Theo

gony.

CHAPTER V.

OF THE WAR OF THE TITANS.

THE Brothers Briareus and Cottus lay,

With Gyges, bound in Chains, remov'd from Day,
By their hard-hearted Sire, who with Surprize

View'd their vast Strength, their Form, and monstrous Size :

In the remotest Parts of Earth confin'd

They sat, and silent Sorrows wreck'd their Mind;

Till by th' Advice of Earth, and Aid of Jove,
With other Gods, the Fruits of Saturn's Love
With Rhea beauteous dress'd, they broke the Chain,
And from their Dungeons burst to Light again.
Earth told them all, from a prophetic Light,
How Gods encount'ring Gods should meet in Fight,
To them foretold, who stood devoid of Fear,
Their Hour of Vict'ry and Renown was near;
The Titans, and Saturnian Race, from far
Should wage a dreadful and a ten Years War.
The Titans bold on lofty Othrys stand,
And bravely glorious dare the Thund'rer's Hand;
The Gods from Saturn sprung ally their Powr;
(Gods Rhea bore him in a fatal Hour.)
From high Olympus they like Gods engage,
And dauntless face, like Gods, Titanian Rage.
In the dire Conflict neither Party gains,
In equal Ballance long the War remains;
At last by Truce each Soul immortal rests,
Each God on Nectar and Ambrosia feasts;
Their Spirits Nectar and Ambrosia raise,

And fire their generous Breasts to Acts of Praise ;
To whom, the Banquet o'er, in Council join'd,

The Sire of Gods and Men express'd his Mind.

Gods who from Earth and Heav'n, great rise, descend,

To what my Heart commands to speak attend :

For Vict'ry long, and Empire, have we strove,
Long have
battel'd in Defence of Jove;

ye

To War again, invincible your Might,
And dare the Titans to the dreadful Fight;
Of Friendship strict observe the sacred Charms,
Be that the Cement of the Gods in Arms;
Grateful remember, when in Chains ye lay,
From Darkness Jove redeem'd ye to the Day.
He spoke, and Cottus to the God replys ;
O venerable Sire, in Council wise,
Who freed Immortals from a State of Woe,
Of what you utter well the Truth we know:
Rescu'd from Chains and Darkness here we stand,
O Son of Saturn, by thy powrful Hand;
Nor will we, King, the Rage of War decline,
Till Powr, indisputable Powr, is thine;
The right of Conquest shall confirm thy Sway,
And teach the Titans whom they must obey.

He ends, the rest assent to what he says,
And the Gods thank him with the Voice of Praise ;
He more than ever feels himself inspir'd,
And his Mind burns with Love and Glory fir'd.
All rush to Battle with impetuous Might,
And Gods and Goddesses provoke the Fight.
The race that Rhea to her Lord conceiv'd,
And the Titanic Gods by Jove reliev'd
From Erebus, who there in Bondage lay,
Ally their Arms in this immortal Day.

Each Brother fearless the dire Conflict stands,
Each rears his fifty Heads, and hundred Hands;
They mighty Rocks from their Foundations tore,
And fiercely brave against the Titans bore.
Furious and swift the Titan Phalanx drove,
And both with mighty Force for Empire strove :
The Ocean roar'd from ev'ry Part profound,
And the Earth bellow'd from her inmost Ground:
Heav'n groans, and to the Gods conflicting bends,
And the loud Tumult high Olympus rends.
Now Jove above the rest conspicuous shin'd,
In Valour equal to his Strength of Mind;
Erect and dauntless see the Thund'rer stand,
The Bolts red hissing from his vengeful Hand;

Ꮮ

He walks majestic round the starry Frame,
And now the Light'nings from Olympus flame;
The Earth wide blazes with the Fires of Jove,
Nor the Flash spares the Verdure of the Grove.
Fierce glows the Air, the boiling Ocean roars,

And the Seas wash with burning Waves their Shores;
The dazling Vapours round the Titans glare,
A Light too powrful for their Eyes to bear!
One Conflagration seems to seize on all,
And threatens Chaos with the gen'ral Fall.

From what their Eyes behold, and what they hear,
The universal wreck of Worlds is near;

Should the large Vault of Stars, the Heav'ns, descend,
And with the Earth in loud Confusion blend,
Like this would seem the great tumultuous Jar:
The Gods engag'd, such the big Voice of War!
And now the batt'ling Winds their Havock make,
Thick whirls the Dust, Earth thy Foundations shake,
The Arms of Jove thick and terrific fly,
And blaze and bellow thro the trembling Sky;
Winds, Thunder, Light'ning, thro both Armys drove,
Their Course impetuous, from the Hands of Jove;
Loud and stupendous is the raging Fight,
And now each warrior God exerts his Might.
Cottus, and Briareus, who scorn to yield,

And Gyges panting for the martial Field,
Foremost the Labours of the Day encrease,

Nor let the Horrors of the Battle cease.

From their strong Hands three hundred Rocks they throw,

And, oft' repeated, overwhelm the Foe;

They forc'd the Titans deep beneath the Ground,

Cast from their Pride, and in sad Durance bound;

Far from the Surface of the Earth they ly,

In Chains, as Earth is distant from the Sky.

In order to show the signification of this battlescene, it is necessary first to explain what is meant by the personages represented as being engaged in combat: these are personifications of physical con

ditions. Saturn is a personification of that condition in which the earth spontaneously supplies the exigencies of man, and in which nature reigns undisturbed by art. When man, by the institution of art has, by disturbing the works of nature, brought an inferior condition into existence, the world is no longer called Saturn: but the inferior condition into which Saturn has so degenerated is now denominated Jove, the son of Saturn. Hesiod also personifies the parts of nature under Saturn, and then he represents, as other persons, the same parts of nature under Jove. Thus under Saturn the earth is called Gyges, the vegetable kingdom, Briareus, and the animal kingdom, Cottus. Under Jove the inferior condition of the earth is called Rhea, and the inferior vegetable and animal kingdoms are styled the race of Rhea.

The Brothers Briareus and Cottus lay,

With Gyges, bound in Chains, remov'd from Day.

This signifies that the Saturnian vegetable and animate creatures have returned to the earth, and given place to others of a different nature. This is beautifully representative of the existing condition: in the inferior age the Saturnian creatures may well be said to exist in the interior of the earth, as is really the case with the substance which composed their bodies. The Saturnian earth, called Gyges, was also considered to be entombed in the inferior earth: this is also a correct representation; nature having withdrawn from the earth the conditions which formerly existed, which were thus, as expressed, removed from day.

Thus Hesiod personifies the different parts of the machine of nature as the good powers, or conditions. The Titans are representative of the evil conditions, those which, by the transgressions of man, have been imposed upon nature, and by which her operations are impeded. They are called giants, in allusion to the great, stony, and waste mountains, they being most gigantically representative of the ruin of

nature.

This battle story is an allegorical picture in which nature, or the earth, is represented as striving against the evil conditions imposed on it by man's operations in the world, for the restoration of its fertility by means of fire. In this allegory the good powers personified are set forth as striving against the evil conditions also personified. The effect of art is to overthrow nature, and by its erection to cast down these her powers. Thus when, by the conditions brought into existence by art, the land is rendered waste and sterile, these powers are beautifully represented as being cast down into the earth; hence the words:

The Brothers Briareus and Cottus lay,

With Gyges bound in Chains, remov'd from Day,
In the remotest Parts of Earth confin'd

They sat, and silent Sorrows wreck'd their Mind.

These powers existing under Saturn's reign, in alliance with those derived from them as existing under the reign of Jove, the descendant of Saturn, are supposed to unite their forces against the evil conditions, or those resulting from art; which are called Titanian gods, and who the ancients represent