STORY OF SCYLLA AND GLAUCUS.

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tails, and who, moreover, hissed like adders, and devoured all who approached them. The poor little fellow used to bitterly repent the misdeeds he had committed, and to be terribly afraid lest he should fall into the jaws of these fascinating monsters; but when the old nurse had sufficiently satisfied herself of the effect of her story-telling powers, she used to cheer him up with livelier tales of lovelier nymphs with long hair, who sported about all day long as gay and lighthearted as glittering butterflies; and he liked to hear of these fair ladies and to dream of them by night, better by far than hearing and dreaming of the bloody-minded Lamiæ. There were the Oceanids and Nereids, beautiful maidens who were half fishes, and lived at the bottom of the sea, and were always propitious to sailors; the Potameids, who took care of the rivers; the Naiads, who presided over the springs; the Oreads, who lived in mountains and grottoes; and the Dryads, who dwelt in lofty trees. Little Herodotus was never tired of hearing all about them, and of their dances with the merry satyrs; but above all he considered it an especial treat to be told the whole story of Scylla and Glaucus. Scylla was a lovely damsel, who played with the sea nymphs, and one of the gods of the sea named Glaucus fell in love with her; but she refused to marry him, because she did not like his long beard, dishevelled hair, shaggy eyebrows, and fish's tail. Glaucus, however, was determined to make her love him, and even went to that old sorceress Circe, to beg her to give him some love charm or philter which should induce Scylla to smile upon his suit. Circe, instead of assisting him, fell in love with him herself, and, of course, desired him to forget Scylla; but he was too faithful a lover. At last Circe grew so jealous that she poured the juice of some poisonous herbs into the fountain where Scylla bathed; and no sooner had the maiden touched the water than all the lower part of her body was changed into the

tail of a sea serpent, and surrounded by frightful monsters like dogs, which never ceased to bark hideously. Then the terrified girl threw herself into the sea, and was changed into a great rock, and now the waves are ever roaring around her.

When Herodotus was six or seven years old, he was sent every day to the school and gymnasium, and his father Lyxes, appointed a slave to attend him everywhere and carry his books, tablet, and other school requirements. This slave was called a pædagogue, a name which is often derisively applied to the schoolmasters of modern times, The school to which Herodotus was sent consisted of one hundred and twenty boys.* The studies were divided into three branches. First, the grammata, which included reading, writing, and arithmetic; secondly, music; and thirdly, gymnastics. Especial attention was also paid to the polite behaviour of the several pupils, and they were particularly enjoined to be modest and respectful in the presence of their elders. When Herodotus had learnt his letters, and could not only spell but read fluently, he was taught to write first on a tablet, and then in a regular book or roll of Nile paper; for writing on skins had long gone out of fashion. The tablet consisted of a thin wooden board, shaped exactly like a schoolboy's slate, but having one of its sides covered with wax. The writer used a stylus, or iron pencil, pointed at one end for inscribing the characters on the wax, and flattened at the other for rubbing out mistakes or bad penmanship. The higher classes, however, were initiated into the art of writing in books or rolls, and this was considered by the smaller boys to be a most glorious and enviable occupation. The Nile paper was made of the spongy pith of the papyrus, cut into layers, and gummed together in the form of sheets;

* The school at Chios consisted of 120 boys, when the roof fell in and killed them all but one, just thirteen years before the birth of Herodotus. See Herod. vi. 27.

SCHOOL DAYS OF HERODOTUS.

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and these sheets were pressed and dried and smoothed with a piece of polished ivory, and then fastened together so as to form a long roll. A proud boy was Herodotus, when, after sundry practisings on loose sheets, he was at last trusted with a roll, and a new and good reed pen, and was directed to copy out some of the fables of that rare old slave Æsop, who had composed them exactly 100 years before. Day after day the boy laboured at this mighty task, until at length the whole roll was finished, cut, and trimmed, and mounted on a roller, and carried home; and never indeed had Herodotus felt so happy as when his mother Dryo praised the grand achievement, and even his father Lyxes did not disdain to smile. Meantime Herodotus did not neglect his other studies. He read the works of several authors, which were deposited in the schoolroom chest, and committed to memory many old verses and wise sayings; and it was even then remarkable that he rarely forgot any fact which he had once heard, or any poem which he had carefully perused. His arithmetic, however, was faulty. He could reckon very well with his fingers, but when he took the abacus in hand, and tried to solve more advanced arithmetical problems, he at once found himself in a labyrinth of difficulties. The abacus was a square board or open box, separated into divisions, in which any sum might be represented by means of stones or counters. The counters in the first division represented units; those in the second, tens; those in the third, hundreds, and so on; thus the counters arranged in an abacus according to the

accompanying plan would be equivalent to 243,751. This instrument of intellectual torture was considered by Herodotus to be only fitted for the amusement of Tantalus. When he took the result of his calculations to his master, the arrangement of

his counters was always incorrect. He cursed it with as much energy as a modern schoolboy denounces prosody or parsing, and to the day of his death he never could add up a sum without a blunder, or subtract one amount from another without being rarely laughed at by his more business-like companions.

When Herodotus was thirteen years of age, he was instructed in the art of music, and taught both to sing and to accompany himself on the lyre or cithara. A knowledge of music was indeed essential to every Greek citizen, for without it he could neither join in the sacred choruses belonging to the ritual of his religion, nor take his part in the pæans on the field of battle, or in the graceful amusements of social life. Flutes were almost out of fashion, for they distorted the face, and prevented a performer from singing to the sound of his own instrument.

In the gymnasium Herodotus spent some hours every day, and practised running, wrestling, and other athletic sports, with boys of his own age. Games and gymnastics were a pleasant change after the porings over the abacus and strummings on the lyra; and our young hero had joined in them from the first day that his pædagogue had taken him to school. The amusements of the boys of ancient Greece are still nearly all followed by those of modern Britain. Herodotus could drive his bronze hoop, which jingled with little bells, as fast as any boy in Halicarnassus. Blindman's buff was a great favourite; the blind man acting the part of Polyphemus, who had his one eye put out by Ulysses, whilst the other boys played the parts of Ulysses and his companions, trying to get out of the cave. The chytrinda, again, was like our hot cockles: one boy sat on the ground, and was called the chytra or pot, whilst the other boys ran round, pinching and pushing him, until one was caught by the chytra, and made to take his place. The epostrakismos was like our ducks and drakes. The boys stood on the beach, and

HERODOTUS AT THE AGE OF TWENTY.

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flung oyster shells edgeways over the harbour, and he whose shell made the most leaps in the water won the game. Throwing the ball, and playing at odd or even for walnuts, almonds, beans, or money, were as common then as now. What need, then, for further description? Herodotus and Thucydides, Plato and Aristotle, Themistocles and Pericles, were as active in the gymnasium of two thousand years ago as our statesmen, our judges, and our bishops were in the playground of yesterday.

At sixteen years of age Herodotus may be said to have completed his school education. Ten years had passed since the little boy had been taken from his nurse's arms, and taught to be a man. Two more years elapsed, during which he devoted nearly all his time to the gymnasium, for the completion of what may be called his physical education; and, not content with running, shooting the bow, hurling the javelin, and throwing the discus, he even wrestled and fought in the palæstra with the regular athletes. At eighteen he was admitted amongst the ephebi, and perhaps served the state in some military capacity.

At twenty he left his father's house in Halicarnassus, to visit the Ionian island of Samos; and it was here that he commenced his real studies in history, and began to aspire after literary renown. Before, however, we describe the circumstances connected with this event, it will be necessary to obtain some insight into the state of his religious belief; and, in pursuance of this object, we shall endeavour to present the reader with a brief sketch of the orthodox faith of the ancient Greeks, and a summary of their mythological system.

The modern reader, who has received the truths of revelation, and lived beneath the light of the Holy Gospel, will scarcely appreciate the simple piety and childlike superstitions of the great body of the Greek people. He knows that the Stone cut without hands has shattered the heathenisms of the ancient world. His memory is