Hindoos. sings in the tradition that whosoever should attempt to sing the raug Dhee pook, How handled would be destroyed by fire. This raug the Emperor Akber ordered by the Naik Gopal, a celebrated musician, to sing. He endeavoured to excuse himself, but in vain. The Emperor insisted on obedience. He, therefore, requested permission to go home and bid farewell to his friends. It was winter when he returned, after an absence of six months. Before he began to sing he placed himself in the waters of the Jumma, Naik Gopal till they reached his neck. As soon as he had performed a strain, waters of the the entire river gradually became hot; at length it began to boil, and Jumma. the agonies of the unhappy musician were insupportable. Suspending for a moment the melody thus cruelly extorted, he sued for mercy from the monarch, but in vain. Akber wished to prove still more strongly the power of this raug. Naik Gopal resumed the fatal strain, Consumed by flames burst with violence from his body, which, though immersed in fire. the waters of the Jumma, was consumed to ashes. music by Again, in the same reign, it is said, that Mia Tonsine, a wonderful Effects of musician, sang one of the night raugs at mid-day. The result was Mia Tonsine. astonishing. He was performing in the magnificent halls of the Emperor, and the powers of his music were such that it instantly became night, and the darkness extended in a circle round the palace, as far as the sound of his voice could be heard. astronomical The astronomical apotheosis of Orpheus and his harp follows the MusicoHindoo system. There, the sage Dhruva, is made the pole star, by analogy. virtue of the imperial award; "a star shall be assigned to thee above A the three worlds." The Pythagorean doctrine of the music of the Music of the spheres, which was considered the result of the harmonious movement spheres. of the heavenly bodies, may possibly be found connected with Orphic Apotheosis, or with the Gandharbas, the choristers of Indra's heaven, especially as the greater proportion of the Orphic and Pythagorean doctrine is identical. We must not confound the comparatively modern written forms of the Orphic tenets with their actually very ancient practical existence. This would tend to invalidate the possibilities of correctness in history, unless recorded at or soon after the fact. And although many of the existing writings of Orpheus and Alexandrine Musæus may be proved to be compositions of poets of the Alexandrine compositions age, it is impossible for us to pronounce dogmatically upon the old necessarily authorities which may have formed the basis of their writings. Plato2 and Aristophanes carry the antiquity of Orpheus considerably beyond that of Homer, and though Onomacritus, B. c. 610-510, is said by Pausanias to have been the inventor of the tale of Zagreus, this, by Sources of no means, disproves the possibility of that author's having access to Orphic writings in existence in his day. Not only in Hellas might similar doctrines have been accessible but in Persia, much nearer their 1 Vishnu Purana, c. ix. 3 Ranæ, 1030. 2 Theatet, p. 179. 4 Paus. viii. 37, 3. 3 Nitzsch, in his Erklärende Anmerkungen zu Homeris Odyssee, enters deeply into the connection of the writings of Onomacritus with the Homeric poems. not inventions. Onomacritus unknown. repairs to Court. of original source. We know from Herodotus,' that when expelled from Onomacritus Athens, Onomacritus repaired to Persia, where influenced by Peisisthe Persian tratus, then at the Persian Court, he recited those ancient oracles of Hellas, which favoured the attempt of an invasion. In the army Xerxes there was a large body of Indian auxiliaries; and, farther, the Indo-Persian connection between the court of Persia and India must have been great, connection. since the latter government had constructed a grand military and commercial road into the heart of central Asia. From these sources, therefore, in addition to emigration and individual travel, the Orphic doctrines would have access to Greece. Legends of Chios. We shall now turn from the investigation of national and collegiate relics to the more popular and simple treatment of individual myths, by the Homerid of Chios, about B. c. 660, whose simplicity of style and easy flow of language led Thucydides to imagine his compositions to have been the work of the great author of the Iliad. 1 Herod. vii. 6. Those names which are the same in Greek and Latin have been omitted. proimia. the Homeric THE productions styled the "Homeric Hymns" were preludes (pouía) Nature of the chanted by the Rhapsodist, at the festival of the gods, as an overture to the epic poems there recited in honour of each special deity. They are of a most believing, simple, and primitive spirit. Their style and Easy style of treatment were calculated to enlist irresistibly the feelings of a Greek hymns. auditory, and to continue the same delightful stream of enjoyment, and the same mythical colouring which so pre-eminently distinguished the author of the Iliad. Of such a nature, dashed with its full share 1 Vide Müller's Greek Lit. p. 74. Poetic picture of Dionysus. The helmsman derided. of the terrible and supernatural, is the popular song in honour of Dionysus. THE LEGEND OF DIONYSUS. The Homeric hymn describes DIONYSUS as standing on a projecting point of the sea-shore, in the guise of a young man in the bloom of youth, his magnificent sable locks waving around his noble form, and a purple robe floating over his massive shoulders. He is suddenly seen and seized by some Tyrrhenian pirates: Swiftly sailed the pirate crew Dashed they gaily at their prey, They fancied him the son of some noble prince, and would bind him with rigid bonds; but these spontaneously burst away from hands and feet, and he sat down smiling with his azure eyes. The helmsman perceiving this at once called out to his comrades, and warned them, lest they should have been binding some god, it might be Zeus, or Apollo of the silver bow, or even Poseidon, at the same time pointing "You meddling lubber, heed the gale; Taut everything-sheet home the sail- I fancy Egypt he may view, Or Cyprus-the far Northmen too- τάχα δ ̓ ἄνδρες ἐϋσέλμου ἀπὸ ναὸς Ληίσταὶ προγένοντο θεῶς ἐπὶ οἴνοπα πόντον, Τυρσηνοί· τοὺς δ ̓ ἦγε κακὸς μόρος· οἱ δὲ ἰδόντες Νεῦσαν ἐς ἀλλήλους, τάχα δ' ἔκθορον· αἶψα δ' ελόντες Εἶσαν ἐπὶ σφετέρης νηός, κεχαρμένος ἦτος. The rogue, I doubt me, at the last, Will find his tongue, and gabble fast Of friends and brothers.1 So saying they hold on everything, and with a strong gale stand They sail out out to sea. But soon miraculous appearances are but too evident: First sweet-draughted wine forth streaming, Vines quick round the topsail twining, The oar-pegs also are covered with garlands. On beholding this prodigy they all earnestly entreated Medeides, the helmsman, to steer to sea with Dionysus. towards shore. Dionysus now assumes the form of a lion and roars Assumes the awfully, whilst a horrible shaggy bear is seen standing near him. form of a Terrified, the crew all rush to the stern:— Agonized with horror, they Round the pious helmsman poured; The beast, their skipper. Overboard, And dolphins they become !3 Compassionating the discreet helmsman, Dionysus prevented him · Δαιμόνι, οὗρον ὅρα, ἅμα διστίον ἕλκεο νηός Σύμπανθ' ὅπλα, λαβών· ὅδε δ ̓ αὖτ ̓ ἄνδρεσσι μελήσει. 2 Οἶνος μὲν πρώτιστα θοὴν ἀνὰ νῆα μέλαιναν Ηδύποτος κελάρυζ ̓ εὐώδης, ὥρνυτο δ' ὀδμὴ Hymn, Dion. 35-40. Lucian very humorously carries out the Greek doctrine of sympathies in his dialogue between the Dolphin and Neptune: “ Don't wonder,” says the Dolphin (in allusion to his having rescued the harper Arion), "that we are well disposed to mankind, since we ourselves, who are now fish, were once men.” Ποσείδ. καὶ Δελφίνων. lion. Fate of the crew. |