goddess. Those who have read Mr. Gladstone's "Juventus Mundi"
will remember the section (cap. ix. 6) on the modes of the
approximation between the divine and the human natures; and
whether or not they agree with the author altogether, all will
agree, I think, that the first idea of a hero or a heroine was a
godlike man or godlike woman.

A godlike man. What varied, what infinite forms of nobleness that
word might include, ever increasing, as men's notions of the gods
became purer and loftier, or, alas! decreasing, as their notions
became degraded. The old Greeks, with that intense admiration of
beauty which made them, in after ages, the master-sculptors and
draughtsmen of their own, and, indeed, of any age, would, of
course, require in their hero, their god-like man, beauty and
strength, manners too, and eloquence, and all outward perfections
of humanity, and neglect his moral qualities. Neglect, I say, but
not ignore. The hero, by virtue of his kindred with the gods, was
always expected to be a better man than common men, as virtue was
then understood. And how better? Let us see.

The hero was at least expected to be more reverent than other men
to those divine beings of whose nature he partook, whose society
he might enjoy even here on earth. He might be unfaithful to his
own high lineage; he might misuse his gifts by selfishness and
self-will; he might, like Ajax, rage with mere jealousy and
wounded pride till his rage ended in shameful madness and suicide.
He might rebel against the very gods, and all laws of right and
wrong, till he perished his [Greek text] -