the
evening_, fair as the soft clouds which gather around the
_dying Sun_."

The _black mists_ were spreading over the sky, but still Hercules sought
to gaze on the fair face of Iole, and to comfort her in her sorrow.

"Weep not, Iole," he said, "my toil is done, and now is the
time for rest. I shall see thee again in the bright land which
is never trodden by the feet of night."

The same story is related in the legend of _Apollo_. The Dawn, from
whom he parted in the early part of his career, comes to his side at
_eventide_, and again meets him when his journey on earth has well nigh
come to an end.[494:1]

When the Lord _Prometheus_ was crucified on Mt. Caucasus, his especially
professed friend, Oceanus, the fisherman, as his name, Petraeus,
indicates,[494:2] being unable to prevail on him to make his peace with
Jupiter, by throwing the cause of human redemption out of his
hands,[494:3] "forsook him and fled." None remained to be witnesses of
his dying agonies, but the chorus of ever amiable and ever-faithful
women, which also bewailed and lamented him, but were unable to subdue
his inflexible philanthropy.[494:4]

10. "_There was darkness all over the land._"[494:5] In the same manner
ends the tale of the long toil and sorrows of other Sun-gods. The last
scene exhibits a manifest return to the spirit of the solar myth. He
must not die the common death of all men, for no disease or corruption
can touch the body of the brilliant Sun. After a long struggle against
the dark clouds who are arrayed against him, he is finally overcome, and
dies. Blacker and blacker grow the evening shades, and finally "there is
darkness on the face of the earth," and the din of its thunder clashes
through the air.[494:6]

It is the picture of a sunset in wild confusion, of a sunset more awful,
yet not more sad, than that which is seen in the last hours of many
other _Sun_-gods.[494:7] It is the picture of the loneliness of the
_Sun_, who sinks slowly down, with the ghastly hues of death upon his
face, while none is nigh to cheer him save the ever-faithful women.

11. "_He descended into hell._"[494:8] This is the _Sun's_ descent into
the _lower regions_. It enters the sign Capricornus, or the Goat, and
the astronomical winter begins. The days have reached their shortest
span, and the _Sun_ has reached his extreme southern limit. The winter
solstice reigns, and the Sun seems to stand still in his southern
c