Page:The Mythology of the Aryan Nations.djvu/302

270 BOOK Doubtless even this conception underwent many modifications ; and ' '^ • in the end not only each state or city, but each man and woman, from the moment of birth, had a guardian demon or angel who sought to lead them always in the right way.^ This guardian was invoked on all occasions, in such forms as our " Luck be with you," or the " Quod bonum, felix, faustumque sit " of the Latins.^ The Ionian legend, embodied in the so-called Homeric Hymn, The Ionian tells the simple tale that Leto, the mother of the unborn Phoibos, could birth place to receive her in her hour of travail until she came to of Phoibos. Delos. To wealthier and more fertile lands she made her prayer in vain ; and when she addressed herself to the little stony island with its rugged cliffs and hills, Delos trembled with joy not unmingled with fear. The unborn child, she knew, would be a being of mighty power, ruling among the undying gods and mortal men ; and she dreaded lest he should despise his sterile birthplace and spurn it with his foot into the sea. It remained only for Leto to make a solemn covenant with Delos, that here should be the sanctuary of her child for ever, and that here his worshippers, coming from all lands to his high testival, should lavish on her inexhaustible wealth of gold and treasures. So the troth w^as plighted ; but although Dione and Amphitrite with other goddesses were by her side, Here remained far away in the palace of Zeus, and the child of Leto could not be born unless she should suffer Eileithyia to hasten to her relief Then, as she drew near, Leto cast her arms around a tall palm-tree as she reclined on the bank of Kynthos, and the babe leaped to life and light as the earth smiled around her. The goddesses bathed him in pure water, and wrapping him in a glistening robe, fine and newly wTought, placed a golden band round the body of Chrysaor, while Thetis touched his lips with the drink and food of the gods. But no sooner had the child received this nourish- ment, than he was endowed with an irresistible strength, and his swaddling bands fell off him like flax, as he declared h's mission of teaching to men the counsels of Zeus. Then began the journey of the far-.shooting god, whose golden hair no razor should ever touch. From land to land he went, delighting his eyes with th.e beautiful sights of grove-clad hills and waters running to the sea.

The This hymn has, indeed, an historical interest, as being manifestly story work of a time when the great Ionian festival at Delos was

' anai/Ti Saifiwv avSpl ffufiirapiffraTat Menander, quoted by Clem. Al. S/r. (tidhs yfvofieircffivcrTayaiyhsrou $'tov 5, p. 260. I'reller, Gr. Myth, i. 422. ayaSis. ' Preller, ib. i. 423.