SELECT LECTURES.

XI.

The Mythology of the Greeks.

BY REV. JOHN ALDIS.

DELIVERED BEFORE THE

YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION,

OF LONDON,

IN THE WINTER COURSE OF 1847-8.

33

XI.

The Mythology of the Greeks.

THE

ogy

HE subject of this evening's address is, The Mytholof the Greeks. By their mythology we understand their popular religion; the history, character, and worship of their deities. You know that they were polytheists and idolaters. They had many gods, and embodied and worshiped those gods in visible forms. These visible forms were designed to express the attributes of the deities, and the feelings and dispositions cherished toward them by those who worshiped them. I shall for the most part employ the Roman names when speaking of the Grecian deities, because they are, in general, better known, and essentially, and in minute particulars, with very few exceptions, the mythology of the Romans was the same as the mythology of the Greeks. When I give an English word as synonymous with the Greek name, it is for the most part when such is acknowledged to be its signification. In some few other cases I shall do so, when the signification of the name is uncertain. That the Greek religion was derived by the Greeks from a more ancient people, is evidenced from the fact that many of the names of the older divinities have no significance, or but a very doubtful and uncertain one, in the Greek language itself.

Having thus explained the principles on which I wish to proceed, instead of entering on so large and varied a subject as the Greek mythology is, minutely and at length, I shall offer a few general observations upon it.

First, let me advert to the contradictory representations given of it by different parties. The representations given to us of the gods are almost endlessly diversified. Many deities bear the same name; for, in fact, wherever a deity was worshiped, or a particular principle or character developed, or some particular action was performed, there a new fable was invented and circulated, concerning the birth, education, and achievements of the deity so revered. Many things besides modified these representations. Metaphysical notions did so. For example, some maintain that Jupiter was the father of the Fates, and that they were subordinate to his power. Such were the advocates of free will. Others maintain that the Fates were the elder born than he, and were entirely beyond his control. Such were Necessitarians. Peculiarities of physical science modified them. Some maintained that the giants-that is, the mountains and volcanoes-sprung from the wounds that time inflicted on the heavens; that is, that they were abrasions from the heavenly spheres. Others, that they were the offspring of Tartarus and Terra; that is, that they were upheaved from beneath. National vanity modified them still further. The Egyptians maintained that Mercury was the son of the Nile; the Greeks, that he was the son of Jupiter and Maia. Degrees of antiquity modified them. Before commerce prevailed, Iris, or the rainbow, was the messenger of the gods. When commerce had prevailed, Mercury took that post of honor. Before licentiousness of manners became prevalent, Charis, or gracefulness, was the wife of Vulcan, or fire; after licentiousness had prevailed, Venus, or licentiousness, was

associated with him. Geographical peculiarities modified them also. Some dwelt in warm latitudes; they said that Proserpine dwelt but a quarter of the year with Pluto, Others lived in colder climates, and they said she was only half the year with Pluto in his dark domain, and half a year on the face of the earth with Ceres. We wonder not, then, that such contradictions in the representations of the gods abound, nor will you be very greatly surprised, if all I say concerning them should not be perfectly harmonious.

Secondly, all these representations were uncertain, and without authority. Those who taught and embellished the mythology of the Greeks were, for the most part, wandering minstrels. They were at once news-venders, poets, philosophers, and priests. They visited the scattered settlers of Greece, and obtained a scanty livelihood by gratifying the curiosity and stimulating the piety of the people. The Greeks had come from Egypt, and Phenicia, and Western Asia. The substance of their religion they brought with them, as the settlers in the backwoods of America carry with them the notions and the sympathies that, in some measure at least, appertain to the Christian faith; and the wandering minstrels were listened to by them with credulity and delight. Men did not ask, and they did not pretend to have, a sign that they were sent from heaven. No miracle was wrought to elicit faith, or to command obedience. There was no university, or common school, to secure to these bards common sentiments and common modes of utterance; nor was there an established hierarchy that might exert an influence in securing uniformity of profession and of faith among them, in every part of the Grecian world. We wonder, therefore, that there is so much harmony and consistency as there is, rather than feel surprised that so much contradiction should obtain; but