PYRAMUS AND THISBE.


Venus did not always befriend true lovers, as she had befriended
Hippomenes, with her three golden apples. Sometimes, in the enchanted
island of Cyprus, she forgot her worshippers far away, and they called
on her in vain.

So it was in the sad story of Hero and Leander, who lived on opposite
borders of the Hellespont. Hero dwelt at Sestos, where she served as a
priestess, in the very temple of Venus; and Leander's home was in
Abydos, a town on the opposite shore. But every night this lover would
swim across the water to see Hero, guided by the light which she was
wont to set in her tower. Even such loyalty could not conquer fate.
There came a great storm, one night, that put out the beacon, and
washed Leander's body up with the waves to Hero, and she sprang into
the water to rejoin him, and so perished.

Not wholly unlike this was the fate of Halcyone, a queen of Thessaly,
who dreamed that her husband Ceyx had been drowned, and on waking
hastened to the shore to look for him. There she saw her dream come
true,--his lifeless body floating towards her on the tide; and as she
flung herself after him, mad with grief, the air upheld her and she
seemed to fly. Husband and wife were changed into birds; and there on
the very water, at certain seasons, they build a nest that floats
unhurt,--a portent of calm for many days and safe voyage for the ships.