Mythological fictions of the Greeks and Romans . oleweight of his power out of the sea upon a rock, bearingthe trident on his left shoulder, and holding his righthand carelessly behind his back. Poetic as well as plastic art does indeed represent theking of the waters in a similar majesty with Jupiter ; butstill the expression of power and sublimity always ap-pears subordinate in the former. It is not that quiet,eminent power, which commands with the brow of theeye, which clears up the sky with a smile, and whichis but seldom prompted to grow angry, ])ecause it is inthe least degree restrained
Mythological fictions of the Greeks and Romans . oleweight of his power out of the sea upon a rock, bearingthe trident on his left shoulder, and holding his righthand carelessly behind his back. Poetic as well as plastic art does indeed represent theking of the waters in a similar majesty with Jupiter ; butstill the expression of power and sublimity always ap-pears subordinate in the former. It is not that quiet,eminent power, which commands with the brow of theeye, which clears up the sky with a smile, and whichis but seldom prompted to grow angry, ])ecause it is inthe least degree restrained. On the contrary, with Nep-tune, the expression of anger and wrath is chides the winds, which, at the instigation of Juno,bad ruffled the waves of the sea without his con-sent ; and his expressive, Qiios ego P* with which hethreatens and overawes them, has, even in modern times,been frequently recurred to by plastic art, with the viewof exhibiting his character in an appropriate represen-tation. • Vir?. iEn. j^rty^ 7-s«. < //c {^^4^^xy ^ /^tA^c^/ipx THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY ASTOR, LENOXTILDEN FOüNDA MORITZ MYTHOLOGY. 75 MINERVA, PALLAS ATHENE. When the blue-eyed goddess sprang forth in shiningarmour from Joves immortal head, Olympus shook,Earth and Sea trembled, and the charioteer of the Sunstopped his snorting steeds, until she took off the divineweapons from her shoulder.* Not being the offspring of a mother, her bosomwas as cold as the steel which it Vvas nature approached to manly greatness, and ten-derness and female affection dwelt not in her this disposition, equally adapted to quiet, unpreju-diced musing on art and science, and to undauntedparticipation in warlike occupations, her two-fold cha-racter, as goddess of Wisdom, and as heroine, is at onceexplained and justified : for in a female being, the wantof tender feelings is always connected with a desire ofdestruction, which grows together with the former, ata
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Keywords: ., boo, bookcentury1800, booksubjectmythologyclassical, bookyear1830
