for Pasiphaé, he incurred the displeasure of the king, and was thrown into prison. Having by means of Pasiphaé escaped from confinement, he determined to fly from Kréte; but being unable to get away by sea, he resolved to attempt flight through the air. He made wings of feathers united by wax for himself and his son Ikaros. With these they mounted into the air; but Ikaros ascending too high, and approaching too near the sun, its heat melted the wax, and the youth fell into the sea and was drowned. Dædalos arrived in safety in Sicily, where he was kindly received by Kókalos king of that island, who took up arms in his defence against Minós when he pursued him thither.1

Dædalos, as his own name (which perhaps was merely an epithet of Héphæstos) and those of his progenitors show, was a personification of manual art.3 He was the Eponymos of the class of Dædalids or statuaries at Athens, and there were various wooden statues preserved till late times, and said to be the work of his hands. Ikaros was a suitable name for his son, and the resemblance between it and the name of the Ikarian sea probably gave occasion to the legend of the flight through the air.

CHAPTER VI.

MYTHES OF CORINTH.

THE ancient name of Corinth was said to have been Ephyra, so called from one of the Ocean-nymphs. Its situation rendered it in the earliest times a place of great commerce, for it was the thoroughfare between Hellas and the Peloponnése; and as it had a port on each sea, the wares of the East and the West usually passed through it, the voyage round cape Malea being considered so very dangerous. As might be expected, the principal object of worship at Corinth was the god of the sea. Poseidon and Hélios, said the legend, once contended for the

1 Apollod. ut sup. Ov. Met. viii. 183 seq. Diodór. iv. 76, 77. Hygin. 39, 40. 2 The root daíw is to kindle, burn, also to cut, distribute; while AA' is to teach or learn.

Völ

3 The resemblance between Dædalos and Völlundr the artist of Scandinavian mythology is very striking: see Tales and Popular Fictions, p. 270 seq. lundr's name also signifies, ingenious, crafty.

4 From εἴκω, like εἰκών, ἴκελος.

5 Eumélos ap. Paus. ii. 1, 1.

possession of the land; Briareós was chosen arbitrator, and he assigned the Isthmos to the former, the Akrocorinth or Akropolis to the latter.1 We shall therefore find the Corinthian legends relating chiefly to trade and navigation.

Σίσυφος. Sisyphus.

Sisyphos, the son of Eolos, was said to be the founder of Ephyra. He married Meropé the daughter of Atlas, by whom he had four sons, Glaukos, Ornytión, Thersandros and Halmos.2

When Zeus carried off Ægína the daughter of Asópos, the river-god in his search after her came to Corinth. Sisyphos, on his giving him a spring for the Akrocorinth, informed him who the ravisher was. The king of the gods sent Death to punish the informer; but Sisyphos contrived to outwit Death, and even to put fetters on him; and there was great joy among mortals, for no one died. Hadés however set Death at liberty, and Sisyphos was given up to him. When dying he charged his wife to leave his body unburied; and then complaining to Hadés of her unkindness, he obtained permission to return to the light to upbraid her with her conduct. But when he found himself again in his own house, he refused to leave it. Hermés however reduced him to obedience; and when he came down, Hadés set him to roll a huge stone up a hill, a never ending still beginning toil, for as soon as it reached the summit it rolled back again down to the plain.3

The craft of Sisyphos, of which the following is an instance, was proverbial. Autolykos the son of Hermés, the celebrated cattle-stealer, who dwelt on Parnassos, used to deface the marks of the cattle which he carried off in such a manner as to render it nearly impossible to identify them. Among others he drove off those of Sisyphos, and he defaced the marks as usual; but when Sisyphos came in quest of them, he, to the great surprise of the thief, selected his own beasts out of the herd; for he had marked the initial of his name under their hoofs.* Autolykos forthwith cultivated the acquaintance of one who had thus proved himself too able for him; and Sisyphos, it is said, seduced or

1 Paus. ii. 1, 6. As Briareós was also called Ægæón (Il. i. 403), he is here probably Poseidon himself.

2 Paus. ii. 4, 3.

3 Pherekýdés (ap. Sch. Il. 60 (97). Theognis, 702 seq. The ancient form of the

vi. 153; Sch. Soph. Aj. 625). Sch. Pind. Ol. i.

was C, which is of the shape of a horse's hoof, a form which it still retains in the Coptic and Russian alphabets.

violated his daughter Antikleia (who afterwards married Laertés), and thus was the real father of Odysseus.1

Homer calls Sisyphos 'the most crafty of men;" Hésiod speaks of him in a similar manner; Odysseus sees him rolling his stone in Erebos. Of the antiquity of his legend there can therefore be little doubt.

Sisyphos, that is the Very-wise, or perhaps the Over-wise,5 seems to have originally belonged to that exalted class of mythes in which we find the Iapetids, Ixíón, Tantalos and Tityos, where, under the character of persons with significant names, lessons of wisdom, morality and religion were sensibly impressed on the minds of men. Sisyphos is then the representative of the restless de re of knowledge, which aspires to attain a height it is denied to man to reach, and exhausted in the effort falls suddenly back into the depths of earthly weakness. This is expressed in the fine picture of the Odyssey, where every word is significant, and where we may observe Sisyphos is spoken of in indefinite terms, and not assigned any earthly locality or parentage.

6

8

In the legendary history however we find him placed at Corinth, and apparently the representative of the trading spirit of that city. He is a son of Eolos, probably on account of his name (in conformity with a very usual practice in antiquity); or it may be that the crafty trader is the son of the Windman, as the wind enables him to import and export his merchandise. He is married to a daughter of the symbol of navigation, Atlas, and her name would seem to indicate that he is engaged with men in the active business of life. His children are Glaukos, a name of the sea-god, Ornytión (Quick-mover), Thersandros (Warm-man) and Halmos (Seaman), who apparently denote the fervour and bustle of commerce.10

The legends above narrated probably have their sole origin in the name of Sisyphos.

1 Pherekýdés ap. Sch. Od. xix. 432. Sch. I. x. 267. Eudocia, 375. Esch. Fr. 162. Soph. Aj. 190. Sch. in loc. 2 Il. vi. 153. 3 Fr. 23.

• Σίσυφος quasi Σι-σοφος, by a common reduplication. See Welcker, Tril. 550.

7 Aióλos, cunning. Hesiod calls Sisyphos aloλóμNTIS.

Tzetz. Lyc. 344.
Philokt. 625.

4 Od. xi. 593.

See Od. x. 1 seq. The primary meaning of alóλos is swift; probably from aw, to bloc.

• Mépones, mortals, from μópos death; o❤ is a mere adjectival ending: see above, p. 15.

10 For all the subjects here touched on see Welcker in Schwenk, 320 seq. Tril. 550 seq. Völcker, Myth, der Jap. 118 seq.

Βελλεροφόντης. Bellerophon.

The adventures of this hero, the son of Glaukos the son of Sisyphos, form a pleasing episode of the Ilias,' where they are related to Diomédés by Glaukos the grandson of Bellerophontés.

The gods had endowed Bellerophontés with manly vigour and beauty. Anteia, the wife of Protos king of Argos, fixed her love upon him, and sought a corresponding return. But the virtuous youth rejecting all her amorous advances, hate occupied the place of love in the bosom of the disappointed queen. She accused him to Protos of an attempt on her honour. The credulous king gave ear to her falsehood, but would not incur the reproach of putting him to death, as she desired. He therefore sent Bellerophontés to Lykia, to his father-in-law the king of that country, giving him deadly characters' written in a sealed tablet, which he was to present to the king of Lykia, and which were to cause his death.

6

Under the potent guidance of the gods Bellerophontés came to Lykia and the flowing Xanthos. Nine days the king entertained him, and slew nine oxen; but when the tenth rosefingered Dawn appeared,' he asked to see the token (oñμa) which he had brought from his son-in-law. When he had received it, he resolved to comply with the desire of Protos; and he first sent his guest to slay the Chimæra, a monster with the upper part a lion, the lower a serpent, the middle a goat (xíμaıpa), and which breathed forth flaming fire. Depending on the signs of the gods, Bellerophontés slew this monster, and then was ordered to go and fight the Solymians; and this he said was the severest combat he ever fought. He lastly slew the 'man-like Amazons'; and as he was returning the king laid an ambush for him, composed of the bravest men of Lykia; of whom not one returned home, for Bellerophontés slew them all. The king now perceiving him to be of the race of the gods, kept him in Lykia, giving him his daughter and half the royal dignity, and the people bestowed on him an ample temenos of arable and plantation land. By this princess Bellerophontés had three children, Isandros, Hippolochos, and Laodameia; which last was by Zeus the mother of Sarpédón. Falling at length under the displeasure of all the gods, 'he wandered alone in the Plain 1 Il. vi. 144 seq. The genuineness of this episode is doubted of by Böttiger: see Völcker, Myth. der Jap. 118 note, and Appendix H.

2 It is a disputed point whether these characters were letters, or of the same kind with the Mexican picture-writing: see Wolf's Prolegomena to Homer, p. lxxxi. seq.

of Wandering (ñedíov ảλýïov), consuming his soul, shunning the path of men.'

Later authorities tell us1 that Bellerophontés was at first named Hipponoos: but having accidentally killed one of his relatives named Belleros, he thence derived his second name. He was purified of the bloodshed by Protos, whose wife is also called Sthenobœa, and the king of Lykia is named Ióbatés. By the aid of the winged steed Pégasos Bellerophontés gained the victory over all whom Ióbatés sent him to encounter, and Sthenoboa, on hearing of his success, hung herself. Bellerophontés at last attempted by means of Pégasos to ascend to heaven: Zeus, incensed at his boldness, sent an insect to sting the steed; and he flung his rider to the earth, where he wandered in solitude and melancholy till his death.

6

Though Homer makes no mention of Pégasos, this steed forms an essential part of the mythe of Bellerophontés. In the Theogony it is said of the Chimæra that she was killed by Pégasos and the good (coλòs) Bellerophontés."2 But though all seem agreed in giving the winged steed to the hero, no one tells us how he obtained him. Here however Pindar comes to our aid with a very remarkable legend, which connects Bellerophontés with Corinth-and it is the only account that really does soand furnishes us with a key to this mythe.

According to this poet, Bellerophontés, who reigned at Corinth, being about to undertake the three adventures above mentioned, wished to possess the winged steed Pégasos, who was wont to come to drink at the fount of Peiréné on the Akrocorinth. After many fruitless efforts to catch him he applied for advice to the soothsayer Polyeidos, and was directed by him to go and sleep at the altar of Athéna. He obeyed the prophet, and in the dead of the night the goddess appeared in a dream to him, and giving him a bridle bade him sacrifice a bull to his sire Poseidón-Damæos (Tamer), and present the bridle to the steed. On awaking, Bellerophontés found the bridle lying beside him. He obeyed the injunctions of the goddess, and raised an altar to her as Hippia (Of-the-Horse). Pégasos at once yielded his mouth to the magic bit, and the hero mounting him achieved his adventures.

1 Pind. Isth. vii. 44 (63) seq. Apollod. ii. 3. Hygin. 57. Id. Poet. Astr. ii. 18. Sch. I. vi. 155. Tzetz. Lyc. 17.

2 Theog. 325. 'Eonds and ayalòs in the old Greek poets answer exactly to the good of the romances of chivalry, where the good knight is the brave knight. Κράτιστος and ἄριστος are among the superlatives of ἀγαθός.

3 l, xii. 60 (85) seg.