Phaethon

Phoebus, read by S.N. Ahmed.

Phaethon, read by Rick Cordray.

Jupiter, read by Alan Mapstone.

Mercury, read by Todd.

Earth, read by Agnes Robert-Bear.

Stage Directions, read by Inko.

Phaethon.

Scene 1.

Such as had none at all came lovers home from this great festival.

For every street, like to a firmament, glistered with breathing stars, who, where they went, frighted the melancholy earth, which deemed eternal heaven to burn, for so it seemed, as if another Phaethon had got the guidance of the sun's rich chariot.

But far above the loveliest hero shined, and stole away the enchanted gazer's mind.

For like sea-nymphs in vagling harmony, so was her beauty to the standers-by.

End of Latona and the Rustics.

Phaethon of A Dramatic Version of Greek Myths and Hero Tales by Fanny Amanda Comstock.

This is a LibriVox recording.

All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.

Characters

Phoebus read by S. M. Ahmed

Phaethon read by Rick Cordray

Jupiter read by Alan Mapstone

Phoebus, read by Ethan Ahmed.

Phaethon, read

by

Rick Cordray.

Earth, read by Agnes Robert-Bear.

Stage Directions, read by Inko.

Phaethon.

Scene 1.

Like the rest of mankind, you have suffered from convulsions of nature, which are chiefly brought about by the two great agencies of fire and water.

The former is symbolized in the Hellenic tale of young Phaethon, who drove his father's horses the wrong way, and having burnt up the earth was himself burned up by a thunderbolt.

For there occurs at long intervals a derangement of the heavenly bodies, and then the earth is destroyed by fire.

At such times, and when fire is the agent, those who dwell by rivers or on the sea shore are safer than those who dwell upon high and dry places: who in their turn are safer when the danger is from water.

"I meant to say," he replied, "that in mind you are all young: there is no old opinion handed down among you by ancient tradition nor any science which is hoary with age, and I will tell you why.

There have been and will be again many destructions of mankind arising out of many causes; the greatest have been brought about by the agencies of fire and water and other lesser ones by innumerable other causes.

There is a story which even you have preserved that once upon a time Phaethon, the son of Helios having yoked the steeds in his father's chariot because he was not able to drive them in the path of his father burnt up all that was upon the earth and was himself destroyed by a thunderbolt.

Now this has the form of myth but really signifies a declination of the bodies moving in the heavens around the Earth and a great conflagration of things upon the earth which recurs after long intervals at such times those who live upon mountains and in dry and lofty places are more liable to destruction than those who dwell by rivers or on the seashore.

Thus it was that the laurel became the favorite tree of Apollo, and when the god returned sadly to Olympus, he decreed that whenever poet or musician or any victor in the games was to be crowned with a garland of leaves, those leaves were to be taken from the laurel tree in memory of Daphne.

In one of the flower-filled meadows of sunny Greece, there played all day a golden-haired boy named Phaeton, who was the pride and delight of his mother Clymene, a stately maiden whom Apollo had once wooed and won.

The boy was wilful and headstrong, but beautiful as a young god, and his mother, in her foolish pride, often reminded him how favoured he was above all other children in being the son of Apollo.

Each morning she led him to a place where he could see the sun rise, and told him that his father was just then harnessing the fiery steeds to his golden-wheeled car, and would soon be leaving his palace of burnished gold to drive across the heavens, bringing daylight to the darkened earth.

She told him of Apollo's great beauty, and of his wonderful music, and of his high position among the gods, because his chariot was nothing less than the glorious sun.

Phaeton never tired of hearing these stories, and it was no wonder that he became very proud of his divine parentage, and boasted of it among his playmates.

The children only laughed at his wonderful tales, and, to convince them, he grew more arrogant in his bearing, until they, angered by his continued boasts, bade him give some proof of his claims, or else be silent.

This Phaeton could not do, so they taunted him with his godlike appearance, and sneered at his pretensions, until the boy, roused to action by their repeated insults, ran to his mother and begged her to tell him whether he might not speak to his wonderful but unknown father, and obtain from him some proof to silence the children's tongues.

Like the rest of mankind, you have suffered from convulsions of nature, which are chiefly brought about by the two great agencies of fire and water.

The former is symbolized in the Hellenic tale of young Phaeton, who drove his father's horses the wrong way, and having burnt up the earth was himself burnt up by a thunderbolt.

For there occurs at long intervals a derangement of the heavenly bodies, and then the earth is destroyed by fire.

At such times, and when fire is the agent, those who dwell by rivers or on the seashore are safer than those who dwell upon high and dry places, who in their turn are safer when the danger is from water.