Page:Modern Greek folklore and ancient Greek religion - a study in survivals.djvu/118

 guarding the realm of Persephone; for he speaks of some remarkable lines from a song which he himself heard in Zacynthos as an unique mention of Cerberus, and questions the genuine nature of the tradition. All doubt is however removed by the corroborative evidence contained in the two stories already mentioned and by the fact that a three-headed dog belonging to Charos was recently heard of by a traveller in Macedonia. The lines themselves are put in the mouth of Charos:—

[Greek: Echô ochtro egô skyli, p' oulous mas mas phylaei, kê antas me idê tarazetai kai thelei na me phaê. einai skyli trikephalo, pou kaiei sa phôtia, echei ta nychia pountera kai tên ôra makrya. bganei phôtia 'ph' ta matia tou, apo to stoma labra, hê glôssa tou einai makrya, ta dontia tou einai maura .]

'A savage dog have I, who guards us all, and when he sees me he rages and fain would devour me. A three-headed dog is he, and he burns like fire; his claws are sharp and his tail is long; from his eyes he gives forth flame and from his mouth burning heat; long is his tongue and grim his teeth.'

Here at least recognition of Cerberus must be immediate; every detail of the description, save for the characteristically modern touch which makes Charos afraid of his own dog, is in accord with classical tradition.

Such is the household of Charos, so far as a description may be compiled from a few scattered allusions; his own portrait varies more, in proportion as there are more numerous attempts in every part of Greece to draw it. Sometimes he is depicted as an old man, tall and spare, white of hair and harsh of feature; but more often he is a lusty warrior, with locks of raven-black or gleaming gold—just as Hades in old time was sometimes [Greek: kyanochaitês], sometimes [Greek: xanthos],—who rides forth on his black steed by highway or lonely path to slay and to ravage: 'his glance is as lightning and his face as fire, his shoulders are like twin mountains and his head like a tower .' His raiment is usually black as befits the lord of death, but anon it is depicted bright as his sunlit hair, for though he brings death he is a god and glorious.