That beasts with the
attributes
of human beings should figure in
these tales involves, from the standpoint of primeval man, only a
very slight divergence from probability.
these tales involves, from the standpoint of primeval man, only a
very slight divergence from probability.
Warner - World's Best Literature - v01 - A to Apu
Around him sleep the Furies.
The
## p. 191 (#217) ############################################
ÆSCHYLUS
191
play opens with a prayer made by the Pythian priestess at an altar
in front of the temple. The interior of the sanctuary is then laid
bare. Orestes is awake, but the Furies sleep on. Apollo, standing
beside Orestes, promises to protect him, but bids him make all haste
to Athens, and there clasp, as a suppliant, the image of Athena.
Orestes flies. The ghost of Clytemnestra rises from the underworld,
and calls upon the Chorus to pursue. Overcome by their toil, they
moan in their sleep, but finally start to their feet. Apollo bids them
quit the temple.
The scene changes to the ancient temple of Athena on the
Acropolis at Athens, where Orestes is seen clasping the image of the
goddess. The Chorus enter in pursuit of their victim, and sing an ode
descriptive of their powers.
Athena appears, and learns from the Chorus and from Orestes the
reasons for their presence. She declares the issue to be too grave
even for her to decide, and determines to choose judges of the mur-
der, who shall become a solemn tribunal for all future time. These
are to be the best of the citizens of Athens. After an ode by the
Chorus, she returns, the court is established, and the trial proceeds
in due form. Apollo appears for the defense of Orestes. When the
arguments have been presented, Athena proclaims, before the vote
has been taken, the establishment of the court as a permanent tri-
bunal for the trial of cases of bloodshed. Its seat shall be the Are-
opagus. The votes are cast and Orestes is acquitted. He departs for
Argos. The Furies break forth in anger and threaten woes to the
land, but are appeased by Athena, who establishes their worship for-
ever in Attica. Heretofore they have been the Erinnyes, or Furies;
henceforth they shall be the Eumenides, or Gracious Goddesses.
The Eumenides are escorted from the scene in solemn procession.
Any analysis of the plays so brief as the preceding is necessarily
inadequate. The English reader is referred to the histories of Greek
Literature by K. O. Müller and by J. P. Mahaffy, to the striking
chapter on Æschylus in J. A. Symonds's Greek Poets,' and, for the
trilogy, to Moulton's 'Ancient Classical Drama. If he knows French,
he should add Croiset's Histoire de la Littérature Grecque,' and
should by all means read M. Patin's volume on Æschylus in his
'Études sur les Tragique Grècs. There are translations in English
of the poet's complete works by Potter, by Plumptre, by Blackie,
and by Miss Swanwick. Flaxman illustrated the plays. Ancient
illustrations are easily accessible in Baumeister's Denkmäler,' under
the names of the different characters in the plays. There is a transla-
tion of the Prometheus) by Mrs. Browning, and of the (Suppliants)
by Morshead, who has also translated the Atridean trilogy under
the title of The House of Atreus. ' Goldwin Smith has translated
portions of six of the plays in his “Specimens of Greek Tragedy. '
>
## p. 192 (#218) ############################################
192
ÆSCHYLUS
Many translations of the 'Agamemnon' have been made, among oth-
ers by Milman, by Symmons, by Lord Carnarvon, and by Fitzgerald.
Robert Browning also translated the play, with appalling literalness.
John Williams Weih
THE COMPLAINT OF PROMETHEUS
PROMETHEUS (alone)
O
HOLY Æther, and swift-winged Winds,
And River-wells, and laughter innumerous
Of yon Sea-waves! Earth, mother of us all,
And all-viewing cyclic Sun, I cry on you, -
Behold me a god, what I endure from gods!
Behold, with throe on throe,
How, wasted by this woe,
I wrestle down the myriad years of Time!
Behold, how fast around me
The new King of the happy ones sublime
Has flung the chain he forged, has shamed and bound me!
Woe, woe! to-day's woe and the coming morrow's
I cover with one groan.
And where is found me
A limit to these sorrows ?
And yet what word do I say? I have foreknown
Clearly all things that should be; nothing done
Comes sudden to my soul — and I must bear
What is ordained with patience, being aware
Necessity doth front the universe
With an invincible gesture. Yet this curse
Which strikes me now, I find it hard to brave
In silence or in speech. Because I gave
Honor to mortals, I have yoked my soul
To this compelling fate. Because I stole
The secret fount of fire, whose bubbles went
Over the ferrule's brim, and manward sent
Art's mighty means and perfect rudiment,
That sin I expiate in this agony,
Hung here in fetters, 'neath the blanching sky.
Ah, ah me! what a sound,
What a fragrance sweeps up from a pinion unseen
Of a god, or a mortal, or nature between,
Sweeping up to this rock where the earth has her bound,
-
-
## p. 193 (#219) ############################################
ÆSCHYLUS
193
To have sight of my pangs, or some guerdon obtain
Lo, a god in the anguish, a god in the chain!
The god Zeus hateth sore,
And his gods hate again,
As many as tread on his glorified floor,
Because I loved mortals too much evermore.
Alas me! what a murmur and motion I hear,
As of birds flying near!
And the air undersings
The light stroke of their wings —
And all life that approaches I wait for in fear.
From E. B. Browning's Translation of (Prometheus.
A PRAYER TO ARTEMIS
STROPHE IV
T"
HOUGH Zeus plan all things right,
Yet is his heart's desire full hard to trace;
Nathless in every place
Brightly it gleameth, e'en in darkest night,
Fraught with black fate to man's speech-gifted race.
ANTISTROPHE IV
Steadfast, ne'er thrown in fight,
The deed in brow of Zeus to ripeness brought;
For wrapt in shadowy night,
Tangled, unscanned by mortal sight,
Extend the path ways of his secret thought.
STROPHE V
From towering hopes mortals he hurleth prone
To utter doom: but for their fall
No force arrayeth he; for all
That gods devise is without effort wrought.
A mindful Spirit aloft on holy throne
By inborn energy achieves his thought.
ANTISTROPHE V
But let him mortal insolence behold:
How with proud contumacy rife,
Wantons the stem in lusty life
My marriage craving ; - frenzy over-bold,
Spur ever-pricking, goads them on to fate,
By ruin taught their folly all too late.
1-13
## p. 194 (#220) ############################################
194
ÆSCHYLUS
STROPHE VI
Thus I complain, in piteous strain,
Grief-laden, tear-evoking, shrill;
Ah woe is me! woe! woe!
Dirge-like it sounds; mine own death-trill
I pour, yet breathing vital air.
Hear, hill-crowned Apia, hear my prayer!
Full well, O land,
My voice barbaric thou canst understand;
While oft with rendings I assail
My byssine vesture and Sidonian veil.
ANTISTROPHE VI
My nuptial right in Heaven's pure sight
Pollution were, death-laden, rude;
Ah woe is me! woe! woe!
Alas for sorrow's murky brood!
Where will this billow hurl me? Where?
Hear, hill-crowned Apia, hear my prayer;
Full well, O land,
My voice barbaric thou canst understand,
While oft with rendings I assail
My byssine vesture and Sidonian veil.
STROPHE VII
The oar indeed and home with sails
Flax-tissued, swelled with favoring gales,
Stanch to the wave, from spear-storm free,
Have to this shore escorted me,
Nor so far blame I destiny.
But may the all-seeing Father send
In fitting time propitious end;
So our dread Mother's mighty brood
The lordly couch may 'scape, ah me,
Unwedded, unsubdued!
ANTISTROPHE VII
Meeting my will with will divine,
Daughter of Zeus, who here dost hold
Steadfast thy sacred shrine,-
Me, Artemis unstained, behold.
Do thou, who sovereign might dost wield,
Virgin thyself, a virgin shield;
## p. 195 (#221) ############################################
AESCHYLUS
195
So our dread Mother's mighty brood
The lordly couch may 'scape, ah me,
Unwedded, unsubdued !
From Miss Swanwick's Translation of “The Suppliants.
THE DEFIANCE OF ETEOCLES
MESSENGER
N°
ow at the Seventh Gate the seventh chief,
Thy proper mother's son, I will announce,
What fortune for this city, for himself,
With curses he invoketh:- on the walls
Ascending, heralded as king, to stand,
With pæans for their capture; then with thee
To fight, and either slaying near thee die,
Or thee, who wronged him, chasing forth alive,
Requite in kind his proper banishment.
Such words he shouts, and calls upon the gods
Who o'er his race preside and Fatherland,
With gracious eye to look upon his prayers.
A well-wrought buckler, newly forged, he bears,
With twofold blazon riveted thereon,
For there a woman leads, with sober mien,
A mailed warrior, enchased in gold;
Justice her style, and thus the legend speaks:-
“This man I will restore, and he shall hold
The city and his father's palace homes. ”
Such the devices of the hostile chiefs.
'Tis for thyself to choose whom thou wilt send;
But never shalt thou blame my herald-words.
To guide the rudder of the State be thine!
ETEOCLES
O heaven-demented race of Edipus,
My race, tear-fraught, detested of the gods!
Alas, our father's curses now bear fruit.
But it beseems not to lament or weep,
Lest lamentations sadder still be born.
For him, too truly Polyneikes named, -
What his device will work we soon shall know;
Whether his braggart words, with madness fraught,
Gold-blazoned on his shield, shall lead him back.
Hath Justice communed with, or claimed him hers,
## p. 196 (#222) ############################################
196
ÆSCHYLUS
Guided his deeds and thoughts, this might have been;
But neither when he fled the darksome womb,
Or in his childhood, or in youth's fair prime,
Or when the hair thick gathered on his chin,
Hath Justice communed with, or claimed 'him hers,
Nor in this outrage on his Fatherland
Deem I she now beside him deigns to stand.
For Justice would in sooth belie her name,
Did she with this all-daring man consort.
In these regards confiding will I go,
Myself will meet him. Who with better right?
Brother to brother, chieftain against chief,
Foeman to foe, I'll stand. Quick, bring my spear,
My greaves, and armor, bulwark against stones.
From Miss Swanwick's Translation of “The Seven Against Thebes. )
THE VISION OF CASSANDRA
CASSANDRA
HEBUS APOLLO!
Photos
CHORUS
Hark!
The lips at last unlocking.
CASSANDRA
Phoebus! Phobus!
CHORUS
Well, what of Phæbus, maiden ? though a name
'Tis but disparagement to call upon
In misery.
CASSANDRA
Apollo! Apollo! Again!
Oh, the burning arrow through the brain!
Phæbus Apollo! Apollo!
CHORUS
Seemingly
Possessed indeed — whether by —
CASSANDRA
Phæbus! Phoebus!
Through trampled ashes, blood, and fiery rain,
## p. 197 (#223) ############################################
ÆSCHYLUS
197
Over water seething, and behind the breathing
War-horse in the darkness — till you rose again,
Took the helm -- took the rein -
CHORUS
As one that half asleep at dawn recalls
A night of Horror!
CASSANDRA
Hither, whither, Phoebus? And with whom,
Leading me, lighting me —
CHORUS
I can answer that-
CASSANDRA
Down to what slaughter-house!
Foh! the smell of carnage through the door
Scares me from it — drags me toward it -
Phæbus Apollo! Apollo!
-
CHORUS
One of the dismal prophet-pack, it seems,
That hunt the trail of blood. But here at fault-
This is no den of slaughter, but the house
Of Agamemnon.
CASSANDRA
Down upon the towers,
(man,
Phantoms of two mangled children hover — and a famished
At an empty table glaring, seizes and devours !
CHORUS
Thyestes and his children! Strange enough
For any maiden from abroad to know,
Or, knowing --
CASSANDRA
And look! in the chamber below
The terrible Woman, listening, watching,
Under a mask, preparing the blow
In the fold of her robe --
CHORUS
Nay, but again at fault:
For in the tragic story of this House
## p. 198 (#224) ############################################
198
ÆSCHYLUS
Unless, indeed the fatal Helen-
No woman
CASSANDRA
No Woman - Tisiphone! Daughter
Of Tartarus - love-grinning Woman above,
Dragon-tailed under — honey-tongued, Harpy-clawed,
Into the glittering meshes of slaughter
She wheedles, entices him into the poisonous
Fold of the serpent
CHORUS
Peace, mad woman, peace!
Whose stony lips once open vomit out
Such uncouth horrors.
CASSANDRA
I tell you the lioness
Slaughters the Lion asleep; and lifting
Her blood-dripping fangs buried deep in his mane,
Glaring about her insatiable, bellowing,
Bounds hither – Phæbus Apollo, Apollo, Apollo!
Whither have you led me, under night alive with fire,
Through the trampled ashes of the city of my sire,
From my slaughtered kinsmen, fallen throne, insulted shrine,
Slave-like to be butchered, the daughter of a royal line!
From Edward Fitzgerald's Version of the Agamemnon.
THE LAMENT OF THE OLD NURSE
NURSE
ur mistress bids me with all speed to call
O®Ægisthus to the strangers
, that he come
And hear more clearly, as a man from man,
This newly brought report. Before her slaves,
Under set eyes of melancholy cast,
She hid her inner chuckle at the events
That have been brought to pass — too well for her,
But for this house and hearth most miserably, -
As in the tale the strangers clearly told.
He, when he hears and learns the story's gist,
Will joy, I trow, in heart. Ah, wretched me!
How those old troubles, of all sorts made up,
Most hard to bear, in Atreus's palace-halls
-
-
---
## p. 199 (#225) ############################################
ESCHYLUS
199
.
Have made my heart full heavy in my breast !
But never have I known a woe like this.
For other ills I bore full patiently,
But as for dear Orestes, my sweet charge,
Whom from his mother I received and nursed
And then the shrill cries rousing me o' nights,
And many and unprofitable toils
For me who bore them. For one needs must rear
The heedless infant like an animal,
(How can it else be ? ) as his humor serve
For while a child is yet in swaddling clothes,
It speaketh not, if either hunger comes,
Or passing thirst, or lower calls of need;
And children's stomach works its own content.
And I, though I foresaw this, call to mind,
How I was cheated, washing swaddling clothes,
And nurse and laundress did the selfsame work.
I then with these my double handicrafts,
Brought up Orestes for his father dear;
And now, woe's me! I learn that he is dead,
And go to fetch the man that mars this house;
And gladly will he hear these words of mine.
From Plumptre's Translation of The Libation-Pourers. )
THE DECREE OF ATHENA
H
?
EAR ye my statute, men of Attica -
Ye who of bloodshed judge this primal cause;
Yea, and in future age shall Ægeus's host
Revere this court of jurors. This the hill
Of Ares, seat of Amazons, their tent,
What time 'gainst Theseus, breathing hate, they came,
Waging fierce battle, and their towers upreared,
A counter-fortress to Acropolis ;-
To Ares they did sacrifice, and hence
This rock is titled Areopagus.
Here then shall sacred Awe, to Fear allied,
By day and night my lieges hold from wrong,
Save if themselves do innovate my laws,
If thou with mud, or influx base, bedim
The sparkling water, nought thou'lt find to drink.
Nor Anarchy, nor Tyrant's lawless rule
Commend I to my people's reverence;-
Nor let them banish from their city Fear;
## p. 200 (#226) ############################################
200
ÆSOP
For who 'mong men, uncurbed by fear, is just ?
Thus holding Awe in seemly reverence,
A bulwark for your State shall ye possess,
A safeguard to protect your city walls,
Such as no mortals otherwhere can boast,
Neither in Scythia, nor in Pelops's realm.
Behold! This Court august, untouched by bribes,
Sharp to avenge, wakeful for those who sleep,
Establish I, a bulwark to this land.
This charge, extending to all future time,
I give my lieges. Meet it as ye rise,
Assume the pebbles, and decide the cause,
Your oath revering. All hath now been said.
From Miss Swanwick's Translation of (The Eumenides.
ÆSOP
(Seventh Century B. C. )
BY HARRY THURSTON PECK
an
PIKE Homer, the greatest of the world's epic poets, Æsop
(Æsopus), the most famous of the world's fabulists, has
been regarded by certain scholars as a wholly mythical
personage. The many improbable stories that are told about him
gain some credence for this theory, which is set forth in detail by
the Italian scholar Vico, who says:-"Æsop, re-
garded philosophically, will be found not to have
been an actually existing man, but rather
abstraction representing a class,”— in other words,
merely a convenient invention of the later Greeks,
who ascribed to him all the fables of which they
could find no certain author.
The only narrative upon which the ancient
writers are in the main agreed represents Æsop
as living in the seventh century before Christ. As
with Homer, so with Æsop, several cities of Asia
Æsop
Minor claimed the honor of having been his birth-
place. Born a slave and hideously ugly, his keen
wit led his admiring master to set him free; after which he trav-
eled, visiting Athens, where he is said to have told his fable of
King Log and King Stork to the citizens who were complaining of
the rule of Pisistratus. Still later, having won the favor of King
## p. 201 (#227) ############################################
ÆSOP
201
Cræsus of Lydia, he was sent by him to Delphi with a gift of
money for the citizens of that place; but in the course of a dispute
as to its distribution, he was slain by the Delphians, who threw him
over a precipice.
The fables that bore his name seem not to have been committed
by him to writing, but for a long time were handed down from gen-
eration to generation by oral tradition; so that the same tables are
sometimes found quoted in slightly different forms, and we hear of
men learning them in conversation rather than from books. They
were, however, universally popular. Socrates while in prison amused
himself by turning some of them into verse. Aristophanes cites
them in his plays; and he tells how certain suitors once tried to win
favor of a judge by repeating to him some of the amusing stories of
Æsop. The Athenians even erected a statue in his honor. At a
later period, the fables were gathered together and published by the
Athenian statesman and orator, Demetrius Phalereus, in B. C. 320,
and were versified by Babrius (of uncertain date), whose collection is
the only one in Greek of which any substantial portion still sur-
vives. They were often translated by the Romans, and the Latin
version by Phædrus, the freedman of Augustus Cæsar, is still pre-
served and still used as a school-book. Forty-two of them are like-
wise found in a Latin work by one Avianus, dating from the fifth
century after Christ. During the Middle Ages, when much of the
classical literature had been lost or forgotten, Æsop, who was called
by the medievals "Isopet,” was still read in various forms; and in
modern times he has served as a model for a great number of imita-
tions, of which the most successful are those in French by Lafon-
taine and those in English by John Gay.
Whether or not such a person as Æsop ever lived, and whether
or not he actually narrated the fables that are ascribed to him, it is
certain that he did not himself invent them, but merely gave them
currency in Greece; for they can be shown to have existed long
before his time, and in fact to antedate even the beginnings of Hel-
lenic civilization. With some changes of form they are found in the
oldest literature of the Chinese; similar stories are preserved on the
inscribed Babylonian bricks; and an Egyptian papyrus of about the
year 1200 B. C. gives the fable of The Lion and the Mouse' in its
finished form. Other Æsopic apologues are essentially identical with
the Jatakas or Buddhist stories of India, and occur also in the great
Sanskrit story-book, the Panchatantra,' which is the very oldest
monument of Hindu literature.
The so-called Æsopic Fables are in fact only a part of the primi-
tive folk-lore, that springs up in prehistoric times, and passes from
country to country and from race to race by the process of popular
## p. 202 (#228) ############################################
202
ÆSOP
an
story-telling. They reached Greece, undoubtedly through Egypt and
Persia, and even in their present form they still retain certain Ori-
ental, or at any rate non-Hellenic elements, such as the introduction
of Eastern animals, — the panther, the peacock, and the ape. They
represent the beginnings of conscious literary effort, when man first
tried to enforce some maxim of practical wisdom and to teach some
useful truth through the fascinating medium of a story. The Fable
embodies a half-unconscious desire to give concrete form to
abstract principle, and a childish love for the picturesque and strik-
ing, which endows rocks and stones and trees with life, and gives
the power of speech to animals.
That beasts with the attributes of human beings should figure in
these tales involves, from the standpoint of primeval man, only a
very slight divergence from probability. In nothing, perhaps, has
civilization so changed us as in our mental attitude toward animals.
It has fixed a great gulf between us and them - a gulf far greater
than that which divided them from our first ancestors. In the early
ages of the world, when men lived by the chase, and gnawed the
raw flesh of their prey, and slept in lairs amid the jungle, the purely
animal virtues were the only ones they knew and exercised. They
adored courage and strength, and swiftness and endurance. They
respected keenness of scent and vision, and admired cunning. The
possession of these qualities was the very condition of existence, and
they valued them accordingly; but in each one of them they found
their equals, and in fact their superiors, among the brutes. A lion
was stronger than the strongest man. The hare was swifter. The
eagle was more keen-sighted. The fox was more cunning. Hence,
so far from looking down upon the animals from the remotely supe-
rior height that a hundred centuries of civilization have erected for
us, the primitive savage looked up to the beast, studied his ways,
copied him, and went to school to him. The man, then, was not in
those days the lord of creation, and the beast was not his servant;
but they were almost brothers in the subtle sympathy between them,
like that which united Mowgli, the wolf-nursed shikarri, and his hairy
brethren, in that most weirdly wonderful of all Mr. Kipling's inven-
tions - the one that carries us back, not as his other stories do, to
the India of the cities and the bazaars, of the supercilious tourist and
the sleek Babu, but to the older India of unbroken jungle, darkling
at noonday through its green mist of tangled leaves, and haunted by
memories of the world's long infancy when man and brute crouched
close together on the earthy breast of the great mother.
The Æsopic Fables, then, are the oldest representative that we
have of the literary art of primitive man. The charm that they have
always possessed springs in part from their utter simplicity, their
## p. 203 (#229) ############################################
1
203
ÆSOP
naiveté, and their directness; and in part from the fact that their
teachings are the teachings of universal experience, and therefore
appeal irresistibly to the consciousness of every one who hears them,
whether he be savage or scholar, child or sage. They are the liter-
ary antipodes of the last great effort of genius and art working upon
the same material, and found in Mr. Kipling's Jungle Books. The
Fables show only the first stirrings of the literary instinct, the Jungle
Stories bring to bear the full development of the fictive art, — creative
imagination, psychological insight, brilliantly picturesque description,
and the touch of one who is a daring master of vivid language; so
that no better theme can be given to a student of literary history
than the critical comparison of these two allied forms of composition,
representing as they do the two extremes of actual development.
The best general account in English of the origin of the Greek
Fable is that of Rutherford in the introduction to his Babrius?
(London, 1883). An excellent special study of the history of the
Æsopic Fables is that by Joseph Jacobs in the first volume of his
Æsop' (London, 1889). The various ancient accounts of Æsop's life
are collected by Simrock in 'Æsops Leben' (1864). The best sci-
entific edition of the two hundred and ten fables is that of Halm
(Leipzig, 1887). Good disquisitions on their history during the Mid-
dle Ages are those of Du Méril in French (Paris, 1854) and Bruno
in German (Bamberg, 1892 ). See also the articles in the present
work under the titles Babrius,' Bidpai, John Gay, Lafontaine,
Lokman,' (Panchatantra,' Phædrus,' Reynard the Fox. '
(
(
(
(
(
H. J. Peck
(
THE FOX AND THE LION
The
W . ,
he first time the Fox saw the Lion, he fell down at his feet,
and was ready to die of fear. The second time, he took
courage and could even bear to look upon him. The third
time, he had the impudence to come up to him, to salute him,
and to enter into familiar conversation with him.
THE ASS IN THE LION'S SKIN
N
,
N Ass, finding the skin of a Lion, put it on; and, going into
the woods and pastures, threw all the flocks and herds into
a terrible consternation. At last, meeting his owner, he
would have frightened him also; but the good man, seeing his
## p. 204 (#230) ############################################
204
ÆSOP
long ears stick out, presently knew him, and with a good cudgel
made him sensible that, notwithstanding his being dressed in a
Lion's skin, he was really no more than an Ass.
THE ASS EATING THISTLES
AN
he
n Ass was loaded with good provisions of several sorts, which,
in time of harvest, he was carrying into the field for his
master and the reapers to dine upon. On the way
met with a fine large thistle, and being very hungry, began to
mumble it; which while he was doing, he entered into this
reflection :- How many greedy epicures would think themselves
happy, amidst such a variety of delicate viands as I now carry!
But to me this bitter, prickly thistle is more savory and relishing
than the most exquisite and sumptuous banquet. ”
THE WOLF IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING
A
WOLF, clothing himself in the skin of a sheep, and getting
in among the flock, by this means took the opportunity to
devour many of them. At last the shepherd discovered
him, and cunningly fastening a rope about his neck, tied him up
to a tree which stood hard by. Some other shepherds happening
to pass that way, and observing what he was about, drew near,
and expressed their admiration at it. “What! ” says one of them,
“brother, do you make hanging of a sheep? " "No," replied the
other, “but I make hanging of a Wolf whenever I catch him,
though in the habit and garb of a sheep. ” Then he showed
them their mistake, and they applauded the justice of the exe-
cution.
THE COUNTRYMAN AND THE SNAKE
A
VILLAGER, in a frosty, snowy winter, found a Snake under a
hedge, almost dead with cold. He could not help having
a compassion for the poor creature, so brought it home,
and laid it upon the hearth, near the fire; but it had not lain
there long, before (being revived with the heat) it began to erect
itself, and fly at his wife and children, filling the whole cottage
with dreadful hissings. The Countryman heard an outcry, and
perceiving what the matter was, catched up a mattock and soon
## p. 205 (#231) ############################################
ÆSOP
205
dispatched him; upbraiding him at the same
same time in these
words:- “Is this, vile wretch, the reward you make to him that
saved your life? Die as you deserve; but a single death is too
good for you. "
THE BELLY AND THE MEMBERS
N FORMER days, when the Belly and the other parts of the body
enjoyed the faculty of speech, and had separate views and
designs of their own, each part, it seems, in particular for
himself, and in the name of the whole, took exception to the
conduct of the Belly, and were resolved to grant him supplies no
longer. They said they thought it very hard that he should lead
an idle, good-for-nothing life, spending and squandering away,
upon his own ungodly guts, all the fruits of their labor; and
that, in short, they were resolved, for the future, to strike off his
allowance, and let him shift for himself as well as he could. The
Hands protested they would not lift up a finger to keep him from
starving; and the Mouth wished he might never speak again if
he took in the least bit of nourishment for him as long as he
lived; and, said the Teeth, may we be rotten if ever we chew a
morsel for him for the future. This solemn league and covenant
was kept as long as anything of that kind can be kept, which
was until each of the rebel members pined away to skin and
bone, and could hold out no longer. Then they found there was
no doing without the Belly, and that, idle and insignificant as he
seemed, he contributed as much to the maintenance and welfare
of all the other parts as they did to his.
THE SATYR AND THE TRAVELER
A ,
Satyr, as he was ranging the forest in an exceeding cold,
snowy season, met with a Traveler half-starved with the
extremity of the weather. He took compassion on him,
and kindly invited him home to a warm, comfortable cave he had
in the hollow of a rock. As soon as they had entered and sat
down, notwithstanding there was a good fire in the place, the
chilly Traveler could not forbear blowing his fingers' ends. Upon
the Satyr's asking why he did so, he answered, that he did it to
warm his hands. The honest sylvan having seen little of the
world, admired a man who was master of so valuable a quality as
## p. 206 (#232) ############################################
206
ÆSOP
that of blowing heat, and therefore was resolved to entertain him
in the best manner he could. He spread the table before him
with dried fruits of several sorts; and produced a remnant of
cold wine, which as the rigor of the season made very proper, he
mulled with some warm spices, infused over the fire, and pre-
sented to his shivering guest.
But this the Traveler thought fit
to blow likewise; and upon the Satyr's demanding a reason why
he blowed again, he replied, to cool his dish. This second an-
swer provoked the Satyr's indignation as much as the first had
kindled his surprise: so, taking the man by the shoulder, he
thrust him out of doors, saying he would have nothing to do
with a wretch who had so vile a quality as to blow hot and cold
with the same mouth.
THE LION AND THE OTHER BEASTS
T".
(
HE Lion and several other beasts entered into an alliance,
offensive and defensive, and were to live very sociably to-
gether in the forest. One day, having made a sort of an
excursion by way of hunting, they took a very fine, large, fat
deer, which was divided into four parts; there happening to be
then present his Majesty the Lion, and only three others. After
the division was made, and the parts were set out, his Majesty,
advancing forward some steps and pointing to one of the shares,
was pleased to declare himself after the following manner:
This I seize and take possession of as my right, which devolves
to me, as I am descended by a true, lineal, hereditary succession
from the royal family of Lion. That (pointing to the second] I
claim by, I think, no unreasonable demand; considering that all the
engagements you have with the enemy turn chiefly upon my
courage and conduct, and you very well know that wars are too
expensive to be carried on without proper supplies. Then [ nod-
ding his head toward the third] that I shall take by virtue of my
prerogative; to which, I make no question but so dutiful and
loyal a people will pay all the deference and regard that I can
desire. Now, as for the remaining part, the necessity of our
present affairs is so very urgent, our stock so low, and our credit
so impaired and weakened, that I must insist upon your granting
that, without any hesitation or demur; and hereof fail not at
your peril. ”
## p. 207 (#233) ############################################
ÆSOP
207
THE ASS AND THE LITTLE DOG
TH
,
CHE Ass, observing how great a favorite the little Dog was
with his Master, how much caressed and fondled, and fed
with good bits at every meal; and for no other reason, as
he could perceive, but for skipping and frisking about, wagging
his tail, and leaping up into his Master's lap: he was resolved to
imitate the same, and see whether such a behavior would not
procure him the same favors. Accordingly, the Master was no
sooner come home from walking about his fields and gardens,
and was seated in his easy-chair, but the Ass, who observed him,
came gamboling and braying towards him, in a very awkward
manner. The Master could not help laughing aloud at the odd
sight. But his jest was soon turned into earnest, when he felt
the rough salute of the Ass's fore-feet, who, raising himself upon
his hinder legs, pawed against his breast with a most loving air,
and would fain have jumped into his lap. The good man, terri-
fied at this outrageous behavior, and unable to endure the weight
of so heavy a beast, cried out; upon which, one of his servants
running in with a good stick, and laying on heartily upon the
bones of the poor Ass, soon convinced him that every one who
desires it is not qualified to be a favorite.
THE COUNTRY MOUSE AND THE CITY MOUSE
AN
N HONEST, plain, sensible Country Mouse is said to have
entertained at his hole one day a fine Mouse of the Town.
Having formerly been playfellows together, they were old
acquaintances, which served as an apology for the visit. How-
ever, as master of the house, he thought himself obliged to do
the honors of it in all respects, and to make as great a stranger
of his guest as he possibly could. In order to do this he set
before him a reserve of delicate gray pease and bacon, a dish of
fine oatmeal, some parings of new cheese, and, to crown all with
a dessert, a remnant of a charming mellow apple. In good man-
ners, he forbore to eat any himself, lest the stranger should not
have enough; but that he might seem to bear the other company,
sat and nibbled a piece of a wheaten straw very busily. At last,
says the spark of the town: “Old crony, give me leave to be a
little free with you: how can you bear to live in this nasty,
## p. 208 (#234) ############################################
208
ÆSOP
dirty, melancholy hole here, with nothing but woods, and mead-
ows, and mountains, and rivulets about you? Do not you prefer
the conversation of the world to the chirping of birds, and
the splendor of a court to the rude aspect of an uncultivated
desert ? Come, take my word for it, you will find it a change
for the better. Never stand considering, but away this moment.
Remember, we are not immortal, and therefore have no time to
lose. Make sure of to-day, and spend it as agreeably as you can:
you know not what may happen to-morrow. ” In short, these
and such like arguments prevailed, and his Country Acquaintance
was resolved to go to town that night. So they both set out
upon their journey together, proposing to sneak in after the close
of the evening. They did so; and about midnight made their
entry into a certain great house, where there had been an extra-
ordinary entertainment the day before, and several tit-bits, which
some of the servants had purloined, were hid under the seat of
a window. The Country Guest was immediately placed in the
midst of a rich Persian carpet: and now it was the Courtier's
turn to entertain; who indeed acquitted himself in that capacity
with the utmost readiness and address, changing the courses as
elegantly, and tasting everything first as judiciously, as any
clerk of the kitchen. The other sat and enjoyed himself like a
delighted epicure, tickled to the last degree with this new turn
of his affairs; when on a sudden, a noise of somebody opening
the door made them start from their seats, and scuttle in con-
fusion about the dining-room. Our Country Friend, in particular,
was ready to die with fear at the barking of a huge mastiff or
two, which opened their throats just about the same time, and
made the whole house echo. At last, recovering himself:-
"Well,” says he, “if this be your town-life, much good may you
do with it: give me my poor, quiet hole again, with my homely
but comfortable gray pease. ”
THE DOG AND THE WOLF
A
LEAN, hungry, half-starved Wolf happened, one moonshiny
night, to meet with a jolly, plump, well-fed Mastiff; and
after the first compliments were passed, says the Wolf:-
"You look extremely well. I protest, I think I never saw
more graceful, comely person; but how comes it about, I beseech
you, that you should live so much better than I ? I may say,
а
## p. 208 (#235) ############################################
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J. L. R. AGASSIZ.
## p. 208 (#237) ############################################
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ז ו
## p. 209 (#239) ############################################
JEAN LOUIS RODOLPHE AGASSIZ
209
(
(C
>
without vanity, that I venture fifty times more than you do;
and yet I am almost ready to perish with hunger. ” The Dog
answered very bluntly, "Why, you may live as well, if you will
do the same for it that I do. ”. « Indeed ? what is that ? " says
he. — "Why,
“Why,” says the Dog, "only to guard the house a-nights,
and keep it from thieves. ” — "With all my heart,” replies the
“
Wolf, «for at present I have but a sorry time of it; and I
think to change my hard lodging in the woods, where I endure
rain, frost, and snow, for a warm roof over my head, and a
bellyful of good victuals, will be no bad bargain. ”—“True,"
says the Dog; "therefore you have nothing more to do but to
follow me. ” Now, as they were jogging on together, the Wolf
spied a crease in the Dog's neck, and having a strange curiosity,
could not forbear asking him what it meant. « Pooh! nothing,”
says the Dog. — “Nay, but pray – ” says the Wolf. — “Why,”
says the Dog, “if you must know, I am tied up in the daytime,
because I am a little fierce, for fear I should bite people, and
am only let loose a-nights. But this is done with design to make
me sleep a-days, more than anything else, and that I may watch
the better in the night-time; for as soon as ever the twilight
appears, out I am turned, and may go where I please. Then
my master brings me plates of bones from the table with his
own hands, and whatever scraps are left by any of the family,
all fall to my share; for you must know I am a favorite with
everybody. So you see how you are to live. Come, come along:
what is the matter with you ? ” — “No,” replied the Wolf, “I
beg your pardon: keep your happiness all to yourself. Liberty
is the word with me; and I would not be a king upon the terms
you mention. ”
»
JEAN LOUIS RODOLPHE AGASSIZ
(1807-1873)
T FIRST, when a
mere boy, twelve years of age,” writes the
great Swiss naturalist, "I did what most beginners do. I
picked up whatever I could lay my hands on, and tried, by
such books and authorities as I had at my command, to find the
names of these objects. My highest ambition at that time, was to
be able to designate the plants and animals of my native country
1-14
## p. 210 (#240) ############################################
210
JEAN LOUIS RODOLPHE AGASSIZ
correctly by a Latin name, and to extend gradually a similar knowl-
edge in its application to the productions of other countries. This
seemed to me, in those days, the legitimate aim and proper work of
a naturalist. I still possess manuscript volumes in which I entered
the names of all the animals and plants with which I became ac-
quainted, and I well remember that I then ardently hoped to acquire
the same superficial familiarity with the whole creation. I did not
then know how much more important it is to the naturalist to under-
stand the structure of a few animals than to command the whole field
of scientific nomenclature. Since I have become a teacher, and have
watched the progress of students, I have seen that they all begin in
the same way. But how many have grown old in the pursuit, with-
out ever rising to any higher conception of the study of nature,
spending their life in the determination of species, and in extending
scientific terminology! Long before I went to the university, and
before I began to study natural history under the guidance of men
who were masters in the science during the early part of this cen-
tury, I perceived that though nomenclature and classification, as then
understood, formed an important part of the study, being, in fact, its
technical language, the study of living beings in their natural ele-
ment was of infinitely greater value. At that age— namely, about
fifteen-I spent most of the time I could spare from classical and
mathematical studies in hunting the neighboring woods and meadows
for birds, insects, and land and fresh-water shells. My room became
a little menagerie, while the stone •basin under the fountain in our
yard was my reservoir for all the fishes I could catch. Indeed, col-
lecting, fishing, and raising caterpillars, from which I reared fresh,
beautiful butterflies, were then my chief pastimes. What I know
of the habits of the fresh-water fishes of Central Europe I mostly
learned at that time; and I may add, that when afterward I obtained
access to a large library and could consult the works of Bloch and
Lacépède, the only extensive works on fishes then in existence, I
wondered that they contained so little about their habits, natural
attitudes, and mode of action, with which I was so familiar. ”
It is this way of looking at things that gives to Agassiz's writings
their literary and popular interest. He was born in Mortier, Canton
Fribourg, May 28th, 1807, the son of a clergyman, who sent his gifted
son to the Universities of Zürich, Heidelberg, and Munich, where he
acquired reputation for his brilliant powers, and entered into the
enthusiastic, intellectual, and merry student-life, taking his place in
the formal duels, and becoming known as a champion fencer. Agas-
siz was an influence in every centre that he touched; and in Munich,
his room and his laboratory, thick with clouds of smoke from the
long-stemmed German pipes, was a gathering-place for the young
## p. 211 (#241) ############################################
JEAN LOUIS RODOLPHE AGASSIZ
21
scientific aspirants, who affectionately called it “The Little Academy. ”
At the age of twenty-two, he had published his 'Fishes of Brazil,' a
folio that brought him into immediate recognition. Cuvier, the great-
est ichthyologist of his time, to whom the first volume was dedicated,
received him as a pupil, and gave to him all the material that he
had been collecting during fifteen years for a contemplated work on
Fossil Fishes. In Paris Agassiz also won the friendship of Humboldt,
who, learning that he stood in need of money, presented him with so
generous a sum as to enable the ambitious young naturalist to work
with a free and buoyant spirit.
His practical career began in 1832, when he was installed at Neuf-
châtel, from which point he easily studied the Alps. Two years later,
after the Poissons fossiles) (Fossil Fishes) appeared, he visited Eng-
land to lecture. Then returning to his picturesque home, he applied
himself to original investigation, and through his lectures and publi-
cations won honors and degrees. His daring opinions, however,
sometimes provoked ardent discussion and angry comment.
Agassiz's passion for investigation frequently led him into dangers
that imperiled both life and limb. In the summer of 1841, for exam-
ple, he was lowered into a deep crevasse bristling with huge stalac-
tites of ice, to reach the heart of a glacier moving at the rate of
forty feet a day. While he was observing the blue bands on the
glittering ice, he suddenly touched a well of water, and only after
great difficulty made his companions understand his signal for rescue.
These Alpine experiences are well described by Mrs. Elizabeth Cary
Agassiz, and also by Edouard Desors in his Séjours dans les Gla-
ciers' (Sojourn among the Glaciers: Neufchâtel, 1844). Interesting
particulars of these glacial studies ('Études des Glaciers') were soon
issued, and Agassiz received many gifts from lovers of science,
among whom was numbered the King of Prussia. His zoölogical and
geological investigations were continued, and important works on
Fossil Mollusks, Tertiary Shells,' and Living and Fossil Echino-
derms' date from this period.
He had long desired to visit America, when he realized this wish
in 1846 by an arrangement with the Lowell Institute of Boston,
where he gave a series of lectures, afterwards repeated in various
cities. So attractive did he find the fauna and flora of America, and
so vast a field did he perceive here for his individual studies and
instruction, that he returned the following year. In 1848 the Prussian
government, which had borne the expenses of his scientific mission,
-a cruise along our Atlantic coast to study its marine life. --- released
him from further obligation that he might accept the chair of geol-
ogy in the Lawrence Scientific School of Harvard l'niversity. His
cruises, his explorations, and his methods, combined with his attractive
## p. 212 (#242) ############################################
212
JEAN LOUIS RODOLPHE AGASSIZ
personality, gave him unique power as a teacher; and
many of
his biographers think that of all his gifts, the ability to instruct was
the most conspicuous. He needed no text-books, for he went directly
to Nature, and did not believe in those technical, dry-as-dust terms
which lead to nothing and which are swept away by the next gener-
ation. Many noted American men of science remember the awaken-
ing influence of his laboratories in Charleston and Cambridge, his
museum at Harvard, and his summer school at Penikese Island in
Buzzard's Bay, Massachusetts, where natural history was studied
under ideal conditions. It was here that he said to his class :-"A
laboratory of natural history is a sanctuary where nothing profane
should be tolerated. ” Whittier has left a poem called “The Prayer
of Agassiz, describing
( The isle of Penikese
Ranged about by sapphire seas. ”
Just as he was realizing two of his ambitions, the establishment
of a great museum and a practical school of zoölogy, he died, Decem-
ber 14th, 1873, at his home in Cambridge, and was buried at Mount
Auburn beneath pine-trees sent from Switzerland, while a bowlder
from the glacier of the Aar was selected to mark his resting-place.
Agassiz was greatly beloved by his pupils and associates, and was
identified with the brilliant group — Emerson, Longfellow, Holmes, and
Lowell, - each of whom has written of him. Lowell considered his
Elegy on Agassiz,' written in Florence in 1874, among his best
verses; Longfellow wrote a poem for “The Fiftieth Birthday of
Agassiz,' and Holmes A Farewell to Agassiz) on his departure for
the Andes, whose affectionate and humorous strain thus closes:-
(
« Till their glorious raid is o'er,
And they touch our ransomed shore !
Then the welcome of a nation,
With its shout of exultation,
Shall awake the dumb creation,
And the shapes of buried æons
Join the living creatures' pæans,
While the mighty megalosaurus
Leads the palæozoic chorus,
God bless the great Professor,
And the land its proud possessor,
Bless them now and evermore ! )
Numerous biographies and monographs of Agassiz exist in many
languages, a complete list of which is given in the last published
'Life of Agassiz,' by Jules Marcou (New York and London, 1896),
and also in the Life of Agassiz,' by Charles F. Holder (New York,
## p. 213 (#243) ############################################
JEAN LOUIS RODOLPHE AGASSIZ
213
1893). Complete lists of Agassiz's works are also given in these bio-
graphies, and these titles show how versatile was his taste and how
deep and wide his research. His principal contributions to science
are in French and Latin, but his most popular books appeared in
English. These include “The Structure of Animal Life,' Methods of
Study,' (Geological Sketches,' and Journey in Brazil,' the latter
written with Mrs. Agassiz.
## p. 191 (#217) ############################################
ÆSCHYLUS
191
play opens with a prayer made by the Pythian priestess at an altar
in front of the temple. The interior of the sanctuary is then laid
bare. Orestes is awake, but the Furies sleep on. Apollo, standing
beside Orestes, promises to protect him, but bids him make all haste
to Athens, and there clasp, as a suppliant, the image of Athena.
Orestes flies. The ghost of Clytemnestra rises from the underworld,
and calls upon the Chorus to pursue. Overcome by their toil, they
moan in their sleep, but finally start to their feet. Apollo bids them
quit the temple.
The scene changes to the ancient temple of Athena on the
Acropolis at Athens, where Orestes is seen clasping the image of the
goddess. The Chorus enter in pursuit of their victim, and sing an ode
descriptive of their powers.
Athena appears, and learns from the Chorus and from Orestes the
reasons for their presence. She declares the issue to be too grave
even for her to decide, and determines to choose judges of the mur-
der, who shall become a solemn tribunal for all future time. These
are to be the best of the citizens of Athens. After an ode by the
Chorus, she returns, the court is established, and the trial proceeds
in due form. Apollo appears for the defense of Orestes. When the
arguments have been presented, Athena proclaims, before the vote
has been taken, the establishment of the court as a permanent tri-
bunal for the trial of cases of bloodshed. Its seat shall be the Are-
opagus. The votes are cast and Orestes is acquitted. He departs for
Argos. The Furies break forth in anger and threaten woes to the
land, but are appeased by Athena, who establishes their worship for-
ever in Attica. Heretofore they have been the Erinnyes, or Furies;
henceforth they shall be the Eumenides, or Gracious Goddesses.
The Eumenides are escorted from the scene in solemn procession.
Any analysis of the plays so brief as the preceding is necessarily
inadequate. The English reader is referred to the histories of Greek
Literature by K. O. Müller and by J. P. Mahaffy, to the striking
chapter on Æschylus in J. A. Symonds's Greek Poets,' and, for the
trilogy, to Moulton's 'Ancient Classical Drama. If he knows French,
he should add Croiset's Histoire de la Littérature Grecque,' and
should by all means read M. Patin's volume on Æschylus in his
'Études sur les Tragique Grècs. There are translations in English
of the poet's complete works by Potter, by Plumptre, by Blackie,
and by Miss Swanwick. Flaxman illustrated the plays. Ancient
illustrations are easily accessible in Baumeister's Denkmäler,' under
the names of the different characters in the plays. There is a transla-
tion of the Prometheus) by Mrs. Browning, and of the (Suppliants)
by Morshead, who has also translated the Atridean trilogy under
the title of The House of Atreus. ' Goldwin Smith has translated
portions of six of the plays in his “Specimens of Greek Tragedy. '
>
## p. 192 (#218) ############################################
192
ÆSCHYLUS
Many translations of the 'Agamemnon' have been made, among oth-
ers by Milman, by Symmons, by Lord Carnarvon, and by Fitzgerald.
Robert Browning also translated the play, with appalling literalness.
John Williams Weih
THE COMPLAINT OF PROMETHEUS
PROMETHEUS (alone)
O
HOLY Æther, and swift-winged Winds,
And River-wells, and laughter innumerous
Of yon Sea-waves! Earth, mother of us all,
And all-viewing cyclic Sun, I cry on you, -
Behold me a god, what I endure from gods!
Behold, with throe on throe,
How, wasted by this woe,
I wrestle down the myriad years of Time!
Behold, how fast around me
The new King of the happy ones sublime
Has flung the chain he forged, has shamed and bound me!
Woe, woe! to-day's woe and the coming morrow's
I cover with one groan.
And where is found me
A limit to these sorrows ?
And yet what word do I say? I have foreknown
Clearly all things that should be; nothing done
Comes sudden to my soul — and I must bear
What is ordained with patience, being aware
Necessity doth front the universe
With an invincible gesture. Yet this curse
Which strikes me now, I find it hard to brave
In silence or in speech. Because I gave
Honor to mortals, I have yoked my soul
To this compelling fate. Because I stole
The secret fount of fire, whose bubbles went
Over the ferrule's brim, and manward sent
Art's mighty means and perfect rudiment,
That sin I expiate in this agony,
Hung here in fetters, 'neath the blanching sky.
Ah, ah me! what a sound,
What a fragrance sweeps up from a pinion unseen
Of a god, or a mortal, or nature between,
Sweeping up to this rock where the earth has her bound,
-
-
## p. 193 (#219) ############################################
ÆSCHYLUS
193
To have sight of my pangs, or some guerdon obtain
Lo, a god in the anguish, a god in the chain!
The god Zeus hateth sore,
And his gods hate again,
As many as tread on his glorified floor,
Because I loved mortals too much evermore.
Alas me! what a murmur and motion I hear,
As of birds flying near!
And the air undersings
The light stroke of their wings —
And all life that approaches I wait for in fear.
From E. B. Browning's Translation of (Prometheus.
A PRAYER TO ARTEMIS
STROPHE IV
T"
HOUGH Zeus plan all things right,
Yet is his heart's desire full hard to trace;
Nathless in every place
Brightly it gleameth, e'en in darkest night,
Fraught with black fate to man's speech-gifted race.
ANTISTROPHE IV
Steadfast, ne'er thrown in fight,
The deed in brow of Zeus to ripeness brought;
For wrapt in shadowy night,
Tangled, unscanned by mortal sight,
Extend the path ways of his secret thought.
STROPHE V
From towering hopes mortals he hurleth prone
To utter doom: but for their fall
No force arrayeth he; for all
That gods devise is without effort wrought.
A mindful Spirit aloft on holy throne
By inborn energy achieves his thought.
ANTISTROPHE V
But let him mortal insolence behold:
How with proud contumacy rife,
Wantons the stem in lusty life
My marriage craving ; - frenzy over-bold,
Spur ever-pricking, goads them on to fate,
By ruin taught their folly all too late.
1-13
## p. 194 (#220) ############################################
194
ÆSCHYLUS
STROPHE VI
Thus I complain, in piteous strain,
Grief-laden, tear-evoking, shrill;
Ah woe is me! woe! woe!
Dirge-like it sounds; mine own death-trill
I pour, yet breathing vital air.
Hear, hill-crowned Apia, hear my prayer!
Full well, O land,
My voice barbaric thou canst understand;
While oft with rendings I assail
My byssine vesture and Sidonian veil.
ANTISTROPHE VI
My nuptial right in Heaven's pure sight
Pollution were, death-laden, rude;
Ah woe is me! woe! woe!
Alas for sorrow's murky brood!
Where will this billow hurl me? Where?
Hear, hill-crowned Apia, hear my prayer;
Full well, O land,
My voice barbaric thou canst understand,
While oft with rendings I assail
My byssine vesture and Sidonian veil.
STROPHE VII
The oar indeed and home with sails
Flax-tissued, swelled with favoring gales,
Stanch to the wave, from spear-storm free,
Have to this shore escorted me,
Nor so far blame I destiny.
But may the all-seeing Father send
In fitting time propitious end;
So our dread Mother's mighty brood
The lordly couch may 'scape, ah me,
Unwedded, unsubdued!
ANTISTROPHE VII
Meeting my will with will divine,
Daughter of Zeus, who here dost hold
Steadfast thy sacred shrine,-
Me, Artemis unstained, behold.
Do thou, who sovereign might dost wield,
Virgin thyself, a virgin shield;
## p. 195 (#221) ############################################
AESCHYLUS
195
So our dread Mother's mighty brood
The lordly couch may 'scape, ah me,
Unwedded, unsubdued !
From Miss Swanwick's Translation of “The Suppliants.
THE DEFIANCE OF ETEOCLES
MESSENGER
N°
ow at the Seventh Gate the seventh chief,
Thy proper mother's son, I will announce,
What fortune for this city, for himself,
With curses he invoketh:- on the walls
Ascending, heralded as king, to stand,
With pæans for their capture; then with thee
To fight, and either slaying near thee die,
Or thee, who wronged him, chasing forth alive,
Requite in kind his proper banishment.
Such words he shouts, and calls upon the gods
Who o'er his race preside and Fatherland,
With gracious eye to look upon his prayers.
A well-wrought buckler, newly forged, he bears,
With twofold blazon riveted thereon,
For there a woman leads, with sober mien,
A mailed warrior, enchased in gold;
Justice her style, and thus the legend speaks:-
“This man I will restore, and he shall hold
The city and his father's palace homes. ”
Such the devices of the hostile chiefs.
'Tis for thyself to choose whom thou wilt send;
But never shalt thou blame my herald-words.
To guide the rudder of the State be thine!
ETEOCLES
O heaven-demented race of Edipus,
My race, tear-fraught, detested of the gods!
Alas, our father's curses now bear fruit.
But it beseems not to lament or weep,
Lest lamentations sadder still be born.
For him, too truly Polyneikes named, -
What his device will work we soon shall know;
Whether his braggart words, with madness fraught,
Gold-blazoned on his shield, shall lead him back.
Hath Justice communed with, or claimed him hers,
## p. 196 (#222) ############################################
196
ÆSCHYLUS
Guided his deeds and thoughts, this might have been;
But neither when he fled the darksome womb,
Or in his childhood, or in youth's fair prime,
Or when the hair thick gathered on his chin,
Hath Justice communed with, or claimed 'him hers,
Nor in this outrage on his Fatherland
Deem I she now beside him deigns to stand.
For Justice would in sooth belie her name,
Did she with this all-daring man consort.
In these regards confiding will I go,
Myself will meet him. Who with better right?
Brother to brother, chieftain against chief,
Foeman to foe, I'll stand. Quick, bring my spear,
My greaves, and armor, bulwark against stones.
From Miss Swanwick's Translation of “The Seven Against Thebes. )
THE VISION OF CASSANDRA
CASSANDRA
HEBUS APOLLO!
Photos
CHORUS
Hark!
The lips at last unlocking.
CASSANDRA
Phoebus! Phobus!
CHORUS
Well, what of Phæbus, maiden ? though a name
'Tis but disparagement to call upon
In misery.
CASSANDRA
Apollo! Apollo! Again!
Oh, the burning arrow through the brain!
Phæbus Apollo! Apollo!
CHORUS
Seemingly
Possessed indeed — whether by —
CASSANDRA
Phæbus! Phoebus!
Through trampled ashes, blood, and fiery rain,
## p. 197 (#223) ############################################
ÆSCHYLUS
197
Over water seething, and behind the breathing
War-horse in the darkness — till you rose again,
Took the helm -- took the rein -
CHORUS
As one that half asleep at dawn recalls
A night of Horror!
CASSANDRA
Hither, whither, Phoebus? And with whom,
Leading me, lighting me —
CHORUS
I can answer that-
CASSANDRA
Down to what slaughter-house!
Foh! the smell of carnage through the door
Scares me from it — drags me toward it -
Phæbus Apollo! Apollo!
-
CHORUS
One of the dismal prophet-pack, it seems,
That hunt the trail of blood. But here at fault-
This is no den of slaughter, but the house
Of Agamemnon.
CASSANDRA
Down upon the towers,
(man,
Phantoms of two mangled children hover — and a famished
At an empty table glaring, seizes and devours !
CHORUS
Thyestes and his children! Strange enough
For any maiden from abroad to know,
Or, knowing --
CASSANDRA
And look! in the chamber below
The terrible Woman, listening, watching,
Under a mask, preparing the blow
In the fold of her robe --
CHORUS
Nay, but again at fault:
For in the tragic story of this House
## p. 198 (#224) ############################################
198
ÆSCHYLUS
Unless, indeed the fatal Helen-
No woman
CASSANDRA
No Woman - Tisiphone! Daughter
Of Tartarus - love-grinning Woman above,
Dragon-tailed under — honey-tongued, Harpy-clawed,
Into the glittering meshes of slaughter
She wheedles, entices him into the poisonous
Fold of the serpent
CHORUS
Peace, mad woman, peace!
Whose stony lips once open vomit out
Such uncouth horrors.
CASSANDRA
I tell you the lioness
Slaughters the Lion asleep; and lifting
Her blood-dripping fangs buried deep in his mane,
Glaring about her insatiable, bellowing,
Bounds hither – Phæbus Apollo, Apollo, Apollo!
Whither have you led me, under night alive with fire,
Through the trampled ashes of the city of my sire,
From my slaughtered kinsmen, fallen throne, insulted shrine,
Slave-like to be butchered, the daughter of a royal line!
From Edward Fitzgerald's Version of the Agamemnon.
THE LAMENT OF THE OLD NURSE
NURSE
ur mistress bids me with all speed to call
O®Ægisthus to the strangers
, that he come
And hear more clearly, as a man from man,
This newly brought report. Before her slaves,
Under set eyes of melancholy cast,
She hid her inner chuckle at the events
That have been brought to pass — too well for her,
But for this house and hearth most miserably, -
As in the tale the strangers clearly told.
He, when he hears and learns the story's gist,
Will joy, I trow, in heart. Ah, wretched me!
How those old troubles, of all sorts made up,
Most hard to bear, in Atreus's palace-halls
-
-
---
## p. 199 (#225) ############################################
ESCHYLUS
199
.
Have made my heart full heavy in my breast !
But never have I known a woe like this.
For other ills I bore full patiently,
But as for dear Orestes, my sweet charge,
Whom from his mother I received and nursed
And then the shrill cries rousing me o' nights,
And many and unprofitable toils
For me who bore them. For one needs must rear
The heedless infant like an animal,
(How can it else be ? ) as his humor serve
For while a child is yet in swaddling clothes,
It speaketh not, if either hunger comes,
Or passing thirst, or lower calls of need;
And children's stomach works its own content.
And I, though I foresaw this, call to mind,
How I was cheated, washing swaddling clothes,
And nurse and laundress did the selfsame work.
I then with these my double handicrafts,
Brought up Orestes for his father dear;
And now, woe's me! I learn that he is dead,
And go to fetch the man that mars this house;
And gladly will he hear these words of mine.
From Plumptre's Translation of The Libation-Pourers. )
THE DECREE OF ATHENA
H
?
EAR ye my statute, men of Attica -
Ye who of bloodshed judge this primal cause;
Yea, and in future age shall Ægeus's host
Revere this court of jurors. This the hill
Of Ares, seat of Amazons, their tent,
What time 'gainst Theseus, breathing hate, they came,
Waging fierce battle, and their towers upreared,
A counter-fortress to Acropolis ;-
To Ares they did sacrifice, and hence
This rock is titled Areopagus.
Here then shall sacred Awe, to Fear allied,
By day and night my lieges hold from wrong,
Save if themselves do innovate my laws,
If thou with mud, or influx base, bedim
The sparkling water, nought thou'lt find to drink.
Nor Anarchy, nor Tyrant's lawless rule
Commend I to my people's reverence;-
Nor let them banish from their city Fear;
## p. 200 (#226) ############################################
200
ÆSOP
For who 'mong men, uncurbed by fear, is just ?
Thus holding Awe in seemly reverence,
A bulwark for your State shall ye possess,
A safeguard to protect your city walls,
Such as no mortals otherwhere can boast,
Neither in Scythia, nor in Pelops's realm.
Behold! This Court august, untouched by bribes,
Sharp to avenge, wakeful for those who sleep,
Establish I, a bulwark to this land.
This charge, extending to all future time,
I give my lieges. Meet it as ye rise,
Assume the pebbles, and decide the cause,
Your oath revering. All hath now been said.
From Miss Swanwick's Translation of (The Eumenides.
ÆSOP
(Seventh Century B. C. )
BY HARRY THURSTON PECK
an
PIKE Homer, the greatest of the world's epic poets, Æsop
(Æsopus), the most famous of the world's fabulists, has
been regarded by certain scholars as a wholly mythical
personage. The many improbable stories that are told about him
gain some credence for this theory, which is set forth in detail by
the Italian scholar Vico, who says:-"Æsop, re-
garded philosophically, will be found not to have
been an actually existing man, but rather
abstraction representing a class,”— in other words,
merely a convenient invention of the later Greeks,
who ascribed to him all the fables of which they
could find no certain author.
The only narrative upon which the ancient
writers are in the main agreed represents Æsop
as living in the seventh century before Christ. As
with Homer, so with Æsop, several cities of Asia
Æsop
Minor claimed the honor of having been his birth-
place. Born a slave and hideously ugly, his keen
wit led his admiring master to set him free; after which he trav-
eled, visiting Athens, where he is said to have told his fable of
King Log and King Stork to the citizens who were complaining of
the rule of Pisistratus. Still later, having won the favor of King
## p. 201 (#227) ############################################
ÆSOP
201
Cræsus of Lydia, he was sent by him to Delphi with a gift of
money for the citizens of that place; but in the course of a dispute
as to its distribution, he was slain by the Delphians, who threw him
over a precipice.
The fables that bore his name seem not to have been committed
by him to writing, but for a long time were handed down from gen-
eration to generation by oral tradition; so that the same tables are
sometimes found quoted in slightly different forms, and we hear of
men learning them in conversation rather than from books. They
were, however, universally popular. Socrates while in prison amused
himself by turning some of them into verse. Aristophanes cites
them in his plays; and he tells how certain suitors once tried to win
favor of a judge by repeating to him some of the amusing stories of
Æsop. The Athenians even erected a statue in his honor. At a
later period, the fables were gathered together and published by the
Athenian statesman and orator, Demetrius Phalereus, in B. C. 320,
and were versified by Babrius (of uncertain date), whose collection is
the only one in Greek of which any substantial portion still sur-
vives. They were often translated by the Romans, and the Latin
version by Phædrus, the freedman of Augustus Cæsar, is still pre-
served and still used as a school-book. Forty-two of them are like-
wise found in a Latin work by one Avianus, dating from the fifth
century after Christ. During the Middle Ages, when much of the
classical literature had been lost or forgotten, Æsop, who was called
by the medievals "Isopet,” was still read in various forms; and in
modern times he has served as a model for a great number of imita-
tions, of which the most successful are those in French by Lafon-
taine and those in English by John Gay.
Whether or not such a person as Æsop ever lived, and whether
or not he actually narrated the fables that are ascribed to him, it is
certain that he did not himself invent them, but merely gave them
currency in Greece; for they can be shown to have existed long
before his time, and in fact to antedate even the beginnings of Hel-
lenic civilization. With some changes of form they are found in the
oldest literature of the Chinese; similar stories are preserved on the
inscribed Babylonian bricks; and an Egyptian papyrus of about the
year 1200 B. C. gives the fable of The Lion and the Mouse' in its
finished form. Other Æsopic apologues are essentially identical with
the Jatakas or Buddhist stories of India, and occur also in the great
Sanskrit story-book, the Panchatantra,' which is the very oldest
monument of Hindu literature.
The so-called Æsopic Fables are in fact only a part of the primi-
tive folk-lore, that springs up in prehistoric times, and passes from
country to country and from race to race by the process of popular
## p. 202 (#228) ############################################
202
ÆSOP
an
story-telling. They reached Greece, undoubtedly through Egypt and
Persia, and even in their present form they still retain certain Ori-
ental, or at any rate non-Hellenic elements, such as the introduction
of Eastern animals, — the panther, the peacock, and the ape. They
represent the beginnings of conscious literary effort, when man first
tried to enforce some maxim of practical wisdom and to teach some
useful truth through the fascinating medium of a story. The Fable
embodies a half-unconscious desire to give concrete form to
abstract principle, and a childish love for the picturesque and strik-
ing, which endows rocks and stones and trees with life, and gives
the power of speech to animals.
That beasts with the attributes of human beings should figure in
these tales involves, from the standpoint of primeval man, only a
very slight divergence from probability. In nothing, perhaps, has
civilization so changed us as in our mental attitude toward animals.
It has fixed a great gulf between us and them - a gulf far greater
than that which divided them from our first ancestors. In the early
ages of the world, when men lived by the chase, and gnawed the
raw flesh of their prey, and slept in lairs amid the jungle, the purely
animal virtues were the only ones they knew and exercised. They
adored courage and strength, and swiftness and endurance. They
respected keenness of scent and vision, and admired cunning. The
possession of these qualities was the very condition of existence, and
they valued them accordingly; but in each one of them they found
their equals, and in fact their superiors, among the brutes. A lion
was stronger than the strongest man. The hare was swifter. The
eagle was more keen-sighted. The fox was more cunning. Hence,
so far from looking down upon the animals from the remotely supe-
rior height that a hundred centuries of civilization have erected for
us, the primitive savage looked up to the beast, studied his ways,
copied him, and went to school to him. The man, then, was not in
those days the lord of creation, and the beast was not his servant;
but they were almost brothers in the subtle sympathy between them,
like that which united Mowgli, the wolf-nursed shikarri, and his hairy
brethren, in that most weirdly wonderful of all Mr. Kipling's inven-
tions - the one that carries us back, not as his other stories do, to
the India of the cities and the bazaars, of the supercilious tourist and
the sleek Babu, but to the older India of unbroken jungle, darkling
at noonday through its green mist of tangled leaves, and haunted by
memories of the world's long infancy when man and brute crouched
close together on the earthy breast of the great mother.
The Æsopic Fables, then, are the oldest representative that we
have of the literary art of primitive man. The charm that they have
always possessed springs in part from their utter simplicity, their
## p. 203 (#229) ############################################
1
203
ÆSOP
naiveté, and their directness; and in part from the fact that their
teachings are the teachings of universal experience, and therefore
appeal irresistibly to the consciousness of every one who hears them,
whether he be savage or scholar, child or sage. They are the liter-
ary antipodes of the last great effort of genius and art working upon
the same material, and found in Mr. Kipling's Jungle Books. The
Fables show only the first stirrings of the literary instinct, the Jungle
Stories bring to bear the full development of the fictive art, — creative
imagination, psychological insight, brilliantly picturesque description,
and the touch of one who is a daring master of vivid language; so
that no better theme can be given to a student of literary history
than the critical comparison of these two allied forms of composition,
representing as they do the two extremes of actual development.
The best general account in English of the origin of the Greek
Fable is that of Rutherford in the introduction to his Babrius?
(London, 1883). An excellent special study of the history of the
Æsopic Fables is that by Joseph Jacobs in the first volume of his
Æsop' (London, 1889). The various ancient accounts of Æsop's life
are collected by Simrock in 'Æsops Leben' (1864). The best sci-
entific edition of the two hundred and ten fables is that of Halm
(Leipzig, 1887). Good disquisitions on their history during the Mid-
dle Ages are those of Du Méril in French (Paris, 1854) and Bruno
in German (Bamberg, 1892 ). See also the articles in the present
work under the titles Babrius,' Bidpai, John Gay, Lafontaine,
Lokman,' (Panchatantra,' Phædrus,' Reynard the Fox. '
(
(
(
(
(
H. J. Peck
(
THE FOX AND THE LION
The
W . ,
he first time the Fox saw the Lion, he fell down at his feet,
and was ready to die of fear. The second time, he took
courage and could even bear to look upon him. The third
time, he had the impudence to come up to him, to salute him,
and to enter into familiar conversation with him.
THE ASS IN THE LION'S SKIN
N
,
N Ass, finding the skin of a Lion, put it on; and, going into
the woods and pastures, threw all the flocks and herds into
a terrible consternation. At last, meeting his owner, he
would have frightened him also; but the good man, seeing his
## p. 204 (#230) ############################################
204
ÆSOP
long ears stick out, presently knew him, and with a good cudgel
made him sensible that, notwithstanding his being dressed in a
Lion's skin, he was really no more than an Ass.
THE ASS EATING THISTLES
AN
he
n Ass was loaded with good provisions of several sorts, which,
in time of harvest, he was carrying into the field for his
master and the reapers to dine upon. On the way
met with a fine large thistle, and being very hungry, began to
mumble it; which while he was doing, he entered into this
reflection :- How many greedy epicures would think themselves
happy, amidst such a variety of delicate viands as I now carry!
But to me this bitter, prickly thistle is more savory and relishing
than the most exquisite and sumptuous banquet. ”
THE WOLF IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING
A
WOLF, clothing himself in the skin of a sheep, and getting
in among the flock, by this means took the opportunity to
devour many of them. At last the shepherd discovered
him, and cunningly fastening a rope about his neck, tied him up
to a tree which stood hard by. Some other shepherds happening
to pass that way, and observing what he was about, drew near,
and expressed their admiration at it. “What! ” says one of them,
“brother, do you make hanging of a sheep? " "No," replied the
other, “but I make hanging of a Wolf whenever I catch him,
though in the habit and garb of a sheep. ” Then he showed
them their mistake, and they applauded the justice of the exe-
cution.
THE COUNTRYMAN AND THE SNAKE
A
VILLAGER, in a frosty, snowy winter, found a Snake under a
hedge, almost dead with cold. He could not help having
a compassion for the poor creature, so brought it home,
and laid it upon the hearth, near the fire; but it had not lain
there long, before (being revived with the heat) it began to erect
itself, and fly at his wife and children, filling the whole cottage
with dreadful hissings. The Countryman heard an outcry, and
perceiving what the matter was, catched up a mattock and soon
## p. 205 (#231) ############################################
ÆSOP
205
dispatched him; upbraiding him at the same
same time in these
words:- “Is this, vile wretch, the reward you make to him that
saved your life? Die as you deserve; but a single death is too
good for you. "
THE BELLY AND THE MEMBERS
N FORMER days, when the Belly and the other parts of the body
enjoyed the faculty of speech, and had separate views and
designs of their own, each part, it seems, in particular for
himself, and in the name of the whole, took exception to the
conduct of the Belly, and were resolved to grant him supplies no
longer. They said they thought it very hard that he should lead
an idle, good-for-nothing life, spending and squandering away,
upon his own ungodly guts, all the fruits of their labor; and
that, in short, they were resolved, for the future, to strike off his
allowance, and let him shift for himself as well as he could. The
Hands protested they would not lift up a finger to keep him from
starving; and the Mouth wished he might never speak again if
he took in the least bit of nourishment for him as long as he
lived; and, said the Teeth, may we be rotten if ever we chew a
morsel for him for the future. This solemn league and covenant
was kept as long as anything of that kind can be kept, which
was until each of the rebel members pined away to skin and
bone, and could hold out no longer. Then they found there was
no doing without the Belly, and that, idle and insignificant as he
seemed, he contributed as much to the maintenance and welfare
of all the other parts as they did to his.
THE SATYR AND THE TRAVELER
A ,
Satyr, as he was ranging the forest in an exceeding cold,
snowy season, met with a Traveler half-starved with the
extremity of the weather. He took compassion on him,
and kindly invited him home to a warm, comfortable cave he had
in the hollow of a rock. As soon as they had entered and sat
down, notwithstanding there was a good fire in the place, the
chilly Traveler could not forbear blowing his fingers' ends. Upon
the Satyr's asking why he did so, he answered, that he did it to
warm his hands. The honest sylvan having seen little of the
world, admired a man who was master of so valuable a quality as
## p. 206 (#232) ############################################
206
ÆSOP
that of blowing heat, and therefore was resolved to entertain him
in the best manner he could. He spread the table before him
with dried fruits of several sorts; and produced a remnant of
cold wine, which as the rigor of the season made very proper, he
mulled with some warm spices, infused over the fire, and pre-
sented to his shivering guest.
But this the Traveler thought fit
to blow likewise; and upon the Satyr's demanding a reason why
he blowed again, he replied, to cool his dish. This second an-
swer provoked the Satyr's indignation as much as the first had
kindled his surprise: so, taking the man by the shoulder, he
thrust him out of doors, saying he would have nothing to do
with a wretch who had so vile a quality as to blow hot and cold
with the same mouth.
THE LION AND THE OTHER BEASTS
T".
(
HE Lion and several other beasts entered into an alliance,
offensive and defensive, and were to live very sociably to-
gether in the forest. One day, having made a sort of an
excursion by way of hunting, they took a very fine, large, fat
deer, which was divided into four parts; there happening to be
then present his Majesty the Lion, and only three others. After
the division was made, and the parts were set out, his Majesty,
advancing forward some steps and pointing to one of the shares,
was pleased to declare himself after the following manner:
This I seize and take possession of as my right, which devolves
to me, as I am descended by a true, lineal, hereditary succession
from the royal family of Lion. That (pointing to the second] I
claim by, I think, no unreasonable demand; considering that all the
engagements you have with the enemy turn chiefly upon my
courage and conduct, and you very well know that wars are too
expensive to be carried on without proper supplies. Then [ nod-
ding his head toward the third] that I shall take by virtue of my
prerogative; to which, I make no question but so dutiful and
loyal a people will pay all the deference and regard that I can
desire. Now, as for the remaining part, the necessity of our
present affairs is so very urgent, our stock so low, and our credit
so impaired and weakened, that I must insist upon your granting
that, without any hesitation or demur; and hereof fail not at
your peril. ”
## p. 207 (#233) ############################################
ÆSOP
207
THE ASS AND THE LITTLE DOG
TH
,
CHE Ass, observing how great a favorite the little Dog was
with his Master, how much caressed and fondled, and fed
with good bits at every meal; and for no other reason, as
he could perceive, but for skipping and frisking about, wagging
his tail, and leaping up into his Master's lap: he was resolved to
imitate the same, and see whether such a behavior would not
procure him the same favors. Accordingly, the Master was no
sooner come home from walking about his fields and gardens,
and was seated in his easy-chair, but the Ass, who observed him,
came gamboling and braying towards him, in a very awkward
manner. The Master could not help laughing aloud at the odd
sight. But his jest was soon turned into earnest, when he felt
the rough salute of the Ass's fore-feet, who, raising himself upon
his hinder legs, pawed against his breast with a most loving air,
and would fain have jumped into his lap. The good man, terri-
fied at this outrageous behavior, and unable to endure the weight
of so heavy a beast, cried out; upon which, one of his servants
running in with a good stick, and laying on heartily upon the
bones of the poor Ass, soon convinced him that every one who
desires it is not qualified to be a favorite.
THE COUNTRY MOUSE AND THE CITY MOUSE
AN
N HONEST, plain, sensible Country Mouse is said to have
entertained at his hole one day a fine Mouse of the Town.
Having formerly been playfellows together, they were old
acquaintances, which served as an apology for the visit. How-
ever, as master of the house, he thought himself obliged to do
the honors of it in all respects, and to make as great a stranger
of his guest as he possibly could. In order to do this he set
before him a reserve of delicate gray pease and bacon, a dish of
fine oatmeal, some parings of new cheese, and, to crown all with
a dessert, a remnant of a charming mellow apple. In good man-
ners, he forbore to eat any himself, lest the stranger should not
have enough; but that he might seem to bear the other company,
sat and nibbled a piece of a wheaten straw very busily. At last,
says the spark of the town: “Old crony, give me leave to be a
little free with you: how can you bear to live in this nasty,
## p. 208 (#234) ############################################
208
ÆSOP
dirty, melancholy hole here, with nothing but woods, and mead-
ows, and mountains, and rivulets about you? Do not you prefer
the conversation of the world to the chirping of birds, and
the splendor of a court to the rude aspect of an uncultivated
desert ? Come, take my word for it, you will find it a change
for the better. Never stand considering, but away this moment.
Remember, we are not immortal, and therefore have no time to
lose. Make sure of to-day, and spend it as agreeably as you can:
you know not what may happen to-morrow. ” In short, these
and such like arguments prevailed, and his Country Acquaintance
was resolved to go to town that night. So they both set out
upon their journey together, proposing to sneak in after the close
of the evening. They did so; and about midnight made their
entry into a certain great house, where there had been an extra-
ordinary entertainment the day before, and several tit-bits, which
some of the servants had purloined, were hid under the seat of
a window. The Country Guest was immediately placed in the
midst of a rich Persian carpet: and now it was the Courtier's
turn to entertain; who indeed acquitted himself in that capacity
with the utmost readiness and address, changing the courses as
elegantly, and tasting everything first as judiciously, as any
clerk of the kitchen. The other sat and enjoyed himself like a
delighted epicure, tickled to the last degree with this new turn
of his affairs; when on a sudden, a noise of somebody opening
the door made them start from their seats, and scuttle in con-
fusion about the dining-room. Our Country Friend, in particular,
was ready to die with fear at the barking of a huge mastiff or
two, which opened their throats just about the same time, and
made the whole house echo. At last, recovering himself:-
"Well,” says he, “if this be your town-life, much good may you
do with it: give me my poor, quiet hole again, with my homely
but comfortable gray pease. ”
THE DOG AND THE WOLF
A
LEAN, hungry, half-starved Wolf happened, one moonshiny
night, to meet with a jolly, plump, well-fed Mastiff; and
after the first compliments were passed, says the Wolf:-
"You look extremely well. I protest, I think I never saw
more graceful, comely person; but how comes it about, I beseech
you, that you should live so much better than I ? I may say,
а
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J. L. R. AGASSIZ.
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JEAN LOUIS RODOLPHE AGASSIZ
209
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without vanity, that I venture fifty times more than you do;
and yet I am almost ready to perish with hunger. ” The Dog
answered very bluntly, "Why, you may live as well, if you will
do the same for it that I do. ”. « Indeed ? what is that ? " says
he. — "Why,
“Why,” says the Dog, "only to guard the house a-nights,
and keep it from thieves. ” — "With all my heart,” replies the
“
Wolf, «for at present I have but a sorry time of it; and I
think to change my hard lodging in the woods, where I endure
rain, frost, and snow, for a warm roof over my head, and a
bellyful of good victuals, will be no bad bargain. ”—“True,"
says the Dog; "therefore you have nothing more to do but to
follow me. ” Now, as they were jogging on together, the Wolf
spied a crease in the Dog's neck, and having a strange curiosity,
could not forbear asking him what it meant. « Pooh! nothing,”
says the Dog. — “Nay, but pray – ” says the Wolf. — “Why,”
says the Dog, “if you must know, I am tied up in the daytime,
because I am a little fierce, for fear I should bite people, and
am only let loose a-nights. But this is done with design to make
me sleep a-days, more than anything else, and that I may watch
the better in the night-time; for as soon as ever the twilight
appears, out I am turned, and may go where I please. Then
my master brings me plates of bones from the table with his
own hands, and whatever scraps are left by any of the family,
all fall to my share; for you must know I am a favorite with
everybody. So you see how you are to live. Come, come along:
what is the matter with you ? ” — “No,” replied the Wolf, “I
beg your pardon: keep your happiness all to yourself. Liberty
is the word with me; and I would not be a king upon the terms
you mention. ”
»
JEAN LOUIS RODOLPHE AGASSIZ
(1807-1873)
T FIRST, when a
mere boy, twelve years of age,” writes the
great Swiss naturalist, "I did what most beginners do. I
picked up whatever I could lay my hands on, and tried, by
such books and authorities as I had at my command, to find the
names of these objects. My highest ambition at that time, was to
be able to designate the plants and animals of my native country
1-14
## p. 210 (#240) ############################################
210
JEAN LOUIS RODOLPHE AGASSIZ
correctly by a Latin name, and to extend gradually a similar knowl-
edge in its application to the productions of other countries. This
seemed to me, in those days, the legitimate aim and proper work of
a naturalist. I still possess manuscript volumes in which I entered
the names of all the animals and plants with which I became ac-
quainted, and I well remember that I then ardently hoped to acquire
the same superficial familiarity with the whole creation. I did not
then know how much more important it is to the naturalist to under-
stand the structure of a few animals than to command the whole field
of scientific nomenclature. Since I have become a teacher, and have
watched the progress of students, I have seen that they all begin in
the same way. But how many have grown old in the pursuit, with-
out ever rising to any higher conception of the study of nature,
spending their life in the determination of species, and in extending
scientific terminology! Long before I went to the university, and
before I began to study natural history under the guidance of men
who were masters in the science during the early part of this cen-
tury, I perceived that though nomenclature and classification, as then
understood, formed an important part of the study, being, in fact, its
technical language, the study of living beings in their natural ele-
ment was of infinitely greater value. At that age— namely, about
fifteen-I spent most of the time I could spare from classical and
mathematical studies in hunting the neighboring woods and meadows
for birds, insects, and land and fresh-water shells. My room became
a little menagerie, while the stone •basin under the fountain in our
yard was my reservoir for all the fishes I could catch. Indeed, col-
lecting, fishing, and raising caterpillars, from which I reared fresh,
beautiful butterflies, were then my chief pastimes. What I know
of the habits of the fresh-water fishes of Central Europe I mostly
learned at that time; and I may add, that when afterward I obtained
access to a large library and could consult the works of Bloch and
Lacépède, the only extensive works on fishes then in existence, I
wondered that they contained so little about their habits, natural
attitudes, and mode of action, with which I was so familiar. ”
It is this way of looking at things that gives to Agassiz's writings
their literary and popular interest. He was born in Mortier, Canton
Fribourg, May 28th, 1807, the son of a clergyman, who sent his gifted
son to the Universities of Zürich, Heidelberg, and Munich, where he
acquired reputation for his brilliant powers, and entered into the
enthusiastic, intellectual, and merry student-life, taking his place in
the formal duels, and becoming known as a champion fencer. Agas-
siz was an influence in every centre that he touched; and in Munich,
his room and his laboratory, thick with clouds of smoke from the
long-stemmed German pipes, was a gathering-place for the young
## p. 211 (#241) ############################################
JEAN LOUIS RODOLPHE AGASSIZ
21
scientific aspirants, who affectionately called it “The Little Academy. ”
At the age of twenty-two, he had published his 'Fishes of Brazil,' a
folio that brought him into immediate recognition. Cuvier, the great-
est ichthyologist of his time, to whom the first volume was dedicated,
received him as a pupil, and gave to him all the material that he
had been collecting during fifteen years for a contemplated work on
Fossil Fishes. In Paris Agassiz also won the friendship of Humboldt,
who, learning that he stood in need of money, presented him with so
generous a sum as to enable the ambitious young naturalist to work
with a free and buoyant spirit.
His practical career began in 1832, when he was installed at Neuf-
châtel, from which point he easily studied the Alps. Two years later,
after the Poissons fossiles) (Fossil Fishes) appeared, he visited Eng-
land to lecture. Then returning to his picturesque home, he applied
himself to original investigation, and through his lectures and publi-
cations won honors and degrees. His daring opinions, however,
sometimes provoked ardent discussion and angry comment.
Agassiz's passion for investigation frequently led him into dangers
that imperiled both life and limb. In the summer of 1841, for exam-
ple, he was lowered into a deep crevasse bristling with huge stalac-
tites of ice, to reach the heart of a glacier moving at the rate of
forty feet a day. While he was observing the blue bands on the
glittering ice, he suddenly touched a well of water, and only after
great difficulty made his companions understand his signal for rescue.
These Alpine experiences are well described by Mrs. Elizabeth Cary
Agassiz, and also by Edouard Desors in his Séjours dans les Gla-
ciers' (Sojourn among the Glaciers: Neufchâtel, 1844). Interesting
particulars of these glacial studies ('Études des Glaciers') were soon
issued, and Agassiz received many gifts from lovers of science,
among whom was numbered the King of Prussia. His zoölogical and
geological investigations were continued, and important works on
Fossil Mollusks, Tertiary Shells,' and Living and Fossil Echino-
derms' date from this period.
He had long desired to visit America, when he realized this wish
in 1846 by an arrangement with the Lowell Institute of Boston,
where he gave a series of lectures, afterwards repeated in various
cities. So attractive did he find the fauna and flora of America, and
so vast a field did he perceive here for his individual studies and
instruction, that he returned the following year. In 1848 the Prussian
government, which had borne the expenses of his scientific mission,
-a cruise along our Atlantic coast to study its marine life. --- released
him from further obligation that he might accept the chair of geol-
ogy in the Lawrence Scientific School of Harvard l'niversity. His
cruises, his explorations, and his methods, combined with his attractive
## p. 212 (#242) ############################################
212
JEAN LOUIS RODOLPHE AGASSIZ
personality, gave him unique power as a teacher; and
many of
his biographers think that of all his gifts, the ability to instruct was
the most conspicuous. He needed no text-books, for he went directly
to Nature, and did not believe in those technical, dry-as-dust terms
which lead to nothing and which are swept away by the next gener-
ation. Many noted American men of science remember the awaken-
ing influence of his laboratories in Charleston and Cambridge, his
museum at Harvard, and his summer school at Penikese Island in
Buzzard's Bay, Massachusetts, where natural history was studied
under ideal conditions. It was here that he said to his class :-"A
laboratory of natural history is a sanctuary where nothing profane
should be tolerated. ” Whittier has left a poem called “The Prayer
of Agassiz, describing
( The isle of Penikese
Ranged about by sapphire seas. ”
Just as he was realizing two of his ambitions, the establishment
of a great museum and a practical school of zoölogy, he died, Decem-
ber 14th, 1873, at his home in Cambridge, and was buried at Mount
Auburn beneath pine-trees sent from Switzerland, while a bowlder
from the glacier of the Aar was selected to mark his resting-place.
Agassiz was greatly beloved by his pupils and associates, and was
identified with the brilliant group — Emerson, Longfellow, Holmes, and
Lowell, - each of whom has written of him. Lowell considered his
Elegy on Agassiz,' written in Florence in 1874, among his best
verses; Longfellow wrote a poem for “The Fiftieth Birthday of
Agassiz,' and Holmes A Farewell to Agassiz) on his departure for
the Andes, whose affectionate and humorous strain thus closes:-
(
« Till their glorious raid is o'er,
And they touch our ransomed shore !
Then the welcome of a nation,
With its shout of exultation,
Shall awake the dumb creation,
And the shapes of buried æons
Join the living creatures' pæans,
While the mighty megalosaurus
Leads the palæozoic chorus,
God bless the great Professor,
And the land its proud possessor,
Bless them now and evermore ! )
Numerous biographies and monographs of Agassiz exist in many
languages, a complete list of which is given in the last published
'Life of Agassiz,' by Jules Marcou (New York and London, 1896),
and also in the Life of Agassiz,' by Charles F. Holder (New York,
## p. 213 (#243) ############################################
JEAN LOUIS RODOLPHE AGASSIZ
213
1893). Complete lists of Agassiz's works are also given in these bio-
graphies, and these titles show how versatile was his taste and how
deep and wide his research. His principal contributions to science
are in French and Latin, but his most popular books appeared in
English. These include “The Structure of Animal Life,' Methods of
Study,' (Geological Sketches,' and Journey in Brazil,' the latter
written with Mrs. Agassiz.
