Chapter I: Preface

The following collection of legends about the Greek gods and heroes, to which I have been asked to write a few words of introduction, is a translation of a little book by Professor C. Witt which has been received in Germany with great favour by the public and the press. This popularity has been due, not merely to the intrinsic beauty of the stories, but to the skill shown in the selection, and in the simplicity of the style. The last quality it has been the aim of the translator to retain in the English version; and the success of the book in Germany suggests a hope that the translation may become a favourite in this country.

That there still exists a demand for some such book, notwithstanding the deserved popularity of Kingsley's 'Heroes,' Cox's Mythological Tales, and Church's Stories from Greek and Latin Writers, seems to be shown by the large number of encouraging letters received by the translator from persons engaged or interested in education.

That Greek stories, simply told, will be acceptable to children, common sense would tell us, even apart from experience. Children impartially welcome all tales of incident and wonder, if they can understand the language in which they are written, and if their pleasure is not dashed by the medicinal flavour of a moral. And even a moral will not deter them if it be not too explicit or obtrusive.

Again, from the teacher's point of view as well as the child's, there seems to be every reason in favour of presenting to them at an early age the stories of Greek mythology. There is first the obvious fact that such reading trains and cultivates the imaginative faculties, and that it is good to vary the 'Arabian Nights' and the German and Norse fairy-tales with such totally different material as the Greek stories. There are also other reasons arising from the altered position of Greek in education.

Without entering on any controverted question, it is clear that even in classical schools the teaching of Greek will have in the future to occupy fewer hours, and probably to begin at a later age, than hitherto. The much greater number of subjects now taught, and necessarily and rightly taught, makes this inevitable. And if the same good, or anything like the same good, is to be got out of the fewer hours, there must be considerable modification of method. And one obvious modification is, that much which before was taught slowly and painfully by means of the Greek authors, should be learnt quickly and pleasurably by means of an English rendering. To take a very humble example: The present writer would have a much less weary memory of his early struggles with the 'Alcestis' of Euripides at the age of twelve, if he had been familiar from the age of six with such a version of the story as is presented in this volume. In short, to bring to the study of a language--always a difficult and tedious business to a beginner--some knowledge of the matter with which the literature deals, and some interest in the people and their life, must tend to lighten and shorten the process of learning. And to this end the following little book is offered as a small contribution.

The aim and hope of the translator may be thus summed up in two or three words. All children will get pleasure out of these stories, and that is much. Many children will perhaps get the elements of culture, and that is more. And some may get at once pleasure, culture, and a little real preparation for severer studies; and so receive a benefit, though doubtless of a humbler kind, yet something like that which Pope's 'Homer' has given to so many generations of schoolboys.

A. S.

OXFORD: _November_, 1882.

NOTES.

NOTE ON THE SOURCES OF THE STORIES.

The stories have been taken by the Author from many sources, but chiefly from a Greek writer, Apollodorus, who lived in the second century B.C., and collected the old mythological tales. A good deal has also been taken from the poems of Hesiod and Homer, and from the tragedies of Sophocles; but in these cases it has been necessary to exercise some care in the selection of what would be suitable for a book intended to be placed in the hands of children. Several of the details have been supplied by the ancient works of art which have come down to us.

NOTE ON THE NAMES OF THE GODS.

As it is probable that many readers will be more familiar with the Latin names of the gods, whilst the stories in this book, being derived from Greek sources, give naturally the Greek names, the following list will perhaps be useful, which shows the corresponding names of each god in the two languages:--

_Greek._ _Latin._

Aphrodītē. Venus.
Apollon. Apollo.
Artemis. Diana.
Athēnē. Minerva.
Kronos. Saturnus.
Dēmētēr. Ceres.
Dionusos or Bacchos. Bacchus.
Hephaistos. Vulcanus.
Hēra. Iuno.
Hermes. Mercurius.
Persephonē. Proserpina.
Plouton. Pluto.
Poseidon. Neptunus.
Zeūs. Iuppiter.

Also the hero and demi-god Herakles is called Hercules by the Romans.

The young reader will naturally ask why, if the stories are the same, the names are in most cases so different. And the answer is briefly this: Each nation had originally its own gods, with different names and quite different ideas attaching to them. But the Greeks were a far more gifted and imaginative people than the Romans, and, when communication was established between the countries, became in many ways their teachers. Many Romans learned Greek, and the Greek stories became current. But as the Romans naturally adhered to the old names of their own gods, there arose in this way an identification. The old Latin ideas about their gods gave way to, or were incorporated with, the much richer and more poetical Greek fancies and traditions; and thus the Greek mythology was almost bodily adopted by the Roman writers.

For example, the god Saturnus was originally a Latin rustic god, presiding (as the name shows) over the important work of _sowing_ corn. But when the identification took place, all the stories about Kronos were gradually attached to him, and thus we find him in the Roman poets the father of Iuppiter, and the old dispossessed king of the gods.

In a few cases (as Apollo, Pluto, Bacchus), the name was adopted as well as the story, the termination being Latinised. Sometimes it was corrupted, as Proserpina from Persephone; and sometimes a chance resemblance (as that between the Latin Hercules, originally Herculus, and the Greek Herakles) determined the identification.

Accordingly when we say, as is often said, that the Greek Artemis (for example) is 'called Diana in Latin,' we are using language which, without the above explanation, is liable to mislead the beginner.

A. S.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER

I. The Beginning of all Things
II. The Golden Age
III. Prometheus and Epimetheus
IV. Deucalion and Pyrrha
V. The Rape of Persephone
VI. Marpessa
VII. Artemis
VIII. The Giants Otus and Ephialtes
IX. Endymion
X. Io
XI. Danaus and Aegyptus
XII. Phaëthon
XIII. Salmoneus and Sisyphus
XIV. Bellerophon
XV. Daedalus and Icarus
XVI. Europa and Cadmus
XVII. The Building of Thebes
XVIII. Semele
XIX. Dionysus
XX. Melampus and Bias
XXI. Tantalus. Pelops
XXII. Niobe
XXIII. Meleager and Atalanta
XXIV. Admetus and Alcestis
XXV. Perseus
XXVI. Heracles:--
1. The War with the Teleboae
2. The Birth and Youth of Heracles
3. The Madness of Heracles, and his First Six Labours
4. The Last Six Labours
5. The Murder of Iphitus and the Vengeances of Heracles
6. The Marriage of Heracles with Deianira, and his Death
XXVII. The Quest of the Argonauts:--
1. The Golden Fleece
2. The Journey to Colchis
3. The Fight for the Golden Fleece
4. The Journey Home
5. Medea's Revenge
XXVIII. Theseus
XXIX. Oedipus
XXX. The Seven against Thebes
XXXI. The Epigoni
XXXII. Eros and Psyche

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MYTHS OF HELLAS.