But Athene looked steadfastly at the gods with her keen gray eye, and she stooped slowly down to the ground, and planted in it a little seed, which she held in her right hand. She spoke no word, but still gazed calmly on that great council. Presently they saw springing from the earth a little germ, which grew up and threw out its boughs and leaves. Higher and higher it rose, with all its thick green foliage, and put forth fruit on its clustering branches. "My gift is better, O Zeus," she said, "than that of King Poseidon. The horse which he has given shall bring war and strife and anguish to the children of men; my olive-tree is the sign of peace and plenty, of health and strength, and the pledge of happiness and freedom. Shall not, then, the city of Erechtheus be called after my name?"

Then with one accord rose the voices of the gods in the air, as they cried out, "The gift of Athene is the best which may be given to the sons of men; it is the token that the city of Erechtheus shall be greater in peace than in war, and nobler in its freedom than its power. Let the city be called Athens."

Then Zeus, the mighty son of Kronos, bowed his head in sign of judgment that the city should be called by the name of Athene. From his head the immortal locks streamed down, and the earth trembled beneath his feet as he rose from his golden throne to return to the halls of Olympos. But still Athene stood gazing over the land which was now her own; and she stretched out her spear towards the city of Erechtheus, and said: "I have won the victory, and here shall be my home. Here shall my children grow up in happiness and freedom, and hither shall the sons of men come to learn of law and order. Here shall they see what great things may be done by mortal hands when aided by the gods who dwell on Olympos, and when the torch of freedom has gone out at Athens, its light shall be handed on to other lands, and men shall learn that my gift is still the best, and they shall say that reverence for law and freedom of thought and deed has come to them from the city of Erechtheus, which bears the name of Athene."

MEDUSA.

In the far western land, where the Hesperides guard the golden apples which Gaia gave to the lady Here, dwelt the maiden Medusa, with her sisters Stheino and Euryale, in their lonely and dismal home. Between them and the land of living men flowed the gentle stream of ocean, so that only the name of the Gorgon sisters was known to the sons of men, and the heart of Medusa yearned in vain to see some face which might look on her with love and pity, for on her lay the doom of death, but her sisters could neither grow old nor die. For them there was nothing fearful in the stillness of their gloomy home, as they sat with stern, unpitying faces, gazing on the silent land beyond the ocean stream. But Medusa wandered to and fro, longing to see something new in a home to which no change ever came, and her heart pined for lack of those things which gladden the souls of mortal men. For where she dwelt there was neither day nor night. She never saw the bright children of Helios driving his flocks to their pastures in the morning. She never beheld the stars as they look out from the sky, when the sun sinks down into his golden cup in the evening. There no clouds ever passed across the heaven, no breeze ever whispered in the air, but a pale yellow light brooded on the land everlastingly. So there rested on the face of Medusa a sadness such as the children of men may never feel; and the look of hopeless pain was the more terrible because of the greatness of her beauty. She spake not to any of her awful grief, for her sisters knew not of any such thing as gentleness and love, and there was no comfort for her from the fearful Graiai who were her kinsfolk. Sometimes she sought them out in their dark caves, for it was something to see even the faint glimmer of the light of day which reached the dwelling of the Graiai, but they spake not to her a word of hope when she told them of her misery, and she wandered back to the land which the light of Helios might never enter. Her brow was knit with pain, but no tear wetted her cheek, for her grief was too great for weeping.

But harder things yet were in store for Medusa, for Athene, the daughter of Zeus, came from the Libyan land to the dwelling of the Gorgon sisters, and she charged Medusa to go with her to the gardens where the children of Hesperos guard the golden apples of the lady Here. Then Medusa bowed herself down at the feet of Athene, and besought her to have pity on her changeless sorrow, and she said, "Child of Zeus, thou dwellest with thy happy kinsfolk, where Helios gladdens all with his light and the Horai lead the glad dance when Phœbus touches the strings of his golden harp. Here there is neither night nor day, nor cloud or breeze or storm. Let me go forth from this horrible land and look on the face of mortal men, for I, too, must die, and my heart yearns for the love which my sisters scorn." Then Athene looked on her sternly, and said, "What hast thou to do with love? and what is the love of men for one who is of kin to the beings who may not die? Tarry here till thy doom is accomplished, and then it may be that Zeus will grant thee a place among those who dwell in his glorious home." But Medusa said, "Lady, let me go forth now. I can not tell how many ages may pass before I die, and thou knowest not the yearning which fills the heart of mortal things for tenderness and love." Then a look of anger came over the fair face of Athene, and she said, "Trouble me not. Thy prayer is vain, and the sons of men would shrink from thee, if thou couldst go among them, for hardly could they look on the woeful sorrow of thy countenance." But Medusa answered, gently, "Lady, hope has a wondrous power to kill the deepest grief, and in the pure light of Helios my face may be as fair as thine."

GRECIAN ALTAR. (3000 years old.)[ToList]