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- 


HEROES  AND  HEROINES 

OF  FICTION 

CLASSICAL,  MEDIEVAL,  LEGENDARY 


FAMOUS  CHARACTERS  AND  FAMOUS 
NAMES  IN  NOVELS,  ROMANCES,  POEMS 
AND  DRAMAS,  CLASSIFIED,  ANALYZED  AND 
CRITICISED,  WITH  SUPPLEMENTARY  CITA- 
TIONS FROM  THE  BEST  AUTHORITIES 


BY 

WILLIAM  S.  WALSH 


AUTHOR  OF  "  CURIOSITIES  OF  POPULAR  CUSTOMS,"   "  HANDY-BOOK  OF  LITERARY  CURIOSITIES,' 
"THE  HANDY-BOOK  OF  CURIOUS  INFORMATION,"  "HEROES  AND   HEKOINES 


OF  FICTION  (MODERN  PROSE  AND  POETRY)" 


PHILADELPHIA  AND  LONDON 
J.  B.   LIPPINCOTT  COMPANY 


:W         >  * 
PUBLIC  LIBRARY 


A8TOR,  LENOX  AND 
TILDEN  FOUNDATIONS. 

o  «- 


COPYRIGHT,   IQI5 
BY  J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT  COMPANY 


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PREFACE 


ROUGHLY  speaking,  the  year  1500  forms  the  line  of  cleavage 
between  this  volume  and  its  predecessor  bearing  the  subtitle, 
Modern  Prose  and  Poetry.  But  no  merely  arbitrary  date  can  fur- 
nish a  philosophical  and  consistent  division  between  a  volume  so 
subtitled  and  a  companion  volume  like  the  present,  dealing  not 
only  with  the  characters  of  classic  and  oriental  myth  (these  date 
from  the  unknown  past),  but  also  with  heroes  of  the  folk-lore, 
legend  and  tradition  of  all  times  and  of  that  non-literary  literature 
known  as  the  ballad  and  the  chapbook. 

For  instance,  Captain  Kidd,  as  a  ballad  hero,  properly  belongs 
to  this  volume  (as  the  compiler  has  planned  it)  even  though  the 
eccentric  pirate  flourished  in  the  eighteenth  century.  So  does 
Mother  Shipton,  in  her  quality  as  a  chapbook  heroine,  though 
her  fame  was  established  in  the  seventeenth  century.  So  do 
Uncle  Sam  and  Brother  Jonathan,  because  they  are  of  purely 
popular  origin.  A  distinction  worth  noting  occurs  in  the  case  of 
John  Bull.  Name  and  character  were  originally  invented  by  John 
Arbuthnot  in  a  purely  literary  pasquinade.  In  his  original  form, 
therefore,  Master  Bull  belongs  to  Volume  I.  But  that  original 
and  purely  literary  form  has  been  so  transmogrified  in  the  popular 
imagination,  has  gathered  such  an  accretion  of  details  from  a 
hundred  unidentifiable  sources,  that  the  John  Bull  of  to-day,  the 
protagonist  of  cartooa  and  caricature, ,  ;s«  a,  totally  different  being 
from  the  John  Bull;  *5f]  'Arbuthnot %(, creation.  Therefore  this 
secondary  character  also  obtains  a  niche,  in  the  present  volume. 

Other  "heroes  and  heroines/'  hay£,won  for  themselves  a  dual 
immortality  of  a  similar  sctf  I, :; Cleopatra  and  Julius  Caesar,  for 
example,  are  historic  characters/  b'dbftgirig  to  the  classic  period  of 
antiquity.  But  they  have  obtruded  themselves  into  modern 
"fiction."  When  a  supreme  genius  like  Shakspear  revivifies  them 
in  the  sixteenth  century,  and  makes  them  to  all  intents  and  pur- 
poses current  topics,  their  histrionic  avatars  are  entitled  to  men- 

•  •  • 

in 


iv  PREFACE 

tion  in  any  reference  book  dealing  with  the  modern  drama.  A 
host  of  characters  also  occupy  a  sort  of  double  ground  on  each 
side  of  the  divisional  date.  Representative  instances  are  afforded 
by  the  Carlovingian  heroes  and  heroines  who  first  emerged  into 
popular  literature  in  the  ballads  and  romances  of  the  early  middle 
ages  and  at  last  became  modern  classics  in  the  epic  poems  of 
Bojardo,  Pulci  and  Ariosto.  Turpin,  the  pseudo  father  of  Carlo- 
vingian romance,  was  the  reputed  author  of  the  original  Ronces- 
valles  myth,  and  his  pretended  chronicle,  dating  back  to  the  tenth 
century,  was  the  parent  of  all  that  magnificent  cycle  of  poems, 
romances  and  dramas  which  crossed  our  self-elected  boundary 
of  A.D.  1500,  and  has  asserted  for  the  Carlovingian  tradition  a  new 
eminence  to  modern  Italian  literature.  Precisely  the  same  thing  is 
true  of  the  early  Arthurian  romances  which  in  their  Tennysonian 
form  are  distinct  even  from  so  recent  a  mediasvalist  as  Sir  Thomas 
Malory. 

Consequently  it  follows  that  Orlando,  or  Roland,  and  their 
fellow  paladins  and  the  princes  and  princesses  of  Carlovingian 
fame  require  a  dual  celebration  in  the  volumes  of  this  series. 

By  this  means  each  volume  is  made  complete  in  itself.  But, 
for  the  convenience  of  the  reader,  cross  references  from  one 
volume  to  another  are  included  in  each,  and  for  purposes  of  brevity 
the  present  volume  is  always  alluded  to  as  Vol.  II  and  the  Modern 
Prose  and  Poetry  as  Vol.  I,  though  the  mathematical  distinctions 
do  not  appear  upon  the  title  pages. 

THE  AUTHOR. 

March,  1915. 


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HEROES  AND   HEROINES 

OF  FICTION 

CLASSICAL,  MEDIAEVAL,  LEGENDARY 


Abaddon 


Abdera 


Abaddon  (Heb.  destruction).  In 
the  Old  Testament  the  word  is  used 
as  synonymous  with  hades.  The  Rab- 
bins applied  it  specifically  to  the  low- 
est depth  of  hell.  In  Revelation  ix,  1 1 , 
Abaddon  is  personified  as  the  angel 
of  the  bottomless  pit,  who  "  in  the 
Greek  tongue  hath  his  name  Apol- 
lyon."  Mediaeval  demonographers 
yanked  Abaddon  as  the  chief  in  the 
seventh  hierarchy  of  fallen  angels, 
representing  him  as  a  potent  agent 
in  the  production  of  wars  and  earth- 
quakes. He  is  frequently  identified 
with  Asmodeus  and  with  Sammael. 
Milton,  following  the  Old  Testament, 
uses  the  name  for  hell.  Addressing 
Satan,  the  poet  says: 

In  all  her  gates  Abaddon  rues 
Thy  bold  attempt.    Hereafter  learn  with  awe 
To  dread  the  Son  of  God. 

Paradise  Regained,  iv,  624. 

Abaris,  in  classic  myth,  a  hyper- 
borean priest  of  Apollo  who  came 
from  the  Caucasus  to  Greece  to 
escape  the  plague.  He  abstained 
from  all  earthly  food  and  rode  through 
the  air  on  an  arrow  given  him  by 
Apollo. 

Abbadona,  the  penitent  fallen 
angel  in  The  Messiah  (Ger.  Der 
Messias,  1748-1773),  an  epic  by 
Friedrich  Gottlieb  Klopstock.  Se- 
duced in  a  moment  of  weakness  into 
joining  the  rebellious  host  led  by 
Satan  in  heaven,  he  repented  after 
being  cast  into  hell.  When  Satan 
calls  upon  his  angels  to  conspire 
against  Christ,  Abbadona  alone  raises 
his  voice  in  protest.  At  Calvary  he 


lingers  near  the  cross,  full  of  repent- 
ance, hope  and  fear.  The  best  drawn 
of  all  Klopstock 's  characters — the 
only  one  in  fact  who  is  more  than  a 
shadowy  abstraction — his  fate  excited 
great  interest  in  Germany  while  the, 
poem  was  in  course  of  publication. 
The  Zurich  society  supplicated  for 
him;  in  Magdeburg  his  salvation  was 
solemnly  decreed.  On  the  other 
hand,  a  Lutheran  clergyman  made  a 
long  journey  to  beseech  Klopstock 
not  to  shock  orthodoxy  by  redeeming 
Abbadona.  The  poet  leaned  to  the 
side  of  mercy.  In  the  last  book,  when 
Abbadona  prays  God  to  annihilate 
him,  he  is  restored  to  his  place  in 
heaven.  This  leniency  finds  prec- 
edent in  a  mediaeval  legend  of  the 
Armenian  Christians.  On  the  sixth 
day  of  creation,  when  the  rebellious 
angels  fell  from  heaven  through  the 
opening  which  the  Armenians  call 
Arocea,  but  which  we  call  the  Galaxy, 
one  unlucky  angel  who  had  remained 
unseduced  was  caught  in  the  crowd 
and  fell  with  them.  He  was  not 
restored  until  he  obtained  the  prayers 
of  St.  Basil  in  the  fourth  century. 
See  Southey's  All  for  Love,  note. 

Abdera,  Abderites.  Abdera  was  a 
city  in  Thrace  celebrated  among  the 
ancient  Greeks  for  its  stupidity.  The 
inhabitants  were  the  butts  of  a  cycle 
of  comic  stories  which  descended  from 
the  most  ancient  times  and  which 
were  ulitized  by  Christoph  Martin 
Wieland  in  The  Abderites  (Die  Abderi- 
ten,  eine  sehr  wahrscheinliche  Geschicte 
1774)  a  prose  satire,  really  though  not 


Abelard 

ostensibly  directed  against  the  follies 
of  German  provincial  life.  Accord- 
ing to  all  authorities  the  Abderites 
were  not  deficient  in  ideas,  but  their 
ideas  seldom  suited  the  occasion. 
They  spoke  much,  but  rarely  without 
giving  utterance  to  something  foolish. 
They  seldom  thought  before  acting 
but  when  they  did  think  they  arrived 
laboriously  at  a  more  absurd  con- 
clusion than  if  they  had  not  thought 
at  all.  They  erected  a  fountain  with 
costly  sculptures  and  found  too  late 
that  no  water  could  be  procured  for 
it.  They  put  an  exquisite  little  statue 
of  Venus  upon  a  column  80  feet  high, 
"  so  that  it  might  be  seen  by  all 
travelers  coming  to  the  town."  Their 
chief  magistrate,  by  virtue  of  his 
office,  was  leader  of  the  sacred  chorus. 
Experience  having  taught  them  that 
the  person  elected  for  this  position 
was  sometimes  an  indifferent  musi- 
cian, they  decided  that  the  best  singer 
in  Abdera  should  always  be  chosen 
for  magistrate.  The  lengthiest  epi- 
sode in  Wieland's  book  is  an  adapta- 
tion of  ^Esop's  fable  of  "  The  Ass  and 
his  Shadow."  The  question  as  to 
whether  a  man  who  hires  an  ass, 
hires  likewise  the  ass's  shadow  is 
made  the  subject  of  a  great  lawsuit, 
employing  the  entire  legal  talent  of 
Abdera,  and  dividing  the  town  into 
two  rival  parties  of  Asses  and  Shad- 
ows. 

Abelard,  Peter  (1079-1142),  fa- 
mous as  a  theologian,  a  scholastic 
philosopher,  and  as  the  lover  of 
Heloise  (q.v.).  The  tomb  of  Abelard 
and  Heloise  is  the  most  frequently 
visited  of  all  the  monuments  in  P6re- 
la-chaise  cemetery,  Paris.  Heloise 
survived  Abelard  twenty  years  and 
the  tradition  is  that  when  her  body 
was  lowered  into  the  grave  beside 
him,  he  opened  his  arms  to  receive 
her. 

Enough  that  all  within  that  cave 

Was  love,  though  buried  strong  as  in  the 

grave, 
Where  Abelard,  through  twenty  years  of 

death, 

When  Eloisa's  form  was  lowered  beneath 
Their  nuptial  vault,  his  arms  outstretched, 

and  pressed 
The  kindling  ashes  to  his  kindled  breast. 

BYRON:    The  Island,  Canto  i,  1.  221. 


Abou 

Abgar  or  Abgarus.  Several  kings 
of  Edessa,  in  N.  W.  Mesopotamia, 
bore  this  name.  One  of  them,  Abgar 
XV  (9-46  A.D.),  has  achieved  legend- 
ary renown  through  a  story  endorsed 
by  Eusebius  (Ecclesiastical  History 
i,  13)  to  the  effect  that  when  suffering 
sorely  in  body  Abgar  invited  Christ 
to  Edessa.  Christ  replied  that 
although  unable  to  come  in  person 
He  would,  after  His  ascension,  send  a 
disciple  to  heal  the  king  and  convert 
his  people.  Both  letters  Eusebius 
gives  in  alleged  translation  from  a 
Syriac  document  found  in  Edessa. 
A  familiar  variant,  dating  from  the 
fourth  century,  makes  the  messenger 
from  Abgar  a  painter  who  had  orders 
to  fetch  home  with  him  a  portrait,  if 
he  could  not  bring  the  original.  So 
various  were  the  expressions  which 
flitted  across  the  radiant  countenance 
of  the  Messiah  that  the  artist  was  baf- 
fled. Christ,  divining  his  perplexity, 
washed  His  face  and  dried  it  on  a  linen 
cloth  which  He  gave  to  the  messenger, 
when  lo!  the  sacred  lineaments  were 
found  miraculously  impressed  upon  it. 
Paris,  Rome  and  Genoa  claim  to  pos- 
sess this  cloth.  Pope  Pius  IX  favored 
the  portrait  in  Genoa,  leaving  Rome, 
however,  in  sole  possession  of  the  cog- 
nate portrait  on  St.  Veronica's  napkin. 
See  VERONICA,  ST. 

Abou  Hassan,  in  the  Arabian 
Nights1  Entertainments,  a  young  mer- 
chant of  Bagdad  who  is  conveyed 
while  asleep  to  the  palace  of  Haroun- 
al-Raschid,  and  on  awakening  is 
made  to  believe  that  he  is  in  truth 
the  Caliph.  Twice  this  jest  is  played 
upon  Abou  by  the  facetious  Haroun, 
who  ends  by  making  him  his  favorite. 
The  story  has  been  frequently  drama- 
tized as  in  Abou  Hassan  or  The 
Sleeper  Awakened,  by  Joseph  Tabrar 
(1885).  The  Dead  Alive  (1780)  and 
Abou  Hassan  or  an  Arabian  Knight's 
Entertainment,  by  Arthur  O'Neil 
(1869).  It  has  been  more  frequently 
imitated,  notably  in  the  induction  to 
The  Taming  of  the  Shrew,  where 
Christopher  Sly  is  taken,  dead  drunk, 
into  a  lord's  house  and  waited  on 
when  he  awakes  as  if  he  were  the 
proprietor  of  the  place. 


Abradates 


Achilles 


Abradates,  according  to  Xeno- 
phon's  Cyropadia,  Book  v,  a  king 
of  Susiana  whose  death  prompted  the 
suicide  of  Panthea  (q.v.~).  He  is  the 
first  lover  in  prose  fiction. 

Abraham,  hero  of  a  Latin  poetical 
drama  so  .entitled  by  the  nun  Hros- 
vitha,  who  flourished  about  the 
middle  of  the  tenth  century. 

Abraham  is  a  holy  hermit  who  by 
advice  of  a  brother  hermit  Ephrem 
adopts  his  little  grandchild  Maria. 
He  brings  her  up  in  the  paths  of 
virtue,  but  when  arrived  at  early 
womanhood  a  yearning  after  the 
sinful  world  impels  her  to  elope  in 
company  with  a  young  lover  who 
had  introduced  himself  as  a  monk. 
The  good  Abraham  is  in  despair. 
No  soothing  words  from  Ephrem  can 
console  him.  Learning  that  she  has 
entered  a  house  of  ill-fame  he  sets 
out  in  search  of  her.  Assuming  a 
rakish  disguise  he  sits  down  to  the 
harlot's  banquet  with  anguish  in  his 
heart  and  follows  her  to  her  chamber. 
Here  he  reveals  himself  and  addresses 
her  in  so  mild  and  earnest  an  exhor- 
tation that  she  falls  at  his  feet  in 
sorrow  and  repentance.  She  gladly 
returns  with  him  to  her  cell  and 
resumes  her  holy  life. 

Absyrtus,  in  Greek  myth,  the 
younger  brother  of  Medea.  When 
closely  pursued  by  her  father  JEtes 
in  her  flight  with  Jason  from  Colchis 
she  cut  the  boy's  body  into  pieces  in 
order  to  delay  her  angry  parent.  His 
hand  she  fixed  on  a  prominent  rock,  his 
limbs  she  strewed  along  her  path,  hop- 
ing (nor  hoping  in  vain)  that  the  pa- 
rent's heart  would  bid  him  stop  to  col- 
lect the  scattered  remains.  Ovid  in 
the  description  of  his  exile  from  Rome 
(Tristia,  i)  tells  how  the  rock  was 
pointed  out  to  him  in  A.D.  I  o  near  Tomi 
(Gr.  The  Cuts),  the  Byzantine  village 
to  which  he  was  exiled  by  Augustus. 

Accolon,  in  Malory's  Morte 
d' 'Arthur,  a  knight  of  Gaul  who  ob- 
tained possession  of  King  Arthur's 
sword  Excalibur,  through  the  treach- 
ery of  Morgan  le  Fay.  He  died  after 
his  fight  with  the  king  had  led  to  the 
discovery  of  the  trick  and  the  recov- 
ery of  the  sword. 


Acestes,  in  classic  myth,  a  king  of 
Sicily  who  according  to  Virgil  (dEneid, 
v)  hospitably  entertains  ^Eneas, 
superintends  the  funeral  of  Anchises 
and  joins  in  the  games  to  that  hero's 
memory.  In  a  trial  of  skill  he  dis- 
charges his  arrow  with  such  force 
that  it  takes  fire  from  the  friction  of 
the  air  until  it  burns  itself  out. 

Thy  destiny  remains  untold; 
For,  like  Acestes'  shaft  of  old, 
The  swift  thought  kindles  as  it  flies, 
And  burns  to  ashes  in  the  skies. 

LONGFELLOW:    To  a  Child. 


Achates,  the  loyal  friend  of 
hence  called  Fidus  (or  Faithful) 
Achates  by  Virgil  in  the  Mneid.  The 
name  has  come  to  be  a  synonym  for 
a  chum,  a  crony,  a  devoted  follower. 

The  character  of  Achates  suggests  to  us 
an  observation  we  may  often  make  on  the 
intimacies  of  great  men  who  frequently 
choose  their  companions  rather  for  the 
qualities  of  the  heart  than  for  those  of  the 
head,  and  prefer  fidelity  in  an  easy  comply- 
ing temper  to  those  endowments  which 
make  a  much  greater  figure  among  man- 
kind. I  do  not  remember  that  Achates,  who 
is  represented  as  the  first  favorite,  either 
gives  his  advice,  or  strikes  a  blow,  through 
the  whole  &neid.  —  EUSTACE  BUDGELL  :  The 
Spectator,  No.  385,  May  22,  1712. 

Achelous,  the  largest  river  in 
Greece,  whose  god  is  described  as  the 
son  of  Oceanus  and  Tethys,  and  the 
eldest  of  his  3000  brothers.  He  fought 
with  Hercules  for  Dejanira,  and  was 
beaten,  then  returned  to  the  contest 
in  the  form  of  a  bull  and  was  again 
defeated.  This  time  Hercules  de- 
prived him  of  one  of  his  horns.  See 
AMALTHEA  and  CORNUCOPIA. 

Acheron,  in  classic  myth,  the  son 
of  Gaea  or  Demeter.  He  supplied 
water  to  the  Titans  in  their  contest 
with  Zeus  and  as  a  punishment  was 
turned  into  a  river  of  Hades.  Around 
its  banks  hovered  the  shades  of  the 
dead  (VIRGIL,  sEneid,  vi).  The  name, 
which  means  "  River  of  Woe,"  even- 
tually came  to  designate  the  whole 
of  the  lower  region. 

Achilles,  the  hero  of  Homer's  Iliad, 
son  of  Peleus  (King  of  the  Myrmi- 
dones  in  Thessaly)  and  of  the  Nereid 
Thetis.  His  mother  plunged  him  into 
the  River  Styx  to  make  him  invulner- 


Achilles 


Acrisius 


able,  but  as  she  held  him  by  the  heel 
the  waters  failed  to  reach  that  part  of 
his  body.  Hence  "  Achilles'  heel ' 
has  become  a  stock  phrase  for  a  vul- 
nerable spot,  a  single  besetting  weak- 
ness. She  gave  him  the  choice  of 
living  a  short  and  glorious  life  or  a 
long  inglorious  one  and  he  chose  the 
former.  Phoenix  taught  him  elo- 
quence and  the  arts  of  war.  Chiron 
instructed  him  in  medicine.  On  the 
outbreak  of  the  Trojan  war  he  manned 
50  ships  with  his  Myrmidones,  Greeks 
and  Achaeans,  and  became  the  chief 
bulwark  of  the  Greeks.  When  Aga- 
memnon made  him  surrender  his 
concubine  Briseis,  he  shut  himself  up 
in  his  tent  and  refused  all  further 
participation  in  the  war.  Finally  his 
friend  Patroclus  obtained  permission 
to  use  his  armor,  his  horses  and  his 
men,  but  lost  everything  including 
his  life.  Overwhelmed  with  grief  at 
first,  Achilles  later  was  aroused  to 
wrath.  His  very  voice  put  the  Tro- 
jans to  flight  as  he  rushed  into  the 
conflict.  He  chased  Hector  thrice 
round  the  walls  of  Troy,  then  slew 
him  and  dragged  the  corpse  at  his 
chariot  wheels  to  the  ships.  Later 
he  surrendered  it  to  Priam  who  sued 
for  it  in  person.  The  Iliad  closes  with 
the  funeral  of  Hector.  It  makes  no 
direct  mention  of  the  death  of  Achilles. 
The  Odyssey,  xxiv,  36,  72,  speaks  of 
his  burial  in  a  golden  urn,  his  shade 
is  seen  in  Hades  by  Odysseus.  The 
JEthiopis  of  Arctinus  of  Miletus  tells 
how  at  the  Scean  Gate  Achilles  fell 
before  Troy,  wounded  by  an  arrow 
from  the  bow  of  Paris  which  pierced 
his  vulnerable  heel  (see  also  VIRGIL: 
sEneid,  vi,  57;  OVID:  Metamorphoses, 
xii,  600). 

Homer  portrays  Achilles  as  the 
bravest  and  most  beautiful  of  the 
Greek  heroes,  rejoicing  in  conflict,  yet 
tender  to  his  mother  and  devoted  to 
his  friends,  easily  moved  to  wrath, 
jealou,sly  vindictive  on  any  point  of 
honor,  but  high  souled,  generous 
and  ambitious.  Shakspear  has  out- 
rageously burlesqued  him  in  the 
tragedy  Troilus  and  Cressida  as  a 
petty  spiteful  chief,  too  cowardly  to 
meet  Hector  alone  even  when  the 


latter  is  wearied  and  wounded  and 
finally  slaying  him  by  a  contemptible 
trick. 

The  wrath  of  Achilles  and  the  conse- 
quences of  that  wrath  in  the  misery  of  the 
Greeks  left  alone  to  fight  without  their 
fated  hero;  the  death  of  Patroclus  caused 
by  his  sullen  anger;  the  energy  of  Achilles, 
reawakened  by  his  remorse  for  his  friend's 
death;  and  the  consequent  slaughter  of 
Hector,  form  the  whole  of  the  simple  struc- 
ture of  the  Iliad. — J.  A.  SYMONDS:  The 
Greek  Poets,  vol.  I,  p.  92. 

Acis,  in  Greek  mythology,  a  Sicilian 
shepherd  in  love  with  the  nymph 
Galatea.  His  rival  Polyphemus,  a 
Cyclops,  crushed  him  under  a  huge 
rock.  His  blood  was  changed  into  a 
river  at  the  foot  of  Mount  Etna, 
famous  for  its  coolness,  which  form- 
erly bore  his  name  and  is  now  known 
as  the  Fiume  di  Jacio,  Stream  of  Ice. 
The  inconsolable  Galatea  was 
changed  into  a  fountain  (OviD, 
Metamorphoses,  xiii,  750).  Gay  wrote 
an  opera  on  this  legend,  Acis  and 
Galatea  (1710),  to  which  Handel  con- 
tributed the  music.  This  has  been 
repeatedly  burlesqued,  notably  by 
F.  C.  Burnand  (1863). 

Acontius,  in  classical  mythology,  a 
beautiful  youth  of  the  island  of  Ceos. 
At  the  Delphian  games  in  honor  of 
Diana  he  saw  and  fell  in  love  with 
Cydippe,  daughter  of  an  Athenian 
noble.  Seeking  to  win  her  by  strata- 
gem he  threw  before  her  an  apple 
inscribed  "  I  swear  by  the  sanctuary 
of  Diana  to  marry  Acontius."  Cy- 
dippe read  the  words  aloud  and  threw 
the  apple  away,  but  the  goddess  had 
overheard  the  involuntary  vow  and 
pursued  the  maiden  with  sickness 
until  her  father  was  compelled  to 
surrender  her  to  Acontius. 

William  Morris  has  given  a  modern 
poetical  setting  to  the  ancient  myth 
in  The  Earthly  Paradise.  In  1910 
there  was  unearthed  a  lost  fragment 
of  Callimachus  which  describes  the 
illness  of  Cydippe  and  its  cure.  Dr. 
Hunt  published  it  in  the  Oxyrhynchus 
Papyri,  vii.  The  story  is  also  told 
by  Aristasnitus  and  by  Ovid. 

Acrisius,  in  classic  myth,  king  of 
Argos.  He  shut  up  his  daughter 
Danae  in  a  brazen  tower  because  an 


Actaeon 

oracle  had  predicted  that  she  would 
bring  forth  a  son  who  would  kill  his 
grandfather.  But  here  she  became 
the  mother  of  Perseus  by  Zeus,  who 
visited  her  in  a  shower  of  gold. 
Acrisius  set  mother  and  child  afloat 
upon  the  sea  in  a  chest.  They  were 
rescued  by  Dictys,  a  fisherman,  and 
carried  to  Polydectes ,  king  of  the  island 
of  Seriphos.  When  subsequently 
Perseus  accompanied  Danae  to  Argos, 
Acrisius,  remembering  the  oracle,  fled 
to Larissa.  Perseus followedin disguise 
that  he  might  persuade  him  to  return. 
Both  took  part  unknown  to  each 
other  in  the  public  games  and  the 
son  accidentally  killed  his  father  with 
a  discus.  A  modern  setting  has  been 
given  to  this  myth  by  William  Morris 
in  his  poem  The  Doom  of  Acrisius, 
Earthly  Paradise,  iii. 

Actaeon,  in  classic  myth,  a  famous 
huntsman,  son  of  Aristaeus  and 
Autonoe.  One  day  while  hunting  he 
accidentally  came  upon  Artemis  and 
her  nymphs  as  they  were  bathing  in 
a  forest  pool.  Artemis  straightway 
transformed  him  into  a  stag.  He 
was  pursued  by  his  pack  of  50  dogs 
and  torn  to  pieces  on  Mount  Cith- 
aeron  (APOLLODORUS,  iii,  4;  OVID, 
Metamorphoses,  iii,  131).  Lucian  in 
one  of  his  satires  introduces  Juno  as 
saying  to  Diana  that  she  had  let 
loose  his  dogs  on  Actaeon,  for  fear  lest, 
having  seen  her  naked,  he  should 
divulge  the  deformity  of  her  person. 
Shelley  has  exquisitely  adapted  the 
myth  so  as  to  make  it  symbolical  of 
himself,  struck  down  by  Nature  for 
gazing  too  intently  upon  her  naked 
beauty: — 

'Midst  others  of  less  note  came  one  frail 

form, 

A  phantom  among  men:    companionless 
As  the  last  cloud  of  an  expiring  storm, 
Whose  thunder  is  its  knell;  he,  as  I  guess, 
Had  gazed  on  Nature's  naked  loveliness, 
Actaeon-like,  and  now  he  fled  astray 
With  feeble  steps  o'er  the  world's  wilderness; 
And  his  own  Thoughts,  along  that   rugged 

way, 
Pursued  like  raging  hounds  their  father  and 

their  prey. 

Adonais,  Stanza  31. 

As  the  myth  became  vulgarized 
Actaeon  degenerated  from  an  invol- 
untary to  a  voluntary  intruder  upon 


Adonis 

female  privacy,  a  classic  Peeping 
Tom.  As  such  he  was  a  favorite 
character  in  mediaeval  masks.  Thus 
Marlowe  in  Edward  II  makes  Gaves- 
ton  plan  to  prepare  "  Italian  masks  " 
for  the  entertainment  of  the  king: 

My  men,  like  satyrs  grazing  on  the  lawns. 
Shall  with  their  goat-feet  dance  the  antic 

hay; 

Sometime  a  lovely  boy  in  Dian's  shape, 
With  hair  that  gilds  the  water  as  it  glides, 
Crownets  of  pearl  about  his  naked  arms 
And  in  his  sportful  hands  an  olive  tree, 
To  hide  those  parts  which  men  delight  to  see, 
Shall   bathe   him   in   a   spring;   and   there, 

hard  by, 

One  like  Actaeon,  peeping  through  the  grove, 
Shall  by  the  angry  goddess  be  transform'd, 
And  running  in  the  likeness  of  an  hart, 
By  yelping  hounds  pull'd  down,  shall  seem 

to  die. 

By  reason  of  the  horns  with  which 
his  head  was  decorated  in  art  and 
literature  Actason  grew  to  be  the 
synonym  for  a  cuckold. 

Admetus,  in  classic  mythology,  a 
king  of  Pherae  in  Thessaly  for  whose 
sake  his  wife  Alcestis  (g.z>.)  sacrificed 
herself  to  the  infernal  gods.  When 
Apollo  was  condemned  by  Jupiter,  as 
a  punishment  for  having  slain  a 
Cyclops,  to  enter  the  service  of  a 
mortal,  for  a  year  and  a  day,  he  be- 
came a  shepherd  under  Admetus.  On 
this  incident  Lowell  has  based  his 
poem  The  Shepherd  of  King  Admetus. 
Emma  Lazarus  has  a  poem  Admetus 
(1871)  and  he  appears  in  all  that 
cycle  of  poems  and  dramas  which 
relate  to  Alcestis  (q.v.}.  In  the  June 
division  of  the  Earthly  Paradise 
(1868)  William  Morris  has  set  him- 
self to  take  away  the  reproach  of 
cowardly  selfishness  which  always 
heretofore  attached  to  the  conduct  of 
Admetus  with  regard  to  Alcestis. 
One  of  those  penultimate  sleeps  that 
precede  death  steals  over  the  dying 
man  and  meanwhile  his  wife  elects 
to  be  his  savior.  She  lays  herself  down 
beside  him.  The  old  nurse  comes  at 
morn,  expecting  to  find  Admetus 
dead.  But  it  is  the  king  who  wakes 
up  fresh  and  ruddy.  The  faithful 
heart  of  his  spouse  has  ceased  to  beat. 

Adonis  (Gr.  and  Hebrew  "lord"), 
in  classic  myth,  a  model  of  youthful 
beauty  beloved  by  Aphrodite  (Venus) 
He  died  of  a  wound  from  a  boar's 


Adonis 


6 


Adrastus 


tusk  received  while  hunting.  The 
flower  anemone  sprang  from  his 
blood.  So  great  was  Aphrodite's 
grief  that  Zeus  allowed  Adonis  to  be 
restored  to  the  upper  world  for  six 
months  during  every  year.  This  is 
evidently  a  nature  myth,  referring  to 
the  death  of  vegetation  in  winter  and 
its  revival  in  spring.  The  worship  of 
Adonis  was  of  Phoenician  origin  (see 
THAMMUS).  His  death  and  his  return 
to  life  were  celebrated  in  annual 
festivals,  called  Adonia  in  Athens, 
Alexandria  and  Byblos,  and  feasts  of 
Thammuz  in  Babylon  and  Assyria, 
The  story  of  Adonis  is  told  at 
length  by  Ovid  in  Metamorphoses, 
Book  x,  and  by  Shakspear  in  Venus 
and  Adonis.  Ovid  says  Adonis  was 
educated  by  the  Naiads.  His  beauty 
enthralled  Venus,  who  constituted 
herself  his  companion  in  the  chase. 
Warning  him  against  hunting  boars 
and  the  like  ferocious  animals  she  led 
him  to  a  poplar  shade,  where  she  told 
him  the  story  of  Atalanta.  It  is  at 
this  point  that  Shakspear  begins 
his  poem.  He  describes  Venus's 
efforts  to  win  the  youth's  love,  his 
coldness  towards  her  and  how,  fleeing 
(like  Joseph  from  Potiphar's  wife), 
Adonis  was  killed  by  a  boar.  Venus, 
grief  stricken,  changed  his  blood  into 
the  anemone  or  wind-flower,  as  Ovid 
had  already  described.  The  story 
has  also  been  told  by  the  Italian, 
Giovanni  Battista  Marini  (1623). 

The  word  Adonis  has  passed  into  most 
modern  languages  as  a  synonym  for  male 
beauty. 

A  famous  instance  of  this  use  occurred  in 
English  history  during  the  regency  of  the 
prince  who  was  subsequently  George  IV. 
The  Morning  Post  published  in  March  1812 
a  description  of  His  Royal  Highness  as  "A 
Conqueror  of  Hearts,"  "  an  Adonis  in  love- 
liness," and  more  in  the  same  strain.  Leigh 
Hunt  in  The  Examiner  retorted  that  "this 
'Conqueror  of  hearts'  was  the  disappointer 
of  hopes! — that  this  'Adonis  in  loveliness' 
was  a  corpulent  man  of  fifty! — in  short,  this 
delightful,  blissful,  wise,  pleasurable,  honour- 
able, virtuous,  true  and  immortal  prince,  was 
a  violator  of  his  word,  a  libertine  over  head 
and  ears  in  disgrace,  a  despiser  of  domestic 
ties,  the  companion  of  gamblers  and  demi- 
reps, a  man  who  has  just  closed  half  a  cen- 
tury without  one  single  claim  on  the  grati- 
tude of  his  country,  or  the  respect  of  pos- 
terity!" For  this  bit  of  leze  majest6  Hunt 
was  fined  £500  and  imprisoned  for  two  years. 


Adonis,  a  river  flowing  down  Mount 
Libanus  in  Greece,  named  after 
Adonis,  who  is  fabled  to  have  been 
slain  on  its  banks.  In  the  spring  its 
waters  acquired  a  reddish  tinge  and 
this  natural  phenomenon  regulated 
the  time  of  the  annual  festivals  in 
honor  of  Adonis,  or  as  the  Phoenicians 
called  him,  Thammuz. 

Thammuz  came  next  behind. 
Whose  annual  wound  in  Lebanon  allured 
The  Syrian  damsels  to  lament  his  fate 
In  amorous  ditties  all  a  summer's  day; 
While  smooth  Adonis  from  his  native  rock 
Ran  purple  to  the  sea,  supposed  with  blood 
Of  Thammuz  yearly  wounded. 

MILTON:    Paradise  Lost. 

Adonis's  Gardens,  the  classic  syno- 
nym for  any  short-lived  pleasure; 
pots,  with  lettuce  or  fennel  growing 
in  them,  which  women  carried  about 
with  them  at  the  feasts  of  Adonis. 
As  they  were  thrown  away  the  day 
after  the  festival  the  name  became  a 
proverbial  expression  for  things  which 
grow  fast  and  soon  decay. 

Adramalech  (Heb.  "  the  Mighty, 
Magnificent  King ").  One  of  the 
idols  of  Sepharvaim  whose  worship 
was  introduced  into  Samaria  by 
Salmaneser.  According  to  2  Kings, 
xvii,  31,  "  the  Sepharvites  burned 
their  children  in  the  fire  to  Adrama- 
lech." Milton  makes  him  a  leader 
among  the  fallen  angels  who  is  finally 
overthrown  by  Uriel  and  Raphael 
(Paradise  Lost,  vi,  365).  Klopstock 
in  The  Messiah  introduces  him  as  the 
rival  of  Satan  in  the  diabolical  host, 
jealous  of  the  latter's  supremacy; 
ever  hoping  to  supplant  him  and 
aspiring  even  to  dethrone  the  Al- 
mighty that  he  himself  might  become 
the  God  of  all  created  things.  At  the 
crucifixion  both  he  and  Satan  are 
driven  back  to  hell  by  Abaddon,  the 
angel  of  death. 

Adrastus,  in  classic  myth,  a  king 
of  Argos,  who  during  a  temporary 
exile  in  Sicyon  (where  also  he  occu- 
pied a  throne)  instituted  the  Nemean 
games.  He  married  his  daughter 
Argia  to  Polynices,  son  and  heir  of 
CEdipus,  who  had  been  exiled  by  his 
brother  Eteocles,  and  prepared  to 
restore  him  to  Thebes.  An  oracle 


JEneas 


predicted  that  in  the  great  war  that 
would  ensue  all  save  Adrastus  would 
perish.  Nothing  daunted,  six  heroes 
joined  him,  thus  gaining  for  the  war 
the  title  of  the  Seven  against  Thebes. 
The  prediction  was  fulfilled ;  Adrastus 
alone  surviving  through  the  fleetness 
of  his  horse  Arion  (HOMER,  Iliad, 
xxiii,  346).  Ten  years  later  Adrastus 
raised  a  new  expedition,  composed 
of  the  sons  of  the  fallen  heroes,  and 
hence  known  as  the  Epigoni  or  de- 
scendants. In  this  war  Adrastus  lost 
his  son  ^Egilius  and  died  of  his  re- 
sultant grief.  His  legends  are  told  in 
APOLLODORUS,  iii,  6,  7;  HERODOTUS, 
v,  67;  ^ESCHALUS,  Seven  Against 
Thebes;  EURIPIDES,  Phcenissa  and 
Supplices;  STATIUS,  Thebais. 

JEacus,  in  classical  myth,  king  of 
the  Myrmidons  in  ^Egina.  A  son 
of  Jupiter  famous  for  wisdom  and 
justice.  After  death  he  became, 
with  Minos  and  Rhadamanthtis,  one 
of  the  three  judges  of  the  dead  in 
Hades. 

^Egeon,  in  classic  myth,  a  huge 
monster  with  fifty  heads  and  a  hun- 
dred arms,  who  with  two  brothers 
similarly  gifted  (Cottus  and  Gyges) 
conquered  the  Titans  by  a  simulta- 
neous volley  of  300  rocks.  Virgil 
numbers  him  among  the  gods  who 
stormed  Olympus.  Later  legends 
are  confused;  some  represent  JEgean 
as  one  of  the  gods  who  attacked 
Olympus,  others  make  him  a  marine 
divinity  inhabiting  the  JEgean  Sea. 
Many  even  of  the  more  ancient  author- 
ities call  him  Briareus,  a  discrepancy 
which  Homer  explains,  saying  that 
men  called  him  ^geon,  but  the  gods 
Briareus. 

-dEgeus,  in  classic  myth,  king  of 
Athens  and  father  of  Theseus.  When 
Theseus  went  to  Crete  to  deliver 
Athens  from  the  tribute  it  had  to  pay 
to  Minos,  he  promised  his  father  to 
hoist  white  sails  on  his  return  as  a 
signal  of  safety.  He  forgot  his  prom- 
ise, and  ^geus,  watching  from  a  rock 
on  the  sea-coast,  interpreted  the  black 
sails  as  meaning  that  his  son  had 
perished  and  threw  himself  into  the 
sea.  Hence  the  name  ^Egean  Sea. 
See  also  TRISTAN. 


Mgis,  in  classic  myth,  the  shield  of 
Zeus  (Jove)  fashioned  for  him  by 
Hephasstus  (Vulcan  in  the  Latin 
legends)  and  described  as  so  resplen- 
dent that  it  struck  terror  and  amaze- 
ment among  all  beholders.  The  name 
JEgis  was  also  given  to  a  short  cloak 
worn  by  Athena,  whereon  she  set  the 
head  of  Medusa  given  her  by  Perseus. 
It  was  covered  with  scales  and 
fringed  with  snakes. 

^Egisthus,  in  classic  myth,  son  of 
Thyestes  by  his  own  daughter  Pelo- 
pia.  He  replaced  his  father  on  the 
throne  of  Mycenae  of  which  he  had 
been  deprived  by  Atreus.  He  took 
no  part  in  the  Trojan  War,  hence  we 
hear  nothing  of  him  in  the  Iliad  until 
the  time  when  he  seduced  Clytem- 
nestra,  wife  of  Agamemnon  during 
that  hero's  absence  at  Troy.  See 
AGAMEMNON. 

jEgyptus,  in  classical  mythology,  a 
mythical  prince  of  Egypt,  son  of 
Belus,  and  twin  brother  of  Danaus. 
His  50  sons  were  married  to  the  50 
daughters  of  Danaus  (the  Danaides) 
and  all  but  one  were  murdered  by 
their  wives  on  the  bridal  night. 

tineas,  in  classic  myth,  son  of 
Anchises,  king  of  Dardanus,  and 
Aphrodite.  He  figures  in  Homer's 
Iliad  as,  next  to  Hector,  the  greatest 
of  the  defenders  of  Troy.  Homer 
makes  him  remain  in  the  Troad  and 
found  there  a  new  kingdom  (Iliad, 
xx,  308).  In  Virgil's  sEneid  of  which 
he  is  the  hero,  he  becomes,  after  the 
fall  of  Troy,  the  leader  of  the  Trojan 
exiles  into  their  promised  land, 
Latium  in  Italy,  and  the  ancestor  of 
Romulus,  founder  of  Rome.  Early 
British  myths  added  to  his  distinc- 
tions that  of  being  the  ancestor 
of  Brutus,  founder  of  the  British 
crown. 

All  accounts  agree  that  ^neas  was 
born  on  Mount  Ida.  Not  until  he 
was  attacked  there  by  Achilles  and 
robbed  of  his  cattle,  did  he  take  any 
part  in  the  Trojan  War.  Then  he 
led  his  Dardanians  to  the  besieged 
city.  In  some  of  the  Greek  post- 
Homeric  traditions  he  is  represented 
as  absent  from  the  sack  of  Troy. 
But  the  Latin  legend  emblazoned  by 


.(Eneas 


8 


-dEsculapius 


Virgil  in  the  JEneid  (left  unfinished 
at  the  poet's  death  B.C.  19)  is  the 
favorite.  There  he  escaped  from  the 
burning  ruins,  carrying  his  father 
Anchises  on  his  back  and  leading  by 
the  hand  his  son  lulus.  On  the  way, 
however,  he  lost  forever  his  wife 
Creusa. 

With  Achates  and  other  refugee 
he   sailed   to   Thrace;   to   Delos;   to 
Epirus     (where     Andromache,     the 
widow  of  Hector,  was  now  the  wife 
of    King    Helenus,    another    Trojan 
refugee);  to  Sicily  (where  his  father 
Anchises  died  and  was  buried),  and 
then  his  fleet  was  driven  by  a  storm 
on  the  shores  of  Africa.     Here  oc- 
curred his  episode  with  Queen  Dido, 
of  Carthage.  Later,  in  Cumae,  he  met 
the  Sibyl,  who  escorted  him  to  Lake 
Avernus,  whence  he  descended  into 
Hades.      Escaping     Circe    and    the 
Sirens,  ^Eneas  and  his  Trojans  finally 
reach     their     destination,     Latium, 
whereof  Latinus  is  the  reigning  king. 
Latinus    forewarned    by    an    oracle, 
recognizes  in  the  stranger  the  destined 
husband  of  his  daughter  Lavinia,  who 
accordingly  breaks  her  engagement 
to  Prince  Turnus.     The  jilted  lover 
declares  war,  and  ends  by  putting  the 
issue  to  a  single  combat  with  ^Eneas, 
who  slays  him. 

Here  the  story  was  left  by  Virgil. 
According  to  Livy  (i,  I,  2)  ^Eneas 
married  Lavinia,  succeeded  Latinus 
on  the  throne  of  Latium  and  was 
slain  in  battle  by  the  Rutuli.  ^Eneas 
Silvus,  his  son  by  Lavinia,  succeeded 
him  and  became  the  founder  of  the 
Roman  empire.  Numerous  versions 
of  the  ^Eneas  myth,  most  of  them 
carrying  on  the  story  of  his  advent- 
ures to  his  death  were  produced  in 
the  middle  ages.  Among  these  are 
the  French  Roman  d' Eneas  (circa 
1 1 60)  attributed  to  Benoit  de  Sainte 
Maure  and  the  German  Eneide  or 
Eneit  (1190)  of  Heinrich  Von  Vel- 
deke. 

Virgil  has  rehabilitated  JSneas  into  a  hero 
and  a  sage.  In  Homer  he  cuts  an  inferior 
figure.  He  does  indeed  fight  in  single  com- 
bat with  Diomed  (Iliad,  v,  302),  but  he 
would  have  been  killed  but  for  the  inter- 
vention first  of  his  mother  Venus,  and  then 
of  his  half  brother  Apollo.  In  short, 


though  high  in  station  and  authority,  he 
is  kept  and  keeps  himself  in  the  background. 
Book  xii  of  the  ^Eneid,  on  which  his  fame 
as  a  warrior  depends,  is  a  mere  rehash  of 
Homeric  episodes  connected  with  other 
names.  It  begins  with  a  single  combat 
whose  idea  is  borrowed  from  the  Iliad,  Hi 
and  vii;  the  flight  of  Turnus  is  imitated 
from  that  of  Hector  before  Achilles;  and 
Turnus  is  disabled  by  divine  agency  like 
Patrocles  before  Hector, — a  victory  in  the 
one  case  as  in  the  other  without  peril  and 
without  honor. 

jEolus,  in  classic  myth,  son  of  the 
god  Poseidon.  Homer  in  the  Odyssey, 
x,  i,  represents  him  as  the  happy  ruler 
of  the^olian  islands,  to  whom  Zeus 
had  given  dominion  over  the  winds. 
In  Virgil's  &neid,  i,  52,  he  kept  them 
imprisoned  in  a  cave,  freeing  them 
when  he  listed  or  when  the  gods 
commanded. 

_Later  mythologists  sought  to  rationalize 
this  myth.  Servius  and  Varro  explain  that 
^olus  was  king  of  the  islands  originally 
called  Vulcanic,  thence  named  ^Eolias  in 
his  honor,  and  now  known  as  Lipari.  Homer 
mentions  only  one  island,  which  he  calls 
^iolia,  probably  the  Lipari  that  gave  its 
name  to  the  group  but  is  now  differentiated 
as  Stromboli.  Diodorus  Siculus  says 
^)olus  was  a  humane  prince  who  hospitably 
entertained  visitors  or  castaways,  being 
especially  careful  to  warn  them  of  the 
shoals  and  dangerous  places  in  the  neighbor- 
ing seas.  Pliny  adds,  that  he  applied  him- 
self to  the  study  of  the  winds  by  observing 
the  direction  of  the  smoke  of  the  volcanoes, 
with  which  the  isles  abounded. 

Being  considered  an  authority  on  that 
subject,  at  a  time  when  navigation  was  in 
.ts  infancy,  the  poets  readily  feigned  that 
he  was  the  master  of  the  winds,  and  kept 
them  pent  up  in  caverns,  under  his  control. 

jEsculapius  or  Asclepius,  in  classic 
myth,  the  god  of  healing.  Homer, 
however,  ignores  his  divinity,  making 
him  only  "  the  blameless  physician  " 
whose  sons  were  in  medical  attend- 
ance at  the  Greek  camp  (Iliad,  ii, 
731).  The  commonly  received  legend 
made  him  a  son  of  Apollo  brought 
up  by  Chiron.  He  not  only  cured 
the  sick,  but  recalled  the  dead  to  life, 
wherefore  Zeus,  jealous  lest  all  men 
might  become  immortal,  slew  him. 
At  the  request  of  Apollo,  Zeus  placed 
lim  among  the  stars.  His  descend- 
ants, called  Asclepiadas,  became  a 
priestly  order  or  caste  who  were 
;upposed  to  hand  down  the  healing 
art  through  generations. 


JEson 

^Eson,  in  Greek  myth,  the  father 
of  Jason  and  rightful  king  of  lolus  in 
Thessaly.  His  half  brother  Peleas 
dethroned  him  and  during  the  absence 
of  Jason  on  the  Argonautic  expedition 
attempted  to  slay  him,  but  Aeson 
put  an  end  to  his  own  life.  A  later 
myth  is  versified  by  Ovid  in  his 
Metamorphoses.  This  makes  ^Eson 
survive  to  the  return  of  the  Argo- 
nauts, when  being  very  old  and  feeble 
Medea  at  the  request  of  Jason  reju- 
venated him  by  magic  means.  See 
PELEAS. 

JEsopt  the  Greek  fabulist  (about 
B.C.  570),  was  originally  a  slave. 
He  received  his  freedom  from  ladmon 
his  master.  Crocceus,  according  to 
tradition,  sent  him  to  Delphi  to  dis- 
tribute 4  minas  or  $80  apiece  among 
its  citizens.  A  dispute  arose,  yEsop 
refused  to  make  any  distribution  and 
was  thrown  over  a  precipice  by  the 
enraged  Delphians.  To  rid  them- 
selves of  a  plague  that  consequently 
visited  them  they  made  compensation 
for  his  loss  to  a  son  of  ladmon  as  his 
nearest  legal  representative.  Later 
writers  unwarrantably  describe  ^sop 
as  a  monster  of  deformity.  Boursault 
made  ^Esop  the  hero  of  a  comedy, 
jEsope,  which  Sir  John  Vanbrugh 
paraphrased  as  Msop  (1697). 

Agamemnon,  according  to  Homer's 
Iliad  a  son,  according  to  other  author- 
ities a  grandson,  of  Atreus,  king  of 
Mycenae.  He  was  brought  up  in  the 
household  of  Atreus  with  his  brother 
Menelaus  and  his  uncle  Thyestes,  who 
succeeded  Atreus  on  the  throne  (see 
^EGISTHUS).  Agamemnon  then  ac- 
companied Menelaus  to  Sparta  and 
married  Clytemnestra.  According  to 
Homer  he  peaceably  succeeded  Thy- 
estes as  king  of  Mycenae;  other 
accounts  make  him  usurp  the  throne. 
At  any  rate,  he  became  the  most 
powerful  prince  in  Greece.  Homer 
says  he  ruled  over  all  Argos.  He  was 
made  commander  in  chief  of  the  ex- 
pedition against  Troy,  which  assem- 
bled at  the  port  of  Aulis  in  Bceotia. 
Here  Agamemnon  killed  a  stag,  an 
animal  sacred  to  Artemis.  The  god- 
dess, in  revenge,  sent  a  pestilence  that 
decimated  the  Greeks  and  a  calm 


i  Agave 

that  delayed  their  departure.  To 
appease  the  divine  wrath  Agamemnon 
consented  to  the  sacrifice  of  his 
daughter  Iphigenia  (<?.t>.)  and  the 
Greeks  were  allowed  to  depart.  For 
his  quarrel  with  Achilles,  see  ACHIL- 
LES. On  his  return  home  he  found 
that  ^Egisthus  had  seized  his  throne 
and  seduced  his  wife.  The  tragic 
poets  make  Clytemnestra  alone  slay 
Agamemnon,  other  authorities  name 
^Egisthus  as  his  murderer.  Agamem- 
non's story  is  related  by  ^schylus  in 
a  trilogy  of  tragedies,  the  Agamemnon, 
Chcephori,  Eumenides,  and  he  ap- 
pears as  a  prominent  character  in  all 
the  ancient  and  modern  plays  devoted 
to  Iphigenia. 

Agathocles,  a  historical  king  or 
tyrant  of  Syracuse  (B.C.  361-289), 
originally  a  potter,  who  owed  his 
success  largely  to  his  marriage  with 
the  wealthy  widow  of  Damas,  his 
first  patron.  He  became  monarch  in 
B.C.  317,  and  eventually  brought  all 
Sicily  under  his  control.  Threatened 
by  Carthage  he  "  carried  the  war  into 
Africa,"  landing  on  which  continent 
he  "  burned  his  ships  behind  him  ' 
to  show  his  soldiers  that  he  had  cut 
off  all  retreat  and  that  now  they  must 
do  or  die.  Thus  two  famous  phrases 
are  associated  with  him.  He  died  of 
poison  administered,  some  say,  by 
his  grandson  Archagathus,  while 
others  name  Mssno,  an  associate  of 
the  grandson.  There  is  an  incredible 
story  that  the  poison  was  concealed 
in  the  quill  with  which  he  cleaned  his 
teeth,  and  reduced  him  to  a  comatose 
condition  that  was  mistaken  for 
death,  so  that  in  fact  he  was  burned 
alive  on  the  funeral  pyre. 

He  is  the  hero  of  a  tragedy,  Agath- 
ocles or  the  Sicilian  Tyrant,  by  Rich- 
ard Perrington  (1676),  which  is  meant 
as  a  figurative  presentation  of  the 
career  of  Oliver  Cromwell.  In  France, 
Voltaire  produced  a  tragedy  called 
Agathocle;  in  Germany  Caroline  Pich- 
ler  wrote  a  novel, ^Agathocles,  on  the 
same  subject. 

Agave,  in  classic  myth,  daughter  of 
Cadmus  and  mother  of  Pentheus 
whom  she  tore  to  pieces,  imagining 
him  to  be  a  wild  beast. 


Agdistis 


10 


Agdistis,  in  classic  myth,  a  genius 
born  of  the  stone  Agdus,  which  united 
both  sexes  in  a  single  form.  This 
tradition  has  been  preserved  by 
Pausanias. — Spenser  in  the  Faerie 
Queene,  ii,  12,  bestows  the  name  on 
the  evil  genius  of  the  Acrasian 
bower. 

Agenor,  in  classic  myth,  king  of 
^hcenicia,    a    son   of   Poseidon   and 
Libya,   twin   brother  of  Belus,   and 
father   of   Cadmus,    Phoenix,    Celix, 
Thasus,  Phineus  and  Europa.    When 
Europa    was    carried    off    by    Zeus, 
Agenor  sent  his  sons  in  search  of  her 
and  forbade  their  return  without  her. 
Failing  in  the  quest  they  all  settled 
in  foreign  countries.    The  myth  sug- 
gests  the  settlement  of  Europe  by 
Eastern  races.     Through  his  brother 
Belus  Agenor  is  connected  with  the 
mythology  of  the  East,  Bel  or  Baal 
being  an  obvious  corruption  of  Belas. 
Agib,  King,  in  the  Arabian  Nights, 
was  the  third  calendar.    Wrecked  on 
the  loadstone  mountain  which  drew 
nails  and  bolts  out  of  his  ship  he 
succeeded  in  overthrowing  the  bronze 
statue  on  the  summit  which  caused 
all  the  mischief.    A  roc  carried  him 
to  the  palace  of  the  40  princesses, 
with  whom  he  spent  a  twelvemonth. 
Then  as  they  were  obliged  to  leave 
for  40  days  they  entrusted  him  with 
their  keys,  giving  him  permission  to 
enter  any  room  save  one.     On  the 
40th  day  curiosity  hitherto  restrained 
got  the  best  of  him;  he  entered  the 
room,  inside  was  a  horse;  he  mounted 
it  and  was  carried  through  the  air  to 
Bagdad,    but   the  horse  on   leaving 
whisked  out  Agib's  right  eye  with  his 
tail.    See  BLUEBEARD. 

Aglaia,  in  classic  myth,  one  of  the 
three    Graces.      Her   name   signifies 
the  bright  one." 

Aglaus,  in  Abraham  Cowley's 
Plantarium,  Book  iv,  an  humble 
farmer  whom  the  Delphic  oracle  held 
up  to  King  Gyges  as  a  happier  man 
than  himself.  The  Plantarium  was 
originally  written  in  Latin,  but 
Cowley  himself  translated  this  epi- 
sode into  English.  Addison  retells 
the  story  m  his  essay  on  Real  Great- 

•f^r  r 


Agramant 


After  long  search  and  vain  inquiries  past. 
In  an  obscure  Arcadian  vale  at  last 
(Th    Arcadian  life  has  always  shady  been) 
Near  Sopho's  town  (which  he  but  once  had 

seen), 

This  Aglaus,  who  monarchs'  envy  drew 
Whose  happiness  the  gods  stood  witness  to. 
£Sli  "^Shty  Aglaus  was  labouring  found 
With  hia  own  hands  In  his  own  little  ground 
COWLEY:    The  Plantarium 


ness. 


Agnes,  heroine  of  an  ancient  Danish 
ballad,  Agnes  and  the  Merman  (Dan. 
Agnette  og  Havmanden).  Agnes  be- 
comes the  bride  of  a  merman,  who 
carries  her  down  to  his  palace  beneath 
the  waves.  She  lives  with  him  eight 
years  and  bears  him  seven  sons.  One 

di?y'  Baring  the  9lapg  of  church  bells, 
she  obtains  permission  to  go  on  shore 
to  mass.    As  she  does  not  return  at 
the  promised  time,  the  merman  fol- 
lows her  into  the  church  and  finds  her 
with  her  mother.    All  the  little  images 
turn  away  their  eyes  from  him  as  he 
enters.     '  Hearken,  Agnes,"  he  cries, 
t  thy  children  are  weeping  for  thee." 
Nay,  let  them  weep  as  long  as  they 
please;  I  shall  not  go  back  to  them." 
And  the  cruel  one  cannot  be  per- 
suaded   to    return.      Andersen    has 
founded  a  fairy  drama  (Agnes  and  the 
Merman)  upon  this  story,  and  it  is 
also  the  subject  of  Matthew  Arnold's 
poem,  The  Forsaken  Merman. 

Agni  (Sanscrit  "fire  "),  one  of  the 
chief  gods  in  the   Vedas  or  sacred 
books  of  the  Indo-Aryan  races,  per- 
sonifying the  three  forms  of  fire— 
sunlight,  lightning  and  the  sacrificial 
flames.     He   has   a   kinship   to   the 
Greek  Apollo  and  to  other  sun  gods, 
but  as  sun  and  fire  were  the  chief 
objects  of  the  worship  of  the  Parsees, 
he  reaches  a  superior  eminence  among 
them.    Omniscient  and  immortal,  old 
yet  ever  young,  he  was  both  offspring 
and  begetter  of  the  gods.    His  divine 
spark,  latent  in  all  things,  could  re- 
vive the  dead.    Like  the  fire  gods  of 
the  Aztecs  in  Mexico  and  the  Kiches 
in  Guatemala  he  is  described  as  red 
in  color  with  golden  hair;  his  luminous 
chariot    is    harnessed    with    ruddy 
horses;  he  has  two  faces,  seven  tongues 
and  seven  arms.      Like  Apollo,    he 
is  armed  with  bow  and  arrows. 

Agramant,     in     Carlovingian     ro- 
mance, a  king  of  Africa,  who  invaded 


Agrawain 

France,  besieged  Paris,  and  was  even- 
tually killed  by  Orlando,  or  Roland. 

Agrawain,  Sir,  or  Agravain,  known 
also  as  '  The  Desirous  "  and  "The 
Haughty '  (L' or  gueilleux) ,  is  de- 
scribed by  Sir  Thomas  Malory, 
Morte  d' Arthur,  iii,  142,  as  the  son 
of  Lot,  king  of  Orkney,  and  his  queen 
Margawse,  half  sister  of  King  Arthur. 
He  sympathized  with  Sir  Mordred  in 
his  hatred  of  Sir  Launcelot.  They 
were  the  first  to  awaken  Arthur's 
suspicions  in  regard  to  Guinevere, 
asking  him  to  spend  the  day  in  hunt- 
ing while  they  kept  watch  over  the 
queen's  movements.  According  to 
their  expectation  Guinevere  sum- 
moned Sir  Launcelot  to  her  private 
chamber;  the  watchers  with  twelve 
other  knights  broke  down  the  door, 
but  Launcelot  slew  all  of  them  save 
Mordred,  who  made  good  his  escape. 

Agricaine,  in  Bojardo's  mock  heroic 
epic  Orlando  Innamorato  (Roland  in 
Love)  a  mythical  king  of  Tartary 
who  besieges  Angelica  in  the  castle 
of  Albracca,  bringing  into  the  field 
an  army  of  2,200,000  men.  He  is 
slain  in  single  combat  by  Orlando, 
receiving  baptism  in  his  death  throes. 

Such  forces  met  not,  nor  so  wide  a  camp, 
When  Agrican,  with  all  his  northern  powers, 
Besieged  Albracca. 

MILTON:    Paradise  Regained,  Iii  (1671). 

Agrionia,  annual  festivals  in  honor 
of  Dionysus  which  were  celebrated  in 
Bceotia  at  night  by  the  women  and 
priests  only.  The  women,  after  feign- 
ing for  some  time  to  be  seeking  the 
god,  finally  desisted,  saying  that  the 
had  hidden  himself  among  the  Muses. 
The  Agrionia  are  said  to  have  been 
instituted  in  expiation  of  the  crime 
of  the  daughters  of  Minyas,  who  hav- 
ing despised  the  rites  of  the  god 
were  by  him  smitten  with  madness. 

Ahasuerus,  in  mediaeval  myth  the 
name  of  the  Wandering  Jew  (q.v.)  in 
the  legend  as  it  was  told  by  Paul  von 
Eitzen  bishop  of  Schleswig  (1547). 
He  was  a  cobbler  in  Jerusalem  at  the 
time  of  the  crucifixion.  Jesus  on  his 
way  to  Calvary,  weary  of  the  weight 
of  the  cross,  paused  for  a  moment  at 
his  door.  "  Get  off,  away  with  you !  ' 
yelled  Ahasuerus.  "  Truly  I  go,  and 


11  Ajax 

quickly,"  returned  Jesus,  fixing  his 
eyes  reprovingly  on  the  other,  "  but 
tarry  thou  here  till  I  come."  And 
thenceforth  it  was  the  cobbler's 
doom  to  wander  in  deathless  loneli- 
ness over  the  earth,  waiting  for  the 
second  coming  of  the  Lord,  which 
alone  can  release  him  from  the  burden 
of  life.  (GREVE,  Memoir  of  Paul  von 
Eitzen,  1744.)  Shelley  introduces 
Ahasuerus  into  Queen  Mab,  sec.  vii 
(1813),  in  The  Revolt  of  Islam  (1817), 
Hellas  (1821)  and  the  prose  tale  of 
The  Assassin. 

Ahmed,  Prince,  in  the  Arabian 
Nights  story  of  Ahmed  and  Paribanou, 
younger  brother  of  Houssain.  The 
latter  possessed  a  magic  carpet  of 
wondrous  locomotive  powers.  Ahmed 
was  equally  blessed  in  the  ownership 
of  a  magic  tent,  a  present  from  the 
fairy  Paribanou,  which  would  cover  a 
whole  army  when  spread,  yet  fold 
up  into  so  small  a  compass  that  it 
might  be  carried  in  one's  pocket. 

Ahrihman  or  Ahrimanes  (Persian, 
Angro-Mainyus,  Spirit  of  Darkness), 
the  Evil  Spirit  in  the  religion  of  the 
ancient  Persians,  opposed  to  Ormuzd, 
the  Spirit  of  Good.  He  is  the  cause 
of  all  the  wickedness  and  the  resultant 
calamities  that  afflict  the  world,  but 
in  the  end  he  will  be  conquered  by 
Ormuzd.  Zoroaster  seems  to  have 
taught  that  Ormuzd  only  was  eternal 
—self-existent  from  the  beginning — 
while  Ahriman  was  created  and  sub- 
ject to  death,  but  the  later  books  of 
the  Zend-Avesta  represent  both  as 
the  visible  manifestations  of  the 
Zervan-Akerene  (Infinite  Time)  and 
as  existent  from  all  eternity. 

Aidenn,  a  transliteration  of  the 
Arabic  word  for  Eden,  i.e.,  the  celes- 
tial paradise. 

Tell  this  soul,  with  sorrow  laden,  if,  within 

the  distant  Aidenn, 
It  shall  clasp  a  sainted  maiden,  whom  the 

angels  name  Lenore. 

POE:     The  Raven. 

Ajax,  the  Aias  of  the  Greeks,  one 
of  the  great  Homeric  heroes,  second 
only  to  Achilles  in  bravery,  but  vain, 
noisy  and  boastful.  Son  of  Telamon, 
king  of  Salamis,  he  commanded  12 
ships  in  the  expedition  against  Troy. 


Ajax 


12 


Alarcos 


In  the  contest  for  the  armor  of  Achil- 
les he  was  conquered  by  Ulysses. 
Homer  assigns  this  as  the  reason  for 
his  death.  Sophocles  makes  his 
defeat  plunge  him  into  a  violent  fit 
of  madness,  so  that  he  rushed  from 
his  tent  and  slaughtered  the  sheep  of 
the  Greek  army,  fancying  they  were 
his  enemies,  and  finally  slew  himself. 
Pausanias  preserves  a  tradition  that 
from  his  blood  there  sprang  a  purple 
flower,  the  heliotrope,  which  bore  on 
its  leaves  the  Greek  letters  ai,  at  once 
his  initials  and  a  sigh  or  cry  of  pain. 
Ajax,  son  of  Oileus  king  of  the 
Loerians,  was  known  as  the  lesser 
Ajax  to  distinguish  him  from  the  son 
of  Telamon,  but  was  little  inferior  to 
him  in  prowess,  and  his  superior  in 
balance  of  mind. 

His  shafts,  like  those  of  the  lesser  Ajax, 
were  discharged  more  readily  that  the  archer 
was  inaccessible  to  criticism,  personally 
speaking,  as  the  Grecian  archer  under  his 
brother's  sevenfold  shield. — SIR  W.  SCOTT. 

Aladdin,  in  the  Arabian  Nights, 
hero  of  a  story  entitled  Aladdin  and 
his  Wonderful  Lamp.  Besides  the 
magic  lamp  he  comes  into  possession 
of  a  magic  ring.  On  rubbing  them, 
two  monstrous  genii  appear,  respec- 
tively the  slave  of  the  lamp  and  the 
slave  of  the  ring,  ready  to  do  the  bid- 
ding of  whoever  owns  the  talismans. 
Aladdin's  demands  are  of  the  wildest 
and  most  extravagant,  but  they  are 
always  responded  to.  Money,  jewels, 
treasures  of  all  kinds  flow  in  to  him. 
He  obtains  in  marriage  the  daughter 
of  the  Emperor  of  China.  He  builds 
in  a  single  night  a  magnificent,  palace. 
One  large  hall  has  24  windows.  He 
decorates  all  but  one  with  magnificent 
jewels,  leaving  that  one  for  his  father- 
in-law  to  adorn  as  he  may  elect,  but 
all  the  wealth  in  the  Chinese  empire 
cannot  do  this  adequately  and  the 
genii  finish  it,  as  they  had  finished 
the  others.  The  earth  is  scoured  to 
obtain  a  roc's  egg  as  the  last  touch  of 
all.  A  malignant  magician  steals 
the  lamp,  during  Aladdin's  absence, 
and  instantly  transports  the  palace 
to  Africa,  but  it  is  brought  back  by 
means  of  the  ring,  and  the  lamp 
with  it. 


Alan-a-Dale  or  Allin-a-dale,  the 
associate  of  Clym  of  the  Clough  and 
William  of  Cloudesley,  all  noted  out- 
laws, in  Englewood  Forest  near  Car- 
lisle, England.  Alan  was  engaged 
to  a  fair  lady  whose  parents  insisted 
on  marrying  her  to  a  wealthy  old 
knight.  According  to  the  ballad, 
Robin  Hood  and  Allin-a-dale,  Robin 
undertook  to  see  that  Allin  got  his 
rights.  Disguised  as  a  harper,  he 
obtained  entrance  into  the  church 
and  when  the  wedding  party  arrived 
he  forbade  the  marriage.  Sounding 
his  horn,  he  summoned  Allin-a-dale 
and  four  and  twenty  bowmen.  The 
bishop  refused  to  marry  the  bride  to 
Allin  unless  the  bans  had  been  asked 
three  times;  Robin  pulled  off  his 
gown  and  invested  Little  John  in  it, 
who  asked  the  bans  seven  times 
and  performed  the  ceremony.  See 
CLOUDESLEY. 

Al  Araf,  in  Mohammedan  mythol- 
ogy a  borderland  between  hell  and 
heaven,  equivalent  to  the  Christian 
limbo, — the  abode  of  souls  whose 
earthly  life,  through  infancy,  ignor- 
ance or  congenital  incompetence, 
deserved  neither  praise  nor  blame. 
Here  they  suffer  no  punishment  on 
the  one  hand,  and  on  the  other  they 
enjoy  no  rewards  such  as  form  the 
bliss  of  paradise.  Other  accounts 
make  it  a  halting  place  for  the  patri- 
archs and  prophets  and  other  holy 
persons  who  have  not  yet  entered 
heaven,  but  are  anxious  to  do  so. 

Sweet  was  their  death, — with  them  to  die 

was  rife 

With  the  last  ecstasy  of  satiate  life — 
Beyond  that  death  no  immortality. 
But  sleep  that  pondereth  and  is  not  "to  be." 
And  there,  oh  may  my  weary  spirit  dwell. 
Apart  from  Heaven's  eternity,  and  yet  how 

far  from  Hell! 

POE:    Al  Aaraaf. 

Alarcos,  Count,  in  Spanish  ballad 
literature  is  secretly  betrothed  to  the 
Infanta  Solisa,  but  forsakes  her  to 
marry  another.  After  many  years 
the  infanta  confesses  to  her  father  the 
reason  for  her  cureless  sorrow  and 
demands  the  head  of  the  countess. 
The  king  repeats  the  demand  to 
Alarcos.  Alarcos  succumbs  and  a 
pathetic  scene  follows  between  him 


Alasnam 


13 


Al  Borak 


and  his  spouse.  The  lady  forgives 
him,  but  cites  king  and  Infanta  to 
meet  her  within  30  days  at  the  divine 
tribunal.  The  count  strangles  her; 
the  prophecy  is  in  due  course  ful- 
filled. 

Alasnam,  Prince  Zeyn,  in  the 
Arabian  Nights,  hero  of  a  story 
Alasnam  and  the  Sultan  of  the  Genii. 
Coming  into  the  possession  of  im- 
mense wealth,  including  eight  statues 
of  solid  gold,  he  was  led  to  seek  for  a 
ninth  statue  more  precious  still  to 
place  on  an  empty  pedestal.  His 
quest  was  ended  when  he  found  a 
pure  and  lovely  woman  who  became 
his  wife. 

Alberich,  in  the  romance  of  King 
Ottnit  (q.v.),  the  king  of  the  woods. 
Ottnit  found  him,  a  lovely  child  in 
appearance,  sleeping  in  the  grass. 
On  picking  him  up  he  was  surprised 
to  receive  a  blow  on  the  breast  which 
floored  him.  He  rose  and  wrestled 
with  the  imp  and  after  a  hard  struggle 
overcame  him.  As  a  ransom  for  his 
life  Alberich  gave  Ottnit  a  valuable 
suit  of  gold  and  silver  armor  and  the 
sword  Rosen  which  had  been  dipped 
in  dragon's  blood.  Then  he  made 
this  startling  announcement,  "  Young 
as  I  look,  I  am  500  years  old;  small 
as  I  am  and  big  as  you  are,  I  am  your 
father."  It  turned  out  that  Ottnit's 
mother  had  been  secretly  divorced 
from  her  barren  husband,  and  in 
equal  secrecy  married  to  Alberich. 

Alberich  is  identical  with  the  Dwarf 
Alberich  of  Teutonic  legend  (see 
NIBELUNGS,  TREASURE  OF  THE),  and 
by  a  curious  process  of  evolution  he 
later  burgeoned  out  into  Oberon,  the 
fairy  king  of  A  Midsummer  Night's 
Dream.  See  OBERON  in  Vol.  I. 

Alberigi,  Frederigo,  hero  of  Boc- 
caccio's short  story  of  The  Falcon  in 
the  Decameron,  which  was  dramatized 
by  Tennyson  in  a  play  of  the  same 
name.  Longfellow  retells  the  story 
in  his  Tales  of  a  Wayside  Inn. 

[Boccaccio]  has  carried  sentiment  of  every 
kind  to  its  very  highest  purity  and  perfec- 
tion. By  sentiment  we  would  here  under- 
stand the  habitual  workings  of  some  one 
powerful  feeling,  where  the  heart  reposes 
almost  entirely  upon  itself,  without  the 
violent  excitement  of  opposing  duties  or 


untoward  circumstances.  In  this  way, 
nothing  ever  came  up  to  the  story  of  Fred- 
erigo Alberigi  and  his  Falcon.  The  perse- 
verance in  attachment,  the  spirit  of  gal- 
lantry and  generosity  displayed  in  it,  has 
no  parallel  in  the  history  of  heroical  sacri- 
fices. The  feeling  is  so  unconscious  too, 
and  involuntary,  is  brought  out  in  such 
small,  unlooked-for,  and  unostentatious 
circumstances,  as  to  show  it  to  have  been 
woven  into  the  very  nature  and  soul  of  the 
author. — HAZLITT:  Essays. 

Albion  (Lat.  Albus,  white),  the 
ancient  Roman  name  for  Britain. 
Its  white  cliffs  could  be  barely  dis- 
cerned from  the  coast  of  Gaul.  An 
eponymic  hero  was  gradually  evolved 
— Albion,  a  giant  son  of  Neptune  and 
contemporary  of  Hercules.  Pre- 
suming to  oppose  the  progress  of  the 
latter  on  his  western  march — for 
which  purpose  Albion  stepped  over 
the  English  Channel  to  France — he 
was  slain  by  Hercules. 

For  Albion  the  son  of  Neptune  was; 
Who  for  the  proof  of  his  great  puissance 
Out  of  his  Albion  did  on  dry  foot  pass 
Into  old  Gaul  that  now  is  cleped  France, 
To  fight  with  Hercules  that  did  advance 
To  vanquish  all  the  world  with  matchless 

might; 

And  there  his  mortal  part  by  great   mis- 
chance was  slain. 

SPENSER:    Faerie  Queene,  iv,  xi. 

Another  derivation,  mentioned  by 
Milton  only  to  reject  it,  traces  the 
name  to  Albia,  eldest  of  the  50  daugh- 
ters of  Diocletian,  King  of  Syria.  All 
fifty  married  on  the  same  day  and 
murdered  their  husbands  on  the 
wedding  night.  They  were  cast 
adrift  by  the  outraged  Syrians  in  a 
ship  without  oars  or  sails,  and  drifted 
to  England.  Here  they  disembarked 
and  married  with  the  aborigines, 
'  a  lawless  crew  of  devils."  The  tale 
is  a  reminiscence  of  the  50  daughters 
of  Danaos  (q.v.). 

Al  Borak  (Arabian,  The  Lightning), 
the  animal  on  which  Mohammed 
claimed  that  he  had  travelled  by 
night  from  the  temple  of  Mecca  to 
Jerusalem,  and  from  Jerusalem  to  the 
seventh  heaven,  under  the  guidance 
of  the  angel  Gabriel.  She — for  the 
sex  was  feminine — was  no  common 
steed.  She  was  milk-white  in  color, 
with  a  human  face  but  the  cheeks 
of  a  horse;  her  eyes  were  as  jacinths 


Alcestis 


14 


Alcmene 


and  shone  like  stars.  She  had  eagle's 
wings,  glittering  with  rays  of  light; 
her  form  was  resplendent  with  jewelry. 
She  was  of  marvellous  swiftness, 
taking  at  every  step  a  leap  as  far  as 
human  sight  could  reach. 

Alcestis,  in  classic  myth,  the  daugh- 
ter of  Pelias,  whose  hand  in  marriage 
was  won  by  Admetus  (q.v.}  through 
the  assistance  of  his  divine  herdsman 
Apollo.  When  Admetus  fell  sick  unto 
death  and  Alcestis  learned  that  his 
life  could  be  saved  only  if  some  one 
consented  to  die  in  his  place  she 
cheerfully  offered  herself  up  as  a  sacri- 
fice. In  vain  Admetus  protested. 
The  condition  imposed  by  the  Fates 
had  been  met,  Alcestis  sickened, 
rapidly  sank,  and  died.  According 
to  the  story  told  in  the  Iliad,  ii,  715, 
and  the  Alcestis  of  Euripides,  Her- 
cules arrived  at  the  palace  while  the 
funeral  arrangements  were  in  prog- 
ress. Euripides  tells  how  he  revelled 
and  drank  until  informed  of  what 
was  happening.  The  truth  sobers 
him.  He  goes  out  into  the  night, 
wrestles  with  Death  among  the 
tombs  and  crushes  his  ribs  until  he 
yields  up  his  prey.  Hercules  then 
restores  the  revivified  Alcestis  to 
her  family. 

Similar  stories  of  feminine  self- 
sacrifice  are  those  of  Iphigenia  in 
Greece,  Jephthah's  daughter  in 
Palestine,  and  Elsie  in  mediaeval 
Germany. 

Alcibiades  (B.C.  450-404),  the  bril- 
liant Athenian  general  and  politi- 
cal leader  and  the  favorite  pupil  of 
Socrates,  was  caricatured  by  Aris- 
tophanes under  his  real  name  in  the 
lost  comedy  of  The  Revellers,  and 
under  the  name  of  Pheidippides 
(lover  of  horses)  in  The  Clouds.  His 
extravagance,  his  affected  lisp  and 
his  relation  to  Socrates  as  pupil  are 
points  of  resemblance,  besides  his  love 
of  horse-flesh.  Alcibiades  and  some 
of  his  fantastic  projects  are  also  aimed 
at  in  The  Birds,  in  the  character  of 
Pisthetasrus,  who  persuades  the 
birds  to  build  the  city  of  Cloud- 
cuckoo-town  and  rewards  himself  by 
taking  to  wife  Basilea  or  Sovereignty 
— the  ruler  of  the  Olympian  household. 


In  modern  literature  the  hero 
makes  his  appearance  in  Shakspear's 
Timon  of  Athens  as  one  of  Timon's 
friends.  Being  banished  by  the 
Senate  he  collects  an  army  and 
marches  against  the  city,  which  opens 
its  gates  to  him.  On  his  way  he 
visits  Timon  in  his  self  elected  her- 
mitage. It  is  Alcibiades  who  reads 
Timon's  epitaph  to  the  senate. 
Shakspear's  narrative,  where  it  pur- 
ports to  be  historical,  follows  Plu- 
tarch and  Nepos.  So  does  Thomas 
Otway's  tragedy,  Alcibiades  (1675). 

Alcides,  one  of  the  names  of  Her- 
cules, the  son  of  Alcaeus. 

Where  is  the  great  Alcides  of  the  field 
Valiant  Lord  Talbot,  Earl  of  Shrewsbury? 
SHAKSPEAR:  /  Henry  VI,  iv,  7. 

Alcina,  in  Bojardo's  Orlando  In- 
namorato  (1495)  andAriosto'sOr/awdo 
Furioso  (1516),  a  malign  and  lustful 
fairy,  the  personification  of  carnal 
pleasure,  whose  illusions  create  only 
momentary  delights  and  are  followed 
by  satiety  and  remorse.  An  evident 
reminiscence  of  Circe  and  cognate 
Greek  myths  she  was  introduced 
into  Carlovingian  legend  by  Bojardo. 
The  resemblance  to  Circe  becomes 
more  pronounced  in  Ariosto  who  puts 
her  in  the  midst  of  an  enchanted 
garden.  Thither  she  lures  some  of 
the  greatest  of  the  Christian  knights, 
ennervates  them  with  unholy  delights, 
and  finally  transforms  them  to  trees, 
stones  and  beasts.  Alcina,  in  her 
turn,  suggested  to  Spenser  the 
Acrasia  and  the  Bower  of  Bliss  of  his 
Faerie  Queene  (1590). 

Alcinous,  son  of  Nausithous,  grand- 
son of  Poseidon,  and  father  of  Nau- 
sicaa,  is  celebrated  in  Homer's 
Odyssey  as  the  happy  and  hospitable 
ruler  of  the  Phaeacians  in  the  island 
of  Scheria.  He  welcomes  Odysseus, 
when  Nausicaa  brings  thQ  wanderer 
to  his  palace  (book  vii),  feasts  him 
at  his  table  and  listens  with  interest 
to  the  story  of  his  adventures  since 
the  fall  of  Troy.  See  PHAEACIANS. 

Alcmene  (Lat.  Alcmena),  wife  of 
Amphitryon  in  classic  myth  and  in 
the  comedies  founded  thereon  by 
Plautus,  Moliere  and  Dryden.  In 


Alder 


15 


Alexander 


the  original  legend,  closely  followed 
by  Plautus,  she  was  the  daughter  of 
Electryon,  king  of  Mycenae.  She 
married  Amphitryon  on  condition 
that  he  would  avenge  the  murder  of 
her  brothers  by  the  sons  of  Pterelaus. 
During  Amphitryon's  absence  on  this 
errand  Zeus,  disguised  as  that  hero, 
obtained  entrance  to  his  bed  and 
board.  Alcmene  never  discovered 
the  trick  until  next  day,  when  the 
true  Amphitryon  returned  trium- 
phant. By  Zeus  Alcmene  became  the 
mother  of  Hercules;  Iphicles,  his  twin, 
born  one  night  later,  was  the  issue  of 
Amphitryon. 

The  legend  adds  that  on  the  day 
when  the  birth  of  Hercules  was  ex- 
pected Zeus  boasted  of  becoming  the 
father  of  a  hero  destined  to  rule  over 
the  race  of  Perseus,  who  was  grand- 
father alike  of  Amphitryon  and  of 
Alcmene.  Hera  made  him  swear  that 
the  descendant  of  Perseus,  born  that 
day,  should  be  the  ruler.  Then  she 
used  her  arts  to  delay  the  birth  of 
Hercules  and  hasten  that  of  Eurys- 
theus,  another  grandson  of  Perseus  by 
another  father,  Sthenelus,  and  his 
wife. 

Ovid,  Metamorphoses  Iv,  111,  tells  an 
elaborate  story  of  the  birth  of  Hercules, 
according  to  which  Juno  (Hera)  requests 
Illyria,  the  goddess  who  presides  over 
births,  not  to  aid  Alcmena  in  her  travail. 
Illyria  accordingly  stations  herself  on  an 
altar  at  the  gate  of  Alcmena's  abode,  where, 
by  a  magic  spell,  she  increases  her  pains  and 
impedes  her  delivery.  Galanthis,  one  of  her 
maids,  seeing  Illyria  at  the  door,  fears  that 
she  may  possibly  exercise  some  bad  influ- 
ence on  her  mistress's  labor,  and,  to  make 
her  retire,  declares  that  Alcmena  is  already 
delivered.  Upon  Illyria  withdrawing, 
Alcmena's  pains  are  assuaged,  and  Hercules 
Is  born.  The  goddess,  to  punish  Galanthis 
for  her  officiousness,  transforms  her  into  a 
weasel,  a  creature  which  was  supposed  to 
bring  forth  its  young  through  its  mouth. 

Alder  King.   See  ERL-KING. 

Aldingar,  Sir,  hero  and  title  of  an 
old  English  ballad.  In  revenge  be- 
cause Queen  Eleanor  had  refused  his 
advances  he  surreptitiously  put  a 
leper  into  her  bed  and  summoned 
'  King  Harry  "  to  witness  her  shame. 
She  is  given  forty  days  to  find  a 
champion,  otherwise  she  will  be 
burnt.  At  last  a  diminutive  knight,  a 


mere  child  in  appearance,  takes  up 
the  challenge  and  slays  Sir  Aldingar, 
who  confesses  in  his  death  throes. 
The  strange  knight  turns  out  to  be  a 
heavenly  messenger. 

Alecto,  in  classical  mythology,  the 
most  terrible  of  the  three  Furies.  It 
was 

Alecto  with  swolne  snakes  and  Stygian  fire 
(OviD:  Metamorphoses,  x,  Sandys'  trans.) 

who  raised  fierce  passion  in  Myrrha's 
breast,  and  it  is  Alecto  also  who  was 
sent  by  Juno  to  stir  up  war  between 
the  Trojans  and  the  Latins  (VIRGIL: 
JEneid,  vii,  324). 

Alectryon,  in  classic  myth,  a  youth 
whom  Mars  placed  as  a  sentinel  to 
guard  against  being  surprised  in  his 
amours.  He  fell  asleep  and  Apollo 
discovered  Mars  and  Venus  "  em- 
paradised  in  one  another's  arms." 
The  wrathful  Mars  changed  Alec- 
tryon into  a  cock. 

And  from  out  the  neighboring  farmyard 
Loud  the  cock  Alectryon  crowed. 

LONGFELLOW:    Pegasus  in  Pound. 

Alexander  the  Great,  emperor  of 
Macedon  and  conqueror  of  Persia 
(B.C.  356-323),  was  the  hero  of 
numerous  early  poems  and  romances 
in  which  he  is  pictured  as  a  demigod 
and  a  magician.  The  most  important 
of  these  are  the  French  Romance  of 
Alexander  (Roman  d'Alexandre),  by 
Lambert  le  Cor,  and  the  German  Lay 
of  Alexander  (Alexander  Lied)t  by 
Lambrecht,  both  belonging  to  the 
twelfth  century,  the  second  being  the 
later  in  date. 

The  myth  of  Alexander's  divine 
birth  (as  the  offspring  of  Jupiter 
Ammon,  who  assumed  the  shape  of 
his  putative  father  Philip  of  Mace- 
don) began  in  his  lifetime  and  was 
encouraged  by  himself.  Later  the 
Alexander  legends  were  mixed  up 
with  those  of  Nectanebus,  the  last 
native  king  of  Egypt  '(35<>-34°  B.C.), 
who  was  fabled  to  have  practised 
sorcery.  Nectanebus  was  put  forth 
as  the  real  father  of  Alexander,  having 
assumed  the  shape  of  Jupiter  Ammon 
in  order  to  make  Queen  Olympias 
admit  him  to  her  embraces.  The 


Alfonso 


16 


Allfather 


commingled  streams  furnished  matter 
for  the  Ethiopia  histories  of  Alexander 
by  the  Pseudo-Callisthenesand  others. 
Still  later  Alexander  emerges  in  the 
popular  traditions  of  the  middle  ages 
and  the  metrical  romances  of  the 
troubadours  as  not  merely  a  Christian 
but  a  Trinitarian,  whose  conversation 
is  peppered  with  quotations  from  the 
Old  Testament  and  the  New.  His 
sole  lapse  from  virtue  is  caused  by  the 
bewildering  charms  of  Candace.  In 
the  shape  the  romance  finally  assumed 
Alexander  killed  Nectanebus  by  acci- 
dent in  a  boyish  frolic.  With  his 
dying  breath,  the  sorcerer  revealed 
his  paternity.  In  other  respects  the 
early  life  of  Alexander  is  usually 
recounted  with  some  pretence  to 
historical  accuracy.  But  after  the 
hero  has,  in  the  course  of  his  con- 
quests, reached  India,  all  verisimili- 
tude is  abandoned.  Fabulous  beings 
of  every  description  are  encountered 
by  him.  Huge  wild  women,  who 
rush  upon  the  Macedonian  soldiers 
and  devour  them  alive,  colossal  ants 
which  carry  off  men  and  horses,  giants 
with  six  hands  and  six  feet,  dwarfs 
with  one  foot  and  tails,  horses  with 
human  faces,  human  beings  with 
dogs'  "heads — these  are  a  few  of  the 
monsters  which  he  has  to  meet  and 
overcome.  The  later  legends  wind 
up  with  a  salutary  moral.  The  con- 
queror of  the  world,  the  possessor  of 
all  the  wealth  of  Ind,  arrives  at  last 
at  the  very  gates  of  Paradise,  and 
thinks  to  take  it  by  storm  also.  But 
it  is  not  by  force  of  arms,  not  by 
passion,  that  Paradise  is  to  be  won; 
he  only  is  worthy  of  it  who  conquers 
himself.  And  so  the  great  Alexander 
must  perforce  turn  back  at  the  very 
threshold.  Henceforth  he  lived  a  life 
of  moderation,  left  off  war,  flung 
away  ambition,  and  finally  died  at 
peace  with  his  Maker. 

Alfonso  X,  King  of  Spain  (1221- 
1284),  was  called  The  Wise  and  the 
Astronomer.  Speaking  of  the  Ptolo- 
mean  system  he  is  reported  to  have 
said  that  "  had  he  been  consulted  at 
the  creation  of  the  world  he  would 
have  spared  the  Maker  some  absurdi- 
ties." (LE  BOVIER  DE  FONTENELLE, 


Entretiens  sor  la  Pluralite  des  Mondes 
1686,  p.  38.)  Byron  in  his  Vision  of 
Judgment,  a  satire  upon  Southey's 
poem  of  the  same  name,  makes 
Southey  say: 

"But   talking   about   trumpets,    here's   my 

'Vision'! 
Now  you  shall  judge,  all  people — yes — 

you  shall 

Judge  with  my  judgment!  and  by  my  de- 
cision 

Be  guided  who  shall  enter  heaven  or  fall. 
I  settle  all  these  things  by  intuition, 

Times  present,  past,  to  come — Heaven — 

Hell— and  all, 

Like  King  Alfonso.  When  I  thus  see  double, 
I  save  the  Deity  some  worlds  of  trouble." 

Allen,  Barbara,  heroine  of  a  Scotch 
ballad,  Barbara  Allen's  Cruelty.  Pepys 
has  a  reference  in  his  Diary  (Jan.  2, 
1665-6)  to  "  the  little  Scotch  song  of 
Barbary  Allen." 

It  appeared  in  print  in  Allan  Ram- 
say's Tea-table  Miscellany  (1742)  and, 
with  a  few  conjectural  emendations, 
in  Percy's  Reliques. 

All-Fail,  the  princess  in  the  fairy 
tale  of  the  Yellow  Dwarf.  See  YELLOW 
DWARF. 

Allfather  (Ger.  Alfadur),  in  Teu- 
tonic and  Scandinavian  myth,  the 
origin  and  cause  of  all  things.  The 
idea  was  of  comparatively  recent 
development  and  was  struggling  for 
fuller  expression  when  the  advent  of 
Christianity  did  away  with  the  old 
faiths  and  substituted,  full  grown,  a 
newer  and  broader  conception  of  the 
Almighty.  Still  the  idea  lay  origin- 
ally at  the  foundations  of  the  North- 
ern religions,  and  the  kindred  Aryan 
nations  in  India  had  developed  and 
exhibited  it  with  great  imaginative 
power.  Among  savages  of  to-day  a 
cognate  idea  is  that  of  a  primal 
Being,  not  necessarily  conceived  as 
spiritual,  but  rather  as  an  undying, 
magnified  man  of  indefinitely  exten- 
sive powers.  Andrew  Lang  ( Homeric 
Hymns,  p.  45)  tells  us  that  in  differ- 
ent tribal  languages  he  is  Bunjel, 
Biame  or  Davamulum,  but  in  all  he 
is  known  by  a  name,  the  equivalent 
of  the  only  one  used  by  the  Kurnai, 
which  is  Munganngaur,  or  Our 
Father.  In  some  places  he  is  con- 
ceived of  as  a  very  great  old  man, 
with  a  long  beard,  seated  on  a  crystal 


Almanzor 


17 


Alphonsus 


throne.  Often  he  is  served  by  a  son, 
frequently  regarded  as  spiritually 
begotten,  and  elsewhere  looked  on  as 
a  son  of  the  wife  of  the  deity  and  a 
father  of  the  tribe. 

Almanzor,  the  second  caliph  of  the 
Abbaside  dynasty  (713-775).  He 
succeeded  his  brother  Al-Saffah,  but 
had  to  fight  for  the  throne  against  his 
cousin  Abdallah,  who  set  up  a  counter 
claim,  and  later  against.,  another 
brother,  Ilbraham,  who  raised  a 
revolt.  Almanzor  founded  the  city 
of  Bagdad.  Legend  says  that  a 
hermit  named  Bagdad  dwelt  on  the 
spot  where  Almanzor  began  building. 
The  hermit  warned  him  away.  "  Not 
you,"  he  said,  "  But  a  man  named 
Molchasis  to  found  a  city  here."  "  I 
am  that  man,"  retorted  the  caliph, 
and  he  explained  that  in  his  youth  he 
had  stolen  a  bracelet  and  pawned  it, 
whereupon  his  nurse  had  ever  after- 
wards called  him  "  Molchas  "  (thief}. 

Alnaschar,  in  The  Arabian  Nights, 
the  barber's  fifth  brother,  much  given 
to  unprofitable  dreaming  and  antici- 
pation of  the  future.  Having  invested 
all  his  money  in  a  basket  of  glass- 
ware he  sat  down  by  the  roadside  and 
fell  to  calculating  how  the  profits, 
material  and  immaterial,  would  roll 
in.  So  much  would  be  secured  over 
the  purchase  money,  investments  and 
reinvestments  would  make  him 
wealthy  enough  to  marry  the  Vizier's 
daughter  and  set  up  a  splendid  estab- 
lishment. But  just  here  he  had  an  im- 
aginary quarrel  with  his  wife,  kicked 
out  his  foot  and  smashed  all  the  ware 
that  was  the  foundation  of  his  dream. 

^Esop  has  a  fable  on  similar  lines 
which  La  Fontaine  has  versified  as 
Perrette  et  le  Pot  au  Lait;  see  PER- 
RETTE.  Dodslay  has  paraphrased  La 
Fontaine  in  The  Milkmaid  and  her 
Pail  of  Milk.  Rabelais  puts  into 
Echepron's  mouth  the  analogous 
story  The  Shoemaker  and  a  Ha'porth 
of  Milk.  One  of  the  stories  in  the 
Panka  Tantra  (A.D.  550),  a  collection 
of  Indian  tales,  concerns  a  Brahmin 
beggar  who  reflected  that  if  he  saved 
his  rice,  a  famine  might  occur,  the 
rice  would  sell  for  100  rupees,  enough 
to  buy  two  goats,  and  so  he  might 


proceed  until  he  was  a  wealthy  man 
with  a  farm  and  a  wife  and  a  son 
whom  he  would  call  Somo  Sala. 
Dandling  his  imaginary  son  upon  his 
knee  he  spilt  all  his  rice.  Hence  the 
proverbial  phrase  for  a  dreamer, 
'  He  is  the  father  of  Somo  Sala." 

Alpha  and  Omega,  the  names  of  the 
first  and  the  last  letters  of  the  Greek 
alphabet,  used  in  this  connection  to 
imply  fulness,  completeness.  In  the 
New  Testament,  Revelation  i,  8,  it 
is  used  to  denote  the  immeasurable 
fulness  of  God;  in  xxi,  6  and  13,  it  is 
applied  to  Christ.  In  similar  fashion 
the  Hebrews  employed  the  phrase 
Aleph  and  Tau,  the  first  and  last 
letters  of  their  alphabet. 

Alpheus,  in  classic  myth,  god  of  the 
river  of  that  name  in  the  Peloponne- 
sus in  Greece.  In  some  parts  of  its 
course  the  river  flows  underground 
and  this  subterranean  descent  gave 
rise  to  the  myth  of  Arethusa  (q.v.). 
In  his  poem,  Kubla  Khan,  Coleridge 
shortens  the  name  to  Alph. 

In  Xanadu  did  Kubla  Kahn 

A  stately  pleasure-dome  decree, 
Where  Alph,  the  sacred  river,  ran 
Through  caverns  measureless  to  man. 
Down  to  a  sunless  sea. 

Alphonsus  of  Lincoln,  titular  hero 
of  a  prose  story  first  printed  in  1485 
and  there  said  to  have  been  written 
by  Alphonsus  a  Spina,  a  Minorite 
friar,  in  1459.  It  is  one  of  the  many 
variants  that  gave  literary  form  to 
the  old  legend  of  Hugh  of  Lincoln 
which  forms  the  basis  of  the  Prioress's 
Tale  in  Chaucer's  Canterbury  Tales. 

Alphonsus,  a  ten-year-old  lad,  the 
son  of  a  widow,  goes  daily  to  school 
singing  Alma  Redemptoris  as  he  passes 
through  the  streets  where  the  Jews 
dwell.  One  day  the  Jews  seize  him, 
cut  out  his  tongue,  tear  out  his  heart 
and  cast  his  bodyfKnto  a  pit.  The 
Virgin  appears  to  him,  gives  him  a 
precious  stone  instead  of  a  tongue 
and  enables  him  to  sing  Alma  Re- 
demptoris for  four  days.  His  mother 
finds  him,  he  is  borne,  still  singing, 
to  the  cathedral.  The  bishop  cele- 
brates mass;  the  boy  resigns  the 
precious  stone  to  him,  dies,  and  is 
buried  in  a  marble  tomb. 


Alrashid 


18 


Amadis 


Alrashid,  Haroun  (765-809),  the 
fifth  Abbaside  caliph,  cousin  five 
times  removed  of  the  prophet  Mo- 
hammed. Not  only  was  he  master  of 
the  greatest  empire,  save  Genghis 
Khan's,  that  the  world  has  ever  seen, 
but  he  was  alone  in  his  despotic 
power,  with  no  parliament  to  hinder 
him,  and  no  authoritative  voice  to 
question  or  criticise  him.  Public 
opinion  in  the  modern  sense  did  not 
exist,  the  balance  of  parties  was  so 
perfect  that  none  dared  assert  itself 
for  fear  of  the  rest;  the  arguments  of 
the  sword  and  sack  were  in  general 
force,  and  no  one  was  strong  enough 
even  to  protest.  Haroun 's  whim  was 
law  over  a  good  part  of  two  conti- 
nents. He  was  reverenced  with  a 
devout  awe,  which  no  European  ad- 
herent of  divine  right  ever  felt,  as  the 
representative  of  God  and  His 
Prophet;  he  was  the  Lord's  Anointed 
in  the  least  of  his  actions,  and  to  criti- 
cise them  was  almost  to  cavil  at  the 
Koran  and  the  Creator  of  the  Seven 
Heavens  himself. 

It  is  under  this  guise  that  he  ap- 
pears in  The  Arabian  Nights.  The 
scenes  of  most  of  the  stories  are  laid 
within  his  period  and  his  dominions. 
His  fondness  for  incognito  nocturnal 
rambles  (a  historical  trait) ,  usually  in 
company  with  his  vizier,  Jaafer  the 
Barmecide,  lands  him  in  the  most 
diverse  surroundings,  with  most  in- 
congruous companions,  at  most  un- 
expected places.  He  acts  the  part  of 
listener  and  general  good  providence 
to  the  deserving  and  of  avenger 
against  the  wrongdoer,  and  some- 
times he  risks  limb  and  even  life  to 
gratify  his  romantic  propensity.  At 
home  in  his  palace  the  wildest  orgies 
were  carried  on  by  him  and  his  friends, 
many  of  them  poets  and  scientists. 
Afflicted  with  an  incapacity  to  sleep, 
the  Caliph  turned  night  into  day, 
and  kept  the  fun  going  to  unholy 
hours,  with  woman  and  song,  as  be- 
fitted a  descendant  of  the  prophet, 
and  also  with  the  wine  which  he  had 
forbidden. 

Althaea,  in  classic  myth,  the  mother 
of  Meleager.  When  the  boy  was 
seven  days  old  the  Fates  predicted 


that  he  would  live  as  long  as  a  piece 
of  wood  burning  on  the  hearth  re- 
mained unconsumed.  Althaea  ex- 
tinguished the  firebrand  and  con- 
cealed it  in  a  chest.  According  to 
Ovid  (Metamorphoses,  iv)  in  a  contest 
over  a  boar's  hide  which  Meleager  in 
early  manhood  gave  to  Atalanta,  he 
slew  two  of  his  mother's  brothers.  In 
a  fit  of  retributive  anger  Althaea  threw 
the  brand  into  the  fire,  Meleager  died, 
and  Althaea,  repentant,  slew  herself. 

The  fatal  brand  Althaea  burned. 

SHAKSPEAR:    //  Henry  VI,  Act  i.  Sc.  i. 

Alypius,  a  friend  of  St.  Augustine, 
mentioned  in  his  Confessions,  vi,  who, 
against  his  own  vehement  protest, 
was  carried  into  the  amphitheatre  by 
his  fellow  students.  As  he  detested 
the  heathenish  sports  he  closed  his 
eyes  and  "  forbade  his  mind  to  range 
abroad  after  such  evils."  But  in  the 
fight  one  fell  and  Alypius,  struck  by 
the  sound,  opened  his  eyes  and  in- 
stantly the  spirit  of  the  throng  pos- 
sessed him.  "  He  beheld,  shouted, 
kindled; — carried  thence  with  him 
the  madness  that  should  goad  him  to 
return,  not  only  with  those  who  first 
drew  him  thither,  but  also  before 
then,  yea,  and  to  draw  in  others." 

Amadis  of  Gaul,  hero  of  a  cele- 
brated romance  of  chivalry  which 
survives  only  in  a  Castilian  text,  but 
is  claimed  both  by  Portugal  and 
Spain.  The  Castilian  text  (oldest 
known  edition  printed  in  1508)  is 
attributed  to  Garci  Rodriguez  de 
Montalvo.  Amadis,  the  illegitimate 
son  of  Elisena  by  a  fabulous  French 
king,  Perion,  falls  in  love  with  Oriana, 
a  princess  of  Denmark,  and"  performs 
astonishing  feats  of  valor  in  Spain  in 
order  to  prove  himself  worthy  of  her 
hand.  Unfortunately  he  excites  her 
jealousy  by  restoring  the  Princess 
Briolana  to  her  rightful  kingdom  and 
Amadis  in  despair  renounces  knight 
errantry  and  retires  to  a  hermitage 
until  further  explanations  appease 
Oriana.  Then  he  emerges  under  the 
name  of  the  Knightof  the  Green  Sword , 
renews  his  splendid  career  and  conquers 
all  the  objections  urged  against  him 
by  the  royal  father  of  his  mistress. 


Amalthea 


19 


Ambree 


Amalthea,  in  classic  myth,  the 
nurse  of  the  infant  Zeus  in  Crete, 
sometimes  said  to  be  a  she-goat  who 
suckled  him  and  was  rewarded  with 
a  place  among  the  stars.  Zeus  it  is 
said  broke  off  one  of  its  horns  and 
endowed  it  with  the  power  of  becom- 
ing filled  with  whatever  the  possessor 
might  wish  (see  CORNUCOPIA).  Other 
accounts  make  Amalthea  a  nymph 
who  fed  Zeus  with  the  milk  of  a  goat. 
When  the  goat  broke  off  one  of  her 
horns  Amalthea  filled  it  with  fresh 
herbs  and  gave  it  to  Zeus. 

Here  is  cream 

Deepening  to  richness  from  a  snowy  gleam, 
Sweeter  than  that  nurse  Amalthea  skimmed 
For  the  boy  Jupiter. 

KEATS:  Endymion,  ii,  445. 

Nymphs  of  Diana's  train,  and  Naiades 
With   fruits  and  flowers   from   Amalthea's 
horn. 
MILTON:   Paradise  Regained,  ii,  356. 

Amalthea,  in  Roman  legend,  a 
sibyl  who  offered  Tarquin  nine  pro- 
phetic books.  He  refused  to  pay  the 
price.  She  burned  three  and  offered 
the  remaining  six  to  Tarquin  for  the 
same  sum.  Again  he  refused;  again 
she  returned  with  only  three,  still 
demanding  the  original  price.  Tar- 
quin, piqued  and  interested,  pur- 
chased them.  This  is  the  story  told 
by  Aulus  Gellius.  Pliny  says  jthere 
were  only  three  volumes  originally 
and  that  "at  the  third  visit  they  were 
reduced  to  one.  See  SIBYL. 

Amarant,  in  the  ballad  of  Guy  and 
Amarant  (Percy's  Reliques},  a  formid- 
able giant  slain  by  Guy  of  Warwick. 

Amaryllis,  in  the  Eclogues  of  Virgil 
and  the  Idyls  of  Theocritus,  the  name 
of  a  rustic  beauty.  Modern  pastoral 
poetry  frequently^  adopts  the  name 
as  that  of  a  typical  shepherdess  or 
milkmaid.  Thus  Milton: 

To  sport  with  Amaryllis  in  the  shade, 
Or  with  the  tangles  of  Nesera's  hair. 

Lycidas,  1.  68. 

Milton  probably  designs  a  reference 
to  the  poet  and  pedagogue  George 
Buchanan  (1506-1582),  who  in  his 
old  age  addressed  amatory  verses  to 
two  lady  loves,  Amaryllis  and  Neaera, 
the  golden  hair  of  the  latter  gleaming 


bright  through  his  rhymes.  In  his 
last  elegy  Buchanan  tells  how  Cupid 
cuts  a  lock  from  Nesera's  head  while 
she  is  asleep,  with  which  he  binds  the 
poet  and  delivers  him,  thus  entangled, 
to  Neasra  herself. 

Spenser,  in  Colin  Clout's  Come 
Home  Again  (1595),  represents  under 
the  name  Amaryllis  the  Countess 
Dowager  of  Derby,  for  whom  Milton 
wrote  his  Arcades. 

Amazons  (a  Greek  word  meaning 
breastless),  in  classic  myth,  a  warlike 
race  of  women  who  are  said  to  have 
come  from  the  Caucasus  and  settled 
in  Asia  Minor.  They  were  governed 
by  a  queen.  The  female  children  had 
their  right  breast  cut  off,  that  they 
might  use  the  bow  with  greater  ease. 
The  ninth  labor  of  Hercules  was  to 
take  away  the  girdle  of  their  queen 
Hippolyta.  Under  another  queen, 
Penthesilia,  they  came  towards  the 
close  of  the  Trojan  war  to  the  aid  of 
Priam,  but  Achilles  killed  Penthesilia. 
There  was  supposed  to  be  another 
nation  of  Amazons  in  Africa;  and 
there  was  a  Scythian  nation  allied  to 
the  Asiatic  tribe.  The  Amazon  River, 
in  South  America,  takes  its  name 
from  a  fable  of  the  early  discoverers 
who  reported  that  there  was  a  tribe 
of  Amazons  on  that  river.  Ordellana, 
its  discoverer,  declared  that  he  met  a 
nation  of  armed  women  on  its  banks. 
It  is  evident  that  he  had  mistaken 
male  Indians  in  their  ordinary  cos- 
tumes for  females.  The  old  maps 
have  a  large  region  called  Amazonia, 
watered  by  the  river. 

Ambree,  Mary,  heroine  of  an  early 
English  ballad,  beginning 

When    captains    courageous    whom    death 

could  not  daunt 

Did  march  to  the  siege  of  the  city  of  Gaunt, 
They  mustered  their  soldiers  by  two  and  by 

three, 
And    the    foremost    in    battle    was    Mary 

Ambree. 

Mary  goes  to  Flanders  with  her 
lover,  Sir  John  Major;  he  is  slain  at 
the  siege  of  Gaunt  (Ghent?),  where- 
upon she  assumes  arms  and  male 
attire  and  valorously  avenges  his 
death.  She  is  finally  taken  prisoner 
and  wooed  by  Alexander,  Prince  of 


Ambrogivolo 


20 


Amis 


Parma.  She  spurns  his  love,  and  he 
releases  her,  full  of  admiration  for 
her  exploits. 

Authentic  history  ignores  her,  but 
she  is  repeatedly  alluded  to  in 
seventeenth  century  drama  and  fic- 
tion, from  Ben  Jonson,  who  quotes 
some  of  the  words  of  the  ballad  in 
The  Fortunate  Isles  (1626),  to  Butler, 
who  makes  this  reference  to  her  in 
Hudibras: 

A  bold  virago,  stout  and  tall 
As  Joan  of  Arc  or  English  Mall. 

Ambrogivolo,  in  Boccaccio's  De- 
cameron, ii,  9,  the  original  of  Shak- 
spear's  lachomo  in  Cymbeline.  See 

ZlNEURA. 

Amfortas,  in  Arthurian  romance, 
the  grandson  of  Titurel,  to  whom  the 
latter  in  old  age  resigned  the  care  of 
the  Holy  Grail  on  Monsalvatch. 
Amfortas  forsook  his  charge,  went 
out  into  the  world  and  gave  himself 
up  to  a  life  of  pleasure,  but  peni- 
tently returned  after  receiving  a 
wound  from  a  poisoned  lance  or  as 
some  say  from  the  lance  that  pierced 
the  Saviour's  side.  One  day  on  the 
rim  of  the  San  Grael  the  grandfather 
read  that  the  lad's  wound  should  be 
healed  by  a  guileless  fool  who  would 
accidentally  climb  the  mountains  and 
moved  by  sympathy  ask  the  cause 
of  his  suffering.  The  fool  proved  to 
be  Parzival  (q.v.).  See  also  PECHEUR, 
Roi. 

Amine  or  Amines,  in  the  Arabian 
Nights  story  of  Sidi  Nouman,  the 
wife  of  the  titular  hero.  She  was  very 
beautiful  but  had  a  strange  idio- 
syncrasy: instead  of  eating  rice  with 
a  spoon  she  used  a'bodkin  and  carried 
infinitesimal  portions  to  her  mouth. 
His  curiosity  awakened,  Sidi  dis- 
covered that  she  was  a  ghoul  who  fed 
on  human  remains  which  she  pro- 
cured at  night  from  the  cemetery. 

One  of  the  Amine's  sort,  who  pick  up  their 
grains  of  food  with  a  bodkin. — HOLMES: 
Autocrat  of  the  Breakfast  Table. 

Amine,  in  the  Arabian  Nights  tale 
The  Story  of  Amine,  wife  of  Amin,  son 
of  Haroun  al  Raschid.  A  shopkeeper 
told  her  he  would  charge  nothing  for 


a  robe  she  had  purchased  if  she  would 
let  him  kiss  her  cheek.  He  bit  it 
instead.  Being  unable  to  explain  the 
wound  to  her  husband's  satisfaction 
he  condemned  her  to  death,  but  sub- 
sequently commuted  the  sentence  to 
scourging.  One  day  she  and  her  half 
sister  Zobeide  told  the  stories  of  their 
lives  to  the  great  Caliph.  Amin, 
overhearing  it,  forgave  her.  Zobeide 
married  Haroun. 

Amis  or  Amys,  a  famous  hero  of  the 
Carlovingian  cycle  of  romances, 
whose  exploits — usually  undertaken 
in  conjunction  with  his  friend  and 
physical  double,  Amille,  Amiloun  or 
Milles — have  been  multitudinously 
celebrated  by  mediseval  poets  in 
England  and  continental  Europe. 
The  germ  is  found  in  a  story  in  the 
Seven  Wise  Masters.  The  earliest 
reference  to  the  heroes  under  any 
approximation  to  their  modern  names 
is  found  in  the  metrical  romance 
Ogier  le  Danois  by  Raimbert  de  Paris 
(thirteenth  century)  who  says  they 
perished  in  the  year  774  in  an  expe- 
dition undertaken  by  Charlemagne 
against  Didier,  king  of  the  Lombards. 
The  earliest  extant  MS  romance 
Milles  et  Amys  dates  from  the  fif- 
teenth century  but  claims  to  have 
been  extracted  from  ancient  gestes. 

Briefly  summarized  and  reduced  to 
approximate  harmony  the  romances 
make  Amis  and  Amille  the  sons  of 
different  parents  but  astonishingly 
alike  in  appearance,  insomuch  that 
the  resemblance  gives  frequent  rise  to 
ludicrous  misadventures  and  is  not 
infrequently  utilized  for  purposes  of 
deception.  The  friendship  is  put  to 
its  severest  test  in  the  old  English 
romance  Amis  and  Amiloun.  Amis 
succumbs  to  the  temptation  of  the 
lovesick  lady  Belisaunt.  The  lovers' 
secret  is  discovered  and  betrayed  by  a 
wicked  steward  whom  Amis  chal- 
lenges to  single  combat.  But  inas- 
much as  he  cannot  truthfully  assert 
his  own  innocence  he  summons 
Amiloun  to  substitute  himself  in  the 
lists,  while  he  himself  to  prevent  sus- 
picion, takes  Amiloun's  place  besides 
his  wife,  sleeping  with  a  drawn  sword 
between  the  pair.  Amiloun  kills  the 


Amis 


21 


Amphitryon 


steward,  but  is  stricken  by  leprosy, 
as  an  angel  had  warned  him  in 
advance  he  would  be.  All  the  legends 
and  romances  agree  that  the  leper 
was  cured  by  bathing  in  the  blood  of 
his  friend's  children  and  that  after 
the  children  had  been  sacrificed  they 
were  miraculously  restored  to  life. 
But  the  difficulty  of  distinguishing 
between  the  heroes  seems  to  have 
affected  their  historians ;  for  while  the 
English  make  Amis  the  leper,  with  the 
French  it  is  Amiloun. 

Amis  the  Priest,  the  English  hero 
of  a  German  comic  poem  of  the 
thirteenth  century,  authorship  un- 
known. He  was  shrewd,  clever,  full 
of  native  wit  but  very  unlearned.  His 
popularity  excited  the  jealousy  of  his 
clerical  superiors  who  sought  to 
depose  him  on  the  ground  of  ignor- 
ance. 

Ammon.  Jupiter,  with  the  sur- 
name of  Ammon,  had  a  temple  in  the 
deserts  of  Libya,  where  he  was  wor- 
shipped as  a  ram,  that  being  the 
form  he  assumed,  when  in  common 
with  other  deities  he  fled  from  the 
attacks  of  the  Giants.  The  oracle 
was  visited  by  Alexander  the  Great 
(q.v.),  when  the  obsequious  priests 
hailed  him  as  the  very  son  of  the  god. 

Of  food  I  think  with  Philip's  son,  or  rather 
Ammon's   (ill  pleased  with  one  world  and 
one  father). 

BYRON:  Don  Juan,  v,  31. 

Amphiaraus,  in  classic  myth,  the 
prophet-hero  of  Argos,  who  joined 
Adrastus  in  the  expedition  of  the 
"  Seven  against  Thebes  '  although 
he  foresaw  its  disastrous  result. 
Pursued  in  his  flight  from  Thebes  by 
Periclymenus  he  was  swallowed  up  by 
the  earth  and  on  the  spot  where  he 
disappeared  an  oracle  was  established 
which  encouraged  the  Epigoni  to 
their  final  successful  venture  against 
Thebes. 

Amphion,  in  classic  myth,  son  of 
Zeus  and  Antiope  and  husband  of 
Niobe.  He  played  so  beautifully 
upon  a  lyre  presented  to  him  by 
Hermes  that  stones  moved  of  their 
own  accord  and  fitted  themselves 
together  so  as  to  form  the  walls  of 


Thebes.     Keats   in    Endymion   curi- 
ously confounds  him  with  Arion: 

Next  on  a  dolphin  clad  in  laurel  boughs 
Theban  Amphion,  leaning  on  his  lute. 

Bk.  iii,  1002. 

Tennyson  has  a  humorous  poem 
entitled  Amphion. 

O  Thebes,  thy  walls  were  raised  by  the 
sweetness  of  the  harp  but  razed  by  the 
shrillness  of  the  trumpet. — JOHN  LYLY: 
Alexander  and  Campaspe,  I,  i. 

And  hath  not  he  that  built  the  walls  of 

Thebes 
With    ravishing    sounds    of    his    melodious 

harp 
Made  music  with  my  Mephistophilis? 

MARLOWE:  Dr.  Faustus. 

Amphitrite,  in  classic  myth,  a 
Nereid  or  Oceanid,  wife  of  Poseidon 
(Neptune)  and  goddess  of  the  sea. 
In  Homer's  epics  she  does  not  occur 
as  a  goddess,  Amphitrite  being  merely 
the  name  of  the  sea.  The  earliest 
passages  in  which  her  divinity  is 
acknowledged  are  in  Hesiod  (The- 
ogenes,  243)  and  the  Homeric  hymn 
on  the  Delian  Apollo,  94,  where  she 
is  represented  as  having  been  a 
witness  to  the  birth  of  Apollo. 

First  came  great   Neptune  with  his  three 

forkt  mace 
That  rules  the  Seas,  and  makes  them  rise 

or  fall; 

His  dewy  lockes  did  drop  with  brine  apace 
Under  his  Diademe  imperiall: 
And  by  his  side  his  Queene  with  coronall 
Pair  Amphitrite,  most  divinely  faire, 
Whose  yvorie  shoulders  weren  covered  all, 
As  with  a  robe,  with  her  owne  silver  haire. 
And  deckt  with  pearles,  which  th'  Indian 

seas  for  her  prepaire. 

SPENSER:  Faerie  Queene,  xi,  18. 

Amphitryon,  in  classic  myth,  the 
son  of  Alcaeus,  is  the  hero  of  a  tragi- 
comedy by  Plautus  (named  after  him) 
which  Moliere  paraphrased.  Jupiter, 
falling  in  love  with  his  wife  Alcmene 
or  Alcmena,  takes  advantage  of 
Amphitryon's  absence  to  assume  his 
likeness  and  enters  his  home  accom- 
panied by  Mercury  in  the  guise  of 
Sosia,  the  bodyguard  of  Amphitryon. 
Alcmena  receives  them  in  good  faith. 
The  real  Sosia  is  sent  by  his  master 
to  announce  the  latter's  coming,  and 
is  astounded  by  meeting  in  the  door- 
way the  sham  Sosia,  who  finally 


Amyclae  22 

drives  him  away  with  a  sound  thrash- 
ing. Amphitryon,  on  his  return,  is 
no  less  surprised  to  hear  from  his  wife's 
mouth  that  she  had  received  him  the 
previous  night.  Finally,  after  many 
laughable  scenes  of  mistaken  identity, 
the  two  Amphitryons  meet.  The 
real  one,  seeing  so  admirable  a 
double,  falls  into  a  towering  rage,  but 
his  anger  is  not  shared  by  his  troops, 
since  theyi  are  unable  to  distinguish 
the  false  from  the  real.  Jupiter  then 
declares  he  will  clear  up  the  mystery 
and  invites  every  one  present  to  a 
banquet,  at  the  end  of  which  he  is 
borne  upward  on  a  cloud. 

It  is  during  this  banquet  that  in 
Moliere's  paraphrase  one  of  the  guests 
makes  use  of  the  now  familiar  phrase : 

Le  veritable  Amphytrion  est  1'Amphytrion 

ou  1'on  dine. 
(The  true  Amphytrion  is  the  Amphytrion 

where  you  dine). 

Shakspear  was  indebted  to  Plautus 
for  some  of  the  incidents  of  The 
Comedy  of  Errors.  A  closer  imitation 
was  Dry  den's  comedy,  The  Two 
Sosias.  It  may  be  added  that  in 
classic  myth  the  result  of  Jupiter's 
visit  to  Alcmena  was  the  birth  of 
Hercules. 

Amyclae,  an  ancient  town  of 
Laconia,  said  to  have  been  founded 
by  the  Lacedemonian  King  Amyclas. 
Long  after  the  conquest  of  the  Pelo- 
ponnesus by  the  Dorians  it  main- 
tained its  independence  as  an  Achaean 
town,  but  about  743  B.C.  it  was 
conquered  by  the  Spartan  king 
Telechus.  According  to  legend  the 
inhabitants  had  so  frequently  been 
alarmed  by  false  rumors  of  an  invad- 
ing host  that  finally  they  passed  a 
statute  making  it  a  public  offence  to 
report  the  approach  of  an  enemy. 
So,  when  the  Spartans  came  at  last, 
the  city  fell  an  easy  prey  to  them. 

Qui  fuit  Ausonidum  et  tacitis  regnavit 
Amyclse. 

&neid,  x,  564. 

It  is  disputed  whether  Virgil 
alludes  to  the  Laconian  or  another 
Amyclas,  situated  on  the  coast  of 
Campania,  Italy,  and  said  to  have 
been  founded  by  emigrants  from  the 


Andret 


earliest  city.  The  citizens  were 
Pythagoreans,  forbidden  to  speak  for 
five  years  or  offer  violence  to  serpents 
and  as  the  place  swarmed  with  these 
reptiles  it  was  finally  deserted  by  man. 

Sic  Amyclas  dum  silebant 

Perdidit  silentium. 
(Even  so  of  yore  Amyclae's  town 

Was  lost  for  want  of  speech.) 

ANON:  The  Vigil  of  Venus. 

Anchises,  in  classic  myth,  king  of 
Dardanus  on  Mount  Ida,  so  beautiful 
that  Aphrodite  fell  in  love  with  him 
and  bore  him  a  son,  no  less  a  person 
than  JEneas.  For  revealing  the  name 
of  the  mother  he  was  struck  blind  by 
a  flash  of  lightning.  At  the  fall  of 
Troy  .^Eneas  bore  his  father  on  his 
shoulders  out  of  the  burning  city. 
(ViRGiL:  dLneid,  n).  He  died  when 
the  fugitives  reached  Sicily  and 
Alcinous  gave  him  a  royal  funeral. 
The  games  which  formed  part  of  the 
ceremonies  are  the  occasion  for  some 
of  Virgil's  finest  descriptions.  Virgil 
adopted  the  above  version  from 
Hyginus,  Fable  xxiv — Hyginus,  li- 
brarian to  the  Emperor  Augustus, 
being  an  older  contemporary.  More 
ancient  Greek  legends  represent  An- 
chises as  being  killed  by  lightning  and 
the  site  of  his  tomb  is  still  pointed 
out  on  Mount  Ida. 

Andret,  in  the  mediseval  romance 
of  Tristran  and  Isoulde,  a  base  knight 
who  spied  upon  the  lovers  through  a 
keyhole  when  they  were  alone  to- 
gether in  the  lady's  private  chamber. 
They  were  sitting  at  a  table  of  chess, 
but  were  not  attending  to  the  game. 
Andret  brought  King  Mark,  husband 
of  Isoulde,  and  placed  him  so  as  to 
watch  their  motions.  The  king  saw 
enough  to  confirm  his  suspicions,  and 
he  burst  into  the  apartment  with  his 
sword  drawn,  and  had  nearly  slain 
Tristran  before  he  was  put  on  his 
guard.  But  Tristran  avoided  the 
blow,  drew  his  sword,  and  drove 
before  him  the  cowardly  monarch, 
chasing  him  through  all  the  apart- 
ments of  the  palace,  giving  him  fre- 
quent blows  with  the  flat  of  his 
sword,  while  he  cried  in  vain  to  his 
knights  to  save  him.  But  they  did 
not  dare  to  interpose. 


Androclus 


23 


Angelica 


Androclus,  in  later  Roman  legend, 
a  runaway  slave  who  took  refuge  in  a 
cave  where  he  relieved  a  lion  of  a 
thorn  in  its  paw.  Being  captured  and 
borne  back  to  Rome,  Androclus  was 
doomed  to  single  combat  with  a  lion 
in  the  Coliseum.  The  monster 
bounded  fiercely  towards  the  gladia- 
tor, but  on  nearing  him  fawned  at  his 
feet  and  gave  every  evidence  of 
delighted  recognition.  It  was  his  old 
friend  of  the  cave.  Androclus  was 
released  when  the  story  became 
known  to  the  spectators.  Aulus 
Gellius  (v,  14)  first  told  the  tale,  on 
the  authority  of  Appion  Plistonices 
who  lived  in  the  reigns  of  Tiberius 
and  Caligula  and  claimed  to  have 
been  a  witness  to  the  event. 

Pliny  supplies  an  earlier  story.  "Men- 
tor, a  native  of  Syracuse,  was  met  in  Syria 
by  a  lion,  who  rolled  before  him  in  a  sup- 
pliant manner;  though  smitten  with  fear 
and  desirous  to  escape,  the  wild  beast  on 
every  side  opposed  his  flight,  and  licked 
his  feet  with  a  fawning  air.  Upon  this 
Mentor  observed  on  the  paw  of  the  lion  a 
swelling  and  a  wound;  from  which  after 
extracting  a  splinter,  he  relieved  the  crea- 
ture's pain."  He  adds  another  instance  in 
the  case  of  Eepis,  a  native  of  Samos,  who 
landing  on  the  coast  of  Africa  was  instru- 
mental in  removing  a  bone  that  had  stuck 
fast  between  the  lion's  teeth.  "So  long  as 
the  vessel  remained  off  that  coast,  the  lion 
showed  his  gratitude  by  bringing  whatever 
he  had  chanced  to  procure  in  the  chase." 
Guy  Earl  of  Warwick,  in  the  romance  of 
that  name,  Is  witness  to  the  fight  of  a  lion 
and  a  dragon.  He  killed  the  dragon  and 
the  lion  ever  after  was  his  meek  and  con- 
stant companion.  The  mediaeval  romances 
always  held  that  a  lion  could  respect  a 
virgin.  Spenser  has  availed  himself  of  this 
belief  in  the  story  of  Una  (q.v.). 

Andromache,  in  classic  myth,  the 
wife  of  Hector  by  whom  she  had  one 
son,  Scamandrius  (Astyanax).  Her 
parting  from  Hector  when  he  buckles 
on  his  armor  and  goes  out  to  his  death 
is  one  of  the  most  famous  passages  in 
the  Iliad. 

After  the  capture  of  Troy  her  son 
was  hurled  from  the  walls  of  the  city, 
and  Andromache  herself  fell  to  the 
lot  of  Neoptolemus  of  Epirus.  In  the 
end  she  married  Helenus,  a  brother 
of  Hector.  She  is  the  subject  and 
title  of  a  famous  tragedy  of  Euripides 
(420  B.C.),  which  was  imitated  by 
Racine  in  Andromaque  (1667).  Ra- 


cine's tragedy  was  paraphrased  by 
Ambrose  Phillips  in  The  Distressed 
Mother  (1712). 

Andromeda,  in  classic  myth,  daugh- 
ter of  Cepheus,  King  of  Ethiopia  and 
Cassiopeia.  Her  mother  angered  the 
gods  by  declaring  that  the  girl's 
beauty  surpassed  that  of  the  Nereids. 
Poseidon  therefore  sent  a  sea-monster 
to  ravage  the  country.  Nothing 
would  appease  it  until  Andromeda 
was  chained  to  a  rock  within  its 
reach.  Perseus,  returning  from  his 
fight  with  the  Gorgons,  rescued  the 
maiden.  Despite  the  fact  that  she 
was  affianced  to  Phineus  he  married 
her.  After  death  she  was  translated 
by  Minerva  to  a  constellation  in  the 
northern  sky.  Her  tomb  was  shown 
in  Arcadia  near  that  of  Callisto.  The 
myth  has  many  familiar  features. 
Like  Niobe,  Andromeda's  mother 
draws  down  divine  vengeance  by  her 
motherly  pride;  like  Iphigenia  and 
Jephtha's  daughter,  she  is  sacrificed 
by  her  parents  to  satisfy  an  oracle, 
while  the  story  of  her  deliverance  has 
been  reproduced  in  a  thousand  forms 
from  the  women  rescued  by  (Edipus, 
Theseus,  Lohengrin  and  St.  George 
down  to  Una  and  her  Red  Cross 
Knight.  Charles  Kingsley  put  this 
story  into  English  hexameters  in  his 
A  ndromeda  ( 1 870) .  George  Chapman 
had  preceded  him  in  1614  with  a 
poem  entitled,  Andromeda  Liberata, 
or  the  Nuptials  of  Perseus  and  Andro- 
meda. 

Angelica,  the  heroine  of  Bojardo's 
Orlando  Amoroso,  and  the  object  of 
Orlando's  baffled  love.  Ariosto  in 
Orlando  Furioso  makes  her  the  cause 
of  his  madness.  See  this  entry  in 
Vol.  I: 

Crowded  as  the  Orlando  Innamoralo  Is 
with  incidents  and  episodes,  and  inexhausti- 
ble as  may  be  the  luxuriance  of  the  poet's 
fancy,  the  unity  of  his  romance  is  complete. 
From  the  moment  of  Angelica's  appearance 
in  the  first  canto,  the  whole  action  depends 
upon  her  movements.  She  withdraws  the 
Paladins  to  Albracca,  and  forces  Charle- 
magne to  bear  the  brunt  of  Marsiglio's 
invasion  alone.  She  restores  Orlando  to 
the  French  host  before  Montalbano.  It  is 
her  ring  which  frees  the  fated  Ruggiero 
from  Atlante's  charms.  The  nations  of  the 
earth  are  in  motion.  East,  West  and  South 
and  North  send  forth  their  countless  hordes 


Anne 


24 


Anthia 


to  combat;  but  these  vast  forces  are  con- 
trolled by  one  woman's  caprice,  and  events 
are  so  handled  by  the  poet  as  to  make  the 
fate  of  myriads  waver  in  the  balance  of  her 
passions. — SYMONDS:  Renaissance  in  Italy, 
vol.  I,  p.  484. 

Anne,  Sister,  in  Charles  Perrault's 
fairy  tale  Bluebeard,  the  sister  of 
Fatima,  Bluebeard's  seventh  and  last 
wife.  Fatima  after  her  guilt  has  been 
discovered  is  granted  a  short  respite 
before  execution  and  sister  Anne 
climbs  up  into  the  castle  turret  to  see 
if  succor  be  at  hand;  for  the  brothers 
of  the  two  ladies  are  momentarily 
expected.  Bluebeard  from  below 
stairs  roars  out  to  Fatima  to  hurry 
with  her  prayers;  Fatima  from  her 
chamber  cries,  "  Sister,  do  you  see 
them  coming?  '  and  Anne  on  the 
watch  tower  mistakes  every  cloud  of 
dust  for  the  horsemen.  They  arrive, 
however,  in  time  to  save  Fatima. 

Antaeus,  in  classic  myth,  a  gigantic 
Libyan  wrestler,  invincible  so  long  as 
his  feet  remained  on  mother  earth. 
Hercules  discovered  the  secret  of  his 
might,  lifted  him  up  from  earth,  and 
crushed  him  in  the  air. 

As  when  Earth's  son  Antasus  (to  compare 
Small  things  with  greatest)  in  Irassa  strove 
With  Jove's  Alcides,  and,  oft  foiled,  still 

rose, 
Receiving     from    his    mother    earth    new 

strength 
Fresh   from   his    fall,    and    fiercer    grapple 

joined; 

Throttled  at  length  in  air,  expired  and  fell: 
So,  after  many  a  foil,  the  tempter  proud, 
Renewing  fresh  assaults  amidst  his  pride, 
Fell  whence  he  stood  to  see  his  victor  fall. 

MILTON. 

In  the  Inferno,  Dante,  conducted 
by  Virgil,  descries  Antaeus  on  the  con- 
fines of  the  ninth  circle  of  hell.  At 
Virgil's  request  the  giant  stretched 
out  his  great  right  hand  and  seized 
Virgil,  who  bade  Dante  cling  closely 
to  him,  so  that  the  two  would  make 
one  burden.  Then  the  huge  bulk  of 
the  giant  began  to  bend,  and  moving 
slowly  at  length  deposited  his  burden 
safely  below.  This  done,  he  rapidly 
swayed  back  to  an  upright  position, 
as  does  a  ship's  mast  in  stormy 
weather  at  sea. 

Antenor,  according  to  Homer,  was 
one  of  the  wisest  of  the  Trojans.  He 


received  Menelaus  and  Odysseus  into 
his  house  when  they  came  as  messen- 
gers to  Troy  (Iliad,  iii,  116),  and 
subsequently  advised  his  fellow  citi- 
zens to  restore  Helen  to  her  husband 
(Iliad,  vii,  348).  Later  authorities 
exaggerate  his  friendliness  towards 
the  Greeks  into  actual  treachery  to  his 
own  people.  Just  before  the  taking 
of  Troy  he  was  sent  to  Agamemnon 
to  negotiate  peace  and  with  him  and 
Odysseus  devised  a  plan  to  surrender 
the  city  into  their  hands.  When  Troy 
was  plundered  a  panther's  skin  was 
hung  on  Antenor's  door  as  a  sign  that 
the  Greeks  should  respect  his  home 
(PAUSANIAS,  x,  17).  Some  accounts 
make  him  throw  in  his  lot  with 
Menelaus  and  Helen  after  their 
reconciliation. 

Virgil  (sEneid  i,  242)  makes 
Antenor  founder  of  Padua.  Dante 
puts  him  in  the  ninth  and  last  circle 
of  hell,  in  the  traitors'  division,  which 
he  names  after  him  Antenora  (Inferno 
xxxii,  88).  The  so-called  Dictys  and 
Dares  (mediasval  forgeries  of  pre- 
tended Greek  manuscripts  which  had 
a  powerful  influence  on  the  ancient 
romances)  give  the  story  of  his 
treachery  in  varying  forms  but  both 
implicate  ^Eneas  no  less  than  Antenor. 
This  Dante  was  obliged  to  suppress 
through  loyalty  to  the  Roman  empire 
and  its  legendary  founder. 

Anteros  (literally  return-love),  in 
classic  myth,  the  brother  of  Eros, 
usually  represented  as  the  god  who 
punishes  those  that  do  not  return  the 
love  bestowed  upon  them.  Some 
authorities,  however,  describe  him  as 
a  god  opposed  to  Eros  and  fighting 
against  him. 

Anthia,  heroine  of  a  fourth  century 
Greek  romance,  the  Ephesiaca  by 
Xenophon  Ephesius,  which  details 
the  love  of  Habrocomas  and  Anthia 
for  each  other  and  the  difficulty  which 
that  fascinating  hero  and  heroine 
experienced  in  eluding  the  love 
making  of  others.  Anthia  is  only 
interesting  as  having  possibly  sup- 
plied a  hint  for  Shakspear's  Juliet. 
Among  her  most  persistent  and  un- 
welcome suitors  is  Perilaus  who  had 
rescued  her  from  banditti.  Fearing 


Antidius 


25 


Apelles 


violence  at  his  hands  she  consents  to 
marry  him,  but  escapes  by  means  of  a 
medicine  which  throws  her  into  a 
death-like  sleep.  She  is  conveyed 
with  great  pomp  to  a  sepulchre,  which 
is  plundered  by  pirates.  They  wake 
her  and  carry  her  off  on  a  new  round 
of  adventures. 

Antidius,  bishop  of  Jaen,  martyred 
by  the  Vandals  in  411.  One  day  he 
detected  the  devil  writing  in  his 
pocket  book  an  accusation  against 
the  pope.  He  leaped  on  the  fiend's 
back  and  forced  him  to  carry  him 
through  the  air  to  Rome  where  he 
arrived  all  covered  with  Alpine  snow. 
The  hat  is  still  shown  at  Rome  in 
confirmation  of  this  miracle.  General 
Chronicle  of  King  Alphonso  the  Wise. 

Antigone,  heroine  of  Sophocles's 
tragedy  of  that  name  and  of  Eurip- 
ides's  The  Suppliants,  was  according 
to  classic  myth  the  daughter  of  (Edipus 
by  his  own  mother  Jocasta.  When 
that  king  on  the  discovery  of  his 
unwitting  incest  put  out  his  eyes  and 
wandered  from  Thebes  to  Attica  she 
was  his  faithful  and  devoted  guide. 
She  remained  with  him  until  his 
death  at  Colonus,  and  then  returned 
to  Thebes.  After  her  two  brothers, 
Eteocles  and  Polynices,  had  killed 
each  other  in  battle,  Antigone,  defy- 
ing the  orders  of  Creon,v  tyrant  of 
Thebes,  buried  the  body  of  Polynices 
and  was  shut  up  in  a  subterranean 
cave,  where  she  killed  herself.  Her 
lover,  Haemon,  Creon's  son,  immo- 
lated himself  by  her  side.  This  is  the 
version  adopted  by  Euripides.  Sopho- 
cles, on  the  other  hand,  makes  her 
marry  Haemon. 

The  most  perfect  female  character  in 
Greek  poetry  is  Antigone.  She  is  purely 
Greek; — unlike  any  woman  of  modern  fic- 
tion except  perhaps  the  Fedalma  of  George 
Eliot  .  .  .  To  the  modern  mind  she 
appears  a  being  from  another  sphere. — J.  A. 
SYMONDS:  The  Greek  Poele,  Sophocles,  vol.  i, 
p.  482. 

Antigonus  of  Antwerp,  a  gigantic 
figure  nearly  40  feet  high,  preserved 
in  the  City  Hall  at  Antwerp,  Holland, 
and  brought  out  on  great  occasions 
to  be  paraded  through  the  streets. 
Local  legend  explains  that  he  was  a 


giant  who  anciently  entrenched  him- 
self in  the  castle  of  Antwerp  (still 
extant  in  ruins)  on  the  Scheldt,  and 
from  this  point  of  vantage  extorted 
heavy  tolls  from  passersby.  All  who 
could  not  or  would  not  comply  had 
their  hands  cut  off.  These  were  cast 
into  the  river,  and  hence,  says  popular 
etymology,  the  name  of  Antwerp, 
Hantwerpen  or  Hand  tossing.  Finally 
through  the  agency  of  Prince  Brabo, 
an  analogous  giant  of  Brussels, 
Antigonus  was  slain  and  the  city  was 
relieved.  Even  yet  it  proudly  com- 
memorates the  Hand-tosser  in  its 
coat  of  arms:  a  castle  with  three 
towers  argent,  surmounted  by  two 
hands. 

Antiope.  See  AMPHION  and  HIP- 
POL  YTA. 

Anton,  Sir,  in  Arthurian  romance, 
is,  according  to  Tennyson,  the  foster 
father  of  King  Arthur,  an  innovation 
on  Malory,  who  follows  the  elder 
chronicles  by  making  Sir  Ector 
Arthur's  early  protector. 

Wherefore  Merlin  took  the  child 
And  gave  him  to  Sir  Anton,  an  old  knight 
And  ancient  friend  of  Arthur;  and  his  wife 
Nursed  the  young  prince  and  reared  him 
with  her  own. 

The  Coming  of  Arthur. 

Apelles,  the  most  illustrious  of  all 
the  Greek  painters,  a  contemporary 
of  Alexander  the  Great,  figures  in 
Lyly's  Alexander  and  Campaspe 
(1581)  as  the  lover  of  Campaspe.  It 
is  he  who  sings  the  well-known  song 
beginning: 

Cupid  and  my  Campaspe  played 
At  cards  for  kisses,  Cupid  paid. 

According  to  a  famous  Greek 
legend  Apelles,  distrustful  of  himself, 
eagerly  welcomed  criticism  from 
others.  He  often  exposed  his  pictures 
in  public  and  hid  behind  them  to  over- 
hear what  was  said  of  them.  One  day 
a  cobbler  found  fault  with  a  shoe- 
latchet,  which  waspromptly  repainted. 
Emboldened  by  this  success  he  next 
ventured  to  criticise  a  leg.  "  Nay," 
said  Apelles,  "  let  not  the  cobbler  go 
beyond  his  last," — a  phrase  usually 
quoted  in  its  Latin  form,  Ne  sutor 
ultra  crepidum. 


Aphrodite 


26 


Apollo 


Aphrodite,  better  known  by  her 
Roman  name  of  Venus,  the  Greek 
goddess  of  love.  The  Iliad  represents 
her  as  the  daughter  of  Zeus  and 
Dione;  later  authorities  say  she 
sprang  from  the  foam  of  the  sea, 
whence  her  name.  Hephasstus  was 
her  husband,  but  she  was  in  love  with 
Ares,  god  of  war,  and  had  affairs  with 
other  gods,  Dionysus,  Hermes  and 
Poseidon,  and  with  the  mortals 
Adonis  and  Anchises.  Her  beauty 
won  from  Paris  the  apple  of  discord. 
In  works  of  art  she  often  appears  with 
her  son  Eros,  or  Cupid.  The  most 
famous  of  her  statues  now  extant  is 
that  of  Milo  (Melos)  at  the  Louvre, 
though  a  copy  of  a  still  more  famous 
statue  by  Praxiteles  has  survived 
and  is  now  in  Munich.  A  lost  paint- 
ing by  Apelles,  the  Aphrodite  Ana- 
dyomene  (Aphrodite  rising  from  the 
sea) ,  was  reputed  a  masterpiece.  The 
worship  of  this  goddess  combined,  with 
Hellenic  conceptions,  many  features 
of  Eastern  origin. 

Aphrodite  has  better  claims  than  most 
Greek  gods  to  oriental  elements.  Herodotus 
and  Pausanias  (i,  xiv,  6;  iii,  23,  i)  look  on 
her  as  a  being  first  worshipped  by  the 
Assyrians,  then  by  the  Paphians  of  Cyprus, 
and  Phoenicians  at  Askelon,  who  communi- 
cated the  cult  to  the  Cythereans.  Cyp_rus  is 
one  of  her  most  ancient  sites,  and  Ishtar 
and  Ashtoreth  are  among  her  oriental 
analogues.  .  .  .  But  the  charm  of  Aph- 
rodite is  Greek.  'Even  without  foreign  in- 
fluence, Greek  polytheism  would  have 
developed  a  goddess  of  love,  as  did  the 
polytheism  of  the  North  (Frigga),  and  of 
the  Aztecs.  To  whatever  extent  contami- 
nated by  Phoenician  influence,  Aphrodite 
in  Homer  is  purely  Greek,  in  grace  and 
happy  humanity. — ANDREW  LANG:  Homeric 
Hymns,  p.  44. 

Apis,  the  sacred  bull  of  Memphis, 
worshipped  as  a  god  by  the  Egyp- 
tians. From  time  to  time  when  a 
vacancy  in  the  office  occurred  by 
death,  natural  or  inflicted,  a  new 
avatar  of  the  calf  god  manifested 
itself  in  a  bull.  Being  recognized  by 
the  priests  he  was  consecrated  for 
popular  worship.  At  Memphis  Apis 
had  a  magnificent  residence;  his 
birthday  was  an  annual  festival.  He 
was  not  suffered  to  live  more  than 
twenty-five  years.  His  burial  was 
followed  by  a  general  mourning  until 
a  new  calf  with  the  proper  marks  was 


discovered.  Apis,  deified  after  death, 
became  Osir-Hapi,  or  the  dead  Apis, 
— a  name  which  the  Greeks  converted 
into  Serapis. 

Apollo  or  Phoebus,  in  later  classic 
myth  the  god  of  the  sun,  an  office 
originally  held  by  Helios.  His  name 
Phoebus  signifies  the  brilliancy  of  the 
sunlight,  while  Apollo  indicates  its 
destructive  noonday  heat.  Son  of 
Zeus  and  Latona  and  twin  brother  of 
Diana  he  was  the  god  of  music, 
prophecy,  medicine  and  archery,  the 
protector  of  flocks  and  cattle  and  the 
ideal  of  youthful  strength  and  beauty. 
It  was  only  in  the  latter  capacities 
that  Homer  recognizes  him;  the 
Homeric  sun  god  was  Helios.  Though 
a  god  of  life  and  peace  he  did  not 
shun  the  weapons  of  war.  He  not 
only  slew  the  Python  (instituting  the 
Pythean  Barnes  in  commemoration  of 
this  feat  of  mercy),  but  he  revenged 
his  outraged  dignity  by  killing  the 
froward  Tityrus  and  visiting  the 
boastful  insolence  of  Niobe  upon  her 
children. 

The  famous  statue  of  Apollo  called 
the  Belvedere  represents  the  god  after 
his  victory  over  the  serpent  Python. 
To  this  Byron  alludes  in  his  Childe 
Harold,  iv,  161: 

I  see  the  lord  of  the  unerring  bow. 
The  god  of  life,  and  poetry,  and  light, 
The  Sun,  in  human  limbs  arrayed,  and  brow 
All  radiant  from  his  triumph  in  the  fight. 
The  shaft  has  just  been  shot;  the  arrow 

bright 

With  an  immortal's  vengeance;  in  his  eye 
And  nostril,  beautiful  disdain,  and  might, 
And  majesty  flash  their  full  lightnings  by, 
Developing  in  that  one  glance  the  Deity. 

Music  exalts  each  joy,  allays  each  grief, 
Expels  diseases,  softens  every  pain; 
And  hence  the  wise  of  ancient  days  adored 
One  power  of  physic,  melody,  and  song. 

ARMSTRONG. 

I  am  the  eye  with  which  the  universe 
Beholds  itself  and  knows  itself  divine; 

All  harmony  of  instrument  or  verse, 
All  prophecy  all  medicine  are  mine, 

All  light  of  art  or  nature; — to  my  song, 

Victory  and  praise  in  their  own  right  belong. 
SHELLEY:    Hymn  of  Apollo. 

We  constantly  find  in  America,  in  the 
Andaman  Isles,  and  in  Australia,  that,  sub- 
ordinate to  the  Primal  Being  there  exists 
another  who  enters  into  much  closer  rela- 
tions with  mankind.  Sometimes  he  is 
merely  an  underling  as  in  the  case  of  the 


Apollonius 


27 


Arachne 


Massachusetts  Kiehtan,  and  his  more  famil- 
iar subordinate,  Hobamoe.  But  frequently 
this  go-between  of  God  and  Man  is  (like 
Apollo)  the  son  of  the  Primal  Being  (often 
an  unbegotten  Son)  or  his  messenger.  He 
reports  to  the  somewhat  otiose  Primal 
Being  about  men's  conduct  and  he  some- 
times superintends  the  Mysteries.  I  am 
disposed  to  regard  the  prophetic  and  oracu- 
lar Apollo  (who,  as  the  Hymn  to  Hermes 
tells  us,  alone  knows  the  will  of  Father 
Zeus)  as  the  Greek  modification  of  this  per- 
sonage In  savage  theology.  It  is  absurd  to 
maintain  that  the  Son  of  the  God,  the  go- 
between  of  God  and  Man,  in  savage  theol- 
ogy is  borrowed  from  missionaries  while 
this  being  has  so  much  more  in  common 
with  Apollo  (from  whom  he  cannot  con- 
ceivably be  borrowed)  than  with  Christ. 
In  Apollo  I  am  apt  to  see  a  beautiful  Greek 
modification  of  the  type  of  the  mediating 
son  of  the  primal  being  of  savage  belief, 
adorned  with  many  of  the  attributes  of 
the  sun  God,  from  whom,  however,  he  is 
fundamentally  distinct.  Apollo,  I  think, 
is  an  adorned  survival  of  the  Son  of  the 
God  of  savage  theology.  He  was  not,  at 
first,  a  nature  God,  solar  or  not. — ANDREW 
LANG:  Homeric  Hymns. 

Apollonius  of  Tyre,  hero  of  an  old 
Greek  romance  of  uncertain  date  and 
authorship,  History  of  Apollonius  of 
Tyre.  A  Latin  version  is  still  extant. 
Gower  retold  the  story  in  his  Con- 
fessio  Amantis  (1386)  and  its  outlines 
are  familiar  to  Shakspearian  stu- 
dents through  the  use  made  of  them 
in  Pericles,  Prince  of  Tyre  (1609). 
Gower  is  here  introduced  as  speaking 
the  prologue  to  each  of  the  five  acts. 
Apollonius,  King  of  Tyre,  is  one  of 
the  suitors  for  the  hand  of  the  daugh- 
ter of  Antiochus,  King  of  Syria,  which 
is  promised  to  any  one  who  will  solve 
a  riddle  containing  an  allusion  to  her 
father's  incestuous  passion  for  her. 
Apollonius  succeeds  and  Antiochus 
would  have  slain  him,  but  he  escaped 
to  marry  another  princess.  An  excel- 
lent study  of  the  Apollonius  story 
may  be  found  in  Prof.  Albert  H. 
Smyth's  Shakspere's  Pericles  and 
Apollonius  of  Tyre.  In  this  volume 
of  112  pages  the  curious  reader  will 
find  all  that  he  is  likely  to  learn  upon 
the  origin  of  the  story,  its  ramifica- 
tions in  mediaeval  literature,  espe- 
cially in  the  literature  of  England^its 
adaptation  in  the  semi- Shakespearian 
drama  of  Pericles. 

Apollyon,  in  mediaeval  demonology, 
an  evil  spirit.  The  name  first  occurs 
in  Revelation  ix,  3-11,  where  it  is 


simply  a  translation  into  Greek  of  the 
Hebrew  word  "  abaddon  '  meaning 
destruction,  and  therefore  applied  to 
Sheol.  Apollyon,  like  Abaddon,  grew 
into  a  personified  fiend, — the  angel 
having  dominion  over  the  locusts 
coming  out  of  the  bottomless  pit  on 
the  Judgment  Day.  He  is  introduced 
by  Bunyan  in  the  Pilgrim's  Progress, 
where  Christian  vanquishes  him  after 
a  prodigious  struggle. 

Appius  Claudius.    See  VIRGINIA. 

Aquarius,  the  winter  sign  of  the 
Zodiac.  This  name  was  poetically 
given  to  Ganymede  as  a  constellation. 
"  He  was  represented  as  a  boy  pour- 
ing wine  out  of  a  goblet,  and  because 
an  abundance  of  rain  is  poured  upon 
the  earth  from  the  clouds  when  the 
sun  is  in  that  sign  he  is  said  to  be 
Jupiter's  cupbearer."  So  says  Sandys 
in  the  notes  to  his  translation  of 
Ovid's  Metamorphoses.  Keats,  who 
was  a  careful  student  of  Sandys,  has 
developed  this  idea  in  the  famous 
lines: 

Crystalline  brother  of  the  belt  of  heaven, 
Aquarius!  to  whom  king  Jove  has  given 
Two  liquid  pulse  streams  'stead  of  feather'd 

wings, 
Two  fan-like  fountains, — thine  illuminings 

For  Dian  play: 

Dissolve  the  frozen  purity  of  air; 
Let  thy  white  shoulders  silvery  and  bare 
Show  cold  through  watery  pinions;  make 

more  bright 

The  Star-Queen's  crescent  on  her  marriage 
night: 

Haste,  haste  away! — 

KEATS:    Endymion,  iv,  580. 

Arachne,  in  classic  myth,  a  Lydian 
maiden  who,  proud  of  her  skill  in 
weaving,  challenged  Athena  (Mi- 
nerva) to  compete  with  her.  She  pro- 
duced a  piece  of  cloth  so  perfect  that 
not  Athena  herself  could  find  a  fault. 
In  jealous  rage  the  goddess  smote  her 
rival  on  the  forehead  and  Arachne, 
humiliated  by  the  insult,  hanged 
herself.  Athena  loosened  the  rope 
and  saved  her  life,  but  changed  the 
rope  into  a  cobweb  and  Arachne  her- 
self into  a  spider.  Ovid  tells  the  story 
at  some  length  in  Metamorphoses: 

The  high-souled  Maid 

Such  insult  not  endured,  and  round  her  neck 
Indignant  twined  the  suicidal  noose, 
And  so  had  died.     But,  as  she  hung,  some 
ruth 


Arcadia 


28 


Ares 


Stirred  in  Minerva's  breast: — the  pendent 

form 
She  raised,  and  "Live! "she  said — "but  hang 

thou  still 
For  ever,   wretch!   and   through  all  future 

time 

Even  tot  hy  latest  race  bequeath  thy  doom ! " 
And,  as  she  parted,  sprinkled  her  with  juice 
Of  aconite.     With  venom  of  that  drug 
Infected  dropped  her  tresses, — nose  and  ear 
Were  lost; — her  form  to  smallest  bulk  com- 
pressed 
A  head   minutest   crowned; — to  slenderest 

legs 

Jointed  on  either  side  her  fingers  changed: 
Her  body  but  a  bag,  whence  still  she  draws 
Her  filmy  threads,  and,  with  her  ancient  art, 
Weaves  the  fine  meshes  of  her  Spider's  web. 

Arcadia,  a  mountainous  region  in 
ancient  Greece  in  the  middle  of  the 
Peloponnesus,  which  the  poets  feigned 
to  be  a  place  of  idyllic  innocence  and 
happiness,  the  home  of  piping  shep- 
herds and  coy  shepherdesses.  As  a 
matter  of  fact  the  Arcadians,  who 
considered  themselves  the  most  an- 
cient people  in  Greece,  did  experience 
fewer  changes  than  any  of  their 
neighbors.  Far  from  the  madding 
crowd,  they  devoted  themselves  to 
agriculture,  hunting  and  the  tending 
of  sheep  and  cattle,  and  were  passion- 
ately fond  of  music.  It  was  in  the 
middle  ages  that  the  ideal  Arcadia 
expanded  to  its  ultimate  proportions. 
Virgil  indeed  in  his  Eclogues  used  the 
word  Arcadian  as  a  synonym  for 
bucolic  content.  But  neither  Theoc- 
ritus nor  his  early  imitators  laid 
the  scene  of  their  poems  in  Arcadia. 
This  imaginary  frame  was  first 
adopted  by  Joseph  Sannazaro  (1458- 
1530),  father  of  the  pastoral  romance, 
whose  Arcadia  was  multitudinously 
imitated,  notably  by  Sir  Philip  Sidney 
(1590),  Robert  Greene  (1589)  and 
Lope  de  Vega  (1598).  Nicholas 
Poussin  has  a  much  quoted  allusion 
to  Arcadia.  His  picture  Shepherds  in 
Arcadia,  now  in  the  Louvre,  shows 
four  persons  grouped  before  the  tomb 
of  a  shepherd  busily  engaged  in  de- 
ciphering this  inscription:  Et  in 
Arcadia  ego!  ("And  I,  too,  have  lived 
in  Arcadia!") 

Arcite,  in  Chaucer's  Canterbury 
Tales  (1388),  The  Knight's  Tale,  a 
Theban  Knight  taken  captive  by 
Duke  Theseus.  See  PALAMON. 

Arctos  (in  Latin,  Ursus)  t  the  Bear, 


the  name  of  two  constellations  near 
the  North  or  Pole  star.  One  was 
known  to  the  Romans  as  Ursus 
Major,  the  Greater  Bear;  the  other 
as  Ursus  Minor,  the  Lesser  Bear. 
Both  are  connected  in  classic  myth 
with  the  Arcadian  nymph  Callisto. 
Zeus  had  an  amour  with  the  nymph 
which  resulted  in  the  birth  of  Areas. 
To  hide  her  from  the  jealous  wrath 
of  Hera  Zeus  transformed  her  into  a 
she-bear.  All  unknowing  of  the  meta- 
morphosis, Areas  pursued  her  in  the 
chase,  but  when  he  was  on  the  point 
of  killing  her,  Zeus  caught  up  mother 
and  son  into  the  heavens,  where  she 
became  the  Great  Bear  and  Areas  the 
Little  Bear.  Ovid  in  Book  ii  of  his 
Metamorphoses  devotes  Fables  v,  vi 
and  vii  to  this  legend.  He  makes 
Hera  herself,  and  not  Zeus,  the  author 
of  the  transformation  of  Callisto  into 
a  she-bear,  but  otherwise  agrees  with 
the  older  authorities.  A  Welsh 
scholar  and  antiquarian  Rev.  N. 
Owen,  Jr.,  in  British  Remains  (1777), 
broached  the  theory  that  King 
Arthur  is  the  Great  Bear; — "  the 
name  literally  implies  Arctus,  Arctu- 
rus,  and  perhaps  this  constellation, 
being  so  near  the  pole  and  visibly 
describing  a  circle  in  a  small  space, 
is  the  origin  of  the  famous  Round 
Table."  Cf.  Tennyson: 

Dost  thou  know  the  star 
We  call  the  Harp  of  Arthur  up  in  Heaven? 
TENNYSON:    The  Last  Tournament. 

Ares  (the  Mars  of  the  Romans),  the 
Greek  god  of  war,  son  of  Zeus  and 
Hera.  She  brought  him  forth  at  the 
time  when  she  was  enraged  at  the 
infidelities  of  her  consort.  A  child 
of  wrath,  he  had  no  mind  to  the  serene 
life  of  the  Olympians.  Therefore  he 
made  his  home  with  the  wild  Thracian 
folk  who  were  of  all  men  the  fiercest 
and  most  lawless.  Delighting,  as  he 
did,  in  the  din  of  battle,  the  slaughter 
of  men  and  the  sacking  of  towns,  he 
was  yet  wounded  by  Diomedes,  roar- 
ing like  ten  thousand  warriors  when 
he  fell,  and  conquered  by  the  gigantic 
Aloidae,  and  by  Hercules. — A  giant 
in  size  and  strength,  of  great  beauty, 
he  loved  and  was  beloved  by  Aphro- 
dite. 


Arethusa 


29 


Argus 


Arethusa,  in  classic  myth,  the 
nymph  of  the  fountain  of  that  name 
in  Ortygia,  Sicily.  While  bathing  in 
the  Alpheus  the  god  of  that  river 
pursued  her  as  far  as  Ortygia.  Im- 
ploring aid  from  Diana  she  was  turned 
into  the  fountain  (Ovm,  Metamor- 
phoses, v).  The  ancient  Greeks,  seeing 
the  river  Alpheus  disappear  through 
subterranean  ways  before  leaping  into 
the  sea,  fabled  that  Alpheus  had  gone 
to  rejoin  Arethusa.  And  as  the 
fountain  retained  all  its  limpid  sweet- 
ness they  added  that  Arethusa  had 
the  faculty  of  retaining  her  purity 
amid  the  bitter  and  muddy  waters 
that  Alpheus  mingled  with  hers. 

Pausanias,  the  second  century 
geographer,  owns  that  he  regards  the 
story  of  Alpheus  and  Arethusa  as  a 
mere  fable.  But,  not  daring  to  dis- 
pute a  fact  established  by  an  oracle, 
he  does  not  deny  that  the  river  runs 
through  the  sea,  though  he  is  at  a  loss 
to  understand  how  it  can  happen. 

Arfaran,  a  mythical  king  of  Britain. 
See  PERCEFOREST. 

Argonauts  (Gr.  Argonautce),  in 
Greek  myth,  a  band  of  adventurers 
who  sailed  out  in  the  Argo  to  fetch 
the  Golden  Fleece  from  Aca,  after- 
wards called  Colchis.  The  ship  was 
so  called  after  its  builder  Argo  or 
Argus.  It  had  fifty  oars  manned  by 
the  most  famous  Greek  heroes — 
Theseus,  Hercules,  Castor  and  Pollux, 
etc. — under  the  command  of  Jason. 
The  goddess  Athena  is  represented 
in  works  of  art  superintending  the 
building  of  the  ship  (see  JASON).  The 
word  Argonauts  is  now  used  to  denote 
any  adventurers  who  seek  by  novel 
and  perilous  methods  to  obtain  a 
difficult  goal.  It  was  especially 
applicable  to  the  goldseekers  who 
invaded  California  after  the  discovery 
of  the  precious  ore  there  in  1849; 
hence  they  are  popularly  known  as  the 
Argonauts  of  '49. 

From  every  region  of  ^gea's  shore 
The  brave  assembled ;  those  illustrious  twins, 
Castor  and  Pollux;  Orpheus,  tuneful  bard; 
Zetes  and  Calais,  as  the  wind  in  speed; 
Strong  Hercules  and  many  a  chief  renowned. 
On  deep  lolcos'  sandy  shore  they  thronged, 
Gleaming  in  armor,  ardent  of  exploits; 
And  soon,  the  laurel  cord  and  the  huge  stone 


Uplifting  to  the  deck,  unmoored  the  bark; 
Whose  keel  of  wondrous  length  the  skilful 

hand 

Of  Argus  fashioned  for  the  proud  attempt; 
And  in  the  extended  keel  a  lofty  mast 
Upraised,  and  sails  full  swelling;  to  the  chiefs 
Unwonted   objects.      Now   first,   now  they 

learned 

Their  bolder  steerage  over  ocean  wave, 
Led  by  the  golden  stars,  as  Chiron's  art 
Had  marked  the  sphere  celestial. 

DYER:    The  Fleece. 

Argus,  in  classic  myth,  the  legend- 
ary builder  of  Jason's  Argo.  A  more 
famous  Argus  was  the  herdsman  sur- 
named  Panoptes,  'the  all-seeing," 
because,  as  Apollodorus  explains,  he 
was  "  all  eyes."  Ovid  limits  his  eyes 
to  one  hundred.  Hera  appointed 
him  guardian  of  the  cow  into  which 
lo  had  been  metamorphosed.  At  the 
command  of  Zeus  Hermes  put  him  to 
sleep  with  magic  music  from  his  flute 
and  then  cut  off  his  head.  Hera  to 
reward  her  faithful  watchman  trans- 
ferred his  eyes  to  the  tail  of  her 
favorite  bird  the  peacock. 

The  name  of  Argus  has  passed  into 
common  speech  as  a  synonym  for  a 
guardian,  and  especially  for  one  who 
is  overwatchful  or  inconveniently 
vigilant. 

Argus,  in  Homer's  Odyssey,  xvii, 
291,  326,  the  faithful  old  dog  of 
Odysseus  who  recognized  his  master 
on  the  latter's  return  home  after  20 
years'  wandering  and  died  of  joy. 

Soon  as  he  perceived 

Long-lost  Ulysses  nigh,  down  fell  his  ears 
Clapped  close,  and  with  his  tail  glad  signs 

he  gave 

Of  gratulation,  impotent  to  rise, 
And  to  approach  his  master  as  of  old. 
Ulysses,  noting  him,  wiped  off  a  tear 
Unmarked. 

.     .     .     Then  his  destiny  released 
Old  Argus,  soon  as  he  had  lived  to  see 
Ulysses  in  the  twentieth  year  restored. 

COWPER,  trans. 

This  is  good  poetry  but  bad  cani- 
ology.  Dogs  do  not  retain  such 
lengthened  memories.  Byron  was 
truer  to  biological  fact  in  the  following 
lines: 

An  honest  gentleman  at  his  return 

May  not  have  the  good  fortune  of  Ulysses; 
Not  all  lone  matrons  for  their  husbands 

mourn, 

Or  show  the  same  dislike  to  suitor's  kisses; 
The  odds  are  that  he  finds  a  handsome  urn 
To  his  memory — and  two  or  three  young 
misses 


Arion 


30 


Ariel 


Born  to  some  friend,  who  holds  his  wife  and 

riches — 
And    that    his    Argus — bites    him    by    the 

breeches. 

Don  Juan,  iii,  23. 

Byron  was  evidently  recalling  an 
incident  which  he  thus  narrated  in  a 
letter  to  Thomas  Moore,  January  19, 
1815: 

But  as  for  canine  recollections 
I  had  one  (half  a  -wolf  by  the  she-side)  that 
doted  on  me  at  ten  years  old,  and  very 
nearly  ate  me  at  twenty.  When  I  thought 
he  was  going  to  enact  Argus,  he  bit  away  the 
backside  of  my  breeches,  and  never  would 
consent  to  any  kind  of  recognition,  in 
despite  of  all  kinds  of  bones  which  I  offered 
him. 

He  refers  to  the  same  incident  in 
the  song  in  Childe  Harold,  Canto  i, 
following  Stanza  13: 

And  now  I'm  in  the  world  alone, 

Upon  the  wide,  wide  sea: 
But  why  should  I  for  others  groan, 

When  none  will  sigh  for  me? 
Perchance  my  Dog  will  whine  in  vain, 

Till  fed  by  stranger  hands; 
But  long  ere  I  come  back  again, 

He'd  tear  me  where  he  stands. 

See  THEREON. 

Arion,  in  classic  myth,  a  poet- 
musician  of  the  island  of  Lesbos. 
Returning  on  one  occasion  from  Italy 
to  Corinth,  he  was  robbed  and  cast 
overboard  by  the  sailors;  but  the 
dolphins  who  had  gathered  round  the 
ship  to  hear  his  song  bore  him 
safely  back  to  the  promontory  of 
Taenarus,  in  the  Peloponnesus.  Some 
accounts  say  that  he  threw  himself 
overboard  in  order  to  escape  from 
assassination  at  the  hands  of  the 
robbers. 

Then  there  was  heard  a  most  celestial  sound 
Of  dainty  musick  which  did  next  ensew 
Before  the  Spouse:  that  was  Arion  crowned; 
Who  playing  on  his  harpe,  unto  him  drew 
The  ears  and  hearts  of  all  that  goodly  crew, 
That  even  yet  the  Dolphin  which  him  bore 
Through  the  ^Egean  seas  from  Pirates'  view, 
Stood  still  by  him,  astonished  at  his  lore, 
And  all  the  raging  seas  for  joys  forgot  to  roar. 
SPENSER:    Faerie  Queene,  iv,  n,  23. 

Aristaus,  whose  legend  is  versified 
in  Ovid's  Fasti  and  Virgil's  Eclogues, 
a  shepherd  who  disconsolate  at  the 
loss  of  his  bees  was  instructed  by 
Proteus  that  the  carcass  of  an  ox 
buried  in  the  ground  would  furnish 


him  with  a  new  supply.  The  notion 
that  corruption  of  animal  matter 
would  produce  bees  seems  to  have 
been  seriously  held  by  the  ancients. 

Aristeus,  the  classic  precursor  to 
the  Wandering  Jew  (q.v.)  an  epic  poet 
of  Proconnesus,  of  whom  it  was 
fabled  that  at  his  pleasure  he  could 
make  his  soul  abandon  and  return  to 
his  body.  He  appeared  and  disap- 
peared alternately  for  more  than  four 
centuries  and  visited  all  the  mythical 
nations  of  earth.  When  not  in 
human  form  he  abode  in  the  body  of 
a  stag. 

Ariadne,  in  classic  myth,  daughter 
of  Minos  and  Pasiphae.  She  gave 
Theseus  the  clue  of  thread  to  guide 
him  out  of  the  Labyrinth.  Theseus 
promised  to  marry  her  and  she  fled 
with  him  to  the  island  of  Naxos. 
According  to  Homer  she  was  killed 
here  by  Artemis.  The  more  common 
tradition  made  Theseus  desert  her  in 
Naxos,  where  she  was  found  by 
Bacchus,  who  wedded  her  and  placed 
among  the  stars  the  crown  he  gave 
her  at  their  marriage.  See  OVID, 
Metamorphoses,  vii  and  viii,  and 
Hero  ides,  x. 

Chaucer  iputs  the  story  of  Ariadne 
into  English  verse  in  his  Legend  of 
Good  Women  which  follows  in  the 
lead  of  Ovid  and  of  Phitarch's  life  of 
Theseus. 

Ariel  (Hebrew,  the  Lion  of  God],  in 
later  Jewish  angelology  and  in  medi- 
aeval demonology,  one  of  the  seven 
spirits  who  preside  over  the  waters. 
The  word  is  first  used  as  an  adjective, 
rendered  "  lion-like,"  in  the  English 
version  (2  Samuel  xxiii,  20)  and  later 
as  a  proper  name  in  Ezra  viii,  where 
Ariel  is  one  of  the  chief  men  sent  to 
procure  ministers  for  the  sanctuary. 
Shakspear  takes  the  name  for  an 
"  ayrie  sprite,"  Prospero's  servant  in 
The  Tempest.  In  Milton's  Paradise 
Lost  Ariel  is  the  name  for  a  fallen 
angel.  Pope  in  The  Rape  of  the  Lock 
makes  him  the  minute  and  invisible 
guardian  of  Belinda's  head-dress, 

The  chief  of  those 

Whose  humble  province  is  to  tend  the  fair. 
To  save  the  powder  from  too  rude  a  gale 
Nor  let  the  imprisoned  essences  exhale. 


Arimaspi 


31 


Goethe  introduces  him  into  the 
second  part  of  Faust,  Act  i,  Sc.  i,  as 
the  leader  of  the  Elves. 

Arimaspi,  a  Scythian  tribe,  an- 
ciently fabled  to  possess  a  single  eye, 
who  employed  themselves  in  digging 
gold  from  the  Ural  Mountains  and 
battling  for  the  possession  of  the 
spoil  with  the  gryphons  who  infested 
the  neighborhood. 

As  when  a  Gryphon  through  the  wilderness 
With  winged  course,  o'er  hill  or  mossy  dale 
Pursues  the  Arimaspian,  who,  by  stealth, 
Had  from  his  wakeful  custody  purloined 
The  guarded  gold. 

MILTON. 

Armageddon,  in  Revelation  xvi, 
1 6,  is  alluded  to  by  St.  John  as  the 
place  where  the  great  final  battle  is 
to  be  fought  between  the  forces  of 
Christ  and  Antichrist,  The  prophet 
sees  "  three  unclean  spirits  like  frogs  ' 
come  out  of  the  mouths  of  the  Dragon, 
the  Beast  and  the  False  Prophet 
"  which  go  forth  unto  the  kings  of  the 
earth  and  of  the  whole  world  '  to 
gather  them  "  into  the  place  called 
in  the  Hebrew  tongue  Armageddon." 
Biblical  scholars  generally  identify 
Armageddon  with  the  plain  of  Esdras- 
lon  in  Palestine,  a  famous  battle- 
ground in  Jewish  history.  For  ety- 
mological reasons  others  advance  the 
claims  of  the  Megiddo  mountains  or 
rather  of  the  plain  which  is  sur- 
rounded by  these  mountains.  A 
third  explanation  finds  in  the  word  a 
possible  survival  of  the  name  of  that 
mythical  place  where  the  Gods  of 
Babylonia  were  fabled  to  have  de- 
feated the  dragon  Tiamit  and  other 
evil  spirits. 

In  the  American  presidential  con- 
vention at  Chicago,  held  July,  1912, 
Theodore  Roosevelt  electrified  the 
vast  assemblage  by  proclaiming  "  we 
stand  at  Armageddon  and  we  battle 
for  the  Lord."  The  word  became  a 
party  shibboleth  with  the  '  Bull 
Moosers "  or  Progressives.  The 
story  of  how  it  was  adopted  by 
Roosevelt  is  thus  told  by  Alfred 
Remy  of  Yonkers  in  a  letter  dated 
August  20,  1912,  which  appeared  in 
the  N.  Y.  Sun: 


Armstrong 

Ten  years  ago  Leonard  van  Noppen,  the 
translator  of  Vondel's  Lucifer,  began  a 
drama  of  gigantic  proportions  haying  for 
its  theme  cosmic  evolution.  Within  a  few 
months  the  completed  work  will  be  pub- 
lished in  London  under  the  title  of  "Arma- 
geddon." One  of  the  historical  characters 
in  this  play  is  Bashti  Beki,  a  man  of  the 
type  of  Mr.  Roosevelt.  Although  the  scene 
treating  of  this  Bashti  Beki  was  written 
more  than  three  years  ago  the  situation  so 
closely  resembles  that  of  the  present  Presi- 
dential campaign  that  a  brother  of  Mr.  Van 
Noppen  could  not  resist  the  temptation  of 
publishing  this  scene  separately  in  pamphlet 
form.  It  was  distributed  in  Chicago  during 
the  Republican  convention,  and  a  copy  was 
sent  to  Mr.  Roosevelt,  who  at  once  seized 
upon  the  unusual  word  "Armageddon." 

Annida,  in  Tasso's  Jerusalem  De- 
livered (1575),  is  one  of  the  many 
modern  forms  of  the  classic  Circe, 
but  is  more  closely  imitated  from 
Ariosto's  Alcina.  Yet  there  £re>  ob- 
vious differences  between  these  three 
types,  Circe  represents  brutal  lust; 
Alcina  voluptuousness,  and  Armida 
coquetry,  though  coquetry  united  to 
irresistible  charm. 

The  daughter  of  a  Saracen  wizard 
she  was  selected  by  Satan  to  work 
confusion  in  the  Christian  army.  Her 
wiles  seduced  Rinaldo  and  she  kept 
him  in  voluntary  enslavement  in  her 
enchanted  palace,  where  the  Christian 
Achilles  forgets  for  a  period  his  duty 
and  his  destiny.  Carlo  and  Ubaldo 
rescue  him.  Armida  follows,  but 
being  unable  to  woo  back  Rinaldo, 
burns  her  palace  and  sets  a  price  on 
his  head.  Foiled  in  an  attempt  to 
shoot  him  and  then  to  kill  herself, 
Armida  is  at  last  reconciled  to  her 
former  lover,  and  honorably  be- 
trothed to  him  on  condition  that  she 
will  become  a  Christian. 

This  episode  has  been  turned  to 
account  in  drama  and  opera.  In  1681 
Quinault  produced  a  lyric  tragedy 
Armide  et  Renauld,  with  music  by 
Lulli.  The  libretto  of  Gluck's  opera 
Armide  (1777)  was  founded  on 
Quinault,  as  was  that  of  an  anony- 
mous parody  bearing  the  same  name 
(1762).  Rossini's  serio-comic  opera 
Armida  appeared  in  1817. 

Armstrong,  Johnnie,  hero  and  title 
of  a  Scotch  ballad.  Armstrang  or 
Armstrong  of  Gilnockie  enjoyed  a 
kind  of  Robin  Hood  reputation  on  the 


Arria 


32 


Arthur 


Scottish  border  as  one  who  robbed 
only  the  English.  In  1529  James  V 
dispersed  the  band  and  hanged  the 
leader. 

Arria,  in  Roman  history,  the  wife 
of  Cascina  Pastus.  He  was  ordered 
by  the  emperor  Claudius  to  put  an 
end  to  his  life  (A.D.  42).  Seeing 
him  hesitate  Arria  stabbed  herself. 
Handing  the  dagger  to  her  husband, 
"  Paetus,"  she  said,  "  it  does  not  pain 
me."  PLINY,  Epistles,  iii,  16;  DION 
CASSIUS,  Ix,  16;  Martial  i,  14. 

Who  can  read  the  story  of  the  justly 
celebrated  Arria  without  conceiving  as  high 
an  opinion  of  her  gentleness  and  tenderness 
as  of  her  fortitude? — FIELDING:  Tom  Jones, 
x,  9- 

Artamenes  (Fr.  Artemene),  in 
Mile,  de  Scudery's  romance  Arta- 
menes or  tine  Grand,  Cyrus  (Artamene 
ou  le  Grand  Cyrus,  1649-1653),  the 
name  under  which  Cyrus  is  brought 
up  by  the  shepherds  who  found  him. 
See  CYRUS. 

Artegal  or  Arthgallo,  a  mythical 
king  of  Britain.  See  ELIDURE. 

The  reinstated  Artegal  became 
Earth's   noblest   penitent:    from    bondage 

freed 
Of  vice — thenceforth  unable  to  subvert 

Or  shake  his  high  desert. 
Long  did  he  reign;  and  when  he  died,  the 

fear 

Of  universal  grief  bedewed  his  honored  bier. 
WORDSWORTH :  Artegal  and  Elidure  (1815). 

Artemisia.  Two  queens  of  this 
name  are  famous  in  Greek  history 
and  tradition.  The  first  was  the 
wife  and  sister  of  Mausolus,  king  of 
Caria.  When  he  died,  B.C.  353,  she 
succeeded  him  on  the  throne  but 
was  utterly  inconsolable.  To  per- 
petuate his  memory  she  erected  at 
Halicarnassus  a  famous  monument, 
reckoned  one  of  the  seven  wonders  of 
the  world  and  known  as  the  Mauso- 
leum. The  name  subsequently  be- 
came the  generic  term  for  any  splen- 
did sepulchral  monument.  It  was 
1 40  feet  high  and  41 1  in  circumference. 
Artemisia  further  celebrated  funeral 
games  in  honor  of  her  husband  and 
distributed  large  prizes  to  the  poets 
and  orators  who  joined  in  his  praises. 
It  is  even  said  that  she  swallowed  his 
ashes  after  the  body  was  consumed 


on  the  funeral  pyre,  deeming  that  she 
could  find  no  more  suitable  sepulture 
for  them. 

The  other  and  later  Artemisia  was 
also  Queen  of  Halicarnassus.  She 
accompanied  Xerxes  in  his  invasion 
of  Greece  and  at  the  battle  of  Salamis 
(B.C.  480)  displayed  rare  courage  and 
wisdom. 

Arthur,  King,  the  national  hero  of 
England.  Originally  he  was  the  pro- 
tagonist only  of  thejpoetical  Cymric 
race, — the  Britons  whom  the  Saxon 
invaders  of  the  seventh  and  eighth 
centuries  drove  into  corners  of 
England  and  over  the  borders  into 
Wales.  The  Saxons  naturally  ignored 
or  neglected  legends  wherein  they 
figured  as  heathens  and  aliens.  These 
legends,  however,  caught  the  fancy 
of  the  next  horde  of  invaders,  the 
Normans,  who  in  their  turn  tri- 
umphed over  the  Saxons.  Cymric 
traditions,  and  Norman  romances 
based  upon  those  traditions,  gradu- 
ally built  up  the  gallant  figure  which 
received  its  final  gloss  from  Sir 
Thomas  Malory  in  the  Morte  d1  Arthur 
(circa  1470), — that  of  a  king  all  truth, 
all  honor,  all  courtesy,  seating  him- 
self upon  a  throne,  not  for  love  of 
mastery  or  riches,  but  to  curb  the 
wild  nobles  and  the  tributary  kings, 
to  beat  back  invaders,  to  succor  the 
poor,  to  redress  all  grievances  and  to 
be  ready  night  and  day  to  answer 
any  plaints  of  his  subjects. 

As  a  natural  corollary  to  this  ideal 
king  there  sprang  up  around  him  a 
court  all  like  himself,  chivalric 
knights  ever  ready  to  succor  the 
needy.  Every  minstrel  added  fresh 
details  to  the  general  conception. 
"  Over  all  the  island  the  wonderful 
story  has  floated,  settling  now  here, 
now  there,  with  sudden  swallow 
flights  from  one  site  to  another,  nay, 
passing  across  the  sea  from  Land's 
end  to  Land's  end,  with  the  imagina- 
tive race  which  first  conceived  the 
idea  of  Arthur,  to  the  misty  coasts  of 
Brittany." — Edinburgh  Review  (1870). 

The  historical  data  for  this  splendid 
figure  are  meagre  enough.  Our  first 
extant  authority  is  the  Historia 
Brittanorum  (circa  826)  generally 


Arthur 


33 


Arthur 


attributed  to  Nennius,  a  native  of 
South  Wales,  who  seems  to  have 
collated  and  amplified  earlier  docu- 
ments. All  that  may  be  deduced 
from  Nennius  is  that  at  the  time  of 
the  (unsuccessful)  Saxon  invasions  of 
Britain  in  the  fifth  century  there  was 
a  valiant  warrior  named  Arthur, 
whose  official  title  was  Dux  Bellorum 
(Leader  in  Wars)  and  who  captained 
an  army  of  British  kings  against  the 
Saxons,  defeating  them  in  twelve 
great  battles.  Four  centuries  later 
the  credulous  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth 
(i  loo-i  154)  author  of  a  Latin  History 
of  English  Kings,  glorified  this  soldier 
into  a  mighty  monarch  presiding  over 
a  splendid  court,  and  not  only  beating 
back  the  invader,  but  turning  invader 
on  his  own  account,  carrying  his 
conquests  to  the  very  gates  of  Rome, 
crowned  emperor  by  the  pope  and 
parcelling  out  Europe  among  his 
followers  and  his  family.  Geoffrey 
even  attributed  superhuman  powers  to 
this  world-conqueror  so  that  in  one 
battle  he  slew  with  his  own  hand  969 
of  the  enemy. 

Norman  poets  now  amplified  upon 
the  work  of  the  Cymric  historians. 
In  1155  one  Wace  remoulded  the 
Historia  Regum  Britannia  into  a 
metrical  romance, — the  Roman  de 
Brut  (see  BRUTUS).  In  the  early  part 
of  the  next  century  one  Layamon 
took  the  15,300  French  verses  of 
Wace  and  expanded  them  into  the 
32,241  English  verses  of  his  own  Brut. 
Walter  Map  followed  with  narrative 
poems  which  systematized  and  spirit- 
ualized the  old  traditions,  adding 
thereto  many  inventions  of  his  own. 
Lastly,  in  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth 
century,  Sir  Thomas  Malory's  Morte 
a" Arthur  fashioned  a  continuous  story 
out  of  the  material  bequeathed  to  him 
by  Cymric  historians  and  Norman 
poets  and  romancers. 

Tennyson  in  his  Idylls  of  the  King 
mainly  follows  the  outlines  of  Malory's 
prose  poem;  but  he  occasionally  goes 
back  to  older  sources  and  in  certain 
cases,  most  conspicuously  in  the  char- 
acter of  Arthur  himself,  he  supersedes 
the  old  story  with  inventions  of  his 
own. 


For  though,  by  Malory  and  his 
predecessors,  Arthur  was  posed  as  a 
great  warrior  and  a  gracious  and 
goodly  king,  none  of  his  various 
sponsors  claimed  for  him  any  superi- 
ority in  morals  over  the  knights  who 
surrounded  him.  The  earlier  Welsh 
traditions  show  him  not  as  the  hus- 
band of  one  wife,  but  of  several, 
more  than  one  of  whom  was  called 
Gasenhwifer  or  Guinevere.  By  Mal- 
ory's time  they  had  been  reduced  to 
one.  But  even  Malory  concedes  that 
neither  of  Arthur's  sons  was  born  in 
wedlock,  and  that  one  of  them,  Mod- 
red,  was  both  son  and  nephew.  Al- 
though the  early  romancers  tolerated 
adultery  they  could  not  tolerate  delib- 
erate incest.  Therefore  they  ex- 
plained that  in  his  affair  with  Mar- 
guse,  his  half  sister,  Arthur  was  as  yet 
ignorant  of  their  relationship.  Never- 
theless it  was  this  sin  that  eventually 
destroyed  him  through  its  issue  Mod- 
red,  who  turned  traitor  against  his 
father  (see  MOORED). 

In  a  general  way  the  early  authori- 
ties agree  that  Arthur  was  the  son  of 
Uther  Pendragon  conceived  by  a 
stratagem  upon  Ygerne  (q.v.),  wife  of 
Gorlois,  Duke  of  Cornwall.  Uther 
married  her  immediately  after  Gor- 
lois's  death  and  before  the  birth  of 
Arthur.  Merlin  placed  the  babe  in 
charge  of  Sir  Ector,  who  brought  him 
up  in  ignorance  of  his  ancestry. 
Uther  died,  the  kingdom  was  thrown 
into  disorder.  One  day  the  Bishop  of 
Canterbury  discovered  in  the  church- 
yard a  block  of  stone,  with  an  anvil 
embedded  therein,  and  through  the 
anvil  ran  a  sword.  An  inscription 
proclaimed  that  whosoever  could 
pull  out  the  sword  was  the  rightful 
heir  to  the  throne.  Many  knights 
tried  and  failed.  At  last  Arthur,  who 
was  now  eighteen,  succeeded.  There- 
upon he  was  acknowledged  as  the 
son  of  Uther  and  proclaimed  King 
of  England.  Twelve  princes  rebelled 
against  this  edict.  Among  them  was 
Lot,  king  of  Norway.  Arthur  subdued 
them  all.  Later  he  won  twelve  great 
victories  against  the  Saxon  invaders 
and  having  securely  established  him- 
self in  England  began  his  career  as  a 


Artus 


34 


Ashtaroth 


world-conqueror.  He  was  summoned 
back  by  the  treason  of  Modred, 
whom  he  had  left  in  charge  of  his 
kingdom,  and  his  wife, Guinevere,  and 
who  was  seeking  to  usurp  the  first, 
and  to  seduce  or  marry  the  second. 
It  is  only  in  the  later  romances,  which 
are  followed  by  Malory,  that  Lancelot 
appears  as  the  paramour  of  Queen 
Guinevere  and  completes  the  ruin 
begun  by  Modred.  See  MODRED, 
AVALON. 

Artus  or  Arthur,  hero  of  Artus  de 
la  Bretagne,  a  French  romance,  first 
printed  in  1493,  but  probably  written 
earlier.  Artus  is  the  son  of  John, 
Duke  of  Brittany,  a  descendant  of 
Lancelot  du  Lac.  He  falls  in  love  with 
Jeannette,  a  country  maiden,  but  is 
forced  by  state  reasons  to  marry 
Perona,  daughter  of  the  archduchess 
of  Austria.  Jeannette  is  smuggled  into 
the  nuptial  couch  by  connivance  with 
Perona,  who  wishes  to  hide  the  loss 
of  her  virginity.  Artus,  unwitting  of 
the  deception,  gives  her  a  ring,  which 
she  produces  next  morning  to  his 
bewildered  gaze.  Perona  dies  of 
mortified  pride.  Artus  has  a  dream 
in  which  the  image  of  his  predestined 
consort  appears  to  him.  She  is 
Florence,  daughter  of  Emendus,  king 
of  Sorolois.  With  only  vague  clues 
to  guide  him  Artus  sets  out  in  quest 
of  this  incomparable  princess.  She 
on  her  part  has  obtained  possession 
of  an  image  with  a  hat  which  magi- 
cians announce  will  be  put  on  the  head 
of  her  predestined  spouse.  Of  course 
all  suitors  fail  until  after  parlous 
adventures  in  many  lands  Artus  at 
last  presents  himself  and  receives 
the  hat  from  the  image.  Even  now 
he  has  many  difficulties  to  encounter 
before  he  marries  Florence.  The 
leading  incident  probably  suggested 
to  Spenser  the  outline  of  his  Faerie 
Queene  where  Arthur  falls  in  love 
with  the  queen  through  a  vision,  and 
pursues  his  quest  for  her  to  a  happy 
termination. 

Arviragus,  in  The  Franklin's  Tale, 
one  of  Chaucer's  Canterbury  Tales 
(1388),  the  husband  of  Dorigen.  Her 
virtue  being  tempted  by  Aurelius  she 
makes  answer  that  she  will  never 


yield  until  the  rocks  that  beset  the 
coasts  were  removed,  "  and  there 
n'is  no  stone  y'seen."  Invoking 
magic  to  his  aid  Aurelius  makes  the 
rocks  to  disappear.  Thereupon  Arvi- 
garus  declares  that  his  wife  must  keep 
her  word,  but  Aurelius,  moved  by  her 
tears  and  her  husband's  magnanimity, 
swears  that  he  would  rather  die  than 
injure  so  true  a  wife  and  so  noble  a 
gentleman.  The  story  is  founded 
upon  Boccaccio's  Dianora  and  Gil- 
berto,  in  the  Decameron,  x,  5.  See 
DIANORA. 

Ascapart,  in  the  romance  of  Sir 
Bevis  of  Hampton,  a  giant  30  feet 
high,  whose  most  famous  feat  was 
that  of  carrying  Sir  Bevis,  his  wife, 
his  sword,  and  his  horse  under  his 
arm.  Finally  the  hero  subjugated 
him,  and  Ascapart  would  run  beside 
his  horse  as  a  docile  retainer.  The 
giant  figures  in  many  of  the  old 
French  romances,  and  is  frequently 
alluded  to  by  the  Elizabethan  drama- 
tists. Drayton  versifies  his  story  in 
Polyolbion,  ii  (1612).  An  effigy  of  the 
giant  adorns  the  city  gates  of  South- 
ampton. 

Each  man  an  Ascapart  of  strength  to  toss 
For  quoits  both  Temple  Bar  and  Charing 
Cross. 

POPE. 

Asgard  or  Asgardh,  in  Norse 
mythology,  the  abode  of  the  gods, 
where  each  had  a  separate  gold  or 
silver  palace; — Gladsheim  for  the 
male  divinities  and  Vingolf  for  the 
goddesses.  The  most  beautiful  of 
these  palaces  is  Valhalla,  the  great 
hall  of  Odin  (see  VALHALLA  and 
ODIN).  Asgard  is  surrounded  by  a 
wall  which  was  built  by  a  giant. 
The  space  between  it  and  earth  is 
spanned  by  the  bridge  Bifrost,  the 
rainbow. 

Ashtaroth,  in  Phoenician  myth,  the 
equivalent  of  the  Greek  Astarte.  She 
was  the  Queen  of  the  Night,  as  Baal 
was  the  Lord  of  the  Day,  and  differs 
from  Ishtar,  the  Babylonian  female 
divinity,  only  in  being  identified  with 
the  moon  and  wearing  the  sign  of  the 
crescent,  while  Ishtar  rules  the  planet 
Venus,  the  morning  and  evening  star. 


Asia 


35 


Asmodeus 


Solomon  built  Ashtaroth  a  temple 
on  the  Mount  of  Olives  which  was 
overthrown  by  Josiah,  as  recorded  in 
2  Kings: 

13  And  the  high  places  that  were  before 
Jerusalem,  which  were  on  the  right  hand  of 
the  mount  of  corruption,  which  Solomon  the 
king  of  Israel  had  builded  for  Ashtoreth  the 
abomination    of    the    Zidonians,    and    for 
Chemosh  the  abomination  of  the  Moabites, 
and   for    Milcom   the   abomination   of   the 
children  of  Ammon,  did  the  king  defile. 

14  And  he  brake  in  pieces  the  images, 
and  cut  down  the  groves,  and  filled  their 
places  with  the  bones  of  men. 

Her  chief  temples,  however,  were 
at  Tyre  and  Sidon.  These  were 
especially  honored  by  women.  Young 
girls  thronged  here,  the  altars  were 
ministered  to  by  priestesses,  recruited 
from  the  noblest  families.  Groves  of 
trees  surrounded  the  temples,  for 
the  goddess  of  nature  was  best  wor- 
shipped in  the  open  air, amid  the  vege- 
tation symbolic  of  her  eternal  youth. 
Therefore,  the  finest  trees  were  sacred 
to  her,  especially  the  cypress,  which 
was  in  ancient  religions  the  emblem 
of  everlasting  life.  The  pomegranate, 
with  its  thousand  seeds,  an  emblem 
of  fertility,  was  also  dedicated  to 
Ashtaroth. 

Asia,  in  classic  myth,  daughter  of 
Oceanus  and  Tethys,  wife  of  lapetus, 
and^mother  of  Atlas  and  Prometheus. 
Hesiod  in  the  Theogony  identifies  her 
with  Clymene.  Keats  keeps  the  two 
personalities  entirely  distinct  and 
gives  to  Asia  a  new  parentage,  making 
her  a  daughter  of  Caf,  more  properly 
Kaf  (g.v.),  whose  name  he  had  met  in 
the  Arabian  Nights. 

Nearest  him 

Asia,  born  of  most  enormous  Caf, 
Who  cost  her  mother  Tellus  keener  pangs, 
Though  feminine,  than  any  of  her  sons: 
More  thought  than  woe  was  in  her  dusky 

face, 

For  she  was  prophesying  of  her  glory; 
And  in  her  wide  imagination  stood 
Palm-shaded  temples,  and  high  rival  fanes, 
By  Oxus  or  in  Ganges'  sacred  isles. 
Even  as  Hope  upon  her  anchor  leans, 
So  leant  she,  not  so  fair,  upon  a  tusk 
Shed  from  the  broadest  of  her  elephants. 

KEATS:  Hyperion,  ii,  51. 

According  to  the  Koran,  Asia  was 
the  wife  of  the  Pharaoh  who  brought 
up  Moses,  and  the  daughter  of  an 


earlier  Asia,  wife  of  the  Pharaoh  who 
knew  not  Joseph.  Her  consort  tor- 
tured her  for  believing  in  Moses;  but 
she  remained  firm  and  was  taken  up 
into  heaven. 

Aslaug  or  Aslauga,  in  Norse  myth, 
the  daughter  of  Sigurd  and  Brunhilde. 
Left  an  orphan,  she  is  brought  up  as  a 
drudge  by  an  old  hag,  is  christened 
Crow  and  fully  believed  to  be  dumb. 
King  Ragnar  Lodbrog,  sailing  by  her 
home,  stops  and  bids  the  seventeen- 
year-old  girl  to  his  ship.  Ashamed  of 
her  vile  attire  she  finds  a  natural  cloak 
for  it. 

She  set  hand  to  her  hair  of  gold 
Until  its  many  ripples  rolled 
All  over  her,  and  no  great  Queen 
Was  e'er  more  gloriously  beseen. 

These  lines  are  from  William 
Morris's  poem  The  Fostering  of 
Aslaug  in  The  Earthly  Paradise. 

Asmodeus,    a    demon    concerning 
whom   Jewish   tradition   offers   con- 
flicting  accounts.      Identified   some- 
times with  Samael,  sometimes  with 
Apollyon,  he  is  also  called  the  prince 
of    demons    and    confounded    with 
Beelzebub.    The  Cabalists  made  him 
the  chief  of  the  Schedim  or  elementary 
spirits.     In  a  Jewish  legend  he  once 
dethroned  Solomon,  but  was  in  the 
end  defeated,  loaded  with  chains,  and 
forced  to  aid  in  the  building  of  the 
Temple.     In  Tobit  he  appears  as  the 
lover  of  Sara,  the  daughter  of  Raguel, 
causing  the  death  of  seven  husbands 
on  their  successive  bridal  nights.    The 
eighth  husband,  Tobit  or  Tobias,  by 
burning  the  liver  of  a  fish  caught  in 
the  Tigris,  drove  Asmodeus  into  the 
uttermost    parts    of    Egypt.      The 
rabbis   make  ^him    the   offspring   of 
Tubal-Cain's  incestuous  union  with 
his  sister.   The  mediaeval  demonog- 
raphers    describe    him   as  a  mighty 
monarch  with  three  heads,  a  bull's, 
a  man's  and  a  ram's— each  of  which 
belches  flame, — the  tail  of  a  serpent 
and  webbed  feet  like  a  goose. 

Solomon  had  a  ring  wherein  lay  his 
power.  When  he  took  his  daily  bath  he 
would  entrust  it  to  one  of  his  wives.  One 
day  the  evil  spirit,  Asmodeus,  stole  the 
ring,  and,  assuming  Solomon's  form,  drove 
the  naked  king  from  the  bath  into  the 


Assad 


36 


Atalanta 


streets  of  Jerusalem.  The  wretched  man 
wandered  about  his  city  scorned  by  all; 
then  he  fled  into  distant  lands,  none  recog- 
nizing in  him  the  great  and  wise  monarch. 
In  the  meanwhile  the  evil  spirit  reigned  in 
his  stead,  but  unable  to  bear  on  his  finger 
the  ring  graven  with  the  Incommunicable 
Name,  he  cast  it  into  the  sea.  Solomon, 
returning  from  his  wanderings,  became 
scullion  in  the  palace.  One  day  a  fisher 
brought  him  a  fish  for  the  king.  On  open- 
ing it,  he  found  in  its  belly  the  ring  he  had 
lost.  At  once  regaining  his  power,  he  drove 
Asmodeus  into  banishment,  and,  a  humbled 
and  better  man,  reigned  gloriously  on  the 
throne  of  his  father  David  (Talmud, 
Gittim,  fol.  68). 

Assad,  in  the  Arabian  Nights  story 
of  Amgiad  and  Assad,  half  brother  to 
Armgiad,  both  being  the  sons  by  dif- 
ferent mothers  of  Prince  Camaralza- 
man.  Each  had  to  repel  the  advances 
of  the  other's  mother  and  being 
falsely  accused  by  the  ladies  of  having 
attempted  their  virtue  were  con- 
demned to  death  by  Camaralzaman. 
The  grand  vizier,  disobeying  orders, 
allowed  them  to  flee  from  the  country 
with  an  injunction  never  to  return. 
In  a  city  whither  Assad  had  gone  in 
quest  of  food  he  was  seized  by  an  old 
fire  worshipper  who  dispatched  him 
by  boat  to  be  offered  as  a  sacrifice  on 
the  mountain  of  fire.  He  was  rescued 
by  Queen  Margiana  to  become  her 
slave,  was  recaptured  by  the  fire- 
worshippers  and  was  finally  liberated 
by  the  old  man's  daughter  Bostana. 
In  the  end  Assad  married  Margiana 
and  Amgiad  married  Bostana. 

Astarotte,  in  Pulci's  mock  heroic 
epic  Morgante  Maggiore  (1481),  Cantos 
xxv,  xxvi,  a  proud  and  courteous  fiend 
summoned  by  Malagigi  to  bring 
Rinaldo  from  Egypt  to  Roncesvalles. 
This  feat  he  accomplishes  by  entering 
the  body  of  Bajardo,  Rinaldo 's  horse. 
In  a  few  hours,  by  a  series  of  splendid 
leaps,  he  brings  the  paladin  across 
lakes,  rivers,  mountains,  seas  and 
cities.  When  he  hungers  Astarotte 
spreads  a  table  for  him  in  the  wilder- 
ness or  introduces  him  invisible  into 
the  company  of  queens  banqueting 
in  Saragossa.  He  serves,  moreover, 
as  a  vehicle  for  Pulci's  own  theo- 
logical and  scientific  speculations. 
When  they  part  the  fiend  and  the 
paladin  have  become  firm  friends. 


Astarotte  vows  henceforth  to  serve 
Rinaldo  for  love;  and  Rinaldo  prom- 
ises to  free  him  from  Malagigi's 
power.  See  SYMONDS,  Renaissance 
in  Italy,  vol.  i,  456. 

Astolfo,  slight,  vain  garrulous,  fond  of 
finery  and  flirting,  boastful,  yet  as  fearless 
as  the  leopards  on  his  shield,  and  winning 
hearts  by  his  courtesy  and  grace,  offers  a 
spirited  contrast  to  the  massive  vigor  of 
Rinaldo.  It  was  a  master-stroke  of  humor 
to  have  provided  this  fop  of  a  Paladin  with 
the  lance  of  Argalia,  whereby  his  physical 
weakness  is  supplemented  and  his  bravery 
becomes  a  match  for  the  muscles  of  the 
doughtiest  champions. — J.  A.  SYMONDS: 
Renaissance  in  Italy,  i,  468. 

Astrea,  in  classic  myth,  daughter  of 
Zeus  and  Thetis  and  goddess  of 
justice.  She  lived  among  men  during 
the  golden  age,  but  when  men  degen- 
erated she  withdrew  to  the  skies  and 
became  the  star  Virgo.  Dryden's 
poem  Astrea  Redux  (1660)  means 
"  Astrea  (i.e.,  Justice)  Restored." 
Alexander  Pope  facetiously  applied 
the  name  of  this  austere  goddess  to 
the  libidinous  Aphra  Behn  (1640- 
1689),  one  of  the  comic  dramatists  of 
the  Restoration: 

The  stage  how  loosely  does  Astrasa  tread ! 
She  fairly  puts  all  characters  to  bed. 

Astrea  was  one  of  the  poetical 
names  applied  to  Queen  Elizabeth. 
Sir  John  Davies  wrote  in  her  honor  a 
series  of  twenty-six  acrostics  entitled 
Hymns  of  Astrea. 

Atalanta.  There  were  two  heroines 
of  Greek  myth  so  entitled.  One  was 
the  daughter  of  Zeus  and  Clymene 
and  a  native  of  Arcadia,  the  other  was 
a  Boeotian  of  disputed  parentage. 
The  two  have  become  hopelessly 
confused  together.  But  the  same 
story  is  told  of  each:  that  when  her 
father  desired  her  to  marry,  she,  being 
the  fleetest  of  mortals,  agreed  to 
accept  any  suitor  who  could  vanquish 
her  in  a  footrace, — with  death  as  the 
alternative  if  he  failed.  Many  eager 
youths  had  paid  the  price  of  their 
presumption  when  Milanion  arrived. 
Aphrodite  had  given  him  three  golden 
apples  with  instructions  how  to  use 
them.  During  the  race  he  dropped 
one  after  the  other.  Atalanta  stopped 


Ate 


37 


Atlantis 


to  pick  them  up  and  Milanion  was 
first  to  reach  the  goal.  Swinburne  has 
taken  this  story  for  the  plot  of  his 
play  Atalanta  in  Calydon. 

Ate,  in  classic  myth,  daughter  of 
Zeus  or  of  Eris  (strife).  The  goddess 
of  discord,  she  plunged  gods  and  men 
alike  into  rash  and  inconsiderate 
action.  Spenser  has  borrowed  name 
and  characteristics  in  the  Faerie 
Queene,  where  Ate  is  an  old  hag,  the 
"  mother  of  debate  and  all  dissension" 
and  the  friend  of  Duessa.  Her  abode 
"  far  underground  hard  by  the  gates 
of  hell  "  is  described  in  Book  iv,  i. 

Athena  or  Athene,  in  Greek  myth 
(called  also  Pallas  Athena  or  simply 
Pallas,  and  by  the  Romans  Minerva), 
the  daughter  of  Zeus  and  Metis.  Zeus 
swallowed  Metis  but  saved  the  em- 
bryo babe,  buried  her  in  his  thigh  and 
at  the  proper  parturitive  period  she 
burst  out  from  his  head  with  a  mighty 
shout,  full  clad  in  armor.  As  became 
a  goddess  whose  father  was  the 
greatest  and  her  mother  the  wisest  of 
the  Olympian  deities,  Athena  har- 
moniously blended  strength  with 
wisdom.  The  preserver  of  the  state 
and  of  everything  that  tends  to  its 
power  and  prosperity,  she  presided 
over  the  moral  and  intellectual  side 
of  human  life.  She  was  credited  with 
establishing  the  court  of  the  Areop- 
agus at  Athens.  She  defended  the 
state  from  enemies  outside  as  well  as 
in,  and  hence  was  a  goddess  of  war. 
At  Troy  she  sided  with  the  Greeks. 
She  is  represented  in  armor,  usually 
with  the  segis  and  a  golden  staff.  The 
head  of  Medusa,  horrible  in  its  death 
agonies,  adorned  her  breastplate  or 
her  shield.  She  was  impregnable  to 
the  passion  of  love.  Hephaestus,  who 
attempted  her  chastity,  was  put  to 
flight,  Tiresias  for  surprising  her  in 
her  bath  was  stricken  blind.  She 
invented  various  agricultural  imple- 
ments, she  was  the  patroness  of  the 
industrial  arts,  especially  weaving 
(see  ARACHNE),  she  created  the 
olive.  The  story  ran  that  in  the  reign 
of  Cecrops  she  contended  with  Posei- 
don for  the  possession  of  Athens.  The 
gods  decided  to  award  the  honor  to 
whomever  produced  a  gift  most  useful 


to  man.  Poseidon  struck  the  ground 
with  his  trident  and  up  sprang  a  horse. 
Athena  planted  the  olive,  was  ad- 
judged the  winner  and  gave  her  name 
to  Athenae  or  Athens. 

From  this  time  onward  the  men  of 
Cranas  called  their  rock-built  townlet 
after  the  name  of  their  goddess. 
Little  dreamt  those  simple,  primitive 
folk,  shepherds  and  tillers  of  the  soil, 
who  first  uttered  the  word  A0HNAI — 
Athena's  town — of  all  that  word 
should  come  to  stand  for  among 
generations  yet  unborn;  little  they 
guessed  themselves  the  earliest  citi- 
zens of  the  most  glorious  city  this 
world  should  ever  see — 

A  light  upon  earth  as  the  sun's  own  flame, 
A  name  as  his  name, 
Athens,  a  praise  without  end. 

Bloodless  are  her  works,  and  sweet 

All  the  ways  that  feel  her  feet; 

From  the  empire  of  her  eyes 

Light  takes  life  and  darkness  flies; 

From  the  harvest  of  her  hands 

Wealth  strikes  root  in  prosperous  lands; 

Wisdom  of  her  word  is  made; 

At  her  strength  is  strength  afraid; 

From  the  beam  of  her  bright  spear 

War's  fleet  foot  goes  back  for  fear. 

SWINBURNE:    Erechtheus. 

Atlantis  or  Atalantis,  a  legendary 
island  in  the  Atlantic  Ocean  first 
mentioned  by  Plato  in  the  Timceus. 
On  the  authority  of  certain  Egyptian 
priests  he  describes  it  as  an  island 
situated  just  beyond  the  Pillars  of 
Hercules.  Nine  thousand  years  be- 
fore the  birth  of  Solon  a  powerful 
kingdom  had  arisen  here.  The  inhab- 
itants had  overrun  all  the  European 
coasts,  Athens  alone  defying  their 
arms.  Finally  the  sea  had  over- 
whelmed Atlantis.  In  the  Critias 
Plato  adds  a  history  of  the  ideal  com- 
monwealth of  Atlantis.  It  is  impos- 
sible to  say  how  far  the  legend  was 
due  to  Plato's  invention  and  how  far 
it  is  based  on  facts  whereof  no  records 
remain. 

Atlantis,  New,  an  imaginary  island 
in  the  Pacific  described  by  Francis 
Bacon,  Lord  Verulam,  in  a  romance 
The  New  Atlantis  (1617).  It  is  sup- 
posed to  be  discovered  by  certain 
voyagers  who  find  that  its  inhabitants 
are  people  of  a  higher  civilization  than 


Atlas 


the  European.  In  this  unfinished  tale 
Bacon  embodies  much  of  his  philoso- 
phy and  makes  many  suggestions  that 
have  borne  fruit  since  his  time. 

Atlas,  in  classic  myth,  made  war 
with  his  fellow  Titans  on  Zeus  (Lat. 
Jupiter)  and,  being  conquered,  was 
condemned  to  bear  the  world  upon 
his  shoulders.  Ovid  versifies  a  later 
legend.  Perseus  came  to  Atlas, 
"  hugest  of  the  human  race,"  and 
asked  for  shelter,  which  was  refused, 
whereupon  Perseus  flashed  upon  him 
the  head  of  Medusa  and  changed  him 
to  Mount  Atlas,  on  which  rests  heaven 
with  all  its  stars: 

Askance  he  turned  and  from  his  left  arm 

flashed 

Full  upon  Atlas'  face  the  Gorgon  head 
With  all  its  horrors  —  and  the  Giant  King 
A  Giant   Mountain  stood!     His  beard,  his 

hair, 
Were     forests  —  into     crags     his     shoulders 

spread 
And  arms;  his  head  the  crowning  summit 

towered; 
His  bones  were  granite.     So  the  Fates  ful- 

filled 
Their   hest;   and   all   his   huge   proportions 

swelled 

To  vaster  bulk,  and  ample  to  support 
The  incumbent  weight  of  Heaven  and  all  its 

Stars. 

Metamorphoses,  iv,  769. 

Atreus,  in  classic  myth,  son  of 
Pelops,  grandson  of  Tantalus,  and 
father  of  Agamemnon  and  Menelaus. 
With  cannibal  atrocity  similar  to  that 
of  his  grandfather,  he  wreaked  a 
terrible  vengeance  on  his  brother 
Thyestes  (q.v.)  by  making  him  eat  the 
flesh  of  two  of  his  own  children. 


In  the  Agamemnon  of 
^gisthus  relates  the  story  in  these 
words  : 

Atreus    more   prompt   than   kindly   in    his 

deeds, 

On  plea  of  keeping  festal  day  with  cheer 
To  my  sire  banquet  gave  of  children's  flesh 
His  own.     The  feet  and  finger-tips  of  hands 
He,  sitting  at  the  top,  apart  concealed; 
And   straight   the    other,    in    his    blindness 

taking 
The  parts  which  could    not    be    discerned, 

did  eat 

A  meal  which  as  thou  see'st,  perdition  works 
For  all  his  kin.  And  learning  afterwards 
The  deed  of  dread  he  groans  and  backward 

fell, 

Vomits  the  feast  of  blood,  and  imprecates 
On  Pelops'  sons  a  doom  intolerable. 


38  Audley 

Atys  or  Atis,  son  of  the  water 
nymph  Nana,  a  Phrygian  shepherd 
who  grew  up  so  strong  and  beautiful 
that  Cybele-Agdistis  fell  in  love  with 
him.  Because  he  sought  a  mortal 
maid  in  marriage,  the  goddess  smote 
him  with  madness.  Fleeing  to  the 
mountains,  he  mutilated  himself 
under  a  pine-tree  which  received  his 
spirit.  Violets  sprang  from  his  blood. 
At  the  instance  of  Cybele,  his  body 
was  preserved  incorruptible  in  a 
tomb  in  her  sanctuary  on  Mount 
Dindymus,  the  priests  of  which  had 
to  undergo  emasculation.  Catullus 
wrote  a  poem  on  this  legend  which  is 
one  of  the  weirdest  and  most  fantastic 
efforts  of  the  Latin  imagination.  It 
has  been  translated  into  English  by 
Leigh  Hunt.  According  to  Ovid 
(Fasti,  iv,  223)  the  love  of  Cybele 
and  Atys  was  purely  platonic,  and 
when  he  proved  unfaithful  to  her 
she  slew  his  partner  in  sin,  where- 
upon he  mutilated  himself  as  a 
penalty. 

There  was  another  Atys,  son  of 
Crcesus,  who  was  accidentally  slain  by 
Adrastus  while  hunting;  a  story 
related  in  William  Whitehead's  Atys 
and  Adrastus. 

Aucassin,  hero  of  a  quaint  little 
Provencal  romance  of  the  twelfth 
century,  Aucassin  et  Nicolette.  Son 
of  the  Count  of  Beaucaire  he  falls  in 
love  with  Nicolette,  a  captive  damsel 
who  eventually  turns  out  to  be 
daughter  of  the  King  of  Carthage. 

The  theme  is  for  the  most  part  nothing 
but  the  desperate  love  of  Aucassin,  which 
is  careless  of  religion,  which  makes  him 
indifferent  to  the  joy  of  battle,  and  to  every- 
thing except  "  Nicolette  ma  tres  douce  mie," 
and  which  is  of  course,  at  last  rewarded. — 
GEORGE  SAINTSBURY:  French  Literature, 
p.  147. 

Audley,  John,  in  English  theatrical 
usage  during  the  eighteenth  century, 
a  mythical  figure  invoked  by  travel- 
ling booths.  The  question  "  Is  John 
Audley  here?  '  was  asked  by  the 
manager  from  the  stage  to  signify 
that  the  performance  must  be  brought 
to  a  speedy  close  as  the  platform  was 
crowded  with  new  spectators  waiting 
to  be  admitted. 


Aurelius 


39 


Avalon 


Aurelius,  in  Chaucer's  Canterbury 
Tales,  the  would-be  seducer  in  The 
Franklin's  Tale.  See  ARVIGARUS. 

Aurora  (in  Greek  Eos),  the  Latin 
name  for  the  goddess  of  the  dawn. 
Hyperion  was  her  father.  Ovid  men- 
tions Pallas  Athene  as  her  mother, 
but  older  authorities  name  Thia  or 
Euryphassa.  At  the  close  of  every 
night  she  arose,  mounted  into  a 
chariot  drawn  by  swift  horses  and 
ascended  into  the  heavens  to  an- 
nounce the  coming  of  Phoebus  or  the 
sun. 

Goethe  in  Faust,  Part  n,  i,  I,  puts 
into  Ariel's  mouth  a  splendid  descrip- 
tion of  sunrise: 

Hearken,  hark!     The  Hours  careering 
Sounding  loud  to  spirit  hearing. 
See  the  new-born  day  appearing! 
Rocky  portals  jarring  shatter 
Phoebus'  wheels  in  rolling  clatter. 
With  a  crash  the  Light  draws  near. 
Pealing  rays  and  trumpet  blazes, 
Eye  is  blinded,  ear  amazes, 
The  unhear'd  can  no  one  hear! 

Bayard  Taylor  conjectures  that 
Goethe  had  in  mind  Guido  Reni's 
masterpiece,  the  Rospigliosi  Aurora, 
which  suggests  noise  and  the  sound 
of  trumpets;  but  adds  that  he  also 
referred  to  ancient  myths  and  the 
guesses  of  the  science  of  the  day. 
Tacitus  mentions  legends  current 
among  the  Germans,  that  beyond  the 
land  of  the  Suiones  the  sun  gives  out 
audible  sounds  in  setting.  Posidonus 
and  Juvenal  concur  with  him.  In 
Macpherson's  Ossian  '  the  rustling 
sun  comes  forth  from  his  green- 
headed  waves."  In  the  mediaeval 
poem  Titurel  the  rising  sun  is  said  to 
utter  sounds  sweeter  than  lutes  or 
the  songs  of  birds.  Nor  should  Rud- 
yard  Kipling's  lines  be  forgotten: 

On  the  road  to  Mandalay 
Where  the  flyin'  fishes  play, 
And  the  dawn  comes  up  like  thunder  outer 
China  'crost  the  Bay. 

Aurora,  like  her  sister  Cynthia,  had 
a  liking  for  goodly  human  youths. 
Among  her  amorous  exploits  were  the 
carrying  away  of  Orion,  Cephalus  and 
Tithonus.  The  latter  she  married 
and  bore  him  one  son,  Memnon  (<?.*>.). 
In  the  first  flush  of  passion  she  craved 


for  Tithonus  the  boon  of  immortality, 
but  forgot  to  ask  Jupiter  for  eternal 
youth  as  well,  and  was  soon  chagrined 
to  find  that  he  was  growing  old. 
Finally,  in  despair,  she  turned  him 
into  a  grasshopper.  See  Eos. 

Auster,  called  Notus  by  the  Greeks, 
the  southwest  wind,  which  usually 
brought  with  it  fogs  and  rain,  though 
in  summer  it  was  a  dry,  sultry  wind, 
the  sirocco  of  the  modern  Italians, 
injurious  both  to  man  and  to  vegeta- 
tion. Byron  in  Manfred  personifies 
Auster  as  the  Spirit  of  the  Storm. 

Autolycus,  son  of  Hermes  and 
Chione,  the  master  thief  of  classic 
myth.  Homer  says  he  had  the  power 
of  metamorphosing  himself  and  his 
ill-gotten  goods  (Odyssey  xiv,  Iliad  x, 
267).  Stealing  away  the  flocks  of  his 
neighbors  he  changed  their  marks  and 
mingled  them  with  his  own. 

He  is  sometimes  mentioned  as  one 
of  the  Argonauts,  but  doubtless  he 
was  confounded  with  another  Autol- 
ycus, aThessalian,  son  of  Deimachus, 
who,  with  his  brothers,  Deileon  and 
Phlogius,  joined  the  expedition. 
Shakspear  has  given  his  name  to  a 
famous  character  in  The  Winter's 
Tale. 

It  is  probable  that  Shakspear  was 
familiar  with  Golding's  translation  of 
Ovid's  Metamorphoses,  where  Autol- 
ycus is  thus  described: 

Now  when  she  [Chione]  full  her  time  had 

gone  she  bare  by  Mercuric 
A  son  that  night  Awtolycus  who  proved  a 

wily  pye. 
And  such  a  fellow  as  in  theft  and  filching 

had  no  peer; 
He  was  his  father's  own  son  right;  he  could 

men's  eyes  so  bleare 
As  for  to  make  the  black  things  white  and 

white  things  black  appear. 

See  THIEF,  MASTER. 

Avalon,  from  the  British  aval,  an 
apple,  in  mediaeval  romance,  the 
name  of  an  island  in  the  Atlantic 
ocean  "  not  far  on  this  side  of  the 
terrestrial  paradise,"  with  a  castle 
upon  it  all  made  out  of  loadstone. 
This  was  the  abode  of  Arthur,  Oberon 
and  Morgaine  la  Fe"e.  See  especially 
the  old  French  romance  Ogier  le 
Danois.  Avalon  was  perhaps  the 
Island  of  the  Blest  of  the  Celtic  myth- 


Avalon 


40 


Avt'handil 


ology,  and  likewise  the  Elysian  land 
of  Homer,  where  there  was  neither 
snow  nor  rain.  Here  heroes  lived 
immortal  in  perpetual  sunshine.  The 
Garden  of  Hesperides  with  its  golden 
apples,  and  the  Fortunate  Isles  of 
Pindar  are  but  parts  of  this  legendary 
country. 

Layamon,  in  The  Brut,  tells  for  the 
first  time  in  literature  how  Arthur, 
after  receiving  his  mortal  wound  at 
the  battle  of  Camlan,  voyaged  to  the 
isle  of  Avalon.  "  I  will  fare  to  Ava- 
lon," he  tells  Constantine,  "  to  the 
fairest  of  all  ladies,  to  Argante  the 
queen,  an  elf  most  fair,  and  she  shall 
make  my  wounds  all  sound,  make  me 
all  whole  with  balm  and  healing 
draughts,  and  afterwards  I  will  come 
again  to  my  kingdom  and  dwell  with 
the  Britons  with  mickle  joy."  Even 
as  he  spoke  there  approached  from 
the  sea  a  little  boat  bearing  two  fair 
ladies.  "And  they  took  Arthur  anon 
and  bare  him  to  the  boat  and  laid 
him  softly  down,  and  forth  they  gan 
depart.  The  Britons  believe  yet  that 
he  is  alive  and  dwelleth  in  Avalon 
with  the  fairest  of  all  queens,  and 
they  even  yet  expect  when  Arthur 
shall  return."  Sir  T.  Malory  says 
that  Arthur  was  led  away  in  a  ship, 
wherein  were  three  queens;  "the  one 
was  King  Arthur's  sister,  Queen 
Morgane  le  Fay;  the  other  was 
Vivian,  the  Lady  of  the  Lake;  and  the 
third  was  the  Queen  of  North  Galis." 
Tennyson,  who  calls  the  island  Avil- 
ion,  says  there  were  many  fair  ladies 
in  the  barge  and  among  them  a  queen, 
and  all  had  black  hoods  and  they 
wept  and  shrieked  when  they  saw 
King  Arthur.  As  they  rowed  from 
the  land  with  Arthur  aboard  he  spoke 
his  last  farewell  to  Sir  Bedevere: 

"  I  am  going  a  long  way 
With  these  thou  seest — if  indeed  I  go — 
(For  all  my  mind  is  clouded  with  a  doubt) 
To  the  island-valley  of  Avilion; 
Where  falls  not  hail,  or  rain,  or  any  snow, 
Nor  ever  wind  blows  loudly;  but  it  lies 
Deep-meadow'd,  happy,  fair  with  orchard- 
lawns 
And  bowery  hollows  crown'd  with  summer 

sea. 

Where  I  will  heal  me  of  my  grievous  wound." 
So  said  he,  and  the  barge  with  oar  and  sail 
Moved    from    the    brink,    like    some    full- 
breasted  swan 


That,  fluting  a  wild  carol  ere  her  death, 
Ruffles  her  pure  cold  plume,  and  takes  the 

flood 
With  swarthy  webs. 

TENNYSON:  Morte  d' Arthur. 

One  of  the  Welsh  Triads  admits 
that  Arthur  died,  and  was  buried  at 
Avalon,  now  Glastonbury,  in  Somer- 
setshire, where  we  learn  from  other 
authorities  that  Henry  II  many  years 
afterwards  discovered  what  were  said 
to  be  his  remains,  with  the  inscription, 
Hicjacet  A  rthurus,  rex  quondam  rexque 
futurus. 

They  were  also  visited,  and  a 
second  time  disinterred,  by  Edward  I 
and  his  queen. 

Lydgate's  verses  upon  Arthur's 
disappearance  and  expected  return 
may  be  quoted: 

He  is  a  King  crouned  in  Fairie, 

With   scepter   and   sword    and    with   his 

regally 
Shall  resort  as  Lord  and  Soveraigne 

Out  of  Fairie  and  reigne  in  Britaine; 
And  repaire  again  the  Round  Table. 

By  prophesy  Merlin  set  the  date, 
Among  Princes  King  incomparable, 

His  seate  againe  to  Caerlion  to  translate, 
The  Parchas  sustren  sponne  so  his  fate, 

His  Epitaph  recordeth  so  certaine 
Herelieth  K.  Arthur  that  shall  raigne  againe. 

Avernus,  a  small  round  lake  in 
Campania,  Italy,  the  crater  of  an 
extinct  volcano  whose  sulphurous  and 
mephitic  odors  led  anciently  to  the 
belief  that  it  was  the  mouth  of  Hades. 
It  is  through  this  lake  that  Odysseus 
in  the  Odyssey  and  ^Eneas  in  the 
JEneid  descend  into  the  abode  of  the 
dead. 

Facilis  descensus  Averni; 
Noctes  atque  dies  patet  atri  janua  Ditis; 
Sed  revocare  gradum,  superasque  evadere 

ad  auras, 
Hoc  opus,  hie  labor  est. 

VIRGIL. 

The  descent  of  Avernus  is  easy;  the  gate 
of  Pluto  stands  open  night  and  day;  but  to 
retrace  one's  steps  and  return  to  the  upper 
air, — that  is  the  toil,  that  the  difficulty. 

Avt'handil,  hero  of  a  mediaeval 
oriental  epic,  The  Man  in  the  Panther 
Skin,  by  Shot'ha  Rusthaveli.  A 
translation  by  Marjory  Scott  War- 
drop  was  published  in  1912  by  the 
London  Royal  Asiatic  Society.  The 
poem  is  a  glorification  of  friendship 


Aymon 


41 


Azrael 


over  sexual  love.  Though  Avt'handil 
passionately  loves  his  newly- wedded 
bride,  Phatman,  he  leaves  her  to 
throw  in  his  lot  with  two  other  star- 
like  heroes-,  Asthman  and  Tarvil. 

Aymon,  a  semi-mythical  Duke  of 
Dordogne  or  Dodona  in  the  Carlo- 
vingian  cycle  of  romances,  especially 
famous  as  the  father  of  four  sons, — 
Renaud,  Giscard,  Alard  and  Richard 
(in  Italian  Rinaldo,  Guicciardo,  Al- 
ardo  and  Ricciardetto) ,  whose  adven- 
tures are  related  in  Les  Quatre  Fils 
£  Aymon,  a  thirteenth  century  ro- 
mance by  Huon  de  Villeneuve.  The 
four  sons  are  frequently  represented 
as  mounted  upon  a  single  charger, 
the  renowned  Bayard.  Father  and 
sons  incurred  the  displeasure  of 
Charlemagne,  and  carried  on  a  sort  of 
guerrilla  warfare  against  him  which 
finally  ended  in  their  suing  for  peace. 
See  RINALDO,  BAYARD. 

Azazel,  in  the  religious  ceremonial 
of  the  ancient  Jews,  the  name  in- 
scribed upon  one  of  the  lots  cast  by 
the  high  priest  on  the  Day  of  Atone- 
ment to  decide  which  of  two  goats 
selected  as  a  sin-offering  should  be 
sacrificed  on  the  altar  to  Jehovah  and 
which  should  be  the  scapegoat 
(Leviticus  xvi,  6-10).^  As  to  the 
meaning  of  Azazel  opinions  differ. 
Some  hold  it  a  designation  applied  to 
the  scapegoat;  others  think  it  the 
name  of  the  place  or  the  person  to 
which  he  was  sent;  still  others  think 
it  was  the  name  of  a  demon,  or  the 
surname  of  Satan.  Milton  makes 
Azazel  Satan's  standard-bearer: 

That  proud  honor  claimed 

Azazel  as  his  right,  a  cherubim 

Who  forthwith  from  his  glittering  staff  un- 
furled 

The  imperial  ensign,  which,  full  high  ad- 
vanced, 

Shone  like  a  meteor  streaming  to  the  wind. 

With  gems  and  golden  luster  rich  emblazed, 

Seraphic  arms  and  trophies. 

Paradise  Lost,  Book  I. 

Azrael  (Heb.  "  Help  of  God  "),  in 

Jewish  and  Mohammedan  myth,  the 
angel  who  watches  over  the  dying  and 
separates  soul  from  body. 

An  Arabian  legend  explains  that 
when  Allah  was  about  to  create  man 
he  sent  the^angels  Gabriel,  Michael 


and  Israfel  to  bring  different  colored 
clays  from  earth.  The  Earth  ob- 
jected, saying  that  the  contemplated 
creature  would  bring  down  a  curse 
upon  her.  So  they  returned  empty- 
handed.  Then  Azrael  was  sent  and 
he  executed  his  commission  without 
fear.  In  reward  he  was  appointed 
the  angel  to  separate  souls  from 
bodies.  He  was  often  represented  as 
presenting  to  the  lips  a  cup  of  poison. 
Cup  thus  became  a  sjTnbol  of  Fate 
among  Semitic  nations,  and  the 
familiar  association  of  Azrael's  cup 
is  expressed  in  the  phrase  "  to  taste 
of  death." 

A  more  famous  legend  has  been 
versified  by  Dean  French,  Leigh  Hunt 
and  Longfellow,  the  latter's  poem 
being  The  Spanish  Jew's  Tale  in  Tales 
of  a  Wayside  Inn.  Solomon  is  walk- 
ing in  his  garden  with  a  guest,  who 
becomes  aware  of  a  figure  looming  up 
in  the  twilight.  "  It  is  Azrael,"  says 
Solomon;  "  what  hast  thou  to  fear?  " 
"  Save  me! ' '  cries  the  guest. 

"  O  king,  thou  hast  dominion  o'er  the  wind. 
Bid  it  arise,  and  bear  me  hence  to  Ind." 

Solomon  does  as  he  is  bid. 

Then  said  the  Angel  smiling,  "If  this  man 
Be  Rajah  Runject  Sing  of  Hindostan, 
Thou  hast  done   well    in   listening   to  his 

prayer 
I  was  upon  my  way  to  seek  him  there." 

The  Mohammedan  doctors  .  .  .  say 
that  Azrael  .  .  .  was  commissioned  to 
inflict  the  penalty  of  death  on  all  mankind, 
and  that,  until  the  time  of  Mahomet,  he 
visibly  struck  down  before  the  eyes  of  the 
living  those  whose  time  for  death  was  come; 
and  although  not  invariably  seen  by  by- 
standers, yet  he  was  supposed  to  be  always 
visible,  in  the  very  act  of  inflicting  the 
mortal  blow,  to  those  whose  souls  he  was 
summoned  to  take  away.  Mahomet, 
struck  by  the  terrific  effect  which  this 
produced  upon  men,  entreated  that  the 
angel  of  death  should  take  away  the  souls 
of  men  without  this  visible  appearance; 
and,  in  consequence  of  the  prayers  of  the 
prophet,  it  was  no  longer  permitted,  but 
men's  souls  were  taken  without  their 
beholding  the  angelic  form  which  removed 
them. — Henry  Christmas. 

Even  Azrael,  from  his  deadly  quiver 
When  flies  that  shaft,  and  fly  it  must, 

That  parts  all  else,  shall  doom  for  ever 
Our  hearts  to  undivided  dust. 

BYRON 


Baal 


42 


Bacchus 


B 


Baal,  Bal,  Bel  (Lord,  master),  an 
appellative  originally  applied  by  the 
Babylonians  to  their  superiors  among 
men  and  subsequently  transferred  to 
their  chief  gods  (cf.  ADONIS).  One 
or  two  of  these,  as  En-lil  and  Marduk, 
are  sometimes  referred  to  simply  as 
Baal  or  Bel.  It  is  Marduk  (q.v.)  who 
is  the  Baal  of  the  Old  Testament. 
The  plural  of  Baal  is  Baalim,  the 
feminine  equivalent  is  Ashtaroth, 

The  general  names 

Of  Baalim  and  Ashtaroth,  those  male 
These  female. 

MILTON:    Paradise  Lost,  i,  422. 

As  an  honorary  prefix  or  suffix,  Bal 
or  bel  enters  in  many  Phoenician  and 
Carthaginian  names,  i.e.,  Hannibal, 
Belshazzar. 

Baba,  Ali,  in  the  Arabian  Nights, 
hero  of  the  story,  Ali  Baba  and  the 
Forty  Thieves.  From  a  hiding  place 
in  a  tree  he  overhears  their  magic 
password,"  Open  Sesame!"  and,  thus 
instructed,  is  enabled  to  effect  his 
own  entrance  into  their  cave  and 
plunder  its  treasures  with  impunity 
while  they  are  away. 

Baba,  Cassim,  brother  of  Ali  (see 
above),  who  having  penetrated  into 
the  robbers'  cave  forgot  the  password 
and  stood  crying  "  Open  Wheat! ' 
and  "Open  Barley!"  to  the  door, 
which  obeyed  no  sound  but  "  Open 
Sesame." 

Babes  (or  Children)  in  the  Wood, 
the  titular  characters  in  a  number  of 
dramatic  pieces  from  The  Children  in 
the  Wood  (1793),  a  musical  comedy 
by  Morton  and  Arnold,  to  The  Babes 
in  the  Wood  (1894),  a  pantomime  by 
Wilton  Jones,  all  founded  on  a  ballad 
preserved  in  Percy's  Reliques  in,  ii, 
1 8,  and  entitled  The  Children  in  the 
Wood.  The  three-year-old  son  and 
the  still  younger  daughter  of  a  Nor- 
folk gentleman  are  left  by  their  dying 
father  to  the  care  of  their  maternal 
uncle,  who  is  to  receive  legacies  in- 
tended for  them,  if  they  die  under  age. 
The  wicked  uncle  hires  two  ruffians 
to  murder  them.  One  ruffian  relent- 
ing slays  the  other  and  then  leaves 


the  babes  in  Wayland  (Wailing) 
Wood.  They  wander  around  all  day 
picking  blackberries  but  night  comes 
and  they  die  of  cold  and  terror.  The 
ruffian  confesses  seven  years  later 
and  the  uncle  dies  in  jail. 

Babio  (in  French  Babiori),  hero  of  a 
thirteenth  century  Latin  comedy, 
Commedia  Babionis.  He  is  a  secular 
priest  whose  wife  Pecula  is  shame- 
lessly unfaithful  with  his  servant 
Fodius.  Being  himself  madly  in  love 
with  his  stepdaughter  Viola,  he  toler- 
ates the  liaison.  But  the  girl  prefers 
the  honorable  advances  of  Croceus, 
lord  of  the  manor.  Baffled  in  his  love, 
locked  out  of  his  home  by  wife  and 
servant,  he  announces,  to  Pecula's 
delight,  that  he  will  abandon  his 
ungrateful  household  and  turn  monk. 

Babio  has  passed  into  French  pro- 
verbial literature  as  the  type  of  one 
who  is  ever  performing  the  useless  and 
supererogatory.  Thus  he  feeds  his 
dogs  upon  the  choicest  bits  of  meat 
lest  they  betray  the  secret  of  his  pas- 
sion to  the  passersby. 

Qui  vanne  sans  son 
Ressemble  Babion. 

(He    who    winnows    noiselessly    resembles 
Babio.) 

French  Proverb. 

Baboushka.    See  BEFANA. 

Bacchus,  in  classic  myth,  the  god  of 
wine,  so  called  by  both  Romans  and 
Greeks,  though  Dionysus  was  his 
more  frequent  name  among  the  latter. 
The  son  of  Zeus  and  Semele,  he  was 
brought  up  by  the  nymphs  of  Mount 
Nisa,  but  on  reaching  manhood  was 
driven  mad  by  Hera,  jealous  of  his 
paternity,  and  wandered  through 
various  parts  of  the  earth,  teaching 
the  inhabitants  the  cultivation  of  the 
vine,  and  driving  the  women  to  frenzy 
if  they  refused  or  were  forbidden  to 
join  in  Bacchic  festivals.  Among  the 
women  who  won  his  love  none  is 
more  famous  than  Ariadne.  After 
establishing  his  cult  everywhere  Bac- 
chus took  his  mother  out  of  Hades 
and  rose  with  her  to  Olympus.  His 
worship  was  no  part  of  the  original 


Badoura 


religion  in  Greece.  Homer  does  not 
rank  him  among  the  great  divinities. 
Not  until  the  time  of  Alexander  did 
the  Dionysiak  or  Bacchic  feasts 
assume  the  dissolute  features  that 
subsequently  characterized  them  in 
Rome. 

Bacchus  that  first  from  out  the  purple  grape 
Crushed  the  sweet  poison  of  misused  wine. 
MILTON:  Comus,  1.  46. 

Badoura,  in  the  Arabian  Nights, 
"  the  most  beautiful  woman  ever 
seen  on  earth,"  the  daughter  of 
Gaiour  and  lover  of  Prince  Cama- 
ralzaman. 

Badroulboudour,  in  the  Arabian 
Nights,  the  beautiful  daughter  of  the 
Sultan  of  China  and  the  wife  of 
Aladdin. 

Bahadar,  in  the  Arabian  Nights 
story  of  Amgiad  and  Assad,  master  of 
the  horse  to  the  king  of  the  Magi. 

Baillee  or  Bailly,  Harry,  the  host 
of  the  Tabard  Inn  in  Chaucer's 
Canterbury  Tales.  He  is  the  first  to 
propose  that  the  pilgrims  shall  beguile 
their  leisure  by  the  telling  of  the  tales. 

Balaam's  Ass,  a  highly  popular 
character  in  the  early  mysteries  or 
religious  dramas  usually  gotten  up  by 
monks  for  the  entertainment  of  the 
populace.  Balaam,  whose  name  in 
Hebrew  means  "  the  destroyer," 
appears  in  the  Book  of  Numbers, 
xxii,  xxiii,  as  a  prophet  of  Penthor  in 
Mesopotamia.  Balak,  King  of  Moab, 
sent  him  to  warn  the  Israelites,  who 
were  approaching  the  banks  of  the 
Jordan,  that  they  should  not  enter 
his  territories.  As  Balaam,  mounted 
on  his  ass,  rode  through  a  narrow 
gorge  he  was  confronted  by  an  angel 
with  a  drawn  sword.  Only  the  animal 
could  see  the  apparition.  Neither 
words  nor  blows  could  urge  it  forward. 
At  last  "  the  Lord  opened  the  mouth 
of  the  ass  and  she  said  unto  Balaam, 
what  have  I  done  unto  thee  that  thou 
hast  smitten  me  these  three  times?  ' 

Balder,  in  Norse  myth,  the  son  of 
Odin  and  Frigga, — a  god  of  light  and 
beauty,  the  Apollo  of  Denmark,  Nor- 
way and  Iceland.  In  the  Eddie  poems 
his  death  is  a  prelude  to  the  final 
overthrow  of  the  gods  (see  RAGNA- 


43  Balder 

ROK).     When  Balder  was  born  the 
gods  took  council  how  to  ward  off 
evil  from  him.     His  mother  invoked 
every  element,  every  animal,  every 
plant,  and  obtained  from  all  an  oath 
not  to  hurt  him, — all  save  the  mistle- 
toe, which  she  forgot  because  of  its 
insignificance.     So  when  he  grew  up 
the    gods    amused    themselves    with 
shooting  and  throwing  at  the  invul- 
nerable youth.    Loki,  his  enemy,  sur- 
prised the  secret  from  Frigga,  made 
an  arrow  out  of  mistletoe  and  said  to 
Hoder,  the  blind  brother  of  Balder, 
"  Why  do  you  not  contend  in  the 
sports?  "    "I  am  blind  and  have  no 
weapons,"  replies  Hoder.    Then  Loki 
presented  him  with  the  arrow  and 
said,"  Balder  is  before  thee."    Hoder 
shot,  and  Balder  fell  dead.     '  It  was 
the  greatest  sorrow  that   ever  befel 
gods  and  men."    Hermodhr,  another 
of  B alder's  brothers,  volunteered  to 
ransom  Balder  from  Hel,  but  the  god- 
dess of  the  lower  regions  refused  to 
surrender  him  unless  all  things  living 
and  dead  weep  for  him.     Loki,  dis- 
guised as  a  giantess,  is  the  sole  dis- 
sentient voice  in  the  general  mourn- 
ing.   "  Let  Hel  keep  what  she  has," 
he  cried;  and  Balder  could  not  return. 
A  different  tale  is  told  by  Saxo  Gram- 
maticus.     He  makes  Balder  only  a 
half  god  who  contends  with  Hodhr 
for  Nanna,  the  maiden  herself  pre- 
ferring  the  latter.     The  gods   take 
part  with  Balder,  but  Hodhr,  armed 
with  the  irresistible  sword  Miming, 
and  armored   with  an  impenetrable 
coat    of   mail,  puts    them    to   flight. 
There  are  many  renewals  of  the  com- 
bat.    In  one  Balder  is  victor,  but  at 
the  end  he  is  slain  by  his  rival.     In 
both  versions  another  brother,  called 
sometimes  Bous  or  Both,  sometimes 
Ali  or  Vali,  avenges  Balder's  death. 
Balder  is  the  hero  of  many  poems  by 
modern  authors,  as  Longfellow's  Teg- 
ner's   Drapa;  William   Morris's    The 
Funeral  of  Balder  in   The  Lovers  of 
Gudrun;  Robert  Buchanan's   Balder 
the     Beautiful;     Matthew     Arnold's 
Balder  Dead. 

"Balder  Dead"  is,  Hke  "Sohrab  and 
Rustum,"  Homeric  in  tone,  although  the 
subject  is  taken  from  the  Norse  mythology. 


Baldovino 


44 


Balkis 


It  has  not  the  human  interest  of  the  earlier 
poem.  Balder,  though  he  died,  was  a  god, 
and  the  whole  machinery  is  supernatural. 
A  Frenchman  would  have  said  that  Mr. 
Arnold  had  accomplished  a  lour  de  force, 
and  obtained  a  succes  d'estime.  Neverthe- 
less, Balder  Dead  is  full  of  beauty,  the  verse 
is  musical  as  well  as  stately,  and  the  mourn- 
ing of  nature  for  Balder,  believed  to  be  in- 
vulnerable, but  slain  by  a  stratagem,  is 
admirably  described. — HERBERT  PAUL: 
Matthew  Arnold. 

Baldovino,  in  Carlovingian  romance, 
the  loyal  son  of  the  traitor,  Gano  or 
Ganelon.  At  the  battle  of  Ronces- 
valles,  as  described  by  Pulci  in  his 
Morgante  Maggiore  (1485),  Baldovino 
in  perfect  good  faith  wears  a  mantle 
given  to  him  by  Gano,  who  received 
it  from  the  Saracen  king.  Orlando, 
learning  that  wherever  Baldovino 
charges  through  the  press  of  men  the 
foes  avoid  him,  openly  accuses  him  of 
partaking  in  Gano's  treason.  Then 
the  boy's  eyes  are  opened.  He  flings 
the  cloak  from  off  his  shoulders  with 
an  indignant  repudiation  of  any 
guilty  knowledge,  plunges  into  the 
fight,  and  as  he  falls,  pierced  in  the 
breast  with  two  lances,  shouts  ex- 
ultingly,  "  Now  I  am  no  longer  a 
traitor! ' 

Baldwin,  Count  of  Flanders  (there 
were  several  historical  characters  of 
this  name),  is  the  hero  of  a  mediaeval 
French  romance  of  uncertain  date 
and  authorship.  Having  refused  the 
hand  of  the  daughter  of  the  King  of 
France,  he  marries  a  strange  lady  of 
majestic  beauty  who  pretends  she  is 
heiress  to  a  splendid  throne  in  Asia. 
A  hermit  denounces  her  as  the  devil 
in  female  form  and  she  flees  screaming 
back  to  hell.  Baldwin  goes  on  a 
crusade  in  expiation  of  his  involun- 
tary offence.  Two  daughters  born  of 
the  marriage  turn  out  better  than 
might  be  expected.  This  romance 
was  probably  suggested  by  the  story 
of  Menippus  (see  LAMIA).  Unions  be- 
tween mortals  and  fiends  of  one  form 
or  another  are  common  in  legend  and 
have  crept  into  history.  It  was  gen- 
erally believed  that  an  ancestor  of 
Geoffrey  of  Plantagenet  married  a 
demon  and  from  this  alliance  Fordun 
accounts  for  the  profligacy  of  King 
John. 


Balin  le  Savage,  in  Arthurian 
romance,  a  Northumberland  knight, 
brother  to  Sir  Balan,  captured  in 
battle  and  imprisoned  for  six  months 
by  King  Arthur.  After  his  release  a 
damsel  came  to  Camelot  crying  that 
none  might  draw  the  sword  she  held 
unless  he  were  free  from  "  shame, 
treachery  or  guile."  The  king  and 
all  his  knights  failed  in  the  attempt 
but  Balin  succeeded.  He  refused  to 
return  the  sword,  whereon  the  damsel 
prophesied  that  it  would  be  his  plague 
— "  for  with  it  shall  ye  slay  your  best 
friend  and  it  shall  prove  your  own 
death."  The  Lady  of  the  Lake  her- 
self came  to  Arthur  to  plead  for  the 
sword.  Balin  cut  off  her  head  with 
it.  Banished  from  court  he  came  to  a 
castle  where  every  guest  must  joust 
in  his  turn.  So  fierce  was  his  en- 
counter with  the  appointed  knight 
that  both  perished  living  only  long 
enough  after  receiving  their  death 
wound  for  each  to  recognize  in  the 
other  his  brother.  This  is  the  story 
as  told  by  Sir  Thomas  Malory. 
Tennyson  in  his  Idylls  of  the  King, 
Balin  and  Balan,  varies  some  of  the 
details  and  omits  altogether  the 
episode  of  the  slaying  of  the  Lady  of 
the  Lake. 

Balkis,  the  Arabian  name  of  that 
Queen  of  Sheba  who  came  to  visit 
Solomon  in  his  glory,  I  Kings  x,  1-13. 
According  to  Arabian  legend  she  was 
the  daughter  of  Scharabel  a  descend- 
ant of  the  eponymic  King  Sheba. 
When  Solomon  demanded  her  sub- 
mission she  temporized  by  sending 
him  gifts  that  should  both  propitiate 
and  test  him:  Five  hundred  slaves 
of  each  sex  dressed  alike,  a  pearl  to 
be  pierced,  a  diamond  or  onyx  with  a 
crooked  hole  to  be  threaded,  and 
a  crystal  goblet  which,  to  prove  him- 
self a  prophet,  he  must  fill  with  water 
that  came  neither  from  heaven  nor 
earth.  Forewarned  by  the  peewit  (or 
lapwing)  Solomon  told  the  ambassa- 
dors the  contents  of  the  letter  without 
opening  it,  distinguished  the  boys 
from  the  girls  by  their  manner  of 
washing  the  hands,  pierced  the  pearl 
with  Schamir,  the  magical  force  by 
which  the  Temple  was  built  without 


Ballenguich 


45 


Banshee 


an  iron  instrument,  threaded  the 
crooked  hole  in  the  gem  by  the  aid  of 
a  worm,  and  returned  the  gifts  to  the 
queen.  Then  he  bade  a  slave  mount 
a  wild  horse  and  gallop  it  about  the 
plain  till  the  sweat  dripped  from  it, 
and  this  he  caught  in  the  crystal  gob- 
let, and  so  filled  the  chalice  with  water 
neither  from  earth  nor  heaven. 
Convinced  that  resistance  would 
be  futile,  Balkis  went  in  state 
to  visit  him.  Each  was  so  charmed 
with  the  other  that  Balkis  renounced 
idolatry  and  married  Solomon.  Their 
son  became  king  of  Abyssinia  and 
according  to  the  tradition  still  cher- 
ished there  was  the  founder  of  the 
present  dynasty.  (See  Antiquary, 
November,  1888.)  According  to  the 
Talmud  version  Balkis,  though  beau- 
tiful in  form  and  feature,  had  hairy 
legs  and  large  and  shapeless  feet.  In 
the  latter  particular  she  resembled 
the  good  Queen  Bertha — "  Berthe  au 
grand  pieds  " — the  mother  of  Charle- 
magne (see  BERTHA).  Another  name 
for  the  Queen  of  Sheba  was  Maqueda. 

Ballenguich,  Guidman,  the  name 
adopted  by  James  V  of  Scotland 
when,  like  Haroun  Alraschid,  he 
made  incognito  excursions  among  his 
subjects,  sometimes  for  the  purpose 
of  seeing  that  justice  was  properly 
administered,  and  sometimes  in 
search  of  amatory  adventure.  The 
Scotch  comic  songs  The  Gaberlunzie 
Man  and  We'll  gae  nae  Mare  a  Roving 
are  said  to  be  founded  upon  one  of 
the  king's  love  episodes.  Sir  Walter 
Scott  makes  the  plot  of  The  Lady  of 
the  Lake  turn  upon  another.  James  is 
held  to  be  the  original  of  Ariosto's 
Zerbino  in  Orlando  Amoroso. 

Ballengeich  (Gaelic  for  Town  of  the 
Pass)  is  the  old  name  of  Sterling 
where  the  Scottish  crown  had  a 
castle  afterwards  turned  into  a 
barracks. 

Baly,  in  Hindoo  myth,  one  of  the 
gigantic  kings  of  ancient  India  who 
founded  the  city  called  by  his  name 
and  ruled  so  generously  yet  so  justly 
that  at  death  he  became  one  of  the 
judges  of  the  dead.  Southey  in  The 
Curse  of  Kehama,  xv,  I  (1809),  tells 
how  one  day  a  dwarf  named  Vamen 


asked  the  monarch's  permission  to 
measure  off  three  of  his  own  paces 
for  a  hut  to  dwell  in.  Baly  smilingly 
complied.  The  dwarf's  first  pace 
compassed  all  the  earth;  the  second 
all  the  sky;  the  third  the  infernal 
regions.  Baly  now  recognized  in  his 
visitor  the  god  Vishnu  and  paid  him 
due  reverence. 

Bambino  (It.  the  infant)  or  San- 
tissimo  Bambino  (most  holy  infant), 
a  figure  of  the  Christ-child,  said  to 
have  been  carved  from  a  tree  on  the 
Mount  of  Olives  by  a  Franciscan 
pilgrim  and  painted  by  St.  Luke 
while  the  pilgrim  slept.  It  is  pre- 
served in  the  church  of  Ara  Coeli  in 
Rome,  where  it  is  venerated  for  its 
healing  powers,  and  is  occasionally 
taken  out  to  visit  patients  in  a  large 
tan-colored  coach  bearing  a  vermilion 
flag.  T.  B.  Aldrich  in  A  Legend  of 
Ara  Codi  has  versified  a  popular 
legend  that  the  figure  was  once  stolen 
by  some  curious  or  irreverent  person 
but  walked  back  at  night  of  its  own 
accord.  See  WALSH:  Curiosities  of 
Popular  Customs. 

Ban,  in  Arthurian  legend,  king  of 
Brittany,  father  of  Sir  Lancelot  and 
brother  of  Bors,  king  of  Gaul,  a 
great  friend  of  King  Arthur  and 
himself  a  famous  knight  of  the 
Round  Table. 

Banshee,  in  Celtic  folk  lore,  a 
female  spectre,  attached  to  some 
prominent  family,  who  gives  warning 
by  wailing  cries  of  an  approaching 
death  in  the  household.  She  is 
usually  described  as  a  tall,  pale  woman 
clad  in  white,  though  sometimes  she 
is  invisible.  The  Banshee  never 
deserts  the  family  with  whom  she  is 
connected  even  though  they  fall 
from  their  high  estate;  and  she  gives 
warning  of  the  death  of  any  member 
even  though  it  take  place  in  a  foreign 
land.  The  Bodach  Glas  (q.v.)  or 
Grey  Spectre  of  Scotland  is  a  similar 
wraith,  and  so  likewise  is  the  Gwrach 
y  Rhibyn  of  Wales  who  comes  after 
dusk  to  flap  her  leather  wings  at  the 
window  and  to  call  in  broken  howling 
tones  the  name  of  the  person  whose 
death  is  imminent.  See  also  MELU- 
SINE. 


Bantam 


46 


Barmecide 


For  the  orthography  and  deriva- 
tion of  the  word,  Murray's  Dictionary 
gives:  "  Benshi-shea-shie;  Banshie- 
shee;  the  phonetic  spelling  of  the 
Irish  bean  sidke;  a  female  or  woman 
of  the  fairies." 

The  name  Banshee  would  seem  to 
imply  that  originally  these  warning 
spirits  were  considered  to  be  of  elfish 
lineage,  but  perhaps  they  were  only 
such  of  the  race  as  had  once  borne  a 
human  form;  like  Melusine,  who, 
when  she  left  the  castle  of  Lusignan, 
became  a  Banshee  and  prognosti- 
cated death  to  a  noble  family  of 
Poitou.  But  in  later  belief  the  Ban- 
shee of  Ireland  or  the  Scottish  High- 
lands was  a  disembodied  spirit  linger- 
ing about  the  place  to  which  she  had 
been  attached  in  life,  occasionally 
assuming  the  human  form,  but  more 
often  manifesting  her  presence  only 
by  a  cry.  McAnally  gives  various 
designations  by  which  she  is  known 
in  Ireland,  as  Woman  of  Peace,  Lady 
of  Death,  White  Lady  of  Sorrow, 
Spirit  of  the  Air,  etc. 

Bantam,  a  decayed  town  now  de- 
serted, and  a  district  of  the  island  of 
Java.  Bantam  was  originally  power- 
ful and  wealthy  and  the  seat  of  the 
king  of  Java.  When  Drake  circum- 
navigated the  globe  he  touched  at 
Java,  in  1580,  and  was  royally  enter- 
tained by  the  monarch.  Doubtless 
his  reports  of  the  unbounded  wealth 
of  the  land  soon  passed  into  a  popular 
proverb.  The  Portuguese  first,  and 
then  the  Dutch,  obtained  possession 
of  Bantam,  and  eventually  the  Dutch 
consolidated  their  possessions  and 
deposed  the  king.  The  King  of 
Bantam  was  a  sort  of  standing  joke 
among  English  dramatists  for  nearly 
two  centuries.  Congreve  grouping 
together  the  Cham  of  Tartary,  the 
Emperor  of  China  and  the  King  of 
Bantam  as  fabulous  monarchs,  makes 
one  of  his  characters  say:  "  Body 
o'  me,  I  have  made  a  cuckold  of  a 
king,  and  the  present  Majesty  of 
Bantam  is  the  issue  of  these  loins." 

Baphomet,  the  image  of  a  fabulous 
creature  with  two  heads  (a  male  and 
a  female)  and  the  rest  of  the  body 
female,  said  to  be  used  as  an  idol,  or 


symbol,  by  the  Templars  in  their 
mysterious  rites.  The  name  has  been 
explained  as  a  corruption  of  Mahomet. 
Littr£,  quoting  from  Abb6  Constant, 
says  that  the  word  is  formed  by 
reading  backward  these  initial  letters 
and  syllables: 

Tern.  o.  h.  p.  ab  =  templi  omnium 
hominum  paces  abb  as:  "Abbot  (or 
father)  of  the  temple  of  peace  for  all 
men." 

Barber  of  Bagdad,  hero  of  a  story 
in  the  Arabian  Nights. 

The  inimitable  story  of  the  Impertinent 
Barber  himself,  one  of  the  seven,  and 
worthy  to  be  so;  his  pertinacious,  incredi- 
ble, teasing,  deliberate,  yet  unmeaning 
folly,  his  wearing  out  the  patience  of  the 
young  gentleman  whom  he  is  sent  for  to 
shave,  his  preparations  and  his  professions 
of  speed,  his  taking  out  an  astrolabe  to 
measure  the  height  of  the  sun  while  his 
razors  are  getting  ready,  his  dancing  the 
dance  of  Zimri  and  singing  the  song  of 
Zamtout,  his  disappointing  the  young  man 
of  an  assignation,  following  him  to  the 
place  of  rendezvous,  and  alarming  the 
master  of  the  house  in  his  anxiety  for  his 
safety,  by  which  his  unfortunate  patron 
loses  his  hand  in  the  affray,  and  this  is 
felt  as  an  awkward  accident.  The  danger 
which  the  same  loquacious  person  is  after- 
wards in,  of  losing  his  head  for  want  of 
saying  who  he  was,  because  he  would  not 
forfeit  his  character  of  being  "  justly  called 
the  Silent,"  is  a  consummation  of  the  jest, 
though,  if  It  had  really  taken  place,  it 
would  have  been  carrying  the  joke  too  far. — 
WILLIAM  HAZLITT. 

Barguest,  in  the  fairy  mythology  of 
northern  England,  a  goblin  armed 
with  teeth  and  claws  which  took 
pleasure  in  parading  the  streets  at 
night  and  uttering  shouts  that  terri- 
fied such  maidens  as  were  not  safely 
in  bed.  Though  all  might  hear,  it 
was  given  only  to  a  few  to  see  this 
apparition.  Those  few,  however, 
could  communicate  the  gift  to 
others  by  merely  touching  them 
when  the  spirit  made  its  appearance. 

Barlaam.    See  JOSAPHAT. 

Barmecide,  Barmecide's  Feast. 
The  Barmecides  were  a  Persian  family 
who  rose  to  fame  and  fortune  as  the 
ministers  of  the  early  Abbaside 
caliphs.  Haroun  Alraschid  succes- 
sively appointed  two  of  them,  father 
and  son,  his  viziers.  The  son,  Jaffar 
(the  Giafar  of  the  Arabian  Nights) 
eventually  fell  under  the  royal  dis- 


Bath 


47 


Bayard 


pleasure  and  was  put  to  death  in 
802,  together  with  nearly  all  the 
Barmecide  family.  The  phrase,  a 
Barmecide  Feast,  arose  from  a  story 
related  in  the  Arabian  Nights  (Story 
of  the  Barber's  Sixth  Brother).  One 
of  the  Barmecides,  a  practical  joker 
who  could  both  give  and  take,  invited 
the  starving  wretch  Shacabac  to 
dine  with  him.  Imaginary  food  was 
served  up  in  empty  dishes  and  at 
every  relay  of  emptiness  Shacabac 
was  asked  how  he  enjoyed  the  dish. 
Entering  into  the  spirit  of  the  jest 
Shacabac  declared  everything  excel- 
lent but  when  wine  was  served  in 
empty  cups  he  pretended  to  get 
intoxicated  and  soundly  boxed  the 
host's  ear.  The  Barmecide,  delighted 
at  the  jest,  ordered  a  real  dinner  to 
be  placed  before  his  guest. 

Bath,  Wife  of,  in  Chaucer's  Canter- 
bury Tales,  one  of  the  pilgrims  travel- 
ling from  Southwark  to  the  shrine  of 
St.  Thomas  a  Becket  in  Canterbury. 
She  tells  her  tale  in  due  rotation, 
choosing  the  story  of  Midas  for  her 
theme,  and  prefacing  it  with  a  pro- 
logue in  which  she  reveals  herself  with 
delightful  naivete1  and  a  not  too  deli- 
cate sense  of  the  proprieties.  The 
wife's  tale  has  been  retold  by  Dryden 
in  his  Tales  from  Chaucer.  Gay  has  a 
comedy  The  Wife  of  Bath  (1713). 

As  the  wife  of  Bath  herself  unrolls  her 
own  picture  with  a  flippant  ease  and  a 
delightful  mixture  of  ingenuousness  and 
confidential  impudence  not  without  wit, 
and  begins  with  the  greatest  indignation 
to  quote  the  sayings  of  learned  woman- 
haters,  the  comic  effect  of  her  story  and 
descriptions  is  raised  to  the  highest  pitch, 
and  the  satire  loses  very  much  of  its  bitter- 
ness, but  nothing  whatever  of  its  pungency. 
We  can  almost  hear,  and  see  bodily  before 
us,  the  well-to-do,  middle-class  English- 
woman, in  her  heavy  and  somewhat  gaudy 
garments,  her  scarlet  stockings,  her  red 
cheeks,  her  saucy  looks,  her  sensual  mouth, 
her  quick  energetic  movements,  her  glib 
tongue  and  penetrating  voice,  and  what  she 
relates  becomes  to  us  as  vivid  as  if  we  had 
ourselves  beheld  the  individual  incidents. — 
BERNHARD  TEN  BRINK:  History  of  English 
Literature. 

Battus,  the  classical  instance  of  a 
spy  or  informer.  A  peasant  in 
Arcadia  he  witnessed  the  theft  by 
Mercury  of  Apollo's  cattle  and  was 


bribed  to  secrecy  by  the  gift  of  a  cow. 
To  test  his  fidelity  Mercury  assumed 
a  disguise  and  by  the  offer  of  a  cow 
and  an  ox  trapped  him  into  revealing 
all  he  knew.  He  was  instantly 
changed  into  a  touchstone.  OVID: 
Metamorphoses,  xv,  11. 

Bavian,  The  (Dutch  baviann,  a 
buffoon).  An  occasional  though  not 
a  regular  character  in  the  old  Morris 
dance.  He  was  made  up  as  a  baboon ; 
his  office  was  to  bark,  tumble,  play 
antics  and  exhibit  a  long  tail  with 
what  decency  he  could. 

Bayard  (It.  Bajardo),  in  the  Charle- 
magne cycle  of  myths,  a  famous 
charger,  first  heard  of  in  the  thir- 
teenth century  romance  of  Aymon 
and  his  Four  Sons.  Originally  it  had 
belonged  to  Amadis  of  Gaul,  but  the 
necromancer  Maugis  coaxed  it  out 
of  hell,  and  presented  it  to  his  brother, 
Aymon,  who  in  turn  gave  it  to  his 
youngest  son,  Renaud,  Reinold  or 
Rinaldo.  Bayard  at  first  resented  the 
new  ownership,  but  the  lad,  after  a 
preliminary  rebuff,  leaped  into  the 
saddle  and  reduced  the  refractory 
steed  to  an  obedience  that  never 
afterwards  failed.  Bayard  would 
frequently  carry  all  four  sons  upon 
his  back.  When  Charlemagne  fell 
out  with  Aymon  he  was  especially 
vindictive  against  the  horse,  which 
proved  a  most  effective  aid  in  the 
sort  of  guerrilla  warfare  that  Renaud 
and  his  brothers  carried  on  against 
the  court.  Therefore  when  Aymon 
sued  for  peace  Charles  refused  to 
pardon  the  sons  unless  Bayard  were 
delivered  up  to  him.  It  took  all 
Aymon 's  powers  to  persuade  Renaud 
to  obey.  But  when  he  beheld  Bayard 
launched  to  his  death  into  the  River 
Seine  he  broke  his  sword  Flammberg, 
swore  that  he  would  never  touch  a 
horse  or  a  sword  again,  and  disap- 
peared to  die  in  the  Crusades,  fighting 
afoot  with  an  enormous  club.  The 
outlines  of  this  story  were  preserved 
by  the  later  Italian  romancers,  Pulci, 
Berni,  Ariosto  and  others,  who  make 
Renaud,  under  the  Italianized  name 
of  Rinaldo,  a  chief  personage  in  their 
poems;  but  they  reject  the  account  of 
his  death.  Bayard  is  usually  spoken 


Beatrice 


48 


Beatrice 


of  as  being  still  alive  in  the  forests  of 
France,  though  successfully  eluding 
all  attempts  at  capture.  Skepticism 
on  this  point,  however,  gradually 
invaded  the  popular  mind  which  ex- 
pressed itself  in  a  proverbial  saying, 
"  Like  Bayard  he  has  all  merits  and 
but  one  defect, — he  is  dead."  In 
England  his  failing  was  not  that  he 
was  dead,  but  that  he  was  blind, — 
11  like  a  blind  Bayard." 

In  Normandy  popular  legend  tells 
of  a  mischievous  lutin  or  fairy  who 
haunts  the  highways  in  the  form  of 
the  horse  Bayard,  all  ready  capari- 
soned for  riding.  He  shows  himself 
in  so  gentle  a  guise  that  the  wayfarer 
is  tempted  to  mount  him.  No  sooner 
is  he  astride  than  the  steed  becomes 
rampant  and  unmanageable,  and 
ends  by  pitching  his  rider  into  a 
marsh  or  a  ditch. 

Beatrice,  the  Christian  name  of  a 
lady  (1266-1290)  belonging  to  the 
famous  family  of  Pprtinari  in  Florence 
who  married  Simoni  de  Bardi. 
Dante  as  a  boy  of  nine  fell  in  love 
with  her  when  she  was  only  eight 
years  old.  He  continued  to  cherish 
for  her  a  romantic  but  hopelessly 
platonic  passion  until  her  death. 
This  passion  forms  the  subject  of  La 
Vita  Nuova  ( The  New  Life),  a  strange 
medley  of  prose  and  poetry.  Dante 
tells  us  that  the  remembrance  of 
Beatrice  was  "  of  such  noble  virtue  >: 
as  to  preserve  him  in  his  unguarded 
moments  from  stray  assaults  of  pas- 
sion. But  she  is  even  more  than  this 
to  him.  The  recollection  of  her 
spiritual  nature  is  at  once  the  assur- 
ance that  the  invisible  world  exists 
and  the  cause  of  that  deep  longing 
which  transports  him  beyond  the 
limits  of  common  humanity.  In  his 
Divine  Comedy  Beatrice  becomes 
Dante's  guide  through  Paradise. 

Why  did  not  Dante  marry  Bea- 
trice? Leigh  Hunt  suggests  that  he 
was  shy  and  she  was  coy.  Theodore 
Martin  conjectures  that  she  married 
Simon  de  Bardi  while  separated  from 
Dante  by  a  temporary  pique,  al- 
though she  may  have  been  further 
influenced  by  domestic  pressure  or 
other  untoward  circumstance. 


Dante's  Beatrice  and  Milton's  Eve 
Were   not   drawn  from  their   spouses   you 
conceive. 

BYRON:    Don  Juan,  iii,  10  (1820). 

Beatrice  is  not  a  woman.  She  is  woman- 
hood, various  in  its  strength  and  beauty  but 
simple  because  pure,  like  light,  which  may 
break  into  a  thousand  colors  yet  never 
know  a  stain.  The  girl  of  the  Vita  Nuova 
and  the  glorified  spirit  who  sits  with  Rachel 
at  the  feet  of  Mary  are  but  one  thought 
and  one  life. 

Beatrice,  heroine  of  Adelaide  Proc- 
tor's poem  A  Legend  of  Provence,  is  a 
favorite  character  in  mediaeval  myth. 
Her  story  has  recently  (1911)  been 
dramatized  by  J.  H.  Macarthy. 

The  portress  of  a  convent  in  Co- 
logne, she  was  devoured  by  curiosity 
to  see  something  of  the  world.  Fi- 
nally she  flung  herself  before  the  pic- 
ture of  the  Virgin  and  said,  "  Ma- 
donna, internally  tormented  with  dis- 
quietude I  leave  thy  service  to  enter 
the  world."  Fifteen  years  she  spent 
in  sinful  pleasure,  that  never  brought 
her  happiness.  Heart  smitten  at  last 
she  returned  to  her  convent  and  asked 
the  porter  if  he  had  ever  heard  of  a 
nun  named  Beatrice.  "  She  has 
lived  in  this  convent  from  her  youth 
up,"  answered  the  porter.  At  these 
words  Beatrice  was  about  to  turn 
away  in  perplexity,  when  the  Virgin 
appeared  and  said,  "For  fifteen  years 
I  have  discharged  thy  duties  in  thy 
dress  and  form.  Go  now  and  take 
thy  keys  on  the  altar  where  thou 
didst  leave  them,  resume  thy  dress 
and  do  penance  for  thy  sins." 
Beatrice  gladly  did  as  she  was  told, 
the  Virgin  restored  her  dress  and  re- 
sumed her  own  place  in  the  picture. 

This  legend  appears  in  a  collection 
of  nine  tales  in  French  verse,  by 
Coinsi  or  Comsi,  reunited  under  the 
general  title  of  Miracles  of  Our  Lady 
(Les  Miracles  de  Notre  Dame)  ancl 
again  in  a  similar  collection  in  Spanish 
under  a  similar  title  (Los  Milagros  de 
Nuestra  Senora)  by  Berceo,  and  in 
various  collections  of  Fabliaux  and 
Contes  Devots.  It  has  been  told  in 
modern  French  prose  by  Charles 
Nodier,  in  the  Revue  de  Paris,  Oct. 
29,  1837.  It  is  usually  known  in 
French  as  La  Sacristaine  and  is  a 


Beauchamp 


49 


Bede 


sort  of  companion  tale  to  the  very 
similar  story  of  The  Sacristan  and  the 
Knight's  Wife. 

Beauchamp,  Bold,  the  nickname  of 
Thomas  de  Beauchamp  Earl  of 
Warwick.  With  one  squire  and  six 
archers  he  is  said  to  have  overthrown 
loo  armed  men  at  Hogges  in  Nor- 
mandy in  the  year  1346.  Hence  "a 
Bold  Beauchamp  "  became  a  current 
name  for  a  doughty  warrior. 

So  had  we  still  of  ours  in  France  that  famous 

were, 
Warwick  of   England  then  high   constable 

that  was 

So  hardy  great  and  strong, 
That  after  of  that  name  it  to  an  adage  grew 
If  any  man  himself  adventurous  happed. to 

shew, 
"Bold    Beauchamp"    men    him    termed    if 

none  so  brave  as  he. 
DRAYTON:    Polyolbion,  xviii  (1613). 

Beaumains,  according  to  Thomas 
Malory  in  the  Morte  d1  Arthur,  the 
nickname  given  to  Gareth  by  Sir 
Kay.  The  entire  legend  of  Gareth 's 
first  coming  to  Arthur's  court,  being 
fed  for  a  year  in  the  royal  kitchen 
and  receiving  the  nickname  is  prob- 
ably a  folk  tale  which  had  no  connec- 
tion with  the  Arthurian  cycle  until 
Malory  or  some  unknown  writer 
before  him  adapted  it  from  a  French 
source  now  lost. 

Beauty  and  the  Beast,  hero  and 
heroine  of  a  famous  fairy  tale  Beauty 
and  the  Beast  (Fr.  La  Belle  et  la  Bete), 
which  Madame  Villeneuve  first  put 
into  print  in  Les  Contes  Marines 
(1740),  but  which  is  of  very  ancient 
origin  and  almost  universal  distribu- 
tion. To  save  the  life  of  her  father 
the  Beauty  consents  to  sacrifice  her- 
self in  marriage  to  a  hideous  but 
kindly  monster.  Straightway  the 
latter  assumes  the  outer  fashion  of  a 
handsome  and  adorable  young  knight. 
He  explained  that  he  had  been  the 
victim  of  an  enchantment  from  which 
he  could  escape  only  if  a  young  and 
lovely  maiden  would  marry  him. 
In  the  Nineteenth  Century  W.  R.  S. 
Ralston  compares  a  number  of  vari- 
ants of  this  story  diffused  over  a 
wide  territory. 

The  chief  points  in  "  Beauty  and 
the  Beast  "  are  the  conversion  of  a 


genial  monster  into  a  beautiful  prince 
and  the  separation  of  a  wife  and  a 
husband,  as  punishment  for  some  tri- 
fling offence.  Granting  these  germs, 
the  tale  may  and  does  blossom  into 
any  number  of  adventures.  As  a 
rule,  when  the  wife  is  separated  from 
her  husband,  she  has  to  seek  him  all 
over  the  world.  Thus  Psyche  tries 
to  win  back  Eros;  thus  in  "  The  Black 
Bull  of  Norroway  "  the  beloved  pur- 
sues her  lover,  who  has  quite  for- 
gotten her,  even  into  the  chamber  of 
his  new  bride.  In  the  Scotch  "  Nicht, 
Nought,  Nothing,"  as  in  the  Gaelic 
'  Battle  of  the  Birds,"  the  girl  has 
much  the  same  troubles,  and  in  all 
her  fantastic  pilgrimage  some  mythol- 
ogists  see  only  the  search  of  the  dawn 
for  the  sun,  or  of  the  sun  for  the  dawn. 
Mr.  Ralston  has  compared  French, 
German,  Cretan,  Hellenic,  Indian, 
and  South  Siberian  versions  of  this 
tale  of  "  Beauty  and  the  Beast."  He 
shows  very  skilfully  how  the  story 
crept  into  literature,  as  into  the  works 
of  Mme.  de  Beaumont  and  of  Apu- 
leius,  out  of  oral  legend,  French  or 
Thessalian,  and  how  again  it  passed 
into  oral  tradition,  carrying  with  it 
some  traces  of  the  literary  or  courtly 
air  in  which  it  had  lived  for  a  while. 
One  variant  "  has  been  twisted  from 
mythology  into  morality,"  says  Mr. 
Ralston.  It  may  be  added  with 
equal  truth,  that  part  of  the  tale  has 
been  twisted  from  morality  still 
inchoate,  still  "  in  the  making," 
into  mythology.  "  Beauty  and  the 
Beast,"  says  Mr.  Ralston,  "  is  evi- 
dently a  moral  tale,  intended  to  show 
that  amiability  is  of  more  consequence 
than  beauty,  founded  upon  some 
combination  of  a  story  about  an 
apparently  monstrous  husband,  with 
another  story  about  a  supernatural 
husband,  temporarily  lost  by  a  wife's 
disobedience."  Mr.  Ralston  does  not 
think  that  the  Dawn  has  much  to  say- 
in  the  matter.  Little  '  direct  evi- 
dence can  be  obtained  with  regard  to 
the  mythological  representation  of 
the  phenomena  of  nature." 

Bede,  Venerable,  an  English  monk 
of  the  eighth  century,  whose  popular 
nickname  of  Venerable  is  said  to  have 


Bedivere 


50 


Befana 


arisen  in  this  fashion :  A  fellow  monk 
vainly  attempting  to  write  an  epitaph 
upon  Bede  fell  asleep,  leaving  it 
incompleted  thus:  "  Hac  sunt  in  fossa 
Bedse  .  .  .  ossa,"  and  on  awak- 
ening was  surprised  to  find  the  missing 
epithet  supplied  (presumably)  by  an 
angelic  hand:  Hac  sunt  in  fossa 
Bed&  venerabilis  ossa. 

Bedivere,  or  Bedver,  Sir,  in  Arthur- 
ian legend,  a  knight  of  the  Round 
Table.  Tennyson  follows  Sir  Thomas 
Malory  in  making  him  the  butler  of 
King  Arthur.  In  the  Morte  dj  Arthur 
of  both,  Bedivere  is  sent  by  the  dying 
king  to  throw  his  sword  Excalibur 
(q.v.)  into  the  mere.  See  AVALON. 

Bedlam,  Tom  o',  the  cant  name  of  a 
lunatic  belonging  to  Bethlehem  hos- 
pital (contracted  into  Bedlam),  in 
Bishopsgate,  England.  This  institu- 
tion was  designed  for  six  patients,  but 
by  1641  the  number  had  grown  to  44, 
and  applications  were  so  numerous 
that  they  were  dismissed  when  only 
half  cured  to  wander  as  vagrants  shab- 
bily dressed  and  singing  "  mad 
songs."  In  King  Lear  Edgar  assumes 
the  part  of  a  Bedlamite. 

He  swears  he  has  been"  in -Bedlam  and 
will  talk  frantikely  of  purpose.  You  see 
pins  stuck  in  sundry  places  in  his  naked  flesh, 
especially  in  his  arms,  which  pain  he  gladly 

Euts  himself  to  only  to  make  you  believe 
e  is  out  of  his  wits.  He  calls  himself 
Poor  Tom)  .'and  coming  near  anybody  calls 
out  Poor  Tom's  a-cold.  Some  do  nothing 
but  sing  songe  fashioned  out  of  their  own 
brains;  some  will  dance,  others  will  do 
nothing  but  either  laugh  or  weep,  others 
are  dogged  and  spying  but  a  small  company 
in  a  house  will  compel  the  servants  through 
fear  to  give  them  what  they  demand. — 
DECKER:  Bellman  of  London. 

Bedreddin,  Hassan,  in  the  Arabian 
Nights  story  of  Noureddin  and  his 
Son,  is  the  son  of  the  grand  vizier  of 
Basora.  After  Noureddin's  death  he 
fell  into  disgrace  with  the  sultan. 
Fairies  rescued  him  and  bore  him 
from  Cairo  to  Damascus,  where  he 
lived  for  ten  years  as  a  pastry  cook. 
A  search  party,  halting  at  the  gates 
of  Damascus,  sent  into  the  city  for 
cheese  cakes,  and  Bedreddin's  prod- 
ucts were  recognized  by  his  mother, 
for  she  had  taught  him  the  receipt. 
The  vizier  thereupon  ordered  him  to 


be  arrested  for  "  making  cheese  cakes 
without  pepper  '  and  restored  him 
to  his  wife  in  Cairo. 

She  [Effie  Deans]  amused  herself  with 
visiting  the  dairy,  in  which  she  had  so  long 
been  assistant,  and  was  so  near  discovering 
herself  to  May  Hetley,  by  betraying  her  ac- 

Siaintance  with  the  celebrated  receipt  for 
unlop  cheese,  that  she  compared  herself  to 
Bedreddin  Hassan,  whom  the  vizier,  his 
father-in-law,  discovered  by  his  superlative 
skill  in  composing  cream-tarts  with  pepper 
in  them. — SIR  W.  SCOTT. 

Beelzebub  (Heb.  lei  or  baal,  lord, 
and  s'bub,  fly),  the  god  of  flies  and  of 
all  evil  spirits,  worshipped  at  Ekron, 
a  city  of  the  Philistines  (2  Kings  i,  2), 
and  described  as  the  "  prince  of 
devils  "  in  Matthew  xii,  24.  He  may 
be  identified  with  Enlil,  an  ancient 
Babylonian  god,  second  of  the  great 
cosmic  triad  of  which  Anu  was  chief. 
As  the  latter  was  lord  of  heaven,  so 
this  deity  ruled  over  earth  as  "  lord 
of  lands  "  and  of  all  the  spirits  of  the 
earth.  The  Biblical  references  to 
Beelzebub  made  him  a  noted  charac- 
ter among  the  mediaeval  demonog- 
raphers.  Those  who  reckon  nine 
ranks  or  orders  of  demons  place  Beel- 
zebub at  the  head  of  the  first  rank, 
which  consists  of  the  false  gods  of  the 
Gentiles.  Wierus  in  the  sixteenth 
century  asserted  that  he  had  suc- 
ceeded Satan  in  the  primacy  of  hell. 

Which    when    Beelzebub    perceived,    than 

whom, 

Satan  except,  none  higher  sat,  with  grave 
Aspect  he  rose,  and  in  rising  seemed 
A  pillar  of  state:  deep  on  his  front  engraven 
Deliberation  sat  and  public  care; 
And  princely  counsel  in  his  face  yet  shone, 
Majestic  though  in  ruin:  sage  he  stood, 
With  Atlantean  shoulders  fit  to  bear 
The  weight  of  mightiest  monarchies. 

MILTON:    Paradise  Lost. 

Befana  (a  corruption  of  Epiphania 
or  Epiphany),  the  Italian  equivalent 
for  Santa  Claus,  who  on  the  eve  of 
the  Epiphany  (January  6)  comes 
down  the  chimney  leaving  gifts  for 
the  sleeping  children.  In  Russia  a 
similar  character  with  a  similar  legend 
is  called  the  Baboushka  or  little  old 
woman.  The  legend  runs  as  follows: 
When  the  Wise  Men  from  the  East 
were  travelling  from  Jerusalem  to 
Bethlehem  they  came  across  an  old 


Behram 


woman  who  was  cleaning  house.  She 
asked  them  their  errand  and  they 
told  her  they  were  on  their  way  to  do 
homage  to  the  new-born  king  of  the 
Jews.  She  begged  them  to  wait 
until  she  could  finish  her  task  and 
join  them.  They  could  not  wait  and 
she  strove  to  follow  them  after  her 
work  was  done,  but  all  in  vain.  Ever 
since  she  has  been  wandering  about 
the  earth  seeking  for  the  Child  Jesus 
and  is  filled  with  renewed  hope  at  the 
yearly  recurrence  of  the  Epiphany. 

Behram,  in  the  Arabian  Nights 
story  of  Amgiad  and  Assad,  captain 
of  a  ship  which  undertook  to  bear 
Prince  Assad  to  be'offered  as  a  sacri- 
fice on  the  Mountain  of  Fire.  The 
ship  grounded  on  the  coast  of  Queen 
Margiana's  kingdom.  Being  a  Mo- 
hammedan and  a  foe  to  the  fire  wor- 
shippers, she  made  Assad  her  slave, 
but  Behran  recaptured  him  and  sail- 
ing onward  was  pursued  by  the  queen. 
Assad  was  thrown  overboard  and  was 
eventually  found  by  Behran,  who 
brought  him  back  to  his  old  place  of 
confinement.  Bostana,  one  of  the 
fire  worshippers,  released  him.  At  the 
end  Assad  married  Margiana  and 
Armgiad  (his  half  brother)  married 
Bostana. 

Beichan,  Young  or  Lord  (the  name 
is  also  given  as  Bechin,  Biechen, 
Beekin,  Bekie,  Beachan,  Bonwell, 
and  Bateman),  hero  of  an  English 
ballad  of  which  there  are  several 
versions  extant.  Young  Beichan, 
travelling  in  Turkey,  is  seized  and 
enslaved,  but  is  liberated  by  the 
aid  of  his  captor's  daughter,  who 
bears  the  extraordinary  name  of 
Susan  Pye.  She  eventually  follows 
him  to  England,  finds  him  on  the 
very  day  of  his  wedding  to  another, 
and  is  married  to  him.  The  ballad 
undoubtedly  springs  from  the  same 
source  as  the  legend  about  Gilbert 
Becket,  whose  Saracen  lady-love  is 
said  to  have  followed  him  to  England, 
knowing  only  the  two  English  words, 
\London  "  and  "  Gilbert,"  by  whose 
aid  she  found  him.  The  hero's  name 
itself  may  be  a  corruption  of  Becket; 
but  so  little  is  the  story  purely 
English  that  Norse,  Italian,  and 


51  Belial 

Spanish  ballads  preserve  a  tradition 
essentially  the  same,  and  it  has  re- 
moter affinities  with  the  cycle  of  the 
Hind  Horn,  the  parts  of  the  principal 
actors  in  the  one  being  inserted  in 
the  other.  Dickens  published  a 
burlesque  entitled,  The  Loving  Ballad 
of  Lord  Bateman. 

Belacqua,  according  to  Dante,  Pur- 
gatory, iv,  was  in  his  lifetime  a  maker 
of  musical  instruments,  whose  name 
had  become  proverbial  for  laziness  in 
his  native  Florence.  Dante  himself 
had  rebuked  him  for  this  vice,  but 
Belacqua  had  calmly  replied  in  the 
words  of  Aristotle,  "  By  sitting  down 
and  resting,  thy  soul  is  rendered 
wise."  Whereto  Dante  had  retorted, 
"  If  men  become  wise  by  sitting  down 
surely  no  man  is  wiser  than  thee." 
In  the  poem  Dante  meets  Belacqua's 
spirit  lazily  lolling  in  the  shade  of  a 
rock  outside  of  the  gates  of  purgatory. 
He  complacently  explained  that  as 
sloth  had  made  him  put  off  his  repent- 
ance while  alive,  so  now  he  must 
remain  outside  of  purgatory  for  as 
many  years  as  he  had  spent  on  earth. 

Belial  (Heb.  Vli,  negative,  and  ja'al, 
useful),  a  term  signifying  worthless- 
ness,  destructiveness,  lawlessness, 
which  the  Old  Testament  uses  to 
characterize  the  genius  of  evil,  the 
chief  of  the  devils.  The  word  fre- 
quently recurs  in  the  Scriptures;  the 
enemies  of  the  Israelites  are  the  sons 
of  Belial,  the  worship  of  Belial  is  the 
worship  of  the  infernal  powers,  the 
adoration  of  evil.  "  What  concord 
hath  Christ  with  Belial?  "  asks  the 
apostle  Paul  in  the  New  Testament 
(2  Corinthians  vi,  15).  Here  Belial 
is  used  as  an  appellative  of  Satan  or 
as  some  think  of  Antichrist.  The 
process  of  personification  developed 
rapidly  in  the  middle  ages,  until 
Belial  assumed  a  distinct  individual- 
ity as  one  of  the  great  powers  of  hell. 
Wierus,  who  summed  up  the  devil 
myths  of  his  predecessors,  accepted 
the  teaching  that  there  were  nine 
ranks  of  evil  spirits,  and  that  Belial 
stood  at  the  head  of  the  third  rank, 
which  consisted  of  inventors  of  mis- 
chief and  vessels  of  anger.  He  fur- 
thermore makes  Belial  the  ambassa- 


Bell 


52 


Bellicent 


d(  >r  from  the  infernal  court  to  Turkey. 
.Milton  in  Paradise  Lost  recognizes 
the  separate  identity  of  Belial  and 
gives  him  a  high  rank  in  Pandemon- 
ium as  the  demon  of  lust  and  false- 
hood. 
Belial  came  last,  than  whom  a  spirit  more 

lewd 

Fell  not  from  heaven,  or  more  gross  to  love 
Vice  for  itself.  Paradise  Lost,  i,  490. 

A  fairer  person  lost  not  heaven,  he  seemed 
For  dignity  composed  and  high  exploit; 
But  all  was  false  and  hollow;  though  his 

tongue 
Dropped  manna,  and  could  make  the  worse 

appear 

The  better  reason,  to  perplex  and^dash 
Maturest  counsels,  for  his  thoughts  were  low. 

Ibid.,  ii,  112. 

Bell,  Adam,  an  outlaw  who,  with 
his  companions,  Clym  of  the  Clough 
and  William  of  Cloudesley,  all  of 
them  famous  for  their  skill  in  archery, 
haunted  the  forest  of  Englewood  near 
Carlisle.  William  was  captured  and 
led  to  execution  but  was  rescued  by 
his  comrades.  Thereupon  the  trio, 
repairing  to  London,  threw  them- 
selves upon  the  mercy  of  the  king, 
who  pardoned  them,  and  was  so  well 
pleased  with  the  feats  of  archery 
they  performed  in  his  presence  that 
William  was  made  a  "  gentleman  of 
f e  ' '  and  the  two  others  yeomen  of  the 
bed-chamber.  The  story  is  told  in  a 
thirteenth  century  ballad  preserved 
in  Percy's  Reliques,  I,  ii,  i.  See 
TELL,  WILLIAM. 

Bellerophon,  in  classic  myth,  the 
son  of  Glaucus,  King  of  Corinth. 
Originally  called  Hipponous,  he  re- 
ceived his  surname  from  killing  his 
brother,  Belerus.  He  purged  this 
crime  by  slaying  the  monster  Chimera 
with  arrows  shot  from  the  winged 
horse  Pegasus,  whom  he  had  caught 
with  a  golden  bridle.  His  further 
exploits  as  conqueror  of  the  Solymi 
and  the  Amazons  won  for  him  the 
,'htcr  of  lobates  and  half  his 
!»m  of  Lycia.  At  last  Bellero- 
phon's  pride  drew  upon  him  the  anger 
of  the  gods  and  he  wandered  away 
the  haunts  of  men.  Here 
Homer  leaves  him  (Iliad,  vi,24o).  Pin- 
.  continuing  from  later  traditions, 

.dc  him  essay  a  flight  to  heaven  on 
Pegasus.  Zeus  maddened  the  horse 


with  a  gadfly  and  Bellerophon  fell 
and  perished  in  the  wilderness.  He 
is  the  hero  of  an  opera  by  Thomas 
Corneille  with  music  by  Lulli  (1679) 
and  of  a  poem  in  The  Earthly  Para- 
dise, by  William  Morris,  Bellerophon 
at  Argus,  See  also  CHIMERA,  POTI- 
PHAR,  PROCTOS. 

Bellerophon  Letter,  a  treacherous 
letter  given  in  pretended  friendship 
which  denounces  the  bearer  to  the 
recipient.  Thus  Bellerophon  was 
sent  into  Lycia  by  Prcetos,  King  of 
Argos,  with  a  letter  desiring  his 
destruction.  This  is  a  frequent  sub- 
terfuge in  classic  and  later  literature, 
the  most  famous  instance  being  in 
Hamlet,  where  the  prince  departing 
for  England  is  entrusted  by  his  uncle 
with  a  letter  that  would  have  proved 
fatal  to  him  if  he  had  delivered  it. 

Bellerus,  Bellerium.  Bellerium 
was  the  Roman  name  for  Land's  End 
(q.v.)  and  it  is  Land's  End  to  which 
Milton  refers  when  he  inquires  of 
his  dead  friend,  Edward  King,  who 
was  drowned  at  sea. 

Sleepest  by  the  table  of  Bellerus  old, 
Where  the  great  vision  of  the  guarded  mount 
Looks  towards  Namancos? 

Lycidas,  160. 

Namancos  is  old  Castile,  and  the 
'  guarded  mount  '  is  Mount  St. 
Michael,  where  an  archangel  directed 
the  building  of  a  church. 

As  to  Bellerus  he  seems  to  have 
been  invented  by  Milton  as  a  name- 
father  for  the  place,  as  Corineus  is 
the  name  father  of  Cornwall.  Indeed 
in  the  MS.  Milton  had  originally 
written  Corineus,  but  altered  the 
word  for  the  sake  of  euphony.  There 
is  no  authority  for  the  statement 
made  by  some  commentators  that 
Bellerus  was  an  ancient  Cornish 
giant. 

Bellicent,  in  Arthurian  romance, 
daughter  of^Gorlois,  lord  of  Titagil, 
and  his  wife  Ygerne  or  Igerna. 
Ygerne,  after  Gorlois'  death,  became 
the  mother  of  Arthur;  hence  Bellicent 
was  his  half  sister.  Tennyson  makes 
her  marry  Lot,  the  King  of  Orkney: 

Lot's  wife,  the  Queen  of  Orkney,  Bellicent. 

Coming  of  Arthur. 


Bellisant 


53 


Berenice 


This  seems  to  be  an  innovation. 
Geoffrey  in  his  Chronicle  (viii,  20,  21) 
names  Anne,  another  half  sister,  as 
Lot's  wife,  while  Malory  (i,  II,  35-36) 
follows  the  more  common  legend  that 
Lot  married  Margawse  or  Margeuse 
(g.».). 

Bellisant,  in  the  fairy  story  of 
Valentine  and  Orson,  the  mother  of 
twins  born  in  a  forest,  after  her 
banishment  on  a  charge  of  infidelity 
by  her  husband,  Alexander,  Emperor 
of  Constantinople.  See  VALENTINE. 

Bellona  (Latin,  Bellum,  war),  the 
Roman  goddess  of  war.  She  seems 
originally  to  have  been  a  Sabine 
deity.  The  Latin  poets  frequently 
referred  to  her  as  the  companion  of 
Mars  in  battle,  and  sometimes  as  his 
wife  or  his  sister.  She  made  ready 
the  chariot  of  the  war  god,  and  herself 
appeared  on  the  field  with  dishevelled 
hair,  a  torch  in  one  hand  and  a  whip 
in  the  other,  to  animate  the  combat- 
ants. Her  priests,  the  Bellonarii, 
wounded  themselves  in  arm  or  leg 
when  offering  sacrifices  to  her.  In 
her  temple  the  senators  assembled  to 
give  audience  to  foreign  ambassadors. 
Fronting  the  entrance  stood  a  pillar. 
In  making  the  symbolical  declaration 
of  war  a  spear  was  launched  over 
this  pillar,  which  represented  the 
frontier.  Mars  and  Bellona  were 
worshipped  together  and  their  altars 
were  the  only  ones  polluted  by  human 
sacrifices. 

Belphegor,  a  Canaanitish  divinity, 
worshipped  more  particularly  by  the 
Moabites.  Wierus  calls  him  the 
ambassador  from  the  court  of  Beelze- 
bub to  Paris.  Pulci  introduces  him 
into  the  Orlando  Innamorato  as  a 
Mahometan  deity.  Machiavelli 
makes  him  the  hero  of  a  famous  tale 
called  Belphegor.  Here  he  is  a  fiend 
who  had  once  been  an  archangel. 
Pluto,  finding  that  most  of  the  lost 
souls  in  hell  ascribed  their  fate  to  the 
sinister  influence  of  their  wives,  dis- 
patches Belphegor  to  earth  to  inves- 
tigate the  facts.  He  must  turn  man, 
marry,  and  after  ten  years'  experience 
return  and  report.  Belphegor  accord- 
ingly assumes  the  shape  and  name  of 
Roderigo  and  espouses  Imperia,  by 


whom  he  is  both  henpecked  and  de- 
ceived. John  Wilson  utilized  the 
same  plot  in  a  tragi-comedy  (1690); 
Miles  Peter  Andrews  turned  it  into 
a  comic  opera  (1778);  and  the  name 
was  borrowed  for  the  hero  of  several 
English  dramas  adapted  from  the 
Paillasse  of  Dennery  and  Fournier. 
Jonson  combined  hints  taken  from 
this  play  with  others  from  Boccaccio 
in  the  plot  of  The  Devil  is  an  Ass 
(1616).  See  PUG. 

The  little  novel  of  Belphegor  is  pleasantly 
conceived  and  pleasantly  told.  But  the 
extravagance  of  the  satire  in  some  measure 
injures  its  effect.  Machiavelli  was  unhappily 
married;  and  his  wish  to  avenge  his  own 
cause  and  that  of  his  brethren  in  misfortune 
carried  him  beyond  even  the  license  of 
fiction. — MACAULAY  :  Essays,  Machiavelli. 

Beltenebros  (Sp.  bello,  beautiful; 
and  tenebroso,  dark,  gloomy,  thunder- 
ous), a  name  assumed  by  Amadis  of 
Gaul  when  he  fled  to  the  solitude  of 
Poor  Rock  on  receipt  of  a  cruel  letter 
from  Oriana. 

Bennu,  in  Egyptian  myth,  a  bird 
sacred  to  Osiris,  which  rose  singing 
from  the  flames  of  a  tree  at  Heliopofis, 
— doubtless  the_priginal  of  the  Greek 
phoenix. 

Beowulf,  titular  hero  of  an  anony- 
mous Anglo-Saxon  epic  of  the  sixth 
century,  a  thane  who  later  becomes 
King  of  the  Geats  in  Sweden.  He 
delivered  Hrothgar,  king  of  Denmark, 
from  the  man-fiend  Grendel,  who  was 
carrying  off  and  devouring  his  sub- 
jects in  the  night-time.  Grendel's 
mother  avenges  his  death  by  kidnap- 
ping one  of  Hrothgar's  counsellors. 
Beowulf  traces  her  to  her  retreat  in 
a  cave  by  the  sea  and  kills  her.  In 
his  old  age  he  slays  a  dragon,  but 
succumbs  to  the  strain  of  the  conflict. 
Strong  of  arm,  stout  at  heart,  fierce 
in  speech,  Beowulf  is  the  earliest  and 
most  terrific  of  all  the  Norse  heroes. 

Berenice,  put  to  death  by  her  son 
Ptolemy  IV  (221)  was  the  sister  and 
spouse  of  Ptolemy  III  of  Egypt.  In 
fulfilment  of  a  vow  conditioned  on 
her  husband's  triumphant  return 
from  an  expedition  to  Asia,  she  cut 
off  her  hair  and  hung,  it  in  the  temple 
of  the  war  god.  Thence  it  was  stolen 


Bertha 


54 


overnight.  Conon  of  Samos  pacified 
the  king  by  telling  him  that  the  winds 
had  carried  it  to  heaven,  and  legend 
adds  that  it  forms  the  Coma  Berenice, 
a  cluster  of  seven  stars  near  the  tail 
of  Berenice.  Pope  borrows  the  legend 
in  The  Rape  of  the  Lock  to  account 
for  the  disappearance  of  the  lock 
that  Lord  Petre  surreptitiously  cut 
from  Belinda's  head. 

Bertha,  Berchta,  Perchta  or  Precht 
(from  old  Ger.  peracta ,  bright ,  shining) , 
in  Scandinavian  and  Teutonic  myth, 
one  of  the  names  of  Freia.  In  Ger- 
many especially,  the  goddess  who 
originally  typified  the  purest  beauty 
assumed  under  this  new  name 
motley  and  multiform  shapes.  There 
are  beautiful  Berthas  and  satyr-like 
Berthas,  the  latter  running  about 
with  bare  legs  and  dishevelled  hair. 
But  as  a  rule  Bertha  has  three  attri- 
butes which  establish  her  identity 
with  the  Teutonic  Venus — she  has 
swan's  feet,  is  the  patron  of  spinners, 
and  is  attended  by  a  retinue  of  elves 
called  Heimchen,  evidently  de- 
scended from  the  crowd  of  the  unborn 
who  surround  Freia.  The  influence  of 
Christianity  upon  the  heathen  myth 
has  also  produced  a  Bertha  who  is  an 
impersonation  of  the  Epiphany  or 
Twelfth  Night  (corresponding  to  the 
Italian  Befana  and  the  Russian 
Baboushka)  who  has  an  immense 
foot  and  a  long  iron  nose,  and  who  on 
Twelfth  Night  visits  the  household, 
to  inspect  the  maidens  at  their  spin- 
ning wheels.  In  some  parts  of  Ger- 
many Twelfth  Night  is  called  Berch- 
tentag,  or  Bertha's  day,  and  the 
viands  once  sacred  to  the  goddess 
Freia  are  eaten  then.  Lastly,  Bertha 
is  the  name  of  the  White  Lady  (q.v .) 
or  Ahnfrau  of  German  princely 
families  and  royal  castles,  who  even 
under  this  new  transformation  retains 
many  of  the  characteristics  of  Freia. 

Bertha,  the  mother  of  Charle- 
magne, who  died  at  an  advanced  age 
in  783,  figures  extensively  in  the  cycle 
of  Carlovingian  romances  as  Bertha 
with  the  large  foot,  Berthe  au  grand 
pied,  and  is  also  known  in  the  folk- 
lore of  France  as  Bertha  the  Spinner, 
lafileuse,  and  as  la  Reine  Pedauque,  a 


Bertoldo 

corruption  of  Regina^pede  auca.  Her 
statues,  which  are  common  on  the 
fagade  of  old  French  churches,  repre- 
sent a  crowned  female  with  a  swan's 
or  a  goose's  foot,  holding  a  distaff  in 
her  hand.  From  these  attributes  it  is 
evident  that  a  similarity  of  names  has 
confused  her  in  the  popular  imagina- 
tion with  the  Freia-Holda-Bertha  of 
Teutonic  mythology.  In  the  thir- 
teenth century  a  minstrel  named 
Adenes  wove  into  epic  form  the  many 
legends  that  clustered  about  the 
mother  of  Charlemagne.  The  poem 
acquired  great  popularity  in  the 
Middle  Ages.  According  to  this 
authority,  Bertha  was  the  daughter 
of  Flore  and  Blancheflor,  King  and 
Queen  of  Hungary.  She  was  born 
with  one  foot  larger  than  the  other, 
whence  her  sobriquet.  Being  asked 
in  marriage  by  Pepin  of  France,  she 
was  sent  to  him  under  the  escort  of 
her  cousin  Tybers.  Now,  in  her  train 
was  a  wicked  woman  named  Margiste, 
whose  daughter,  Aliste,  bore  an 
extraordinary  resemblance  to  Bertha. 
Margiste  induced  Tybers  to  join  in  a 
plot  whereby  Aliste  was  palmed  off 
upon  Pepin  as  his  bride  and  the  real 
Bertha  was  abandoned  in  a  forest. 
For  eight  years  the  fraud  was  suc- 
cessful. Then  Blancheflor  deter- 
mined to  pay  a  visit  to  her  daughter. 
As  she  passed  through  France  she 
heard  complaints  on  all  sides  of  the 
wicked  Queen  Bertha.  "  Surely," 
she  thought,  "  this  cannot  be  my 
daughter."  And,  in  fact,  when  she 
confronted  Aliste  she  detected  her  by 
her  feet,  which  were  both  of  a  size. 
Aliste  was  deposed  and  sent  to  a  con- 
vent. Margiste  was  burned  alive. 
Shortly  after,  a  stag  which  Pepin 
was  hunting  led  him  to  the  forest 
glade  where  Bertha  had  found  an 
asylum.  She  was  recognized  by  her 
large  foot,  and  Pepin  married  her. 
The  conclusion  of  the  story  shows 
some  analogy  to  the  Cinderella  myth. 
See  also  BALKIS. 

Bertoldo  or  Bartoldo,  a  hero  of 
Italian  folklore,  around  whom  have 
clustered  a  number  of  legends  and 
facetiae,  some  of  them  indigenous,  but 
mostly  of  ancient  origin  and  directly 


Bertrand 


55 


Bethesda 


adapted  from  the  oriental  story  Solo- 
mon and  Marcolf,  which  was  widely 
distributed  throughout  mediaeval  Eu- 
rope. A  collection  called  Vita  di 
Bertoldo  (Life  of  Bertoldo}  by  Giulio 
Cassare  Croce  (i6th  century)  estab- 
lished him  as  the  alternate  butt  and 
buffoon  of  Italian  popular  myth. 

According  to  Croce,  Bertholdo  was 
a  favorite  of  Alboin,  king  of  Lom- 
bardy.  Though  dwarfish,  deformed 
and  ludicrously  ugly,  he  had  a  ready 
wit;  which  endeared  him  to  the  king, 
but  exasperated  the  queen  and  her 
ladies,  for  he  could  never  spare  a 
fling  at  feminine  imperfections.  An- 
other enemy  was  Fagotti,  a  rival  court 
jester,  with  whom  he  had  wit  com- 
bats strongly  reminiscent  of  the  stories 
told  of  Bahalul,  Haroun  Alraschid's 
fool.  At  last  the  queen  had  her  way 
and  Bertholdo  was  sentenced  to 
death,  with  the  reservation  that  he 
might  select  the  tree  for  his  hanging. 
Like  Marcolf  he  could  find  none  that 
satisfied  him  and  was  perforce 
released. 

Croce  added  a  sequel,  Bertoldino, 
and  Camillo  Scaliger  produced  an- 
other sequel  in  Cacasenno.  Ber- 
toldino is  the  son,  Cacasenno  the 
grandson  of  Bertoldo.  Conceiving 
that  wit  is  hereditary  the  king  ap- 
pointed each  of  these  descendants  in 
turn  to  the  vacant  place  of  jester. 
But  each  proved  as  foolish  as  his 
ancestor  had  been  wise.  For  two 
centuries  the  adventures  of  these 
three  clowns,  but  especially  of  the 
first,  were  the  chief  literary  amuse- 
ments of  Italy,  employing  the  pens 
of  various  poets  of  the  Bernesque 
school  and  the  brush  of  Joseph  Maria 
Crespi  of  Bologna.  Poems  and  illus- 
trations were  collected  together  and 
printed  in  1763. 

Bertrand,  in  The  Monkey  and  the 
Cat,  by  La  Fontaine,  Fables,  ix,  17 
(1671),  the  strategic  monkey  who 
induces  Raton,  the  cat,  to  pull  out 
of  the  fire  the  chestnuts  that  are 
roasting  there  which  he  proceeds  to 
open  and  eat,  his  dupe  getting  only 
singed  claws  for  her  pains. 

The  names  Bertrand  and  Raton 
have  passed  into  French  proverb  as 


synonymns  for  the  duper  and  the 
dupe.  Scribe's  comedy  Bertrand  et 
Raton  ou  VArt  de  Conspirer  (1833)  is 
a  satire  on  Talleyrand. 

Bertrand  de  Born  (1140-1215),  a 
famous  warrior  and  troubadour  who 
ended  his  days  as  a  Cistercian  monk. 
He  was  falsely  charged  with  having 
stirred  up  the  young  King  Henry  of 
Aquitane  to  rise  against  his  father. 
Dante  devises  a  terrible  punishment 
for  him  in  the  ninth  circle  of  hell. 
Bertrand 's  headless  trunk  carries  its 
head,  lanternwise,  to  light  the  path 
it  treads. 

"  I  am  Bertrand  of  Born,"  cries 
the  apparition,  "  he  who  gave  evil 
counsel  to  the  young  king.  I  incited 
son  against  father.  No  worse  did 
Ahitophel  do  for  Absalom.  Because  I 
parted  persons  thus  united,  I  carry 
my  brain,  alas!  parted  from  its  origin, 
which  is  in  this  trunk." — Inferno, 
xxxviii,  130. 

In  German  folklore  criminals  who  have 
committed  a  capital  crime,  yet  escaped  capi- 
tal punishment,  are  condemned  after  death 
to  wander  eternally  with  their  heads  under 
their  shoulders.  Praetonius  tells  of  a  Dres- 
den woman  who  in  the  year  1644  was  ac- 
costed by  a  headless  horseman,  clad  all  in 
gray,  booted  and  spurred  and  carrying  a 
horn.  His  head  was  tucked  under  his  left 
arm.  He  informed  her  that  his  name  was 
Hans  Jagenteufel,  and  he  was  expiating  un- 
punished crimes. 

Bes  or  Bez,  an  Egyptian  god, 
whose  statue  acts  as  a  pillar  for 
several  Nubian  temples.  His  name 
signifies  fire;  he  was  the  god  of  de- 
struction and  death;  he  had  a  hideous 
face  surrounded  with  a  blue  beard, 
and  his  tongue  lolled  out  of  an  ever 
open  mouth.  His  image  reappears 
on  ancient  Assyrian  monuments  and 
has  even  been  discovered  on  old 
French  coins,  a  circumstance  which 
lends  color  to  the  surmise  that  he 
may  have  been  the  original  Blue- 
beard. He  was  probably  identical 
with  the  Gaulish  God  whom  Lucian 
describes  under  the  name  of  Ogmios. 
He  has  even  been  plausibly  identified 
with  Gargantua. 

Bethesda  (Heb.  "  house  of  mercy  " 
or  "  place  of  flowing  water  "),  a  pool 
of  water  near  the  Sheepgate  in 
Jerusalem,  usually  identified  with 


Beulah 


56  Bimini 


the  modern  Virgin's  Pool,  the  only 
natural  spring  in  the  city.  Here 
Jesus  cured  the  man  who  had  waited 
thirty-eight  years  to  be  led  into  the 
troubled  waters. 

Beulah,  Land  of.  Beulah  is  a 
Hebrew  word  meaning  a  married 
woman,  and  is  used  metaphorically 
in  Isaiah  Ixii,  4,  to  denote  the  land 
Israel  when  it  shall  be  "  married." 
Bunyan  took  the  term  and  applied 
it  in  Pilgrim's  Progress,  Part  I,  to  a 
land  of  rest  on  this  side  of  the  river 
of  Death  where  his  pilgrims,  their 
journey  practically  over,  waited 
calmly  and  peacefully  for  the  final 
summons. 

Bevis  (Sir)  of  Hampton  (or  South- 
ampton) (French  Beuves  d'Hantone, 
Italian  Bovo  d'Antona),  an  English 
knight  whose  exploits  in  Britain, 
Europe  and  Palestine  are  celebrated 
in  numerous  English,  French  and 
Italian  poems  and  romances.  The 
oldest  extant  version  appears  to  be 
Bcsve  de  Haumtone,  an  Anglo-Nor- 
man text  of  the  early  I3th  century, 
but  not  impossibly  the  legend  took 
shape  on  English  soil  in  the  tenth 
century  and  originated  with  the 
Danish  invaders.  There  are  some 
striking  correspondences  between 
Bevis  and  the  'Hamlet  legend  as  it  is 
told  by  Saxo  Grammaticus  in  the 
Historia  Danica,  e.g. : — the  vengeance 
taken  upon  a  stepfather  for  a  father's 
death,  the  letter  bearing  his  death 
warrant  which  is  entrusted  to  the 
hero  and  the  double  marriage  that 
is  thrust  upon  the  hero. 

Bevis's  father,  Sir  Guy,  Earl  of 
Hampton,  is  murdered  by  Doon,  or 
Divoun,  Emperor  of  Almayne  (Ger- 
many), who  marries  the  widow,  while 
the  boy  himself  is  sold  as  a  slave  to 
the  Paynim.  He  eventually  married 
Josian,  daughter  of  king  Ermyn.  She 
gave  him  the  famous  horse  Arundel, 
which  figures  in  many  of  the  legends. 
So  also  does  his  wonderful  sword, 
Morglay.  Among  Bevis's  exploits 
are  the  slaughter  of  a  huge  boar,  of 
two  sea-serpents  and  a  dragon;  and 
the  capture  of  the  giant  Ascapart, 
who  became  his  squire.  His  last 
great  adventure  in  the  English  legend 


was  a  street  fight  in  London,  when 
he  slew  60,000  men  and  forced 
favorable  terms  from  King  Edgar. 

Bheki  (Sanskrit  frog),  according  to 
a  legend  told  by  Kapila,  the  Hin- 
doo philosopher  in  his  Aphorisms, 
was  a  beautiful  girl  whom  a  king 
found  sitting  by  a  well.  He  fell  in 
love  with  her  and  proposed;  she 
accepted  his  hand  on  condition  that 
he  would  never  show  her  a  drop  of 
water.  One  day,  being  faint,  she 
asked  for  water.  The  king  forgot 
his  promise,  brought  her  water  and 
she  vanished.  In  this  connection  it 
is  suggestive  that  among  the  many 
names  given  to  the  sun  in  the  Veda 
was  that  of  "frog"  when  at  rising 
or  setting  he  seemed  to  be  squatting 
on  the  water.  Evidently  the  story 
means  that  the  sun  disappears  into 
the  sea.  The  West  Highlanders  have 
a  tale  of  a  frog  who  wishes  to  marry 
a  princess.  When  the  princess 
accepts,  he  is  changed  into  a  hand- 
some young  man. 

Bibulus,  M.  Calpurnius,  who  died 
B.C.  48,  was  joint  consul  with  Julius 
Caesar  in  B.C.  59,  but  proved  a  mere 
cipher  in  the  administration.  After 
an  ineffectual  attempt  to  oppose 
Cassar's  agrarian  law,  he  withdrew 
from  the  popular  assemblies  alto- 
gether, whence  it  became  a  joke  to 
say,  not  that  it  was  the  consulship  of 
Bibulus  and  Csesar,  but  of  Julius  and 
Caesar. 

Bimini,  a  fabulous  island  described 
by  sixteenth  century  adventurers  and 
geographers  from  traditions  current 
among  the  natives  of  Puerto  Rico. 
It  was  generally  said  to  belong  to  the 
Bahama  group,  but  lay  far  out  to  the 
northward  of  Hispaniola.  On  this 
island  was  a  beautiful  city  and  beside 
the  city  a  lofty  mountain,  at  the  foot 
of  which  gushed  a  noble  spring  called 
the  Fans  Juventis,  or  Fountain  of 
Youth.  The  waters  had  a  sweet 
savor  as  of  aril  manner  of  spicery,  the 
special  savor  changing  with  every 
hour,  and  whoever  drank  of  them 
was  healed  of  all  ills  and  would  re- 
main forever  young, — at  least  in 
appearance.  It  seems  probable  that 
the  present  island  of  Bimini  or 


Binnorie 


57 


Bleys 


Bernini  in  the  Bahamas  has  nothing 
in  common  with  the  Bimini  of  myth 
except  the  name, — another  example 
of  a  fabulous  region  giving  name  to  a 
real  one. 

This  island  has  never  been  found.  Many 
voyages  have  been  made  in  search'  of  it  in 
ships  and  in  the  imagination,  and  Liars 
have  said  they  have  landed  on  it  and  drunk 
of  the  water,  but  they  never  could  guide 
any  one  else  thither.  In  the  credulous 
centuries  when  these  voyages  were  made, 
other  islands  were  discovered,  and  a  conti- 
nent much  more  important  than  Bimini; 
but  these  discoveries  were  a  disappointment, 
because  they  were  not  what  the  adventurers 
wanted.  They  did  not  understand  that 
they  had  found  a  new  land  in  which  the 
world  should  renew  its  youth  and  begin  a 
new  career.  In  time  the  quest  was  given 
up,  and  men  regarded  it  as  one  of  the 
delusions  which  came  to  an  end  in  the  six- 
teenth century. — C.  D.  WARNER:  Harper's 
Magazine. 

Binnorie,  a  place  name,  scene  of  the 
Scotch  ballad  of  that  title,  which  in 
some  versions  is  called  The  Two 
Sisters.  The  elder  sister  jealous 
because  the  younger  has  supplanted 
her  with  Lord  William  lures  her 
down  to  the  mill  dam  of  Binnorie  and 
casts  her  into  the  waters.  A  wander- 
ing fiddler  or  harper  coming  across 
the  corpse  fashions  an  instrument  out 
of  her  breast  bone,  using  her  hair  for 
strings.  And  presently  up  at  the 
palace  it  began  to  sing  of  itself  and 
revealed  the  secret  of  the  murder. 

And  next  when  the  harp  began  to  sing, 
'Twas    "Farewell,    sweetheart!"   said    the 

string. 

And  then  as  plain  as  plain  could  be, 
"There  sits  my  sister  wha  drowned  me!" 

Different  versions  are  given  in  Wit 
Restored  (1658),  Pinkerton's  Tragic 
Ballads,  and  Scott's  Border  Min- 
strelsy. 

The  story  of  the  two  sisters  was  as 
widely  popular  in  Scandinavia  as  in 
Great  Britain.  All  the  Norse  ballads 
make  the  harp  or  fiddle  to  be  taken 
to  a  wedding,  which  chances  to  be 
that  of  the  elder  sister  and  the 
drowned  girl's  betrothed. 

The  Seven  Sisters  or  the  Solitude  of 
Binnorie  is  a  poem  by  William  Words- 
worth (1804)  versifying  another  local 
legend,  that  of  the  seven  fair  Camp- 
bells who,  preferring  death  to  dis- 
honor, rather  than  fall  into  the  hands 


of  an  Irish  rover-band  which  had 
landed  and  surprised  the  castle  in 
their  father's  absence,  plunged  into 
the  lake  and  all  died  together. 

Bisclaveret  (the  Breton  name  for 
werewolf),  the  hero  of  a  Breton 
legend  versified  by  Marie  de  France. 
A  noble  gentleman  in  high  favor  with 
his  king  married  a  lovely  lady.  There 
would  have  been  no  limit  to  their 
happiness,  but  that  three  days  out  of 
every  week  the  gentleman  mysteri- 
ously disappeared.  When  pressed  by 
his  wife  for  an  explanation  he  con- 
fessed that  he  was  a  Bisclaveret  or 
werewolf,  condemned  to  assume  a 
wolf's  shape  for  three  days  in  the 
week.  The  lady  determined  to  rid 
herself  of  so  objectionable  a  husband. 
Learning  that  if  Bisclaveret's  clothes 
were  stolen  after  the  metamorphosis 
he  could  not  resume  human  shape,  she 
and  a  false  cavalier,  who  loved  her, 
watched  him,  and  seized  the  cast-off 
garments.  From  that  day  the  hus- 
band was  no  more  seen  and  she 
married  the  cavalier.  One  day  the 
king  out  hunting  ran  across  a  wolf, 
sore  pressed  by  the  hounds,  which 
looked  at  him  with  so  human  an 
expression  that  the  king's  heart  was 
touched;  he  spared  it  and  brought  it 
home  to  his  court.  The  animal 
proved  gentle  and  tractable,  and 
became  a  great  favorite.  But  one 
day  when  the  false  cavalier  came  to 
court  it  jumped  upon  him  with  a  wild 
cry  and  bit  him  severely.  And  when, 
some  days  later,  the  wife  claimed  an 
audience  with  the  king,  the  wolf  flew 
at  her,  too,  and  bit  off  her  nose.  The 
lady  in  great  terror  confessed  the 
truth,  and  when  the  stolen  clothes 
were  restored  to  the  wolf  he  resumed 
his  human  shape. 

Bleys,  in  the  Arthurian  romances, 
a  magician  who  undertook  to  teach 
the  arts  of  sorcery  to  Merlin,  but  the 
pupil  soon  outstripped  the  "  Master." 

One 

Is  Merlin's  master  (so  they  call  him)  Bleys, 
Who  taught  him  magic;  but  the  scholar  ran 
Before  the  master,  and  so  far  that  Bleys 
Laid  magic  by  and  sat  him  down  and  wrote 
All  things  and  whatsoever  Merlin  did 
In  one  great  annal-book. 

TENNYSON:    The  Coming  of  Arthur. 


Bloody-bones 


58 


Boanerges 


Bloody-bones,  a  mediaeval  demon 
who  with  his  companions,  Hobgoblin 
and  Rawhead,  were  frequently  cited 
in  old-time  English  nurseries  for  the 
purpose  of  frightening  children. 

Made  children  with  your  tones  to  run  for't 
As  bad  as  Bloody-bones  or  Lunsford. 

Hudibras. 

Bluebeard  (Fr.  Barbe-bleu;  Ger. 
Blau-bart),  in  Charles  Perrault's 
fairy  tale  so  entitled  (Conies,  1697), 
nickname  of  the  Chevalier  Raoul.  He 
is  a  monster  of  wickedness,  whose 
beard  is  blue.  Having  married  six 
wives  whose  fate  is  unknown,  he 
takes  Fatima  as  his  seventh.  Going 
away  on  a  journey,  he  leaves  her  the 
keys  of  his  castle,  telling  her  she  may 
enter  every  room  save  one.  Of  course 
she  enters  the  forbidden  chamber  and 
finds  there  the  bodies  of  his  former 
wives.  A  bloodstain  on  the  key  re- 
veals her  disobedience.  Bluebeard 
gives  her  five  minutes  to  prepare  for 
death.  Her  sister  Anne  mounts  to 
the  top  of  the  castle  to  watch  for  aid. 
At  last  she  sees  their  two  brothers 
galloping  in  hot  haste.  They  arrive 
just  in  time  to  save  Fatima  and  kill 
Bluebeard. 

Bluebeard  is  the  subject  of  English 
burlesques  and  dramas  by  George 
Colman,  Jr.  (1798),  J.  R.  Planch e 
(1839),  H.  J.  Byron  (1860),  F.  C. 
Burnand  (1883),  etc.  Ludwig  Tieck 
in  Germany  produced  a  play.  In 
France  Meilhac  and  Halevy  wrote  an 
opera  Barbebleu,  to  which  Offenbach 
contributed  the  music.  This  has 
been  multitudinously  paraphrased 
and  "  adapted  "  »in  English-speaking 
countries. 

A  historical  prototype  for  Blue- 
beard has  been  suggested  in  Giles  de 
Rais  Laval,  baron  de  Retz  (1396- 
1440),  who  fought  bravely  against 
English  invasion,  but  is  chiefly  re- 
membered as  a  monster  of  cruelty  and 
lust.  He  was  burned  alive  near 
Nantes  by  order  of  the  Duke  of 
Brittany.  But  under  one  name  or 
another  Bluebeard  is  found  in  the 
folklore  of  nearly  all  countries.  Such 
details  as  the  forbidden  room  or 
closet,  and  the  blood-stained  key 


which  reveals  disobedience  are  par- 
ticularly common,  the  first  dating 
back  at  least  as  far  as  the  Arabian 
Nights  story  of  The  Third  Calendar. 
A  series  of  thirteenth  century  frescoes 
discovered  (1850)  at  Morbihan  and 
representing  the  legend  of  St.  Tro- 
pheme  kins  that  saint  very  closely 
with  Fatima.  See  AGIB. 

Boadicea,  Bonduca  or  Bunduca, 
wife  of  Prassutagus,  King  of  the  Iceni 
in  Britain,  whose  story  is  told  by 
Tacitus  (Annals,  xiv,  29),  is  the  sub- 
ject of  a  poem  by  Cowper,  and  hero- 
ine among  others  of  two  famous 
tragedies,  Boadicea,  1753,  by  Richard 
Glover,  and  Bonduca,  1618,  by  Beau- 
mont and  Fletcher.  King  Praesu- 
tagus  for  the  better  security  of  his 
family  made  the  Roman  emperor, 
Nero,  co-heir  with  his  daughters  of  his 
British  possessions.  The  Roman 
officers  treacherously  took  possession 
of  his  palace,  delivered  up  his  daugh- 
ters to  the  licentiousness  of  their 
soldiers,  slew  Prassutagus  and  pub- 
licly scourged  his  queen.  Boadicea, 
in  revenge,  raised  an  army,  burned 
the  Roman  colonies  in  London, 
Colchester  and  elsewhere  and  slew 
80,000  Romans.  Defeated  finally, 
A.D.  61,  by  Suetonius  Paulinus,  she 
poisoned  herself. 

O  famous  moniment  of  womens  prayse! 

Matchable  either  to  Semiramis, 

Whom  antique  history  so  high  doth  rayse, 

Or  to  Hypsiphil',  or  to  Thomiris. 

Her  Host  two  hundred  thousand  numbred  is; 

Who,    whiles    good    fortune    favoured    her 

might, 

Triumphed  oft  against  her  enemis; 
And  yet,  though'overcome  in  haplesse  fight, 
Shee  triumphed  on  death,  in  enemies  de- 

spight. 

Faerie  Queene,  Book  H,  x,  55. 

Boanerges,  i.e.  "  sons  of  thunder," 
a  name  given  by  Christ  (Mark  iii,  17) 
to  the  two  sons  of  Zebedee,  James  and 
John,  probably  in  recognition  of  their 
fiery  zeal.  As  a  singular  noun,  the 
word  is  often  used  nowadays  to 
designate  a  fervid  or  ranting  preacher. 
Mrs.  Oliphant,  in  Salem  Chapel,  has  a 
parson  so  called,  who  anathematizes 
all  save  his  own  elect  and  then  "  sits 
down  pleasantly  to  his  tea  and  makes 
himself  friendly." 


Bona 


59 


Bothwell 


Bona  Dea  (Lat.  "the  Good  God- 
dess "),  in  Roman  myth,  a  divinity 
also  known  as  Fauna  or  Fatua  and 
described  as  the  sister,  daughter  or 
wife  of  Faunus.  Her  worship  was 
exclusively  confined  to  women  inso- 
much that  men  were  not  even  allowed 
to  know  her  name.  Being  the  goddess 
of  fertility  her  rites  degenerated  from 
rustic  simplicity  in  their  original 
environment  to  unseemly  license  in 
the  metropolis.  The  matrons  of  the 
noblest  families  in  Rome  met  by 
night  in  the  house  of  the  highest 
official  of  the  state.  Only  women  were 
permitted  to  attend.  The  breach  of 
this  rule  by  Clodius,  an  aristocratic 
profligate  who  was  in  love  with 
Caesar's  wife,  Pompeia,  and  assumed 
female  disguise  to  gain  admittance 
to  the  festival  occasioned  a  great 
scandal.  Though  there  was  no  direct 
evidence  of  collusion  on  the  part  of 
Pompeia,  Caesar  divorced  her  on  the 
famous  plea  that  "  Caesar's  wife  must 
be  above  suspicion." 

Bonhomme,  Jacques,  a  nickname 
sometimes  given  in  derision  to  the 
French.  It  originated  in  the  middle 
ages,  when  it  was  applied  to  the  poor 
peasants  who,  with  almost  inexhaust- 
ible patience,  first  paid  for  the  costly 
armor  and  banners  which  the  nobles 
lost  at  Crecy  and  Poitiers,  then  paid 
their  lord's  ransom,  and  then,  with 
their  hard-won  earnings,  helped  to 
swell  his  revenues.  So  tractable  were 
they  that  a  noble  who  had  wasted  all 
his  substance  used  to  comfort  his 
creditors  with  the  observation  that 
'Jacques  Bonhomme  would  pay  all 
debts."  But  when  the  day  of  ven- 
geance came  and  the  maddened  peas- 
ants rose,  Jacques  Bonhomme  as  a 
name  for  a  peasant  went  out  of 
fashion  for  a  time,  its  place  being 
taken  by  every  kind  of  vigorous 
and  objectionable  appellation.  There 
is  an  ancient  Breton  legend  which 
humorously  accounts  for  the  vigor- 
ous survival  of  Jacques  Bonhomme 
on  earth.  He  was,  it  seems,  the 
only  poor  man,  a  farrier  by  trade, 
and  he  sold  himself  to  the  devil. 
Before  the  devil  came  for  him,  he 
entertained  Christ  and  St.  Peter  in 


disguise.  Seating  Christ  in  his  best 
chair,  he  gave  both  visitors  cherries, 
and  offered  them  such  money  as  he 
had.  Christ  offered  to  grant  three 
wishes  for  him.  Despite  St.  Peter's 
suggestion  that  he  seek  salvation, 
Jacques  asked  that  whatsoever  might 
sit  in  his  chair,  climb  into  his  cherry 
tree,  or  enter  his  purse,  might  not 
quit  against  his  will.  When  Satan 
came  to  claim  him,  Jacques  caught 
him  with  the  arm-chair;  when  the 
imps  of  hell  came,  Jacques  tempted 
them  into  his  cherry  tree;  when  Satan, 
Lucifer,  and  the  imps  came,  Jacques 
taunted  them  until  they  entered  his 
purse.  Then  he  pounded  the  purse 
flat;  and  so  obtained  a  quittance  from 
Satan  of  the  bargain.  When  Jacques 
died,  his  soul  went  to  heaven;  there 
St.  Peter,  still  remembering  Jacques's 
disregard  of  his  advice,  refused  to 
admit  him;  the  flattened-out  devils 
shut  the  gates  of  iiell  in  his  face;  so 
his  soul  returned  to  earth,  and  there- 
fore, even  unto  the  present  day, 
Jacques  Bonhomme  still  lives  and  is 
still  poor.  See  CHRISTOPHER,  ST. 

Boots,  hero  of  a  Norse  nursery  tale, 
The  Giant  who  had  no  Heart  in  his 
Body.  He  is  the  youngest  of  seven 
princes,  six  of  whom,  with  their  wives, 
are  turned  into  stone  by  the  giant. 
Boots  succors  a  raven,  a  salmon  and  a 
wolf,  who  accompany  him  to  the 
giant's  castle  where  his  affianced 
bride  is  confined.  She  wheedles  out 
of  the  giant  the  secret  as  to  where  he 
keeps  his  heart. 

"  Far,  far  away  in  a  lake  lies  an 
island,  in  that  island  is  a  church,  in 
that  church  a  well,  in  the  well  a  duck, 
in  the  duck  an  egg,  in  that  egg  my 
heart." 

Boots  rides  on  the  wolf's  back  to 
the  island;  the  raven  flies  to  the  top 
of  the  steeple  and  secures  a  key;  the 
salmon  dives  to  the  bottom  of  the 
well,  where  the  duck  had  laid  the  egg. 
Boots  squeezes  the  egg  in  two;  the 
giant  dies,  his  enchantments  are  at 
an  end. 

Bothwell,  Lady  Anne,  heroine  of  a 
Scotch  ballad  Lady  Anne  Both-well' s 
Lament.  A  deserted  mother  but  no 
wife,  over  the  sleeping  form  of  her 


Bradamant 


60 


Brandan's 


boy  Balow,  she  pours  out  the  story  of 
her  wrongs  and  woes.  Tradition  has 
confused  her  with  the  wife  of  Both- 
wellhaugh,  who  slew  the  Regent 
Murray,  and  who  was  popularly,  but 
erroneously,  supposed  to  have  been 
actuated  by  revenge  for  Murray's 
ill-treatment  of  his  wife.  The  Lady 
Anne  of  the  ballad  was  really  the 
daughter  of  the  Bishop  of  Orkney. 
Her  recreant  lover  is  said  to  have 
been  her  cousin,  Alexander  Erskine, 
son  of  the  Earl  of  Mar.  Professor 
Child  points  out  that  part  of  the 
poem  occurs  in  Broome's  play,  The 
Northern  Lass  (1632). 

Bradamant  or  Bradamante,  a  fe- 
male knight-errant  introduced  into 
Bojardo's  Orlando  Innamorato  (1495), 
who  becomes  the  heroine  of  its  sequel 
the  Orlando  Furioso  (1516)  of  Ariosto. 
Patterned  upon  Penthesilia  and  other 
Amazon  ladies  of  classic  literature, 
she  is  in  her  turn  the  obvious  original 
of  Spenser's  Britomart  and  may  have 
given  a  hint  for  Di  yernon.  Bojardo 
calls  her  the  Virgin  Knight.  He 
makes  her  the  sister  of  Rinaldo.  Her 
armor  was  white  and  her  plume 
white,  and  she  possessed  a  spear 
whose  touch  was  resistless.  She  was 
in  love  with  Ruggiero  the  Moor  and 
each  helped  the  other  out  of  many 
scrapes  celebrated  by  Ariosto,  but 
she  refused  to  marry  him  until  he 
was  baptized.  The  wedding  is 
lavishly  described  in  the  last  book  of 
Orlando^  Furioso. 

Bragi,  in  Norse  myth,  the  son  of 
Odin,  god  of  wisdom,  poetry  and  elo- 
quence, said  to  have  been  originally 
a  historical  character, — a  Norse  scald 
of  that  name  who  flourished  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  eighth  century.  At 
the  Scandinavian  sacrifices  a  horn 
consecrated  to  Bragi  was  used  as  a 
drinking  cup  by  the  guests,  who 
vowed  to  do  some  great  deed  that 
should  be  worthy  of  poetical  com- 
memoration. Here  is  the  apparent 
origin  of  the  verb  to  brag,  the  root 
of  the  Italian  noun  bragadoccio,  per- 
sonified by  Spenser  in  the  Faerie 
Queene  as  Bragadochio.  The  latter 
in  his  turn  was  imitated  from  Ariosto's 
Martano  in  the  Orlando  Furioso. 


Brahma,  in  Hindoo  myth,  the  self- 
existent  creator  of  the  universe,  the 
original  source  and  ultimate  goal  of 
all  that  exists,  the  soul  that  underlies 
matter.  Yet  whatever  the  attributes 
imputed  to  him,  he  is  essentially  a 
priest-rnade  god,  the  product  of  theo- 
logical abstraction  and  not,  like 
Vishnu  and  Siva,  a  natural  evolution 
from  the  popular  imagination. 

Brahma  is  a  masculine  noun, 
denoting  a  personification  of  Brah- 
man (neuter),  the  latter  meaning  the 
Absolute  or  the  uncreated  impersonal 
God.  The  personal  God,  Brahma,  is 
himself  evolved  out  of  the  one  im- 
personal Being,  Brahman.  Vishnu  is 
associated  with  Brahma  as  the  main- 
tainer  of  the  universe  and  Siva  or 
Sheva  as  its  eventual  destroyer. 
These  three  Gods  constitute  the 
Hindoo  Triad  or  Trinity.  The  attri- 
butes and  function  of  all  are  inter- 
changeable. Both  Vishnu  and  Siva 
may  be  identified  with  Brahma  or 
worshipped  as  Brahma.  Being  of 
priestly,  not  popular  origin,  Brahma's 
personality  remains  in  the  back- 
ground. There  are  many  temples  to 
Vishnu  and  to  Siva,  there  are  few  to 
Brahma  himself,  though  his  images 
are  found  in  the  temples  of  the  others. 
These  represent  him  as  a  four-headed 
god,  bearing  in  his  hands  the  Vedas, 
a  rosary  and  vessels  for  purification. 
As  creator  of  all  he  remains  in  calm 
repose,  a  motionless  majesty  away 
from  the  world  where  life  is  ever 
battling  with  death,  and  he  will  so 
remain  until  the  end  of  all  created 
things. 

Brandan's  Island,  one  of  the  many 
mediaeval  variations  on  the  classical 
myth  of  the  lost  Atlantis.  St.  Bran- 
dan  or  Brenden  was  an  Irish  monk 
of  the  sixth  century.  Voyaging  in 
quest  of  the  Islands  of  the  Blessed  he 
came  upon  a  mysterious  island  in  the 
Atlantic  which  disappeared  almost 
as  soon  as  it  was  found.  One  attempt 
to  rationalize  the  B  randan  myth  is 
that  the  saint  and  his  followers  mis- 
took for  an  island  a  whale  floating  on 
the  surface  of  the  sea  which  naturally 
plunged  downwards  when  a  fire  was 
lighted  on  its  back.  Nevertheless 


Brandimante 


61 


Brian 


popular  legends  declare  that  St. 
Brandan's  Isle  was  often  visible  from 
the  western  coast  of  Ireland,  but 
disappeared  when  expeditions  at- 
tempted to  reach  it.  The  Spaniards 
and  Portuguese  localized  it  in  the 
neighborhood  of  the  Canary  or 
Madeira  islands,  and  had  similar 
stories  as  to  its  elusiveness.  It  is 
added  that  when  a  king  of  Portugal 
ceded  the  Canary  islands  to  the 
Castilian  crown,  the  treaty  included 
the  island  of  St.  Brandan,  and  de- 
scribed it  as  "  the  island  which  had 
not  yet  been  found. ' '  Floating  islands 
are  familiar  to  the  folklore  of  most 
sea-bound  countries  and  many  of 
them  are  alluded  to  by  Pliny,  Natural 
History,  Book  ii,  Chap.  xcvi. 

Brandimante,  in  Bojardo's  Orlando 
Innamorato,  the  type  of  a  faithful 
follower  and  a  devoted  lover. 

Fidelity  is  his  chief  virtue — loyalty  to  hia 
love  Fiordelisa  and  his  hero  Orlando,  com- 
bined with  a  delightful  frankness  and  the 
freshness  of  untainted  youth.  He  is  not 
wise,  but  boyish,  a  simple  trustful  soul,  a 
kind  of  Italian  Sir  Bors. — SYMONDS:  The 
Renaissance  in  Italy,  vol.  i,  p.  468. 

Bray,  Vicar  of,  hero  of  a  song  of 
that  name,  every  stanza  of  which 
ends  with  this  significant  refrain: 

And  this  is  law  that  I'll  maintain 

Until  my  dying  day,  sir, 
That  whatsoever  king  shall  reign, 

Still  I'll  be  the  vicar  of  Bray,  sir. 

Bray  is  a  little  village  in  Berkshire, 
England.  It  is  matter  of  tradition 
that,  during  Reformation  times,  a 
certain  vicar  preserved  his  incum- 
bency for  half  a  century,  i.e.,  during 
the  reigns  of  Henry  VIII,  Edward  VI, 
Queen  Mary  and  Queen  Elizabeth,  by 
shifting  his  convictions,  from  Protes- 
tant to  Papist,  from  Calvinist  to 
Episcopalian,  according  to  the  fashion 
set  by  the  reigning  monarch.  This 
reverend  gentleman's  name  is  vari- 
ously given  as  Simon  Alleyn,  or  Simon 
Symonds,  but  the  latter  is  asserted  to 
have  flourished  from  the  Common- 
wealth to  the  time  of  William  and 
Mary,  retaining  this  preferment  by 
successively  professing  himself  an 
Independent,  an  Episcopalian,  a 
Roman  Catholic,  and  a  moderate 
Protestant.  The  song  refers  to  none 


of  these  persons,  however,  but  to  an 
imaginary  character  (founded  upon 
the  tradition)  who  is  feigned  to  have 
remained  vicar  of  Bray  from  the 
time  of  Charles  II  to  that  of  George  I 
by  similar  complaisance.  It  was  writ- 
ten in  the  reign  of  George  I,  probably 
by  Colonel  Fuller,  or  an  officer  in  his 
regiment  of  dragoons.  A  popular 
proverb  in  Berkshire  runs,  "  The 
Vicar  of  Bray  will  be  Vicar  of  Bray 
still."  It  is  said  that,  when  taxed  for 
his  inconstancy,  Alleyn  would  answer, 
"  Not  so  neither;  for  if  I  changed  my 
religion,  I  am|sure  I  kept  true  to  my 
principle,  which  is,  to  live  and  die  the 
Vicar  of  Bray." 

The  "  Gineral  C."  (Caleb  Gush- 
ing) of  Lowell's  Biglow  Papers  was 
at  one  with  the  Vicar  of  Bray: 

Gineral  C.  is  a  dreffle  smart  man; 

He's  ben  on  all  sides  thet  give  places  or 

pelf; 

But  consistency  still  wuz  a  part  of  his  plan, — 
He's  ben  true  to  one  party, — an'  thet  is 
himself. 

Brengian  or  Brengwain,  in  Arthur- 
ian romance,  the  confidential  maid  of 
Yseult,  whose  maidenhood  was  so 
well  assured  that  Yseult  selected  her 
to  take  her  place  on  her  wedding 
night,  lest  King  Mark  of  Cornwall, 
the  bridegroom,  might  suspect  her 
own  pre-matrimonial  lapse  with  Tris- 
tan. To  make  assurance  doubly  sure, 
the  treacherous  queen  subsequently 
delivered  her  substitute  to  two  ruf- 
fians with  orders  to  murder  her  in  a 
wood.  The  hirelings  relented  and 
only  tied  her  to  a  tree,  whence  she 
was  released  by  Palamedes. 

In  the  Welsh  romances  she  is  called 
Bronwen  the  White-bosomed,  which 
is  undoubtedly  the  etymological 
form  of  the  name,  and  is  represented 
as  one  of  the  daughters  of  Llyr,  no 
less  celebrated  for  her  woes  than  for 
her  charms.  The  character  of  the 
Welsh  heroine  and  the  part  she  sus- 
tains differ  widely  from  those  attrib- 
uted to  her  in  the  romance  of  Tristran 
and  Yseulte. 

Brian  Bom,  i.e.,  Brian  of  the 
Tribute,  a  semi-mythical  king  of 
Ireland,  chiefly  celebrated  for  his 
victories  over  the  Danes  which  freed 


Brian 


62 


Briseis 


Ireland  forever  from  their  disastrous 
invasions.  The  son  of  King  Kennedy, 
he  was  brought  up  at  the  court  of  a 
neighboring  king.  He  returned  to 
find  the  nobles  of  his  father's  palace 
so  discouraged  by  a  new  invasion  that 
they  debated  whether  to  fight  or  to 
flee.  Though  a  mere  lad,  Brian 
pleaded  to  be  allowed  to  hold  the 
Ford  of  Tribute  in  the  Shannon.  He 
beat  back  the  first  attack,  but  even- 
tually he  and  his  brother  Mahon,  now 
made  king  in  his  father's  place,  were 
forced  to  retreat  to  the  forest,  where 
they  lived  like  robber  chiefs,  plunder- 
ing the  Danes  at  every  opportunity. 
Mahon  at  last  made  peace  with  the 
enemy,  now  triumphant  all  over  the 
south  of  Ireland,  but  Brian  continued 
the  fight  for  freedom  and  finally  won 
back  his  brother  to  the  cause.  Then 
the  Danish  king  of  Limerick  sum- 
moned Mahon  to  surrender  his  for- 
tress, deliver  up  the  outlaw  Brian,  and 
pay  tribute.  '  We  pay  no  tribute  for 
that  which  is  ours  by  right,"  answered 
Mahon.  Brian  would  not  yield: 

No,  Freedom!  whose  smile  we  shall  never 

resign, 

Go,  tell  our  invaders,  the  Danes, 
!Tis  sweeter  to  bleed  for  an  age  at  thy 

shrine 

Than  to  sleep  but  a  moment  in  chains. 

THOMAS  MOORE. 

The  brothers  fought  a  great  battle. 
Brian  led  and  won  it,  routing  the 
Danes  as  far  as  Limerick,  which  he 
captured  instead  of  being  taken  there 
a  captive. 

m  When  Mahon  died  Brian  succeeded 
him  as  king  of  three  counties  and 
eventually  extended  his  territory  so 
as  to  take  in  the  whole  island.  His 
final  and  decisive  victory  at  Clontarf  , 
fought  when  he  was  an  aged  man,  cost 
him  his  life,  but  cost  the  Danes  their 
last  foothold  in  Ireland. 

Remember  the  glories  of  Brian,  the  brave. 
Though  the  days  of  the  hero  are  o'er- 

:  to  Mononia  and  cold  in  his 

He  returns  to  Kinkora'no  more! 

Spour°ed  '  Whkh  S°  °ften  has 

Its  beam  on  the  battle,  is  set; 

ltS  gl°ry  remalns  on  each 


To  light  us  to  victory  yet. 

THOMAS  MOORE. 


Brigg  o*  Dread,  i.e.,  the  Bridge  of 
Dread,  which  in  Scotch  folklore  spans 
the  River  of  Death.  An  analogous 
myth  is  that  of  Al  Araf  among  the 
Mohammedans.  In  almost  all  mythol- 
ogies the  souls  of  the  dead  have  to 
cross  a  river  either  by  boat  or  bridge. 

No  moral  significance  is  attached 
to  the  bridge  in  Teutonic  myth.  In 
the  Zoroastrian  system  it  becomes 
the  bridge  of  the  Judge,  which  the 
righteous  only  can  cross  by  the  aid 
of  a  beautiful  maiden  in  whom  is 
embodied  the  holiness  they  have 
striven  for  in  life.  "  I  am  thy  good 
words,  good  thoughts,  good  deeds," 
she  explains. 

The  Brigg  o'  Dread  when  thou  mayst  pass 

Every  night  and  all 
To  Purgatory  fire  thou  comest  at  last 

And  Christe  receive  thy  soule. 
A  Lykewake  dirge,  in  Scott's 

Border  Minstrelsy,  vol.  ii,  357. 

Brighella,  in  old  Italian  comedy, 
the  accepted  type  of  the  impudent 
servant  girl,  chattering,  cheating, 
malicious,  quarrelsome,  venal,  who  in 
one  form  or  another  reappears  in 
European  dramas  of  a  later  period, 
finding  its  highest  English  exponent  in 
the  Juliet's  nurse  of  Shakspear,  and 
its  most  brilliant  French  avatar  in 
the  Toinette  of  Moliere's  Le  Malade 
Imaginaire  (1678). 

In  the  earlier  Italian  plays  she  was 
clad  in  a  white  tunic  trimmed  with 
green,  and  wore  on  her  head  a  wide- 
brimmed  conical  hat  with  a  black 
plume.  This  costume  was  gradually 
modified  into  wide  trousers,  a  ker- 
chief trimmed  with  green,  a  white  cap 
and  a  half  mask. 

Briseis,  in  classic  myth,  daughter 
of  Brises,  priest  at  Lyrnessus,  and 
niece  of  the  priest  Chryses.  She  fell 
to  the  lot  of  Achilles,  as  her  cousin 
Chryseis  fell  to  Agamemnon.  When 
Achilles  threatened  Agamemnon  for 
that  he  would  not  surrender  Chryseis 
to  her  father,  who  offered  to  ransom 
her,  Agamemnon  in  anger  released 
Chryseis  but  seized  Briseis  in  her 
stead.  Hence  the  dire  feud  between 
the  two  heroes  which  is  the  subject 
of  the  first  book  of  Homer's  Iliad. 
Ovid's  Heroides  contains  a  poetical 


Brisigamen 


63 


Brutus 


letter  supposed  to  be  addressed  by 
Briseis  to  Achilles  imploring  him  to 
take  her  back,  as  Agamemnon  is 
willing  she  should  go,  if  Achilles  will 
return  to  the  war.  Like  the  Nut 
Brown  Maid  in  the  English  ballad, 
she  herself  is  willing  to  submit  to 
almost  any  indignities  for  the  sake 
of  nearness  to  her  beloved. 

Brisigamen,  the  necklace  of  Freyja. 
Loki  once  contrived  to  steal  this 
ornament,  but  it  was  restored  to  its 
owner  on  condition  that  she  would 
stir  up  irreconcilable  enmity  between 
two  equally  powerful  kings. 

Britomartis,  in  Cretan  myth,  the 
goddess  of  birth  and  health  and 
patroness  of  hunters,  fishermen  and 
sailors.  She  was  originally  a  nymph 
who  leaped  from  a  high  rock  into  the 
sea  in  order  to  escape  from  the  impas- 
sioned importunities  of  Minos.  Some 
accounts  say  that  she  was  saved  by 
falling  into  a  lot  of  nets,  others  that 
she  was  drowned,  but  all  agree  that 
she  was  made  a  goddess  by  Artemis. 
Like  the  latter  she  came  to  be  re- 
garded as  the  virgin  patron  of  the 
chase.  See  BRITOMART  in  Vol.  I. 

Brownie,  in  Scotch  popular  myth 
a  domestic  fairy  who  nightly,  after 
the  lights  are  extinguished,  takes  up 
his  quarters  beside  the  hearth.  If 
he  feels  he  is  welcome  he  becomes  the 
invisible  friend  of  the  household,  a 
disinterested  overseer  of  the  stable 
and  the  dairy.  Especially  is  he  a 
boon  to  lazy  servants,  for  he  arranges 
the  furniture,  sweeps  out  the  kitchen, 
skims  flies  from  the  surface  of  the 
milk  and  so  on.  In  the  Orkney 
Islands  and  elsewhere  he  is  propiti- 
ated by  libations  of  milk  poured  out 
in  the  hollow  of  a  stone  known  as  the 
Brownie's  Stone. 

Brunhild,  in  the  German  epic  the 
Nibelungen  Lied  (1210),  the  Queen 
of  Issland.  She  made  a  vow  that  no 
one  should  marry  her  who  could  not 
excel  her  in  three  feats,  hurling  a 
spear,  throwing  a  stone,  and  jumping. 
Gunther,  king  of  Burgundy,  essayed 
the  contest.  Brunhild  little  knew 
that  he  was  aided  by  his  prospective 
brother-in-law,  Siegfried  (q.v.),  for  the 
latter  had  donned  his  cloak  of  invisi- 


bility. When,  therefore,  the  queen 
hurled  at  Gunther  a  spear  that  three 
men  could  hardly  lift,  the  invisible 
Siegfried  reversed  its  direction  so  that 
it  struck  the  queen  and  knocked  her 
down.  When  Brunhild  threw  a  huge 
stone  twelve  fathoms,  and  jumped 
beyond  it,  Siegfried  was  still  at  hand 
to  lend  Gunther  unseen  assistance  so 
that  he  threw  it  farther  and  leaped 
beyond  it.  Then  Brunhild  surren- 
dered and  married  Gunther. 

In  the  Volsunga  Saga  she  is  a 
valkyr,  imprisoned  in  a  flame- 
environed  castle  on  Isenstein,  and 
awakened  from  a  magic  slumber  by 
Sigurd  (q.v.). 

Bruno,  Bishop  of  Herbipolitanum, 
under  the  Emperor  Henry  III,  was, 
according  to  legend,  sailing  one  day 
on  the  river  Danube  with  his  imperial 
master  when  a  spirit  clamored  aloud, 
"  Ho,  ho,  Bishop  Bruno,  whither 
goest  thou?  Do  what  thou  wilt  thou 
shalt  be  my  prey  and  spoil."  All  the 
company  were  astounded  and  crossed 
and  blessed  themselves.  A  few  days 
later  at  a  banquet  in  the  castle  of 
Esburch,  a  rafter  fell  upon  the  bishop 
and  killed  him. 

Brutus,  the  pretended  discoverer  of 
Great  Britain,  was,  according  to 
Geoffrey  of  Monmouth's  mythical 
Latin  History  of  British  Kings  (circa 
1150),  the  grandson  of  Ascanius,  son 
of  ^Eneas.  At  the  age  of  fifteen,  he 
accidentally  killed  his  father,  Silvius, 
while  the  two  were  out  hunting,  and 
was  consequently  banished  by  his 
kindred.  He  crossed  over  to  a  place 
in  Greece  where  a  band  of  Trojan 
exiles,  under  Helenus,  had  established 
a  colony.  Finding  that  the  descend- 
ants of  these  Trojans  were  oppressed 
by  Pandrasus,  the  king  of  the  country, 
Brutus  persuaded  them  to  embark 
with  him  in  a  fleet  which  he  wrested 
from  Pandrasus.  After  many  mis- 
haps, the  adventurers,  guided  by 
Diana,  landed  in  Britain,  an  island 
then  called  Albion,  and  inhabited  by 
the  remnants  of  a  race  of  giants,  most 
of  whom  had  been  killed  off  in  inter- 
necine strife.  This  remnant  was 
easily  extirpated  by  the  Trojan  band. 
Brutus  built  his  capital  city  on  the 


Brutus 


64 


Bull 


site  of  modern  London,  and  called  it 
Troja-nova  (New  Troy),  in  time  cor- 
rupted to  Troynovant  or  Trino- 
Vantum.  He  died  after  governing 
the  island  for  twenty-five  years, 
leaving  three  sons,  Locrine,  Albanact, 
and  Camber. 

Layamon  in  his  poem  Brute  first  turned 
Geoffrey's  fictions  into  English  in  the 
twelfth  century.  From  that  time  until  the 
seventeenth  century  the  myth  of  the  Trojan 
origin  of  the  British  crown  was  accepted  as 
genuine  history.  Queen  Elizabeth  and 
James  I  were  many  times  saluted  as  worthy 
representatives  of  the  ancient  house  of 
Troy.  In  the  Faerie  Queene,  Book  II,  canto 
10,  Sir  Guyon  reads,  and  the  poet  condenses 
into  Spenserian  stanzas,  "an  ancient  book 
hight  Briton  Moniments."  Warner's  Al- 
bion's England  (1586)  gleans  much  from 
Geoffrey.  Drayton's  Polyolbion  (1622)  ad- 
mitted the  historic  difficulties.  None  the 
less  as  an  advocate  of  the  Muses  he  refuses 
to  discredit  the  myths.  Lastly,  Milton  in 
his  prose  History  of  Britain  1699)  acknowl- 
edges the  growth  of  doubt  concerning  Brute 
and  his  dynasty,  but  like  Drayton  and  for 
similar  reasons  deems  it  best  to  lean  to  the 
orthodox  side. 

Brutus,  in  Roman  history,  a  nota- 
ble family  of  the  Junia  gens.  Two 
members  are  especially  famous  in 
poetry  and  romance: 

Lucius  Junius  was  the  first  to  re- 
ceive the  nickname  of  Brutus,  given 
to  him  in  his  early  youth,  when  he 
feigned  idiocy  to  escape  the  enmity  of 
the  elder  Tarquinius,  who  had  slain 
his  brother.    Sextus  Tarquinius  out- 
raged his  wife  Lucretia,  whereupon 
Brutus  roused  the  Romans  to  banish 
the  Tarquins.    As  first  consul  of  the 
new  republic  he  showed  that  he  put 
z  of  country  above  all  other  feel- 
ftis  sons,  conspiring  to  restore 
Tarquins,    were   ruthlessly   sen- 
to    death— by    him.      This 
itus  was  the  chief  hero  in  all  the 
•nds  concerning  the  expulsion  of 
Tarqums.    He  appears  in  Shak- 
s  Rape  of  Lucrece  (1594)  and  in 
J  poems,  dramas  and  romances 
around    that    central    theme. 
>ng    these    may    be    mentioned 
rhomas    Hey  wood's    The    Rape    of 
Lucrece  (1630);  Nathaniel  Lee's  Lu- 
ciu5  Jumus  Brutus  (1679);  John  H 
ne  s  Bnaus  or  the  Fall  of  Tarquin 

A   20)u  /^  (I783)  in  My  and 
(1792)  and  Ponsard  (1843) 


in  France  also  chose  the  same  subject 
for  tragedies. 

M.  Junius  Brutus,  known  some- 
times as  the  tyrannicide,  was  the 
most  active  agent  in  the  conspiracy 
which  resulted  in  the  assassination  of 
Julius  Cassar  on  the  Ides,  or  I5th,  of 
March,  B.C.  44.  Shakspear  in  his 
play  Julius  Casar  adopts  the  theory 
put  forth  by  Plutarch  and  empha- 
sized by  Lucan  in  the  Pharsalia,  that 
Brutus  was  actuated  by  the  purest 
patriotism,  a  view  not  shared  by  all 
modern  historians.  Dante,  on  the 
contrary,  sees  in  him  one  of  the  three 
great  traitors  in  world  history,  endur- 
ing perpetual  torture  in  hell,  as  a 
bonne-bouche  for  Satan.  The  other 
two  archtraitors  similarly  punished 
were  Judas  Iscariot  and  Cassius. 
Next  to  treachery  to  God,  Dante 
ranked  treachery  to  the  Roman  em- 
pire, which  he  ever  hoped  to  see 
restored  in  its  original  integrity. 
There  is  a  legend  that  Brutus,  though 
putative  son  of  another  Brutus,  the 
husband  of  Servilia,  Cato's  half -sister, 
was  really  the  result  of  an  amour 
between  that  lady  and  Julius  Cassar. 

Brutus'  bastard  hand 
Stabbed  Julius  Csesar 

SHAKSPEAR:  Henry  VI.^vl,  i." 

Base  Brutus  raised  his  hand 
To  slay  that  prince  from  whom  he  had  his 

all; 

And  he  who  never  'mid  the  shock  of  arms 
Had  been  o'ercome,  the  world's  great  con- 
queror 

Who  trod,  a  very  Jove,  the  lofty  paths 
Of  honor,  he  was  slain  by  impious  hands 
Of  citizens. 

SENECA:  Octavia;  F.  J.  MILLER,  trans. 

Bucephalus  (Gr.  bull-headed),  a 
famous  horse  broken  in  by  Alexander, 
who  thus  fulfilled  the  condition  laid 
down  by  an  oracle  as  preliminary  to 
the  inheritance  of  the  crown  of 
Macedon. 

Buddha.  See  GAUTAMA. 
^  Bull,  John,  a  humorous  personifica- 
tion of  the  British  people,  originated 
with  Arbuthnot  (see  Vol.  I),  but  in 
the  hands  of  successive  generations 
of  caricaturists  has  grown  into  some- 
thing which  Arbuthnot  himself  might 
fail  to  recognize.  He  is  now  repre- 
sented as  a  bluff,  stout,  honest,  red- 


Bunch 


65 


faced,  irascible  rustic,  in  leather 
breeches  and  top  boots,  carrying  a 
stout  oaken  cudgel  in  his  hand  and 
with  a  bull-dog  at  his  heels. 

There  is  no  species  of  humor  in  which 
the  English  more  excel  than  that  which 
consists  in  caricaturing  and  giving  ludicrous 
appellations  or  nicknames.  In  this  way, 
they  have  whimsically  designated,  not 
merely  individuals,  but  nations;  and,  in 
their  fondness  for  pushing  a  joke,  they  have 
not  spared  even  themselves.  One  would 
think  that,  in  personifying  itself,  a  nation 
would  be  apt  to  picture  something  grand, 
heroic,  and  imposing;  but  it  is  characteristic 
of  the  peculiar  humor  of  the  English,  and  of 
their  love  for  what  is  blunt,  comic,  and 
familiar,  that  they  have  embodied  their 
national  oddities  in  the  figure  of  a  sturdy, 
corpulent  old  fellow,  with  a  three-cornered 
hat,  red  waistcoat,  leather  breeches,  and 
stout  oaken  cudgel.  Thus  they  have  taken 
a  singular  delight  in  exhibiting  their  most 
private  foibles  in  a  laughable  point  of  view, 
and  have  been  so  successful  in  their  deline- 
ation, that  there  is  scarcely  a  being  in  actual 
existence  more  absolutely  present  to  the 
public  mind  than  that  eccentric  personage, 
John  Bull. — W.  IRVING. 

Bunch,  Mother,  the  nickname  of 
Mistress  Miniver,  a  London  ale-wife 
of  great  local  celebrity  in  her  day  (the 
latter  part  of  the  sixteenth  century) 
whose  name  has  survived  through  its 
introduction  into  Dekker's  Satiro- 
mastix  (1602)  and  its  subsequent  use 
as  a  pretended  collector  of  jests,  fairy 
tales  and  recipes  for  lovers.  Here 
are  two  book  titles  out  of  many  in 
which  her  name  appears: 

PasquiVs  Jests,  mixed  with  Mother 
Bunch's  Merriments  (1604). 

Mother  Bunch's  Closet  newly  broke 
open,  containing  Rare  Secrets  of  Art 
and  Nature,  tried  and  experimented  by 
Learned  Philosophers,  and  recom- 
mended to  all  Ingenious  Young  Men 
and  Maids,  teaching  them,  in  a  Natural 
Way,  how  to  get  Good  Wives  and  Hus- 
bands. By  a  Lover  of  Mirth  and  Hater 


Cacus 

of  Treason.    In  Two  Parts,  London, 

12°,  1760. 

Wit  that  shall  make  thy  name  to  last, 
When  Tarleton's  jests  are  rotten, 

And  George  a-Green  and  Mother  Bunch 
Shall  all  be  quite  forgotten. 

Wit  and  Drollery,  1682. 

Now  that  we  have  fairly  entered  into 
the  matrimonial  chapter,  we  must  needs 
speak  of  Mother  Bunch;  not  the  Mother 
Bunch  whose  fairy  tales  are  repeated  to 
the  little  ones,  but  she  whose  "cabinet," 
when  broken  open,  reveals  so  many  power- 
ful love-spells.  It  is  Mother  Bunch  who 
teaches  the  blooming  damsel  to  recall  the 
fickle  lover,  or  to  fix  the  wandering  gaze  of 
the  cautious  swain,  attracted  by  her  charms, 
yet  scorning  the  fetters  of  the  parson,  and 
dreading  the  still  more  fearful  vision  of  the 
church-warden,  the  constable,  the  justice, 
the  warrant,  and  the  jail. — Quarterly  Review. 

Buridan's  Ass,  the  name  given  to  a 
problem  in  casuistry  originally  pro- 
pounded by  Jean  de  Buridan,  rector 
of  the  University  of  Paris  in  1347. 
He  asks  you  to  imagine  a  hungry  ass 
placed  between  two  equidistant  bun- 
dles of  hay.  "  Now,"  was  Buridan's 
query,  "  what  would  he  do?  '  If  he 
remained  motionless  between  two 
opposite  attractions  of  equal  force 
he  would  die  of  hunger,  but  if  he 
made  a  choice  you  must  grant  him 
free  will.  This  problem  was  fought 
out  with  great  vigor  by  the  mediaeval 
schoolmen.  Buridan  did  not  originate 
the  problem.  He  may  have  found  it, 
though  stated  in  other  terms,  in 
Dante's  Divine  Comedy,  Paradise: 

Between  two  viands,  equally  removed 
And  tempting,  a  free  man  would  die  of 

hunger 

Ere  either  he  could  bring  unto  his  teeth. 
So  would  a  lamb  between  the  ravenings 
Of  two  fierce  wolves  stand  fearing  both 

alike; 
And  so  would  stand  a  dog  between  two 

does. 
Paradise,  Canto  iv,  opening  lines, 

LONGFELLOW  trans. 


Cacus,  in  an  apocryphal  Roman 
legend  interpolated  in  the  Heraclcan 
cycle,  a  huge  giant,  son  of  Vulcan, 
who  inhabited  a  cave  on  Mount 
Aventine  and  plundered  the  surround- 
ing country.  The  wandering  Her- 
cules, driving  home  from  Spain  the 
oxen  he  had  taken  from  Geryon,  was 


hospitably  entertained  by  Evander 
on  the  banks  of  the  Tiber.  Cacus 
stole  part  of  the  cattle  while  the  hero 
slept.  He  dragged  them  tail  fore- 
most into  his  cave  so  that  the  simple- 
minded  Hercules  was  thrown  off 
their  track.  But  when  the  remaining 
oxen  passed  by  the  cave  those  within 


Cadmus 


66 


Calendar 


answered  their  bellowing.  So  the 
hiding-place  was  revealed;  CacuS(Was 
slain;  the  stolen  oxen  were  regained 
and  on  the  spot  where  the  cave  had 
stood  Hercules  established  ^the  ara 
maxima,  or  ox-market,  which  con- 
tinued to  exist  ages  afterwards  in 
Rome.  The  legend  was  versified 
by  Ovid  in  the  Fasti  and  by  Virgil  in 
the  /Eneid. 

Dante,  probably  misled  by  Virgil  s 
description  of  Cacus  (&neid,  viii,  194) 
as  a  semi-homo,  or  half  man,  makes 
him  a  centaur,  but  separates  him 
from  the  other  centaurs  in  Hell,  be- 
cause he  used  fraud  while  they  em- 
ployed violence: 

Cacus  Is  this,  who  underneath  the  rock 
Of  Aventine  spread  oft  a  lake  of  blood. 
He,  from  his  brethren  parted,  here  must 

tread 

A  different  journey,  for  his  fraudful  theft 
Of  the  great  herd  that  near  him  stall'd; 

whence  found 

His  felon  deeds  their  end,  beneath  the  mace 
Of  stout  Alcides,  that  perchance  laid  on 
A  hundred  blows,  and  not  the  tenth  was 

felt.  Inferno,  xxiv. 

Cadmus,  in  classic  myth,  the  fabled 
inventor  of  the  Greek  alphabet  and 
founder  of  the  city  of  Thebes.  Ac- 
cording to  tradition  he  was  told  by  an 
oracle  to  follow  a  heifer  until  she  lay 
down  and  then  choose  her  resting 
place  as  the  site  for  his  new  city.  A 
dragon  in  the  vicinity  devoured  some 
of  his  followers;  he  in  turn  slew  the 
dragon  (a  reptile  sacred  to  Mars)  and 
was  condemned  by  way  of  expiation 
to  take  the  dragon's  teeth  and  sow 
them  in  the  earth.  He  had  scarce 
done  so  when  the  points  of  spears 
appeared  above  the  surface;  then 
fallowed,  in  due  sequence,  helmets 

th  nodding  plumes,  the  limbs  and 
3odics  of  men  and  finally  a  full  crop 
of  armed  warriors  who  fell  to  fighting 
among  themselves  until  only  five 
survived. 

You  have  the  letters  Cadmus  gave  : 

you  he  meant  them  for  a  slave? 
UN:   Don  Juan,  Canto  III,  st.  86. 

Caduceus  (a  Latin  formation  from 

,ir.  Kvefaeant,  a  herald's  wand). 

ically,  the  name  given  by  the 

ancients  to  the  wand  of  Mercury.    As 

this  god  was,  among  other  things,  a 


go-between  for  Jupiter  in  his  loves, 
the  bearer  of  the  caduceus  became  a 
colloquial  term  for  a  procurer,  a 
pimp. 

Caduceus  the  rod  of  Mercury, 
With  which  he  wonts  the  Stygian  realms  in- 
vade 

Through  ghastly  horror  and  eternal  shade: 
Th'  infernal  fiends  with  it  he  can  assuage. 
And  Orcus  tame  whom  nothing  can  persuade, 
And  rule  the  Furies,  when  they  most  do 
rage. 
SPENSER:  FaSrie  Queene  n,  xii,  41. 1 

I  did  not  think  the  post  of  Mercury-in- 
chief  quite  so  honorable  as  it  was  called 
.  .  .  and  I  resolved  to  abandon  the 
caduceus  for  ever. — LE  SAGE:  Gil  Bias,  xn, 
iii,  4  (I7IS). 

Calandrino,  in  Boccaccio's  Decam- 
eron (1350),  a  simpleton  who  is  made 
the  butt  of  the  practical  jests  of 
Messer  Donati  and  others.  The 
most  famous  story  is  the  9th  of  Day 
viii,  where  he  is  made  to  believe  that 
he  has  discovered  the  stone  heliotrope 
which  dowers  him  with  the  gift  of 
invisibility. 

Amid  this  dread  exuberance  of  woe 
Ran  naked  spirits  wing'd  with  horrid  fear, 
Nor  hope  had  they  of  crevice  where  to  hide, 
Or  heliotrope  to  charm  them  out  of  view. 
DANTE:  Inferno,  xxiv. 

Calendar  (a  term  made  familiar  to 
us  through  the  Arabian  Nights),  a 
species  of  Moslem  fanatic,  who 
abandons  home  and  country  to  be- 
come a  pious  peripatetic  subsisting 
on  the  alms  of  the  faithful  in  strange 
countries. 

In  the  Arabian  Nights  three  royal 
princes,  each  of  whom  has  lost  an  eye, 
turn  calendars.  Each  tells  his  own 
story.  The  first  and  second  calendar 
give  no  names.  The  third  is  called 
Agib  (q.v.). 

The  second  calendar  undergoes 
transformation  into  an  ape  for  at- 
tempting to  free  a  beautiful  maiden 
from  an  evil  genius.  Retaining 
human  intelligence  and  skilful  pen- 
manship, he  is  made  vizier  to  a  sultan, 
whose  daughter  attempts  to  disen- 
chant him.  She  succeeds  at  the  cost 
of  her  own  life.  A  spark  from  the 
flames  in  which  she  perishes  sears  out 
the  calendar's  right  eye.  All  three 
calendars  tell  their  tales  in  the  hearing 
of  Haroun-al-Raschid. 


Callisto 


67 


Cambuscan 


Callisto,  in  classic  myth,  an  Arca- 
dian nymph, daughter  of  Lycaon,  and 
the  favorite  companion  of  Artemis 
(Diana),  until  Zeus  cast  lustful  eyes 
upon  her  and  deceived  her  by  assum- 
ing the  guise  of  Artemis.  Ovid, 
Metamorphoses,  describes  how  Arte- 
mis discovered  her  shame:  One  day 
the  goddess  and  her  nymphs  went 
bathing  in  a  forest  stream.  Callisto 
alone  refused  to  join  them.  Artemis 
ordered  her  to  disrobe  and  her  condi- 
tion was  revealed.  The  indignant 
goddess  spurned  her  from  further 
companionship.  Soon  after  Callisto 
was  delivered  of  a  son  Areas.  Accord- 
ing to  some  accounts  Artemis  was 
incited  by  the  jealous  Hera  to  kill 
her  in  the  chase.  Zeus  placed  her 
in  the  heavens  as  Arctos  or  the  Bear. 
See  ARCTOS. 

Calpe,  one  of  the  Pillars  of 
Hercules,  hence  a  limit  of  the  ancient 
world  to  the  west  as  Caucasus  was  to 
the  east. 

From  Calpe  unto  Caucasus. 

TENNYSON. 

Calypso,  in  classic  myth,  a  nymph 
inhabiting  the  island  of  Ogygia, 
whereon  Ulysses  was  wrecked  on  his 
homeward  voyage  after  the  fall  of 
Troy.  According  to  Homer's  Odyssey, 
which  opens  on  Calypso's  island,  the 
hero  was  detained  there  for  seven 
years  by  the  amorous  nymph,  who 
promised  him  eternal  youth  if  he 
would  marry  her.  In  Book  v,  how- 
ever, Ulysses,  by  the  interference  of 
Zeus,  is  enabled  to  leave  in  a  raft 
which  Calypso  taught  him  how  to 
build.  F6nelon  in  his  Adventures  of 
Telemachus  invents  a  sequel  wherein 
that  charming  son  of  Ulysses  traces 
his  father  to  Ogygia,  arrives  there 
just  after  his  departure  and  likewise 
experiences  great  difficulty  in  escaping 
from  the  wiles  of  Calypso  who  readily 
transfers  her  affections  from  father 
to  son.  Indeed  the  nymph  goes  so  far 
as  to  burn  the  ship  which  Mentor  had 
built  to  carry  him  home.  Mentor 
thereupon  casts  Telemachus  into  the 
sea  and  follows  after  him,  to  be 
rescued  by  some  Tyrian  sailors. 
Byron  alludes  to  this  leap  of  Tele- 


machus and  Mentor  in  the  following 
stanza: 

But  not  In  silence  pass  Calypso's  isles. 
The  sister  tenants  of  the  middle  deep; 
There  for  the  weary  still  a  Haven  smiles, 
Though  the  fair  Goddess  long  hath  ceased 

to  weep, 

And  o'er  her  cliffs  a  fruitless  watch  to  keep 
For  him  who  dared  prefer  a  mortal  bride: 
Here,  too,  his  boy  essayed  the  dreadful  leap 
Stern   Mentor  urged  from  high  to  yonder 

tide; 

While   thus   of   both   bereft,   the    Nymph- 
Queen  doubly  sighed. 

BYRON:  Childe  Harold  n,  xxix. 

Camaralzaman,     Prince,     in     the 

Arabian  Nights,  the  lover  of  Badoura. 

Both  prince  and  princess  had  re- 
fused to  marry  and  had  accordingly 
been  deprived  of  liberty  by  their 
respective  fathers.  The  fairy  Mai- 
moune  contrives  that  each  shall  have 
a  vision  of  the  other  asleep,  where- 
upon both  fall  in  love  and  declare 
that  none  other  than  their  nocturnal 
acquaintance  shall  marry  them.  Each 
is  considered  mad,  until  Camaralza- 
man finds  his  way  in  disguise  to  the 
lady's  tower  and  convinces  her  of  his 
identity.  As  she  is  the  daughter  of  a 
King  of  China  and  he  the  son  of  "the 
Sultan  of  the  Island  of  the  Children 
of  Khaledan,"  the  alliance  is  joyfully 
welcomed  by  everybody  concerned. 

Cambala,  a  city,  long  held  to  be 
fictitious,  which  was  described  by 
Marco  Polo  in  his  Voyages  as  the 
capital  of  the  province  of  Cathay. 
Fuller  information  has  identified  it 
with  Pekin  and  vindicated  Marco's 

honesty. 

Cambala 

Seat  of  Cathayan  Can. 
MILTON:  Paradise  Lost,  xi,  388. 

Cambria,  the  ancient  Latin  name 
for  Wales,  still  surviving  in  poetry. 
Early  legend  feigned  that  the  name 
was  derived  from  Camber,  a  son  of 
Brutus  (q.v.),  king  of  Britain. 

Cambuscan,  in  Chaucer's  Canter- 
bury Tales,  the  hero  of  The  Squier's 
Tale.  He  receives  as  birthday  pres- 
ents from  the  king  of  Araby  and  Ind 
a  brazen  horse  capable  of  carrying  a 
rider  to  the  uttermost  bounds  of  the 
earth  in  twenty-four  hours;  a  mirror 
which  reveals  hidden  conspiracies  or 
coming  disasters ;  an  irresistible  sword ; 


Cambyses 


68 


Camilla 


and  a  ring  which  would  enable  its 
\\i.irer  to  interpret  the  language  of 
birds  and  discover  the  virtues  of 
its.  The  latter  was  intended  for 
his  daughter  Canace.  Unfortunately 
the  story  was  left  unfinished,  or  the 
conclusion  has  been  lost. 

Chaucer's  Cambuscan  is  a  confused 
reminiscence  Of  his  readings  in  Marco 
Polo's  Travels, — a  composite  portrait 
of  Genghis  Khan  and  two  of  his 
grandsons,  Batu  Kahn,  who  estab- 
lished his  court  at  Sarai  on  the  Cas- 
pian Sea,  and  Kublai  Kahn,  who 
established  his  at  Cambaluc,  the 
modern  Pekin,  where  he  ruled  in  far 
more  magnificent  style.  Chaucer 
locates  his  hero  at  "  Sara,"  but  the 
description  of  his  court  evidently 
applies  to  Cambaluc  as  seen  through 
the  eyes  of  Marco  Polo,  and  the 
epithet  the  "  first  Tartariane  em- 
peror "  is  properly  Kublai  Khan's. 

Cambyses,  king  of  Persia,  who 
succeeded  his  father  Cyrus  and 
reigned  B.C.  529-522.  In  525  he 
conquered  Egypt  and  treated  the 
people  with  great  severity,  insulting 
their  religion  and  killing  their  god 
Apis  with  his  own  hand.  He  put  to 
death  his  brother  Smerdis.  An  im- 
personator of  the  dead  prince  headed 
a  revolt  against  him  and  Cambyses 
died  on  his  way  to  the  field  of  action, 
was  a  frequent  character  in 
Elizabethan  and  Jacobean  dramas, 
notably  Cambyses  King  of  Persia 
(1569),  by  Thomas  Preston,  self- 
described  on  the  title  page  as  "  a 
lamentable  tragedy  filled  full  of 
pleasant  mirth,"  and  Cambyses  (1667) , 
a  tragedy  in  rhyme  by  Elkanah  Settle. 

t  is  to  the  reputed  bombast  in  Pres- 
ton's play  that  Falstaff  alludes  in 

Henry  IV,  Act  n,  4  (1597),   when 

[  must  speak  in  passion,  I 

will  do  it  in  King  Cambyses'  vein." 

Though     Cambyses'    vein    has    become 
)verbial    for    rant,    the    language    of    the 
>  no  instance  specially  obnoxious 
to  this  charge.— A.  W.  WARD. 

Camelot.     A  parish  in  Somerset- 

•e,  t  England     (now     known     as 

Darnel)  was  anciently  called 

this  name.    According  to  tradi- 


tion it  is  the  place  where  King  Arthur 
held  his  court  and  vast  entrenchments 
of  an  ancient  town  or  encampment 
are  still  pointed  out  to  visitors  as 
King  Arthur's  Palace.  There  is 
another  Camelot  in  Wales,  once 
famous  for  a  goose-common.  Hence 
Kent's  bitter  jest  addressed  to  Corn- 
wall in  King  Lear: 

Goose  if  I  had  thee  upon  Sarum  Plain 
I'd  drive  thee  cackling  home  to  Camelot. 

Camilla,  in  classic  myth,  daughter 
of  King  Metabus.  The  latter  fleeing 
from  conspirators  against  his  throne, 
and  hard  pressed  by  his  pursuers, 
tied  his  infant  daughter  to  his  lance 
and  threw  it  with  its  burden  across 
the  river  Amazenus,  with  a  dedication 
to  Artemis.  She  became  one  of  the 
favorite  nymphs  of  that  goddess, 
skilled  in  the  chase  and  in  the  arts 
of  war.  Camilla  assisted  Turnus 
against  ^Eneas,  and  after  slaying 
many  Trojans,  was  herself  killed  by 
Aruns  (VIRGIL,  &neid,  xi).  It  is 
reported  that  her  fleetness  of  foot 
was  such  that  she  outstripped  the 
wind,  and  ran  over  standing  corn 
without  crushing  it  and  over  the 
surface  of  water  without  dipping  her 
feet. 

Joining   her   forces   with   these,    comes   the 

queen  of  the  Volsci,  Camilla, 
Leading  a  troop  of  horse,  a  bright  bronze- 
panoplied  legion. 
Warrior-maid,  not  she  the  distaff  and  thread 

of  Minerva 
Plies  with  effeminate  hand,  but  the  rigor  of 

war  is  the  maiden 
Wonted  to  bear,  and  the  wind  to  outrun 

with  her  arrowy  footfall. 
Were  she  to  fly  o'er  the  stalks  of  a  tall  and 

unharvested  wheatfield, 
Never  the  tenderest  blade  would  she  harm 

by  the  weight  of  her  running; 
Or,  should  she  run  through  the  midst  of  the 

sea,  light-poised  on  the  billow, 
Yet  her  twinkling  feet  would  never  be  wet 

by  the  water. 
Her  all  the  younger  men,  outstreaming  from 

palace  and  cottage, 
Also    the   thronging   matrons,    admire    and 

watch  as  she  passes, 
Staring  with  wildered  eyes  at  the  royal  glory 

of  purple 
Mantling  her  shoulders  trim,  and  marvelling 

much  at  the  buckle 
Binding  her  hair  with  gold,  and  the  Lycian 

quiver  she  carries, 
Also  her  shepherd's  wand  of  myrtle's  wood 

pointed  with  iron. 
id,  vii,  803.     H.  H.  BALLARD,  trans. 


Camma  69 


Capaneus 


When  Ajax  strives  some  rock's  vast  weight 

to  throw, 

The  line  too  labors  and  the  words  move  slow. 
Not  so  when  swift  Camilla  scours  the  plain, 
Flies  o'er  th1  unbending  corn  or  skims  along 

the  main. 

POPE:  Essay  on  Criticism. 

Camma,  a  lady  of  ancient  Galatia, 
whose  story  is  told  by  Plutarch  in  the 
treatise  on  The  Virtues  of  Women, 
included  in  his  Morals.  She  was  the 
loving  wife  of  Sinnatus.  Her  beauty 
inflamed  the  heart  of  Synorix,  and, 
in  order  to  obtain  her,  he  murdered 
her  husband.  Camma  retired  in 
grief  to  the  temple  of  Diana,  of  which 
she  was  a  priestess.  At  first  she 
repelled  all  the  murderer's  offers  of 
marriage,  but  eventually  feigned  con- 
sent. She  made  him  come  to  the 
temple  of  Diana  to  celebrate  the 
nuptials.  It  was  the  custom  that 
bride  and  bridegroom  should  drink 
out  of  the  same  cup.  Camma  drank 
first  and  handed  the  cup  to  Synorix. 
When  he  had  emptied  it,  she  exult- 
antly told  him  that  its  contents  were 
poison,  and  that  neither  had  more 
than  a  few  hours  to  live.  This  story 
has  been  dramatized  by  Corneille 
and  by  Montanelli  in  plays  which 
bear  the  heroine's  name,  and  by 
Tennyson  in  The  Cup. 
•  Campaspe,  according  to  Pliny, 
Natural  History,  xxxv,  10,  was  the 
mistress  of  Alexander.  She  fell  to 
his  share  at  the  capture  of  Thebes. 
Apelles  grew  enamored  of  her  while 
painting  her  portrait  at  the  monarch's 
command,  and  she  with  him;  where- 
upon Alexander  goodnaturedly  sur- 
rendered her  to  the  painter.  :<  Go 
Apelles,  take  with  you  your  Cam- 
paspe. Alexander  is  cloyed  with  look- 
ing on  that  which  thou  wonderest  at." 
So  says  the  king  in  the  comedy,  Alex- 
ander and  Campaspe,  v,  iv  (1581), 
which  John  Lyly  founded  upon 
Pliny's  story.  Fleay  suggests  rather 
unconvincingly  that  Apelles^  and 
Campaspe  "  shadow  forth  Leicester 
and  the  Countess  of  Essex  .  .  . 
Alexander,  of  course,  means  ^  the 
Queen,  and  Hapheastion,  Burleigh." 

Campbell,  George,  hero  of  a 
mediaeval  Scotch  ballad  Bonnie  George 
Campbell,  who  rides  away  and  meets 


some  strange  mishap  that  leaves 
mother  and  wife  to  mourn.  Nothing 
is  known  as  to  the  historical  basis  of 
the  poem.  Motherwell  thinks  it  may 
have  been  "  a  lament  for  one  of  the 
adherents  of  the  house  of  Argyle  who 
fell  in  the  battle  of  Glenlivet,  1594." 

Candaules,  the  last  of  the  Heraclid 
kings  of  Lydia.  Gyges  (q.v.)  headed 
a  successful  revolt  against  him  and 
thus  fulfilled  an  ancient  prophecy, 
"  Vengeance  shall  come  for  the 
Heraclides." 

Canidia,  the  name  given  by  Horace 
to  Gratidia,  a  Neapolitan  courtesan 
with  whom  he  was  in  love.  When 
she  deserted  him  he  held  her  up  to 
contumely  as  an  old  sorceress  and 
accused  her  of  practising  the  cruelties 
afterwards  attributed  to  the  Jews 
in  the  case  of  Sir  Hugh. 

Epode  v  is  entitled  Canidia's  in- 
cantation and  describes  how  the 
sorceress  cruelly  buries  a  lad  up  to  his 
chin  so  that,  Tantalus-like,  he  can  see 
but  not  partake  of  food  renewed  twice 
or  thrice  during  the  long  day,  "  and 
all  for  this,  that  his  marrow  and  his 
liver,  cut  out  and  dried,  might  form 
a  love  philtre,  when  once  his  eyeballs, 
fixed  on  the  forbidden  fruit,  had 
wasted  away." 

Capaneus,  in  Greek  myth,  one  of 
the  "  Seven  against  Thebes."  He 
boasted  that  all  the  might  of  Zeus 
should  not  protect  the  city  from  him, 
and  so  was  slain  by  a  thunderbolt  as 
he  scaled  the  wall.  While  his  body 
was  burning  his  wife  Evadne  leaped 
into  the  flames  and  was  consumed 
with  him.  Dante  puts  him,  as  the 
arch  blasphemer,  in  hell,  where  he 
continues  to  defy  the  powers  of 
Heaven,  and  makes  Virgil  rebuke 
him  for  his  persistent  blasphemy : 

Then    thus    my    guide,    In    accent    higher 

raised 

Than  I  before  had  heard  him:  "Capaneus! 
Thou  art  more  punish'd,  in  that  this  thy 

pride 
Lives  yet  unquench'd:  no  torment,  save  thy 

rage, 

Were  to  thy  fury  pain  proportion'd  full." 
Next  turning  round  to  me,  with  milder  lip 
He  spake:  "This  of  the  seven  kings  wag 

one, 
Who  girt  the  Theban  walls  with  siege,  and 

held. 


As  still  he  seems  to  hold,  God  In  disdain. 
And  sets  His  high  omnipotence  at  nought. 
Hut,  as  I  told  him.  his  despiteful  mood 
Is  ornament  well  suits  the  breast  that  wears 
it  Inferno,  xiv. 

Milton  may  have  had  Capaneus  in 
mind  when  he  drew  his  own  Satan. 

Carabas,  Marquis  of,  in  the  nursery 
tale  of  Puss  in  Boots  (q.v.),  the  name 
given  by  Puss  to  its  master,  a  penni- 
less young  miller  who  by  this,  feline 
strategy  imposes  upon  all  the  neigh- 
borhood, is  laden  with  gifts  and  even- 
tually secures  a  royal  consort.    Hence 
in  France  the  name  is  applied  to  any 
real  or  fancied  impostor,  and  to  any 
pompous,    purse-proud  braggadocio. 
Beranger,  in  one  of  his  most  popular 
lyrics,  applies  it  to  a  typical  repre- 
sentative of  the  old  French  nobility, 
an   emigr6  who  after  Waterloo  has 
reclaimed   his   confiscated   property. 
Beaconsfield  in     Vivian   Grey  intro- 
duces a  character,  the  Marquess  ^  of 
Carabas    (generally    identified    with 
Lord   Chancellor  Lyndhurst),  whom 
he    thus    characterizes:       '  He    was 
servile,  and  pompous,  and  indefati- 
gable, and  loquacious — so  whispered 
the  world;  his  friends  hailed  him  as 
at  once  a  courtier  and  a  sage,  a  man 
of  business  and  an  orator." 

Caractacus,  the  Latinized  name  of 
Caradawc  (q.v.)  son  of  Bran. 

Caradawc,  son  of  Bran,  whom  he 
succeeded  as  king  of  the  Silures  in 
Britain,  is  better  known  to  history 
under  the  Latinized  name  of  Carac- 
tacus.     He    bravely    defended    his 
country  against  the  Romans  in  the 
reign  of  Claudius,  was  finally  defeated 
and  was  betrayed  to  the  enemy,  A.D. 
51,  by  Cartismandua,  queen  of  the 
Brigantes,    who    figures    in    Welsh 
legend  as  Aregwedd  Feoddawg.    Ac- 
cording   to    the   Welsh    Triads,    his 
captivity  in  Rome  was  shared  by  his 
father,  his  grandfather  and  all  his 
near  kinsfolk.     One  of   the    Triads 
makes  it  appear  that  he  was  chosen 
by  his  countrymen  as  their  general 
or  War-king,  to  repel  the  incursions 
of  the  Romans,  and  another  corrobo- 
••s  this  by  styling  him,  "  One  of 
the  three  Rulers  of  choice,"  having 
been   elected   by   the   voice   of   the 


Caradoc 

country  and  the  people,  although  he 
was  not  an  elder. 

Caradawc,  surnamed  Vreich  vas, 
the  Brawny-armed,  a  semi-mythical 
prince  of  Cornwall.  According  to  the 
Welsh  Triads,  he  was  one  of  the 
battle-knights  of  Britain  and  espe- 
cially distinguished  himself  at  the 
battle  of  Cattraeth,  where  he  was 


In    Anglo-Norman    romance    his 
name  appears  as  Caradoc  (q.v.)  and 
his  surname   is   mistranslated   Bris- 
bras,  or  Broken  Arm.    The  trouveres 
invented  an  explanatory  legend  that 
an  enchanter  fixed  upon  the  hero's 
arm  a  serpent  from  whose  wasting 
tooth   he   could   never   be   relieved, 
until  she  whom  he  loved  best  should 
consent  to  undergo  the  torture  in  his 
stead.   His  betrothed,  Tegau  Eurvron, 
was  equal  to  the  emergency.    As  the 
serpent  was  in  the  act  of  springing 
from  the  wasted  arm  of  the  knight 
to  the  neck  of  the  lady,  her  brother, 
Kadwr,  earl  of  Cornwall,  struck  off 
its  head  with  his  sword,  and  thus 
dispelled    the    enchantment.      Cara- 
dawc's  arm,  however,  never  recovered 
its  pristine  strength  and  size.     His 
wife  preserves  her  British  character 
and  attributes  under  a  Norman  garb, 
and  is  well  known  as  the  heroine  of  the 
mantle,  "  over  her  decent  shoulders 
drawn."  Sir  Caradawc's  well-founded 
confidence   in   his  wife's  virtue   en- 
abled him  to  empty  the  marvellous 
Horn,   and  carve  the  tough  _  Boar's 
Head,  adventures  in  which  his  com- 
peers failed.    In  token  of  the  latter  of 
them,  the  Boar's  head,  in  some  form 
or   other,    appears   as   the   armorial 
bearing  of  all  of  his  name. 

Caradoc,  in  the  Arthurian  cycle  of 
legends,  a  knight  of  the  Round  Table, 
wedded  to  the  one  chaste  and  con- 
stant lady  in  King  Arthur's  court. 
He  is  the  hero  of  an  old  ballad,  The 
Boy  and  the  Mantle,  preserved  in 
Percy's  Reliques  iii,  18.  The  mantle 
can  be  worn  only  by  a  virtuous  wife. 
From  Queen  Guinevere  down,  lady 
after  lady  proves  her  unfitness,  until 
it  is  thrown  over  the  shoulders  of  Sir 
Caradoc's  wife.  The  boy  further 
brings  a  boar's  head  and  a  drinking 


Carey 


71 


Cartaphilos 


horn.  No  cuckold  can  carve  the  one, 
nor  drink  out  of  the  other.  Sir 
Caradoc  is  the  only  knight  who  per- 
forms both  feats.  (See  CARADAWC.) 
The  English  ballad  combines  the 
main  features  of  two  French  poems, 
the  Lai  du  Corn  by  Robert  Bitez, 
ascribed  to  the  middle  of  the  twelfth 
century,  and  the  contemporary  Fab- 
liau du  Manteau,  whose  hero  is 
Garaduc,  the  French  for  Caradoc. 

Experiments  for  ascertaining  the  fidelity 
of  women  were  common  in  mediaeval 
romance.  In  Perceforest  a  rose  and  in 
Amadis  a  garland  of  flowers  blooms  on  the 
head  of  the  constant  and  withers  on  that 
of  the  inconstant.  The  girdle  of  Florimel 
is  a  more  famous  instance  devised  by 
Spenser.  By  the  Levitical  law,  Numbers  v, 
ii,  a  prescribed  proof  of  chastity  consists 
in  the  suspect's  drinking  water  in  the 
Tabernacle.  The  classic  ordeal  of  the 
Stygian  fountain,  whose  waters  rose  to 
cover  the  laurel  wreath  of  the  fair  and  frail, 
probably  had  its  origin  in  some  early  insti- 
tution of  Greece  or  Egypt.  The  notion  was 
adopted  into  the  Greek  romances  of  the 
early  Christian  era.  The  Grecian  heroines 
underwent  the  experiment  in  a  cave,  or 
some  retirement,  while  the  ladies  of  chivalry 
are  always  exposed  in  public — the  former, 
too,  were  subjected  only  to  a  trial  of  vir- 
ginity; the  latter  more  frequently  to  a  test 
of  matrimonial  fidelity.  Whereas  the  former 
usually  triumphed,  the  latter  often  failed. 

Carey,  Mother,  in  sailors'  folk- 
lore, the  supposititious  parent  of  the 
stormy  petrels  (Brocellaria  pelagica) 
who  are  known  as  Mother  Carey's 
chickens.  Yarrell,  a  once  famous 
ornithologist,  surmises  that  she  was 
"  some  celebrated  ideal  hag,"  and 
another  guess,  more  ingenious  than 
probable,  makes  her  name  a  cor- 
ruption of  Mater  Cara  (dear  mother), 
the  affectionate  appellation  given  to 
the  Virgin  Mary  by  Italian  mariners. 
When  it  snows,  Mother  Carey  is  said 
by  English  sailors  to  be  plucking  her 
goose.  See  GOOSE,  MOTHER,  and 
HOLD  A.  See  also  WALSH,  Handy- 
book  of  Curious  Information. 

For  the  wind  has  come  to  say 
"You  must  take  me  wnile  you  may 
If  you  'd  go  to  Mother  Carey 
(Walk  her  down  to  Mother  Carey!) 
Oh,  we're  bound  to  Mother  Carey  when  she 
feeds  her  chicks  at  sea!" 

RUDYARD  KIPLING:    Anchor  Song. 

Cario,    in    Aristophanes's    comedy 
Blutus,  the  slave  of  Chremylus  and  a 


clever  rascal,  is  the  earliest  extant 
classical  type  of  the  Davus  of  Roman 
comedy,  the  Leporello  of  Spain,  the 
Scapin  of  France,  and  their  numerous 
progeny  of  lying  valets  and  sharp- 
witted  servants,  impudent  but  useful, 
who  occupy  the  modern  stage. 

Carpillona,  Princess,  heroine  of 
a  story  of  that  name  in  the  Fairy 
Tales  (1682)  of  the  Comtesse  d'Aul- 
noy,  daughter  of  Sublimus,  king  of 
the  Peaceable  Islands.  Sublimus  was 
dethroned  by  a  usurper  and  for  three 
years  kept  in  prison  with  his  wife  and 
daughter  and  a  foundling  boy.  Then 
the  fair  captives  escape,  but  Carpillona 
gets  detached  from  the  others.  She 
is  rescued  and  brought  up  by  a 
fisherman.  A  hump-backed  Prince 
dethrones  the  usurper  and  falls  in 
love  with  the  supposed  fisherman's 
daughter.  Fleeing  in  disguise,  she 
reaches  the  hut  where  her  parents 
had  found  refuge  and  had  ever  since 
lived  as  shepherds.  In  the  end  she 
marries  the  foundling,  who  proves  to 
be  half  brother  to  the  hump-backed 
Prince. 

Carpio,  Bernardo  del,  a  semi- 
mythical  hero  celebrated  in  many  of 
the  ballads  and  romances  of  mediaeval 
Spain,  especially  for  feats  of  valor  and 
courtesy  performed  in  the  Moorish 
army.  He  was  the  reputed  slayer  of 
Roland  or  Orlando  on  the  field  of 
Roncesvalles.  Tradition  makes  him 
an  illegitimate  son  of  Don  Sancho, 
Count  of  Saldana,  by  Dona  Ximena, 
sister  of  King  Alfonso. 

Cartaphilos,  in  mediaeval  legend, 
was  one  of  the  many  names  of  the 
Wandering  Jew.  According  to  this 
version  he  was  doorkeeper  to  the 
judgment  hall  and  a  servant  to 
Pontius  Pilate.  It  was  his  business 
to  lead  Jesus  out  after  sentence  had 
been  pronounced  upon  Him.  He 
struck  Him  as  he  did  so,  saying, 
"Get  on  faster,  Jesus!'  And  the 
Lord  replied,  "  I  am  going,  but  tarry 
thou  here  till  I  come."  Soon  after 
the  crucifixion  Cartaphilos  was  con- 
verted, and  was  baptized  Joseph,  but 
this  did  not  save  him  from  his  doom 
of  wandering  over  the  earth  until  the 
second  coming  of  Christ  shall  relieve 


Cassandra 


72 


Castro 


him  from  the  burden  of  living.  At 
the  end  of  every  hundred  years  he 
falls  into  a  fit  or  trance  and  comes  out 
of  it  a  young  man  of  thirty,  his  age 
when  Jesus  reproved  him.  He  re- 
members all  the  circumstances  of  the 
Crucifixion  and  all  the  episodes  in 
his  own  later  career.  This  is  the 
earliest  written  version  of  the  legend. 

Cassandra,  in  classic  myth,  a 
Trojan  maiden,  daughter  of  Priam 
and  Hecuba.  Apollo  fell  in  love  with 
her  and  dowered  her  with  the  gift  of 
prophecy  on  condition  that  she 
would  yield  to  his  desires.  When  she 
failed  to  fulfil  her  promise  he  ordained 
that  no  one  should  believe  her.  Hence 
the  phrase  "  Cassandra-like  prophe- 
cies "  for  vaticinations  that  are  true 
in  themselves,  but  receive  no  cre- 
dence. At  the  fall  of  Troy  she  fell 
to  the  lot  of  Agamemnon.  He  took 
her  back  with  him  to  Mycenae,  where 
both  were  murdered  by  the  hero's 
recreant  wife  Clytemnestra. 

Cassibellaunus,  a  mythical  king  of 
Britain  who  according  to  Geoffrey  of 
Monmouth,  British  History,  iv,  3, 
successfully  resisted  the  first  invasion 
of  the  Romans  led  by  Julius  Cassar. 
Cassibellaunus  met  the  invader  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Thames.  A  battle 
ensued,  in  which  Nennius,  the  king's 
brother,  engaged  in  single  combat 
with  Caesar.  After  furious  blows 
given  and  received,  the  sword  of 
Caesar  stuck  so  fast  in  the  shield  of 
Kennius  that  it  could  not  be  pulled 
out.  The  combatants  were  separated 
by  the  intervention  of  the  troops, 
Nennius  remained  possessed  of 
this  trophy.  After  the  greater  part 
of  the  day  was  spent,  Caesar  was  forced 
to  retire  to  his  fleet.  Finding  it 
s  to  continue  the  war  any  longer 
at  that  time,  he  returned  to  Gaul. 

The   fam'd    Cassibelan,   who   was   once   at 
point 

t  fortune!)  to  master  Cesar's  sword, 
.  le  Lud  s  town  with  rejoicing  fires  bright 
Britons  strut  with  courage. 

SHAKSPEAR:  Cymbeline. 

Geoffrey  continues  (iv,  7),  that  the 

beat  back  a  second  invasion 

1  Androgeus,  Duke  of  Trinovan- 

tum,  joined  the  Romans,  when  they 


were  forced  to  succumb  to  superior 
forces.  On  the  other  hand  Polynasus 
of  Macedon  asserts  that  Cassar  had 
a  huge  elephant  armed  with  scales  of 
iron,  with  a  tower  on  its  back,  filled 
with  archers  and  slingers.  When  this 
beast  entered  the  sea,  Cassivelaunus 
and  the  Britons,  who  had  never  seen 
an  elephant,  were  terrified,  and  their 
horses  fled  in  affright,  so  that  the 
Romans  were  able  to  land  without 
molestation. — See  Dray  ton's  Poly- 
olbion,  viii. 

There  the  hive  of  Roman  liars  worship  a 

gluttonous  emperor-idiot. 
Such  is   Rome     .     .     .     hear  it,   spirit  of 

Cassivelaun. 

TENNYSON:  Boadicea. 

Cassim  or  Kassim,  in  the  Arabian 
Nights,  brother  to  Ali  Baba.  Dis- 
covering from  Ali  the  secret  of  the 
magic  formula  "  Open  Sesame!  " 
which  admits  him  to  the  robbers' 
cave,  he  visits  the  place  alone,  forgets 
the  word  "  Sesame  "  when  he  would 
withdraw  with  his  booty,  and  is  dis- 
covered and  cut  to  pieces  by  the 
Forty  Thieves. 

Castro,  Inez  de  (died  1355),  a 
Spanish  lady  famous  in  history, 
legend  and  romance.  The  daughter 
of  a  Castilian  gentleman  who,  with 
her,  had  taken  refuge  in  the  court  of 
Alfonso  IV  of  Portugal,  she  fell  in 
love  with  Don  Pedro,  the  king's 
eldest  son.  He  reciprocated  her 
affection  and  secretly  married  her 
in  1345.  Through  fear  of  royal  resent- 
ment his  relations  with  her  passed  as 
a  mere  intrigue.  Even  this  excited 
the  wrath  of  Alfonso.  Three  Portu- 
guese ^  knights,  divining  his  wishes, 
assassinated  her.  Alfonso  died  in 
1357.  Pedro's  first  object  after  suc- 
ceeding to  the  throne  was  to  establish 
the  legalty  of  the  marriage  and  exe- 
cute her  assassins.  He  exhumed  her 
body,  placed  it  on  the  throne,  crowned 
it,  and  ordered  all  the  nobles  to  do 
honor  to  it.  The  body  was  finally 
interred  at  Alcobaca.  Camoens 
makes  her  ghost  tell  the  story  in  the 
Lusiad,  viii.  Another  Portuguese 
poet  has  a  tragedy  on  the  subject 
(fSS^-)-  In  France  La  Motte  (1723) 
and  Guiraud  (1826)  dramatized  the 


Cavalcanti 


73 


Centaurs 


story.  In  England  Ross  Neil  pro- 
duced a  tragedy,  Inez  de  Castro,  or  the 
Bride  of  Portugal. 

Cavalcanti,  Giovanni  Schicchi  dei, 

a  Florentine  famous  for  his  powers  of 
mimicry,  whose  soul  appears  among 
the  damned  in  Dante's  Inferno,  xxx. 
At  the  instigation  of  Simone  Donati 
he  had  personated  the  latter's  father 
Buoso,  just  deceased,  and  dictated  a 
will  in  the  son's  favor,  rewarding 
himself,  however,  with  a  beautiful 
mare  known  as  the  Lady  of  the  Herd. 
He  is  doomed  to  accompany  Myrrha, 
daughter  of  King  Cinyras  of  Cyprus. 
Two  naked  souls,  they,  snarling, 
scamper  past  Dante,  who  inquires 
of  Virgil  concerning  them: 

"That  is  the  ancient  soul 
Of    wretched    Myrrha,"    he   replied,    "who 

burn'd 

With  most  unholy  flame  for  her  own  sire, 
And  a  false  shape  assuming,  so  perform'd 
The  deed  of  sin;  e'en  as  the  other  there, 
That  onward  passes,  dared  to  counterfeit 
Donati's  features,  to  feign'd  testament 
The  seal  affixing,  that  himself  might  gain, 
For  his  own  share,  the  lady  of  the  herd." 

GARY,  translator. 

Cawline,  Sir,  in  a  ballad  preserved 
by  Percy  (Reliques),  a  knight  who  is 
sick  for  love  of  Christabelle,  the  king's 
daughter,  and  dares  many  adven- 
tures. He  meets  successively  an 
'  elritch  knight,"  a  gigantic  soldan 
(sultan),  and  finally  a  false  steward 
who  lets  loose  a  lion  upon  him  while 
he  is  praying.  He  wins  his  love  at 
last: 

Then  he  did  marry  this  king's  daughter, 

With  gold  and  silver  bright. 
And  fifteen  sons  this  lady  beere 

To  Sir  Cawline  the  knight. 

This  ballad  is  No.  61  in  Child's 
collection.  See  CHRISTABELLE. 

Cecilia,  St.,  Virgin  and  martyr,  a 
Roman  lady  of  the  third  century. 
According  to  tradition  she  sang 
hymns  of  praise  to  the  accompani- 
ment of  an  organ,  i.e.,  an  instrument 
similar  to  the  Pandean  pipes.  So 
beautiful  were  her  strains  that  an 
angel  descended  from  the  skies  to 
listen  to  her.  She  is  the  patron  saint 
of  sacred  music  and  in  painting  is 
commonly  represented  with  her  organ. 
A  musical  society  was  founded  in 


London  in  1683  for  the  purpose  of 
holding  a  concert  every  year  on  her 
festival,  November  22.  Hence  the 
origin  of  Dryden's  Alexander's  Feast 
(1697)  and  Addison  and  Pope's  Songs 
for  St.  Cecilia's  Day.  See  TIMOTHEUS. 

The  life  of  St.  Cecilia  has  been  versified 
by  Chaucer  in  The  Second  Nonne's  Tale  of 
his  Canterbury  Tales,  probably  an  early 
effort,  though  it  was  not  printed  until  1388, 
with  the  completed  volume.  Furnivall 
assigns  it  the  conjectural  date  of  1373. 
Chaucer  seems  to  have  followed  a  Latin 
original,  now  lost,  which  agreed  very  closely 
with  the  story  given  in  the  Legenda  Aurea 
of  Jacob  Voragine  (i3th  century).  The 
earliest  English  life  of  the  saint  is  that 
printed  at  p.  149  of  Cockayne's  Shrine.  The 
chief  interest  of  the  life  in  Caxton's  Golden 
Legende  is  that  his  translation  shows  dis- 
tinct traces  of  Chaucerian  influence. 

Celestine  V,  the  name  assumed  by 
the  aged  hermit,  Peter  Murrone, 
when,  after  55  years  of  solitary  life  in 
a  cave  high  up  among  the  Abruzzi 
Mountains,  he  reluctantly  ascended 
the  papal  throne.  After  five  months 
of  ineffectual  reign  he  resigned,  thus 
making  way  for  the  imperious  Boni- 
face VIII,  Dante's  enemy.  Celestine 
is  undoubtedly  the  pope  whom  Dante 
(Inferno,  iv)  puts  into  the  ante- 
chamber to  Hell  among  the  souls 
"  who  lived  without  praise  or  blame," 
and  the  angels  who  remained  neutral 
during  the  war  in  heaven.  Paradise, 
Purgatory,  and  Inferno  equally  refuse 
to  harbor  them,  and  death  never 
visits  them. 

Virgil's  contemptuous  remark  con- 
cerning these  Laodicean  souls  has 
passed  into  a  proverb: 

Non  ragionam  di  lor,  ma  guarda  e  passa. 
("  Do  not  let  us  reason  about  these,  but 
glance  at  them  and  pass  on.") 

Centaurs,  in  classic  myth,  a  group 
of  monsters,  with  the  body  of  a  horse 
and  the  head  and  trunk  of  a  man, 
who  originally  inhabited  Mount 
Pelion  in  Thessaly,  but  were  expelled 
thence  and  took  refuge  on  Mount 
Pindus.  The  most  famous  Centaur 
was  Chiron  (q.v.). 

Diodorus  Siculus,  in  his  Biblio- 
theca  Historica  (time  of  Augustus) 
tells  us  that  the  people  of  Thessaly 
were  the  first  who  trained  horses  for 


Cerberus 


74 


Chariclea 


riding.  Pliny  the  Elder,  half  a  cen- 
tury later,  adds  that  they  .earned 
horsemanship  to  such  perfection  that 
the  very  name,  "  horseman,"  became 
synonymous  with  '  Thessahan. 
Furthermore,  the  Thessahans,  from 
thi-ir  dexterity  in  killing  the  wild 
bulls  that  infested  the  neighboring 
mountains,  acquired  the  name  of 
Hippoccntaurs,  that  is,  "horsemen 
that  hunted  bulls,"  or  simply  "Cen- 
taurs." 

In  early  times,  apparently,  they 
made  upon  neighboring  tribes,  the 
same  impression  which  the  Spaniards 
under  Cortes  made  upon  the  Mexi- 
cans, i.e.,  that  man  and  horse  were 
one, — hence  their  introduction  into 
mythology  as  monsters.  It  is  possible 
that,  because  the  Thessalians  began 
to'practise  riding  in  the  reign  of  Ixion, 
poets  made  the  Centaurs  his  sons; 
they  are  said  to  have  had  for  their 
mother  a  cloud,  which  Jupiter  put  in 
the  place  of  Juno,  to  balk  the  attempt 
of  Ixion  on  her  virtue,  because,  ac- 
cording to  Palaephatus,  many  of  them 
lived  in  a  city  called  Nephele,  which, 
in  Greek,  signifies  a  cloud. 

Cerberus,    in    classic    myth,    the 
many-headed  dog  that  guarded  the 
entrance    to    the    infernal    regions. 
Some  early  poets  dowered  him  with 
50  or  even  100  heads,  the  later  ones 
generally  limited  him  to  3.    Serpents 
wound  about  his  neck  and  a  serpent's 
tail  terminated  his  body.    His  den  is 
usually  located  on  the  further  side  of 
the  Styx  at  the  spot  where  Charon 
landed  his  ghostly  freight.    It  was  the 
custom  of  the  ancients  to  put  a  cake 
in  the  hands  of  the  dead  as  "  a  sop  to 
Cerberus."     The   spirits   were   sup- 
posed to  throw  this  cake  to  the  dog 
that  they  might  pass  the  gates  un- 
molested   while    his    attention    was 
temporarily  withdrawn. 

The  twelfth  and  last  of  the  labors 

Hercules  was  to  fetch  Cerberus 

from  the  lower  world.     This  is  the 

only  one  of  the  labors  that  is  expressly 

rred  to  by  Homer  (Odyssey,  xi, 

0.    Accompanied  by  Hermes  and 

Athene,     Hercules     descended    into 

Hades   near    Taenarum   in   Laconia. 

He  obtained  permission  from  Pluto 


to  carry  the  many-headed  beast  to  the 
surface  provided  he  used  no  weapons, 
and  succeeded  despite  all  its  bites  and 
struggles.  After  he  had  shown  it  to 
iis  '  taskmaster  Eurystheus,  he 
Drought  it  back  again.  While  in 
Hades  he  obtained  the  liberty  of 
Theseus,  who  had  been  imprisoned 
there  for  attempting  to  carry  off 
Proserpine. 

In  Dante's  Inferno,  vi,  Cerberus 
keeps  watch  over  the  third  circle  of 
Hell,  a  place  where  gluttony  is  pun- 
ished,— one  vast  slush  of  hail  and 
mud,  and  darkness  and  noisome 
smells.  Red-eyed,  black-bearded, 
large-bellied,  Cerberus  barked  above 
the  heads  of  the  floundering  wretches, 
tearing,  skinning  and  dismembering 
them  as  they  wriggled  their  sore  and 
sodden  bodies  from  side  to  side. 
When  he  saw  Dante,  he  gnashed,  his 
fangs  for  desire  of  living  flesh.  Virgil 
threw  lumps  of  dirt  into  his  mouth, 
and  so  they  passed  on. 

Soon  there  appeared  the  home  of  gloomy 

Dis, 
Where  the  fierce  Stygian  dog  affrights  the 

shades, 

Who  tossing  back  and  forth  his  triple  heads, 
With  mighty  hayings  watches  o'er  the  realm. 
Around  his  head  with  damp  corruption  foul, 
Writhe  deadly  serpents  and  his  shaggy  mane 
With  vipers  bristles;  while  a  twisting  snake 
Forms  his  long  hissing  tail. 

SENECA:  Hercules  Furens,  782. 
F.  J.  MILLER,  translator. 

Ceres,  in  Latin  myth,  one  of  the 
three  daughters  of  Saturn.  She  was 
the  goddess  of  sowing  and  reaping,  of 
harvest  festivals  and  of  agriculture  in 
general.  Through  her  daughter  Pro- 
serpine she  is  connected  with  the 
death  rites  in  the  lower  world.  She 
was  the  founder  of  the  Eleusinian 
mysteries.  Ovid  (Metamorphoses,  v, 
440,  642)  and  Apollodorus  (i,  5,  2) 
tell  the  story  of  the  world-wide 
wanderings  of  Ceres  in  search  of 
Proserpine.  The  Romans  identified 
her  with  the  Greek  Demeter. 

Chariclea,  heroine  of  a  fourth 
century  romance  JEthiopica  by  Helio- 
dorus,  bishop  of  Trecca  inThessaly, — 
so  called  because  the  scene  is  partly 
laid  in  Ethiopia.  The  daughter  of 
Persina,  queen  of  Egypt,  Chariclea 
is  exposed  in  infancy  by  her  mother, 


Charlemagne 


75 


Charlemagne 


is  rescued  and  carried  to  Delphi, 
where  in  her  maidenhood  she  meets 
Theagenes.  After  many  romantic 
adventures  the  pair  are  married,  only 
to  meet  with  another  series  of  adven- 
tures if  possible  still  more  romantic 
and  thrilling.  The  climax  arrives 
when  both  are  condemned  to  death, 
but  Chariclea  is  recognized  by  indu- 
bitable signs  and  restored  to  the  sta- 
tion of  which  hitherto  she  had  known 
nothing. 

Charlemagne  (a  Gallicized  form  of 
the  Latin  Carolus  Magnus  or  Charles 
the  Great),  the  name  under  which 
history  and  romance  best  know  Karl, 
the  son  of  Pepin,  king  of  the  Franks 
and  Emperor  of  the  West  (742-814), 
a  statesman,  legislator  and  conqueror, 
and  the  fictitious  hero  of  a  vast  cycle 
of  chivalric  romances,  mainly  French 
and  Italian. 

Through  the  Vita  Caroli  Magni 
(820)  written  by  his  own  secretary 
Eginhard,  and  through  other  sources, 
the  historical  Charles  is  as  well  known 
to  us  as  any  of  the  men  whose  por- 
traits were  drawn  by  Plutarch  or 
Macaulay.  The  mythical  Charles  is 
as  unsubstantial  as  the  heroes  of  the 
Iliad.  The  general  acceptance  of  the 
French  name  Charlemagne,  and  the 
ambiguity  of  the  terms  Frank  and 
Francia,  have  even  veiled  the  nation- 
ality of  the  hero.  To  translate  the 
Francia  of  Eginhard  as  Germany 
would  not  be  accurate,  but  it  would 
be  more  accurate  than  to  make  it 
France.  To  accept  Paris  as  the 
capital  of  Francia  is  even  worse. 
France  had  no  existence  and  Paris 
no  greatness  in  the  days  when 
Eginhard  wrote.  The  Francia  he 
described  included  Worms  and  did 
not  include  Bordeaux.  Charlemagne 
and  his  Franks  were  Germans,  their 
native  land  was  Germany,  their 
native  tongue  was  German.  Francia, 
in  short,  meant  Central  and  Southern 
Germany  and  Northern  Gaul.  Aqui- 
taine,  a  good  half  of  modern  France, 
was  a  conquered  country,  like  Italy; 
Paris  a  city  of  Francia  situated  in  its 
least  Teutonic,  and  therefore  its  least 
attractive  part  to  the  Teutonic  king, 
who  made  his  court  at  Aix-la-Chapelle 


and  visited  Paris  only  once  in  his  life, 
though  that  provincial  city  contained 
the  shrine  of  St.  Denis  and  the  tomb 
of  his  own  father  Pepin. 

At  first  glance  the  real  and  the 
mythical  Charles  seem  to  agree  in 
nothing  except  that  each  is  described 
as  the  mightiest  potentate  of  Western 
Christendom.  The  details  supplied 
by  historians  have  been  overlaid  by 
a  mass  of  poetical  and  romantic 
fictions,  some  of  them,  like  the  medi- 
aeval French  Romances,  ostensibly 
written  in  good  faith,  others,  like  the 
fifteenth  and  sixteenth  century 
poems  of  Bojardo,  Pulci  and  Ariosto, 
avowedly  composed  in  a  spirit  of 
mock  heroic  burlesque  (see  ROLAND 
and  ORLANDO).  The  Charlemagne 
of  fiction  is  not  the  real  Charlemagne, 
but  the  ideal  of  what  a  great  Emperor 
ought  to  be  in  the  minds  of  those  who 
sang  about  him.  Here  and  there  is  a 
foundation  of  fact,  but  the  fact  has 
been  magnified  or  distorted.  One 
prominent  instance  must  suffice. 
There  was  a  real  Roland  who  was 
done  to  death  by  Gascons  in  some 
pass  of  the  Pyrenees.  This  much  and 
no  more  we  learn  from  Eginhard. 
Small  foundation  this  for  all  the  tales 
which  poets  old  and  new  have  told 
about  Roland,  and  a  defeat  by  a 
handful  of  Gascons  is  small  founda- 
tion for  a  defeat  by  a  mighty  army  of 
Moslem  Saracens! 

If  little  comes  from  history,  much 
comes  from  Norse  mythology.  The 
greatest  of  Teutonic  monarchs  be- 
comes invested  with  some  of  the 
attributes  of  the  old  Teutonic  gods. 
Gradually  ideas  flowed  in  from  other 
quarters;  the  crusades,  for  example, 
and  the  legends  of  neighboring  races. 
As  Arthur  has  his  Knights  of  the 
Round  Table,  so  Charlemagne  has  his 
Paladins,  twelve  in  number,  like  the 
apostles  of  Christ  and  with  a  traitor 
among  them  like  Judas  (see  GANE- 
LON).  Holger  the  Dane  (Holger 
Danske)  becomes  the  Paladin  Ogier 
sent  in  company  with  Prester  John, 
to  conquer  and  Christianize  Great 
Tartary.  Perachtha,  the  Scandina- 
vian goddess  becomes  confused  with 
Bertha  the  mother  of  Charlemagne 


Charon 


76 


Childe 


and  emerges  as  La  Reine  Pedauque  or 
the  goose-footed  Queen. 

In  history  Charlemagne  was  a 
friend  of  Haroun  Alraschid  and  re- 
ceived from  his  paynim  ally  the  keys 
of  the  Holy  Sepulchre.  But  the 
Charlemagne  of  fiction  leads  his 
armies  into  Palestine  and  wrests 
everything  from  the  misbeliever  with- 
out any  prosaic  negotiations.  He  not 
only  fights  with  the  Saracens  in  Spain, 
on  a  gigantic  basis  quite  unknown  to 
history,  but,  in  utter  violation  of  all 
history,  he  is  besieged  in  his  own  cita- 
del in  Paris  by  swarms  of  Saracens 
from  the  Asian  continent  and  the 
Iberian  peninsula.  In  short,  the 
events  which  form  the  mythic  history 
of  Charles  are  either  strangely  per- 
verted variants  of  events  in  his  real 
history,  or  reflections  from  the  history 
of  the  singer's  own  times.  Because 
the  minstrels  lived  in  an  age  of  Cru- 
sades, Charles  is  boldly  carried  into 
Palestine  on  the  one  hand,  and  on  the 
other  his  dealings  with  the  Saracens 
in  Spain  are  exaggerated  out  of  all 
proportion  to  their  real  dimensions. 
According  to  a  forged  Chronicle 
attributed  to  Archbishop  Turpin,  the 
king  was  over  8  feet  high,  and  corre- 
spondingly stout  and  broad-shoul- 
dered and  large  of  limb.  His  waist 
was  8  feet  in  circumference.  For 
strength  he  had  no  equal.  He  could 
lift  an  armed  knight  with  one  hand. 
See  TALUS. 

^  Charon,  in  classic  myth,  son  of 
Erebus  and  Nox,  the  ferryman  who 
piloted  the  souls  of  the  buried  dead 
across  the  river  Styx  to  Hades. 

There  Charon  stands,  who  rules  the  dreary 
coast, — 

A  sordid  god:  down  from  his  hoary  chin 

A  length  of  beard  descends,  uncombed,  un- 
clean: 

His  eyes,  like  hollow  furnaces  on  fire; 

A  girdle  foul  with  grease  binds  his  obscene 
attire. 

He   spreads   his   canvas,   with  his   pole  he 

steers; 
The  freight   of  flitting  ghosts   in  his   thin 

bottom  bears. 
He  looked  in  years,  yet  in  his  years  were 

seen 
A  youthful  vigor,  and  autumnal  green. 

:  .Eneid-  DRYDEN  trans..  Bk.  iv,  413. 

Charybdis,    a    whirlpool    between 
Sicily  opposite  to  Scylla, 


(q.v.),  alternately  sucking  in  and 
vomiting  out  the  sea. 

Chichevache,  in  medieval  page- 
antry, the  representation  of  a  fabu- 
lous monster  always  introduced  in 
connection  with  his  counterpart, 
Bycorne.  The  first  was  supposed  to 
feed  upon  obedient  husbands,  the 
other  upon  patient  wives,  the  humor 
consisting  in  the  fact  that  Chiche- 
vache was  bloated  with  overmuch 
food,  while  Bicorne  appeared  as  a 
starveling. 

Childe  the  Hunter,  according  to  a 
legend  of  Dartmoor  forest,  was  the 
last  representative  some  time  during 
the  reign  of  Edward  III  (1327-1377) 
of  an  ancient  family  of  Plymstock 
who  had  devised  all  his  estates  to 
such  church  as  would  provide  him 
sepulture.  Having  lost  his  way  in  a 
snowstorm  while  hunting  deer  he 
wrote  with  his  own  blood  the  follow- 
ing distich: 

He  who  finds  and  brings  me  to  my  tomb 
The  land  of  Plymstock  shall  be  his  doom. 

Then  he  killed  his  horse,  removed 
its  inner  organs  and  crept  into  the 
warm  body,  which  alas!  did  not  re- 
main warm  long,  so  that  next  morning 
the  knight  was  found  frozen  to  death. 
When  the  distich  was  read  a  dispute 
arose  between  the  monks  of  the 
neighboring  Abbey  of  Tavistock  and 
the  citizens  of  Plymstock  parish  as 
to  who  should  claim  and  bury  the 
body,  a  dispute  that  was  settled  by 
the  superior  strategy  of  the  monks. 

As  to  this  legend,  Fuller  says,  "  All 
in  the  vicinage  will  be  highly  offended 
with  such  who  either  deny  or  doubt 
the  credit  of  this  tradition."  It  is 
certain  that  the  Abbot  of  Tavistock, 
in  some  fashion,  came  into  possesson 
of  a  fine  property  and  manor  house, 
now  owned  by  the  Duke  of  Bedford. 
Prince,  in  his  Worthies  of  Devon,  has 
offered  the  following  corroborative 
statement:  '  There  is  a  place  in  the 
Forest  of  Dartmoor,  near  Crockern- 
tor,  which  is  still  called  Childe  of 
Plymstock's  tomb;  whereon,  we  are 
informed,  these  verses  were  engraven, 
and  heretofore  seen,  though  not  now: 


Chimera 


77 


Christopher 


They  first  that  find,  and  bring  me  to  my 

grave, 
My  lands,  which  are  at  Plymstock,  they 

shall  have. 

Chimera  or  Chimaera,  in  classic 
myth,  a  fire-breathing  monster,  whose 
fore-part  was  a  lion  and  its  hind-part 
a  goat,  terminating  in  a  dragon's  tail. 
Sometimes  it  was  depicted  with  3 
heads,  a  lion's  in  front,  a  goat's 
rising  from  the  middle  of  the  back, 
and  a  dragon's  astern.  After  laying 
waste  Lycia,  it  was  slain  by  Bellero- 
phon,  mounted  on  Pegasus.  Servius, 
a  commentator  on  Virgil,  explains 
that  there  was  a  volcano  in  Lycia 
called  Chimaera  (now  extinct  and 
rebaptized  Yanar),  whose  flaming 
summit  was  infested  by  lions,  while 
the  middle  part  abounded  with 
goats  and  the  lower  part  with  ser- 
pents. 

Chiron,  in  classic  myth,  the  most 
famous  of  all  the  centaurs,  son  of 
Cronos  and  Philyra.  The  latter  was 
a  sea  nymph.  To  seduce  her  Cronos 
had  assumed  the  form  of  a  horse. 
Hence  she  was  delivered  of  a  monster, 
half  man,  half  horse.  She  endured 
such  torture  in  bringing  him  forth 
that  the  gods  answered  her  prayers 
for  relief  by  changing  her  into  a 
linden  tree.  Apollo  and  Artemis  pre- 
sided over  Chiron's  education  so  suc- 
cessfully that  he  became  in  turn  the 
mentor  of  many  famous  heroes,  teach- 
ing hunting  and  other  arts  to  Achilles, 
Jason  and  Peleus.  He  instructed 
^Esculapius  in  medicine  and  Hercules 
in  astronomy.  When  the  latter  was 
in  pursuit  of  the  Erymanthian  boar 
he  came  upon  the  centaur  Pholus, 
who  had  just  received  a  cask  of  excel- 
lent wine  from  Dionysos.  Hercules 
opened  it,  despite  the  protests  of  his 
host.  Its  fragrance  attracted  other 
centaurs,  who  besieged  the  grotto  of 
Pholus.  Hercules  drove  them  away. 
They  fled  to  the  house  of  Chiron, 
with  Hercules  in  eager  pursuit.  One 
of  the  poisoned  arrows  of  the  pur- 
suer hit  his  old  friend  Chiron.  The 
consequent  agony  was  so  great  that 
Chiron  begged  the  gods  would  allow 
him  to  forfeit  his  immortality. 
It  was  transferred  to  Prometheus, 


and  Zeus  placed  Chiron  among  the 
stars  as  Sagittarius. 

I  have  sometimes  suspected  that  Master 
Chiron  was  not  really  very  different  from 
other  people,  but  that  being  a  kind-hearted 
and  merry  old  fellow,  he  was  in  the  habit 
of  making  believe  that  he  was  a  horse,  and 
scrambling  about  the  schoolroom  on  all 
fours,  and  letting  the  little  boys  ride  upon 
his  back.  And  so,  when  his  scholars  had 
grown  up  and  grown  old,  and  were  trotting 
their  grandchildren  upon  their  knees,  they 
told  them  about  the  sports  of  their  school- 
days; and  these  young  folk  took  the  idea 
that  their  grandfathers  had  been  taught 
their  letters  by  a  Centaur,  half  man  and 
half  horse. — HAWTHORNE:  Tangle-wood 
Tales. 

Chriemhild,  heroine  of  the  mediae- 
val German  epic  the  Nibelungen  Lied 
and  the  spouse  of  Siegfried.  The 
treacherous  murder  of  her  husband 
by  Hagen  changed  her  from  a  gentle, 
trusting  and  gracious  woman  to  an 
incarnation  of  revenge,  which  is  un- 
satisfied until  she  slays  Hagen.  See 
also  KRIEMHILD. 

Christabelle,  heroine  and  title  of  an 
old  ballad  of  uncertain  date  and 
origin,  the  daughter  of  "a  bonnie 
king  of  Ireland,"  who  secretly  be- 
trothed herself  to  the  valiant  Sir 
Cauline.  The  bonnie  king  expelled 
Cauline  when  he  learned  the  truth. 
His  daughter  fell  into  melancholy 
and  to  amuse  her  he  devised  a  tour- 
nament. All  the  prizes  were  carried 
off  by  a  strange  knight  in  black.  At 
last  came  a  gigantic  Soldain,  "  with 
two  goggling  eyes  and  a  mouthe  from 
ear  to  ear."  The  black  knight  slew 
him  also,  but  himself  died  of  wounds 
received  in  combat  and  was  discov- 
ered to  be  Cauline,  whereupon  the 
lady  perished  of  grief. 

Christopher,  St.  (Greek  the  Christ- 
bearer),  a  favorite  character  in  medi- 
aeval and  popular  legend,  whose  festi- 
val is  celebrated  by  the  Roman 
Church  on  July  25;  by  the  Greek  on 
May  9.  Some  accounts  make  him  a 
Lycian,  but  the  Legenda  A  urea  says 
he  was  a  Canaanite.  Proud  of  his 
great  strength  and  gigantic  stature 
he  would  serve  none  but  a  mighty 
prince  and  would  forsake  him  for  a 
mightier.  Thus  through  a  series  of 
masters  he  passed  into  the  service  of 


Chrysaor 


78 


Cid 


Satan.  But  Satan,  he  found,  trem- 
bled at  the  name  of  Christ.  There- 
fore he  left  him  to  seek  the  Saviour. 
One  night  a  little  child  clamored  to 
be  taken  across  the  Red  Sea.  Christo- 
pher gaily  lifted  him  on  his  shoulders, 
but  the  child's  weight  grew  heavier 
and  heavier  as  he  trudged  through 
the  waters,  until  Christopher  began 
to  sink  under  the  burden.  Then  the 
child  revealed  himself  as  Christ.  The 
giant  embraced  Christianity,  preached 
the  gospel,  performed  many  miracles 
and  was  finally  martyred. 

A  Breton  legend  makes  Christopher 
a  contemporary  of  Christ,  whom,  with 
his  twelve  apostles,  he  carried  one 
by  one  over  a  river.  Bidden  to  name 
his  reward,  he  rejected  Peter's  advice 
to  choose  Paradise,  and  asked  instead 
that  anything  he  wished  for  might 
come  into  his  sack.  Accumulating 
in  this  way  much  gold  and  silver  he 
grew  avaricious.  Satan  came  and 
taunted  him.  He  wished  the  demon 
into  his  sack,  and  took  the  sack  to  a 
blacksmith,  who  pounded  it  on  his 
anvil  till  Satan  roared  for  mercy. 
When  Christopher  died,  St.  Peter 
refused  him  admittance  into  heaven. 
Satan  slammed  the  gates  of  hell  in 
his  face.  He  wandered  back  to 
Paradise  and  begged  St.  Peter  to 
unclose  the  portals  a  little  so  he 
might  hear  the  music.  Peter  com- 
plied, Christopher  thrust  his  sack 
through  the  opening  and  wished 
himself  inside  it.  See  BONHOMME, 
JACQUES. 

^  Chrysaor,  in  classic  myth,  a  son  of 
Neptune  and  Medusa,  and  the  father 
of  Gcryon  by  Callirrhoe. 

Chrysaor,  rising  out  of  the  sea, 

Showed  thus  plorious  and  thus  emulous 
Leaving  the  arms  of  Callirrhoe, 

'or  ever  tender,  soft,  and  tremulous. 

LONGFELLOW. 

Chryseis,  in  classic  myth,  daughter 

Thryscs,  priest  of  Apollo  at  Chryse, 

hat  was  captured  by  Achilles! 

In  the  division  of  the  spoils  she  fell 

to  Agamemnon  and  her  cousin  Briseis 

to  Achilles.    Her  father  came  to  the 

:ian  camp  to  rescue  her;  his  offer 

backed  by  Achilles  and  finally 

by  Apollo,  who  sent  a  plague 


into  the  camp  which  made  Agamem- 
non yield  a  reluctant  consent.  But 
Agamemnon  claimed  in  consequence 
Achilles's  prize,  Briseis,  and  thus 
started  the  feud  which  is  described  in 
Homer's  Iliad,  Book  I. 

Ciacco  (It.  diminutive  of  Giacomo 
or  James),  a  glutton  and  a  parasite 
who  figures  in  Dante's  Inferno,  vi,  50, 
and  in  Boccaccio's  Decameron,  ix,  8. 
Boccaccio  paints  him  as  a  slave  to  all 
the  vices  of  luxury,  but  otherwise  a 
well-bred  and  affable  man.  He  fre- 
quented the  tables  of  the  rich  and 
ate  and  drank  at  their  expense,  invit- 
ing himself  when  not  favored  with  an 
invitation.  Biondella  plays  a  practi- 
cal jest  upon  him  by  persuading  him 
that  Corso  Donati,  a  man  of  the  same 
kidney,  was  giving  a  great  banquet, 
when  he  was  really  dining  on  Lenten 
fare.  Ciacco  revenges  himself  by 
causing  Biondella  to  be  beaten. 

Ciappelletto,  hero  of  a  tale  in 
Boccaccio's  Decameron,  I,  i.  A  wily 
rascal  wishing  to  obtain  Christian 
burial,  he  deceives  a  friar  by  a  sham 
confession  which  is  overheard  by 
others.  Hence  he  is  regarded  as  a 
saint  after  death. 

Cid  (Lord),  or  Cid  Compeador 
(Lord  Conqueror,  Lord  Champion),  a 
title  given  in  legend  and  literature  to 
the  most  celebrated  Spain's  national 
heroes, — Don  Ridrig  or  Ruy  Diaz  de 
Bivor.  The  name  first  appears  (1064) 
in  a  document  of  the  reign  of  Ferdi- 
nand, king  of  Leon.  The  Cid  cham- 
pioned the  cause  alternately  of  the 
brothers  Sancho  and  Alfonso,  sons  of 
Ferdinand  and  rivals  for  his  throne, 
but  was  banished  by  Alfonso  when 
the  latter  felt  his  authority  secure 
(1081).  Thereupon  he  joined  the 
Moorish  king  of  Saragossa  and  fought 
against  both  Christians  and  Moslems. 
Later  (1094) ,  turning  his  sword  against 
the  Moors,  he  won  from  them  the 
principality  of  Valencia,  which  he 
held  against  all  comers  until  his  death 
in  1099.  A  ruined  castle  still  known 
as  the  Rock  of  the  Cid  crowns  a  steep 
precipice  that  rises  from  a  valley  not 
far  from  Saragossa.  Here  was  once 
the  eerie  whence  the  Cid  hurled  him- 
self into  battle  and  where  he  exercised 


Cimon 


79 


Cinderella 


the  military  influence  which  has  pre- 
served his  fame.  Half  condottiere, 
half  highway  robber,  he  fought  for 
his  neighbors  or  preyed  upon  them  as 
necessity  dictated.  He  married 
Donna  Ismena,  a  cousin  of  King 
Alfonso.  She  has  passed  into  romance 
as  the  beautiful  Princess  Ximena, 
but  was  really  old  and  ugly  and  very 
wealthy.  The  numerous  romances  of 
the  Cid  produced  in  Spain  and  else- 
where between  the  thirteenth  and 
sixteenth  centuries  contain  extrava- 
gant legends.  Pierre  Corneille  has 
fashioned  some  of  these  into  a  tragedy 
The  Cid  (1636).  Most  famous  of  all 
the  legends  is  that  concerning  his 
death.  Killed  in  battle  against  the 
invading  King  Bucar  of  Morocco,  he 
was  bound  in  full  armor  upon  his 
horse  and  his  spectral  presence  dis- 
mayed the  Moors  into  precipitate 
rout. 

In  the  epic  the  figure  of  the  Cid  has  been 
conscientiously  elaborated.  The  poet  is 
lost  in  admiration  of  the  moral  and  physical 
perfections  of  the  hero;  his  dauntless  valor; 
his  stately  courtesy;  his  grave,  deliberate 
ways;  his  generosity  and  kindliness  to 
friend  and  foe  alike;  his  piety  exhibited  not 
only  in  orthodox  mediaeval  fashion  by  the 
purchase  of  a  thousand  masses,  but  by 
sincerest  acknowledgment  of  the  help  which 
Heaven  awards  to  all  self-helping  men. 
Nor  must  we  forget  the  strength  of  his 
shout  in  battle.  And  then  his  beard! 
"God,  how  he  is  bearded!"  exclaims  the 
singer  parenthetically  as  he  describes  the 
Cid  returning  from  the  pursuit  of  some 
fleeing  Moors,  with  his  coif  rumpled,  his 
casque  on  his  back,  and  his  sword  in  his 
hand. 

Cimon  or  Cymon  (It.  Cimone),  hero 
of  Cimon  and  Iphigenia,  a  widely- 
popular  tale  in  Boccaccio's  Decameron, 
v,  i.  His  original  name  was  Galeso; 
he  was  nicknamed  Cimon  (which 
means  beast  in  the  language  of  his 
native  Cyprus)  because  of  his  dense 
stupidity.  One  day  he  beheld  Iphi- 
genia asleep  beside  a  fountain.  Love 
entered  his  breast  and  with  love  came 
redemption.  As  Dryden  says  in  his 
poetical  paraphrase: 

Love  taught  him  shame,  and  shame  with 

love  at  strife, 
Taught  him  the  sweet  civilities  of  life. 

Four  years  he  spent  in  study  and 
then,  a  gentleman  and  a  scholar,  he 


seeks  Iphigenia  in  marriage.  But  she 
is  already  affianced  to  Pasimunda. 
Finding  he  cannot  get  his  lady  by 
fair  means,  Cimon  tries  and  succeeds 
in  foul  ones,  a  sorry  ending  to  the 
striking  opening.  Boccaccio  says  that 
he  found  the  story  in  the  ancient 
histories  of  Crete.  A  somewhat 
similar  theme  is  treated  by  Theoc- 
ritus in  his  idyl  entitled  Bukoliskos. 

Cinderella,  heroine  of  a  fairy  story 
best  known  in  the  version  included 
by  Charles  Perrault  in  his  Conies  de 
Ma  Mere  UOye  or  Mother  Goose's 
Tales.  Brought  up  with  two  step- 
sisters by  a  stepmother,  she  is  the 
family  drudge,  condemned  to  sleep 
among  the  ashes,  whence  her  nick- 
name. While  her  sisters  are  away  at 
a  ball  her  fairy  godmother  arrays  her 
in  a  splendid  costume  and  sends  her 
in  a  coach  to  appear  there  incognito. 
The  prince  falls  in  love  with  her,  but 
she  disappears  at  the  stroke  of 
twelve,  leaving  only  a  glass  slipper 
behind  her.  By  means  of  this  slipper 
the  prince  traces  her  to  her  home. 

In  one  form  or  another  the  story 
can  be  found  everywhere  in  European 
folklore. 

According  to  the  original  French 
version,  a  woman  had  two  daughters, 
only  one  of  whom  she  loved.  The 
other,  named  Cendreusette,  she  once 
directed  to  spin  some  cotton.  Now 
Cendreusette  could  not  spin,  and 
would  certainly  have  been  beaten  if  a 
cow  to  which  she  had  been  kind  had 
not  done  her  task  for  her.  Next 
day  the  other  sister  tried  to  get 
the  cow  to  spin,  but  the  cow,  which 
knew  its  friends,  played  her  a  trick. 
The  mother  then  ordered  the  cow  to 
be  killed,  but  before  its  death  it  bade 
Cendreusette  to  gather  its  bones  into 
its  hide  and  to  wish  over  them  for 
anything  she  desired.  The  wishes 
brought  to  Cendreusette  three  beau- 
tiful dresses  on  which  shone  the  sun, 
the  moon,  the  sky,  and  the  sea.  In 
these  she  captivated  a  prince,  who 
traced  her  by  means  of  the  familiar 
slipper,  which,  by  the  way,  scholars 
say  was  not  of  gold,  nor  yet  of  glass, 
(Pantoufle  en  verre),  but  of  fur,  (pan- 
toufle  en  vair).  In  the  Scotch  story  a 


Cipolla 


80 


Clcelia 


dying  queen  gives  her  daughter  '  a 
little  red  calfy,"  which  is  killed  by  the 
cruel  stepmother.  From  the  calf's 
bones  Rashin-coatie,  as  she  is  called 
from  a  coat  woven  of  rushes,  gets 
"  braw  claes  "  very  much  as  Cendreu- 
sette  did.  In  an  Italian  version,  also, 
a  cow  plays  the  good  fairy's  part.  In 
the  modern  Greek  story  two  daugh- 
ters boil  their  mother  and  make  a 
meal  of  her,  but  the  youngest  sister 
prefers  to  go  hungry,  and  when  she 
goes  to  mourn  over  her  mother's 
bones  she  is  rewarded  by  finding 
three  beautiful  dresses.  One  dress 
is  as  beautiful  as  "  the  sea  and  its 
waves,"  another  as  "  the  Spring  and 
its  flowers,"  and  the  third  as  "  the 
heaven  with  its  stars."  In  Sicily  and 
the  Hebrides  a  sheep  takes  the  place 
of  the  good  and  wonder-working  cow. 
The  story  can  also  be  traced  to  the 
remote  East,  to  Germany,  and  to 
Egypt  (see  RHODOPE),  and  it  is 
indefinitely  old. 

Comparative  mythologists  inter- 
pret the  story  as  a  nature  myth.  The 
maiden  is  the  Dawn,  dull  and  gray 
away  from  the  brightness  of  the  sun; 
the  sisters  are  the  clouds  that  screen 
and  overshadow  the  Dawn,  and  the 
stepmother  is  Night.  The  Dawn 
fades  away  from  the  sun  (the  prince), 
who  after  a  long  search  finds  her  at 
last  in  her  glorious  robes  of  sunset. 

Cipolla,  Fra  (i.e.  Brother  Onion), 
hero  of  a  tale  in  Boccaccio's  Decam- 
eron (vi,  10),  who  reveals  his  own 
character  in  highly-amusing  fashion, 
describing  with  gusto  the  relics  he  has 
seen  in  a  journey  to  Jerusalem; — 
among  others  a  lock  of  the  hair  of  the 
seraph  that  appeared  to  St.  Francis,  a 
paring  of  the  Cherub's  nail,  and  a  few 

the  rays  of  the  star  that  guided  the 
CT  to  Bethlehem.   See  PARDONERE. 

This  tale  drew  down  the  censure  of 
he  Council  of  Trent,  and  is  the  one 
which  gave  the  greatest  umbrage  to 
:hurch.     The  author  has  been 
by  his  commentators  on  the 
that -he  did  not  intend  to  cen- 
sure the  respectable  orders  of  friars, 
to  expose  those  wandering  mendi- 
who  supported  themselves  by 
imposing    on    the    credulity    of    the 


people;  that  he  did  not  mean  to 
ridicule  the  sacred  relics  of  the  church, 
but  those  which  were  believed  so  in 
consequence  of  the  fraud  and  artifice 
of  monks. 

Circe,  in  classic  myth,  a  noted  sor- 
ceress, daughter  of  Sol  and  the 
Oceanid  Perse.  She  lived  on  the 
island  of  JEaea  amid  a  number  of  her 
admirers  whom  her  incantations  had 
metamorphosed  into  unclean  animals. 
Homer  in  the  Odyssey,  makes  Odys- 
seus stop  at  ^Eaea ;  she  turned  twenty- 
two  of  his  companions  into  swine, 
but  had  no  power  over  the  hero  him- 
self, safeguarded  by  a  sprig  of  moly 
from  Hermes,  and  he  finally  induced 
her  to  disenchant  his  comrades. 
Ovid  tells  the  same  story  in  Meta- 
morphoses, xiv,  v. 

Who  knows  not  Circe, 

The  daughter  of  the  Sun,  whose  charmed  cup 
Whoever  tasted  lost  his  upright  shape, 
And  downward  fell  into  a  groveling  swine? 

MILTON. 

Circe,  with  Ulysses,  appears  in 
Calderon's  drama,  Love  the  Greatest 
Enchantment.  Dissembling  the  fav- 
orable impression  which  Ulysses  has 
made  upon  her  at  first  sight,  Circe 
seeks  to  bring  him  to  her  feet  by  a 
mixture  of  reserve  and  artifice.  With 
the  help  of  a  divine  talisman  he 
frustrates  all  her  spells  but  falls  a 
victim  to  her  beauty.  In  the  end  he 
cannot  be  aroused  to  quit  the  isle  of 
effeminate  pleasure  until  he  is  sum- 
moned away  by  the  ghost  of  Achilles. 
The  abandoned  Circe  is  overcome 
with  mortification  and  lays  waste  her 
gardens  and  palaces. 

Clcelia,  according  to  Livy  (i,  30), 
was  one  of  the  gens  Clcelia  in  Alba. 
She  was  delivered  to  Lars  Porsena  as 
a  hostage  in  B.C.  507,  but  succeeded 
in  returning  to  Rome  by  swimming 
her  horse  across  the  Tiber.  The 
consul  yalerius  forced  her  to  respect 
the  civic  honor  by  going  back  to 
Porsena,  who,  charmed  by  her  valor, 
returned  her  on  a  splendidly-capari- 
soned horse.  The  Romans  commemo- 
rated her  by  an  equestrian  statue  in 
the  Via  Sacra.  She  is  the  heroine  of 
Mile  de  Scudery's  romance  Clelie. 


Cloud  81 

Cloud-cuckootown  (Gr.  Nephelo- 
Coccygia),^a  city  in  the  clouds  built 
by  cuckoos  and  gulls,  the  scene  of 
Aristophanes 's  comedy  of  The  Birds, 
produced  at  Athens,  March,  414  B.C. 
In  the  previous  year  the  great  Athen- 
ian navy  had  gone  forth  to  Syracuse, 
and  as  yet  no  serious  disaster  had  be- 
fallen the  army  of  invasion.  The 
spectators  who  assembled  in  the 
theatre  were  the  same  men  who, 
persuaded  by  Alcibiades,  had  sanc- 
tioned the  Sicilian  expedition  with 
the  hope  of  founding  a  new  empire 
by  the  subjugation  of  Carthage  and 
the  western  shores  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean. The  comic  poet — a  stout 
conservative,  old-fashioned  in  his 
notions  and  an  enemy  to  progress — 
took  this  occasion  to  ridicule  the 
extravagant  schemes  of  his  country- 
folk. He  brought  upon  the  stage  two 
worn-out  Athenian  politicians,  who 
are  supposed  to  have  deserted  their 
city  from  disgust  and  ennui,  and  to  be 
now  upon  their  way  to  the  crows. 
After  some  wandering  they  reach 
Birdland.  The  birds  at  first  attack 
them  as  enemies:  afterwards,  per- 
suaded by  their  sophistries,  they 
receive  them  as  friends,  and  by  their 
advice  build  a  great  city  in  the  air, 
which  they  call  "  Cloudcuckootown," 
and  which  becomes  supreme  in  its 
authority  over  gods  and  men. 

Cloudsley,  William  of,  in  early 
English  ballad  literature,  a  com- 
panion of  Adam  Bell  and  Clym  of  the 
Clough.  They  are  generally  believed 
to  have  lived  before  Robin  Hood, 
and,  like  him,  were  outlawed  for 
killing  deer.  William  was  the  only 
one  who  had  a  wife  and  family.  Be- 
coming homesick  he  ventured  into 
Carlisle  to  see  them.  He  was  taken 
prisoner  and  was  sentenced  to  be 
hanged,  but  his  comrades  rescued 
him,  after  shooting  both  the  sheriff 
and  the  mayor,  then  hastened  to 
London  and  obtained  pardon  from 
the  king. 

Clytemnestra,  in  classic  myth,  the 
faithless  wife  of  Agamemnon,  who 
lived  in  adultery  with  ^Egisthus 
during  the  hero's  absence  at  Troy 
and  connived  at  or  assisted  in  his 


Clytie 


murder  when  he  returned.  Her  son 
Orestes  avenged  the  crime  by  putting 
her  to  death.  Besides  Orestes  she 
was  the  mother  of  Iphigenia  and 
Electra.  She  is  mentioned  by  Homer 
and  her  story  is  told  at  length  by 
^schylus  in  the  Agamemnon  and 
Orestes. 

Oh  woman,  woman!  when  to  ill  thy  mind 
Is  bent,  all  Hell  contains  no  fouler  fiend; 
And  such  was  mine,  who  basely  plunged  her 

sword 
Through  the  fond  bosom  where  she  reigned 

adored! 

Alas!  I  hoped,  the  toils  of  war  o'ercome. 
To  meet  soft  quiet  and  repose  at  home; 
Delusive  hope  I — Oh  wife,  thy  deeds  disgrace 
The  perjured  sex  and  blacken  all  the  race; 
And  should  posterity  one  virtuous  find 
Name    Clytemnestra,  they  will  curse  the 

kind. 
POPE'S  HOMER'S  Odyssey,  xi,  532. 

Lady  Macbeth,  so  strong  to  evil,  bears 
no  distant  resemblance  to  the  Clytemnestra 
of  ^Eschylus  and  of  Sophocles,  with  her  bold 
leadership  in  crime.  But  the  Attic  drama- 
tists depict  their  crowned  murderess  as 
remorseless  to  the  close  of  her  career;  no 
sleep-walking  scene  in  their  dramas  unveils 
to  us  as  in  Shakspear's  the  agonies  of  a 
high-born  criminal  whose  own  awakened 
conscience  isfslowly  working  out  upon  her 
the  behestst.of  justice.  Clytemnestra  only 
shudders  at  the  possible  consequences  of 
her  evil  deed  in  this  world.  Lady  Macbeth 
stands  aghast  at  the  stain  of  innocent  blood 
upon  her  hand,  which  she  knows  will  cry 
out  against  her  before  the  last  dread  sea  of 
judgment. — Blackwood's  Magazine,  August, 
1876. 

Clytie,  in  classic  myth,  a  sea  nymph, 
daughter  of  Oceanus,  who  fell  in  love 
with  Apollo,  the  sun-god,  but  meeting 
with  no  return  of  affection,  she  was 
mercifully  changed  into  a  sunflower. 
Thus  she  keeps  her  face  constantly 
turned  towards  the  sun  throughout 
his  daily  course: 

The  heart  that  has  truly  loved  never  forgets, 

But  as  truly  loves  on  to  the  close; 
As  the  sunflower  turns  on  her  god  when  he 

sets 

The  same  look  that  she  turned  when  he 
rose. 

T.  MOORB. 

The  fancy  is  pretty  enough,  but 
of  course  has  no  botanical  foundation. 
The  sunflower  is  so  called  merely 
because  it  looks  like  the  sun. 

One  of  the  best  known  of  the 
marble  busts  discovered  in  recent 
times  generally  bears  the  name  of 


Cockaigne 


82 


Cole 


Clytie.  It  represents  the  head  of  a 
young  girl  looking  down,— the^  neck 
and  shoulders  being  supported  in  the 
cup  of  a  large  flower,— which  by  a 
little  effort  of  imagination  can  be 
made  into  a  giant  sunflower.  The 
latest  supposition,  however,  > makes 
this  bust  represent  not  Clytie,  but 
Isis. 

Cockaigne,  Cokaine  or  Cocagne,  a 
burlesque  Utopia  familiar  to  most 
European  nations  in  the  middle  ages 
and  probably  intended  to  ridicule 
the  earlier  accounts  of  the  mythical 
Avalon.  According  to  The  Land  of 
Cokaine,  an  English  poem  of  the 
twelfth  century,  it  lay  on  the  borders 
of  the  earth  "  beyond  West  Spain." 
Its  rivers  ran  wine  or  oil  or,  at  the 
meanest,  milk;  its  houses  were  built 
of  the  savoriest  eatables,  their  very- 
shingles  being  of  cake  and  their 
pinnacles  fat  puddings;  its  streets 
were  slowly  promenaded  by  roast 
geese  and  sucking  pigs  who  turned 
themselves  and  invited  the  passers- 
by  to  eat  them.  Buttered  larks  fell 
from  the  air  in  profusion.  As  a  climax 
of  felicity  "  water  serveth  to  nothing 
but  to  siyt  (boiling)  and  to  washing." 

Codes,  Horatius  (i.e.,  Horatius  the 
one-eyed,  so  called  from  a  personal 
defect),  in  classic  Roman  traditions, 
a  hero  who,  with  two  comrades,  de- 
fended the  Sublician  bridge  against 
Lars  Porsena's  attacking  army  of 
Etruscans,  until  the  Romans  in  his 
rear  had  broken  down  the  bridge. 
Having  previously  sent  away  his 
comrades,  he  now  plunged  into  the 
river  Tiber  and  swam  safely  ashore 
to  the  Roman  bank.  This  feat  has 
been  celebrated  by  Macaulay  in  one 
of  the  best  known  among  his  Lays  of 
Ancient  Rome. 

Cocytus  (Gr.  "river  of  wailing"), 
a  stream  in  Epirus,  Greece — tributary 
to  the  Acheron,  through  which  arose 
fabled  connection  with  the  lower 
Dante  Jnferno,  xxxii)  trans- 
forms it  into  a  lake  of  ice,  wherein  the 
souls  of  traitors  are  embedded.  There 
are  four  divisions:  (i)  Caina,  called 
from  Cam,  in  which  are  the  treacher- 
ous murderers  of  their  own  kindred; 
(ii)  Antcnora,  called  from  Antenori 


who  (without  any  Homeric  or  Vir- 
gilian  warrant)  was  supposed  to  have 
betrayed  Troy  to  the  Greeks,  which 
contains  traitors  to  their  native  land ; 
(iii)  Tolomea,  so  named  from  Ptolemy, 
the  murderer  of  Simon  Maccabseus, 
the  region  of  those  who  did  murder 
under  cover  of  hospitality;  (iv) 
Giudecca,  the  place  of  Judas,  in  which 
are  traitors  to  their  lords  and  bene- 
factors. 

Blue  pinch'd  and  shrined  in  ice  the  spirits 

stood, 
Moving  their  teeth  In  shrill  note  like  the 

stork. 
His  face  each  downward  held;  their  mouth 

the  cold, 
Their   eyes   express'd   the   colour   of   their 

heart. 

GARY,  trans. 

In  an  earlier  canto  (xiv)  Virgil 
explains  to  Dante  that  the  infernal 
rivers  are  produced  by  the  tears  and 
sins  of  all  human  generations  since 
the  Golden  Age,  and,  flowing  from 
rock  to  rock  down  the  circles  of  Hell, 
form  Lake  Cocytus  in  the  lowest 
depth  of  all. 

Cf.  Thomas  the  Rhymer's  descrip- 
tion of  Faery-land: 

For  a'  the  fluid  that's  shed  on  earth 
Runs  through  the  springs  of  that  countrie. 


Pierre    du,    in    French 
lore    the    equivalent    for 


Coignet, 

proverbial 
Ananias. 

Cole,  Old  King,  of  the  nursery 
rhyme,  is  usually  identified  with  the 
semi-mythical  King  Coilus,  Coil,  or 
Cole,  who  on  the  doubtful  testimony 
of  Robert  of  Gloucester  and  Geoffrey 
of  Monmouth,  is  said  to  have  suc- 
ceeded Asclepiodotus  on  the  throne 
of  Britain  in  the  third  century  after 
Christ.  It  is  added  that  Colchester, 
whose  walls  he  built,  was  named  after 
him,  and  a  large  earthwork  in  that 
city,  supposed  to  have  been  a  Roman 
amphitheatre,  is  popularly  known  as 
"King  Cole's  Kitchen."  Many 
authorities  claim  that  he  was  the 
father  of  St.  Helena,  mother  of 
Constantine  the  Great,  though  the 
claim  has  no  historical  basis.  Geof- 
frey of  Monmouth  says  that  King 
Cole's  daughter  was  a  skilled  musi- 
cian, but  there  is  no  evidence  out  of 


Columbia 


83 


Comus 


the  nursery  rhyme  that  he  himself 
was  a  lover  of  the  art. 

The  current  version  of  the  rhyme 
which  speaks  of  the  hero  as  a  merry 
old  soul  and  pictures  him  calling  for 
an  anachronistic  pipe  is  obviously  a 
modernization. 

King  Cole  has  also  been  plausibly 
identified  with  Thomas  Cole,  a 
wealthy  clothier  of  the  fourteenth 
century,  who  lived  in  Reading,  but 
was  fond  of  coming  down  to  London 
to  meet  his  fellows  of  the  craft,  and 
was  hailed  by  them  as  their  leader, 
who  was  fond  of  music  and  his  cup, 
and  whose  exploits  were  celebrated 
in  the  sixteenth  century  by  Thomas 
Delony,  a  well-known  ballad  maker, 
in  a  work  entitled  The  Pleasant 
Historie  of  Thomas  of  Reading,  or  the 
Six  Worthie  Yeomen  of  the  West.  Like 
another  famous  worthy — "  Old  Sir 
Simon  the  King " — he  probably 
earned  his  kingly  title  by  being  a 
royal  good  fellow  and  by  lavish 
hospitality. 

Columbia,  a  name  often  given  to 
America  as  a  bit  of  poetic  justice  to 
the  discoverer  of  the  New  World, 
but  specifically  applied,  as  the  very 
word  America  is  applied,  to  the 
United  States.  It  probably  origin- 
ated with  Timothy  Dwight  in  a  once 
popular  lyric  beginning: 

Columbia,  Columbia,  to  glory  arise, 
The  queen  of  the  world  and  the  child  of  the 
skies. 

This  antedated  the  use  of  the  word 
in  the  famous  patriotic  hymn  Hail 
Columbia,  written  by  Joseph  Hopkin- 
son  in  1789. 

Can  tyrants  but  by  tyrants  conquered  be, 
And  freedom  find  no  champion  and  no  child, 

Such  as  Columbia  saw  arise,  when  she 
Sprang  forth  a  Pallas,  armed  and  undefined  ? 

Or  must  such  minds  be  nourished  in  the  wild, 
Deep  in  the  unpruned  forest,  'midst  the  roar 

Of  cataracts,  where  nursing  Nature  smiled 
On  infant  Washington?  Has  earth  no  more 
Such  seeds  within  her  breast,  or  Europe  no 
such  shore? 

BYRON:  Childe  Harold. 

Columbine,  a  conventional  charac- 
ter in  pantomime  which  originally 
appeared  in  Italian  comedy  about  the 
year  1560.  She  is  always  the  object 
of  Harlequin's  adoration  and  is  usually 


the  daughter  of  Pantaloon,  though 
sometimes  she  is  his  maid-servant. 
Light-hearted  and  coquettish,  she  is 
full  of  sprightly  stratagems.  See 
HARLEQUIN. 

Comorre  the  Cursed,  a  semi-mythi- 
cal Breton  chief  of  the  sixth  century, 
said  to  have  flourished  at  Carhaix  in 
Finisterre,  who  shares  with  Gil  de 
Rais  the  discredit  of  being  the  original 
Bluebeard.  About  548  he  married 
Tropheme  or  Tryphine,  whom  he 
cruelly  maltreated,  finally  leaving 
her  for  dead  in  a  wood.  She  retired 
to  a  convent  and  after  death  was 
canonized.  In  legend  she  was  actu- 
ally decapitated  and  miraculously 
restored  to  life  by  her  patron  St. 
Gildas.  Alain  Bouchard  (Grandes 
Croniques  Nantes),  (1531)  says  that 
Comorre  had  put  several  wives  to 
death  before  he  married  Tropheme. 
Still  more  to  the  point,  Hippolyte 
Voileau  (Pelerinages  de  Bretagne) 
describes  a  series  of  frescoes  dis- 
covered (1850)  during  the  repairs  of 
the  chapel  of  St.  Nicholas  de  Bienzy. 
These  deal  as  follows  with  the  legend 
of  St.  Tropheme:  (i)  The  marriage; 
(2)  her  husband,  taking  leave,  en- 
trusts her  with  a  key;  (3)  a  glimpse 
into  a  room  where  seven  female 
corpses  hang  from  the  wall. 

Comus,  in  the  later  mythology  of 
Greece  and  Rome,  the  god  of  revelry. 
His  first  known  appearance  is  in 
Philostratus's  Description  of  Pictures, 
written  at  the  beginning  of  the  third 
century,  where  there  is  record  of  a 
painting  representing  Comus  as  a 
winged  youth  flushed  and  drowsy 
with  wine,  feebly  grasping  a  hunting 
spear  in  his  left  hand  and  an  inverted 
torch  in  the  right.  In  various  bas- 
reliefs  of  the  later  period  of  classic 
art  he  appears  in  the  company  of 
Silenus,  or  surrounded  by  a  crowd  of 
nymphs  or  revellers.  Ben  Jonson  in 
Pleasure  Reconciled  to  Virtue  paints 
Comus  as  the  jolly  patron  of  good 
cheer,  fat,  hearty  and  healthy,  but 
in  Heinrich  Van  der  Putten's  moral 
allegory  of  Comus  the  ancient  idea 
is  more  closely  followed,  and  the  god 
is  described  as  one  whose  allurements 
are  at  once  seductive  and  debasing. 


Cophetua 


84 


Coriolanus 


Milton  has  given  the  name  its 
:  fame  through  Comus,  a  Masque 
( 1 63 1 ) .  He  amplifies  this  conception 
of  the  god,  making  Comus  the  son  of 
Bacchus  and  Circe,  and  endowing 
him  with  the  worst  qualities  of  both 
nts.  A  sensualist  like  his  father, 
he  is  a  sorcerer  like  his  mother ,  possess- 
ing a  liquor  which  brutalizes  whom- 
soever drinks  of  it,  and  an  enchanted 
wand  whose  touch  bestows  invisi- 
bility. 

Cophetua,  an  imaginary 
Africa,  hero  of  an  old  ballad,  King 
Cophetua.  and  the  Beggarmaid,  which 
has  been  preserved  in  Percy's 
Reliques.  The  oldest  extant  version 
is  in  Johnson's  Crown  Garland  of 
Golden  Roses,  1612.  Cophetua  dis- 
dained all  woman-kind,  but,  looking 
from  his  palace  window  one  day,  he 
saw,  and  instantly  fell  in.  love  with, 
the  beggarmaid  Penelophon  and 
married  her  off  hand.  Shakspear, 
in  Love's  Labour's  Lost 'calls  the  maid 
Zenelophon,  but  this  is  probably  a 
misprint.  It  is  conjectured  that  the 
ballad  was  founded  on  an  old  play 
n  which  Falstaff  in  King  Henry 
IV  quotes  the  bombastic  lines: 

Oh  base  Assyrian  knight,  what  is  the  news, 
Let  King  Cophetua  know  the  truth  thereof. 

Among  the  old  dramatists  Cophe- 
tua was  the  favorite  hero  of  a  rant. 
Cf.  Ben  Jonson's  Every  Man  in  His 
Humor,  Act  iii,  Sc.  4.  Tennyson 
modernizes  the  old  ballad  in  his 
poem  The  Beggarmaid. 

Corineus  or  Corin,  the  name  father 
of  Corinea,  now  Cornwall,  in  Wales. 
According  to  British  legend  he  was 
•  of  the  suite  of  Brutus,  the  myth- 
ical  first  king   of  Britain,  and  the 
name  was  given  to  Cornwall  in  honor 
of  his  victory  over  the  giant  Goema- 
.  Corineus,  says  Geoffrey  of  Mon- 
uth,  British  History,  i,  16  (1142), 
challenged  the  giant  to  wrestle  with 
:.     At  the  beginning  of  the  en- 
counter,   Corineus    and    the    giant, 
ng  front  to  front,   held  each 
or    strongly    by    the   arms     and 
>•  for  breath,  but  Goema- 
'  -  '  grasping  Corineus  with 

all  ight,  broke  three  of  his  ribs, 


two  on  his  right  side  and  one  on  his 
left,  at  which  Corineus,  highly 
enraged,  roused  up  his  whole  strength, 
and  snatching  up  the  giant,  ran  with 
him  on  his  shoulders  to  the  neighbor- 
ing shore  and,  climbing  on  to  the  top 
of  a  high  rock,  hurled  the  monster 
into  the  sea.  The  place  where  he  fell 
is  called  Lam  Goemagot,  or  Goema- 
got's  Leap,  to  this  day.  See  LOCRJNE 
and  BELLERUS. 

Corinna,  the  name  under  which 
Ovid  in  his  Amores  (Loves)  celebrated 
some  unknown  mistress.  Sidonius 
Apollinaris,  a  poet  of  the  fifth  century, 
identified  her  with  Julia,  daughter  of 
the  Emperor  Augustus,  and,  by  her 
third  marriage,  wife  of  Tiberius  the 
future  Emperor.  Tiberius  left  her, 
and  Augustus  then  knew  what  all 
Rome  knew,  that  his  daughter  was 
one  of  the  most  profligate  women  in 
a  profligate  age.  One  bit  of  confirma- 
tory evidence  is  curious.  Julia  had 
lost  much  of  her  hair  by  the  use  of 
dyes.  We  find  Ovid  remonstrating 
with  Corinna  on  a  similar  folly  with 
similar  results.  It  has  further  been 
supposed  that  it  was  this  intrigue 
which  led  to  Ovid's  banishment  from 
Rome.  However,  the  evidence  is  not 
conclusive.  Ovid  himself  says  that 
it  was  not  known  who  was  the  theme 
of  his  song  and  he  speaks  of  some 
woman  who  was  going  about  boasting 
that  she  was  Corinna. 

Corinth,  Bride  of.  See  PHILE- 
MIUM. 

Coriolanus,  the  surname  given  to 
Caius  or  Cneius  Marcius,  hero  of  an 
early  Roman  legend,  in  honor  of  his 
capture  of  Corioli  from  the  Volscians, 
—an  event  ascribed  to  the  year  493 
B.C.  Allying  himself  with  the  patri- 
cian party,  his  arrogance  alienated 
the  populace,  who  denied  him  the 
consulship  and  eventually  banished 
him.  Attius  Tullius,  king  of  the 
Volscians,  eagerly  welcomed  his 
former  foe  and  placed  him  at  the 
head  of  an  expedition  against  Rome. 
In  dismay  the  threatened  city  sent 
the  invader's  wife  and  mother  to 
meet  him.  With  great  difficulty'they 
persuaded  him  to  abandon  his  pro- 
ject. The  story  is  now  generally 


Cornucopia 


85 


Cronus 


discredited.  Shakspear  found  it  in 
North's  Plutarch  and  made  it  the 
subject  of  a  tragedy  which  ends  with 
the  assassination  of  the  hero  by  the 
enraged  Attius  Tullius. 

In  1705  John  Dennis  founded  on 
Shakspear 's  drama  a  new  play, 
entitled  The  Invader  of  his  Country, 
or  the  Fatal  Resentment.  James 
Thomson  left  behind  him  the  MS.  of 
a  drama  Coriolanus,  which  was  pub- 
lished posthumously  in  1748. 

Cornucopia  (Latin  a  horn  of 
plenty).  According  to  Hesiod,  Zeus 
was  suckled  in  infancy  by  a  she  goat 
called  Amalthea.  One  day  the  young 
god,  playing  with  her  after  his  wont, 
grasped  one  of  her  curved  horns  as 
she  made  pretence  of  butting  and 
broke  it  clear  off.  But  he  placed  his 
hand  on  the  goat's  head,  and  imme- 
diately a  new  horn  sprouted  forth 
full-grown.  Taking  up  the  horn  he 
had  broken,  he  gave  it  to  the  Nymphs, 
saying,  "  Kindly  nurses,  in  recom- 
pense of  your  care,  Zeus  gives  you 
Amalthea's  Horn,  which  shall  be 
to  you  a  Horn  of  Plenty.  When  I 
come  into  my  kingdom,  I  will  be 
mindful  of  my  foster-mother;  ^she 
shall  not  die,  but  be  changed  into 
one  of  the  bright  signs  of  Heaven." 
Zeus  fulfilled  his  word  in  the  after- 
time.  When  the  Nymphs  had  taken 
the  horn,  they  found  it  brimful  of  all 
manner  of  luscious  fruits,  of  wheat 
flour,  and  butter,  and  honeycombs. 
They  shook  all  put,  laughing  in 
delight,  and  one  cried,  "  Here  were  a 
feast  for  the  gods,  had  we  but  wine 
thereto ! '  No  sooner  said  than  _the 
horn  bubbled  over  with  ruby  wine; 
for  this  was  the  magic  in  it,  that  it 
never  grew  empty,  and  yielded  its 
possessors  whatsoever  food  or  drink 
they  desired. 

Couvera  or  Kuvera,  in  Hindoo 
mythology  the  god  of  riches.  As  a 
reward  for  piety,  Brahma  gave  him 
the  island  of  Lanka  where  the  roads 
are  covered  with  gold-dust.  Driven 
therefrom  by  his  brother  Ravassa,  he 
established  his  new  capital  at  Alaka, 
on  the  mountain  Kelasa.  Like 
Plutus  he  was  deformed; — a  leper 
with  3  legs  and  8  teeth,  in  place  of  one 


of  his  eyes  a  yellow  spot  and  in  his 
hand  he  held  a  hammer. 

Crescentia,  heroine  of  a  German 
legend  dating  as  far  back  as  the 
twelfth  century.  Her  husband  during 
his  absence  in  the  wars  entrusted  her 
to  his  brother.  The  latter  tempted 
her  to  break  her  marriage  vows.  She 
repelled  him  with  scorn  and  managed 
to  shut  him  up  in  a  tower,  but  the 
wretch  revenged  himself  by  slandering 
her  to  her  too  credulous  husband,  on 
whose  return  she  uncomplainingly 
endured  much  misery  until  her  inno- 
cence was  established.  In  this 
patience  under  unmerited  misfortune 
she  is  the  prototype  of  Griselda. 

Criss  Kingle,  Criss  Kinkle  or  Kriss 
Kingle,  a  corruption  of  the  German 
word  Christ-Kindlein,  which  in_  its 
turn  is  the  diminutive  of  Christ-kind, 
the  Christ-child.  Hence  etymologi- 
cally  it  means  the '  'little  Christ-child, ' ' 
the  representative  of  the  Christmas 
season  in  mediaeval  Germany,  the 
equivalent  of  the  Italian  Bambino  and 
the  French  le  bon  petit  Jesus. 

In  Germany  the  elders  feigned  to 
their  children  that  he  visited  the 
household  on  the  night  before  Christ- 
mas, leaving  presents  for  deserving 
juveniles.  Later  a  boy  dressed  up 
to  represent  him  made  his  rounds  in 
the  daylight  distributing  gifts.  Even- 
tual!}' the  name  (now  corrupted  into 
Criss  Kingle)  and  the  functions  of  the 
child-god  were  transferred  to  the 
more  robust  shoulders  of  St.  Nicholas 
or  Santa  Claus. 

Cronus  (Gr.  Time},  the  Saturnus 
(5.?.)  of  the  Romans  and  in  Greek 
myth  the  youngest  of  the  Titans,  son 
of  Uranus  and  Ge, — Heaven  and 
Earth.  Though  of  later  birth  than 
Zeus  into  mythology,  he  was  from  his 
first  appearance  the  father  of  that 
god.  There  was  no  such  being  in 
Sanskrit.  The  Greeks  called  Zeus 
the  Son  of  Time  and  then  personified 
Time  and  wove  a  legend  around  him, 
— that  he  dispossessed  his  father  of 
the  government  of  the  world,  and  was 
himself  dispossessed  by  the  greatest 
of  his  sons,  Zeus;  that  he  added  insult 
to  injury  by  mutilating  his  father; 
that  he  married  Rhea  and  devoured 


Crow 


86 


distance 


his  male  children  one  by  one  as  they 
were  born;  that  his  spouse  concealed 
the  new  born  Zeus  in  a  cave  and  saved 
him  by  giving  the  credulous  and 
omnivorous  father  a  stone  to  swallow, 
that  because  Zeus  was  spared  the 
Tit  ans  made  war  against  their  brother 
and  imprisoned  him,  with  Rhea,  and 
that  Zeus  released  the  old  folks,  what 
time  he  conquered  the  Titans.  This 
legend, — the  stumbling  block  of  the 
orthodox  Greek,  the  jest  of  the  skep- 
tic, and  the  butt  of  the  early  Christian 
controversialist, — is  now  seen  to  be  a 
nature  myth.  Time,  the  father  of 
the  Hours,  is  likewise  their  summary 
destroyer. 

Crow,  Jim,  a  typical  negro  charac- 
ter in  that  ephemeral  but  once  highly 
popular  form  of  American  drama — 
generally  unpublished  and  sometimes 
impromptu — which  was  known  as 
Negro  Minstrelsy.  The  character 
was  introduced  to  the  stage  by 
Thomas  D.  Rice,  a  famous  negro 
impersonator.  According  to  his 
biographer,  E.S.Connor,  Rice  studied 
him  from  an  old  negro  named  Jim 
Cuff  owned  by  one  Crow  in  Louisville, 
Kentucky,  who,  according  to  custom, 
had  taken  his  master's  name. 

He  used  to  croon  a  queer  tune  with  words 
of  his  own,  and  at  the  end  of  each  stanza 
would  give  a  little  jump,  and  when  he  came 
d'  iwn  he  set  his  "  heel  a-rockin'."  He  called 
It  "  jumping  Jim  Crow."  The  words  of  the 
refrain  were: 

"  Wheel  about,  turn  about, 

Do  ies  so, 

An'  ebery  time  I  wheel  about, 
I  jump  Jim  Crow!" 

Rice  watched  him   closely,  and  saw  that 

here  was  a  character  unknown  to  the  stage. 

He  wrote  several  stanzas,  changed  the  air 

•vhat.  quickened  it,  made  up  exactly 

negro,  and  sang  to  a  Louisville 

They    were   wild   with    delight, 

and  on  the  first  night  he  was  recalled  twenty 

times. — CONNOR. 

Rice  went  to  England  and  was  Immedl- 
•  a  ch  ure  in  the  London  theatrical 

world.— WM.  WINTER. 

A  different  account  is  given  by 
Laurence  Hutton  in  his  Curiosities  of 
the  American  Stage. 

Cupid  (Lat.  Cupido),  the   Roman 
-,  son  of  Venus  and  god  of  love 
He  is  also  called  Amor.    He  has  no 


place  in  the  religion  of  the  Romans, 
who  adopted  the  Greek  myth  into 
their  literature  under  these  names. 
The  most  famous  of  the  Roman 
legends  is  the  story  of  Cupid  and 
Psyche  (see  PSYCHE),  which  forms 
an  episode  in  The  Golden  Ass  of 
Apuleius  (second  century,  A.D.). 

More  than  once  the  story  of  Cupid 
and  Psyche  was  dramatized  by 
Elizabethan  playwrights.  Stephen 
Gosson,  as  early  as  1582,  refers  to  a 
play  on  the  subject.  In  the  summer 
of  1600  Dekker,  Day,  and  Chettle 
were  engaged  in  preparing  for  Hen- 
slowe  a  play  "  called  the  go  widen 
asse,  cupid  and  siches."  A  few  years 
later  Heywood  handled  the  story  in 
Love's  Mistress.  In  recent  times  the 
story  has  been  versified  by  William 
Morris  and  Robert  Bridges  and  retold 
in  poetical  prose  in  Walter  Pater's 
Marius  the  Epicurean.  A  burlesque 
by  F.  C.  Burnand  (1864)  is  one  of 
many  dramatic  parodies.  Andrew 
Lang  edited  a  reprint  of  the  first 
English  translation  (1566)  by  William 
Arlington  with  a  luminous  prefatory 
Discourse  on  the  Fable. 

Why  vainly  strive  against  the  powers  above? 

For  Cupid's  weapons  are  invincible; 

Your  puny   powers  by   those  fierce  flames 

he'll  dim 
By  which  he  oft  has  quenched  the  bolts 

of  Jove, 
And  brought  the  Thunderer  captive  from 

the  sky 

.     .     .     At  his  command 
Did  fierce  Achilles  strike  the  peaceful  lyre; 
He    forced    the    Greeks    and    Agamemnon 

proud 

To  do  his  will.     Illustrious  cities,  too, 
And  Priam's  realm  he  utterly  destroyed. 
SENECA:  Octavia,  806. 

That  Cupid  was  blind  or  blind- 
folded is  a  modern  idea,  no  trace  of 
which  can  be  found  in  the  classics. 
Nor  has  any  earlier  authority  been 
found  than  Chaucer,  who  in  his 
translation  of  the  Roman  de  la  Rose 
says,  "the  god  of  love,  blind  as  stone," 
but  the  line  is  not  found  in  the  French 
original. 

Custance  (i.e.,  Constance),  heroine 
of  The  Man  of  Law's  Tale,  in  Chau- 
cer's Canterbury  Tales  (1388).  A 
daughter  of  the  Emperor  of  Rome. 
The  fame  of  her  goodness  and  beauty 


Cutpurse 


87 


Cymbeline 


reached  the  ears  of  the  Sultan  of 
Syria,  who  fell  in  love  with  her  on  the 
bare  report  of  her  surpassing  excel- 
lence. In  order  to  marry  her  he 
consented,  with  all  his  head  nobles, 
to  receive  baptism.  At  the  marriage 
feast  the  Sultan's  mother  wreaked  a 
fearful  vengeance  on  this  apostasy. 
She  murdered  every  Christian  except 
Custance.  Her  she  set  adrift  in  a  rud- 
derless boat.  Custance  reached  Eng- 
land and  was  taken  in  charge  by  the 
lord-constable  of  N orthumberland  and 
Hermegild,  his  wife,  whom  Custance 
converted  to  Christianity.  A  young 
knight  whose  addresses  she  had  refused 
murdered  Hermegild,  and  threw  sus- 
picion for  the  crime  on  Custance. 
King  Alia  discovered  the  truth,  sen- 
tenced the  youth,  and  married  the 
lady.  Once  more  a  mother-in-law 
disapproved  of  her,  and  once  more 
she  was  set  adrift,  this  time  with  an 
infant  boy,  Maurice.  After  five  years 
she  reached  Rome,  where  King  Alia, 
on  a  pilgrimage,  recognized  her  and 
brought  her  home. 

Cutpurse,  Moll,  the  nickname  of 
Mary  Frith,  a  famous  thief  and  harlot 
who  flourished  in  Queen  Elizabeth's 
reign  and  is  the  heroine  of  Middleton's 
comedy  The  Roaring  Girl.  Numerous 
allusions  to  her  are  to  be  found  among 
the  early  dramatists. 

Cybele,  in  classic  myth,  the  spouse 
of  Cronos  and  mother  of  the  Olym- 
pian gods.  Her  cult  originated  in 
Phrygia,  and  early  extended  to  most 
of  the  peoples  of  Asia  Minor.  By  the 
sixth  century  B.C.,  she  had  been 
accepted  by  the  Greeks  as  identical 
with  their  own  Rhea,  the  original 
name  for  the  consort  of  Cronos,  and 
in  B.C.  204  she  was  introduced  into 
Rome.  She  rose  to  great  importance 
under  the  Empire  and  survived  most 
of  her  heathen  kin. 

As  the  founder  of  cities  she  was 
represented  crowned  with  a  diadem 
of  towers.  In  Rome  she  was  hailed 
as  the  Great  Mother  of  the  Gods, 
Magnu  Deum  Mater.  In  all  her 
aspects,  Roman,  Greek  and  Oriental, 
she  was  essentially  the  same,  the 
symbol  of  the  procreative  power  of 
nature,  the  All-begetter  and  All- 


Nourisher.  'Apollonius  Rhodius,  Ar- 
gonautica,  i,  1098,  says  that  the  winds, 
the  sea,  the  earth  and  the  snowy  seat 
of  Olympus  were  all  alike  hers.  When 
from  her  mountains  she  ascends  into 
the  great  heavens,  the  son  of  Cronus 
himself  gives  way  before  her.  Ovid's 
description  of  the  goddess  in  Meta- 
morphoses, x,  evidently  suggested  to 
Keats  the  following  lines: 

Forth  from  a  rugged  arch,  in  the  dusk  below. 
Came  Mother  Cybele!  alone — alone — 
In  sombre  chariot;  dark  foldings  thrown 
About  her  majesty,  and  front  death-pale. 
With  turrets  crowned.     Four  maned  lions 

hale 
The  sluggish  wheels;  solemn  their  toothed 

maws, 

Their  surly  eyes  brow-hidden,  heavy  paws 
Uplifted  drowsily,  and  nervy  tails 
Cowering  their  tawny  brushes. 

KEATS:  Endymion,  ii,  639. 

Cyclops,  in  classic  myth,  a  race  of 
one-eyed  giants  inhabiting  the  sea 
coasts  of  Sicily.  Hesiod,  Theogeny, 
264,  places  their  number  at  three  and 
names  them  Arges,  Steropes  and 
Brontes,  or  Thunder,  Lightning  and 
Thunderbolt.  Homer  (Odyssey,  ix) 
does  not  specify  their  number,  names 
their  chief  Polyphemus  (q.v.)  and 
describes  them  as  shepherds  who  fed 
on  human  flesh .  The  Cyclops ,  accord- 
ing to  Hesiod,  furnished  Zeus  with 
thunder  and  lightning  out  of  grati- 
tude because  he  released  them  from 
Tartarus.  In  the  end  they  were 
killed  by  Apollo  because  it  was  with 
one  of  their  bolts  that  Zeus  had  slain 
Asclepius. 

Cymbeline  or  Cunobeline,  a  semi- 
mythical  king  of  Britain  whom  Shak- 
spear  has  made  the  hero  of  a  historical 
drama.  From  Hollinshed's  Chron- 
icles he  has  taken  the  names  of  Cymbe- 
line and  his  two  sons,  together  with 
a  few  historical  facts  concerning  the 
king,  but  the  story  of  the  stealing  of 
the  princes  and  their  life  in  the  wilder- 
ness seems  to  be  his  own,  while  all 
that  relates  to  Imogen  is  taken 
directly  or  indirectly  from  Boccaccio's 
Decameron,  ii,  ix. 

Caesar,  on  a  second  invasion  of  the 
island,  was  more  fortunate.  Cymbe- 
line, the  nephew  of  the  king,  was 
delivered  to  the  Romans  as  a  hostage 


Cynosura 


Cyrus 


for  the  faithful  fulfilment  of  the  treaty, 
and,  being  carried  to  Rome  by  Cassar, 
he  was  there  brought  up  in  the  Roman 
arts  and  accomplishments.  Being 
afterwards  restored  to  his  country, 
and  placed  on  the  throne,  he  was 
.ched  to  the  Romans,  and  con- 
tinued through  all  his  reign  at  peace 
with  them.  His  sons,  Guiderius  and 
Arviragus,  succeeded  their  father, 
and,  refusing  to  pay  tribute  to  the 
Romans,  brought  on  another  inva- 
sion. 

There  be  many  Caesars 

Ere  such  another  Julius.     Britain  is 

A  world  by  itself;  and  we  will  nothing  pay 

For  wearing  our  own  noses. 

Cymbeline. 

Guiderius  was  slain,  but  Arviragus 
afterward  made  terms  with  the 
Romans,  and  reigned  prosperously 
many  years. 

Cynosura,  in  classic  myth,  an  Idean 
nymph,  one  of  the  nurses  of  Zeus. 
The  god  placed  her  in  the  heavens  as 
the  North  or  Pole  Star,  the  last  star 
in  the  trail  of  the  constellation  of  the 
Little  Bear  (see  ARCTOS).  The  word 
means  dog's  tail.  It  has  passed  into 
current  use  as  a  common  noun  for  an 
object  of  universal  observation. 

Straight  mine  eye  hath  caught  new  pleas- 
ures 
While  the  landscape  round  it  measures. 

•  ••••• 

Towers  and  battlements  it  sees 
Josomed  high  in  tufted  trees, 
Where  perhaps  some  beauty  lies 
The  cynosure  of  neighboring  eyes. 

MILTON:  L' 'Allegro. 

Cynthia,  in  classic  myth,  one  of  the 
names  of  Diana,  who  was  born  on 
Mount  Cynthus  in  Delos.  Like 
Diana,  the  name  is  frequently  used 
as  a  synonym  for  the  moon.  Spenser 
in  Colin  Clout's  Come  Home  Again 
(1591)  and  Phineas  Fletcher  in  The 
Purple  Island  (1633)  bestow  the 
name  on  Queen  Elizabeth  with  special 
application  to  the  chastity  of  the 
\  irRin  Queen.  Raleigh  also  flatters 
b  r  m  a  poem  called  Cynthia,  of  which 
a  few  books  have  survived.  Ben  Jon- 
son  docs  the  same  in  Cynthia's  Revels. 

Keats  makes  Cynthia  the  heroine 
of  his  poem  Endymion  (1888). 


Under  the  name  of  Cynthia,  Sextus 
Propertius,  a  Roman  elegiac  poet 
(B.C.  50-16),  celebrates  his  mistress 
Hostia,  who  was,  very  frankly,  a 
woman  of  ill-fame  living  in  luxury  at 
Rome  on  the  proceeds  of  her  infamy. 
"  She  has  a  very  real  and  marked 
individuality,  which  her  lover  is  con- 
strained to  describe,  as  he  describes 
his  own  weakness  and  infatuation, 
with  the  desperate  sincerity  and 
truthfulness  making  the  full  confes- 
sion of  his  life  to  the  world  "  (W.  Y. 
SELLAR,  Roman  Poets  of  the  Au- 
gustan Age,  p.  283).  He  even 
prides  himself  on  his  effeminacy  and 
his  unfitness  for  anything  save  to 
love  Cynthia  and  gain  her  favor  by 
his  verses. 

Cyrus  the  Great  (died  529  B.C.), 
founder  of  the  Persian  empire,  is  the 
hero  of  many  myths,  legends  and 
fictions.  His  birth  and  early  youth 
are  surrounded  by  mystery.  Herodo- 
tus (i,  95)  mentions  four  different 
traditions.  The  favorite  one  makes 
him  the  son  of  Mandane,  daughter  of 
Astyages,  king  of  Media,  and  wife  of 
Cambyses,  a  Persian  nobleman.  His 
grandfather,  prompted  by  a  dream, 
caused  Cyrus  to  be  exposed  at  birth; 
he  was  suckled  by  a  dog,  and  brought 
up  by  a  shepherd.  Xenophon's 
political  novel,  The  Education  of 
Cyrus  (Cyrop&dia)  elaborately  sets 
forth  an  ideal  picture  of  how  a  youth 
should  be  educated  rather  than  a 
record  of  actual  fact  in  the^history  of 
this  particular  youth.  It  was  re- 
served for  Mademoiselle  Madeleine 
de  Scudery  to  harmonize  all  the 
various  legendary  details  into  an 
elaborate  romance  Artamene  ou  le 
Grand  Cyrus  (10  vols.,  1648-1653). 
Here  Cyrus,  son  of  Cambyses,  king 
of  Persia,  is  exposed  in  a  forest; 
rescued  by  shepherds,  reared  under 
the  name  of  Artamenes  and  after  a 
series  of  marvellous  adventures  comes 
into  his  own,  is  recognized  as  the 
legitimate  successor  to  his  father's 
throne;  and  finally  as  King  of  Persia 
continues  the  bewildering  exploits  of 
his  early  youth.  He  falls  in  love  with 
his  cousin  Mandane,  whom  he  re- 
peatedly rescues  and  ends  by  marry- 


Daedalus 


89 


Damoetas 


ing.  Though  nominally  an  Oriental 
romance,  the  whole  language  and 
tone  are  distinctly  Louis  Quatprze, 
and  the  personages  can  be  identified, 
either  actually  or  colorably,  with  the 
author's  contemporaries.  Thus  Cyrus 


is     Louis     himself;     Sapho     is     the 
authoress. 

Dryden's  dramas,  Secret  Love,  Mar- 
riage a  la  Mode  and  A  urungzebe  ( 1 675) , 
and  Banks's  Cyrus  the  Great,  were  all 
drawn  from  Scudery's  romance. 


D 


Daedalus,  in  classic  myth,  an 
ingenious  artisan  of  Athens,  who 
constructed  the  labyrinth  at  Crete 
and  was  the  reputed  inventor  of 
carpentry  and  many  of  its  principal 
tools.  His  most  famous  invention, 
however,  was  a  pair  of  wings  made  of 
feathers  and  wax,  with  which  he  flew 
across  the  ^Egean  Sea,  from  Crete  to 
Athens,  to  escape  the  resentment  of 
Minos.  His  son,  Icarus,  who  joined 
in  the  flight,  approached  too  near  to 
the  sun,  the  wax  melted,  and  he  fell 
into  the  sea.  See  MINOTAUR. 

Dagobert,  a  king  of  France  (602- 
638),  famous  to  this  day  in  French 
proverbial  literature  as  a  dog-lover. 
"  When  King  Dagobert  had  dined,' 
says  one  apologue,  '  he  made  his 
dogs  dine,  and  when  King  Dagobert 
died  he  said  to  his  dogs,  "There  is  no 
company  so  good  but  one  must  quit 
it." 

Dagon,  the  fish  god  of  the  Philis- 
tines and  their  chief  deity.  His  rela- 
tion to  Dagan.who  is  associated  with 
Anu  as  one  of  the  principal  gods  of 
Babylonia,  depends  upon  whether  the 
latter's  name  is  derived  from  a  root 
signifying  fish  or  corn. 

Next  came  one 
Who  mourned  In  earnest,  when  the  captive 

ark 
Maimed  his  brute  image,  head  and  hands 

lopped  off 

In  his  own  temple,  on  the  grunsel  edge. 
Where   he   fell   flat,   and   shamed   his   wor- 
shipers: 

Dagon  his  name;  sea-monster,  upward  man 
And  downward  fish:  yet  had  his  temple  high 
Reared  in  Azotus,  dreaded  through  the  coast 
Of  Palestine,  in  Gath  and  Ascalon, 
And  Accaron  and  Gaza's  frontier  bounds. 

MILTON:  Paradise  Lost,  ii. 

Dagonet,  Sir,  a  dwarf,  the  ad- 
tendant  fool  upon  King  Arthur,  who 
made  him  a  knight  with  his  own  royal 


hands.  Dagonet  was  a  greater 
favorite  with  his  master  than  with  his 
fellows,  for  though  they  cheerfully 
enlisted  his  help  when  they  wished  to 
play  practical  jokes,  they  were  none 
the  less  pleased  if  he  also  were  dis- 
comfited in  the  issue.  Once  they 
persuaded  him  to  attack  Mark,  king 
of  Cornwall,  who  was  an  arrant 
coward.  Mark,  mistaking  him  for 
Lancelot,  ran  away,  but  met  another 
knight  who  at  once  attacked  Dagonet 
and  unhorsed  him. 

Damocles,  a  sycophant  at  the 
court  of  Dionysius  the  elder,  tyrant 
of  Syracuse.  Disgusted  at  his  fulsome 
praise  of  the  happiness  of  princes, 
Dionysius  determined  on  giving  him 
an  object  lesson.  He  arrayed  him 
in  all  the  panoply  of  royalty  and 
seated  him  in  state  at  a  magnificent 
banquet.  While  enjoying  this  hixury 
and  dignity,  Damocles  cast  his  eyes 
upwards  and  beheld  a  naked  sword 
suspended  over  his  head  by  a  single 
horse-hair. 

Let  us  who  have  not  our  name  in  the  Red 
Book  console  ourselves  by  thinking  com- 
fortably how  miserable  our  betters  may  be; 
and  that  Damocles,  who  sits  on  satin 
cushions  and  is  served  on  gold  plate,  has 
an  awful  sword  hanging  over  his  head,  in 
the  shape  of  a  bailiff,  or  hereditary  disease 
or  family  secret. — THACKERAY:  Vanity 
Fair,  xlvii. 

Damoetas,  a  herdsman  in  the 
Idylls  of  Theocritus  and  the  Eclogue 
(Bucolics)  of  Virgil,  hence  a  common 
name  for  a  herdsman  or  rustic  in 
pastoral  poetry.  Milton,  however, 
applies  it  to  one  of  the  tutors  of 
Christ  College,  with  whom  he  and 
Edward  King  had  been  associated  at 
Cambridge. 

And  old  Damoetas  loved  to  hear  our  song. 

Lycidas,  36. 


Damon 


90 


Daphne 


Damon,  famous  for  his  friendship 
with  Pythias  or  Phintias,  who  like 
himself  was  a  disciple  of  Pythagoras. 
A  Senator  of  Syracuse,  when  Diony- 
sius  the  elder  overturned  the  republic 
and  was  elected  king,  Damon  alone 
dissented  from  the  vote  of  his  fellow 
senators.  He  upbraided  the  betrayers 
of  his  country  and  denounced  the 
usurper,  was  seized  by  order  of  the 
latter,  attempted  to  stab  him  and  was 
condemned  to  instant  death.  Pythias 
obtained  for  him  a  respite  of  six  hours, 
so  that  he  might  bid  a  last  farewell  to 
his  family  .offering  himself  as  a  hostage 
to  be  imprisoned, — and  executed  if 
Damon  failed  to  return  at  the  ap- 
pointed time.  At  the  precise  moment 
Damon  made  his  reappearance.  He 
had  been  delayed  to  the  last  by  the 
ill-advised  act  of  Lucullus,  who  slew 
his  horse  that  he  might  fail  of  the 
appointment.  Dionysius  was  so 
struck  by  his  loyalty  that  he  pardoned 
Damon  and  asked  to  be  made  a  third 
in  the  partnership  of  friends. 

In  1571  the  story  was  dramatized 
by  Richard  Edwards;  in  1599  by 
Henry  Chettle,  and  in  1821  by  John 
Banim,  always  under  the  name  of 
Damon  and  Pythias.  A  curious  varia- 
tion occurs  in  the  story  of  the  Em- 
peror and  Two  Thieves: — Gesta 
Romanorum,  cviii. 

^  Damon  is  a  goatherd  in  Virgil's 
I'.flngues,  in,  and  hence  the  name  is 

n  used  as  a  generic  one  for  a  rustic, 
a  swain.  James  Thomson,  in  The 

on's  Summer,  tells  the  story  of  two 
rustic  lovers  whom  he  styles  Damon 
and  Musidora. 

Dana,  in  classic  myth,  daughter  of 

sms,  king  of  Argos.    Her  father, 

•ned  by  an  oracle  that  she  would 

bear  a  son  who  would  put  him  to  death 

and  rule  in  his  stead,  sought  to  nullify 

the  prediction  by  confining  her  in  an 

underground     chamber    lined     with 

like  the  subterranean  treas- 

1  visible  at  Myceme.     Some 

authorities,    however,   say   she   was 

immured  in  a  brazen  tower.     Zeus 

m  love  with  the  maiden  and  de- 
eded to  her  in  a  shower  of  gold 

3irth  to  Perseus,  who  unwit- 
tingly fulfilled  the  oracle. 


Danaus,  in  classic  myth,  the  twin 
brother  of  ^gyptus.  Belus,  their 
father,  had  assigned  Libya  to  Danaus, 
but  fearing  his  brother  and  his 
brother's  fifty  sons,  Danaus  fled  to 
Argus  with  his  50  daughters  and  there 
became  king.  Eventually  it  was  the 
50  sons  of  ^Egyptus  who  on  their 
marriage  to  the  50  Danaides  or 
daughters  of  Danaus  were  slain  on 
the  bridal  night,  with  a  single  excep- 
tion, Lynceus,  who  survived  to  kill 
Danaus.  The  Danaides  were  pun- 
ished in  Hades  by  being  compelled 
everlastingly  to  pour  water  into  a 
sieve. 

Daphne  (Gr.  laurel),  in  classic 
myth,  a  nymph  vowed  to  celibacy, 
loved  successively,  but  unsuccessfully, 
by  Leucippus  and  Apollo.  When  the 
first  pursued  her  in  female  dress  he 
was  slain  by  order  of  Apollo.  When 
the  god  turned  pursuer  she  prayed 
that  she  might  be  changed  into  a 
laurel,  and  either  Apollo  or  Jove 
granted  her  prayer.  Ovid  (Metamor- 
phoses') makes  Apollo  do  this  of  his 
own  motion: 

"And  if,"  he  cries, 
"Thou  canst  not  now  my  consort  be,  at 

least 
My  tree  thou  shall  be!     Still  thy  leaves 

shall  crown 
My  locks,   my   lyre,   my   quiver.      Thine 

the  brows 
Of  Latium's  lords  to  wreathe,  what  time 

the  voice 
Of   Rome  salutes   the   triumph,   and   the 

pomp 

Of  long  procession  scales  the  Capitol. 
Before  the  gates  Augustan  shalt  thou  stand 
Their  hallowed  guardian,  high  amid  thy 

boughs 

Bearing  the  crown  to  civic  merit  due: — 
And,  as  my  front  with  locks  that  know  no 

steel 

Is  ever  youthful,  ever  be  thine  own 
Thus  verdant,  with  the  changing  year  un- 
changed!" 

Apollo's  decree  was  obeyed.  Su- 
premacy especially  in  any  art  patron- 
ized by  him  was  formerly  rewarded 
by  a  wreath  of  laurel  or  bay  leaves. 
Hence  also  the  word  laureate. 

Phcebus,  sitting  one  day  in  a  laurel  tree's 

shade, 
Was  reminded  of  Daphne,  of  whom  it  was 

made, 
For  the  god  being  one  day  too  warm  in  his 

wooing, 


Daphnis 


91 


Death 


She  took  to  the  tree  to  escape  his  pursuing; 
Be  the  cause  what  it  might,  from  his  offers 

she  shrunk 

And,  Ginevra-like.  shut  herself  up  In  a  trunk. 
J.  R.  LOWELL:  A  Fable  for  Critics. 

Daphnis,  in  classic  myth,  a  beau- 
tiful young  Sicilian  shepherd,  son  of 
Hermes,  a  favorite  of  Pan  and  Apollo 
and  the  alleged  inventor  of  bucolic 
poetry. 

Daphnis,  hero  of  Daphnis  and 
Chloe,  a  pastoral  romance  written  by 
Longus,  a  Greek  sophist  of  the  fourth 
century;  rendered  into  French  by 
Amyot  in  1559,  and  thereafter  trans- 
lated into  most  European  languages. 
Daphnis  and  Chloe,  boy  and  girl,  are 
each  exposed  in  infancy  and  found 
and  brought  up  by  shepherds  in 
neighboring  huts.  They  feed  their 
flocks  together  and  when  they  reach 
adolescence  are  inflamed  by  a  mutual 
passion  which  neither  comprehends, 
but  which  affords  strange  delight  to 
both.  First  Daphnis  and  then  Chloe 
are  carried  off  by  pirates.  Each 
rescues  the  other  in  turn  and  they 
go  back  to  the  life  of  ignorant  inno- 
cence, diversified  by  occasional  ad- 
venture. Finally  Lycenion,  a  married 
woman,  inducts  Daphnis  into  the 
mystery  of  human  passion.  But  he 
plays  Joseph  to  the  Mrs.  Potiphar  of 
a  certain  Gnathon,  and  respects  the 
innocence  of  Chloe.  Ultimately  the 
two  lovers  are  restored  to  their 
respective  families,  are  regularly 
betrothed  and  married  and  return  to 
a  happy  domestic  life  in  the  country. 

Darnant,  in  the  mediaeval  prose 
romance  Perceforest,  a  magician  who 
inhabited  an  enchanted  forest.  King 
Perceforest  attacked  him  there  single- 
handed  and  drove  him  to  the  gate 
of  a  delightful  castle.  Here  as  the 
victor's  hand  was  raised  to  slay, 
Darnant  transformed  himself  into  the 
semblance  of  the  king's  wife,  Idorus. 
When  Perceforest  would  have  em- 
braced her,  he  received  a  blow  that 
nearly  stunned  him,  but  recovering, 
he  cut  off  the  magician's  head.  The 
wood  ever  after  retained  the  name  of 
Darnant's  Forest.  It  was  here  that 
Merlin,  according  to  the  romance  of 
Lancelot  du  Lac,  was  confined  by 


Nimue,  his  mistress.  Possibly  the 
idea  of  this  forest  was  copied  from 
that  of  Marseilles,  which  Caesar  in 
Lucan's  Pharsalia  is  made  to  hew 
down.  In  its  turn  it  suggested  the 
enchanted  forest  in  Tasso's  Rinaldo. 
Like  Perceforest,  Rinaldo  surmounts 
all  the  arts  of  necromancy,  including 
the  appearance  of  a  demon  who  as- 
sumes the  guise  of  the  beautiful 
Armida,  and  momentarily  stays  his 
arm. 

Davus,  in  ancient  Latin  ^comedy, 
an  alternate  name  with  Tranip  for  the 
home-born  servant  whose  interests 
are  identical  with  those  of  the  house, 
and  who  is  almost  as  much  the  posses- 
sor as  the  property  of  his  master.  He 
is  a  figure  belonging  entirely  to  the 
old  world,  though  Moliere  imitated 
him  in  his  Scapius  and  Sganarelles, 
under  the  naive  impression  that  a 
classic  model  must  always  be  right. 
Even  the  supernatural  cleverness 
which  belongs  to  the  Davus  type  is 
the  cleverness  of  an  inferior  race,  from 
which  no  scruples  or  higher  senti- 
ments are  expected,  and  whose  lying, 
stealing  and  chicanery  of  all  kinds 
are  natural, — tricks  to  be  laughed  at 
rather  than  regarded  with  moral 
disapproval. 

Death  (Gr.  Thanatos;  Lat.  Mors) 
was  frequently  personified  in  classic 
and  mediaeval  legend  and  literature. 
In  classic  myth  he  is  the  son  of  Night 
and  the  brother  of  Sleep.  Hercules 
and  Sisyphus  both  had  encounters 
with  him.  In  Euripides's  play  Alcestis, 
Heracles,  learning  of  the  burial  of  the 
heroine,  goes  down  into  the  under- 
world and  wrests  her  from  the  very 
arms  of  Thanatos.  After  cracking  a 
few  of  his  ribs  Sisyphus  fought  for 
his  own  life  against  the  same  grisly 
apparition.  When  Thanatos  claimed 
him  he  simply  clapped  Death  into 
fetters.  No  one  died  until  Ares 
released  him  and  delivered  Sisyphus 
into  his  custody.  Not  even  yet  had 
the  wily  Greek  reached  the  end  of 
his  resources.  He  had  instructed  his 
wife  not  to  offer  the  usual  sacrifices 
to  the  dead.  He  now  complained  to 
Hades  of  this  omission  and  obtained 
permission  to  visit  the  upper  world 


Deborah 


92 


Demeter 


and  expostulate  with  Merope.  It 
took  all  the  strength  of  Hermes  to 
restore  him  to  the  shades.  Sisyphus 
found  many  imitators  in  mediaeval 
folklore.  Beppe  in  a  Venetian  myth, 
secures  Death  in  a  bag  and  keeps  him  j 
re  for  68  months.  An  inn-keeper  i 
in  a  Sicilian  tale  did  even  better,  i 
He  corked  Death  up  in  a  bottle  until 
gray  beards  became  the  only  facial 
wear.  Forty  years  was  the  period 
during  which  another  Sicilian,  a 
monk,  retained  Death  in  his  pouch. 
Grimm's  Tales  furnishes  a  German 
parallel,  one  Gambling  Hensel,  who 
kept  Death  up  a  tree  for  7  years. 
G.  W.  Dasent  found  a  Norse  parallel 
in  the  tale  of  the  Master  Smith. 

In  the  Coventry  Miracle  plays 
More  appeared  upon  the  stage  in  all 
the  horrors  of  worm-eaten  flesh  and 
snake-en  writhed  ribs.  '  I  am  Death, 
God's  messenger,"  he  announced.  In 
the  opening  scene  of  Everyman,  the 
Almighty  asks,  "Where  art  thou 
Death,  'thou  mighty  messenger? J 
whereupon  Death  appears  and  is 
sent  forth  upon  his  mission  to  man's 
representative.  Raleigh's  apostrophe, 
"  Oh,  thou  Eloquent,  Just  and  mighty 
Death,"  is  one  of  the  most  impressive 
bits  of  Elizabethan  prose  (see  also 
Don  Quixote,  n,  Ch.  xxxvii).  In  the 
time  of  Chrysostom  the  New  Year 
festivities  of  Byzantium  included  a 
Masque  of  Death  which  may  have 
been  the  germ  of  the  Danse  Macabre 
or  Dance  of  Death  of  a  later  age. 

Deborah,  an  Old  Testament  proph- 
etess who  freed   her  country  from 
the  yoke  of  Sisera,  the  Canaanitish 
king  (Judges   iv  and  v).     Josephus, 
Antiquities  of  the  Jeu's,  adds  some 
details    to    the    Biblical    narrative. 
Deborah  summoned  Barak  to  strike 
against  the  oppressor,  and  prophesied 
*ory;  he  collected  an  army,  but 
n   his   men   saw   their   chariots, 
"  they    were    so    frightened,"    says 
Josephus,     "  that    they    wished    to 
march  off,  had  not  Deborah  com- 
manded   them    to    fight    that    very 
Her  prophecy  was  fulfilled. 
The  Canaanites  were  put  to  flight 
1    their    king,    seeking    refuge    in 
Ts  tent,  was  by  her  slain  in  his  sleep. 


Deidamia,  daughter  of  Lycomedes 
(q.v.),  king  of  Seyms. 

Deirdre,  in  Irish  myth,  the  daugh- 
ter of  Phelim,  beloved  by  Naisi 

(q.v.). 

Dejanira,  in  Greek  myth,  daughter 

of  CEneus  and  wife  of  Hercules.    She 

inadvertently  caused  the  death  of 
the  hero  by  sending  him  a  shirt 
steeped  in  the  poisoned  blood  of 
Nessus  under  belief  that  it  would  act 
as  a  love  charm.  On  hearing  that 
Hercules  had  burnt  himself  to  death 
to  escape  from  the  consequent  torture, 
she  killed  herself. 

Delphi,  a  small  city  on  the  southern 
side  of  Mount  Parnassus  in  Greece, 
seat  of  the  most  famous  oracle  of 
antiquity.  The  legend  attributes  its 
foundation  to  Apollo  himself.  As- 

i  suming  the  shape  of  a  dolphin  (Gr. 
delphin),  he  appeared  to  certain 
mariners  in  the  ^gean  Sea,  and  with 
the  aid  of  winds  divinely  controlled 
drove  their  vessel  to  a  harbor  near 
the  chosen  spot,  a  cave  under  the 
mountain.  Here  he  revealed  him- 
self and  appointed  the  mariners  his 
priests.  Hence  the  place  was  named 

•  Delphi,  and  he  himself  was  called  the 
Delphian  Apollo.  Thereafter  the 
dolphin  was  associated  with  musicians 
and  poets,  as  in  the  myth  of  Arion. 

'  See  also  PYTHONESS. 

Demeter  (the  Ceres  of  thellomans) 
was  one  of  the  great  divinities  of  the 
Greeks, — the  patron  of  agriculture, 
presiding  over  seedtime  and  harvest, 
who  fostered  the  growth  of  fruits  and 
cereals.  She  was  the  daughter  of 
Cronos  and  Rhea,  and,  by  her  brother 
Zeus,  the  mother  of  Persephone. 
Zeus,  without  Demeter's  knowledge, 
betrothed  Persephone  to  Hades,  who 
carried  her  off  in  his  chariot  while  the 
unsuspecting  maiden  was  gathering 
flowers  in  the  Nysian  plain.  Refusing 
to  be  comforted,  Demeter  donned  a 
dark  robe  and  wandered,  torch  in 
hand,  for  g  days  and  nights  seeking 
her  daughter.  On  the  loth  day  she 
learned  from  Helios  that  Persephone 
was  the  queen  of  Hades  and  in  her 
sorrow  and  anger  she  refused  to  return 
to  Olympus.  Vainly  the  husband- 
man toiled,  not  a  seed  came  up  from 


Demodocus 


93 


Dercetes 


the  earth,  not  a  blossom  burgeoned 
on  the  trees.  Zeus,  convinced  that 
everything  must  perish  unless  Denie- 
ter  were  appeased,  sent  Hermes  to 
fetch  Persephone  from  the  under 
world.  Hades  relinquished  her  after 
giving  her  pomegranate  seeds  to  eat. 
Mother  and  daughter  returned  to 
Olympus,  but  inasmuch  as  the  latter 
had  eaten  in  the  lower  world  she  was 
obliged  to  spend  one-third  of  every 
year  with  Hades.  Persephone  evi- 
dently personified  the  cereals,  who 
for  a  portion  of  the  year  remain  as 
seed  in  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  and 
later  sprout  above  the  surface  to 
give  nourishment  to  man  and  beast. 
Later  philosophers  added  a  more 
mystic  meaning, — the  burial  of  the 
body  of  man  and  the  resurrection  of 
the  soul.  The  Athenians  claimed 
that  agriculture  originated  in  their 
country  and  that  Triptolemus  (g.r.) 
of  Eleusis,  the  favorite  of  Demeter 
was  the  inventor  of  the  plough  and  the 
pioneer  in  sowing  corn.  Every  year 
at  Athens  the  festival  of  the  Eleusinia 
was  celebrated  in  honor  of  mother 
and  daughter.  The  Romans  received 
from  Sicily  the  worship  of  Demeter, 
whom  they  renamed  Ceres,  while  her 
festivals  were  known  as  Cerealia. 
Etymologically  the  word  Ceres  in 
Latin  stands  for  corn,  while  Demeter 
in  Greek  means  Mother  Earth.  The 
goddess  is  represented  in  art  crowned 
with  a  wheat  measure  and  bearing  a 
horn  of  plenty  filled  with  wheat-ears. 
Two  famous  modern  poems  in  which 
she  appears  are  Tennyson's  Demeter 
and  Persephone,  and  Swinburne's  At 
Eleusis. 

Demodocus,  in  Homer's  Odyssey,  a 
bard  who  entertained  King  Alcinous 
and  his  guests  by  singing  the  loves  of 
Mars  and  Venus  and  the  stratagem  of 
the  wooden  horse  which  enabled  the 
Greeks  to  enter  Troy. 

Then  sing  of  things  that  came  to  pass 

When  Nature  in  his  cradle  was; 

And  last  of  kings  and  queens  and  heroes  old. 

Such  as  the  wise  Demodocus  once  told 

In   solemn   songs   at   King   Alcinous'   feast. 

While  sad  Ulysses'  soul  and  all  the  rest 

Are  held,  in  his  melodious  harmony, 

In  willing  chains  and  sweet  captivity. 

MILTON:  Vacation's  Exercise  (1627.) 


Demogorgon,  called  also  Great 
Gorgon,  in  later  classical  mythology, 
a  mysterious  divinity  associated  with 
darkness  and  the  underworld  but 
quite  distinct  from  the  Gorgon  or 
Medusa.  Boccaccio  gives  a  detailed 
account  of  him  in  his  Genealogia 
Deorum.  The  very  mention  of  his 
name  boded  terrific  consequences, 
hence  among  the  ancients  Lucan  and 
Statius  only  are  bold  enough  to  utter 
it.  When  Spenser  would  emphasize 
the  daredevil  audacity  of  his  aged 
magician,  Faerie  Queene  I,  xxxvii,  he 
says: 

A  bold  bad  man!  that  dared  to  call  by  name 
Great  Gorgon,  prince  of  darkness  and  dead 

night ; 
At  which  Cocytus  quakes  and  Styx  is  put 

to  flight. 

Faerie  Queene  I,  xxxvii. 

In  Canto  rv,  ii,  of  the  same  poem, 
Spenser  says,  "  he  dwells  in  the  great 
abyss  where  the  three  fatal  sisters 
dwell."  On  the  other  hand,  Ariosto, 
who  describes  him  as  the  tyrant  of 
the  elves  and  fairies,  makes  him 
inhabit  a  gorgeous  palace  in  the 
Himalayas,  where  every  five  years 
he  summoned  them  to  appear  before 
him  and  give  account  of  their  deeds. 

Demophoon,  in  classic  myth,  son 
of  Celeus  and  Metanira.  He  was 
nursed  by  Demeter,  under  whose  care 
he  grew  up  glorious  in  beauty.  Every 
night  she  bathed  him  in  fire  to  make 
him  immortal,  but  the  spell  was 
broken  when  his  mother  screamed 
with  terror  at  catching  sight  of  him 
in  the  fiery  bath.  Some  accounts  say 
that  Demeter  allowed  the  child  to  be 
consumed  in  the  flames,  others  that 
he  grew  old  and  died  like  his  fellows. 

Dercetes  or  Derceto,  also  called 
Atergato,  a  Syrian  goddess,  mother  of 
Semiramis  through  an  illicit  amour 
with  a  mortal.  Ashamed  of  her 
frailty,  she  killed  her  lover,  exposed 
her  child,  and  leaped  into  a  lake  near 
Ascalon,  where  she  was  changed  into 
a  fish.  She  seems  to  have  been  the 
original  mermaid  of  art  and  literature. 
'  I  have  seen  in  Phoenicia,"  says 
Lucian,  "  a  statue  of  this  goddess  "of 
a  _  very  singular  land.  From  the 
middle  upwards  it  represents  a 


Deucalion 


94 


Diana 


woman,  but  below  it  terminates  in  a 
fish."    See  also  OVID,  Metamorphoses, 

IV,  ii. 

Deucalion,  the  classic  analogue  of 
the  Biblical  Noah,  whose  story  is  told 
at  length  in  Ovid's  Metamorphoses,  I. 
He  was  a  son  of  Prometheus  and 
Clymene,  and  king  of  Pythia  in 
Thessaly.  He  and  his  wife  Pyrrha 
alone  survived  the  deluge  sent  by 
Zeus  (Jupiter)  to  destroy  the  race^of 
degenerate  men.  On  the  advice  of 
his  father  he  had  built  a  ship  in  which 
the  couple  floated  in  safety  during 
the  nine  days'  flood,  grounding  at  last 
on  Mount  Parnassus  in  Phocis.  The 
oracle  of  Themis  advised  them  to 
renew  the  race  by  covering  their 
heads  and  throwing  the  bones  of  their 
mother  behind  them.  They  rightly 
interpreted  this  as  meaning  the  stones 
of  the  earth.  So  they  threw  them 
behind  and  from  those  thrown  by 
Deucalion  there  sprang  up  men,  from 
those  thrown  by  Pyrrha,  women. 
Deucalion  then  settled  at  Opus  or 
Cygnus  and  became  by  Pyrrha  the 
father  of  Hellen,  Amphictyon  and 
others.  Ovid's  description  of  the 
renewal  of  man  on  earth  is  famous. 
He  tells  how  Deucalion  and  his  wife 

With  veiled  head  and  vest  ungirt, 
Behind    them,    as    commanded,    fling    the 

stones. 

And  lo! — a  tale  past  credence,  did  not  all 
Antiquity  attest  it  true, — the  stones 
Their  natural  rigour  lose,  by  slow  degrees 
Softening  and  softening  into  form;  and  grow, 
And  swell  with  milder  nature,  and  assume 
Rude  semblance  of  a  human  shape,  not  yet 
Distinct,    but    like   some   statue    new-con- 
ceived 
And  half  expressed  in  marble.     What  they 

had 

Of  moist  or  earthy  in  their  substance,  turns 
To  flesh: — what  solid  and  inflexible 
Forms    into    bones: — their    veins    as    veins 

remain: — 

Till,  in  brief  time,  and  by  the  Immortals' 
grace. 

The  man-tossed  pebbles  live  and  stand  un 

men, 

And  women  from  the  woman's  cast  revive. 

Metamorphoses,  i. 

Diana,  an  ancient  Italian  divinity 

whom  the  Romans  identified  with  the 

Greek    Artemis,    borrowing    for    the 

purpose     her     attributes     and     her 

'gends.     The  worship  of  the  primi- 

Diana  as  goddess  of  the  moon 


was  said  to  have  been  introduced  into 
Rome  by  Servius  Tullius,  sixth  king 
of  that  city,  but  it  was  probably 
derived  from  Egypt,  with  the  Isis 
who  may  have  suggested  her.  Cicero 
mentions  three  goddesses  of  this 
name.  The  first  was  the  daughter  of 
Jupiter  and  Proserpine,  the  second  of 
Jupiter  and  Latona,  the  third  of 
Upis  and  Glauce.  Strabo  mentions 
a  fourth  Diana,  surnamed  Britomar- 
tis,  daughter  of  Eubalus,  who  is 
linked  to  the  Greek  Artemis  by  her 
fondness  for  the  chase.  Her  chastity 
was  inviolable  and  she  was  impervious 
to  the  arrows  of  Cupid. 

Hence  had  the  huntress  Dian  her  dread  bow. 
Fair  silver-shafted  queen,  for  ever  chaste. 
Wherewith  she  tamed  the  brindled  lioness 
And   spotted    mountain    pard,    but   set    at 

nought 

The  frivolous  bow  of  Cupid;  gods  and  men 
Feared  her  stern  frown,  and  she  was  queen 

of  the  woods. 

MILTON. 

In  the  Middle  Ages,  Diana  sur- 
vived (sometimes  under  her  alterna- 
tive name  of  Hecate)  as  the  queen  of 
the  witches. 

Grillandus,  Pipernus,  and  in  fact  almost 
all  the  writers  on  witchcraft  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  basing  their  statements  partly  on 
the  confession  of  innumerable  witches,  and 
partly  on  old  chronicles,  inform  us  that  all 
those  latter  declared  that  they  meet  at  the 
Sabbath  to  worship,  not  the  devil,  but  Diana 
and  Herodias.  .  .  .  The  Herodias  in 
question  was  vastly  older  than  the  danseuse 
of  the  New  Testament,  having  been  an 
ancient  Shemitic  duplicate  of  Lilith,  who 
in  turn,  as  queen  of  all  sorcery,  was  a 
counterpart,  or  the  same  with  the  true 
Diana,  the  sovereign  of  the  night — the  cat- 
queen,  who  drove  the  starry  mice,  the 
Hecate  ancestress  of  the  German  Hecse — 
Hexe — or  witches.  Diana  was  in  fact 
specially  adored  by  all  sorceresses — in 
Egypt  as  Bubastis,  in  Italy  by  her  own  name 
— as  their  mistress  and  ruler,  and  is  well 
known  as  such  to  this  day. — CHARLES  G. 
LELAND.  Note  to  his  translation  of  Heine's 
The  Goddess  Diana. 

Diana,  titular  heroine  of  a  pastoral 
romance  (1560),  written  in  Spanish 
by  the  Portuguese  George  de  Monte- 
mayor, — the  most  successful  of  all 
the  imitations  of  Daphnis  and  Chloe. 

Sireno,  a  shepherd,  returns  to  the 
shores  of  the  Esle  in  Leon  to  visit  the 
spot  where  he  had  loved  and  lost 
the  fair  Diana.  A  wily  magician,  it 


Dianora 


95 


Dido 


seems,  had  snatched  her  away  from 
him  and  she  is  now  the  wife  of  the 
unworthy  Delio.  Sylvanus,  another 
she'pherd,  accosts  him.  He,  too,  had 
once  loved  Diana  and  had  been  re- 
jected by  her.  The  two  former  rivals 
mingle  their  tears  together.  Later 
they  together  quaff  the  waters  of  an 
enchanted  stream  which  makes  them 
oblivious  to  their  former  love.  Sil- 
vanus  marries  a  shepherdess  named 
Silvania.  All  this  is  but  a  frame  for  a 
number  of  tales  recited  by  swains  and 
lasses.  Montemayor  left  his  pastoral 
unfinished,  but  it  was  rounded  out, 
in  a  sequel  by  Caspar  Gil  Polo,  with 
the  death  of  Delio  and  the  reunion  of 
Sireno  and  Diana. 

Lope  de  Vega  assures  us  that  the 
heroine  was  a  real  personage  who 
resided  at  the  village  of  Valence  near 
Leon.  It  is  added  that  Philip  III 
and  Margaret,  his  consort,  attracted 
by  the  lady's  fame  visited  her  in  her 
old  age. 

Dianora  (in  Boccaccio's  Decameron, 
X,  5),  wife  of  Gilbertp  of  Friuli,  with 
whom  Ansaldo  falls  in  love.  To  rid 
herself  of  his  importunities  she  swears 
that  she  will  never  yield  to  him  until 
he  could  make  her  garden  in  mid- 
winter as  gay  with  flowers  as  it  was 
in  summer.  Ansaldo  by  the  aid  of  a 
magician  succeeds  in  performing  the 
feat.  Gilberto  insists  that  his  wife 
shall  redeem  her  word,  but  Ansaldo, 
not  to  be  outdone  in  generosity,  de- 
clined to  take  advantage  of  her  oath. 
Thereafter  the  three  dwelt  together 
in  honor  and  amity.  Chaucer  has 
versified  this  story  in  The  Franklin's 
Tale,  changing  Dianora's  name  to 
Dorigen. 

Beaumont  and  Fletcher  dramatized 
Chaucer's  story  in  a  one  act  play  The 
Triumph  of  Honor.  They  preserve 
the  name  Dorigen,  though  the  hus- 
band is  Sophocles,  Duke  of  Athens, 
and  the  lover  is  Martius,  a  Roman 
general.  The  supposed  miracle  is 
achieved  by  Valerius,  brother  of 
Martius. 

Boccaccio's  tale  was  also  utilized  by 
Bojardo  in  the  Orlando  Innamorato, 
Canto  xn.  In  this  version  Tisbina, 
wife  of  Iroldo,  a  Babylonian  knight, 


seeks  to  rid  herself  of  the  importuni- 
ties of  Prasildo  by  sending  him  to 
Barbary,  where,  from  a  magic  garden, 
he  shall  seize  a  golden  branch  whose 
blossoms  are  pearls  and  whose  fruit 
is  emeralds.  Prasildo  succeeds  and 
in  this  case,  despite  his  protests,  he 
ends  by  taking  the  lady,  while  the 
husband  leaves  Babylon  forever. 

Diego  de  Marcilla,  hero  of  a  semi- 
historical  legend  still  famous  in  Spain 
as  the  Lovers  of  Teruel.  Diego  and 
Isabella  de  Segura  were  in  love;  he 
left  her  to  win  fame  and  fortune 
against  the  Saracens,  she  pledging  her 
faith  for  five  years.  The  time  being 
up  she  was  forced  into  a  marriage 
with  Azagra.  On  the  wedding  day 
Diego  returned,  secreted  himself  in 
the  bridal  chamber,  noted  that  the 
bride  refused  to  admit  the  bridegroom 
to  her  bed  and,  seeking  himself  to  win 
her,  died  when  he,  too,  failed.  At  the 
funeral  of  Diego,  Isabel  appeared, 
heavily  veiled,  rendered  him  in  death 
the  kiss  she  had  refused  him  in  life 
and  expired  on  his  corpse.  Their 
bodies  were  buried  together  in  the 
church  of  San  Pedro,  and  now  repose 
in  the  cloister,  where  this  inscription 
is  engraved  upon  the  stone  wall: 

Here  are  deposited  the  bodies  of  the 
famous  Lovers  of  Teruel,  Don  Juan  Diego 
de  Marcilla  and  Dona  Isabel  de  Segura. 
Dying  in  1217,  they  were  transferred  hither 
in  1708. 

Dido  (sometimes  called  Elissa),  the 
reputed  founder  and  first  queen  of 
Carthage.  After  Pygmalion,  her 
brother,  had  murdered  Acerbas,  at 
once  her  uncle  and  her  husband,  she 
sailed  from  Tyre  with  all  the  latter's 
wealth  to  Africa.  Here  having  bar- 
gained for  as  much  land  as  a  bull's 
hide  would  cover,  she  strategically 
cut  the  hide  into  strips  and  with  them 
surrounded  a  spot  whereon  she  built 
a  citadel  called  Byrsa,  i.e.,  bull's  hide. 
The  city  of  Carthage  grew  around 
this  citadel.  According  to  the  original 
legend  Dido  had  vowed  eternal  fidel- 
ity to  her  husband  and  when  she 
found  she  could  not  escape  from  the 
wooing  of  her  powerful  neighbor, 
King  Hiarbas,  she  erected  a  funeral 
pile  on  which  she  stabbed  herself  in 


:  :.  .^ 


.  r  people.    Virgil  intro- 
.er  into  the  .Eneid,  Book  iv, 
.kes  her  fall  in  love  with  .^Eneas 
on  his  arrival  in  Carthage,  despite 
fact  that  there  was  an  interval  of 
?  centuries  between  the  capture 
of  Troy  (B.C..  1184)  and  the  founda-  ] 
of*  Carthage  (  B  .c.  853).    In  this 
-  xle  Virgil  is  tne  most  modern  of 
all  the  classic  poets.    He  paints  the 
passion  of  love  as  Byron  and   Sir 
:er  Scott  have  painted  it.     He 
describes  a  daring  and  voluptuous 
woman  giving  up  her  whole  soul  to  a 
:y  passion  for  a  man  who  only 
_~  with  her  for  a  moment,  knowing 
all  the  time  that  he  must  shortly 
desert  her,  and  apparently  reckless 
of  the  certainty  that  his  treachery  will 
break  her  heart.    The  beginning  and 
rapid   growth   of   Dido's   love,    her 
indifference     to     everything     which 
formerly  occupied  her  attention,  her 
vain  struggles  with  herself,  her  dawn- 
ing suspicions  of  her  lover  and  her 
agony  of  rage  and  grief  when  the 
truth"  is  at  last  brought  home  to  her, 
are  astonishingly  modern.     It  is  the 
departure  of  .^-Eneas  which  Tnalcg;  her 
mount  the  funeral  pyre.    Ovid  in  the 
Heroidts  accepts  the  story  as  Virgil 
told  it,  and  makes  Dido  write  a  letter 
alternately  appealing  to  the  pity  and 
denouncing  the  perfidy  of  her  Trojan 
lover. 

Chaucer  in  the  House  of  Fame,  375. 
tells  us  that  he  had  an  ambition  to 
turn  the  story  of  Dido  into  English: 

Bat  all  the  manner  how  she  deyde, 
And  all  the  wordes  that  she  sayde, 
Whose  to  knowe  it  hath  purpos 
Read  Virgil  in  .^neidos. 
Or  the  Epistle  of  Ovyde, 

-t  that  she  wroot  or  that  she  dyde 
And.  nere  hit  to  long  to  endyte 
By  God  I  wolde  here  wryte, 

Yet   he   actually   gives  the  story 

^at  some  length  (11.  140-382),  and 

fulfils  his  original  intention  at  greater 

length  in  the  Legend  of  Good  Women. 

Dido  is  the  heroine  of  numerous 

modern    tragedies    and    burlesques. 

most  famous  of  these  are   The 

>edie  of  Dido  Queen  of  Carthage 

by  Christopher  Marlowe  and 

.sh  Dido  and  .Eneas  (1680) 

an  opera  by  Thomas  D.  Urfey  and 


Dietrich 

Tate,  music  by  Purcell;  La 
Didone  Abbandonata  by  Metastasio 
(1724);  Didon,  an  ope:.-.  VI7O3)  by 
Marmor.iel.  and  Dido,  a  burlesque 
(1860)  by  F.  C.  Burna-i. 

Dietrich  von  Bern,  a  favorite  char- 
acter in  medieval  German  legend, 
identified  with  Theodoric,  king  of  the 
Eastern  Goths  ^f,-^-:?^  who  held 
his  court  at  Verona  (Bern)  after  his 
defeat  of  Odoacer,  and  became  sole 
ruler  in  Italy  when  he  slew  that  rival 
at  a  banquet  in  March,  493.  His  reign 
was  beneficent  and  he  has  passed  into 
history  as  the  Italian  counterpart  of 
the  British  Alfred.  But  not  alone  in 
Italy  was  he  revered.  The  entire 
Teutonic  race  made  his  glory  their 
own,  and  in  all  the  German  lands  his 
legendary  deeds  became  the  therne  of 
:  r.r.i  s:r.~.  The  mythical 
Dietrich  of  Bern,  however,  is  a  very 
different  being  from  the  Theodoric 
of  history.  He  is  described  as  the 
vassal  of  Attila  (Etzel)  and  the  foe  of 
Ermanaric  (Odoacer).  His  birth  and 
death  are  mysterious.  Offspring  of  a 
spirit,  he  disappears  at  last  on  a  black 
horse,  hence  his  connection  with  the 
legend  of  the  Wild  Huntsman.  His 
adventures  are  told  at  length  in  the 
1 3th  century  Norse  saga.  Thidhreks 
konungs  af  Bern,  mainly  compiled 
from  German  sources,  and  he  figures 
in  the  great  medieval  German  epics, 
the  Nibelungenlied  and  the  Rosegar- 
den at  Worms.  He  also  appears  fre- 
quently in  Danish  folk  songs  which 
celebrate  the  story  of  the  Volsungs. 

The  only  foeman  really  worthy  of 
Dietrich's  steel  was  Siegfried.  In  the 
I3th  century  poem,  The  Rosegarden  at 
Worms,  Kriemhild  has  placed  the 
titular  garden  under  the  care  of 
Siegfried,  her  betrothed,  with  eleven 
others,  and  boasts  that  there  is  not 
another  dozen  of  such  knights  in  the 
world.  Dietrich  of  Bern  takes  up  the 
challenge.  The  preliminaries  are 
soon  arranged.  There  are  to  be  12 
successive  duels,  each  challenger  being 
expected  to  find  his  match.  The 
reward  is  a  crown  of  roses  and  a  kiss 
from  Kriemhild.  One  after  another 
the  lady's  champions  are  unhorsed 
until  at  last  it  comes  to  the  turn  of 


Diogenes 


97  Dioscuri 


Dietrich  and  Siegfried.  At  first 
Dietrich  is  badly  worsted, — the  great 
reputation  of  the  dragon-slayer  has 
unnerved  him.  But  one  of  his  knights, 
knowing  his  inflammable  temper, 
whispers  into  his  ear  the  false  informa- 
tion that  his  friend  Hildebrand  has 
been  slain.  Then  he  bursts  into  one 
of  his  terrible  passions,  belches  out 
fire  and  flame  that  melt  the  horny  side 
of  Siegfried,  and  presses  so  fiercely 
upon  him  that  Siegfried  turns  and 
flies  and  might  have  lost  his  life  but 
that  Kriemhild,  forgetting  her  pride, 
rushes  forward  and  throws  her  veil 
over  him  and  so  ends  the  combat.  In 
the  same  poem  Dietrich  is  successful 
in  the  defeat  and  capture  of  Laurin 
(q.v.),  king  of  the  dwarfs. 

Diogenes,  the  cynic  philosopher  of 
Athens  (413-323),  figures  in  John 
Lyly's  comedy  Alexander  and  Cam- 
paspe  (1581).  Fleay  suggests  that  in 
this  character  Lyly  personified  him- 
self. Torn  Taylor  in  1849  produced 
an  extravaganza  entitled  Diogenes 
and  his  Lantern;  or  A  Hue  and  Cry 
after  Honesty. 

Diomed,  a  famous  hero  of  Irish 
myth,  the  son  of  Dowd,  hence  often 
styled  O'Dowd.  He  is  one  of  the 
train  of  Fionn,  and  the  latter 's  unin- 
tentional rival  for  the  hand  of  Grania, 
daughter  of  Cormac.  Finding  that 
the  maiden  loves  him  and  not  his 
master,  he  elopes  with  her.  Fhe 
legends  delight  in  telling  of  the 
strength,  strategy  and  cunning  he 
exhibits  in  evading  or  crushing  his 
pursuers, — being  greatly  aided  by  the 
fact  that  he  could  put  a  javelin  under 
his  foot  and  sail  upward  and  onward 
through  the  air.  Finally  he  was  slain 
by  a  wild  boar.  Grania  was  forced 
to  marry  Fionn. 

Diomedes,  hero  of  a  legend  told  by 
St.  Augustine  in  De  Ctiitate  Dei, 
which  also  forms  Tale  CXLVI  of  the 
Gesta  Romanorum.  He  was  a  pirate 
who  infested  the  seas  around  Greece 
until  captured  by  command  of  Alex- 
ander. The  monarch  asked  him  how 
he  dared  to  molest  the  seas.  "  How 
darest  thou,"  replied  he,  "molest  the 
earth?  Because  I  am  master  only  of 
a  single  galley,  I  am  determined  a 


robber;  but  you,  who  oppress  the 
•  rid  with  huge  squadrons,  are  called 
a  king  and  a  conqueror.  Would  my 
fortune  change,  I  might  become 
:er;  but  as  you  are  the  more  fortu- 
nate, so  much  are  you  the  worse."  "  I 
will  change  thy  fortune,"  said  Alex- 
ander, "  lest  fortune  should  be  blamed 
by  thy  malignity."  Thus  he  became 
rich;  and  from  a  robber  was  made  a 
prince  and  a  dispenser  of  justice. 
Mrs.  Barbauld  has  expanded  this 
story  in  her  Evenings  at  Home. 

Dionysius  (B.C.  430-367)  began 
life  as  a  clerk  in  a  public  office;  at  25 
years  of  age  was  appointed  general  of 
the  army  at  Syracuse,  and  for  38  years 
thereafter  ruled  the  state  with  an  iron 
hand.  He  has  been  painted  in  odious 
colors  by  historians  and  figures  still 
more  unpleasantly  in  legend  and 
drama. 

One  of  his  devices  curiously  antici- 
pated the  modern  dictograph: 

Dionysius,  the  tyrant  of  Sicily,  had  a 
dungeon  which  was  a  very  curious  piece  of 
architecture:  and  of  which,  as  I  ara  in- 
formed, there  are  still  to  be  seen  some 
remains  in  that  island.  It  was  called 
Dionysius 's  Ear,  and  built  wi:;:  i~  veral 
little  windings  and  labyrinths  in  the  form 
of  a  real  ear.  The  structure  of  it  made  it  a 
^.T.i  of  whispering  place,  but  such  a 
as  gathered  the  voice  of  him  who  spoke  into 
a.  :'ur.r.i'._  •  ;  -  ;  -~~  - :.-.  vtry  ::p 

of  it.  The  tyrant  used  to  lodge  all  his 
~--~~.i  criminals,  or  these  whom  he  supposed 
to  be  engaged  together  in  any  evil  designs 
upon  him,  in  this  dungeon.  He  had  at  the 
same  time  an  apartment  over  it,  where  he 
used  to  apply  himself  to  the  funnel,  and  by 
that  means  overhear  everything  that  was 
whispered  in  the  dungeon. — ADDISOS: 
Spectator,  No.  439. 

Dioscuri  (Gr.  Sons  of  Zeus],  in 
classic  myth  the  famous  twins  Castor 
and  Pollux,  born  from  Zeus's  intrigue 
in  the  form  of  a  swan  with  Leda. 
Homer,  however,  says  they  were  the 
lawful  children  of  Leda  and  Tyn- 
dareus,  king  of  Lacedaemon,  who  were 
likewise  the  parents  of  Helen.  When 
Helen  was  carried  off  by  Theseus  the 
twins  rescued  her.  They  took  a 
prominent  part  in  the  expedition  of 
the  Argonauts.  Some  accounts  make 
Pollux  alone  immortal-  When  the 
twins  were  set  upon  by  Idas  and 
Lynceus,  Pollux  slew  Lynceus,  but 


Dis 


98 


Dom 


Castor  was  slain  by  Idas,  who  in  turn 
was  struck  down  by  a  thunderbolt 
from  Zeus.  At  the  request  of  Pollux, 
Zeus  allowed  him  to  share  his  brother  s 
fate,  living  alternately  one  day  in  the 
shades  below,  another  in  the  heavens 
above.  Other  accounts  place  both 
twins  among  the  stars  as  Gemini. 
II  race  describes  them  as  Fratres 
Helena,  lucida  sidera  ("Brothers  of 
Helen,  clear  shining  stars").  When- 
ever they  appeared  they  were  seen 
riding  on  magnificent  white  steeds. 
The  Great  Twin  Brethren,  as  Macau- 
lay  calls  them  in  his  Battle  of  the  Lake 
Regillus,  decided  the  day  at  Regillus. 
Armed  and  mounted,  they  had  fought 
at  the  head  of  the  legions  of  the  com- 
monwealth, and  had  afterwards  car- 
ried the  news  of  the  victory  with 
incredible  speed  to  the  city.  The 
well  in  the  Forum  at  which  they  had 
alighted  was  pointed  out. 

When  they  drew  nigh  to  Vesta 

They  vaulted  down  amain, 
And  washed  their  horses  in  the  well 

That  springs  by  Vesta's  fane, 
And  straight  again  they  mounted 

And  rode  to  Vesta's  door, 
Then  like  a  blast,  away  they  passed 

And  no  man  saw  them  more. 

Dis,  in  classic  myth,  an  alternative 
name  for  Pluto,  and  hence  for  the 
lower  world.  It  is  frequently  used 
by  English  poets  in  both  senses,  and 
is  even  applied  to  the  Christian  hell. 

From  the  pale  horror  of  eternal  fire 
Am  I  sent  with  the  wagon  of  black  Dis. 
BARNES:    The  Devil's  Charier  (1607). 

Dante  gives  the  name  the  city  of 
Dis  to  the  abode  of  Lucifer  in  the 
ninth  circle  of  Hell. 

Dismas  or  Dysmas,  in  the  apocry- 
phal gospels,  the  name  usually  given 
to  the  penitent  thief  who  suffered 
'i  Christ  on  the  cross.  Longfellow, 
however,  in  The  Golden  Legend,  calls 
him  Titus,  and  the  impenitent  thief 
Dumachus.  The  latter  is  more  usu- 
ally known  as  Gesmas  or  Gestas. 

Dives,  the  name  popularly  given, 
though  without  any  Scriptural  war- 
rant, to  the  rich  man  in  Christ's 
parable  of  the  Rich  man  and  Lazarus 
(Luke  xvi).  The  mistake  is  easily 
explained.  Dives  in  Latin  means 


the  rich  man,"  hence  the  name  of 
the  parable,  translated  into  Latin, 
was  "  Dives  et  Lazarus,"  and  the 
ignorant  readily  conceived  that  the 
first  word  was  a  proper  name  like  the 
last. 

Lazar  and  Dives  liveden  diversely 
And  divers  guerdon  hadden  they  thereby. 

CHAUCER. 

Dodona,  in  Epirus,  the  most 
ancient  oracle  of  the  Greeks.  It  was 
founded  by  the  Pelasgians  and  dedi- 
cated to  Zeus.  The  will  of  the  god 
was  declared  by  the  wind  rustling 
through  oaks  or  beech  trees  or  knock- 
ing together  brazen  vessels  suspended 
from  their  branches.  ^These  sounds 
were  interpreted  by  old  women.  The 
Greek  word  pelias  means  either  old 
women  or  pigeons.  Hence  a  legend 
that  Zeus  gave  his  daughter  Thebe 
two  black  pigeons  endowed  with 
human  speech.  One  flew  into  Libya 
and  gave  the  responses  in  the  temple 
of  Ammon,  the  other  into  Epirus 
where  it  performed  a  similar  function 
as  Dodona. 

Dom-Daniel,  a  cave  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Babylon,  fabled  to  be  the 
retreat  where  the  prophet  Daniel 
instructed  his  pupils  during  the 
reigns  of  Nebuchadnezzar  and  Bel- 
shazzar,  and  later  peopled  by^legend 
and  tradition  with  ghostly  inhabi- 
tants. The  name  was  subsequently 
transferred  to  a  public  school  for 
magic  established  at  Tunis,  a  not  very 
pretentious  affair  in  reality_but  mag- 
nified by  popular  superstition  into 
an  immense  subterranean  cavern,  or 
a  series  of  caverns  "  under  the  roots 
of  the  ocean."  According^to  a  story, 
the  History  of  Maugraby,  in  the  Con- 
tinuation  of  the  Arabian  Nights,  this 
mysterious  structure  was  founded  by 
Hal-il-Maugraby,  completed  by  his 
son  Maugraby,  and  utterly  destroyed 
by  Prince  Habed-il-Rouman,  son  of 
the  Caliph  of  Syria.  It  had  four 
entrances,  each  reached  by  a  stair- 
case of  4000  steps,  and  sorcerers  and 
enchanters  and  all  other  dealers  in  the 
black  art  were  expected  to  do  homage 
there  to  Zatanai,  or  Satan,  at  least 
once  a  year. 


Dominic  99 


Dory 


Dominic,  St.  (1170-1221),  the 
Spanish  founder  of  the  order  of 
Dominicans.  They  loved  to  derive 
their  name  from  Domini  canes,  i.e., 
the  dogs  of  the  Lord.  In  support  of 
this  etymology  a  legend  grew  up  that 
before  his  birth  Dominic's  mother, 
Joanna  Guzman,  dreamed  that  she 
would  bring  forth  a  dog  with  a  burn- 
ing torch  in  his  mouth  that  would  set 
the  world  aflame.  Dominic's  birth- 
place was  Calloroga,  near  the  Gulf  of 
Gascony. 

And  there  was  born 

The  loving  minion  of  the  Christian  faith, 
The  hallow'd  wrestler,  gentle  to  his  own, 
And  to  his  enemies  terrible.    So  replete 
His  soul  with  lively  virtue,  that  when  first 
Created,  even  in  the  mother's  womb, 
It  prophesied.     When,  at  the  sacred  font, 
The  spousals  were  complete  'twixt  faith  and 

him, 

Where   pledge   of   mutual    safety    was    ex- 
changed. 

The  dame,  who  was  his  surety,  in  her  sleep 
Beheld  the  wondrous  fruit,  that  was  from 

him 

And  from  his  heirs  to  issue.     And  that  such 
He  might  be  construed,  as  indeed  he  was, 
She  was  inspired  to  name  him  of  his  owner, 
Whose  he  was  wholly;  and  so  call'd  him 
Dominic. 

DANTE:   Paradise,  xii. 

Donati,  Gemma,  the  lady  whom 
Dante  married,  a  member  of  one  of 
the  most  powerful  Guelph  families. 
Giannozzo  Manetti  says  she  was  "  ad- 
modum  morosa,"  and  he  likens  her 
to  Socrates 's  Xantippe.  Boccaccio 
in  his  life  of  Dante  endorses  Manetti 
and  says  literary  men  should  never 
marry.  In  the  last  lines  of  The 
Prophecy  of  Dante,  Byron,  accepting 
these  authorities  and  obviously  sug- 
gesting his  own  matrimonial  infelici- 
ties as  being  analogous  to  Dante's, 
makes  the  Italian  cast  a  longing  eye 
upon  Florence: 

My  all  inexorable  town, 

Where  yet  my  boys  are,  and  that  fatal  She 
Their  mother,  the  cold  partner  who  hath 

brought 

Destruction  for  a  dowry — this  to  see 
And  feel,  and  know  without  repair,  hath 

taught 

A  bitter  lesson;  but  it  leaves  me  free: 
I  have  not  vilely  found,  nor  basely  sought, 
They  made  an  Exile — not  a  Slave  of  me. 

There  is  nothing  in  the  Divina  Commedia, 
or  elsewhere  in  his  writings,  to  justify  the 
common  belief  that  Dante  was  unhappily 


married,  unless  silence  may  be  taken  to 
imply  dislike  and  alienation.  But  with 
Byron,  as  with  Boccaccio,  "the  wish  was 
father  to  the  thought,"  and  both  were  glad 
to  quote  Dante  as  a  victim  to  matrimony. 

Doolin  of  Mayence,  hero  and  title 
of  a  fifteenth  century  romance  of 
chivalry  first  printed  at  Paris  in  1501. 
A  son  of  Sir  Guyon  and  a  mighty 
huntsman  he  had  disappeared  from 
the  world  after  killing  a  hermit  in 
mistake  for  a  stag.  In  consequence 
Guy  on 's  wife  had  been  accused  of 
murdering  her  husband,  and  all  their 
sons  save  Doolin  had  been  put  to 
death.  Doolin  discovers  that  his 
father  has  condemned  himself  to 
lifelong  penitence  in  the  hermit's 
cell,  is  brought  up  by  him,  and  when 
of  proper  age  rescues  his  mother  and 
becomes  ruler  of  Mayence.  He  alter- 
nately fights  against  and  with  Charle- 
magne. Under  the  latter 's  banner 
he  conquers  the  sultan  of  Turkey  and 
the  king  of  Denmark,  winning  the 
betrothed  of  the  first  and  the  kingdom 
of  the  latter.  He  was  the  grandfather 
of  Ogier  the  Dane. 

Doon  or  Divoun,  emperor  of  Al- 
mayne  or  Germany  in  the  romances 
concerning  Sir  Bevis  of  Hampton, 
may  be  identified  with  the  Emperor 
Otto  the  Great,  who  was  contempo- 
rary with  the  English  king  Edgar  of 
the  story. 

Dory,  John,  titular  hero  of  a  popu- 
lar song  dating  back  to  the  fourteenth 
century.  He  was  a  piratical  French 
captain  (his  real  name,  it  has  been 
suggested,  was  Jean  Dore)  who  made 
an  agreement  with  the  king  of  France 
to  capture  and  bring  to  Paris  the 
crew  of  an  English  ship.  He  not  only 
failed,  but  was  himself  taken  prisoner 
by  the  first  English  ship  he  ran  across. 
The  king  was  John,  who  lost  the 
battle  of  Poictiers  and  died  a  prisoner 
in  England.  The  captain  of  the 
victorious  ship  was  Nicholas,  a 
Cornishman.  Both  words  and  music 
are  given  in  The  D enter omelia  (1609). 
An  early  reference  to  it  may  be  found 
in  Gammer  Gur ton's  Needle,  Act  n 
(!575)-  Other  references  abound  in 
Elizabethan  literature.  In  Beau- 
mont and  Fletcher's  Chances,  Antonio 


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Echetlos 


102 


Eglantine 


(Injerno  xii).  Browning  in  Sordello 
describes  him  as  'the  thin  gray 
wizened  dwarfish  devil  Ecelin." 

He  is  the  subject  of  a  novel  by 
Cesare  Cantu  and  a  drama  by  J. 
Eichendorff.  Byron  has  borrowed  his 
name  for  a  character  in  Lara. 

Echetlos,  hero  of  a  Greek  legend 
which  may  have  a  substratum  of  fact. 
At  the  battle  of  Marathon,  B.C.  490, 
when  the  Greeks  defeated  the  Per- 
sians, a  figure  driving  a  ploughshare 
appeared  mowing  down  the  enemy's 
ranks  wherever  they  appeared  in  the 
majority.  After  the  victory  the 
Greeks  eagerly  demanded  of  the 
oracles  his  name.  But  the  oracles 
declined  to  tell.  "  Call  him  Echetlos 
the  Ploughman,"  they  said.  "  Let 
his  deed  be  his  name."  Robert 
Browning  has  versified  this  story 
in  Dramatic  Idyls,  Second  Series 
(1880). 

Echo,  a  classic  myth,  a  nymph 
whom  Zeus  suborned  to  keep  Hera 
engaged  by  constant  talking  while 
he  himself  was  dallying  with  the 
nymphs.  Hera  discovered  the  strata- 
gem and  changed  Echo  into  an  echo. 
In  this  state  she  fell  in  love  with 
Narcissus,  but  pined  away  when  she 
found  him  obdurate  until  nothing 
remained  but  her  voice. 

Eckhardt,  The  Faithful  (Ger.  Der 
Treue  Eckhardt),  in  German  legend, 
an  old  man  with  a  white  staff  who 
appears  in  Eisleben  on  Maundy- 
Thursday  evening,  to  warn  the  citi- 
zens in  advance  of  the  coming  of  a 
phantasmal  procession  of  dead  men, 
headless  bodies  and  two-legged  horses. 
In  other  traditions  he  appears  as  a 
companion  of  Tannhauser,  or  as 
varning  travellers  from  the  Venus- 
nirg.  Tieck  has  a  story  The  Faithful 
Eckhardt  in  his  Phantasus,  which  has 
translated  by  Carlyle.  Here 
chardt  is  the  loyal  servant  who 
•cnshes  to  save  his  master's  children 
f n  >m  the  fiends  of  the  mountain. 

Ector,  Sir,  in  the  Arthurian  cycle 
romances,  the  father  of  Sir  Kay, 
afterwards  king  Arthur's  seneschal, 
and  foster  father  of  Arthur  himself, 
lennyson,  however,  substitutes  Sir 
Anton. 


So  the  child  was  delivered  unto  Merlin, 
and  he  bare  him  forth  unto  sir  Ector,  and 
made  a  holy  man  christen  him,  and  named 
him  "Arthur."  And  so  sir  Ector's  wife 
nourished  him  with  her  own  breast. — Part  i,  3. 

"Sir,"  said  sir  Ector.  "I  will  ask  no  more 
of  you  but  that  you  will  make  my  son,  sir 
Key,  your  foster-brother,  seneschal  of  all 
your  lands."  "That  shall  be  done,"  said 
Arthur. — SIR  T.  MALORY,  Morte  d'  Arthur, 
iv  (1470). 

Egeria,  in  Roman  myth,  one  of  the 
Camenae,  or  nymphs.  She  abode  in 
a  grove  of  Aricia,  whither  King  Numa 
would  resort  to  consult  with  her  as  to 
the  forms  of  worship  he  should  intro- 
duce into  Rome.  It  has  been  sug- 
gested that  to  ensure  popular  observ- 
ance he  was  willing  to  have  his  sub- 
jects believe  that  he  acted  under 
divine  guidance.  So  Zamolxis  feigned 
that  the  laws  he  gave  to  the  Scythians 
were  dictated  to  him  by  his  attendant 
genius;  so  the  first  Minos  attributed 
to  Jupiter  the  ordinances  he  gave  to 
the  people  of  Crete,  and  Lycurgus 
cited  Apollo  as  his  authority.  A 
further  suggestion  is  that  all  these 
lawgivers  imitated  the  example  of 
Moses,  a  tradition  of  whose  reception 
of  the  laws  on  Mount  Sinai  may  have 
come  from  the  people  of  Phoenicia. 

Ovid,  Metamorphoses,  xv,  is  not 
the  only  poet  who  has  given  a 
tenderer  explanation  of  the  story. 
He  even  goes  so  far  as  to  assert  that 
Numa  married  Egeria.  She  bewailed 
his  death  with  such  violence  of  tears 
that  Diana  changed  her  to  a  fountain 
still  extant. 

Here  didst  thou  dwell,  in  this  enchanted 

cover, 

Egeria!  thy  all  heavenly  bosom  beating 
For  the  far  footsteps  of  thy  mortal  lover; 
The  purple  Midnight   veiled    that  mystic 

meeting 

With  her  most  starry  canopy — and  seating 
Thyself  by  thine  adorer,  what  befel? 
This  cave  was  surely  shaped  out  for  the 

greeting 

Of  an  enamoured  Goddess,  and  the  cell 
Haunted  by  holy  Love — the  earliest  Oracle! 
BYRON:  Childe  Harold,  IV,  cxix, 

Eglantine,  Madame,  in  Chaucer's 
Canterbury  Tales  (1388),  the  Prioress, 
a  dainty  and  delicate  dame,  ignorant 
of  the  morals  but  not  of  the  manners 
of  the  great  world,  who  "full  sweetly" 


Elaine 


103 


Elfe 


"  entuned  in  her  nose  '    the  service 
divine,  and  spoke  French, 

After  the  school  of  Stratford-atte-Bowe, 
For  French  of  Paris  was  to  her  unknow. 

Elaine.  There  are  two  ladies  of  this 
name  in  the  Arthurian  romances  and 
though  they  are  frequently  con- 
founded by  some  of  the  poets  and 
chroniclers,  others,  like  Malory, 
recognize  their  separate  individuali- 
ties. Both  loved  Lancelot  with  a  hope- 
less passion,  but  under  different  cir- 
cumstances and  with  vastly  different 
results. 

ist  Elaine,  daughter  of  King  Pe- 
leas,  a  lineal  descendant  of  Joseph 
of  Arimathe'a.  Lancelot,  returning 
weary  of  adventure  from  Arthur's 
conquest  of  Italy,  stayed  at  the  palace 
of  Peleas  who  knew  that  his  daughter 
was  destined  to  be  mother  of  him  who 
should  win  the  quest  of  the  Holy 
Grail.  He  endeavored  vainly  to 
bring  about  a  marriage  between 
Lancelot  and  Elaine.  Failing  in  this 
he  procured  help  from  an  enchantress 
(some  say  from  Merlin),  and  by 
magical  deception  his  daughter  was 
made  to  assume  the  form  of  Guine- 
vere and  so  beguiled  Sir  Lancelot  to 
her  embraces.  In  due  course  Galahad 
was  born.  This  story  is  elaborately 
set  forth  in  the  French  romance 
Lancelot  du  Lac,  which  adds  that  the 
hero  was  indignant  at  the  deception 
put  upon  him  and  even  lifted  his 
sword  to  slay  the  lady  but  was  soft- 
ened by  her  piteous  cries  for  mercy. 

2d  Elaine,  of  Astolat,  or  Shalott, 
whose  story  assumes  its  most  perfect 
shape  in  two  variants  by  Tennyson, 
The  Lady  of  Shalott  and  Elaine,  the 
•'  Lily  Maid  of  Astalot,"  in  the  Idylls 
of  the  King.  See  Vol  I.  In  a  review 
of  the  Idylls  the  Saturday  Review 
(July  1 6,  1859)  has  this  to  say  of  the 
two  poems  by  Tennyson. 

The  mystical  Lady  of  Shallott,  laying 
aside  her  magic  web  and  mirror,  has  sub- 
sided into  the  purely  human  maid  of  Astalot, 
dying  of  unrequited  love  for  Lancelot.  As 
in  The  Lady  of  Shalott  the  dead  body  floats 
in  a  barge  past  the  palace  windows,  but  the 
final  scene  is  preceded  by  a  long  series  of 
adventures  and  the  arrival  of  the  corpse  is 
so  timed  as  to  interrupt  a  jealous  quarrel 
between  the  queen  and  her  half  wavering 
lover. 


Elder-Mother  (Danish  Hyldemoer), 
in  the  folklore  of  Denmark,  a  sort  of 
hamadryad  or  spirit  who  resides  in 
the  elder  tree  and  has  the  power  of 
reviving  old  memories  in  man. 

El  Dorado  (Spanish  the  gilded),  a 
name  given  by  the  mediaeval  Spanish 
explorers  first  to  an  imaginary  king 
and  eventually  to  his  imaginary  king- 
dom abounding  in  gold  and  precious 
stones  which  was  supposed  to  be 
situated  in  South  America  between 
the  Orinoco  and  the  Amazon  rivers. 
Sir  Walter  Raleigh  in  his  Discovery 
of  the  Large  Rich  and  Beautiful 
Empire  of  Guiana  introduced  the 
name  to  English  readers,  describing 
how  the  monarch  was  every  morning 
smeared  with  oil  or  balsam  and  then 
powdered  with  gold  dust  blown 
through  long  canes  until  his  body 
glistened  with  a  golden  glory.  Be- 
ginning about  1562  and  continuing 
even  to  the  end  of  the  seventeenth 
century  numerous  Spanish  expedi- 
tions were  fitted  out  in  quest  of  this 
phantom,  most  of  which  resulted 
disastrously. 

Eleemon,  a  freedman  of  Cappa- 
docia  whose  legend  is  told  as  an 
episode  in  Amphilochius'  Life  of  St 
Basil.  Southey  has  versified  it  in  a 
ballad,  A  Sinner  Saved  (1829).  He 
bargained  away  his  soul  on  condition 
that  Satan  would  secure  for  him  by 
magic  arts  the  hand  of  Cyra,  daughter 
of  his  quondam  owner.  Ever  after 
he  carried  upon  his  breast  a  little  red 
spot.  After  several  years  of  happy 
marriage  Cyra  discovered  the  spot, 
coaxed  an  explanation  from  her 
husband  and  induced  him  to  make  a 
full  confession  to  St  Basil.  Eleemon 
was  placed  by  the  saint  in  a  cell, 
where  he  clung  to  a  crucifix  and  so 
baffled  the  fiend.  A  later  legend  of 
the  same  sort  told  how  Theophilus, 
at  the  critical  moment,  escaped  from 
a  similar  compact  through  the  agency 
of  the  Blessed  Virgin.  These  are  the 
most  famous  early  instances  of  dia- 
bolical contracts  which  culminated  in 
thesixteenthcenturywiththestillmore 
famous  story  of  Faust.  See  in  Vol.  I. 

Elfe  (old  E.  quick).  According  to 
Spenser,  this  was  the  name  of  the  first 


man,  created  by  Prometheus  and 
animated  with  fire  stolen  from  heaven. 
In  the  Faerie  Queene,  II,  ix,  70,  he  gives 
as  his  authority  a  book  discovered  by 
Sir  Guyon,  Antiquitee  of  Faery-lond. 
In  Canto  x,  71,  he  describes  how  Elfe, 
wandering  in  the  gardens  of  Adonis, 
found 

A  goodly'creature,  whom  he  deemed  in  mynd 
To  be  no  earthly  wight,  but  either  Sprignt, 
Or  Angell,  th1  authour  of  all  woman  kynd; 
Therefore  a  Fay  he  her  according  night, 
Of  whom  all  Faeryes  spring,  and  fetch  their 
lignage  right. 

Their  eldest  son 

Was  Elfin;  him  all  India  obayd, 
And  all  that  now  America  men  call: 
Next  him  was  noble  Elfinan. 

From  them  were  descended  the 
Lords  of  Faery,  Elferon,  Oberon,  and 
later  Gloriana,  the  eponymic  Faerie 
Queen. 

Elfin-rings  or  Fairy  Rings,  the 
names  popularly  given  to  circles 
where  the  grass  grows  greener  than 
elsewhere,  which  folklore  explained 
as  the  footprints  left  by  elves  in  the 
nightly  dances  by  the  light  of  the 
moon.  They  are  caused  by  the  decay 
of  a  certain  kind  of  mushroom,  which 
has  the  eccentric  property  of  casting 
its  seed  only  to  one  side,  all  together. 
Hence  they  grow  in  circles  which 
enlarge  with  every  passing  year. 

Eliduc,  hero  of  The  Lay  of  Eliduc, 
a    Breton   legend   put   into   French 
verse,  circa  1175,  by  Marie  de  France. 
Having  displeased  his  sovereign,  the 
king  of  Brittany,  Eliduc  takes  service 
under  a  king  near  Exeter  and  falls  in 
love    with    the    latter's    daughter, 
Guillardun,    but    conceals    the    fact 
that  he  is  a  married  man.    Otherwise 
he  treats  her  loyally,  though  he  knows 
she  loves  him.    Finally  he  sails  with 
Guillardun  for  Brittany.    One  of  the 
sailors   reveals  that  he  is  married. 
Guillardun    falls    into    a    death-like 
swoon,  and  Eliduc  lays  her  body  in  a 
chapel  on  his  estate.     Here  his  wife 
Guildeluec  finds  the  girl,  apparently 
dead.     It  happens  that  a  weasel  re- 
stores to  life  his  mate  with  "  a  vermeil 
flower "    placed    inside   her   mouth. 
Guildeluec  revives  Guillardun  by  the 
same  means.    Learning  all,  she  retires 


Eligius 

to  a  convent,  leaving  the  way  clear 
[or  her  husband  to  obtain  a  divorce 
and  remarry. 

Elidure,  according  to  the  legendary 
History  of  British  Kings  (circa  1142) 
Geoffrey  of  Monmouth,  the 
brother  of  Arthgallo,  King  of  Britain, 
who  was  deposed  by  the  nobles. 
Elidure  ruled  in  his  stead  for  five 
years.  One  day  while  hunting  he  met 
Arthgallo  in  the  forest. 

The  royal  Elidure  who  leads  the  chase 
Hath  checked  his  foaming  courser.    "Can 

it  be? 

Methinks  that  I  should  recognize  that  face, 
Though  much  disguised  by  long  adversity." 
He  gazed  rejoicing,  and  again  he  gazed, 

Confounded  and  amazed. 
"  It  is  the  King,  my  brother!  "  and,  by  sound 
Of  his  own  voice,  leaps  upon  the  ground. 

WORDSWORTH. 

He  took  Arthgallo  home  and  con- 
cealed him  in  the  palace.  After  this 
he  feigned  himself  sick,  and,  calling 
his  nobles  about  him,  induced  them 
to  consent  to  his  abdicating  and  rein- 
stating his  brother. 

Within  ten  years  Arthgallo  and  his 
issue  were  all  dead,  whereupon  Eli- 
dure resumed  his  seat  on  the  throne 
and  ruled  so  wisely  and  well  that  he 
earned  the  title  of  the  Pious. 

Thus  was  a  Brother  by  a  Brother  saved; 
With  whom  a  crown  (temptation  that  hath 

set 
Discord   in  hearts   of   men  till  they   have 

braved 

Their  nearest  kin  with  deadly  purpose  met) 
'Gainst  duty  weighed  and  faithful  love  did 
seem 

A  thing  of  no  esteem; 

And  from  this  triumph  of  affection  pure, 
He  bore  the  lasting  name  of  "pious  Elidure." 
WORDSWORTH:    Artegal  and  Elidure  (1815). 

Eligius,  St.,  whose  day  is  Dec.  ist, 
the  patron  saint  of  goldsmiths,  far- 
riers, smiths,  and  carters.  He  was 
master  of  the  mint  under  Clotaire  II, 
Dagobert  I,  and  Clovis  II  of  France, 
and  was  also  bishop  of  Noyon.  The 
Latin  Eligius  became  Eloy  in  old 
French  and  is  Eloy  or  more  commonly 
Loy  in  English. 

When  Dagobert  asked  Elgiius  to 
swear  upon  the  relics  of  the  saints  he 
refused,  and  when  pressed  further 
burst  into  tears.  Then  Dagobert  said 
he  would  believe  him  without  an 
oath.  Hence  to  swear  by  St.  Eloy  or 


Elle 


105 


Enceladus 


Loy  was  to  swear  by  one  who  refused 
to  swear,  or  in  other  words  it  was  no 
oath  at  all. 

Elle,  Childe  of,  hero  of  an  early 
English  ballad  telling  the  story  of  how 
a  father  and  a  daughter  favor  different 
suitors  for  the  latter 's  hand,  how 
when  the  father  would  fain  compel  the 
"  fair  Emeline  "  to  marry  the  man  of 
his  choice,  she  flies  with  her  true 
knight,  the  Childe  of  Elle,  how  the 
father  overtakes  the  fugitives,  and 
how  his  daughter's  tears  win  him 
round  to  consent  to  their  union — the 
more  readily  as  his  own  choice  of  a 
son-in-law  had  just  been  slain  in 
single  combat  by  the  Childe. 

Elves,  plural  of  Elf,  a  race  of  tiny 
sprites,  widely  accepted  in  popular 
myth  among  nations  of  Norse  and 
Celtic  stock,  whose  characteristics 
differ  to  some  extent  according  to 
locality.  In  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland  they  usually  inhabit  subter- 
ranean caverns  and  issue  forth  at 
night  to  dance  by  the  light  of  the 
moon.  In  France  and  in  Scandinavia 
they  are  spirits  of  the  air,  sharply 
distinguished  from  the  dwarfs  or 
spirits  of  the  earth.  "  They  flutter 
through  the  air,"  says  Xavier  Mar- 
mier,  "  and  balance  themselves  like 
gilded  butterflies  upon  the  branches 
of  plants;  the  leaf  of  a  tree  serves 
them  for  a  tent,  and  they  can  live  all 
day  on  a  little  honey  sucked  from  the 
calyx  of  a  flower  and  a  drop  of  dew." 
On  the  other  hand  Heine  tells  us 
that  "  what  people  in  Germany  call 
Elfen  or  Elben  are  the  uncanny  crea- 
tures which  witches  bear,  begotten  by 
the  devil." 

The  elves  are  fond  of  intermingling 
in  the  affairs  of  men,  in  a  spirit  either 
of  kindliness,  or  irresponsible  fun,  or 
mischief,  or  sheer  malice.  On  sum- 
mer nights  they  wander  around  the 
homes  of  mortals  watching  over 
orphan  children,  and  when  they  see 
good  reason  for  interference  carry 
them  off  to  their  own  country.  But 
they  also,  for  selfish  purposes,  sub- 
stitute changelings  of  their  own  in 
human  cradles.  They  inflict  night- 
mares and,  occasionally,  diseases  upon 
sleeping  adults.  Norse  myth  recog- 


nized a  difference  between  the  White 
and  the  Black  Elves,  the  former  being 
lovely  and  beneficent,  and  the  special 
favorites  of  the  god  Freyr,  the  latter 
ugly,  long-nosed  dwarfs,  bred  as 
maggots  in  the  decaying  flesh  of 
Ymir's  body  and  afterwards  endowed 
by  the  gods  with  a  human  form  and 
great  proficiency  as  artificers  in  metal 
and  in  wood.  It  was  they  who  manu- 
factured Thor's  hammer  and  Freyr's 
ship  Skidbladnir. 

Elysium  or  the  Elysian  Fields,  the 
paradise  of  the  pagans,  a  conception 
of  gradual  growth  in  classic  myth. 
Originally  as  in  the  Odyssey  it  was 
conceived  of  as  a  place  where  specially 
favored  mortals,  usually  in  their 
earthly  bodies,  were  transferred  for 
the  enjoyment  of  immortal  bliss.  The 
more  modern  view  exemplified  by 
Virgil  in  the  JEneid,  Bk.  vi,  makes 
Elysium  that  part  of  the  underworld 
specially  set  aside  for  the  souls  of 
the  virtuous  dead.  Elysium  must 
not  be  confounded  with  the  asphodel 
meadow  in  Homer's  Hades,  where  the 
shades  lead  a  melancholy  and  restless 
existence. 

Empedocles,  in  classic  literature, 
a  Sicilian  poet  and  philosopher,  circa 
450  B.C.,  credited  by  his  followers 
with  miraculous  powers.  He  is  said 
to  have  thrown  himself  into  the  crater 
of  JEtna,  trusting  that  his  mysterious 
disappearance  might  establish  for 
him  a  claim  to  divinity.  But  the 
volcano  cast  up  his  brazen  slippers 
and  so  revealed  the  fraud.  This 
story  may  have  been  the  coinage  of 
his  enemies,  as  another  legend  that 
he  was  miraculously  conveyed  to 
heaven  from  an  assemblage  of  his 
friends  may  be  considered  an  inven- 
tion of  his  admirers. 

Empusa,  in  classic  myth,  a  mon- 
strous spectre,  one-footed,  as  her 
name  indicates,  and  of  cannibalistic 
appetites.  She  figures  in  The  Frogs 
of  Aristophanes  and  also  in  the  Life 
of  Apollonius  Tyana,  by  Philostratus. 

Enceladus,  in  Greek  myth,  the 
most  powerful  among  the  hundred- 
handed  giants  who,  conspiring  against 
Zeus,  attempted  to  scale  Olympus. 
He  was  killed  by  a  thunderbolt  and 


Endymion 


106 


Ephesus ' 


overwhelmed  under  Mount 
The  earthquakes  are  his  movements 
as  he  tries  to  free  himself,  the  flame 
of  the  volcano  is  his  fiery  breath.  He 
is  often  identified  with  his  brother 
Typhon.  Even  Keats,  who  in  his 
poem,  Hyperion,  keeps  the  identity 
of  each  distinct,  none  the  less  dowers 
Enceladus  with  the  prowess  asso- 
ciated in  Ovid  (Metamorphoses,  vi) 
with  the  name  Typhon.  The  name 
Enceladus  does  not  occur  in  Hesiod 
and  is  first  found  in  Virgil's  Mneid, 

in,  5/8. 

Spenser  (Faerie  Queene  II,  ix,  22) 
describes  his  death  in  the  later  war  of 
the  Titans  at  the  hands  of  Bellona. 
Longfellow  has  a  poem  called  Encela- 
dus and  refers  to  the  legend  in  another 
poem,  King  Robert  of  Sicily. 

Endymion,  in  classic  myth,  a 
beautiful  shepherd  of  Caria  who  fed 
his  flock  on  Mount  Latmos.  One 
calm,  clear  night  Selene,  the  ancient 
goddess  of  the  moon,  later  identified 
with  Diana,  beheld  him  sleeping.  Her 
heart  warmed  to  him,  she  came  down, 
kissed  him  and  watched  over  him 
while  he  dreamed  of  her  and  embraced 
her  as  he  slept.  When  finally  the 
amour  was  discovered,  Zeus  gave 
Endymion  a  choice  between  death  in 
any  manner  he  might  prefer  or  per- 
petual youth  united  to  perpetual 
sleep.  He  chose  the  latter.  He  still 
sleeps  in  his  cave  on  Mount  Latmos 
and  still  the  mistress  of  the  moon  slips 
from  her  nocturnal  course  to  visit 
him  (OviD,  Art  of  Love,  in,  83; 
Tristia,  II,  229).  Pausanias,  Apollo- 
nius  and  Apollodorus  also  tell  the 
story  with  variations.  In  modern 
times  Lyly  made  it  the  subject  of  a 
drama,  Endymion  or  the  Man  in  the 
Moon  (1592);  Jean  Ogier  de  Gombaud 
treated  it  in  a  prose  romance  in 
French,  Endymion  (1624),  and  John 
Keats  put  a  new  interpretation  into 
i  m  his  poem  Endymion  (1818).  In 
these  later  works  Diana  or  Selene 
called  by  her  alternative  name 
Cynthia. 

Eos,  a  Greek  goddess  more  familiar 
to  us  in  the  Latin  name  Aurora  (q.v  ) 
given  her  by  the  Romans.  Greek 
artists,  especially  of  the  later  period, 


were  fond  of  depicting  her  announcing 
the  glorious  uprising  of  her  brother 
Helios.  She  often  precedes  the  four- 
horse  chariot  of  the  sun,  with  Lucifer, 
the  morning  star,  flying  in  front  of 
her.  Vase  painters  also  represent 
her  as  a  winged  woman;  on  a  vase 
in  the  Berlin  Museum  she  wears  a 
fine  pleated  tunic  and  a  mantle, 
spreads  out  her  white  wings,  and 
guides  the  winged  white  coursers  of 
the  Dawn.  Sometimes  leaving  her 
car,  she  flies  in  the  air  holding  two 
hydrias  whence  she  showers  dew  upon 
the  earth. 

Ephesus,  Matron  of,  the  heroine, 
otherwise  unnamed,  of  a  famous  apo- 
logue told  in  the  Satyricon  attributed 
to  Petronius  Arbiter.  Having  been 
found  wailing  with  agony  over  her 
dead  husband  by  a  sentinel  set  to 
watch  the  bodies  of  three  crucified 
thieves,  the  sentinel,  a  handsome 
youth,  spent  three  days  in  the  effort 
to  console  her.  During  his  absence 
one  of  the  corpses  was  removed  by  a 
relative  c*  the  thief.  He  was  aghast 
at  his  predicament,  death  being  the 
sure  penalty  for  neglect  of  duty. 

1  Nay,"  said  the  matron,  "  God 
forbid  that  I  should  have  before  my 
eyes  the  bodies  of  two  men  who  were 
dear  to  me.  Rather  would  I  hang  up 
the  dead  than  be  the  death  of  the 
living." 

And  she  made  the  sentinel  take 
her  husband's  body  and  hang  it  to 
the  vacant  cross. 

In  a  note  to  his  translation  of 
Petronius  Arbiter,  Addison  observes 
that  John  of  Salisbury  "  assures  us 
from  Flavian  that  (there  really  was 
such  a  '  lady  of  Ephesus  '  as  is  here 
described;  "  adding,  that  "  she  suf- 
fered in  Publick  for  her  crime." 
However  this  may  be,  the  story  is 
very  old,  derived,  in  all  probability, 
from  Indian  sources  in  the  first  in- 
stance. Smith  inclines  to  the  belief 
that  it  was  first  introduced  by  Petro- 
nius into  the  Western  world,  but  that 
it  had  then  long  been  current  in  the 
remote  regions  of  the  East. 

In  the  Middle  Ages  it  was  circu- 
lated in  The  Seven  Wise  Masters, 
under  the  title  of  The  Widow  who 


Epigoni 


107 


Erec 


was  Comforted,  although  it  does  not 
occur  in  the  oldest  European  version 
of  the  romance — the  Latin  DoLopa- 
thus.  This  differs  slightly  from 
Petronius's  version,  the  levity  of  the 
widow  being  aggravated  by  the  cir- 
cumstance that  the  husband  had 
died  in  consequence  of  alarm  at  a 
danger  to  which  his  wife  had  been 
exposed. 

Epigoni  (i.e.,  The  Descendants),  in 
^)schylus's  drama  so  entitled,  the 
general  name  for  the  sons  of  the  seven 
heroes  who  had  failed  in  a  first  at- 
tempt against  Thebes  (see  SEVEN 
AGAINST  THEBES).  The  Epigoni 
succeeded  in  the  second.  Their 
names  vary  with  different  accounts, 
but  generally  include  the  following: 
Alcmseon,  ^Egialeus,  Diomedes, 
Dromachus,  Sthenclus,  Thersander, 
Euryalus. 

Epimenides,  a  poet  prophet  and 
sage  of  Crete  who  flourished  in  the 
seventh  century  B.C.,  and  seems  to 
have  accomplished  many  salutary 
reforms,  but  is  chiefly  remembered 
by  the  legend  that  makes  him  the 
earliest  precursor  of  Rip  Van  Winkle. 
Falling  asleep  in  a  cave  when  a  boy 
he  slept  for  57  years.  He  then  made 
his  appearance  in  his  native  village 
with  long  white  hair  and  beard. 
Everything  was  changed.  His  former 
home,  the  house  of  his  father,  was 
occupied  by  strangers.  At  last  a 
younger  brother,  whom  he  had  left  a 
child,  recognized  him.  The  Cretans 
claimed  that  he  lived  to  the  age  of 
299  years,  accumulating  a  super- 
human knowledge  of  medicine  and 
natural  history.  Of  his  poems  only 
six  lines  are  preserved,  and  one  is 
quoted  by  St.  Paul  (Titus  i,  12): 
"  One  of  themselves  even  a  prophet 
of  their  own  said,  The  Cretans  are 
always  liars,  evil  beasts,  slow  bellies." 

Endymion  became  the  type  of  other 
slumberers  to  whom  a  century  was  but  as  a 
day.  Among  such  is  Epimenedes,  who  while 
tending  sheep,  fell  asleep  one  day  in  a  cave 
and  did  not  wake  until  more  than  fifty 
years  had  passed  away.  But  Epimenedes 
was  one  of  the  Seven  Sages,  who  reappear 
In  the  Seven  Manes  of  Leinster,  and  in  the 
Seven  Champions  of  Christendom,  and 
thus  the  idea  of  Seven  Sleepers  was  at  once 
suggested.  This  idea  finds  expression  in 


the  remarkable  legend  of  the  Seven  Sleepers 
of  Ephesus. — G.  W.  Cox:  Mythology  of  the 
Aryan  Nations,  p.  224. 

Epithemius,  in  Greek  myth,  the 
younger  brother  of  Prometheus.  As 
Prometheus  means  "  forethought," 
so  Epithemius  means  "afterthought." 
For  while  the  elder  took  thought  of 
the  morrow,  the  younger  was  wise 
only  after  the  event. 

Eponina,  according  to  Plutarch, 
wife  of  Julius  Sabinus  a  senator  of 
Gaul  who  incited  a  revolt  against 
Vespasian  and  was  defeated.  He  took 
refuge  in  a  vast  subterranean  cavern 
beneath  his  villa  whose  secret  was 
known  only  to  two  freedmen.  These 
freedmen  burned  the  villa  and  spread 
a  report  that  his  body,  self-slain,  was 
buried  among  the  ruins.  Eponina 
joined  him  and  gave  birth  to  twins, 
whom  for  nine  years  she  reared  in 
subterranean  darkness.  Then  the 
hiding  place  was  discovered,  Sabinus 
was  led  forth,  and  Eponina  with  her 
sons  accompanied  him  to  the  judg- 
ment seat  of  Vespasian.  The  emperor 
ordered  Sabinus  to  instant  execution. 
Eponina  would  have  been  spared,  but 
her  prayer  to  share  his  fate  was 
granted:  '  Let  me  go  down  into 
darkness  with  him,"  she  said,  "for  I 
have  known  more  happiness  with  him 
in  the  darkness  than  thou,  O  Caesar, 
shalt  ever  know  in  the  sunshine,  or 
in  all  the  splendor  of  thy  mighty 
Empire."  Shakspear  probably  found 
here  the  hint  for  his  story  of  Arviragus 
and  Guiderius,  the  children  of  Cym- 
beline,  whom  Belarius  brought  up  in 
a  cave. 

Erebus  (from  a  Greek  word  sig- 
nifying darkness),  in  classic  myth,  a 
term  specifically  applied  to  the  dark- 
ness of  the  lower  world  and  hence 
used  as  a  synonym  for  the  lower 
world  itself. 

Erec,  hero  of  a  mediaeval  romance, 
Erec  and  Enide,  by  Chrestien  de 
Troye,  which  became  an  important 
part  of  the  Arthurian  cycle  and  was 
the  remote  ancestor  of  Tennyson's 
Geraint  and  Enid.  .  Erec  vanquishes 
an  attendant  who  had  been  discour- 
teous to  Queen  Genevra,  rises  into 
favor  at  Arthur's  court,  and  marries 


Erlking 


108 


Etzel 


his  own  niece  Enide.  He  neglects  all 
knightly  duties  in  her  embraces; 
excites  disaffection  among  his  vassals 
and  at  last  is  aroused  to  action  by 
Enide.  Attended  by  her  alone  he 
performs  many  great  deeds.  One  day 
he  swoons  through  fatigue.  Enide 
believes  him  dead,  marries  a  baron 
who  happens  along,  but  quarrels  with 
her  new  bridegroom  at  the  wedding 
feast  celebrated  in  his  castle.  The 
supposed  corpse  revives  and  instantly 
beats  the  brains  out  of  his  rival  and 
disperses  the  attendants.  Then  he 
rides  home  with  Enide. 

Erlking  or  Alderking  (Ger.  Erl- 
konig),  an  evil  spirit  haunting  the 
Black  Forest  of  Thuringia,  who  has 
crept  into  folklore  through  a  double 
misconception.  There  is  a  Danish 
ballad  entitled  Der  Elle-konge.  Now, 
Elle  in  Danish  means  either  "Alder" 
or  "Elf."  Herder,  paraphrasing  the 
ballad  in  German,  rendered  the  word 
as  Erl  Konig,  or  Alder-king,  instead 
of  Elfen-Konig,  or  Elf-king.  The 
mistake  was  copied  by  Goethe  in  his 
ballad  Der  Erl-Konig  and  the  popu- 
larity of  the  latter  poem  has  given 
the  word  a  wide  circulation.  Vischoff , 
indeed,  holds  that  Herder  mistrans- 
lated also  the  last  part  of  the  Danish 
name — which  is  properly  Kone 
(woman)  and  not  Konge  as  above, 
and  therefore  that  the  shadowy  and 
mysterious  Erl-king,  whose  name  has 
been  a  source  of  much  ingenious  con- 
jecture, is  a  mere  elf  woman. 

Eros  (the  Cupid  of  the  Latins),  in 
Greek  myth  the  god  of  love,  son  of 
Aphrodite  by  either  Ares,  Zeus,  or 
Hermes.  A_  beautiful  but  wanton 
boy,  whose  irresponsibility  was  fre- 
quently accentuated  by  a  bandage 
covering  his  eyes,  he  was  the  frequent 
companion  of  his  mother,  and  found 
amusement  in  shooting  the  arrows  of 

sire  into  the  breasts  of  gods  and 

men  alike.    He  is  further  represented 

•i  golden  wings  fluttering  about  like 

a  butterfly.  SeeANTEROsand  PSYCHE. 

Erostratus  or  Herostratus,  in  Greek 

legend,  a  youth  who  set  fire  to  the 

Temple  of  Diana  in  Ephesus  in 

to    perpetuate    his    name    in 

He   succeeded   despite  all 


ordinances  and  laws  passed  at  that 
time  and  later  which  forbade  his 
name  to  be  written  or  spoken.  It  is 
to  Erostratus  that  Colley  Gibber 
refers  in  the  lines  he  introduced  into 
the  stage  edition  of  Shakspear's 
Richard  III,  Act  in,  Sc.  i: 

The  aspiring  youth  that  fired  the  Ephesian 

dome, 
Outlives  in  fame  the  pious  fool  that  raised  it. 

The  destruction  of  the  temple  oc- 
curred on  the  night  of  Alexander's 
birth  and  was  afterwards  accepted 
by  him  as  an  omen  of  his  future  great- 
ness. Hence  he  rebuilt  the  temple  on 
a  more  magnificent  scale  than  ever. 
To  pile  coincidence  on  coincidence, 
Valerius  Maximus,  De  Cupiditate 
Gloria,  xiv,  4,  relates  that  Pausanias 
assassinated  Philip,  the  father  of 
Alexander,  because  he  had  been  told 
by  an  eminent  philosopher  that  his 
only  hope  of  eternal  fame  was  to  kill 
some  illustrious  personage.  See  Gesta 
Romanorum,  Tale  cxlix,  Of  Vainglory. 

Erynnes.    See  FURIES. 

Esterel  or  Esterello,  originally  the 
goddess  of  fecundity  in  lower  Gaul 
and  upper  Italy,  i.e.,  the  ancient 
Liguria.  The  Ligurian  priests  gave 
potions  in  her  name  to  barren  women. 
Under  Christianity  she  became  a 
fairy,  retaining  her  ancient  character- 
istics, so  that  it  was  fabled  she  brewed 
magic  draughts  which  ensured  female 
fecundity.  She  still  haunts  the 
Alpine  chain  in  Provence  named  after 
her  the  Esterel, — where  she  acts  as  a 
sort  of  animated  will  o'  the  wisp, 
teasing  men  with  her  loveliness,  luring 
them  into  pursuit,  but  always  evading 
them. 

Etzel,  in  mediaeval  German  legend 
and  romance,  the  name  under  which 
figures  a  popular  reminiscence  of  the 
Attila  of  history.  The  same  hero  is 
adumbrated  under  the  name  of  Atli 
in  the  lays  of  the  elder  Edda,  and  as 
the  husband  of  Gudrun.  But  though 
the  resemblance  in  names  is  greater 
in  the  Norse  myths  than  in  the  Ger- 
man, there  is  a  wider  severance  of 
identity.  The  catastrophe  in  the 
Nibelungen  Lied  is  undoubtedly  a  far- 
off  echo  of  Attila's  crushing  defeat 


Eukrates 


109 


Eustace 


of  the  Burgundians  under  their  king 
Gundahari,  and  of  the  true  story  of 
his  own  death  in  453.  On  the  night 
of  his  wedding  with  a  young  woman 
named  Hilda  he  died  suddenly,  prob- 
ably from  the  rupture  of  a  blood- 
vessel. The  legends  make  Kriemhild, 
Etzel's  wife,  the  sister  of  the  Bur- 
gundian  prince  Gunther. 

Eukrates,  in  Lucian's  Wonderlover, 
the  pupil  of  the  magician  Pankrates, 
whose  story  is  retold  by  Goethe  in  his 
ballad  The  Magician's  Apprentice. 
The  apprentice  turns  a  broom  into  a 
kobold  by  the  secret  incantation  he 
has  learned  through  eavesdropping, 
and  employs  it  to  fill  a  bath-tub.  As 
he  has  not  learned  the  three  words 
which  restore  the  water  carrier  to  its 
proper  shape,  the  bath  is  not  only 
filled,  but  pail  after  pail  is  discharged 
until  the  house  is  flooded.  The  ap- 
prentice cuts  the  kobold  in  two  with 
a  sabre.  There  are  now  two  kobolds, 
both  pouring  water  into  the  house, 
until  the  apprentice  flies  to  his  master 
for  assistance.  The  obvious  moral  \ 
is  the  danger  of  a  half-knowledge  of 
anything. 

Eulenspiegel,  Tyll  (called  Owly- 
glass  or  Howleglass  in  the  English 
translation),  a  popular  buffoon  in  I 
German  folklore  whose  merry  jests 
were  collected  and  first  published 
(1483)  in  low  Dutch  by  Dr.  Thomas 
Murner.  Part  charlatan,  part  fool, 
and  part  practical  jester  he  is  made 
responsible  for  German  versions  of 
jokes  that  were  current  in  other  parts 
of  Europe  and  in  the  East.  The  name 
is  probably  derived  from  an  imagi- 
nary coat  of  arms  which  figured  in  one 
of  his  exploits,  viz.,  an  owl  (Eule)  and 
a  mirror  (Spiegel),  which  to-day  is 
shown  on  what  is  said  to  be  his  grave- 
stone in  Luneberg. 

To  few  mortals  has  it  been  granted  to 
earn  such  a  place  in  universal  history  as 
Tyll  Eulenspiegel.  Now,  after  five  cen- 
turies, Tyll's  native  village  is  pointed  out 
with  pride  to  the  traveller,  and  his  tomb- 
stone still  stands  at  Mollen  near  Lubeck 
where,  since  1350.  his  once  nimble  bones 
have  been  at  rest. — CARLYLE:  Essays. 

Eumenides  (the  gracious  ones),  a 
euphemistic  title  given  by  the  Greeks 
to  the  Furies  (g.f.)  because  it  was 


dangerous  to  utter  their  true  name  of 
Erinnyes,  the  avengers. 

Europa,  in  Greek  myth,  daughter 
of  Agenor,  king  of  Phoenicia.  Homer 
in  the  Iliad  makes  her  a  daughter  of 
Phoenix.  Her  name,  signifying  white, 
was  given  to  the  European  continent 
whose  inhabitants  are  white.  By 
means  of  a  paintbox,  which  one  of 
her  attendants  stole  from  Here,  she 
so  enhanced  her  native  beauty  that 
Zeus  fell  in  love  with  her,  metamor- 
phosed himself  into  a  white  bull  and 
so  won  her  by  his  gentleness  that  she 
seated  herself  upon  his  back,  where- 
upon he  bore  her  away  from  her 
astonished  companions,  plunged  into 
the  sea  and  swam  to  the  island  of 
Crete.  Her  story  is  told  at  length  in  one 
of  the  idyls  of  Moschus.  According  to 
some  accounts  she  became  by  Zeus 
the  mother  of  the  monster  Minotaur. 
Her  more  legitimate  offspring  were 
Minos,  Rhadamanthus  and  Evandros. 

Eustace  the  Monk,  a  noted  free- 
booter of  the  thirteenth  century, 
frequently  alluded  to  in  old  chronicles, 
whose  exploits  are  celebrated  in  a 
manuscript  (Roman  d' Eustache  le 
Moigne)  discovered  in  the  Royal 
Library  at  Paris,  and  published  in 
1834.  According  to  this  authority 
(mainly  legendary)  he  was  born  in 
the  thirteenth  century  in  Boulogne, 
studied  magic  and  theology  at  Toledo, 
returned  to  Boulogne  and  became  a 
monk,  but  apostasized  and  turned 
outlaw  in  order  to  revenge  himself 
against  the  Count  of  Boulogne,  whom 
he  accused  of  his  father's  murder. 
Eustace  harassed  his  enemy  by 
adopting  strange  disguises  by  the 
exercise  of  his  magic  arts  and  so 
insinuating  himself  into  his  presence 
until  the  moment  came  for  striking 
some  decisive  blow.  Wearying  of 
this  game  at  last,  he  crossed  to 
England  and  was  placed  by  King 
John  I  in  command  of  a  large  fleet, 
which  soon  became  a  terror  to  the 
enemies  of  England.  But,  when  John 
formed  an  alliance  with  the  Count  of 
Boulogne  Eustace  transferred  his  ser- 
vices to  France  and  was  finally  killed 
in  a  naval  combat  against  the  very 
fleet  he  had  formerly  commanded. 


Evander 


110 


Fates 


Evander,  in  classic  myth,  son  of 
Hermes  by  an  Arcadian  nymph.  The 
Greek  name  Evandros  is  a  translation 
of  the  Latin  Faunus.  Some  60  years 
before  the  Trojan  war  Evander, 
banished  from  his  native  land,  is  said 
to  have  led  a  colony  from  Pallantium 
in  Arcadia  to  the  banks  of  the  Tiber, 
where  he  founded  an  Italian  Pallan- 
tium at  the  foot  of  the  Palatine  Hill. 
He  was  a  very  old  man  when  ^Eneas 
landed  on  the  Latian  shore.  Virgil 
makes  copious  use  of  the  legend.  The 
voyage  of  the  Trojan  chief  up  the 
unknown  Tiber,  his  hospitable  recep- 
tion at  the  homely  court  of  the  Arca- 
dian king,  the  valor  and  untimely 
death  of  Pallas,  Evander's  son,  who 
leads  his  father's  troops  to  fight  by  the 
side  of  the  destined  heirs  of  Italy,  all 
furnish  striking  episodes  in  the  Mneia. 
Ovid  in  The  Fasti  describes  Evander's 
arrival  in  Italy  and  puts  into  his 
mouth  a  prophecy  of  the  future  great- 
ness of  Rome  with  his  usual  dex- 
terity. 

Excalibur,  in  Arthurian  legend,  the 


famous  sword  of  King  Arthur.  Some 
say  it  was  given  to  him  by  the  Lady 
of  the  Lake.  A  more  popular  legend 
makes  it  appear,  enclosed  in  a  magic 
stone  as  in  a  sheath,  just  after  Uther 
Pendragon's  death  had  left  vacant 
the  British  throne.  Carved  on  the 
stone  was  a  motto,  "  Whoso  pulleth 
this  sword  out  of  this  stone  is  rightful 
King."  This  Arthur  did,  after  201 
famous  barons  had  failed.  When 
Arthur  felt  that  he  was  dying,  he  sent 
Sir  Bedivere  to  cast  the  weapon  back 
intc  the  lake.  An  arm  clothed  in 
white  samite  appeared  above  the  sur- 
face of  the  waters,  seized  the  weapon, 
waved  it  thrice  and  disappeared.  In 
the  Volsunga  saga  there  is  a  sword, 
thrust  through  a  tree  trunk,  which 
can  be  drawn  only  by  him  who  is 
destined  to  wield  it.  Similar  legends 
abound  in  myth  and  legend.  All  are 
reminiscences  of  the  great  stone  which 
Theseus,  when  he  reached  his  full 
strength,  lifts  without  effort  to  find 
the  sword  and  sandals  his  father  had 
buried  beneath  it.  See  DURINDANA. 


Fairies.    See  PYGMIES 

Farinata  degli  Uberti,  in  Dante's 
Inferno,  x,  a  proud  and  defiant  volup- 
tuary whose  soul  occupies  a  red-hot 
tomb  in  hell,  the  lid  whereof  is  sus- 
pended over  him  until  the  day  of 
judgment.  He  scorns  to  allow  any 
token  of  suffering  to  escape  him.  In 
his  lifetime  Farinata  was  a  leader  of 
the  Ghibellines,  banished  in  1250 
from  his  native  city  of  Florence  by 
the  Guelphs,  who  ten  years  later 
returned  with  an  army  and  captured 
it  but  magnanimously  refused  to 
permit  its  destruction. 

Farinata,  lifting  his  haughty  and  tran- 
quil brow  from  his  couch  of  fire.— MACAU- 
LAY:  Essays  Milton. 

Like  Farinata  from  his  fiery  tomb. 

LONGFELLOW:  Dante. 

Fates,  The  (the  Moirae  of  the 
Greeks  and  Parcas  of  the  Romans), 
in  classic  myth,  were  three  in  number, 


daughters  of  Nox  and  Erebus.  These 
all-powerful  goddesses  who  presided 
over  the  destinies  of  man  were  Clotho, 
who  held  the  distaff  or  spindle; 
Lachesis,  who  drew  out  the  thread 
of  human  life,  and  Atropos,  who 
severed  it  with  her  shears  (see 
HESIOD,  Theogony,  219).  The  dis- 
tribution of  functions  was  not  always 
observed  by  later  poets;  sometimes 
all  three  are  described  as  spinning  the 
thread  of  life,  which  originally  was  the 
specific  function  of  Clotho. 

Sad  Clotho  held  the  rock,  the  whiles  the 

thread, 

By  grisly  Lachesis  was  spun  with  pain 
That  cruel  Atropos  eftsoon  undid, — 

With  cursed  knife  cutting  the  twist  In 
twain. 

SPENSER:  Faerie  Queenc,  iv,  2. 

The  Fates  answer  to  the  Teutonic 
Norns,  Urdh,  Verdhandi,  and  Skuld 
(arbitrary  names  denoting  the  past 
the  present  and  the  future),  who 


Faun 


111 


Fingal 


guard  the  ash  tree  Yggdrasil;  the 
weird  sisters  whom  Macbeth  encoun- 
ters on  the  desolate  heath. 

Faun  or  Faunus,  in  Roman  myth,  a 
king  of  Italy  some  thirteen  hundred 
years  before  Christ,  who  taught  his 
subjects  agriculture  and  religion.  He 
was  worshipped  as  a  divinity  after 
death,  corresponding  in  some  respects 
to  the  Greek  Pan.  Later  there  arose 
the  idea  of  a  multiplicity  of  fauns, 
who  bore  the  same  relation  to  the 
original  as  the  Greek  Panes  or  Satyrs 
did  to  Pan,  and  were  similarly  repre- 
sented with  tails,  short  horns,  pointed 
furry  ears  and  the  legs  and  feet  of 
goats. 

Fenrir  or  Fenris,  in  Norse  myth,  a 
monster  wolf  brought  forth  by  Loki. 
The  gods,  after  much  difficulty, 
chained  him  with  a  fetter  called 
Gleipnir,  which  mountain  spirits  had 
fashioned  out  of  these  strange  things: 
the  noise  of  a  cat's  footfall,  the  beards 
of  women,  the  roots  of  stones,  the 
breath  of  fishes,  the  spittle  of  birds. 
Soft  as  a  silken  string,  it  yet  accom- 
plished its  purpose  and  Fenris  was 
left  a  captive  in  a  deep  abyss,  his 
jaws  pried  open  with  a  spear,  and 
there  he  must  remain  until  Ragnarok, 
when  he  will  help  to  vanquish  the 
gods  and  will  himself  be  slain  by 
Vidharr. 

Ferracute,  Ferragus  or  Ferracutus, 
in  Archbishop  Turpin's  Chronicle  of 
Charlemagne,  a  giant  of  the  race  of 
Goliath,  20  cubits  or  36  feet  high, 
possessing  the  strength  of  forty  men. 
Neither  lance  nor  sword  could  pene- 
trate his  thick  hide.  Orlando, 
divinely  commissioned  to  slay  him, 
pierced  him  through  the  navel,  his 
only  vulnerable  spot.  Ferracute 
appears  in  Ariosto's  Orlando  Furioso 
under  the  name  of  Ferrau. 

Fiammetta,  La  (It.  The  Little 
Flame),  the  name  by  which,  in 
poetry  or  prose,  Boccaccio  always 
addressed  the  Lady  Maria  d' Aquino 
a  natural  daughter  of  King  Robert  of 
Naples,  married  when  very  young  to 
a  Neapolitan  nobleman.  Boccaccio 
first  saw  her  in  the  Church  of  San 
Lorenzo,  at  Easter  1338,  and  their 
ensuing  relations  were  no  secret  to 


the  world.  Indeed,  Boccaccio  himself 
has  blazoned  them  in  his  novel  of 
Fiammetta,  an  imaginary  autobiog- 
raphy of  the  lady,  keeping  very 
closely  to  actual  fact.  Elsewhere 
none  the  less  he  painted  her  as  a 
marble  statue  whom  no  fire  could 
warm. 

It  is  the  first  attempt  in  any  literature  to 
portray  subjective  emotion  exterior  to  the 
writer;  since  the  days  of  Virgil  and  Ovid, 
nothing  had  been  essayed  in  this  region  of 
mental  analysis.  The  author  of  this  extra- 
ordinary work  proved  himself  a  profound 
anatomist  of  feeling  by  the  subtlety  with 
which  he  dissected  a  woman's  heart.  .  .  . 
From  Dante's  Beatrice  through  Petrarch's 
Laura  to  Boccaccio's  La  Fiammetta,  from 
woman  as  an  allegory  of  the  noblest  thoughts 
and  purest  stirrings  of  the  soul,  through 
woman  as  a  symbol  of  all  beauty  wor- 
shipped at  a  distance,  to  woman's  as  man's 
lover,  kindling  and  reciprocating  the  most 
ardent  passion  .  .  .  such  was  the  rapid 
movement  of  Italian  genius  within  the 
brief  space  of  fifty  years. 

Fierabras  or  Ferumbras,  in  Carlo- 
vingian  myth,  one  of  the  Saracen 
foemen  worthiest  of  the  steel  of 
Roland  and  his  fellow-Paladins.  He 
sacked  Rome,  and  carried  away  as 
part  of  his  plunder  the  crown  of 
thorns  and  the  balsam  used  in  em- 
balming the  body  of  Christ.  One 
drop  taken  internally  sufficed  to 
restore  the  integrity  of  the  most 
cruelly  mangled  skin.  He  gave  his 
name  to  a  I2th  century  chanson  de 
geste,  which  was  probably  the  central 
part  of  a  longer  poem  known  as 
Balan,  but  now  lost,  of  which  a  para- 
phrase appeared  in  English  as  The 
Sowdon  of  Babylon.  The  English 
metrical  romance,  Sir  Ferumbras,  is 
from  the  Life  of  Charles  the  Great 
(1485),  translated  and  printed  by 
William  Caxton. 

Fingal,  a  semi-mythical  king  of 
Morven  on  the  northwest  coast  of 
Scotland  who  is  the  hero  of  Ossian's 
epic  Fingal.  He  died  about  A.D. 
283.  In  ancient  Celtic  romances  he 
is  pictured  as  a  great  warrior  who 
came  to  the  assistance  of  Erin  (Ire- 
land) when  she  was  overrun  by 
Swaran,  king  of  Lochlin  (Denmark), 
and  finally  repelled  the  invader.  His 
soldiers  were  called  Feni,  whence  the 
modern  word  Fenian. 


Finn 


112 


Flores 


Finn,  in  Scandinavian  myth,  a 
giant  who  built  a  church  for  St. 
Lawrence  at  Lund,  Sweden,  on  con- 
dition that  unless  the  saint  learned 
his  name  before  completion  he  should 
yield  up  to  him  either  the  sun  and  the 
moon  or  his  own  eyes.  The  work 
progressed  towards  completion.  In 
vain  St.  Lawrence  interrogated  the 
angels  in  heaven,  the  priests  and  the 
peasants  of  the  neighborhood, — no 
one  knew  the  giant's  name.  One  day 
walking  out  into  the  country  he 
noticed  a  woman  and  a  child  sitting 
on  the  threshold  of  a  house.  The 
child  was  crying.  "  Hush,  hush," 
said^the  woman,  "  your  father  Finn  is 
coming  and  he  will  bring  you  either 
the  sun  and  the  moon  or  the  two  eyes 
of  Saint  Lawrence." 

Fisher  King,  The.  See  PECHEUR, 
Roi. 

Fjalar,  a  legendary  king  of 
Gauthiod  in  Sweden,  hero  of  an  old 
saga  which  in  1844  was  remodelled  by 
Johann  Ludvig  Runeberg  in  a  narra- 
tive poem  King  Fjalar. 

To  King  Fjalar,  impiously  exulting 
in  the  prosperity  of  his  kingdom  as 
due  to  his  unaided  strength  and  wis- 
dom, comes  Dargar  the  seer  prophesy- 
ing woe  to  Gauthiod  and  its  King, 
whose  only  son  and  daughter  shall 
be  joined  in  an  incestuous  union.  To 
disprove  the  prophecy  Fjalar  has  his 
daughter  cast  into  the  sea.  Twenty 
years  later  the  son,  Hjalmar,  sails 
away  in  quest  of  adventures  and  at  a 
foreign  court  meets  and  weds  the 
maiden  Oihonna.  At  Gauthiod,  the 
Fjalar  awaits  the  return  of 
his  son.  Suddenly  the  evil  seer  Dar- 
gar arrives  and  cries  that  the  hour  of 
vengeance  has  come.  Then  Hjalmar 
appears  with  a  bloody  sword  in  his 

r2  j-  He  tells  his  sad  ^ory.  He 
had  discovered  too  late  that  his  bride 
was  his  own  sister,  whom  a  passing 
ship  had  rescued  from  the  sea.  With 
the  sword  he  holds  he  slew  her,  and 

himself    bef°re    his 

The  sun 


Flibbertigibbet,  the  name  of  a  fiend 
by  whom  Edgar  in  King  Lear  claims 


to  be  haunted  when  he  feigns  insanity 
and  speaks  of  himself  as  Poor  Tom  o* 
Bedlam.  'This  is  the  foul  fiend 
Flibbertigibbet,"  he  cries;  "  he  begins 
at  curfew  and  walks  till  the  first  cock; 
he  gives  the  web  and  the  pin,  squints 
the  eye,  and  makes  the  harelip,  mil- 
dews the  white  wheat  and  hurts  the 
poor  creature  of  Earth"  (King  Lear, 
iii,  4).  Harsnet  in  his  Declaration  of 
Egregious  Popish  Impostures  (1603) 
names  Flibbertigibbet  as  one  of  four 
fiends  which  the  Jesuits  claimed  to 
have  cast  out  from  the  servants  of 
the  household  of  Edward  Peckhaman, 
English  Roman  Catholic,  at  the  time 
when  the  Armada  was  being  prepared 
in  Spain.  Hence  the  farther  allusion 
in  Shakspear:  'Flibbertigibbet  [the 
fiend]  of  mopping  and  mowing  who 
since  possesses  chamber-maids  and 
waiting  women." 

Florent  or  Florentius,  a  knight 
whose  story  is  told  by  John  Gower  in 
the  first  book  of  his  Confessio  Aman- 
tis.  He  bound  himself  to  marry  a 
deformed  hag  if  she  would  solve  for 
him  a  riddle  on  which  his  life  de- 
pended, '  What  do  women  most 
desire?  '  She  explains  that  what 
women  most  desire  is  to  have  their 
own  way.  The  answer  is  correct;  he 
weds  the  lady;  is  persuaded  that  he 
must  kiss  her,  and  she  is  transformed 
into  a  girl  of  eighteen.  (See  GAWAIN, 
SIR.)  The  story  is  alluded  to  in  The 
Taming  of  the  Shrew,  i,  2. 

Flores  or  Floris,  in  mediaeval  ro- 
mance, a  youthful  prince  enamored  of 
Blanchefleur.  Boccaccio  who  makes 
their  story  the  chief  theme  of  his 
Filocopo  (1338)  says  that  this  pair  of 
lovers  were  famous  long  before  his 
time,  but  the  earliest  extant  refer- 
ence to  them  is  in  the  Breviari  d'Amor 
(1288)  of  Eymengan  de  Bezers.  In 
the  Decameron,  Day  x,  5,  Boccaccio 
returns  to  the  story,  condenses  it  and 
changes  the  names  to  Ansaldo  and 
Dianora.  Chaucer  in  the  Canterbury 
Tales  alludes  to  the  story  as  "a 
British  lay."  This  is  probably  the 
fourteenth  century  English  romance 
Floris  and  Blanchefleur  which  seems  to 
have  come  from  remote  Eastern  sources 
through  a  French  medium  now  lost.  v 


Flying 


113 


Freia 


Floris  is  the  son  of  a  Spanish  king; 
Blanchefleur  the  daughter  of  a  pagan  lady 
held  captive  at  his  court.  The  children  are 
born  on  the  same  day,  are  brought  up 
together,  but  because  of  Floris's  too  evident 
affection  his  parents  decide  to  sell  the  girl 
to  certain  merchants  who  in  turn  dispose 
of  her  to  the  Emir  of  Babylon.  Floris 
follows  after  her;  by  bribing  the  porter  he 
is  smuggled  into  the  palace;  is  there  dis- 
covered and  sentenced  to  death;  the  emir 
himself  undertakes  to  cut  off  his  head  but 
is  so  moved  by  the  distress  of  the  charming 
young  people  that  he  forgives  everything. 

Flying  Dutchman.     See  VANDER- 

DECKEN. 

Fortuna,  in  classic  myth,  the  god- 
dess of  chance  or  good  luck  worshipped 
especially  at  Rome,  where  she  was 
considered  the  bearer  of  prosperity. 
Her  surnames,  as  conservatrix,  primi- 
genia,  virilis,  etc.,  express  either  par- 
ticular kinds  of  good  luck  on  the 
persons  or  classes  of  persons  to  whom 
she  granted  it.  She  was  represented 
as  a  winged  maid  propelling  or  pro- 
pelled by  a  small  wheel  under  one 
foot  and  carrying  a  cornucopia  in  her 
right  hand  which  she  empties  along 
the  way  with  her  left.  Like  Plutus 
her  eyes  are  bandaged. 

Fortunatus,  hero  of  a  popular 
European  chapbook  whose  first  ap- 
pearance in  print  dates  from  1509,  at 
Augsburg,  though  it  is  based  upon 
ancient  traditions  common  to  many 
countries.  It  was  dramatized  by 
Hans  Sachs  in  1553  and  by  Thomas 
Dekker,  as  The  Pleasant  History  of 
Old  Fortunatus,  in  1600.  LudwigTieck 
includes  a  modern  version  in  his 
Phantasus;  Uhland  left  an  unfinished 
narrative  poem,  Fortunatus  and  his 
Sons.  Fortunatus  being  in  great 
straits  is  unexpectedly  visited  by  the 
goddess  Fortune  who  bestows  upon 
him  an  inexhaustible  purse.  By  a 
clever  stratagem  he  filches  ^  from  a 
sultan  a  wishing  cap  which  will  trans- 
port the  wearer  to  any  place  he  may 
desire.  These  two  perquisites  enable 
the  hero  to  gratify  every  whim,  but 
eventually  lead  to  his  own  destruction 
and  that  of  his  children. 

Frastrada,  in  Carlovingian  legend, 
one  of  the  wives  or  concubines  of 
Charlemagne,  to  whom  he  was  pas- 
sionately attached.  When  she  died 
he  continued  to  love  her  corpse. 
8 


Archbishop  Turpin  discovered  under 
her  tongue  a  ring.  He  took  it  away. 
Charlemagne,  disgusted  now,  ordered 
the  corpse  to  burial.  But  the  passion 
he  had  felt  for  the  dead  leman  was 
transferred  to  the  living  ecclesiastic. 
He  followed  Turpin  everywhere^ he 
would  not  be  separated  from  him. 
At  last  the  prelate,  guessing  the 
cause,  threw  the  ring  into  the  lake. 
From  that  time  Charlemagne  became 
so  passionately  attached  to  the  place 
(Aix-la-Chapelle)  that  he  never 
wished  to  leave  it.  He  built  there  a 
palace  and  ordered  that  his  bones 
should  rest  there  after  death. 

Freia,  Freja  or  Frigga,  from  the 
Gothic  Frijon,  to  love,  known  also  as 
Holle  or  Holda  (Gothic  holthen,  to 
help),  and  Bertha  or  Perchtha  (Goth. 
peracta,  shining),  was  the  Teutonic 
Aphrodite  or  Goddess  of  Love.  The 
separate  personifications  of  her  vari- 
ous names  and  attributes  in  different 
localities  resulted  in  the  creation  of 
at  least  four  distinct  goddesses  or 
fairies  (Freia,  Frigga,  Holda  and 
Bertha),  who  in  spite  of  the  conflict- 
ing legends  that  have  clustered 
around  them  still  preserve  a  congeni- 
tal likeness  that  betrays  their  com- 
mon origin. 

Freia,  in  the  final  form  of  the  Norse 
legend,  became  the  representative  of 
sexual  love,  as  Frigga  was  of  motherly 
love.  Being  abandoned  by  her  hus- 
band Odin  in  favor  of  Frigga  she  has 
ever  sought  vainly  for  him  and  wept 
tears  of  gold.  She  was  the  most 
beautiful  of  all  the  goddesses,  her 
hair  was  long  and  golden,  she  was  clad 
in  a  white  garment  that  spread  a 
rosy  refulgence.  Her  voice  was  of 
enthralling  sweetness.  She  loved 
flowers  and  haunted  rose-bushes  and 
willow  trees.  She  lived  in  a  garden 
divided  by  limpid  waters  from  the 
outer  world  and  containing  the 
Fountain  of  Youth,  where  the  sources 
of  life  were  renovated,  while  all 
around  played  the  souls  of  the  un- 
born. She  rode  in  a  chariot  drawn 
by  two  cats.  Not  only  was  she  the 
goddess  of  love  but  also  of  house- 
wifely accomplishments.  At  the 
period  of  the  winter  solstice,  when  the 


Freitschutz 


114 


Funk 


German  tribes  celebrated  their  rites 
of  sun-worship,  she  visited  mortal 
households  and  noted  the  industry  of 
maidens  at  their  spinning.  In  Ger- 
many the  distinction  between  Freia 
and  Frigga  was  not  so  accurately  out- 
lined, and  under  either  name  the  god- 
dess combined  the  characteristics  of 
Juno  and  of  Venus,  the  motherly  and 
the  erotic  elements.  Christianity 
frequently  confounded  her,  on  the 
one  hand  with  Venus  as  emblematic 
of  sinful  lust,  and  on  the  other  with 
the  Virgin  mother.  The  Venus  who 
seduced  Tannhauser  inhabited  the 
Horselberg,  an  old  place  of  Freia 
worship.  The  kindleinsbrunnen  of 
medieval  Germany  which  were  under 
the  protection  of  the  Virgin  and  to 
which  married  women  made  pil- 
grimages in  the  hope  of  being  blessed 
with  children  were  confused  remi- 
niscences of  Freia 's  fountain  of  life. 
See  GOOSE,  MOTHER. 

Freitschutz  (Ger.  the  Free  Shot] ,  in 
German  legend,  a  hunter  or  marksman 
who  by  compact  with  the  devil  pro- 
cured seven  freikugeln  (free  bullets) , 
six  of  which  never  failed  to  hit  the 
mark,  while  the  seventh  went  whither 
the  devil  wished  to  speed  it.  The 
legend,  which  was  popular  among  the 
troopers  of  the  fourteenth  and  fif- 
teenth centuries,  was  made  the  sub- 
ject of  a  tale  by  Apel  in  his  Gespen- 
sterbuch  or  Ghost-book,  1810.  An 
English  translation  may  be  found  in 
De  Quincey's  works.  It  was  the 
subject  of  Weber's  romantic  opera 
Der  Freitschutz  (1821),  known  in 
England  and  America  by  the  same 
title  and  in  France  as  Robin  des  Bois 
and  Le  Franc-Tireur. 

Frigg,  in  Norse  mythology,  the 
consort  of  Odin  and  sharer  of  his 
throne.  Like  Freyja,  who  is  some- 
times identified  with  her,  she  is  the 
goddess  of  love,  but  especially  in  its 
domestic  aspect.  She  conferred  bless- 
ings upon  marriage  and  is  represented 
with  a  spinning  wheel  and  a  distaff. 
Sixteen  goddesses  attended  upon  her, 
each  representing  a  distinct  attribute 
or  quality  of  the  chief  goddess.  She 
was  also  chief  of  the  warrior  maidens 
m  Valhalla  but  she  possessed  in  addi- 


tion an  abode  of  her  own  called  Fen- 
salir,  "  the  hall  of  the  sea,"  where  she 
wept  golden  tears  for  her  son  Balder. 
From  this  goddess  we  get  our  Friday. 

Frithiof,  hero  of  Frithiof  the  Strong, 
an  Icelandic  saga  of  the  thirteenth 
century. 

Frithiof,  son  of  a  churl,  has  grown 
up  in  the  house  of  king  Bele,  with  his 
daughter  Ingeborg.  On  the  death 
of  their  father  the  two  princes  Helge 
and  Half  dan,  who  succeed  him,  con- 
temptuously reject  the  suit  of  a  vassal 
for  their  sister's  hand.  They  place 
her  in  the  sanctuary  of  Balder.  There 
Frithiof  ventures  to  visit  her  and  for 
this  crime  is  condemned  to  exact  trib- 
ute from  the  terrible  Jarl  Angantyr, 
in  the  Faroe  Islands.  Accomplishing 
his  task  Frithiof  returns  to  find  Inge- 
borg forcibly  married  to  the  old  King 
Ring  and  the  love  token  he  has  given 
his  betrothed  on  the  arm  of  Helge 's 
wife.  In  his  fury  he  wrests  it  from 
her.  The  image  of  Balder,  which  she 
held  in  her  arms,  falls  into  the  flames. 
Frithiof,  with  the  curse  of  sacrilege 
upon  him,  goes  into  exile  and  becomes 
famous  as  a  Viking.  At  last  he  visits, 
in  disguise,  the  palace  of  King  Ring, 
is  kindly  entertained,  though  the 
king  recognizes  him,  saves  his  host 
from  drowning  and  resists  in  a  hard 
inward  struggle  the  temptation  to 
kill  him  in  his  sleep.  In  return  Ring 
gives  up  Ingeborg  to  him,  and  makes 
him  the  guardian  of  his  heir,  as  he 
himself  is  dying  of  old  age. 

Funk,  Peter,  a  name  given  to  a 
bogus  bidder  at  auction,  perhaps 
because  it  was  originally  the  name 
that  bidders  of  this  sort  frequently 
handed  in  as  their  own  when  their  bid 
was  not  raised. 

By  thus  running  up  goods  Peter  is  of 
great  service  to  the  auctioneers,  though  he 
never  pays  them  a  cent  of  money.  Indeed, 
it  is  not  his  intention  to  purchase,  nor  is 
that  of  the  auctioneer  that  he  should. 
Goods,  nevertheless,  are  frequently  struck 
off  to  him  and  then  the  salesman  cries  out 
the  name  of  Mr.  Smith,  Mr.  Johnson,  or 
some  other  among  the  hundred  aliases  of 
Peter  Funk,  as  the  purchaser.  But  the 
goods  on  such  occasions  are  always  taken 
back  by  the  auctioneer,  agreeably  to  a 
secret  understanding  between  him  and 
Peter.— ASA  GREENE;  A  Glance  at  New  York 
(1837). 


Furies 


115 


Galahad 


Furies  (Lat.  Furies  or  Dircz,  Gr. 
Eumenides,  Erinnyes  or  Erinyes), 
the  avenging  deities  of  classic  myth. 
Erinyes  is  the  more  ancient  title  and 
the  more  descriptive,  meaning  as  it 
does  the  wrathful  ones.  Eumenides, 
"  the  soothed  goddesses,"  is  mere 
euphuism  because  people  dreaded 
giving  offence  to  these  dreadful 
divinities.  It  is  said  to  have  been 
first  given  to  them  after  the  acquittal 
of  Orestes  by  the  Areopagus  when 
the  wrath  of  the  Erinyes  was  soothed. 
Daughters  of  Nox  (Night)  they  were 
3  in  number,  Tisiphone,  Alecto  and 
Megaera,  fearful  winged  maidens, 
with  serpents  twined  in  their  hair, 
and  blood  dripping  from  their  eyes, 
who  dwelt  in  the  lowest  deeps  of 


Tartarus.      They    punished   men   in 
this  world  and  after  death. 

The  Erinnyes  figure  in  Statius's 
epic,  the  Thebaid,  xi,  345  and  458,  as 
inciting  the  combatants  to  conflict 
while  peace  is  still  possible.  The  only 
power  who  can  overrule  them  is 
Pietas,  personified  by  Statius  for 
this  express  purpose  (see  TISIPHONE). 
W.  W.  Skeat  shows  that  Chaucer  in 
his  poem  Compleynte  unto  Pile  bor- 
rowed from  Statius  the  idea  of  per- 
sonifying Pity.  The  struggle  between 
Pity  and  Cruelty  in  Chaucer's  poem  is 
parallel  to  the  struggle  between  Pietas 
and  the  fury  Tisiphone  as  told  by  Sta- 
tius. Pity  is  called  by  Chaucer  Herines 
quene  or  Queen  of  the  Furies,  because 
she  alone  is  able  to  control  them. 


Gabbon  Saer  (Gaelic  the  "  Master 
Builder11},  in  Irish  folklore,  was  so 
called  from  the  wondrous  works  he 
erected  during  the  days  when  Chris- 
tianity had  just  triumphed  over 
paganism,  especially  the  tall  pillar- 
like  structures  known  as  Cloiteachs 
or  Round  Towers.  So  skilful  was  he 
even  in  minor  details  that  he  could 
fasten  nails  into  places  of  inaccessible 
height  by  simply  casting  them  into 
the  air  and  hurling  his  hammer  after 
them.  There  may  be  a  reminiscence 
here  of  Thor  the  hammer  hurler  of 
Teutonic  myth. 

When  he  was  commissioned  to 
build  a  palace  for  the  king  of  Munster, 
he  showed  that  he  was  no  less  shrewd 
than  skilful.  He  had  noticed  that 
after  the  construction  of  other  build- 
ings the  king  had  slain  the  builders 
so  that  they  should  never  rival  their 
own  work  done  for  him.  Fearing  a 
similar  fate  the  Gabbon  feigned  one 
day  that  he  had  left  behind  him  a 
necessary  tool  which  his  wife  would 
give  only  to  himself  or  to  one  of  royal 
blood.  As  he  had  expected,  the  king 
would  not  let  the  Gabbon  go  but  sent 
his  own  son  instead,  and  the  shrewd 
wife,  divining  her  husband's  purpose, 
retained  the  prince  as  a  hostage  until 
the  Gabbon's  safe  return. 


Gabriel  (Heb.  "  God  is  my  strong 
one  "),  the  name  of  one  of  the  seven 
archangels.  He  is  a  dispenser  of  aid 
and  comfort  to  man.  In  the  Old 
Testament  he  interprets  to  Daniel  the 
meaning  of  his  dreams  (Daniel  viii, 
16;  ix,  21);  in  the  New  he  announces 
to  Zacharias  the  birth  of  John  the 
Baptist  (Luke  i,  19)  and  to  Mary  the 
birth  of  Jesus  (Luke  i,  26).  The 
Mohammedans  hold  him  in  even 
greater  reverence  than  the  Jews.  He 
is  the  medium  through  which  the 
Koran  was  revealed  to  the  Prophet. 
Milton  places  him  at  '  the  eastern 
gate  of  Paradise '  as  chief  of  the 
angelic  guards  who  kept  watch  there. 
It  is  Gabriel  who  will  blow  the  sum- 
moning trump  at  the  day  of  Judg- 
ment, according  to  both  rabbinical 
and  Mohammedan  authority. 

Gaddifer,  a  mythical  monarch  of 
Scotland.  See  PERCEFOREST. 

Galahad,  Sir,  the  ideal  knight  of 
Arthur's  Round  Table,  whose  maiden 
purity  won  for  him  the  vision  of  the 
Holy  Grail. 

In  the  ancient  Welsh  legends,  which 
passing  into  France  were  the  founda- 
tion of  the  German  legends  of  the 
Grail,  Percival  or  Parzival  was  the 
hero  of  the  Grail  quest.  Galahad  was 
a  later  creation  of  Walter  Map  (circa 


Galeotto 


116 


Gallehault 


1210)  elaborated  by  Walter's  succes- 
sors in  England,  and  receiving  his 
apotheosis  at  the  hands  of  Sir  Thomas 
Malory  in  the  Morte  d' Arthur  (1470). 
He  was  little  known  in  continental 
Europe,  or  misknown  there  as  the 
Gallehalt  who  finally  degenerated 
into  the  Galeotto  of  Dante, — Hype- 
rion masquerading  as  a  Satyr! 

Map's  and  Malory's  Galahad  was 
the  son  of  Sir  Lancelot  by  Elaine, 
daughter  of  King  Pelleas.  He  drew 
from  a  marble  and  iron  rock  the 
sword  which  none  other  could  re- 
lease; he  was  the  first  and  only 
knight  that  safely  took  his  seat  in  the 
Siege  Perilous  (reserved  at  the  Round 
Table  for  him  who  was  destined  to  see 
and  touch  the  Holy  Grail),  with  Sir 
Percival  and  Sir  Bors  he  crossed  over 
to  the  city  of  Sarras,  where  Galahad 
eventually  was  made  king,  and  on 
the  day  of  his  coronation,  having 
achieved  the  Quest,  his  soul  left  his 
body  as  he  prayed  and  was  carried 
by  angels  up  into  heaven. 

Tennyson  has  infused  a  new  mean- 
ing into  the  Quest  for  the  Grail  and 
still  further  elaborated  the  character 
of  Galahad,  so  as  to  modernize  the 
mediaeval  conception.  In  his  Dedi- 
cation to  the  Idylls  of  the  King  he  even 
intimates  that  he  may  unconsciously 
have  drawn  some  from  the  character 
of  Albert,  Prince  Consort  to  Queen 
Victoria: 

These  to  his  memory,  since  he  held  them 

dear, 

Perchance  as  finding  there  unconsciously 
Some  image  of  himself,  I  dedicate 
I   dedicate,   I   consecrate   with  tears   these 

Idylls. 

And  indeed  he  seems  to  me 
icarce  other  than  my  king's  ideal  Knight 
\N  ho  reverenced  his  conscience  as  his  king, 
B  glory  was  redeeming  human  wrong 
\S  ho  spoke  no  slander,  nay,  nor  listened  to  it' 
Who  loved  one  only  and  who  clave  to  her.' 

Galeotto,  the  Italian  form  of  Galle- 
hault, which  in  its  turn  is  the  name 
under  which  the  Galahad  of  Walter 
Map  and  the  English  romancers 
5gures  in  Norman-French  variations 
•he  Arthurian  legend.  Through 
an  astounding  perversion  it  has  be- 
come a  common  term  in  Italy  and 
Spam  for  a  panderer.  a  procurer.  Of 
this  perversion  Dante  was  the  more 


or  less  innocent  agent.  In  his  story 
of  Francesca  da  Rimini  (Inferno,  v) 
Francesca  tells  how  she  and  Paolo, 
reading  together  a  book,  came  to  a 
passage  where  the  lover  kisses  a 
woman  whom  he  evidently  had  no 
right  to  kiss,  and  Paolo  bending  down 
kissed  Francesca, 

Galeotto  fu  ie  libro  et  chi  lo'serisse 
Quel  giorno  piu  non  vi  leggemo  avanti, 

which  literally  means  "  Galeotto  was 
the  book  and  he  who  wrote  it.  That 
day  we  read  no  more."  The  passage 
is  somewhat  obscure  but  the  con- 
sensus of  the  best  commentators  is 
well  presented  by  Paget  Toynbee  in 
Dante  Studies  and  Researches.  The 
book  was  the  old  French  romance  of 
Lancelot  du  Lac.  Here  Gallahaut 
was  the  knight  who  introduced  Lance- 
lot to  Guinever.  It  was  he  also  who 
urged  the  Queen  to  give  Lancelot  the 
kiss  which  was  the  beginning  of  their 
guilty  love.  Hence  Francesca's  mean- 
ing is  that  the  book  and  its  author 
played  the  same  part  with  Paolo  and 
herself  that  Gallehault  had  played 
with  Lancelot  and  Guinever.  Dr. 
Toynbee  warns  us  not  to  confound 
Gallehault  with  Galahad,  but  though 
differing  in  characteristics  they  are 
basically  the  same  character.  Still 
Toynbee's  inference  is  plausible  that, 
even  before  Dante,  Gallahault's  con- 
duct had  won  for  Galeotto  in  Italy 
the  ill-fame  which  now  surrounds  his 
name.  It  is  noteworthy  that  Boccac- 
cio's Decameron  (but  this  was  after 
Dante's  use  of  the  word)  was  stig- 
matized as  II  Principe  Galeotto,  the 
prince  or  chief  of  panderers. 

Gallehault,  the  form  under  which 
the  English  name  Galahad  figures  in 
the  old  French  romance  Lancelot  du 
Lac.  A  different  paternity  however 
is  assigned  to  him  in  the  French  ver- 
sion; he  becomes  not  the  son  of  Lance- 
lot, but  of  Sir  Brewnor.  See  GALEOTTO. 

According  to  chap.  39  of  the  French 
Roman  de  Lancelot,  as  quoted  in 
Delvan's  Bibliotheque  Bleu,  "  The 
Queen  seeing  that  he  dared  not 
further  say  or  do,  took  him  by  the 
chin  and  gave  him  a  long  kiss  in  the 
presence  of  Gallehaut." 


Gallus 


117 


Gamelyn 


Gallus,  hero  of  W.  A.  Becker's 
classical  romance  of  that  name 
written  to  illustrate  the  manners  and 
customs  of  imperial  Rome.  In  real 
life  as  in  the  fiction  Gallus  was  a  man 
of  military  and  political  importance,  a 
poet  (whose  works  have  not  come 
down  to  us),  a  favorite  of  Augustus 
and  the  admired  friend  of  Virgil,  one 
of  whose  Eclogues  bears  his  name. 

Garnbrinus  or  Gambrivius,  the 
mythical  inventor  of  beer  or  ale  in  the 
folklore  of  many  countries.  He  is 
usually  spoken  of  as  a  king  or  duke 
of  Flanders  and  Brabant,  flourishing 
at  some  uncertain  period  in  the 
remote  past.  A  tradition  favored  by 
mediaeval  German  historians  made 
him  king  of  the  Tuiscones,  seventh 
in  descent  from  Noah,  who  succeeded 
his  father  Marso  about  1730  B.C., 
founded  the  cities  of  Cambray  and 
Hamburg  (the  latter  was  in  effect 
known  to  the  Romans  as  Gambri- 
vium)  and  extended  the  boundaries 
of  his  kingdom  from  the  Rhine  to 
Asia. 

Gambrinus  is  represented  as  a 
portly  graybeard,  rubicund,  but  dig- 
nified, with  a  crown  on  his  head, 
ermine  on  his  shoulders,  and  a  foam- 
ing tankard  in  his  hands.  He  is  said 
to  have  married  Isis — a  curious  coin- 
cidence, as  Isis  was  the  sister  of 
Osiris  to  whom  the  Egyptians  attrib- 
uted the  invention  of  beer.  In  Ire- 
land Gambrivius  invents  other  bever- 
ages besides  beer.  He  takes  part 
with  other  monarchs,  his  contempo- 
raries, at  mysterious  midnight  anni- 
versaries where  St.  Lawrence  weeps 
tears  of  fire.  So  Franconian  legend 
made  him  assist  at  a  spectral  banquet 
given  yearly,  May  ist,  at  the  Teufels- 
tisch,  by  the  kings  of  ancient  Fran- 
conia. 

An  apocryphal  legend  of  Gam- 
brinus avowedly  invented  by  Deulin 
in  Contes  d'un  Buveur  de  Biere  has 
passed  as  genuine — for  instance  John 
Fiske  accepts  it  in  Myths  and  Myth- 
makers.  Here  Gambrinus  was  a  poor 
fiddler  who,  contemplating  suicide, 
was  tempted  into  making  a  compact 
with  Satan, — thirty  years  of  _  un- 
limited prosperity  and  the  forfeit  of 


his  soul  at  the  end.  From  the  devil 
he  learned  how  to  make  bells  and 
beer  and  because  of  these  inventions 
the  Holy  Roman  Emperor  created 
him  Duke  of  Brabant  and  Count  of 
Flanders.  For  30  years  Gambrinus 
sat  beneath  his  own  belfry  drinking 
beer  with  nobles  and  burghers.  Then 
Satan  sent  a  messenger  for  him, 
Jocko,  but  Jocko,  made  drunk  on 
beer,  was  ashamed  to  return  to  hell, 
so  Gambrinus  lived  calmly  for  a 
couple  of  centuries  and  finally  turned 
into  a  beer-barrel. 

A  plausible  explanation  of  the 
Gambrinus  myth  resolves  the  name 
into  a  corruption  of  Jean  Primus  or 
John  I,  Duke  of  Brabant  (1251-1294), 
who  being  anxious  for  popularity  had 
himself  received  into  the  guild  of 
brewers  at  Brussels.  His  portrait 
suspended  in  their  guildhaus  repre- 
sented him  as  clad  in  all  the  ducal 
insignia  and  holding  a  foaming  tank- 
ard in  his  left  hand.  In  course  of 
time  this  portrait  may  have  been 
looked  upon  as  the  god  or  inventor 
of  beer  and  thus  given  rise  to  the 
legend. 

Gamelyn,  titular  hero  of  a  narra- 
tive poem  attributed  to  Chaucer,  and 
now  generally  included  in  the  Canter- 
bury Tales  as  The  Coke's  (Cook's) 
Tale  of  Gamelyn.  Skeat  doubts  if  it 
be  Chaucer's  at  all,  but  deems  it 
likely  that  Chaucer  had  contemplated 
rewriting  it.  He  gives  its  date  as 
approximately  1340,  though  it  was 
not  printed  until  1721.  Thomas 
Lodge  evidently  had  access  to  the 
MS.,  as  he  founded  upon  it  part  of  a 
prose  story,  Euphues'  Golden  Legacy 
(1592),  which  was  taken  by  Shaks- 
pear  as  the  basis  of  As  You  Like  It 
(1598). 

The  story  belongs  to  that  popular 
class  where  the  youngest  of  three 
brothers  is  the  successful  hero.  Sir 
Johan  de  Boundys,  dying,  bequeaths 
the  greater  part  of  his  estate  to  his 
third  and  youngest  son,  Gamelyn. 
Johan,  the  eldest,  being  sheriff,  is 
enabled  to  mistreat  the  lad  and 
squander  his  property,  but  Gamelyn, 
after  soundly  cudgelling  a  party  of 
ecclesiastical  guests  with  a  stout 


Ganello 


118 


Gareth 


oaken  cudgel,  escapes  with  the  old 
servitor,  Adam,  into  the  woods  and 
becomes  head  of  a  band  of  merry 
outlaws.  He  is  arrested  by  Johan  and 
bailed  out  by  the  second  brother  Ote. 
In  the  end  the  tables  are  reversed, 
Johan  is  hanged,  Ote  succeeds  him  as 
sheriff,  and  Gamelyn  becomes  the 
king's  chief  ranger. 

Ganello,  jester  to  the  Marquis  of 
Fcrrara  in  the  fifteenth  century,  of 
whom  a  famous  story  is  told  by 
Bundello  in  his  Tales,  iv,  17.  Having 
offended  his  patron  he  was  con- 
demned to  death.  Before  the  day  of 
execution,  the  anger  of  the  Marquis 
so  far  relented  that  he  determined  to 
remit  the  death  penalty  and  inflict 
instead  a  severe  practical  joke,  such 
as  the  man  delighted  to  play  upon 
others.  Ganello,  therefore,  was  duly 
led  to  the  scaffold  where  the  public 
executioner  awaited  him  axe  in  hand, 
his  head  was  laid  on  the  block,  his 
eyes  closed,  and  a  pail  of  water  was 
dashed  upon  his  neck.  The  assembled 
spectators  shouted  with  laughter,  but 
the  victim  did  not  move,  and  it  was 
presently  found  that  the  shock  of 
what  he  imagined  to  be  the  falling 
axe  had  killed  him.  The  story  is  a 
favorite  instance  with  psychologists 
of  the  power  of  imagination. 

A  similar  effect  of  horror  forms  the 
subject  of  The  Dream,  the  second  of 
Joanna  Baillie's  tragedies  on  Fear. 

Ganelon,  in  Carlovingian  romance, 
the  most  trusted  and  the  most 
treacherous  of  Charlemagne's  pala- 
dins, the  Judas  who  eventually  be- 
trayed the  Christians  to  the  Moslems 

Roncesvalles.    Ganelon,  arraigned 
for  his  treachery  and  proved  guilty 
by  his  defeat  in  single  combat,  is  torn 
asunder  by  horses.     Chaucer  intro- 
duces him   into  his    Nun's  Priest's 
Dante  places  him  in  the  In- 
xxxu,  122).    He  is  represented 
as  a  man  of  great  stature,  6^  feet 
tall,  and  of  a  morose  and  solitary 
isposition.    See  ROLAND  and  MAR- 

SIGLIO. 


real  traitor,  Lope,  duke  of  Gascony,  a 
grandson  of  Charlemagne,  miserably  fin- 
ished his  career  at  the  end  of  a  rope.  Yet 
so  persistently  was  Ganelon's  name  asso- 
ciated with  treachery  and  its  punishment, 
that  in  the  year  1131  the  soldiers  of  Nepi 
bound  themselves  by  an  oath  "if  one  among 
us  breaks  the  association  may  he  with  his 
adherents  be  expelled  from  all  honors  and 
dignities,  may  he  partake  of  the  fate  of 
Judas,  Caiaphas  and  Pilate,  may  he  die 
the  infamous  death  of  Ganelon,  and  may 
his  memory  perish  with  him." 

Ganymede,  in  classic  myth,  a 
Trojan  prince,  son  of  King  Tros,  by 
the  nymph  Callirhoe.  The  most 
beautiful  of  mortals,  he  was  carried 
off  by  the  gods  that  he  might  act  as 
cup-bearer  on  Olympus.  This  is  the 
Homeric  account.  Later  writers 
state  that  Zeus  himself  carried  him 
off  from  Mount  Ida,  in  the  form  of  an 
eagle  or  by  means  of  his  eagle. 
Astronomers  placed  Ganymede 
among  the  stars  by  the  name  of 
Aquarius.  See  OVID,  Metamorphoses, 
x.  The  love  of  Zeus  or  Jove  for  his 
cup-bearer  is  alluded  to  by  Chaucer 
and  by  almost  all  the  Elizabethans. 

Garagousse  or  Caragueux,  the 
central  character  of  a  popular  show 
of  marionettes  or  shadow  pictures  in 
Algiers  and  Turkey.  A  mere  outline 
of  pasteboard  moved  by  threads,  he  is 
the  Punch  of  the  Oriental  street 
drama.  In  1841  the  French  authori- 
ties found  it  necessary  to  prohibit  the 
performance  in  Algiers,  on  account  of 
the  numerous  lampoons  on  current 
events  and  contemporary  characters 
interpolated  into  the  part. 

Gareth,  in  Sir  T.  Malory's  Morte 
<T  Arthur  (1470),  the  youngest  son  of 
Lot,  king  of  Orkney,  and  Morgawse, 
Arthur's  half  sister.  His  mother,  to 
deter  him  from  entering  Arthur's 
Court,  laughingly  suggests  that  he 
should  conceal  his  name  and  serve 
for  twelve  months  as  a  kitchen 
scullion.  He  accepts  the  challenge. 
Sir  Kay,  the  king's  steward,  nick- 
named him  Beaumains,  in  ridicule  of 
his  large  hands.  When  Linet  be- 
sought Arthur  to  send  one  of  his 
knights  to  liberate  her  sister  Liones 
from  Castle  Perilous,  Gareth  volun- 
eers  and  despite  the  lady's  con- 
tumely succeeds  in  freeing  Liones. 


Gargantua 


119 


Gauvain 


And  he  that  told  the  tale  in  olden  times 
Says  that  Sir  Gareth  wedded  Lyonors; 
But  he  that  told  it  later,  says  Lynette. 
TENNYSON:  Idylls  of  the  King, 

Gareth  and  Lynette. 

Gargantua,  hero  of  Rabelais's  ro- 
mance, is  not  a  pure  invention  but  a 
distortion  or  exaggeration  of  popular 
myth.  It  is  probably  the  giant  of 
folklore  that  Shakspear  refers  to  in 
the  one  reference  his  works  supply, 
"  You  must  borrow  me  Gargantua's 
mouth  ere  I  can  utter  so  long  a 
word"  (As  You  Like  It,  Act  in, 
Sc.  2).  The  "  Gargantius,  noble  son 
of  Beleni,"  in  Giraldus  Cambrensis 
undoubtedly  indicates  Gargantua. 
But  in  France  the  first  written  men- 
tion so  far  traced  antedates  Rabelais 
by  only  seven  years.  In  Bourdigne's 
Legende  de  Maistre  Pierre  Fairfue 
(1526),  occur  the  words,  "  Gargantua 
qui  a  chepveux  de  piastre."  Popular 
traditions  concerning  a  giant  of  this 
name  are  common  to-day  through- 
out the  greater  portion  of  France. 
They  undoubtedly  come  down  from  a 
remote  antiquity.  Haute  Bretagne  is 
the  district  in  which  reminiscences 
most  abound,  but  the  legend  spreads 
thence  into  Normandy,  Poitou  and 
Touraine.  Mountains  and  caverns, 
and  such  works  of  human  execution 
as  dolmens,  are  usually  associated 
with  Gargantua.  Ordinarily,  but  a 
fragment  is  presented.  A  mark  of 
his  hand  or  foot  on  a  rock,  a  little  toe 
of  Gargantua  and  the  like  are  en- 
countered. Many  of  the  attributes 
assigned  by  Rabelais  to  his  giant  are 
found  in  provincial  legends.  He  is 
probably  the  development  of  a 
Gallic  Hercules  and  mayhap  a  solar 
myth.  With  popular  tradition  con- 
cerning him  Rabelais,  a  native  of 
Touraine,  could  not  be  other  than 
familiar.  It  is,  however,  such  extrava- 
gances as  eating  the  pilgrims  on  a 
salad  that  Rabelais  borrowed.  No 
effort  to  ennoble  the  character  is 
perceptible  in  tradition,  nor  has  the 
slightest  reference  yet  been  traced  to 
the  other  characters  of  the  Gargan- 
tuan legend. 

Gautama,  the  family  name  of 
Prince  Siddartha,  who  dropped  his 


first  name  and  his  title  when  he  mani- 
fested himself  as  the  Buddha  ("  the 
Enlightened  One  ")  or  Messiah  of  the 
Orient.  He  was  the  last  and  greatest 
of  many  Buddhas  who  have  appeared 
from  time  to  time  for  the  regenera- 
tion of  the  world.  A  historic  char- 
acter, Siddartha  Gautama  was  born 
about  560  B.C.,  near  the  ancient  town 
of  Kapilavastu  in  Nepal.  He  was 
the  son  of  Scaddhodana,  chief  of  one 
of  the  Sakya  tribes.  His  mother  was 
Mahamaya.  Some  legends  allege  that 
she  was  a  virgin  wife  and  mother. 
All  legends  agree  that  the  birth  of  her 
son  was  foretold  in  a  dream,  wherein 
he  appeared  under  the  form  of  an 
elephant.  Hence  the  sacred  character 
of  the  elephant  in  Buddhist  eyes.  The 
young  prince  was  brought  up  in 
complete  ignorance  of  the  world,  its 
sorrows  and  its  evils.  Despite  all  his 
father's  precautions,  however,  four 
object  lessons  opened  his  eyes:  an 
aged  and  decrepit  man,  a  diseased 
man,  a  corpse,  and  a  monk.  The 
problem  of  evil,  of  sin  and  suffering, 
assailed  him.  At  twenty-nine  he 
made  the  "  great  renunciation," 
leaving  home,  wife  and  child  to  prac- 
tise severe  mortifications  in  the  desert. 
After  six  years  he  found  himself  no 
nearer  to  the  light.  He  surrendered 
himself  to  meditation.  From  one  long 
night  vigil  under  a  Botree  he  emerged 
a  perfect  Buddha.  He  continued  his 
vigils  under  other  trees  and  then 
began  preaching  at  Benares  where  he 
gathered  around  him  his  first  dis- 
ciples. He  died,  still  preaching,  at 
the  age  of  eighty.  The  story  of 
Gautama  and  his  teaching  form  the 
subject  of  Edwin  Arnold's  epic,  The 
Light  of  Asia. 

Gauvain,  hero  of  a  mediaeval 
French  romance,  Le  Chevalier  d 
I'Epee,  erroneously  attributed  to 
Chrestien  de  Troyes.  Gauvain  is 
received  in  a  splendid  castle,  after 
having  been  warned  by  a  friendly 
peasant  that  no  one  may  find  fault 
at  aught  within,  under  pain  of  death. 
So  he  abstains  from  criticism.  He 
had  not  been  forewarned  of  a  second 
rule,  that  any  one  who  attempted 
liberties  with  the  chatelain's  daugh- 


Gawain 


120 


Gelert 


ter  would  instantly  be  decapitated 
by  a  magic  sword.  On  the  second 
night  he  is  locked  in  the  same  room 
with  that  damsel.  She  takes  a 
liking  to  him  and  reveals  everything. 
Subsequently  he  marries  her.  She 
reappears  in  the  metrical  romance  of 
Perceval.  She  there  runs  away  with 
a  lover,  taking  Gau  vain 's  greyhounds 
with  her.  Gauvain  catches  up  with 
the  fugitives.  He  leaves  to  his  wife 
the  choice  of  returning  or  continuing 
her  flight.  She  elects  to  throw  in  her 
lot  with  her  lover.  When  the  same 
choice  is  offered  to  the  greyhounds 
they  remain  with  their  master.  This 
last  story,  with  other  women  for  its 
heroines,  reappears  in  many  French 
and  English  romances. 

Gawain,  Sir,  in  the  Arthurian 
cycle  of  legends,  the  nephew  of  King 
Arthur  by  his  sister  Morgana.  Next 
to  Launcelot  he  was  the  greatest 
warrior  among  the  knights  of  the 
Round  Table  and  he  excelled  them 
all  in  courtesy.  This  may  have  been 
the  result  of  a  salutary  lesson  im- 
pressed upon  him  in  youth.  Neglect- 
ing to  salute  a  damsel  as  he  rode  by 
her  she  avenged  the  incivility  by 
transforming  him  into  a  hideous 
dwarf.  Through  the  influence  of 
Merlin,  he  was  restored  to  his  proper 
shape.  The  Marriage  of  Sir  Gawain, 
an  anonymous  ballad,  deals  with  a 
famous  episode  in  his  life.  King 
Arthur,  vanquished  by  a  grim  knight 
in  single  combat,  had  his  life  spared 
on  a  promise  that  he  would  return 
next  New  Year's  day  and  bring  word 
what  it  is  that  women  most  desire. 
All  the  wise  men  were  consulted; 
no  two  gave  the  same  answer.  In 
deep  perplexity  the  king  rode  out  at 
the  appointed  time  to  keep  the  en- 
gagement. On  his  way  he  fell  in 
with  a  loathly  lady  of  hideous  aspect 
who  confided  to  him  the  correct 
answer  to  the  baron's  riddle,  that  the 
:hief  desire  of  women  was  to  have 
their  own  wills.  For  reward  she 
the  hand  of  one  of  King 
Arthur's  knights.  Sir  Gawain  gener- 
ously undertook  to  pay  the  debt  and 
rewarded  after  marriage  when 
loathsome  lady  regained  the 


beauty  of  which  she  had  been  robbed 
through  the  enchantments  of  an 
envious  stepmother.  See  LOATHLY 
LADY. 

Gayant  Sire  de,  a  gigantic  figure 
25  feet  high,  made  of  wicker  work 
resplendently  overlaid  with  mediaeval 
armor,  which  is  the  palladium  of 
Douai  in  France.  His  consort  is 
Marie  Cagenon,  another  wicker  image 
22  feet  high  and  his  three  children  are 
respectively  Jacquot,  Mile.  Filon  and 
Mile.  Therese.  At  the  annual  festival, 
celebrated  from  the  8th  to  the  nth 
of  July,  the  entire  family  is  brought 
out  and  paraded  through  the  village 
streets.  See  WALSH,  Curiosities  oj 
Popular  Customs,  p.  453. 

Ge  or  Gaea,  in  Greek  myth,  a  per- 
sonification of  the  Earth.  Hesiod  in 
the  Theogony  makes  her  the  first 
being  that  sprang  from  chaos,  giving 
birth  to  Uranus  (Heaven)  and 
Pontus  (the  Sea).  From  the  Homeric 
poems  it  appears  that  black  sheep 
were  sacrificed  to  her.  By  Uranus 
she  became  the  mother  of  the 
Titans. 

Gelert,  the  dog  hero  of  an  ancient 
legend  versified  by  William  Robert 
Spencer,  Beth  Gelert  or  the  Grave  of  the 
Greyhound.  Gelert  belonged  to 
Prince  Llewellyn,  son-in-law  to  King 
John  of  England.  Returning  from 
the  hunt  one  day  Llewellyn  found  his 
child's  cradle  empty  and  the  dog's 
mouth  smeared  with  blood.  In 
sudden  fury  he  slew  Gelert,  but  the 
next  moment  revealed  the  child  un- 
hurt and  besides  it  the  body  of  a  wolf 
which  the  dog  had  killed.  Llewellyn, 
in  self-reproach,  raised  a  monument 
over  the  faithful  brute  and  to  this 
day  the  place  is  called  Beth  Gelert  or 
Gelert's  Grave. 

So  far  legend.  History  shows  that 
the  place  name  was  really  derived 
from  St.  Celert,  a  Welsh  saint  of  the 
fifth  century,  to  whom  the  church  of 
Llangeller  is  consecrated.  The  legend 
itself  is  not  indigenous  to  Wales,  but 
in  one  form  or  another  appears  in  the 
folklore  of  nearly  every  Aryan  nation. 
It  was  borrowed  from  the  Panchatan- 
tra,  a  collection  of  Sanskrit  fables,  by 
the  mediaeval  compilers  of  the  Gesta 


Genevieve 


121 


George 


Romanorum.  In  many  local  legends 
a  serpent  takes  the  place  of  the  wolf, 
and  the  misjudged  slayer  is  in  Hindoo 
a  mangoose,  in  Arabic  a  weasel,  in  the 
Persian  a  cat. 

Genevieve  or  Genoveva  of  Brabant, 
heroine  of  a  widely  diffused  legend 
whose  origin  goes  back  to  the  thir- 
teenth century.  She  is  the  typical 
instance  of  wifely  constancy  slandered 
and  repudiated, — generally  on  the 
accusation  of  a  baffled  tempter. 
Genevieve  is  the  wife  of  the  palatine 
Siegfried  of  Treves.  Golo,  major- 
domo  in  the  household,  is  her  accuser. 
Sentenced  to  death  but  spared  by  the 
executioner,  she  lived  with  her  son 
in  a  cave  in  the  Ardennes,  nourished 
by  a  roe.  Meanwhile  Golo's  treach- 
ery had  been  discovered.  Not  till  six 
years  later  was  it  that  Siegfried, 
chasing  the  roe,  was  led  to  the  cave 
and  thus  to  the  recognition  and 
restoration  of  herself  and  her  son. 

In  real  life  Genevieve  is  said  to 
have  been  Marie  of  Brabant,  whose 
jealous  husband,  Louis  II,  Duke  of 
Bavaria,  sentenced  and  beheaded  her, 
January  18,  1256.  The  change  of 
name  was  possibly  due  to  the  cult  of 
St.  Genevieve,  patroness  of  Paris. 
Indeed  not  only  did  Marie  lose  her 
original  name,  but  she  gained  un- 
authorized sainthood.  A  very  popu- 
lar legend,  L'Innocence  Reconnue,  ou 
Vie  de  St.  Genevieve  de  Brabant,  by 
the  Jesuit  Reinier  de  Cerisier  (1603- 
1662),  was  printed  in  1638  and  be- 
came a  frequent  subject  for  dramatic 
representations  in  Germany.  Analo- 
gous legends  are  found  in  the  folklore 
of  nearly  all  times  and  countries. 
They  are  evidently  of  independent 
birth,  as  the  circumstances  may 
frequently  have  been  repeated  by 
that  arch  plagiarist,  history.1'-*  In  the 
Charlemagne  cycle  Blanchefleur  is 
the  innocent  suspect  in  France,  and 
Olivia,  sister  of  Charles  and  wife  of 
King  Hugo,  in  Germany.  Other 
variants  of  the  same  story  are  the 
Scandinavian  ballad  Ravengaard  og 
Memmering,  the  Scotch  ballad  Sir 
Aldingar,  and  the  English  romances 
Sir  Triamoure  and  The  Earl  of 
Toulouse. 


Genghis  (or  Jenghiz)  Khan  (1162- 

1227),  a  famous  Tartar  conqueror. 
Born  and  brought  up  as  the  chief  of  a 
petty  Mongolian  tribe,  he  lived  to  see 
his  armies  victorious  from  the  Yellow 
Sea  to  the  Dneiper  and  one  of  his 
grandsons,  Kublai  Khan,  established 
in  Pekin  as  the  founder  of  a  dynasty 
of  Mongol  emperors.  His  original 
name  was  Temuchin  but  in  1206  when 
he  became  Emperor  he  assumed  the 
title  of  Cheng-sze,  or  "  perfect 
warrior." 

George  a-Green,  hero  of  an  English 
prose  romance  of  pre-Elizabethan 
antiquity,  entitled  The  History  of 
George  a-Green,  Pindar  of  the  town  of 
Wakefield.  Pindar  is  a  corruption  of 
penner,  the  keeper  pf  the  public  pen 
or  pound.  He  was  a  friend  of  Robin 
Hood  and  Little  John.  Robert 
Greene  in  1589  produced  a  comedy, 
George  a-Greene,  the  Pinner  of  Wake- 
field. 

George,  St.,  champion  of  Christen- 
dom and  patron  saint  of  England,  was 
a  historical  character,  though  history 
has  been  plentifully  overlaid  by 
legend.  Gibbon's  identification  of 
him  with  George  of  Cappadocia,  the 
cruel  and  avaricious  Arian  bishop,  is 
now  utterly  discredited.  The  real 
George  was  a  son  of  the  Christian 
Governor  of  Diospolis  and  was  mar- 
tyred April  23,  A.D.  304.  Born  at 
Lydda  in  Palestine,  he  was  a  favorite 
of  Diocletian  and  a  trusted  and  im- 
portant officer  in  his  army.  Ancient 
authors  praise  his  strength  and 
beauty,  his  courage,  intelligence  and 
courtesy.  At  the  end  of  the  Persian 
campaign  George  lived  for  a  time  at 
Beirut.  It  is  probable  that  Diocletian 
then  sent  him  on  an  expedition  to 
Britain.  There  he  became  known  to 
Helena  (mother  of  Constantine), 
who  twenty  years  later  dedicated  to 
him  a  church  in  Constantinople. 
Apparently  he  was  still  in  Britain 
when  Diocletian's  edict  for  the  exter- 
mination of  his  Christian  subjects 
was  proclaimed.  He  at  once  laid 
down  his  arms,  returned  to  Lydda, 
freed  his  slaves,  sold  his  possessions 
for  the  benefit  of  his  disbanded 
household,  and  proceeded  to  Rome 


Geraint 


122 


Geryon 


to  plead  with  Diocletian  for  his  fellow 
religionists.  On  the  way  thither  at 
Beirut  he  slew  some  large  animal, 
probably  a  crocodile,  which  legend 
has  magnified  into  a  dragon._  The 
distressed  princess  whom  he  is  said 
to  have  rescued  was  presumably 
added  by  some  early  hagiologist 
anxious  to  find  a  Christian  parallel 
for  the  story  of  Perseus  and  Androm- 
eda. The  story  has  taken  a  great 
hold  upon  the  popular  fancy  and  is 
a  favorite  in  literature  and  legend. 
G.  W.  Cox  resolves  it  into  a  sun- 
myth.  Baring-Gould  while  favoring 
the  sun  myth  theory  suggests  the 
alternative  of  an  allegory. 

St.  George  Is  any  Christian  who  Is 
sealed  at  his  baptism  to  be  "Christ's  faithful 
soldier  and  servant  unto  his  life's  end, "and 
armed  with  the  breastplate  of  righteousness, 
the  shield  of  the  faith,  marked  with  its 
blood-red  cross,  the  helmet  of  salvation  and 
the  sword  of  the  Spirit,  which  is  the  word 
or  power  of  God. 

The  hideous  monster  against  whom  the 
Christian  soldier  is  called  to  fight  is  that 
"old  serpent,  the  devil,"  who  withholds  or 
poisons  the  streams  of  grace,  and  who 
seeks  to  rend  and  devour  the  virgin  soul, 
In  whose  defence  the  champion  fights. — 
Curious  Myths  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

Spenser  introduces  St.  George  into 
his  Faerie  Queene  as  the  Red  Cross 
Knight,  who  at  first  calls  himself 
Gorgas  and  is  later  hailed  as  Saint 
George  of  Merry  England. 

According  to  the  popular  legend,  it  was 
at  Berytus  or  Beirut,  when  on  his  way  to 
the  Emperor,  that  St.  George's  conflict 
with  the  dragon  took  place.  A  ruined 
tower  near  this  city  still  marks  the  site  of 
the  encounter;  the  beautiful  bay  on  the 
south  of  which,  on  a  projecting  point,  is 
situated  the  city  of  Beirut,  is  to  this  day 
called  .St.  George's  Bay.  Speaking  of  this 
Berytus.  Ludovicus  Patricius  in  the  first 

ook  of  his  travels  says:  "We  found  there 
nothing  worthy  of  note,  but  an  old  ruinous 

-happel built  in  a  place,  where,  as  they 
cay.  b  George  redeemed  the  King's  daugh- 
ter out  of  the  fiery  jaws  of  a  dreadful 
dragon  — E.  O.  GORDON:  Saint  George, 
hew  \  ork,  1907. 

Geraint.    See  ENID. 

Gerbert,  a  simple  monk  of  Aurillac, 
France,  who  by  sheer  force  of  intellect 
rose  to  the  archiepiscopal  sees  of 

heims  and  Ravenna,  bore  a  leading 
part  in  the  transfer  of  the  French 

own  from  the  Carlovingians  to  the 


Capets  and  finally  died  in  1003  as 
Pope  Sylvester  II.  He  is  the  hero  of 
many  mediaeval  legends  which  repre- 
sent him  as  a  necromancer  and  make 
him  die  a  penitent  so  contrite  for 
his  self-confessed  crimes  that  he 
orders  his  body  should  be  cut  into 
pieces  and  deprived  of  Christian 
sepulture.  No  subsequent  pope  ven- 
tured to  assume  his  ill-omened  name, 
despite  the  attractiveness  surround- 
ing that  of  Sylvester  who,  in  medi- 
aeval belief,  had  brought  about  the 
conversion  of  the  Roman  Empire. 
See  F.  PICARET,  Gerbert  un  Pape 
Philosophique  d'apres  V  Histoire  et  la 
Legende,  Paris,  1897. 

William  of  Malmesbury  fathers  upon 
this  pope  a  legend  which  had  originally 
been  told,  in  the  Gesta  Romanorum,  Tale 
cvii.  An  image  in  Rome  bore  the  legend 
"Strike  here"  on  its  outstretched  forefinger. 
A  clerk,  or  priest,  dug  on  the  spot  where 
the  shadow  fell.  He  reached  a  trap  door, 
below  which^marble  steps  descended  into 
a  succession  of  spacious  halls  lavishly 
decorated  and  crowded  with  silent  men  and 
women.  One  carbuncle  suspended  in  a 
corner  of  the  reception  room  lit  up  everything 
with  splendor.  Opposite  stood  an  archer 
in  the  act  of  taking  aim.  The  priest,  re- 
turning through  this  hall,  seized  a  diamond- 
hilted  knife  as  a  relic.  Instantly  all  was 
dark  around  him.  The  archer  had  shot  his 
arrow,  shattering  the  carbuncle.  The  stair- 
case had  vanished  and  the  interloper  was 
buried  alive.  In  William  of  Malmesbury's 
story  Gerbert  succeeded  in  making  his 
escape.  In  Spenser's  Faerie  Queene,  u,  viii, 
34,  Sir  Guyon  in  the  subterraneous  House 
of  Richesse  is  tempted  by  a  fiend  to  snatch 
some  of  the  treasures,  but  refraining, 
escapes  a  terrible  doom. 

Geryon  or  Geryones,  in  Greek 
myth,  a  semi-human  monster  with 
three  heads,  or  according  to  some 
accounts  with  three  bodies  united 
together,  fabled  to  have  been  a  king 
of  Erythia,  an  imaginary  island  off 
the  coast  of  Spain.  He  kept  a  herd 
of  red  oxen  which  fed  together  with 
those  of  Hades.  The  loth  labor  of 
Hercules  was  to  fetch  these  to  Eurys- 
theus.  After  long  travel  Hercules 
reached  the  frontiers  of  Libya  and 
Europe,  where  he  erected  two  pillars, 
Calpe  and  Abyla,  one  on  each  side 
of  the  straits  of  Gibraltar.  Being 
annoyed  by  the  heat  of  the  sun  he 
shot  an  arrow  at  the  sun  god  Helios. 
Instead  of  exciting  counter  annoy- 


Ghismonda 


123 


Giletta 


ance,  Helios  was  so  tickled  by  his 
temerity  that  he  presented  him  with 
a  golden  boat  in  which  he  sailed  to 
Erythia.  He  slew  Geryon  and  carried 
off  his  oxen,  which  Eurystheus 
sacrificed  to  Hera.  The  story  of  this 
eleventh  labor  was  a  favorite  with  the 
Latin  poets  as  it  brought  the  Greek 
hero  over  to  Italy  and  thus  enabled 
them  to  invent  further  adventures 
for  him. 

In  Dante's  Inferno  Geryon  Is  made  the 
ruler  of  the  eighth  circle  of  hell,  where  the 
fraudulent  are  punished.  At  Virgil's  bid- 
ding, Dante  hands  over  to  him  his  girdle, 
which  Virgil  casts  into  the  abyss.  Geryon 
rises  from  the  depths  and  lends  the  aid  of 
his  shoulders  to  guide  the  pilgrims  down- 
ward. Like  the  Harpies  he  is  half  man  and 
half  beast.  His  countenance  is  genial,  his 
body  that  of  a  writhing  serpent  with  parti- 
colored shining  skin;  his  glittering  tail  ends 
In  an  envenomed  fork;  his  sharp  claws  are 
concealed  beneath  soft  hair.  The  figure  is 
avowedly  typical  of  the  impostor  and 
swindler  who  seeks  to  captivate  his  victim 
by  a  gracious  aspect,  whilst  he  winds  his 
coils  about  him  and  eventually  darts  out 
the  scorpion  sting. 

Ghismonda,  in  Boccaccio's  Decam- 
eron, iv,  I,  only  daughter  and  heiress 
of  Tancred,  Prince  of  Salerno.  Fall- 
ing in  love  with  Guiscardo,  one  of 
the  court  pages,  she  introduces  him 
into  her  chamber  through  a  secret 
grotto.  Tancred  happens  to  be  con- 
cealed in  her  chamber  during  one 
of  these  interviews.  Next  morning 
he  upbraids  her;  she  defends  her- 
self on  the  plea  of  a  great  love,  and 
that  merit  is  superior  to  the  accident 
of  birth.  Tancred  kills  the  page,  and 
sends  the  lady  his  heart  in  a  golden 
cup.  She  had  already  prepared  her- 
self for  some  such  catastrophe  and 
had  distilled  a  fatal  poison,  which 
she  drinks  after  pouring  it  on  the 
heart. 

Dryden  has  versified  this  story  in 
his  Tales  from  Boccaccio  (1700), 
changing  the  heroine's  name  to 
Sigismonda  (q.v.).  See  also  ISABELLA. 

The  rudiments  of  this  and  similar  stories 
of  savage  vengeance  may  be  found  In  Tale 
56  of  the  Cesta  Romanorum  (1340). 

A  merchant  is  dined  sumptuously  by  a 
nobleman,  while  the  lady  of  the  house  Is 
served  with  only  a  pittance  of  meat  In  a 
human  skull.  He  sleeps  In  a  chamber  In 
which  he  discovers  two  corpses  strung  up 


by  the  arms.  Next  morning  the  nobleman 
explains:  the  skull  is  that  of  a  duke  he 
had  discovered  in  his  wife's  embraces, 
while  the  corpses  are  of  two  of  his  own  kins- 
men, slain  in  revenge  by  the  duke's  sons, 
which  he  visits  daily  to  remind  him  that 
their  blood  is  not  yet  atoned  for.  These 
tales  are  evident  descendants  of  the  cannibal 
feasts  prepared  by  Atreus  and  Procne. 

Ghouls,  in  the  popular  myths  of 
Europe  borrowed  apparently  from  the 
East,  a  species  of  vampire.  Fornari's 
History  of  Sorcery  tells  this  repre- 
sentative tale:  In  the  middle  of  the 
1 5th  century  Aboul-Hassan,ayoung 
merchant  of  Bagdad,  fell  in  love  with 
Nadilla,  the  daughter  of  a  hermit 
sage,  who  reluctantly  consented  to 
her  marriage.  Everything  went 
happily  until  Aboul  began  to  notice 
that  his  bride  left  the  nuptial  couch 
at  night  and  only  reappeared  an 
hour  before  dawn.  On  one  of  these 
occasions  he  followed  her  into  a 
cemetery  and  saw  her  partaking  with 
her  fellow  ghouls  of  a  banquet  on 
human  remains.  Next  night  he  asked 
Nadilla  to  join  him  in  an  improvised 
supper.  She  refused  all  his  urgings. 
At  last  he  cried  out,  "You  would 
rather  sup  with  the  ghouls !  ' '  Nadilla 
trembled  and  crept  into  bed.  But 
when  she  thought  Aboul  was  asleep 
he  heard  her  whisper,  "  Now  expiate 
your  sacrilegious  curiosity!"  and  felt 
her  teeth  in  his  throat.  With  difficulty 
he  rescued  himself  by  killing  her. 
Three  nights  later  she  returned  to 
Aboul's  bed  and  he  only  saved  him- 
self by  flight.  Then  the  father  con- 
fessed all.  She  had  previously  been 
married  to  a  soldier  who  had  killed 
her  because  of  her  profligacy,  but  she 
had  returned  to  life  as  a  ghoul  or 
vampire.  Aboul  dug  up  her  body 
which  still  bore  all  the  external 
appearances  of  life,  burned  it  and 
scattered  the  ashes  into  the  river 
Tigris. 

Giletta,  in  Boccaccio's  story,  Giletta 
di  Narbona  (Decameron,  ix,  3),  is  the 
daughter  of  a  physician,  Girardo^di 
Narbona.  Wedded  by  royal  decree 
to  the  unwilling  Beltramo  he  deserts 
her  before  consummating  the  mar- 
riage, but  she  wins  him  back  by  a 
stratagem.  The  story  was  translated 


Ginevra 


124 


Goblin 


".Y.liam  Painter  for  his  Palace  of 
Pleasure  (1575)  and,  besides  forming 
the  basis  of  one  of  the  oldest  of 
Italian  comedies,  Virginia,  by  Bernard 
Accotti  (1513),  was  adapted  to  his 
own  uses  by  Shakspear  in  All's  Well 
that  Ends  'Well,  where  Giletta  be- 
comes Helena  and  Beltramo  is  angli- 
cized into  Bertram. 

Ginevra  degli  Amieri,  heroine  of  a 
Florentine  legend,  versified  by  Shelley 
in  The  Story  of  Ginevra  (1821)  and 
dramatized  by  Leigh  Hunt,  Legend  of 
Florence  (1847)  and  Eugene  Scribe, 
Guido  et  Ginezra*  All  are  founded  on 
the  version  given  in  L'Osservatore 
Fiorentino,  a  guidebook  first  pub- 
lished in  1797,  though  Hunt  wanders 
from  it  in  his  catastrophe. 

Ginevra,  in  love  with  Antonio 
Rondinelli,  but  married  against  her 
will  to  Francesco  Agolanti,  developed 
hysteria,  and  in  a  cataleptic  trance 
was  buried  in  the  family  vault  near 
the  Duomo  in  Florence.  At  mid- 
night she  revived  and  found  her  way 
home  through  the  street  ever  since 
called  Via  delta  Morta,  the  "Dead 
Woman's  Street."  Francesco,  deem- 
ing her  a  spectre,  repelled  her,  so 
did  her  father  and  her  uncle,  but 
Rondinefla  welcomed  her,  nursed  her 
back  to  health  and  married  her. 
1  That  which  is  difficult  to  believe," 
says  ^  LOssercatore,  "  is  the  second 
marriage  of  Ginevra  while  her  hus- 
band was  still  living,  and  her  petition 
to  the  Ecclesiastical  Tribunals,  which 
decided  that  the  first  marriage  having 
been  dissolved  by  death,  the  lady 
might  legitimately  accept  another 
husband." 

Giocondo  (Tr.  Joconde),  hero  of  an 

-de  in  Ariosto's  Orlando  Furioso 

(1515).  paraphrased  by  La  Fontaine 

in  Joconde  (1665),  an  equally  famous 

poetical  conte. 

Giocondo,  a  noted  lady  killer,  is 

loned  by  Astolfo  to  his  court  to 

ute  with  him  the  championship 

weaking    hearts.      Just    before 

:ng,— his  wife  thinking  he  had 

already  gone,— he  surprised  that  lady 

abed  with  a  valet.    Just  after  arriving 

^tects  Astolf o's  wife  in  an  intrigue 

-i  a  dwarf.    The  first  incident  had 


filled  him  with  gloom,  the  second 
restores  him  to  cheerfulness.  He 
reveals  all  to  Astolfo.  The  two 
friends  agree  to  revenge  themselves 
on  the  entire  sex  and  start  out  to- 
gether on  a  merry  round  of  amorous 
adventures.  La  Fontaine's  conte 
was  frequently  dramatized,  notably 
in  a  farce  by  Fagan  (1740)  and  two 
comic  operas,  respectively  by  Deforge 
(1790)  and  Etienneand  Nicolo(i8i4). 

Glaucus,  in  classic  myth,  a  fisher- 
man who  eats  of  an  herb  which,  he 
has  noticed,  restores  life  to  the 
fishes  he  has  caught  so  that  they 
wriggle  their  way  back  to  the  river. 
Straightway  he  is  obsessed  by  a 
longing  for  the  water  and  takes  a  head- 
long plunge.  The  river  gods  welcome 
him  and  he  becomes  as  one  of  them. 
His  sea-green  hair  trails  behind  him 
on  the  waters;  his  shoulders  broaden, 
his  legs  are  merged  into  a  fish's  tail 
(Ovro,  Metamorphoses,  xiii).  He  falls 
in  love  with  Scylla,  and  applies  to 
Circe  for  aid;  Circe  proffers  her  own 
love  instead,  is  spurned  by  Glaucus, 
and  in  revenge,  turns  Scylla  into  a 
monster  with  100  barking  heads 
(Ibid.,  xxiii).  Keats,  amplifying  on 
Ovid,  makes  Glaucus  yield  to  the 
seductions  of  Circe,  temporarily  for- 
getful of  his  allegiance  to  Scylla. 
One  day  he  happens  upon  Circe 
surrounded  by  the  beasts  who  were 
once  like  himself  her  lovers,  and 
realizes  his  true  condition.  Circe, 
enraged,  puts  Scylla  into  a  death-like 
trance  and  casts  a  spell  of  palsied  age 
upon  Glaucus.  This  episode  Keats 
introduces  into  Endymion,  iii,  192. 

Goblin,  in  Scotland  and  France,  a 
name  given  to  ghosts,  spectres  and 
phantoms.  The  Scotch  variety  has 
the  further  peculiarity  that  he  exists  as 
a  double  or  wraith  of  every  man  dur- 
ing his  lifetime  and  only  turns  into  a 
goblin  after  his  death  .  Whenever  the 
wraith  makes  his  appearance  to  a 
man  he  has  just  time  left  to  prepare 
for  the  end.  In  Normandy  the  goblin 
is  not  a  mere  spectre,  but  a  familiar 
genius  who  assumes  various  shapes  for 
his  own  amusement,  being  more  mis- 
chievous than  malign.  When  kindly 
treated  by  a  peasant  he  manifests 


Go  diva 


125 


Goodfellow 


gratitude  by  stealing  grain  from  the 
neighbors'  barns  and  stowing  it  away 
in  that  of  his  benefactor. 

Godiva,  Lady.   See   PEEPING  TOM. 

Gog  and  Magog.  Popular  names 
given  to  two  wooden  statues,  un- 
couth but  colossal,  which  adorn  the 
Guildhall  in  London.  Gog  of  Magog 
is  mentioned  in  Ezekiel  xxxviii, 
xxxix,  and  a  coincidence  of  sound  may 
have  influenced  popular  nomencla- 
ture. It  is  plausibly  held  that  the 
statues  were  originally  called  Corineus 
and  Gotmagot  (g.r.),  after  heroes 
commemorated  in  an  Annorican 
chronicle  quoted  by  Geoffrey  of  Mon- 
mouth.  The  first  name  dropped  out 
of  memory  and  the  last  was  split  up 
among  the  two  figures. 

Gog  and  Magog  are  only  specimens 
of  a  class.  Most  of  the  old  commer- 
cial cities  of  Europe  had  a  civic  giant, 
some  indeed  a  whole  family  of  giants, 
whose  figure  or  figures  were  paraded 
on  popular  festivals  and  were  the 
objects  of  a  sort  of  personal  affection. 
The  grand  specimens  are  to  be  found 
in  Flanders  and  Brabant.  Antigonus 
of  Antwerp  was  designed  by  Charles 
V's  painter  Lyderic  of  Lille  and  finds 
less  classic  counterparts  in  Gayant  of 
Douai,  Goliath  of  Ath  (not  Gath),  the 
Tailor's  Giant  of  Shrewsbury  and 
many  others.  They  are  moreover 
much  more  lively,  for  while  Antigonus 
sits  on  a  throne,  and  is  drawn  by 
horses,  the  rest  are  able  to  walk  of 
themselves,  through  the  streets  of 
their  native  cities.  To  be  sure  this 
involves  a  somewhat  unheroic  guise 
for  their  lower  portions.  All  have 
petticoats  from  the  waist  downwards 
in  order  to  conceal  the  men  within 
who  move  the  figure.  Goliath  has  a 
wife  almost  as  tall  as  himself,  but  no 
children.  On  the  other  hand  Gayant 
of  Douai,  also  called  Johan  Gelon,  is 
the  head  of  a  family  party  cons:?: 
of  his  spouse.  Marie  Cagenon.  of  a 
grown  (indeed  overgrown)  son  called 
M.  Jacquot,  a  giantess  of  a  daughter,  : 
Mademoiselle  Filion,  and  an  infant 
called  Binbin.  scarce  8  feet  high.  All 
these  giants  and  many  more  are 
connected  with  local  "legends  and  \ 
celebrated  in  local  rhvmes  and  on  ' 


constituted  occasions  are  carried 
through  the  streets  in  public  pro: vi- 
sion. It  is  a  long  time  since  Gog  and 
Magog  participated  in  the  Lord 
Mayor's  show  in  London. 

Golden  Fleece.  According  to  a 
Greek  myth  Xephele  gave  her  son 
Phrixus  a  ram  (Aries)  with  a  golden 
fleece.  To  avoid  the  jealousy  of  Hera, 
Phrixus  with  his  sister  HeUe  fled  on 
the  back  of  the  rani  and  attemr.- 
in  this  fashion  to  swim  the  intervening 
sea.  Phrixus  succeeded  but  HeUe  fell 
off  the  ram's  back  and  was  drowned. 
Hence  this  sea  was  known  as  the 
Hellespont.  Phrixus  was  kindly  re- 
ceived in  Colchis  by  King  ^Eetes.  He 
sacrificed  the  ram  to  Zeus,  stripped 
the  fleece  from  the  corpse  and  hung 
it  up  in  the  temple.  Here  it  became 
the  object  of  a  famous  quest  by 
Argonauts.  Zeus  placed  the  ram  in 
the  heavens  as  the  constellation 
Ark?. 

Gonin,  Maitre,  a  French  conjurer 
who  flourished  in  the  days  of  Francis 
I  before  whom  he  made  exhibition 
of  his  magic  powers  perfectly  in 
keeping  with  the  morals  of  that  time 
and  the  manners  of  that  court.  "  He 
w^s  a  man  very  subtle  and  expert  in 
his  art,"  says  Brantorne,  "  and  his 
grandson,  whom  we  have  seen,  was 
his  equal."  Grandfather  and  grand- 
son having  been  in  the  same  profes- 
sion have  been  telescoped  into  one 
in  the  memory  of  men.  and  the 
n:i~e  survives  in  popular  proverbs. 

Goodfellow,  Robin,  also  known  as 
Puck,  in  the  fairy  mythology  of  Great 
Britain,  the  son  of  a  mortal  woman 
by  an  elf  or  fairy.  s;me  say  of 
Xi~g  Oberon  h'  .i!e  yet  a 

child,  his  pranks  were  the  plague  of 
the   neighbors.      Running   away    to 
escape     his     mother's     punishmer.:. 
he  entered  the  sen-ice  of  a  tailor, 
upon  whom  he  played  a  number  of 
practical    jests    and    eventually 
countered  Oberon  in  a  forest,   v. 
made  known  to  him  his  origin  and 
also  that  he  possessed  the  power  of 
transforming  himself  into  what  shape 
he  pleased.    This  opened  out  to  h 
unlimited  opportunities  for  mischi 
which  he  lost  no  time  in  turning  to 


Goose 


126 


Goose 


riotous  account.  Before  Shakspear 
the  name  appears  to  have  been  a 
general  one  applied  to  a  species  of 
tricky  elves  or  hobgoblins,  to  whom 
Friar  Rush  (q.v.)  bore  a  close  affinity. 
But  with  the  appearance  of  the 
Midsummer  Night's  Dream,  in  which 
Puck  or  Robin  Goodfellow  occupies 
a  prominent  position,  he  began  to 
assume  a  concrete  personality  in  the 
public  mind,  and  the  numerous 
scattered  stories  about  these  beings 
were  welded  into  a  consistent  whole 
and  centred  around  a  single  individu- 
ality. The  black  letter  tract,  pub- 
lished in  London,  in  1628,  under  the 
title  of  Robin  Goodfellow,  His  Mad 
Pranks  and  Merry  Jests,  and  the 
ballad  of  The  Merry  Pranks  of 
Robin  Goodfellow,  ascribed  to  Ben  Jon- 
son,  both  appeared  after  Shakspear's 
comedy. 

EitherJI  do  mistake  your  shape  and  making 

quite 
Or  else  you  are  that  shrewd  and  knavish 

sprite 

Called  Robin  Goodfellow:    are  not  you  he 
That  frightsthe  maidens  of  the  villagery, 
Skim  milk  and  sometimes  labor  in  the  quern 
And  bootless  make  the  breathless  house- 
wife churn; 
And  sometime  make  the  drink  to  bear  no 

barm; 
Mislead  night-wanderers,  laughing  at  their 

harm? 
Those  that  hobgoblin  call  you,  and  sweet 

Puck, 
You  do  their  work,  and  they  shall  have 

good  luck: 
Are  you  not  he? 

Midsummer  Night's  Dream. 

Goose,  Mother.  There  is  an  absurd 
legend  which  identifies  Mother  Goose 
of  the  nursery  tales  with  a  certain 
Elizabeth  Goose  of  Boston,  mother- 
in-law  of  one  Thomas  Fleet,  a  printer 
of  that  town. 

The  legend  runs  that  when  Mr. 

fleets  wife  gave  birth  to  a  son  and 

heir,  old  Mrs.  Goose,  in  ecstasy  over 

the  event,  spent  all  her  spare  time  in 

crooning  the  old  songs  and  jingles 

had  been  familiar  to  her  from 

girlhood.      Soon    she    became    the 

annoyance  not  only  of  her  household 

the    whole    neighborhood. 

.omas   Fleet,    being   an   ingenious 
gentleman   and   a   humorist   withal 
conceived  the  idea  of  punishing  her 
and  rewarding  himself  by  collecting 


these  songs,  with  such  others  as  he 
could  gather  from  other  sources,  into 
a  book  which  he  published  under  the 
following  title,  Songs  for  the  Nursery; 
or  Mother  Goose's  Melodies  for  Chil- 
dren. The  legend  adds  that  the  date 
of  publication  was  1719. 

This  story  has  been  repeated  in 
grave  books  of  reference  and  is  set 
out  at  full  length  in  G.  A.  R.'s  edition 
of  Mother  Goose,  Boston,  1869. 

Nevertheless,  it  is  utterly  untrue. 

There  is  a  basis  of  fact,  to  be  sure. 
Elizabeth  Goose  and  Thomas  Fleet 
were  real  persons.  Moreover,  the 
latter  was  a  well-known  printer  who 
had  emigrated  from  England  to 
Boston  in  1712  and  started  a  printing- 
house  in  Pudding  Lane,  removing  in 
1713  to  Cornhill.  He  married  the 
daughter  of  Mistress  Elizabeth  Goose 
on  June  8,  1715,  according  to  an  entry 
in  the  city  registrar's  office  in  Boston. 

But  the  book  has  no  existence. 
Bibliomaniacs  have  followed  every 
clew  and  failed  to  find  it.  The  only 
person  who  ever  claimed  to  have  seen 
it  was  a  mythical  "  gentleman  of 
Boston,  a  member  of  the  Massachu- 
setts Historical  Society,"  who  in  the 
year  1856,  "  while  examining  a  file  of 
old  newspapers  in  the  library  of  the 
American  Antiquarian  Society  at 
Worcester,  came  across  a  dilapidated 
copy  of  the  original  edition  of 
'  Mother  Goose's  Melodies/  Being 
in  search  of  other  matter,  he  merely 
took  note  of  the  title  and  general 
condition  and  character  of  the  work, 
intending  to  make  a  further  examina- 
tion of  it  at  another  time.  Whether 
he  ever  did  so  is  not  known.  His 
health  being  impaired,  he  soon  after 
went  to  Europe,  where  he  remained 
for  many  months."  So  much  is  from 
the  Preface  to  G.  A.  R.'s  edition  of 
Mother  Goose. 

The  evidence,  you  see,  is  absolutely 
worthless.  We  must  know  who  was 
the  gentleman  of  Boston  before  we 
trust  him.  And  he  is  only  vouched 
for  by  the  equally  mysterious  G.  A.  R. 

More  than  this,  a  fatal  mistake 
shows  that  the  story  is  utterly  false. 

The  unknown  gentleman  "  took 
note  of  the  title,"  G.  A.  R.  tells  us, 


Goose 


127 


Goose 


and  then  the  latter  quotes  it  in  full. 
It  claims  that  the  book  was  ' '  printed 
by  T.  Fleet,  at  his  printing-house, 
Pudding  Lane,  1719."  Now,  T. 
Fleet's  printing-house  was  not  in 
Pudding  Lane  in  1719. 

The  story,  in  short,  is  a  hoax,  and 
a  rather  clumsy  one  at  that. 

Who,  then,  was  the  original  Mother 
Goose? 

A  difficult  question,  to  which  a  very 
surprising  answer  might  be  given. 
For  if  the  mathematical  axiom  hold 
good  that  two  things  which  are  equal 
to  a  third  thing  are  equal  to  each 
other,  then  Mother  Goose  is  no  less 
varied  and  miscellaneous  a  person- 
ality than  the  Scandinavian-goddesses 
Freia  and  Frigga,  the  classic  Venus, 
the  Egyptian  Isis,  the  German 
Bertha  and  Hulda,  the  French  Queen 
Bertha,  the  German  White  Lady,  the 
Italian  Befana,  the  Russian  Ba- 
boushka,  and  even  the  Virgin  Mary. 

That  is  to  say,  Mother  Goose  is 
simply  a  popular  reminiscence  of  the 
old  Norse  goddess  Freia,  who  is 
identical  with,  or  has  been  merged 
into,  all  the  other  characters. 

Freia  was  what  might  be  called  by 
biologists  a  scissiparitous  goddess. 
In  plainer  words  she  could  divide  her- 
self into  portions,  and  each  portion 
would  assume  a  vitality  and  person- 
ality of  its  own.  Frigga  was  originally 
an  alternate  name  for  her,  as  were 
Perchtha  (Bertha),  the  shining  one, 
and  Hulda,  the  helpful  one.  But  in 
process  of  time  the  one  goddess  with 
these  four  names  was  cut  up  into  four 
distinct  personalities — the  goddesses 
Freia,  Frigga,  the  fairies  Bertha  and 
Hulda,  who,  in  spite  of  the  conflicting 
legends  that  have  clustered  around 
them,  preserve  a  congenital  likeness. 

The  original  Freia  was  not  only  the 
goddess  of  love  but  also  of  house- 
wifely accomplishments,  and  about 
Twelfth  Night,  the  winter  solstice, 
when  the  Teutonic  tribes  celebrated 
one  of  their  sun-worship  rites,  she 
visited  mortal  households  and  noted 
the  industry  of  matrons  at  their 
spinning. 

And  now  how  did  this  brilliant 
creature,  these  many  brilliant  crea- 


tures, degenerate  into  the  wizened 
and  semihumorous  Mother  Goose? 

By  a  very  gradual  process.  In  her 
earliest  form  Freia  was  figured  as  a 
storm-goddess,  surrounded  by  minor 
cloud-goddesses;  in  some  myths  they 
are  conceived  as  swans.  Freia  came 
in  this  way  to  be  looked  upon  as  a 
Walkyrian  Swan  Virgin,  or  even  as  a 
swan.  Later,  as  the  nature  myth 
changed,  it  was  humanized,  the  foot 
only  retained  its  swan  form,  and  a 
further  deterioration  substituted  the 
goose-foot. 

In  mediaeval  legend,  when  Freia 
and  Frigga  and  Bertha  and  Hulda 
had  all  been  differentiated  into  sepa- 
rate personalities,  they  nearly  always 
retained  the  common  characteristic 
of  a  goose's  foot.  A  distaff  (showing 
their  interest  in  domestic  pursuits) 
a  fondness  for  children,  and  a  habit 
of  visiting  mortal  households  during 
the  time  of  the  Christmas  festivities, 
were  also  common  to  all,  and  form 
important  links  in  tracing  their 
common  origin. 

And  here,  it  may  be  noted,  rests 
the  identification  of  these  various 
personalities  with  the  English  St. 
Nicholas,  the  German  Christ-kindlein 
or  Kriss  Kringle,  the  Russian  Ba- 
boushka,  and  the  Italian  Befana,  who 
load  the  children's  stockings  with 
toys  and  presents  on  either  Christmas 
or  Twelfth  Night. 

Now  let  us  take  a  sudden  leap.  It 
is  a  well-known  law  in  popular  my- 
thology that  two  legendary  or  semi- 
legendary  characters  who  have  the 
same  name  come  in  time  to  be  con- 
fused together  in  the  popular  mind. 
There  were  two  queens  of  France 
named  Bertha,  one  the  reputed 
mother  of  Charlemagne,  the  other  the 
wife  of  King  Robert  II.  Nothing  was 
more  natural  than  that  their  identity 
should  be  merged,  and  as  there  was 
also  a  mythical  Bertha,  which  French 
folklore  had  borrowed  from  Germany, 
the  various  legends  were  all  fused 
together  into  the  legend  of  La  Reine 
Pe"dauque  (the  Goose-foot  Queen)  of 
French  tradition. 

La  Reine  Pe"dauque,  also  known  as 
Bertha  the  Spinner,  la  fileuse,  and 


Goose 


128 


Gorgbns 


Bertha  with  the  large  ioot—Berlke  au 
grand  pied — figures  in  effigy  on  the 
fagade  of  many  old  French  churches 
as  a  crowned  female  with  a  swan's  or 
goose's  foot,  holding  a  distaff  in  her 
hand.  The  legend  which  later  gen- 
erations told  in  explanation  of  this 
figure  was  that  it  represented  Bertha, 
the  wife  of  her  cousin  Robert  King 
of  France.  Having  married  within 
the  forbidden  degrees  of  consanguin- 
ity, without  ecclesiastical  dispensa- 
tion, she  gave  birth  to  a  goose  as  the 
sign  of  divine  wrath.  The  prominent 
position  of  La  Reine  Pedauque  on  old 
churches  was  ascribed  to  a  clerical 
desire  to  enforce  the  moral  of  her 
punishment.  But,  in  fact,  many  of 
the  statues  existed  before  the  time 
of  the  second  Queen  Bertha,  and 
represent  Bertha  of  the  Largefoot, 
mother  of  Charlemagne,  whose  large 
foot  had  become  confused  with  the 
goose's  foot  of  the  German  Bertha. 

The  identity  of  names  has  evidently 
resulted  in  the  fusion  of  the  French 
Bertha  (with  its  double  personality) 
and  of  the  German  Bertha  into  the 
one  figure  of  the  Reine  Pedauque.  In 
course  of  time  the  goose's  foot,  the 
attribute  of  the  latter,  grew  to  be  the 
feature  that  overshadowed  all  the 
rest.  Hence  the  gradual  evolution 
of  La  Mere  1'Oie,  or  Goose-mother, 
who  became  identified  in  the  popular 
imagination  with  the  entire  cycle  of 
nursery  or  folk  tales  as  a  sort  of 
patron  or  presiding  spirit. 

The  term  Conte  de  Ma  Mere  1'Oye 
in  the  sense  of  a  folk  or  fairy  tale  is 
known  to  have  been  in  use  in  France 
as  early  as  the  sixteenth  century,  but 
the  various  steps  of  the  degeneration 
are  impossible  to  trace.  In  many 
early  chap-books,  however,  La  Mere 
1'Oye  is  represented  as  a  goose  with 
a  distaff,  surrounded  by  a  group  of 
children,  whom  she  holds  entranced 
with  her  stories.  The  German  Bertha 
has  a  goose's  foot,  is  the  patron  of 
spinners,  and  is  attended  by  a  suite 
of  elves  called  Heimchen.  The  Norse 
Freia-Frigga  has  a  swan's  foot,  a 
distaff  and  is  attended  by  the  souls 
of  the  unborn.  Were  there  no  other 
means  of  identifying  the  three,  these 


likenesses  would  form  a  strong  chain 
of  evidence. 

It  was  Charles  Perrault  who  first 
made  Mother  Goose  a  literary  person- 
age by  the  publication  in  1697  of  his 
famous  collection  of  fairy  tales,  Contes 
de  Ma  Mere  1'Oye  or  Tales  of  My 
Mother  Goose. 

Doubtless  it  was  in  remembrance 
of  Perrault's  title  that  John  Newbury, 
circa  1760,  issued  the  original  Mother 
Goose's  Melodies  under  that  title. 

Gordian  Knot.    See  GORDIUS. 

Gordius,  in  Greek  legend,  a  peasant 
who  was  made  king  of  Phrygia  be- 
cause an  oracle  had  declared  that  the 
future  sovereign  should  arrive  in  a 
wagon  and  Gordius  came  driving  his 
team  of  oxen  into  the  public  square 
just  after  the  oracle  had  been  re- 
ceived. He  dedicated  his  wagon  and 
the  yoke  of  his  oxen  to  Zeus  in  the 
temple  at  Gordium,  tying  it  up  so  that 
the  ends  of  the  knot  could  not  be  seen. 
An  oracle  declared  that  whoever 
should  untie  the  yoke  would  rule 
over  Asia.  No  one  succeeded  in  this, 
but  Alexander  the  Great  cut  the  knot 
in  two  and  applied  the  prophecy  to 
himself. 

Gorgons,  in  classic  myth,  three 
frightful  daughters  of  Phorcus  and 
Ceto,  named  Stheno,  Euryale  and 
Medusa,  of  whom  the  latter  only  was 
mortal.  Their  hair  was  entwined 
with  hissing  serpents,  their  bodies 
were  covered  with  impenetrable  scales, 
they  had  wings,  brazen  claws  and 
enormous  teeth.  Whoever  gazed  at 
them  was  turned  into  stone.  Hence 
the  difficulty  that  Perseus  encoun- 
tered in  killing  Medusa.  He  found  the 
Gorgons  asleep  in  their  abode  at 
Tartessus  and  cut  off  Medusa's  head, 
looking  at  her  through  his  magic 
mirror,  put  her  head  into  his  wallet 
and  though  pursued  by  the  two  other 
Gorgons  eluded  them  by  means  of  his 
helmet  of  invisibility.  He  turned  to 
stone  all  whom  he  desired  to  vanquish 
by  exposing  Medusa's  head  which  he 
eventually  gave  to  Athena  and  she 
ever  after  wore  it  in  the  middle  of  her 
shield  or  breastplate. 

Many    attempts    have    been    made    by 
post-classical    writers    to     rationalize    the 


Gosshawk 


129 


Graces 


Gorgon  myth.  Servius  in  his  commentary 
on  the  JEneid  (fourth  century  A.D.)  quotes 
from  Ammonius  Serenus  the  opinion  that 
the  Gorgons  were  young  women  of  such 
startling  beauty  that  they  were  said  to 
turn  all  beholders  into  statues.  Athenseus 
(circa  210)  names  a  historian  called  Alex- 
ander of  Mendus  as  authority  for  the 
statement  that  Libya  had  an  animal  called 
a  gorgon,  which  resembled  a  sheep.  Its 
breath  was  pestilential,  its  eye  struck  dead 
any  one  it  gazed  upon,  like  the  basilisk.  He 
adds  that  in  the  war  with  Jugurtha  some  of 
the  soldiers  of  Marius  were  thus  slain.  At 
last  it  was  transfixed  by  arrows  discharged 
from  a  long  distance. 

Gosshawk,  the  gay  nickname  of 
the  hero  of  a  Scotch  ballad  (see  ISAM- 
BOURG,  BELLE),  which  is  numbered 
96  in  Child's  collection. 

Gotham,  Wise  Men  of,  a  nickname 
applied  sarcastically  to  the  people  of 
Gotham  in  Nottingham,  who  were  the 
chosen  butts  of  merrymakers  in 
England,  like  the  Boeotians  and 
Abderites  in  Greece,  the  Nazarenes 
in  Judea,  and  the  Schildburgers  in 
Germany.  Yet  tradition  justifies 
their  own  proverb  that  "  there  are 
more  fools  pass  through  Gotham  than 
remain  in  it,"  and  hints  that  their 
folly  was  rationally  assumed.  King 
John,  so  Ralph  Thoresby  tells  us, 
wished  to  cross  the  adjacent  meadows, 
but  the  villagers  feared  that  a  royal 
progress  would  entail  more  harm  than 
good.  So  when  the  king's  messengers 
arrived  they  found  the  villagers  en- 
gaged in  all  sorts  of  fantastic  pursuits, 
some  seeking  to  drown  an  eel  in  a 
pond,  others  striving  to  drag  the 
reflected  moon  out  of  its  waters,  and 
still  others  putting  a  hedge  around  a 
cuckoo  that  had  lit  upon  a  bush.  The 
scene  of  this  crowning  absurdity,  and 
the  successor  to  the  bush,  are  still 
pointed  out  in  Gotham.  King  John, 
deciding  that  the  villagers  were  in- 
sane, altered  his  proposed  route. 

The  "  foles  of  Gotham  "  are  men- 
tioned as  early  as  the  Towneley 
Mysteries  of  the  I5th  century.  A 
collection  of  their  "  jests  "  was  pub- 
lished in  the  i6th  century  under  the 
title  Merrie  Tales  of  the  Mad  Men  of 
Gotham,  gathered  together  by  A.  B.  of 
Phisicke  Doctour,  the  A.  B.  being 
strategically  intended  to  be  read 
Andrew  Boorde,  a  physician  and  a 


popular  wag  (see  MERRY  ANDREW), 
who  probably  had  no  hand  in  this 
compilation.  The  memory  of  the 
wise  men  survives  also  in  a  famous 
nursery  rhyme  not  included  in  the 
book: 

Three  wise  men  of  Gotham 
Went  to  sea  in  a  bowl; 
And  if  the  bowl  had  been  stronger 
My  story  had  been  longer. 

Gotmagot,  a  giant  mentioned  by 
Geoffrey  of  Monmouth  as  having  been 
killed  in  a  wrestling  match  by  Corin- 
eus.  Dray  ton  retells  the  story  in 
Polyolbion,  i,  (1612),  but  calls  the 
giant  Gogmagog,  probably  through 
unconscious  influence  of  the  Scripture 
name  Gog,  prince  of  Magog  (Ezekiel 
xxxviii).  According  to  Dray  ton  he 
was  eighteen  feet  high  and  king  of 
the  Albion  giants.  Corineus  flung  his 
body  over  the  Hoe  or  Haw  of  Ply- 
mouth and  received  from  Brutus  in 
reward  for  his  victory  the  land  now 
known  as  Cornwall. 

Gougou,  a  terrible  monster  in  the 
form  of  a  gigantic  woman,  which, 
according  to  the  neighboring  Indians, 
resided  on  an  island  in  the  Bay  of 
Chaleur.  It  fed  on  human  beings, 
catching  them  and  preserving  them 
in  pouches  large  enough  to  hold  a 
ship.  Samuel  de  Champlain  gives 
a  detailed  account  of  this  monster, 
taken  down  from  the  lips  of  natives, 
some  of  whom  claimed  to  have  seen 
it,  while  others  had  only  heard  the 
horrible  noises  it  was  accustomed  to 
emit.  '  What  makes  me  believe 
what  they  say,"  concludes  Cham- 
plain,  "  is  the  fact  that  as  the  savages 
in  general  fear  it,  and  tell  such  strange 
things  about  it  that  if  I  were  to 
record  all  they  say  it  would  be  re- 
garded as  a  myth,  but  I  hold  that 
this  is  the  dwelling  place  of  some 
devil  that  torments  them  in  the  above- 
named  manner." 

Graces  (Lat.  Gratia,  Gr.  Charlies), 
the  classic  personifications  of  grace 
and  beauty,  who  presided  over  the 
banquet,  the  dance  and  all  social 
enjoyments  and  elegant  arts.  They 
were  three  in  number,  Euphrosyne, 
Aglaia,  and  Thalia,  daughters  of  Jove, 


Gracioso 


130 


Gratiano 


by    Eurynome.      Spenser    thus    de- 
scribes their  offices: 

These  three  on  men  all  gracious  gifts  bestow 
Which  deck  the  body  or  adorn  the  mind, 
To  make  them  lovely  or  well-favored  show; 
As  comely  carriage,  entertainment  kind. 
Sweet  semblance,  friendly  offices  that  bind, 
And  all  the  compliments  of  courtesy; 
They  teach  us  how  to  each  degree  and  kind 
We  should  ourselves   demean,   to  low,   to 

high, 
To  friends,  to  foes;  which  skill  men  call 

Civility. 

Gracioso,  a  stock  character  in  the 
popular  drama  of  Spain,  the  embodied 
spirit  of  mischief,  who  appeared  in 
play  after  play,  often  as  the  deus  ex 
machina,  oftener  as  a  mere  chartered 
libertine  lubricating  the  serious  busi- 
ness of  the  stage  by  unctious  drollery. 
He  expressed  himself  either  in  speech 
or  in  pantomime  at  the  will  of  the 
dramatist.  Lope  de  Vega  is  said  to 
have  introduced  him:  Moreto  devel- 
oped his  more  serious  side. 

Amid  all  these,  and  more  acceptable  than 
almost  the  whole  put  together,  was  the  all- 
icensed  fool,  the  Gracioso  of  the  Spanish 
drama,  who,  with  his  cap  fashioned  into  the 
resemblance  of  a  coxcomb,  and  his  bauble 
a  truncheon  terminated  by  a  carved  figure 
wearing  a  fool's-cap,  in  his  hand,  went, 
came,  and  returned,  mingling  in  every 
scene  of  the  piece,  and  interrupting  the 
business,  without  having  any  share  himself 
in  the  action,  and  ever  and  anon  transferring 
his  gibes  from  the  actors  on  the  stage  to  the 
audience  who  sat  around,  prompt  to  applaud 
the  whole. — SIR  W.  SCOTT. 

Gradlon  or  Grallon,  according  to  a 

Breton  legend  which  has  been  versi- 

by  Brizeux  and  Villemarque"  and 

told  in  prose  by  Souvestre  (Le  Foyer 

Breton,  1844)  was  king  of  Cornwailles 

the  fifth  century  with  his  capital 

Ls,  or  Ys.   That  city  was  built  on 

a  plain  below  the  level  of  the  sea 

which  was  kept  out  by  a  strong  wall. 

he  good  king  had  a  wicked  daughter, 

Jahut,  who  held  impious  revelry  in  a 

tower.      One    of    her    lovers 

prompted  her  to  steal  from  Gradlon 's 

neck,  while  he  slept,  the  silver  key 

hat  opened  the  sluice-gates  in  the 

wall  and  in  sheer  deviltry  either  he  or 

;he  let  in  the  sea.    Gradlon  was  awak- 

eru   .  by  a  voice  bidding  him  rise  and 

He  took  Dahut  with  him  on  his 

>rse  (for  he  still  loved  her)  but  the 

floods  pursued  the  fugitives 


and  the  voice  cried  out  "  Cast  away 
the  demon  that  is  behind  thee." 
Dahut  fell  and  was  drowned  and  the 
sea  was  stayed  at  the  very  spot  where 
she  perished.  But  the  city  was  sub- 
merged and  lost  forever. 

Graelent,    hero    of   a   Breton   lay 
versified,   circa    1175,   by  Marie   de 
France.      He    plays    Joseph    to    the 
Mrs.    Potiphar    of    Guinevere    and 
later    plays    Peeping    Tom    upon    a 
damsel    bathing.      The    queen    had 
been  aroused  to  wrath  by  his  back- 
wardness,  the  damsel   falls  in   love 
with  him  for  his  forwardness.     She 
gives  him  an    ever-ready  purse  (see 
FORTUNATUS)  and  agrees  to  be  at  his 
beck  and  call  whenever  he  needs  her, 
but  warns  him  never  to  reveal  the 
secret  of  their  love.    A  year  later  the 
King  (obviously  Arthur)  unduly  vain 
of  _  Guinevere's    charms    makes    her 
strip  before  all  his  court.    Everybody 
praises   her    beauty    save   Graelent. 
He  declares  that  his  own  lady  love 
excels  her.     The  Queen  angrily  de- 
mands that  her  rival  shall  be  sum- 
moned and  set  side  by  side  with  her 
for     comparison.       Then     Graelent 
realizes  that  he  has  broken  his  prom- 
ise.   He  discovers  also  that  his  lady 
is  offended  for  she  no  longer  responds 
to  his  call.    Later  when  his  life  is  at 
stake  she  does  appear  in  his  defence, 
is  adjudged  more  beautiful  than  the 
Queen  and  rides  away  with  Graelent 
into  Faery-land.    Marie  de  France  in 
another      '  Lay '      tells    an    almost 
identical  story  concerning  Sir  Launfal, 
and  Queen  Guinevere  and  "the  flower 
of  all  the  ladies  in  the  land." 

Gratiano,  a  stock  character  in  the 
Italian  commedia  del'  arte,  or  popular 
dramatic  entertainment,  who  has 
survived  from  mediaeval  times.  He 
is  a  _  doctor  of  Bologna,  a  city  famous 
for  its  university,  pedantic  and  prosy 
in  his  conversation,  rubicund  in 
aspect,  but  wearing  a  mask  with 
black  nose  and  forehead.  Shakspear 
uses  the  name  twice,  once  in  Othello 
for  the  brother  of  Brabantio  and  again 
in  The  Merchant  of  Venice  for  a  friend 
of  Bassanip  who  is  engaged  to  Nerissa. 
In  the  trial  scene  he  is  especially 
vindictive  in  baiting  Shylock. 


Greeks 


131 


Griffin 


Greeks,  Last  of  the  (Lat.  Ullimus 
Groscorum),  a  name  for  Philopoemen 
(B.C.  253-183),  a  native  of  Arcadia, 
who  strove  to  maintain  the  unity  of 
Greece  against  Roman  incursions.  He 
was  eight  times  general  of  the  Achaean 
league  and  discharged  the  duties  of 
his  office  with  honor  to  himself  and 
advantage  to  his  country. 

One  of  the  Romans,  to  praise  him, 
called  him  the  Last  of  the  Greeks,  as  if 
after  him  Greece  had  produced  no  great 
man,  nor  one  who  deserved  the  name  of 
Greek. — PLUTARCH,  Trans. 

Grendel,  a  monster  slain  by 
Beowulf  (q. t>.). 

Gregory  of  the  Rock,  in  mediaeval 
legend,  a  nickname  applied  to  Pope 
Gregory  the  Great,  from  his  fabled 
connection  with  a  Christianized  CEdi- 
pus  myth.  The  story  was  told  in  a 
French  poem  of  unknown  authorship 
and  uncertain  date  (first  printed 
1857),  which  is  the  avowed  original 
of  Gregorius  or  the  Good  Sinner,  a 
German  poem  by  the  I2th  century 
Hartmann  yon  Aue.  The  hero  is  a 
militant  knight  who  rescues  a  woman 
from  her  oppressor  and  marries  her, — 
to  find  out  later  that  she  is  his  own 
mother.  Horrified,  he  retires  to  a 
lonely  rock  in  the  sea  where  he  does 
penance  for  17  years.  The  fame  of 
his  self-sacrifice  reaches  Rome  and 
he  is  summoned  thither  to  become 
Pope  Gregory  I,  known  to  history  as 
Gregory  the  Great.  But  inasmuch  as 
the  first  German  pope]was  Gregory  V 
(Bruno  of  Carinthea,  died  999),  the 
legend,  in  its  origin,  probably  applied 
to  him  and  was  afterwards  thrown 
back  upon  the  more  familiar  because 
greater  personality 

Grettir  the  Strong,  in  Icelandic 
myth,  hero  of  a  mediaeval  saga  whose 
exploits  are  reminiscent  of  many 
other  heroes,  Greek  and  Norse.  In 
his  enormous  strength,  in  his  fitful 
action  which  is  as  often  mischievous 
as  it  is  beneficent,  in  the  lot  which 
makes  him  the  servant  of  beings 
weaker  than  himself,  which  stirs  up 
enemies  in  men  whom  he  has  never 
injured,  in  the  doom  which  he  foresees 
and  which  he  has  not  the  power,  and 
indeed  takes  no  pains,  to  avert,  he  is 


the  counterpart  of  Hercules  and 
Achilles.  When  he  slays  Glam,  the 
demon  tells  him,  "Hitherto  hast  thou 
earned  fame  by  thy  deeds,  but  hence- 
forth will  wrongs  and  manslayings 
fall  upon  thee,  and  the  most  part  of 
thy  doings  will  turn  to  thy  woe  and 
ill-hap;  an  outlaw  shalt  thou  be 
made,  and  ever  shall  it  be  thy  lot  to 
dwell  alone  abroad."  Henceforth  he 
is  "  the  traveller,"  who  can  know  no 
rest,  who  seeks  shelter  of  many  great 
men,  "  but  something  ever  came  to 
pass  whereby  none  of  them  would 
harbour  him."  This,  however,  is  the 
doom  of  Indra  and  Savitar  in  many 
Vedic  hymns,  of  Wuotan  Wegtam  in 
Teutonic  mythology,  of  Sigurd,  Per- 
seus, Bellerophon,  Odysseus,  and 
Dionysos;  and  there  is  scarcely  an 
incident  in  the  life  of  Grettir  which  is 
not  found  in  the  legends  of  one  or 
more  of  the  mythical  beings  of  the 
past. 

The  Sagaman  never  relaxes  his  grasp  of 
Grettir 's  character,  that  he  is  the  same  man 
from  beginning  to  end;  thrust  this  way  and 
that  by  circumstances,  but  little  altered 
by  them;  unlucky  in  all  things,  yet  made 
strong  to  bear  all  ill-luck;  scornful  of  the 
world,  yet  capable  of  enjoyment,  and 
determined  to  make  the  most  of  it;  not 
deceived  by  men's  specious  ways,  but  dis- 
daining_  to  cry  out  because  he  must  needs 
bear  with  them;  scorning  men,  yet  helping 
them  when  called  on,  and  desirous  of  fame; 
prudent  in  theory,  and  wise  in  foreseeing 
the  inevitable  sequence  of  events,  but  reck- 
less even  beyond  the  recklessness  of  that 
time  and  people,  and  finally  capable  of 
inspiring  in  others  strong  affection  and 
devotion  to  him  in  spite  of  his  rugged  self- 
sufficing  temper.  —  Introduction  to  The 
Story  of  Grettir  the  Strong.  Translated  from 
the  Icelandic  by  Eirekr  Magnusson,  and 
William  Morris,  London,  1869. 

Griffin,  in  classic  myth,  a  hybrid 
monster  usually  represented  with  the 
head,  neck  and  wings  of  a  bird,  and 
the  body  and  legs  of  a  lion.  Some- 
times its  forelegs  were  eagle  talons. 
The  conception  arose  in  the  East, 
where  the  griffin  was  looked  upon  as 
friendly  to  man  and  the  self- con- 
stituted guardian  of  secret  treasures. 
Herodotus  (iv,  152)  records  that 
griffins  formed  part  of  the  decorations 
on  the  bronze  patera  of  the  Samians. 
Earlier  Greek  writers,  such  as  Hesiod 
and  Aristeas,.  locate  the  griffins  in  the 


Griselda 


132 


Gudnin 


Rhipean  mountains  in  the  north. 
Here  the  evil  one-eyed  Arimaspeans, 

mounted  on  horses,  battle  with  the 
grimns  for  the  possession  of  buried 
treasures. 

Griselda,  a  mediaeval  type  of 
'.y  devotion  and  submission  who 
seems  to  have  been  an  original  crea- 
tion of  Boccaccio  in  the  last  tale 
(x,  10)  of  the  Decameron,  made 
famous  in  England  by  Chaucer  in  the 
Clerke's  Tale,  Canterbury  Tales. 
Petrarch  translated  the  story  into 
Latin  and  sent  this  version  to  Boccac- 
cio with  a  famous  letter  wherein  he 
expressly  says  that  he  knows  not 
whether  it  be  history  or  fiction,  "  but 
the  fact  that  you  wrote  it  would 
justify  the  inference  that  it  is  an 
invention.  Foreseeing  this  query  I 
have  prefaced  my  translation  with 
the  statement  that  the  responsibility 
for  the  story  rests  with  you." 

Boccaccio's  story  was  written 
shortly  after  1348,  Petrarch's  version 
about  1373,  though  long  before  that 
he  had  memorized  the  original  for  the 
express  purpose  of  repeating  it  to  his 
friends.  Early  in  1373,  Skeat  con- 
jectures, Chaucer  met  Petrarch  at 
Padua,  heard  from  him  the  story  by 
word  of  mouth,  and  shortly  after 
obtained  a  copy  of  the  Latin  version, 
which  he  kept  before  him  while 
making  his  own,  probably  in  the 
early  part  of  1374.  This  would  ex- 
plain why  Chaucer  acknowledges 
obligations  to  Petrarch  and  not  to 
Boccaccio  and  also  why  his  version 
follows  the  Latin  much  more  closely 
than  Petrarch's  follows  the  Italian. 

Griselda  (Griseld  or  Griseldis  in 
Chaucer)  was  the  daughter  of  a  poor 
charcoal  burner,  married  to  Walther, 
Marquis  of  Seleuces,  who,  to  test  her 
fidelity,  subjected  her  to  wanton 
and  unreasonable  persecutions.  He 
robbed  her  first  of  a  son  and  then  of 
.ughter,  pretending  that  he  had 
slain  them,  reduced  her  to  abject 
poverty,  and  after  thirteen  years  of 
married  life  made  a  last  proof  of  her 
endurance  by^  announcing  his  inten- 
tion of  repudiating  her  and  marrying 
another  wife  better  fitted  to  his 
exalted  station.  When  the  hour  had 


arrived  and  Griselda,  attired  in 
peasant  garb,  stood  meekly  ready  to 
welcome  the  bride,  a  procession 
appeared  escorting  a  fine  lad  and  a 
buxom  girl.  The  Marquis  presented 
them  as  her  son  and  daughter  and 
welcomed  her  back  to  his  arms. 

The  story  of  Griselda  achieved 
unbounded  popularity  in  the  middle 
ages.'  More  than  twenty  versions 
appeared  in  France.  It  was  there 
made  the  subject  of  a  mystery  play, 
Le  Mystere  de  Griseldis.  An  English 
drama,  Patient  Grissel,  by  Dekkerand 
Chettle,  was  entered  in  Stationer's 
Hall  in  1599,  a  ballad  appeared  at  an 
earlier  date,  Gower,  Chaucer's  con- 
temporary, introduced  Griseldis  into 
The  Temple  of  Glass.  In  Germany 
Hans  Sachs  produced  his  drama 
Griselda  in  1546. 

More  recently  Miss  Edgeworth 
paraphrased  the  story  in  A  Modern 
Griselda  (1804);  and  Miss  M.  E. 
Braddon  (1873)  and  Edwin  Arnold 
(1876)  founded  tragedies  upon  it. 

Gudrun  or  Kudrun,  titular  heroine 
of  an  anonymous  Mid-German  epic, 
ascribed  to  the  I3th  century,  when  it 
seems  to  have  been  known  as  a  modi- 
fied reproduction  of  older  narratives. 
She  is  the  daughter  of  Hettel  (Attila) 
and  Hilda,  king  and  queen  of  Heli- 
goland. Siegfried,  king  of  the  Moor- 
lands, seeks  her  hand;  Ludwig  of 
Normandy  sues  on  behalf  of  his  son 
Hartmut.  Both  are  scornfully  re- 
jected by  Hettel  and  swear  vengeance. 
When  Herwig,  king  of  Zetland,  is 
similarly  treated  he  puts  his  ven- 
geance into  immediate  action.  He 
besieges  Hettel  in  his  citadel  at 
Matalan  and  extorts  from  him  the 
promise  of  the  maiden's  hand,  to 
which  she  freely  adds  her  heart. 
Siegfried  now  invades  Zetland.  Her- 
wig's  new  allies,  the  Hegeling,  fly  to 
his  assistance,  leaving  Matalan  ex- 
posed to  attack  by  Ludwig,  the  other 
disgruntled  suitor.  His  Normans 
capture  the  citadel  and  carry  off 
Gudrun.  In  a  great  battle  Ludwig 
defeats  the  combined  forces  of  Hettel 
and  Herwig.  Hettel  himself  is  slain. 

Gudrun  remains  for  thirteen  years 
a  captive  in  Normandy,  steadfastly 


Gudmn 


133 


Guy 


refusing  to  marry  Hartmut,  who  is 
so  far  honorable  that  he  will  await 
her  consent.  His  mother  Gerlinta  is 
so  enraged  at  her  obstinacy  that  she 
degrades  her  to  the  most  menial 
offices.  One  day  while  Gudran  and 
some  companions  are  washing  out 
linen  on  the  beach  her  betrothed  and 
her  brother  with  many  followers  land 
from  their  vessels.  Then  was  joy  for 
Gudrun.  But  Herwig  refused  to  steal 
away  his  bride.  He  waited  till  night 
fell.  In  a  great  battle  _by  moonlight 
Ludwig  was  slain,  his  city  was  taken, 
his  wife  beheaded,  and  Gudrun  was 
carried  back  to  happiness.  At  her 
intercession  Hartmut  had  been  spared. 

Gudrun  is  the  type  of  all  the  Northern 
virtues.  When  she  has  once  sworn,  she 
keeps  her  oath.  She  remembers  that 
ehe  is  the  daughter  of  a  king,  and  suffers 
years  of  hopeless  slavery  rather  than  yield 
to  her  oppressors.  Yet  she  is  mild  and 
gentle.  When  Wat  of  Sturmland  will  slay 
her  cruel  mistress,  she  pleads  for  Gerlinta's 
life,  and  afterwards  she  gains  the  freedom 
of  Hartmund,  who  had  been  her  pitiless 
lover.  How  highly  the  Norsemen  prized 
constancy  may  be  seen  from  the  fate  of 
Hergart,  one  of  Gudrun's  women,  who 
deserted  her  in  her  captivity  and  married 
a  Norman  Duke.  For  this  Wat  slew  her 
with  Gerlinta;  whereas  Hiltburger,  who 
clave  to  Gudrun  in  her  misery,  was  rewarded 
with  a  princely  marriage. — Saturday  Re- 
view, July  25,  1863. 

Gudrun,  in  the  Norse  Volsunga  Saga 
and  in  the  analogous  Scandinavian 
Edda  of  Samund,  is  successively  the 
wife  of*  Sigurd  (q.r.)  and  of  King  Atli 
(Attila).  The  latter's  cruelty  destroys 
her  love.  In  a  paroxysm  of  fury  she 
kills  their  two  children,  cuts  out  their 
hearts,  serves  them  to  her  husband, 
makes  him  wash  down  the  hideous 
repast  with  wine  from  their  skulls, 
and  then  kills  him  and  throws  herself 
into  the  sea.  The  waves  bear  her  to 
the  castle  of  King  Jonakur,  whom  she 
marries. 

Guenever  or  Guinevere,  the  wife 
of  King  Arthur.  The  first  form  is 
Malory's,  the  second  Tennyson's.  In 
Geoffrey's  British  History  (1142),  the 
name  appears  as  Guanhumara,  and 
it  undergoes  other  modifications  in 
British  and  French  romances.  Her 
career  is  as  multiform  as  her  name. 
The  chroniclers  generally  agree  that 
she  was  the  daughter  of  King  Leodo- 


grance  of  Camelot,  and  that  she  was 
untrue  to  her  spouse.  But  the  details 
of  her  crime  differ.  Geoffrey  makes 
her  "  wickedly  marry  "  Sir  Modred, 
Arthur's  nephew,  when  he  rose  in 
rebellion.  Others  say  she  foiled  the 
nephew  by  a  stratagem,  but  had 
previously  sinned  with  Lancelot. 
Tennyson  departed  from  all  Anglo- 
Xorman  versions  by  making  Gene- 
vieve  retire  to  a  convent  before  the 
death  of  the  king.  Thither  her  hus- 
band traces  her  to  hurl  a  withering 
rebuke  at  his  fallen  queen.  In 
Malory's  Morte  d' Arthur  she  flees  to 
a  convent  after  hearing  of  her  hus- 
band's death,  and  there  holds  a 
repentant  interview  with  Lancelot. 

Gullweig,  in  Norse  myth,  a  wicked 
enchantress  who  instilled  into  human 
hearts  the  lust  for  gold.  Thrice  did 
the  ^Esir  cast  her  into  the  smelting 
pot,  each  time  she  rose  again  more 
entrancing  than  ever. 

Guy  of  Warwick,  a  popular  hero  of 
English  romance  and  drama.  His 
exploits  are  celebrated  in  four  I4th 
century  poems,  all  founded  on  a 
French  original,  Guy  de  Wan'ich, 
which  exists  only  in  manuscript.  Day 
and  Dekker,  in  collaboration,  drama- 
tized the  story  in  the  seventeenth 
century,  and  it  passed  into  the  chap- 
books  of  the  eighteenth  century.  It 
may  have  some  historical  basis,  but 
its  obvious  kinship  with  the  legends 
of  St.  Eustacius  and  St.  Alexius  sug- 
gests that  it  passed  through  monkish 
hands. 

Guy  marries  Felice  or  Phillis, 
daughter  of  Roalt,  Earl  of  Warwick, 
but  convinced  of  the  vanity  of  earthly 
joys  and  honors,  forsakes  her  to  make 
a  pilgrimage  to  the  Holy  Land.  He 
returns  just  in  time  to  deliver  Win- 
chester from  the  giant  Colbrand, 
whom  two  Danish  invaders,  Anlaf 
and  Gonelaph,  have  constituted  their 
champion  against  King  ^thelstan. 
The  spot  where  he  slew  the  giant  in 
single  combat  has  been  localized  by 
tradition  at  Hyde  Mead  near  Win- 
chester. It  is  possible  that  this  duel 
symbolizes  the  victory  of  ^Ethelstan 
over  Olaf  the  Dane  at  Brunanburgh  in 
937.  Guy  finds  his  way  to  Warwick, 


Gwydion 


134 


Halbert 


becomes  one  of  his  wife's  bedesmen, 
but  docs  not  reveal  his  identity  until 
his  death  in  a  hermitage  in  the  Forest 
of  Arden. 

Gwydion,  whose  story  is  told  in  the 
Mabinogion,  Book  iv,  was  the  son  of 
Don  and  one  of  three  tribal  herds- 
men of  Britain.  The  twenty-one 
thousand  milch  cows  of  the  tribe  of 
Gwynned  were  his  special  charge. 
He  learned  magic  from  Math  and 
with  the  aid  of  his  master  created  the 
maiden  Blodeuwedd  from  the  blos- 
soms of  the  oak,  broom  and  meadow- 
sweet. But  because  she  would  have 
slain  the  husband  provided  for  her, 
Gwydion  transformed  her  into  an 
owl.  To  this  day  the  owl  is  called 
Blodeuwedd  in  the  Welsh  language. 
By  the  theft  of  the  swine  from  Pry- 
deri,  which  is  told  in  the  same  book, 
Gwydion  may  rank  as  a  culture  hero 
who  by  the  "  harrying  of  Hell  " 
brought  up  gifts  for  man  from  the 
gods  of  the  underworld.  Math  event- 
ually transformed  him  into  a  pig. 


Gyges,  first  king  of  Lydia  of  the 
dynasty  of  the  Mermnadae,  who  de- 
throned Candaules  and  reigned  B.C. 
716-678.  Plato  in  his  Republic  pre- 
serves a  myth  concerning  him.  He 
was  a  herdsman  of  Candaules;  after 
an  earthquake  he  discovers  in  a 
newly  opened  chasm  a  great  horse  of 
brass,  wherein  lies  a  gigantic  corpse 
with  a  golden  ring.  It  turns  out  that 
this  ring  makes  its  wearer  invisible. 
Plato  uses  this  myth  in  connection 
with  a  more  famous  story  told  also 
by  Herodotus  but  without  the  explan- 
atory circumstance  of  the  ring. 
Gyges  rose  to  be  a  favorite  attendant 
upon  Candaules.  On  the  King's 
marriage  to  Myssia,  the  most  beau- 
tiful woman  in  the  world,  the  bride- 
groom vaingloriously  sought  to  con- 
vince Gyges  of  her  surpassing  love- 
liness by  secreting  him  in  Myssia's 
chamber.  Discovering  that  she  had 
been  observed,  she  forced  Gyges 
to  slay  her  husband  and  marry 
herself. 


H 


Hades,  in  classic  myth,  the  god  of 
the  underworld,  also  the  underworld 
itself.  Because  the  ancients  dreaded 
to  mention  his  real  name  he  was 
usually  called  Pluto  and  sometimes 
by  the  Romans  Dis  or  Tartarus.  See 
PLUTO. 

^  Haemon,  in  classic  myth,  son  of 
Creon  of  Thebes,  in  love  with  Antig- 
one. Sophocles  makes  him  marry 
her.  Euripides  makes  him  commit 
suicide  beside  her  dead  body.  See 
ANTIGONE. 

Hagun  or  Hagen,  in  the  German 
epic,     The     Nibelungen     Lied,     the 
enemy  of  Siegfried  and  finally  his 
Son  of  a  mortal  and  a  sea- 
goblin  he  is  by  some  authorities  de- 
scribed as  a  one-eyed  dwarf,  ugly  and 
malignant;  but  in  the  Lied  itself  he 
appears  as  a  person  of  lordly  gait, 
.  grown,    strongly   built,    with 
Dng  sinewy  legs,  deep  broad  chest, 
slightly    grey    and    of    terrible 
He   was   omniscient   and, 
:or    vicious    purposes,    omnipresent. 


He  stabbed  Siegfried  while  he  was 
drinking  out  of  a  brook,  and  then 
seized  the  Nibelungen  treasure,  which 
he  buried  for  future  use  in  the  Rhine. 
Kriemhild,  the  widow  of  Siegfried, 
and  later  the  consort  of  Etzel,  king 
of  the  ?Huns,  invited  him  to  the 
latter's  court  and  cut  off  his  head  with 
the  sword  that  erst  had  belonged  to 
Siegfried. 

Halbert  and  Hob,  in  Dramatic 
Idylls  (1879),  the  names  which  Robert 
Browning  gives  to  the  heroes  of  a 
poem,  called  after  them,  which  gives 
a  modern  setting  to  an  ancient  and 
widespread  legend. 

Halbert  and  Hob,  fierce  father  and 
fierce  son,  have  a  wrangle  which  ends 
by  the  son  seizing  his  father  with  the 
intention  of  flinging  him  out  of  the 
house.  The  old  man  becomes 
strangely  passive  until  his  son  has 
dragged  him  to  a  certain  turn  in  the 
stairs,  when  he  tells  him  to  stop,  that 
he  had  not  dragged  his  father  any 
farther  than  to  there.  The  warning 


Halcyone 


135 


Hanswurst 


has  its  effect.  It  is  Christmas  night. 
They  pass  it  silently  together.  Dawn 
finds  the  father  dead  in  his  chair,  and 
the  son  terrified  into  premature  and 
harmless  senility. 

In  the  preface  to  his  Guardian 
Angel,  Holmes  quotes  a  story  from 
Jonathan  Edwards  the  younger,  of  a 
brutal  wretch  in  New  Haven,  who 
was  abusing  his  father,  when  the 
old  man  cried  out,  "  Don't  drag  me 
any  further,  for  I  didn't  drag  my 
father  beyond  this  tree."  Precisely 
the  same  tale  is  told  by  one  of  the 
characters  of  Bjornson's  Arne  as 
having  happened  in  Sweden.  A 
variant  occurs  in  a  German  folktale. 
A  man  treated  his  old  father  very 
cruelly,  giving  him  only  refuse  to  eat 
in  a  wooden  platter.  One  day  the 
man  saw  his  little  child  playing  with 
a  piece  of  wood.  "  What  are  you 
doing?"  he  asked.  "  I  am  making  a 
wooden  platter,"  said  the  child,  "  to 
give  you  to  eat  out  of  when  you  are 
old,"  an  answer  which  opened  the 
man's  eyes  to  his  own  wickedness. 

Halcyone  or  Alcyone,  in  Greek 
myth,  daughter  of  ^Eolus  and  Enarete 
and  wife  of  Ceyx,  with  whom  she 
lived  so  happily  that  they  presump- 
tuously called  each  other  Zeus  and 
Hera.  Zeus,  incensed,  metamorphosed 
them  into  birds:  into  alkuon,  a  king- 
fisher, and  keuks,  a  sea-gull.  Hyginus, 
on  the  other  hand,  says  that  Ceyx 
perished  in  a  shipwreck,  whereupon 
Alcyone  threw  herself  into  the  sea, 
and  that  the  pitying  gods  changed 
both  into  birds.  An  embellished  form 
of  the  story  is  given  in  Ovid's  Meta- 
morphoses, xi,  410,  which  is  closely 
followed  by  Chaucer  in  his  tale  of 
"  Seys  "  and  Alcyone,  in  The  Book 
of  the  Duchesse,  11.  62,  269  (1370). 
Chaucer  seems  also  to  have  borrowed 
a  few  hints  from  Machault's  poem 
Dit  de  la  Fontaine  Amour euse.  He 
had  already  treated  the  same  subject 
in  a  juvenile  poem,  Ceyx  and  Alcioun, 
which  is  now  lost.  Another  English 
version  of  the  story  is  by  Dryden. 

Is  there  any  sweeter  legend  than  that  of 
the  halcyons,  the  birds  who  love  each  other 
so  tenderly  that  when  the  male  becomes 
enfeebled  by  age,  his  mate  carries  him  on 


her  outspread  wings  whithersoever  he  wills; 
and  the  gods  desiring  to  reward  such  faith- 
ful love  cause  the  sun  to  shine  more  kindly 
and  still  the  winds  and  the  waves  on  the 
Halcyon  Days  during  which  these  birds 
are  building  their  nests  and  brooding  over 
their  young. — GEORGE  EBERS. 

Hamadryads  or  Dryades,  in  classic 
myth,  nymphs  of  the  woods  who 
were  born  and  died  with  particular 
trees.  See  NYMPH. 

Hamilton,  Mary,  heroine  of  an  old 
Scotch  ballad,  The  Queen's  Marie, 
included  in  Scott's  Border  Minstrelsy 
(1833).  It  is  quoted  by  Robert  Burns. 
The  ballad  represents  Marie  as 
having  been  hanged  for  casting  her 
illegitimate  child  into  the  sea.  At  the 
foot  of  the  gallows  she  utters  the 
famous  lines: 

Yestreen  the  queen  had  four  Maries 

The  night  she'll  hae  but  three; 
There  was  Marie  Seaton  and  Marie  Beaton, 

And  Marie  Carmichael  and  me. 

Much  controversy  has  arisen  over 
this  ballad.  Queen  Mary  had  no 
Mary  Hamilton  among  her  Four 
Maries.  No  Mary  was  executed  for 
child  murder.  John  Knox,  however, 
informs  us  that  ribald  ballads  against 
the  Maries  were  known  in  his  day. 
It  is  also  true  that  one  of  the  Queen's 
chamberwomen  was  hanged  for  this 
offence,  together  with  her  lover,  a 
pottinger,  or  apothecary.  By  a 
curious  coincidence  Mary  Hamilton, 
a  Russian  maid  of  honor  of  Scotch 
descent,  was  executed  at  St.  Peters- 
burg for  infanticide  in  1719.  Hence 
the  suggestion,  endorsed  by  so  great 
an  authority  as  Prof.  F.  J.  Child,  that 
this  affair  gave  rise  to  the  ballads.  An- 
drew Lang,  however,  argues  that  there 
is  no  example  of  a  popular  ballad  in 
which  a  contemporary  event,  inter- 
esting just  because  it  is  contemporary, 
is  thrown  back  into  a  remote  age. 

Hans  von  Rippach,  a  German  col- 
loquialism for  Nobody.  Hans  is  of 
course  the  German  Jack,  and  Rippach 
is  a  village  near  Leipsic.  It  is  an 
ancient  jest  with  German  students  to 
ask  after  this  fictitious  entity. 

Hanswurst,  literally  Jack  Pudding, 
a  character  formerly  introduced  into 
German  pantomimes  and  farces,  as  a 
sort  of  burlesque  Harlequin  who  was 


Harlequin 


136 


Harold 


ridiculed  off  the  German  stage  about 
the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century 
by  Gottsched.  Besides  the  English 
Jack  Pudding  he  has  analogues  in  the 
Italian  Macaroni,  the  French  Jean 
Potage,  and  the  Dutch  Pickel- 
Herringe,  all  named  after  national 
dishes  and  famed  for  greediness,  sloth 
and  stupidity. 

Harlequin  (Fr.  Arboquin,  It.  Arlee- 
chino),  a  favorite  character  of  medi- 
aeval farce  and  comedy,  now  surviving 
only  in  English  Christmas  panto- 
mimes and  in  the  rougher  sort  of 
Italian  provincial  comedies.  _  He  is 
always  the  lover  of  Columbine  (It. 
Arlecchina  or  Alecchineta) ,  and  in 
Venice  often  regains  his  ancient  posi- 
tion of  valet  to  Pantaleone.  Stage 
traditions  give  him  a  marked  face,  a 
shaved  head,  a  fantastic  dress  made 
up  of  triangular  pieces  of  many 
colored  cloth,  and  a  sword  of  lathe, 
thrust,  when  not  in  use,  into  his 
girdle.  He  is  noted  for  ^his  agility, 
his  gluttony,  his  cowardice  and  his 
unconscionable  rogueries. 

Skeat  thinks  that  the  English  name 
came  idirect  from  the  French,  which 
was  spelt  Harlequin  in  the  sixteenth 
century.  The  parent  term  was  the 
thirteenth  century  French  hierlekin 
or  hellekin,  an  elf  or  goblin.  The 
change  into  harlequin  arose  from  a 
popular  etymology  which  connected 
the  word  with  Charles  Quint  (MAX 
MULLER,  Lectures,  ii,  581). 

As  to  the  character  itself,  Harlequin 
may  claim  a  classic  origin  in  Sannio 
the  buffoon  of  the  Roman  mimes. 
The  Roman  drama  degenerated  into 
the  Italian  masked  comedy,  which  in 
the  early  ages,  and  specifically  in  the 
carnival  season,  found  its  chief  ex- 
ponents in  the  Lombard  town  of 
Bergamo.  The  characters  were  wont 
to  appear  in  masks  and  parti-colored 
costumes. 

In  English  political  history  the 
nickname  Harlequin  was  punningly 
conferred  upon  Robert  Harley  (1661- 
1724),  Earl  of  Oxford  and  Mortimer, 
a  statesman  under  Queen  Anne,  noted 
for  restless  energy  and  tortuous  ambi- 
tions. It  js  a  curious  coincidence  that 
etymologists  have  sometimes  derived 


the  very  name  of  Harlequin,  by  indi- 
rection, from  Achille  de  Harlay 
(1536-1619),  who  was  president  of 
the  French  Parliament  in  the  reign 
of  Henry  III. 

Harmogenes,  Tigellius,  was  a  real 
personage  of  the  time  of  Augustus, 
whose  vanity,  caprice  and  affectation 
are  ridiculed  by  Horace.  Ben  Jonson 
introduced  him  into  his  comedy,  The 
Poetaster  (1601). 

Ben  Johnson  has  given  us  a  Hermogenes 
taken  from  the  lively  lines  of  Horace;  but 
the  inconsistency  which  is  so  amusing  in 
the  satire  appears  unnatural  and  disgusts 
us  on  the  stage. — MACAULAY. 

Harmonia,  in  classic  myth,  daugh- 
ter of  Ares  and  Aphrodite,  given  by 
Zeus  to  Cadmus  as  his  wife.  On  the 
wedding  day  Cadmus  received  a 
present  of  a  necklace  which  proved 
fatal  to  all  its  possessors. 

Harold    (1022-66),    son  ^of    Earl 
Godwin, — the  masterful  minister  of 
Edward  the  Confessor,  the  wearer  for 
a   short  and   hurried   period   of    the 
English  crown,  and  the  opponent  and 
victim  of  William,  Duke  of.Normandy, 
on  the  battlefield  of  Hastings, — is  a 
figure    combining    so    many    of    the 
elements  of  romance  and  heroism  that 
it  has  made  a  powerful  appeal  to  poets 
and  novelists.     Bulwer   Lytton  has 
taken  him  as  the  hero  of  a  romance, 
Harold,  the  Last  of  the  Saxons  (1848); 
Tennyson  as  the  hero  of  a  drama, 
Harold  (1876).     Both  pay  attention 
to  a  moral  problem  that  arose  from 
Harold's  shipwreck  during  the  life  of 
Edward  the  Confessor  on  the  coast  of 
Normandy.    Wishing  to  purchase  his 
release  and  that  of  his  brother  from 
the  all-powerful  Duke,  he  agreed  to 
swear   by    certain    unseen   symbols, 
which  proved  afterwards  to  be  the 
relics  of  august  Norman  saints,  that 
he  would  on  Edward's  death  refrain 
from  passing  the  claim  of  any  pre- 
sumptive heir,  and  do  his  utmost  to 
help  William  himself  to  the  vacant 
throne.    When  Harold  found  himself 
the  heir  and  took  up  arms  in  defence 
of  his  claim  he  violated  his  oath  and, 
what  is  theologically  worse,  was  for- 
sworn upon  relics  of  the  most  sacro- 
sanct quality. 


Haroot 


137 


Hatto 


Haroot  and  Maroot,  in  Mohamme- 
dan myth,  two  angels  who  lacked 
compassion  for  human  frailties  and 
were  sent  down  to  earth  just  before 
the  Deluge  to  try  their  strength 
against  temptation.  Both  fell.  Being 
given  a  choice  as  to  whether  they 
would  be  punished  in  time  or  in 
eternity  they  chose  the  former  and 
are  still  suspended  by  the  feet  in  a 
rocky  pit  at  Babel,  where  they  are 
great  teachers  of  magic.  Babel  is 
regarded  by  the  Moslems  as  the 
fountain  head  of  magic. 

Sorcery  did  the  Satans  teach  to  men,  and 
what  had  been  revealed  to  the  two  angels, 
Haroot  and  Maroot  at  Babel.  Yet  no  man 
did  these  two  teach  until  they  had  said, 
"We  are  only  a  temptation.  Be  not  then 
an  unbeliever."  From  these  two  did  men 
learn  how  to  cause  division  between  man 
and  wife:  but  unless  by  leave  of  God,  no 
man  did  they  harm  thereby.  They  learned. 
Indeed,  what  would  harm  and  not  profit 
them;  and  yet  they  knew  that  he  who 
bought  that  art  should  have  no  part  in  the 
life  to  come! — The  Koran,  Sura  n,  90. 

Harpies,  in  classic  myth,  three 
repulsive  monsters — ^Ello,  Celaeno, 
and  Ocypete — who  are  described  by 
Homer  as  the  active  agents  in 
mysterious  disappearances  of  men 
and  women.  Hesiod  represents  them 
as  winged  maidens  with  sunny  hair, 
but  in  later  authorities  they  appear  as 
vultures  with  the  heads  of  maidens, 
faces  pale  with  hunger,  and  talons 
long  and  sharp  (see  PHINEUS).  Virgil 
places  them  in  the  islands  called 
Stropheites  in  the  Ionian  Sea.  In  the 
sEneid  (iii,  192)  he  describes  how 
^Eneas  and  his  companions  were 
driven  from  the  islands  by  the 
Harpies  who  polluted  their  banquet. 
Celseno,  their  chief,  foretold  that  the 
Trojans  would  be  reduced  by  starva- 
tion to  eat  their  own  tables, — a 
prophecy  which  was  harmlessly  ful- 
filled in  Bk.  vii,  127,  of  the  epic, 
where  the  travellers  eat  the  wheaten 
platters  on  which  their  meal  had  been 
served. 

Dante  places  the  Harpies  in  the 
second  compartment  of  the  third 
circle  of  Hell.  This  compartment 
contains  both  those  who  have  done 
violence  on  their  own  persons  and 


those  who  have  violently  consumed 
their  goods;  the  first  change  into 
rough  and  knotted  trees  whereon  the 
Harpies  build  their  nests,  the  latter 
chased  and  torn  by  black  female 
mastiffs. 

Here  the  brute  Harpies   make  their  nest, 

the  same 

Who  from  the  Strophades  the  Trojan  band 
Drove  with  dire  boding  of  their  future  woe. 
Broad  are  their  pennons,  of  the  human  form 
Their  neck  and  countenance,  arm'd  with 

talons  keen 
The  feet,  and  the  huge  belly  fledged  with 

wings. 
These   sit    and   wail    on   the   drear   mystic 

wood. 
DANTE:    Inferno,  xiii,  n;  GARY,  Trans. 

Harpocrates,  the  Greek  name  for 
Horus,  the  Egyptian  god  of  silence. 

Hassan,  Har,  whose  name  survives 
in  Hassan's  Cave  on  the  S.  E.  coast  of 
Malta,  a  semi-fabulous  person  vari- 
ously represented  in  local  tradition  as 
a  hermit,  a  pirate,  a  petty  king,  a 
chivalrous  knight  and  a  gigantic 
goblin.  The  more  likely  or  at  least 
the  more  modest  story  simply  de- 
scribes him  as  a  native  of  Barbary 
who,  accompanied  by  his  daughter, 
fled  to  Malta.  There  he  devoted 
himself  to  the  education  of  his  be- 
loved daughter.  When  she  grew  up 
she  was  affianced  to  a  prince  of  the 
island,  but  died  before  she  could 
marry  him.  Hassan,  heart-broken, 
fled  from  the  haunts  of  men  and  took 
up  his  abode  in  the  cave,  where  he 
remained  until  death. 

Hatto,  bishop  of  Mayence  towards 
the  end  of  the  tenth  century,  is  the 
hero  of  one  of  the  most  ghastly  of 
mediaeval  German  legends.  In  970 
there  was  a  famine  so  dreadful  that 
poor  people  came  from  far  and  near, 
clamoring  vainly  for  relief  from  the 
bishop's  well  filled  granaries.  Wearied 
at  last  by  their  importunities,  the 
prelate  bid  them  go  into  his  barn  and 
when  it  was  as  full  as  it  could  hold,  he 
sets  fire  to  it.  Next  morning  came 
the  news  that  an  army  of  rats  had 
eaten  up  all  the  corn  in  his  granaries 
and  was  advancing  towards  the  pal- 
ace. Terror  stricken  the  bishop  rowed 
out  to  a  tower  that  he  owned  on  an 
islet  in  the  river  Rhine.  But  the  rats 


Havelok 


138 


Hector 


swam  across  the  river,  swarmed  up 
the  walls,  gnawed  through  the  win- 
dows and  devoured  the  shrieking 
bishop.  The  tower  is  still  standing 
and  is  known  to  this  day  as  the 
Mause  Thurm  or  Mouse  Tower. 
Southey  has  versified  the  legend  in  a 
ballad,  God's  Judgment  on  a  Wicked 
Bishop.  Baring -Gould  in  Curious 
Myths  of  the  Middle  Ages  cites  a 
number  of  kindred  stories,  showing 
the  prevalence  of  the  myth  among^the 
northern  nations.  In  many  versions 
the  avenging  rats  or  mice  issued 
directly  from  the  corpses  of  the 
murdered  men,  and  as  the  rat  in 
popular  folklore  is  a  frequent  symbol 
of  the  soul,  they  may  be  looked  upon 
as  the  souls  of  the  victims. 

Havelok  the  Dane.  Hero  of  an 
Anglo-Danish  romance  so  entitled, 
composed  before  1300.  The  son  of 
Gunter,  king  of  Denmark  (slain  in 
Havelok's  childhood),  he  is  brought 
up  as  a  scullion,  ignorant  of  his  par- 
entage, at  the  Court  of  Godrich  or 
Edelsi,  King  of  Lincoln  in  England. 
Now  Edelsi  was  bringing  up  also 
Goldborough  his  niece,  the  orphaned 
daughter  of  Aldebriet,  late  Danish 
king  of  Norfolk.  He  had  promised 
to  marry  her  to  the  strongest  and 
fairest  man  he  could  find.  In  a  trial 
of  strength  Havelok  beats  all  com- 
petitors and  Edelsi,  glad  of  an  oppor- 
tunity to  humiliate  his  ward,  marries 
her  to  the  kitchen  scullion.  In  the 
night  she  sees  a  miraculous  flame 
breathing  from  Havelok's  mouth  and 
is  still  further  comforted  when  he  tells 
her  that  he  has  had  a  dream  that  all 
England  and  Denmark  are  his  own. 
He  starts  out  for  Denmark,  unravels 
all  mysteries,  wins  back  his  own 
kingdom,  and  that  of  Goldborough, 
and  they  are  crowned  at  London, 
where  they  reign  for  sixty  years. 

Hecate,  in  classic  myth,  a  mysteri- 
ous goddess  of  many  attributes  and 
diverse  personalities.  She  is  identi- 
fied with  Selene  or  Luna  in  heaven, 
Diana  on  earth  and  Proserpina  in  the 
lower  world.  In  this  triune  aspect 
she  is  represented  with  3  bodies  or  3 
heads,  horse,  dog,  and  either  pig,  lion 
or  woman.  Hideous  in  aspect,  terri- 


ble in  temper,  she  had  command  of  all 
the  magical  powers  of  the  universe. 
At  night-time  she  dispatched  demons 
and  phantoms  from  the  lower  world. 
She  herself  wandered  about  with  the 
souls  of  the  dead,  her  approach  being 
announced  by  the  howling  of  dogs. 
These  attributes  she  preserved  in 
mediaeval  myth,  which  adopted  her 
as  the  mistress  or  queen  of  the  witches 
and  a  teacher  of  sorcery,  dwelling 
amid  tombs,  or  near  the  blood  of 
victims  of  murder  and  suicide,  and 
especially  where  two  roads  crossed. 
She  is  an  important  character  in 
Thomas  Middleton's  tragedy,  The 
Witch,  and  makes  a  momentary  ap- 
pearance in  Act  iii,  Scene  5,  of  Shak- 
spear's  Macbeth.  It  has  been  sug- 
gested that  Middleton  had  a  hand  in 
the  witch  scene  in  Macbeth;  if  not, 
Shakspear  has  very  closely  imitated 
him.  In  the  catastrophe  of  his 
tragedy  Middleton  overturns  all 
poetical  justice.  The  bewitched  per- 
son is  punished  for  no  crime  and  the 
unworthy  lover  who  has  purchased 
Hecate's  aid  is  rewarded. 

Hector,  son  of  Priam  and  Hecuba 
and  husband  of  Andromache,  is  the 
greatest  of  the  Trojan  chiefs.  The 
fates,  indeed,  had  decreed  that  Troy 
should  never  be  destroyed  so  long  as 
Hector  lived.  When  Patroclus  fell 
by  his  hand,  the  Greeks,  under  com- 
mand of  the  now  fully  aroused  Achil- 
les, made  a  determined  effort  to  cap- 
ture or  slay  him.  Achilles  met  him 
before  the  walls  of  Troy.  Homer 
makes  him  flee  thrice  around  the  walls 
before  he  turned  round  and  faced 
Achilles,  when  he  soon  fell.  His  dead 
body,  attached  to  the  victor's  chariot, 
was  dragged  every  day  for  twelve 
days  around  the  tomb  of  Patroclus 
(Iliad,  xxii,  399;  xxiv,  14).  Virgil 
(JEneid  i,  483)  makes  Achilles  drag 
the  corpse  of  Hector  thrice  round  the 
walls  of  Troy.  Both  poets  agree  that 
the  body  was  finally  ransomed  by 
Priam  who  went  in  person  to  the  tent 
of  Achilles  and  softened  him  by  his 
tears. 

Hector  and  Ajax,  prior  to  the 
encounter  with  Achilles,  had  fought 
a  drawn  combat.  Separating,  they 


Hecuba 


139 


Helen 


exchanged  gifts  that  proved  fatal  to 
each.  Hector's  corpse  was  dragged 
by  the  belt  he  received  from  Ajax, 
while  the  latter  committed  suicide 
with  the  sword  given  to'"  him  by 
Hector. 

Hecuba,  in  classic  myth,  wife  of 
Priam  king  of  Troy  and  mother  of 
Hector  and  Paris.  After  the  fall  of 
Troy  she  with  her  daughters  Cas- 
sandra and  Polyxena  were  carried  off 
as  prisoners  by  the  Greeks.  She  had 
hoped  that  in  Thrace  she  might  meet 
another  son,  Polydorus,  who  with 
much  treasure  had  been  confided  as 
a  child  to  Polymester,  the  Thracian 
king.  The  ghost  of  Polydorus  visited 
her  and  revealed  that  Polymester  had 
treacherously  slain  him  for  the  treas- 
ure. Hecuba  tore  out  the  eyes  of  the 
Thracian  king  and  slew  his  children. 
To  rescue  her  from  the  fury  of  the 
Thracian  mob,  the  gods  changed  her 
to  a  dog.  Ultimately  she  committed 
suicide  by  leaping  into  the  sea  from  a 
place  known  ever  after  as  Cynossema 
or  the  dog's  grave. 

Hecuba,  herself,  was  transformed 
into  a  kind  of  hell  hound  with  fiery 
eyes  whom  sailors  saw  at  night  prowl- 
ing around  the  hill  where  the  mob 
had  stoned  her. 

Heirndal,  the  Scandinavian  god  of 
light  and  dawn  and  the  beginning  of 
things.  He  kept  watch  on  the  fron- 
tiers of  highest  Heaven,  guarding 
Bifrost,  the  rainbow  bridge.  In  many 
respects  he  resembles  the  classic 
Argus.  Like  him  he  needs  less  sleep 
than  a  bird.  So  keen  are  his  senses 
that  he  can  see  100  leagues  away,  and 
hear  the  grass  growing  on  earth  and 
the  wool  lengthening  on  the  sheep's 
back.  He  has  golden  teeth  and  rides 
on  a  golden  horse.  He  speaks  of 
himself  as  the  son  of  9  mothers. 

Heinrich  von  Aue,  a  wealthy  Sua- 
bian  nobleman,  of  many  virtues, 
stricken  with  leprosy  is  told  by  a 
doctor  in  Salerno,  whither  he  wanders 
in  despair,  that  there  is  only  one  cure 
for  him.  If  a  pure  maiden  should 
willingly  lay  down  her  life  for  him  he 
might  be  healed.  Heinrich  returns 
home  discouraged,  leaves  to  others 
the  care  of  his  wealth,  and  finds  lodg- 


ing in  a  mean  farm-house,  where  one 
of  his  poorest  tenants  dwells  with 
wife  and  daughter.  They  tend  him 
with  great  affection,  the  fearless  and 
innocent  girl  being  the  kindest  of  all. 
Urged  by  the  boor  to  consult  the  cele- 
brated medical  school  at  Salerno, 
Heinrich  tells  of  the  visit  there  and 
what  he  had  learned.  The  little 
maiden  had  overheard  the  story.  She 
offers  herself  as  the  sacrifice.  Hein- 
rich repeatedly  refuses  to  accept, 
finally  yields,  goes  with  the  parents 
and  their  daughter  to  Salerno,  but 
when  the  fatal  knife  is  lifted  he  stays 
the  doctor's  hand.  The  maiden's 
heroism  has  not  been  in  vain  however. 
On  the  way  home  Henry  is  miracu- 
lously cured,  and  he  becomes  twenty 
years  younger.  He  thereupon  mar- 
ries the  girl  who  has  been  his  savior. 

This  is  the  story  as  it  was  first 
told,  avowedly  from  family  archives, 
by  Hartmann  Von  der  Aue  in  his 
poetical  tale  Der  Arme  Heinrich 
(1210).  Longfellow  retells  the  story 
in  The  Golden  Legend  (1851)  but 
calls  his  hero  Prince  Henry  of 
Hoheneck  and  gives  him  Walther 
Von  der  Vogelweide  as  a  friend. 

Hel  or  Hela,  in  Scandinavian  myth, 
the  abode  of  the  dead  and  the  name 
of  its  presiding  goddess.  The  latter 
was  the  daughter  of  the  wicked  Loki 
and  Angurborda,  a  giantess.  She  was 
frightful  in  face  and  form;  the  upper 
part  of  her  body  black  or  livid  from 
congealed  blood.  Her  abode  was  not 
originally  associated  with  postmor- 
tem punishment  but  rather  with 
Elysian  delights.  Later,  when  slain 
warriors  were  supposed  to  enter  on 
another  military  existence  in  Odin's 
Valhalla,  Hel  became  the  recipient  of 
all — men,  women  and  children — who 
had  died  in  peace.  It  remained  for 
Christianity  to  invest  Hel  (or  Hell  as 
the  English  came  to  spell  it)  with 
supernatural  terrors  as  a  place  of 
eternal  torment.  See  TARTARUS 

Helen  (Gr.  Helene,  Lat.  Helena}, 
in  classic  myth,  the  most  beautiful 
woman  in  the  world,  daughter  of 
Zeus  and  Leda  and  wife  of  Menelaus. 
She  was  seduced  by  Paris  and  carried 
off  to  Troy.  The  rejected  suitors  who 


Helen 


140 


Helenus 


had  sought  her  hand  in  honorable 
marriage  joined  Menelaus  in  fitting 
out  an  expedition  against  Troy. 
Hence  the  ten  years'  siege,  the  subject 
of  Homer's  Iliad, — whose  conclusion 
is  told  in  Virgil's  Mneid,  Books  i-iii. 
During  the  course  of  the  war  she  is 
represented  as  showing  great  sym- 
pathy with  the  Greeks,  even  favoring 
the  capture  of  Troy.  At  its  end 
(Paris  being  dead  as  well  as  his 
brother  and  matrimonial  successor 
Deiphobus)  she  was  received  back 
by  Menelaus.  The  accounts  of  her 
death  differ.  According  to  the 
prophecy  of  Proteus  in  the  Odyssey, 
both  she  and  Menelaus  were  to 
obtain  the  gift  of  immortality.  One 
legend  makes  her  marry  Achilles  and 
become  the  mother  of  Euphorion. 

Herodotus,  who  flourished  four 
centuries  after  Homer,  went  to 
Egypt,  in  part  for  the  purpose  of 
clearing  up  the  mystery  of  Helen's 
later  life.  He  reports  that  Helen 
never  got  to  Troy.  Paris,  on  his 
journey  thither,  was  driven  by  a 
storm  into  one  of  the  mouths  of  the 
Nile.  King  Proteus,  after  rebuking 
Paris  for  his  perfidy,  suffered  him 
to  proceed  unpunished,  but  detained 
Helen  in  Egypt.  Here  Menelaus 
found  her  after  the  fall  of  Troy,  and 
took  her  back  with  him  to  Sparta. 

Another  version  invented  by  Stesi- 
chorus  (q.v.)  has  received  the  sanc- 
tion of  Euripides  in  his  Helena.  It 
was  a  phantom  Helen  whom  Paris 
bore  off  to  Troy;  the  real  one  went  to 
Egypt  and  was  restored  undefiled  to 
Menelaus. 

In  sixteenth  century  legend  Faust 
summons  up  Helena  from  the  shades 
to  entertain  his  guests,  and  subse- 
quently obtains  possession  of  her 
from  the  devil.  "She  bare  him  a 
son,"  says  Widman,  "at  which 
Faustus  rejoiced  greatly,  and  called 
the  babe  Justus  Faustus.  This  child 
revealed  to  his  father  many  future 
things.  But  when  Doctor  Faustus 
afterwards  lost  his  life,  both  mother 
and  son  vanished."  Marlowe  accepts 
the  legend  and  on  Helen's  appearance 
to  Faustus  makes  him  address  her 
in  that  splendid  apostrophe: 


Was  this  the  face  that  launched  a  thousand 

ships 

And  burnt  the  topless  towers  of  Ilium? 
Sweet  Helen,  make  me  immortal  with  a  kiss; 
Her  lips  suck  forth  my  soul,  see  where  it 

flies! 

Doctor  Faustus,  v,  iii. 

Goethe,  also  following  the  legend, 
makes  Faust  the  father  of  Euphorion 
by  Helen. 

The  romance  of  Helen  of  Troy  after 
lying  dormant  during  the  Middle  Ages, 
shone  forth  again  in  the  pregnant  myth  of 
Faustus.  The  final  achievement  of  Faust's 
magic  was  to  evoke  Helen  from  the  dead 
and  hold  her  as  his  paramour.  To  the 
beauty  of  Greek  art  the  mediaeval  spirit 
stretched  forth  with  yearning  and  begot 
the  modern  world.  .  .  .  Marlowe,  as 
was  natural,  contented  himself  with  an 
external  handling  of  the  Faust  legend. 
Goethe  allegorized  the  whole,  and  turned 
the  episode  of  Helen  into  a  parable  of 
modern  poetry.  .  .  .  Thus  after  living 
her  long  life  in  Hellas  as  the  ideal  of  beauty, 
unqualified  by  moral  attributes,  Helen 
passed  into  modern  mythology  as  the  ideal 
of  the  beauty  of  the  pagan  world. — J.  A. 
SYMONDS:  The  Creek  Poets,  vol.  I,  141. 

Helen,  Burd,  in  Scotch  poetical 
tradition,  a  sister  to  Childe  Rowland 
(q.v.)  who  rescues  her  from  a  castle 
in  Elfland  whither  she  had  been 
brought  and  imprisoned  by  the  fairies. 
Etymologists  differ  as  to  the  meaning 
of  the  prefix  Burd,  but  the  favorite 
opinion  is  that  it  is  a  Scotch  spelling 
for  bird,  a  term  of  endearment. 

Helen  of  Kirconnel,  titular  heroine 
of  a  famous  Scotch  ballad  of  uncer- 
tain date  and  authorship.  Traditions 
vary  as  to  whether  her  last  name  was 
Irving  or  Bell,  but  all  agree  she  was 
the  daughter  of  the  Laird  of  Kirconnel 
in  Dumfriesshire.  Between  two 
suitors  she  preferred  Adam  Fleming, 
and  during  a  secret  meeting  in  Kir- 
connel Churchyard  on  the  river 
Kirtte,  the  rejected  suitor  fired  on 
his  rival  from  the  other  side  of  the 
stream.  Helen  was  shot  in  shielding 
her  lover,  and  died  in  his  arms.  The 
poem  is  the  lament  of  Fleming  over 
Helen's  grave.  Wordsworth  treated 
the  same  subject  in  a  very  inferior 
poem,  Ellen  Irwin,  and  Tennyson  in 
Oriana  has  handled  a  somewhat 
similar  theme. 

Helenus,  in  classic  myth,  a  famous 
prophet,  son  of  Priam  and  Hecuba. 


Helicon 


141 


Heraclius 


He  deserted  the  Trojans  and  joined 
the  Greeks,  some  say  of  his  own  free 
will,  others  say  through  the  strategic 
wiles  of  Ulysses,  who  wished  to  learn 
from  him  the  fate  of  Troy.  He  even- 
tually fell  with  Andromache  to  the 
lot  of  Pyrrhus  or  Neoptolemus.  His 
prophetic  warnings  persuaded  that 
hero  to  settle  in  Epirus.  When  ^Eneas 
in  his  wanderings  arrived  in  that 
country  (sEneid,  iii),  he  found  that 
Pyrrhus  was  dead  and  that  Helenus 
had  succeeded  him  as  king  of  Epirus 
and  husband  of  Andromache. 

Helicon,  a  mountain  in  western 
Boeotia,  Greece,  famous  in  classical 
mythology  as  the  seat  of  Jove  and 
the  favorite  haunt  of  Apollo  and  the 
Muses.  On  its  slope  were  the  two 
fountains  Aganippe  and  Hippocrene. 

Hesiod  opens  his  Theogenes  with  a 
description  of  the  Muses  of  Helicon 
dancing  about  Aganippe  and  '  the 
altar  of  the  mighty  son  of  Kronos." 

From  Helicon's  harmonious  springs 
A  thousand  rills  their  mazy  progress  take. 
GRAY:  Progress  of  Poesy. 

Hephaestus,  in  Greek  myth  (called 
Vulcan  and  sometimes  Mulciber,  by 

the  Romans)  the  god  of  fire.  As  fire 
is  indispensable  in  working  metals, 
he  came  to  be  regarded  as  the  smith 
of  Olympus.  All  the  palaces  there 
were  his  workmanship.  He  forged 
the  armor  of  Achilles,  as  well  as  the 
thunderbolts  of  Zeus  and  the  arrows 
of  Eros.  He  was  the  son  of  Zeus  and 
Hera.  According  to  Homer  he  was 
born  lame,  and  otherwise  so  uncouth 
that  his  mother  took  a  dislike  to  him 
and  cast  him  out  from  Olympus.  For 
8  years  he  dwelt  under  Oceanus, 
cared  for  by  the  marine  nymphs 
Thetis  and  Eurynome.  Later  author- 
ities attribute  his  lameness  to  a  fall 
from  Olympus  indirectly  due  to  his 
unreciprocated  affection  for  Hera. 
Taking  his  mother's  part  in  a  family 
quarrel,  the  wrathful  Zeus  flung  him 
out  of  Olympus.  He  fell  maimed  and 
wounded  in  Lemnos,  where  he  was 
kindly  treated  by  the  Sintians  (see 
MULCIBER).  Reinstated  in  Olympus 
he  continued  his  office  of  mediator 
between  his  parents.  Undertaking 


to  act  as  cupbearer  to  the  gods  he 
excited  unextinguishable  laughter 
that  shook  all  Olympus. 

Hesiod  makes  him  the  husband  of 
Aglaia.  The  Iliad  gives  him  Charis 
for  wife;  the  Odyssey,  Aphrodite. 
Grote  and  others  cite  this  disagree- 
ment as  evidence  that  the  two  epics 
were  not  by  the  same  author.  But 
it  is  possible  that  these  goddesses 
were  identical.  Aphrodite  fell  in  love 
with  Ares,  the  god  of  war,  but  their 
amours  were  revealed  by  Helios. 
Hephaestus  caught  the  guilty  pair  in 
an  invisible  net,  and  exposed  them  to 
the  ridicule  of  the  assembled  gods. 

Homer  places  Hephaestus's  palace 
in  Olympus,  and  describes  it  as 
shining  like  stars.  It  contained  his 
workshop,  with  the  anvil  and  20 
bellows  that  worked  spontaneously 
at  his  bidding.  In  later  accounts  the 
Cyclops  are  his  assistants,  and  his 
workshop  is  in  Lemnos,  or  some  other 
volcanic  island. 

Hera  or  Here,  a  Greek  goddess 
whom  the  Romans  identified  with 
their  own  deity  Juno,  so  that  in  Latin 
literature  Hera  is  always  called  Juno. 
The  daughter  of  Cronos  and  Rhea, 
she  was  the  sister  and  the  wife  of 
Zeus.  Homer  says  she  was  brought 
up  by  Oceanus  and  Tethys.  All 
through  the  Iliad  she  is  treated  by 
the  other  gods  with  the  same  rever- 
ence as  Zeus  himself.  But  as  painted 
by  Homer  her  character  is  far  from 
perfect.  Jealous,  obstinate  and  quar- 
relsome, she  frequently  provoked 
Zeus  to  beat  her.  Once  he  even  hung 
her  up  in  the  clouds,  and  when  her 
son  Hephaestus  would  have  come  to 
her  assistance  he  was  hurled  from 
Olympus.  Jealous  and  vindictive,  she 
persecuted  all  the  children  of  Zeus 
by  mortal  mothers.  In  the  Trojan 
war  she  sided  with  the  Greeks,  owing 
to  the  judgment  of  Paris  (see  TENNY- 
SON, (Enone).  By  Zeus  she  was  the 
mother  of  Ares,  Hebe  and  Hephaestus 

Heraclius,  titular  hero  of  a  mediae- 
val German  poem,  Kaiser  Heraclius. 
Originally  a  slave  at  the  court  of 
Emperor  Phocas,  he  possessed  an 
extraordinary  insight  into  the  hidden 
worth  of  stones  and  horses,  and  the 


Hercules 


142 


Hercules 


secret  thoughts  of  women.  Selecting 
what  appeared  to  be  the  most  worth- 
less stone  or  horse  among  _  a  large 
number  he  would  make  it  enact 
marvels.  As  a  bride  for  the  emperor 
he  chose  a  low-born  damsel,  Athenais, 
passing  over  all  the  ladies  of  the 
court  because  he  knew  none  was 
chaste.  When  Phocas  died  Heraclius 
succeeded  to  the  imperial  throne. 

Hercules,  called  Heracles  by  the 
Greeks,  the  most  famous  of  all  the 
heroes  of  antiquity.  Homer  makes 
him  the  son  of  Zeus  by  Alcmene, 
whom  he  had  deluded  by  assuming 
the  shape  of  her  husband,  Amphy- 
trion.  Heracles  means  glory  of  Hera, 
but  Hera  took  no  joy  in  that  glory. 
On  the  contrary,  her  jealousy  once 
awakened,  she  was  his  bitter  enemy 
throughout  his  entire  career,  even 
retarding  his  birth  so  that  his  twin 
half  brother  Eurystheus  (son  of 
Amphytrion)  might  be  born  before 
him  and  gain  the  empire  which  had 
been  promised  by  Zeus. 

As  the  infant  Hercules  lay  in  his 
cradle    Hera    sent    two    serpents    to 
destroy  him,  but  he  strangled  them 
with  his  own  hands.     Beginning  life 
as  a  herdsman  for  his  father's  cattle 
he  slew  a  monster  lion  on   Mount 
Cithseron  and  was  rewarded  by  being 
admitted  to  the  embraces  of  the  fifty 
daughters  of  King  Thespius.    Hence- 
forth he  wore  the  lion's  skin  as  his 
ordinary  garment,  and  its  mouth  and 
head  as  his  helmet.    The  gods  made 
him  presents  of  arms  and  he  usually 
carried  a  huge  club  which  he  had  cut 
for  himself  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Nemea.     The  oracle  at  Delphi  be- 
stowed on  him  the  name  of  Heracles 
(hitherto    he    had    been    known    as 
Alcides  or  Alceus)  and  ordered  him  to 
serve    Eurystheus   for   seven    years, 
after  which  he  should  become  im- 
mortal. 

The  accounts  of  the  twelve  labors 
he  performed  at  the  bidding  of  Eurys- 
theus occur  only  in  the  later  writers. 
Homer  is  silent  about  all  of  them  save 
the  descent  into  Hades  to  carry  off 
Cerberus. 

^  I.  The  killing  of  the  Nemean  lion. 
This    savage    animal,    offspring    of 


Typhon  and  Echidna,  inhabited  the 
valley  of  Nemea  and  ravaged  all  the 
neighborhood.  After  trying  clubs 
and  arrows  in  vain  Hercules  strangled 
it  with  his  own  hands  and  bore  the 
corpse  home  on  his  own  shoulders. 

II.  The  killing  of  the  Lernean  hydra. 
This  monster  had  the  same  parentage 
as  the  Nemean  lion.     It  had  been 
brought  up  by  Hera.     An  immense 
serpent  with  7  (some  say  9)  heads, 
3  of  the  heads  had  baffling  qualities. 
The  middle  one  was  immortal.     As 
fast  as  each  of  the  others  was  hewed 
off  two  grew  in  its  place.    However, 
with   the   assistance   of   his   faithful 
servant  lolus,  he  burned  away  the 
8  mortal  heads  and  buried  the  im- 
mortal one  under  a  rock.    With  the 
monster's  bile  he  poisoned  his  arrows, 
which  henceforth  inflicted  incurable 
wounds. 

III.  Capture  of  the  Arcadian  stag. 
This    animal     was     consecrated     to 
Diana;    it    had    golden    antlers   and 
brazen  feet.    Hercules  pursued  it  for 
a  year.     At  last  it  fell  down  from 
sheer  exhaustion  and  the  hero  bore  it 
home  on  his  shoulders. 

IV.  Capture    of   the    Erymanthian 
boar.      This    had     descended    from 
Mount     Erymanthus     into     Phosis. 
Hercules  wore  it  out  by  chasing  it 
through  the  deep  snow  and  caught  it 
in  a  net. 

V.  Cleansing  of  the  Augean  Stables. 
These  belonged  to  Augeas,  king  of 
Elis,  and  though  housing  3000  oxen 
had  not  been  cleansed  for  30  years. 
Hercules  was  ordered  to  cleanse  them 
in  a  single  day.     He  succeeded  by 
turning    the    rivers     Alphaeus     and 
Peneus  through  the  stalls. 

VI.  Destruction  of  the  Stymphalian 
birds.    Bred  by  Mars  on  a  lake  near 
Stymphalus  in  Arcadia  these  birds 
had  brazen  beaks,  claws  and  wings, 
used  their  feathers  as  arrows  and  ate 
human  flesh.     With  a  brazen  rattle 
furnished  him  by  Minerva  Hercules 
stirred  up  the  covey  and  shot  them 
with  his  arrows  as  they  rose  in  the 
air.      Some    accounts    say    he    only 
drove  them  away. 

VII.  Capture   of  the    Cretan   bull. 
This  bull,  stricken  mad  by  Poseidon, 


Hermaphrodites 


143 


Herne 


breathed  fire  through  its  nostrils  and 
ravaged  the  island  of  Crete.  Hercules 
brought  the  bull  home  on  his  shoul- 
ders, but  released  it,  and  it  lived  to 
become  the  sire  of  the  Minotaur. 

VIII.  Capture  of  the  Mares  of  Dio- 
medes.     Diomedes,  king  of  Thrace, 
fed  his  four   mares  on  human  flesh. 
Hercules    with    a    few    companions 
killed  Diomedes  and  seized  the  ani- 
mals.   He  fed  them  on  the  flesh  of 
their   late   master,  whereupon  they 
recovered  their  docility. 

IX.  Seizure   of  the    girdle   of  the 
Queen  of  the  Amazons.     See  HIPPO 

LITA. 

X.  Capture  of  the  oxen  of  Geryon 
in  Erythia.    See  GERYON. 

XI.  Fetching  the  golden  apples  of 
the  Hesperides.    See  HESPERIDES. 

XII.  Bringing    Cerberus  from   the 
lower  world.    See  CERBERUS. 

Hermaphroditus,  in  classic  myth, 
son  of  Hermes  and  Aphrodite.  His 
name  is  a  compound  of  the  names  of 
both  parents.  "  His  face  was  such 
that  therein  both  mother  and  father 
could  be  discerned"  (Ovid,  Meta- 
morphoses, iv).  The  same  authority 
tells  us  in  detail  how  his  beauty 
aroused  the  love  of  the  nymph  of  the 
fountain  of  Salmacis,  near  Halicar- 
nassus,  and  how  he  rejected  her  ad- 
vances. One  day  as  he  was  bathing  in 
her  fountain  the  nymph  embraced 
him  and  prayed  to  the  gods  that  she 
might  be  united  to  him  forever: 

Her  prayers  find  propitious  Deities,  for 
the  mingled  bodies  of  the  two  are  united, 
and  one  human  shape  is  put  upon  them; 
just  as  if  any  one  should  see  branches 
beneath  a  common  bark  join  in  growing, 
and  spring  up  together.  So,  when  their 
bodies  meet  together  in  the  firm  embrace, 
they  are  no  more  two,  and  their  form  is 
twofold,  so  that  they  can  neither  be  styled 
woman  nor  boy;  they  seem  to  be  neither 
and  both. — Ibid. 

Hermes,  in  Greek  myth,  a  son  of 
Zeus  by  Maia,  subsequently  identi- 
fied by  the  Romans  with  their  own 
god  Mercury,  although  the  identifica- 
tion was  never  recognized  by  the 
College  of  Priests.  In  the  Greek 
myth,  Hermes  was  born  in  a  cave  of 
Mount  Cyllene  in  Arcadia.  A  few 
hours  after  his  birth  he  escaped  from 


his  cradle  to  Pieria,  where  he  amused 
himself  stealing  the  cattle  of  Apollo. 
To  avoid  leaving  any  telltale  tracks 
he  wore  sandals  and  drove  the  oxen 
to  Pylos,  where  he  killed  two  and  con- 
cealed the  rest  in  a  cave.  Returning 
to  his  cave  in  Cyllene  he  found  a 
tortoise  stretched  across  the  thresh- 
old. He  took  the  shell  of  the  animal, 
drew  strings  across  it  and  thus  in- 
vented the  lyre. 

As  Guide  of  Souls  Hermes  played 
the  part  of  comforter  and  friend:  he 
brought  men  all  things  lucky  and 
fortunate;  he  made  the  cattle  bring 
forth  abundantly;  he  had  the  golden 
wand  of  wealth.  But  he  was  also 
tricksy  as  a  Brownie  or  as  Puck;  he 
was  the  midnight  thief  whose  maraud- 
ings account  for  the  unexplained  dis- 
appearances of  things.  See  PSYCHO- 
POMPOS  and  THIEF,  MASTER. 

Herne  the  Hunter,  according  to 
Shakspear  (Merry  Wives  of  Wind- 
sor, iv,  4),  was  "  sometime  a  keeper 
here  in  Windsor  Forest,"  who  "  all 
the  winter  time  at  still  midnight  " 
haunts  an  oak  in  that  forest,  bearing 
horns  upon  his  head,  shaking  a  chain 
in  hideous  fashion,  blasting  the  tree, 
and  making  milch-cows  yield  blood. 
Popular  tradition  adds  that  he  lived 
some  time  before  Elizabeth's  reign, 
and  that,  detected  in  crime,  he  hanged 
himself  to  an  oak  tree.  In  the  first 
(quarto)  edition  of  The  Merrie  Wives 
(1602)  and  in  the  reprint  of  1609,  no 
mention  is  made  of  the  oak  and  only 
these  words  refer  to  the  ghostly  story: 

Oft  have  you  heard  since  Home  [sic]  the 

Hunter  died, 

That  women,  to  affright  the  little  children, 
Say  that  he  walks  in  shape  of  a  great  stag. 

In  a  British  MS.  of  the  time  of 
Henry  VIII  mention  is  made  of 
"  Richard  Home  yeoman  "  in  a  list 
of  persons  who  had  hunted  illegally 
in  the  royal  forests.  Doubtless  this 
is  the  same  person.  Between  1602 
and  1623,  the  date  of  the  Shakspear 
folio,  legend  evidently  had  been  busy 
with  the  name  of  Home  or  Herne, 
and  it  is  even  possible  that  the  blast- 
ing of  an  oak  tree  by  lightning  should 
have  been  imputed  to  the  evil  power 


Herne's  Oak 


144 


Herod 


of  his  spirit  and  thus  the  tree  became 
associated  with  him. 

Herae's  Oak,  an  oak  tree  that  stood 
in  Windsor  Forest  in  Shakspear's 
time  (see  Merry  Wives  of  Windsor, 
iv,  4,  40),  and  is  sometimes  identified 
with  a  tree  cut  down  in  1796.  Halli- 
well  quotes  a  poem  on  the  subject 
from  a  contemporary  paper.  But 
another  tree  known  as  Herne's  oak 
fell  from  natural  decay  on  August  31, 
1863,  and  W.  Perry,  wood  carver  to 
the  queen,  who  was  employed  to  cut 
memorials  from  the  trunk,  published 
a  Treatise  on  the  Identity  of  Herne's 
Oak  (1867)  in  which  he  insists  that 
the  latest  survivor  was  the  true  origi- 
nal. One  of  his  strongest  proofs  is 
that  the  trunk  gave  internal  evidence 
of  having  been  struck  by  lightning, 
certainly  before  1639,  and  probably 
in  Shakspear's  time. 

Hero,  in  classic  myth,  a  priestess  of 
Aphrodite,  in  Sestos,  a  city  situated 
on  the  European  shore  of  the  Helles- 
pont. Opposite,  in  Asia,  stands  Aby- 
dos.  The  Hellespont  here  narrows 
into  the  straits  known  to-day  as  the 
Dardanelles.  Leander,  a  youth  of 
Abydos,  fell  in  love  with  the  priestess 
and  swam  across  the  Hellespont 
every  night  to  visit  her,  guided  by  a 
light  which  she  placed  on  the  summit 
of  a  tower.  A  storm  lashed  the  waters 
to  fury;  for  seven  days  Leander  re- 
frained from  attempting  their  pas- 
sage; on  the  eighth  he  leaped  heed- 
lessly into  the  raging  torrent.  His 
strength  gave  out,  and  his  dead  body 
was  cast  upon  the  beach  at  Sestos. 
Hero,  in  despair,  threw  herself  into 
the  sea.  This  legend  has  been  versi- 
fied by  Marlowe  in  Hero  and  Leander. 
See  also  SYMONDS,  The  Greek  Poets, 
ii,  23. 

^  Herod  (B.C.  71-4),  surnamed  the 
Srcat  on  account  of  his  vigor  and 
ability, received  the  kingdom  of  Judea 
from  Octavius  in  B.C.  40  and  was 
confirmed  therein  by  Antony  in  B.C. 
The  story  of  his  tragic  love  for 
his  wife  Mariamne  is  told  in  Josephus, 
Antiquities  of  the  Jews,  xv,  and  has 
been  multitudinously  celebrated  in 
dramatic  literature.  See  MARIAMNE. 

The  birth  of  Christ  is  now  assigned 


to  the  last  year  of  Herod's  reign, 
though  a  chronological  error  has  cur- 
rently placed  the  date  four  years  ear- 
lier. It  was  this  Herod,  therefore,  who 
ordered  the  massacre  of  the  Innocents, 
an  episode  which  has  conferred  upon 
him  an  immortality  of  infamy  in  art, 
legend  and  literature.  In  the  medi- 
eval mystery  plays  Herod  was  the 
favorite  subject  for  a  rant, — his 
ferocious  bellowings  tickling  the 
groundlings  to  laughter  rather  than 
dismay. 

Neither  Josephus  nor  any  other 
contemporary  historian  corroborates 
the  Gospel  story.  But  Macrobius  in 
the  fifth  century  A.D.  mentions  a 
tradition  that  two  of  Herod's  own 
sons  perished  in  the  massacre,  and 
ascribes  to  the  Emperor  Augustus  a 
cruel  jest  that  he  would  rather  be 
Herod's  hog  than  his  son.  An  un- 
translatable pun  is  here  involved  on 
the  Greek  words  w  (hog)  and  viov 
(son),  and  there  is  also  intended  a 
humorous  reflection  on  the  aversion 
with  which  the  hog  was  regarded  by 
the  Jews.  See  INNOCENTS,  HOLY,  and 
KRISHNA. 

The  Shakspearian  expression  "to  out- 
Herod  Herod"  indicates  the  extravagance 
with  which  this  part  was  played  in  order 
to  please  the  groundlings  and  make  sport. 
A  large  sword  formed  part  of  his  necessary 
equipage,  which  he  is  ordered  in  the  stage 
directions  to  "cast  up"  or  "cast  down." 
He  was  also  attended  by  a  boy  wielding  a 
bladder  tied  to  a  stick,  whose  duty  it  was 
probably  to  stir  him  up  and  prevent  his 
rage  from  flagging.  In  the  Coventry  Mir- 
acle this  melodramatic  element  is  elaborated 
with  real  force  in  the  banquet  scene  which 
follows  the  Massacre  of  the  Innocents. 
Herod  appears  throned  and  feasting  among 
his  knights,  boasting  truculently  of  his 
empire,  and  listening  to  their  savage  jests 
upon  the  slaughtered  children.  Then 
Death  enters  unperceived  except  by  the 
spectators  and  strikes  Herod  down  in  the 
midst  of  his  riot;  whereupon  the  devil 
springs  upon  the  stage  and  carries  off  the 
king  with  two  of  his  knights  to  hell. — J,  A. 
SYMONDS:  Shakspear's  Predecessors. 

Herod  Antipater,  son  of  Herod  the 
Great,  reigned  as  tetrach  of  Galilee 
from  B.C.  4  to  A.D.  39.  This  is  the 
Herod  who  sentenced  John  the 
Baptist  to  death  at  the  request  of  his 
wife,  Herodias  (q.v.).  It  was  to  him 
that  Christ  was  sent  by  Pilate  to  be 
tried. 


Herodias 


145 


Hesperides 


He  was  called  a  fox  by  Christ. 

31  The  same  day  there  came  certain  of 
the  Pharisees,  saying  unto  him,  Get  thee 
out,  and  depart  hence;  for  Herod  will  kill 
thee. 

32  And  he  said  unto  them,  Go  ye,  and 
tell  that  fox,  Behold,  I  cast  out  devils,  and 
I  do  cures  to  day  and  to  morrow,  and  the 
third  day  I  shall  be  perfected. 

He  is  erroneously  called  a  king  in 
Mark  vi,  14.  Josephus,  Antiquities, 
xv,  tells  us  that  when  Herod  Agrippa, 
brother  to  his  wife,  was  appointed 
king  by  Caligula,  Herodias  urged  him 
to  make  a  personal  appeal  to  the 
emperor  for  a  similar  dignity,  but  as 
the  only  result  of  a  journey  to  Rome 
he  was  stripped  of  his  dominions 
and  exiled.  Herodias  voluntarily 
shared  his  fate. 

Herodias,  whose  story  is  told  in 
Josephus,  Antiquities,  xv,  and  in  the 
New  Testament  (Mark  vi,  17-28),  was 
the  spouse  of  Herod  Antipas,  tetrach 
of  Galilee.  In  defiance  of  Jewish  law, 
she  had  obtained  a  divorce  from 
her  first  husband,  Philip,  who  was 
Herod's  half-brother. 

Because  St.  John  the  Baptist  de- 
nounced the  unlawful  marriage  she 
hated  him  and  sought  his  destruction. 
Herod  on  his  birthday  made  a  supper 
to  his  lords.  Herodias's  daughter 
(unnamed  in  the  Biblical  story) 
danced  for  the  guests  so  successfully 
that  Herod  bade  her  ask  any  reward 
she  wished  and  he  would  grant  it. 
After  consulting  with  her  mother  she 
said,  "  I  will  that  thou  wilt  give  me  by 
and  by  the  head  of  John  the  Baptist 
on  a  charger."  The  king  reluctantly 
complied,  and  the  damsel  presented 
head  and  charger  to  her  mother. 

Heinrich  Heine  appears  to  have 
invented  the  story  that  Herodias  was 
secretly  in  love  with  St.  John,  and 
(inferentially)  that  she  was  mad- 
dened because  he  rejected  her  ad- 
vances. Atta  Troll,  the  bear-hero  of  his 
phantasmagoric  poem  of  that  name, 
has  a  vision  of  a  goblin  hunt.  Before 
his  eyes  there  passes  a  ghostly  pageant 
of  historical  characters  from  Diana 
downwards.  Among  them  is  Hero- 
dias. In  her  hands  she  carries  the 
platter  or  charger  with  the  severed 
10 


head  of  John,  which  she  kisses  with 
passionate  fervor.  Then  she  whirls  it 
in  the  air,  laughing  with  childish  glee, 
and  catches  it  again  as  it  falls: 

For  time  was,  she  loved  the  Baptist, 
Tis  not  in  the  Bible  written. 
But  there  yet  exists  the  legend 
Of  Herodias'  bloody  love. 

The  legend  is  unknown  to  Biblical 
commentators  and  students  of  folk- 
lore. 

Oscar  Wilde  in  his  tragedy  Salome 
accepts  Heine's  fantastic  idea,  but 
transfers  Herodias's  passion  to  her 
daughter.  Sudermann  in  his  John  the 
Baptist  complicates  the  situation  by 
making  Herod  in  love  with  her. 

Eugene  Sue  in  The  Wandering  Jew, 
introduces  Herodias  as  the  sister  of 
his  titular  hero,  who  accompanies 
him,  in  spectral  form,  through  his 
age-long  pilgrimage. 

Herpstratus  or  Erostratus,  an 
Ephesian  youth  who  to  gain  immortal 
fame  set  fire  to  the  temple  of  Diana 
at  Ephesus,  B.C.  356.  He  was  tor- 
tured to  death  and  an  edict  was  passed 
that  his  name  should  never  be  men- 
tioned under  penalty  of  death;  but 
all  was  in  vain.  See  EROSTRATUS. 

Hesperides  or  Atlantides,  in  Greek 
myth,  the  guardians  of  the  golden 
apples  which  Ge  gave  to  Hera  on  the 
latter's  marriage  to  Zeus.  They  are 
usually  styled  the  daughters  of  Atlas 
and  Hesperis  (hence  their  names), 
but  other  ancestries  have  been  sug- 
gested. Their  numbers  varied,  in 
different  accounts,  from  3  to  7.  In 
the  early  legends  their  abode  was  on 
the  river  Oceanus,  but  later  this  was 
shifted  to  Libya  near  Mount  Atlas. 
They  were  assisted  in  their  guardian- 
ship by  the  hundred-headed  dragon 
Ladon.  The  eleventh  labor  of  Her- 
cules was  to  fetch  away  these  apples. 
On  reaching  Mount  Atlas  he  dis- 
patched Atlas  upon  this  mission, 
himself  shouldering  the  weight  of  the 
firmament  in  the  interior.  Atlas, 
returning  with  the  apples,  refused 
to  resume  his  burden,  but  Hercules, 
by  a  stratagem,  won  the  apples  from 
him  and  then  hastily  disappeared. 
Other  accounts  make  Hercules  him- 


Hesperus 


146 


Hickathrift 


self  slay  the  dragon  and  capture  the 

apples. 

The  gardens  fair 

Of  Hesperus  and  his  daughters  three 
That  sing  about  the  golden  tree. 
Along  the  crisped  shades  and  bowers 
Revels  the  spruce  and  jocund  spring; 
The  Graces  and  the  rosy-bosomed  Hours 
Thither  all  their  bounties  bring. 

There  eternal  summer  dwells, 
And  west  winds  with  musky  wing 
About  the  cedarn  alleys  fling 
Nard  and  cassia's  balmy  smells. 
Iris  there  with  humid  bow 
Waters  the  odorous  banks  that  blow_ 
flowers  of  more  mingled  hue 
Than  her  purfled  scarf  can  shew 

The  Spirit  in  MILTON'S  Comus. 

Hesperus,  in  classic  myth,  a  per- 
sonification of  the  evening  star. 

Hestia  (by  the  Romans  identified 
with  Vesta) ,  in  Greek  myth  a  daugh- 
ter of  Kronus  and  Rhea,  and  goddess 
of  hearth  and  home.  The  hearth  of 
every  family  was  her  sanctuary,  and 
in  every  public  building  she  had  a 
sanctuary  in  the  shape  of  a  fire. 
When  a  body  of  Greek  colonists 
emigrated  to  establish  a  home  else- 
where they  ever  took  with  them  some 
portion  of  fire  sacred  to  Hestia.  No 
enterprise  was  commenced  without 
sacrifice  and  prayer  at  her  altar  and 
when  the  fire  of  one  of  those  holy 
places  chanced  to  be  extinguished, 
it  could  only  be  rekindled  by  a  light 
from  some  other  established  sanc- 
tuary. 

Hiawatha,  in  the  legends  of  the 
Onondaga  tribe  of  North  American 
Indians,  a  great  warrior  and  legislator 
of  mysterious  origin  believed  to  have 
been  second  only  to  the  Great  Spirit 
before  he  appeared  among  men.  He 
owned  a  canoe  that  moved  without 
paddles  and  which  he  used  only  on 
important  errands.  He  raised  the 
maize  plant  out  of  the  corpse  of 
Mondamin,  the  friend  of  man;  he 
invented  the  birch  bark  canoe,  calling 
on  all  the  forest  trees  to  help  him  in 
his  work;  he  taught  the  people  how 
to  keep  clear  their  watercourses  and 
fishing  grounds;  he  fought  his  way 
out  of  the  sturgeon's  stomach  after  it 
had  swallowed  both  him  and  his 
canoe,  and  explained  how  to  utilize 
its  oil  for  light  and  fuel,  and  how  to 
preserve  its  flesh  by  salting  and 


smoking  it.  Then  there  arose  rumors 
of  war  and  Hiawatha  with  his  daugh- 
ter went  in  his  canoe  to  attend  a 
council  of  the  braves.  As  he  stepped 
ashore,  a  huge  white  bird  dropped 
upon  his  daughter,  crushing  her  to 
earth,  and  when  the  bird's  body  was 
removed  no  trace  of  the  girl  could  be 
found.  Hence  the  feathers  of  the 
white  heron  were  ever  after  used  in 
warfare  by  the  Onondagas.  Hia- 
watha bore  the  affliction  in  silence, 
but  later  he  called  together  the  Five 
Tribes  and  gave  them  a  plan  of  union. 
Then  he  bade  them  all  a  solemn  fare- 
well. Sweet  music  was  heard  as  he 
slowly  moved  away  in  his  canoe  and 
was  wafted  out  of  sight. 

Taking  this  legend  as  a  nucleus 
Longfellow  has  woven  into  his  Hia- 
watha all  other  available  tribal  myths. 
It  is  a  historical  fact  that  an  Iroquois 
chief  named  Hiawatha  instituted  a 
plan  of  tribal  union  which  was  meant 
to  become  a  permanent  government. 

Hickathrift,  Jack  or  Tom,  some- 
times known  as  Giant  Hickathrift,  a 
nursery  hero  whose  exploits  form  the 
staple  of  many  popular  romances  of 
mediaeval  England  and  have  even 
found  a  Latin  historiographer  in  Sir 
Henry  Spelman's  Icenia.  He  appears 
to  have  been  a  laboring  man  in 
Tylney,  Norfolkshire,  England,  who 
at  the  time  of  the  Conquest  consti- 
tuted himself  a  resolute  champion  of 
the  oppressed.  When  the  village 
tyrant  would  have  taken  the  town- 
ship common  for  his  own  use  Hicka- 
thrift seized  the  first  weapons  that 
lay  ready  to  hand, — a  cartwheel  and 
an  axle,  rushed  on  the  invader  and 
routed  him  and  his  retainers.  Local 
tradition  says  that  he  was  able  to  do 
this  because  he  possessed  the  strength 
of  twenty  men.  In  time  the  exploit 
developed  into  a  myth.  The  local 
oppressor  becomes  a  giant  infesting 
Tylney  Marsh  and  Hickathrift  a  still 
more  formidable  giant  who  with  his 
wheel  and  axle  destroys  the  monster 
and  relieves  the  district. 

His  grave-stone  is  still  to  be  seen,  in 
a  very  dilapidated  condition,  in  Tyl- 
ney Churchyard.  Thomas  Hearne, 
in  the  early  eighteenth  century,  saw 


Hilda 


147 


Hippolita 


the  axle-tree,  with  the  wheel  super- 
incumbent, engraved  on  the  stone 
covering  his  coffin  or  sarcophagus.  A 
local  archaeologist  writing  in  1819  says 
that  by  his  time  the  sculptured  cover 
had  disappeared,  although  it  seemed 
to  have  existed  fifty  years  previously. 

Hilda,  in  the  Mid-German  epic  of 
Gudrun  (anonymous,  I3th  century), 
the  mother  of  the  titular  heroine,  and 
herself  the  wife  of  King  Hettel  of 
Heligoland.  Her  father,  King  Hagen 
of  Ireland,  had  a  cheerful  custom  of 
slaying  all  suitors  for  her  hand. 
Therefore  Hettel  is  constrained  to 
send  a  secret  embassy  to  persuade  the 
willing  Hilda  to  flee  with  them  over- 
sea to  Denmark.  Hettel  meets  her 
on  the  shore.  The  father  is  in  hot 
pursuit.  A  fight  ensues;  Hagen  is 
defeated;  his  life  is  spared  by  his 
selected  son-in-law,  and  a  permanent 
reconciliation  follows. 

Hildebrand,  titular  hero  of  The 
Lay  of  Hildebrand  (Ger.  Hilder- 
brand's  Lied),  a  German  epic  poem, 
ascribed  to  the  sixth  century,  of 
which  only  a  portion  survives. 

Hildebrand,  a  companion  of  Die- 
trich of  Berne,  banished  with  that 
hero  from  Italy  by  Hermanrich,  had 
taken  refuge  with  Etzel  (Attila),  and 
after  thirty  years,  accompanied  him 
in  his  last  expedition  against  Italy. 
The  chief  of  the  opposing  forces  was 
his  own  son,  whom  he  had  left  an 
infant.  Hildebrand  sought  to  avoid 
the  contest.  But  the  youth  laughed 
scoffingly  when  Hildebrand  claimed 
to  be  his  father.  Hildebrand  be- 
wailed  his  fate,  but  could  not  with- 
draw, and  father  and  son  rushed 
against  each  other.  The  fragment 
here  breaks  off,  leaving  the  issue 
uncertain.  It  is  probable  that  the 
father  vanquished  and  slew  his  son, 
as  in  the  similar  legend  of  Sohrab  and 
Rustum.  In  the  Heldenbuch,  how- 
ever, another  version  of  the  legend 
is  given,  in  which  the  youth  is  over- 
come, and  not  slain,  by  his  father,  and 
both  return  together  to  the  wife  and 
mother. 

Hippocrene  (the  Fountain  of  ^  the 
Horse),  a  fountain  on  Mount  Helicon 
in  Bceotia  sacred  to  the  Muses  and 


fabled  to  have  been  produced  by  a 
stroke  from  the  hoof  of  Pegasus. 
Longfellow  has  utilized  the  myth  in 
his  poem  Pegasus  in  Pound. 

Oh  for  a  beaker  of  the  warm  South, 
Full  of  the  true,  the  blushful  Hippocrene 
With  beaded  bubbles  winking  at  the  brim. 

KEATS. 

Hippogriff,  a  fabulous  monster, 
half  horse  and  half  griffin,  invented 
by  Ariosto  in  the  Orlando  Furioso,  in 
quasi-imitation  of  the  Pegasus  of 
classical  antiquity.  Like  a  griffin  he 
had  the  head  of  an  eagle,  claws  armed 
with  talons,  and  feathered  wings, 
the  rest  of  his  body  being  that  of  a 
horse.  Bradamante  captures  him  by 
strategy  from  his  original  owner,  the 
enchanter  Atlantes,  but  she  is  unable 
to  mount  him.  Rogero  fearlessly 
vaults  upon  his  back  and  pricks  him 
with  his  spurs,  which  so  aroused  the 
monster's  mettle  that  after  galloping 
a  short  distance  he  suddenly  spread 
his  wings  and  soared  into  the  air, 
carrying  the  hero  far  away  from  his 
beloved  Brandamante.  Nor  did  he 
rejoin  her  till  he  had  passed  through 
many  strange  adventures  in  outland- 
ish countries. 

Hippolita,  in  classic  myth,  daughter 
of  Ares  and  Otrera  and  Queen  of  the 
Amazons  in  succession  to  Penthesilia. 
As  an  emblem  of  her  dignity  she  wore 
a  girdle  given  to  her  by  her  father. 
Admete,  daughter  of  Eurystheus, 
coveted  this  girdle,  hence  the  ninth 
of  the  labors  of  Hercules  was  to  cap- 
ture it.  The  earlier  accounts  make 
him  slay  her.  Pausanias,  i,  41,  7,  says 
he  came  to  her  country  with  Theseus, 
and  that  she  willingly  surrendered 
the  girdle  to  Hercules.  But  when 
Theseus  carried  off  her  sister  Antiope 
(whom  he  subsequently  married)  she 
marched  against  him  at  the  head  of 
her  Amazons,  was  repulsed,  and  died 
of  chagrin  at  Megara.  Mediaeval 
legend  preferred  a  third  version,  that 
Theseus  decoyed  Hippolita  herself 
aboard  his  ship  and  carried  her  off  to 
Athens.  He  was  Duke  of  Athens 
and  she  became  his  Duchess.  Shak- 
spear  following  this  account  in  A 
Midsummer  Night's  Dream  makes 


Hippolytus 


148 


Holy 


her  the  bride  of  Theseus,  Duke  of 
Athens. 

Hippolytus,  in  Greek  myth,  a  son 
of  Theseus  by  the  Queen  of  the  Ama- 
zons, sometimes  stated  to  be  Hippo- 
lyta  and  sometimes  Antiope.  After 
his  mother's  death,  Theseus  married 
Phasdra,  who  fell  in  love  with  the 
handsome  youth  as  being  nearer  her 
own  age  than  her  husband  was,  but 
he  fled  from  her  and  Phasdra  accused 
him  of  making  improper  advances. 
According  to  one  legend  Theseus 
appealed  in  his  wrath  to  Poseidon, 
who  sent  a  bull  out  to  the  sea  to 
attack  Hippolytus  as  he  drove  along 
the  beach.  He  was  hurled  out  of  his 
chariot  by  the  frightened  horses  and 
dragged  until  he  died. 

Hippolytus  is  the  hero  of  a  tragedy 
by  Euripides  (B.C.  428).  It  is  said 
to  have  failed  because  of  the  boldness 
with  which  Phaedra  avowed  her 
love  for  her  stepson  and  subsequently 
maligned  him  to  his  father.  See 
ZULEIKA. 

Hobby-horse,  in  the  mediasval 
drama  and  in  the  Morris-dances,  a 
mock-horse  of  wickerwork  and  paste- 
board, fastened  about  the  waist  of  a 
performer,  or  sometimes  concealing 
him  entirely.  In  the  Morris-dance 
and  in  the  May  games  he  was  allowed 
to  play  pranks  upon  the  bystanders. 
Hence  the  word  horse-play.  The 
hobby-horse  was  especially  disliked 
by  the  Puritans.  Bomby,  the  Puritan 
cobbler  in  Fletcher's  Women  Pleased, 
iv,  i,  denounces  it  as  "  an  unseemly 
and  a  lewd  beast,  got  at  Rome  by  the 
Pope's  coach-horses."  Hence  it  was 
omitted  in  the  May-games  wherever 
the  Puritans  could  regulate  them. 
There  seems  to  have  been  an  old 
ballad  with  the  refrain 

For  oh!  For  oh!  The  hobby-horse  is  forgot! 

Nothing  of  the  song  survives,  except 
the  refrain,  which  is  frequently  quoted 
by  English  dramatists  of  the  early 
seventeenth  century.  Hamlet  aptly 
calls  it  the  epitaph  of  the  hobby- 
horse. 

The  hobby-horse,  whose  epitaph  is,  For 
oh!  For  oh!  the  Hobby  horse  is  forgot  — 
SHAKSPEAR:  Hamlet,  iii,  2,  141. 


Holda,  Hulda,  Holle,  or  Harke,  in 

German  folklore,  is  a  personage  who 
takes  on  varied  characteristics  in 
different  localities.  Usually,  however, 
she  is  a  good  fairy,  clad  in  dazzling 
white,  who  inhabits  lakes  and  pools, 
and  gives  health  and  fecundity  to  the 
women  who  come  to  drink  the  waters. 
She  takes  interest  in  household  mat- 
ters, and  between  Christmas  and 
Epiphany  pays  nightly  visits  to 
maidens'  couches,  rewarding  the 
industrious  by  filling  their  distaffs 
with  wool  and  pulling  the  counter- 
panes off  the  indolent.  When  the 
snow  falls  Dame  Holda  is  said  to  be 
spreading  her  mantle.  She  has  a 
well  marked  kinship  with  those  other 
gracious  myths,  the  White  Lady  and 
the  Lady  of  the  Lake.  But  in  the 
forests  of  the  Thuringia  and  the 
Hartz  Mountains  she  merges  into  the 
Wild  Huntsman  cycle  of  myths,  be- 
coming a  terrible  sorceress,  who,  be- 
tween Christmas  and  Twelfth  Night, 
rides  an  infernal  chase  at  the  head 
of  a  crew  of  hideous  and  grotesque 
spectres.  She  is  preceded  by  a  gray 
bearded  man,  the  trusty  Eckart,  who 
with  a  white  staff  warns  off  all  people 
not  to  obstruct  the  path  of  the  god- 
dess. 

On  the  banks  of  the  River  Main 
are  Hulle-steine  (Holda's  Stones), 
or  hollow  stones,  on  which  a  fairy 
form  sets  at  night,  bewailing  the  loss 
of  her  betrothed.  There  she  sits, 
sunk  in  sorrow,  shedding  tears  over 
the  rock  until  it  is  worn  down,  and 
becomes  hollowed  out.  In  another 
Franconian  tale,  the  bewitching  fay 
sits  on  a  rock  in  the  moonlight,  when 
the  bloom  of  the  vine  fills  mountains 
and  valleys  with  sweet  fragrance;  clad 
in  a  white  shining  garment  she  pours 
out  heart  enthralling  songs.  The 
children  in  those  parts  of  the  country 
are  warned  not  to  listen  to  the  seduc- 
tive voice,  but  ardently  to  pray  their 
pater-noster,  lest  they  should  have 
to  remain  with  Holli  in  the  wood  until 
the  Day  of  Judgment.  From  this 
legend  Heine  took  the  subject  of  his 
Lorelei  song,  transplanting  it  from 
the  Main  to  the  Rhine. 

Holy  Grail.    See  SAN  GREAL. 


Holger 


149 


Homer 


Holger  Danske.  Under  this  name 
Ogier  the  Dane,  one  of  Charlemagne's 
paladins,  has  been  accepted  as  the 
national  patron  of  Denmark  and  won 
for  himself  a  distinct  individuality 
that  presents  few  traces  of  his  French 
origin.  According  to  the  mediaeval 
Danish  ballads  and  romances  Holger 
was  indeed  a  paladin  of  France,  but 
his  greatest  fame  was  won  under  the 
Danish  standard.  He  made  a  crusade 
into  India  and  fell  in  love  with  the 
heathen  princess  Gloriana,  but  she 
preferred  Prince  Carvel  and  Holger 
vowed  he  would  never  love  another. 
After  filling  Europe  and  Asia  with 
the  fame  of  his  exploits,  he  disap- 
peared and  is  said  to  be  lying  in  a 
magic  slumber  in  the  vaults  of  the 
castle  of  Elsinore,  there  to  remain 
until  Denmark  shall  need  him. 

Once  a  Danish  peasant,  wandering 
through  the  vaults,  came  upon  a  huge 
oaken  door  and  drew  out  the  bolt 
that  secured  it.  The  door  swung 
inward,  a  mighty  voice  cried  ' '  Is  it 
time?  "  and  the  intruder  dimly  spied 
a  giant  form  reclining  against  the 
wall,  his  armor  rusty,  his  beard  so 
long  that  it  overspread  his  ample 
breast.  "No!'  "Give  me  thy 
hand  then,"  said  the  figure,  but  the 
peasant  fearing  to  trust  his  hand  in 
that  tremendous  grip  extended  the 
iron  bar.  "Ha,"  said  Holger  as  he 
grasped  it,  "I  see  there  are  still  men 
in  Denmark;  I  may  rest  yet  a  little 
longer." 

As  with  other  popular  heroes, 
Holger  has  been  magnified  in  folklore 
into  a  giant  of  stupendous  size. 
Twelve  tailors,  says  one  legend,  came 
once  to  take  his  measure  for  a  new 
suit  of  clothes.  As  they  perched 
themselves  on  various  parts  of  his 
body  one  slipped  and  pricked  the 
hero's  ear  with  his  scissors.  Holger, 
thinking  it  a  fly,  crushed  the  hapless 
tailor  to  death  between  thumb  and 
forefinger. 

Horand,  in  the  Lay  of  Gudrun,  a 
sweet  singer  at  the  court  of  Hetel, 
king  of  the  Hegelings  and  father  of 
Gudrun  (q.v.).  Horand  is  a  Norse 
reminiscence  of  the  Greek  Orpheus. 
We  are  told  that  when  he  sang,  the 


cattle  left  their  pastures,  the  bees 
stayed  their  running  in  the  grass,  the 
fishes  poised  themselves  upon  the 
stream,  the  men  who  heard  him  forgot 
the  church  bells  and  the  choir-songs 
of  the  priests,  and  sat  for  hours  that 
seemed  like  minutes,  listening  to  his 
lay.  He  loved  the  stars  and  silent 
places  better  than  the  din  of  battle 
or  the  revels  of  the  hall.  Yet  he  was  a 
good  knight  with  a  strong  arm  and  a 
stout  heart. 

Horn,  King,  hero  of  a  metrical 
romance,  The  Geste  of  King  Horn, 
attributed  to  one  Kendale  who  flour- 
ished in  the  reign  of  the  English 
Edward  I,  and  probably  utilized 
earlier  sources.  There  is  also  a 
ballad  abridgment  called  Hind 
Horn.  Hind  or  hynd  means  court- 
eous, gentle. 

Horn  was  a  mythical  king  of  Sud- 
dene.  When  a  boy  of  fifteen,  his 
father  was  killed  by  Mury,  king  of  the 
Saxons,  and  he  with  two  companions 
was  set  adrift  in  a  boat.  The  vessel 
being  driven  on  the  coast  of  Western- 
esse,  the  boys  were  rescued,  and  Horn 
became  the  page  of  King  Aylmer.  He 
was  dubbed  a  knight  and  achieved 
great  things.  But  because  of  his 
love  for  Aylmer's  daughter,  Rimen- 
hild,  he  was  banished.  He  bade 
Rimenhild  wait  for  him  seven  years. 
At  the  end  of  that  time,  having 
recovered  his  native  land  from  the 
infidel,  he  returned  to  Westernesse  to 
find  that  Rimenhild  had  been  carried 
off  by  his  treacherous  friend,  Fyke- 
nild.  Disguised  as  a  harper,  he  went 
into  Fykenild's  castle,  killed  him, 
and  carried  Rimenhild  in  triumph  to 
bis  own  country. 

Certain  points  in  the  story  of  Horn,  the 
long  absence, the  sudden  return,  the  appear- 
ance under  disguise  at  the  wedding  feast, 
and  the  dropping  of  the  ring  into  a  cup  of 
wine  obtained  from  the  bride,  repeat  them- 
selves in  a  great  number  of  romantic  tales. 
More  commonly  it  is  a  husband  who  leaves 
his  wife  for  7  years,  is  miraculously  informed 
on  the  last  day  that  she  is  to  be  remarried 
on  the  morrow,  and  is  restored  to  his  home 
in  the  nick  of  time,  also  by  superhuman 
agency. — English  and  Scotch  Popular  Bal- 
lads, Cambridge  Edition. 

Homer,  Little  Jack,  hero  of  a 
"  Mother  Goose  "  jingle  of  that 


Horus 


150 


Hubbard 


name.     He  is  represented  as  sitting 
in  a  corner  eating  a  Christmas  pie, 

He  put  in  his  thumb 

And  pulled  out  a  plum 

And  said  "What  a  good  boy  am  II 

A  tradition,  preserved  in  Somer- 
setshire, identifies  him  with  an  ances- 
tor of  Sir  John  Homer,  who  after  the 
dissolution  of  the  monasteries  by 
Henry  VIII,  acquired  the  manor  of 
Mells  or  Wells  Park,  formerly  owned 
by  the  Abbey  of  Glastpnbury.  This 
fact  is  commemorated  in  the  couplet, 

Windham,  Homer,  Popham  and  Thynne, 
When  the  Abbot  wentput  then  they  came  in. 

Jack  Homer,  this  story  runs,  was 
a  serving  lad  to  the  Abbot  of  Glaston- 
bury.  The  latter,  thinking  to  propi- 
tiate Henry,  sent  him  the  title  deeds 
to  twelve  manors,  enclosed  in  one  of 
the  huge  coffin-shaped  pastries  then 
popular.  This  was  deemed  the  best 
way  of  concealing  them,  and  Jack 
was  pitched  upon  as  the  messenger 
least  calculated  to  excite  suspicion  on 
the  way  to  London.  The  lad  got 
hungry  and  sat  down  by  the  wayside 
to  taste  just  a  little  of  the  pie  he  was 
carrying.  He  inserted  his  thumb 
under  the  crust  and  pulled  out  one  of 
the  parchments,  which  he  concealed 
about  his  person,  possibly  because  he 
found  it  difficult  to  restore  it  in  good 
order.  When  the  pie  was  opened 
Henry  discovered  that  the  deed  to 
Mells  manor  was  missing,  whereupon 
he  ordered  the  execution  of  Abbot 
Whiting  and  the  confiscation  of  the 
Abbey  and  its  estates.  Later  there 
was  found  in  the  possession  of  the 
Homer  family  a  deed  to  the  Mells 
property. 

This  was  the  "  plum  "  that  Jack 
Homer  had  pulled  out  of  the  pie! 
See  Notes  and  Queries,  II,  iv,  156, 
and  II,  v,  83,  and  Halliwell's  Nursery 
Rhymes  of  England. 

Horus,  the  Egyptian  Apollo  or  sun 
god,  also  the  god  of  silence,  hence 
often  represented  with  his  finger  on 
his  mouth.  The  sun  god  at  Edfu, 
where  Horus's  temple  stands,  was 
figured  as  a  sun  with  many  colored 
wings.  Elsewhere  he  appears  with  a 
hawk's  head  or  simply  as  a  hawk. 


Houssain,  Prince,  elder  brother  of 
Prince  Ahmed  in  the  Arabian  Nights 
story  of  Ahmed  and  Paribanou.  He 
possessed  a  magic  carpet,  bought  at 
Bisnager  in  India,  which  if  any  one 
sat  on  it  would  straightway  transport 
him  whither  he  wished.  Solomon, 
according  to  Oriental  legend,  pos- 
sessed a  carpet  of  similar  virtues. 
It  was  made  of  green  silk,  and  was 
large  enough  for  all  his  army  to  stand 
on.  When  his  soldiers  had  ranged 
themselves  to  the  right  of  the  throne 
with  the  spirits  on  the  left,  Solomon 
commanded  the  wind  to  convey  him 
whither  he  listed.  While  sailing 
through  the  air  the  birds  of  heaven 
hovered  overhead  as  a  protection 
from  the  sun.  Though  so  large  when 
spread  out  it  could  be  folded  up  into 
a  minute  compass. 

Howlegas  or  Owleglass,  the 
name  given  to  Tyll  Eulenspiegel  (q.v.) 
in  the  English  translation  of  his  jests 
printed  by  William  Copeland,  a  book 
especially  popular  in  England  in  the 
reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth.  Sir  Walter 
Scott  has  adopted  the  name,  slightly 
modified,  for  two  of  his  characters: 
Master  Howlaglass,  a  preacher,  friend 
of  Maulstone  in  Peveril  of  the  Peak, 
and  Father  Howleglas  in  The  Abbot, 
who  plays  the  part  of  the  Abbot  of 
Unreason  at  the  revels  held  in  Ken- 
naquhair  Abbey.  ' 

Hrimthurse.    See  SWADILFARI. 

Hubbard,  Mother,  the  old  lady  who 
in  the  English  nursery  jingle  went 
to  the  cupboard  to  find  her  poor  dog 
a  bone,  has  been  plausibly  identified 
with  St.  Hubert  and  patron  of  dogs 
and  of  the  chase.  See  John  W.  Hales 
in  the  Athenceum,  February  24,  1883, 
whose  argument  runs  somewhat  as 
follows:  The  representations  of  the 
saints  in  painting  and  sculpture  were 
familiar  to  a  class  which  knew  nothing 
of  the  orthodox  legends  concerning 
them.  Among  this  class  originated  a 
large  number  of  pseudo-legends, 
sometimes  couched  in  rhyme,  which 
were  evidently  framed  to  meet  the 
vulgar  understanding  of  the  repre- 
sentation. St.  Hubert  is  depicted  in 
a  long  robe, — a  veritable  Mother 
Hubbard  gown,  in  fact, — with  long 


Hugh 


151 


Hunchbacks 


hair,  so  that  the  uninitiated  observer 
might  easily  be  doubtful  as  to  his  sex 
and  make  an  old  woman  of  him  at  a 
venture.  Further,  he  was  the  patron 
saint  of  dogs,  and  was  often  repre- 
sented with  a  canine  attendant,  so 
that  the  "  prick-eared  companion  of 
the  solitude  '  of  the  ancient  dame 
was  naturally  assumed.  St.  Hubert 
was  appealed  to  also  to  cure  the  ail- 
ments of  a  favorite  or  valuable  dog, 
and  bread  blessed  at  his  shrine  was 
believed  to  cure  hydrophobia.  Given 
the  character  popularly  accepted  as 
Mother  (or  Saint)  Hubbard  (or 
Hubert),  and  the  attendant  dog,  may 
not  the  rest  of  the  tale  be  left  to  the 
untutored  but  active  imagination  of 
some  rhymester  or  story-teller  of  the 
village  green  or  servants'  hall,  which 
has  often  produced  even  more  start- 
ling results  from  much  slighter 
material? 

Edmund  Spenser,  in  Mother  Hub- 
bard's  Tale  (1591),  uses  the  name 
simply  as  that  of  an  old  wife,  who 
tells  a  story  of  Reynard  and  the  ape, 
to  relieve  the  weariness  of  the  poet 
during  a  spell  of  sickness. 

Hugh  of  Lincoln,  a  mythical  person 
who  forms  the  subject  of  Chaucer's 
Prioress's  Tale,  in  the  Canterbury 
Tales,  which  has  been  modernized  by 
Wordsworth,  and  of  an  ancient 
English  ballad,  The  Jew's  Daughter, 
of  which  there  are  many  variants.  ^ 

The  story  first  appeared  in  print 
in  the  Chronicles  of  Matthew  Paris, 
who  relates  that  in  1255  during  the 
reign  of  Henry  III,  the  Jews  of  Lin- 
coln stole  a  little  boy  named  Hugh, 
tortured  and  crucified  him,  in  carica- 
ture of  Christ's  death  on  the  cross, 
and  flung  his  body  into  a  pit,  where 
his  mother  found  it.  The  occupant 
of  the  house  then  confessed  the  crime, 
and  stated  that  the  Jews  killed  a  child 
regularly  every  year  at  Easter.  He 
and  eighteen  of  the  richest  Jews  in 
Lincoln  were  straightway  hanged,  and 
the  child's  body  was  buried  in  the 
cathedral  with  all  honor. 

A  similar  story  was  told  of  William 
of  Norwich,  a  boy,  said  to  have  been 
crucified  by  the  Jews  in  1137.  la 
fact  the  myth  in  one  form  or  another 


appears  in  the  folk  literature  of  most 
Christian  countries  and  is  perennially 
revived  in  modern  times.  A  notori- 
ous and  lamentable  case  (1881)  was 
that  of  Esther  Salymossy,  a  young 
girl  of  Tisra  Eszlar,  in  Hungary, 
whose  murder  was  attributed  to  a 
Jew.  The  trial  lasted  two  years,  the 
Jew  was  acquitted,  but  the  populace 
never  accepted  the  verdict  as  a  just 
one. 

More  recently  (1913)  he  stirred  the 
sympathies  of  Europe. 

Hugin  and  Mugin,  in  Scandinavian 
myth,  two  ravens  who  perched  upon 
the  shoulders  of  Odin,  when  not 
employed  in  gathering  news  from 
earth.  See  HUGGINS  AND  MUGGINS. 

Hunchbacks,  the  Three  (French 
les  trois  Bossus],  heroes  of  a  fabliau  in 
verse  by  the  trouvere  Durant,  of  the 
thirteenth  century. 

A  wealthy  hunchback  marries  a 
beautiful  wife,  of  whom  he  is  very 
jealous.  One  day  he  unexpectedly  re- 
turns to  his  castle  while  his  wife  is 
enjoying  the  singing  of  three  hump- 
backed minstrels,  and  she  has  barely 
time  to  hide  them  in  as  many  empty 
coffers  when  he  enters  the  room. 
Seeing  nothing  to  arouse  his  suspi- 
cions, he  departs.  The  lady  runs  to 
the  coffers  and  finds  that  the  hunch- 
backs have  been  smothered  to  death. 
She  engages  a  peasant  to  throw  one 
of  the  corpses  into  the  river,  and 
when  he  returns  to  claim  his  promised 
reward  she  tells  him  he  has  not  per- 
formed his  task  yet,  and  shows  him 
the  corpse  of  another  hunchback. 
The  peasant  thinks  it  the  work  of 
magic;  and  his  perplexity  is  still 
further  increased  when  on  disposing 
of  the  second  body  he  is  informed  that 
the  hunchback  is  still  in  the  lady's 
chamber.  A  third  time,  as  he  thinks, 
he  bears  the  corpse  to  the  river,  and 
on  his  return  he  comes  up  with  the 
master  of  the  house.  "  Dog  of  a 
hunchback,"  he  cries,  "  are  you  here 
again?  "  and  he  jumps  on  him,  stows 
him  safely  into  the  sack,  and  throws 
him  headlong  into  the  river  after  the 
minstrels.  It  will  be  seen  that  the 
story  has  some  features  in  common 
with  the  Arabian  Nights  tale  of  the 


Huon 


152 


Hypatia 


Little  Hunchback.  It  was  one  of  the 
most  popular  of  the  French  fabliaux, 
and  has  been  frequently  dramatized. 
The  most  successful  version  was  one 
which  was  produced  in  the  eighteenth 
century  at  the  The"atre-Italien  in 
Paris  under  the  title  of  The  Triplets 
(Les  trois  Jumeaux). 

Huon,  Duke  of  Bordeaux,  hero  of  a 
French  Chanson  de  Geste,  Huon  de 
Bordeaux,  by  an  unknown  trouvere 
of  Artois  in  the  thirteenth  century. 
The  poem  itself  was  never  printed 
until  i860,  but  a  prose  version  ap- 
peared early  in  the  sixteenth  century 
(Second  Edition,  1516).  An  English 
translation  (1534)  furnished  Shak- 
spear  with  the  character  of  Oberon. 
Huon,  having  in  self  defence  slain 
Chariot,  treacherous  son  of  Charle- 
magne, is  pardoned  by  the  emperor 
only  on  condition  that  he  will  enter 
the  court  of  the  Amiral  (Emir) 
Gaudisse,  at  Babylon,  cut  off  the 
head  of  the  bashaw  who  sits  at  his 
right  hand,  kiss  thrice  the  Amiral's 
daughter,  Esclaramonde,  and  bring 
away  with  him  as  trophies  a  lock  of 
his  white  beard  and  4  of  his  teeth.  He 
falls  in  with  Oberon,  king  of  fairyland, 
who  gives  him  a  magic  cup  that  brims 
with  wine  at  the  lips  of  guiltless  men, 
and  a  magic  horn  which,  blown 
gently,  sets  all  guilty  men  to  frantic 
dancing  and,  blown  hard,  summons 
Oberon  at  the  head  of  10,000  men. 
Even  with  these  gifts,  which  are  duly 
put  to  the  test,  Huon  might  have 
failed,  but  for  the  further  aid  of 
Esclaramonde,  who  falls  in  love  with 
him_  and  after  his  triumph  accom- 
panies him  on  his  return  journey  to 
Rome,  where  they  are  married  by 
Pope  Sylvester. 

Hyacinthus,  in  classic  myth,  a 
Spartan  youth  beloved  of  Apollo, 
who  ^slew  him  accidentally  while 
pitching  quoits.  Apollo  in  grief  at 
his  loss  turned  him  into  a  flower  on 
whose  petals  are  inscribed  the  letters 
at  at  (alas!).  The  story  is  told  at 
length  in  Ovid,  Met.,  x,  and  is  con- 
stantly alluded  to  in  English  poetry, 
e.g.  Milton,  Lycidas,  "  like  to  that 
sanguine  flower  inscribed  with  woe," 
and  Spenser,  Faerie  Queene  iii,  n,  37. 


The  flower  seems  to  be  a  species  of 
iris;  certainly  it  is  not  our  hyacinth. 
Keats  in  Endymion,  i,  382,  makes 
allusion  to  the  legend  in  its  later 
form  (for  which  he  may  have  been 
indebted  to  Lempriere)  which  attrib- 
utes the  death  of  Hyacinthus  to 
Zephyrus,  who,  himself  in  love  with 
Hyacinthus,  and  jealous  of  the 
rivalry  of  Apollo,  blew  the  quoit  into 
Hyacinthus's  face.  Keats  adds  here 
an  exquisite  touch,  suggesting  in  the 
wind  and  rain  that  often  herald  a 
glorious  sunrise  the  visit  of  the  peni- 
tent Zephyrus  to  weep  his  fault  before 
the  arrival  of  the  angry  Sun  god. 

Hydra,  in  classic  myth,  a  monstrous 
serpent,  offspring  of  Typhon  and 
Echidna  and  brought  up  by  Hera.  It 
had  nine  heads,  the  middle  of  which 
was  immortal.  It  ravaged  the 
country  of  Lernae  near  Argos.  Her- 
acles attacked  it  with  a  club  or  a 
sickle,  but  as  fast  as  he  cut  off  one 
head  two  others  appeared.  Then  he 
had  recourse  to  burning  arrows,  and 
with  the  assistance  of  lolaus,  his 
servant,  succeeded  in  burning  away 
all  the  heads  save  the  immortal  one, 
which  he  buried  under  a  huge  stone. 
Modern  writers  surmise  that  the 
hydra  was  nothing  more  than  a  giant 
octopus. 

Some  ignorant  men  of  late  days  at  Venice 
did  picture  this  Hydra  with  wonderful  art 
and  set  it  forth  to  the  people  to  be  seen,  as 
though  it  had  been  a  true  carcass,  with 
this  inscription:  In  the  year  of  Christ's 
incarnation  550,  about  the  month  of  Jan- 
uary, this  monstrous  serpent  was  brought 
out  of  Turkey  to  Venice,  and  afterwards 
given  to  the  French  king:  It  was  esteemed 

to  be  worth  600  ducats I  have 

also  heard  that  in  Venice  in  the  Duke's 
treasury,  among  the  rare  monuments  of 
that  city,  there  is  preserved  a  serpent  with 
seven  heads  which  if  it  be  true  it  is  the 
more  probable  that  there  is  a  hydra,  and 
that  the  poets  were  not  altogether  deceived, 
that  say  Hercules  killed  such  an  one. — 
TOPSELL:  History  of  Serpents  (1608). 

Hygeia  or  Hygieia,  daughter  of 
^Esculapius  (q.v.). 

Hypatia,  a  beautiful  and  learned 
woman  (370-415),  a  native  of  Alex- 
andria when  that  city  was  the  centre 
of  Greek  culture.  She  attracted  great 
crowds  to  her  lectures  on  philosophy 
and  neo-Platonism,  but  thereby  an- 


Hypatia 


153 


Idris 


tagonized  the  Christians  as  the  advo- 
cate of  a  dead  superstition,  was  de- 
nounced by  many  of  the  priests  as  a 
heretic,  and  was  finally  seized  in  her 
lecture  room  by  an  infuriated  mob, 
dragged  into  one  of  the  churches 
of  Alexandria  and  literally  torn  to 
pieces.  Charles  Kingsley  makes  her 
the  heroine  of  his  novel  Hypatia 
(1838). 


Hyperion,  in  classic  myth,  the 
original  god  of  the  sun.  He  was  one  of 
the  Titans  and  when  the  latter  were 
overthrown  by  Zeus  he  had  to  yield 
his  supremacy  to  the  new  sun-god 
Apollo.  The  story  is  told  by  Hesiod 
and  others  among  the  ancients,  and 
in  modern  times  it  forms  the  subject 
of  a  splendid  fragment,  Hyperion,  by 
John  Keats. 


lapetus,  in  Greek  myth,  one  of  the 
Titans.  According  to  the  favorite 
legend,  he  married  Asia,  daughter  of 
his  brother  Oceanus,  according  to 
others  either  Clymene  Tethis,  Asopis 
or  Libya.  His  name  suggests  kinship 
with  the  Japheth  of  Genesis  x,  I,  and 
there  are  other  resemblances  in  the 
names  of  his  children,  which,  like 
Japheth's,  suggest  geographical  con- 
nections. Thus  the  sons  of  lapetus 
are  Atlas,  Prometheus,  Epimethus 
and  Menelaus. 

Ibycus,  a  Greek  lyric  poet,  who 
flourished  about  B.C.  540,  best  re- 
membered through  the  legend  con- 
cerning his  death.  On  his  way  to  the 
Isthmian  games  he  was  attacked  by 
robbers  in  a  desert  place  near  Corinth. 
With  his  dying  breath  he  called  upon 
a  flock  of  cranes  flying  overhead  to 
spread  abroad  the  news  of  the  murder. 
His  body  was  found,  carried  to 
Corinth  and  recognized.  Loud  was 
the  grief  of  the  populace  assembled  at 
the  games  for  the  loss  of  their  favorite 
poet.  Suddenly,  during  a  pause  in 
the  performance,  while  the  great 
amphitheatre  was  silent  a  file  of 
cranes  passed  overheard,  and  a  mock- 
ing voice  was  heard  to  cry  "  Behold 
the  cranes  of  Ibycus! '  Suspicion 
was  aroused,  the  speaker  and  his 
accomplices  were  identified,  they  con- 
fessed the  murder  and  were  put  to 
death.  Schiller  has  a  ballad  called 
The  Cranes  of  Ibycus. 

Icarus,  in  classic  myth,  a  son  of 
Daedalus.  He  escaped  from  Crete 
in  company  with  his  father  by  means 
of  wings  which  the  latter  had  con- 
structed of  feathers  and  wax,  but 


neglecting  the  parental  warning  he 
soared  too  near  the  sun,  so  that  the 
wax  melted  and  he  was  precipitated 
into  the  sea — which  was  called  after 
him  the  Icarian  Sea. 

And  soon  the  boy,  elate 
With  that  new  power,  more  daring  grew, 

and  left, 

His  guide,  and  higher  with  ambitious  flight, 
Soared,  aiming  at  the  skies!  upon  his  wings 
The  rays  of  noon  struck  scorching,  and 

dissolved 
The  waxen  compact  of  their  plumes: — and 

down 

He  toppled,  beating  wild  with  naked  arms 
The  unsustaining  air,  and  with  vain  cry 
Shrieking  for  succor  from  his  sire!     The  Sea 
That  bears  his  name  received  him  as  he  fell. 

OVID:    Metamorphoses,  vii,  257. 

Trans.:  H.  KING. 

Idris,  Cader  (chair  of  Idris),  a 
mountain  in  northwestern  Wales,  near 
Dolgelly.  It  is  2898  feet  high  and  is 
noted  for  its  extensive  view.  It  owes 
its  name  to  a  hollow  couch-like  exca- 
vation upon  the  summit,  fabled  to 
have  been  the  favorite  resting  place 
of  Idris,  who  is  variously  described  as 
a  prince,  a  magician  and  an  astrono- 
mer, the  Welsh  traditions  agreeing 
only  on  one  thing,  his  immense  size. 
Indeed  this  "  chair  '  could  have 
afforded  comfort  only  to  a  gentleman 
of  very  generous  proportions.  In 
the  Lake  of  the  Three  Pebbles  near 
the  base  of  the  mountain  there  are 
three  large  blocks  of  stone  which  he 
is  said  to  have  shaken  out  of  one  of 
his  boots.  Mrs.  Hemans  has  a  poem 
The  Rock  of  Cader  Idris. 

And  when  Geraint 

Beheld  her  first  in  field,  awaiting  him, 
He  felt,  were  she  the  prize  of  bodily  force 
Himself  beyond  the  rest  pushing  could  move 
The  chair  of  Idris.  TENNYSON. 


Iduna 


154 


Imma 


Iduna,  in  Scandinavian  myth,  the 
goddess  of  youth  who  neld  watch 
over  the  apples  of  immortality,  the 
juice  of  which  preserved  the  gods  in 
youth,  health  and  beauty. 

Igerna  or  Igerne.  See  YGUERNE. 
Ignatius,  St.,  of  Antioch  (A.D.  107), 
is  said  by  tradition  to  have  been  the 
little  child  whom  Jesus  "  set  in  the 
midst  '  and  said  "  of  such  is  the 
Kingdom  of  Heaven." 

He  and  Saint  Polycarp  were  dis- 
ciples of  St.  John  the  Evangelist,  and 
Ignatius  afterward  became  Bishop  of 
Antioch.  He  is  said  to  have  been 
allowed  to  hear  the  angels  sing,  and 
to  have  introduced  antiphonal  sing- 
ing into  the  churches  in  imitation  of 
the  heavenly  choir. 

He  was  torn  to  pieces  by  lions  in 
the  amphitheatre  at  Rome,  under 
Trajan's  rule,  for  refusing  to  offer 
sacrifice  to  idols.  His  remains,  first 
buried  at  Antioch,  were  afterward  re- 
moved to  the  church  of  St.  Clement, 
in  Rome. 

nmarinen,  in  the  national  epic  of 
Finnland,  The  Kalevala,  a  brother  of 
the  hero  Wanaimonen,  and  himself 
a  Norse  Vulcan,  a  smith  who  wrought 
the  heavens  of  blue  steel, — so  faith- 
fully that  neither  mark  of  hammer  nor 
trace  of  tongs  was  left  upon  them.  He 
wooed  and  won  Pohyola,  the  Virgin 
of  the  Northland,  who  preferred  him 
to  his  brother.  When  she  died  he  pro- 
ceeded to  make  for  himself  a  wife  of 
gold  and  silver.  With  great  labor  he 
brings  the  image  to  life  and  rests  a 
night  beside  her.  But  though  his 
bed  was  heaped  with  furs  he  finds  in 
the  morning  that  the  side  he  had 
turned  towards  the  maiden  is  almost 
frozen.  He  seeks  a  third  wife  in  the 
younger  sister  of  Pohyola.  When  she 
mocks  him  he  enchant*  her  into  a 
sea-mew. 

Ilsan  the  Monk,  in  the  German 
mediaeval  epic,  The  Rose-Garden  at 
Worms,  a  rude  and  boisterous  fighting 
friar  with  a  certain  rough  good  nature. 
He  joined  his  brother  Hildebrand  in 
an  expedition  against  Kriemhild's 
Rosegarten,  where  he  performed 
prodigies  of  valor  and  won  fifty-two 
garlands.  These,  according  to  prom- 


ise, he  distributed  on  his  return, 
among  his  fellow  friars,  crushing  the 
thorny  trophies  down  upon  their  bare 
crowns  until  they  bled.  In  this 
predicament  he  obliged  them  to  pray 
for  the  remission  of  his  sins.  Such  as 
proved  refractory,  he  tied  together 
by  their  beards,  and  hung  up  across  a 
pole  until  the  stoutest  gave  in.  For 
centuries  Monte  Ilsan  was  a  favorite 
character  among  the  masses  in  Ger- 
many. He  is  frequently  referred  to 
in  popular  songs,  and  the  wood  carv- 
ers of  the  fifteenth  century  delighted 
in  turning  out  his  effigies.  The  monk 
in  Rabelais  is  evidently  a  copy  from 
him. 

Use,  Princess,  according  to  German 
legend,  the  tutelary  spirit  of  the 
Ilsenstein,  a  granite  rock  which  rises 
boldly  from  a  glen  called  the  Ilsen 
in  the  Hartz  Mountains.  At  this  spot 
a  number  of  springs  unite  to  form  the 
Use,  a  brook  that  with  innumerable 
little  waterfalls  ripples  down  the  glen 
and  round  the  base  of  the  great  cliff 
to  which  it  gives  its  name.  Once  an 
enchanted  castle  stood  here  wherein 
dwelt  Princess  Use  with  her  giant 
father,  on  an  opposite  height  dwelt 
the  knight  she  loved.  There  was  no 
chasm  between  the  cliffs  until  one 
day  the  father  discovered  their  stolen 
meetings  and  angrily  split  the  rock  in 
two  with  a  mighty  blow,  thus  forming 
the  glen  through  which  the  river 
glides.  In  despair  the  princess  cast 
herself  from  the  rock  into  the  water 
below.  At  first  she  haunted  the  valley 
dressed  in  a  long  white  robe  and  a 
black  head  dress,  but  her  last  recorded 
appearance  was  on  Ascension  Day  in 
the  sixteenth  century.  It  is  believed 
that  she  is  shut  up  in  the  Ilsenstein. 

Imma  or  Emma,  in  mediaeval 
legend,  a  daughter  of  Charlemagne, 
who  finding  that  snow  had  fallen  dur- 
ing a  nightly  interview  with  her  lover 
Eginhard  (Charlemagne's  secretary 
and  ultimately  his  biographer),  car- 
ried him  on  her  shoulders  to  some 
distance  from  her  bower,  so  that  his 
footsteps  might  not  be  traced.  The 
legend  has  no  historical  foundation. 
Charlemagne  had  no  daughter  of  that 
name,  and  the  story  has  been  related 


Indra 


155 


lo 


of  other  women  of  history.  Long- 
fellow makes  it  the  basis  of  a  poem 
in  his  Tales  of  a  Wayside  Inn. 

Indra,    in    Hindoo    myth,     twin 
brother  of  Agni,  king  of  the  gods  and 
ruler  over  the  firmament.    He  is  not 
an  uncreated  deity,  but  the  son  of 
Heaven  and  Earth.     In  his  turn  he 
became  the  father  of  sun  and  dawn. 
He  is  said  to  have  found  Agni  when 
he  was  hidden  in  the  waters.     The 
two  gods  are  mystically  blended  in  a 
dual    personality    and,    with    Surya, 
form   a   triad   or  trinity.      Indra  is 
represented  with  four  arms,  holding 
lance   and   thunderbolt.     His   body 
was  covered  with  a  thousand  eyes. 
Innocents,    Holy,  the  name  under 
which   the   Roman   and   the   Greek 
church  alike  honor  the  memory  of 
the  babes  slaughtered  by  King  Herod 
to  insure  the  killing  of  the  infant 
Christ.    The  story  is  told  in  Matthew 
ii,  1 6-1 8,  but  legends  greatly  ampli- 
fied the  simple  outlines  of  the  original. 
The  Greek  liturgy  asserts  that  the 
victims  numbered  14,000,  the  Syrians 
64,000,    some     mediaeval     Catholic 
theologians  ran  the  number  up  to 
144,000.    Modern  authorities,  taking 
into    consideration     the    fact    that 
Bethlehem  was  a  small  town,  greatly 
minimized   the   number,   Kellnor  in 
Christ  and   his   Apostles    (1908)    re- 
ducing it  to  about  6.    See  KRISHNA. 

The  connection  of  Herod  with  the  alleged 
massacre  of  the  Innocents  as  related  in  the 
New  Testament  is  now  generally  admitted 
by  independent  Christian  thinkers  to  be 
legendary. — Jewish  Encyclopedia:  Herod. 

The  massacre  of  the  Innocents  squares 
perfectly  with  what  history  relates  of  him 
and  St.  Matthew's  positive  statement  is 
not  contradicted  by  the  mere  silence  of 
Josephus.  for  the  latter  follows  Nicholas 
of  Damascus,  to  whom  as  a  courtier  Herod 
was  a  hero.  Hence  Armstrong  .  .  . 
justly  blames  those  who,  like  Gratz  ... 
for  subjective  reasons,  call  the  evangelist's 
account  a  later  legend. — Catholic  Encyclo- 
pedia: Herod. 

Ino,  in  Greek  myth,  daughter  of 
Cadmus.  She  was  beloved  by  Atha- 
mas,  a  Boeotian  king,  who  had  mar- 
ried Nephele  by  command  of  Here. 
She  had  two  children  by  him,  Lear- 
chus  and  Melicerte.  The  father, 
driven  mad  by  Here,  killed  the  first 


and  pursued  Ino  and  the  other  child 
to  the  cliff  Moluris,  between  Megara 
and  Corinth,  where  the  mother  threw 
herself  with  her  babe  into  the  sea. 
Both  were  changed  into  marine  deities 
and  were  worshipped,  the  one  as 
Leucothea,  the  other  as  Palaemon, 
along  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean. 
They  were  regarded  as  divinities 
ever  ready  to  rescue  mariners  in  dis- 
tress. In  the  Odyssey  v,  333,  Leu- 
cothea rescues  Odysseus  by  throwing 
him  her  veil.  Neptune  has  over- 
whelmed the  raft  on  which  he  left 
Calypso's  island  with  a  mighty  wave: 

Leucothia  saw,  and  pity  touched  her  breast 
(Herself  a  mortal  once,  of  Cadmus'  strain, 
But  now  an  azure  sister  of  the  main). 
Swift  as  a  sea  mew  springing  from  the  flood 
All  radiant  on  the  raft  the  goddess  stood. 

She  extends  to  him  her  "  sacred 
cincture,"  he  binds  it  around  his 
breast,  and  after  two  days  of  drifting 
on  a  spar  lands  safely  on  Phaeacia. 

lo,  in  classic  myth,  a  daughter  of 
Inachus  beloved  by  Zeus,  who  for  fear 
of  the  jealousy  of  Hera  (Juno) 
changed  her  into  a  heifer.  The  wily 
goddess,  aware  of  the  metamorphosis, 
but  concealing  her  knowledge,  ob- 
tained the  heifer  as  a  present  from 
her  consort.  She  had  it  tethered^to 
an  olive  tree  and  set  the  all-seeing 
Argus — him  of  the  hundred  eyes — to 
watch  over  it.  Zeus  now  com- 
missioned Hermes'  to  steal  back  the 
heifer,  but  being  unable  to  elude  the 
vigilance  of  Argus  Hermes  charmed 
him  to  sleep  and  then  slew  him. 
Hera  now  began  to  persecute  lo  in 
many  ways,  particularly  she  sent  a 
gadfly  to  molest  her,  driving  her  from 
land  to  land  until  finally  she  found 
rest  in  Egypt.  Here  she  recovered 
human  form  and  bore  Zeus  a  son 
named  Epaphus.  The  wanderings  of 
lo  were  very  celebrated.  The  Bos- 
phorus  (literally  Oxford)  is  said  to  have 
derived  its  name  from  the  fact  that 
she  swam  across  it.  The  feelings  of 
the  transformed  maiden  are  described 
by  Ovid  with  some  pathos: 

By  the  loved  bank  she  strays 
Of  Machus,  her  childhood's  happy  haunt, 
And  in  the  stream  strange  horns,  reflected 
views, 


Ion 


156 


Iron 


Back-shuddering  at  the  sight.     The  Naiads 

see 

And  know  her  not:  nor  Machus  himself 
Can  recognize  his  child, — though  close  her 

sire 
She    follows — close    her    sister-band, — and 

courts 
Their  praise,  and  joys  to  feel  their  fondling 

hands. 
Some   gathered   herbs   her  father  proffers, 

mute. 
She  licks  and  wets  with  tears  his  honored 

palm 

And  longs  for  words  to  ask  his  aid,  and  tell 
Her  name,  her  sorrows. 

She  contrives  at  last  to  tell  her  tale 
in  letters  scraped  by  her  hoof. 

Ion,  in  classic  myth,  son  of  Apollo 
and  Creusa,  and  grandson  of  Helen  of 
Troy,  the  fabled  ancestor  of  the 
Ionian  or  Athenian  Greeks.  He  is 
the  titular  hero  of  a  drama  (423  B.C.), 
by  Euripides.  Hermes  takes  the 
new-born  infant  to  Apollo's  temple 
at  Delphi,  where  his  upbringing  is 
singularly  like  that  of  the  child 
Samuel  in  the  Old  Testament.  The 
greater  part  of  the  plot  is  concerned 
with  the  efforts  of  Creusa  to  destroy 
Ion,  unknowing  that  he  is  her  son. 

Another  Ion  is  the  hero  of  Thomas 
Noon  Talfourd's  tragedy  of  that  name 
(!835).  The  son  of  the  king  of  Argos, 
what  time  that  country  is  devastated 
by  a  pestilence,  he  offers  himself  as  a 
sacrifice  when  the  oracle  at  Delphi 
declares  that  the  gods  can  only  be 
appeased  by  the  death  of  some  mem- 
ber of  the  guilty  race  of  Argos. 

Iphigenia,  in  classic  myth,  a 
daughter  of  Agamemnon  and  Cly- 
temnestra.  When  the  Greeks  on 
their  way  to  the  Trojan  war  were 
detained  at  Aulis  by  contrary  winds, 
Kalchas  the  soothsayer  announced 
that  Artemis  was  incensed  because 
Agamemnon  had  slain  a  deer  and 
demanded  in  atonement  the  sacrifice 
of  Iphigenia.  She  was  actually  slain, 
in  the  dramas  of  ^schylus  and  Sopho- 
cles. The  feeling  of  later  times 
revolted  against  this  injustice  and 
just  as  the  story  of  Jephtha's  vow 
was  eventually  softened  down  to 
something  less  barbarous,  so  in 
^uripides's  drama,  Iphigenia  (407 
B.C.),  the  sacrifice  was  prevented 
just  as  the  knife  was  poised  to  plunge 
into  her  breast.  Iphigenia  suddenly 


disappeared  and  a  superb  goat  was 
found  in  the  place  where  she  had 
stood.  Twenty  years  later  Euripides 
produced  Iphigenia  in  Tauris.  This 
revealed  the  fact  that  the  appointed 
victim  had  been  spirited  away  by 
Artemis  to  become  priestess  of  her 
temple  in  Tauris.  See  ORESTES  and 
PYLADES. 

Homer  makes  no  allusion  to  Iphigenia 
though  he  does  mention  Iphianassa,  a 
daughter  of  Agamemnon  who  was  sur- 
rendered as  a  hostage  on  his  reconciliation 
with  Achilles.  The  two  may  be  identical. 
As  to  the  story  of  her  sacrifice,  the  Greeks 
may  have  borrowed  it  from  the  story  of 
Jephtha's  daughter,  or  both  stones  may 
have  sprung  from  a  common  origin.  And 
similarly  the  story  of  the  substitution  of  a 
hind  has  analogies  with  the  substituted 
offering  for  Isaac  when  about  to  be  sacrificed 
by  his  father.  OVID,  Metamorphoses,  xii, 
is  the  chief  authority  for  the  actual  immo- 
lation of  Iphigenia.  He  is  supported  by 
Lucretius  and  Diodorus  Siculus. 

Iphis,  in  classic  myth,  whose  legend 
is  versified  by  Ovid  (Metamorphoses, 
ix,  12;  xiv,  699),  was  the  daughter  of 
Lydus  and  Telethusa  of  Crete.  Be- 
fore her  birth  Lydus  had  threatened 
to  put  the  infant  to  death  if  it  turned 
out  a  girl.  Telethusa  to  save  it 
brought  it  up  as  a  boy.  Eventually 
Lydus  betrothed  Iphis  to  lanthe. 
The  mother  in  terror  appealed  to  Isis, 
who  changed  the  girl  into  a  youth  on 
the  wedding  day.  Similar  stories  of 
sex-transformation  are  told  of  Csneus 
and  Tiresias. 

Iris,  in  classic  myth,  daughter  of 
Thaumas  and  Electra  and  sister  of 
the  Harpies.  Homer  makes  her  the 
messenger  of  the  gods  in  the  Iliad, 
but  in  the  Odyssey  her  name  is  never 
mentioned  and  Hermes  takes  her 
place  as  messenger.  The  later  poets 
made  her  a  personification  of  the 
rainbow,  but  originally  the  rainbow 
was  only  the  path  whereon  Iris 
travelled  between  heaven  and  earth. 
It,  therefore,  appeared  whenever 
needed  and  vanished  when  its  uses 
were  over.  Iris  was  represented  as  a 
virgin  by  Homer,  the  later  poets  made 
her  the  wife  of  Zephyrus  and  the 
mother  of  Eros  or  Cupid. 

Iron  Mask,  The  Man  with  the,  was 
a  mysterious  prisoner  whom  Louis 


Iron 


157 


Isambourg 


XIV  kept  in  close  confinement  for 
twenty-four  years,  first  at  Pignerol, 
then  at  the  Isle  of  Ste.  Marguerite, 
and  finally  in  the  Bastile,  where  he 
died  November  19,  1703.  He  was 
never  seen  without  the  famous  mask, 
which  was  not  really  made  of  iron, 
however,  but  of  black  velvet,  fur- 
nished with  steel  springs,  to  allow  for 
the  motion  of  the  face  in  eating.  It 
it  not  likely  that  the  secret  will  ever 
be  satisfactorily  solved.  After  the 
destruction  of  the  Bastile,  the  register 
of  the  prison  was  searched  in  vain 
for  something  that  would  throw  light 
on  the  mystery.  Napoleon  himself 
made  an  unsuccessful  attempt  to  in- 
vestigate it.  Numerous  conjectures 
have  from  time  to  time  been  made 
and  have  obtained  more  or  less 
credence. 

The  most  plausible  is  that  which 
identifies  him  with  Count  Ercole 
Matthioli,  senator  of  Mantua,  and 
private  agent  to  the  Duke  of  Mantua, 
who  had  deceived  Louis  XIV  in  a 
secret  treaty  for  the  purchase  of  the 
fortress  of  Casale  by  accepting  a 
higher  bribe  from  Spain  and  Austria. 
The  punishment  had  to  be  equally 
secret,  the  very  identity  of  the  victim 
had  to  be  concealed,  in  order  to  hide 
the  turpitude  alike  of  king  and  duke. 
Moreover  the  capture  and  imprison- 
ment of  Matthioli  were  high-handed 
outrages  against  international  law 
which  would  have  aroused  the  indig- 
nation of  Europe  against  France. 

For  the  rest  the  Iron  Mask  has 
been  variously  supposed  to  be  Fou- 
quet,  the  disgraced  Minister  of 
Finance;  Louis,  Count  of  Vermandois, 
the  illegitimate  son  of  Louis  XIV, 
punished  in  this  manner  for  having 
struck  the  Dauphin;  the  turbulent 
Due  de  Beaufort,  commonly  known 
as  "the  king  of  the  markets";  the 
schismatic  Armenian  patriarch,  Ar- 
wediecks,  noted  for  his  hostility  to 
the  Catholics  of  the  East;  and  the 
Duke  of  Monmouth,  illegitimate 
brother  of  James  II,  although  the 
fate  of  all  these  personages  has  been 
otherwise  chronicled  by  history.  _  A 
more  widely  accepted  story,  which 
originated  with  Voltaire,  made  him  an 


illegitimate  son  of  Anne  of  Austria, 
Louis  XIV's  mother,  by  either  Cardi- 
nal Mazarin  or  the  Duke  of  Bucking- 
ham. 

The  Abbe"  Soulaire,  in  1790, 
broached  a  theory  which  has  proved 
very  popular  with  dramatists  and 
novelists.  He  made  the  Iron-Mask  a 
twin  brother  of  Louis  XIV.  A 
prophecy  having  foretold  disaster  to 
the  royal  family  from  a  double  birth, 
Louis  XIII  had  caused  the  last  born 
of  the  twins  to  be  brought  up  in 
secret.  Louis  XIV  learned  of  his 
twin  brother's  existence  only  after 
Mazarin's  death,  and  the  brother, 
having  discovered  the  secret  of  his 
birth  by  means  of  a  portrait,  was 
condemned  to  perpetual  imprison- 
ment. Zschokke  and  Fournier  have 
both  written  tragedies  in  which  this 
view  is  accepted.  Alexandre  Dumas 
has  a  romance  called  THe  Iron 
Mask,  in  which  he  ingeniously  avails 
himself  of  this  story  of  the  twin  birth 
by  making  the  mask  the  real  Louis 
XIV,  who  is  deposed  by  a  conspiracy, 
and  in  his  place  is  substituted  his 
twin  brother.  The  remarkable  like- 
ness between  the  two  facilitates  the 
deception. 

Isabella,  heroine  of  a  tale  in  Boc- 
caccio's Decameron  (iv,  5),  and  of  a 
poem  by  Keats,  Isabella  or  the  Pot  of 
Basil  (1820).  A  young  woman  of 
Messina,  living  with  her  three 
brothers,  she  carries  on  a  love  affair 
with  Lorenzo  the  steward,  which 
being  discovered,  her  brothers  put 
him  secretly  to  death.  Lorenzo  ap- 
pears to  Isabella  in  a  dream,  reveals 
his  fate  and  his  place  of  burial,  and 
she  privately  brings  away  his  head. 
Putting  it  in  a  pot  of  basil  and  other 
sweet  herbs  she  laments  over  it  even,* 
day.  At  length  they  take  it  away 
from  her,  and  she  pines  away  and 
dies.  See  GHISMONDA. 

Isambourg,  La  Belle  (Fr.  The  Fair 
Isambourg),  heroine  of  a  ballad  of 
that  name  widely  known  in  France. 
She  refuses  the  bridegroom  provided 
for  her  by  the  king,  her  heart  being 
fixed  upon  a  poor  knight.  The  king 
shuts  her  up  in  a  tower;  she  feigns 
death;  is  carried  to  burial  by  three 


Isingrin 


158 


Isond 


princes  and  a  knight;  her  lover, 
cognizant  of  the  stratagem,  bids  the 
bearers  stop  that  he  may  say  a 
prayer  over  the  coffin.  He  rips  open 
a  little  of  the  shroud,  she  looks  up  and 
smiles  at  him.  In  the  cognate  Scotch 
ballad,  The  Gay  Gosshawk,  stanza  26 
runs  as  follows: 

"Lay  down,  lay  down  the  blgly  bier 

Lat  me  the  dead  look  on;" 

Wi  cherry  cheeks  and  ruby  Hps 

She  lay  an  smiled  on  him. 

Isingrin  or  Isengrim,  Sir,  in  the 
mediaeval  epic  of  Reynard  the  Fox, 
the  wolf  who  as  the  type  of  the  barons 
is  overreached  by  his  nephew  Rey- 
nard, representing  the  Church. 

Isis,  the  chief  Egyptian  female 
deity,  wife  and  sister  of  Osiris  and 
mother  of  Horus.  She  was  originally 
the  goddess  of  the  earth  and  after- 
wards of  the  moon.  Set,  the  brother 
of  Isis  and  Osiris,  plotted  mischief 
against  the  latter.  Secretly  taking 
his  measurements  he  made  a  hand- 
some coffin,  then  on  a  festival  night 
offered  it  to  whomever  it  would  fit. 
Osiris  took  his  turn  at  lying  down  in 
it.  Set  fastened  the  lid  over  him  and 
threw  the  coffin  into  the  Nile.  Then 
began  the  sorrows  of  Isis.  She 
wandered  far  and  wide  seeking  the 
remains  of  her  husband,  and  in  the 
swamps  of  the  Delta  gave  birth  to 
Horus.  Finally  she  discovered  the 
coffer  in  Byblus,  but  during  one  of 
her  absences  to  visit  Horus,  Set 
opened  it  and  cut  up  the  body  into 
fourteen  pieces.  Isis  recovered  the 
fragments  and  put  them  together 
again  and  Osiris  became  the  god  of 
the  dead. 

Apuleius  tells  us  that  the  cult  of 
Isis  was  introduced  at  Rome  in  the 
time  of  Sulla.  Many  enactments 
were  passed  to  check  the  licentious- 
ness of  her  worship  but  were  resisted 
by  the  populace.  Those  initiated  in 
her  mysteries  wore  in  the  public 
processions  masks  resembling  the 
heads  of  dogs. 

Ismene,  heroine  of  a  Greek  ro- 
mance, Ismene  and  Ismenias,  written 
in  the  twelfth  century  (A.D.)  by 
Eustathius.  She  is  memorable  as 


being  the  first  hoyden  in  fiction.  On 
her  first  introduction  to  Ismenias  as 
her  father's  guest  she  makes  a  dead 
set  for  him,  presses  his  hand  under 
the  table  and  at  length  proceeds  so 
far  that  Ismenias  bursts  into  laughter. 
Heliodorus  had  painted  his  Arsace 
and  Tatius  his  Melite  as  women 
equally  forward,  but  these  were 
heteras.  Eustathius  was  the  first  to 
introduce  a  pure  woman  making  all 
the  advances  in  courtship. 

Isolde,  Iseulte  or  Yseult,  the  name 
of  two  ladies  in  Arthurian  romance, 
rivals  for  the  possession  of  Sir  Tris- 
tram. Iseulte  of  the  White  Hands 
was  his  wife  whom  he  married  without 
loving  her;  Iseult  the  Fair,  whom  he 
loved,  was  the  wife  of  his  uncle,  Sir 
Mark.  He  had  been  deputed  to. bring 
Sir  Mark's  bride  to  him  when  the 
elder  knight  married  her  by  proxy; 
the  two  young  people  had  accident- 
ally drunk  together  a  rnagic  potion 
intended  to  ensure  the  reciprocal  love 
of  Mark  and  Iseulte  and  had  fallen 
helpless  victims  to  its  power.  See 
TRISTAN,  YSEULTE. 

Isond,  La  Beale  (the  Fair  or  the 
Beautiful),  in  Sir  Thomas  Malory's 
Morte  d' Arthur,  ii  (1470),  the  wife  of 
King  Mark  of  Cornwall,  Tristram's 
uncle.  She  was  in  love  with  Tristram 
before  her  marriage — having  cured 
him  of  wounds  received  in  his  victory 
over  Sir  Marhaus — and  when  she 
grew  to  hate  her  husband  she  eloped 
with  his  nephew.  For  a  period  the 
two  dwelt  in  La  Joyeuse  Garde,  but 
Tristram  finally  restored  her  to  her 
husband  and  made  a  loveless  marriage 
with  Isond  of  the  Fair  Hands  (Isonde 
aux  Beaux  Mains). 

On  his  deathbed  Tristram  sent  for 
his  first  love,  knowing  she  alone  could 
cure  him.  If  she  consented  to  come 
the  vessel  was  to  hoist  a  white  flag. 
Tristram's  wife  through  jealousy 
reported  that  the  vessel  carried  a 
black  flag,  whereupon  the  knight  fell 
back  dead.  Isond  expired  on  his 
corpse.  Tennyson  in  The  Last 
Tournament  calls  the  ladies  Isolt,  and 
gives  a  new  version  of  the  death  of 
Tristram.  One  day  the  knight,  dally- 
ing with  Isolt  the  Fair,  put  a  ruby 


Israfel 


159 


Iwein 


carcanet  round  her  neck  and  kissed 
her  throat.  Then 

Out   of   the  dark,    just    as    the    lips    had 

touched 

Behind  him  rose  a  shadow  and  a  shriek — 
"Mark's  way!"  said  Mark  and  clove  him 
through  the  brain. 

In  other  poems  and  romances  the 
name  is  spelled  ISEULTE,  YSEULTE 
or  YSOLDE  and  the  details  differ.  See 
these  entries. 

Israfel  or  Israfil,  in  Mohammedan 
myth,  the  angel  of  music,  whose 
voice  is  more  melodious  than  that  of 
any  other  creature.  According  to  the 
Koran  he  will  sound  the  resurrection 
blast  at  the  last  day  and  then  Gabriel 
and  Michael  will  call  together  the 
"  dry  bones  "  to  judgment. 

Poe  has  a  lyric,  Israfel,  to  which  he 
prefixes  this  quotation  from  the 
Koran,  "  And  the  angel  Israfel,  whose 
heart-strings  are  a  lute  and  who  has 
the  sweetest  voice  of  all  God's  crea- 
tures." It  opens  thus: 

In  Heaven  a  spirit  doth  dwell 

"Whose  heart-strings  are  a  lute:" 

None  sing  so  wildly  well 

As  the  angel  Israfel, 

And  the  giddy  stars  so  legends  tell 

Ceasing  their  hymns,  attend  the  spell 
Of  his  voice,  all  mute. 

Isumbras,  Isenbras  or  Ysumbras, 
Sir,  in  mediaeval  romance,  a  proud 
and  haughty  knight  humbled  by 
adversity  so  that  he  befriended  the 
poor  and  needy  whom  formerly  he 
had  oppressed.  A  famous  incident  is 
that  of  mounting  the  two  children 
of  a  woodcutter  upon  his  horse  and 
so  carrying  them  across  a  ford.  This 
is  the  subject  of  a  picture  by  Millais. 

Iwein,  hero  of  a  mediaeval  German 
epic  of  that  name  (circa  1210),  by 
Hartmann  von  Aue,  based  on  an 
Arthurian  legend  already  versified 
by  Chretien  de  Troyes  and  closely 
akin  to  a  tale  The  Lady  of  the  Foun- 
tain in  the  Mabinogion. 

At  a  great  festival  held  by  King 
Arthur  at  Pentecost,  Iwein's  imagi- 
nation was  fired  by  stories  told  of 
King  Askalon.  In  this  king's  do- 
minions there  was  a  fountain  over 
which  hung  a  golden  bowl.  The 
seeker  after  adventure  was  to  pour 


some  water  from  the  bowl  upon  a 
marble  slab  beneath;  a  furious 
thunder-storm  would  arise;  Askalon 
would  make  his  appearance  and  give 
battle  to  the  intruder.  Many  brave 
knights  had  been  overcome.  Iwein 
sought  the  fountain,  everything  hap- 
pened as  he  had  been  told,  and  he 
succeeded  in  slaying  King  Askalon. 
He  fell  in  love  with  his  widow  Lau- 
dine;  through  her  maid,  Lunete, 
obtained  an  interview,  won  her  heart, 
and  married  her.  Such  was  the 
happiness  of  the  pair  that  Sir  Gawein 
deemed  it  necessary  to  warn  Iwein 
not  to  be  like  Erec  and  forget  in  his 
wife's  embraces  the  duties  of  chivalry. 
Thereupon  Iwein  took  leave  of  Lau- 
dine,  and  went  in  search  of  adven- 
tures. A  year  he  remained  at  King 
Arthur's  court,  performing  great 
feats.  Then  a  message  came  to  him 
from  Laudine,  accusing  him  of  having 
forgotten  her,  and  telling  him  that 
because  of  his  faithlessness  she  loved 
him  no  longer;  whereupon  he  wan- 
dered away  over  the  world  like  one 
distraught,  but  everywhere  he  went 
he  wrought  great  deeds,  and  in  these 
deeds  he  was  assisted  by  a  lion  which 
in  the  course  of  his  wanderings  he  had 
once  rescued  from  a  dragon.  AHast 
he  came  by  chance  into  Laudine's 
realm.  Here  he  found  that  his  old 
friend  Lunete,  falsely  accused,  had 
been  condemned  to  death  by  the 
queen.  He  did  battle  for  her  sake, 
and,  with  the  help  of  his  lion,  van- 
quished her  accusers.  When  the 
queen  asked  him  his  name,  he  an- 
swered only  that  he  was  the  Knight 
of  the  Lion,  and  wandered  away  in 
quest  of  further  adventures.  But 
after  many  years  an  intense  longing 
for  Laudine  seized  him.  Thereupon 
he  repaired  to  the  fountain  and 
caused  a  furious  thunder-storm,  so 
that  the  queen  and  her  people  were 
rilled  with  dismay.  In  her  distress, 
Laudine  asked  Lunete's  advice.  The 
latter  told  her  that  she  must  have 
recourse  to  the  Knight  of  the  Lion, 
whose  assistance  could  only  be  ob- 
tained if  Laudine  would  promise  to 
reconcile  him  to  his  wife.  The  unsus- 
pecting queen  gave  the  required  oath. 


Ixion 


160 


Jack 


Then  Iwein  appeared,  and  a  sincere 
reconciliation  took  place. 

Ixion,  in  classic  myth,  the  husband 
of  Dia,  to  whose  father,  Deioneus,  he 
had  promised  valuable  bridal  gifts  in 
accordance  with  ancient  usage.  When 
the  old  man  came  to  demand  them 
Ixion  treacherously  invited  him  to  a 
banquet  and  contrived  to  make  him 
fall  into  a  pit  filled  with  fire.  This 
crime,  held  by  the  Greeks  to  be  the 
first  murder  of  a  relative  that  had  ever 
occurred,  drew  down  upon  him  a 
frenzy  that  made  Ixion  wander 


around  the  world  in  hopeless  weari- 
ness until  Zeus  at  last  took  compas- 
sion upon  him  and  cleansed  him.  He 
ungratefully  laid  siege  to  Hera,  who 
deceived  him  with  a  cloud  which 
assumed  her  shape.  From  this  union 
sprang  the  centaurs.  Ixion  being 
audacious  enough  to  boast  of  his 
fancied  conquest  over  the  goddess 
was  cast  into  Tartarus  by  Zeus. 
There  he  was  bound  by  Hercules 
to  a  winged  or  fiery  wheel,  which 
was  in  a  state  of  perpetual  revo- 
lution. 


Jack,  originally  an  Anglicised  form 
of  the  French  Jacques,  early  estab- 
lished itself  as  the  diminutive  of  John, 
the  commonest  of  English  Christian 
names,  and  was  hence  used  as  a  term 
of  contempt  applied  as  a  single  word 
or  in  composition  to  objects  either 
animate  or  inanimate.  Thus  we  have 
boot- jack,  black-jack,  etc.,  among 
inanimate  things;  and  among  animals, 
jackass,  jackdaw,  jackrabbit,  while  as 
designations  for  various  grades  and 
classes  of  human  beings  we  have 
Jack-a-dandy,  Jack-of-all-trades,  etc. 

Jack,  hero  of  an  English  nursery 
tale,  Jack  and  the  Beanstalk,  based  on 
a  myth  that  is  found  among  South 
African  Zulus  and  North  American 
Indians  as  well  as  among  the  races 
of  Aryan  descent.  Sent  out  to  sell  a 
cow  he  enraged  his  mother  by  return- 
ing with  a  few  beans  which  he  had 
taken  in  exchange.  She  hurled  the 
beans  away.  One  fell  into  the  garden 
and  grew  overnight  into  the  clouds. 
Jack  climbed  the  beanstalk  and  came 
to  the  castle  of  a  giant  whom  he 
;ked  successively  out  of  his  red 
hen  which  laid  golden  eggs,  his  money 
bags  and  his  harp.  When  the  giant 
at  last  gave  chase  Jack  fled  down  the 
beanstalk  and  cut  it  as  the  giant  was 
f  way  down  in  pursuit.  The  latter 
fell  to  earth  and  was  killed 

Jack  and  Jill,  hero  and  heroine  of 
a  familiar  nursery  rhyme.  They  are 
presumably  drawn  from  Icelandic 
myth,  where  we  are  told  of  two  chil- 


dren stolen  and  taken  up  into  the 
moon  who  still  stand  there  with  a 
pail  of  water  between  them.  The 
Scandinavian  peasant  will  point  them 
put  on  any  clear  night  when  the  moon 
is  at  the  full,  as  English  speaking 
races  point  out  to  their  children  "  the 
man  in  the  moon." 

Jack-in-the-Green,  a  puppet  char- 
acter in  the  old  English  May-day 
games. 

Jack-oVLantern.  See  WILL  o'  THE 
WISP. 

Jack  the  Giant  Killer,  hero  of  an 
English  nursery  tale  first  found  in 
English  literature  in  Walter  Map,  but 
indirectly  derived  by  him  from  an- 
cient Teutonic  or  Indo-European 
legends  which  had  become  domesti- 
cated in  northern  Europe.  The 
English  tale  makes  him  "  a  valiant 
Cornishman,"  who  when  a  mere 
child  began  his  career  of  gianticide 
by  strategically  precipitating  the 
huge  Cormoran  into  a  pit  and  then 
knocking  him  on  the  head  with  a 
pickaxe.  In  his  later  adventures 
against  other  giants  Jack  was  aided 
by  a  coat  of  invisibility,  a  cap  of 
knowledge,  an  irresistible  sword,  and 
shoes  of  swiftness,  all  which  magic 
implement^  he  had  cozened  out  of 
a  heavy-witted  giant  by  superior 
cunning.  His  services  in  ridding  the 
country  of  undesirable  monsters  won 
him  a  seat  at  Arthur's  Round  Table, 
a  large  estate  and  a  duke's  daughter 
to  wife. 


Jaggenath 


101 


Jinns 


Jaggenath  or  Juggernaut  (Sanskrit 
"Lord  of  the  World"),  a  Hindu  deity, 
probably  of  merely  local  origin.  His 
idol  is  kept  in  a  temple  at  Puri,  a  town 
in  Orissa,  and  exposed  to  public  view 
three  days  in  every  year.  On  the 
first  day,  called  the  Bathing  Festival, 
the  image  is  bathed  by  the  priests. 
For  ten  days  he  is  supposed  to  be 
detained  in-doors  with  a  cold.  The 
tenth  day  is  the  Car  Festival,  when 
the  image  is  taken  in  its  lofty  chariot, 
60  feet  high,  to  the  nearest  temple. 
A  week  passes,  the  god  is  now  pro- 
nounced cured,  and  the  car  is  pulled 
back  among  shouting  thousands,  who 
crowd  so  near  it  that  they  are  some- 
times run  over  by  accident,  while 
occasionally  a  fanatic  voluntarily 
immolates  himself  beneath  the  wheels. 

Jamshied  or  Giamschid,  in  oriental 
myth,  a  suleyman  of  the  Peris.  After 
a  reign  of  700  years  he  began,  not 
unnaturally,  to  conceive  that  he  was 
immortal.  God,  however,  punished 
his  pride  by  incasing  him  in  a 
human  form  and  sending  him  down  to 
live  on  earth.  He  became  a  great 
conqueror  and  ruled  over  both  the 
East  and  the  West. 

Janus,  an  ancient  Italian  solar 
deity.  In  Roman  myth  he  was  the 
doorkeeper  of  heaven  and  the  special 
patron  of  the  beginning  and  end  of 
things.  As  the  protector  of  doors  and 
gateways  he  held  a  staff  in  one  hand, 
a  key  in  the  other.  As  the  god  of 
sunrise  and  sunset  he  had  two  faces, 
one  turned  to  the  east,  the  other  to 
the  west.  A  gateway  (common  error 
makes  it  a  temple)  in  Rome  was  dedi- 
cated to  Janus,  and  was  kept  open 
in  time  of  war  and  closed  in  time  of 
peace. 

Jason,  the  hero  of  the  Argonautica, 
by  Apollonius  Rhodius  (B.C.  222- 
181),  an  epic  poem  describing  the 
adventures  of  the  Argonauts,  which 
is  reckoned  the  masterpiece  of  Alex- 
.  andrian  literature.  Apollonius  found 
his  materials  in  Greek  tradition  which 
he  welded  into  their  final  form,  and 
his  poem  in  turn  was  utilized  by 
Virgil  in  his  account  of  Medea  (sEneid, 
Book  iv).  Jason  was  the  son  of  Eson, 
king  of  lolcus  in  Thessaly,  but  his 

11 


father  was  dethroned  by  Pelias. 
Jason  thereupon  accepted  command 
of  the  50  Argonauts  who  set  out  in 
search  of  the  Golden  Fleece  in  Colchis. 
The  Colchian  king,  Acetes,  promised 
to  surrender  the  fleece  if  Jason  would 
yoke  to  a  plough  two  fire-breathing 
oxen  with  brazen  teeth  and  sow  the 
dragon's  teeth  left  by  Cadmus  in 
Thebes.  Acetes's  daughter  Medea, 
falling  in  love  with  Jason,  furnished 
him  with  the  means  of  resisting  fire 
and  steel  and  putting  to  sleep  the 
guardian  dragon.  After  capturing 
the  fleece,  Jason  sailed  away  with 
Medea,  and  met  with  many  adven- 
tures and  arrived  at  last  in  lolcus, 
which  Jason  reconquered. 

Jeckoyva,  an  Indian  chief,  who, 
according  to  tradition,  perished  alone 
on  the  mountain,  near  the  White 
Hills,  which  now  bears  his  name. 
Night  overtook  him  whilst  hunting 
among  the  cliffs,  and  he  was  not  heard 
of  till  after  a  long  time,  when  his 
half-decayed  corpse  was  found  at  the 
foot  of  a  high  rock,  over  which  he 
must  have  fallen.  One  of  Long- 
fellow's early  poems,  not  included  in 
his  collected  works,  has  this  legend 
for  a  subject. 

Jehane,  heroine  of  a  French  ro- 
mance, King  Florus  and  the  Fair 
Jehane,  dating  back  to  the  thirteenth 
century.  William  Morris  has  put  it 
into  English  prose  in  his  Old  French 
Romances  (1896).  It  contains  the 
root  incident  of  Cymbeline,  the  wager 
about  a  wife's  chastity,  her  discom- 
fiture by  a  villain  and  her  final  tri- 
umph. Like  Imogene,  too,  Jehane 
assumes  male  attire,  but  it  is  to 
accompany  her  husband  incognito 
into  the  wars. 

Jinns,  in  Mohammedan  myth,  a 
race  of  supernatural  beings  known  as 
genie  in  the  current  translation  of  the 
Arabian  Nights,  who  are  fabled  to 
have  sprung  from  the  marriage  of 
Eblis  with  Lilith,  the  first  wife  of 
Adam.  They  were  endowed  with  six 
qualities,  of  which  they  share  three 
with  men  and  three  with  devils.  Like 
men  they  generate  in  their  own  like- 
ness, eat  and  die.  Like  devils  they 
are  winged,  are  invisible  and  can 


Joan 


162 


John-a -dreams 


pass  through  solid  substances  with- 
out injuring  them.  '  This  race  of 
Jinns  is  supposed  to  be  less  noxious 
to  man  than  the  devils,  and^indeed 
to  live  in  some  sort  of  familiarity  and 
friendship  with  them,  as  in  part 
sharers  of  their  nature.  The  author 
of  the  history  of  Alexander  of  Mace- 
don  relates  that  in  a  certain  region  of 
India  on  certain  hours  of  the  day,  the 
young  Jinns  assume  a  human  form, 
and  appear  openly  and  play  games 
quite  familiarly  with  the  native 
children  of  human  parents." — ABRA- 
HAM ECCHELENSIS:  Historia  Arabum, 
p.  268. 

Joan,  Pope,  the  heroine  of  a  legend 
discreditable  to  the  Papacy,  incredible 
in  itself,  now  universally  discredited, 
which,  nevertheless,  found  unques- 
tioning belief  in  Rome  and  through- 
out Europe,  and  was  long  used  as  a 
weapon  of  party  warfare  by  factions 
within  and  without  the  church. 

A  girl  whom  the  original  version 
made  English  or  German,  though 
ecclesiastical  prejudice  afterwards 
turned  her  into  a  Greek,  is  supposed 
to  come  to  Rome,  where  she  passed 
herself  off  as  a  man.  She  attracted 
notice  by  a  learning  above  that  of  all 
the  theologians  of  the  city,  was 
ordained  a  priest,  raised  to  the  cardi- 
nalate  and  at  last  elected  pope  under 
the  name  of  John.  Her  paramour, 
the  companion  of  her  wanderings, 
she  makes  a  cardinal.  She  has  fre- 
quent interviews  with  him,  but  the 
secret  is  successfully  kept,  and  she 
comports  herself  well  in  her  office, 
until  the  fatal  day  when  going  in 
procession  to  say  mass  at  St.  John 
Lateran,  she  is  taken  in  the  open 
street  with  the  pains  of  labor  and 
delivered  of  a  child.  Accounts  differ 
as  to  her  fate.  A  few  allow  her  to 
escape  and  repent,  but  the  most 
make  her  die  on  the  spot,  or  be  stoned 
to  death  by  the  people. 

All  this  together  with  other  details 
which  are  excrescences  upon  the 
original  legend  is  seemingly  confirmed 
by  certain  practices  observed  by  the 
popes,  especially  in  the  ceremonies  at 
their  installation — some  of  these 
apparently  having  been  invented  for 


the  sake  of  the  story.  All  sorts 
of  semi-historical  explanations  have 
been  suggested. 

All  are  vitiated  by  the  fact  that  for 
400  years  after  the  alleged  date  of  the 
event  no  hint  of  it  is  found  in  any 
surviving  document.  There  is  no 
earlier  mention  of  her  than  a  book 
by  Stephen  de  Bourbon,  a  French 
Dominican  of  the  I3th  century.  Yet 
in  the  papal  catalogues  of  a  later 
Middle  Age  Pope  Joanna  is  placed 
between  Leo  IV  and  Benedict  III  and 
the  date  of  her  election  is  given  as  855. 
These  difficulties  are  cleared  away  by 
Dollinger,  Legends  of  the  Medieval 
Papacy  (1863),  who  thinks  that  the 
legend  was  of  comparatively  recent 
date,  that  it  floated  about  at  first 
unattached  to  any  definite  person  or 
time,  and  finally  was  interpolated  by 
some  person  unknown,  to  fill  up  a 
blank,  in  the  chronicle  of  Martinus 
Polonus. 

As  to  the  immediate  origin  of  the 
myth,  Dollinger  refers  it  to  an  ancient 
statue  of  a  heathen  goddess  with 
flowing  garments,  holding  a  child  in 
an  equivocal  position,  whose  muti- 
lated inscription  was  misread  to  give 
color  to  the  idea  that  it  represented 
a  woman  in  childbirth.  It  so  hap- 
pened that  the  street  where  the  statue 
stood  was  one  which  the  papal  pro- 
cessions always  avoided,  hence  the 
localization  of  the  public  catastro- 
phe. The  ready  belief  which  greeted 
the  story  he  ascribes  to  the  efforts  of 
the  Dominicans  and  Franciscans.  It 
began  to  be  diffused  about  the  time  of 
Boniface  VIII,  when  both  the  great 
orders,  their  minds  embittered  against 
the  Holy  See,  were  as  ready  as  the 
laity  to  welcome  it. 

John-a-dreams,  apparently  a  cur- 
rent name  in  Elizabethan  times  to 
denote  a  dreamer,  a  sluggard.  Thus 
Shakspear's  Hamlet  in  self -rebuke: 

Yet  I 

A  dull  and  muddy-mettled  rascal,  peak 
Like    John-a-Dreams    unpregnant    of    my 

cause 
And  can  say  nothing. 

In  a  note  to  this  passage  Collier 
says,  "  The  only  mention  yet  met 
with  of  John-a-dreams  is  in  Armin's 


John  the  Baptist 


163 


Joyeuse 


Nest  of  Ninnies,  1608.  '  His  name 
is  John,  indeede,  says  the  cinnick, 
but  neither  John  a  nods  nor  John  a 
dreams,  yet  either  as  you  take  it.'  " 

John  the  Baptist  is  alluded  to  under 
this  name  by  Josephus  in  Antiquities 
of  the  Jews,  xviii,  5.  Josephus  tells  us 
that  the  destruction  of  Herod's  army 
by  Aretas,  king  of  Arabia  Petraea, 
was  attributed  by  many  to  the  divine 
vengeance;  for  Herod  had  slain 
"  John  who  was  called  the  Baptist," 
a  good  man,  who  exhorted  the  Jews 
to  virtue,  "  and  so  to  come  to  bap- 
tism, for  that  the  washing  would  be 
acceptable  to  God,  if  they  made  use 
of  it,  not  in  order  to  the  putting  away 
of  some  sins,  but  for  the  purification 
of  the  body;  supposing  still  that  the 
soul  was  thoroughly  purified  before- 
hand by  righteousness."  John's 
preaching  attracted  great  crowds  and 
Herod,  fearing  that  he  might  con- 
template raising  a  rebellion,  im- 
prisoned him  in  the  castle  of  Mach- 
aerus  and  there  put  him  to  death.  See 
HERODIAS,  SALOME. 

Jones  (a  possible  corruption  from 
Jonah),  Davy.  Among  sailors  a 
humorous  synonym  for  Death,  an- 
ciently the  name  of  an  evil  spirit  who 
presided  over  the  demons  of  the  sea, 
was  present  in  storms  and  often  re- 
vealed himself  to  human  vision  as  a 
giant  with  frightful  goggly  eyes,  and 
three  rows  of  sharp  teeth  in  his 
enormous  mouth,  emitting  blue  flames 
from  his  nostrils.  "  To  go  down  to 
Davy  Jones's  locker,"  is  still  used  as 
a  euphemism  for  drowning. 

Josaphat,  according  to  mediaeval 
legend,  was  the  son  of  Abenner,  an 
Oriental  king,  who  persecuted  the 
Christians  in  the  time  of  St.  Thomas, 
Apostle  to  India.  At  the  youth's 
birth,  sages  predicted  that  he  would 
adopt  an  alien  faith  and  become  ruler 
of  a  kingdom  vaster  than  his  father's. 
King  Abenner  built  for  him  a  palace 
in  a  secluded  city  where  no  stranger 
was  admitted.  Only  young  people 
surrounded  him.  Sorrow,  sickness, 
poverty  and  death  are  words  and 
things  unknown  to  him.  One  day 
the  king  gives  him  leave  to  go  out- 
side the  palace  limits.  He  meets 


successively  a  leper,  a  blind  man,  an 
aged  man.  His  eyes  are  thus  opened 
to  the  existence  of  sickness,  misfor- 
tune, old  age  and  death.  Later  a 
holy  hermit,  named  Barlaam,  divinely 
warned,  travels  to  India  as  a  mer- 
chant, penetrates  the  prince's  seclu- 
sion and  wins  him  over  to  the  Chris- 
tian faith.  Vainly  does  the  magician, 
Theudas,  seek  to  lure  him  back.  He 
remains  firm,  eventually  converts  his 
father,  and  on  the  latter's  death 
renounces  the  world  to  become  a 
hermit.  When  he  and  Barlaam  die 
their  bodies  are  buried  by  Josaphat's 
successor  on  the  throne,  Barachias, 
these  work  many  miracles  and  in  due 
course  the  friends  were  canonized  by 
the  Church. 

The  legend  of  Barlaam  and  Josa- 
phat was,  in  the  eighth  century,  put 
into  Greek  by  St.  John  Damascene, 
and  in  the  thirteenth  a  Latin  version 
was  included  in  the  Golden  Legend  of 
Voragine.  It  was  translated  into 
most  European  languages,  was  the 
subject  of  poems  and  miracle  plays, 
and  had  a  vast  mediaeval  popularity 
in  both  the  Greek  and  the  Latin 
churches,  which  included  the  two 
saints  in  their  calendar.  Yet,  as  will 
be  readily  seen,  the  legend  is  in  all 
essentials  identical  with  that  of 
Gautama  (q.v.)  or  Buddha. 

Joseph  of  Arimathea.  See  SAN  GREAL. 

Jotun,  the  giants  or  evil  nature- 
powers  in  Scandinavian  myth,  corre- 
sponding in  general  with  the  classic 
Titans,  but  more  specifically 'identi- 
fied with  frost,  snow,  ice  and  other 
rigors  of  winter.  Among  the  Scandi- 
navians heat  and  cold  were  classed 
as  good  and  evil,  as  were  light  and 
darkness  in  more  genial  climes.  The 
perpetual  struggle  between  them  was 
semi-annually  decided  at  the  periods 
of  the  winter  and  summer  solstice. 
In  winter  the  hammer  of  Thor  broke 
up  the  frost-bound  earth  and  pre- 
pared the  way  for  spring.  The  con- 
flict was  renewed  in  summer  when  the 
immanent  powers  of  frost  began  to 
regain  their  sway  with  the  shortening 
of  the  days. 

Joyeuse  Garde,  La,  in  mediaeval 
romance,  the  castle  of  Lancelot  of  the 


Judas 


164 


Judas 


Lake,  given  to  him  by  King  Arthur 
in  reward  for  having  defended  the 
honor  of  Queen  Guinevere  from  a 
charge  of  poisoning  preferred  by  Sir 
Mador.  In  memory  of  the  happy 
event  the  name  of  the  castle  was 
changed  from  La  Garde  Doloureuse 
or  Dolorous  Guard.  It  is  supposed  to 
have  stood  at  Berwick. 

Judas  Iscariot.  As  the  Gospels  tell 
little  about  the  personality  of  the 
traitor  among  Christ's  apostles,  myth 
and  legend  have  added  much.  They 
usually  represent  him  as  of  the  tribe 
of  Reuben.  Before  his  birth  his 
mother  Cyborea  dreamed  that  he 
would  murder  his  father,  commit  in- 
cest with  his  mother  and  betray  his 
God.  As  usual  his  parents'  efforts  to 
falsify  the  prophecy  only  hastened 
its  fulfilment.  They  cast  him  into  the 
sea,  but  he  was  picked  up  on  a  foreign 
shore  and  brought  up  at  the  king's 
court.  In  a  moment  of  passion  he 
slew  the  king's  son  and  fled  to  Judea, 
where  Pontius  Pilate  employed  him 
as  a  page.  In  course  of  time  he  igno- 
rantly  fulfilled  the  prophecies  as  to 
his  parents.  When  accident  revealed 
to  him  that  he  had  added  parricide 
and  incest  to  mere  murder  and  adul- 
tery he  threw  himself  upon  the  mercy 
of  Christ  as  the  forgiver  of  sins. 
Christ,  knowing  all,  admitted  him 
to  his  company,  and  made  him  treas- 
urer. Hence  avarice  was  added  to  his 
other  evil  tendencies  and  led  to  his 
betrayal  of  the  Redeemer.  Apologies 
for  his  treason  have  frequently  been 
offered.  A  mediaeval  sect  called  the 
Canaites  held  that  Judas  was  simply 
an  instrument  of  Providence,  neces- 
sary for  the  scheme  of  human  redemp- 
tion. Hence  they  held  him  in  high 
reverence.  De  Quincey  in  a  famous 
essay  maintained  the  analogous 
theory  that  Judas  was  impelled  only 
by  the  wish  to  force  Christ  into  a 
position  where  he  must  display  His 
Messianic  powers;  which  had  become 
the  subject  of  doubt  among  His  less 
credulous  followers.  The  apparent 
failure  of  Christ  to  rise  to  the  occasion 
drove  Judas  to  suicide. 

Other  explanations  are  less  exculpa- 
tory. The  most  popular  was  that 


Judas  took  tithes  of  all  the  money  he 
collected  as  compensation  for  his 
services.  Estimating  that  he  had 
lost  a  commission  of  30  pieces  on  the 
precious  ointment  used  by  Mary 
Magdalene,  he  chose  this  way  of 
indemnifying  himself.  In  a  Wendish 
ballad  Judas  receives  from  Jesus  30 
pieces  of  silver  to  buy  bread  and  loses 
them  in  gambling  with  the  Jews.  At 
their  suggestion  he  then  sells  his 
Master  to  recoup  his  loss.  An  old 
English  ballad  preserved  by  Wright 
and  Halliwell  gives  Judas  a  sister  as 
perfidious  as  himself,  who  suggests  the 
sale  of  "  the  false  prophet  that  thou 
believest  upon." 

Biblical  scholars  have  shown  much 
ingenuity  in  reconciling  the  discrep- 
ancies in  the  Biblical  narratives  con- 
cerning the  remorse  and  death  of 
Judas  (compare  Matthew  xxvii,  3,10, 
with  Acts  i,  1 8,  19.  See  also  a  paper 
Did  Judas  Really  Commit  Suicide? 
in  the  American  Journal  of  Philology 
for  July,  1900). 

Mediasval  myth  also  had  its  doubts 
about  the  suicide.  ^Ecumenius  pro- 
fesses to  have  read  in  a  book  by 
Papias,  now  lost,  that  Judas  survived 
the  crucifixion  to  become  puffed  up 
by  pride  insomuch  that  being  run 
over  by  a  chariot  his  body  burst  and 
let  out  his  entrails.  But  Matthew's 
account  was  generally  accepted,  and 
the  Cercis  sttiquastrum  of  botanists 
is  to  this  day  known  as  the  Judas  tree 
from  the  legend  that  Judas  hanged 
himself  from  one  of  its  branches. 

Huon  of  Bordeaux  in  the  romance 
bearing  his  name  has  _a  glimpse  of 
Judas  buffeted  around  in  a  whirlpool 
from  which  Huon  himself  escapes  only 
by  following  the  directions  of  the  trai- 
tor. Judas  explains  that  he  is  doomed 
to  be  tossed  in  that  gulf  for  all  eternity 
with  no  other  protection  than  a  small 
piece  of  cloth  which,  while  on  earth, 
he  had  bestowed  in  charity. 

Matthew  Arnold  in  his  poem  St. 
Brendan  tells  how  that  saint  dis- 
covers Judas  on  an  ice-floe.  He  ex- 
plains that  he  is  released  from  Hell  for 
a  few  hours  every  Christmas  because 
once  in  his  life  he  had  done  an  act  of 
charity  towards  a  leper  at  Joppa. 


Juno 


165 


Kaf 


Kipling  also  has  a  reference  to  the 
legend : 

Then  said  the  soul  of  Judas  that  betrayed 

Him: 

Lord,    hast    thou    forgotten    thy    covenant 
with  me? 

How  once  a  year  I  go 
To  cool  me  on  the  floe 

And  ye  take  my  day  of   mercy  if   ye  take 
away  the  sea. 

The  Last  Chantey. 

Dante  puts  Judas  into  the  mouth 
of  Satan  (q.v.)  where  he  is  macerated 
for  all  eternity. 

As  Church  and  State  are  the  two  divinely 
appointed  institutions  for  man's  guidance 
therefore  Judas  who  betrayed  Christ,  the 
Divine  Founder  of  the  Church,  and  Brutus 
and  Cassius  who  betrayed  Caesar  the 
Founder  of  the  Empire,  are  the  vilest  of  all 
traitors.  They  are  tormented  by  him  who 
first  of  all  betrayed  Almighty  God  himself, — 
Satan,  the  archtraitor,  from  whom  all 
treachery  in  the  world  proceeds,  and  upon 
whom  rests  the  whole  weight  of  its  guilt. — 
H.  S.  BOWDEN:  Dante's  Divina  Commedia. 

Juno,  a  Roman  goddess  whom  the 
Latins  identified  with  the  Greek  Hera. 
The  spouse  of  Jupiter,  she  was  the 
protector  of  the  female  sex  as  Jupiter 
was  of  the  male  sex.  On  their  birth- 
days women  offered  sacrifices  to  Juno, 
but  the  great  festival  in  which  all 


women  participated  took  place  on 
March  I,  and  was  called  Matronalia. 
Jupiter  or  Jove,  subsequently  iden- 
tified by  the  Romans  with  the  Greek 
Zeus,  was  originally  an  elemental 
divinity,  the  father  or  lord  of  heaven: 
Diovis  pater  or  Diespiter,  from  Sans- 
krit dyaus,  "  the  bright  heaven." 
Etymologically,  therefore,  he  has  a 
curious  connection  with  the  Zeus  into 
whom  he  was  eventually  merged.  As 
the  lord  of  heaven  he  governed 
thunder  and  lightning,  tempests  and 
rain  storms.  As  the  prince  of  light, 
white  was  sacred  to  him;  his  chariot 
was  said  to  be  drawn  by  four  white 
horses;  white  animals  were  sacrificed 
to  him;  the  Roman  consuls  were 
attired  in  white  when  they  attended 
his  worship,  and  his  priests  wore 
white  caps.  The  highest  and  most 
powerful  among  the  gods,  he  was 
called  Optimus  Maximus,  "  the  Best 
and  Highest."  He  had  numerous 
other  surnames  derived  from  his 
functions,  his  qualities  or  the  places 
where  he  was  worshipped;  as  Pluvius, 
Tonans,  Imperator,  Triumphator,  Cap- 
itolinus,  Latialis.  See  ZEUS. 


Ka,  in  Egyptian  myth,  a  sort  of 
doppleganger  or  double,  which  is 
born  with  every  man  and  survives 
his  death  if  proper  provision  were 
made  for  a  figure  to  which  it  could 
immediately  attach  itself.  For  this 
reason  statues  of  the  dead  were  placed 
near  the  mummy.  It  also  required  to 
be  fed,  hence  offerings  of  food  or 
drink  were  made  at  the  tomb.  Event- 
ually pictures  of  such  offerings  were 
deemed  sufficient.  If  the  Ka  were 
neglected  it  might  for  a  period  be- 
come a  very  unpleasant  visitant  to 
the  scenes  of  its  earthly  life.  But  it 
was  doomed  to  eventual  extinction 
if  unaided  by  the  living.  The  Ka  is 
undoubtedly  the  germ  of  the  "  shell  ' 
of  modern  theosophy  which  is  sup- 
posed to  survive  the  parent  body  for 
a  brief  period. 

Kado,  St.,  an  uncalendared  saint 
reverenced   among   the   peasants   of 


Brittany.  Wishing  for  a  bridge  across 
an  ill-conditioned  river  and  getting 
no  answer  to  his  appeals  to  the  Virgin 
and  the  Trinity,  he  finally  turned  to 
the  devil.  Satan  drew  an  admirable 
bridge  on  red  paper  and  stipulated 
that  he  was  to  have  as  his  reward  the 
first  soul  that  crossed  over  the  bridge. 
The  saint  cheated  him  by  driving  a 
cat  over  it  as  soon  as  it  was  completed. 
Kaf,  in  Mohammedan  myth,  a 
fabulous  mountain,  "  the  starry  girdle 
of  the  world  "  which  "  surrounded  the 
earth  as  a  ring  docs  the  finger"  (BuR- 
TON,  Arabian  Nights,  i,  77,  122).  It 
is  composed  of  one  entire  emerald, 
resting  upon  the  sacred  stone  Sakhrat, 
or  as  others  say,  between  the  horns 
of  a  white  ox  named  Kirnit.  The 
head  of  this  ox  touches  the  east  and 
his  hind  parts  the  west,  and  the  dis- 
tance between  these  horns  could  not 
be  traversed  within  100,000  years 


Kalilah 


166 


Ketch 


(COUNT  DE  CAYLUS,  Oriental  Tales, 
1743).  "  From  Kaf  to  Kaf  "  means 
from  one  extremity  of  the  earth  to 
another — the  sun  rising  from  one 
eminence  and  setting  behind  its  oppo- 
site in  the  west.  Keats  personifies 
the  mountain  as  a  giantess  and  makes 
her  the  mother  of  Asia  (q.v.). 

Kalilah  or  Kalilag,  one  of  two 
jackals,  the  other  being  Dimna  or 
Damnag,  who  figure  so  conspicuously 
in  the  Persian  fables  attributed  to 
Bidpai  that  the  8th  century  Arabic 
translation  was  entitled  The  Book  of 
Kalilah  and  Dimna  or  the  Fables  of 
Bidpai.  Through  this  translation 
the  stories  found  their  way  into 
Europe.  Bidpai,  corrupted  into  Pil- 
pay,  was  one  of  the  principal  human 
interlocutors,  hence  he  came  in  time 
to  be  considered  the  author  of  the 
book.  The  word  is  not  a  proper 
name,  however,  but  an  appellative 
applied  to  the  chief  pundit  of  an 
Indian  prince. 

Kama  or  Kamadeva,  the  Hindoo 
Eros  or  god  of  love,  as  all  subjugating 
as  his  classic  counterpart,  so  that 
even  Brahma  feels  his  influence.  He 
rides  on  a  sparrow  or  a  parrot, — both 
being  symbols  of  voluptuousness — 
and  holds  a  bow  of  sugar-cane  strung 
with  bees.  Each  of  his  five  arrows  is 
tipped  with  pollen  from  some  flower 
that  subjugates  one  or  the  other  of 
the  senses. 

Kansa,  a  mythical  king  of  the 
Yadavas  in  Mathura,  India,  second 
cousin  or  uncle  to  Krishna,  the  ninth 
avatar  of  Vishnu  (second  person  of 
the  Hindoo  trinity).  There  was  a 
prophecy  that  one  of  the  children  of 
Devaki,  Krishna's  mother,  would 
destroy  him,  whereupon  he  slew  six 
of  the  babes  as  soon  as  they  were 
born.  Balarama,  the  seventh,  was 
smuggled  off  to  Gokula,  and  on  the 
birth  of  Krishna,  the  eighth,  his 
parents  fled  with  him  to'Vrindavana, 
where  they  placed  him  in  charge  of  a 
shepherd.  Thereupon  the  tyrant 
ordered  a  general  massacre  of  all 
vigorous  male  infants.  Kansa  became 
the  great  persecutor  of  Krishna,  but 
was  eventually  conquered  by  him 
and  slain. 


Katmir,  the  dog  of  the  Seven 
Sleepers,  who,  according  to  the 
Koran,  watched  over  their  slumbers 
in  the  cavern  for  309  years,  neither 
sleeping  nor  eating.  He  was  finally 
admitted  into  Paradise.  In  the 
Oriental  Tales  by  the  Count  de  Caylus 
the  dog  is  called  Catnier.  See  also 
AL-RAKIN. 

Kay,  Sir,  in  the  Arthurian  cycle,  a 
foster-brother  of  King  Arthur,  rude, 
boastful  and  boisterous,  but  not 
without  a  certain  rudimentary  humor 
that  finds  vent  in  practical  jests  and 
rough  vituperation.  His  repeated 
failures  in  attempting  some  deed  of 
prowess  add  contrasted  glory  to  the 
knight  who  finally  succeeds.  This 
name,  in  the  French  romances,  is 
spelled  Queux,  which  means  head 
cook.  He  is  the  seneschal  or  steward, 
his  duties  also  embracing  those  of 
chief  of  the  cooks.  He  it  was  who 
surnamed  Gareth  Beaurnains,  and 
taunted  him  because  he  had  served 
as  scullion  in  the  royal  kitchen.  In 
similar  scorn  he  gave  another  noble 
knight  the  mocking  title  of  La-Cote- 
mal-taille',  which  stuck  to  him  for  life. 
The  meek  endurance  of  these  youths 
and  their  devotion  to  the  damsels, 
who  rail  at  them  in  imitation  of  Sir 
Kay,  present  a  fine  idea  of  the  good- 
breeding  and  respect  for  women  which 
formed  an  essential  part  of  the 
chivalric  character. 

Keroulas,  Marie  de,  titular  heroine 
of  an  anonymous  ballad  still  popular 
among  the  Breton  peasants.  Marie 
and  Kerthomas  are  in  love  with  each 
other.  Her  mother  favors  the  suit 
of  the  wealthy  Marquis  de  Mesle. 
Marie  yields  after  a  bitter  struggle 
and  dies  shortly  after  the  marriage. 
The  mother  expiates  her  remorse  in  a 
convent. 

Ketch,  Jack,  the  common  English 
name  for  a  hangman  or  executioner, 
said  to  be  derived  from  one  John 
Ketch,  who  held  that  office  under 
Judge  Jeffries  and  distinguished  him- 
self at  the  Bloody  Assizes  by  the 
savage  satisfaction  he  manifested  in 
the  butchery  of  his  victims.  The 
name  is  also  tentatively  held  to  be 
a  corruption  of  Richard  Jacquett, 


Kidd 


167 


Elingsor 


owner  of  the  manor  of  Tyburn,  near 
London,  where  criminals  were 
formerly  executed. 

Kidd,  Captain  William,  famous  in 
romance,  was  a  real  pirate,  born 
probably  at  Greenock,  Scotland, 
about  1650  and  hanged  at  Execution 
Dock,  London,  May  23,  1701. 

Kidd  early  won  fame  as  a  skilful 
shipmaster  and  in   1695  received  a 
commission  from  William  III,  as  com- 
mander of  the  Adventure,  a  galley 
fitted    out    for    the    suppression    of 
piracy  and  the  recovery  of  captured 
vessels.      Sailing    from     Plymouth, 
England,  in  the  spring  of  1696,  Kidd 
cruised  for  some  months  along  the 
American  coast,  and  then  started  for 
the  East  Indies  and  Africa.    During 
the  voyage  he  determined   to   turn 
pirate    himself,    and    winning    over 
officers  and  crew  (some  150  in  all),  he 
began  plundering  whatever  ships  he 
found  off  Malabar  and  Madagascar. 
Landing  in  New  York  in  1698  with 
much  booty,  a  portion  of  which  he 
buried  on  Gardiner's  Island  off  Mon- 
tauk  Point,  L.   I.,   he  went  on  to 
Boston,    where    he^  appeared    with 
characteristic  audacity  on  the  streets. 
Doubtless  he  believed  that  under  his 
commission  he  could  clear  himself  of 
any  charge  of  piracy.     His  outrages 
had  appalled  England,  however,  and 
the  English  governor  of  New  York 
and  Massachusetts,  Lord  Bellamont, 
himself  a  share-holder  in  the  Adven- 
ture, deemed  it  best  to  send  him  to 
England.     As  it  was  hard  to  prove 
him  a  pirate  he  was  arraigned  for 
killing  a  mutinous  gunner  and  after 
an   obviously   unfair  trial   was  con- 
demned and  hanged.    The  treasures 
he  had    left — about   800  ounces  of 
gold,  900  ounces  of  silver,  and  several 
bags  of  silver  ornaments — were  se- 
cured by  Bellamont,  but  in  common 
belief  these  formed  only  an  insignifi- 
cant fraction  of  his  plunder. 

Kinmont  Willie,  hero  of  an  anony- 
mous Scotch  ballad  preserved  in 
Scott's  Border  Minstrelsy,  1833.  It 
celebrates  an  event  that  occurred  on 
April  13,  1596.  William  Armstrong  of 
Kingmonth,  a  Scotch  freebooter 
"  wanted  "  on  the  English  side,  was 


arrested  as  he  was  riding  back  from 
a  border  meeting  and  imprisoned  in 
Carlisle  Castle.  This  was  a  high- 
handed breach  of  the  day's  truce. 
Buccleugh,  as  warden,  tried  to  obtain 
his  release  by  peaceful  means,  but 
failing  in  this  he  headed  a  band  of 
40  marchmen,  who  rode  across  the 
border  to  Carlisle.  While  Lord 
Scroope  and  his  thousand  men  were 
asleep  they  found  their  way  into 
Willie's  cell,  freed  him,  and  carried 
him  back  with  them  through  the 
Eden  River.  There  is  a  close  analogy 
between  this  ballad  and  a  Liddlesdale 
chant  Jock  o'  the  side  celebrating  the 
release  from  prison  of  another  famous 
reiver,  known  also  as  the  Laird's 
Jock,  who  flourished  about  1550- 
1570. 

Klaus,  Peter,  the  probable  original 
of  Washington  Irving's  Rip  Van 
Winkle  (q.v.),  hero  of  an  old  German 
legend  first  printed  in  Otmar's  Volk- 
sagen,  Bremen,  1800.  A  goat-herd 
from  Sittendorf  pasturing  his  flock 
on  the  Kyffhauser,  he  was  beckoned 
away  by  a  young  man  and  led  into  a 
deep  dell  inclosed  by  craggy  preci- 
pices. Here  twelve  ghostly  knights 
were  silently  engaged  in  a  game  of 
skittles.  Peter  to  relieve  the  monot- 
ony helped  himself  to  a  glass  of 
fragrant  wine,  the  effect  of  which  was 
to  plunge  him  into  profound  slumber. 
When  he  woke  up  he  found  himself 
once  more  upon  his  accustomed  pas- 
ture land,  but  neither  goats  nor  dog 
were  in  sight.  Trees  also  had  sprung 
up  overnight  to  a  great  height.  Find- 
ing his  way  to  his  native  village  he 
was  still  further  disconcerted.  Every- 
thing was  changed;  everywhere  were 
new  faces,  the  few  acquaintances  he 
met  had  grown  unaccountably  old. 
Finally  he  discovered  that  he  had 
been  asleep  for  twenty  years. 

Klingsor  or  Klingshor,  Nicolas,  a 
thirteenth  century  minnesinger  whose 
fame  as  a  poet  or  singer  was  almost 
entirely  eclipsed  by  his  posthumous 
reputation  as  a  magician.  It  is  pos- 
sibly true  that  he  was  an  attach  €  of 
the  court  of  Elizabeth  of  Hungary  and 
acted  as  judge  in  the  contests  held 
there  between  minnesingers  of  all  the 


Knickerbocker 


168 


Kobolds 


Germanic  countries.  Myth  makes 
him  preside  over  the  great  Kriegspiel 
or  War  of  the  Minstrels  at  the  Castle 
of  Wartburg,  where  he  arrived  by 
flying  through  the  air  on  his  cloak,  an 
invention  which  Goethe  has  borrowed 
in  Faust.  Wagner  introduces  Kling- 
sor  into  his  opera  Parzival  as  origin- 
ally an  aspirant  for  knighthood  in  the 
order  of  the  Holy  Grail,  who  had  been 
rejected  on  account  of  impurity  and 
so  delivered  himself  over  to  the  study 
of  magic.  He  created  for  himself  a 
fairy  palace  which  he  peopled  with 
beautiful  women  whose  sole  duty  it 
was  to  seduce  the  Knights  of  the 
Graal.  One  of  these,  Kundry,  led  to 
the  misconduct  of  Amfortas.  He  lost 
his  spear  after  it  had  inflicted  a  wound 
that  could  never  be  healed  so  long  as  it 
remained  in  the  hands  of  Klingsor. 
When  Parzival  arrived,  Klingsor, 
recognizing  his  mission,  commands 
Kundry  to  use  all  her  arts  for  the 
boy's  seduction.  She  reluctantly  con- 
sents, but  fails.  Klingsor  hurls  the 
spear  at  Parzival.  It  remains  poised 
in  midair  over  the  latter's  head.  Par- 
zival secures  it,  touches  the  king's 
wound  therewith  and  straightway  he  is 
cured.  See  OFTERDINGEN,  HENRY  OF. 

Knickerbocker,  Father,  in  modern 
caricatures  and  political  squibs,  the 
patron  saint  or  symbolical  representa- 
tive of  New  York  City,  usually  repre- 
sented as  a  benevolent  old  gentleman, 
Holland  Dutch  in  his  physical  appear- 
ance, yet  with  a  shrewd  touch  of  the 
Yankee,  and  dressed  in  the  small 
clothes,  wig  and  cocked  hat  of  the 
later  eighteenth  century. 

He  is  a  natural  evolution  from  the 
Dietrich  Knickerbocker  invented  by 
Washington  Irving  as  the  feigned 
author  of  his  burlesque  History  of 
New^  York  (1809),  which  gives  a 
comic  account  of  the  Dutch  colony  of 
New  Amsterdam  from  its  original 
settlement  by  Hollanders  to  its  final 
conquest  by  the  English  and  its 
rebirth  as  New  York.  But  though 
the  personality  was  invented  the 
name  was  not.  It  is  an  old  Dutch 
name  (etymologically  Knikker,  a 
marble,  and  bakker,  a  baker)  and  first 
came  to  America  in  the  person  of 


Herman  Jansen  Knickerbacker,  who 
settled  in  Albany  in  the  latter  part 
of  the  seventeenth  century  and  whose 
numerous  descendants  spelled  the 
name  in  various  fashions.  In  Irving's 
day  there  was  a  Congressman,  Her- 
man Knickerbocker  (1782  -  1855), 
whom  the  author  visited  in  February, 
1811. 

At  first  there  was  dismay  and 
resentment  among  the  descendants 
of  the  original  Dutch  colonists.  All 
this  wore  away  in  time  and  in  1848, 
in  an  Author's  Apology  to  the  edition 
of  that  date,  Irving  was  able  to  con- 
gratulate himself  that  after  a  lapse  of 
nearly  40  years  the  name  Knicker- 
bocker was  still  used  to  give  the  home 
stamp  to  everything  recommended 
for  popular  acceptance  and  that  New 
Yorkers  of  Dutch  descent  had  come  to 
pride  themselves  upon  being  '"  gen- 
uine Knickerbockers." 

Kobolds,  in  the  popular  mythology 
of  Germany,  a  species  of  dwarfs  or 
gnomes,  who  frequent  dark  and  soli- 
tary places,  and  especially  mines, 
where  they  take  a  malicious  pleasure 
in  interfering  with  the  work  of  the 
miners.  The  more  the}'  are  cursed 
and  vilified  the  worse  they  wax.  To 
the  more  friendly  among  the  miners 
they  frequently  show  their  gratitude 
by  revealing  rich  veins  of  ore. 

According  to  other  accounts  the 
Kobold  is  a  domestic  sprite,  who  seeks 
lodgement  in  a  peasant's  hut,  sleeps 
in  attic  or  cellar,  and  warms  himself 
at  the  hearthstone.  He  takes  charge 
of  the  horses  and  works  in  the  harvest 
field,  but  is  seldom,  if  ever,  visible. 
To  keep  him  in  good  humor  it  is 
necessary  to  place  a  dish  of  milk  in 
the  corner  of  the  house  and  carefully 
sweep  the  spot  where  he  sleeps. 

A  young  woman  had  a  kobold  in  her 
service  and  it  was  a  delight  to  see  how  he 
anticipated  all  her  wishes  and  exempted 
her  from  all  unnecessary  toil.  One  day  she 
mischievously  scattered  some  pepper  in  his 
milk  and  from  that  moment  the  kobold 
abandoned  her.  She  was  obliged  to  rise 
early  and  retire  late, — to  work  incessantly 
and  to  find  her  work  ever  retarded.  Every 
day  the  implacable  kobold  produced  a  fresh 
obstacle,  every  day  she  sustained  a  new 
accident.  If  with  the  greatest  precaution 
she  took  up  a  precious  vase  she  was  certain 
to  shatter  it;  if  she  set  water  to  boil,  she 


Kraken 


169 


Kublai 


scorched  her  fingers;  if  she  prepared  dinner, 
she  put  a  double  dose  of  salt  into  one  dish, 
and  none  into  another.  When  we  accuse  our 
servants  of  betraying  the  respectable  laws 
of  the  cordon  bleu  we  are  often  wrong;  it 
may  all  be  the  fault  of  the  kobolds. — 
XAVIER  MARMIER. 

Kraken,  in  Scandinavian  legend,  a 
marine  monster,  who  made  frequent 
appearances  in  the  Middle  Ages, 
especially  in  the  North  Sea.  When 
he  came  to  the  surface  of  the  waters 
to  aid  digestion,  he  frequently  re- 
mained there  motionless  for  days  or 
even  months.  His  back,  covered  with 
shells  and  seaweed,  presented  the 
appearance  of  an  island.  St.  Bran- 
dan,  according  to  Bartholius,  erected 
a  hut  on  one  of  these  supposititious 
islands  to  say  mass  in  it,  but  the 
monster  became  uneasy  towards  the 
close  of  the  services  and  sought  the 
bottom  of  the  sea.  The  saint  and  his 
followers  were  submerged,  but  re- 
covered themselves  and  regained 
their  ship. 

Kratimer,  Kratim  or  Katmir,  ac- 
cording to  the  Koran,  the  dog  that 
followed  the  Seven  Sleepers  into  their 
cave  and  watched  over  their  slumbers 
for  309  years.  When  he  entered  the 
cave,  the  youths  tried  to  drive  him 
out,  and  broke  three  of  his  legs  with 
stones,  but  he  said,  "  I  love  those  who 
love  God.  Sleep,  masters,  and  I  will 
keep  guard."  He  is  one  of  the  few 
animals  to  be  admitted  into  Paradise. 

Kriemhild,  in  the  twelfth  century 
German  epic  The  Nibelungen  Lied, 
daughter  of  Dancrat  and  sister  of 
Gunther.  She  marries  Siegfried,  king 
of  the  Netherlands,  and  makes  him  a 
gentle,  devoted  and  patient  wife.  He 
is  murdered  by  Hagan.  Embittered 
by  his  loss  she  becomes  violent,  vin- 
dictive and  unscrupulous.  Marrying 
Etzel,  king  of  the  Huns,  she  invites 
Gunther,  Hagan  and  others  to  her 
court,  but  Hagan  slays  Etzel's  young 
son,  and  in  an  access  of  fury  she  with 
her  own  hand  cuts  off  the  heads  of 
both  Hagan  and  Gunther  and  is  her- 
self slain  by  Hildebrand. 

Krishna  (the  Black),  a  Hindoo 
deity  who,  originating  with  some 
Rajput  clan,  became  confused  with 
Vishnu,  the  second  person  in  the 


Hindoo  trinity.  He  is  now  looked 
upon  as  the  eighth  avatar  of  Vishnu, 
visiting  the  earth  in  the  form  of  a 
mighty  warrior  and  ridding  it  o£ 
tyrants  who  oppressed  it,  and  mon- 
sters _who  ravaged  it.  Humanly 
speaking,  he  was  the  son  of  Vasudeva 
and  Devaki,  and  was  born  at  Ma- 
thura.  He  narrowly  escaped  death 
in  infancy  at  the  hands  of  his  uncle, 
King  Kansa,  who  with  Herod-like 
ferocity  made  away  with  all  his 
nephews  so  soon  as  they  were  born, 
owing  to  a  prophecy  that  one  of  them 
would  kill  him.  An  elder  brother, 
Balarama,  "  Rama  the  Strong,"  was 
likewise  saved  and  the  two  children 
were  brought  up  by  a  shepherd  of 
Vrindavana,  where  many  localities 
are  pointed  out  as  scenes  of  their 
youthful  exploits.  To-day  these  are 
the  most  famous  centres  of  Krishna's 
worship.  Reaching  manhood,  the 
brothers  put  their  uncle,  Kansa,  to 
death.  Krishna  succeeded  him  as 
King  of  the  Yadavas.  He  ruled 
gloriously  and  justly,  but  in  the  end 
was  overwhelmed  by  his  enemies,  and 
perished  like  Achilles  from  a  wound  in 
his  heel.  The  scriptures  peculiar  to 
him  are  the  Bhagavadgita  and  the 
B  haga  vatapurana . 

Kublai  Khan  (1216-1294),  a  grand- 
son of  Genghis  Khan  and  the  founder 
of  the  Mongol  dynasty  in  China.  The 
Mongol  poetical  chronicler,  Sanang 
Setzen,  records  a  tradition  that  Gen- 
ghis, on  his  death-bed  (1227),  dis- 
cerned the  promise  of  his  eleven-year- 
old  grandson  and  predicted  his  future 
distinction.  For  the  capital  of  his 
empire  Kublai  selected  Cambaluc,  the 
Chinese  city  which  we  now  know  as 
Pekin.  Marco  Polo,  who  passed 
many  years  in  Kublai's  service,  gives 
an  account  of  the  splendor  of  his 
court  and  entertainments,  his  munifi- 
cent patronage  of  literature,  art,  and 
science  and  especially  astronomy. 
To  Marco  Polo  also  we  owe  an  ac- 
count of  how  he  sought  to  introduce 
the  Catholic  church  into  China;  but 
he  was  more  successful  in  establishing 
the  first  lama  in  Tibet,  a  precursory 
form  or  germ  idea  of  the  grand  lamas 
of  Lassa. 


Kynast 


170 


Lamia 


Kublai  Khan  is  the  Cambuscan  of 
Chaucer's  The  Squire  s  Tale,  and  the 
Kubla  Khan  of  Coleridge's  poem  of 
that  name,  beginning: 

In  Kanadu  did  Kubla  Khan 
A  stately  pleasure  dome  decree. 

Kynast,  The  Lady  of.  The  Castle 
of  Kynast  near  Hinschberg  is  a  pic- 
turesque ruin  in  the  Riesenberge  or 
Giant's  Mountains,  overlooking  a 
frightful  abyss  known  locally  as  Holle 
or  Hell.  Built  by  Duke  Folko  of 
Silesia  in  1592,  it  was  gutted  by  fire 
in  1675. 

A  popular  legend  about  one  of  its 
former  owners  Lady  Kunigunde  von 
Kynast  has  been  versified  by  two 
German  poets — Korner  and  R  ticker t 
— and  is  an  obvious  offshoot  from  the 
older  legend  of  The  Glove.  See 
LORGE,  DE,  in  Vol.  I. 

In  Korner's  poem  Die  Kynast,  the 
Lord  of  Kynast  has  died  by  a  fall  over 
the  precipice.  His  widow  declares 
she  will  marry  only  him  who  fears 


not  the  abyss  and  will  ride  around  the 
edge  of  the  battlements.  One  lover 
after  another  makes  the  attempt  and 
is  killed.  She  has  grown  hard  and 
indifferent  when  an  unknown  knight 
rides  up  and  at  first  sight  captures 
her  heart.  Fain  would  she  have  him 
desist,  but  he  spurns  her  entreaties 
and  accomplishes  the  feat. 

She  hastens  to  acclaim  him  victor. 
He  coldly  tells  her  that  he  is  Albert 
of  Thuringia,  that  a  wife  awaits  him 
at  home,  that  he  came  only  to  avenge 
his  slaughtered  friends  and  so  rides 
away.  Kunigunde,  mad  with  shame, 
dashes  herself  from  the  parapet. 

In  Riickert's  ballad  Die  Begrussung 
von  Kynast,  the  lady — a  maiden 
and  no  widow — is  cold  and  heartless 
from  the  beginning,  until  the  arrival 
of  the  strange  knight.  After  his 
triumph  and  her  discomfiture,  she 
survives  to  an  old  age,  and  is  finally 
changed  into  a  wooden  statue,  which 
all  must  kiss  who  would  visit  the 
Kynast, 


Lady  Hideous,  The,  in  the  English 
metrical  romance  Perceval,  a  counter- 
part to  the  Loathly  Lady  (q.v.),  of 
other  Arthurian  tales,  but  without 
her  excuse  for  being.  Her  neck  and 
hands,  we  are  told,  were  brown  as 
iron;  her  eyes  blacker  than  a  Moor's, 
and  small  as  those  of  a  mouse;  her 
teeth  red  like  the  yolk  of  eggs;  her 
nose  ape-like;  her  lips  ox-like;  she  was 
bearded  like  a  goat;  was  humped 
before  and  behind,  and  had  both  legs 
twisted.  She  appears  for  a  brief 
period  in  King  Arthur's  court  to  point 
out  a  castle  where  hundreds  of 
knights  and  their  ladies  are  impris- 
oned. Hence  numerous  adventures. 

Lady  of  the  Lake,  in  Arthurian 
romance,  a  personage  whose  identity 
is  greatly  confused  among  poets  and 
romancers.  Her  origin  may  be  traced 
to  the  Sibille  (q.v.)  of  the  early  ro- 
mance Perceforest, — the  daughter  of 
Darnant,  the  enchanter. 

See  LADY  OF  THE  LAKE  in  Vol.  I. 
See  also  VIVIEN. 


Lais,  the  name  of  two  famous  Greek 
courtesans  who  are  frequently  con- 
fused the  one  with  the  other.  The 
elder,  a  native  of  Corinth,  celebrated 
as  the  most  beautiful  woman  of  her 
day,  lived  at  the  time  of  the  Pelopon- 
nesian  war.  It  is  said  that  she  sold 
her  favors  for  the  equivalent  of 
$1000.  Demosthenes  remarked  that 
"  he  had  no  mind  to  buy  repentance 
at  that  price." 

The  younger  Lais  was  a  daughter  of 
Timandra,  a  native  of  Hycara  in 
Sicily,  but  later  a  resident  of  Corinth. 

Lamia,  in  classic  myth,  a  beautiful 
Libyan  queen,  daughter  of  Belus, 
who  was  beloved  by  Zeus  and  con- 
sequently robbed  of  her  children  by 
the  jealous  Hera.  Unable  to  revenge 
herself  on  divinity  Lamia  retaliated 
on  the  children  of  men,  whom  she 
carried  off  and  murdered.  Her  face 
became  distorted  by  this  continual 
pursuit  of  cruelty  and  Zeus  added  to 
its  horrors  by  giving  her  the  power 
of  taking  out  and  putting  back  her 


Lammikin 


171 


Lancelot 


eyes.  In  ancient  nurseries  her  name 
was  often  used  as  a  bugaboo  to 
frighten  children  withal.  Later  a 
belief  grew  up  of  a  plurality  of 
Lamias,  beautiful  phantasms  who 
enticed  young  men  to  their  ruin.  On 
this  superstition  Keats  founded  his 
poem  Lamia  (see  Vol.  I)  and  Goethe 
his  Bride  of  Corinth.  Lilith,  the 
nocturnal  female  vampire  of  the 
Hebrews,  mentioned  in  Isaiah  xxxiv, 
is  translated  Lamia  in  the  Vulgate. 
In  the  zoological  mythology  of  the 
Middle  Ages  Lamia  or  Enipusa  was 
the  name  given  to  "  the  swiftest  of 
all  four-footed  animals  "  represented 
with  the  head  and  breasts  of  a 
woman  and  the  body  of  a  quadruped. 
For  the  quadruped  body  alternative 
myths  substituted  a  serpent's  tail. 

Lammikin,  hero  and  title  of  a 
mediaeval  Scotch  ballad,  a  savage 
mason,  who  built  himself  a  castle  and 
baptized  it  with  blood. 

Lamoracke,  Sir,  in  the  Arthurian 
cycle  of  legends,  one  of  the  bravest 
Knights  of  the  Round  Table,  rivalled 
only  by  Sir  Lancelot  and  Sir  Tristrem. 
Like  that  hero,  also,  illicit  love  was 
his  undoing.  The  four  sons  of  King 
Lot  detected  him  in  an  amour  with 
their  mother  and  plotted  his  death. 

Sir  Gawain  and  his  three  brethren,  sir 
Agrawain,  sir  Gaheris,  and  sir  Modred,  met 
him  [sir  Lamorache]  in  a  privy  place,  and 
there  they  slew  his  horse;  then  they  fought 
with  him  on  foot  for  more  than  three  hours, 
both  before  him  and  behind  his  back,  and 
all-to-hewed  him  in  pieces. — SIR  T.  MALORY: 
M or ted' Arthur,  ii,  144  (1470). 

Lancelot,  generally  known  as  Sir 
Lancelot  du  Lac,  the  chief  figure,  next 
to  Arthur  himself,  in  the  legends  of 
that  British  king  as  they  found  final 
shape  in  the  Morte  d'  Arthur  (1469) 
of  Sir  Thomas  Malory.  He  is  a 
gradual  evolution  from  the  earlier 
Arthurian  romances,  which  include 
two  specially  devoted  to  him,  The 
Knight  of  the  Cart  by  Chretien  de 
Troyes,  and  the  anonymous  prose 
romance  Lancelot.  In  the  poem  he 
first  appears  as  the  lover  of  Queen 
Guinevere,  the  character  that  won 
him  his  distinctive  place  in  mediaeval 
myth. 


Malory  makes  Lancelot  the  son 
of  King  Ban  of  Benwicke,  shadowy 
king  of  a  still  more  shadowy  king- 
dom. When  first  made  a  knight  of 
the  Round  Table,  Lancelot,  its  fore- 
most warrior,  is  chosen  to  conduct 
Guinevere  from  her  father's  court  to 
that  of  Arthur,  as  the  latter's  bride. 
Then  began  the  love  between  them — 
the  bond  of  true  falsehood  and  of 
loyal  disloyalty — which  lasted  to  the 
end  and  which  constituted  the 
tragedy  of  Lancelot's  life.  Twice 
only,  and  then  only  by  magic  wiles, 
Lancelot  is  unwittingly  drawn  from 
his  loyalty  to  the  Queen.  (See 
ELAINE.)  The  first  deception,  which 
resulted  in  the  birth  of  Galahad,  was 
explained  and  forgiven.  The  second 
Guinevere  would  not  pardon,  and 
Lancelot  fell  into  a  two-year  fit  of 
melancholy  madness.  Being  cured 
at  last  by  a  vision  of  the  Sangreal, 
he  settled  in  the  Joyous  He,  under 
the  name  of  Le  Chevalier  Mai  Fet, 
and  the  fame  of  his  deeds  led  to  his 
restoration  at  Court.  Then  follows 
the  quest  of  the  Sangreal  of  which 
his  own  son  Galahad  was  the  moving 
cause  and  Lancelot  caught  a  second 
dreamy  sight  of  the  mystic  cup, 

Slumbering  he  saw  the  vision  high 
He  might  not  view  with  waking  eye. 

SCOTT:  Marmion. 

But  when  the  remnant  of  the  old 
knights  reassembled,  and  the  Round 
Table  had  been  replenished  by  new 
knights,  Lancelot  and  the  Queen  fell 
back  into  the  old  ways.  After  clear- 
ing her  name  in  many  mortal  combats 
he  is  at  last  overborne  by  Gawain, 
Agrawaine  and  Modred,  the  three 
nephews  of  Arthur,  of  whom  the 
first  is  more  conspicuous  as  Arthur's 
foe,  the  last  as  plotter  against  the 
king.  Guinevere  goes  into  sanctuary 
at  Almesbury,  Lancelot  retires  to 
Benwicke.  Thither  Arthur  follows 
him  with  the  flower  of  his  knights, 
and  there  Gawain  receives  his  mortal 
wound  from  Lancelot  and  the  old- 
time  friends  are  reconciled  in  death. 
The  forces  are  recalled  by  the  news 
that  Modred  had  usurped  the 
kingdom  and  Lancelot  prepares  him- 
self to  follow,  not  for  reprisals,  but 


Laocoon 


172 


Latinus 


that  he  might  aid  his  king  and 
friend  against  Modred.  But  the 
great  battle  in  the  West  is  fought 
without  him.  Modred  and  Arthur 
perish,  and  Lancelot  seeks  an  inter- 
view with  the  queen  at  Almesbury. 
Learning  there  her  settled  intention 
to  abide  by  a  holy  life,  he  himself 
was  received  into  a  cloister,  renounc- 
ing forever  his  last  hope  of  taking 
his  old  love  away,  beyond  _  their 
common  sorrow,  to  the  distant 
retreat  of  Joyeuse  Garde.  A  year 
later  he  is  miraculously  summoned 
to  bury  Guinevere  besides  the  corpse 
of  Arthur  in  Glastonbury.  Then 
11  he  sickened  more  and  more  and 
dried  and  dwindled  away."  He  was 
entombed  with  all  honor  at  Joyeuse 
Garde.  See  ARTHUR,  MODRED,  GUIN- 
EVERE in  this  volume,  also  LANCELOT 
in  Vol.  I. 

Laocoon,  in  classic  myth,  a  Trojan 
priest,  who  with  his  two  sons  was 
crushed  to  death  by  serpents.  His 
death  was  interpreted  by  the  Trojans 
as  a  sign  of  divine  displeasure  because 
he  had  opposed  their  reception  of  the 
wooden  horse.  Virgil  tells  the  story 
in  the  Mneid,  ii.  A  modern  version 
may  be  found  in  Louis  Morris's  Epic 
of  Hades.  James  Thomson  in  his 
Liberty,  iv,  and  Byron  in  Childe 
Harold  have  described  the  famous 
group  of  statuary  which  represents 
these  three  in  their  death  agony. 
This  was  discovered  (1506)  in  the 
baths  of  Titus  and  is  now  in  the 
Vatican. 

Lessing's  treatise,  Laocodn  an  Essay  upon 
the  Limits  of  Painting  and  Poetry,  opens 
with  a  comparison  between  the  Laocoon  of 
poetry  and  the  Laocoon  of  sculpture,  in 
reference  to  the  loud  cries  attributed  to  the 
first  and  the  comparative  self-restraint  ex- 
hibited by  the  second.  He  points  out  that 
art  must  confine  itself  to  a  single  moment  of 
time  and  therefore  should  choose  the  one 
most  fruitful  in  suggestion  and  least  offen- 
sive or  painful.  An  artist,  in  other  words, 
must  carry  expression  as  far  as  is  consistent 
with  beauty  and  dignity,  but  not  one  step 
beyond.  What  he  might  not  paint  or 
carve  he  left  to  be  imagined.  The  conceal- 
ment was  a  necessary  sacrifice  to  beauty. 

Laodamia,  in  classic  myth,  daugh- 
ter of  ^Eastus  and  wife  of  Protesilaus, 
the  latter  the  first  of  the  Greeks  to  be 


slain  before  Troy.  Zeus  granted  her 
prayer  that  the  hero  might  be  allowed 
to  converse  with  her  for  three  hours. 
Hermes  brought  him  back  from  the 
shades  and  when  Protesilaus  died  a 
second  time,  she  died  with  him. 
Wordsworth  has  made  this  legend  the 
subject  of  a  poem  entitled  Laodamia. 
One  of  the  most  famous  of  the  letters 
in  Ovid's  Epistles  of  the  Heroines  is 
from  Laodamia  in  Thessaly  to  her 
husband,  who  has  been  detained  in 
Aulis  by  contrary  winds.  A  rumor 
had  reached  her  that  the  first  chief 
to  touch  Trojan  soil  must  fall.  Let 
Protesilaus  carefully  avoid  this  fatal 
precedence.  Rather  let  his  be  the 
last  of  the  thousand  ships, — the  last 
in  going,  but  the  first  to  return. 

Laomedon,  in  classic  myth  a  king 
of  Ilium,  father  of  Priam,  his  successor. 
Apollo  and  Poseidon  were  engaged  by 
him,  the  first  to  pasture  his  flocks  on 
Mount  Ida,  the  second  to  build  or 
help  build  the  walls  of  Ilium  (Troy). 
He  defrauded  both  gods  of  their 
stipulated  pay,  provoking  both  to 
revenge.  Apollo  smote  the  land  with 
a  plague,  Poseidon  sent  a  sea-monster 
to  ravage  it.  Only  the  sacrifice  of 
the  king's  daughter  Hesiode  would 
satisfy  the  brute,  but  Hercules  saved 
her  as  Perseus  saved  Andromeda 
when  he  found  the  maiden  chained 
to  a  rock  in  the  sea.  Once  more 
Laomedon  refused  the  reward  he  had 
promised, — the  magic  horses  Zeus  had 
bestowed  upon  Tros  in  compensation 
for  the  rape  of  Ganymede — and 
Hercules  took  Troy,  slew  Laomedon, 
and  all  his  sons  save  Priam,  and  gave 
Hesiode  to  his  companion  Telamon, 
by  whom  she  became  the  mother  of 
Teucer. 

Latinus,  in  Roman  legend,  a  king 
of  Latium,  in  Italy,  who  hospitably 
welcomed  the  Trojan  refugees  after 
their  seven  years'  wanderings,  and 
recognized  in  their  leader  ^Eneas  the 
destined  husband  of  his  daughter 
Lavinia.  Turnus,  prince  of  the  Rutil- 
ians,  to  whom  the  maiden  had  been 
betrothed,  made  war  upon  both 
^Eneas  and  Latinus.  Latinus  fell  in 
the  first  battle.  The  pedigree  of  this 
potentate  is  variously  stated.  He  is 


Latona 


173 


Lavinia 


alternatively  the  son  of  Faunus  and 
Marica,  a  nymph;  of  Heracles  and 
Fauna;  of  Ulysses  and  Circe. 

Latona  (called  Leto  by  the  Greeks), 
in  classic  myth,  daughter  of  Cceus,  a 
Titan,  and  mother  of  the  twin  deities, 
Apollo  and  Artemis  or  Diana,  by 
Zeus  himself.  Pursued  by  the  jealous 
wrath  of  Hera,  Leto  wandered  from 
place  to  place  till  she  came  to  Delos, 
which  was  then  a  floating  island, 
named  Ortygia.  Zeus  fastened  it 
securely  to  the  bottom  of  the  sea 
and  there  Leto  became  a  mother. 
Ovid  (Metamorphoses,  vi,  iv)  tells  the 
story  of  the  Lycian  clowns  who  in- 
sulted her  as  she  knelt  with  the  in- 
fants in  arms  to  quench  her  thirst  at 
a  little  lake  and  who  were  inconti- 
nently changed  into  frogs. 

I  did  but  prompt  the  age  to  quit  their  clogs 
By  the  known  rules  of  ancient  liberty, 
When  straight  a  barbarous  noise  environs 

me 

Of  owls  and  cuckoos,  asses,  apes,  and  dogs; 
As  when  those  hinds  that  were  transformed 

frogs 

Railed  at  Latona's  twin-born  progeny, 
Which  after  held  the  sun  and  moon  in  fee. 

MILTON. 

Thus  the  hoarse  tenants  of  the  sylvan  lake 
A  Lycian  race  of  old,  to  flight  betake 
At  every  sound  they  dread  Latona's  hate 
And  doubled  vengeance  of  their  former  fate 
All  sudden  plunging,  leave  the  margin  green, 
And  but  their  heads  above  the  pool  are  seen. 
CAMOENS:     The  Lusiad,  Book  ii. 

MICKLE,  trans. 

Laughing  Philosopher,  the  sobri- 
quet bestowed  by  his  contemporaries 
upon  Democritus  of  Abdera  (B.C.  460- 
361),  an  apostle  of  good  cheer  as 
Heraclitus  the  Weeping  Philosopher 
(q.v.)  was  a  preacher  of  gloom.  He 
seems  to  have  been  simply  an  opti- 
mist disposed  to  kindly  ^  mirth,  al- 
though he  was  later  conceived  of  as  a 
cynic  laughing  at  the  follies  and  sor- 
rows of  mankind. 

Launfal,  Sir,  hero  of  a  metrical 
romance  of  that  name  ascribed  to 
T.  Chestre  and  to  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury. Sir  Launfal  is  steward  to  King 
Arthur,  in  love  with  the  lady  Trya- 
mour  of  Carlyoun,  who  gave  him  an 
ever-ready  purse  and  stipulated  that 
if  he  ever  wanted  her  he  should  retire 
into  a  private  room  whither  she  would 


immediately  appear.  When  Queen 
Gwennere  (Guinevere)  made  ad- 
vances to  the  knight  he  summoned 
the  lady  to  show  how  far  superior  she 
was  to  anything  at  King  Arthur's 
court. 

Another  legend  concerning  the 
same  personage  is  versified  by  Lowell 
in  The  Vision  of  Sir  Launfal  (1848). 
Though  a  good  knight  and  true  he 
lacked  humility  and  had  little  sym- 
pathy with  the  poor  or  with  repentant 
sinners.  He  had  made  a  vow  to  seek 
the  Holy  Grail,  but  put  it  off  until 
the  beauty  of  a  day  in  June  recalled 
it  to  his  memory.  In  a  vision  he 
sallies  out  and  meets  a  beggar  suffer- 
ing from  leprosy  to  whom  he  disdain- 
fully tosses  a  piece  of  gold.  The  beggar 
turns  out  to  be  Christ. 

Laurin,  king  of  the  Dwarfs  in  a 
German  poem  ascribed  to  Heinrich 
von  Ofterdingen  (Heldenbuck,  iv). 
He  ruled  over  a  wonderful  rose-garden 
and  possessed  a  magic  ring  of  victory, 
a  magic  belt  which  gave  him  the 
strength  of  12  men,  and  a  cap  of 
invisibility.  Having  carried  off  Kun- 
hild  to  make  her  his  queen,  Dietlieb 
of  Steermach  her  brother  with  Diet- 
rich of  Berne  and  two  other  knights 
came  to  her  rescue.  Dietrich,  in 
single  combat,  dispossessed  Laurin  of 
his  magic  gifts.  Being  thus  reduced 
to  the  level  of  ordinary  mortality  he 
and  an  army  of  dwarfs  were  easily 
routed. 

Laurin  himself  was  taken  prisoner 
and  sent  to  Berne,  where  for  many 
years  he  earned  his  livelihood  by 
tumbling  for  the  amusement  of  the 
court.  Finally,  Dietrich  took  pity 
upon  him  and  restored  him  to  his 
possessions,  where  Kunhild  volun- 
tarily rejoined  him.  According  to 
popular  legend  the  rose-garden  is 
still  extant  somewhere  in  the  Tyrol, 
though  it  remains  invisible  to  such  as 
go  in  quest  of  it. 

Lavinia,  in  classic  myth,  the  daugh- 
ter of  Latinus,  king  of  Latium,  or 
Italy.  Virgil,  in  the  last  six  books  of 
the  sEneid  (vii-xii),  tells  how  Latinus 
welcomes  ^Eneas  on  his  landing  in 
Latium  and  promises  him  the  hand 
of  his  daughter.  But  Lavinia  had 


Lazarus 


174 


Lethe 


already  been  betrothed  by  the  mother 
to  Prince  Turnus,  who  raises  an  army 
to  contest  the  claims  of  JEneas  and 
finally  perishes  in  single  combat  with 
the  Trojan  hero.  Here  Virgil's  poem 
ends.  There  is  a  curious  German  epic 
also  entitled  the  sEneid,  by  Heinrich 
Von  Veldeche,  a  minnesinger  of  the 
twelfth  century,  who  follows  in  the 
same  lines  as  Virgil's  until  the  hero 
comes  to  Latium;  then  it  pauses  to 
depict  the  love  of  Lavinia  for  ^Eneas. 
They  marry,  he  becomes  king,  builds 
Alba  and  dies.  A  posthumous  son 
called  ^neas  Sylvius  is  born  to 
Lavinia. 

Lazarus,  in  the  New  Testament, 
the  brother  of  Mary  and  Martha,  and 
friend  of  Jesus,  who  according  to  John 
xi,  xii,  raised  him  from  the  dead. 
Jesus  gave  the  name  of  Lazarus  to 
the  hero  of  one  of  His  own  parables, 
the  poor  man  whose  sores  were  licked 
by  dogs  and  who  fed  upon  the  crumbs 
that  fell  from  the  table  of  the  rich 
man.  When  both  died,  Lazarus  went 
to  heaven,  where  the  rich  man,  burn- 
ing in  hell,  saw  him  resting  on  Abra- 
ham's bosom  and  prayed  that  he 
might  bring  him  a  drop  of  water 
wherewith  to  cool  his  thirst.  It  is 
noteworthy  that  Lazarus  is  the  only 
proper  name  given  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment to  any  character  in  Christ's 
parables,  though  a  misapprehension 
occurs  ^in  the  case  of  Dives  (<?.».). 
Hence  it  has  been  suggested  that  the 
parable  of  Lazarus  is  historical  and 
not  fabulous. 

Lean  Gyffes  Lien,  whose  adven- 
tures are  described  in  the  fourth  book 
of  the  Mabinogion,  was  a  protege1 
of  the  enchanter  Gwydion.  Of  all 
the  heroes  of  mediaeval  story  he  was 
the  best  protected  against  hostile 
attack.  For,  as  he  explained  to  his 
wife,  Bloudeuwedd,  there  was  only 
one  way  in  which  he  could  be  slain, 
viz. :  '  By  making  a  bath  for  me  by 
the  side  of  a  river,  and  by  putting  a 
roof  over  the  caldron,  and  thatching 
it  well  and  tightly,  and  bringing  a 
buck  and  putting  it  beside  the  caldron 
Then  if  I  placed  one  foot  on  the  buck's 
back  and  the  other  on  the  edge  of  the 
caldron,  whosoever  strikes  me  thus 


will  cause  my  death."  It  might  seem 
that  Bloudeuwedd  had  reason  in 
piously  thanking  heaven  that  it 
would  be  easy  to  avoid  this,  though, 
in  very  truth,  she  was  playing  the 
hero  false,  and  was  only  worming  this 
information  out  of  him  in  order  to  rid 
herself  of  him. 

Leander,  in  Greek  legend,  a  youth 
of  Abydos  in  love  with  Hero.  Every 
night  he  swam  the  Hellespont  to 
visit  her  in  her  town  at  Lesbos.  One 
night  a  sudden  storm  extinguished 
the  light  in  the  tower,  and  Leander 
losing  his  way  was  drowned.  His 
body  was  washed  ashore  and  on  dis- 
covering it  Hero  leaped  from  her 
tower  and  was  drowned. 

Leda,  daughter  of  Thestius,  wife  of 
Tyndareus,  king  of  Sparta,  and  mother 
of  Castor  and  Pollux  and  Clytem- 
nestra  and  Helena.  A  wide-spread 
tradition  denied  the  paternity  of  these 
two  pair  of  twins  to  Tyndareus. 
Zeus  according  to  this  account  visited 
Leda  in  the  form  of  a  swan  and  she 
brought  forth  two  eggs.  The  male 
twins  issued  from  one  egg,  the  female 
from  the  other.  The  story  is  versi- 
fied by  Ovid,  Metamorphoses,  x,  and  is 
more  succinctly  told  by  Spenser  in 
the  Faerie  Queene,  iii,  II,  32: 

Then  was  he  turn'd  into  a  snowy  swan 
To  win  fair  Leda  to  his  lovely  trade: 
O  wondrous  skill,  and  sweet  wit  of  the  man 
That  her  in  daffadillies  sleeping  made 
From  scorching  heat  her  daintie  limbes  to 

shade! 
Whiles  the  proud  bird,  ruffing  his  fethers 

wyde. 

And  brushing  his  faire  brest,  did  her  invade 
She  slept,  yet  twixt  her  eielids  closely  spyde 
How  towards  her  he  rusht,  and  smiled  at  his 

pryde. 

Legion,  the  self -given  name  of  the 
unclean  spirit,  who  possessed  the 
demoniac  in  Mark  v:  "  My  name  is 
Legion,  for  we  are  many." 

Lesbia,  the  name  under  which 
Catullus  celebrated  the  charms  and 
denounced  the  frailties  of  his  mistress. 
She  is  generally  identified  with 
Clodia,  a  lady  of  high  rank,  but,  if 
we  are  to  believe  Catullus,  a  profligate 
and  unscrupulous  woman  in  a  prof- 
ligate and  reckless  age. 

Lethe,  in  classic  myth,  one  of  the 


Leucothia 


175 


Liiiet 


rivers  in  Hades  whose  waters  bring 
forgetfulness  to  whomsoever  quaffs 
them. 

Milton  after  describing  the  four 
rivers  of  hell  (see  ACHERON)  continues: 

Far  off  from  these  a  slow  and  silent  stream 
Lethe,  the  river  of  oblivion,  rolls 
Her  watery  labyrinth;  whereof  who  drinks 
Forthwith  his  former  state  and  being  forgets, 
Forgets  both  joy  and  grief,  pleasure  and 

Pain-  Paradise  Lost,  ii,  383. 

Dante  makes  Lethe  the  boundary 
between  Heaven  and  Hell,  but  ex- 
plains that  it  has  lost  its  gift  of  for- 
getfulness,— as  remembrances  of  an 
evil  past  form  part  of  the  punishment 
of  sin. 

Leucothia,  in  Greek  myth.  See  INO. 

Levana,  in  Roman  myth,  a  goddess, 
who  protected  new  born  infants. 
J.  P.  Richter  used  the  word  as  the 
title  of  a  treatise  on  the  training  of 
children. 

Lilith,  in  Jewish  and  Mohammedan 
myth,  the  first  wife  of  Adam.  That 
Eve  was  Adam's  second  wife  was  a 
common  Rabbinical  speculation, 
adopted  to  explain  the  double  ac- 
count of  the  creation  of  man  in  Gene- 
sis. In  i,  27,  we  are  told  "  male  and 
female  created  He  them,"  hence  the 
legend  arose  that  man  was  created 
double,  i.e.,  both  male  and  female, 
back  to  back,  and  were  hewn  asunder 
with  a  hatchet,  as  Adam  and  Lilith. 
But  when  this  wife  on  account  of  her 
simultaneous  creation  with  him,  be- 
came proud  and  a  vexation  to  her 
husband,  God  expelled  her  from  Para- 
dise, and  then  said  "  It  is  not  good 
that  the  man  should  be  alone,  I  will 
make  a  helpmeet  for  him  '  (Genesis 
ii,  1 8).  "  And  this  they  confirm  by 
the  words  of  Adam,  when  he  saw  the 
woman  fashioned  from  his  rib,  '  This 
is  now  bone  of  my  bone  and  flesh  of 
my  flesh,'  which  is  as  much  as  to  say, 
Now  God  has  given  me  a  wife  and 
companion  suitable  to  me,  taken  from 
my  bone  and  flesh,  but  the  other  wife 
was  not  of  my  bone  and  flesh  and 
therefore  not  a  suitable  wife  and 
companion." 

Abraham  Ecchelensis,  who  thus 
summarizes  the  legend  he  does  not 
accept,  adds  that  "  this  fable  has  been 


transmitted  to  the  Arabs  from  Jewish 
sources  by  some  converts  of  Mahomet 
from  Cabalism  and  Rabbinism,  who 
have  transferred  all  the  Jewish  fool- 
eries to  the  Arabs."  The  latter 
further  feigned  that  Lilith,  after  she 
was  expelled  from  Paradise,  married 
the  devil,  by  whom  she  had  children 
called  the  Jinns.  Mediaeval  demonog- 
raphers  classed  her  as  a  Lamia  (q.v.). 
Lilliard,  Maid,  a  Scottish  maiden, 
whose  feats  at  the  battle  of  Ancrum 
Moor  (1544),  in  which  the  English 
invaders,  under  Sir  Ralph  Eure  and 
Sir  Bryan  Layton,  were  repulsed 
from  the  borders,  are  celebrated  in 
the  following  verses,  still  legible  on 
the  memorial  stone  erected  on  the 
spot: 

Fair  Maiden  Lilliard  lies  beneath  this  stane; 
Small  was  her  stature,  but  mickle  was  her 

fame; 
Upon  the  English  loons  she  laid  full  many 

thumps, 
And  when  her  legs  were  cuttit  off  she  fought 

upon  her  stumps. 

It  is  a  historical  fact  that  a  body 
of  women  did  join  in  the  battle,  and 
the  stout  little  maid  of  Maxton  was 
probably  the  first  in  the  fray,  and 
distinguished  herself  in  a  fashion  that 
naturally  led  to  the  humorous  exag- 
geration contained  in  these  verses. 

Linet  (whom  Tennyson  calls  Lyn- 
ette)  in  Sir  Thomas  Malory's  History 
of  Prince  Arthur  (1470)  is  the  daugh- 
ter of  Sir  Persuant  and  sister  of 
Liones  of  Castle  Perilous.  When  the 
latter  is  held  captive  by  Sir  Ironside, 
the  Red  Knight  of  the  Red  Lands, 
Linet  seeks  Arthur's  court  to  pray 
that  one  of  his  knights  may  come  to 
the  rescue  of  Liones,  but  as  she 
refuses  to  reveal  her  sister's  name  the 
plea  is  refused  until  a  young  man 
nicknamed  "  Beaumains  "  volunteers 
his  aid.  The  nickname  is  given  him 
in  ironical  allusion  to  his  big  hands, 
he  is  coarse  and  uncouth,  having 
served  in  the  kitchen  for  twelve 
months,  though  really  of  noble  birth, 
and  Linet  laughs  at  him  as  a  dish- 
washer, a  kitchen  knave  and  a  lout, 
but  he  succeeds  in  his  quest,  liberates 
the  lady  Lionss  and  marries  her. 
See  GARETH. 


Littower 


176 


Locrine 


Littower,  a  heathen  king  in  Ger- 
many, according  to  mediaeval  myth, 
stole  in  the  disguise  of  a  beggar,  into 
a  church,  meditating  evil  against  the 
Christian  monarch  and  his  religion. 
Suddenly  from  the  uplifted  host 
issued  a  child  of  wonderful  beauty, 
and  came  towards  him  unseen  by  the 
congregation.  Littower  was  seized 
and  led  into  the  presence  of  the 
Christian  king,  his  heart  was  moved, 
he  received  the  rite  of  baptism  with 
his  followers  and  humbled  himself 
before  the  Lord  of  Heaven.  An  old 
poem,  Littower,  by  Schondoch,  a 
poet  not  otherwise  known,  tells  this 
legend  with  much  grace  and  simplic- 
ity. The  same  story  is  told  of  the 
Saxon  Wittekind. 

Lityerses,  a  natural  son  of  Midas, 
engaged  in  agriculture  at  Celasnas  in 
Phrygia,  where  he  was  wont  to  hos- 
pitably entertain  all  strangers,  oblig- 
ing them  in  return  to  assist  him  in  the 
harvest.  In  case  he  surpassed  them 
he  cut  off  their  heads  in  the  evening 
and  hid  their  bodies  in  the  sheaves, 
accompanying  the  deed  with  songs. 
He  was  finally  slain  by  Heracles.  The 
Phrygian  reapers  used  to  celebrate  his 
memory  in  a  harvest  song  which  bore 
his  name. 

Llyr  (in  Irish  Ler,  the  sea),  a  British 
sea-god  described  in  Welsh  legend  as 
Llyr  Llediath  or  "  Llyr  of  the  Foreign 
Dialect "  andfthe  husband  of  Iweridd 
or  Ireland,  whence  it  is  suggested  that 
he  may  have  been  borrowed  by  the 
Britons  from  the  Gaels  later  than 
any  mythology  common  to  both 
(CHARLES  SQUIRE,  The  Mythology  of 
the  British  Islands,  p.  270).  As  a 
British  god  he  is  the  far-off  original  of 
Shakspear's  King  Lear.  The  chief 
city  of  his  worship  is  still  called  after 
him  Leicester,  i.e.,  Llyr-cestre.  Iwe- 
ridd bore  Llyr  Bran  a  son  and  Bran- 
wen  a  daughter.  The  first  was  a  dark 
deity  of  Hades  delighting  in  war  and 
carnage  and  also  in  music,  the  latter 
a  goddess  of  love  like  the  sea-born 
Aphrodite. 

Loathly  Lady,  heroine  of  an  old 
ballad,  The  Marriage  of  Sir  Gawain, 
which  tells  how  that  knight  took  to 
wife  a  hideous  hag,  whom  no  one  else 


would  look  at,  who  straightway  was 
released  from  the  spells  of  a  malignant 
enchanter  and  restored  to  her  normal 
self  as  a  beautiful  young  woman.  This 
is  another  variant  of  the  Beauty  and 
the  Beast  legend  with  the  sexes  re- 
versed. See  GAWAIN. 

Locrine,  in  British  myth,  one  of  the 
three  sons  of  Brutus,  the  pretended 
founder  of  Britain.  His  story  is  told 
by  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth  in  British 
History,  ii,  5,  i;  by  Spenser  in  The 
Faerie  Queene,  ii,  10;  by  Michael 
Drayton;  and,  with  some  change  of 
detail,  by  Swinburne  in  his  tragedy 
Locrine  (1887). 

After  the  death  of  Brutus,  so  the 
old  legend  runs,  his  three  sons  divided 
his  kingdom.  Locrine,  as  the  eldest, 
took  all  of  England  except  Cornwall ; 
Camber  took  Cambria  or  Wales,  and 
Albanact  took  Albania  or  Scotland. 
Albanact  fell  in  an  invasion  by  Hum- 
ber,  king  of  the  Huns,  but  the  latter 
was  eventually  defeated  and  slain 
by  Locrine  and  Camber. 

In  Swinburne's  drama  Estrild  or 
Estrildis,  a  German  princess  forcibly 
carried  off  by  the  invader  from  her 
own  land,  is  found  by  Locrine  in  the 
camp  of  the  enemy,  after  the  flight  is 
over;  and,  though  he  is  previously 
affianced  to  Guendolen,  daughter  of 
Corineus,  the  giantkilling  king  of 
Cornwall,  and  eventually  marries  her, 
Locrine  makes  Estrild  his  paramour 
and  by  her  has  a  daughter,  the 
Sabrina  of  Milton's  Comus.  When 
Guendolen  discovers  the  relations 
between  Estrild  and  Locrine  she 
levies  war  against  her  husband,  with 
the  help  of  their  son  Madan,  and 
Locrine  is  mortally  wounded  in 
battle. 

Locrine,  as  conceived  here,  is  a  new  char- 
acter on  the  stage,  but  a  perfectly  true  one. 
His  wife  thus  describes  him  in  what  is  cer- 
tainly one  of  the  best  short  passages  of  the 
play: 

Thy  speech  is  sweet:  thine  eyes  are  flowers 
that  shine: 

If  ever  siren  bare  a  son,  Locrine, 

To  reign  in  some  green  island,  and  bear  sway 

On  shores  more  shining  than  the  front  of 
day, 

And  cliffs  whose  brightness  dulls  the  morn- 
ing's brow, 

That  son  of  sorceries  and  of  seas  art  thou. 


Lohengrin 


177 


Longinus 


He  is  not  in  any  sense  an  unkind  husband; 
he  is  scarcely — unless  liking  some  one  else 
better  than  his  wife  constitutes  unfaithful- 
ness per  se — an  unfaithful  one.  He  could 
not  be  cruel,  or  ungrateful,  or  forgetful  of 
old  kindness.  He  is  not  even  a  mere  easy- 
going rake,  but  only  an  amiable  and  chival- 
rous polygamist,  with  a  wife  who  does  not 
understand  polygamy. — Saturday  Review. 

Lohengrin,  in  mediaeval  German 
legend,  the  son  of  Parzival,  whom  he 
succeeded  as  the  custodian  of  the 
Holy  Grail.  One  day  the  bell  in  the 
temple,  untouched  by  human  hands, 
tolled  a  signal  for  help.  Lohengrin 
was  just  about  to  leap  on  his  horse, 
ready  for  he  knew  not  what,  when  a 
swan  appeared  on  the  river  leading  a 
ship  in  its  wake.  He  dismissed  his 
horse  and  leaped  on  the  ship.  It 
turned  out  that  his  assistance  was 
needed  on  behalf  of  Else  or  Elsam, 
orphan  daughter  of  the  Duke  of 
Brabant.  She  had  refused  the  hand 
of  her  guardian,  Frederick  von  Tel- 
ramund.  He  had  appealed  to  the 
Emperor  Henry  the  Fowler,  who 
granted  him  permission  to  assert  his 
rights  against  any  champion  Else 
might  choose.  The  fatal  day  arrived. 
The  princess  was  in  despair;  no 
knight  had  come  to  her  succor.  But 
with  the  opening  of  the  lists  the  swan- 
drawn  boat  hove  in  sight  and  in  the 
boat  was  Lohengrin  asleep  on  his 
shield.  He  woke  as  soon  as  the  boat 
touched  land;  heard  the  princess's 
story,  espoused  her  cause,  and  slew 
the  formidable  Frederick.  Then,  as 
the  lady  was  rich  and  comely,  he 
married  her  himself,  enjoining  upon 
her,  however,  that  she  never  should 
ask  his  name.  They  lived  happily 
together  until,  being  taunted  with  her 
ignorance  of  her  husband's  origin, 
she  broke  her  promise.  Lohengrin 
told  her  who  he  was,  called  his  chil- 
dren and  bade  them  all  farewell,  and 
in  the  morning  the  swan  and  the  ship 
reappeared  and  bore  him  away  for 
ever.  According  to  the  rules  of  the 
order  of  the  San  Greal,  every  knight 
was  bound  to  return  to  the  temple  of 
the  order  immediately  he  had  been 
asked  his  lineage  and  office.  Lohen- 
grin is  only  one  of  many  versions  of 
the  mediaeval  legend  of  the  Knight  of 

12 


the  Swan,  which  is  common  to  the 
folklore  of  almost  every  European 
nation.  Wolfram  von  Eschenbach 
rescued  it  from  the  obscurity  into 
which  the  other  versions  have  fallen, 
and  the  genius  of  Wagner  has  made 
it  immortal. 

Loki,  the  evil  principle  in  Scandi- 
navian mythology.  His  very  name, 
from  locka,  to  tempt,  kins  him  with 
Satan.  He  has  been  further  identi- 
fied with  Vulcan  and  Proteus,  and 
the  Hindoo  Agni.  That  he  is  repre- 
sented as  one  of  the  JEsir  proves  that 
his  myth  arose  in  an  early  age  before 
the  idea  of  dualism — good  and  evil — 
had  established  itself  in  the  human 
mind.  Being  admitted  to  ^Egir's 
feast  Loki  hurled  abuses  at  his  fellow 
guests  but  fled  on  the  entrance  of 
Thor.  He*  treacherously  contrived 
the  death  of  Balder.  For  these 
offences  he  was  condemned,  but 
escaped  pursuit  for  a  period  by  his 
facility  in  assuming  any  shape  he 
chose,  horse,  fish,  flea,  etc.  Finally 
he  was  caught  and  chained  to  a  rock 
in  some  abyss  beneath  the  inhabited 
world.  There  he  must  remain  until 
the  end  of  things.  Over  his  head 
hangs  a  serpent  whose  venom  would 
fall  on  his  face,  but  that  his  faithful 
wife  Segni  catches  the  drops  in  a 
vessel.  When  full  she  turns  to  empty 
it;  then  a  drop  falls  on  Loki,  and, 
shaking  himself,  the  whole  earth 
shakes  with  him.  Loki  has  three 
children  as  evil  as  himself,  the  wolf 
Fcnris,  the  Midgard  Serpent  and 
Hcla  or  Hel. 

Longinus,  according  to  mediaeval 
legend, — sanctioned  by  the  Catholic 
church,  which  has  canonized  him  as 
the  first  martyr  among  the  Gentiles, 
— was  the  name  of  the  Roman  cen- 
turion whose  lance  pierced  the  side 
of  Christ  as  He  hung  dead  on  the 
cross  (St.  John,  xix,  34). 

The  blood-stained  lance  was  one 
of  the  relics  which  with  the  Holy 
Grail  passed  into  the  keeping  of 
Joseph  of  Arimathea  and  its  later 
appearances  and  final  fate  are  vari- 
ously given  in  the  legends  of  the 
Grail.  It  is  especially  prominent  in 
the  episode  of  the  Roi  Pecheur  whom 


Lorelei 


178 


Lutins 


it  fell  upon  and  wounded  because  of 
his  sin.  The  legends  all  agree  that 
it  was  taken  up  into  heaven,  though 
there  is  no  consensus  as  to  the  manner 
of  its  disappearance.  (See  PECHEUR, 
Roi.) 

Lorelei,  Loreley  or  Lurley,  a  pre- 
cipitous rock  rising  430  feet  above  the 
Rhine  between  St.  Goar  and  Ober-  < 
wesel.  The  name  is  generally  derived 
from  the  German  lauer,  to  lie  in  wait, 
and  lei,  old  form  ot  leia,  a  rock,  the 
first  word  having  reference  to  the 
dangerous  whirlpools  at  its  base, 
which  are  ever  ready  to  capsize  the 
careless  boatsman.  Hence  also  arose 
the  idea  of  spirits  haunting  the  rock 
which  may  be  traced  back  as  far  as 
the  sixteenth  century.  Later  came 
the  legend  of  a  siren  specifically  called 
the  Lorelei,  who  sits  upon  it  at  even- 
tide, curling  her  golden  hair  in  the 
sunshine  and  by  the  magic  of  her 
voice  luring  mariners  to  destruction. 
This  was  probably  an  invention  of 
Heinrich  Heine  in  his  little  lyric 
Die  Lorelei.  The  wide  popularity  of 
the  poem  and  of  the  music  married 
to  it  by  Franz  Liszt  established  the 
siren  forever  upon  the  famous  rock 
and  caused  a  number  of  floating 
legends  to  crystallize  about  her  name. 
One  of  these  tells  how  the  havoc  she 
wrought  among  men  of  all  ages  by  her 
bewildering  arts  caused  her  at  last 
to  be  summoned  before  the  tribunal, 
— an  obvious  avatar  of  the  Rhine 
myth.  See  LIGEA. 

Lreux,  the  name  under  which  Sir 
Queux  (English  Sir  Kay)  figures  in 
the  mediaeval  French  romance  Perci- 
val.  He  is  represented  as  a  detractor, 
coward  and  boaster  of  the  type  sub- 
sequently made  familiar  in  Spenser's 
Braggadochio  and  Shakspear's  Pa- 
rolles.  He  jeers  at  the  gawkiness  of 
Percival.  Thereupon  a  damsel  who 
had  not  smiled  for  ten  years  comes 
up  to_  Percival  and  assures  him  that 
if  he  lives  he  will  be  one  of  the  bravest 
and  best  of  knights.  Lreux,  exasper- 
ated, smites  her  on  the  cheek,  the 
king's  fool  in  retaliation  kicks  him 
into  the  fire  between  two  andirons. 

Lubberland,  another  name  for 
Cockaigne,  popularly  substituted  for 


the  more  archaic  term  from  the  six- 
teenth century  down.  London  was 
sometimes  called  Lubberland  by  its 
enemies. 

Lucian,  hero  of  The  Golden  Ass,  a 
romance  in  Latin  by  Apuleius  (who 
flourished  circa  175  A.D.),  is  a  young 
man  metamorphosed  into  an  ass,  who 
retains  his  human  consciousness.  In 
a  vein  of  mingled  humor  and  pathos 
he  describes  his  adventures  among 
robbers,  eunuchs,  magistrates,  priests, 
and  magicians  until  the  time  comes 
for  him  to  resume  his  proper  shape. 
Books  iv-vi  contain  the  famous  story 
Cupid  and  Psyche.  The  romance  is 
based  upon  the  Milesian  tale  of 
Lucius  of  Patrae. 

Lucifer.    See  SATAN. 

Lucretia    See  VIRGINIA. 

Lud,  according  to  the  legendary 
History  of  British  Kings  (1142),  by 
Geoffrey  of  Monmouth,  was  the  son 
of  Heli,  whom  he  succeeded  on  the 
British  throne.  He  enlarged  and 
beautified  his  capital  Trinovant  (i.e. 
Troynovant  or  New  Troy),  so  that  it 
came  to  foe  called  Lud's  Town  and 
eventually  London.  He  was  buried 
near  the  gate  still  called  after  him 
Ludgate. 

That  mighter  Lud  in  whose  eternal  name 
Great  London  still  shall  live  (by  him  re- 
builded). 

DRAYTON:    Polyolbion,  viii  (1612). 

He  had  two  sons,  whose  eldest  called  Lud 

Left  of  his  life  most  famous  memory. 

And  endless  monuments  of  his  great  good; 

The  ruined  walls  he  did  re-aedifie 

Of  Troynovant  gainst  force  of  enemy, 

And  built  that  gate  of  which  his  name  is 

hight 
By  which  he  lies  entombed  solemnly. 

SPENSER:    Fa/irie  Queene,  ii,  x,  46. 

Lutins  or  follets,  in  French  popular 
myth,  a  species  of  mischievous  sprite 
or  fairy  originating  in  Brittany.  They 
are  closely  analogous  to  the  Scotch 
Brownie,  the  English  Puck,  the  goblin 
and  pixy  of  Wales.  Souvestre  (Foyer 
Breton,  i,  199)  intimates  that  they 
can  assume  any  animal  shape,  though 
their  natural  form  is  that  of  a  little 
man  dressed  in  green.  Lutins  gather 
at  night  time  at  cross  roads,  or  in  the 
open  country  to  dance  in  the  light  of 
the  moon,  where  there  is  any,  and 


Lycaon 


179 


Lysistrata 


never  miss  an  opportunity  to  entice 
mortal  wayfarers  into  their  revels. 
Should  the  victim  be  recalcitrant  or 
ill-tempered  they  will  make  him  dance 
until  he  falls  down  exhausted. 

Generally  what  the  Breton  peasant  tells 
about  corrigans  he  is  apt  to  tell  at  another 
time  about  lutins.  .  .  .  Both  are  sup- 
posed to  guard  hidden  treasure;  some  trouble 
horses  at  night;  some,  like  their  English 
cousins,  may  help  in  the  housework  after 
all  the  family  is  asleep;  some  cause  night- 
mare; some  carry  a  torch  like  a  Welsh  death 
candle;  some  trouble  men  and  women  like 
obsessing  spirits,  and  nearly  all  of  them  are 
mischievous. — WENTZ:  The  Fairy  Faith  in 
Celtic  Countries. 

Lycaon,  in  classic  myth,  an  impious 
king  of  Arcadia  whom  divine  wrath 
turned  into  a  wolf.  According  to  one 
account  Hera  thus  metamorphosed 
him  because  he  defiled  his  altar  with 
human  sacrifices.  The  story  versi- 
fied by  Ovid  is  more  generally  re- 
ceived. Zeus  visited  him  in  his 
Arcadian  palace.  Lycaon  after  failing 
in  an  attempt  to  murder  him  served 
up  to  his  guest  a  dish  of  human  flesh. 
Thereupon  Zeus  turned  him  into  a 
wolf. 

Terror  struck  he  fled 

And  through  the  silence  of  the  distant  plains 
Wild  howling,  vainly  strove  for  human  voice. 
His  maddened  soul  his  form  infects: — his 

arms 
To  legs  are  changed,  his  robes  to  shaggy 

hide; — 

Glutting  on  helpless  flocks  his  ancient  lust 
Of  blood,  a  wolf  he  prowls, — retaining  still 
Some  traces  of  his  earlier  self, — the  same 
Grey  tell  of  hair — the  red  fierce  glare  of  eye 
And  savage  mouth, — alike  in  beast  and  man! 
OVID:  Metamorphoses. 

From  that  time  forth,  a  noble 
Arcadian  was  each  year  on  the  festival 
of  Zeus  Lykaios  led  to  a  certain  lake. 
Hanging  his  clothes  on  a  tree  he 
plunged  into  the  water  and  became  a 
wolf.  At  the  end  of  nine  years  if  he 
had  not  tasted  of  human  flesh,  he 
might  swim  back  again  and  regain 
his  clothes  and  with  them  his  human 
form. 

Lycomedes,  in  classic  myth,  King 
of  the  Dolopians,  in  the  island  of 
Scyrus,  to  whom  Thetis  confided  her 
son  Achilles,  dressing  him  up  as  a 
girl,  so  as  to  prevent  his  taking  part 
in  the  Trojan  war.  Odysseus  ap- 
peared as  a  pedlar  among  the  maidens 


of  the  king's  court,  penetrated  the 
disguise  because  the  youthful  hero 
bought  only  weapons  of  war,  and 
persuaded  him  to  join  the  other  chiefs. 
(STATIUS,  The  Achilleis.)  Deidamia, 
daughter  of  Lycomedes,  like  the 
Dudu  of  Byron's  Don  Juan,  had  the 
secret  revealed  to  her  in  another  way, 
becoming  the  mother  of  Pyrrhus. 

Lycurgus  (Lies  in  the  Welsh  triads), 
an  imaginary  emperor  of  Rome,  who 
sent  ambassadors  to  King  Arthur  at 
Carleon  upon  Usk,  demanding  the 
tribute  that  Arthur's  ancestors,  down 
to  Constantine  his  grandfather,  had 
annually  paid  to  Rome.  Arthur  not 
only  denied  their  claim,  but  set  up  a 
counterclaim  on  the  ground  that  Bran 
and  Constantine,  both  Roman  em- 
perors, were  of  British  origin.  Ap- 
pointing Modred  (q.v.)  regent  of  the 
kingdom  during  his  absence,  he 
crossed  the  sea  with  his  Britons.  The 
decisive  battle  was  fought  in  the 
Cisalpine  territory  where  Lycurgus 
was  defeated  and  slain.  Arthur 
pressed  on  and  was  crowned  Emperor 
of  the  world  by  the  Pope  in  Rome. 

Lyonesse  or  Leonnoys,  in  the 
Arthurian  cycle  of  romances,  a 
mythical  region  near  Cornwall,  ruled 
over  by  Meliadus,  the  birthplace  of 
Arthur  and  Tristram.  It  is  said  that 
the  sea  has  gradually  encroached  upon 
the  land  so  that  Lyonesse  now  lies 
more  than  40  fathoms  under  water 
between  the  Land's  End  and  the 
Scilly  Isles. 

The  sea  gradually  encroaching  on  the 
shore  hath  ravined  from  Cornwall  the  whole 
tract  of  country  called  Lionnesse,  together 
with  divers  other  parcels  of  no  little  circuit; 
and  that  such  a  country  as  Lionnesse  there 
was,  these  proofs  are  yet  remaining.  The 
space  between  the  Lands-End  and  the  isles 
of  Scilly,  being  about  13  miles,  to  this  day 
retaineth  that  name,  in  Cornish  Lethowsow, 
and  carryeth  continually  an  equal  depth  of 
40  or  60  fathom  (a  thing  not  usual  in  the 
sea's  proper  dominion)  save  that  about  the 
midway  there  lieth  a  rock,  which  at  low 
water  discovereth  its  head.  They  term  it 
the  gulf,  suiting  thereby  the  other  name  of 
Scylla.  Fishermen  also,  casting  their  hooks 
thereabouts,  have  drawn  up  pieces  of  doors 
and  windows. — CAREW:  Survey  of  Cornwall, 
quoted  in  Dunlop's  History  of  Fiction,  vol.  i. 
169. 

Lysistrata,  titular  heroine  of  the 
broadest  and  most  farcical  of  Aris- 


Lysistrata 


ISO 


Madoc 


tophanes's  comedies  (circa,  415  B.C.). 
During  the  Peleponnesian  war,  which 
has  now  lasted  21  years,  Lysistrata 
heads  a  representative  meeting  of 
Athenian  matrons,  who  agree  to 
hasten  peace  by  separating  from  their 
husbands,  denying  them  their  con- 


jugal rights  and  entrenching  them- 
selves in  the  Acropolis.  After  much 
engineering  she  carries  her  point.  The 
Spartans,  in  the  same  domestic  plight, 
make  overtures  for  peace.  Lysistrata 
dictates  the  terms.  Her  name  means 
in  Greek  "  the  resolver  of  peace." 


M 


Mab,  Queen,  in  fifteenth  and  six- 
teenth century  Welsh  and  English 
myth,  the  queen  of  the  fairies,  sub- 
sequently shorn  of  that  supremacy  by 
Titania  (g.t1.).  The  name  is  from  the 
Erse  Meubhdh,  which  is  said  to  have 
belonged  originally  to  a  great  Irish 
princess.  Beaufort,  in  his  Ancient 
Topography  of  Ireland,  mentions 
Mabh  as  the  chief  of  the  Irish  fairies. 
Shakspear  puts  a  famous  description 
of  her  into  Mercutio's  mouth  in 
Romeo  and  Juliet,  i,  iv,  55.  He  is  the 
first  to  call  Mab  the  queen  of  the 
fairies.  He  additionally  describes  her 
as  "the  fairies'  midwife,"  because,  as 
T.  Warton  surmises,  she  steals  new 
born  infants  and  leaves  changelings 
in  their  place.  Steevens  on  the  other 
hand  explains  that  she  is  so  called 
because  it  was  her  task  "  to  deliver 
the  fancies  of  sleeping  men  of  their 
dreams, — those  children  of  an  idle 
brain."  In  Milton's  U Allegro  (1. 103) 
Mab  has  cast  aside  her  regal  dignity 
and  reassumed  her  original  and  hum- 
bler r61e  of  a  teasing  and  mischievous 
sprite,  whose  petty  annoyances  pun- 
ished slothfulness  and  slovenliness  in 
maids,  and  who  deigned  to  accept 
their  propitiatory  offerings  of  junkets 
set  out  at  night  for  her  delectation. 
(See  GOODFELLOW,  ROBIN.) 

Shelley's  Queen  Mab,  in  a  poem  of 
that  name  (1810),  is  ruler  over  a  fairy 
court,  far  beyond  the  confines  of  the 
earth,  whither  the  soul  of  lanthe  is 
borne  in  a  dream,  so  that  she  may  be 
converted  from  the  errors  of  revealed 
religion. 

Maccus,  the  clown  or  fool  in  the 
ancient  Roman  drama.  According 
to  the  exigencies  of  the  particular 
piece  he  was  Maccus  Miles — the 
soldier,  or  Virgo,  Copo  or  Exsul,  and 


so  on,  or,  sometimes  doubled,  he  and 
his  counterpart  became  Macci  Gemini 
—the  Twin  Maccuses.  Possibly  these 
last  suggested  the  famous  play  The 
Mencechmi  of  Plautus,  out  of  which 
evolved  two  modern  masterpieces: 
Shakspear's  Comedy  of  Errors  and 
Moliere's  Amphitryon. 

Maccus  was  made  up  with  an 
immense  head,  an  exaggerated  nose 
and  staring  eyes,  as  appears  from  a 
small  bronze  statue  discovered  at 
Rome  in  1727.  Like  the  modern 
clown  he  came  in  for  all  the  hard 
knocks  to  the  delight  of  the  audience. 
He  was  a  far-off  ancestor  of  the 
modern  Harlequin  or  Punch. 

MacDonald's  Breed,  Lord,  a  name 
facetiously  given  in  Scotland  to  ver- 
min or  human  parasites.  The  story 
runs  that  Lord  MacDonald,  son  of 
the  Lord  of  the  Isles,  made  a  raid 
upon  the  mainland,  where  he  and  his 
men  dressed  themselves  in  plundered 
raiment,  but  no  one  was  poor  enough 
to  covet  the  raiment  they  had  dis- 
carded nor  to  risk  contamination 
with  the  "  breed  "  that  infested  them. 

Madoc,  a  semi-mythical  Welsh 
prince,  son  of  Owain  Gwynedd,  King 
of  North  Wales,  the  hero  of  Southey's 
epic  Madoc  (1805).  From  the  beauty 
of  his  character  he  was  known  as  "  the 
Perfect  Prince,"  from  his  adventures 
at  sea  "  The  Lord  of  Ocean."  He 
made  a  famous  westward  voyage  of 
exploration  in  1 1 70,  and  according  to 
ancient  legends  discovered  a  vast 
continent,  which  Southey,  following 
Drayton  and  other  authorities,  identi- 
fies with  America.  Here  Madoc 
founded  a  settlement  near  the  Mis- 
souri, which  was  called  Caer-Madoc, 
and  made  an  alliance  with  the  neigh- 
boring tribe  of  Aztecas.  War  broke 


Maecenas 


181 


Mahomet 


out  between  the  allies,  however,  and 
the  Aztecas  migrated  to  Mexico. 

Madoc 
Put  forth  his  well-rigged  fleet  to  seek  him 

foreign  ground. 
And  sailed  west  so  long  until  that  world  he 

found 
Long  ere  Columbus  lived. 

DRAYTON:    Polyolbion.  ix  (1612). 

Maecenas,  Caius  Cilnius,  who  was 

a  trusted  counsellor  of  Augustus  until 
the  rupture  of  their  friendship  in  B.C. 
1 6,  and  who  died  8  years  later,   is 
chiefly  remembered  as  a  munificent 
patron  of  literature.    Having  advised 
Augustus  to  set  up  an  empire  instead 
of  reorganizing  the  republic,  he  used 
his  influence  over  literary  men  largely 
to  reconcile  them,  and  through  them 
the  higher  minds  of  the  age,  to  the 
new  order  of  things.    The  seriousness 
of  the  Georgics  of  Virgil  as  compared 
with  the  flippancy  of  his  Eclogues,  the 
change  that  came  over  Horace  from 
epicurean    indifference    to    political 
affairs  as  avowed  in  his  earlier  odes, 
to  that  sense  of  national  grandeur 
which  informs  the  great  odes  of  his 
prime,— these  are  largely  the  indirect 
work  of  Maecenas. 

It  is  from  Horace  chiefly  that  we  learn 
to  know  and  value  the  character  of  Maecenas 
and  to  understand  the  kind  of  influence  that 
he  exercised.  He  bears  strong  testimony  to 
the  absence  of  all  jealousy  and  intrigue 
from  the  circle  of  which  Maecenas  was  the 
centre.  When  he  himself  became  the  most 
favored  guest  in  the  mansion  on  the  Es- 
quiline,  he  owed  this  distinction  more  to 
his  personal  qualities  than  to  his  genius. 
.  .  From  the  testimony  not  of  poets 
only  but  of  historians  we  learn  that  under 
an  appearance  of  indolence  and  an  entire 
abnegation  of  personal  ambition,  Maecenas 
concealed  great  capacity  and  public  spirit, 
and  the  most  loyal  devotion  to  Augustus.- 
W.  Y.  SELLAR:  Roman  Poets  of  the  Augus- 
tan Age,  p.  22. 

Mael  or  Melruas,  a  king  of  Britain 
who  appears  to  have  been  elected 
by  the  native  tribes  (A.D.  560), 
after  the  triumph  of  the  Saxons 
in  Southern  England.  Villemarque 
rather  fancifully  urges  that  some 
features  of  his  story  would  indi- 
cate him  as  the  historical  proto- 
type of  the  legendary  Lancelot. 
Mael  in  Welsh  means  a  servant,  and 
1' Ancelot  (diminutive  of  ancel)  would 


in  the  Romance  tongue  signify  the 
little  servant.  Early  Cymric  tradi- 
tion makes  Mael  the  nephew  of  King 
Arthur,  whose  wife  Guenever  he 
carried  off.  Arthur  besieged  him,  was 
defeated  and  concluded  a  disgraceful 
peace  which  restored  him  his  wife. 
Like  Lancelot,  Mael  closed  his  career 
in  a  convent. 

But  the  Mael  of  real  life  was  a  very 
different  being  from  the  courtly  and 
polished    Lancelot    of    romance    and 
poetry.     He  was  a  coarse  barbarian, 
redoubtable  in   arms  and   notorious 
for  his  crimes  of  unchaste  violence, 
who  seized  Guenever  by  lying  naked 
under  an  ambush  of  leaves  in  the 
wood  she  was  to  pass  through,  then 
rushing  out  on  her  as  a  satyr,  from 
whom  her  attendants  fled  in  terror. 
If  these  traditions  had  any  influ- 
ence upon  Arthurian  story  in  its  final 
form,  it  was  rather  in  shaping  the 
character  of  Modred  than  of  Lancelot. 
Mahomet  or  Mohammed,  the  name 
taken  by  Halabi,  founder  of  Islam 
(570-632),  when  he  started  out  as  a 
religious  and  political  reformer.     In 
literature  his  most  famous  appearance 
was    in    Voltaire's    drama    Mahomet 
(1738),    which    was    reproduced    in 
England    as    Mahomet    the   Impostor 
(1740).      The   plot    turns   upon    the 
wiles  and  stratagems  of  the  prophet 
to  marry  Palmira,  a  captive  in  his 
possession,     who    is    in    love    with 
Zaphna.      He    induces    Zaphna    to 
murder  Alcanor,  who  turns  out  to  be 
his  own  father.    Zaphna  is  poisoned. 
Palmira  commits  suicide  on  finding 
that  Zaphna  was  her  brother,   and 
Alcanor  her  father. 

In  accordance  with  the  narrow  theory  of 
his  time  [Voltaire]  held  Mahomet  to  be  a 
deliberate  and  conscious  impostor,  and  in 
presenting  the  founder  of  one  great  religion 
in  this  odious  shape  he  was  doubtless  sug- 
gesting that  the  same  account  might  be 
true  of  the  founder  of  another.  But  the 
suggestion  was  entirely  outside  of  the  play 
itself  and  we  who  have  fully  settled  these 
questions  for  ourselves  may  read  Mahomet 
without  suspecting  the  shade  of  a  reference 
from  Mecca  to  Jerusalem,  though  hardly 
without  contemning  the  feebleness  of  view 
which  could  see  nothing  but  sensuality, 
ambition  and  crime  in  the  career  of  the 
fierce  Eastern  reformer.— JOHN  MORLEY: 
Voltaire. 


Malagigi 


182 


Mammon 


Dante  places  Mahomet  in  the 
ninth  circle  of  hell,  where  schismatics, 
heretics  and  Founders  of  False 
Religions  undergo  their  penalties, 
laden  with  the  sins  of  those  whom 
they  had  seduced.  Dante  and  Virgil 
see  him  tearing  open  his  own  bowels 
and  calling  to  them  to  mark  him. 
Before  him  walked  his  son-in-law, 
Ali,  weeping  and  cloven  to  the  chin. 
As  the  ghastly  crew  walk  around  the 
circle  their  wounds  close  up,  but  at  a 
certain  point  a  demon  cuts  them  open 
again  with  a  sword. 

Malagigi.    See  MAUGIS. 

Malbruck  or  Malbrough,  a  famous 
crusader  celebrated  in  many  Basque 
legends  and  hero  of  the  French  song 
Malbrouck  s'en  va-t-en  guerre,  which 
was  an  especial  favorite  with  Napo- 
leon. During  Louis  XIV's  reign  a 
similarity  of  names  suggested  that 
the  old  song  was  a  caricature  of  Marl- 
borough's  exploits,  but  it  antedates 
the  great  Englishman  by  many  cen- 
turies and  its  hero  was  obviously 
an  ancient  baron  who  died  in  battle, 
presumably  in  the  Holy  Land. 

Malebolge  (Evil  Pits),  in  Dante's 
Inferno,  the  circle  in  hell  where  many 
kings  of  fraud  and  deceit  were  pun- 
ished. Overlooking  it  was  a  preci- 
pice, where  the  noise  of  the  River 
Phlegethon  falling  into  the  gulf 
below  was  almost  deafening.  In 
obedience  to  a  command  from  his 
guide  Virgil,  Dante  unloosed  a  cord 
which  he  wore  as  a  girdle  and  Virgil 
flung  it  into  the  abyss.  From  out  the 
darkness  a  huge  form  appeared  slowly 
sailing  upward  through  the  heavy 
air.  When  it  reached  the  brink  it 
rested  there  the  upper  part  of  its 
body,  leaving  its  great  tail  still 
hanging  over  the  precipice.  This 
was  Geryon  (q.v.),  the  representative 
of  fraud  and  deceit  and  therefore 
emblematic  of  the  sins  punished 
below.  The  pilgrims  mounted  his 
back  and  Geryon  beating  the  air  with 
his  arms,  bore  the  pilgrims  through 
space  and  landed  them  safely  on  a 
rock.  They  passed  on  through  a 
rough  and  rocky  road,  looking  down 
into  various  pits  wherein  were  pun- 
ished different  kinds  of  swindlers  and 


impostors.  Flatterers  and  simonists 
(and  among  these  several  popes)  and 
harlots  were  there.  Next  they  en- 
countered a  procession  of  soothsayers 
and  false  prophets,  some  of  whom  had 
their  heads  twisted  round  so  they 
could  see  only  behind  them  and  not 
before  as  a  special  punishment  for 
pretending  to  see  into  the  future 
when  on  earth. 

Malec,  in  Mohammedan  myth,  one 
of  the  keepers  of  Hell,  who  specially 
presides  over  the  torments  of  the 
damned. 

And  they  shall  cry:  "O  Malec!  would 
that  thy  Lord  would  make  an  end  of  us!" 
He  saith:  "Here  must  ye  remain." — The 
Koran,  Sura  xliii,  78. 

Mammon,  a  Syriac  word  used  in 
Matthew  vi,  24,  as  a  synonym  for 
wealth  or  worldly  ambition:  "  Ye 
cannot  serve  God  and  mammon." 
Hence  it  evolved  into  a  proper  name 
as  a  personification  of  wealth, — or  as 
the  god  of  wealth,  like  the  Plutus  of 
classical  mythology.  Wierus,  a  medi- 
aeval demonologist,  made  him  an 
ambassador  from  the  infernal  court 
to  England.  Other  authorities  placed 
him  at  the  head  of  the  ninth  orlowest 
rank  of  demons.  Spenser  in  the 
Faerie  Queene  introduces  him  as  the 
god  of  riches  and  makes  him  try  to 
tempt  Sir  Guyon  by  appeals  to  cupid- 
ity and  concupiscence.  Milton  in 
Paradise  Lost  makes  him  one  of  the 
fallen  angels. 

Mammon,  the  least  erected  spirit  that  fell 
From  heaven;  for  even  in  heaven  his  looks 

and  thoughts 

Were  always  downward  bent;  admiring  mora 
The  riches  of  heaven's  pavement,  trodden 

gold 

Than  aught  Divine  or  holy  else  enjoyed 
In  vision  beatific;  by  him  first 
Men  also,  and  by  his  suggestion  taught. 
Ransacked   the  centre,   and   with   impious 

hands 

Rifled  the  bowels  of  their  mother  earth 
For  treasures  better  hid. 

Paradise  Lost,  Book  i. 

Mammon,  Cave  of,  in  Spenser's 
Faerie  Queene,  ii,  vii,  the  abode  of 
the  god  of  riches  and  worldly  lusts. 

By  what  subtle  art  of  tracing  the  mental 
processes  it  is  effected,  we  are  not  philos- 
ophers enough  to  explain;  but  in  that 


Man 


183 


Margause 


wonderful  episode  of  the  Cave  of  Mammon, 
in  which  the   Money  God  appears  first  in 
the  lowest  form  of  a  miser,  is  then  a  worker 
of  metals,  and  becomes  the  god  of  all  the 
treasures  of  the  world,  and  has  a  daughter, 
Ambition,  before  whom  all  the  world  kneels 
for  favors, — with  the  Hesperian  fruit,  the 
waters  of  Tantalus,  with  Pilate  washing  his 
hands  vainly,  but  not  impertinently,  in  the 
same  stream, — that  we  should  be  at  one 
moment  in  the  cave  of  an  old  hoarder  of 
treasures,  at  the   next    at  the  forge  of  the 
Cyclops,  in  a  palace  and  yet  in  hell,  all  at 
once,   with  the  shifting    mutations   of  the 
most  rambling  dream,  and  our  judgment  yet 
all  the  time  awake,  and  neither  able  nor 
willing  to  detect  the  fallacy,  is  a  proof  of 
that  hidden  sanity  which  still  guides  the 
poet  in  the  wildest  seeming  aberrations. — 
CHARLES  LAMB. 


Man  of  Sin,  a  personage  alluded  to 
in   the   New   Testament,   2   Thessa- 
lonians  ii,  1-5,  and  described  there 
as  "  the  son  of  perdition,  he  that 
opposeth  and  exalteth  himself  against 
all   that   is   called   God   or   that   is 
worshipped;  so  that  he  sitteth  in  the 
temple  of  God,  setting  himself  forth 
as  God."     The  allusion  has  created 
much    acute    theological    discussion. 
Whitby  opines  that  the  Jewish  nation 
is  meant;  Grotius  sees  a  reference  to 
Caius  Csesar  or  Caligula.     Catholics 
apply   the   term   to   Antichrist.     A 
favorite  Protestant  explanation,  em- 
bodied in  the  Westminster  Confession 
of  Faith,  declares  the  Pope  of  Rome 
to  be  "  that  Antichrist,  that  man  of 
sin,  and  son  of  perdition,  that  exalt- 
eth himself   in   the   Church   against 
Christ  and  all  that  is  called  God. 
Canon  F.  A.  Farrar,  however,  is  in- 
dignant  that   such   an   uncharitable 
idea  should   ever  have  crossed  the 
mind  of  man. 

Manto,  in  classic  myth,  daughter 
of  the  seer  Tiresias,  and  herself  a 
prophetess  of  Apollo,  first  at  Thebes, 
then  at  Delphi,  and  lastly  at  Claros 
in  Ionia.  Seneca  introduces  her  into 
his  (Edipus,  290,  as  detailing  to  the 
blind  Tiresias  the  condition  of  the 
viscerae  of  the  victim  smoking  on  the 
altar.  She  is  frequently  confused  with 
another  Manto,  also  a  prophetess, 
who  according  to  Virgil,  JEneid  x,  198, 
is  commemorated  in  the  name  of  his 
native  city,  Mantua.  This  Manto 
was  a  daughter  of  Hercules,  who  mar- 
ried Tiberinus,  king  of  Alba,  and  had 


issue  a  son  named  Ocnus.  It  was 
Ocnus,  according  to  Virgil,  who  built 
Mantua,  and  gave  it  its  name.  Never- 
theless Dante  identifies  her  with 
the  daughter  of  Tiresias,  and  puts 
into  the  mouth  of  Virgil  an  account 
of  the  founding  of  Mantua  which 
differs  from  that  in  the  sEneid.  In 
Canto  xx  of  the  Inferno,  Virgil  points 
out  to  Dante  both  Tiresias  and  Manto, 

She  who  searched 
Through  many  regions  and  at  length  her 

seat 
Fixed  in  my  native  land.     .     .     . 

.     .     .     To  shun 
All    human    converse,    here    she    with    her 

slcLVCS 

Plying  her  arts,  remain'd,  and  lived,  and 

left 

Her  body  tenantless.  Thenceforth  the  tribes. 
Who  round  were  scatter'd,  gathering  to 

that  place, 
Assembled;    for    its    strength    was    great, 

enclosed 
On  all  parts  by  the  fen.     On  those  dead 

bones 

They  rear'd  themselves  a  city,  for  her  sake 
Calling  it  Mantua,  who  first  chose  the  spot. 
Nor  ask'd  another  omen  for  the  name! 


Manto  appears  frequently  in  the 
Thebais  of  Statius.  In  the  folklore  of 
Italy  she  became  alternately^  a  fairy 
or  a  witch,  and  was  even  believed  to 
undergo  periodical  metamorphoses  as 
a  serpent.  Ariosto  in  Orlando  Furioso 
turns  this  superstition  to  excellent 
poetic  account. 

Ariosto  tells  a  pretty  story  of  a  fairy  who 
by  some  mysterious  law  of  her  nature  was 
condemned  to  appear  at  certain  seasons  in 
the  form  of  a  foul  and  poisonous  snake. 
Those  who  injured  her  during  the  period 
of  her  disguise  were  forever  excluded  from 
participation  in  the  blessings  which  she 
bestowed.  But  to  those  who,  in  spite  of  her 
loathsome  aspect,  pitied  and  protected  her. 
she  afterwards  revealed  herself  in  the  beau- 
tiful and  celestial  form  which  was  natural 
to  her,  accompanied  their  steps,  granted  all 
their  wishes,  filled  their  houses  with  wealth, 
made  them  happy  in  love  and  victorious 
In  war. — MACAULAY:  Essays,  Milton. 

Margause  or  Morgause,  in  Arthur- 
ian romance,  wife  of  King  Lot  of 
Orkney,  mother  of  Gawain,  and,  un- 
known to  Arthur,  his  half-sister. 
According  to  the  version  adopted 
from  Walter  Map  by  Malory  in  his 
Morte  <T  Arthur,  she  came  to  the 
British  court  after  peace  had  been 
established  with  Lot  and  his  fellow 


Margiana 


184 


Marsilius 


revolutionists — ostensibly  as  a  mes- 
senger of  state,  though  really  as  a 
spy.  It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that 
Arthur  was  still  under  the  impression 
that  he  was  son  to  King  Uther.  '  She 
was  a  passing  fair  lady,  wherefore 
the  King  cast  great  love  unto  her, 
and  she  was  his  sister  on  his  mother's 
side.  But  all  this  time  Arthur  knew 
not  that  King  Lot's  wife  was  his 
sister."  The  result  of  this  liaison  was 
Modred  (q.v.). 

Margiana,  in  the  Arabian  Nights 
story  Amyiad  and  Assad,  a  Moham- 
medan lady  and  a  bitter  foe  to  the 
fire  worshippers.  She  eventually 
married  Prince  Assad,  whom  she  had 
rescued  from  captivity  to  become  her 
slave.  See  also  BEHRAM. 

Margutte,  in  Pulci's  mock-heroic 
poem  M organic  Maggiore  (1481),  a 
giant  whom  Leigh  Hunt  character- 
izes as  the  first  unmitigated  black- 
guard in  history  and  the  greatest 
as  well  as  the  first.  A  Greek  by 
birth  he  was  a  glutton,  a  drunkard, 
a  thief,  a  liar  and  a  blasphemer. 
After  eating  prodigiously  at  a  tavern 
he  robbed  the  host  and  set  fire  to  his 
premises,  rejoicing  loudly  in  his 
prowess.  Beside  his  companion  Mor- 
gante  he  was  a  mere  pigmy.  Wishing 
to  be  a  giant,  and  repenting  half  way, 
his  development  had  been  arrested 
when  he  was  10  feet  high.  Morgante 
delighted  in  playing  practical  jokes 
upon  him.  Once  he  hid  his  boots 
while  he  was  asleep.  Margutte, 
waking  up,  saw  a  monkey  in  the  act 
of  putting  them  on  and  taking  them 
off,  and  laughed  so  heartily  at  the 
sight  that  he  burst  and  so  died. 

Marian,  Maid,  in  English  popular 
romance,  is  represented  sometimes 
as  the  wife  and  sometimes  as  the 
mistress  of  Robin  Hood.  She  does 
not  belong  to  the  original  cycle  of 
ballads,  but  is  the  afterthought  of  a 
later  age.  The  ballad  Maid  Marian 
and  Robin  Hood  introduces  her  as  a 
simple  village  maiden,  who,  when 
Robin  was  outlawed,  donned  male 
attire  and  sought  him  in  Sherwood 
Forest.  They  met  and  neither  recog- 
nizing the  other  fought  for  some  time 
before  Robin's  voice  betrayed  him. 


This  humble  genealogy  did  not  satisfy 
Anthony  Munday.  Having  raised 
Robin  to  the  peerage  in  two  dramas, 
the  Downfall  and  the  Death  of  Robert 
Earl  of  Huntingdon  (1598),  he  cast 
about  for  a  suitable  consort.  He 
therefore  makes  the  maid's  real  name 
Matilda,  gives  her  Robert,  Lord  Fitz 
Walter,  for  her  father,  and  the  earl 
and  King  John  for  rival  lovers.  She 
repulses  royalty  and  flies  with  the 
earl  to  the  greenwood,  where  he 
assumes  the  name  of  Robin  Hood 
and  she  that  of  Maid  Marian. 

Mars,  the  Roman  god  of  war, 
identified  with  the  Greek  Ares.  Next 
to  Jupiter,  Mars,  as  the  father  of 
Romulus,  enjoyed  the  highest  honors 
of  Rome.  The  place  dedicated  to 
war-like  exercises  was  called  after 
him  Campus  Martius.  But  being 
the  father  of  the  Romans  he  was  also, 
under  the  name  of  Sylvanus,  the 
patron  of  agriculture,  their  oldest 
and  most  honored  avocation.  Mars 
was  also  identified  with  Quirinus,  the 
deity  watching  over  the  Romans  in 
their  civic  capacity.  Thus  Mars 
appears  in  a  threefold  aspect,  under 
three  names. 

According  to  a  local  tradition  the 
city  of  Florence  was  under  the  patron- 
age of  Mars  in  pagan  days.  His 
temple,  with  a  highly  venerated 
statue,  stood  on  the  site  of  the  present 
Baptistery.  With  Christianity  St. 
John  the  Baptist  was  substituted  as 
the  civic  patron,  and  the  statue  of 
Mars  was  set  upon  a  tower  beside  the 
river  Arno.  (VILLANI,  i,  42.)  In 
Dante's  time  it  stood  upon  the  Ponte 
Vecchio,  and  is  referred  to  in  Para- 
diso,  xvi,  as  "that  maimed  stone 
which  guards  the  bridge."  The  great 
flood  of  1333  carried  away  both  statue 
and  bridge.  Dante  (Inferno,  xiii) 
intimates  that  Mars  plagued  the  city 
in  revenge  for  its  conversion. 

Marsilius,  Marsile,  or  Marsiglio,  in 
the  Carlovingian  cycle  of  romances, 
respectively  the  English,  French  and 
Italian  names  of  a  Saracen  king,  who 
plotted  the  attack  against  Roland 
with  the  latter's  treacherous  father- 
in-law  Garelon.  Roland,  guarding 
the  rear  of  Charlemagne's  forces,  was 


Marsyas 


185 


Maugis 


attached  in  the  narrow  pass  of 
Roncesvalles  by  Marsilius  with  a 
force  of  600,000  men.  He  battled 
bravely  for  his  life,  but  finding  death 
inevitable  he  sounded  a  blast  upon 
his  horn  Olifaunt,  which  brought 
Charlemagne  to  the  rescue.  It  was 
too  late  to  save  Roland,  but  not  too 
late  for  the  French  to  cut  to  pieces 
the  Saracen  forces.  Marsilius  was 
captured  and  hanged  upon  the  tree 
whereon  Judas  of  old  had  hanged 
himself  and  under  which  Marsilius 
had  plotted  with  the  Judas  of  France. 

Marsyas,  in  Greek  myth,  a  Phry- 
gian satyr.  Having  found  the  flute 
which  Athena  had  discarded  because 
it  distorted  her  features  he  was  so 
pleased  with  the  melodies  he  drew 
from  it  that  he  challenged  Apollo  to 
a  trial  of  skill.  The  victor  was  to 
deal  with  the  vanquished  as  he 
pleased.  Apollo,  playing  upon  the 
cithara,  won  the  decision  from  the 
Muses,  bound  Marsyas  to  a  tree  and 
flayed  him  alive.  This  story  is  told 
by  Ovid  in  his  Metamorphoses,  vi,  v, 
and  in  his  Fasti,  vi.  Herodotus  says 
that  the  skin  of  the  unfortunate 
musician  was  to  be  seen,  in  his  time, 
in  the  town  of  Celena?.  Strabo, 
Pausanias,  and  Aulus  Gellius  also 
believe  its  truth.  Suidas  tells  us 
that  Marsyas,  mortified  at  his  defeat, 
threw  himself  into  the  river  that  runs 
near  Celenae,  which,  from  that  time, 
bore  his  name. 

Livy  and  Quintus  Curtius  ration- 
alize the  myth.  They  explain  that 
the  river  Marsyas,  falling  from  a 
precipice,  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Celenae,  made  a  very  stunning  and 
unpleasant  noise;  but  that  the 
smoothness  of  his  course  afterwards 
gave  occasion  for  the  saying  that 
the  vengeance  of  Apollo  had  rendered 
it  more  tractable.  Matthew  Arnold 
in  Empedodes  (1852)  and  Lewis 
Morris  in  his  Epic  of  Hades  (1876) 
have  versified  the  legend. 

Chaucer  in  his  House  of  Fame,  139, 
changes  the  sex  of  Marsyas: 

And  Marcia  that  lost  her  skinne 
Both  in  the  face,  bodie  and  chinne, 
For  that  she  would  envyen,  lol 
To  pipen  better  than  Apollo. 


Mascot,  in  French  folklore,  a  talis- 
man or  harbinger  of  good  luck. 

In  all  probability  the  word  comes 
from  masque  (masked,  covered  or 
concealed),  a  word  which,  in  provin- 
cial French,  is  applied  to  a  child  born 
with  a  caul.  A  superstition  well 
nigh  universal  ascribes  luck  to  a  child 
so  born,  to  the  caul  itself,  and  to  any 
one  with  which  either  may  be  brought 
in  contact.  Audran  in  his  comic 
opera  of  La  Mascotte  introduced  the 
word  into  literature,  but  long  before 
him  it  had  been  in  common  use  in 
provincial  France,  and  had  been 
recognized  in  Paris  in  the  vocabulary 
of  gamblers  and  others.  It  appears 
to  have  been  he,  however,  who  in- 
vented the  legend  which  ascribed  the 
origin  of  mascots  to  the  Powers  of 
Light,  desirous  of  counteracting  the 
evil  influences  of  the  imps  sent  into 
the  world  by  the  arch  fiend,  Agesago. 

Matilda,  wife  of  William  the  Con- 
queror, is  the  heroine  of  many  popular 
legends  in  Normandy.  Near  Caen 
there  once  stood  a  cross  known  as 
la  Croix  Pleureuse,  said  to  have  been 
raised  to  her  memory  by  the  repentant 
king  after  her  death.  She  had  inno- 
cently asked  him  on  his  return  from 
England  to  hand  over  to  her  the 
profits  of  the  tax  on  bastards.  Wil- 
liam, a  bastard  himself,  was  aroused 
to  vindictive  fury  at  this  fancied 
insult.  He  bound  her  by  the  hair  to 
the  tail  of  his  horses  and  thus  dragged 
her  to  the  spot  where  afterwards  arose 
the  cross.  It  was  destroyed  in  1562 
by  the  Calvinists,  was  afterwards 
restored,  and  again  destroyed  in  1793. 

Maugis  or  Malagigi,  respectively 
the  French  and  the  Italian  names  of 
an  enchanter  and  magician,  who 
stands  in  much  the  same  relation  to 
the  Charlemagne  cycle  of  romances 
that  Merlin  does  to  the  Arthurian. 
His  first  literary  appearance  is  in  the 
French  romance  Les  Quatre  Fils 
d' Aymon.  Cousin  of  Aymon,  who 
was  father]  of  Re"naud  (It.  Rinaldo}, 
he  is  described  as  an  insignificant 
looking  old  man  with  a  long_ beard, 
but  wise  and  cunning  and  skilled  in 
sorcery.  When  Satan  stole  from 
Aymon  his  good  horse  Bayard, 


Maurice 


Meleager 


Mav.cis  went  down  into  hell  and 
recovered  it  by  strategy.  He  was 
equally  successful  in  delivering 
Aymon  and  his  sons  from  the  traps 
set  by  Charlemagne.  He  even  caused 
a  magic  sleep  to  descend  upon  the 
emperor  and  all  his  court,  and  bore 
his  Majesty  slumbering  on  his  back 
to  the  Aymon  castle.  Renauld  set 
him  at  liberty  and  Maugis  in  high 
dudgeon  left  "the  thankless  brothers 
to  their  fate,  himself  retiring  to  a 
convent. 

From  another  French  romance, 
Thf  History  of  Afawgw,  we  learn  that 
he  was  stolen  "in  infancy  by  a  Moorish 
slave  with  the  intention  of  cam-ing 
him  into  paganism.  A  lion  and  a 
leopard  rescued  him  and  he  was 
brought  up  by  the  fairy  Oriande.  He 
took  a  course  of  magic  at  the  uni- 
versity of  Toledo,  and  aided  the 
Spaniards  against  Charlemagne.  An- 
other anonymous  French  romance, 
Thf  Conquest  of  Trcbizond.  makes 
him  accompany  Renauld  (Rinaldo) 
to  Cappadocia.  An  intrigue  with  the 
daughter  of  the  King  of  Cyprus 
draws  upon  him  the  wrath  of  that 
king  and  of  his  ally  the  Emperor  of 
Trebizond.  Re"naud  comes  to  his 
help,  and  paladin  and  magician 
together  succeed  in  capturing  Trebi- 
zond, of  which  Renauld  is  elected 
emperor. 

Maurice,  Childe,  hero  of  an  anony- 
mous English  ballad  of  uncertain 
date  which  furnished  the  plot  for 
John  Home's  tragedy  Doughs  (1756). 
Like  Douglas  it  is  a  tale  of  mistaken 
and  tragic  "  recognition."  The  wife 
is  unjustly  suspected;  the  supposed 
lover  whom  she  was  to  meet  in  the 
Silver  Wood  and  whose  message  was 
overheard  by  the  husband  is  her 
son, — Maurice. 

It  is  divine.  Aristotle's  best  rules  are 
observed  in  it  In  a  manner  which  shows 
that  the  author  never  had  heard  of  Aristotle. 

begins  in  the  fifth  act  of  the  play.  You 
may  read  it  two-thirds  through  without 
gruessing  what  it  is  about;  and  yet,  when  you 
come  to  the  end  it  is  impossible  not  to 
understand  the  whole  story. — GRAY:  Letter 
to  Mason. 

Mausolus,  in  Greek  history,  King 
of  Caria.  He  reigned  B.C.  377-353. 


He  w.-.s  succeeded  by  Artemisia,  who 
.  was  both  his  widow  and  his   sister. 

!  She  e:  his  memory  at  K. 

rnassus  the  costliest  monurnc-.-.: 
then  extant  in  the  world,  called  from 
him  the  M.-.v.s.\eum.  This  was 
numbered  ..-/.-;  :.-.,-  seven  v,v:-.ders 
of  the  world.  E..>:..:hius  in  his  com- 
mentary on  the  /.~.\:J  (i2t\\  century 
A.D.)  says  that  it  was  s:i'.l  extant 
in  his  time.  It  seems  to  have  fallen 
into  ruin,  after  serious  injury  by  an 
earthquake,  some  time  between  this 
date  and  1402.  when  the  Knights  of 
St.  John  took  possession  of  Halicar- 
nassus.  See  Saturday  Ra-'m,  March 
15.  1862. 

Medea,  in  Greek  myth,  a  sorceress, 
daughter  of  Acetes.  king  of  Colchis. 
She  fell  in  love  with  Jason,  assisted 
him  in  capturing  the  Golden  Fleece, 
and  fled  with  him  as  his  wife  to  Greece 
(see  ABSYRTUS\  .  Jason  subsequently 
repudiated  her  in  order  to  nurry 
Creusa,  daughter  of  Creon,  king  of 
Corinth.  She  took  a  terrible  ven- 
geance; slaying  her  two  children  by 
Jason,  and  making  away  with  her 
rival  by  sending  her  a  poisoned  robe, 
or  as  some  say  a  diadem.  She  then 
fled  to  Athens  in  a  chariot  drawn  by 
winged  dragons.  At  Athens  she  is 
said  to  have  married  King  .-Egeus. 
The  gods  made  her  immortal,  and  in 
Elysium  she  was  united  to  Achilles. 
Her  story  is  told  by  Apollonius,  in 
his  epic  poem  The  Argonautica.  and 
by  Virgil  in  the  fourth  book  of  the 
sEneid.  It  has  been  frequently  dram- 
atized, notably  by  Euripides  (B.C. 
431),  by  Seneca  (A.D.  $o\  by  Pierre 
Corneille  (1635),  and  by  the  Austrian 
Franz  Grillparzer. 

Medrawd,  the  name  under  which 
Modred  (q.v.)  appears  in  the  Welsh 
Triads,  where  despite  his  treachery  he 
is  styled  a  valiant  warrior  and  one  of 
the  three  kingly  knights  of  Arthur's 
court  to  whom  none  could  deny  any- 
thing by  reason  of  their  courtliness. 
Medrawd's  distinguishing  charms 
were  calmness,  mildness  and  purity. 

Meleager,  in  classic  myth,  son  of 
^neas  of  Calydon  and  Althea.  He 
was  one  of  the  Argonauts.  He 
slew  the  Calvdonian  boar  and  killed 


Meliadus 


187 


Melusina 


his  maternal  uncles  when  they  at- 
tempted to  rob  hirn  of  the  boar's 
hide.  Althea  (f}.v.)  then  threw  into 
the  fire  a  brand  upon  which  his  life 
depended  and  made  away  with  her- 
self. 

Meliadus,  in  Arthurian  romance,  a 
prince  of  Lyonesse  and  knight  of  the 
Round  Table,  father  of  Sir  Tristram. 
He  is  the  hero  of  a  I3th  century 
French  romance  by  Rusticien  de 
Pise,  which  survives  in  a  much  elabor- 
ated version  printed  at  Paris  in  1528. 

Meliadus  vanquishes  Morhoult, 
who  had  carried  off  the  wife  of  Lord 
Trarsin  and  returns  that  lady  to  her 
graceless  consort.  Then  he  enters 
into  a  long  series  of  adventures, 
chiefly  warlike,  the  most  important 
being  the  deliverance  of  Arthur  and 
his  companions  from  the  castle  on  the 
rock.  Later  he  carries  off  the  queen 
of  Scotland;  Arthur  turns  against 
him,  the  queen  is  restored  to  her 
consort  and  Meliadus  once  more  be- 
comes an  ally  of  Arthur  in  his  wars 
against  the  Saxon  invaders.  Melia- 
dus reappears  in  the  romances  con- 
cerning Tristan  as  the  father  of  that 
hero.  A  fairy  fell  in  love  with  him 
and  drew  him  away  by  enchantment. 
His  queen,  Isabella,  sister  of  Mark, 
King  of  Cornwall,  set  out  in  quest 
of  him,  but  was  seized  with  the  pains 
of  childbirth  and  died  soon  after, 
being  delivered  of  a  son  whom  she 
named  Tristan,  because  of  the  melan- 
choly circumstances  of  his  birth. 
Meliadus  was  shortly  afterwards 
slain  by  order  of  his  brother-in-law, 
King  Mark. 

Melibee,  hero  of  a  prose  story,  The 
Tale  of  Melibee,  in  the  Canterbury 
Tales  (1388).  Chaucer  feigns  that 
he  told  it  himself  at  the  request  of 
the  landlord.  It  is  literally  translated 
from  Le  Livre  de  Melibee  et  de  Dame 
Prudens, — itself  a  free  French  render- 
ing of  the  thirteenth  century  Latin 
story,  Albertano  de  Prescia. 

Melibee  is  a  wealthy  young  man 
married  to  Prudens.  During  his 
absence  in  the  fields  three  enemies 
break  into  his  house,  beat  his  wife, 
and  wound  his  daughter  with  five 
mortal  wounds.  He  swears  ven- 


geance. At  first  he  turns  a  deaf  ear 
to  Prudens,  who  counsels  him  to 
Christian  forgiveness  of  injuries. 
Finally  she  conquers  by  dint  of  long 
arguments  and  copious  quotations 
from  the  Scriptures  and  the  classics. 
She  then  summons  the  enemies  to 
her  presence,  and  by  similar  means 
prepares  them  to  receive  meetly  the 
full  forgiveness  which  Melibee  pub- 
licly extends  to  them. 

Meliboeus,  in  Virgil's  First  Eclogue 
a  shepherd,  the  companion  of  Tityrus, 
and  judge  in  the  poetical  contest  be- 
tween him  and  Corydon. 

Melicertes,  in  Greek  myth,  son  of 
the  Boeotian  prince  Athamas  and  Ino. 
The  latter,  pursued  by  her  husband, 
who  had  been  driven  mad  by  Here, 
threw  herself  and  Melicertes  into  the 
sea.  Both  were  changed  into  marine 
deities,  the  mother  as  Leucothia,  the 
son  as  Palaemon.  His  corpse  was 
carried  by  a  dolphin  to  the  Isthmus 
of  Corinth,  where  it  was  found  by  his 
uncle  Sisyphus.  The  later  myths 
say  that  the  Isthmian  games,  really 
instituted  in  honor  of  Poseidon,  were 
founded  by  order  of  the  Nymphs  as 
the  funeral  games  of  Melicertes.  The 
cult  of  this  god  was  probably  Phoe- 
nician in  origin,  introduced  by 
Phoenician  sailors  on  the  coasts  and 
islands  of  the  Mediterranean  and  the 
^gean  Sea.  He  has  sometimes  been 
identified  with  Melkarth. 

Melkarth,  the  tutelary  god  of  Tyre 
sometimes  identified  with  the  Greek 
Melicertes.  The  Greeks  themselves 
identified  him  with  Hercules,  and 
this  idea  was  encouraged  by  the 
Phoenicians.  On  their  later  coins 
Baal-Melkarth  is  frequently  repre- 
sented as  Hercules.  The  same  idea 
led  to  their  calling  the  Straits  of 
Gibraltar  the  Pillars  of  Hercules 
instead  of  the  Pillars  of  Melkarth — 
the  Phoenicians  believing  that  they 
marked  the  extreme  western  limit  of 
the  latter's  dominions  as  a  sun  god. 

Melusina  (Fr.  Melusine),  the  most 
famous  of  the  French  fairies.  Accord- 
ing to  Jean  d'Arras,  who  compiled  the 
Chronique  de  Melusine  in  the  four- 
teenth century,  she  was  the  daughter 
of  the  fairy  Prcssina,  who,  taking 


Memnon 


188 


Memnon 


umbrage  at  the  misconduct  of  her 
father  Eldnas,  king  of  Albania,  fled 
with  the  infant  to  the  court  of  her 
sister,  Queen  of  the  Isle  Perdue.  Here 
Melusina  was  instructed  in  the  magic 
art.  The  first  use  she  made  of  her 
new  powers  was  to  shut  up  Ele"nas  in 
a  mountain.  Her  mother,  angered  at 
this  unfilial  behavior,  sentenced  Melu- 
sina to  become  every  Saturday  a 
serpent  from  the  waist  down.  This 
punishment  was  to  continue  until 
she  married  a  husband,  who  would 
leave  her  alone  on  Saturday.  Ray- 
mond de  Lusignan,  Count  of  Poictiers, 
accepted  the  condition  without  any 
explanation,  but  being  persuaded  by 
his  brother  that  Saturday  was  re- 
served by  the  bride  for  a  clandestine 
intrigue,  he  broke  his  pledge  and 
beheld  the  serpent's  tail.  Melusina, 
discovering  the  intruder,  vanished 
forever  with  a  loud  cry  of  lamenta- 
tion. Hence  the  cri  de  Melusine  still 
survives  as  a  proverbial  expression 
for  a  scream  of  agony.  Tradition 
asserts  that  she  appeared  periodically 
on  the  so-called  Tower  of  Melusina 
crowning  the  castle  of  Lusignan  to 
announce  an  approaching  death  in 
the  family  and  that  after  the  family 
was  extinct  and  the  castle  had  fallen 
to  the  crown  she  came  in  the  same 
way  before  the  death  of  a  king  of 
France,  dressed  in  mourning  and 
uttering  heart-piercing  lamentations. 
The  castle  of  Lusignan  was  destroyed 
in  1574  by  the  Duke  de  Montpen- 
sier.  Brant6me  in  his  Eloge  of  that 
Prince  speaks  of  Catherine  de  Medicis 
questioning  the  old  women  of  the 
neighborhood  about  the  story  of 
Melusina.  At  the  fairs  of  Poictiers 
cakes  made  in  the  figure  of  a  woman 
with  a  serpent's  tail  are  still  sold 
under  the  name  of  "  Melusines." 

Memnon,  in  classic  myth,  son  of 
Tithonus  and  Aurora  and  King  of 
Ethiopia.  After  the  death  of  Hector 
he  _ went  to  the  assistance  of  his  uncle 
Priam  and  displayed  great  courage  in 
the  defence  of  Troy,  slaying  Anti- 
cholus  the  son  of  Nestor.  But  he  in 
turn  was  slain  by  Achilles  in  single 
combat.  Aurora,  from  her  station 
in  the  skies,  witnessed  her  son's  death, 


and  directed  his  brothers,  the  Winds, 
to  convey  his  body  to  the  banks  of  the 
river  Ephesus  in  Paphlagonia.  Jupi- 
ter conferred  immortality  on  Memnon 
and  caused  a  number  of  birds  to  issue 
from  his  funeral  pile,  which,  dividing 
into  two  flocks,  fought  over  his  ashes. 
Every  year  at  the  anniversary  of  his 
death  these  birds,  known  as  Memno- 
nides,  returned  to  the  hero's  tomb  on 
the  Hellespont  and  renewed  the  com- 
bat. The  Greeks  gave  the  name  of 
Memnpnia  to  certain  ancient  monu- 
ments in  Europe  and  Asia,  which  they 
assumed  were  erected  in  memory  of 
the  hero.  Of  these  the  most  famous 
was  a  great  temple  in  Thebes  behind 
which  stood  a  colossal  statue,  said  to 
be  the  statue  of  Memnon, — though 
the  Egyptians  more  plausibly  held 
that  it  represented  Amunoph  III, 
who  flourished  about  1400  B.C.  This 
was  numbered  among  the  Seven 
Wonders  of  the  ancient  world  because 
of  the  sound  it  gave  forth  when 
touched  by  the  rays  of  the  morning 
sun.  Darwin  celebrates  the  myth  in 
his  Botanic  Garden: 

So  to  the  sacred  sun  in  Memnon's  fane 
Spontaneous    concords    choired   the   matin 

strain; 

Touched  by  his  orient  beam  responsive  rings 
The  living  lyre  and  vibrates  all  its  strings; 
Accordant  aisles  the  tender  tones  prolong. 
And  holy  echoes  swell  the  adoring  song. 

The  first  account  of  the  vocal  colossus  is 
given  by  Strabo,  the  geographer,  who 
visited  it  with  Cornelius  Gallus,  Governor 
of  Egypt,  in  the  reign  of  Augustus.  He 
heard  the  sound,  but  was  unable  to  tell 
whence  it  proceeded.  Pausanias  says  that 
in  his  time  the  portion  from  the  head  to  the 
waist  was  thrown  down,  but  that  the  re- 
maining part  was  in  a  sitting  posture.  No 
ancient  statement  survives  as  to  how  the 
colossus  was  thrown  down,  nor  by  whom  it 
was  repaired.  There  were  about  eighty 
inscriptions  on  the  statue,  all  but  one  in 
Greek  or  Latin;  thirty-five  are  dated,  the 
earliest  being  in  the  time  of  Nero,  65  A.D., 
the  latest  of  196  A.D.  Their  general  char- 
acteristics are  the  name  and  particulars  of 
the  persons  who  visited  the  statue,  the 
fact  that  he  or  she  heard  the  voice,  the  hour, 
and  in  some  cases  the  year.  From  the  in- 
scription, it  is  certain  that  the  colossus,  at  a 
certain  period,  gave  forth  sounds.  The  only 
question  is  how  these  are  to  be  accounted 
for.  The  ancients  believed  that  the  voice 
was  the  result  of  some  magic  power  or 
unaccountable  pleasure  of  the  gods.  Mod- 
ern explanations  variously  ascribed  it  to 
the  artifice  of  the  priests  who  concealed 


Menaechmus 


189 


Merlin 


themselves  in  a  niche  and  with  an  iron  rod 
struck  the  sonorous  stone  of  which  the 
statue  is  composed;  to  the  passage  of  light 
draughts  of  air  through  the  cracks;  and  to 
the  sudden  expansion  of  inclosed  aqueous 
particles  under  the  influence  of  the  sun's 
rays. 

Mensechmus,  the  name  of  both  the 
heroes  of  Plautus's  Latin  comedy.the 
Men&chmi,  B.C.,  which  is  believed 
to  have  been  taken  in  part,  at  least, 
from  a  lost  comedy  of  Menander,  and 
which  in  turn  suggested  to  Shakspear 
the  outlines  of  his  Comedy  of  Errors, 
and  to  Moliere  his  Amphitryon. 

The  plot  of  the  piece  turns  upon 
the  marvellous  likeness  between  twin 
brothers,  sons  of  a  Syracuse  merchant. 
One  of  them  was  lost  in  the  streets 
when  a  child  and  carried  away  by  a 
Greek  merchant  to  Epidamnum. 
Thither,  a  score  of  years  later,  comes 
the  other  Menaechmus  in  search  of 
adventure.  His  brother  is  now  mar- 
ried and  has  settled  down  to  the 
enjoyment  of  his  adopted  father's 
fortune.  Mirth-provoking  complica- 
tions arise  when  the  fellow  citizens 
and  even  the  family  of  the  Syracusan 
Menaechmus  mistake  the  stranger  for 
his  brother  and  vice  versa.  No  Latin 
play  was  so  repeatedly  imitated  in 
the  early  days  of  modern  drama  as 
this,  especially  in  Italy.  The  most 
famous  of  the  Italian  versions  were 
Aretino's  Lo  Ipocrito,  Cecchi's  Le 
Moglie,  Firenzuola's  Lucidi,  and 
Carlini's  Gli  Due  Gemelli.  In  France 
the  best  paraphrases  are  Regnaud's 
Les  Menechmes,  and  Boursault's  Les 
Menteurs  qui  ne  Mentent  Pas. 

Menenius,  Agrippa,  according  to 
Plutarch,  was  the  pleasantest  old 
man  in  the  senate.  It  was  he  who 
related  to  the  defiant  plebeians  the 
story  of  The  Belly  and  its  Members, 
allegorically  showing  the  dependence 
of  each  upon  all,  a  tale  that  was  old  in 
India  long  before  Menenius,  and  may 
be  found  in  the  Hitopadesa.  Shak- 
spear in  Coriolanus  makes  him  the 
ambassador  of  the  patricians  to  the 
people  whom  he  instructs  by  this 
parable  (I,  i).  An  admiring  friend  of 
Coriolanus,  he  was  witty,  but  dis- 
creet, as  eloquent  in  silence  as  in 
speech. 


If  we  look  into  the  very  beginnings  of  the 
commonwealth  of  Rome,  we  see  a  mutiny 
among  the  common  people  appeased  by  a 
fable  of  the  Belly  and  the  Limbs,  which 
was,  indeed,  very  proper  to  gain  the  atten- 
tion of  an  incensed  rabble,  at  a  time  when 
perhaps  they  would  have  torn  to  pieces 
any  man  who  had  preached  the  same 
doctrine  to  them  in  an  open  and  indirect 
manner. — ADDISON:  Spectator,  No.  183, 
Sept.  29,  1711. 

Mentor,  in  classic  myth,  the  friend 
of  Odysseus,  who  in  departing  for 
Troy  confided  to  him  the  care  of  his 
house  and  the  education  of  his  son 
Telemachus  (Odyssey  ii,  225).  Hence 
his  name  has  become  proverbial  for 
a  guide,  philosopher  and  friend. 
Athene  assumed  his  shape  when  she 
brought  Telemachus  to  Pylius,  and 
when  she  aided  Odysseus  in  fighting 
the  suitors  of  Penelope  and  made 
peace  between  him  and  their  relatives. 
See  TELEMACHUS. 

Mercury,  the  Roman  god  of  com- 
merce and  gain,  whom  later  writers 
identified,  without  sufficient  reason, 
with  Hermes,  transferring  to  him  all 
the  myths  and  attributes  of  the 
Greek.  His  chief  function  was  that 
of  messenger  to  the  gods,  hence  he 
was  the  god  of  eloquence,  since  elo- 
quence is  one  of  the  most  important 
desiderata  for  a  herald.  Like  Hermes, 
also,  he  was  the  god  of  thieves  and 
liars. 

Merlin  (Welsh  Myrddhin),  a  semi- 
mythical  bard  of  the  sixth  century, 
most  famous  in  his  quality  of  magi- 
cian or  enchanter  in  the  Arthurian 
cycle  of  romances.  It  is  possible  that 
he  really  flourished  between  the  years 
470  and  570,  and  that  his  praenomcn 
was  Ambrose,  given  in  honor  of  his 
first  chief,  Ambrosius  Aurelianus,  the 
successful  leader  of  the  Britons  in  the 
north,  from  whose  service  he  passed 
into  that  of  Arthur,  the  equally  suc- 
cessful leader  of  the  southern  Britons, 
In  old  age  he  seems  to  have  lost  his 
reason,  and  wandered  away  from 
human  society.  It  is  quite  certain 
that  the  poems  and  prophecies  attrib- 
uted to  him  and  which  have  sur- 
vived to  our  day  are  apocryphal. 

The  mythical  Merlin  was  the  crea- 
tion of  popular  traditions  first 
moulded  into  literary  shape  by  Geof- 


Merlin 


190 


Merodach 


frey  of  Monmouth  (  Vita  Merlini, 
1139-49)  and  later  by  Robert  de 
Barren,  whose  prose  romance  (circa 
1230)  was  enormously  popular  in 
France  and  was  the  basis  of  numerous 
continental  elaborations  on  the  theme. 

The  first  mention  of  the  magician  is 
in  the  Historic,  Britonum,  of  Nennius, 
who  calls  him  Ambrosius. 

Nennius  says  that  the  child  was 
born  of  no  human  father,  and  that 
the  mother  did  not  know  how  she 
conceived  him.  In  Geoffrey  she  has 
a  story  to  tell.  She  was  a  holy  nun 
whom  an  incubus  had  surprised  in  an 
unguarded  moment.  Thanks  to  the 
prompt  action  of  her  confessor, 
Blaze,  in  baptizing  the  issue  of  this 
sacrilege  Merlin  was  reclaimed  for 
Christianity,  but  he  retained  demonic 
powers  of  prophecy  and  enchant- 
ment. Vortigern,  then  ruling  over 
Britain,  was  in  sore  straits.  A  tower 
he  was  building,  no  matter  how  high 
it  went  up  during  the  day,  fell  down 
every  night.  His  magicians  informed 
him  that  he  must  water  the  founda- 
tion stones  with  the  blood  of  a  child 
who  never  had  a  father.  His  messen- 
gers discovered  Merlin,  who  had  been 
blacklisted  by  his  boyish  companions 
because  of  his  strange  birth.  Young 
as  he  was,  Merlin  succeeded  in  con- 
vincing the  king  that  he  knew  the 
true  reason  for  the  fall  of  the  tower. 
It  had  been  built  over  the  den  of  two 
immense  dragons,  whose  combats 
shook  the  foundations.  The  dragons 
were  unearthed;  Merlin's  life  was 
spared  and  he  became  chief  counsellor 
to  Vortigern  and  afterwards  to  Uther 
and  to  Arthur.  He  built  houses  and 
ships  without  mortal  aid;  he  amused 
the  royal  leisure  by  transforming  him- 
self into  any  shape  he  willed;  he 
prophesied  the  future.  With  a  won- 
derful machine  of  his  own  invention 
he  removed  the  Giant's-dance,  now 
called  Stone-henge,  from  Ireland  to 
Salisbury  plains  in  England,  where 
part  of  it  is  still  standing.  He  aided 
Uther  to  possess  himself  of  Yguerne 
and  thus  become  the  father  of  Arthur. 
When  the  child  was  born  Merlin  pro- 
vided a  foster  father  for  him  in  Sir 
Anton,  for  whom  Tennyson  substi- 


tutes Sir  Ector.  It  is  Merlin  who  is 
mainly  instrumental  in  placing  Arthur 
on  the  British  throne.  At  the  height 
of  his  power  and  fame  he  mysteriously 
disappeared.  Legends  differ  as  to  the 
manner  of  his  disappearance.  One 
account  says  he  merely  became  invis- 
ible, but  could  see  and  talk,  as  in  one 
story  of  Gawain.  In  the  prose  Perci- 
val  he  retires  voluntarily  to  an  "  Es- 
plumeor '  built  by  himself.  The 
favorite  variant  makes  him  fall  a 
victim  to  the  wiles  of  Nimue  or 
Niniane,  sometimes  described  as  a 
king's  daughter,  sometimes  as  a  water 
fairy,  for  whom  he  had  a  senile  pas- 
sion. Having  beguiled  from  him  a 
knowledge  of  magic  spells,  she  buried 
him  under  a  rock  from  which  he 
could  not  escape.  Tennyson  makes 
his  betrayer  Vivien,  the  Lady  of  the 
Lake. 

Merlin  is  frequently  introduced  in 
the  French  and  Italian  Carlovingian 
romances,  but  chiefly  on  great  occa- 
sions, and  at  a  period  subsequent  to 
his  death  or  magical  disappearance. 

Spenser  represents  him  as  the 
artificer  of  the  impenetrable  shield 
and  other  armor  of  Prince  Arthur: 

Merlin,  which  formerly  did  excel 

All  living  wights  in  mind  or  magic  spell, 

Both  shield  and  sword  and  armor  all  he 

wrought 
For  this  young  prince. 

FaSry  Queene.  I,  7. 

The  Fountain  of  Love,  in  the 
Orlando  Innamorato,  is  described  as 
his  work;  and  Ariosto  tells  of  a  hall 
adorned  with  prophetic  paintings, 
which  demons  had  executed  ?in  a 
single  night,  under  the  direction  of 
Merlin : 

This  Is  the  ancient  memorable  cave 
Which  Merlin  the  Enchanter  sage  did  make. 

Orlando  Furioso. 

Merodach,  or  more  accurately 
Marduk,  in  Oriental  mythology,  the 
"  mighty  lord  "  of  Babylon,  the  Baal 
or  Bel  of  the  Old  Testament  and  the 
Apocrypha.  He  was  lord  and  light 
of  heaven  and  earth,  of  life  and  death, 
a  helper  and  healer,  a  resuscitator 
of  the  dead,  the  creator  of  all  things, 
and,  specifically,  the  god  of  the  morn- 


Merope 


191 


Michael's  Mount 


ing  light  and  of  the  spring  sun.  Hence 
he  was  akin  to  Apollo,  Phoebus, 
Adonis  and  Osiris.  The  Babylonian 
New  Year's  Feast  commemorated 
his  victory  over  Tiamat,  an  embodi- 
ment of  the  great  deep,  whose  body 
he  cuts  in  two  and  with  one  half 
formed  the  heavens. 

Merope,  in  classic  myth,  wife  of 
Cresphontes,  king  of  Messenia,  and 
mother  of  ^Epytus.  Polyphontes 
murdered  her  husband,  usurped  his 
throne  and  forcibly  married  his 
widow.  She  had  sent  ^Epytus  into 
concealment.  He  grew  up  and  ap- 
peared unrecognized  before  Poly- 
phontes, claiming  a  reward  for  having 
murdered  the  son  of  Cresphontes. 
Medea,  believing  his  story,  planned 
to  kill  him  in  his  sleep,  but  an  old 
man  revealed  to  her  the  truth.  ^Epy- 
tus  took  advantage  of  a  sacrificial 
ceremony  to  kill  Polyphontes. 

Euripides  wrote  a  play  on  this 
subject,  now  lost.  Cardinal  Riche- 
lieu wrote  another,  now  forgotten. 
The  Italian  Maffei  worked  the  plot 
into  a  successful  drama  (1713)  which 
incited  Voltaire  to  a  still  more  sensa- 
tional success.  They  were  followed 
by  Alfieri  and  by  Matthew  Arnold 
(1858).  The  latter  in  his  preface 
describes  the  various  changes  made 
by  his  predecessors,  ^and  in  the  play 
supplies  an  innovation  of  his  own. 
All  the  others  had  made  ^Epytus 
ignorant  of  his  origin.  Arnold  makes 
the  introduction  of  ^Epytus  into  the 
household  a  work  of  design.  This  was 
really  a  return  to  the  earliest  tradi- 
tion. 

Metamore,  one  of  the  stock  charac- 
ters of  Spanish  comedy  introduced 
into  play  after  play  of  the  fifteenth  to 
the  seventeenth  centuries,  and  found 
occasionally  in  French  dramas.  _Cor- 
neille,  for  example,  introduces  him  in 
one  of  his  early  efforts,  The  Illusion. 
Usually  a  sea-captain,  and  always 
an  empty  braggart  and  swaggerer,  he 
is  a  lineal  descendant  from  the  brag- 
garts of  Plautus  and  Terence,  who 
became  popular  on  the  English  stage 
in  Jonson's  Captain  Bobadil  and 
Shakspear's  Parolles  (both  Spanish 
names). 


Michabo  or  Monibozho,  in  native 
American  myth,  the  Great  Hare  of 
the  Algonkin  tribes,  first  mentioned 
in  literature  by  William  Strachey, 
History  of  Travaile  into  Virginia 
Brittanica  (1618,  first  printed  in 
1849). 

Probably  from  the  first  a  hare  sans 
phrase,  but  who  has  been  converted  by 
philological  processes  into  a  personification 
of  light  or  dawn.  Dr.  Brinton  himself  (p. 
153)  allows  that  the  great  hare  is  a  totem. — 
ANDREW  LANG:  Custom  and  Myth. 

Michael,  an  archangel  mentioned 
in  Daniel  x ,  1 3 , 2 1 ,  and  xii ,  i ,  as  having 
special  charge  over  the  Israelites  as  a 
nation.  In  Jude  ix,  he  disputes  with 
Satan  about  the  body  of  Moses.  In 
Revelation  xii,  7-9,  there  is^a  descrip- 
tion of  the  war  between  Michael  and 
his  angels  against  the  hosts  of  Satan. 
A  fuller  description  of  this  battle,  with 
classic  and  modern  embellishments, 
may  be  found  in  Milton's  Paradise 
Lost  (Book  vi),  who  makes  Michael 
the  leader  of  the  angelic  hosts,  with 
Gabriel  as  his  chief  aide.  Later  in  the 
same  epic  Michael  reappears  to  dis- 
possess Adam  and  Eve  from  Paradise 
and  also  to  unroll  before  them  a  pano- 
rama of  all  that  was  to  happen  ^be- 
tween their  expulsion  and  the  birth 
of  Christ. 

Go  Michael  of  celestial  armies  Prince, 
And  thou  in  military  prowess  next 
Gabriel;  lead  forth  to  battle  these  my  sons 
Invincible. 

Paradise  Lost,  vi,  44- 

Michael,  Cousin  (Ger.  Vetter 
Michel),  in  German  popular  speech, 
a  disparaging  or  at  least  humorous 
epithet  for  the  German  people,  em- 
phasizing their  slowness  of  wit  and 
infantile  credulity.  In  old  German 
michel  meant  "gross"  or  "heavy," 
and  it  is  probable  that  some  traces 
of  this  meaning  still  survived  when 
the  Hebrew  Michael  was  added  to 
popular  nomenclature. 

Michael's  Mount,  St.,  a  precipitous 
and  rocky  islet  near  the  coast  of 
Cornwall.  It  was  supposed  to  be 
guarded  by  the  Archangel  Michael, 
who  had  been  seen  there  seated  on  a 
high  ledge  of  rock.  Under  the  title 
"  the  great  Vision  of  the  guarded 


Midas 


192 


Mimer 


rock,"  Milton  (Lycidas,  1.  182)  pic- 
tures the  Archangel  seated  on  the 
so-called  "  St.  Michael's  chair,"  and 
gazing  far  across  the  sea  towards 
"  Namancos  and  Bayona's  hold ' 
(the  first  being  a  town,  the  other  a 
stronghold  on  the  Spanish  coast), 
i.e.,  looking  in  the  direction  of  Spain. 
He  is  implored  to  turn  his  gaze  home- 
ward and  pity  the  youthful  Lycidas, 
who  has  perished  almost  at  his  feet. 
See  BELLERUS. 

Midas,  in  classic  myth,  a  king  of 
Phrygia,  son  of  Gordius  and  Cybele. 
Bacchus,  because  Midas  had  be- 
friended Silenus,  when  intoxicated, 
offered  him  the  choice  of  a  reward. 
Midas  asked  that  whatever  he 
touched  might  turn  into  gold.  The 
gift  proved  intolerable ; — eatables 
changed  into  solid,  and  drinkables 
into  melted  gold.  Bacchus,  once 
more  appealed  to,  advised  Midas  to 
wash  in  the  river  Pactolus,  whereupon 
the  gold  creating  power  passed  into 
the  river  sands  and  they  became 
golden  as  they  have  ever  since  re- 
mained. This  legend  is  exquisitely 
treated  by  Nathaniel  Hawthorne  in 
Tanglewood  Tales.  It  is  versified  by 
Swift  in  The  Fable  of  Midas,  and  bur- 
lesqued by  J.  G.  Saxe  in  The  Choice 
of  King  Midas. 

Another  legend  makes  Midas  inter- 
fere in  a  musical  contest  between 
Apollo  and  Pan.  Tmolus,  chosen 
umpire,  awarded  the  victory  to 
Apollo.  Midas  challenged  the  verdict 
and  Apollo  in  revenge  changed  his 
ears  to  ass's  ears.  He  sought  to 
coyer  up  his  shame  by  wearing  long 
hair,  but  his  barber  discovered  it  and 
unable  to  keep  the  secret  shouted  it 
to  the  grass,  which  has  been  repeating 
it  ever  since  whenever  a  breeze  passes. 
Chaucer  and  Dryden  in  the  Wife  of 
Bath's  Tale  makes  Midas's  wife  the 
betrayer  of  his  secret. 

Miles  Gloriosus  (Lat.  Glorious 
Soldier],  in  Plautus's  Latin  comedy  of 
that  title,  the  nickname  of  the  hero, 
Captain  Pyropolinices,  a  pompous 
military  braggart  and  poltroon,  and 
a  self-imagined  lady  killer. 

The  character  has  been  multitudi- 
nously  imitated.  In  Italy,  under  the 


name  of  Capitano  Glorioso,  it  became 
an  accepted  stock  character  of  the 
comic  stage.  Venturino  introduced 
him  in  the  Far sa  Satira  Morale,  a  I5th 
century  piece,  under  the  name  of  Spam- 
pana.  Early  successors  were  Captains 
Spavento  and  Spezzaferro.  In  the 
middle  of  the  sixteenth  century  he 
yielded  preeminence  to  the  Capitano 
Spagnuplo,  whose  business  was  to 
utter  windy  braggadocio  in  Spanish, 
kick  out  the  native  captain  and  ac- 
cept a  drubbing  from'Harlequin.  But 
the  Italian  returned  in  the  person  of 
that  perennial  poltroon  Scaramuccio 
(see  SCARAMOUCHE).  In  imitation 
of  the  Italians,  French  dramatists 
introduced  a  character  who  bragged 
of  dethroning  kings  and  meanwhile 
patiently  submitted  to  the  bastinado; 
the  earliest  being  the  hero  of  Le 
Brave  (1567)  by  Baif,  and  the  most 
famous  the  Chasteaufort  in  Cyrano 
de  Bergerac's  Pedant  Joue.  English 
comedy  brought  the  character  to  its 
highest  perfection  in  Shakspear's 
Falstaff  and  Ben  Jonson's  Bobadil. 
See  these  entries  in  Vol.  I.  See  also 
THRASO  in  this  volume. 

Milo,  an  athlete  of  Crotona  famous 
for  his  extraordinary  strength,  who 
is  noticed  by  Herodotus  as  flourishing 
about  520  B.C.  He  repeatedly  won 
the  prize  as  wrestler  at  the  Greek 
games.  He  possessed  an  ox  which, 
beginning  in  its  calfhood,  he  carried 
daily  upon  his  shoulders  as  it  pro- 
gressed in  size  and  weight,  finally 
making  a  public  exhibition  of  the  feat 
through  the  Stadium  at  Olympia. 
Then  he  killed  it  and  ate  the  whole 
in  a  single  day.  Reversing  the  feat  of 
Samson  he  upheld  the  pillars  of  a 
falling  house  wherein  Pythagoras  was 
teaching  his  disciples  and  so  gave 
them  time  to  escape.  In  old  age 
he  attempted  to  rend  the  trunk  of  a 
tree  which  had  been  partially  split 
open,  but  the  cleft  wood  closed  upon 
his  hands  and  imprisoned  him  so  that 
he  was  devoured  by  wolves. 

Mimer  or  Meming,  in  mediaeval 
folklore,  one  of  the  mastersmiths  of 
the  north,  tutor  to  the  still  more 
famous  Velaut  or  Wayland  Smith. 
He  forged  the  mighty  sword  Mimung 


Mimer 


193 


Minotaur 


in  answer  to  a  challenge  from  Amilias, 
who  claimed  to  have  made  a  suit  of 
armor  that  no  sword  could  dint.  The 
trial  was  held  in  the  midst  of  assem- 
bled thousands.  Meming  struck  his 
stoutest  blow,  when  Amilias  remarked 
that  there  was  a  strange  feeling  of  cold 
iron  in  his  inwards. 

"Shake  thyself,"  said  Meming. 
The  luckless  wight  did  so  and  fell 
in  two  halves,  being  cleft  through 
from  collar  to  haunch.  The  sword 
was  called  by  its  maker  Mimung, 
after  himself,  as  being  in  a  manner 
his  own  son. 

Holmes  in  his  Prologue,  a  poem 
included  in  The  Autocrat  of  the  Break- 
fast Table,  versifies  the  tale  as  "an 
old  story  made  as  good  as  new." 
Rudolph  the  Headsman  in  this  ver- 
sion was  deputed  to  execute  a 
criminal : 

His  falchion  lighted  with  a  sudden  gleam, 
As  the  pike's  armor  flashes  in  the  stream; 
He  sheathed  his  blade;  he  turned  as  if  to  go; 
The  victim  knelt,  still  waiting  for  the  blow. 
"Why  strikest  not?     Perform  thy  murder- 
ous act," 
The  prisoner  said    (his   voice  was  slightly 

cracked). 
Friend,  I  have  struck,"  the  artist  straight 

replied; 

"Wait  but  one  moment, and  yourself  decide." 
He  held  his  snuff-box, — "Now  then  If  you 

please," 
The  prisoner  sniffed,  and  with  a  crashing 

sneeze. 
Off   his   head  tumbled — bowled   along  the 

floor; — 
Bounced  down  the  steps; — the  prisoner  said 

no  more! 

Mimer  or  Mimir,  in  Norse  myth,  a 
water  giant  presiding  over  Mimir's 
Well,  a  spring  that  issued  close  by  the 
roots  of  the  ash  tree  Yddrasil,  the 
supposed  source  of  all  wisdom  and 
eloquence.  Every  morning  he  drank 
out  of  it  from  the  horn  Gjaller.  Odin 
once  drank  of  its  waters  and  so  be- 
came the  wisest  of  gods  and  men,  but 
he  had  to  pay  for  the  privilege  by 
leaving  one  of  his  eyes  in  pawn. 

Minerva,  the  goddess  of  arms  and 
wisdom  among  the  Romans,  was  by 
them  identified  with  the  Greek 
Athena  and  absorbed  her  attributes 
and  her  fabulous  history.  In  art  she 
is  represented  like  her  Greek  proto- 
type and  alter  ego. 
13 


Minnehaha,  in  Longfellow's  Hia- 
watha, the  wife  of  the  titular  hero 
and  daughter  of  the  ancient  arrow- 
maker  in  the  land  of  the  Dacotahs. 

With  him  dwelt  his  dark-eyed  daughter, 

Wayward  as  the  Minnehaha, 

With  her  moods  of  shade  and  sunshine, 

Eyes  that  smiled  and  frowned  alternate, 

Feet  as  rapid  as  the  river. 

Tresses  flowing  like  the  water, 

And  as  musical  a  laughter; 

And  he  named  her  from  the  river. 

From  the  water-fall  he  named  her, 

Minnehaha,  Laughing  Water. 

Minos,  king  of  Crete  in  classic 
myth,  son  of  Zeus  and  brother  of 
Rhadamanthus,  and  after  death  one 
of  the  judges  of  the  souls  in  Hades. 
He  is  described  by  Homer,  Odyssey 
xi,  and  by  Virgil,  ^Eneid,  and  by 
Fenelon,  Telemachus. 

Dante  follows  the  classics  with 
mediaeval  Christian  additions.  He 
puts  Minos  at  the  entrance  to  hell, 
passing  sentence  on  the  souls  con- 
demned to  perdition,  and  assigning 
to  them  their  exact  quarters. 

There  Minos  stands. 

Grinning  with  ghastly  feature:  he,  of  all 
Who  enter,  strict  examining  the  crimes. 
Gives  sentence,  and  dismisses  them  beneath, 
According  as  he  foldeth  him  around: 
For  when  before  him  comes  the  ill-fated  soul, 
It  all  confesses;  and  that  judge  severe 
Of  sins,  considering  what  place  in  Hell 
Suits  the  transgression,  with  his  tail  so  oft 
Himself  encircles,  as  degrees  beneath 
He  dooms  it  to  descend.     Before  him  stand 
Alway  a  numerous  throng;  and  in  his  turn 
Each  one  to  judgment  passing,  speaks,  and 

hears 
His  fate,  thence  downward  to  his  dwelling 

hurl'd. 

Inferno,  v. 

Minotaur,  in  classic  myth,  a  mon- 
ster with  a  man's  body  and  a  bull's 
head,  the  offspring  of  unnatural  inter- 
course between  a  bull  and  Parsiphas, 
wife  of  Minos  II,  king  of  Crete,  grand- 
son of  Minos  the  lawgiver.  It  was 
confined  in  a  labyrinth  specially 
designed  for  it  by  Daedalus.  Theseus, 
with  the  assistance  of  a  clue  to  the 
labyrinth  given  to  him  by  Adriadne, 
daughter  of  Minos,  found  his  way  to 
the  Minotaur  and  slew  it.  Dante 
makes  the  Minotaur  guardian  of  the 
seventh  circle  in  hell,  where  the  vio- 
lent are  punished  (Inferno,  xii). 


Mishe 


194 


Mithridates 


Mishe  Nahma,  in  North  Ameri- 
can myth,  the  sturgeon,  king  of 
fishes,  whom  Hiawatha  slew  for  the 
benefit  of  his  fellow  Indians.  Hia- 
watha was  the  first  to  teach  them  how 
to  make  oil  for  light  and  fuel  in 
winter.  He  cast  his  line  into  the 
water.  The  sturgeon  persuaded  the 
pike  to  swallow  the  bait,  but  Hia- 
watha flung  it  back  again.  The  sun- 
fish  bit  with  the  same  result.  Then 
the  vengeful  sturgeon  swallowed 
Hiawatha  and  his  canoe,  but  the  hero 
smote  the  heart  of  the  fish  so  that  it 
swam  to  shore  and  died.  The  sea- 
gulls opened  a  rift  in  the  body  through 
which  Hiawatha  emerged. 

"I  have  slain  the  Mishe'-Nahma, 
Slain  the  king  of  fishes,"  said  he. 
LONGFELLOW:    Hiawatha,  viii  (1855). 

Mithra  or  Mithras,"  one  of  the 
greatest  of  the  Persian  divinities, 
alike  a  sun  god  and  a  war  god,  and  so 
combining  the  attributes  of  both 
Apollo  and  Mars  when  through  the 
influence  of  the  foreign  legionaries 
he  came  to  be  adopted  into  the 
Pantheon  of  imperial  Rome.  As  a 
war  god  he  almost  superseded  Mars 
in  the  favor  of  the  Roman  soldiers. 
An  old  Persian  hymn  describes  him 
as  thousand  eyed  and  thousand  eared, 
ever  alert,  never  slumbering.  Armed 
with  spears  and  arrows,  symbolizing 
lightning,  he  rode  a  white  steed  or 
drove  a  chariot  drawn  by  horses.  The 
bull,  as  a  symbol  of  strength  and  fe- 
cundity, was  consecrated  to  him,  he 
is  alternately  represented  as  master- 
ing, carrying,  or  slaying  a  bull.  His 
worship  comprised  a  baptismal  cere- 
mony in  which  bull's  blood  was  a  con- 
secrating element.  In  the  final 
struggle  between  Christianity  and 
paganism  Mithraism  was  the  most 
powerful  of  the  forces  arrayed  against 
the^new  faith,  partly  because  Mithra 
anticipated  Christ  not  only  as  a 
mediator  between  God  and  man,  but 
also  as  the  adversary  of  all  evil, — 
opposing  to  sin  and  darkness  the 
might  of  his  own  clear  uprightness 
and  purity.  Mithra  was  one  of  the 
gods  who  sat  on  the  bridge  between 
heaven  and  earth  to  judge  the  souls 


of  the  dead  (see  SRAOSHA).  The 
most  ancient  instance  of  Mithra 
worship  among  the  Romans  occurs 
in  an  inscription,  dated  in  the  third 
consulate  of  Trajan  (about  A.D.  101) 
on  an  altar  inscribed  with  the  words 
Deo  Soli  Mithra.  The  Roman 
festivals  in  honor  of  Mithras,  lasting 
six  days  in  October,  are  said  to  have 
been  derived  from  Chaldaea,  where 
they  had  been  instituted,  it  is  sup- 
posed, to  celebrate  the  entrance  of 
the  sun  into  the  sign  of  Taurus.  They 
were,  however,  finally  proscribed  in 
Rome,  by  order  of  Gracchus,  prefect  of 
the  Pragtorium,  in  the  year  A.D.  378. 
Mithridates  VI,  king  of  Pontus 
(B.C.  120^63),  famous  in  history 
through  his  wars  against  the  Romans, 
is  noted  in  legend  for  his  precautions 
against  assassination.  He  is  said  to 
have  safeguarded  himself  against  the 
designs  of  his  enemies  by  accustoming 
his  system  to  the  effects  of  poison  and 
their  antidotes.  It  is  added  that 
after  his  defeat  by  the  Romans,  and 
the  rebellion  and  usurpation  of  his 
son  he  desired  to  end  his  life,  but  the 
subtlest  poison  had  no  effect  upon 
him  and  he  had  to  command  one  of  his 
Gallic  mercenaries  to  despatch  him 
with  a  sword.  Racine  makes  use  of 
this  legend  in  his  tragedy  Mithridates. 
Hawthorne  in  his  American  Note- 
book quotes  this  passage  from  Sir 
Thomas  Browne:  "  A  story  there 
passeth  of  an  Indian  king  that  sent 
unto  Alexander  a  fair  woman,  fed 
with  aconite  and  other  poisons,  with 
this  intent  complexionally  to  destroy 
him."  The  entry  is  significant,  be- 
cause the  myth  evidently  suggested 
to  him  his  story  Rappacini's  Daughter 
in  Mosses  from  an  Old  Manse  (1846). 
Sir  Thomas  probably  found  the  story 
in  the  Gesta  Romanorum,  where  it 
forms  Tale  xi,  Of  the  Poison  of  Sin. 
The  original  source  is  Chapter  xxvii 
of  the  Secretum  Secretorum,  a  twelfth 
century  forgery  imputed  to  Aristotle. 

Pain  was  mixed 

In  all  which  was  served  up  to  him,  until 
Like  to  the  Pontic  monarch  of  old  days, 
He  fed  on  poisons,  and  they  had  no  power. 
But  were  a  kind  of  nutriment;  he  lived 
Through  that  which  had  been  death  to  many 
men.         BYRON:     The  Dream,  1.  189. 


Modo 


195 


Moloch 


Modo  or  Modu  (possibly  a  corrup- 
tion of  Asmodeus),  the  chief  of  the 
fiends  by  whom  Edgar  in  King  Lear 
(1605)  in  his  character  of  Mad  Tom 
asserts  that  he  is  haunted: 

The  prince  of  darkness  is  a  gentleman 
Modo  he's  called,  and  Mahu. 

Here  he  seems  to  confound  two 
into  one.  But  enumerating  the  five 
fiends  who  together  possess  him,  he 
names  "  Mahu  of  stealing,  Modo  of 
murder." 

Dr.  Samuel  Harsnet,  later  Bishop  of  York, 
published,  in  1603,  A;  Declaration  of  Egre- 
gious Popish  Impostures,  in  which  he 
charges  that  the  English  Jesuits  were  in  the 
habit  of  exorcising  pretended  demoniacs 
from  the  devils  who  possessed  them. 

Harsnet  says:  "Modo,  Master  Maynie's 
devil,  was  a  Grand  Commander  muster- 
master  over  the  captains  of  the  seven 
deadly  sins.  .  .  .  Maho,  Sara's  devil, 
was  general  Dictator  of  hell;  and  yet,  for 
good  manners'  sake,  he  was  contented  of 
his  good  nature  to  make  show  that  himself 
was  under  the  check  of  Modu,  the  grand 
devil  of  Master  Maynie."  Knight  says: 
"It  is  difficult  to  say  where  Harsnet  found 
the  strange  names  that  the  Jesuits  bestow 
on  their  pretended  fiends."  A  friend  of 
Mr.  Knight's  points  out  the  similarity 
between  the  names  "Modo  and  Mahu" 
and  the  Hebrew  words  to  express  chaos, 
"Tohu  and  Bohu."  These  are  used  in  the 
first  chapter  of  Genesis,  where  the  English 
version  translates  "without  form  and  void," 
and  this  authority  says,  became  proverbial 
in  the  seventeenth  century.  He  cites  several 
examples  from  Cudworth's  Intellectual 
System  to  show  the  phrase  familiarly 
employed  to  represent  chaos.  He  also  adds: 
"It  is  worthy  of  attention  that,  in  the  wild 
philosophy  of  Manichaeism,  the  evil  prin- 
ciple is  the  same  as  chaos,  the  Tohu  and 
Bohu  of  the  Bible." 

Modred  or  Mordred,  in  the  Arthur- 
ian cycle  of  romances,  the  traitor 
among  the  Knights  of  the  Round 
Table.  All  accounts  agree  that  he 
was  the  nephew  of  King  Arthur  by  a 
half  sister, — Anne  according  to  Geof- 
frey; Margause  according  to  Map  and 
Malory;  Bellicent  according  to 
Tennyson.  Map  and  Malory  agree, 
moreover,  that  he  was  the  son  as  well 
as  the  nephew  of  Arthur  (see  MAR- 
GAUSE), though  the  incest — not,  of 
course,  the  adultery — was  unconscious 
on  his  part.  When  Arthur  was  tem- 
porarily called  away  from  England 
(either  to  conquer  Rome  as  in  the 
older  legends,  or  to  chastise  Lancelot 


as  in  Tennyson's  version)  he  placed 
his  kingdom  under  the  charge  of 
Modred,  who  turned  traitor  and 
sought  to  usurp  the  crown.  Accord- 
ing to  Geoffrey  he  married  Guine- 
vere. Malory  says  he  attempted  to 
marry  her,  but  failed,  for  she  found 
refuge  in  the  Tower  of  London.  All 
accounts  agree  that  Arthur  returned 
on  hearing  of  Modred's  treason,  led 
an  army  against  him,  defeated  him 
at  Camlan  (Camelot),  and  received 
his  own  death  wound  in  slaying  the 
traitor. 

By  ignoring  the  guilt  of  Arthur, 
Tennyson  forfeits  the  great  motif 
introduced  by  Map  into  the  Arthur- 
ian legend, — the  curse  which  over- 
shadowed the  king's  life,  until  in  the 
fulness  of  time  he  made  a  terrible 
atonement  at  the  hands  of  the  very 
wretch  whom  he  had  begotten. 

Following  older  traditions  Map  had  to 
bring  about  the  fall  of  the  king  in  a  final 
battle,  the  utter  ruin  and  desolation  of 
which  required  the  richest  imagination  to 
scheme  and  the  broadest  genius  to  depict. 
It  was  to  be  the  finale  of  a  knightly  epoch, 
the  closing  scene  of  a  curse;  the  death  of 
king  and  knights  at  the  hands  of  an  aban- 
doned and  traitorous  wretch.  How  could 
the  northern  romancer  heighten  the  picture 
more  effectively  than  by  adopting  the  story 
already  in  existence,  and  depicting  the 
wretch  whose  hands  were  to  be  stained  with 
the  blood  of  his  sovereign  as  the  natural 
offspring  of  the  monarch?  And  if,  in  addi- 
tion, this  miscreant  should  be  painted,  not 
only  as  a  natural  son,  but  as  the  result  of  a 
terrible  sin,  an  incest  on  the  part  of  the 
king  himself,  what  could  possibly  be  want- 
ing to  render  the  ending,  in  the  highest 
degree,  tragic?  But  the  deadly  sin  of  incest 
must  be  unwittingly  committed,  else  the 
king  would  be  a  villain. — GURTEEN:  The 
Arthurian  Epic. 

Moloch  (Heb.  King),  one  of  the 
gods  worshipped  by  the  Ammonites 
in  their  capital  city  Rabba. 

The  mediaeval  demonographers 
made  him  a  devil,  the  third  in  rank 
of  the  Satanic  hierarchy,  Satan  being 
first  and  Beelzebub  second.  This 
classification  was  adopted  by  Milton 
in  Paradise  Lost — 

First  Moloch,  horrid  king,  besmeared  with 

blood 

Of  human  sacrifice,  and  parents'  tears. 
Though,  for  the  noise  of  drums  and  tim- 
brels loud, 


Momus 


196 


Moon 


Their  children's  cries  unheard,  that  passed 

thro'  fire 

To  his  grim  idol.    Him  the  Ammonite 
Worshipped  in  Rabba. 
MILTON:  Paradise  Lost,  i,  392,  etc.  (1665). 

Momus,  in  classic  myth,  a  god 
personifying  mockery  and  censure. 
Hesiod  makes  him  the  offspring  of 
Night.  His  great  delight  was  in 
carping  at  gods  and  men.  Neptune, 
Minerva  and  Vulcan  once  had  a  con- 
test to  prove  who  was  the  greatest 
artist.  Neptune  made  a  bull,  Minerva 
a  house,  and  Vulcan  a  man.  Momus, 
chosen  judge,  found  fault  with  the 
bull  because  the  horns  should  have 
been  nearer  the  front  for  fighting 
purposes;  with  the  house,  because  it 
was  not  removable;  and  with  the 
man,  because  he  had  no  window  in  his 
breast  that  would  reveal  his  thoughts. 
At  last  the  gods  were  so  disgusted  that 
they  thrust  Momus  out  of  heaven. 
Some  accounts  say  that  he  died  of 
grief  because  he  could  find  no  imper- 
fection in  Venus,  although  others  add 
that  he  consoled  himself  by  criti- 
cising her  sandals. 

Montfort,  Henry  de,  the  titular 
hero  of  a  sixteenth  century  ballad, 
The  Blind  Beggar's  Daughter  _  of 
Bethnal  (or  Bednal)  Green,  which 
Percy  has  preserved  in  a  mutilated 
and  amended  form  in  his  Reliques. 
Its  wide  popularity  is  attested  by 
numerous  references  in  contemporary 
English  literature: 

Rarest  ballad  that  ever  was  seen 
Of  the  Blind  Beggar's  daughter  of  Bednal 
Green. 

A  comedy  under  this  title  by  John 
Day  and  Henry  Chettle  was  acted  in 
1600.  It  closely  followed  the  inci- 
dents of  the  ballad  which  were  widely 
departed  from  in  Sheridan  Knowles's 
comedy  The  Beggar's  Daughter  of 
Bethnal  Green  (1834). 

Henry,  son  of  Simon  de  Montfort, 
joined  in  his  father's  rebellion  against 
Henry  III  and  shared  his  death  on  the 
battlefield  of  Evesham,  August  4, 
1265.  So  says  history.  The  ballad 
asserts  that  the  son,  though  badly 
wounded,  was  nursed  back  to  life  by 
a  baron's  daughter  whom  he  married. 


To  conceal  his.  identity  he  disguised 
himself  as  a  beggar  and  solicited  alms 
on  Bethnal  Green.  His  only  child, 
Bessie,  is  brought  up  in  the  village  of 
Rumford  and  is  greatly  courted  for 
her  beauty,  but  lover  after  lover 
rides  away  when  she  declares  that  her 
father  is 

The  silly  Blind  Beggar  of  Bednal  Green 
That  daily  sits  begging  for  charitie. 

At  last  a  knight  who  loves  her  for 
herself  alone  proposes  and  is  accepted. 
At  the  wedding  breakfast  the  beggar, 
blind  no  longer  and  resplendent  in 
silk  and  laces,  appears  among  the 
guests  and  reveals  his  identity. 

Moon,  Man  in  the.  It  is  related 
of  Anaxagoras,  the  Ionian  philosopher, 
that  for  calling  the  moon  a  mass  of 
dead  matter  he  came  near  losing  his 
life.  To  the  ancients  the  moon  was 
no  inert  ball  of  stones  and  clods. 
It  was  the  horned  huntress  Artemis, 
coursing  through  the  upper  ether, 
or  bathing  herself  in  the  clear  lake, 
or  it  was  Aphrodite,  patron  of 
lovers,  born  of  the  sea  foam  in  the 
East  near  Cyprus. 

Many  myths  in  many  lands  give 
diverse  explanations  of  the  spots  on 
its  face.  Orientals  see  there  the 
figure  of  a  hare;  in  Mongolian  myths 
and  in  Buddhist  jatakas  that  animal 
is  carried  by  the  moon.  Europeans 
substitute  a  man  with  a  bundle  of 
sticks  on  his  back  and  opine  that  he 
is  the  culprit  found  by  Moses  gather- 
ing sticks  on  the  Sabbath.  He  once 
revisited  the  earth,  for  a  nursery 
rhyme  asserts  that: 

The  Man  in  the  Moon 

Came  down  too  soon 

And  asked  his  way  to  Norwich. 

Dante  (Inferno,  xx)  calls  him 
Cain;  Chaucer  in  the  Testament  of 
Cresside  says  simply  that  he  is  a 
"  chorl  "  punished  for  theft  and 

Bearing  a  brush  of  thorns  on  his  back. 

Shakspear  also  loads  him  with  the 
thorns  but  gives  him  a  dog  for 
companion. 

In  Icelandic  mythology  the  lunar 
spots  are  two  children  whom  the 


Morgan 


197 


Morumendi 


moon  kidnapped  and  carried  up  to 
heaven.  They  had  been  drawing 
water  in  a  bucket,  still  suspended 
between  them  on  a  pole  placed  across 
their  shoulders.  Their  names  are 
given  as  Hjuki  and  Bill  and  it  is 
ingeniously  surmised  that  these  are 
the  originals  of  Jack  and  Jill  (q.v.) 
in  the  nursery  jingle. 

Morgan  le  Fay  (i.e.  La  Fee,  the 
fairy),  in  Sir  Thomas  Malory's  Morte 
d' Arthur  (1470),  sister  of  King 
Arthur,  wife  of  King  Vrience,  and 
paramour  of  Sir  Accolon  of  Gaul. 
Among  other  evil  deeds  she  stole  her 
brother's  sword,  Excalibur,  and  sent 
it  to  Accolon,  who  thereupon  chal- 
lenged Arthur  to  single  combat. 
Accolon  dropped  the  sword  in  the 
midst  of  the  fray,  it  was  seized  and 
recognized  by  Arthur.  He  would 
have  slain  the  knight,  but  that  he 
prayed  for  mercy  and  confessed  all 
the  treasonable  plot,  viz.,  that  Arthur 
should  die,  whereupon  Accolon  would 
seize  the  kingdom  and  marry  Morgan, 
Vrience  having  previously  been  made 
away  with  by  that  lady. 

Morgana,  Fata  (It.  the  fay  or  fairy 
Morgana),  the  name  under  which 
Morgan  le  Fay  passed  into  the  Italian 
Carlovingian  romances.  In  Aristo's 
Orlando  Furioso  she  convinces  Arthur 
of  the  infidelity  of  his  queen  by  means 
of  a  magic  horn. 

In  Bojardo's  Orlando  Innamorato 
(1495)  she  appears  as  the  personi- 
fication of  Fortune,  living  at  the  bot- 
tom of  a  lake  and  dispensing  the 
treasures  of  the  earth,  subject  only 
to  the  all-potent  Demogorgon.  In 
other  romances  she  lives  in  the  island 
of  Avalon  and  transports  thither 
Ogier  the  Dane,  whom  she  rejuvenates. 
In  French  she  is  called  Morgan, 
Morgaine,  or  Morgue  la  F6e.  The 
name  Fata  Morgana  is  to-day  given  to 
a  curious  atmospheric  phenomenon 
akin  to  a  mirage  which  is  often  wit- 
nessed in  the  straits  of  Messina  and  is 
attributed  to  her  magic  powers. 

Morgiana,  in  the  Arabian  Nights, 
the  female  slave, "crafty,  cunning  and 
fruitful  in  inventions,"  who  on  the 
death  of  her  first  master  Cassim  trans- 
fers her  services  to  his  brother  AH 


Baba  and  succeeds  in  baffling  the 
vengeance  of  the  Forty  Thieves  and 
eventually  in  killing  them  off. 

Morice,  Gil,  i.e.,  Childe,  hero  of  an 
old  ballad  preserved  in  Percy's 
Reliques.  He  is  the  illegitimate  son 
of  Lady  Barnard,  whom  Lord  Bar- 
nard slays  because  he  fancies  him  her 
paramour.  On  this  ballad  Home 
founded  his  tragedy  of  Douglas.  See 
MAURICE,  CHILDE. 

Morolf,  the  peasant  hero  of  a  popu- 
lar jestbook,  Solomon  and  Morolf, 
translated  into  German  in  the  I4th 
century  from  a  Latin  original  of 
uncertain  date,  and  thence  repro- 
duced in  most  European  languages 
and  countries,  to  form  the  inspiration 
of  similar  jestbooks  under  new  names. 
The  epitome  of  all  human  wisdom  is 
represented  as  holding  a  long  con- 
troversy with  a  self-confessed  fool, 
who  bests  him  by  superior  wit.  But 
Morolf,  by  his  flings  at  women, excites 
the  enmity  of  Solomon's  wives  and 
concubines;  they  clamor  for  his 
death;  the  monarch  yields,  but  as  a 
concession  due  to  the  amusement  of  a 
few  hours  of  royal  ennui,  he  allows 
the  fool  the  privilege  of  selecting  the 
tree  on  which  he  shall  be  suspended. 
Morolf  is  led  by  the  executioners 
through  the  Valley  of  Jehoshaphat  to 
the  Mount  of  Olives,  down  to  the 
Dead  Sea  and  into  Arabia,  but  all  in 
vain, — nowhere  can  he  find  a  suitable 
tree  on  which  to  be  hanged.  See 
BERTOLDO. 

Morpheus,  in  Greek  myth,  the  son 
of  sleep  and  the  god  of  dreams.  His 
dwelling  was  a  cave  in  Cimmeria 
impervious  to  the  rays  of  the  sun. 
He  is  represented  as  a  handsome 
youth,  crowned  with  poppies  and 
holding  in  his  hand  a  cornucopia 
from  which  he  scatters  various  figures. 

Morumendi,  The  Lady  of,  in 
Basque  folklore,  the  soul  of  a  maiden, 
who,  sacrificing  for  her  aged  father 
her  own  happiness,  ended  her  lonely 
days  in  prayer  on  the  peaks  of  Moru- 
mendi. She  frequently  appears  in  the 
form  of  a  white  mist,  and  though  her 
appearance  is  a  warning  that  the 
hour  of  trial  is  at  hand  it  is  also  a 
promise  of  her  assistance. 


Moutardier 


198 


Mulciber 


Moutardier  du  Pape  (Fr.  Mustard 
mixer  to  the  Pope),  a  French  phrase 
colloquially  applied  to  a  vain  or  con- 
ceited person  in  the  form,  "  He  thinks 
himself  mustard  mixer  to  the  Pope." 
An  official  of  this  sort  is  said  to  have 
been  appointed  by  Pope  John  XXII 
at  his  court  in  Avignon,  the  appointee 
being  his  own  nephew.  The  latter's 
vanity  was  so  absurdly  tickled  by  his 
not  over-dignified  title  and  position 
that  he  became  the  object  of  constant 
pleasantries.  The  phrase  Moutardier 
du  Pape  was  handed  down  to  poster- 
ity, and  oddly  enough  it  is  recorded 
that  Clement  XIV  applied  it  to  him- 
self when  Cardinal  de  Berenice  called 
to  congratulate  him  on  his  elevation. 
Clement  had  been  a  simple  monk. 
41  I  am  sighing  for  my  cloister,  cell  and 
books,"  he  said  to  the  Cardinal; 
"  you  must  not  run  away  with  the 
impression  that  I  think  myself  the 
Moutardier  duPape."  (WALSH,  Handy- 
book  of  Literary  Curiosities,  p.  752.) 
Alphonse  Musset  elaborates  this 
legend  in  a  short  story,  Le  Moutardier 
du  Pape. 

Mukunda,  a  mythical  "  king  of  Lia- 
vati,"  whose  story  is  told  in  the  Pan- 
chatranta,  a  Sanskrit  collection  of 
popular  tales  compiled  probably  be- 
fore the  Christian  era.  Mukunda  was 
so  pleased  with  the  antics  of  a  hunch- 
back that  he  made  him  his  court  fool, 
and  suffered  his  presence  even  in  the 
council  chamber.  The  prime  minister 
was  vexed  and  said  reprovingly, 

Far  flies  rumour  with  three  pairs  of  ears. 

To   which   the   king   laughingly   re- 
plied— 

The  man  is  an  idiot,  so  have  no  fears. 

Grumbling  still,  the  old  and  pru- 
dent minister  said — 

The  beggar  may  rise  to  royal  degree, 
The  monarch  descend  to  beggary. 

A  Brahmin  teaches  the  king  how  to 
send  his  soul  from  his  own  body  into 
any  ^  disengaged  body  that  he  wished 
to  vivify.  The  hunchback  overheard 
the  lesson.  When  the  king  put  his 
new  lore  into  practice  by  animating 


the  corpse  of  a  Brahmin  the  hunch- 
back quickly  sent  his  own  soul  into 
the  vacated  body  of  the  king.  Every- 
where he  was  received  as  the  true 
Mukunda,  while  the  real  monarch 
faced  poverty  and  want  in  the  sem- 
blance of  a  begging  Brahmin.  The 
prime  minister  soon  began  to  suspect 
the  truth.  Stranger  after  stranger  he 
accosted  in  the  hope  of  getting  infor- 
mation. At  last  the  Brahmin  came 
his  way,  begging  as  usual  for  alms. 
The  minister  said  sharply: 

Far  flies  rumour  with  three  pairs  of  ears; 

to  which  the  Brahmin  promptly 
answered — 

The  man  is  an  idiot,  so  have  no  fears. 

Hearing  this,  the  old  man  was 
arrested  by  his  interest.  He  hastily 
continued — 

The  beggar  may  rise  to  royal  degree; 

and  the  Brahmin  responded  without 
hesitation — 

The  monarch  descend  to  beggary. 

Then  the  minister  had  an  understand- 
ing with  the  Brahmin  and  brought 
him  to  the  palace.  They  found  the 
queen  weeping  over  the  death  of  her 
pet  parrot.  To  calm  her  the  false 
king  agreed  to  animate  the  dead 
parrot.  The  true  Mukunda  seized 
the  opportunity  to  regain  his  proper 
shape.  This  is  the  earliest  known  ver- 
sion of  the  story  which  in  mediaeval 
times  became  King  Robert  of  Sicily 
(q.v.).  There  are  passages  in  the 
Psalms,  and  especially  in  the  song  of 
Hannah,  which  bear  a  striking  resem- 
blance to  the  verses  of  the  prime 
minister,  and  may  be  a  reference  to 
the  fable.  Thus,  44  The  Lord  maketh 
poor  and  maketh  rich;  he  bringeth 
low  and  lifteth  up.  He  raiseth  up  the 
poor  out  of  the  dust,  and  lifteth  up 
the  beggar  from  the  dung-hill,  to  set 
them  among  princes,  and  to  make 
them  inherit  the  throne  of  glory." 

Mulciber,  one  of  the  Latin  names 
for  Hephaestus  or  Vulcan,  given  to 
him  as  a  euphemism  to  conciliate 
him  with  the  human  race.  Milton 


Mumbo 


199 


Muses 


makes  him  one  of  the  fallen  angels 
enlisted  under  the  banner  of  Satan, 
and  alludes  to  the  classic  myth  of 
how  he  was  hurled  down  from  Olym- 
pus by  his  father  Zeus  or  Jupiter. 
See  HEPHAESTUS. 

Nor  was  his  name  unheard  or  unadored 
In  ancient  Greece;  and  in  Ausonian  land 
Men  called  him  Mulciber;  and  how  he  fell 
From  heaven  they  fabled,  thrown  by  angry 

Jove 
Sheer   o'er   the   crystal   battlements:   from 

morn 

To  noon  he  fell,  from  noon  to  dewy  eve, 
A  summer's  day;  and  with  the  setting  sun 
Dropped  from  the  zenith  like  a  falling  star. 
On  Lemnos,  the  JEgean  isle. 

MILTON:     Paradise  Lost,  I. 

Mumbo  Jumbo,  a  bugbear,  an 
impostor,  a  bogie.  The  name  was 
introduced  into  European  literature 
by  Mungo  Park,  who  tells  in  his 
travels  how  in  December  1795  he 
arrived  at  the  Mandingo  town  of 
Kalor.  Hanging  upon  a  tree  he 
noticed  a  sort  of  masquerade  dress 
made  of  the  bark  of  trees.  He  was 
told  it  belonged  to  Mumbo  Jumbo. 
Further  inquiry  revealed  this  as  a  bug- 
bear resorted  to  for  keeping  wives  in 
subjection: 

As  the  Kaffirs  are  not  restricted  In  the 
number  of  their  wives,  every  one  marries 
as  many  as  he  can  conveniently  maintain; 
and,  as  it  frequently  happens  that  the 
ladies  do  not  agree  among  themselves, 
family  quarrels  sometimes  rise  to  such  a 
height,  that  the  authority  of  the  husband 
can  no  longer  preserve  peace  in  his  house- 
hold. In  such  cases,  the  interposition  of 
Mumbo  Jumbo  is  called  in,  and  is  always 
decisive.  This  strange  minister  of  justice 
(who  is  supposed  to  be  either  the  husband 
himself  or  some  person  instructed  by  him), 
disguised  in  the  dress  that  has  been  men- 
tioned, and  armed  with  the  rod  of  public 
authority,  announces  his  coming  by  loud 
and  dismal  screams  in  the  woods  near  the 
town.  He  begins  the  pantomime  at  the 
approach  of  night,  and  as  soon  as  it  is 
dark  he  enters  the  town.  The  ceremony 
commences  with  songs  and  dances,  which 
continue  till  midnight,  about  which  time 
Mumbo  fixes  on  the  offender.  The  unfor- 
tunate victim,  being  seized,  is  stripped,  tied 
to  a  post,  and  severely  scourged  with 
Mumbo's  rod,  amidst  the  shouts  and  de- 
rision of  the  whole  assembly.  Daylight 
puts  an  end  to  the  unseemly  revel. 

Musaeus,  the  pseudonym  of  a 
German  author  whose  Marchen  or 
folk- tales  helped  in  _the  revival  of 
the  German  romantic  spirit.  The 


original  Musasus  was  a  Greek,  who 
flourished)  about  B.C.  1410  and  was 
the  author  of  the  poem  Leander  and 
Hero.  Virgil  in  the  sEneid  placed 
him  in  the  Elysian  fields,  the  centre 
of  a  vast  multitude  of  ghosts  whom 
he  overtops  by  a  head.  Hence  the 
allusion  in  the  soliloquy  of  Faustus: 
congratulating  himself  that  he  had: 

Made  the  flowering  pride  of  Wertenberg 
Swarm   to   my   problems,   as   the   infernal 

spirits 
On  sweet  Musaeuc  when  he  came  to  hell. 

MARLOWE:    Dr.  Faustus  (1590). 

Muse,  The  Tenth.  Plato  is  said  to 
have  employed  his  youthful  leisure  in 
making  verses.  Among  those  attrib- 
uted to  him  is  one  thus  Latinized  by 
Hugo  Grotius: 

Esse    novem    guidam    Musas    dixere,    sed 

errant. 
Ecce  tibi  Sappho  Lesbia  quac  decima  fuit. 

"Formerly  they  said  there  were 
nine  Muses,  but  they  erred.  Behold 
the  Lesbian  Sappho,  who  was  the 
tenth."  For  the  Greek  original  see 
Epigrammatum  Anthologia  Palatina, 
vol.  ii,  p.  105. 

In  modern  times  the  title  of  Tenth 
Muse  was  bestowed  upon  four  French 
ladies:  Marie  Lejars  de  Gournay 
(1566-1645) ;  Antoinette  Deshouliercs 
(1633-1694);  Mile.  Scuderi  (1607- 
1701)  and  Delphine  Gay,  afterwards 
Madame  Emile  de  Girardin. 

In  Colonial  America  the  same  com- 
pliment was  bestowed  on  Anne  Brad- 
street  (1612-1672),  the  first  cis- 
Atlantic  poetess.  The  title  page  of 
her  book  published  in  London,  in 
1650,  styled  her  "  The  Tenth  Muse 
late  sprung  up  in  America."  Mrs. 
Bradstreet  was  the  ancestress  of  the 
poets  Dana  and  Holmes,  and  a  kins- 
woman of  Prof.  Charles  Eliot  Norton. 

Muses,  in  classic  myth,  nine 
nymphs  or  goddesses,  each  of  whom 
took  some  province  of  literature,  art 
or  science  under  her  patronage.  Their 
names  and  specialties  as  finally  de- 
termined were  as  follows: 

(i)  Calliope,  the  epic;  (2)  Clio, 
history;  (3)  Erato,  love  poetry;  (4) 
Euterpe,  lyrical  poetry;  (5)  Melpo- 


Muses 


200 


Nasidienus 


mene,  tragedy;  (6)  Polyhymnia, 
sacred  poetry;  (7)  Terpsichore,  choral 
song  and  dance;  (8)  Thalia,  comedy 
and  idyllic  poetry;  (9)  Urania, 
astronomy. 

The  idea  of  nine  Muses  is  a  com- 
paratively modern  development,  if 
that  can  be  called  modern  which  dates 
back  to  Hesiod  (Theogonis,  B.C.  735). 
Originally  the  Muses  were  a  variety 
of  nymphs.  The  spirits  of  nature, 
inhabiting  forests  and  fountains  and 
especially  the  holy  springs,  in  Helicon 
and  elsewhere,  whose  waters  com- 
municated the  poetical  afflatus.  The 
semi-mythical  Thracians,  the  sup- 
posed originators  of  their  worship, 
survived  in  Greek  tradition  as  a  race 
of  bards.  Thus  the  differentiation 
of  this  group  of  nymphs  into  patrons 
of  the  arts  is  readily  comprehensible. 
But  it  was  long  before  their  number 
was  definitely  settled  as  nine.  In  art 
itself,  which  is  essentially  conserva- 
tive, they  appear  originally  as  three 
and  are  so  sculptured  on  the  most 
ancient  bas-reliefs,  their  attributes 
being  the  flute,  the  lyre  and  the  lute. 
Later  they  are  increased  to  nine. 
Three  muses  were  adored  at  Delphi, 
personifications  of  the  three  strings 
of  the  lyre;  in  Sicily  there  were  seven; 
in  Athens  it  appears  there  were  at  one 
time  eight.  Each  district  has  its  own 
name  for  them,  and  these  were  vari- 
ous and  confusing.  Homer  speaks 
sometimes  of  one  muse,  sometimes  of 
many,  although  in  the  Odyssey,  xxiv, 
60,  he  expressly  fixes  the  number  at 
nine  without  naming  them.  Hesiod, 
before  Homer,  had  named  and 
numbered  nine,  and  his  names  came 
to  be  gradually  accepted,  until  now 
they  have  become  part  of  universal 
literature. 


Musgrave,  Little,  hero  of  an  early 
English  ballad  preserved  in  Percy's 
Reliques,  iii,  i,  11.  He  is  surprised  by 
Lord  Barnard  in  an  assignation  with 
his  lady.  The  stern  chivalry  of  the 
nobleman  will  not  allow  him  to  take 
advantage  of  a  defenceless  man.  He 
makes  Little  Musgrave  rise  and  don 
his  armor  and  then  slays  him  in  equal 
combat.  Exasperated  by  his  wife's 
shameless  lament  for  her  paramour 
he  kills  her  also,  lamenting  bitterly 
the  next  moment  that  his  followers 
did  not  stay  his  hand  to  prevent  so 
hideous  a  tragedy. 

Muspleheim,  the  Scandinavian 
hell,  a  realm  of  fire  which  lies  to  the 
south  of  Ginnunagap  as  Niflheim,  the 
realm  of  cold  and  mist,  lies  to  the 
north.  Sun,  moon  and  stars  are  all 
sparks  from  Muspleheim. 

Mycerinus,  an  Egyptian  king 
whose  story  is  told  by  Herodotus 
(ii,  129-134)  and  made  the  subject  of 
a  poem  by  Matthew  Arnold.  Son  of 
Cheops  he  forsook  the  evil  ways  of 
his  father  and  governed  with  mild 
paternal  rule.  But  though  his  father 
had  lived  to  a  green  old  age,  the 
oracles  foretold  that  within  six  years 
he  must  die.  Vainly  he  protested 
against  this  in  justice,  then  determined 
to  make  the  best  of  things  and  double 
his  six  years  by  turning  night  into 
day  and  devoting  every  available 
hour  to  pleasure. 

Myrmidons  (Lat.  Myrmidones 
from  Gr.  pvppiK.es,  ants).  In  classic 
myth  Zeus  carried  off  ^Egina  to  the 
island  of  (Enone,  thereafter  known  by 
her  name.  As  it  had  been  depopu- 
lated by  a  pestilence  Zeus  changed 
the  ants  upon  it  into  human  beings 
(OviD,Metamor  phases, vii,  520). [JEgma. 
gave  birth  to  ^Eacus. 


N 


Naiads.    See  NYMPHS. 

Narcissus,  in  classic  myth,  a  beau- 
tiful youth,  son  of  Cephissus  and 
Liriope,  but  cold  as  he  was  beautiful. 
Echo  pined  away  for  unrequited  love 
of  him.  Nemesis  in  punishment  made 
him  see  his  own  image  reflected 


in  a  fountain,  and  deeming  it  that 
of  an  unattainable  nymph  he  too 
wasted  away  until  he  was  meta- 
morphosed into  the  flower  that  bears 
his  name. 

Nasidienus,  a    pompous,   ill-bred, 
over-gorged  parvenu  and  tuft  hunter, 


Nasr-Eddin 


201 


Nessus 


whom  Horace  introduces  in  his  second 
Satire — describing  a  dinner  given  by 
him  to  all  the  great  men  he  could 
manage  to  secure,  and  whom  he  enter- 
tained by  swaggering  and  chuckling 
over  every  item  of  his  own  feast. 

Nasr-Eddin,  sometimes  known  as 
the  Turkish  Eulenspiegel,  is,  like  his 
German  fellow,  the  accepted  type  of 
the  humor  of  a  whole  class  of  his 
countrymen.  Like  the  German,  too, 
his  very  existence  has  been  called  in 
question,  and  it  is  at  least  certain  that 
he  was  not  the  author  of  all  the  jests 
attributed  to  him.  Some  accounts 
make  him  a  Hodja  or  preacher,  others 
the  court  jester  of  the  Emperor 
Bajazet.  He  is  said  to  have  died  in 
1410,  and  his  tomb  is  still  shown  in 
the  town  of  Akshehr,  where  the  de- 
feated Ottoman  emperor  was  secluded 
by  his  conqueror  Tamerlane.  A  col- 
lection of  jests  attributed  to  Nasr- 
Eddin  was  published  at  Boulak  in 
1823,  but  they  present  the  most 
contradictory  characteristics.  Some- 
times a  witty  philosopher,  he  is  at 
other  times  an  imbecile.  The  laugh 
is  as  often  against  him  as  with  him. 
Furthermore  the  jests  are  usually  of 
immemorial  antiquity,  a  part  of  the 
universal  folklore  of  humanity.  The 
jest-book  of  Nasr-Eddin  was  trans- 
lated into  German  in  1857  and  into 
French  in  1876. 

Nausicaa,  the  daughter  of  Alcinous, 
king  of  the  Phseacians,  and  Arete,  who 
in  the  Odyssey,  vi,  discovers  Odysseus 
after  his  shipwreck,  and  conducts  him 
to  the  court  of  her  father. 

Nausicaa  has  no  legendary  charm;  she  Is 
neither  mystic  goddess  nor  weird  woman, 
nor  is  hers  the  dignity  of  wifehood.  She  is 
simply  the  most  perfect  maiden,  the  purest 
freshest  lightest  hearted  girl  of  Greek 
romance.  .  .  .  The  girlish  simplicity  of 
Nausicaa  is  all  the  more  attractive  because 
the  Phaeacians  are  the  most  luxurious  race 
described  by  Homer.  The  palace  in  which 
she  dwells  with  her  father  is  all  of  bronze 
and  silver  and  gold;  it  shines  like  the  sun, 
and  a  blue  line  marks  the  brazen  cornice 
of  the  walls. — J.  A.  SYMONDS:  The  Creek 
Poets,  vol.  i,  p.  152. 

Nectanabus,  an  actual  king  of 
Egypt,  reigning  B.C.  374~364»  PlaYs 
an  important  part  as  a  necromancer 
in  the  mediaeval  romances  concerning 


Alexander  the  Great  (q.v.).  Accord- 
ing to  these  authorities  he  came  to 
Greece  in  the  guise  of  a  priest  of 
Jupiter  Ammon,  and  visited  Olympia, 
queen  of  Macedon,  during  the  absence 
of  her  husband  Philip.  Some  say  that 
he  seduced  her  in  his  pretended 
quality  of  priest;  others  that,  having 
predicted  to  her  that  she  would  have 
a  son  by  Ammon,  he  by  magic  arts 
assumed  the  aspect  of  that  divinity 
and  so  was  admitted  to  her  embraces. 
Alexander  was  the  product  of  this 
deception. 

Josephus  (Antiquities  of  the  Jews, 
xviii,  13)  tells  a  not  dissimilar  story 
of  Mundus,  a  Roman  knight,  in  the 
reign  of  Tiberius,  who  by  personating 
the  Egyptian  divinity,  Anubis,  in  the 
Temple  of  Isis  seduced  Paulina,  a 
Roman  matron.  Next  morning  she 
boasted  of  her  interview  with  Anubis; 
the  full  story  was  revealed,  and  the 
emperor  demolished  the  Temple  of 
Isis  and  crucified  its  priests.  Boccac- 
cio, in  the  Decameron,  iv,  2,  makes 
Alberto  da  Imola  triumph  over  the 
virtue  of  a  Venetian  matron  by  pre- 
tending to  be  the  Angel  Gabriel.  Her 
pride  in  the  event  leads  to  the  dis- 
covery of  the  fraud,  he  is  mobbed  in 
the  streets  and  subsequently  dies  in 
prison.  For  other  cognate  stories,  see 
YGUERNE. 

Nephelo-Coccygia.  See  CLOUD- 
CUCKOOTOWN. 

Nessus,  in  Greek  legend,  a  centaur, 
who  carried  Dejanira,  the  wife  of 
Hercules,  across  the  Evenus.  At- 
tempting then  to  run  away  with  her, 
Hercules  shot  him  with  a  poisoned 
arrow.  In  his  dying  agonies  Nessus 
assured  Dejanira  that  his  blood  would 
preserve  the  love  of  Hercules.  She 
steeped  a  shirt  in  it,  and  later  sent  the 
shirt  to  her  lord.  The  garment  in- 
flicted such  torture  that  Hercules  tore 
it  off,  at  the  same  time  tearing  off 
large  flakes  of  skin  and  flesh,  and  then 
in  his  agony  lit  a  funeral  pyre  and 
burnt  himself  to  death. 

The  story  is  recorded  at  length 
in  Ovid,  Metamorphoses,  ix,  101.  In 
the  Inferno,  xii,  67,  Nessus  guides 
Dante  and  Virgil  through  the  first 
ring  of  the  seventh  circle  of  Hell. 


Niblungs 


202 


Niobe 


Niblungs  or  Nibelungen.  See 
SIEGFRIED,  SIGMUND. 

Nicholas,  St.,  whose  festival  is 
December  6th,  has  acquired,  under 
the  name  of  Santa  Claus  (a  diminu- 
tive of  the  Dutch  San  Nicholaas),  an 
identity  of  his  own  in  the  household 
mythology  of  Holland  and  the  United 
States  as  the  dispenser  of  Christmas 
gifts  on  the  eve  of  that  holiday. 
England  adopted  him  more  recently. 
His  alternative  name  there  of  Kriss- 
Kingle,  from  the  German  Christ- 
kindlein,  shows  a  mixture  of  conti- 
nental with  transatlantic  influences. 
In  Germanic  countries  St.  Nicholas  is 
best  known  under  his  own  name  and 
he  has  practically  superseded  the 
Christ-kindlein  of  the  past. 

"  Though  he  is  one  of  the  most 
popular  saints  in  the  Greek  as  well 
as  the  Latin  church,"  says  the  Catho- 
lic Cyclopaedia,  "  there  is  scarcely 
anything  historically  certain  about 
him  except  that  he  was  bishop  of 
Myra  in  the  4th  century." 

Legend  is  loud  and  continuous  to 
make  up  for  the  silence  of  history. 
The  emperor  Diocletian  is  said  to 
have  imprisoned  him.  Constantine 
is  said  to  have  liberated  him.  At  the 
council  of  Nicaea  he  carried  his  oppo- 
sition to  Arianism  so  far  as  to  give 
the  heresiarch  Arius  a  box  on  the  ear 
when  all  other  arguments  failed. 

In  1087  the  people  of  Bari  in  Italy 
acquired  his  remains  and  built  for 
their  reception  the  basilica  in  his 
honor  which  became  and  still  remains 
a  popular  place  of  pilgrimage.  He  is 
the  patron  saint  of  Russia  and  special 
protector  of  children,  soldiers,  mer- 
chants and  sailors,  is  interested  alike 
in  robbers  and  in  the  robbed,  being 
invoked  by  the  former  in  earlier  days 
and  _  by  the  latter  in  modern  times. 
He  is  represented  as  a  bishop  in  full 
paraphernalia  standing  besides  a  tub 
containing  3  naked  boys,  usually  said 
to  have  been  the  children  of  a  noble- 
man whom  a  thrifty  inn-keeper  had 
killed,  cut  up  and  salted  down  for 
serving  to  his  guests,  but  whom  the 
saint  resuscitated  in  all  their  physical 
integrity.  See  SANTA  CLAUS. 

Nicias,  a  prominent  character  in 


Niccolo  Machiavelli's  comedy  La 
Mandragola  (The  Mandrake).  Ma- 
caulay  bestows  extravagant  praise 
upon  this  conception.  "  Old  Nicias," 
he  says,"  is  the  glory  of  the  piece." 
He  runs  over  the  chief  comic  charac- 
ters of  Moliere  and  finds  none  that 
surpass  him. 

His  mind  is  occupied  by  no  strong 
feeling;  it  takes  every  character,  and  retains 
none;  its  aspect  is  diversified  not  by  pas- 
sions but  by  faint  and  transitory  semblances 
of  passion,  a  mock  joy,  a  mock  fear,  a  mock 
love,  a  mock  pride,  which  chase  each  other 
like  shadows  over  its  surface  and  vanish 
as  soon  as  they  appear.  He  is  just  idol 
enough  to  be  an  object,  not  of  pity  or  horror, 
but  of  ridicule. — Essays,  Machiavelli. 

Niflheim,  in  Norse  mythology,  a 
part  of  the  underworld,  a  realm  of 
cold,  mist,  and  darkness,  distin- 
guished from  Hel,  but  like  Hel  a  place 
of  punishment  for  the  wicked  among 
the  dead.  In  the  midst  of  Niflheim 
was  Hvergelmir,  the  fountain  from 
and  to  which  all  waters  found  their 
way.  There,  too,  was  the  dread  river, 
Slid,  through  which  the  worst  crimi- 
nals had  to  wade.  The  dragon  Nid- 
hogg  which  sucked  the  blood  of 
corpses  and  the  fierce  Fenris-wolf  both 
dwelt  in  Niflheim. 

Ninus,  in  oriental  and  Greek  legend 
the  reputed  founder  of  Nineveh.  See 
SEMIRAMIS. 

The  name  of  Ninus  Is  derived  from  the 
city;  he  ts  the  eponymous  king  and  founder 
of  Nineveh,  and  stands  to  it  In  the  same 
relation  as  Tros  to  Troy,  Medus  to  Media, 
Macon  to  Maconla,  Romulus  to  Rome. 
His  conquests  and  those  of  Semiramis  are 
as  unreal  as  those  of  Sesostris.  It  Is  the 
characteristic  of  these  fabulous  conquerors, 
that  although  they  are  reported  to  have 
overrun  and  subdued  many  countries,  the 
history  of  those  countries  is  silent  on  the 
subject.  Sesostris  is  related  to  have  con- 
quered Assyria,  and  the  king  of  Assyria  was 
doubtless  one  of  those  whom  he  harnessed 
to  his  chariot.  But  the  history  of  Assyria 
makes  no  mention  of  Sesostris.  Semiramis 
is  related  to  have  conquered  Egypt,  but  the 
history  of  Egypt  makes  no  mention  of 
Semiramis. — SIR  G.  C.  LEWIS:  Astronomy 
of  the  Ancients,  408. 

Niobe,  daughter  of  Tantalus  and 
wife  of  Amphion,  king  of  Thebes. 
Because  she  had  14  children,  7  sons 
and  7  daughters,  she  deemed  herself 
the  superior  of  Leto,  who  had  only 
2 — Apollo  and  Artemis.  Angered  by 
her  presumption,  Leto's  children  slew 


Njal 


203 


Norembega 


Niobe's,  and  Niobe  herself  was  meta- 
morphosed by  Zeus  into  a  stone  on 
Mt.Sipylus  in  Lydia,  which  in  summer 
was  always  moist,  supposititiously 
from  her  tears.  A  famous  series  of 
14  statues,  probably  by  Scopas,  now 
in  the  Uffizi  Gallery  at  Florence,  rep- 
resents Niobe,  shielding  her  youngest 
daughter  with  the  other  13  children 
represented  in  various  attitudes  of 
horror  and  dismay.  The  number  of 
her  children  is  not  always  14. 

Amid  nine  daughters  slain  by  Artemis 
Stood  Niobe;  she  raised  her  head  above 
Those  beauteous  forms  which  had  brought 

down  the  death 
Whence  all  nine  fell,  raised  it  and  stood 

erect, 
And  thus  bespake  the  goddess  enthroned  on 

high: 

"Thou  heardest  Artemis,  my  daily  prayer 
That  thou  wouldst  guide  these  children  in 

the  pass 
Of   virtue,   through   the   tangling   wilds   of 

youth. 

And  thou  didst  ever  guide  them;  was  it  just 
To  smite  them  for  a  beauty  such  as  thine? 
Deserved  they  death  because  thy  grace 

appeared 

In  ever  modest  motion?  'twas  thy  gift, 
The  richest   gift  that   youth  from  heaven 

receives. 

True,  I  did  boldly  say  they  might  compare 
Even  with  thyself  in  virgin  purity; 
May  not  a  mother  in  her  pride  repeat 
What  every  mortal  said?" 

W.  S.  LANDOR:  Niobe. 

Njal,  hero  of  the  Icelandic  saga, 
The  Story  of  the  Burnt  Njal,  which  is 
undoubtedly  founded  upon  history. 
The  saga  dates  from  the  early  I3th 
century.  An  English  translation  by 
Sir  George  W.  Dasent  appeared  in 
1 86 1.  The  story  opens  in  970  and 
extends  over  a  half  century. 

Njal  was  the  wisest,  gentlest  and 
most  virtuous  of  men,  but  his  charac- 
ter lacked  the  firmness  which  would 
have  enabled  him  to  assert  the  due 
authority  of  a  husband  over  his  wife, 
of  a  parent  over  his  children.  He  was 
likewise  the  handsomest,  though  his 
face  was  beardless.  His  friend  Gun- 
nar  was  the  bravest  and  most  athletic, 
though  he  lacked  the  book  learning 
for  which  he  relied  upon  Njal.  Both 
men  made  unfortunate  marriages. 
Gunnar  fell  in  love  with  Hallgerda, 
twice  widowed  by  the  murderous 
hand  of  her  foster  father  at  her  own 
instigation.  Immediately  after  her 


third  marriage  she  excited  the  wrath 
of  Bergthora,  Njal's  wife,  by  twitting 
her  upon  her  husband's  beardlessness. 
The  two  noble  friends  stood  aloof 
from  the  barbarous  rivalry  of  their 
fiercer  halves  and  paid  the  fine  for 
every  death  that  resulted  within o 
diminution  of  their  own  friendship. 
At  last  Gunnar  fell  in  a  murderous 
fray  where  he  had  acted  on  the  de- 
fensive. Njal  unwittingly  starts  a 
new  element  of  discord.  He  offends 
the  jealous  and  treacherous  priest 
Mordred,  by  raising  his  own  foster 
child,  Hauskuld,  to  the  priesthood. 
Mordred  incites  the  sons  of  Njal  to 
murder  Hauskuld.  The  feud  cul- 
minates in  the  burning  of  the  house 
of  Njal  and  his  own  death  with  that 
of  his  wife  and  three  sons.  Kraki,  his 
son-in-law,  alone  escapes  alive  from 
the  burning  building.  The  name  of 
Kari's  Hollow  is  still  retained  at  the 
spot  where  he  threw  himself  into  a 
stream  and  so  quenched  the  flames 
that  enveloped  him. 

Nod,  Land  of,  the  unknown  land 
lying  to  the  East  of  Eden  whither 
Cain  retired  after  slaying  Abel  (Gene- 
sis iv).  The  term  has  been  caught  up 
by  the  punster  and  is  colloquially  used 
as  a  synonym  for  the  land  of  sleep  or 
nodding. 

Norembega,  or  Norimbegue,  the 
name  given  by  early  French  explorers 
to  a  fabulous  country  supposed  to  lie 
south  of  Cape  Breton,  and  its  capital 
city,  a  metropolis  of  barbaric  splendor 
situated  upon  a  great  river — prob- 
ably the  Penobscot.  A  map  pub- 
lished in  Antwerp  in  1570  lays  down 
the  site  of  this  city.  In  1604  Cham- 
plain  started  up  the  Penobscot  on  a 
voyage  of  discovery  to  this  Eldorado 
of  the  New  World,  but  after  sailing 
twenty-two  leagues  above  the  Isle 
Haute  he  gave  up  the  search  and 
concluded  that  those  travellers  who 
had  told  extraordinary  tales  of  the 
great  city  had  never  seen  it.  Whittier 
in  a  poem  entitled  Norembega  tells 
the  story  of  a  Norman  knight  dying 
in  the  woods  of  Maine  and  beholding 
in  the  sunset  heavens  the  undis- 
covered city  of  his  search.  See 
above  entry. 


Noras 


204 


Odin 


Noras,  in  Norse  mythology,  the 
three  fates,  Urdhr,  Verdandi  and 
Skuld  (respectively  present,  past  and 
future),  who  were  descended  from  the 
giants.  See  URDHR. 

Nymphs  (Latin  nympha),  in  classic 
myth,  goddesses  of  an  inferior  rank 
who  were  divided  into  various  classes 
according  to  their  habitats  in  the 
material  world. 

i.  Oceanides,  the  daughters  of 
Oceanus,  who  were  nymphs  of  the 
Ocean,  and  Nereides,  daughters  of 


Nereus,  the  nymphs  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean. 

2.  Naiades,   fresh  water  nymphs, 
who  dwelt  in  lakes,  rivers,  streams, 
etc.     Many  of  these  presided  over 
fountains  or  springs,   whose   waters 
inspired  those  who  drank  of  them. 

3.  Oreades,  nymphs  of  mountains, 
caves  and  grottoes. 

4.  Napaeae,  nymphs  of  glens. 

5.  Dryades  and  Hamadryads,  who 
abode  in  trees  and  lived  and  died 
with  them. 


o 


Oberon,  in  mediaeval  myth,  the 
king  of  the  Fairies.  He  makes  his 
first  appearance  in  Teutonic  legend 
and  poetry  as  the  dwarf  Alberich, 
guardian  over  the  Nibelung  treasure. 
Through  the  French  Alberon  or 
Auberon,  the  name  came,  corrupted, 
into  England  as  Oberon,  its  owner 
gathering  new  characteristics  by  the 
way,  and  the  genius  of  Shakspear, 
who  introduced  him  and  his  spouse 
Titania  into  A  Midsummer  Night's 
Dream,  has  stamped  him  forever  as 
ruler  over  a  mimic  kingdom  of  elves 
and  sprites.  Shakspear  himself  was 
indebted  to  Greene's  Scottish  History 
of  James  I  (1590),  who  in  turn  had 
borrowed  from  the  medieval  romance 
of  Huon  of  Bordeaux  (q.v.),  the  hero 
whereof  receives  aid  from  the  tiny 
potentate  in  accomplishing  a  diffi- 
cult task,  and  succeeds  him  as  King 
of  the  Fairies.  Oberon's  autobi- 
ography is  reported  at  length.  His 
mother  was  a  long-lived  lady  who 
had  given  birth  to  the  magician 
Nectanebus,  and  700  (sic)  years  later, 
by  aid  of  Julius  Caesar,  to  Oberon 
himself. 

The  latter's  birth  had  been  attended 
by  all  the  fairies  save  one,  who  un- 
fortunately had  been  forgotten,  and 
while  all  the  invited  guests  had  show- 
ered gifts  upon  him,  the  neglected 
one  had  vented  her  spite  by  decreeing 
that  he  should  not  grow  after  his 
third  year.  Eventually  she  tempered 
this  curse  by  making  him  "  the  most 
beautiful  of  Nature's  works."  Oberon 
told  Huon  that  as  a  Christian  a  seat 


was  prepared  for  him  in   Paradise. 
See  also  OBERON  in  Vol.  I. 

Oceanus,  in  classic  myth,  the  god 
of  the  great  salt  river  which  was  be- 
lieved to  surround  the  whole  earth. 
Son  of  Heaven  and  Earth  and  father 
of  all  the  river  gods  and  water  nymphs 
(Homer,  Iliad.,  xiv,  201).  Virgil,  in 
the  Georgics,  iv,  382,  alludes  to  him 
as  Oceanumque  patrem  verum  ("and 
Oceanus,  father  of  All  Things  "). 

Octavia,  in  Roman  history,  the 
daughter  of  the  Emperor  Claudius 
and  Messalina.  Her  mother  was 
murdered  by  order  of  Claudius. 
Claudius  himself  was  murdered  by  his 
second  wife,  Agrippina,  mother  of 
Nero.  Octavia  married  Nero,  with 
whom  she  lived  a  wretched  life,  and 
who  finally  banished  her  to  Panditaria 
to  make  room  for  a  new  wife  Poppaea. 
She  is  the  heroine  of  Seneca's  tragedy 
named  after  her. 

Odin  or  Woden,  in  Norse  myth,  the 
wind  god.  Originally  he  seems  to 
have  been  the  god  of  the  heavens  or 
heaven  itself;  a  later  development 
makes  him  the  husband  of  earth,  the 
god  of  storm,  of  war  and  of  wisdom, 
the  lord  of  the  ravens,  and  also  of  the 
gallows, — hence  the  latter  is  some- 
times known  as  Odin's  or  Woden's 
tree.  In  Valhalla,  Odin  feasts  with 
his  chosen  heroes,  those  who  died 
violent  deaths  in  battle  or  otherwise; 
all  who  died  peacefully  are  excluded. 
When  seated  on  his  throne  he  over- 
looks heaven  and  earth.  His  consort 
Frigga  sits  beside  him.  The  ravens, 
Hugin  and  Munin, — Thought  and 


Odrovir 


205 


(Egir 


Memory — fly  over  the  earth  to  gather 
news  which  they  report  daily  to  him 
from  their  perch  on  his  shoulders.  At 
his  feet  crouch  two  wolves,  Geri  and 
Freki,  ever  engaged  in  eating  the 
meat  which  is  offered  to  the  god.  He 
himself  finds  both  food  and  drink 
in  megathin  or  mead.  Wednesday 
(Woden's  day)  was  dedicated  to  this 
god. 

Odrovir  or  Odhrevir,  in  Norse 
myth,  a  cauldron  containing  the 
magic  mead  which  was  the  inspiration 
of  bards  and  seers.  It  had  been 
brewed  for  the  giant  Suttungr  by  two 
dwarfs,  Fjalar  and  Galar,  from  honey 
mingled  with  the  blood  of  Kvasir,  the 
wisest  of  men.  Suttungr  placed  it 
under  the  guardianship  of  his  daugh- 
ter Gunlod.  Wodan  transformed 
himself  into  a  snake,  and  bored  his 
way  through  the  rock  to  where  Gun- 
lod sat  on  her  golden  stool.  He  lay 
in  her  arms  for  three  days,  which  he 
spent  in  draining  the  cauldron,  then 
flew  away  to  Asgard  in  the  form  of  an 
eagle  and  spewed  the  liquor  into  a 
vessel. 

Odysseus,  as  described  in  Homer's 
Iliad,  son  of  Laertes,  King  of  the 
island  of  Ithaca.  At  the  opening  of 
the  Trojan  war  he  was  loath  to  leave 
his  wife  Penelope  and  his  babe,  Tele- 
machus.  Instead  of  bluntly  refusing 
he  feigned  insanity,  yoked  a  horse  and 
an  ox  together  and  began  ploughing. 
Palamedes  to  test  him  set  the  babe 
on  the  ground.  Odysseus  swerved  the 
plough  so  as  not  to  harm  him  and  the 
sham  was  detected.  He  was  com- 
pelled to  join  the  expedition.  His 
first  service  was  to  detect  Thetis's 
stratagem  to  save  her  son,  Achilles, 
by  dressing  him  up  as  a  girl  (see  LY- 
COMETES).  On  the  death  of  Achilles 
he  obtained  that  hero's  armor  and 
later  surrendered  it  to  Neoptolemos. 
With  the  help  of  Diomed  he  seized 
the  Palladium  of  Troy  and  carried  it 
off  to  the  Greek  camp.  It  was  he  who 
planned  the  stratagem  of  the  Wooden 
Horse.  After  the  fall  of  Troy  he 
returned  to  Ithaca,  meeting  strange 
adventures  on  the  way  that  delayed 
him  twenty  years.  These  form  the 
subject  of  Homer's  Odyssey. 


Odysseus  is  best  known  to  moderns 
under  the  Latin  form  of  Ulysses  (g.v.). 

CEdipus,  in  a  classic  myth  which 
forms  the  basis  of  many  Greek  trage- 
dies— notably  the  great  trilogy  by 
Sophocles,  CEdipus  Tyrannos,  (Edipus 
at  Colonna  and  the  Antigone — the  son 
of  Laius,  king  of  Thebes,  and  his 
wife  Jocasta.  An  oracle  had  warned 
Laius  that  he  was  fated  to  perish  at 
the  hands  of  this  son.  Hence  the 
infant  was  exposed  on  Mount  Cith- 
seron  with  his  feet  pierced  and  bound 
together.  He  was  rescued  by  a  shep- 
herd of  Polybus,  king  of  Corinth,  who 
called  him  CEdipus  or  "  swollen  feet," 
and  gave  him  in  charge  to  Polybus, 
who  brought  him  up  as  his  own  son. 
Arriving  at  maturity  CEdipus  learned 
from  an  oracle  that  he  was  destined 
to  slay  his  own  father  and  commit 
incest  with  his  mother.  Ignorant  of 
his  true  paternity  he  resolved  to  cheat 
destiny  by  forsaking  Corinth.  On 
his  way  to  Daulis  he  met  Laius  and 
killed  him  in  a  scuffle.  He  solved  the 
riddle  of  the  Sphinx  (q.v.),  and  being 
rewarded  with  the  vacant  throne  of 
Thebes,  unwittingly  married  his  own 
mother.  From  this  incestuous  union 
sprang  Eteocles,  Polynices,  Antigone 
and  Ismene.  But  the  gods  sent  a 
plague  that  desolated  Thebes,  and 
the  oracle  declared  they  could  only 
be  appeased  if  the  murderer  of  Laius 
were  banished.  Tiresias  the  seer 
revealed  to  CEdipus  that  he  was  the 
guilty  man.  Jocasta  hanged  herself. 
CEdipus  put  out  his  own  eyes  and, 
with  Antigone  as  his  guide,  wandered 
from  Thebes.  He  found  a  temporary 
refuge  in  Attica.  At  Colonus,  near 
Athens,  the  Eumenides  removed  him 
from  earth.  In  modern  times  Cor- 
ncille  (1659)  and  Voltaire  (1718)  made 
him  the  subject  of  tragedies  entitled 
(Edipe. 

The  story  is  older  than  Greek 
literature  and  was  told  by  Homer  in 
a  manner  which  shows  that  previous 
to  the  date  of  the  Iliad  and  the 
Odyssey,  it  had  formed  part  of  tho 
mythical  folklore  of  the  Hellenes. 

"(Egir  (the  Terrible),  the  Norse  god 
of  the  sea,  brother  to  Kari,  ruler  of 
the  air,  and  Logi,  ruler  of  fire.  He  is 


CEnone 


206 


Ogier 


identical  with  the  Greek  Oceanus,  but 
possesses  a  more  distinct  personality, 
as  the  Greeks  knew  the  Ocean  only  by 
hearsay,  whereas  Norse  navigators 
boldly  faced  its  terrors.  He  is  usually 
represented  sitting  on  a  rock,  playing 
on  a  harp  or  a  shell,  at  the  sound  of 
which  the  waves  rose  with  a  roar  that 
threatened  to  split  the  heavens  and 
sent  a  tremor  'through  all  the  earth. 
He  was  married  to  Bar,  who  like  him 
used  to  drag  men  down  into  the  deep 
and  bury  them  in  the  sand.  See 
OGRES. 

OEnone,  in  classic  myth,  a  Phry- 
gian nymph,  daughter  of  the  river 
god,  Cebren.  She  married  Paris  and 
lived  happily  with  him  on  Mount  Ida 
until  he  deserted  her  for  Helen.  When 
Paris,  wounded  nigh  unto  death  at 
the  capture  of  Troy,  returned  to 
Mount  Ida  to  seek  her  aid,  she  refused 
to  heal  the  wound  and  he  died. 
CEnone,  repenting  too  late,  put  an 
end  to  her  own  life.  The  story  has 
been  retold  in  a  modern  setting  by 
Tennyson  in  two  poems,  CEnone  and 
The  Death  of  CEnone,  and  by  William 
Morris  in  The  Death  of  Paris  (Earthly 
Paradise,  Part  iii).  The  latter  pre- 
sents a  striking  contrast  between  the 
quenchless  love  of  the  mountain 
nymph,  and  the  irresolute,  unstable, 
volatile  selfishness  of  Paris,  only 
partially  redeemed  by  his  tongue's 
refusal  to  be  false  to  his  later  and 
lawless  love  when  life  or  death  hangs 
upon  his  word. 

CEnopion,  in  classic  myth,  king  of 
Chios  and  father  of  Merope.  Orion 
sued  for  the  maiden's  hand,  but 
CEnopion  continually  deferred  the 
marriage,  and  Orion,  when  intoxi- 
cated, violated  her.  Thereupon,  with 
the  assistance  of  Dionysus,  the 
father  blinded  Orion  when  asleep  and 
drove  him  from  the  island. 

Ofterdingen,  Henry  of,  a  semi- 
mythical  German  minnesinger  of  the 
thirteenth  century,  especially  famous 
for  his  connection  with  the  Krieg  von 
Wartburg,  or  tournament  of  song, 
held  at  the  Castle  of  Wartburg  some- 
where between  1206  and  1208.  The 
historical  facts  are  blurred  by  legend, 
which  states  that  all  the  most  famous 


of  the  minstrels  took  part  in  the 
contest,  including  Wolfram  von 
Eschenbach,  Walter  von  der  Vogel- 
weide  and  Heinrich  von  Ofterdingen. 
The  penalty  of  failure  was  death. 
Ofterdingen  was  conquered,  but 
obtained  permission  to  renew  the 
combat  in  a  year  and  a  day.  At  the 
second  trial  he  brought  with  him  his 
master,  Klingsor,  a  minstrel  and  a 
magician.  By  magic  means  the  latter 
succeeded  in  rivalling  though  not 
overcoming  Wolfram  and  Henry's 
life  was  spared.  Novalis  made  the 
latter  the  hero  of  a  romance  Heinrich 
von  Ofterdingen  (1800). 

Og,  king  of  Bashan,  according  to 
Rabbinical  legend,  was  a  giant  nearly 
6  miles  high  or,  to  be  exact,  23,033 
cubits.  He  drank  water  from  the 
clouds,  and  toasted  fish  by  hold- 
ing them  before  the  orb  of  the  sun. 
When  the  waters  of  the  Deluge  were 
at  their  height  they  reached  only  up 
to  his  knees.  Noah  refused  to  admit 
him  into  the  Ark,  but  allowed  him  to 
sit  on  its  roof  and  handed  him  out 
every  day  a  dole  of  food.  In  return 
Og  promised  that  he  and  his  descend- 
ants would  serve  him  and  his  as 
slaves  in  perpetuity. 

Ogier  the  Dane  (Dan.  Holger  Dan- 
ske),  in  Carlovingian  romance,  a  son 
of  King  Godfrey  of  Denmark.  Six 
fairies  visited  his  cradle,  among  them 
Morgana  le  Fay,  who  promised  him 
future  bliss  in  Avalon,  after  a  glorious 
career  on  earth.  He  was  brought  up 
by  Charlemagne,  who  conquered  his 
father.  In  a  great  battle  against 
invading  Paynims,  Charlemagne's 
forces  were  beginning  to  yield  when 
the  stripling,  donning  the  armor  of  a 
recreant  knight,  rushed  into  the  con- 
flict and  saved  the  day.  He  was 
straightway  knighted  and  made  a 
paladin  of  France.  With  his  sword, 
Courtain,  and  his  charger,  Broiefort, 
he  worsted  paladins  and  giants  until 
he  became  the  most  famous  warrior 
in  the  world.  When  his  father  was 
slain  in  Denmark  Ogier  led  his  armies 
to  victory  against  the  invaders,  and 
became  king  himself.  After  5  years 
he  returned  to  the  French  court  to 
do  homage  for  his  kingdom.  But, 


Ogma 


207 


Olaf 


because  when  his  son  was  wantonly 
slain  by  Charlemagne's  son,  Charle- 
voix,  Charlemagne  himself  refused 
him  justice.  Ogier  went  over  to  the 
king  of  Lombardy.  Eventually  he 
was  reconciled.  Going  on  a  crusade 
to  Palestine  he  captured  Acre,  Baby- 
lon and  Jerusalem,  was  made  king  of 
all,  but  handed  them  over  to  his 
kinsmen.  Being  now  100  years  old, 
he  set  sail  for  France,  and  was 
wrecked  on  a  desolate  island.  Here 
Morgana  appeared,  gave  him  a  ring 
that  restored  his  youth  and  a  crown 
that  destroyed  his  memory  and  took 
him  with  her  to  Avalon.  For  200 
years  he  remained  in  bliss,  careless 
and  ignorant  of  what  happened  in  the 
upper  world.  But  when  a  great 
Paynim  invasion  swept  over  Europe, 
Morgana  restored  his  memory  and 
sent  him  back  to  earth.  He  marvelled 
greatly  at  the  changes  that  had  oc- 
curred, but  soon  accommodated  him- 
self to  his  surroundings,  displayed  his 
old  prowess,  routed  the  infidel,  and 
was  on  the  point  of  marrying  the 
Queen  of  France  when  Morgana 
reclaimed  him.  Whenever  France 
has  sore  need  of  a  champion  he  will 
appear  again. 

Ogma  or  Ogham,  the  Cadmus  of 
Keltic  myth,  inventor  of  the  so-called 
Ogam  alphabet  which  was  meant  to 
provide  esoteric  signs  for  the  enlight- 
ened as  against  their  illiterate  breth- 
ren. According  to  Lucian,  Ogham 
was  painted  in  the  second  century  as 
a  herculean  Mercury,  clad  in  a  lion's 
skin,  a  club  in  his  right  hand  and  a 
bent  bow  in  his  left.  The  ears  of  his 
worshippers  were  bound  by  a  chain 
of  gold  and  amber  to  his  tongue. 

Ogres,  in  popular  myth,  a  race  of 
giants,  fond  of  human  flesh,  especially 
that  of  young  children.  They  are 
pictured  as  a  robust,  ungainly  race, 
with  large  chests,  and  pale,  thin,  ugly, 
faces,  pointed  chins,  retreating  lower 
jaws,  long,  sharp  teeth,  thick  thighs 
and  short  legs.  Perrault  makes  great 
use  of  them  in  his  fairy  tales.  Con- 
jectures as  to  the  etymological  origin 
of  the  name  range  from  the  Biblical 
Og,  king  of  Bashan,  to  the  Scandi- 
navian sea-god  CEgir. 


The  name  of  the  god  CEgir,  used  first  as 
a  name  for  the  sea,  has  come  to  denote  the 
ogres  with  which  nurses  frighten  children.  If, 
as  Grimm  supposes,  the  word  belongs  to  the 
same  root  with  the  Gothic  ugas  and  og; 
the  Anglo-Saxon  ege,  egesa;  O.  H.  G.  aki, 
eki;  "fear,  dread,  horror,"  the  latter  mean- 
ing is  quite  in  accordance  with  its  original 
form.  But,  however  this  may  be,  the  word 
CEgir  as  a  name  for  the  sea  carries  us  to 
the  Greek  stream  which  surrounds  the  earth. 
— G.  W.  Cox:  Mythology  of  the  Aryan 
Nations,  p.  199. 

O' Groat,  John,  or  Johnny  Groat, 

the  reputed  builder  of  John  O 'Groat's 
house,  whose  ruins  are  still  pointed 
out  at  Duncan's  Bay  Head,  the 
northernmost  point  of  the  mainland 
of  Scotland.  Tradition  is  not  agreed 
as  to  his  personality.  One  legend 
makes  him  a  poor  man  who  used  to 
ferry  passengers  over  to  the  island 
of  Stroma  for  a  groat.  But  the  most 
popular  story  makes  him  the  descend- 
ant of  De  Groot,  a  Hollander  who 
in  the  reign  of  James  IV  settled  in 
the  vicinity.  Every  year  John  and 
his  seven  cousins  would  meet  to 
celebrate  the  memory  of  their  an- 
cestor, and  every  year  they  quarrelled 
over  the  question  of  precedence,  until 
finally  John  invented  a  method  of 
settling  the  difficulty.  He  built  an 
eight-sided  and  single  roomed  house, 
with  eight  windows  and  eight  doors 
and  an  octagon  table  in  the  centre 
of  the  room,  so  that  all  might  enter 
simultaneously,  each  at  his  own  door, 
and  there  might  be  no  head  of  the 
table. 

Olaf,  St.,  or  Olaf  II,  a  king  of  Nor- 
way, who  was  largely  instrumental  in 
rescuing  that  country  from  heathen- 
ism. He  was  slain  in  battle  against 
the  invader,  Canute,  King  of  England 
and  Denmark,  in  1030.  Some  years 
afterward,  his  remains  being  found 
in  a  miraculous  state  of  preservation, 
he  was  canonized  and  his  body  was 
buried  at  Drontheim.  The  shrine 
attracted  so  many  pilgrims  that  the 
city  speedily  grew  to  be  the  largest 
and  most  important  in  the  land.  Ac- 
cording to  popular  legend,  St.  Olaf 
was  the  founder  of  the  great  cathedral 
at  Drontheim,  though  he  really  only 
erected  a  small  chapel  on  the  site 
where  the  cathedral  now  stands.  The 
legend  runs  that  he  had  vowed  to 


Old 


208 


Oliver 


build  to  God  the  largest  temple  in  the 
world.  While  revolving  his  plans  a 
certain  Troll,  who  was  a  great  builder, 
came  to  him  promising  to  erect  such 
a  church  if  he  might  have  as  his 
reward  the  sun  and  the  moon,  or  else 
the  person  of  the  king,  unless  Olaf 
could  discover  the  builder's  name.  As 
the  work  approached  completion, 
Olaf  was  wandering  disconsolate 
among  the  hills,  when  inside  one  of 
them  he  heard  a  mother  quieting  her 
child  with  the  words:  "  Hush,  hush, 
to-morrow  comes  back  Father  Wind- 
and- Weather,  and  brings  with  him  the 
sun  and  the  moon,  or  else  King  Olaf 
himself."  Then  Olaf  returned  to  the 
church,  and  finding  it  just  completed, 
he  called  out:  "Ho!  Master  Wind- 
and- Weather,  you  have  set  the  steeple 
awry,"  and  thereat  the  Troll  fell 
down  and  burst. 

Old  Man  of  the  Sea,  in  the  Arabian 
Nights  story  of  Sinbad  the  Sailor 
(voyage  v),  a  monster  who  leaped 
upon  the  back  of  the  hero,  impeding 
his  progress  and  exhausting  his  ener- 
gies, preserving  an  obstinate  silence, 
and  refusing  to  get  off  again  until 
Sinbad  succeeded  in  intoxicating  him 
and  so  escaping.  The  term  has  passed 
into  current  speech  as  a  synonym  for 
a  human  leech,  or  sponge,  or  bore.  It 
has  been  suggested  that  the  original 
may  have  been  a  gorilla,  who  accord- 
ing to  native  testimony,  is  afraid  to 
use  his  gift  of  speech  lest  he  be  set  to 
work,  is  in  the  habit  of  carrying  off 
men  and  women  and  detaining  them 
in  the  woods,  and  has  a  very  human 
capacity  for  drunkenness. 

He  has  powers  of  boring  beyond  ten  of 
the  dullest  of  all  possible  doctors, — stuck 
like  a  limpet  to  a  rock— a  perfect  double 
of  the  Old  Man  of  the  Sea,  whom  I  take  to 
have  been  the  greatest  bore  on  record. — 
SIR  WALTER  SCOTT. 

Oldenburg,    Count    Otto    of,    in 

mediaeval  Spanish  legend,  when  hunt- 
ing on  Mount  Ossenberg  was  at- 
tacked with  an  overwhelming  thirst 
which  there  was  no  means  of  gratify- 
ing. He  swore  a  great  oath  that  come 
what  will  he  must  have  a  drink.  The 
devil  appeared  in  the  form  of  a  damsel 
bearing  a  horn  richly  carved  and 


filled  with  some  unrecognizable  liquor. 
A  sudden  spasm  of  doubt  made  Otto 
empty  the  contents  upon  his  horse's 
neck,  and  wherever  they  touched 
they  burned  away  the  skin.  The 
first  printed  version  of  the  legend  was 
in  the  Oldenburger  Chronik,  by  the 
sixteenth  century  Hamelmann,  who 
dates  the  event  in  the  year  990,  and 
connects  it  with  the  "  Horn  of  Olden- 
berg,"  still  exhibited  in  the  palace  of 
Rosenberg  at  Copenhagen.  It  is  of 
silver  gilt,  ornamented  in  paste  with 
enamel,  and  bears  an  inscription 
showing  that  it  was  made  for  King 
Christian  I  of  Denmark  in  honor  of 
the  Three  Kings  of  Cologne.  It  can- 
not, therefore,  be  older  than  the 
middle  of  the  isth  century. 

Oliver  (It.  Oliviero),  one  of  the  two 
great  Paladins  of  Charlemagne,  the 
other  being  Roland  (q.y.).  The  phrase 
'  a  Roland  for  an  Oliver"  grew  out 
of  their  rivalry,  but  though  rivals  they 
were  ever  knit  by  bonds  of  closest 
friendship.  Even  in  death  they  were 
united. 

Both  fell  at  Roncesvalles.  Being 
encompassed  by  overwhelming  num- 
bers of  Saracen  enemies,  Oliver  had 
prayed  Roland  to  wind  his  horn  Oli- 
faunt,  so  that  Charlemagne  might 
know  of  their  straits.  Roland 
demurs;  "  God  forbid  that  I  should 
be  heard  sounding  my  horn  because 
of  pagans! '  The  Franks  perform 
wonders,  but  they  are  outnumbered 
and  drop  one  by  one.  At  length 
Roland  reluctantly  winds  his  horn. 
Before  help  can  arrive  Oliver  falls 
mortally  wounded.  The  dimness  of 
death  upon  his  eyes  he  mistakes 
Roland  for  one  of  the  enemy  and 
cleaves  his  helmet  in  a  last  effort. 
Roland,  fearing  that  the  blow  may 
have  been  struck  purposely,  says, 
'  I  am  Roland,  who  has  ever  loved 
you  well."  "  I  hear  your  voice,"  says 
Oliver,  "  but  I  see  you  not;  forgive  me 
that  I  struck  you."  "  I  have  no 
hurt,"  says  Roland;  "  here  and  before 
God  I  forgive  you."  So  saying  they 
leaned  one  to  the  other  and  in  that 
love  they  were  parted.  At  last  the 
answering  horns  of  Charlemagne's 
hosts  are  heard  across  the  mountains. 


Olympias 


209 


Orestes 


The  Saracens  turn  and  flee.  Charle- 
magne comes  up  breathing  vengeance 
and  pursues  the  Saracens  down  to  the 
Ebro.  But  Roland  is  dead  and  so  is 
Archbishop  Turpin.  They  are  buried 
with  due  pomp  at  Blave. 

Olympias,  the  mother  of  Alexander 
the  Great  and  consort  of  Philip,  King 
of  Macedon.  Alexander,  however, 
acknowledged  not  Philip,  but  Zeus 
himself,  as  his  father.  Plutarch 
mentions  the  legend  that  Zeus  visited 
Olympias  in  the  form  of  a  serpent. 
He  quotes  Eratasthenes  as  saying 
'  that  Olympias,  when  she  attended 
Alexander  on  his  way  to  the  army  in 
his  first  expedition,  told  him  the 
secret  of  his  birth,  and  bade  him  be- 
have himself  with  courage  suitable 
to  his  divine  extraction."  Just  before 
the  battle  of  Arbela,  Alexander  had 
consulted  the  oracle  of  Jupiter  Am- 
mon  in  the  Libyan  desert,  where  his 
claims  had  received  full  recognition. 
Timotheus  in  Dryden's  Alexander's 
Feast  begins  his  song  by  assuming  his 
hero's  godship: 

The  song  began  from  Jove, 
Who  left  his  blissful  seats  above 
(Such  is  the  power  of  mighty  love). 
A  dragon's  fiery  form  belied  the  god. 
Sublime  on  radiant  spires  he  rode; 
When  he  to  fair  Olympia  pressed. 
And  while  he  sought  her  snowy  breast; 
Then,  round  her  slender  waist  he  curled, 
And  stamped  an  image  of  himself,  a  sover- 
eign of  the  world. 

Olympus,  Mount,  the  highest  peak 
in  a  range  of  mountains  dividing 
Macedonia  from  Thessaly.  It  rises 
9700  feet  above  sea  level,  clouds  hang 
around  it,  but  the  snow-clad  peak  is 
itself  cloudless. 

In  Greek  myth  this  was  the  abode 
of  the  dynasty  of  gods,  who  owned 
Zeus  as  their  chief.  Homer  describes 
them  as  having  here  their  palaces, 
and  sitting  in  solemn  conclave  with 
Zeus  during  the  day,  while  the  minor 
gods  dance  around  them  and  the 
Muses  entertain  them  with  music  and 
song.  The  later  poets  transferred  the 
abode  of  the  gods  to  the  vault  of 
heaven.  When  the  giants  sought  to 
scale  Olympus,  they  piled  Pelion  upon 
Ossa  on  the  lower  slopes  of  Olympus. 
14 


Omphale,  in  Greek  myth,  daughter 
of  the  Lydian  king  lardanus  or  Sar- 
danus,  and  wife  of  Tmolus,  god  of  the 
mountain  of  that  name.  After  the 
death  of  her  father  she  ruled  over 
Lydia.  Hercules  was  sold  to  her  as 
a  slave  by  Hermes  and  grew  so 
enamored  of  her  that  he  forgot  in 
her  arms  all  manly  accomplish- 
ments, assumed  female  attire,  placed 
rings  on  his  fingers,  had  his  hair 
curled  and  joined  Omphale's  women 
slaves  in  their  spinning,  while  she 
wore  the  lion's  skin  and  wielded  the 
club.  She  has  some  affinity  with 
Delilah,  who  exercised  the  like  evil 
influence  over  Samson.  See  also 
SARDANAPALUS. 

Ore,  in  Ariosto's  Orlando  Furioso,  a 
horrid  sea-monster  patterned  after 
the  dragon  which  attacked  Androm- 
eda in  classic  myth,  but  more  elab- 
orately described.  Angelica,  like  the 
Greek  maiden,  was  bound  to  a  rock 
in  sacrifice  to  the  monster,  but  just 
as  he  raised  his  head  above  the  waters, 
Rogero,  mounted  on  his  hippogriff, 
shot  down  through  the  air  to  the 
rescue.  The  Ore  was  one  mass  of 
tossing  and  twisting  body,  with  noth- 
ing of  the  animal  but  head,  eyes  and 
mouth,  the  latter  furnished  with 
tusks  like  those  of  a  wild  boar. 
Rogero  dealt  him  furious  blows,  but 
found  it  impossible  to  pierce  through 
his  scales.  Then  he  bethought  him  of 
the  burnished  shield  he  bore  whose 
brightness  neither  man  nor  beast 
could  withstand.  The  effect  was  im- 
mediate. The  monster,  deprived  of 
sense  and  motion,  rolled  over  on  the 
sea  and  lay  floating  on  his  back. 
Rogero  unshackled  Angelica,  made 
her  mount  behind  him  on  his  hippo- 
griff  and  rapidly  flew  away  from  the 
Irish  coast  to  Brittany.  Pictures  of 
Rogero  conquering  the  dragon  have 
sometimes  been  mistaken  for  Perseus. 
Hence  possibly  arose  the  notion  which 
has  no  classical  sanction  that  Perseus 
came  to  Andromeda's  assistance  on 
his  winged  steed,  Pegasus. 

Orestes,  in  classic  myth,  son  of 
Agamemnon  and  Clytemnestra.  He 
was  saved  by  his  sister  Electra  from 
the  fate  which  destroyed  his  father. 


Orfeo 


210 


Orpheus 


She  had  him  secretly  carried  to 
Phocis.  There  he  formed  a  famous 
friendship  with  Pylades,  and  when 
grown  up  the  two  repaired  to  Argos, 
where  Orestes  avenged  his  father's 
murder  by  slaying  Clytemnestra  and 
her  seducer  ^Egisthus.  After  the 
matricide,  Orestes,  seized  with  mad- 
ness, fled  from  land  to  land,  pursued 
by  the  Furies.  At  length  the  court 
of  the  Areopagus  in  Athens  acquitted 
and  absolved  him.  These  events  are 
celebrated  by  ^Eschylus  in  the  great 
trilogy  of  dramas,  the  Agamemnon, 
Chcephori,  and  Eumenides.  Ovid 
versifies  another  legend  in  his  Letters 
from  the  Pontus.  Apollo  had  in- 
formed Orestes  that  he  could  re- 
cover from  his  madness  by  fetching 
the  statue  of  Artemis  or  Diana  from 
the  Tauric  Chersoneus.  With  Py- 
lades he  landed  at  Tauri.  According 
to  the  custom  of  the  place  they  were 
seized  and  taken  by  the  natives  to  the 
temple  of  Diana.  There  one  of  them 
must  be  offered  to  the  goddess.  The 
king  selected  Orestes,  while  allowing 
Pylades  to  go  free,  but  as  he  did 
not  know  which  was  which  each 
claimed  to  be  Orestes  so  as  to  save 
the  other. 

While  they  are  contending  it  is 
discovered  that  the  priestess  is 
Iphigenia,  sister  of  Orestes.  By  her 
help  they  escape  with  the  statue  of 
the  goddess. 

In  Dante's  Purgatory  a  voice  from 
an  invisible  source  keeps  continually 
crying  "  I  am  Orestes,"  as  a  reminder 
to  the  spirits,  in  torment  for  their 
selfishness,  of  that  pagan  instance  of 
altruism. 

Orfep,  King,  subject  and  title  of 
an  ancient  Shetland  ballad  of  which 
three  fragmentary  versions  exist. 
Orfeo  lives  in  the  east,  Lady  Isabel 
in  the  west.  It  is  presumed  they 
courted  and  married,  but  the  inter- 
calary stanzas  are  lost.  Lady  Isabel  is 
spirited  away  by  the  king  of  the 
Fairies,  Orfeo  follows  and  redeems  her 
out  of  fairyland  by  playing  on  his 
pipes.  Of  course  this  is  a  vague 
popular  reminiscence  of  the  classic 
myth  of  Orpheus,  with  fairyland 
substituted  for  Hades.  This  is  Num- 


ber 19  in  English  and  Scotch  Popu- 
lar Ballads,  edited  by  Sargent  and 
Kittredge. 

Orion,  in  classic  myth,  a  son  of 
Neptune  and  a  great  hunter,  famed 
also  for  his  beauty  and  stature. 
(Enopion  blinded  him  for  ravishing 
Merope  and  expelled  him  from  Chios. 
An  oracle  declared  that  he  would 
regain  his  sight  if  he  journeyed  to  the 
East  and  exposed  his  eyes  to  the 
rising  sun.  With  Cedalion,  a  black- 
smith, as  his  guide,  he  found  his  way 
to  the  East  and  after  recovering  his 
sight  lived  as  a  hunter  along  with 
Artemis.  Accounts  differ  as  to  the 
manner  of  his  death.  Homer  (Odys- 
sey, v,  121-124),  who  is  followed  by 
Spenser  (Faerie  Qtieene,  vii,  vii,  39), 
says  he  married  Eos  (Aurora)  and 
was  killed  by  the  jealous  Artemis. 
According  to  others  Apollo  took 
offence  that  his  sister  Artemis  should 
love  Orion  and  challenged  her  to  hit 
a  mark  which  he  pointed  out  to  her  in 
the  sea.  She  succeeded  but  it  turned 
out  to  be  the  head  of  her  lover  swim- 
ming in  the  sea.  Horace  says  he 
offered  violence  to  Artemis,  who  con- 
sequently killed  him.  After  his  death 
Orion  was  placed  among  the  stars, 
where  he  forms  the  most  splendid  of 
all  the  constellations,  appearing  as  a 
giant  wearing  a  lion's  skin  and  a 
girdle  and  wielding  sword  and  club. 
"  Canst  thou  bind  the  sweet  influ- 
ences of  Pleiades,"  asks  Jehovah  in 
Job  xxxviii,  31,  "  or  loose  the  bands 
of  Orion?  "  Longfellow  has  a  poem 
on  The  Occupation  of  Orion,  in  which 
these  lines  occur: 

When  blinded  by  CEnopion 
He  sought  the  blacksmith  at  the  forge, 
And  climbing  up  the  mountain  gorge 

Fixed  his  black  eyes  upon  the  sea. 

Orlando.  See  ROLAND  in  this  vol- 
ume, also  ORLANDO  in  Vol.  I. 

Orpheus,  a  famous  poet  in  Greek 
myth,  who  was  so  powerful  in  song 
that  he  moved  trees  and  rocks  and 
tamed  wild  beasts  by  the  charms  of 
his  voice.  Others  say  he  drew  his 
music  from  a  lyre  given  him  by  Apollo. 
When  his  wife,  the  nymph  Eurydice, 
died  from  the  bite  of  a  serpent 
Orpheus  descended  to  the  lower 


Orson 


211 


Ostara 


regions  in  search  of  her.  He  so  in- 
fluenced Persephone  by  his  music 
that  she  gave  him  permission  to  take 
back  his  bride  to  the  upper  world  on 
condition  that  he  should  not  look 
back  during  his  ascent  thither.  In  his 
impatience  he  disregarded  the  in- 
junction and  having  turned  his  head 
for  a  backward  gaze,  Eurydice  had 
to  return  forever  to  Hades  (VIRGIL, 
Georgics  iv,  v,  457). 

A  picture  on  this  subject  by  Fred- 
erick Leighton,  exhibited  in  the  Royal 
Academy,  1804,  inspired  Browning's 
poem  Eurydice  to  Orpheus.  She  ad- 
dresses to  him  the  passionate  words 
of  love  which  made  Orpheus  forget 
and  turn  his  head.  The  grief  of 
Orpheus  for  Eurydice  inspired  him 
with  contempt  for  the  Thracian 
women,  and  he  was  torn  to  pieces 
by  them  in  a  Bacchanalian  orgy. 
His  limbs  were  strewn  upon  the 
plains  and  his  head  was  cast  into 
the  river  Hebrus  and  was  carried  to 
Lesbos. 

What  could  the  Muse  herself  that  Orpheus 

bore 

The  Muse  herself  for  her  enchanting  son, 
Whom  universal  Nature  did  lament. 
When  by  the  rout  that  made  the  hideous 

roar 

His  gory  visage  down  the  stream  was  sent 
Down  the  swift  Hebrus  to  the  Lesbian  shore 
MILTON:  Lycidas,  1.  58. 

A  graphic  description  of  the  effects 
of  Orpheus's  lute  is  given  by  the 
chorus  in  Seneca's  Hercules  Octavus, 
1.  1031.  Not  only  birds,  beasts,  trees 
and  mountains,  but  the  Dryads  and 
the  Centaurs  gathered  round  the 
tuneful  bard.  When  he  entered 
Tartarus  the  sullen  gods  of  Erebus 
were  moved  to  tears;  Ixion's  wheel 
stood  still,  the  immortal  liver  of 
Tityos  grew  undevoured,  Tantalus 
forgot  both  hunger  and  thirst,  and 
'  the  impious  rock  of  Sisyphus  "  was 
moved  to  follow  him. 

Orson,  one  of  the  heroes  of  a  medi- 
aeval French  romance,  Valentine  and 
Orson,  first  printed  at  Lyons  in  1489. 
He  and  Valentine  are  twins  of  whom 
their  mother,  Empress  of  Greece,  is 
delivered  in  a  forest.  Valentine  is 
brought  to  the  court  of  his  uncle  Pepin 


of  France,  Orson  is  rescued  and  nur- 
tured by  a  she-bear.  Hence  his  name 
from  Ourson,  a  bear's  cub.  Hence, 
also,  the  rough  and  unpolished  man- 
ners that  mark  him  as  he  grows  up  to 
manhood. 

^  Osiris,  the  chief  god  of  the  Egyp- 
tians, son  of  the  earth  god  Seb  and 
the  sky  goddess  Nut,  brother  and 
husband  of  Isis.  The  giver  of  life,  the 
source  of  fecundity,  he  was  also  the 
ruler  over  the  dead.  According  to 
Plutarch  in  his  treatise  on  Isis  and 
Osiris  he  was  a  wise  and  benevolent 
king  of  Egypt,  who  reclaimed  his 
subjects  from  barbarism  and  taught 
them  agriculture  and  other  peaceful 
arts.  Subsequently  he  travelled  into 
foreign  lands  distributing  the  bless- 
ings of  civilization  wherever  he  went. 
On  his  return  to  Egypt  he  was  mur- 
dered by  his  brother  Set  or  Typhon, 
who  cut  his  body  into  14  bits  and 
threw  them  into  the  Nile.  Isis  re- 
covered the  fragments,  put  them  to- 
gether and  the  dead  king  rose  to  life 
again  as  the  god  of  the  underworld. 
The  Greeks  identified  Osiris  with 
Pluto  and  Dionysus  (HERODOTUS,  ii, 
144),  but  his  cult  had  a  closer  kinship 
with  that  of  Adonis. 

Ostara,  in  Norse  myth,  the  goddess 
of  spring  and  returning  sunshine 
after  the  long  night  of  winter.  Her 
ancient  popularity  is  testified  to  by 
the  fact  that  Christian  zeal  could  not 
prevent  her  name  being  immortalized 
in  the  word  Easter.  In  her  honor  the 
Easter  bonfires  blaze  to  this  day  in 
Scandinavian  countries  despite  all 
endeavors,  secular  and  clerical,  to 
do  away  with  the  custom.  As  early 
as  752,  when  the  first  Church  Synod 
was  held  at  Regensburg,  St.  Boniface 
condemned  these  fires  as  a  heathenish 
practice. 

Nevertheless,  the  Church  adopted 
the  original  signification  in  the  Easter 
candle  and  Easter  lamp,  which  burn 
throughout  the  year.  According  to 
ancient  custom  they  must  be  extin- 
guished on  Good  Friday  and  relighted 
from  virgin  fire,  kindled  by  flint  and 
steel,  not  from  any  already  burning. 
From  this  sacred  flame  the  whole 
parish  used,  in  former  days,  to  fetch 


Ottnit 


212 


Ozair 


a  light  for  their  hearth.  On  Easter 
Eve  the  fire  was  kindled  in  the  church- 
yard and  the  old  holy  oil  was  burnt; 
after  which  the  candles  were  lighted. 

Another  Easter  custom,  that  of 
giving  colored  eggs  as  presents, 
originated  in  heathendom,  when  they 
were  made  symbolical  of  the  revivi- 
fication of  nature,  for  an  egg  typified 
the  beginning  of  life.  Christianity 
put  another  meaning  on  the  old 
custom  by  connecting  it  with  the 
feast  of  the  Resurrection  of  Christ, 
who,  like  the  hidden  life  in  the  egg, 
slept  in  the  grave  three  days  ere  He 
resumed  His  body. 

Ottnit,  hero  of  King  Ottnit,  an 
anonymous  German  epic  of  the  mid- 
thirteenth  century,  and  of  a  later 
adaptation  by  Kaspar  von  der  Rou 
which  forms  Part  i  of  the  Heldenbuch 
or  Book  of  Heroes. 

Ottnit,  king  of  Lampertie  or  Lom- 
bardy,  leaves  his  widowed  mother 
and  goes  out  to  seek  the  beautiful 
daughter  of  Machabol,  a  heathen 
monarch.  He  falls  in  with  Alberich 
(q.v.),  who  reveals  that  he  is  the  young 
man's  real  father,  and  the  two  agree 
to  join  forces  and  set  sail  for  Paynim 
land.  After  many  adventures,  and 
largely  through  the  assistance  of  the 
magic  arts  of  Alberich,  Ottnit  suc- 
ceeds in  carrying  off  the  maiden  to 
Lombardy,  where  he  converts  her  to 
Christianity,  baptizes  her  by  the 
name  of  Sidrat  and  marries  her.  Here 
Van  de  Rou's  poem  ends,  but  the 
subsequent  adventures  of  Ottnit  are 
related  in  the  poem  of  Hug  Cietrich 
(also  contained  in  the  Heldenbuch}. 
According  to  this  authority  the  cun- 
ning Machabol  revenged  himself  upon 
his  son-in-law  by  sending  him,  as  a 
present,  a  couple  of  dragon's  eggs, 
which  in  due  time  were  hatched,  and 
the  young  dragons  spread  ruin  and 
devastation  over  Lombardy.  Unde- 
terred by  the  prayers  of  his  wife 
and  the  warnings  of  Alberich,  Ottnit 
goes  out  to  slay  them,  and,  contrary 
to  all  precedents  in  romance,  he  is 
himself  slain  and  devoured  by  the 
dragons. 

Ovid,  the  name  under  which  the 
English  speaking  races  know  the 


Roman  poet  Publius  Ovidius  Naso 
(43  B.C.,  17  or  18  A.D.).  He  enjoys 
in  the  popular  traditions  of  Italy  a 
supplementary  reputation  as  a  great 
magician,  prophet,  preacher,  saint 
and  even  paladin.  Like  Virgil  he 
guards  the  treasures  supposed  to  be 
concealed  in  his  villa.  Vain  are  all 
the  efforts  made  to  carry  them  off  on 
the  eve  of  the  Annunciation.  The 
preaching  of  the  poet  is  connected 
with  a  pulpit  of  curious  workmanship 
which  formerly  stood  in  the  church 
Delia  Tomba  in  Sulmona.  Like 
Virgil  Ovid  is  believed  to  have  an- 
nounced the  coming  of  Christ. 

Desirous  of  discovering  the  origin 
of  God,  he  is  said  to  have  been  con- 
verted by  seeing  a  man,  or  some  say 
an  apostle  or  even  St.  Joseph,  dipping 
water  with  a  little  shell  from  the  sea 
into  a  ditch.  The  same  story  is  told 
of  St.  Augustine  and  his  reflections 
on  the  Trinity.  Finally  Ovid  is  said 
to  have  been  a  doughty  warrior,  and 
as  such  is  associated  in  the  popular 
fancy  with  Charlemagne  and  his 
peers.  See  A.  DE  NINO,  Ovid  nella 
Traditione  Popolare  di  Sulmona,  1886. 

Ozair  (i.e.  Esdras),  according  to 
a  Mohammedan  legend,  doubted 
whether  Jerusalem  could  be  rebuilt 
after  its  destruction  by  Nebuchadnez- 
zar. 

"  How,"  said  he,  "  shall  God  give 
life  to  this  city,  after  she  hath  been 
dead?  '  And  God  caused  him  to  die 
for  an  hundred  years,  and  then  raised 
him  to  life.  And  God  said,  "  How 
long  hast  thou  waited?  "  He  said, 
'  I  have  waited  a  day  or  part  of  a 
day."  He  said,  "  Nay,  thou  hast 
waited  an  hundred  years.  Look  on 
thy  food  and  thy  drink;  they  are  not 
corrupted;  and  look  on  thine  ass: 
we  would  make  thee  a  sign  unto  men : 
And  look  on  the  bones  of  thine  ass, 
how  we  will  raise  them,  then  clothe 
them  with  flesh."  And  when  this 
was  shewn  to  him,  he  said,  "  I  ac- 
knowledge that  God  hath  power  to 
do  all  things  "  (the  Koran,  Sura  ii, 
260:  The  Cow).  The  legend  may  have 
been  suggested  by  the  circuit  which 
Nehemiah  made  around  the  ruined 
city  (Neh.  ii,  13). 


Pacari 


213 


Paladin 


Pacari  Tampu  (House  of  the  Dawn), 
in  Peruvian  myth,  a  mythical  cave 
out  of  which  there  appeared  upon 
earth  the  four  divine  brothers  who 
instituted  the  four  cults  of  the  In- 
cas.  The  eldest  climbed  a  moun- 
tain; from  its  summit  he  cast  stones 
to  the  four  points  of  the  compass  as 
an  indication  that  all  the  land  was 
his.  But  the  youngest,  who  made  up 
in  cunning  for  what  he  lacked  in 
prowess,  succeeded  in  inveigling  the 
elder  into  a  cave  which  he  sealed  up 
with  a  great  stone  forever.  Then  he 
cast  the  second  brother  from  the  top 
of  the  mountain  and  changed  him 
into  a  stone  as  he  descended.  The 
third  brother  fled  in  dismay  and  the 
youngest  ruled  over  the  earth. 

Another  and  more  official  form  of 
the  myth  asserts  that  there  were 
three  brothers,  Pachamac,  Virachoca 
and  Manco  Ccapac,  and  one  sister, 
Mama  Oullo  Huacha,  who  became 
the  bride  of  her  brother  Manco 
Ccapac.  Their  father  was  the  sun, 
their  mother  the  moon.  To  Manco 
Ccapac  was  given  dominion  over 
mankind.  The  others  were  entrusted 
with  the  regulation  of  the  cosmos, 
Pachamac  taking  care  of  the  land 
and  Virachoca  of  the  sea. 

Pachamac  (Earth  Generator),  in 
early  Peruvian  myth,  the  god  of  the 
earth  (see  above)  and  the  ruler  of 
the  earthquake.  In  the  time  of 
Pizarro  a  great  temple,  now  in  ruins, 
was  the  centre  of  his  worship,— 
standing  in  the  valley  of  Rimac,  near 
Lima.  His  voice  was  recognized  in 
the  muttering  and  rumbling  of  the 
earthquake,  sounds  that  precipitated 
the  ancient  Peruvians  to  their  knees. 
Like  his  brother  Virachoca,  the  Peru- 
vian Neptune,  he  was  a  god  of 
fertility.  From  birth  there  had 
been  a  rivalry  between  the  brothers, 
which  ended  in  the  triumph  of 
Pachamac. 

Paean  (Gr.  Paian,  the  Healer),  the 
son  of  Endymion,  was  originally  the 
physician  of  the  gods  on  Olympus. 
When  Ares  is  wounded  by  Diomed 


and   flies   screaming   up   to   heaven, 
Zeus  commands  Paean  to  heal  him: 

He  said;  and  straight  to  Paean  gave  com- 
mand 

To  heal  the  wound;  with  soothing  anodynes 
He  heal'd  it  quickly;  soon  as  liquid  milk 
Is  curdled  by  the  fig-tree's  juice,  and  turns 
In  whirling  flakes,  so  soon  was  healed  the 

wound. 

By  Hebe  bathed,  and  robed  afresh,  he  sat 
In  health  and  strength  restored,  by  Saturn's 

son. 
HOMER:  Iliad,  v,  899.    DERBY,  trans. 

Subsequently  the  name  was  used 
in  the  more  general  sense  of  a  deliverer 
from  any  great  evil  and  was  thus 
applied  to  Apollo,  and  in  the  end 
came  to  mean  a  warlike  song,  or  a 
song  dedicated  to  Apollo.  In  this 
sense,  also,  it  is  used  by  Homer: 

All  day  they  sought  the  favor  of  the  God, 
The    glorious    paeans     chanting    and     the 

praise 
Of    Phoebus,    he    well    pleased    the    strain 

received. 

Ibid.,  xxii,  391. 

Ovid,  Metamorphoses,  xv,  mentions 
Pason  (sic)  in  reference  to  the  sickness 
of  Hippolytus.  The  following  is 
Golding's  translation: 

Had  not  Apollo's  son  imploid  the  aid 
Of  his  great  art,  I  with  the  dead  had  staid. 
But  when  by  potent  herbs  and  Paeon's  skill 
I  was  restored  against  stern  Pluto's  will. 
Lest  I,  if  seen,  might  envie  have  procured, 
Me,  friendly  Cynthia  in  a  cloud  immured. 

Spenser  has  a  reference  to  wise 
Pason,  son  of  Apollo  and  "  the  lily- 
handed  Liagore,"  who  healed  Mari- 
nell  of  the  grievous  wounds  inflicted 
on  him  by  Britomart.  (Faerie 
Queene,  iii,  4,  41.)  See  PEONA. 

Paladin,  from  the  Latin  Palatinus, 
means  strictly  an  attache"  of  a  palace, 
a  member  of  a  royal  household.  The 
Twelve  Paladins  of  Carlovingian 
romance,  however,  i.e.,  the  peers  who 
served  both  at  court  and  in  the  armies 
of  Charlemagne,  won  for  the  name  a 
distinct  meaning  as  characterizing  a 
knight  of  great  prowess.  Authorities 
vary  as  to  what  heroes  constituted 
the  famous  dozen,  but  the  following 
nine  appear  in  all  the  enumerations: 
Roland  (in  Italian  Orlando),  favorite 


Palamedes 


214 


Palamedes 


nephew  of  Charlemagne;  Oliver  (Oli- 
viero);  Renauld  (Rinaldo)  of  Mon- 
talban,  cousin  of  Orlando;  Namo, 
Duke  of  Bavaria;  Solomon,  king  of 
Brittany;  Archbishop  Turpin;  Astol- 
pho  of  England;  Ogier  the  Dane, 
Malagigi  the  Magician,  and  Ganelon 
(Gan)  of  Majence.  The  latter,  like 
Judas,  proved  a  traitor. 

Palamedes,  in  later  Greek  myth,  one 
of  the  heroes  in  the  army  before 
Troy.  Though  not  mentioned  by 
Homer  he  plays  a  prominent  part  in 
the  post-Homeric  traditions.  It  is 
generally  agreed  that  he  was  the  son 
of  Nauplius,  king  of  Eubcea,  and 
was  especially  distinguished  for  quick- 
ness of  wit  and  fertility  of  resource. 
He  was  said  to  have  invented  dice 
and  instruments  for  weighing  and 
measuring. 

When  Ulysses,  feigning  madness 
to  avoid  joining  in  the  Trojan  war, 
ploughed  up  the  seashore  and  sowed 
it  with  salt,  it  was  Palamedes  who 
exposed  the  fraud  by  placing  the 
infant  Telemachus  in  front  of  the 
father's  ploughshare.  Ulysses  never 
forgave  Palamedes  and  eventually 
wrought  his  ruin,  though  the  manner 
of  his  doing  this  is  variously  stated. 
The  favorite  account,  which  may  be 
found  in  Ovid's  Metamorphoses, 
makes  Ulysses  forge  a  letter  from 
Priam  thanking  Palamedes  for  prof- 
fered assistance  to  the  Trojan  cause 
and  begging  his  acceptance  of  a  sum 
of  money.  By  bribing  the  servants 
of  Palamedes  he  caused  a  quantity  of 
gold  to  be  buried  under  his  tent. 
The  letter  was  intercepted  and  carried 
to  Agamemnon;  Palamedes  was  sum- 
moned to  the  royal  presence.  Here 
Ulysses  appeared  as  his  friend  and 
craftily_  suggested  that  if  no  gold  were 
found  in  his  possession  the  charge 
would  be  disproved.  The  gold  being 
found,  Palamedes  was  stoned  to  death. 

His  brother  (Eax  wrote  an  account 
of  the  execution  upon  an  oar  which 
he  cast  into  the  sea.  It  reached 
Nauplius,  who  took  a  terrible  ven- 
geance on  the  returning  Greeks  by 
raising  deceptive  fire-signals  and 
stranding  their  ships  among  the  break- 
ers on  his  coasts. 


Palamedes,  or  Palomedes,  in  Ar- 
thurian romance,  the  unsuccessful  rival 
of  Tristan  for  the  love  of  Yseult  of 
Cornwall.  Sir  Walter  Scott  thinks 
there  is  no  truer  picture  of  the  human 
mind  than  the  struggle  between  "  the 
hatred  of  rivalship  and  the  chivalrous 
dictates  of  knightly  generosity  which 
alternately  sway  both  the  warriors." 
Rusticien  de  Pise,  who  introduced 
Palamedes  into  his  romance  of 
Meliadus,  says  that  this  was  a  favor- 
ite character  with  King  Henry  III  of 
England,  who  showed  his  apprecia- 
tion by  bestowing  two  castles  upon 
the  author.  It  probably  suggested 
the  Palamon  of  Boccaccio  and 
Chaucer. 

According  to  Rusticien,  Palamedes, 
a  Saracen  knight,  had  been  betrothed 
to  Yseult  before  her  marriage  to 
King  Mark.  When  he  heard  of  that 
event  he  appeared  at  the  court  in 
Cornwall  disguised  as  a  minstrel  and 
bearing  a  strangely  fashioned  harp. 
He  refused  to  play  on  this  until  the 
king  promised  to  grant  him  a  boon. 
Spurred  by  curiosity  Mark  promised 
the  minstrel  anything  he  might  desire. 
Sir  Palamedes  sang  a  lay  in  which 
he  demanded  Yseult,  as  the  promised 
boon,  nor  could  Mark  refuse  to  keep 
faith.  The  lady,  mounted  on  her 
horse,  was  led  away.  Tristram,  who 
had  been  absent,  returned  to  learn 
the  news  and  hastened  after  the  pair. 
They  had  just  embarked  when  he 
reached  the  shore,  but  Tristram 
played  upon  his  rote  and  the  sounds 
so  deeply  affected  Yseult  that  she 
induced  Palamedes  to  return  with 
her  to  land.  Tristram  seized  the 
lady's  horse  by  the  bridle,  and 
plunged  into  the  forest,  tauntingly 
informing  his  rival  that  "  what  he 
had  got  by  the  harp  he  had  lost  by 
the  rote."  Palamedes  pursued;  a 
combat  was  imminent,  whose  result 
must  have  been  fatal  to  one  or  the 
other  knight;  but  Yseult  stepped 
between  them,  and,  addressing  Pala- 
medes, said,  "  You  tell  me  that  you 
love  me;  you  will  not  then  deny  me 
the  request  I  am  about  to  make?" 
"  Lady,"  he  replied,  "  I  will  perform 
your  bidding."  "  Leave,  then,"  said 


Palamon 


215 


Palatine 


she,  "  this  contest,  and  repair  to 
King  Arthur's  court,  and  salute 
Queen  Guinevere  from  me;  tell  her 
that  there  are  in  the  world  but  two 
ladies,  herself  and  I,  and  two  lovers, 
hers  and  mine;  and  come  thou  not  in 
future  in  any  place  where  I  am." 
Palamedes  sorrowfully  withdrew. 

Palamon  and  Arcite,  joint  heroes  of 
an  episode  in  Boccaccio's  Teseide 
(1344),  on  which  Chaucer  founded 
The  Knight's  Tale  in  his  Canterbury 
Tales  (1388).  .They  are  ardent 
friends  until  their  imprisonment  in 
Athens  by  Duke  Theseus,  when  both 
fall  in  love  with  Emilia,  sister  of 
Hippolyta,  the  duke's  wife.  Theseus 
advises  them  to  put  their  rival  claims 
to  the  ordeal  of  battle.  Arcite 
triumphs,  but,  immediately  after, 
his  horse  falls  upon  him  with  fatal 
effect.  On  his  deathbed  he  is  recon- 
ciled to  Palamon,  and  hastens  his 
betrothal  to  Emilia.  The  rivalry 
between  these  noble  lovers  may  have 
been  suggested  by  that  of  Palamedes 
(q.v.)  and  Tristan.  Boccaccio  bor- 
rowed largely  from  Statius,  in  whose 
Thebaid  we  find  the  first  version  of 
the  plot. 

The  Knight's  Tale  is  an  abridged 
translation  of  a  part  of  Boccaccio's 
Teseide,  with  considerable  change  in 
the  plan,  and  important  additions 
in  the  more"  imaginative  portions  of 
the  story.  It  would  seem  _  that  a 
longer  poem  on  the 'same  subject  was 
originally  composed  by  Chaucer  as 
a  separate  work.  As  such,  it  is 
mentioned  by  him,  among  some  of 
his  other  works,  in  the  Legende  of 
Goode  Women  (11.  420,  i),  under  the 
title  of'Al  the  Love  of  Palamon  and 
Arcite  of  Thebes,  thogh  the  storye  ys 
knowenlyte";  and  the  last  words 
seem  to  imply  that  it  had  not  made 
itself  very  popular.  It  is  not  impos- 
sible that  at  first  it  was  a  mere 
translation  of  the  Teseide  of  Boccac- 
cio, and  that  its  present  form  was 
given  it  when  Chaucer  determined  to 
assign  it  the  first  place  among  his 
Canterbury  Tales. 

Richard  Edwardes  dramatized  this 
tale  in  a  play  (1566)  now  lost.  In 
Henslowe's  Diary  this  or  another 


lost  play  on  the  same  subject  is 
recorded  as  having  been  four  times 
performed  in  1594.  Chaucer's  story 
undoubtedly  suggested  The  Two 
Noble  Kinsmen  (first  printed  1634), 
a  play  to  which  Shakspear  contrib- 
uted; and  it  affected,  if  it  did  not 
supply,  that  part  of  the  plot  of  A 
Midsummer  Night's  Dream  which 
deals  with  the  loves  of  Lysander  and 
Helena,  Demetrius  and  Hermia,  in 
the  kingdom  of  Duke  Theseus. 

Dry  den  in  his  Fables  (1699)  in- 
cluded a  modernized  version  of 
Chaucer's  story  which  he  called 
Palamon  and  Arcite.  Chaucer's 
spelling  had  made  them  Palamoun 
and  Arcyte.  '  I  prefer  in  our  country- 
man," says  Dry  den,  in  his  preface, 
"  far  above  all  his  other  stories,  the 
noble  poem  of  Palamon  and  Arcite, 
which  is  of  the  epic  kind,  and  per- 
haps not  much  inferior  to  the  Ilias 
or  the  JEneis:  the  story  is  more 
pleasing  than  either  of  them,  the 
manners  as  perfect,  the  diction  as 
poetical,  the  learning  as  deep  and 
various,  and  the  disposition  full  as 
artful." 

Palamon  and  Arcite,  the  two  central  fig- 
ures, are  "good  friends  and  good  haters." 
Arcite  is  eminently  a  gentleman;  quick, 
daring,  and  impulsive,  he  is  yet  always 
honorable,  generous,  and  ready  to  forgive. 
His  farewell  to  Emily  is  used  both  by 
Chaucer  and  Dryden  to  bring  out  ^plainly 
the  noble  character  of  the  man.  No  such 
opportunity  is  given  for  making  clear  and 
distinct  the  character  of  Palamon.  and, 
though  he  wins  Emily  at  the  last,  he  himself 
remains  of  secondary  interest.  He  is,  how- 
ever, a  true  lover,  and  is  only  second  to 
Arcite  in  the  animation  and  interest  with 
which  he  is  depicted. 

Palatine,  The,  in  New  England 
legend,  a  vessel  which  one  stormy 
winter  night  in  the  eighteenth  century 
was  lured  ashore  by  false  lights 
placed  among  the  rocks  of  Block 
Island  by  its  treacherous  inhabitants. 
After  being  pillaged  it  was  fired  and 
set  adrift  with  passengers  and  crew. 
Ever  since  the  spectre  of  a  burning 
ship  has  made  periodical  visits  to  the 
island.  The  facts  are  that  a  vessel 
(name  unknown),  laden  with  200 
emigrants  from  the  German  Palati- 
nate, many  of  them  wealthy  burghers, 


Pales 


216 


Pallas 


set  sail  for  New  York  in  1720. 
Through  the  greed  of  captain  and 
crew  the  ship  was  run  ashore  at 
Block  Island,  where  the  emigrants 
were  hurriedly  landed,  leaving  their 
effects  aboard.  At  flood  tide  the 
ship  floated  clear,  put  out  to  sea,  and 
was  never  seen  again.  A  dancing 
light  of  the  St.  Elmo  order  whose 
outlines  vaguely  suggest  a  burning 
ship  is  occasionally  visible  off  the 
western  coast  of  the  island.  The 
legend  has  been  versified  by  Whittier 
in  a  ballad  The  Palatine.  It  sug- 
gested to  R.  H.  Dana  the  plot  of  his 
poem  The  Buccaneer. 

Pales,  in  early  Roman  myth,  a 
divinity  worshipped  by  shepherds 
and  cattle  tenders.  Originally  he 
was  masculine,  but  as  the  later  poets 
knew  him  only  through  his  festival, 
the  Palilea  or  Parilia,  they  lost  sight 
of  his  sex  and  numbered  him  among 
the  goddesses.  The  festival  was 
celebrated  on  April  21  (the  reputed 
anniversary  of  the  founding  of  Rome 
by  shepherds  under  Romulus  and 
Remus)  when  the  ancient  pastoral 
rites  were  joined  in  by  all  the  inhabi- 
tants. 

Pomona  loves  the  orchard, 

And  Liber  loves  the  vine, 
And  Pales  loves  the  straw-built  shed 

Warm  with  the  breath  of  kine. 

MACAULAY:    Lays  of  Ancient  Rome, 

Palici,  in  ancient  Sicilian  myth, 
twin  spirits  worshipped  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Mount  Etna  as  benevolent 
deities  and  protectors  of  agriculture. 
The  original  legend  made  them  sons 
of  Zeus  and  of  a  mortal  daughter  of 
Hephaestus  named  Thalia,  who,  fear- 
ing the  jealous  wrath  of  Hera,  hid 
herself  in  the  earth,  whereupon  two 
hot  sulphur  springs  burst  out  of  the 
ground.  (DIODORUS  SICULUS  xi,  89.) 
Later  accounts  identified  them  as 
the  sons  of  Adranus,  a  native  hero 
honored  throughout  Sicily.  Solemn 
oaths  were  taken  besides  the  springs 
which  if  false  were  punished  by  the 
blinding  of  the  perjurer  or  his  instan- 
taneous death. 

Palinurus,  in  Virgil's  &neid,  v,  the 
pilot  of  ^neas.  Neptune  selected 
him  as  the  victim  who  must  be  sacri- 


ficed to  ransom  the  Trojan  fleet  as 
it  sailed  out  from  Sicily.  Somnus 
(sleep)  overwhelmed  him;  his  eyes 
closed  despite  himself  and  he  fell 
overboard,  carrying  with  him  the 
helm.  Neptune,  mindful  of  his 
promise,  kept  the  ship  on  her  track 
without  helm  or  pilot  until  ^Eneas 
discovered  the  mishap  and  took 
charge  of  the  vessel. 

In  the  introduction  to  Canto  i  of 
Marmion  Sir  Walter  Scott  compares 
William  Pitt,  who  had  recently  died, 
to  Palinurus: 

Oh,  think  how,  to  his  latest  day, 

When  death  just  hovering  claimed  his  prey, 

With  Palinure's  unaltered  mood, 

Firm  at  his  dangerous  post  he  stood; 

Each  call  for  needful  rest  repelled, 

With  dying  hand  the  rudder  held, 

Till  in  his  fall,  with  fateful  sway. 

The  steerage  of  the  realm  gave  way. 

Palladium,  in  classic  myth,  a 
name  originally  given  to  any  image 
of  Pallas,  but  more  specifically  ap- 
plied to  an  ancient  image  of  this 
goddess  in  Troy  upon  whose  safety 
depended  that  of  the  city.  Homer 
in  the  Odyssey  describes  how  Ulysses 
and  Diomed  stole  it  and  carried  it 
to  Greece.  Virgil,  however,  in  the 
sEneid  contends  that  the  image  so 
stolen  was  a  counterfeit  and  that 
^neas  brought  the  true  palladium 
with  him  to  Italy,  where  it  was 
eventually  placed  in  the  Roman 
temple  of  Vesta. 

Pallas,  in  Greek  myth,  a  son  of 
Pandion.  He  robbed  his  brother 
^Egius  of  the  dominion  of  Attica,  but 
was,  together  with  his  50  gigantic 
sons,  slain  by  the  youthful  Theseus, 
the  son  of  ^gius.  Another  Pallas, 
mentioned  by  Virgil  in  the  &neid, 
was  the  son  of  Evander,  an  Arcadian 
prince,  who  ruled  a  city  on  the 
future  site  of  Rome.  With  his  father 
he  joined  the  Trojan  forces  in  their 
contest  against  Turnus.  He  was 
slain  by  Turnus,  who  delivered  up 
the  body  to  his  comrades-in-arms, 
retaining  for  himself,  however,  a 
famous  golden  belt,  engraved  by 
Clonus.  His  death  wrought  in  the 
brain  of  ^Eneas  a  mad  lust  for  revenge 
similar  to  that  which  had  aroused 
Achilles  from  his  torpor  when  Patro- 


Pallas 


217 


Palmerin 


clus  was  slain  (Book  x).  When 
finally,  at  the  end  of  Book  xii,  ^Eneas 
meets  Turnus  himself  and  ends  by 
overthrowing  him,  the  vanquished 
hero  sues  for  his  life: 

Wrathful    in    arms,    with    rolling    eyeballs, 

stood 

^Eneas,  and  his  lifted  arm  withdrew; 
And  more  and  more  now  melts  his  wavering 

mood, 
When  lo,  on  Turnus'  shoulder — known  too 

true — 
The   luckless   sword-belt   flashed   upon   his 

view; 

And  bright  with  gold  studs  shone  the  glitter- 
ing prey, 
Which  ruthless  Turnus,  when  the  youth  he 

slew, 

Stripped  from  the  lifeless  Pallas,  as  he  lay, 
And  on  his  shoulders  wore,  in  token  of  the 

day. 

Then  terribly  Eneas'  wrath  upboils, 
His  fierce  eyes  fixt  upon  the  sign  of  woe. 
"Shalt  thou  go  hence,  and  with  the  loved 

one's  spoils? 

'Tis  Pallas — Pallas  deals  the  deadly  blow. 
And  claims  this  victim  for  his  ghost  below." 
He  spake,  and  mad  with  fury,  as  he  said, 
Drove  the  keen  falchion  through  his  pros- 
trate foe. 
The  stalwart  limbs  grew  stiff  with  cold  and 

dead. 

And,  groaning,  to  the  shades  the  scornful 
spirit  fled. 

These  are  the  concluding  lines  of 
The  JEneid,  the  version  quoted  being 
that  of  E.  Fairfax  Taylor. 

Pallas,  another  name  for  Athena, 
sometimes  used  by  itself,  but  oftener 
in  conjunction  with  the  elder  name, 
i.e.,  Pallas  Athena. 

Can  tyrants  but  by  tyrants  conquered  be. 
And  Freedom  find  no  champion  and  no 

child,' 

Such  as  Columbia  saw  arise,  when  she 
Sprang  forth  a  Pallas,  armed  and  undefiled? 

BYRON. 

After  early  girlhood  comes  the  maturity 
of  virgin  womanhood,  touched  by  medita- 
tion, but  not  yet  by  passion.  This  the 
Greek  mythology  symbolizes  in  Pallas 
Athena.  She  is  the  riper  Artemis,  passing 
beyond  her  early  nymph-like  years,  and 
reaching  the  highest  consummation  that 
woman  can  attain  alone.  And  so  fascinating 
is  this  moment  of  serene  self-pose,  that  the 
virgin  Athena  ranks  in  some  respects  at  the 
head  of  all  the  goddesses.  Beside  her 
Artemis  is  undeveloped,  while  all  the  rest 
have  passed  in  a  manner  out  of  themselves, 
have  shared  the  being  of  others  and  the 
responsibilities  of  love  or  home.  Of  all 
conceptions  of  woman  ever  framed,  Athena 
most  combines  strength  and  loveliness.  She 
has  no  feeble  aspect,  no  relation  of  depend- 


ence; her  purity  is  the  height  of  power.  No 
compliment  ever  paid  to  woman  was  so 
high  as  that  paid  by  the  Greeks,  when 
incarnating  the  highest  wisdom  in  this 
maiden's  form,  and  making  this  attribute 
only  increase  her  virtue  and  her  charms. — 
T.  W.  HIGGINSON:  The  Greek  Goddesses. 

Palmerin  de  Oliva  (Span.  Palmer 
of  the  Olive  Tree),  hero  and  title  of  a 
Spanish  romance  of  chivalry,  printed 
at  Salamanca  in  1511  and  variously 
attributed  to  Francesco  Vazquez 
and  to  the  unnamed  daughter  of  a 
carpenter  in  Burgos.  Palmerin, 
illegitimate  grandson  of  a  Greek 
emperor  of  Constantinople,  is  aban- 
doned by  his  mother  on  a  mountain 
top  among  olives  and  palm  trees 
(hence  his  name),  is  found  by  shep- 
herds, grows  up  into  a  warrior  whose 
doughty  deeds  against  Saracen  giants 
and  enchanters  give  evidence  of  high 
birth  and  a  noble  spirit,  is  finally 
recognized  by  his  mother  in  Constan- 
tinople and  marries  a  daughter  of 
the  Emperor  of  Germany.  The 
success  of  this  romance  led  to  seven 
sequels  in  which  the  name  Palmerin 
was  conferred  upon  heroes  of  divers 
nationalities.  They  are  all  cheap 
imitations  of  the  Amadis  romances, 
with  the  exception  of  the  sixth  in 
the  series,  Palmerin  of  England^ 

Palmerin  of  England  (in  the  original 
Spanish,  Palmerin  de  Inglaterra),  the 
hero  of  a  chivalric  romance  of  that 
name  attributed  to  Leon  Hurtado, 
originally  printed  in  Toledo  ( 1547)  I 
translated  into  English  by  Anthony 
Munday  (1580),  and,  in  an  abridg- 
ment, by  Robert  Sou  they  (1807). 
The  latter  wrongly  named  the  author 
as  Francesco  de  Moraes,  a  Portu- 
guese. The  English  Palmerin  is  a 
son  of  Don  Duardo  (Edward),  king 
of  England.  He  falls  in  love  with 
Flerida,  daughter  of  Palmerin  de: 
Oliva,  whose  feats  of  derring-do  he 
emulates  in  a  soberer  fashion,  inso- 
much that  Cervantes,  who  burns 
Palmerin  de  Oliva  in  the  holocaust  of 
Don  Quixote's  library,  spares  Pal- 
merin of  England.  He  gives  two 
reasons,  "  First,  because  it  is  a  right 
good  book  in  itself;  and  the  other 
because  the  report  is  that  a  wise 
king  of  Portugal  composed  it.  All 


Palnatoki 


218 


Pan 


the  adventures  of  the  castle  of 
Miraguarda  are  excellent,  and  man- 
aged with  great  skill;  the  discourses 
are  clear,  observing  with  much  pro- 
priety the  judgment  and  decorum  of 
the  speaker." 

Palnatoki,  a  Danish  hero,  mentioned 
by  Saxo  Grammaticus  in  his  Historic, 
Danica  (1185),  who  is  interesting  in 
folklore  as  an  anticipator  of  William 
Tell's  apple-cleaving  feat.  Saxo 
says  he  was  a  member  of  Harold 
Bluetooth's  body  guard,  a  brave 
man  and  a  skilled  archer,  but  vain 
and  boastful,  especially  in  his  cups. 
Backbiters  reported  to  the  king  how 
he  had  declared  that  he  could  hit 
the  smallest  apple  placed  a  long  way 
off  on  a  pole.  Thereupon  Harold 
ordered  that  Palnatoki 's  son  should 
be  substituted  for  the  pole  and  that 
the  archer  must  at  the  first  shot 
strike  an  apple  off  the  head  of  his 
son,  or  forfeit  his  own.  "  Palnatoki," 
says  the  chronicler,  "  warned  the  boy 
urgently  when  he  took  his  stand  to 
await  the  coming  of  the  hurtling 
arrow  with  calm  ears  and  unbent 
head,  lest,  by  a  slight  turn  of  his 
body,  he  should  defeat  the  practised 
skill  of  the  bowman;  and,  taking 
further  counsel  to  prevent  his  fear, 
he  turned  away  his  face,  lest  he  should 
be  scared  at  the  sight  of  the  weapon. 
Then,  taking  three  arrows  from  the 
quiver,  he  struck  the  mark  given 
him  with  the  first  he  fitted  to  the 
string.  .  .  .  But  Palnatoki,  when 
asked  by  the  king  why  he  had  taken 
more  arrows  from  the  quiver,  when  it 
had  been  settled  that  he  should  only 
try  the  fortune  of  the  bow  once,  made 
answer,  '  That  I  might  avenge  on 
thee  the  swerving  of  the  first  by  the 
points  of  the  rest,  lest  perchance  my 
innocence  might  have  been  punished, 
while  your  violence  escaped  scot- 
free.'  Saxo  placed  this  occurrence 
in  the  year  950.  Tell  is  reputed  to 
have  performed  his  feat  in  1296. 

Pamela,  one  of  the  heroines  of 
Sidney's  Arcadia:  beloved  by  Mu- 
sidorus. 

Pan  (Gr.  TO  TTCK,  the  whole),  in 
classic  myth,  the  son  of  Hermes  and 
Penelope  and  the  god  of  flocks  and 


pastures.  Originally  an  Arcadian 
deity  his  worship  spread  over  other 
parts  of  Greece,  reaching  Athens  at 
the  time  of  the  battle  of  Marathon. 
(See  PHEIDIPPIDES.)  He  is  repre- 
sented as  grim  and  shaggy,  with 
horns,  puck-nose  and  goat's  legs 
ending  in  cloven  hoofs,  sometimes 
dancing  and  sometimes  playing  upon 
the  syrinx  (q.v.),  a  reed  instrument  of 
his  own  invention.  Like  other  gods 
infesting  the  forests  he  was  dreaded 
by  travellers,  who  frequently  heard 
his  bellowing  voice  and  sometimes 
were  startled  by  his  unexpected 
apparition.  Hence  the  word  panic 
for  a  sudden  and  causeless  fear.  It 
was  a  current  belief  among  the  early 
Christians,  based  upon  a  story  told 
by  Plutarch  (see  Rabelais,  ch.  xxviii), 
that  at  the  moment  of  the  Crucifixion, 
a  deep  groan  heard  throughout  the 
Grecian  isles  announced  that  "Great 
Pan  is  dead  "  and  that  all  the  gods 
of  Olympus  had  fallen.  On  this 
story  Mrs.  Browning  based  her  poem 
Pan.  In  another  poem,  A  Musical 
Instrument,  the  same  poet  makes  the 
legend  of  Pan  and  his  pipes  teach  her 
favorite  moral  of  the  cruel  isolation  of 
poetical  genius: 

Yes,  half  a  beast  is  the  great  god  Pan 
To  laugh  as  he  sits  by  the  river, 

Making  a  poet  out  of  a  man: 

The  true  gods  sigh  for  the  cost  and   pain, 
For   the   reed   which   grows   never   more 
again 

As  a  reed  with  the  reeds  by  the  river. 

Virgil  in  his  Georgics,  iii,  600, 
alludes  to  a  fable,  first  told  by 
Nicander,  that  Pan  cajoled  the  Moon 
to  his  embraces  by  an  offer  of  snowy 
fleeces  of  wool.  Dryden  thus  trans- 
lates the  lines: 

Twas  thus  with  fleeces  milky  white  (if  we 
May  trust  report)  Pan,  god  of  Arcady, 
Did   bribe   thee,    Cynthia;   nor   didst   thou 

disdain 
When  called  in  woody  shades,  to  cure  a 

lover's  pain. 

The  fancy  may  perhaps  have  been 
derived  from  white  patches  of  moon- 
light seen  in  openings  of  the  woods. 
Robert  Browning,  who  elaborates 
the  myth  in  Pan  and  Luna,  prefers 
to  believe  that  the  Moon,  too  visible 
in  a  clear  sky,  sought  to  veil  her 


Pandareos 


219 


Pandora 


beauties  in  a  fleecy  cloud,  craftily 
placed  to  delude  her  by  Pan.  Though 
he  deviates  from  his  original  by 
turning  into  a  snare  Virgil's  bait  or 
bribe,  he  declines  to  invent  an  apology 
for  her  further  conduct: 

Ha,  Virgil?  Tell  the  rest,  you!  "To  the 
deep 

Of  his  domain,  the  wildwood,  Pan  forth- 
with 

Called  her;  and  so  she  followed" — in  her 
sleep, 

Surely? — "by  no  means  spurning  him." 
The  myth 

Explain  who  may — Let  all  else  go,  I  keep 

— As  of  a  ruin  just  a  monolith — 

Thus  much,  one  verse  of  five  words,  each  a 
boon, 

Arcadia,  night,  a  cloud,  Pan,  and  the 
moon. 

Pandareos  of  Miletus,  in  classic 
myth,  the  husband  of  Harmothea, 
and  father  of  Merope,  Cleodora  or 
Chelidonis,  and  ^Edon.  Having  stolen 
from  the  temple  of  Zeus  in  Crete  a 
golden  dog,  fashioned  by  Hephaestus 
and  endowed  with  life,  Pandareos 
and  his  wife  were  both  turned  into 
stones.  Homer  (Odyssey,  xx,  66) 
says  that  two  of  his  orphaned 
daughters  Merope  and  Cleodora  were 
brought  up  by  Aphrodite,  that  Hera 
dowered  them  with  beauty  and  wis- 
dom, Artemis  with  lofty  stature.,  and 
Athene  with  skill  in  handiwork.  One 
day  Aphrodite  went  to  Olympus  to 
implore  Zeus  that  he  would  grant 
them  happy  marriages,  but  the 
Harpies  took  advantage  of  her  ab- 
sence to  carry  off  the  maidens  and 
deliver  them  up  to  the  Erinyes  as 
servants.  Thus  was  the  father's 
crime  avenged  in  his  descendants. 
The  other  daughter,  ^Edon,  married 
Zethus,  king  of  Thebes,  and  became 
the  mother  of  Italus.  Jealous  because 
her  sister-in-law  Niobe  had  six  sons, 
she  sought  to  slay  the  eldest  of  them, 
but  by  mistake  killed  her  own.  Zeus 
metamorphosed  her  into  a  nightin- 
gale who  perpetually  bewails  her 
son  Italus.  A  later  legend,  however, 
made  ^Edon  the  wife  of  Polytechnus 
(q.v.)  and  not  of  Zethus. 

Pandarus,  in  classic  legend,  one 
of  the  Lycian  allies  of  Priam  in  the 
Trojan  war,  an  excellent  archer,  slain 
by  Diomed,  whose  memory  was 


honored  by  his  fellow-citizens  both 
in  life  and  death.  In  modern  liter- 
ature he  reappears  as  the  uncle  of 
Cressida  and  _  a  go-between  in  her 
amours.  This  degradation  began 
with  Boccaccio  in  FUostrato,  who  calls 
the  niece  Griselda,  and  represents 
Pandaro  as  a  depraved  old  dotard 
vicariously  glutting  a  licentious  im- 
agination with  the  spectacle  of 
satiated  lust.  It  is  in  this  mood  that 
he  hands  over  his  niece  to  the  frenzied 
appetite  of  Troilo.  Chaucer  in 
Troilus  and  Cressida  (1382)  partially 
redeems  Pandarus  by  giving  him 
humor,  courtliness  and  worldly  wis- 
dom, and  ascribing  his  amiable 
assiduity  in  his  friend's  behalf  to  the 
bond  of  "sworn  brotherhood"  that 
closely  united  Troilus  and  himself, — 
taking  care  the  while  that  his  affairs 
of  the  heart  shall  be  kept  a  secret 
from  the  world.  Shakspear's  Pan- 
darus follows  Boccaccio  rather  than 
Chaucer,  though  the  imitation  may 
have  been  entirely  unconscious.  See 
PANDARUS  in  Vol.  I. 

Pandemonium  (Gr.  7rai>,  all,  and 
,  a  demon),  a  name  apparently 
coined  by  Milton  for  the  metropolis 
of  the  infernal  regions, — 

the  high  capital 
Of  Satan  and  his  peers. 

Paradise  Lost,  i. 

Pandora,  in  classic  myth,  the  first 
woman,  created  by  order  of  Zeus  in 
a  fit  of  spite  against  Prometheus  be- 
cause he  had  stolen  fire  from  heaven 
for  the  use  of  man.  How  man  had 
persisted  all  through  the  Golden  Age 
without  woman  is  not  explained.  We 
are  told  that  Hephaestus  fashioned 
her  out  of  earth,  Athena  breathed 
into  her  the  breath  of  life,  Aphrodite 
gifted  her  with  beauty,  Hermes 
"  with  craft,  and  treacherous  manners 
and  a  shameless  mind,"  while  the 
other  gods  contributed  each  a  power 
that  should  be  fatal  (HESIOD,  Theog- 
ony  and  Works  and  Days).  Hence 
her  name  Pandora,  the  all-gifted, 
a  name  further  justified,  it  might 
seem,  by  a  box  she  bore  which  really 
contained  every  human  ill.  Prome- 
theus was  too  wary  to  receive  her, 


Pandora 


220 


Pantaleone 


but  the  more  trustful  Epinetheus,  dis- 
regarding his  brother's  warnings,  fell 
in  love  with  her  and  made  her  his 
wife. 

"  Now  aforetime,"  Hesiod  con- 
tinues, "  the  races  of  men  were  wont 
to  live  on  the  earth  apart  and  free 
from  ills,  and  without  harsh  labor 
and  painful  diseases,  which  have 
brought  death  on  mortals;  but  the 
Woman  having  with  her  hands  re- 
moved the  great  lid  from  the  recep- 
tacle (wherein  all  the  ills  that  flesh  is 
heir  to  had  been  carefully  hived), 
dispersed  them;  then  contrived  she 
baneful  cares  for  men.  Hope  only 
remained  in  the  box,  but  not,  as  was 
sometimes  held,  out  of  mercy  to 
man."  "The  diseases  and  evils  are 
inoperative,"  says  Grote,  "so  long 
as  they  remain  shut  up  in  the  cask. 
The  same  mischief-making  which 
lets  them  out  to  their  calamitous 
work  takes  care  that  Hope  shall  con- 
tinue a  powerless  prisoner  in  the 
inside."  A  later  version  of  the  myth 
makes  the  box  contain  all  the  bless- 
ings necessary  to  man,  but,  being 
winged,  all  save  Hope  escaped  when 
the  lid  was  lifted.  It  is  noteworthy 
that  Genesis  also  connects  the  intro- 
duction of  sin  and  death  and  "  all 
our  woe  "  with  the  advent  of  the 
first  woman.  This  parallel  was  too 
obvious  to  escape  Milton.  In  Para- 
dise Lost,  iv,  he  compares  Eve  to 
Pandora: 

More  lovely  than  Pandora,  whom  the  gods 
Endowed  with  all  their  gifts;  and  O,  too  like 
In  sad  event,  when  to  the  unwiser  son 
Of  Japhet,  brought  by  Hermes,  she  ensnared 
Mankind  with  her  fair  looks,  to  be  avenged 
On  him  who  had  stole  Jove's  authentic  fire. 

Longfellow  has  retold  the  classic 
myth  in  his  dramatic  poem,  The 
Masque  of  Pandora. 

Look  at  mythology — that  is,  at  man's 
earliest  theories  of  the  world.  Man  always 
comes  first  and  alone  into  the  world. 
Woman  follows  to  bring  a  curse,  in  Greece, 
among  the  Hebrews,  among  the  Minitarees. 
The  very  gods  are  unhappily  married  in  the 
Aztec,  as  well  as  in  the  Greek,  mythology. 
Men  and  women  are  made  to  thwart  and 
to  misunderstand  each  other,  no  less  than 
each  is  made  to  be,  and  may  be,  the  help- 
meet of  the  other.  But  the  way  of  evil  is 
easy,  and  the  way  of  good  is  steep  and 
hard  to  climb.  And  so  it  happens,  in 


the  words  of  Rochefoucauld,  that  "there 
are  excellent  marriages,  but  there  is  scarce 
such  a  thing  as  a  delightful  marriage."  St. 
Paul  is  of  the  same  mind  as  the  wise  Duke: 
;hey  speak  the  voice  of  humanity  and  of 
experience,  not  of  stupid  scorn  and  silly 
pessimism.  Life  is  hard,  and  marriage  is 
tiarder;  we  cannot  mend  the  matter  by 
effusive  twaddle. — ANDREW  LANG:  North 
American  Review. 

Pandosto,  in  Robert  Green's  Pan- 
dosto  or  the  Triumph  of  Time  (1588), 
a  king  of  Bohemia  who  becomes 
jealous  of  his  wife,  Bellaria,  and 
orders  his  infant  daughter  to  be  cast 
upon  a  desert  shore.  The  main  part 
of  the  story  concerns  the  loves  of 
Dorastus  and  Fawnia,  who  corre- 
spond with  the  Florizel  and  Perdita 
of  Shakspear.  This  novel  is  the 
obvious  original  of  The  Winter's  Tale. 
Shakspear  has  given  new  names  to  all 
the  characters  and  shifted  the  scenes 
of  action.  His  jealous  king  rules 
over  Sicily;  his  injured  friend  comes 
from  Bohemia.  Green's  Bellaria 
really  dies,  while  Shakspear's  Her- 
mione  only  seems  to  die.  Pandosto 
unwittingly  falls  in  love  with  Fawnia, 
his  own  daughter,  and  then,  moved 
with  desperate  thoughts,  and  "to 
close  up  the  comedie  with  a  tragical 
stratageme,"  commits  suicide. 

Pankrates,  in  Lucian's  Wonder- 
Lover  (iQAoipevdw,  circa  A.D.  150),  a 
magician,  whose  story  has  been  versi- 
fied by  Goethe  in  a  ballad  entitled 
The  Magician's  Apprentice  (Ger. 
DerZauberlehrling).  The  apprentice, 
called  Eukrates  by  Lucian,  turns  a 
broom  into  a  kobold  by  the  secret 
incantation  he  has  learned  through 
eavesdropping,  and  employs  it  to 
fill  a  bathtub.  As  he  has  not  learned 
the  three  words  which  restore  the 
water  carrier  to  its  proper  shape  the 
bath  is  not  only  filled,  but  pail  after 
pail  is  discharged  until  the  house  is 
flooded.  The  apprentice  cuts  the 
kobold  in  two  with  a  sabre.  There 
are  now  two  kobolds,  both  pouring 
water  into  the  house,  until  the  ap- 
prentice flies  to  his  master  for  assist- 
ance. The  obvious  moral  is  the 
danger  of  a  half  knowledge  of  any- 
thing. 

Pantaleone  or  Pantalone,  a  stock 
character  in  the  old  Italian  comedy 


Pantaleone 


221 


Paphnutius 


still  with  his  valet  Zacometo,  surviv- 
ing locally  on  the  stage,  especially  in 
his  birthplace,  Venice.  In  England 
he  has  suffered  a  sea  change  into  the 
Pantaloon  of  the  pantomimes.  Pan- 
taleone is  a  thin  old  man  who  shuffles 
along  in  slippers.  Hence  Shakspear's 
allusion  to  him  as  personifying  the 
penultimate  stage  in  the  story  of  man : 

The  sixth  age  shifts 
Into  the  lean  and  slippered  Pantaloon. 

A  plausible  suggestion  as  to  the 
etymology  of  the  name  derives  it 
from  pianta-leone,  the  war  cry  of  the 
Venetian  republic.  Whenever  a  new 
island  or  other  possession  came  into 
possession  of  the  Venetians  they 
signalized  the  victory  by  erecting 
their  standard  which  bore  the  lions  of 
St.  Mark  as  its  device, — in  other 
words  they  planted  the  lion.  Because 
of  their  boastings  on  this  subject 
they  were  nicknamed  the  Lion- 
planters,  which  from  Pianta-leone 
degenerated  into  Piantaleone.  Cf. 
Bryon: 

In  youth  she  was  all  glory — a  new  Tyre — 

Her  very  by-word  sprang  from  victory, 

The  "Planter  of  the  Lion"  which  through 

fire 

And  blood  she  bore  o'er  subject  earth  and 
sea. 

Childe  Harold. 

Another  etymology  is  equally  prob- 
able and  it  may  be  that  each  influ- 
enced the  other  and  led  to  the  general 
acceptance  of  a  fusion  of  two  local 
names,  originally  distinct.  The  name 
Pantaleon  is  Greek,  signifying  all 
lion.  Herodotus  mentions  a  king  of 
Lydia  so  called.  He  was  half- 
brother  to  Croesus.  One  of  the 
patron  saints  of  Venice  was  St. 
Pantaleon,  who  divided  honors  with 
the  more  famous  St.  Mark.  He  was 
a  native  of  Nicomedia  in  Bythynia, 
said  to  have  been  the  favorite  physi- 
cian of  the  Emperor  Diocletian,  who 
condemned  him  to  martyrdom  when 
he  discovered  that  he  was  a  Christian. 

As  one  of  the  chief  performers  in 
Italian  comedies  and  pantomimes 
Pantaleon  was  dressed  like  a  Vene- 
tian burgher  in  long  loose  trousers 
which  served  as  both  breeches  and 
stockings.  Evelyn  mentions  these 


as  the  germ  of  the  more  modem 
garment  introduced  by  Charles  II. 
This  clumsy  dress  together  with  the 
slippers  which  were  permitted  later 
came  finally  to  represent  not  a  jolly 
young  rogue  but  "  a  lean  and  slip- 
pered pantaloon." 

Panthea,  consort  of  Abradates 
(q.v.),  king  of  Susa,  and  heroine  of 
the  first  Greek  love-story  in  prose, 
an  episode  in  Xenophon's  historical 
romance  The  Cyroptzdia. 

Panthea  is  captured  in  one  of 
Cyrus's  victories  over  the  Assyrians. 
The  conqueror  treats  her  with  so 
much  consideration  that  Abradates 
in  gratitude  deserts  to  his  standard 
with  about  1000  horse.  When  the 
next  battle  occurs  Abradates,  urged 
by  his  spouse  to  remember  the  grati- 
tude due  from  both  to  Cyrus,  rushes 
into  the  thickest  of  the  fight  and  is 
slain  in  the  very  hour  of  victory. 
Next  day  Panthea  recovers  the  body 
of  her  lord,  and  stabs  herself  to  death 
over  the  loved  remains.  This  is  the 
first  extant  example  of  a  prose  love- 
story  in  European  literature.  It  was 
greatly  admired  by  the  ancients. 
Plutarch  in  his  essay  against  the 
doctrines  of  Epicurus  asks  "  whether 
the  actual  enjoyments  of  love  could 
be  superior  to  the  imaginative  pleas- 
ure of  reading  the  tale  of  Panthea 
as  related  by  Xenophon." 

Paolo,  the  lover  of  Francesca  da 
Rimini.  See  RIMINI. 

Paphnutius  the  Hermit,  hero  and 
title  of  a  religious  drama  by  the 
nun  Hrosvitha,  written  in  Latin  at 
the  beginning  of  the  tenth  century. 

Paphnutius  makes  up  his  mind  to 
reclaim  Thais,  a  celebrated  courtesan 
who  has  established  herself  not  far 
from  his  cell  and  proved  the  ruin  of 
many  souls.  He  introduces  himself 
in  the  character  of  a  somewhat  aged 
debauchee  and  as  soon  as  he  is  alone 
with  her  preaches  a  sermon  that 
works  a  sudden  conversion.  She 
willingly  follows  the  hermit  to  a 
convent,  where  she  allows  herself  to 
be  walled  up  in  a  cell,  with  only  a 
simple  opening  through  which  light 
and  air  and  food  may  reach  her,  and 
after  three  years  of  prayer  and  inces- 


Parasite 


222 


Paris 


sant  austerities  she  is  called  up  to 
heaven. 

Parasite,  from  the  Greek  parasites, 
meaning  literally  a  table  companion, 
was  a  favorite  figure  in  Greek  and 
Latin  comedy.  Originally  the  name 
was  given  to  the  assistant  of  the  Greek 
priests  and  carried  no  reproach  with 
it  until  it  was  adopted  in  the  Middle 
and  New  comedy  of  Greece,  first  by 
Alexis  and  then  by  Plautus  and  others, 
as  a  synonym  for  a  sponger,  a  syco- 
phant, a  professional  diner-out,  who 
plays  the  flatterer  or  the  buffoon  at 
rich  men's  tables.  For  the  sake  of 
an  invitation  he  would  submit  to 
any  humiliation  at  the  hands  of 
host  or  guests.  See  PLUTARCH,  De 
Adulatore,  23,  and  JUVENAL,  v,  170. 

Pardonere,  The,  in  Chaucer's  Can- 
terbury Tales  (1388),  who  tells  the 
tale  of  Death  and  the  Rioters,  draws 
a  portrait  of  himself  in  the  prologue, 
which  is  full  of  vivacity,  humor  and 
unintentional  self-satire.  It  may  be 
compared  with  that  of  Fra  Cipolla 
which  drew  down  upon  Boccaccio 
the  censure  of  the  Council  of  Trent. 
It  does  not  appear  that  Chaucer  had 
ever  read  the  Decameron,  but  he  was 
evidently  familiar  with  many  of  its 
tales  through  oral  accounts.  (See 
GRISELDA.) 

The  Pardonere's  tale  runs  as  fol- 
lows: Three  "  hasardours  "  or  gam- 
blers agree  to  hunt  down  Death  and 
slay  him.  An  old  man  informs  them 
he  has  just  left  Death  at  the  foot  of 
a  certain  tree.  They  find  there  a 
treasure  and  agree  to  divide  it 
equally.  One  of  them  goes  to  a 
neighboring  village  for  meat  and 
wine.  The  other  two  agree  to  kill 
him  on  his  return  and  take  his  share. 
He  on  his  side  poisons  the  wine  he 
fetches  back.  So  all  three  find  death 
at  the  foot  of  the  tree,  as  promised  by 
the  old  man,  who,  of  course,  was 
Death  himself. 

Chaucer  seems  to  have  found  the 
tale  in  a  fabliau,  now  lost,  whose 
outline  is  preserved,  not  only  here,  but 
in  the  Cento  Novelle  Antiche,  Ixxxii 
(end  of  the  I3th  century).  It  came 
down  to  the  compilers  from  a  remote 
oriental  source,  for  it  may  be  found 


in  the  Jataka  (vol.  i.  246)  or  Book  of 
Buddhist  Birth-Stories.  There  it  is 
told  of  some  pesanakacoras  (thieves 
who  had  a  peculiar  artifice  in  ob- 
taining ransom  for  their  prisoners, 
not  unlike  that  of  the  modern  Italian 
or  Greek  brigand).  And  just  as 
Chaucer  bids  his  readers  to  "  ware 
them  from  avarice,"  so  in  the  Bud- 
dhist story  we  find  the  proverb  that 
"  greed  indeed  is  the  root  of  destruc- 
tion"; reminding  us  of  our  own 
familiar  expression  that  "  the  love 
of  money  is  the  root  of  all  evil." 

In  the  Buddhist  tale  there  were 
two  robbers,  of  whom  one  stayed  by 
the  treasure,  while  the  other  took 
some  rice  to  the  village  to  have  it 
cooked.  Moved  by  avarice,  he 
poisoned  the  rice,  and  returned  with 
it  to  his  comrade.  "  No  sooner  had 
he  put  the  rice  down  than  the  other 
cut  him  in  two  with  his  sword,  and 
threw  his  body  into  a  tangled  thicket. 
Then  he  ate  the  rice,  and  fell  dead  on 
the  spot." 

It  was  evidently  from  a  Hindu 
source  that  Rudyard  Kipling  derives 
a  kindred  story  which  he  tells  in  the 
Second  Jungle  Book,  under  the  title 
The  King's  Ankus. 

Here  is  the  same  quaint  and  powerfully 
effective  use  of  the  death  element;  the  same 
fatal  influence  of  treasure  on  those  whom  it 
touches;  even  the  same  coincidence  of  the 
double  murders,  by  poison  and  by  blow  of 
weapon.  To  be  sure,  Chaucer's  old  man, 
with  his  little-understood  wisdom,  has  in 
Kipling's  story  become  the  old  White  Cobra; 
but  common  traits  still  linger, — both  have 
learned  from  life  a  bitter  wisdom,  both  have 
outlived  their  vigor, — for  the  Cobra's  poison 
gland  was  "thuu."  The  moral  platitudes 
of  the  Pardoner  are  replaced  by  the  naive 
reflections  of  Little  Brother  and  Bagheera. 
Yet,  with  much  superficial  difference,  the 
fundamental  similarity  of  the  two  stories 
and  their  occasional  parallelism  in  details 
are  enough  to  arouse  curiosity. — Atlantic 
Monthly. 

Paribanou,  a  fairy  in  the  Arabian 
Nights  story  of  Ahmed  and  Pari- 
banou. (See  AHMED.)  This  is  the 
spelling  usually  given  in  the  trans- 
lations; but  rightly  the  name  is  the 
Peri  (or  Fairy)  Banow.  See  PERI. 

Paris  figures  in  Homer's  Iliad  and 
Odyssey  and  in  Virgil's  ^Eneid  as  the 
abductor  of  Menelaus's  wife  Helen 
(and  thus  the  primal  cause  of  the 


Paris 


223 


Partholan 


Trojan  war)  and  as  one  of  the  de- 
fenders of  Troy.  According  to  classic 
myth  he  was  the  son  of  Priam  and 
Hecuba.  His  mother  dreamed  before 
his  birth  that  she  had  been  delivered 
of  a  firebrand,  and  so  exposed  him 
as  soon  as  born  on  Mount  Ida,  where 
he  was  rescued  and  brought  up  by  a 
shepherd.  He  married  (Enone  and 
was  living  with  her  on  Mount  Ida 
when  the  goddesses  Hera,  Aphrodite 
and  Athena,  by  order  of  Zeus,  ap- 
pealed to  his  decision  as  to  which  was 
entitled  to  the  apple  of  Eris  inscribed 
"  to  the  most  beautiful."  Hera 
promised  him  the  sovereignty  of 
Asia,  Athena  fame  in  war,  and 
Aphrodite  the  fairest  of  women  for 
his  wife.  Paris  gave  the  apple  to 
Aphrodite,  under  whose  protection  he 
sailed  to  Sparta.  He  was  hospitably 
received  by  King  Menelaus,  whose 
wife  was  the  fairest  of  women,  but 
betrayed  his  host  by  eloping  with 
Helen.  She  had  been  courted  by 
many  suitors  before  she  surrendered 
to  Menelaus.  These,  spurred  on  by 
the  disappointed  divinities,  Hera  and 
Athena,  resolved  to  avenge  her  ab- 
duction and  joined  forces  in  the 
siege  of  Troy.  Paris  was  defeated 
in  single  combat  by  Menelaus,  but 
was  carried  off  by  Aphrodite.  Homer 
says  he  killed  Achilles.  Sophocles  in 
Philoctetes  adds  that  on  the  capture 
of  Troy  Paris  was  wounded  by 
Philoctetes  with  one  of  the  arrows  of 
Hercules.  Feeling  that  (Enone  alone 
could  cure  him,  for  she  knew  many 
secret  things,  he  sought  his  deserted 
wife.  See  (ENONE. 

Virgil  (&neid,  ii,  601)  does  his 
best  to  whitewash  Paris  by  placing 
the  responsibility  for  his  conduct  on 
the  immortal  gods. 

Homer  is  less  lenient.  He  punishes 
Paris  by  making  him  the  object  of 
general  reprobation  by  his  own 
countrymen  (Iliad,  iii,  453).  Even 
Hector,  his  brother,  addresses  him 
in  this  contemptuous  fashion  after 
he  has  shirked  a  hand  to  hand  contest 
with  Menelaus: 

Thou  wretched  Paris,  though  in  form  so  fair, 
Thou  slave  of  woman,  manhood's  counter- 
feit! 


Would  thou  hadst  ne'er  been  born,  or  died 

at  least 

Unwedded;  so  'twere  better  far  for  all. 
Than  thus  to  live  a  scandal  and  reproach. 
Well  may  the  long-hair'd  Greeks  triumphant 

boast. 
Who  think  thee,  from  thine  outward  show, 

a  chief 

Among  our  warriors;  but  thou  hast  in  truth 
Nor  strength  of  mind,  nor  courage  in  the 

fight. 
How   was't  that  such   as   thou   could  e'er 

induce 

A  noble  band,  in  ocean-going  ships 
To  cross  the  main,  with  men  of  other  lands 
Mixing  in  amity,  and  bearing  thence 
A  woman,  fair  of  face,  by  marriage  ties 
Bound  to  a  race  of  warriors;  to  thy  sire, 
Thy  state,   thy    people,   cause   of   endless 

grief, 

Of  triumph  to  thy  foes,  contempt  to  thee  I 
Iliad,  iii,  43.     DERBY,  trans. 

Parnassus,  a  range  of  mountains 
in  Northern  Greece  extending  south- 
east through  Doris  and  Phocis  and 
terminating  at  the  Gulf  of  Corinth 
between  Cirrha  and  Anticyra.  In 
poetry  and  myth  the  name  is  usually 
restricted  to  the  loftiest  part  of  the 
range,  a  few  miles  north  of  Delphi. 
As  it  consists  of  two  peaks  classic 
authors  frequently  speak  of  it  as 
double-headed.  They  fabled  that  it 
was  one  of  the  chief  seats  of  Apollo 
and  the  Muses  and  the  inspiring 
source  of  poetry  and  song.  Accord- 
ing to  Lucan  the  mount  was  sacred 
to  Bacchus  as  well  as  to  Apollo 
(Pharsalia,  v,  72).  Dante  at  the 
beginning  of  his  Paradiso  (i,  16) 
invokes  both  peaks,  though  one  had 
sufficed  for  other  portions  of  the  poem. 

Parthenia,  in  Sir  Philip  Sidney's 
Arcadia,  the  mistress  of  Argalus. 

Parthenope,  in  classic  myth,  one 
of  the  three  Sirens.  She  fell  in  love 
with  Ulysses,  but  failing  to  win  any 
return,  threw  herself  into  the  sea 
and  was  cast  up  on  the  shore  where 
Naples  afterwards  stood.  The  city 
was  originally  called  by  her  name. 

Partholan,  in  Irish  myth,  the  first 
man  to  land  in  Ireland.  With  him 
came  his  queen  Dalny  and  many 
companions  of  both  sexes.  They 
found  the  country  infested  with  sav- 
age and  misshapen  monsters,  the 
Fomorians,  whom  they  drove  out  of 
their  haunts,  and  who  were  later 
exterminated  by  the  Danaans.  Par- 
tholan died  after  a  peaceful  and 


Partlet 


224 


Parzival 


prosperous  reign.  His  descendants, 
the  Partholians,  were  all  with  a 
single  exception  swept  away  in  one 
week  by  a  pestilence.  That  exception 
was  Tuan  (q.v.).  Caesar  tells  how  the 
Celts  boasted  of  their  descent  from 
the  God  of  the  Dead  in  the  mystic 
land  of  the  West. 

Partlet,  or  Pertilote,  Dame,  the 
favorite  spouse  of  Chanticleer  in 
Chaucer's  The  Nonne  Prieste's  Tale, 
and  in  Dryden's  refacimento  of 
Chaucer  in  his  Fables.  Also  the  name 
of  the  hen  in  the  mediaeval  epic 
Reynard  the  Fox. 

This  gentle  cock  had  in  his  gouvernance 
Seven  hens  for  to  do  all  his  pleasaunce, 
Of  which  the  fairest  colored  on  her  throat 
Was  cleped  fayre  damysel  Pertilote. 

The  Nonne  Prieste's  Tale. 

Leontes.     Thou  dotard!     Thou  are  woman- 
tired:    unroosted 
By  thy  dame  Partlet  here. 
SHAKSPEAR:  The  Winter's  Tale,  II,  iii,  75- 

Parzival,  hero  and  title  of  a  German 
epic  (composed  between  1204  and 
1215)  by  Wolfram  von  Eschenbach, 
usually  considered  the  greatest  of 
all  the  romances  of  the  San  Greal 
(q.v.).  Its  fame  has  been  enhanced 
in  modern  times  by  Wagner's  ac- 
ceptance of  it  as  the  basis  of  his 
opera  Parsifal  (1882).  Wolfram 
himself  was  in  some  degree  influenced 
by  Chretien  de  Troyes's  Conte  del 
Graal,  written  probably  a  half  cen- 
tury earlier,  while  Chretien,  in 
turn,  adapted  and  Christianized  var- 
ious legends  which  had  come  to 
Europe  through  the  Aryan  migra- 
tions from  Asia.  Or  not  impossibly 
he  utilized  earlier  French  poems  and 
romances  (now  lost)  which  had  been 
based  on  those  legends. 

As  to  the  meaning  of  the  name 
Parzifal,  or  Parsifal,  Wagner  endorses 
the  theory  of  Gorres,  who  derives  it 
from  the  Arabic  Parsch-Fal,  i.e.,  the 
pure  or  guileless  fool. 

Parzival  is  the  posthumous  son  of 
Gamuret,  Duke  of  Anjou,  by  his 
second  wife,  Herzeloide,  a  sister  of 
King  Amfortas,  guardian  of  the  San 
Greal.  Gamuret 's  first  wife,  the 
Moorish  queen  Belacane,  had  pre- 
sented him  with  a  son,  Feirifiz,  who 


eventually  became  king  of  India. 
Parzival  himself  was  brought  up  by 
Herzeloide  in  a  secluded  forest,  in  all 
the  innocence  of  ignorance.  While 
still  a  boy  his  pulses  are  stirred  and 
his  curiosity  awakened  at  sight  of 
some  stray  knights  riding  through 
the  forest.  Learning  that  they  belong 
to  the  court  of  King  Arthur  he  yearns 
to  follow  them.  His  mother  finally 
consents,  but  puts  on  him  a  fool's  cap 
and  bells.  An  old  knight  Gurnemanz 
does  what  he  can  to  teach  him  courtly 
manners  and  dismisses  him  with  the 
caution  to  restrain  his  tongue  from 
unnecessary  questions.  He  becomes 
a  knight  of  the  Round  Table,  but 
loses  neither  his  innocence  nor  his 
ignorance.  Riding  out  in  search  of 
adventures  he  rescues  Queen  Con- 
dwiramur  from  an  oppressor,  marries 
her  and  becomes  king  of  Brobarz. 

Leaving  her  to  pay  a  visit  to  his 
mother  (little  knowing  that  she  was 
dead  of  a  broken  heart)  he  arrives 
at  a  mysterious  lake  and  is  directed 
by  a  fisherman  (see  PECHEUR,  Rpi) 
richly  dressed  but  evidently  suffering 
from  some  serious  ailment,  to  the 
castle  of  the  San  Greal  on  Mont 
Salvagge.  Arriving  there  it  turns  out 
that  the  fisherman  is  King  Amfortas 
(Parzival's  uncle),  the  keeper  of  the 
Greal,  who  has  been  grievously 
wounded,  and  who  can  be  cured  only 
when  a  guileless  fool,  seated  beside 
him  at  a  banquet,  asks  him  the 
origin  of  his  wound.  The  banquet 
occurs,  splendid  ceremonies  dazzle 
the  youth's  eyes,  the  mystic  San 
Greal  is  borne  solemnly  into  the  hall, 
but  he  remembers  too  literally 
Gurnemanz's  warning  against  idle 
questionings.  Thus  for  the  nonce 
he  forfeits  his  splendid  destiny  as  the 
successor  to  Amfortas,  is  dismissed 
in  disgrace  from  the  castle,  wanders 
back  to  King  Arthur's  court  and 
eventually  is  banished  also  from  the 
Round  Table. 

He  now  loses  all  faith  in  God  and 
man,  but  never  his  sense  of  duty. 
Struggling  against  different  forms  of 
temptation  to  which  he  never  suc- 
cumbs he  regains  at  last  his  faith  in 
God  and  his  love  of  his  fellowman, 


Pasiphae 


225' 


Pasquin 


and  is  restored  to  the  Round  Table. 
Cundrie,  a  witch  (see  Kundry),  who 
had  already  explained  to  him  his 
failure  at  Mont  Salvagge,  reappears 
at  King  Arthur's  court  and  announces 
that  he  is  now  qualified  to  fulfil  his 
mission.  He  finds  his  way  to  the 
Castle,  is  welcomed  again  to  the 
banquet  of  the  San  Greal,  asks  the 
requisite  questions,  and, — Amfortas 
being  cured  of  his  wound — he  suc- 
ceeds him  as  king  of  Mont  Salvagge 
and  keeper  of  the  Greal  relics.  These 
include  not  only  the  mystic  vessel, 
but  the  lance  of  Longinus  which 
had  wounded  Amfortas  for  his  sin 
of  unchastity.  Parzival  names  his 
own  son  Loherangrin  as  his  successor. 
He  welcomes  to  the  castle  his  half- 
brother  Fierifiz,  converts  and  bap- 
tizes him,  and  rejoices  when  he 
marries  Parzival's  maternal  aunt, 
Urepanse-de-Joie.  The  newly  mar- 
ried pair  set  out  for  India,  where  a 
son  is  born  to  them, — the  famous 
Prester  John,  and  it  is  hinted  that 
the  San  Greal  eventually  found  its 
way  to  India. 

Parzival  is  also  an  important 
character  in  Titurel,  a  German  Grail 
romance  which  was  begun  by  Wolf- 
ram von  Eschenbach  and  finished 
half  a  century  later  by  Albrecht  von 
Scharfenberg.  Albrecht  develops 
Wolfram's  hint.  He  makes  Parzival 
remove  the  San  Greal  from  the 
degenerate  West  to  the  more  worthy 
East.  Taking  his  family  and  his 
companions  with  him,  he  embarks  at 
Marseilles,  journeys  to  Fierifiz's 
court  in  India  and  would  have  en- 
trusted the  sacred  relics  to  that 
king's  son,  now  ruling  a  neighboring 
country,  but  that  the  cup  manifests 
its  desire  that  he  himself  should 
assume  the  name  and  dignity  of 
Prester  John.  He  does  so  and  by 
the  prayers  of  himself  and  his  com- 
rades the  castle  of  Mont  Salvagge  is 
miraculously  transferred  to  India. 
On  Parzival's  death  Fierifiz's  son 
again  becomes  Prester  John,  and 
assumes,  in  addition,  the  guardian- 
ship of  the  Greal. 

Pasiphae,  in  classic  myth,  daughter 
of  Helios  and  Perseis,  sister  of  JEtes 

15 


and  Circe,  and  wife  of  Minos.  She 
fell  in  love  with  the  white  bull  pre- 
sented by  Poseidon  to  Minos,  and 
thereby  became  the  mother  of  the 
Minotaur. 

Pasquin  (It.  Pasquino},  the  name 
given  to  a  mutilated  antique  statue 
standing  in  the  Piazza  Pasquino, 
Rome,  at  an  angle  of  the  Palazzo 
Orsini,  which  is  variously  supposed 
to  have  been  originally  intended  for 
Hercules  or  Alexander  or  Menelaus. 
This  fragment  was  dug  up  in  1503 
near  one  of  the  entrances  of  the 
ancient  amphitheatre  of  Alexander 
Severus.  The  tradition  which  ex- 
plains its  modern  name  is  first 
mentioned  by  Castelvetro  in  1553 
in  his  critique  of  a  canzone  by 
Annibal  Caro.  Maestro  Pasquino, 
the  story  runs,  was  a  fashionable 
Roman  tailor  who  flourished  at  the 
end  of  the  fifteenth  century.  His 
shop  was  frequented  by  prelates, 
courtiers  and  other  personages,  who 
met  there  to  exchange  the  gossip  and 
scandal  of  the  day.  Pasquino  was 
a  wag  himself,  and  his  epigrams  upon 
men  and  affairs  were  so  widely  re- 
peated that  in  time  he  was  credited 
with  every  current  bit  of  witty 
malice,  insomuch  that  if  anyone 
wished  to  say  a  hard  thing  of  another 
he  did  it  under  cover  of  the  person 
of  Master  Pasquin,  pretending  he  had 
heard  it  said  at  his  shop.  In  time 
the  tailor  died  and  it  happened  that, 
in  improving  the  street,  the  broken 
statue  was  unearthed  and  set  up  by 
the  side  of  the  shop,  and  people  said 
humorously  that  Master  Pasquin  had 
come  back.  Finally  the  custom  arose 
of  hanging  placards  on  the  statue, 
and  as  it  had  been  allowed  the  tailor 
to  say  what  he  chose,  so  by  means  of 
the  statue  anyone  might  publish 
what  he  would  not  have  ventured 
to  speak.  These  came  to  be  known 
as  pasquinades.  Even  before  Luther 
had  made  himself  feared  in  Rome, 
Pasquin  was  already  well  known  as 
the  satirist  of  the  church,  and  the 
substitute  for  a  free  press  under  the 
papal  government.  He  could  not 
be  silenced.  "  Great  sums,"  said  he 
one  day,  in  an  epigram  addressed  to 


Pasquin 


226 


Patrise 


Paul  III,  who  was  pope  from  1534 
to  1549,  "great  sums  were  formerly 
given  to  poets  for  singing;  how  much 
will  you  give  me,O  Paul, to  be  silent?" 

Adrian  VI,  we  are  told,  was  with- 
held from  burning  the  statue  by  the 
suggestion  that  its  ashes  would 
turn  into  frogs,  "  which  would  croak 
louder  than  Pasquin  had  done." 

In  time  other  statues,  in  other 
parts  of  Rome,  imitated  him  by 
breaking  out  into  written  speech. 
There  was  Marforio,  for  example,  a 
gigantic  torso  on  the  Capitoline  Hill 
which  had  been  found  in  the  sixteenth 
century  in  the  forum  of  Mars,  whence 
some  would  derive  its  name.  Mar- 
forio had  originally  been  a  river  god. 
He  rarely  took  the  initiative,  but 
served  as  an  interlocutor  to  Pas- 
quino,  a  stimulus  to  renewed  epigram 
and  invective.  Dialogues  were  car- 
ried on  between  the  two.  Sometimes 
a  third  party  joined  in  the  conversa- 
tion, the  so-called  Facchino  or  Porter 
of  the  Palazzo  Piombino.  Sprenger 
in  his  Roma  Nova  (1660)  tells  us 
that  Pasquino  was  the  spokesman  of 
the  nobles,  Marforio  of  the  bour- 
geoisie, _and  the  Facchino  of  the 
proletariat.  These  examples  grew 
contagious.  The  Abate  Luigi  at  the 
Palazzo  Valle,  the  Baboon  who  gave 
his  name  to  the  Via  Babuino,  and 
the  marble  effigy  of  Scanderbeg, 
perched  on  the  house  he  at  one  time 
occupied  in  Rome,  all  joined  in  the 
conversation  at  staccato  intervals. 

But  Pasquin  remained  the  great 
protagonist  of  the  pasquinade.  In 
1544  a  collection  of  his  epigrams  and 
lampoons  was  published  under  the 
title  Pasquilorum,  tomi  duo,  which 
served  to  extend  his  reputation 
throughout  Europe.  His  image  was 
put  to  strange  uses.  On  public 
festivals  it  would  be  decorated  with 
paint  or  clad  in  representative  garb. 
He  figured  as  Neptune,  or  Fate,  or 
Apollo,  or  Bacchus.  In  the  year  1515, 
memorable  as  that  of  the  descent  of 
Francis  I  into  Italy,  he  became 
Orpheus  and  carried  a  lyre  and  wore 
a  plectus.  Marforio  greeted  him 
with  a  Latin  distich,  which  runs  thus 
in  English: 


"  In  the  midst  of  war  and  slaughter, 
and  the  sound  of  trumpets,  you  sing 
and  strike  your  lyre.  Well  do  you 
understand  the  temper  of  your 
lord."  See  also  W.  W.  STORY,  Roba 
di  Roma;  WALSH,  Handy-book  of 
Literary  Curiosities,  p.  874. 

Patelin,  Lawyer  (Fr.  L'Avocat 
Patelin),  titular  hero  of  the  first 
regular  comedy  in  France  (i4th 
century),  a  smooth,  subtle,  knavish 
attorney. 

Guillaume,  a  draper,  angered  by 
repeated  robberies,  seeks  to  make  an 
example  of  his  shepherd  Agnelet, 
who  has  stolen  26  sheep.  At  the 
trial  he  finds  that  Agnelet  is  defended 
by  Patelin,  who  has  stolen  from  him 
6  ells  of  cloth.  His  wits  running  on 
both  losses,  he  gets  verbally  tangled 
up  between  his  sheep  and  his  cloth 
and  is  continually  brought  to  book 
by  the  judge  in  a  phrase  that  has 
become  proverbial,  Revenons  a  nos 
moutons,  "  Let  us  return  to  our 
sheep." 

Patrise,  Sir,  in  Arthurian  romance, 
an  Irish  knight  who  attended  Queen 
Guinevere's  banquet  to  the  Greal 
seekers,  and  ate  by  misadventure  of 
a  poisoned  apple,  intended  for  Gawain 
by  his  enemy  Sir  Pinel  le  Savage. 
Guinevere  fell  under  suspicion.  Sir 
Mador  de  la  Porte,  cousin  to  the 
victim,  openly  accused  her  and  chal- 
lenged any  champion  she  might 
select.  Lancelot  being  absent  and 
estranged  from  her  she  chooses  Sir 
Bors,  but  Lancelot  appears  in  dis- 
guise and  defeats  the  challenger. 
Shortly  afterwards  either  Nimue  or 
Vivien,  coming  to  the  court  of  King 
Arthur,  cleared  up  the  mystery  by 
her  magic  arts;  Pinel  fled  for  his  life, 
and  Mador  acknowledged  his  error. 

Then  was  it  openly  known  that  Sir  Pinel 
empoisoned  the  apples  at  the  feast  to  that 
intent  to  have  destroyed  Sir  Gawain,  by 
cause  Sir  Gawain  and  his  brethren  destroyed 
Sir  Lamoris  de  Galis,  to  the  which  Sir  Pinel 
was  cousin  unto.  Then  was  Sir  Patrise 
buried  in  the  church  of  Westminster  in  a 
tomb,  and  thereupon  was  written:  "Here 
lieth  Sir  Patrise  of  Ireland,  slain  by  Sir 
Pinel  le  Savage,  that  empoisoned  apples  to 
have  slain  Sir  Gawain,  and  by  misfortune 
Sir  Patrise  ate  one  of  those  apples  and 
then  suddenly  he  burst." — MALORY:  Morte 
d' Arthur,  xviii,  I. 


Patroclus 


227 


Pecheur 


Patroclus,  in  Greek  myth,  the 
bosom  friend  of  Achilles,  whose 
armor  he  borrowed  when  the  latter 
was  sulking  in  his  tent.  In  the  ensu- 
ing conflict  he  was  slain  by  Hector 
(Iliad,  xvi),  whereupon  Achilles, 
in  mingled  wrath  and  grief,  resumed 
the  conflict  with  the  Trojans. 

Pecheur,  Roi  (Fr.  Fisher  King  or 
King  Fisherman,  known  also  as  the 
Maimed  King),  in  the  San  Greal 
cycle  of  romances,  the  sobriquet  of 
one  of  the  guardians  of  the  Holy 
Grail,  miraculously  wounded  as  a 
punishment  for  misconduct,  who 
could  be  relieved  from  a  living  death 
only  through  the  aid  of  a  sinless 
youth.  As  a  rule  the  youth  knew 
nothing  of  his  mission,  whence  many 
complications  arose.  As  a  rule,  also, 
the  wound  had  been  inflicted  by  a 
weapon,  generally  the  lance  of 
Longinus  (q.v.),  which  formed  a  part 
of  the  relics  of  the  Holy  Grail. 
Sometimes  its  cure  was  effected  by 
the  weapon  that  had  inflicted  it,  a 
detail  borrowed  apparently  from  the 
Pelian  Spear  (q.v.)  of  pagan  antiquity. 

There  is  reason  to  believe  that  the 
name  Pecheur  (fisherman)  was  a 
popular  misconception  for  Pecheur 
(sinner),  the  more  obviously  appro- 
priate term.  In  written  French  of 
to-day  there  is  only  the  difference  of 
an  accent  between  the  words,  in  the 
lax  orthography  of  the  middle  ages 
no  difference  would  be  recognized. 
At  all  events  in  spoken  language  the 
two  were  and  are  still  practically 
identical.  The  change  to  Pecheur 
was  facilitated  by  analogy  with  the 
fishermen  of  Galilee,  and  by  the 
mystic  properties  that  Christian 
tradition  attributed  to  the  Greek 
word  i^"C,  whose  initials  form  an 
anagram  for  a  phrase  signifying 
Jesus  Christ,  Son  of  God,  Saviour. 
From  this  multiplicity  of  kinships, 
classical  and  mediaeval,  pagan  and 
Christian,  Aryan  and  Semitic,  much 
confusion  has  arisen  as  to  the  story 
and  the  very  identity  of  the  Roi 
Pecheur.  The  greatmame  of  Wolfram 
von  Eschenbach  in  the  I3th  century, 
the  greater  name  of  Wagner  in  the 
1 9th — respectively  in  the  epic  of 


Parzeval  and  the  opera  of  Parsifal, 
have,  in  the  modern  mind,  identified 
the  Fisher  King  with  Amfortas  (q.v.). 
Nor  was  this  identification  a  novelty 
even  with  Wolfram.  As  a  novelty, 
however,  it  had  been  introduced 
some  short  period  before  the  writing 
of  his  Parzival, — exactly  when,  it  is 
impossible  to  say,  as  many  of  the 
San  Greal  romances  survive  only  in 
their  titles. 

In  the  1 2th  century  Conte  del 
Graal  of  Chretien  deTroyes,Perceval,a 
knight  errant  in  search  of  adventures, 
comes  upon  two  fishermen  who  direct 
him  to  a  neighboring  castle  where 
he  will  receive  bed  and  board.  There 
he  finds  an  old  man  stretched  upon 
a  couch  who  gives  him  a  sword  and 
a  bleeding  lance.  At  supper  a  damsel 
enters  bearing  the  Holy  Grail.  Next 
morning  he  awakes  to  find  the 
castle  deserted.  Outside  its  gates  a 
weeping  damsel  explains  that  the 
fisherman  who  had  directed  him  to 
the  castle  was  none  other  than  the 
old  man  who  had  presented  him  with 
sword  and  lance.  Long  ago  he  had 
been  wounded  through  both  legs, 
which  barred  him  from  all  form  of 
exercise  save  fishing.  Hence  he  was 
called  Le  Roi  Pecheur.  Had  Perceval 
inquired  the  meaning  of  all  he  had 
seer\  the  king  would  have  been  cured. 
Chretien  left  his  story  unfinished. 
Thirteenth  century  sequels  took  it  up 
and  explained  that  the  Roi  Pecheur 
was  Perceval's  uncle,  Amfortas.  The 
youth  returns,  asks  the  necessary 
questions,  the  king's  wound  is  cured, 
and  Perceval  becomes  his  heir. 

In  the  Grand  St.  Graal,  an  early 
1 3th  century  romance,  Alain,  a 
grandson  of  Joseph  of  Arimathea, 
and  guardian  of  the  Grail,  is  called 
the  Rich  Fisher  because  once  he  had 
caught  a  great  fish  and  fed  an  entire 
company  therewith.  The  title  de- 
scends to  successive  keepers  of  the 
Grail.  Alain  had  enshrined  this 
cup  in  the  Castle  of  Corbenic.  Pelles, 
one  of  his  descendants,  for  contu- 
maciously reposing  in  the  chamber 
that  contained  it,  was  wounded  in 
both  thighs  and  was  ever  after  known 
as  the  Maimed  King.  In  the  Quete 


Pecheur 


228 


Peeping 


del  San  Croat,  a  later  isth  century 
romance,  the  name  of  the  Maimed 
King  becomes  Peleur.  But  his 
literary  descent  from  Peleus,  father 
of  Achilles,  is  evidenced  by  the  fact 
that  Galahad,  who  here  _  supplants 
Perceval,  heals  him  with  blood 
scraped  from  the  Grail  lance,  which 
had  inflicted  the  wound.  In  Robert 
de  Borrons's  romance,  Joseph  of 
Arimathea  ($.f.),  Brons,  the  brother- 
in-law  of  Joseph  and  his  successor  as 
keeper  of  the  Grail,  catches  a  fish  by 
means  of  which  sinners  are  detected 
and  is  known  as  the  Rich  Fisher. 
Here  we  have  the  earliest  recogni- 
tion of  any  connection,  and  that 
but  a  cursory  one,  between  Pecheur 
and  Pecheur. 

Wagner's  genius  selects  from  all 
the  old  legends  whatever  is  available 
for  his  purpose  and  synthesizes  the 
result  into  a  new  and  brilliant  whole 
that  has  stamped  itself  forever  upon 
musical  and  poetical  literature.  His 
Fisher  King  is  Amfortas,  who  has 
sinned  with  the  witch  Kundry  and 
is  punished  by  a  wound  from  the 
sacred  lance.  The  weapon  passes  into 
the  keeping  of  the  evil  magician 
Klingsor.  Amfortas,  left  suffering 
bodily  pangs  that  nothing  can  heal 
save  the  weapon  that  caused  them, 
is  tortured  also  in  soul  by  shame  and 
remorse.  In  vain  his  knights  scour 
the  world  for  medicines.  In  vain 
Kundry,  anxious  now  to  repair  the 
wrong  she  has  done,  penetrates  the 
deeps  of  Arabia  for  secret  balsams. 
In  vain  is  Amfortas  taken  in  his 
litter  to  bathe  in  the  sacred  lake. 
One  hope  only  remains.  On  the 
Grail  chalice  there  appears  overnight 
this  legend, 

By  pity  enlightened,  a  guileless  fool, 
Wait  for  him — my  chosen  tool. 

The  fool  must  ask  Amfortas  the 
cause  of  his  wound.  Then  it  will  be 
healed  and  the  fool  will  succeed  to 
the  kingship.  Parsifal  arrives.  Gur- 
nemanz,  a  wise  old  knight,  sees  in 
him  the  promised  rescuer  and  brings 
him  to  the  annual  Grail  banquet  on 
Good  Friday.  The  knights  in  solemn 
procession  file  into  the  hall.  Another 


solemn  procession  bears  Amfortas 
in  a  litter.  It  is  his  duty  to  uncover 
the  Grail,  whose  contents  rejuvenate 
the  knights  for  the  coming  year. 
But  he  too  is  rejuvenated;  his  agony 
is  only  prolonged,  fain  would  he  be 
relieved  from  this  duty.  The  voice 
of  Titurel,  however,  urges  him  on; 
finally  he  uncovers  the  Grail.  Parsifal 
remains  dumb  and  dazed.  With  an 
impatient  jibe  at  his  folly  Gurne- 
manz  thrusts  him  out  into  the  night. 
He  is  beguiled  into  the  magician's 
enchanted  palace,  where  Klingsor 
orders  the  reluctant  Kundry  to  tempt 
him  into  sin.  Maddened  by  her  fail- 
ure, Klingsor  hurls  the  sacred  lance 
at  Parsifal,  who  makes  the  sign  of 
the  cross.  The  lance  remains  sus- 
pended in  air,  the  youth  captures  it, 
and  the  castle  disappears.  Con- 
scious now  of  his  mission,  enlightened 
as  to  his  former  failure,  he  finds  his 
way  to  another  Grail  banquet,  asks 
the  necessary  questions,  touches  the 
wounds  of  Amfortas  with  the  sacred 
spear,  and  straightway  they  are 
healed. 

Pedauque,  Queen  (Fr.  La  Reine 
Pedauque,  a  corruption  of  the  Latin 
Regina  pede  aucce),  one  of  the  names 
of  Bertha  of  the  Big-foot,  or  goose's 
foot.  See  BERTHA,  and  GOOSE, 
MOTHER. 

Elles  dtaient  largement  patees  comme 
tout  les  oies,  et  comme  jadis  a  Toulouse  le 
portait  la  reine  Pedauque. — RABELAIS. 

Peeping  Tom,  in  a  local  tradition 
of  Coventry,  England,  (forming  a 
later  addition  to  the  mediasval  myth 
of  Lady  Godiva)  was  a  tailor  at  the 
time  that  lady  took  her  famous  ride 
naked  through  the  streets  of  the  city. 
Peeping  Tom  is  all  myth.  Lady 
Godiva  (see  in  Vol.  I)  was  a  real 
character,  wife  of  Leofric,  Earl  of 
Mercia  and  Lord  of  Coventry.  It  is 
historically  true  that  through  the 
efforts  of  Godiva  Leofric's  vassals 
did  receive  some  sort  of  manumission 
from  servile  tenure.  Legend,  build- 
ing on  history,  asserts  that  she 
released  the  town  folk  of  Coventry 
from  heavy  taxation  imposed  by  her 
husband  by  riding  through  the  town 


Pegasus 


229 


Pelian 


clothed  only  in  her  long  hair,  having 
previously  issued  a  proclamation 
that  all  doors  and  windows  should  be 
closed,  and  the  streets  be  left  deserted 
so  that  she  might  ride  unseen.  In 
St.  Michael's  Church  a  stained  glass 
window  commemorates  this  legendary 
event  and  in  a  niche  is  an  effigy  of 
Peeping  Tom,  who  was  struck  blind 
as  he  peeped  out  upon  her  from 
behind  his  shutters.  Tennyson  tells 
the  story  thus: 

Then    she    rode    forth,    clothed    on    with 
chastity; 

***** 

And  one  low  churl,  compact  of  thankless 

earth, 

The  fatal  by-word  of  all  years  to  come, 
Boring  a  little  auger  hole  in  fear, 
Peeped,  but  his  eyes  before  they  had  their 

will 

Were  shrivelled  into  darkness  in  his  head, 
And  dropt  before  him.  So  the  Powers  who 

wait 

On  noble  deeds  cancel  a  sense  misused. 
Lady  Godiva.    A  Tale  of  Coventry. 

An  analogous  legend  in  France  is 
that  of  Andret,  while  classical  prec- 
edents are  furnished  by  Actaeon  and 
Pentheus.  See  also  WALSH,  Curiosi- 
ties of  Popular  Customs,  p.  471. 

Effigies  of  Peeping  Tom  are  countless 
here, — in  stone,  in  wood,  in  delft,  in  porce- 
lain, in  wax;  while  the  very  schoolboys  are 
eternally  testing  new  jack-knives  upon 
grotesque  imitations  of  the  repulsive  thing. 
The  thing  leers  at  you  from  niches  above 
ancient  buildings;  seems  to  crane  its  lecher- 
ous head  from  the  cornices  of  new  and  old 
hotels;  shows, its  horse-like  teeth  from  among 
shop-window  trifles,  and  haunts  and  pursues 
you  until  you  are  startled  to  see  its  linea- 
ments reproduced  in  the  faces  of  tramps  and 
beldames  in  shadowy  quarters  of  the  musty 
old  town.  Truly  the  Peeping  Tom  you  will 
find  everywhere  in  Coventry  is  a  dreadful 
travesty  upon  the  human  form  and  face. 
They  have  put  his  trunk  and  chest  in 
armor.  He  is  made  a  man  of  arms  as  well 
as  shears,  with  a  military  cocked  hat  decked 
with  a  huge  rosette.  His  face  is  wide, 
square  and  white.  The  eyes  are  Brobdig- 
nagian  in  size  and  possess  a  leer  both  sancti- 
monious and  repulsively  suggestive, 
bearded  chin  looks  like  the  mirage'  of  a 
savage  flame.  And  the  mouth  as  wide  as 
a  cow's,  discloses  a  ghastly  row  of  grave- 
stone teeth. — Edward  L.  Wakeman  in  a 
letter  from  Coventry  to  New  York  Sun, 
October  18,  1891. 

Pegasus,  in  classic  myth,  a  winged 
steed,  so  called  because,  according  to 


Hesiod  (Theogony,  281),  he  was  bora 
of  the  springs  (pegce)  of  ocean. 
Begotten  by  Poseidon,  he  sprang 
from  the  bleeding  trunk  of  Medusa 
when  her  head  was  cut  off  by  Per- 
seus, and  soaring  into  the  air  found 
his  first  resting  place  at  the  acropolis 
of  Corinth.  Here  Bellerophon  cap- 
tured him  and  tamed  him  (PINDAR, 
Olympia,  xiii,  63),  using  him  there- 
after in  all  his  exploits,  including  the 
conquest  of  the  Chimaera  and  the 
Amazons.  When,  however,  he  sought 
to  mount  to  the  sky,  Pegasus  threw 
him,  and  continuing  his  course,  ar- 
rived on  Mount  Olympus,  where  he 
served  Zeus  by  fetching  him  the 
thunder  and  the  lightning.  Pau- 
sanias  (ii,  31;  ix,  31)  says  that 
where  he  struck  the  earth,  Hippo- 
crene,  the  fountain  of  the  Muses, 
sprang  up.  Hence  perhaps  the 
modern  representation  of  Pegasus  as 
the  steed  of  poets,  which  dates  no 
further  back  than  Bojardp  in  the 
Orlando  Innamorato.  The  idea  that 
Perseus  was  mounted  on  Pegasus 
when  he  rescued  Andromeda  results 
from  his  being  popularly  confused 
with  Ariosto's  Rogero,  who,  mounted 
on  the  hippogriff,  rescued  Angelica 
from  a  sea-monster. 

Peleus,  king  of  the  Myrmidons,  son 
of  Accus  and  father  of  Achilles  by 
the  sea-nyrnph  Thetis.  His  first 
wife  was  Antigone,  daughter  of 
Eurytion.  Peleus  accidentally  slew 
the  latter  with  his  fateful  spear, 
which  he  subsequently  presented  to 
Achilles, — his  son  by  his  second  mar- 
riage to  Thetis.  According  to  a  late 
tradition,  unknown  to  Homer,  Thetis 
forsook  her  husband,  because  his 
presence  hindered  her  from  making 
her  son  immortal. 

Pelian  Spear,  an  alternative  name 
for  the  spear  of  Achilles,  which  had 
been  given  him  by  his  father,  Peleus. 
When  Achilles  in  single  combat 
wounded  Telephus,  king  of  Mysia,  an 
oracle  declared  the  hurt  could  never 
be  healed  save  by  that  which  had 
inflicted  it.  Ulyssus  scraped  rust 
from  the  spear,  made  it  up  into  a 
plaster,  and  cured  the  sufferer.  See 
PELLES. 


Pelias 


230 


Pelican 


Such    was    the    cure    the    Arcadian    hero 

found, — 
The  Pelian  spear  that  wounded,  made  him 

sound. 

OVID:    Remedy  of  Love. 

Whose  smile   and   frown,  like   to  Achilles' 

spear, 

Is  able  with  the  change  to  kill  and  cure. 
SHAKSPEAR:    //  Henry  VI,  v,  i. 

Werenfels  in  his  Dissertation  on 
Superstitions  p.  8  writes:  '  If  the 
superstitious  person  be  wounded  by 
any  chance,  he  applies  the  salve,  not 
to  the  wound,  but  what  is  more 
effectual  to  the  weapon  by  which  he 
received  it.  By  a  new  kind  of  art 
he  will  transplant  his  disease  like  a 
scion,  and  graft  it  into  what  tree  he 
pleases.  The  fever  he  will  not  drive 
away  by  medicines,  but  what  is  a 
more  certain  remedy  having  pared 
his  nails,  and  tied  them  to  a  crayfish, 
he  will  turn  his  back,  and  as  Deuca- 
lion did  the  stones  from  which  a  new 
progeny  of  men  arose,  throw  them 
behind  him  into  the  next  river." 
William  Foster  in  a  treatise  Hoplo- 
Crisma  Spongus  or  a  Sponge  to  wipe 
away  the  Weapon  Salve  (1631)  argued 
that  this  alleged  remedy  was  magical, 
unlawful,  and,  what  was  more  to  the 
point,  useless. 

Pelias  and  Neleus,  in  Greek  myth, 
twin  brothers  born  to  Tyro,  a  maiden 
of  Thessaly,  as  the  result  of  an 
intrigue  with  the  god  Poseidon.  At 
birth  they  were  exposed  by  the 
mother  and  reared  by  a  countryman. 
Tyro  subsequently  married  Cretheus, 
king  of  lolcus.  When  the  twins 
discovered  their  parentage  they  seized 
the  throne  of  lolcus.  Then  Pelias 
banished  Nelius  and  became  sole 
ruler.  He  promised,  however,  to 
abdicate  in  favor  of  Jason  if  that  son 
of  Cretheus  would  fetch  the  Golden 
Fleece  from  Colchis.  This  was  the 
origin  of  the  expedition  of  the  Argo- 
nauts. 

Jason,  returning  with  Medea,  found 
Pelias  unwilling  to  keep  his  word. 
The  daughters  of  Pelias  were  not 
kindly  disposed  towards  the  stranger 
woman.  They  did  their  best  to 
extinguish  the  waning  love  of  Jason. 
Medea  determined  at  one  blow  to  rid 
herself  of  Pelias,  to  punish  his  daugh- 


ters, and  to  reconquer  Jason's  love. 
She  had  the  power  of  restoring  youth 
to  the  aged  by  means  of  a  magic 
bath.  She  persuaded  her  new  nieces 
to  try  her  method  upon  their  father, 
with  the  result  that  he  died  in  agony, 
and  they  stood  guilty  of  a  hideous 
murder.  As  to  Jason,  she  had  ruined 
him, — indifference  now  turned  to 
hatred.  A  lost  play  of  Euripides  was 
entitled  The  Daughters  of  Pelias 
(B.C.  455). 

Pelican,  a  clumsy,  gluttonous,  fish 
eating  water  bird,  which  has  been 
transformed  by  legend  into  a  symbol 
of  Christianity.  It  is  characterized 
by  a  huge  dilatable  pouch,  supported 
by  the  two  flexible  bony  arches  in  the 
lower  mandible.  The  mother  feeds 
her  young  by  pushing  their  bills  into 
this  pouch.  The  appearance  of  their 
red  bills  on  her  snowy  breast  ap- 
parently gave  rise  to  the  fable  that 
she  feeds  her  young  on  her  own  blood. 
In  Egypt  the  vulture  is  somehow 
credited  with  this  philoprogenitive 
phenomenon,  a  fact  that  has  doubt- 
less influenced  the  heraldic  repre- 
sentations of  the  pelican,  which 
closely  resemble  the  vulture.  A 
further  extension  of  the  legend  is 
recorded  by  Du  Bartas,  who  says 
that  though  the  father  bird  be  an 
unnatural  parent, 

The  other,  kindly,  for  her  tender  brood 
Tears  her  own  bowels,  trilleth  out  her  blood, 
To  heal  her  young,  and  in  a  wondrous  sort, 
Unto  her  children  doth  her  life  transport: 
For  finding  them  by  some  fell  serpent  slain 
She  rends  her^breast,  and  doth  upon  them 

rain 

Her  vital  humor;  whence  recovering  heat, 
They  by^her  death  another  life  do  get. 

St.  Hieronymus  quotes  the  story 
of  the  pelican  restoring  her  young, 
after  they  have  been  destroyed  by 
serpents,  as  an  illustration  of  the 
destruction  of  man  by  the  Old  Ser- 
pent and  his  salvation  by  the  blood 
of  Christ. 

Then  said  the  pelican 

When  my  brats  be  slain, 
With  my  blood  I  them  revive. 

Scripture  doth  record 

The  same  did  Our  Lord 
And  rose  from  death  to  life. 

SKELTON:    Armory  of  Birds. 


Pelles 


231 


Penelope 


Pelles,  King,  in  Arthurian  romance, 
the  father  of  Elaine  (g.t>.)  and  grand- 
father of  Galahad.  Some  of  the  San 
Greal  legends  make  him  a  cousin  of 
Joseph  of  Arimathea,  and  a  few 
identify  him  with  the  Roi  Pecheur. 
These  few  represent  him  as  a  guardian 
of  the  Holy  Grail  in  his  castle  of 
Corbonec.  He  was  permitted  within 
the  sacred  chamber,  but  because  he 
once  attempted  to  sleep  therein  he 
received  a  wound  from  the  lance  of 
Longinus.  Galahad,  or,  some  say, 
Parzival  cured  him  by  anointing  him 
with  a  compost  made  of  blood 
scraped  from  the  lance.  Evidently 
this  is  a  Christian  recrudescence  of 
the  pagan  myth  of  the  Pelian  Spear 
(g.t>.). 

Pelops,  Greek  myth,  son  of  Tan- 
talus, king  of  Phrygia.  His  father, 
at  a  great  banquet  of  the  gods, 
caused  him  to  be  cut  to  pieces,  boiled 
and  served  up  as  one  of  the  courses. 
The  divinities  were  not  to  be  deceived 
and  refused  to  partake  of  the  dish, — 
all  save  Demeter,  who,  being  absorbed 
in  grief  for  the  loss  of  her  daughter, 
eat  the  shoulder.  When  Zeus  ordered 
Hermes  to  restore  the  dead  to  life 
an  ivory  shoulder  supplied  the  miss- 
ing one.  Hence  the  notion  that  his 
descendants  all  had  one  shoulder  as 
white  as  ivory.  Pindar  rejects  the 
story,  preferring  the  version  that 
Pelops  was  carried  off  by  Poseidon, 
as  Ganymede  was  taken  by  the  eagle 
to  Olympus.  Pelops  later  went  to 
Elis,  where  King  CEnamus  had 
announced  that  he  would  give  his 
daughter,  Hippodamia,  to  any  one 
who  could  vanquish  him  in  a  chariot- 
race.  If  the  candidate  failed  he 
should  suffer  death.  CEnamus  be- 
lieved his  horses  the  swiftest  in  the 
world.  He  wished  to  discourage 
suitors  for  his  daughter,  as  an  oracle 
had  declared  that  he  would  be  slain 
by  his  son-in-law.  Pelops  bribed 
Myrtilos,  the  king's  charioteer,  ^  to 
loosen  the  wheels  of  the  royal  chariot. 
CEnamus  was  slain  in  the  resulting 
accident  and  Pelops  married  his 
daughter,  but  he  fell  under  the 
dying  curse  of  Myrtilos,  whom  he  had 
ungratefully  drowned  in  the  sea. 


This  curse  was  wrought  out  in  the 
misfortunes  of  his  sons,  Chrysippus, 
Atreus  and  Thyestes,  and  their 
descendants.  Chrysippus,  as  his 
father's  favorite,  excited  the  jealousy 
of  his  brothers,  who  with  the  conniv- 
ance of  Hippodamia,  murdered  him 
and  threw  his  body  into  a  well.  Sus- 
pecting his  sons  of  the  murder,  Pelops 
banished  them  from  the  country. 
After  his  death  Pelops  was  honored 
at  Olympia  above  all  other  heroes. 
His  name  was  so  famous  that  it  was 
constantly  used  by  the  poets  in  con- 
nection with  his  descendants,  the 
Pelopides,  and  the  places  they  in- 
habited, as  for  instance  the  Pelopon- 
nesus. His  name  does  not  appear 
in  Homer. 

Sometime  let  gorgeous  Tragedy 
In  sceptred  pall  come  sweeping  by. 
Presenting  Thebes  or  Pelops'  line 
Or  the  tale  of  Troy  divine. 

MILTON:    //  Penseroso,  96. 

Penates,  in  Roman  myth,  the 
household  gods,  two  in  number,  who 
looked  after  the  welfare  and  prosper- 
ity of  the  family.  The  hearth  of  the 
house  was  their  altar,  where  offerings 
were  made  jointly  to  themselves  and 
to  the  Lar  (see  LARES).  There  were, 
also,  Penates  belonging  to  the  state, 
whose  temples  were  originally  in  the 
quarter  Velia,  where  their  statues 
stood  below  those  of  the  Dioscuri, 
but  later  these  were  enshrined  in  the 
temple  of  Vesta. 

Penelope,  in  classic  myth,  daughter 
of  Icarius  and  Peribcea  of  Sparta 
and  spouse  of  Odysseus.  Her  only 
son  Telemachus  was  an  infant  when 
Odysseus  sailed  for  Troy.  Homer 
in  the  Odyssey  affirms  that  during 
his  twenty  years'  absence  she  was 
faithful  to  her  husband,  though 
towards  the  end  she  was  beleaguered 
by  suitors.  Day  by  day  she  put 
them  off  on  the  plea  that  she  must 
finish  a  web  or  a  robe  she  was  work- 
ing for  her  father-in-law  Laertes. 
Every  night  she  undid  the  work  of 
the  day.  Hence  the  proverbial 
phrase,  "  Penelope's  web,"  for  work 
undone  as  soon  as  done.  The  trick 
served  for  three  years,  then  it  was 
betrayed  by  one  of  her  attendants. 


Penthesilea 


232 


Peona 


The  work  she  plied;  but,  studious  of  delay, 

By  night  reversed  the  labors  of  the  day. 

While  thrice  the  sun  his  annual  journey 
made, 

The  conscious  lamp  the  midnight  fraud  sur- 
vey'd; 

Unheard,  unseen,  three  years  her  arts  pre- 
vail: 

The  fourth,  her  maid  unfolds  the  amazing 
tale. 

We  saw  as  unperceived  we  took  our  stand, 

The  backward  labors  of  her  faithless  hand. 
HOMER:  Odyssey,  xxiv.  POPE,  trans. 

Penelope  was  forced  to  consent 
to  the  terms  named  by  the  suitors 
and  backed  by  her  family,  that  she 
would  marry  whomever,  with  the 
bow  of  Odysseus,  could  speed  an 
arrow  through  a  given  number  of 
axe-eyes  placed  in  succession.  A 
stranger  disguised  as  a  beggar  was 
the  only  one  who  succeeded.  This 
proved  to  be  Odysseus  himself,  who 
straightway  slew  one  suitor  after 
another  with  his  remaining  shafts. 

Herodotus  (ii,  145)  tells  a  very 
different  story, — that  she  was  se- 
duced by  Hermes  and  repudiated  on 
his  return  by  Ulysses.  A  more  ab- 
horrent tale  told  in  later  times  made 
her  unfaithful  with  all  the  suitors 
so  that  she  had  as  offspring  the  infant 
appropriately  named  Pan. 

Penelope  does  not  interest  us  in  an  equal 
degree  with  her  husband.  She  is  chaste 
and  prudent;  but  as  Ulysses  scruples  not  to 
accept  the  favors  of  Calypso  and  Circe,  so 
she  evidently  goes  considerable  lengths  in 
the  way  of  coquetry  with  her  suitors. 
Antinous  declares  in  public  that  she  had 
made  promises  to  every  one  of  them,  and 
had  sent  messages  to  them;  she  undoubtedly 
wishes  earnestly  for  her  husband's  return, 
and  seems  sincere  in  her  dislike  of  the 
prospect  of  a  second  marriage;  nevertheless, 
she  is  not  insensible  to  the  charm  of  being 
admired  and  courted,  and  does  not  appear 
very  seriously  angry  at  the  boldness  of 
Antinous  and  others,  to  which,  it  should 
seem,  she  might  have  put  a  stop  by  remov- 
ing to  her  father's  house,  as  Telemachus 
repeatedly  hints  she  ought  to  do,  and  then 
choosing  or  refusing  a  husband  as  she 
pleased.  She  permits  the  constant  spoil  and 
dilapidation  of  her  husband's  or  son's  sub- 
stance, and  even  the  life  of  the  latter  to  be 
perpetually  exposed  to  the  violence  and 
ity  of  men  whom,  according  to  their 
frequent  professions,  she  had  the  means  of 
leading  in  another  direction. — COLERIDGE. 

Penthesilea,  in  classic  myth,  daugh- 
ter of  Ares  and  Otrera  and  queen 
of  the  Amazons.  The  post-Homeric 
poets  tell  how  after  the  death  of 


Hector  she  came  to  the  assistance  of 
the  Trojans  with  a  troop  of  her 
female  warriors.  She  was  slain  by 
Achilles,  who  mourned  over  the  dying 
queen  in  recognition  of  her  beauty, 
youth  and  valor.  Because  Thersites 
mocked  at  his  grief  Achilles  slew 
him,  whereupon  Diomedes,  a  rela- 
tive of  Thersites,  threw  the  body  of 
Penthesilea  into  the  river  Scamander. 
Other  accounts  make  Achilles  him- 
self bury  her  on  the  banks  of  the 
Xanthus. 

Pentheus,  in  classic  myth,  the  son 
of  Echion  and  Agave.  The  latter 
was  daughter  of  Cadmus,  whom 
Pentheus  succeeded  on  the  throne  of 
Thebes.  Finding  that  the  worship  of 
Dionysus,  recently  introduced,  was 
turning  the  heads  of  his  subjects 
Pentheus  attempted  to  crush  it.  The 
offended  deity  persuaded  him  to 
disguise  himself  as  a  Bacchante  in 
order  that  he  might  pry  into  the 
mysteries.  Then  Dionysus  led  him 
to  the  mountains  and  delivered  him 
up  to  the  mad  horde  of  Bacchantes. 
Though  it  included  his  own  mother 
and  sisters  they  failed  to  recognize 
him  in  their  Bacchic  fury  and  he 
was  torn  limb  from  limb.  Euripides 
in  The  Baccha,  1043,  makes  a  slave 
who  had  gone  with  him  tell  the  story. 
In  another  legend  Pentheus  goes  to 
the  revels  on  his  own  motion  and 
climbs  a  tree  in  order  the  better  to 
view  the  proceedings.  Being  dis- 
covered, he  is  torn  to  pieces  by  the 
women. 

Peona,  according  to  Keats  (Endy- 
mion,  i,  408),  was  the  sister  of 
Endymion,  and  tends  him  with 
watchful  care  during  his  sickness. 
At  the  close  of  the  poem,  when 
Endymion  announces  his  intention 
of  retiring  to  a  hermit's  cell,  he  makes 
her  his  deputy  in  the  words 

Through  me  the  shepherd  realm  shall  pros- 
per well; 
For  to  thy  tongue  will  I  all  health  confide. 

There  is  no  classical  authority  for 
Peona's  existence,  but  Keats  doubt- 
less coined  the  name  as  the  feminine 
of  ^  Paeon  (see  P^EAN),  whom  Lem- 
priere  gives  as  one  of  the  sons  of 


Perceforest 


233 


Peri 


Endymion.  Keats  was  familiar  with 
Lempriere  and  with  Gelding's  trans- 
lation of  Ovid,  where  he  found  the 
name  of  the  ancient  god  of  healing 
spelt  as  Pason.  He  may  also  have 
been  influenced  by  Spenser's  Poeana 
(sic),  a  light  damsel  introduced  into 
the  Faerie  Queene,  iv,  8,  9. 

Perceforest,  a  mythical  king  of 
Britain  whose  adventures  are  set 
forth  in  a  prose  romance  of  early 
date,  first  printed  in  a  French  version 
in  1528,  and  entitled  Histoire  du  Tres 
Noble  Roy  Perceforest.  His  name  was 
originally  Betis;  he  was  the  son  of 
Gaddifer,  governor  of  Galde  in  Asia, 
and,  by  a  fine  historical  confusion, 
was  crowned  king  of  Britain  by 
Alexander  the  Great,  who  had  been 
driven  upon  the  coast  by  a  storm  at 
sea.  He  received  the  name  of  Perce- 
forest because  one  of  his  first  royal 
exploits  was  to  pierce  through  an 
enchanted  forest  where  women  and 
children  were  held  in  cruel  bondage. 
After  this  the  romance  degenerates 
into  a  medley  of  variegated  deeds  of 
prowess  performed  by  Perceforest 
and  his  brother  Gaddifer,  made  king 
of  Scotland,  and  by  the  individual 
knights  in  their  train.  Even  after 
Perceforest  and  Gaddifer  have  been 
driven  from  the  throne  of  Julius 
Caesar,  whose  invasion  triumphs 
through  the  treachery  of  Perceforest's 
daughter-in-law,  wife  of  his  son 
Berthides,  a  new  crop  of  heroes 
springs  up  to  engage  the  historian's 
pen.  At  last  Gallifer,  a  grandson  of 
Gaddifer,  delivers  his  country  from 
the  anarchy  in  which  it  had  been  left 
by  the  Romans.  He  becomes  king, 
is  converted  to  Christianity,  is  bap- 
tized as  Arfaran,  and  resigns  to 
preach  the  gospel  to  his  ancestors, 
Perceforest  and  Gaddifer,  still  alive 
(presumably  as  centenarians)  in  the 
island  of  Life,  i.e.,  Wight. 

Perceval  (Peredur  in  Welsh  legend, 
and  Parzival  in  the  German  myth 
renewed  into  fame  by  Richard 
Wagner's  opera  Parsival),  the  Eng- 
lish name  of  a  knight  of  the  Round 
Table  whose  origin  and  character 
are  variously  represented. 

There  is  substantial  agreement  at 


first  in  the  main  outlines,  that  he 
was  brought  up  in  a  forest  in  igno- 
rant innocence;  that  a  vision  of 
splendid  activity  in  the  great  world 
was  opened  out  to  him  by  an  acci- 
dental meeting  with  Arthur's  knights, 
and  that  he  found  his  way  to  the 
king's  court.  Then  follows  the  only 
broadly  comic  episode  in  the  Arthur- 
ian cycle,  the  story  of  a  raw  and 
inexperienced  countryman's  first  en- 
trance into  the  world.  Nothing 
daunted  by  the  mockery  of  Sir  Kay 
and  others,  Perceval  succeeds  in  rid- 
ding Arthur  of  his  pet  aversion,  the 
Red  Knight,  whose  armor  he  assumes 
and  then  rides  out  in  search  of  ad- 
venture. Here  the  legends  diverge. 
In  the  Welsh  and  English  versions 
he  joins  Sir  Gawain  or  Sir  Galahad, 
or  both,  in  a  quest  for  the  Holy 
Grail  that  brings  absolute  success 
only  to  one  or  the  other  of  his  rivals. 
In  the  German  versions  he  is  the 
true  hero  of  the  search.  The  Holy 
Grail  here  is  kept  in  the  charge  of 
Parzival's  uncle  Amfortas,  nick- 
named Le  Roi  Pecheur  (q.v.),  whom 
he  eventually  delivers  from  an  evil 
spell  and  whom  he  succeeds  as  guard- 
ian of  the  holy  relics. 

Peredur  appears  to  have  been  the 
actual  name  of  a  knight  who  fell  in 
the  battle  of  Cuttraeth,  early  in  the 
sixth  century.  Aneurin  mentions 
"  Peredur  of  steel  arms  "  among  the 
slain  in  that  fight.  He  is  frequently 
alluded  to  as  a  warrior  of  great 
prowess  by  the  Bards  of  the  I2th 
and  1 3th  centuries.  Eventually  he 
passed  into  the  San  Greal  cycle  of 
myths  and  around  his  name  crystal- 
lized many  of  the  legends  elsewhere 
connected  with  Parzival.  The  Welsh 
romance  Peredur,  the  Son  of  Evrawe, 
included  in  the  fourteenth  century 
MS.  known  as  The  Red  Book  of 
Hergest,  frankly  identifies  him  with 
the  Perceval  of  the  Conte  del  Graal 
by  Chretien  de  Troyes,  though  the 
story  differs  in  details.  See  PERCEVAL 
and  PECHEUR,  Roi. 

Peri  (Persian  Part],  in  Oriental 
folklore  a  class  of  supernatural  beings 
whom  the  Persians  borrowed  from 
ancient  Iranian  myth,  changing  their 


Perseus 


234 


Persina 


characteristics  from  evil  to  good. 
The  original  Pairika  was  a  malignant 
female  demon,  the  Persian  Pari  was 
a  beautiful  fairy  of  either  sex,  though 
the  female  was  the  favorite  in  fiction, 
kindly  disposed  to  men,  immortal 
on  earth  but  not  sharing  a  mortal's 
hope  of  eternal  felicity  in  heaven. 
The  name  has  been  translated  Peri 
in  the  current  versions  of  Oriental 
tales,  and  in  poems  like  Moore's 
Paradise  and  the  Peri. 

Perseus,  in  classic  myth,  the  son 
of  Zeus  and  Danas.  The  latter's 
father,  Acrisius,  put  mother  and  son 
into  a  chest  and  cast  them  into  the 
sea,  but  they  were  rescued  by  a 
shepherd  and  taken  to  King  Poly- 
dectes.  In  course  of  time  Poly- 
dectes,  having  fallen  in  love  with  the 
mother,  sent  the  son  to  secure  the 
head  of  Medusa,  one  of  the  Gorgons. 
Hermes  furnished  the  youth  with  a 
sickle-shaped  sword,  Athena  with  a 
mirror,  and  the  nymphs  with  winged 
sandals,  a  wallet,  and  a  helmet  of 
invisibility.  Thus  equipped,  Perseus 
cut  off  the  head  of  Medusa,  which 
turned  to  stone  all  who  gazed  upon 
it.  With  its  aid  he  petrified  the  sea- 
monster  to  whom  Andromeda  had 
been  exposed,  and  performed  many 
other  exploits. 

According  to  the  more  ancient 
myth  he  turned  the  dragon  to  stone 
by  flashing  upon  it  the  head  of 
Medusa.  Ovid's  Perseus  (Meta- 
morphoses) more  chivalrously  slays 
it  with  his  falchion. 

Andromeda  had  been  promised  to 
Phineus,  hence  the  famous  fight  be- 
tween Phineus  and  Perseus,  at  the 
latter's  wedding  to  Andromeda.  Ovid 
makes  Perseus  once  more  true  to  his 
principles.  He  defends  himself  at 
first  with  mortal  weapons,  and  per- 
forms wondrous  feats.  Not  until  he 
finds  his  friends  overwhelmed  by 
numbers  does  he  bare  the  dreadful 
head,  first  on  the  adherents  of 
Phineus,  then  on  the  leader: 

He  flashed 

Full  on  the  cowering  wretch  the  Gorgon- 
head. 

Vainly  he  strove  to  shun  it!     Into  stone 
The  writhing  neck  was  stiffened: — white  the 
eyes 


Froze  in  their  sockets:  —  and  the  statue  still, 
With  hands  beseeching  spread,  and  guilty 


. 
Writ  in  its  face,  for  mercy  seemed  to  pray. 

Perseus  then  bore  his  bride  to 
Argos.  Later,  he  rescued  his  mother 
from  the  persecutions  of  Polydectes, 
whom  he  turned  into  stone,  and 
inadvertently  slew  his  maternal  grand- 
father, Acrisius,  king  of  Argos,  while 
hurling  a  quoit,  thus  fulfilling  the 
prophecy  made  at  his  birth.  (See 
DAN^.)  E.  S.  Hartland  in  The 
Legend  of  Perseus  (3  vols.  1894-96) 
has  made  a  notable  study  of  the 
myth  and  its  counterparts  in  Mar- 
chen,  saga,  and  superstition.  Kings- 
ley's  Heroes  gives  an  entertaining 
version  in  prose.  See  also  PEGASUS, 
GEORGE,  ST.,  and  ANDROMEDA. 

Persina,  queen  of  Ethiopia  and 
mother  of  Chariclea  in  Theagenes 
and  Chariclea,  a  pastoral  romance 
by  Heliodorus  (fourth  century).  She 
is  interesting  as  supplying  an  early 
embodiment  of  the  scientific  theory 
of  prenatal  influence,  which,  though 
founded  on  fact,  is  here  carried  to 
an  exaggerated  point.  Herself  a 
negress,  Persina  has  viewed  a  statue 
of  Andromeda  at  an  amorous  crisis 
and  consequently  gives  birth  to  a 
daughter  of  fair  complexion.  Fearing 
her  husband's  suspicions  she  aban- 
dons the  infant,  who  falls  into  the 
hands  of  Charicles,  priest  of  Delphos. 

Persina,  in  the  prose  romance 
Theagenes  and  Chariclea,  by  Helio- 
dorus (fourth  century),  the  mother  of 
the  heroine.  She  was  Queen  of 
Ethiopia,  and  consequently  of  ebon 
hue.  At  an  amorous  crisis  she  viewed 
too  curiously  a  statue  of  the  Greek 
Andromeda.  Hence  she  gave  birth 
to  a  fair-skinned  daughter.  Fearing 
that  her  husband  would  not  accept 
her  explanation  she  committed  the 
infant  to  the  charge  of  Sisimithrus, 
an  Ethiopian  senator,  depositing  with 
him  also  certain  papers  that  dis- 
closed the  secret  when  the  psycho- 
logical moment  had  arrived  in  the 
history  of  the  lovers. 

Tasso  has  imitated  this  episode  in 
his  Jerusalem  Delivered  (1575).  There 
the  nurse  Arsite  relates  to  Clorinda 


Petaud 


235 


Phaeacians 


the  story  of  her  birth  and  early  life. 
King  Senapus,  her  father,  was  wildly 
jealous  of  his  wife,  and  kept  her 
immured  in  a  secluded  chamber. 

Her  pictured  room  a  sacred  story  shows, 
Where,   rich   with   life,   each   mimic   figure 

glows: 
There,  white'as  snow,  appears  a  beauteous 

maid, 
And    near    a    dragon's    hideous    form    dis- 

play'd. 
A   champion  through  the  beast   a  javelin 

sends, 

And  in  his  blood  the  monster's  bulk  extends. 
Here  oft  the  Queen  her  secret  faults  con- 

fess'd, 
And  prostrate  here  her  humble  vows  ad- 

dress'd. 
At  length  her  womb  disburthen'd  gave  to 

view 

(Her  offspring  thou)  a  child  of  snowy  hue. 
Struck  with  th'  unusual  birth,  with  looks 

amaz'd, 
As   on  some  strange  portent,   the   matron 

gaz'd; 
She  knew  what  fears  possess'd  her  husband's 

mind, 
And    hence   to   hide   thee   from    his    sight 

design'd, 

And,  as  her  own,  expose  to  public  view 
A  new-born  infant  like  herself  in  hue: 
And   since   the  tower,   in   which   she   then 

remain'd 

Alone  her  damsels  and  myself  contain'd; 
To  me,  who  loved  her  with  a  faithful  mind, 
Her  infant  charge  she  unbaptiz'd  consign'd, 
With  tears  and  sighs  she  gave  thee  to  my 

care, 
Remote  from  thence  the  precious  pledge  to 

bear! 
What  tongues  her  sorrows  and  her  plaints 

can  tell, 

How  oft  she  press'd  thee  with  a  last  farewell. 
Jerusalem  Delivered,  xii,  v,  161. 

HOOLE,  trans. 

Petaud,  King  (Fr.  Le  Roi  Petaud). 
In  the  middle  ages  and  even  so  re- 
cently as  the  sixteenth  century,  vari- 
ous communities,  groups  or  gangs  in 
France  had  a  chief  whom  they  called 
King.  Thus  the  beggars  were  ruled 
by  a  head  whom  they  nicknamed 
King  Peto,  from  the  Latin  verb  peto, 
"  I  beg."  The  natural  consequence 
was  that  these  gentry  had  among 
them  various  members  who  aspired 
to  the  chief  command.  Hence  a 
familiar  proverb,  "  'Tis  the  court  of 
King  Peto  (or,  as  the  word  was  finally 
corrupted,  Petaud),  where  every  one 
is  master." 

Chacun  y  contredit,  chacun  y  parte  haut 
Et  e'est  justment  la  cour  du  Rui  Petaud 

(They  wrangle  and  shout,  give  their  neigh- 
bors the  no, 


Tis    just    like    the    court    of    the    monarch 
Petaud.) 

MOLIERE:  Tartuffe,  Act  i,  Sc.  i. 

Rabelais  in  Pantagruel  caricatured 
Henry  VIII  under  the  name  of  Le 
Roi  Petaud. 

Petitcru,  in  Gottfried  of  Stras- 
burg's  epic  Tristan  and  Iseulte, 
Book  xxv,  a  little  dog  presented 
by  a  fairy  to  Gilan,  the  Prince  of 
Wales,  and  won  from  that  prince  by 
Tristan,  who  sent  it  to  Iseulte  to 
console  her  during  his  absence.  The 
hair  of  the  dog  shimmered  in  all 
bright  colors,  and  from  its  neck 
there  hung  a  belt,  the  sound  banish- 
ing all  sorrow  from  him  who  heard  it. 
But  Iseulte  remembering  that  her 
lover  had  no  consolation  in  his  loneli- 
ness threw  the  bell  into  the  sea. 

Phaeacians,  in  Greek  myth,  a 
people  who  originally  dwelt  in 
Hypereia,  the  Cyclops  in  Sicily,  but 
finding  those  terrible  neighbors  a 
menace  to  their  happiness  migrated 
under  their  king  Nausithous  to  the 
island  of  Scheria.  Odysseus  was  ship- 
wrecked on  this  island  after  leaving 
Calypso  (Odyssey,  vi),  was  rescued 
by  Nausicaa,  and  conducted  by  her 
to  the  palace  of  her  father,  King 
Alcinous,  the  son  and  successor  of 
Nausithous.  The  palace  is  thus 
described  by  Homer: 

The  front  appear'd  with  radiant  splendors 

gay, 

Bright  as  the  lamp  of  night,  or  orb  of  day, 
The  walls  were  massy  brass:  the  cornice 

high 

Blue  metals  crown'd  in  colors  of  the  sky; 
Rich  plates  of  gold  the  folding  doors  incase; 
The  pillars  silver,  on  a  brazen  base; 
Silver  the  lintels  deep-projecting  o'er, 
And  gold  the  ringlets  that  command  the 

door. 

Two  rows  of  stately  dogs,  on  either  hand. 
In  sculptured  gold  and  labor'd  silver  stand. 
These  Vulcan  form'd  with  art  divine,  to 

wait 

Immortal  guardians  at  Alcinous'  gate; 
Alive  each  animated  frame  appears, 
And  still  to  live  beyond  the  power  of  years. 
Fair   thrones   within   from   space   to  space 

were  raised 
Where    various    carpets    with    embroidery 

blazed, 
The  work  of  matrons:     these  the  princes 

press'd, 

Day  following  day,  a  long-continued  feast. 
Refulgent   pedestals   the   walls   surround. 
Which  boys  of   gold  with  flaming  torches 

crown'd; 


Phaedra 


236 


Phaeton 


The  polish'd  ore,  reflecting  every  ray, 
Blazed  on  the  banquets  with  a  double  day, 
Full   fifty   handmaids   form   the   household 

train; 

Some  turn  the  mill,  or  sift  the  golden  gram; 
So»e  ply  the  loom;  their  busy  fingers  move 
Like  poplar-leaves  when  Zephyr  fans  the 

grove. 
Not   more  renown'd   the  men  of  Schena  s 

isle 

For  sailing  arts  and  all  the  naval  toil, 
Than  works  of  female  skill  their  women's 

pride, 
The  flying  shuttle  through  the  threads  to 

guide: 

Pallas  to  these  her  double  gifts  imparts, 
Inventive  genius,  and  industrious  arts. 

Odyssey,  vii,  63.     POPE,  trans. 

Among  the  inventions  of  this 
people  were  automatic  ships,  which 
needed  neither  sail  nor  oar  to  propel 
them, — a  curious  anticipation  of  the 
modern  steamboat.  They  were 
famous  not  only  as  navigators,  but 
also  as  hunters  and  herdsmen,  and 
lived  a  life  of  undisturbed  happiness 
and  peace.  Andrew  Lang  in  A  Song 
of  Phceacia  has  described  this  earthly 
paradise.  To  the  Romans  of  the 
empire,  however,  themselves  sur- 
feited with  a  life  of  luxury,  they 
appeared  as  revellers  and  wine- 
bibbers,  hence  a  glutton  is  called 
Phaeax  by  Horace.  See  MERRIAM, 
Phceacians  of  Homer,  1880. 

Though  the  Phaeaces  and  their 
abodes,  Hypereia  and  Scheria,  alike, 
are  obviously  mythical,  the  kingdom 
of  Alcinous  was  early  identified  as 
Corcyra  (Corfu).  Here  a  shrine  was 
dedicated  to  him  and  a  harbor 
named  after  him.  Later  Argonautic 
myth  made  Jason  and  Medea  stop 
at  Corcyra  on  their  flight  from  ^etes, 
and,  like  Odysseus,  receive  aid  and 
protection  from  Alcinous. 

Phaedra,  in  Greek  myth,  daughter 
of  Minos  and  Pasiphae,  wife  of  The- 
seus and  mother  of  Acamon  and 
Demophoon.  She  fell  in  love  with 
her  stepson,  Hippolytus,  and  when 
he  repelled  her  advances  calumni- 
ated him  to  Theseus.  Meanwhile 
Hippolytus  drove  wildly  to  the  sea- 
shore, his  horses  took  fright,  the 
chariot  was  dashed  to  pieces  among 
the  rocks  and  he  was  thrown  out 
and  killed.  On  hearing  of  this, 
Phaedra  confessed  that  she  had 
maligned  the  youth  and  committed 


suicide.  She  is  the  heroine  of  trage- 
dies by  Euripides,  Seneca  and  Racine, 
and  of  a  lost  tragedy  by  Sophocles 
of  which  only  a  later  and  emascu- 
lated version  has  survived. 

It  was  the  first  version,  however, 
which  was  imitated  by  Seneca,  who 
took  from  it  one  of  the  features 
objected  to  by  the  Greeks,  Phaedra's 
personal  declaration  to  Hippolytus 
of  her  passion.  Racine  adapted  this 
scene  into  his  tragedy  Phedre  (1677), 
still  regarded  as  his  masterpiece  and 
as  one  of  the  chief  glories  of  French 
tragedy,  although  in  his  lifetime  a 
literary  cabal  sought  to  humiliate 
him  by  preferring  the  Phedre  of  a 
forgotten  rival,  one  Pradon,  and  in 
England  Dr.  Johnson  held  it  inferior 
to  the  Phtzdra  of  Edmund  Smith 
(1708). 

As  to  Phaedra,  she  has  certainly  made  a 
finer  figure  under  Mr.  Smith's  conduct,  upon 
the  English  stage,  than  either  in  Rome  or 
Athens  ;„  and  if  she  excels  the  Greek  and 
Latin  Phaedra,  I  need  not  say  she  surpasses 
the  French  one,  though  embellished  with 
whatever  regular  beauties  and  moving  soft- 
ness Racine  himself  could  give  her. — JOHN- 
SON :  Lives  of  the  Poets. 

Phaeton  (Gr.  The  Radiant  One), 
in  classic  myth,  son  of  Apollo  by  the 
nymph  Clymene.  One  day  his  com- 
panion Epaphus  scoffed  at  the  idea 
of  his  divine  origin.  Stung  to  the 
quick,  Phaeton  appealed  to  his 
mother.  She  referred  him  to  his 
father,  bidding  him  make  haste  to 
reach  the  god's  palace  in  the  East  ere 
he  set  out  on  his  daily  round.  On 
the  description  of  this  palace  poets 
ancient  and  modern,  from  Ovid  to 
Landor,  have  lavished  their  choicest 
epithets. 

Phoebus  was  enraged  at  the 
doubts  cast  upon  his  son's  wrord  and 
swore  to  grant  him  any  proof  he 
wished.  He  was  taken  aback  when 
the  boy  begged  to  be  allowed  to 
drive  the  sun  chariot  that  very 
morning.  Well  he  knew  that  he 
alone  could  control  the  four  fiery 
steeds  harnessed  to  the  golden 
wheeled  sun-car.  But  he  had  sworn 
and  as  Phaeton  insisted  he  had  no 
alternative  but  to  keep  his  oath. 

For  an  hour  or  two  the  lad  bore 


Phaeton 


237 


Pharamond 


in  mind  his  father's  injunctions,  but 
elated  by  his  exalted  position  he 
grew  careless  and  then  reckless.  He 
lost  his  way  and  in  regaining  it  came 
so  close  to  the  earth  that  the  fruits 
perished  and  the  grass  withered  and 
fountains  were  dried  up,  and  white 
people  turned  black, — a  color  they 
ever  after  retained  in  the  lands  over 
which  he  passed.  Then  he  flew  up  so 
high  that  freezing  cold  succeeded  to 
blistering  heat.  To  relieve  the  situa- 
tion Zeus  hurled  a  bolt  at  the  char- 
ioteer, whose  blackened  corpse  fell 
into  the  Eridanus.  His  sisters,  the 
Heliades,  mourning  for  him,  were 
turned  into  poplars  on  the  river 
bank,  their  tears,  still  flowing,  be- 
came amber  as  they  dropped  into 
the  stream.  The  Italian  Naiads 
reared  a  tomb  for  him  whereon  they 
inscribed  a  Latin  couplet, 

Hie  situs  est  Phaeton,  currus  auriga  paterni 
Quern  si  non  tenuit,  magnis  tamen  excidit 
ausis. 

Driver  of  Phoebus'  chariot,  Phaeton, 
Struck  by  Jove's  thunder,  rests  beneath  this 

stone. 

He  could  not  rule  his  father's  car  of  fire, 
Yet  was  it  much  so  nobly  to  aspire. 

OVID:    Metamorphoses,  ii,  2  and  3. 

Efforts  to  rationalize  the  myth 
are  numerous, — and  humorous.  Aris- 
totle suggests  that  it  arose  from  some 
natural  phenomena  of  excessive  heat; 
possibly  flames  falling  from  heaven 
and  ravaging  several  countries.  Some 
of  the  Christian  fathers  saw  in  it  a 
heathen  misconception  of  the  burn- 
ing of  the  cities  of  the  plain,  or  the 
stay  of  the  sun  in  his  course  at  the 
command  of  Joshua.  St.  Chrysos- 
tom  suggests  that  it  is  based  upon  an 
imperfect  version  of  the  ascent  of 
Elijah  in  a  chariot  of  fire;  Elias,  the 
Greek  form  of  the  name,  bearing  a 
strong  resemblance  to  Hhto$t  the  sun. 
Vossius  suggests  that  this  is  an 
Egyptian  history,  and  considers  the 
story  of  the  grief  of  Phcebus  for  the 
loss  of  his  son  to  be  another  version 
of  the  sorrows  of  the  Egyptians  for 
the  death  of  Osiris.  The  tears  of 
the  Heliades,  or  sisters  of  Phaeton, 
he  conceives  to  be  identical  with  the 
lamentations  of  the  women  who  wept 
for  the  death  of  Thammuz. 


Plutarch  and  Tzetzes  say  that 
Phaeton  was  a  king  of  the  Molos- 
sians,  who  drowned  himself  in  the 
Po.  A  student  of  astronomy,  he 
foretold  an  excessive  heat  which 
happened  in  his  reign,  and  laid  waste 
his  kingdom.  Lucian,  in  his  Dis- 
course on  Astronomy,  adds  that  this 
prince  dying  very  young,  left  his 
observations  imperfect,  which  gave 
rise  to  the  fable  that  he  did  not  know 
how  to  drive  the  chariot  of  the  sun 
to  the  end  of  its  course. 

Phaon,  in  Greek  legend,  a  beauti- 
ful youth  with  whom  Sappho  was  in 
love,  but  who  loved  her  not  in  return. 
Thereupon  she  threw  herself  from 
the  promontory  of  Leucadia  into  the 
sea,  for  she  held  the  current  belief 
that  survivors  of  that  "Lover's  Leap" 
would  be  cured  of  their  infatuation. 
She  perished  in  the  attempt.  Among 
the  few  fragments  of  Sappho's  verse 
which  have  come  down  to  us  is  an 
ode  reputed  to  have  been  addressed 
to  Phaon,  which  begins  thus  in 
Ambrose  Phillips's  translation: 

Blest  as  the  immortal  Gods  is  he, 
The  youth  who  fondly  sits  by  thee; 
And  hears  and  sees  thee  all  the  while 
Softly  speak  and  sweetly  smile. 

John  Lyly  has  an  amusing  prose 
drama  Sappho  and  Phaon  (1584); 
Percy  Mackaye  treated  the  subject 
seriously  in  a  poetical  tragedy,  Sap- 
pho and  Phaon  (1907) ;  one  of  Landor's 
Imaginary  Conversations  has  for  its 
interlocutors  Sappho,  Phaon,  Al- 
caeus,  and  Anacreon. 

There  is  an  ancient  myth  that 
Phaon  was  an  ugly  old  man  who 
ferried  a  boat  between  Lesbos  and 
Chios.  One  day  Aphrodite  in  the 
guise  of  an  old  hag  begged  a  passage, 
which  was  so  readily  granted  that 
she  presented  Phaon  with  a  box  of 
ointment.  By  rubbing  himself  with 
the  contents  he  was  restored  to  youth 
and  became  so  beautiful  that  all  the 
maidens  of  Lesbos  were  enamored 
of  him;  but  none  other  loved  so 
fiercely  and  so  fatally  as  Sappho. 

Pharamond,  the  mythical  first 
king  of  France,  who  reigned,  accord- 
ing to  some  early  chroniclers,  from 
420  to  428.  The  Gesta  Regum  Fran- 


Pheidippides 


238 


Philemium 


corum  (eighth  century)  says  only 
that  the  Franks,  wishing  for  but  a 
single  king  such  as  ruled  other  na- 
tions, elected  Faramond,  son  of 
Markomir,  and  raised  him  above 
themselves  as  a  long  haired  king. 
But  he  seems  to  have  been  a  merely 
temporary  experiment  and  soon  sank 
back  into  the  obscurity  of  a  tribal 
chief,  like  all  the  leaders  of  the 
Franks  until  Pepin.  In  myth  he 
achieved  splendid  proportions,  how- 
ever, and  it  was  once  the  fashion  of 
serious  historians  to  date  the  begin- 
nings of  France  from  his  apocryphal 
rule.  Popular  myth  was  confirmed 
by  popular  romance  when  Gaul- 
thier  de  la  Calprenede  made  him 
the  hero  of  his  Pharamond  (1661),  a 
novel  written  to  flatter  Louis  XIV 
as  the  descendant  of  an  illustrious 
sire,  wherefore  the  sire  was  fashioned 
in  the  image  of  that  descendant, 
clothed  in  modern  costume,  and  made 
to  live  in  Louis  Quatorze  style  and 
to  enunciate  sentiments  that  would 
have  been  no  discredit  to  the  Roi 
Soleil  himself. 

In  the  Arthurian  cycle  of  myths 
Pharamond  appears  as  a  French 
knight  who  tried  to  win  himself  a 
place  in  the  Round  Table. 

William  Morris  versifies  another 
legend  concerning  this  monarch  in 
Love  is  Enough  or  the  Freeing  of 
Pharamond,  A  Morality  (1873).  The 
king,  who  has  just  won  his  kingdom, 
already  regrets  his  triumph.  Grave 
in  war  and  wise  in  governing  he  is 
haunted  amid  all  his  regal  splendor 
by  visions  of  an  ideal  love  that  drive 
him,  heart  hungered,  wandering 
through  the  world  with  his  henchman 
Oliver  until  he  encounters  Azalias,  a 
low  born  maiden  who  realizes  his 
dream.  Returning  to  find  his  people 
estranged  he  abdicates  and  retires  into 
obscurity  with  the  love  that  is  enough. 

Pheidippides,  in  Aristophanes 's 
comedy  The  Clouds  (B.C.  415),  is  an 
evident  caricature  of  Alcibiades  (B.C. 
450-404),  the  spoiled  favorite  of 
Athens.  His  extravagance,  ?ove  of 
horses,  affected  lisp  and  his  relation 
to  Socrates  as  a  pupil  are  so  many 
points  of  resemblance.  The  Clouds, 


despite  its  merit,  failed  to  receive 
either  first  or  second  prize,  a  result 
largely  due  to  the  influence  of 
Alcibiades  and  his  friends.  Alci- 
biades and  some  of  his  fantastic 
projects  are  also  caricatured  in 
Pisthetaerus,  a  character  in  The 
Birds  who  persuades  the  eponymic 
fowls  to  build  the  city  of  Cloud- 
cuckootown  and  rewards  himself 
by  taking  to  wife  Basilea  (sover- 
eignty), the  ruler  of  the  Olympian 
household. 

A  historical  Pheidippides,  men- 
tioned by  Herodotus  in  his  account 
of  the  battle  of  Marathon,  is  the 
hero  of  a  poem  by  Robert  Browning 
in  Dramatic  Idyls.  Browning's  ver- 
sion runs  as  follows:  When  Athens 
(B.C.  490)  was  threatened  by  the 
invading  Persians  under  Darius,  she 
sent  a  running  messenger  to  Sparta 
to  solicit  help  against  the  foreign  foe. 
Pheidippides  arrived  there  on  the 
second  day  from  his  leaving  Athens, 
thus  accomplishing  a  very  creditable 
1  cross-country  run  "  over  vile  roads. 
The  mission  was  fruitless.  But 
Pheidippides,  on  his  return,  fell  in 
with  the  god  Pan,  who  reproached 
the  Athenian  folk  for  that  they  alone 
among  the  Greeks  had  refused  to 
include  him  in  their  public  worship, 
but  none  the  less  promised  to  fight 
with  them  in  the  coming  battle  and 
in  testimony  thereof  entrusted  the 
courier  with  a  sprig  of  fennel,  or 
marathus.  This  pledge  was  ful- 
filled by  the  "  Panic  "'  fright  which 
turned  the  tide  on  the  plain  of 
Marathon.  Herodotus  does  not  sanc- 
tion Browning's  addition  to  the  tale. 
Pheidippides,  says  the  poet,  was 
present  when  the  battle  was  fought 
and  won.  Dispatched  by  Miltiades 
to  carry  the  news  of  the  victory  to 
Athens,  he  fell  dead  with  the  words 
"  Rejoice,  we  conquer!" 

Philemium,  heroine  of  a  tale  told 
by  Hey  wood  (Hierarchic  of  Blessed 
Angels,  vii,  479),  on  the  authority  of 
Phlegon,  the  freedman  of  Hadrian. 
The  legend  has  been  versified  by 
Goethe  in  his  ballad  The  Bride  of 
Corinth.  She  fell  in  love  with  Melchas, 
a  guest  in  her  father's  house,  who  was 


Philemon 


239 


Phineus 


consequently  excluded  from  the  fam- 
ily. Thereupon  she  pined  away  and 
died.  Some  6  months  later  the  youth 
was  readmitted;  Philemium,  rising 
from  the  grave,  sought  him  in  his  bed. 
The  young  people  were  rudely 
awakened  by  the  parents,  who  would 
have  rejoiced  over  the  daughter's 
return  to  life.  But  Philemium  up- 
braided them  for  interrupting  what 
would  have  been  a  three  days'  visit 
at  best  and  straightway  died  once 
more.  When  the  grave  was  opened 
no  corpse  was  found  within  it. 

Philemon,  an  aged  Phrygian  who 
with  his  wife  Baucis  welcomed  Zeus 
and  Hermes  to  their  home  when 
every  one  else  had  refused  them 
entertainment.  Zeus  punished  the 
inhospitable  ones  with  an  inunda- 
tion which  spared  only  the  old 
couple,  whose  modest  dwelling  he 
converted  into  a  magnificent  temple 
of  which  they  became  priest  and 
priestess.  Having  expressed  a  wish 
to  die  together  when  their  time  came, 
Zeus  changed  them  simultaneously 
into  two  trees  before  the  temple. 
(Ovio:  Metamorphoses,  viii,  611.) 

In  the  second  part  of  Goethe's 
Faust  Philemon  and  Baucis  are  an 
aged  couple  who  own  a  cottage  on 
the  land  that  Faust  is  redeeming 
from  the  sea.  Vainly  he  seeks  to 
buy  them  out  at  any  price, — the 
old  homestead  is  too  dear  to  them. 
Faust  is  finally  obliged  to  oust  them, 
but,  calling  in  the  aid  of  Mephis- 
topheles,  the  fiend  accomplishes  his 
task  so  brusquely  that  they  die  of 
fright.  Philemon  and  Baucis  un- 
doubtedly represent  the  too  conser- 
vative spirit  which  in  its  comfort 
and  contentment  obstructs  the  car 
of  progress  and  is  unwittingly  crushed 
beneath  its  wheels. 

Faust  had  confidently  consoled  himself 
with  the  expectation  that  Philemon  and 
Baucis  would  in  time  thank  him  for  haying, 
against  their  will,  removed  them  to  a  richer 
and  larger  estate,  where  they  might  spend 
their  last  days  in  prosperity  and  ease. 
When  he  hears  of  their  death  he  curses  the 
violent  deed  for  which  he  disclaims  all 
responsibility.  And  yet  he  was,  although 
without  his  own  intent,  the  cause  of  their 
ruin. — H.  H.  BoYESEN:  Goethe  and  Schiller, 
p.  276. 


Philoctetes,  in  Greek  myth,  the 
most  famous  archer  among  the 
Greeks  before  Troy.  Hercules  on 
his  death  pyre,  which  Philoctetes 
was  ordered  to  light,  had  bequeathed 
to  him  his  bow  and  poisonous  arrows. 
Yet  he  did  not  appear  until  late  in 
the  conflict.  Having  been  bitten  by 
a  snake  on  his  way  thither,  or 
wounded  by  one  of  his  own  arrows, 
the  resultant  stench  was  so  noisome 
that  by  advice  of  Ulysses  the  Greeks 
abandoned  him  in  the  island  of 
Lemnos.  For  nine  years  he  lived 
there  in  solitude,  making  clothing 
for  himself  out  of  the  feathers  of 
birds.  At  last  an  oracle  announced 
that  Troy  could  not  be  taken  save 
by  the  aid  of  the  arrows  of  Hercules. 
Diomed  and  Ulysses  now  sent  to 
Philoctetes,  he  consented  to  return 
with  them.  Machaon  cured  his 
wound.  Paris  was  the  first  victim 
of  his  arrows.  Philoctetes 's  story  was 
dramatized  by  Euripides  (B.C.  431) 
and  by  Sophocles  (B.C.  409). 

Philomela,  in  classic  myth,  a 
sister-in-law  of  Tereus,  king  of 
Thrace,  who  dishonored  her  because 
he  preferred  her  to  his  wife  Procne 
(q.v.).  She  prayed  to  be  changed  into 
a  bird  and  became,  as  some  say,  a 
nightingale,  and  others,  a  swallow. 
The  former  is  the  best  known  version. 
Hence  in  France  the  nightingale  is 
always  personified  as  Philomele. 
Ovid  tells  the  story  in  Metamorphoses 
vi,  6.  Homer  alludes  to  a  different 
tradition.  He  makes  Penelope  in  her 
grief  compare  herself  to  the  inconsol- 
able Philomela,  the  daughter  of 
Pandareos  (q.v.). 

Within  the  grove's 
Thick  foliage  perched,  she  pours  her  echoing 

voice, 

Now  deep,  now  clear,  still  echoing  the  strain 
With  which  she  mourns  her  Itylus,  her  son 
By  royal  Zethus,  whom  she,  erring,  slew. 
Odyssey,  xix,  648.    COWPER,  trans. 

Phineus,  in  classic  myth,  a  son  of 
Belus,  and  suitor  for  Medea.  He  was 
turned  to  stone  by  Perseus.  Another 
Phineus  was  a  blind  king  of  Thrace, 
a  celebrated  soothsayer  and  poet. 
Having  put  out  his  son's  eyes  be- 
cause of  a  false  accusation  by  their 


Phlegethon 


240 


Phoenix 


stepmother,  Idaea,  he  himself  was 
smitten  with  blindness  by  the  gods 
and  tormented  by  the  Harpies,  who 
snatched  away  or  defiled  his  food 
whenever  he  sat  down  to  eat.  For 
Milton's  reference  to  Phineus's  blind- 
ness, see  TIRESIAS. 

Phlegethon,  in  classic  myth,  a 
river  in  Hades,  in  whose  channel 
flowed  flames  instead  of  water. 
Nothing  grew  on  its  parched  and 
arid  shores.  Dante  (Inferno  xii) 
puts  this  river  into  his  hell  as  the 
medium  for  the  punishment  of  sinners 
who  had  offered  violence  to  their 
neighbors.  Here  they  are  kept  im- 
mersed at  different  depths  in  boiling 
blood  by  troops  of  centaurs  who 
patrol  the  banks,  armed  with  bows 
and  arrows. 

Faust.     Now,  by  the  kingdoms  of  infernal 

rule, 

Of  Styx,  of  Acheron,  and  the  fiery  lake 
Of  ever-burning  Phlegethon,  I  swear. 

MARLOWE:    Doctor  Faustus. 

Phlegyas,  in  Greek  myth,  son  of 
Ares  and  Chryse,  father  of  Ixion  and 
Coronis,  and  king  of  the  robber  tribe 
Phlegae  in  Bceotia.  To  avenge  his 
daughter,  Coronis,  who  had  been 
ravished  by  Apollo,  he  set  fire  to  the 
god's  temple  at  Delphi  and  was  slain, 
with  all  his  people,  either  by  the 
arrows  of  Apollo  or  the  bolts  of  Zeus. 
He  was  punished  in  Hades  by  being 
made  to  stand  beneath  a  huge  im- 
pending rock,  ever  ready,  as  it  seemed, 
to  fall  upon  him.  Virgil  makes 
^neas  a  witness  to  his  tortures: 

Phlegyas    mournfully     cries     through     the 

shadows, 
Testifying  aloud,  and  admonishing  all  who 

will  listen 
"Learn  from  my  fate  to  be  just,  and  hold 

not  the  gods  in  derision." 
£neid,  vi,  618.    H.  H.  BALLARD,  trans. 

Dante  in  the  Inferno,  viii,  i,  ap- 
propriately selects  Phlegyas  to  guard 
the  access  to  the  inner  division  of 
where  are  punished  sins  against 
celestial  and  earthly  rulers.  Phlegyas 
surlily  femes  Dante  and  Virgil  across 
the  Stygian  marsh,  and  lands  them 
under  the  walls  of  the  city  of  Dis. 

Phoenix,  in  Greek  myth,  son  of 
Amynton  and  Cleobule.  The  latter 


persuaded  him  to  win  away  the 
affections  of  his  father's  mistress. 
Success  brought  down  upon  him  the 
parental  curse.  Fleeing  to  Phthia 
in  Thessaly  he  was  received  into  the 
household  of  King  Peleus  as  tutor  to 
his  son  Achilles,  and  made  ruler  of 
the  country  of  the  Dolopes.  As  a 
friend  of  Achilles  he  took  part  in  the 
Trojan  war  (HOMER,  Iliad,  ix,  447; 
OVID,  Metamorphoses,  viii,  307;  Ibid., 
Heroides,  iii,  27). 

There  was  another  Phoenix,  who, 
according  to  Homer  (Iliad,  xiv,  321), 
was  the  father  of  Europa,  though 
other  authorities  make  him  her 
brother.  He  went  to  Africa  in  pur- 
suit of  Europa  when  she  was  carried 
off  to  Zeus  and  gave  his  name  to  a 
people  called  after  him  Phcenices 

(APOLLODORUS,   iii,    I,   §    l). 

Phoenix,  in  classic  myth,  a  fabu- 
lous bird  of  whom  Herodotus  (ii,  73) 
gives  the  current  Egyptian  account, 
which  he  heard  in  Heliopolis.  Once 
every  500  years  the  young  Phoenix 
appeared  in  that  city  to  bury  its 
parent  in  the  sanctuary  of  Helios. 
It  came  from  Arabia,  where  it  had 
made  a  large  egg  out  of  myrrh  and 
hollowed  it  out  so  as  to  enclose  the 
corpse.  When  its  own  life  drew  near 
to  an  end  it  followed  the  hereditary 
custom  of  building  a  nest  for  itself 
in  Arabia.  After  death  a  young 
Phoenix  rose  and  transplanted  the 
parent's  remains  to  the  temple  of 
Helios.  So  the  eternal  round  went  on. 

Other  forms  of  the  myth  may  be 
inferred  from  the  following  verses: 

He  [Phoebus]  did  appoint  her  Fate  to  be  her 

Pheer, 

And  Death's  cold  kisses  to  restore  her  here 
Her  life  again,  which  never  shall  expire 
Until  (as  she)  the  World  consume  in  fire. 
For  having  passed  under  divers  climes 
A  thousand  winters  and  a  thousand  primes; 
Worn  out  with  years,  wishing  her  endless 

end, 

To  shining  flames  she  doth  her  life  commend, 
Dies  to  revive,  and  goes  into  her  grave 
To  rise  again  more  beautiful  and  brave. 
Du  BARTAS:    The  Creation. 

A  famous  Latin  poem  on  the 
Phoenix,  attributed  to  Lanctantius 
Firmianus  (circa  A.D.  300),  concludes 
with  the  following  invocation: 


Phtha 


241 


Pied 


Oh  bird  of  happy  lot,  to  whom  God  him- 
self has  granted  to  be  born  from  itself. 
Whether  female  or  male  or  neither  or  both 
happy  the  individual  who  enters  into  no 
compacts  with  Venus!  Death  is  Venus  to 
the  phoenix.  Its  only  pleasure  is  in  death. 
That  it  may  be  born  it  desires  previously 
to  die.  It  is  an  offspring  to  itself,  its  own 
lather  and  heir,  its  own  nurse  and  always 
a  foster  child  to  itself.  It  is  ever  the^same 
yet  not  the  same,  since  it  is  itself  and  not 
itself, — having  gained  eternal  life  by  the 
blessing  of  death. 

Phtha  or  Ptah,  the  chief  god  of 
Memphis  in  Egypt,  known  as  the 
Father  of  the  Beginning.  Phtha 
means  "  the  opener  "  or  "  the  carver" 
and  as  the  prime  artificer  he  was  in  a 
measure  akin  to  the  Greek  Hephaes- 
tus. He  is  represented  as  a  mummy 
or  a  pygmy.  His  consort,  Pakht,  was 
represented  with  a  lion's  head.  The 
cat-headed  Bast  of  Bubastis,  wor- 
shipped there  as  daughter  of  Isis, 
appears  to  have  been  another  form 
of  Phtha. 

Picus,  in  Latin  myth,  a  god  of 
agriculture  or,  more  specifically,  of 
manure,  the  son  of  Saturn  and 
father  of  Faunus  (Mneid  vii,  48). 
He  was  the  earliest  king  of  Latium, 
was  enormously  wealthy,  and  ended 
by  being  changed  into  a  woodpecker. 
According  to  Ovid,  Metamorphoses, 
xiv,  320,  this  was  because  he  spurned 
the  love  of  Circe  and  was  faithful  to 
the  nymph  Canens.  Virgil  calls  him 
the  Subduer  of  Horses,  makes  him 
the  husband  of  Circe,  and  attributes 
to  him  prophetic  powers: 

Then,  with  his  augur's  wand,  a  short  robe 

girded  about  him, 
Armed  with  his  oval  shield,  there  sat  the 

Subduer  of  Horses, 
Picus  himself,  whom  Circe,  his  wife,  in  a 

frenzy  of  passion 
Smiting  with  golden  rod,  transformed  with 

subtle  enchantment, 
Changing  him  into  a  bird,  and  sprinkling 

his  plumage  with  color. 
&neid,  vii,  186.    H.  H.  BALLARD,  trans. 

Pied  Piper,  hero  of  a  mediaeval 
legend  still  current  in  the  town  of 
Hamelin  in  Westphalia  which  has 
become  especially  famous  in  modern 
literature  through  two  poems,  Der 
Rattenf anger,  by  Julius  Wolff,  and 
The  Pied  Piper  of  Hamelin,  by 
Robert  Browning.  The  latter  found 
his  authority  in  a  curious  sixteenth 
16 


century  miscellany,  Jocoseria,  whose 
title  he  afterwards  borrowed  for  a 
volume  of  his  own  poems.    Merimee, 
in  the  first  chapter  of  A    Chronicle 
of  the   Reign  of   Charles  IX  (1829), 
puts   the   legend   in    the   mouth    of 
Mila,    a    gypsy    maiden,    who    had 
heard  it  from  her  grandmother,  an 
eye-witness.     The  town  of  Hamelin, 
according  to  this  version,  had  been 
tormented  by  innumerable  rats,  who 
came  from  the  north  in  swarms  so 
thick  that  the  earth  was  black  with 
them  and  a  carter  would  not  have 
dared   to  drive  his  horses  across  a 
road  where  the  pests  were  passing. 
Mousetraps  and  poison  were  useless. 
Even  a  boatload  of  noo  cats  from 
Bremen   could  not  rise  to  the  occa- 
sion.     On  a  certain    Friday    there 
came  before  the  burgomaster  a  tall 
man,  swarthy  and  parched  of  aspect, 
with  large  eyes  and  a  mouth  from 
ear  to  ear.      '  He  was  dressed  in  a 
red    jerkin,    a    pointed    hat,    wide 
breeches  trimmed  with  ribbons,  gray 
stockings,    and    shoes    with    flame- 
colored   rosettes.      He   had   a   little 
leather    wallet    slung    at    his    side." 
For  a  fee  of  100  ducats  he  offered  to 
deliver  ^the  ^  city   from   its    scourge. 
'  Done,"  said  burgomaster  and  citi- 
zens.    Forthwith  the  stranger  drew 
from  his  wallet  a  bronze  flute,  and 
taking  up  his  station  in  the  market 
place  he  began  an  air  so  strange  that 
no    German    flute-player    had    ever 
played  the  like.     From  garret  and 
rat  hole,  from  rafter  and  tile,  rats  and 
mice  by  the  thousand  came  flocking 
around    him,    and,    piping    still,    he 
bent   his   way   to   the   river   Weser. 
There  stripping  off  his  hose  he  en- 
tered the  water,  followed  by  all  the 
rats   of   Hamelin,  who    were   incon- 
tinently   drowned.      But    when    the 
piper  applied  at  the  town  hall  for 
his  reward,  the  burgomaster  and  citi- 
zens despite  all  his  protestations  put 
him  off  with  a  beggarly  ten  ducats. 
Friday  at  noon-day  he  reap- 
peared, this  time  with  a  purple  hat, 
curiously    cocked,     drew    from    his 
wallet  a  flute  quite  different  from  the 
first,  and  as  soon  as  he  had  begun  to 
play  all  the  boys  of  the  city  from  six 


Pierides 


242 


Plowman 


years  old  to  fifteen  followed  him  out 
of  the  town  precincts  to  Koppenburg 
Hill  close  to  a  cavern  which  is  now 
closed  up.  The  piper  entered  the 
cave;  all  the  children  followed.  For 
a  time  one  could  hear  the  sound  of 
the  flute,  then  little  by  little  it  died 
away  into  nothingness.  The  children 
had  vanished  forever. 

"  But  the  strangest  thing  of  all," 
concludes  Myla,  "  is  that  at  the  very- 
same  time  there  appeared,  far  off  in 
Transylvania,  certain  children  who 
spoke  good  German,  and  who  could 
not  tell  whence  they  came."  They 
married  in  the  country,  and  taught 
their  tongue  to  their  own  offspring, 
whence  it  comes  that,  at  this  day, 
"  men  speak  German  in  Tran- 
sylvania." 

Pierides,  a  surname  of  the  Muses, 
given  to  them  after  they  had  van- 
quished in  song  the  nine  daughters 
(their  namesakes)  of  Pierus.  Deem- 
ing that  some  magic  lay  in  their 
mystic  number  the  original  Pierides 
had  challenged  the  Muses,  had  been 
adjudged  defeated  by  the  unanimous 
decision  of  the  tribunal  agreed 
upon,  the  Nymphs,  had  revolted 
against  the  judgment  and  had  been 
metamorphosed  into  magpies.  (Ovro, 
Metamorphoses.) 

Placidus,  hero  of  a  mediaeval 
legend  which  forms  Tale  ex  of  the 
Gesta  Romanorum.  Commander-in- 
chief  of  Trojan's  army,  with  a  wife 
and  two  sons,  he  was  kind  and 
charitable  and  was  passionately  fond 
of  hunting.  One  day  he  pursued  a 
noble  stag  into  a  solitude,  when  it 
turned  upon  him.  A  crucifix  ap- 
peared in  the  centre  of  its  forehead, 
and  it  spoke,  saying,  "  Why  dost 
thou  persecute  me,  Placidus?  For 
thy  sake  have  I  assumed  the  shape 
of  this  animal:  I  am  Christ,  whom 
thou  ignorantly  worshippest.  As 
thou  hast  ^hunted  this  stag,  so  do  I 
hunt  thce."  Placidus  was  converted 
and  with  his  wife  and  children  was 
baptized,  he  taking  the  name  of 
Eustacius.  Again  the  stag  appeared 
and  warned  him  that  he  should  suffer 
much  for  the  faith.  The  family  was 
impoverished  and  dispersed  and  its 


members  after  many  strange  chances 
were  reunited  in  the  reign  of  Adrian, 
only  to  suffer  persecution  and  death 
at  his  hands.  This  was  the  evident 
original  of  the  legend  of  St.  Hubert. 
See  WALSH,  Curiosities  of  Popular 
Customs,  p.  544. 

Pleiades,  in  Greek  myth,  the  seven 
daughters  of  Atlas  and  Pleone,  who 
were  changed  into  stars,  some  say, 
to  enable  them  to  avoid  the  pursuit 
of  Orion.  Six  are  visible  to  the 
naked  eye;  these  had  consorted  with 
the  gods  and  given  birth  to  immortals; 
the  seventh,  Merope  (the  name  means 
mortal),  hid  herself  out  of  shame  for 
her  marriage  with  Sisyphus,  a  mere 
man.  Their  name  may  have  been 
given  them  from  a  fancied  resem- 
blance to  a  flight  of  doves  (peliades) 
and  they  may  therefore  be  alluded  to 
in  Homer's  story  (Odyssey,  xii,  62) 
of  the  doves  who  brought  ambrosia 
to  Zeus,  one  of  whom,  always  lost 
at  the  Planetae  Rocks,  was  always 
replaced  by  a  new  one, 

Plowman,  Piers,  a  personification 
of  the  mediaeval  English  agricul- 
turist who  in  William  Langland's 
Vision  of  Piers  Plowman  (circa  1360) 
is  fabled  to  have  been  visited  by 
prophetic  dreams.  Incidentally  these 
rebuked  current  abuses  among  the 
clergy.  The  poet  is  no  anti-Catholic. 
His  idea  is  plainly  to  represent  the 
objectionable  practices  complained 
of  as  being  done  by  the  connivance 
of  the  parish  priest,  and  without 
the  sanction  or  knowledge  of  the 
Bishop.  The  latter's  permission  for 
the  accomplishment  of  a  certain 
purpose  is  perverted  into  a  purpose 
of  quite  different  character. 

The  great  religious  revolution  of  the 
sixteenth  century  caused  the  reformers  to 
search  diligently  for  anything  and  every- 
thing in  the  literature  of  the  past  that  could 
be  deemed  hostile  to  the  creed  of  the 
Church  of  Rome,  or  that  represented  the 
conduct  of  its  members  in  an  unfavorable 
light.  The  view  that  could  recognize  in 
Chaucer  a  religious  enthusiast  was  not  likely 
to  let  Langland  pass  unobserved.  His  work 
could  never  have  been  regarded  by  any  one 
who  read  it  dispassionately  as  the  produc- 
tion of  a  man  who  looked  upon  the  Pope  as 
Antichrist.  Still,  it  did  contain  many 
fierce  attacks  upon  abuses  then  widely 
prevalent  in  the  various  ecclesiastical  organ- 


Pluto 


243 


Polydorus 


Izations.'  It  had,  in  particular,  predicted 
the  destruction  of  the  monasteries,  and  the 
course  of  events  had  given  to  this  lucky 
forecast  almost  the  character  of  an  inspired 
prophecy.  Besides,  the  poem  throughout 
was  marked  by  a  lofty  spiritual  tone  which 
verged  towards  the  extreme  of  asceticism. 
These  things  were  sufficient  for  it  to  find 
favor  with  the  men  who  were  engaged  in  the 
Protestant  movement  of  the  sixteenth 
century. 

It  was  accordingly  religious  partisanship 
and  not  literary  appreciation  that  brought 
about  the  first  printing  of  the  poem. — 
2V.  Y.  Nation,  March  31,. 1886. 

Pluto,  in  classic  myth,  was  origin- 
ally a  surname  of  Hades,  but  this 
eventually  superseded  all  his  other 
names.  In  Dante's  Inferno,  yii,  he 
is  ^  made  to  utter  a  bit  of  jargon, 
Pape  Satan,  pape  Satan,  aleppel 
which  has  called  forth  a  volume  of 
comment.  Rossetti  would  have  us 
read  Pap'  &  Satan  ("  the  Pope  is 
Satan  ").  This  is  no  worse  than 
Cellini's  explanation.  He  says  that 
a  judge  in  the  Law  Courts  at  Paris, 
"  a  true  double  for  Pluto,"  shouted 
out  to  some  disturbers  of  order 
Paix,  paix,  Satan!  Allez,  paixl  and 
surmises  that  Dante  had  heard  the 
story.  It  is  disputed  whether  Pluto 
or  Plutus  was  here  meant,  but  it  is 
highly  probable  that  Dante  did  not 
know  the  difference  between  the  two. 

Plutus,  the  god  of  wealth  in  classic 
myth,  son  of  Jason  and  Ceres 
(Demeter).  When  he  carries  his 
benefactions  to  the  virtuous  he 
limps,  but  he  flies  when  his  object  is 
to  succor  the  wicked.  Formerly, 
indeed,  he  had  been  a  fair  and  just 
god,  but  Zeus  blinded  him  and  ever 
after  he  distributed  his  favors  at 
random.  He  is  represented  as  an 
old  man,  lame  but  winged.  In  one 
hand  he  bears  a  cornucopia  full  of 
gold  and  silver,  which  he  scatters 
along  the  way  with  the  other  hand. 
His  eyes  are  blindfolded  and  he 
wears  a  crown. 

Plutus  is  the  titular  hero  of  the 
latest  of  the  extant  comedies  of 
Aristophanes.  Its  aim  is  to  vindi- 
cate the  conduct  of  Providence  in 
the  distribution  of  wealth.  Plutus 
struck  blind  by  Jupiter  for  declaring 
his  intention  of  bestowing  wealth 
only  on  the  virtuous  is  discovered  by 


Chremylus,  a  worthy  old  man,  who 
compassionately  invited  him  to  his 
house.  Here  Poverty,  the  old  man's 
life-long  companion,  refuses  to  yield 
to  the  strange  guest  and  delivers  a 
lecture  on  political  economy.  Plutus 
is  nevertheless  installed,  and  being 
subsequently  cured  by  .^Esculapius, 
proceeds  to  distribute  riches  accord- 
ing to  his  original  intention.  Great 
calamities  follow,  the  wicked  are 
rendered  only  more  desperate  by  the 
poverty  to  which  they  are  reduced 
and  the  good  become  corrupted, 
Chremylus  himself  proposing  to  sub- 
stitute the  worship  of  Plutus  for 
that  of  Jupiter.  Thus  the  wisdom 
of  the  latter  was  justified. 

Polycrates,  tyrant  of  Samos  and 
one  of  the  most  powerful  of  the  Greek 
rulers,  was,  according  to  Herodotus 
(Book  iii),  the  owner  of  a  matchless 
emerald  ring.  At  the  height  of  his 
prosperity,  Amasis,  king  of  Egypt, 
warned  him  that  he  should  avert  the 
envy  of  the  gods  ("  let  blood  in  time, 
so  that  the  plethora  of  happiness 
might  not  end  in  apoplexy  "),  by 
sacrificing  some  highly  prized  treas- 
ure. Polycrates  obeyed.  He  rowed 
far  out  to  sea  and  flung  his  ring  into 
the  deep.  A  few  days  later  a  fish- 
erman presented  him  with  a  mon- 
strous fish.  When  opened,  there 
in  its  stomach  lay  the  rejected  ring. 
Greatly  rejoiced,  Polycrates  wrote  to 
Amasis,  but  the  latter  only  took  the 
deeper  alarm  at  this  continuous  run 
of  good  luck  and  severed  all  relations 
with  him  in  the  certainty  that  luck 
would  change.  A  short  while  later 
Oroctes,  the  satrap  of  Sardis,  ob- 
tained possession  of  Polycrates  by  a 
stratagem  and  crucified  him.  Schiller 
versifies  this  legend  in  a  ballad,  The 
Ring  of  Polycrates,  which  has  been 
translated  by  Bulwer  and  J.  C. 
Mangan. 

Polydorus,  in  classic  myth,  young- 
est and  favorite  son  of  Priam,  who 
according  to  Homer  was  killed  while 
still  a  boy  by  Achilles  (Iliad,  xx,  470). 
The  epic  poets  give  him  Laothe  for 
mother,  the  tragedians  substitute 
Hecuba  and  record  a  different  fate 
for  him.  Before  the  fall  of  Troy  he 


Polyidos 


244 


Polyphonies 


was  committed  to  the  care  of  Poly- 
mester,  king  of  Thrace,  who  broke 
faith  when  Troy  was  captured,  put 
the  boy  to  death  and  threw  the  body 
into  the  sea.  It  was  cast  up  on  the 
Trojan  shore  just  as  Polyxena  was 
on  the  point  of  being  sacrificed.  Here 
Hecuba  discovered  it.  Wild  for 
revenge  she  enlisted  the  help  of 
captive  Trojan  women  to  kill  the 
two  children  of  the  murderer  and  to 
blind  Polymester  himself.  In  another 
version  Polymester's  wife,  Ilione,  a 
daughter  of  Priam,  brings  up  her 
brother  as  her  own  son,  to  the  exclu- 
sion of  her  own  child,  Deiphilus. 
The  Greeks,  bent  on  extinguishing 
all  Priam's  line,  win  over  Polymester 
by  promising  him  the  hand  of 
Electra  and  much  treasure  if  he  will 
slay  Polydorus.  He  murders  his 
own  son  by  mistake,  and  is  blinded 
and  killed  by  Ilione. 

Polyidos,  in  Grecian  myth,  a 
soothsayer  of  Argos.  Glaucus,  the 
young  son  of  the  Cretan  King  Minos, 
having  been  smothered  in  a  cask  of 
honey,  was  discovered  there  by 
Polyidos,  who  had  been  pointed  out 
by  Apollo  for  the  purpose.  Minos 
then  caused  the  soothsayer  to  be 
shut  up  with  the  corpse,  with  orders 
to  restore  it  to  life.  Polyidos  slew 
a  dragon  which  was  approaching  the 
body,  and  presently  was  surprised 
at  seeing  another  dragon  come  with 
a  blade  of  grass  and  place  it  on  its 
dead  companion,  which  at  once  rose 
from  the  ground.  Polyidos,  with 
the  same  leaf,  resuscitated  Glaucus. 
This  story  reappears,  in  different 
forms,  in  the  folklore  of  many 
nations.  Thus  in  Grimm's  tale  of 
the  Three  Snake  Leaves,  a  prince  is 
buried  alive  (like  Sindbad)  with  his 
dead  wife,  and  seeing  a  serpent  ap- 
proaching the  body,  he  cuts  it  into 
three  pieces.  Another  serpent  soon 
appeared  with  three  green  leaves  in 
its  mouth,  and,  putting  the  three 
pieces  together,  it  laid  a  leaf  on  each 
wound,  and  the  serpent  was  alive 
again.  The  prince,  applying  the  leaf 
to  his  wife's  body,  restores  her  also 
to  life.  A  similar  incident  occurs  in 
the  Hindu  story  of  Pane  Phul 


Rame,  and  in  Fouqu6's  Sir  Elidoc, 
which  is  founded  on  a  Breton  legend. 
See  ELIDUC. 

Polyphemus,  in  classic  myth,  chief 
of  the  Cyclops.  He  makes  his  first 
literary  appearance  in  Homer's  Odys- 
sey, Book  ix.  He  is  there  described 
as  a  giant  of  enormous  strength, 
with  a  single  eye  placed  in  the  middle 
of  his  forehead.  This  last  character- 
istic was  afterwards  extended  to  his 
companions.  Like  these  he  was  a 
cannibal  and  a  cave-dweller  engaged 
in  pastoral  pursuits  in  the  daytime. 
Odysseus,  shipwrecked  on  the  coast 
of  Sicily,  was  with  twelve  companions 
imprisoned  by  Polyphemus  in  his 
cave.  Six  of  the  Greeks  were  slaugh- 
tered and  eaten  before  Odysseus 
could  contrive  an  escape.  At  last  he 
succeeded  in  making  Polyphemus 
drunk,  blinded  him  by  plunging  a 
burning  stake  into  his  eye  while  he 
slept,  and  with  his  friends  escaped 
from  the  cavern  by  clinging  to  the 
bellies  of  the  sheep  led  out  to  pasture. 
Euripides  tells  the  same  story  in  his 
drama  The  Cyclops.  In  a  later 
legend  Polyphemus  appears  as  the 
lover  of  Galatea  and  slayer  of  his 
rival  Acis. 

Homer  makes  him  the  son  of 
Poseidon,  who  pursued  Odysseus  with 
savage  parental  fury  ever  after  the 
blinding  of  Polyphemus. 

Polyphonies,  in  Greek  myth,  a 
descendant  of  Hercules  who  slew 
Cresphontes,  king  of  Massena,  and 
took  forcible  possession  of  his  throne 
and  his  widow  Merope.  Her  son 
^Epytus  alone  escaped  the  general 
massacre.  When  grown  to  manhood 
he  freed  her  from  hateful  matri- 
mony by  slaying  Polyphontes  and 
regaining  his  patrimony.  (See  MER- 
OPE.) All  the  playwrights  who 
treated  this  subject  before  Matthew 
Arnold  agreed  in  making  Poly- 
phontes a  detestable  villain  so  that, 
contrary  to  the  orthodox  principles 
of  tragedy,  his  death  ended  the  story 
to  the  unmixed  satisfaction  of  the 
audience.  This  error  Arnold  avoided 
by  giving  him  a  mixed  character 
and  dwelling  on  the  consideration 
and  respect  he  had  always  shown  to 


Polytechnus 


245 


Pond 


Merope    after    she    came    into    his 

power. 

Polytechnus,  in  Grecian  myth,  an 
artificer  at  Colophon  in  Lydia,  who 
married     ^don,     the    daughter    of 
Pandareos,  by  whom  he  had  one  son, 
Itylus.      Because    the    wife   boasted 
that  she  lived  more  happily  with  her 
husband  than  did  Hera  with  Zeus, 
the    goddess    sent    Eris    (strife)    to 
instigate  a  contest  between  husband 
and  wife  as  to  who  could  first  finish 
a  piece  of  work  each  had  in  hand. 
By  Hera's  help  ^don  won  the  wager, 
whereupon  Polytechnus,   piqued  by 
defeat,    brought    her    sister 
donis  to  the  house,  having  first  out- 
raged her  and  bound  her  to  secrecy, 
and  introduced  her,  unrecognized,  as 
a  slave.     One  day  ^Edon  overheard 
Chelidonis    bewailing    her    lot,    the 
truth  came  out,  and  the  sisters,  in 
dire   revenge,   killed   Itylus    cooked 
him  and  set  him  before  the  father  to 
eat.    Polytechnus  detected  the  hide- 
ous imposition   and  pursued   Cheli- 
donis to  her  home,  where  the  gods 
turned  the  whole  family  into  birds. 
Pandareos  became  an  osprey,  ^Edon 
a  kingfisher  and  Chelidonis  a  swal- 
low.   See  PROCNE.  ^ 

Polyxena,  in  classic  myth,  daughter 
of  Priam  and  Hecuba.    Unknown  to 
Homer  and  ignored  by  Virgil,— the 
stories  told  about  her  by  other  author- 
ities are  self -contradictory.    Some  are 
apparently  based  upon  a  lost  play, 
named  after  her,  by  Sophocles;  some 
are  told  in  extant  dramas  (EURIPIDES, 
Hecuba,    and    SENECA,     Troiades) ; 
othersome    are    mediaeval    creations 
which  have  gained  currency  through 
the  early  Italian  poets.     This  much 
emerges  from  the  confusion:    Achilles 
and    Polyxena,    meeting    over    the 
corpse  of  Hector,  when  Priam  came 
to  demand  it  from  the  Greek  hero, 
fell  in  love  with  each  other.     Pans, 
under  pretence  of  sanctioning  their 
marriage,  inveigled  Achilles  into  the 
temple  of  Apollo  in  Troy,  where  he 
slew  him   from  an   ambush.     After 
the  fall  of  Troy  the  shade  of  Achilles 
demanded  that  the  maiden  be  im- 
molated upon  his  tomb.    Ovid  makes 
her  cheerfully  accept  her  doom: 


The  very  priest 
Whose  knife   was   buried  in  her    proffered 

breast 

Unwilling  struck,  and  blinded  by  his  tears, 
But  she  as  to  the  earth  with  failing  knees 
She  sank,  intrepid  to  the  last,  her  robe 
Drew  round  her  form  and  from  the  vulgar 

gaze 

Concealed  what  virgin  modesty  required. 
Metamorphoses,  xiii,  1.  638. 

HENRY  KING,  trans. 


According  to  Philostratus,  Polyx- 
ena fled  to  the  Greeks  after  the 
murder  of  Achilles  and  slew  herself 
upon  his  tomb. 

In  the  Loggia  de  Lanzi,  in  Florence, 
there  is  a  famous  statue  by  Fedi, 
The  Rape  of  Polyxena  (1866),  which 
is  based  upon  still  another  legend,— 
that  Achilles  escaped  alive  from  the 
temple  of  Apollo,  bearing  Polyxena 
with  him. 

Pomona,  the  Latin  goddess  ot 
fruit-trees,  in  whose  honor  the 
Romans  celebrated  the  festival  of 
the  Pomonalis.  Like  her  consort, 
Vertumnus,  she  was  especially  wor- 
shipped in  the  country.  In  art  she 
figured  as  a  beautiful  young  matron 
with  fruits  in  her  bosom  and  a 
pruning  knife  in  her  hand.  Ovid 
(Metamorphoses  xiv,  623)  tells  how 
she  was  wooed  and  won  by  Vertum- 
nus, god  of  the  revolving  year,  who 
seems  to  have  been  known  also  under 
the  name  of  Pomonus. 

Pond  of  Kings,  a  sheet  of  water  in 
the  ancient  town  of  Zaba  or  Java, 
capital  of  the  semi-mythical  empire 
of   Zabedj,    said   to   have   once   ex- 
tended from  Cape  Camorin   to   the 
southern  frontier  of  China.    Founded 
before   Christ  it   flourished  in  ever 
increasing  splendor  until  the  seventh 
century   A.D.,    when   it   waned    and 
fell, —vanishing    so    completely    at 
last   as    to    leave    hardly    a    record 
of    its    existence.        The    story    of 
the  Pond  of  Kings  is  told  in  early 
narratives    of    Arabian    travel    and 
adventure.        Every     morning     the 
Treasurer  of  the  Maharajah  or  Em- 
peror of  Zabedj  would  cast  into  this 
pond,  which  lay  in  front  of  the  im- 
perial palace,  an  ingot  of  gold.     On 
the  death  of  each  sovereign  the  ingots 
were  fished  out  and  divided  among 
his  household. 


Poppaea 


246 


Prester 


Poppsea,  in  Roman  history,  one 
of  the  most  beautiful,  dissolute  and 
unscrupulous  women  of  her  day,  the 
mistress  and  afterwards  the  wife  of 
Nero.  In  modern  fiction  she  is  an 
important  character  in  Sienkiewicz's 
Quo  Vadis  (1895).  Seneca  had  al- 
ready painted  her  in  the  _  blackest 
colors  in  his  tragedy  Octavia. 

Poseidon,  in  Greek  myth,  the  god 
of  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  identified 
by  the  Romans  with  Neptunus  or 
Neptune.  A  son  of  Cronos  (in  Latin 
Saturn)  and  Rhea,  he  divided  with 
his  brothers  Zeus  and  Hades  the 
empire  of  the  world,  Zeus  taking  the 
visible  land,  Poseidon  the  sea,  and 
Hades  the  underworld.  The  Homeric 
Hymns  describe  him  as  equal  to 
Zeus,  but  less  powerful.  He  had 
staccato  powers  of  creation,  for  he 
made  the  horse. 

And  yet  another  praise  is  mine  to  sing, 

Gift  of  the  mighty  God 
To  this  our  city,  mother  of  us  all 

Her  greatest,  noblest  boast. 

Famed  for  her  goodly  steeds 

Famed  for  her  bounding  colts, 

Famed  for  her  sparkling  sea 
Poseidon,  son  of  Kronos,  Lord  and  King 

To  thee  this  boast  we  owe. 

SOPHOCLES:    (Edipus  at  Colonna. 

PLUMPTRE,  trans. 

Though  generally  loyal  to  Zeus,  he 
once  plotted  with  Hera  and  Pallas 
to  bind  him  in  chains,  but  was  out- 
witted by  Thetis,  at  whose  warning 
Zeus  placed  the  hundred-handed 
Briareus  besides  his  throne  to  frighten 
the  conspirators.  Poseidon  had  three 
children,  Triton,  Rhode  and  Benthe- 
sicme,  by  his  wife  Amphitrite,  and 
countless  others  by  nymphs  and 
mortals.  His  symbol  was  the  trident 
or  three-pointed  spear.  His  palace 
was  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea  (Iliad, 
xiii,  21)  and  he  drove  over  the  waves 
in  a  chariot  drawn  by  horses  with 
brazen  hoofs  and  golden  manes,  and 
accompanied  by  dolphins  and  vari- 
ous monsters  of  the  deep.  He  sided 
with  the  Greeks  in  their  war  against 
Troy,  although  Homer  in  the  Odyssey 
makes  him  bear  an  especial  animosity 
to  Odysseus  in  revenge  for  that  hero's 
treatment  of  Polyphemus. 

In    Book   xv   ofj    Homer's    Iliad 


Zeus,  alarmed  at  a  defeat  of  the 
Trojans,  sends  Iris  to  warn  Poseidon 
that  he  should  withdraw  his  aid  from 
the  Greeks.  At  first  Poseidon  is 
inclined  to  be  defiant,  answering  in 
great  wrath, 

We  were  three  brethren,  all  of  Rhaea  born 
To  Saturn;  Jove  and  I,  and  Pluto  third. 
Who  o'er  the  nether  regions  holds  his  sway. 
Threefold  was  our  partition;  each  obtain'd 
His  meed  of  honour  due;  the  hoary  Sea 
By  lot  my  habitation  was  assign'd; 
The  realms  of  Darkness  fell  to  Pluto's  share; 
Broad  Heav'n,  amid  the  sky  and  clouds,  to 

Jove; 

But  Earth,  and  high  Olympus,  are  to  all 
A  common  heritage,  nor  will  I  walk 
To  please  the  will  of  Jove;  though  great 

he  be, 

With  his  own  third  contented  let  him  rest: 
Nor  let  him  think  that  I,  as  wholly  vile. 
Shall  quail  before  his  arm;  his  lofty  words 
Were  better  to  his  daughters  and  his  sons 
Address'd,  his  own  begotten;  who  perforce 
Must  listen  to  his  mandates,  and  obey. 

Iliad,  xv,  212.    DERBY,  trans. 

Iris  soothes  him  into  a  more  com- 
pliant mood,  and  he  concludes: 

I  yield,  but  with  indignant  sense  of  wrong. 

Prester  John,  a  mythical  Christian 
conqueror  in  the  East  who  during 
the  1 2th  and  I3th  centuries  was 
believed  to  have  established  a  vast 
empire  in  the  very  heart  of  Moslem 
territory.  The  delusion  was  fed  by 
a  remarkable  forgery,  dating  from 
1165,  which  purported  to  be  a  letter 
to  the  Emperor  Manuel  of  Constan- 
tinople from  "  Presbyter  Joannes, 
by  the  power  and  virtue  of  God, 
and  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  Lord 
of  Lords."  With  Oriental  extrav- 
agance the  epistle  dilated  upon  the 
splendors  of  his  empire.  Seventy- 
two  kings  were  his  vassals.  When  he 
went  forth  to  war  13  gold  crosses 
preceded  him  as  his  standards,  each 
followed  by  10,000  horsemen  and 
100,000  foot  soldiers.  In  his  palace 
he  was  waited  on  by  7  kings,  60 
dukes  and  365  counts;  12  arch- 
bishops sat  on  his  right  hand  and 
20  bishops  on  his  left.  All  the 
strange  beasts  and  monsters  of  cur- 
rent legend  abounded  in  his  domin- 
ions, from  the  "  worm  called  sala- 
mander "  to  the  headless  men  called 
Acephali. 


Priam 


247 


Procrustes 


Pope  Alexander  III  in  1177  re~ 
plied  to  this  screed  in  a  letter  still 
extant  and  believed  to  be  genuine. 
It  is  said  that  he  sent  a  copy  by  an 
envoy  to  this  potentate  in  nubibus. 
Imagine  the  situation  of  this  hapless 
diplomat,  turned  loose  among  Tar- 
tars and  Saracens,  and  knocking  at 
the  gate  of  one  paynim  sovereign 
after  another  in  quest  of  the  great 
Christian  emperor  upon  whose  alli- 
ance wild  hopes  had  been  based! 
As  the  envoy  never  returned,  his 
experiences  are  lost  to  us. 

The  myth  acquired  additional 
countenance  from  vague  reports  re- 
garding the  Syrian  church  in  Mala- 
bar, and  when  at  a  later  period  the 
existence  of  an  actual  Christian 
country  in  Abyssinia  became  known 
to  Marco  Polo,  he  had  no  scruple  in 
classing  "  Habeischia  "'  as  a  second 
division  of  India,  thus  supplying  a  link 
of  identification  with  Prester  John. 

When  at  last  the  researches  of 
Catholic  missionaries  had  made  it 
clear  that  no  Christian  empire  had 
existed  in  Asia  its  locality  was  trans- 
ferred by  common  consent  to  Africa. 
Former  etymologists  had  found  in 
Prester  a  corruption  of  Presbyter, 
thus  indicating  a  compound  of  priest 
and  prince.  Their  successors  decided 
that  Prester  was  simply  a  corruption 
of  the  Portuguese  preto,  black. 

Dr.  Oppert  in  Der  Presbyter 
Johannes  in  Sage  und  Geschichte 
(1864)  plausibly  but  not  convinc- 
ingly identifies  Prester  John  with 
Korkhan,  the  Tartar  sovereign  of 
Cashgar. 

Wolfram  von  Eschenbach  in  his 
romantic  poem  Parzival  (circa  1205) 
makes  Jean-le-Pretre  the  issue  of  a 
marriage  between  Parzival 's  aunt 
and  his  half  brother,  Fierifix,  king 
of  India,  and  intimates  that  after 
the  death  of  Loherangrin  (Parzival's 
son  and  heir)  Prester  John  will  suc- 
ceed to  the  kingship  of  the  San  Greal. 
This  hint  was  seized  upon  and  ampli- 
fied (circa  1290)  in  Alfred  von 
Scharfenberg's  Titurel.  See  PARZIFAL. 

Priam,  king  of  Troy,  slain  by 
Pyrrhus  on  the  fall  of  that  city.  He 
was  married  successively  to  Arisba 


and  Hecuba,  had  affairs  with  other 
women,  and  according  to  Homer  was 
the  father  of  50  children,  among 
then  the  ill-fated  Paris  and  Polites, 
and  the  heroic  Hector.  In  the  Iliad, 
xxiv,  he  obtains  the  body  of  the 
latter  by  an  effective  plea  to  Achilles, 
Hector's  slayer. 

Priapus,  in  later  Greek  myth, 
son  of  Dionysus  and  Aphrodite,  the 
god  of  fruitfulness  and  the  creative 
principle.  Horticulture,  vine-grow- 
ing, the  breeding  of  animals,  bee- 
keeping and  even  fishing,  were  held 
to  be  under  his  protection.  The 
original  seat  of  his  worship  lay  in 
Asia  Minor,  along  the  Hellespont, 
whence  it  subsequently  spread  over 
Greece  and  Italy.  Originally  a 
personification  of  the  fruitfulness  of 
nature,  he  eventually  degenerated 
into  a  god  of  sensuality  with  a 
phallus  as  his  emblem.  His  image 
was  often  placed  on  tombs  to  sym- 
bolize the  doctrine  of  regeneration 
and  a  future  life. 

Procne,  or  Progne,  in  Greek  myth, 
a  daughter  of  Pandipn,  king  of 
Athens,  and  Zeuxippe  his  queen.  By 
her  husband,  Tereus,  she  became  the 
mother  of  Itys.  Tereus  wearying  of 
her  reported  that  she  was  dead,  and 
fetched  her  sister,  Philomela,  from 
Athens,  whom  he  ravished  on  the 
way.  He  then  cut  out  her  tongue  so 
that  she  might  not  bear  witness 
against  him  and  concealed  her  in  a 
grove  on  Parnassus.  Procne  learned 
of  her  unhappy  plight  through  a 
robe  which  Philomela  managed  to 
smuggle  to  her,  on  which  she  had 
embroidered  her  story,  and  the 
sisters  planned  a  terrible  revenge. 
Slaying  the  boy  Itys  they  served 
him  up  to  his  father  at  a  public 
banquet.  Tereus  discovered  the 
trick  and  would  have  killed  both  the 
sisters,  but  the  gods  changed  him 
into  a  hoopoe,  Procne  into  a  nightin- 
gale and  Philomela  into  a  swallow. 
(OviD,  Metamorphoses,  vi,  6.)  Other 
traditions  make  Philomela  (<?.z>.)  the 
nightingale,  Procne  the  swallow  and 
Tereus  a  hawk.  See  also  PANDAREOS. 

Procrustes  (The  Stretcher),  in 
Greek  legend,  a  robber  haunting  the 


Prometheus 


248 


Proteus 


neighborhood  of  Eleusis  in  Attica 
who  was  finally  conquered  and  slam 
by  Theseus.  He  had  an  iron  bed  on 
which  he  bound  all  wayfarers  that 
fell  into  his  hands.  If  they  were 
too  short  he  stretched  their  limbs 
until  they  died  of  exhaustion;  if  too 
long  he  would  cut  off  quantum  suff.  to 
make  them  fit.  Hence  the  phrase  a 
Procrustean  bed.  Alternate  names 
for  this  ingenious  gentleman  were 
Damastes  or  Polypemon. 

Prometheus,  in  Greek  myth,  son 
of  the  Titan  lapetus  and  Clymene. 
At  first  he  was  an  ally  of  Zeus, 
helping  him  to  dethrone  Cronus. 
But  gratitude  was  changed  to  hatred 
when  Prometheus  manifested  undue 
friendship  to  men,  a  race  whom  Zeus 
despised.  He  found  them  grovelling 
in  the  lowest  depths  of  misery,  naked, 
cold  and  unhoused.  (^ESCHYLUS, 
Prometheus  the  Fire  Bringer,  v,  540.) 
Stealing  fire  from  heaven  in  the 
hollow  of  a  reed  he  taught  mortals  its 
use.  So  began  the  new  order  of 
things,  which  enabled  them  to  grope 
their  way  into  conditions  befitting 
creatures  with  the  power  of  thought 
and  speech.  Zeus  in  revenge  chained 
Prometheus  to  the  rugged  crags  on 
Mount  Caucasus,  where  a  vulture 
gnawed  his  liver,  which  grew  as  fast 
as  it  was  devoured.  Even  in  this 
piteous  condition  Prometheus  defied 
the  celestial  tyrant,  and  refused  to 
divulge  his  secret,  even  though  he 
knew  liberty  would  follow: 

Let  then  the  blazing  levin  flash  be  hurled 
With  white  winged  snow  storm  and  with 

earth-born  thunders; 
Let  him  disturb  and  trouble  all  that  is; 
Naught  of  these  things  shall  force  me  to 

declare 
Whose    hand    shall    drive    him    from    his 

sovereignty. 
^ESCHYLUS:    Prometheus  Bound,  1.  994. 

PLUMPTRE,  trans. 

In  the  third  drama  of  his  great 
trilogy  ^schylus  shows  how  Hercules 
killed  the  vulture  and  released  the 
victim,  with  the  consent  of  Zeus,  who 
foresaw  that  his  own  son  would  thus 
win  immortal  glory. 

There  is  also  a  legend  that  Prome- 
theus created  men  out  of  earth  and 
water,  or  from  various  members 


derived    from    the    lower    animals. 
This  legend  is  alluded  to  by  Spenser: 

It  told  how  first  Prometheus  did  create 
A  man  of  many  parts  from  beasts  derived 
And  then  stole  fire  from  heaven  to  animate 
His  work. 

Faerie  Queene,  ii,  x,  70. 

Before  ^Eschylus,  Hesiod  in  his 
Theogeny  had  told  the  story  of  the 
champion  of  man.  It  has  been  the 
theme  of  numerous  other  poets, 
ancient  and  modern. 

Titan!    to  whose  immortal  eyes 

The  sufferings  of  mortality, 

Seen  in  their  sad  reality, 
Were  not  as  things  that  gods  despise. 
What  was  thy  pity's  recompense? 
A  silent  suffering,  and  intense; 
The  rock,  the  vulture,  and  the  chain; 
All  that  the  proud  can  feel  of  pain; 
The  agony  they  do  not  show; 
The  suffocating  sense  of  woe. 

Thy  godlike  crime  was  to  be  kind; 

To  render  with  thy  precepts  less 

The  sum  of  human  wretchedness, 
And  strengthen  man  with  his  own  mind. 

And,  baffled  as  thou  wert  from  high, 

Still,  in  thy  patient  energy, 
In  the  endurance  and  repulse, 

Of  thine  impenetrable  spirit, 
Which  earth  and  heaven  could  not  convulse, 

A  mighty  lesson  we  inherit. 

BYRON:    Prometheus. 

Proserpine,  the  Roman  name  for 
Persephone.  See  DEMETER. 

That  fair  field 
Of     Enna,     where     Proserpine     gathering 

flowers, 

Herself  a  fairer  flower,  by  gloomy  Dis 
Was   gathered,   which  cost   Ceres   all  that 

pain 
To  seek  her  through  the  world. 

MILTON:    Paradise  Lost,  iv,  268. 

Proteus,  in  classic  myth,  a  god 
whose  legends  are  as  manifold  as 
were  the  shapes  he  could  assume  at 
will.  Hesiod  and  Homer  make  him 
the  guardian  of  the  flocks  (the  seals) 
of  Poseidon.  Homer  locates  his 
residence  on  the  island  of  Pharos; 
Virgil  on  the  island  of  Carpathos. 
His  pedigree  is  variously  given.  All 
accounts  agree,  however,  that  he 
rose  from  the  sea  about  noon  to  sleep 
on  the  rocks,  and  if  caught  at  that 
time,  would  prophesy  the  future.  In 
his  efforts  to  escape,  however,  he 
would  assume  any  form  that  might 
prove  most  elusive.  Hence  the 
phrase  "  protean  shapes." 


Psyche 


249 


Psychopompos 


In  the  Odyssey,  iv,  Odysseus  tells 
how  he  and  his  companions,  landing 
before  noon  on  Carpathos,  awaited 
in  ambush  for  the  arrival  of  the  god: 

Then   Proteus,   mounting   from   the   hoary 

deep, 

Surveys  his  charge,  unknowing  of  deceit 
(In  order  told,  we  make  the  sum  complete). 
Pleased  with  the  false  review,  secure  he  lies, 
And  leaden  slumbers  press  his  drooping  eyes. 
Rushing  impetuous  forth,  we  straight  pre- 
pare 

A  furious  onset  with  the  sound  of  war, 
And  shouting  seize  the  god; — our  force  to 

evade, 

His  various  arts  he  soon  resumes  in  aid: 
A  lion  now,  he  curls  a  surgy  mane; 
Sudden  our  hands  a  spotted  pard  restrain; 
Then,   arm'd  with  tusks,  and  lightning  in 

his  eyes, 

A  boar's  obscener  shape  the  god  belies: 
On  spiry  volumes,  there  a  dragon  rides; 
Here,  from  our  strict  embrace  a  stream  he 

glides : 
And  last,  sublime,   his  stately  growth  he 

rears 

A  tree,  and  well-dissembled  foliage  wears. 
Vain  efforts!  with  superior  power  com- 

press'd, 

Me  with  reluctance  thus  the  seer  address'd: 
"Say,  son  of  Atreus,  say  what  god  inspired 
This  daring  fraud,  and  what  the  boon 

desired?" 

1  thus:  "  O  thou,  whose  certain  eye  foresees 
The  fix'd  event  of  fate's  remote  decrees; 
After  long  woes,  and  various  toil  endured, 
Still  on  this  desert  isle  my  fleet  is  moor'd, 
Unfriended  of  the  gales.    All-knowing,  say, 
What  godhead  interdicts  the  watery  way? 
What     vows     repentant     will     the     power 

appease, 

To  speed  a  prosperous  voyage  o'er  the  seas?" 

DRYDEN,  trans. 

Psyche  (Gr.  the  Soul),  in  later 
classic  myth,  a  beautiful  maiden 
beloved  by  Cupid.  The  jealous 
Aphrodite  had  commissioned  her  vol- 
atile son  to  inspire  Psyche  with  love 
for  some  outcast  among  mortals,  but, 
instead,  he  married  her  and  carried 
her  off  to  a  secluded  spot  where  he 
visited  her  only  at  night.  He 
warned  her  never  to  attempt  to  see 
him.  Her  sisters  suggest  that  she  is 
wedded  to  some  loathsome  monster. 
Wishful  to  know  the  truth  she  lit  a 
lamp  while  he  slept  and  found  him 
the  loveliest  of  the  gods.  But  a  drop 
of  hot  oil  fell  upon  his  shoulder.  He 
awoke  to  upbraid  her  and  vanish.  In 
her  lonely  despair  Psyche  vainly 
sought  to  drown  herself.  Then  wan- 
dering from  temple  to  temple  in  a 
weary  quest,  she  at  last  came  to  the 


palace  of  Aphrodite,  who  retained 
her  as  a  slave  and  treated  her  with 
great  cruelty  until  Cupid  rescued  her, 
and  they  were  joined  in  happy  union 
forever. 

The  story  forms  the  most  famous 
episode  in  the  Golden  A  ss  of  Apuleius 
(circa  160  A.D.).  An  exquisite  Eng- 
lish version,  much  condensed,  ap- 
pears in  Walter  Pater's  Marius  the 
Epicurean.  (See  CUPID.) 

The  story  is  possibly  an  allegory  of 
how  the  human  soul  may  lose  all  by 
demanding  too  much,  and  be  re- 
stored to  its  own  through  the  puri- 
fying influences  of  humiliation  and 
suffering.  But  if  so  Apuleius  builded 
better  than  he  knew  and  with  ma- 
terials more  venerable  than  he  im- 
agined. Like  the  cognate  fables  of 
Melusina,  Bluebeard  and  Beauty 
and  the  Beast  its  germ  may  be  found 
in  the  popular  myths  of  all  nations. 
See  these  entries,  also  WHITE  BEAR, 
SEMELE. 

Psychopompos,  in  Greek  myth,  a 
name  given  to  Hermes  in  his  capac- 
ity of  guide  of  souls  to  the  under- 
world. This  function  is  ascribed  to 
him  by  Homer  in  the  last  book  of 
the  Odyssey,  where  the  souls  of  the 
slain  suitors  of  Penelope  are  con- 
ducted to  the  realm  of  Hades: 

As  when  a  flock  of  bats, 
Deep  in  a  dismal  cavern,  fly  about 
And  squeak,  if  one  have  fallen  from  the 

place 

Where  clinging  to  each  other  and  the  rock, 
They  rested,  so  that  crowd  of  ghosts  went 

forth 
With  shrill  and  plaintive  cries.    Before  them 

moved 
Beneficent   Hermes  through   those    dreary 

ways, 
And  past  the  ocean  stream  they  went,  and 

past 

Leucadia's  rock,  the  portal  of  the  sun, 
And  people  of  the  land  of  dreams,  until 
They  reached  the  field  of  asphodel,  where 

dwell 
The  souls,  the  bodiless  forms  of  those  who 

die. 

BRYANT:    Odyssey,  Book  xxiv,  7. 

In  Egyptian  mythology,  a  similar 
office  was  performed  by  Anubis,  a 
jackal-headed  god,  son  of  Osiris  by 
his  wife  Isis,  or  as  others  report,  by 
his  sister-in-law,  Nephthys,  who  fear- 
ing the  jealously  of  Isis  concealed 
the  child  by  the  sea-shore.  The  office 


Puck 


250 


Punchkin 


of  Anubis  was  to  superintend  the 
passage  of  souls  to  their  abode  in 
the  underworld.  He  presided  over 
tombs,  and  is  frequently  represented 
standing  over  a  bier  whereon  a 
corpse  is  stretched. 

Methodist  peasants  in  England 
believe  that  angels  pipe  to  children 
who  are  about  to  die;  in  Scandinavia 
youths  are  enticed  away  by  the 
songs  of  elf-maidens;  in  Greece  the 
magic  lay  of  the  sirens  allured  voy- 
agers to  destruction  and  the  strains 
of  Orpheus's  lute  drew  after  him  dumb 
beasts  and  even  rocks  and  trees. 

For  Orpheus  is  the  wind  sighing  through 
acres  of  pine  forests,  and  the  ancients  held 
that  in  the  wind  were  the  souls  of  the  dead. 
"To  this  day  the  English  peasantry  believe 
that  they  hear  the  wail  of  the  spirits  of 
unbaptized  children,  as  the  gale  sweeps  past 
their  cottage  doors.  The  Greek  Hermes 
resulted  from  the  fusion  of  two  deities.  He 
is  the  sun  and  also  the  wind;  and  in  the 
latter  capacity  he  bears  away  the  souls  of 
the  dead.  So  the  Norse  Odin,  who  like 
Hermes  fulfils  a  double  function,  is  supposed 
to  rush  at  night  over  the  tree-tops,  accom- 
panied by  the  scudding  train  of  brave  men's 
spirits." — JOHN  FJSKE:  Myths  and  Myth- 
makers,  32. 

Why  does  the  piper,  the  Psychopomp, 
draw  rats  after  him?  Because  in  Germany 
and  elsewhere  they  were  supposed  to  repre- 
sent the  human  soul.  One  illuminating 
myth  will  suffice  to  clear  up  this  point.  In 
Thuringia  at  Saalfeld  a  servant  girl  fell 
asleep  while  her  companions  were  shelling 
nuts.  They  observed  a  little  red  mouse 
creep  from  her  mouth  and  run  out  of  the 
window.  A  bystander  shook  the  girl  but 
could  not  wake  her.  So  he  moved  her  to 
another  place.  Presently  the  mouse  ran 
back  to  the  former  place  and  dashed  about 
seeking  the  girl.  Not  rinding  her  it  van- 
ished. At  the  same  moment  the  girl  died. 
— BARING-GOULD:  Curious  Myths  of  the 
Middle  Ages, 

The  heathen  Holda  was  sym- 
bolized as  a  mouse  and  was  said  to 
lead  an  army  of  mice;  she  was  the 
receiver  of  children's  souls.  Odin, 
likewise  m  his  character  of  a  Psycho- 
pomp,  was  followed  by  a  host  of  rats. 
See  also  HATTO,  BISHOP. 

Puck  or  Pouke,  before  Shak- 
spear's  time,  was  the  generic  name  for 
a  minor  order  of  demons,  and  as  such 

found  in  all  Teutonic  and  Scandi- 
navian dialects,  surviving  even  among 
their  descendants  in  New  York  and 
Pennsylvania.  In  Piers  Ploughman's 


Vision  it  is  used  as  a  synonym  for 
the  devil: 

Out  of  the  poukes  ponfold 
No  maynprise  may  us  fetch. 

Cf.  Spenser: 

Ne  let  the  Pouke  nor  other  evil  sprites, 
Ne    let    mischievous    witches    with    their 

charms, 
Ne  let  Hob  Goblins,  names  whose  sense  we 

see  not 
Fray  us  with  things  that  be  not. 

Shakspear,  who  was  the  first  to 
spell  the  name  Puck,  seems  also  to 
have  been  the  first  who  identified 
him  with  the  merry  and  harmless 
imp,  Robin  Goodfellow. 

Punch,  shortened  from  Punchinello, 
the  hero  of  a  peripatetic  puppet  show 
which  London  has  borrowed  from 
the  Italian  Pulcinello.  The  Punch 
marionette  is  fashioned  with  a  short 
fat  body  and  a  big  hunch  on  the 
back.  A  hooked  nose,  a  long  chin 
and  a  wide  mouth  are  his  prominent 
facial  characteristics.  His  dress  con- 
sists of  a  three-pointed  cap  terminat- 
ing in  a  red  tuft,  a  white  woollen  shirt 
and  drawers,  the  shirt  besprinkled 
with  red  hearts  and  fastened  with  a 
black  leather  girdle,  the  drawers  and 
sleeves  trimmed  with  fringe.  A  linen 
ruffle  encircles  his  neck.  His  wife  is 
usually  named  Judy,  though  some- 
times she  is  called  Joan.  The  once 
popular  puppet  show  of  Punch  and 
Judy  is  a  domestic  tragedy  presented 
in  broad  burlesque:  Punch  in  a 
jealous  rage  strangles  his  infant  son; 
Judy,  flying  too  late  to  the  rescue, 
belabors  her  husband  with  a  blud- 
geon; he  wrenches  it  from  her,  kills 
her  and  casts  her  body  into  the 
street.  A  police  officer,  coming  to 
arrest  him,  meets  with  the  same  fate, 
but  in  the  end  the  Devil  outwits  him 
and  bears  him  off  in  triumph. 

Punchkin,  in  a  Hindoo  tale  of 
unknown  antiquity  is  a  magician 
who  turns  into  stone  all  the  daughters 
of  a  Rajah,  with  their  husbands, 
save  the  youngest  of  them,  whom  he 
takes  to  wife.  A  son  she  had  left 
at  home  comes  in  search  of  her,  and 
wins  from  her  the  secret  as  to  where 
the  tyrant  kept  his  heart.  In  the 
middle  of  the  jungle  there  is  a  circle 


Purgatory 


251 


Pye 


of  palm  trees,  in  the  centre  of  the 
circle  6  jars  of  water,  below  them  is  a 
little  parrot  in  a  cage.  If  the  parrot 
is  killed  the  monster  will  die.  By  the 
aid  of  an  eagle  he  captures  the  parrot, 
frightens  the  magician  into  restor- 
ing his  victims  to  life  and  then  pulls 
the  bird  to  pieces.  As  the  wings  and 
legs  come  off  so  the  arms  and  legs 
of  the  magician  drop  away.  Finally 
as  the  lad  wrings  the  parrot's  neck, 
Punchkin's  own  head  is  twisted 
round  and  he  dies. 

Purgatory  of  St.  Patrick,  a  former 
cave  on  the  island  of  Lough  Derg, 
Ireland,  reputed  to  be  an  entrance  to 
purgatory.  According  to  mediaeval 
legend  Christ  instructed  St.  Patrick 
that  any  one  might  go  down  in  it 
who  had  the  courage,  and  it  should  be 
for  him  as  if  he  had  passed  through 
purgatory  after  death.  A  poem  by 
Henry  of  Saltrey  (circa  1153)  de- 
scribes the  adventures  of  Sir  Owayne 
Miles,  who  took  this  opportunity  of 
expiating  his  crimes,  and  saw  many 
wonderful  sights  in  the  course  of  his 
pilgrimage  through  the  nether  world. 
This  poem,  which  was  translated  into 
nearly  all  European  languages,  may 
have  furnished  Dante  with  a  hint  for 
his  purgatorial  descriptions.  At  last 
in  1496  a  monk  from  Holland  visited 
the  place  and  reported  to  the  Pope 
that  it  differed  in  no  respect  from  an 
ordinary  cavern,  whereupon  His 
Holiness  commanded  its  destruction. 
The  order  was  carried  out  on  St. 
Patrick's  Day,  1497. 

Puss  in  Boots,  hero  and  title  of  a 
nursery  tale  founded  on  Maitre 
Chat  ou  le  Chat  Botte  (1697)  by 
Charles  Perrault  (see  CARABAS,  THE 
MARQUIS  OF).  Perrault  adapted  a 
tale  which  he  found  in  the  Piacevole 
Notte  or  Pleasant  Nights  (1554)  of 
the  Italian  Giovan  Francesco  Strap- 
arola, but  Straparola  in  turn  was 
indebted  to  ancient  Oriental  legend. 
Straparola  misses  the  detail  that  has 
promoted  the  worldwide  success  of 
the  modern  story,  the  boots  which  the 
cat  asks  its  master  to  make,  so  it 
might  tread  with  impunity  upon 
thornbushes.  This  stroke  of  genius 
was  probably  an  inspiration  of 


Perrault's.  Moreover,  the  conclud- 
ing adventure  in  the  castle  differs 
from  that  of  Le  Chat  Botte,  where 
Puss  persuades  the  Ogre  to  whom  it 
belongs  to  transform  himself  into  a 
mouse  and  so  devours  him.  Strap- 
arola's  hero,  named  Constantine,  is 
less  ingeniously  confirmed  in  his 
possessions  by  the  timely  death  of 
the  real  owner. 

A  Magyar  legend  cited  by  J.  A. 
MacCullough  in  his  Childhood  of 
Fiction  doubtless  preserves  the  orig- 
inal features. 

A  fox  saved  from  the  huntsmen  by 
a  poor  miller  promises  him  in  return 
a  wealthy  wife.  He  tells  the  great 
King  Yellowhammer  that  he  has 
been  sent  by  "  Prince  Csihan  '  to 
ask  his  daughter's  hand,  and  presents 
him  with  a  lump  of  gold,  saying 
the  prince  has  no  smaller  change. 
'  Dear  me,"  thought  the  king, 
"  what  a  rich  fellow  this  must  be," 
and  begged  the  fox  to  bring  him  at 
once.  On  the  way  the  miller  is  told 
to  strip  and  go  into  the  water.  The 
fox  tells  the  king  they  have  lost  all 
their  possessions.  Clothes  and  a 
retinue  are  at  once  sent  to  the  miller. 
While  homeward  bound  from  the 
marriage  the  fox  by  strategy  destroys 
the  wealthy  Vasfogu  Baba,  and 
takes  her  castle  for  the  miller  and 
his  bride.  Then  the  fox  shams  ill- 
ness, and  is  cast  out  upon  a  dung- 
hill. "  You  a  prince,"  mutters  the 
fox,  "  you  are  nothing  but  a  miller!" 
Terrified  for  the  safety  of  his  secret 
the  miller  restores  his  benefactor 
to  the  place  of  honor  in  the  castle. 

Pwyll,  Prince  of  Dyfed,  hero  of  a 
story  included  by  Lady  Charlotte 
Guest  in  The  Mabinogion  drawn  from 
the  1 4th  century  MS.,  The  Red  Book 
of  Hergest.  He  exchanges  kingdoms 
with  Arawn,  the  prince  of  Annwn 
(Hades),  who  has  been  worsted  by 
another  prince  of  the  lower  world, 
Havgan.  Pwyll  defeats  Havgan.  At 
the  end  of  a  year  he  and  Arawn  re- 
sume their  proper  shapes  to  find  they 
have  never  been  missed  and  their  king- 
doms are  in  better  shape  than  ever. 

Pye,  Susan  or  Susie,  the  reputed 
mother  of  Thomas  a  Becket,  and 


Pygmalion 


252 


Pygmies 


heroine    of    an    apocryphal    legend 
which  entered  widely  into  mediaeval 


folk-literature.  Gilbert  a  Becket  a 
crusader,  was  taken  prisoner  in  Pales- 
tine by  a  noble  Moor,  who  con- 
fined him  in  his  own  castle. 


His 


su 


offerings  moved  the  compassion  of 
his  captor's  daughter,  and  com- 
passion led  to  love.  She  aided  him 
to  escape,  but  made  him  promise 
that  after  he  reached  home  he  would 
send  for  her  and  make  her  his  wife. 
This  he  neglected  to  do,  and  the 
lady,  with  the  assistance  of  two 
English  words,  "  London"  and  "  Gil- 
bert," made  her  way  to  England  and 
to  her  lover,  who  received  her  joy- 
fully. Before  their  marriage  she 
professed  Christianity,  and  was  bap- 
tized with  much  ceremony,  six 
bishops  assisting  at  the  rite.  Her 
only  child  was  the  famous  Arch- 
bishop. Michelet,  Froude  and  Knight 
have  accepted  the  story,  but  fuller 
investigation  proves  that  Gilbert  a 
Becket  was  a  burgher  merchant  of 
Rouen  who  married  Rohese,  the 
daughter  of  a  burgher  family  at 
Caen,  and  came  to  London  to  engage 
in  trade.  The  story  of  the  young 
Saracen  appealed  to  the  imagination 
of  the  people,  and  in  one  form  or 
another  appears  in  many  ballads  of 
England  and  Scotland  under  the 
titles  Lord  Bateman,  Lord  Beichan, 
Young  Beikie,  Young  Bondwell, 
Young  Beichan  and  Susie  Pye.  The 
name  given  to  the  lady  in  the  ballads 
differs— "  Eisenn,"  "  Safia,"  "  Burd 
Ishel,"  and  "  Susie  Pye." 

This  kind  of  story,  the  loving 
daughter  of  the  cruel  captor,  is  as 
old  as  Medea  and  Jason,  as  recent 
as  Gulnare  and  the  Giaour.  The 
damsel's  search  for  the  lover  whom 
she  has  liberated  is  found  in  such 
folk-tales  as,  e.g.,  The  Black  Bull  of 
Norroway.  No  story,  in  fact,  is  more 
widely  diffused.  See  chapter  A  Far 
Travelled  Tale  in  Lang's  Custom  and 
Myth.  The  local  color,  the  Moor  or 
baracen,  is  probably  derived  from 
crusading  times. 

Pygmalion,  in  classic  myth,  king 

Cyprus.    He  fell  in  love  with  an 

ivory  image  of  a  maiden  carved  by 


his  own  hand,  and  prayed  to  Venus 
at  her  festival  that  the  image  might 
be  endued  with  life.  His  prayer  was 
granted;  he  married  the  maiden  and 
became  by  her  the  father  of  Paphus. 
In  later  versions  of  the  story  the 
statue  was  said  to  represent  Galatea; 
hence  Galatea  became  her  name 
when  she  was  summoned  to  mortal 
life.  William  Morris  has  given  a 
modern  setting  to  this  story  in  his 
Earthly  Paradise.  W.  S.  Gilbert  has 
made  it  the  subject  of  a  comedy, 
Pygmalion  and  Galatea,  in  which  the 
statue  after  being  wakened  into  life 
finds  itself  so  out  of  place  among  the 
passions  of  the  living  creatures  in  the 
midst  of  which  it  has  come  that  it 
returns  to  its  pedestal. 

As  once  with  prayers  In  passion  flowing, 

Pygmalion  embraced  the  stone, 
Till  from  the  frozen  marble  glowing. 

The  light  of  feeling  o'er  him  shone,* 
So  did  I  clasp  with  young  devotion 

Bright  Nature  to  a  poet's  heart; 
Till  breath  and  warmth  and  vital  motion 

Seemed  through  the  statue  form  to  dart. 
SCHILLER:    The  Ideals. 

Pygmies  (from  a  Greek  word 
meaning  a  cubit,  i.e.,  13^  inches), 
a  nation  of  dwarfs  first  mentioned 
by  Homer  (Iliad,  iii)  as  living  on  the 
shores  of  the  ocean  and  engaging  in 
the  springtime  in  a  yearly  battle 
with  the  cranes  who  invaded  their 
cornfields. 

There  is  a  later  story  that  an  army 
of  Pygmies  discovered  Hercules  asleep 
after  his  victory  over  Antaeus,  and 
made  elaborate  preparations  to  at- 
tack him.  Before  they  had  got 
quite  ready  Hercules  awoke,  laughed 
at  their  manoeuvres,  wrapped  a  lot 
of  the  little  warriors  in  his  lion  skin 
and  carried  them  to  Eurystheus,  his 
task-master.  Aristotle,  describing 
the  Pygmies,  said  they  lived  in  hollow 
caves  and  holes  under  the  ground. 

Milton  was  probably  the  first 
writer  who  recognized  the  kinship 
between  the  ancient  Pygmy  and  the 
modern  fairy, — 

That  Pygmsean  race 

Beyond  the  Indian  mount,  or  fairy  elves 
Whose  midnight  revels  by  a  forest  side, 
Or  fountain,  some  belated  peasant  sees, 
(Or  dreams  he  sees),   while  overhead  the 
moon 


Pygmies 


253 


Pyrrha 


Sits  arbitress,  and  nearer  to  the  earth 

Wheels  her  pale  course;  they  on  their  mirth 
and  dance 

Intent,  with  jocund  music  charm  his  ear. 

At  once  with  joy  and  fear  his  heart  re- 
bounds. 

Paradise  Lost,  i. 

This  kinship  has  been  elaborately 
traced  by  Grant  Allen  in  an  article 
in  the  Cornhill  Magazine. 

It  is  significant  that  "  the  little 
people "  is  the  term  applied  to 
fairies  in  many  countries.  The  word 
fairy  itself  is  derived  from  the  Latin 
Fata  (Fate),  which  it  retains  in 
Italian.  The  Provencal  form  is 
Fada,  the  French  is  Fee.  The  real 
Norman  English  is  Fay,  but  this 
has  given  way  to  Fairy,  which  orig- 
inally was  a  collective  form,  meaning 
the  kingdom  or  tribe  of  Fays.  Under 
the  influence  of  courtly  Norman 
literature  this  one  Romance  word, 
fairy,  has  overshadowed  the  elf  of 
the  Anglo-Saxons  and  the  Celts,  and 
absorbed  the  Derbyshire  pixies,  the 
Teutonic  nixies,  the  dwarfs  and 
weirds  of  Scandinavia.  But  etymol- 
ogy throws  little  light  upon  the  origin 
of  the  myth.  Not  the  Roman  Fata 
but  Neolithic  man  was  the  real 
ancestor  of  the  British  fairy,  and 
Neolithic  man  was  probably  co- 
eval with  the  earliest  Egyptian  cul- 
ture. It  was  he  who  left  behind  him 
the  tumuli  or  barrows  which  he  used 
as  family  vaults.  Two  thousand 
years  before  Christ  the  Aryan  Celts 
who  overran  Europe  defeated  and 
dispossessed  him,  but  did  not  dare 
disturb  his  tombs.  In  imagination 
they  peopled  these  with  the  ghosts 
of  the  departed.  The  Neoliths  were 
small  and  swarthy.  Hence  the  com- 
paratively gigantic  Celts  came  to 
think  of  the  Neolithic  ghosts  as  a 
little  people  who  dwelt  underground 
and  wrought  curious  utensils  of 
stone  and  amber  (see  ELFSTONES), 
or  guarded  hidden  treasure.  Buried 
treasure,  it  may  be  added,  was  laden 
with  a  curse  which  would  cling  to  the 
discoverer. 

All  myths  tend  to  exaggeration; 
tall  races  swell  into  giants,  small 
races  shrink  into  dwarfs.  The 
Neolithic  ghosts  were  eventually 


minimized  into  tiny  sprites.  Be- 
longing to  a  hostile  but  conquered 
race  they  were  dreaded  rather  than 
reverenced.  Being  a  feeble  folk 
they  were  annoying  rather  than 
formidable.  They  delighted  in  petty 
mischief,  in  curdling  milk,  spoiling 
water  in  the  wells,  burning  up  the  corn 
in  the  fields,  or  leading  men  astray  at 
nights.  Hence  they  were  propitiated 
as  far  as  possible  by  the  Celts,  and 
by  the  later  races,  such  as  the  Anglo- 
Saxon,  who  learned  the  Celtic  super- 
stitions from  their  Welsh  slaves. 

In  country  places  they  were  al- 
ways more  or  less  dreaded,  and  this 
dread  caused  them  to  be  spoken  of 
euphemistically, — in  Scotland,  as  the 
wee  fair  folk;  in  Wales,  as  Mother's 
blessings;  in  Ireland,  as  the  good 
people.  The  latter  expression  reminds 
one  of  the  Latin  Manes,  the  kind 
ones.  The  euphemism  may  often 
have  been  accepted  literally  and  so 
may  have  helped  to  gain  for  the 
fairies  a  better  character.  At  all 
events  their  character  did  improve, 
though  to  the  last  they  remained 
impish  and  frolicsome.  The  fairy 
slighted  by  not  being  invited  to  a 
birth  or  christening  always  revenges 
herself.  Even  the  fairy  godmother 
who  presides  over  the  ceremony 
balances  her  good  gifts  to  her  pro- 
te'ge'  with  some  form  of  evil  to  the 
protegees  enemies.  Shakspear's  fair- 
ies, who  represent  the  ordinary 
English  tradition,  are  always  mis- 
chievous and  sometimes  malicious. 
Ariel  is  a  docile  slave  to  Prospero, 
but  he  causes  the  shipwreck  and  he 
plagues  Caliban  with  pains  and 
pinches,  he  misleads  the  drunken 
sailors  into  the  morass  and  snatches 
away  the  tables  in  the  form  of  a 
harpy.  See  also  PUCK,  ELVES. 

Pyramus.    See  THISBE. 

Pyrrha,  in  classic  myth,  cousin  and 
wife  of  Deucalion  (q.v.),  who  after 
the  deluge  renewed  the  race  of  women 
as  Deucalion  of  men  by  throwing 
stones  behind  her  back. 

There  is  not  such  a  treat  among  them  all, 
Haunters  of  cavern,  lake,  and  waterfall, 
As  a  real  woman,  lineal  indeed 
From  Pyrrha's  pebbles  or  old  Adam's  seed. 
KEATS:  Lamia,  Book  ii,  1.  330. 


Pyrrhus 


254 


Pythia 


Pyrrhus.    See  NEOPTOLEMUS. 

Pythagoras  (B.C.  582-500),  a  fam- 
ous Greek  philosopher,  has  been  the 
centre  of  a  cycle  of  myths  which 
hopelessly  obscure  all  the  real  facts 
in  his  life.  According  to  these  legends 
he  was  a  subject  of  the  tyrant  Polyc- 
rates,  who  recognizing  his  preco- 
cious intelligence  recommended  him 
to  the  priests  of  Heliopolis  as  a 
promising  pupil;  they  in  their  turn 
handed  him  over  to  the  priests _  of 
Memphis,  and  so  by  various  shifts 
and  devices  of  sages  who  feared  he 
would  penetrate  too  deeply  into  their 
esoteric  mysteries,  he  passed  under 
the  temporary  tuition  of  every  school 
of  philosophy,  Egyptian,  Phoenician, 
Chaldean,  Jewish,  and  Arabian,  and 
also  learned  much  from  the  magi  of 
Persia,  the  Brahmans  of  India,  and 
the  Druids  of  Gaul.  Fable  attrib- 
utes to  him  a  more  or  less  platpnic 
intimacy  with  Themistoclea,  priest- 
ess of  Delphi,  who  opened  to  him  the 
sanctuary  of  the  temple.  Herodotus 
claims  that  he  imbibed  his  most 
famous  theory,  that  of  metempsy- 
chosis, or  the  transmigration  of  souls, 
from  the  Egyptian  priests. 

Finally  at  Crotona,  in  Italy,  Py- 
thagoras established  a  school  in  the 
house  of  Milo,  where  the  Pytha- 
gorean doctrines  were  publicly  taught. 
But  because  these  doctrines  tended 
towards  a  sacerdotal  aristocracy, 
they  proved  highly  unpopular,  the 
school  became  involved  in  the 
democratic  revolution,  its  members 
were  slain  or  dispersed  and  their 
houses  were  burned.  Pythagoras, 
himself,  having  vainly  sought  an 
asylum  in  various  cities,  was  at  last 
accepted  by  Tarentum.  There  he 
finished  his  life  in  obscurity.  A 
masterly  poetical  exposition  of  the 
Pythagorean  philosophy  has  been 
made  by  Ovid  in  his  Metamorphoses. 

A  typical  passage  is  here  taken 
from  the  English  version  by  John 
Dryden: 

What  feels  the  body  when  the  soul  expires 
By  time  corrupted  or  consumed  by  fires? 
>  or  dies  the  spirit,  but  new  life  repeats 
In  other  forms    and  only  changes  seats, 
cla  mysterious   truths  de- 


Was"once  Euphprbus  In  the  Trojan  war; 
My  name  and  lineage  I  remember  well. 
And  how  in  fight  by  Sparta's  king  I  fell. 
In  Argive  Juno's  fame  I  late  beheld 
My  buckler  hung  on  high  and  owned  my 

former  shield. 
Then   death,  so  called,  is   but   old  matter 

dressed 

In  some  new  figure  and  a  varied  vest: 
Thus   all  things   are  but   altered,   nothing 

dies; 

And  here  and  there  th*  unbodied  spirit  flies, 
By  time,  or  force,  or  sickness  dispossest, 
And  lodges,  where  it  lights,  in  man  or  beast; 
Or  hunts  without,  till  ready  limbs  it  find, 
And  actuates  those,  according  to  their  kind; 
From  tenement  to  tenement  is  tossed; 
The  soul  is  still  the  same,  the  figure  only 

lost: 

And  as  the  softened  wax  new  seals  receives. 
This    face    assumes,    and    that   impression 

leaves ; 

Now  called  by  one,  now  by  another  name; 
The  form  is  only  changed,  the  wax  is  still 

the  same: 

So  death,  so  called,  can  but  the  form  deface, 
Th'  immortal  soul  flies  out  in  empty  space; 
To  seek -her  fortune  in  some  other  place. 
OVID:    Metamorphoses,  xv.    DRYDEN,  trans. 

Pythia,  in  Greek  history  and  myth, 
the  general  name  for  the  priestess 
of  the  most  famous  of  all  oracles, 
that  of  Apollo  at  Delphi.  She  was 
always  a  virgin,  chosen  from  some 
peasant  family  in  the  neighborhood, 
originally  a  young  girl,  but  latterly 
always  a  woman  over  fifty,  still 
wearing  a  girl's  dress,  in  memory  of 
the  elder  custom.  The  reason  for 
this  change  as  recorded  by  Plutarch 
is  that  quite  early  in  the  history  of 
the  oracle  a  youth  from  Thessaly 
fell  in  love  with  the  Pythia  and  car- 
ried her  off.  Thereafter  it  was  de- 
creed that  the  Pythia  should  always 
be  old  and  homely. 

In  the  prosperous  times  of  the 
oracle,  when  daily  prophecies  were 
uttered  (unless  the  day  itself  or  the 
sacrifices  were  unpropitious),  two 
Pythias  acted  alternately,  with  a 
third  to  assist  them. 

Having  prepared  herself  by  wash- 
ing and  purification,  the  Pythia 
entered  the  sanctuary,  with  gold 
ornaments  in  her  hair  and  flowing 
robes  around  her.  She  drank  of  the 
water  of  the  fountain  Cassotis,  which 
flowed  into  the  shrine,  tasted  the 
leaves  of  the  laurel  tree  standing  in 
the  chamber,  and  took  her  seat 
upon  a  circular  slab  placed  on  a 


Pythias 


255 


Quirinus 


lofty  wooden  tripod,  or  three-legged 
stool.  This  tripod  in  turn  stood  over 
a  small  opening  in  the  ground, 
whence  rose  intoxicating  vapors, 
which  had  the  power  of  inducing 
convulsions.  No  one  was  present 
save  a  priest,  called  the  prophet, 
who  explained  the  words  she  uttered 
in  her  ecstasy  and  put  them  into 
hexameters.  In  latter  time  the  sup- 
pliants were  content  with  prose 
answers. 

Pythias,  famous  for  his  friendship 
with  Damon  (g.z>.),  is  a  leading 
character  in  the  various  dramatiza- 
tions of  the  story;  the  latest  being 
John  Banim's  Damon  and  Pythias, 
1821.  In  the  drama  Pythias  is 


betrothed  to  Calanthe,  and  on  the 
very  day  set  for  his  wedding,  Damon 
is  condemned  to  death  by  Dionysius. 
Pythias  secures  for  his  friend  a  six 
hours'  respite  to  bid  farewell  to  his 
wife  Hermion  and  his  child,  while  he 
himself  remains  in  prison  as  a  pledge 
for  Damon's  return.  Damon,  but 
not  by  his  own  fault,  does  not  return 
till  Pythias  has  been  brought  to  the 
scaffold.  Dionysius  pardons  Damon. 
Python,  in  Greek  myth,  a  huge 
serpent  or  dragon  that  sprang  from 
the  slime  of  the  earth  after  the 
flood  had  subsided.  He  was  slain 
by  Apollo,  who  founded  the  Pythian 
games  to  commemorate  his  own 
victory. 


Q 


Quetzalcoatl  (Feathered  Serpent), 
the  great  white  God  of  the  Aztecs, 
whom  they  probably  borrowed  from 
their  predecessors  in  Mexico,  the 
Toltecs.  His  origin  was  in  the  fabu- 
lous country  of  Tlapallan.  One  day 
in  the  far  past,  so  the  myth  ran,  a 
stranger  of  noble  appearance,  white 
and  bearded,  sailed  in  from  the 
Atlantic  Ocean  in  a  bark  of  serpent 
skins.  He  taught  the  people  agri- 
culture and  gave  them  laws,  but 
having  raised  the  jealous  anger  of 
the  native  god  Tetcutlipoca  he  sailed 
away  with  the  promise  that  he  would 
return  again  with  his  sons  and  rule 
the  country.  Cortez  found  the  tradi- 
tion still  surviving  on  his  arrival  in 
Mexico  and  was  himself  welcomed 
by  Montezuma  as  the  returning  god, 
a  delusion  that  greatly  facilitated  his 
eventual  conquest  of  the  country. 
The  Spaniards  on  their  side  saw  in 
the  religion  which  claimed  him  as  a 
founder  many  striking  resemblances 
to  Christianity,  and  their  mission- 
aries identified  him  with  the  Apostle 
St.  Thomas,  who  had  journeyed  to 
the  New  World  for  its  conversion. 
Baptism  was  practised  on  babes  for 
the  remission  of  sin;  confessions  were 
heard  from  adults;  many  of  the 
sacred  sayings  closely  parallelled  fa- 
mous texts  in  the  New  Testament. 
"  Clothe  the  naked  and  feed  the 


hungry,"  "  Keep  peace  with  all;  bear 
injuries  with  humility;  God,  who  sees 
all,  will  avenge  you,"  "  He  who 
looks  too  curiously  on  woman  com- 
mits sin  with  his  eyes," — these  were 
familiar  admonitions  of  the  Aztec 
priests.  Furthermore  Quetzalcoatl 
wore  the  insignia  of  the  cross. 

Comparative  mythologists  are  in- 
clined to  explain  the  latter  as  the 
symbol  of  the  cardinal  points,  and 
to  explain  Quetzalcoatl  as  a  sun 
god,  the  dweller  in  a  higher  sphere, 
who  descends  to  earth  to  civilize 
and  instruct  mankind.  In  Guate- 
mala he  is  known  as  Gucumatz, 
and  in  Yucatan  as  Kukulcan,  both 
of  which  names  mean  Feathered 
Serpent. 

Quirinus,  in  Roman  legend,  a 
name  of  Romulus  derived,  according 
to  Dionysius  of  Halicarnassus,  from 
the  Sabine  language.  It  is  usually 
conjectured  that  the  Sabine  root  was 
curis,  a  spear.  Quirinus,  therefore, 
may  have  been  the  name  under 
which  the  Sabines  worshipped  their 
god  of  war  as  father  or  founder  of 
their  old  capital,  Cures,  just  as  the 
Romans  honored  Mars  as  the  father 
of  Romulus.  When  the  Sabines  emi- 
grated to  Rome  they  took  the  cult 
and  the  name  to  their  new  abode  on 
the  Quirinal  hill.  Thus  Quirinus, 
though  identified  with  Mars,  had  a 


Quirlnus 


256 


Rama 


separate  worship  on  the  slope  of  the 
rinal.     When  in  course  of  time 
r  connection  was  forgotten,  Quir- 
inus  became  another  name  for  Rom- 
ulus the  son  of  Mars.     In  the  Fasti 
of  Ovid  ii,  505.  the  spirit  of  Rom- 
ulus is  represented  as  saying,    For- 
bid the  Quirites  to  lament,  and  let 
them  not  offend  my  Godhead  with 


their  tears.  Let  them  offer  me  frank- 
incense and  let  the  multitude  worship 
Quirinus,  their  new  God,  and  let 
them  practise  my  father's  arts  and 
warfare." 

Quoasir,  in  Norse  myth,  a  fer- 
mented mixture  of  honey  and  blood 
which  conferred  eternal  life  and 
vigor  on  the  gods  of  Walhalla. 


R 


Ra,  the  sun-god  of  Egyptian  myth, 
generally  represented  in  the  figure 
of  a  man  with  a  hawk's  head,  some- 
times standing,  sometimes  walking, 
and  sometimes  seated  on  a  throne, 
the  latter  being  a  reminiscence  of  the 
royalty  he  had  primitively  exercised 
in  "Egypt. 

The  sun,  whose  revolutions  mark 
time  to  human  intelligence,  was 
sometimes  taken  for  time  himself, 
therefore  in  some  details  Ra  resem- 
bled Cronos  or  Saturn.  During  the 
night  he  visits  the  infernal  kingdoms 
under  the  name  and  form  of  the  god 
Noum.  Just  before  the  dawn  he  is 
called  Toum  or  Atoum;  as  he  emerges 
from  the  Lotus  flower  into  the 
brightness  of  the  new  day,  he  takes 
the  name  of  Horus.  At  mid-day, 
having  penetrated  to  the  centre  of 
the  body  of  Rat,  the  goddess  of  the 
;ky,  he  takes  the  form  of  a  griffin. 
The  syllable  which  composes  his 
name  as  god  of  the  sun  was  added  to 
the  name  of  other  divinities,  as  e.g. 
Axnmon-Ra,  Hor-Ra,  Osiris-Ra,  etc. 

Ra  was  regarded  by  the  Egyptians 
as  the  maker  and  creator  of  every- 
thing in  the  visible  world, — in  heaven 
and  in  Tuat,  or  the  underworld,  as 

11  as  of  heaven  itself,  and  the  world, 
and  the  underworld.  The  first  act 
of  creation  was  the  appearance  of  his 
:  above  the  waters  of  the  world- 
ocean,  with  which  his  first  rising- 
time  began. 

Rabican,  in  Carlovingian  romance, 

enchanted  horse,  belonging  first 

Argalia,  son  of  Galafron,  King  of 

Say.     Argalia  was  slain  by  the 

Ferrau  and  Rabican  eventually 

I  into  the  ownership  of  Rinaldo 

who  won  him  away  from  his  guard- 


ians, a  giant  and  a  griffin.  He  was 
coal  black,  save  for  a  white  star  on 
his  forehead  and  one  white  hind  foot, 
fed  only  on  air,  and  was  matchless 
for  speed,  though  in  strength  he 
yielded  to  Bayard,  but  to  Bayard 
alone. 

Ragnarok  (the  darkening  of  the 
Regin,  or  gods,  hence  in  English  best 
known  as  the  Twilight  of  the  Cods), 
the  last  day  or  Judgment  Day  of 
Scandinavian  myth.  Wars  and  earth- 
quakes, winters  of  unprecedented 
severity,  prodigious  sins  among  gods 
and  men  will  herald  the  approach  of 
this  day.  Sun  and  moon  will  be 
extinguished,  the  stars  will  fall  from 
the  heavens.  Yggdrasil  will  tremble, 
Loki  and  his  dread  sons  will  be 
loosened  from  their  chains.  The 
giants  will  come  from  the  East,  and 
from  the  South  the  fiery  children  of 
Muspel  with  dark  Surtur  at  their 
head,  the  last  battle  will  be  fought 
on  the  field  of  Wigria.  Thither  Odin 
at  the  head  of  a  host  of  gods  will 
rush  to  meet  the  enemy.  Hell  and 
heaven  will  split  open;  Surtur  will 
fling  his  fiery  darts  upon  the  earth, 
and  the  entire  universe  will  be  con- 
sumed. Vidar  and  Vali  alone  will 
survive  the  conflagration  and  restore 
a  new  order  out  of  chaos. 

Rama,  hero  of  the  Ramayana,  the 
epic  of  South  India,  which  owes  its 
present  form  to  the  poet  Valmiki. 
He  is  thought  to  have  reconstructed 
it  from  an  older  Vedic  rhymed  tradi- 
tion, possibly  five  centuries  before 
Christ.  Through  the  machinations 
of  a  stepmother  Rama  is  banished 
from  his  father's  kingdom  of  Oude. 
The  same  beldame  instigates  the 
giant  Ravana  to  carry  off  his  wife 


Red  Spectre 


257 


Renouard 


Sita  to  Ceylon  where  the  giant  rules. 
Ravana's  brother  Vibhishana,  and 
Sugriva,  king  of  the  monkeys,  help 
Rama  in  his  pursuit  and  recapture 
of  Sita,  and  his  conquest  of  Ceylon. 
He  is  finally  restored  to  his  own  king- 
dom. Rama,  known  specifically  as 
Rama-Chandra  (the  latter  term 
signifying  the  moon),  is  regarded  as 
one  of  the  avatars  or  incarnations  of 
Vishnu,  the  second  person  of  the 
Hindoo  trinity. 

Red  Spectre,  or  Little  Red  Man  of 
the  Tuileries,  in  popular  French 
myth,  a  goblin  who  is  supposed  to 
haunt  that  palace  and  its  adjacent 
buildings,  showing  himself  on  the 
eve  of  some  great  disaster.  Cather- 
ine de  Medicis,  who  built  the  Tui- 
leries, had  no  sooner  taken  up  her 
abode  in  it  than  she  left  it  forever  in 
sudden  horror.  She  declared,  it  is 
said,  that  a  little  red  monster  ap- 
peared and  disappeared  there  at  will. 
He  had  informed  her  she  would  die 
44  near  St.  Germain."  The  Tuileries 
were  too  near  to  St.  Germain  1'Auxer- 
rois,  she  would  not  live  there,  nor 
would  she  visit  St.  Germain-en- 
Laye,  or  the  Abbey  St.  Germain. 
In  her  last  sickness  she  lay  at  the 
Hotel  de  Suissons.  A  Benedictine 
friar  heard  her  confession.  She 
asked  his  name.  "  Laurent  de  Saint- 
Germain,"  said  the  friar.  The  queen 
uttered  a  cry  and  expired. 

On  the  eve  of  May  14,  1610,  the 
date  of  Henry  IV's  assassination,  the 
Red  Spectre  made  his  appearance 
in  the  Tuileries.  He  foretold  the 
troubles  of  the  Fronde  to  Louis  XIV 
when  that  monarch  was  a  mere 
child.  He  appeared  to  Marie  An- 
toinette's women  a  few  days  before 
the  terrible  loth  of  August,  1793. 
He  visited  Napoleon  I  at  Cairo, 
shortly  after  the  battle  of  the  Pyra- 
mids, and  predicted  to  the  Little 
Corporal  his  brilliant  destiny.  Cham- 
berlain's Anecdotes  of  Napoleon  and 
his  Court  tells  this  story:  In  the 
month  of  January,  1812  (the  winter 
preceding  the  Russian  campaign), 
the  Red  Man  asked  a  sentinel  if  he 
might  speak  to  the  emperor.  The 
soldier  replying  in  the  negative,  the 

17 


demon  brushed  him  aside,  and  ran 
quickly  up  the  steps.  He  said  to  a 
chamberlain,  "  Tell  the  Emperor 
that  a  little  Red  Man  whom  he  saw 
in  Egypt  wishes  to  see  him  again." 
Napoleon  admitted  the  petit  homme; 
a  long  conversation  followed  in  the 
private  cabinet;  from  a  few  words 
that  were  overheard  Napoleon  seemed 
to  be  pleading  for  something  which 
was  refused.  Finally  the  door  was 
opened,the  Red  Man  came  out,  passed 
quickly  through  the  corridors,  and 
disappeared  on  the  grand  stair- 
case which  nobody  saw  him  descend. 

Be"ranger  celebrates  this  spectre 
in  a  poem  entitled  Le  Petit. 

Rouge,  Homme,  supposed  to  be 
spoken  by  a  charwoman  who  had 
done  duty  in  the  Tuileries  for  forty 
years.  Here  is  the  second  stanza, 
in  Robert  Brough's  version: 

Just  imagine,  my  dears, 
A  little  lame  devil  all  dressed  in  red; 

A  hump  right  up  to  his  ears; 
A  horrible  squint  and  a  carroty  head; 

A  nose  all  crooked  and  long; 

A  foot  with  a  double  prong; 
And  a  voice — Lord  save  us!   whenever  it 

croaks, 
It's  notice  to  quit  to  the  Tuileries  folks. 

Saints  in  heaven  who  sing, 

Pray  for  our  blessed  king! 

Renouard  or  Rinpardo,  a  familiar 
figure  in  Carlovingian  romance,  es- 
pecially in  the  cycle  dealing  with 
William  of  Orange,  his  brother-in- 
law  and  liege  lord.  He  was  a  man 
of  gigantic  stature,  half  comic,  half 
terrible,  who  wielded  a  stout  club 
with  portentous  effect.  His  father 
was  King  Desrame,  the  Saracen  King 
of  Cordova,  his  sister  was  Orabe, 
who  after  her  conversion  and  mar- 
riage to  William  was  known  as  Gui- 
bore.  Renouard  had  been  sold  into 
slavery  in  France,  served  for  a  period 
as  a  scullion  in  the  kitchen  of  Louis 
the  Pious,  but  was  rescued  thence 
by  William,  who  enrolled  him  in  his 
army.  After  performing  great  deeds 
for  France,  Renouard  was  baptized 
and  rewarded  with  the  hand  of  ./Elis, 
daughter  of  the  Emperor.  Finally 
he  ended  his  days  with  William  in  a 
convent. 

Dante    (Paradiso,    xviii,    46)    put 


Revere 


258 


Rhampsinitus 


both  William  and  Renouard  among 
the  militant  souls  who  fought  for 
the  faith,  in  the  Heaven  of  Mars 
where  their  souls  are  pointed  out  by 
Caccia-guida. 

Revere,  Paul  (1735-1818),  a  fan> 
ous  American  patriot  of  the  revolu- 
tionary era,  a  goldsmith,  and  en- 
graver by  trade,  is  chiefly  remembered 
as  the  hero  of  an  episode  _  which 
Longfellow  has  celebrated  in  his  stir- 
ring ballad  The  Midnight  Ride  of 
Paul  Revere.  Briefly  summed  up, 
the  facts  were  as  follows:  In  1774 
Revere  had  become  a  member  of  a 
society  organized  to  watch  the 
British  in  Boston.  On  the  night  of 
April  18-19,  1775,  at  the  request  of 
Joseph  Warren,  he  made  a  wild  dash 
on  horseback  from  Boston  to  Lexing- 
ton to  warn  Hancock  and  Samuel 
Adams  of  the  approach  of  English 
troops.  Then  passing  on  towards 
Concord  to  warn  the  people  there, 
he  was  captured  by  a  party  of 
British  soldiers,  and  was  brought 
back  to  Lexington,  where  he  was 
released  on  the  next  day.  The  poet 
says  nothing  of  the  interview  with 
Hancock  and  Adams,  which  in  real- 
ity was  the  one  great  object  of 
Revere 's  mission,  rather  than  the 
general  knocking  at  every  door  as 
he  sped  past,  this  latter  being  a  mere 
poetical  touch. 

Reynard,  hero  of  the  satirical 
beast  epic  or  fable,  The  History  of 
Reynard  the  Fox.  The  literary  basis 
of  the  poem  is  the  fable  of  the  Lion 
and  the  Fox  retold  from  popular 
tradition  by  ^Esop,  and  enlarged 
into  a  beast  epic  in  Latin  by  an  un- 
known monk  of  the  loth  century. 
:  had  enormous  European  currency 
in  the  Middle  Ages,  receiving  its 
finest  literary  embodiment  in  the 
Low  German  and  Flemish  versions 
the  thirteenth,  fourteenth  and 

teenth  centuries.    Goethe  in  1794 
put  the  Low  German  version  into 

5  own  hexameters  under  the  title 
ReineckeFuchs.    The  plot  is  simple. 

King  Lion,  ascribing  an  illness  to 
the    vengeance    of    heaven    on    his 
negligent  administration  of  justice 
summons  all  his  subjects  by  procla- 


mation to  appear  at  court.  All 
obey  save  Reynard,  the  fox,  who  is 
conscious  that  he  has  played  many 
unconscionable  tricks  upon  his  fel- 
low animals,  and  especially  upon 
his  old  enemy,  Isengrin  the  wolf. 
He  outwits  and  maltreats  various 
messengers  dispatched  to  remind 
him  of  his  duty.  At  last,  persuaded 
by  Krimel,  the  badger,  he  comes  to 
court  in  the  guise  of  a  physician  and 
prescribes  for  the  royal  patient.  The 
lion,  he  says,  cannot  be  cured  save 
by  wrapping  himself  in  the  warm 
skin  of  the  wolf,  who  must  be  slain 
and  flayed.  By  other  malicious 
stratagems  he  drives  all  his  foes  in 
terror  from  the  court,  later  proves 
treacherous  even  to  his  friends,  and 
winds  up  by  poisoning  the  lion. 

In  all  ages  the  Fox  has  been  famous  for 
cunning  and  resource.  Pliny  tells  us  that 
in  Thrace  "when  all  parts  are  covered  with 
ice,  the  foxes  are  consulted, — an  animal 
which  in  other  respects  is  baneful  for  its 
craftiness.  It  has  been  observed  that  this 
animal  applies  its  ear  to  the  ice,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  testing  its  thickness;  hence  it  is,  that 
the  inhabitants  will  never  cross  frozen  rivers 
and  lakes,  until  the  foxes  have  passed  over 
them  and  returned."  Olaus  Magnus  reported 
its  ingenious  stratagems  to  catch  its  natural 
prey  or  outwit  its  enemies.  Thus,  "when 
he  is  hungry,  and  finds  nothing  to  eat,  he 
rolls  himself  in  red  earth,  that  he  may  appear 
bloody;  and  casting  himself  on  the  earth,  he 
holds  his  breath  and  when  the  birds  see 
that  he  breathes  not,  and  that  his  tongue 
hangs  forth  of  his  mouth,  they  think  he  is 
dead;  but  so  soon  as  they  descend,  he  draws 
them  to  him  and  devours  them."  Most 
surprising  is  his  method  of  ridding  himself 
of  fleas:  "he  makes  a  little  bundle  of  soft 
hay  wrapped  in  hair,  and  holds  it  in  his 
mouth;  then  he  goes  by  degrees  into  the 
water,  beginning  with  his  tail,  that  the  fleas, 
fearing  the  water,  will  run  up  all  his  body 
till  they  come  at  his  head:  then  he  dips 
in  his  head,  that  they  may  leap  into  the 
hay;  when  this  is  done,  he  leaves  the  hay 
in  the  water  and  swims  forth." 

Rhampsinitus,  the  classical  form 
of  the  Egyptian  Rameses,  probably 
the  same  as  Rameses  III  (i2th 
century),  of  whom  Herodotus  (ii,  121) 
says  that  he  was  successor  to  Proteus, 
the  old  man  of  the  sea.  He  had, 
therefore,  become  a  more  or  less 
mythical  character;  and  a  great 
number  of  years  separated  him  from 
the  age  of  Herodotus.  In  these 
years  the  Egyptians  had  added  to 


Rhea 


259 


Richard 


his  legend  a  tale  which  perhaps  was 
previously  anonymous.  They  said 
that  the  King  built  a  subterranean 
treasury,  whereof  the  master-mason 
knew  the  secret ;  that  the  mason  on  his 
deathbed  told  his  sons,  who  daily 
robbed  the  treasury;  that  one  of 
them  was  caught  in  a  trap;  and  that 
the  other  cut  his  head  off  and  escaped. 
Rhampsinitus  then  exposed  the  mu- 
tilated body;  and  the  wily  thief,  by 
a  clever  trick,  intoxicated  the  guards, 
carried  away  the  corpse,  evaded  the 
snare  baited  with  the  King's  daughter, 
and  married  that  princess.  See 
THIEF,  MASTER. 

Rhea,  in  Greek  myth,  the  daughter 
of  Uranus  and  Gaga,  spouse  of  her 
own  brother  Cronus  and  mother  of 
the1  Olympian  gods,  Zeus,  Hades, 
Poseidon,  Here,  Hestia,  Demeter. 
On  this  account  she  was  called  "  the 
Mother  of  the  Gods."  In  early 
times  she  was  identified  or  merged 
into  the  Asiatic  Cybele,  "  The  Great 
Mother '  who  like  herself  was  a 
representative  of  the  fruitfulness  of 
nature.  As  Cybele  she  was  known 
to  the  later  Greek  mythologists, — 
who  attributed  to  her  the  cultiva- 
tion of  the  vine  and  agriculture, — 
and  to  the  Romans,  who  worshipped 
her  also  under  the  name  of  the  Great 
Mother  (Magna  Mater).  Strabo  (469, 
12)  held  that  Cybele  was  the  Cretan 
Rhea  who  had  fled  from  her  native 
island  to  the  mountain  wilds  of  Asia 
Minor  in  order  to  avoid  the  persecu- 
tion of  Cronus,  her  husband. 

Rhodope  or  Rhodopis,  in  semi- 
mythical  history  a  Greek  courtesan 
of  Thracian  origin  who  plied  her 
trade  in  Naucratis  in  Egypt.  She  is 
said  by  Pliny  (Natural  History, 
xxxvi,  12)  to  have  built  the  third 
pyramid.  Herodotus  claimed  to  have 
seen  at  Delphi  10  iron  spits,  repre- 
senting the  tenth /part  of  her  gains, 
which  she  had  presented  to  the 
oracle.  She  is  said  to  have  eventu- 
ally married  Psammetichus,  king  of 
Egypt.  One  of  the  later  legends 
about  her  has  been  versified  in  Wil- 
liam Morris's  Story  of  Rhodope 
(Earthly  Paradise^  iii). 

As  she  was  bathing  at  Naucratis  an 


eagle  snatched  away  one  of  her  slip- 
pers and  subsequently  dropped  it 
into  the  lap  of  the  Egyptian  king  as 
he  sat  dispensing  justice  at  Memphis. 
The  issue  was  a  successful  search  for 
the  owner,  who  was  taken  for  partner 
on  the  throne.  Morris's  Rhodope, 
however,  although  almost  a  beggar 
maid,  is  in  purity  a  laudable  contrast 
to  her  classical  alter  ego.  See 
CINDERELLA. 

Rhcecus,  in  classical  mythology, 
an  Assyrian  youth  who,  as  a  reward 
for  having  propped  up  a  falling  oak- 
tree,  gained  from  the  hamadryad 
that  dwelt  within  it  thelpromise  to 
accept  him  as  a  lover.  She  sent  a 
bee  to  notify  him  of  the  appointed 
time.  He  happened  to  be  engaged 
in  a  game  of  dice,  and  he  not  only 
paid  no  heed  to  the  message  but  gave 
the  bee  so  angry  a  brush  that  it 
went  back  wounded  to  its  mistress. 
When  at  last  he  repaired  to  the  place 
where  the  nymph  was  to  meet  him 
he  could  no  longer  see  her,  for  his 
love  of  vulgar  pleasures  had  blinded 
him  to  higher  things.  He  could 
only  hear  her  voice  bidding  him  a 
sad  and  eternal  farewell.  A  more 
prosaic  form  of  the  story  makes  the 
nymph,  in  anger,  smite  him  with 
ordinary  blindness.  The  subject 
has  been  treated  by  Leigh  Hunt  in 
his  prose  tale  The  Hamadryad,  by 
Landor  in  his  poem  of  the  same  name 
and  by  Lowell  in  his  poem  Rhazcus. 

Richard  Sans  Peur  (Richard  with- 
out Fear),  in  a  Norman  French 
romance  of  that  name,  is  the  nick- 
name of  the  hero,  who  is  an  obvious 
recrudescence  of  Richard  Coeur  de 
Lion.  Strange  liberties  are  taken  with 
history,  Richard  himself  becoming  a 
brother  of  Robert  the  Devil.  Brun- 
demor,  a  fiend,  obtains  leave  of 
absence  from  hell  in  order  to  prove 
that  he  can  frighten  him.  But  his 
most  terrifying  tricks  excite  only 
laughter.  Baffled,  the  fiend  _  takes 
the  form  of  a  new-born  female  infant, 
whose  wailings  attract  the  kindly 
Richard,  and  he  places  the  foundling 
in  charge  of  a  forester.  Then  follow 
a  series  of  heroic  adventures.  Richard 
meets  another  fiend,  Hellequin,  who 


Rigi-Kaltbad 


260 


Rinaldo 


turns  out  to  be  Charles  Quint  (pos- 
sibly Charles  Martel);  he  joins 
Charlemagne  in  a  crusade;  he  van- 
quishes Saracens  and  giants;  he  lays 
ghosts  and  demons  and  vampires; 
after  seven  years  he  returns  to  claim 
the  foundling  as  his  destined  wife. 
Seven  years  later  he  marries  her. 
The  demon  wife  pretends  to  die 
and  is  buried,  leaving  a  parting  re- 
quest that  Richard  shall  spend  a 
night  besides  her  tomb  in  a  lonely 
chapel  in  the  woods.  At  midnight 
she  revives,  screaming.  Richard  be- 
trays no  fear.  The  discomfited 
Brundemor  flies  back  to  hell.  Seven 
years  later  he  reappears  in  the  form 
of  a  black  knight  who  betrays  Richard 
into  an  ambush.  A  dozen  fiends  fall 
upon  him  and  are  put  to  flight  by 
the  aid  of  his  sword,  whose  pommel 
contains  holy  relics  of  the  greatest 
efficacy. 

Rigi-Kaltbad,  a  town  in  Switzer- 
land famous  for  its  warm  baths,  has 
the  following  legend.  A  gang  of 
wild  libertines  who  infested  the 
castle  of  Hoitenstein,  near  Weggio, 
had  made  a  plot  to  carry  off  the  three 
daughters  of  Walter  Greter.  But, 
warned  in  time,  the  three  girls  fled 
up  the  Rigi  mountain  and  found 
shelter  in  a  cavern.  Here  they  spent 
their  lives  in  prayer  and  fasting 
and  when  the  last  of  the  trio  died,  a 
source  of  pure  water  gushed  from  the 
rock  which  had  served  her  as  a  pil- 
low. The  spring  was  known  as^the 
" Schwesternborn "  or  "Source  of  the 
Sisters "  and  developed  marvellous 
healing  qualities.  A  chapel  was  built 
in  1585,  pilgrims  flocked  to  the  place, 
the  monkish  and  the  lay  inhabitants 
increased  and  the  town  soon  grew  up. 

Rimini,  Francesca  da,  in  Dante's 
Inferno,  v,  97,  is  placed  with  her 
lover,  Paolo,  among  the  lustful  in 
the  second  circle  of  hell.  She  tells 
her  own  story  to  Dante  and  Virgil,  a 
true  story  with  which  Dante  was  well 
acquainted,  for  it  happened  in  his 
own  day  and  neighborhood. 

"Strange  to  think:  Dante  was  the 
friend  of  this  poor  Francesca's  father; 
Francesca  herself  may  have  sat  upon 
the  poet's  knee,  as  a  bright  innocent 


little  child.  Infinite  pity,  yet  also 
infinite  rigor  of  law;  it  is  so  Nature 
is  made,  it  is  so  Dante  discerned  that 
she  was  made." — CARLYLE:  Heroes 
and  Hero- Worship. 

Francesca,  daughter  of  Guido 
Vecchio  da  Polenta,  Lord  of  Ravenna, 
married  (circa.  1275)  Gianciotto  or 
Lanciotto,  second  son  of  Malatesta 
da  Verrucchio,  Lord  of  Rimini.  Ac- 
cording to  Boccaccio,  Gianciotto  was 
"  hideously  deformed  in  countenance 
and  figure,"  and  determined  to  woo 
and  marry  Francesca  by  proxy.  He 
accordingly  "  sent,  as  his  represen- 
tative, his  younger  brother  Paolo, 
the  handsomest  and  most  accom- 
plished man  in  all  Italy.  Francesca 
saw  Paolo  arrive,  and  imagined  she 
beheld  her  future  husband.  That 
mistake  was  the  commencement  of 
her  passion."  A  day  came  when  the 
lovers  were  surprised  together,  and 
Gianciotto  slew  both  his  brother  and 
his  wife. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  at  the  time  of 
the  tragic  death  (1285)  Francesca  had 
a  daughter  9  years  old,  and  Paolo, 
who  was  about  40,  and  had  been 
married  16  years,  was  the  father  of 
two  sons.  The  episode  forms  the 
subject  of  a  dramatic  poem  by  Leigh 
Hunt  (1816)  and  of  tragedies  by 
George  Henry  Boker  (1855),  Marion 
Crawford  (1902)  and  Gabriel  D'An- 
nunzio  (1901). 

Rinaldo  (Ital.,  in  French  Renauld), 
one  of  the  most  famous  characters  in 
mediaeval  poetry  and  romance,  es- 
pecially that  of  Italy,  where  he 
figures  as  one  of  the  Twelve  Paladins 
of  Charlemagne  in  Pulci's  Morgante 
Maggiore  (1485),  Bojardo's  Orlando 
Innamorato  (1495),  Ariosto's  Orlando 
Furioso  (1516),  and  Tasso's  Jeru- 
salem Delivered  (1574),  not  to  men- 
tion a  juvenile  performance  by  the 
latter  poet  entitled  Rinaldo  (1562), 
now  practically  forgotten,  but  once 
of  great  vogue,  which  gathered  to- 
gether and  synthesized  all  his  vari- 
ous exploits  and  adventures. 

The  hero's  first  appearance,  in 
extant  literature,  is  in  the  French 
romance  Les  Quatre  Fils  d'Aymon, 
where  as  Renauld  de  Montaulban, 


Rinaldo 


261 


Rinaldo 


eldest  son  of  Aymon  (q.v.),  he  spends 
most  of  his  time  in  fighting  against 
Charlemagne,  and  flies  to  his  death 
in  the  Holy  Land  when  his  faithful 
steed,  Baryard  or  Bajardo  (<?.?'.),  is 
drowned  by  the  emperor.  The  Italian 
poets  transmogrified  his  character 
and  career.  He  is  described  by  Pulci, 
Bojardo  and  Ariosto  as  the  bravest 
and  strongest  of  all  the  paladins, 
save  hist  cousin  Orlando,  but  gentler 
and  more  beautiful  than  the  latter; 
the  special  champion  of  women  and 
the  weak,  and  the  terror  of  pagans 
and  evildoers.  While  still  in  his 
teens  he  defended  the  honor  of  his 
mother,  Beatrice,  against  the  slan- 
ders of  Ginamodi  Magonza,  whom  he 
slew  in  a  duel.  While  still  a  minor, 
impelled  by  love  of  glory  and  emula- 
tion of  his  cousin,  a  youth  of  his  own 
age,  he  left  Paris  and  in  the  forest  of 
Ardennes  found  and  fell  in  love  with 
the  beautiful  Clarice,  daughter  of 
Yvonne  (Iwein?),  lord  of  Gascony,  a 
vassal  of  Charlemagne.  To  prove  his 
worth  Clarice  directed  him  to  joust 
with  the  courtiers,  and  was  captivated 
by  his  success.  He  obtained  pos- 
session of  the  horse  Bajardo,  the 
sword  Fusberta,  and  the  helmet  of 
Mambrino,  married  Clarice,  and  re- 
mained at  Charlemagne's  court  until 
he  fell  under  the  evil  spell  of  An- 
gelica's beauty.  The  waters  of 
Merlin's  Fountain  of  Hate  turned 
his  love  into  hatred  at  the  same  time 
that  the  waters  of  the  twin  Fountain 
of  Love  'turned  Angelica's  indiffer- 
ence into  temporary  love.  Hence  a 
game  of  cross-purposes  which  reach 
their  serio-comic  apogee  when  the 
couple  once  more  alter  their  bever- 
ages. Rinaldo  frequently  jousted 
with  Orlando,  neither  gaining  any 
advantage  over  the  other.  One  of 
the  stoutest  defenders  of  Paris 
against  Agramant,  the  Saracen  em- 
peror, he  was  unanimously  named  as 
champion  of  Christianity  to  fight 
against  Ruggero  the  champion  of  the 
Moors.  The  arrangement  came  to 
naught  through  the  machinations  of 
the  fairy  Melissa,  but  later  Agra- 
mant was  completely  routed,  and 
Rinaldo  sailed  for  Italy.  There  he 


encountered  Ruggero,  who  had  been 
converted  and  baptized  by  Romito, 
and  promised  him  the  hand  of  his 
sister  Bradamante.  Returning  in 
triumph  to  France  he  was  wel- 
comed with  great  honor  by  Charle- 
magne. 

Pulci  adds  an  episode  of  his  own 
invention.  Rinaldo  was  so  incensed 
with  Charlemagne  for  his  disastrous 
faith  in  Gano  di  Maganza  (Ganelon) 
and  the  consequent  death  of  Orlando 
at  Roncesvalles  that  he  rose  against 
the  emperor  and  actually  wrested 
the  throne  from  him,  but  returned 
it  and  forgave  him  in  deference  to 
his  advanced  years. 

Fortigueruerri,  continuing  in  his 
own  way  the  stories  of  Bojardo  and 
Ariosto,  tells  of  the  concluding  ex- 
ploits of  Rinaldo  and  those  of  Nal- 
dino,  his  son  by  Clarice,  and  makes 
Rinaldo  die  with  other  paladins  at 
Roncesvalles. 

In  the  Jerusalem  Delivered  Tasso 
uses  Rinaldo  to  suit  his  own  pur- 
poses. He  is  the  Achilles  of  the 
epic; — next  to  Godfrey  and  Tancred 
the  greatest  and  bravest  of  the 
Christian  besiegers  and  even  from 
his  infancy  as  beautiful  as  Cupid 
and  as  proud  as  Mars.  A  new  pedi- 
gree is  invented  for  him,  to  flatter 
the  family  pride  of  Tasso's  patron, 
Duke  Alfonso  of  Este.  He  is  one 
of  the  founders  of  the  Este  family, 
born  on  the  banks  of  the  river  Adige, 
son  of  Bertoldo  and  Sophia,  and 
brought  up  by  the  great  Countess 
Matilda.  Wri^6  not  yet  15  he  ran 
away  to  join  the  crusaders  under 
Godfrey  de  Boulogne,  and  performed 
doughty  deeds  in  the  squadron  of 
adventurers  led  by  Dudon  di  Consa. 
Pluto  sent  the  sorceress  Armida  to 
create  dissension  among  the  Chris- 
tians. Fifty  knights  who  fell  under 
her  spell  were  liberated  by  Rinaldo, 
but  finally  he  himself  succumbed, 
and  she  conveyed  him  to  an  enchanted 
palace  on  a  mountain  in  Teneriffe, 
where,  like  Tannhauser,  he  abandons 
himself  to  luxury  and  sloth.  Godfrey 
sends  Carlo  and  Abaldo  to  his 
rescue.  They  succeed  in  arousing 
his  dormant  nobility,  he  tears  him- 


Ripheus 


262 


Roc 


self  away,  follows  them  to  the  Chris- 
tian camp,  finds  means  for  demolish- 
ing the  enchanted  forest  of  Ismeno 
(q.v.)  and  after  Tancred's  mind  has 
been  unhinged  by  the  death  of 
Clorinda,  becomes  the  real  leader  of 
the  besiegers,  heading  the  final  and 
successful  assault  against  Jerusalem. 
Ripheus  (It.  Rifeo),  in  Virgil's 
JEneid  ii,  426,  is  praised  as  "  the 
most  just  among  the  Trojans  and 
most  observant  of  the  right."  Dante, 
Paradiso  xx,  67,  puts  him  into 
heaven, — the  only  pagan  save  Tra- 
jan who  is  admitted  to  the  company 
of  the  blest.  With  Trajan  he  is  one 
of  the  five  souls  who  form  a  coronet 
around  the  head  of  the  mystic  eagle 
personifying  the  Roman  empire. 
The  eagle  himself  asks  of  Dante: 

Who,  in  the  erring  world  beneath,  would 

deem 

That  Trojan  Ripheus  in  this  round  was  set, 
Fifth   of  the  saintly   splendors?      Now  he 

knows 

Enough  of  that  which  the  world  cannot  see, 
The  grace  divine:     albeit  e'en  his  sight 
Reach  not  its  utmost  depth. 

Paradiso,  xx,  118.    GARY,  trans. 

The  episode  has  excited  much  theo- 
logical disapproval.  "  This  is  a 
fiction  of  our  author,"  says  Buti, 
"  as  the  intelligent  reader  may  im- 
agine, for  there  is  no  proof  that 
Ripheus  the  Trojan  is  saved."  Ven- 
turi  opines  that  if  Dante  must  needs 
introduce  a  second  pagan  into  heaven 
he  would  better  have  chosen  /Eneas, 
Virgil's  hero  and  the  founder  of  the 
Roman  empire.  It  has  been  sug- 
gested that  Dante  connected  Virgil's 
description  of  Ripheus  with  Acts 
x,  34:  "God  is  no  respecter  of  per- 
sons; but  in  every  nation  he  that 
feareth  Him  and  worketh  righteous- 
ness, is  accepted  with  Him."  The 
word  translated  here  as  "  righteous- 
ness "  isjustitia  in  the  Vulgate. 

Robert  the  Devil,  subject  of  a 
medieval  French  morality  play  and 
of  a  poem  Li  Romans  de  Robert  le 
Diable,  which  in  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury was  expanded  into  a  Dite  or 
Lay  of  Robert  the  Devil.  Though 
differing  in  details,  the  outlines  are 
similar.  Aubert,  Duke  of  Normandy, 
having  compelled  his  wife  Jude  to 


hold  commerce  with  him  against  her 
wish,  was  informed  by  the  lady  that 
God  would  have  no  hand  in  the 
affair.  When  the  child  appeared, 
after  long  and  painful  travail,  she 
cursed  it.  He  proved  unruly  from 
the  cradle,  biting  his  nurses  and 
tormenting  his  play-fellows  to  the 
utmost  of  his  infantile  capacity.  At 
the  age  of  seven  he  stabbed  a  tutor 
who  had  reprimanded  him.  In  early 
manhood  he  pillaged  churches,  se- 
duced virgins,  outraged  wives  and 
killed  their  husbands.  His  father 
hoped  to  reform  him  by  making  him 
a  knight.  The  ceremony  concluded 
with  a  tournament  in  which  Robert 
defeated  all  his  opponents  and  was 
with  difficulty  restrained  from  kill- 
ing them. 

Then  he  turned  bandit,  gathering 
around  him  a  gang  of  outlaws  who 
made  their  headquarters  in  the 
castle  of  Thuringia.  His  father  set 
a  price  upon  his  head,  but  no  one 
dared  attack  him.  At  the  dagger's 
point  Robert  forced  from  his  mother  a 
confession  as  to  the  curse  that  hung 
over  him.  Instead  of  angering  him, 
this  filled  him  full  of  pity  for  her  and 
for  himself.  Determined  to  forsake 
his  evil  ways  he  would  fain  have  his 
comrades  join  him  in  repentance ;  when 
they  jeeringly  refuse  he  kills  them  all. 
Then  he  turns  his  steps  toward  Rome. 
The  pope  commends  him  to  a  holy 
hermit  who  shrives  him  and  imposes 
on  him  three  penances.  He  must 
feign  insanity;  he  must  remain 
speechless;  he  must  eat  no  food  save 
what  he  can  snatch  from  that  given 
to  the  dogs.  At  the  end  of  seven 
years,  during  which  he  suffers  in 
silence  all  sorts  of  indignities  and 
privations,  he  is  formally  pardoned  of 
his  sins  and  becomes  Robert  the  Saint. 

Roc  or  Rhuka,  in  oriental  legend, 
a  fabulous  bird  of  enormous  size, 
capable  of  performing  gigantic  feats 
of  strength,  e.g.,  carrying  off  ele- 
phants to  feed  its  young,  which 
appears  in  several  of  the  tales  of  the 
Arabian  Nights,  notably  in  Sindbad, 
and  in  Aladdin. 

The  roc  was  first  described  to 
Europeans  under  the  name  of  rukh 


Roc 


263 


Roland 


by  Marco  Polo,  but  his  account  was 
laughed  to  scorn. 

In  the  i  yth  century  Father  Martine, 
a  missionary  to  China,  met  with 
similar  ridicule  when  he  gave  another 
account  of  the  same  bird.  A  century 
later  the  Arabian  Nights  became 
familiar  to  Europe  and  then  it  was 
made  evident  to  the  most  enlight- 
ened that  the  roc  must  be  a  fable. 
At  last  in  1842  Rev.  Mr.  Williams,  a 
missionary  in  New  Zealand,  wrote  to 
Frank  Buckland  concerning  the  re- 
mains of  an  extraordinary  monster 
pointed  out  to  him  by  the  natives: 
"  On  a  comparison  with  the  bones  of 
a  fowl  I  immediately  perceived  that 
they  belonged  to  a  bird  of  gigantic 
size.  The  greatest  height  was  prob- 
ably not  less  than  14  or  16  feet.  The 
natives  gave  the  creature  the  name  of 
moa."  It  is  possible,  therefore,  that 
the  roc  was  only  a  slightly  exag- 
gerated moa,  which  produced  the 
largest  of  all  known  eggs.  Early 
Arabian  travels  in  Oceanica  brought 
home  the  wonderful  stories  which 
passed  into  popular  tradition.  John 
Fiske,  however,  will  have  none  of  this 
Euhemerism.  "  A  Chinese  myth, 
cited  by  Klaproth,  well  preserves  its 
true  character  when  it  describes  it  as 
4  a  bird  which  in  flying  obscures  the 
sun,  and  of  whose  quills  are  made 
water-tuns.'  The  big  bird  in  the 
Norse  tale  of  the  Blue  Belt  belongs 
to  the  same  species." 

It  used  to  be  a  matter  of  hopeless  wonder 
to  me  that  Aladdin's  innocent  request  for  a 
roc's  egg  to  hang  in  the  dome  of  his  palace 
should  have  been  regarded  as  a  crime 
worthy  of  punishment  by  the  loss  of  the 
wonderful  lamp;  the  obscurest  part  of  the 
whole  affair  being  perhaps  the  Jinni's  pas- 
sionate allusion  to  the  egg  as  his  master: 
"Wretch!  dost  thou  command  me  to  bring 
thee  my  master,  and  hang  him  up  in  the 
midst  of  this  vaulted  dome?"  But  the 
incident  is  to  some  extent  cleared  of  its 
mystery  when  we  learn  that  the  roc's  egg 
is  the  bright  sun,  and  that  the  roc  itself  is 
the  rushing  storm-cloud  which,  in  the  tale 
of  Sindbad,  haunts  the  sparkling  starry 
firmament,  symbolized  as  a  valley  of  dia- 
monds. According  to  one  Arabic  authority, 
the  length  of  its  wings  is  ten  thousand 
fathoms.  But  in  European  tradition  it 
dwindles  from  these  huge  dimensions  to  the 
size  of  an  eagle,  a  raven,  or  a  woodpecker. — 
FISKE:  The  Descent  of  Fire  in  Myths  and 
Mythmakers, 


Rodomont  or  Rodomante,  in  Bq- 

jardo's  Orlando  Innamorato  and  Ari- 
ostq's  Orlando  Furioso,  the  King  of 
Algiers,  a  blustering,  atheistic,  inso- 
lent young  Ajax  standing  alone 
against  and  doing  incredible  havoc 
among  the  Christians.  He  was  fin- 
ally unhorsed  by  Bradamant,  and 
did  public  penance  for  this  disgrace. 
At  the  festival  of  Ruggerio's  marriage 
he  challenged  the  bridegroom  and 
was  slain  by  him. 

Castelvetro  and  other  Italian  critics 
are  agreed  that  Bojardo  who  in- 
vented the  characters  of  Agramante, 
Mandricard,  Sacripant  and  Gradasso 
bestowed  upon  them  names  he  had 
picked  up  from  among  the  laborers 
in  his  own  country  of  Scandiano. 
They  add  that  the  names  are  still 
retained  among  the  descendants  of 
those  laborers.  As  to  Rodomante, 
however,  the  right  name  for  a  long 
time  baffled  him,  until  one  day  it 
leaped  into  his  mind  as  he  was  hunt- 
ing in  a  forest  of  Scandiano.  He 
rode  post  haste  to  his  castle  and  set 
ringing  all  the  bells  in  the  village,  to 
the  great  astonishment  of  the  coun- 
tryside. He  had  indeed  builded  even 
better  than  he  knew,  for  the  name  has 
passed  into  almost  every  language  of 
Europe  and  is  thus  assured  of  lexico- 
graphical if  not  of  literary  immortal- 
ity. 

Roland  (Ital.  Orlando,  Span. 
ROLDAN),  in  mediaeval  myth,  the 
nephew  of  Charlemagne,  and  the 
greatest  among  all  the  Twelve  Pala- 
dins. The  legends,  songs,  ballads,  and 
romances  celebrating  his  exploits 
form  a  literature  in  themselves,  and 
are  spread  over  a  wide  expanse  of 
territory.  In  France,  in  Italy,  in 
Spain,  in  Germany,  his  name  is  a 
living  tradition  to  this  day.  An 
immense  gorge  in  the  Pyrenees,  split 
at  one  blow  from  the  hero's  sword 
Durandal,  still  bears  the  name  of  La 
Breche  de  Roland.  His  history  is 
blazoned  in  the  thirteenth-century 
window  in  Chartres.  The  sword  of 
Roldan  is  shown  in  the  Armory  of 
Madrid.  Italy  is  full  of  relics:  his 
statue  guards  the  gate  of  the  cathe- 
dral at  Verona,  Pavia  shows  his 


Roland 


264 


Roland 


lance,  at  Rome  his  sword  Durandal 
is  carved  on  a  wall  of  the  street 
Spada  d'Orlando.  Dante  put  him 
in  the  choicest  part  of  Paradise. 
In  Germany  he  built  the  tower  of 
Rolandseck  on  the  Rhine,  and  his 
ghost  still  rides  through  the  forests. 
Distant  echoes  of  him  are  heard  in 
vaguest  tradition  through  India  to 
the  snows  of  Tartary. 

History  affords  only  a  slender 
basis  for  this  broad  fabric  of  romance. 
A  line  in  Eginhard's  Life  of  Charle- 
magne is  the  sole  record  of  Roland's 
existence.  After  recounting  rapidly 
how  Charlemagne  in  A.D.  778  was 
tempted  to  the  conquest  of  Spain, 
how  he  penetrated  the  Pyrenees  and 
took  Pamplona  and  Saragossa,  the 
historian  tells  us  that  on  the  home- 
ward march  the  French  army  was 
attacked  in  the  narrow  defile  of 
Roncesvalles  by  "  Gascons,"  who 
slew  the  rear-guard  to  a  man,  pil- 
laged the  baggage,  and  then  fled  to 
the  mountains.  In  this  disaster 
there  perished,  among  other  notable 
chiefs,  "  Hruodlandus  britannici  lim- 
itis  prefectus."  This  prefect  of  the 
marches  of  B  rittany ,  then ,  was  the  orig- 
inal of  Roland.  Nothing  more  is  heard 
of  him  for  three  hundred  years. 
But  the  very  next  mention  shows 
that  popular  voices  had  been  busy 
with  his  name  in  the  meanwhile. 
At  the  battle  of  Hastings  (1066)  one 
Taillefer  rode  in  front  of  the  Norman 
host  singing  songs  of  Charlemagne 
and  Roland.  It  was  probably  about 
the  middle  of  the  tenth  century  that 
this  chanson  de  Roland  was  composed. 
Here  the  hero's  character,  and  the 
battle  of  Roncesvalles  in  which  he 
met  his  death,  have  attained  an  ex- 
traordinary expansion.  Roland  is  a 
champion  of  the  faith,  fighting  not 
against  a  band  of  predatory  Gascons, 
but  a  great  paynim  horde  led  by 
King  Marsilius.  Round  this  central 
myth  of  Roncesvalles  grew  a  vast 
number  of  other  legends  purporting 
to  celebrate  the  earlier  deeds  of 
Roland,  and  these  in  the  twelfth 
century  were  gathered  together  into 
the  apocryphal  Chronicle  of  Turpin, 
pretended  composition  of  the  his- 


torical Archbishop  Turpin.  From 
this  pseudo  Turpin  came  the  Italian 
epics  of  Pulci,  Bello,  Bojardo,  and 
Ariosto,  in  which  the  legend  of 
Orlando  is  continued  with  an  ever- 
increasing  accretion  of  mythic  details 
and  a  perpetually  changing  story. 
Pulci's  Morgante  Maggiore  was  pub- 
lished as  early  as  1488,  Bojardo's 
Orlando  Innamorato  in  1496,  Ariosto 's 
Orlando  Furioso  in  1515.  But  the 
Italian  Orlando  differs  materially 
from  the  simple  devout  Roland,  with 
his  constant  affection  to  his  betrothed 
lady  Aide.  The  false  Angelica  ap- 
pears on  the  scene  and  sows  all  mad 
passions  in  Orlando's  breast.  And, 
again,  the  Spanish  Roldan  differs 
from  both  French  and  Italian  hero, 
and  in  the  hands  of  the  Spanish 
poets  Roncesvalles  becomes  quite 
another  event.  It  is  a  battle  no  longer 
between  Christians  and  Pagans,  but 
between  Frenchmen  and  Spaniards. 
The  Pagans  are  present,  it  is  true, 
but  only  as  auxiliaries  in  the  army  of 
Bernardo  del  Carpio,  who  wins  a 
glorious  victory. 

Roland,  Breche  de  (Roland's 
Breach),  a  gorge  or  fissure  in  the 
upper  Pyrenees  300  feet  deep  which 
according  to  tradition  the  Carlovin- 
gian  hero  opened  with  a  single  blow 
from  his  sword  Durandal. 

Then  would  I  seek  the  Pyrenean  breach 
Which  Roland  clove  with  huge  two-handed 

sway. 

And  to  the  enormous  labor  left  his  name. 

WORDSWORTH. 

Roland,  or  Rowland,  Childe,  hero 
of  the  old  English  ballad  Burd  Helen 
(q.v.).  The  youngest  brother  of 
Helen  (who  had  been  carried  off  by 
the  fairies)  he  undertook  under 
Merlin's  guidance  to  rescue  his 
sister  from  elfland.  This  may  be  the 
ballad  to  which  Edgar  alludes  in 
King  Lear,  Act  iii,  Sc.  4,  when  he 
sings 

Childe  Rowland  to  the  dark  tower  came 

His  word  was  still, — fie,  foh  and  fum 
I  smell  thejblood  of  a  Britishman. 

Most  Shakspear  commentators, 
however,  agree  that  the  reference  is 
to  some  old  ballad  now  lost.  Frag- 


Rolandseck 


265 


Romulus 


ments  of  a  Scottish  version  of  the 
story  are  given  in  Child's  English 
and  Scotch  Ballads.  Robert  Brown- 
ing avowedly  founded  his  poem 
Childe  Roland  to  the  Dark  Tower 
Came  on  an  idea  suggested  by  Ed- 
gar's quotation.  At  a  meeting  re- 
corded in  Browning  Society  Papers 
part  iii,  p.  21,  Dr.  F.  J.  Furnivall 
said  he  had  asked  Browning  whether 
his  poem  were  an  allegory  and  "  in 
answer  had  received  an  emphatic 
4  no  ' ;  that  it  was  simply  a  dramatic 
creation  called  forth  by  a  line  of 
Shakspear's.  Browning  had  writ- 
ten it  one  day  in  Paris  as  a  vivid 
picture  suggested  by  Edgar's  line." 

Rolandseck,  a  ruined  castle  on  the 
Rhine  near  Drachenfels,  is  locally 
ascribed  to  Roland,  who  was  not 
really  killed  at  Roncesvalles.  The 
false  rumor  of  his  death,  however, 
drove  his  affianced  bride,  Hilde- 
gunde,  daughter  of  Count  Heribert, 
into  a  convent  on  the  island  of  Non- 
nenworth  on  the  Rhine.  Roland, 
finding  she  had  taken  the  irrevocable 
vows,  built  for  himself  the  castle  of 
Rolandseck  just  opposite  to  Non- 
nen worth,  so  that  he  might  be  near 
her  and  daily  gaze  on  her  beloved 
form  as  he  passed  to  the  chapel. 
One  morning  he  missed  her  from 
among  the  nuns;  the  tolling  of  the 
convent  bells  explained  that  she  was 
dead.  He  never  more  spoke  word 
on  earth.  Not  long  after  he  was 
found  dead  in  a  sitting  position, — 
his  eyes  turned  towards  the  convent. 
This  legend  undoubtedly  suggested 
to  Schiller  his  ballad  Knight  Tog- 
genburg. 

Romans,  Last  of  the  (Lat.  Ultimus 
Romanorum).  The  Roman  general 
/Etius  was  so  called  by  Procopius. 
He  assisted  Theodoric  to  win  the  bat- 
tle of  Chalons  (A.D.  450)  and  so  repel 
the  invasion  of  Attila  and  the  Huns. 
With  his  death  by  assassination  (454) 
the  last  support  of  the  empire  fell. 

Caius  Cassius  Longinus,  who  died 
B.C.  42,  one  of  the  assassins  of  Julius 
Caesar,  was  so  called  by  his  fellow 
conspirator  Junius  Brutus. 

Frangois  Joseph  Terasse  Desbillons 
(1751-1789).  A  French  Jesuit  was 


called  Le  Dernier  des  Romains  be- 
cause of  the  purity  and  elegance  of 
his  Latin. 

Romulus  and  Remus,  in  Roman 
myth,  the  legendary  founders  of 
Rome.  They  were  fabled  to  be  the 
twin  sons  of  Mars  and  the  vestal 
virgin  Rhea,  Ilia,  or  Silvia.  The 
mother  was  buried  alive  as  a  punish- 
ment for  breaking  her  vow  of  chas- 
tity. The  babes  were  condemned  by 
her  uncle,  Amulius,  usurping  King  of 
Alba,  to  be  drowned  in  the  Tiber.  A 
wolf  rescued  and  suckled  them,  until 
they  were  found  by  the  king's  shep- 
herd Faustulus.  They  grew  up  with 
his  12  sons,  became  conspicuous  for 
their  prowess  and  headed  two  groups 
of  followers,  the  Quintillii,  under 
Romulus,  the  Fabii,  under  Remus. 
A  quarrel  arose  among  the  Fabii  and 
the  herdsmen  of  Numitor,  elder 
brother  to  Amulius  and  the  rightful 
king.  Remus  was  brought  before 
Numitor.  Romulus  rushed  to  the 
rescue.  Explanations  led  to  their 
recognition  by  Numitor  as  his 
grandsons.  They  slew  Amulius  and 
restored  Numitor  to  his  throne. 

And  now  they  determined  to  found 
a  city  of  their  own  on  the  Tiber. 
A  strife  arose  as  to  who  should  give 
it  his  name,  which  ended  in  the 
killing  of  Remus  by  Romulus. 

The  ascription  of  the  foundation 
of  Rome  to  twin  brothers  is  supposed 
to  arise  out  of  the  Roman  belief  in 
the  Lares,  or  guardian  spirits,  of 
whonrj  each  household,  neighbor- 
hood, and  city  had  its  pair.  Hence 
the  founders  and  guardians  of  the 
Roman  State  might  be  expected  to 
be  represented  as  twofold  and  twins; 
and  the  fig-tree  sacred  to  Rumina 
(derived  from  "  ruma,"  the  breast), 
an  Italian  goddess  of  suckling,  as 
well  as  the  worship  of  Faunus 
Lupercus,  near  each  other  on  the 
Palatine,  may  be  thought  to  furnish 
the  origin  of  the  myth  that  Romulus 
(whose  name  Festus  and  Plutarch 
connect  with  Ruminalis)  and  Remus 
were  suckled  by  a  she-wolf.  The  two 
suckling  children,  therefore,  are  the 
Euhemeristic  representatives  of  the 
Lares  of  the  Roman  State,  whilst 


Rory 


266 


Round 


Faustulus  and  Acca  Larentia  are 
referable,  the  former  to  the  god 
Faunus,  the  latter  to  the  traditions 
of  an  ancient  guild  which  held  this 
name  to  represent  the  mother  of  its 
twelve  original  members. 

Rory  O'More,  the  hero  of  an  Irish 
tradition  which  Samuel  Lover  put 
into  a  famous  ballad  (1836).  An 
Irish  peasant  full  of  wit  and  dare- 
deviltry,  he  undertook,  during  the 
uprisings  of  the  later  i8th  century,  to 
forward  the  dispatches  of  a  French 
officer  who  had  fallen  sick  in  his 
house.  Lover  lays  the  scene  in 
1797.  Rory  acquits  himself  nobly, 
but  on  his  return  a  year  later  is 
confronted  with  a  charge  of  murder. 
The  opportune  appearance  of  his 
supposed  victim  on  the  very  day  of 
Rory's  trial  alone  saved  him  from  the 
halter. 

Rosmunda,  daughter  of  Cunimund, 
king  of  the  Gepidse.  He  was  con- 
quered and  slain  by  Alboin,  king  of 
the  Lombards,  in  566.  Rosmunda 
became  the  victor's  bride.  In  573 
she  instigated  his  murder,  because 
at  a  carousal  he  had  ordered  her  to 
drink  from  her  father's  skull  fash- 
ioned into  a  cup.  A  common  soldier, 
Helmichis  or  Almahide,  is  said  to 
have  been  the  instrument  of  her 
vengeance.  She  allowed  him  to  be- 
come her  paramour  and  then  offered 
him  the  alternative,  death  for  him- 
self from  Alboin's  jealousy,  or  death 
to  Alboin  with  himself  as  his  suc- 
cessor. The  story,  which  has  small 
basis  in  fact,  is  nevertheless  accepted 
by  Machiavelli  in  his  history  of 
Florence.  He  adds  that  the  adulter- 
ess and  the  murderer  of  her  husband 
soon  wearied  of  each  other,  and, 
passing  from  weariness  to  hatred, 
ended  by  killing  each  other.  The 
first  part  of  the  story  was  dramatized 
by  Rucellai  in  1515,  the  second  by 
Alfieri  in  1783.  Both  tragedies  are 
named  Rosmonda.  Rucellai  makes 
the  incident  of  the  skull  and  the 
slaying  of  Alboin  follow  immedi- 
ately after  his  victory  when  Ros- 
monda is  only  his  intended  bride. 

Alfieri's  tragedy  follows  the  for- 
tunes of  the  heroine  after  her  mar- 


riage to  Helmachio,  here  called 
Almachide.  She  overhears  Hel- 
machio's  professions  of  love  to  Romil- 
da,  daughter  of  Alboin  by  a  former 
marriage,  and  when  Romilda  repulses 
him  (for  she  is  in, love  with  Ildovado) 
Rosmunda  and  Ildovado  together 
plot  against  the  life  of  Almachide. 
They  are  unsuccessful  and  Ros- 
munda turns  her  baffled  fury  upon 
Romilda,  whom  she  slays.  Ildovado 
stabs  himself  and  the  curtain  falls 
on  Rosmunda's  threat  that  she  shall 
yet  complete  her  vengeance  on  the 
cowering  Almachide. 

Rother,  King,  in  a  mediaeval  ro- 
mance of  that  name,  a  legendary 
emperor  of  the  West  holding  his 
court  at  Bari  in  Italy,  once  a  mighty 
seaport  of  the  Adriatic.  He  fell  in 
love  with  Princess  Oda,  daughter  of 
Constantine,  emperor  of  the  East, 
but  his  advances  being  repulsed  he 
set  sail  for  Constantinople  in  dis- 
guise, introduced  himself  at  court 
as  Dietrich,  a  nobleman  outlawed 
from  King  Rother's  country,  and 
duly  gains  the  lady's  love.  Rother 
wins  a  great  victory  for  Constan- 
tine. At  last  he  finds  an  opportunity 
to  elope  with  Oda  and  with  all  his 
own  retainers,  but  she  is  recaptured 
by  a  stratagem  and  a  fresh  series  of 
adventures  await  the  tireless  wooer 
ere  he  can  secure  her  as  his  permanent 
consort. 

Round  Table,  in  Arthurian  ro- 
mance, a  huge  circular  marble  table 
around  which  King  Arthur  sat  with 
all  his  knights,  who  were  hence 
known  as  Knights  of  the  Round 
Table.  Wace  is  the  first  to  mention 
it,  dismissing  it  however  in  two  short 
lines: 

Fist  Arthur  la  Roonde  Table 
Dont  Britons  disent  mainte  fable. 

King  Arthur  made  the  Round  Table 
Whereof  Britons  tell  many  a  fable. 
Li  Roman  de  Brut. 

Layamon  adds  fantastic  details. 
The  Knights,  he  says,  were  accus- 
tomed to  fight  for  precedence  at 
King  Arthur's  board.  One  day  a 
cunning  craftsman  from  Cornwall 
thus  accosted  him:  "  I  have  heard 


Round 


267 


Round 


say  that  thy  knights  gan  to  fight  at 
thy  board;  on  midwinter's  day  many 
fell,  for  their  mickle  might  wrought 
murderous  play  and  for  their  high 
lineage  each  would  be  within.  But  I 
will  work  thee  a  board  exceeding 
fair  that  thereat  may  sit  1600  and 
more,  so  that  none  may  be  without. 
And  when  thou  wilt  rise  thou  mayest 
carry  it  with  thee  and  set  it  where 
thou  wilt,  and  then  thou  needest 
never  fear  to  the  world's  end  that 
ever  any  proud  knight  at  thy  board 
may  make  fight,  for  there  shall  the 
high  be  even  with  the  low."  (See 
O'GROAT,  JOHN.) 

A  more  mystic  origin  is  attrib- 
uted to  the  table  by  Robert  le 
Barron.  He  claims  it  was  the  iden- 
tical table  at  which  Christ  sat  with 
his  apostles  and  which  was  used  at 
the  Last  Supper.  Afterwards  it  was 
bequeathed  together  with  the  San- 
greal  to  Bishop  Joseph,  a  descendant 
of  Joseph  of  Arimathea,  who  thus 
became  the  founder  of  the  order  of 
Round  Table  Knights. 

The  legend  that  eventually  became 
most  popular  made  the  Round  Table 
a  gift  from  Leodegarance,  his  father- 
in-law,  to  Arthur  on  his  marriage 
with  Guinevere.  It  is  added  that 
the  order  was  instituted  on  the  same 
occasion.  The  table  could  accom- 
modate 150  knights,  but  only  28 
were  secured  by  Merlin  for  the  wed- 
ding feast,  and  on  the  seat  whereon 
each  sat  was  miraculously  imprinted 
in  gold  letters  the  name  of  the  knight 
who  had  occupied  it.  Later  the 
number  of  knights  rose  to  149,  a  seat 
being  ever  left  vacant  beside  Arthur 
which  was  known  as  the  Siege  Peri- 
lous (q.v.),  for  none  might  sit  in  it 
save  the  knight  destined  to  achieve 
the  Sangreal. 

1  Then,"  in  Malory's  words,  "  the 
king  stablished  all  his  knights,  and 
to  them  that  were  not  rich  he  gave 
lands,  and  charged  them  all  never 
to  do  outrage  nor  murder,  and  al- 
ways to  flee  treason;  also,  by  no 
means  to  be  cruel,  but  to  give  mercy 
unto  him  that  asked  mercy,  upon 
pain  of  forfeiture  of  their  worship 
and  lordship;  and  always  to  do 


ladies,  damosels  and  gentlewomen 
service  upon  pain  of  death.  Also 
that  no  man  take  battle  in  a  wrong- 
ful quarrel,  for  no  law,  nor  for  any 
world's  goods.  Unto  this  were  all 
the  knights  sworn  of  the  Table 
Round,  both  old  and  young.  And 
at  every  year  were  they  sworn  at  the 
high  feast  of  Pentecost." 

And  wide  were  through  the  world  renowned 
The  gories  of  the  Table  Round. 
Each  knight  who  sought  adventurer's  fame, 
To  the  bold  court  of  Britain  came. 
And  all  who  suffered  causeless  wrong 
From  tyrant  proud  or  faitour  strong, 
Sought  Arthur's  presence  to  complain. 
Nor  there  for  aid  implored  in  vain. 

SCOTT. 

According  to  Aurelius  Cassiodorus 
(Book  xii)  a  Round  Table,  with  an 
order  of  knights  pertaining  thereto, 
was  founded  by  Theodoric,  King  of 
the  East  Goths.  In  the  saga  of 
Dietrich  of  Berne  (this  is  only  an- 
other name  for  Theodoric)  the  Czar 
Cartaus  institutes  a  similar  knightly 
Table.  The  great  hall  at  Westminster 
in  London  contains  a  Round  Table 
which  was  presented  to  King  Henry 
VIII,  and  is  known  to  have  been  ex- 
tant in  the  time  of  Henry  III,  though 
its  origin  is  lost  in  the  twilight  of 
fable. 

A  huge  round  table  is  still  pre- 
served in  Winchester  Castle  as  the 
identical  one  around  which  King 
Arthur  and  his  knights  were  accus- 
tomed to  sit. 

According  to  the  French  and  Ital- 
ian romances  Charlemagne  also  had 
his  Round  Table,  constructed  in 
imitation  of  that  of  King  Arthur, 
where,  he  and  his  12  Paladins  sat  at 
dinner. 

Round  Tower,  in  Newport,  R.  I., 
a  round  stone  tower,  partly  in  ruins, 
30  feet  high,  supported  by  8  massive 
stone  columns.  Danish  antiquarians 
have  claimed  for  it  a  resemblance  to 
Scandinavian  architecture  and  sur- 
mised that  it  was  built  by  Leif  and 
Thorwald,  the  old  Norse  rovers. 

Thorwald  had  been  slain  in  an 
encounter  with  the  natives  and  buried 
near  the  spot  where  he  fell.  A  rock 
on  the  shore  of  Taunton  River, 
known  as  the  Dighton  Rock,  because 


Riibezahl 


268 


Rumor 


of  its  neighborhood  to  the  village  of 
Dighton,  by  virtue  of  certain  illegible 
characters  scrawled  upon  it,  was 
declared  to  be  a  Runic  stone.  In 
1839  the  body  of  a  buried  warrior 
was  dug  up  at  Fall  River,  Mass., 
and  welcomed  as  another  link  in  the 
chain  of  evidence,  and  possibly  as 
the  corpse  of  Thorwald.  Later  in- 
vestigations, however,  have  over- 
thrown all  this  ingenious  reasoning. 

The  Round  Tower  has  been  re- 
solved into  nothing  more  archaic 
than  a  mill,  similar  to  many  still 
extant  in  England  (an  exact  dupli- 
cate surviving  at  Chesterton);  the 
inscriptions  on  Dighton  Rock  into 
Indian  picture  writing,  half  erased. 
The  metal  breastplate  on  the  skele- 
ton was  not  Scandinavian  but 
Indian.  A  windmill  in  Newport, 
mentioned  in  Governor  Benedict 
Arnold's  will  (1678)  as  "  my  stone- 
built  mill,"  is  the  original  of  the  name 
Mill  Street  still  borne  by  the  lane 
leading  to  the  Tower. 

Nevertheless,  the  Round  Tower 
has  been  used  for  poetical  purposes 
bv  Longfellow  in  his  Skeleton  in 
Armor  (q.v.)  and  also  by  John  G. 
Brainerd  and  Mrs.  L.  H.  Sigourney. 
Both  the  latter  entitle  their  efforts 
The  Newport  Tower.  Brainerd  feigns 
an  Indian  tradition  that  its  decaying 
walls  are  typical  of  the  disappearance 
of  the  Red  Man,  and  that  its  pre- 
dicted fall  will  herald  the  total  ex- 
tinction of  his  race. 

Riibezahl,  in  German  folklore,  a 
mischief  loving  sprite,  akin  to  the 
English  Puck,  who  is  fabled  to  in- 
habit the  Riesengeberge,  aiding  the 
benighted  wanderer,  or  the  poor 
and  oppressed,  but  persecuting  with 
his  elfish  tricks  the  proud  and  the 
wicked.  He  is  variously  represented 
as  a  hunter,  a  miner,  a  monk,  a 
dwarf  and  a  giant.  The  origin  of 
his  name  is  uncertain,  though  popular 
etymology  derives  it  from  Rube,  a 
turnip,  and  zahlen,  to  count;  hence  a 
turnip-counter.  To  explain  the  name 
an  ex  post  facto  legend  has  been 
invented:  Riibezahl  fell  in  love  with 
a  princess  who  promised  to  marry 
him  as  soon  as  he  had  counted  all 


the  turnips  in  his  field.  While  thus 
engaged,  the  lady  craftily  trans- 
formed a  turnip  into  a  horse  and 
rode  away. 

An  early  notice  of  Rubezahl  oc- 
curs in  two  books  of  Johannes 
Pratorius,  Dcemonologia  Rubenzalii 
Silesii  (Leipsic  1662-65)  and  Satyrus 
Etomologicus  oder  den  Ruben  Zahl. 
Musaeus  has  collected  a  number  of 
legends  concerning  this  sprite  in  his 
Popular  Tales,  and  Mark  Lemon  has 
translated  them  as  Tales  of  Number 
Nip. 

Rudel,  Geoffrey,  prince  of  Blaye, 
a  twelfth  century  troubadour,  is 
much  celebrated  in  mediaeval  French 
ballads  as  the  lover  of  Melisaunda, 
Countess  of  Tripoli.  He  had  never 
seen  the  lady,  but  his  imagination 
had  been  inflamed  by  the  stories  told 
of  her  beauty  and  goodness  and  her 
generosity  to  pilgrims  of  the  cross. 
With  Bertrand  d'Allamanon,  another 
famous  troubadour,  he  set  out  to  1ay 
his  heart  at  her  feet.  But  falling 
sick  on  the  way,  he  lived  only  to 
reach  Tripoli.  The  Countess,  being 
told  that  a  vessel  had  arrived  bearing 
a  poet  who  was  dying  for  love  of  her, 
immediately  hastened  on  board  and 
taking  his  hand  entreated  him  to  live 
for  her  sake.  Rudel  was  just  able 
to  express  by  a  last  effort  the  depth 
of  his  love  and  gratitude  and  then 
expired  in  her  arms. 

Rumor  or  Fame  (Lat.  Fama),  a 
personification  of  public  clamor  or 
gossip,  who  appears  frequently  in 
the  pages  of  Latin  poets;  the  classic 
instance  being  furnished  by  Virgil. 
Dido  has  met  ^neas  in  the  cave  and 
surrendered  herself: 

Instantly  Rumor  goes  flying  through  all  the 

great  Libyan  cities, 
Rumor,    a   curse   than   whom   no   other  is 

swifter  of  motion. 
Ever  on  swiftness  she  thrives  and  gains  new 

vigor  by  speeding. 
Cringing  at  first  with  fear,  she  lifts  herself 

quick  to  the  heavens, 
Treading  still  on  the  earth,  but  veiling  her 

face  in  the  storm-cloud. 
Earth  brought  her  forth,  it  is  said,  impelled 

by  her  rage  against  heaven. 
She  was  the  latest  born  of  the  terrible  sisters 

of  Titan. 
Swift  are  her  feet,  and  swifter  the  flight  of 

her  hurrying  pinions; 


Rumor 


269 


Rusalkas 


Monster  terrific  and  huge,  who,  under  each 

separate  feather, 
Carries   a   watchful   eye;   by   each   eye,   O 

marvellous  story, 
Babble  a  mouth  and  a  tongue,  and  an  ear 

pricks  forward  to  listen. 
Rustling,  she  flies  by  night,  between  earth 

and  sky  in  the  darkness, 
Never  closing  her  eyes  in  the  sweet  refresh- 
ment of  slumber; 
Watching  by  day  like  a  spy,  she  perches 

aloft  on  the  housetops, 
Or  upon  lofty  towers,  and  causes  great  cities 

to  tremble; 
Tale-bearer,  loving  the  truth  no  better  than 

slander  or  libel. 
Such  was  the  one  who  was  filling  the  nation 

with  manifold  rumors, 
Gloating,  and  equally  glad  whether  telling 

a  truth  or  a  falsehood. 
Mneid,  iv,  174.     HARLAN  H.  BALLARD. 
trans. 

Grant  White  conjectures  that  the 
famous  problem  in  Shakspear,  the 
"  runaway's  eyes  "  in  Juliet's  speech, 
Act  iii,  Sc.  2  of  Romeo  and  Juliet,  may 
be  solved  by  substituting  "  Rumor's  " 
for  runaway's.  Runaway  is  an  obvious 
misprint.  It  is  by  no  means  improb- 
able that  Shakspear  wrote  "  rumoures 
eyes  "  and  that  we  should  read, 

Spread  thy  close  curtain,  love  performing 

night, 

That  rumor's  eyes  may  wink,  and  Romeo 
Leap  to  these  arms,  untalked  of  and  unseen. 

Evidently  Juliet  desired  that  some- 
body's eyes  may  wink,  so  that  Romeo 
may  leap  to  her  arms,  "  untalked  of  ' 
as  well  as  unseen.  She  wished  to 
avoid  the  scandal  that  would  ensue 
upon  the  discovery  of  her  newmade 
husband's  secret  visit.  We  have 
Virgil's  authority,  as  above,  that 
Rumor  has  watchful  eyes  (vigiles 
oculi)  as  well  as  babbling  tongues. 
The  following  description  shows  how 
she  was  represented  in  a  masque  in 
Shakspear 's  day: 

Directly  under  her  in  a  cart  by  herselfe, 
Fame  stood  upright:  a  woman  in  a  watchet 
roabe,  thickly  set  with  open  eyes  and 
tongues,  a  payre  of  large  golden  winges  at 
her  backe,  a  trumpet  in  her  hand,  a  mantle 
of  sundry  cullours  traversing  her  body:  all 
these  ensigns  displaying  but  the  propertie 
of  her  swiftnesse  and  aptnesse  to  disperse 
Rumoure. 

The  whole  magnificent  Entertainment 
given  to  King  James  and  the  queen  his 
Wife,  &c.,  isth  March,  1603.  By 
Thomas  Decker,  4to.  1604. 


Shakspear,  however,  needed  no  pre- 
cedent or  hint  to  give  eyes  to  Rumor. 
These  quotations  merely  show  that 
the  idea  was  sufficiently  familiar  to 
his  auditors,  unlearned  and  learned, 
for  him  to  use  it  in  this  manner.  In 
the  Induction  to  //  Henry  IV,  it  may 
be  noted  he  brings  Rumor  bodily 
before  his  audience,  "  painted  full  of 
tongues." 

Ruprecht,  in  popular  Dutch  and 
German  myth  a  servant  or  body- 
guard of  St.  Nicholas,  fantastically 
dressed,  who  accompanies  him  on  his 
household  rounds  on  Christmas  eve. 
The  saint  being,  of  course,  some 
outside  villager  or  inmate  of  the 
household  disguised  for  the  occasion 
he  knows  all  about  the  children  and 
their  conduct  and  is  thus  enabled, 
by  what  seems  to  them  supernatural 
knowledge,  to  dive  into  all  their  little 
secrets,  and  hold  up  before  them  all 
their  misdoings.  They  are  thus 
brought  to  a  judgment-bar  before 
which  they  tremble.  If  they  have 
been  naughty  they  are  threatened 
with  being  carried  off  in  Ruprecht's 
basket,  until  they  beg  off  piteously, 
with  promises  of  improvement. 

Rusalkas  or  Roussalkas,  in  Slavic 
folklore,  naiads  or  water-nymphs 
endowed  with  perpetual  youth  and 
beauty  who  inhabit  lakes  and  rivers. 
Though  often  seen  disporting  them- 
selves in  the  neighboring  forests, 
they  would  perish  if  they  allowed 
themselves  to  become  perfectly  dry. 
Therefore,  when  on  shore,  they  are 
constantly  engaged  in  combing  their 
sea-green  locks,  which  have  the 
property  of  pouring  out  a  copious 
and  refreshing  flood.  They  take  a 
kindly  interest  in  human  beings, 
especially  their  love-affairs,  and  are 
the  sure  avengers  of  betrayed  or 
forsaken  lovers. 

In  Me'rime'e's  story,  Lokis,  a  weird  char- 
acter nicknamed  Pauna  Iwiuska  tells  Prof. 
Wittembach,  "You  should  know  that  I  am 
a  roussalka,  at  your  service.  A  roussalka 
is  a  water  nymph.  One  of  them  lives  in 
every  pool  of  dark  deep  waters  that  gem 
our  forests.  Do  not  go  too  near  these 
pools!  The  roussalka  may  issue  forth,  more 
beautiful  than  ever,  and  carry  you  down  to 
the  bottom,  where  according  to  all  appear- 
ance, she  eats  you.  He  "  (pointing  to  Count 


Rush 


270 


Sabrina 


Szemioth)  "is  a  young  fisherman,  a  great 
ninny,  who  exposes  himself  to  my  claws. 
To  prolong  the  fun  I  am  going  to  fascinate 
him  by  dancing  around  him." 

Rush  Friar  (Latin  Prater  Raus- 
chius,  Ger.  Bruder  Rausch),  in  the 
mediasval  folklore  of  England,  Ger- 
many and  Denmark,  a  mischievous 
elf  who,  assuming  human  form,  en- 
tered a  convent  and  played  such 
tricks  upon  his  fellow  monks  that  he 
was  finally  expelled.  Out  in  the  world 
he  signalized  himself  by  even  madder 
pranks,  the  last  of  which  was  to 
enter  the  body  of  a  princess  and 
torture  her  until  he  was  cast  out  in 
the  form  of  a  horse  by  the  exorcism 
of  the  abbot  of  his  whilom  convent. 
Many  of  the  stories  related  of  Friar 
Rush  are  identical  with  the  Robin 
Goodfellow  tales. 

Ruth,  the  heroine  of  one  of  the  old- 
est and  sweetest  of  all  love  idyls, 
told  in  the  Old  Testament,  Book  of 
Ruth  (circa  500  B.C.).  A  Moabitess, 
she  accompanied  her  mother-in-law, 
Naomi,  to  Bethlehem,  where  she  mar- 
ried Boaz,  a  relative  of  her  dead 
husband,  Mahlon.  She  had  fallen 
in  love  with  Boaz  as  she  gleaned  his 
wheat  in  the  fields.  See  LAVINIA. 

Ryence,  or  Ryens  (the  name  ap- 
pears elsewhere  as  Rhitta),  a  mythical 
king  of  North  Wales,  who  according 


to  Malory's  Morte  d' Arthur,  i,  2, 
sent  a  messenger  to  Arthur  on  his 
accession  demanding  his  beard,  to 
complete  a  mantle  he  was  purfling 
(bordering)  with  royal  beards.  Ar- 
thur indignantly  spurned  the  de- 
mand as  "  the  most  villainous  and 
lewdest  message  that  ever  man  heard 
sent  to  a  king."  Ancient  legends 
explain  that  two  British  kings, 
Nynniaw  and  Peibiaw,  quarrelled 
together  in  bombastic  fashion.  Nyn- 
niaw claimed  that  the  firmament 
was  his  field.  Peibiaw  set  up  a  coun- 
terclaim for  the  stars  or  herds  that 
grazed  in  the  other's  field.  On  this 
issue  they  fought  until  the  armies  of 
both  were  nearly  destroyed.  Rhitta 
declared  war  against  both,  as  mad- 
men dangerous  to  all  their  neigh- 
bors, defeated  them  and  cut  off  their 
beards.  Twenty-eight  other  Kings 
of  Britain  marched  against  Rhitta 
to  avenge  the  insult.  He  was  again 
victor.  "  This  field  is  mine,"  said 
he  and  cut  off  the  twenty-eight 
beards.  Then  the  kings  of  the  sur- 
rounding countries  joined  in  the  fray 
and  retired  beaten  and  beardless.  Out 
of  the  spoils  Rhitta  made  a  mantle 
for  himself  and  though  he  was  a 
giant  twice  as  large  as  any  other  man, 
that  mantle  reached  from  his  head 
to  his  heels. 


Sabidius,  hero  of  Epigram  33  in 
Book  i  of  Martial,  which  contains 
only  two  lines: 

Non   amo   te,    Sabidi,  nee    possum    dicere 

quare, 
Hoc  tantum  possum  dicere,  non  amo  te — 

Literally  translated  this  would  run: 
"  I  do  not  love  thee,  Sabidius,  nor 
can  I  say  why,  this,  however,  I  can 
say,  I  do  not  love  thee."  The  epi- 
gram is  well  known  in  English  through 
its  brilliant  paraphrase,  of  uncertain 
authorship: 

I  do  not  love  thee.  Dr.  Fell, 
The  reason  why,  I  cannot  tell, 
But  this  alone  I  know  full  well, 
I  do  not  love  thee,  Dr.  Fell. 

According  to  a  story  of  doubtful 
authenticity,  Tom  Brown  ("of  face- 


tious memory,"  as  Addison  calls 
him)  was,  while  a  student  at  Oxford, 
ever  trembling  on  the  verge  of  sus- 
pension or  expulsion,  owing  to  his 
infractions  of  rules.  Finally  he  was 
dismissed  by  the  dean,  Dr.  John  Fell. 
Loath,  however,  to  lose  so  promising 
a  pupil,  Dr.  Fell  called  him  back  and 
offered  to  reinstate  him  if  he  would 
translate  extempore  the  thirty-third 
epigram  from  the  first  book  of 
Martial. 

Sabrina,  or  Sabre,  a  princess  cele- 
brated in  the  legendary  history  of 
Britain,  illegitimate  daughter  of 
King  Locrine  by  the  German  prin- 
cess Estrildis.  The  jealous  Queen 
Gwendolen  caused  mother  and  daugh- 
ter to  be  thrown  into  the  river 


Sacripant 


271 


Salamander 


Severn.  Milton  in  Comus  tells  how 
in  the  waters  of  the  Severn  she  was 
kindly  received  by  Nereus,  father  of 
the  water-nymphs,  and  how,  under- 
going "  a  quick  immortal  change," 
she  became  goddess  of  the  river.  He 
had  already  told  the  story  in  prose 
in  his  History  of  Britain.  The 
legend  is  also  utilized  by  Spenser  in 
The  Faerie  Queene  ii,  x,  and|  by 
Drayton  in  The  Polyolbion,  Fifth 
Song. 

There  is  a  gentle  nymph  not  far  from  hence, 
That  with  moist  curb  sways  the  smooth 

Severn  stream; 

Sabrina  is  her  name,  a  virgin  pure: 
Whilom  she  was  the  daughter  of  Locrine, 
That  had  the  sceptre  from  his  father,  Brute. 
She,  guiltless  damsel,  flying  the  mad  pursuit 
Of  her  enraged  step-dame,  Guendolen, 
Commended  her  fair  innocence  to  the  flood, 
That  stayed  her  flight  with  his  cross-flowing 

course. 
The    water-nymphs    that    in    the    bottom 

played. 

Held  up  their  pearled  wrists  and  took  her  in, 
Bearing  her  straight  to  aged  Nereus'  hall. 

MILTON:    Comus. 

Sacripant,  an  imaginary  emperor 
of  Circassia,  invented  by  Bojardo 
in  his  Orlando  Innamorato,  and 
adopted  by  Ariosto  in  the  Orlando 
Furioso.  He  is  one  of  the  Saracen 
hordes  who  join  forces  in  an  inva- 
sion of  France  and  besiege  Charle- 
magne in  his  citadel,  Paris.  In  the 
first  poem  (Canto  x)  he  had  consti- 
tuted himself  the  champion  of 
Angelica  when  she  was  besieged  in 
Albracca  and  he  followed  her  to 
Europe  when  she  disappeared.  He 
meets  her  again  in  Orlando  Furioso, 
Book  i,  but  is  unhorsed  first  by 
Bradamante  and  next  by  Rinaldo, 
and  so  loses  her  beyond  recall. 

Sacristan,  The,  the  hero,  other- 
wise unnamed,  of  a  mediaeval  myth, 
a  sort  of  complement  to  the  legend 
of  the  nun  Beatrice,  which  was  hence 
called  La  Sacristaine.  Many  vari- 
ants exist.  The  most  succinct  forms 
an  episode  in  the  romance  of  Richard 
Sans  Peur. 

The  sacristan  of  the  monastery 
of  St.  Ouen  in  Rouen  was  enticed 
into  an  assignation  with  a  beautiful 
fellow  worshipper.  On  his  way  he 
said  his  orisons  and  still  praying 


slipped  from  a  plank  bridge  into  a 
wayside  stream  and  was  drowned. 
Straightway  a  devil  and  an  angel 
claimed  his  soul.  "  He  was  on  his 
way  to  commit  a  mortal  sin,"  said 
the  devil.  "  But  he  did  not  commit 
it,"  retorted  the  angel.  The  ques- 
tion was  submitted  to  Duke  Richard, 
who  decided  that  the  soul  should  be 
replaced  in  the  body.  "  If  the  sacris- 
tan makes  a  single  step  forward,  the 
devil  may  have  him.  If  he  turns 
back  he  is  saved."  Luckily  a  ducking 
had  restored  the  monk  to  his  better 
self.  He  ever  after  ascribes  his  re- 
demption to  the  Blessed  Virgin  to 
whom  he  had  addressed  his  orisons. 
The  Golden  Legend  of  Voragine,  which 
amplifies  this  story,  claims  this  as 
one  of  the  acts  of  the  Virgin  which 
led  to  the  establishment  of  the  feast 
of  the  Immaculate  Conception. 

Saladin  or  Salah-ed-din  Yusuf 
(J  i37-93)»  sultan  of  Egypt  and  Syria, 
plays  a  great  part  in  medaeval 
legend  and  in  historical  poems  and 
romances  of  later  date.  The  crush- 
ing defeat  he  inflicted  upon  the 
Christians  at  Tiberias  led  to  the 
Third  Crusade,  in  which  his  most 
picturesque  antagonist  was  Richard 
Cceur  de  Lion  of  England,  who 
finally  vanquished  him.  He  is  the 
Sultan  Alidine  of  Tasso's  Jerusalem 
Delivered,  through  a  wilful  violation 
of  chronology.  Scott  more  legiti- 
mately introduces  him  into  his 
romances  of  the  Third  Crusade,  The 
Betrothed  and  The  Talisman,  drawing 
an  effective  contrast  between  the 
grace,  agility,  refinement  and  sub- 
tlety of  the  Arab  ruler  and  the  bull- 
dog strength,  courage  and  fortitude 
of  the  Norman  heir  to  the  English 
throne.  Dante  (Inferno,  iv,  129) 
places  Saladin  in  limbo,  with  the 
heroes  of  Troy  and  Rome. 

Salamander,  an  essentially  harm- 
less little  amphibian  of  the  newt 
family  which  has  a  curious  habit  of 
ejecting  from  its  skin  a  poisonous 
white  fluid  when  in  fear  of  attack. 
Its  moist  surface  is  so  cold  to  the 
touch  that  it  was  once  thought  to  be 
able  to  withstand  any  heat,  and  even 
subdue  and  put  out  a  fire. 


Salmoneus 


272 


Sal  us 


Further  we  are  by  Pliny  told 
This  serpent  is  extremely  cold, — 
So  cold  that  put  it  in  the  fire 
Twill  make  the  very  flames  expire. 

Pliny's  reference  to  the  animal  is 
in  Natural  History,  x,  67;  xxix,  4. 
Though  he  accepts  the  myth,  he 
confesses  that  his  own  experiments 
were  failures.  Marco  Polo  mentions 
the  belief  only  to  dismiss  it  with 
contempt.  The  true  salamander, 
he  says,  is  nothing  but  an  incalcu- 
lable substance  found  in  the  earth. 
He  mentions  a  mountain  in  Tartary 
where  a  "  vein  of  salamander  "  was 
found,  probably  the  asbestos  of  the 
ancients. 

In  the  animal  symbolism  of  the 
ancients,  the  salamander  represented 
fire,  as  the  lion  represented  earth, 
the  eagle  air,  and  the  dolphin  water. 
In  heraldry  the  salamander  figures 
as  a  small  wingless  dragon  or  lizard 
surrounded  by  and  breathing  forth 
flames. 

When  I  was  about  five  years  of  age,  my 
father  happening  to  be  in  a  little  room  in 
which  they  had  been  washing,  and  where 
there  was  a  good  fire  of  oak  burning,  looked 
into  the  flames  and  saw  a  little  animal 
resembling  a  lizard,  which  could  live  in  the 
hottest  part  of  that  element.  Instantly  per- 
ceiving what  it  was  he  called  for  my  sister 
and  me,  and  after  he  had  shown  us  the 
creature,  he  gave  me  a  box  on  the  ear.  I 
fell  a  crying,  while  he,  soothing  me  with 
caresses,  spoke  these  words:  "My  dear 
child,  I  do  not  give  you  that  blow  for  any 
fault  you  have  committed,  but  that  you 
may  recollect  that  the  little  creature  you 
see  in  the  fire  is  a  salamander;  such  a  one 
as  never  was  beheld  before  to  my  knowl- 
edge." So  saying  he  embraced  me,  and  gave 
me  some  money. — BENVENUTO  CELLINI: 
Autobiography. 

Salmoneus,  in  classic  myth,  son 
of  ^Eolus  and  brother  of  Sisyphus. 
He  arrogantly  compared  himself  to 
Jupiter,  ordered  sacrifices  to  be 
offered  to  himself,  and  rolled  through 
his  town  of  Elis  in  a  four-horsed 
chariot  carrying  a  torch  in  his  hand: 

And  waving  high   the   firebrand,  dared  to 

claim 

The  God's  own  homage  and  a  god-like  name. 
Blind  fool  and  vain!  to  think  with  brazen 

clash 
And  hollow  tramp  of  horn-hoofed  steeds  to 

frame 
The  dread  storm's  counterfeit,  the  thunder's 

crash, 


The  matchless  bolts  of  Jove,  the  inimitable 

flash. 

VIRGIL:  jEneid,  vi.  E.  FAIRFAX  TAYLOR, 
trans. 

Jove  killed  him  with  a  thunderbolt, 
destroyed  his  town,  and  hurled  him 
into  Tartarus. 

Salome.  Two  Jewish  women  of 
this  name  are  famous  in  European 
literature,  legend  and  art.  Both  are 
mentioned  by  Josephus  and  the 
writers  of  the  Gospel  narratives. 

The  first  (B.C.  60  to  A.D.  2)  was 
the  sister  of  Herod  the  Great.  To 
gratify  her  own  jealousy  she  inflamed 
that  of  Herod  against  his  wife, 
Mariamne,  and  so  secured  her  exe- 
cution and  eventually  that  of  her 
sons  (and  his),  though  one  of  them, 
Aristobulus,  had  married  Salome's 
daughter. 

The  second  Salome  (A.D.  14-72) 
was  the  daughter  of  Herodias  and 
Herod  Philip.  Herodias  divorced 
the  latter  to  marry  his  brother  Herod 
Antipater,  who  succeeded  Herod  the 
Great  in  the  government  of  Judea. 
It  was  Salome  who  danced  before 
Herod  Antipater  at  her  mother's 
instigation.  When  the  pleased  mon- 
arch told  her  to  demand  any  boon 
as  a  reward  she,  again  urged  by  her 
mother,  asked  and  obtained  the  head 
of  St.  John  on  a  charger.  Mediasval 
legend  explained  that  the  ferocity 
of  Herodias  was  partly  that  of  the 
woman  spurned,  inasmuch  as  she 
was  in  love  with  St.  John,  who 
rejected  her  advances.  Sudermann  in 
his  tragedy  John  the  Baptist  and 
Oscar  Wilde  in  Salome  make  Salome 
also  in  love  with  John,  and  Herod 
in  love  with  Salome.  In  1 868  J.  C. 
Heywood,  an  American,  had  intro- 
duced another  variation  into  the 
theme.  Salome,  in  his  drama  named 
after  her,  after  dancing  herself  into 
the  favor  of  Herod,  and  extorting 
from  him  the  gift  of  St.  John's  head, 
eventually  turns  Christian,  is  be- 
trothed to  Sextus,  a  Roman  leader, 
and  perishes  with  her  lover  at  the 
hands  of  Katiphilus,  the  Wandering 
Jew. 

Salus,     the     Roman    goddess    of 
health    and    prosperity,    eventually 


Sandman 


273 


Sangreal 


identified  with  the  Greek  Hygieia, 
daughter  of  ^sculapius.  In  B.C.  307 
a  temple  was  dedicated  to  her  on  the 
Quirinal  hill  in  Rome.  (LivY  x,  i.) 
Salus  was  represented,  like  Fortuna, 
with  a  rudder,  a  globe  at  her  feet, 
often  pouring  from  a  patera  a  liba- 
tion upon  an  altar  entwined  by  a 
serpent. 

Sandman,  in  Scandinavian  folk- 
lore, 'a  household  elf  who  flung  sand 
in  the  eyes  of  little  children  when 
they  wouldn't  go  to  bed,  and  so  put 
them  perforce  to  sleep.  Andersen 
has  a  fairy  tale  called  The  Sandman. 
One  of  the  weirdest  of  E.  T.  W. 
Hoffmann's  tales  is  entitled  Copelius 
the  Sandman.  Nathaniel,  the  hero, 
is  the  son  of  an  honest  watchmaker 
who  would  send  his  children  early  to 
bed  on  certain  evenings.  The  mother 
in  enforcing  this  observance  would 
say,  "  To  bed,  children;  the  Sandman 
is  coming!  '  The  Sandman  in  this 
case,  however,  proved  to  be  a  pre- 
tence, the  real  nocturnal  visitor  was 
Copelius,  a  Jew  lawyer  and  alchemist, 
whom  the  youthful  imagination  of 
Nathaniel  consequently  identified 
with  the  sprite. 

Sangreal  or  Sangraal  (in  English, 
Holy  Grail),  a  mystic  talisman, 
famous  in  Arthurian  romance,  con- 
cerning whose  nature  and  origin  me- 
diaeval legends  present  an  infinite 
diversity  of  opinions.  This  con- 
fusion arises  from  the  fact  that 
Christian"  and  pagan  myths  have 
been  inextricably  blended  in  the  final 
result.  Two  distinct  conceptions, 
however,  have  emerged  from  the 
chaos. 

I.  The  Grail  was  the  dish  from 
which  Christ  and  his  disciples  at  the 
Last  Supper  ate  the  Paschal  lamb. 
Wolfram  von  Eschenbach  in  Parzival 
conceived  of  it  as  hollowed  out  from 
a  precious  stone.  Every  Good  Friday 
a  dove  brought  down  from  heaven 
and  placed  in  this  dish  a  consecrated 
host  and  so  renewed  its  miraculous 
power  of  sustaining  bodily  and 
spiritual  life.  No  doubt  the  myth 
was  in  some  degree  influenced  by 
earlier  pagan  legends  of  foodgiving 
vessels,  such  as  the  classic  cornu- 

18 


copia,  or  the  magic  cauldrons  of  Celtic 
myth,  possibly  even  by  confused 
reminiscences  of  the  Kaaba  or  Black 
Stone  at  Mecca.  The  origin  of  the 
word  may  be  found  in  the  Low  Latin 
gradalus^  a  wide  and  deep  dish  wherein 
costly  viands  were  served  gradatim 
(each  in  his  due  degree)  to  guests 
of  honor. 

II.  The  Grail  was  the  communion 
cup  or  chalice  in  which  Christ  served 
the  bread  or  the  wine,  saying  "  this 
is  my  body  "  and  "  this  is  my  blood," 
a  supposition  strengthened  by  the 
singular  coincidence  of  San  Greal 
with  Sang  Real,  the  latter  meaning 
the  '  true  blood '  of  Christ.  The 
San  Greal  inevitably  came  to  mean 
the  vessel  which  contained  the  Sang 
Real. 

Whether  dish  or  cup,  early  legends 
were  in  substantial  agreement  that 
the  vessel  passed  from  the  soldiers 
who  had  arrested  Christ  into  the 
hands  of  Pontius  Pilate  and  that 
Pilate  in  turn  gave  it  to  Joseph  of 
Arimathea.  This  was  the  Joseph 
who  according  to  the  New  Testa- 
ment took  down  from  the  cross  the 
dead  body  of  Christ  and  prepared  it 
for  burial.  Legend  adds  that  he 
used  the  vessel  as  a  receptacle  for  the 
blood  flowing  from  its  wounds  and 
especially  the  wound  made  by  the 
lance  of  Longinus  (q.v.).  Cast  into 
prison  for  asserting  that  Christ  had 
risen,  Joseph  was  miraculously  sus- 
tained by  the  Greal  for  42  years, 
when  he  was  relieved  by  Vespasian, 
conqueror  of  Jerusalem.  Joseph 
brought  the  vessel  over  with  him  to 
Glastonbury  in  England,  together 
with  the  lance  of  Longinus,  and  built 
a  church  for  their  reception.  Here, 
in  the  keeping  of  his  descendants,  the 
relics  remained  for  years,  objects  of 
pilgrimage  and  adoration.  Finally 
one  of  the  guardians  violated  the 
pledge  of  purity  under  which  the 
trust  was  held.  Some  say  the  sin 
consisted  in  gazing  too  curiously 
upon  a  female  pilgrim  whose  gown 
had  become  unlaced;  others  that  he 
was  seduced  by  the  witch  Kundry. 
All  agree  that  as  a  punishment  he 
was  grievously  wounded  by  the 


Sangreal 


274 


Santa 


sacred  lance.  He  is  usually  known 
as  Amfortas,  but  sometimes  as 
Pelles  or  Peleus,  and  is  nicknamed 
the  Roi  PScheur  (Fisher  King)  or  the 
Maimed  King.  And  now  the  legends 
diverge  widely.  For  the  German 
variants,  see  PARSIFAL  and  PAR- 
ZIVAL.  In  Malory's  version,  which  is 
closely  followed  by  Tennyson,  Greal 
and  lance  both  disappear  and  sur- 
vive only  as  a  vague  tradition  of 
something  mystic  and  holy  that  had 
once  been  seen  by  men.  Then  Merlin 
sent  Arthur  a  message  by  Sir  Gawain 
that  the  fulness  of  time  for  the  re- 
covery of  the  San  Greal  had  arrived, 
as  the  knight  who  should  achieve 
the  quest  was  already  born.  On  the 
eve  of  Pentecost  the  Knights  at  the 
Round  Table  were  vouchsafed  a 
vision.  Covered  with  white  samite, 
and  borne  by  unseen  hands  the  Greal 
glided  through  the  hall  and  dis- 
appeared as  suddenly  as  it  had  come. 
Straightway  150  of  the  knights  bound 
themselves  to  seek  it.  Most,  for 
their  sins,  were  unsuccessful.  Lance- 
lot obtained  a  partial  glimpse  and 
was  stricken  down  by  its  dazzling 
light.  Three  only,  Sir  Bors,  Sir 
Perceval  and  Sir  Galahad,  achieved 
the  Quest.  These  three  saw  Joseph, 
"  the  first  bishop  of  Christendom," 
descend  from  heaven  attended  by  4 
angels,  who  bore  the  sacred  cup. 

14  And  then  the  Bishop  made  sem- 
blance as  though  he  would  have 
gone  to  the  sakring  of  the  mass, 
and  then  he  took  a  wafer,  which  was 
made  in  the  likeness  of  bread,  and 
at  the  lifting  up  there  came  a  figure 
in  the  likeness  of  a  child,  and  the 
visage  was  as  red  and  as  bright  as 
any  fire,  and  smote  himself  into  that 
bread,  so  that  they  all  saw  that  the 
bread  was  formed  of  a  fleshly  man." 

After  this,  from  the  holy  vessel 
there  appeared  to  them  a  man  that 
bore  the  signs  of  Christ's  passion, 
and  who  was  a  vision  of  the  Lord 
himself.  He  gave  them  of  the  wafer, 
and  commanded  Galahad  to  carry 
the  Greal  into  the  Holy  City  of 
Sarras.  Taking  the  vessel  and  the 
sword  with  them  Galahad  and  his 
comrades  sail  for  Babylon.  They 


heal  the  Maimed  King  by  anointing 
him  with  blood  from  the  sacred 
lance.  At  Sarras  Galahad  himself 
assumes  the  kingship.  Then,  real- 
izing that  his  time  has  come,  he  bids 
farewell  to  his  two  companions. 
"  And  then  suddenly  his  soul  de- 
parted to  Jesu  Christ,  and  a  great 
multitude  of  angels  bare  his  soul 
up  to  heaven  .  .  .  Also  the  two 
fellows  saw  come  from  heaven  an 
hand,  but  they  saw  not  the  body. 
And  then  it  came  right  to  the  vessel, 
and  took  it  and  the  spear,  and  so 
bare  it  up  to  heaven.  Sithen  was 
there  man  so  hardy  to  say  he  had 
seen  the  Sangreal." 

Santa  Claus  or  Santa  Klaus,  the 
modern  representative  of  the  Christ- 
mas season  in  the  United  States, 
England,  Germany  and  Holland, 
represented  as  a  fat,  stocky,  round- 
paunched,  rubicund  old  gentleman 
whose  jolly  face  is  encircled  by  a 
profusion  of  white  hair  and  white 
beard,  who  is  all  muffled  up  in  a  red 
cloak  trimmed  with  ermine,  who  on 
Christmas  eve  gallops  through  the 
air  in  a  sledge  drawn  by  reindeer  and, 
descending  down  the  chimneys  of  the 
houses,  stuffs  Christmas  gifts  into  the 
stockings  which  the  children  of  the 
house  in  anticipation  of  his  coming 
have  arranged  around  the  fireplace, 
or  hung  from  the  bed  posts.  In  his 
present  form  he  obviously  originated 
in  Holland,  his  very  name  being  the 
Dutch  diminutive  of  Santa  Nicolaus, 
i.e.,  Saint  Nicholas,  but  other  Teu- 
tonic or  Anglo-Saxon  nations  have 
each  added  something  to  the  develop- 
ment of  his  character,  characteristics 
and  functions.  Furthermore  what- 
ever he  may  be  now  in  his  own 
person  his  ancestry  is  classic,  mixed 
Latin  and  Greek.  He  can  be  traced 
back  through  the  St.  Nicholas  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  Calendar  to  the 
jolly  pagan  gods  who  were  the  per- 
sonifications of  good  cheer  and  often 
of  mad  riot  at  the  seasonal  celebra- 
tions of  the  winter  solstice,  the 
Silenus,  for  example,  of  the  Bac- 
chanalia or  Dionysiac  feasts  among 
both  Greeks  and  Romans, — the  Sat- 
urn of  the  Roman  Saturnalia.  This 


Sapience 


275 


Sappho 


theory  is  worked  out  at  some  length 
in  WALSH'S  Story  of  Santa  Klaus. 
Suffice  it  here  to  say  that  the  modern 
Santa  Klaus  inherits  his  gift-giving 
idiosyncrasies  partly  from  the  St. 
Nicholas  of  legend  and  partly  from 
the  Magi  of  the  New  Testament. 
His  external  characteristics  in  pic- 
torial art  are  largely  influenced  by 
the  description  in  Clement  C.  Moore's 
poem,  A  Visit  from  St.  Nicholas 
(1822): 

He  was  dressed  all  in  fur  from  his  head  to 

his  foot 
And  his  clothes  were  all  tarnished  with  ashes 

and  soot; 

A  bundle  of  toys  he  had  flung  on  his  back 
And  he  looked  like  a  pedlar  just  opening  his 

pack. 
His  eyes, — how  they  twinkled!  his  dimples 

how  merry! 
His  cheeks  were  like  roses,  his  nose  like  a 

cherry ! 
His  droll  little  mouth  was  drawn  up  like  a 

bow, 
And  the  beard  of  his  chin  was  as  white  as 

the  snow; 
The  stump  of  a  pipe  he  held  tight  in  his 

teeth, 
And  the  smoke  it  encircled  his  head  like  a 

wreath ; 

He  had  a  broad  face  and  a  little  round  belly 
That  shook,  when  he  laughed,  like  a  bowlful 

of  jelly. 
He  was  chubby  and  plump,  a  right  jolly  old 

elf, 
And  I  laughed  when  I  saw  him  in  spite  of 

myself; 

A  wink  of  his  eye  and  a  twist  of  his  head 
Soon  gave  me  to  know  I  had  nothing  to 

dread; 
He  spoke  not  a  word,  he  went  straight  to 

his  work 
And  filled   all   the  stockings;   then   turned 

with  a  jerk, 

And  laying  his  finger  aside  of  his  nose, 
And  giving  a  nod,  up  the  chimney  he  rose. 
C.  C.  MOORE:   A  Visit  from  St.  Nicholas. 

Mr.  Moore  told  his  friends  that 
this  ideal  of  St.  Nicholas  ^  had 
been  suggested  to  him  by  his  ac- 
quaintance with  a  jolly  fat  Dutch- 
man, full  of  the  reminiscences  of 
boyhood  days  in  Holland,  who  lived 
not  far  from  him  in  Chelsea,  N.  Y. 
See  also  SILENUS,  SATURN,  BEFANA, 
BABOUSHKA,  NICHOLAS,  SAINT. 

Sapience  (Wisdom),  heroine  and 
title  of  an  allegorical  drama  by  the 
nun  Hroswitha  (circa  970).  Accom- 
panied by  her  three  daughters, 
Faith,  Hope  and  Charity,  Sapience 
visits  Rome  during  the  persecution 
of  Hadrian.  They  are  detected  in 


proselytizing.  The  girls  are  tortured 
to  death,  the  mother  stands  by  en- 
couraging them  to  the  end,  when  she 
collects  and  burns  their  scattered 
remains  and  dies  in  a  burst  of  enthu- 
siastic devotion. 

Sappho,  the  greatest  lyric  genius 
of  the  antique  world,  and  the  greatest 
female  poet  of  all  time,  born  appar- 
ently at  Mitylene  in  Lesbos  about 
B.C.  630.  Little  of  her  work  survives; 
little  of  her  history  has  reached  us, 
and  that  little  is  involved  in  myth 
and  fable.  Ovid  in  Heroides,  xv,  51, 
alludes  to  her  mysterious  flight 
(about  B.C.  596)  from  her  birthplace 
to  Sicily  in  order  to  escape  some 
political  danger,  dimly  hinted  at. 
In  her  later  years  she  was  again  in 
Lesbos,  the  centre  of  a  society  of 
young  girls  who  had  a  passion  for 
poetry.  Contemporaries  bore  testi- 
mony to  her  unsullied  character,  but 
later  Attic  satirists  chose  to  put  an 
immoral  construction  on  her  society. 
Nothing  is  really  known  about  the 
date  or  manner  of  her  death,  but  an 
unfounded  legend  made  her  throw 
herself  from  the  Leucadian  rock  into 
the  sea  when  her  love  was  rejected 
by  Phaon  (q.v.). 

Six  comedies  entitled  Sappho  and 
two  entitled  Phaon  were  produced  by 
later  Athenian  comedy.  All  are  now 
lost.  A  fragment  of  an  ode  addressed 
to  her  by  Alcasus  has  survived,  like- 
wise a  fragment  of  her  answer. 
"  Violet- weaving,  pure  and  smiling 
Sappho,"  says  the  poet,  '  Fain 
would  I  tell  thee  something,  but 
shame  dissuades  me.  '  "  Hadst 
thou  desired  aught  that  was  good 
or  fair,"  answers  the  poetess,  "  shame 
would  not  have  touched  thy  lips, 
thou  wouldst  have  spoken  openly." 

The  Attic  comic  poets  of  the  already  cor- 
rupted age  of  Pericles  could  not  understand 
her,  and  did  her  memory  foul  wrong.  They 
could  not  understand  that  she  poured  forth 
the  irrepressible  emotions  of  her  heart,  as 
the  birds  in  spring  pour  forth  theirs.  For 
love  with  Sappho  was  truly  worship.  Yet 
her  name  has  been  handed  down  to  posterity 
as  the  synonym  of  guilty  and  suicidal  pas- 
sion. And  the  foul  aspersion  of  the  Lesbian 
love  spoken  of  by  Lucian  was  fabricated  to 
defame  her. — Atlantic  Monthly,  March,  1871. 
Woman's  Rights  in  Ancient  Athens. 


Sarasvati 


276 


Satan 


Sarasvati,  in  Hindoo  myth  the 
spouse  of  Brahma  and  goddess  of 
speech,  teaching  wisdom,  science  and 
holiness.  She  is  termed  the  Mother 
of  the  Vedas  because  to  her  is 
credited  the  invention  of  the  Denan- 
agri  alphabet.  She  is  pictured 
standing  besides  her  husband — a 
blonde  woman  with  four  arms,  hold- 
ing a  book  of  palm-leaves.  It  is  said 
that  she  once  angered  Brahma  by  a 
late  arrival  at  some  religious  func- 
tion, whereupon  the  god  installed 
Gayatri,  a  milkmaid,  in  her  place  as 
his  wife.  In  retaliation  Sarasvati 
invoked  upon  Brahma  a  curse  that 
he  should  be  worshipped  only  one 
day  in  the  year,  that  Vishnu  his 
future  son  should  be  born  a  mortal, 
and  Agni  be  a  devourer  of  unclean 
things,  and  that  the  goddesses  should 
prove  barren.  Gayatri,  by  yielding 
up  the  place  she  had  unwillingly 
usurped,  obtained  a  considerable 
modification  of  the  curse. 

Sarpedon,  in  classic  myth,  son 
of  Zeus  and  Europa,  and  brother  of 
Minos  and  Rhadamanthus.  Accord- 
ing to  Herodotus,  i,  173,  Zeus  granted 
him  the  privilege  of  living  three 
generations.  He  became  king  of  the 
Lycians. 

A  grandson  of  the  same  name,  son 
of  Zeus  and  Laodamia,  allied  him- 
self with  the  Trojans.  He  and  his 
cousin  Glaucus  were  the  first  on  the 
enemy's  wall  at  the  storming  of  the 
Greek  entrenchments,  but  Glaucus 
was  put  to  flight  by  Teucor's  arrows, 
and  Sarpedon  himself  was  slain  by 
Patroclus  (Iliad  v,  475;  xii,  292;  xvi, 
480).  By  command  of  Zeus,  Apollo 
rescued  the  corpse,  cleansed  it  and 
sent  it  into  Lycia  to  be  buried. 

Satan  (from  a  Hebrew  noun  mean- 
ing adversary),  one  of  the  many 
names  for  the  chief  of  the  devils, 
known  also  as  Lucifer  and  Mephis- 
topheles,  though  the  latter  name  has 
an  individuality  of  its  own,  gained 
through  the  Faust  legend.  See 
FAUST  and  MEPHISTOPHELES  in  Vol.  I. 

Moncure  D.  Conway  in  his  Demon- 
ology  (1878)  tells  of  Theodore  Parker's 
retort  to  a  Calvinist  who  had  sought 
to  convert  him:  "  The  difference 


between  us  is  simple,  your  god  is  my 
devil."  The  identification  has  a 
deeper  meaning  than  either  con- 
troversialist imagined.  Etymologic- 
ally  the  word  devil  (in  Latin  diabolus) 
is  the  same  as  the  word  deity.  Both 
are  forms  of  the  Aryan  dyaus,  the 
dawn,  the  sky.  Historically  the  con- 
ception of  a  principle  of  evil  arises, 
like  the  conception  of  a  principle  of 
good,  from  fear  or  reverence  or  wor- 
ship for  the  personified  powers  of 
nature.  Pope's  lines  crudely  yet 
vigorously  present  a  truth  which 
comparative  mythologists  of  a  later 
day  have  worked  out  with  elaborate 
ingenuity: 

Lo,  the  poor  Indian!  whose  untutored  mind 
Sees  God  in  clouds  or  hears  him  in  the  wind. 

Essay  on  Man,  i,  49. 

Primitive  men  sought  to  propitiate 
this  god  as  the  author  alike  of  light 
and  darkness,  of  woe  and  weal,  of 
good  and  evil.  Early  Aryan  myth- 
ology had  no  devil,  no  personifica- 
tion of  the  powers  of  evil  as  opposed 
to  the  powers  of  good.  Pluto  (or  Dis) 
was  gloomy,  Loki  delighted  in  mis- 
chief, but  neither  was  a  fiend.  In 
the  Old  Testament  books  produced 
before  the  Babylonish  captivity  there 
is  no  supernatural  worker  of  wrong, 
evil  in  essence,  and  arrayed  against 
a  beneficent  power  ever  working  for 
the  good.  The  serpent  who  tempted 
Eve  was,  in  Genesis,  only  "  the  most 
subtle  of  the  beasts  of,  the  field." 
Josephus  knows  no  other  character- 
ization for  him,  although  Josephus's 
chief  aim  was  to  rationalize  the 
scriptures  for  pagan  Rome.  Isaiah 
xlv,  6,  7,  says,  "  I  am  the  Lord  and 
there  is  none  else,  I  form  the  light 
and  create  darkness;  I  make  peace 
and  create  evil."  This  text  seems  to 
be  expressly  levelled  against  the  con- 
ception with  which  the  Israelites 
were  to  come  in  contact  during  the 
captivity, — that  of  Ahriman,  a  spirit 
of  evil,  opposed  to  Ormuzd,  the 
principle  of  good.  The  books  of  the 
Apocrypha  are  full  of  demons.  It  is 
in  Wisdom  ii,  24,  that  the  serpent  in 
Eden  is  first  identified  with  Satan. 

In    the    pre-exilic    book    of    Job, 


Satan 


277 


Satan 


Satan  had  been  represented  as  one 
of  the  Beni  Elshim  or  sons  of  God. 
With  them  he  came  into  the  divine 
presence  "  from  going  to  and  fro  in 
the  earth,"  but  it  would  seem  that 
he  was  specifically  entrusted  with 
the  mission  of  trying  the  faith  and 
loyalty  of  a  good  man.  He  was  a 
minister  of  the  Almighty  and  not  his 
enemy, — a  sort  of  prosecuting  at- 
torney in  the  divine  courts. 

"  From  the  captivity  to  the  time 
of  Christ  Satan's  character  loomed 
up  ever  larger  against  the  Divine 
Goodness,  until  in  the  form  in  which 
he  is  presented  in  the  system  of  our 
Lord  he  appears  as  the  relentless 
enemy  of  all  good,  as  the  rival, 
though  the  unequal  one,  of  the  Deity, 
as,  in  fine,  the  tempter  of  the  Son  of 
God.  Of  Christianity  it  is  a  cardinal 
doctrine  that  the  great  war  between 
Good  and  Evil  was  brought  to  a 
conclusion  in  the  overthrow  of  the 
latter,  when  Christ  proved  victor 
over  Death  and  the  Grave."  (West- 
minster Review,  February,  1900.) 

The  most  famous  appearances  of 
the  evil  spirit  in  modern  literature 
are  in  Dante's  Divine  Comedy  (1314- 
19)  where  he  bears  the  ancient  pagan 
name  of  Dis,  or  Pluto;  Vondel's 
Dutch  drama  Lucifer  (1654),  Milton's 
Paradise  Lost  (1667)  and  Paradise 
Regained  (1671),  where  he  is  named 
Satan;  and  Goethe's  Faust  (1775- 
1831),  where  under  the  guise  of 
Mephistopheles  he  epitomizes  one 
aspect  of  infernal  malignity  and  be- 
comes an  incarnate  sneer.  For  the 
latter  character  see  Vol.  I.  s.v. 
MEPHISTOPHELES  and  FAUST. 

Dante  (Inferno  xxxiv)  makes  Dis 
a  monster  standing  out  breast  high 
from  the  ice-bound  Lake  Cocytus 
and  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  the 
traitor  souls  who  are  frozen  up  in 
the  depths  of  pellucid  ice, — for  it  is 
treachery  which  is  specifically  pun- 
ished in  this  the  ninth  circle  of  Hell, 
presided  over  by  the  arch-traitor 
himself.  The  upper  half  of  _  his 
gigantic  form  towers  upward  into 
infernal  space.  Like  the  seraphim, 
among  whom  he  was  once  pre- 
eminent, he  has  three  pairs  of  wings, 


but  they  are  batlike  in  hue  and 
shape  and  of  enormous  size,  giving 
him  from  a  distance  the  appearance 
of  a  wind-mill  in  motion,  as  he 
blows  a  blast  of  inconceivable  sharp- 
ness upon  his  companions  in  misery. 
He  has  one  head,  but  three  faces, 
colored  respectively  yellow,  vermilion 
and  black,  thus  presenting  a  mon- 
strous parody  on  the  Trinity.  Tears 
run  down  from  his  six  eyes,  mingling 
at  his  three  chins  with  bloody  foam; 
for  at  every  mouth  he  crushes  a 
traitor  between  his  teeth: — Judas 
Iscariot,  who  betrayed  the  church  in 
the  person  of  Christ,  and  Brutus 
and  Cassius,  who  betrayed  the  em- 
pire in  the  person  of  Julius  Caesar. 
The  head  and  trunk  of  Judas  have 
disappeared  within  the  middle  mouth. 
The  heads  of  the  others  hang  out  of 
the  right  and  left  mouths. 

Even  prior  to  Dante's  time  Satan 
had  often  been  represented  as  a 
monster  with  three  heads,  each  one 
of  which  devoured  a  lost  soul.  A 
twelfth-century  statue  of  this  type 
stands  at  St.  Basile  d'Etampes  in 
France. 

Dante's  grotesque  conception  of 
Dis  has  often  been  compared  to  its 
disadvantage  with  Milton's  archangel 
ruined, — the  Satan  on  whom  Lord 
Chancellor  Thurlow  pronounced  the 
famous  verdict — "  A  damned  fine 
fellow,  and  I  hope  he  may  win."  This 
verdict  was  elicited  by  the  char- 
acteristic line 

Better  to  reign  in  Hell  than  serve  in  Heaven. 

Paradise  Lost,  i,  261. 

which  sums  up  the  indomitable 
courage  and  pride  that  are  the  chief 
characteristics  of  Milton's  fiend.  In 
the  same  Book  I,  beginning  with 
line  589,  we  have  the  following 
description  of  Satan's  appearance 
among  the  hosts  of  hell: 

He  above  the  rest 

In  shape  and  gesture  proudly  eminent, 
Stood  like  a  tower,  his  form  had  not  yet  lost 
All  her  virginal  brightness,  nor  appeared 
Less  than  archangel  ruined,  and  the  excess 
Of  glory  obscured. 

It  has  been  urged  that  the  differ- 
ence between  Milton's  and  Dante's 


Saturn 


278 


Scaramouch 


fiend  is  mainly  that  of  creed  and 
time.  Dante  can  allow  no  com- 
promise with  Hell.  There  is  one 
great  kingdom  of  truth  and  he  that 
is  not  of  it  is  against  it.  In  Milton's 
time  the  sense  of  the  awful  dignity 
of  human  nature  has  increased, — 
the  sinner  is  one  of  those  who  might 
have  been  glorious.  Even  the  arch- 
sinner  against  heaven  in  the  lower 
regions  to  which  sin  had  condemned 
him  retains  some  traces  of  his  original 
brightness. 

There  is  intrinsic  evidence  that 
Milton  had  read,  and  profited  by 
reading,  Vondel's  drama  and  had 
borrowed  and  glorified  some  traits 
of  the  eponymic  Lucifer. 

The  Latin  word  Lucifer  (Gr. 
Phosphorus),  meaning  bringer  of 
light,  was  originally  applied  to  the 
morning  star.  Isaiah  (xiv,  12)  ap- 
plies the  analogous  Hebrew  word  to 
the  glory  of  the  king  of  Babylon, 
but  the  early  fathers  attached  the 
name  to  Satan,  deeming  that  the 
passage  "  How  art  thou  fallen  from 
heaven,  O  Lucifer,  son  of  the  morn- 
ing," contained  a  reference  to  the 
Prince  of  Darkness.  Thus  Lucifer 
has  come  to  be  used  as  an  alternate 
name  for  Satan. 

Saturn  (Lat.  Saturnus,  the  sower), 
in  Roman  legend  the  first  king  of 
Latium,  later  worshipped  as  a  god 
of  seed-time  and  harvest,  and  still 
later  identified  with  the  Greek 
Cronos,  and  made  the  son  of  Ccelus 
(Heaven)  and  Terra  (Earth).  Ops, 
or  Cybele,  was  his  wife,  Picus  his 
son.  The  later  Roman  fabulists 
feigned  that  Cronos,  expelled  from 
Olympus  by  Zeus,  sailed  across  the 
sea  to  Latium,  was  welcomed  by 
Janus  and  under  the  name  of  Saturn 
was  crowned  king  on  the  hill  after- 
wards known  as  the  Capitoline.  It 
was  generally  agreed  that  the  reign 
of  Saturn  was  a  golden  age  in  Italy. 
The  Saturnalia  or  Roman  festival 
instituted  in  his  honor  was  cele- 
brated for  7  days, — December  17-23 
inclusive.  Citizens  exchanged  pres- 
ents, notably  wax  tapers  (cerei)  and 
dolls  (sigillaria)  and  hospitably  en- 
tertained one  another.  All  official 


and  social  restraints  were  temporarily 
suspended,  children  were  dispensed 
from  school,  servants  sat  down  to 
table  and  were  waited  upon  by  their 
masters,  criminal  executions  and 
declarations  of  war  were  postponed. 

Satyrs,  in  Greek  myth,  a  worthless 
and  idle  race  of  woodland  immortals, 
inseparably  connected  with  the  wor- 
ship of  Dionysus.  The  earlier  myth- 
ologists  describe  them  as  having 
pointed  ears,  two  small  horns,  and 
the  tail  of  a  goat  or  a  horse;  later 
authorities,  evidently  merging  them 
into  the  Italian  Fauni,  enlarge  the 
horns  and  add  to  the  other  char- 
acteristics the  feet  and  legs  of  goats. 
Their  life  is  spent  in  wild  hunts 
throughout  the  forests,  in  tending 
their  flocks,  in  idle  dalliance  or  volup- 
tuous dancing  with  the  nymphs,  or 
in  sheer  drunkenness  and  debauchery. 
Their  music  may  be  constantly  heard 
as  they  play  on  the  flute,  bag-pipe  or 
cymbals,  or  on  Pan's  syrinx.  They 
are  dressed  in  the  skins  of  animals, 
and  wear  wreaths  of  vine  ivy  or  fir. 
The  most  famous  of  all  the  Satyrs 
was  Silenus. 

Saunders,  Clerk,  hero  of  an  old 
Scotch  ballad  of  that  name,  first 
printed  in  Scott's  Minstrelsy  of  the 
Scottish  Border.  It  forms  No.  69  of 
Child's  Collection. 

May  Margaret's  seven  brothers 
surprise  her  abed  with  Clerk  Saunders. 
Six  are  for  sparing  him,  the  sixth  even 
advising  that  all  hands  should  steal 
softly  away  without  waking  the 
guilty  pair.  But  the  seventh  stands 
by  the  grim  tradition  of  duty  to  kin 
and  name,  and  runs  his  sword 
through  the  lover.  An  analogous 
ballad  is  Willie  and  Lady  Maisrie 
(No.  70  in  Child's  Collection),  in 
which  the  father  surprises  and  slays 
the  lover. 

Scapin,   Scappino.     See   Vol.   I. 

Scaramouch,  in  the  old  Italian 
comedy,  a  stock  character  burlesqu- 
ing the  military  don  of  Spain  and 
therefore  dressed  in  Spanish  or 
Hispano- Neapolitan  costume.  He  is 
noisy,  effervescent,  ebullient  but  a 
great  poltroon,  standing  in  servile 
awe  of  Harlequin,  who  usually  ends 


Scarle* 


279 


Schildburg 


by  giving  him  a  beating.  The  name 
has  become  a  byword  for  a  cowardly 
braggadocio. 

Scarlet,  Scadlock  or  Scathelocke, 
Will,  in  English  balladry,  one  of  the 
companions  of  Robin  Hood  in  Sher- 
wood Forest. 

Schahriah,  in  the  Arabian  Nights, 
a  sultan  of  India  for  whose  enter- 
tainment the  tales  are  told.  Dis- 
covering that  his  own  wife  and  his 
brother's  wife  have  betrayed  their 
lords,  he  strangles  both,  and  losing 
all  faith  in  female  virtue,  determines 
to  marry  a  new  wife  every  night  and 
get  rid  of  her  every  morning. 

Nevertheless,  Scheherazade,  eldest 
daughter  of  the  Vizier,  consents  to 
marry  him.  An  hour  before  day- 
break she  begins  a  story  to  her  sister, 
in  the  sultan's  hearing,  and  breaks 
off  at  the  most  interesting  point 
with  a  promise  to  conclude  next 
morning.  Thus  from  day  to  day  the 
sultan  is  beguiled  into  postponing 
his  fatal  intentions  until  after  1001 
nights  he  discovers  that  Scheherazade 
has  become  indispensable  to  him, 
and  moreover  is  convinced  that  she 
is  as  faithful  as  she  is  intelligent. 

What  a  glorious  fellow  is  Sultan  Schah- 
riah, who  promptly  has  all  his  brides  exe- 
cuted the  morning  after  his  nuptials  1  What 
a  depth  of  feeling,  what  a  terrible  chastity 
of  soul,  what  tenderness  of  matrimonial  con- 
sciousness is  revealed  in  that  naive  deed  of 
love,  which  has  been  hitherto  calumniated 
as  cruel,  barbarous,  despotic!  The  man  had 
an  antipathy  against  every  defilement  of  his 
feelings,  and  it  seemed  to  him  that  they  were 
stained  by  the  bare  thought  that  the  bride 
who  to-day  lay  on  his  mighty  heart  might 
to-morrow  be  on  that  of  another — perhaps 
of  some  common  vulgar  fellow;  therefore 
he  rather  had  her  slain  next. day! — HEINE: 
Lutetia,  xix. 

Schamir,  in  rabbinical  legend,  the 
agent  by  whose  means  Solomon 
wrought  the  stones  of  the  temple. 
The  Old  Testament  (I  Kings,  vi) 
tells  how  it  was  to  be  built  without 
sound  of  hammer  or  axe  or  any  tool 
of  iron.  Legends  explain  that  Solo- 
mon sent  out  Benaiah,  the  son  of 
Jehoida,  to  obtain  the  schamir, 
called  by  some  a  stone,  but  by  most 
a  worm  no  bigger  than  a  barleycorn, 
which  could  split  the  hardest  sub- 


stance. Benaiah  wrested  from  As- 
modeus  the  secret  that  for  schamir 
the  seeker  must  find  the  nest  of  the 
moorhen,  and  cover  it  with  a  plate 
of  glass,  so  that  the  mother  bird 
could  not  get  at  her  young  without 
breaking  the  glass.  This  she  could 
only  accomplish  by  finding  a  bit  of 
schamir. 

Scheherazade.     See  SCHAHRIAH. 

Schildburg,  a  German  city  famous, 
like    Gotham    in    England,    for    its 
pseudo  wise  men.    In  the  latter  part 
of  the  sixteenth  century  the  tradi- 
tions   and    legends    enshrining    the 
exploits  of  its  inhabitants  were  col- 
lected   together    into    a    book,    The 
History   of    the  Schildburgers,   which 
has  been  as  popular  in  Germany  as 
the  Tales  of  the  Wise  Men  of  Gotham 
was   in    England.      The   descent   of 
the  Schildburgers  is  traced  from  one 
of  the  Seven  Wise  Men  of  Greece. 
They  maintained  their  reputation  so 
consistently,  and  were  so  continually 
consulted  by  neighboring  potentates 
that  their  own  affairs  began  to  suffer 
from    neglect.      Hence    they    were 
driven  to  feign  themselves  fools  and 
even  obtained  from  their  Emperor  a 
license  to  carry  their  folly  as  far  as 
they  wished.     So   they  built  them- 
selves    a    conical    house    with     no 
windows  and  looked  all  around  it  to 
discover    why    it    was    dark:    then 
holding  a  council,  each  one  with  a 
torch     fixed     upon     his     hat,     they 
decided  to  carry  some  daylight  in. 
Boxes,  baskets  and  tubs  they  strove 
to  fill  with  sunbeams  but  could  not 
empty  them  into  the  room.    So  they 
took  off  the  roof;  a  plan  that  did  well 
enough  in  summer  but  proved  dis- 
astrous in  winter.    One  day  light  fell 
through  a  crevice  on  a  councillor's 
beard.      This    suggested    a    window. 
They  quarried  a  huge  millstone  for 
their  mill  and  carried  it  down  with 
infinite    labor.      Then    remembering 
that  it  might  more  easily  have  been 
rolled  down  they  carried  it  up  again. 
So  as  not  to  lose  it  one  of  them  got 
into  the  hole  in  the  middle.    It  rolled 
into  a  pond  and  man  and  stone  were 
lost.    Thinking  he  had  stolen  it  they 
posted  notices  for  a  man  with  a  mill- 


Sciron 


280 


Scott 


stone  round  his  neck.  Their  final 
exploit  was  to  turn  themselves  out 
of  house  and  home  and  like  the  Jews 
become  wanderers  throughout  the 
world,  so  that  there  is  no  country 
where  their  descendants  may  not  be 
found. 

Sciron,  according  to  Plutarch  in 
his  life  of  Theseus,  a  robber  infesting 
the  frontier  between  Attica  and 
Megaris  who  was  slain  by  the  hero 
in  his  youth.  Sciron  not  only  plun- 
dered wayfarers  but  took  them  to  the 
Scironian  rock,  made  them  wash 
his  feet  and  then  kicked  them  into 
the  sea,  where  an  immense  tortoise 
waited  to  devour  them. 

Scogan,  Skogan  or  Scoggin,  the 
more  or  less  apocryphal  hero  of 
Scogan' s  Jests  (1565),  a  collection  of 
humorous  anecdotes,  said  to  have 
been  "  gathered  "  by  Andrew  Borde, 
a  physician  and  a  wit  who  died  in 
1589.  His  first  name  is  usually 
given  as  Thomas,  but  he  is  an  un- 
doubted reminiscence  of  John  Scogan 
the  court  jester  of  King  Edward  IV 
in  the  later  fifteenth  century.  Ac- 
cording to  the  Jests  Scogan  was  edu- 
cated at  Oxford,  and  obtained  the 
post  of  fool  in  the  household  of  Sir 
William  Neville,  who  brought  him 
to  court,  where  after  a  period  of 
great  success  he  fell  into  disfavor. 
He  has  been  confused  by  Shakspear 
and  others  with  an  earlier  character 
John  Scogan  (1361-1407),  tutor  to 
the  sons  of  Henry  IV,  to  whom 
Chaucer  addressed  a  short  poem 
L' envoy  &  Scogan  (1393).  Hence 
Shallow  in  //  Henry  IV,  iii,  2,  says  he 
remembers  Falstaff  breaking  Sko- 
gan's  head  at  the  court-gate. 

Scott,  Michael  (1175-1234),  a  pre- 
tended necromancer  in  the  Middle 
Ages,  probably  Scotch  by  birth 
(Balwearic  is  named  as  his  natal 
village),  who  for  a  long  time  was 
attached  to  the  court  of  the  Emperor 
Frederic  II  at  Padua  as  tutor  and 
astrologer.  He  wrote  a  commentary 
on  Aristotle  and  some  puerile  trea- 
tises on  natural  philosophy,  while 
his  studies  in  alchemy,  astrology  and 
chiromancy  earned  for  him  contem- 
porary repute  as  a  wizard.  His 


magic  books  were  interred  with  him 
on  his  death,  for  they  could  not 
be  opened  without  extreme  peril 
on  account  of  the  malignant  fiends 
that  would  thereby  be  invoked.  One 
hundred  years  after  his  death  Dante 
put  him  into  hell  (Inferno,  xx,  1 16),  in 
the  circle  of  those  punished  because, 
while  living,  they  had  presumed  to 
predict  the  future.  Virgil  points  him 
out  to  Dante, 

That  other,  round  the  loins 
So  slender  of  his  shape  was  Michael  Scott, 
Practised  in  every  sleight  of  magic  wile. 

Boccaccio  in  his  Decameron,  Day 
viii,  9,  makes  two  jesters,  Bruno  and 
Buffalmaco,  play  a  sorry  practical 
joke  on  Master  Simon,  a  physician. 
Part  of  the  joke  consists  in  persuad- 
ing simple  Simon  that  Michael  Scott, 
after  paying  a  visit  to  Florence,  had 
left  behind  him  certain  disciples  who 
were  able  to  perform  one  of  his 
favorite  magic  feats,  that  of  summon- 
ing to  their  banquet  hall  guests  from 
all  quarters  of  the  globe.  No  matter 
how  distinguished  they  were,  no  mat- 
ter if  they  were  2000  leagues  away, 
they  were  bound  to  make  their  ap- 
pearance within  two  minutes.  Bruno 
gravely  enumerates  among  the  famil- 
iar guests  "  the  Lady  of  Barbicano, 
the  Queen  of  Basque,  the  wife  of  the 
Sultan,  the  Schinchimurro  of  Prester 
John,"  and  more  substantial  entities 
like  the  Queens  of  England  and  of 
France. 

N  In  certain  Macaronic  verses  (1519) 
Michael  is  represented  as  wonder- 
fully clever  in  philtres  and  sorceries 
for  winning  the  love  of  women.  He 
could  also  summon  up  devils,  ride 
on  an  enchanted  horse,  wrap  his 
small  figure  round  in  a  cloak  of 
invisibility,  sail  in  a  ship  without 
oars,  sails,  or  other  visible  motive 
power,  and  doff  his  shadow  whenever 
he  willed,  like  Peter  Schlemihl  or 
Simon  Magus. 

Michael  is  said  to  have  predicted 
that  his  patron  would  die  at  the  iron 
gates  of  Florence.  The  legend  con- 
tinues that  when  Frederick  entered 
that  city  with  impunity  (an  episode 
unknown  to  authentic  history)  the 


Scroggins 


281 


Scylla 


prophecy  was  apparently  falsified. 
Nevertheless,  being  later  in  Samnio, 
he  fell  sick  in  a  town  named  Floren- 
tinum.  '  A  bed  was  made  for  him 
in  a  chamber  beside  the  walls  of  the 
tower,  which  the  head  of  the  bed 
touched.  The  town  gate  in  the  wall 
was  built  up,  but  the  iron  posts  re- 
mained within.  The  Emperor  caused 
the  tower  to  be  examined  to  see  what 
it  was  like  inside.  It  was  told  him 
that  in  that  part  of  the  wall  where 
he  lay  there  was  a  gate  with  iron 
posts  shut  up.  Hearing  this  he  fell 
to  meditating  and  said,  '  This  is  the 
place  of  my  decease  already  foretold 
to  me.  Here  shall  I  die.  God's  will 
be  done.'  ' — Chronicles  of  F.  Fran- 
cisci  Pipini. 

A  similar  story  told  of  the  English 
Henry  IV  has  been  effectively  used 
by  Shakspear.  Henry  had  been  de- 
terred from  joining  in  the  crusades 
by  a  prophecy  that  he  would  die  in 
Jerusalem.  His  fatal  sickness  oc- 
curred at  the  shrine  of  Edward  the 
Confessor  in  Westminster  Abbey. 
He  is  carried  swooning  into  the  apart- 
ments of  the  abbot.  On  reviving 
he  asks: 

Ktng.  Doth  any  name  particular  belong 
Unto  the  lodging  where  I  first  did  swoon? 
Warwick.  'Tis  called  Jerusalem,  my  noble 

Lord. 
King.    Laud  be  to  heaven!    E'en  there  my 

life  must  end. 

It  hath  been  prophesied  to  me  many  years, 
I  should  not  die  but  in  Jerusalem; 
Which  vainly  I  supposed  the  Holy  Land:— 
But  bear  me  to  that  chamber,  there  I'll  lie; 
In  that  Jerusalem  shall  Harry  die. 

//  King  Henry  IV,  iv,  4. 

Henry  did  in  fact  die  in  the  Jeru- 
salem chamber  at  Westminster  Ab- 
bey on  March  20,  1413- 

Sir  Walter  Scott  introduces  his 
namesake  into  the  Lay  of  the  Last 
Minstrel,  ii,  v,  13: 

In  these  fair  climes  it  was  my  lot 
To  meet  the  wondrous  Michael  Scott, 
A  wizard  of  such  dreaded  fame 
That  when,  in  Salamanca's  cave, 
Him  listed  his  magic  wand  to  wave 
The  bells  would  ring  in  Notre  Dame. 

Scroggins,  Giles,  the  peasant  hero 
of  a  comic  English  ballad  of  uncer- 
tain date.  He  courted  Molly  Bawn, 


but  died  before  the  date  set  for  the 
wedding.  Weeping  herself  to  sleep 
she  dreams  that  Giles's  ghost  ap- 
pears to  claim  her  and  awakes  just 
as  he  is  carrying  her  off  to  the  grav 
The  whole  is  a  popular  burlesque 
upon  mediaeval  tales  of  terror  such 
as  Sweet  William.  See  WILLIAM, 
SWEET. 

Scylla,  daughter  of  Nisus,  king  of 
Megara.  In  order  to  gain  the  love 
of  Minos  she  cut  off  her  father's 
purple  hair  on  which  the  safety  of 
his  kingdom  depended;  whereupon 
Nisus  was  changed  into  a  sparrow 
hawk  and  Scylla  into  the  bird  Ciris. 
OVID:  Metamorphoses,  viii,  9. 

Scylla  and  Charybdis,  names  given 
in  classic  myth  to  two  rocks  in  the 
Mediterranean  straits  between  Italy 
and  Sicily.  The  first,  nearest  to 
Italy,  was  hollowed  out  into  a  cave 
where  dwelt  Scylla,  a  fearful  12- 
footed  monster  who  barked  like  a 
dog  with  her  six  heads  perched  upon 
six  long  necks.  On  the  Sicilian  rock 
grew  a  great  fig  tree  beneath  which 
dwelt  Charybdis.  Thrice  every  day 
she  swallowed  down  the  waters  of 
the  sea  and  thrice  a  day  cast  them 
up  again.  (Odyssey,  xi,  85.)  Ovid 
dowers  Scylla  with  100  barking 
mouths.  According  to  his  story 
(Metamorphoses,  xxiii)  she  was  orig- 
inally a  beautiful  maiden  with  whom 
Glaucus  (q.v.)  fell  in  love  after  his 
metamorphosis  into  a  sea  god.  Scyll.i 
turned  a  deaf  ear  to  his  wooing,  ami 
Glaucus  appealed  to  Circe.  The 
latter  would  fain  have  won  him  for 
herself,  but  when  he  professed  undy- 
ing love  for  Scylla  alone  she  poisoned 
the  waters  in  which  her  rival  l>;ithe •!. 
Scylla,  according  to  her  custom, 
plunged  waist  high  into  the  sea.  A 
brood  of  serpents  and  barking  mon- 
sters instantly'  surrounded  her.  She 
tried  in  vain  to  shake  them  off,  they 
had  become  a  portion  of  herself; 
remained  rooted  to  the  spot,  ami 
embittered  by  misfortune  found  her 
only  pleasure  in  devouring  such  hap- 
less mariners  as  came  within  ' 
grasp.  After  destroying  six  of  the 
companions  of  Ulysses  and  making 
a  vain  effort  to  wreck  the  ships  of 


Semele 


282 


Setebos 


/Eneas  she  was  changed  into  a  rock 
which  became  the  terror  of  mariners. 

Semele,  in  classic  myth,  daughter 
of  Cadmus  and  paramour  of  Zeus. 
The  jealous  Hera,  appearing  in  the 
form  of  her  nurse  Berqe,  persuaded 
her  to  ask  Zeus  to  visit  her  in  the 
same  glory  that  characterized  his 
appearances  to  his  consort.  Zeus 
reluctantly  complied,  appeared  as 
the  god  of  thunder,  and  Semele  was 
consumed  in  the  flames.  Zeus  saved 
her  son  Bacchus,  with  whom  she  was 
pregnant,  sewed  him  up  in  his  thigh 
and  thus  preserved  him  until  the 
right  parturitive  period  had  arrived. 

Semiramis,  a  mythical  queen  of 
Assyria,  who  owes  her  fame,  if  not 
her  being,  to  Greek  legends  that  find 
no  confirmation  in  the  cuneiform 
monuments.  According  to  the  Greeks 
she  was  a  daughter  of  the  Syrian 
goddess  Derketo,  by  a  Syrian  swain. 
Ashamed  of  so  humble  an  amour 
Derketo  abandoned  its  issue  after 
slaying  the  father,  but  the  babe  was 
miraculously  fed  by  doves  until  she 
was  found  by  shepherds.  Her  first 
husband  was  Onnes.  At  the  siege 
of  Bactra  her  beauty  and  bravery 
won  the  love  of  Ninus,  king  of 
Nineveh,  who  married  her,  where- 
upon Onnes  slew  himself.  By  some 
authorities  she  is  said  to  have  killed 
Ninus.  At  all  events  he  died  and 
she  assumed  the  sole  government  of 
Assyria;  built  the  city  of  Babylon 
with  its  hanging  gardens,  as  well  as 
the  temple  of  Bel,  a  tomb  \for  her 
husband  and  the  bridge  over  the 
Euphrates;  conquered  Egypt,  Ethio- 
pia and  Libya,  but  was  unsuccessful 
in  an  expedition  against  India.  After 
a  reign  of  forty-two  years  she  re- 
signed the  throne  to  her  son,  Ninyas, 
and  flew  up  to  heaven  in  the  form  of 
a  dove.  Some  of  her  exploits  are 
identical  with  those  recorded  of  the 
goddess  Ishtar  in  the  so-called  Nim- 
rod  epic.  She  is  the  heroine  of 
Calderon's  drama  The  Daughter  of 
the  Air,  whose  plot  runs  as  follows: 

Semiramis,  a  young  woman  of 
unknown  parentage,  is  sought  in 
marriage  by  Menon,  who,  jilted  by 
her  for  King  Ninus,  loses  not  only 


the  king's  favor,  but  his  eyesight  and 
at  last  his  life.  Just  before  Menon's 
death  a  power  greater  than  himself 
compels  him  to  prophesy  to  Ninus 
the  death  which  awaits  him  from 
the  "  gilded  mischief  seated  at  his 
side."  There  is  a  supposed  lapse  of 
many  years  before  the  curtain  rises 
again.  Semiramis  is  now  a  widow, 
and  a  mighty  queen,  dwelling  in  the 
palace  of  Babylon.  Bending  to 
popular  clamor  she  feigns  to  abdicate 
in  favor  of  her  son  Nimias,  then 
throws  him  into  prison  and,  taking 
advantage  of  an  extraordinary  resem- 
blance in  form  and  feature,  passes 
herself  off  as  her  own  son.  But  Fortune 
which  had  favored  the  undisguised 
woman,  turns  against  the  pseudo 
man.  She  is  killed  in  battle. 

Dante  puts  Semiramis  in  the  first 
place  of  torment  in  hell, — the  habi- 
tation of  carnal  sinners.  She  is 
whirled  towards  Dante  in  a  sort  of 
cyclone  and  Virgil  explains: 

She  in  vice 

Of  luxury  was  so  shameless  that  she  made 
Liking  be  lawful  by  promulged  decree 
To  clear  the  blame  she  had  herself  incurred. 
Inferno,  v,  53.     GARY,  trans. 

Serapis,  an  Egyptian  divinity,  who 
was  only  another  form  of  Osiris  in 
his  character  of  god  of  the  lower 
world.  His  corresponding  incarna- 
tion as  god  of  the  upper  world  was 
the  bull  Apis.  The  worship  of  Sera- 
pis  was  first  independently  developed 
in  the  time  of  the  Ptolemies  in  Alex- 
andria, the  most  beautiful  ornament 
of  which  was  the  Serapion,  or  Temple 
of  Serapis. 

Set,  Sit  or  Sati,  an  Egyptian  god, 
identified  by  the  Greeks  with  Typhon, 
by  the  Syrians  with  Baal.  He  was 
the  brother  of  Osiris,  whom  he  treach- 
erously slew.  Originally  worshipped 
as  a  sun-god  he  was  eventually  de- 
posed by  Horus  and  was  thenceforth 
associated  with  darkness  and  evil. 
Such  was  the  abhorrence  eventually 
evoked  by  his  name  that  it  was  erased 
from  the  monuments. 

Setebos,  mentioned  by  Shak- 
spear  in  The  Tempest,  i,  2,  as  the  god 
worshipped  by  Caliban's  dam,  Sy- 
corax.  According  to  Eden's  History 


Seven 


283 


Seven 


of  Travaile  1577  he  was  a  Patagonian 
deity  or  devil.  Describing  Magel- 
lan's voyage  to  the  South  Pole  Eden 
tells  how  some  of  the  natives  of 
Patagonia  were  captured  and  "  when 
they  felt  the  shackles  fast  about  their 
legs,  they  roared  like  bulls,  and  cryd 
upon  their  great  devil  Setebos  to 
help  them.  They  say  that  when 
any  of  them  dye  there  appear  x  or 
xii  devils  leaping  and  dauncing  about 
the  bodie  of  the  dead  and  seem  to 
have  their  bodyes  painted  with 
divers  colors,  and  that  among  others 
there  is  one  seene  bigger  than  the 
residue  who  maketh  great  mirth  and 
rejoicing.  This  great  devil  they  call 
Setebos."  In  the  poem  Caliban 
upon  Setebos  Browning  analyzes  Cali- 
ban's attitude  towards  his  deity. 

Seven  against  Thebes,  the  heroes 
of  ^Eschylus's  drama  of  that  name 
(B.C.  480),  celebrating  the  siege  of 
Thebes  in  Bceotia  by  an  expedition 
raised  by  Adrastus  and  six  other 
Grecian  heroes  for  the  purpose  of 
restoring  Polynices  to  the  throne  of 
his  father  (Edipus.  Polynices,  Ty- 
dius,  Amphiaraus,  Capaneus,  Hip- 
pomedon  and  Parthenopaeus  consti- 
tuted with  Adrastus  the  titular 
Seven.  Amphiaraus,  prophet-hero 
of  Argos,  predicted  that  the  expedi- 
tion would  fail  and  that  Adrastus 
alone  would  survive.  His  words 
came  true.  But  ten  years  later, 
Adrastus  raised  a  new  expedition 
among  the  Epigoni  or  "  descendants  ' 
of  the  original  seven,  and  the  oracle 
of  Amphiaraus,  established  at  the 
scene  of  his  death  between  Potniae 
and  Thebes,  now  promised  a  success 
that  was  duly  realized. 

Seven  Golden  Cities,  Island  of  the. 
According  to  a  fifteenth  century 
legend  seven  bishops  and  their  fol- 
lowers, fleeing  from  Spain  and  Portu- 
gal when  those  countries  were  over- 
run by  the  Moors  in  the  eighth 
century,  crossed  the  ocean  to  the 
unknown  west  and  landed  upon  an 
island  of  mysterious  beauty  where 
the  very  sands  on  the  shore  were 
from  a  third  to  a  half  gold.  They 
founded  seven  cities  here,  each 
resplendent  with  temples,  towers  and 


palaces.     At   various   intervals   sea- 
faring men,  landing  on  this  island, 
had    been    detained    there    for    life-, 
the    descendants    of     the    founders 
dreading  a  Moslem  invasion  of  their 
asylum.     At  length  in  the  fifteenth 
century  a  noble  cavalier,  Don  Fer- 
nando de  Alma,  sailing  under  a  com- 
mission   from     Don    Joacos    II    of 
Portugal,  was  driven  by  a  storm  to 
the  mouth  of  a  river  on  whose  banks 
could  be  seen  a  noble  city  with  castle 
and    towers.      A    stately    barge    ap- 
proached   Don    Fernando's    caravel, 
bearing  a  richly  clad  stranger  over 
whose   head    floated    the   banner   of 
the  cross.    The  stranger  invited  Don 
Fernando    ashore,    assuring    him    he 
would  be  acknowledged  as  Adalan- 
tado    of    the    Seven    Cities    of    the 
Island.      Fernando   leaped   into    the 
barge    and    was    carried    to    land. 
Everything   bore   the   stamp  of  by- 
past  ages;  the  island  had  been  dis- 
severed from  the  rest  of  the  world 
for    centuries.      After    visiting    the 
palace   and   the   rulers  of   the   city, 
partaking  of  a  banquet,  and  making 
love    to   a   beauteous   maiden,    Fer- 
nando, next  morning,  re-entered  the 
barge  to  return  to  his  vessel.     The 
barge  put  out,  but  no  caravel  was  to 
be  seen.     As  the  oarsmen  rowed  in 
search  of  it  they  sang  a  lullaby  whose 
drowsy    influence     crept    over     the 
cavalier.    Coming  to  himself  he  foun'd 
that   he   was   aboard    a    Portuguese 
ship  bound  for  Lisbon,  having  been 
picked  up,  he  was  told,  from  a  wreck 
drifting  on   the  ocean.     On  landing 
in  his  native  city  he  found  all  mar- 
vellously changed.     A  strange  porU-r 
opened  to  him  the  door  of  his  ances- 
tral   mansion.      He    hurried    to    the 
house   of  his  betrothed   and   found, 
not  her,  but  her  great-granddaughter, 
a  speaking  likeness,  whom  he  could 
scarce  be  brought  to  believe  was  not 
his  Serafina.    He  had  spent,  not  one 
night,  but  a  whole  century  on  the 
magic  isle.     The  story  has  been  told 
by     Washington     Irving,     and     by 
Baring-Gould   in  his    Curious  Myths 
of  the  Middle  Ages.    The  latter  holds 
that    "The    Island    of    the    Seven 
Cities  is  unquestionably  the  land  of 


Seven 


284 


Seven 


the  departed  spirits  of  the  ancient 
Celtiberians.  The  properties  of  the 
old  belief  remain — the  barge  to  con- 
duct the  spirit  to  the  shore,  the  gor- 
geous scenery,  and  the  splendid 
castle.  But  the  significance  of  the 
myth  has  been  lost,  and  the  story 
of  a  Spanish  colony  having  taken 
refuge  in  the  far  western  sea  has  been 
invented  to  account  for  the  Don 
meeting  with  those  of  his  race  on  the 
phantom  isle." 

It  is  said  that  the  legend  of  the 
island  was  one  of  the  elements  that 
conspired  to  suggest  to  Columbus 
that  there  might  be  land  in  the  West. 
It  belongs  to  the  same  group  as  the 
legends  relating  to  the  Isle  of  St. 
Brandon  and  to  Plato's  Atlantis. 

Seven  Sleepers,  an  ancient  legend 
of  Eastern  origin  which  was  first  put 
into  writing  by  Jacobus  Sarugiensis, 
a  Mesopotamian  bishop  of  the  fifth 
or  sixth  century,  and  was  intro- 
duced by  Gregory  of  Tours  into 
Europe  in  his  De  Gloria  Martyrum. 
Mahomet  adopted  it  into  the  Koran 
(Chap,  xviii,  The  Cave  Revealed  at 
Mecca)  and  it  has  been  the  founda- 
tion of  dramas,  poems  and  romances 
in  many  languages. 

As  told  by  Jacques  de  Voragine  in 
the  Legenda  Aurea  or  Golden  Legend 
the  story  runs  as  follows:  The  Em- 
peror Decius  coming  to  Ephesus 
ordered  temples  to  be  built  there  and 
all  the  inhabitants  to  sacrifice  before 
him.  Christians  who  refused  to 
join  in  the  worship  of  the  gods  were 
to  be  put  to  death.  Seven  noble 
youths  named  Maximian,  Malchus, 
Martinian  (or  Marcian),  Dionysius 
(or  Denis),  John  Serapion  and 
Constantine,  being  Christians,  re- 
fused to  sacrifice,  but  remained  at 
home  fasting  and  praying.  They 
were  brought  before  Decius,  and 
confessed  their  faith.  Given  a  little 
time  for  reflection  they  employed  it 
in  distributing  their  goods  among 
the  poor;  then  they  retired  to  Mount 
Celion.  Malchus,  disguised  as  a 
physician,  went  back  to  Ephesus  for 
food,  and  learned  that  Decius  had 
ordered  search  to  be  made  for  them; 
he  returned  to  his  companions  as- 


sembled in  a  cavern,  and  bade  them 
prepare  for  death,  but  suddenly 
'  by  the  will  of  God  they  fell  asleep." 
Decius  sought  for  them  in  vain; 
thinking  they  might  be  in  the  cavern, 
he  blocked  up  the  mouth  with  stones, 
that  they  might  perish  with  hunger. 
After  three  hundred  and  sixty  years, 
in  the  thirtieth  year  of  the  reign  of 
Theodosius,  a  heresy  broke  out 
which  denied  the  resurrection  of  the 
dead.  An  Ephesian,  building  a  stable 
on  the  side  of  Mount  Celion,  took 
away  the  stones  from  the  mouth  of 
the  cave;  the  sleepers  awoke,  think- 
ing they  had  slept  but  a  single  night, 
and  resumed  their  conversation 
where  it  was  broken  off.  Malchus 
went  again  to  the  town  for  bread, 
and  was  amazed  to  hear  the  name  of 
Christ  frequently  spoken,  and  to  see 
crosses  over  all  the  gates.  His 
offering  a  coin  of  the  reign  of  Decius 
excited  suspicion,  and  he  was  brought 
before  the  governor  and  the  bishop, 
who  examined  him,  and  were  as 
perplexed  as  he  at  his  replies.  He 
conducted  them  to  the  cave,  fol- 
lowed by  a  great  crowd,  and  there 
sat  his  six  companions  with  faces 
"  fresh  and  blooming  as  roses."  All 
recognized  a  miracle  and  glorified 
God;  Theodosius  was  summoned, 
and  embraced  the  saints,  who  testi- 
fied that  they  had  been  resuscitated 
that  men  might  believe  in  the  resur- 
rection. They  then  bowed  their 
heads  and  died.  The  Emperor 
ordered  golden  reliquaries  made  for 
them,  but  they  appeared  to  him  in  a 
dream,  saying  that  hitherto  they 
had  slept  in  the  earth,  and  there 
they  wished  still  to  sleep. 

Gregory  of  Tours  gives  the  dura- 
tion of  the  sleep  as  230  years. 

The  names  of  the  sleepers  are  not 
given  in  the  Koran;  they  prophesy 
the  coming  of  Mahomet  on  their 
awakening  from  a  sleep  of  "  three 
hundred  years  and  nine  years  over." 
They  had  with  them  a  dog  named 
Kratimir,  Kratim,  or  Katmir;  he 
also  is  endowed  with  the  gift  of 
prophecy,  and  is  one  of  the  ten 
animals  to  be  admitted  into  Paradise. 
The  truth  of  the  legend  seems  to  be 


Shacabac 


285 


Shipton 


that  in  the  Decian  persecution  of 
250  A.D.,  three  or  seven  young  men 
suffered  martyrdom,  and  "  fell  asleep 
in  the  Lord  ";  were  buried  in  a  cave 
on  Mount  Celion;  that  their  bodies 
were  discovered  by  Theodosius,  and 
consecrated  as  holy  relics. 

In  spite  of  their  request  to  be  left 
in  the  earth,  Theodosius  sent  their 
remains  in  a  large  stone  coffin  to 
Marseilles,  which  is  still  shown  in 
St.  Victor's  Church. 

Shacabac,  i.e.,  "  the  harelipped  ' 
in  the  Arabian  Nights  tale  The 
Barber's  Sixth  Brother.  A  man  re- 
duced almost  to  starvation  who  was 
invited  by  the  rich  barmecide  to  an 
imaginary  feast.  See  BARMECIDE. 

She-Wolf  of  France.  This  ex- 
pression is  used  by  Shakspear,  who 
makes  Richard  Plantagenet,  Duke 
of  York,  thus  address  Margaret, 
Queen  of  Henry  VI: 

She  wolf  of  France,  but  worse  than  wolves 

of  France, 
Whose  tongue  more  poisons  than  the  adder's 

tooth! 

How  ill-beseeming  is  it  in  thy  sex 
To  triumph  like  an  Amazonian  trull, 
Upon  their  woes  whom  fortune  captivates. 

///  Henry  VI,  i,  4- 

Thomas  Gray  in  his  ode  The  Bard 
adopts  the  phrase  and  applies  it  to 
Isabel  of  France,  the  adulterous 
Queen  of  Edward  II, 

She  wolf  of  France,  with  unrelenting  fangs 

That  tearst  the  body  of  thy  mangled  mate. 

From  thee  be  born,  who  o'er  thy  country 

hangs 
The    scourge    of    heaven.      What    terrors 

round  him  wait! 

Amazement  in  his  van  with  flight  combined. 
And    sorrow's    faded    form    and    solitude 
behind. 

Latin  writers  anticipated  Shak- 
spear. Thus  Apuleius  describes  the 
sisters  of  Psyche  as  "  Perfidy  lupulac 
nef arias  insidius  comparant." 

Shipton,  Mother,  a  real  character, 
born  in  1448,  who  earned  some  local 
reputation  as  a  female  astrologer  in 
Clifton,  Yorkshire.     After  her  death 
numerous     legends     and     traditions 
crystallized  about  her  memory, 
was  asserted  that  she  was  the  oil 
spring   of  an  unhallowed  union  be- 
tween   her    mother    and    the    devil. 


Prodigies  attended  her  from  infancy. 
Her  cradle,  for  example,  was  found 
suspended  in  the  chimney  without 
any  visible  means  of  support,  and 
before  she  had  been  taught  her  alpha- 
bet she  read  books  at  sight.  When 
she  died,  the  following  epitaph  was 
placed  on  her  monument: 

Here  lyes  she  who  never  ly'd, 
Whose  skill  often  has  been  try'd. 
Her  Prophecies  shall  survive. 
And  ever  keep  her  name  alive. 

Nevertheless,  Mother  Shipton  and 
her  prophecies  had  been  forgotten 
when,  in  1641,  the  astrologer,  William 
Lily,  revived  her  fame  by  publishing 
anonymously  a  transparent  forgery, 
entitled  "  The  Propheceyes  of  Mother 
Shipton.  In  the  reign  of  King  Henry 
the  Eighth.  Foretelling  the  death 
of  Cardinall  Wolsey,  the  Lord  Percy 
and  others,  as  also  what  should 
happen  in  insuing  times.  London. 
Printed  for  Richard  Lowndes  at  his 
shop  adjoying  the  Ludgatc,  1641." 

A  more  famous  forgery  was  that 
issued  in  1862  by  Charles  J.  Hindley, 
an  American  newspaperman,  resident 
in  London,  and  engaged  in  editing  a 
lot  of  old  pamphlets  and  chap-books. 
There  fell  into  his  hands  Lily's  for- 
gery. He  conceived  the  idea  of 
republishing  this  with  the  addition 
of  certain  fabrications  of  his  own. 
Most  notable  in  these  additions  were 
the  following  lines. 

Carriages  without  horses  shall  go. 
And  accidents  fill  the  world  with  woe. 
Around  the  world  thoughts  shall  fly 
In  the  twinkling  of  an  eye. 
The  world  upside  down  shall  In-. 
And  gold  be  found  at  the  root  of  a  tree. 
Through  hills  man  shall  ride 
And  no  horse  be  at  his  side. 
Under  water  man  shall  walk. 
Shall  ride,  shall  slrvp.  shall  talk. 
In  the  air  men  shall  f>r  s«-rn 
In  white,  in  blark,  in 
Iron  in  the  water  shall  rloat 
As  easily  as  a  wooden  boat. 
Gold  shall  be  I'm:: id  and  shown 
In  a  land  that's  now  not  kno. 
Fire  and  water  shall  wonders  do. 
England  shall  admit  a  foe. 
The  world  to  an  end  shall  co- 
in eighteen  hundred  and  eighty-one. 

These   verses   were   widely   crx 
and  commented  upon  and  gave  rise 


Sibille 


286 


Siege 


to  a  good  deal  of  controversy.  It 
was  pointed  out  by  the  sceptical 
that  as  Mother  Shipton's  death  took 
place  in  1561,  she  must  have  been 
very  old  when  she  died  and  very 
young  when  she  took  to  prophecy. 
No  signs  of  the  pretended  text 
could  be  found  at  the  British  Museum, 
and  finally  it  was  announced  that 
Mr.  Hindley  had  confessed  the  hoax. 
But  in  spite  of  this  confession  the 
advent  of  the  year  1881  was  looked 
forward  to  with  much  alarm  by  the 
superstitious  in  both  England  and 
America. 

Sibille,  in  the  mediasval  romance 
Perceforest,  daughter  of  the  magi- 
cian Darnant.  When  Alexander  the 
Great  starts  out  in  quest  of  Perce- 
forest, who  has  made  his  way  alone 
into  the  enchanted  forest  of  Darnant, 
Sabille  encounters  him  and  delays 
him  by  yielding  herself  to  his  em- 
braces. From  this  amour  with  the 
original  Lady  of  the  Lake  sprang  the 
ancestor  of  King  Arthur. 

Sibyl  (Lat.  Sibylla,  from  a  Greek 
compound  meaning  "  the  will  of 
God  "),  in  classic  myth,  a  seer;  a 
prophetess,  one  of  a  group  of  women 
who  at  various  periods  claimed  or 
were  believed  to  be  inspired  by  the 
gods.  Under  the  influence  of  frenzied 
enthusiasm  they  poured  forth  so- 
called  prophecies  which  were  rever- 
enced even  by  the  early  Christians. 
They  were  described  sometimes  as 
priestesses  of  Apollo,  sometimes  as 
his  favorite  wives  or  daughters. 
Neither  Homer  nor  Herodotus  men- 
tions them.  The  earliest  known 
reference  is  in  Heraclitus,  about 

B.C.  5OO. 

Plato  speaks  of  only  one  Sibyl. 
By  the  time  of  Lactantius  they  had 
increased  to  ten.  Among  the  Ro- 
mans their  number  varies.  The  most 
famous  of  all  the  Sibyls  is  the  Eury- 
thean  Herophile,  generally  identified 
with  ,the  Curricean,  whom  ^Eneas 
consulted  before  his  descent  into 
hades  (^Eneid  vi,  10). 

It  was  the  Cumasan  Sibyl  who 
offered  to  Tarquinus  Superbus  nine 
books  of  prophecies  which  he  de- 
clined because  of  their  extortionate 


price.  After  destroying  six  she  ulti- 
mately sold  him  the  remaining  three 
at  the  price  she  had  demanded  for 
nine  (DIONYSUS  HALICARNASSUS,  iv, 
62).  She  is  said  to  have  lived  for 
many  generations  at  Curnas  in  the 
crypts  beneath  the  temple  of  Apollo, 
where  ^Eneas  had  consulted  her. 

It  is  generally  agreed  that  the 
Sibylline  books  were  destroyed  at  the 
burning  of  the  capitol,  B.C.  83,  but 
collections  more  or  less  spurious  were 
subsequently  made.  These  in  the 
time  of  Augustus,  B.C.  12,  were 
placed  for  safe  keeping  in  the  temple 
of  Apollo  on  the  Palatine.  Here  they 
remained  until  A.D.  405,  when  they 
were  burnt  by  Stilicho  or  by  the 
Emperor  Honorius  himself. 

The  early  fathers  of  the  church, 
from  Justin  Martyr  to  St.  Augustine, 
speak  respectfully  of  the  Sibylline 
prophecies,  St.  Augustine  employ- 
ing them  to  enforce  the  truth  of 
Christianity.  The  Emperor  Con- 
stantine  in  his  harangue  before  the 
Nicene  Council  (A.D.  323)  quoted 
them  as  redounding  to  the  honor  of 
Christianity,  though  he  conceded  that 
many  doubted  whether  the  Sibyls 
were  really  their  authors.  They  are 
also  referred  to  in  the  Dies  Ires: 

That  day  of  wrath,  that  dreadful  day. 
When  heaven  and  earth  shall  pass  away. 
As  David  and  the  Sibyls  say. 

A  collection  of  Sibylline  oracles 
have  come  down  to  our  time  which 
the  vulgar  frequently  confound  with 
the  Sibylline  books.  They  contain 
a  medley  of  pretended  prophecies, 
composed  partly  by  Alexandrian 
Jews,  partly  by  Christians,  between 
the  second  and  fifth  centuries  of  our 
era.  Characters  from  the  Old  Testa- 
ment and  the  New  alike  figure  among 
them.  They  undoubtedly  helped  to 
increase  the  popular  repute  of  the 
Sibyls  during  the  Middle  Ages.  See 
Edinburgh  Review,  July,  1877. 

Siege  Perilous,  in  Arthurian  ro- 
mance, a  seat  which  was  ever  left 
vacant  at  King  Arthur's  Round 
Table  until  the  arrival  of  a  knight, 
pure  in  deed  and  pure  at  heart,  who 
should  achieve  the  quest  of  the  San 


Siegfried 


287 


Signy 


Greal.     None  other  might  sit  there 
without  grievous  peril. 

In  our  great  hall  there  stood  a  vacant  chair, 
Fashion'd  by  Merlin  ere  he  past  away, 
And  carven  with  strange  figures;  and  in  and 

out 

The  figures,  like  a  serpent,  ran  a  scroll 
Of  letters  in  a  tongue  no  man  could  read. 
And  Merlin  call'd  it  "The  Siege  perilous," 
Perilous  for  good  and  ill;  "for  there,"  he  said, 
"No  man  could  sit  but  he  should  lose  him- 
self." 

TENNYSON:    The  Holy  Grail. 

Once  Merlin  himself  forgot  his  own 
injunction: 

And  once  by  misadventure  Merlin  sat 
In  his  own  chair,  and  so  was  lost. 

Ibid. 

On  another  occasion  a  haughty 
Saracen  knight  rashly  ventured  to 
place  himself  in  the  seat,  when  the 
earth  opened  and  swallowed  him  up. 

At  last  Galahad  appeared  at  King 
Arthur's  court.  A  holy  hermit 
stepped  forward  and  led  the  young 
knight  to  the  Siege  Perilous;  and  he 
lifted  up  the  cloth,  and  found  there 
letters  that  said,  '  This  is  the  seat 
of  Sir  Galahad,  the  good  knight"; 
and  he  made  him  sit  in  that  seat. 
And  all  the  knights  of  the  Round 
Table  marvelled  greatly  at  Sir 
Galahad,  seeing  him  sit  securely  in 
that  seat,  and  said,  "  This  is  he  by 
whom  the  Sangreal  shall  be  achieved, 
for  there  never  sat  one  before  in  that 
seat  without  being  mischieved." 

Siegfried,  hero  of  Part  i  of  an 
anonymous  German  epic,  The  Nibe- 
lungen  Lied  or  Lay  of  the  Nibelungs 
(1210). 

Young,  strong  and  beautiful  he  had 
but  one  vulnerable  spot  (between  his 
shoulders),  where  a  leaf  had  settled 
when  he  bathed  in  the  blood  of  a 
dragon  he  had  slain.  He  possessed 
a  cloak  of  invisibility,  given  him  by 
the  dwarf  Alberich,  and  a  sword 
called  Balmung,  forged  for  him  by 
Wieland  the  smith.  When  he  became 
king  of  the  Nibelungs  he  went  to 
Worms  to  sue  for  the  hand  of  the 
beautiful  Kriemhild,  sister  to  Gun- 
ther,  king  of  Burgundy.  He  assisted 
Gunther  in  his  suit  for  Brunhild, 
queen  of  Issland.  Being  invisible, 
he  performed  all  the  feats  for  which 
Gunther  received  credit.  As  his 


reward  he  himself  won  Kriemhild. 
After  a  time  bride  and  groom  visited 
the  court  of  Gunther.  The  two 
queens  fell  to  comparing  the  respec- 
tive merits  of  their  spouses.  Then 
it  was  that  Kriemhild  revealed  what 
part  _  her  husband  had  played  in 
winning  Brunhild  for  her  brother. 
Brunhild  in  a  rage  set  Hagen  to  mur- 
der Siegfried.  That  subtle  schemer 
learns  from  Kriemhild  the  secret 
of  Siegfried's  vulnerability,  and  as 
the  hero  stoops  over  to  drink  at  a 
spring  stabs  him  between  the  shoul- 
ders. Kriemhild  broods  wrathfully 
over  her  sorrows  for  many  years  and 
finally,  when  she  has  become  the  wife 
of  Atli,  prepares  a  terrible  revenge 
that  overwhelms  all  the  Nibelungs 
in  a  common  slaughter.  See  SIGURD. 
Sigismonda,  heroine  of  Dryden's 
narrative  poem  Sigismonda  and  Guis- 
cardo,  one  of  his  Tales  from  Boccac- 
cio (1700).  It  versifies  the  story  told 
in  the  Decameron,  iv,  I,  with  little 
change  save  in  the  name  of  the  hero- 
ine, called  Ghismonda  (q.v.)  in  the 
original.  Dryden's  moral  runs  as 
follows: 

Thus  she  for  disobedience  justly  died; 
The  Sire  was  justly  punished  for  his  pride: 
The    youth,    least    guilty,    suffered    for    th' 

offense 

Of  duty  violated  to  his  prince; 
Who  late  repenting  of  his  cruel  deed. 
One  common  sepulchre  for  both  decreed; 
Entombed  the  wretched  pair  in  royal  state, 
And  on  their  monument  inscribed  thrir  fate. 
DRYDEN:    Sigismonda  and  Guiscardo. 

Sigmund,  in  the  Icelandic  Vol- 
sunga  Saga,  son  of  Volsung  and  father 
of  Sinfiotli  by  his  sister  Signy,  and, 
by  a  late  marriage  with  Hjordis,  of 
the  hero  Sigurd,  who  was  born  post- 
humously after  Sigmund  had  been 
slain  by  King  Lyngi,  a  rival  in  love. 

Signy,  in  the  Icelandic  Volsunga 
Saga,  the  daughter  of  Volsung  ami 
wife  of  King  Siggeir,  to  whom  she 
bore  two  children.  At  her  own 
request  these  were  slain  by  her 
brother  Sigmund,  with  whom  she 
dwelt  for  several  days,  disguised  as 
a  witch,  and  afterwards  bore  him  a 
son  Sinfiotli.  When  her  brother  set 
fire  to  her  husband's  house,  she  also 
perished  in  the  flames. 


Sigune 


288 


Sigurd 


Sigune,  in  Wolfram  von  Eschen- 
bach's  Parzival  and  his  fragmentary 
Titurel  (early  I3th  century)  a  woman 
who  clings  year  after  year  to  the 
dead  body  of  her  lover  Schionatu- 
lander, — he  having  lost  his  life  in  an 
adventure  undertaken  to  gratify  a 
whim  of  hers.  Ever  and  anon 
Parzival  comes  across  her  and  holds 
converse  with  her,  but  she  never 
forsakes  the  corpse.  Fidelity  of  this 
sort  appealed  strongly  to  Wolfram, 
as  a  self  constituted  apostle  of 
"  Treue  "  (loyalty),  and  he  set  out 
to  tell  the  story  of  the  lovers  in  a 
separate  poem  which  was  left  un- 
finished. The  existing  fragment  is 
called  Titurel  merely  because  it 
begins  with  a  speech  of  Titurel,  an 
ancestor  of  Sigune. 

Sigurd,  hero  of  the  Volsunga  Saga 
or  Lay  of  the  Volsungs,  the  Icelandic 
prose  form  of  the  German  epic,  The 
Lay  of  the  Nibelungs.  He  is  the 
same  in  origin  as  Siegfried,  though 
the  details  of  the  two  stories  are 
widely  asunder. 

Son  of  Sigmund,  born  posthu- 
mously, Sigurd  became  the  foster-child 
of  Regin  the  Smith,  who  incites  him 
to  slay  the  dragon  Fafinir.  Thus 
he  comes  into  a  great  treasure  hidden 
within  the  folds  of  the  dragon's 
skin.  By  eating  the  monster's  heart 
he  wins  a  more  than  mortal  wisdom. 
Turning  homewards  he  comes  to 
Hindfell,  where  fierce  flames  sur- 
round a  house,  but  he  rides  fear- 
lessly through  them  and  discovers 
an  apparently  lifeless  warrior.  Cut- 
ting the  armor  fastenings  the  warrior 
proves  to  be  a  woman,  the  Valkyr 
Brynhild,  who  awakes  at  his  touch. 
She  explains  that  having  defied  Odin 
he  had  condemned  her  to  a  magic 
sleep  and  to  marry  any  mortal  who 
awoke  her.  Fearing  he  might  prove 
a  coward  she  had  begged  Odin  to 
surround  her  with  a  barrier  of  fire 
which  none  save  a  brave  man  would 
dare  to  cross.  They  fell  in  love  and 
plighted  their  troth.  Sigurd  rode 
on  in  quest  of  further  adventure. 
He  is  welcomed  in  the  hall  of  the 
Niblungs  and  fights  the  Niblung 
battles  and,  all  unconsciously,  be- 


comes beloved  of  the  Niblung  maiden, 
Gudrun,  daughter  of  King  Giuki. 
He  loves  only  Brynhild.  But  Grim- 
hild,  "  the  wise  wife,"  Gudrun's 
mother,  seeing  how  her  wishes  lie, 
mixes  a  cup  for  Sigurd  at  a  banquet 
and  "  the  soul  was  changed  in  him  " 
and  Brynhild  was  forgotten,  leaving 
only  a  dim  sense  of  happiness  lost. 
In  this  mood  he  won  and  wooed 
Gudrun,  and  had  promised  to  help 
her  brother  Gunnar  to  secure  Bryn- 
hild to  wife.  The  same  spell  Grim- 
hild  had  flung  upon  Sigurd  she 
has  wrought  upon  Gunnar,  who 
bethinks  him  of  the  maiden  sitting 
alone, — Brynhild  in  her  fire-ringed 
house.  By  magic  art,  also,  she 
changes  Sigurd's  aspect  into  that  of 
Gunnar;  he  once  more  rides  through 
the  flames,  and  though  haunted  by 
vague  memories  of  the  past,  wrests 
from  Brynhild  the  magic  betrothal 
ring  he  himself  had  given  her  and 
claimed  her  as  his  bride.  And  she 
not  recognizing  her  lover  in  his  new 
guise,  tearfully  yielded  to  her  doom 
and  was  married  to  Gunnar.  Then 
the  magic  ring  wrought  its  potent 
curse.  Given  by  Brynhild  as  she 
believes  to  her  husband  but  really 
to  her  former  lover  and  by  him  to 
Gudrun,  the  latter,  when  contention 
arises  between  the  brides,  shows  it 
in  a  paroxysm  of  triumphant  rage 
and  tells  her  rival  the  whole  secret 
of  the  wooing.  The  wild  blood  is 
stirred  in  the  Valkyrie's  veins.  Bryn- 
hild must  have  the  death  of  Sigurd, 
and  she  tempts  Gudrun's  brother 
Guttorm  to  stab  him  as  he  lies  sleep- 
ing in  Gudrun's  arms.  He  awakes 
only  to  fling  the  "  wrath  "  at  his 
flying  murderer  and  to  strike  him  to 
the  ground.  His  death  revives  all 
Brynhild's  love.  'The  she-wolf's 
heart  broke  when  she  had  caused 
Sigurd's  slaying,"  and  she  asked 
only  that  she  might  be  laid  side  by 
side  with  him  on  the  funeral  pyre. 

Gudrun  marries  again,  not  for 
love,  but  in  the  hope  of  avenging 
herself  upon  those  who  had  slain 
her  lord.  She  and  Atli,  her  new 
husband  (the  historic  Attila),  lay  a 
trap  to  slay  the  whole  host  of  the 


Silenus 


289 


Sinbad 


Niblungs  in  his  Golden  House.  And 
when  all  are  dead,  and  the  victorious 
earls  of  Atli  have  feasted  over  their 
bodies,  it  is  Gudrun  herself  who  in 
obedience  to  the  fierce  law  of  kindred 
among  a  barbarous  people,  sets  the 
fire  to  burn  the  house  over  those  who 
in  slaying  her  brethren  have  only 
fulfilled  her  bidding:  and  with  her 
own  hand  she  pierces  Atli  to  the 
heart. 

William  Morris  has  retold  this 
story  in  English  verse  The  Lay  of  the 
Volsung  and  the  Fall  of  the  Niblung 
(1877)  and  Wagner  has  made  it  the 
subject  of  a  trilogy  of  operas,  under 
the  general  title  The  Ring  of  the 
Nibelungs  (1876). 

Silenus,  in  classic  myth,  generally 
a  name  for  the  older  satyrs,  more 
specifically  applied  to  that  one  of 
the  Sileni  who  was  the  reputed 
teacher  of  Bacchus  in  his  youth  and 
ever  afterwards  his  boon  companion. 
He  was  a  genial  old  man,  white- 
haired  and  white-bearded,  with  a 
pug  nose,  a  round  face,  a  rounder 
abdomen,  and  he  was  generally  ine- 
briated. As  he  could  not  trust  his 
own  legs  he  was  generally  repre- 
sented riding  on  an  ass,  or  supported 
by  other  satyrs  and  surrounded  by 
laughing  and  dancing  fawns.  _  In  all 
respects  except  that  of  inebriety  he 
seems  to  have  been  the  ancestor  of 
our  Santa  Klaus. 

Now  compare  the  pictures  of  Santa  Klaus 
which  are  scattered  through  this  book  with 
that  of  Silenus.  Is  it  not  evident  that  the 
one  is  a  revival  of  the  other,  changed,  in- 
deed, in  certain  traits  of  character,  sobered 
up,  washed  and  purified,  clad  in  fur- 
embroidered  garments  that  are  more  suited 
to  the  wintry  season  which  he  has  made  his 
own,  but  still  the  god  of  good  fellows.— the 
representative  of  good  health,  good  humor 
and  good  cheer?— WALSH:  The  Story  of 
Santa  Klaus,  p.  71. 

Sinbad,  a  Bagdad  merchant,  hero 
of  a  story  in  the  Arabian  Nights 
known  as  Sinbad  the  Sailor,  which 
mingles  a  confused  memory  of  Hom- 
er's Odyssey  with  oriental  legends  of 
unknown  antiquity.  He  is  repre- 
sented as  relating  his  seven  voyages 
to  the  discontented  porter  Hindbad, 
in  order  to  emphasize  the  moral 

19 


that  wealth  can  be  attained  only  by 
enterprise,  fortitude  and  energy. 

Voyage  7.  Sinbad  and  his  com- 
panions mistake  a  sleeping  whale 
for  an  island,  light  a  fire  on  his  back 
and  narrowly  escape  with  their  lives 
when  the  monster  disappears  into 
the  sea.  This  story  suggested  one 
of  the  adventures  of  St.  Brendan. 
See  KRAKEN. 

II.  Sinbad,  abandoned  on  a  desert 
island,   discovered   a   roc's   egg  "  50 
paces  in  circumference."     When  the 
parent    bird    returned    he    fastened 
himself  to  one  of  its  claws  and  so 
was    transported    to    the    Valley    of 
Diamonds,    from    which    entry    and 
escape     were    alike     impossible     by 
merely    human    means.      From    the 
tops  of  the  surrounding  precipices, 
however,  merchants  were  in  the  habit 
of   casting   huge   pieces   of   meat   to 
which  the  diamonds  adhered,  meat 
and   diamonds   were   carried   up   by 
eagles    to    their    nests,    where     the 
diamonds  were  rescued.    Sinbad  fast- 
ening himself  to  a  piece  of  meat  safely 
reaches     the    summits    and    returns 
home   laden    with   diamonds.      This 
method  of  utilizing  birds  of  prey  is 
corroborated  by  Marco  Polo  in  his 
description  of  the  diamond  mines  of 
Golconda. 

III.  This  episode  is  substantially 
identical  with   the  story  of  Ulysses 
and  the  Cyclops.    See  POLYPHEMUS. 

IV.  Again    cast    upon    a    strange 
(though     not     uninhabited)     island, 
Sinbad  married  a  native  lady.     She 
died  and   he   was   buried   with   her. 
He  managed   to  escape   with   much 
plunder  ravished  from  the  sepulchres. 

V.  Two  enraged  rocs  wrecked  his 
ship  with  huge  stones  dropped  from 
their   talons.      Sinbad    swam    ashore 
and  engaged  in  a  conflict  with  mon- 
keys who  shot  cocoanuts  at  him  on 
which  he  subsisted  until  he  met  the 
Old  Man  of  the  Sea  (q.v.). 

VI.  A  voyage  to  Serendibor  Ceylon. 

VII.  On  this  voyage  he  was  • 
tured    by    Corsairs    and    sold    into 
slavery.     Having  discovered  a  spot 
superabundantly    stocked    with    ele- 
phants'    tusks,    he    was    given 
liberty  and  a  share  in  the  booty. 


Singing 


290 


Siva 


Singing  Tree,  in  the  Arabian 
Nights  story  of  The  Two  Sisters,  a 
tree  whose  every  leaf  was  a  mouth, 
all  joining  together  in  a  concert  of 
delightful  harmony. 

The  Singing  Apple  in  the  Countess 
Daulnay's  fairy  tale  of  Prince  Cherry 
and  Fair-Star  grew  on  a  tree  in  a 
Libyan  desert.  It  was  a  ruby 
crowned  by  a  diamond  which  im- 
parted wit  to  all  who  smelt  of  it. 
Prince  Cherry  secured  the  prize  for 
his  bride  and  she  was  thus  enabled 
to  rival  the  best  efforts  of  poets, 
philosophers  and  beaux-esprils. 

Sinon,  in  classic  myth,  the  son  of 
^simus  according  to  Homer,  of 
Sisyphus  according  to  Virgil  (JEneid, 
ii»  79)  >  and  grandson  of  Autolycus 
according  to  both.  He  accompanied 
Odysseus,  his  relative,  to  Troy.  He 
joined  with  Ulysses  and  Diomed  in 
the  stratagem  of  the  Wooden  Horse 
(q.v.)  and  was  the  main  agent  in 
achieving  its  practical  success.  Al- 
lowing himself  to  be  taken  prisoner 
by  the  _  Trojans,  he  persuaded  them 
to  admit  within  their  walls  a  wooden 
horse  filled  with  armed  men,  which 
the  Greeks  had  constructed  as  a 
pretended  atonement  for  the  rape  of 
the  Palladium.  In  the  dead  of  night 
Sinon  released  the  Greeks,  who  thus 
finally  captured  the  city  they  had 
beleaguered  for  10  years. 

Dante  (Inferno  xxx,  98)  places 
Sinon  among  the  Falsifiers  in  the 
tenth  pit  (bolgia)  of  the  eighth  circle 
of  hell.  Here  he  lies  next  to  Poti- 
phar's  wife,  both  smoking  as  a  wet 
hand  smokes  in  winter.  Maestro 
Adamo  (Master  Adam  of  Brescia, 
burnt  alive  in  1281  as  a  coiner  and 
counterfeiter),  a  dropsical  fellow 
sufferer,  explains  to  Dante  that  the 
pair  had  lain  prostrate  in  that  posi- 
tion ever  since  his  own  arrival  in  hell. 
Thereupon  Sinon  revives  to  strike 
Adam  on  the  paunch  with  his  fist. 
Adam  retaliates  with  a  slap  on  the 
face.  They  then  indulge  in  mutual 
recriminations  to  which  Dante  listens 
until  he  is  reproved  by  Virgil. 

And  thus  the  dropsied:  "Ay,  now  speakst 

thou  true: 
But  there  thou  gavest  not  such  true  testimony 


When  thou  wast  questioned  of  the  truth  at 

Troy." 
"If  I   spake  false,   thou  falsely  stamp'dst 

the  coin," 

Said  Sinon;  "I  am  here  but  for  one  fault, 
And  thou  for  more  than  any  imp  beside." 
"Remember,"  he  replied,  "  O  perjured 

one! 
The  horse  remember,  that  did  teem  with 

death; 

And  all  the  world  be  witness  to  thy  guilt." 
DANTE:  Inferno,  xxx.    GARY,  trans. 

Sisyphus,  in  Greek  myth,  the  son 
of  ^Eolus  and  husband  of  Merope, 
or,  as  later  accounts  have  it,  son  of 
Autolycus  and  father  of  Odysseus 
(Ulysses)  by  Anticlea.  He  was  the 
reputed  builder  and  first  king  of 
Corinth,  an  able  ruler,  a  promoter 
of  navigation  and  commerce,  but 
fraudulent,  crafty  and  avaricious. 
He  even  outwitted  Autolycus,  and 
this  time  in  a  good  cause.  That 
clever  rascal,  dwelling  then  on  Mount 
Parnassus,  was  an  audacious  horse 
and  cattle  thief.  Whenever  he  lifted  a 
herd  it  was  his  practice  to  deface  the 
owner's  mark  so  that  identification 
was  _  impracticable.  Sisyphus,  his 
suspicions  aroused,  marked  all  his 
cattle  secretly  on  the  hoof.  One  day 
he  called  upon  Autolycus,  and  by 
displaying  the  esoteric  mark  stripped 
him  of  his  ill-gotten  wealth.  When 
his  last  hour  had  come  Sisyphus  for 
a  period  succeeded  in  baffling  Death 
(fi.».). 

Homer  makes  Odysseus  witness 
the  punishment  of  Sisyphus  in  the 
lower  world,  although  he  does  not 
mention  the  nature  of  his  crime. 
Pope's  translation  of  these  lines  is 
especially  famous  in  English  liter- 
ature as  a  specimen  of  onomato- 
poeia, the  concurrence  of  sound 
with  sense: 

I  turn'd  my  eye,  and  as  I  turn'd  survey'd 
A  mournful  vision!  the  Sisyphian  shade: 
With  many  a  weary  step,  and  many  a  groan, 
Up  the  high  hill  he  heaves  a  huge  round  stone; 
The  huge  round  stone,  resulting  with  a  bound, 
Thunders  impetuous  down,  and  smokes  along 

the  ground. 

Again  the  restless'orb  his  toil  renews, 
Dust  mounts  in  clouds,  and  sweat  descends 

in  dews. 

HOMER:  Odyssey.    POPE,  trans.,  xi,  735. 

Siva,  the  third  member  of  the 
Hindu  trinity,  the  god  of  destruc- 
tion, as  Vishnu  is  the  god  of  con- 


Skeleton 


291 


Sleeping 


struction.  His  symbol  is  the  Linga, 
emblematic  of  creation,  or  rebirth 
following  after  destruction.  He  pro- 
duces earthquakes,  tempests,  floods 
and  droughts.  When  the  sacred 
river  Ganges  descended  from  heaven 
he  checked  the  torrent  so  that  earth 
might  bear  its  fall.  He  is  figured 
with  a  rope  for  strangling  evil- 
doers, a  necklace  of  human  skulls 
and  earrings  of  serpents.  He  has 
three  eyes  and  he  bears  the  river 
Ganges  on  his  head.  He  can  sing 
and  join  in  dancing  and  other  revelry 
but  he  is  specifically  the  god  of  ascetic- 
ism— Maha  Yogi — stern  and  uncom- 
promising. His  wife,  like  himself,  is 
known  under  many  names,  the  chief 
of  them  being  Kali.  In  combination 
the  two  are  called  Hari-hara. 

Skeleton  in  Armor,  the  name  which 
Longfellow,  in  a  ballad  of  that  title 
(1841),  gives  to  some  human  remains 
that  were  dug  up  in  1839  near  Fall 
River,  Mass.    The  skeleton  wore  on 
its  breast  an  oval  brass  plate  and  was 
girt    around    the    waist    by    a    belt 
similar  to  those  worn  when  firearms 
were  in  their  infancy.    This  was  im- 
mediately   claimed    to    be    an    old 
Norse  warrior,  despite  the  fact  that 
it  was  buried,  Indian  fashion,   in  a 
sitting  posture,   with   Indian  arrow- 
heads around  it.     Some  authorities 
identified  it  with  Thorwald,  who  ac- 
cording to  one  interpretation  of  the 
sagas  was  said  to  have  sailed  from 
Iceland    to   the    New   World   about 
A.D.    1000,    and    to   have   passed    a 
winter  in  New  England.    Under  date 
Dec.   13,   1840,  Longfellow  wrote  to 
his  father:  "  Have  prepared  for 
press  another  original  ballad,  which 
has  been  lying  by  me  for  some  time. 
It  is  called   The  Skeleton  in  Armor, 
and  is  connected  with  the  old  Round 
Tower  at  Newport.    This  skeleton  m 
armor  really  exists.     It  was  dug  up 
near  Fall  River,  where  I  saw  it  som 
two  years  ago.     I  suppose  it  to  be 
the  remains  of  one  of  the  old 
ern    sea-rovers,    who    came    to    this 
country   in   the   tenth   century, 
course,  I  make  the  tradition  myself; 
and    I    think    I    have    succeeded^  in 
giving  the  whole  a  Northern  air. 


Skrymir,  a  Norse  giant,  who  on 
one  occasion  played  host  to  Thor. 
The  latter,  travelling  with  his  com- 
panions through  the  land  of  giants, 
sought  shelter  from  an  earthquake 
in  a  strange  structure.  Next  morn- 
ing he  found  in  front  of  it  a  huge 
giant,  snoring  in  his  sleep,  who  awoke 
to  say  "  What  have  you  done  with 
my  glove?'  and  lo!  it  turned  out 
that  the  glove  had  been  Thor's 
house  of  shelter  and  that  he  had 
slept  in  the  thumb.  The  giant 
volunteered  to  carry  the  food  for 
the  party,  but  again  fell  asleep  at 
the  foot  of  a  tree.  Thor  rapped  him 
smartly  on  the  head  with  his  terrible 
hammer.  Skrymir  awoke  and  asked 
if  an  oak  leaf  had  fallen  upon  him. 

Sleeping  Beauty  in  the  Wood,  the 
heroine  of  an  old  myth  which  Charles 
Perrault  revived  and  rewrote  as  one 
of  his  Conies  de  Ma  Mere  VOye  (1697). 

A  young  princess  after  an  accident 
which  had  been  foretold  to  her  but 
which  she  could  not  forestall,  falls 
into  a  magic  sleep  that  is  to  last  for 
one  hundred  years.  She  slumbers 
in  a  castle  around  which  grows  up 
an  impenetrable  forest,  and  every- 
thing around  her  is  plunged  into 
similar  slumber  until  the  time  when 
the  cycle  shall  have  rolled  round, 
and  a  young  prince  urging  his  way 
through  all  obstacles  presses  a  kiss 
upon  her  lips. 

A  touch,  a  kiss!  the  charm  was  snapt. 

There  rose  a  noise  of  striking  clocks. 
And  feet  that  ran  and  doors  that  clapt. 

And  barking  dogs,  and  crowing  cocks; 
A  fuller  light  illumined  all, 

A  breeze  through  all  the  garden  swept. 
A  sudden  hubbub  shook  the  hall. 

And  sixty  feet  the  fountain  leapt. 

So  sings  Tennyson  in  his  poetical 
paraphrase  of  Perrault's  story  which 
he  entitles  The  Daydream.  Sec  also 
BRUNHILD  and  SIEGFRIED. 

The  Grimm  brothers  have  a  Ger- 
man  variant  of   this  story   in   their 
Tales.     It  is  the  subject  of  an  o; 
(1825)  by  Planard  and  Cat  '  .'i 

4-act  ballet  (1829)  by  Scribe  and 
Aumer,  music  by  Herold.  A  5-act 
drama  (1865)  by  Octave  Feuillet 
under  the  same  title,  La  Belle  au 


Sleipnir 


292 


Somnus 


Bois  Dormant,  is  a  satire  upon  con- 
servative French  society,  which  by 
its  inertia  and  immovability  protests 
against  rational  activity  and  progress. 
Sleipnir,  in  Norse  myth,  the  8- 
legged  steed  of  Odin.  See  SWA- 

DILFARI. 

Socrates,  the  great  Athenian  phil- 
osopher (B.C.  469-399),  is  caricatured 
by  Aristophanes  in  The  Clouds  as  a 
professor  of  the  rhetorical  art  of 
proving  black  white.  Hence  Strep- 
sides,  a  farmer,  sends  his  horsy  son 
to  Socrates  that  he  may  learn  to 
disprove  the  existence  of  the  father's 
debts.  Socrates  is  found  hanging  in 
mid-air  in  a  basket,  to  raise  the 
intellect  in  its  supramundane  studies 
above  the  attraction  of  the  earth. 
There  is  no  reason  to  believe  that 
Aristophanes  had  any  private  grudge 
against  Socrates,  or  cared  whether 
his  opinions  were  accurately  repre- 
sented or  not;  he  simply  wanted  a 
central  figure,  who  should  be  a  phil- 
osopher and  well  known.  The  re- 
markable teacher,  whose  grotesque 
person  was  familiar  to  all,  who  went 
about  barefoot,  unwashed  and  shabby, 
and  would  stand  half  an  hour  in 
a  public  thoroughfare  wrapped  in 
reverie,  was  exactly  the  figure  he 
wanted.  Nor  does  the  caricature 
seem  to  have  had  any  effect  upon  the 
popularity  of  its  object.  Socrates, 
himself,  took  it  in  excellent  part. 
When  the  play  was  produced  he  is 
said  to  have  enjoyed  it  as  heartily 
as  any  one,  and  even  to  have  risen 
from  his  seat  in  order  that  the 
strangers  in  the  house  might  see  how 
admirable  a  counterpart  the  stage 
Socrates  was  of  the  original. 

Sohrab  or  Surab,  a  legendary 
Iranian  hero,  son  of  Rustum.  Firdusi 
makes  the  latter  the  hero  of  his  epic, 
the  Shah- Namah.  Sohrab  was  the 
offspring  of  Rustum's  marriage  to 
Princess  Tahminah,  from  whose  arms 
the  father  was  summoned  to  a  long 
series  of  adventures.  Meanwhile, 
Sohrab,  of  whose  very  existence 
Rustum  was  ignorant,  grew  up  to  be 
a  great  warrior  among  the  Turanians. 
In  single  combat  father  and  son  met, 
and  Sohrab  was  slain.  The  episode 


has  been  retold  in  English  verse  by 
Matthew  Arnold  in  an  epic  fragment 
Sohrab  and  Rustum. 

Sohrab  and  Rustum  is  a  story  of  Central 
Asia,  or,  as  we  used  to  say,  Asia  Minor,  told 
in  blank  verse,  and  in  the  Homeric  vein.  It 
is  called  "An  Episode,"  and  begins  in  char- 
acter with  the  word  "And."  Far  more  truly 
Homeric  than  dough's  jolting  hexameters, 
it  is  as  good  a  specimen  of  Homer's  manner 
as  can  be  found  in  English.  Rustum  is  a 
barbarian,  though  not  an  undignified  bar- 
barian. But  the  gentle  and  sympathetic 
character  of  Sohrab  is  one  of  the  best  and 
most  delicate  that  Matthew  Arnold  ever 
drew.  That  he  falls  by  the  hand  of  his  un- 
conscious father  is  the  simple  tragedy  of  the 
piece.  Very  noble  is  his  reply  to  the  still 
sceptical  Rustum — 

Truth  sits  upon  the  lips  of  dying  men, 
And  Falsehood,  while  I  liv'd,  was  far  from 
mine. 

And  when  Rustum,  at  last  convinced 
that  he  had  slain  his  son,  prays  that 
the  Oxus  may  drown  him,  Sohrab  re- 
plies, in  the  exquisite  lines — 

Desire  not  that,  my  father;   thou  must  live. 
For  some  are  born  to  do  great  deeds,  and  live, 
As  some  are  born  to  be  obscur'd,  and  die. 
Do  thou  the  deeds  I  die  too  young  to  do 
And  reap  a  second  glory  in  thine  age. 

HOWARD  PAUL:  Matthew  Arnold. 

Soma,  in  Hindoo  myth,  is  at  once 
a  god  and  a  beverage.  The  intoxi- 
cating juice  of  the  soma  plant,  like 
the  Quoasir  of  Norse  mythology, 
imparts  prolonged  life  and  strength 
to  the  gods.  The  Rig  Veda  describes 
the  process  whereby  it  is  fermented. 
But  the  same  hymns  describe  Soma 
as  an  all-powerful  god.  It  is  he  who 
invigorates  Indra  and  enables  him 
to  conquer  his  enemy  Vitra,  the  snake 
of  darkness.  The  worship  of  Soma 
greatly  resembled  that  of  Dionysos 
and  Bacchus  among  the  Greeks  and 
Romans. 

Somnus,  the  Latin  name  for  the 
god  of  Sleep,  called  Hypnos  by  the 
Greeks.  Hesiod,  Homer  and  Virgil 
alike  agree  in  describing  Sleep  as 
the  son  of  Night  (Lat.  Nox,  Gr.  Nux), 
and  the  brother  and  image  of  Death, 
(Lat.  Mors,  Gr.  Thanatos).  In  the 
temple  of  Hera  at  Elis,  Sleep  and  his 
brother  Death  were  represented  as 
twins  reposing  in  the  arms  of  Mother 
Night.  In  other  Greek  sculptures 
Sleep  appeared  as  a  child  wrapped 
in  slumber  and  holding  a  horn  of 


Sophonisba 


293 


Sordello 


poppies  which  he  shed  upon  weary 
mortals.  Homer  placed  the  palace 
of  Sleep  on  the  island  of  Lemnos. 
Hither  comes  Hera  in  quest  of  the 
drowsy  god  so  that  he  may  lull  Zeus 
to  sleep  and  suffer  the  Greeks  to 
complete  a  temporary  success: 

To  Lemnos,  god-like  Thoas'  seat 
She  came;    there  met  she  Sleep,  twin-born 

with  Death, 
Whom,  as  his  hand  she  clasped,  she  thus 

addressed: 

"Sleep,  universal  king  of  gods  and  men, 
f  ever  thou  hast  listened  to  my  voice. 
Grant  me  the  boon  which  now  I  ask  and  win 
My  ceaseless  favor  in  all  time  to  come. 
When  Jove  thou  seest  in  my  embraces  locked 
Do  thou  his  piercing  eyes  in  slumber  seal." 
HOMER:  Iliad,  xiv,  257.    DERBY,  trans. 

But  Hypnos  has  terror-stricken 
reminiscences  of  the  wrath  he  had 
aroused  in  Zeus  by  a  similar  expedient 
on  another  occasion.  Only  when 
Hera  promised  to  obtain  for  him  the 
hand  of  Pasithea,  youngest  and  fair- 
est of  the  Graces,  does  he  yield  a 
reluctant  consent. 

Virgil  in  the  dEneid,  vi,  locates 
Sleep  and  Death  and  other  terrific 
shapes  at  the  threshold  of  Avernus 
under  a  giant  elm,  in  whose  boughs 
nestle  False  Dreams.  A  notable 
episode  where  Somnus  figures  in  the 
jEneid  is  that  of  Palinurus  (<?.t>.). 
(See  also  DEATH.)  According  to  Ovid, 
Somnus  had  three  sons,  Morpheus, 
the  god  of  dreams,  who  appears  to 
mortals  in  human  form;  Phobeter 
the  terrifier,  who  assumes  the  shape 
of  beasts,  and  Phantasos,  who  ap- 
pears in  inanimate  form. 

Sophonisba,  in  Roman  history  and 
legend,  daughter  of  the  Carthaginian 
general  Hasdrubal  and  sister  of 
Hannibal.  Betrothed  to  Masinissa 
an  ally  of  the  Romans  she  was  forced 
(206  B.C.)  into  a  marriage  of  con- 
venience with  Syphax  an  ally  of  the 
Carthaginians.  The  rival  lovers 
were  also  rivals  for  the  rule  of 
Numidia.  During  the  second  Punic 
war  Masinissa  regained  both  province 
and  bride;  but  Scipio  compelled  him 
to  relinquish  the  latter  and  she  died 
by  poison,  sent  by  Masinissa  to 
prevent  her  falling  into  the  hands  of 
the  Romans. 


The  subject  was  a  favorite  with 
playwrights  both  in  England  and 
on  the  continent.  John  Marston's 
Sophonisba  or  the  Wonder  of  Women 
(1602),  Nathaniel  Lee's  Sophonisba 
or  Hannibal's  Overthrow  (1676),  and 
James  Thomson's  Sophonisba  (1730) 
head  the  list  in  England.  The  last 
contains  the  famous  line  "  O  Soph- 
onisba, Sophonisba  O,"  which  was 
parodied  extempore  by  the  Duke  of 
Buckingham,  "  O  Jemmy  Thomson, 
Jemmy  Thomson  O,"  to  the  dam- 
nation of  the  piece. 

In  France  Mairet  (1631)  and 
Corneille  (1663)  produced  tragedies 
entitled  Sophonisbe.  Mairet's  play 
is  imitated  from  the  Sofonisba  of 
Trissino  (1515),  which  in  its  turn  is 
indebted  to  a  play  of  the  same  name 
(1502)  by  Galeotto  dal  Carretto. 
The  latter  disputes  with  Ruccellai's 
Rosmunda  the  title  of  being  the  first 
Italian  tragedy.  Greatest  of  all  the 
tragedies  on  this  subject  is  Alfieri's 
Sofonisba  (1783). 

Sophronia,  in  Boccaccio's  Decam- 
eron, x,  8,  heroine  of  the  story  of 
Titus  and  Gisippus.  Believing  her- 
self to  be  the  wife  of  Gisippus,  she  is 
really  married  to  Titus,  who  takes 
her  off  to  Rome.  There  Gisippus 
arrives  some  time  later  in  a  wretched 
state  of  mind,  and  falsely  accuses 
himself  of  a  mysterious  murder. 
Titus  in  order  to  save  him  takes  the 
blame  upon  himself.  The  real  cul- 
prit, moved  by  so  much  magnanimity, 
surrenders  himself  to  justice.  Event- 
ually all  are  set  at  liberty  by  Octavius. 
Titus  marries  Gisippus  to  his  sister 
and  divides  his  estate  with  him. 

Sordello  (1200-1269),  a  famous 
troubadour,  native  of  Goito  in  the 
Mantuan  district,  and  thus  a  fellow 
citizen  of  Virgil.  Dante  places  him 
in  ante-purgatory  among  those  who 
were  negligent  in  repentance  (Purga- 
torio,  vi,  74).  Here  Dante,  guided 
by  Virgil,  beholds  him,  standing 
alone  on  a  mountain-side  in  an 
attitude  of  calm  dignity  like  that  of 
a  lion  at  rest.  His  haughty  manner 
gave  way  to  one  of  eager  interest 
when  Virgil  named  Mantua  as  his 
own  birthplace.  "  Oh  Mantuan," 


Spens 


294 


Sraosha 


he  exclaimed,  embracing  him,  "  I 
am  Sordello  from  thy  country." 
Learning  further  that  it  was  the 
greatest  of  Latin  poets  who  con- 
fronted him,  Sordello  repeated  his 
embrace,  but  this  time  in  all  humility 
clasped  Virgil's  knees  instead  of  his 
neck.  Later  he  guides  Virgil  and 
Dante  to  the  gates  of  Purgatory 
(Ibid.,  viii,  ix). 

Sordello  had  high  ideals,  a  clear 
vision,  a  splendid  mentality.  All 
these  gifts  were  neutralized  by  the 
one  "  mark  of  leprosy  "  within  him, 
the  weakness  of  will  which  left  him 
dreaming  instead  of  doing.  When  the 
time  for  action  came  he  was  powerless. 

Robert  Browning,  who  makes  Sor- 
dello the  titular  hero  of  a  narrative 
poem,  treats  him  as  a  sort  of  mediaeval 
Hamlet.  The  hint  for  the  character 
he  takes  from  the  lines  which  Lowell 
(a  significant  coincidence)  applies  to 
Hamlet. 

Spens,  Sir  Patrick,  hero  of  a  medi- 
aeval poem  of  uncertain  date  which 
Coleridge  calls  "  the  grand  old  Bal- 
lad of  Sir  Patrick  Spens.1'  A  king 
of  Scotland,  unnamed,  sends  him  in 
midwinter  on  a  mission  to  Norway. 
The  ship  is  lost  with  all  on  board  on 
the  homeward  voyage.  W.  E.  Ay- 
toun  tells  us  that  in  the  little  island 
of  Papa  Stronsay,  one  of  the  Orcadian 
group,  lying  over  against  Norway, 
there  is  a  large  tumulus  known  to  the 
inhabitants  from  time  immemorial 
as  the  grave  of  Sir  Patrick  Spens. 
"Is  it  then  a  forced  conjecture  that 
the  shipwreck  took  place  off  the  iron- 
bound  coast  of  the  northern  islands 
which  did  not  then  belong  to  the 
crown  of  Scotland?  " 

Sphinx,  a  fabulous  monster  in  both 
Greek  and  Egyptian  myth.  In 
Egypt,  where  it  probably  originated, 
it  is  represented  as  a  wingless  lion 
with  a  woman's  head,  in  Greece 
usually  as  a  winged  lion  with  female 
bust.  The  most  famous  example  is 
the  great  Sphinx  of  Giza,  near  the 
group  of  pyramids.  It  is  carved 
from  a  rock,  is  189  feet  long  and  is 
probably  7000  years  old  and  thus 
the  oldest  work  of  human  sculpture. 

In  Greek  myth  the  most  famous 


Sphinx  was  that  of  Thebes,  first 
mentioned  by  Hesiod  in  Theogony, 
326.  He  makes  her  parents  Orthus 
and  Echidna,  for  whom  Apollonius 
(iii,  v,  8)  substituted  Orthus  and 
Chimcera.  She  had  a  woman's  face, 
a  lion's  tail  and  feet,  the  wings  of  a 
bird.  The  Muses  taught  her  a  riddle 
which  she  propounded  to  all  who 
came  within  her  neighborhood  on 
Mount  Phicium  (now  Fugas) ,  slaying 
and  devouring  such  as  failed.  It 
ran  thus,  "What  is  it  that  is  four- 
footed  in  the  morning,  two-footed  at 
noon,  and  three-footed  at  nightfall?  " 
(Edipus  rightly  answered,  "  Man,  for 
he  crawls  on  all  fours  in  childhood, 
walks  on  two  feet  in  maturity,  and 
supports  himself  with  a  staff  in 
senility."  The  sphinx  straightway 
leaped  to  her  death  from  the  moun- 
tain. 

Sprat,  Jack,  hero  of  an  English 
nursery  quatrain  which  tells  how  as 
Jack  could  eat  no  fat  and  his  wife 
could  eat  no  lean  they  together 
licked  the  platter  clean.  Halliwell 
traces  the  jingle  to  Howell's  Collec- 
tion of  Proverbs  (1659),  where  the 
hero  is  no  less  a  personage  than  an 
archdeacon. 

Archdeacon  Pratt  would  eat  no  fat. 
And  his  wife  would  eat  no  lean: 

'Twixt  Archdeacon  Pratt  and  Joan  his  wife. 
The  meat  was  eat  up  clean. 

Sraosha,  the  Angel  of  Obedience 
in  the  Zoroastrian  mythology.  His 
special  function  was  to  carry  off  the 
souls  of  the  dead  to  the  bridge  which 
spans  the  gulf  between  heaven  and 
earth,  there  to  be  judged  by  Mithra 
and  Rashna.  For  three  days  the 
soul  hovered  about  its  earthly  abode, 
while  surviving  friends  and  relatives 
performed  funeral  rites  of  propitia- 
tion to  the  gods.  On  the  morning  of 
the  fourth  day  Sraosha  carried  it 
aloft,  assailed  on  the  way  (see 
GERONTIUS)  by  demons  striving  to 
possess  it,  and  supported  by  the 
prayers  of  the  faithful  below.  Arriv- 
ing at  the  "  accountants'  entrance  " 
to  the  bridge,  Rashnu  weighed  its 
good  deeds  against  the  evil.  If  the 
good  turned  the  scales  there  was  still 


Starchatenis 


295 


Stephen 


a  sort  of  purgatorial  penance  to  be 
endured  before  it  was  launched  on 
the  bridge. 

Starchaterus  Thavestes,  in  Danish 
legend,  one  of  the  eleven  lords  at- 
tendant on  King  Hakon,  and  a  giant 
famous  for  strength,  courage  and 
sobriety.  Olaus  Magnus,  Historia 
de  Gentibus  Septentrionalibus  (1555), 
attributes  to  him  some  verses  on 
Frugality  that  embody  his  philosophy 
of  living: 

The  King  himself  most  sparingly  would  dine, 
No  drinks  were  served  that  did  of  honey 

boast. 

But  only  beer  which  thpu  to  Ceres  owest. 
Their  meats  were  little  boiled  and  never  roast. 
Each  table  was  with  dishes  scantly  dressed, — 
A  meagre  lot  antiquity  deemed  best. 
And  in  plain  fare  each  held  himself  most 

blest. 

Despite  the  moderation  in  food 
and  drink  which  he  preached  and 
practised,  Starchaterus  was  a  true 
Berserker  and  an  outrageous  pirate. 
When  old  and  weary  of  life  he  sought 
out  Hatherus,  whose  father  he  had 
killed,  and  begged  as  a  favor  that  he 
would  cut  off  his  head.  It  literally 
bit  the  ground  where  it  fell. 

Statira,  daughter  of  Darius,  was 
the  first  wife  of  Alexander;  Roxana, 
daughter  of  Oxyartes  of  Bactria,  was 
the  second.  These  ladies  are  the 
heroines  of  Lee's  drama,  The  Rival 
Queens  (1678),  which  closely  follows 
the  facts  of  history.  Though  Statira 
resented  the  intrusion  of  Roxana, 
she  allowed  her  husband  to  win  her 
back  to  acquiescence.  The  prouder 
spirit  of  Roxana  was  not  so  easily 
appeased,  and  her  jealousy  finally 
found  vent  in  the  murder  of  her 
rival.  The  jealousy  of  these  stage 
heroines  has  at  times  been  reflected 
in,  "the  actresses  who  represented 
them.  Peg  Woffington  as  Roxana, 
angry  with  Anne  Bellamy  because  of 
the  overshadowing  magnificence  of 
her  robes,  rolled  her  rival  in  the 
dust  behind  the  scenes,  pummelled 
her  with  the  handle  of  her  dagger  and 
screamed  Lee's  lines: 

Nor  he,  nor  heaven,  shall  shield  thee  from 

my  justice. 
Die!  sorceress,  die!    and  all  my  wrongs  die 

with  thee. 


A  similar  scene  was  enacted  half 
a  century  later  between  Mrs.  Barry 
(Roxana)  and  Miss  Boutwell  (Sta- 
tira). The  stage  manager  had  given 
Statira  a  lace  veil,  which  so  enflamed 
the  other  that  in  the  stabbing  scene 
she  struck  with  such  fury  that  the 
dagger  went  a  quarter  of  an  inch 
through  the  stays  into  the  flesh. 

Staufenberg,  Peter  von,  hero  of  an 
anonymous  German  ballad  of  the 
fourteenth  century, — Peter  von  Stau- 
fenburg  und  die  Meer-fei.  Peter,  a 
noble  knight,  beheld  a  lovely  nymph 
seated  on  the  banks  of  a  river  and 
fell  in  love  with  her.  She  proved  to 
be  a  Meer-fei  or  water-sprite.  He 
had  no  trouble  in  winningiher,  for  it 
is  only  by  marriage  with  a  mortal 
that  the  spirits  of  air  or  water  can 
obtain  a  soul.  She  warned  him  by 
the  laws  of  her  race  she  herself  must 
become  the  instrument  of  his  death 
should  he  prove  unfaithful  to  her. 
For  many  years  the  knight  remained 
true  to  his  bride,  but  at  last  he 
wearied  of  her  and  sought  the  daugh- 
ter of  a  neighboring  baron  in  mar- 
riage. In  the  midst  of  the  wedding 
festivities  Peter  beheld  depending 
from  the  ceiling  a  small  white  foot. 
A  moment  later  he  was  dead.  The 
Meerfei,  invisible  to  all  others,  had 
strangled  him  in  a  passionate  em- 
brace. From  this  story  LaMotte 
Fouque*  borrowed  his  romance  of 
Undine  (q.v.). 

Stephen,  St.,  of  Hungary  (known 
also  as  Stephen  the  Pious),  was  the 
first  king  of  that  country.  He  \vas 
the  founder  or  establishcr  of  the 
Christian  Church  among  the  Mag- 
yars, and  the  secular  destroyer  of 
paganism.  Pope  Sylvester  II  (for 
Rome  alone  was  supposed  to  have 
the  power  of  changing  counts  an<l 
dukes  into  kings)  sent  the  crown  to 
Stephen,  and  bestowed  upon  him 
the  official  title  of  the  Apostolic 
King  which  is  still  used  by  his  suc- 
cessors, the  Austrian  monarchs. 

Stephen,  St.,  the  first  Christian 
martyr,  stoned  outside  the  gates  of 
Jerusalem  by  Hellenistic  Jews  on  a 
charge  of  blasphemy  (Acts  vi,  vii). 
Dante  cites  him  as  an  example  of 


Stetsichorus 


296 


Sumpnor 


meekness  in  Circle  iii  of  Purgatory, 
where  the  sin  of  wrath  is  expiated. 
According  to  a  mediaeval  English  bal- 
lad Stephen  was  a  clerk  in  King  Herod 's 
hall.  He  was  bringing  in  an  anachro- 
nistic boar's  head  when  he  sees  the 
Star  of  Bethlehem,  and  announces 
that  he  must  leave  his  employer, 

I  forsake  thee,  King  Herowd,  and  thy  werkes 

all; 
There  is  a  child  in  Bedlam  born  is  better  than 

we  all! 

"A  lie!"  quoth  the  King.  "The 
story  is  as  true  as  that  the  capon  in 
yon  dish  shall  crow."  Thereupon 
the  capon  sits  up  on  its  haunches  and 
crows,  "  Christus  natus  Est!  '  Ste- 
phen is  sent  out  to  be  stoned  to  death. 

Stetsichorus  (B.C.  608-552),  a 
lyric  poet  of  ancient  Greece.  Having 
lost  his  eyesight  he  imagined  this  a 
punishment  sent  by  Helen  of  Troy 
because  he  had  endorsed  the  current 
story  of  her  flight  with  Paris.  Hence 
he  wrote  a  recantation  based  on 
another  form  of  the  Helen  legend 
or  invented  by  himself  in  which  she 
was  borne  away  by  the  god  Hermes 
to  Egypt  and  there  lived  like  a  true 
wife  till  Menelaus  came  and  found 
her.  The  being  that  went  to  Troy 
was  a  mere  simulacrum,  a  phantom 
contrived  by  the  gods  in  order  to 
bring  about  the  Trojan  war  and  so 
reduce  the  numbers  of  degenerate 
man.  Euripides  in  Helen  (B.C.  412) 
follows  in  the  wake  of  Stetsichorus, 
conjuring  up  a  wicked  king  in  Egypt 
who  seeks  to  marry  Helen  against 
her  will  and  so  kills  all  the  Greeks 
who  land  in  his  country.  The  war 
in  Troy  is  over.  Menelaus,  driven 
out  of  his  course  by  storms,  is  ship- 
wrecked on  the  coast  of  Egypt, 
recognizes  the  true  Helen  by  the 
help  of  the  king's  sister,  who  has 
second  sight,  and  all  three  escape 
together  to  Greece. 

Stoerkodder,  in  Scandinavian  leg- 
end, a  mythical  hero  who  earned  the 
title  of  Berserk  or  Berserker  (berr, 
bare,  and  berkr,  shirt  of  mail)  by  fight- 
ing unharnessed,  his  fury  serving 
instead  of  defensive  armor.  He  had 
twelve  sons,  who  inherited  his  char- 
acter, and  the  name  Berserker  be- 


came through  them  a  general  term 
for  any  warrior,  especially  of  Scandi- 
navian origin,  characterized  by  fren- 
zied, reckless  daring. 

Stork,  King.  In  a  fable  by  J2sop 
the  frogs,  grown  weary  of  republican 
simplicity,  petitioned  Zeus  for  a  king. 
He  threw  a  log  into  their  lake,  but 
after  the  first  preliminary  splash  had 
sent  them  scuttling  into  the  mud, 
they  took  heart  to  investigate  and 
decided  that  King  Log  was  too  tame 
for  them.  In  answer  to  a  second 
petition  for  a  more  active  king,  Zeus 
dispatched  a  Stork  which  rapidly 
decimated  their  numbers.  Then  they 
sent  Mercury  with  a  private  message 
to  Zeus  that  he  would  take  pity  on 
their  condition,  but  he  returned  word 
that  they  were  properly  punished 
for  not  letting  well  enough  alone. 

Sumpnor,  The  (i.e.,  Summon er), 
one  of  the  pilgrims  in  Chaucer's 
Canterbury  Tales,  whose  verbal  con- 
tests with  the  Frere  (Friar)  add  to  the 
hilarity  of  the  company  travelling 
to  the  shrine  of  St.  Thomas.  When 
it  comes  to  the  Frere's  turn  to  tell  a 
story  he  makes  it  turn  upon  the 
discomfiture  of  a  sumpnor  by  the 
superior  wit  of  a  demon,  who  finally 
carries  him  off  to  hell: 

Body  and  soul  he  with  the  devyl  wente. 
Where  all  the  sumpnors  have  their  heritage 
And  God  that  maked  after  his  image 
Mankind,  save  and  gyde  us  all  and  some 
And  teach  this  sumpnor  good  man  to  become. 

The  Sumpnor  rises  in  his  saddle 
in  wrath  and  pours  forth  a  torrent 
of  blasphemy  and  obscenity  upon 
f reres  in  general  and  his  fellow  travel- 
ler in  particular: 

This  Frere  boasteth  that  he  knoweth  helle 
And  god  it  wot,  that  is  litel  wonder 
Freres  and  feendes  being  but  litel  asunder. 

Incidentally  he  retells  an  old 
Italian  story  of  a  certain  king  who 
ordered  the  execution  of  an  alleged 
murderer.  On  the  way  to  the  gal- 
lows the  procession  encountered 
the  supposed  murdered  man.  The 
officer  in  charge  led  back  the  accused. 
Thereupon  the  king  commanded  that 
all  three  should  be  put  to  death,  the 
officer  for  disobeying  orders,  the  sus- 
pect because  he  had  been  legally 


Swadilfari 


297 


Tailed 


condemned  and  the  alleged  defunct 
because  he  had  occasioned  the  death 
of  the  other  two. 

Swadilfari,  in  Norse  myth,  a  magic 
horse    belonging    to    Hrimthurse,    a 
Frost   Giant,    who   had   engaged   to 
build   a   wall   around   Asgard   in  a 
single   winter.     So   quickly   did   the 
horse  fetch  stone  and  wood  for  the 
work  that  it  was  evident  it  would  be 
completed    within    the    given    time. 
But    insomuch    as    Hrimthurse    had 
stipulated   he   should   have   for   his 
reward  the  sun  and  the  moon  and 
even  Freja  herself  the  gods  consulted 
together  how  they  should  avoid  pay- 
ment.    Loki,  who  had  got  them  into 
this  dilemma  (deeming  that  he  had 
stipulated   for  the   impossible),  now 
engaged    to    release    them.      When 
Hrimthurse  again  sought  the  moun- 
tain for  stone  and  wood  Loki  made  his 
appearance  in  the  form  of  a  mare. 
Instantly    the    stallion    gave    chase. 
The  pursuit  lasted  a  day  and  a  night. 
When  the  builder  at  last  came  up 
with  his  horse,  both  were  so  exhausted 
that  even  next  day  they  could  not 
continue  their  work.     Then  he  ac- 
cused the  ^sir  of  trickery  and  threat- 
ened   to    capture   Asgard    by    force. 
Suddenly   Thor,   who  had  been  far 
away  in  quest  of  dragons,  appeared 
with  thunder  and  lightning  and  broke 
the  giant's  skull,  and  his  soul  sank 
into    Nifelhel.      In    due   course    the 
mare  was  delivered  of  an   8-legged 
colt,    Sleipner,    which    when    grown 
became  the  steed  of  Odin. 

Swan-Maidens,  in  the  folklore  of 
the  middle  ages,  common  to  all  the 
northern  nations,  were  supernatural 
beings,  who  had  the  power  of  trans- 
forming themselves  into  swans. 
When  they  alighted  on  the  earth  they 
divested  themselves  of  their  plumage 
and  appeared  as  beautiful  damsels. 


There  are  numerous  stories  of  mortal 
man  seizing  upon  this  coat  of  feathers 
and  so  compelling  the  owner  to  re- 
main in  her  female  shape  and  marry- 
ing her.  But  in  nearly  all  of  them 
the  female  finally  succeeds  in  recap- 
turing her  plumage  and  flies  away 
from  her  husband  and  children. 
This  myth  of  the  swan-maidens  is 
evidently  a  reminiscence  of  the  Val- 
kyries, who  also  had  the  power  of 
transforming  themselves  into  swans. 
In  the  progress  of  time,  the  swan- 
maidens  degenerated  from  super- 
natural beings  to  mere  mortals,  who 
had  been  changed  into  swans  by  the 
malice  of  an  enchanter. 

Syren.    See  SIREN. 

Syrinx,  in  classic  myth  an  Arcadian 
nymph,  one  of  the  retinue  of  Diana. 
Having  taken  a  vow  of  virginity 
she  fled  from  the  rough  importunities 
of  Pan  into  the  river  Laclon,  whose 
presiding  deity  was  her  father.  At 
her  own  prayer  Ladon  metamor- 
phosed her  into  a  reed.  Pan  sighed 
out  his  disappointment  among  the 
reeds  and  was  surprised  to  hear  them 
answer  sigh  for  sigh.  Thereupon  he 
conceived  the  idea  of  the  flute,  which 
sighs  under  the  lips  of  the  unhappy 
lover.  He  cut  down  several  stalks  of 
different  sizes,  fastened  them  to- 
gether with  wax  and  called  the  result 
a  syrinx. 

The  story  is  told  at  length  in 
Ovid's  Metamorphoses,  i,  690.  It  is 
frequently  referred  to  in  Elizabethan 
poetry,  e.g.,  in  Fletcher's  Faithful 
Shepherdess,  i, 

Fair  Syrinx  fled 

Arcadian  Pan  with  such  a  fearful  dread. 
Poor  nymph — poor  Pan — how  did  he  weep 

to  find 

Nought  but  a  lovely  sighing  of  the  wind 
Along  the  reedy  stream;  a  half  heard  strain, 
Full  of  sweet  desolation,  balmy  pain 

KEATS:  /  Stuod  Tiptop,  1.  157- 


is  this  true  of  the  link  between  man 
and  the  brute  creation.     \\V  know 

mms  iiiiaoing   L^OW^  —  j    — —    that   men   have   a   vestigial    tail   or 
of  creation  standing  in  the  relation    caudal   appendage   which  at 
of  ancestor  and  descendant.    Notably    periods  of  gestation  protrud 


Tailed  Men.  Modern  evolution- 
ary theories  recognize  that  there  are 
links  missing  between  many  orders 


Tailed 


298 


Talos 


the  base  of  the  spine,  but  disappears 
beneath  the  skin  before  birth.  Hence 
it  is  not  impossible  that  primitive 
man  had  a  tail.  The  possibility,  how- 
ever, has  never  been  verified  from 
any  extant  tribe  of  men  or  any  skele- 
ton remains  of  the  past.  Travellers 
have,  indeed,  told  us  at  various  times 
about  tailed  men.  But  investigation 
has  tended  to  show  that  the  travellers 
deceived  themselves  or  accepted  too 
much  on  hearsay.  Purchas,  in  the 
sixteenth  century,  gave  us  informa- 
tion of  '  Somme  men  with  tayles 
like  dogges  a  spanne  longe  '  who 
dwelt  in  the  kingdom  of  Lambri- 
Lambri,  in  the  Philippines;  and  of 
"  certain  people ':  in  the  island  of 
Sumatra,  called  the  Daraqui  Dara, 
"  which  have  tayles  like  sheepe." 

In  the  same  century  Gabriel 
Harvey  learned  from  "  a  reliable  and 
truthful  man  "  that  in  the  island  of 
Borneo — whence  the  reliable  and 
truthful  man  had  just  returned — 
tailed  men  were  common.  Strangely 
enough,  Harvey  has  been  corrob- 
orated by  such  moderns  as  Sir 
Spencer  St.  John,  Carl  Bok,  and  the 
Rajah  of  Sarawak,  to  this  extent,  at 
least,  that  the  tradition  of  their 
presence  in  Borneo  still  survives. 
No  European  has  seen  them  with  his 
own  eyes,  and  it  is  a  trifle  suspicious 
that  when  you  make  inquiries  the 
caudate  tribes  live  still  one  day 
further  in  the  interior. 

John  Struys,  who  visited  Formosa 
in  1766,  minutely  describes  a  tailed 
man  he  met  there:  "  He  had  a  tail 
more  than  a  foot  long,  covered  with 
red  hair  and  very  like  that  of  a  cow. 
That  the  man  had  a  tail  I  saw  as 
distinctly  as  that  he  had  a  head." 

Africa  is  rich  in  tailed  men  myths. 
It  is  asserted  by  the  natives  of 
Western  Africa  that  there  is  a  race 
known  as  the  Niam-Niams,  who,  male 
and  female  alike,  possess  a  tail.  In 
the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century 
a  M.  Descouret  was  sent  to  explore 
the  little-known  wilds  of  Africa  and 
ascertain  the  truth  concerning  the 
Niam-Niams.  He  did  not  succeed 
in  seeing  any  member  of  the  tribe, 
but  from  other  natives  he  learned 


that  they  were  distinguished  by  an 
external  elongation  of  the  vertebral 
column  which  "  forms  a  tail  two  or 
three  inches  long."  Further  partic- 
ulars were  later  supplied  by  one 
M.  Castleman,  still  from  hearsay, 
viz.,  that  the  Haussas  made  an  ex- 
pedition against  the  tailed  men,  fell 
on  them  when  they  were  asleep  and 
massacred  them  to  a  man.  Says  the 
explorer:  "  They  had  all  of  them  tails 
forty  centimetres  long  and  from  two 
to  three  in  diameter.  The  organ  is 
smooth." 

Dr.  Hubsch,  while  physician  to  the 
hospitals  at  Constantinople,  came 
across  a  couple  of  Niam-Niams,  one 
a  woman,  the  other  a  man,  each  of 
whom  had  a  tail  "  a  few  inches 
long."  He  continues,  "  I  knew  also 
at  Constantinople  the  son  of  a 
physician,  aged  two  years,  who  was 
born  with  a  tail  an  inch  long.  He 
belonged  to  the  white  Caucasian  race. 
One  of  his  grandfathers  possessed 
the  same  appendage." 

Early  in  the  twentieth  century  it 
was  reported  in  the  newspapers  that 
a  French  traveller  had  discovered  a 
race  of  tailed  men  in  Annam.  The 
report  was  never  properly  verified. 

On  the  whole  Dr.  Johnson's 
answer  to  Lord  Monboddo  is  still 
apt  on  the  lips  of  a  doubter.  It 
will  be  remembered  that  James 
Burnett,  Lord  Monboddo,  in  his 
Origin  and  Progress  of  Language  (773) 
and  in  other  works,  had  anticipated 
Darwin  in  pointing  out  the  affinity 
between  human  and  simian  anatomy 
and  had  even  gone  so  far  as  to  main- 
tain that  some  savages  possessed  a 
tail.  "  Of  a  standing  fact,  sir,"  said 
Johnson,  "  there  ought  to  be  no 
controversy.  If  there  are  men  with 
tails  catch  me  a  homo  caudatus." 

Talking  Bird,  The  (Bulbulhezar), 
in  the  Arabian  Nights  story  of  The 
Two  Sisters,  had  the  power  of  human 
speech  whereby  it  revealed  hidden 
secrets.  A  similarly  gifted  bird  in 
the  Countess  D'Aulnoy's  fairy  tale 
of  The  Princess  Fair  star  (1682)  is 
called  "  the  little  green  bird." 

Talos,  in  Greek  myth,  a  brazen 
giant  constructed  by  Hephaestus  for 


Tarn 


299 


Tammuz 


Minos,  to  guard  the  island  of  Crete. 
Thrice  every  day  he  made  the  rounds 
of  the  island,  scaring  away  those  who 
approached  by  throwing  stones  at 
them.  If  despite  his  efforts  they 
effected  a  landing  he  sprang  into  the 
fire  with  them  and  pressed  them  to 
his  glowing  bosom  until  they  were 
burned  to  death.  A  yein  of  blood 
ran  from  his  head  to  his  foot,  where 
it  was  closed  by  a  nail.  When  the 
Argonauts  came  to  Crete,  Medea 
made  the  nail  fall  out  by  means  of  a 
magic  song.  According  to  another 
account  Pceas,  the  father  of  Philoc- 
tetes,  shot  it  out  with  his  bow, 
whereupon  Talos  bled  to  death. 

Or  that  portentous  Man  of  Brass 

Hephaestus  made  in  days  of  yore, 

Who  stalked  about  the  Cretan  shore, 

And  saw  the  ships  appear  and  pass, 

And  threw  stones  at  the  Argonauts, 

Being  filled  with  indiscriminate  ire 

That  tangled  and  perplexed  his  thoughts; 

But,  like  a  hospitable  host, 

When  strangers  landed  on  the  coast, 

Heated  himself  red-hot  with  fire, 

And  hugged  them  in  his  arms,  and  pressed 

Their  bodies  to  his  burning  breast. 

LONGFELLOW:  Tales  of  a  Wayside  Inn 
Introduction  to  Poet's  Tale  of 

CHARLEMAGNE. 

In  the  Poet's  Tale  of  Charlemagne 
in  Tales  of  a  Wayside  Inn  (1863) 
Longfellow  versifies  a  legend  which  he 
found  in  an  old  chronicle,  De  Factis 
Caroli  Magni,  quoted  by  Cantu, 
Storia  degli  Italiani,  ii,  122.  It  in- 
cludes these  lines: 

And  Charlemagne  appeared;  a  man  of  Iron! 
His  helmet  was  of  iron,  and  his  gloves 
Of  iron,  and  his  breast  plate  and  his  greaves 
And  tassels  were  of  iron,  and  his  shield. 
In  his  left  hand  he  held  an  iron  spear. 
In  his  right  hand  his  sword  invincible; 
The  horse  he  rode  on  had  the  strength  of  iron 
And  color  of  iron.    All  who  went  before  him 
Beside  him  and  behind  him.  his  whole  host 
Were  armed  with  iron, and  their  hearts  within 

them 

Were  stronger  than  the  armor  that  they  wore. 
The  fields  and  all  the  roads  were  filled  with 

iron, 

And  points  of  iron  glistened  in  the  sun 
And  shed  a  terror  through  the  city  streets. 

Tarn  Lin  or  Tamlane,  hero  of  a 
Scotch  ballad  preserved  in  Percy's 
Reliques.  A  better  version,  which 
Burns  obtained  for  Johnson's  Museum 
(1792),  is  in  Child's  Collection, ii,  340. 
The  ballad  is  mentioned  in  The 


Complaint  of  Scotland  (1549).  In 
some  versions  Tarn  Lin  was  son  of 
the  Earl  of  Murray,  in  others  of  the 
Earl  of  Roxburgh.  The  Queen  of  the 
Fairies  spirited  him  away  to  dwell  in 
a  green  hill  at  Carterhaugh.  Janet, 
a  mortal  maiden  whom  he  loved, 
freed  him  on  Hallowe'en  night.  The 
fairy  folk  rode  out  "  just  at  the  mirk 
and  midnight  hour,"  and  Janet 
seized  her  true  love  and  clung  to 
him  through  various  transformations 
until  he  resumed  his  proper  form  of 
"  a  naked  knight,"  when  she  covered 
him  with  her  green  mantle  and  he 
was  safe.  These  metamorphoses 
would  appear  to  be  popular  reminis- 
cences of  the  classic  myth  of  Proteus 
(q.v.).  The  ballad  also  has  analogies 
with  the  legends  of  Tannhauser  and 
Thomas  of  Ercildoune.  Tom  d  Lin- 
coln (q.v.),  in  an  English  chap-book, 
is  probably  a  later  form  of  the  Tarn 
Lin  legend. 

Tammany,  St.,  a  corruption  of 
Tamenund,  the  tutelary  patron  of 
a  branch  of  the  Democratic  party 
in  New  York  politics,  with  head- 
quarters at  Tammany  Hall  in  Four- 
teenth Street  and  Third  Avenue. 
Tamenund,  a  famous  chief  of  the 
Lenni-Lenape  or  Delaware  Indians, 
flourished  about  the  middle  of  the 
seventeenth  century.  Tradition  rep- 
resents him  as  a  wise  and  just 
ruler  over  his  tribe,  an  eloquent 
orator  and  a  great  warrior,  though 
he  preferred  the  paths  of  peace  to 
those  of  war.  His  favorite  motto 
was  "Unite  in  peace  for  happiness, 
in  war  for  defence."  Cooper  intro- 
duces him  into  The  Last  of  the 
Mohicans  (Chaps.  28,  29),  where  he 
presides  at  a  council  of  his  nation. 
As  a  staunch  friend  of  the  whites  he 
was  facetiously  canonized  in  the  early 
days  of  the  Revolution  and  accepted 
as  a  patron  saint  of  the  new  Republic. 

Tammuz  or  Thammuz,  a  Baby- 
lonian and  Assyrian  nature  god  akin 
to  if  not  actually  identical  with  the 
Adonis  of  the  Greeks.  Both  myths 
represent  the  dying  of  the  year  and 
its  resuscitation  with  the  spring.  A 
feature  in  his  cult  was  the  annual 
festival  of  mourning  for  the  young 


Tancred 


300 


Tannhauser 


god,  at  which  women  were  hired  to 
weep.  Ezekiel  viii,  14,  shows  this 
festival  had  been  introduced,  with 
other  "  abominations,"  into  the  very 
temple  at  Jerusalem:  "  Then  he 
brought  me  to  the  door  of  the  gate 
of  Jehovah's  house  which  was  toward 
the  north;  and  behold  there  sat  the 
women  weeping  for  Tammuz." 

Tancred.  Two  heroes  of  this  name 
are  famous  in  mediaeval  and  later 
poetry  and  romance.  The  first 
(1078-1112)  headed  the  first  crusade, 
conquered  Jerusalem  in  1099,  was 
made  Prince  of  Tiberias  and  died  in 
Antioch.  He  plays  a  conspicuous 
part  in  Tasso's  Jerusalem  Delivered. 

The  second  Tancred  was  the  ille- 
gitimate son  of  Roger  II,  King  of 
Naples  and  Sicily,  to  whose  throne 
he  succeeded.  A  counter  claim  was 
put  up  for  his  niece,  a  legitimate 
descendant  of  Roger  II,  by  her  hus- 
band, Emperor  Henry  VI.  Tancred 
bravely  defended  himself,  but  his 
death  in  1194  put  an  end  to  his 
dynasty.  His  tiny  stature  earned  for 
him  the  title  of  Tancredulus.  Medi- 
aeval romancers  gave  him  a  daughter 
Ghismonda  (q.v.~)  or  Sigismunda  who 
was  the  heroine  of  a  tale  told  by 
Boccaccio,  Chaucer  and  Dryden. 

Tancred,  prince  of  Salerno,  who  kills 
Guiscardo,  the  lover  of  his  daughter  Ghis- 
monda, or  Sigismonda,  and  sends  his  heart 
in  a  vase  to  that  unfortunate  lady,  Ghis- 
monda who  empties  into  this  vase  a  poison 
she  had  already  prepared  and  drinks  it  and 
dies  in  the  presence  of  her  now  repentant 
father.form  a  terrible  subjectwhichBoccaccio 
has  treated  with  energetic  simplicity,  and 
which  Dryden  has  decked  in  all  the  colors 
of  poetry  without  altering  its  primitive 
character,  its  interest,  or  its  terror.  This 
subject,  whose  catastrophe  offers  analogies 
with  the  history  of  the  Troubadour  Cabes- 
taing  and  the  romance  of  the  Sire  de  Courcy, 
had  a  national  interest,  not  for  the  Floren- 
tine Boccaccio,  but  for  the  Neapolitan 
princess  whom  he  sought  to  amuse  by  his 
tales.  This  tragic  episode  in  the  family  of 
Tancred,  one  of  the  last  princes  of  the  Nor- 
man dynasty,  was  in  some  sort  a  tradition 
of  the  country.  Boccaccio's  tale  made  a 
tremendous  sensation  in  Italy.  Leonardo 
d'Arezzo  translated  it  into  Latin  prose. 
Michel  Accolti  made  it  the  subject  of  a 
capilolo  in  terza  rima,  Beroaldo  in  the  six- 
teenth century  turned  it  into  Latin  elegiac 
verses,  finally  it  received  in  England  the 
honor  of  a  poetical  imitation  by  Dryden. — 
GINGUENE:  Histoire  Litteraire  d'ltalie,  Hi, 
105. 


Tannhauser,  a  German  minne- 
singer of  the  1 3th  century,  hero  of  a 
mediaeval  legend  famous  in  modern 
romance,  art  and  music.  Riding  one 
night  by  the  Venusberg,  one  of  the 
Thuringian  mountains  in  Germany, 
Venus  herself  appeared  to  him,  and 
lured  him  into  her  enchanted  cavern. 
There  he  spent  seven  years  of  revelry 
and  debauch.  Satiated  then  with 
lawless  pleasures,  troubled  in  con- 
science, he  longed  to  make  his  peace 
with  God,  and  wandered  as  a  penitent 
to  Rome.  Pope  Urban  IV,  a  hard 
stern  man,  thrust  him  away  in  horror 
when  he  heard  his  story.  "  Sooner," 
he  cried,  "  shall  this  dry  staff  in  my 
hand  grow  green  and  blossom,  than 
pardon  come  to  a  sin  like  yours." 
Tannhauser  wandered  back  to  Ger- 
many in  despair.  Three  days  after 
his  departure  the  pope's  staff  burst 
into  blossom.  Messengers  hastened 
after  Tannhauser.  It  was  too  late; 
he  had  already  gone  down  into  the 
Venusberg. 

In  this  part  of  the  legend  all  the 
versions  agree,  as  to  the  early  life 
of  the  hero  they  conflict.  One  story 
makes  him  love  a  maiden  called 
Kunigunde,  whose  father  rejects 
him  because  of  his  poverty.  He  sets 
out  to  make  his  fortune,  falls  in  with 
the  musician  Klingsohr,  and  agrees 
to  accompany  him  to  the  Minstrels' 
war  at  Wartburg  (see  WARTBURG). 
On  reaching  the  mountains  of  Thurin- 
gia,  they  are  met  by  the  Faithful 
Eckart,  who  warns  them  away  from 
the  Venusberg.  The  old  man's 
words  only  arouse  Tannhauser's 
curiosity.  When  Dame  Venus  ap- 
pears he  falls  an  easy  victim  to  her 
wiles. 

In  another  version  Tannhauser  is 
betrothed  to  the  Lady  Lisaura  of 
Mantua.  In  the  same  city  dwelt 
Hilario,  a  learned  philosopher.  One 
day  Tannhauser  expressed  a  wish 
that  some  beautiful  elemental  spirit 
might,  for  his  love,  assume  mortal 
shape.  Hilario  told  him  he  might 
enjoy  the  Queen  of  Love  herself  would 
he  venture  upon  the  Venusberg. 
Tannhauser  undertook  the  quest  and 
Lisaura  in  despair  killed  herself. 


Tantalus 


301 


Tarpeia 


Many  variants  of  the  legend  occur 
in  mediaeval  ballads.  In  modern 
times  Tieck  founded  upon  it  a  tale, 
The  Faithful  Eckart,  which  Carlyle 
has  translated;  Heine  an  unfinished 
poem,  Ritter  Tannenhduser;  Swin- 
burne a  ballad,  Latis  Veneris;  Owen 
Meredith  a  narrative  poem,  Tann- 
hauser or  the  Battle  of  the  Bards,  and, 
above  all,  Wagner  an  opera.  In  the 
latter  Tannhauser  is  beloved  by  Elsa 
(Elizabeth),  daughter  of  Hermann 
the  Landgrave,  owner  of  the  Castle  of 
Wartburg.  The  maiden  never  ceases 
to  pray  for  him  during  all  his  wander- 
ings. When  he  returns  despairing 
from  Rome,  Tannhauser  meets  an- 
other minstrel,  Wolfram  of  Eschen- 
bach,  who  also  is  in  love  with  Elsa. 
He  hears  the  voices  of  the  sirens 
luring  him  back  to  the  Venusberg. 
Wolfram  seeks  to  retain  him,  but  is 
powerless  until  he  mentions  the  name 
of  Elsa,  when  the  sirens  vanish.  A 
funeral  procession  appears.  On  the 
bier  lies  Elsa,  dead.  Tannhauser 
sinks  down  upon  the  corpse  and  dies, 
— the  pilgrim's  staff  in  his  hand  burst- 
ing out  into  leaf  and  blossom  to  show 
that  his  sins  have  been  forgiven. 

This  legend  is  explained  by  Baring-Gould 
as  an  allegory  of  the  early  mediaeval  struggle 
between  the  old  faith  and  the  new.  The 
knightly  Tannhauser.  satiated  with  pagan 
sensuality,  turns  to  Christianity  for  relief, 
but,  repelled  by  the  hypocrisy,  pride  and 
lack  of  sympathy  among  its  ministers,  gives 
up  in  despair,  and  returns  to  drown  his  anx- 
ieties in  his  old  debauchery. 

Though  the  application  be  modern,  the 
myth  itself  is  of  pre-Christian  origin.  Dozens 
of  pagan  parallels  spring  readily  to  mind: 
Numa  and  his  nightly  visits  to  the  nymph 
Egeria;  Odysseus  held  captive  by  Calypso; 
Prince  Ahmed  enslaved  by  the  charms  of 
Peribanou.  The  zone  of  the  moon  goddess 
Aphrodite  inveigles  all-seeing  Zeus  to 
treacherous  slumber  on  Mount  Ida,  etc.  See 
also  THOMAS  OF  ERCILDOUNE. 

Tantalus,  in  Greek  myth,  a  son  of 
Zeus  by  the  nymph  Plote,  King  of 
either  Lydia  or  Sipylus  in  Phrygia.  A 
favorite  of  the  gods  he  was  allowed 
to  share  their  meals.  Some  say 
in  order  to  test  the  omniscience  of  his 
divine  friends  he  caused  his  own  son 
Pelops  to  be  served  up  at  a  banquet 
to  which  he  had  invited  them.  ?he 
fraud  was  discovered,  but  not  until 


Ceres  had  inadvertently  partaken  of 
a  shoulder.  Other  accounts  make 
him  divulge  Olympian  secrets  that 
had  been  entrusted  to  him.  What- 
ever the  crime  he  was  punished  in 
Tartarus  by  being  immersed  in 
water  up  to  his  chin,  with  fruits  and 
other  foods  in  apparently  easy  reach, 
yet  continuously  tortured  by  hunger 
and  thirst,  for  when  he  opened  his 
mouth  the  waters  receded  and  the 
food  vanished  into  the  air. 

There  Tantalus  along  the  Stygian  bounds 
Pours  out  deep  groans  (with  groans  all  hell 

resounds); 

E'en  in  the  circling  floods  refreshment  craves. 
And  pines  with  thirst  amidst  a  sea  of  waves; 
When  to  the  water  he  his  lips  applies. 
Back  from  his  lip  the  treacherous  water  flics. 
Above,  beneath,  around  his  hapless  head. 
Trees  of  all  kinds  delicious  fruitage  spread; 
There  figs,  sky-dyed,  a  purple  hue  disclose. 
Green    looks    the    olive,    the    pomegranate 

glows: 

There  dangling  pears  exalting  scents  unfold, 
And  yellow  apples  ripen  into  gold; 
The  fruit  he  strives  to  seize;  but  blasts  arise, 
Toss  it  on  high,  and  whirl  it  to  the  skies. 

HOMER:  Odyssey.    POPE,  trans. ,  xi.  719. 

Tariel,  titular  hero  of  a  mediaeval 
Georgian  epic,  The  Man  in  the 
Panther's  Skin,  by  Shot'ha  Rust'- 
haveli,  translated  into  English  (1912) 
by  Majory  Scott  Wardrop.  He  as- 
sumes the  panther  skin  when,  crazed 
for  love  of  Ncstan-Daredjan,  he 
wanders  into  the  wilderness.  After 
many  strange  adventures  he  is 
rescued  by  his  friends  Avt'handil 
and  P'hridon,  recovers  his  wits  and 
wins  the  maiden,  whereupon  Avt'- 
handil consummates  his  own  mar- 
riage with  his  betrothed  T'hinat'hin. 

Tarpeia,  in  Roman  legend,  daugh- 
ter of  Tarpeius,  governor  of  the 
citadel  when  Rome  was  besieged  by 
the  Sabines.  Tempted  at  the  sight 
of  the  bracelets  worn  by  the  be- 
siegers she  promised  to  open  a  gate 
of  the  fortress  in  return  for  what 
they  wore  on  their  arms.  They 
entered  and  in  savage  sarcasm  hurlc-d 
their  shields  at  her  and  crushed  lu-r 
to  death.  The  Tarpeian  rock,  a 
part  of  the  Capitoline  hill,  con- 
demned her  name  to  eternal  infamy. 
This  rock  was  also  known  as  the 
Traitor's  Leap,  because  from  its  sum- 
mit men  who  had  proved  false  to 


Tarquin 


302 


Tawiskara 


their  country  were  hurled  to  death. 
In  modem  literature  Hawthorne's 
Donatello  in  The  Marble  Faun  makes 
Miriam's  persecutor  take  the  fatal 
leap. 

Where  is  the  rock  of  Triumph,  the  high  place 
Where  Rome  embraced  her  heroes? — where 

the  steep 

Tarpeian? — fittest  goal  of  Treason's  race, 
The  Promontory  whence  the  Traitor's  Leap 
Cured  all  ambition?     Did  the  conquerors 

heap 
Their  spoils  here?    Yes;    and  in  yon  field 

below, 

A  thousand  years  of  silenced  factions  sleep — 
The  Forum,  where  the  immortal  accents 

glow, 
And  still  the  eloquent  air  breathes — burns 

with  Cicero! 

BYRON:  Childe  Harold,  iv,  cxii. 

Tarquin  (Lat.  Tarquinius),  the 
name  of  a  family  which  according  to 
Roman  legends,  supplied  two  kings 
to  the  early  annals  of  the  city,  while 
a  third  member,  Sextus,  was  directly 
responsible  for  the  fall  of  the  kingdom 
and  the  establishment  of  a  republic 
in  its  place. 

Lucius  Tarquinius  Priscus  (B.  c. 
616-579),  fifth  king  in  succession  to 
Romulus,  was  courageous,  wise  and 
much  beloved,  but  was  murdered  by 
conspirators  who  did  not  reap  the 
reward  of  their  crime. 

Lucius  Tarquinius  Superbus  suc- 
ceeded, after  an  interval,  to  his  grand- 
father's throne  as  the  seventh  and 
last  king.  His  nickname  Superbus, 
the  Proud,  was  given  him  on  account 
of  his  cruelty  and  tyranny.  But 
though  feared  at  home,  he  won  great 
victories  abroad  and  raised  the  city 
to  a  commanding  position.  He  fell 
through  the  criminal  lust  of  his  son, 
Sextus  Tarquinius,  who  committed 
an  outrage  on  Lucretia,  wife  of  a 
cousin,  Tarquinius  Collatinus.  Lu- 
cretia after  the  crime  sent  for  her 
husband  and  her  father,  who  arrived 
in  company  with  Lucius  Brutus  (q.v.) 
and  Valerius  Publicola.  She  told 
them  how  and  by  whom  she  had 
been  dishonored  and  then  stabbed 
herself  to  death.  The  four  witnesses, 
with  Brutus  at  their  head,  swore  to 
avenge  her.  They  stirred  up  the 
populace  by  a  recital  of  the  facts 
and  the  Tarquin  family  was  driven 


out  of  Rome.  Three  unsuccessful 
attempts  to  restore  them  were  made, 
one^  by  the  people  of  Tarquinii  and 
Veii,  the  second  and  most  famous  by 
Lars  Porsena  of  Clusium,  and  the 
third  by  dwellers  in  the  Latin  States, 
who  were  defeated  at  Lake  Regillus. 
Shakspear's  poem  Tarquin  and 
Lucrece  tells  the  story  of  the  rape, 
two  of  Macaulay's  Lays  of  Ancient 
Rome  deal  respectively  with  the 
attack  on  the  city  by  Lars  Porsena 
and  the  battle  of  Lake  Regillus. 

Lars  Porsena  of  Clusium 

By  the  nine  gods  he  swore 
That  the  great  house  of  Tarquin 

Should  suffer  wrong  no  more. 
By  the  Nine  Gods  he  swore  it, 

And  named  a  trysting  day. 
And  bade  his  messengers  ride  forth, 

East  and  west,  and  south  and  north 

To  summon  his  array. 
MACAULAY:  Lays  of  Ancient  Rome. 

Horatius. 

Tartarus,  son  of  ^ther  and  Ge, 
and  by  his  mother  the  father  of  the 
giants  Typheus  and  Echidna.  In 
Homer's  Iliad  Tartarus  is  the  name 
of  a  part  of  the  underworld  reserved 
for  the  rebel  Titans,  as  far  below 
Hades  as  heaven  is  above  earth.  In 
the  JEneid,  vi,  the  Sibyl  conveys 
^Eneas  to  the  gates  of  Tartarus,  which 
is  described  as  the  place  for  the  con- 
demned. An  iron  tower  stood  by 
the  gate  whereon  Tisiphone  the 
avenging  fury  kept  guard.  From 
inside  the  town  came  groans,  and 
the  sounds  of  the  scourges,  the  creak- 
ing of  iron,  and  the  clanking  of  chains. 
To  a  question  from  the  horror  struck 
^Eneas  the  Sibyl  replies:  "  Here  is 
the  judgment  seat  of  Rhadamanthus, 
who  brings  to  light  crimes  done  in 
life  which  the  perpetrator  vainly 
thought  impenetrably  hid.  Tisi- 
phone applies  her  whip  of  scorpions 
and  delivers  the  offenders  over  to 
her  sister  Furies."  She  added  that 
the  gulf  of  Tartarus  descended  deep 
and  that  at  the  bottom  the  Titans 
lie  prostrate. 

Tawiskara  (the  Dark  One),  in 
Iroquois  myth,  a  twin  brother  of 
loskeha  (the  White  One).  They 
were  born  of  a  virgin  mother  who 
died  in  giving  them  birth.  Under 


Telegonus 


303 


Telephus 


the  influence  of  Christian  ideas  the 
contest  that  arose  between  them 
has  been  made  to  assume  a  moral 
character,  like  the  strife  between 
Ormuzd  and  Ahriman.  But  Dr. 
D.  G.  Brinton  has  shown  that  no 
such  intention  appears  in  the  original 
myth,  for  none  of  the  American 
Indian  tribes  had  any  conception  of 
a  Devil,  or  principle  of  evil.  It 
simply  symbolizes  the  conflict  be- 
tween light  and  darkness,  which  is 
renewed  every  day  in  the  heavens. 

When  the  quarrel  came  to  blows, 
the  dark  brother  was  signally  dis- 
comfited; and  the  victorious  loskeha, 
returning  to  his  grandmother,  "  es- 
tablished his  lodge  in  the  far  East, 
on  the  borders  of  the  Great  Ocean, 
whence  the  sun  comes.  In  time  he 
became  the  father  of  mankind,  and 
special  guardian  of  the  Iroquois." 
He  caused  the  earth  to  bring  forth, 
he  stocked  the  woods  with  game,  and 
taught  his  children  the  use  of  fire. 
"  He  it  was  who  watched  and  watered 
their  crops;  '  and,  indeed,  without  his 
aid,'  says  the  old  missionary,  quite 
out  of  patience  with  their  puerilities, 
'they  think  they  could  not  boil  a 
pot.'  "  There  was  more  in  it  than 
poor  Bre"beuf  thought,  comments 
John  Fiske,  as  we  are  forcibly  re- 
minded by  recent  discoveries  in 
physical  science.  '  Even  civilized 
men  would  find  it  difficult  to  boil  a 
pot  without  the  aid  of  solar  energy." 

Telegonus,  in  a  Roman  myth  that 
was  entirely  independent  of  early 
Greek  tradition,  a  son  of  Ulysses 
and  Circe,  born  after  that  hero's 
departure  from  the  island  of  the 
enchantress.  The  adventures  of 
Telegonus  form  the  subject  of  an 
epic,  the  Telegonea  (B.C.  566),  by 
Eugamo  of  Cyrene.  Circe  sent  him 
out  as  soon  as  he  reached  manhood 
in  search  of  his  father.  Landing  at 
Ithaca  he  plunders  the  island  and, 
in  sheer  ignorance,  slays  _  Ulysses 
with  a  poisonous  sting-ray  given  him 
by  Circe  as  a  spear-point.  Thus  is 
fulfilled  the  prophecy  of  Tircsias 
(Odyssey,  xi)  that  death  would  come  to 
the  patriarch  from  the  sea.  When 
Telegonus  discovers  the  truth,  he 


carries  the  dead  body  home  withjiim, 
together  with  Penelope,  whom  he  mar- 
ries, and  Telemachus,  who  marries 
Circe.  Ovid  (Fasti,  iii,  92)  makes 
Telegonus  the  founder  of  Tusculum. 
Horace  (Odes,  iii,  29,  8)  adds  that  he 
founded  Praeneste. 

Telemachus,  in  classic  myth  the 
only  son  of  Odysseus  (Ulysses)  and 
Penelope.  He  was  an  infant  when 
his  father  sailed  for  Troy.  After  a 
twenty  years'  interval  Telemachus, 
accompanied  by  Minerva  in  the  form 
of  Mentor,  went  in  search  of  the 
absentee,  was  hospitably  received 
by  Nestor  at  Pylos,  and  by  Menelaus 
at  Sparta,  but  was  forced  to  sail  home 
again,  and  there  found  his  father  dis- 
guised as  a  beggar  in  a  swineherd's 
hut  and  prepared  with  him  the  sensa- 
tional coup  by  which  Ulysses  re- 
vealed himself  to  his  wife  and  her 
suitors. 

On  these  outlines  the  Abb6  Fenelon 
has  composed  his  prose  epic  Lfs 
Aventures  de  Telemaque  (1699)  of 
which  Telemachus  is  hero.  Many 
episodes  have  been  added  by  Fenelon, 
conspicuously  Telemachus's  adven- 
tures on  the  island  of  Calypso,  that 
nymph  falling  in  love  with  him  as 
desperately  as  she  had  previously 
fallen  in  love  with  his  father.  (Books 
vi-vii,  and  Telemachus's  descent  into 
the  shades,  Book  xviii.) 

Telemachus,  a  semi-historical  Syr- 
ian monk,  obsessed  with  the  notion 
that  he  had  a  divine  mission  to  put 
an  end  to  the  bloody  games  in  the 
Coliseum,  who  in  A.D.  404  leaped 
into  the  arena  during  a  gladiatorial 
contest,  and  was  stoned  to  death. 
Shame  and  remorse  immediately 
succeeded  to  murderous  rage.  The 
destroyers  bestowed  funeral  honors 
on  their  victim,  and  when,  immedi- 
ately after,  the  Emperor  Honorius 
decreed  the  abolition  of  gladiatorial 
shows,  they  yielded  an  unresisting 
obedience. 

Telephus,  King  of  Mysia,  hero  of 
a  tragedy  of  that  name  (B.C.  438) 
by  Euripides  founded  on  classic 
myth.  In  a  contest  with  the  Greek 
invaders  of  Troy  who  had  missed 
their  way  and  attacked  him  by  mis- 


Teller 


304 


Tell 


take,  he  had  been  wounded  by  the 
spear  of  Achilles.  An  oracle  informs 
him  that  "  the  wounder  shall  heal." 
The  king  disguised  as  a  beggar  limps 
into  Agamemnon's  palace.  He  is 
received  with  scorn  which  turns  to 
anger  when  the  disguise  is  penetrated. 
But  he  pleads  his  own  cause  so  effec- 
tively that  Agamemnon  is  softened. 
See  PELIAN  SPEAR. 

Telfer,  Jamie,  hero  of  a  Scotch 
ballad  describing  a  border  foray  of 
a  kind  frequent  during  the  reigns  of 
Mary  Stuart  and  her  son  James  VI 
(or  I  of  England). 

Tell,  William,  hero  of  a  Swiss 
legend  which  has  been  multitudin- 
ously  celebrated  in  literature  and  art. 
Once  accepted  as  historical,  it  is 
now  generally  discredited.  Tell  is 
represented  as  a  hardy  mountaineer 
and  a  famous  archer  in  the  times  when 
the  Emperor  Albert  ruled  over  the 
cantons.  Having  refused  to  bow  to 
a  hat  set  up  in  the  market  place  as  a 
symbol  of  Austrian  domination,  Tell 
was  ordered  by  Gessler,  the  local 
official,  to  shoot  an  apple  off  the  head 
of  his  own  son.  He  performed  the 
feat.  The  tyrant  asked  him  why  he 
had  stuck  a  second  arrow  in  his  belt. 
"  To  kill  thee,  had  I  slain  my  son," 
is  the  answer.  Tell  was  then  seized 
and  bound,  to  be  taken  over  in  a 
boat  to  Gessler's  castle  at  Kussnacht. 
He  sprang  ashore  on  a  rocky  ledge 
still  known  as  Tell's  Leap,  lay  in 
wait  for  the  tyrant,  and  shot  him 
through  the  heart.  Shortly  after 
the  assigned  date  for  these  incidents 
the  war  for  the  liberation  of  Switzer- 
land broke  out.  It  lasted  for  two 
centuries  and  ended  in  Swiss  inde- 
pendence. Legend  does  not  make 
Tell  take  any  prominent  part  in  the 
war,  though  he  is  said  to  have  en- 
gaged in  the  battle  of  Margarten 
(1315).  Fiction  has  improved  upon 
legend.  Tell's  imaginary  exploits 
have  been  amplified  by  Lemierre 
in  a  tragedy  Guillaume  Tell  (1766); 
by  Schiller  in  Wilhelm  Tell  (1804); 
by  Knowles  in  William  Tell  (1840); 
and  by  Rossini  in  the  opera  Gug- 
lielmo  Tell  (1829). 

The   circumstances  attending   the 


origin  and  development  of  this 
legend  make  it  unique  in  the  history 
of  myths. 

When,  in  the  eighteenth  century, 
Freudenberger  ventured  to  publish 
his  famous  pamphlet,  William  Tell,  a 
Legend  of  Denmark,  the  work  was 
publicly  burned  in  the  Altorf  market 
place  by  order  of  the  magistrates  of 
Uri.  To-day  the  essential  truth  of 
his  argument  is  recognized  even  in 
the  cantons  most  interested  in  main- 
taining the  authenticity  of  the  legend, 
because  richest  in  pretended  relics 
of  Tell.  It  is  now  generally  agreed 
that  the  germ  of  this  legend  appeared 
for  the  first  time  in  an  anonymous 
manuscript  entitled  The  White  Book 
(1470).  Until  then  no  one  had  ever 
heard  of  him  or  of  the  three  Swiss 
patriots  who  assisted  him  in  the  work 
of  liberation.  But  the  anonymous 
author  knew  exactly  what  had  taken 
place  163  years  previous, — as,  for 
instance,  that  a  bailiff  of  Sarnen 
named  Landenberg  had  been  ordered 
to  seize  the  oxen  of  a  poor  man 
belonging  to  Melchi  (whence  "  Melch- 
thal  "),  and,  being  attacked  in  the 
execution  of  his  duty,  had  put  the 
poor  man's  eyes  out;  that  various 
acts  of  oppression  had  been  com- 
mitted by  an  Austrian  governor 
named  Gessler;  and  that  the  victims 
of  these  acts,  belonging  to  Obwald, 
Nidwald,  and  Schwyz,  had  formed  a 
league  to  resist  and  overthrow  the 
Austrian  domination.  For  the  can- 
ton of  Uri,  the  cradle  of  Helvetic 
liberty,  another  anecdote  had  to  be 
provided;  and  the  author  of  the 
White  Book  did  not  hesitate  to  adapt 
one  from  the  Danish.  He  had  read 
in  the  Danish  History  of  Saxo 
Grammaticus,  or  in  the  German 
abridgment  published  in  1430,  the 
story  of  Toki,  one  of  King  Harold's 
soldiers,  who,  boasting  of  his  skill  as 
an  archer,  was  ordered  to  shoot  an 
apple  from  the  head  of  his  own  son. 
Substituting  Gessler  for  Harold  and 
Toll  (i.e.  the  "  Daft  ")  for  Toki,  and 
throwing  in  plenty  of  local  color,  the 
author  of  the  White  Book  turned  the 
old  Danish  legend  into  a  capital 
story  of  Switzerland.  The  hat  fixed 


Tell 


305 


Templois 


on  a  pole  before  all  who  passed  were 
to  bow,  is  an  effective  detail  added 
by  the  adapter  himself. 

The  reason  for  this  imposition  is 
not  far  to  seek.     About  the  middle 
of  the  fifteenth  century  the  people  of 
Zurich  were  at  war  with  the  people 
of  Schwyz  and  on  good  terms  with 
the  Austrians.     Songs  in  ridicule  of 
the  peasantry  of  Schwyz  were  com- 
posed in  Zurich,  while  the  nobility 
were  contemned  as  a  vile  race  who 
had  dared  to  shake  off  their  allegiance 
to  their  lawful  master,  the  Prince  of 
the   House   of   Hapsburg.     Meeting 
invention  with  invention,  the  author 
of  the  White  Book  poured  out  tales 
of  Austrian  tyranny  and  Swiss  cour- 
age in  his  Toll  legends.     After  him 
came  the  Tellenlied  (1474)  in  which 
the    hero    bears    the    name,    never 
afterwards  to  desert  him,  of  Wilhelm 
Tell,  and  becomes  the  chief  agent  in 
the    formation    of    the    Swiss    Con- 
federation,    whose    nucleus    is    the 
canton   of  Uri.     The    Chronicles  of 
Stumpff  (1548)  and  of  Tschudi  (1578), 
and    finally    the    Swiss    History    of 
Johannes    von    Muller    (1786)    give 
fuller  and  fuller  details  of  the  im- 
aginary William  Tell.    Tschudi,  with 
the  naive  audacity  of  an  inventive 
child,  names  the  very  day  on  which 
each    pretended    incident    occurred. 
It  was  on  the  25th  of  July,   1307, 
being  St.  James's  Day,  that  Gessler[s 
hat  was  first  hoisted  on  the  pole;  it 
was  on  the  Sunday  after  the  festival 
of  St.  Othmar,  the  i8th  of  November 
in  the  same  year,  that  William  Tell 
passed  to  and  fro  before  it  without 
uncovering   himself.     The   insurrec- 
tionary movement  began  on  the  ist 
of  January,   1308,  and  the  oath  of 
the  three  cantons  was  sworn  on  the 
7th  of  January. 

Muller  comes  forward  with  details 
unsuspected  even  by  Tschudi.  Wil- 
liam Tell,  he  has  ascertained,  was 
born  at  Burglen.  He  married  Walter 
Furst's  daughter,  and  he  had  two 
sons,  William,  named  after  himself, 
and  Walter,  named  after  the  father- 
in-law.  Gessler's  Christian  name  was 
Hermann. 

Nevertheless  Muller's  descriptions 

20 


furnished  Schiller  with  the  ground- 
work of  some  of  his  finest  passages, 
and  supplied  material  which  was  one 
day  to  inspire  Rossini.  The  ranz  des 
vaches,  the  storm  on  the  lake,  the 
fishermen,  the  shepherds,  and  all  the 
picturesque  details  which  give  such 
naturalness  and  beauty  to  the  Ger- 
man drama  and  the  Italian  opera, 
were  of  Muller's  own  invention. 

Tellus,  in  Roman  myth,  the  an- 
cient Italian  deity  personifying  the 
earth,  viewed  from  the  standpoint 
of  its  productiveness.  The  goddess 
of  marriage,  of  fecundity,  and  of 
fertility,  she  was  also  solemnly  in- 
voked as  the  grave  of  all  things. 

Tempe,  a  lovely  valley  in  Thessaly 
through  which  the  Peneus  escapes  to 
the  sea.  Here  Apollo  purified  him- 
self after  slaying  the  Python,  and  it 
was  hither  he  chased  the  nymph 
Daphne  to  her  doom,  the  meta- 
morphosis into  a  laurel. 

Templois  (i.e.  Templars),  the  name 
which  Wolfram  von  Eschenbach,  in 
his  romance  of  Parzival,  gave  to  the 
guardians  of  the  San  Greal.  He 
found  it  in  Guyot's  poem  on  the  sub- 
ject of  the  Greal  (a  poem  now  lost) 
and  the  name  has  been  generally 
adopted  by  his  successors.  Obviously 
there  is  a  reminiscence  here  of  the 
Templars  or  Knight  Templars,  the 
most  famous  and  most  powerful  of 
the  great  military  orders  of  the 
middle  ages,  founded,  circa  1118,  by 
nine  French  knights  then  fighting  as 
crusaders  in  Palestine.  The  historic 
Templars  took  their  name  from  the 
fact  that  they  were  self  constituted 
guardians  of  the  actual  Temple  in 
Jerusalem.  Similarly  the  Templois 
of  fiction  were  guardians  of  the 
fictitious  Temple  of  the  San  Greal 
at  Mont  Salvagge,  an  imaginary  hill 
in  Spain.  According  to  Wolfram,  it 
was  Titurel,  grandfather  of  Parzival 
and  the  first  custodian  or  king  of 
the  Greal,  who  built  for  it  a  temple 
by  command  of,  and  under  instruc- 
tions from,  God  Himself.  This  be- 
came the  abode  of  a  monastic  and 
chivalrous  order  charged  with  the 
duty  of  watching  over  the  relic, 
guarding  the  edifice  and  protecting 


Tereus 


306 


Teugus 


the  kingdom.  The  kingship  of  the  San 
Greal  was  determined  by  the  will  of 
God,  the  name  of  the  chosen  monarch 
being  written  miraculously  upon  the 
vase  itself.  When  sin  had  tainted 
all  the  West  the  San  Greal  was 
ordered  by  the  Almighty  to  be 
transferred  to  the  East.  Parzival 
was  at  this  time  king.  Relic,  temple, 
Templois  and  kingdom  were  all 
transported,  in  a  single  day,  to 
India. 

Tereus,  in  classic  myth,  King  of 
Daulis  and  husband  of  Procne.  He 
violated  her  sister  Philomela  and  then 
sought  to  marry  the  latter,  saying 
that  Procne  was  dead  and  conceal- 
ing her  in  the  country.  At  the  same 
time  he  cut  out  the  tongue  of  Philo- 
mela so  that  she  might  not  reveal 
the  outrage.  So  ran  the  more  an- 
cient legend.  Ovid  (Metamorphoses 
vi,  565)  reverses  the  story  and  makes 
Procne  believe  that  Philomena  is 
dead.  The  end  is  similar  in  all 
versions.  The  truth  eventually  came 
out,  Procne  thereupon  killed  her  own 
son,  Itys,  served  up  the  child's  flesh 
to  Tereus  in  a  dish,  and  fled  with 
Philomela.  Tereus  caught  up  with 
the  fugitives,  who  thereupon  prayed 
to  be  changed  into  birds;  and  Philo- 
mela became  a  nightingale,  Procne 
a  swallow  (though  these  metamor- 
phoses are  interchanged  by  some 
authorities)  and  Tereus  either  a 
hoopoe  or  a  hawk. 

Termagant  (It.  Tergavante,  Old 
Fr.  Tervagant  probably  from  Lat. 
ter,  thrice,  and  vagare,  to  wander), 
a  stock  theatrical  character  in  the 
early  moralities  and  dramas,  repre- 
sented as  violent,  grandiloquent  and 
bombastic,  and  usually  made  the 
mouthpiece  of  the  noisiest  ranks  in 
the  company. 

The  Crusaders  and  the  early 
romance  writers  supposed  Termagant 
to  be  a  Mohammedan  deity  wor- 
shipped by  the  Saracens.  In  the 
old  morality  plays  the  character 
was  frequently  represented  as  a 
violent  and  passionate  male;  eventu- 
ally the  term  was  applied  to  a  scold- 
ing woman,  a  virago,  a  shrew,  in 
which  sense  it  has  survived. 


Oh,  it  offends  me  to  the  soul  to  hear  a 
robustious  periwig-pated  fellow  tear  a  pas- 
sion to  tatters,  to  very  rags,  to  split  the  ears 
of  the  groundlings,  who  for  the  most  part 
are  capable  of  nothing  but  inexplicable 
dumb-shows  and  noise.  I  would  have  such 
a  fellow  whipped  for  o'erdoing  Termagant; 
it  out-herods  Herod. 

SHAKSPEAR:  Hamlet,  in,  2. 

Tervagant  appears  in  the  tenth 
book  of  Amadis  of  Gaul  as  a  god  who 
had  fallen  in  love  with  the  Queen  of 
the  Desolate  Isle.  Meeting  with  a 
rebuff  he  let  loose  a  band  of  hob- 
goblins who  ravaged  the  land.  An 
oracle  declared  that  Tervagant  could 
only  be  appeased  by  the  daily  expo- 
sure on  the  seashore  of  a  fresh  damsel 
until  he  found  one  as  fascinating  as 
the  queen.  The  damsels  were  suc- 
cessively devoured  by  a  dragon,  as 
in  the  classic  myth  of  Andromeda, 
until  a  new  Perseus  arrived,  in  the 
person  of  Agesilan,  mounted  on  a 
griffin.  He  slew  the  dragon,  dis- 
covered the  lady  in  the  case  to  be 
his  own  long-sought  Diana,  flew  with 
her  to  Constantinople  and  there 
married  her. 

Teufelstisch  (Ger.  Devil's  Table), 
a  large  rock  near  Graefenberg  in 
Bavaria  where  the  ghosts  of  the 
kings  of  Franconia  are  traditionally 
believed  to  assemble  on  the  night 
of  May  i,  to  celebrate  a  yearly 
banquet.  A  palace  of  glass,  invisible 
to  mortal  eyes,  would  spring  up  by 
magic  to  shelter  them.  King  Gambri- 
nus,  inventor  of  beer,  and  St.  Arban, 
patron  of  French  vineyards,  were 
always  present,  together  with  a  host 
of  angels  and  demons  who  held 
fierce  controversies  on  theological 
points,  the  angels  upholding  Chris- 
tianity, and  the  demons  contending 
that  the  Franks  could  never  regain 
their  old-time  leadership  'among  Ger- 
man tribes  until  they  returned  to  the 
religion  of  Thor  and  Odin. 

Teugus  (Dogs  of  Heaven),  a 
species  of  elves,  in  the  mythology 
of  the  Shinto  religion  of  Japan,  wno 
haunt  mountains  and  forests.  They 
have  human  bodies,  with  bats'  wings 
and  long  beaks  like  birds  of  prey. 
They  build  their  nests  in  high  trees, 
and  woe  betide  any  luckless  traveller 


Tezcatlipoca 


307 


Thais 


who  attempts  to  disturb  them,  he 
will  meet  with  some  foul  evil  ere  his 
journey  is  over. 

Tezcatlipoca,  the  Aztec  Zeus  or 
Jupiter.  _  His  name,  which  means 
Fiery  Mirror,  was  given  him  because 
he  bore  a  shield  of  polished  metal 
wherein  as  god  of  justice  he  beheld 
all  the  deeds  of  men.  Though  wor- 
shipped as  the  creator  and  life- 
giver,  he  also  possessed  the  power  of 
ending  existence,  and  he  was  re- 
garded as  the  ultimate  destroyer  of 
the  universe.  At  one  period  in 
Mexican  history,  just  before  the 
Spanish  conquest,  his  cult  had  grown 
so  general  that  it  might  have  de- 
veloped into  monotheism,  or  the 
worship  of  one  God.  One  of  his 
names  The  Youthful  Warrior  denoted 
his  vast  reserve  of  vital  force,  which 
was  boisterously  typified  in  the 
tempest.  He  was  usually  represented 
brandishing  a  dart  in  his  right  hand, 
while  in  his  left  he  held  four  extra 
darts,  and  his  mirror-shield. 

Thais,  an  Athenian  hetaera,  noted 
for  her  wit  and  beauty,  who  accom- 
panied Alexander  the  Great  on  his 
expedition  against  Persia.  Accord- 
ing to  doubtful  tradition  she  be- 
guiled Alexander  into  setting  fire  to 
the  royal  palace  of  Darius  at  Persep- 
olis  while  a  great  festival  was  being 
held  and  the  conqueror  was  under 
the  influence  of  wine  and  music. 

The  princes  applaud  with  a  furious  joy 
And  the  King  seized  a  flambeau  with  zeal  to 

destroy ; 

Thais  led  the  way. 
To  light  him  to  his  prey, 
And  like  another  Helen  fired  another  Troy. 
DRYDEN:  Alexander's  Feast. 

Thais  is  also  the  name  of  a  courte- 
san in  a  lost  play  by  Menandcr,  The 
Eunuch,  which  was  avowedly  imi- 
tated by  Terence  in  a  surviving 
play  of  the  same  name.  Mcnan<l<-r 
is  supposed  to  have  here  drawn  his 
own  mistress  Glycere.  It  would 
appear  that  he  also  introduced  a 
courtesan  of  the  same  name  into 
several  of  his  comedies,  from  one  of 
which,  entitled  Thais,  St.  Paul 
quoted  the  sentence  in  his  Epistle 
to  the  Corinthians,  "  Evil  communi- 


cations corrupt  good  manners."  Plu- 
tarch also  has  preserved  four  lines  of 
the  prologue  in  which  the  poet  in 
mock-heroic  manner  prays  the  m 
to  teach  him  how  to  draw  the  por- 
trait accurately. 

Dante,  assuming  that  the  Thais 
of  Terence  was  a  real  personage,  puts 
her  in  the  8th  circle  of  Hell,  called 
Malebolge  or  Evil  Pits,  and  in  the 
second  trench,  where  court  flatterers 
and  harlots  huddle  together.  The 
identification  is  made  complete  t»y  a 
quotation  from  Terence's  play.  Virgil 
says  to  Dante: 

"A  little  further  stretch 
Thy  face,  that  thou  the  visage  well  mayst 

note 

Of  that  besotted,  sluttish  courtesan 
Who  there  doth  rend  her  with  denied  nails. 
Now  crouching  down,  now  risen  on  her  feet, 
Thais  is  this,  the  harlot,  whose  false  lip 
Answered  her  doting  paramour  that  asked, 
'Thankest  me  much?' — 'Say,  rather,  won- 

drously.' ' 

Inferno,  xviii,  125.     GARY,  trans. 

Thais,  in  mediaeval  legend,  a  no- 
torious courtesan  of  Alexandria  who 
was  converted  to  Christianity  by  the 
hermit  Serapion  or  Bcssarion  or 
Paphnutius  (q.v.). 

From  his  desert  retreat  Serapion 
came  to  Alexandria,   made  his  way 
into  the  presence  of  Thais,  and  d<-- 
spite   the  jeers  of  her   wealthy   and 
princely  admirers,  won  her  over   •  > 
faith    and    repentance.       Makin. 
heap  of  all   her  magnificent   jev. 
and  dresses,  she  applied  the  torch  to 
it,  and  palace  and  c«>ntents  were  all 
destroyed.    Humbly  sin-  followed  her 
confessor  to  find  peace  in  the  de;ert, 
bore  her  pcnanee  there  untlinehingly 
for   three   years   and    was    then   ad- 
mitted   into    a    convent.      But    her 
austerities    had    broken    her    health. 
A  fortnight  after  her  admi<  i"ii   -he 
died.     When  Serajuon's  end  came 
requested   that  his   body  should 
laid  beside  her.     In   the  summer  <»f 
1913,  a  tomb  was  laid   bare  in   t 
process    of    excavations    around    t 
modern    city    of    Antin'  •         It    con- 
tained two  bodies  whom  the  dil 
of    the    explorations,     Prof.    < 
believed  to  be  those  of  Thais  and  her 
friend. 


Theban 


308 


Theophilus 


Jules  Massenet  has  reset  the  old  legend 
concerning  Thais  in  an  opera  named  after 
her,  for  the  plot  of  which  he  is  indebted  also 
to  the  nun  Hroswitha's  Abraham  (q.v.). 
Athanael  is  a  hermit  monk  who  had  known 
Thais  before  his  conversion.  A  vision  impels 
him  to  seek  her  out,  for  the  purpose  of  con- 
verting her,  in  the  temple  of  Venus  in  Alex- 
andria where  she  is  a  priestess.  At  first  she 
laughs  him  to  scorn.  Finally  she  succumbs, 
burns  her  palace,  gives  everything  to  the 
poor  and  is  placed  by  Athanael  in  a  Christian 
sisterhood.  In  his  hermitage  Athanael  is 
continually  haunted  by  dreams  that  recall 
the  sensuous  past,  his  old  passion  revives 
and  he  finds  his  way  to  her  convent.  She 
turns  a  deaf  ear  to  all  his  appeals  and  ex- 
pires in  a  religious  ecstasy. 

Theban  Legion,  according  to  me- 
diasval  legend,  a  body  of  6000  Chris- 
tian soldiers  in  the  Roman  army 
under  the  Emperor  Maximian 
(305-311)  who  willingly  accepted 
martyrdom  rather  than  deny  their 
faith.  The  army  on  a  march  to  Gaul 
halted  at  Octodrum  (now  Martigny, 
in  Switzerland)  to  celebrate  a  festival 
in  honor  of  the  gods.  Thereupon  the 
Theban  Legion,  under  their  com- 
mander Mauritius,  withdrew  to  a 
strong  position,  to  avoid  joining  in 
heathen  worship.  Maximian  ordered 
the  legion  to  be  decimated.  Calmly, 
even  triumphantly,  did  each  tenth 
soldier  present  his  breast  to  the 
sword.  As  the  survivors  remained 
faithful  a  second  decimation  was 
ordered.  Mauritius  himself  fell.  But 
still  their  comrades  were  unshaken  and 
Maximian  ordered  the  summary  exe- 
cution of  all  the  remaining  legionaries. 

Theodore,  the  titular  hero  of 
Dry  den's  Theodore  and  Honoria,  a 
poetical  paraphrase  of  a  story  told  by 
Boccaccio,  Decameron.  (See  NOSTAL- 
GIA DEGLI  HONESTI.)  Theodore  being 
in  love  with  the  irresponsive  Honoria 
manages  to  make  her  a  witness  to  a 
spectral  hunt  wherein  a  ghostly 
lover  pursues  his  recalcitrant  ghostly 
love  in  the  manner  and  with  the 
results  indicated  in  these  lines  (it  is 
the  ghost  who  speaks) : 

That  she  whom  I  so  long  pursued  in  vain 
Should  suffer  from  my  hands  a  lingering  pain 
Renewed  to  life  that  she  might  daily  die, 
I  daily  doomed  to  follow,  she  to  flee 
No  more  a  lover,  but  a  mortal  foe 
I  seek  her  life  (for  love  is  none  below). 
As  often  as  my  dogs  with  better  speed 
Arrest  her  flight  is  she  to  death  decreed; 


Then  with  this  fatal  sword  on  which  I  died 
I  pierce  her  opened  back  or  tender  side, 
And  tear  that  hardened  heart  from  out  her 

breast, 
Which  with  her  entrails  makes  my  hungry 

hounds  a  feast. 

Nor  lies  she  long,  but  as  her  fates  ordain 
Springs  up  to  life  and,  fresh  to  second  pain, 
Is  saved  today,  tomorrow  to  be  slain. 

DRYDEN:  Theodore  and  Honoria. 

Theodore,  Saint  (from  the  Greek 
Theo-Doros,  or  God's  gift),  the  pa- 
tron of  Venice,  until  superseded  in 
the  fourteenth  century  by  Saint 
Mark.  According  to  legend  he  was 
an  officer  in  the  Roman  army  under 
Licinius,  during  the  reign  of  Diocle- 
tian. Being  converted  to  Christian- 
ity he  showed  his  zeal  by  firing  the 
temple  of  Cybele,  and  was  beheaded 
or  burned  alive  on  November  9,  300. 
A  famous  old  statue  on  the  column 
in  front  of  the  Piazzetta  at  Venice 
represents  him  in  armor  with  a  dragon 
under  his  feet, — the  latter  evidently 
a  conventionalized  crocodile.  This 
attribute  as  well  as  the  latter  part 
of  his  name  suggests  kinship  with 
the  Egyptian  Horus  (q.v.).  He  is 
frequently  pictured  in  company  with 
St.  George  (q.v.),  as  assisting  him  in 
the  conquest  of  the  dragon.  See  also 
WORM. 

Theodoric  of  Verona.  See  DIE- 
TRICH OF  BERNE. 

Theodoric,  allowing  for  a  slight  change  in 
the  vowels,  is  the  Low  Dutch,  the  Gothic 
and  English  form  of  the  same  name  which 
in  High  Dutch  is  Dietrich.  There  is  a  great 
historical  Theodoric — Thiuderik  if  we  mean 
to  be  perfectly  right— who  stands  out  in 
history  by  that  particular  form  of  the  name 
above  all  other  bearers  of  it.  There  is  also 
a  mythical  person  who  stands  out  as  con- 
spicuously in  legend  by  the  other  form  of 
Dietrich.  Here  then  there  would  at  first 
sight  be  reason  for  always  speaking  of  the 
historical  hero  as  Theodoric  and  of  the 
legendary  hero  as  Dietrich.  It  would  seem 
to  be  so  important  to  distinguish  them  that 
it  might  be  thought  well  to  call  the  historical 
person  Theodoric  even  if  writing  High  Ger- 
man, and  the  mythical  person  as  Dietrich, 
even  in  writing  English. — Saturday  Review, 
February  12,  1876. 

Theophilus,  in  mediaeval  legend,  a 
saintly  priest  living  in  the  sixth  cen- 
tury in  Silesia.  On  the  death  of  the 
bishop  popular  acclaim  summoned 
him  to  the  vacant  see.  His  refusal 
angered  his  friends;  slander  busied  it- 
self with  his  name  and  the  new  bishoo 


Thereon 


309 


Theseus 


disfrocked  him.  With  the  sole  thought 
of  establishing  his  innocence,  he  en- 
tered into  a  compact  with  Satan,  who 
was  to  clear  his  character  and  re- 
ceive his  soul  in  return.  Next  day  the 
bishop  sent  for  Theophilus,  publicly 
confessed  his  mistake  and  reinstated 
him  in  the  priesthood.  But  the 
remembrance  of  the  compact  would 
not  away.  Theophilus  undertook  a 
solemn  fast  of  forty  days.  Then  the 
Virgin  appeared  to  him  in  a  dream 
and  promised  her  intercession.  With 
a  cry  of  joy  he  awoke.  On  his  breast 
lay  the  contract  with  the  fiend. 

Thereon,  in  Southey's  Roderick 
the  Last  of  the  Goths,  a  dog  who, 
like  Homer's  Argus,  recognized  his 
master  after  a  long  absence  from 
home.  When  disthroned  Roderick 
had  assumed  the  habit  of  a  monk 
with  the  name  of  Father  Maccabee. 
No  one  recognized  him,  not  even 
Florinda,  whom  he  had  deflowered, 
save  this  dog,  who  fawned  on  him 
rejoicing.  Roderick  was  greatly 
touched: 

He  threw  his  arms  around  the  dog  and  cried 
While  tears  streamed  down,"  Thou,  Thereon, 

thou  hast  known 
Thy  poor  lost  master,  Thereon,  none  but 

thee." 

Thersites,  in  the  Iliad,  ii,  212,  a 
deformed  and  impudent  soldier  in 
the  Greek  camp  before  Troy.  Ac- 
cording to  the  post- Homeric  poets 
he  was  slain  by  Achilles,  because  he 
had  scoffed  at  that  hero's  grief  over 
the  death  of  Penthesilia,  queen  of 
the  Amazons.  He  is  the  one  ludi- 
crous character  of  the  Iliad,  a  boaster 
and  a  slanderer,  sneering,  sarcastic, 
bitter.  Pope  thus  translated  Homer's 
description  ,of  him  in  the  Iliad,  ii: 

Thersites,  only,  clamored  in  the  throng, 
Loquacious,  loud  and  turbulent  of  1 
Awed  by  no  shame,  by  no  respect  contro 
In  scandal  busy,  in  reproaches  bold; 
With  witty  malice  studious  to  defame; 
Scorn  all  his  joy  and  laughter  all  his  aim. 
But  chief  he  gloried  with  licentious 
To  lash  the  great  and  monarchs  to  revil 
His  figure  such  as  might  his  soul  proclaim; 
One  eye  was  blinking  and  one  leg  was 
His    mountain    shoulders    half    his 

o'erspread, 
Thin   hairs   bestrewed   his   long   misshapen 


c 

Spleen  to  mankind  his  envious  heart  posscst, 
And  much  he  hated  all,  but  most  the  best. 


Shakspear    in     Trail  us   and    Cres- 
sida     (1609)     has     improved     upon 
Homer.      He    makes    Th<-ivites    the 
apotheosis  of  blackguardism,   whose 
billingsgate  is  the  ideal  of  vitupi  • 
tion,   but   who  succeeds  at  least   in 
shrewdly  hitting  off  the  weak: 
of  his  betters.    "  For  good  downright 
4  sass,'    '  says  R.  G.  White,  "in 
most  splendid  and  aggressive  form, 
there  is  in  literature  nothing  equal  to 
the  speeches  of  Thersites."  -Galaxv, 
Feb.,  1877. 

He  is  the  hero  of  an  anonymous 
interlude,  Thersytes  (1537).  which  ex- 
hibits him  after  his  return  home  from 
Troy.  In  illustration  of  the  avowed 
moral,  "Now  that  the  greatest 
boasters  are  not  the  greatest  doers," 
the  veteran  is  made  to  indulge  in 
much  incoherent  nonsense  and  partic- 
ipate in  ridiculous  escapades  from 
which  he  emerges  with  little  honor. 
The  piece  is  notable  as  being  the  first 
instance  in  which  an  historical  char- 
acter is  introduced  into  an  English 
drama. 

Theseus,     in     classic    myth,     the 
result  of  an  amour   between  ££geus, 
king  of  Athens,  and  /Ethra,  daughter 
of  Pittheus,  king  of  Trcezen.     It  was 
given  out  that  the  child's  father  * 
Poseidon.     ^Sgeus  had   visited  T; 
zen,   and   leaving   during    the   lad 
pregnancy  he  instructs  her  that  lie 
had    hidden    his    sword    and    boots 
under  a  heavy  stone.      If  she  «avo 
birth  to  a  boy  who  could  rai-v  the 
stone  and   possess   himself  of   sw 
and  boots  then  she  wa  !  to  send  him 
secretly    to    his    father    in    Athens. 
Theseus  succeeded  in  this  and  otlu-r 
exploits,    and    set    out    for    Athens. 
On  his  way  he  slew  men  and  mo: 
including     ProcrusteSj     and     U-inii 
laughed   at   for   his   girlish    curls   by 
some  masons  in  At  liens,  he  took  the 
bullocks  out  of  their  cart   and  flung 
them    on    the    roof    of    tin-    temple 
where  they  were  working.     He  found 
that  his  father  had  married   V 
Being  a  witeh  she  knew  who  he  \ 
and  would  have  made  A:. 
him,  but    through    the   n 
the   king    recognized    lr  ma 

declared    him    heir    to   the    throne. 


Thespis 


310 


Thief 


he 


With  the  help  of  Ariadne  (g. 
slew  the  Minotaur  (q.v.). 

Of  his  adventures  with  the  Ama- 
zons there  is  no  consecutive  and  har- 
monious account.  Some  call  the 
Queen  who  opposed  him  Antiope, 
others  name  Hippolyta,  still  others 
say  there  were  two  sisters  bearing 
these  names.  He  is  variously  repre- 
sented as  having  married  or  killed 
either  or  both,  but  the  favorite 
legend  makes  him  marry  Hippolyta 
and  bring  her  and  her  sister  home 
with  him.  Mediaeval  legend  made 
him  Duke  of  Athens  and  Hippolyta 
his  duchess.  This  is  the  version  Shak- 
spear  accepts  in  his  Midsummer 
Night's  Dream. 

Virgil  (JEneid,  vi,  391)  represents 
Theseus  as  a  prisoner  in  Hades  to  all 
eternity.  Statius  (Thebaid,  viii,  52) 
follows  him.  Dante  (Inferno,  xii,  17; 
ix,  54)  adopts  the  alternative  version 
which  represents  him  as  having  been 
eventually  rescued  by  Hercules. 

Theseus  is  the  hero  of  the  Thebaid, 
an  epic  by  Statius  (A.D.  90).  This  was 
imitated  in  the  Teseide  (1344)  of 
Boccaccio,  and  that  in  its  turn  was 
utilized  by  Chaucer  in  The  Knight's 
Tale  (see  PALAMON): 

Whilom,  as  olde  stones  tellen  us, 

There  was  a  duke  that  highte  Theseus; 

Of  Athens  he  was  lord  and  governour, 

And  in  his  time  such  a  conquerour 

That  greater  was  there  noon  under  the  sun. 

Full  many  a  riche  country  had  he  won; 

What  with  his  wisdom  and  his  chivalry 

He  conquered  all  the  realm  of  Femenye 

That  whilom  was  Y-cleped  Scythia; 

And  wedded  the  queene  Ipolita 

And   brought   her  home   with   him   in   his 

country 

With  much  glorie  and  great  solemnitee 
And  eke  her  younger  sister  Emelye. 

CHAUCER:  Canterbury  Tales,  The  Knight's 

Tale,  1.  I. 

Thespis,  the  reputed  father  of 
Greek  tragedy,  was  a  native  of  Icarus, 
in  Attica,  where  the  worship  of 
Dionysus  had  long  prevailed.  About 
the  year  535  B.C.  he  introduced  into 
the  Dionysic  festivals  the  innovation 
whereon  his  fame  rests.  To  allow 
an  interval  of  rest  to  the  singers 
and  relieve  the  monotony  of  the  long 
effusions  of  the  chorus,  he  is  said  to 
have  come  forward  or  caused  an 
actor  to  come  forward,  probably  on 


a  small  platform,  and  recite  a  legend 
connected  with  some  god  or  hero. 

Thetis,  in  classic  myth,  a  sea- 
nymph,  daughter  of  Nereus  and  Doris, 
who  dwelt  with  her  father  and  her 
sisters,  the  Nereids,  at  the  bottom 
of  the  sea.  Zeus  was  in  love  with  her, 
but  when  Proteus  predicted  that  she 
would  have  a  son  who  would  prove 
greater  than  his  father,  he  relin- 
quished her  to  Peleus.  As  the  latter 
was  distasteful  to  her  she  fled  from 
his  advances  by  assuming  various 
shapes,  but,  instructed  by  Proteus, 
he  held  her  fast  until  she  assumed  her 
proper  form,  and  promised  to  marry 
him.  From  this  union  sprang  Achil- 
les. The  story  is  told  at  length  by 
Ovid  in  Fables  v  and  vi  of  Meta- 
morphoses, xi,  and  by  Catullus  in 
The  Wedding  of  Peleus  and  Thetis. 

In  Homer's  Iliad  Thetis  thus  be- 
wails her  lot  to  Mulciber  (Vulcan) : 

"Vulcan,  of  all  the  Goddesses  who  dwell 
On  high  Olympus,  lives  there  one  whose  soul 
Hath  borne  such  weight  of  woe,  so  many 

griefs, 

As  Saturn's  son  hath  heap'd  on  me  alone? 
Me,  whom  he  chose  from  all  the  sea-born 

nymphs, 

And  gave/to  Peleus,  son  of  ^)acus, 
His  subject;    I  endur'd  a  mortal's  bed, 
Though  sore  against  my  will;   he  now,  bent 

down 

By  feeble  age,  lies  helpless  in  his  house. 
Now  adds  he  farther  grief;    he  granted  me 
To  bear,  and  rear,  a  son,  of  heroes  chief; 
Like  a  young  tree  he  throve;    I  tended  him, 
In  a  rich  vineyard  as  the  choicest  plant: 
Till  in  the  beaked  ships  I  sent,  him  forth 
To  war  with  Troy;  him  ne'er  shall  I  behold, 
Returning  home,  in  aged  Peleus'  house." 
Iliad,  xviii,  481.    CowPER,  trans. 

Thief,  Master.  This  is  a  title 
given  to  Hermes  in  the  Homeric 
Hymns,  anonymous  Greek  lyrics  as- 
cribed to  Homer,  where  he  is  repre- 
sented as  accumulating  a  giant's 
strength  while  still  a  babe  in  the 
cradle,  as  sallying  out  and  stealing 
the  cattle  (or  clouds)  of  Apollo, 
driving  them  helter-skelter  in  vari- 
ous directions,  then  crawling  through 
a  keyhole  and  with  a  mocking  laugh 
shrinking  into  his  cradle.  He  is  the 
prototype  not  only  of  the  architect 
of  the  treasure-house  of  Rhampsinitus 
but  of  Boots  and  Reynard,  and  Little 
Klaus,  who  cunningly  got  the  best 
of  Big  Klaus,  and  the  mediaeval 


Thief 


311 


Thisbe 


apprentice  who  steals  the  burgo- 
master's horse  from  under  him,  and 
his  wife's  mantle  from  off  her  back, 
and  Shakspear's  Autolycus,  and  Cer- 
vantes's  ungrateful  slave  who  robs 
Sancho  of  his  mule  in  the  Sierra 
Mprena,  and,  in  short,  of  all  the 
thieving  rascals  whose  cleverness  ex- 
onerates them  in  the  eyes  of  a 
laughter  loving  public,  and  finds  a  plea 
of  extenuation  in  Samuel  Butler's 
lines : 

Doubtless  the  pleasure  is  as  great 
Of  being  cheated  as  to  cheat. 

"  The  story  of  the  Master  Thief," 
says  G.  W.  Cox  in  Aryan  Mythology, 
4  was  told  in  Europe  probably  ages 
before  the  Homeric  poems  were  put 
together,  certainly  ages  before  Herod- 
otus heard  the  story  of  the  Egyptian 
treasure-house.     In  all  the  versions 
of   the   tale   the   thief   is   a   slender 
youth,    despised    sometimes    for    his 
seeming    weakness,    never    credited 
with  his  full  craft  and  strength.    No 
power  can  withhold  him  from  doing 
aught  on  which  he  has  set  his  mind; 
no  human  eye  can  trace  the  path 
by  which  he  conveys  away  his  booty." 
In     the     Sanskrit     Hitopadesa    a 
Brahmin  hearing  from  three  thieves 
successively  that  the  goat  he  carried 
on  his  back  was  in  fact  a  dog,  threw 
down  the  animal  and  left  it  as  a  booty 
for  the  rogues  who  had  cheated  him. 
A  paraphrase  of  this  story  was  used 
by   Macaulay   to  point  a  moral   in 
his     slashing     criticism     of     Robert 
Montgomery's  poems.    As  he  tells  it, 
one  of  three  sharpers  comes  up  to  a 
Brahmin,  pulls  a  dog  out  of  a  sack 
and  offers  it  for  sale  as  a  fine  sheep. 
The  second  and  third  rascals  appear 
in  turn  and  by  reiterated  affirmations 
that  the  dog  is  a  sheep  deceive  the 
Brahmin  into  the  belief  that  he  is 
suffering   from   an   optical   delusion. 
He  closes  with  the  bargain,  but  dis- 
covers on  his  retuni  home  that  he 
has  been  tricked,  and  is    '  smitten 
with  a  sore  disease  in  all  his  joints." 
Moral:  the    sharpers   are   venal    re- 
viewers;   the    dog    is    Montgomery's 
alleged  poetry;  the  Brahmin  is  the 
public  which  allows  itself  to  be  im- 
posed upon  by  knavish  puffery. 


In  a  Norse  talc,  expressly  called 
The  Master  Thief,  a  stripling,  in  order 
to  qualify  himself  as  member  of  a 
gang  of  robbers,  undertakes  to  steal 
an  ox  driven  to  market,  without  the 
owner's  knowledge  and  without 
doing  him  any  personal  injury. 
Taking  with  him  a  shoe  with  a  silver 
buckle,  he  placed  it  on  the  road  over 
which  driver  and  ox  must  travel. 
Then  he  hid  himself  in  a  wood  hard 
by.  '  That's  a  nice  shoe,"  quoth  the 
man;  "  would  that  I  had  its  fellow 
so  as  to  please  my  wife."  £  But  be- 
cause the  shoe  was  an  odd  one  he 
left  it  and  went  on  his  way.  The 
would-be  thief  recaptured  the  shoe 
and,  taking  a  short  cut  through  the 
woods,  once  more  laid  it  in  the  mu>l 
in  advance  of  the  ox  driver.  The 
latter  picks  it  up  in  some  vexation  at 
his  own  previous  stupidity  and  tying 
his  ox  to  the  fence  retraces  his  steps 
in  search  of  the  imaginary  fellow  to 
his  prize.  Taking  advantage  of  his 
absence  the  thief  secures  the  ox. 
The  poor  man  returns  home  and  take  ^ 
another  ox  to  sell,  and  loses  this  ami 
still  a  third  animal  to  the  ingenious 
strategy  of  the  thief.  In  the  third 
instance  the  latter  conceals  himself 
in  a  wood  awaiting  the  advent  of 
the  driver  and  then  sets  up  a  dreadful 
bellowing,  '  just  like  a  great  ox." 
The  man,  deeming  it  the  cry  of  one 
of  his  stolen  animals,  ties  his  last 
ox  to  a  fence  on  the  roadside  and  runs 
off  to  look  for  the  others  in  the  woe  1. 
Meanwhile,  the  thief  escapes  with 
his  third  ox.  This  story  has  been 
traced  to  age-old  originals  in  Arabia 
and  Bengal.  See  CLOUSTON,  Popular 
Tales  and  Fictions,  ii,  50. 

Thisbe,  in  classic  myth,  a  Baby- 
lonian maiden  beloved  by  Pyrani  . 
who  lived  in  an  adjoining  hou 
Owing  to  parental  opposition  they 
could  do  their  courting  only  through 
the  chinks  in  the  garden- wall.  In 
this  fashion  they  arranged  for  a 
rendezvous  at  the  tomb  of  Ninus. 
Thisbe,  arriving  first,  lied  at  the  ap- 
:  ranee  of  a  lion  whieh  had  just 
gorged  itself  on  an  ox.  She  dropped 
her  robe;  the  lion  stained  it  with 
blood.  Pyramus  on  his  arrival  hastily 


Thomas 


312 


Thomas 


concluded  that  Thisbe  had  been  de- 
voured and  so  killed  himself,  and 
Thisbe,  returning,  immolated  herself 
on  his  corpse.  Shakspear  burlesques 
this  legend  in  the  interlude  in  A 
Midsummer  Night's  Dream  (1592). 
Tom  Moore  has  cleverly  compared 
the  wall  that  separates  the  lovers  to 
Davy's  safety  lamp. 

The  wall  he  sets  twixt  Flame  and  Air 
(Like  that  which  barred  young  Thisbe's 

bliss) 
Through  whose  small  holes  this  dangerous 

pair 
May  see  each  other  but  not  kiss. 

Thomas  of  Ercildoune,  a  poet  and 
a  reputed  magician  who  is  known  to 
have  flourished  in  the  thirteenth 
century  and  has  been  made  the  sub- 
ject of  a  cycle  of  popular  ballads. 
His  prophetic  powers  are  said  to  have 
been  a  gift  from  the  Faerie  Queen. 
She  met  him  under  "  the  Eildon 
Tree  "  and  having  got  him  into  her 
power  carried  him  down  with  her 
into  Fairyland.  For  three  days,  as 
he  thought,  for  three  years  in  reality, 
he  abode  with  her.  Then  she  bore 
him  back  to  the  Eildon  Tree.  He 
asked  for  some  token  of  remembrance 
and  she  bestowed  on  him  a  prophetic 
tongue  and  left  with  a  promise  to 
meet  him  again.  Here  the  ballads 
also  leave  him.  Local  tradition 
added  that  Thomas  was  under 
obligation  to  return  to  Fairyland 
whenever  summoned. 

Accordingly,  while  Thomas  was  making 
merry  with  his  friends  in  the  tower  of  Ercil- 
doune, a  person  came  running  in  and  told, 
with  marks  of  fear  and  astonishment,  that 
a  hart  and  hind  had  left  the  neighboring 
forest,  and  were  composedly  and  slowly  pa- 
rading the  street  of  the  village.  The  prophet 
instantly  arose,  left  his  habitation  and  fol- 
lowed the  wonderful  animals  to  the  forest, 
whence  he  was  never  seen  to  return.  Ac- 
cording to  the  popular  belief  he  still  drees 
his  weird  in  Fairyland,  and  is  one  day  ex- 
pected to  revisit  earth.  In  the  meanwhile 
his  memory  is  held  in  the  most  profound 
respect. — SCOTT:  Border  Minstrelsy,  iii,  170. 

Near  the  end  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  it  is  added,  a  Cumberland 
horse-couper  sold  a  big  black  horse 
to  a  mysterious  stranger  who  directed 
that  it  should  be  delivered  to  him 
at  midnight  on  a  haunted  hillock. 


Here  a  rock  was  raised  at  the  touch 
of  the  stranger.  "  The  couper  fol- 
lowed him  into  a  vast  hall  where 
there  were  many  war  horses  ready 
harnessed  and  by  the  side  of  each  a 
sleeping  knight.  In  dismay  the 
couper  seized  a  horn  hanging  on  the 
wall  and  blew  it,  whereupon  he  in- 
stantly found  himself  lying  among  the 
heather  on  the  hillside,  the  stars 
above  him,  and  only  the  crow  of 
some  startled  grouse  to  serve  as 
an  echo  of  the  ringing  peal." — JEAN 
LANG,  A  Land  of  Romance  (1910). 

Scott  introduces  Thomas  into 
Castle  Dangerous,  where  he  predicts 
that  as  the  Douglases  "  have  not 
spared  to  burn  and  destroy  their 
own  house  and  that  of  their  fathers 
in  the  Bruce's  cause,  so  it  is  the  doom 
of  heaven  that  as  often  as  the  walls 
of  Douglas  Castle  shall  be  burnt  to 
the  ground,  they  shall  be  again  re- 
built still  more  stately  and  more 
magnificent  than  before."  This  is 
one  of  the  predictions  actually  re- 
corded of  the  seer.  More  fanciful 
is  the  verse  attributed  to  him  in  the 
same  author's  Bride  of  Lammermoor: 

When   the   last    Laird   of    Ravenswood    to 

Ravenswood  shall  ride, 
And  woo  a  dead  maiden  to  be  his  bride, 
He  shall  stable  his  steed  in  the  Kelpie's  flowv 
And  his  name  shall  be  lost  for  evermore! 

The  verse,  however,  reproduces  the 
spirit  of  many  of  the  so-called  Proph- 
ecies of  Thomas  the  Rhymer  which 
were  edited  by  J.  A.  H.  Murray  for 
the  Early  English  Text  Society  in 
1875.  Barbour  and  Harry  the 
Minstrel  make  him  a  contemporary 
of  Bruce  and  Wallace  whose  exploits 
he  anticipated  in  verse,  and  Walter 
Bower  tells  how  he  prophesied  the 
death  of  Alexander  III  of  Scotland 
in  1285,  or  21  years  before  it  hap- 
pened. There  was  a  Thomas  of 
Erceldoune  (now  called  Earlstown) 
in  Berwickshire  who  witnessed  an 
undated  deed  of  Peter  de,  Haga  early 
in  the  thirteenth  century.  The  de 
Hagas  or  Haigs  of  Bemerside  were 
the  subjects  of  a  prophecy  attributed 
to  the  Rhymer: 

Betide,  betide,  whate'er  betide 
There  will  be.a  Haig  in  Bemersyde. 


Thopas 


313 


Thoth 


Andrew  Lang,  in  A  Collection  of 
Ballads  (1897),  notes  that  a  "  Haig 
still  owns  that  ancient  chateau  on 
the  Tweed." 

Thopas,  Sir,  hero  of  Chaucer's 
poem  The  Rime  of  Sir  Thopas,  sup- 
posed to  be  recited  by  Chaucer  him- 
self in  the  Canterbury  Tales  when 
called  upon  by  the  host.  It  is  a  jest 
upon  long-winded  story-tellers  who 
expatiate  on  insignificant  detail. 
Chaucer  is  represented  as  jogging 
along  in  interminabb  fashion  and 
when  at  last  he  brings  his  knight 
face  to  face  with  a  three-headed 
giant  he  has  to  make  him  trot  back 
home  for  the  armor  he  had  forgotten. 
Before  anything  really  happens  the 
narrator  is  choked  off  by  an  indignant 
and  weary  auditor. 

Thor  or  Thunar,  in  Teutonic  myth, 
son  of  Odin  and  Frigga,  the  god  of 
the  air,  of  thunder  and  lightning,  of 
war,  of  victory  and  of  justice,  the 
protector  of  gods  and  men  against 
the  giants,  the  guardian  of  the  home. 
The  Latins  identified  him  sometimes 
with  Jupiter,  sometimes  with  Her- 
cules. -  He  was  recognized  by  almost 
all  the  Norse  and  German  tribes,  his 
worship  by  the  Saxons  in  England 
being  still  commemorated  in  the 
name  of  the  fifth  day  of  the  week, 
corrupted  from  Thor's  day  into 
Thursday.  Gigantic  in  stature  and 
strength,  red-bearded,  heavy-witted, 
tireless  in  work,  insatiable  in  eating 
and  drinking,  he  is  a  sort  of  subli- 
mated and  idealized  German  peas- 
ant. Like  his  prototype  he  is  open- 
hearted,  therefore  easily  deceived, 
but  when  made  aware  of  any  de- 
ception terrible  in  his  wrath,  over- 
throwing his  enemies  with  mighty 
blows. 

Thor  drives  a  golden  chariot  drawn 
by  two  white  he-goats.  Rolling  along 
the  heavens  it  causes  thunder  and 
lightning.  His  irresistible  hammer 
Mjolnir  was  fashioned  for  him  by 
the  dwarfs.  The  mountain  giant 
Thrym  (q.v.)  ventured  to  steal  it, 
he  pursues  him  to  Thryrnheim,  de- 
stroys the  whole  race  of  giants  there, 
and  makes  the  place  over  to  his  hard- 
working peasantry  to  till. 


Thorleif  Redcloaksson,  an  Ice- 
landic poet  of  the  tenth  century 
who  according  to  popular  myth 
wrote  a  satire  on  Earl  Ilakon. 
Hakon  retaliated  by  sending  a  ghost 
to  slay  the  poet.  They  met  on  a 
plain  called  The  Great  Moot,  but 
Thorleif  had  no  chance  against  his 
phantom  adversary,  who  killed  him 
and  decently  buried  his  body  under 
a  cairn. 

Thoth,  in  Egyptian  myth,  the  chief 
of  the  eight  gods  of  Hcrmopolis. 
Among  his  titles  was  that  of  Thrice- 
Great,  whence  the  Greeks  derived 
their  Trismegistos  and  the  Latins 
their  Ter-maximus, — epithets  which 
they  bestowed  upon  Hermes  or 
Mercury,  whom  they  identified  with 
each  other  and  with  Thoth.  But 
the  latter  was  far  superior  in  rank 
to  the  Greek  or  Roman  divinity.  He 
was  described  as  the  scribe  of  the 
gods,  the  writer  of  the  Book  of  the 
Dead  and  other  sacred  works;  the 
enumerator  of  the  stars,  and  of  all  the 
contents  of  the  earth.  Self  begotten 
and  self  produced  his  knowledge,  and 
powers  of  calculation  were  brought 
into  play  in  the  sta'nlishing  <»f  the 
heavens,  the  planets  and  the  stars; 
he  was  master  of  law,  both  pi. 
ical  and  moral,  inventor  land  ; 
tron  of  all  arts  and  sciences, — the 
brain  and  the  intelligence  of  the 
sun-god  Ra. 

He  is  usually  represented  in  human 
form,  with  the  head  of  an  ibis,  hold- 
ing in  his  hand  the  seeptre  and  em- 
blem of  life  common  to  all  gods,  an'l 
in  addition  the  heart  and  tongue  of 
Ra,  or,  in  other  words,   the  me; 
powers  of  that  god  and  the  rm 
by  which   their    will    \vas    tran 
into    speech.       In    the    Book    of   the 
Dead  he  is  repre  .ented  as  at  onee  Ihe 
Recording   Angel,    and    the    I'sycho- 
pompos    of     Egyptian     myth.       He 
waited  in  the  judgment  hall  of  0 
to  receive  the  verdict  after  the  heart 
of  the  deceased  had  been   wei-l 
and    cither    approved    of    or    found 

wanting.   an<1    nc    n;i'l   knov. ' 

the    spells    that    were    necessary    '  - 

enable  the  dead  to  pass  to  their  1"; 

resting-place. 


Thraso 


314 


Thyamis 


Thraso,  in  the  Eunuchus,  a  com- 
edy by  Terence,  a  boastful,  swag- 
gering soldier.  Hence  the  epithet 
'  thrasonical '  used  by  Shakspear 
in  Love's  Labour's  Lost,  v,  i,  and  As 
You  Like  It,  v,  2.  Thraso  was  the 
obvious  original  upon  which  the 
Elizabethan  dramatists  founded  their 
braggadocio  heroes  and  copper  cap- 
tains. 

Pyrgopolinices  and  Thraso  are  both  full  of 
themselves,  both  boast  of  their  valor,  and 
their  intimacy  with  princes,  and  both  fancy 
themselves  beloved  by  all  the  women  who 
see  them;  and  they  are  both  played  off  by 
their  parasites;  but  they  differ  in  their 
manners  and  their  speech.  Plautus's  Pyr- 
gopolinices is  always  in  the  clouds,  and  talk- 
ing big,  and  of  blood  and  wounds,  like  pur 
heroes  commonly  called  Derby  captains. 
Terence's  Thraso  never  says  too  little  nor  too 
much,  but  is  an  easy,  ridiculous  character, 
continually  supplying  the  audience  with 
mirth,  without  the  wild  extravagant  bluster 
of  Pyrgopolinices. — COOKE. 

Thrymr,  a  frost  giant  in  Norse 
myth,  famous  for  his  theft  of  Thor's 
hammer,  Mjolnir.  One  morning  the 
god  awoke  and  found  his  hammer 
gone.  Loki  discovers  the  thief  in 
Thrymr,  who  refuses  to  return 
Mjolnir  save  in  exchange  for  Freyja 
as  his  wife.  Thor  dressed  himself 
in  Freyja's  clothes,  took  Loki  with 
him,  disguised  as  a  handmaiden,  and 
presented  himself  before  Thrymr. 
The  giant  is  astounded  by  the  bride's 
appetite,  for  Thor  was  a  valiant 
trencherman,  but  Loki  explains  that 
she  has  eaten  nothing  for  eight  days 
owing  to  her  impatience  to  reach 
her  lover.  Thrymr  sent  for  Thor's 
hammer,  the  usual  consecration  for 
a  marriage  bond.  With  a  great 
laugh  Thor  seized  upon  it,  and 
quickly  slew  Thrymr  and  all  his 
fellow  giants. 

Thule,  an  island  (unidentified)  in 
the  northern  part  of  the  German 
Ocean  which  the  ancients  regarded 
as  the  most  northerly  point  of  the 
earth.  Hence  they  gave  it  the  name 
of  Ultima  Thule.  It  is  first  mentioned 
by  Pytheas,  a  Greek  navigator  of  the 
fourth  century  B.C.,  who  is  credited 
with  the  discovery  of  the  British 
isles.  Suidas  says  it  derived  its 
name  from  King  Thulus,  its  first 


ruler.  In  Goethe's  Faust  Gretchen 
after  her  seduction  and  apparent 
abandonment  sings  a  song  entitled 
The  King  of  Thule  whose  hero  was 
"  faithful  till  the  grave." 

Thumb,  Tom,  in  English  nursery 
lore,  a  dwarf,  "  no  bigger  than  a 
man's  thumb,"  who  was  knighted 
by  King  Arthur  and  died  from  the 
poisonous  breath  of  a  spider  in  the 
reign  of  Thunstone,  Arthur's  suc- 
cessor. He  rode  in  the  ear  of  a 
horse;  a  cow  swallowed  him  whole 
while  grazing;  he  once  crept  up  the 
sleeve  of  a  giant  and  so  tickled  him 
that  he  shook  him  into  the  sea. 
Here  Tom  was  promptly  gobbled 
up  by  a  fish.  The  fish  was  caught 
and  carried  to  the  palace,  and  in 
this  way  Tom  was  introduced  to 
Arthur.  All  these  facts  and  more 
are  set  forth  in  the  prose  History  of 
Tom  Thumbe  the  (Little  (1621),  and 
the  ballad  Tom  Thumb,  his  Life  and 
Death  (1630).  Fielding  in  1730  pro- 
duced a  burlesque  opera  Tom  Thumb. 

The  name  Tom  Thumb  was  as- 
sumed by  an  American  dwarf, 
Charles  S.  Stratton  (1832-1879),  first 
publicly  exhibited  by  P.  T.  Barnum. 

Thundering  Legion  (Lat.  Legio 
Fulminata},  a  popular  name  for  the 
Twelfth  Legion  in  the  army  of  im- 
perial Rome.  Tertullian  says  the 
name  arose  in  a  campaign  against 
the  Quadi  (A.D.  174).  The  army, 
shut  up  in  a  defile,  was  suffering 
greatly  from  lack  of  water  when  a 
plentiful  rain  followed  an  appeal  to 
heaven  made  by  this  legion,  which 
was  entirely  composed  of  Christians. 
Simultaneously,  a  storm  of  thunder 
and  lightning  fell  upon  the  enemy 
and  dispersed  them.  The  story  may 
be  basically  true,  explainable,  if  you 
choose,  on  purely  natural  grounds, 
but  it  errs  in  this  particular  at  least: 
the  Legio  Fulminata  enjoyed  that 
title  long  before  the  time  of  Marcus 
Aurelius,  and  even  so  far  back  as 
Nero. 

Thyamis  of  Memphis,  in  the 
jEthiopica,  a  romance  by  Heliodorus 
(third  century),  was  captain  of  a 
band  of  robbers.  He  fell  in  love  with 
one  of  his  own  captives,  Chariclea, 


Thyestes 


315 


but  being  surprised  by  a  stronger 
force  and  fearing  for  his  own  life 
he  sought  to  slay  her  that  she  might 
be  his  companion  in  the  shades 
below,  but  stabbed  another  by  mis- 
take. 

Duke,  why  should  I  not  (had  I  the  heart  to 

do  it) 

Like  to  the  Egyptian  thief,  at  point  of  death 
Kill  what  I  love  (a  savage  jealousy 
That  sometimes  savors  nobly). 

SHAKSPEAR. 

Thyestes,  in  classic  myth,  son  of 
Pelops  and  brother  of  Atreus,  whose 
wife  he  seduced.  In  requital  Atreus 
invited  him  to  a  banquet  whereat 
he  made  him  ignorantly  eat  the 
cooked  flesh  of  his  own  son.  Thyestes 
discovering  the  horrid  fraud,  con- 
sulted an  oracle  which  told  him  that 
a  son  begotten  by  him  on  his  own 
daughter  would  avenge  him.  There- 
upon he  committed  incest  with  his 
daughter  Pelopia,  who  brought  forth 
^gisthus,  the  eventual  slayer  of 
Atreus.  There  are  several  versions 
of  this  so-called  Thyestan  revenge, 
all  more  or  less  flavored  with  canni- 
balism or  incest,  or  both. 

Thyrsis,  a  herdsman  in  one  of  the 
idyls  of  Theocritus;  also  a  shepherd 
in  Virgil's  Seventh  Eclogue,  which 
describes  a  poetical  contest  between 
Thyrsis  and  Corydon: 

Alternate  rhyme  the  ready  champions  chose; 
These  Corydon  rehearsed,  and  Thyrsis  those. 

Melibceus,  selected  as  umpire, 
decided  against  Thyrsis: 

Since  when,  'tis  Corydon  among  the  swains, 
Young  Corydon  without  a  rival  reigns. 

DRYDEN,  trans. 

Matthew  Arnold  takes  the  name 
of  Thyrsis  as  the  title  of  a  monody 
or  elegy  on  his  friend  Arthur  H. 
Clough,  who  had  died  at  Florence  in 
1861. 

Thyrza,  the  feminine  of  Thyrsis 
or  Thyrzis,  a  name  apparently  coined 
by  Byron  in  his  stanzas  To  Thyrza. 
Moore  conjectures  that  Thyrza  was 
no  more  than  an  impersonation  of 
Byron's  melancholy  caused  by  many 
losses.  An  apostrophe  to  "a  loved 
and  lovely  one  ' '  at  the  end  of  the 
second  canto  of  Childe  Harold  is  also 


Timotheus 


addressed  to  Thyrza.  Francis  r,  nib- 
ble in  The  Love  Affairs  of  Lord  H  \ 
suggests  the  plausible  explanation 
that  Bryon  had  a  secret,  liaison  with 
Mary  Chaworth  after  her  marriage, 
which  was  succeeded  by  repentance 
on  her  part  and  despair  on  his.  Hence 
his  allusions  to  the  lady  in  esoteric 
terms. 

Tiberinus,  in  Latin  myth,  the  god 
of  the  river  Tiber.  Tradition 
serted  that  he  was  an  old  king  of 
Latium  drowned  while  swimming 
across  the  river  Albula,  which  then  - 
forth  in  his  honor  was  rcchristene.l 
the  Tiber,— Tiberis.  When  Rh«-;i 
Silvia,  the  mother  of  Romulus  and 
Remus,  was  cast  into  his  waters,  he 
raised  her  to  the  position  of  his  con- 
sort and  goddess  of  the  river.  Tiber- 
inus's  shrine  was  on  the  island  of  the 
Tiber,  where  offerings  were  made  to 
him  on  December  8.  On  June  7  the 
ludi  piscatorii  or  fishermen's  games 
were  celebrated  in  his  honor  on  the 
opposite  bank  of  the  river.  Another 
festival,  known  as  the  Volturnalia, 
commemorated  him  on  August  27, 
under  his  sobriquet  of  Volturnus,  or 
"  the  rolling  stream." 

Virgil,  however,  tells  another  story: 

Then  among  later  Kings  came  Thybris  the 

fierce  and  gigantic 
After  whose  name  we  Italians  have  called  our 

river  the  Tiber 
Letting   its    true   and   historical    name    the 

Albula  perish. 
jEneid,  viii,  330.     H.  H.  BALLARD,  trans. 

Virgil  makes  Tiberinus  appear  to 
^neas  just  before  his  first  conllu  i 
withTurnus: 

While  upon  Tiber's  bank  beneath  the  chill 

vault  of  the  heavens 
Father  ./Eneas,   disturbed   In   heart   by   the 

sorrows  of  warfare. 
Laid  himself  down  at  last  and  gave  needed 

rest  to  his  body. 
Rose  on  his  vision  the  Rod  of  the  place  from 

the  beautiful  river . 
Old     Tiberinus     himself,     appearing     'mid 

branches  of  poplar. 
Fine  linen  lawn  enfolded  him  close  with  a 

watery  mantle; 
Crowned  by  a  shadowing  wreath  of  reeds 

were  his  hair  and  his  temples. 

Timotheus,  a  famous  musician,  a 
native  of  Thebes  in  Boeotia,  who  ex- 
celled especially  in  playing  on  the 


Tirante 


316 


Tisiphone 


flute.  He  was  among  the  invited 
guests  at  the  nuptial  festival  of 
Alexander  the  Great.  His  perform- 
ance so  animated  the  monarch  that 
he  started  up  and  seized  his  arm. 
Dry  den  in  Alexander's  Feast  or  the 
Power  of  Music,  an  ode  in  honor  of 
St.  Cecilia's  Day  (1697),  has  elabor- 
ated upon  this  incident  and  closes 
with  the  famous  parallel  between  the 
heathen  musician  and  the  Christian 
Saint :, 

Let  old  Timptheus  yield  the  prize 
Or  both  divide  the  crown; 

He  raised  a  mortal  to  the  skies, 
She  drew  an  angel  down. 

Tirante  the  White,  hero  of  a  Span- 
ish romance  Tirante  el  Blanco, — a 
real  or  pretended  translation  from 
an  unidentified  English  original, — 
first  printed  in  1490,  but  probably 
composed  a  century  earlier.  Tirante's 
father  was  lord  of  the  marches  of 
Tirranie,  a  French  province  lying 
opposite  the  coast  of  England.  He 
crosses  the  channel,  performs  as- 
tounding feats  of  arms  in  English 
tournaments;  repeats  his  exploits  in 
deadlier  earnest  at  the  siege  of 
Rhodes,  and  assists  the  Emperor  of 
Constantinople  in  repelling  the  invas- 
ion of  a  Moorish  soldan  and  a  Grand 
Turk.  He  dies  on  the  eve  of  his 
marriage  to  Carmesina.  This  is  one 
of  the  three  books  preserved  in  the 
scrutiny  of  Don  Quixote's  library. 

"Let  me  see  that  book,"  said  the  cur6; 
"we  shall  find  in  it  a  fund  of  amusement. 
Here  we  shall  find  that  famous  knight  don 
Kyrie  Elyson  of  Montalban,  and  Thomas 
his  brother,  with  the  knight  Fonseca,  the 
battle  which  Detriante  fought  with  Alano. 
the  stratagems  of  the  Widow  Tranquil,  the 
amour  of  the  empress  with  her  'squire,  and 
the  witticisms  of  lady  Brillianta.  This  is 
one  of  the  most  amusing  books  ever  written." 
— CERVANTES:  Don  Quixote,  I,  i,  6  (1605). 

Tiresias,  the  blind  poet  of  Thebes 
and  one  of  the  most  famous  of  all 
soothsayers.  Some  say  that  his 
blindness,  which  smote  him  in  his 
seventh  year,  was  a  punishment  for 
playing  "  Peeping  Tom  "  upon  Min- 
erva. Others  say  that  it  came  in 
later  years  to  punish  him  for  his 
indiscreet  revelations  to  man  of  the 
purposes  of  Fate.  He  lived  to  a 


great  age  and  died  of  drinking  from 
the  well  of  Tilphossa.  Even  in  the 
lower  world  he  was  believed  to  re- 
tain his  powers  of  perception,  al- 
though the  souls  of  his  fellow  mortals 
were  mere  shades.  Odysseus  on  his 
visit  to  the  underworld  (HOMER, 
Odyssey  xi,  90-151)  seeks  him  out 
and  obtains  from  him  a  prophecy 
concerning  his  own  future.  Tenny- 
son's poem  Tiresias  is  classic.  Ovid 
records  that  Tiresias,  coming  upon 
two  serpents  coupled  together,  killed 
the  male,  whereupon  he  himself  was 
metamorphosed  into  a  woman.  Seven 
years  later  he  came  upon  another 
pair  of  snakes  and  killed  the  female, 
whereupon  he  regained  his  proper  sex. 
Once  on  a  time  Jupiter  and  Juno  had 
a  dispute  as  to  whether  man  or  woman 
best  enjoyed  the  sexual  embrace. 
They  referred  the  matter  to  Tiresias, 
who  decided  in  favor  of  the  woman. 
Thereupon  Jove  struck  him  with 
blindness,  but  Juno  endowed  him 
with  prophetic'  powers. — Metamor- 
phoses, iii,  323. 

"In  troth,"  said  Jove  (and  as  he  spoke  he 

laughed, 
While  to  his  queen  from  nectar  bowls  he 

quaffed), 

"The  sense  of  pleasure  in  the  male  is  far 
More  dull  and  dead  than  what  you  females 

share." 

Juno  the  truth  of  what  he  said  denied; 
Tiresias  therefore  must  the  case  decide, 
For  he  the  pleasure  of  each  sex  had  tried. 

ADDISON:    The  Transformation  of 

Tiresias    (1719). 

There  is  an  awkward  thing,  which  much 

perplexes. 

Unless,  like  wise  Tiresias,  we  had  proved 
By  turns  the  difference  of  the  several  sexes. 
BYRON:  Don  Juan,  xiv,  73  (1824). 

Tisiphone,  in  classic  myth,  one  of 
the  Eumenides  or  Furies,  whom 
Statius  (Thebaid  i,  103)  singles  out 
for  special  mention.  Statius's  lines 
undoubtedly  influenced  Dante  in  his 
description  of  the  Furies,  Tisiphone, 
Magasra  and  Alecto,  whom  he  places 
as  guardians  of  the  entrances  to  the 
city  of  Dis.  Dante  says  they  were 
of  the  hue  of  blood,  with  the  limbs 
and  shapes  of  women,  girt  with  green 
water  snakes,  and  with  snakes  for 
hair.  He  places  them  on  top  of  a 
tall  tower  flanking  the  gateway.  Here 


Titans 


317 


Titurel 


he  becomes  reminiscent  of  Virgil, 
who  thus  describes  the  entrance  to 
the  city  of  Dis: 

In  front,  a  massive  gateway  threats  the  sky, 
And  posts  of  solid  adamant  upstay 
An  iron  tower,  firm  planted  to  defy 
All  force,  divine  and  human.    Night  and  day 
Sleepless  Tisiphone  defends  the  way. 
Girt  up  with  bloody  garments.    From  within 
Loud  groans  are  heard  and  wailings  of  dis- 
may. 
Mneid,  vi,  554-    E.  FAIRFAX  TAYLOR,  trans. 

Ovid  in  Metamorphoses  iv,  Fable  7, 
tells  how  Tisiphone  was  sent  by 
Juno  to  the  Palace  of  Athamas  and 
causes  him  to  go  mad.  He  kills 
one  son  Learchus.  To  save  the  other 
(Melicerta),  his  wife  Ino  leaps  with 
him  into  the  sea.  Mother  and  son 
are  transformed  by  Neptune  into 
Sea  Deities,  and  the  matron's  attend- 
ants who  had  followed  her  in  her 
flight  were  transformed,  some  into 
water  nymphs  and  others  into  birds. 

Titans,  in  Greek  myth,  the  six 
sons  and  six  daughters  of  Uranus 
and  Ge.  Uranus  being  at  that  time 
the  sole  ruler  of  the  universe  threw 
his  sons  into  Tartarus,  whereupon 
the  Titans,  incited  by  Ge,  rose  against 
their  father.  They  deposed  him, 
liberated  their  brethren  out  of  Tar- 
tarus and  made  Cronos  ruler  in  his 
stead.  But  as  it  had  been  foretold 
to  Cronos  that  he  in  his  turn  would 
be  deposed  by  one  of  his  children  he 
successively  swallowed  all  his  prog- 
geny.  Rhea  by  a  stratagem  con- 
cealed from  him  the  birth  of  Zeus, 
and  Zeus  when  grown  up  availed 
himself  of  the  assistance  of  Thetis 
to  make  Cronos  bring  up  all  the 
children  he  had  swallowed.  United 
to  his  brothers  and  sisters  he  began 
a  terrific  contest  against  his  father 
and  the  Titans.  At  last  Ge  promised 
victory  to  Zeus  if  he  would  deliver 
the  Cyclops  and  Hecatonchcires 
from  Tartarus.  The  Cyclops  in 
effect  furnished  him  with  thunder- 
bolts, and  the  Titans,  overcome,  were 
hurled  into  Tartarus. 

Titania,  in  classical  myth,  t 
eral  patronymic  of  those  goddesses 
who  were  descended  from  the  Titans, 
—as   Diana,   Latona,   Circe,  Pyrrha 
and  Hecate.    The  name  is  of  common 


occurrence  in  Ovid.     Thus  in  Meta- 
morphoses, iii,  143,  he  uses 
as     a     synonym    for    Diana. 
TITANIA  in  Vol.  I. 

Tithonus,  in  classic  myth,  son  of 
King  Laomedon  of  Troy  and  Stryr  , 
his  wife,  and  brother  of  Priam.  The 
prayers  of  Aurora,  who  loved  him, 
gained  for  him  the  boon  of  immor- 
tality, but  Jupiter  withheld  that 
eternal  youth  which  had  not  1- 
demanded.  Hence  he  grew  weak 
and  white-haired  and  shrivelled  up 
with  age.  His  name  passed  into  a 
synonym  for  a  decrepit  old  man.  In 
this  plight  Aurora  abandoned  him 
to  his  own  devices  and  he  crept 
wearily  about  her  palace,  clad  in 
celestial  raiment  and  feeding  on 
ambrosia.  When  he  lost  control 
over  his  limbs  she  shut  him  up  in 
his  chamber,  whence  his  feeble  voice 
was  occasionally  heard.  Finally  she 
changed  him  into  a  grasshopper. 
By  Aurora  he  had  one  son,  Menmon. 

Tennyson,  in  his  poem  Tithonus, 
presents  a  subtle  and  powerful  study 
of  the  passionate  longing  for  death  in 
a  mortal  endowed  with  immortality, 
doomed  to  outlive  all  life  and  joy, 
and  trembling  at  the  prospect  of  an 
eternity  of  decay.  Swift  has  en: 
a  similar  moral  in  his  picture  of  the 
Struldbergs  in  Gulliver's  7>.nr/\. 

Titurel,  a  leading  character  in  the 
San  Greal  legends  and  the  hero  of 
a  fragmentary  epic  by  Wolfram  von 
Eschenbach,  which,  after  his  death 
in  1220,  was  continued  l>y  Albrecht 
von  Scharfenbcrg  in  a  desultory  f;i 
ion,  Titurel  being  practically  igno- 
for  his  descendants.  The  l.-^.-nds 
generally  agree  that  he  was  the  son 
of  Titurisone,  an  old  and  hitherto 
childless  knight,  who  de.licaied  him 
to  the  service  of  heaven.  He  sjH-nt 
his  early  years  in  fighting  for  the 
cross.  Then  it  was  announced  to 
him  that  he  had  been  chosen  to 
guard  the  San  Greal  which  v,  nit 

to   reap  pi -a  r  on   earth.      Wi'h   other 
knights  he  built  for  its   reivj. 
marvellous  temple  on  Moiv  h, 

usually  identified  with  the  holy 
mountain  of  that  name  in  Spain. 
Every  Good  Friday  a  dove  appeared 


Titus 


318 


Toki 


carrying  in  its  bill  a  consecrated 
Eucharist  which  it  dropped  into  the 
Greal.  Thus  the  virtues  of  the  mystic 
vessel  were  renewed,  so  that  it  fed 
all  the  knights  who  guarded  it,  sup- 
plied their  sinews  with  preternatural 
strength  and  healed  any  wounds 
they  might  incur  in  its  defence. 
Every  now  and  then  there  appeared 
on  its  brim  a  message  of  fire  sending 
a  knight  out  on  some  mission  of 
mercy  or  justice,  with  only  the  restric- 
tion that  he  must  never  reveal  his 
name.  (See  LOHENGRIN.)  When 
Titurel  himself  had  reached  a  great 
age,  some  say  400  years,  a  message 
of  this  sort  bade  him  go  forth  and 
take  a  wife,  whereupon  he  selected  the 
Princess  Richoude  of  Spain.  By  her 
he  had  one  son  Frimurtel,  who  suc- 
ceeded him  in  the  guardianship  of 
the  Graal,  and  left  five  children, 
Amfortas,  the  Roi  Pecheur,  or  Fisher 
King;  Trevrizent,  the  wise  hermit; 
Tchoysianc,  who  became  the  mother 
of  Sigune;  Herzeloide,  mother  of 
Parzival;  and  Urepanse  de  Joie,  who 
married  Fierifiz,  King  of  India,  and 
became  mother  of  Prester  John. 

Titus,  hero  of  a  famous  story  in 
Boccaccio's  Decameron. 

The  time  is  that  of  the  triumvirate 
of  Octavius.  The  scene  opens  in 
Athens,  where  Titus  Quintius  Fulvius, 
a  young  Roman,  falls  desperately  in 
love  with  Sophronia,  the  betrothed 
of  his  friend  Gysippus.  He  sickens 
and  is  willing  to  die  rather  than 
betray  his  friend,  but  he  cannot  con- 
ceal his  secret,  and  Gysippus  sacri- 
fices his  love  to  save  his  friend.  Titus 
marries  Sophronia  and  takes  her  to 
Rome.  Here  Gysippus  arrives  a  few 
years  later,  ruined  and  exiled  from 
Athens.  He  is  accused  of  a  murder 
he  never  committed,  and,  scorning 
to  defend  himself,  is  sentenced  to 
death.  Titus  recognizes  him  in  the 
court  of  justice,  and  to  save  his 
friend,  surrenders  himself  as  the  real 
murderer.  Then  commences  a  gen- 
erous rivalry  between  the  two,  each 
claiming  to  be  guilty,  which  arouses 
the  dormant  conscience  of  the 
actual  culprit;  he  steps  forward  and 
confesses.  The  triumvir  Octavius 


liberates    the    friends    and    at    their 
request  pardons  the  murderer. 

Tityus,  in  classic  myth,  the  giant 
son  of  Geea,  who  offered  violence  to 
Artemis  as  she  passed  through  Pano- 
paeus  to  Pytho,  and  was  destroyed 
by  one  of  her  arrows  or  according  to 
another  account  by  a  thunderbolt 
from  Jove.  His  punishment  in 
Tartarus  is  thus  described  by  Homer: 

There  Tityus  large  and  long,  in  fetters  bound, 
O'erspreads  nine  acres  of  infernal  ground; 
Two  ravenous  vultures.furious  for  their  food, 
Scream  o'er  the  fiend,  and  riot  in  his  blood, 
Incessant  gore  the  liver  in  his  breast, 
The  immortal  liver  grows,  and  _ gives  the 
immortal  feast. 

Odyssey,  vi.     POPE,  trans. 

Tofana,  in  Boccaccio's  Decameron 
vii,  4,  a  woman  of  Arezzo.  One  night 
when  she  has  been  enjoying  herself 
with  her  lover,  he  shuts  her  out  of 
doors.  Unable  to  persuade  him  to 
admit  her,  she  drops  a  big  stone 
into  a  well.  He  thinking  she  has 
essayed  drowning,  runs  to  her  as- 
sistance. She  gains  the  house  and 
shuts  him  out  in  her  turn.  A  crowd 
collects  and  he  is  exposed  to  general 
ridicule  as  a  dissipated  wretch. 
Cardinal  Bibbiena  founded  on  this 
tale  his  comedy  Calandra\  it  was 
imitated  by  Dancourt,  and  was 
utilized  to  some  extent  by  Moliere 
in  George  Dandin. 

Toki,  in  Danish  myth  a  great 
warrior  in  the  service  of  the  famous 
Harold  Bluetooth,  King  of  Denmark. 
One  day — when  in  his  cups, — brag- 
ging of  his  skill  in  archery,  he  swore 
that  he  could  hit  the  smallest  apple 
set  up  on  a  stick  at  a  great  distance. 
The  king  cruelly  insisted  that  he 
should  give  evidence  of  this  skill, 
but  instead  of  a  stick  the  apple  was 
to  be  placed  upon  the  head  of  Toki's 
son.  One  trial  only  was  to  be  given 
him  and  death  would  be  the  penalty 
if  he  failed.  Toki  stuck  three  arrows 
in  his  belt  and  at  the  first  shot  he 
transfixed  the  apple.  Being  then 
asked  by  Harold  why  he  had  taken 
three  arrows  he  replied  that  the 
others  were  for  the  monarch's  heart 
in  case  he  had  wounded  his  son. 
This  story  is  related  in  the  twelfth 
century  by  the  Danish  historian, 


Tollus 


319 


Totem 


Saxo  Grammaticus  as  having  oc- 
curred in  950,  nearly  four  centuries 
before  a  similar  act  is  recorded  of 
William  Tell. 

Tollus,  in  a  Swedish  myth  that 
seems  to  have  come  over  to  Switzer- 
land with  early  settlers  from  Scan- 
dinavia, a  giant  who  lived  on  an 
island,  Osel,  belonging  to  Sweden. 
His  name  signifies  "  the  Daft."  He 
was  wont  to  amuse  himself  by  throw- 
ing stones  around.  When  he  died  he 
told  his  people  to  bury  him  in  his 
garden,  and  if  war  came  he  would 
rise  and  help  them.  One  day  some 
children  who  had  heard  this  tradi- 
tion stood  on  his  grave,  fought  among 
themselves,  and  then  called  out 
1  Tollus,  rise!  War  is  on  thy  grave!" 
Tollus  put  out  his  head,  but  was  so 
angry  at  seeing  only  children  that  he 
never  appeared  again.  Now  a 
similar  legend  is  told  of  William  Tell, 
that  he  was  once  disturbed  in  his 
sleep  under  the  Axenberg  by  a  herds- 
man seeking  for  a  lost  cow,  and 
expressed  outre-tombe  anger  at  the 
disturbance  in  no  measured  terms. 
It  is  noteworthy  that  Tell's  name,  in 
the  original  form  of  the  Tell  legend 
as  it  appeared  in  the  Swiss  White 
Book  of  1470,  was  given  as  Toll. 
See  TELL,  WILLIAM. 

Tom  a  Lincoln,  hero  and  title  of 
an  anonymous  prose  romance  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  founded  upon 
earlier  legends.  Tom,  the  natural 
son  of  King  Arthur  by  Angelica,  an 
earl's  daughter,  is  brought  up  in 
obscurity  as  the  ostensible  son  of  a 
poor  shepherd  and  becomes  a  mighty 
outlaw.  Arthur  being  informed  that 
this  outlaw  is  his  own  son  gives  him 
command  of  an  army  and  sends  him 
to  Portugal,  where  as  the  Red  Rose 
Knight  he  inflicts  exemplary  punish- 
ment upon  that  enemy  of  England. 
He  spends  a  brief  period  in  Fairyland, 
whose  queen  Celia  bears  him  a  son 
and  subsequently  commits  suicide  on 
his  account,  journeys  to  the  court 
of  Prester  John,  slays  a  dragon  there 
and  elopes  with  Prcster's  daughter, 
Anglitora.  Arthur  on  his  death-bed 
acknowledges  Tom  as  his  son,  whence 
the  wrath  of  Queen  Guinevere  is 


kindled  against  him.  His  bitterest 
grief  is  the  faithlessness  of  Anglitora, 
who  escapes  from  England,  with  IUT 
son  the  Black  Knight,  and  becomes 
the  mistress  of  a  baron  in  some  foreign 
country  unnamed.  After  seven  years' 
wandering  Tom  finds  her,  but  she 
and  her  paramour  slay  him,  where- 
upon the  Black  Knight  slays  his 
mother.  The  story  is  apparently  a 
confused  remembrance  of  the  Scotch 
ballad  Tom  Lin  (q.v.). 

Tomyris,  according  to  Herodotus,  i, 
205,  a  queen  of  the  MessagcUe,  in 
Scythia,  by  whom  Cyrus  was  slain 
in  battle,  B.C.  529.  She  cut  off  his 
head  and  threw  it  into  a  vessel  filled 
with  human  blood,  saying  "  There-, 
drink  thy  fill !'  Dante  refers  to  the 
story  in  Purgatory,  xii. 

Totem,  from  an  Algonquin  Indian 
word  meaning  a  guardian  spirit,  the 
animal  or  plant  which  among  primi- 
tive peoples  was  held  to  be  symbolic 
of  a  race  or  tribe.  Just  as  natural 
phenomena  were  personified  among 
such  peoples  (see  SATAN),  so  also 
animals  were  humanized  and  the 
distinctive  qualities  which  attracted 
special  attention  to  them  were 
looked  upon  as  superhuman.  The 
Indian  realized  that  the  deer  excelled 
him  in  speed,  the  wildcat  in  stealth, 
the  fox  in  craft,  the  mountain  lion 
in  agility,  the  eagle  in  keenness  of 
vision.  Therefore  if  he  coveted  any 
quality  he  placed  himself  under  the 
protection  of  the  bird  or  beast  (or 
even  plant)  that  possessed  it  in 
special  degree,  and,  as  it  were,  sym- 
bolized it.  Andrew  Lang  further 
surmises  that  if  a  tribe  was  distin- 
guished by  any  characteristic  that 
differentiated  it,  or  exalted  it  above 
its  neighbors,  those  neighbors  woull 
call  it  after  the  animal  or  object 
which  symbolized  that  special  char- 
acteristic, and  the  tribe  might  in  due 
course  adopt  the  nickname  given  it 
by  outsiders.  After  the  lapse  of  a 
few  generations  the  individuals  of  a 
tribe  might  come  to  regard  their 
eponymic  animal  as  a  direct  pro- 
genitor, and  all  of  themselves  as 
blood-relations  through  their  com- 
mon ancestry.  Hence  totemisrn 


Tra  janus 


320 


Tranio 


established  a  blood-kinship  with  the 
totem  and  a  similar  relationship  be- 
tween the  individuals  of  the  tribe. 
The  totem  might  not  be  hunted  or 
eaten,  the  men  and  women  under  its 
protection  might  not  intermarry, 
but  must  seek  elsewhere  for  their 
mates.  Hence  there  followed  the 
partial  adoption  of  another  tribe  or 
family  in  the  vicinage  as  subjects  for 
exogamous  marriage.  Eventually  the 
sense  of  devotion  to  the  totem  or 
eponymic  forefather  of  the  tribe 
would  become  so  strong  as  to  be 
exalted  into  a  fully  developed  system 
of  worship  of  him  as  a  deity. 

In  one  form  or  another  totemism 
is  at  the  root  of  most  mythologies, 
and  accounts  for  such  phenomena 
as  tne  ibis-headed  gods  of  Egypt, 
the  bull-like  deities  of  Assyria,  the 
swine  gods  of  the  Celts,  and  even  for 
the  family  verts  in  heraldic  coats  of 
arms. 

Tra  janus,  Marcus  Alpius  (A.D. 
53-117),  a  Roman  emperor  best 
known  to  us  as  Trajan,  became  the 
hero  of  a  mediaeval  legend  alluded 
to  in  Dante's  Purgatory  x,  713.  Ac- 
cording to  Dante  the  story  was 
sculptured  on  a  marble  cliff  in  Pur- 
gatory. One  day  the  emperor  was 
riding  out  with  his  soldiers  when  an 
old  woman  seized  his  bridle  rein  and 
tearfully  besought  him  to  avenge  the 
murder  of  her  son.  He  made  inqui- 
ries and  was  dismayed  to  find  the 
culprit  in  his  own  son.  Whereupon 
he  offered,  and  the  woman  accepted, 
this  son  as  a  substitute  for  the  one 
she  had  lost,  to  guard  her  and  com- 
fort her  in  her  age.  Centuries  later, 
Pope  Gregory  was  so  moved  on  hear- 
ing this  story  that  he  prayed  God  to 
release  this  soul  from  hell.  The 
Almighty  complied  but  warned  Greg- 
ory never  again  to  make  such  a 
prayer  and  enjoined  on  him  as  a 
penance  either  that  he  should  spend 
two  days  in  purgatory  or  be  always 
afflicted  on  earth  with  fever  and  side- 
ache.  Gregory  chose  the  latter 
alternative.  Trajan  was  withdrawn 
from  hell,  restored  to  earth  after  he 
had  been  dead  400  years,  lived  long 
enough  to  be  baptized,  and  was  then 


received  into  heaven.  Dante  meets 
him  there  and  describes  how  he  was 
one  of  the  favored  five  who  formed 
a  circlet  around  the  brow  of  the  Eagle 
(Paradiso  xx,  44,  112). 

The  legend  is  endorsed  by  Jacob 
Voragine  in  his  Legenda  Aurea.  St. 
Thomas  Aquinas  (1224)  also  was  in- 
clined to  accept  it;  but  Bellarmine 
(1581)  rejected  it: 

If  the  story  is  to  be  defended  at  all,  we 
must  say  that  Trajan  was  not  absolutely 
damned  in  hell  but  only  punished  there  for 
his  then  demerits,  the  (final)  sentence  being 
suspended  on  account  of  St.  Gregory's 
prayer  (foreseen).  Nor  did  he  pass  imme- 
diately from  hell,  but  after  his  soul's  reunion 
with  his  body,  was  baptized  and  did  penance 
on  earth.  Such  is  the  explanation  of  St. 
Thomas.  But  as  Trajan's  resurrection  was 
witnessed  by  no  one,  and  as  the  fact  is  not 
recorded  by  any  ancient  author,  I  prefer  the 
opinion  of  Melchior  Canus,  that  the  story 
is  fictitious. — BELLARMINE:  De  Controversii, 
Purgatorio,  ii,  chap.  viii. 

Tranio,  in  the  Mostellaria,  a  com- 
edy by  Plautus,  an  ingenious,  un- 
scrupulous and  mischievous  slave, 
who  with  Davus  (the  latter  originally 
invented  by  Terence)  became  a  stock 
character  in  ancient  Roman  comedy 
and  was  the  original  of  the  clever, 
lying  valets  of  the  more  modern 
Italian  and  French  stage.  See 
DAVUS.  See  also  SCAPIN,  SGANA- 
RELLE,  in  Vol.  I. 

Tranio,  slave  to  Theuropides,  a 
merchant  starting  out  on  a  trading 
voyage,  is  left  in  charge  of  the  mer- 
chant's son,  Philolaches,  and  incon- 
tinently helps  him  to  turn  the  house 
into  a  scene  of  revelry.  The  merchant 
unexpectedly  returns;  Tranio  locks 
the  door  from  the  outside  on  the 
disturbed  revellers  and  meets  the 
old  gentleman  with  a  cock-and-bull 
story  that  the  house  has  been  shut 
up  and  deserted,  because  it  was  found 
to  be  haunted.  One  lie  necessitates 
twenty.  Up  comes  a  dunning  money 
lender;  Tranio  puts  Theuropides  on 
the  wrong  scent  by  explaining  that 
the  money  was  borrowed  as  part 
payment  for  a  house  next  door, 
bought,  at  a  bargain,  to  replace  the 
haunted  house.  Up  comes  the 
owner  of  the  adjoining  house,  and 
Tranio  has  to  carry  on  two  distinct 


Triboulet 


321 


Triptolemus 


fictions,  one  to  him  and  the  other  to 
his  master.  Much  skill  is  shown  in 
the  way  this  two-fold  deception  is 
kept  up  and  two  wide-awake  old 
men  are  played  off  by  the  slave. 
Finally  the  plot  is  exposed  through 
the  stupidity  of  a  fellow  slave; 
Tranio  takes  sanctuary  at  the  stage 
altar  and  with  mock  piety  and  much 
drollery  clings  to  it  until  he  has 
finally  placated  his  master. 

Triboulet,  nickname  self  assumed 
by  one  Feurial  (1479-1536),  court- 
jester  to  Louis  XII  and  Francis  I. 
One  day,  the  story  runs,  Louis  XII 
summoned  to  his  presence  a  hunch- 
back whom  his  attendants  had  been 
teasing,  and  was  so  much  pleased 
by  the  odd  combination  of  wit  and 
deformity  that  he  retained  him  as 
buffoon.  The  man  was  Feurial.  It 
was  then  he  adopted  a  pseudonym. 
Francis  I,  who  succeeded  Louis  XII, 
showed  even  greater  favor  to  the 
jester.  He  became  a  conspicuous 
figure  in  the  court. 

"  Triboulet,"  says  Jean  Marot, 
"  was  a  fool  with  an  unsightly  head, 
as  wise  at  thirty  as  on  the  day  he  was 
born;  with  a  small  forehead  and  large 
eyes,  a  big  nose  and  squatty  figure, 
a  flat,  long  belly,  and  a  hump  back. 
He  mocked,  sang,  danced,  and 
preached  in  derision  of  everybody, 
but  so  pleasantly  that  he  angered 
none."  The  last  assertion  is  slightly 
rash, — Triboulet  frequently  raised 
anger  and  enmity  by  his  sallies. 

Rabelais  in  Gargantua  and  Panta- 
gruel,  iii,  37,  makes  Pantagruel  and 
Panurge  chant  a  mock  litany  cele- 
brating   the    qualities    that    enti 
Triboulet  to  the  epithet  Morosophe, 
or    Wise    Fool.      Bonaventure 
perriers  in  a  tale  Of  the  Three  Fools, 
Caillette,    Triboulet    and  Polite,  calls 
Triboulet  "  a  fool  of  25  carats." 

Victor  Hugo  revived  the  fame  of 
Triboulet  by  making  him   the  cen- 
tral  figure   of   his   tragedy    Le   Roi 
S' Amuse.     But  Hugo's  Triboulet 
very  different  from  the  real 
He  is  no  good-natured  jester,  but  a 
venomous    cynic,    whose    deformity 
and     social     degradation     have 
alienated  him  from  his  kind 
21 


finds  pleasure  in  wounding  them  with 
poisoned  shafts  of  ridicule.  His  one 
redeeming  feature  is  his  love  for  his 
daughter.  This  makes  him  at  last  a 
pathetic  and  almost  a  heroic  figure. 
In  Tom  Taylor's  comedy  7V  i's 

Revenge  and  Verdi's  opera,  Rigolctto, 
both  founded  on  Le  Roi  S' A  muse, 
Hugo's  jester  changes  his  name  with- 
out changing  his  nature.  Two  other 
plays  that  owe  their  inspiration  to 
Hugo's  are  The  Son  of  Triboulet 
(1835),  a  vaudeville  by  Coignard 
Brothers,  and  One  Hour  of  Royalty 
(1871),  a  comic  opera  by  Saint  Alme 
and  Roux. 

Trilby,  in  Scotch  folklore,  an  elf  or 
brownie  who  takes  up  his  abode  in 
tiumble  households  and  is  willing 
and  helpful  if  kindly  treated,  but 
uncomfortably  revengeful  if  despite- 
fully  used.  Charles  Nodier,  who  has 
made  him  the  deus  ex  machina  of  a 
fairy  tale  entitled  Trilby  or  the  Elf 
and  Argail,  thus  describes  his  char- 
acteristics : 

He  is  a  spirit  more  malicious  than  wicked 
and  more  mischievous  than  malicious,  some- 
times irritable  and  mutinous,  often  amiable 
and  subservient,  who  has  all  the  good  qual- 
ities and  all  the  defects  of  a  spoiled  child. 
He  rarely  frequents  the  palaces  of  the  i/n.a, 
or  the  farms  of  the  well-to-do  which  abound 
in  servants,  a  more  modest  destiny  links  his 
mysterious  life  with  the  hut  of  the  shepherd 
or  the  woodcutter.  There,  a  thousand  times 
happier  than  the  brilliant  parasites  of  wealth, 
he  rejoices  in  teasing  the  old  women  who 
find  fault  with  him  over  their  nightly  prattle. 
or  in  troubling  the  sleep  of  youiu:  K»rls  with 
incomprehensible  but  gracous  dreams. 

Trimalchio,  in  the  Satyricon,  a  poem 
attributed  to  Caius  Petronius,  is  a 
freedman  of  -real  wealth  who  ^i . 
a  lavish  banquet  to  the  nobles  and  the 
the  nouveaux-richesof  Imperial  K...ir.r, 
and  so  enables  ivtronius  to  describe 
and  satirize  his  contemporaries.  The 
episode  is  known  as  the  Cena  Trimal- 
chionis  (Trimalchws  Dinner  Party) 
and  the  descriptions  arc  put  into 
the  mouth  of  Encolpius,  one  of  the 
guests. 

Triptolemus,  son  of  Cclsus,  t 
Eleusis,    with    a    variegated    h.;1 
mothers  to  choose  from  in  Greek  myth, 
the  favorite  choice  being  Metamra. 
He     hospitably     received     Dcmcter 


Tristan 


322 


Tristan 


when  she  was  wandering  about  the 
earth  in  search  of  her  daughter 
Proserpine,  and  in  return  she  would 
have  made  his  son  Demophon  (q.v.) 
immortal,  but  was  unintentionally 
frustrated  by  the  boy's  mother. 
Then  Demeter  presented  Tripto- 
lemus  with  seeds  of  wheat  and  a 
chariot  drawn  by  dragons  and  he 
rode  over  the  earth,  instructing  men 
in  agriculture  and  in  the  use  of  the 
plough,  which  he  had  invented.  He 
was  the  great  hero  of  the  Eleusinian 
festivals. 

Tristan,  Tristram  or  Tristrem,  a 
famous  hero  of  mediaeval  romance. 
His  story  was  of  Keltic  origin,  and 
was  known  in  Britain  at  an  early 
date.  Subsequently  it  was  incor- 
porated in  the  saga  of  Arthur,  with 
which  it  had  primarily  no  connection. 
Crossing  the  channel  it  became  the 
subject  of  many  French  poems,  the 
most  famous  of  which,  by  Chretien 
de  Troyes,  has  been  lost.  In  Ger- 
many Tristan's  story  was  celebrated 
in  a  still  more  famous  epic  (1210),  by 
Gottfried  von  Strasburg,  who  pro- 
fessedly derived  his  materials  from 
Chretien.  Gottfried's  poem  ranks  as 
one  of  the  greatest  masterpieces  of 
ancient  German  literature.  It  was 
left  unfinished,  and  continuations 
were  written  by  Ulrich  von  Thur- 
heim  (about  1240)  and  Heinrich  von 
Freiburg  (about  1300),  the  latter 
being  far  the  superior.  The  story  of 
Tristan  was  dramatized  by  Hans 
Sachs;  in  more  modern  times  it  has 
been  treated  by  Tennyson  in  The 
Last  Tournament;  by  Matthew 
Arnold  in  Tristram  and  Iseult;  by 
Swinburne  in  Tristan  of  Lyonesse. 
Tradition  ascribed  to  Tristram  the 
invention  of  many  of  the  terms  and 
practices  of  venery  or  the  chase. 
Hence  a  treatise  on  hunting  was 
known  as  Sir  Tristram's  Book. 

The  posthumous  son  of  the  Knight 
Rivalin,  Tristan's  birth  was  his 
widowed  mother's  death.  Hence  his 
name.  King  Mark  of  Cornwall,  his 
uncle,  brought  up  the  lad.  One  of 
his  early  exploits  was  the  slaying  in 
single  combat  of  Morold,  King  of 
Ireland,  who  before  expiring  wounded 


him  with  a  poisoned  dart.  Learning 
that  Morold's  sister  alone  knew  the 
antidote,  Tristan  went  in  disguise  to 
the  Irish  court,  was  duly  cured,  and 
on  his  return  advised  King  Mark  to 
marry  the  queen's  daughter,  Isolde 
the  Fair.  Mark  agreeing  sent  Tris- 
tan as  his  ambassador.  He  slew  a 
dragon  on  landing,  and  so  reconciled 
the  Irish  courtiers,  who  now  knew 
him  under  his  real  name,  the  slayer 
of  Morold.  Tristan's  embassy  proved 
successful,  and  Isolde  embarked  with 
him  for  Cornwall. 

Her  mother,  fearing  that  the  age 
of  the  prospective  bridegroom  might 
repel  her,  entrusted  to  Bragane, 
Isolde's  maid,  a  magic  love  potion 
which  was  to  be  given  to  the  pair  on 
the  wedding  night.  By  mishap 
Tristan  and  Isolde  partook  of  it  on 
the  voyage.  A  mad  passion  leaped 
up  which  triumphed  alike  over  virgin 
purity  and  knightly  honor. 

Bragane  recognized  that  her  care- 
lessness was  to  blame.  Remorse 
prompted  her  to  aid  and  shield  the 
lovers.  On  the  bridal  night  she  took 
the  place  of  Isolde,  and  the  intrigue 
was  thus  carried  on  for  months, 
until  Marjodo  aroused  the  suspicions 
of  the  King.  Tristan  was  banished; 
Isolde  was  condemned  to  undergo 
the  ordeal  by  fire.  On  her  way  Tristan 
met  her,  disguised  as  a  beggar,  and 
at  her  request  carried  her  over  a 
stream  of  water.  Then  she  bade 
him  fall  in  such  manner  that  they 
lay  side  by  side.  At  the  trial  she 
boldly  swore  that  no  man  had  ever 
lain  by  her  side  save  the  King  and 
that  poor  beggar. 

Nevertheless,  Mark's  suspicions 
were  again  awakened;  Isolde  was 
banished  and  the  lovers  rejoined 
each  other  in  the  wilderness.  One 
day  the  King  rode  past  their  grotto 
and  saw  them  sleeping  with  a  drawn 
sword  between  them.  Half  con- 
vinced, he  recalled  the  pair  to 
court. 

Again  proofs  of  their  guilty  love 
were  brought  to  him,  and  Tristan 
fled  to  Brittany.  Here  he  met 
another  Isolde — Isolde  of  the  White 
Hands — whom  he  married  out  of 


Triton 


323 


Tronc 


gratitude.  But  the  memory  of  the 
first  Isolde  stood  ever  between  him 
and  his  wife,  and  he  wandered  away 
as  one  distraught,  performing  deeds 
which  made  his  name  famous  in 
Brittany.  Wounded  at  last  he  re- 
turned to  his  wife.  Her  nursing 
was  of  no  avail  and  the  dying  man 
sent  a  messenger  to  the  other  Isolde 
craving  a  last  farewell  at  his  death- 
bed. If  she  consented  the  messenger 
was  to  hoist  a  white  flag  on  the 
returning  vessel;  if  she  refused  a 
black  one  (see  ^GEUS).  When  the 
vessel  was  sighted  Tristan  eagerly 
asked  what  flag  it  bore.  "A  black 
flag,"  replied  his  wife,  jealously 
mendacious,  and  he  fell  back  dead. 
Presently  the  blonde  Isolde  rushed 
into  the  "room,  threw  herself  upon 
the  corpse  with  wild  lamentations 
and  expired.  When  King  Mark 
heard  the  story  of  the  magic  potion 
he  forgave  the  lovers  and  buried 
them  in  one  grave. 

Triton,  in  classic  myth,  a  sea- 
monster,  son  of  Neptune  and  Amphi- 
trite.  He  had  green  hair,  the  upper 
part  of  his  body  was  human,  the 
lower  that  of  a  fish.  His  duty  was 
to  stir  or  calm  the  waves  by  blasts 
upon  his  shell.  Early  mythology 
knew  of  but  one  Triton,  but  later 
writers  mention  a  plurality. 

The  shepherd  which  hath  charge  in  chief 

Is  Triton,  blowing  loud  his  wreathed  horn. 

And  Proteus  eke  with  him  does  drive  his  herd 

Of  stinking  scales  and  porepisces  together. 

SPENSER:  Colin  Clout's  Come 

Home  Again,  244. 

Great  Godl    I'd  rather  be 
A  pagan  suckled  in  a  creed  outworn; 

So  might  I,  standing  on  this  pleasant  lea. 
Have  glimpses  that  would  make  me  les: 

forlorn; 

Have  sight  of  Proteus  coming  from  the  sea 
Or  hear  old  Triton  blow  his  wreathed  horn 
WORDSWORTH:  Sonnet. 

Whose  mellow  reeds  are  touched  with  sounds 

forlorn 

By  the  dim  echoes  of  old  Triton  s  horn. 
KEATS:  Endymion,  i,  205. 

Trivia,   an   epithet   given    by    the 
Latins  to   Diana,  as  presiding  over 
and  worshipped  in  the  places 
three  roads  met,  which  were  callec 
"trivia."    Being  known  as  Diana  on 


earth,  the  Moon  in  the  heavens,  and 
Proserpine    in    the    infernal  regions, 
she  was  represented  at  these  places 
with   three  faces:  those  of  a   : 
a  dog,  and  a  female,  the  latter  be 
in  the  middle. 

Trolls,  in  Norse  myth,  a  race  of 
giants  corresponding  to  the  Panis  or 
Night  demons  of  the  Veda, — usually 
represented  as  beings  who  had  b<. 
superseded  by  man.  They  shunned 
the  daylight,  were  rude  and  ignorant 
and  crafty,  ate  human  ilesh  and  liv«  1 
in  deep  caves  or  in  recesses  in  the 
forest.  According  to  some  legei 
they  burst  if  they  exposed  them- 
selves to  sunlight. 

Saxo  Grammaticus  in  his  History 
of  Denmark  reports  that  there  \v 
three  species  of  trolls.  The  first 
were  deformed  monsters  known  to 
antiquity  as  giants;  the  second  were 
their  superiors  in  mind  though  not 
in  stature,  and  succeeded  in  dominat- 
ing the  first  by  sheer  intellectual 
force;  the  third  were  a  hybrid  race 
who  did  not  equal  the  first  in  stature, 
nor  the  second  in  intellect.  Xavier 
de  Marmier  in  Lcttres  sur  le  Nord 
says  that  invisible  themselves  they 
attend  mortal  banquets  and  sur- 
reptitiously rob  the  table  of  its 
choicest  dishes.  "  Sometimes  they 
are  gracious  and  tender.  They  seek 
out  the  daughters  of  men  to  tempt 
them  into  their  solitary  caver 
They  assist  the  poor  with  the  tn 
ures  hidden  in  the  earth,  but  nothing 
will  appease  their  wrath  if  they  are 
despitefully  used." 

Tronc,  in  the   medieval   romance, 
Ysaic  le    Tristc,   a    dwarf   attendant 
upon  Ysaie  and   his  s««n   Mark,  gift 
of  the  fairies  to  the  former,   wh 
wit   and   cleverness   an«l    inflni 
source   arc   largely    instrumental    in 
securing  good  fortune  for  father  an<l 
son.     His  fidelity  to  both  is  equally 
marked,    though    by    tin-    t  .    -'i 

more  relished  warrior,  he  is  tr 
with    invariable    tenderness    and    r<-- 
spcct,  while  the  latter  :rl- 

ish     enough     to     remark     that     the 
loyal    servitor   is  too   <1 
too  hi  for  human  -"  the 

ugliest  creature  in   the   world."     At 


Trophimia 


324 


Trygseus 


the  double  wedding  of  Ysaie  and 
Mark  the  dwarf  receives  his  reward. 
The  fairies  who  had  always  watched 
over  Ysaie  reappeared  on  this  occa- 
sion, and  informed  Trone  that  he 
was  one  of  their  family,  being  the 
son  of  Julius  Caesar  by  their  eldest 
sister,  Morgana  la  Fay.  Further- 
more, they  relieved  him  of  his  deform- 
ities and  he  now  appeared  the  hand- 
somest prince  in  the  world,  as 
formerly  he  had  been  the  wittiest 
and  most  ingenious.  But  they  added 
no  cubit  to  his  stature,  he  still  re- 
mained barely  three  feet  high.  He 
was  made  king  of  Fairyland  under 
the  name  of  Aubron.  In  later  times 
he  achieved  newer  and  wider  fame 
as  the  Alberich  of  the  Nibelungen 
Lied  and  the  Oberon  immortalized  by 
Shakspear  in  A  Midsummer  Night's 
Dream. 

Trophimia,  St.,  a  Breton  saint  of 
whom  little  is  known  even  in  pop- 
ular tradition  of  to-day,  but  who 
evidently  played  a  considerable  part 
in  the  folklore  of  the  past.  She  is 
probably  the  original  heroine  of  the 
Bluebeard  myth.  This  seems  evi- 
dent from  a  series  of  6  frescoes  in  a 
church  still  extant  in  decay  on  the 
Morbihan  Gulf  in  Brittany.  These 
frescoes  are  assigned  to  the  thirteenth 
century  and  represent  (i)  the  saint's 
marriage  with  a  Breton  lord;  (2)  her 
receipt  of  a  bunch  of  keys  from  her 
husband;  (3)  her  discovery  of  seven 
dead  bodies  of  women;  (4)  her 
husband's  return,  his  anger  and  her 
evident  dejection;  (5)  the  saint  at 
a  window  praying  with  a  woman  who 
is  presumably  her  sister.  In  the 
sixth  and  last  picture  the  saint  has 
been  hanged,  but  St.  Gildas  resusci- 
tates her,  while  her  two  brothers 
kill  the  husband. 

Trophonius,  in  Greek  legend,  the 
son  of  Erginus,  king  of  Orchomenus. 
With  his  brother  Agamedes  he  is 
fabled  to  have  built  many  famous 
structures,  notably  the  temple  of 
Apollo  at  Delphi.  Commissioned  to 
erect  a  treasure  house  for  King 
Hyricus  in  Boeotia,  they  inserted, 
one  stone  so  cleverly  that  it  could 
easily  be  removed  by  night,  giving 


access  to  the  hidden  treasure.  Notic- 
ing the  diminution  of  his  stores 
Hyricus  laid  a  trap  to  discover  the 
thief.  Agamedes  was  caught  in  it. 
Trophonius  did  his  best  to  liberate 
his  brother,  but  in  vain,  and  then  to 
save  the  reputation  of  both,  cut  off 
his  head.  No  sooner  had  he  com- 
mitted this  murder  than  the  earth 
opened  and  swallowed  him  up.  A 
few  years  later  drought  and  famine 
desolated  the  country  of  Boeotia. 
The  Pythoness  at  Delphi  being  ap- 
pealed to  advised  her  suppliants  to 
consult  the  shrine  of  Trophonius 
which  they  would  find  in  a  wood  in 
Lebadia.  Here,  indeed,  his  tomb 
was  discovered  in  a  cave,  and  a  help- 
ful answer  was  returned.  Ever  after 
that  the  cave  of  Trophonius  was 
looked  upon  as  an  oracle  of  great 
merit.  But  no  one  who  entered  it 
was  ever  known  to  smile  again.  See 
THIEF,  MASTER. 

An  eminent  Italian  author,  speaking  of 
the  great  advantage  of  a  serious  and  com- 
posed temper,  wishes  very  gravely  that  for 
the  benefit  of  mankind  he  had  Trophonius's 
cave  in  his  possession;  which,  says  he,  would 
contribute  more  to  the  reformation  of 
manners  than  all  the  workhouses  and  bride- 
wells of  Europe. 

We  have  a  very  particular  description  of 
this  cave  in  Pausanias,  who  tells  us  that  it 
was  made  in  the  form  of  a  huge  oven,  and 
had  many  particular  circumstances,  which 
disposed  the  person  who  was  in  it  to  be  more 
pensive  and  thoughtful  than  ordinary;  in- 
somuch that  no  man  was  ever  observed  to 
laugh  all  his  life  after,  who  had  once  made 
his  entry  into  this  cave.  It  was  usual  in 
those  times  when  any  one  carried  a  more 
than  ordinary  gloominess  in  his  features,  to 
tell  him  he  looked  like  one  just  come  out  of 
Trophonius's  Cave. — ADDISON:  The  Specta- 
tor, No.  598,  Sept.  24,  1714- 

Truculentus,  in  a  Latin  comedy  of 
that  name  by  Plautus,  a  morose  and 
clownish  servant  who  occupies  only 
a  subordinate  part  in  the  action. 
Shad  well  in  The  Squire  of  ^Alsatia 
imitated  Truculentus  in  Lolpool,  the 
servant  of  Belfond,  Senior. 

Trygseus,  hero  of  Aristophanes's 
comedy  The  Peace,  produced,  B.C. 
415,  in  the  tenth  year  of  the  Pelo- 
ponnesian  war,  as  a  plea  for  peace. 
Trygaeus — whose  name  suggests  the 
lost  merriment  of  the  vintage — is  a 
peace-loving  Athenian  citizen.  Find- 


Tuan 


325 


Tubal 


ing  no  answer  to  his  expostulations 
from  men,  he  resolves  to  invade 
Olympus  and  seek  a  personal  inter- 
view with  Zeus.  For  this  purpose  he 
has  fed  and  trained  a  dung-beetle, 
there  being  a  fable,  attributed  to 
^Esop,  which  told  how  this  animal 
had  once  made  his  way  to  the 
Olympian  throne  in  pursuit  of  his 
enemy  the  eagle.  Aristophanes  inter- 
weaves a  burlesque  on  the  aerial 
journey  of  Bellerophon  on  Pegasus, 
which  had  recently  been  represented 
in  a  popular  tragedy  by  Euripides. 
Trygaeus  accordingly  addresses  his 
strange  steed  as  "  my  little  Pegasus." 
So  mounted,  he  is  hoisted  into  the 
air,  with  many  soothing  speeches  to 
the  beetle,  and  an  aside  to  the  stage 
machinist  that  he  should  be  very 
careful  lest,  like  Bellerophon, Trygasus 
himself  should  fall  down,  and  furnish 
another  crippled  hero  for  a  new 
tragedy  by  Euripides.  Zeus  and  the 
other  divinities  are  absent  when  he 
arrives  on  Olympus.  War,  he  finds, 
has  thrown  Peace  into  a  well,  and, 
with  the  aid  of  Tumult,  is  engaged 
in  pounding  the  states  of  Greece  in 
a  mortar,  using  the  chief  generals  on 
either  side  for  pestles.  Trygaeus  en- 
gages the  help  of  a  band  of  rustics, 
rescues  Peace  from  her  uncomfort- 
able position,  and  leads  her  in  tri- 
umph to  Athens. 

Tuan  Mac  Carell  (i.e.,  son  of 
Carell),  a  legendary  Irish  hero  whose 
metamorphoses  are  described  in  an 
early  I2th  century  MS.,  The  Book  of 
the  Dun  Cow.  Sole  survivor  of  the 
pestilence  that  overwhelmed  the 
descendants  of  Partholon  in  the  6th 
century,  he  wandered  about  desolate 
Ireland,  unkempt,  wretched  and  mis- 
erable, until  one  morning  he  awoke 
to  find  himself  changed  into  a  stag. 
He  was  successively  king  of  the 
stags,  and,  in  a  later  metamorphosis, 
of  the  wild  boars.  As  an  eagle  he 
beheld  the  incoming  of  the  Tuatha 
de  Danaan,  and  of  their  conquerors, 
the  sons  of  Miled.  Finally  in  the 
form  of  a  salmon  he  was  caught  and 
presented  to  the  wife  of  Carcll. 
Born  again  of  her  he  regained  human 
form  as  the  son  of  Carell. 


When  Partholon  came  to  Ireland,  the  isle 
was   still   growing,   and   c<.>ntai:i<-d    hut 
plain.    Sen    Mag.    "the   old    plain."      Three 
other  plains  grew  in  the  time  of  the  children 
of  Partholon.     His  race  all  din!  in  on< 
how,  then,  do  we  know  anything  a 
The  Irish  foresaw  this  qiu- :-tii.n  and  invei 
a  reply,  in  the  legend  of  Tuan  N'.  rill. 

Tuan  told  the  tale  of  the  extinction  of  the 
Partholonidas,  adding,  "only  one  man  sur- 
vived."    When  people  answered  "Who 
so?  "  p>Tuan  answered.  "Stranger,  /  « 
man,"  and  further  discussion  was  imp 
We  have  the  tale  of  Tuan  in  a  Christian  f  <  >rm. 
When  St.  Finnen  was  preaching  to  the  In  h. 
he  heard  of  a  pagan  chief  in  a  strong  castle, 
made  friends  with  the  chief,  and  learned  f : 
his  lips  all  the  past  history  of  the  country. 
The  chief  was  Tuan  Mac  Cairill.     He  had 
survived  all  the  Partholonids,  and  all  the 
Nemedidae,  and  all  the  rest  of  them.    He  had 
lived   through    many    metamorphoses;    for, 
after  being  a  man,  he  became  a  stag,  a  boar, 
a  vulture,  and  finally  a  salmon.    In  his  form 
as  a  salmon,  and  a  mighty  hip  fish  too,  he 
was  caught  by  a  king,  and  eaten  by,trn 
who  afterwards  gave  birth  to  him  as  Tuan 
Mac   Cairill.      All   this   the   disciple   of   St. 
Finnen  not  only  believed,  but  rec  and 

hence,  through  the  fortunate  accident  of  the 
survival  of  Tuan  Mac  Cairill.  we  derive  that 
authentic  history  of  Erin  which  is  the  delight 
and  pride  of  a  noble,  non-rent-paying, 
dynamite-loving  people.  Later  ages  Chris- 
tianized old  Tuan.  mixed  him  up  with  the 
Patriarchs,  made  him  outlive  Methuselah, 
and  took  other  liberties  with  authentic 
history. — Saturday  Review. 

Tuatha  de  Danaan  (tribe  of  Danu), 
in  Irish  myth,  the  descendant^  t.f  the 
goddess   Danu.     They   invaded    Ire- 
land from  a  magic  cloud  and  drove 
the    aboriginal    Firbolgs    into    Con- 
naught,    taking    for    themselves    the 
richest  provinces  in  the  island.    Tl 
were  a  beautiful  race,  highly  ski!' 
as   smiths,    artisans   and    nhy sieians, 
and  as  poets  and  magicians.    In  their 
turn    the    Danaans    were    eonque- 
by   the   Sons   of    Miled    (Mile.ians), 
and     withdrew    into     the     realm    of 
faery,  where  they  still  reside  in  im- 
mortal bliss.     There  are  st«  tries  whieh 
tell  how  mortals  are    ometime-;  ta'. 
to  this  enchanted  land,   where  they 
live  for  years,  whieh  pass  like  a  single 
night. 

Tubal  Cain,  the  Biblical  and  legen- 
dary father  of  "  all  such  as  f  'p- 
per  and  iron."  !!•  -ith 
generation  in  at  iY"in  Cain: 
"  And  Zillah  she  also  bar  baJ 
Cain,  an  instructor  of  every  artili 
in  brass  and  iron."  (<  .  .v  ) 
Josephus  says  that  Tubal  "  exceeded 


Tuck 


326 


Turpin 


all  men  in  strength,  and  was  very 
expert  and  famous  in  martial  per- 
formances .  .  .  and  first  of  all 
invented  the  art  of  working  brass." 

Not  alone  for  the  blade  was  the  bright 

steel  made! 

And  he  fashioned  the  first  plough-share. 
CHARLES  MACKAY:   Tubal  Cain. 

Tuck,  Friar,  in  the  Robin  Hood 
cycle  of  ballads,  the  outlaw's  chap- 
lain, a  fat,  jolly  and  humorous  old 
gentleman.  In  the  Morris  dances  he 
was  usually  represented  as  dressed  in 
the  russet  habit  of  the  Franciscan 
order,  with  a  red  girdle  and  red  stock- 
ings. Friar  Tuck  is  not  mentioned 
in  the  earlier  ballads  relating  to  the 
outlaw,  it  is  only  in  a  few  of  the  later 
ones  that  his  name  occurs  as  forming 
a  part  of  the  goodly  company  in 
Sherwood  forest.  It  is  probable  that, 
like  Maid  Marian,  he  originally  be- 
longed to  the  Morris  dances,  and 
when  these  were  consolidated  with 
the  Robin  Hood  games,  he  soon 
came  to  be  accepted  by  popular 
fancy  as  one  of  the  outlaw's  company. 
He  appears  in  The  Two  Gentlemen  of 
Verona,  iv,  I,  as  the  confessor  of 
Robin  Hood.  Scott  introduces  the 
friar  into  Ivanhoe  under  the  title 
the  Holy  Clerk  of  Copmanhurst. 

Turnus,  in  a  Roman  legend  chron- 
icled by  Livy  (i,  2),  and  turned  to 
poetical  account  by  Virgil  in  the 
sEneid  (vii,  408;  x,  76;  xii,  408,  926), 
a  prince  of  the  Rutilians  at  Ardea, 
in  central  Italy.  His  aunt  Amata, 
wife  of  King  Latinus  of  Latium,  had 
brought  about  his  betrothal  to 
Lavinia,  daughter  of  the  royal 
couple.  He  is  young,  brave  and 
gallant,  she  as  blooming  as  the  rose, 
and  in  love  with  her  lover.  When  in 
obedience  to  an  oracle  Latinus  de- 
sires to  transfer  his  daughter's  hand 
to  ^Eneas,  as  the  destined  founder 
of  a  great  future  state,  popular  feeling 
runs  high  against  the  "  Phrygian 
robber."  The  king  bows  to  the 
storm,  breaks  off  the  alliance  with 
^Eneas,  and  prepares  for  war.  After 
the  requisite  amount  of_  fighting, 
which  evidently  possesses  little  in- 
terest for  the  poet,  the  Latins,  who 


have  had  rather  the  worse  of  it, 
experience  a  revulsion  of  feeling  and 
begin  to  regard  Turnus  as  the  author 
of  their  misfortunes.  Keenly  alive 
to  the  reproachful  looks  which  are 
cast  upon  him,  he  proposes  that  the 
strife  shall  be  decided  by  a  single 
combat  between  himself  and  ^Eneas. 
Latinus  would  fain  dissuade  him; 
but  consents  at  last,  ^neas  accepts 
the  challenge  and  Turnus  is  slain. 
See  PALLAS. 

Turpin  or  Tilpin,  a  contemporary 
of  Charlemagne,  who  is  said  by 
Flodoardus  (Historic,  Ecclesics  Rem- 
ensis,  ii,  16)  to  have  been  Arch- 
bishop of  Rlieims  from  753  to  his 
death  in  about  800.  He  plays  a 
considerable  part  in  the  Carlovingian 
romances  of  the  middle  ages,  and 
especially  in  a  fabulous  Chronicle 
which  was  feigned  to  be  largely  of 
his  authorship.  Hence  this  chronicle 
is  known  as  the  pseudo-Turpin.  It 
is  now  believed  to  be  the  work  of 
various  authors  from  the  eleventh 
to  the  twelfth  centuries,  and  was 
probably  rounded  out  and  completed 
by  Aimeri  Picaud  about  the  year 
1150.  According  to  the  legends  col- 
lected in  The  Song  of  Roland  (see 
ROLAND),  Turpin  played  an  impor- 
tant part  at  the  battle  of  Roncesvalles 
and  shared  there  the  death  of  Roland 
and  Oliver.  But,  according  to  the 
Chronicle,  the  archbishop  was  cele- 
brating mass  in  Gascony  at  the 
time  the  paladins  were  overwhelmed, 
and,  while  so  employed,  heard  the 
songs  of  angels  conveying  Christian 
souls  up  to  heaven,  and  also  the 
triumphant  shouts  of  demons  on 
their  way  to  Gehenna  with  the  souls 
of  slain  Saracens.  He  immediately 
reported  these  facts  to  Charlemagne, 
who  was  standing  beside  him,  and  it 
was  then  that  the  emperor  returned 
to  Roncesvalles,  embalmed  the  bodies 
of  his  paladins,  and  avenged  their 
deaths  upon  their  conquerors,  whom 
he  cut  to  pieces  on  the  banks  of  the 
Ebro  near  Saragossa.  Some  his- 
torians have  carried  so  far  their 
disbelief  in  the  Chronicle  and  its 
imitators  as  to  deny  that  Charle- 
magne ever  was  in  Spain.  The 


Turpin 


327 


authority  of  Eginhard,  however, 
establishes  the  fact  that  about  the 
year  777  he  yielded  to  an  appeal 
from  one  of  the  many  rulers  among 
whom  the  peninsula  was  divided; 
that  on  a  pretence  of  defending  his 
ally  from  aggression,  he  extended  his 
conquests  over  a  considerable  portion 
of  Navarre  and  Aragon;  and  that 
on  his  homeward  journey  he  ex- 
perienced a  partial  defeat  from  the 
ambushed  attack  of  an  expected 
enemy.  This  reverse  has  been  ampli- 
fied by  the  mediaeval  romances  into 
the  destruction  of  his  entire  rear- 
guard by  treacherous  Saracens,  and 
other  attendant  extravagances,  which 
the  genius  of  Bojardo  and  Ariosto 
have  made  immortal  in  poetical 
literature. 

Spanish  legend  and  history,  on 
the  other  hand,  assert  that  Charle- 
magne was  summoned  to  Spain  by 
King  Alfonso,  of  Leon,  who  prom- 
ised to  grant  him  the  succession 
if  he  freed  his  kingdom  from  the 
Moors.  Charlemagne  fulfilled  his 
part  of  the  compact,  but  the  subjects 
of  Alfonso,  under  the  leadership  of 
Bernardo  del  Carpio,  refused  to 
ratify  the  bargain  made  by  their 
king  and  cut  to  pieces  a  great  army 
which  the  emperor  had  encamped 
upon  the  plains  of  Roncesvalles. 

Turpin,  Dick  (Richard),  a  famous 
highwayman,  born  in  Essex  about 
1706,  hanged  for  horse-stealing  at 
York  in  1739,  whom  legend  has 
transformed  from  a  brutal  and  lustful 
robber  into  an  eighteenth  century 
Robin  Hood.  In  chap-books  and 
ballads  and  the  fiction  and  drama 
founded  thereon  he  goes  to  his  death 
in  gold  lace  and  ruffles  and  velvet;— 
in  reality  he  bought  "  a  new  pair  of 
pumps  and  a  fustian  frock  to  wear  at 
the  time  of  his  death."  He  left  a 
ring  and  other  articles  to  a  married 
woman  (not  married  to  himself)  with 
whom  he  had  been  cohabiting, 
trembled  and  turned  white  when  he 
came  to  the  scaffold,  stamped  his 
foot  with  some  bravado,  mounted 
the  ladder,  and  there  '  conversed 
with  the  executioner  for  half  an  hour 
before  he  threw  himself  off."  Pos- 


Tydeus 


sibly   Prior  had   this  death-scone  in 
mind  when  he  wrote  the  lin 

Now  fitted  the  halter,  now  traversed  the  cart 
And  often  took  leave,  but  seemed  loath  to 
depart. 

The  mythical  hero  was  possessed  of 
a  mythical  mare,  Black  Bess,  on  wh- 
back  he  performed  a  mythical  r 
from  London  to  York  in  a  single  nij.;' 
— exhausting  his  steed  unto  death  i-i 
the  moment  of  victory.    Steed,  ri 
and  ride  are  celebrated  in  the  m 
famous    episode    in    a    once    famous 
romance  Rookwood  (1857)  by  Harri- 
son Ainsworth.     "  Well  do  I  remem- 
ber," says  the  author,  "  the  fever  in 
which  I  was  thrown  during  the  time 
of    composition.      My    pen    literally 
scoured   over    the    pages.      So    thor- 
oughly did  I  identify  myself  with  ' 
flying  highwayman,  that  once  star- 
I  found  it  impossible  to  halt.     Ani- 
mated   by    kindred    enthusiasm,     I 
cleared    every    object    in    my    path 
with    as    much    facility    as    Turpin 
disposed    of    the    impediments    that 
beset  his  flight.     In  his  company    I 
mounted  the  hillside,  dashed  through 
the  bustling  village,  swept  over  the 
desolate   heath,    threaded    the   sil 
street,     plunged     into     the    eddying 
stream,  and  kept  an  onward  course- 
without    pause,    without    hindrar 
without  fatigue.    With  him  I  shout 
sang,   laughed,   exulted,    wept.      N 
did  I  retire  to  rest  till  in  imagination 
I  heard  the  bell  of  York  Minster  ; 
forth  the  knell  of  poor  Black   I' 

This  is  all  very  well.     But 
current    gossip    among    Ainswor 
acquaintances  that  he  had  emplo; 
William  Maginn    to  write  the   n 
vivid  chapter.;  in  this  ep 

Tydeus,    in    classic    myth,    son    of 
(Eneus,  kin/  «\  Calydon   and    : 
of  Diomed.     !!••  accompanied  Ad- 
tus  in  the-  expedition  . 
In  a  fight  with  Melanippus  l><.th  com- 
batants were  slain,   but   Ty  UT- 
vivcd  the  longer,  and   employ' 
last  moments  in  gnawing  the  othi 
skull.     Athene  appeared  to  him  with 
a  remedy   which    would    have   ma 
him    immortal,    but,   seeing    him    at 
his  loathsome  occupation,  shud  '   r  d 


Typhon 


328 


Ulysses 


and  left  him  to  his  fate.  Dante  pos- 
sibly derived  here  a  hint  for  his 
description  of  Ugolino  (q.v.).  He 
himself  introduces  Tydeus  into  hell 
(Inferno,  xxxii,  130). 

Typhon  or  Typhceus,  in  classic 
myth,  a  hundred  headed  monster, 
youngest  son  of  Tartarus  and  Gsea, 
who  presuming  to  covet  sovereignty 
over  gods  and  men  was  subdued  by 
a  thunderbolt  from  Zeus,  and  buried 
in  Tartarus  under  Mount  JEtna 
(Ovm,  Metamorphoses  v,  346).  Virgil, 
however  (^Eneid  ix,  715),  describes 
Typhoeus  as  lying  beneath  the  vol- 


canic island  now  known  as  Ischia  in 
the  Bay  of  Naples. 

Tyr  (in  German  Tius  or  Zio),  the 
Scandinavian  god  of  battles,  tall, 
slender  and  courageous.  He  had 
only  one  hand,  for  when  the  terrible 
Fenris  Wolf  grew  so  powerful  as  to 
threaten  the  very  gods  in  Asgard, 
Tyr  ventured  to  chain  him  up  with 
bonds  that  could  not  be  unloosed, 
and  in  so  doing  lost  his  hand.  In 
Anglo-Saxon  his  name  was  Ti,  geni- 
tive Tiwes,  hence  Tuesday  or  Tiwes' 
day.  Tacitus  identifies  him  with  the 
Roman  Mars/ 


u 


Ugolino  dei  Gherardeschi,  Count, 
a  leader  of  the  Guelphs  in  Pisa  (died 
1288),  whom  Dante  puts  into  the 
frozen  lake  in  Hell.  He  tells  the 
true  and  terrible  story  of  his  death 
in  the  Inferno,  Canto  xxxiii.  His 
castle  in  Pisa  had  been  attacked  by 
the  Ghibellines  under  the  leadership 
of  Archbishop  Ruggieri.  Two  of  his 
grandsons  had  fallen.  He  himself 
with  two  sons  and  two  surviving 
grandsons  had  been  captured  and 
imprisoned  in  the  Tower  of  the 
Gualandi  (since  known  as  the  Tower 
of  Famine),  where  they  were  left  to 
starve.  The  dungeon  key  was  flung 
into  the  Arno  so  that  all  possibility 
of  egress  or  ingress  was  stopped. 
On  the  fourth  day  his  son  Gaddo 
died.  By  the  sixth  day  the  other  son 
and  the  grandchildren  had  fallen 
one  by  one  and  Ugolino  himself 
succumbed  soon  after.  He  and  Rug- 
gieri are  frozen  together  in  the  Lake 
of  Ice  and  he  gnaws  voraciously  at 
his  enemy's  head. 

Remember  Ugolino  condescends 
To  eat  the  head  of  his  arch-enemy 
The  moment  after  he  politely  ends 
His  tale. 

BYRON:   Don  Juan,  ii,  83  (1819). 

Chaucer  in  the  Canterbury  Tales 
briefly  rehearses  the  story  of  "  Huge- 
line  of  Pise,"  putting  it  in  the  mouth 
of  the  Monk. 

Uliva,  Saint,  the  heroine  of  an 
early  Italian  mystery  play  which 


has  analogies  in  the  folklore  of  many 
European  countries,  the  best  known 
variant  being  Grimm's  tale  of  the 
The  Handless  Maiden.  She  was  the 
daughter  of  Guiliano  (Julian),  a 
Roman  Emperor,  who  wickedly 
wished  to  marry  her,  being  tempted 
by  her  beautiful  hands.  She  cut  them 
off  and  Giuliano  sent  her  to  her 
death  in  Britain.  Her  appointed 
executioners  took  pity  upon  her,  how- 
ever, and  abandoned  her  in  a  lonely 
wood.  Here  she  was  discovered  by 
the  king  of  Britain,  who  placed  her 
under  the  protection  of  his  queen. 
The  Virgin  Mary  restored  her  hands 
and  in  due  course  she  married  the 
king  of  Castille,  to  whom  she  bore  a 
son.  During  the  absence  of  her 
consort  she  was  pursued  by  the 
jealous  hatred  of  the  Queen-mother 
and  was  driven  from  Castille.  Reach- 
ing Rome  she  lived  there  unknown, 
until  her  husband,  who  has  discovered 
his  mother's  cruelty  and  punished 
her  with  appropriate  severity,  reached 
Rome  in  the  search  for  his  wife 
and  was  there  rewarded  by  finding 
her. 

Ulysses,  the  name  under  which 
the  Greek  Odysseus  was  known 
among  the  Romans  and  by  which 
he  remains  best  known  to  us.  He  is 
so  called  in  all  the  English  transla- 
tions of  Homer's  Odyssey,  whereof  he 
is  the  hero,  as  the  title  indicates. 
The  adventures  here  related  consti- 


Ulysses 


329 


Ulysses 


tute  his  principal  claim  to  remem- 
brance. They  begin  with  his  embark- 
ation for  home  after  the  fall  of  Troy. 
At  the  outset  of  his  voyage  a  storm 
cast  him  on  the  shores  of  Thrace, 
where  he  plundered  the  town  of 
Ismarus  and  lost  many  of  his  fol- 
lowers. With  the  remainder  he  is 
driven  to  the  country  of  the  Loto- 
phagi.  On  this  episode  Tennyson 
founded  his  famous  poem  The  Lotos- 
Eaters,  describing  how  many  of  the 
followers  of  Ulysses  surrendered 
themselves  to  the  lulling  influence  of 
the  lotos  plant: 

The  Lotus  blooms  below  the  barren  peak; 
The  Lotus  blows  by  every  winding  creek; 
All  say  the  wind  breathes  low  with  mellower 

tone 

Through  every  hollow  cave  and  alley  lone. 
Round  and  round  the  spicy  downs  the  yellow 

Lotus-dust  is  blown. 
We  have  had  enough  of  action  and  of  motion 

we, 
Rolled  to  starboard,  rolled  to  larboard,  when 

the  surge  was  seething  free, 
Where  the  wallowing  monster  spouted  his 

foam-fountains  in  the  sea. 
Let  us  swear  an  oath  and  keep  it  with  an 

open  mind, 

In  the  hollow  Lotus-land  to  live  and  lie  re- 
clined 
On  the  hills  like  gods  together,  careless  of 

mankind. 

Ulysses  by  main  force  dragged 
these  men  away,  and  the  ships  next 
arrived  at  the  goat  island  in  Sicily, 
where  Ulysses  left  all  his  vessels, 
save  one,  sailing  in  that  to  the 
neighboring  island  of  the  Cyclops. 
With  12  companions  he  entered  the 
cave  of  Polyphemus  (q.v.),  who  de- 
voured 6  of  them  and  kept  the  rest 
prisoners.  The  manner  of  their 
escape  drew  down  upon  Ulysses  the 
implacable  anger  of  Poseidon  (Nep- 
tune), who  was  the  father  of  Poly- 
phemus. 

Again  all  the  ships  put  out  to  sea, 
but  all  save  one  were  sunk  by  the 
barbarous  tribe  of  Laestrygonians.  I n 
that  one  Ulysses  arrived  at  the 
island  of  ;£aca,  inhabited  by  Circe 
(q.v.).  By  her  advice  he  visited 
Hades  and  consulted  the  shade  of 
Tiresias  as  to  his  future.  Tiresias 
prophesied  that  he  should  win  home 
without  further  disaster  if  he  re- 
strained his  men  from  injuring  the 


cattle  of  Helios  grazing  on  Thrinacia. 
Unfortunately,  when  he  reachol  that 
island,  after  avoiding  the  seductions 
of  the  Sirens  and  escaping  the  perils 
of   Scylla  and   Chary  bdis,   his   com- 
panions  killed   some   of   the   sac- 
cattle.     Helios  in  his  wrath  dr 
them   all    in   a   shipwreck.      Uly; 
himself,  escaping  through  the  tim 
assistance  of  the  nymph  Leucoth 
found  his  way  to  the  island  of  Ogvgia, 
inhabited    by    Calypso.      For    eight 
years  he  dallied  with  her,  then  left 
the  island  on  a  raft,  to  be  again  ship- 
wrecked on  another  island,  where  he 
was  discovered  by  Xausieaa,  daughter 
of  Alcinous,  king  of  the  Phaeaceans. 
Here  in  Books  iv  and  v  of  the  Odys 
he  is  made  to  relate  his  adventurer 
up  to  date. 

Finally  after  twenty  years  of  wan- 
dering he  reached  his  native  land  of 
Ithaca.  Learning  that  Penelope  \ 
still  faithful,  but  that  she  was  be- 
leaguered by  suitors  for  herihand,  he 
assumed,  with  Athena's  help,  the 
disguise  of  a  beggar.  Making  himself 
known  to  his  son  Telemachus  the 
two  devised  a  plan  of  action.  IVnd- 
ope,  it  appeared,  after  long  persua- 
sion had  at  last  promised  her  hand 
to  that  one  among  the  suitors  who 
shot  most  successfully  with  a  bow 
Ulysses  had  left  behind  him  on 
leaving  for  Troy.  Ulysses,  still  in 
disguise,  appeared  at  the  contest. 
All  the  suitors  failed  in  their  attempt 
to  draw  the  bow.  Thereupon  the 
hero  himself  took  it  up,  sped  an 
arrow  through  12  rings,  shot  another 
bolt  at  the  most  insolent  of  the 
suitors,  and  then,  announcing  him- 
self as  the  long  lost  chief,  slew  one 
after  another  of  his  rivals. 

Penelope  welcomed  him  with  joy- 
ous tears.  So  also  did  his  fat  In  T 
Laertes.  But  the  relatives  of  the 
slain  suitors  would  have  ari-vn 
against  him,  had  not  Athena,  in  the 
form  of  Mentor,  brought  about  .1 
reconciliation  between  the  people 
and  their  king. 

The  manner  of  Ulysses'  death  is 
only  hinted  at  in  the  Odyssey  (xi,  134). 
Tiresias  in  the  underworld  foretold 
to  him  that  he  was  to  die  in  extreme 


Ulysses 


330 


Uncle 


old  age  in  the  midst  of  a  happy  people, 
and  that  the  manner  of  his  death  was 
to  come  from  the  sea.  The  post- 
Homeric  legends  of  Greece  explain 
that  he  was  killed  by  a  spear  tipped 
with  a  ^poisoned  fish-bone.  (See 
also  TELEGONUS.)  In  the  early  Mid- 
dle Ages  there  were  many  inven- 
tions. The  most  famous  of  all 
of  these  appears  in  Dante's  Inferno, 
xxvi.  There  Ulysses  himself  is  made 
to  give  an  account  of  his  later 
years. 

He  told  how  on  his  return  to 
Ithaca  after  long  wanderings  a  rest- 
less longing  came  upon  him  to  start 
on  fresh  adventures.  Though  he 
greatly  loved  his  wife  Penelope,  who 
had  watched  and  waited  for  him 
during  his  twenty  years  of  absence, 
and  found  solace  in  her  company  and 
that  of  his  father  and  his  son,  he  bade 
farewell  to  all  and  sailed  away  in  a 
small  boat  with  his  old-time  com- 
panions. Often  were  they  discour- 
aged, but  Ulysses  never  lost  hope  and 
ever  heartened  them  to  fresh  effort, 
telling  them  that  sooner  or  later 
they  must  reach  the  mysterious  land 
where  the  sun  sets.  They  sailed 
westward  for  five  months,  and  at 
last  sighted  the  shadowy  outline  of  a 
huge  mountain.  But  at  the  very 
moment  of  victory  death  overtook 
them  in  the  shape  of  a  whirlwind 
sweeping  from  the  shore  and  the  boat 
sank  with  all  its  crew. 

From  a  passage  in  this  speech  of 
Ulysses  Tennyson  took  the  hint  for 
his  poem  Ulysses,  a  purposed  con- 
trast to  his  previous  poem,  The  Lotos- 
Eaters.  There  we  saw  the  companions 
of  Ulysses  yielding  to  the  enchant- 
ments of  a  land  that  offered  a  life 
of  perfect  rest  and  ease.  Here  the 
desire  is  all  for  action.  Lord  Hallam 
Tennyson,  in  his  Life  of  his  father 
(i,  196),  says  that  Ulysses  was  written 
soon  after  Arthur  Hallam's  death, 
and  gave  Tennyson's  "  feeling  about 
the  need  of  going  forward,  and  brav- 
ing the  struggle  of  life  perhaps  more 
simply  than  anything  in  In  Memo- 
riam."  Tennyson  himself  acknowl- 
edged that  there  was  something  of 
Dante  in  it.  See  ULYSSES  in  Vol.  I  of 


this  book.     See  also  TELEGONUS  and 
ODYSSEUS  in  this  volume. 

Uncle  Sam,  a  humorous  personi- 
fication of  the  United  States,  widely 
accepted  in  comic  literature  and  pic- 
torial caricature.  It  appears  to  have 
been  an  outgrowth  of  the  war  of 
1812.  During  the  early  days  of  that 
war  a  certain  Elbert  Anderson  was 
appointed  a  contractor  by  the  gov- 
ernment to  purchase  provisions  for 
the  army.  The  government  inspector 
at  Troy,  New  York,  where  he  dealt 
very  largely,  was  Samuel  Wilson 
(1770-1854),  an  eccentric  'ovial  and 
very  popular  personage,  generally 
known  as  Uncle  Sam.  He  personally 
superintended  a  large  number  of 
workmen  employed  on  this  occasion 
in  overhauling  the  provisions  pur- 
chased by  the  contractor.  The  casks 
were  marked  "  E.  A.— U.  S."  The 
first  pair  of  initials  stood  for  Elbert 
Anderson, — the  second  for  United 
States.  But  the  latter  abbreviation 
was  something  of  an  innovation  in 
those  days  and  puzzled  many  of  the 
workmen.  So  by  way  of  a  joke  one 
of  their  fellows  who  did  the  marking 
would  explain  that  the  letters  stood 
for  Uncle  Sam.  "  The  joke  took 
among  the  workmen  and  passed 
currently,"  says  an  obituary  of  Mr. 
Wilson,  published  in  the  Albany 
Argus  at  the  time  of  his  death,  "  and 
Uncle  Sam  himself  was  occasionally 
rallied  by  them  on  the  increasing 
extent  of  his  possessions.  . 
Many  of  these  workmen,  being  of  a 
character  denominated  '  food  for 
powder,'  were  found  shortly  after 
following  the  recruiting  drum  and 
pushing  towards  the  frontier  lines 
for  the  double  purpose  of  meeting 
the  enemy  and  eating  the  provisions 
they  had  lately  labored  to  put  in 
good  order,  Their  old  jokes  accom- 
panied them,  and  before  the  first 
campaign  ended  this  identical  one 
appeared  in  print."  Eventually  it 
swept  the  country,  far  beyond  the 
fame  of  Sam  Wilson's  personality  and 
name. 

The  starred  and  striped  raiment 
which  it  is  now  the  fashion  to  place 
upon  Uncle  Sam,  and  the  bell- 


Unibos 


331 


Unicorn 


crowned  hat  that  crowns  his  head 
are  later  developments  of  American 
humor  which  were  caught  up  by  the 
cartoonists  of  the  London  Punch — 
notably  John  Tenniel — and  thus  be- 
came a  world- wide  symbol  for  the 
American  nation. 

Punch,  however,  called  the  figure 
Brother  Jonathan,  an  earlier  name 
for  the  symbolical  American,  which 
arose  during  the  Revolutionary  war, 
as  the  later  sobriquet  arose  during 
the  war  of  1812.  It  is  explained  that 
when  General  Washington  took  com- 
mand of  the  revolutionary  army  in 
Boston  he  depended  very  greatly 
upon  the  practical  sense  of  Governor 
Jonathan  Trumbull,  of  Connecticut, 
for  his  supplies  of  ammunition  and 
other  stores.  "  We  must  consult 
Brother  Jonathan,"  was  his  favorite 
phrase  when  he  found  himself  in  a 
quandary.  Later,  when  the  army 
was  spread  over  the  country,  the 
phrase  remained  a  byword  among 
his  men. 

Unibos,  titular  hero  of  a  twelfth 
century  Latin  poem,  first  printed  in 
1838.  A  shrewd  and  thrifty  peasant 
he  turns  the  tables  upon  his  enemies 
to  his  own  great  advantage.  They 
are  envious  of  a  treasure  he  has  dis- 
covered, he  feigns  that  he  received  it 
at  a  fair  in  exchange  for  a  bullock. 
The  enemies  kill  all  their  cattle  and 
seek  to  dispose  of  them  at  the  fair 
for  such  exorbitant  prices  that  they 
are  laughed  out  of  town.  Unibos 
claims  to  have  a  magic  trumpet  that 
will  raise  the  dead.  He  smears  his 
wife's  cheeks  with  blood  and  pre- 
tends to  have  killed  her.  He  blows 
his  trumpet  and  she  revives.  The 
others  buy  his  trumpet  at  a  fabulous 
price,  kill  their  wives  and  blow  their 
trumpets  over  the  corpses  in  vain. 
His  enemies  tie  him  in  a  sack  to 
throw  him  in  the  river.  They  stop 
at  a  tavern  to  drink.  A  swineherd 
passes  and  Unibos  persuades  him  to 
get  into  the  sack.  His  enemies  are 
surprised  when  Unibos  returns  driv- 
ing a  lot  of  pigs.  He  explains  that 
he  found  them  at  the  bottom  of 
river,  and  his  enemies  all  drown  them- 
selves. 


Hans  C.  Andersen  has  u^ed  a  vari- 
ant of  this  story  in  his  Little  Klaus 
and  Big  Klaus. 

Unicorn  (Lat.  one  horn),  a  fabu- 
lous animal  in  mediaeval  and  modern 
heraldry,  now  represented  as  a  h< 
with  a  single  straight  horn  protr 
ing  from  its  forehead.  The  fable 
seems  to  have  grown  out  of  travel!- 
tales  concerning  the  rhinoceros,  am- 
plified and  expanded  by  the  natural- 
ists. Pliny  thus  describes  an  animal 
which  he  calls  the  Monocenus  (single- 
horn):  '  It  has  the  head  of  a  stag, 
the  feet  of  an  elephant,  the  tail  of 
the  boar,  while  the  rest  of  its  body 
is  like  that  of  the  horse;  it  makes  a 
deep  lowing  noise  and  has  a  single 
black  horn,  which  projects  from  the 
middle  of  its  forehead,  two  cubits  in 
length.  This  animal,  it  is  said,  cannot 
be  taken  alive."  It  is  to  the  latter 
peculiarity  that  Job  was  thought  to 
allude:  "  Will  the  unicorn  be  willing 
to  serve  thee,  or  abide  by  the  crib? 
Canst  thou  bind  the  unicorn  with 
his  band  in  the  furrow?  or  will  he 
harrow  the  valleys  after  thcc?  (xxxix, 
9,  10).  But  the  word  "  reem  "  which 
the  King  James  translators  made 
"  unicorn  '  probably  means  some 
form  of  wild  ox.  Guillim,  whose 
Display  of  Heraldry  appeared  in 
1610,  writes: 

"  The  unicorn  hath  his  name  of  his 
one  horn  on  his  forehead.  There  is 
another  beast  of  a  huge  strength  and 
greatness,  which  hath  but  one  horn, 
but  that  is  growing  on  his  snout, 
whence  he  is  called  Rinoeerus,  and 
both  are  named  monocerus  or  one- 
horned.  It  hath  been  much  ques- 
tioned among  naturalists,  which  it  is 
that  is  properly  called  the  unicorn: 
And  some  hath  made  doubt  whet! 
there  be  any  such  beast  as  this,  or 
no.  But  the  great  esteem  of  his 
horn  (in  many  places  to  be  seen)  may 
take  away  that  needless  scruple.  .  . 
His  virtue  is  no  less  famous  than  his 
strength,  in  that  his  horn  i.;  sup- 
posed to  be  the  most  powerful  anti- 
dote against  poison:  inasmuch 
the  general  conceit  is,  that  the  wild 
beasts  of  the  \viM*  I  u /c  not 

drink  of    the  pools,  for  fear  of   the 


Urania 


332 


Uranus 


venomous  serpents  there  breeding, 
before  the  unicorn  hath  stirred  it  with 
his  horn." 

Topsell  says  the  unicorn  has  no 
joints  in  its  legs,  but  is  nevertheless 
very  swift.  "  They  keep  for  the 
most  part  in  the  deserts  and  live 
solitary  in  the  tops  of  the  moun- 
tains. There  was  nothing  more 
horrible  than  the  voice  or  braying 
of  it,  for  the  voice  is  strained  above 
measure.  It  fighteth  both  with  the 
mouth  and  with  the  heels,  with  the 
mouth  biting  like  a  lion,  and  with 
the  heels  kicking  like  a  horse." 

There  was  a  mediaeval  belief  that 
the  unicorn  could  detect  a  maiden 
by  its  keen  scent  and  would  run  to 
her,  laying  its  head  in  her  lap.  Hence 
it  is  sometimes  an  attendant  on  the 
Virgin  Mary,  to  betoken  her  purity. 
The  unicorn  was  adopted  as  a  sup- 
porter to  the  arms  of  James  IV  of 
Scotland  and  his  successors,  but  was 
little  known  in  England  until  James 
VI  ascended  the  English  throne  as 
James  I.  Then  (1603)  it  was  added 
to  the  arms  of  Great  Britain  as  a 
companion  on  the  left  to  the  English 
lion  on  the  right.  Spenser,  who  died 
before  the  accession  of  James  I, 
alludes  to  the  old-time  antagonism 
between  lion  and  unicorn: 

Like  as  the  lion,  whose  imperial  poure 
A  proud  rebellious  unicorn  defies 
T"  avoid  the  rash  assault  and  wrathful  stoure 
Of  his  fierce  foe,  him  to  a  tree  applies, 
And  when  him  running  in  full  course  he 

spies, 

He  slips  aside:  the  whiles  that  furious  beast 
His  precious  horn,  sought  of  his  enemies, 
Strikes  in  the  stroke,  nor  thence  can  be  re- 
leased, 

But  to  the  victor  yields  a  bounteous  feast. 

Faerie  Queene,  ii,  5. 

See  WALSH:  Handy-book  of  Curious 
Information. 

Urania  (the  Heavenly  One),  in 
Greek  myth,  the  muse  of  astronomy 
and  of  the  celestial  forces  and  the 
arbitress  of  fate,  second  only  to 
Calliope  in  the  company  of  the  Muses. 
She  is  represented  with  a  celestial 
globe,  to  which  she  points  with  a 
small  staff. 

Milton  at  the  opening  of  Book 
vii  of  Paradise  Lost  invokes  her  as 
the  goddess  of  the  loftiest  poetry: 


Descend    from    Heaven,    Urania,    by   that 

name 

If  rightly  thou  art  called,  whose  voice  divine 
Following,  above  the  Olympian  hill  I  soar, 
Above  the  flight  of  Pegasean  wing. 
The  meaning  not  the  name  I  call;   for  thou 
Nor  of  the  Muses  nine,  nor  on  the  top 
Of  old  Olympus  dwellst,  but,  heavenly  borne, 
Before  the  hills  appeared  or  fountains  flowed 
Thou  with  Eternal  Wisdom  didst  converse. 
Wisdom  thy  sister,  and  with  her  didst.-play 
In  presence  of  the  Almighty  Father,  pleased 
With  thy  celestial  song 
.     .     .    Though  fallen  on  evil  days 
On  evil  days  though  fallen  and  evil  tongues; 
In  darkness  and  with  dangers  compassed 

round 

And  solitude;   yet  not  alone  while  thou 
Visit'st  my  slumbers  nightly,  or  when  Morn 
Purples  the  east;   still  govern  thou  my  song 
Urania,  and  fit  audience  find  though  few. 

See  Tennyson  in  In  Memoriam, 
xxxvii. 

Shelley  in  Adonais,  ii-iv,  invokes 
her  as  the  mighty  mother  of  the  dead 
poet  (Keats)  whom  he  moans.  Evi- 
dently he  would  symbolize  in  her 
that  higher  or  heavenly  power  back 
of  the  material  world,  the  parent  of 
all,  that  is  most  elevated  and  beauti- 
ful. In  his  Anima  Mundi  she  ap- 
pears as  the  single  absolute  energy, 
the  sustaining  power,  the  source  of 
all  beauty,  goodness  and  love.  She 
has  a  kinship  with  Asia  in  Prome- 
theus Unbound,  and  with  the  Lady 
of  the  Garden  in  the  Sensitive 
Plant. 

Uranus,  in  Greek  myth,  the  hus- 
band of  Gaea  (Earth)  and  father  of 
Cronos  (Time)  and  of  other  Titans, 
Cyclops  and  Hecatoncheires.  His 
name  means  Heaven,  whence  the 
Latins  translated  it  into  Ccelus,  and 
he  represents  the  generative  power  of 
the  sky  with  its  sun  and  rain.  Uranus 
hated  his  children  and  confined  them 
in  Tartarus  as  fast  as  they  were  born. 
Consequently  he  was  dethroned  by 
Cronos  and  unmanned  with  the 
sickle  that  Gaea  had  given  to  Cronos. 
From  the  drops  of  his  blood  that  fell 
upon  earth  sprang  the  Giants  and 
the  Furies.  The  shorn  member  fell 
into  the  sea  and  out  of  the  foam  pro- 
duced around  it  sprang  Aphrodite, 
hence  known  as  Aphrogeneia  or 
foam-born.  This  myth  is  discussed 
at  length  by  Andrew  Lang  in  Myth 
Literature  and  Religion  (1887). 


Urdhr 


333 


Ursula 


It  may  be  doubted  whether  some  of  Mr. 
Lang's  opponents  have  arrived  at  under- 
standing his  position.  He  refers  at  some 
length  to  the  myth  of  Uranus's  mutilation 
by  Cronus,  comparing  it  with  a  New  Zea- 
land tale,  and  commenting  upon  the  numer- 
ous and  contradictory  hypotheses  which  have 
been  put  forth  in  explanation  of  it.  In  a 
recent  notice  of  Prof.  Sayce's  Hibbert  Lec- 
tures, Canon  Taylor  writes  as  follows: 
"Another  instance  which  seems  to  Mr.  Lang 
clear  evidence  of  primitive  Greek  savagery 
— the  mutilation  of  Uranus — receives  a 
satisfactory  explanation  from  a  Babylonian 
cosmological  legend  which  represented  Bel, 
originally  a  sky-god,  as  cutting  asunder 
Tiamat,  the  watery  abyss,  whose  blood  fell 
on  the  earth  as  rain,  filling  the  springs  and 
rivers.  .  .  .  Thus  a  revolting  story  is  re- 
solved into  a  speculation  of  early  cosmical 
philosophy." — London  Athenceum.  Review 
of  Myth  Ritual  and  Religion. 

Urdhr,  in  Norse  myth,  the  most 
famous  of  the  Norns,  hence  the  two 
others,  Werdandi  and  Skuld,  were 
known  as  Urdhr's  sisters.  This  name, 
in  its  English  corruption,  gives  us  the 
Weird  Sisters  of  Shakspear's  Mac- 
beth. Urdhr  was  the  guardian  of  a 
fountain  at  the  foot  of  the  ash-tree 
Yggdrasil.  Here  the  gods  assembled 
daily  to  administer  justice.  Its 
waters  are  so  pure  that  everything 
they  wash  becomes  as  white  as  the 
film  within  the  egg-shell. 

Shakspear  took  the  term  he  gives 
his  witches  from  Hplinshed's  Chron- 
icles. After  describing  three  women 
in  strange  and  wild  apparel  resem- 
bling creatures  of  the  elder  world, 
Holinshed  says  "  afterwards  the 
common  opinion  was  that  these  wo- 
men were  either  the  Weird  Sisters — 
that  is  as  you  would  say  the  god- 
desses of  destiny,  or  else  some  nymphs 
or  fairies." 

Uriel  (Heb.  God's  Light),  one  of 
the  seven  archangels  recognized  in 
Jewish  and  Christian  tradition  as 
standing  around  the  throne  of  God 
(see  Revelation  viii,  2;  xv,  2;  xv,  i; 
and  Tobit  xxii,  15).  He  is  mentioned 
by  name  in  Esdras  ii,  4,  "  the  angel 
that  was  sent  unto  me,  whose  name 
was  Uriel,  gave  me  an  answer." 
Being  the  interpreter  of  dreams,  judg- 
ments and  prophecies,  he  is  usually 
represented  in  art  with  a  roll  and  a 
book.  According  to  an  early  Chris- 
tian tradition  it  was  Uriel,  and  not 
Christ  in  person,  who  accompanied 


the  two  disciples  to  Emmaus.  Long- 
fellow introduces  him,  with  the  other 
seven,  in  the  miracle  play  performed 
in  The  Golden  Legend,  iii,  where  he 
thus  describes  himself: 

I  am  the  Minister  of  Mars, 

The  strongest  star  among  the  stars  1 

My  songs  of  power  prelude 
The  march  and  battle  of  man's  life. 
And  for  the  suffering  and  the  strife 

I  give  him  Fortitudel 

Ursula  of  Cologne,  St.,  heroine  of 
one  of  the  wildest  flights  of  pious 
imagination  ever  essayed  by  man. 
She  is  said  to  have  been  a  princess  of 
Sicily  whom  Prince  Conon  of  Little 
Britain  sought  in  marriage.  She  had 
vowed  herself  to  chastity,  and  to 
gain  time  started  on  a  pilgrimage  to 
Rome  attended  by  iioo  Virgins  and 
by  an  amazing  company  of  distin- 
guished people,  among  them  Canute, 
King  Pepin  and  Nathalia,  daughter 
of  King  Arthur.  On  her  return  she 
was  driven  by  adverse  winds  to 
Cologne,  where  she  and  her  attend- 
ant maidens  were  murdered  by  the 
Huns  and  Picts  (Oct.  21,  237).  The 
relics  are  still  shown  in  Cologne. 
Even  in  early  days  there  were  those 
who  objected  that  all  the  bones  were 
not  of  young  women  and  girls.  St. 
Ursula  herself  condescended  to  answer 
them. 

The  answer  of  the  comparative 
mythologist  to-day  would  be  that 
Ursula  is  the  Swabian  Ursul  or 
Horscl  (the  moon)  and  that  the 
maidens  in  her  company  are  to  be 
explained  as  the  stars. 

Another  answer  makes  the  mirac- 
ulous number  a  misreading  of  the 
Freisingcn  Codex  where  the  calendar 
runs.  "SS.  XL  M.  VIRGINUM," 
which  is  "  Eleven  holy  martyr 
virgins."  This  calendar  emphasizes 
the  number  by  giving  their  names  as 
Ursula,  Sencia,  Gregoria,  Pinnosa, 
Martha,  Saula,  Brittola,  Saturnina, 
Rabacia,  Saturia,  Palladia. 

The  M.,  however,  instead  of  Mar- 
tyres  was  read  as  meaning  in  Roman 
numerals  One  Thousand.  Hence 
XI.  M  would  be  11,000. 

A  third  explanation  is  thus  summed 
up  by  Max  Muller: 


Urvasi 


334 


Utopia 


'  This  extravagant  number  of 
martyred  virgins,  which  is  not  speci- 
fied in  the  earlier  legends,  is  said 
(Maury,  Legendes  Pieuses,  p.  214)  to 
have  arisen  from  the  name  of  one 
of  the  companions  of  Ursula  being 
Undecimella, — an  explanation  very 
plausible,  though  I  must  confess 
that  I  have  not  been  able  to  find  any 
authority  for  the  name  Undecimella." 

Bright  Ursula  who  undertook  to  guide 
The  eleven  thousand  maids  to  Little  Britain 

sent 
By  seas  and  bloody  men  devoured  as  they 

went: 
Of  which  we  find  these  four  have  been  for 

saints  preferred 
And  withltheir  leader  still  do  live  encanland- 

ered; 

St.  Agnes,  Cordula,  Odillia,  Florence,  which 
With  wondrous  sumptious  shrines  those  ages 

did  enrich 
At  Cullen. 

DRAYTON:  Polyolbion,  xxiv  (1602). 

Urvasi,  a  Hindoo  nymph,  heroine 
of  Kalidasa's  Sanskrit  drama,  Vikra- 
mormasi. 

Urvasi  is  allowed  to  live  with 
Puruvavas  so  long  as  she  catches  no 
glimpse  of  his  undraped  form.  Her 
kinsmen,  the  Gandharvas  or  cloud- 
demons,  displeased  by  her  prolonged 
absences  from  heaven,  plan  to  get 
her  away  from  her  mortal  companion. 
They  steal  a  pet  lamb  that  had  been 
tied  at  the  foot  of  her  couch.  She 
complained  to  her  husband  of  the 
theft.  He  angrily  leaped  from  his 
bed,  sword  in  hand,  to  seek  the  robber. 
The  Gandharvas  sent  a  flash  of 
lightning.  Urvasi,  seeing  her  husband 
naked,  instantly  vanishes. 

The  different  versions  of  this  legend,  which 
have  been  elaborately  analyzed  by  compar- 
ative mythologists,  leave  no  doubt  that 
Urvasi  is  one  of  the  dawn-nymphs  or  bright 
fleecy  clouds  of  early  morning,  which  vanish 
as  the  splendor  of  the  sun  is  unveiled. — JOHN 
FISKE:  Myths  ^and  Myth  Makers,  p.  96. 

Uther,  in  British  myth,  the  reputed 
father  of  King  Arthur,  is  an  imaginary 
King  of  Britain.  He  seems  to  have 
been  invented  by  Geoffrey  of  Mon- 
mouth  (died  1154)  in  his  fanciful 
Chronichon  sive  Historic,  Britonum, 
but  passed  into  the  cycle  of  Arthu- 
rian romances  and  is  accepted  as  a 


historical  character  by  Milton  in  his 
over-credulous  History  of  Britain  to 
the  Conquest  (1670).  See  D.  W. 
Nash's  preface  to  reprint  of  Merlin 
or  the  Early  History  of  King  Arthur. 
Noticed  in  Saturday  Review,  June  23, 
1866. 

Utopia,  the  name  given  by  Sir 
Thomas  More  to  an  imaginary  island 
in  which  he  lays  the  scene  of  his 
philosophical  romance  De  Optimo 
Reipublicce  Statu,  deque  Nova  Insula 
Utopia  (1516).  The  name  involves 
a  pun:  as  a  sort  of  a  portmanteau 
word  telescoping  together  the  two 
words  Eutopia  (a  good  place)  and 
Outopia  (no  place).  The  latter  of 
the  two  meanings  has  been  imitated 
by  Walter  Scott  in  his  Kennaquhair 
and  by  Carlyle  in  Weissnichto,  mean- 
ing in  each  case  I  don't  know  where. 
A  closer  parallel  is  Samuel  Butler's 
Erewhon,  which  is  simply  an  ana- 
gram of  Nowhere. 

The  central  idea  of  the  romance  is 
imitated  from  Plato's  Republic  where 
the  Greek  philosopher  described  an 
imaginary  republic  that  realized  his 
own  dreams  of  ideal  perfection,  and 
implied  a  contrast  with  and  a  satire 
upon  the  vulgar  reality  wherein  he 
lived  and  moved.  Sir  Thomas  fables 
that  his  island  was  discovered  by  a 
companion  of  Amerigo  Vespucci.  It 
is  a  pure  republic,  the  government  is 
representative,  the  social  relations 
communistic.  No  man  is  allowed  to 
be  idle,  but  the  hours  of  labor  are 
made  as  brief  as  is  consistent  with  the 
general  welfare.  Like  Plato,  Sir 
Thomas  indirectly  condemns  the 
abuses  rampant  in  the  England  of  his 
day,  the  decay  of  husbandry,  the 
high  cost  of  living,  the  greed  and 
prodigality  of  the  rich  who  controlled 
the  markets  through  monopolies,  the 
arrogance  of  kings  and  nobles,  the 
death  penalty  for  trivial  offences,  the 
general  licentiousness,  profligacy  and 
selfishness.  A  notable  point  to  be 
made  in  an  age  of  bigotry,  intolerance 
and  persecution  is  that  the  ideal 
republic  has  established  absolute  free- 
dom of  conscience  and  of  worship — 
a  principle  to  which  the  author 
sacrificed  his  life. 


Valentine 


Valentine 


Valentine,  a  joint  hero,  with  Orson, 
of  a  mediaeval  romance,  Valentine 
and  Orson,  first  printed  at  Lyons  in 
1489.  The  Emperor  of  Greece, 
moved  by  a  false  accusation,  drives 
his  wife  out  to  perish.  She  gives 
birth  to  twin  sons  in  a  forest.  Orson 
was  adopted  and  suckled  by  a  bear, 
whence  his  name.  Valentine  was 
brought  up  by  his  uncle  Pepin, 
father  of  Charlemagne.  Their  re- 
lationship is  revealed  by  a  brazen 
head  and  they  plunge  into  a  series 
of  fabulous  adventures. 

Valentine,  St.,  according  to  Alvan 
Butler,  in  his  Lives  of  the  Saints,  was 
a  holy  priest  in  Rome,  who,  with  St. 
Marius  and  his  family,  assisted  the 
martyrs  in  the  persecution  under 
Claudius  II.  He  was  apprehended, 
and  sent  by  the  Emperor  to  the 
Prefect  of  Rome,  who,  on  finding  all 
his  promises  to  make  him  renounce 
his  faith  ineffectual,  commanded  him 
to  be  beaten  with  clubs,  and  afterward 
to  be  beheaded,  a  sentence  executed 
on  the  1 4th  February,  about  the 
year  270.  Pope  Julius  I  is  said  to 
have  built  a  church  near  Ponte 
Mole  to  his  memory,  which  for  a  long 
time  gave  name  to  the  gate  now 
called  Porta  del  Popolo,  formerly 
Porta  Valentini.  The  greatest  part 
of  his  relics  are  now  in  the  church  of 
St.  Praxedes. 

There  is  another  St.  Valentine,  who 
is  mentioned  in  other  martyrologies 
as  having  been  bishop  of  Terni  and 
who  was  martyred  on  the  same  day 
as  his  humbler  namesake.  It  is 
obvious,  however,  that  neither  priest 
nor  bishop  was  responsible  for  the 
amatory  customs  which  have  centred 
around  the  day  of  their  common 
martyrdom.  These  grew  up  in  a 
very  curious  way.  In  pagan  Rome, 
abo'ut  the  middle  of  February  in 
every  year,  a  public  festival  called 
the  Lupercalia  was  celebrated  in 
honor  of  the  Lycean  Pan.  One  of 
the  numerous  ceremonies  on  this 
occasion  was  to  put  the  names  of 
young  women  in  a  box,  whence  they 


were  drawn  by  young  men  as  chance 
directed.  So  long  as  the  belief  in 
auguries  still  retained  its  hold  over 
learned  and  simple  alike,  the  girl 
whose  name  was  thus  drawn  by  lot 
was  considered  very  likely  to  become 
the  future  wife  of  the  drawer.  But 
as  a  good  deal  of  licentious  and  even 
barbarous  conduct  was  often  the 
result  of  this  ceremony,  the  fathers 
of  the  early  church  used  every  means 
possible  to  eradicate  these  vestiges 
of  pagan  superstition.  The  names  of 
saints  were  substituted  upon  the 
billets,  girls  and  boys  alike  drew 
them,  and  that  saint  which  each 
drew  was  to  be  his  or  her  tutelary 
guardian  during  the  ensuing  twelve 
months.  The  Lupercalia  being  held, 
as  aforesaid,  about  the  middle  of 
February  it  very  naturally  resul' 
that  St.  Valentine's  day,  February 
14,  should  be  the  day  selected  for 
the  reformed  ceremony.  The  good 
fathers  buildcd  better  than  they 
knew.  Although  even  to  the  promt 
time  St.  Valentine's  day  is  peculiarly 
devoted  to  love  affairs,  its  celebra- 
tion is  no  longer  associated  with  the 
pagan  aspect  which  distressed  the 
early  Christians. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth 
century  it  was  the  custom  for  young 
folks  in  England  and  Scotland  to 
celebrate  a  little  festival  on  the  eve 
of  St.  Valentine's  day.  '  An  equal 
number  of  maids  and  bachelors," 
says  Misson,  a  French  traveller  of 
veracity  and  discernment,  '  get  to- 
gether; each  writes  their  true  or 
some  feigned  name  upon  scparat.- 
billets,  which  they  roll  up  and  draw 
by  way  of  lots,  the  maids  taking  tin- 
men's billets,  and  the  men  the  maids'; 
so  that  each  of  the  men  lights  upon 
a  girl  that  he  calls  his  valentine,  ami 
each  of  the  girls  upon  a  young  man 
whom  she  calls  hers.  By  thi.;  means 
each  has  two  valentines;  but  the 
man  sticks  faster  to  the  valentine 
that  has  fallen  to  him  than  to  the 
valentine  to  whom  he  has  fallen. 
Fortune  having  thus  divided  the 


Valentine 


336 


Valentine 


company  into  so  many  couples,  the 
valentines  give  balls  and  treats  to 
their  mistresses,  wear  their  billets 
several  days  upon  their  bosoms  or 
sleeves;  and  this  little  sport  often 
ends  in  love." 

One  of  the  most  popular  old  super- 
stitions in  connection  with  this  day 
was  that  the  first  unmarried  man  a 
girl  met  on  St.  Valentine's  morning 
was  decreed  by  fate  to  be  her  future 
husband.  A  bachelor  had  the  privi- 
lege of  kissing  the  first  girl  he  met. 

This  custom  is  glanced  at  by 
Shakspear  in  the  song  he  puts  into 
the  mouth  of  Ophelia: 

Tomorrow  is  Saint  Valentine's  day 
All  in  the  morning  betime, 

And  I  a  maid  at  your  window 
To  be  your  Valentine. 

Hamlet,  iv,  v,  47. 

This  superstition  had  evidently 
survived  to  the  time  of  Gay,  for  he 
thus  alludes  to  it  in  his  Pastorals: 

Last  Valentine,  the  day  when  birds  of  kind, 
Their  paramours  with  mutual  chirping  find, 
I  early  rose,  just  at  the  break  of  day 
Before  the  sun  had  chased  the  stars  away; 
Afield  I  went,  amid  the  morning  dew, 
To  milk  my  kine  (for  so  should  housewives 

do). 

Thee  first  I  spied,  and  the  first  swain  we  see, 
In  spite  of  Fortune,  shall  our  true  love  be. 

The  custom  of  giving  presents  on 
this  day  developed  into  a  monstrous 
abuse  in  the  seventeenth  and  eigh- 
teenth centuries.  We  find  Samuel 
Pepys  continually  complaining  of  it 
in  his  diary.  Thus  under  date  of 
February  16,  1667,  we  read: 

February  16.  I  find  that  Mrs.1!  Pierce's 
little  girl  is  my  valentine,  she  having  drawn 
me:  which  I  was  not  sorry  for,  it  easing  me 
of  something  more  that  I  must  have  given 
to  others.  But  here  I  do  first  observe  the 
fashion  of  drawing  mottoes  as  well  as  names, 
so  that  Pierce,  who  drew  my  wife,  did  draw 
also  a  motto,  and  this  girl  drew  another  for 
me.  What  mine  was,  I  forget;  but  my 
wife's  was,  "  Most  courteous,  and  most  fair," 
which,  as  it  might  be  used,  or  an  anagram 
upon  each  name,  might  be  very  pretty. 

Pepys  tells  us  also  that  the  Duke 
of  York,  being  on  one  occasion  the 
valentine  of  the  celebrated  Miss 
Stuart,  afterwards  Duchess  of  Rich- 
mond, "did  give  her  a  jewel  of  about 


8oo/. ;  and  my  Lord  Mandeville,  her 
valentine  this  year,  a  ring  of  about 
300/." 

When  Duchess  of  Richmond  the 
same  lady  received  rings  valued  at 
fifty-five  thousand  dollars  on  one 
occasion,  and  Nell  Gwynne  is  said 
to  have  received  as  a  valentine  from 
Charles  II  a  necklace  that  cost  fifteen 
thousand  dollars. 

The  sending  of  card  valentines 
found  most  favor  in  England,  for 
the  reason,  perhaps,  that  while  the 
British  swain  is  quite  as  susceptible 
to  feminine  charms  as  swains  of 
other  nations,  he  does  not  possess 
similar  grace  of  speech,  nor  is  he 
equally  bold  in  his  declarations  of 
affection.  He  therefore  adopted  the 
custom  of  sending  tender  verses  and 
expressive  pictures  about  1780,  and 
the  custom  was  much  in  vogue 
between  that  date  and  1830. 

Orlando,  in  As  You  Like  It,  has 
been  cited  as  a  capital  specimen  of 
the  inditer  of  valentines  of  the  more 
bashful  order — not  that  he  wrote 
bashfully;  for  he  was  ready  to  make 
an  avowal  at  the  first  opportunity. 
His  valentines — for  so  it  is  fair  to 
call  them,  although  the  chances  are 
against  their  having  been  written 
in  the  canonical  month  of  February — 
were  odes  and  elegies  hung  on  the 
branches  of  the  bramble  and  the 
hawthorn,  which  bore  a  gentle  bur- 
den in  the  praises  of  Rosalind,  "  the 
fair,  the  chaste,  and  unexpressive 
she."  He  had  no  hope  that  they 
would  catch  the  eye  of  his  mistress; 
his  sufficient  consolation  was  that 
every  breeze  of  heaven  would  waft 
abroad  the  sweet  odor  of  her  name. 
Nature,  in  her  lower  forms  of  shrub 
and  bird  and  beast,  was  the  only 
confidante  upon  whom  he  could 
reckon.  Chance,  it  is  true,  favored 
him  beyond  his  expectation ;  but  that 
is  a  circumstance  which  does  not 
affect  the  spirit  of  his  address  to  one 
who  was  a  name  rather  than  a  person. 
It  was  a  relief,  the  best  under  the 
circumstances,  and  one  of  which  ^  he 
took  advantage,  to  speak  _his  mind 
about  her.  His  operations  had 
respect  chiefly  or  exclusively  to  his 


Valhalla 


337 


Vampire 


own  feelings;  and  he  entertained  no 
hopes  of  any  practical  result  beyond 
himself,  and  the  disburdening  of  those 
sentiments  which  demanded  some 
form  of  utterance  external  to  the 
prison  of  his  heart. 

It  is  worthy  of  note,  however,  that 
Shakspear  borrowed  this  episode 
from  the  similar  feats  of  another 
Orlando,  hero  of  Ariosto's  Orlando 
Furioso,  who  in  another  Forest  of 
Arden  hung  up  poems  in  honor  ^of 
the  Angelica  who  had  driven  him 
love- mad. 

Valhalla,  in  Norse  myth,  the  abode 
of  Odin  in  Asgard.  Originally  the 
realm  of  the  dead,  in  the  Viking 
age  it  came  to  be  regarded  as  a 
great  hall  where  warriors  who  had 
fallen  in  battle  renewed  their  martial 
life  and  feasted  with  the  gods.  Every 
day  they  ride  forth  to  combat  with 
one  another  in  Odin's  field,  returning 
at  night  to  feast  on  boar  and  mead. 
When  fresh  arrivals  are  expected 
from  some  earthly  battlefield,  Odin 
sends  to  meet  them  at  Asgard's  gate 
with  goblets  of  mead. 

Valkyries   or   Valkyriur    (choosers 
of  the  slain),  Die  Walkure  of  Wagner's 
opera,  were  in  Norse  mythology  the 
attendant  maidens  of  Odin,  Amazons 
and  prophetesses,  who  had  the  power 
of  converting  themselves  into  swans 
and  in  this  form  hovered  over  battle- 
fields and  selected  from  among  the 
slain    those   whom    they    wished    to 
consort  with  in  Valhalla.     In  some 
of    their    features    they    recall 
Mohammedan   houris,    in   other   re- 
spects they  are  akin  to  the  Hindoo 
apsaras    or    grandharvas,    and 
nymphs    and    nereids    of    classics 
mythology.      Comparative    mythol- 
ogists  are  disposed  to  class  all 
beings  together  as  personifications  of 
the  clouds.   See  SWAN-MAIDENS. 

And  the  Valkyries  on  their  steeds  went  forth 
Toward  earth  and  fights  of  men;     an 

SkuldadthSe  youngest  of  the  Nornics    rode; 
And  over  Bifrost,  where  is  Heimdall 
Past  Midgard  Fortress,  down  to  Earth  t 

Therethrough  some  battle-field,  where  men 

Theirahorses'fetlock-deep  in  blood  they  rid.-. 
And  pick  the  bravest  warriors  ou 

22 


Whom  they  bring  back  with  them  at  night 

to  heaven, 

To  glad  the  gods,  and  feast  in  Odin's  hall. 
MATTHEW  ARNOLD:  Balder  Dead. 

Valunder,  the  Vulcan  of  Scandi- 
navian myth.  On  his  arm  he  wore  a 
golden  ring  engraved  with  portraits 
of  Norse  deities.  Tegncr  tells  how 
this  arm-ring  was  stolen  by  Sot6  and 
recovered  by  Thorsten,  from  whom 
it  passed  by  hereditary  descent  to 
Frith jof,  together  with  the  sword 
Angurvadcl,  and  the  automatic  ship 
Ellida. 

Farewell,  and  take  in  memory  of  our  love 
My    arm-ring    here,   Valunder's    beauteous 

work 

With  heavenly  wonders  prnven  on  the  gold. 
TEGNER:  Frithjofs  Saga.  iii. 

Vamana  (the  Dwarf),  the  fifth 
avatar  of  Vishnu,  second  person  of 
the  Hindu  Triad.  In  order  to  wrest 
from  the  demon  Bali  his  tyrannic 
dominion  over  the  three  worlds, 
earth,  air  and  sky,  Vishnu  infu 
a  part  of  his  essence  into  Vamana. 
The  dwarf  appeared  before  the 
demon  and  in  return  for  services 
rendered  asked  that  he  be  allowed  as 
much  land  as  he  could  cover  with 
three  strides.  Bali,  unsuspicious, 
consents.  In  three  strides  Vamana 
covered  earth,  air  and  sky.  _  Bali 
now  recognized  that  he  was  in  the. 
presence  of  Vishnu,  and  tremblingly 
surrendered  his  usurped  dominions 
to  the  gods. 

Vampire  (from  the  Servian  u'um- 
pyr),  in  modern  Givek  and  Slavonic 
myth,  a  reanimated  corpse  which 
leaves  the  grave  at  night  to  suck  the 
blood  of  living  1*'<>pK'-  Usually  the 
vampire  had  been,  in  life,  a  mugu;i;m 
or  a  witch,  or  had  committed  suie: 
or  been  cursed  by  its  parents  <>r 
excommunicated  by  the  church. 
But  anybody  may  beeomc  a  vampire 
if  a  cat  leaps  over  his  body  or  a 
bird  flics  over  it.  The-  superstition 
is  alluded  to  in  Byron's  poem  '1  he 
Giaour: 

But  first,  on  earth  as  Vampire  sent. 
Thy  corse  shall  from  its  tomb  be  rent, 
Then  ghastly  haunt  thy  n:itivi-  place. 
And  suck  the  blood  of  all  thy  ra 
There  from  thy  daughter,  sister,  wile. 


Vampire 


338 


Vanderdecken 


At  midnight  drain  the  stream  of  life; 
Yet  loathe  the  banquet  which  perforce 
Must  feed  thy  livid  living  corse. 

*         *         *         * 

Wet  with  thine  own  best  blood  shall  drip 
Thy  gnashing  tooth  and  haggard  lip; 
Then  stalking  to  thy  sullen  grave, 
Go — and  with  Ghouls  and  Afrits  rave; 
Till  these  in  horror  shrink  away 
From  Spectre  more  accursed  than  they! 

The  marks  by  which  a  vampire 
corpse  can  be  recognized  are  the 
apparent  nonputrefaction  of  the 
body  and  effusion  of  blood  from  the 
lips.  A  suspected  vampire  is  ex- 
humed, and  if  the  marks  are  per- 
ceived or  imagined  to  be  present,  a 
stake  is  driven  through  the  heart, 
and  the  body  is  burned.  These  pre- 
cautions "  lay  '  the  vampire,  and 
the  community  may  sleep  in  peace. 

The  best  evidence  that  death  has 
been  caused  by  a  vampire  is  the  mark 
of  a  bite  on  the  nape  of  the  neck, 
though  sudden  death  of  any  kind  is 
regarded  as  its  work.  The  fear  of 
sudden  death  is  very  great  among 
the  Slavs,  for  the  reason  that  he 
who  has  been  killed  by  a  vampire, 
himself  becomes  one.  Allatius  holds 
that  the  vampire  is  not  the  soul  of 
the  deceased,  but  an  evil  spirit 
which  enters  his  corpse. 

The  corpse  is  entered  by  a  demon,  which 
Is  the  source  of  ruin  to  unhappy  men.  For 
frequently,  emerging  from  the  tomb  In  the 
form  of  that  body,  and  roaming  about  the 
city  and  other  inhabited  places,  especially 
by  night,  it  betakes  itself  to  any  house  it 
fancies,  and,  after  knocking  at  the  door,  ad- 
dresses one  of  its  inmates  in  a  loud  tone.  If 
the  person  answers  he  is  done  for.  If  he  does 
not  answer  he  is  safe.  In  consequence  of  this 
the  people  of  the  island  of  Chios  never  reply 
the  first  time,  if  any  one  calls  them  by  night. 
— Correspondence  New  York  Nation. 

In  the  first  quarter  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  vampire  literature  had 
a  temporary  vogue  in  England. 
The  Vampire  or  the  Bride  of  the  Isles, 
a  drama,  and  The  Vampire,  a  melo- 
drama in  two  acts,  were  presented 
with  great  success.  A  story  of  the 
same  title  purporting  to  be  by  Lord 
Byron  attracted  some  notice.  But 
Byron  repudiated  it.  In  a  letter  to 
Galignani,  he  wrote:  "  If  the  book 
is  clever  it  would  be  base  to  deprive 
the  real  writer,  whoever  he  may  be, 


of  his  honors;  if  stupid,  I  desire  the 
responsibility  of  nobody's  dulness 
but  my  own."  The  authorship  was 
subsequently  claimed  by  Dr.  John  W. 
Polidori,  friend  and  physician  of  the 
Byron-Shelley  clique,  who  stated 
that  he  had  based  it  upon  a  story  told 
in  conversation  by  Byron. 

In  natural  history  the  name  vam- 
pire has  been  transferred  to  a  species 
of  blood-sucking  bats  inhabiting 
South  America. 

Vanderdecken,  a  mythical  char- 
acter whom  Wagner  has  taken  as 
the  hero  of  his  opera  The  Flying 
Dutchman.  A  sort  of  Wandering 
Jew  of  the  Sea  he  has  certain  affilia- 
tions with  the  elder  myth.  He  is 
captain  of  the  spectral  ship  The 
Flying  Dutchman.  At  the  time  when 
his  doom  befell  him  he  was  bound 
home  from  the  Indies.  Long  con- 
tinued headwinds  interfered  with 
his  rounding  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope, 
but  he  refused  to  put  back,  swearing 
a  terrible  oath  that  he  would  pro- 
ceed if  it  took  him  until  Judgment 
Day.  He  was  taken  at  his  word  and 
doomed  to  beat  against  head  winds 
until  the  crack  of  doom.  Himself, 
his  crew,  and  his  ships  were  reduced 
to  shadows;  he  and  they  are  only 
dimly  discerned  by  sailors  in  storms 
off  the  Cape.  The  ship  is  recognized 
by  the  fact  that  she  bears  a  press  of 
sail  when  other  crafts  are  reduced 
to  haul  in  every  stitch  of  canvas. 
Vanderdecken  cannot  heave  to  or 
lower  a  boat,  but  he  sometimes  hails 
a  vessel  through  his  trumpet.  The 
transfer  of  the  myth  to  literature 
dates  no  further  back  than  a  story 
by  Dr.  John  Leyden  in  Scenes  of 
Infancy,  first  published  in  Black- 
wood's  Magazine,  1821.  Leyden  im- 
putes the  doom  to  the  fact  that  the 
ship  was  the  first  to  engage  in  the 
slave  trade.  Sir  Walter  Scott  favors 
the  tradition  that  "  she  was  origin- 
ally a  vessel  loaded  with  great  wealth, 
on  board  of  which  some  horrid  act 
of  murder  and  piracy  had  been  com- 
mitted; that  the  plague  broke  out 
among  the  wicked  crew,  who  had 
perpetrated  the  crime,  and  that  they 
sailed  in  vain  from  port  to  port, 


Varuna 


339 


Venus 


offering,  as  the  price  of  shelter,  the 
whole  of  their  ill-gotten  wealth;  that 
they  were  excluded  from  every  har- 
bor, for  fear  of  the  contagion  which 
was  devouring  them;  and  that,  as  a 
punishment  of  their  crimes,  the  ap- 
parition of  the  ship  still  continues  to 
haunt  those  seas  in  which  the  catas- 
trophe took  place."  Marryat's 
novel  The  Phantom  Ship,  founded 
on  this  legend,  accepts  Scott's  ex- 
planation. Wagner  affords  Vander- 
decken  a  chance  to  escape  his  doom 
through  the  love  of  a  mortal  maiden 
and  he  finds  his  salvation  in  Thekla. 
A  dramatic  version  of  the  story 
written  for  Henry  Irving  by  W.  G. 
Wills  changes  the  maiden's  name 
from  Thekla  to  Senta  but  otherwise 
follows  Wagner  very  closely. 

Wagner  avowedly  found  the  hint 
for  his  opera  in  Heine's  prose  version 
of  the  legend  in  The  Salon.  Heine, 
in  turn,  was  indebted  to  a  Dutch 
drama  The  Phantom  Vessel  (1842). 

Varuna,  in  early  Hindoo  myth, 
one  of  the  greatest  of  the  gods  of 
the  Rig  Veda;  the  lord  of  peace  as 
Indra  was  the  war  lord,  and  the  ruler 
of  the  night  as  Mithra  was  the  ruler 
of  the  day.  Etymologically  his  name 
is  cognate  with  that  of  the  Greek 
Uranus,  who  shared  some  of  his 
characteristics.  He  set  sun,  moon  and 
stars  in  their  courses,  he  governed  the 
seasons  of  the  year,  he  listened  to  the 
appeals  of  repentant  sinners.  Though 
sin  was  hateful  to  him,  mercy  was  a 
delight.  His  messengers  noted  down 
the  wrongdoings  of  men,  he  cast 
sickness  and  death  upon  the  wrong- 
doer and  extended  relief  to  the 
wronged.  In  post- Vedic  myth  Varuna 
degenerated  into  a  mere  god  of  the 
waters,  a  Hindoo  Neptune. 

Vasantasena,  heroine  of  a  Hindoo 
drama  which  Goethe  has  summarized 
in  a  poem  called  The  God  and  the 
Bayadere.  A  ballet  Le  Dieu  et  la 
Bayadere  (1830)  was  highly  popular 
in  Paris  and  was  repeated  in  many 
other  European  cities.  Yet  Heine 
in  his  Romantic  School  ventured  to 
assert: 

The  works  of  art  which  arc  perfectly  moral 
in  one  country  are  regarded  as  the  contrary 


in  another,  where  another  religion  has  passed 
into  manners  and  customs.  Thus,  for  ex- 
ample, our  plastic  arts  excite  the  horror  of  a 
pious  Mahometan,  while,  on  the  other  hand, 
many  things  which  are  extremely  innocent 
in  an  Eastern  harem  are  disgusting  to  a 
Christian.  In  India,  where  the  profession  of 
a  bayadere  is  not  offensive  to  morals,  the 
drama  of  Vasantasena,  whose  heroine  is  a 
venal  prostitute,  is  not  regarded  as  immoral, 
but  should  one  dare  to  give  it  in  the  Th6atre 
Francaise,  all  the  parterre  would  scream  out 
"Immorality!"  the  same  parterre  which  sees 
daily  with  delight  dramas  of  intripue.  in 
which  the  heroines  are  young  widows,  who 
end  by  gaily  marrying,  instead  of  burning 
themselves  with  their  deceased  husbands,  as 
Indian  morals  require. 

Vashti,  in  the  Book  of  Esther  i, 
10-19,  the  wife  of  King  Ahasucrus. 
When  the  heart  of  the  king  was  merry 
with  wine  he  commanded  his  cham- 
berlains to  bring  Vashti  into  the 
banqueting  hall  to  make  public  dis- 
play of  her  beauty.  She  refused, 
and  the  king  divorced  her.  The 
story  is  multitudinously  imitated  in 
mediaeval  legend,  and  may  be  found 
also  in  classic  myth,  as  in  the  stories 
of  Gyges  and  Phryne. 

Oh  Vashti,  noble  Vashti!  Summoned  out 
She  kept  her  slate  and  left  the  drunken  king 
To  brawl  at  Shushan  underneath  the  palms. 
TENNYSON:  The  Princess,  hi  (1830). 

Venus,  in  Roman  myth,  was  orig- 
inally a  minor  deity  personifying 
beauty  and  growth  in  nature.  Later 
her  individuality  was  completely 
merged  in  that  of  the  Greek  Aphro- 
dite and  as  the  goddess  of  human  love 
she  acquired  an  enormous  vogue. 
The  worship  of  Venus  in  her  new  form 
was  encouraged  by  Julius  Caesar, 
who  traced  his  descent  from  ^En( ,  , 
fabled  to  be  a  son  of  Aphrodite.  In 
her  honor  he  erected  (u.c.  46)  a  great 
temple  in  the  Forum  dedicated  to 
Venus  Gcnctrix  as  the  mother  of  \ 
Roman  people.  In  modern  u 
name  Venus  has  almost  cvlij>;ol  that 
of  Aphrodite  even  in  our  rendition 
of  Greek  myths. 

In  media'val  legends  the  statues 
of  Venus  had  a  peculiar  and  danger- 
ous fascination  for  bridcgroor  . 
Matthew  of  Westminster  and  other 
chroniclers  repeat  a  story  told  earlier 
in  the  Gesta  Ronianornm,  mode; 
in  Merimcc's  Venus  of  Illc  and  can- 


Venusberg 


340 


Vertumnus 


catured  in  Anstey's  The  Tinted  Venus, 
of  a  newly  married  youth  who  placed 
his  wedding  ring  on  a  statue  of  Venus 
and  finds  to  his  dismay  not  merely 
that  he  cannot  dislodge  it  from  her 
stony  finger,  but  that  the  goddess 
herself  claims  to  stand  to  him  in 
the  relation  of  Aphrodite  to  Adonis. 
Later  the  story  was  transferred  in  a 
spiritualized  sense  to  the  Virgin 
Mary.  The  knight  whose  ring  her 
image  refuses  to  surrender  accepts 
the  sign  that  he  is  betrothed  to  the 
Mother  of  God,  and  dedicates  him- 
self to  her  by  taking  the  monastic 
vows.  On  the  other  hand,  heathen 
statues  or  apparitions  were  always 
dangerous  to  mortal  men. 

Heine  retells  the  Teutonic  legend 
of  a  knight  who  comes  upon  a  statue 
of  Venus  and  falls  in  love  with  it. 
One  day  a  strange  servant  invites 
him  to  enter  a  strange  villa.  He  there 
encounters  the  living  image  of  the 
statue  he  adores.  Presently  he  is 
seated  beside  her  at  a  banquet. 
There  is  no  salt;  he  asks  for  some; 
the  servant  shudders  as  he  presents 
it.  Then  come  caresses  and  burning 
kisses,  he  falls  asleep  upon  the 
bosom  of  the  goddess.  She  assumes 
many  shapes,  a  wrinkled  crone,  a 
huge  bat,  a  monster  whose  head  he 
cuts  off.  He  awakes  in  his  own  villa, 
to  find  the  statue  fallen  from  its 
pedestal,  with  its  head  severed  from 
the  body.  The  most  famous  myth 
of  this  order  was  that  of  the  Venus- 
berg. 

Baring-Gould  cites  from  Casserius 
Heisterbachensis  the  tale  of  a  necro- 
mancer who  warns  certain  youths  he 
has  placed  in  a  magic  circle  to  guard 
against  the  allurements  of  the  beings 
whom  he  will  evoke  by  his  incanta- 
tions. Despite  the  warning  one  of 
the  youths  surrenders  himself  into 
the  power  of  a  witch  damsel  by 
touching  a  ring  of  gold  that  she  holds 
out  to  him. 

Venusberg  (Ger.  Mountain  of 
Venus),  also  known  as  the  Horselberg 
or  Mountain  of  Ursula,  one  of  the 
Thuringian  mountains,  situated  be- 
tween Eisenach  and  Gotha.  Within 
its  caverns,  still  known  as  the  Horsel- 


loch,  Venus,  according  to  mediaeval 
legend,  held  her  heathen  court  with 
all  the  ancient  splendor  and  power  of 
sensual  allurement.  None  who  en- 
tered those  precincts  ever  returned 
to  the  light  of  day,  save  only  Tann- 
hauser  (q.v.).  William  Morris  in 
The  Earthly  Paradise  (1870)  puts 
the  mediaeval  legend  in  a  modern 
setting  in  a  versified  tale  The  Hill 
of  Venus. 

Veronica,  St.  (a  corrupted  form 
of  Berenice),  in  the  original  medieeval 
legend,  was  a  woman  afflicted  with 
an  issue  of  blood  (see  Matthew  ix, 
20-22)  who  was  cured  by  a  portrait 
of  Christ,  painted  either  for  her  or 
by  her,  or  else  impressed  by  the 
Messiah  himself  upon  a  piece  of 
cloth.  In  its  final  form,  which  sprang 
up  in  Central  Europe  during  the 
fourteenth  century  and  had  quite 
superseded  the  older  version  by 
1500,  Veronica  gave  to  Jesus  on  His 
way  to  Calvary  a  napkin  to  wipe  His 
bleeding  and  perspiring  brow.  She 
received  it  back  impressed  with  His 
features.  It  is  further  asserted  that 
the  napkin  was  brought  to  Rome  by 
Pope  John  VII,  and  it  is  certain  that 
Celestine  III  prepared  a  reliquary  for 
it.  But  it  is  not  certain  that  the 
name  of  Veronica  was  attached..«to 
the  myth  before  the  twelfth  century, 
and  the  connection  is  suspected  to  be 
a  freak  of  popular  etymology,  deriv- 
ing Veronica  from  Vera  CIKUV,  "a 
true  image."  Albert  Durer  has  a 
famous  picture  representing  the  nap- 
kin of  Veronica  and  the  Saviour  with 
a  crown  of  thorns.  See  also  ABGAR. 

Dante  in  Paradiso  xxxi,  104,  men- 
tions the  veil  in  connection  with  the 
jubilee  of  1300,  during  which  it  was 
exhibited  on  every  Friday  and  feast- 
day. 

Vertumnus,  in  Roman  myth,  god 
of  the  seasons  and  husband  of 
Pomona.  Long  had  he  sought  to 
gain  access  to  that  reluctant  divinity, 
seeking  her  under  various  forms, 
until  at  last  he  won  her  in  the  guise 
of  an  old  woman.  The  pretended  hag 
told  the  blooming  beauty  story  after 
story  of  women  who  to  their  own 
undoing  had  despised  the  power  of 


Vesta 


341 


Vice 


love,  then  finding  her  heart  was 
touched,  he  suddenly  transformed 
himself  into  a  handsome  youth  and 
persuaded  her  into  marriage. 

Vesta,  in  Roman  myth,  the  god- 
dess of  the  hearth,  identified  with  the 
Greek  Hestia.  The  hearth  was  the 
central  part  of  an  ancient  Roman 
house.  Around  it  all  the  inmates 
assembled  for  their  daily  meals.  In 
a  sense  every  dwelling  house  was  a 
temple  of  Vesta,  but  the  public  sanc- 
tuary, standing  in  the  Forum,  united 
all  the  citizens  into  one  large  family. 
The  goddess  was  not  represented  by 
any  statue;  the  eternal  fire  burning 
on  her  altar  was  her  living  symbol. 
This  fire  was  fabled  to  have  been 
brought  by  ^Eneas  from  Troy  to- 
gether with  images  of  the  Penates. 

The  mysteries  of  Vesta  were  cele- 
brated by  maidens  known  as  Vestal 
Virgins  who  tended  the  sacred  fire 
and  were  bound  by  oath  to  lives  of 
chastity  and  purity. 

The  number  of  the  Vestal  Virgins 
at  first  was  four,  but  it  was  increased 
to  six  during  the  reigns  of  the  later 
Roman  Kings.  Applicants  for  the 
position  were  girls  not  less  than  six 
nor  more  than  ten  years  of  age  and 
must  be  free  from  personal  blemish. 
When  accepted  the  virgin  immedi- 
ately left  the  paternal  roof  and  passed 
under  the  authority  of  the  chief 
priest  of  Vesta.  The  total  term  of 
service  exacted  was  thirty  years,  ten 
of  which  were  passed  in  learning  her 
duties,  ten  in  performing  them  and 
ten  in  teaching  them  to  others.  At 
the  end  of  thirty  years  the  six  Vestals 
could  return  to  the  world  and  marry, 
if  they  so  elected,  but  they  seldom 
availed  themselves  of  the  opportu- 
nity. If  found  guilty  during  their 
priesthood  of  unchastity  they  were 
beaten  with  rods  and  buried  alive  in 
the  Campus  Sceleratus  (Rogues' 
Field)  near  the  Colline  gate.  The 
seducer  was  scourged  to  death. 

In  Greece,  as  in  Rome  afterwards,  the 
vestal  virgins  guard  the  central  sacrednesi 
of  the  state.     Hence  the  fearful  penalt 
their  misdeeds,  and  the  vast  powers    :hey 
hold.    So  incarnated  in  them  is  the  power 
the  hearth  that  they  bear  it  with  them,  and 
if  they  meet  a  criminal,  he  must  be  set  free. 


I  know  no  symbol  of  the  power  of  a  sublime 
womanhood  like  that, — the  assumption  that 
vice  cannot  live  in  its  presence,  but  is  trans- 
formed to  virtue.  Could  any  woman  once 
be  lifted  to  a  realizing  sense  of  power  like 
that,  she  might  willingly  accept  the  accom- 
panying penalty  of  transgression.  She  never 
would  transgress. — T.  W.  HIGGINSON:  The 
Greek  Goddesses. 

According  to  the  Rosicrusians, 
Vesta  was  the  wife  of  Noah,  and  the 
mother  of  Zoroaster,  (q.v.)  by  the 
salamander  Oromasis. 

Vice  (Kakia)  was  personified  by 
the  Greeks  as  a  voluptuous  maiden, 
scantily  clad,  shifty  of  eye,  flushed  of 
face,  and  suggestive  in  mien  and 
manner.  Virtue  (Arete),  on  the  other 
hand,  was  decorous  in  deportment 
and  clad  in  a  seemly  robe  of  pure 
white.  Both  accosted  Hercules  at 
the  parting  of  the  ways.  yice 
tempted  him  with  offers  of  immediate 
pleasure  and  ease,  Virtue  bade  him 
toil  manfully  for  a  future  and  per- 
haps distant  reward.  He  chose  the 
path  pointed  out  by  Virtue.  Leon- 
ardo da  Vinci  put  the  legend  into  a 
modern  pictorial  setting  by  repre- 
senting a  contemporary  youth  hesi- 
tating between  Virtue  and  Vice  and 
leaves  the  issue  to  the  imagination. 
Reynolds  adopted  the  situation  with- 
out any  moral  implication  in  his 
picture  of  Garrick  distracted  between 
the  rival  claims  of  Tragedy  and 
Comedy. 

Vice  (Le  Vice)  played  a  subordinate 
part  in  the  French  Moralities  of  the 
early  Middle  Ages.  He  was  unknown 
to  the  English  Miracle  Plays.  But 
in  the  transitional  period  of  the 
English  Moral  Interludes,  the  Vice 
emerged  as  an  independent  national 
product,  capering  about  the  sta^e,  a 
tricksy  embodiment  of  the  ba^er 
appetites  and  appealing  rather  to  the 
sense  of  humor  than  to  the  con: 
of  the  audience.  Like  the  Harlequin 
of  later  days  he  wore  a  vizor  ami 
carried  a  lathe  sword,  with  whieh 
he  freely  belabored  the  Devil,  of 
whom  he  was  a  frequent  companion. 
When  the  play  was  over  nothing  re- 
mained for  him  but  to  dance  down 
to  Hell  or  to  be  transported  thither 
on  the  Devil's  back.  Hi-;  last  ap- 
pearance in  any  purely  literary  drama 


Vila 


342 


Vineta 


was  in  Ben  Jonson's  The  Devil  is 
an  Ass,  but  he  is  there  sneered  at  as 
an  anachronism  by  Satan  himself. 
Through  a  gradual  toning  down  of 
his  physical  exuberance  and  moral 
irresponsibility  he  had  evolved  into 
the  Fool  or  Clown  of  Elizabethan 
drama.  Thus  there  is  peculiar  fitness 
in  the  song  which  Shakspear  puts 
into  the  mouth  of  Clown  in  Twelfth 
Night: 

I  am  gone,  sir, 

And  anon,  sir, 
I'll  be  with  you  again 

In  a  trice 

Like  to  the  old  Vice, 
Your  need  to  sustain, 
Who  with  dagger  or  lath 
In  his  rage  and  his  wrath 
Cries  "Ah.  ha!"  to  the  Devil. 

Vila,  in  Servian  folklore,  a  female 
spirit,  beautiful  but  terrible,  who 
usually  employs  her  vast  powers 
malevolently  or  at  least  capriciously. 
She  haunts  the  mountains,  caves  and 
forests,  and  utters  her  mandates  and 
denunciations  from  their  recesses. 

Vineta,  a  phantom  city  said  to  lie 
at  the  bottom  of  the  North  Sea,  off 
the  coast  of  Holstein.  Like  the 
French  city  of  Ys  or  Is  it  was  sub- 
merged in  some  great  cataclysm, — 
its  wickedness  having  drawn  upon  it 
the  vengeance  of  Heaven.  Fisher- 
men on  clear  days  when  the  sea  is 
smooth  frequently  report  that  look- 
ing down  into  the  waters  they  have 
caught  sight  of  the  peaked  roofs  of  a 
mediaeval  city,  while  the  tolling  of 
bells  from  the  church  towers  has 
surged  faintly  up  to  them.  Nay, 
Heine  poetically  fables  that  he  him- 
self had  caught  sight  of  the  same 
vision  from  the  deck  of  his  ship: 

Deep  in  the  ocean's  abysses, 

At  first  like  a  glimmering  mist. 

Then,  bit  by  bit,  with  hues  more  decided. 

Domes  of  churches  and  towers  appeared, 

And,  at  last,  clear  as  sunlight,  a  city 

Antiquarian,  Netherlandish, 

And  swarming  with  life. 

Reverent  men,  in  garments  of  black, 

With  snowy  frills  and  chains  of  honor. 

And  lengthy  swords  and  lengthy  faces, 

Over  the  crowded  market  are  pacing 

Toward  the  high-staired  council-chamber 

Where  great  stone  statues  of  Kaisers 

Keep  guard  with  sceptre  and  sword: — 

Hard  by,  in  front  of  the  long  row  of  houses, 

With  mirror-like  glistening  windows 

Stand  the  lindens  all  trimmed  into  pyramids, 


And  silken  rustling  maidens  are  wandering, 
A  golden  band  around  their  slender  bodies. 
Their  blooming  faces  neatly  surrounded 
By  head-dresses  velvet  and  black, 
From  whence  their  abundant  locks  are  es- 
caping. 

Gay  young  fellows,  in  Spanish  costume, 
Proudly  are  passing  and  nodding. 
Aged  women 

In  garments  all  brown  and  strange  looking, 
Psalm-book  and  rosary  in  hand, 
Hasten  with  tripping  step 
Toward  the  cathedral  church, 
Impelled  by  the  sound  of  the  bells 
And  the  rushing  notes  of  the  organ. 

REISEBILDER,  III:  The  North  Sea, 

The  Ocean  Spectre. 

William  Muller's  poem  The  Sunken 
City  refers  to  the  same  legend.  The 
opening  stanzas  are  thus  translated 
by  James  Clarence  Mangan: 

Hark  the  faint  bells  of  the  Sunken  City 
Peal    once    more    their    wonted    evening 
chime; 

From  the  deep  abysses  floats  a  ditty 

Wild  and  wondrous,  of  the  ancient  time. 

Temples,  towers,  and  domes  of  many  stories 
There  lie  buried  in  an  ocean  grave, 

Undescried  save  when  their  golden  glories 
Gleam  at  sunset  through  the  lighted  wave. 

And  the  mariner  who  had  seen  them  glisten, 

In  whose  ears  those  magic  bells  do  sound, 

Night  by  night  bides  there  to  watch  and 

listen 

Though  death  lurks  behind  each  dark  rock 
round. 

Irish  folklore  is  also  full  of  sunken 
cities.  The  legends  all  agree  in  one 
particular  with  the  Breton  story  of 
Ys,  that  these  cities  when  they  were 
on  the  mainland  depended  for  their 
safety  upon  a  sacred  well  situated 
just  outside  their  walls.  This  well 
was  never  to  be  left  open  after  sunset. 
But  court  and  city  were  so  given  up 
to  impious  revelry  that  one  evening 
no  one  remembered  to  close  the  well 
at  sunset.  Forthwith  the  waters 
engulfed  the  town  and  drowned  all 
its  inhabitants.  Thomas  Moore  has 
bestowed  celebrity  upon  the  sunken 
city  of  Lough  (Lake)  Neah,  which 
he  has  made  the  subject  of  a  poem 
beginning  : 

On  Lough  Neah's  banks  as  the  fisherman 
strays, 

When  the  clear  calm  eve's  declining, 
He  sees  the  Round  Towers  of  other  days 

In  the  waters  beneath  him  shining. 

In  Washington  Irving's  Wolferfs 
Roost  is  an  account  of  a  convent  near 


Virbius 


343 


Virgil 


Toledo,  which  at  the  time  of  the 
Moorish  conquest  was  miraculously 
engulfed  by  the  earth  to  protect  it 
and  its  band  of  nuns  from  sacrilege. 
The  bells,  organ,  and  choir  could  be 
occasionally  heard  during  forty  years, 
at  which  time  the  last  of  the  sisters 
must  have  died,  for  no  sound  was 
heard  afterwards.  The  spire  of  the 
convent  projecting  out  of  the  ground 
is  still  shown. 

Virbius,  in  Latin  myth,  an  avatar 
of  Hippolytus,  raised  to  life  again  by 
^Esculapius  and  worshipped  together 
with  Diana  as  presiding  genius  of  the 
wood  and  the  chase.  Virgil  mentions 
him  as  one  of  the  allies  of  Turnus 
against  AZneas,  and  suggests  that  he 
was  a  reincarnation  of  Hippolytus. 

For  there's  a  tale  that  when  by  his  step- 
mother's wiles  he  was  murdered, 
When  by  his  blood  he  had  paid  the  full  debt 

of  his  father's  resentment, 
When   he   was    crushed   by   his   frightened 

steeds,  yet  again  on  the  lofty 
Stars    had    Hippolytus   looked,    and    again 

breathed  the  free  air  of  heaven, 
Raised  from   the   grave  by  Paeonian  herbs 

and  the  love  of  Diana; 
Then  had  omnipotent  Jove,  incensed  that 

from  Hades  deep  shadows 
One  of  the  dead  should  rise  to  the  light  of 

life,  by  his  thunder 
Hurled  to  the  depth  of  the  Stygian  wave  that 

son  of  Apollo 
Who  had  presumed  to  invent  such  drugs  and 

such  methods  of  healing. 
Trivia's  love,  none  the  less,  hid    ilppolytus 

deep  in  her  secret 
Haunts,  and  gave  him  in  charge  to  Isgeria, 

nymph  of  the  forest, 
Where  in  her  lonely  Italian  groves  he  migh 

live  without  honor 
Till  he  should  come  newly  named  as  Virbius, 

mighty  in  battle; 
Thus,  too.  it  is  that  from  Trivia  s  fane  and 

her  consecrate  woodlands 
Horny-hoofed   steeds    are   debarred,    since, 

frightened  by  horses  of  Neptune, 
Horses  had  hurled  both  rider  and  car  on  the 

sands  of  the  sea-shore. 
Yet,  on  the  level  plain,  the  son.  no  U 

in  spirit  ,  - 

Drives   his   horses   to    war.   and   urge; 

^SvTT^:    H.  H.  BAMAKO,  trans. 


Virgil  or  Vergil,  the  name  by  which 
English  literature  recognizes  the 
greatest  of  the  Roman  poets,  Publius 
Vergilius  Maro,  born  at  Mantua  70 
B  c  died  at  Brundusium  19  B.C. 
During  the  Middle  Ages  he  was 
popularly  credited  with  supcrnatun 
powers.  When  once  the 


eclogue  had  been  wrested  into  a 
prophecy  of  the  birth  of  Christ  it 
was  a  natural  sequence  that  the 
prophet  should  develop  into  a  magi- 
cian. Prof.  Domenico  Comparetti 
(  Virgil  in  the  Middle  ARCS,  trans- 
lated by  Benecke  1895)  has  collected 
the  legends  and  traditions  that  show 
how  he  was  associated  with  bronze 
flies,  floating  castles,  magic  mirrors  and 
other  paraphernalia  of  the  thauma- 
turgist.  Dante  reverenced  Virgil  as 
"  Virtu  Somma,"  the  sum  of  all  virtues. 
His  choice  of  him  as  his  guide  through 
the  Inferno  has  a  psychological  reason 
as  true  as  the  choice  of  Beatrice  for 
guide  through  the  heavenly  regions 
of  the  Paradiso.  The  glorified  spirit 
of  the  latter  would  have  been  out  of 
place  in  the  circles  of  torment  and 
penance  which  the  pagan,  shut  out 
from  the  Christian  Paradise,  but  not 
in  the  company  of  the  lost,  might 
safely  and  easily  tread.  It  is  human 
wisdom  leading  to  the  feet  of  Divine 
Love.  Again,  the  poet  who  ma 
Latin  classical  would  naturally  be- 
friend the  father  of  the  Italian  tongue. 
He  who  had  watched  /Eneas  over  the 
Styx  and  through  the  Elysian  Fields 
might  assist  the  later  pilgrim.  The 
favorite  of  Augustus  and  the  prophet 
of  the  Roman  emperor  could  best 
understand  and  answer  the  thoughts 
of  the  Ghibellinc.  And  the  Floren- 
tine recognized  no  sharp  line  of 
demarcation  between  ancient  and 
modern  history. 

Dante  paints  Virgil  as  a  heathen, 
whose    eyes    have    been    opened 
death,  so  that  he  reflects  sadly  on 
his  own  condition  and  that  of  A- 
totle,    Plato    and    others    who    ha 
lost   eternal    l>h-s   because   th«  . 
not  know  that  which  without  revela- 
tion   they    could    not    know.       5fe1 
medieval    Christianity    saw   in   him 
an    unconsci»u.;    prophet    of    Christ. 
The   expectation   of   a   Ki-h-.-mcr  as 
voiced  by  Joscphus,  Jewish  Wars  vii, 
31,  Tacitus  v,  U,  and  Di->  Cassius, 
ixvi,    impelled    Virgil    to    write 
fourth  eclogue,  addressed  to  Pollio. 
He  looked  'for  a  Ke«;          I    I          -"c 
not  from  the  East  but  from  Rome 
itself. 


Virgin 


344 


Virgin 


Many  other  marvellous  things  were  ac- 
complished by  Virgilius  during  his  life;  but 
the  story  of  his  death  is  the  most  singular 
and  interesting  part  of  the  romance.  As  he 
advanced  in  life,  Virgilius  entertained  the 
design  of  renovating  his  youth  by  force  of 
magic.  With  this  view  he  constructed  a 
castle  without  the  city,  and  at  the  gate  of 
this  building  he  placed  twenty-four  images, 
armed  with  flails,  which  they  incessantly 
struck,  so  that  no  one  could  approach  the 
entrance  unless  Virgilius  himself  arrested 
their  mechanical  motion.  To  this  castle 
the  magician  secretlyvrepaired,  accompanied 
only  by  a  favorite  disciple,  whom  on  their 
arrival  he  led  into  the  cellar,  and  showed  him 
a  barrel,  and  a  fair  lamp  at  all  seasons  burn- 
ing. He  then  directed  his  confidant  to  slay 
and  hew  him  into  small  bits,  to  cut  his  head 
into  four,  to  salt  the  whols,  laying  the  pieces 
in  a  certain  position  in  the  barrel,  and  to 
place  the  barrel  under  the  lamp;  all  which 
being  performed,  Virgilius  asserted  that  in 
nine  days  he  would  be  revived  and  made 
young  again.  The  disciple  was  sorely  per- 
plexed by  this  strange  proposal.  At  last, 
however,  he  obeyed  the  injunctions  of  his 
master,  and  Virgilius  was  pickled  and  bar- 
relled up  according  to  the  very  unusual  proc- 
ess which  he  had  directed.',  Some  days  after, 
the  emperor,  missing  Virgilius  at  court,  in- 
quired concerning  him  of  the  confidant, 
whom  he  forced,  by  threats  of  death,  to  carry 
him  to  the  enchanted  castle,  and  to  allow 
his  entrance  by  stopping  the  motion  of  the 
statues  which  wielded  the  flails.  After  a 
long  search  the  emperor  descended  to  the 
cellar,  where  he  found  the  remains  of  Vir- 
gilius in  the  barrel;  and  immediately  judg- 
ing that  the  disciple  had  murdered  his  master, 
he  slew  him  on  the  spot.  And  when  this  was 
done,  a  naked  child  ran  three  times  round 
the  barrel,  saying,  "  Cursed  be  the  time  that 
ye  came  ever  here";  and  with  these  words 
the  embryo  of  the  renovated  Virgil  vanished. 
— DUNLAP:  History  of  Fiction,  i,  6. 

Virgin-mothers.  Long  before  the 
time  of  Christ  parthenogenesis,  or 
reproduction  by  a  virgin,  was  as 
familiar  to  ancient  Greek,  Egyptian 
and  Oriental  legend  as  it  is  to  modern 
biology.  Guatama  Buddha  was  only 
one  of  many  Oriental  heroes  whose 
mother  was  a  virgin.  The  Egyptian 
Horus  was  conceived  by  Isis  without 
the  direct  intervention  of  a  male.  Isis 
has  been  identified  with  the  Greek 
Demeter,  and  Demeter  also  was  a 
virgin,  even  when  she  bore  a  child, 
Persephone  or  Proserpine.  In  a  sense 
this  maiden  was  the  child  of  Zeus, 
but  in  no  mortal  fashion, — by  an 
ineffable  conception,  says  the  Hom- 
eric Hymn  xxix,  7.  Grote  well  names 
her  the  Mater  Dolorosa  of  Greece. 

The  final  result  of  Greek  worship  was  this. 
In  its  temples  the  sexes  stood  equal,  goddess 


was  as  sublime  as  god,  priestess  the  peer  of 
priest;  there  was  every  influence  to  ennoble 
a  woman's  ideal  of  womanhood  so  long  as 
her  worship  lasted,  and  nothing  to  discour- 
age her  from  the  most  consecrated  career. 
In  Protestant  Christian  churches,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  representations  of  Deity  are 
all  masculine,  the  Mediator  masculine,  the 
evangelists,  the  apostles,  the  Church  fathers, 
all  masculine;  so  are  the  ministers  and  the 
deacons;  even  the  old-time  deaconess,  sole 
representative  of  the  ancient  priestess,  is 
gone;  nothing  feminine  is  left  but  the  wor- 
shippers, and  they  indeed  are  feminine, 
three  to  one. 

The  Roman  Catholic  Church,  with  more 
wisdom  of  adaptation,  has  kept  one  goddess 
from  the  Greek;  and  the  transformed 
Demeter,  with  her  miraculously  born  child, 
which  is  now  become  masculine,  presides 
over  every  altar.  Softened  and  beautified 
from  the  elder  image,  it  is  still  the  same, — 
the  same  indeed  with  all  the  mythologic 
mothers,  with  the  Maternal  Goddess  who 
sits,  with  a  glory  round  her  head  and  a  babe 
on  her  bosom,  in  every  Buddhist  house  in 
China,  or  with  Isis  who  yet  nurses  Horus  on 
the  monuments  of  Egypt.  As  far  as  history 
can  tell,  this  group  first  appeared  in  Chris- 
tian art  when  used  as  a  symbol,  in  the  Nes- 
torian  controversy,  by  Cyril,  who  had  spent 
most  of  his  life  in  Egypt.  Nestorius  was  con- 
demned, in  the  fifth  century,  for  asserting 
Mary  to  be  the  mother  of  the  humanjnature 
of  Jesus,  and  not  also  of  the  divine;  and  it 
was  at  this  time  that^the  images  of  the  Virgin 
and  Child  were  multiplied,  to  protest  against 
the  heretic  who  had  the  minority  of  votes. 
— T.  W.  HIGGINSON:  The  Greek  Goddesses. 

Among  the  various  peoples  by  whom  Isis 
is  venerated  must  be  mentioned  those  of 
Syria,  who  identified  her  with  certain  of  he* 
local  goddesses,  and  it  is  clear  that  the  early 
Christians  bestowed  some  of  her  attributes 
upon  the  Virgin  Mary.  There  is  little  doubt 
that  in  her  character  of  the  loving  and  pro- 
tecting mother  she  appealed  strongly  to  the 
imagination  of  all  the  Eastern  peoples  among 
whom  her  cult  came, and  that  the  pictures  and 
sculptures  wherein  she  is  represented  in  the 
act  of  suckling  her  child  Horus  formed  the 
foundation  for  the  Christian  figures  and 
paintings  of  the  Madonna  and  Child  .  .  .  The 
writers  of  the  Apocryphal  Gospels  intended 
to  pay  additional  honor  to  Mary  the  Virgin 
by  ascribing  to  her  the  attributes  which  up 
to  the  time  of  the  advent  of  Christianity 
they  had  regarded  as  the  peculiar  property 
of  Isis  and  Neith  and  other  great  indigenous 
goddesses,  and  if  the  parallels  between  the 
mythological  history  of  Isis  and  Horus  and 
the  history  of  Mary  and  the  Child  be  con- 
sidered, it  is  difficult  to  see  how  they  could 
possibly  avoid  perceiving  in  the  teaching  of 
Christianity  reflections  of  the  best  and  most 
spiritual  doctrines  of  the  Egyptian  religion. 
The  doctrine  of  parthogenesis  was  well 
known  in  Egypt  in  connection  with  the 
goddess  Neith  of  Sals  centuries  before  the 
birth  of  Christ;  and  the  belief  in  the  con- 
ception of  Horus  by  Isis  through  the  power 
given  her  by  Thoth,  the  intelligence  or  mind 
of  the  God  of  the  universe,  and  the  resurrec- 
tion of  the  body  and  of  everlasting  life  is 


Virginia 


345 


Vishnu 


coevml  with  the  beginnings  of  history  In 
Egypt.— E.  A.  WALLIS  BUDGK:  The  Cods 
of  the  Eiyptians,  H,  330. 

Virginia,  in  Roman  legend,  the 
daughter  of  Lucius  Virginius,  a  plebe- 
ian. Appius  Claudius,  one  of  the 
decemvirs  (who  ruled  B.C.  451-449), 
cast  lustful  eyes  upon  her,  claimed 
her  as  the  born  slave  of  Marcus 
Claudius,  one  of  his  clients,  and 
despite  the  protests  of  her  father  and 
her  betrothed  lover,  Icilius,  was  ad- 
judged at  a  mock  trial  to  be  her 
lawful  possessor.  To  save  her  from 
dishonor  Virginius  slew  her;  the 
popular  indignation  manifested  itself 
in  an  uprising  which  swept  the  de- 
cemvirs out  of  power  and  landed 
Appius  in  prison,  where  he  committed 
suicide.  The  story  was  first  told  by 
Livy  iii,  44-58,  and  more  or  less 
embellished  versions  may  be  found 
in  the  Pecorone  (1378)  of  Giovanni 
Fiorentino,  in  Jean  de  Meun's  Roman 
de  La  Rose  5613-82,  in  Gower's 
Confessio  Amantis,  in  Chaucer's  Can- 
terbury Tales  (1388)  as  The  Phy- 
sician's Tale  and  in  Painter's  Palace 
of  Pleasure  (1566).  It  has  been  a 
favorite  subject  for  dramatists,  espe- 
cially in  periods  of  civic  struggle  for 
liberty.  Lessing  in  1772,  Alfieri  in 
1773  published  dramas  called  Vir- 
ginius. In  France  the  story  was 
dramatized  among  others  by  La 
Beaumelle  (1760),  La  Harpe  (1786), 
and  Latour  Saint  Ybars  (1845).  In 
England  the  best  known  versions  are 
by  Miss  Brooke  (1760)  and  James 
Sheridan  Knowles  (1820).  The  r61e 
of  Virginius  in  the  last  named  play 
was  created  by  Macready  and  re- 
mained one  of  his  greatest  parts.  In 
America  it  is  identified  with  Edwin 
Forrest  and  John  McCullough.  One 
of  Macaulay's  Lays  of  Ancient  Rome 
puts  the  story  into  vigorous  verse. 

E.  Pais  in  Ancient  Legends  of  Ro- 
man History  groups  together  the 
Lucretia  and  the  Virginia  myth  as 
two  different  versions  of  the  same 
story,  connecting  the  history  of 
Roman  liberty  with  the  martyrdom 
of  a  woman  and  finding  a  common 
origin  in  legends  connected  with  the 
cults  of  Ardea. 


Lucretia,  according  to  the  early 
annals  of  Rome,  was  the  wife  of 
Lucius  Tarquinius  Collatinus.  H-  r 
rape  by  Sextus  Tarquinius  led  to  the 
dethronement  of  Tarquinius  Superb-:  . 
See  TARQUIN. 

Vishnu,  the  second  person  of  the 
Hindu  triad  (Trimurti)  or  trinity. 
He  represents  the  preservative  prin- 
ciple, as  Siva  represents  the*destnic- 
tive  and  Brahma  the  creative.  He 
is  "  the  most  human  and  humane  god 
of  the  Hindu  pantheon, — a  kind  of 
protest  in  favor  of  a  personal  deity 
as  opposed  to  the  impersonal  pan- 
theism of  Brahma  '  (MONIKR  WIL- 
LIAMS). His  worship  is  of  very  ancient 
date,  but  at  first  he  was  a  god  of  only 
secondary  rank  whose  powers  and 
attributes  were  gradually  extended 
until  he  occupied  a  position  second 
only  to  Brahma,  the  all-Father.  lie 
assisted  Indra  in  humbling  the  pow- 
ers of  evil.  Together  they  engender  1 
the  sun,  "  made  the  atmosphere  wide 
and  stretched  out  the  world  "  for  the 
habitation  of  man.  He  was  at  times 
identified  with  Agni,  at  other  times 
with  Soma,  emerging  like  the  former 
from  an  invisible  dwelling  in  the 
empyrean  (Vakuntha)  to  manif 
himself  in  heaven  and  on  earth. 

He  has  appeared  in  nine  avatars 
or  reincarnations,  descending  from 
heaven  to  earth  whenever  the  latter's 
safety  was  threatened  by  king,  giant 
or  demon.  He  came  sometimes  in 
animal  and  sometimes  in  human  form. 
The  sequence  was  as  follows:  (i) 
Matsya,  the  Fish ;  (2)  Karma,  the  T<  .r- 
toisc;  (3)  Varaha,  the  Boar;  (4)  Np 
inha,  the  Man-Lion;  (5)  Vamana,  the 
Dwarf;  (6)  Parasurama  or  Kama  with 
the  Axe;  (7)  Rama  Chandra,  the  h 
of  the  Rumayana;  (8)  Krishna,  ai  1 
(9)  Buddha.  (See  RAMA  and  the 
two  last  entries.)  He  is  exj 
the  Hindus  to  reapix-.tr  as  K.i'ki, 
the  White  Horse,  in  his  <  1-likc 

aspect,    as    reformer    and     restOl 
seated  on  a  white  horse  and  carrying 
a     gleaming     sword.       The     Vishnu 
Purana  gives  a  long  list  of  the 
awaiting    this    advent.      In    the    - 
the  tortoise  that  upholds  the  wo: 
will  sink  under  its  burden,  the  waters 


Vivien 


346 


Vivien 


will  cover  it,  and  Krishna,  sleeping 
on  the  waters,  will  produce  Brahma, 
who  will  create  the  world  anew. 

Vivien  or  Vivian,  in  Arthurian  ro- 
mance, a  fairy  whose  personality  is 
perplexingly  confused.  Often  she  is 
identified  with  the  Lady  of  the  Lake 
(an  identification  rejected  by  Tenny- 
son), but  under  her  own  name  only 
malignant  qualities  are  ascribed  to 
her,  while  as  the  Lady  of  the  Lake 
she  frequently  performs  beneficent 
actions.  Malory  gives  her  another 
name  in  three  forms,  Nimue,  Ninive 
or  Nineve, —  possibly  meaning  a 
nymph.  So  far  as  it  is  possible  to  har- 
monize the  discord  of  legend  Vivien 
was  an  enchantress  who  dwelt  and 
held  her  court  at  the  bottom  of  a 
lake.  Some  accounts  make  the  lake 
a  mere  mirage  magically  raised  to 
hide  her  palace  from  intruders.  She 
presented  Arthur  with  his  sword 
Excalibur  and  brought  up  young 
Lancelot.  But  she  was  chiefly  fam- 
ous as  the  seducer  of  Merlin.  Of  this 
part  of  her  story  different  versions 
exist.  In  Malory's  Morte  d' Arthur 
the  wizard  is  the  pursuer,  and  she, 
having  wearied  of  his  love  and  fearing 
him  moreover  as  a  devil's  son,  made 
him  go  under  a  rock  "  and  wrought 
so  there  for  him  that  he  came  never 
out,  for  all  the  craft  that  he  could 
do."  In  the  French  romances  Merlin 
tells  the  secret  of  the  spell  to  Vivien 
and  she  tried  it  on  him  merely  to  see 
if  he  had  told  her  true.  When  it 
shut  him  up  beneath  a  bush  of  laurel, 
she  grieved  sorely  to  find  that  she 
could  not  undo  her  work.  In  Tenny- 
son's idyl  Merlin  and  Vivien  neither 
of  these  stories  is  exactly  followed: 
his  yiyien  wrings  the  secret  from  the 
unwilling  enchanter  by  her  wiles  and 
then  exults  in  her  victory. 

Robert  de  Borron  conceives  of 
Vivien  as  a  chaste  and  beautiful 
woman  loving  Merlin  and  desirous  of 
the  charm  only  that  she  may  secure 
his  love  in  return.  Merlin  is  a  young 
student  of  handsome  presence  who 
comes  to  Brittany,  meets  Vivien  in 
a  forest,  and  in  proof  of  his  magical 
powers  makes  a  charmed  circle  on 
the  grass.  In  this  circle  rises  a  castle 


from  whose  portals  issue  knights  and 
ladies,  dancing  in  harmony  to  the 
song, 

L'Amour  arrive  en  chantant, 
Et  s'en  rentourne  en  pleurant. 

(Love  arrives  singing 
And  returns  weeping.) 

The  garden  in  which  they  sing  and 
dance  is  called  Brocelainde.  At  Vivi- 
en's request  Merlin  suffers  it  to 
remain  for  her  pleasure,  and  thither 
he  came  to  visit  her  three  several 
times.  The  third  time  she  felt 
wretched  and  lonely  at  the  very 
thought  of  having  him  leave  her 
again,  and  essayed  every  art  whereby 
she  might  keep  him  close  to  her  and 
always  as  young  and  handsome  as  he 
was  now.  In  vain  did  she  think  of 
twenty  schemes;  in  vain  did  she  try 
them  all.  "My  sweet  friend,"  she 
said  at  last,  "  there  is  one  thing  I 
know  not  yet,  and  I  beg  you  to  teach 
it  to  me."  "What  is  it? "asked  Merlin, 
although  he  divined  the  thought. 
"I  wish  to  know  how  to  imprison  a 
person  without  stone  or  wood  or 
iron,  simply  by  a  charm."  Merlin 
sighs.  "Why  do  you  sigh?  "she  asks. 
"Because  I  know  what  you  wish, 
that  your  desire  is  to  keep  me  as  your 
own,andl  have  no  strength  to  resist." 
"I  wish  that  this  garden  never  be 
destroyed,  that  we  two  live  here 
alway  without  growing  old,  or  part- 
ing, or  ceasing  to  love  and  to  be 
happy."  Then  Merlin  taught  her 
the  charm  that  would  fulfil  her  wish. 
And  sitting  upon  the  green  sward, 
under  the  spreading  white  thorn  in 
full  flower,  Vivien  makes  the  great 
enchanter  her  love  prisoner.  "Oh, 
Vivien,"  he  cried,  "I  would  deem  you 
falsest  of  lovers  if  you  forsook  me." 
"My  sweet  friend,"  she  replies, 
"could  you  imagine  it?  Could  I  ever 
leave  you?"  And  Vivien  kept  her 
word,  she  never  left  him.  See  L.  H. 
GURTEEN,  The  Arthurian  Epic  (1895). 

Vivien,  in  mediaeval  French  legend, 
a  nephew  of  William  of  Orange,  who 
appears  in  many  of  the  romances 
connected  with  that  semi-mythical 
hero,  and  is  himself  the  hero  of  two 
of  these  romances,  both  anonymous 


Volumnia 


347 


Walter 


but  evidently  by  different  hands, 
and  of  uncertain  date, — the  Enfances 
Vivien  (The  Childhood  of  Vivien) 
and  Le  Covenant  Vivien  (William's 
Vow}.  According  to  the  first  ro- 
mance Vivien  was  the  son  of  Garin  of 
Anseune,  who  was  taken  prisoner  by 
the  Saracens  at  Roncesvalles,  when 
the  lad  was  seven  years  old.  The 
second  romance  tells  how  he  was 
brought  up  by  Guibor,  wife  of  Wil- 
liam of  Orange,  and  how  on  receiving 
knighthood  he  took  a  solemn  oath 
that  he  would  never  flee  "  more  than 
a  lance-length  "  before  the  Saracens. 
Hence  he  boldly  attacked  a  great 
armada  which  invaded  Aliscans  or 
Arlechans  (probably  a  field  outside 
the  walls  of  Aries)  and  though  out- 
numbered one  hundred  to  one, 
stoutly  maintains  his  ground.  Mean- 
while a  courier  is  despatched  to 
inform  William  of  his  plight,  and 
William  himself,  at  the  head  of 
10,000  men,  comes  to  his  assistance, 
arriving  in  time  to  beat  back  the  foe, 
but  not  to  save  Vivien,  whom  he 
finds  mortally  wounded.  The  end 
of  the  matter  forms  the  subject  of  a 
sequel,  of  independent  origin,  en- 
titled The  Battle  of  Alischans.  Here 
the  death  of  Vivien  is  touchingly 
described,  together  with  the  subse- 
quent adventures  of  William  of 
Orange  on  his  journey  home. 

Volumnia.  According  to  Plutarch, 
this  was  the  name  of  the  wife  of 
Coriolanus,  as  his  mother's  name 
was  Veturia.  Shakspear,  though  he 


founded     his     play      Coriulunus     on 
North's     Plutarch,     culls     the     wife 
Virgilia   and   the   mother   Yolum:. 
The  poet  has  so  far  triumphed  over 
the  historian  that  Volumnia 
to  be  the  accepted  type  of  a  noble 
minded     matron,     diviiL  i 

love  of  country  and  maternal  at! 
tion,  but  succeeding  at  last  in  har- 
monizing  the   two   by   winning  over 
a  recreant  son. 

Vulcan,    the    Roman    5/0,1    of   fire, 
called    also    Mulciher,    the    hummer 
bearer,  and  identified  with  the  Greek 
Hephaestus.     According  to   the  orig- 
inal    Roman    account    his     worship 
together    with    that    of    Vesta 
established   by   Tatius,    king   of   the 
Sabines,  and  his  temple  in  Rome  \. 
built  by  Romulus.    The  R«  unai 
transfer    to    Vulcan    all    the    sr.,ries 
related  of  the  Greek  Hepluestus. 

Near  the  Sicanian  shore,  and  ^olian  Lipara 

fronting, 
Towering   to  heaven   with   smok  -gs. 

arises  an  island 
Under  which,  eaten  away  by  the  fires  of  the 

Cyclops,  a  cavern 
Thunders,    and    /Etna's    caves    re-echo   the 

ringing  of  anvils; 
Thence  deep  groans  arise,  and  with  sound 

of  Charylbean  torment 
Hisses  the  molten  steel  and  roars  the  fin 

the  forges; 
Vulcan's   abode,   and   Vulcania   still    is   the 

name  of  the  island; 
Thither  descended  the  Lord  of  Fire  from  the 

heights  of  Olympus; 
Down  in  their  cavern  huge  the  <'yr], 

working  their  iron; 
Brontes    with    Stern;,  :.    and    beside 

them  half-naV. 

i  :    .l-.nfi'l,  vni.  J 
II.  II.  BALLAKU.  tr 


w 


Walter  or  Waltharius  of  Aquitane, 
hero  of  a  Latin  poem  named  after 
him,  which  is  ascribed  to  the  twelfth 
century.    He  is  a  son  of  A 1  pi  me,  King 
of    Aquitane.      Attila,    king    of    tin- 
Huns,  invades  and  conquers  not  only 
Aquitane,  but  the  kingdoms  of  the 
Franks    and    the    Burgundians. 
hostages    Attila    receives    from 
Franks  a  young  nobelman,    Hagan, 
together  with  a  great  treasure,  and 
from  the  Burgundians  King  Hcrnc' 
beautiful  daughter  Hildegund.   Aqui- 


tane's    contribution    i'    \Val'<T,    who 
retly    engugf'l     1«     !  l:McKMm(l. 

Walter  apparently  prove-,  h.          ity 

to  Attila   by   winniii:;   a   vi.  '  .vr 

his  enemies.     Thm  in 
banquet  to  the  Hunnish  OOUTt     i 
duciiiK  all  tlie^:.  'p- 

I  intoxication  he  persua  l< 

Kiiii'l  toi-iopc-  with  him.   Thefugith 
take  with  them  twoch 
Hagan  gives  warning  of  their  flight 
to  the  king  of  the  Fran)    . 

in    the    pun-uit    with    a    number    of 


Walters 


348 


Wandering 


Prankish  knights,  among  them  Gun- 
thar, who  has  become  their  king, — 
hoping  in  this  fashion  to  recoup  the 
Burgundian  finances  for  the  treasure 
which  had  gone  with  Hagan.  They 
find  that  Walter  has  taken  refuge 
in  a  cave  so  situated  that  only  one 
man  at  a  time  could  attack  him. 
One  by  one  he  vanquishes  all  his 
pursuers  till  Gunthar  and  Hagan 
alone  remain.  By  stratagem  they 
lure  Walter  into  the  open.  When 
Gunthar  has  lost  a  leg,  Hagan  an 
eye,  and  Walter  his  right  hand  the 
combatants  arrive  at  an  understand- 
ing and  amicably  separate,  Walter 
being  left  free  to  marry  Hildegund, 
and  succeed  his  father  Alphue  on  the 
throne  of  Aquitane. 

Walters  or  Waters,  Child,  hero  of 
a  ballad  of  that  name  which  forms 
No.  63  in  Prof.  Child's  Collection. 
Ellen,  "  a  fair  young  lady,"  accuses 
him  of  the  paternity  of  her  unborn 
child.  He  makes  her  don  page's 
apparel  and  follow  him  and  his  horse 
afoot,  sets  her  many  cruel  tasks  on 
the  way,  and  conquered  by  her 
constancy  at  last  makes  every 
reparation : 

"Peace  now,"  he  said,  "good  Fair  Ellen 
And  be  of  good  cheer,  I  thee  pray, 

And  the  bridal  and  the  churching  both 
They  shall  be  upon  one  day." 

One  of  the  pearls  of  English  balladry,  by 
judgment  of  such  lovers  of  the  ballad  as 
Child  and  Gruntvig,  belongs  to  a  little  group 
where  a  peremptory  and  half -heartless,  if 
free-handed,  lover  puts  his  devoted  sweet- 
heart to  a  series  of  ignoble  tests  in  order  to 
get  rid  of  her.  True,  in  a  dramatic  poem 
like  The  Nut  Brown  Maid,  these  tests  are 
hypothetical  and  meant  only  to  try  feminine 
love  and  devotion  to  the  uttermost:  and 
in  the  Patient  Griselda  stories,  actual  trials 
lead  to  the  same  triumph  of  woman's  con- 
stancy. It  has  been  suggested  that  the  man 
in  this  latter  case  is  under  a  spell,  and  can 
be  released  only  by  the  almost  supernatural 
endurance  of  his  wife.  In  Child  Waters, 
however,  the  tests  are  real  enough  and  the 
motive  is  surely  what  it  seems  to  be, — the 
wish  of  a  wealthy  and  careless  lover  to  rid 
himself  of  an  encumbrance. — FRANCIS  B. 
GUMMERE:  The  Popular  Ballad,  p.  204. 

Wandering  Jew,  in  mediaeval  legend, 
a  fabled  contemporary  of  Christ,  who 
because  he  offered  insolence  or  vio- 
lence to  the  Saviour  on  His  way  to 
Calvary  was  condemned  to  remain 


on  earth  until  the  second  coming  of 
the  Lord.  He  is  variously  called 
Ahasuerus,  Cartaphilus,  or  Salathiel. 
The  earliest  known  mention  of  him 
is  in  the  Book  of  the  Chronicles  of 
the  Abbey  of  St.  Albans,  which  was 
copied  and  continued  by  Matthew 
Paris.  Matthew  says  that  in  the 
year  1228  the  Patriarch  or  Arch- 
bishop of  Armenia  arrived  at  the 
Abbey  and  was  hospitably  enter- 
tained. He  was  asked  among  other 
things  whether  he  had  seen  or  heard 
anything  of  one  Joseph,  a  mysterious 
being  who  was  reputed  to  have 
lived  ever  since  the  early  days  of 
Christianity.  The  Patriarch  replied 
that  he  had  been  actually  visited  by 
this  personage  in  Armenia.  His  story 
was  a  solemn  one.  On  the  day  of 
the  Crucifixion  he,  a  porter  in  Pon- 
tius Pilate's  house,  named  Carta- 
philus, had  struck  Jesus  on  the  back 
with  his  hand  and  bade  Him  mock- 
ingly to  move  on  more  quickly.  Jesus, 
turning  on  him  with  an  air  of  solemn 
reproof,  replied  "  I  am  going,  tarry 
thou  till  I  return  again."  Cartaphilus 
lived  on  century  after  century.  He 
had  been  thirty  years  old  when  he 
received  his  sentence,  and  whenever 
he  had  attained  the  age  of  one 
hundred  he  reverted  to  the  age  of 
thirty.  After  Christ's  death  he  had 
been  baptized  by  Ananias  and  had' 
received  the  name  of  Joseph.  He 
was  a  holy  and  religious  man,  narrat- 
ing to  bishops  and  divines  events 
which  he  had  witnessed  in  the  apos- 
tolic days.  He  was  always  serious, 
accepted  nothing  save  food  and 
raiment  from  his  well  wishers,  and 
looked  out  anxiously  for  the  Last  Day. 

In  the  year  1242  Philip  Mouskes, 
afterwards  Bishop  of  Tournay,  wrote 
a  rhymed  chronicle  which  contains 
a  similar  account  derived  from  the 
same  Armenian  prelate. 

The  Wanderer  reappeared  in  the 
sixteenth  century  in  Arabia.  When 
the  city  of  Elvan  was  captured  by 
Fadhilah,  he  and  300  of  his  horsemen 
pitched  their  tents  for  the  evening 
in  the  mountains.  Fadhilah,  saying 
his  prayers,  heard  what  he  at  first 
thought  was  an  echo  of  all  his  words, 


Wandering 


349 


Wandering 


but  looking  up,  he  saw  approaching 
him  a  venerable  man,  staff  in  hand! 
The  stranger  explained  that  he  came 
by  command  of  Christ,  who  had 
doomed  him  to  live  upon  earth  until 
the  second  advent. 

In  1547  the  Jew  was  seen  in  Europe, 
.according  to  a  solemn  statement 
made  by  Paul  von  Eitzen,  Bishop  of 
Schleswig.  The  bishop  narrated  that 
when  he  was  a  young  man  he  saw, 
at  a  church  in  Hamburg,  a  tall  bare- 
footed pilgrim,  with  hair  hanging 
over  his  shoulders,  standing  opposite 
the  pulpit,  listening  intently  .  to  the 
sermon,  and  bowing  profoundly  when- 
ever the  name  of  Jesus  was  men- 
tioned. A  rumor  spread  that  this 
was  the  same  man  who  had  recently 
been  seen  in  various  cities  of  Europe. 
Young  Eitzen  sought  him  out  and 
asked  him  many  questions.  The 
stranger  replied  that  his  name  was 
Ahasuerus,  originally  a  shoemaker 
in  Jerusalem,  who  had  been  present 
at  the  crucifixion.  Deeming  Jesus 
an  impostor  he  had  helped  to  bring 
Him  to  justice,  and  Jesus  passing  by 
his  house  on  His  way  to  be  crucified 
had  rested  for  a  moment  near  the 
threshold,  but  the  shoemaker  had 
ordered  Him  to  move  on.  Jesus 
replied  "  I  shall  stand  and  rest,  but 
thou  shalt  go  on  to  the  Last  Day." 
Ahasuerus  added  that  after  witness- 
ing the  crucifixion  he  had  experienced 
a  foreboding  that  he  would  never  see 
his  home  again,  but  would  wander 
from  country  to  country  as  a  mourn- 
ful pilgrim.  Returning  to  Jerusalem 
many  ages  afterwards,  he  found  its 
buildings  razed  to  the  ground,  inso- 
much that  he  could  recognize  none 
of  the  localities  again;  and  he  re- 
garded this  as  a  judgment  on  him 
for  his  misconduct.  The  bishop,  to 
test  him,  questioned  him  concerning 
historical  events  which  had  occurred 
in  Europe  during  fifteen  centuries, 
and  (we  are  assured)  received  satis- 
factory answers.  He  was  abstemious 
and  humble,  silent  until  questioned, 
and  never  tarried  long  in  one  place. 
He  spoke  the  languages  of  all  the 
countries  he  visited,  and — so  ends 
Bishop  Eitzen 's  narrative. 


Since  that  time  stories  of  the  Wan- 
derer's reappearance  have  cropped 
up  at  many  times  in  many  places,  the 
obvious  outcome  either  of  public 
delusion  or  individual  imposture.  For 
example:  During  the  reign  of  Qui 
Anne,  a  man  made  his  appearance 
who  claimed  to  be  the  Wandering 
Jew;  he  was  laughed  at  by  the  edu- 
cated, but  listened  to  attentively  by 
the  ignorant.  His  story  was,  that  he 
had  been  an  officer  of  the  Sanhedrim; 
that  he  had  struck  Jesus  as  He  left  the 
judgment  hall  of  Pilate;  that  he  ha  1 
since  travelled  all  over  the  \v<>rH; 
that  he  was  personally  familiar  with 
the  habits  and  customs  of  the 
Apostles;  that  he  had  known  the 
father  of  Mohammed  at  Onnuz;  that 
he  had  rebuked  Mohammed  f->r 
denying  the  crucifixion;  that  he  had 
known  Nero,  Sala'lin,  Tamerlane, 
Bajazet,  and  the  principal  Crusa<!< 
and  that  he  had  the  power  of  healing 
the  sick.  We  are  asked  to  beli- 
that  learned  collegians  at  Oxford  and 
Cambridge  tried  to  detect  him  as  an 
impostor,  but  failed. 

Other  legends  have  been  mingled 
with  the  legend  of  the  Wandering 
Jew,  especially  that  of  the  Wild 
Huntsman  (g.v.).  There  are  part-; 
of  France  in  which  the  su<Men  r<>ar 
of  a  gale  at  sea  is  attribute.  1  to  the 
Wanderer  passing  by  there*.  One 
version  of  the  story  associates  him 
with  the  servant  whose  car  was  cut 
off  by  Peter,  another  with  the  im- 
penitent thief.  Elsewhere  he 
said  to  have  been  a  gipsy  doomed  to 
undying  life  because  he  refused  to 
shelter  the  Holy  Family  during  the 
flight  from  Egypt. 

Poetry,  fiction  and  art  have  foun-1 
a  fruitful  fiel-1  in  the  story.    Per. 
Reliques     includes     an     old     ballad 
entitled    The    Wandering   Jcu<;  Cam- 
line    Norton's    poem    The     undying 
One  is  founded  upon  it,  so  is  one  <>t 
Shelley's  early  poetical  effort  .     H<T- 
anger  has  a  striking  lyric  anil  K  !,•  tr 
Quinct     a     narrative     jx.em 
Ahasuerus.    Croly's  Salnthicl  In:  re- 
cently been  reprinted  under  the  title 
Tarry     Thou    till    I     Come.       Su- 
Wandering  Jew  is  the  most  famous 


Wartburg 


350 


Wayland 


of  all  his  novels.  There  Ahasuerus, 
with  his  half  sister  Herodias,  appears 
only  as  the  machinery  which  sup- 
ports a  nineteenth  century  story. 
The  Jew  watches  over  the  fortunes 
of  his  descendants  and  lends  them 
invisible  aid  whenever  they  are  in 
trouble.  "  Instinct,"  he  says,  "  warns 
me  when  one  of  them  is  in  danger; 
then  from  North  to  South,  from  East 
to  West  I  go  to  them.  Yesterday 
beneath  the  ices  of  the  pole,  to-day  to 
the  temperate  zone,  to-morrow  be- 
neath the  tropics'  scorching  ray; 
but  alas!  often  at  the  moment  when 
my  presence  would  save  them,  an 
invisible  hand  impels  me,  the  whirl- 
wind hurries  me  away — Onwards, 
Onwards!  '  (Vol.  I,  xvii.)  One  of 
the  favorite  works  of  Gustav  Dore" 
consists  of  a  series  of  twelve  designs 
depicting  as  many  incidents  in  the 
fable  of  the  Wandering  Jew. 

Wartburg,  Minstrel's  War  of  (Ger. 
Der  Sangerkrieg  auf  des  Wartburg), 
more  familiarly  known  as  the  War  of 
Wartburg  (Wartburgkrieg).  A  fam- 
ous tournament  of  song  commemo- 
rated in  a  German  poem  of  the  thir- 
teenth century,  in  two  parts,  the  first 
being  obviously  of  much  earlier  date 
than  the  second.  The  latter  is  con- 
jectured by  some  to  have  been 
written  by  Frauenlob. 

The  poem  gathers  up  into  a  con- 
sistent whole  all  the  floating  legends 
in  regard  to  a  celebrated  tournament 
of  song  held  at  Wartburg  Castle 
near  Eisenach,  in  the  presence  of  the 
famous  Hermann,  Margrave  of  Thur- 
ingia,  the  patron  of  mediaeval  min- 
strelsy, somewhere  between  1204  and 
1208.  In  the  first  part  Heinrich  of 
Ofterdingen  undertakes  to  prove, 
against  the  combined  efforts  of  Wolf- 
ram von  Eschenbach,  Walter  von 
der  Vogelweide,  Reinmar  von  Zweter, 
Biterolf  and  the  Virtuous  Scribe,  that 
Leopold  of  Austria  is  the  greatest 
living  prince,  offering  his  head  as  the 
forfeit  in  case  he  is  vanquished.  The 
rival  claims  of  Philip  Augustus  of 
France,  the  Count  of  Heneberg,  and 
especially  of  the  Landgrave  of 
Thuringia  are  canvassed.  See  OFTER- 
DINGEN. 


Wat  of  Sturmland,  in  the  Gudrun- 
lied  or  Lay  of  Gudrun,  a  mediaeval 
German  poem  founded  on  Danish 
legend,  is  the  typical  Viking.  His 
only  virtues  are  leonine  indomitable 
courage  and  devotion  to  his  lord,  the 
king  of  Zetland.  Love  of  woman 
and  domestic  happiness  he  scorns, 
battle  is  all  he  cares  for.  The  old 
chronicler  says  with  pride  that  the 
very  dogs  in  the  court  could  tell 
that  Wat  was  a  hero  of  renown. 

Wayland  Smith,  hero  of  a  mediag- 
val  myth  which  occurs  all  over 
Teutonic  and  Scandinavian  Europe. 
It  is  demonstrably  earlier  in  its 
origin  than  the  English  colonization 
of  Europe.  Yet  in  England  it  is 
localized  at  Wayland  Smith's  Cave 
in  the  Berkshire  hills, — this  cave 
being  really  a  Neolithic  chambered 
tomb.  Walter  Scott  introduces  Way- 
land  into  Kenilworth,  thus  making 
him  a  contemporary  of  Queen  Eliza- 
beth, and  describes  him  as  in  turn  a 
blacksmith,  juggler,  actor  and  "  phy- 
sicianer."  In  Fritliiofs  Saga  he 
fashions  the  armor  of  Thorsten,  the 
father  of  Frithiof.  Oehlenschlager 
has  amplified  the  legend  in  a  modern 
poem  whose  plot  runs  as  follows: 

Wayland,  Slagfia  and  JEgil  were 
three  brothers  in  Finmark.  Starting 
out  to  seek  their  fortunes  they  met 
three  Valkyri  maidens  whom  they 
married  for  a  space  of  nine  years, 
that  being  the  period  allotted  by  the 
fates.  Then  these  wives  disappeared. 
Wayland's  two  brothers  lost  their 
lives  in  searching  for  their  mates. 
Wayland  remained  behind  and  put- 
ting to  use  three  keys,  respectively 
of  copper,  gold  and  iron,  which  the 
wives  had  left  behind  them,  amassed 
great  store  of  these  metals.  His 
fame  as  a  smith  reached  the  ears  of 
King  Nidud  of  Sweden,  who  cap- 
tured him,  blinded  him  of  one  eye, 
cut  the  sinews  of  his  legs  so  that  he 
could  not  swim  away,  and  confined 
him  on  an  island  with  nothing  to  do 
save  to  make  helmets,  drinking  cups 
and  armor  for  the  king  and  his  men. 
Also  Nidud  took  from  him  the  three 
keys,  but  when  he  would  himself 
put  them  to  use,  his  men  were  over- 


Wedderburn 


351 


Weeper 


whelmed  or  driven  back  from  the 
caverns  that  they  opened.  The 
King's  sons,  Gram  and  Skule,  sought 
secretly  to  rob  Wayland,  but  he 
caught  them  in  the  act,  slew  them, 
cut^  off  their  heads  and  fashioned 
their  skulls  into  drinking  cups,  which 
he  sent  to  the  king.  Of  their  eyes 
and  teeth  he  made  armlets  and  neck- 
laces which  he  sent  to  the  Queen  and 
her  daughter  Banvelda. 

From  these  gifts  evil  came  upon 
these  his  enemies.  Wayland  himself 
was  released  from  captivity  by  the 
goddess  Freya  who  cured  his  blindness 
and^  lameness  and  restored  his  wife, 
Alvida,  to  him.  When  he  died  he  was 
carried  in  Alvida's  arms  to  Walhalla. 

Wedderburn,  Captain,  hero  of  an 
old  English  ballad,  Captain  Wedder- 
burn's  Courtship,  known  in  another 
version  as  The  Earl  of  Rosslyn's 
Daughter.  This  is  No.  85  in  Child's 
Collection.  The  Captain  carries  off 
his  lass,  but  she  refuses  to  marry 
him  until  he  has  brought  her  sundry- 
impossible  things.  The  ingenious 
officer  reduces  them  to  common- 
places. "  Get  me  a  chicken  without 
a  bone,"  she  demands.  "  Here's 
your  egg,"  is  the  reply.  At  last  the 
maiden  capitulates.  This  ballad  is 
a  counterpart  to  other  ballads  in 
which  the  heroine  wins  a  husband  by 
guessing  riddles.  The  ingenious 
suitor,  though  not  so  great  a  favorite 
as  the  clever  maid,  is  of  an  old  and 
popular  family.  He  may  be  found 
in  the  Gesta  Romanorum,  Ixx,  in 
Apollonius  of  Tyre,  and  as  Prince 
Calaf,  in  the  Thousand  and  One  Days 
of  Petis  de  la  Crpix.  On  the  latt<  r 
story  Carlo  Gozzi  founded  the  play 
La  Turandot,  which  Schiller  has 
translated  into  German. 

Weeper  of  Wurtemberg,  a  nick- 
name given  to  Eberhard  IV,  im- 
perial ruler  of  Wurtemberg  between 
the  years  1344  and  1392. 
nickname  has  been  specially  identi- 
fied with  him  through  a  famous 
picture  by  Ary  Scheffer  now  in  the 
Corcoran  Gallery  at  Washington.  In 
his  own  time,  however,  he  was  more 
generally  known  as  Der  Grcincr  or 
the  Quarreller,  a  nickname  given  in 


allusion  to  his  innumerable  feuds 
with  his  nobles  and  the  free  cities. 
Over  the  latter  he  finally  triumphed 
in  the  battle  of  Dofflingen  in  i  ;„ 

The  Corcoran  picture  represents 
the  interior  of  a  tent.  In  the  fore- 
ground lies  the  corpse  of  a  young 
man  over  whom  his  father  bends  in 
mute  agony.  The  smoke  of  battle 
outside  forms  a  sharp  contrast  to 
the  stillness  within. 

Schiller  tells  the  story  in  one  of 
his  most  popular  ballads  Der  Greincr 
von  Wurtemburg.  Ulrich,  young  son 
of  Eberhard,  had  been  defeated  by 
the  nobles  in  the  battle  of  Reutling 
(1377).  Although  he  had  been  badly 
wounded  in  what  might  otherwise 
have  proved  the  very  moment  of 
victory,  the  father  greeted  his  son 
coldly  when  he  presented  himself 
after  recovering.  Eberhard  was 
dining  at  the  time.  No  word  did  he 
utter,  but  motioned  silently  to  an 
opposite  seat  at  the  table.  With 
downcast  eyes  the  youth  timorously 
essayed  to  join  in  the  repast,  when 
the  old  man  seized  a  knife  and  cut 
the  tablecloth  between  them.  A  well- 
known  painting  in  the  Museum  at 
Rotterdam  illustrates  this  episode. 

Ulrich  never  recovered  from  the 
feeling  of  shame  which  this  treatment 
inflicted  upon  him  and  he  vowed  to 
redeem  himself.  Rushing  madly  into 
the  next  engagement  he  achieved  a 
notable  victory,  but  was  slain  while 
bravely  defending  his  father's  cause. 
Amid  the  rejoieing  of  the  troops 
Eberhard,  who  had  calmly  wit:.  i 
the  young  man's  fall,  withdrew  later 
into  his  tent  to  shed  a  tear  over  the 
corpse.  Says  Schiller,  in  Bulwer's 
translation : 

And  our  old  Count  and  what  doth  he? 

H>  f.  ire  him  lu-s  his  sun. 
Within  his  lone  tent  lonelily 
Tho  old  man  sits  with  his  eyes  that  see 

Through  one  dim  tear,  his  sonl 

Even  on  this  supreme  occasion  it 
was  but  a  pacing  weakness  the  • 
man  allowed  himself.     This  one  dim 
tear   was  so   unw  'hat  it  per- 

petuated him  a;  the  V  :ri- 

ously  ma]>i>:  te   title,   COO  add    1 

apart  from  this  sin.  ident. 


Weeping 


352 


Weird 


The  stalwart  old  warrior  has  been 
celebrated  in  popular  poetry,  and 
in  a  series  of  ballads  by  Uhland 
besides  the  ballad  by  Schiller.  One 
of  his  famous  nicknames  was 
'  Der  Alte  Rausehebart  "  or  "  Old 
Rushbeard,"  from  the  rustling  of 
the  hirsute  adornment  with  which 
nature  had  favored  him  to  no  ordi- 
nary extent. 

Weeping  Philosopher,  a  sobriquet 
given  by  his  contemporaries  to  Hera- 
clitus,  a  philosopher  of  the  Ionian 
school  who  flourished  about  B.C.  51. 
He  believed  knowledge  was  based 
only  on  perception  by  the  senses  and 
he  held  that  fire  was  the  primary 
form  of  all  matter,  a  curious  an- 
ticipation of  many  later  specula- 
tions. He  has  passed  into  history 
as  a  type  of  the  cynical  pessimist 
as  Democritus  is  the  cynical  op- 
timist. 

Weinsburg,  Wives  of.  In  a  fam- 
ous German  myth  the  story  of  these 
ladies  is  connected  with  the  capture 
of  Weinsburg,  Wurtemberg  (1140), 
by  Emperor  Conrad,  and  the  citadel 
still  retains  the  commemorative  title 
of  Weibertreu  or  Faithful  Wives. 
Nevertheless  it  does  not  figure  in  the 
contemporary  accounts  of  that  siege, 
appearing  for  the  first  time  in  the 
Cronica  Regia  Coloniensis  (circa 
1170),  and  is  conjectured  to  be  a 
development  from  a  similar  story 
told  about  the  capture  of  Crema 
(1160)  in  Northern  Italy  by  Fried- 
erich  Barbarossa,  viz.,  that  when  all 
the  inhabitants  were  allowed  to  de- 
part and  to  take  with  them  what  they 
could  carry  upon  their  shoulders, 
one  woman  left  all  her  treasures 
behind  in  order  to  bear  off  her  invalid 
husband.  The  German  legend  im- 
proves upon  this.  At  the  taking  of 
Weinsburg  it  was  announced  that 
only  the  women  might  depart  from 
the  surrendered  city,  but  they  might 
take  with  them  whatever  was  most 
precious.  All  the  wives  chose  to 
bring  their  husbands  on  their  backs, 
and  the  Emperor  magnanimously  for- 
gave the  subterfuge.  It  is  interest- 
ing to  note  that  the  authority  for  the 
Weinsburg  story  turns  out  to  be  the 


same  author  who  had  previously 
related  the  Crema  legend. 

German  poetry  and  painting  have 
found  a  congenial  theme  in  the 
gracious  myth,  Burger's  ballad  Die 
Wieber  von  Weinsburg  being  espe- 
cially famous.  Its  familiarity  to 
English  readers  is  largely  due  to 
Addison's  use  of  it  in  the  Spectator, 
No.  499,  where  Will  Honeycomb  says 
he  found  it  in  his  Historical  Diction- 
ary. Carlyle,  Frederick  the  Great  iii, 
1 8,  suggests  that  Addison  picked  it 
out  of  A  Compleat  History  of  Ger- 
many by  one  Savage,  but  himself 
characterizes  the  tale  (vii,  6)  as 
"  a  highly  mythical  story,  supported 
only  by  the  testimony  of  one  poor 
Monk  in  Koln." 

Weird  Sisters.  This  name,  made 
famous  in  Shakspear's  Macbeth,  is  an 
English  corruption  of  Urdh's  sisters, 
Urdh  or  Urdar  being  the  chief  of  the 
Scandinavian  Norns,  or  Fates,  whose 
names,  Urdh,  Verdandi  and  Skuld, 
signify  past,  present,  and  future. 

Urdh,  with  her  sisters,  sits  by  the 
fountain  named  after  her,  beneath 
the  ash-tree  Yggdrasil.  Their  duties 
are  to  water  the  world-tree  from  the 
sacred  well,  and  appoint  the  fate  of 
mankind.  They  frequently  travel  to 
the  cradle  to  bestow  gifts  upon  the 
newly-born.  When  Helgi  came  into 
the  world,  the  sisters  entered  the 
castle  to  spin  his  thread  of  destiny. 
They  stretched  the  golden  cord  over 
the  heavens.  One  hid  an  end  east- 
ward; the  second  westward;  the  third 
northward.  Although  the  thread  of 
destiny  is  common  alike  to  Greek, 
German  and  Celtic  myth,  it  is  only 
the  Norse  Norns  who  twine  and 
fasten  the  mystic  cords.  Wagner 
introduces  them  into  the  Cotter- 
dammerung,  where  they  spin  and 
weave  and  sing  the  fate  of  the  gods, 
the  downfall  of  Walhalla,  and  the 
curse  of  the  Nibelungen  Ring. 

In  Celtic  myth  the  Noras  have 
been  hopelessly  confounded  with  the 
Valkyrie  maidens.  One  grim  legend, 
indigenous  in  Caithness,  Scotland, 
describes  the  Valkyrie  singing  over 
a  web  where  human  heads  serve  for 
weights,  human  entrails  for  threads, 


Wenonah 


353 


Were-wolf 


swords  for  shuttles  and  arrows  for 
a  comb.  They  sing  how  this  web  is 
destined  for  any  mortal  who  applies 
his  eye  to  a  crevice  in  the  rocks.  One 
Christmas  Day  when  a  great  battle 
was  being  fought  between  Sietrig  of 
the  Silken  Beard  and  his  father-in- 
law,  King  Brian,  a  peasant  peered 
through  a  crevice  in  a  rock  and  saw 
twelve  gigantic  figures,  resembling 
women,  all  employed  about  a  loom. 
Tearing  their  work  in  a  sudden  frenzy 
they  mount  their  foaming  steeds, 
and  each  taking  her  portion  ride 
furiously  away,  six  to  the  north  and 
six  to  the  south.  Gray,  who  has 
versified  the  legend,  thus  concludes 
his  paraphrase: 

Sisters,  hence,  with  spurs  of  speed: 
Each  her  thundering  falchion  wield; 

Each  bestride  her  sable  steed, 
Hurry,  hurry  to  the  field: 

The  Fatal  Sisters. 

Shakspear  uses  weird  as  an  ad- 
jective, but  only  in  connection  with 
the  Weird  Sisters  in  Macbeth.  There 
it  occurs  six  times  with  varying  pro- 
nunciation according  to  the  require- 
ments of  the  metre.  He  took  the 
word  from  Holinshed,  who  describes 
three  women  in  strange  and  wild 
apparel,  resembling  creatures  of  the 
elder  world,  who  appeared  to  Mac- 
beth with  prophecies  of  his  future 
greatness.  Holinshed^  adds  "after- 
wards the  common  opinion  was  that 
these  women  were  either  the  weird 
sisters,  that  is  as  you  would  say,  the 
goddesses  of  destiny,  or  else  some 
nymphs  or  fairies." 

Wenonah,  in  Longfellow's  Hia- 
watha (1855)  the  mother  of  the  hero 
and  daughter  of  Nokomis.  Nokomis 
was  swinging  in  the  moon  when  some 
of  her  companions  maliciously  cut 
the  ropes  and  precipitated  her  to 
earth  like  a  falling  star.  That  night 
her  first  child  was  born,  a  daughter 
whom  she  named  Wenonah.  Wooed 
and  won  by  Mudjekeewis,  the  West 
Wind,  she  gave  birth  to  Hiawatha, 
but  when  her  fickle  spouse  deserted 
her,  she  pined  away  and  died. 

Were-wolf  (i.e.,  man  wolf),  in 
mediaeval  folklore,  a  person  who  had 

23 


the  power  of  transforming  himself 
into  a  wolf,  retaining  human  intelli- 
gence while  taking  on  the  ferocity  of 
a  beast  of  prey  and  the  strength  of  a 
demon.  It  was  usually  held  that 
when  the  were-wolf  wore  his  human 
shape  the  hair  grew  inward,  the 
metamorphosis  being  effected  by 
turning  himself  inside  out.  Many  of 
the  poor  wretches  who  in  the  middle 
ages  were  broken  on  the  wheel  were 
first  partially  flayed  alive  in  the 
search  for  their  inner  coating  of  hair. 
Sometimes,  however,  the  person  was 
thought  to  possess  a  wolf-skin  into 
which  he  crept. 

Transformation  into  beasts  is  a 
commonplace  in  classic  mythology. 
Ovid's  Metamorphoses  deals  largely 
in  legends  of  this  sort.  The  gods  of 
Greece  voluntarily  assumed  zoologi- 
cal shapes  to  aid  them  in  schemes 
of  lust,  curiosity  or  vengeance.  In 
Scandinavian  legend,  Loki  changed 
himself  into  a  salmon,  Odin  into 
an  eagle.  Oriental  religions  abound 
in  similar  myths.  Equally  common 
was  the  analogous  notion  of  a 
change  of  soul  between  man  and 
beast.  The  Buddhist  reveres  the  ox, 
whose  body  may  be  tenanted  by 
the  soul  of  some  ancestor.  The 
Greek  dreaded  the  wrath  of  the  gods 
who  could  change  him  like  Lycaon 
into  a  wolf. 

The  main  source  of  the  belief  in 
lycanthropy  or  the  metamorphosis 
of  man  into-  wolf  lay  in  misint'-r- 
pretation  of  the  phenomena  of  insan- 
ity. There  still  may  be  men  who 
believe  themselves  or  arc  believed  by 
others  to  have  assumed  the  inner 
propensities  or  even  the  outer  shape 
of  the  wolf.  The  weird  brute  who 
has  left  his  stamp  on  classic  antiquity, 
and  trodden  <kvp  in  northern  sm> 
and  howled  amongst  Oriental  Sepul- 
chres may  still  be  prowling  in  A! 
sinian  forests,  ranging  over  Asiatic 
steppes  or  found  screaming  in  the 
padded  cell  of  Bedlam  or  Blooming- 
dale.  Baring-Gould  in  The  Book  of 
Werewolves  accumulates  proofs  of 
"an  innate  craving  for  blood  :  - 
planted  in  certain  natur< 
under  ordinary  circumstances,  but 


White 


354 


White 


breaking  forth  occasionally  accom- 
panied by  hallucination,  leading,  in 
most  cases,  to  cannibalism."  This 
kind  of  insanity,  called  cucubuth  by 
Avicenna,  went  among  the  ancients 
by  the  name  of  lycanthropy  or  kyan- 
thropy  or  boanthropy  according  as 
its  victims  believed  themselves  to  be 
wolves,  dogs,  or  oxen.  The  chief 
seat  of  lycanthropy  was  Arcadia.  It 
was  there  Lycaon  was  transformed 
for  haying  put  to  the  proof  the 
omniscience  of  Zeus  by  setting  before 
him}  a  hash  of  human  flesh.  Ages 
before  the  supposed  date  of  Lycaon, 
however,  some  kindred  superstition 
had  struck  deep  its  roots  into  the 
Scandinavian  and  Teutonic  minds. 
The  ghouls  of  the  Arabian  Nights, 
the  Vitra  or  Rakschasas  of  the 
Pankatranta  and  the  Mahabharata, 
are  the  were-wolves  of  the  Persian 
and  the  Hindoo. 

The  story  of  the  Marechal  de 
Retz  (see  BLUEBEARD)  shows  that 
even  without  hallucination  human 
nature  may  develop  a  wolfish  craving 
for  human  blood.  Especially  revolt- 
ing is  the  case  of  the  French  officer 
Bertrand  (cited  by  Baring-Gould) 
who  in  1848  was  found  guilty  of 
rifling  the  tombs  of  Pere  la  Chaise 
and  strewing  the  corpses  in  frag- 
ments upon  the  ground. 

White  Cat,  in  the  Countess  d'Aul- 
noy's  story  of  that  name,  a  Queen's 
daughter,  who  because  she  refused 
to  marry  Migonnet  a  fairy  dwarf  was 
by  his  kinsfolk  metamorphosed  into 
feline  form.  Meeting  the  youngest 
son  of  a  king  she  aided  him  in  three 
successive  quests  that  had  been  im- 
posed upon  him, — the  smallest  dog 
in  the  world,  a  web  400  yards  long 
that  would  pass  through  the  eye  of  a 
needle,  and  lastly  the  handsomest 
bride.  For  the  latter  purpose  she 
requested  him  to  cut  off  her  own 
head,  when  she  resumed  her  human 
form  and  was  conceded  to  be  the 
most  beautiful  woman  in  the  world. 

White  Horse  of  the  Peppers,  ac- 
cording to  Irish  legend  the  fastest 
steed  in  the  Emerald  Isle,  pride  and 
pet  of  the  Pepper  family.  Being 
stout  Jacobites  their  estates  were 


confiscated  by  William  III  after  the 
battle  of  the  Boyne.  The  Orange- 
man to  whom  the  property  was 
awarded  was  baffled  by  all  sorts  of 
ingenious  strategy  in  his  efforts  to 
locate  it,  until  finally  being  obliged 
to  return  to  his  regiment  under 
heavy  penalties  he  agreed  to  com- 
promise his  claim  for  the  means  to 
return  to  headquarters  within  the 
prescribed  time.  See  SAMUEL  LOVER, 
Stories  and  Legends  of  Ireland  (1832- 

34). 

White  Lady  (Ger.  Weisse   Frau), 

called  also  the  Ancestress  (Ahnfrau), 
in  German  folklore,  a  phantom  which 
haunts  royal  and  princely  castles, 
and  whose  appearance  is  a  harbinger 
of  death  and  misfortune.  Nearly 
every  noble  German  family  has  such 
a  monitor.  Her  name  is  usually 
Bertha,  she  is  the  mythical  Ances- 
tress who  preserves  a  kindly  interest 
in  her  descendants,  and  she  is  usually 
either  swan-footed,  flat-footed,  large- 
footed  or  club-footed.  Thus  she  is 
curiously  linked  with  the  goddess 
Freia  and  with  Bertha  of  the  large 
foot  of  Carlovingian  romance.  She 
also  bears  some  analogy  to  the 
Irish  banshee  and  to  the  many 
family  ghosts  in  the  folklore  of 
other  European  countries  who  only 
appear  to  foretell  some  important 
event. 

The  imperial  family  of  Hohenzol- 
lern  is  haunted  by  a  White  Lady 
named  Kunigunda,  the  ghost  of  a 
historical  personage  whose  portrait 
is  thus  described  by  T.  A.  Trollope 
in  his  autobiographical  What  I 
Remember: 

"  The  picture  represents  a  lady 
of  some  forty  years  old,  with  a  bad 
face  of  some  beauty  and  very  bright 
eyes.  She  is  dressed  in  white  silk 
with  a  very  long  mantle  hanging 
down  her  back.  She  was  the  mistress 
of  a  Duke  of  Brunswick  who  had 
promised  to  marry  her,  but  told  her 
that  four  eyes  stood  in  the  way  of 
his  keeping  his  promise.  She  under- 
stood him  to  mean  that  her  two 
children  contributed  the  impediment; 
so  she  strangled  them,  was  pro- 
nounced mad, — and  made  abbess  of 


White 


355 


Whittington 


a  convent."  Other  accounts  say  she 
killed  herself.  But  her  spirit  could 
not  rest,  and  soon  after  there  began 
those  ghastly  apparitions  in  which 
she  is  seen  clad  all  in  white,  and 
bearing  in  her  hand  a  sort  of  sceptre. 
According  to  the  legend  this  woman 
was  of  Hohenzollern  blood,  and 
her  spirit  came  to  haunt,  not  the 
family  of  the  man  for  whom  she 
had  committed  murder,  but  rather 
those  of  her  own  race.  At  that 
time  the  Hohenzollerns  were  mere 
petty  nobles.  Gradually  they  grew 
in  power  and  influence  and,  as 
they  did  so,  the  appearance  of  the 
White  Lady  came  to  have  a  real 
political  influence.  She  has  been 
seen  in  many  of  the  Hohenzollern 
castles,  especially  at  Beirut,  Anspach 
and  Berlin. 

White  Milliner  or  White  Widow, 
a  mysterious  woman  said  to  have 
appeared  during  the  reign  of  William 
and  Mary  at  one  of  the  little  stalls 
in  the  Royal  Exchange,  then  a  fash- 
ionable resort  for  female  shoppers, 
where  she  supported  herself  by  the 
sale  of  haberdashery.  She  wore  a 
white  mask  and  a  white  dress  which 
entirely  concealed  face  and  figure. 
Curiosity  was  piqued  and  at  last  she 
was  identified  as  the  titular  Duchess 
of  Tyrconnel  (widow  of  Richard 
Talbot,  Lord  Deputy  of  Ireland  under  ' 
James  II  and  sister  of  the  Duchess 
of  Marlborough),  who  had  been  re- 
duced to  absolute  want  upon  her 
return  to  England  in  1705  and  being 
out  of  touch  with  her  relatives  had 
adopted  this  means  of  self-support. 
The  white  vision  disappeared  as  soon 
as  her  story  became  known.  Though 
not  credited  by  historians  the  legend 
furnished  Douglas  Jcrrold  with  the 
plot  for  a  play. 

White  Ship.  Henry  I  of  England 
had  crossed  to  Normandy  to  secure 
the  allegiance  of  the  Northern  barons 
and  was  returning  in  triumph.  His 
son,  Prince  William,  was  on  the 
White  Ship  commanded  by  Fitz- 
Stephen,  the  royal  hereditary  pilot, 
which  started  after  the  rest  of  the 
fleet.  The  vessel  sank  in  mid-channel 
and  all  on  board  were  drowned, 


except  Berold,  a  butcher  of  Rouen. 
In  Berold's  mouth  D.  G.  Rossetti 
puts  the  story  in  his  haiku  1  The 
White  Ship,  written  in  i.sso  for  the 
children  of  his  brother,  William  M. 
Rossetti. 

Whittington,  Richard,  a  famous 
hero  of  English  ballad  and  ch 
book  literature,  whose  story  is  a  wild 
exaggeration  or  fabrication  but  who 
was  an  actual  character,  thrice  Lord 
Mayor  of  London,  1317,  1406  and 
1419.  He  died  in  142.}. 

The  legend  runs  that  in  the  year 
1368  a  poor  boy  presented  himself  as 
an  applicant  for  charity  at  a  London 
hospital.  He  had  been  born  in  the 
country,  but  hearing  that  London 
streets  were  paved  with  gold,  had 
proceeded  thither  for  his  share  of 
the  gold.  He  had  failed  even  in 
obtaining  food.  His  immediate  wants 
were  relieved  and  a  position  v. 
secured  for  him  as  scullion  in  a  family 
named  Fitz warren.  The  cook  v. 
tyrannical  and  the  boy  ran  away. 
When  he  got  as  far  as  Highgate  he 
sat  down  to  rest.  The  sound  of 
Bow  Bells  broke  upon  his  ear.  They 
seemed  to  him  to  say: 

Return  apain.  Whittington. 
Thrice  Lord  Mayor  of  London. 

He  obeyed   the  summon?;,  and   I 
taken  back  by  his  master.     But  he 
was  put  to  sleep  by  the  termagant 
cook   in   a   loft   infested    with    nr. 
One    day    he    earned    a    penny    l>y 
blackening    the    boots    of    a    visitor. 
He   invested    it    in    a    cat.      Shortly 
after    the    master    told    his    Bervai 
that  he  was  just  about  to  despatch  a 
•  I  on  a  trading  VWagC,  and  that 
any  of  them  who  wished  might  try 
their     fortunes    also     by     ventur 
something     in     it.       Poor     Richard, 
having  nothing  else,  sent  his  cat.     It 
happened  that  the  king  of  Muro 
greatly     troubled     with     nr. 
Whittington's    cat    performed    such 
miracles   in   cleaning    them    up   that 
the  monarch  bought  i  falnil' 

sum.     The  lad   put   the  money   r 
business,  waxed  enormously  wealthy, 

married  his  employer's  daughter,  v. 

knighted,  and  as  the  bells  had  prc- 


Whittington 


356 


Wife 


dieted,    became    thrice    Mayor    of 
London. 

The  historical  Whittington  was  not 
of  mean  birth,  but  the  son  of  Sir 
William  Whittington.  It  is  related 
of  him  that  at  an  entertainment 
given  by  him  to  King  Henry  V  he 
cast  into  a  fire  of  cinnamon,  cloves 
and  other  spices,  bonds  which  he 
held  of  the  king  to  the  amount  of 
£60,000.  Well  might  his  Majesty 
remark  "  Never  prince  had  such  a 
subject."  The  epitaph  on  his  monu- 
ment, which  was  destroyed  by  the 
Great  Fire  of  London,  is  said  to 
have  run  as  follows: 

He  rose  from  indigence  to  wealth 

By  industry  and  that. 
For  lo!  he  scorned  to  gain  by  stealth 

What  he  got  by  a  cat. 

The  stone  upon  which  he  is  said 
to  have  sat  listening  to  the  bells  was 
removed  in  1795  in  a  broken  condi- 
tion, and  another,  inscribed  "  Whit- 
tington's  Stone,"  was  substituted. 
The  third  and  last  stone  was  erected 
in  1854,  by  order  of  the  parochial 
authorities  of  Islington.  In  West 
Highgate  street,  on  the  site  where 
once  stood  Whittington's  house, 
there  was  found  in  1870,  during  some 
repairs,  a  stone  sculptured  in  bas- 
relief,  representing  a  young  boy 
carrying  in  his  arms  a  cat.  Sir 
Walter  Besant  suggests  that  Whit- 
tington was  "  doubtless  a  clever  boy, 
who  having  bought  a  cat  and  sold  it 
at  a  profit,  in  after  years  learned  to 
ascribe  to  that  animal  his  subsequent 
rise  to  fame  and  fortune." 

The  story  of  the  cat  that  made  a 
fortune  for  its  owner  was  common  to 
folklore  long  before  Whittington's 
time.  A  Breton  popular  tale,  Les 
Trois  Freres,  ou  le  Chat,  le  Coq  et 
I'Echelle,  tells  how  Yvon,  the  young- 
est of  three  sons,  receives,  as  his 
portion  of  the  family  inheritance,  a 
cat.  He  starts  off  towards  the  sea, 
and  he  and  his  cat  are  engaged  en 
route  by  a  miller  for  600  crowns  to 
clean  out  the  rats  in  the  mill. 

The  story  is  common  to  the  folk- 
lore of  all  European  countries  and 
may  be  found  in  the  Events  of  Ages 


and  Fates  of  Cities,  a  historical  com- 
pilation by  Abdullah,  who  flourished 
about  60  years  before  Whittington 
was  born. 

Abdullah's  version  runs  thus:  Kays, 
eldest  son  of  one  Kayser,  having 
wasted  his  inheritance  at  Siraf  and 
disdaining  to  seek  for  service  in  a 
place  where  he  had  once  been  opulent, 
emigrated  to  an  island  opposite  to 
the  city  which  in  course  of  time  was 
named  after  him.  With  him  went 
two  brothers,  but  the  trio  left  behind 
them  their  aged  mother  to  shift  for 
herself.  A  sea  captain  applied  to  the 
old  lady  for  something  that  he  might 
turn  to  use  on  her  account,  and  she 
gave  him  the  only  property  her  sons 
had  left  her,  a  cat.  He  sailed  into 
a  port  where  the  king  entertained  him 
royally  at  his  own  table.  With  much 
surprise  he  perceives  that  every  dish 
at  table  was  guarded  by  a  servant 
with  a  rod  in  his  hand;  but  he  soon 
perceives  the  reason.  Hundreds  of 
mice  run  around  the  floor  and  would 
have  leaped  upon  the  table  but  for 
the  vigilance  of  the  domestics.  He 
immediately  thought  of  the  old 
lady's  cat.  Next  day  he  brought  it 
to  the  palace,  it  cleared  away  the 
plague  of  mice,  and  the  grateful  king 
not  merely  rewarded  the  captain 
with  splendid  presents,  but  loaded 
his  ship  with  precious  articles  of 
merchandise  for  Kays's  mother.  She 
generously  shared  her  wealth  with 
Kays  and  his  brothers;  they  were 
enabled  to  embark  in  many  lucrative 
enterprises,  and  eventually  turned 
pirates,  with  the  island  of  Kay  as 
their  headquarters.  Their  descend- 
ants rose  to  be  kings  of  the  island, 
the  dynasty  lasting  for  200  years, 
when  in  A.D.  1230,  they  were  re- 
duced to  vassalage  to  the  Court  of 
Persia. 

Wife  of  Bath,  one  of  the  pilgrims 
in  Chaucer's  Canterbury  Tales  (1389), 
who  tells  the  story  called  after  her 
The  Wife  of  Bath's  Tale,  and  furnishes 
a  delightful  bit  of  self-revelation  in 
the  Prologue  thereto.  The  tale  itself 
is  one  which  has  become  familiar  in 
other  forms.  See  GAWAIN,  also  BATH, 
WIFE  OF. 


Wife 


357 


Wild 


A  knight  (unnamed  by  Chaucer) 
is  convicted  of  violating  a  maiden, 
King  Arthur's  queen  intercedes  to 
save  his  life,  provided  he  will,  within 
"  a  twelvemonth  and  a  day,"  return 
to  court  with  the  correct  answer  to 
the  question  "  What  thing  is  it  that 
women  most  desire?  '  After  an  ap- 
parently hopeless  quest,  on  the  very 
day  set  for  his  return  to  court,  he 
fell  in  with  an  old  woman, 

A  fouler  wight  ther  may  no  man  devyse. 

He  explains  his  quandary  to  her, 
she  gives  him  what  proves  to  be  the 
right  answer: 

Wommen  desyren  to  have  sovereyntee 
As  well  over  her  husband  as  her  love. 
And  for  to  been  in  mastery  him  above. 

But  in  return  for  his  success  at 
court  the  knight  is  bound  by  oath 
to  marry  the  old  woman.  On  the 
marriage  bed,  she  turned  into  a 
beautiful  young  woman.  Dry  den, 
paraphrasing  Chaucer,  thus  winds 
up  the  tale: 

He  looked  and  saw  a  creature  heavenly  fair 

In  bloom  of  youth,  and  of  a  charming  air. 

With  joy  he  turned  and  seized  her  ivory  arm ; 

And,  like  Pygmalion,  found  the  statue  warm. 

Small  arguments  there  needed  to  prevail, 

A  storm  of  kisses  poured  as  thick  as  hail. 

Thus    long   in   mutual   bliss   they   lay  em- 
braced. 

And  their  first  love  continued  to  the  last. 
DRYDEN:  The  Wife  of  Bath,  Her  Tale. 

Gower  anticipated  ^this  story  in 
the  Confessio  Amantis,  calling  his 
hero  Florent,  but  the  two  versions 
vary  so  much  in  detail  that  it  is 
probable  both  poets  drew  from  a 
French  source.  From  a  similar 
source,  also,  came  the  mediaeval 
ballad,  The  Wedding  of  Sir  Gawayne 
(No.  31  in  Child's  Collection).  In 
this  version  it  is  King  Arthur  who, 
to  save  his  own  life,  undertakes 
to  solve  within  a  month  the  ques- 
tion "  What  do  women  love  most?  ' 
Soon  after  Gawayne  agrees  to 
help  him  and  meets  Dame  Ragnell, 
an  old  hag.  She  offers  to  tell  him 
the  answer  on  the  usual  terms, 
and  he  complies,  with  the  usual 
results. 


Wild  Huntsman,  in  Teutonic  leg- 
end, whose  name  is  variously  given 
as  Hackelbarend  or  Hackelberg,  a 
wicked  nobleman  who  was  wont  to 
hunt  on  the  Sabbath  as  on  other  days. 
One  Easter  Sunday  he  not  only  had 
gone  out  to  the  chase  himself  but 
made  all  his  tenantry  take  part  in 
beating  up  the  game.  Presently  he 
was  met  by  two  horsemen.  One, 
rnild  of  aspect,  rode  on  a  white  horse, 
the  other,  grim  and  terrible,  bestrode 
a  coal-black  steed  which  breathed  out 
fire  and  smoke.  The  first  sought  to 
dissuade  him  from  the  sport,  the 
other  urged  him  on.  The  headstrong 
nobleman  turned  from  his  good 
angel  and  continued  his  wild  chase, 
and  he  was  therefore  condemned  to 
go  on  hunting  until  the  Judgment 
Day  with  the  fiend  always  by  his 
side.  Some  of  the  legends  make  his 
companion  a  nun  named  Ursula 
whom  he  had  seduced.  Others  iden- 
tify him  with  the  Wandering  Jew 
(q.v.).  A  Hartz  legend  explains  that 
at  the  time  of  the  crucifixion  he 
refused  to  allow  Jesus  to  drink  out 
of  a  river  or  out  of  a  horse-trough, 
but  contemptuously  pointed  out  to 
Him  the  hoof  print  of  a  horse 
wherein  a  little  water  had  collected, 
and  bade  Him  quench  His  thirst 
therewith. 

The  Wild  Huntsman  is  evidently 
a  degenerate  survival  of  the  Scandi- 
navian Odin  (q.v.).  No  longer  is  he 
the  mighty  hunter  following  his  prey 
in  the  asphodel  meadows,  or  the 
storm  god  rushing  through  the 
heavens  on  the  wings  of  the  wind. 
The  brave  and  good  who  had  fol- 
lowed the  midnight  journeys  of  Odin 
give  place  to  a  spectral  throng  of 
evil-doers  hurried  along  in  the  devil's 
train,  or  in  that  of  some  human 
being  who  for  preeminent  wickoh: 
is  made  to  take  the  devil's  place,  like 
the  Hackelbarend  of  the  Hartz 
Mountains,  where  the  modern  legend 
was  first  localized. 

Eventually  a  hero  of  larger  fame 
or     more     conspicuous     infamy 
substituted.     King  Herod  is  an  oc- 
casional   choice,     but    in     Denmark 
the    favorite    is     King    Waldemar, 


Will 


358 


William 


in  Germany  Dietrich  of  Berne,  in 
France  King  Hugh  or  Charles  V. 
In  the  latter  country  he  is  dubbed 
Le  Grand  Veneur.  On  the  eve  of 
the  Epiphany  he  makes  his  appear- 
ance in  the  Forest  of  Fontainebleau. 
In  1762,  it  is  said,  a  ferryman  was 
summoned  by  loud  cries  at  mid- 
night; he  found  awaiting  him  a  tall 
seigneur  with  a  big  hat  and  a  big 
gun  followed  by  a  mob  of  dogs 
and  horsemen.  On  reaching  the  other 
side  he  filled  the  ferryman's  hand 
with  gold  pieces.  But  when  the  lat- 
ter arrived  home  he  found  only 
withered  leaves. 

Will  o'  the  Wisp  or  Jack  o'  Lan- 
thorn,  in  British  myth,  a  personifica- 
tion of  the  phenomenon  known 
scientifically  as  the  ignus  fatuus,  now 
recognized  as  being  merely  marsh- 
gas  liberated  by  the  decomposition 
of  vegetable  matter  in  the  stagnant 
waters  of  bogs  or  swamps,  and  ignited 
in  some  fashion  not  yet  fully 
explained.  Its  curious  antics  fos- 
tered the  mediaeval  idea  that  this 
wandering  fire  was  an  evil  spirit 
intent  on  leading  travellers  astray. 
When  this  light  reaches  the  edge  of 
a  stream  of  running  water  it  is  driven 
backwards  by  the  currents  of  air 
accompanying  the  flow  of  the  water. 
It  returns  again  and  again  to  the 
attack,  before  it  finally  glides  down 
the  banks  of  the  stream  that  it  is 
unable  to  cross.  Hence,  perhaps, 
arose  the  superstition  that  evil 
spirits  cannot  cross  running  water. 
Burns  avails  himself  of  this  bit  of 
folklore  in  Tarn  o'  Shanter.  The 
English  have  sometimes  a  third 
name  for  this  phenomenon,  Friar 
Rush.  The  reader  will  recall  the 
man  who 

Through  bog  and  bush 
Was  lantern-led  by  Friar  Rush. 

In  Warwickshire,  Mab-led  (pro- 
nounced mob-led)  is  an  adjective 
meaning  led  astray  by  a  will  o'  the 
wisp.  (Hence,  perhaps,  Shakspear's 
"  mobled  Queen"  in  Hamlet,  ii,  2.) 

In  some  parts  of  Germany  these 
wandering  fires  are  believed  to  be 
the  souls  of  unbaptized  children. 


In  the  Wunderbuchlein,  a  collection 
of  ancient  popular  beliefs,  they  are 
called  Feuermanner  or  Firemen,  and 
are  described  as  spirits  going  to  those 
who  pray,  and  flying  from  those 
who  curse. 

Other  English  myths  assert  that 
the  Will  o'  the  Wisps  are  the  souls  of 
the  damned  who  seek  to  lure  human 
beings  to  their  death  over  precipices 
or  in  rivers.  In  the  French  provinces 
there  is  a  superstition  that  women 
may  be  transformed  into  these  shapes 
just  as  men  may  become  were- wolves. 
Women  so  doomed  flee  surrepti- 
tiously from  home  to  an  adjacent 
cavern  or  other  excavation,  strip 
themselves  of  their  clothes  and  lie 
down  on  the  ground,  whereupon 
their  souls,  leaving  their  bodies, 
flutter  around  for  seven  years  in 
phosphorescent  flames.  They  pursue 
travellers,  jump  upon  their  horses 
and  otherwise  disport  themselves  until 
dawn.  A  dark  shadow  may  be  seen 
besides  the  light.  If  this  shadow  be 
pierced  with  an  iron  instrument  the 
soul  instantly  resumes  its  mortal  body. 

A  wandering  fire 

Compact  of  unctuous  vapor,  which  the  night 
Condenses,  and  the  cold  environs  round 
Kindled  through  agitation  to  a  flame 
Which  oft,  they  say,  some  evil  spirit  attends, 
Hovering  and  blazing  with  delusive  light. 
Misleads  the  amazed  night-wanderer  from 

his  way 
To  bogs  and  mires,  and  oft  through  pond  and 

pool 
There  swallowed  up  and  lost,  from  succor 

far. 

MILTON:  Paradise  Lost,  ix,  634. 

Ah  homely  swains!  your  homeward  steps 
ne'er  lose; 

Let  not  dank  Will  mislead  you  on  the  heath, 

Dancing  in  mirky  night,  o'er  fen  and  lake 

He  glows  to  draw  you  downward  to  your 
death, 

In    his    bewitched,    low,    marshy,    willow- 
brake  I 

What  though  far  off,  from  some  dark  dell 
espied 

His  glimmering  mazes  cheer  the  excursive 
sight, 

Yet  turn,  ye  wanderers,  turn  your  steps  in- 
side, 

Nor   trust   the   guidance   of   that   faithless 
light. 

COLLINS:  Ode  on  the  Superstitions  of 

the  Highlands  (1788). 

William  of  Cloudesley  or  Cloudslee, 

in    mediaeval  English   balladry,    one 


William 


359 


William 


of  the  companions  of  Adam  Bell 
(q.v.)  and  Clym  of  the  Clough,  espe- 
cially distinguished  among  this  band 
of  outlaws  for  his  preeminence  in 
archery,  wherein  all  were  eminent. 
One  of  his  feats  was  the  shooting 
of  an  apple  off  the  head  of  his 
little  son,  a  story  that  kins  him 
with  the  Danish  Toki  and  the  Swiss 
William  Tell  as  performers  of  a 
like  feat.  But  unlike  the  other  heroes 
he  was  not  forced  by  a  cruel  tyrant 
to  this  test  of  his  skill.  On  the 
contrary  he  volunteered  to  pierce 
an  apple  on  the  lad's  head  at  a 
hundred  and  twenty  paces  as  the 
price  of  his  own  life  and  liberty, 
which  had  been  forfeited  to  the 
king  by  his  crimes. 

"I  have  a  son  is  seven  year  old, 

He  is  to  me  full  dear; 
I  will  him  tie  to  a  stake; 
All  sliartl  see,  that  be  here; 

"And  lay  an  apple  upon  his  head 

And  go  six  score  paces  him  fro, 
And  I  myself  with  a  broad  arrow 
Shall  cleave  the  apple  in  two." 
******* 
He  prayed  the  people  that  were  there 

That  they  would  still  stand, 
For  he  that  shooteth  for  such  a  wager 
Hath  need  of  a  steady  hand. 

Much  people  prayed  for  Cloudesley 
That  his  life  saved  might  be, 

And  when  he  made  him  ready  to  hand 
There  was  many  a  weeping  e'e. 

Then  Cloudsley  clave  the  apple  in  two 

As  many  a  man  might  see. 
"Now  God  forbid,"  said  the  king. 
"That  thou  shouldst  shoot  at  me!" 

William  of  Norwich,  St.,  according 
to  the  legend  first  related  by  John 
Capgrave,  was  the  son  of  pious 
parents  living  in  Norwich  in  the  I2th 
century.  The  boy  inherited  from 
them  a  precocious  piety,  insomuch 
that  at  seven  years  of  age  he  fasted 
three  days  in  the  week  and  was 
constantly  at  church  praying  and 
singing  psalms.  On  the  Passover  in 
1144,  certain  Jews  of  his  native  city 
strangled  the  child,  crucified  him, 
and  would  have  buried  him  in  a  wood 
but  that  they  were  interrupted  by 
one  Aelward.  To  save  themselves 
the  Jews  gave  hush  money  to  the 
Viscount,  Chief  Magistrate  of  Nor- 


wich, who  imposed  silence  on  Ael- 
ward. On  the  latter's  death-bed, 
five  years  later,  he  was  visited  by  the 
martyred  boy,  who  bade  him  disclose 
the  truth.  Early  on  the  morning  of 
the  same  day  a  nun,  walking  in  the 
wood,  came  upon  a  child's  body 
lying  at  the  foot  of  an  oak  tree.  It 
was  still  incorrupt.  Aelward  made 
his  confession;  the  people  readily 
concluded  that  the  body  just  dis- 
covered was  that  of  the  child  left 
unburied  five  years  previous;  it  was 
suitably  interred,  and  subsequent 
miracles  confirmed  the  popular  view. 
The  first  mention  of  the  crucifixion 
of  a  boy  by  the  Jews  is  in  the  ///.?- 
toria  Ecdesiastica  vii,  16,  by  Socrates 
Scholasticus,  fifth  century.  He  says 
that  about  A.D.  414,  at  Immestar,  a 
Syrian  town  near  Antioch,  "the 
Jews,  while  amusing  themselves  in 
their  usual  way  with  a  variety  of 
sports,  impelled  by  drunkenness  were 
guilty  of  many  follies.  At  last  they 
began  to  scoff  at  Christians,  and 
even  at  Christ  Himself;  and  in  deri- 
sion of  the  cross  and  those  who  put 
their  trust  in  the  Crucified,  they 
seized  a  Christian  boy,  and  having 
bound  him  to  a  cross,  began  to  laugh 
and  sneer  at  him.  But  in  a  little 
while  they  became  so  transported 
with  fury  that  they  scourged  the 
child  until  he  died  under  their 
hands."  The  emperor  being  in- 
formed of  this,  ordered  the  delin- 
quents to  be  punished  with  the  ut- 
most severity.  See  HUGH  OF  LIN- 
COLN. See  also  London  Athena  urn, 
Dec.  15,  1849. 

If  we  consider  the  intolerable  treatment 
of  the  Jews  throughout  the  Middle  Ages,  it 
makes  it  by  no  means  improbable  that  t: 
pent-up    wrongs    should    have    cxasper.i 
them    into   committing   acts   of   vengeance 
when  they  had  the  opportunity.     Through 
centuries  they    were   ground    under   an    in- 
tolerable  yoke.      They   could   call   nothing 
really   their   own,   not   even   their   persons. 
They   were   obliged   to   wear   a   distinctive 
mark    like    outlaws    and    harlots;    if    they 
emigrated,    their    feudal    lords    were   un 
mutual  agreement  to  seize  them  in  for* 
lands,  their  children  were  stolen  from  them 
to   be   baptized;    if   their   wives   wished    to 
abjure  they  were  divorced;   they  were  taxed 
on  going  in  and  coming  out  of  and  sojourn- 
ing in  any  city;  on  the  smallest  pretext  thnr 
debtors  refused  to  pay  their  debts.     Tho 


William 


360 


Winkle 


magistrates  burnt  them,  the  people  mas- 
sacred them,  the  kings  hunted  them  down 
to  despoil  them  of  all,  when  their  exchequer 
was  low.  All  these  insults,  outrages  and 
injustices  must  have  created  an  intense 
hatred  of  Christianity,  and  every  thing  and 
person  thai  was  Christian,  and  may  well 
have  found  vent  occasionally  in  some  savage 
murder  in  parody  of  the  Crucifixion  .  .  .  But 
at  the  same  time  it  is  impossible  to  doubt 
that  most  of  these  charges  brought  against 
them  were  invented  by  their  enemies  for  the 
purpose  of  plundering  them;  and  that  others 
had  their  origin  in  the  imagination  of  the 
people,  ready  to  believe  anything  against 
those  whose  strong-boxes  they  lusted  to 
break  open. —  S.  BARING-GOULD:  Lives  of 
the  Saints,  ii,  463. 

William    of    Orange,     Count,     a 

legendary  hero  in  the  Carlovingian 
cycle  of  myths,  who  is  the  hero  or 
at  least  an  important  character  in 
numerous  eleventh  and  twelfth  cen- 
tury romances  and  poems.  In  the 
Enfance  Guillaume  William,  with  his 
own  consent,  is  disinherited  to  fulfil 
a  vow  that  his  father  had  made. 
With  his  sword  he  conquers  fame 
and  fortune  in  the  wars  against  the 
Moors,  first  under  Charlemagne  and 
later  under  that  Emperor's  son, 
Ludwig.  As  a  reward  for  his  services 
he  is  made  governor  of  the  southern 
coast  of  France,  with  Orange  as  his 
capital.  Eventually  he  rose  to  be 
Duke  of  Aquitane,  but  resigned  all 
worldly  honor  to  die  a  monk  in  a 
convent.  During  his  warrior  career 
no  trials  daunted  him,  no  misadven- 
ture subdued  him.  Imprisoned  by 
the  Emperor  Tibalt  of  Arabia,  he 
ran  away  with  the  paynim's  wife 
Arabella,  and  his  marriage  was  cele- 
brated by  the  pope  at  Avignon, 
Arabella  in  baptism  receiving  the  new 
name  of  Giberg. 

The  Moniage  Guillaume  (William's 
Monkship)  gives  a  humorous  ac- 
count of  the  burly  warrior's  strug- 
gles to  adjust  himself  to  his  monastic 
environment.  He  is  attentive  to  his 
religious  duties,  but  eats  more  than 
any  two  of  the  brethren,  and,  when 
tipsy,  thrashes  them.  They  plot 
to  get  rid  of  him  and  send  him  on  a 
road  where  an  ambush  of  robbers 
has  been  prepared,  warning  him  that 
he  is  to  offer  no  violence  to  any  who 
may  attack  him  until  they  strip  him 
to  his  last  garment.  Fifteen  robbers 


pounce  upon  him,  he  meekly  submits 
to  be  stripped  until  they  lay  hands 
upon  his  breeches.  Then  he  falls 
to  with  his  fists  and  slays  seven. 
Tearing  off  the  leg  of  a  sumpter  horse 
he  kills  the  rest  with  this  improvised 
weapon.  In  answer  to  prayer  the 
leg  is  restored  to  the  horse  and 
William  canters  home,  to  the  con- 
sternation of  all  the  monks.  In  other 
stories  he  leaves  the  monastery  to 
become  a  hermit.  A  favorite  episode 
tells  how  he  built  a  bridge  over  a 
mountain  torrent.  The  devil  undoes 
every  night  his  daily  stint  of  work; 
he  watches  for  the  fiend  and  pitches 
him  into  the  stream,  which  ever  after 
boils  and  bubbles.  Then  William 
finishes  the  bridge  in  peace.  See 
RENAUD. 

William,  Sweet,  hero  of  a  mediae- 
val English  ballad  (No.  77  in  Child's 
Collection),  entitled  Sweet  William's 
Ghost,  which  has  innumerable  ana- 
logues in  all  European  literature. 
William  comes  back  from  the  grave 
and  asks  Margaret  for  his  "  faith 
and  troth."  She  desires  a  kiss;  he 
warns  her  that  this  would  be  fatal 
to  her.  She  stretches  out  her  hand 
and  returns  him  his  plighted  faith; 
then  she  follows  him  to  the  grave  and 
pleads  to  lie  by  his  side.  In  some 
variants  he  replies  that  there  is  no 
room  for  her,  in  others  he  yields  her 
a  place;  but  in  all  the  issue  is  the 
same,  she  dies  at  cockcrow.  A  cele- 
brated Scandinavian  variant,  The 
Betrothed  in  the  Grave,  forms  No.  90 
in  Grundtvig's  collection.  The  hero 
dies  on  the  eve  of  marriage.  His 
ghost  tells  the  bereaved  one  that 
every  time  she  weeps  for  him  his 
coffin  is  filled  with  lappered  blood. 
But  when  she  forgets  her  grief  his 
grave  is  all  hung  with  rose  leaves. 
Fain  would  she  follow  him  into  the 
grave,  but  he  slips  away  from  her  at 
its  very  verge.  She  prays  that  she 
may  not  live  out  a  year  and  a  day, 
falls  sick,  and  dies  within  a  month. 
See  LENORE  in  Vol.  I. 

Winkle,  Rip  Van.  This  famous 
character  in  a  story  of  that  name  by 
Washington  Irving  (briefly  summed 
up  in  Vol.  I)  has  grown  to  be  the 


Winkle 


361 


Winkle 


accepted  type  of  legendary  sleepers 
with  whom  years  or  centuries  pass 
as  if  they  were  but  a  few  hours. 
Irving  probably  derived  the  hint  for 
his  story  from  the  German  legend  of 
Peter  Klaus  (q.v.).  But  that  is  only 
a  recent  development  from  a  cycle  of 
myths  that  are  world-wide  and  age- 
old. 

The  classic  Greek  instance  is  that 
of  Epimenides  (q.v.),  the  Cretan  poet, 
who  in  boyhood  entered  a  cave  and 
there  fell  into  a  deep  sleep  that  lasted 
f°r  57  years.  The  Roman  legend 
of  the  Seven  Sleepers  (q.v.)  gives 
the  story  a  Latin  and  Christian  turn, 
for  these  were  seven  noble  youths  of 
Ephesus  who,  fleeing  from  persecu- 
tion in  A.D.  439,  concealed  themselves 
in  a  cave,  and  fell  into  a  slumber 
that  lasted  for  187  years.  Waking 
they  were  astonished  to  find  the 
country  around  them  entirely  un- 
recognizable, a  Christian  emperor 
upon  the  throne.  "  Yesterday," 
says  one  of  them,  "  no  one  dared  to 
pronounce  the  name  of  Jesus;  now  it 
is  on  every  one's  lips." 

In  the  romance  of  Ogier  the  Dane 
(q.v.),  which  has  been  put  into  a 
modern  setting  by  William  Morris 
in  The  Earthly  Paradise,  we  are  told 
of  Ogier's  return,  after  a  lapse  of  two 
centuries,  from  Morgana  and  the 
Palace  of  Avalon  to  France  and  the 
outer  world,  and  his  strange  sensa- 
tions at  finding  that  he_  stood  alone 
amidst  a  generation  which  he  knew 
not. 

The  belief  still  survives  in  Denmark 
that  Ogier  is  asleep  in  the  deepest 
dungeon  of  Droubcrg  fortress. 

A  similar  story  is  told  of  Frederick 
Barbarossa,  who  with  six  of  his 
knights  sleeps  in  a  cavern  in  the 
Kyffhausen  in  Thuringia.  Once  a 
peasant  penetrated  into  the  heart  of 
the  mountain,  awaking  the  emperor 
from  his  slumbers.  '  Do  the  ravens 
still  fly  over  the  mountains?  "  asked 
the  hero.  "  Sire,  they  do."  Then 
we  must  sleep  another  hundred 
years,"  said  the  Emperor.  He  sits 
at  a  stone  table  and  rests  his  head 
upon  his  hand.  His  beard  grows 
Tound  the  table,  twice  already  has  it 


made  the  circuit,  the  third  time  the 
emperor  will  awake. 

In  Scandinavian  myth  Siegfried 
is  likewise  awaiting  his  second  com- 
ing on  earth.  At  Odenberg  in 
Hesse,  Charlemagne  is  said  to 
sleep  seated  on  his  throne,  with 
his  crown  on  his  head  and  his  sword 
at  his  side. 

In  Switzerland  three  Tells  are 
plunged  in  slumber  near  the  Vier- 
waldstatter  Sea.  A  shepherd  crept 
into  the  cave  and  the  third  Tell 
arose  and  asked  the  time.  "  Noon," 
replied  the  lad.  "  The  time  is  not 
yet  come,"  said  Tell  and  lay  down 
again. 

The  Welsh  Rip  Van  Winkle  is 
Taffy  ap  Sion,  who  is  alleged  to  have 
heard  a  bird  singing,  and  sat  beneath 
a  tree  until  it  had  finished.  Upon 
arising  he  observed  that  the  tree  had 
become  dead  and  withered.  In  the 
doorway  of  his  home,  which  also  had 
suddenly  grown  older,  he  asked  of  a 
strange  old  man  for  his  parents. 
Upon  learning  his  name  the  old  man 
said:  "  Alas!  Taffy,  I  have  often 
heard  my  grandfather,  your  father, 
speak  of  you,  and  it  was  said  you 
were  under  the  spell  of  fairies,  not 
to  be  released  until  the  last  sap  of 
that  sycamore  dried  up." 

There  are  several  Chinese  variants 
of  the  legend,  the  closest  parallel  to 
the  story  of  Rip  Van  Winkle  being 
that  which  concerns  Wang  Chih,  one 
of  the  patriarchs  of  the  Tanuist  sect. 
Gathering  firewood  one  day  in  the 
mountains  of  Ku  Chow  he  c: 
a  grotto  where  some  old  men  \\ 
deep  in  a  game  of  chess.  He  laid 
down  his  axe-  and  wat<  h<-d  them. 
One  of  the  old  men  handed  him  a 
date-stone,  which  he  had  no  sooner 
tasted  than  he  i  to  feel  hun 

and   thirst.     By  and  by  one  of  the 
players    warned     him    it    was    time 
to   go   home.    Reaching   for   1;; 
Wang  found   the  handle  had    moul- 
dered   into    dust.      Und  i    he 
returned    to    where   his    h«:\\'-    ! 
been,  but  found  no  vestige  of  ho. 
or  kindred  remaining.     Centurk  ,  h  i  1 
passed    since    he    went    out    wood- 
cutting. 


Wise 


362 


Witches 


In  the  Japanese  account  a  young 
man  fishing  in  his  boat  on  the  ocean 
is  invited  by  the  goddess  of  the  sea 
to  her  home  beneath  the  waves. 
After  three  days  he  desires  to  see  his 
old  mother  and  father.  On  parting 
she  gives  him  a  golden  casket  ana 
a  key,  but  begging  him  never  to 
open  it.  At  his  home  he  finds  all 
changed,  and  his  parents'  grave  one 
hundred  years  old.  Thinking  that 
three  days  could  not  have  made  such 
a  change,  and  that  he  was  under  a 
spell,  he  opens  the  casket.  A  white 
vapor  rises,  and  under  its  influence 
his  hair  turns  gray,  his  form  loses  its 
youth,  and  in  a  few  moments  he 
«li''.s  of  old  age. 

Wise  Men  of  the  East,  whose 
story  is  briefly  told  in  the  second 
chapter  of  St.  Matthew,  figure  there 
simply  as  Magi.  Warned  of  the 
birth  of  Christ  by  the  appearance  of 
a  strange  star  in  the  heavens  they 
followed  its  guidance  until  they 
reached  the  stable  in  Bethlehem. 
They  brought  with  them  gifts  of 
gold,  frankincense  and  myrrh,  which 
they  presented  to  the  infant  Saviour. 
A  cycle  of  mediaeval  legends  has 
been  based  upon  this  simple  narra- 
tive. In  the  favorite  versions  the 
Magi  were  three  rich  and  powerful 
monarchs,  Caspar,  King  of  Tarsus, 
the  land  of  myrrh;  Melchior,  King 
of  Arabia,  where  the  land  is  ruddy 
with  gold;  and  Balthasar,  King  of 
Saba,  where  frankincense  flows  from 
the  trees.  Each  of  them  summoned 
a  retinue  of  servants  together  with 
troops  of  horses,  camels  and  drome- 
daries, all  laden  with  the  choicest 
products  of  their  countries.  When 
they  reached  the  stable  they  recog- 
nized that  this  was  no  human  king 
who  had  been  born  into  the  world, 
but  the  King  of  Heaven  who  had 
taken  unto  Himself  a  human  form. 
They  fell  on  their  knees  and  wor- 
shipped. Returning  home  each  aban- 
doned his  royal  state  and  wandered 
about  the  earth  proclaiming  that 
the  Saviour  of  Men  had  been  born 
at  Bethlehem.  Seven  years  a' 
the  death  of  Christ  they  were 
baptized  by  the  Apostle  Thomas 


in  India.  In  the  end  they  fell 
martyrs  to  their  faith.  Their  bo<: 
were  all  buried  together  outside  the 
walls  of  Jerusalem  where  300  years 
later  they  were  identified  by  St. 
Helena  and  reburicd  in  the  church 
of  St.  Sophia  at  Constantinople. 
Later  the  remains  were  transferred 
to  Milan  and  still  later  to  Cologne, 
where  they  now  repose^  in  the 
chapel  of  the  Three  Kings  in  the 
Cathedral. 

Witches.  Witchcraft  is  defined  by 
Reginald  Scot  to  be  "  a  supcrnat-: 
work  between  a  corporal  old  woman 
and  a  spiritual  devil."  II  •  explains 
that  this  is  the  opinion  of  the  vulgar. 
He  himself  professes  no  belief  in  the 
superstition:  "  No  one  endued  with 
common  sense,"  he  says,  "  but  will 
deny  that  the  elements  are  obedient 
to  witches  and  at  their  command,  or 
that  they  may,  at  their  pleasure, 
send  rain,  hail,  tempests,  thunder, 
lightning;  when  she  being  but  an  old 
doting  woman,  castcth  a  flint  stone 
over  her  left  shoulder,  towards  the 
west,  or  hurls  a  little  sea-sand  up 
into  the  element,  or  wettcth  a  broom- 
sprig  in  water,  and  sprinkle! h  the 
same  in  the  air;  or  d  in 

the  earth  and  putting  water  therein, 
stirrcth  it  about  with  her  finger;  or 
boileth  hog's  bristles,  or  lay 
across  upon  a  bank,  where  never  a 
drop   of    water   is;    or    burieth    a 
till  it  be  rotten:  all  which  thin. 
confessed   by   witches,   and  aflin. 
by    writers    to    be    the    mean.-;    that 
witches   use   to   move  extraordinary 
tempests     and    rain." — Discovery    oj 
Witchcraft  (1584). 

One  of  the  earliest  literary  notices 
of  witchcraft  in  the  modern  sense  is 
furnished  by  Horace,  \vh<i  .'>es 

how  two  women  steal  out  by  the 
light  of  the  new  moon  to  gather 
bones  and  noxious  herbs  in  the 
Esquiline  cemetery  at  Rome.  They 
scatter  fragments  of  a  lamb  int-i  a 
hollow  scooped  in  the  ground.  Then 
they  bring  out  two  images,  (.me  in 
wool,  R  ling  a  witch,  and 

another  in  wax,  representing  their 
intcri  1<  1  victim.  X"W  i.e-in  their 
incantations  while  the  moon  turns 


Witches 


363 


Witches 


red  and  hell  hounds  and  snakes 
glide  over  the  spot.  They  end  in 
the  burning  of  the  wax  effigy  and  as 
it  burns  life  fades  out  of  its  proto- 
type. See  CANIDIA. 

Compare    this    classic    poet    with 
the  Elizabethan  Samuel  Daniels: 

The  sly  enchanter  when,  to  work  his  will 
And  secret  wrong  on  some  forespoken  wight, 
Frames  wax  in  form  to  represent  aright 
The  poor  unwitting  wretch  he  means  to  kill, 
And  pricked  the  imageframed  by  magic's  skill 
Whereby  to  vex  the  party  day  and  nights 
Sonnet  prefixed  to  Sydney's 

Astrophel  (1591). 

From  the  middle  ages,  indeed, 
there  still  survives  the  lingering 
superstition  that  witches  make  wax 
images  of  their  intended  victims, 
which  they  stab,  burn  or  otherwise 
maltreat  with  concurrent  injury  or 
death  to  the  original  in  the  flesh. 
Thus  Grafton  tells  how  Eleanor, 
Duchess  of  Gloucester,  bribed  Roger 
Bolingbroke,  a  cunning  necromancer, 
and  Margery  Jordane,  a  witch,  to 
devise  an  image  of  wax  representing 
King  Henry  VI,  which  little  by  little 
was  consumed  by  their  sorcery, — 
"  intending  thereby  in  conclusion 
to  waste  and  destroy  the  King's 
person."  Shakspear  in  II  Henry 
VI  makes  the  Duchess  conspire  with 
the  others  against  the  King's  life, 
but  does  not  allude  to  the  effigy. 
The  end  of  the  whole  matter  is 
duly  set  forth  in  Grafton's  A  Chron- 
icle of  London,  under  20  Henry 
VI  (1441-42),  where  it  is  told  how 
the  conviction  of  the  duchess  and 
her  accomplices  led  to  a  public 
penance: 

In  this  year  my  Lady  of  Gloucester  had 
confessed  her  witchcraft  as  it  is  aforesaid; 
she  was  enjoyned  by  all  the  spmtua [assent 
to  penance.  Coming  from  Westminster 
to  London  in  her  barge,  she  landed  at  Tem- 
ple Bridge,  and  there  she  took  in  her  hand 
a  taper  of  wax  weighing  two  pounds  and 
went  through  Fleet  Street,  barefoot  and 
hoodless,  togSt.  Paul's  Church  where  she 
offered  up  her  taper  at  the  high  altar. 
?he  Wednesday  following  she  came  again 
bv  barge  to  the  Swan  in  Thames  Street, 
whence  she  proceeded  barefoot  through 
Bridge  Street  'and  Grace  Church  Street  to 
Leadenhall  and  St.  Mary  Cree  On  Friday 
she  disembarked  at  O^nhithe,  and  walked 
to  Cheapside  and  St.  .Michael  s,Cornhill. 
On  each  pf  these  occasions  she  was  met  at 


the  landing  place  by  the  Mayor,  Sheriffs,  and 
Crafts  of  London.  The  duchess  was  interned 
at  Chester  for  life. 

King  James  I  was  a  firm  believer 
in  this  form  of  incantation.  "  The 
devil,"  he  says,  "  teacheth  how  to 
make  pictures  of  wax  or  clay,  that 
by  roasting  thereof,  the  persons 
that  they  bear  the  name  of  may  be 
continually  melted  or  dried  away  by 
continual  sickness." — Demonology,  ii, 

5  (1597). 

On    the   other   hand,  Bacon   was 

another  of  the  pioneers  in  repudiating 
the  witchcraft  superstition: 

Men  may  not  too  rashly  believe  the  con- 
fession of  witches,  nor  yet  the  evidence 
against  them,  for  the  witches  themselves 
are  imaginative  and  believe  sometimes  they 
do  that  which  they  do  not,  and  people  are 
credulous  on  that  point  and  ready  to  impute 
accidents  and  natural  operations  to  witch- 
craft. It  is  worthy  the  observing,  that  both 
in  ancient  and  late  times  (as  in  the  Thessa- 
lian  witches  and  the  meetings  of  witches 
that  have  been  recorded  by  so  many  late 
confessions)  the  great  wonders  which  they 
tell,  of  carrying  in  the  air,  transforming 
themselves  into  other  bodies,  etc.,  are  still 
reported  to  be  wrought,  not  by  incantations 
or  ceremonies,  but  by  ointments  and  anoint- 
ing themselves  all  over.  This  may  justly 
move  a  man  to  think  that  these  fables  are 
the  effect  of  imagination;  for  it  is  certain 
that  ointments  do  all  (if  they  be  laid  on 
anything  thick)  by  stopping  of  the  pores, 
shut  in  the  vapors,  and  send  them  to  the 
head  extremely. — Natural  History.f 

To  go  back  to  King  James,  he 
presents  this  reason  as  to  why  there 
are  twenty  women  for  every  ^one 
man  given  over  to  witchcraft:  '  for 
as  that  sex  is  frailer  than  man  is,  so 
it  is  easier  to  be  entrapped  in  these 
gross  snares  of  the  devil,  as  was 
over  well  proved  to  be  true,  by  the 
serpent's  deceiving  Eva  at  the  be- 
ginning, which  makes  him  the  home- 
lier with  that  sex  ever  since." 

Popular  belief  sometimes  differ- 
entiates witches  into  three  kinds. 
The  first  kind  can  hurt  but  not  help, 
and  are  called  Black  Witches.  The 
second,  known  as  White  Witches, 
can  help  but  not  hurt.  The  third 
species  as  a  mixture  of  black  and  white 
are  styled  the  Grey  Witches,  for  they 
can  both  help  and  hurt,  can  heal  the 
sick  or  aid  honest  folk  to  recover 
stolen  property,  or  on  the  other  hand 


Witches 


364 


Witches 


do  injury  more  or  less  serious  to  men 
and  animals.  "  According  to  the 
vulgar  conceit,"  says  Gaule,  '  dis- 
tinction is  usually  made  between  the 
white  and  the  black  witch,  the  good 
and  the  bad  witch.  The  bad  witch 
they  are  wont  to  call  him  or  her  that 
works  malefice  or  mischief  to  the 
bodies  of  men  or  beasts;  the  good 
witch  they  count  him  or  her  that 
helps  to  reveal,  prevent  or  remove 
the  same." 

Grose's  Popular  Antiquities  gives 
details  as  to  the  manner  in  which  an 
old  woman  develops  into  a  witch. 
There  appears  to  her  one  day  a  man 
in  black  who  tempts  her  into  signing 
a  contract  to  sell  herself  to  him, 
body  and  soul.  Much  preliminary 
haggling  may  result  as  to  the  pur- 
chase money,  but  the  amount  is 
never  very  great,  varying  from  a 
groat  to  a  half  crown.  With  the 
money  the  demon  hands  her  a  slip 
of  parchment  on  which  she  writes 
her  name  or  makes  her  mark  with 
blood  drawn  from  her  own  veins. 
Some  ceremonial  is  occasionally  added, 
the  witch  being  required  to  put 
one  hand  to  the  sole  of  her  foot  and 
the  other  to  the  crown  of  her  head. 
On  departing  he  delivers  to  her  an 
imp  or  familiar  in  the  shape  of  a  cat 
or  a  kitten,  a  mole,  a  miller  fly  or 
some  other  animal  or  insect  which 
sucks  her  blood  from  different  parts 
of  her  body.  • 

So  good  a  man  as  John  Wesley 
accepted  unquestioningly  the  Scrip- 
ture exhortation  "  Thou  shalt  not 
suffer  a  witch  to  live"  (Exodus  xxii, 
1 8).  In  1768  he  enters  in  his  diary 
that  "  the  giving  up  of  witchcraft  is 
in  effect  giving  up  the  Bible."  "  It 
is  true,"  he  explains,  "  that  the 
English  in  general,  and  indeed  most 
of  the  men  in  Europe,  have  given 
up  all  accounts  of  witches  and  ap- 
paritions as  mere  old  wives'  fables. 
I  am  sorry  for  it,  and  I  am  willing 
to  take  this  opportunity  of  entering 
my  solemn  protest  against  this 
violent  compliment  which  so  many 
that  believe  the  Bible  pay  to  those 
who  do  not  believe  it."  Huxley,  a 
far  wiser  man  than  Wesley,  ironically 


suggests  how  the  Bible  and  science 
have  been  reconciled  in  this  particular, 
"  The  phraseology  of  supernaturalism 
may  remain  on  men's  lips,  but  in 
practice  they  are  naturalists.  The 
magistrate  who  listens  with  devout 
attention  to  the  precept  '  Thou  shalt 
not  suffer  a  witch  to  live  '  on  Sunday, 
on  Monday  dismisses,  as  intrinsic- 
ally absurd,  a  charge  of  bewitching 
a  cow  brought  against  some  old 
woman;  the  superintendent  of  a 
lunatic  asylum  who  substituted  exor- 
cism for  rational  modes  of  treatment 
would  have  but  a  short  tenure  of 
office." 

Witches'  Sabbath,  in  popular  me- 
diaeval myth,  a  midnight  assemblage 
of  witches,  sorcerers  and  demons 
which  gathered  together  on  Saturday 
night  to  blaspheme  against  God  and 
His  church,  do  honor  to  Satan,  and 
indulge  in  obscene  rites  and  revelries. 
Often  the  Sabbath  was  held  under  the 
patronage  of  Herodias,  or  Diana. 
Splendid  banquets  were  served  up 
in  caricature  of  monkish  asceticism; 
mock  priests  and  friars  conducted 
burlesques  of  sacred  functions;  every- 
thing, in  short,  was  done  to  turn 
religion  into  ridicule.  The  witches 
having  first  anointed  themselves 
with  magic  unguents  arrived  riding 
on  brooms,  coulstaves  or  spits.  The 
devil  himself,  sometimes  addressed 
under  his  own  name  of  Satan,  some- 
times masquerading  under  the  name 
of  Master  Leonard,  presided  over 
the  ceremonies  in  the  form  of  a  huge 
black  goat.  Graves  were  violated 
for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  joints 
of  the  fingers  and  toes  of  corpses 
with  parts  of  the  winding  sheet 
whence  they  prepare  a  powder  for 
magical  purposes.  The  most  fam- 
ous of  all  these  assemblages  was  the 
Sabbath  celebrated  by  witches  on 
the  Blocksburg,  a  peak  of  the  Brocken 
Mountains. 

Heine  in  his  brochure  The  Romantic 
School  in  Germany  gives  this  descrip- 
tion of  these  midnight  revelries: 

The  Blocksburg  is  no  charming  Avalon, 
but  a  rendezvous  for  all  that  is  hideous  and 
horrible.  On  its  summit  sits  Satan  in  the 
form  of  a  black  goat.  Every  witch  ap- 


Wodan 


365 


Wolfdietrich 


preaches  him  with  a  candle  in  her  hand 
and  kisses  him  behind  where  the  black  ends. 
After  this  ceremony  the  infamous  sisterhood 
dance  round  him,  and  sing,  "Donderemus! 
Donderemus!"  The  goat  bleats,  the  infer- 
nal company  yell  and  hurrah.  It  is  a  bad 
omen  for  the  witch  who  loses  a  shoe,  for  it 
is  a  sign  that  she  will  be  burned  during  the 
year  to  come.  But  the  mad  music  of  the 
Sabbath,  which  is  for  all  the  world  like  that 
of  Berlioz,  drowns  all  painful  forebodings, 
and  when  the  poor  witch  awakes  in  the 
morning  from  her  intoxication,  she  lies 
naked  and  weary  in  the  ashes  by  the  ex- 
tinguished fire. 

Elsewhere   in    the   same   book   he 
adds  this  piece  of  information: 

The  prince  of  hell  has  among  the  witches 
of  the  meeting  a  chosen  one  who  is  known 
by  the  title  of  archi-sposa  or  arch-betrothed, 
who  is  his  special  mistress.  Her  ball  cos- 
tume is  simple,  or  more  than  simple,  for  it 
consists  of  only  one  shoe  of  gold,  for  which 
reason  she  is  known  as  the  Lady  of  the 
Golden  Shoe.  She  is  a  beautiful  and  grand, 
yes,  almost  colossal  lady,  for  the  devil  is  not 
only  a  connoisseur  en  belles  formes,  like  a  true 
artist,  but  also  an  amateur  of  flesh  and 
thinks  that  the  more  flesh  the  more  sin. 
In  his  refinement  of  wickedness  he  seeks 
to  increase  his  sin  by  never  selecting  a  maid, 
but  always  a  married  woman,  for  his  chief 
bride,  thus  adding  adultery  to  simple  im- 
morality. This  archi-sposa  must  also  be  a 
good  dancer,  and  at  an  unusually  brilliant 
Sabbath  ball  the  illustrious  Goat  sometimes 
descends  from  his  pedestal  and  in  eminent 
person  executes  with  his  naked  beauty  a 
peculiar  dance  which  I  will  not  describe, 
very  important  Christian  reasons."  as  old 
Widman  would  say.  Only  so  much  wil 
hint,  that  it  is  an  old  national  dance  of 
Gomorra,  the  tradition  of  which  after  the 
destruction  of  the  Cities  of  the 
preserved  by  Lot's  daughters. 

Wodan   (the  Odin  of  South  Ger- 
many),   the    Scandinavian     god 
battles,  the  great  chief  of  Valhalla  to 
whom  in  the  earliest  times  all 
Teutonic  tribes  prayed  for  victory. 
Clad  in  golden  helmet  and 
plate,    armed    with    his    war-spear, 
Crugnir,— the    death    dealing    light- 
ning   flash— mounted    on    his   white, 
eight-footed  steed,  Sleipner,  and  fol- 
lowed by  the  Valkyries  and  a  tumul- 
tous  host  (the  Wild  Hunt),  he  sweeps 
through  the  air  and  rejoices  in 
howling    storm.      Prisoners    of 
were  sacrificed  to  him,  the 
the  field  of  battle  were  his,  so  also 
were    the    victims    of    the    gallows, 
suicides,  and  others  who  met  a  violent 
death.    It  was  an  old  saying  in  Oc 


many  when  a  violent  wind  blew  that 
some  one  had  hanged  himself.  As  a 
storm  god  he  had  milder  attributes. 
The  fertilizing  showers  that  f«>iluw 
in  his  train  led  to  his  being  look 
upon  as  a  patron  of  agriculture.  The 
last  sheaf  of  the  harvest  field  v 
dedicated  to  him.  As  a  sun  god  he 
is  all-wise,  for  the  sun  peers  into  every 
nook  and  cranny.  In  the  arms  of  the 
giantess  Gunlod  he  quailed  from  tin* 
cauldron  Odrovir  the  draught  of 
inspiration  and  shared  it  with  seers 
and  bards  and  heroes  in  Valhalla. 
Trusting  to  his  wisdom  he  takes  part 
in  contests  where  after  the  clash  of 
intellect  against  intellect  in  enig- 
matic speech  the  victor  claims  t 
head  of  the  vanquished  as  a  forf.  it, 
In  this  dangerous  rivalry  he  deft. 
the  giant  Vafthrudnir.  Later  he 
invents  the  Runes  through  which 
he  gains  the  power  of  understanding 
and  ruling  all  things.  Thus  he  be- 
comes the  Spirit  of  Nature,  the  All- 
father.  He  created  man  1  >v  animating 
two  wooden  figures  whom  the  d\v.; 
had  carved  out  of  trees.  These  were 
Askrand  Kmbla,  the  first  human  pair. 
It  may  be  added  that  the  origin 
man  'from  plants  is  an  ancient 
Aryan  myth,  a  curious  anticipation 
of  "modern  scientific  the'  iri 

Wodan  was  one  of  the  three  sons 
of  Borr  who  was  liek<-'l  out  of  a 
salt  ice-block  by  the  cow  Audhumla. 

Wolfdietrich,     in      the     mcdi.i 
poem  of  that  name,  a  fable.l  am  B  tor 
of  Dietrich  of  H«-r-         The  story  \M 
an   ancient   blend   of   Gothi--,    Lom- 
bard  and    Byzantine   saga,   retold    in 
German  by  a  i"  *  t  <>r  rath- 
poets  of  the  thirteenth  century. 

Wolfdietrich   is   the  son   of   Hui. 
the   Byz.iniini-  em]  "  • 

wicked  intriKurr  the  fath.-r  »'*  ]l 

son  and  him   t..   Uuk.-   H.-rchtum:      • 

•an  to  put   t..  .l,-.ith.      Hut    the  duk. 
nv.vcd   to   pitv   an-1   l-.vr   f.  .r   thfl   w.  I 
child,  savi-s  his  life  ;md  in  tin.. 

I  m.      When  the  story 

boy's   rcsruc   reaches   <  tinople  J 

dietrirh   pard'  but  M 

already    divided    his    ',  m    am 

other   sons,    there    remains    no   portion 

h.       The    landl.-ss    pr 
conquer  a  kingdom  for  him  ..-If  and 

Is    to    do    so.       !„    thfl    ».:utlw .w,    L   hta 
brother  and  the  other  advcnturw  that  befall 


Wolfram 


366 


Wooden 


him  in  pursuit  of  his  object,  he  is  loyally 
aided  by  Duke  Berchtung  and  his  sixteen 
sons.  Such  of  these  as  survive  reap  the 
reward  of  faithful  service  when  Wolfdietrich 
finally  triumphs. — CALVIN  THOMAS:  A  His- 
tory of  German  Literature,  p.  68. 

Wolfram    von    Eschenbach,    the 

greatest  of  the  mediaeval  poets  of 
Germany  (died  about  1220),  and  save 
Walther  von  der  Vogelweide  the 
most  popular  of  all  the  Minnesingers, 
has  a  distinct  place  in  myth  and  ro- 
mance. In  the  Wartburg  Kriegspiel 
he  is  pitted  against  Heinrich  von 
Ofterdingen  and  loses  through  a  too 
partial  decision  by  Klingsohr,  the 
magician.  Like  most  cavaliers  of 
his  age  Wolfram,  by  his  own  confes- 
sion, could  neither  read  nor  write, 
and  was  compelled  to  employ  a 
reader  and  an  amanuensis.  Ac- 
cording to  a  local  legend  he  was 
visited  in  his  chamber  at  Eisenach 
by  the  familiar  spirit  of  Klingsohr, 
who  had  arrived  at  Eisenach  through 
the  air,  and  taken  lodgings  with  a 
citizen  whose  ominous  name  was 
Hellegrave  or  Count  of  Hell.  The 
familiar  wrote  on  the  wall  of  Wolf- 
ram's chamber  words  implying  that 
the  poet  was  no  better  than  a  lay- 
man, which  in  those  days  meant 
an  ignoramus.  His  host,  fired  by 
zeal  for  the  reputation  of  his  guest, 
caused  the  stone  on  which  the  in- 
scription was  written  to  be  taken  out 
of  the  wall  and  thrown  into  the 
neighboring  stream  of  the  Horsel: 
but  the  room  is  still  called  "  the 
dark  chamber."  See  OFTERDINGEN 
and  TANNHAUSER. 

Wooden  Horse  of  Troy.  This 
strategic  machine  is  mentioned  by 
Homer  in  the  Odyssey,  Book  iv. 
Odysseus,  seated  beside  King  Al- 
cinous,  in  the  land  of  the  Phasacians, 
bids  the  blind  minstrel  Demodocus 
sing  the  story  of  the  wondrous  horse. 
The  minstrel  obeys.  He  tells  how 
the  Greeks,  in  despair  of  taking  Troy 
by  force,  resorted  at  last  to  strata- 
gem. Constructing  a  huge  frame- 
work in  the  shape  of  a  horse,  as  a 
pretended  offering  to  the  gods,  they, 
set  fire  to  their  sea-camp  and  sailed 
away,  ostensibly  for  home,  leaving 
an  armed  company  hidden  in  the 


womb  of  the  monster.  The  Trojans, 
after  much  debate,  were  persuaded 
to  drag  it  inside  their  walls;  the 
Greeks  issued  forth  at  midnight,  and 
opened  the  gates  of  the  city  to  their 
brethren  who  had  secretly  returned. 
And  thus  Troy  fell. 

Virgil  (dLneid,  ii)  has  amplified 
this  bare  outline.  ^Eneas  tells  the 
story  to  Queen  Dido  in  Carthage. 
He  describes  how  the  entrance  of 
the  horse  into  the  city  was  opposed 
by  the  priest  Laocoon  (g.z>.),who  went 
so  far  as  to  hurl  a  spear  against  its 
side.  But  a  prisoner  is  brought  in: 
the  treacherous  Sinon,  who  pretends 
to  be  a  persecuted  fugitive  from  the 
Greeks.  His  story  is  believed;  King 
Priam  adjures  him  to  reveal  the  true 
intent  of  the  wooden  horse.  He 
swears  it  is  an  offering  to  Minerva, 
which  the  Greeks  had  designed  to 
set  up  within  the  walls  of  Troy  as 
soon  as  they  had  captured  the  city. 
Its  presence  there  was  an  assurance 
of  safety  and  of  future  dominion 
over  the  world.  Then  a  miracle 
happens.  Two  huge  serpents  issue 
from  the  sea  and  strangle  Laocoon 
and  his  sons.  The  Trojans  accept  the 
omen  and  drag  the  wooden  horse 
through  an  improvised  breach  in 
their  walls,  but  not  without  ominous 
difficulty: 

Four  times  'twas  on  the  threshold  stayed; 
Four  times  the  armor  clashed  and  brayed; 
Yet  press  we  on  with  passion  blind, 
All  forethought  blotted  from  our  mind, 
Till  the  dread  monster  we  instal 
Within  the  temple's  tower-built  wall. 

Inside,  the  fabric  is  full  of  armed 
Greeks.  Their  number  is  not  given. 
Napoleon  was  skeptical  of  the  whole 
story.  He  declared  that  not  "  even 
a  single  company  of  the  guard  " 
could  be  hidden  in  the  machine  and 
dragged  for  any  considerable  dis- 
tance. Virgil,  however,  mentions  by 
name  only  9  men  as  coming  out  of 
the  horse.  Among  them  is  Ulysses 
but  not  Diomed,  his  co-inventor  of 
the  stratagem.  Hence,  it  has  been 
argued,  Virgil  did  not  mean  that 
these  9  were  the  only  men  in  the  horse. 
At  midnight  Sinon  looked  out  sea- 
ward and  beheld  a  light  in  the  offing. 


Woodhouselee 


367 


Worm 


It  was  the  signal  agreed  upon,  the 
Greek  fleet  had  returned  under  cover 
of  darkness  from  its  lurking  place 
at  Tenedos.  Then  he  silently  undid 
the  fastenings  of  the  horse,  and  the 
Greek  adventurers  emerged  from 
their  wooden  prison. 

There  is  a  story  alluded  to  in  a 
fragment  still  surviving  from  a  lost 
tragedy  of  Sophocles  that  on  the 
night  of  Troy's  capture  her  tutelary 
deities  departed  in  a  body,  taking 
their  images  with  them.  So  Josephus 
records  that  before  the  fall  of  Jeru- 
salem supernatural  voices  were  heard 
in  the  night  exclaiming  "  Let  us 
depart  hence!  '  The  Romans  had 
a  regular  formula  for  the  evocation 
of  the  gods  from  an  enemy's  city, 
and  inviting  them,  with  promises  of 
all  due  honors  and  sacrifices,  to 
transfer  their  seat  to  Rome.  To 
attack  any  city  without  these  solemn 
preliminaries  was  held  to  bring  a 
curse  upon  the  besiegers.  For  this 
reason,  says  Macrobius,  the  real 
name  of  Rome  and  of  its  guardian 
deity  was  always  held  a  secret. 

Woodhouselee  Ghost,  in  Scottish 
folklore,  a  ghost  which  is  popularly 
believed  to  inhabit  the  old  mansion 
of  Woodhouselee,  on  the  Pentland 
Hills,  five  miles  south  of  Edinburgh. 
Miss  Fraser-Tytler,  whose  family  oc- 
cupied the  house  for  many  years, 
gives  the  following  account  of  the 
ghost  (Burgon's  Life  of  P.  F.  Tytler, 

1859): 

There  was  one  bedroom  in  the  house 
which,  though  of  no  extraordinary  dimen- 
sions, was  always  called  the  big  bedroom. 
Two  sides  of  the  walls  of  this  room  were 
covered  with  very  old  tapestry  representing 
subjects  from  Scripture.  Near  the  head  of 
the  bed  there  was  a  mysterious-looking  small 
and  very  old  door  which  led  into  a  turret 
fitted  up  as  a  dressing-room.  From  this 
small  door  the  ghost  was  wont  to  issue.  No 
servant  would  enter  the  big  bedroom  after 
dusk,  and  even  in  daylight  they  went  in 
pairs.  To  my  aunt's  old  nurse,  who  con- 
stantly resided  in  the  family,  and  who  with 
her  daughter  Betty,  the  maid  (a  rosy-look- 
ing damsel),  took  charge  of  the  house  during 
the  winter.  Lady  Anne  (the  ghost)  had  fre- 
quently appeared.  Old  Catherine  was  a 
singularly  interesting  looking  person  in 
appearance,  tall,  pale,  and  thin,  and  herself 
like  a  gentle  spirit  from  the  unseen  world. 
We  talked  to  her  often  of  Lady  Anne. 
"'Deed,"  she  said,  "I  have  seen  her  times 


out  o'  number,  but  I  am  In  no  ways  fear'd ;  I 
ken  weel  she  canna  gang  beyond  her  com- 
mission; but  there's  that  silly  feckless  thing 
Betty,  she  met  her  in  the  lang  passage  ae 
night  in  the  winter  time,  and  she  had  nae 
a  drap  o'  bluid  in  her  face  for  a  fortnight 
after.  She  says  Lady  Anne  came  sae  near 
her  she  could  see  her  dress  quite  weill;  it 
was  a  Manchester  muslin  with  a  wee  flower." 

Sir  Walter  Scott,  we  are  told, 
'  used  to  laugh  at  this  '  wee  flower,' 
and  hope  that  Lady  Anne  would 
never  change  her  dress."  The  story 
of  this  ghost  has  a  historical  interest 
from  its  connection  with  one  of  the 
blackest  crimes  in  Scottish  history, 
the  murder  of  Regent  Moray  by 
James  Hamilton,  of  Bothwellhaugh. 
The  crime  was  committed  to  gratify 
private  revenge  as  well  as  for  polit- 
ical reasons.  Some  time  previous 
Hamilton  had  been  taken  prisoner  at 
the  battle  of  Langside,  and  con- 
demned to  death.  But  his  life  had 
been  spared  by  the  Regent,  who  con- 
tented himself  with  the  confiscation 
of  his  estates.  Woodhouselee,  which 
belonged  to  Hamilton's  wife,  was 
transferred  to  one  of  the  Regent's 
favorites,  who  barbarously  turned 
its  mistress  naked  out  of  doors,  on  a 
cold  winter's  night,  and  she  was  found 
next  morning  furiously  mad.  Pop- 
ular tradition  embellished  the  story 
by  placing  a  new-born  child  in  IKT 
arms  and  making  her  die  of  the  ill- 
treatment.  Her  ghost  it  is  that 
haunts  the  house.  But  her  real  name 
was  Isabella,  not  Anne. 

Worm  (Anglo-Saxon  wyrm),  in 
English  legend,  an  early  popular 
name  for  any  serpent,  but  specif  ir- 
ally  for  a  fabulous  serpentine  monster, 

equivalent  to  the  draco  of  the  Latins. 
The  latter  name,  domesticated 
dragon,  finally  ousted  the  Angl<>- 
vSaxon  term  from  current  English 
use,  though  it  still  survives  in  local 
legend,  as,  for  example,  in  the  Lamb- 
ton  Worm  (<?.r.). 

The  dragon  was  usually  represented 
as  a  monstrous  snake,  fire-breathing, 
with  a  scaly  body  terminating  in  t 
many-ringed  tail,  4  legs  armed  with 
talons,  and  huge  bat-like  wings.  In 
the  East,  where  serpents  were  large 
and  deadly,  and  consequently  ob- 


Worm 


368 


Worm 


jects  of  personal  dread,  the  dragon 
was  a  symbol  of  evil.  In  Greece  it 
often  mingled  beneficent  with  malig- 
nant traits.  The  hundred-headed 
Hydra,  the  grotesque  Chimaera,  were 
counterbalanced  by  the  sacred  snakes 
of  ^Esculapius,  the  Python  at  Delphi, 
and  the  dragons  who  watched  over 
the  Golden  Fleece  and  the  gardens 
of  the  Hesperides.  The  two  latter 
were  slain,  indeed,  one  by  Jason, 
the  other  by  Hercules,  but  they  fell 
in  the  performance  of  their  duty. 
Christianity  confused  the  benevolent 
and  malevolent  serpent  deities  in  a 
common  condemnation.  From  the 
Hebrew  story  in  Genesis,  from  the 
Egyptian  Apophis,  from  the  Hindoo 
serpent  of  the  world  of  darkness 
vanquished  by  Ra,  and  similar 
legends  mediasval  myth  borrowed 
the  conception  of  the  dragon  as  a 
personification  of  the  powers  of  evil, 
if  not  the  actual  devil  himself. 

A  favorite  myth,  ancient  and 
mediaeval  alike,  was  that  of  a  hero 
slaying  a  dragon.  This  myth  has 
floated  through  the  minds  of  many 
races  and  has  been  fitted  with  differ- 
ent names, — Apollo,  Cadmus,  Perseus, 
Sigurd,  Beowulf,  etc., — in  different 
times  and  places.  It  is  quite  possible, 
as  comparative  mythologists  would 
have  us  believe,  that  the  notion  may 
originally  have  been  a  mythical 
description  of  the  sun  dispersing  the 
storm-cloud. 

The  Babylonian  epic  of  creation 
records  the  destruction  of  the  chaos- 
monster  by  the  solar  deity  Marduk. 
When  the  Greeks  fell  heirs  to  the 
ancient  Asiatic  mythology  it  was 
Perseus,  offspring  of  the  sun-god, 
who  slew  the  dragon  at  Jaffa  and 
released  the  maiden  Andromeda. 
About  the  sixth  century  of  our 
era  the  exploit  was  transferred  to 
St.  George,  whose  victory  over  the 
sea-monster  may  have  been  an  un- 
conscious parable  of  the  overthrow 
of  heathenism  by  Christianity.  Like 
Perseus,  St.  George  fought  his  bat- 
tle to  release  a  beautiful  maiden, 
but  unlike  Perseus,  he  did  not  marry 
her.  The  grateful  father,  governor 
of  Beiruth,  built  a  church  in  honor 


of  the  saint,  and  instituted  an  an- 
nual memorial  feast  which  di  'ing  the 
Middle  Ages  was  celebrated  >  Loth 
the  Christians  and  the  Moslems  of 
the  city. 

Spenser,  in  the  Faerie  Queene,  has 
retold  this  story  in  allegorical  fash- 
ion, making  the  Red  Cross  Knight 
(i.e.,  St.  George)  the  representative 
of  England,  and  as  such  rescuing 
Una  (in  one  of  her  aspects,  orthodox 
Protestantism)  from  the  Dragon  of 
Popery.  His  description  of  the 
'  Dreadful  Beast "  is  a  poetical 
blend  of  all  the  mediaeval  concep- 
tions on  the  subject: 

By  this,  the  dreadful  Beast  drew  nigh  to  hand. 
Halfe  flying  and  halfe  footing  in  his  haste, 
That  with  his  largenesse  measured  much 

land, 
And   made   wide   shadow   under   his   huge 

waste, 

As  mountaine  doth  the  valley  overcaste. 
Approching  nigh,  he  reared  high  afore 
His  body  monstrous,  horrible,  and  vaste; 
Which,  to  increase  his  wondrous  greatnes 

more, 
Was  swoln  with  wrath  and  poyson,  and  with 

bloody  gore; 

And  over  all  with  brasen  scales  was  armd, 
Like  plated  cote  of  steele,  so  couched  neare 
That  nought  mote  perce;  ne  might  his  corse 

bee  harmd 
With  dint  of  sword,  nor  push  of  pointed 

speare: 

Which  as  an  Eagle,  seeing  pray  appeare, 
His  aery  plumes  doth  rouze,  full  rudely 

dight; 

So  shaked  he,  that  horror  was  to  heare: 
For  as  the  clashing  of  an  Armor  bright, 
Such  noyse  his  rouzed  scales  did  send  unto 

the  knight. 

His  flaggy  winges,  when  forth  he  did  display, 
Were  like  two  sayles,  in  which  the  hollow 

wynd 

Is  gathered  full,  and  worketh  speedy  way: 
And  eke  the  pennes,  that  did  his  pineons 

bynd, 

Were  like  the  mayne-yardes  with  flying  can- 
vas lynd; 

With  which  whenas  him  list  the  ayre  to  beat, 
And  there  by  force  unwonted  passage  fynd, 
The  cloudes  before  him  fledd  for  terror  great. 
And  all  the  hevens  stood  still  amazed  with 
his  threat. 

SPENSER:  Faerie  Queene,  i,  xi,  8. 

Modern  geological  discoveries  have 
established  the  fact  that  animals 
quite  as  fearsome  as  the  mythical 
dragon  once  infested  sea  and  shore. 
There  can  be  little  doubt  that  the 
early  Hellenic  tribes  retained  tradi- 
tions of  these  antediluvian  monsters. 


Worm 


369 


Yankee 


The  dragon  that  guarded  the  Golden 
Fierce  aay  have  been  an  imper- 
fect' ti  iniscence  of  that  terrible 
carnivorous  lizard  the  megalosau- 
rus,  which  Buckland  estimated  at 
over  60  feet  in  length.  The  sea- 
monster  that  threatened  Andromeda 
may  similarly  have  been  an  avatar 
of  the  ichthyosaurus,  whose  awful 
eyes,  fully  a  foot  in  diameter,  seem 
to  have  been  fashioned  to  resist 
anything  save  the  Gorgon  stare  of 
Medusa. 

In  short,  the  conventional  dragon 
is  a  Pterodactylian  reptile.  Ruskin 
remarked  on  Turner's  picture  of  the 
dragon  guarding  theHesperides  (1806) 
that  this  conception,  at  a  time  when 
no  Saurian  skeleton  was  within  the 


artist's  reach,  presented  a  singular 
instance  of  the  scientific  imagination. 
After  Ruskin  published  his  remark 
an  old  friend  of  the  artist  explained 
that  Turner  himself  has  told  him  he 
copied  that  dragon  from  a  Christmas 
pantomime  in  Drury  Lane  Theatre. 
It  is  a  far  cry  from  the  green  sand  to 
the  green-room! 

Thomas  Wright's  History  of  Cari- 
cature reproduces  an  engraving  by 
Delia  Bella,  published  in  1637,  which 
shows  a  witch  mounted  on  a  dragon. 
It  was  drawn  to  illustrate  a  mask, 
L' Inferno,  produced  by  the  Grand 
Duke  Ferdinand  II  in  Florence. 
Wright  remarked  that  it  "  might 
have  been  borrowed  from  some  dis- 
tant geological  period." 


Yama,  in  Hindu  myth,  the  judge 
and  ruler  of  the  dead.  It  is  only  in 
post-Vedic  times,  however,  that  this 
dignity  has  been  thrust  upon  him, 
and  his  name  consequently  misin- 
terpreted as  the  Restrainer.  It  really 
means  the  Twin.  According  to  the 
Rig- Veda  he  had  a  twin  sister  Yami. 
They  were  the  children  of  Vivasvat, 
the  god  of  the  dawn,  and  were  the 
first  inhabitants  of  the  earth, — the 
Adam  and  Eve  of  ancient  Hinduism. 
Yama  is  represented  green  in  com- 
plexion, red  in  garments,  four-armed, 
and  sitting  crowned  on  a  buffalo. 
He  holds  a  club  and  noose,  with 
which  the  souls  of  the  departed  are 
drawn  from  their  bodies. 

With  his  sister,  Yama  dwelt  in  a 
paradise  from  which  the  wicked  were 
excluded  by  two  guardian  dogs  and 
where  the  blessed  dead  dwelt  in 
eternal  delight.  There,  drinking  the 
soma  which  rendered  them  immortal 
as  the  gods,  they  gathered  around 
Yama  under  the  shade  of  a  celestial 
tree  and  listened  rapturously  as  he 
played  upon  the  flute.  In  the  later 
myths  we  find  that  these  glorified 
spirits  were  permitted  to  leave 
Yama's  realm  and  revisit  their 
friends  on  certain  days  during  the 
celebration  for  the  feasts  of  the  dead 

24 


and  to  demand  food,  when  it  was 
advisable  to  give  them  what  they 
desired. 

The  Vedas  give  no  description  of 
any  special  hell  for  the  wicked,  this 
idea  having  been  developed  only  in 
post-Vedic  times.  The  Vishnu  Pu- 
rana  mentions  the  names  of  the 
various  hells.  See  SPENCE,  Non- 
Classical  Mythology,  p.  190. 

Yankee  Doodle,  a  humorous  per- 
sonification of  the  American  colonists, 
first  applied  to  them  in  derision  by 
the  English  soldiers  and  then  defiantly 
accepted  by  them  in  a  song  entitled 
The  Yankees  Return  to  Camp,  which 
received  its  final  form  in  a  version 
printed  in  1813.  The  tune  can  be 
traced  back  until  its  origin  is  lost 
in  the  mists  of  antiquity  and  words 
fitted  to  it  were  familiar  in  the  nur- 
sery lore  of  Charles  I's  time: 

Lucy  Locket  lost  her  pocket, 
Kitty  Fisher  found  it; 
Not  a  bit  of  money  in  it, 
Only  a  binding  round  it. 

Kitty  Fisher  was  a  noted  member 
of  the  demi-monde  of  the  time,  and 
the  name  survived  in  the  Fisher's 
Jig  of  1750.  Lucy  Locket  is  a  popular 
name  in  some  parts  of  England  for 
the  Cuckoo  flower  and  the  name  has 


Yellow 


370 


Ygerne 


literary  associations  because  Gay 
chose  it  for  one  of  the  "  dear  charm- 
ers "  of  The  Beggar's  Opera.  See  this 
entry  in  Vol.  I. 

Possibly  the  words  sung  to  the 
tune  of  Yankee  Doodle  are  only  an 
adaptation  of  older  ones  about  the 
flower,  or  at  least  suggested  by  them. 
In  the  time  of  Cromwell's  Protector- 
ate is  found  the  verse  familiar,  with 
slight  alteration,  in  our  own  day: 

Yankee  Doodle  came  to  town, 

Upon  a  Kentish  pony; 
He  stuck  a  feather  in  his  hat 

And  called  it  macaroni. 

There  is  some  evidence  that  the 
Cavaliers  applied  the  name  Yankee 
or  Nankee  to  the  Roundheads  and 
that  after  its  origin  was  forgotten 
the  word  lingered  among  the  people 
to  be  revived  as  a  contemptuous 
epithet  for  the  descendants  of  the 
Roundheads,  the  New  England  col- 
onists. It  is  even  said  that  Nankee 
Doodle  was  Cromwell  himself,  who 
went  up  to  Oxford  with  a  single 
feather  in  his  cap,  fastened  by  a 
"  Maccaroni  "  knot. 

Yellow  Dwarf,  the,  in  the  Countess 
d'Aulnoy's  tale  of  that  name  (1682) 
founded  upon  ancient  traditions,  an 
ugly  and  malignant  imp,  so  called 
from  his  complexion  and  the  orange 
tree  he  lived  in.  "  He  wore  a  coarse 
yellow  stuff  jacket  and  had  no  hair 
to  hide  his  large  ears."  Yellow  Dwarf 
saved  the  princess  All-Fair  from  two 
lions  on  condition  that  she  would 
marry  him.  Seeking  to  evade  this 
promise  All-Fair  betrothed  herself  to 
the  gallant  king  of  the  Golden  Mines, 
but  on  the  wedding  morn  she  was 
carried  off  by  Yellow  Dwarf,  riding 
on  a  Spanish  cat,  and  was  immured 
in  Steel  Castle.  Golden  Mines  came 
to  her  rescue  with  a  magic  diamond 
sword.  Unfortunately,  he  dropped 
the  weapon  in  his  joy  at  seeing  her 
again.  Yellow  Dwarf  picked  it  up 
and  plunged  it  into  his  heart.  All- 
Fair  died  of  grief. 

Ygerne  or  Igerne,  in  Arthurian 
legend,  the  mother  of  King  Arthur; 
wife,  successively,  of  Duke  Gorlois, 
lord  of  Tintagel  Castle  in  Cornwall, 


and  of  Uther  Pendragon.  Uther  fell 
in  love  with  her  while  Gorlois  was 
alive.  She  not  only  resisted  his  ad- 
vances but  informed  her  husband, 
who  withdrew  her  from  the  court. 
Thereupon  Uther  declared  war  upon 
Gorlois  and  besieged  him  in  his 
castle.  All  accounts  agree  that  he 
was  slain  and  that  Uther  married 
the  widow: 

Enforced  she  was  to  wed  him  in  her  tears 
And  with  a  shameful  swiftness. 

TENNYSON:  Coming  of  Arthur. 

Tennyson  ignores  a  story  told  by 
Malory  and  many  of  his  predecessors, 
that  Uther  enlisted  the  magic  arts 
of  Merlin  to  possess  the  lady  even 
before  Gorlois's  death.  Merlin  trans- 
formed Uther  into  the  likeness  of  the 
duke,  and  himself  and  Arthur's 
squire  into  that  of  the  duke's  attend- 
ants. This  triple  metamorphosis  de- 
ceived every  one;  Arthur  was  received 
by  the  queen  in  all  good  faith  and 
spent  the  night  with  her  while  Uther 
was  engaged  in  his  last  fight.  Some 
accounts,  however,  make  Uther  die 
nine  months  later,  on  the  very  day 
of  Arthur's  birth. 

The  story  of  the  deception  was  evi- 
dently inspired  by  the  classic  myth 
of  Jupiter  and  Alcmena  (g.?'.)>  whose 
issue,  Hercules,  bore  the  same  rank 
in  Greek  myth  that  Arthur  did  in 
mediaeval  romance.  See  also  NEC- 

TANEBUS. 

Ovid  in  Metamorphoses,  vi,  tells 
how  Arachne  wove  into  her  tapestry 
stories  of  the  amours  of  Jupiter. 

The  Maeonian  Nymph  delineates  Europa, 
deceived  by  the  form  of  the  bull;  and  you 
would  think  it  a  real  bull,  and  real  sea.  She 
herself  seems  to  be  looking  upon  the  land 
which  she  has  left,  and  to  be  crying  out  to 
her  companions,  and  to  be  in  dread  of  the 
touch  of  the  dashing  waters,  and  to  be  draw- 
ing up  her  timid  feet.  She  drew  also  Asterie, 
seized  by  the  struggling  eagle;  and  made 
Leda,  reclining  beneath  the  wings  of  the 
swan.  She  added,  how  Jupiter,  concealed 
under  the  form  of  a  Satyr,  impregnated 
Antiope,  the  beauteous  daughter  of  Nycteus, 
with  a  twin  offspring;  how  he  was  Amphit- 
ryon, when  he  beguiled  thee,  Tirynthian 
dame;  how,  turned  to  gold,  he  deceived 
Danae;  how,  changed  into  fire,  the  daughter 
of  Asopus;  how,  as  a  shepherd,  Mnemosyne; 
and  as  a  speckled  serpent,  Deois. 


Ymir 


371 


Yoshitsune 


Ymir,  a  primeval  giant  of  Norse 
mythology  who  came  into  existence 
through  the  interworking  of  heat 
and  cold  in  the  abyss  of  Ginnunga- 
gap.  He  was  the  progenitor  of  the 
race  of  Giants.  The  cow  Audhumla, 
formed  simultaneously  with  himself 
through  the  same  agency,  fed  him  by 
4  streams  of  milk  that  streamed  from 
her.  The  cow  called  into  being  a 
giant  named  Buri  by  licking  certain 
stones  that  were  covered  with  salt 
and  hoarfrost.  The  first  day  she 
licked  there  appeared  the  hair  of  a 
man,  the  second  day  his  head,  the 
third  day  the  entire  being.  Mean- 
while Ymir  in  his  sleep  engendered 
a  man  and  a  woman  from  his  sweat, 
and  also  a  son  from  his  feet.  From 
the  latter  descended  the  Frost  giants. 
Buri  begat  Borr,  who  became  the 
father  of  Odin,  Vili  and  Ve,  and  these 
three  slew  Ymir  and  hurled  his  body 
into  Ginnungagap.  His  flesh  became 
land,  his  bones  the  mountains,  his 
skull  the  heavens,  his  brains  the 
clouds,  while  Midgard  was  formed 
from  his  eyebrows. 

Yonec,  titular  character  in  the  Lai 
de  Yonec  (circa  1150)  by  Marie 
de  France.  His  mother  was  the 
young  wife  of  an  aged  husband  who 
had  jealously  shut  her  up  in  a  tower 
and  set  his  widowed  sister  to  guard 
her.  For  seven  years  she  continued 
in  solitary  durance.  Then  one  day 
when  her  guardian  was  absent  she 
gave  vent  to  her  plaints  from  a 
window.  A  hawk  flew  in  and,  im- 
mediately on  alighting,  became  a 
handsome  knight.  For  some  months 
the  pair  carried  on  a  secret  intrigue. 
The  husband,  however,  suspected 
that  her  restored  cheerfulness  boded 
ill  to  his  honor  and  set  a  trap  to 
discover  its  reason.  He  placed  four 
sharp  swords  in  the  window,  which 
cut  and  maimed  the  hawk  when  he 
next  presented  himself.  He  was  able 
to  fly  away,  however,  and  the  lady, 
leaping  twenty  feet  out  of  the  win- 
dow, followed  his  flight  by  the  blood 
drops  he  let  fall.  At  last  she  tracked 
him  to  his  palace  in  a  silver  city. 
The  dying  knight  warned  her  to 
return,  and  giving  her  a  sword  and 


a  ring,  bade  her  never  part  with 
either  till  their  expected  son  should 
have  become  recognized  as  a  gallant 
knight.  Then  would  she,  her  hus- 
band, and  her  son  go  to  a  feast,  and 
lodge  at  an  abbey  where  should  be 
seen  a  noble  monument.  Here  the 
son  would  learn  the  secret  of  his 
birth  and  be  girt  with  the  sword. 
In  due  time  the  lady  bore  a  son  whom 
she  named  Yonec  and  everything 
came  to  pass  as  her  lover  had  prophe- 
sied. But  when  Yonec,  at  the  tomb 
of  his  real  father,  learned  the  secret 
of  his  birth,  he  smote  off,  with  his 
newly  acquired  sword,  the  head  of 
his  mother's  husband.  The  lady 
expired  upon  her  true  love's  body 
and  was  buried  in  the  same  tomb. 
Yonec  was  proclaimed  king  of  the 
realm. 

Yoshitsune  (1159-1190),  one  of 
the  great  national  heroes  of  Japan, 
head  of  the  clan  Minamoto,  which 
under  his  leadership  defeated  and 
annihilated  the  rival  clan  Taira,  and 
became  the  ruling  power  in  the  land. 
Like  most  national  heroes  of  the 
middle  ages  Yoshitsune's  life-story 
has  been  enveloped  in  a  cloud  of 
myth  and  fable,  which  have  ob- 
scured his  historical  character  even 
in  the  accepted  annals  of  Japan. 
Especially  popular  is  his  victory  over 
the  giant  Benkei,  who  had  left  the 
priesthood  to  become  a  sort  of  bandit, 
and  their  subsequent  alliance.  Benkei 
had  collected  999  swords  from  his 
victims  on  the  highway,  and  com- 
placently expected  to  complete  his 
tale  of  1000  when  he  first  encountered 
Yoshitsune  on  the  bridge  of  Grojo. 
The  young,  gentle,  and  diminutive 
nobleman  looked  like  an  easy  prey 
to  the  mighty  and  ferocious  outlaw. 
But  skill,  agility  and  adroitness 
proved  more  than  a  match  for  brute 
strength  and  stature,  and  soon 
brought  the  giant  to  his  knees.  His 
life  was  spared  and  from  that  moment 
Benkei,  a  changed  character,  became 
the  obedient  squire  and  devoted 
companion  of  Yoshitsune,  whose 
fortunes  he  shared  even  unto  the 
end.  He  died  "  pierced  with  a 
hundred  arrows  "  in  the  final  battle 


Ys 


372 


Ys 


of  a  civil  war  waged  by  Yoshitsune's 
jealous  brother,  Yoritomo.  Yoshit- 
sune,  himself,  who  had  refused  to 
take  an  active  share  in  the  fratri- 
cidal strife,  was  beheaded.  But 
there  is  another  legend  concerning 
Yoshitsune's  end  which  identifies 
him  with  the  Mongol  emperor, 
Genghis  Khan.  According  to  this 
legend  Yoshitsune  escaped  from  the 
field  of  blood.  Just  after  he  disap- 
peared from  Northern  Japan  there 
sprang  into  prominence  on  the  main- 
land of  Asia  the  famous  conqueror, 
a  man  of  his  own  age.  The  career 
of  Genghis  Khan  is  known  to  the 
whole  world,  but  only  from  this  time 
forward.  Of  his  earlier  years  the 
accounts  from  Tartar  sources  are 
vague  and  self-contradictory.  His 
emergence  into  authentic  history 
did  not  occur  until  he  was  past 
thirty.  It  is  strange  that  a  man  of 
his  extraordinary  character  should 
not  have  been  heard  of  sooner, 
were  he  really  a  native  of  the  place 
in  which  his  conquering  activities 
began  and  a  member  of  the  family 
to  which  he  is  usually  accredited. 
For  other  coincidences  which  seem 
to  kin  the  two  characters  the  reader 
is  referred  to  an  article  by  Arthur 
Morrison,  The  Japanese  Bayard,  in 
the  London  Strand  for  June,  1912. 

Ys  or  Is,  according  to  Breton  myth, 
a  city  that  lies  at  the  bottom  of  the 
sea  off  the  coast  of  Cornouailles  in 
Brittany.  Tradition  asserts  that  it 
was  erected  as  his  capital  by  King 
Gradlon,  or  Grallon,  about  the  year 
495.  He  built  it  below  the  level  of 
the  sea,  on  a  wide  plain,  and  sur- 
rounded it  by  stout  walls  to  keep  out 
the  sea.  Though  a  good  and  pious 
king,  he  had  a  wicked  daughter, 
named  Dahut,  who  dwelt  in  a  lofty 
tower,  where  she  held  impious  revels 
with  a  succession  of  lovers.  When 
tired  of  one  lover  she  had  him  thrown 
into  a  well,  and  chose  another.  Once 
her  paramour  begged  her  to  obtain 
for  him  the  silver  key  which  locked 
the  great  sluice-gates  in  the  walls, 
and  which  her  father  always  wore 
around  his  neck.  Dahut  consented, 
and  stole  the  key  from  Gradlon's 


neck  while  he  slept;  either  she  or 
her  lover  opened  the  gates  in  idle 
folly,  the  waters  rushed  in  and  sub- 
merged the  town.  Gradlon  was 
awakened  by  a  voice  bidding  him 
rise  and  flee;  he  mounted  his  horse 
and  took  with  him  Dahut,  whom  he 
loved  in  spite  of  her  crimes,  but  the 
floods  pursued  them,  and  the  voice 
called  to  him  to  cast  away  the  demon 
beside  him.  Dahut  fell  into  the 
billows  and  was  drowned,  while  her 
father  escaped.  The  waves  stopped 
their  course  at  the  very  spot  where 
Dahut  perished,  but  the  city  was  lost 
forever.  Gradlon  established  his 
court  at  Kemper,  near  Quimper,  the 
capital  of  Cornouailles. 

A  variation  of  the  story  represents 
Dahut  as  an  enchantress,  who  built 
the  walls  of  Ys  by  the  aid  of  spirits. 
When  her  father,  urged  by  the  hermit 
Corentin,  reproved  her  for  her  prof- 
ligacy, she  imprisoned  him,  and 
warned  the  hermit  never  to  approach 
Ys  again.  Corentin,  however,  dis- 
guised himself  as  a  prince,  won  her 
love,  and,  obtaining  the  key  in  the 
manner  above  described,  freed  Grad- 
lon, and  let  loose  the  waters  upon  Ys 
and  Dahut. 

Every  five  years  on  the  first  night 
of  May  the  peasants  say  that  the 
city,  with  all  its  castles  and  towers, 
rises  at  the  first  stroke  of  midnight 
and  sinks  again  at  the  twelfth.  If 
any  one  succeeds  in  entering  the 
palace  of  Dahut  while  the  clock  is 
striking  and  possessing  himself  of  a 
magic  ring  of  nut-wood  which  is  in 
one  of  its  apartments,  he  will  there- 
after have  every  wish  gratified.  A 
young  man  named  Kurd  made  the 
trial,  but  did  not  escape  in  time,  and 
sank  with  the  city  beneath  the  waters. 

Such  was  the  magnificence  of  Ys, 
or  Ker-is  as  it  is  sometimes  called, 
that  Paris  is  said  to  have  derived  its 
name  from  being  equal  to  Is, — Par-Is. 
Near  Laonal  is  a  chapel  where  a 
phantom  priest  waits  to  say  mass. 
The  saying  goes, — 

Sept  manteaux  d'6carlate  et  soixante, 
Sans  nomrner  les  autres, 
Venaient  de  la  ville  d'ls 
A  la  messe  a  Laonal. 


Ysaie 


373 


Ysonde 


The  country  people  say  that  they 
can  hear  sometimes  the  church-bells 
of  the  submerged  city  ringing  with 
the  motion  of  the  current.  Ernest 
Renan  uses  this  as  a  simile  in  his 
Souvenirs; — just  as  the  peasants  catch 
the  sound  of  the  Is  bells,  so  can  he  at 
certain  moments  hear  from  the  depths 
of  his  soul  the  faint  echoes  of  the  old 
religious  beliefs  in  which  he  was 
trained.  See  VINETA. 

Ysaie  le  Triste,  in  an  early  me- 
diaeval romance  of  that  name,  the 
love-child  of  Tristan  and  Yseult, 
borne  secretly  by  the  lady  after  the 
hero's  death  and  left  in  charge  of  a 
hermit.  Fairies  attended  him  in  his 
childhood  and  dowered  him  with 
strength,  courage  and  other  knightly 
traits.  By  their  direction  the  hermit 
took  the  child  to  the  tomb  of  Lancelot 
and  dubbed  him  a  knight  with  the 
grisly  right  arm  of  the  skeleton. 
Then,  with  the  dwarf  Tronc  as  his 
companion,  Ysaie  appeared  at  the 
court  of  King  Ireon,  whose  niece 
Martha  had  been  so  favorably  im- 
pressed by  his  reputation  for  beauty 
and  strength  that  she  was  quite 
ready  to  yield  herself  to  his  embraces. 
A  son,  Mark,  was  born  in  due  course, 
but  many  perilous  adventures  had 
to  be  encountered  and  the  son  had 
grown  to  manhood  ere  Ysaie  and 
Martha  were  united  as  husband  and 
wife  on  the  very  day  of  Mark's 
marriage  to  Orimonda,  a  Saracen 
princess,  whom  he  had  captured  and 
baptized.  See  also  TRONC. 

Ysonde.  In  the  romance  of  Tris- 
trem, attributed  to  Thomas  Rymour, 
there  are  two  ladies  of  this  name, 
one  the  wife  of  King  Mark,  whom 
Tristrem  himself  loved,  and  the  other 
the  lady  whom  he  married  for  con- 
venience, after  he  had  broken  off 
relations  with  his  royal  paramour. 
In  other  romances  and  poems  the 
name  is  indifferently  spelt  as  Yseult, 
Iseult,  Isondc,  etc.  The  latter  form 
is  the  one  adopted  by  Malory  in  his 
M orte  d'A  rthur.  Malory  says  nothing 
about  the  magic  love-draught,  which 
is  the  real  crux  of  the  more  famous 
version  of  the  story  as  endorsed  by 
Thomas  Rymour,  and  which  con- 


stitutes a  poetic  condonation  of  the 
lovers'  guilt.  According  to  Thomas, 
Tristrem,  a  Cornish  knight,  is  cured 
by  the  Queen  of  Ireland  of  a  danger- 
ous wound  in  his  thigh  inflicted  by 
an  Irish  giant  named  Moraunt, 
whom,  however,  he  succeeds  in  slay- 
ing. In  gratitude  he  undertakes  to 
instruct  her  daughter,  Ysonde,  in 
poetry  and  music,  and  on  his  return 
to  Cornwall  he  so  inflamed  King 
Mark's  imagination  with  reports  of 
the  princess's  beauty  and  grace  that 
Tristrem  is  sent  to  sue  for  her  hand 
on  behalf  of  King  Mark.  He  escorts 
her  to  Cornwall.  Unfortunately, 
before  sailing,  the  queen  brews  a  love 
potion  which  is  to  be  given  to  Ysonde 
and  Mark,  that  they  may  fall  mutu- 
ally in  love.  The  maid,  Brengwain, 
gives  it  by  mistake  to  Tristrem  and 
Ysonde  on  the  ship.  A  violent  mutual 
passion  springs  up  between  the  young 
couple,  which  is  full  of  terrible  con- 
sequences. Mark  finally  pardons 
the  couple  after  discovering  their 
guilt  and  Tristrem,  in  the  course  of 
many  wanderings,  finds  himself  in 
Brittany.  Here  he  makes  a  song 
upon  Ysonde.  The  daughter  of  the 
king  of  that  realm  is  also  called 
Ysonde,  and  her  father,  imagining 
that  she  is  the  lady  thus  honored, 
gives  Tristrem  her  hand.  Though 
he  accepts  it,  the  marriage  is  not 
consummated.  At  a  great  tourna- 
ment in  Cornwall  Tristrem  van- 
quishes all  comers,  but,  returning  to 
Brittany,  receives  an  arrow  in  his 
old  wound.  None  can  cure  it  save 
Ysonde  of  Cornwall.  Tristrem  sends 
his  brother-in-law,  Ganhardin,  to 
bring  that  lady  to  his  sick  bed.  Should 
Ganhardin  succeed  in  his  quest,  he 
must  hoist  a  white  flag;  if  he  fails,  a 
black  one.  A  white  sail  is  in  fact 
displayed,  but  the  jealous  Ysonde  of 
Brittany  tells  Tristrem  that  it  is  a 
black  one.  He  concludes  that  Ysonde 
of  Cornwall  has  abandoned  him, 
and,  sinking  back  in  his  bed,  yields 
up  the  ghost.  The  lady  rushes  in, 
discovers  what  has  happened,  and 
expires  on  his  breast.  In  some  of  the 
mediaeval  romances  the  two  Iseults, 
or  Ysondes,  are  kinned  as  sisters. 


Yuclaou 


374 


Zaleucus 


The  lady  of  Brittany  is  sometimes 
described  as  La  Blanche  Mains,  or 
the  White  Hands,  while  the  other  is, 
more  simply,  called  La  Beale  (the 
beautiful)  Ysonde. 

Yuclaou  (Chin,  the  old  man  of  the 
moon),  in  popular  mythology  of 
China,  a  divinity  who  dwells  in  the 
moon  and  whose  peculiar  business  it 
is  to  tie  together  at  their  birth  with 
an  invisible  silken  cord  all  youths 
and  maidens  who  are  predestined  for 
each  other,  after  which  the  most 
distant  separation,  and  apparently 
insurmountable  obstacles,  cannot  pre- 
vent their  ultimate  union.  This  is 
what  is  called  Yewyuen — "  having 
a  connexion  in  fate." 

Yvetot,  King  of,  a  name  made 
famous  in  literature  by  Be"ranger's 
ballad  Le  Roi  d'  Yvetot.  It  appeared 
in  May,  1813,  just  after  Napoleon's 
disastrous  retreat  from  Moscow. 
The  satirical  contrast  of  the  jolly 
"  roi  bon-enfant,"  whose  little  king- 
dom rejoiced  in  peace  and  prosperity, 
with  the  ambitious  and  restless  Em- 
peror was  recognized  at  once.  Na- 
poleon was  advised  by  the  police  to 
suppress  it,  but  he  apparently  failed 
to  perceive  its  sting.  That  the 
Bourbons  saw  and  rejoiced  in  its 
tendency  is  evident  from  the  speech 
of  Louis  XVIII  when  asked  in  1815 
to  reprimand  Be"ranger  for  disloyal 
utterances:  "  We  must  pardon  a 
great  deal  to  the  author  of  The  King 
of  Yvetbt" 

The  King  and  the  kingdom  of 
Yvetot,  long  before  Beranger's  time, 
had  been  an  occasion  for  fun  among 
French  humorists,  though  little  known 
outside  of  France.  Yvetdt  is  a  little 
principality  of  Normandy.  One 
legend  affirms  that  King  Clotaire 
bestowed  the  title  in  525  upon  the 


son  of  Walter,  Lord  of  Yvet6t,  in 
atonement  for  a  sacrilegious  crime. 
Walter,  a  banished  noble,  seeking  to 
effect  a  reconciliation  with  his  mon- 
arch when  the  latter  was  hearing 
mass,  was  slain  at  the  church  en- 
trance by  Clotaire. 

Another  tradition  says  that  the 
first  king  of  Yvetot  was  one  Ansfred, 
styled  "  le  Drole,"  or  "  the  humor- 
ous," who  accompanied  William  of 
Normandy  during  his  victorious 
invasion  of  England.  For  his  ser- 
vices Ansfred  was  rewarded  by  the 
gifts  of  the  fiefs  or  estates  of  Yvetdt 
and  Taillanville  in  the  Plains  of 
Caux.  He  assumed,  for  some  doubt- 
ful reason,  the  title  of  Roi  d'Yvetdt; 
and  his  heirs  have  held  that  kingly 
designation  ever  since.  Neither 
tradition  is  supported  by  adequate 
evidence. 

That  there  was  a  King  of  Yvet6t  is, 
however,  certain,  as  allusions  to  the 
title  are  occasionally  found  in  French 
history.  We  hear  of  it  in  the  reign 
of  Louis  XI  (1461-1483).  Jean 
Baucher  was  called  "King'1  under 
Charles  VIII  (1483-1498);  Francis  I 
(1515-1547)  addressed  the  lady  of 
Yvetot  as  "  Queen  ";  Henry  II  (1547- 
1549)  officially  recognized  the  title, 
and  Henry  IV  (1589-1610)  is  known 
to  have  exclained,  "  Ventre  St.  Gris, 
if  I  lose  the  kingdom  of  France,  I 
wish  at  least  to  be  King  of  Yvetot." 
Authentic  records  do  not  trace  the 
title  with  any  certainty  earlier  than 
the  time  of  Louis  XI,  and  its  origin 
is  still  obscure. 

The  Revolution,  which  over- 
whelmed the  French  king,  did  not 
spare  his  royal  brother  of  Yvet6t, 
and  the  parochial  monarch  was  one 
of  the  first  victims  of  the  guillo- 
tine. 


Zaleucus,  lawgiver  to  the  Epize- 
phrian  Locrians.  The  date  of  his 
legislation  is  assigned  to  B.C.  660. 
His  code  is  said  to  have  been  just 
but  severe.  There  is  little  evidence 


for  his  existence  and  less  for  the 
legend  with  which  his  name  is  most 
usually  associated,  that  he  insisted 
in  having  one  of  his  own  eyes  put 
out  rather  than  allow  his  son,  con- 


Zarca 


375 


Zerbino 


victed  of  abusing  a  virgin,  to  lose  both 
his  eyes.  The  punishment  for  this 
crime  was  the  infliction  of  total  blind- 
ness. The  story  is  told  by  Valerius 
Maximus.  It  is  retold  in  the  Gesta 
Romanorum,  Tale  1,  where  the  pro- 
tagonist is  named  Emperor  Zelongus. 

Zarca,  heroine  of  an  Arabic  legend 
which  has  been  set  down  in  writing 
by  Obaid  ibn  Shariyeh,  a  younger 
contemporary  of  Mahomet. 

Long  before  the  time  of  the  prophet 
the  tribes  of  Tasm  and  Jadis  were 
united  under  the  chieftainship  of 
King  Amlak.  But  because  he  chose 
to  exercise  the  droit  de  seigneur  on  all 
newly  wedded  virgins  the  tribe  of 
Jadis  determined  to  rise  against  him 
under  the  leadership  of  El  Aswad, 
whose  sister  had  been  obliged  to  sub- 
mit to  this  legalized  outrage.  Not 
being  powerful  enough  to  compass 
Amlak 's  downfall  by  force,  El  Aswad 
decided  upon  strategy.  He  invited 
the  tyrant  to  be  present  at  a  great 
feast  given  by  his  tribe  in  the  valley 
of  El-Yemameh.  The  Jadis  had  pre- 
viously hidden  their  swords  in  the 
sand.  When  the  men  of  Tasm  were 
busily  engaged  in  eating,  they  drew 
out  the  concealed  weapons  and  mas- 
sacred their  guests.  Only  one  man 
Riyah  escaped  to  tell  the  tale  to 
Hassan,  the  overlord  of  King  Amlak. 
King  Hassan,  greatly  wroth,  con- 
sented to  lead  an  army  against  the 
Jadis.  Riyah  told  him  that  amongst 
the  women  of  Jadis  there  was  one 
named  Zarca,  whose  sight  was  so 
powerful  that  she  could  see  at  a 
distance  of  three  days'  journey,  and 
he  advised  King  Hassan  to  adopt  pre- 
cautions for  concealing  the  march  of 
his  army,  lest  the  enemy  take  to 
flight.  The  King  thereupon  ordered 
that  every  soldier  should  take  the 
branch  of  a  tree  for  the  purpose  of 
hiding  his  person.  But,  as  they 
marched  on,  the  keen  eyes  of  Zarca 
detected  a  man  who  had  stepped 
aside  from  the  rest,  in  order  to  mend 
his  shoe,  and  she  gave  an  alarm.  The 
tribe  only  laughed  at  her  fears  when 
she  explained  that  she  had  seen  a 
man  marching  behind  a  tree,  and  they 
kept  on  deriding  her  until  the  troops 


arrived  and  slew  them.  Hassan  or- 
dered Zarca  into  his  presence,  and 
questioned  her  as  to  the  secret  of 
her  sight.  She  replied  that  it  was 
due  to  the  ore  of  antimony,  which 
she  reduced  to  powder  and  applied 
to  her  eyes  as  a  collyrium  every 
night.  The  king  ordered  her  eyes 
to  be  examined  and  beneath  the 
pupils  were  found  ducts  or  arteries, 
which  had  become  black  through 
the  excessive  use  of  kohl.  Evidently 
this  is  an  early  oriental  form  of  the 
legend  of  Birnam  Wood  and  Dunsi- 
nane,  whereof  Shakspear  has  availed 
himself  in  Macbeth.  Professor  M. 
Jastrow  in  Poet  Lore,  1890,  vol.  ii, 
p.  247,  makes  this  comment:  "  While 
I  am  inclined  to  regard  the  Arabic 
version  as  approaching  to  the  primi- 
tive form — certainly  far  more  primi- 
tive in  its  features  than  any  of  the 
others — I  do  not  think  that  scholars 
will  hit  upon  Arabia  as  the  final 
source."  See  FURNESS,  Variorum 
Shakspear,  Macbeth,  p.  326. 

Zauberflote,  in  German  popular 
myth,  a  magic  flute  capable  of  inspir- 
ing love  in  those  who  hear  it.  When 
bestowed  by  the  powers  of  darkness 
the  love  is  mere  sensuality,  but  in  the 
hands  of  the  powers  of  light  it  is  sub- 
limated into  something  high  and  holy. 
In  Mozart's  opera  Die  Zauberflote 
(1791)  the  flute  guides  Tamino  and 
Pamina  through  all  worldly  dangers 
to  the  mysteries  of  Isis  and  the 
knowledge  of  divine  truth. 

Zenelophpn.    See  COPHETUA. 

Zerbino,  in  Ariosto's  Orlando  Furi- 
oso,  a  Scottish  knight  who  kills 
Cloridan  in  fair  combat,  but  spares 
his  servitor  Medoro.  Gallant,  brave, 
handsome,  he  passionately  loves  and 
is  passionately  loved  by  his  youthful 
bride,  Isabella,  daughter  of  the  King 
of  Gallicia.  When  Orlando  goes  mad 
he  piously  gathers  together  the 
scattered  arms  of  the  hapless  knight, 
and  hangs  them  on  a  pine  tree  with 
the  inscription,  "  These  are  the  arms 
of  the  Paladin  Orlando": 

Here  Prince  Zerbino  all  the  arms  unites, 
And  hangs  like  a  fair  trophy  on  a  pine. 

And    to    preserve    them    safe    from    errant 

knights, 
Natives  or  foreigners,  in  one  short  line 


Zeus 


376 


Zeus 


Upon  the  saplings  verdant  surface  writes: 
"Orlando's   arms,    King    Charles's   pala- 

dine." 
As  he  would  say  "Let  none  this  harness 

move. 
Who  cannot  with  its  lord  his  prowess  prove." 

Orlando  Furioso,  xviii,  44. 

WILLIAM  S.  ROSE,  Trans. 

Up  comes  Mandricardo,  emperor  of 
Tartary.  He  attempts  to  seize  the 
sword  Durindane.  The  two  warriors 
clash,  Zerbino  is  fatally  wounded. 
He  falls  from  his  horse;  Mandricardo 
rides  away  with  the  spoils  of  his 
victory. 

Zeus,  the  greatest  of  the  Greek 
gods,  whom  the  Romans  identified 
with  Jupiter,  the  greatest  of  the 
Latin  gods.  One  of  the  seven  chil- 
dren of  Cronos  and  Rhea,  he  was 
both  the  brother  and  the  husband 
of  Hera. 

When  he  and  his  two  brothers 
divided  the  universe  among  them- 
selves Poseidon  took  the  sea,  Hades 
the  lower  world  and  Zeus  the  heavens, 
and  the  earth  remained  common  to 
all.  Hesiod  says  that  he  was  not 
swallowed  up  at  birth  by  Cronos 
(<Z.P.)  as  were  all  his  brothers  and 
sisters.  Rhea  secreted  him  in  a  cave 
of  Mount  ^Egeon  and  gave  Cronos 
a  stone  wrapped  up  in  cloth  which 
he  swallowed  in  belief  that  it  was  his 
son.  The  young  god  delivered  the 
Cyclops  from  the  bondage  of  Cronos; 
and  in  gratitude  they  dowered  him 
with  thunder  and  lightning.  He  also 
liberated  the  Gigantes  and  they 
fought  with  him  against  the  Titans, 
who  were  conquered  and  shut  up  in 
Tartarus.  According  to  Homer, 
Zeus  dwelt  on  Mount  Olympus,  whose 
lofty  summit  penetrated  into  heaven 
itself.  He  is  the  father  of  gods  and 
men,  the  greatest  among  the  im- 
mortals, the  supreme  ruler  of  the 
universe;  the  founder  of  knightly 
power,  the  conservator  of  law  and 
order.  The  shaking  of  his  aegis  pro- 
duces storm;  he  hurls  thunderbolts 
at  whomsoever  offends  him.  The 
Homeric  epithets  describe  him  as  the 
thunderer,  the  cloud-compeller,  etc., 
and  from  many  sources  other  sur- 
names were  derived  from  his  powers 
and  functions  or  from  the  places 


where  he  was  worshipped.  By  Hera, 
his  consort,  he  had  two  sons,  Ares 
and  Hephaestus,  and  one  daughter, 
Hebe.  But  he  was  continually  phi- 
landering with  other  'goddesses  and 
with  the  daughters  of  men,  Demeter, 
Eurynome,  Leto,  Mnemosyne  and 
Metis,  among  the  first;  with  Europa, 
lo,  Leda,  among  the  latter.  These 
produced  a  number  of  children,  the 
most  famous  of  whom  were  Apollo, 
Artemis,  Athena,  and  the  Dioscuri. 

The  statue  of  the  Olympian  Zeus, 
by  Phidias,  now  lost,  was  considered 
the  greatest  of  all  Grecian  statues 
and  therefore  the  world's  master- 
piece in  sculpture.  The  national 
was  "  chryselephantine,"  i.e.,  part 
ivory  and  part  gold.  The  figure 
was  seated  and  measured  40  feet. 
Phidias  avowedly  took  his  idea  from 
Homer's  description  in  Book  i  of 
the  Iliad : 

He  spoke  and  awful  bends  his  sable  brows. 
Shakes  his  ambrosial  curls  and  gives  the  nod 
The  stamp  of  fate  and  sanction  of  the  god. 
High  heaven  with  reverence  the  dread 

signal  took, 
And  all  Olympus  to  the  centre  shook. 

POPE,  Trans. 

Cowper's  version  is  less  famous  but 
is  true  to  the  original: 

He  ceased,  and  under  his  dark  brows  the  nod 
Vouchsafed  of  confirmation.      All  around 
The  sovereign's  everlasting  head  his  curls 
Ambrosial  shook,  and  the  huge  mountain 
reeled. 

It  was  said  of  the  Phidian  Zeus  that 
before  seeing  it  none  could  imagine 
what  deity  looked  like,  and  after 
seeing  it  none  could  imagine  how 
deity  could  look  otherwise.  A  me- 
diaeval legend  tells  of  a  certain 
painter  who  attempted  a  picture  of 
Christ.  But  despite  himself  it  was 
Zeus  whom  he  drew.  The  accursed 
hand  which,  even  inadvertently,  de- 
graded the  Saviour  in  this  fashion 
was  promptly  shrivelled.  The  prayer 
of  the  patriarch  Gennadius,  however, 
was  answered  when  he  besought  the 
Almighty  to  pardon  the  involun- 
tary offence  and  restore  the  hand  to 
health.  But  Gennadius  that  night 
was  visited  by  demons  who  warned 


Ziffius 


377 


Zohrab 


him  that  after  his  death  they  would 
rule  the  church. 

We  are  indebted  to  comparative 
mythologists  of  modern  times  for 
knowledge  of  the  fact  that  the  Greek 
word  Zeus,  like  the  Latin  words 
deus,  divus,  and  Jovis,  the  German 
Tiu,  and  the  English  deity,  all  are 
forms  of  the  Sanskrit  word  for  God — 
deva,  which  in  its  turn  comes  from 
the  Aryan  root  div,  to  shine. 

We  have  in  the  Veda  the  invocation 
Dyauspitar, — the  Greek  Zeus  jrdrqe,  the  Latin 
Jupiter — and  that  means  in  all  the  three 
languages  what  it  meant  before  these  three 
languages  were  torn  asunder,  it  means 
Heaven-father!  These  two  words  are  not 
mere  words;  they  are  to  my  mind  the  oldest 
poem,  the  oldest  prayer  of  mankind  or  at 
least  of  that  pure  branch  of  it  to  which  we 
belong  . .  .  We  little  thought  when  we  heard 
for  the  first  time  the  name  of  Jupiter,  de- 
graded it  may  be  by  Homer  or  Ovid  into  a 
scolding  husband  or  a  faithless  lover,  what 
sacred  records  lay  enshrined-  in  this  holy 
name. — MAX  MULLER:  Chips'  from  a  Ger- 
man Workshop. 

Ziffius,  a  marine  monster  mentioned 
by  early  naturalists,  was  generally 
identified  with  the  sword  fish  or 
xiphias. 

The  horrible  sea-satyr  that  doth  show 
His  fearful  face  in  times  of  greatest  storm; 
Huge  Ziffius,  whom  mariners  eschew 
No  less  than  rocks,  as  travellers  inform. 
SPENSER:  Faerie  Queene,  ii,  12. 

Zika  or  Zizka  von  Trocnow,  John 
(1360-1424),  one  of  the  most  famous 
leaders  of  the  Hussites  of  Bohemia 
and  one  of  the  greatest  warriors  of 
history.  Two  legends  have  attached 
themselves  to  his  name.  The  first 
is  that  his  sister  had  been  seduced  by 
a  monk,  whence  he  became  a  bitter 
adversary  of  the  Catholic  church 
and  a  willing  convert  to  John  Huss's 
teachings.  Whenever  he  heard  the 
shriek  of  a  Catholic  at  the  stake  he 
called  it  his  sister's  bridal-song.  At 
death  he  is  said  to  have  ordered  his 
skin  to  be  made  into  drum-heads. 

For  every  page  of  paper  shall  a  hide 

Of  yours  be  stretched  as  parchment  on  a 

drum, 

Like  Zizka 's  skin,  to  beat  alarm  to  all 
Refractory  vassals. 

BYRON:  Werner,  i  (1820). 

Zineura,  in  Boccaccio's  Decameron, 
ii»  9  (I35°)i  the  original  of  Imogen 


in  Shakspear's  Cymbeline  (1605). 
Her  husband,  Bernabo,  a  Genoese 
merchant,  boasts  of  her  virtue,  and 
angered  at  the  incredulity  of  Ambro- 
givolo,  a  professed  misogynist,  wagers 
5000  florins  against  1000  that  Am- 
brogivolp  cannot  seduce  the  lady. 
Ambrogivolo,  finding  he  cannot  win 
by  fair  means,  bribes  his  way  into 
her  chamber,  concealed  in  a  trunk. 
He  emerges  at  dead  of  night,  takes 
note  of  the  furniture,  secures  the 
lady's  purse,  her  morning  gown  and 
her  girdle,  and  notices  on  her  left 
breast  "  a  mole  cinque-spotted." 
Bernabo  is  convinced,  pays  the  money 
and  gives  orders  that  Zineura  shall 
be  killed.  She  escapes,  as  Imogen 
does,  through  the  soft-heartedness 
of  a  servant;  dons  male  apparel  and 
enters  the  service  of  the  sultan  of 
Egypt.  In  Alexandria  she  encounters 
Ambrogivolo  and,  unrecognized  her- 
self, wheedles  out  of  him  the  story 
of  his  baseness.  Bernabo,  also,  is  in 
Alexandria.  She  contrives  to  have 
both  men  summoned  to  the  presence 
of  the  sultan,  where  she  reveals  the 
truth  and  discovers  her  own  per- 
sonality. Bernabo  is  pardoned  at 
her  request.  Ambrogivolo  is  con- 
demned to  be  fastened,  smeared  with 
honey,  to  a  stake  and  left  to  be  de- 
voured by  flies  and  locusts, — the  same 
punishment  which  Autolycus  in  The 
Winter's  Tale  iv,  4,  812,  humorously 
imagines  in  the  mock  sentence 
passed  upon  the  clown. 

The  chief  incidents  in  the  story 
were  used  in  a  mediaeval  French 
miracle-play ;  in  old  French  romances, 
La  Violette  and  Flore  et  Jehanne;  and 
in  an'  English  tract,  Westward  for 
Smelts  '(1620). 

Zohrab  or  Zonak,  the  fifth  king 
of  the  Pischdaden  dynasty,  lineally 
descended  from  Shedad,  who  per- 
ished with  the  tribe  of  Ad.  Zohrab 
murdered  his  predecessor  and  enjoys 
an  undeserved  reputation  as  the 
inventor  of  the  punishments  of  the 
cross  and  of  flaying  alive.  The  devil, 
who  had  long  served  him,  at  last, 
as  a  recompense,  requested  permis- 
sion to  kiss  his  shoulders.  Imme- 
diately two  serpents  grew  there  who 


Zophiel 


Zuleikha 


fed  upon  his  flesh  and  threatened  to 
devour  his  brain.  The  devil  sug- 
gested that  Zohrab  might  relieve 
himself  of  the  annoyance  by  giving 
the  serpents  every  day  the  brains  of 
two  men  killed  for  that  purpose. 
This  went  on  until  a  blacksmith  of 
Ispahan,  whose  sons  had  been  slain 
to  feed  the  serpents,  raised  his 
leathern  apron  as  the  standard  of 
revolt.  Zohrab  was  deposed  and 
cast  into  a  cavern,  in  the  mountains 
of  Demawend,  which  stretch  from 
Elwend  towards  Teheran.  There  is 
a  belief  in  Persia  that  Zohrab  is  still 
living.  A  sulphurous  vapor  issues 
from  this  cave,  and,  if  a  stone  be 
flung  in,  a  sound  like  the  cry  of  a 
voice  in  pain  comes  forth:  "  Why 
dost  thou  fling  stones  at  me?  ' 
Southey,  in  his  poem  of  Thalaba,  the 
Destroyer,  and  Archbishop  Whately 
both  have  treated  this  legend. 

Zophiel,  the  name  which  Milton 
gives  to  the  angel  more  usually  and 
more  correctly  transliterated  as 
Jophiel  (Heb.  the  beauty  of  God). 
According  to  Jewish  and  Christian 
traditions  Jophiel  was  one  of  the 
seven  archangels  who  stood  around 
the  throne  of  God  (see  Revelation 
viii,  2).  Rabbinical  legends  made 
him  the  teacher  of  the  sons  of  Noah. 
The  protector  of  all  who  seek  truth 
with  an  humble  heart,  he  is  the 
natural  enemy  of  all  who  pursue 
vain  knowledge.  Thus  it  was  held 
that  he  was  the  guardian  of  the 
tree  of  knowledge  and  likewise 
the  angel  who  drove  Adam  and 
Eve  out  of  Paradise.  Zophiel,  how- 
ever, is  classed  by  Milton  among  the 
cherubim. 

In  Paradise  Lost,  vi,  535,  Zophiel 
brings  word  to  the  heavenly  host 
that  the  rebel  crew  are  preparing  for 
a  second  and  still  fiercer  attack: 

Zophiel  of  cherubim  the  swiftest  wing 
Came  flying  and  in  mid-air  aloud  thus  cried: 
"Arm,  warriors,  arm  for  fight!" 

Zoroaster  or  Zarathustra,  the  his- 
torical founder  of  the  religion  of  the 
Persians,  who  probably  flourished 
about  the  8th  century  before  Christ, 
was  the  hero  of  many  marvellous 


traditions.  Persian  myth  recounted 
strange  portents  seen  at  his  birth, 
and  told  how  when  still  a  lad  his 
precocious  wisdom  confounded  the 
Magi,  and  how  in  early  manhood  he 
was  borne  up  to  the  highest  heaven 
and  given  the  sacred  word  of  life  by 
God  himself.  He  commenced  his 
mission  at  the  age  of  thirty  and  died 
at  seventy-seven.  The  religion  he 
taught  remained  the  national  re- 
ligion of  Persia  until  the  Mohamme- 
dan invasion  in  the  seventh  century, 
and  survives  in  the  sect  of  Parsees, 
still  flourishing  in  Bombay.  The 
Rosicrusians,  according  to  the  Me- 
moirs of  the  Count  of  Gabalis,  credited 
Zoroaster  with  a  much  more  ancient 
origin.  They  identified  him  with 
Japhet,  whom  the  Old  Testament 
calls  the  son  of  Noah.  But  they 
explained  that  Noah  and  his  wife 
Vesta,  for  what  we  would  call  eugenic 
reasons,  determined  to  live  apart 
and  to  find  consorts  among  the 
elementary  genii.  Vesta  selected  the 
salamander,  Oromasis,  for  her  new 
lord  and  master,  and  bare  him  a 
daughter  as  well  as  a  son,  the  daughter 
being  the  nymph  Egeria,  afterwards 
beloved  by  the  Roman  king,  Numa. 
Ham  did  not  approve  of  the  conduct 
of  his  parents,  nor  of  the  similar 
conduct  of  his  brothers  and  their 
partners;  he  preferred  his  earthly 
wife  to  either  sylph  or  salamander, 
gnome  or  ondine,  and  the  result  is 
only  too  apparent  in  the  inferior 
African  race,  their  posterity.  The 
nobler  races  that  peopled  the  world 
so  rapidly  after  the  flood  owed  their 
personal  greatness  and  the  stupen- 
dous works  they  were  able  to  perform 
to  the  wisdom  of  Noah  and  Vesta  tin 
their  selection  of  partners. 

Zuleikha  or  Zulaikha,  according  to 
the  Koran  was  the  name  of  Poti- 
phar's  wife,  the  lady  who  made  an 
unsuccessful  attempt  upon  the  virtue 
of  Joseph  (Genesis  xxxix,  7) — the 
spotless  youth  being  called  Yusuf. 
One  of  the  gems  of  Persian  poetry  is 
Yusuf  and  Zuleikha,  by  Nureddin 
Jami  (1414-92),  which  versifies  the 
Mohammedan  form  of  the  story. 
The  wife  of  the  captain  of  Pharaoh's 


Zuleikha 


379 


Zuleikha 


guards  is  here  redeemed  from  the 
ignominy  that  was  attached  to  her 
in  the  Hebrew  chronicle,  and  Joseph 
conies  out  with  all  the  brilliancy 
which  Eastern  tradition  has  showered 
upon  him.  His  knowledge  of  magic, 
his  superhuman  beauty,  his  love  for 
Zuleikha  (which  has  its  record  in  the 
Koran)  and  his  wonderful  wisdom  in 
interpreting  dreams  and  foretelling 
the  future,  all  combine  to  afford 
reason  for  Zuleikha's  frantic  and  un- 


governable passion.  Her  love  and 
sufferings,  moreover,  are  intended 
to  represent  not  alone  an  earthly 
passion  for  a  lover,  but  the  aspira- 
tion of  a  human  soul  after  its  Maker — 
the  pangs  of  separation  and  the 
ardent  desire  for  reunion  with  the 
fountain  of  life  and  source  of  all  good, 
from  which  it  has  been  banished  to  the 
wilderness  of  this  mortal  life.  The 
poem  is  not  an  allegory,  however,  but 
a  beautiful  and  passionate  romance. 


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