Summary: Part Five, Chapter III —The Royal House of
Athens
Hamilton takes these stories from Latin poets, largely
Ovid, but also borrows from the Greek tragedians, which increases
the stories’ pathos and reduces their sensationalism and gory detail.
The Royal House of Athens is notable in the number and degree of
supernatural feats that befall its members. The ancestor is Cecrops,
who in some cases is a magical half-man, half-dragon creature. Cecrops
is said to have chosen Athena over Poseidon to be the protector
of Athens. The angered Poseidon floods the land, and the men of
Athens, who have voted for the god, take the vote away from the
more numerous women. In other stories, Cecrops is merely the son
of Erechtheus, a great Athenian king. Erechtheus has two sisters,
Procne and Philomela. Procne is married to Tereus, a son of Ares.
When Tereus sees the lovely Philomela, he seduces her into a false
marriage by telling her that Procne has died. When Philomela learns
the truth, Tereus cuts out her tongue and imprisons her to prevent
her from telling anyone. He then tells Procne that Philomela has
died. But Philomela weaves a beautiful tapestry as a gift for her
sister and secretly embroiders into it the story of her troubles.
Procne then rescues her sister and, for revenge, kills Itys—her
son with Tereus—and cooks him and serves him to his father. The
women escape, but Tereus pursues. As he is about to catch them,
the gods take pity on the women and turn them into birds: Procne
becomes the beautiful singing nightingale, the tongueless Philomela
into the songless swallow.
Erechtheus also has a daughter, Procris, who is married
to Cephalus. Just after their wedding, Aurora, the goddess of the
dawn, falls in love with Cephalus and kidnaps him. He resists her
advances and finally she gives up but not before spitefully planting
the suggestion that his wife may not have been faithful as he has.
To test it, Cephalus returns home disguised as a stranger and repeatedly
tries to seduce Procris, but she always remains faithful to her
missing husband. One day, however, she briefly hesitates before
rejecting his advances. He becomes angry and reveals his deception,
and Procris runs away, furious. Realizing his error, Cephalus follows
and apologizes. The two reunite, but tragedy strikes again later
when, while hunting, Cephalus accidentally kills Procris with his
javelin.
Two of Procris’s sisters also have tragic love stories.
One, Orithyia, wins the heart of Boreas, the North Wind. Her family opposes
the marriage, but Boreas carries the girl off. Creüsa is kidnapped
and raped by Apollo. Shamed at the encounter, she bears their baby
boy in secret and leaves him to die in the same cave where Apollo
assaulted her. Creüsa later feels guilty and goes to retrieve him,
but he has vanished. Her father, meanwhile, has married her to a
man named Xuthus. Unable to conceive a child, the pair go to the Oracle
at Delphi for advice. While Xuthus confers with one of the priests,
Creüsa speaks to a beautiful young priest named Ion, wanting to
ask, out of Xuthus’s earshot, what happened to the baby she abandoned.
Xuthus suddenly appears and hugs Ion, saying that Apollo has told
him that Ion will become his own son. An older priestess reveals
that she found Ion as a baby, wrapped in a cloak and veil. Creüsa
recognizes the garments as her own and realizes that Ion is her
son. Athena then appears and confirms this revelation, announcing
that Ion will one day become a great king of Athens.
Summary: Part Six, Chapter I — Midas — and Others
Midas
Midas, a king of Phrygia, performs a favor for Bacchus
and is granted one wish in return. Midas foolishly wishes for the
power to turn everything he touches into gold. As a result he is
unable to eat or drink. Bacchus tells Midas to wash himself in the
river Pactolus to remove the spell. Midas later serves as the judge
of a music contest between Apollo and Pan. When Midas stupidly calls
Pan the better musician, Apollo changes his ears to those of a donkey.
