Zephyrus

“ On every side is represented the figure of a wind, with proper attributes, characterising the nature of it, in very good basso rilievo, and their names written above them in Greek characters. The god Zephyrus is represented as a beautiful young man, gliding gently along with an imperceptible motion, with his bosom full of flowers. They are all drawn with wings, and flying on with more or less rapidity, according to the violence of each wind in those parts. This structure is known to be the same which Vitruvius mentions, but it is entirely unnoticed by Pausanias [73] . ”

“ Calme was the day, and through the trembling ayre
Sweete-breathing Zephyrus did softly play
A gentle spirit, that lightly did delay*
Hot Titans beames, which then did glyster fayre; ”

“ Unsuspecting Hyacinthus playing a game of quoits with Apollo, Zephyr, unperceived, seized the opportunity basely to cause his rival to become the innocent means of their common favourite’s death: for whilst a quoit thrown by the sun-god whirled through the air, Zephyr treacherously blew it from its course till it struck the head of the ill-fated Hyacinthus, and killed him, to the great sorrow of his innocent slayer. Unable to restore his favourite companion to life, Apollo, as a memorial of him, caused the flower which has since borne his name to spring from his blood. ”

“ And gentle Zephyr, child of Boreas, Stole soft the hush of dewy leaves, And passing kissed the flowers to wakefulness. Thus, laden with their sweetness, Zephyr came O'er hill and dale, o'er battlement and wall, Into the sleeping town of Canalise, Through open lattice and through prison-bars, To kiss the cheek of sleeping Innocence And fevered brows of prisoners forlorn, Who, stirring 'neath sweet Zephyr's soft caress, Dreamed themselves young, with all their sins unwrought. ”

“ The autumn days had turned the leaves of the forest from gold to crimson, the Hermit thrush had ceased its song of the even-tide, and when they were all ready to leave the camp, Zephyr did not seem at all surprised to be taken along with them. She was taken to Aida’s home at first, for her (Aida’s) tall husband had at last come home, braving the dangers of the war-ravaged seas. ”

“ I must have been lying there for hours, my right leg caught under poor old Zephyr, who had received a piece of shell in the middle of his chest. There was nothing to laugh at in my position, I can tell you; the dead comrades lying around me in piles, not a living soul in sight, and the certainty that I should have to kick the bucket too unless someone came to put me on my legs again. Gently, gently, I tried to free my leg, but it was no use; Zephyr’s weight must have been fully up to that of the five hundred thousand devils. He was warm still. ”

“ After the boys and their parents had said good-bye to their camp, and the whistle of their train could be heard far over the hills, she began to take a new course with Zephyr. The little lonesome creature would go often down to the bank, and seem to watch for the coming of a boat and a welcoming [28] warwhoop, but would always come back disappointed. It was at such times that Aida and her mother would have a loving word for Zephyr, and it evidently was at a loss to know what such unusual attention meant. ”

“ Zephyr is as remarkable as his fair companion: his face is, if possible, more faded, his smile more set and weary; you feel that his perpetual grin is the grimmest sight in the world, and that no effort of his livid face could express a natural smile. He too sports a huge pair of impossibly arched eyebrows, beneath which the heavy lids droop with a worn-out look which is certainly unaffected. ”

“ At the office-door Zephyr paused.
"Won't you come in?" asked Firmstone.
"I think not, dearly beloved. The spirit moveth me in sundry places. In other words, I've got a hunch. And say, Goggles, don't ask any embarrassing questions, if your grub mysteriously disappears. Just charge it up to permanent equipment account, and keep quiet, unless you want to inquire darkly whether anyone knows what's become of that fellow Zephyr."
"Don't take any risks, Zephyr. A man's a long time dead. You know as well as I the gang you're up against. ”

“ When the morning drill was done, the Zephyr used to say to the ripples, "Now you shall have a holiday; go and play together. Love one another. Be as good as you can. Be kind to all the world, and you will be happy." Then she kissed them all lightly, and flew away across the yellow sand and the heather-covered rocks, and they saw her no more until next morning. But they could hear her singing on the cliff one of those songs about the waves she loved so well, and when the chorus came they would join in, for she had taught it to them in the class, and it went this way ”

“ And he led whither he liked Zephyrinus, [33] an ignorant man, unlearned and unskilled in the Church’s rules, whom [Callistus] persuaded by gifts and extravagant demands. [And as Zephyrinus] was a receiver of bribes and a money-lover, he induced him to be ever making faction between the brethren, while he himself by crafty words contrived that at the last both parties should be friendly to himself. And sometimes he deceived those who thought truly, by saying that he thought for his own part like things with them ”

“ Zephirinus, the elegant sub-deacon of the Basilica of the Holy Apostles, smilingly hastened towards her. A great lover of the circus, a frequenter of races and racing-stables, this young man would wager heavy sums for the blue (veneta) against the green (prasina) . With his red-heeled morocco boots, his painted eyes, and curled hair, Zephirinus had much more the appearance of a young girl than of a servant of the church. Behind him stood a slave, burdened with packets of pretty stuffs and boxes, purchases of every kind from famous shops. ”

“ Zephyr was doing some meditation on his own account after the meeting with Firmstone at the Devil's Elbow.
That not only Firmstone's reputation, but his life as well, hung in the balance, Zephyr had visible proof. This material proof he was absently tipping from hand to hand, during his broken and unsatisfactory interview with Firmstone. It was nothing more nor less than a nickel-jacketed bullet which, that very morning, had barely missed his head, only to flatten itself against the rocks behind him. ”

“ In the evenings, when Sir Philip is away, I ride as near the boundaries of the Chase enclosure as possible, and sometimes I can’t resist taking a jump over and cantering along the roads in the early moonlight. Sometimes, as if he knew we were doing wrong, Zephyr flies so fast his hoofs seem hardly to touch the ground, and I am sure, as we flash by the few country folk trudging along the lonely roads, they think we are wraiths, and go home and make stories about us. ”

“ In the first Year of the Pontificate of Zephyrinus, who succeeded Victor, a dreadful Persecution was raised against the Christians by the Emperor Severus, and carried on with great Cruelty in all Parts of the Empire. Zephyrinus, however, had the good Luck to escape it, and to see the Church, by the Death of that Prince, happily delivered from the Evils, which the Rage of her foreign Enemies had brought upon her. ”

“ At that time, Zephyrinus imagines that he administers the affairs of the Church [3] —an uninformed and shamefully corrupt man. And he, being persuaded by proffered gain, was accustomed to connive at those who were present for the purpose of becoming disciples of Cleomenes. But (Zephyrinus) himself, being in process of time enticed away, hurried headlong [4] into the same opinions; and he had Callistus as his adviser, and a fellow-champion of these wicked tenets. [5] But the life of this (Callistus) , and the heresy invented by him, I shall after a little explain. ”

“ Zephyr, we can now realise, is of no particular age, or race; he retains his jaded old sprightliness as he favours his capacious nose with a copious pinch of snuff, supplied to that organ from the ball of his thumb, with much apparent gratification. The gentleman who is offering this hero the courtesy of his huge snuff-box is a jolly, jaunty-looking person enough, a compound of splendour and shabbiness ”

“ Zephyr can jump almost anything. He goes out of his way to find jumps, and he is never happier than when he finds something that looks difficult.”
“Aren’t your people afraid lest some accident should befall you when you ride about the park unattended?”
“My people?”
She looked at him in surprise as she spoke, and then in some confusion struck several chords lightly on the harp.
“My father is a great deal away,” she said, in a somewhat constrained tone; “and of course, I do not make mamma nervous by telling her the pranks Zephyr and I enjoy together.”
“You are fond of riding?” ”

“ The zephyrs are nooning in their sylvan bowers, while the heat has to be endured peaceably as possible—like all other things, it terminates. The great orb of day has performed his duty well—resembling a successful conqueror, he descends triumphantly, in his chariot of fire, beneath the briny waves—a golden train of glory is left behind him, while the charming blue sky and sunset are mirrored upon the sea, each alternate wave being a reflection from the sunbeams. ”

“ There was no surprise in her face.
"Pierre says she shall not go to school and learn to despise him and me. He says she will learn to be ashamed of us before her grand friends. Do you think she will ever be ashamed of me?" There was a yearning look in the uncomplaining eyes.
Zephyr looked meditatively at the fire, pursed his lips, and, deliberately thrusting his hand into the bosom of his shirt, drew forth his harmonica. ”

“ Through the still air no Zephyr dares to play,} Lest his soft pinion melt in heat away;} [Pg 38] But if, to mitigate the solar ray,} A lucid cloud should kindly intervene; Then the glad Zephyrs sport beneath the grateful screen. DAVID. How beautiful the thoughts! and how sublime! Rich is the language, and exact the rhyme. ”

“ I am not vain enough to suppose that these little “Zephyrs” will sweep over the spirit with the power of the strong breezes, which are wafted to the soul from the poems of a Longfellow or a Whittier.
Yet, although among the greater lights, the lesser may not prevail, they may, perchance, send out occasional gleams, which shall serve to brighten the way for a few hearts.
KATE R. STILES.
May, 1879.
[Pg 4]
CONTENTS.
[Pg 5]
THE DEAD.
Call them not dead, who leave the earthly for the heavenly state. ”

“ While the wanton Zephyr sings,
And in the vale perfumes his wings; ”

“ but when I search in the multitudinous revolving spirals of the stars my feet no longer rest on the earth, but, standing by Zeus himself, I take my fill of ambrosia, the food of the gods. ”

“ Yea, for these laws were not ordained of Zeus,
And she who sits enthroned with gods below,
Justice, enacted not these human laws.
Nor did I deem that thou, a mortal man,
Could'st by a breath annul and override
The immutable unwritten laws of Heaven.
They were not born today nor yesterday;
They die not; and none knoweth whence they sprang.
I was not like, who feared no mortal's frown,
To disobey these laws and so provoke
The wrath of Heaven. I knew that I must die,
E'en hadst thou not proclaimed it; and if death
Is thereby hastened, I shall count it gain.
For death is gain to him whose life, like mine, ”

“ so evenly was strained their war and battle, till the moment when Zeus gave the greater renown to Hector, son of Priam, who was the first to leap within the wall of the Achaians. In a piercing voice he cried aloud to the Trojans: “Rise, ye horse-taming Trojans, break the wall of the Argives, and cast among the ships fierce blazing fire.”
So spake he, spurring them on, and they all heard him with their ears, and in one mass rushed straight against the wall, and with sharp spears in their hands climbed upon the machicolations of the towers. ”

“ Homer tells us also that Sisyphus had put Death in chains. Pluto could not endure the sight of his deserted, silent empire. He dispatched the god of war, who liberated Death from the hands of her conqueror. ”

“ Fair laughs the morn, [10] and soft the Zephyr blows,
While, proudly riding o'er the azure realm,
In gallant trim the gilded vessel goes,
Youth on the prow, and Pleasure at the helm,
Regardless of the sweeping whirlwind's sway,
That, hush'd in grim repose, expects his evening prey. ”

“ In a few days it had grown as tall as a woman, and out of it came a fairy, who said to Zezolla, "What do you wish for?" ”

“ Often even a whole city suffers for a bad man who sins and devises presumptuous deeds, and the son of Cronos lays great trouble upon the people, famine and plague together, so that the men perish away, and their women do not bear children, and their houses become few, through the contriving of Olympian Zeus. ”

“ The uncommon abilities and fortune of Severus have induced an elegant historian to compare him with the first and greatest of the Cæsars. 40 The parallel is, at least, imperfect. Where shall we find, in the character of Severus, the commanding superiority of soul, the generous clemency, and the various genius, which could reconcile and unite the love of pleasure, the thirst of knowledge, and the fire of ambition? ”

“ My soundless feet shall fly among the runners
Through the red thunders of a Zeppelin raid,
My still voice cheer the Anti-Aircraft gunners,
The fires shall glare—but I shall cast no shade. ”

“ The gods had condemned Sisyphus to ceaselessly rolling a rock to the top of a mountain, whence the stone would fall back of its own weight. They had thought with some reason that there is no more dreadful punishment than futile and hopeless labor. ”

“ Yet verily these issues lie in the lap of the gods: I too will cast my spear, and the rest shall Zeus decide.” ”