_Ans._ They blended the notes of different musical instruments with their voices, and adapted the style and matter of their songs to the inclination of their hearers. They had bold and stirring strains to entice the ambitious, softer melodies for the lovers of pleasure, and with still different notes, they drew on the covetous to their destruction.
_Ques._ Did any escape who pa.s.sed those coasts?
_Ans._ History mentions only two; Ulysses and Orpheus. The first was warned against the danger by the enchantress Circe; he therefore stopped the ears of his companions with wax, and had himself firmly bound to the mast of the ship, by which means he pa.s.sed the fatal coasts in safety. Orpheus overcame them in their own art; for he sang the praises of the G.o.ds, accompanying himself upon his lyre, and made such divine melody that the music of the Sirens attracted no attention. The Fates had decreed that the Sirens should live until some one who pa.s.sed by, had listened to their songs unmoved. When they saw themselves overcome by Orpheus, they knew that their hour had come, and flung themselves headlong into the sea, where they were transformed into rocks.
_Ques._ Who was Circe?
_Ans._ She was a skillful enchantress. Having poisoned her husband, the king of the Sarmatians, she was obliged to fly into Italy, where she fixed her dwelling on the promontory Circ.u.m. She presented to all travellers an enchanted cup; and after they had drunk, transformed them into wolves, swine or other animals. Ulysses escaped by throwing an herb into the cup, which rendered it powerless; he then rushed upon the sorceress with his sword, and forced her to restore his companions whom she had transformed. After this, Circe entertained Ulysses in a friendly manner.
_Ques._ What did the poets endeavor to teach by the fables of the Sirens" song, and the cup of Circe?
_Ans._ They wished to signify by the singing of the Sirens, the allurements of vice, and the dangers of listening to its seductions; by the story of Circe, they showed that when men drink of the cup of sensual pleasure, they become soon degraded to the level of the beasts.
_Ques._ Who was Scylla?
_Ans._ The fable relates that she was the daughter of Phorcus, and that she was transformed by the jealousy of Circe, into a frightful monster. Scylla was so much grieved by this transformation, that she cast herself into the sea, where she was changed into a rock, made famous by the many shipwrecks that occurred upon it. Over against this rock is the whirlpool of Charybdis, about which the poets relate a similar fable. They say that Charybdis was a very ravenous woman, who stole Hercules"s oxen. For this theft, Jupiter struck her dead with a thunderbolt, and changed her into the whirlpool which bears her name.
The ancients placed Scylla and Charybdis in the straits of Messina. It was considered a great feat to steer successfully between them.
_Ques._ Who was Melicertes?
_Ans._ He was the son of Athamas, king of Thebes, and of Ino, the daughter of Cadmus and Hermione. Ino offended Juno, and the G.o.ddess, in revenge, deprived Athamas of reason. The king, in his frenzy, took the queen and her children for wild beasts, and pursued them through the palace. He killed his son Learchus by dashing him against a wall, but Ino escaped, and threw herself into the sea with Melicertes in her arms. At the intercession of Venus, Neptune endowed them both with immortality. Ino became a sea-G.o.ddess under the name of Leucothea, while Melicertes was worshipped as Palmon. He was supposed to have power in saving vessels from shipwreck, and was, therefore, invoked by mariners. The Romans called him Portunus, and honored him as the G.o.d of sh.o.r.es and harbors.
_Ques._ Who was Thetis?
_Ans._ She was a sea-G.o.ddess, the daughter of Nereus and Doris, and sister of the Nereides. She was endowed with such beauty that Jupiter himself sought her in marriage; but Prometheus, the t.i.tan, prophesied that Thetis would give birth to a son who should be greater than his father. Jupiter thereupon desisted from his suit, and Thetis was betrothed to Peleus, king of Thessaly. Their marriage was celebrated with much pomp, all the deities of Olympus honoring the nuptial rites with their presence. Achilles, the son of Thetis, fulfilled the t.i.tan"s prophecy by his heroic exploits.
CHAPTER XXIII.
Infernal Deities.
PLUTO--HADES.
_Ques._ Who was Pluto?
_Ans._ He was the son of Saturn and Ops, and the brother of Jupiter and Neptune. In the division of his father"s kingdom, the infernal regions were allotted to him, and he is therefore called the king of h.e.l.l.
_Ques._ How is Pluto represented?
_Ans._ He is seated on a throne in the midst of clouds and darkness; he wears a crown of ebony, and holds a key in his hand instead of a sceptre.
_Ques._ What does the key signify?
_Ans._ It seems to imply, that when once the dead are received into Pluto"s kingdom, the gates are locked upon them and there is no escape.
_Ques._ What does Pluto"s name signify?
_Ans._ The Greek name Pluto, and the Latin word Dis, signify wealth, because this G.o.d is supposed to control the hidden treasures of the earth. The thunder that happens in the night time is attributed to Pluto, and he is often styled the Infernal Jupiter.
_Ques._ Was Pluto the same as Plutus?
_Ans._ No; Plutus was the G.o.d of riches, and was supposed to be the son of Jason and Ceres. He is described as being blind and lame, injudicious, and timorous.
_Ques._ What does this mean?
_Ans._ Plutus is blind and injudicious, because he pa.s.ses over the virtuous to heap riches on the wicked; he is lame because riches come slowly, and timorous, because the rich watch their treasures with great fear and anxiety.
_Ques._ To whom was Pluto married?
_Ans._ As we have learned before, Pluto was married to Proserpine, daughter of Ceres.
h.e.l.l.
_Ques._ How was h.e.l.l described?
_Ans._ The entrance to the infernal regions was by a wide, dark cave, through which the departed souls were obliged to pa.s.s; they next came to a gloomy grove, and a black lake, called Avernus; this was overhung with such poisonous vapors that no birds could fly over it. The ferryman, Charon, was always waiting on the sh.o.r.e to carry the dead to the other side of the lake. The ghosts of those who had not been buried with funeral rites, were obliged to wander for a hundred years by the gloomy waters of Avernus, before Charon could carry them to the other side. This superst.i.tion made the ancients very careful about burying their dead.
_Ques._ What do you say of the rivers of h.e.l.l?
_Ans._ The Styx was the most remarkable. When any of the G.o.ds swore by the Styx, the oath was sacred; if any deity was guilty of breaking such an oath, he was deprived of nectar, and excluded from the table of the G.o.ds for a year and nine days. Lethe was also a river of h.e.l.l; the name means oblivion; it is so called, because when the dead drank of its waters, they forgot all that had pa.s.sed upon this earth.
_Ques._ What monster kept the gate of Pluto"s palace?
_Ans._ Cerberus; a three-headed dog, whose body was clothed with snakes instead of hair.
FATES--FURIES.
_Ques._ Who were the Fates?
_Ans._ They were three sisters, the daughters of Chaos, who were appointed to watch over the thread of human life. Their names were, Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos; Clotho drew the thread between her fingers; Lachesis turned the wheel, and, at the appointed moment, Atropos cut the thread with her scissors.
_Ques._ Who were the Furies?
_Ans._ They were three sisters, Alecto, Tisiphone, and Megra. They are called by the poets the Daughters of Night; their office was to torment the wicked during life and after death.
_Ques._ How were they represented?
_Ans._ As hideous women with terrible countenances; they had twining serpents instead of hair, and carried snaky whips and lighted torches in their hands. They were often called by the Greeks Eumenides.
_Ques._ Of what were the Furies an emblem?
_Ans._ Of the evil pa.s.sions of men, and the remorse which torments the wicked. When the ancients said of a man, that the Furies had taken up their abode with him, they meant that the remembrance of his crimes did not leave him any repose.