Bulfinch's Mythology. Bulfinch Thomas

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Bulfinch's Mythology - Bulfinch Thomas


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Sir Gawain

       VII. Caradoc Briefbras; or, Caradoc with the Shrunken Arm

       VIII. Launcelot of the Lake

       IX. The Adventure of the Cart

       X. The Lady of Shalott

       XI. Queen Guenever's Peril

       XII. Tristram and Isoude

       XIII. Tristram and Isoude (Continued)

       XIV. Sir Tristram's Battle with Sir Launcelot

       XV. The Round Table

       XVI. Sir Palamedes

       XVII. Sir Tristram

       XVIII. Perceval

       XIX. The Sangreal, or Holy Graal

       XX. The Sangreal (Continued)

       XXI. The Sangreal (Continued)

       XXII. Sir Agrivain's Treason

       XXIII. Morte d'Arthur

      THE MABINOGEON

      Introductory Note

       I. The Britons

       II. The Lady of the Fountain

       III. The Lady of the Fountain (Continued)

       IV. The Lady of the Fountain (Continued)

       V. Geraint, the Son of Erbin

       VI. Geraint, the Son of Erbin (Continued)

       VII. Geraint, the Son of Erbin (Continued)

       VIII. Pwyll, Prince of Dyved

       IX. Branwen, the Daughter of Llyr

       X. Manawyddan

       XI. Kilwich and Olwen

       XII. Kilwich and Olwen (Continued)

       XIII. Taliesin

      HERO MYTHS OF THE BRITISH RACE

      Beowulf

       Cuchulain, Champion of Ireland

       Hereward the Wake

       Robin Hood

      LEGENDS OF CHARLEMAGNE

      Introduction

       The Peers, or Paladins

       The Tournament

       The Siege of Albracca

       Adventures of Rinaldo and Orlando

       The Invasion of France

       The Invasion of France (Continued)

      Bradamante and Rogero

       Astolpho and the Enchantress

       The Orc

       Astolpho's Adventures continued, and Isabella's begun.

       Medoro

       Orlando Mad

       Zerbino and Isabella

       Astolpho in Abyssinia

       The War in Africa

       Rogero and Bradamante

       The Battle of Roncesvalles

       Rinaldo and Bayard

       Death of Rinaldo

       Huon of Bordeaux

       Huon of Bordeaux (Continued)

       Huon of Bordeaux (Continued)

       Ogier, the Dane

       Ogier, the Dane (Continued)

       Ogier, the Dane (Continued)

      GLOSSARY

      STORIES OF GODS AND HEROES

       Table of Contents

      CHAPTER I

      INTRODUCTION

      The religions of ancient Greece and Rome are extinct. The so- called divinities of Olympus have not a single worshipper among living men. They belong now not to the department of theology, but to those of literature and taste. There they still hold their place, and will continue to hold it, for they are too closely connected with the finest productions of poetry and art, both ancient and modern, to pass into oblivion.

      We propose to tell the stories relating to them which have come down to us from the ancients, and which are alluded to by modern poets, essayists, and orators. Our readers may thus at the same time be entertained by the most charming fictions which fancy has ever created, and put in possession of information indispensable to every one who would read with intelligence the elegant literature of his own day.

      In order to understand these stories, it will be necessary to acquaint ourselves with the ideas of the structure of the universe which prevailed among the Greeks—the people from whom the Romans, and other nations through them, received their science and religion.

      The Greeks believed the earth to be flat and circular, their own country occupying the middle of it, the central point being either Mount Olympus, the abode of the gods, or Delphi, so famous for its oracle.

      The circular disk of the earth was crossed from west to east and divided into two equal parts by the Sea, as they called the Mediterranean, and its continuation the Euxine, the only seas with which they were acquainted.

      Around the earth flowed the River Ocean, its course being from south to north on the western side of the earth, and in a contrary direction on the eastern side. It flowed in a steady, equable current, unvexed by storm or tempest. The sea, and all the rivers on earth, received their waters from it.

      The northern portion of the earth was supposed to be inhabited by a happy race named the Hyperboreans, dwelling in everlasting bliss and spring beyond the lofty mountains whose caverns were supposed to send forth the piercing blasts of the north wind, which chilled the people of Hellas (Greece). Their country was inaccessible by land or sea. They lived exempt from disease or old age, from toils and warfare. Moore has given us the "Song of a Hyperborean," beginning

      "I come from a land in the sun-bright deep,

       Where golden gardens glow,

       Where the winds of the north, becalmed in sleep,

       Their conch shells never blow."

      On the south side of the earth, close to the stream of Ocean, dwelt a people happy and virtuous as the Hyperboreans. They were named the Aethiopians. The gods favored them so highly that they were wont to leave at times their Olympian abodes and go to share their sacrifices and banquets.

      On the western margin of the earth, by the stream of Ocean, lay a happy place named the Elysian Plain, whither mortals favored by the gods were transported without tasting of death, to enjoy an immortality of bliss. This happy region was also called the "Fortunate Fields," and the "Isles of the Blessed."

      We thus see that the Greeks of the early ages knew little of any real people except those to the east and south of their own country, or near the coast of the Mediterranean. Their imagination meantime peopled the western portion of this sea with giants, monsters, and enchantresses; while they placed around the disk of the earth, which they probably regarded as of no great width, nations enjoying the peculiar favor of the gods, and blessed with happiness and longevity.

      The Dawn, the Sun, and the Moon were supposed to rise out of the Ocean, on the eastern side, and to drive through the air, giving light to gods and men. The stars, also, except those forming the Wain or Bear, and others near them, rose out of and sank into the stream of Ocean. There the sun-god embarked in a winged boat, which conveyed him round by the northern part of the earth, back to his place of rising in the east. Milton alludes to this in his "Comus":

      "Now the gilded car of day

       His golden axle doth allay

      


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