Keuka College - Kiondaga Yearbook (Keuka Park, NY)

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THE COLLEGE RECORD. 7 ologists as a sun myth, in which Endymion refers to the dying or setting sun who sinks to rest on Mt. Latmus ( the land of forgetfulness ). Our prosaic minds would find it difficult to weave a story that might describe the rising of the moon and the setting of the sun. So chaste and beautiful is the mythical narrative describing the coming of the night that it may be given in full as an illustration of the topic under consideration. Every evening as the Sun finished his course, Diana mounted her moon car and drove her milk white steeds across the heavens, watched over and loved by the countless stars, which shone their brightest to cheer her on her way ; and as she drove she often bent down to view the sleeping earth, so shadowy and dreamlike, and to breathe the intoxicating per- fume of the distant flowers. It always seemed to her then as if Nature, so beautiful during the day, borrowed additional charms from the witching hours of the night. One evening, as she was driving noiselessly along, she sud- denly checked her steeds ; for there on the hillside she saw a handsome young shepherd, fast asleep, his upturned face illumined by the moon's soft light. Diana wonderingly gazed upon his beauty, and before long felt her heart beat with more than admiration. Gliding gently from her chariot, she floated to his side, bent slowly, and dropped an airy kiss upon his slightly parted lips. ' 'The youth Endymion, only partially awakened by this demonstration, half raised his fringed lips, and, for a moment, his sleep- dimmed eyes rested wonderingly upon the beautiful vision. That one glance, although it drove Diana away in great haste, kindled in his heart an inextinguishable passion. He rose with a start, and rubbed his sleepy eyes ; but when he saw the moon, which he fancied close beside him, sailing away across the deep-blue sky, he felt sure the whole occurence had been but a dream, but so sweet a dream that he cast himself down upon the sward, hopeing to woo it to visit him once more. It did not come again that night, however ; but the next night, as he lay on the self-same spot, it recurred in all its sweetness ; and night after night it was repeated when the pale moonbeams fell athwart his sleeping face.

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6 THE COLLEGE RECORD. ing. It fails to make clear why the artistic nature of poet and artist of later centuries has found something of interest in this legendary material. It falls far short of meeting the de- mands of those whose intuitional natures incline them to be- lieve that elements of truth lie hidden in these self same myths. The philological interpretation of myths is at the present time receiving much favor among another class of scholars. It sees more of the beautiful and the poetic in them. According to this school the key to all mythologies is to be found in lan- guages. The original name of the mythic gods and heroes, as ascertained by comparative philology, reveal the secret in re- gard to the primitive significance of myths and legends. These names are found, as a rule, to denote elemental or physical phenomena ; that is, phenomena of sun, rain, clouds, fire, winds, heat, cold and other aspects of nature. Therefore philologists claim that almost, if not all, myths were originally nature myths. These may be summed up in the following general classes : Myths of the sky, the sun, the dawn, the day, the night, earth, moon, sea, clouds, fire, winds, together with myths of the underworld and of the demons of drought and darkness. Thus it is claimed that myths were originally simple, poetic descriptions of physical processes. These nar- rations of simple fact, oft repeated, came in time to be mis- understood, and were regarded as stories of persons. It is difficult for us, so accustomed to matter-of-fact, prosaic phraseology, to appreciate the poetic expressions of ancients. M tiller, the great authority in philology, tell us that when the inhabitants of ancient Elis wished to convey the idea, It is getting late, they would say, Selene (the Moon) loves and watches Endymion (the setting Sun). If they wished to say, The sun is setting and the moon is rising, they would ex- press it thus: Selene embraces Endymion. Our prosaic, It is night. would be with them, Selene kisses Endymion to sleep. These expressions remained in the language long after their real meaning had ceased to be understood. Then to explain them it was supposed that Endymion must have been a young lad and Selene a young maiden who loved him. This explains the myth of Diana, the goddess of the Moon, (Selene), and hei lover, Endymion. It is interpreted by phil-

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8 THE COLLEGE RECORD. Diana, fully as enamoured as he, could not bear to pass him by without a caress, and invariably left her car for a moment, as it touched the mountain peak, to run to him and snatch a a hasty kiss. But, even when asleep, Kndymion watched for her coming and enjoyed the bliss of her presence ; yet a spell seemed to prevent his giving any sign of consciousness. Time passed thus. Diana, who could not bear to think of the youth's beauty being marred by w7ant, toil and exposure, finally caused an eternal sleep to fall upon him, and bore him off to Mt. Latmus, where she concealed him in a cave held sacred to her, and never profaned by human gaze. There each night the goddess paused to gaze enraptured upon his be- loved countenance, and to press a soft kiss upon his uncon- scious lips. Such is the tale of Diana and her lowly sweet- heart, which has inspired poets of all ages. The sum and substance of this myth, according to philolo- gists, may be expressed thus in one sentence : Diana, the goddess of the moon, loves Endymion, the setting sun, and kisses him to sleep on Mt. I,atmus ; this she does each night. The whole is but a vivid, poetic description of the cyclic occurence of the coming of night. Mythology furnishes abundant illustrations of nature myths, equally apt and beautiful. The philological method of interpretation has points in com- mon with the anthropological. It recognizes the Survival of story and custom, and claims that the primitive meaning of a myth became lost to view with the original meaning of a word. It has many points in common with the allegorical method. It considers myths as descriptions of natural phe- nomena. It recognizes the poetic instinct as an important fac- tor in myth-making. It appreciates the artistic, imaginative at of primitive mind. It is doubtless futile to expect that there should arise a method of interpretation of Mythology which would be gener- ally accepted in any given period of history ; perhaps it is inl- and even undesirable that there should be a univer- sally accepted principle of interpretation. There is no gener- ally accepted method of interpreting the Bible. Nor is there