Heathen mythology, Illustrated by extracts from the most celebrated writers, both ancient and modern. Various

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СКАЧАТЬ great horror at this transformation, Calista fled to the forests and brought forth a son, with whom she dwelt, until one day she was induced to enter a temple at Lycaen (where, with her son Arcas, she had been brought), and which it was not lawful to enter. The dwellers in the city, among whom was Arcas, enraged at the desecration, attacked her, and in all probability, she would have perished by the hands of her son, had not Jupiter snatched both to the sky, and placed them among the constellations, Calista being called "the Great Bear," and Arcas, "the Little Bear."

      Æneas, king of Calydon, neglecting the worship of Diana, the Goddess revenged it by sending into his kingdom a monstrous wild boar; and to rid their country of its ravages, he caused the Greek princes to assemble to the chase. Atalanta, daughter of the king of Arcadia, wounded him first, but she would have fallen beneath the fury of its revenge, had it not been for Meleager, son of Æneas, who slew the boar. A quarrel having arisen for the possession of the head of this monster, Meleager killed his brothers. Indignant at this crime, the wife of Æneas threw into the flames a brand which bore with it the life of Meleager; a fire immediately spread itself through the vitals of the prince, and he expired in the midst of torments, the most cruel and excruciating, and his mother, stricken with despair at the sight of them, destroyed herself, and the sisters of the unhappy victim were changed into fowls.

      Diana is usually represented in the costume of a huntress, with a quiver on her shoulder, and a bow in her hand; her dress is lifted, and her dog is always by her side ready for his prey. Her hair is banded over her brow, while sometimes a crescent is painted on her head, of which the points are turned towards Heaven. Sometimes she is seen in a chariot trained by stags, and in her hand is a torch which serves to frighten away the wild beasts.

      The affection of this Goddess for Endymion—

      —————————"Whom she,

      The moonlit Dian on the Latmian hill,

      When all the woods, and all the winds were still,

      Kissed with the kiss of immortality"

      Barry Cornwall.

      has been the cause of many an ode, and many a touching story, and is perhaps, one of the most chaste, or at least most chastely told in Mythology:

      "He was a poet, sure a lover too

      Who stood on Latmos top, what time there blew

      Soft breezes from the Myrtle vale below

      And brought in faintness, solemn, sweet, and slow

      A hymn from Dian's Temple; while up-swelling

      The incense went to her own starry dwelling.

      But though her face was clear as infant's eyes,

      Though she stood smiling o'er the sacrifice,

      The poet wept at her so piteous fate,

      Wept that such beauty should be desolate:

      So in fine wrath some golden sounds he won,

      And gave meek Cynthia her Endymion."

      Keats.

      The beautiful Endymion, grandchild of Jupiter, having dared to offer his guilty love to Juno, he was condemned to live for ever in the infernal regions. However, smitten with his charms, as Diana saw him sleeping on the mountain of Latmos, she snatched him from the power of Pluto, and placed him in a grotto, where she came down from Heaven every night to enjoy his society.

      —————"Crescented Dian, who

      'Tis said once wandered from the wastes of blue,

      And all for love; filling a shepherd's dreams

      With beauty and delight. He slept, he slept,

      And on his eyelids white, the huntress wept

      Till morning, and looked thro', on nights like this

      His lashes dark, and left her dewy kiss;

      But never more upon the Latmos hill

      May she descend to kiss that forest boy,

      And give—receive, gentle and innocent joy

      When clouds are distant far and winds are still:

      Her bound is circumscribed, and curbed her will.

      Those were immortal stories: are they gone?

      The pale queen is dethroned—Endymion

      Hath vanished—; and the worship of this earth

      Is vowed to golden gods of vulgar birth!"

      Barry Cornwall.

      The fable of Endymion's amours with Diana, or the Moon, arises from his knowledge of astronomy: and as he passed the night on some high mountain, to observe the heavenly bodies, it has been reported that he was courted by the Moon.

      ————————"Oh! woodland Queen,

      What smoothest air, thy smoother forehead woos?

      Where dost thou listen to the wide halloos

      Of thy departed nymphs? Through what dark tree

      Glimmers thy crescent? Whatsoe'er it be

      'Tis in the breath of Heaven: thou dost taste

      Freedom, as none can taste it, nor dost waste

      Thy loveliness in dismal elements.

      But finding in our green earth sweet contents,

      There livest blissfully."

      Keats.

      The mode of worship to Diana, differs in different nations. The most celebrated of her temples was that at Ephesus, which from its grandeur and magnificence has been placed among the seven wonders of the world, but was burned by Erostratus, the same day that Alexander the Great was born. This madman had no other end, than to render his name for ever notorious, and he succeeded, notwithstanding the Ephesians having decreed that his name should never be mentioned.

      In one of the temples where Diana was worshipped, the presiding priest was always a slave who had slain his predecessor in office, and warned by the fate he had inflicted on others, he never went without a dagger, to protect himself from those who might be ambitious of his office, and reckless of his crime.

      In another, she had an altar, whereon they immolated all those whom shipwreck had thrown on their inhospitable shores.

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