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Bulfinchs Version of the Story of Apollo and Daphne

Bulfinchs Version of the Story of Apollo and Daphne The slime with which the earth was covered by the waters of the flood produced an excessive fertility, which called forth every variety of production, both bad and good. Among the rest, Python, an enormous serpent, crept forth, the terror of the people, and lurked in the caves of Mount Parnassus. Apollo slew him with his arrows - weapons which he had not before used against any but feeble animals, hares, wild goats, and such game. In commemoration of this illustrious conquest he instituted the Pythian games, in which the victor in feats of strength, swiftness of foot, or in the chariot race was crowned with a wreath of beech leaves; for the laurel was not yet adopted by Apollo as his own tree. The famous statue of Apollo called the Belvedere represents the god after this victory over the serpent Python. To this Byron alludes in his Childe Harold, iv. 161: ...The lord of the unerring bow,The god of life, and poetry, and light,The Sun, in human limbs arrayed, and browAll radiant from his triumph in the fight.The shaft has just been shot; the arrow brightWith an immortals vengeance; in his eyeAnd nostril, beautiful disdain, and mightAnd majesty flash their full lightnings by,Developing in that one glance the Deity. Apollo and Daphne Daphne was​ Apollos first love. It was not brought about by accident, but by the malice of Cupid. Apollo saw the boy playing with his bow and arrows; and being himself elated with his recent victory over Python, he said to him, What have you to do with warlike weapons, saucy boy? Leave them for hands worthy of them, Behold the conquest I have won by means of them over the vast serpent who stretched his poisonous body over acres of the plain! Be content with your torch, child, and kindle up your flames, as you call them, where you will, but presume not to meddle with my weapons. Venuss boy heard these words, and rejoined, Your arrows may strike all things else, Apollo, but mine shall strike you. So saying, he took his stand on a rock of Parnassus, and drew from his quiver two arrows of different workmanship, one to excite love, the other to repel it. The former was of gold and sharp pointed, the latter blunt and tipped with lead. With the leaden shaft he struck the nymph Daphne , the daughter of the river god Peneus, and with the golden one Apollo, through the heart. Forthwith the god was seized with love for the maiden, and she abhorred the thought of loving. Her delight was in woodland sports and in the spoils of the chase. lovers sought her, but she spurned them all, ranging the woods, and taking no thought of Cupid nor of Hymen. Her father often said to her, Daughter, you owe me a son-in-law; you owe me grandchildren. She, hating the thought of marriage as a crime, with her beautiful face tinged all over with blushes, threw her arms around her fathers neck, and said, Dearest father, grant me this favour, that I may always remain unmarried, like Diana. He consented, but at the same time said, Your own face will forbid it. Apollo loved her, and longed to obtain her; and he who gives oracles to all the world was not wise enough to look into his own fortunes. He saw her hair flung loose over her shoulders, and said, If so charming, in disorder, what would it be if arranged? He saw her eyes bright as stars; he saw her lips, and was not satisfied with only seeing them. He admired her hands and arms, naked to the shoulder, and whatever was hidden from view he imagined more beautiful still. He followed her; she fled, swifter than the wind, and delayed not a moment at his entreaties. Stay, said he, daughter of Peneus; I am not a foe. Do not fly me as a lamb flies the wolf, or a dove the hawk. It is for love I pursue you. You make me miserable, for fear you should fall and hurt yourself on these stones, and I should be the cause. Pray run slower, and I will follow slower. I am no clown, no rude peasant. Jupiter is my father, and I am lord of Delphos and Tenedos, and know all things, present and future. I am th e god of song and the lyre. My arrows fly true to the mark; but, alas! an arrow more fatal than mine has pierced my heart! I am the god of medicine, and know the virtues of all healing plants. Alas! I suffer a malady that no balm. can cure! The nymph continued her flight, and left his plea half uttered. And even as she fled she charmed him. The wind blew her garments, and her unbound hair streamed loose behind her. The god grew impatient to find his wooings thrown away, and, sped by Cupid, gained upon her in the race. It was like a hound pursuing a hare, with open jaws ready to seize, while the feebler animal darts forward, slipping from the very grasp. So flew the god and the virgin- he on the wings of love, and she on those of fear. The pursuer is the more rapid, however, and gains upon her, and his panting breath blows upon her hair. Her strength begins to fail, and, ready to sink, she calls upon her father, the river god: Help me, Peneus! open the earth to enclose me, or change my form, which has brought me into this danger! Scarcely had she spoken, when a stiffness seized all her limbs; her bosom began to be enclosed in a tender bark; her hair became leaves; her arms became branches; her foot stuck fast in the grou nd, as a root; her face became a tree-top, retaining nothing of its former self but its beauty, Apollo stood amazed. He touched the stem, and felt the flesh tremble under the new bark. He embraced the branches, and lavished kisses on the wood. The branches shrank from his lips. Since you cannot be my wife, said he, you shall assuredly be my tree. I will wear you for my crown; I will decorate with you my harp and my quiver; and when the great Roman conquerors lead up the triumphal pomp to the Capitol, you shall be woven into wreaths for their brows. And, as eternal youth is mine, you also shall be always green, and your leaf know no decay. The nymph, now changed into a Laurel tree, bowed its head in grateful acknowledgment. That Apollo should be the god both of music and poetry will not appear strange, but that medicine should also be assigned to his province, may. The poet Armstrong, himself a physician, thus accounts for it: Music exalts each joy, allays each grief,Expels diseases, softens every pain;And hence the wise of ancient days adoredOne power of physic, melody, and song. The story of Apollo and Daphne is of ten alluded to by the poets. Waller applies it to the case of one whose amatory verses, though they did not soften the heart of his mistress, yet won for the poet wide-spread fame: Yet what he sung in his immortal strain,Though unsuccessful, was not sung in vain.All but the nymph that should redress his wrong,Attend his passion and approve his song.Like Phoebus thus, acquiring unsought praise,He caught at love and filled his arms with bays. The following stanza from Shelleys Adonais alludes to Byrons early quarrel with the reviewers: The herded wolves, bold only to pursue;The obscene ravens, clamorous oer the dead;The vultures, to the conquerors banner true,Who feed where Desolation first has fed,And whose wings rain contagion: how they fled,When like Apollo, from his golden bow,The Pythian of the age one arrow spedAnd smiled! The spoilers tempt no second blow;They fawn on the proud feet that spurn them as they go. More Stories From Greek Mythology by Thomas Bulfinch Dragons TeethMinotaurPomegranate SeedsPyramus and Thisbe

The Economics of Education & Financing Education Adequately - Essay

The Economics of Education & Financing Education Adequately - Assignment 6 - Essay Example Most of the times in public schools the tuition fee is driven from the rising expenditures on the administrators, student support services and government endowment according to the report issued by a nonprofit organization in Washington D.C. The factors contributing to increment in the educational costs in detail are as follows: According to a report issued by the U.S department of education which states that the average cost per pupil has increased up to 44% over the past decades. Public elementary and secondary schools across the country are shifting their costs like state funding, lower tax revenues and personnel costs to parents and their students by increasing school fees. Even though in public schools students were charged for the fieldtrips etc. they are also being charged $20 for the school supplies like for their labs to workbooks. When inflation is growing at 2% rate in broad economy the educational costs increase at 4-6% annually. This means if we were to pay $10,000 this year, the cost will increase by $400-$600 next year. Therefore, this means that educational costs have doubled in 12-18 years. High demand drives the prices to go high. It is factually true that more students are attempting for school admissions than ever, because the demand is high which is causing the costs to climb high. ... This is a fact about schools who receive a little or no endowment from the government. This is one problem which keeps growing, the more the educational costs rise, the more students opt for scholarships. When scholarships are awarded largely the costs increase for the self-financing students. Which leads to more requests for scholarships and the process goes on. Most states have refrained schools to charge for core courses, when they are being charged 80% for the personnel costs in many schools in the district which is the main reason for the increase in the costs. Nationally, programs for the gifted children, students with trouble reading, advance math and science programs have all been eliminated. Local residents were asked to agree on paying higher taxes but they disagreed upon, which is why increasing school charges in the only way to generate for state funding. Many states can waive off academic costs for the poorest students in the school but not for the extracurricular activi ties, those with the annual salary of $29,000 per year. However, those above the border line if they do not pay in full will be sanctioned; school may hold back their diplomas even with hold them from graduating which itself costs for $30-$60. EDUCATIONAL COST IN SURRIOUNDING THE COUNTRIES OF US: FENTRESS COUNTY: the total population in this district is 6,403,353 according to the estimate of 2011. It has 1,736 schools with the total students of 934,246 out of which 24.2% are African American, 1.9% is Asian/ Pacific Islander, 6.2% are Hispanic, 0.3% is Native American/ Alaskan and 67.4% are white students. According to the statistical data 82.5% of ages 25 and above are high school graduates and 22.7% have bachelor’s degree. PUTNAM COUNTY: Putnam county