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| AMPHITRITE |
| Amphitrite was the wife of
Neptune. She was the daughter of Nereus and Doris, and the mother of
Triton. Neptune, to pay his court to Amphitrite, came riding on a dolphin.
Having won her he rewarded the dolphin by placing him among the stars. |
| LEUCOTHEA
and PALAEMON |
Ino, the daughter of Cadmus
and wife of Athamas, flying from her frantic husband with her little son
Melicertes in her arms, sprang from a cliff into the sea. The gods, out of
compassion, make her a goddess of the sea, under the name of Leucothea,
and him a god, under that of Palaemon. Both were held powerful to save
from shipwreck and were invoked by sailors. Palaemon was usually
represented riding on a dolphin. The Isthmian games were celebrated in his
honour. He was called Portunus by the Romans, and believed to have
jurisdiction of the ports and shores.
Milton alludes to all these deities
in the song at the conclusion of "Comus":
"Sabrina
fair...
Listen
and appear to us,
In
name of great Oceanus;
By
the earth-shaking Neptune's mace,
And
Tethys' grave, majestic pace;
By
hoary Nereus' wrinkled look,
And
the Carpathian wizard's hook,*
By
scaly Triton's winding shell,
And
old soothsaying Glaucus' spell,
By
Leucothea's lovely hands,
And
her son who rules the strands;
By
Thetis' tinsel-slippered feet,
And
the songs of Sirens sweet;" etc.
* Proteus.
Armstrong, the poet of the "Art of
Preserving Health," under the inspiration of Hygeia, the goddess of
health, thus celebrates the Naiads. Paeon is a name both of Apollo and
AEsculapius.
"Come
ye Naiads! to the fountains lead!
Propitious maids!
the task remains to sing
Your gifts (so
Paeon, so the powers of Health
Command), to praise
your crystal element.
O comfortable
streams! with eager lips
And trembling hands
the languid thirsty quaff
New life in you;
fresh vigour fills their veins.
No warmer cups the
rural ages knew,
None warmer sought
the sires of humankind;
Happy in temperate
peace their equal days
Felt not the
alternate fits of feverish mirth
And sick dejection;
still serene and pleased,
Blessed with divine
immunity from ills,
Long centuries they
lived; their only fate
Was ripe old age,
and rather sleep than death." |
| NEPTUNE |
| Neptune was the chief of the
water deities. The symbol of his power was the trident, or spear with
three points, with which he used to shatter rocks, to call forth or subdue
storms, to shake the shores and the like. He created the horse and was the
patron of horse races. His own horses had brazen hoofs and golden manes.
They drew his chariot over the sea, which became smooth before him, while
the monsters of the deep gambolled about his path. |
| NEREUS
and DORIS |
| Nereus and Doris were the
parents of the Nereids (sea-nymphs), the most celebrated of whom
were Amphitrite, Thetis, the mother of Achilles, and Galatea, who was
loved by the Cyclops Polyphemus: Nereus was distinguished for his
knowledge and his love of truth and justice, whence he was termed an
elder; the gift of prophecy was also assigned to him. |
|
OCEANUS and TETHYS |
|
Oceanus and Tethys were the
Titans who ruled over the watery elements. When Jove and his brothers
overthrew the Titans and assumed their power, Neptune and Amphitrite
succeeded to the dominion of the waters in place of Oceanus and Tethys. |
|
THETIS |
|
Thetis, the daughter of Nereus and Doris,
was so beautiful that Jupiter himself sought her in marriage; but having
learned from Prometheus the Titan that Thetis should bear a son who should
be greater than his father, Jupiter desisted from his suit and decreed
that Thetis should be the wife of a mortal. By the aid of Chiron the
Centaur, Peleus succeeded in winning the goddess for his bride and their
son was the renowned Achilles. In our chapter on the Trojan war it will
appear that Thetis was a faithful mother to him, aiding him in all
difficulties, and watching over his interests from the first to the last. |
|
TRITON and PROTEUS |
|
Triton was the son of
Neptune and Amphitrite, and the poets made him his father's trumpeter.
Proteus was also a son of Neptune. He, like Nereus, is styled a sea-elder
for his wisdom and knowledge of future events. His peculiar power was that
of changing his shape at will. |
|
"...Great God, 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 less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea
And hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn."
-- Wordsworth |
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