{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/wikisource_The_Age_of_Fable_Chapter_XXII/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/wikisource_The_Age_of_Fable_Chapter_XXII","id":"wikisource_The_Age_of_Fable_Chapter_XXII","license":"Public Domain / CC-BY-SA (see source)","rights_basis":"wikisource_site_inclusion_policy","source":"wikisource","source_url":"https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Age_of_Fable/Chapter_XXII","summary":null,"tags":["Headers_applying_DefaultSort_key","Subpages"],"text":"THE RURAL DEITIES; \u2014 ERISICHTHON \u2014 RHOECUS \u2014 THE WATER DEITIES \u2014 CAMEN\u00c6 \u2014 WINDS\n\nTHE RURAL DEITIES\n\nPan, the god of woods and fields, of flocks and shepherds, dwelt\nin grottos, wandered on the mountains and in valleys, and amused\nhimself with the chase or in leading the dances of the nymphs. He\nwas fond of music, and as we have seen, the inventor of the\nsyrinx, or shepherd's pipe, which he himself played in a masterly\nmanner. Pan, like other gods who dwelt in forests, was dreaded by\nthose whose occupations caused them to pass through the woods by\nnight, for the gloom and loneliness of such scenes dispose the\nmind to superstitious fears. Hence sudden fright without any\nvisible cause was ascribed to Pan, and called a Panic terror.\n\nAs the name of the god signifies all, Pan came to be considered a\nsymbol of the universe and personification of Nature; and later\nstill to be regarded as a representative of all the gods and of\nheathenism itself.\n\nSylvanus and Faunus were Latin divinities, whose characteristics\nare so nearly the same as those of Pan that we may safely consider\nthem as the same personage under different names.\n\nThe wood-nymphs, Pan's partners in the dance, were but one class\nof nymphs. There were beside them the Naiads, who presided over\nbrooks and fountains, the Oreads, nymphs of mountains and grottos,\nand the Nereids, sea-nymphs. The three last named were immortal,\nbut the wood-nymphs, called Dryads or Hamadryads, were believed to\nperish with the trees which had been their abode and with which\nthey had come into existence. It was therefore an impious act\nwantonly to destroy a tree, and in some aggravated cases were\nseverely punished, as in the instance of Erisichthon, which we are\nabout to record.\n\n\u00a0\n\nMilton in his glowing description of the early creation, thus\nalludes to Pan as the personification of Nature:\n\n\"... Universal Pan,\n\nKnit with the Graces and the Hours in dance,\n\nLed on the eternal spring.\"\n\nAnd describing Eve's abode:\n\n\"... In shadier bower,\n\nMore sacred or sequestered, though but feigned,\n\nPan or Sylvanus never slept, nor nymph\n\nNor Faunus haunted.\"\n\n-Paradise Lost, B. IV.\n\nIt was a pleasing trait in the old Paganism that it loved to trace\nin every operation of nature the agency of deity. The imagination\nof the Greeks peopled all the regions of earth and sea with\ndivinities, to whose agency it attributed those phenomena which\nour philosophy ascribes to the operation of the laws of nature.\nSometimes in our poetical moods we feel disposed to regret the\nchange, and to think that the heart has lost as much as the head\nhas gained by the substitution. The poet Wordsworth thus strongly\nexpresses this sentiment:\n\n\"... Great God, I'd rather be\n\nA Pagan, suckled in a creed outworn,\n\nSo might I, standing on this pleasant lea,\n\nHave glimpses that would make me less forlorn;\n\nHave sight of Proteus rising from the sea,\n\nAnd hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.\"\n\nSchiller, in his poem \"Die Gotter Griechenlands,\" expresses his\nregret for the overthrow of the beautiful mythology of ancient\ntimes in a way which has called forth an answer from a Christian\npoet, Mrs. E. Barrett Browning, in her poem called \"The Dead Pan.\"\nThe two following verses are a specimen:\n\n\"By your beauty which confesses\n\nSome chief Beauty conquering you,\n\nBy our grand heroic guesses\n\nThrough your falsehood at the True,\n\nWe will weep not! earth shall roll\n\nHeir to each god's aureole,\n\nAnd Pan is dead.\n\n\"Earth outgrows the mythic fancies\n\nSung beside her in her youth;\n\nAnd those debonaire romances\n\nSound but dull beside the truth.\n\nPh\u0153bus' chariot course is run!\n\nLook up, poets, to the sun!\n\nPan, Pan is dead.\"\n\nThese lines are founded on an early Christian tradition that when\nthe heavenly host told the shepherds at Bethlehem of the birth of\nChrist, a deep groan, heard through all the isles of Greece, told\nthat the great Pan was dead, and that all the royalty of Olympus\nwas dethroned and the several deities were sent wandering in cold\nand darkness. So Milton in his \"Hymn on the Nativity\":\n\n\"The lonely mountains o'er,\n\nAnd the resounding shore,\n\nA voice of weeping heard and loud lament;\n\nFrom haunted spring and dale,\n\nEdged with poplar pale,\n\nThe parting Genius is with sighing sent;\n\nWith flower-enwoven tresses torn,\n\nThe nymphs in twilight shade of tangled thickets mourn.\"\n\nERISICHTHON\n\nErisichthon was a profane person and a despiser of the gods. On\none occasion he presumed to violate with the axe a grove sacred to\nCeres. There stood in this grove a venerable oak so large that it\nseemed a wood in itself, its ancient trunk towering aloft, whereon\nvotive garlands were often hung and inscriptions carved expressing\nthe gratitude of suppliants to the nymph of the tree. Often had\nthe Dryads danced round it hand in hand. Its trunk measured\nfifteen cubits round, and it overtopped the other trees as they\novertopped the shrubbery. But for all that, Erisichthon saw no\nreason why he should spare it and he ordered his servants to cut\nit down. When he saw them hesitate he snatched an axe from one,\nand thus impiously exclaimed: \"I care not whether it be a tree\nbeloved of the goddess or not; were it the goddess herself it\nshould come down if it stood in my way.\" So saying, he lifted the\naxe and the oak seemed to shudder and utter a groan. When the\nfirst blow fell upon the trunk blood flowed from the wound. All\nthe bystanders were horror-struck, and one of them ventured to\nremonstrate and hold back the fatal axe. Erisichthon, with a\nscornful look, said to him, \"Receive the reward of your piety;\"\nand turned against him the weapon which he had held aside from the\ntree, gashed his body with many wounds, and cut off his head. Then\nfrom the midst of the oak came a voice, \"I who dwell in this tree\nam a nymph beloved of Ceres, and dying by your hands forewarn you\nthat punishment awaits you.\" He desisted not from his crime, and\nat last the tree, sundered by repeated blows and drawn by ropes,\nfell with a crash and prostrated a great part of the grove in its\nfall.\n\nThe Dryads in dismay at the loss of their companion and at seeing\nthe pride of the forest laid low, went in a body to Ceres, all\nclad in garments of mourning, and invoked punishment upon\nErisichthon. She nodded her assent, and as she bowed her head the\ngrain ripe for harvest in the laden fields bowed also. She planned\na punishment so dire that one would pity him, if such a culprit as\nhe could be pitied,-to deliver him over to Famine. As Ceres\nherself could not approach Famine, for the Fates have ordained\nthat these two goddesses shall never come together, she called an\nOread from her mountain and spoke to her in these words: \"There is\na place in the farthest part of ice-clad Scythia, a sad and\nsterile region without trees and without crops. Cold dwells there,\nand Fear and Shuddering, and Famine. Go and tell the last to take\npossession of the bowels of Erisichthon. Let not abundance subdue\nher, nor the power of my gifts drive her away. Be not alarmed at\nthe distance\" (for Famine dwells very far from Ceres), \"but take\nmy chariot. The dragons are fleet and obey the rein, and will take\nyou through the air in a short time.\" So she gave her the reins,\nand she drove away and soon reached Scythia. On arriving at Mount\nCaucasus she stopped the dragons and found Famine in a stony\nfield, pulling up with teeth and claws the scanty herbage. Her\nhair was rough, her eyes sunk, her face pale, her lips blanched,\nher jaws covered with dust, and her skin drawn tight, so as to\nshow all her bones. As the Oread saw her afar off (for she did not\ndare to come near), she delivered the commands of Ceres; and,\nthough she stopped as short a time as possible, and kept her\ndistance as well as she could, yet she began to feel hungry, and\nturned the dragons' heads and drove back to Thessaly.\n\nFamine obeyed the commands of Ceres and sped through the air to\nthe dwelling of Erisichthon, entered the bedchamber of the guilty\nman, and found him asleep. She enfolded him with her wings and\nbreathed herself into him, infusing her poison into his veins.\nHaving discharged her task, she hastened to leave the land of\nplenty and returned to her accustomed haunts. Erisichthon still\nslept, and in his dreams craved food, and moved his jaws as if\neating. When he awoke, his hunger was raging. Without a moment's\ndelay he would have food set before him, of whatever kind earth\nsea, or air produces; and complained of hunger even while he ate.\nWhat would have sufficed for a city or a nation, was not enough\nfor him. The more he ate the more he craved. His hunger was like\nthe sea, which receives all the rivers, yet is never filled; or\nlike fire, that burns all the fuel that is heaped upon it, yet is\nstill voracious for more.\n\nHis property rapidly diminished under the unceasing demands of his\nappetite, but his hunger continued unabated. At length he had\nspent all and had only his daughter left, a daughter worthy of a\nbetter parent. Her too he sold. She scorned to be the slave of a\npurchaser and as she stood by the seaside raised her hands in\nprayer to Neptune. He heard her prayer, and though her new master\nwas not far off and had his eye upon her a moment before, Neptune\nchanged her form and made her assume that of a fisherman busy at\nhis occupation. Her master, looking for her and seeing her in her\naltered form, addressed her and said, \"Good fisherman, whither\nwent the maiden whom I saw just now, with hair dishevelled and in\nhumble garb, standing about where you stand? Tell me truly; so may\nyour luck be good and not a fish nibble at your hook and get\naway.\" She perceived that her prayer was answered and rejoiced\ninwardly at hearing herself inquired of about herself. She\nreplied, \"Pardon me, stranger, but I have been so intent upon my\nline that I have seen nothing else; but I wish I may never catch\nanother fish if I believe any woman or other person except myself\nto have been hereabouts for some time.\" He was deceived and went\nhis way, thinking his slave had escaped. Then she resumed her own\nform. Her father was well pleased to find her still with him, and\nthe money too that he got by the sale of her; so he sold her\nagain. But she was changed by the favor of Neptune as often as she\nwas sold, now into a horse, now a bird, now an ox, and now a\nstag,-got away from her purchasers and came home. By this base\nmethod the starving father procured food; but not enough for his\nwants, and at last hunger compelled him to devour his limbs, and\nhe strove to nourish his body by eating his body, till death\nrelieved him from the vengeance of Ceres.\n\nRH\u0152CUS\n\nThe Hamadryads could appreciate services as well as punish\ninjuries. The story of Rh\u0153cus proves this. Rh\u0153cus, happening to\nsee an oak just ready to fall, ordered his servants to prop it up.\nThe nymph, who had been on the point of perishing with the tree,\ncame and expressed her gratitude to him for having saved her life\nand bade him ask what reward he would. Rh\u0153cus boldly asked her\nlove and the nymph yielded to his desire. She at the same time\ncharged him to be constant and told him that a bee should be her\nmessenger and let him know when she would admit his society. One\ntime the bee came to Rh\u0153cus when he was playing at draughts and\nhe carelessly brushed it away. This so incensed the nymph that she\ndeprived him of sight.\n\n\u00a0\n\nOur countryman, J. R. Lowell, has taken this story for the subject\nof one of his shorter poems. He introduces it thus:\n\n\"Hear now this fairy legend of old Greece,\n\nAs full of freedom, youth and beauty still,\n\nAs the immortal freshness of that grace\n\nCarved for all ages on some Attic frieze.\"\n\nTHE WATER DEITIES\n\nOceanus and Tethys were the Titans who ruled over the watery\nelement. When Jove and his brothers overthrew the Titans and\nassumed their power, Neptune and Amphitrite succeeded to the\ndominion of the waters in place of Oceanus and Tethys.\n\nNEPTUNE\n\nNeptune was the chief of the water deities. The symbol of his\npower was the trident, or spear with three points, with which he\nused to shatter rocks, to call forth or subdue storms, to shake\nthe shores and the like. He created the horse and was the patron\nof horse races. His own horses had brazen hoofs and golden manes.\nThey drew his chariot over the sea, which became smooth before\nhim, while the monsters of the deep gambolled about his path.\n\nAMPHITRITE\n\nAmphitrite was the wife of Neptune. She was the daughter of Nereus\nand Doris, and the mother of Triton. Neptune, to pay his court to\nAmphitrite, came riding on a dolphin. Having won her he rewarded\nthe dolphin by placing him among the stars.\n\nNEREUS AND DORIS\n\nNereus and Doris were the parents of the Nereids, the most\ncelebrated of whom were Amphitrite, Thetis, the mother of\nAchilles, and Galatea, who was loved by the Cyclops Polyphemus.\nNereus was distinguished for his knowledge and his love of truth\nand justice, whence he was termed an elder; the gift of prophecy\nwas also assigned to him.\n\nTRITON AND PROTEUS\n\nTriton was the son of Neptune and Amphitrite, and the poets make\nhim his father's trumpeter. Proteus was also a son of Neptune. He,\nlike Nereus, is styled a sea-elder for his wisdom and knowledge of\nfuture events. His peculiar power was that of changing his shape\nat will.\n\nTHETIS\n\nThetis, the daughter of Nereus and Doris, was so beautiful that\nJupiter himself sought her in marriage; but having learned from\nPrometheus the Titan that Thetis should bear a son who should grow\ngreater than his father, Jupiter desisted from his suit and\ndecreed that Thetis should be the wife of a mortal. By the aid of\nChiron the Centaur, Peleus succeeded in winning the goddess for\nhis bride and their son was the renowned Achilles. In our chapter\non the Trojan war it will appear that Thetis was a faithful mother\nto him, aiding him in all difficulties, and watching over his\ninterests from the first to the last.\n\nLEUCOTHEA AND PALAEMO\n\nIno, the daughter of Cadmus and wife of Athamas, flying from her\nfrantic husband with her little son Melicertes in her arms, sprang\nfrom a cliff into the sea. The gods, out of compassion, made her a\ngoddess of the sea, under the name of Leucothea, and him a god,\nunder that of Palaemon. Both were held powerful to save from\nshipwreck and were invoked by sailors. Palaemon was usually\nrepresented riding on a dolphin. The Isthmian games were\ncelebrated in his honor. He was called Portunus by the Romans, and\nbelieved to have jurisdiction of the ports and shores.\n\nMilton alludes to all these deities in the song at the conclusion\nof \"Comus\":\n\n\"... Sabrina fair,\n\nListen and appear to us,\n\nIn name of great Oceanus;\n\nBy the earth-shaking Neptune's mace,\n\nAnd Tethys' grave, majestic pace,\n\nBy hoary Nereus' wrinkled look,\n\nAnd the Carpathian wizard's hook,\n\nBy scaly Triton's winding shell,\n\nAnd old soothsaying Glaucus' spell,\n\nBy Leucothea's lovely hands,\n\nAnd her son who rules the strands.\n\nBy Thetis' tinsel-slippered feet,\n\nAnd the songs of Sirens sweet;\" etc.\n\nArmstrong, the poet of the \"Art of preserving Health,\" under the\ninspiration of Hygeia, the goddess of health, thus celebrates the\nNaiads. P\u00e6on is a name both of Apollo and Aesculapius.\n\n\"Come, ye Naiads! to the fountains lead!\n\nPropitious maids! the task remains to sing\n\nYour gifts (so Paeon, so the powers of Health\n\nCommand), to praise your crystal element.\n\nO comfortable streams! with eager lips\n\nAnd trembling hands the languid thirsty quaff\n\nNew life in you; fresh vigor fills their veins.\n\nNo warmer cups the rural ages knew,\n\nNone warmer sought the sires of humankind;\n\nHappy in temperate peace their equal days\n\nFelt not the alternate fits of feverish mirth\n\nAnd sick dejection; still serene and pleased,\n\nBlessed with divine immunity from ills,\n\nLong centuries they lived; their only fate\n\nWas ripe old age, and rather sleep than death.\"\n\nTHE CAMEN\u00c6\n\nBy this name the Latins designated the Muses, but included under\nit also some other deities, principally nymphs of fountains.\nEgeria was one of them, whose fountain and grotto are still shown.\nIt was said that Numa, the second king of Rome, was favored by\nthis nymph with secret interviews, in which she taught him those\nlessons of wisdom and of law which he imbodied in the institutions\nof his rising nation. After the death of Numa the nymph pined away\nand was changed into a fountain.\n\n\u00a0\n\nByron, in \"Childe Harold,\" Canto IV., thus alludes to Egeria and\nher grotto:\n\n\"Here didst thou dwell, in this enchanted cover,\n\nEgeria! all thy heavenly bosom beating\n\nFor the far footsteps of thy mortal lover;\n\nThe purple midnight veiled that mystic meeting\n\nWith her most starry canopy;\" etc.\n\nTennyson, also, in his \"Palace of Art,\" gives us a glimpse of the\nroyal lover expecting the interview:\n\n\"Holding one hand against his ear,\n\nTo list a footfall ere he saw\n\nThe wood-nymph, stayed the Tuscan king to hear\n\nOf wisdom and of law.\"\n\nTHE WINDS\n\nWhen so many less active agencies were personified, it is not to\nbe supposed that the winds failed to be so. They were Boreas or\nAquilo, the north wind; Zephyrus or Favonius, the west; Notus or\nAuster, the south; and Eurus, the east. The first two have been\nchiefly celebrated by the poets, the former as the type of\nrudeness, the latter of gentleness. Boreas loved the nymph\nOrithyia, and tried to play the lover's part, but met with poor\nsuccess. It was hard for him to breathe gently, and sighing was\nout of the question. Weary at last of fruitless endeavors, he\nacted out his true character, seized the maiden and carried her\noff. Their children were Zetes and Calais, winged warriors, who\naccompanied the Argonautic expedition, and did good service in an\nencounter with those monstrous birds the Harpies.\n\nZephyrus was the lover of Flora. Milton alludes to them in\n\"Paradise Lost,\" where he describes Adam waking and contemplating\nEve still asleep.\n\n\"... He on his side\n\nLeaning half raised, with looks of cordial love,\n\nHung over her enamored, and beheld\n\nBeauty which, whether waking or asleep,\n\nShot forth peculiar graces; then with voice,\n\nMild as when Zephyrus on Flora breathes,\n\nHer hand soft touching, whispered thus: 'Awake!\n\nMy fairest, my espoused, my latest found,\n\nHeaven's last, best gift, my ever-new delight.'\"\n\nDr. Young, the poet of the \"Night Thoughts,\" addressing the idle\nand luxurious, says:\n\n\"Ye delicate! who nothing can support\n\n(Yourselves most insupportable) for whom\n\nThe winter rose must blow, ...\n\n... and silky soft\n\nFavonius breathe still softer or be chid!\"","title":"The Age of Fable/Chapter XXII","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":3270}