T H E C E N T A U R S.
After the creation of the Fauns and Sylvans by the poets, the imagination of the latter invented the Centaur, a monster, of which the superior part was that of a man, and the remainder that of the horse.
Lycus, a mortal, being detained by Circe in her magical dominion, was beloved by a water-nymph who desired to render him immortal; she had recourse to the sorceress, and Circe gave her an incantation to pronounce.
As Lycus walked sorrowfully in the enchanted place, astonished at the many wondrous things which met his eye, he beheld
———"The realized nymph of the stream,
Rising up from the wave, with the bend and the gleam
Of a fountain, and o'er her white arms she kept throwing
Bright torrents of hair, that went flowing and flowing
In falls to her feet, and the blue waters rolled
Down her limbs like a garment, in many a fold."
Hood.
Struck with each other's charms they loved, but unhappily the nymph, in her anxiety for her lover's immortality, and while calling upon her mistress to assist her, saw
—————————"The Witch Queen of that place,
Even Circe the Cruel, that came like a death
Which I feared, and yet fled not, for want of my breath,
There was thought in her face, and her eyes were not raised
From the grass at her foot, but I saw, as I gazed
Her hate—"
This hate Lycus soon experienced; as the spell desired by the nymph, was in the act of being pronounced,
——————————"I felt with a start,
The life blood rush back in one throb to my heart,
And saw the pale lips where the rest of that spell
Had perished in terror, and heard the farewell
Of that voice that was drowned in the dash of the stream!
How fain had I followed, and plunged with that scream
Into death, but my being indignantly lagged
Thro' the brutalized flesh that I painfully dragged
Behind me—"
Hood.
From this time his existence become a torture to him. Though there were none of his former beings to consort with, yet still he loved to haunt the places of his humanity, and with a beating heart and bursting frame, behold the various occupations and pleasures in which he had formerly joined.
"I once had a haunt near a cot. where a mother
Daily sat in the shade with her child, and would smother
Its eye-lids in kisses, and then in its sleep
Sang dreams in its ears, of its manhood, while deep
In a thicket of willows I gazed o'er the brooks
That murmured between us, and kissed them with looks;
But the willows unbosomed their secret, and never
I returned to a spot I had startled for ever;
Tho' I oft longed to know, but could ask it of none,
Was the mother still fair, and how big was her son?"
Hood.
Time brought no remedy, for still he was troubled by the absence of sympathy, and the repression of that human feeling which yet clung like a curse to him.
"For the haunters of fields, they all shunned me by flight,
The men in their horror, the women in fright:
None ever remained, save a child once that sported
Among the wild blue bells, and playfully courted
The breeze; and beside him a speckled snake lay
Tight strangled, because it had hissed him away
From the flower at his finger; he rose and drew near
Like a son of immortals, one born to no fear,
But with strength of black locks, and with eyes azure bright,
To grow to large manhood of merciful might,
He came, with his face of bold wonder, to feel
The hair of my side and to lift up my heel,
And questioned his face with wide eyes, but when under
My lids he saw tears,—for I wept at his wonder,
He stroked me, and uttered such kindliness then,
That the once love of women, the friendship of men
In past sorrow, no kindness, e'er came like a kiss
On my heart in its desolate day, such as this
And I yearned at his cheeks in my love, and down bent
And lifted him up in my arms with intent
To kiss him—but he cruel—kindly alas!
Held out to my lips a plucked handful of grass!
Then I dropped him in horror, but felt as I fled,
The stone he indignantly hurled at my head,
That dissevered my ear, but I felt not, whose fate,
Was to meet more distress in his love his hate!"
Hood.
The only mitigation of his sorrow, was that when in Thessaly
"He met with the same as himself,"
and obtained with them, if not sympathy, at least companionship.
Chiron was the wisest of the Centaurs. Music, divination, astronomy, and medicine, were equally familiar to him, and his name is blended with those of the principal sages of Greece, whom he instructed in the use of plants and medicinal herbs.
The battle of the Centaurs with the Lapithæ at the bridal of Perithous is famous in history, and was the cause of their destruction.
The Centaurs inflamed with wine, behaved with rudeness and even offered violence to the bride, and to the women that were present.
"Now brave Perithous, bold Ixion's son,
The love of fair Hippodamé had won.
The cloud begotten race, half men, half beast,
Invited came to grace the nuptial feast:
In a cool cave's recess the treat was made,
Whose entrance, trees, with spreading boughs o'ershade,
They sat; and summoned by the bridegroom, came,
To mix with those, the Lapythæan name:
————————The roofs with joy resound,
And Hymen, Iö Hymen, rung around.
Raised altars shone with holy fires: the bride
Lovely herself, (and lovely by her side
A bevy of bright nymphs, with sober grace,)
Came glittering like a star, and took her place.
Her heavenly form beheld, all wished her joy;
And little wanted, but in vain their wishes all employ.
For one, most brutal of the brutal brood,
Or whether wine or beauty fired his blood,
Or both at once, beheld with lustful eyes
The bride: at once resolved to make his prize.
Down went the board, and fastening on her hair,
He seized with sudden force the frighted fair.
'Twas Eurytus began; his bestial kind
His crime pursued, and each as pleased his mind
On her, whom chance presented, took. The feast
An image of a taken town expressed."
Ovid.