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The Heavenly Twins, Part 2 · The Golden Porch

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Section seventeen of The Golden Porch. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox
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recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
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visit LibriVox dot org. The Golden Porch by W. M. L.
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Hutchinson. The Heavenly Twins, Part two. After the marriage of the two
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princesses, Queen Leyda said to her sons, it is time that you went
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on your travels like other princes in search of brides, and brought me home
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two new daughters to take the place of Helen and Clydemnestra. But Castor and
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Polydeuces had no mind to be wedded, for they loved each other with a
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great love, and desired nothing else than to pass their whole lives together.
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So they said to their mother, why should we bring stranger women into our
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house, who, like enough, would stir up strife between us and vex
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your heart also, nay, mother, we will let such things alone till
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we are older. Nevertheless, we will go on our travels and seek adventures,
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as king's sons are wont to do. And they set out to see
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the world. Now, these twin brethren had grown up so like one to
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the other that none could tell them apart, and neither the old nurse,
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nor later herself, nor whether Castor or Polydeuces was the swan child. They
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went forth clad alike in silver armor, and Castor drove the white horses of
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their silver chariot, for although both were marvelous tamers of horses, he was
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the better charioteer. In the first city where they sojourned, there heard tidings
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of the ship that was to sail from Iolchus on the quest of the Golden
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Fleece, and how Prince Jason was gathering brave comrades to go with him.
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Forthwith they hastened to join themselves to that company Natiolchus, they first saw Heracles,
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whose fame was already great in their own land, and they sailed with
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Jason in the ship Argo, and shared all those toils and perils set forth
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in the tail of the lad with one sandal. Then, when Argo was
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come home again and Jason had recovered the kingdom of his father, the twins
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harnessed their white horses that were left in Aeson's charge, and journeyed southward to
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their own country. There road led them to a strong walled city with seven
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gates, and they entered one of the gates and asked the first man they
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met the name of the city, who told them it was Thebes. Then
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we are come to the city of a friend, cried Polydeuces, For Thebes
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is the home of Heracles. Is he here, stranger, or have you
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tidings of him? Since he sailed with the ship argo We are his shipmates.
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But he went not far on that voyage before he parted from us.
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He has been seen in Thebes since, then, answered the stranger. But
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he is ever coming and going, for he never wearies of adventures. And
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he is not here now. It is said he has gone into the west
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with an army to war on a king there who did him a foul wrong.
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We will go after him, then, said the twins, and fighten
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his quarrel. But the man of Thebes prayed them, if they were friends
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to Heracles, to lodge with him that night, and he brought them to
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his house and feasted them with the best kind host. Said Castor, presently,
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may we know your name? We would fain tell Heracles when we see
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him. Which of his neighbors has received us so hospitably for his sake.
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My name is Amphytrion, said their host, smiling. And when you see
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heracles, say that you lodge under his own roof tree, For he is
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my son in this house. He was born after his mother and I fled
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hither out of Argos, our own city, from the power of a wicked
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king. And here even in his cradle Queen Harris sought to destroy him and
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her pitiless hate. It seems then that the tales are true, said Polydeuces,
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which say that the queen of the gods bears a deep grudge against your
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noble son, and has wrought him toil and trouble without ceasing. But as
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to the cause of this, some say one thing, and some say another.
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And we would gladly hear from you, am Phittrian, the whole truth
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about the matter. I will tell you a til from the beginning, said
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am Fititrian, And thus he told it. My brother and I were the
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sons of the king of Argos, that ancient city beloved of hera, And
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when our father died, we should, by his command, have divided the
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kingdom. But my brother turned the folk against me with lying accusations, and
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I was forced to fly for my life with my new wedded bride. We
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came to dwell at thebes Or. I was well received of the citizens,
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because I had good repute as a warrior. At that time. They made
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war upon certain islanders of the west, and I was chosen captain of their
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host because their prince was yet a child. By favor of the gods,
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we were conquerors in that war and come home to thebes laden with much spoil.
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Now it was late at night when we reached that city, and I
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would not sit down to feast and carouse with the rest, but hastened to
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my own house that I might greet my wife. I found her asleep,
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and I awoke her, thinking to see her overcome with joy and my safe
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return. But she showed not the least surprise at the sight of me.
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When I told her of the victory and the spoils, she said, all
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this and vitrion you told me last night when you came home. You may
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guess, princes, how these strange words troubled me. At first I thought
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my wife was grazed. But when I had questioned her closely, I perceived
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that some God had visited her in my likeness, for she knew everything that
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had passed in the war, and he who had been with her gave her
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a golden girdle, saying it was from his share of the spoil. Now,
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I myself had brought her a golden girdle, and when we laid the
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two side by side, they were alike, down to every petal of the
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lotus flowers embossed upon them. But Alcamena, my wife, believed that I
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had played a trick upon her, and it vexed her so that she showed
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me great coldness, and my heart was much disquieted. Then one night I
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dreamed that the King of the gods stood before me in all his majesty,
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and said, be not cast down and vitrion. It was I who visited
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Alcmena, having a desire to behold and converse with her in mortal shape,
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because it was reported to me that she is the fairest of all women alive.
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Tell her this and say, Zeus bids her be reconciled to you.
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Also, she shall have a sign from me that she may believe, for
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twin sons shall be born to her before a year goes by. And as
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the God promised, so it came to pass now, when the two babes
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were five days old. As I was sitting in the market place with elders
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of the city, my wife's handmaids ran shrieking towards us and loudly help help.
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Two monstrous serpents are in our lady's chamber, devouring her children. I
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cried to my neighbors to follow and rush withdrawn sword in my house. What
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think you saw? I saw, my guess. As I darted into the
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chamber of Alcmena. She, herself half clad as she had leapt from her
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couch, lay fainting by the cradle, her arms thrown round one child,
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and two huge snakes were writhing on the floor beside her, But they were
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writhing in death. The other babe sat upright in the cradle, and his
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tiny hands were gripping their scaly throats so fiercely that the breath came in hissing
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gasps from their red, foaming jaws, and their glaring eyes seemed bursting from
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the sockets. For one instant, that sight rooted me to the threshold.
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Then even as I sprang forward, the heads of the monsters fell back,
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and with a throttled cry, they breathed their last, My little son looked
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up at me gravely, and then, clenching his hands, he let the
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lifeless bodies drop futting to the ground. Then did I and the men that
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followed me give a mighty shout of joy, and it roused Alcmena from her
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swoon of terror, and she caught both children to her breast, sobbing for
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gladness. News of the marvel brought all the city flocking to our doors,
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and with the rest came blind to Risias that aged seer forthwith. He prophesied
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to us concerning the child, and said this deed was but the beginning of
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wonders, that he should do all his life long for Hera, he said,
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had sent those serpents because it angered her. That Zeus praised the beauty
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of Alkmena in the presence of all the gods, saying he had seen none
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fairer in earth or heaven, and the jealous goddess would avenge that slight by
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contriving many another dire encounter for Alcmena's son. Yet all the peril she brought
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him into should but work him the more renown, and therefore he should be
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named Heracles, which is being interpreted glory that cometh of Hera. When Amphitrian
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had made an end of his story, both the twins kept silence for a
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space, and then Castor said, marvelous in truth are the ways of the
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immortals. But I would fain hear one thing more. Is there no hope
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that the wrath of Hera may yet be turned from your son, our dear
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comrade, or will she be his enemy forever? Terystheus foretold that she would
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make peace with him at last, answered Antfittrian. Nay, he spoke of
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strange bliss, that she would grant him one day when he should rest from
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toil and suffering in an eternal home. But with your pardon, I will
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not repeat that prophecy, for it well nigh passes belief that any man born
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of woman should be exalted to such a height of glory as it foreshadowed.
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Nor do I desire it should be known. You do wisely to conceal it,
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said Polydeuces. For what men cannot credit, they are ever ready to
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mock at. But I also would hear one thing, if it be not
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unpleasing to you. Since Alcmena has two sons, how is it that Hera's
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hatred pursues Heracles and not his brother. Also, I can but guess,
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said Amphitrion, that her anger rests specially on the child who slew her ministers
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the serpents darker to me as the cause of the measureless difference between my twin
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sons. The strength of Heracles, you know and can bear me witness that
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it is as the strength of a god. But Ifacles his brother is no
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stronger than other men, it is not so with you, noble, said
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of Tendarius, whom I knew at first sight of you by her report from
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Heracles. For he said also that you were alike in prowess, as in
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form and faith. Long and late the twin brethren Satin and Phytrion's hall,
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and still their talk was of Heracles and his mighty deeds, of which his
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father had much to tell that they had never heard, for Heracles himself was
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very loth to speak of his own wondrous acts to his friends. Next morrow
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they took farewell of their host and set forth again to see Heracles in his
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army in the west, and made good speed upon the road. But for
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all that he was already returning homeward when they met him. So, when
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glad greetings had passed between the friends, the twins told Heracles how they had
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come and hoped to fight by his side, and asked what the feud was
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with the king Augeus and how it ended. And Heracles told them all the
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adventure as it is set down in the tail of the Pansy Baby. But
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whilst he told of the games held at the temple and tomb by the ford,
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a new thing befell him, for Zeus sent the spirit of prophecy upon
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him, so that he began to speak like a seer, with chanting utterance
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and fixed unseeing gaze. Sons of Leda, I have dedicated a sanctuary yonder
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by the river for great Zeus, the protector both of me and you.
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And I propose to return ere long to see the temple a building. But
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it is revealed to me even now that my time on earth is short,
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and there is yet much work ordain for me to accomplish before I pass away
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by a fiery doom. Therefore I go not home till I have taken a
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far journey and brought to the sanctuary of Zeus that which is sorely needs,
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for it lies in a treeless plain, and no pleasant shade defends men there
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from the scorching noonday sun. But I will plant it with shoots of those
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fairest trees which I saw once in the land beyond the north wind, when
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I had chased through a thousand leagues of forests the hind with the golden horns.
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And when I have done this, I must pass to those other laborers
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that await me, and before the fourth year comes round, I shall be
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gone from Earth. Now I appointed the fourth year for the renewal of the
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sacred games. And since I may not hold that second festival, I charge
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you both, as you are true comrades to Heracles, fail not to hold
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it in my stead, and now farewell. Then, before the twins could
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stay him, he turned and left them, going northward with great strides,
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and they, sad at his words, went to their own home. There
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was great joy in the house of Shyindarius at their homecoming, and after that
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they wandered to far lands no more, though many a brave deed and strange
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adventure were theirs in neighboring country. Now, when the fourth year was come
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and the midsummer season drew on in which Heracles had held his festival. Castor
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and Polydeuces went to the sanctuary by the western River to fulfill their friend's last
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charge, and beheld the temple of Zeus that Iamos the Seer had builded,
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and a grove of young trees about it, the like of which they had
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never seen. For these were the first olive trees that ever grew in the
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land of Greece, and Heracles had brought them as he purposed, from the
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land beyond the north wind. Then they asked Iamos if he had any tidings
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of Heracles, of whom they had long heard nothing save confused rumors of his
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distant wanderings. This very day, said the Seer, that great spirit has
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departed from among men. Yes, for it was shown me in a vision
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how he met the doom of fire and entered by that flaming gait into everlasting
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bliss. Heracles has taken to wife, the fair princess Dianara, and he
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loved her truly, But in her folly she doubted of it, and caused
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him to wear a tunic which she had anointed with a certain magic filter.
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That filter was the blood of Nessus, the centaur whom Heracles shot with a
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poisoned arrow before he offered insult to Dionara, and Nessus gave it to her
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as he lay dying, telling her that it was a potent love charm.
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Thus was the centaur avenged, for the poison of the arrow was in it.
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Even the deadly venom of the Hundred had its snake that Heracles slew of
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old and dipped his shafts in its black gore. So when Heracles put on
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that tunic, it clung like eating fire to his mighty limbs, And in
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agony he strove to tear it off, but could not, for the poison
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glued it to his flesh. Then, when he saw he must die in
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that torment, he commanded a great funeral pyre to be raised and kindled on
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the hillside, and cast himself alive into the flames. Thus, in the
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sight of men, he seemed to perish. But I say to you,
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sons of Leda, that in those flames the hero ascended bodily to the halls
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of Zeus. Weep not for the comrade you loved. For even now Queen
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Harris smiles upon him and leads him to the heavenly marriage feast, where he
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shall sit enthroned by her daughter. He be youngest of the goddesses, whom
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Zeus gives him for his bride. Then, said Castor, let us build
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here another altar and offer sacrifice to Heracles as to a god, forasmuch as
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he, our man of men, is henceforth numbered with the immortals and Polydeuces.
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Said we will do so. Yet, lest there be jealousy in heaven,
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let us build altars also to the twelve greatest gods, save Zeus,
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whose altar Heracles himself has built already. This was done forthwith, and all
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the mightiest gods looked down with favor on that second festival of the Games that
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Heracles founded. End of Section seventeen, read by Stephanie J.