This is another offspring of the lively and fruitful fancy of man. It is represented as a compound of the horse and stag, the head and body belong to the former, and the hoofs to the latter, while the horn, the tufts, and the tail are anomalies. This animal holds a high rank in heraldry, and is one of the supporters of the royal arms of England.
The Unicorn is often mentioned in the Scriptures, and by many commentators is supposed to be the rhinoceros. From the book of Job we learn that it was not only an animal of considerable strength, but also of a very fierce and intractable disposition—“Will the Unicorn be willing to serve thee, or abide by thy crib? Canst thou bind the Unicorn with his band in the furrow? or will he harrow the valleys for thee? Wilt thou trust him, because his strength is great? or wilt thou leave thy labour to him? Wilt thou believe him, that he will bring home thy seed, and gather it into thy barn?” Ch. xxxix. ver. 9—11. In the book of Psalms, xcii. ver. 10. “My horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of a Unicorn.”
THE PEGASUS.
Another liberty has been taken with the horse. Mythology has added wings to its elegant figure, and called it Pegasus. This animal, it is said, sprang from the blood of Medusa, when Perseus had cut off her head; and immediately afterwards flew upwards towards heaven, but stopped short, and alighted on Mount Helicon, where he struck the ground with his foot, and instantly the fountain Hippocrene burst from the ground. During his residence on Mount Helicon, Pegasus became a great favourite with the Muses, who resided occasionally on that lofty mountain; and still, when any one attempts extravagant flights of poetry, he is said to have mounted on his Pegasus, as it was difficult to approach the Muses when raised so high. On the contrary, the Castalian fountain on Mount Parnassus was more accessible, and inspired poetry of a gentler nature. But to return to Pegasus; he was at length tamed by Neptune, or Minerva, and lent by the latter to Bellerophon, to enable him to conquer the horrid monster called the Chimera, which was always shifting its place, and vomiting forth flames and smoke. After the victory was achieved, Bellerophon attempted to fly up to heaven; but Pegasus threw his rider, and flying up to heaven without him, was changed into the constellation of stars which still bears his name. Pegasus is sometimes confounded with the Hippogriph, or Ippogrifo of Ariosto, which is often seen in coats of arms.
THE CENTAUR.
Like the Sphinx, this creature is a compound of the brute and human form, exhibiting the body of a man united to that of a horse, the former rising from the chest of the latter. Absurd as such a combination must appear to the anatomist, and ill adapted as it seems for agility, it is not wholly devoid of grace, and is very frequently met with in antique sculpture. According to Grecian mythology, these beings inhabited Thessaly; and poetry has celebrated their combats with Hercules, Theseus, and Pirithous, the latter of whom was the leader of the Lapithæ, a people who vanquished the Centaurs. Their fabulous existence had its origin in that love of the marvellous, which is always found to exist in the earlier stages of society. Hence the natives of Thessaly being distinguished for their skill in horsemanship, at a time when their neighbours were unacquainted with the art of riding, they would be described as combining the powers both of the human and the equine race; in the same manner as some of the American tribes, when they first beheld the Spaniards mounted on horses, mistook them for a different race of beings from themselves, supposing them to be half men and half quadrupeds. It is by such errors that fiction, whether poetry or painting be its vehicle, creates those fanciful beings and shapes which delight the imagination.
THE SATYR.
Although the Satyr of the ancient poets can hardly be termed an animal, as the human form predominates, he may be introduced here as our final example of fabulous creatures. Satyrs and Fauns are represented as men with goats’ legs and horns, and were supposed to be the attendants of Bacchus, with whose worship they are generally connected. The idea of such beings was probably derived from some of the larger species of apes. They are described as inhabiting woods and forests, of which they were regarded as the protecting deities. Probably they were partly personifications, intended to express the debasing influence of animal propensities and sensual indulgence: and as nothing tends more than intoxication to reduce man to a level with the brutes, since it deprives reason of all control over the passions, the form of the Satyr may have been ingeniously intended as a visible representation of the degraded state of those who surrender up the noblest prerogative of man. Whether such was really or not the idea of those who first feigned the existence of such creatures, we may very rationally adopt this explanation, and thereby deduce an important moral lesson from what is in itself an extravagant fiction.
INDEX.
[A], [B], [C], [D], [E], [F], [G], [H], [I], [J], [K], [L], [M], [N], [O], [P], [Q], [R], [S], [T], [U], [V], [W], [X], [Y], [Z]