Neptune is no where subjected to personal ignominy; but he is baffled by Laomedon, and is also unable to avenge effectually the mutilation of his son Polyphemus. Nay, Jupiter himself, besides being deceived by Juno, was menaced by a formidable combination, who were about to put him in fetters, when Briareus came to his aid[98].
On the other hand, Apollo arrests with sudden shock the victorious career of Diomed[99], and again of Patroclus[100]. And in the destinies of Ulysses, Minerva, who protects him, effectually, though after a struggle, prevails against Neptune, who does his uttermost against him. In order, however, justly to estimate the weight of this consideration, we must not omit to notice, that it has cost Homer an elaborate, and what we might otherwise call a far-fetched contrivance[101], to save Apollo from dishonour in the Theomachy. He is there matched against Neptune, a deity of rank equal to that of Jupiter, and in force inferior to his elder brother alone. It was therefore inadmissible that such a god should be subjected to defeat. But if Apollo were no more than one of the ordinary deities of invention, no similar reason could apply to him. He was junior: he was a son of Jupiter, like Mars or Mercury: he was on the losing side, that of the Trojans: why should he not, like Mars, be well thrashed by his antagonist? It could only be, I think, in consequence of some broad line of demarcation between them: some severance which determines their characters and positions as radically and fundamentally, and not by mere accident, divided.
If we consider the mere birth of these two deities according to the Olympian order, every consideration derived from that source would tend to assign to Mars a higher place than Apollo. His function was more commanding: for in an age of turbulence, and among a people given alike to freebooting and to open war, what pacific office could compete, abstractedly, with that of the god of arms? Again, Mars is the son of Juno, who is the eldest daughter of Saturn, the original and principal wife of Jupiter, the acknowledged queen of Olympus: the coequal in birth of the great trine brotherhood, and second in power to none but Jupiter himself. Why should the child of Latona be placed so far above the child of one so much his superior in birth, according to the mythological order? Why is his position so different from that enjoyed by the child of Dione, or the child of Ceres?
But so studiously does Homer cherish the dignity of Apollo, that he does not even throw on him the burden of taking the initiative in proposing the plan by which it is to be saved. This is managed with great care and art. ‘Let us two fight,’ says Neptune, ‘but do you begin, as I am the older, and know better.’ And then, by bringing up their common grudge against Laomedon, he proceeds to show of what absurdity Apollo would be guilty if he were to follow the ironical advice, and thus makes it easy, indeed inevitable, for him to echo the sentiment, and say, let us leave them, hapless mortals, to themselves.
With this we may compare two other arrangements conceived in the same spirit. In the Fifteenth Iliad, Jupiter takes care that the mission of Apollo to assist the Trojans shall only begin when Neptune, the formidable friend of the Greeks, has already quitted the field of battle[102]. And in the Fifth Odyssey, it is contrived that only when Neptune withdraws from the persecution of Ulysses, then at length Minerva shall instantly appear to resume her charge over him[103].
When we come to discuss the position of Latona, both generally and in the Theomachy, further force will, I think, be added to the foregoing considerations. On the other hand, I admit that the legend of Apollo with Laomedon, which represents that he and Neptune were deceived by that king, is not, so far as I see, explained in any manner which should place it in entire harmony with the general rule we have been considering, unless we may consider that he had his revenge in the opportunity afforded him by the Theomachy of refusing to fight for Troy. But this is a case of treatment by a mortal, not by a god; and it belongs to a different order.
I now proceed to touch upon the pre-eminence of Minerva and Apollo in points connected with their terrestrial relations, and with what may be termed the physical conditions of their existence.
1. It is quite clear from Homer, that these two deities received from men a special and peculiar honour: though it may be open to question, whether this retained only the indeterminate form of a sentiment, or whether it was embodied in some fact or usage.
Pallas and Apollo have the exclusive distinction of being invoked in conjunction with Jupiter, in the remarkable line
Αἲ γὰρ, Ζεῦ τε πάτερ καὶ Ἀθηναίη καὶ Ἄπολλον.