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Artemis Prologizes. (Dramatic Lyrics, in Bells and Pomegranates, No.
III. 1842.) Theseus became enamoured of Hippolyta when he attended
Hercules in his expedition against the Amazons. Before she accepted him as
her lover, he had to vanquish her in single combat, which difficult and
dangerous task he accomplished. She accompanied him to Athens, and bore
him a son, Hippolytus. The young prince excelled in every manly virtue,
but he was averse to the female sex, and grievously offended Venus by
neglecting her and devoting himself entirely to the worship of Diana,
called by the Greeks Artemis. Venus was enraged, and determined to ruin
him. Hippolyta in process of time died, and Theseus married Phædra, the
daughter of Minos, the king of Crete. Unhappily, as soon as Phædra saw the
young and accomplished Hippolytus, she conceived for him a guilty
passion—which, however, she did her utmost to conceal. It was Venus who
inspired her with this insane love, out of revenge to Hippolytus, whom she
intended to ruin by this means. Phædra’s nurse discovered the secret, and
told it to the youth, notwithstanding the commands of her mistress to
conceal it. The chaste young man was horrified at the declaration, and
indignantly resented it. The disgraced and betrayed Phædra determined to
take her own life; but dying with a letter in her hand which accused
Hippolytus of attempts upon her virtue, the angry father, without asking
his son for explanations, banished him from the kingdom, having first
claimed the performance from Neptune of his promise to grant three of his
requests. As Hippolytus fled from Athens, his horses were terrified by a
sea monster sent on shore by Neptune. The frightened horses upset the
chariot, and the young man was dragged over rocks and precipices and
mangled by the wheels of his chariot. In the tragedy, as left by
Euripides, Diana appears by the young man’s dying bed and comforts him,
telling him also that to perish thus was his fate:—
“But now
Farewell: to see the dying or the dead
Is not permitted me: it would pollute
Mine eyes; and thou art near this fatal ill.”
The tragedy ends with the dying words of Hippolytus:—
“No longer I retain my strength: I die;
But veil my face, now veil it with my vests.”
So far Euripides. Mr. Browning, however, carries the idea further, and
makes Diana try to save the life of her worshipper, by handing him over to
the care of Æsculapius, to restore to life and health by the wisest
pharmacies of the god of healing. Mr. Browning’s poem closes with the
chaste goddess watching and waiting for the result of the attempt to save
his life. The poet has adopted the Greek spelling in place of that to
which we are more accustomed. The Greek names require their Latin
equivalents for non-classical scholars. Artemis is the Greek name for
Diana; Asclepios is Æsculapius; Aphrodite, the Greek name of
Venus; Poseidon is Neptune; and Phoibus or Phœbus is
Apollo, the Sun. Heré == Hera or Juno, Queen of Heaven. Athenai ==
Minerva. Phaidra, daughter of Minos and Pasiphae, who married Theseus.
Theseus, king of Athens. Hippolutos, son of Theseus and Hippolyte.
Henetian horses, or Enetian, of a district near Paphlagonia.
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