{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_50569/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_50569","id":"gutenberg_50569","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/50569","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Mythology, Greek","Mythology, Roman"],"text":"Transcriber's Note\n\nThe pronunciation guide at the end of the book includes some\ncharacters with macrons above (\u0101, \u0113, \u012b, \u014d, \u016b) and some with breves\nabove (\u0103, \u0115). If these do not display correctly, you may wish to\nchange your font or file encoding settings.\n\n\n\n\n                  HERAKLES\n\n             THE HERO OF THEBES\n\n        AND OTHER HEROES OF THE MYTH\n\n\n     Adapted from the Second Book of the\n      Primary Schools of Athens, Greece\n\n\n                     BY\n\n                MARY E. BURT\n\n  _Author of \"Literary Landmarks,\" \"Stories\n  from Plato,\" \"Story of the German Iliad,\"\n  \"The Child-Life Reading Study\"; Editor of\n  \"The Cable Story Book,\" \"The Eugene Field\n   Book\"; Teacher in the John A. Browning\n           School, New York City_\n\n                     AND\n\n             ZENA\u00cfDE A. RAGOZIN\n\n   _Author of \"The Story of Chaldea,\" \"The\n   Story of Assyria,\" Etc.; Member of the\n   Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain\n    and Ireland, of the American Oriental\n   Society, of the Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 Ethnologique of\n                Paris, etc._\n\n\n                  NEW YORK\n           CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS\n                    1900\n\n\n\n\n             Copyright, 1900, by\n           CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS\n\n\n               TROW DIRECTORY\n      PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING COMPANY\n                  NEW YORK\n\n\n\n\nSCRIBNER'S SERIES OF SCHOOL READING.\n\n\nIn Uniform Binding; each 12mo, _net_, 60 Cents.\n\n  Lobo, Rag and Vixen. From \"Wild Animals I Have Known.\" By Ernest\n    Seton-Thompson. Illustrated.\n\n  The Howells Story Book. Edited by Mary E. Burt and Mildred\n    Howells. Illustrated.\n\n  The Cable Story Book. Selections for School Reading, with the\n    Story of the Author's Life. Edited by Mary E. Burt and Lucy\n    Leffingwell Cable. Illustrated.\n\n  The Eugene Field Book. Verses, Stories, and Letters for School\n    Reading. Edited by Mary E. Burt and Mary B. Cable. Introduction\n    by George W. Cable. Illustrated.\n\n  Fanciful Tales. By Frank R. Stockton. Edited by Julia E.\n    Langworthy. Introduction by Mary E. Burt.\n\n  The Hoosier School-Boy. By Edward Eggleston. Illustrated.\n\n  Children's Stories in American Literature, 1660-1860. By\n    Henrietta C. Wright.\n\n  Children's Stories in American Literature, 1860-1896. By\n    Henrietta C. Wright.\n\n  Odysseus, the Hero of Ithaca. By Mary E. Burt. A Translation of\n    the Story of Odysseus as used in the Schools of Athens and\n    Berlin. Fully Illustrated.\n\n  Poems of American Patriotism. Chosen by Brander Matthews. 285\n    pages.\n\n  Twelve Naval Captains. By Molly Elliot Seawell. 233 pages.\n    Illustrated.\n\n  Herakles, the Hero of Thebes. By Mary E. Burt. A Translation of\n    the Story of Herakles and other Greek Heroes, as used in the\n    Schools of Athens. Illustrated.\n\n\n\n\n  [Illustration: HERAKLES SLAYING A CENTAUR.\n      (Giovanni Bologna.)]\n\n\n\n\n               To\n\n              SEVEN\n\n         LITTLE GENTLEMEN\n\n      WILLIE            MACY\n\n    REGGIE             CHARLES\n\n       LOUIS         OLIVER\n\n            GRISWOLD\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\n\nThe child's heart goes out to the man of action, the man who makes\nshort work of things and gets directly at a result. He responds to\nlife, to energy, quick wit, the blow that hits the nail on the head at\nthe first stroke.\n\nThe rapidity of action in the stories of Herakles, Jason, and other\nHeroes of the Myth, the prowess and courage and untiring endurance of\nthe men, render the characters worthy subjects of thought to young\nminds, and have secured the stories a permanent place in educational\nliterature. It is not elegant literature alone that boys need, but\ninspiring ideals which will impel them to stand fearlessly to their\nguns, to do the hard thing with untiring perseverance, to reach the\nresult with unerring insight.\n\nIt is exactly this unbending courage in Herakles and his comrade\nheroes, that has made them the backbone of literature for ages,\nholding their own in spite of the sapless literary fungus crowding our\nbook-shelves.\n\nWhile travelling in Greece I found the children of the primary schools\nreading these stories in the lower grades, the book being the one used\nnext above the primer. The interest was enthusiastic, and I brought\nhome a copy of the book, which, with Madame Ragozin's collaboration, I\nhave arranged as a first or second book of reading for our own\nschools.\n\n                                               Mary E. Burt.\n\nThe John A. Browning School, New York, March 15, 1900.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n                                                                  PAGE\n   Introduction                                                     xi\n\n   CHAPTER\n        I. The Babe Herakles                                         1\n\n       II. Herakles is Doomed to Serve Eurystheus                    4\n\n      III. The First Labor--The Nemean Lion                          6\n\n       IV. The Second Labor--Herakles Kills the Water-Snake of\n             Lake Lerna                                              9\n\n        V. The Third Labor--The Golden-Horned Hind                  12\n\n       VI. The Fourth Labor--The Erymanthian Boar                   15\n\n      VII. The Fifth Labor--Herakles Cleans the Augeian Stables     19\n\n     VIII. The Sixth Labor--The Birds of Stymphalos                 22\n\n       IX. The Seventh Labor--Herakles Catches the Mad Bull\n             of Crete                                               24\n\n        X. The Eighth Labor--The Horses of Diomedes                 25\n\n       XI. The Ninth Labor--The Girdle of Hippolyte                 27\n\n      XII. The Tenth Labor--The Cattle of Geryon                    30\n\n     XIII. The Eleventh Labor--The Golden Apples of Hesperides      35\n\n      XIV. The Twelfth Labor--Herakles Fetches Cerberus Out\n             of Hades                                               40\n\n       XV. Theseus, the Hero of Athens                              43\n\n      XVI. The First Exploits of Theseus. He Finds His Father       47\n\n     XVII. The Adventures of Theseus                                51\n\n    XVIII. The Adventures of Theseus                                56\n\n      XIX. Jason, the Hero of Thessaly                              60\n\n       XX. Jason Claims His Throne                                  63\n\n      XXI. The Expedition                                           69\n\n     XXII. Jason Finds the Golden Fleece                            74\n\n    XXIII. Orpheus, the Hero of the Lyre                            78\n\n     XXIV. Pelops, the Hero of the Peloponnesos                     83\n\n      XXV. Perseus, the Hero of Argos                               87\n\n     XXVI. Perseus Finds the Gorgons                                92\n\n    XXVII. Perseus Rescues Andromeda                                95\n\n   XXVIII. Perseus Becomes King of Tiryns                          100\n\n     XXIX. Triptolemos, the Hero of Eleusis, and Demeter,\n             the Earth-Mother                                      103\n\n      XXX. Demeter's Grief                                         106\n\n     XXXI. Demeter's Joy                                           111\n\n    XXXII. Triptolemos Becomes a Hero. Demeter's Gift              116\n\n   XXXIII. Prometheus, the Champion of Mankind                     118\n\n    XXXIV. Prometheus Unbound                                      122\n\n     XXXV. Deukalion, the Champion of a New Race                   126\n\n    XXXVI. D\u00e6dalos, a Hero of Invention                            132\n\n   XXXVII. Phaethon, a Hero of Bad Fortune                         136\n\n  XXXVIII. The Death of Phaethon                                   141\n\n\n\n\nLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\n  Herakles Slaying a Centaur                            _Frontispiece_\n\n                                                           FACING PAGE\n  The Priestess of Apollo at Delphi                                  6\n\n  The Temple to Theseus at the Foot of the Acropolis\n    in Athens                                                       60\n\n  Orpheus Leading Eurydike Out of Hades                             80\n\n  The Return of Persephone                                         114\n\n  D\u00e6dalos and Ikaros                                               134\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\nTHE LAND OF THE HEROES\n\n\nOne look at the map of Greece will show us that it is the smallest of\nEuropean countries. For many hundreds of years it was inhabited by the\nhandsomest, bravest, and most intelligent people in the world. But\nthese people, the Greeks, or Hellenes, as they called themselves, had\nnot always lived in the country.\n\nThousands of years before the Hellenes came to Greece it was a perfect\nwilderness of mountains, narrow valleys, torrents, and tangled\nforests. It was a land of wild beasts, and they were so numerous and\nfierce that there was almost no room for men.\n\nYet men did live there, but we know nothing about them or what they\nwere like, except that they hid in caves and had hardly got beyond the\nart of making fire, trapping and killing the less dangerous animals\nwith sticks or little arrows pointed with stones, and using their meat\nfor food and hides for clothing.\n\nThen the new people, the Greeks, began to come into the country. They\ncame in boats from across the sea and on foot from the north, through\nnumberless mountain-passes. They did not come all at once, but in\nsmall detachments, in single tribes, so that it took them many years\nto spread over the country.\n\nThe new race was nobler than the old, more advanced in knowledge and\nin the arts of civilized life. It was not a race to be content with\ncaves and forest-dens, but each tribe, after it had chosen a district\nand taken possession of it, selected some high hill, built rude\ndwellings upon it and temples to its patron gods, a public\ntreasure-house also, and enclosed the hill with strong walls. It had\nbecome a fortress, and was called Acropolis, in their language.\n\nEach tribe, of course, had its leaders, usually belonging to some\nfamily which had earned the gratitude and loyalty of the people by\nbrave and affectionate service, and the leadership descended from\nfather to son. These were the kings and they resided within the\nAcropolis.\n\nAround it and under the protection of its walls the people built their\nown huts and began to clear the land. They sowed various crops,\nplanted the vine and the olive, and raised herds of sheep and goats.\nThere was room enough within the walls for all the families, with\ntheir herds, to find shelter in the Acropolis in times of danger, from\nthe attacks of the wild natives or of the still wilder beasts of the\nforests and fields.\n\nNow these latter were by far the most dangerous enemies of the new\nsettlers, who soon found that they could venture but a few miles from\ntheir small home-farms without encountering huge and ferocious animals\nwhich the increased herds attracted and which their miserable weapons\nwere utterly insufficient to slay or even put to flight.\n\nEach small district had its particular terror, just as many districts\nof India now have a man-eating tiger, which makes miles and miles of\ncountry around unsafe for man or beast.\n\nIt became a question which of the two, the men or the wild animals,\nwould remain in possession. Then young and courageous men, sons of the\nruling families, athletes in strength, practised in the arts of war,\ncommanding through their greater wealth the use of better weapons,\nfelt it their duty to their people to do for them what the poor\nherdsmen and laborers had neither the strength nor the skill to do for\nthemselves.\n\nFrom all the central royal cities they started singly or in small\ntroops, a bevy of young heroes, as eager for the delights of adventure\nas for the public good. Year after year they wandered across country\nseeking the most impassable wildernesses, directed by the stories they\nheard on their way to the dens of the cruel monsters, which they\nusually overcame by force or cunning.\n\nThen they would return to their homes triumphant, bearing the proof of\ntheir incredible prowess, the hides, or horns, or heads of the\nmonsters they had slain. Thus they put new heart into their people.\nTheir trophies seemed to say: \"You see these creatures were not so\nterrible as they might have been; what we have done others can do.\" So\nthey did a double good--one immediate by the destruction of the\ndreaded foes and by the opening of the land to the planters and the\ntillers; the other even more far-reaching and more beneficent in its\nresults by raising men's spirits, inspiring them with confidence and\nwith the ambition to show that they were not mere helpless boors,\ncowed and dependent on their betters.\n\nThe Greek nation in years to come proved itself a nation of heroes and\nwas so called by fame. But who can tell how much these heroes were\nindebted for this honorable distinction which has remained by them to\nthis day, to the early vigorous education which those doughty\nchampions of old imparted to them, not by preaching or advice, but by\ntheir own dauntless example.\n\nCan we wonder if their people's passionate gratitude and unselfish\nadmiration survived those glorious men through ages? Can we wonder if\nafter centuries had come and gone the memory of their deeds and\npersons appeared to later generations through a halo of wonder and\nawe?\n\nDeeds of a remote past always assume gigantic proportions. \"Surely,\"\nmen would say, \"surely, those heroes were more than ordinary mortals!\nThey had more than human strength, endurance, wisdom. Neither iron\nfang nor claw of steel could harm them. They died, indeed, but of\ntheir nature they must have been half divine; their mothers were\nhuman, but surely the gods themselves were their fathers.\"\n\nAnd thus it was settled, and for many, many hundreds of years the\nGreeks continued to honor their ancient heroes as half-divine men, or\ndemi-gods, and to erect altars to them and come to them with prayers\nand offerings. The Greek had to grow in mind and soul high enough to\ngrasp the truth that there can be only one God, and that no man, high\nas he may tower above his kind, can be more than human.\n\nBut it was a beautiful and ennobling belief, and at first sight it\nseems a pity that it was ever lost, yet in reality it was a great\ngain, for men may think they have an excuse for not putting forth\ntheir bravest efforts if they believe that the gods only can achieve\ndeeds of courage. There is no reason why men may not aspire to any\nheight of bravery which has been gained by other men.\n\nThe undying energy embodied in the characters of these old heroes is\nthe inheritance of every child. The children of America are not born\nthe sons of ruling houses. But they are destined to be the guardians\nand rulers of their native land. And if the children take into their\nfuture lives the heroism they first realize in ancient story, they\nwill find themselves, when the time comes, armed with the same\ncourage, endurance, and love of human beings which have made the\nheroes of all lands and ages.\n\n\n\n\nHERAKLES\n\nAND OTHER HEROES OF THE MYTH\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I\n\nTHE BABE HERAKLES\n\n\nFar away in the land of Argos there once lived a beautiful maiden, the\ndaughter of a brave king. She was tall and fair and her name was\nAlkmene. Her father was rich in the possession of many oxen.\n\nHer husband also owned great herds of oxen. He had so many that he\ncould not tell them from those of the king. So he quarrelled with the\nking and slew him. Then he took Alkmene and fled from his native land.\nThey came to Thebes and made it their home.\n\nHere Herakles was born, the babe who was stronger than the strongest\nof men. The goddess, Hera, hated Herakles. She was the wife of Zeus,\nthe Lord of Thunder and King of Heaven. Hera was angry because Zeus\nloved him, and she was jealous because Zeus had foretold that\nHerakles would become the greatest of men. More than that Zeus had\ndeceived Hera and sent the infant Herakles to her to be nursed that he\nmight be made strong and god-like by tasting divine milk.\n\nSo Hera sent two large snakes to devour the babe when she found out\nwhat child it was that she had fed. Herakles lay asleep in the great\nbrazen shield which his father carried in battle, for he had no other\ncradle. The fearful serpents crept up with open mouths into the shield\nwith the sleeping babe.\n\nAs soon as Alkmene saw them she was terribly frightened and called in\na loud voice for help. His father, hearing the outcry of Alkmene, ran\ninto the house with his sword drawn and a great many warriors came\nwith weapons in their hands.\n\nHerakles was only eight months old, but before his father could reach\nhim he sat up in his bed and seized the serpents by their necks with\nhis little hands. He squeezed and choked them with such force that\nthey died.\n\nWhen Alkmene saw that the two snakes were dead and that Herakles was\nsafe, she rejoiced greatly. But Hera's heart was filled with wrath and\nshe began to plan more mischief against the child.\n\nHerakles had his free will as long as he was a boy. His teachers were\ncelebrated heroes who taught him boxing, wrestling, riding, and all\nkinds of games. He learned to read and write and to hurl the spear and\nshoot with bows and arrows. Linos taught him music.\n\nHerakles had a violent temper, and one day as Linos was teaching him\nto play the lute, the good teacher had reason to punish him. Herakles\nflew into a rage at this and struck Linos and killed him. Then his\nfather sent him to the hills and left him to the care of herdsmen.\n\nThe boy grew to be very large and strong. While he was yet a youth he\nslew a lion of great size that had killed many of his father's cattle.\nHe went home wearing the lion's skin as a sign of his victory.\n\nBecause he was so brave the King of Thebes gave his daughter to him in\nmarriage and he lived happily with her for many years. But a sudden\ninsanity came upon him during which he mistook his wife and children\nfor wild beasts and shot them down with his bow and arrows. When\nHerakles recovered from his insanity and saw what he had done his\ngrief was boundless.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II\n\nHERAKLES IS DOOMED TO SERVE EURYSTHEUS\n\n\nThe wrath of Hera followed Herakles. When Zeus saw that Hera's heart\nwas filled with anger toward Herakles, he mused within his own mind\nhow he might best appease her resentment and protect the young man.\n\nSo he called the gods together in council and they advised that\nHerakles be placed in bondage to his uncle Eurystheus, to serve him as\na slave, and they ordained that he should perform twelve hard tasks,\nafter which he would be numbered among the gods.\n\nEurystheus was a mean fellow, stupid and cowardly. He was glad enough\nto have a chance to bully a man wiser and stronger than himself. He\nwas born in Tiryns, a great fortress with many castles, built upon a\nlarge rock, but he had been made King of Argos and lived in the\ncapital, Myken\u00e6, and he resolved to keep Herakles as far away from the\nkingdom as possible, for in his heart he was afraid of him.\n\nHerakles was grieved at being compelled to serve a man so much below\nhim in strength and character, so he consulted the oracle at Delphi\nto see if there was any escape, but he did not murmur, for he was\nwilling to obey the law of the gods.\n\nThe oracle of Delphi was a mysterious influence, a divine spirit which\nexpressed itself through a priestess living in a sacred temple. It was\nsupposed to be the voice of the god Apollo using this human agency for\nmaking known his will to men. The priestess became inspired to utter\nApollo's holy laws by sitting on a golden tripod (or stool with three\nlegs) over a chasm in the rock, from whence arose a sacred, sulphurous\nvapor which she breathed in as the breath of the god, and which caused\nher to breathe out his commands in wonderful sayings.\n\nThe chasm from which the vapor issued was called The Chasm of the\nOracle, and was in a large apartment or room in the temple. This\ncelebrated temple had many columns of marble and splendid rooms made\nbeautiful with thousands of marble statues. It stood on the side of\nMount Parnassos, whose snow-covered head reaches into the clouds and\nlooks down into the blue Gulf of Corinth below it to the south.\n\nIt was here that Apollo killed the great dragon, Pytho, which had been\nthe scourge of the land for many years, and the grateful people built\nthe temple in his honor. The oracle bade Herakles go forth to be the\nslave of Eurystheus and so atone for all his sins, but it gave him as\na compensation a dear friend, Iolaos, who was also his young nephew.\nWherever Herakles went Iolaos went with him and helped him.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III\n\nTHE FIRST LABOR--THE NEMEAN LION\n\n\nIt happened that a fearful lion lived in Nemea, a wild district in\nupper Argolis, and it devastated all the land and was the terror of\nthe inhabitants. Eurystheus ordered Herakles to bring him the skin of\nthis lion. So Herakles took his bow, his quiver, and heavy club and\nstarted out in search of the beast.\n\nWhen he had reached a little town which is in the neighborhood of\nNemea he was kindly received by a good countryman, who promised to put\nhim on the track of the lion if he would sacrifice the animal to Zeus.\n\n  [Illustration: THE PRIESTESS OF APOLLO AT DELPHI.\n      (Michael Angelo.)]\n\nHerakles promised, and the countryman went with him to show him the\nway. When they reached the place where traces of the lion were\nseen, Herakles said to his guide: \"Remain here thirty days. If I\nreturn safely from the lion-hunt you must sacrifice a sheep to Zeus,\nfor he is the god who will have saved me. But if I am slain by the\nlion you must sacrifice the sheep to me, for after my death I shall be\nhonored as a hero.\" Having said this, Herakles went his way.\n\nHe reached the wilderness of Nemea, where he spent several days in\nlooking for the lion, but without success. Not a trace of him could be\nfound, nor did he fall in with any human being, for there was no one\nbold enough to wander around in that wilderness. Finally he spied the\nlion as he was about to crawl into his den.\n\nThe lion was indeed worthy of his terrible fame. His size was\nprodigious, his eyes shot forth flames of fire, and his tongue licked\nhis bloody chops. When he roared, the whole desert resounded.\n\nBut Herakles stood fearlessly near a grove from whence he might\napproach the lion, and suddenly shot at him with his bow and arrow,\nhitting him squarely in the breast. The arrow glanced aside, and\nslipping around the lion's neck, fell on a rock behind him. When\nHerakles saw this he knew that the lion was proof against arrows and\nmust be killed in some other way, and seizing his club, he gave chase\nto him.\n\nThe lion made for a cave which had two mouths. Herakles closed up one\nof the entrances with heavy rocks and entered the other. He seized the\nlion by the throat and then came a terrible struggle, but Herakles\nsqueezed him in his mighty arms until he gasped for breath, and at\nlast lay dead.\n\nThen Herakles took up the huge body and, throwing it easily over his\nshoulder, returned to the place where he had left the countryman. It\nwas on the last of the thirty appointed days, and the rustic,\nsupposing that Herakles had come to his death through the lion, was\nabout to offer up a sheep as a sacrifice in his honor.\n\nHe rejoiced greatly when he saw Herakles alive and victorious, and the\nsheep was offered up to Zeus. Herakles left the little town and went\nto Myken\u00e6 to the house of his uncle and showed him the dead body of\nthe terrible lion. Eurystheus was so greatly frightened at the sight\nthat he hid himself within a tower whose walls were built of solid\nbrass.\n\nAnd he ordered Herakles not to enter the city again, but to stay\noutside of its gates until he had performed the other labors.\n\nHerakles stripped the skin from the lion with his fingers, although\nit was so tough, and knowing it to be arrow-proof, took it for a cloak\nand wore it as long as he lived.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV\n\nTHE SECOND LABOR--HERAKLES KILLS THE WATER-SNAKE OF LAKE LERNA\n\n\nNot far from Myken\u00e6 is a small lake called Lerna. It is formed from a\nlarge spring at the foot of a hill. In this lake there lived a\nwater-snake called the Hydra. It was a snake of uncommon size, with\nnine heads. Eight of the heads were mortal, but the one in the middle\nwas immortal.\n\nThe Hydra frequently came out of the water and swallowed up herds of\ncattle, laying waste the surrounding country. Eurystheus ordered\nHerakles to kill the snake, so he put on his lion's skin, and taking\nhis club, started out. He mounted his chariot and took his faithful\nfriend Iolaos, who acted as charioteer.\n\nEvery warrior had to have a charioteer to drive the horses, leaving\nhim free to use both of his hands. But driving was by no means the\ncharioteer's only duty; he had also to look out for danger and\nprotect the warrior with his shield as well as to supply him with\narrows from the quiver suspended at the side of every chariot, and\nwith reserve spears when his own was broken in the fray.\n\nIt is clear, therefore, that the warrior's life was entirely in the\nhands of his charioteer, so it is no wonder that only the hero's\ndearest and most trusted friends were allowed to serve him in this\nway.\n\nAfter driving along for a while through groves of olive-trees and past\npleasant vineyards, they came to wild places and saw Lake Lerna\ngleaming through the trees. Having reached the lake, Herakles\ndescended from the chariot, left the horses in care of Iolaos, and\nwent to hunt for the snake.\n\nHe found it in a swampy place where it was hiding. Herakles shot some\nburning arrows at the Hydra and forced it to come out. It darted\nfuriously at him, but he met it fearlessly, put his foot upon its\ntail, and with his club began to strike off its heads. He could not\naccomplish anything in this way, for as fast as he knocked off one\nhead two others grew in its place.\n\nThe snake coiled itself so firmly around one of Herakles' legs that he\nwas no longer able to stir from the place. Added to all this there\ncame a huge crab to the assistance of the snake. It crept up to\nHerakles' foot, and seizing it with its sharp claws, inflicted painful\nwounds. Herakles killed the crab with his club and called Iolaos to\nhelp him.\n\nUnder Herakles' directions Iolaos produced a fire-brand which he\napplied to the neck as fast as Herakles cut off one of the snake's\nheads, in this way preventing them from growing again. Finally it came\nthe turn of the head which could not die. Cutting it off Herakles\nburied it in the ground, placing a heavy stone over it.\n\nThen he dipped some arrows into the Hydra's blood, which was\npoisonous, so that whoever was wounded by one of them could not be\nhealed. The least scratch inflicted by such an arrow was incurable.\n\nEurystheus, of course, had no word of praise for his great bondsman,\nbut the people, knowing that the place was now safe, flocked to the\nland in great numbers and drained the lake, which was really not much\nmore than a big marshy pond, and in their new homes they blessed the\nhero's name forever. That was the prize for which Herakles cared the\nmost.\n\nIf you should go to-day to that old battle-field of Herakles you\nwould still find the spring flowing from the rocks, but Lake Lerna\nexists only in story.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V\n\nTHE THIRD LABOR--THE GOLDEN-HORNED HIND\n\n\nThe lower part of Greece is a most peculiar-looking bit of country.\nYou would think it had been torn off from the bulk of the land but\nkept hanging on to it by a small narrow strip. Then, too, its shape is\nso queer that it has been compared to all sorts of things; sometimes\nto a mulberry leaf, sometimes to an open hand.\n\nIf we keep to the latter comparison, we will find that the part which\nanswers to the palm of the hand is a large and intricate knot of high\nwooded mountains which shoot out spurs in all directions. These spurs\nwith the land attached to them stretch out into the sea as so many\nsmall peninsulas and not badly represent the fingers of the hand. The\ncentral knot of mountains is even now different from the country all\naround.\n\nThe people there are wilder, very much given to robbery and violence\nand very slow to accept new ways of life or improvements of any kind.\nIn the old heroic times of several thousand years ago that country was\nsimply an impassable wilderness.\n\nIt was overcrowded with wild beasts, among which the bear must have\nbeen the most plentiful since the land was named after him,\nArcadia--the land of Bears. Wolves were known also to abound.\n\nThe men who had their villages in the narrow valleys by the\nmountain-streams were fierce and lawless. There was nothing for them\nto do but to keep goats and hunt all day long. Arcadia was truly the\nparadise of hunters and therefore held as specially sacred to the\nbeautiful huntress, the goddess, Artemis--the Lady of the Chase. She\nroamed over hills and valleys and through woods and groves by\nmoonlight to protect the herds and flocks, this beautiful daughter of\nZeus.\n\nIn these same mountains of Arcadia there roamed a lovely Hind sacred\nto Queen Artemis, who gave her golden horns so that she might be known\nfrom other deer by the huntsmen. Thus they might be saved from the\ncrime of slaying what was sacred to the gods. Eurystheus ordered\nHerakles to bring him the Hind alive, for he did not dare to have her\nkilled.\n\nHerakles spent a whole year seeking her from the mountain-tops down\nto the valleys, through tangles of brush, over streams and in forests,\nbut he was not able to catch her. After a long chase he forced her at\nlast to take refuge on the side of a mountain and from that place to\ngo down to a river to drink.\n\nIn order that he might prevent the deer from crossing the water,\nHerakles was obliged slightly to wound one of her legs. Not till then\nwas he able to secure his game and carry it to Eurystheus.\n\nOn his way to Myken\u00e6 Herakles was met by Artemis, who upbraided him\nfor having captured the Hind belonging to her. Herakles made answer:\n\"Great Goddess, if I have chased and caught thy deer, I did it out of\nnecessity, not impiety; for thou well knowest that the gods ordered me\nto be a servant to Eurystheus and he commanded me to catch the Hind.\"\n\nWith these words he soothed the anger of the goddess and brought the\ngolden-horned Hind to Myken\u00e6.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI\n\nTHE FOURTH LABOR--THE ERYMANTHIAN BOAR\n\n\nElis is a beautiful plain lying to the north and west of Arcadia. Here\nonce in five years there was a great festival in honor of Zeus, when\nall the men and boys ran races, wrestled, boxed and played all sorts\nof games. Between Arcadia and Elis there is a high mountain-range,\ncalled Erymanthos. There a terrible Boar had its lair.\n\nThe Boar frequently left its den and came down into the plains and\nkilled cattle, destroyed fields of grain and attacked people.\nEurystheus, having heard of this Boar, made up his mind that he wanted\nthe beast alive, and so ordered Herakles to bring it to him.\n\nThe hero put on his lion skin once more and started for the mountain.\nOn his way he stopped at a little town where the Centaurs had their\nhome. These strange people were half man and half horse. We have heard\nthat they were really men, but such good riders that they seemed to be\none with their mountain ponies.\n\nTheir home was just on the edge of a high plain, covered with\noak-trees and looking down across a wild valley, through which flowed\nthe Erymanthos River. There were many forests and little streams and\ndreadful gorges in the valley, where these horsemen used to hunt and\nfish.\n\nThe Centaur Chief, Pholos, received Herakles as a guest and gave him\ncooked meat to eat, while he ate it raw himself, after the Centaurs'\ncustom.\n\nWhen Herakles had eaten his fill, he said to Pholos: \"Thy food is\nindeed good and tasteful. But I should enjoy it still more if I could\nhave a sip of wine, for I am very thirsty.\" To which Pholos replied:\n\"My dear guest, we have very fine and fragrant wine in this mountain,\nand I should like nothing better than to give thee some of it. But I\nam afraid to do so, because it has a strong aroma, and the other\nCentaurs, if they smelt it, might come to my cave and want some. They\nare very fierce and lawless, and might do thee great harm.\"\n\n\"Let not that trouble thee,\" said Herakles. \"I am not afraid of the\nCentaurs.\" So the wine was placed before him and he drank of it. In a\nlittle while a great noise was heard outside of the cave, a shouting\nof many wild voices and a stamping of many horses' feet. What Pholos\nfeared had come to pass.\n\nThe Centaurs had smelt the fragrance of the wine and in full armor\nhad made for the cave of Pholos. Then began a terrible fight. The\nCentaurs fell upon Herakles with pine-branches, rocks, axes, and\nfire-brands, and the clouds, their mothers, poured a flood of water on\nhim. But Herakles was too clever for them. He put two to flight,\nprevented others from entering the cave, and shot the rest down with\nhis arrows.\n\nPholos was a kind-hearted chief, and hearing one of the Centaurs\ncrying for help outside of his cave, went out to him and tried to pull\nthe arrow from his wound, wondering at the same time that so slight a\nweapon could cause his death. But the arrow slipped out of his hand\nand struck his own foot. It made only a scratch, but it could not be\nhealed, for the arrow was one of those which Herakles had dipped in\nthe blood of the Hydra, and poor Pholos breathed his last.\n\nThe death of his kind host was a great sorrow to Herakles, for in\nthose times, when there was so little safety in travelling, the bond\nof kindness and gratitude between host and guest was one of the\nclosest and most sacred, often more so than that between members of\nthe same family. In all their later lives, host and guest could never\nmeet as enemies, and if the chances of war brought them face to face\nas foes, they were not expected to fight. They exchanged greetings and\ngifts and drove off in different directions.\n\nHerakles therefore sincerely mourned his friend, performed over him\nthe proper funeral rites, and buried him with all due honors in the\nside of the mountain. There he left him, sore at heart, but comforted\nby knowing that he had done all he could do to reconcile the shade of\nPholos, and that his soul would bear him no grudge in Spirit Land.\n\nThen Herakles went on his way in search of the Boar. He soon spied him\nin a dense thicket and chased him to the very top of the mountain. The\nmountain-top was covered with deep snow, which prevented the Boar from\nrunning fast enough to escape. So Herakles ran up to him, caught him\nin a net, threw him over his shoulder and carried him off alive to\nMyken\u00e6.\n\nIt is said that Eurystheus hid himself in a large brazen bowl when he\nheard Herakles approaching the city, and that Herakles threw the Boar\ninto the same brazen bowl as the safest place in which to keep him.\nHow astonished Eurystheus must have been to find himself in such\nterrible company! And we can fancy that he scrambled out with all\npossible haste.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII\n\nTHE FIFTH LABOR--HERAKLES CLEANS THE AUGEIAN STABLES\n\n\nWe have already read about Elis, a plain in the southwestern part of\nGreece, where all the people used to worship Zeus and where they built\na wonderful temple in his honor. They built a temple to Hera, his\nwife, also, and many other temples which were filled with statues.\nWhat a fine time you would have if you could only go and see this\nbeautiful land. Perhaps you will some time.\n\nThe temples are in ruins now, and they cover enough ground for a small\ntown. The huge blocks of marble lie on the ground just as they fell,\nand there are the marble floors as people used to see them two\nthousand years ago. There is a high hill close to the ruins. It is\ncalled the mountain of Kronos, \"Old Father Time.\" Kronos is said to\nhave been one of the early kings of Elis and he was the father of\nZeus. He swallowed up his children when they were babes, if we care\nto believe what is said of him, and the story could easily be true,\nfor Time swallows everything if he is only long enough about it.\n\nThe strong men and the boys used to come to Elis to have athletic\ngames in honor of Zeus. They ran races, they boxed, they shot arrows\nand did all sorts of things to show how strong they were. There are\ntwo rivers at the foot of Mount Kronos, and beyond the rivers are many\nlow hills where people used to sit and watch the games.\n\nThere was at one time a king of Elis, Augeias, who was so rich in\ncattle that he hardly knew what to do with them and consequently he\nbuilt a stable miles long and drove his cows into it. He did this year\nafter year and the herds kept growing larger. He could not get men\nenough to take care of his stables and the cows could hardly get into\nthem on account of the filth; or if they did get in they were never\nsure of getting out again because the dirt was piled so high.\n\nEurystheus thought he had found a disagreeable and impossible task for\nHerakles, and so he ordered him to clean out the stables in one day.\nHerakles told Augeias that he must clean the barns and promised to do\nit in one day if he would give him one-tenth of all his cows. The\nking thought Herakles would never be able to do it in one day and\nreadily promised him in the presence of his son one-tenth of the cows.\n\nThe king's stables were close to the two rivers, near Mount Kronos.\nHerakles cut channels and sent the rivers running into the stables.\nThey rushed along and carried the dirt out so quickly that the king\nwas astonished. He did not intend to pay the promised reward and\npretended that he never made any such promise.\n\nAnd he said he would have the matter come before a court and the\njudges should decide it. Then Herakles called the little prince as a\nwitness before the judges, and the boy told the truth about it, which\ncaused the king to fall into such a rage that he sent both his son and\nHerakles out of the country. Herakles left the land of Elis and went\nback to Myken\u00e6. But his heart was filled with contempt for the\nfaithless king.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII\n\nTHE SIXTH LABOR--THE BIRDS OF STYMPHALOS\n\n\nOn the northern limit of Arcadia is a huge cliff, over which pours a\nblack ribbon of water. At the bottom of the cliff it is lost among\npiles of rocks. The water itself is not black, but it appears so\nbecause the rock is covered with black moss, and so the stream is\ncalled the Styx or Black Water.\n\nThe Styx is icy cold and it runs along under the ground so that it\nseems to belong to the dead, and is called the River of Death. When\nthe gods used to make a promise which they did not dare to break they\nsaid, \"I promise by the Styx.\" This promise was called \"the Great Oath\nof the Gods.\"\n\nFarther on in the land of Arcadia there is a vale called Stymphalos.\nIt lies among the mountains and is open to the storms of winter and\nthe floods of spring. And there are a lake and a city both called\nStymphalos. The people of Athens hope to carry the water of this lake\nto Athens by means of an underground channel. All about the lake are\nhills covered with firs and plane-trees.\n\nLake Stymphalos was the home of a countless number of birds which held\nnoisy meetings in the woods. They had iron claws and their feathers\nwere sharper than arrows. They were so strong and fierce that they\ndared attack men, and would tear them to pieces that they might feast\nupon human flesh. They bore a striking resemblance to the Harpies, and\nwere the terror of all the people who lived near Stymphalos.\n\nEurystheus ordered Herakles to drive the birds away. So Herakles took\nhis bow and quiver and went to the lake. But the forests were so dense\nthat he could not see the birds, and he sat down to think of the best\nway to drive them out. Suddenly the goddess of wisdom came to him to\nhelp him.\n\nThe goddess gave him a huge rattle and told him how to use it.\nHerakles went up on to the highest mountain that lies near the lake\nand shook the rattle with a will. The birds were so frightened by the\nnoise that they came out of the thick wood where their nests were and\nflew high up into the air.\n\nTheir heavy feathers fell like flakes in a driving snow-storm.\nHerakles shot at the birds with his arrows. He killed a great many of\nthem and the rest were so scared that they flew away and were never\nseen again at Stymphalos.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX\n\nTHE SEVENTH LABOR--HERAKLES CATCHES THE MAD BULL OF CRETE\n\n\nThere is an island south of Greece which is so large that it would\ntake you from early morning until late at night to sail past it. There\nare high mountains all along the shore and they look as if they were\ncovered with snow. There is a cave in one of the mountains where Zeus\nwas hidden when he was a babe so that his father, Kronos, should not\nswallow him. The nymphs fed him on honey and a famous goat gave him\nmilk.\n\nThe name of this island was Crete, and Minos ruled there as king. It\nwas his duty to sacrifice to Poseidon, the God of the Sea, whatever\ncame up out of the water.\n\nMinos was rich and greedy. He loved his cattle better than the will of\nthe gods. It came to pass that a wonderful Bull rose from the sea\nwhile Minos was king. When Minos saw him he admired the beauty of the\nanimal so much that he resolved to keep him. He drove the Bull into\nhis barn and sacrificed another to the God of the Sea.\n\nPoseidon grew angry with him and caused the Bull to become mad so that\nno one dared to approach him. Eurystheus ordered Herakles to catch him\nand bring him to Myken\u00e6.\n\nSo Herakles went to Crete and begged Minos to give him the Bull. The\nking told him that he was entirely welcome to the Bull if he could\ncatch him. Herakles seized him by the horns and bound his feet\ntogether and carried him off to Myken\u00e6.\n\nThere he showed the mad animal to Eurystheus and then set him free.\nThe Bull wandered off to Sparta and over the hills of Arcadia and\ncrossing the Isthmus, he reached Marathon, where he left the land and\nswam off into the sea.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X\n\nTHE EIGHTH LABOR--THE HORSES OF DIOMEDES\n\n\nGreece was bounded on the north by a wild and mountainous land, called\nThrace. The natives were not of Greek stock and remained fierce,\nlawless, and cruel for a long time after Greece had become the most\ncivilized of countries. They were so quarrelsome and such desperate\nfighters that their country was supposed to be the favorite residence\nof the war god, Ares.\n\nThe king who reigned in Thrace at the time of Herakles was so much\nworse than the rest of the people that he was said to be Ares' own\nson, and he was called the storm king. He was very fond of horses and\nkept a breed of them after his own heart. They were man-eating horses,\nwhich he fed on the flesh of any strangers who came to that country or\nthat were wrecked on the shore, thus breaking the most sacred laws and\nmaking himself hated by men and gods. The horses were blood-thirsty\nand so furious that they had to be chained to their stalls.\n\nEurystheus commanded Herakles to bring these horses to his stables in\nMyken\u00e6. This time Herakles took several friends with him, who helped\nhim catch the horses and lead them to the shore. Diomedes, having\nheard of the robbery, started in pursuit with many armed men.\n\nHerakles and his friends went by sea. They attacked the guards and led\nthe horses down to the ship. A terrible battle followed, in which the\nwicked king was slain by Herakles, who threw him as food to the\nhorses. The warriors who helped Diomedes were put to flight and some\nof Herakles' best men were also killed. With the rest he drove the\nhorses into his ship and brought them safely to Myken\u00e6.\n\nEurystheus, of course, had no intention of keeping them in his stables\nand had them set loose. They ran off into the forests of Arcadia and\nwere never seen again. It was thought that they were devoured by the\nmountain wolves.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI\n\nTHE NINTH LABOR--THE GIRDLE OF HIPPOLYTE\n\n\nEurystheus, as we have seen, sent Herakles a little farther every time\nin hopes of never seeing him again. It would take you a whole day\ngoing on the best steamer to get to Crete from Athens, and in those\ndays, when steamers had not been thought of, the sailing must have\nbeen slow indeed. Eurystheus now sent the hero yet farther off to the\nBlack Sea, on the southern shore of which there lived the Amazons, a\nnation of warlike women.\n\nThe Amazons were brought up like men. Their main occupation was war,\nand they were excellent horsewomen. They were sharpshooters with the\nbow and arrow. Hippolyte, the queen of the Amazons, was a brave and\nhandsome woman. She wore a celebrated girdle, the gift of Ares, as a\nsign of her queenly rank.\n\nEurystheus had a daughter who had heard of the beauty of the famous\ngirdle which was worn by the Amazon queen. She begged her father to\nsend Herakles to bring it to her. Then Eurystheus ordered Herakles to\nfetch the girdle, and he manned a ship and sailed away, taking several\ncompanions with him.\n\nAfter many wanderings they reached the Black Sea and sailed to the\nAmazon country. Queen Hippolyte was at once informed that some\nstrangers had arrived from a far-off land, and she came down to the\nshore to learn why they had come. Herakles told her that a princess\nhad sent him to get the girdle given her by Ares. Hippolyte admired\nthe bold hero for his frankness and promised that she would give it to\nhim.\n\nBut Hera changed herself into an Amazon and rushing into the midst of\nan army of them cried out, \"The strangers are carrying off our queen!\"\nThen all the Amazons snatched up their arms and rushed on horseback\nto the ship. When Herakles saw them coming armed to attack his men, he\nthought Hippolyte had betrayed him and he slew her and took her\ngirdle.\n\nThen he attacked the rest of the Amazons and put them to flight. When\nthe battle was over, Herakles and his companions went on board the\nship and sailed for home.\n\nSoon after they had started on their way to Myken\u00e6 they found Hesione,\nthe daughter of La\u00f6medon, on the shore chained to a rock. La\u00f6medon was\nat that time king of Troy, and Herakles and his companions stopped to\nfind out why the daughter of a great king had to suffer such a\nterrible punishment. She told Herakles that Apollo, the sun god, and\nPoseidon, the god of the sea, once took on the form of man and began\nto build walls around the city of Troy. Her father promised to aid\nthem but neglected to keep his promise. This conduct made the gods\nindignant and Apollo sent a pestilence to rage in the city while\nPoseidon sent a sea-monster which came up out of the ocean and\ndevoured the people.\n\nLa\u00f6medon asked the priest of Apollo how he might appease the wrath of\nthe gods. The priest answered that the city would be freed from the\ndouble plague if La\u00f6medon would chain his daughter to the rock on the\nshore where the monster might devour her.\n\nLa\u00f6medon obeyed the oracle and had her chained to the cliff near the\nsea. Just then Herakles arrived and stopped near the shore, when\nLa\u00f6medon with hot tears entreated him to save his daughter. Herakles\npromised to do it under the condition that La\u00f6medon should give him as\na reward a famous horse in his possession.\n\nHerakles killed the sea-monster, but La\u00f6medon again did not keep his\npromise and Herakles left Troy, his heart filled with scorn for the\nfaithless king. On his return to Myken\u00e6 he gave the girdle of the\nAmazon queen to his cousin, the daughter of Eurystheus.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII\n\nTHE TENTH LABOR--THE CATTLE OF GERYON\n\n\nIberia, now called Spain, lies at the farthest end of Europe, and\nbeyond it, in the Atlantic, is an island which was once the home of\nGeryon, a famous giant. His body was as large around as three other\nmen's bodies put together. He had three heads and three pairs of legs\nand six arms. He had huge wings also and carried dangerous weapons.\n\nGeryon was the lord of many herds of cattle. He had one herd of red\noxen, as red as the sky at the setting of the sun, and they were\nguarded by a trusty herdsman and a fierce two-headed dog. Eurystheus\nordered Herakles to bring the cattle to Myken\u00e6.\n\nHerakles having overcome numberless difficulties, wandering through\nwild deserts and unknown lands, finally reached the open ocean, the\nend of all. There he erected as a monument two pillars opposite each\nother, one on the African shore, and one in Europe. These were called\nthe Pillars of Herakles in those days, but now they are known as the\nRocks of Ceuta and Gibraltar.\n\nHelios, the Sun, admiring the bravery of Herakles, lent him his golden\nskiff, shaped like a cup. Helios always sailed round the world every\nnight from west to east in this cup, and Herakles, although he feared\na storm, took his place in the strange boat and started for the island\nwhere Geryon tended his red cattle. The world, as the Greeks saw it,\nwas in the form of a great plate, and the ocean was a river\nsurrounding it as the rim surrounds the plate.\n\nWhen the two-headed dog saw Herakles he rushed at him with fury, and\nthe herdsman also attacked him at the same time. Herakles slew them\nboth with his club, took the cattle and fled toward the boat. Then\nGeryon sprang upon him and forced him to fight for his life. They had\na dreadful battle, in which Herakles drew his bow and shot at the\ngiant with one of his deadly arrows and Geryon died.\n\nHerakles at once drove the oxen down to the boat, and after a safe\nvoyage landed them in Iberia. Then he started for home on foot,\ndriving his cattle northward over the Pyrenees into Gaul or France.\nHere he was attacked by hundreds of people who wanted to rob him of\nhis cattle.\n\nHerakles shot at them with his arrows and killed great numbers, and\nthey stoned him in return with large stones. Herakles would have lost\nthe battle but Zeus sent down a shower of rocks of vast size, and\nHerakles hurled them at his foes, driving them away like frightened\nsheep. These enormous rocks are still to be seen in the south of\nFrance.\n\nAfter this adventure Herakles drove his cattle over the Alps and down\ninto Italy across the Tiber, and they came to the Seven Hills of Rome.\nIn one of these hills there was a cave, the home of a lawless giant\nnamed Cacus. He was a creature of iron strength, and was hideously\nugly. He breathed out fire and smoke, often killing people in this\nway, and everybody in all the country about feared him. Cacus saw\nHerakles coming with his cattle over the river and among the hills,\nand he determined to steal the cattle and hide them in his den.\n\nSo when Herakles was asleep and the cattle were grazing quietly, Cacus\nslipped out of his cave and, seizing great numbers of them by the\ntails, dragged them backward into the cavern that their tracks might\npoint away from the cave and not toward it. When Herakles awoke he\nmissed his cattle and began to look for them. He found their tracks\nand went in the direction they seemed to point out, getting farther\nand farther from their place of hiding. The oxen bellowed, and their\nnoises were muffled by the rocks of the cavern, but Herakles heard\nthem and returned to the Seven Hills. Listening intently he traced\nthem to the right hill, but Cacus had braced a stone slab against the\nopening and it could not be moved from the outside.\n\nHerakles went around to the other side of the hill and, tearing the\nstones away, forced a new entrance. He sprang into the cave and\nseized the terrible monster by the throat. Cacus blew flames into the\nhero's face and tried to burn him to death, but Herakles held on and\nstrangled the giant to death. A volume of black smoke came from his\nmouth and a stream of melted lead as he fell back dead. Herakles tore\nthe slab from the door of the cave and threw the body of Cacus out on\nthe hill, and all the people came to see it and rejoice that their foe\nwas slain. And they built an altar to Herakles and instituted games to\nbe held every year in his honor.\n\nHerakles left the Seven Hills and drove his cattle southward. Being\ntired, he lay down to rest on a mountain near Locri, and the\ngrasshoppers came around him singing in such shrill tones that he\ncould not sleep. He prayed to the gods to drive them away, and the\ngods swept them out of that region so that they never came back.\n\nOne of the wild oxen ran away to the southwest and escaped to an\nisland. Herakles followed, driving the whole herd over to the island.\nThe cattle swam across, and Herakles, sitting on the back of one of\nthe oxen and holding on by its horns, was safely taken over. He\ncaptured the runaway and wandered for a long time through the island,\nenjoying the fresh water of the springs and the kindness of the\npeople. Then he drove his cattle back to Italy and passed up the\nshores of the Ionian Sea.\n\nBut Hera sent gadflies to make the cattle wilder than they were\nbefore, and they scattered over the mountain-heights as clouds are\nscattered by a hot wind. They fled far to the east, until they came to\nThrace. There Herakles gathered together as many as he could and\nbrought them to Myken\u00e6, where Eurystheus sacrificed them to Hera.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII\n\nTHE ELEVENTH LABOR--THE GOLDEN APPLES OF HESPERIDES\n\n\nWhen the wedding between Zeus and Hera was celebrated all the gods\nbrought presents. Mother Earth brought some apple-trees as her gift.\nThese trees bore precious golden apples, and Zeus and Hera were so\npleased with their wonderful wedding-present that they appointed four\nmaidens, called the Daughters of the West, to guard the apples, and\nalso they placed a dragon there with a hundred heads, who never slept.\n\nThe fruit was so inviting that even the maidens would have been\ntempted to eat it if the terrible dragon had not kept close to the\ntree. A roar like thunder came out of each of his hundred mouths and\nfrightened everything away that dared approach the trees, and\nlightning darted from his eyes to strike down intruders.\n\nThe trees grew more and more beautiful from year to year, and the\napples were so heavy that the boughs bent beneath the golden load.\nThey grew in the Garden of the Hesperides, in islands way off to the\nwest, and were watered by springs of nectar which had their rise near\nthe throne of Zeus.\n\nEurystheus had heard of the apples and he ordered Herakles to bring\nthem to him. For a long time Herakles wandered about in various lands\nuntil he came to the river Rhone, where the water-goddesses or nymphs\nadvised him to ask counsel from the ancient lord of the deep sea, who\nknew all the secrets of the ocean depths and whose wisdom was beyond\nthat of the gods. He is called by many names, but his gentlest name is\nNereus, and he does not like to be questioned unless he can take any\nshape he pleases.\n\nHe usually escapes intruders, but to those who are not afraid and who\nmanage to grasp and to hold him, he freely opens the store of his\nwisdom. This was what Herakles did. Nereus took on the form of a lion,\na serpent, a fish, a stream of water, and at last, of an old man, but\nHerakles held him close and learned from him the road to the Garden of\nthe Hesperides.\n\nLeaving Nereus, Herakles travelled south into Africa, where he met\nAnt\u00e6os, a huge giant who lived in the desert. Ant\u00e6os was a son of\nEarth and Ocean, and he was as strong as the terrible sand-storms. He\nwas cruel to all travellers who crossed his domains and slew them, but\nhe loved and protected the tiny Pygmies that lived all around him. No\none had ever been able to vanquish him in battle, for Mother Earth\ngave him new strength and vigor every time he lay down or touched the\nground.\n\nHerakles wrestled with him and threw him down many times, but Ant\u00e6os\nsprang up stronger than ever. At last Herakles caught him up with one\nhand, and holding him high in the air where he could not receive help\nfrom Mother Earth, squeezed him to death.\n\nHerakles was tired out with this tremendous exertion and lay down in\nthe desert to rest. But he did not sleep long, for a whole army of\nthe little people, seeing their beloved giant lying dead, came with\ntheir weapons to attack Herakles. He found himself covered with them\nfrom head to foot. He sprang up, and quickly gathering up his lion's\nskin, crushed a multitude of the Pygmies and killed them.\n\nThen he hurried away toward the east, going through many countries\nuntil he came to India, and finding himself travelling in the wrong\ndirection, turned to the north and west and came to the Caucasus\nMountains. Here he found Prometheus chained to the rocks of a high\nmountain-peak. Prometheus had taught mankind the use of fire and how\nto build houses and had otherwise interfered with the work of the\ngods, thereby bringing this punishment upon himself. Herakles took\npity on him and set him free. In return for this kindly act Prometheus\ntold him the most direct way to the Garden of the Hesperides, which\nwas through Scythia and the region of the Hyperboreans at the back of\nthe North Wind.\n\nOn his way Herakles stopped to visit Atlas, who as a punishment for\nonce having rebelled against the gods was obliged to carry the heavens\non his shoulders. \"Let me relieve thee for awhile, friend Atlas,\" said\nHerakles, after greeting him in a most cordial manner. \"Let me take\nthe heavens on my shoulders and I will let thee do me a great service\nin return. I must have the Golden Apples that grow in the Garden of\nthe Hesperides to take to Eurystheus, and thou canst bring them to\nme.\"\n\nAtlas gladly placed the heavy firmament on Herakles' shoulders and\ntook his way to the Garden. There he contrived to put the many-headed\ndragon to sleep and then slay him. Taking possession of the Golden\nApples, he returned with them to Herakles.\n\n\"I thank thee very much, friend Atlas,\" said Herakles. \"Take thy place\nagain and give me the apples.\"\n\n\"Nay, I have borne the weight of the heavens for a long time,\"\nanswered Atlas. \"Thou hadst better keep my place and I will carry the\nGolden Apples to Eurystheus.\"\n\nHerakles was taken aback at this reply and began to consider how he\nmight escape from this unexpected dilemma. At last he spoke. \"Very\nwell, I will willingly remain in thy place, friend Atlas,\" he said.\n\"One thing only I must first ask of thee. Take the heavens back just\nfor a moment while I get a pad to put on my head so that the weight\nmay not hurt it. Otherwise the heavens will fall and crush us both.\"\n\nPoor, simple old Atlas agreed to this, and putting the Golden Apples\non the ground he again took the firmament on his shoulders. Herakles\npicked up the apples and went off saying, \"We must not bear malice\ntoward each other, friend Atlas. Good-by.\"\n\nWith this he departed and hastened back to Myken\u00e6.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV\n\nTHE TWELFTH LABOR--HERAKLES FETCHES CERBERUS OUT OF HADES\n\n\nAccording to the terms of the doom that was laid upon Herakles, the\nperformance of the last task was to free him from Eurystheus. Eleven\nwere now fulfilled and the tyrant's heart failed him when he thought\nof what he might expect at the hands of the hero he had used so ill\nwhen once he was free from his power.\n\nCowards always fear those whom they have ill-treated, so he determined\nto send Herakles on an errand from which he thought he could not\npossibly return. He had come back unharmed from every known and\nunknown country on the face of the earth, but who was ever known to\nreturn alive from the land of the dead? So Eurystheus as a last task\nordered him to go down to Hades and bring out alive Cerberus, the\nthree-headed dog that guards the entrance to the lower world, feeling\nsure that Herakles would remain forever in Hades.\n\nCerberus was a terrible monster. Besides having three heads, he had a\ntail which ended in a serpent's head, and all along his spine he had\nserpents' heads instead of hair. His duty was to see that no dead\nshould escape from Hades after once entering its gates.\n\nThere was a long dark cave leading down to Hades and the river Styx\nflowed across it. A white-haired old ferryman, Charon by name, waited\nwith his boat on the shore to carry the spirits of all who died. There\nthey were met by Minos, the great judge, who told them whether they\ncould go into the fields of the Blessed or whether they were doomed to\nthe region of the Unhappy. Charon's boat was but a delicate skiff and\nadapted only to carrying souls without bodies, so Herakles was not a\nwelcome passenger.\n\nHerakles found his way into Hades in spite of all the difficulties,\nand presenting himself to Pluto, the King of the Dead, begged him to\ngive him the Dog.\n\nPluto replied: \"Take him and lead him out into the world and thou\nshalt have him. But thou must not use any weapon.\" Herakles answered,\n\"I will use no weapon but my hands, and with them alone I will conquer\nhim.\" Wearing his breastplate and clad in the lion's skin he\napproached Cerberus, who stood on guard at the gates. He threw his\narms around the Dog's three heads and pressed them with all his might.\nThe Dog fought with great fury, and bit him with the snake's mouth\nwhich he had at the end of his tail. Herakles threw his lion's skin\nover the head of the Dog and dragged him out by another gate into the\ndaylight. Cerberus had never seen the light of the sun and was\nfrightened beyond measure. He foamed at the mouth, and wherever the\nfoam fell upon the ground it caused a poisonous plant to grow.\n\nHerakles took Cerberus to Eurystheus, who was not pleased to see the\nDog or the Hero. Then he carried him back to Hades and restored him to\nPluto, and so were the twelve great labors ended.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XV\n\nTHESEUS, THE HERO OF ATHENS\n\n\nThe land of Attica is very different from Arcadia. It was cleared at a\nmuch earlier time than the southern part of Greece, which could be\ndone the more easily as the soil being naturally rather barren was not\ncovered with the thick, bristling forests which there sheltered so\nmany dangerous animals, and made it such hard work for the peasants to\nclear the smallest patch of farm.\n\nThen, although the land offers but scanty pasture for cattle and bears\nbut few kinds of trees and crops, it happens that those which it does\nbear are the very ones that were the greatest favorites with Greek\nfarmers--the olive and the vine. Besides which, being a peninsula, and\ntherefore almost entirely surrounded by the sea, fish and other\nsea-food was very plentiful, and trade with more or less distant\nneighbors very easy.\n\nAttica has no very high mountains, but those that there are supply the\ncountry with beautiful marbles, both white and colored. The people,\nhaving such lovely material within reach, became from the earliest\ntimes the most skilful of builders. Their Acropolis, for which nature\nitself supplied them with a beautiful, tall rock, of bright-colored\nstone, soon became their greatest pride. It was the envy of their\nneighbors, because of the splendid marble palaces and temples which\nthey could raise there at so little cost.\n\nThe city which grew up at the foot of the Acropolis was named Athens,\nafter the goddess of wisdom and cunning craft, Athena, the favorite\ndaughter of Zeus. It is clear from this that the Athenians considered\nthemselves more civilized and in every way superior to the other\nGreeks. Indeed, they were all that, and even as far back as the heroic\ntimes their city began to be famous above others.\n\nIn this favored land of Attica, at the same time that Herakles\nastonished the world with his miraculous deeds, there reigned a king,\n\u00c6geus, who, having no child to succeed him on the throne, was grieved\nat heart. So \u00c6geus went to Delphi to consult the Oracle, and the\npriestess told him that he should go to Tr\u0153zene, where he would find a\nbeautiful and gentle wife, the Princess \u00c6thra, daughter of Pittheus,\nthe King of Tr\u0153zene. And the Oracle promised that his wife should bear\nhim a son whose name would become famous over all the world.\n\nSo \u00c6geus took his way to Tr\u0153zene, where he found Pittheus, the wise\nold king, who received him hospitably and gave him his daughter,\n\u00c6thra, in marriage. \u00c6geus grew very fond of his wife, but after awhile\nhe had to think of returning to his own kingdom, which he could not\nleave to itself forever. \u00c6thra's father was old and feeble, and she\ndid not like to leave him to the care of slaves; so \u00c6geus agreed to\nlet her stay with him.\n\nBut before \u00c6geus departed he took \u00c6thra to an out-of-the-way place and\ndug a pit in which he hid his sword and sandals. Then he rolled a\nlarge stone over the pit and said to his wife: \"Listen, \u00c6thra; take\ngood care of the son which the gods are about to send us, but do not\ntell him who his father is. When he has grown to be a youth, bring him\nto this spot, and if he is able to lift the stone, let him take the\nsword and the sandals and come to me with them.\" After saying these\nwords, \u00c6geus kissed his wife, and bidding her an affectionate\nfarewell, returned to Athens.\n\nWhen Theseus was born, \u00c6thra rejoiced greatly, and brought him up with\ngreat care, as she had promised \u00c6geus she would do. He was the pride\nof his grandfather's court, and the good old king had him trained in\nall kinds of games and athletic exercises and in the use of the lyre.\nWhen he had grown up, \u00c6thra led him to the rock, and after having told\nhim the name of his father, she said to him: \"My son, lift up this\nheavy stone. You will find under it what your father left for you.\nTake his gift and go to Athens with it.\"\n\nTheseus, without any difficulty, raised the stone with his strong\narms, and \u00c6thra hung his father's sword over his shoulder and tied the\nsandals to his feet. Then Theseus was ready to set out for Athens.\n\u00c6thra advised him to go by sea. It was the quickest and safest way.\nThe woods by land were everywhere full of dangers from wild beasts and\nwicked men.\n\nBut Theseus, having heard of the great deeds of Herakles and envying\nthe fame of the hero, said: \"Herakles was set the task to destroy the\nwicked and to cleanse the land and sea from evil-doers; and so I will\nnot shirk tasks which lie under my very feet and I will not shame my\nfather, fleeing ingloriously over the sea, where I can perform no\nnoble deeds by which I might prove myself a worthy son to him, and do\nhonor to my mother's wisdom in bringing me up in the way she has\ndone.\"\n\nTheseus kissed his mother and grandfather and started on his journey\nby land. The worst part of his road lay across the Isthmus of Corinth,\nwhich was so narrow that it gave little chance for escape.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVI\n\nTHE FIRST EXPLOITS OF THESEUS. HE FINDS HIS FATHER\n\n\nTo the northwest of Tr\u0153zene is a tongue of land projecting into the\n\u00c6gean Sea. In ancient times the town of Epidauros was situated upon\nit, and the temple, where Asklepios, the God of Healing, was\nworshipped, stood near by. It was a wild country whose hills were\ncovered with trees and shrubs--the hiding-place of lawless robbers,\nthe boldest of whom was named Periphetes. He was also called\nKorynetes, and he used an iron crown for a weapon, and with it he\nsmashed the heads of travellers.\n\nPeriphetes put himself in Theseus' way and would not let him go on.\nBut the youth grappled with him, and taking his iron crown from him,\ncrushed him to death with it. Theseus carried the crown as his own\nparticular weapon, just as Herakles wore the skin of the Nemean lion.\n\nThe most cruel of all the robbers lived a few miles farther to the\nnorth, on the Isthmus of Corinth, and his name was Sinis. He was\ncalled the Tree-bender, because he used to bend together two young\npines. Then he would tie a man by a leg and arm to each tree and let\nthe trees spring back, tearing the poor wretch to pieces. Theseus\npunished this malefactor by giving him the same treatment that he gave\nto others, and the people of the Isthmus were so grateful that they\nstarted a festival, called the Isthmian Games, to be held in honor of\nthe hero every year.\n\nOn to the north went Theseus. He slew a man-eating boar at Krommyon,\nwhich had long terrified the people of that district. Coming among the\nwild cliffs near the sea in Megaris, he heard of the cruel giant\nSkiron, who used to lie in wait for travellers. This evil-doer\ncompelled those who fell into his power to wash his feet. This task\nperformed, he flung the unlucky traveller into the sea.\n\nWhen Theseus passed his den Skiron ordered him to wash his feet, and\nTheseus answered: \"To tell the truth, friend Skiron, thy demand is too\nsmall. I would willingly do more for thee. Not only are thy feet in\nneed of a bath but so is thy whole body. The sea is near and I will\ngive thee a thorough washing.\" And he seized Skiron around the body\nand flung him over the rocks into the breakers. From that time until\nto-day the rocks are called the Skironian Cliffs.\n\nA little farther on Theseus came upon another famous robber known far\nand near as the Stretcher, Korydallon, or Prokrustes. This robber used\nto force the wayfarer to lie down on a bed which was always too long\nor too short for him. If the traveller proved too tall for the bed,\nProkrustes would cut off his feet and legs to make him short enough to\nfit it. But if the traveller were too short for the bed, he would have\nhim stretched until his feet touched the foot-board. Prokrustes\ninvited Theseus to try the bed, but Theseus answered him: \"Thou shalt\ntry it first, friend Prokrustes, and I will try it after thee.\" Then\nProkrustes was compelled to lie down in the bed, which was much too\nshort for him, and Theseus cut off his head and his feet to make him\nfit the bed, as the cruel Stretcher had done to so many hapless\nstrangers. Theseus exterminated a great many more cruel robbers who\nhad made the roads to Athens unsafe, and the glory of his deeds went\non before him.\n\nTheseus, having performed these brave deeds, reached Athens; but the\nrougher class, seeing a stranger who wore a garb of a different\nfashion from their own, scoffed at him, as is the custom of vulgar\npeople. His hair was long and his form slender, so they called him a\ngirl and told him that he ought to take his nurse with him to protect\nhim. As he walked along among these coarse people he came to a wagon\nheavily laden. He took up the wagon with its load and tossed it high\nin the air as easily as he would toss a ball, much to the astonishment\nof his tormentors.\n\nTheseus having come to the king's palace in Athens, at once presented\nhimself before \u00c6geus. But he did not immediately make himself known as\nhis son. When he was called to the table as a guest he drew his sword\nas if he wanted to eat the meat with it, and \u00c6geus recognized him as\nhis son and received him with joy and affection. Calling together the\ncitizens he proclaimed Theseus his son and successor.\n\nThe citizens had heard of his heroic exploits, and acknowledged him\nheir to the throne amid general rejoicings. Only the nephews of \u00c6geus\nwere sorry that Theseus had appeared in their midst. They had hoped to\ninherit the kingdom after their uncle's death, believing that he had\nno children. But now that Theseus came among them as a successor to\nthe throne, they rebelled.\n\nTheseus was brave and strong enough to defend his father and himself.\nHe fought the rebels one after another and killed them. These\nvictories increased his glory greatly and won him the hearts of the\npeople of Athens.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVII\n\nTHE ADVENTURES OF THESEUS\n\n\n_I. The Marathonian Bull_\n\nTheseus was too active to love an idle life and began to look around\nhim to find ways of helping his father's people. He wanted to be\nworthy of the throne. \"It is not enough,\" he said, \"that I am of royal\ndescent. I should also have a royal heart and be of real service to\nmankind. I must be a leader in deeds as well as in words.\" He soon\nfound an opportunity to show his prowess.\n\nTo the northeast of Athens is a beautiful mountain-ridge with a white\nmarble band across it. This is the famous Pentelikon, and the purple\nmountain of Hymettos is separated from it by a narrow pass. Beyond\nthese mountains is the plain of Marathon sloping down to the blue sea.\nIn the plain of Marathon the terrible Bull which Herakles had brought\nfrom Crete to Eurystheus still roamed, but the tyrant had turned it\nloose. This Bull did great havoc among the inhabitants of the\nsurrounding country.\n\nTheseus heard of their distress and promised to free them from the\nfearful beast. He armed himself with a tough shield and a long spear\nand went to Marathon. When he found out the Bull's hiding-place he\nchased and overtook him. He grappled him by the horns with his\npowerful hands and dragged him back to Athens. The people of Athens\nand all the country about came to meet Theseus. They rejoiced because\nhe had rid them of such a pest and they admired his strength, but they\ndid not dare to help him, and stood ready to run for their lives in\ncase the Bull should slip away from him. Theseus went through the\nmidst of the city holding on to the Bull, which he took to the temple\nof Apollo and offered up as a sacrifice to that god. Old \u00c6geus shed\ntears of joy when he saw how the gods honored him in the possession of\nsuch a son.\n\n\n_II. Theseus Sails to Crete_\n\nBut there was a greater adventure with greater glory awaiting Theseus,\nfor Athens had a more terrible enemy than the mad Bull of Marathon. It\nhad happened years before that a son of Minos, the wise and powerful\nKing of Crete, had come to Athens to take part in the yearly festival\nheld in honor of the goddess Athena. He took part in all their public\ngames and came off victor every time. The athletes of Athens were very\nangry that a man from another country should show more skill and carry\noff all the prizes, so with \u00c6geus' consent they killed him.\n\nThen Minos made war on the Athenians and killed a great number of\nthem, and the gods also punished them for this treacherous murder by\nletting the land bear no crops and by sending on them a deadly fever.\n\nThe Athenians were compelled to surrender to Minos, and they had to\nagree to the most humiliating terms. They promised to send seven\nyouths and seven maidens every year to Crete.\n\nNow Minos had a park laid out by the most cunning man of his times.\nThere were walks and paths so many and so winding that no one who got\ninto it could get out again, but had to wander on and on, getting more\nand more confused. This park was called the Labyrinth, and in the\ncentre of it was a cave in which just at that time King Minos kept a\ndangerous monster which had the body and limbs of a man but the head\nof a bull.\n\nThe creature was called the Minotaur and it was fierce and cruel.\nThere was only one way to prevent him from roaming the fields and\nendangering the lives of the people. He had to be kept in a good\nhumor, and this could be done only by feeding him now and then on\nhuman flesh. So Minos bethought him of using the Athenian captives for\nthat purpose.\n\nWhen the time of the third tribute arrived, the citizens of Athens\nbegan to urge \u00c6geus to do something to prevent the dreadful sacrifice.\nThey accused him of being the sole cause of the trouble. They told him\nthat it was shameful that he had no share in the punishment. These\ncomplaints wounded the ambitious Theseus to the quick.\n\nHis sense of justice told him that it would be only right for him to\nshare the troubles of the citizens, and therefore he insisted on going\nto Crete with the seven youths and the seven maidens.\n\nThe citizens felt sorry for Theseus, and \u00c6geus prayed his son to\nremain at home with him, but Theseus answered: \"My dear father, how\ncan I be happy when the whole nation suffers? How can I abide in\nsafety when our subjects are sacrificed? Do not try to dissuade me,\nfor honor calls.\"\n\nThe vessel which was to take them to Crete was ready to start. It\ncarried a black sail, a sign of its direful errand. Theseus tried to\nconsole his father by telling him that he was going to kill the\nMinotaur. \u00c6geus was quick to believe in the valor of his son and gave\nanother sail, a white one, to the pilot, telling him to hoist it if\nthey returned happily, but to leave the black one up if Theseus failed\nto win the victory. The ship sailed away and the parents and relatives\nof the youths and maidens wept bitter tears, but all the citizens\ncalled aloud to the gods to give Theseus success in his generous\nundertaking.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVIII\n\nTHE ADVENTURES OF THESEUS\n\n\n_III. Theseus Kills the Minotaur_\n\nThe ship reached Crete and Minos ordered the weeping youths and\nmaidens to be thrown into the den of the Minotaur and Theseus with\nthem. By a lucky chance Ariadne, the daughter of the king, saw Theseus\nand was moved with pity and a wish to save him. She slyly gave him a\nball of yarn and told him to fasten one end of it to the inside\nentrance to the Labyrinth and then wind it off as he walked along that\nhe might find his way back again.\n\nTheseus took the ball and went with his companions into the Labyrinth.\nHe fastened one end of the thread firmly to the inside of the\nentrance, and as he walked along the thread caught and held on to the\nbushes. They could hear the bellowing of the Minotaur as they\napproached the cave, and the companions of Theseus hid themselves in\nthe bushes, trembling with fright. But Theseus approached fearlessly,\nand rushing upon the Minotaur, thrust his sword through him and the\nmonster fell dead.\n\nThe youths and maidens came out from their hiding-places, and\nsurrounding Theseus, kissed his hands and called him their preserver.\nTheseus, guided by the thread which Ariadne had given him, led his\ncompanions safely to the entrance of the Labyrinth. And when they were\nfree from its entanglements, Theseus gratefully raised up his hands to\nheaven and offered a prayer of thanks to the gods for their escape.\n\nTheseus and the companions whom he had saved reached the sea-shore\nunhindered, hurried their vessel into the water, unfurled the sail,\nand rowed with all their might in order to escape as quickly as\npossible from Crete and return to their own beloved country. The wind\nwas favorable and the vessel cut through the sea like a swan. They\npassed through the midst of the islands of the sea and first landed at\nDelos, the home of the god, Apollo. This beautiful land was like a\nfloating star and was said to be surrounded by a wall of pure gold.\n\nTheseus offered a sacrifice to Apollo and danced with the youths and\nmaidens a dance in which they represented the winding passages of the\nLabyrinth. But in their great joy neither he nor the pilot thought of\nunfurling the white sail. Old \u00c6geus came every day to the sea-shore to\nwatch for the return of the ship. There he sat on a high cliff and\ngazed over the wide waters; he hoped to see the boat coming with the\nwhite sail hoisted, and was in great agony of mind for fear he should\nsee it coming with the black sail up.\n\nAt last he espied, one day, a ship coming from afar. The nearer it\ncame the greater grew the old king's anxiety. Soon he recognized the\nboat. It was the one which had borne away his beloved Theseus. But\nalas! the ship still carried the black sail, the sign of sorrow.\n\n\"My son is dead!\" exclaimed the unhappy king. \"My only son is dead! My\nbeloved Theseus!\"\n\nThe grief of \u00c6geus was beyond bounds and his reason left him. In\ndespair he threw himself from the cliff into the sea and was drowned,\nand from that time all that water has been called the \u00c6gean Sea.\n\nThe ship entered the port near Athens and Theseus brought the\nthanksgiving offerings which he had promised the gods when he left the\nport, and he sent a herald into the city to announce their safe\nreturn.\n\nThe Athenians, as soon as they learned that Theseus and the seven\nyouths and seven maidens had returned safely, hastened to the palace,\nmen, women, and children, and received him with joy and honors. But\nTheseus' pleasure changed to grief when he learned that his father had\ndied on account of his great love for his son.\n\nThe Athenians led him forth, however, amidst the greatest\ndemonstrations of enthusiasm and proclaimed him their king. Thus\nTheseus became King of Athens not only because he was of royal descent\nbut because he was manly and loved his country better than himself.\nThe court of Theseus became celebrated for its splendor and he ruled\nwith prudence. The villages of the plain of Attica had formerly been\nat war with each other. Now they united under one government, with\nAthens as the chief city. Theseus founded festivals and encouraged\neducation, and was in every way a good and wise leader.\n\nLong after his death there was a beautiful temple erected in his\nhonor, and it stands in Athens to this day. The stories of his great\ndeeds are carved in its stones, which are much worn by time. There you\ncan see the hero slaying Prokrustes, Skiron, the Minotaur, and\nPeriphetes. And you can see the capture of the wild Bull of Marathon.\nThere, too, are the stories of Herakles, in stone, as he slew the lion\nand hydra and performed other valiant deeds.\n\nWe speak of these heroes as if they had once lived in the flesh and\ndied like mortals, but no one can tell whether or not they are purely\nHeroes of the Myth.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIX\n\nJASON, THE HERO OF THESSALY\n\n\n_Phrixos and Helle_\n\nB\u0153otia is a district northwest of Athens and quite different from the\nAttic plain. The name means The Land of Cattle, because it abounds in\nfat pasture-lands, is moist and fertile, and its beautiful green\nmeadows slope up to the wooded mountains and lead down to well-watered\nvalleys. B\u0153otia was always the paradise of farmers, who from the\nconditions of their life became famous for their stupidity.\n\n  [Illustration: THE TEMPLE TO THESEUS AT THE FOOT OF THE ACROPOLIS\n    IN ATHENS.]\n\nThebes was the capital of B\u0153otia, but each district had its own\nsmaller city and its own ruling family, whose sons called themselves\nkings. One of these petty kings, Athamas, had a son and daughter\nnamed Phrixos and Helle, and when their mother died he took another\nwife, the fair Ino, but she was not as good as she was fair, for she\nwas jealous of her step-children. So she contrived a plot for getting\nrid of them which was well carried out. Ino persuaded all the women of\nthe country to use the seed grain or hide it so that none of it could\nbe used for the next year's crop.\n\nThe women followed the queen's advice and the next year there was a\ngreat famine in the land. The women did not dare to tell their secret,\nalthough their families were beginning to starve. Then Athamas sent to\nthe Oracle at Delphi in order to find out the cause of the trouble,\nand how he might deliver the country from the distress.\n\nBut Ino secretly persuaded the messenger to say that the Oracle had\ngiven the following answer: \"The famine will cease when Athamas has\nsacrificed Phrixos to Zeus.\"\n\nThe king was almost stunned with grief when he received this message.\nHow was it possible for him to sacrifice his own beloved son? But the\nwicked Ino published the false Oracle among the starving people, who,\ndriven by hunger, clamored loudly for the death of Phrixos. The king\nbeing compelled by his people, allowed Phrixos to be led to the altar\nto be sacrificed.\n\nBut the spirit of the child's own mother came down in the form of a\ncloud to save him. She brought a large ram whose fleece was of shining\ngold, and said to the two children: \"My dear unfortunate little ones,\ncome and sit on this golden sheep and he will fly away with you and\ncarry you safely into a far country, where the wicked Ino will no\nlonger have the power of injuring you.\" Then she helped Phrixos to\nmount to the back of the ram and she placed his little sister Helle\nbehind him with both her arms around him, and disappeared.\n\nThe ram flew up into the air like a bird and soared away over\nmountains and valleys and rivers and plains. Away, away they went\nthrough the blue sky until they reached the straits which separate\nEurope from Asia. There Helle lost her balance and fell into the sea.\nIn vain did Phrixos try to save his sister, who cried and stretched\nout her arms to him. The poor child was swallowed by the waves and\ndevoured by sea-monsters. From that time the sea in that place has\nbeen called the Hellespont.\n\nPhrixos sailed on alone, on the back of the ram, which took him to\nthe farthest shore of the Black Sea and landed him at Kolchis. There\nthe king received Phrixos kindly. Phrixos sacrificed the ram to Zeus\nand hung up the golden fleece in a grove which was sacred to Ares, the\nGod of War. The golden fleece was priceless in value and was guarded\nby a terrible sleepless dragon.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XX\n\nJASON CLAIMS HIS THRONE\n\n\nMore than a hundred miles northwest of Athens is Thessaly, the most\nnorthern country of Greece. The greater part of it consists of\nmountains, the highest and steepest of all Greece. Among these the\nloftiest is Mount Olympos, whose summit, with its three snowy peaks\nstanding out like glittering marble against the blue sky, rises high\nabove the surrounding ridges. So glorious and so pure and so high did\nit appear to the ancient Greeks, that they imagined it to be the\ndwelling-place of the gods. It seemed the very end of the world as it\nrose up and shut off this horizon; and they believed the throne of\nZeus, himself, to be on its summit.\n\nWhen the shining crest was obscured by clouds, pious people from many\ncountries around turned to it in awe and said that the Lord of Heaven\nhad hid his face, and waited for him to hurl his lightnings and speak\nin thunder. And the people of Thessaly loved to walk in the Vale of\nTempe, where the wild fig-tree and wild grape, the willow, and ivy\nclung with tough roots to the rugged rocks at the foot of the\nmountain.\n\nThe most mountainous portion of Thessaly was, of course, wild and\ninhospitable. The Centaurs were said to dwell in its gorges and caves,\nand it was claimed that they were wiser and gentler than the Centaurs\nof Arcadia. They were said to have gathered much lore of herbs and\nforest things, and to have been excellent surgeons. The same was told\nby fame of the Thessalian mountain-women, who, while as rugged and\nfierce as the men, were said to be extremely handsome and great\nmistresses in the art of making ointments and magic waters and juices\nfor the casting of spells; in short, they were famous all over Greece\nas the most knowing and dangerous witches.\n\nThe land changed wonderfully where it sloped down to the sea. The\nnarrow valleys spread out into broad plains. The moisture, gathered\nand treasured by the forests and protected by their shade, filtered\nthrough the soil, keeping the grass green for the large herds which at\nthat time were the greatest wealth, both of farmer and king; while the\nthousand rivulets and streamlets that hurried down the mountain-side\nin brooks and torrents ran together and formed handsome rivers which\nscarcely ever became dry or even shallow, as did the small and stony\nstreams of Attica. Many of the rivers of Attica are so small that they\nnever reach the sea at all, but run into the sand and waste\nthemselves, while the Thessalian rivers all carry their waters to the\nsea.\n\nThe largest of them, that which flows through the richest and most\nfertile country, is the Peneus, famed in song and story. In this\nbeautiful land of Thessaly lived a king, Pelias. He really had no\nright to the throne, for he had an older brother. But that brother,\nbeing of a peaceful nature, allowed Pelias to take the crown from him,\nwhile he himself retired to some land he had in the mountains. His\nson, Jason, a handsome youth of great promise, he sent for his\neducation to the wise Centaur, Chiron, who made his home in the\ndeepest mountain-caves.\n\nWhen Jason was twenty years old and his education in manly sports and\nin the art of war, in song and in music, was such as to do honor to\nhis master, Chiron, he was directed by an Oracle to go straight to his\nuncle Pelias and boldly claim his father's kingdom. This was an\nundertaking after his own heart. Shortly after this Pelias celebrated\nthe yearly festival of Poseidon, the God of the Sea, by solemn\nsacrifices offered on the shore. This was a grand national occasion,\nso he invited everyone around and did not dare to leave Jason out.\n\nJason accepted the invitation. He donned the skin of a panther which\nhe had killed himself, and taking two long spears, started on his way.\nNow Pelias had learned from an Oracle that he should lose his kingdom,\nand he was always in fear. The Oracle had said that a descendant of\n\u0152olus would take his crown and throne from him, and that this person\nwould come to him with only one sandal on. Pelias, therefore, was\nalways on the lookout for the man with one sandal.\n\nAs Jason came along he saw an old woman sitting on the bank of a river\nwhich he had to cross. She begged him to take her over. The young\nGreeks were taught that their first duty was to be helpful and\nrespectful to old people. Jason willingly took the old woman in his\narms and carried her over as if she had been a child. She thanked him\nand wished him good luck.\n\nThe current of the river was strong and rapid and it swept away one of\nJason's sandals. He set the old woman down on the shore after crossing\nand then stood in doubt as to whether he had better go back to look\nfor his sandal. The old woman, however, advised him to proceed on his\nway. Then she disappeared. This meeting turned out to be of much\ngreater importance to the young man than he could have imagined, for\nit was the goddess Hera, the Queen of Heaven, herself, who had taken\nthe shape of an old woman to test his kindness and good-breeding.\nBeing pleased with both, she remained his friend and protector.\n\nThe public square was full of people when Jason arrived. His face was\ncomely, his figure heroic, and his long hair hung down to the\npanther's skin on his shoulders. He carried two long spears and walked\nlike a king. Everybody turned in wonder to gaze at him, and some of\nthem said to one another, \"This stranger is no mortal man--he must be\nApollo in disguise.\" Others said, \"No, it is the God of War. Look at\nhis powerful, athletic frame.\"\n\nJust at this moment Pelias came driving by on his chariot drawn by\ntwo fleet-footed mules. His eyes were also attracted by the beauty of\nthe youthful stranger, but when he noticed that he wore only one\nsandal he trembled with fear. Pelias, being old and crafty, concealed\nhis anxiety and received his young kinsman with cordial friendliness\nseemingly. Jason at once announced his right to the king's throne, and\nPelias admitted his claim.\n\nBut Pelias told him that he was too young to take such a responsible\nplace, and suggested that so stalwart a youth ought to do some valiant\ndeed to win the respect and admiration of his people before coming\ninto power. \"The people would not care for thee,\" he said, \"if thou\nshouldst take the crown as a birthright and not because of thy\nprowess.\"\n\nThen King Pelias proposed, as a suitable and honorable test of Jason's\nqualities as hero and leader, that he should cross the Black Sea and\nbring from Kolchis the golden fleece of Phrixos' ram. The wily old man\nhad judged Jason at a glance and knew that no words or offer of his\ncould appeal more powerfully to the young hero's generous instincts;\nhe also knew that the danger of such an undertaking would be\nattractive to his youthful imagination. But he smiled wickedly under\nhis beard when Jason delightedly agreed to his proposal. Pelias\nthought to himself, \"No sane man would ever go on such an expedition,\nand not the bravest man could return alive. He will never come back,\nand I shall remain the King of Iolkos.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXI\n\nTHE EXPEDITION\n\n\nJason cared little about the motives of the king in sending him after\nthe Golden Fleece. His courage ran high and the anticipation of seeing\nother countries and doing valiant deeds filled his mind. He set about\nbuilding a large ship, the finest the world had ever seen, and to do\nthis he employed Argos, a famous shipbuilder. No expense or labor was\nspared, and when the ship was finished it was named the Argo in honor\nof the builder. It was the largest ship that had ever sailed from\nGreece.\n\nWhen the ship was ready Jason assembled the noblest heroes of all\nHellas, Herakles, Kastor and Pollux, Meleagros, Peleus, Admetos,\nTheseus, Orpheus and two sons of Boreas, and many others of great\nrenown. Jason invited them to go with him on this expedition, and\nthey gladly accepted the invitation. They praised the ship; it was\nsuch a remarkable piece of work, and said that Athena must have\nadvised and helped Argos, for no human being could make such a good\nboat. Jason was to be the captain, and all those who embarked on it\nwith him would receive the name Argonauts, which means those who sail\nin the Argo.\n\nBefore sailing, the heroes gathered around the altar of Zeus, and\nJason offered up a sacrifice and prayed for a sign of good luck, if\nthe God looked favorably on their undertaking. Zeus answered with a\npeal of thunder and a flash of lightning, which pleased Jason and gave\nthe heroes courage. At first the voyage went so smoothly that it\nseemed like a grand holiday trip. As they sailed out from the\nolive-clad plains surrounding Iolkos, Orpheus with his god-like voice\nand magic lyre quieted the wild waves of the sea, and inspired the men\non the Argo with love for battle.\n\nIn this way they sailed along until they came to the island of Lemnos,\nwhere they were received in kindly fashion and remained a long time\nenjoying the new scenes and the festivals. Then they set sail again\nand came to a small island where they stayed a short time. Herakles\nhad broken his oar and he wanted to replace it. He left the ship,\ntaking with him a beautiful youth, Hylas, and they went into the woods\nto cut down a tree to make a new oar.\n\nBut the wood-nymphs saw Hylas and said to each other, \"We will keep\nthis beautiful youth to ramble with us in the forest, for he is gentle\nand kind and would be an agreeable companion. He is strong and will\nprotect us against the rude creatures that cause us alarm.\" So they\ncarried Hylas away and hid him, and Herakles would not leave the\nisland without him. Then the Argo sailed on toward Kolchis, and the\nheroes mourned the loss of their two comrades.\n\nThey landed again soon on another island, where lived a king who was\nknown to fame as a great boxer. He was cruel to travellers. He\nchallenged them to boxing matches and killed them in the sport. The\nArgonauts asked him to give them a supply of fresh water for their\nship, and in return he asked them to box with him. Pollux accepted the\nchallenge, and gave him such a beating that his bones were broken.\nThen they took all the fresh water they needed and went back to the\nship. After this, Pollux, instead of the cruel and boastful king, was\nknown as the great boxer.\n\nThe Argo sailed on across the \u00c6gean Sea and through the Hellespont,\nwhere the unfortunate Helle was drowned, and reached the straits of\nthe Bosporus. There were the immense Symplegades, two high cliffs that\nwere not solidly rooted in the ground, but clashed together under the\npower of the winds, making the passage through the sea dangerous. It\nseemed impossible for the Argo to pass them without being crushed.\n\nBut they were saved from this peril by the advice of Phineus, the\nblind old king of the district, who was also a soothsayer. Phineus had\nlong suffered a terrible penalty, which the gods had sent on him for\nsome unkindness, and he had been punished quite enough. Whenever he\nsat down to a meal the Harpies pounced upon his food, devouring the\nmost of it and polluting the rest of it so that it was unspeakably\nfilthy. When the Argonauts asked him to direct them past the\nSymplegades, he promised to do so if they would free him from the\nHarpies. This the Argonauts promised to do.\n\nThey set a table before him laden with food, and the Harpies rushed\ndown with great cries, perching on the table, eating greedily and\nsnatching the food with their brazen claws.\n\nThen the winged sons of Boreas, who were with Jason, rose into the\nair and pursued the Harpies with swords. The feathers of the Harpies\nflew like dirt in a windstorm as they rushed screaming this way and\nthat. They fled from that region, and so Phineus was rescued.\n\nPhineus showed the Argonauts how to steer their ship. He advised them\nto let a pigeon fly across the Symplegades, and if the bird passed\nunhurt they should quickly follow. When the Argonauts had come near\nthe rocks they let a pigeon loose from the prow of their ship. It flew\nthrough between the cliffs, and the clashing together of the rocks\ncaught only the end of its tail. Watching for the moment when the\nrocks should open and swing away from each other, the Argonauts sailed\nbetween them, rowing with all their might.\n\nThey called on Hera for assistance, and the goddess bade the rocks\nmove slowly. The cliffs did not have time to close together upon the\nship, and she got through safely, except that a small portion of the\nrudder was broken off. From that time on the Symplegades became one\nrock and remained firm. After this the Argonauts sailed along the\nwhole coast of the Black Sea toward the east, and finally reached\nKolchis.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXII\n\nJASON FINDS THE GOLDEN FLEECE\n\n\nWhen the Argonauts had drawn their ship up on the beach, Jason\npresented himself before the king and said: \"Oh, king, we have come to\nask thee for the Golden Fleece, which belongs to the Greeks at Iolkos.\nThe ram which it covered was given to Phrixos and he dedicated it to\nZeus; but the Fleece he hung up in the garden sacred to Ares.\nMoreover, the King of Iolkos has sent me to bring it back to Hellas.\"\n\nThe king answered: \"Oh, stranger, thou art welcome to the Fleece. Take\nit back to Hellas, I pray thee. But first thou must yoke two wild\nbulls, which no one has ever yet been able to manage, to a plough, and\nturn up furrows in a field and sow it with dragons' teeth. The bulls\nsnort fire with every breath and have brass hoofs. Beware lest they\nturn upon thee and burn thee to death with the fire of their nostrils,\nand trample thee into the earth.\"\n\nJason did not know how to tame the terrible bulls, and began to\nponder. But Medea, the daughter of the king, saw Jason and pitied\nhim. Medea was very much of a witch and could make all sorts of charms\nand mixtures of enchantment. She gave a magic ointment to Jason and\nsaid: \"Stranger, I would gladly help thee to tame the wild bulls. Take\nthis box of magic ointment and anoint thyself, also the end of thy\nspear and thy shield. It will make thee proof against fire and steel\nfor one day, so that they cannot harm thee.\n\n\"And thou shouldst know that out of the dragons' teeth which thou art\nto sow, men will spring up all clad in armor. Hide thyself where these\nmen cannot see thee, and when they stand close together throw stones\namong them.\" Jason took the drug and did as he was told. He anointed\nhimself and his spear and shield, and went in search of the fiery\nbulls.\n\nAs soon as he found them he went boldly up and hitched them to a\nplough. They breathed fire at him and tried to strike him with their\nbrazen hoofs. But he ploughed the field, turning back furrow after\nfurrow. Then he went back to sow the field with dragons' teeth and hid\nhimself nearby. Soon armed giants arose out of the ground. Jason threw\na large stone into the midst of them, which made them think that some\none of their own company was attacking the others. They began fighting\namong themselves, and became so furious with one another that they\ndid not see Jason approach. He took his sword and slew them all. Then\nhe returned to the king to receive the Golden Fleece.\n\nBut the king was surprised, for he had no intention of keeping his\npromise. He expected that Jason would be slain and never come back.\nAnd he was contriving a plot to burn the ship Argo, and kill Jason's\ncompanions.\n\nJason had done all that the king had required of him and would not\ngive up the idea of taking the Fleece, and the king refused to let him\nhave it. Then Jason went back to Medea for advice. Her admiration for\nthe hero was greater than ever, since she had seen how fearlessly he\nwent about his tasks.\n\nShe led him to the grove where hung the Golden Fleece, and with her\nmagic drugs put the watchful dragon that guarded it to sleep. Jason\nsnatched the Fleece and made for the ship, taking Medea, who had\npromised to be his wife, with him. When the old king missed his\ndaughter he was very angry, and gave pursuit. But Jason and his\ncompanions pushed the boat out into the sea, and unfurling the sails,\nthey swiftly took their way over the waters toward their own land.\n\nAfter many wanderings and perils, the Argonauts came to the Greek\ncoast, and the Argo entered again the sea of their own beloved\ncountry. They reached Iolkos, bringing the world-famous Golden Fleece\nwith them, and the people received them in triumph. But Pelias still\nrefused to give up the throne to Jason, although he gladly took the\nGolden Fleece which the young hero had brought him. So Jason slew him\nand made himself King of Iolkos; and as Medea's father had once\nreigned in Corinth, he added that country to his kingdom.\n\nJason lived in peace ten happy years in Kolchis, and his kingdom\nprospered; but a great trouble came upon his household. Medea, with\nher black arts of witchery and enchantment and her evil heart, could\nnot always please him or hold his affections. He went to Corinth,\nwhere he met the gentle-hearted Kreusa, and her peaceful, kindly\ndisposition won his heart. Now in those days a man was not despised\nand looked upon as a law-breaker if he married more than one wife, for\nthe people had a different standard of right and wrong from that of\nthe present day. And Jason in an unlucky hour took Kreusa for his\nwife.\n\nMedea was maddened with jealousy when she heard of this, and she\nconsulted the evil spirits of her witchcraft to find out how she could\ndo away with Kreusa. She took a beautiful dress and a crown, and\nhaving sprinkled them with an enchanted juice, sent them to Kreusa.\nHer rival accepted the gifts and put them on, but she could never get\nthem off again. They clung to her and burned into her flesh, so that\nshe died. Then Medea took further revenge by burning Kreusa's home;\nand when she found that Jason was angry with her she slew her children\nand fled from Iolkos in a fiery chariot drawn by winged serpents. Poor\nJason, beside himself with grief, went to his good ship Argo, which\nwas now kept as a sacred place for the worship of the gods, and there\nhe died.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIII\n\nORPHEUS, THE HERO OF THE LYRE\n\n\nIn the same land of Thrace in which Jason's family ruled, Orpheus, the\ngreatest musician of Greece, was born. It was said that his mother was\nthe Goddess of Song, and such was the power of his voice and his art\nof playing on the lyre that he could move stones and trees. When the\nwild beasts heard his music they left their dens and lay down at his\nfeet, the birds in the trees stopped singing, and the fishes came to\nthe surface of the sea to listen to him.\n\nOrpheus had a wife, Eurydike, celebrated for her beauty and virtue,\nand he loved her very dearly. One day when Eurydike was gathering\nflowers on the bank of a lake a venomous snake bit her foot and she\ndied. Orpheus could not be consoled. He went off into the wildest\nwaste that he could find and there he mourned day and night till all\nnature shared in his grief. At last he made up his mind to go down\ninto Hades and beg her back of King Pluto, for life was worthless\nwithout her.\n\nOrpheus took his lyre, and singing as he went, found his way down to\nHades through a dismal abyss. Grim Cerberus himself held his breath to\nlisten to the marvellous music. Not one bark did he give from any of\nhis three terrible heads, and when Orpheus passed him he crouched at\nhis feet. So Orpheus entered Hades unhindered, and standing before the\nthrone of Pluto and his pale queen Persephone, he said: \"Oh, king and\nqueen, I have not come down into Hades to see the gloomy Tartaros,\nnor in order to carry away the three-headed warder of your kingdom,\nthe dreadful Cerberus. I came down to implore you to give me back my\nbeloved wife, Eurydike. I cannot bear life without her. To me the\nworld is a desert, and life a burden. Why should she die, so young and\nbeautiful? Have pity on me! If I may not take her back, then I will\nnot again see the light of the sun, but I, too, will remain in the\ngloomy Hades.\"\n\nPluto and Persephone listened in silence to the pleadings of Orpheus.\nHis pathetic voice and the sweet tones of his melodious lyre held them\nlike a charm. The shades of the dead came flocking around him and\nmourned. Tantalos forgot his thirst and listened to the singer's\ncomplaints. Sisyphos, who was compelled to roll a stone to the top of\na mountain whence it always dashed back again to the bottom, ceased\nhis dreadful labor to listen, and the Furies themselves first shed\ntears.\n\n  [Illustration: ORPHEUS LEADING EURYDIKE OUT OF HADES.\n      (From the painting by Corot.)]\n\nPersephone and Pluto were pitiless gods. Their hearts were long since\nhardened to the cries of the living who prayed for the restoration of\ntheir loved ones. But they could not resist the power of the\nenchanting sounds that Orpheus made. They called the spirit of the\nbeautiful Eurydike to them and said to the musician: \"Take thy wife\nEurydike and go up again to the light of the sun. Let her gaze on the\nsmiling sky and see the fields of the upper world. But beware of one\nthing. Let her follow thee and do not turn around to look at her\nbefore reaching the world of the living. If thou shouldst turn and\nlook upon her she will return at once to her place among the dead.\"\n\nOrpheus left Hades in great haste and Eurydike followed him. In the\nmidst of deepest silence they ascended through dismal rocky places.\nThey neared their journey's end. They could almost see the green earth\nwhen Orpheus was seized with a dreadful doubt. \"I hear no sound\nwhatever behind me,\" he said to himself. \"Is my beloved Eurydike\nreally following me?\" He turned his head a little. He saw Eurydike,\nwho followed him like a shadow. But suddenly she began to be drawn\nbackward. She stretched out her arms toward Orpheus as if imploring\nhis help. Orpheus hurried to take her in his arms, but she vanished\nfrom his sight and Orpheus was alone again.\n\nYet he did not despair. Again he descended into Hades and reached the\nriver which separates this world from that of the dead, but the\nboatman, Charon, refused to ferry him across. Seven days and seven\nnights Orpheus remained there without drink or food, weeping and\nmourning. The decree of the gods was not to be changed. When Orpheus\nfound that he could effect nothing he returned to the earth. He\nwandered alone over the mountains and glens of Thrace, which resounded\nwith his plaintive songs day and night.\n\nOne day as he sat upon a grassy spot and played his lyre a troop of\nwild women who were celebrating a festival rushed upon him and tried\nto make him play for them to dance. Orpheus indignantly refused, and\nthey grew angry and handled him so roughly that he died. Where he was\nburied the nightingales sang more sweetly than elsewhere. And his\nlyre, which was thrown into the sea, was caught by the waves, which\nmade sweet music upon it as they rose and fell.\n\nOrpheus was honored by the gods, and after his death they brought him\nto the Abode of the Blessed, where he found his beloved Eurydike and\nwas reunited to her.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIV\n\nPELOPS, THE HERO OF THE PELOPONNESOS\n\n\nSome of the heroes famed in Greek song and story, and whose\ndescendants lived in Greece, had come from foreign countries, many of\nthem from Asia Minor. Greece and Asia Minor had always been closely\nconnected. Travellers from each were in the habit of visiting the\nother country. Sometimes they traded together and sometimes made war\non each other.\n\nOne of the most powerful kingdoms of Asia Minor was Phrygia, and it\nwas ruled by a king of the name of Tantalos, who had at first governed\nwisely and in the fear of the gods. He was made arrogant by\nprosperity, and at length grew so overbearing and cruel even to his\nown son, Pelops, that the gods determined to make an example of him.\nThey sent him living to Tartaros, the portion of Hades reserved for\nthe very worst offenders, there to endure a terrible punishment\nforever.\n\nHe was placed up to his waist in the midst of running water, clear and\ncool, under hanging boughs laden with lovely fruit. Yet he could not\nreach the water or the fruit, and was always faint with hunger and\nthirst. Whenever he bent down to get a drink of water it rapidly\nrushed away from him, and if he lifted up his hand to pluck some of\nthe ripe fragrant fruit, a sudden gust of wind tossed the branches\nhigh up into the air. Poor Tantalos never came nearer than this to\nquenching his thirst or satisfying his hunger.\n\nTo make his misery more unbearable, a huge block of rock was poised\nabove his head, so lightly that it moved with every breeze, and he was\nin perpetual fear of its falling down on him. Pelops, the son whom he\nhad abused in childhood, became a great favorite with the gods, and\nthey wished to make up to him for his father's cruelty. They gave him\na shoulder of ivory to replace the shoulder of which his father had\ndeprived him. When he grew up the gods helped him to leave his native\nland, where he had been ill-treated, and they guided him across the\n\u00c6gean Sea, and around the southern point of Greece to Elis, where\nHerakles had cleaned out the stables of Augeias. The capital of Elis\nwas the city of Pisa, where a king ruled who had a beautiful daughter\nnamed Hippodameia. She must have been very fond of sports and\nathletics, for her name means \"The Tamer of Horses.\"\n\nHippodameia had many suitors, but her father, \u0152nomaos, had heard that\nhe would be dethroned by his daughter's husband, and so he did not\nwish her to marry. He was very warlike, being a son of Ares, the God\nof War, and he determined to kill all the suitors. So he proposed a\nchariot race with each of the wooers, and promised that the one who\nsucceeded in winning the race should have his daughter in marriage; on\nthe other hand, if the suitor lost the race he should be put to death\nby the king.\n\n\u0152nomaos was a famous charioteer, and he had steeds which were swifter\nthan the wind. The race-course began at Pisa, and stretched as far as\nthe Isthmus of Corinth to the altar of Poseidon. \u0152nomaos believed in\nhimself and in his own skill. So great was his self-reliance, and so\nsure was he of the swiftness of his horses, that whenever a suitor\ncame along he let him go ahead with his chariot drawn by four horses,\nwhile he himself first sacrificed a ram to Zeus, and only at the end\nof the ceremony mounted his chariot, having as driver, Myrtilos, and\nbeing armed with a strong spear. Then he would overtake the suitor and\nkill him. Thus he had already killed a great many.\n\nPelops, on his arrival at Pisa, saw Hippodameia, and at once had a\nstrong desire to make her his wife. When he saw that he could not\nconquer \u0152nomaos by fair means he planned a trick. He secretly\napproached the king's charioteer, Myrtilos, and said to him:\n\"Myrtilos, hear what I have to say to thee. Help me to win the race\nand I will give thee half the kingdom when I become King of Pisa.\"\n\nHippodameia, too, who greatly admired the young man, advised the\ncharioteer to lend them his aid. Myrtilos accepted the proposal of\nPelops. On the day of the race \u0152nomaos again waited to sacrifice a ram\nto Zeus, leaving Pelops to drive on ahead, and only mounted his\nchariot after the offering was over, being sure that he should\novertake the suitor as he had done with the others.\n\nBut suddenly a wheel flew off from the king's chariot, and \u0152nomaos\nfell to the ground, hurting himself badly. Myrtilos had removed the\npin which held the wheel on to the axle. Thus Pelops reached the\nIsthmus before the king and won the race.\n\n\u0152nomaos died of his injuries, and Pelops married Hippodameia, and took\npossession of the kingdom. Then Myrtilos demanded half the kingdom as\nit had been promised him by Pelops. But Pelops carried him to the sea\nand cast him into it. On account of this crime the descendants of\nPelops, the Pelopides, had to suffer many misfortunes. Crime and craft\nmay answer an immediate purpose, but they are followed by divine\nwrath.\n\nPelops instituted the famous Olympic games, which were celebrated\nevery fourth year, and lasted five days. And he did many other things\nwhich were of great use to his people. In honor of Pelops, the great\npeninsula, south of the Isthmus of Corinth, was called Peloponnesos,\nwhich means Pelops' Island. The name was not quite correct at the\ntime, for the land was not an island but a peninsula. But after all\nthese thousands of years it has curiously come to pass that the old\nname is a true one, for it was only a few years ago that the Isthmus\nof Corinth was cut in two, and the Peloponnesos was in truth made an\nisland.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXV\n\nPERSEUS, THE HERO OF ARGOS\n\n\nLess than sixty miles in a straight line to the southwest of Athens\nthere is a barren, swampy plain. It is in the Peloponnesos and is\nbounded on all sides by mountains except to the south, where it is\nbounded by the sea. In this plain lies the market-town, Argos, at the\nfoot of a lofty hill, its acropolis, Larisa. There is a citadel on\nthis acropolis which looks off to a high mountain at the north near\nthe Isthmus of Corinth, and the white-streaked hills beyond. And\nnearer to the citadel, on the north, is a higher mountain, the highest\nof the Peloponnesos, where the people used to pray to Zeus and Hera\nfor rain. To the southeast the Larisa looks over a great prison on a\nfortified mountain.\n\nWe have said that the Peloponnesos was the shape of a man's hand. The\nthumb of this hand is a peninsula pointing toward the east and south.\nIn more ancient times this thumb was called the peninsula of Argos.\nThe town, Argos, shares its name with the barren plain in which it is\nsituated, and in olden times it shared it with the peninsula also. The\npeninsula of Argos was quite separate from a larger district, called\nArgolis, until the Romans conquered Greece. But now it is one with the\nentire district, and Argos the town, and Argos the plain, and Argos\nthe peninsula, are all in Argolis.\n\nHera, wife of Zeus and goddess of the heavens, was the patron deity of\nArgos. It is said that she had a contest with Poseidon to see which\nshould name the land, and as she brought the most valuable gift, the\nhonor fell to her. The river Inachos flows through Argos the plain.\nThe first king of Argos was a son of the river-god, Inachos, and the\nocean-nymph, Melia, was his mother.\n\nThe earliest people of Argos must have worked hard to keep the country\nrightly irrigated. They were called Dana\u00e6, doubtless because their\nwork resembled that of the Dana\u00efds, who were said to be punished in\nthe lower world by carrying water in pitchers to fill a broken\ncistern. As fast as they poured water in the cistern it ran out\nthrough the cracks at the bottom. So, too, the Dana\u00e6 carried water to\nthe sandy soil, but it ran into the earth without doing very much\ngood.\n\nThe Dana\u00e6 came from Egypt and were accustomed to farming in the sand.\nThey knew the unsparing pains that must be taken to conquer it, and\nkept at work until the land became fertile enough to repay them. But\nin modern times the plain has lost its fertility because the farmers\ndo not take the same trouble in cultivating the soil.\n\nOne of the earliest of the Argive kings, Danaos, sent his daughters\nout to search for springs as he would have sent them to bring water\nfrom the Nile if they had remained in Egypt. Poseidon, seeing how\nfair one of them was, loved her and caused a spring to flow at Lerna,\nand it is called by her own name, Amyone, to the present time. It was\nthis spring that created the marsh where the terrible Hydra was slain\nby Herakles.\n\nDanaos had many descendants, one after another succeeding him as king.\nThe fifth successor was Akrisios and he had a daughter, Dan\u00e4e. Some\noracle had told him that he would be slain by a son of Dan\u00e4e if she\never had one. This worried the king and he determined that she should\nnever marry. He built a high tower of brass and shut her up in it so\nthat no one could get to her.\n\nDan\u00e4e grew very lonely, shut up in the tower, and she used to watch\nfrom the window to try to catch a glimpse of the people below. No one\nlooked up to notice her, but Zeus saw her from his abode in the\nheavens and was struck with her beauty and loneliness. He sent a\ngolden shower of sunbeams to console her in her prison, and a little\nbabe was born to her, and she called him Perseus, the son of Light.\n\nAkrisios, the king, heard the child's voice and called his daughter to\na holy sanctuary and bade her tell the truth about the babe. This she\ndid, but the king would not believe her. He put her into a box and\nthe child with her and cast the box into the sea to sink or float. The\nbox did float and the kind waves carried it to the island of Seriphos.\nA good old fisherman caught it in a net and took it to his own little\nhut, and thus Dan\u00e4e and her babe were saved.\n\nPerseus grew up to be a strong, handsome lad, and was often seen with\nhis beautiful mother wandering over the island. As Perseus grew older\nhe became his mother's protector and champion and could never do\nenough for her. They continued to live at the cottage of the\nfisherman, who had adopted them as members of his own family.\n\nThe fisherman had a brother, Polydektes, who was king of the island,\nand he was as proud and cruel as the fisherman was simple and kind.\nPolydektes saw the beautiful Dan\u00e4e and resolved to add her to his\npossessions and make her subject to his whims. He feared Perseus,\nhowever, and studied how to get him out of the way. So he called his\nfriends together, among them Perseus, and said that he was looking for\nquaint gifts to send to the wedding of Hippodameia, the daughter of\n\u0152nomaos.\n\nAll the young men came to the court of the king and listened to his\nrequest, and each one promised to go on some quest and find a present\nworthy of the princess. Perseus wanted to outdo all the others, and\nsaid he would bring the head of Medusa if the king desired it.\nPolydektes took him at his word and ordered him to go for it at once.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVI\n\nPERSEUS FINDS THE GORGONS\n\n\nMedusa was the youngest of three sisters known as the Gorgons, who\nlived somewhere in the far west by the ocean. She was the fairest of\nthe three and in her youth had been a famous beauty. But having\ninsulted Athena in her holy temple, that goddess punished her by\nspoiling her beauty in a most ghastly way. She changed her beautiful\nlocks into living snakes. A great horror settled on the face of the\npoor girl, and it became so terrible in its look of agony, with its\nfrightful frame of snakes, that no one could bear the sight. Whoever\nlooked at her turned to stone.\n\nPerseus set forth to find Medusa with the courage of a youth who has\nnever known defeat. The goddess, Athena, who particularly despised\nthe Gorgon, lent him her aid. She advised him to go to three aged\nwomen, who lived in a dark cavern near the entrance to the infernal\nregions. They were old women from their birth, gray-haired, misshapen,\nand had but one eye and a single tooth for the three. These they\nexchanged, each taking a turn at using the tooth and eye, while the\nother two sat toothless and blind.\n\nPerseus approached them quietly, for they were easily alarmed and\nalways on the lookout for something to dread. As they were passing the\neye from one to the other, Perseus seized it, and they pleaded\npiteously for him to restore it. This Perseus refused to do until they\nshould tell him the way to the home of the nymphs who took care of the\ninvisible helmet of Hades and the winged shoes of Hermes, messenger of\nthe gods. The three miserable old women were glad to get back their\neye and tooth, although they were loath to give Perseus the\ninformation he wanted. But they told him the way to find the home of\nthe nymphs, and he went on with a happier heart.\n\nPerseus received the winged sandals from the nymphs and bound them to\nhis own feet. They gave him a mantle, too, which he threw over his\nshoulders. It made him invisible, just as the darkness of night hides\neverything from human eyes. They put the helmet of Hades on his head.\nWhoever wore this helmet could see others, but no one could see him.\nMoreover, Hermes gave him a two-edged sword and Athena gave him a\nshield of brass, which was polished on the inside until it glittered\nlike a mirror and reflected the image of everything back of the person\nusing it.\n\nPerseus, being thus armed, went flying toward the ocean and found the\nGorgons lying on the shore. There were three of them and they were\nsisters. Medusa alone was immortal. The other Gorgons, as well as\nMedusa, had snakes on their heads instead of hair, and large teeth\nlike wild beasts, and iron hands with golden nails. Athena had taught\nPerseus how to approach them without being the victim of Medusa's\ndeadly stare. Instead of facing her, he kept his face turned toward\nhis shield and looked at her image only.\n\nIn this way, guarded by his cloak and helmet of invisibility, he came\nclose to Medusa, and with one blow from his two-edged sword cut off\nthe monster's head. As the blood flowed down over the sand, there\nsprang from it a beautiful white-winged horse. Perseus had brought a\nlarge pouch which the nymphs had given him; a magic pocket that could\nbe distended to almost any size. He hurried the head into the pouch\nwithout looking at it and flew away as fast as his winged sandals\nwould carry him; the other Gorgons followed him in vain, for he was\ninvisible to them.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVII\n\nPERSEUS RESCUES ANDROMEDA\n\n\nOn his way back to the island of Seriphos, Perseus met with many\nadventures. He visited Atlas, expecting the hospitality which the\nGreeks consider due to all strangers. But Atlas did not receive him\nwith courtesy, and Perseus in return held up the Gorgon's head for\nAtlas to gaze at. Atlas was turned into a rocky mountain, and there he\nstands and always will stand with the firmament resting on his head.\n\nIn his flight Perseus reached \u00c6theopia, where King Kepheus reigned.\nThere he saw an immense rock on the coast and a charming maiden was\nchained to the rock. Perseus approached her in pity and said, \"Tell\nme, oh maiden, why thou art bound to this rock! What is thy name and\nwhich is thy country?\" \"I am a princess, the daughter of King\nKepheus,\" answered the girl, \"and my name is Andromeda. My mother\npraised my beauty above that of the daughters of Nereus, displeasing\nthe nymphs themselves and offending the god.\n\n\"The Nereids complained to Poseidon, and in his wrath he sent a\nsea-monster on shore to destroy the people and their flocks and herds\nand devastate the country. The king, my father, inquired of the Oracle\nhow the country might be freed from this calamity. The Oracle made\nreply that the country would be delivered if the king would give up\nhis own daughter to be devoured by the monster. When the people of\n\u00c6theopia heard of the answer of the Oracle they forced my father to\naccede to the terms. They themselves chained me to this rock, and\nevery moment I expect the monster to come and tear me to pieces.\"\n\nNo sooner had Andromeda finished her tale than the monster appeared in\nthe distance. Her father and mother saw him too and wept in despair.\nCrying out to their beloved child, with extended hands they bewailed\nher fate.\n\n\"A truce to tears!\" cried Perseus. \"The brave man sheds no tears in\nthe face of danger! He wastes no words but dares! Shall Perseus, the\nson of Zeus and Dan\u00e4e, having slain Medusa, quail before a\nsea-serpent? I will save thy daughter, but thou must give her to me to\nbe my wife!\"\n\n\"Thou shalt have our daughter for thy wife and our kingdom as well,\"\ncried the king, \"if thou wilt save her!\"\n\nThe waves rose higher and higher around the cliff and the sea-monster\ncame roaring and hissing, with open jaws showing his savage teeth, his\nneck outstretched, and his head reared high above the breakers. Over\nthe waves rose his tremendous back covered with thick, heavy scales,\nand he lashed the waters to a foam with his coiling tail.\n\nThen Perseus, with the aid of his winged sandals, rose up into the air\nand attacked the monster from above. The beast plunged this way and\nthat, leaping up and striking at Perseus with his fangs, diving again\ninto the water and springing out, bellowing in a frightful manner.\n\nTime after time Perseus thrust his sword into the monster, until a\nstream of black blood ran from its throat, and it grew motionless and\ndied. Perseus quickly flew to Andromeda and took off the chains that\nbound her, and she sprang into her father's arms with a cry of joy.\nThe king and queen threw their arms around their beloved daughter and\ncovered her with kisses, and they clasped the hand of Perseus with\ngratitude which they could not express.\n\nThen they returned to the grand castle of Kepheus, promising to\ncelebrate the nuptials of Perseus and Andromeda. The wedding took\nplace amidst great pomp and splendor, but while they were in the midst\nof their festivities the din of arms and battle-cries resounded\nthrough the hall. Phineus, the brother of the king, had come with a\ncrowd of warriors to steal the bride. For Andromeda, before her\nmisfortunes, had been promised to him in marriage, but in the hour of\ndanger he had left her to her fate, a prey to the sea-monster.\n\nNow that she was safe again and in favor, Phineus had come to claim\nher. He said petulantly to Perseus, \"Andromeda belongs to me. I come\nto get her. Neither thy winged sandals nor thy father Zeus shall save\nthee from my wrath. Thou art a robber trying to take my bride from\nme.\"\n\nThen the king answered him angrily. \"Phineus,\" he said, \"thou art a\nboastful coward. In no way does Perseus rob thee of Andromeda. Thou\nhast lost her through thine own fault, for when she was in peril thou\ndidst desert her like a coward, and she would have been devoured by\nthe sea-monster before now if this noble youth had not saved her. My\ndaughter shall wed the man who has saved her from a terrible death.\"\n\nBut Phineus would not yield. Wishing to kill Perseus, he shot an arrow\nat him. At the same time he ordered his band of followers to rush upon\nhim. The arrow did not hit Perseus, who fought single-handed against\nthem all, but as soon as he struck down one foe a new one sprang up in\nhis place. Perseus saw that he could keep on fighting for all time,\nand never conquer this army, which could furnish a new warrior as\noften as one was slain. Having thus fought alone against great numbers\nuntil he saw it was hopeless, Perseus took the head of Medusa out of\nthe pouch where he had kept it and held it up for Phineus and his\nwarriors to gaze upon. Instantly everyone of them was changed to\nstone, and Perseus, taking his bride, returned to the island of\nSeriphos.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVIII\n\nPERSEUS BECOMES KING OF TIRYNS\n\n\nWhen Perseus reached home he did not find the glad welcome to which he\nhad looked forward with all the ardor of a youth who has been for the\nfirst time on an important errand. His mother had taken refuge in a\ntemple at the altar of Zeus to escape the persecutions of King\nPolydektes, who had begun to ill-treat her as soon as Perseus had\ndeparted in search of Medusa. His brother, the fisherman, had tried to\nprotect her and had used hot words in warning the king to desist from\nhis unmanly purpose. But Polydektes turned his wrath upon his brother\nalso, and he, too, could find no refuge save the sacred altars.\n\nPerseus went at once to the king and announced his arrival. The king\nwas uneasy, and yet he did not believe that Perseus had been able to\nkeep his word. He called all the nobles of his court together to\nlisten to what Perseus had to say. Perseus came before them, and\ntaking the fearful head from its covering, held it up for them to look\nat. At once they became stone images, a ghastly court of petrified\nmen. Even the frogs and beetles and other animals in the castle and\nits grounds were turned to stone.\n\nThen Perseus flew to his mother, who was still a beautiful woman in\nspite of all her sorrows. She had long prayed for her son's return,\nalmost without hope, and now that he had really come her joy was\nboundless. Perseus established the fisherman as king of the island in\nhis brother's place, and the people rejoiced that they had been freed\nfrom the tyrant, Polydektes.\n\nPerseus now gave up his winged sandals to Hermes, and asked him to\ncarry the helmet and mantle to the nymphs, but the head of Medusa he\ngave to Athena, who wore it on her shield ever after.\n\nPerseus could not remain idle at Seriphos. He set out for Argos to\nvisit his grandfather, taking his mother and Andromeda. Akrisios,\nsuspecting that he would come, for the words of the Oracle often came\nto his mind, had gone to Thessaly. There at Larissa he had built a\nhome and established himself, hoping that his grandson would be\ncontented to remain in Argos.\n\nBut Perseus went on until he came to Thessaly, and finding some games\ngoing on he took part in them. He threw a discus which accidentally\nstruck his grandfather's foot, giving him a painful wound which could\nnot be cured. Thus the Oracle was fulfilled. Learning whom he had\nkilled and that Akrisios had died according to an old prophecy, he\nmourned for him and buried him with honors outside of the city.\n\nPerseus then returned to Argos, where he had left his wife and mother,\nand he became king of the country in the place of his grandfather,\nAkrisios. But the thought of sitting on a throne whose rightful king\nhe had accidentally killed was distasteful to him, so he exchanged\nkingdoms with Megapenthes of Tiryns.\n\nIt is said that the Persian kings claimed to be descendants from\nPerses, a son of Perseus and Andromeda. However this may be, Perseus\nhas certainly inspired many a poet and artist and hero to express\ngreat actions and courage in word and deed.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIX\n\nTRIPTOLEMOS, THE HERO OF ELEUSIS, AND DEMETER, THE EARTH-MOTHER\n\n\nTwelve miles to the west of Athens is a beautiful hill which ends\nabruptly close to the sea. It is the acropolis or highest point of\nEleusis and is covered with splendid blocks of marble, the ruins of\nwonderful temples which stood there in ancient times. The greatest of\nthese temples was called The Temple of the Mysteries. Demeter, the\nEarth-Mother, was worshipped there.\n\nThe principal road leading to the acropolis of Eleusis begins at the\nacropolis at Athens and is called The Sacred Way. Over this road,\nthousands of years ago, went the stately processions of loose-robed\nGreeks, their beautiful garments fluttering in the winds. Their heavy\nchariot-wheels left deep prints in the rocks, and there they are at\nthe present time. There are ruins of temples to the gods along The\nSacred Way, and the little lambs and kids skip playfully about among\nthem.\n\nA narrow pass between the hills admits you into a flowery meadow. It\nwas here that Persephone played when a child. There are two salt\nlakes in the plain in which only priests were allowed to fish in the\nolden times. There, too, is a well where you stop for a cup of water\nas people have done through the long ages.\n\nThe plain of Eleusis is separated from Attica by a range of low hills\nclad with fields of wheat and barley. At the foot of the acropolis is\nthe sickly little village of Eleusis, but the Island of Salamis rises\nacross the blue waters of the bay like a fairyland shining through a\ndelicate atmosphere of violet tint. This was the kingdom of Keleos and\nhis son Triptolemos, the Hero of Agriculture, and it was the scene of\nthe story of Demeter and Persephone, the story which brings us to the\nHero of Eleusis.\n\nIt is said that Kronos and Rhea were the father and mother of the\ngreatest of the gods, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades or (Pluto) and their\nsister Demeter, the mother of fertility. Though men might plough the\nfields and the rain moisten the swelling seed-grains, it was Demeter\nwho gave the vital touch which caused the new life to spring up.\n\nDemeter had one beloved daughter, Persephone, on whom she bestowed all\nthe tenderness of her divine mother-heart. One day Persephone went out\ninto the blooming meadows to play with her companions. The fields\nwere gay with roses, violets, and lilies. The yellow crocus, the\nasphodel, and the purple and pink narcissus made bank and by-path seem\nlike a soft carpet and filled the air with sweet fragrance.\n\nPersephone stooped to pluck a flower of unusual beauty, when the earth\nsuddenly opened and Hades appeared with a splendid chariot drawn by\nfiery black horses. He seized Persephone, and placing her on his\nchariot, drove away to his kingdom under the earth. Persephone uttered\npiercing cries, praying to the gods and imploring men to come to her\nrescue. But all in vain. Zeus looked on with approval, for he knew\nthat his good brother ought not to be condemned to reign alone in the\ndread realms of darkness.\n\nNow there was a goddess of the night, a torch-bearer who lived in a\ndark cave. Her name was Hekate and she knew the secrets of lonely\nforests and cross-roads and the gloomy underground world. She heard\nthe shrieks of the maiden when Hades seized her; and Helios, too, the\nsun-god who sees everything, saw him bear her away.\n\nThe mother, Demeter, also, heard the cries of her daughter, and an\nunspeakable grief took possession of her. She wandered from place to\nplace, taking neither food nor sleep, beseeching everyone to tell her\nwhere she could find her child. But no one could give her any\ninformation. She yoked her winged snakes to her car and drove with\nlighted torch through every country. Wherever she went she was\nreceived gladly by the people, for she stopped to teach them something\nof agriculture and left her blessing with them when she departed.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXX\n\nDEMETER'S GRIEF\n\n\nOn the tenth day of her wanderings she met Hekate, who said: \"Lovable\nDemeter, who hath robbed thee of thy daughter and plunged thee into\nsorrow? I heard her cries when she was carried off, but I could not\nsee who it was that took her. There is one, however, who sees\neverything, Helios, and he may tell thee where thy daughter is\nconcealed.\"\n\nDemeter gladly took the hint, and with Hekate she set out to find\nHelios, and when they saw his horses and chariot they stationed\nthemselves where they could speak to him. The venerable goddess said\nto him: \"If ever, oh, Helios, I have pleased thee in word or deed, I\npray thee look down from the heavens and tell me truly whether it is a\ngod or a mortal that hath stolen my daughter.\"\n\n\"Honored Queen,\" replied Helios, \"I willingly tell thee all I know.\nHades hath taken thy daughter and led her into the gloomy kingdom\nbelow. But Zeus is the author of this deed, for he gave his permission\nto Hades to make Persephone his wife. Yet thou hast no need to grieve,\nfor Hades is a loving husband and hath given thy daughter an honorable\nplace as queen of his realm.\"\n\nWhen Demeter heard this her grief was unbounded and her anger\nterrible. She left the abode of the gods on Mount Olympos and went\ndown to earth, where she assumed the form of a mortal woman. In her\ntravels on the earth she reached Eleusis, and sat down on a stone near\na spring, from which the people drew water.\n\nAs she sat there two beautiful maidens, daughters of Keleos, the King\nof Eleusis, came to the spring to fill their bronze pitchers with\nwater. They saw the stately woman in garments of mourning, and,\napproaching her, asked with sympathy whence she came and why she sat\nalone so far from the city instead of coming to the houses, where the\nwomen would gladly show her every kindness in word and deed.\n\nDemeter replied: \"May the Olympian gods bestow all good gifts upon\nyou, my daughters. Have pity on me and lead me to the house of some\nchief, where I may be a servant, doing such work as an old woman can\nperform. I can take care of a new-born babe, guard the house, tend the\nbeds, and teach serving-women housework.\"\n\n\"Venerable lady,\" answered one of the daughters, \"I thank thee for thy\ngood wishes, and I will tell thee the names of the foremost men of the\ncity. There are several chiefs of note in Eleusis, but our father is\nthe king and he will give thee royal welcome. Let us take thee to our\nmother, Metaneira, and she will not let thee go into a strange house.\nShe has a little son, and if thou wilt bring him up well she will give\nthee rich gifts.\"\n\nDemeter consented to go, and the girls, after filling their jugs,\nhastened home, where they told the queen, their mother, what they had\nseen and heard. The beautiful Metaneira sent them to call in the aged\nwoman, and they ran back to the spot where they had left her. They\ntook her by the hand and led her to their home, where they presented\nher to their mother.\n\nMetaneira had her baby in her arms and received Demeter kindly.\n\"Welcome, my dear woman,\" she said, \"thou hast come in good time. But\nI cannot treat thee as a servant, for thou dost appear like a\nprincess.\n\n\"The gods often visit us with misfortunes, which we must bear as best\nwe can. Let this home be thine and I will trust this babe of mine to\nthee, that thou mayst rear him. We had no hope of his living when he\nwas born, but the gods had pity on me and let him live. For this\nreason he is much dearer to me. Care for him most lovingly and I will\ngive thee a fitting reward.\"\n\n\"My greeting I give to thee, too, dear lady,\" answered Demeter. \"May\nthe gods give thee all thy desires. I will tend thy child with\naffection as if he were my own.\"\n\nDemeter made herself at home in the large hall of Keleos and undertook\nthe bringing up of the boy. She gave him no other food but ambrosia,\nthat he might never grow feeble with old age. The child throve\nwonderfully and was a joy to everybody. The father and mother were\nastonished at his rapid growth and handsome face.\n\nBut one night Metaneira wished to see how her son was getting along,\nand, going into the room where Demeter was tending him, saw a strange\nsight, for the supposed old woman held him over a fire like a brand.\nMetaneira, terribly frightened, cried out, \"Oh, my child, the stranger\nis burning thee!\"\n\nBut the goddess grew angry, took the child out of the fire, and\nsetting it down on the ground, made reply: \"Surely mortals are blind\nand incapable of telling good from evil. I vow to thee by the waters\nof the Styx that I have rendered thy beloved son immortal. I put him\non the fire that it should render his mortal flesh impervious to the\nills of men. For thee it is an eternal honor that I have lived in thy\nhouse and let thee sit in my presence.\"\n\nAt that instant Demeter threw off her disguise as an old woman and\nappeared in all her glory as a goddess. Her face shone like the sun,\nand a heavenly odor was shed from her robe, and her golden hair\nglittered as it fell over her shoulders.\n\n\"Know that I am the goddess Demeter,\" she said, \"who am honored by\nmortals and immortals. Thou shalt hasten to bid the whole populace of\nEleusis to build me a great temple above the spring on the mountain.\"\n\nMetaneira was speechless with astonishment at what she had heard and\nseen. She began to tremble and did not even take heed of her child,\nwho sat on the floor looking at them with wonder. She went at once to\nher husband and told him all that had happened. King Keleos called his\npeople together in a general assembly and ordered a beautiful temple\nto be built on the acropolis in honor of Demeter.\n\nThe people loved their king and believed his words, and they went to\nwork at once to build the temple. They set about it with such zeal\nthat it was finished in one day, for the goddess gave them divine\nstrength and directed the work. Demeter took up her abode in the\ntemple and remained away from the other gods, still mourning over the\nloss of her daughter.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXI\n\nDEMETER'S JOY\n\n\nPersephone did not return, and the angry goddess grew more angry. She\ndetermined to punish the gods, even though it brought suffering to\nmankind. Indeed there was no other way to punish them. So she forbade\nthe earth to bring forth any more fruit, and there was a great\nfamine. In vain did the oxen pull the plough through the field. In\nvain did the farmer sow the grain. The land was covered with stubble.\nNo flower sprang up on the parched earth; the starving people had no\nsacrifice to offer to the gods, and their altars were left without the\nincense arising from sacred offerings.\n\nNow the gods loved the praises of men, and the incense from their\naltars was most precious to them. They complained to Zeus because they\nwere deprived of their incense, and Zeus saw the cause of it. He sent\nthe rainbow-winged Iris to call Demeter back to Mount Olympos.\n\nThe beautiful messenger flew like a sunbeam through the space between\nheaven and earth, and soon reached Eleusis. She found Demeter in her\ntemple and said to her, \"Dear Mother, I bring a message to thee from\nthe great god Zeus. He commands thee to return to the abode of the\nimmortal gods, and his command no one dares to disobey.\"\n\nBut Demeter received the command with scorn, so Zeus sent all the\ngods, one after another, to entreat her to return, and he sent\npromises of beautiful gifts and courtly honors, but Demeter remained\nunmoved. \"The earth shall yield no fruits,\" she said, \"nor will I\nreturn to the company of the gods until I behold with mine own eyes my\nbeautiful daughter.\"\n\nThen Zeus sent Hermes to Hades to persuade him with sweet words to\ngive up his wife and send her back to her mother since Demeter's anger\ncould not be appeased without her. Hermes went down to the under-world\nto the King of the Dead, and said to him: \"Immortal Hades, father Zeus\nhas charged me to take thy wife from this dark realm back to the light\nof day that her mother may see her, for the anger of the goddess\ncannot be appeased. In her wrath she is starving men and depriving the\ngods of the honors that mortals bestow on them. She hath left the home\nof the gods and will not abide with them. Neither will she speak to\nthem, but lives alone in her temple at Eleusis.\"\n\nThe grim king smiled and said to his wife, \"Persephone, my queen, go\nto thy blue-robed mother and appease her wrath. The winter is over and\nthou must see the light of the sun. But first thou shalt eat with me\nof the pomegranate, the apple of love, for thou dost love me and this\nshall keep thee in remembrance of me.\"\n\nThen Persephone took from the king the pomegranate and ate it, for\nthe grim Hades had made her truly a queen and had done honors to her.\nBut she was glad to return to her mother and the blessed light of the\nday. She mounted the chariot. Hermes took the reins and the whip, and\nthe horses flew over the stony road that led from Hades. On and on\nthey went until they reached the Eleusinian plains and the temple of\nDemeter.\n\nThere they emerged from the cave close to the temple, and a fig-tree\nburst into budding as they came. Demeter stood with outstretched arms\nat the mouth of the cave to receive her daughter. Hermes helped her\nfrom the chariot and Persephone sprang into her mother's arms as the\nflowers of May spring forth on the bosom of earth with the early\nshowers.\n\nNo one can describe Demeter's joy as she beheld once more her beloved\nchild, and pressed her to her heart, covering her with kisses. The\nwhole earth smiled and burst into verdant growth. The fields were\ncovered with grain. The meadows bloomed with gay flowers. The birds\nsang and the people rejoiced.\n\n  [Illustration: THE RETURN OF PERSEPHONE.\n      (Lord Leighton.)]\n\nDemeter drew her daughter into the holiest sanctuary of her great\ntemple and they talked over all that had happened during Persephone's\nlong absence. She told her mother how Hades had stolen her away\nfrom the meadows while she gathered flowers, and how he had treated\nher while she stayed with him in the lower world. She had only words\nof love and honor for the dread King of the Dead.\n\nA whole day mother and daughter passed in an affectionate embrace and\nin exchanging words of love, each pitying the other on account of the\nlong separation. Then Zeus sent Rhea to bring Demeter and Persephone\nto Mount Olympos. And he told them that Persephone might remain with\nher mother until the winter months came back again.\n\nTo this Demeter seriously objected, for she dreaded the separation and\nthe loneliness. But Zeus replied: \"If thy daughter hath eaten of the\npomegranate she is truly wedded to Hades the King of the Dead, and\nmust go back to him to stay during the winter. For the pomegranate is\nthe apple of love, and having shared it with him, he hath part in her\naffection and can claim her as his wife. But if she hath not eaten of\nthe fruit she shall remain with thee and go no more to the gloomy\nrealms below.\"\n\nDemeter was satisfied with these terms and promised that Persephone\nshould return to her honored husband during the winter months, for\nPersephone had told her that she had eaten with him of the\npomegranate and that she loved him in spite of his gloomy\nsurroundings. Then Demeter forgave Zeus for his part in allowing the\nabduction of Persephone, and the mother and daughter descended once\nmore to Eleusis to bestow blessings upon the inhabitants, and from\nthat time on the earth was clad in flowers and foliage as long as\nPersephone stayed with her mother. But it was brown and barren when\nshe returned to the regions of the Dead. And the good Hades warmed the\nearth from below by virtue of his divine power, helping it to produce\nmore abundantly the precious grains and the fragrant flowers.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXII\n\nTRIPTOLEMOS BECOMES A HERO. DEMETER'S GIFT\n\n\nDemeter returned to her home among the gods on Mount Olympos. But\nbefore she went she called Triptolemos, an older son of King Keleos to\nher and gave him her car which was drawn by winged dragons. There is\nnothing more precious to the gods than open, benevolent hearts and\ngenerous hospitality. The poorest and meanest man may be god-like in\ngenerosity, sharing his goods with open hand, as sunshine is poured\nout from the heavens. King Keleos had shown himself a most\nroyal-hearted man in his princely generosity toward the goddess when\nshe came in the guise of a poor old woman, and Demeter resolved to\nbestow upon him and upon mankind, for his sake, a blessing\nproportionate to her power and rank.\n\nSo she gave to Triptolemos something far better than her magic car and\nserpent-steeds. She taught him how to make the plough of iron.\nHeretofore men had ploughed the fields with the crudest of ploughs--a\npointed stick, or an iron bar. She taught him how to turn a furrow and\nput the seed into it, and cover it up so that the birds should not eat\nit.\n\nAnd when summer came she showed him how to cut the grain, to bring it\nin wagons to the barn where he was to thrash it, and to store it away,\nkeeping each kind separate.\n\nTriptolemos, being carried on his wagon through the air, sowed the\nprecious grain all over the inhabited world and turned many a barren\nwaste into a cultivated field. He taught the people everywhere, as\nDemeter had taught him, how to cultivate the soil. Thus he became a\ngreat benefactor to all mankind and induced a better way of living.\nFor when people had farms to take care of, they ceased to roam\naimlessly about the world. They built homes and learned to be\nfriendly, and from this sprang up the government which should protect\nthe home and make men happy and comfortable.\n\nTriptolemos received the honors of a god, and the people of Eleusis\nbuilt a temple to him close to the acropolis, where some of the stones\nof the temple may still be seen. But his best monument is the\ncultivated fields of barley, rye, and oats, and all the grains which\nfrom Demeter (Ceres) we call cereals.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXIII\n\nPROMETHEUS, THE CHAMPION OF MANKIND\n\n\nHeaven and earth were created. The sea rolled its waves against the\nshore and played around the islands. The fishes sported in the waters\nin lively gambols. On the land the birds flew from tree to tree\nsinging with sweetest voices; wild beasts were peaceable; flowers\nthrew out delicious odors; nature beamed with loveliness.\n\nBut mankind could not notice the beauty of nature. Men walked as in a\ndream, for they were not awakened to delicate odors or sweet sounds\nor beautiful forms and colors. They were barbarous and rude; they did\nnot know any of the arts of civilization; they were not even able to\nbuild homes; they lived in caves like wild beasts and fed on nuts and\nfruit.\n\nThe cultivation of the soil was unknown. Men made no difference\nbetween the blooming spring and fruitful summer and the cold winter.\nThey did not know how to cut stone. Like the wild creatures they lived\nin constant fear, crawling about miserably.\n\nPrometheus, the son of Japetos, was wise and good. He looked down from\nhis comfortable abode and saw with pity how man was stupefied and\nenthralled by ignorance, and he wished to deliver him from his unhappy\nstate. At that time Zeus reigned in the heavens; he was the lord of\nthunder and of fire. He stored the fire in the heavens and sent it\ndown to earth in the form of lightning to terrify men but not to help\nthem.\n\nWithout fire upon earth man's condition was hopeless. He needed it for\nmaking tools, if ever he learned to forge metals, for baking clay with\nwhich to make bricks and dishes, for cooking his food, and protecting\nhimself from the biting frosts of winter. But Zeus does not willingly\npart with his treasures, and he looked upon fire as property solely\nhis own. No one could get it from him by open means, and man had not\neven dreamed that he needed it.\n\nPrometheus made it a part of his own duty to teach man the use of fire\nand how to live better by knowing its secrets. So he went to Olympos,\nthe home of Zeus himself, and took a few sparks of the heavenly fire,\nwhich he hid in a hollow reed so that it could not go out. He came\ndown to earth, bringing it to men, and they made a great blaze and\ngave thanks to Prometheus from the depths of their hearts when they\nsaw what it would do.\n\nWhen it grew cold they sat around the big fire and warmed themselves.\nThey began to cook their food, they melted iron and made spears and\ntools. They baked clay which they had moulded into dishes, and it led\non to their inventing all those things that are made by the use of\nfire.\n\nWhen Zeus looked down from the heavens and saw the light of the flames\non the earth he at once became aware that Prometheus had stolen the\nfire from him and given it to mortals. Zeus was greatly alarmed to\nfind his power shared by men, for the lightning had been his sceptre.\nHe called Heph\u00e6stos to his aid, the Blacksmith of the Gods, and his\npowerful servants, Violence and Force, and bade them lead Prometheus\nfar away and chain him to a lofty peak in the Caucasus, a wild\nmountain-range of Scythia.\n\nHeph\u00e6stos loved Prometheus, but he could not disobey the command of\nZeus. When they reached the Caucasus, Violence said to Heph\u00e6stos:\n\"See! we have reached far off Scythia, a desert where no trace of man\nis ever found. Behold the Caucasus! Now is the time to perform the\ntask with which thy father Zeus hath charged thee. Let us chain\nPrometheus to the highest rock with fetters which cannot be broken.\nThus may he learn the will of Zeus and that he is subject to his rule.\nThus, too, will he see where his love for wretched men has brought\nhim.\"\n\nBut Heph\u00e6stos answered: \"Force and Violence, do ye execute the order\nof Zeus, for I have not the heart to fetter a god who is of my own\nkin, to this wild mountain. It must be done, because it is the will of\nZeus, and it is a dangerous thing to disobey him.\"\n\nThen, turning to Prometheus, he said: \"High-minded son of Heaven, it\nis with a sorrowful heart and against my will that I let my servants\nbind thee with never-breaking bonds to this rock. There thou wilt\nnever hear a human voice nor see a human form. Here wilt thou stay\nwith no power to stir, and the burning sun will scorch thee. There is\nno place where thou canst rest thy weary limbs or thy sleepless head.\nThis is thy reward for thy love to mankind. But I would rather bear\nthy punishment than be the tyrant to treat thee so unjustly.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXIV\n\nPROMETHEUS UNBOUND\n\n\nPrometheus was securely bound with iron fetters and fastened to the\nsolid rock. The servants of Heph\u00e6stos increased his tortures with\ntheir bitter speeches. But Prometheus bore his sufferings and their\ntaunts with heroic indifference and courage. As long as they were near\nnot a sound came from his lips. Only when Heph\u00e6stos and his servants\nwere gone did he begin to bewail his unjust punishment.\n\nThe winds carried the sound of his moans far off to the shore of the\nsea. The sea maidens, daughters of old Ocean, heard them and were\nmoved to tearful pity. They hastened on the wings of the salt breeze\nlike a swarm of birds to comfort and cheer him. Nay, more, old Ocean\nhimself came from afar, and rising up from his watery abode, stationed\nhimself near Prometheus to speak to him.\n\n\"I am grieved to the heart, dear Prometheus,\" he said, \"for all that\nthou hast to suffer. I am thy kin, and it breaks my heart to see thee\nlike this. Even apart from our kinship there is no one whom I honor as\nmuch as thee. Tell me, is there any way in which I can help thee?\"\n\nPrometheus, hearing what Okeanos said, made reply: \"What do my eyes\nbehold, friend Okeanos? Hast thou come to see me in my misery? I fear\nme I have only bitter words in exchange for thy kindly greeting. See\nin what manner Zeus treats me, his friend, who hath assisted him to\ngain possession of the throne of the world!\"\n\nOkeanos felt the truth of his words, but thought it better to try to\npersuade Prometheus to submit to Zeus, and so he answered pleadingly:\n\"Curb such overbearing speeches, dear Prometheus, and I will myself\ntry to appease the anger of Zeus.\" But Prometheus quickly replied: \"I\nhave done no evil that I know of, and I will not bow to tyranny and\ninjustice.\n\n\"My fault is this: I loved mankind too well to let them lie helpless\nin stupidity and ignorance. I found them in a pitiable plight. They\nhad eyes but could not see. They had ears but could not hear. Not one\nthing did they know until I taught them. I told them to observe the\nrising and the setting of the sun, moon, and stars. I taught them how\nto count, and write, and remember.\n\n\"I taught them to yoke oxen to their ploughs instead of dragging them\nthemselves. And I showed them how to harness horses to the chariots\nlikewise. I helped them to make boats with oars for the rivers, and\nships winged with white sails to traverse the seas. I taught them the\nhealing power of plants to relieve them in their sickness. From me\nthey learned how to mine for silver and copper, and how to work them.\nIndeed, friend Okeanos, thou mayst well say that all the arts men know\nhow to apply they have learned from Prometheus.\"\n\nZeus sat uneasily on his throne, angry when he saw that the spirit of\nPrometheus was unbroken. \"He still defies me, but I will conquer yet,\"\nsaid the Thunderer; and he sent a cruel vulture to tear and eat his\nvitals every day. At night they grew again and he was healed. But each\nmorning the vulture came and renewed his terrible feast.\n\nTwo thousand years the large hearted, man-loving Prometheus passed in\nsuffering in the Caucasus. At length Herakles came that way in his\nwanderings, when he was trying to find his way to the Garden of the\nHesperides. He broke the iron bands like egg shells and set Prometheus\nfree.\n\nTo tell the truth, Prometheus was too wise for Zeus to have him as an\nenemy forever, for he knew one thing which Zeus did not--he knew the\nfuture. Zeus was aware that there were many important secrets\nconcerning the future which he could learn from no one else. It is\nsupposed that Zeus may have hoped to force Prometheus to yield up his\nsecrets by these punishments, and that on finding out his mistake he\nslyly connived at his victim's liberation because he could not afford\nto be unreconciled to him any longer.\n\nPrometheus has been loved and honored through all the ages. On an\nisland belonging to Greece the people built an altar to him at the\nfoot of a burning mountain. Once a year they put out all their fires\nand sent a ship to Delos to bring a fresh light. They used this new\nflame for kindling again the fires they had extinguished.\n\nAt Athens, Prometheus was held in sacred honor. People held\ntorch-light festivals in memory of him. And on frosty nights, as they\nsat by the fire, they praised the great Prometheus, who could endure\nlong enough to conquer destiny, the hero who had brought them mental\nbalance, \"The Gift of Equilibrium.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXV\n\nDEUKALION, THE CHAMPION OF A NEW RACE\n\n\nDeukalion was the son of Prometheus, and a just and god-fearing man.\nIn the time of Deukalion, Zeus destroyed the human race by means of a\ngreat flood. People had become wicked and godless; they did not fear\nthe gods, and the meaner classes paid no respect to the better, and\nall of them loved every manner of wickedness.\n\nThis state of affairs reached the ears of Zeus. But wishing to take\nthe evidence of his own eyes and see if the stories that came to him\nwere really true, he took the form of a mortal man and went down from\nhis Olympian home to the Earth.\n\nOne evening after sunset he reached Arcadia and asked for a night's\nshelter in the palace of Lykaon, the king. Lykaon was famous for his\nwickedness. Some of the people seemed to see some signs that Zeus was\na god and went down on their knees to him, but Lykaon laughed at their\ncredulity and said: \"Stay till I find out whether he be a god or a\nman!\"\n\nLykaon had a stranger in his palace who had been sent to him as a\nmessenger. Lykaon had the stranger killed and served up as food for\nhis guest. When the dreadful feast was placed before Zeus, he arose at\nonce in anger and left the table, and he shattered the house with a\nthunder-bolt. Lykaon betook himself to flight with all speed. He fled\nto the fields howling like a wild beast.\n\nLykaon tried to speak, but his human voice had left him. His skin\nturned into a wolf's pelt, his hands into paws. He rushed furiously\namong the herds and began to tear and bite cattle and sheep. He had\nbeen changed into a wolf.\n\nZeus, having seen with his own eyes that things were even worse than\nhad been told him, returned to Olympos. He called the gods together in\ncouncil and related to them the wicked deeds he had seen. He ended by\nsaying: \"The whole race of man must surely perish,\" and the other gods\nconsented to his judgment.\n\nAt first Zeus thought it best to send thunder-bolts to destroy the\nevil race, but he feared that the flames might reach from earth into\nthe heavens and burn the whole firmament. He therefore laid aside his\nthunder-bolts and resolved to drown the earth's inhabitants by means\nof a flood. So he ordered the God of the Winds to shut Boreas and all\nthe other winds in his cave, save Notos, only, the wet south wind, who\nwas to go free.\n\nThen Notos flew forth with his damp wings. A thick cloud hid his face\nlike a veil and darkness hung around his head. Water ran down from his\nbrow and his hair. Cloud-bursts broke from the sky and sent cataracts\nof water over the earth, flooding it in every direction. The work of\nthe farmers was stopped and their hopes destroyed in an instant.\n\nBut Zeus was not satisfied with that. He called Poseidon, Lord of the\nSeas, to his assistance. Poseidon came quickly. He spoke to all the\nrivers in a loud commanding voice. \"Leave your beds,\" he cried, \"and\nrush wildly over your banks and flood the world!\" The rivers obeyed,\nand Poseidon himself struck the earth with his trident. The earth\nquaked and, bursting open in many places, let forth torrents of water.\n\nThe waters rose higher and higher. The valleys became one wide lake,\nand soon the tops of the trees were no longer above the water. Man\nand herds were drowned. The altars of the gods were swept away. When a\nhouse remained standing it was soon covered with water. The highest\ntowers disappeared in the flood. Land and sea were no longer\nseparated. The world was all sea--a long, shoreless sea.\n\nSeals gambolled where goats had formerly grazed. Dolphins swam over\nthe cities that were buried beneath the waves. Wolves and sheep, lions\nand tigers huddled close together and swam about as long as they could\nkeep afloat, when they sank below the waters. The deer could no longer\nfind ground for his fleet foot. The birds flew on tired, trembling\nwings searching for a place on which to perch and finally fell into\nthe sea with worn-out wings.\n\nThe people tried to save themselves in any possible way. Some fled to\nthe hills and mountains. Some took refuge in ships and sailed over the\nfields where formerly the plough had moved. By and by the\nmountain-tops were swept by the waves, and the ships were whirled\nabout by the terrible currents and wrecked.\n\nDeukalion and his wife, Pyrrha, were the only ones to be saved. He had\ntaken the advice of his father, Prometheus, to build himself a\nfloating-house in the form of a box and to store in it a great amount\nof food; when the flood came he entered this house with his wife. The\nhouse was carried about nine days and nine nights by the winds. Only\nthe two peaks of Parnassos remained above water. On this mountain the\nfloating-house stuck fast.\n\nWhen Zeus cast his eyes down to earth he saw that everything was\ncovered with water, on the surface of which floated trees and grasses\nand thousands of animals and people who had perished in the flood. And\nhe saw Deukalion and his wife safely anchored on the heights of\nParnassos.\n\nThen Zeus gave commands to Boreas to chase away the black clouds. The\nsun shone again and the waters retreated from the earth, which was\nsoon dry again. Poseidon laid aside his trident and the rivers ran in\ntheir old channels. Woods sprang up and the fields bloomed with\nflowers.\n\nDeukalion and Pyrrha looked around them. Everywhere was loneliness and\nsilence. It was like the solitude of death. Deukalion wept and said to\nhis beloved Pyrrha: \"My dear wife, I do not see a living soul far or\nnear in any direction. Thou art my only companion. All the friends we\nhave known have perished in the flood. We are the only inhabitants of\nthe earth. What will life be worth to us, since we must live alone in\nthe world with no fellow-men. I should like better to live if we had\nother people whom we might love and help and with whom we could enjoy\nourselves. But we will give thanks to Zeus for saving us.\"\n\nThey walked along a little way and came to an altar of the Goddess of\nJustice. There they fell on their knees and said: \"Oh, divine Justice,\ntell us how we may revive the human race which has perished. Oh, help\nus and restore our lost ones to us.\" They listened for the goddess to\nanswer and soon they heard a soft voice reply: \"Veil your faces, oh,\nDeukalion and Pyrrha. Go down the mountain, and as ye go throw\nbackward over your shoulders the bones of your mother.\"\n\nDeukalion and his wife were puzzled at these words and at first they\ncould not tell what they meant. But after some meditation Deukalion\nsaid: \"My dear wife, the earth is our mother and her bones are the\nrocks. As we go down the mountain we will cast behind us the stones\nwhich we find in our pathway.\"\n\nSo they started forth, the founders of a new race, throwing the stones\nand rocks which they met over their shoulders and out of sight. From\nthe stones which they cast there sprang up living men and women; the\nstones which Deukalion threw became men and those which Pyrrha cast\nbecame women.\n\nDeukalion and Pyrrha had many children. One of their sons was called\nHellen. Hellen's children and grandchildren spread over Greece and\nwere called Hellenes, and they gave the name Hellas to Greece.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXVI\n\nD\u00c6DALOS, A HERO OF INVENTION\n\n\nD\u00e6dalos was a native of Athens and descended from one of the most\nancient kings of Attica. It was he who constructed the labyrinth in\nwhich King Minos of Crete locked up the monster Minotaur. D\u00e6dalos was\nthe greatest artist of his time and was master of many useful crafts.\nHe produced wonderful pieces of work in a great many places of the\nworld.\n\nHis statues were so cleverly made that they were taken for living\nbeings. It was thought that they could see and walk about. For while\nthe artists before him sculptured their statues with closed eyes, with\ntheir hands crossed over their breasts, and their feet turned\nsidewise, D\u00e6dalos made statues with open eyes, outstretched arms, and\nfeet pointing forward into space.\n\nD\u00e6dalos had Talos for a disciple, a clever and intelligent youth, who,\nthough but a mere boy, had invented several tools of great usefulness.\nOne day, finding the jaw-bone of a snake he began to cut a piece of\nwood with it. It was hardly sharp enough to answer his purpose, so he\nconstructed a saw of iron on the same plan.\n\nD\u00e6dalos was so jealous of the boy that he pushed him off from the\nAcropolis and the lad died of the injury. When D\u00e6dalos saw what he had\ndone he went to Talos, but found him dead, so he hurried to bury him.\nHe was surprised in the act and brought before the court which met on\nthe hill called Areopagus. He was condemned to death by the court, and\nin order to save himself he fled to Crete.\n\nAt that time Minos was king in Crete. He received the famous artist\nvery kindly and held him in great honor. There D\u00e6dalos did many fine\nworks for Minos besides the famous labyrinth for the Minotaur.\n\nAfter he had stayed some time in Crete he wanted to go away. But Minos\ndid not wish to let him go, and when D\u00e6dalos concealed himself, the\nking searched for him everywhere and gave the order that no ship\nshould take him away from the island.\n\nThe ingenious D\u00e6dalos then meditated a plan of flight. Suddenly he\nexclaimed, \"Minos may watch the sea and the land, but he cannot watch\nthe air. That is still free. I will make me wings and fly away.\"\n\nD\u00e6dalos constructed two large wings and fastened them to his body with\nwax. Moving them with his arms and hands he was able to fly like a\nbird. He made another pair of wings for his son Ikaros, fastened them\nto the boy's body and taught him how to move them. Then he instructed\nIkaros to keep close to him and not to fly too high lest the wax\nshould be melted by the heat of the sun, nor to keep too near the\nsurface of the sea, as he might dip his wings into the water and\nrender them too heavy for flight.\n\nAfter he had given this advice, he flew up first and his son followed.\nAway they went, cutting through the air like two eagles, and soon the\nhigh mountains of Crete were left far behind them. Below them the wide\nsea stretched out its great expanse. The sailors looked up from their\nboats and wondered what these strange beings were.\n\n  [Illustration: D\u00c6DALOS AND IKAROS.\n      (From the painting by Van Dyck.)]\n\nThey flew over fields where farmers were ploughing, and the farmers\ngazed up with astonishment. But D\u00e6dalos and Ikaros flew on and on,\nheedless of all that was going on below. The fishermen forgot to take\nin their fish and the farmers forgot to urge their oxen on with the\ngoad, but kept gazing into the sky until the flying people were out of\nsight.\n\nAt first Ikaros kept close in the wake of his father, but when his\nconfidence grew stronger he rose up higher. He forgot his father's\nadvice and flew very high into the air. Up, up to the sun as nearly as\nhe could go. The wax melted. The wings parted and fell to pieces, and\nIkaros was precipitated like a stone into the sea.\n\nD\u00e6dalos missed the boy in a short time and turned back to look for\nhim. He could not see him anywhere, so he called: \"Ikaros, Ikaros, my\nson, where art thou?\" But Ikaros made no answer. D\u00e6dalos flew about in\ngreat agony, and at last he saw the wings of his son floating on the\nsurface of the sea.\n\nThen D\u00e6dalos knew that his beloved Ikaros was drowned. He descended to\nan island and searched the cliffs, and at length he found the body of\nIkaros, which the waves had washed ashore. With tears and lamentations\nD\u00e6dalos buried his only son, and thus was he punished for the death\nof his disciple, Talos. And the sea in which Ikaros was drowned was\ncalled the Icarian Sea from that time.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXVII\n\nPHAETHON, A HERO OF BAD FORTUNE\n\n\nHelios, the god of the Day, had a famous son whose name was Phaethon.\nHelios drove the chariot of the Sun through the heavens, and Phaethon\nplayed by the sea-shore where his mother lived. She was a daughter of\nOld Ocean and had many daughters of her own. Phaethon grew to be a\nyouth of great promise, but he had one fault, an excessive conceit.\n\nWhen he had grown to be a young man he left his mother's home and went\nto his father to receive the more manly instructions which belong to\nthose of heavenly descent. When he reached the wonderful palace of\nHelios, which was built of gold and precious stones, he sat down and\nrested near the glittering columns, his self-pride growing with the\nthought of being one of the heirs to such an estate.\n\nHe rose and entered the silver gates which shone like mirrors. He\nfound Helios in the palace surrounded by a flood of light, sitting on\na throne shaped out of an emerald. To the right and left of Helios\nstood Hemera (the Day), Men (the Month), Etos (the Year), the \u00c6ones\n(the Seasons), and at equal distance from one another the Hor\u00e6\n(Hours), and Ages unnumbered. There also stood Spring adorned by a\nwreath of flowers, Summer with ears of grain in his hands, Autumn\nladen with juicy fruits, and Winter with his white hair.\n\nPhaethon halted in awe. But Helios, as soon as he perceived him,\nwelcomed him to his palace. He took the crown of golden rays from his\nown head lest its dazzling splendor should blind the eyes of Phaethon,\nand then called him to come nearer.\n\nPhaethon approached with fear and trembling, but Helios called him his\nson and reassured him with endearing words. When Phaethon's eyes had\ngrown somewhat accustomed to the blinding splendor, Helios said to him\nwith fatherly love: \"What has brought my dear child into the heavenly\npalace of his father? Surely this is hardly the place for anyone who\nis accustomed to the cool earth.\"\n\nPhaethon answered: \"Oh, my royal father, I am very unhappy. I am the\nsubject of much gossip and derision. People taunt me because my\nfather lives in the heavens and does not abide in our home on earth.\nThey say that I am not thy son at all, and I have come to thee to get\nthe proof from thee that I am really thy son.\"\n\nNow if Helios had lived upon earth everything would have been burned\nup in the light of his glittering rays, but he felt sorry for his son\nand said: \"Thou art my dear son, indeed. I would gladly leave this\npalace to come and abide in thy home by the sea. But I must drive the\nchariot of the Day. Even the gods are not exempt from duty.\"\n\nThen said Phaethon: \"If thou art indeed my father, thou wilt grant me\nthe boon which I ask of thee.\" \"Ask what thou wilt,\" replied Helios,\n\"and I swear to thee by the waters of the Styx, that I will give it to\nthee.\"\n\nThen Phaethon made answer: \"Let me drive thy chariot for one day and\nall these people who despise me will see that I am thy son.\"\n\nHelios was dismayed when he heard the audacious and unexpected demand\nof his son.\n\n\"What words hast thou spoken, my dear Phaethon!\" he said. \"Thou dost\nask for thine own destruction. Thou dost request a thing that no one\nof the gods would dare to undertake, not even Zeus himself. No one\nbut myself is able to drive my chariot.\"\n\nBut Phaethon would not be persuaded. \"Thou dost not love me, my\nfather,\" he said with tears. \"I see that thou dost not love me. If\nthou didst thou wouldst let me have thy chariot in order that the\nwhole world might see that I am indeed thy son.\"\n\n\"Foolish boy,\" responded Helios, \"just because I love thee shall I let\nthee destroy thyself? Ask any other boon but this.\"\n\n\"Nay, I want the chariot and nothing else,\" replied Phaethon.\n\nHelios was stricken with grief, but he had bound himself by the Great\nOath of the Gods, which cannot be broken. He took Phaethon by the hand\nand led him to his chariot and placed him in it.\n\nThe chariot was a wonderful piece of workmanship done by Heph\u00e6stos.\nThe seat and axle were made of gold. Golden also were the tires of the\nwheels and the spokes were of silver.\n\nWhile Phaethon was yet gazing with wonder at the glittering chariot of\nhis father, the rosy-fingered Dawn opened the dazzling gates of the\nEast, the stars, one after another, set--last of all the Morning Star,\nand the light of the Moon died out.\n\nHelios ordered the Hours to harness up his immortal steeds, which\nwere always fed on nectar and ambrosia. The Hours brought the horses\nup from the stables and yoked them to the chariot. While this was done\nHelios anointed the face of his son with heavenly oil, lest he might\nbe scorched by the fiery rays. Then he placed his radiant crown upon\nPhaethon's head, and sighing bitterly, gave his son this parting\nadvice:\n\n\"My son, do not touch the horses with the whip, but hold on to the\nreins with all thy might. The horses are impetuous and thou wilt find\nit hard to hold them. Keep them well in hand when making the ascent as\nwell as in the descent. First thy course is steeply upward, and on the\nother side it descends rapidly.\n\n\"Do not go near the earth lest thou burn it, and do not rise too high\nor thou wilt set fire to the heavens. The twilight is waning. Go, my\nson, for mortals are looking for the light of Helios. At the last\nmoment I pray thee to change thy mind and hand the reins to me.\"\n\nBut the son, exulting with joy, gathered up the reins, and taking\nleave of his disconsolate father, boldly drove off.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXVIII\n\nTHE DEATH OF PHAETHON\n\n\nThe horses darted forward to their long race, and their first few\nleaps brought them above the highest mountains. Before the eyes of the\nyouth the whole extent of land and sea lay outstretched.\n\nThe deer already had left their shelters and gone up on the heights.\nAll nature seemed to awake. The quiet woods resounded with the songs\nof the birds, which seemed to greet the rising sun. Glittering\ndewdrops hung on the leaves and flowers and shone like diamonds with\nthe light of Helios. Hares and rabbits left their hiding-places and\ncame forth for food. Bees flew humming from flower to flower,\ngathering their precious sweets. The shepherd led forth his bleating\nflocks into the green pastures, the farmer plodded off into the fields\nwith his rural tools. Smoke began to rise from the cottage chimneys.\n\nOnly the owls and other night-birds, unable to bear the light of the\nsun, flew back to their lonely hiding-places, and a few timid flowers\nclosed their petals, but the sun-flowers turned their faces with joy\ntoward the rising sun. Phaethon was entranced by the sight of the\nglorious beauty of awakening nature.\n\nThe horses soon perceived that they were not held by the powerful\nhands of Helios; they also felt that they were not drawing their\naccustomed burden, and as a ship that does not carry the necessary\nballast is tossed about by the waves, so the chariot was jolted\nthrough the air, rising and falling as if it were empty.\n\nThe horses strayed from their path. Phaethon tried to rein them in. He\ndid not know the way and was not strong enough to curb the restive\nsteeds. They ran this way and that, to right and left, under the\nuncertain guidance of their new driver.\n\nOn they flew. They were near the middle of the sky where the road was\nsteepest. Phaethon looked down from the tremendous height upon the\nearth. He became dizzy; his hands trembled and his knees knocked\ntogether. He let the reins go loose; the horses darted forward like\narrows. He pulled them back, and they plunged and stood on their hind\nfeet. He wanted to speak to them, but he did not know their names.\n\nOvercome at last by fear, he threw the reins down on the backs of the\nhorses and clung to the chariot. Having no guidance whatever the\nhorses now started on a wild race. They approached the earth and\nturned everything into a desert; woods and meadows, cities and\nvillages were burnt to ashes. The rivers were dried up and the sea was\nboiling.\n\nAgain the chariot was borne up to an immeasurable height and the earth\nwas relieved of the terrible heat. But now the firmament was in danger\nof being destroyed by fire. Curses and prayers rose to heaven from the\nsuffering people on earth, and cries of fright resounded through\nOlympos.\n\nZeus heard the sighs and wailings and cries, and to save the world\nfrom destruction he hurled his thunder-bolt at the unfortunate\nPhaethon, who fell from the dizzy heights to earth. With tears and\nlamentations his mother searched for the body of her wayward son. She\nfound him near the mouth of a great river which had been burned dry.\n\nThere she buried him, and the sisters of the unfortunate youth shed\nbitter tears over his grave. They could not bear to go away from the\ntomb and leave him lying there alone, so they remained kneeling and\nmotionless until Zeus took pity on them and changed them into weeping\nwillows. Even then they kept on weeping, but their tears were dried\nby the sun and carried away by the streams into the great sea, where\nthey became jewels of amber.\n\nKyknos, too, a friend of Phaethon's, mourned his loss and could not be\ncomforted; so Zeus, in kindness, changed him into a swan. Helios, in\nhis fatherly grief, refused to drive the chariot of the Sun any\nlonger, and the earth was left in darkness for a whole day. But the\ngods entreated him to take the reins again and men prayed for light,\nand from that time on the Sun has kept its true course through the\nheavens, under his wise guidance.\n\n\n\n\nVOCABULARY\n\n\n    Ad m\u0113' tos.\n    \u00c6 g\u0113' us.\n    \u00c6 thra (\u0113' thra).\n    A kris' i os.\n    Alk m\u0113' ne.\n    An t\u00e6 os (an t\u0113' os).\n    A res (\u0101' r\u0113s).\n    A ri ad' ne.\n    As klep' i os, or \u00c6s cu la' pi us.\n    Ath' a mas.\n    Au gei as, or Au ge as (au g\u012b' as, or au g\u0113' as).\n    B\u0153 o' ti a.\n    Ca' cus, or Ka' kos.\n    Cer' be rus, or Ker' be ros.\n    Da' n\u00e4 e (d\u0103).\n    Da' na \u00e6.\n    Da na' i des, or Da' na ids.\n    Da\u00b4 na os.\n    D\u00e6' da los.\n    De' los.\n    De me' ter.\n    Deu ka' li on.\n    Di o me' des.\n    E leu' sis.\n    Eu rys theus (\u016b rys' thuse).\n    Glau' ke.\n    H\u0115\u00b4 ka te.\n    H\u0113' li os.\n    He ph\u00e6s tos (h\u0115 f\u0113s' tos), or Vulcan.\n    Her' a kles or Her' cu les.\n    He si o ne (h\u0115 see' o ne).\n    Hip po da mei a (hip po da m\u012b' a).\n    Hip pol' y te.\n    Hy met' tos.\n    Hy per bo r\u0113' ans.\n    I b\u0113' ri a.\n    I\u00b4 ka ros, or Ic' a rus.\n    I o la os (\u0113 \u014d' la os).\n    I ol kos (\u0113 ol' kos).\n    Jap e tos, or I ap e tus (yap' e tos, or \u0113 ap' e tus).\n    K\u0113\u00b4 le os.\n    Ke pheus (k\u0113' fuse).\n    Kre \u016b' sa.\n    Krom' my on.\n    La ri' sa.\n    Li nos (l\u0113' nos).\n    Lo cri (lo' cr\u0113).\n    Ly ka' on.\n    Me de a (m\u0115 d\u0113' a).\n    M\u0115' ga ris.\n    Me le a gros (m\u0115 le ah' gros).\n    Met a nei ra (met a n\u012b ra).\n    My ke\u00b4 n\u00e6, or My c\u0113' n\u00e6.\n    Myr' til os.\n    Ne me' an.\n    Ne reus (n\u0113' ruse).\n    \u0152 no' ma os.\n    O ke' a nos.\n    Or pheus (or' fuse).\n    Pe leus (p\u0113' luse).\n    Pe li as (p\u0113' li as).\n    Pe lop' i des.\n    Pe lop on nes' os, or Pe lop on nes' us.\n    Per i phe' tes or Kor y ne' tes.\n    Per seph' o ne, or Pro serp' i ne.\n    Pha \u00eb thon (f\u0101' e thon).\n    Phin' e us.\n    Pit' theus.\n    Po sei don (po s\u012b' don).\n    Se' ri phos (s\u0115).\n    Stym ph\u0101\u00b4 los.\n    Sym ple g\u00e4' des (sym ple gah' des).\n    Ta' los.\n    The seus (the\u00b4 suse).\n    Trip tol e mos (trip tol' a mos).\n    Tr\u0153 ze ne (tre z\u0113\u00b4 ne).\n    Vale of Tem pe (tem' pe).\n    Zeus (zuse).\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber's Note\n\nVariant spelling is preserved as printed.\n\nMinor punctuation errors have been repaired. Hyphenation has been made\nconsistent.\n\nThe following amendment has been made:\n\n    Page vii--xiii amended to xi--Introduction xi\n\nThe frontispiece illustration has been moved to follow the title page.\nOther illustrations have been moved where necessary so that they are\nnot in the middle of a paragraph.","title":"Herakles, the Hero of Thebes, and Other Heroes of the Myth: Adapted from the Second Book of the Primary Schools of Athens, Greece","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":32569}