, one on each side. they accordingly built this house, and there were a hundred pillars, and the builders treacherously hung a leathern bag on each side of each pillar and put an armed man inside of each, so that they could all rise by night and kill the sleepers. but bran's brother, who was a suspicious man, asked the builders what was in the first bag. "meal, good soul," they answered; and he, putting his hand in, felt a man's head and crushed it with his mighty fingers, and so with the next and the next and with the whole two hundred. after this it did not take long to bring on a quarrel between the two armies, and they fought all day. after this great fight between the men of ireland and the men of the isles of the mighty there were but seven of these last who escaped, besides their king bran, who was wounded in the foot with a poisoned dart. then he knew that he should soon die, but he bade the seven men to cut off his head and told them that they must always carry it with them--that it would never decay and would always be able to speak and be pleasant company for them. "a long time will you be on the road," he said. "in harlech you will feast seven years, the birds of rhiannon singing to you all the while. and at the island of gwales you will dwell for fourscore years, and you may remain there, bearing the head with you uncorrupted, until you open the door that looks towards the mainland; and after you have once opened that door you can stay no longer, but must set forth to london to bury the head, leaving it there to look toward france." so they went on to harlech and there stopped to rest, and sat down to eat and drink. and there came three birds, which began singing a certain song, and all the songs they had ever heard were unpleasant compared with it; and the songs seemed to them to be at a great distance from them, over the sea, yet the notes were heard as distinctly as if they were close by; and it is said that at this repast they continued seven years. at the close of this time they went forth to an island in the sea called gwales. there they found a fair and regal spot overlooking the ocean and a spacious hall built for them. they went into it and found two of its doors open, but the third door, looking toward cornwall, was closed. "see yonder," said their leader manawydan; "that is the door we may not open." and that night they regaled themselves and were joyful. and of all they had seen of food laid before them, and of all they had heard said, they remembered nothing; neither of that, nor of any sorrow whatsoever. there they remained fourscore years, unconscious of having ever spent a time more joyous and mirthful. and they were not more weary than when first they came, neither did they, any of them, know the time they had been there. it was not more irksome for them to have the head with them, than if bran the blessed had been with them himself. and because of these fourscore years, it was called "the entertaining of the noble head." one day said heilwyn the son of gwyn, "evil betide me, if i do not open the door to know if that is true which is said concerning it." so he opened the door and looked towards cornwall. and when they had looked they were as conscious of all the evils they had ever sustained, and of all the friends and companions they had ever lost, and of all the misery that had befallen them, as if all had happened in that very spot; and especially of the fate of their lord. and because of their perturbation they could not rest, but journeyed forth with the head towards london. and they buried the head in the white mount. the island called gwales is supposed to be that now named gresholm, eight or ten miles off the coast of pembrokeshire; and to this day the welsh sailors on that coast talk of the green meadows of enchantment lying out at sea west of them, and of men who had either landed on them or seen them suddenly vanishing. some of the people of milford used to declare that they could sometimes see the green islands of the fairies quite distinctly; and they believed that the fairies went to and fro between their islands and the shore through a subterranean gallery under the sea. they used, indeed, to make purchases in the markets of milford or langhorne, and this they did sometimes without being seen and always without speaking, for they seemed to know the prices of the things they wished to buy and always laid down the exact sum of money needed. and indeed, how could the seven companions of the enchanted head have spent eighty years of incessant feasting on an island of the sea, without sometimes purchasing supplies from the mainland? vi the castle of the active door perfect is my chair in caer sidi; plague and age hurt not who's in it- they know, manawydan and pryderi. three organs round a fire sing before it, and about its points are ocean's streams and the abundant well above it- sweeter than white wine the drink in it. peredur, the knight, rode through the wild woods of the enchanted island until he arrived on clear ground outside the forest. then he beheld a castle on level ground in the middle of a meadow; and round the castle flowed a stream, and inside the castle there were large and spacious halls with great windows. drawing nearer the castle, he saw it to be turning more rapidly than any wind blows. on the ramparts he saw archers shooting so vigorously that no armor would protect against them; there were also men blowing horns so loud that the earth appeared to tremble; and at the gates were lions, in iron chains, roaring so violently that one might fancy that the castle and the woods were ready to be uprooted. neither the lions nor the warriors resisted peredur, but he found a woman sitting by the gate, who offered to carry him on her back to the hall. this was the queen rhiannon, who, having been accused of having caused the death of her child, was sentenced to remain seven years sitting by the gate, to tell her story to every one, and to offer to carry all strangers on her back into the castle. but so soon as peredur had entered it, the castle vanished away, and he found himself standing on the bare ground. the queen rhiannon was left beside him, and she remained on the island with her son pryderi and his wife. queen rhiannon married for her second husband a person named manawydan. one day they ascended a mound called arberth which was well known for its wonders, and as they sat there they heard a clap of thunder, followed by mist so thick that they could not see one another. when it grew light again, they looked around them and found that all dwellings and animals had vanished; there was no smoke or fire anywhere or work of human hands; all their household had disappeared, and there were left only pryderi and manawydan with their wives. wandering from place to place, they found no human beings; but they lived by hunting, fishing, and gathering wild honey. after visiting foreign lands, they returned to their island home. one day when they were out hunting, a wild boar of pure white color sprang from a bush, and as they saw him they retreated, and they saw also the turning castle. the boar, watching his opportunity, sprang into it, and the dogs followed, and pryderi said, "i will go into this castle and get tidings of the dogs." "go not," said manawydan; "whoever has cast a spell over this land and deprived us of our dwelling has placed this castle here." but pryderi replied, "of a truth i cannot give up my dogs." so he watched for the opportunity and went in. he saw neither boar nor dogs, neither man nor beast; but on the centre of the castle floor he saw a fountain with marble work around it, and on the margin of the fountain a golden bowl upon a marble slab, and in the air hung chains, of which he could see no end. he was much delighted with the beauty of the gold and the rich workmanship of the bowl and went up to lay hold of it. the moment he touched it, his fingers clung to the bowl, and his feet to the slab; and all his joyousness forsook him so that he could not utter a word. and thus he stood. manawydan waited for him until evening, but hearing nothing either of him or of the dogs, he returned home. when he entered, rhiannon, who was his wife and who was also pryderi's mother, looked at him. "where," she said, "are pryderi and the dogs?" "this is what has happened to me," he said; and he told her. "an evil companion hast thou been," she said, "and a good companion hast thou lost." with these words she went out and proceeded towards the castle of the active door. getting in, she saw pryderi taking hold of the bowl, and she went towards him. "what dost thou here?" she said, and she took hold of the bowl for herself; and then her hands became fast to it, and her feet to the slab, and she could not speak a word. then came thunder and a fall of mist; thereupon the castle of the active door vanished and never was seen again. rhiannon and pryderi also vanished. when kigva, the wife of pryderi, saw this, she sorrowed so that she cared not if she lived or died. no one was left on the island but manawydan and herself. they wandered away to other lands and sought to earn their living; then they came back to their island, bringing with them one bag of wheat which they planted. it throve and grew, and when the time of harvest came it was most promising, so that manawydan resolved to reap it on the morrow. at break of day he came back to begin; but found nothing left but straw. every stalk had been cut close to the ground and carried away. going to another field, he found it ripe, but on coming in the morning he found but the straw. "some one has contrived my ruin," he said; "i will watch the third field to see what happens. he who stole the first will come to steal this." he remained through the evening to watch the grain, and at midnight he heard loud thunder. he looked and saw coming a host of mice such as no man could number; each mouse took a stalk of the wheat and climbed it, so that it bent to the ground; then each mouse cut off the ear and ran away with it. they all did this, leaving the stalk bare, and there was not a single straw for which there was not a mouse. he struck among them, but could no more fix his sight on any of them, the legend says, than on flies and birds in the air, except one which seemed heavier than the rest, and moved slowly. this one he pursued and caught, put it in his glove and tied it with a string. taking it home, he showed it to kigva, and told her that he was going to hang the mouse next day. she advised against it, but he persisted, and on the next morning took the animal to the top of the mound of arberth, where he placed two wooden forks in the ground, and set up a small gallows. while doing this, he saw a clerk coming to him in old, threadbare clothes. it was now seven years since he had seen a human being there, except the friends he had lost and kigva who survived them. the clerk bade him good day and said he was going back to his country from england, where he had been singing. then the clerk asked manawydan what he was doing. "hanging a thief," said he; and when the clerk saw that it was a mouse, he offered a pound to release it, but manawydan refused. then a priest came riding up and offered him three pounds to release the mouse; but this offer was declined. then he made a noose round the mouse's neck, and while he did this, a bishop's whole retinue came riding towards him. the bishop seemed, like everybody else, to be very desirous of rescuing the mouse; he offered first seven pounds, and then twenty-four, and then added all his horses and equipages; but manawydan still refused. the bishop finally asked him to name any price he pleased. "the liberation of rhiannon and pryderi," he said. "thou shalt have it," said the bishop. "and the removal of the enchantment," said manawydan. "that also," said the bishop, "if you will only restore the mouse." "why?" said the other. "because," said the bishop, "she is my wife." "why did she come to me?" asked manawydan. "to steal," was the reply. "when it was known that you were inhabiting the island, my household came to me, begging me to transform them into mice. the first and second nights they came alone, but the third night my wife and the ladies of the court wished also to accompany them, and i transformed them also; and now you have promised to let her go." "not so," said the other, "except with a promise that there shall be no more such enchantment practised, and no vengeance on pryderi and rhiannon, or on me." this being promised, the bishop said, "now wilt thou release my wife?" "no, by my faith," said manawydan, "not till i see pryderi and rhiannon free before my eyes." "here they are coming," said the bishop; and when they had been embraced by manawydan, he let go the mouse; the bishop touched it with a wand, and it became the most beautiful young woman that ever was seen. "now look round upon the country," said the bishop, "and see the dwellings and the crops returned," and the enchantment was removed. "the land of illusion and the realm of glamour" is the name given by the old romancers to the south-west part of wales, and to all the islands off the coast. indeed, it was believed, ever since the days of the greek writer, plutarch, that some peculiar magic belonged to these islands; and every great storm that happened among them was supposed to be caused by the death of one of the wondrous enchanters who dwelt in that region. when it was over, the islanders said, "some one of the mighty has passed away." vii merlin the enchanter in one of the old books called welsh triads, in which all things are classed by threes, there is a description of three men called "the three generous heroes of the isle of britain." one of these--named nud or nodens, and later called merlin--was first brought from the sea, it is stated, with a herd of cattle consisting of 21,000 milch cows, which are supposed to mean those waves of the sea that the poets often describe as white horses. he grew up to be a king and warrior, a magician and prophet, and on the whole the most important figure in the celtic traditions. he came from the sea and at last returned to it, but meanwhile he did great works on land, one of which is said to have been the building of stonehenge. this is the way, as the old legends tell, in which the vast stones of stonehenge came to be placed on salisbury plain. it is a thing which has always been a puzzle to every one, inasmuch as their size and weight are enormous, and there is no stone of the same description to be found within hundreds of miles of salisbury plain, where they now stand. the legend is that pendragon, king of england, was led to fight a great battle by seeing a dragon in the air. the battle was won, but pendragon was killed and was buried on salisbury plain, where the fight had taken place. when his brother uther took his place, merlin the enchanter advised him to paint a dragon on a flag and bear it always before him to bring good fortune, and this he always did. then merlin said to him, "wilt thou do nothing more on the plain of salisbury, to honor thy brother?" the king said, "what shall be done?" then merlin said, "i will cause a thing to be done that will endure to the world's end." then he bade utherpendragon, as he called the new king, to send many ships and men to ireland, and he showed him stones such as seemed far too large and heavy to bring, but he placed them by his magic art upon the boats and bore them to england; and he devised means to transport them and to set them on end, "for they shall seem fairer so than if they were lying." and there they are to this day. this was the way in which merlin would sometimes obtain the favor and admiration of young ladies. there was a maiden of twelve named nimiane or vivian, the daughter of king dionas, and merlin changed himself into the appearance of "a fair young squire," that he might talk with her beside a fountain, described in the legends as "a well, whereof the springs were fair and the water clear and the gravel so fair that it seemed of fine silver." by degrees he made acquaintance with the child, who told him who she was, adding, "and what are you, fair, sweet friend?" "damsel," said merlin, "i am a travelling squire, seeking for my master, who has taught me wonderful things." "and what master is that?" she asked. "it is one," he said, "who has taught me so much that i could here erect for you a castle, and i could make many people outside to attack it and inside to defend it; nay, i could go upon this water and not wet my feet, and i could make a river where water had never been." "these are strange feats," said the maiden, "and i wish that i could thus disport myself." "i can do yet greater things," said merlin, "and no one can devise anything which i cannot do, and i can also make it to endure forever." "indeed," said the girl, "i would always love you if you could show me some such wonders." "for your love," he answered, "i will show you some of these wondrous plays, and i will ask no more of you." then merlin turned and described a circle with a wand and then came and sat by her again at the fountain. at noon she saw coming out of the forest many ladies and knights and squires, holding each other by the hand and singing in the greatest joy; then came men with timbrels and tabours and dancing, so that one could not tell one-fourth part of the sports that went on. then merlin caused an orchard to grow, with all manner of fruit and flowers; and the maiden cared for nothing but to listen to their singing, "truly love begins in joy, but ends in grief." the festival continued from mid-day to even-song; and king dionas and his courtiers came out to see it, and marvelled whence these strange people came. then when the carols were ended, the ladies and maidens sat down on the green grass and fresh flowers, and the squires set up a game of tilting called quintain upon the meadows and played till even-song; and then merlin came to the damsel and asked if he had done what he promised for her. "fair, sweet friend," said she, "you have done so much that i am all yours." "let me teach you," he answered, "and i will show you many wonders that no woman ever learned so many." merlin and this young damsel always remained friends, and he taught her many wonderful arts, one of which was (this we must regret) a spell by which she might put her parents to sleep whenever he visited her; while another lesson was (this being more unexceptionable) in the use of three words, by saying which she might at any time keep at a distance any men who tried to molest her. he stayed eight days near her, and in those days taught her many of the most "wonderful things that any mortal heart could think of, things past and things that were done and said, and a part of what was to come; and she put them in writing, and then merlin departed from her and came to benoyk, where the king, arthur, rested, so that glad were they when they saw merlin." the relations between merlin and arthur are unlike those ever held towards a king even by an enchanter in any legend. even in homer there is no one described, except the gods, as having such authority over a ruler. merlin came and went as he pleased and under any form he might please. he foretold the result of a battle, ordered up troops, brought aid from a distance. he rebuked the bravest knights for cowardice; as when ban, bors, and gawain had concealed themselves behind some bushes during a fight. "is this," he said to king arthur and sir bors, "the war and the help that you do to your friends who have put themselves in adventure of death in many a need, and ye come hither to hide for cowardice." then the legend says, "when the king understood the words of merlin, he bowed his head for shame," and the other knights acknowledged their fault. then merlin took the dragon banner which he had given them and said that he would bear it himself; "for the banner of a king," he said, "should not be hid in battle,--but borne in the foremost front." then merlin rode forth and cried with a loud voice, "now shall be shown who is a knight." and the knights, seeing merlin, exclaimed that he was "a full noble man"; and "without fail," says the legend, "he was full of marvellous powers and strength of body and great and long stature; but brown he was and lean and rough of hair." then he rode in among the enemy on a great black horse; and the golden dragon which he had made and had attached to the banner gave out from its throat such a flaming fire that the air was black with its smoke; and all king arthur's men began to fight again more stoutly, and arthur himself held the bridle reins in his left hand, and so wielded his sword with his right as to slay two hundred men. there was no end to merlin's disguises--sometimes as an old man, sometimes as a boy or a dwarf, then as a woman, then as an ignorant clown; --but the legends always give him some object to accomplish, some work to do, and there was always a certain dignity about him, even when helping king arthur, as he sometimes did, to do wrong things. his fame extended over all britain, and also through brittany, now a part of france, where the same poetic legends extended. this, for instance, is a very old breton song about him:- merlin the diviner merlin! merlin! where art thou going so early in the day, with thy black dog? oi! oi! oi! oi! oi! oi! oi! oi! oi! oi! oi! oi! oi! oi! oi! oi! i have come here to search the way, to find the red egg; the red egg of the marine serpent, by the seaside, in the hollow of the stone. i am going to seek in the valley the green water-cress, and the golden grass, and the top branch of the oak, in the wood by the side of the fountain. merlin! merlin! retrace your steps; leave the branch on the oak, and the green water-cress in the valley, as well as the golden grass; and leave the red egg of the marine serpent in the foam by the hollow of the stone. merlin! merlin! retrace thy steps; there is no diviner but god. merlin was supposed to know the past, the present, and the future, and to be able to assume the form of any animal, and even that of a _menhir_, or huge standing stone. before history began he ruled in britain, then a delightful island of flowery meadows. his subjects were "small people" (fairies), and their lives were a continued festival of singing, playing, and enjoyment. the sage ruled them as a father, his familiar servant being a tame wolf. he also possessed a kingdom, beneath the waves, where everything was beautiful, the inhabitants being charming little beings, with waves of long, fair hair falling on their shoulders in curls. fruits and milk composed the food of all, meat and fish being held in abhorrence. the only want felt was of the full light of the sun, which, coming to them through the water, was but faint, and cast no shadow. here was the famous workshop where merlin forged the enchanted sword so celebrated by the bards, and where the stones were found by which alone the sword could be sharpened. three british heroes were fated to wield this blade in turn; viz., lemenisk the leaper (_leim_, meaning leap), utherpendragon, and his son king arthur. by orders of this last hero, when mortally wounded, it was flung into the sea, where it will remain till he returns to restore the rule of his country to the faithful british race. the bard once amused and puzzled the court by entering the hall as a blind boy led by a greyhound, playing on his harp, and demanding as recompense to be allowed to carry the king's banner in an approaching battle. being refused on account of his blindness he vanished, and the king of brittany mentioned his suspicions that this was one of merlin's elfin tricks. arthur was disturbed, for he had promised to give the child anything except his honor, his kingdom, his wife, and his sword. however, while he continued to fret, there entered the hall a poor child about eight years old, with shaved head, features of livid tint, eyes of light gray, barefooted, barelegged, and a whip knotted over his shoulders in the manner affected by horseboys. speaking and looking like an idiot, he asked the king's permission to bear the royal ensign in the approaching battle with the giant rion. the courtiers laughed, but arthur, suspecting a new joke on merlin's part, granted the demand, and then merlin stood in his own proper person before the company. he also seems to have taught people many things in real science, especially the women, who were in those days more studious than the men, or at least had less leisure. for instance, the legend says of morgan le fay (or la fã©e), king arthur's sister, "she was a noble clergesse (meaning that she could read and write, like the clergy), and of astronomy could she enough, for merlin had her taught, and she learned much of egromancy (magic or necromancy); and the best work-woman she was with her hands that any man knew in any land, and she had the fairest head and the fairest hands under heaven, and shoulders well-shapen; and she had fair eloquence and full debonair she was, as long as she was in her right wit; and when she was wroth with any man, she was evil to meet." this lady was one of merlin's pupils, but the one whom he loved most and instructed the most was nimiane or vivian, already mentioned, who seems to have been to him rather a beloved younger sister than anything else, and he taught her so much that "at last he might hold himself a fool," the legend says, "and ever she inquired of his cunning and his mysteries, each thing by itself, and he let her know all, and she wrote all that he said, as she was well learned in clergie (reading and writing), and learned lightly all that merlin taught her; and when they parted, each of them commended the other to god full tenderly." the form of the enchanter merlin disappeared from view, at last--for the legends do not admit that his life ever ended--across the sea whence he came. the poet tennyson, to be sure, describes nimiane or vivian--the lady of the lake--as a wicked enchantress who persuaded merlin to betray his secrets to her, and then shut him up in an oak tree forever. but other legends seem to show that tennyson does great injustice to the lady of the lake, that she really loved merlin even in his age, and therefore persuaded him to show her how to make a tower without walls,--that they might dwell there together in peace, and address each other only as brother and sister. when he had told her, he fell asleep with his head in her lap, and she wove a spell nine times around his head, and the tower became the strongest in the world. some of the many legends place this tower in the forest of broceliande; while others transport it afar to a magic island, where merlin dwells with his nine bards, and where vivian alone can come or go through the magic walls. some legends describe it as an enclosure "neither of iron nor steel nor timber nor of stone, but of the air, without any other thing but enchantment, so strong that it may never be undone while the world endureth." here dwells merlin, it is said, with nine favorite bards who took with them the thirteen treasures of england. these treasures are said to have been:-1. a sword; if any man drew it except the owner, it burst into a flame from the cross to the point. all who asked it received it; but because of this peculiarity all shunned it. 2. a basket; if food for one man were put into it, when opened it would be found to contain food for one hundred. 3. a horn; what liquor soever was desired was found therein. 4. a chariot; whoever sat in it would be immediately wheresoever he wished. 5. a halter, which was in a staple below the feet of a bed; and whatever horse one wished for in it, he would find it there. 6. a knife, which would serve four-and twenty men at meat all at once. 7. a caldron; if meat were put into it to boil for a coward, it would never be boiled; but if meat were put in it for a brave man, it would be boiled forthwith. 8. a whetstone; if the sword of a brave man were sharpened thereon, and any one were wounded therewith, he would be sure to die; but if it were that of a coward that was sharpened on it, he would be none the worse. 9. a garment; if a man of gentle birth put it on, it suited him well; but if a churl, it would not fit him. 10, 11. a pan and a platter; whatever food was required was found therein. 12. a chessboard; when the men were placed upon it, they would play of themselves. the chessboard was of gold, and the men of silver. 13. the mantle of arthur; whosoever was beneath it could see everything, while no one could see him. it is towards this tower, some legends say, that merlin was last seen by some irish monks, sailing away westward, with a maiden, in a boat of crystal, beneath a sunset sky. viii sir lancelot of the lake sir lancelot, the famous knight, was the son of a king and queen against whom their subjects rebelled; the king was killed, the queen taken captive, when a fairy rose in a cloud of mist and carried away the infant lancelot from where he had been left beneath a tree. the queen, after weeping on the body of her husband, looked round and saw a lady standing by the water-side, holding the queen's child in her arms. "fair, sweet friend," said the queen, "give me back my child." the fairy made no reply, but dived into the water; and the queen was taken to an abbey, where she was known as the queen of great griefs. the lady of the lake took the child to her own home, which was an island in the middle of the sea and surrounded by impassable walls. from this the lady had her name of dame du lac, or the lady of the lake (or sea), and her foster son was called lancelot du lac, while the realm was called meidelant, or the land of maidens. lancelot dwelt thenceforward in the castle, on the island. when he was eight years old he received a tutor who was to instruct him in all knightly knowledge; he learned to use bow and spear and to ride on horseback, and some cousins of his were also brought thither by the lady of the lake to be his comrades. when he was eighteen he wished to go to king arthur's court that he might be a knight. on the eve of st. john, as king arthur returned from the chase, and by the high road approached camelot, he met a fair company. in the van went two youths, leading two white mules, one freighted with a silken pavilion, the other with robes proper for a newly made knight; the mules bore two chests, holding the hauberk and the iron boots. next came two squires, clad in white robes and mounted on white horses, carrying a silver shield and a shining helmet; after these, two others, with a sword in a white sheath and a white charger. behind followed squires and servants in white coats, three damsels dressed in white, the two sons of king bors; and, last of all, the fairy with the youth she loved. her robe was of white samite lined with ermine; her white palfrey had a silver bit, while her breastplate, stirrups, and saddle were of ivory, carved with figures of ladies and knights, and her white housings trailed on the ground. when she perceived the king, she responded to his salutation, and said, after she had lowered her wimple and displayed her face: "sir, may god bless the best of kings! i come to implore a boon, which it shall cost you nothing to grant." "damsel, even it should cost me dear, you should not be refused; what is it you would have me do?" "sir, dub this varlet a knight, and array him in the arms he bringeth, whenever he desireth." "your mercy, damsel! to bring me such a youth! assuredly, i will dub him whenever he will; but it shameth me to abandon my custom, for 'tis my wont to furnish with garments and arms such as come thither to receive chivalry." the lady replied that she desired the youth to carry the arms she had intended him to wear, and if she were refused, she would address herself elsewhere. sir ewain said that so fair a youth ought not to be denied, and the king yielded to her entreaty. she returned thanks, and bade the varlet retain the mules and the charger, with the two squires; and after that, she prepared to return as she had come, in spite of the urgency of the king, who had begged her to remain in his court. "at least," he cried, "tell us by what name are you known ?" "sir," she answered, "i am called the lady of the lake." for a long way, lancelot escorted the fairy, who said to him as she took leave: "king's son, you are derived from lineage the most noble on earth; see to it that your worth be as great as your beauty. to-morrow you will ask the king to bestow on you knighthood; when you are armed, you will not tarry in his house a single night. abide in one place no longer than you can help, and refrain from declaring your name until others proclaim it. be prepared to accomplish every adventure, and never let another man complete a task which you yourself have undertaken." with that, she gave him a ring that had the property of dissolving enchantment, and commended him to god. on the morrow, lancelot arrayed himself in his fairest robes, and sued for knighthood, as he had been commanded to do. sir ewain attended him to court, where they dismounted in front of the palace; the king and queen advanced to meet them; each took sir ewain by a hand, and seated him on a couch, while the varlet stood in their presence on the rushes that strewed the floor. all gazed with pleasure, and the queen prayed that god might make him noble, for he possessed as much beauty as was possible for man to have. after this he had many perilous adventures; he fought with giants and lions; he entered an enchanted castle and escaped; he went to a well in the forest, and, striking three times on a cymbal with a hammer hung there for the purpose, called forth a great giant, whom he slew, afterwards marrying his daughter. then he went to rescue the queen of the realm, gwenivere, from captivity. in order to reach the fortress where she was prisoner, he had to ride in a cart with a dwarf; to follow a wheel that rolled before him to show him the way, or a ball that took the place of the wheel; he had to walk on his hands and knees across a bridge made of a drawn sword; he suffered greatly. at last he rescued the queen, and later than this he married elaine, the daughter of king pelles, and her father gave to them the castle of blyaunt in the joyous island, enclosed in iron, and with a deep water all around it. there lancelot challenged all knights to come and contend with him, and he jousted with more than five hundred, overcoming them all, yet killing none, and at last he returned to camelot, the place of king arthur's court. one day he was called from the court to an abbey, where three nuns brought to him a beautiful boy of fifteen, asking that he might be made a knight. this was sir lancelot's own son, galahad, whom he had never seen, and did not yet know. that evening sir lancelot remained at the abbey with the boy, that he might keep his vigil there, and on the morrow's dawn he was made a knight. sir lancelot put on one of his spurs, and bors, lancelot's cousin, the other, and then sir lancelot said to the boy, "fair son, attend me to the court of the king;" but the abbess said, "sir, not now, but we will send him when it shall be time." on whitsunday, at the time called "underne," which was nine in the morning, king arthur and his knights sat at the round table, where on every seat there was written, in letters of gold, the name of a knight with "here ought to sit he," or "he ought to sit here;" and thus went the inscriptions until they came to one seat (or _siã¨ge_ in french) called the "siege perilous," where they found newly written letters of gold, saying that this seat could not be occupied until four hundred and fifty years after the death of christ; and that was this very day. then there came news of a marvellous stone which had been seen above the water, with a sword sticking in it bearing the letters, "never shall man take me hence, but only he by whose side i ought to hang, and he shall be the best knight of the world." then two of the knights tried to draw the sword and failed to draw it, and sir lancelot, who was thought the best knight in all the world, refused to attempt it. then they went back to their seats around the table. then when all the seats but the "siege perilous" were full, the hall was suddenly darkened; and an old man clad in white, whom nobody knew, came in, with a young knight in red armor, wearing an empty scabbard at his side, who said, "peace be with you, fair knights." the old man said, "i bring you here a young knight that is of kings' lineage," and the king said, "sir, ye are right heartily welcome." then the old man bade the young knight to remove his armor, and he wore a red garment, while the old man placed on his shoulders a mantle of fine ermine, and said, "sir, follow after." then the old man led him to the "siege perilous," next to sir lancelot, and lifted the cloth and read, "here sits sir galahad," and the youth sat down. upon this, all the knights of the round table marvelled greatly at sir galahad, that he dared to sit in that seat, and he so tender of age. then king arthur took him by the hand and led him down to the river to see the adventure of the stone. "sir," said the king to sir galahad, "here is a great marvel, where right good knights have tried and failed." "sir," said sir galahad, "that is no marvel, for the adventure was not theirs, but mine; i have brought no sword with me, for here by my side hangs the scabbard," and he laid his hand on the sword and lightly drew it from the stone. it was not until long after, and when they both had had many adventures, that sir lancelot discovered galahad to be his son. sir lancelot once came to the sea-strand and found a ship without sails or oars, and sailed away upon it. once, when he touched at an island, a young knight came on board to whom lancelot said, "sir, you are welcome," and when the young knight asked his name, told him, "my name is sir lancelot du lac." "sir," he said, "then you are welcome, for you are my father." "ah," said lancelot, "are you sir galahad?" then the young knight kneeled down and asked his blessing, and they embraced each other, and there was great joy between them, and they told each other all their deeds. so dwelt sir lancelot and sir galahad together within that ship for half a year, and often they arrived at islands far from men where there were but wild beasts, and they found many adventures strange and perilous which they brought to an end. when sir lancelot at last died, his body was taken to joyous-gard, his home, and there it lay in state in the choir, with a hundred torches blazing above it; and while it was there, came his brother sir ector de maris, who had long been seeking lancelot. when he heard such noise and saw such lights in the choir, he alighted and came in; and sir bors went towards him and told him that his brother lancelot was lying dead. then sir ector threw his shield and sword and helm from him, and when he looked on sir lancelot's face he fell down in a swoon, and when he rose he spoke thus: "ah, sir lancelot," said he, "thou wert dead of all christen knights! and now i dare say, that, sir lancelot, there thou liest, thou wert never matched of none earthly knight's hands; and thou wert the curtiest knight that ever beare shield; and thou wert the truest friend to thy lover that ever bestrood horse, and thou wert the truest lover of a sinful man that ever loved woman; and thou wert the kindest man that ever strooke with sword; and thou wert the goodliest person that ever came among presse of knights; and thou wert the meekest man and the gentlest that ever eate in hall among ladies; and thou wert the sternest knight to thy mortall foe that ever put speare in the rest." ix the half-man king arthur in his youth was fond of all manly exercises, especially of wrestling, an art in which he found few equals. the old men who had been the champions of earlier days, and who still sat, in summer evenings, watching the youths who tried their skill before them, at last told him that he had no rival in cornwall, and that his only remaining competitor elsewhere was one who had tired out all others. "where is he?" said arthur. "he dwells," an old man said, "on an island whither you will have to go and find him. he is of all wrestlers the most formidable. you will think him at first so insignificant as to be hardly worth a contest; you will easily throw him at the first trial; but after a while you will find him growing stronger; he seeks out all your weak points as by magic; he never gives up; you may throw him again and again, but he will conquer you at last." "his name! his name!" said arthur. "his name," they answered, "is hanner dyn; his home is everywhere, but on his own island you will be likely to find him sooner or later. keep clear of him, or he will get the best of you in the end, and make you his slave as he makes slaves of others whom he has conquered." far and wide over the ocean the young arthur sought; he touched at island after island; he saw many weak men who did not dare to wrestle with him, and many strong ones whom he could always throw, until at last when he was far out under the western sky, he came one day to an island which he had never before seen and which seemed uninhabited. presently there came out from beneath an arbor of flowers a little miniature man, graceful and quick-moving as an elf. arthur, eager in his quest, said to him, "in what island dwells hanner dyn?" "in this island," was the answer. "where is he?" said arthur. "i am he," said the laughing boy, taking hold of his hand. "what did they mean by calling you a wrestler?" said arthur. "oh," said the child coaxingly, "i am a wrestler. try me." the king took him and tossed him in the air with his strong arms, till the boy shouted with delight. he then took arthur by the hand and led him about the island--showed him his house and where the gardens and fields were. he showed him the rows of men toiling in the meadows or felling trees. "they all work for me," he said carelessly. the king thought he had never seen a more stalwart set of laborers. then the boy led him to the house, asked him what his favorite fruits were, or his favorite beverages, and seemed to have all at hand. he was an unaccountable little creature; in size and years he seemed a child; but in his activity and agility he seemed almost a man. when the king told him so, he smiled, as winningly as ever, and said, "that is what they call me--hanner dyn, the half-man." laughing merrily, he helped arthur into his boat and bade him farewell, urging him to come again. the king sailed away, looking back with something like affection on his winsome little playmate. it was months before arthur came that way again. again the merry child met him, having grown a good deal since their earlier meeting. "how is my little wrestler?" said arthur. "try me," said the boy; and the king tossed him again in his arms, finding the delicate limbs firmer, and the slender body heavier than before, though easily manageable. the island was as green and more cultivated, there were more men working in the fields, and arthur noticed that their look was not cheerful, but rather as of those who had been discouraged and oppressed. it was, however, a charming sail to the island, and, as it became more familiar, the king often bade his steersman guide the pinnace that way. he was often startled with the rapid growth and increased strength of the laughing boy, hanner dyn, while at other times he seemed much as before and appeared to have made but little progress. the youth seemed never tired of wrestling; he always begged the king for a trial of skill, and the king rejoiced to see how readily the young wrestler caught at the tricks of the art; so that the time had long passed when even arthur's strength could toss him lightly in the air, as at first. hanner dyn was growing with incredible rapidity into a tall young fellow, and instead of the weakness that often comes with rapid growth, his muscles grew ever harder and harder. still merry and smiling, he began to wrestle in earnest, and one day, in a moment of carelessness, arthur received a back fall, perhaps on moist ground, and measured his length. rising with a quick motion, he laughed at the angry faces of his attendants and bade the boy farewell. the men at work in the fields glanced up, attracted by the sound of voices, and he saw them exchange looks with one another. yet he felt his kingly dignity a little impaired, and hastened ere long to revisit the island and teach the saucy boy another lesson. months had passed, and the youth had expanded into a man of princely promise, but with the same sunny look. his shoulders were now broad, his limbs of the firmest mould, his eye clear, keen, penetrating. "of all the wrestlers i have ever yet met," said the king, "this younker promises to be the most formidable. i can easily throw him now, but what will he be a few years hence?" the youth greeted him joyously, and they began their usual match. the sullen serfs in the fields stopped to watch them, and an aged druid priest, whom arthur had brought with him, to give the old man air and exercise in the boat, opened his weak eyes and closed them again. as they began to wrestle, the king felt, by the very grasp of the youth's arms, by the firm set of his foot upon the turf, that this was to be unlike any previous effort. the wrestlers stood after the old cornish fashion, breast to breast, each resting his chin on the other's shoulder. they grasped each other round the body, each setting his left hand above the other's right. each tried to force the other to touch the ground with both shoulders and one hip, or with both hips and one shoulder; or else to compel the other to relinquish his hold for an instant--either of these successes giving the victory. often as arthur had tried the art, he never had been so matched before. the competitors swayed this way and that, writhed, struggled, half lost their footing and regained it, yet neither yielded. all the boatmen gathered breathlessly around, king arthur's men refusing to believe their eyes, even when they knew their king was in danger. a stranger group was that of the sullen farm-laborers, who left their ploughs and spades, and, congregating on a rising ground, watched without any expression of sympathy the contest that was going on. an old wrestler from cornwall, whom arthur had brought with him, was the judge; and according to the habit of the time, the contest was for the best two bouts in three. by the utmost skill and strength, arthur compelled hanner dyn to lose his hold for one instant in the first trial, and the king was pronounced the victor. the second test was far more difficult; the boy, now grown to a man, and seeming to grow older and stronger before their very eyes, twice forced arthur to the ground either with hip or shoulder, but never with both, while the crowd closed in breathlessly around; and the half-blind old druid, who had himself been a wrestler in his youth, and who had been brought ashore to witness the contest, called warningly aloud, "save thyself, o king!" at this arthur roused his failing strength to one final effort, and, griping his rival round the waist with a mighty grasp, raised him bodily from the ground and threw him backward till he fell flat, like a log, on both shoulders and both hips; while arthur himself fell fainting a moment later. nor did he recover until he found himself in the boat, his head resting on the knees of the aged druid, who said to him, "never again, o king! must you encounter the danger you have barely escaped. had you failed, you would have become subject to your opponent, whose strength has been maturing for years to overpower you. had you yielded, you would, although a king, have become but as are those dark-browed men who till his fields and do his bidding. for know you not what the name hanner dyn means? it means--habit; and the force of habit, at first weak, then growing constantly stronger, ends in conquering even kings!" x king arthur at avalon in the ruined castle at winchester, england, built by william the conqueror, there is a hall called "the great hall," where richard coeur de lion was received by his nobles when rescued from captivity; where henry iii. was born; where all the edwards held court; where henry viii. entertained the emperor charles v.; where queen mary was married to philip ii.; where parliament met for many years. it is now a public hall for the county; and at one end of it the visitor sees against the wall a vast wooden tablet on which the names of king arthur's knights of the round table are inscribed in a circle. no one knows its date or origin, though it is known to be more than four hundred years old, but there appear upon it the names most familiar to those who have read the legends of king arthur, whether in tennyson's poems or elsewhere. there are lancelot and bedivere, gawaine and dagonet, modred and gareth, and the rest. many books have been written of their deeds; but a time came when almost all those knights were to fall, according to the legend, in one great battle. modred, the king's nephew, had been left in charge of the kingdom during arthur's absence, and had betrayed him and tried to dethrone him, meaning to crown himself king. many people joined with him, saying that under arthur they had had only war and fighting, but under modred they would have peace and bliss. yet nothing was farther from modred's purpose than bliss or peace, and it was agreed at last that a great battle should be fought for the kingdom. on the night of trinity sunday, king arthur had a dream. he thought he sat in a chair, upon a scaffold, and the chair was fastened to a wheel. he was dressed in the richest cloth of gold that could be made, but far beneath him he saw a pit, full of black water, in which were all manner of serpents and floating beasts. then the wheel began to turn, and he went down, down among the floating things, and they wreathed themselves about him till he cried, "help! help!" then his knights and squires and yeomen aroused him, but he slumbered again, not sleeping nor thoroughly waking. then he thought he saw his nephew, sir gawaine, with a number of fair ladies, and when king arthur saw him, he said, "o fair nephew, what are these ladies who come with you?" "sir," said sir gawaine, "these are the ladies for whose protection i fought while i was a living man, and god has given them grace that they should bring me thither to you, to warn you of your death. if you fight with sir modred to-morrow, you must be slain, and most of your people on both sides." so sir gawaine and all the ladies vanished, and then the king called upon his knights and squires and yeomen, and summoned his lords and bishops. they agreed to propose to sir modred that they should have a month's delay, and meanwhile agreed to meet him with fourteen persons on each side, besides arthur and modred. each of these leaders warned his army, when they met, to watch the other, and not to draw their swords until they saw a drawn sword on the other side. in that case they were to come on fiercely. so the small party of chosen men on each side met and drank wine together, and agreed upon a month's delay before fighting; but while this was going on an adder came out of a bush and stung a knight on the foot, and he drew his sword to slay it and thought of nothing farther. at the sight of that sword the two armies were in motion, trumpets were blown instantly, and the men of each army thought that the other army had begun the fray. "alas, this unhappy day!" cried king arthur; and, as the old chronicle says, "nothing there was but rushing and riding, fencing and striking, and many a grim word was there spoken either to other, and many a deadly stroke." the following is the oldest account of the battle, translated into quaint and literal english by madden from the book called "layamon's brut"; "innumerable folk it came toward the host, riding and on foot, as the rain down falleth! arthur marched to cornwall, with an immense army. modred heard that, and advanced against him with innumerable folk,--there were many fated! upon the tambre they came together; the place hight camelford, evermore lasted the same word. and at camelford was assembled sixty thousand, and more thousands thereto; modred was their chief. then thitherward 'gan ride arthur the mighty, with innumerable folk,--fated though it were! upon the tambre they encountered together; elevated their standards; advanced together; drew their long swords; smote on the helms; fire outsprang; spears splintered; shields 'gan shiver; shafts brake in pieces. there fought all together innumerable folk! tambre was in flood with blood to excess; there might no man in the fight know any warrior, nor who did worse, nor who better, so was the conflict mingled! for each slew downright, were he swain, were he knight. "there was modred slain, and deprived of life-day, and all his knights slain in the fight. there were slain all the brave, arthur's warriors, high and low, and all the britons of arthur's board, and all his dependents, of many kingdoms. and arthur wounded with broad slaughter-spear; fifteen dreadful wounds he had; in the least one might thrust two gloves! then was there no more remained in the fight, of two hundred thousand men that there lay hewed in pieces, except arthur the king alone, and two of his knights. arthur was wounded wondrously much. there came to him a lad, who was of his kindred; he was cador's son, the earl of cornwall; constantine the lad hight, he was dear to the king. arthur looked on him, where he lay on the ground, and said these words, with sorrowful heart: 'constantine, thou art welcome; thou wert cador's son. i give thee here my kingdom, and defend thou my britons ever in thy life, and maintain them all the laws that have stood in my days, and all the good laws that in uther's days stood. and i will fare to avalon, to the fairest of all maidens, to argante the queen, an elf most fair, and she shall make my wounds all sound, make me all whole with healing draughts. and afterwards i will come to my kingdom, and dwell with the britons with mickle joy.' even with the words there approached from the sea that was a short boat, floating with the waves; and two women therein, wondrously formed; and they took arthur anon, and bare him quickly, and laid him softly down, and forth they 'gan depart. then was it accomplished that merlin whilom said, that mickle care should be of arthur's departure. the britons believe yet that he is alive, and dwelleth in avalon with the fairest of all elves; and the britons ever yet expect when arthur shall return. was never the man born, of any lady chosen, that knoweth, of the sooth, to say more of arthur. but whilom was a sage hight merlin; he said with words,--his sayings were sooth,--that an arthur should yet come to help the english." another traditional account which tennyson has mainly followed in a poem, is this: the king bade sir bedivere take his good sword excalibur and go with it to the water-side and throw it into the water and return to tell what he saw. then sir bedivere took the sword, and it was so richly and preciously adorned that he would not throw it, and came back without it. when the king asked what had happened, sir bedivere said, "i saw nothing but waves and wind," and when arthur did not believe him, and sent him again, he made the same answer, and then, when sent a third time, he threw the sword into the water, as far as he could. then an arm and a hand rose above the water and caught it, and shook and brandished it three times and vanished. then sir bedivere came back to the king; he told what he had seen. "alas," said arthur, "help me from hence, for i fear i have tarried over long." then sir bedivere took king arthur upon his back, and went with him to the water's side. and when they had reached there, a barge with many fair ladies was lying there, with many ladies in it, and among them three queens, and they all had black hoods, and they wept and shrieked when they saw king arthur. "now put me in the barge," said arthur, and the three queens received him with great tenderness, and king arthur laid his head in the lap of one, and she said, "ah, dear brother, why have ye tarried so long, until your wound was cold?" and then they rowed away, and king arthur said to sir bedivere, "i will go unto the valley of avalon to heal my grievous wound, and if i never return, pray for my soul." he was rowed away by the weeping queens, and one of them was arthur's sister morgan le fay; another was the queen of northgalis, and the third was the queen of waste lands; and it was the belief for years in many parts of england that arthur was not dead, but would come again to reign in england, when he had been nursed long enough by morgan le fay in the island of avalon. the tradition was that king arthur lived upon this island in an enchanted castle which had the power of a magnet, so that every one who came near it was drawn thither and could not get away. morgan le fay was its ruler (called more correctly morgan la fã©e, or the fairy), and her name morgan meant sea-born. by one tradition, the queens who bore away arthur were accompanied in the boat by the bard and enchanter, merlin, who had long been the king's adviser, and this is the description of the island said to have been given by merlin to another bard, taliessin:-"'we came to that green and fertile island which each year is blessed with two autumns, two springs, two summers, two gatherings of fruit,--the land where pearls are found, where the flowers spring as you gather them-that isle of orchards called the "isle of the blessed." no tillage there, no coulter to tear the bosom of the earth. without labor it affords wheat and the grape. there the lives extend beyond a century. there nine sisters, whose will is the only law, rule over those who go from us to them. the eldest excels in the art of healing, and exceeds her sisters in beauty. she is called morgana, and knows the virtues of all the herbs of the meadow. she can change her form, and soar in the air like a bird; she can be where she pleases in a moment, and in a moment descend on our coasts from the clouds. her sister thiten is renowned for her skill on the harp.' "'with the prince we arrived, and morgana received us with fitting honour. and in her own chamber she placed the king on a bed of gold, and with delicate touch, she uncovered the wound. long she considered it, and at length said to him that she could heal it if he stayed long with her, and willed her to attempt her cure. rejoiced at this news, we intrusted the king to her care, and soon after set sail.'" sir thomas malory, who wrote the book called the "historie of king arthur," or more commonly the "morte d'arthur," utters these high thoughts concerning the memory of the great king:-"oh, yee mightie and pompeous lords, shining in the glory transitory of this unstable life, as in raigning over great realmes and mightie great countries, fortified with strong castles and toures, edified with many a rich citie; yee also, yee fierce and mightie knights, so valiant in adventurous deeds of armes; behold, behold, see how this mightie conquerour king arthur, whom in his humaine life all the world doubted, see also the noble queene guenever, which sometime sat in her chaire adorned with gold, pearles, and precious stones, now lye full low in obscure fosse or pit, covered with clods of earth and clay; behold also this mightie champion sir launcelot, pearelesse of all knighthood, see now how hee lyeth groveling upon the cold mould, now being so feeble and faint that sometime was so terrible. how and in what manner ought yee to bee so desirous of worldly honour so dangerous! therefore mee thinketh this present booke is right necessary often to be read, for in it shall yee finde the most gracious, knightly, and vertuous war of the most noble knights of the world, whereby they gat praysing continually. also mee seemeth, by the oft reading thereof, yee shall greatly desire to accustome your selfe in following of those gracious knightly deedes, that is to say, to dread god, and to love righteousnesse, faithfully and couragiously to serve your soveraigne prince; and the more that god hath given you the triumphall honour, the meeker yee ought to bee, ever feareing the unstablenesse of this deceitfull world." xi maelduin's voyage an irish knight named maelduin set forth early in the eighth century to seek round the seas for his father's murderers. by the advice of a wizard, he was to take with him seventeen companions, neither less nor more; but at the last moment his three foster brothers, whom he had not included, begged to go with him. he refused, and they cast themselves into the sea to swim after his vessel. maelduin had pity on them and took them in, but his disregard of the wizard's advice brought punishment; and it was only after long wanderings, after visiting multitudes of unknown and often enchanted islands, and after the death or loss of the three foster brothers, that maelduin was able to return to his native land. one island which they visited was divided into four parts by four fences, one of gold, one of silver, one of brass, one of crystal. in the first division there dwelt kings, in the second queens, in the third warriors, and in the fourth maidens. the voyagers landed in the maidens' realm; one of these came out in a boat and gave them food, such that every one found in it the taste he liked best; then followed an enchanted drink, which made them sleep for three days and three nights. when they awakened they were in their boat on the sea, and nothing was to be seen either of island or maidens. the next island had in it a fortress with a brazen door and a bridge of glass, on which every one who ascended it slipped and fell. a woman came from the fortress, pail in hand, drew water from the sea and returned, not answering them when they spoke. when they reached at last the brazen door and struck upon it, it made a sweet and soothing sound, and they went to sleep, for three days and nights, as before. on the fourth day a maiden came who was most beautiful; she wore garments of white silk, a white mantle with a brooch of silver with studs of gold, and a gold band round her hair. she greeted each man by his name, and said, "it is long that we have expected you." she took them into the castle and gave them every kind of food they had ever desired. maelduin was filled with love for her and asked her for her love; but she told him that love was sin and she had no knowledge of sin; so she left him. on the morrow they found their boat, stranded on a crag, while lady and fortress and island had all vanished. another island on which they landed was large and bare, with another fortress and a palace. there they met a lady who was kinder. she wore an embroidered purple mantle, gold embroidered gloves, and ornamented sandals, and was just riding up to the palace door. seventeen maidens waited there for her. she offered to keep the strangers as guests, and that each of them should have a wife, she herself wedding maelduin. she was, it seems, the widow of the king of the island, and these were her seventeen daughters. she ruled the island and went every day to judge the people and direct their lives. if the strangers would stay, she said that they should never more know sorrow, or hardships, or old age; she herself, in spite of her large family, being young and beautiful as ever. they stayed three months, and it seemed to all but maelduin that the three months were three years. when the queen was absent, one day, the men took the boat and compelled maelduin to leave the island with them; but the queen rode after them and flung a rope, which maelduin caught and which clung to his hand. she drew them back to the shore; this happened thrice, and the men accused maelduin of catching the rope on purpose; he bade another man catch it, and his companions cut off his hand, and they escaped at last. on one island the seafarers found three magic apples, and each apple gave sufficient food for forty nights; again, on another island, they found the same apples. in another place still, a great bird like a cloud arrived, with a tree larger than an oak in its claws. after a while two eagles came and cleaned the feathers of the larger bird. they also stripped off the red berries from the tree and threw them into the ocean until its foam grew red. the great bird then flew into the ocean and cleaned itself. this happened daily for three days, when the great bird flew away with stronger wings, its youth being thus renewed. they came to another island where many people stood by the shore talking and joking. they were all looking at maelduin and his comrades, and kept gaping and laughing, but would not exchange a word with them. then maelduin sent one of his foster brothers on the island; but he ranged himself with the others and did as they did. maelduin and his men rowed round and round the island, and whenever they passed the point where this comrade was, they addressed him, but he never answered, and only gaped and laughed. they waited for him a long time and left him. this island they found to be called the island of joy. on another island they found sheep grazing, of enormous size; on another, birds, whose eggs when eaten caused feathers to sprout all over the bodies of those who eat them. on another they found crimson flowers, whose mere perfume sufficed for food, and they encountered women whose only food was apples. through the window flew three birds: a blue one with a crimson head; a crimson one with a green head; a green one with a golden head. these sang heavenly music, and were sent to accompany the wanderers on their departing; the queen of the island gave them an emerald cup, such that water poured into it became wine. she asked if they knew how long they had been there, and when they said "a day," she told them that it was a year, during which they had had no food. as they sailed away, the birds sang to them until both birds and island disappeared in the mist. they saw another island standing on a single pedestal, as if on one foot, projecting from the water. rowing round it to seek a way into it they found no passage, but they saw in the base of the pedestal, under water, a closed door with a lock--this being the only way in which the island could be entered. around another island there was a fiery rampart, which constantly moved in a circle. in the side of that rampart was an open door, and as it came opposite them in its turning course, they beheld through it the island and all therein; and its occupants, even human beings, were many and beautiful, wearing rich garments, and feasting with gold vessels in their hands. the voyagers lingered long to gaze upon this marvel. on another island they found many human beings, black in color and raiment, and always bewailing. lots were cast, and another of maelduin's foster brothers was sent on shore. he at once joined the weeping crowd, and did as they did. two others were sent to bring him back, and both shared his fate, falling under some strange spell. then maelduin sent four others, and bade them look neither at the land nor at the sky; to wrap their mouths and noses with their garments, and not breathe the island air; and not to take off their eyes from their comrades. in this way the two who followed the foster brother on shore were rescued, but he remained behind. of another island they could see nothing but a fort, protected by a great white rampart, on which nothing living was to be seen but a small cat, leaping from one to another of four stone pillars. they found brooches and ornaments of gold and silver, they found white quilts and embroidered garments hanging up, flitches of bacon were suspended, a whole ox was roasting, and vessels stood filled with intoxicating drinks. maelduin asked the cat if all this was for them; but the cat merely looked at him and went on playing. the seafarers dined and drank, then went to sleep. as they were about to depart, maelduin's third foster brother proposed to carry off a tempting necklace, and in spite of his leader's warnings grasped it. instantly the cat leaped through him like a fiery arrow, burned him so that he became ashes, and went back to its pillar. thus all three of the foster brothers who had disregarded the wizard's warning, and forced themselves upon the party, were either killed or left behind upon the enchanted islands. around another island there was a demon horse-race going on; the riders were just riding in over the sea, and then the race began; the voyagers could only dimly perceive the forms of the horses, but could hear the cries of their riders, the strokes of the whips, and the words of the spectators, "see the gray horse!" "watch the chestnut horse!" and the voyagers were so alarmed that they rowed away. the next island was covered with trees laden with golden apples, but these were being rapidly eaten by small, scarlet animals which they found, on coming nearer, to be all made of fire and thus brightened in hue. then the animals vanished, and maelduin with his men landed, and though the ground was still hot from the fiery creatures, they brought away a boat load of the apples. another island was divided into two parts by a brass wall across the middle. there were two flocks of sheep, and those on one side of the wall were white, while the others were black. a large man was dividing and arranging the sheep, and threw them easily over the wall. when he threw a white sheep among the black ones it became black, and when he threw a black sheep among the white ones, it became white instantly. the voyagers thought of landing, but when maelduin saw this, he said, "let us throw something on shore to see if it will change color. if it does, we will avoid the island." so they took a black branch and threw it toward the white sheep. when it fell, it grew white; and the same with a white branch on the black side. "it is lucky for us," said maelduin, "that we did not land on this island." they came next to an island where there was but one man visible, very aged, and with long, white hair. above him were trees, covered with great numbers of birds. the old man told them that he like them had come in a curragh, or coracle, and had placed many green sods beneath his feet, to steady the boat. reaching this spot, the green sods had joined together and formed an island which at first gave him hardly room to stand; but every year one foot was added to its size, and one tree grew up. he had lived there for centuries, and those birds were the souls of his children and descendants, each of whom was sent there after death, and they were all fed from heaven each day. on the next island there was a great roaring as of bellows and a sound of smiths' hammers, as if striking all together on an anvil, every sound seeming to come from the strokes of a dozen men. "are they near?" asked one big voice. "silence!" said another; and they were evidently watching for the boat. when it rowed away, one of the smiths flung after them a vast mass of red-hot iron, which he had grasped with the tongs from the furnace. it fell just short, but made the whole sea to hiss and boil around them as they rowed away. another island had a wall of water round it, and maelduin and his men saw multitudes of people driving away herds of cattle and sheep, and shouting, "there they are, they have come again;" and a woman pelted them from below with great nuts, which the crew gathered for eating. then as they rowed away they heard one man say, "where are they now?" and another cried, "they are going away." still again they visited an island where a great stream of water shot up into the air and made an arch like a rainbow that spanned the land. they walked below it without getting wet, and hooked down from it many large salmon; besides that, many fell out above their heads, so that they had more than they could carry away with them. these are by no means all of the strange adventures of maelduin and his men. the last island to which they came was called raven's stream, and there one of the men, who had been very homesick, leaped out upon shore. as soon as he touched the land he became a heap of ashes, as if his body had lain in the earth a thousand years. this showed them for the first time during how vast a period they had been absent, and what a space they must have traversed. instead of thirty enchanted islands they had visited thrice fifty, many of them twice or thrice as large as ireland, whence the voyagers first came. in the wonderful experiences of their long lives they had apparently lost sight of the search which they had undertaken, for the murderers of maelduin's father, since of them we hear no more. the island enchantment seems to have banished all other thoughts. xii the voyage of st. brandan the young student brandan was awakened in the morning by the crowing of the cock in the great irish abbey where he dwelt; he rose, washed his face and hands and dressed himself, then passed into the chapel, where he prayed and sang until the dawn of the day. "with song comes courage" was the motto of the abbey. it was one of those institutions like great colonies,--church, library, farm, workshop, college, all in one,--of which ireland in the sixth century was full, and which existed also elsewhere. their extent is best seen by the modern traveller in the remains of the vast buildings at tintern in england, scattered over a wide extent of country, where you keep coming upon walls and fragments of buildings which once formed a part of a single great institution, in which all the life of the community was organized, as was the case in the spanish missions of california. at the abbey of bangor in wales, for instance, there were two thousand four hundred men,--all under the direction of a comparatively small body of monks, who were trained to an amount of organizing skill like that now needed for a great railway system. some of these men were occupied, in various mechanic arts, some in mining, but most of them in agriculture, which they carried on with their own hands, without the aid of animals, and in total silence. having thus labored in the fields until noonday, brandan then returned that he might work in the library, transcribing ancient manuscripts or illustrating books of prayer. having to observe silence, he wrote the name of the book to give to the librarian, and if it were a christian work, he stretched out his hand, making motions with his fingers as if turning over the leaves; but if it were by a pagan author, the monk who asked for it was required to scratch his ear as a dog does, to show his contempt, because, the regulations said, an unbeliever might well be compared to that animal[1]. taking the book, he copied it in the scriptorium or library, or took it to his cell, where he wrote all winter without a fire. it is to such monks that we owe all our knowledge of the earliest history of england and ireland; though doubtless the hand that wrote the histories of gildas and bede grew as tired as that of brandan, or as that of the monk who wrote in the corner of a beautiful manuscript: "he who does not know how to write imagines it to be no labor; but though only three fingers hold the pen, the whole body grows weary." in the same way brandan may have learned music and have had an organ in his monastery, or have had a school of art, painting beautiful miniatures for the holy missals. this was his early life in the convent. [footnote 1: _adde ut aurem tangas digito sicut canis cum pede pruriens solet, quia nec immerito infideles tali animati comparantur_. --martã�ne, _de antiq. monach. ritibus_, p. 289, qu. by montalembert, monks of the west (tr.) vi. 190.] once a day they were called to food; this consisting for them of bread and vegetables with no seasoning but salt, although better fare was furnished for the sick and the aged, for travellers and the poor. these last numbered, at easter time, some three or four hundred, who constantly came and went, and upon whom the monks and young disciples waited. after the meal the monks spent three hours in the chapel, on their knees, still silent; then they confessed in turn to the abbot and then sought their hard-earned rest. they held all things in common; no one even received a gift for himself. war never reached them; it was the rarest thing for an armed party to molest their composure; their domains were regarded as a haven for the stormy world. because there were so many such places in ireland, it was known as the isle of saints. brandan was sent after a time to other abbeys, where he could pursue especial studies, for they had six branches of learning,--grammar, rhetoric, dialectics, geometry, astronomy, and music. thus he passed three years, and was then advised to go to an especial teacher in the mountains, who had particular modes of teaching certain branches. but this priest--he was an italian--was suffering from poverty, and could receive his guest but for a few weeks. one day as brandan sat studying, he saw, the legend says, a white mouse come from a crack in the wall, a visitor which climbed upon his table and left there a grain of wheat. then the mouse paused, looked at the student, then ran about the table, went away and reappeared with another grain, and another, up to five. brandan, who had at the very instant learned his lesson, rose from his seat, followed the mouse, and looking through a hole in the wall, saw a great pile of wheat, stored in a concealed apartment. on his showing this to the head of the convent, it was pronounced a miracle; the food was distributed to the poor, and "the people blessed his charity while the lord blessed his studies." in the course of years, brandan became himself the head of one of the great abbeys, that of clonfert, of the order of st. benedict, where he had under him nearly three thousand monks. in this abbey, having one day given hospitality to a monk named berinthus, who had just returned from an ocean voyage, brandan learned from him the existence, far off in the ocean, of an island called the delicious isle, to which a priest named mernoc had retired, with many companions of his order. berinthus found mernoc and the other monks living apart from one another for purposes of prayer, but when they came together, mernoc said, they were like bees from different beehives. they met for their food and for church; their food included only apples, nuts, and various herbs. one day mernoc said to berinthus, "i will conduct you to the promised isle of the saints." so they went on board a little ship and sailed westward through a thick fog until a great light shone and they found themselves near an island which was large and fruitful and bore many apples. there were no herbs without blossoms, he said, nor trees without fruits, and there were precious stones, and the island was traversed by a great river. then they met a man of shining aspect who told them that they had without knowing it passed a year already in the island; that they had needed neither food nor sleep. then they returned to the delicious island, and every one knew where they had been by the perfume of their garments. this was the story of berinthus, and from this time forward nothing could keep brandan from the purpose of beholding for himself these blessed islands. before carrying out his plans, however, he went, about the year 560, to visit an abbot named enda, who lived at arran, then called isle of the saints, a priest who was supposed to know more than any one concerning the farther lands of the western sea. he knew, for instance, of the enchanted island named hy-brasail, which could be seen from the coast of ireland only once in seven years, and which the priests had vainly tried to disenchant. some islands, it was believed, had been already disenchanted by throwing on them a few sparks of lighted turf; but as hy-brasail was too far for this, there were repeated efforts to disenchant it by shooting fiery arrows towards it, though this had not yet been successful. then enda could tell of wonderful ways to cross the sea without a boat, how his sister fanchea had done it by spreading her own cloak upon the waves, and how she and three other nuns were borne upon it. she found, however, that one hem of the cloak sank below the water, because one of her companions had brought with her, against orders, a brazen vessel from the convent; but on her throwing it away, the sinking hem rose to the level of the rest and bore them safely. st. enda himself had first crossed to arran on a large stone which he had ordered his followers to place on the water and which floated before the wind; and he told of another priest who had walked on the sea as on a meadow and plucked flowers as he went. hearing such tales, how could st. brandan fear to enter on his voyage? he caused a boat to be built of a fashion which one may still see in welsh and irish rivers, and known as a curragh or coracle; made of an osier frame covered with tanned and oiled skins. he took with him seventeen priests, among whom was st. malo, then a mere boy, but afterwards celebrated. they sailed to the southwest, and after being forty days at sea they reached a rocky island furrowed with streams, where they received the kindest hospitality, and took in fresh provisions. they sailed again the next day, and found themselves entangled in contrary currents and perplexing winds, so that they were long in reaching another island, green and fertile, watered by rivers which were full of fish, and covered with vast herds of sheep as large as heifers. here they renewed their stock of provisions, and chose a spotless lamb with which to celebrate easter sunday on another island, which they saw at a short distance. this island was wholly bare, without sandy shores or wooded slopes, and they all landed upon it to cook their lamb; but when they had arranged their cooking-apparatus, and when their fire began to blaze, the island seemed to move beneath their feet, and they ran in terror to their boat, from which brandan had not yet landed. their supposed island was a whale, and they rowed hastily away from it toward the island they had left, while the whale glided away, still showing, at a distance of two miles, the fire blazing on his back. the next island they visited was wooded and fertile, where they found a multitude of birds, which chanted with them the praises of the lord, so that they called this the paradise of birds. this was the description given of this island by an old writer named wynkyn de worde, in "the golden legend":-"soon after, as god would, they saw a fair island, full of flowers, herbs, and trees, whereof they thanked god of his good grace; and anon they went on land, and when they had gone long in this, they found a full fayre well, and thereby stood a fair tree full of boughs, and on every bough sat a fayre bird, and they sat so thick on the tree that uneath [scarcely] any leaf of the tree might be seen. the number of them was so great, and they sang so merrilie, that it was an heavenlie noise to hear. whereupon st. brandan kneeled down on his knees and wept for joy, and made his praise devoutlie to our lord god, to know what these birds meant. and then anon one of the birds flew from the tree to st. brandan, and he with the flickering of his wings made a full merrie noise like a fiddle, that him seemed he never heard so joyful a melodie. and then st. brandan commanded the foule to tell him the cause why they sat so thick on the tree and sang so merrilie. and then the foule said, some time we were angels in heaven, but when our master, lucifer, fell down into hell for his high pride, and we fell with him for our offences, some higher and some lower, after the quality of the trespasse. and because our trespasse is so little, therefore our lord hath sent us here, out of all paine, in full great joy and mirthe, after his pleasing, here to serve him on this tree in the best manner we can. the sundaie is a daie of rest from all worldly occupation, and therefore that day all we be made as white as any snow, for to praise our lorde in the best wise we may. and then all the birds began to sing evensong so merrilie that it was an heavenlie noise to hear; and after supper st. brandan and his fellows went to bed and slept well. and in the morn they arose by times, and then those foules began mattyns, prime, and hours, and all such service as christian men used to sing; and st. brandan, with his fellows, abode there seven weeks, until trinity sunday was passed." having then embarked, they wandered for months on the ocean, before reaching another island. that on which they finally landed was inhabited by monks who had as their patrons st. patrick and st. ailbã©e, and they spent christmas there. a year passed in these voyages, and the tradition is that for six other years they made just the same circuit, always spending holy week at the island where they found the sheep, alighting for easter on the back of the same patient whale, visiting the isle of birds at pentecost, and reaching the island of st. patrick and st. ailbã©e in time for christmas. but in the seventh year they met with wholly new perils. they were attacked, the legend says, first by a whale, then by a griffin, and then by a race of cyclops, or one-eyed giants. then they came to an island where the whale which had attacked them was thrown on shore, so that they could cut him to pieces; then another island which had great fruits, and was called the island of the strong man; and lastly one where the grapes filled the air with perfume. after this they saw an island, all cinders and flames, where the cyclops had their forges, and they sailed away in the light of an immense fire. the next day they saw, looking northward, a great and high mountain sending out flames at the top. turning hastily from this dreadful sight, they saw a little round island, at the top of which a hermit dwelt, who gave them his benediction. then they sailed southward once more, and stopped at their usual places of resort for holy week, easter, and whitsuntide. it was on this trip that they had, so the legend says, that strange interview with judas iscariot, out of which matthew arnold has made a ballad. sailing in the wintry northern seas at christmas time, st. brandan saw an iceberg floating by, on which a human form rested motionless; and when it moved at last, he saw by its resemblance to the painted pictures he had seen that it must be judas iscariot, who had died five centuries before. then as the boat floated near the iceberg, judas spoke and told him his tale. after he had betrayed jesus christ, after he had died, and had been consigned to the flames of hell,--which were believed in very literally in those days,--an angel came to him on christmas night and said that he might go thence and cool himself for an hour. "why this mercy?" asked judas iscariot. then the angel said to him, "remember the leper in joppa," and poor judas recalled how once when the hot wind, called the sirocco, swept through the streets of joppa, and he saw a naked leper by the wayside, sitting in agony from the heat and the drifting sand, judas had thrown his cloak over him for a shelter and received his thanks. in reward for this, the angel now told him, he was to have, once a year, an hour's respite from his pain; he was allowed in that hour to fling himself on an iceberg and cool his burning heat as he drifted through the northern seas. then st. brandan bent his head in prayer; and when he looked up, the hour was passed, and judas had been hurried back into his torments. it seems to have been only after seven years of this wandering that they at last penetrated within the obscure fogs which surrounded the isle of the saints, and came upon a shore which lay all bathed in sunny light. it was a vast island, sprinkled with precious stones, and covered with ripe fruits; they traversed it for forty days without arriving at the end, though they reached a great river which flowed through the midst of it from east to west. there an angel appeared to them, and told them that they could go no farther, but could return to their own abode, carrying from the island some of those fruits and precious stones which were reserved to be distributed among the saints when all the world should be brought to the true faith. in order to hasten that time, it appears that st. malo, the youngest of the sea-faring monks, had wished, in his zeal, to baptize some one, and had therefore dug up a heathen giant who had been, for some reason, buried on the blessed isle. not only had he dug the giant's body up, but st. malo had brought him to life again sufficiently for the purpose of baptism and instruction in the true faith; after which he gave him the name of mildus, and let him die once more and be reburied. then, facing homeward and sailing beyond the fog, they touched once more at the island of delights, received the benediction of the abbot of the monastery, and sailed for ireland to tell their brethren of the wonders they had seen. he used to tell them especially to his nurse ita, under whose care he had been placed until his fifth year. his monastery at clonfert grew, as has been said, to include three thousand monks; and he spent his remaining years in peace and sanctity. the supposed islands which he visited are still believed by many to have formed a part of the american continent, and he is still thought by some irish scholars to have been the first to discover this hemisphere, nearly a thousand years before columbus, although this view has not yet made much impression on historians. the paradise of birds, in particular, has been placed by these scholars in mexico, and an irish poet has written a long poem describing the delights to be found there:- "oft, in the sunny mornings, have i seen bright yellow birds, of a rich lemon hue, meeting in crowds upon the branches green, and sweetly singing all the morning through; and others, with their heads grayish and dark, pressing their cinnamon cheeks to the old trees, and striking on the hard, rough, shrivelled bark, like conscience on a bosom ill at ease. "and diamond-birds chirping their single notes, now 'mid the trumpet-flower's deep blossoms seen, now floating brightly on with fiery throats- small winged emeralds of golden green; and other larger birds with orange cheeks, a many-color-painted, chattering crowd, prattling forever with their curved beaks, and through the silent woods screaming aloud." xiii kirwan's search for hy-brasail the boy kirwan lay on one of the steep cliffs of the island of innismane-one of the islands of arran, formerly called isles of the saints. he was looking across the atlantic for a glimpse of hy-brasail. this was what they called it; it was a mysterious island which kirwan's grandfather had seen, or thought he had seen--and kirwan's father also;--indeed, there was not one of the old people on the island who did not think he had seen it, and the older they were, the oftener it had been seen by them, and the larger it looked. but kirwan had never seen it, and whenever he came to the top of the highest cliff, where he often went bird-nesting, he climbed the great mass of granite called the gregory, and peered out into the west, especially at sunset, in hopes that he would at least catch a glimpse, some happy evening, of the cliffs and meadows of hy-brasail. but as yet he had never espied them. all this was more than two hundred years ago. he naturally went up to the gregory at this hour, because it was then that he met the other boys, and caught puffins by being lowered over the cliff. the agent of the island employed the boys, and paid them a sixpence for every dozen birds, that he might sell the feathers. the boys had a rope three hundred feet long, which could reach the bottom of the cliff. one of them tied this rope around his waist, and then held it fast with both hands, the rope being held above by four or five strong boys, who lowered the cragman, or "clifter," as he was called, over the precipice. kirwan was thus lowered to the rocks near the sea, where the puffins bred; and, loosening the rope, he prepared to spend the night in catching them. he had a pole with a snare on the end, which he easily clapped on the heads of the heavy and stupid birds; then tied each on a string as he caught it, and so kept it to be hauled up in the morning. he took in this way twenty or thirty score of the birds, besides quantities of their large eggs, which were found in deep clefts in the rock; and these he carried with him when his friends came in the morning to haul him up. it was a good school of courage, for sometimes boys missed their footing and were dashed to pieces. at other times he fished in his father's boat, or drove calves for sale on the mainland, or cured salt after high tide in the caverns, or collected kelp for the farmers. but he was always looking forward to a time when he might get a glimpse of the island of hy-brasail, and make his way to it. one day when all the fleet of fishing-boats was out for the herring fishery, and kirwan among them, the fog came in closer and closer, and he was shut apart from all others. his companion in the boat--or dory-mate, as it would be called in new england--had gone to cut bait on board another boat, but kirwan could manage the boat well enough alone. long he toiled with his oars toward the west, where he fancied the rest of the fleet to be; and sometimes he spread his little sprit-sail, steering with an oar--a thing which was, in a heavy sea, almost as hard as rowing. at last the fog lifted, and he found himself alone upon the ocean. he had lost his bearings and could not tell the points of the compass. presently out of a heavy bank of fog which rose against the horizon he saw what seemed land. it gave him new strength, and he worked hard to reach it; but it was long since he had eaten, his head was dizzy, and he lay down on the thwart of the boat, rather heedless of what might come. growing weaker and weaker, he did not clearly know what he was doing. suddenly he started up, for a voice hailed him from above his head. he saw above him the high stern of a small vessel, and with the aid of a sailor he was helped on board. he found himself on the deck of a sloop of about seventy tons, john nisbet, master, with a crew of seven men. they had sailed from killebegs (county donegal), in ireland, for the coast of france, laden with butter, tallow, and hides, and were now returning from france with french wines, and were befogged as kirwan had been. the boy was at once taken on board and rated as a seaman; and the later adventures of the trip are here given as he reported them on his return with the ship some months later. the mist continued thicker and thicker for a time, and when it suddenly furled itself away, they found themselves on an unknown coast, with the wind driving them shoreward. there were men on board who were familiar with the whole coast of ireland and scotland, but they remembered nothing like this. finding less than three fathoms of water, they came to anchor and sent four men ashore to find where they were; these being james ross the carpenter and two sailors, with the boy kirwan. they took swords and pistols. landing at the edge of a little wood, they walked for a mile within a pleasant valley where cattle, horses, and sheep were feeding, and then came in sight of a castle, small but strong, where they went to the door and knocked. no one answered, and they walked on, up a green hill, where there were multitudes of black rabbits; but when they had reached the top and looked around they could see no inhabitants, nor any house; on which they returned to the sloop and told their tale. after this the whole ship's company went ashore, except one left in charge, and they wandered about for hours, yet saw nothing more. as night came on they made a fire at the base of a fallen oak, near the shore, and lay around it, talking, and smoking the lately discovered weed, tobacco; when suddenly they heard loud noises from the direction of the castle and then all over the island, which frightened them so that they went on board the sloop and stayed all night. the next morning they saw a dignified, elderly gentleman with ten unarmed followers coming down towards the shore. hailing the sloop, the older gentleman, speaking gaelic, asked who and whence they were, and being told, invited them ashore as his guests. they went on shore, well armed; and he embraced them one by one, telling them that they were the happiest sight that island had seen for hundreds of years; that it was called hy-brasail or o-brazile; that his ancestors had been princes of it, but for many years it had been taken possession of by enchanters, who kept it almost always invisible, so that no ship came there; and that for the same reason he and his friends were rendered unable to answer the sailors, even when they knocked at the door; and that the enchantment must remain until a fire was kindled on the island by good christians. this had been done the night before, and the terrible noises which they had heard were from the powers of darkness, which had now left the island forever. and indeed when the sailors were led to the castle, they saw that the chief tower had just been demolished by the powers of darkness, as they retreated; but there were sitting within the halls men and women of dignified appearance, who thanked them for the good service they had done. then they were taken over the island, which proved to be some sixty miles long and thirty wide, abounding with horses, cattle, sheep, deer, rabbits, and birds, but without any swine; it had also rich mines of silver and gold, but few people, although there were ruins of old towns and cities. the sailors, after being richly rewarded, were sent on board their vessel and furnished with sailing directions to their port. on reaching home, they showed to the minister of their town the pieces of gold and silver that were given them at the island, these being of an ancient stamp, somewhat rusty yet of pure gold; and there was at once an eager desire on the part of certain of the townsmen to go with them. within a week an expedition was fitted out, containing several godly ministers, who wished to visit and discover the inhabitants of the island; but through some mishap of the seas this expedition was never heard of again. partly for this reason and partly because none of captain nesbit's crew wished to return to the island, there came to be in time a feeling of distrust about all this rediscovery of hy-brasail or o-brazile. there were not wanting those who held that the ancient gold pieces might have been gained by piracy, such as was beginning to be known upon the spanish main; and as for the boy kirwan, some of his playmates did not hesitate to express the opinion that he had always been, as they phrased it, the greatest liar that ever spoke. what is certain is that the island of brazil or hy-brasail had appeared on maps ever since 1367 as being near the coast of ireland; that many voyages were made from bristol to find it, a hundred years later; that it was mentioned about 1636 as often seen from the shore; and that it appeared as brazil rock on the london admiralty charts until after 1850. if many people tried to find it and failed, why should not kirwan have tried and succeeded? and as to his stretching his story a little by throwing in a few enchanters and magic castles, there was not a voyager of his period who was not tempted to do the same. xiv the isle of satan's hand the prosperous farmer conall ua corra in the province of connaught had everything to make him happy except that he and his wife had no children to cheer their old age and inherit their estate. conall had prayed for children, and one day said in his impatience that he would rather have them sent by satan than not have them at all. a year or two later his wife had three sons at a birth, and when these sons came to maturity, they were so ridiculed by other young men, as being the sons of satan, that they said, "if such is really our parentage, we will do satan's work." so they collected around them a few villains and began plundering and destroying the churches in the neighborhood and thus injuring half the church buildings in the country. at last they resolved to visit also the church of clothar, to destroy it, and to kill if necessary their mother's father, who was the leading layman of the parish. when they came to the church, they found the old man on the green in front of it, distributing meat and drink to his tenants and the people of the parish. seeing this, they postponed their plans until after dark and in the meantime went home with their grandfather, to spend the night at his house. they went to rest, and the eldest, lochan, had a terrible dream in which he saw first the joys of heaven and then the terrors of future punishment, and then he awoke in dismay. waking his brothers, he told them his dream, and that he now saw that they had been serving evil masters and making war upon a good one. such was his bitterness of remorse that he converted them to his views, and they agreed to go to their grandfather in the morning, renounce their sinful ways and ask his pardon. this they did, and he advised them to go to a celebrated saint, finnen of clonard, and take him as their spiritual guide. laying aside their armor and weapons, they went to clonard, where all the people, dreading them and knowing their wickedness, fled for their lives, except the saint himself, who came forward to meet them. with him the three brothers undertook the most austere religious exercises, and after a year they came to st. finnen and asked his punishment for their former crimes. "you cannot," he said, "restore to life those you have slain, but you can at least restore the buildings you have devastated and ruined." so they went and repaired many churches, after which they resolved to go on a pilgrimage upon the great atlantic ocean. they built for themselves therefore a curragh or coracle, covered with hides three deep. it was capable of carrying nine persons, and they selected five out of the many who wished to join the party. there were a bishop, a priest, a deacon, a musician, and the man who had modelled the boat; and with these they pushed out to sea. it had happened some years before that in a quarrel about a deer hunt, the men of ross had killed the king. it had been decided that, by way of punishment, sixty couples of the people of ross should be sent out to sea, two and two, in small boats, to meet what fate they might upon the deeps. they were watched that they might not land again, and for many years nothing more had been heard from them. the most pious task which these repenting pilgrims could undertake, it was thought, would be to seek these banished people. they resolved to spread their sail and let providence direct their course. they went, therefore, northwest on the atlantic, where they visited several wonderful islands, on one of which there was a great bird which related to them, the legend says, the whole history of the world, and gave them a great leaf from a tree--the leaf being as large as an ox-hide, and being preserved for many years in one of the churches after their return. at the next island they heard sweet human voices, and found that the sixty banished couples had established their homes there. the pilgrims then went onward in their hidebound boat until they reached the coast of spain, and there they landed and dwelt for a time. the bishop built a church, and the priest officiated in it, and the organist took charge of the music. all prospered; yet the boat-builder and the three brothers were never quite contented, for they had roamed the seas too long; and they longed for a new enterprise for their idle valor. they thought they had found this when one day they found on the sea-coast a group of women tearing their hair, and when they asked the explanation, "seã±or," said an old woman, "our sons and our husbands have again fallen into the hand of satan." at this the three brothers were startled, for they remembered well how they used, in youth, to rank themselves as satan's children. asking farther, they learned that a shattered boat they saw on the beach was one of a pair of boats which had been carried too far out to sea, and had come near an islet which the sailors called _isla de la man satanaxio_, or the island of satan's hand. it appeared that in that region there was an islet so called, always surrounded by chilly mists and water of a deadly cold; that no one had ever reached it, as it constantly changed place; but that a demon hand sometimes uprose from it, and plucked away men and even whole boats, which, when once grasped, usually by night, were never seen again, but perished helplessly, victims of satan's hand. when the voyagers laughed at this legend, the priest of the village showed them, on the early chart of bianco, the name of "de la man satanagio," and on that of beccaria the name "satanagio" alone, both these being the titles of islands. not alarmed at the name of satan, as being that of one whom they had supposed, in their days of darkness, to be their patron, they pushed boldly out to sea and steered westward, a boat-load of spanish fishermen following in their wake. passing island after island of green and fertile look, they found themselves at last in what seemed a less favored zone--as windy as the "roaring forties," and growing chillier every hour. fogs gathered quickly, so that they could scarcely see the companion boat, and the spanish fishermen called out to them, "garda da la man do satanaxio!" ("look out for satan's hand!") as they cried, the fog became denser yet, and when it once parted for a moment, something that lifted itself high above them, like a gigantic hand, showed itself an instant, and then descended with a crushing grasp upon the boat of the spanish fishermen, breaking it to pieces, and dragging some of the men below the water, while others, escaping, swam through the ice-cold waves, and were with difficulty taken on board the coracle; this being all the harder because the whole surface of the water was boiling and seething furiously. rowing away as they could from this perilous neighborhood, they lay on their oars when the night came on, not knowing which way to go. gradually the fog cleared away, the sun rose clearly at last, and wherever they looked on the deep they saw no traces of any island, still less of the demon hand. but for the presence among them of the fishermen they had picked up, there was nothing to show that any casualty had happened. that day they steered still farther to the west with some repining from the crew, and at night the same fog gathered, the same deadly chill came on. finding themselves in shoal water, and apparently near some island, they decided to anchor the boat; and as the man in the bow bent over to clear away the anchor, something came down upon him with the same awful force, and knocked him overboard. his body could not be recovered, and as the wind came up, they drove before it until noon of the next day, seeing nothing of any land and the ocean deepening again. by noon the fog cleared, and they saw nothing, but cried with one voice that the boat should be put about, and they should return to spain. for two days they rowed in peace over a summer sea; then came the fog again and they laid on their oars that night. all around them dim islands seemed to float, scarcely discernible in the fog; sometimes from the top of each a point would show itself, as of a mighty hand, and they could hear an occasional plash and roar, as if this hand came downwards. once they heard a cry, as if of sailors from another vessel. then they strained their eyes to gaze into the fog, and a whole island seemed to be turning itself upside down, its peak coming down, while its base went uppermost, and the whole water boiled for leagues around, as if both earth and sea were upheaved. the sun rose upon this chaos of waters. no demon hand was anywhere visible, nor any island, but a few icebergs were in sight, and the frightened sailors rowed away and made sail for home. it was rare to see icebergs so far south, and this naturally added to the general dismay. amid the superstition of the sailors, the tales grew and grew, and all the terrors became mingled. but tradition says that there were some veteran spanish sailors along that coast, men who had sailed on longer voyages, and that these persons actually laughed at the whole story of satan's hand, saying that any one who had happened to see an iceberg topple over would know all about it. it was more generally believed, however, that all this was mere envy and jealousy; the daring fishermen remained heroes for the rest of their days; and it was only within a century or two that the island of satanaxio disappeared from the charts. xv antillia, the island of the seven cities the young spanish page, luis de vega, had been for some months at the court of don rodrigo, king of spain, when he heard the old knights lamenting, as they came out of the palace at toledo, over the king's last and most daring whim. "he means," said one of them in a whisper, "to penetrate the secret cave of the gothic kings, that cave on which each successive sovereign has put a padlock," "till there are now twenty-seven of them," interrupted a still older knight. "and he means," said the first, frowning at the interruption, "to take thence the treasures of his ancestors." "indeed, he must do it," said another, "else the son of his ancestors will have no treasure left of his own." "but there is a spell upon it," said the other. "for ages spain has been threatened with invasion, and it is the old tradition that the only talisman which can prevent it is in this cave." "well," said the scoffer, "it is only by entering the cave that he can possess the talisman." "but if he penetrates to it, his power is lost." "a pretty talisman," said the other. "it is only of use to anybody so long as no one sees it. were i the king i would hold it in my hands. and i have counselled him to heed no graybeards, but to seize the treasure for himself. i have offered to accompany him." "may it please your lordship," said the eager luis, "may i go with you?" "yes," said don alonzo de carregas, turning to the ardent boy. "where the king goes i go, and where i go thou shalt be my companion. see, seã±ors," he said, turning to the others, "how the ready faith of boyhood puts your fears to shame. to his majesty the terrors of this goblin cave are but a jest which frightens the old and only rouses the young to courage. the king may find the recesses of the cavern filled with gold and jewels; he who goes with him may share them. this boy is my first recruit: who follows?" by this time a whole group of courtiers, young and old, had assembled about don alonzo, and every man below thirty years was ready to pledge himself to the enterprise. but the older courtiers and the archbishop oppas were beseeching the king to refrain. "respect, o king," they said, "the custom held sacred by twenty-seven of thy predecessors. give us but an estimate of the sum that may, in thy kingly mind, represent the wealth that is within the cavern walls, and we will raise it on our own domains, rather than see the sacred tradition set at nought." the king's only answer was, "follow me," don alonzo hastily sending the boy luis to collect the younger knights who had already pledged themselves to the enterprise. a gallant troop, they made their way down the steep steps which led from the palace to the cave. the news had spread; the ladies had gathered on the balconies, and the bright face of one laughing girl looked from a bower window, while she tossed a rose to the happy luis. alas, it fell short of its mark and hit the robes of archbishop oppas, who stood with frowning face as the youngster swept by. the archbishop crushed it unwittingly in the hand that held the crosier. the rusty padlocks were broken, and each fell clanking on the floor, and was brushed away by mailed heels. they passed from room to room with torches, for the cavern extended far beneath the earth; yet they found no treasure save the jewelled table of solomon. but for their great expectations, this table alone might have proved sufficient to reward their act of daring. some believed that it had been brought by the romans from solomon's temple, and from rome by the goths and vandals who sacked that city and afterwards conquered spain; but all believed it to be sacred, and now saw it to be gorgeous. some describe it as being of gold, set with precious stones; others, as of gold and silver, making it yellow and white in hue, ornamented with a row of pearls, a row of rubies, and another row of emeralds. it is generally agreed that it stood on three hundred and sixty feet, each made of a single emerald. being what it was, the king did not venture to remove it, but left it where it was. traversing chamber after chamber and finding all empty, they at last found all passages leading to the inmost apartment, which had a marble urn in the centre. yet all eyes presently turned from this urn to a large painting on the wall which displayed a troop of horsemen in full motion. their horses were of arab breed, their arms were scimitars and lances, with fluttering pennons; they wore turbans, and their coarse black hair fell over their shoulders; they were dressed in skins. never had there been seen by the courtiers a mounted troop so wild, so eager, so formidable. turning from them to the marble urn, the king drew from it a parchment, which said: "these are the people who, whenever this cave is entered and the spell contained in this urn is broken, shall possess this country. an idle curiosity has done its work.[2] [footnote 2: "_latinas letras ã¡ la margen puestas decian:--'cuando aquesta puerta y arca fueran abiertas, gentes como estas pondrã¡n por tierra cuanto espaã±a abarca._" --lope de vega.] the rash king, covering his eyes with his hands, fled outward from the cavern; his knights followed him, but don alonzo lingered last except the boy luis. "nevertheless, my lord," said luis, "i should like to strike a blow at these bold barbarians." "we may have an opportunity," said the gloomy knight. he closed the centre gate of the cavern, and tried to replace the broken padlocks, but it was in vain. in twenty-four hours the story had travelled over the kingdom. the boy luis little knew into what a complex plot he was drifting. in the secret soul of his protector, don alonzo, there burned a great anger against the weak and licentious king. he and his father, count julian, and archbishop oppas, his uncle, were secretly brooding plans of wrath against don rodrigo for his ill treatment of don alonzo's sister, florinda. rumors had told them that an army of strange warriors from africa, who had hitherto carried all before them, were threatening to cross the straits not yet called gibraltar, and descend on spain. all the ties of fidelity held these courtiers to the king; but they secretly hated him, and wished for his downfall. by the next day they had planned to betray him to the moors. count julian had come to make his military report to don rodrigo, and on some pretext had withdrawn florinda from the court. "when you come again," said the pleasure-loving king, "bring me some hawks from the south, that we may again go hawking." "i will bring you hawks enough," was the answer, "and such as you never saw before." "but rodrigo," says the arabian chronicler, "did not understand the full meaning of his words." it was a hard blow for the young luis when he discovered what a plot was being urged around him. he would gladly have been faithful to the king, worthless as he knew him to be; but don alonzo had been his benefactor, and he held by him. meanwhile the conspiracy drew towards completion, and the arab force was drawing nearer to the straits. a single foray into spain had shown musa, the arab general, the weakness of the kingdom; that the cities were unfortified, the citizens unarmed, and many of the nobles lukewarm towards the king. "hasten," he said, "towards that country where the palaces are filled with gold and silver, and the men cannot fight in their defence." accordingly, in the early spring of the year 711, musa sent his next in command, tarik, to cross to spain with an army of seven thousand men, consisting mostly of chosen cavalry. they crossed the straits then called the sea of narrowness, embarking the troops at tangier and ceute in many merchant vessels, and landing at that famous promontory called thenceforth by the arab general's name, the rock of tarik, dschebel-tarik, or, more briefly, gibraltar. luis, under don alonzo, was with the spanish troops sent hastily down to resist the arab invaders, and, as these troops were mounted, he had many opportunities of seeing the new enemies and observing their ways. they were a picturesque horde; their breasts were covered with mail armor; they wore white turbans on their heads, carried their bows slung across their backs, and their swords suspended to their girdles, while they held their long spears firmly grasped in their hands. the arabs said that their fashion of mail armor had come to them from king david, "to whom," they said, "god made iron soft, and it became in his hands as thread." more than half of them were mounted on the swift horses which were peculiar to their people; and the white, red, and black turbans and cloaks made a most striking picture around the camp-fires. these men, too, were already trained and successful soldiers, held together both by a common religion and by the hope of spoil. there were twelve thousand of them by the most probable estimate,--for musa had sent reinforcements,--and they had against them from five to eight times their number. but of the spaniards only a small part were armed or drilled, or used to warfare, and great multitudes of them had to put their reliance in clubs, slings, axes, and short scythes. the cavalry were on the wings, where luis found himself, with count julian and archbishop oppas to command them. soon, however, don alonzo and luis were detached, with others, to act as escort to the king, don rodrigo. the battle began soon after daybreak on sunday, july 19, 711. as the spanish troops advanced, their trumpets sounded defiance and were answered by moorish horns and kettledrums. while they drew near, the shouts of the spaniards were drowned in the _lelie_ of the arabs, the phrase _lã¡ ilã¡-ha ella-llah_--there is no deity but god. as they came nearer yet, there is a tradition that rodrigo looking on the moslem, said, "by the faith of the messiah, these are the very men i saw painted on the walls of the cave at toledo." yet he certainly bore himself like a king, and he rode on the battle-field in a chariot of ivory lined with gold, having a silken awning decked with pearls and rubies, while the vehicle was drawn by three white mules abreast. he was then nearly eighty, and was dressed in a silken robe embroidered with pearls. he had brought with him in carts and on mules his treasures in jewels and money; and he had trains of mules whose only load consisted of ropes, to bind the arms of his captives, so sure was he of making every arab his prisoner. driving along the lines he addressed his troops boldly, and arriving at the centre quitted his chariot, put on a horned helmet, and mounted his white horse orelio. this was before the invention of gunpowder, and all battles were hand to hand. on the first day the result was doubtful, and tarik rode through the arab ranks, calling on them to fight for their religion and their safety. as the onset began, tarik rode furiously at a spanish chief whom he took for the king, and struck him down. for a moment it was believed to be the king whom he had killed, and from that moment new energy was given to the arabs. the line of the spaniards wavered; and at this moment the whole wing of cavalry to which luis belonged rode out from its place and passed on the flank of the army, avoiding both spaniard and arab. "what means this?" said luis to the horseman by his side. "it means," was the answer, "that bishop oppas is betraying the king." at this moment don alonzo rode up and cheered their march with explanations. "no more," he said, "will we obey this imbecile old king who can neither fight nor govern. he and his troops are but so many old women; it is only these arabs who are men. all is arranged with tarik, and we will save our country by joining the only man who can govern it." luis groaned in dismay; it seemed to him an act of despicable treachery; but those around him seemed mostly prepared for it, and he said to himself, "after all, don alonzo is my chief; i must hold by him;" so he kept with the others, and the whole cavalry wing followed oppas to a knoll, whence they watched the fight. it soon became a panic; the arabs carried all before them, and the king himself was either killed or hid himself in a convent. many a spaniard of the seceding wing of cavalry reproached himself afterwards for what had been done; and while the archbishop had some influence with the conquering general and persuaded him to allow the christians everywhere to retain a part of their churches, yet he had, after all, the reward of a traitor in contempt and self-reproach. this he could bear no longer, and organizing an expedition from a spanish port, he and six minor bishops, with many families of the christians, made their way towards gibraltar. they did not make their escape, however, without attracting notice and obstruction. as they rode among the hills with their long train, soldiers, ecclesiastics, women, and children, they saw a galloping band of arabs in pursuit. the archbishop bade them turn instantly into a deserted castle they were just passing, to drop the portcullis and man the walls. that they might look as numerous as possible, he bade all the women dress themselves like men and tie their long hair beneath their chins to resemble beards. he then put helmets on their heads and lances in their hands, and thus the arab leader saw a formidable host on the walls to be besieged. in obedience, perhaps, to orders, he rode away and after sufficient time had passed, the archbishop's party rode onward towards their place of embarkation. luis found himself beside a dark-eyed maiden, who ambled along on a white mule, and when he ventured to joke her a little on her late appearance as an armed cavalier, she said coyly, "did you think my only weapons were roses?" looking eagerly at her, he recognized the laughing face which he had once seen at a window; but ere he could speak again she had struck her mule lightly and taken refuge beside the archbishop, where luis dared not venture. he did not recognize the maiden again till they met on board one of the vessels which the arabs had left at gibraltar, and on which they embarked for certain islands of which oppas had heard, which lay in the sea of darkness. among these islands they were to find their future home. the voyage, at first rough, soon became serene and quiet; the skies were clear, the moon shone; the veils of the spanish maidens were convenient by day and useless at evening, and luis had many a low-voiced talk on the quarter-deck with juanita, who proved to be a young relative of the archbishop. it was understood that she was to take the veil, and that, young as she was, she would become, by and by, the lady abbess of a nunnery to be established on the islands; and as her kinsman, though severe to others, was gentle to her, she had her own way a good deal-especially beneath the moon and the stars. for the rest, they had daily services of religion, as dignified and sonorous as could have taken place on shore, except on those rare occasions when the chief bass voice was hushed in seasickness in some cabin below. beautiful gregorian masses rose to heaven, and it is certain that the pilgrim fathers, in their two months on the atlantic, almost a thousand years later, had no such rich melody as floated across those summer seas. luis was a favorite of oppas, the archbishop, who never seemed to recognize any danger in having an enamoured youth so near to the demure future abbess. he consulted the youth about many plans. their aim, it seemed, was the great island called antillia, as yet unexplored, but reputed to be large enough for many thousand people. oppas was to organize the chief settlement, and he planned to divide the island into seven dioceses, each bishop having a permanent colony. once established, they would trade with spain, and whether it remained moorish or became christian, oppas was sure of friendly relations. the priests were divided among the three vessels, and among them there was that occasional jarring from which even holy men are not quite free. the different bishops had their partisans, but none dared openly face the imperial oppas. his supposed favorite luis was less formidable; he was watched and spied upon, while his devotion to the dignified juanita was apparent to all. yet he was always ready to leave her side when oppas called, and then they discussed together the future prospects of the party: when they should see land, whether it would really be antillia, whether they should have a good landfall, whether the island would be fertile, whether there would be native inhabitants, and if so, whether they should be baptized and sent to spain as slaves, or whether they should be retained on the island. it was decided, on the whole, that this last should be done; and what with the prospect of winning souls, and the certainty of having obedient subjects, the prospect seemed inviting. one morning, at sunrise, there lay before them a tropic island, soft and graceful, with green shrubs and cocoanut trees, and rising in the distance to mountains whose scooped tops and dark, furrowed sides spoke of extinct volcanoes--yet not so extinct but that a faint wreath of vapor still mounted from the utmost peak of the highest among them. here and there were seen huts covered with great leaves or sheaves of grass, and among these they saw figures moving and disappearing, watching their approach, yet always ready to disappear in the recesses of the woods. sounding carefully the depth of water with their imperfect tackle, they anchored off the main beach, and sent a boat on shore from each vessel, luis being in command of one. the natives at first hovered in the distance, but presently came down to the shore to meet the visitors, some even swimming off to the boats in advance. they were of a yellow complexion, with good features, were naked except for goat-skins or woven palm fibres, or reeds painted in different colors; and were gay and merry, singing and dancing among themselves. when brought on board the ships, they ate bread and figs, but refused wine and spices; and they seemed not to know the use of rings or of swords, when shown to them. whatever was given to them they divided with one another. they cultivated fruit and grain on their island, reared goats, and seemed willing to share all with their newly found friends. luis, always thoughtful, and somewhat anxious in temperament, felt many doubts as to the usage which these peaceful islanders would receive from the ships' company, no matter how many bishops and holy men might be on board. all that day there was exploring by small companies, and on the next the archbishop landed in solemn procession. the boats from the ships all met at early morning, near the shore, the sight bringing together a crowd of islanders on the banks; men, women, and children, who, with an instinct that something of importance was to happen, decked themselves with flowers, wreaths, and plumes, the number increasing constantly and the crowd growing more and more picturesque. forming from the boats, a procession marched slowly up the beach, beginning with a few lay brethren, carrying tools for digging; then acolytes bearing tall crosses; and then white-robed priests; the seven bishops being carried on litters, the archbishop most conspicuously of all. solemn chants were sung as the procession moved through the calm water towards the placid shore, and the gentle savages joined in kneeling while a solemn mass was said, and the crosses were uplifted which took possession of the new-found land in the name of the church. these solemn services occupied much of the day; later they carried tents on shore, and some of them occupied large storehouses which the natives had built for drying their figs; and to the women, under direction of juanita, was allotted a great airy cave, with smaller caves branching from it, where the natives had made palm baskets. day after day they labored, transferring all their goods and provisions to the land,--tools, and horses, and mules, clothing, and simple furniture. most of them joined with pleasure in this toil, but others grew restless as they transferred all their possessions to land, and sometimes the women especially would climb to high places and gaze longingly towards spain. one morning a surprise came to luis. every night it was their custom to have a great fire on the beach, and to meet and sing chants around it. one night luis had personally put out the blaze of the fire, as it was more windy than usual, and went to sleep in his tent. soon after midnight he was awakened by a glare of a great light upon his tent's thin walls, and hastily springing up, he saw their largest caravel on fire. rushing out to give the alarm, he saw a similar flame kindled in the second vessel, and then, after some delay, in the third. then he saw a dark boat pulling hastily towards the shore, and going down to the beach he met their most trusty captain, who told him that the ships had been burnt by order of the archbishop, in order that their return might be hopeless, and that their stay on the island might be forever. there was some lamentation among the emigrants when they saw their retreat thus cut off, but luis when once established on shore did not share it; to be near juanita was enough for him, though he rarely saw her. he began sometimes to feel that the full confidence of the archbishop was withdrawn from him, but he was still high in office, and he rode with oppas over the great island, marking it out by slow degrees into seven divisions, that each bishop might have a diocese and a city of his own. soon the foundations began to be laid, and houses and churches began to be built, for the soft volcanic rock was easily worked, though not very solid for building. the spot for the cathedral was selected with the unerring eye for a fine situation which the roman catholic church has always shown, and the adjoining convent claimed, as it rose, the care of juanita. as general superintendent of the works, it was the duty of luis sometimes to be in that neighborhood, until one unlucky day when the two lovers, lingering to watch the full moon rise, were interrupted by one of the younger bishops, a black-browed spaniard of stealthy ways, who had before now taken it upon himself to watch them. nothing could be more innocent than their dawning loves, yet how could any love be held innocent on the part of a maiden who was the kinswoman of an archbishop and was his destined choice for the duties of an abbess? the fact that she had never yet taken her preliminary vows or given her consent to take them, counted for nothing in the situation; though any experienced lady-superior could have told the archbishop that no maiden could be wisely made an abbess until she had given some signs of having a vocation for a religious life. from that moment the youthful pair met no more for weeks. it seemed always necessary for luis to be occupied elsewhere than in the cathedral city; as the best architect on the island, he was sent here, there, and everywhere; and the six other churches rose with more rapidity because the archbishop preferred to look after his own. the once peaceful natives found themselves a shade less happy when they were required to work all day long as quarry-men or as builders, but it was something, had they but known it, that they were not borne away as slaves, as happened later on other islands to so many of their race. to luis they were always loyal for his cheery ways, although there seemed a change in his spirits as time went on. but an event happened which brought a greater change still. a spanish caravel was seen one day, making towards the port and showing signals of distress. luis, having just then found an excuse for visiting the cathedral city, was the first to board her and was hailed with joy by the captain. he was a townsman of the youth's and had given him his first lessons in navigation. he had been bound, it seemed, for the canary islands, and had put in for repairs, which needed only a few days in the quiet waters of a sheltered port. he could tell luis of his parents, of his home, and that the northern part of spain, under arab sway, was humanely governed, and a certain proportion of christian churches allowed. in a few days the caravel sailed again at nightfall; but it carried with it two unexpected passengers; the archbishop lost his architect, and the proposed convent lost its unwilling abbess. from this point both the island of the seven cities and its escaping lovers disappear from all definite records. it was a period when expeditions of discovery came and went, and when one wondrous tale drove out another. there exist legends along the northern coast of spain in the region of santander, for instance, of a youth who once eloped with a high-born maiden and came there to dwell, but there may have been many such youths and many such maidens--who knows? of antillia itself, or the island of the seven cities, it is well known that it appeared on the maps of the atlantic, sometimes under the one name and sometimes under another, six hundred years after the date assigned by the story that has here been told. it was said by fernando columbus to have been revisited by a portuguese sailor in 1447; and the name appeared on the globe of behaim in 1492. the geographer toscanelli, in his famous letter to columbus, recommended antillia as likely to be useful to columbus as a way station for reaching india, and when the great explorer reached hispaniola, he was supposed to have discovered the mysterious island, whence the name of antilles was given to the group. later, the first explorers of new mexico thought that the pueblos were the seven cities; so that both the names of the imaginary island have been preserved, although those of luis de vega and his faithful juanita have not been recorded until the telling of this tale. xvi harald the viking erik the red, the most famous of all vikings, had three sons, and once when they were children the king came to visit erik and passed through the playground where the boys were playing. leif and biorn, the two oldest, were building little houses and barns and were making believe that they were full of cattle and sheep, while harald, who was only four years old, was sailing chips of wood in a pool. the king asked harald what they were, and he said, "ships of war." king olaf laughed and said, "the time may come when you will command ships, my little friend." then he asked biorn what he would like best to have. "corn-land," he said; "ten farms." "that would yield much corn," the king replied. then he asked leif the same question, and he answered, "cows." "how many?" "so many that when they went to the lake to be watered, they would stand close round the edge, so that not another could pass." "that would be a large housekeeping," said the king, and he asked the same question of harald. "what would you like best to have?" "servants and followers," said the child, stoutly. "how many would you like?" "enough," said the child, "to eat up all the cows and crops of my brothers at a single meal." then the king laughed, and said to the mother of the children, "you are bringing up a king." as the boys grew, leif and harald were ever fond of roaming, while biorn wished to live on the farm at peace. their sister freydis went with the older boys and urged them on. she was not gentle and amiable, but full of energy and courage: she was also quarrelsome and vindictive. people said of her that even if her brothers were all killed, yet the race of erik the red would not end while she lived; that "she practised more of shooting and the handling of sword and shield than of sewing or embroidering, and that as she was able, she did evil oftener than good; and that when she was hindered she ran into the woods and slew men to get their property." she was always urging her brothers to deeds of daring and adventure. one day they had been hawking, and when they let slip the falcons, harald's falcon killed two blackcocks in one flight and three in another. the dogs ran and brought the birds, and he said proudly to the others, "it will be long before most of you have any such success," and they all agreed to this. he rode home in high spirits and showed his birds to his sister freydis. "did any king," he asked, "ever make so great a capture in so short a time?" "it is, indeed," she said, "a good morning's hunting to have got five blackcocks, but it was still better when in one morning a king of norway took five kings and subdued all their kingdoms." then harald went away very humble and besought his father to let him go and serve on the varangian guard of king otho at constantinople, that he might learn to be a warrior. so harald was brought from his norwegian home by his father erik the red, in his galley called the _sea-serpent_, and sailed with him through the mediterranean sea, and was at last made a member of the emperor otho's varangian guard at constantinople. this guard will be well remembered by the readers of scott's novel, "count robert of paris," and was maintained by successive emperors and drawn largely from the scandinavian races. erik the red had no hesitation in leaving his son among them, as the young man was stout and strong, very self-willed, and quite able to defend himself. the father knew also that the varangian guard, though hated by the people, held to one another like a band of brothers; and that any one brought up among them would be sure of plenty of fighting and plenty of gold,--the two things most prized by early norsemen. for ordinary life, harald's chief duties would be to lounge about the palace, keeping guard, wearing helmet and buckler and bearskin, with purple underclothes and golden clasped hose; and bearing as armor a mighty battle-axe and a small scimitar. such was the life led by harald, till one day he had a message from his father, through a new recruit, calling him home to join an expedition to the western seas. "i hear, my son," the message said, "that your good emperor, whom may the gods preserve, is sorely ill and may die any day. when he is dead, be prompt in getting your share of the plunder of the palace and come back to me." the emperor died, and the order was fulfilled. it was the custom of the varangians to reward themselves in this way for their faithful services of protection; and the result is that, to this day, greek and arabic gold crosses and chains are to be found in the houses of norwegian peasants and may be seen in the museums of christiania and copenhagen. no one was esteemed the less for this love of spoil, if he was only generous in giving. the norsemen spoke contemptuously of gold as "the serpent's bed," and called a generous man "a hater of the serpent's bed," because such a man parts with gold as with a thing he hates. when the youth came to his father, he found erik the red directing the building of one of the great norse galleys, nearly eighty feet long and seventeen wide and only six feet deep. the boat had twenty ribs, and the frame was fastened together by withes made of roots, while the oaken planks were held by iron rivets. the oars were twenty feet long, and were put through oar holes, and the rudder, shaped like a large oar, was not at the end, but was attached to a projecting beam on the starboard (originally steer-board) side. the ship was to be called a dragon, and was to be painted so as to look like one, having a gilded dragon's head at the bow and a gilded tail on the stern; while the moving oars would look like legs, and the row of red and white shields, hung along the side of the boat, would resemble the scales of a dragon, and the great square sails, red and blue, would look like wings. this was the vessel which young harald was to command. he had already made trips in just such vessels with his father; had learned to attack the enemy with arrow and spear; also with stones thrown down from above, and with grappling-irons to clutch opposing boats. he had learned to swim, from early childhood, even in the icy northern waters, and he had been trained in swimming to hide his head beneath his floating shield, so that it could not be seen. he had learned also to carry tinder in a walnut shell, enclosed in wax, so that no matter how long he had been in the water he could strike a light on reaching shore. he had also learned from his father acts of escape as well as attack. thus he had once sailed on a return trip from denmark after plundering a town; the ships had been lying at anchor all night in a fog, and at sunlight in the morning lights seemed burning on the sea. but erik the red said, "it is a fleet of danish ships, and the sun strikes on the gilded dragon crests; furl the sail and take to the oars." they rowed their best, yet the danish ships were overtaking them, when erik the red ordered his men to throw wood overboard and cover it with danish plunder. this made some delay, as the danes stopped to pick it up, and in the same way erik the red dropped his provisions, and finally his prisoners; and in the delay thus caused he got away with his own men. but now harald was not to go to denmark, but to the new western world, the wonderstrands which leif had sought and had left without sufficient exploration. first, however, he was to call at greenland, which his father had first discovered. it was the custom of the viking explorers, when they reached a new country, to throw overboard their "seat posts," or _setstokka_,--the curved part of their doorways,--and then to land where they floated ashore. but erik the red had lent his to a friend and could not get them back, so that he sailed in search of them, and came to a new land which he called greenland, because, as he said, people would be attracted thither if it had a good name. then he established a colony there, and then leif the lucky, as he was called, sailed still farther, and came to the wonderstrand, or magic shores. these he called vinland or wine-land, and now a rich man named karlsefne was to send a colony thither from greenland, and the young harald was to go with it and take command of it. now as harald was to be presented to the rich karlsefne, he thought he must be gorgeously arrayed. so he wore a helmet on his head, a red shield richly inlaid with gold and iron, and a sharp sword with an ivory handle wound with golden thread. he had also a short spear, and wore over his coat a red silk short cloak on which was embroidered, both before and behind, a yellow lion. we may well believe that the sixty men and five women who composed the expedition were ready to look on him with admiration, especially as one of the women was his own sister, freydis, now left to his peculiar care, since erik the red had died. the sturdy old hero had died still a heathen, and it was only just after his death that christianity was introduced into greenland, and those numerous churches were built there whose ruins yet remain, even in regions from which all population has gone. so the party of colonists sailed for vinland, and freydis, with the four older women, came in harald's boat, and freydis took easily the lead among them for strength, though not always, it must be admitted, for amiability. the boats of the expedition having left greenland soon after the year 1000, coasted the shore as far as they could, rarely venturing into open sea. at last, amidst fog and chilly weather, they made land at a point where a river ran through a lake into the sea, and they could not enter from the sea except at high tide. it was once believed that this was narragansett bay in rhode island, but this is no longer believed. here they landed and called the place hã³p, from the icelandic word _hã³pa_, meaning an inlet from the ocean. here they found grape-vines growing and fields of wild wheat; there were fish in the lake and wild animals in the woods. here they landed the cattle and the provisions which they had brought with them; and here they built their huts. they went in the spring, and during that summer the natives came in boats of skin to trade with them--men described as black, and ill favored, with large eyes and broad cheeks and with coarse hair on their heads. these, it is thought, may have been the esquimaux. the first time they came, these visitors held up a white shield as a sign of peace, and were so frightened by the bellowing of the bull that they ran away. then returning, they brought furs to sell and wished to buy weapons, but harald tried another plan: he bade the women bring out milk, butter, and cheese from their dairies, and when the skraelings saw that, they wished for nothing else, and, the legend says, "the skraelings carried away their wares in their stomachs, but the norsemen had the skins they had purchased." this happened yet again, but at the second visit one of the skraelings was accidentally killed or injured. the next time the skraelings came they were armed with slings, and raised upon a pole a great blue ball and attacked the norsemen so furiously that they were running away when erik's sister, freydis, came out before them with bare arms, and took up a sword, saying, "why do you run, strong men as you are, from these miserable dwarfs whom i thought you would knock down like cattle? give me weapons, and i will fight better than any of you." then the rest took courage and began to fight, and the skraelings were driven back. once more the strangers came, and one of them took up an axe, a thing which he had not before seen, and struck at one of his companions, killing him. then the leader took the axe and threw it into the water, after which the skraelings retreated, and were not seen again. the winter was a mild one, and while it lasted, the norsemen worked busily at felling wood and house-building. they had also many amusements, in most of which harald excelled. they used to swim in all weathers. one of their feats was to catch seals and sit on them while swimming; another was to pull one another down and remain as long as possible under water. harald could swim for a mile or more with his armor on, or with a companion on his shoulder. in-doors they used to play the tug of war, dragging each other by a walrus hide across the fire. harald was good at this, and was also the best archer, sometimes aiming at something placed on a boy's head, the boy having a cloth tied around his head, and held by two men, that he might not move at all on hearing the whistling of the arrow. in this way harald could even shoot an arrow under a nut placed on the head, so that the nut would roll down and the head not be hurt. he could plant a spear in the ground and then shoot an arrow upward so skilfully that it would turn in the air and fall with the point in the end of the spear-shaft. he could also shoot a blunt arrow through the thickest ox-hide from a cross-bow. he could change weapons from one hand to the other during a fencing match, or fence with either hand, or throw two spears at the same time, or catch a spear in motion. he could run so fast that no horse could overtake him, and play the rough games with bat and ball, using a ball of the hardest wood. he could race on snowshoes, or wrestle when bound by a belt to his antagonist. then when he and his companions wished a rest, they amused themselves with harp-playing or riddles or chess. the norsemen even played chess on board their vessels, and there are still to be seen, on some of these, the little holes that were formerly used for the sharp ends of the chessmen, so that they should not be displaced. they could not find that any european had ever visited this place; but some of the skraelings told them of a place farther south, which they called "the land of the whiteman," or "great ireland." they said that in that place there were white men who clothed themselves in long white garments, carried before them poles to which white cloths were hung, and called with a loud voice. these, it was thought by the norsemen, must be christian processions, in which banners were borne and hymns were chanted. it has been thought from this that some expedition from ireland--that of st. brandan, for instance--may have left a settlement there, long before, but this has never been confirmed. the skraelings and the northmen were good friends for a time; until at last one of erik's own warriors killed a skraeling by accident, and then all harmony was at an end. they saw no hope of making a lasting settlement there, and, moreover, freydis who was very grasping, tried to deceive the other settlers and get more than her share of everything, so that harald himself lost patience with her and threatened her. it happened that one of the men of the party, olaf, was harald's foster-brother. they had once had a fight, and after the battle had agreed that they would be friends for life and always share the same danger. for this vow they were to walk under the turf; that is, a strip of turf was cut and held above their heads, and they stood beneath and let their blood flow upon the ground whence the turf had been cut. after this they were to own everything by halves and either must avenge the other's death. this was their brotherhood; but freydis did not like it; so she threatened olaf, and tried to induce men to kill him, for she did not wish to bring upon herself the revenge that must come if she slew him. this was the reason why the whole enterprise failed, and why olaf persuaded harald, for the sake of peace, to return to greenland in the spring and take a load of valuable timber to sell there, including one stick of what was called massur-wood, which was as valuable as mahogany, and may have been at some time borne by ocean currents to the beach. it is hardly possible that, as some have thought, the colonists established a regular trade in this wood for no such wood grows on the northern atlantic shores. however this may be, the party soon returned, after one winter in vinland the good; and on the way back harald did one thing which made him especially dear to his men. a favorite feat of the norsemen was to toss three swords in the air and catch each by the handle as it came down. this was called the _handsax_ game. the young men used also to try the feat of running along the oar-blades of the rowers as they were in motion, passing around the bow of the vessel with a spring and coming round to the stern over the oars on the other side. few could accomplish this, but no one but harald could do it and play the _handsax_ game as he ran; and when he did it, they all said that he was the most skilful man at _idrottie_ ever seen. that was their word for an athletic feat. but presently came a time when not only his courage but his fairness and justice were to be tried. it happened in this way. there was nothing of which the norsemen were more afraid than of the _teredo_, or shipworm, which gnaws the wood of ships. it was observed in greenland and iceland that pieces of wood often floated on shore which were filled with holes made by this animal, and they thought that in certain places the seas were full of this worm, so that a ship would be bored and sunk in a little while. it is said that on this return voyage harald's vessel entered a worm-sea and presently began to sink. they had, however, provided a smaller boat smeared with sea-oil, which the worms would not attack. they went into the boat, but found that it would not hold more than half of them all. then harald said, "we will divide by lots, without regard to the rank; each taking his chance with the rest." this they thought, the norse legend says, "a high-minded offer." they drew lots, and harald was among those assigned to the safer boat. he stepped in, and when he was there a man called from the other boat and said, "dost thou intend, harald, to separate from me here?" harald answered, "so it turns out," and the man said, "very different was thy promise to my father when we came from greenland, for the promise was that we should share the same fate." then harald said, "it shall not be thus. go into the boat, and i will go back into the ship, since thou art so anxious to live." then harald went back to the ship, while the man took his place in the boat, and after that harald was never heard of more. xvii the search for norumbega sir humphrey gilbert, colonel of the british forces in the netherlands, was poring over the manuscript narrative of david ingram, mariner. ingram had in 1568-69 taken the widest range of travel that had ever been taken in the new continent, of which it was still held doubtful by many whether it was or was not a part of asia. "surely," gilbert said to his half-brother, walter raleigh, a youth of twenty-three, "this knave hath seen strange things. he hath been set ashore by john hawkins in the gulf of mexico and there left behind. he hath travelled northward with two of his companions along indian trails; he hath even reached norumbega; he hath seen that famous city with its houses of crystal and silver." "pine logs and hemlock bark, belike," said raleigh, scornfully. "nay," said gilbert, "he hath carefully written it down. he saw kings decorated with rubies six inches long; and they were borne on chairs of silver and crystal, adorned with precious stones. he saw pearls as common as pebbles, and the natives were laden down by their ornaments of gold and silver. the city of bega was three-quarters of a mile long and had many streets wider than those of london. some houses had massive pillars of crystal and silver." "what assurance can he give?" asked raleigh. "he offers on his life to prove it." "a small offer, mayhap. there be many of these lying mariners whose lives are as worthless as the stories they relate. but what said he of the natives?" "kindly disposed," was the reply, "so far as he went, but those dwelling farther north, where he did not go, were said to be cannibals with teeth like those of dogs, whereby you may know them." "travellers' tales," said raleigh. "_omne ignotum pro mirifico_." "he returned," said gilbert, disregarding the interruption, "in the _gargarine_, a french vessel commanded by captain champagne." "methinks something of the flavor represented by the good captain's name hath got into your englishman's brain. good ale never gives such fantasies. doth he perchance speak of elephants?" "he doth," said sir humphrey, hesitatingly. "perchance he saw them not, but heard of them only." "what says he of them?" asked raleigh. "he says that he saw in that country both elephants and ounces; and he says that their trumpets are made of elephants' teeth." "but the houses," said raleigh; "tell me of the houses." "in every house," said gilbert, reading from the manuscript, "they have scoops, buckets, and divers vessels, all of massive silver with which they throw out water and otherwise employ them. the women wear great plates of gold covering their bodies, and chains of great pearls in the manner of curvettes; and the men wear manilions or bracelets on each arm and each leg, some of gold and some of silver." "whence come they, these gauds?" "there are great rivers where one may find pieces of gold as big as the fist; and there are great rocks of crystal, sufficient to load many ships." this was all which was said on that day, but never was explorer more eager than gilbert. he wrote a "discourse of a discoverie for a new passage to cathaia and the east indies"--published without his knowledge by george gascoigne. in 1578 he had from queen elizabeth a patent of exploration, allowing him to take possession of any uncolonized lands in north america, paying for these a fifth of all gold and silver found. the next year he sailed with raleigh for newfoundland, but one vessel was lost and the others returned to england. in 1583, he sailed again, taking with him the narrative of ingram, which he reprinted. he also took with him a learned hungarian from buda, named parmenius, who went for the express purpose of singing the praise of norumbega in latin verse, but was drowned in sir humphrey's great flag-ship, the _delight_. this wreck took place near sable island, and as most of the supplies for the expedition went down in the flag-ship, the men in the remaining vessels grew so impatient as to compel a return. there were two vessels, the _golden hind_ of forty tons, and the _squirrel_ of ten tons, this last being a mere boat then called a frigate, a small vessel propelled by both sails and oars, quite unlike the war-ship afterwards called by that name. on both these vessels the men were so distressed that they gathered on the bulwarks, pointing to their empty mouths and their ragged clothing. the officers of the _golden hind_ were unwilling to return, but consented on sir humphrey's promise that they should come back in the spring; they sailed for england on the 31st of august. all wished him to return in the _golden hind_ as a much larger and safer vessel; the _squirrel_, besides its smallness, being encumbered on the deck with guns, ammunition, and nettings, making it unseaworthy. but when he was begged to remove into the larger vessel, he said, "i will not forsake my little company going homeward with whom i have passed so many storms and perils." one reason for this was, the narrator of the voyage says, because of "hard reports given of him that he was afraid of the sea, albeit this was rather rashness than advised resolution, to prefer the wind of a vain report to the weight of his own life." on the very day of sailing they caught their first glimpse of some large species of seal or walrus, which is thus described by the old narrator of the expedition:-"so vpon saturday in the afternoone the 31 of august, we changed our course, and returned backe for england, at which very instant, euen in winding about, there passed along betweene vs and towards the land which we now forsooke a very lion to our seeming, in shape, hair and colour, not swimming after the maner of a beast by moouing of his feete, but rather sliding vpon the water with his whole body (excepting the legs) in sight, neither yet in diuing vnder, and againe rising aboue the water, as the maner is, of whales, dolphins, tunise, porposes, and all other fish: but confidently shewing himselfe aboue water without hiding: notwithstanding, we presented our selues in open view and gesture to amase him, as all creatures will be commonly at a sudden gaze and sight of men. thus he passed along turning his head to and fro, yawning and gaping wide, with ougly demonstration of long teeth, and glaring eies, and to bidde vs a farewell (comming right against the hinde) he sent forth a horrible voyce, roaring or bellowing as doeth a lion, which spectacle wee all beheld so farre as we were able to discerne the same, as men prone to wonder at euery strange thing, as this doubtlesse was, to see a lion in the ocean sea, or fish in shape of a lion. what opinion others had thereof, and chiefly the generall himselfe, i forbeare to deliuer: but he tooke it for bonum omen [a good omen], reioycing that he was to warre against such an enemie, if it were the deuill." when they came north of the azores, very violent storms met them; most "outrageous seas," the narrator says; and they saw little lights upon the mainyard called then by sailors "castor and pollux," and now "st. elmo's fire"; yet they had but one of these at a time, and this is thought a sign of tempest. on september 9, in the afternoon, "the general," as they called him, sir humphrey, was sitting abaft with a book in his hand, and cried out more than once to those in the other vessel, "we are as near to heaven by sea as by land." and that same night about twelve o'clock, the frigate being ahead of the _golden hind_, the lights of the smaller vessel suddenly disappeared, and they knew that she had sunk in the sea. the event is well described in a ballad by longfellow. the name of norumbega and the tradition of its glories survived sir humphrey gilbert. in a french map of 1543, the town appears with castle and towers. jean allfonsce, who visited new england in that year, describes it as the capital of a great fur country. students of indian tongues defined the word as meaning "the place of a fine city"; while the learned grotius seized upon it as being the same as norberga and so affording a relic of the visits of the northmen. as to the locality, it appeared first on the maps as a large island, then as a smaller one, and after 1569 no longer as an island, but a part of the mainland, bordering apparently on the penobscot river. whittier in his poem of "norumbega" describes a norman knight as seeking it in vain. "he turned him back, 'o master dear, we are but men misled; and thou hast sought a city here to find a grave instead. * * * * * "'no builded wonder of these lands my weary eyes shall see; a city never made with hands alone awaiteth me.'" so champlain, in 1604, could find no trace of it, and said that "no such marvel existed," while mark lescarbot, the parisian advocate, writing in 1609, says, "if this beautiful town ever existed in nature, i would like to know who pulled it down, for there is nothing here but huts made of pickets and covered with the barks of trees or skins." yet it kept its place on maps till 1640, and even heylin in his "cosmography" (1669) speaks of "norumbega and its fair city," though he fears that the latter never existed. it is a curious fact that the late mr. justin winsor, the eminent historian, after much inquiry among the present descendants of the indian tribes in maine, could never find any one who could remember to have heard the name of norumbega. xviii the guardians of the st. lawrence when in 1611 the sieur de champlain went back to france to report his wonderful explorations in canada, he was soon followed by a young frenchman named vignan, who had spent a whole winter among the indians, in a village where there was no other white man. this was a method often adopted by the french for getting more knowledge of indian ways and commanding their confidence. vignan had made himself a welcome guest in the cabins, and had brought away many of their legends, to which he added some of his own. in particular, he declared that he had penetrated into the interior until he had come upon a great lake of salt water, far to the northwest. this was, as it happened, the very thing which the french government and all europe had most hoped to find. they had always believed that sooner or later a short cut would be discovered across the newly found continent, a passage leading to the pacific ocean and far cathay. this was the dream of all french explorers, and of champlain in particular, and his interest was at once excited by anything that looked toward the pacific. now vignan had prepared himself with just the needed information. he said that during his winter with the indians he had made the very discovery needed; that he had ascended the river ottawa, which led to a body of salt water so large that it seemed like an ocean; that he had just seen on its shores the wreck of an english ship, from which eighty men had been taken and slain by the savages, and that they had with them an english boy whom they were keeping to present to champlain. this tale about the english ship was evidently founded on the recent calamities of henry hudson, of which vignan had heard some garbled account, and which he used as coloring for his story. the result was that champlain was thoroughly interested in the tale, and that vignan was cross-examined and tested, and was made at last to certify to the truth of it before two notaries of rochelle. champlain privately consulted the chancellor de sillery, the old marquis de brissac, and others, who all assured him that the matter should be followed up; and he resolved to make it the subject of an exploration without delay. he sailed in one vessel, and vignan in another, the latter taking with him an ardent young frenchman, albert de brissac. m. de vignan, talking with the young brissac on the voyage, told him wonderful tales of monsters which were, he said, the guardians of the st. lawrence river. there was, he said, an island in the bay of chaleurs, near the mouth of that river, where a creature dwelt, having the form of a woman and called by the indians gougou. she was very frightful, and so enormous that the masts of the vessel could not reach her waist. she had already eaten many savages and constantly continued to do so, putting them first into a great pocket to await her hunger. some of those who had escaped said that this pocket was large enough to hold a whole ship. this creature habitually made dreadful noises, and several savages who came on board claimed to have heard them. a man from st. malo in france, the sieur de prevert, confirmed this story, and said that he had passed so near the den of this frightful being, that all on board could hear its hissing, and all hid themselves below, lest it should carry them off. this naturally made much impression upon the young sieur de brissac, and he doubtless wished many times that he had stayed at home. on the other hand, he observed that both m. de vignan and m. de prevert took the tale very coolly and that there seemed no reason why he should distrust himself if they did not. yet he was very glad when, after passing many islands and narrow straits, the river broadened and they found themselves fairly in the st. lawrence and past the haunted bay of chaleurs. they certainly heard a roaring and a hissing in the distance, but it may have been the waves on the beach. but this was not their last glimpse of the supposed guardians of the st. lawrence. as the ship proceeded farther up the beautiful river, they saw one morning a boat come forth from the woods, bearing three men dressed to look like devils, wrapped in dogs' skins, white and black, their faces besmeared as black as any coals, with horns on their heads more than a yard long, and as this boat passed the ship, one of the men made a long address, not looking towards them. then they all three fell flat in the boat, when indians rowed out to meet them and guided them to a landing. then many indians collected in the woods and began a loud talk which they could hear on board the ships and which lasted half an hour. then two of their leaders came towards the shore, holding their hands upward joined together, and meanwhile carrying their hats under their upper garments and showing great reverence. looking upward they sometimes cried, "jesus, jesus," or "jesus maria." then the captain asked them whether anything ill had happened, and they said in french, "nenni est il bon," meaning that it was not good. then they said that their god cudraigny had spoken in hochelaga (montreal) and had sent these three men to show to them that there was so much snow and ice in the country that he who went there would die. this made the frenchmen laugh, saying in reply that their god cudraigny was but a fool and a noddy and knew not what he said. "tell him," said a frenchman, "that christ will defend them from all cold, if they will believe in him." the indians then asked the captain if he had spoken with jesus. he answered no; but that his priests had, and they had promised fair weather. hearing this, they thanked the captain and told the other indians in the woods, who all came rushing out, seeming to be very glad. giving great shouts, they began to sing and dance as they had done before. they also began to bring to the ships great stores of fish and of bread made of millet, casting it into the french boats so thickly that it seemed to fall from heaven. then the frenchmen went on shore, and the people came clustering about them, bringing children in their arms to be touched, as if to hallow them. then the captain in return arranged the women in order and gave them beads made of tin, and other trifles, and gave knives to the men. all that night the indians made great fires and danced and sang along the shore. but when the frenchmen had finally reached the mouth of the ottawa and had begun to ascend it, under vignan's guidance, they had reasons to remember the threats of the god cudraigny. ascending the ottawa in canoes, past cataracts, boulders, and precipices, they at last, with great labor, reached the island of allumette, at a distance of two hundred and twenty-five miles. often it was impossible to carry their canoes past waterfalls, because the forests were so dense, so that they had to drag the boats by ropes, wading among rocks or climbing along precipices. gradually they left behind them their armor, their provisions, and clothing, keeping only their canoes; they lived on fish and wild fowl, and were sometimes twenty-four hours without food. champlain himself carried three french arquebuses or short guns, three oars, his cloak, and many smaller articles; and was harassed by dense clouds of mosquitoes all the time. vignan, brissac, and the rest were almost as heavily loaded. the tribe of indians whom they at last reached had chosen the spot as being inaccessible to their enemies; and thought that the newcomers had fallen from the clouds. when champlain inquired after the salt sea promised by vignan, he learned to his indignation that the whole tale was false. vignan had spent a winter at the very village where they were, but confessed that he had never gone a league further north. the indians knew of no such sea, and craved permission to torture and kill him for his deceptions; they called him loudly a liar, and even the children took up the cry and jeered at him. they said, "do you not see that he meant to cause your death? give him to us, and we promise you that he shall not lie any more." champlain defended him from their attacks, bore it all philosophically, and the young brissac went back to france, having given up hope of reaching the salt sea, except, as champlain himself coolly said, "in imagination." the guardians of the st. lawrence had at least exerted their spell to the extent of saying, thus far and no farther. vignan never admitted that he had invented the story of the gougou, and had bribed the indians who acted the part of devils,--and perhaps he did not,--but it is certain that neither the giantess nor the god cudraigny has ever again been heard from. xix the island of demons those american travellers who linger with delight among the narrow lanes and picturesque, overhanging roofs of honfleur, do not know what a strange tragedy took place on a voyage which began in that quaint old port three centuries and a half ago. when, in 1536, the breton sailor jacques cartier returned from his early explorations of the st. lawrence, which he had ascended as high as hochelaga, king francis i. sent for him at the lofty old house known as the house of the salamander, in a narrow street of the quaint town of lisieux. it now seems incredible that the most powerful king in europe should have dwelt in such a meagre lane, yet the house still stands there as a witness; although a visitor must now brush away the rough, ready-made garments and fishermen's overalls which overhang its door. over that stairway, nevertheless, the troubadours, pierre ronsard and clement marot, used to go up and down, humming their lays or touching their viols; and through that door de lorge returned in glory, after leaping down into the lions' den to rescue his lady's glove. the house still derives its name from the great carved image of a reptile which stretches down its outer wall, from garret to cellar, beside the doorway. in that house the great king deigned to meet the breton sailor, who had set up along the st. lawrence a cross bearing the arms of france with the inscription _franciscus primus, dei gratia francorum rex regnat_; and had followed up the pious act by kidnapping the king donnacona, and carrying him back to france. this savage potentate was himself brought to lisieux to see his french fellow-sovereign; and the jovial king, eagerly convinced, decided to send cartier forth again, to explore for other wonders, and perhaps bring back other kingly brethren. meanwhile, however, as it was getting to be an affair of royalty, he decided to send also a gentleman of higher grade than a pilot, and so selected jean franã§ois de la roche, sieur de roberval, whom he commissioned as lieutenant and governor of canada and hochelaga. roberval was a gentleman of credit and renown in picardy, and was sometimes jocosely called by francis "the little king of vimeu." he was commissioned at fontainebleau, and proceeded to superintend the building of ships at st. malo. marguerite roberval, his fair-haired and black-eyed niece, was to go with him on the voyage, with other ladies of high birth, and also with the widowed madame de noailles, her _gouvernante_. roberval himself remained at st. malo to superintend the building of the ships, and marguerite and her _gouvernante_ would sit for hours in a beautiful nook by the shipyards, where they could overlook the vessels in rapid construction, or else watch the wondrous swirl of the tide as it swept in and out, leaving the harbor bare at low tide, but with eight fathoms of water when the tide was full. the designer of the ships often came, cap in hand, to ask or answer questions--one of those frank and manly french fishermen and pilots, whom the french novelists describe as "_un solide gaillard_," or such as victor hugo paints in his "les travailleurs de la mer." the son of a notary, etienne gosselin was better educated than most of the young noblemen whom marguerite knew, and only his passion for the sea and for nautical construction had kept him a shipbuilder. no wonder that the young marguerite, who had led the sheltered life of the french maiden, was attracted by his manly look, his open face, his merry blue eyes, and curly hair. there was about her a tinge of romance, which made her heart an easier thing to reach for such a lover than for one within her own grade; and as the voyage itself was a world of romance, a little more or less of the romantic was an easy thing to add. meanwhile madame de noailles read her breviary and told her beads and took little naps, wholly ignorant of the drama that was beginning its perilous unfolding before her. when the sieur de roberval returned, the shipbuilder became a mere shipbuilder again. three tall ships sailed from honfleur on august 22, 1541, and on one of them, _la grande hermine_,--so called to distinguish it from a smaller boat of that name, which had previously sailed with cartier,--were the sieur de roberval, his niece, and her _gouvernante_. she also had with her a huguenot nurse, who had been with her from a child, and cared for her devotedly. roberval naturally took with him, for future needs, the best shipbuilder of st. malo, etienne gosselin. the voyage was long, and there is reason to think that the sieur de roberval was not a good sailor, while as to the _gouvernante_, she may have been as helpless as the seasick chaperon of yachting excursions. like them, she suffered the most important events to pass unobserved, and it was not till too late that she discovered, what more censorious old ladies on board had already seen, that her young charge lingered too often and too long on the quarter-deck when etienne gosselin was planning ships for the uncle. when she found it out, she was roused to just indignation; but being, after all, but a kindly dowager, with a heart softened by much reading of the interminable tales of madame de scudã©ry, she only remonstrated with marguerite, wept over her little romance, and threatened to break the sad news to the sieur de roberval, yet never did so. other ladies were less considerate; it all broke suddenly upon the angry uncle; the youth was put in irons, and threatened with flogging, and forbidden to approach the quarter-deck again. but love laughs at locksmiths; gosselin was relieved of his irons in a day or two because he could not be spared from his work in designing the forthcoming ship, and as both he and marguerite were of a tolerably determined nature, they invoked, through the old nurse, the aid of a huguenot minister on board, who had before sailed with cartier to take charge of the souls of some protestant vagabonds on the ship, and who was now making a second trip for the same reason. that night, after dark, he joined the lovers in marriage; within twenty-four hours roberval had heard of it, and had vowed a vengeance quick and sure. the next morning, under his orders, the vessel lay to under the lee of a rocky island, then known to the sailors as l'isle des demons from the fierce winds that raged round it. there was no house there, no living person, no tradition of any; only rocks, sands, and deep forests. with dismay, the ship's company heard that it was the firm purpose of roberval to put the offending bride on shore, giving her only the old nurse for company, and there to leave her with provisions for three months, trusting to some other vessel to take the exiled women away within that time. the very ladies whose love of scandal had first revealed to him the alleged familiarities, now besought him with many tears to abandon the thought of a doom so terrible. vainly madame de noailles implored mercy for the young girl from a penalty such as was never imposed in any of madame de scudã©ry's romances; vainly the huguenot minister and the catholic chaplain, who had fought steadily on questions of doctrine during the whole voyage, now united in appeals for pardon. at least they implored him to let the offenders have a man-servant or two with them to protect them against wild beasts or buccaneers. he utterly refused until, at last wearied out, his wild nature yielded to one of those sudden impulses which were wont to sweep over it; and he exclaimed, "is it that they need a man-servant, then? let this insolent caitiff, gosselin, be relieved of his irons and sent on shore. let him be my niece's servant or, since a huguenot marriage is as good as any in the presence of bears and buccaneers, let her call the hound her husband, if she likes. i have done with her; and the race from which she came disowns her forever." thus it was done. etienne was released from his chains and sent on shore. an arquebus and ammunition were given him; and resisting the impulse to send his first shot through the heart of his tyrant, he landed, and the last glimpse seen of the group as the _grande hermine_ sailed away, was the figure of marguerite sobbing on his shoulder, and of the unhappy nurse, now somewhat plethoric, and certainly not the person to be selected as a pioneer, sitting upon a rock, weeping profusely. the ship's sails filled, the angry roberval never looked back on his deserted niece, and the night closed down upon the lonely isle of demons, now newly occupied by three unexpected settlers, two of whom at least were happy in each other. a few boxes of biscuits, a few bottles of wine, had been put on shore with them, enough to feed them for a few weeks. they had brought flint and steel to strike fire, and some ammunition. the chief penalty of the crime did not lie, after all, in the cold and the starvation and the wild beasts and the possible visits of pirates; it lay in the fact that it was the island of demons where they were to be left; and in that superstitious age this meant everything that was terrible. for the first few nights of their stay, they fancied that they heard superhuman voices in every wind that blew, every branch that creaked against another branch; and they heard, at any rate, more substantial sounds from the nightly wolves or from the bears which ice-floes had floated to that northern isle. they watched roberval sail away, he rejoicing, as the old legend of thevet says, at having punished them without soiling his hands with their blood (_ioueux de les auior puniz sans se souiller les mains en leurs sang_). they built as best they could a hut of boughs and strewed beds of leaves, until they had killed wild beasts enough to prepare their skins. their store of hard bread lasted them but a little while, but there were fruits around them, and there was fresh water near by. "yet it was terrible," says thevet's old narrative, "to hear the frightful sounds which the evil spirits made around them, and how they tried to break down their abode, and showed themselves in various forms of frightful animals; yet at last, conquered by the constancy and perseverance of these repentant christians, the tormentors afflicted or disquieted them no more, save that often in the night they heard cries so loud that it seemed as if more than five thousand men were assembled together" (_plus de cent mil homes qui fussent ensemble_). so passed many months of desolation, and alas! the husband was the first to yield. daily he climbed the rocks to look for vessels; each night he descended sadder and sadder; he waked while the others slept. feeling that it was he who had brought distress upon the rest, he concealed his depression, but it soon was past concealing; he only redoubled his care and watching as his wife grew the stronger of the two; and he faded slowly away and died. his wife had nothing to sustain her spirits except the approach of maternity--she would live for her child. when the child was born and baptized in the name of the holy church, though without the church's full ceremonies, marguerite felt the strength of motherhood; became a better huntress, a better provider. a new sorrow came; in the sixteenth or seventeenth month of her stay, the old nurse died also, and not long after the baby followed. marguerite now seemed to herself deserted, even by heaven itself; she was alone in that northern island without comradeship; her husband, child, and nurse gone; dependent for very food on the rapidly diminishing supply of ammunition. her head swam; for months she saw visions almost constantly, which only strenuous prayer banished, and only the acquired habit of the chase enabled her, almost mechanically, to secure meat to support life. fortunately, those especial sights and sounds of demons which had haunted her imagination during the first days and nights on the island, did not recur; but the wild beasts gathered round her the more when there was only one gun to alarm them; and she once shot three bears in a day,--one a white bear, of which she secured the skin. what imagination can depict the terrors of those lonely days and still lonelier nights? most persons left as solitary tenants of an island have dwelt, like alexander selkirk, in regions nearer the tropics, where there was at least a softened air, a fertile soil, and the southern cross above their heads; but to be solitary in a prolonged winter, to be alone with the northern lights,--this offered peculiar terrors. to be ice-bound, to hear the wolves in their long and dreary howl, to protect the very graves of her beloved from being dug up, to watch the floating icebergs, not knowing what new and savage visitor might be borne by them to the island, what a complication of terror was this for marguerite! for two years and five months in all she dwelt upon the isle of demons, the last year wholly alone. then, as she stood upon the shore, some breton fishing-smacks, seeking codfish, came in sight. making signals with fire and calling for aid, she drew them nearer; but she was now dressed in furs only, and seemed to them but one of the fancied demons of the island. beating up slowly and watchfully toward the shore, they came within hearing of her voice and she told her dreary tale. at last they took her in charge, and bore her back to france with the bearskins she had prepared; and taking refuge in the village of nautron, in a remote province (perigord), where she could escape the wrath of roberval, she told her story to thevet, the explorer, to the princess marguerite of navarre (sister of francis i.), and to others. thevet tells it in his "cosmographie," and marguerite of navarre in her "cent nouvelles nouvelles." she told thevet that after the first two months, the demons came to her no more, until she was left wholly alone; then they renewed their visits, but not continuously, and she felt less fear. thevet also records of her this touching confession, that when the time came for her to embark, in the breton ship, for home, there came over her a strong impulse to refuse the embarkation, but rather to die in that solitary place, as her husband, her child, and her servant had already died. this profound touch of human nature does more than anything else to confirm the tale as substantially true. certain it is that the lonely island which appeared so long on the old maps as the isle of demons (l'isola de demoni) appears differently in later ones as the lady's island (l'isle de la demoiselle). the princess marguerite of navarre, who died in 1549, seems also to have known her namesake at her retreat in perigord, gives some variations from thevet's story, and describes her as having been put on shore with her husband, because of frauds which he had practised on roberval; nor does she speak of the nurse or of the child. but she gives a similar description of marguerite's stay on the island, after his death, and says, that although she lived what might seem a bestial life as to her body, it was a life wholly angelic as regarded her soul (_aã®nsã® vivant, quant au corps, de vie bestiale, et quant ã  l'esprit, de vie angelã®cque_). she had, the princess also says, a mind cheerful and content, in a body emaciated and half dead. she was afterwards received with great honor in france, according to the princess, and was encouraged to establish a school for little children, where she taught reading and writing to the daughters of high-born families. "and by this honest industry," says the princess, "she supported herself during the remainder of her life, having no other wish than to exhort every one to love and confidence towards god, offering them as an example, the great pity which he had shown for her." xx bimini and the fountain of youth when juan ponce de leon set forth from porto rico, march 13, 1512, to seek the island of bimini and its fountain of youth, he was moved by the love of adventure more than by that of juvenility, for he was then but about fifty, a time when a cavalier of his day thought himself but in his prime. he looked indeed with perpetual sorrow--as much of it as a spaniard of those days could feel--upon his kinsman luis ponce, once a renowned warrior, but on whom age had already, at sixty-five, laid its hand in earnest. there was little in this slowly moving veteran to recall one who had shot through the lists at the tournament, and had advanced with his short sword at the bull fight,--who had ruled his vassals, and won the love of high-born women. it was a vain hope of restored youth which had brought don luis from spain to porto rico four years before; and, when ponce de leon had subdued that island, his older kinsman was forever beseeching him to carry his flag farther, and not stop till he had reached bimini, and sought the fountain of youth. "for what end," he said, "should you stay here longer and lord it over these miserable natives? let us go where we can bathe in those enchanted waters and be young once more. i need it, and you will need it ere long." "how know we," said his kinsman, "that there is any such place?" "all know it," said luis. "peter martyr saith that there is in bimini a continual spring of running water of such marvellous virtue that the water thereof, being drunk, perhaps with some diet, maketh old men young." and he adds that an indian grievously oppressed with old age, moved with the fame of that fountain, and allured through the love of longer life, went to an island, near unto the country of florida, to drink of the desired fountain, ... and having well drunk and washed himself for many days with the appointed remedies, by them who kept the bath, he is reported to have brought home a manly strength, and to have used all manly exercises. "let us therefore go thither," he cried, "and be like him." they set sail with three brigantines and found without difficulty the island of bimini among the lucayos (or bahamas) islands; but when they searched for the fountain of youth they were pointed farther westward to florida, where there was said to be a river of the same magic powers, called the jordan. touching at many a fair island green with trees, and occupied by a gentle population till then undisturbed, it was not strange if, nearing the coast of florida, both juan ponce de leon and his more impatient cousin expected to find the fountain of youth. they came at last to an inlet which led invitingly up among wooded banks and flowery valleys, and here the older knight said, "let us disembark here and strike inland. my heart tells me that here at last will be found the fountain of youth." "nonsense," said juan, "our way lies by water." "then leave me here with my men," said luis. he had brought with him five servants, mostly veterans, from his own estate in spain. a fierce discussion ended in luis obtaining his wish, and being left for a fortnight of exploration; his kinsman promising to come for him again at the mouth of the river st. john. the men left on shore were themselves past middle age, and the more eager for their quest. they climbed a hill and watched the brigantines disappear in the distance; then set up a cross, which they had brought with them, and prayed before it bareheaded. sending the youngest of his men up to the top of a tree, luis learned from him that they were on an island, after all, and this cheered him much, as making it more likely that they should find the fountain of youth. he saw that the ground was pawed up, as if in a cattle-range and that there was a path leading to huts. taking this path, they met fifty indian bowmen, who, whether large or not, seemed to them like giants. the spaniards gave them beads and hawk-bells, and each received in return an arrow, as a token of friendship. the indians promised them food in the morning, and brought fish, roots, and pure water; and finding them chilly from the coldness of the night, carried them in their arms to their homes, first making four or five large fires on the way. at the houses there were many fires, and the spaniards would have been wholly comfortable, had they not thought it just possible that they were to be offered as a sacrifice. still fearing this, they left their indian friends after a few days and traversed the country, stopping at every spring or fountain to test its quality. alas! they all grew older and more worn in look, as time went on, and farther from the fountain of youth. after a time they came upon new tribes of indians, and as they went farther from the coast these people seemed more and more friendly. they treated the white men as if come from heaven,--brought them food, made them houses, carried every burden for them. some had bows, and went upon the hills for deer, and brought half a dozen every night for their guests; others killed hares and rabbits by arranging themselves in a circle and striking down the game with billets of wood as it ran from one to another through the woods. all this game was brought to the visitors to be breathed upon and blessed, and when this had to be done for several hundred people it became troublesome. the women also brought wild fruit, and would eat nothing till the guests had seen and touched it. if the visitors seemed offended, the natives were terrified, and apparently thought that they should die unless they had the favor of these wise and good men. farther on, people did not come out into the paths to gather round them, as the first had done, but stayed meekly in their houses, sitting with their faces turned to the wall, and with their property heaped in the middle of the room. from these people the travellers received many valuable skins, and other gifts. wherever there was a fountain, the natives readily showed it, but apparently knew nothing of any miraculous gift; yet they themselves were in such fine physical condition, and seemed so young and so active, that it was as if they had already bathed in some magic spring. they had wonderful endurance of heat and cold, and such health that, when their bodies were pierced through and through by arrows, they would recover rapidly from their wounds. these things convinced the spaniards that, even if the indians would not disclose the source of all their bodily freshness, it must, at any rate, lie somewhere in the neighborhood. yet a little while, no doubt, and their visitors would reach it. it was a strange journey for these gray and careworn men as they passed up the defiles and valleys along the st. john's river, beyond the spot where now spreads the city of jacksonville, and even up to the woods and springs about magnolia and green cove. yellow jasmines trailed their festoons above their heads; wild roses grew at their feet; the air was filled with the aromatic odors of pine or sweet bay; the long gray moss hung from the live-oak branches; birds and butterflies of wonderful hues fluttered around them; and strange lizards crossed their paths, or looked with dull and blinking eyes from the branches. they came, at last, to one spring which widened into a natural basin, and which was so deliciously aromatic that luis ponce said, on emerging: "it is enough. i have bathed in the fountain of youth, and henceforth i am young." his companions tried it, and said the same: "the fountain of youth is found." no time must now be lost in proclaiming the great discovery. they obtained a boat from the natives, who wept at parting with the white strangers whom they had so loved. in this boat they proposed to reach the mouth of the st. john, meet juan ponce de leon, and carry back the news to spain. but one native, whose wife and children they had cured, and who had grown angry at their refusal to stay longer, went down to the water's edge and, sending an arrow from his bow, transfixed don luis, so that even his foretaste of the fountain could not save him, and he died ere reaching the mouth of the river. if don luis ever reached what he sought, it was in another world. but those who have ever bathed in green cove spring, near magnolia, on the st. john's river, will be ready to testify that, had he but stayed there longer, he would have found something to recall his visions of the fountain of youth. notes preface a full account of the rediscovery of the canaries in 1341 will be found in major's "life of prince henry of portugal" (london, 1868), p. 138. for the statement as to the lingering belief in the jacquet island, see winsor's "columbus," p. 111. the extract from cowley is given by herman melville in his picturesque paper on "the encantadas" (_putnam's magazine_, iii. 319). in harris's "voyages" (1702) there is a map giving "cowley's inchanted isl." (i. 78), but there is no explanation of the name. the passage quoted by melville is not to be found in cowley's "voyage to magellanica and polynesia," given by harris in the same volume, and must be taken from cowley's "voyage round the globe," which i have not found in any library. i. atlantis for the original narrative of socrates, see plato's "timaeus" and "critias," in each of which it is given. for further information see the chapter on the geographical knowledge of the ancients by w. h. tillinghast, in winsor's "narrative and critical history of america," i. 15. he mentions (i. 19, note) a map printed at amsterdam in 1678 by kircher, which shows atlantis as a large island midway between spain and america. ignatius donnelly's "atlantis, the antediluvian world" (n. y. 1882), maintains that the evidence for the former existence of such an island is irresistible, and his work has been very widely read, although it is not highly esteemed by scholars. ii. taliessin the taliessin legend in its late form cannot be traced back beyond the end of the sixteenth century, but the account of the transformation is to be found in the "book of taliessin," a manuscript of the thirteenth century, preserved in the hengwt collection at peniarth. the welsh bard himself is supposed to have flourished in the sixth century. see alfred nutt in "the voyage of bram" (london, 1897), ii. 86. the traditions may be found in lady charlotte guest's translation of the "mabinogion," 2d ed., london, 1877, p. 471. the poems may be found in the original welsh in skene's "four ancient books of wales," 2 vols., edinburgh, 1868; and he also gives a facsimile of the manuscript. iii. children of lir the lovely legend of the children of lir or lear forms one of those three tales of the old irish bards which are known traditionally in ireland as "the three sorrows of story telling." it has been told in verse by aubrey de vere ("the foray of queen meave, and other legends," london, 1882), by john todhunter ("three irish bardic tales," london, 1896); and also in prose by various writers, among whom are professor eugene o'curry, whose version with the gaelic original was published in "atlantis," nos. vii. and viii.; gerald griffin in "the tales of a jury room"; and dr. patrick weston joyce in "ancient celtic romances" (london, 1879). the oldest manuscript copy of the tale in gaelic is one in the british museum, made in 1718; but there are more modern ones in different english and irish libraries, and the legend itself is of much older origin. professor o'curry, the highest authority, places its date before the year 1000. ("lectures on the manuscript materials of irish history," p. 319.) iv. usheen in the original legend, oisin or usheen is supposed to have told his tale to st. patrick on his arrival in ireland; but as the ancient feni were idolaters, the hero bears but little goodwill to the saint. the celtic text of a late form of the legend (1749) with a version by brian o'looney will be found in the transactions of the ossianic society for 1856 (vol. iv. p. 227); and still more modern and less literal renderings in p. w. joyce's "ancient celtic romances" (london, 1879), p. 385, and in w. b. yeats's "wanderings of oisin, and other poems" (london, 1889), p. 1. the last is in verse and is much the best. st. patrick, who takes part in it, regards niam as "a demon thing." see also the essays entitled "l'elysã©e transatlantique," by eugene beauvois, in the "revue de l'histoire des religions," vii. 273 (paris, 1885), and "l'eden occidental" (same, vii. 673). as to oisin or usheen's identity with ossian, see o'curry's "lectures on the manuscript materials for ancient irish history" (dublin, 1861), pp. 209, 300; john rhys's "hibbert lectures" (london, 1888), p. 551. the latter thinks the hero identical with taliessin, as well as with ossian, and says that the word ossin means "a little fawn," from "os," "cervus." (see also o'curry, p. 304.) o'looney represents that it was a stone which usheen threw to show his strength, and joyce follows this view; but another writer in the same volume of the ossianic society transactions (p. 233) makes it a bag of sand, and yeats follows this version. it is also to be added that the latter in later editions changes the spelling of his hero's name from oisin to usheen. v. bran the story of bran and his sister branwen may be found most fully given in lady charlotte guest's translation of the "mabinogion," ed. 1877, pp. 369, 384. she considers harlech, whence bran came, to be a locality on the welsh seacoast still known by that name and called also branwen's tower. but rhys, a much higher authority, thinks that bran came really from the region of hades, and therefore from a distant island ("arthurian legend," p. 250, "hibbert lectures," pp. 94, 269). the name of "the blessed" came from the legend of bran's having introduced christianity into ireland, as stated in one of the welsh triads. he was the father of caractacus, celebrated for his resistance to the roman conquest, and carried a prisoner to rome. another triad speaks of king arthur as having dug up bran's head, for the reason that he wished to hold england by his own strength; whence followed many disasters (guest, p. 387). there were many welsh legends in regard to branwen or bronwen (white bosom), and what is supposed to be her grave, with an urn containing her ashes, may still be seen at a place called "ynys bronwen," or "the islet of bronwen," in anglesea. it was discovered and visited in 1813 (guest, p. 389). the white mount in which bran's head was deposited is supposed to have been the tower of london, described by a welsh poet of the twelfth century as "the white eminence of london, a place of splendid fame" (guest, p. 392). vi. the castle of the active door this legend is mainly taken from different parts of lady charlotte guest's translation of the "mabinogion," with some additions and modifications from rhys's "hibbert lectures" and "the arthurian legend." viii. merlin in later years merlin was known mainly by a series of remarkable prophecies which were attributed to him and were often said to be fulfilled by actual events in history. thus one of the many places where merlin's grave was said to be was drummelzion in tweeddale, scotland. on the east side of the churchyard a brook called the pansayl falls into the tweed, and there was this prophecy as to their union:- "when tweed and pansayl join at merlin's grave, scotland and england shall one monarch have." sir walter scott tells us, in his "border minstrelsy," that on the day of the coronation of james vi. of scotland the tweed accordingly overflowed and joined the pansayl at the prophet's grave. it was also claimed by one of the witnesses at the trial of jeanne d'arc, that there was a prediction by merlin that france would be saved by a peasant girl from lorraine. these prophesies have been often reprinted, and have been translated into different languages, and there was published in london, in 1641, "the life of merlin, surnamed ambrosius, his prophesies and predictions interpreted, and their truth made good by our english annals." another book was also published in london, in 1683, called "merlin revived in a discourse of prophesies, predictions, and their remarkable accomplishments." viii. lancelot the main sources of information concerning lancelot are the "morte d'arthur," newell's "king arthur and the table round," and the publications of the early english text society. see also rhys's "arthurian legend," pp. 127, 147, etc. ix. the half-man the symbolical legend on which this tale is founded will be found in lady charlotte guest's translation of the "mabinogion" (london, 1877), ii. p. 344. it is an almost unique instance, in the imaginative literature of that period, of a direct and avowed allegory. there is often allegory, but it is usually contributed by modern interpreters, and would sometimes greatly astound the original fabulists. x. arthur the earliest mention of the island of avalon, or avilion, in connection with the death of arthur, is a slight one by the old english chronicler, geoffrey of monmouth (book xi. c. 2), and the event is attributed by him to the year 542. wace's french romance was an enlargement of geoffrey; and the narrative of layamon (at the close of the twelfth century) an explanation of that of wace. layamon's account of the actual death of arthur, as quoted in the text, is to be found in the translation, a very literal one, by madden (madden's "layamon's brut," iii. pp. 140-146). the earliest description of the island itself is by an anonymous author known as "pseudo-gildas," supposed to be a thirteenth-century breton writer (meyer's "voyage of bram," i. p. 237), and quoted by archbishop usher in his "british ecclesiastical antiquities" (1637), p. 273, who thus describes it in latin hexameters:- "cingitur oceano memorabilis insula nullis desolata bonis: non fur, nec praedo, nec hostis insidiatur ibi: nec vis, nec bruma nec aestas, immoderata furit. pax et concordia, pubes ver manent aeternum. nec flos, nec lilia desunt, nec rosa, nec violae: flores et poma sub un㢠fronde gerit pomus. habitant sine labe cruoris semper ibi juvenes cum virgine: nulla senectus, nulla vis morbi, nullus dolor; omnia plena laetitiae; nihil hic proprium, communia quaeque. regit virgo locis et rebus praesidet istis, virginibus stipata suis, pulcherrima pulchris; nympha decens vultu, generosis patribus orta, consilio pollens, medicinas nobilis arte. at simul arthurus regni diadema reliquit, substitutique sibi regem, se transtulit illic; anno quingeno quadragenoque secundo post incarnatum sine patris semine natum. immodic㨠laesus, arthurus tendit ad aulam regis avallonis; ubi virgo regia vulnus illius tractans, sanati membra reservat ipsa sibi: vivuntque simul; si credere fas est." a translation of this passage into rhyming english follows; both of these being taken from way's "fabliaux" (london, 1815), ii. pp. 233-235. "by the main ocean's wave encompass'd, stands a memorable isle, fill'd with all good: no thief, no spoiler there, no wily foe with stratagem of wasteful war; no rage of heat intemperate, or of winter's cold; but spring, full blown, with peace and concord reigns: prime bliss of heart and season, fitliest join'd! flowers fail not there: the lily and the rose, with many a knot of fragrant violets bound; and, loftier, clustering down the bended boughs, blossom with fruit combin'd, rich apples hang. "beneath such mantling shades for ever dwell in virgin innocence and honour pure, damsels and youths, from age and sickness free, and ignorant of woe, and fraught with joy, in choice community of all things best. o'er these, and o'er the welfare of this land, girt with her maidens, fairest among fair, reigns a bright virgin sprung from generous sires, in counsel strong, and skill'd in med'cine's lore. of her (britannia's diadem consign'd to other brow), for his deep wound and wide great arthur sought relief: hither he sped (nigh two and forty and five hundred years since came the incarnate son to save mankind), and in avallon's princely hall repos'd. his wound the royal damsel search'd; she heal'd; and in this isle still holds him to herself in sweet society,--so fame say true!" xi. maelduin this narrative is taken partly from nutt's "voyage of bram" (i. 162) and partly from joyce's "ancient celtic romances." the latter, however, allows maelduin sixty comrades instead of seventeen, which is nutt's version. there are copies of the original narrative in the erse language at the british museum, and in the library of trinity college, dublin. the voyage, which may have had some reality at its foundation, is supposed to have taken place about the year 700 a.d. it belongs to the class known as imrama, or sea-expeditions. another of these is the voyage of st. brandan, and another is that of "the sons of o'corra." a poetical translation of this last has been made by t. d. sullivan of dublin, and published in his volume of poems. (joyce, p. xiii.) all these voyages illustrated the wider and wider space assigned on the atlantic ocean to the enchanted islands until they were finally identified, in some cases, with the continent which columbus found. xii. st. brandan the legend of st. brandan, which was very well known in the middle ages, was probably first written in latin prose near the end of the eleventh century, and is preserved in manuscript in many english libraries. an english metrical version, written probably about the beginning of the fourteenth century, is printed under the editorship of thomas wright in the publications of the percy society, london, 1844 (xiv.), and it is followed in the same volume by an english prose version of 1527. a partial narrative in latin prose, with an english version, may be found in w. j. rees's "lives of the cambro-british saints" (llandovery, 1853), pp. 251, 575. the account of brandan in the acta sanctorum of the bollandists may be found under may 16, the work being arranged under saints' days. this account excludes the more legendary elements. the best sketch of the supposed island appears in the _nouvelles annales des voyages_ for 1845 (p. 293), by d'avezac. professor o'curry places the date of the alleged voyage or voyages at about the year 560 ("lectures on the manuscript materials for irish history," p. 289). good accounts of the life in the great monasteries of brandan's period may be found in digby's "mores catholici" or "ages of faith"; in montalembert's "monks of the west" (translation); in villemarquã©'s "la legende celtique et la poã©sie des cloistres en irlande, en cambrie et en bretagne" (paris, 1864). the poem on st. brandan, stanzas from which are quoted in the text, is by denis florence mccarthy, and may be found in the _dublin university magazine_ (xxxi. p. 89); and there is another poem on the subject--a very foolish burlesque--in the same magazine (lxxxix. p. 471). matthew arnold's poem with the same title appeared in _fraser's magazine_ (lxii. p. 133), and may be found in the author's collected works in the form quoted below. the legends of st. brandan, it will be observed, resemble so much the tales of sindbad the sailor and others in the "arabian nights"--which have also the island-whale, the singing birds, and other features--that it is impossible to doubt that some features of tradition were held in common with the arabs of spain. in later years (the twelfth century), a geographer named honorã© d'autun declared, in his "image of the world," that there was in the ocean a certain island agreeable and fertile beyond all others, now unknown to men, once discovered by chance and then lost again, and that this island was the one which brandan had visited. in several early maps, before the time of columbus, the madeira islands appear as "the fortunate islands of st. brandan," and on the famous globe of martin behaim, made in the very year when columbus sailed, there is a large island much farther west than madeira, and near the equator, with an inscription saying that in the year 565, st. brandan arrived at this island and saw many wondrous things, returning to his own land afterwards. columbus heard this island mentioned at ferro, where men declared that they had seen it in the distance. later, the chart of ortelius, in the sixteenth century, carried it to the neighborhood of ireland; then it was carried south again, and was supposed all the time to change its place through enchantment, and when emanuel of portugal, in 1519, renounced all claim to it, he described it as "the hidden island." in 1570 a portuguese expedition was sent which claimed actually to have touched the mysterious island, indeed to have found there the vast impression of a human foot--doubtless of the baptized giant mildus--and also a cross nailed to a tree, and three stones laid in a triangle for cooking food. departing hastily from the island, they left two sailors behind, but could never find the place again. again and again expeditions were sent out in search of st. brandan's island, usually from the canaries--one in 1604 by acosta, one in 1721 by dominguez; and several sketches of the island, as seen from a distance, were published in 1759 by a franciscan priest in the canary islands, named viere y clarijo, including one made by himself on may 3, 1759, about 6 a.m., in presence of more than forty witnesses. all these sketches depict the island as having its chief length from north to south, and formed of two unequal hills, the highest of these being at the north, they having between them a depression covered with trees. the fact that this resembles the general form of palma, one of the canary islands, has led to the belief that it may have been an ocean mirage, reproducing the image of that island, just as the legends themselves reproduce, here and there, the traditions of the "arabian nights." in a map drawn by the florentine physician, toscanelli, which was sent by him to columbus in 1474 to give his impression of the asiatic coast,-lying, as he supposed, across the atlantic,--there appears the island of st. brandan. it is as large as all the azores or canary islands or cape de verde islands put together; its southern tip just touches the equator, and it lies about half-way between the cape de verde islands and zipangu or japan, which was then believed to lie on the other side of the atlantic. mr. winsor also tells us that the apparition of this island "sometimes came to sailors' eyes" as late as the last century (winsor's "columbus," 112). he also gives a reproduction of toscanelli's map now lost, as far as can be inferred from descriptions (winsor, p. 110). the following is matthew arnold's poem:-saint brandan saint brandan sails the northern main; the brotherhoods of saints are glad. he greets them once, he sails again; so late!--such storms!--the saint is mad! he heard, across the howling seas, chime convent-bells on wintry nights; he saw, on spray-swept hebrides, twinkle the monastery lights; but north, still north, saint brandan steer'd- and now no bells, no convents more! the hurtling polar lights are near'd, the sea without a human shore. at last--(it was the christmas-night; stars shone after a day of storm)- he sees float past an iceberg white, and on it--christ!--a living form. that furtive mien, that scowling eye, of hair that red and tufted fell- it is--oh, where shall brandan fly?- the traitor judas, out of hell! palsied with terror, brandan sate; the moon was bright, the iceberg near. he hears a voice sigh humbly: "wait! by high permission i am here. "one moment wait, thou holy man! on earth my crime, my death, they knew; my name is under all men's ban- ah, tell them of my respite, too! "tell them, one blessed christmas-night- (it was the first after i came, breathing self-murder, frenzy, spite, to rue my guilt in endless flame)- "i felt, as i in torment lay 'mid the souls plagued by heavenly power, an angel touch my arm and say: _go hence, and cool thyself an hour!_ "'ah, whence this mercy, lord?' i said; _the leper recollect_, said he, _who ask'd the passers-by for aid,_ _in joppa, and thy charity._ "then i remember'd how i went, in joppa, through the public street, one morn when the sirocco spent its storm of dust with burning heat; "and in the street a leper sate, shivering with fever, naked, old; sand raked his sores from heel to pate, the hot wind fever'd him five-fold. "he gazed upon me as i pass'd, and murmur'd: _help me, or i die!_- to the poor wretch my cloak i cast, saw him look eased, and hurried by. "oh, brandan, think what grace divine, what blessing must full goodness shower, when fragment of it small, like mine, hath such inestimable power! "well-fed, well-clothed, well-friended, i did that chance act of good, that one! then went my way to kill and lie- forgot my good as soon as done. "that germ of kindness, in the womb of mercy caught, did not expire; outlives my guilt, outlives my doom, and friends me in this pit of fire. "once every year, when carols wake on earth the christmas-night's repose, arising from the sinner's lake, i journey to these healing snows. "i stanch with ice my burning breast, with silence balm my whirling brain; o brandan! to this hour of rest that joppan leper's ease was pain." tears started to saint brandan's eyes; he bow'd his head, he breathed a prayer- then look'd, and lo, the frosty skies! the iceberg, and no judas there! the island of st. brandan's was sometimes supposed to lie in the northern atlantic, sometimes farther south. it often appears as the fortunate isle or islands, "insulae fortunatae" or "beatae." on some early maps (1306 to 1471) there is an inlet on the western coast of ireland called "lacus fortunatus," which is filled with fortunate islands to the number of 358 (humboldt, "examen," ii. p. 159), and in one map of 1471 both these and the supposed st. brandan's group appear in different parts of the ocean under the same name. when the canary islands were discovered, they were supposed to be identical with st. brandan's, but the latter was afterwards supposed to lie southeast of them. after the discovery of the azores various expeditions were sent to search for st. brandan's until about 1721. it was last reported as seen in 1759. a full bibliography will be found in winsor's "narrative and critical history," i. p. 48, and also in humboldt's "examen," ii. p. 163, and early maps containing st. brandan's will be found in winsor (i. pp. 54, 58). the first of these is pizigani's (1387), containing "ysolae dictae fortunatae," and the other that of ortelius (1587), containing "s. brandain." xiii. hy-brasail "the people of aran, with characteristic enthusiasm, fancy, that at certain periods, they see hy-brasail, elevated far to the west in their watery horizon. this has been the universal tradition of the ancient irish, who supposed that a great part of ireland had been swallowed by the sea, and that the sunken part often rose and was seen hanging in the horizon: such was the popular notion. the hy-brasail of the irish is evidently a part of the atlantis of plato; who, in his 'timaeus,' says that that island was totally swallowed up by a prodigious earthquake." (o'flaherty's "discourse on the history and antiquities of the southern islands of aran, lying off the west coast of ireland," 1824, p. 139.) the name appeared first (1351) on the chart called the medicean portulana, applied to an island off the azores. in pizigani's map (1367) there appear three islands of this name, two off the azores and one off ireland. from this time the name appears constantly in maps, and in 1480 a man named john jay went out to discover the island on july 14, and returned unsuccessful on september 18. he called it barsyle or brasylle; and pedro d'ayalo, the spanish ambassador, says that such voyages were made for seven years "according to the fancies of the genoese, meaning sebastian cabot." humboldt thinks that the wood called brazil-wood was supposed to have come from it, as it was known before the south american brazil was discovered. a manuscript history of ireland, written about 1636, in the library of the royal irish academy, says that hy-brasail was discovered by a captain rich, who saw its harbor but could never reach it. it is mentioned by jeremy taylor ("dissuasives from popery," 1667), and the present narrative is founded partly on an imaginary one, printed in a pamphlet in london, 1675, and reprinted in hardiman's "irish minstrelsy" (1831), ii. p. 369. the french geographer royal, m. tassin, thinks that the island may have been identical with porcupine bank, once above water. in jeffrey's atlas (1776) it appears as "the imaginary island of o'brasil." "brazil rock" appears on a chart of purdy, 1834 (humboldt's "examen critique," ii. p. 163). two rocks always associated with it, mayda and green rock, appear on an atlas issued in 1866. see bibliography in winsor's "narrative and critical history," i. p. 49, where there are a number of maps depicting it (i. pp. 54-57). the name of the island is derived by celtic scholars from _breas_, large, and _i_, island; or, according to o'brien's "irish dictionary," its other form of o'brasile means a large imaginary island (hardiman's "irish minstrelsy," i. p. 369). there are several families named brazil in county waterford, ireland ("transactions of the ossianic society, dublin," 1854, i. p. 81). the following poem about the island, by gerald griffin, will be found in sparling's "irish minstrelsy" (1888), p. 427:-hy-brasail, the isle of the blest on the ocean that hollows the rocks where ye dwell a shadowy land has appeared, as they tell; men thought it a region of sunshine and rest, and they called it hy-brasail, the isle of the blest. from year unto year on the ocean's blue rim, the beautiful spectre showed lovely and dim; the golden clouds curtained the deep where it lay, and it looked like an eden away, far away! a peasant who heard of the wonderful tale, in the breeze of the orient loosened his sail; from ara, the holy, he turned to the west, for though ara was holy, hy-brasail was blest. he heard not the voices that called from the shore- he heard not the rising wind's menacing roar; home, kindred, and safety he left on that day, and he sped to hy-brasail, away, far away! morn rose on the deep, and that shadowy isle, o'er the faint rim of distance, reflected its smile; noon burned on the wave, and that shadowy shore seemed lovelily distant, and faint as before; lone evening came down on the wanderer's track, and to ara again he looked timidly back; o far on the verge of the ocean it lay, yet the isle of the blest was away, far away! rash dreamer, return! o ye winds of the main, bear him back to his own peaceful ara again, rash fool! for a vision of fanciful bliss, to barter thy calm life of labor and peace. the warning of reason was spoken in vain; he never revisited ara again! night fell on the deep, amidst tempest and spray, and he died on the waters, away, far away! xiv. island of satan's hand the early part of this narrative is founded on professor o'curry's lectures on the manuscript materials of irish history; it being another of those "imrama" or narratives of ocean expeditions to which the tale of st. brandan belongs. the original narrative lands the three brothers ultimately in spain, and it is a curious fact that most of what we know of the island of satanaxio or satanajio--which remained so long on the maps-is taken from an italian narrative of three other brothers, cited by formaleoni, "il pellegrinaccio di tre giovanni," by christoforo armeno (gaffarel, "les iles fantastiques," p. 91). the coincidence is so peculiar that it offered an irresistible temptation to link the two trios of brothers into one narrative and let the original voyagers do the work of exploration. the explanation given by gaffarel to the tale is the same that i have suggested as possible. he says in "iles fantastiques de l'atlantaque" (p. 12), "s'il nous ã©tait permis d'aventurer une hypothã¨se, nous croirions voluntiers que les navigateurs de l'ã©poque rencontrã¨rent, en s'aventurant dans l'atlantique, quelques-uns de ces gigantesques icebergs, ou montagnes de glace, arrachã©s aux banquises du pã´le nord, et entraã®nã©s au sud par les courants, dont la rencontre, assez frã©quente, est, mãªme aujourd'hui, tellement redoutã©e par les capitaines. ces icebergs, quand ils se heurtent contre un navire, le coulent ã  pic; et comme ils arrivent ã  l'improviste, escortã©s par d'ã©pais brouillards, ils paraissent rã©ellement sortir du sein des flots, comme sortait la main de satan, pour prã©cipiter au fond de l'abã®me matelots et navires." as to the name itself there has been much discussion. on the map of bianco (1436)-reproduced in winsor, i. p. 54--the name "ya de lamansatanaxio" distinctly appears, and this was translated by both formaleoni and humboldt as meaning "the island of the hand of satan." d'avezac was the first to suggest that the reference was to two separate islands, the one named "de la man" or "danman," and the other "satanaxio." he further suggests-followed by gaffarel--that the name of the island may originally have been san atanagio, thus making its baptism a tribute to st. athanasius instead of to satan. this would certainly have been a curious transformation, and almost as unexpected in its way as the original conversion of the sinful brothers from outlaws to missionaries. xv. antillia the name antillia appears first, but not very clearly, on the pizigani map of 1367; then clearly on a map of 1424, preserved at weimar, on that of bianco in 1436, and on the globe of beheim in 1492, which adds in an inscription the story of the seven bishops. on some maps of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries there appears near it a smaller island under the name of sette cidade, or sete ciudades, which is properly another name for the same island. toscanelli, in his famous letter to columbus, recommended antillia as a good way-station for his voyage to india. the island is said by tradition to have been re-discovered by a portuguese sailor in 1447. tradition says that this sailor went hastily to the court of portugal to announce the discovery, but was blamed for not having remained longer, and so fled. it was supposed to be "a large, rectangular island extending from north to south, lying in the mid atlantic about lat. 35 n." an ample bibliography will be found in winsor's "narrative and critical history," i. p. 48, with maps containing antillia, i. pp. 54 (pizigani's), 56, 58. after the discovery of america, peter martyr states (in 1493) that hispaniola and the adjacent islands were "antillae insulae," meaning that they were identical with the group surrounding the fabled antillia (winsor's "narrative and critical history," i. p. 49); and schã¶ner, in the dedicatory letter of his globe of 1523, says that the king of castile, through columbus, has discovered _antiglias hispaniam cubam quoque_. it was thus that the name antilles came to be applied to the islands discovered by columbus; just as the name brazil was transferred from an imaginary island to the new continent, and the name seven cities was applied to the pueblos of new mexico by those who discovered them. (see j. h. simpson, "coronado's march in search of the seven cities of cibola," smithsonian institution, 1869, pp. 209-340.) the sailor who re-discovered them said that the chief desire of the people was to know whether the moors still held spain (gaffarel, "iles fantastiques," p. 3). in a copy of "ptolemy" addressed to pope urban vi. about 1380, before the alleged visit of the portuguese, it was stated of the people at antillia that they lived in a christian manner, and were most prosperous, "hie populus christianissime vivit, omnibus divitiis seculi hujus plenus" (d'avezac, "nouvelles annales des voyages," 1845, ii. p. 55). it was afterwards held by some that the island of antillia was identical with st. michael in the azores, where a certain cluster of stone huts still bears the name of seven cities, and the same name is associated with a small lake by which they stand. (humboldt's "examen critique," paris, 1837, ii. p. 203; gaffarel, "iles fantastiques," p. 3.) xvi. harald the viking the tales of the norse explorations of america are now accessible in many forms, the most convenient of these being in the edition of e. l. slafter, published by the prince society. as to the habits of the vikings, the most accessible authorities are "the age of the vikings," by du chaillu, and "the sea kings of norway," by laing. the writings of the late professor e. n. horsford are well known, but his opinions are not yet generally accepted by students. his last work, "leif's house in vineland," with his daughter's supplementary essay on "graves of the northmen," is probably the most interesting of the series (boston, 1893). in longfellow's "saga of king olaf" (ii.), included in "tales of a wayside inn," there is a description of the athletic sports practised by the vikings, which are moreover described with the greatest minuteness by du chaillu. xvii. norumbega the narrative of champlain's effort to find norumbega in 1632 may be found in otis's "voyages of champlain" (ii. p. 38), and there is another version in the _magazine of american history_ (i. p. 321). the whole legend of the city is well analyzed in the same magazine (i. p. 14) by dr. de costa under the title "the lost city of new england." in another volume he recurs to the subject (ix. p. 168), and gives (ix. p. 200) a printed copy of david ingram's narrative, from the original in the bodleian library. he also discusses the subject in winsor's "narrative and critical history" (iv. p. 77, etc.), where he points out that "the insular character of the norumbega region is not purely imaginary, but is based on the fact that the penobscot region affords a continued watercourse to the st. lawrence, which was travelled by the maine indians." ramusio's map of 1559 represents "nurumbega" as a large island, well defined (winsor, iv. p. 91); and so does that of ruscelli (winsor, iv. p. 92), the latter spelling it "nurumberg." some geographers supposed it to extend as far as florida. the name was also given to a river (probably the penobscot) and to a cape. the following is longfellow's poem on the voyage of sir humphrey gilbert:-sir humphrey gilbert southward with fleet of ice sailed the corsair death; wild and fast blew the blast, and the east-wind was his breath. his lordly ships of ice glisten in the sun; on each side, like pennons wide, flashing crystal streamlets run. his sails of white sea-mist dripped with silver rain; but where he passed there were cast leaden shadows o'er the main. eastward from campobello sir humphrey gilbert sailed; three days or more seaward he bore, then, alas! the land-wind failed. alas! the land-wind failed, and ice-cold grew the night; and nevermore, on sea or shore, should sir humphrey see the light. he sat upon the deck, the book was in his hand; "do not fear! heaven is as near," he said, "by water as by land!" in the first watch of the night, without a signal's sound, out of the sea, mysteriously, the fleet of death rose all around. the moon and the evening star were hanging in the shrouds; every mast, as it passed, seemed to rake the passing clouds. they grappled with their prize, at midnight black and cold! as of a rock was the shock; heavily the ground-swell rolled. southward through day and dark, they drift in close embrace, with mist and rain, o'er the open main; yet there seems no change of place. southward, forever southward, they drift through dark and day; and like a dream, in the gulf-stream sinking, vanish all away. xviii. guardians of the st. lawrence for authorities for this tale see "voyages of samuel de champlain," translated by charles pomeroy otis, ph.d., with memoir by the rev. e. f. slafter, a.m., boston, 1880 (i. pp. 116, 289, ii. p. 52). the incident of the disguised indians occurred, however, to the earlier explorer, jacques cartier. (see my "larger history of the united states," p. 112.) xix. island of demons the tale of the isle of demons is founded on a story told first by marguerite of navarre in her "heptameron" (lxvii. nouvelle), and then with much variation and amplification by the very untrustworthy traveller thevet in his "cosmographie" (1571), livre xxiii. c. vi. the only copy of the latter work known to me is in the carter-brown library at providence, r.i., and the passage has been transcribed for me through the kindness of a. e. winship, esq., librarian, who has also sent me a photograph of a woodcut representing the lonely woman shooting at a bear. a briefer abstract of the story is in winsor's "narrative and critical history" (iv. p. 66, note), but it states, perhaps erroneously, that thevet knew marguerite only through the princess of navarre, whereas that author claims--though his claim is never worth much--that he had the story from the poor woman herself, "_la pauvre femme estant arriuvee en france ... et venue en la ville de nautron, pays de perigort lors que i'y estois, me feit le discours de toutes ses fortunes passã©es_." the island of demons appears on many old maps which may be found engraved in winsor, iv. pp. 91, 92, 93, 100, 373, etc.; also as "isla de demonios" in sebastian cabot's map (1544) reprinted in dr. s. e. dawson's valuable "voyages of the cabots," in the transactions of the royal society of canada for 1897. he also gives ruysch's map (1508), in which a cluster of islands appears in the same place, marked "insulae daemonum." harrisse, in his "notes sur la nouvelle france" (p. 278), describes the three sufferers as having been abandoned by roberval _ã  trente six lieues des cã´tes de canada, dans une isle deserte qui fut depuis dã©signã©e sous le nom de l'isle de la demoiselle, pres de l'embouchure de la riviã¨re st. paul ou des saumons_. i have not, however, been able to identify this island. parkman also says ("pioneers of france," p. 205) that roberval's pilot, in his _routier_, or logbook, speaks often of "les isles de la demoiselle," evidently referring to marguerite. the brief account by the princess of navarre follows:-lxvii nouvelle une pauvre femme, pour sauver la vie de son mary, hasarda la sienne, et ne l'abandonna jusqu'ã  la mort. c'est que faisant le diet robertval un voiage sur la mer, duquel il estoit chef par le commandement du roy son maistre, en l'isle de canadas; auquel lieu avoit dã©libã©rã©, si l'air du paã¯s euste estã© commode, de demourer et faire villes et chasteaulx; en quoy il fit tel commencement, que chacun peut sã§avoir. et, pour habituer le pays de chrestiens, mena avecq luy de toutes sortes d'artisans, entre lesquelz y avoit un homme, qui fut si malheureux, qu'il trahit son maistre et le mist en dangier d'estre prins des gens du pays. mais dieu voulut que son entreprinse fut si tost congneue, qu'elle ne peut nuyre au cappitaine robertval, lequel feit prendre ce meschant traistre, le voulant pugnir comme il l'avoit mã©ritã©; ce qui eust estã© faict, sans sa femme qui avoit suivy son mary par les pã©rilz de la mer; et ne le voulut abandonner ã  la mort, mais avecq force larmes feit tant, avecq le cappitaine et toute la compaignye, que, tant pour la pitiã© d'icelle que pour le service qu'elle leur avoit faict, luy accorda sa requeste qui fut telle, que le mary et la femme furent laissez en une petite isle, sur la mer, oã¹ il n'habitoit que bestes saulvaiges; et leur fut permis de porter avecq eulx ce dont ilz avoient nã©cessitã©. les pauvres gens, se trouvans tous seulz en la compaignye des bestes saulvaiges et cruelles, n'eurent recours que ã  dieu seul, qui avoit estã© toujours le ferme espoir de ceste pauvre femme. et, comme celle qui avoit toute consolation en dieu, porta pour sa saulve garde, nourriture et consolation le nouveau testament, lequel elle lisoit incessamment. et, au demourant, avecq son mary, mettoit peine d'accoustrer un petit logis le mieulx qui'l leur estoit possible; et, quand les lyons et aultres bestes en aprochoient pour les dã©vorer, le mary avecq sa harquebuze, et elle, avecq les pierres, se dã©fendoient si bien, que, non suellement les bestes ne les osoient approcher, mais bien souvent en tuã¨rent de trã¨s-bonnes ã  manger; ainsy, avecq telles chairs et les herbes du paã¯s, vesquirent quelque temps, quand le pain leur fut failly. a la longue, le mary ne peut porter telle nourriture; et, ã  cause des eaues qu'ilz buvoient, devint si enflã©, que en peu de temps il mourut, n'aiant service ne consolation que sa femme, laquelle le servoit de mã©decin et de confesseur; en sorte qu'il passa joieusement de ce dã©sert en la cã©leste patrie. et la pauvre femme, demourã©e seulle, l'enterra le plus profond en terre qu'il fut possible; si est-ce que les bestes en eurent incontinent le sentyment, qui vindrent pour manger la charogne. mais la pauvre femme, en sa petite maisonnette, de coups de harquebuze dã©fendoit que la chair de son mary n'eust tel sã©pulchre. ainsy vivant, quant au corps, de vie bestiale, et quant ã  l'esperit, de vie angã©licque, passoit son temps en lectures, contemplations, priã¨res et oraisons ayant un esperit joieux et content, dedans un corps emmaigry et demy mort. mais celluy qui n'abandonne jamais les siens, et qui, au dã©sespoir des autres, monstre sa puissance, ne permist que la vertu qu'il avoit myse en ceste femme fust ignorã©e des hommes, mais voulut qu'elle fust congneue ã  sa gloire; et fiet que, au bout de quelque temps, un des navires de ceste armã©e passant devant ceste isle, les gens qui estoient dedans advisã¨rent, quelque fumã©e qui leur feit souvenir de ceulx qui y avoient estã© laissez, et dã©libã©rã¨rent d'aller veoir ce que dieu en avoit faict. la pauvre femme, voiant approcher el navire, se tira au bort de la mer, auquel lieu la trouvã¨rent ã  leur arrivã©e. et, aprã¨s en avoir rendu louange ã  dieu, les mena en sa pauvre maisonnette, et leur monstra de quoy elle vivoit durant sa demeure; ce que leur eust estã© incroiable, sans la congnoissance qu'ilz avoient que dieu est puissant de nourrir en un dã©sert ses serviteurs, comme au plus grandz festins du monde. et, ne pouvant demeurer en tel lieu, emmenã¨rent la pauvre femme avecq eulx droict ã  la rochelle, oã¹, aprã¨s un navigage, ilz arrivã¨rent. et quand ilz eurent faict entendre aux habitans la fidã©litã© et persã©vã©rance de ceste femme, elle fut receue ã  grand honneur de toutes les dames, qui voluntiers luy baillã¨rent leurs filles pour aprendre ã  lire et ã  escripre. et, ã  cest honneste mestier-lã , gaigna le surplus de sa vie, n'aiant autre dã©sã®r que d'exhorter un chaucun ã  l'amour et confiance de nostre seigneur, se proposant pour exemple la grande misã©ricorde dont il avoit usã© envers elle. xx. bimini parkman says expressly that "ponce de lã©on found the island of bimini," but it is generally mentioned as having been imaginary, and is not clearly identified among the three thousand islands and rocks of the bahamas. peter martyr placed the fountain of youth in florida, which he may have easily supposed to be an island. some of the features of my description are taken from the strange voyage of cabeza da vaca, which may be read in buckingham smith's translation of his narrative (washington, d.c., 1851), or in a more condensed form in henry kingsley's "tales of old travel," or in my own "book of american explorers" (n.y., longmans, 1894). transcribed from the 1897 longmans, green, and co. edition by david price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk modern mythology dedication dedicated to the memory of john fergus mclennan. introduction it may well be doubted whether works of controversy serve any useful purpose. 'on an opponent,' as mr. matthew arnold said, 'one never does make any impression,' though one may hope that controversy sometimes illuminates a topic in the eyes of impartial readers. the pages which follow cannot but seem wandering and desultory, for they are a reply to a book, mr. max muller's contributions to the science of mythology, in which the attack is of a skirmishing character. throughout more than eight hundred pages the learned author keeps up an irregular fire at the ideas and methods of the anthropological school of mythologists. the reply must follow the lines of attack. criticism cannot dictate to an author how he shall write his own book. yet anthropologists and folk-lorists, 'agriologists' and 'hottentotic' students, must regret that mr. max muller did not state their general theory, as he understands it, fully and once for all. adversaries rarely succeed in quite understanding each other; but had mr. max muller made such a statement, we could have cleared up anything in our position which might seem to him obscure. our system is but one aspect of the theory of evolution, or is but the application of that theory to the topic of mythology. the archaeologist studies human life in its material remains; he tracks progress (and occasional degeneration) from the rudely chipped flints in the ancient gravel beds, to the polished stone weapon, and thence to the ages of bronze and iron. he is guided by material 'survivals'--ancient arms, implements, and ornaments. the student of institutions has a similar method. he finds his relics of the uncivilised past in agricultural usages, in archaic methods of allotment of land, in odd marriage customs, things rudimentary--fossil relics, as it were, of an early social and political condition. the archaeologist and the student of institutions compare these relics, material or customary, with the weapons, pottery, implements, or again with the habitual law and usage of existing savage or barbaric races, and demonstrate that our weapons and tools, and our laws and manners, have been slowly evolved out of lower conditions, even out of savage conditions. the anthropological method in mythology is the same. in civilised religion and myth we find rudimentary survivals, fossils of rite and creed, ideas absolutely incongruous with the environing morality, philosophy, and science of greece and india. parallels to these things, so out of keeping with civilisation, we recognise in the creeds and rites of the lower races, even of cannibals; but _there_ the creeds and rites are _not_ incongruous with their environment of knowledge and culture. there they are as natural and inevitable as the flint-headed spear or marriage by capture. we argue, therefore, that religions and mythical faiths and rituals which, among greeks and indians, are inexplicably incongruous have lived on from an age in which they were natural and inevitable, an age of savagery. that is our general position, and it would have been a benefit to us if mr. max muller had stated it in his own luminous way, if he wished to oppose us, and had shown us where and how it fails to meet the requirements of scientific method. in place of doing this once for all, he often assails our evidence, yet never notices the defences of our evidence, which our school has been offering for over a hundred years. he attacks the excesses of which some sweet anthropological enthusiasts have been guilty or may be guilty, such as seeing totems wherever they find beasts in ancient religion, myth, or art. he asks for definitions (as of totemism), but never, i think, alludes to the authoritative definitions by mr. mclennan and mr. frazer. he assails the theory of fetishism as if it stood now where de brosses left it in a purely pioneer work--or, rather, where he understands de brosses to have left it. one might as well attack the atomic theory where lucretius left it, or the theory of evolution where it was left by the elder darwin. thus mr. max muller really never conies to grips with his opponents, and his large volumes shine rather in erudition and style than in method and system. anyone who attempts a reply must necessarily follow mr. max muller up and down, collecting his scattered remarks on this or that point at issue. hence my reply, much against my will, must seem desultory and rambling. but i have endeavoured to answer with some kind of method and system, and i even hope that this little book may be useful as a kind of supplement to mr. max muller's, for it contains exact references to certain works of which he takes the reader's knowledge for granted. the general problem at issue is apt to be lost sight of in this guerilla kind of warfare. it is perhaps more distinctly stated in the preface to mr. max muller's chips from a german workshop, vol. iv. (longmans, 1895), than in his two recent volumes. the general problem is this: has language--especially language in a state of 'disease,' been the great source of the mythology of the world? or does mythology, on the whole, represent the survival of an old stage of thought--not caused by language--from which civilised men have slowly emancipated themselves? mr. max muller is of the former, anthropologists are of the latter, opinion. both, of course, agree that myths are a product of thought, of a kind of thought almost extinct in civilised races; but mr. max muller holds that language caused that kind of thought. we, on the other hand, think that language only gave it one means of expressing itself. the essence of myth, as of fairy tale, we agree, is the conception of the things in the world as all alike animated, personal, capable of endless interchanges of form. men may become beasts; beasts may change into men; gods may appear as human or bestial; stones, plants, winds, water, may speak and act like human beings, and change shapes with them. anthropologists demonstrate that the belief in this universal kinship, universal personality of things, which we find surviving only in the myths of civilised races, is even now to some degree part of the living creed of savages. civilised myths, then, they urge, are survivals from a parallel state of belief once prevalent among the ancestors of even the aryan race. but how did this mental condition, this early sort of false metaphysics, come into existence? we have no direct historical information on the subject. if i were obliged to offer an hypothesis, it would be that early men, conscious of personality, will, and life--conscious that force, when exerted by themselves, followed on a determination of will within them--extended that explanation to all the exhibitions of force which they beheld without them. rivers run (early man thought), winds blow, fire burns, trees wave, as a result of their own will, the will of personal conscious entities. such vitality, and even power of motion, early man attributed even to inorganic matter, as rocks and stones. all these things were beings, like man himself. this does not appear to me an unnatural kind of nascent, half-conscious metaphysics. 'man never knows how much he anthropomorphises.' he extended the only explanation of his own action which consciousness yielded to him, he extended it to explain every other sort of action in the sensible world. early greek philosophy recognised the stars as living bodies; all things had once seemed living and personal. from the beginning, man was eager causas cognoscere rerum. the only cause about which self-consciousness gave him any knowledge was his own personal will. he therefore supposed all things to be animated with a like will and personality. his mythology is a philosophy of things, stated in stories based on the belief in universal personality. my theory of the origin of that belief is, of course, a mere guess; we have never seen any race in the process of passing from a total lack of a hypothesis of causes into that hypothesis of universally distributed personality which is the basis of mythology. but mr. max muller conceives that this belief in universally distributed personality (the word 'animism' is not very clear) was the result of an historical necessity--not of speculation, but of language. 'roots were all, or nearly all, expressive of action. . . . hence a river could only be called or conceived as a runner, or a roarer, or a defender; and in all these capacities always as something active and animated, nay, as something masculine or feminine.' but _why_ conceived as 'masculine or feminine'? this necessity for endowing inanimate though active things, such as rivers, with sex, is obviously a necessity of a stage of thought wholly unlike our own. _we_ know that active inanimate things are sexless, are neuter; _we_ feel no necessity to speak of them as male or female. how did the first speakers of the human race come to be obliged to call lifeless things by names connoting sex, and therefore connoting, not only activity, but also life and personality? we explain it by the theory that man called lifeless things male or female--by using gender-terminations--as a result of his habit of regarding lifeless things as personal beings; that habit, again, being the result of his consciousness of himself as a living will. mr. max muller takes the opposite view. man did not call lifeless things by names denoting sex because he regarded them as persons; he came to regard them as persons because he had already given them names connoting sex. and why had he done that? this is what mr. max muller does not explain. he says: 'in ancient languages every one of these words' (sky, earth, sea, rain) 'had necessarily' (why necessarily?) 'a termination expressive of gender, and this naturally produced in the mind the corresponding idea of sex, so that these names received not only an individual but a sexual character.' {0a} it is curious that, in proof apparently of this, mr. max muller cites a passage from the printer's register, in which we read that to little children '_everything_ is _alive_. . . . the same instinct that prompts the child to personify everything remains unchecked in the savage, and grows up with him to manhood. hence in all simple and early languages there are but two genders, masculine and feminine.' the printer's register states our theory in its own words. first came the childlike and savage belief in universal personality. thence arose the genders, masculine and feminine, in early languages. these ideas are the precise reverse of mr. max muller's ideas. in his opinion, genders in language caused the belief in the universal personality even of inanimate things. the printer's register holds that the belief in universal personality, on the other hand, caused the genders. yet for thirty years, since 1868, mr. max muller has been citing his direct adversary, in the printer's register, as a supporter of his opinion! we, then, hold that man thought all things animated, and expressed his belief in gender-terminations. mr. max muller holds that, because man used gender-terminations, therefore he thought all things animated, and so he became mythopoeic. in the passage cited, mr. max muller does not say _why_ 'in ancient languages every one of these words had _necessarily_ terminations expressive of gender.' he merely quotes the hypothesis of the printer's register. if he accepts that hypothesis, it destroys his own theory--that gender-terminations caused all things to be regarded as personal; for, ex hypothesi, it was just because they were regarded as personal that they received names with gender-terminations. somewhere--i cannot find the reference--mr. max muller seems to admit that personalising thought caused gender-terminations, but these later 'reacted' on thought, an hypothesis which multiplies causes praeter necessitatem. here, then, at the very threshold of the science of mythology we find mr. max muller at once maintaining that a feature of language, gender-terminations, caused the mythopoeic state of thought, and quoting with approval the statement that the mythopoeic state of thought caused gender-terminations. mr. max muller's whole system of mythology is based on reasoning analogous to this example. his mot d'ordre, as professor tiele says, is 'a disease of language.' this theory implies universal human degradation. man was once, for all we know, rational enough; but his mysterious habit of using gender-terminations, and his perpetual misconceptions of the meaning of old words in his own language, reduced him to the irrational and often (as we now say) obscene and revolting absurdities of his myths. here (as is later pointed out) the objection arises, that all languages must have taken the disease in the same way. a maori myth is very like a greek myth. if the greek myth arose from a disease of greek, how did the wholly different maori speech, and a score of others, come to have precisely the same malady? mr. max muller alludes to a maori parallel to the myth of cronos. {0b} 'we can only say that there is a rusty lock in new zealand, and a rusty lock in greece, and that, surely, is very small comfort.' he does not take the point. the point is that, as the myth occurs in two remote and absolutely unconnected languages, a theory of disease of language cannot turn the wards of the rusty locks. the myth is, in part at least, a nature-myth--an attempt to account for the severance of heaven and earth (once united) by telling a story in which natural phenomena are animated and personal. a disease of language has nothing to do with this myth. it is cited as a proof against the theory of disease of language. the truth is, that while languages differ, men (and above all early men) have the same kind of thoughts, desires, fancies, habits, institutions. it is not that in which all races formally differ--their language--but that in which all early races are astonishingly the same--their ideas, fancies, habits, desires--that causes the amazing similarity of their myths. mythologists, then, who find in early human nature the living ideas which express themselves in myths will hardily venture to compare the analogous myths of all peoples. mythologists, on the other hand, who find the origin of myths in a necessity imposed upon thought by misunderstood language will necessarily, and logically, compare only myths current among races who speak languages of the same family. thus, throughout mr. max muller's new book we constantly find him protesting, on the whole and as a rule, against the system which illustrates aryan myths by savage parallels. thus he maintains that it is perilous to make comparative use of myths current in languages--say, maori or samoyed--which the mythologists confessedly do not know. to this we can only reply that we use the works of the best accessible authorities, men who do know the languages--say, dr. codrington or bishop callaway, or castren or egede. now it is not maintained that the myths, on the whole, are incorrectly translated. the danger which we incur, it seems, is ignorance of the original sense of savage or barbaric divine or heroic names--say, maui, or yehl, or huitzilopochhtli, or heitsi eibib, or pundjel. by mr. max muller's system such names are old words, of meanings long ago generally lost by the speakers of each language, but analysable by 'true scholars' into their original significance. that will usually be found by the philologists to indicate 'the inevitable dawn,' or sun, or night, or the like, according to the taste and fancy of the student. to all this a reply is urged in the following pages. in agreement with curtius and many other scholars, we very sincerely doubt almost all etymologies of old proper names, even in greek or sanskrit. we find among philologists, as a rule, the widest discrepancies of interpretation. moreover, every name must mean _something_. now, whatever the meaning of a name (supposing it to be really ascertained), very little ingenuity is needed to make it indicate one or other aspect of dawn or night, of lightning or storm, just as the philologist pleases. then he explains the divine or heroic being denoted by the name--as dawn or storm, or fire or night, or twilight or wind--in accordance with his private taste, easily accommodating the facts of the myth, whatever they may be, to his favourite solution. we rebel against this kind of logic, and persist in studying the myth in itself and in comparison with analogous myths in every accessible language. certainly, if divine and heroic names--artemis or pundjel--_can_ be interpreted, so much is gained. but the myth may be older than the name. as mr. hogarth points out, alexander has inherited in the remote east the myths of early legendary heroes. we cannot explain these by the analysis of the name of alexander! even if the heroic or divine name can be shown to be the original one (which is practically impossible), the meaning of the name helps us little. that zeus means 'sky' cannot conceivably explain scores of details in the very composite legend of zeus--say, the story of zeus, demeter, and the ram. moreover, we decline to admit that, if a divine name means 'swift,' its bearer must be the wind or the sunlight. nor, if the name means 'white,' is it necessarily a synonym of dawn, or of lightning, or of clear air, or what not. but a mythologist who makes language and names the fountain of myth will go on insisting that myths can only be studied by people who know the language in which they are told. mythologists who believe that human nature is the source of myths will go on comparing all myths that are accessible in translations by competent collectors. mr. max muller says, 'we seldom find mythology, as it were, in situ--as it lived in the minds and unrestrained utterances of the people. we generally have to study it in the works of mythographers, or in the poems of later generations, when it had long ceased to be living and intelligible.' the myths of greece and rome, in hyginus or ovid, 'are likely to be as misleading as a hortus siccus would be to a botanist if debarred from his rambles through meadows and hedges.' {0c} nothing can be more true, or more admirably stated. these remarks are, indeed, the charter, so to speak, of anthropological mythology and of folklore. the old mythologists worked at a hortus siccus, at myths dried and pressed in thoroughly literary books, greek and latin. but we now study myths 'in the unrestrained utterances of the people,' either of savage tribes or of the european folk, the unprogressive peasant class. the former, and to some extent the latter, still live in the mythopoeic state of mind--regarding bees, for instance, as persons who must be told of a death in the family. their myths are still not wholly out of concord with their habitual view of a world in which an old woman may become a hare. as soon as learned jesuits like pere lafitau began to understand their savage flocks, they said, 'these men are living in ovid's metamorphoses.' they found mythology in situ! hence mythologists now study mythology in situ--in savages and in peasants, who till very recently were still in the mythopoeic stage of thought. mannhardt made this idea his basis. mr. max muller says, {0d} very naturally, that i have been 'popularising the often difficult and complicated labours of mannhardt and others.' in fact (as is said later), i published all my general conclusions before i had read mannhardt. quite independently i could not help seeing that among savages and peasants we had mythology, not in a literary hortus siccus, but in situ. mannhardt, though he appreciated dr. tylor, had made, i think, but few original researches among savage myths and customs. his province was european folklore. what he missed will be indicated in the chapter on 'the fire-walk'--one example among many. but this kind of mythology in situ, in 'the unrestrained utterances of the people,' mr. max muller tells us, is no province of his. 'i saw it was hopeless for me to gain a knowledge at first hand of innumerable local legends and customs;' and it is to be supposed that he distrusted knowledge acquired by collectors: grimm, mannhardt, campbell of islay, and an army of others. 'a scholarlike knowledge of maori or hottentot mythology' was also beyond him. we, on the contrary, take our maori lore from a host of collectors: taylor, white, manning ('the pakeha maori'), tregear, polack, and many others. from them we flatter ourselves that we get--as from grimm, mannhardt, islay, and the rest--mythology in situ. we compare it with the dry mythologic blossoms of the classical hortus siccus, and with greek ritual and temple legend, and with marchen in the scholiasts, and we think the comparisons very illuminating. they have thrown new light on greek mythology, ritual, mysteries, and religion. this much we think we have already done, though we do not know maori, and though each of us can hope to gather but few facts from the mouths of living peasants. examples of the results of our method will be found in the following pages. thus, if the myth of the fire-stealer in greece is explained by misunderstood greek or sanskrit words in no way connected with robbery, we shall show that the myth of the theft of fire occurs where no greek or sanskrit words were ever spoken. _there_, we shall show, the myth arose from simple inevitable human ideas. we shall therefore doubt whether in greece a common human myth had a singular cause--in a 'disease of language.' it is with no enthusiasm that i take the opportunity of mr. max muller's reply to me 'by name.' since myth, ritual, and religion (now out of print, but accessible in the french of m. marillier) was published, ten years ago, i have left mythology alone. the general method there adopted has been applied in a much more erudite work by mr. frazer, the golden bough, by mr. farnell in cults of the greek states, by mr. jevons in his introduction to the history of religion, by miss harrison in explanations of greek ritual, by mr. hartland in the legend of perseus, and doubtless by many other writers. how much they excel me in erudition may be seen by comparing mr. farnell's passage on the bear artemis {0e} with the section on her in this volume. mr. max muller observes that 'mannhardt's mythological researches have never been fashionable.' they are now very much in fashion; they greatly inspire mr. frazer and mr. farnell. 'they seemed to me, and still seem to me, too exclusive,' says mr. max muller. {0f} mannhardt in his second period was indeed chiefly concerned with myths connected, as he held, with agriculture and with tree-worship. mr. max muller, too, has been thought 'exclusive'--'as teaching,' he complains, 'that the whole of mythology is solar.' that reproach arose, he says, because 'some of my earliest contributions to comparative mythology were devoted exclusively to the special subject of solar myths.' {0g} but mr. max muller also mentions his own complaints, of 'the omnipresent sun and the inevitable dawn appearing in ever so many disguises.' did they really appear? were the myths, say the myths of daphne, really solar? that is precisely what we hesitate to accept. in the same way mannhardt's preoccupation with vegetable myths has tended, i think, to make many of his followers ascribe vegetable origins to myths and gods, where the real origin is perhaps for ever lost. the corn-spirit starts up in most unexpected places. mr. frazer, mannhardt's disciple, is very severe on solar theories of osiris, and connects that god with the cornspirit. but mannhardt did not go so far. mannhardt thought that the myth of osiris was solar. to my thinking, these resolutions of myths into this or that original source--solar, nocturnal, vegetable, or what not--are often very perilous. a myth so extremely composite as that of osiris must be a stream flowing from many springs, and, as in the case of certain rivers, it is difficult or impossible to say which is the real fountain-head. one would respectfully recommend to young mythologists great reserve in their hypotheses of origins. all this, of course, is the familiar thought of writers like mr. frazer and mr. farnell, but a tendency to seek for exclusively vegetable origins of gods is to be observed in some of the most recent speculations. i well know that i myself am apt to press a theory of totems too far, and in the following pages i suggest reserves, limitations, and alternative hypotheses. il y a serpent et serpent; a snake tribe may be a local tribe named from the snake river, not a totem kindred. the history of mythology is the history of rash, premature, and exclusive theories. we are only beginning to learn caution. even the prevalent anthropological theory of the ghost-origin of religion might, i think, be advanced with caution (as mr. jevons argues on other grounds) till we know a little more about ghosts and a great deal more about psychology. we are too apt to argue as if the psychical condition of the earliest men were exactly like our own; while we are just beginning to learn, from prof. william james, that about even our own psychical condition we are only now realising our exhaustive ignorance. how often we men have thought certain problems settled for good! how often we have been compelled humbly to return to our studies! philological comparative mythology seemed securely seated for a generation. her throne is tottering: our little systems have their day, they have their day and cease to be, they are but broken lights from thee, and thou, we trust, art more than they. but we need not hate each other for the sake of our little systems, like the grammarian who damned his rival's soul for his 'theory of the irregular verbs.' nothing, i hope, is said here inconsistent with the highest esteem for mr. max muller's vast erudition, his enviable style, his unequalled contributions to scholarship, and his awakening of that interest in mythological science without which his adversaries would probably never have existed. most of chapter xii. appeared in the 'contemporary review,' and most of chapter xiii. in the 'princeton review.' regent mythology mythology in 1860-1880 between 1860 and 1880, roughly speaking, english people interested in early myths and religions found the mythological theories of professor max muller in possession of the field. these brilliant and attractive theories, taking them in the widest sense, were not, of course, peculiar to the right hon. professor. in france, in germany, in america, in italy, many scholars agreed in his opinion that the science of language is the most potent spell for opening the secret chamber of mythology. but while these scholars worked on the same general principle as mr. max muller, while they subjected the names of mythical beings--zeus, helen, achilles, athene--to philological analysis, and then explained the stories of gods and heroes by their interpretations of the meanings of their names, they arrived at all sorts of discordant results. where mr. max muller found a myth of the sun or of the dawn, these scholars were apt to see a myth of the wind, of the lightning, of the thunder-cloud, of the crepuscule, of the upper air, of what each of them pleased. but these ideas--the ideas of kuhn, welcker, curtius (when he appeared in the discussion), of schwartz, of lauer, of breal, of many others--were very little known--if known at all--to the english public. captivated by the graces of mr. max muller's manner, and by a style so pellucid that it accredited a logic perhaps not so clear, the public hardly knew of the divisions in the philological camp. they were unaware that, as mannhardt says, the philological school had won 'few sure gains,' and had discredited their method by a 'muster-roll of variegated' and discrepant 'hypotheses.' now, in all sciences there are differences of opinion about details. in comparative mythology there was, with rare exceptions, no agreement at all about results beyond this point; greek and sanskrit, german and slavonic myths were, in the immense majority of instances, to be regarded as mirror-pictures on earth, of celestial and meteorological phenomena. thus even the story of the earth goddess, the harvest goddess, demeter, was usually explained as a reflection in myth of one or another celestial phenomenon--dawn, storm-cloud, or something else according to taste. again, greek or german myths were usually to be interpreted by comparison with myths in the rig veda. their origin was to be ascertained by discovering the aryan root and original significance of the names of gods and heroes, such as saranyu--erinnys, daphne--dahana, athene--ahana. the etymology and meaning of such names being ascertained, the origin and sense of the myths in which the names occur should be clear. clear it was not. there were, in most cases, as many opinions as to the etymology and meaning of each name and myth, as there were philologists engaged in the study. mannhardt, who began, in 1858, as a member of the philological school, in his last public utterance (1877) described the method and results, including his own work of 1858, as 'mainly failures.' but, long ere that, the english cultivated public had, most naturally, accepted mr. max muller as the representative of the school which then held the field in comparative mythology. his german and other foreign brethren, with their discrepant results, were only known to the general, in england (i am not speaking of english scholars), by the references to them in the oxford professor's own works. his theories were made part of the education of children, and found their way into a kind of popular primers. for these reasons, anyone in england who was daring enough to doubt, or to deny, the validity of the philological system of mythology in general was obliged to choose mr. max muller as his adversary. he must strike, as it were, the shield of no hospitaler of unsteady seat, but that of the templar himself. and this is the cause of what seems to puzzle mr. max muller, namely the attacks on _his_ system and _his_ results in particular. an english critic, writing for english readers, had to do with the scholar who chiefly represented the philological school of mythology in the eyes of england. autobiographical like other inquiring undergraduates in the sixties, i read such works on mythology as mr. max muller had then given to the world; i read them with interest, but without conviction. the argument, the logic, seemed to evade one; it was purely, with me, a question of logic, for i was of course prepared to accept all of mr. max muller's dicta on questions of etymologies. even now i never venture to impugn them, only, as i observe that other scholars very frequently differ, toto caelo, from him and from each other in essential questions, i preserve a just balance of doubt; i wait till these gentlemen shall be at one among themselves. after taking my degree in 1868, i had leisure to read a good deal of mythology in the legends of all races, and found my distrust of mr. max muller's reasoning increase upon me. the main cause was that whereas mr. max muller explained greek myths by etymologies of words in the aryan languages, chiefly greek, latin, slavonic, and sanskrit, i kept finding myths very closely resembling those of greece among red indians, kaffirs, eskimo, samoyeds, kamilaroi, maoris, and cahrocs. now if aryan myths arose from a 'disease' of aryan languages, it certainly did seem an odd thing that myths so similar to these abounded where non-aryan languages alone prevailed. did a kind of linguistic measles affect all tongues alike, from sanskrit to choctaw, and everywhere produce the same ugly scars in religion and myth? the ugly scars the ugly scars were the problem! a civilised fancy is not puzzled for a moment by a beautiful beneficent sun-god, or even by his beholding the daughters of men that they are fair. but a civilised fancy _is_ puzzled when the beautiful sun-god makes love in the shape of a dog. {5} to me, and indeed to mr. max muller, the ugly scars were the problem. he has written--'what makes mythology mythological, in the true sense of the word, is what is utterly unintelligible, absurd, strange, or miraculous.' but he explained these blots on the mythology of greece, for example, as the result practically of old words and popular sayings surviving in languages after the original, harmless, symbolical meanings of the words and sayings were lost. what had been a poetical remark about an aspect of nature became an obscene, or brutal, or vulgar myth, a stumbling block to greek piety and to greek philosophy. to myself, on the other hand, it seemed that the ugly scars were remains of that kind of taste, fancy, customary law, and incoherent speculation which everywhere, as far as we know, prevails to various degrees in savagery and barbarism. attached to the 'hideous idols,' as mr. max muller calls them, of early greece, and implicated in a ritual which religious conservatism dared not abandon, the fables of perhaps neolithic ancestors of the hellenes remained in the religion and the legends known to plato and socrates. that this process of 'survival' is a vera causa, illustrated in every phase of evolution, perhaps nobody denies. thus the phenomena which the philological school of mythology explains by a disease of language we would explain by survival from a savage state of society and from the mental peculiarities observed among savages in all ages and countries. of course there is nothing new in this: i was delighted to discover the idea in eusebius as in fontenelle; while, for general application to singular institutions, it was a commonplace of the last century. {6a} moreover, the idea had been widely used by dr. e. b. tylor in primitive culture, and by mr. mclennan in his primitive marriage and essays on totemism. my criticism of mr. max muller this idea i set about applying to the repulsive myths of civilised races, and to marchen, or popular tales, at the same time combating the theories which held the field--the theories of the philological mythologists as applied to the same matter. in journalism i criticised mr. max muller, and i admit that, when comparing the mutually destructive competition of varying etymologies, i did not abstain from the weapons of irony and _badinage_. the opportunity was too tempting! but, in the most sober seriousness, i examined mr. max muller's general statement of his system, his hypothesis of certain successive stages of language, leading up to the mythopoeic confusion of thought. it was not a question of denying mr. max muller's etymologies, but of asking whether he established his historical theory by evidence, and whether his inferences from it were logically deduced. the results of my examination will be found in the article 'mythology' in the encyclopaedia britannica, and in la mythologie. {6b} it did not appear to me that mr. max muller's general theory was valid, logical, historically demonstrated, or self-consistent. my other writings on the topic are chiefly custom and myth, myth, ritual, and religion (with french and dutch translations, both much improved and corrected by the translators), and an introduction to mrs. hunt's translation of grimm's marchen. success of anthropological method during fifteen years the ideas which i advocated seem to have had some measure of success. this is, doubtless, due not to myself, but to the works of mr. j. g. frazer and of professor robertson smith. both of these scholars descend intellectually from a man less scholarly than they, but, perhaps, more original and acute than any of us, my friend the late mr. j. f. mclennan. to mannhardt also much is owed, and, of course, above all, to dr. tylor. these writers, like mr. farnell and mr. jevons recently, seek for the answer to mythological problems rather in the habits and ideas of the folk and of savages and barbarians than in etymologies and 'a disease of language.' there are differences of opinion in detail: i myself may think that 'vegetation spirits,' the 'corn spirit,' and the rest occupy too much space in the systems of mannhardt, and other moderns. mr. frazer, again, thinks less of the evidence for totems among 'aryans' than i was inclined to do. {7} but it is not, perhaps, an overstatement to say that explanation of myths by analysis of names, and the lately overpowering predominance of the dawn, and the sun, and the night in mythological hypothesis, have received a slight check. they do not hold the field with the superiority which was theirs in england between 1860 and 1880. this fact--a scarcely deniable fact--does not, of course, prove that the philological method is wrong, or that the dawn is not as great a factor in myth as mr. max muller believes himself to have proved it to be. science is inevitably subject to shiftings of opinion, action, and reaction. mr. max muller's reply in this state of things mr. max muller produces his contributions to the science of mythology, {8} which i propose to criticise as far as it is, or may seem to me to be, directed against myself, or against others who hold practically much the same views as mine. i say that i attempt to criticise the book 'as far as it is, or may seem to me to be, directed against' us, because it is mr. max muller's occasional habit to argue (apparently) _around_ rather than _with_ his opponents. he says 'we are told this or that'--something which he does not accept--but he often does not inform us as to _who_ tells us, or where. thus a reader does not know whom mr. max muller is opposing, or where he can find the adversary's own statement in his own words. yet it is usual in such cases, and it is, i think, expedient, to give chapter and verse. occasionally i find that mr. max muller is honouring me by alluding to observations of my own, but often no reference is given to an opponent's name or books, and we discover the passages in question by accident or research. this method will be found to cause certain inconveniences. the story of daphne mr. max muller's method in controversy as an illustration of the author's controversial methods, take his observations on my alleged attempt to account for the metamorphosis of daphne into a laurel tree. when i read these remarks (i. p. 4) i said, 'mr. max muller vanquishes me _there_,' for he gave no reference to my statement. i had forgotten all about the matter, i was not easily able to find the passage to which he alluded, and i supposed that i had said just what mr. max muller seemed to me to make me say--no more, and no less. thus: 'mr. lang, as usual, has recourse to savages, most useful when they are really wanted. he quotes an illustration from the south pacific that tuna, the chief of the eels, fell in love with ina and asked her to cut off his head. when his head had been cut off and buried, two cocoanut trees sprang up from the brain of tuna. how is this, may i ask, to account for the story of daphne? everybody knows that "stories of the growing of plants out of the scattered members of heroes may be found from ancient egypt to the wigwams of the algonquins," but these stories seem hardly applicable to daphne, whose members, as far as i know, were never either severed or scattered.' i thought, perhaps hastily, that i must have made the story of tuna 'account for the story of daphne.' mr. max muller does not actually say that i did so, but i understood him in that sense, and recognised my error. but, some guardian genius warning me, i actually hunted up my own observations. {10a} well, i had never said (as i conceived my critic to imply) that the story of tuna 'accounts for the story of daphne.' that was what i had not said. i had observed, 'as to interchange of shape between men and women and _plants_, our information, so far as the lower races are concerned, is less copious'--than in the case of stones. i then spoke of plant totems of one kin with human beings, of plant-souls, {10b} of indian and egyptian plants animated by _human_ souls, of a tree which became a young man and made love to a yurucari girl, of metamorphosis into vegetables in samoa, {10c} of an ottawa myth in which a man became a plant of maize, and then of the story of tuna. {10d} next i mentioned plants said to have sprung from dismembered gods and heroes. _all_ this, i said, _all_ of it, proves that savages mythically regard human life as on a level with vegetable no less than with animal life. 'turning to the mythology of greece, we see that the same rule holds good. metamorphosis into plants and flowers is extremely common,' and i, of course, attributed the original idea of such metamorphoses to 'the general savage habit of "levelling up,"' of regarding all things in nature as all capable of interchanging their identities. i gave, as classical examples, daphne, myrrha, hyacinth, narcissus, and the sisters of phaethon. next i criticised mr. max muller's theory of daphne. but i never hinted that the isolated mangaian story of tuna, or the stories of plants sprung from mangled men, 'accounted,' by themselves, 'for the story of daphne.' mr. max muller is not content with giving a very elaborate and interesting account of how the story of tuna arose (i. 5-7). he keeps tuna in hand, and, at the peroration of his vast work (ii. 831), warns us that, before we compare myths in unrelated languages, we need 'a very accurate knowledge of their dialects . . . to prevent accidents like that of tuna mentioned in the beginning.' what accident? that i explained the myth of daphne by the myth of tuna? but that is precisely what i did not do. i explained the greek myth of daphne (1) as a survival from the savage mental habit of regarding men as on a level with stones, beasts, and plants; or (2) as a tale 'moulded by poets on the same model.' {11} the latter is the more probable case, for we find daphne late, in artificial or mythographic literature, in ovid and hyginus. in ovid the river god, pentheus, changes daphne into a laurel. in hyginus she is not changed at all; the earth swallows her, and a laurel fills her place. now i really did believe--perhaps any rapid reader would have believed--when i read mr. max muller, that i must have tried to account for the story of daphne by the story of tuna. i actually wrote in the first draft of this work that i had been in the wrong. then i verified the reference which my critic did not give, with the result which the reader has perused. never could a reader have found out what i did really say from my critic, for he does not usually when he deals with me give chapter and verse. this may avoid an air of personal bickering, but how inconvenient it is! let me not be supposed to accuse mr. max muller of consciously misrepresenting me. of that i need not say that he is absolutely incapable. my argument merely took, in his consciousness, the form which is suggested in the passage cited from him. tuna and daphne to do justice to mr. max muller, i will here state fully his view of the story of tuna, and then go on to the story of daphne. for the sake of accuracy, i take the liberty of borrowing the whole of his statement (i. 4-7):-'i must dwell a little longer on this passage in order to show the real difference between the ethnological and the philological schools of comparative mythology. 'first of all, what has to be explained is not the growing up of a tree from one or the other member of a god or hero, but the total change of a human being or a heroine into a tree, and this under a certain provocation. these two classes of plant-legends must be carefully kept apart. secondly, what does it help us to know that people in mangaia believed in the change of human beings into trees, if we do not know the reason why? this is what we want to know; and without it the mere juxtaposition of stories apparently similar is no more than the old trick of explaining ignotum per ignotius. it leads us to imagine that we have learnt something, when we really are as ignorant as before. 'if mr. a. lang had studied the mangaian dialect, or consulted scholars like the rev. w. w. gill--it is from his "myths and songs from the south pacific" that he quotes the story of tuna--he would have seen that there is no similarity whatever between the stories of daphne and of tuna. the tuna story belongs to a very well known class of aetiological plant-stories, which are meant to explain a no longer intelligible name of a plant, such as snakeshead, stiefmutterchen, &c.; it is in fact a clear case of what i call disease of language, cured by the ordinary nostrum of folk-etymology. i have often been in communication with the rev. w. w. gill about these south pacific myths and their true meaning. the preface to his collection of myths and songs from the south pacific was written by me in 1876; and if mr. a. lang had only read the whole chapter which treats of these tree-myths (p. 77 seq.), he would easily have perceived the real character of the tuna story, and would not have placed it in the same class as the daphne story; he would have found that the white kernel of the cocoanut was, in mangaia, called the "brains of tuna," a name like many more such names which after a time require an explanation. 'considering that "cocoanut" was used in mangaia in the sense of head (testa), the kernel or flesh of it might well be called the brain. if then the white kernel had been called tuna's brain, we have only to remember that in mangaia there are two kinds of cocoanut trees, and we shall then have no difficulty in understanding why these twin cocoanut trees were said to have sprung from the two halves of tuna's brain, one being red in stem, branches, and fruit, whilst the other was of a deep green. in proof of these trees being derived from the head of tuna, we are told that we have only to break the nut in order to see in the sprouting germ the two eyes and the mouth of tuna, the great eel, the lover of ina. for a full understanding of this very complicated myth more information has been supplied by mr. gill. ina means moon; ina-maeaitu, the heroine of our story, means ina-who-had-a-divine (aitu) lover, and she was the daughter of kui, the blind. tuna means eel, and in mangaia it was unlawful for women to eat eels, so that even now, as mr. gill informs me, his converts turn away from this fish with the utmost disgust. from other stories about the origin of cocoanut trees, told in the same island, it would appear that the sprouts of the cocoanut were actually called eels' heads, while the skulls of warriors were called cocoanuts. 'taking all these facts together, it is not difficult to imagine how the story of tuna's brain grew up; and i am afraid we shall have to confess that the legend of tuna throws but little light on the legend of daphne or on the etymology of her name. no one would have a word to say against the general principle that much that is irrational, absurd, or barbarous in the veda is a survival of a more primitive mythology anterior to the veda. how could it be otherwise?' criticism of tuna and daphne now (1), as to daphne, we are not invariably told that hers was a case of 'the total change of a heroine into a tree.' in ovid {14} she is thus changed. in hyginus, on the other hand, the earth swallows her, and a tree takes her place. all the authorities are late. here i cannot but reflect on the scholarly method of mannhardt, who would have examined and criticised all the sources for the tale before trying to explain it. however, daphne was not mangled; a tree did not spring from her severed head or scattered limbs. she was metamorphosed, or was buried in earth, a tree springing up from the place. (2) i think we do know _why_ the people of mangaia 'believe in the change of human beings into trees.' it is one among many examples of the savage sense of the intercommunity of all nature. 'antiquity made its division between man and the world in a very different sort than do the moderns.' {15a} i illustrate this mental condition fully in m. r. r. i. 46-56. _why_ savages adopt the major premise, 'human life is on a level with the life of all nature,' philosophers explain in various ways. hume regards it as an extension to the universe of early man's own consciousness of life and personality. dr. tylor thinks that the opinion rests upon 'a broad philosophy of nature.' {15b} m. lefebure appeals to psychical phenomena as i show later (see 'fetishism'). at all events, the existence of these savage metaphysics is a demonstrated fact. i established it {15c} before invoking it as an explanation of savage belief in metamorphosis. (3) 'the tuna story belongs to a very well known class of aetiological plant-stories' (aetiological: assigning a cause for the plant, its peculiarities, its name, &c.), 'which are meant to explain a no longer intelligible name of a plant, &c.' i also say, 'these myths are naturemyths, so far as they attempt to account for a fact in nature--namely, for the existence of certain plants, and for their place in ritual.' {16} the reader has before him mr. max muller's view. the white kernel of the cocoanut was locally styled 'the brains of tuna.' that name required explanation. hence the story about the fate of tuna. cocoanut was used in mangaia in the sense of 'head' (testa). so it is now in england. see bell's life, passim, as 'the chicken got home on the cocoanut.' the explanation on the whole, either cocoanut kernels were called 'brains of tuna' because 'cocoanut'='head,' and a head has brains--and, well, somehow i fail to see why brains of tuna in particular! or, there being a story to the effect that the first cocoanut grew out of the head of the metamorphosed tuna, the kernel was called his brains. but why was the story told, and why of tuna? tuna was an eel, and women may not eat eels; and ina was the moon, who, a mangaian selene, loved no latmian shepherd, but an eel. seriously, i fail to understand mr. max muller's explanation. given the problem, to explain a no longer intelligible plant-name--brains of tuna--(applied not to a plant but to the kernel of a nut), this name is explained by saying that the moon, ina, loved an eel, cut off his head at his desire, and buried it. thence sprang cocoanut trees, with a fanciful likeness to a human face--face of tuna--on the nut. but still, why tuna? how could the moon love an eel, except on my own general principle of savage 'levelling up' of all life in all nature? in my opinion, the mangaians wanted a fable to account for the resemblance of a cocoanut to the human head--a resemblance noted, as i show, in our own popular slang. the mangaians also knew the moon, in her mythical aspect, as ina; and tuna, whatever his name may mean (mr. max muller does not tell us), was an eel. {17} having the necessary savage major premise in their minds, 'all life is on a level and interchangeable,' the mangaians thought well to say that the head-like cocoanut sprang from the head of her lover, an eel, cut off by ina. the myth accounts, i think, for the peculiarities of the cocoanut, rather than for the name 'brains of tuna;' for we still ask, 'why of tuna in particular? why tuna more than rangoa, or anyone else?' 'we shall have to confess that the legend of tuna throws but little light on the legend of daphne, or on the etymology of her name.' i never hinted that the legend of tuna threw light on the etymology of the name of daphne. mangaian and greek are not allied languages. nor did i give the tuna story as an explanation of the daphne story. i gave it as one in a mass of illustrations of the savage mental propensity so copiously established by dr. tylor in primitive culture. the two alternative explanations which i gave of the daphne story i have cited. no mention of tuna occurs in either. disease of language and folk-etymology the tuna story is described as 'a clear case of disease of language cured by the ordinary nostrum of folk-etymology.' the 'disease' showed itself, i suppose, in the presence of the mangaian words for 'brain of tuna.' but the story of tuna gives no folk-etymology of the name tuna. now, to give an etymology of a name of forgotten meaning is the sole object of folketymology. the plant-name, 'snake's head,' given as an example by mr. max muller, needs no etymological explanation. a story may be told to explain why the plant is called snake's head, but a story to give an etymology of snake's head is superfluous. the tuna story explains why the cocoanut kernel is called 'brains of tuna,' but it offers no etymology of tuna's name. on the other hand, the story that marmalade (really marmalet) is so called because queen mary found comfort in marmalade when she was sea-sick--hence marie-malade, hence _marmalade_--gives an etymological explanation of the origin of the _word_ marmalade. here is a real folk-etymology. we must never confuse such myths of folk-etymology with myths arising (on the philological hypothesis) from 'disease of language.' thus, daphne is a girl pursued by apollo, and changed into a daphne plant or laurel, or a laurel springs from the earth where she was buried. on mr. max muller's philological theory daphne=dahana, and meant 'the burning one.' apollo may be derived from a sanskrit form, *apa-var-yan, or *apa-val-yan (though how greeks ever heard a sanskrit word, if such a word as apa-val-yan ever existed, we are not told), and may mean 'one who opens the gate of the sky' (ii. 692-696). {18} at some unknown date the ancestors of the greeks would say 'the opener of the gates of the sky (*apa-val-yan, i.e. the sun) pursues the burning one (dahana, i.e. the dawn).' the greek language would retain this poetic saying in daily use till, in the changes of speech, *apa-val-yan ceased to be understood, and became apollo, while dahana ceased to be understood, and became daphne. but the verb being still understood, the phrase ran, 'apollo pursues daphne.' now the greeks had a plant, laurel, called daphne. they therefore blended plant, daphne, and heroine's name, daphne, and decided that the phrase 'apollo pursues daphne' meant that apollo chased a nymph, daphne, who, to escape his love, turned into a laurel. i cannot give mr. max muller's theory of the daphne story more clearly. if i misunderstand it, that does not come from want of pains. in opposition to it we urge that (1) the etymological equations, daphne=dahana, apollo=*apa-val-yan, are not generally accepted by other scholars. schroder, in fact, derives apollo 'from the vedic saparagenya, "worshipful," an epithet of agni,' who is fire (ii. 688), and so on. daphne=dahana is no less doubted. of course a greek simply cannot be 'derived' from a sanskrit word, as is stated, though both may have a common origin, just as french is not 'derived from' italian. (2) if the etymologies were accepted, no proof is offered to us of the actual existence, as a vera causa, of the process by which a saying. 'apollo pursues daphne,' remains in language, while the meaning of the words is forgotten. this process is essential, but undemonstrated. see the chapter here on 'the riddle theory.' (3) these processes, if demonstrated, which they are not, must be carefully discriminated from the actual demonstrable process of folk-etymology. the marmalade legend gives the etymology of a word, marmalade; the daphne legend does not give an etymology. (4) the theory of daphne is of the kind protested against by mannhardt, where he warns us against looking in most myths for a 'mirror-picture' on earth of celestial phenomena. {20a} for these reasons, among others, i am disinclined to accept mr. max muller's attempt to explain the story of daphne. mannhardt on daphne since we shall presently find mr. max muller claiming the celebrated mannhardt as a sometime deserter of philological comparative mythology, who 'returned to his old colours,' i observe with pleasure that mannhardt is on my side and against the oxford professor. mannhardt shows that the laurel (daphne) was regarded as a plant which, like our rowan tree, averts evil influences. 'moreover, the laurel, like the maibaum, was looked on as a being with a spirit. this is the safest result which myth analysis can extract from the story of daphne, a nymph pursued by apollo and changed into a laurel. it is a result of the use of the laurel in his ritual.' {20b} in 1877, a year after mannhardt is said by mr. max muller to have returned to his old colours, he repeats this explanation. {21a} in the same work (p. 20) he says that 'there is no reason for accepting max muller's explanation about the sun-god and the dawn, wo jeder thatliche anhalt dafur fehlt.' for this opinion we might also cite the sanskrit scholars whitney and bergaigne. {21b} the question of allies athanasius mr. max muller protests, most justly, against the statement that he, like st. athanasius, stands alone, contra mundum. if ever this phrase fell from my pen (in what connection i know not), it is as erroneous as the position of st. athanasius is honourable. mr. max muller's ideas, in various modifications, are doubtless still the most prevalent of any. the anthropological method has hardly touched, i think, the learned contributors to roscher's excellent mythological lexicon. dr. brinton, whose american researches are so useful, seems decidedly to be a member of the older school. while i do not exactly remember alluding to athanasius, i fully and freely withdraw the phrase. but there remain questions of allies to be discussed. italian critics mr. max muller asks, {22} 'what would mr. andrew lang say if he read the words of signer canizzaro, in his "genesi ed evoluzione del mito" (1893), "lang has laid down his arms before his adversaries"?' mr. lang 'would smile.' and what would mr. max muller say if he read the words of professor enrico morselli, 'lang gives no quarter to his adversaries, who, for the rest, have long been reduced to silence'? {23} the right hon. professor also smiles, no doubt. we both smile. solvuntur risu tabulae. a dutch defender the question of the precise attitude of professor tiele, the accomplished gifford lecturer in the university of edinburgh (1897), is more important and more difficult. his remarks were made in 1885, in an essay on the myth of cronos, and were separately reprinted, in 1886, from the 'revue de l'histoire des religions,' which i shall cite. where they refer to myself they deal with custom and myth, not with myth, ritual, and religion (1887). it seems best to quote, ipsissimis verbis, mr. max muller's comments on professor tiele's remarks. he writes (i. viii.): 'let us proceed next to holland. professor tiele, who had actually been claimed as an ally of the victorious army, declares:--"je dois m'elever, au nom de la science mythologique et de l'exactitude . . . centre une methode qui ne fait que glisser sur des problemes de premiere importance." (see further on, p. 35.) 'and again: '"ces braves gens qui, pour peu qu'ils aient lu un ou deux livres de mythologie et d'anthropologie, et un ou deux recits de voyages, ne manqueront pas de se mettre a comparer a tort et a travers, et pour tout resultat produiront la confusion."' again (i. 35): 'besides signer canizzaro and mr. horatio hale, the veteran among comparative ethnologists, professor tiele, in his le mythe de kronos (1886), has very strongly protested against the downright misrepresentations of what i and my friends have really written. 'professor tiele had been appealed to as an unimpeachable authority. he was even claimed as an ally by the ethnological students of customs and myths, but he strongly declined that honour (1. c., p. 31):'"m. lang m'a fait 1'honneur de me citer," he writes, "comme un de ses allies, et j'ai lieu de croire que m. gaidoz en fait en quelque mesure autant. ces messieurs n'ont point entierement tort. cependant je dois m'elever, au nom de la science mythologique et de 1'exactitude dont elle ne peut pas plus se passer que les autres sciences, contre une methode qui ne fait que glisser sur des problemes de premiere importance," &c. 'speaking of the whole method followed by those who actually claimed to have founded a new school of mythology, he says (p. 21):-'"je crains toutefois que ce qui s'y trouve de vrai ne soit connu depuis longtemps, et que la nouvelle ecole ne peche par exclusionisme tout autant que les ainees qu'elle combat avec tant de conviction." 'that is exactly what i have always said. what is there new in comparing the customs and myths of the greeks with those of the barbarians? has not even plato done this? did anybody doubt that the greeks, nay even the hindus, were uncivilised or savages, before they became civilised or tamed? was not this common-sense view, so strongly insisted on by fontenelle and vico in the eighteenth century, carried even to excess by such men as de brosses (1709-1771)? and have the lessons taught to de brosses by his witty contemporaries been quite forgotten? must his followers be told again and again that they ought to begin with a critical examination of the evidence put before them by casual travellers, and that mythology is as little made up of one and the same material as the crust of the earth of granite only?' reply professor tiele wrote in 1885. i do not remember having claimed his alliance, though i made one or two very brief citations from his remarks on the dangers of etymology applied to old proper names. {25a} to citations made by me later in 1887 professor tiele cannot be referring. {25b} thus i find no proof of any claim of alliance put forward by me, but i do claim a right to quote the professor's published words. these i now translate:--{25c} 'what goes before shows adequately that i am an ally, much more than an adversary, of the new school, whether styled ethnological or anthropological. it is true that all the ideas advanced by its partisans are not so new as they seem. some of us--i mean among those who, without being vassals of the old school, were formed by it--had not only remarked already the defects of the reigning method, but had perceived the direction in which researches should be made; they had even begun to say so. this does not prevent the young school from enjoying the great merit of having first formulated with precision, and with the energy of conviction, that which had hitherto been but imperfectly pointed out. if henceforth mythological science marches with a firmer foot, and loses much of its hypothetical character, it will in part owe this to the stimulus of the new school.' 'braves gens' professor tiele then bids us leave our cries of triumph to the servum imitatorum pecus, braves gens, and so forth, as in the passage which mr. max muller, unless i misunderstand him, regards as referring to the 'new school,' and, notably, to m. gaidoz and myself, though such language ought not to apply to m. gaidoz, because he is a scholar. i am left to uncovenanted mercies. professor tiele on our merits the merits of the new school professor tiele had already stated:--{26} 'if i were reduced to choose between this method and that of comparative philology, i would prefer the former without the slightest hesitation. this method alone enables us to explain the fact, such a frequent cause of surprise, that the greeks like the germans . . . could attribute to their gods all manner of cruel, cowardly and dissolute actions. this method alone reveals the cause of all the strange metamorphoses of gods into animals, plants, and even stones. . . . in fact, this method teaches us to recognise in all these oddities the survivals of an age of barbarism long over-past, but lingering into later times, under the form of religious legends, the most persistent of all traditions. . . . this method, enfin, can alone help us to account for the genesis of myths, because it devotes itself to studying them in their rudest and most primitive shape. . . . ' destruction and construction thus writes professor tiele about the constructive part of our work. as to the destructive--or would-be destructive--part, he condenses my arguments against the method of comparative philology. 'to resume, the whole house of comparative philological mythology is builded on the sand, and her method does not deserve confidence, since it ends in such divergent results.' that is professor tiele's statement of my destructive conclusions, and he adds, 'so far, i have not a single objection to make. i can still range myself on mr. lang's side when he' takes certain distinctions into which it is needless to go here. {27} allies or not? these are several of the passages on which, in 1887, i relied as evidence of the professor's approval, which, i should have added, is only partial it is he who, unsolicited, professes himself 'much more our ally than our adversary.' it is he who proclaims that mr. max midler's central hypothesis is erroneous, and who makes 'no objection' to my idea that it is 'builded on the sand.' it is he who assigns essential merits to our method, and i fail to find that he 'strongly declines the honour' of our alliance. the passage about 'braves gens' explicitly does not refer to us. our errors in 1887, i was not careful to quote what professor tiele had said against us. first, as to our want of novelty. that merit, i think, i had never claimed. i was proud to point out that we had been anticipated by eusebius of caesarea, by fontenelle, and doubtless by many others. we repose, as professor tiele justly says, on the researches of dr. tylor. at the same time it is professor tiele who constantly speaks of 'the new school,' while adding that he himself had freely opposed mr. max muller's central hypothesis, 'a disease of language,' in dutch periodicals. the professor also censures our 'exclusiveness,' our 'narrowness,' our 'songs of triumph,' our use of parody (m. gaidoz republished an old one, not to my own taste; i have also been guilty of 'the great gladstone myth') and our charge that our adversaries neglect ethnological material. on this i explain myself later. {28a} uses of philology our method (says professor tiele) 'cannot answer all the questions which the science of mythology must solve, or, at least, must study.' certainly it makes no such pretence. professor tiele then criticises sir george cox and mr. robert brown, junior, for their etymologies of poseidon. indiscreet followers are not confined to our army alone. now, the use of philology, we learn, is to discourage such etymological vagaries as those of sir g. cox. {28b} _we_ also discourage them--severely. but we are warned that philology really has discovered 'some undeniably certain etymologies' of divine names. well, i also say, 'philology alone can tell whether zeus asterios, or adonis, or zeus labrandeus is originally a semitic or a greek divine name; here she is the pythoness we must all consult.' {29a} and is it my fault that, even in this matter, the pythonesses utter such strangely discrepant oracles? is athene from a zend root (benfey), a greek root (curtius), or to be interpreted by sanskrit ahana (max muller)? meanwhile professor tiele repeats that, in a search for the origin of myths, and, above all, of obscene and brutal myths, 'philology will lead us far from our aim.' now, if the school of mr. max muller has a mot d'ordre, it is, says professor tiele, 'to call mythology a disease of language.' {29b} but, adds mr. max muller's learned dutch defender, mythologists, while using philology for certain purposes, 'must shake themselves free, of course, from the false hypothesis' (mr. max muller's) 'which makes of mythology a mere maladie du langage.' this professor is rather a dangerous defender of mr. max muller! he removes the very corner-stone of his edifice, which tiele does not object to our describing as founded on the sand. mr. max muller does not cite (as far as i observe) these passages in which professor tiele (in my view, and in fact) abandons (for certain uses) _his_ system of mythology. perhaps professor tiele has altered his mind, and, while keeping what mr. max muller quotes, braves gens, and so on, has withdrawn what he said about 'the false hypothesis of a disease of language.' but my own last book about myths was written in 1886-1887, shortly after professor tiele's remarks were published (1886) as i have cited them. personal controversy all this matter of alliances may seem, and indeed is, of a personal character, and therefore unimportant. professor tiele's position in 188586 is clearly defined. whatever he may have published since, he then accepted the anthropological or ethnological method, as _alone_ capable of doing the work in which we employ it. this method alone can discover the origin of ancient myths, and alone can account for the barbaric element, that old puzzle, in the myths of civilised races. this the philological method, useful for other purposes, cannot do, and its central hypothesis can only mislead us. i was not aware, i repeat, that i ever claimed professor tiele's 'alliance,' as he, followed by mr. max muller, declares. they cannot point, as a proof of an assertion made by professor tiele, 1885-86, to words of mine which did not see the light till 1887, in myth, ritual, and religion, i. pp. 24, 43, 44. not that i deny professor tiele's statement about my claim of his alliance before 1885-86. i merely ask for a reference to this claim. in 1887 {30} i cited his observations (already quoted) on the inadequate and misleading character of the philological method, when we are seeking for 'the origin of a myth, or the physical explanation of the oldest myths, or trying to account for the rude and obscene element in the divine legends of civilised races.' i added the professor's applause of the philological method as applied to other problems of mythology; for example, 'the genealogical relations of myths. . . . the philological method alone can answer here,' aided, doubtless, by historical and archaeological researches as to the inter-relations of races. this approval of the philological method, i cited; the reader will find the whole passage in the revue, vol. xii. p. 260. i remarked, however, that this will seem 'a very limited province,' though, in this province, 'philology is the pythoness we must all consult; in this sphere she is supreme, when her high priests are of one mind.' thus i did not omit to notice professor tiele's comments on the _merits_ of the philological method. to be sure, he himself does not apply it when he comes to examine the myth of cronos. 'are the god and his myth original or imported? i have not approached this question because it does not seem to me ripe in this particular case.' {31a} 'mr. lang has justly rejected the opinion of welcker and mr. max muller, that cronos is simply formed from zeus's epithet, [greek].' {31b} this opinion, however, mr. max muller still thinks the 'most likely' (ii. 507). my other citation of professor tiele in 1887 says that our pretensions 'are not unacknowledged' by him, and, after a long quotation of approving passages, i add 'the method is thus _applauded_ by a most competent authority, and it has been _warmly accepted_' (pray note the distinction) by m. gaidoz. {31c} i trust that what i have said is not unfair. professor tiele's objections, not so much to our method as to our manners, and to my own use of the method in a special case, have been stated, or will be stated later. probably i should have put them forward in 1887; i now repair my error. my sole wish is to be fair; if mr. max muller has not wholly succeeded in giving the full drift of professor tiele's remarks, i am certain that it is from no lack of candour. the story of cronos professor tiele now devotes fifteen pages to the story of cronos, and to my essay on that theme. he admits that i was right in regarding the myth as 'extraordinarily old,' and that in greece it must go back to a period when greeks had not passed the new zealand level of civilisation. [now, the new zealanders were cannibals!] but 'we are the victims of a great illusion if we think that a mere comparison of a maori and greek myth explains the myth.' i only profess to explain the savagery of the myth by the fact (admitted) that it was composed by savages. the maori story 'is a myth of the creation of light.' i, for my part, say, 'it is a myth of the severance of heaven and earth.' {32a} and so it is! no being said, in maori, 'fiat lux!' light is not here _created_. heaven lay flat on earth, all was dark, somebody kicked heaven up, the already existing light came in. here is no creation de la lumiere. i ask professor tiele, 'do you, sir, create light when you open your windowshutters in the morning? no, you let light in!' the maori tale is also 'un mythe primitif de l'aurore,' a primitive dawn myth. dawn, again! here i lose professor tiele. 'has the myth of cronos the same sense?' probably not, as the maori story, to my mind, has not got it either. but professor tiele says, 'the myth of cronos has precisely the opposite sense.' {32b} what is the myth of cronos? ouranos (heaven) married gaea (earth). ouranos 'hid his children from the light in the _hollows_ of earth' (hesiod). so, too, the new zealand gods were hidden from light while heaven (rangi) lay flat on papa (earth). the children 'were concealed between the _hollows_ of their parent's breasts.' they did not like it, for they dwelt in darkness. so cronos took an iron sickle and mutilated ouranos in such a way, enfin, as to divorce him a thoro. 'thus,' i say, 'were heaven and earth practically divorced.' the greek gods now came out of the hollows where they had been, like the new zealand gods, 'hidden from the light.' professor tiele on sunset myths no, says professor tiele, 'the story of cronos has precisely the opposite meaning.' the new zealand myth is one of dawn, the greek myth is one of sunset. the mutilated part of poor ouranos is le phallus du ciel, le soleil, which falls into 'the cosmic ocean,' and then, of course, all is dark. professor tiele may be right here; i am indifferent. all that i wanted to explain was the savage complexion of the myth, and professor tiele says that i have explained that, and (xii. 264) he rejects the etymological theory of mr. max muller. i say that, in my opinion, the second part of the cronos myth (the childswallowing performances of cronos) 'was probably a world-wide marchen, or tale, attracted into the cycle of which cronos was the centre, without any particular reason beyond the law which makes detached myths crystallise round any celebrated name.' professor tiele says he does not grasp the meaning of, or believe in, any such law. well, why is the world-wide tale of the cyclops told about odysseus? it is absolutely out of keeping, and it puzzles commentators. in fact, here was a hero and there was a tale, and the tale was attracted into the cycle of the hero; the very last man to have behaved as odysseus is made to do. {34} but cronos was an odious ruffian. the world-wide tale of swallowing and disgorging the children was attracted to _his_ too notorious name 'by grace of congruity.' does professor tiele now grasp my meaning (saisir)? our lack of scientific exactness i do not here give at full length professor tiele's explanation of the meaning of a myth which i do not profess to explain myself. thus, drops of the blood of ouranos falling on earth begat the melies, usually rendered 'nymphs of the ash-trees.' but professor tiele says they were really _bees_ (hesychius, [greek]=[greek])--'that is to say, stars.' everybody has observed that the stars rise up off the earth, like the bees sprung from the blood of ouranos. in myth, ritual, and religion (i. 299-315) i give the competing explanations of mr. max muller, of schwartz (cronos=storm god), preller (cronos=harvest god), of others who see the sun, or time, in cronos; while, with professor tiele, cronos is the god of the upper air, and also of the underworld and harvest; he 'doubles the part.' 'il est l'un et l'autre'--that is, 'le dieu qui fait murir le ble' and also 'un dieu des lieux souterrains.' 'il habite les profondeurs sous la terre,' he is also le dieu du ciel nocturne. it may have been remarked that i declined to add to this interesting collection of plausible explanations of cronos. a selection of such explanations i offer in tabular form:-cronos was god of time (?)--max muller sun--sayce midnight sky--kuhn under-world } midnight sky}--tiele harvest } harvest--preller storm--schwartz star-swallowing sky--canon taylor sun scorching spring--hartung cronos was by race late greek (?)--max muller semitic--bottiger accadian (?)--sayce etymology of cronos [greek]=time (?)--max muller krana (sanskrit)--kuhn karnos (horned)--brown [greek]--preller the pleased reader will also observe that the phallus of ouranos is the sun (tiele), that cronos is the sun (sayce), that cronos mutilating ouranos is the sun (hartung), just as the sun is the mutilated part of ouranos (tiele); _or_ is, according to others, the stone which cronos swallowed, and which acted as an emetic. my lack of explanation of cronos now, i have offered no explanation at all of who cronos was, what he was god of, from what race he was borrowed, from what language his name was derived. the fact is that i do not know the truth about these important debated questions. therefore, after speaking so kindly of our method, and rejecting the method of mr. max muller, professor tiele now writes thus (and _this_ mr. max muller does cite, as we have seen):- 'mr. lang and m. gaidoz are not entirely wrong in claiming me as an ally. but i must protest, in the name of mythological science, and of the exactness as necessary to her as to any of the other sciences, against a method which only glides over questions of the first importance' (name, origin, province, race of cronos), 'and which to most questions can only reply, with a smile, c'est chercher raison ou il n'y en a pas.' my crime now, what important questions was i gliding over? in what questions did i not expect to find reason? why in this savage fatras about cronos swallowing his children, about blood-drops becoming bees (mr. max muller says 'melian nymphs'), and bees being stars, and all the rest of a prehistoric marchen worked over again and again by the later fancy of greek poets and by greek voyagers who recognised cronos in moloch. in all this i certainly saw no 'reason,' but i have given in tabular form the general, if inharmonious, conclusions of more exact and conscientious scholars, 'their variegated hypotheses,' as mannhardt says in the case of demeter. my error, rebuked by professor tiele, is the lack of that 'scientific exactitude' exhibited by the explanations arranged in my tabular form. my reply to professor tiele i would reply that i am not engaged in a study of the _cult_ of cronos, but of the revolting element in his _myth_: his swallowing of his children, taking a stone emetic by mistake, and disgorging the swallowed children alive; the stone being on view at delphi long after the christian era. now, such stories of divine feats of swallowing and disgorging are very common, i show, in savage myth and popular marchen. the bushmen have kwai hemm, who swallows the sacred mantis insect. he is killed, and all the creatures whom he has swallowed return to light. such stories occur among australians, kaffirs, red men, in guiana, in greenland, and so on. in some cases, among savages. night (conceived as a person), or one star which obscures another star, is said to 'swallow' it. therefore, i say, 'natural phenomena, explained on savage principles, might give the data of the swallowing myth, of cronos' {37}--that is, the myth of cronos may be, probably is, originally a nature-myth. 'on this principle cronos would be (ad hoc) the night.' professor tiele does not allude to this effort at interpretation. but i come round to something like the view of kuhn. cronos (ad hoc) is the midnight [sky], which professor tiele also regards as one of his several aspects. it is not impossible, i think, that if the swallowing myth was originally a nature-myth, it was suggested by night. but the question i tried to answer was, 'why did the greeks, of all people, tell such a disgusting story?' and i replied, with professor tiele's approval, that they inherited it from an age to which such follies were natural, an age when the ancestors of the greeks were on (or under) the maori stage of culture. now, the maoris, a noble race, with poems of great beauty and speculative power, were cannibals, like cronos. to my mind, 'scientific exactitude' is rather shown in confessing ignorance than in adding to the list of guesses. conclusion as to professor tiele the learned professor's remarks on being 'much more my ally than my opponent' were published before my myth, ritual, and religion, in which (i. 24, 25) i cited his agreement with me in the opinion that 'the philological method' (mr. max muller's) is 'inadequate and misleading, when it is a question of discovering the origin of a myth.' i also quoted his unhesitating preference of ours to mr. max muller's method (i. 43, 44). i did not cite a tithe of what he actually did say to our credit. but i omitted to quote what it was inexcusable not to add, that professor tiele thinks us 'too exclusive,' that he himself had already, before us, combated mr. max muller's method in dutch periodicals, that he blamed our 'songs of triumph' and our levities, that he thought we might have ignorant camp-followers, that i glided over important questions (bees, blood-drops, stars, melian nymphs, the phallus of ouranos, &c.), and showed scientific inexactitude in declining chercher raison ou il n'y en a pas. none the less, in professor tiele's opinion, our method is new (or is _not_ new), illuminating, successful, and _alone_ successful, for the ends to which we apply it, and, finally, we have shown mr. max muller's method to be a house builded on the sand. that is the gist of what professor tiele said. mr. max muller, like myself, quotes part and omits part. he quotes twice professor tiele's observations on my deplorable habit of gliding over important questions. he twice says that we have 'actually' claimed the professor as 'an ally of the victorious army,' 'the ethnological students of custom and myth,' and once adds, 'but he strongly declined that honour.' he twice quotes the famous braves gens passage, excepting only m. gaidoz, as a scholar, from a censure explicitly directed at our possible camp-followers as distinguished from ourselves. but if mr. max muller quotes professor tiele's remarks proving that, in his opinion, the 'army' _is_ really victorious; if he cites the acquiescence in my opinion that _his_ mythological house is 'builded on the sands,' or professor tiele's preference for our method over his own, or professor tiele's volunteered remark that he is 'much more our ally than our adversary,' i have not detected the passages in contributions to the science of mythology. the reader may decide as to the relative importance of what i left out, and of what mr. max muller omitted. he says, 'professor tiele and i differ on several points, but we perfectly understand each other, and when we have made a mistake we readily confess and correct it' (i. 37). the two scholars, i thought, differed greatly. mr. max muller's war-cry, slogan, mot d'ordre, is to professor tiele 'a false hypothesis.' our method, which mr. max muller combats so bravely, is all that professor tiele has said of it. but, if all this is not conspicuously apparent in our adversary's book, it does not become me to throw the first stone. we are all, in fact, inclined unconsciously to overlook what makes against our argument. i have done it; and, to the best of my belief, mr. max muller has not avoided the same error. mannhardt mannhardt's attitude professor tiele, it may appear, really 'fights for his own hand,' and is not a thorough partisan of either side. the celebrated mannhardt, too, doubtless the most original student of folk-lore since grimm, might, at different periods of his career, have been reckoned an ally, now by philologists, now by 'the new school.' he may be said, in fact, to have combined what is best in the methods of both parties. both are anxious to secure such support as his works can lend. moral character impeached mr. max muller avers that his moral character seems to be 'aimed at' by critics who say that he has no right to quote mannhardt or oldenberg as his supporters (1. xvi.). now, without making absurd imputations, i do not reckon mannhardt a thorough partisan of mr. max muller. i could not put _our_ theory so well as mannhardt puts it. 'the study of the lower races is an invaluable instrument for the interpretation of the survivals from earlier stages, which we meet in the full civilisation of cultivated peoples, but which arose in the remotest fetishism and savagery.' like mr. max muller, i do not care for the vague word 'fetishism,' otherwise mannhardt's remark exactly represents my own position, the anthropological position. {42a} now, mr. max muller does not like that position. that position he assails. it was mannhardt's, however, when he wrote the book quoted, and, so far, mannhardt was _not_ absolutely one of mr. max muller's 'supporters'--unless i am one. 'i have even been accused,' says mr. max muller, 'of intentionally ignoring or suppressing mannhardt's labours. how charitable!' (1. xvii.) i trust, from our author's use of the word todtschweigen, that this uncharitable charge was made in germany. mannhardt mannhardt, for a time, says mr. max muller, 'expressed his mistrust in some of the results of comparative mythology' (1. xvii.). indeed, i myself quote him to that very effect. {42b} not only '_some_ of the results,' but the philological method itself was distrusted by mannhardt, as by curtius. 'the failure of the method in its practical working lies in a lack of the historical sense,' says mannhardt. {42c} mr. max muller may have, probably has, referred to these sayings of mannhardt; or, if he has not, no author is obliged to mention everybody who disagrees with him. mannhardt's method was mainly that of folklore, not of philology. he examined peasant customs and rites as 'survivals' of the oldest paganism. mr. frazer applies mannhardt's rich lore to the explanation of greek and other rites in the golden bough, that entrancing book. such was mannhardt's position (as i shall prove at large) when he was writing his most famous works. but he 'returned at last to his old colours' (1. xvii.) in die lettischen sonnenmythen (1875). in 1880 mannhardt died. mr. max muller does not say whether mannhardt, before a decease deeply regretted, recanted his heretical views about the philological method, and his expressed admiration of the study of the lower races as 'an invaluable instrument.' one would gladly read a recantation so important. but mr. max muller does tell us that 'if i did not refer to his work in my previous contributions to the science of mythology the reason was simple enough. it was not, as has been suggested, my wish to suppress it (todtschweigen), but simply my want of knowledge of the materials with which he dealt' (german popular customs and traditions) 'and therefore the consciousness of my incompetence to sit in judgment on his labours.' again, we are told that there was no need of criticism or praise of mannhardt. he had mr. frazer as his prophet--but not till ten years after his death. mannhardt's letters 'mannhardt's state of mind with regard to the general principles of comparative philology has been so exactly my own,' says mr. max muller, that he cites mannhardt's letters to prove the fact. but as to the _application_ to myth of the principles of comparative philology, mannhardt speaks of 'the lack of the historical sense' displayed in the practical employment of the method. this, at least, is 'not exactly' mr. max muller's own view. probably he refers to the later period when mannhardt 'returned to his old colours.' the letters of mannhardt, cited in proof of his exact agreement with mr. max muller about comparative philology, do not, as far as quoted, mention the subject of comparative philology at all (1. xviii-xx.). possibly 'philology' is here a slip of the pen, and 'mythology' may be meant. mannhardt says to mullenhoff (may 2, 1876) that he has been uneasy 'at the extent which sun myths threaten to assume in my comparisons.' he is opening 'a new point of view;' materials rush in, 'so that the sad danger seemed inevitable of everything becoming everything.' in mr. max muller's own words, written long ago, _he_ expressed his dread, not of 'everything becoming everything' (a truly heraclitean state of affairs), but of the 'omnipresent sun and the inevitable dawn appearing in ever so many disguises.' 'have we not,' he asks, 'arrived both at the same conclusion?' really, i do not know! had mannhardt quite cashiered 'the corn-spirit,' who, perhaps, had previously threatened to 'become everything'? he is still in great vigour, in mr. frazer's golden bough, and mr. frazer is mannhardt's disciple. but where, all this time, is there a reference by mannhardt to 'the general principles of comparative philology'? where does he accept 'the omnipresent sun and the inevitable dawn'? why, he says the reverse; he says in this letter that he is immeasurably removed from accepting them at all as mr. max muller accepts them! 'i am very far from looking upon all myths as psychical reflections of physical phenomena, still less as of exclusively solar or meteorological phenomena, like kuhn, schwartz, max muller and their school.' what a queer way of expressing his agreement with mr. max muller! the professor expostulates with mannhardt (1. xx.):--'where has any one of us ever done this?' well, when mannhardt said '_all_ myths,' he wrote colloquially. shall we say that he meant 'most myths,' 'a good many myths,' 'a myth or two here and there'? whatever he meant, he meant that he was 'still more than very far removed from looking upon all myths' as mr. max muller does. mannhardt's next passage i quote entire and textually from mr. max muller's translation:- 'i have learnt to appreciate poetical and literary production as an essential element in the development of mythology, and to draw and utilise the consequences arising from this state of things. [who has not?] but, on the other hand, i hold it as quite certain that a portion of the older myths arose from nature poetry which is no longer directly intelligible to us, but has to be interpreted by means of analogies. nor does it follow that these myths betray any historical identity; they only testify to the same kind of conception and tendency prevailing on similar stages of development. of these nature myths some have reference to the life and the circumstances of the sun, and our first steps towards an understanding of them are helped on by such nature poetry as the lettish, which has not yet been obscured by artistic and poetical reflexion. in that poetry mythical personalities confessedly belonging to a solar sphere are transferred to a large number of poetical representatives, of which the explanation must consequently be found in the same (solar) sphere of nature. my method here is just the same as that applied by me to the tree-cult.' mr. max muller asks, 'where is there any difference between this, the latest and final system adopted by mannhardt, and my own system which i put forward in 1856?' (1. xxi.) how mannhardt differs from mr. max muller i propose to show wherein the difference lies. mannhardt says, 'my method is just the same as that applied by me to the tree-cult.' what was _that_ method? mannhardt, in the letter quoted by mr. max muller, goes on to describe it; but mr. max muller omits the description, probably not realising its importance. for mannhardt's method is the reverse of that practised under the old colours to which he is said to have returned. mannhardt's method 'my method is here the same as in the tree-cult. i start from a given collection of facts, of which the central idea is distinct and generally admitted, and consequently offers a firm basis for explanation. i illustrate from this and from well-founded analogies. continuing from these, i seek to elucidate darker things. i search out the simplest radical ideas and perceptions, the germ-cells from whose combined growth mythical tales form themselves in very different ways.' mr. frazer gives us a similar description of mannhardt's method, whether dealing with sun myths or tree myths. {46} 'mannhardt set himself systematically to collect, compare, and explain the living superstitions of the peasantry.' now mr. max muller has just confessed, as a reason for incompetence to criticise mannhardt's labours, 'my want of knowledge of the materials with which he dealt--the popular customs and traditions of germany.' and yet he asks where there is any difference between his system and mannhardt's. mannhardt's is the study of rural survival, the system of folklore. mr. max muller's is the system of comparative philology about which in this place mannhardt does not say one single word. mannhardt interprets some myths 'arising from nature poetry, no longer intelligible to us,' by _analogies_; mr. max muller interprets them by _etymologies_. the difference is incalculable; not that mannhardt always abstains from etymologising. another claim on mannhardt while maintaining that 'all comparative mythology must rest on comparison of names as its most certain basis' (a system which mannhardt declares explicitly to be so far 'a failure'), mr. max muller says, 'it is well known that in his last, nay posthumous essay, mannhardt, no mean authority, returned to the same conviction.' i do not know which is mannhardt's very last essay, but i shall prove that in the posthumous essays mannhardt threw cold water on the whole method of philological comparative mythology. however, as proof of mannhardt's return to mr. max muller's convictions, our author cites mythologische forschungen (pp. 86-113). what mannhardt said in the passages here produced as proof of mannhardt's conversion, he is not investigating a myth at all, or a name which occurs in mythology. he is trying to discover the meaning of the practices of the lupercalia at rome. in february, says dionysius of halicarnassus, the romans held a popular festival, and lads ran round naked, save for skins of victims, whipping the spectators. mannhardt, in his usual way, collects all the facts first, and then analyses the name luperci. this does not make him a philological mythologist. to take a case in point, at selkirk and queensferry the bounds are ridden, or walked, by 'burleymen' or 'burrymen.' {48} after examining the facts we examine the words, and ask, 'why burley or burry men?' at queensferry, by a folk etymology, one of the lads wears a coat stuck over with burrs. but 'borough-men' seems the probable etymology. as we examine the names burley, or burry men, so mannhardt examines the name luperci; and if a true etymology can be discovered, it will illustrate the original intention of the lupercalia (p. 86). he would like to explain the lupercalia as a popular play, representing the spirits of vegetation opposing the spirits of infertility. 'but we do not forget that our whole theory of the development of the rite rests on a hypothesis which the lack of materials prevents us from demonstrating.' he would explain luperci as lupiherci--'wolf-goats.' over this we need not linger; but how does all this prove mannhardt to have returned to the method of comparing greek with vedic divine names, and arriving thence at some celestial phenomenon as the basis of a terrestrial myth? yet he sometimes does this. my relations to mannhardt if anything could touch and move an unawakened anthropologist it would be the conversion of mannhardt. my own relations with his ideas have the interest of illustrating mental coincidences. his name does not occur, i think, in the essay, 'the method of folklore,' in the first edition of my custom and myth. in that essay i take, as an example of the method, the scottish and northumbrian kernababy, the puppet made out of the last gleanings of harvest. this i compared to the greek demeter of the harvest-home, with sheaves and poppies in her hands, in the immortal seventh idyll of theocritus. our kernababy, i said, is a stunted survival of our older 'maiden,' 'a regular image of the harvest goddess,' and i compared [greek]. next i gave the parallel case from ancient peru, and the odd accidental coincidence that _there_ the maize was styled mama cora ([greek]!). in entire ignorance of mannhardt's corn-spirit, or corn-mother, i was following mannhardt's track. indeed, mr. max muller has somewhere remarked that i popularise mannhardt's ideas. naturally he could not guess that the coincidence was accidental and also inevitable. two men, unknown to each other, were using the same method on the same facts. mannhardt's return to his old colours if, then, mannhardt was re-converted, it would be a potent argument for my conversion. but one is reminded of the re-conversion of prince charles. in 1750 he 'deserted the errors of the church of rome for those of the church of england.' later he returned, or affected to return, to the ancient faith. a certain cardinal seemed contented therewith, and, as the historian remarks, 'was clearly a man not difficult to please.' mr. max muller reminds me of the good cardinal. i do not feel so satisfied as he does of mannhardt's re-conversion. mannhardt's attitude to philology we have heard mannhardt, in a letter partly cited by mr. max muller, describe his own method. he begins with what is certain and intelligible, a mass of popular customs. these he explains by analogies. he passes from the known to the obscure. philological mythologists begin with the unknown, the name of a god. this they analyse, extract a meaning, and (proceeding to the known) fit the facts of the god's legend into the sense of his name. the methods are each other's opposites, yet the letter in which mannhardt illustrates this fact is cited as a proof of his return to his old colours. irritating conduct of mannhardt nothing irritates philological mythologists so much, nothing has injured them so much in the esteem of the public which 'goes into these things a little,' as the statement that their competing etymologies and discrepant interpretations of mythical names are mutually destructive. i have been told that this is 'a mean argument.' but if one chemical analyst found bismuth where another found iridium, and a third found argon, the public would begin to look on chemistry without enthusiasm; still more so if one chemist rarely found anything but inevitable bismuth or omnipresent iridium. now mannhardt uses this 'mean argument.' mannhardt on demeter erinnys in a posthumous work, mythologische forschungen (1884), the work from which mr. max muller cites the letter to mullenhoff, mannhardt discusses demeter erinnys. she is the arcadian goddess, who, in the form of a mare, became mother of despoina and the horse arion, by poseidon. {51a} her anger at the unhandsome behaviour of poseidon caused demeter to be called erinnys--'to be angry' being [greek] in arcadian--a folk-etymology, clearly. mannhardt first dives deep into the sources for this fable. {51b} arion, he decides, is no mythological personification, but a poetical ideal (bezeichnung) of the war-horse. legend is ransacked for proof of this. poseidon is the lord of wind and wave. now, there are waves of corn, under the wind, as well as waves of the sea. when the suabian rustic sees the wave running over the corn, he says, da lauft das pferd, and greeks before homer would say, in face of the billowing corn, [greek], there run horses! and homer himself {51c} says that the horses of erichthonius, children of boreas, ran over cornfield and sea. we ourselves speak of sea-waves as 'white horses.' so, to be brief, mannhardt explains the myth of demeter erinnys becoming, as a mare, a mother by poseidon as a horse, thus, 'poseidon hippies, or poseidon in horse's form, rushes through the growing grain and weds demeter,' and he cites peasant proverbs, such as das korn heirathet; das korn feiert hochzeit (p. 264). 'this is the germ of the arcadian saga.' 'the arcadian myth of demeter erinnys is undeniably a blending of the epic tradition [of the ideal war-horse] with the local cult of demeter. . . . it is a probable hypothesis that the belief in the wedding of demeter and poseidon comes from the sight of the waves passing over the cornfield. . . .' {52} it is very neat! but a certain myth of loki in horse-form comes into memory, and makes me wonder how mannhardt would have dealt with that too liberal narrative. loki, as a mare (he being a male god), became, by the horse of a giant, the father of sleipnir, odin's eight-footed steed. mr. w. a. craigie supplies this note on loki's analogy with poseidon, as a horse, in the waves of corn:- 'in north jutland, when the vapours are seen going with a wavy motion along the earth in the heat of summer, they say, "loki is sowing oats today," or "loki is driving his goats." 'n.b.--oats in danish are havre, which suggests o.n. hafrar, goats. modern icelandic has hafrar=oats, but the word is not found in the old language.' is loki a corn-spirit? mannhardt's 'mean argument' mannhardt now examines the explanations of demeter erinnys, and her legend, given by preller, e. curtius, o. muller, a. kuhn, w. sonne, max muller, e. burnouf, de gubernatis, schwartz, and h. d. muller. 'here,' he cries, 'is a variegated list of hypotheses!' demeter is storm-cloud sun goddess earth and moon goddess dawn night. poseidon is sea storm god cloud-hidden sun rain god. despoina is rain thunder moon. arion, the horse, is lightning sun thunder-horse. erinnys is storm-cloud red dawn. mannhardt decides, after this exhibition of guesses, that the demeter legends cannot be explained as refractions of any natural phenomena in the heavens (p. 275). he concludes that the myth of demeter erinnys, and the parallel vedic story of saranyu (who also had an amour as a mare), are 'incongruous,' and that neither sheds any light on the other. he protests against the whole tendency to find prototypes of all aryan myths in the veda, and to think that, with a few exceptions, all mythology is a terrestrial reflection of celestial phenomena (p. 280). he then goes into the contending etymologies of demeter, and decides ('for the man was mortal and had been a' philologer) in favour of his own guess, [greek]+[greek]='corn-mother' (p. 294). this essay on demeter was written by mannhardt in the summer of 1877, a year after the letter which is given as evidence that he had 'returned to his old colours.' the essay shows him using the philological string of 'variegated hypotheses' as anything but an argument in favour of the philological method. on the other hand, he warns us against the habit, so common in the philological school, of looking for prototypes of all aryan myths in the veda, and of finding in most myths a reflection on earth of phenomena in the heavens, erinnys being either storm-cloud or dawn, according to the taste and fancy of the inquirer. we also find mannhardt, in 1877, starting from the known--legend and rural survival in phrase and custom--and so advancing to the unknown--the name demeter. the philologists commence with the unknown, the old name, demeter erinnys, explain it to taste, and bring the legend into harmony with their explanation. i cannot say, then, that i share mr. max muller's impression. i do not feel sure that mannhardt did return to his old colours. why mannhardt is thought to have been converted mannhardt's friend, mullenhoff, had an aversion to solar myths. he said: {54} 'i deeply mistrust all these combinations of the new so-called comparative mythology.' mannhardt was preparing to study lithuanian solar myths, based on lithuanian and lettish marriage songs. mullenhoff and scherer seem to have thought this work too solar for their taste. mannhardt therefore replied to their objections in the letter quoted in part by mr. max muller. mannhardt was not the man to neglect or suppress solar myths when he found them, merely because he did not believe that a great many other myths which had been claimed as celestial were solar. like every sensible person, he knew that there are numerous real, obvious, confessed solar myths _not_ derived from a disease of language. these arise from (1) the impulse to account for the doings of the sun by telling a story about him as if he were a person; (2) from the natural poetry of the human mind. {55} what we think they are _not_ shown to arise from is forgetfulness of meanings of old words, which, ex hypothesi, have become proper names. that is the theory of the philological school, and to that theory, to these colours, i see no proof (in the evidence given) that mannhardt had returned. but 'the scalded child dreads cold water,' and mullenhoff apparently dreaded even real solar myths. mr. max muller, on the other hand (if i do not misinterpret him), supposes that mannhardt had returned to the philological method, partly because he was interested in _real_ solar myths and in the natural poetry of illiterate races. mannhardt's final confession mannhardt's last work published in his life days was antike waldund feldkulte (1877). in the preface, dated november 1, 1876 (_after_ the famous letter of may 1876), he explains the growth of his views and criticises his predecessors. after doing justice to kuhn and his comparisons of european with indian myths, he says that, in his opinion, comparative indo-germanic mythology has not yet borne the expected fruits. 'the _assured_ gains shrink into very few divine names, such as dyaus--zeus--tius, parjany--perkunas, bhaga--bug, varuna--uranus, &c.' i wish he had completed the list included in &c. other equations, as sarameya=hermeias, saranyu=demeter erinnys, he fears will not stand close criticism. he dreads that jeux d'esprit (geistvolle spiele des witzes) may once more encroach on science. then, after a lucid statement of mr. max muller's position, he says, 'ich vermag dem von m. muller aufgestellten principe, wenn uberhaupt eine, so doch nur eine sehr beschrankte geltung zuzugestehen.' 'to the principle of max muller i can only assign a very limited value, if any value at all.' {56} 'taken all in all, i consider the greater part of the results hitherto obtained in the field of indo-germanic comparative mythology to be, as yet, a failure, premature or incomplete, my own efforts in german myths (1858) included. that i do not, however, "throw out the babe with the bath," as the proverb goes, my essay on lettish sun myths in bastian-hartmann's ethnological journal will bear witness.' such is mannhardt's conclusion. taken in connection with his still later essay on demeter, it really leaves no room for doubt. there, i think, he does 'throw out the child with the bath,' throw the knife after the handle. i do not suppose that mr. max muller ever did quote mannhardt as one of his supporters, but such a claim, if really made, would obviously give room for criticism. mannhardt on solar myths what the attitude of mannhardt was, in 1877 and later, we have seen. he disbelieves in the philological system of explaining myths by etymological conjectures. he disbelieves in the habit of finding, in myths of terrestrial occurrences, reflections of celestial phenomena. but earlier, in his long essay die lettischen sonnenmythen (in zeitschrift fur ethnologie, 1875), he examines the lettish popular songs about the sun, the sun's daughters, the god-sons, and so forth. here, of course, he is dealing with popular songs explicitly devoted to solar phenomena, in their poetical aspect. in the lettish sun-songs and sun-myths of the peasants we see, he says, a myth-world 'in process of becoming,' in an early state of development, as in the veda (p. 325). but, we may reply, in the veda, myths are already full-grown, or even decadent. already there are unbelievers in the myths. thus we would say, in the veda we have (1) myths of nature, formed in the remote past, and (2) poetical phrases about heavenly phenomena, which resemble the nature-poetry of the letts, but which do not become full-grown myths. the lett songs, also, have not developed into myths, of which (as in the apollo and daphne story, by mr. max muller's hypothesis) _the original meaning is lost_. in the lett songs we have a mass of nature-pictures--the boat and the apples of the sun, the red cloak hung on the oak-tree, and so on; pictures by which it is sought to make elemental phenomena intelligible, by comparison with familiar things. behind the phenomena are, in popular belief, personages--mythical personages--the sun as 'a magnified non-natural man,' or woman; the sun's mother, daughters, and other heavenly people. their conduct is 'motived' in a human way. stories are told about them: the sun kills the moon, who revives. all this is perfectly familiar everywhere. savages, in their fables, account for solar, lunar, and similar elemental processes, on the theory that the heavenly bodies are, and act like, human beings. the eskimo myth of the spots on the moon, marks of ashes thrown by the sun in a lovequarrel, is an excellent example. but in all this there is no 'disease of language.' these are frank nature-myths, 'aetiological,' giving a fabulous reason for facts of nature. mannhardt on marchen. but mannhardt goes farther. he not only recognises, as everyone must do, the sun, as explicitly named, when he plays his part in myth, or popular tale (marchen). he thinks that even when the sun is not named, his presence, and reference to him, and derivation of the incidents in marchen from solar myth, may sometimes be detected with great probability (pp. 326, 327). but he adds, 'not that every marchen contains a reference to nature; that i am far from asserting' (p. 327). now perhaps nobody will deny that some incidents in marchen may have been originally suggested by nature-myths. the all-swallowing and all-disgorging beast, wolf, or ogre, may have been derived from a view of night as the all-swallower. but to disengage natural phenomena, mythically stated, from the human tangle of marchen, to find natural phenomena in such a palimpsest as perrault's courtly and artificial version of a french popular tale, is a delicate and dangerous task. in many stories a girl has three balls--one of silver, one of gold, one of diamond--which she offers, in succession, as bribes. this is a perfectly natural invention. it is perilous to connect these balls, gifts of ascending value, with the solar apple of iron, silver, and gold (p. 103 and note 5). it is perilous, and it is quite unnecessary. some one--gubernatis, i think--has explained the naked sword of aladdin, laid between him and the sultan's daughter in bed, as the silver sickle of the moon. really the sword has an obvious purpose and meaning, and is used as a symbol in proxy-marriages. the blood shed by achilles in his latest victories is elsewhere explained as red clouds round the setting sun, which is conspicuously childish. mannhardt leans, at least, in this direction. 'the two brothers' mannhardt takes the old egyptian tale of 'the two brothers,' bitiou and anepou. this fable, as old, in actual written literature, as moses, is a complex of half the marchen plots and incidents in the world. it opens with the formula of potiphar's wife. the falsely accused brother flies, and secretes his life, or separable soul, in a flower of the mystic vale of acacias. this affair of the separable soul may be studied in mr. hartland's perseus, and it animates, as we shall see, mr. frazer's theory of the origin of totemism. a golden lock of the wicked wife's hair is then borne by the nile to the king's palace in egypt. he will insist on marrying the lady of the lock. here we are in the cinderella formula, en plein, which may be studied, in african and santhal shapes, in miss coxe's valuable cinderella. {60} pharaoh's wise men decide that the owner of the lock of hair is (like egyptian royalty at large) a daughter of the sun-god (p. 239). here is the sun, in all his glory; but here we are dealing with a literary version of the marchen, accommodated to royal tastes and egyptian ideas of royalty by a royal scribe, the courtly perrault of the egyptian roi-soleil. who can say what he introduced?--while we _can_ say that the sun-god is absent in south african and santhal and other variants. the sun may have slipped out here, may have been slipped in there; the faintest glimmer of the historical sense prevents us from dogmatising. wedded to pharaoh, the wicked wife, pursuing her vengeance on bitiou, cuts down his life-tree. anepou, his brother, however, recovers his concealed heart (life), and puts it in water. bitiou revives. he changes himself into the sacred bull, apis--a feature in the story which is practically possible in egypt alone. the bull tells the king his story, but the wicked wife has the bull slain, as by cambyses in herodotus. two of his blood-drops become two persea trees. one of them confesses the fact to the wicked wife. she has them cut down; a chip flies into her mouth, she becomes a mother by the chip, the boy (bitiou) again becomes king, and slays his mother, the wicked wife. in the tree, any tree, acacia or persea, mannhardt wishes to recognise the sun-tree of the lett songs. the red blossoms of the persea tree are a symbol of the sun-tree: of horus. he compares features, not always very closely analogous, in european marchen. for example, a girl hides in a tree, like charles ii. at boscobel. that is not really analogous with bitiou's separable life in the acacia! 'anepou' is like 'anapu,' anubis. the bull is the sun, is osiris--dead in winter. mr. frazer, mannhardt's disciple, protests a grands cris against these identifications when made by others than mannhardt, who says, 'the marchen is an old obscure solar myth' (p. 242). to others the story of bitiou seems an egyptian literary complex, based on a popular set of tales illustrating furens quid femina possit, and illustrating the worldwide theory of the separable life, dragging in formulas from other marchen, and giving to all a thoroughly classical egyptian colouring. {61a} solar myths, we think, have not necessarily anything to make in the matter. the golden fleece mannhardt reasons in much the same way about the golden fleece. this is a peculiarly greek feature, interwoven with the world-wide marchen of the lad, the giant's helpful daughter, her aid in accomplishing feats otherwise impossible, and the pursuit of the pair by the father. i have studied the story--as it occurs in samoa, among red indian tribes, and elsewhere--in 'a far-travelled tale.' {61b} in our late greek versions the quest of the fleece of gold occurs, but in no other variants known to me. there is a lamb (a boy changed into a lamb) in romaic. his fleece is of no interest to anybody. out of his body grows a tree with a golden apple. sun-yarns occur in popular songs. mannhardt (pp. 282, 283) abounds in solar explanations of the fleece of gold, hanging on the oaktree in the dark aeaean forest. idyia, wife of the colchian king, 'is clearly the dawn.' aia is the isle of the sun. helle=surya, a sanskrit sun-goddess; the golden ram off whose back she falls, while her brother keeps his seat, is the sun. her brother, phrixus, may be the daylight. the oak-tree in colchis is the sun-tree of the lettish songs. perseus is a hero of light, born in the dark tower (night) from the shower of gold (sun-rays). 'we can but say "it may be so,"' but who could explain all the complex perseus-saga as a statement about elemental phenomena? or how can the far-travelled tale of the lad and the giant's daughter be interpreted to the same effect, above all in the countless examples where no fleece of gold occurs? the greek tale of jason is made up of several marchen, as is the odyssey, by epic poets. these marchen have no necessary connection with each other; they are tagged on to each other, and localised in greece and on the euxine. {62a} a poetic popular view of the sun may have lent the peculiar, and elsewhere absent, incident of the quest of the fleece of gold on the shores of the black sea. the old epic poets may have borrowed from popular songs like the lettish chants (p. 328). a similar dubious adhesion may be given by us in the case of castor and polydeuces (morning and evening stars?), and helen (dawn), {62b} and the hesperides (p. 234). the germs of the myths _may_ be popular poetical views of elemental phenomena. but to insist on elemental allegories through all the legends of the dioskouroi, and of the trojan war, would be to strain a hypothesis beyond the breaking-point. much, very much, is epic invention, unverkennbar das werk der dichter (p. 328). mannhardt's approach to mr. max muller in this essay on lettish sun-songs (1875) mannhardt comes nearest to mr. max muller. he cites passages from him with approval (cf. pp. 314, 322). his explanations, by aid of sun-songs, of certain features in greek mythology are plausible, and may be correct. but we turn to mannhardt's explicit later statement of his own position in 1877, and to his posthumous essays, published in 1884; and, on the whole, we find, in my opinion, much more difference from than agreement with the oxford professor, whose dawn-daphne and other equations mannhardt dismisses, and to whose general results (in mythology) he assigns a value so restricted. it is a popular delusion that the anthropological mythologists deny the existence of solar myths, or of nature-myths in general. these are extremely common. what we demur to is the explanation of divine and heroic myths at large as solar or elemental, when the original sense has been lost by the ancient narrators, and when the elemental explanation rests on conjectural and conflicting etymologies and interpretations of old proper names--athene, hera, artemis, and the rest. nevertheless, while mannhardt, in his works on tree-cult, and on field and wood cult, and on the 'corn demon,' has wandered far from 'his old colours'--while in his posthumous essays he is even more of a deserter, his essay on lettish sun-myths shows an undeniable tendency to return to mr. max muller's camp. this was what made his friends so anxious. it is probably wisest to form our opinion of his final attitude on his preface to his last book published in his life-time. in that the old colours are not exactly his chosen banner; nor can the flag of the philological school be inscribed tandem triumphans. in brief, mannhardt's return to his old colours (1875-76) seems to have been made in a mood from which he again later passed away. but either modern school of mythology may cite him as an ally in one or other of his phases of opinion. philology and demeter erinnys mr. max muller on demeter erinnys. like mannhardt, our author in his new treatise discusses the strange old arcadian myth of the horse-demeter erinnys (ii. 537). he tells the unseemly tale, and asks why the earth goddess became a mare? then he gives the analogous myth from the rig-veda, {65} which, as it stands, is 'quite unintelligible.' but yaska explains that saranyu, daughter of tvashtri, in the form of a mare, had twins by vivasvat, in the shape of a stallion. their offspring were the asvins, who are more or less analogous in their helpful character to castor and pollux. now, can it be by accident that saranyu in the veda is erinnys in greek? to this 'equation,' as we saw, mannhardt demurred in 1877. who was saranyu? yaska says 'the night;' that was yaska's idea. mr. max muller adds, 'i think he is right,' and that saranyu is 'the grey dawn' (ii. 541). 'but,' the bewildered reader exclaims, 'dawn is one thing and night is quite another.' so yaska himself was intelligent enough to observe, 'night is the wife of aditya; she vanishes at sunrise.' however, night in mr. max muller's system 'has just got to be' dawn, a position proved thus: 'yaska makes this clear by saying that the time of the asvins, sons of saranyu, is after midnight,' but that 'when darkness prevails over light, that is madhyama; when light prevails over darkness, that is aditya,' both being asvins. they (the asvins) are, in fact, darkness and light; and _therefore_, i understand, saranyu, who is night, and not an asvin at all, is dawn! to make this perfectly clear, remember that the husband of saranyu, whom she leaves at sunrise, is--i give you three guesses--is the sun! the sun's wife leaves the sun at sunrise. {66} this is proved, for aditya is vivasvat=the sun, and is the husband of saranyu (ii. 541). these methods of proving night to be dawn, while the substitute for both in the bed of the sun 'may have been meant for the gloaming' (ii. 542), do seem to be geistvolle spiele des witzes, ingenious jeux d'esprit, as mannhardt says, rather than logical arguments. but we still do not know how the horse and mare came in, or why the statue of demeter had a horse's head. 'this seems simply to be due to the fact that, quite apart from this myth, the sun had, in india at least, often been conceived as a horse . . . . and the dawn had been likened to a mare.' but how does this explain the problem? the vedic poets cited (ii. 542) either referred to the myth which we have to explain, or they used a poetical expression, knowing perfectly well what they meant. as long as they knew what they meant, they could not make an unseemly fable out of a poetical phrase. not till after the meaning was forgotten could the myth arise. but the myth existed already in the veda! and the unseemliness is precisely what we have to account for; that is our enigma. once more, demeter is a goddess of earth, not of dawn. how, then, does the explanation of a hypothetical dawn-myth apply to the earth? well, perhaps the story, the unseemly story, was first told of erinnys (who also is 'the inevitable dawn') or of deo, 'and this name of deo, or dyava, was mixed up with a hypokoristic form of demeter, deo, and thus led to the transference of her story to demeter. i know this will sound very unlikely to greek scholars, yet i see no other way out of our difficulties' (ii. 545). phonetic explanations follow. 'to my mind,' says our author, 'there is no chapter in mythology in which we can so clearly read the transition of an auroral myth of the veda into an epic chapter of greece as in the chapter of saranyu (or surama) and the asvins, ending in the chapter of helena and her brothers, the [greek]' (ii. 642). here, as regards the asvins and the dioskouroi, mannhardt may be regarded as mr. max muller's ally; but compare his note, a. f. u. w. k. p. xx. my theory of the horse demeter mannhardt, i think, ought to have tried at an explanation of myths so closely analogous as those two, one indian, one greek, in which a goddess, in the shape of a mare, becomes mother of twins by a god in the form of a stallion. as mr. max muller well says, 'if we look about for analogies we find nothing, as far as i know, corresponding to the wellmarked features of this barbarous myth among any of the uncivilised tribes of the earth. if we did, how we should rejoice! why, then, should we not rejoice when we find the allusion in rig veda?' (x 17, 1). i do rejoice! the 'song of triumph,' as professor tiele says, will be found in m. r. r. ii. 266 (note), where i give the vedic and other references. i even asked why mr. max muller did not produce this proof of the identity of saranyu and demeter erinnys in his selected essays (pp. 401, 492). i cannot explain why this tale was told both of erinnys and of saranyu. granting the certainty of the etymological equation, saranyu=erinnys (which mannhardt doubted), the chances against fortuitous coincidence may be reckoned by algebra, and mr. edgeworth's trillions of trillions feebly express it. two goddesses, indian and greek, have, ex hypothesi, the same name, and both, as mares, are mothers of twins. though the twins (in india the asvins, in greek an ideal war-horse and a girl) differ in character, still the coincidence is evidential. explain it i cannot, and, clearly as the confession may prove my lack of scientific exactness, i make it candidly. if i must offer a guess, it is that greeks, and indians of india, inherited a very ordinary savage idea. the gods in savage myths are usually beasts. as beasts they beget anthropomorphic offspring. this is the regular rule in totemism. in savage myths we are not told 'a god' (apollo, or zeus, or poseidon) 'put on beast shape and begat human sons and daughters' (helen, the telmisseis, and so on). the god in savage myths was a beast already, though he could, of course, shift shapes like any 'medicine-man,' or modern witch who becomes a hare. this is not the exception but the rule in savage mythology. anyone can consult my myth, ritual, and religion, or mr. frazer's work totemism, for abundance of evidence. to loki, a male god, prosecuting his amours as a female horse, i have already alluded, and in m. r. r. give cases from the satapatha brahmana. the saranyu-erinnys myth dates, i presume, from this savage state of fancy; but why the story occurred both in greece and india, i protest that i cannot pretend to explain, except on the hypothesis that the ancestors of greek and vedic peoples once dwelt together, had a common stock of savage fables, and a common or kindred language. after their dispersion, the fables admitted discrepancies, as stories in oral circulation occasionally do. this is the only conjecture which i feel justified in suggesting to account for the resemblances and incongruities between the myths of the mare demeter-erinnys and the mare saranyu. totemism totemism to the strange and widely diffused institution of 'totemism' our author often returns. i shall deal here with his collected remarks on the theme, the more gladly as the treatment shows how very far mr. max muller is from acting with a shadow of unfairness when he does not refer to special passages in his opponent's books. he treats himself and his own earlier works in the same fashion, thereby, perhaps, weakening his argument, but also demonstrating his candour, were any such demonstration required. on totems he opens (i. 7)-'when we come to special cases we must not imagine that much can be gained by using such general terms as animism, totemism, fetishism, &c., as solvents of mythological problems. to my mind, all such general terms, not excluding even darwinism or puseyism, seem most objectionable, because they encourage vague thought, vague praise, or vague blame. 'it is, for instance, quite possible to place all worship of animal gods, all avoidance of certain kinds of animal food, all adoption of animal names as the names of men and families, under the wide and capacious cover of totemism. all theriolatry would thus be traced back to totemism. i am not aware, however, that any egyptologists have adopted such a view to account for the animal forms of the egyptian gods. sanskrit scholars would certainly hesitate before seeing in indra a totem because he is called vrishabha, or bull, or before attempting to explain on this ground the abstaining from beef on the part of orthodox hindus [i. 7].' totemism defined i think i have defined totemism, {71} and the reader may consult mr. frazer's work on the subject, or mr. maclennan's essays, or 'totemism' in the encyclopaedia britannica. however, i shall define totemism once more. it is a state of society and cult, found most fully developed in australia and north america, in which sets of persons, believing themselves to be akin by blood, call each such set by the name of some plant, beast, or other class of objects in nature. one kin may be wolves, another bears, another cranes, and so on. each kin derives its kin-name from its beast, plant, or what not; pays to it more or less respect, usually abstains from killing, eating, or using it (except in occasional sacrifices); is apt to claim descent from or relationship with it, and sometimes uses its effigy on memorial pillars, carved pillars outside huts, tattooed on the skin, and perhaps in other ways not known to me. in australia and north america, where rules are strict, a man may not marry a woman of his own totem; and kinship is counted through mothers in many, but not in all, cases. where all these notes are combined we have totemism. it is plain that two or three notes of it may survive where the others have perished; may survive in ritual and sacrifice, {72a} and in bestial or semi-bestial gods of certain nomes, or districts, in ancient egypt; {72b} in pictish names; {72c} in claims of descent from beasts, or gods in the shape of beasts; in the animals sacred to gods, as apollo or artemis, and so on. such survivals are possible enough in evolution, but the evidence needs careful examination. animal attributes and symbols and names in religion are not necessarily totemistic. mr. max muller asks if 'any egyptologists have adopted' the totem theory. he is apparently oblivious of professor sayce's reference to a prehistoric age, 'when the religious creed of egypt was still totemism.' dr. codrington is next cited for the apparent absence of totemism in the solomon islands and polynesia, and professor oldenberg as denying that 'animal names of persons and clans [necessarily?] imply totemism.' who says that they do? 'clan chattan,' with its cat crest, may be based, not on a totem, but on a popular etymology. animal names of _individuals_ have nothing to do with totems. a man has no business to write on totemism if he does not know these facts. what a totem is though our adversary now abandons totems, he returns to them elsewhere (i. 198-202). 'totem is the corruption of a term used by north american indians in the sense of clan-mark or sign-board ("ododam").' the totem was originally a rude emblem of an animal or other object 'placed by north american indians in front of their settlements.' the evidence for sign-boards our author's evidence for sign-boards is from an ottawa indian, and is published from his ms. by mr. hoskyns abrahall. {73} the testimony is of the greatest merit, for it appears to have first s