Juno

“ The Greeks lived much in the open air, and they loved to watch the fleecy clouds float lazily across the blue heavens, or at night to see the bright, golden stars shine down upon them like friendly eyes. They believed that Juno was goddess of the heavens when they were calm and peaceful, as Jupiter was god of the storm cloud and of the thunderbolt.
Whenever they saw the radiant rainbow, they said, “There is the glowing Iris, the messenger of Juno, carrying some message from the sky to the earth.” ”

“ It may, for aught I know, be noble, pleasing, interesting, witty, and decorous to make Juno say to Jupiter, 'If you are determined to embrace me, let us go to your apartment in heaven, which is the work of Vulcan, and the door of which closes so well that none of the gods can enter."
"I am equally at a loss to understand how the god of sleep, whom Juno prays to close the eyes of Jupiter, can be so brisk a divinity. He arrives in a moment from the isles of Lemnos and Imbros; there is something fine in coming from two islands at once. ”

“ Juno was the mother of Mars, Vulcan, Hebe, and Lucina. She prompted the gods to conspire against Jupiter, but the attempt was frustrated, and Apollo and Neptune were banished from heaven by Jupiter. Juno is the goddess of marriage, and the protectress of married women; and she had special regard for virtuous women. In the competition for the celebrated Golden Apple, which Juno, Venus, and Minerva each claimed as the fairest among the goddesses, Juno was much displeased when Paris gave the apple to Venus. ”

“ Where Jove, t' enjoy the breezes cool,
Was set upon a three-legg'd stool.
Juno now pulls, and swears, and curses,
But yet could hardly stop the horses;
Then, as she always us'd to do,
Falls at him like a vixen shrew:
To see that Mars rebel, I wonder
You can't find bus'ness for your thunder:
But here you sit and crack your jokes,
To see him smash such heaps of folks.
Look down but where yon' Greeks are laid,
You'll see what work the dog has made.
E'en Venus and Apollo, you know,
Are making faces now at Juno. ”

“ The nuptials of Jupiter and Juno were celebrated with the greatest solemnity: the gods, all mankind, and all the brute creation, attended. Chelone, a young woman, was the only one who refused to come, and who derided the ceremony. For this impiety Mercury changed her into a tortoise, and condemned her to perpetual silence; from which circumstance the tortoise has always been used as a symbol of silence among the ancients. By her marriage with Jupiter, Juno became the queen of all the gods, and mistress of heaven and earth. ”

“ He sits on a throne, with lightning in his hand, and an eagle by his side. Juno is a large, beautiful woman, tall and grand, looking like a queen, with a proud face and splendid eyes. The peacock is her favorite bird, just as Jupiter’s is the eagle. ”

“ And Juno, like a rankling thorn,
⁠Shall never quit your side,
While you, distressed and desolate,
Go knocking at each city's gate.
The old, old cause shall stir the strife,
A stranger bed, a foreign wife. ”

“ After undergoing the vengeance of Juno, who unrelentingly pursued her, she gave birth to an infant on the banks of the Nile, and was restored by Jupiter to her natural shape.
All who seemed to be favoured by, or who favoured Jupiter, she persecuted with the utmost rigour: but when it is remembered what cause Juno had for her jealousy, and that her husband metamorphosed himself into a swan for Leda, into a shepherd for Mnemosyne, into a shower of gold for Danae, and into a bull for Europa, she may easily be pardoned her restless spirit. ”

“ Destiny saved and nurtured him to fulfil that prophecy. He grew up as a shepherd and tended his flocks on the mountain, but his beauty held the favor of all the wood-folk there and won the heart of the nymph Oenone.
To him, at last, the three goddesses entrusted the judgment and the golden apple. Juno first stood before him in all her glory as Queen of gods and men, and attended by her favorite peacocks as gorgeous to see as royal fan-bearers. ”

“ When the goddess Juno heard the prayers and saw the tears of the lovely Queen Halcyone, she was sad for her. Juno called to her side the beautiful rainbow messenger, Iris.
"Iris," said Juno, "this night I wish you to go down on your rainbow bridge to the god of dreams.
"Ask him to send to Halcyone a dream which shall tell her of the fate of her husband, the king. It is better that she should know what has befallen him whom she loved than to wander thus in uncertainty." ”

“ Although Juno was the queen of the gods she had a failing that is common to mortals. She was very jealous, and particularly of any maiden of Earth whom she fancied might sometime be given a place by Jupiter among the great family of the gods on Mount Olympus. As soon as Juno saw Callisto, a beautiful huntress of the forests of Arcadia, she disliked her. ”

“ AND THE ACTS OF AJAX
Jupiter, awaking, sees the Trojans repulsed from the trenches, Hector in a swoon, and Neptune at the head of the Greeks; he is highly incensed at the artifice of Juno, who appeases him by her submissions; she is then sent to Iris and Apollo. Juno, repairing to the assembly of the gods, attempts with extraordinary address to incense them against Jupiter; in particular she touches Mars with a violent resentment; he is ready to take arms, but is prevented by Minerva. ”

“ It was after such an absence that the watchful Juno learned of Jupiter's love for fair-haired Latona, goddess of dark nights. As this new rival was not a mortal maiden who could be punished with death, the wrathful queen was forced to be content with banishing the goddess forever from Olympus, and compelling her to live upon the earth. Not satisfied with this, she decreed that any one who took pity on the unhappy goddess, or gave her any help, would incur the lasting displeasure of Juno. ”

“ That Juno was especially a deity of women, and represents in a sense the female principle of life, is seen in the fact that as every man had his genius, so every woman had her Juno; and the goddess herself may have been a development of this conception. The various forms of her cult all show her in close connexion with women. As Juno Lucina she was invoked in childbirth, and on the 1st of March, the old Roman New Year’s day, the matrons met and made offerings at her temple in a grove on the Esquiline ”

“ They are royally entertained and wish for no greater happiness than to remain eternally regaling themselves with the vapour of the divine herb. Another flight of fancy reveals the ‘sweet and sole delight of mortal men’ as a nymph of Virginia receiving the visits of Jupiter clad in the garb of a shepherd. Juno, ever watchful over the movements of her lord, discovers the intrigue, and with threatening gesture storms at the poor thing and transforms her into the Indian weed. ”

“ The Juno lay ready to sail in the roads of Monte Video, where she had taken in hides as part of her home cargo. The remainder, of coffee, she was to load at Rio, and in the meantime she had filled up with coals for that port. She was lying in tropical costume, with awnings over the fore and after deck as a protection against the fierce rays of the sun; and the crew were going about in correspondingly airy clothing, with open shirts and tucked-up canvas trousers, brown and shiny with perspiration, and gasping after every breath. It was the hottest season of the year. ”

“ June owes its name to Juno, the goddess of heaven, who takes a special interest in women and protects their interests. She is supposed to accompany every woman through life, from the moment of her birth to her death. Little wonder, then, that the women of ancient times considered that, by propitiating Juno, their fortunes were assured. ”

“ The Queen of Heaven can no longer endure to be a mere spectatress of the peril of her favourites. She obtains permission from Jupiter to send Minerva against Mars: and the two goddesses, seated in Juno's chariot of state, glide down from Olympus—
"Midway between the earth and starry heaven"—
and alight upon the plain of Troy. There Juno, taking human shape, taunts the Greek troops with cowardice—
"In form of Stentor of the brazen voice,
Whose shout was as the shout of fifty men"—
and whose name has made a familiar place for itself in our English vocabulary. ”

“ Many a one under the name of a God has invaded a chaste bed. Nor yet is it enough that he is Jupiter; let him, if, indeed, he is the real one, give some pledge of his affection; and beg of him to bestow his caresses on thee, just in the greatness and form in which he is received by the stately Juno; and let him first assume his ensigns of royalty.” With such words did Juno tutor the unsuspecting daughter of Cadmus. She requested of Jupiter a favor, without naming it. ”

“ Juno was grieved for her servant, and placed his eyes in her peacock’s tail. Io, still persecuted by Juno, wandered over the earth, and at length arrived, faint and weary, on the banks of the Nile. There she prayed Jupiter either to restore her to her original form, or to terminate her misfortunes by death. Juno was touched with compassion, and allowed Jupiter to grant her request. Io was restored to human form, and married to Osiris, king of Egypt; she was afterwards worshipped in that country under the name of Isis. ”

“ When he whacked the female one, he was transformed into a woman. 2. Eight years later, when he again saw two snakes sleeping together and whacked them again, he was restored to his original form. 3. So when there was a quarrel between Jupiter and Juno on which sex had the most sexual pleasure, he was summoned to be judge, since he had experience of both sexes. When he was asked, he said that the woman's pleasure is three times the man's. 4. Because she was angry about this, Juno removed his sight, so it was as if he had been gratifying to Jupiter and injurious to himself. ”

“ Pliny, N.H. ii. 16.
284 Dr. J. B. Carter tells me that he has abandoned this explanation of the evolution of Juno. On the other hand, von Domaszewski seems in some measure to accept it (Abhandlungen, p. 169 foll.) , when he says that "similar functions, when exercised by different numina, can eventually produce a god. Auf diese Weise ist Iuno geworden." He means that the creative power is called Juno in a woman, or in a people (Iuno Populonia) , or in the curiae (Iuno Curitis) , and that an independent deity, Juno par excellence, emerges from all these. ”

“ The young lads could not understand how any man, even a doctor, could feel no interest in the performance of two such magnificent dogs as Juno and Jupiter. I admitted the merits and beauties of their canine friends—indeed, no one could admire them more than I did. Still, I could not enter into their feelings, nor share in their delight at seeing the hares writhing in agony in the fangs of Jupiter or Juno. ”

“ This mysterious girdle which gave beauty, grace, and elegance when worn even by the most deformed, was irresistible when around beauty: it excited love, and kindled even extinguished flames. Juno herself was indebted to this powerful ornament in gaining the favours of Jupiter; and Venus, though possessed of every charm, no sooner put on her cestus, than Vulcan, unable to resist the influence of love, forgot all the intrigues and infidelities of his wife, and fabricated arms even for her illegitimate children. ”

“ The coldness with which Jupiter from this Time return’d Juno’s Warmth, was certainly not to be endur’d by an honest Wife, who rigorously exacts the Lawful Tithe of her Yokefellow’s Blood. This Goddess, whose Character is not Patience, thus vents the racking Anguish of her Soul. ”

“ Mercury had just seen that the mail trains were safely dispatched, and was keeping one eye on the railway system generally.
"I was thinking that it wouldn't be a bad plan," said Juno, "if it could be arranged, for no girl to be married more than once. Then we should get these figures something like right."
Jupiter snorted, and moved his lips silently as one who does not care to trust himself to speech. Mercury coughed, and remarked, diplomatically, that, of course, there was something in the idea, but——
"Well," said Juno. "But what?"
"I should like to tell a tale," said Mercury. ”

“ And he replied, In truth, master, the time for these things is at hand. For during the whole night the images, both of gods and goddesses, continued beating the ground, saying to each other, Come, let us congratulate Juno. And they say to me, Prophet, come forward; congratulate Juno, for she has been embraced. And I said, How can she be embraced who no longer exists? To which they reply, She has come to life again, and is no longer called Juno, [5] but Urania. For the mighty Sol has embraced her. Then the goddesses say to the gods, making the matter plainer, Pege [6] is she who is embraced ”

“ Jealous at the object who had again taken her lord's affections, Juno sought for some mode in which to punish her, and taking the form of a nurse, suggested the desire of beholding the king of the Gods, arrayed in all his celestial glory. In vain did Jupiter, when pressed by Semele, implore her not to ask him to assume that form, which was too much for mortal eye to bear. Woman's wit and woman's fondness prevailed, and, in a moment of weakness, the God swore by the Styx, he would perform her request, and by this oath he was forced to abide. ”