Heathen mythology Part 24

He usually resided on the Carpathian sea, and like the rest of the sea G.o.ds, reposed upon the sh.o.r.e, where those resorted who wished to consult him to obtain any revelation; but it was necessary to secure him, lest by taking some unnatural shape, he should elude their vigilance.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

PORTUMNUS, the guardian of doors, was at first known as {143} Melicerta, and was the son of Athamas and Ino. He was saved by his mother from the fury of his father, Athamas, who became inflamed by such a sudden fury, that he took Ino for a Lioness, and her two children for whelps. In this fit of madness, he dashed one of them against a wall; Ino fled with Melicerta in her arms, and threw herself into the sea from a high rock, and was changed into a sea deity, by Neptune, who had compa.s.sion on her misfortunes. It is supposed by many, that the Isthmian games were in honour of Portumnus.

GLAUCUS was a fisher of Boeotia, and remarking, on one occasion, that the fish which he threw on the gra.s.s, seemed to receive fresh vigour from touching the ground, he attributed it to the gra.s.s, and tasting it, was seized with a sudden desire to live in the sea.

Upon this, he leapt into the water, and was made a sea deity by Ocea.n.u.s, at the request of the marine G.o.ds.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

aeOLUS, G.o.d of the winds, reigned in the Vulcanean islands, and was under the power of Neptune, who allowed him to give liberty to the winds, or to recall them into their caverns at his pleasure.

"Oh many a voice is thine thou wind!

Full many a voice is thine, From every scene thy wing o'ersweeps Thou bear'st a sound and sign; A minstrel wild and strong thou art, With a mastery all thine own, And the spirit is thy harp, O wind!

That gives the answering tone.

"Thou hast been across red fields of war, Where s.h.i.+vered helmets lie, And thou bringest thence the thrilling note Of a clarion in the sky: {144} A rustling of proud banner folds, A peal of stormy drums,-- All these are in thy music met, As when a leader comes.

"Thou hast been o'er solitary seas, And from their wastes brought back Each noise of waters that awoke In the mystery of thy track; The chime of low, soft southern waves On some green palmy sh.o.r.e, The hollow roll of distant surge, The gathered billows roar.

"Thou art come from forests dark and deep, Thou mighty, rus.h.i.+ng wind!

And thou bearest all their unisons In one, full swell combined; The restless pines, the moaning stream, All hidden things and free, Of the dim, old sounding wilderness, Have lent their soul to thee.

"Thou art come from cities lighted up For the conqueror pa.s.sing by, Thou art wafting from their streets, a sound Of haughty revelry: The rolling of triumphant wheels, The harpings in the hall, The far off shout of mult.i.tudes, Are in thy rise and fall.

"Thou art come from kingly tombs and shrines, From ancient minsters vast, Through the dark aisles of a thousand years Thy lonely wing hath pa.s.sed; Thou hast caught the anthem's billowy swell, The stately dirge's tone; For a chief, with sword and s.h.i.+eld, and helm, To his place of slumber's gone.

"Thou art come from long forsaken homes, Wherein our young days flew, Thou hast found sweet voices lingering there, The loved, the kind, the true!

Thou callest back those melodies, Though now all changed and fled, Be still, be still, and haunt us not With music from the dead!

"Are all these notes in thee, wild wind?

These many notes in thee?

Far in our own unfathomed souls Their fount must surely be; Yes! buried, but unsleeping, there; Thought watches, memory lies, From whose deep urn the tones are poured Through all earth's harmonies."

HEMANS.

{145}

The princ.i.p.al winds are Boreas, Auster, Eurus and Zephyrus. Boreas, G.o.d of the North, carried away Orithya, who refused to receive his addresses. By her he had Zetes and Calais, Cleopatra and Cheone. He once changed himself into a horse, to unite himself with the mare of Darda.n.u.s, by which he had a female progeny of twelve, so swift, that they ran or rather flew over the sea without wetting a foot. The Athenians dedicated altars to him when Xerxes invaded Europe.

Auster, G.o.d of the south wind, appeared generally as an old man with grey hair, a gloomy countenance, a head covered with clouds, a sable vesture and dusky wings. He is the dispenser of rain and of all heavy showers.

Eurus, G.o.d of the east, is represented as a young man, flying with great impetuosity, and often appearing in a playful and wanton humour.

Zephyrus, G.o.d of the West, the warmest of all the winds, married Flora, and was said to produce flowers and fruits, by the sweetness of his breath.

Companion of love, he has the figure of a youth, and the wings of a b.u.t.terfly.

SONGS OF THE WINDS.

"We are free! we are free! in our home the skies, When we calmly sleep, or in tumult rise, When we smile on the vision-like realms below, Or vengefully utter the chords of woe.

When we dance in the sunbeams, or laughingly play With the spring clouds that fly from our kisses away, When we grapple and fight with the bellowing foam, Or slumber and sleep in our shadowless home."

NORTH WIND.

"I've blastingly wandered Where nature doth pant; And gloomily pondered O'er sadness and want.

An old man was sighing O'er angel lips gone, His cherub was dying, And he was alone.

On his grey locks I clotted An ice-crown cold,-- His sinews I knotted; His tale is told."

SOUTH WIND.

"I met two young lovers, And listed their vows, Where the woodbine covers The old oak boughs.

Enhancing their pleasures I fluttered around.

And joined with glad measures Their soft sighs' sound.

They blessed me for bringing Sweet perfumes near, They blessed me for singing A cadence so dear."

{146} EAST WIND.

"I've wafted through bowers Where angels might muse, And kiss their bright flowers Of loveliest hues.

And maidens were singing Of beauty and love, Their symphonies ringing, Resounded above.

I parted the tresses, From fairy-like brows, Where the lily impresses Its earliest vows."

WEST WIND.

"I've rolled o'er the regions Of earth and sea, And laughed at the legions That trembled at me.

I've madly gambolled With clouds and waves; And closed, as I rambled, My victim's grave.

I've roared and I've revelled, With fiend-like glee, Earth's palaces levelled, Wrecks dashed o'er the sea."

CHORUS.

"We are free, we are free, in our realms of air, We list to no sorrow, we own no care; We hold our carousals aloft with the stars, Where they glitter along in their golden cars, We frolic and bound with the playful wave, Which the prison-like confines of earth doth lave; We are glad, we are glad, and in breeze or in blast, We will sport round the world as long as 'twill last."

JENNINGS.

Alcyone, the daughter of aeolus, married Ceyx, who was drowned as he was going to Claros to consult an oracle. Alcyone was apprized in a dream of her husband's fate, and finding on the morrow his body upon the sh.o.r.e, she threw herself into the sea. The G.o.ds, touched by her fidelity, changed her and her husband into the birds of the same name, who keep the waters calm and serene while they build and sit on their nests in the surface of the sea.

"O, poor Alcyone!

What were thy feelings on the stormy strand, When thou saw'st Ceyx borne a corse to land?

O, I could weep with thee, And sit whole tides upon the pebbly sh.o.r.e, And listen to the waves lamenting roar, O, poor Alcyone!

But now thy stormy pa.s.sion past, Thou upon the wave at last, Buildest, from all tempest free, Thou and Ceyx, side by side, Charming the distempered tide, O, dear Alcyone!"