Myrmidon

“ The Thessalians, he says, are reputed to worship ants because Zeus took the semblance of an ant when he made the daughter of Cletor mother of Myrmidon. Where people worship any animal from whom they claim descent (in this case through Myrmidon, the ancestor of the famed Myrmidons) , we have an example of straightforward totemism. ”

“ And, by device, let blockish Aiax draw
The sort to fight with Hector. Among ourselves
Give him allowance for the better man;
For that will physic the great Myrmidon,
Who broils in loud applause, and make him fall
His crest, that prouder than blue Iris bends.
If the dull brainless Aiax come safe off,
We’ll dress him up in voices; if he fail,
Yet go we under our opinion still
That we have better men. But, hit or miss,
Our project’s life this shape of sense assumes-
Aiax employ’d plucks down Achilles’ plumes.
Nestor. Now, Vlysses, I begin to relish thy advice ”

“ Their name is derived from a supposed ancestor, son of Zeus and Eurymedusa, who was wooed by the god in the form of an ant (Gr. μύρμηξ) ; or from the re peopling of Aegina (when all its inhabitants had died of the plague) with ants changed into men by Zeus at the prayer of Aeacus, king of the island. The word “ myrmidon ” has passed into the English language to denote a subordinate who carries out the orders of his superior without mercy or consideration for others. ”

“ Pausanias throws aside both the etymology and the details of the miracle: he says that Zeus raised men from the earth, at the prayer of Æakus (ii. 29, 2) : other authors retained the etymology of Myrmidons from μύρμηκες, but gave a different explanation (Kallimachus, Fragm. 114, Düntzer) . Μυρμιδόνων ἐσσῆνα (Strabo, viii. p. 375) . Ἐσσὴν, ὁ οἰκιστής (Hygin. fab. 52) .
According to the Thessalian legend, Myrmidôn was the son of Zeus by Eurymedusa, daughter of Kletor; Zeus having assumed the disguise of an ant (Clemens Alex. Admon. ad Gent. p. 25. Sylb.) . ”

“ Her son was for this reason called Myrmidon (from μυρμηξ, an ant) , and was regarded as the ancestor of the Myrmidons in Thessaly.—Smith. ↑ According to the belief of the ancients, the gods were supposed to have a peculiar light in their eyes. That Homer was not ignorant of this opinion appears from his use of it in other places. ↑ Minerva is the goddess of the art of war rather than of war itself. And this fable of her descent is an allegory of Achilles restraining his wrath through his consideration of martial law and order. ”

“ To this may be added the fable of the Myrmidons, who being a people of Ægina, applied themselves to diligent labour in tilling the ground, continual digging, hard toiling, and constant sparing, joyned with virtue, and they grew thereby so rich, that they passed the common condition and ingenuity of men, and Theogonis knew not how to compare them better than to Pismires, that they were originally descended from them, or were transformed into them, and as Strabo reports they were therefore called Myrmidons. The Greeks relate the history otherwise than other men do ”

“ It is probable that the old men were carried off by the plague, while the young, who had more strength, resisted its power, which circumstance would fully account for the active habits of the remaining subjects of Æacus. Some writers, however, suppose that the Myrmidons were a barbarous, but industrious people of Thessaly, who usually dwelt in caves, and who were brought thence by Æacus to people his island, which had been made desolate by a pestilence. ”

“ Ah, woe is me, how is it that again the long-haired Achaeans are being driven toward the ships in rout over the plain? Let it not be that the gods have brought to pass grievous woes for my soul, even as on a time my mother declared unto me, and said that while yet I lived the best man of the Myrmidons should leave the light of the sun beneath the hands of the Trojans! in good sooth the valiant son of Menoetius must now, be dead, foolhardy one. ”

“ He mounts the hero’s chariot, driven by the noble Automedon, and drawn by the three horses, Xanthus, Balius, and Pedasus—or as we should call them, Chestnut, Dapple, and Swift-foot. The battalions of the Myrmidons eagerly gather round their leaders,—even old Phœnix taking command of one detachment. ”

“ Myrmidones (mer-mid ́on-ēz) , or Myrmidons (mer ́mid-ons) .—A people of Thessaly, under the rule of Achilles, whom they accompanied to Troy.
Myrtilus (mer ́til-us) .—Son of Mercury, and charioteer of Œnomaus. See “Pelops.”
Mysterious Three, The.—In Scandinavian mythology were Har “the Mighty,” the “Like-Mighty,” and the “Third Person,” who sat on three thrones above the rainbow. Then came the Æsir, of which Odin was chief, who lived in Asgard (between the rainbow and earth) ; next came the Vanir, or gods of the ocean, air, and clouds, of which deities Niörd was chief. ”

“ And if by chance any traveler, passing by, unintentionally disturb them, then they, possessing a valiant heart, all fly forth, and fight for their young. The Myrmidons then, having the heart and courage of these, poured out from the ships, and an inextinguishable tumult arose. But Patroclus cheered on his companions, loudly shouting:
"Ye Myrmidons, companions of Achilles, the son of Peleus, be men, my friends, and be mindful of impetuous valor; that we, his close-fighting servants, may honor the son of Peleus, who is by far the bravest of the Greeks at the ships ”

“ It is said that the Æginetæ were called Myrmidones, not as the fable accounts for the name, when the ants were metamorphosed into men, at the time of a great famine, by the prayer of Æacus; but because by digging, like ants, they threw up the earth upon the rocks, and were thus made able to cultivate the ground, and because they lived in excavations under-ground, abstaining from the use of bricks and sparing of the soil for this purpose. ”

“ The shouting, carousing revelers followed him joyfully. Halfway back, one of them stumbled forward and caught at the trailing edge of his robe. There was an immediate crackle and burst of static electricity, and the stumbler fell back yelping and shaking his arms. The Myrmidons came and took him away.
Dionysus couldn't be touched by anyone except those [97] authorized to do so—the seven girls and the Priests. But Forrester barely noticed the accident; he was too happy on top of his world, laughing and hugging the girls close to him. ”

“ The chiefs set forth, and take their way along the shore to the camp of the Myrmidons. They find Achilles sitting in his tent, solacing his perturbed spirit with playing on the lyre, to the music of which he sings the deeds of heroes done in the days of old—the exact prototype of those knightly troubadours of later times, who combined the accomplishments of the minstrel with the prowess of the soldier. His faithful henchman Patroclus sits and listens to the song. With graceful and lofty courtesy the chief of the Myrmidons rises from his seat, and lays his lyre aside, and welcomes his visitors. ”

“ From them all zealous and unscrupulous followers of a political chief are called by that name down to this day. But the origin of the Myrmidons would not give one the idea of a fierce and bloody race, but rather of a laborious and peaceful one.
Cephalus, king of Athens, arrived in the island of AEgina to seek assistance of his old friend and ally AEacus, the king, in his wars with Minos, king of Crete. Cephalus was kindly received, and the desired assistance readily promised. "I have people enough," said AEacus, "to protect myself and spare you such a force as you need." ”

“ His son Actor married Ægina the daughter of the Asopus. He gave his name to his subjects, who dwelt near the river Peneus in Thessaly. According to some, the Myrmidons received their name from their having been originally ants, μυρμηκες. See: Æacus. According to Strabo, they received it from their industry, because they imitated the diligence of the ants, and like them were indefatigable, and were continually employed in cultivating the earth. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 1, li. 654.—Strabo.—Hyginus, fable 52.
Myron, a tyrant of Sicyon.――A man of Priene, who wrote a history of Messenia. ”

“ Macareus was a son of Crinacus the son of Zeus as Hesiod says...and dwelt in Olenus in the country then called Ionian, but now Achaean.
53.
Concerning the Myrmidons Hesiod speaks thus: "And she conceived and bare Aeacus, delighting in horses. Now when he came to the full measure of desired youth, he chafed at being alone. And the father of men and gods made all the ants that were in the lovely isle into men and wide-girdled women. These were the first who fitted with thwarts ships with curved sides, and the first who used sails, the wings of a sea-going ship." ”

“ They are a diligent and industrious race, eager to gain, and tenacious of their gains."
The Myrmidons were the soldiers of Achilles, the grandson of King Æacus, in the Trojan War.
62. Antiope was, according to the Odyssey, another daughter of Asopus, therefore a sister of Ægina. But later poets make this darling of Jove daughter of Nycteus, king of Thebes. While she was engaged in the Mænad dances, Jupiter as a satyr wooed and won her. She bore him two sons, Amphion and Zethus, who, being exposed at birth on Mount Cithæron, grew up among the shepherds, not knowing their parentage. ”

“ Old Jacob Duport, whose “Gnomologia Homerica” is full of curious and useful things, quotes several passages of the ancients, in which reference is made to these words of Homer, in maintenance of the belief that dreams had a divine origin and an import in which men were interested.
[54] Rather, “bright-eyed.” See the German critics quoted by Arnold.
[55] The prize given to Ajax was Tecmessa, while Ulysses received Laodice, the daughter of Cycnus.
[56] The Myrmidons dwelt on the southern borders of Thessaly, and took their origin from Myrmido, son of Jupiter and Eurymedusa. ”

“ The man in the grey coat may be surrounded by spies, his precious life may be watched over by an army of myrmidons, but he is the most astute as well as the most relentless enemy of our King—and what other women have done before now, surely we can do again. ”

“ Meanwhile another embassy, on a very different errand, has been despatched by the King of Men to the tents where Achilles lies, hard by his ships, with his fierce bands of Myrmidons encamped around him. Their name has passed into a by-word, being commonly but incorrectly used to designate an unscrupulous rabble of followers, to whom their leader’s word is law. The notion must be derived not from Homer, but from Pope. In his version of the quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles, he makes the former say to his antagonist{v.i-32}—
“Go, threat thine earth-born Myrmidons ”

“ Myron has dedicated something, but I by no means see that it is this statue."
"What!" he cried, "was not Myron a famous Greek sculptor? The talent was perpetuated in his family, and it must have been one of his descendants who executed this statue. Nothing can be more certain."
"But," I replied, "on this arm I see a small hole. I think it served to fasten something—a bracelet, for example—which this Myron, being an unhappy lover, gave to Venus as an expiatory offering. Venus was irritated against him; he appeased her by consecrating to her a gold bracelet. ”

“ But Myron was not thinking of the busy city, of the tapping chestnut boughs, nor even of the overspan of pellucid sky. She was thinking of a cruel, sordid, babbling little village and of the silent, unkempt field wherein its dead lay. Her musings were interrupted by the ringing of a bell. She turned and hastened from the room—blue-clad, white-capped, capable—to find a new patient had arrived in her ward; a new patient, with thin, broad, stooped shoulders, overhanging pent-house brow, sad and secret, above sunken gray eyes that shone with unalterable love for mankind ”

“ Forel considers Myrmecia to be the most formidable of all the ants; the hills are said to be sometimes five feet high, and the colonies are immense in numbers, while the Insect is an inch or more in length, and armed with a very powerful sting, the use of which on the human body is said to give rise in some cases to serious symptoms. On the other hand, we have seen statements to the effect that the sting of Myrmecia has only very evanescent sequelae; it is also said that the ant-hills have only a slight elevation, so that probably both these points differ according to the species. ”

“ Now, their method of development is similar to that of the Vermes, hence the reason of their being placed next above them. When a spider, or insect, or crustacean leaves the egg, its body has its maximum number of segments, and development takes place by the coalescence and disappearance of some of these. The embryonic myriapod, on the contrary, has its minimum number of segments, and develops by their increase. So that whilst the adult insect has generally fewer, never more segments than the young, the adult myriapod may have eight times as many, and never fewer than its young. [3] ”

“ It is natural that a lover should see Venus in a dream and imagine that she commands him to give a gold bracelet to her statue. Myron consecrated the bracelet to her. Then the barbarians or some other sacrilegious thieves—"
"Ah! it is easy to see you have written romances!" cried my host, helping me down from the pedestal. "No, sir; it is a work of Myron's school. You have only to look at the workmanship to be convinced of that." ”