Æolus

“ Yet while the drums of our ears are continuing to split like old parchment title-deeds to lands nowhere existing, and all our animal economy, from finger to toe, is one agonising dirl, Æolus himself sits as proud as Lucifer in Pandemonium ”

“ Æolus is represented as having reigned in Thessaly: his seven sons were Krêtheus, Sisyphus, Athamas, Salmôneus, Deiôn, Magnês and Periêrês: his five daughters, Canacê, Alcyonê, Peisidikê, Calycê and Perimêdê. The fables of this race seem to be distinguished by a constant introduction of the god Poseidôn, as well as by an unusual prevalence of haughty and presumptuous attributes among the Æolid heroes, leading them to affront the gods by pretences of equality, and sometimes even by defiance. ”

“ As it is natural for men to trace their origin to illustrious progenitors, so the Greeks, in their various settlements, cherished the legends which represented themselves as sprung from gods and heroes—those great benefactors, whose exploits occupy the heroic ages. As Hercules was the Argine hero of the Peloponnesus, so Æolus was the father of heroes sacred in the history of the Æolians, who inhabited the largest part of Greece. ”

“ Here in a rocky cave lived Æolus and the winds, who were the children of Aurora and Æolus. All the winds were noisy and fond of strife except Zephyrus, the youngest. Æolus kept them fastened in the rocky cave, generally letting out but one at a time. They were always rushing to the iron doors, quarreling and fighting among themselves, and begging Æolus to let them out of the narrow cave.
Whenever one of the gods wished a storm at sea, he would ask Æolus to release his sons; they would rush out of the cave, sweeping over the seas in a whirlwind, raising the waves mountain high. ”

“ Nine days they sailed smoothly, favoured by the western wind, and by the tenth they approached so nigh as to discern lights kindled on the shores of their country earth: when by ill fortune, Ulysses, overcome with fatigue of watching the helm, fell asleep. The mariners seized the opportunity, and one of them said to the rest: "A fine time has this leader of ours: wherever he goes he is sure of presents, when we come away empty-handed; and see, what king Æolus has given him, store no doubt of gold and silver." ”

“ BOOK X AEOLUS, THE LAESTRYGONES, CIRCE.
“Thence we went on to the Aeolian island where lives Aeolus son of Hippotas, dear to the immortal gods. It is an island that floats (as it were) upon the sea, [83] iron bound with a wall that girds it. Now, Aeolus has six daughters and six lusty sons, so he made the sons marry the daughters, and they all live with their dear father and mother, feasting and enjoying every conceivable kind of luxury. All day long the atmosphere of the house is loaded with the savour of roasting meats till it groans again, yard and all ”

“ In the application of the Æolid genealogy to Corinth, Sisyphus, the son of Æolus, appears as the first name: but the old Corin [p. 120] thian poet Eumêlus either found or framed an heroic genealogy for his native city independent both of Æolus and Sisyphus. According to this genealogy, Ephyrê, daughter of Oceanus and Têthys, was the primitive tenant of the Corinthian territory, Asôpus of the Sikyônian: both were assigned to the god Hêlios, in adjusting a dispute between him and Poseidôn, by Briareus. ”

“ A certain king, vehemently longing to drive this man far from his fatherland and possessions, because in might he outshone all the sons of Aeolus, sends him to voyage hither on a bootless venture; and asserts that the stock of Aeolus will not escape the heart-grieving wrath and rage of implacable Zeus, nor the unbearable curse and vengeance due for Phrixus, until the fleece comes back to Hellas. And their ship was fashioned by Pallas Athena, not such a one as are the ships among the Colchians, on the vilest of which we chanced. ”

“ With a cry of rage, the giant flung huge masses of rock in the direction of his voice, hotly vowing his father Neptune would yet avenge his wrongs!
Book X. After leaving the island of the Cyclops, Ulysses visited Aeolus, king of the winds, and was hospitably entertained in his cave. In token of friendship and to enable Ulysses to reach home quickly, Aeolus bottled up all the contrary winds, letting loose only those which would speed him on his way. ”

“ But, like other places, it is not on the site of its prototype. For Æolus gives Ulysses a Zephyr or north-west wind, which would have carried him home, had it not been for the folly of his comrades (Od. x. 25, 46) . The Æolia of Homer then must conform to these two conditions:
1. It must lie north-west of Ithaca.
2. There must be a continuous open sea between them; and one uninterrupted by land, so that one and the same wind may carry a ship all the way.
To meet these conditions, we have only to move Æolia northward. For the northern part of Italy has no existence in the Outer Geography. ”

“ Æneas, following the advice of Helenus, shunned the dangerous pass and coasted along the island of Sicily.
Juno, seeing the Trojans speeding their way prosperously towards their destined shore, felt her old grudge against them revive, for she could not forget the slight that Paris had put upon her, in awarding the prize of beauty to another. In heavenly minds can such resentments dwell. [2] Accordingly she hastened to Æolus, the ruler of the winds,—the same who supplied Ulysses with favoring gales, giving him the contrary ones tied up in a bag. ”

“ AEOLUS, in Greek mythology, according to Homer the son of Hippotes, god and father of the winds, and ruler of the island of Aeolia. In the Odyssey (x. 1) he entertains Odysseus, gives him a favourable wind to help him on his journey, and a bag in which the unfavourable winds have been confined. Out of curiosity. or with the idea that it contains valuable treasures, Odysseus’ companions open the bag; the winds escape and drive them back to the island, whence Aeolus dismisses them with bitter reproaches. ”

“ Eurus, the bitter east; and Zephyr, the gentle west. He kept them in a cave, and let one out according to the way the wind was wanted to blow, or if there was to be a storm he sent out two at once to struggle, and fight, and roar together, and lash up Neptune’s world, the sea. The Æolians did chiefly live in the islands and at Corinth. One of the sons of Æolus turned out very badly, and cheated Jupiter. His name was Sisyphus, and he was punished in Tartarus—Pluto’s world below—by having always to roll a stone up a mountain so steep that it was sure to come down upon him again. ”

“ The fitful meanings of the wind, in the more boisterous moments of Æolus, through the branches, speak not louder of God than the whisper of his breath that plays with the foliage. The low and broken murmurs of the water in the gill are as audibly eloquent as the lashing of the waves of the ocean in a storm, or the wild roar of the cataract. The voice of nature, come in what form it may, brings unutterable thoughts of the majesty of the creation. ”

“ Otos and Ephialtês even prepared to assault the gods in heaven, piling up Ossa on Olympus and Pêlion on Ossa, in order to reach them. And this they would have accomplished had they been allowed to grow to their full maturity; but the arrows of Apollo put a timely end to their short-lived career. [308]
[p. 137] The genealogy assigned to Calycê, another daughter of Æolus, conducts us from Thessaly to Elis and Ætôlia. She married Aëthlius (the son of Zeus by Prôtogeneia, daughter of Deukaliôn and sister of Hellên) , who conducted a colony out of Thessaly and settled in the territory of Elis. ”

“ Cyllene, in Arcadia, is said to have been the scene of his birth and education, and a magnificent temple was erected to him there. [125:2]
Æolus, king of the Lipari Islands, near Sicily, was the son of Jupiter and a mortal mother, Acasta. [125:3]
Apollo was the son of Jupiter and a mortal mother, Latona. [125:4] Like Buddha and Lao-Kiun, Apollo, so the Ephesians said, was born under a tree; Latona, taking shelter under an olive-tree, was delivered there. [125:5] Then there was joy among the undying gods in Olympus, and the Earth laughed beneath the smile of Heaven. ”

“ Æŏlus married his daughter Cyăne, peopled the rest and succeeded him on the throne. He was a generous and good prince, who hospitably entertained Ulysses, and as a proof [87] of his kindness, bestowed on him several skins, in which he had enclosed the winds. The companions of Ulysses, unable to restrain their curiosity, having opened the skins, the winds in consequence were set free, and occasioned the wildest uproar; insomuch that Ulysses lost all his vessels, and was himself alone saved by a plank. ”

“ Æŏlia, or Æolis, a country of Asia Minor, near the Ægean sea. It has Troas at the north, and Ionia at the south. The inhabitants were of Grecian origin, and were masters of many of the neighbouring islands. They had 12, others say 30, considerable cities, of which Cumæ and Lesbos were the most famous. They received their name from Æolus son of Hellenus. They migrated from Greece about 1124 B.C., 80 years before the migration of the Ionian tribes. Herodotus, bk. 1, ch. 26, &c.—Strabo, bks. 1, 2, & 6.—Pliny, bk. 5, ch. 30.—Mela, bk. 1, chs. 2 & 18.――Thessaly has been anciently called Æolia. ”

“ Man finds himself in the presence of a power beyond his comprehension. Of the various elements of nature, the wind, the sea and the storm are more than ever the realm of fancy and awe. One often wonders at many other ancient myths; but there seems nothing surprising in the Grecian fancy that the winds were the spirit slaves of Æolus; or in the Arabian thought, that storms were but the battles of wonderful genii, whose weapons were fire, water, and their own powerful breath. In the crash of the thunder the Arab heard their terrible strokes. ”

“ A shepherd, who acquired from Jupiter the faculty of being always young. One of the lovers of Diana.
Entertainments, see Comus.
Envy, see Furies.
Enyo was the Grecian name of Bellona, the goddess of war and cruelty.
Eolus (E′olus) , see Aeolus.
Eos (E′os) . The Grecian name of Aurora.
Eous (E′ous) . One of the four horses which drew the chariot of Sol, the sun. The word is Greek, and means red.
Ephialtes (Eph′ial′tes) . A giant who lost his right eye in an encounter with Hercules, and the left eye was destroyed by Apollo. ”

“ Æolus returns: “Thine, great Queen, is the task to
search out on what thou mayest fix thy heart; for me to do
thy bidding [31] is but right. Thou makest this poor realm 30
mine, mine the sceptre and Jove’s smile; thou givest me a
couch at the banquets of the gods, and makest me lord
of the storm-cloud and of the tempest.”
So soon as this was said, he turned his spear, and pushed
the hollow mountain on its side; and the winds, as though 35
in column formed, rush forth [32] where they see any outlet,
and sweep over the earth in hurricane. ”

“ This night is not calm; the equinox still struggles in its storms. The wild rains of the day are abated; the great single cloud disparts and rolls away from heaven, not passing and leaving a sea all sapphire, but tossed buoyant before a continued, long-sounding, high-rushing moonlight tempest. The moon reigns glorious, glad of the gale, as glad as if she gave herself to his fierce caress with love. No Endymion will watch for his goddess to-night. There are no flocks out on the mountains; and it is well, for to-night she welcomes Æolus. ”

“ When we reached the sea shore, weeping and lamenting our fate, Circe brought the ram and the ewe, and we made them fast hard by the ship. She passed through the midst of us without our knowing it, for who can see the comings and goings of a god, if the god does not wish to be seen?574
↑ "Floating" (πλωτῇ) la not to be taken literally. The island itself, as apart from its inhabitants, was quite normal. There is no indication of its moving during the month that Ulysses stayed with Æolus, and on his return from his unfortunate voyage, he seems to have found it in the same place. ”

“ Winds that seamews breast subdue the sea, and bid the dreary
Waves be weak as hearts made sick with hope deferred.
Let thy clarion sound from westward, let the south bear token
How the glories of thy godhead sound and shine:
Bid the land rejoice to see the land-wind's broad wings broken,
Bid the sea take comfort, bid the world be thine.
Half the world abhors thee beating back the sea, and blackening
Heaven with fierce and woful change of fluctuant form:
All the world acclaims thee shifting sail again, and slackening
Cloud by cloud the close-reefed cordage of the storm. ”

“ One of the players, and it should be a lively, gay person accustomed to the game, takes the part of Eolus. All the other players arrange themselves in one or more rows. When it is possible, a lady should have a gentleman on each side, and a gentleman, a lady. After having ordered silence, Eolus points to one of the corners designated by name, it is no matter which, and from which he means to have the wind blow. When the god of the winds points one way, the company must all turn in the opposite direction. ”

“ She left her foster-parents alone, and threaded the forest. She hid herself when you called, and, when the fisher's boat was waiting to convey her with you to the shore, where friends were ready to receive her and lead her to her father, then she was wandering!
Eleusa is querulous. No wonder! for the child is sadly changed. They will see her soon; a Christian prophet comes to break the heathen spell of the island. The men of yonder village consent to abjure the worship of Apollo. They come with the teacher of a new religion to consecrate the spot anew. ”

“ The harps of Æolia, which hung in the openings of the outer walls, groaned and shrieked a chaotic Miserere, as if a great chorus of condemned spirits were disquieted by the force of the angry tempest without.
At length the signal was given, and Marcius passed through the valve, and following for some distance a dim, winding, and descending corridor, at length entered the adytum. As aforetime, the flaming symbol of the Mysteria Eleusinia flashed upon him, and then slowly faded into a ghastly vaporous obscurity. Farther on faint flashes of blue light shot up from deeps which seemed bottomless. ”