Page:Hesiod, and Theognis.djvu/100

This page has been validated.
86
HESIOD.

dren of Night may be found in the Iliad,[1] as well as in the Æneid.[2]

Another wonder of the prison-house, in Hesiod's account of it, is Cerberus:—

"A grisly dog, implacable,Watching before the gates. A stratagemIs his, malicious: them who enter there,With tail and bended ears he fawning soothes,But suffers not that they with backward stepRepass: whoe'er would issue from the gatesOf Pluto strong and stern Persephone,For them with marking eye he lurks: on themSprings from his couch, and pitiless devours."—E. 1018-1026.

In close proximity to this monster was the fabled Styx, in some respects the most awful personage in the 'Theogony.' The legend about her is somewhat obscure, but it is curious as being connected with that of Iris, the rainbow, whose function of carrying up water when any god has been guilty of falsehood seems a vague embodiment of the covenant sealed by the "bow set in the cloud:"—

"Jove sends Iris downTo bring the great oath in a golden ewer,The far-famed water, from steep, sky-capt rockDistilling in cold stream. Beneath the earthAbundant from the sacred river-headThrough shades of darkest night the Stygian hornOf Ocean flows: a tenth of all the streamsTo the dread Oath allotted. In nine streamsCircling the round of earth and the broad seas
  1. ↑ II. xiv. 231, &c.
  2. ↑ Æn. vi. 278, &c.
This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.