GRECIAN MYTHOLOGY. 135 
After this, Jobates sent him against the Amazons, a nation of warlike 
women, who having first dismissed their husbands, admitted no men 
amongst them. Wherever they made their incursions, they hunted and 
slew all that belonged to the male sex, but captured and bore off the virgins. 
They were usually represented as in pl. 30, jigs. 27, 28. Bellerophon 
set out against these women, mounted upon Pegasus, whose appearance 
so frightened the horses of the Amazons that they became uncontrollable, 
and running off, dashed their riders over precipices, or flung them into rivers. 
The hero had now accomplished his two difficult tasks, and returning to 
the capital crowned with glory, he received in marriage the daughter of 
Jobates, who also appointed him his successor. His good fortune, however, 
having made him overbearing, he boldly attempted to ride up to Olympos 
on Pegasus, but Zeus, to punish him for his presumption, sent a gad-fly, 
which so irritated the horse that he threw his rider to the earth. Mortified 
and dejected, he ever after shunned the’ society of men, and spent the rest 
of his days wandering through lonesome and desolate regions. 
4, The Dioscurt (Castor and Pollux) were sons of Zeus and Leda. 
Pollux inherited the gift of immortality from his father, but Castor was 
mortal. They were both extraordinary youths, and enjoyed in an equal 
degree the favor of the gods. Inseparably united, they undertook and 
accomplished numerous and celebrated heroic achievements, and partici- 
pated in those of others. They joined Heracles in his war against the 
Amazons, Jason in his expedition to Colchis in search of the golden fleece, 
and Peleus in his attack upon Iolchos. They loved the daughters of Leucip- 
pos, one of the participators in the pursuit of the Calydonian boar, in which 
the Dioscuri also took part. These virgins, Phebe and Jlwira, were also 
loved by the brothers Lynceus and /das, kings of Messenia, who disputed 
the claim of the Dioscuri. In the combat that ensued, Castor fell by the 
spear of Lynceus, and Pollux, inconsolable for his loss, implored the gods 
to share with Castor his immortality. Zeus answered his prayer, and 
placed both among the stars, where they form the constellation of Gemini. 
They were usually represented as handsome youths in the full vigor of 
health (pl. 18, jig. 10), or as symbols of the constellation on horseback, 
with the figure of night between them, and accompanied by their stars ( pl. 
20, jig. 3). 
5. Heractes (Hercules), son of Zeus and Alcmene, was the most cele- 
brated hero of the Grecian mythology, in whom poetry has represented the 
ideal of human perfection as it was understood in the heroic age, endowing 
him with the greatest possible bodily strength, together with the best 
qualities of mind and heart recognised in that age. His mother was the 
consort of King Amphztryon of Mycene, and bore, together with Heracles, 
his twin brother JpAzcles, who betrayed his inferior origin, when AmpAi- 
tryon, in order to ascertain which of his children was of godly descent, 
threw two snakes into their cradle. Iphicles started back, whilst Heracles 
seized both the snakes and strangled them (pl. 25, jig. 14). 
Heracles was carefully educated by the greatest men of his age, and 
became an expert charioteer, wrestler, archer, and warrior, and well versed 
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