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 Maps, Figures and
“Myth and Culture”

MAPS
1. Greece and the Near East, pages 108–109
2. Greece and Asia Minor, pages 410–411
3. The Return of Odysseus, page 533
4. The Labors of Heracles, page 565
5. The Voyage of the Argo to Colchis, page 617
6. Map of the World According to the Ideas of Hecataeus of Miletus,
page 625
7. Roman Italy and Sicily, page 675
8. Map of Early Rome, page 692
9. Greece, Crete and the Aegean, inside back cover

FIGURES
1. Genealogy of the Gods, inside front cover
2. Timeline of Historical Events and Authors, pages 54–55
3. Descendants of Chaos, page 64
4. Children of Ge and Uranus, page 65
5. Descendants of the Titans, page 67
6. Family of Prometheus, page 85
7. Lineage of Major Deities, page 118
8. Plan of the Temple of Zeus, page 124
9. Descendants of the Sea, page 175
10. Descendants of Medusa, page 175
11. Plan of the Parthenon, page 181
12. Sectional Drawing of the East End of the Parthenon, page 182
13. The Children of Cadmus, page 306
14. The Kings of Thebes, page 416
15. Descendants of Chthonius, page 420
16. The Dynasties of Thebes, page 421
17. The House of Atreus, page 447
vii
viii Maps, Figures and “Myth and Culture”

18. The Royal House of Troy, page 482

19. The Ancestry of Perseus, page 552
20. The Ancestry of Heracles, page 563
21. The Royal Families of Athens, page 591
22. Plan of the Erechtheum, page 592
23. The Ancestry of Jason, page 616

MYTH AND CULTURE

1. The Palace at Cnossus, page 42
2. Saturn Devouring His Children, page 74
3. The Altar of Zeus at Pergamon, page 90
4. Raphaël and Poussin, page 172
5. Athena Parthenos and Pallas Athena, page 184
6. Pygmalion and the Image, page 198
7. Images of Apollo, page 272
8. The Niinnion Pinax and the Celebration of the Mysteries
at Eleusis, page 352
9. Ovid and the Iconography of the Rape of Europa, page 418
10. Two Returns of Odysseus, page 536
11. The Temple of Zeus at Olympia and its Sculptural Program, page 570
12. The Rape of Lucretia, page 704
 Preface

IT IS NOW MORE than forty years since the manuscript of Classical Mythology
was submitted to the publishers. The original authors have now revised the book
through nine more editions while keeping their research in the field current.
Our work is conceived as a comprehensive source where one may go to explore
in depth the nature of the Greek and Roman deities and the heroes and heroines
of saga; in a few words, a fundamental text for the serious study of the subject of
classical mythology. Yet we also have intended to provide a fertile source where
one may nourish a sympathetic understanding of the great mythological heritage
bestowed by classical antiquity. We also consider the great influence of classical
mythology upon diverse artistic forms (painting, sculpture, literature, music, op-
era, dance, theater, and cinema) to be a most enjoyable and rewarding subject, too
important to be ignored. Although this influence becomes the focus of the chap-
ters in Part Four (The Survival of Classical Mythology), it permeates all aspects
of our presentation throughout. The tenacious persistence of Greek and Roman
mythology undeniably remains vital and pervasive in our contemporary world.
Greek and Roman myths, of indelible beauty and with great power to inspire,
present a particularly fertile and inexhaustible venue for the appreciation of the
cultural, intellectual, and artistic history of Western civilization.
Originally, Professor Morford and Professor Lenardon each undertook the
major responsibility for certain sections—Professor Lenardon wrote Part One
(Chapters 1–16) and Chapter 28 in Part Four, and Professor Morford wrote Parts
Two and Three (Chapters 17–26) and Chapter 27 in Part Four. We have continued
to use this approach, although in subsequent revisions all three authors have
contributed freely throughout the book.

Translations
Successive revisions have been extensive and far-reaching, in grateful response
to the many sensitive and appreciative critics over these many years. They have
consistently encouraged us to remain firm in our conviction that the literary
tradition of Greek and Roman mythology must always remain primary, but they
have also confirmed our need and desire to incorporate, in so far as possible,
additional comparative and interpretative approaches and more far-reaching
evidence from other sources such as archaeology.
Translations of the ancient authors remain extensive, and none has been
deleted from this edition. The majority of them throughout the book (except for
Chapters 26 and 27) are by Professor Lenardon, including all thirty-three of the
ix
x Preface

Homeric Hymns; all the important passages in Hesiod’s Theogony and Works and
Days; and excerpts (many of them substantial) from Homer, Aeschylus, Sopho-
cles, Euripides, Herodotus, Plato, and, in Latin, Ovid and Vergil. These texts
are interspersed with interpretative commentary and analysis to elucidate their
mythological and literary significance and afford insightful and challenging av-
enues of interpretation.
Shorter excerpts from many other authors are included, such as the lyric po-
ets, the pre-Socratic philosophers, Pindar, and Lucian; and the Latin authors Sta-
tius, Manilius, and Seneca.
All translations are our own.

Spelling
Consistency in spelling has proven impossible to attain. In general, we have ad-
opted Latinized forms (Cronus for Kronos) or spellings generally accepted in
English-speaking countries (Heracles, not Herakles). Since non-Latinized spell-
ing of Greek names has become fashionable, we include an appendix listing
Greek spellings of important names with their Latinized and English equiva-
lents, which will serve as a paradigm of the principles of transliteration.

Art Program
Every aspect of Classical Mythology’s design and richly rewarding art program
has been given great care and attention as we prepared the tenth edition. To the
abundance of color illustrations that first appeared in the ninth edition, we have
added another forty new images.
The illustrations have been an integral part of the work since its inception. Pro-
fessor Morford was originally responsible for their selection and for the captions
in the first eight editions; for the ninth edition, the first to appear in full color, the
opinions of the many colleagues and reviewers also informed our selections. All
three authors have taken part in the selection of illustrations for this new edition,
a process that has often required painful decisions about what to leave out, but
one that has also led generally to a consensus about what to include. Professor
Morford and Professor Sham have divided the responsibility for writing the new
captions. Robert Lenardon was responsible for the illustrations that have been
added to Chapter 28. We are especially grateful to Michelle Koufopoulos, editorial
assistant at Oxford University Press, and researcher Francelle Carapetyan for their
persistence in obtaining permissions from copyright holders. As with the ninth
edition, the Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae has been an invaluable
resource, and as before Professor Morford’s own research and visits to museums
and exhibitions have been a fruitful source for our selections.
An Instructor’s Resource DVD that includes all of the images reproduced in
this book is available to adopters for classroom use.

New to the Tenth Edition

• NEW feature: “Myth and Culture” The visual program of the tenth edition
is further enriched by a new feature entitled “Myth and Culture.” In twelve
illustrated essays throughout the text, “Myth and Culture” allows a close
 Preface xi

and careful comparative study of the ways in which mythical figures and
episodes have been depicted by different artists in a variety of media. Profes-
sor Sham was responsible for the new “Myth and Culture” feature.
• NEW Chapter 25: “Greek Mythology in the Roman World” Professor Mor-
ford has completely refashioned the former Chapter 25, “Greek and Roman
Legends in Ovid’s Poetry,” and incorporated that material into a much larger
and more comprehensive discussion about the influence of Greek myth on
Roman culture, art, architecture, and literature.
• Professor Lenardon has made revisions, additions, and improvements
throughout the text as the result of careful reading to ensure clarity. He has
also updated all the bibliographies, including CDs and DVDs.

Supplements
The tenth edition of Classical Mythology offers a complete suite of ancillaries for
both instructors and students: a teacher’s manual (with outlines of each chap-
ter), commentaries, translations, and test bank; a supplemental volume, Now
Playing, which presents a critical selection of film, dance, and music on mythical
themes; and a popular, comprehensive Companion Website (www.oup.com/
us/morford), which students will find invaluable as a useful study aid for the
richness and variety of its offerings (for more on this free service, see page xv).
Oxford University Press also extends discounted packaging for customers
wishing to assign Classical Mythology with any Oxford World’s Classic text
(www.oup.com/us/owc). For more information, please contact your Oxford Uni-
versity Press sales representative at 1-800-445-9714.

Now Playing
Designed specifically to accompany Classical Mythology and prepared by Pro-
fessor Sham, Now Playing: Learning Classical Mythology Through Film illustrates
how classical myths have inspired new adaptations in film, dance, and music,
with descriptions from a wide selection of films and television episodes. Each
entry provides a preview of each work, designed to inform an appreciation of the
material, an extended treatment of individual scenes, and questions for discus-
sion or written homework assignments. Both instructor and student editions are
available.

Instructor’s Resource DVD

Available to adopters and designed to facilitate instruction, the Instructor’s
Resource DVD provides full-color digital files for the nearly 200 illustrations,
twenty-two figures, and eight maps in the text.

Acknowledgments
We have received help and encouragement from many colleagues, students, and
friends over the years and generous support from numerous people involved
xii Preface

in editorial development, production, and publication of the ten editions of this

book. To all who have contributed so much, we are deeply grateful.
In particular, for this edition we are thankful to Barbara Polowy, director of
the Hillyer Art Library at Smith College, and to the following reviewers for criti-
cism and specific suggestions:

Corey E. Andrews Janice Siegel

Youngstown State University Hampden-Sydney College
Terri R. Hilgendorf Richard A. Spencer
Lewis & Clark Community College Appalachian State University
Allan Johnston Carolyn Whitson
Columbia College Metropolitan State University
Sherri Mussatto
Rose State College

This new edition would not have been possible without the enthusiastic and
vigorous support of John Challice, Higher Education Publisher at Oxford Univer-
sity Press. Others vital to us at the Press who also deserve our sincere thanks are:
Charles Cavaliere, Executive Editor; Meg Botteon, Senior Development Editor;
Lisa Grzan, Production Manager; Sarah Vogelsong, Copyeditor; Heather Dub-
nick, Proofreader; Susan Monahan, Indexer; David Bradley, Production Editor;
and Michele Laseau, Art Director.
Charles Alton McCloud has continued to share his expertise in music, dance,
and theater, as he has done from the beginning.

Mark P.O. Morford

Robert J. Lenardon
Michael Sham
 About the Authors

MARK MORFORD is Professor Emeritus of Classics at the University of

Virginia, where he joined the faculty in 1984 after teaching for twenty-one years
at The Ohio State University and serving as chairman of the Department of
Classics. He also served as Kennedy Professor of Renaissance Studies at Smith
College, where he holds a research appointment in the Mortimer Rare Book
Room of the Neilson Library. As vice president for education of the American
Philological Association, he actively promoted the cooperation of teachers and
scholars in schools and universities. Throughout his fifty years of teaching he
has been devoted to bringing together teachers of classical subjects and teachers
in other disciplines. He has published books on the Roman poets Persius and
Lucan and the Renaissance scholar Justus Lipsius (Stoics and Neostoics: Lipsius and
the Circle of Rubens), as well as many articles on Greek and Roman literature and
Renaissance scholarship and art. His book The Roman Philosophers was published
in 2002, and he is currently working on a new book, The Ancient Romans.

ROBERT LENARDON is Professor Emeritus of Classics at The Ohio State

University, where he was on the faculty for twenty-five years and served
as director of graduate studies in classics. He has taught at several other
universities, including the University of Cincinnati, Columbia University, and
the University of British Columbia. He was a visiting fellow at Corpus Christi
College, Cambridge University, and has written articles on Greek history and
classics and a biography, The Saga of Themistocles. He has served as book review
editor of the Classical Journal and presented radio programs about mythology in
music, a subject dear to his heart. The afterlife of classical subjects and themes in
literature, music, film, and dance has also become favorite areas of teaching and
research. For the fall semester of 2001, he was appointed Visiting Distinguished
Scholar in Residence at the University of Louisville, Kentucky. His translations
from the Greek Anthology have been set to music by Gerald Busby, in a work
entitled Songs from Ancient Greek, for tenor and piano (premiere, Carnegie Hall,
2005). He is currently completing a history, Hubris: The Persian Wars against the
Greeks.

MICHAEL SHAM is Professor of Classics at Siena College, where for the past
twenty years he has developed a small but vigorous program. He is currently
Chair of the Department of Modern Languages and Classics at Siena College.
Throughout his teaching career he has been dedicated to bringing the value
of a classical education to a wider audience. He has worked to bring together

xiii
xiv About the Authors

scholars, writers, and artists across traditional academic disciplines to explore

the continually renewed vitality of the classical tradition. He has written
and spoken on a wide range of scholarly interests, including the influence of
Ovid’s Metamorphoses on contemporary American poets and the adaptation
and production of Greek tragedy for the contemporary stage. He has himself
written an adaption of Euripides’ Iphigenia in Aulis to some acclaim. He was a
contributing author to A Companion to Classical Mythology (Longman, 1997). He
is responsible for the Companion Website, the Instructor’s Manual for Classical
Mythology, and the Now Playing supplement. He is currently working on a book
about the influence of the lliad and Odyssey on contemporary culture.
 About the Website

We have consistently, deliberately, and conscientiously developed the website as

a valuable pedagogical resource to be used in conjunction with the text of this
book, and many of our readers have expressed their gratitude. Therefore, we
never intend to insert a box at the end of each chapter with a few names or topics
singled out at random as important—such a futile and vain attempt would be not
only misleading but virtually useless because of the complexity of our subject.
The flashcards (on the website) for each chapter identify the significant names
and key terms and also include audio pronunciations (which are essential today,
since pronunciation of classical names is a nightmare for students and mispro-
nunciation has too often become the norm for everyone, except for a few).
Here are the vital pedagogical features of the website:

• Pronunciations: Names are first introduced with a guide to pronunciation,

followed by their Greek spelling and Roman equivalent, for example, Athena
[a-thee’– na] or Athene (Minerva). An interactive audio guide to pronuncia-
tion has been added (MP3 files).
• Summaries: Chapter-by-chapter summaries include synopses of lengthy
translations, such as those of the Homeric Hymns and Greek drama.
• Translations: In successive editions of the book we have removed a few of
our earlier translations to make space for new ones. All translations deleted
from any edition of the text appear on the website (e.g., two of Lucian’s sat-
ires about the Underworld, Homer’s account of Proteus, Mimnermus’ poem
about Helius, and Seneca’s depiction of Tantalus).
The sections of Hesiod’s Theogony that are excerpted and discussed in the
book are presented as a continuous text for reference and study, including
lines 1–115, concerning the Muses, which appeared in the seventh edition and
were deleted from the text.
Many more translations are also included that have never appeared in the
book, such as Vergil’s account of Orpheus and Eurydice (narrated by Aris-
taeus), which offers rewarding comparison with Ovid’s version found in the
text, and Catullus’ powerful depiction of Cybele and Attis. These are easily
accessed, like all the other translations and material on the website.

• Ancient Sources: A comprehensive list of precise references to the ancient

authors for the myths and legends, deities, and heroes offers ready access to
the primary sources.

xv
xvi About the Website

• Works of Art: We have harnessed the potential of the Internet to search out
resources of every sort, particularly in the visual arts. We have included on
the website a section entitled Representations in Art in which we discuss the
pervasive influence of mythological themes on the visual arts from antiquity
to the present day. From Chapters 3–26 we highlight the most important
contributions to the visual arts inspired by classical mythology. This section
contains links to a wide selection of works available for viewing on the web,
so that students may study this artistic legacy for themselves.
• Bibliographies and Discographies: The bibliographies are much more ex-
tensive than could possibly be included in a textbook. We have enlarged all
the bibliographies, which include works in music, dance, and film on CD and
DVD. All are keyed to each chapter for easy reference.
• Comparative Mythology: We have included a wide variety of concise essays
on themes relating to the study of comparative mythology, including Indian,
Norse, and Celtic mythology.
• Maps: To provide a tool for the study of the geography of the ancient world,
we have included all the maps from the text of the tenth edition, both in
labeled and blank versions. In addition, the website for the tenth edition in-
cludes interactive maps that allow students to engage with six of the eight
maps in a dynamic fashion.

We encourage readers to discover for themselves the many riches and re-
wards that can be found on the website, which has been designed to complement
Classical Mythology: www.oup.com/us/morford.
 PART ONE

The Myths of Creation:

The Gods

William Blake, The Ancient of Days

 PART ONE
Myths of Creation: The Gods

1 Interpretation and Definition of Classical Mythology 3

2 Historical Background of Greek Mythology 40
3 Myths of Creation 61
4 Zeus’ Rise to Power: The Creation of Mortals 84
5 The Twelve Olympians: Zeus, Hera, and Their Children 117
6 The Nature of the Gods and Greek Religion 140
7 Poseidon, Sea Deities, Group Divinities, and Monsters 168
8 Athena 179
9 Aprodite and Eros 193
10 Artemis 227
11 Apollo 251
12 Hermes 285
13 Dionysus, Pan, Echo, and Narcissus 304
14 Demeter and the Eleusinian Mysteries 339
15 Views of the Afterlife: The Realm of Hades 359
16 Orpheus and Orphism: Mystery Religions in Roman Times 388
 1
Interpretation and Definition
of Classical Mythology
PHAEDRUS: Tell me, Socrates, was it not somewhere around here by the stream
of Ilissus that Boreas is said to have carried off Oreithyia?
SOCRATES: That’s the story.
PHAEDRUS: It was around here, wasn’t it? At any rate, the stream is beautiful,
pure and clear, and perfect for young girls to play along.
SOCRATES: No, it was down farther. . . . There is an altar there to Boreas, I
think.
PHAEDRUS: I didn’t know that. But tell me, Socrates, by Zeus, do you believe
this story is true?
—PLATO, Phaedrus 229b

THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF ESTABLISHING a satisfactory definition

of myth has not deterred scholars from developing comprehensive
theories on the meaning and interpretation of myth, often to provide
bases for a hypothesis about its origins. Useful surveys of the principal
theories are readily available, so we shall attempt to touch upon only a
few theories that are likely to prove especially fruitful or are persistent
enough to demand attention. One thing is certain: no single theory of
myth can cover all kinds of myths. The variety of traditional tales is
matched by the variety of their origins and significance; as a result,
no monolithic theory can succeed in achieving universal applicability.
Definitions of myth will tend to be either too limiting or so broad as to
be virtually useless. In the last analysis, definitions are enlightening
because they succeed in identifying particular characteristics of differ-
ent types of stories and thus provide criteria for classification.
The word myth comes from the Greek word mythos, which means
“word,” “speech,” “tale,” or “story,” and that is essentially what a myth
is: a story. Some would limit this broad definition by insisting that the
story must have proved itself worthy of becoming traditional.1 A myth
may be a story that is narrated orally, but usually it is eventually given
written form. A myth also may be told by means of no words at all, for

3
4 Chapter 1 I NTERPRETATION AND D EFINITION OF C LASSICAL MYTHOLOGY

example, through painting, sculpture, music, dance, and mime, or by a combina-

tion of various media, as in the case of drama, song, opera, or the movies.
Many specialists in the field of mythology, however, are not satisfied with
such broad interpretations of the term myth. They attempt to distinguish “true
myth” (or “myth proper”) from other varieties and seek to draw distinctions in
terminology between myth and other words often used synonymously, such as
legend, saga, folktale, and fairytale.2

True Myth or Myth Proper and Saga or Legend

As opposed to an all-encompassing definition for the general term myth, true
myth or myth proper is used for stories primarily concerned with the gods and
humankind’s relations with them. Saga or legend (and we use the words in-
terchangeably) has a perceptible relationship to history; however fanciful and
imaginative, it has its roots in historical fact.3 These two categories underlie the
basic division of the first two parts of this book into “The Myths of Creation: The
Gods” and “The Greek Sagas.”

Folktales and Fairytales

In addition to these two categories there are folktales, which are often stories of
adventure, sometimes peopled with fantastic beings and enlivened by ingenious
strategies on the part of the hero or heroine, who will triumph in the end; their
goal is primarily, but not necessarily solely, to entertain. Many of the characters
and motifs in folktales are familiar to us all. They are found in both oral and
written literature throughout the world, from ancient to the present time, and in-
evitably will be a source of inspiration for the future, for example, the monstrous
giant, the wicked sorceress, the distraught maiden in peril and the special pow-
ers of her savior, the wicked sisters, mistaken identity, the imposition of labors,
the solving of riddles, the fulfillment of romantic love, and on and on. Among
the many folktales in this book, the tale of Cupid and Psyche (see p. 218) offers a
particularly splendid example. It begins “once upon a time” and ends “happily
ever after.”
Fairytales may be classified as particular kinds of folktales, defined as “short,
imaginative, traditional tales with a high moral and magical content”; a study by
Graham Anderson identifying fairytales in the ancient world is most enlighten-
ing.4 It is impossible to distinguish rigidly between a folktale and a fairytale,
although perhaps a fairytale is often created especially for the young.

The Problems Imposed by Rigid Definitions

Rarely, if ever, do we find a pristine, uncontaminated example of any one of these
forms. Yet the traditional categories of myth, saga, and folktale are useful guides
for any attempt to impose some order upon the multitudinous variety of classi-
cal tales.5 How loose these categories are can be seen, for example, in the legends
of Odysseus or of the Argonauts, which contain elements of history (saga) but
are full of stories that may be designated as myths and folktales. The criteria for
definition merge and the lines of demarcation blur.
 Myth and Religion 5

Myth and Truth

Since, as we have seen, the Greek word for myth means “word,” “speech,” or
“story,” for a critic like Aristotle it became the designation for the plot of a play;
thus, it is easy to understand how a popular view would equate myth with fic-
tion. In everyday speech the most common association of the words myth and
mythical is with what is incredible and fantastic. How often do we hear the ex-
pression, “It’s a myth,” uttered in derogatory contrast with such laudable con-
cepts as reality, truth, science, and the facts?
Therefore important distinctions may be drawn between stories that are per-
ceived as true and those that are not.6 The contrast between myth and reality has
been a major philosophical concern since the time of the early Greek philosophers.
Myth is a many-faceted personal and cultural phenomenon created to provide a
reality and a unity to what is transitory and fragmented in the world that we expe-
rience—the philosophical vision of the afterlife in Plato and any religious concep-
tion of a god are mythic, not scientific, concepts. Myth provides us with absolutes
in the place of ephemeral values and with a comforting perception of the world
that is necessary to make the insecurity and terror of existence bearable.7
It is disturbing to realize that our faith in absolutes and factual truth can be
easily shattered. “Facts” change in all the sciences; textbooks in chemistry, phys-
ics, and medicine are sadly (or happily, for progress) soon out of date. It is embar-
rassingly banal but fundamentally important to reiterate the platitude that myth,
like art, is truth on a quite different plane from that of prosaic and transitory
factual knowledge. Yet myth and factual truth need not be mutually exclusive,
as some so emphatically insist. A story embodying eternal values may contain
what was imagined, at any one period, to be scientifically correct in every fac-
tual detail; and the accuracy of that information may be a vital component of its
mythical raison d’être. Indeed one can create a myth out of a factual story, as a
great historian must do: any interpretation of the facts, no matter how credible,
will inevitably be a mythic invention. On the other hand, a different kind of artist
may create a nonhistorical myth for the ages, and whether it is factually accurate
or not may be quite beside the point. A case for discussion is presented by the
excerpts from the historical myth of Herotodus, which is translated in Chapter 6.
Myth in a sense is the highest reality; and the thoughtless dismissal of myth
as untruth, fiction, or a lie is the most barren and misleading definition of all.
The dancer and choreographer Martha Graham, sublimely aware of the timeless
“blood memory” that binds our human race and that is continually evoked by
the archetypal transformations of mythic art, offers a beautifully concise sum-
mation: as opposed to the discoveries of science that “will in time change and
perhaps grow obsolete . . . art is eternal, for it reveals the inner landscape, which
is the soul of man.”8

Myth and Religion

As we stated earlier, true myth (as distinguished from saga and folktale) is pri-
marily concerned with the gods, religion, and the supernatural. Most Greek and
Roman stories reflect this universal preoccupation with creation, the nature of
god and humankind, the afterlife, and other spiritual concerns.
6 Chapter 1 I NTERPRETATION AND D EFINITION OF C LASSICAL MYTHOLOGY

Thus mythology and religion are inextricably entwined. One tale or another
may have been believed at some time by certain people not only factually but also
spiritually; specific creation stories and mythical conceptions of deity may still
be considered true today and provide the dogma for devout religious belief in a
contemporary society. In fact, any collection of material for the comparative study
of world mythologies will be dominated by the study of texts that are, by nature,
religious. Greek and Roman religious ceremonies and cults were given authority
by myths that inspired belief and therefore afford a recurrent theme in chapters to
follow; among the examples are the worship of Zeus at Olympia, Athena in Ath-
ens, and Demeter at Eleusis, as well as the celebration of other mystery religions
throughout the ancient world. The ritualist interpretation of the origins of mythol-
ogy is discussed later in this chapter. Greek religion is discussed in Chapter 6.

Mircea Eliade
Mircea Eliade, one of the most prolific twentieth-century writers on myth, lays
great emphasis upon the mystical in his conception of myth seen as a tale satis-
fying the yearning of human beings for a fundamental orientation rooted in the
religious aura of a sacred timelessness. This yearning is fully satisfied only by
stories narrating the events surrounding the beginnings and origins of things.
Eliade believes that God once in a holy era created the world and this initial
cosmogony becomes the origin myth, the model for creations of every kind and
stories about them. He conceives, for example, of a ritual or rite having been per-
formed in a sacred place in this sacred timelessness quite beyond the ordinary or
profane space in which we live. His concept develops a complex mysticism that is
difficult. Like a religious sacrament, myth provides in the imagination a spiritual
release from historical time. This is the nature of true myths, which are funda-
mentally paradigms and explanations and most important to an individual and
society.9 This definition, which embraces the explanatory nature of mythology,
brings us to another universal theory.

Myth and Etiology

There are some who maintain that myth should be interpreted narrowly as an
explication of the origin of some fact or custom. Hence the theory is called etio-
logical, from the Greek word for cause (aitia). In this view, the mythmaker is a
kind of primitive scientist, using myths to explain facts that cannot otherwise
be explained within the limits of society’s knowledge at the time. This theory,
again, is adequate for some myths, for example, those that account for the origin
of certain rituals or cosmology; but interpreted literally and narrowly it does not
allow for the imaginative or metaphysical aspects of mythological thought.
Yet, if one does not interpret etiological (“the assignment of causes or ori-
gins”) too literally and narrowly but defines it by the adjective explanatory, inter-
preted in its most general sense, one perhaps may find at last the most applicable
of all the monolithic theories. Myths usually try to explain matters physical,
emotional, and spiritual not only literally and realistically but also figuratively
and metaphorically as well. Myths attempt to explain the origin of our physi-
cal world: the earth and the heavens, the sun, the moon, and the stars; where
 Myth and Psychology: Freud and Jung 7

human beings came from and the dichotomy between body and soul; the source
of beauty and goodness, and of evil and sin; the nature and meaning of love;
and so on. It is difficult to tell a story that does not reveal, and at the same time
somehow explain, something; and the imaginative answer usually is in some
sense or other scientific or theological. The major problem with this universal
etiological approach is that it does nothing to identify a myth specifically and
distinguish it clearly from any other form of expression, whether scientific, re-
ligious, or artistic—that is, too many essentially different kinds of story may be
basically etiological.

Rationalism Versus Metaphor,

Allegory, and Symbolism
The desire to rationalize classical mythology arose far back in classical antiq-
uity, and is especially associated with the name of Euhemerus (ca. 300 B.C.), who
claimed that the gods were men deified for their great deeds (see Chapter 27,
especially p. 716). The supreme god Zeus, for example, was once a mortal king
in Crete who deposed his father, Cronus. At the opposite extreme from Euhem-
erism is the metaphorical interpretation of stories. Antirationalists, who favor
metaphorical interpretations, believe that traditional tales hide profound mean-
ings. At its best the metaphorical approach sees myth as allegory (allegory is to
be defined as sustained metaphor), where the details of the story are but symbols
of universal truths. At its worst the allegorical approach is a barren exercise in
cryptology: to explain the myth of Ixion and the centaurs in terms of clouds and
weather phenomena is hardly enlightening and not at all ennobling. (For Ixion
and the Centaurs, see pp. 122 and 379.)

Allegorical Nature Myths: Max Müller

An influential theory of the nineteenth century was that of Max Müller: myths
are nature myths, all referring to meteorological and cosmological phenomena.
This is, of course, an extreme development of the allegorical approach, and it is
hard to see how or why all myths can be explained as allegories of, for example,
day replacing night or winter succeeding summer. True, some myths are nature
myths, and certain gods, for example Zeus, represent or control the sky and other
parts of the natural order; yet it is just as true that a great many more myths have
no such relationship to nature.10

Myth and Psychology: Freud and Jung

Sigmund Freud
The metaphorical approach took many forms in the twentieth century through
the theories of the psychologists and psychoanalysts, most especially those of
Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. We need to present at least some of their basic
concepts, which have become essential for any understanding of mythic cre-
ativity. Freud’s views were not completely new, of course (the concept of “deter-
minism,” for example, “one of the glories of Freudian theory” is to be found in
8 Chapter 1 I NTERPRETATION AND D EFINITION OF C LASSICAL MYTHOLOGY

Aristotle),11 but his formulation and analysis of the inner world of humankind
bear the irrevocable stamp of genius.
Certainly methods and assumptions adopted by comparative mythologists—
the formulations of the structuralists and the modern interpretation of myth-
ological tales as imaginative alleviating and directive formulations, created to
make existence in this real world tolerable—all these find a confirmation and
validity in premises formulated by Freud. The endless critical controversy in our
post-Freudian world merely confirms his unique contribution.
Among Freud’s many important contemporaries and successors, Jung (deeply
indebted to the master, but a renegade) must be singled out because of the par-
ticular relevance of his theories to a fuller appreciation of the deep-rooted re-
curring patterns of mythology. Among Freud’s greatest contributions are his
emphasis upon sexuality (and in particular infantile sexuality), his theory of the
unconscious, his interpretation of dreams, and his identification of the Oedipus
complex (although the term complex belongs to Jung). Freud has this to say about
the story of King Oedipus:
His fate moves us only because it might have been our own, because the oracle
laid upon us before our birth the very curse which rested upon him. It may be that we
are all destined to direct our first sexual impulses toward our mothers, and our first
impulses of hatred and resistance toward our fathers; our dreams convince us that
we were. King Oedipus, who slew his father Laius and wedded his mother Jocasta, is
nothing more or less than a wish-fulfillment—the fulfillment of the wish of our child-
hood. But we, more fortunate than he, in so far as we have not become psychoneurot-
ics, have since our childhood succeeded in withdrawing our sexual impulses from our
mothers, and in forgetting the jealousy of our fathers . . . As the poet brings the guilt
of Oedipus to light by his investigation, he forces us to become aware of our own inner
selves, in which the same impulses are still extant, even though they are suppressed.12
This Oedipal incest complex is here expressed in the masculine form, of a man’s
behavior in relationship to his mother, but it also could be expressed in terms of
the relationship between daughter and father; the daughter turns to the father as
an object of love and becomes hostile to her mother as her rival. This is for Jung
an Electra complex.
Dreams for Freud are the fulfillments of wishes that have been repressed and
disguised. To protect sleep and relieve potential anxiety, the mind goes through
a process of what is termed dream-work, which consists of three primary mental
activities: “condensation” of elements (they are abbreviated or compressed), “dis-
placement” of elements (they are changed, particularly in terms of allusion and a
difference of emphasis), and “representation,” the transmission of elements into
imagery or symbols, which are many, varied, and often sexual. Something simi-
lar to this process may be discerned in the origin and evolution of myths; it also
provides insight into the mind and the methods of the creative artist, as Freud
himself was well aware in his studies.13
Thus Freud’s discovery of the significance of dream-symbols led him and
his followers to analyze the similarity between dreams and myths. Symbols are
many and varied and often sexual (e.g., objects like sticks and swords are phal-
lic). Myths, therefore, in the Freudian interpretation, reflect people’s waking ef-
forts to systematize the incoherent visions and impulses of their sleep world. The
patterns in the imaginative world of children, savages, and neurotics are similar,
and these patterns are revealed in the motifs and symbols of myth.
Another Random Scribd Document
with Unrelated Content
irresistible argument to prove the necessity of great armaments
against France, while, at the same time, his refusal to give up the
smallest portion of German territory elevated the dignity of Prussia in
the eyes of all patriots; nor did it benefit the Minister less, who thus
upheld the national standard high and firmly in the sight of the
foreigner. Thus it happened that, after half a century, the
Napoleonistic policy for the second time divided two great nations,
who, by their intellectual, moral, and material development, by all
their interests and aspirations, are destined to form a fraternal
alliance, and thus insure the freedom and peace of Europe on an
infrangible basis.”

On the 20th of September, 1866, Bismarck, after a short rest, was

able to assume the place of honor which was his due in the
memorable triumphant entry of the troops to Berlin, as Major-
General and Chief of the Seventh Heavy Landwehr Regiment of
Horse, to which his grateful Sovereign had appointed him.
Immediately before the King there rode, in one rank, Count
Bismarck, the War Minister General von Roon, General von Moltke,
the Chief of the General Staff, General von Voigts-Rheetz as Chief of
the General Staff of the First Army, and General von Blumenthal as
Chief of the General Staff of the Second; while the King was
immediately followed by the Royal Princes and other commanders.
There was a great and intelligent recognition in this Royal order of
arrangement.
As may be understood, the loud rejoicings on the occasion of this
magnificent festival of victory were in honor of the Army and its
Royal Commander-in-Chief; but many an eye followed, with grateful
admiration and emotion, the powerful form of the Minister-President,
in the white uniform, with the yellow collar and accoutrements of his
regiment, wearing the orange sash of the Exalted Order of the Black
Eagle on his broad chest, his flashing helmet being deeply pressed
over his forehead, astride of his tall horse, riding along in so stately
a manner, and occasionally saluting a friend, here and there, in a
courteous way. Scarcely one of the multitude whose acclamations
met his ear even suspected that the mighty man, in intolerable pain,
could scarcely keep himself upright in the saddle.
 Nor could Bismarck altogether withdraw himself from the patriotic
festivals which accompanied and followed the triumphant entry of
the army. Too much was wanting where he was absent. We then
saw him at the monster dinner which was given in honor of him, and
to Generals Von Roon and Von Moltke, by an enthusiastic assembly,
formed of men of all parties. Zealous democrats then applauded the
great statesman, and whoever was present on that occasion would
have believed that Bismarck was also popular, in the ordinary sense
of the word. When the Minister-President, in the pithy speech in
which he acknowledged the toast pledged in his honor, said that the
Berlin people, as this war had shown, had their hearts, words, and
hands in the right place, the enthusiasm knew no bounds, and the
guests rushed from all quarters to pledge him again. When the
storm had become somewhat allayed, the Director, Dr. Bonnell, of
the Friedrich’s Werder Gymnasium, was seen to step forward.

Bismarck seized his early teacher by both hands, and thanked him
heartily for a poetic greeting with which he had presented him on his
return, merrily regretting that he had not been able to reply in Alcaic
verse. The Chief Burgomaster, sitting opposite him, asked whether
the Minister-President sent his sons to the same institution.
“Certainly,” answered Bismarck; “and I myself was also a scholar of
Bonnell!” And so introduced his old teacher in the heartiest manner.
 After this festival, Bismarck’s last strength failed him. He went into
the country to Patbus, when he fell very ill, and only gradually
recovered after a long time, and then not wholly, but just enough to
admit of his return to business at Berlin in December.

CHAPTER IV.
MAJOR-GENERAL AND CHANCELLOR OF THE FEDERATION.
 Conversation with M. de Vilbort.—Appearance as
Chancellor.—M. Bamberger’s Views.—Bismarck as
an Orator.—The Luxemburg Question.—Fall from
his Horse.—Citizenship of Bülow.—Visit to Holstein.
—Speech to a Torchlight Procession.

From the Paris journal, Le Siècle, we extract the following report

of a conversation which Count Bismarck had with a Parisian
journalist on the 10th of June, 1866:
“On my arrival at Berlin, I was informed that M. de Bismarck was
quite inaccessible. I was told, ‘Do not attempt to see him; you will
only lose time. He receives no one, but lives in the recesses of his
cabinet, shut in with treble-locked doors. He only leaves it to wait
upon the King, and his closest advisers can scarcely obtain access to
him.’ Nevertheless, I ventured to request an audience of the Prime
Minister of the King of Prussia. M. de Bismarck immediately sent
word that he would receive me in the evening.
“When I entered that study—where the peace of Europe, as it
were, was hanging by a thread, but which I found was only guarded
by a bolt—I saw before me a man of tall stature, and of animated
countenance. On his broad, high, and smooth forehead, I perceived
with some surprise the presence of much benevolence, mingled with
persistency. Monsieur de Bismarck is fair and somewhat bald; he
wears a military mustache, and speaks rather with soldier-like
brevity than with diplomatic caution. His air is that of the aristocrat
and courtier, improved by all the charm of the most polished
courtesy. He advanced to receive me, took me by the hand, led me
to a seat, and offered me a cigar.
 MAJOR-GENERAL AND CHANCELLOR OF THE
CONFEDERATION.

“‘Monsieur le Ministre,’ I said to him after a little preliminary

conversation, ‘I, like many of my countrymen, am most anxious to
be thoroughly enlightened on the true interests of the German
nation. Permit me, therefore, to express myself with entire
frankness. I am glad to confess that, in her foreign policy, Prussia
seems, at the present time, to be pursuing objects with which the
French nation sympathizes in no ordinary manner, such as the
complete emancipation of Italy from Austrian influence, and the
establishment of an united Germany, based on universal suffrage.
But is there not a flat contradiction between your Prussian and
German policies? You declare a national parliament to be the only
fountain in which Germany can find rejuvenescence, the only form of
supreme authority by which she can realize her future destiny. Yet,
at the same time, you treat the Second Chamber at Berlin in the
manner of Louis XIV., when he entered the Houses of Parliament
whip in hand. In France we do not admit the possibility of any
association between absolutism and democracy; and, to speak the
whole truth, allow me to state to you that in Paris your plan of a
national parliament has not been considered as a serious one. It has
been looked upon as an acutely constructed engine of war, and it is
generally believed that you are quite the man to break it up when it
has served your purpose, the moment it seems to have become
inconvenient or useless.’
“‘A la bonne heure, you go at once to the root of things,’ replied
M. de Bismarck. ‘In France, I know, I am as unpopular as in
Germany. Everywhere I am held responsible for a state of things I
did not create, but which has been forced upon me as upon every
one else. I am the scapegoat of public opinion; but that does not
much trouble me. I follow out a plan, with a perfectly calm
conscience, which I consider useful to my country and to Germany.
“‘As to the means to this end, I have used those within my reach,
for want of others. Much might be said as to the internal condition of
Prussia. To judge of it impartially, it is necessary to study the
peculiar character of the people of this country in the most thorough
way. France and Italy are now compact social polities, each
animated by one spirit and one sentiment; while, on the contrary,
Germany is given up to individualism. Here, every one lives apart in
his own narrow corner, with his own opinions; his wife and children
round him; ever suspicious of the Government, as of his neighbor;
judging every thing from his personal point of view, and never from
general grounds. The sentiment of individualism and the necessity
for contradiction are developed to an inconceivable degree in the
German. Show him an open door, and, rather than pass through it,
he will insist on breaking a hole in the wall at its side. No
government however it may act, will be popular in Prussia; the
majority in the country will always be opposed to it; simply from its
being the Government, and holding authority over the individual, it is
condemned to be constantly opposed by the moderates, and decried
and despised by the ultras. This has been the common fate of all
successive governments since the beginning of the dynasty. Neither
liberal ministers, nor reactionary ministers, have found favor with our
politicians.’
“And while thus passing in review the various governments and
forms of rule which have existed since the foundation of the
monarchy, M. de Bismarck strove to prove to me, in brilliant, graphic
language, sparkling with wit, that the Auerswalds and the
Manteuffels had shared the same fate as himself, and that Frederick
William III., surnamed the Just, had succeeded as little as Frederick
William IV. in satisfying the Prussian nation.
“‘They shouted,’ he added, ‘at the victories of Frederick the Great,
but at his death they rubbed their hands at the thought of being
delivered from the tyrant. Despite this antagonism, there exists a
deep attachment to the royal house. No sovereign or minister, no
government, can win the favor of Prussian individualism. Yet all cry
from the depths of their hearts, “God save the King!” And they obey
when the King commands.’
“‘Yet some say, M. le Ministre, that this discontent might grow into
rebellion.’
“‘The Government does not believe this need be feared, and does
not fear it. Our revolutionists are not formidable. Their hostility
exhausts itself in invectives against the Prime Minister, but they
respect the King. It is I who have done all the evil, and it is with me
alone that they are angry. Were they a little more impartial, perhaps
they might see that I have not acted otherwise, simply because I
could not. In Prussia’s present position in Germany, and with Austria
opposed to her, an army was an imperative necessity. In Prussia it is
the only force capable of discipline. I do not know if that is a French
word?’
“‘Certainly, M. le Ministre, and in France can also be applied.’
“‘A Prussian who got his arm broken in a barricade,’ continued M.
de Bismarck, ‘would go home crestfallen, and his wife would look
upon him as a madman; but in the army he is an admirable soldier,
and fights like a lion for the honor of his country. A party opposed to
the Government has not chosen to recognize the necessity imposed
on us by circumstances of maintaining a large military force, evident
as that necessity has been. But I could not hesitate, for my own
part; by family, by education, I am the King’s man; and the King
adhered to the idea of this military organization as firmly as to his
crown, being convinced, heart and soul, of its indispensability. No
one could make him yield or compromise the point. At his age—he is
seventy—and with his traditions, people persist in an idea; above all,
if they feel it to be good. On the subject of the army, I should add, I
entirely agree with his view.
“‘Sixteen years ago I was living as a country gentleman, when the
King appointed me the Envoy of Prussia at the Frankfurt Diet. I had
been brought up in the admiration, I might almost say the worship,
of Austrian policy. Much time, however, was not needed to dispel my
youthful illusions with regard to Austria, and I became her declared
opponent.
“‘The humiliation of my country; Germany sacrificed to the
interests of a foreign nation; a crafty and perfidious line of policy—
these were not things calculated to give me satisfaction. I was not
aware that the future would call upon me to take any part in public
events, but from that period I conceived the idea, which at the
present day I am still pursuing, the idea of snatching Germany from
Austrian oppression, or at least that part of Germany whose tone of
thought, religion, manners, and interests, identify her destinies with
Prussia—Northern Germany. In the plan which I brought forward,
there has been no question of overthrowing thrones, of taking a
duchy from one ruler, or some petty domain from another; nor
would the King have consented to such schemes. And then there are
all the interests of family relationship and concessions, a host of
antagonistic influences, against which I have had to sustain an
hourly warfare.
“‘But neither all this, nor the opposition with which I have had to
contend in Prussia, could prevent my devoting myself, heart and
soul, to the idea of a Northern Germany, constituted in her logical
and natural form, under the ægis of Prussia. To attain this end I
would brave all dangers, exile, the scaffold itself! I said to the Crown
Prince, whose education and natural tendencies incline him rather to
the side of parliamentary government, what matter if they hang me,
provided the rope by which I am hung bind this new Germany firmly
to your throne?’
“‘May I also ask, M. le Ministre, how you reconcile the principle of
freedom, embodied in the existence of a national parliament, with
the despotic treatment to which the Berlin Chamber has had to
submit? How, above all, have you been able to induce the King, the
representative of the principle of divine right, to accept universal
suffrage, which is par excellence the principle of democracy?’
“M. de Bismarck answered with animation: ‘That is a victory
achieved after four years of struggle. When the King sent for me,
four years ago, the situation of affairs was most critical. His Majesty
laid before me a long list of liberal concessions, but not one of these
concerned the military question. I said to the King, “I accept; and
the more liberal the Government can prove itself the stronger it will
be.” The Chamber has been obdurate on one side, and the Crown on
the other. In the conflict I have remained by the King. My respect for
him, all my antecedents, all the traditions of my family, made it my
duty to do so. But that I am, either by nature or from principle, an
adversary of national representation, a born enemy of parliamentary
government, is a perfectly gratuitous supposition.
“‘During those discussions, when the Chamber of Berlin set itself
in opposition to a line of policy imposed on Prussia by circumstances
of most pressing necessity, I would not separate myself from the
King. But no one has a right to insult me by the supposition that I
am only mystifying Germany in bringing forward my project of a
parliament. Should the day come when, my task being
accomplished, I find it impossible to reconcile my duties to my
Sovereign with my duties as a statesman, I shall know how to retire
without denying the work I have done.’
“Such are substantially,” says M. Vilbort in conclusion, “the political
opinions expressed to me by M. de Bismarck. His thoughts conveyed
by my pen, in another form, may have lost to some extent their
emphasis; but I have anxiously endeavored faithfully to reproduce
them.”
We have placed this report of the intellectual Frenchman here on
purpose, because Count Bismarck, independently of other interesting
remarks, has given indications as to the course of his future policy
not easily to be misunderstood; for it may readily be conceived that
we do not feel called upon to enlarge upon Bismarck’s policy in the
last three years. What he has done in this period, and how he has
done it, is vivid before the eyes of every one, and fresh in every
one’s memory, and there is scarcely time yet to incorporate it with
history. Our readers will have convinced themselves, that in
contradistinction to others, we do not find the last deeds and
speeches of Bismarck inconsistent with his earlier acts and
speeches; and we think we have demonstrated that the Bismarck of
to-day has developed consequently from the Bismarck of 1847—that
the great aristocratic statesman is still the “King’s man,” as he then
was the “Junker Hotspur,” or conservative party leader. The demand
for the so-called indemnity, the amnesty, the direct elections, and all
those things which are sometimes praised and sometimes blamed
and designated “Bismarck’s contradictions,” are only apparent
contradictions, at once to be explained if thoroughly examined. It is
very easy to hold very different opinions on many points from those
of Bismarck, and warmly as we admire him, we do not regard him as
infallible; but we think that it is necessary to be very careful in
censuring his individual political acts, even where such unpleasant
surprises occur, for actually a quite incomparable political instinct has
fitted him for leadership, and has caused him to discover ways and
means not existing in any programme, sometimes coming into
severe collision with theory, but in practice either have or will have
great blessings in them for the Prussian kingdom and the German
people.
We have depicted Bismarck in person at various ages; of latter
years he has altered but little at first sight. Those who have only
seen him in the distance at the Chamber or the Diet, looking round
with his eye-glass, looking through papers, or playing with his pencil,
will only have seen the tall form in the King’s plain blue uniform,
with a single Order—a cross hanging from the neck. It is necessary
to draw nearer to observe that time has done more than pass with a
friendly greeting by the Chancellor of the Diet. Such years of service
as those of Bismarck, in this period of his life, count double, like
soldiers’ years. Bismarck, according to this calculation, is more than
fifty-four years of age.
 As an orator, too, the Chancellor of the Diet is almost the same as
of old, only he has grown quieter. A member of the Diet, Herr L.
Bamberger, describes him in his book as follows:[55]—“Count
Bismarck is certainly no orator in the usual sense of the word, yet, in
spite of many defects in his delivery, he commands the attention of
his audience by the evident force with which his thoughts work
within him. It seems, besides, as if the habit of speaking in public,
and especially the certainty which is so requisite, and which he now
possesses of obtaining the ear of his audience, has materially
contributed of late years to the development of his parliamentary
faculty. Yet in the year 1866, one of his admirers, who had attended
a sitting of the Reichstag, drew his portrait in the following terms:
—‘No oratorical ornamentation, no choice of words, nothing which
carries the audience away. His voice, although clear and audible, is
dry and unsympathetic, the tone monotonous; he interrupts himself,
and stops frequently; sometimes even he stutters, as if his
recalcitrant tongue refused obedience, and as if he had difficulty in
finding words in which to express his thoughts. His uneasy
movements, somewhat lolling and negligent, in no wise aid the
effect of his delivery. Still, the longer he speaks, the more he
overcomes these defects; he attains more precision of expression,
and often ends with a well-delivered, vigorous—sometimes, as every
one is aware, too vigorous—peroration.’” “It should be added,”
observes Herr Bamberger,[56] “that his style, although unstudied, is
often not wanting in imagery. His bright and clear intellect does not
despise coloring, any more than his strong constitution is free from
nervous irritability.”
The same author says at another part of his book,[57] “To an
opponent he can be provoking, malicious, even malignant; but he is
not treacherous; he offends against morality and justice, but against
good taste, by pathetic appeals, never. He is not of the tribe of
paragraph writers who imagine that the world is governed by fine
phrases, and that public evils are to be mastered by wrapping them
up in pompous commonplaces. On the contrary, he is one of those
who delight in heightening a contrast by exaggeration, and who thus
overshoot their mark. What induced him to confess his principle of
blood and iron at that committee meeting?” The instance is very
unhappily chosen, without considering that by a blunder the so-
called blood-and-iron theory is written, Principe du fer et du feu,[58]
for Bismarck never proclaimed this theory, with which Philisters are
made to shudder, at all. In an actually peaceable sense there was a
reference at that committee meeting of the 1st September, 1862, as
to sparing the effusion of blood and the use of iron. But it is useless
to say this, and to reiterate it; Bismarck has been credited with the
blood-and-iron theory, and his it will remain, for it has been
proverbial as a “winged word.”[59]
Another description of Bismarck as an orator (by Glagau) we
extract from the Daheim.
 “The chivalrous personality of Count Bismarck, his easy carriage,
and, above all, his universal fame as a diplomatist and statesman,
lead us to expect him also to be a brilliant speaker; either one who
could bring forth a deeply meditated, well arranged speech without
hesitation or trouble, in an elegant flow, or, still more, a speaker of
natural eloquence, whose thoughts and figures arise in the soul
during his speech, the play of whose words and rhetorical figures,
born of the moment, leap in winged dance from the lips, who
poetizes in his speech like an improvisatore, whose lightning
thoughts and catchwords hit the mark, moving, and burning the
hearts of his auditors. Neither of these. Certainly, a few moments
before, with a swift pen, he has written a few notes on a narrow slip
of paper, which looks like a recipe, over which he, while turning his
thumbs one over the other, balancing the upper part of his body
backwards and forwards, and speaking to the House, occasionally
casts a glance; but, nevertheless, he stops, and hesitates, even
sometimes stammers and repeats himself; he appears to struggle
with his thoughts, and the words clamber over his lips in a half-
reluctant way. After two or three words he continually pauses, and
one seems to hear an inarticulate sob. He speaks without gestures,
pathos, and intonation, without laying a stress on any particular
word; sometimes he accentuates the final syllable or the halting verb
in a manner totally wrong. Can this be the man who has now a
parliamentary career of twenty years behind him?—who already
belonged in the Diet of 1847, as Deputy of the Saxon chivalry, to the
leaders and promptest speakers of the then exceeding extreme
right; who set the liberal majority into excitement and rage in 1849
and 1850, as a member of the Second Chamber and of the Erfurt
Union Parliament; who, finally, has, almost singly, opposed a closed
phalanx of progressists, as Minister-President, since 1862, repaying
their emotional speeches, full of self-confidence and security, in
almost the same coin, replying to their mocking and malicious
attacks upon him on the spot, and with flashing presence of mind
even exciting them to the combat by witty impromptus and cutting
sarcasms, often wounding them to the soul?
 “Yes, it is the same man; and, when requisite, he is as acute and
biting as of yore, although, since his great victories, he has adopted
more of statesmanlike earnestness, quiet objectivity, and a
conciliating carriage, corresponding to his present universally
admitted greatness. Gradually his speech begins to flow and to
warm, and soon unfolds its especial charm—that original and fresh,
free and straightforward mode of expression to which we, in our
commonplace days, were quite unaccustomed. Hence it has been
called by his opponents ‘paradoxical,’ ‘frivolous,’ and ‘scholastic.’ We
are indebted to them for a whole vocabulary of sentences, such as
‘Cataline existences,’ ‘People who have missed their vocation,’ ‘Blood
and iron,’ ‘Austria should transfer her centre of gravity to Ofen,’ ‘This
conflict must not be taken too tragically,’ and which soon became
proverbially current, and, in the mean time, have revealed their deep
truth and apposite precision. How true and exact, and, at the same
time, how colored and tangible, is his definition of the national
character of the Germans, on the occasion of the introduction of the
Bill for the Constitution of the Confederation, which has hitherto
prevented the attainment of a great united fatherland. ‘It is, as it
seems to me,’ says Count Bismarck, ‘a certain superfluity in the
feelings of manly self-consciousness which in Germany causes the
individual, the community, the race, to depend more upon their own
powers than upon those of the totality. It is the deficiency of that
readiness of the individual and the race to merge itself in favor of
the commonwealth, that readiness which has enabled our neighbor
nations to secure, at an earlier period, those benefits after which we
are striving.’ And when the orator, at the end of his speech, exhorts
the House to fulfill their task as soon and as perfectly as possible, he
continues:—‘For the German nation, gentlemen, has a right to
expect from us that we should preclude the possibility of a
recurrence of such a catastrophe (i.e., a German war); and I am
convinced that you, together with the allied government, have
nothing so nearly at heart as to fulfill this just anticipation of the
German nation.’ With this beautiful exhortation, simply, but worthily
and warmly, uttered, like the greatest of orators, he electrified the
whole assembly, for tumultuous applause resounded from all the
benches.”
Next to the Reichstag of the North German Confederation, the
Luxemburg question, in the year 1867, principally drew attention to
Bismarck. Probably many of those who in the pride of recent victory
then demanded war for the former Federal fortress, have become
convinced that Bismarck’s measured attitude was full of high political
wisdom. At Bismarck’s dinner-table, a short time after Luxemburg
had been declared neutral, a learned man gave it as his opinion that
Prussia ought to have made it a casus belli with France. Bismarck
answered very seriously:—“My dear Professor, such a war would
have cost us at least thirty thousand brave soldiers, and in the best
event would have brought us no gain. Whoever has once looked into
the breaking eye of a dying warrior on the battle-field, will pause ere
he begins a war.” And, after dinner, when he was walking in the
garden with some guests, he stopped on a lawn, and related how he
had paced to and fro upon this place in disquiet and deep emotion in
those momentous days of June. He awaited the royal decision in an
anguish of fear. When he came indoors again, his wife asked what
had happened that he looked so overcome. “I am excited for the
very reason that nothing has happened,” he replied, and went into
his study. A few minutes later, shortly before midnight, he received
the royal decision—the declaration of war.
From the 5th to the 14th of June, 1867, Count Bismarck remained
at Paris in the suite of the King, where he became an object of
general attention. The Parisians could not picture our Minister-
President in any other way than in his white uniform of Cuirassiers. A
regular flood of generally horribly bad pictures of him were sold at a
sou per copy—the white uniform alone showing that Bismarck was
the subject.
From the end of June to the beginning of August he visited his
family at Varzin, an estate in Farther Pomerania, which he had
bought in the spring.
On the 14th of July, 1867, he was appointed Chancellor of the
North German Confederation, went in the beginning of August to the
King at Ems, and on the 15th of August opened the session of the
Council of the Federation at Berlin. On the 15th of November the
Diet was opened, and on the 29th of February, 1868, it was closed.
On the 23d of March the Reichstag of the North German
Confederation was opened, and to this the Customs Parliament was
added; it was no wonder, therefore, that under the gigantic load of
work the strength of the Minister-President at last gave way
altogether. In the June of 1868 he was taken seriously ill, and it was
only at the end of the month that he was able to go to Varzin,
where, in complete retirement and entire abstinence from all regular
business, he very slowly mended; but was not able to regain his
strength, in consequence of nervous sleeplessness. He seemed to
feel the obstacles to his activity even more than all his illness. “Send
me no secretary hither, or I shall go to work again!” he was heard
querulously to exclaim. Despite of all public notifications, a flood of
letters pursued him to Varzin; the whole correspondence, as might
be naturally supposed, had to be returned unopened to Berlin,
where it was estimated that during this stay at Varzin the Minister-
President had been solicited for aid to the extent of not less than a
million and a half of thalers.[60]
When at last he had grown somewhat better, Bismarck had the
misfortune, on the 21st of August, to have a dangerous fall from his
horse. He had gone out riding with his friends, Moritz von
Blankenburg and the Legation’s Rath von Keudell, on a meadow near
Puddiger, one of his farms, a German mile and a quarter from
Varzin; his horse put his foot into a hole, fell, and fell with all its
weight upon his body. So severe a fall might have had still sadder
results, but such as they were they were sad enough, and weeks of
severe pain again had to be endured, often not unmixed with many
fears. At the very time when the foreign newspapers were picturing
the most secret and wonderful activity in the Chancellor, he was
lying prostrate in the most dangerous state. It need hardly be said
that most anxious looks were directed towards Varzin—that general
excitement eagerly anticipated news from thence, and that many
hearts breathed lightly again when better intelligence arrived. The
news was better than, properly speaking, it had any right to have
been, but, fortunately, it has been justified by time.
The delight at the good news from Varzin was shown in the most
various ways, especially in presents of remedies against
sleeplessness. Bismarck was particularly amused with an old soldier,
who advised him to smoke a pound of Porto Rico tobacco every day:
he sent the old warrior a pipe and a quantity of tobacco, with the
request that he would be so good as to smoke for him.
On the 1st of October the Burgomaster of Bülow arrived, with a
deputation of the magistracy and town council, and brought the
Minister-President the honorary diploma of the citizenship of the
town. Bismarck received the gentlemen from Bülow with special
friendliness, and said, among other things, that he accepted the
diploma with the greater satisfaction, as Bülow had ever shown itself
a patriotic and loyal city. After dinner, he offered the deputation the
hospitality of his house for the night. But the respectable citizens
declared that they had promised their careful and inquisitive wives to
return before midnight, and that they must, therefore, keep their
words. On this the Countess turned merrily to her husband and said:
“As you are now also a citizen of Bülow, I should be very glad if you
would, from this time, follow the good example of your colleagues of
Bülow!” Bismarck laughed and shrugged his shoulders, but returned
no answer.
The fresh and vigorous manner with which Bismarck has since
returned to his duties, allows us to hope that his long and severe
illness is quite at an end. He has certainly never thought of sparing
himself when duty called; but he takes part freely in hunting parties,
for the free air of the forest is his best medicine, and in the month of
December he was present at several parties in the Province of
Saxony, in the Mark, and even in Holstein. In Holstein, at
Ahrensburg, where he hunted for two days with Count
Schimmelmann, a brilliant torchlight procession was formed in his
honor.
On the 13th of December, shortly before the Count’s departure, a
long train of several hundred people, young and old, with two
hundred flaming pitch torches, appeared in the castle-yard, preceded
by a band, and followed by sixty mounted yeomanry. After the
leader of the procession had announced that they had come to pay
their respects to the Minister-President, Count Bismarck approached
the window, before the crowd, and spoke to the following effect:—
“I am rejoiced that you thus salute me as a fellow-countryman,
and I thank you for the honor you do me. I see in it a proof that the
feeling of solidarity has also grown stronger and stronger with you;
and of this I shall joyfully inform the King. We have always belonged
to each other as Germans—we have ever been brothers—but we
were unconscious of it. In this country, too, there were different
races: Schleswigers, Holsteiners, and Lauenburgers; as, also,
Mecklenburgers, Hanoverians, Lübeckers, and Hamburgers exist,
and they are all free to remain what they are, in the knowledge that
they are Germans—that they are brothers. And here in the north we
should be doubly aware of it, with our Platt Deutsch language, which
stretches from Holland to the Polish frontier: we were also conscious
of it, but have not proclaimed it until now. But that we have again so
joyfully and vividly been able to recognize our German descent and
solidarity—for that we must thank the man whose wisdom and
energy have rendered this consciousness a truth and a fact, in
bringing our King and Lord a hearty cheer. Long live His Majesty, our
most gracious King and Sovereign, William the First!”
A threefold cheer was heard throughout the castle-yard. The
torch-bearers and pedestrians then accompanied the honored man
to the railway station hard by, where the farmers, who had led the
procession on horseback, were introduced to the Count, and were
greeted by him in friendly accents. A hurrah of many hundreds of
voices followed the train as it glided away.

CHAPTER V.
A BALL AT BISMARCK’S.

Beauty and might,

With honor bedight,
Assembled by night,
Shining so bright:
And what was not flower a plant would be—
Come not for dancing, but just to see.
 Interior of Bismarck’s House at Berlin.—Arrival of
Guests.—The King.—The Queen.—The Royal
Princes.—The Generals.—Committee of Story-
tellers in the Refreshment Room.—Supper.—The
Ball.—Home.

We have entitled this chapter, “A Ball at Bismarck’s,” for reasons of

brevity and alliteration, for in truth, at these great evening
assemblies, with supper after midnight, the ball is a secondary
object for the majority of the guests. This arrangement, entirely
imported from England, pleases us as little as the English expression
“rout,” for the principal peculiarity of it is that double the number of
guests are invited than can find room in the apartments, and such a
system is very much at variance with our old-fashioned notions of
German hospitality. The institution of a “rout” is only tolerable when
the greater number of the guests only come for a quarter of an hour,
and then disappear to attend another “rout.” The continual arrival of
fresh individuals, the continual variation in the faces, may then
possess a charm of its own. But this does not take place at
Bismarck’s, for when the “Minister-President and the Countess of
Bismarck-Schönhausen” send out their invitations, no house in Berlin
has the courage to vie with them and open its door on the same
evening. The consequence of this is, that all the guests arrive early
and stop as long as ever they can. Now, as we have already said,
the apartments at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are exceedingly
small, and thus there is a crush of which it is impossible to form any
idea unless one has seen it. Add to this the temperature of the dog-
days in the brilliantly lighted saloons, and the impossibility of sitting
down; an enjoyment only appreciated to its full extent by the
members of the Reichstag and Deputies of the Diet, who here find
ample opportunity, after their long plenary and committee sittings, to
stand.
The guest reaches the first saloon by the stairs, through a forest
of tropical plants and orange-groves, with livery servants sprinkled
in, to the place where the Minister-President, in his white uniform,
with the star and collar of his Order, aided by his wife, receives the
guests, interchanging a few friendly expressions with them, and then
they enter. But after this the guest literally founders in the ocean of
dazzling light and crowds of people; it is only after a considerable
interval that a person, unless accustomed for years to these parties,
recovers his self-possession. At first he hears single words in the
noise around him; gradually he learns to understand them; and then
come long sentences which he is able to comprehend. Next comes
the second stage; he observes that he is swimming between rosy
red and pale blue, clouds of garments of various textures; he
recognizes with absolute ecstasy the golden threads which pass
through these clouds; the soft sounds of the yielding substances are
varied by the sharp rustling of silk and the brilliant gleam of
crackling satin; then he perceives rounded shoulders, shining necks,
wavy locks, smiling faces—the happy man sees them all, for he is
walking towards a group of ladies. He walks? No, he rather creeps,
or pushes himself forward without lifting his feet. Beautiful Mother
Nature in her wisdom has instinctively taught him that he must
necessarily tread upon some lady’s train if he raise his foot a quarter
of a line from the floor. Thus he shoves himself along on the left
flank of the battalion, whence beautiful eyes are flashing in
competition with gold and jewels. This danger he can encounter, for
all this fire is not directed at him, the worn-out man of fifty. He is
looking round in astonishment, and then comes a sudden block, for
it is impossible to break through the new group standing right in
front. Court gala uniforms, black coats with broad bands of various
orders, civil uniforms with golden embroidery, and officers with silver
—every place is taken up, and the wearers are standing shoulder to
shoulder in humming conversation. Nothing but strange faces!
Suddenly a very large hand, but of course in a delicate glove,
certainly specially made for this great, good hand, is laid upon the
arm of the anxious undecided one, a well-known face greets him in
a friendly way, and a well-known voice says, “Good-evening, dear
old fellow!” But he scarcely recognizes his tried patron and friend, for
he had never seen him in full uniform with the orange and white
sash. When, however, he sees who it is, a great feeling of
satisfaction comes over him—he is no longer alone, and he is safe.
Other acquaintances appear, remarks are interchanged, there is even
recreation, but under difficulties. People push here and there, and
are pushed in return; it is impossible to penetrate to the ball-room,
but the music of the Cuirassier Guard Regiment can be heard very
well, and sometimes a servant with a tray full of ices is captured by
the more daring—a real grace in this heat. It is very comical to hear
every one complaining of want of room and heat, and yet none of
the complainants seem to have any idea of getting rid of these
disagreeables in the simplest manner in the world, by going away!
Suddenly all the heads, decked with feathers, flowers, and jewels,
bow slowly and then rise again; it is as if the evening breeze passed
gently over the meadow, the flowers all bending up and down,
hither and thither.
King William is entering, conducted by the Minister-President. The
stately royal man bows with chivalrous politeness, now to this lady,
now to that; he pronounces kind words, which are really more kind
and fewer in number than is usually the case. Here he shakes hands
with one general, there he nods to another gentleman—the path by
which the King has passed is marked by proud and happy faces.
Those who feel disposed to jeer, can not in the least know how a
Prussian feels when the King’s hand touches his own, and the King’s
eye looks so grandly and mildly into his.
But to enjoy a really heart-warming sight, King William and
Bismarck must be seen together. The great hero, Prince Eugene, or
Eugenio von Savoye, as he wrote it in Italian, German, and French,
once said of the three Emperors whom he had served—“Leopold was
my father, Joseph my friend, Carl is my sovereign!” In Bismarck’s
conduct towards the King may be seen the reverence for a father,
the attachment of a friend, and the fullest respect for a sovereign.
An unique spectacle, this!
Now the Queen passes through the brilliant throng, dressed with
royal simplicity; she speaks with several of the members of the
 Reichstag. When the sailing boat
passes through the waves of the
sea, when the swan glides over
the shining mirror, a silver line
marks the passage they have
taken. Such a line denotes the
path which the Queen had
followed through the throng.
The whole Royal House is
present.
The tall stately man yonder,
with the brave handsome
countenance, who looks still
taller in his light blue dragoon
uniform with the yellow collar, in
which he is not often seen, is
the Crown Prince. He is engaged in animated conversation with a
foreign diplomatist, in a golden full dress, and is evidently in the best
of tempers. Prince Albrecht, the King’s younger brother, passes
swiftly in a frank military manner, shaking one or the other person
cordially by the hand. His elder brother, Prince Carl, the Commander-
in-Chief, is a singular contrast to him. He stands erect and proudly in
the middle of a circle, but without stiffness. A mocking smile plays
over his features; there is a remarkable intermixture in his eyes of
sharp observation and indifference. How he brings first this person
and then that to his side, without raising his hand! This is the
reproachless manner of a grand seigneur of days gone by; one can
not but feel that Prince Carl still retains whole and undivided the
princely consciousness of former times. In his eyes every one—not
of princely rank—stands on the same level. Rank, titles, honors, have
no distinction in his eyes. He is as gracious to the ministers and high
dignitaries, as to the author whom he has just summoned to him. He
alone really exercises the métier de prince.
 Yonder stalwart form, with the
good brave countenance, in the
admiral’s uniform, is Prince
Adalbert, a cousin of the King;
he is talking with Herr von
Selchow, the Minister of
Agriculture, who at a distance
looks like an officer in the
cavalry. All the princes of the
Royal House, wear the Cross of
the Order pour le mérite, and
therefore have all been under
fire.
Prince Frederick Carl yonder is talking with Count Eulenburg, who
has made his way through typhoons and Japan to the Ministry of the
Interior. The Prince, with his high forehead, firm bearded
countenance, large eyes with their lonely quiet expression, and
spare form, in the red jacket of the Ziethen Hussars, is the hero of
Düppel and Sadowa, also a member of the North German Reichstag.
All the faces in yonder group are well known, for their portraits
hang in every window; they have written their names in the book of
history with the sword. At every step here one may greet a hero.
Certainly, designed and undesigned mistakes sometimes happen, as,
for instance, that pretty young lady can not sufficiently wonder that
the valiant old Steinmetz, the famous hero of Nachod and Skalitz, is
still so young, and dresses in private clothes. They had pointed her
out a Reichstag Deputy from Pomerania as the famous General, and
left her in the error.
Through the brilliant throng and excitement, in the dazzling
illuminations and heat, children wise in their generation, and lucky
dogs who know every thing, have discovered the way to obtain a
thorough course of refreshments, which is hidden in a dark thicket
yonder, and slyly wins in semi-concealment. In noble silver vases
there is cool—deliciously cool—beer. All the thirsty souls who drink at
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