“I hold it ever, Virtue and cunning were endowments greater Than nobleness and riches: careless heirs May the two latter darken and expend, But immortality attends the former, Making a man a god.” The horses and chariot of Phœbus, and the presumptuous charioteer Phaëton, who attempted to drive them, are celebrated with great splendour of description in Ovid’s _Metamorphoses_ (bk. ii. fab. 1), that rich storehouse of Mythology. The palace of the god has lofty columns bright with glittering gold; the roof is covered with pure shining ivory; and the double gates are of silver. Here Phœbus was throned, and clothed in purple;—the days and months and years,—the seasons and the ages were seated around him; Phaëton appears, claims to be his son, and demands for one day to guide the glorious steeds. At this point we take up the narrative which Alciat has written (Emb. 56), and inscribed, “_To the rash_.”[140] In temerarios. _Aſpicis aurigam currus Phaëtonta paterni Igniuo mos auſum flectere Solis equos. Maxima qui poſtquàm terris incendia ſparſit: Eſt temerè inſeſſo lapſus ab axe miſer. Sic plerique rotis Fortunæ ad ſydera Reges Euecti: ambitio quos iuuenilis agit. Poſt magnam humani generis cladémque, ſuamque, Cunctorum pœnas denique dant ſcelerum._ [Illustration: _Alciat, 1551._] “You behold Phaëton the driver of his father’s chariot,— Who dared to guide the fire breathing horses of the sun. After over the lands mightiest burnings he scattered, Wretched he fell from the chariot where rashly he sat. So many kings, whom youthful ambition excites, On the wheels of Fortune are borne to the stars. After great slaughter of the human race and their own, For all their crimes at last the penalties they pay.” Shakespeare’s notices of the attempted feat and its failure are frequent. First, in the _Two Gentlemen of Verona_ (act iii. sc. 1, l. 153, vol. i. p. 121), the Duke of Milan discovers the letter addressed to his daughter Silvia, with the promise,— “Silvia, this night will I enfranchise thee,”— and with true classic force denounces the folly of the attempt,— “Why, Phaethon,—for thou art Merops’ son,— Wilt thou aspire to guide the heavenly car, And with thy daring folly burn the world? Wilt thou reach stars because they shine on thee?” In her impatience for the meeting with Romeo (_Romeo and Juliet_, act iii. sc. 2, l. 1, vol. vii. p. 72), Juliet exclaims,— “Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds, Towards Phœbus’ lodging: such a waggoner As Phaethon would whip you to the west And bring in cloudy night immediately.”