| Gods/Heroes - Italy - Latona and the Rustics... |
| Share travel photos on the Exploitz.com website, the leading travel photography site on the Internet! |
| |
 Italy Hotels Italy Hostels Italy Sights Recommended Italy Pictures: View of the Grand Canal Italian Red Wines Italian Place by Garoli Italian Memorabilia At Portofino Spaghetti Italiano Italy 1935 Vintage Print Tuscan Palazzo Other picture lists: Egypt Posters France Posters, Page 2 Morocco Posters Switzerland Posters Mexico Posters Portugal Posters Arezzo Hotels Bergamo Hotels Bologna Hotels Brescia Hotels Capri Hotels Catania Hotels Como Hotels Cortona Hotels Ferrara Hotels Firenze Hotels Florence Hotels Forte Dei Marmi Hotels Genova Hotels Ischia Hotels Lucca Hotels Merano Hotels Messina Hotels Milan Hotels Milano Hotels Montecatini Terme Hotels Motta Anastasia Hotels Naples Hotels Padova Hotels Paestum Hotels Palermo Hotels Palinuro Hotels Parma Hotels Perugia Hotels Piacenza Hotels Pisa Hotels Positano Hotels Rapallo Hotels Ravenna Hotels Ricadi Hotels Rimini Hotels Riva Del Garda Hotels Roma Hotels Rome Hotels San Remo Hotels Sardinia Hotels Siena Hotels Siracusa Hotels Sorrento Hotels Taormina Hotels Torino Hotels Trieste Hotels Turin Hotels Venezia Hotels Venice Hotels Verona Hotels Vicenza Hotels Vieste Hotels |
 |
Index | pg. 10 |Previous Page - Next Page Latona and the Rustics ...LATONA AND THE RUSTICSSome thought the goddess in this instance more severe than was just, while others praised her conduct as strictly consistent with her virgin dignity. As usual, the recent event brought older ones to mind, and one of the bystanders told this story. "Some countrymen of Lycia once insulted the goddess Latona, but not with impunity. When I was young, my father, who had grown too old for active labors, sent me to Lycia to drive thence some choice oxen, and there I saw the very pond and marsh where the wonder happened. Near by stood an ancient altar, black with the smoke of sacrifice and almost buried among the reeds. I inquired whose altar it might be, whether of Faunus or the Naiads or some god of the neighboring mountain, and one of the country people replied, 'No mountain or river god possesses this altar, but she whom royal Juno in her jealousy drove from land to land, denying her any spot of earth whereon to rear her twins. Bearing in her arms the infant deities, Latona reached this land, weary with her burden and parched with thirst. By chance she espied in the bottom of the valley this pond of clear water, where the country people were at work gathering willows and osiers. The goddess approached, and kneeling on the bank would have slaked her thirst in the cool stream, but the rustics forbade her. 'Why do you refuse me water?' said she; 'water is free to all. Nature allows no one to claim as property the sunshine, the air, or the water. I come to take my share of the common blessing. Yet I ask it of you as a favor. I have no intention of washing my limbs in it, weary though they be, but only to quench my thirst. My mouth is so dry that I can hardly speak. A draught of water would be nectar to me; it would revive me, and I would own myself indebted to you for life itself. Let these infants move your pity, who stretch out their little arms as if to plead for me'; and the children, as it happened, were stretching out their arms. "Who would not have been moved with these gentle words of the goddess? But these clowns persisted in their rudeness; they even added jeers and threats of violence if she did not leave the place. Nor was this all. They waded into the pond and stirred up the mud with their feet, so as to make the water unfit to drink. Latona was so angry that she ceased to feel her thirst. She no longer supplicated the clowns, but lifting her hands to heaven exclaimed, 'May they never quit that pool, but pass their lives there!' And it came to pass accordingly. They now live in the water, sometimes totally submerged, then raising their heads above the surface, or swimming upon it. Sometimes they come out upon the bank, but soon leap back again into the water. They still use their base voices in railing, and though they have the water all to themselves, are not ashamed to croak in the midst of it. Their voices are harsh, their throats bloated, their mouths have become stretched by constant railing, their necks have shrunk up and disappeared, and their heads are joined to their bodies. Their backs are green, their disproportioned bellies white, and in short they are now frogs, and dwell in the slimy pool." This story explains the allusion in one of Milton's sonnets, "On the detraction which followed upon his writing certain treatises." "I did but prompt the age to quit their clogs By the known laws of ancient liberty,. When straight a barbarous noise environs me Of owls and cuckoos, asses, apes and dogs. As when those hinds that were transformed to frogs Railed at Latona's twin-born progeny, Which after held the sun and moon in fee." The persecution which Latona experienced from Juno is alluded to in the story. The tradition was that the future mother of Apollo and Diana, flying from the wrath of Juno, besought all the islands of the Aegean to afford her a place of rest, but all feared too much the potent queen of heaven to assist her rival. Delos alone consented to become the birthplace of the future deities. Delos was then a floating island; but when Latona arrived there, Jupiter fastened it with adamantine chains to the bottom of the sea, that it might be a secure resting place for his beloved. Byron alludes to Delos in his Don Juan:-- "The isles of Greece! The isles of Greece! Where burning Sappho loved and sung, Where grew the arts of war and peace, Where Delos rose and Phoebus sprung!" Index | pg. 10 |Previous Page - Next Page Italy Hotels - Italy Hostels - Italy Sights ................................................................ Other popular Italy book pages: Mythology: Apollo and Daphne Mythology: Prometheus and Pandora Mythology: Callisto Mythology: Venus and Adonis Mythology: Apollo and Hyacinthus Mythology: Cupid and Psyche Mythology: Nisus, Scylla, Echo Mythology: Sphinx |
|
Italy Travel Guide A good starting point for researching Italy for travel or reference. Venice - Piazza St. Marco (St. Mark's Square) Venice - Gondola along the Grand Canal Venice - Walking around Venice Streets Venice - Pictures from the Venice canals Venice - From the Train Station to St. Mark's 1 Venice - From the Train Station to St. Mark's 2 Ceasar's European Discovery Pictures. Italy Pg.1 Breathtaking Italy and France Ceasar's European Discovery Pictures. Italy Pg. 2 Florence and Venice Arno River in Florence Campania |
