102 MYTHOLOGY AND RELIGIOUS RITES. 
declaring their love. Among mortals she also had her favorites. The 
story of her love for Adonis, son of King Cinyras, is well known. This 
youth, the handsomest of men, lived on her favorite island Cyprus, and so 
intense was her affection for him, that she requested Persephone to endow 
him with immortality. The latter granted the favor, but recalled it so soon 
as she saw him, herself becoming enamored of his beauty ; though another 
account says she permitted him to spend one half the year on earth, the 
other in the shades. The fable obviously points to the periodical return of 
summer and winter. i | 
To return, however, to the first myth. Aphrodite became alarmed for 
his safety, as he frequently exposed himself to danger in the chase. At 
length the jealous Ares appeared in the woods as a wild boar, and while 
Adonis was in hot pursuit, turned and killed him with his tusks. Aphro- | 
dite in vain sought to restore him to life; despair, however, yielding to a 
gentler grief, she sprinkled water on the ground and raised from the fatal 
spot the flower anemone. Her love for Anchises, prince of Troy, was 
inspired by Zeus as a punishment for her boast that she was superior to the 
power of the tender passion. Anxious for his life, she concealed their 
affection; but Anchises imprudently disclosed the secret to Dzonysos. 
Enraged at his presumption, Zeus hurled at him a thunderbolt. Aphrodite 
caught it in her garments, but terror rendered him dim-sighted and feeble. 
After the sack of Troy he accompanied his son eas on his voyage to 
Italy, but died in Sicily and was buried near Mount Eryx. Aphrodite 
often mourned at his grave, and placed a dove to watch it. Her beauty 
occasioned a contest with Hera and Pallas Athene, which arose in this 
manner: Peleus, prince of Phthia, had invited to his wedding all the 
gods and goddesses except Hvis, the goddess of Discord, who always 
marred the harmony of every company to which she was admitted. 
Chagrined at the seclusion, she determined at any rate to gratify her ruling 
propensity, and threw into the marriage hall a golden apple bearing the 
inscription “ For the most Beautiful!” The three goddesses severally 
claimed it, but as they could not agree upon the rightful owner, they 
appealed to Zeus for an award. The latter declined the office, and referred 
them to Paris, son of Priam, king of Troy, who was then on Mount Ida. 
Each candidate endeavored to obtain a decision in her own favor by bribing 
the umpire. Aphrodite shrewdly promised him /elen, the most beautiful 
woman of earth, and the prize was awarded to her. Pl. 27, jig. 25a, 
represents her victorious over both competitors, and holding the apple and 
a mirror. She fulfilled her engagement with Paris, and aided him in the 
abduction of Helen, wife of Menelaus. The Trojan war resulted from this 
rape, and even Aphrodite could not avert the calamity nor protect her 
favorite from the destruction which it brought upon him and his race. 
9. Ares (Mars). Unlike Athene, the patroness of scientific warfare, 
Ares, the son of Zeus and Hera, was the god of bloody battles, and represented 
the idea of rude, lawless violence. Ferocious and ungovernable, no employ- 
ment was so congenial to his disposition as slaughter, and burying grounds 
and fields of carnage constituted for him the most pleasing spectacle. Accord- 
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