nd velvety lawns, where nymphs and other immortal beings,
wind in and out in the mazy figures of the dance, whilst the music of a
sweetly-tuned melody accompanies their graceful, gliding movements.
Eos is described by the poets as a beautiful maiden with rosy arms and
fingers, and large wings, whose plumage is of an ever-changing hue; she
bears a star on her forehead, and a torch in her hand. Wrapping round her
the rich folds of her violet-tinged mantle, she leaves her couch before the
break of day, and herself yokes her two horses, Lampetus and Phaethon, to
her glorious chariot. She then hastens with active cheerfulness to open the
gates of heaven, in order to herald the approach of her brother, the god of
day, whilst the tender plants and flowers, revived by the morning dew, lift
their heads to welcome her as she passes.
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Eos first married the Titan Astraeus,[29] and their children were Heosphorus
(Hesperus), the evening star, and the winds. She afterwards became united
to Tithonus, son of Laomedon, king of Troy, who had won her affection by
his unrivalled beauty; and Eos, unhappy at the thought of their being ever
separated by death, obtained for him from Zeus the gift of immortality,
forgetting, however, to add to it that of eternal youth. The consequence
was that when, in the course of time, Tithonus grew old and decrepid, and
lost all the beauty which had won her admiration, Eos became disgusted with
his infirmities, and at last shut him up in a chamber, where soon little
else was left of him but his voice, which had now sunk into a weak, feeble
quaver. According to some of the later poets, he became so weary of his
cheerless and miserable existence, that he entreated to be allowed to die.
This was, however, impossible; but Eos, pitying his unhappy condition,
exerted her divine power, and changed him into a grasshopper, which is, as
it were, all voice, and whose monotonous, ceaseless chirpings may not
inaptly be compared to the meaningless babble of extreme old age.
PHOEBUS-APOLLO.
Phoebus-Apollo, the god of Light, Prophecy, Music, Poetry, and the Arts and
Sciences, is by far the noblest conception within the whole range of Greek
mythology, and his worship, which not only extended to all the states of
Greece, but also to Asia Minor and to every Greek colony throughout the
world, stands out among the most ancient and strongly-marked features of
Grecian history, and exerted a more decided influence over
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