Page:The Mythology of the Aryan Nations.djvu/39

Rh that this hypothesis involves the necessity of interpreting mythology so as to square with a preconceived system, and carries with it a temptation to lessen or to pass over difficulties which appear to militate against it. The Homeric legends are not so consistent as for such a purpose would seem desirable, and there are the gravest reasons for not inferring from the silence of the poet that he was ignorant of other versions than those which he has chosen to adopt. On the supposition that Athênê and Apollôn represent severally the Divine Redeemer and the Divine Wisdom, their relation of will to the Supreme Father becomes a point of cardinal interest and importance. Without going further than the Iliad, we have a conspiracy to bind Zeus, in which Athênê is the accomplice of Hêrê and Poseidôn. In this plot, the deliverance comes not from Apollôn, whose office it is to be "the defender and deliverer of heaven and the other immortals," but from Thetis, the silver-footed nymph of the sea; and by her wise counsels Zeus wins the victory over one who is with himself a member of the traditive Trinity. The same legend qualifies another statement, that Athênê and Apollôn are never foiled, defeated, or outwitted by any other of the gods; for Athênê here is foiled by Thetis. Elsewhere we have Apollôn, like Poseidôn, cheated by Laomedôn whom he had served, and finding a more congenial master, but yet a master, in Admêtos; while the parentage of the three Kronid brothers and the double character of Poseidôn stand forth as the most astounding contradictions of all.

There are other legends which represent Athênê in a light inconsistent with the personification of the Divine Wisdom. In the tale of Pandora, at the instigation of Zeus she takes part in the plot which results in the increased wickedness and misery of man; in that of Prometheus, she aids in the theft of fire from heaven against the will of Zeus, while one version represents her as acting thus, not from feelings of friendship, but from the passion of love. These legends are not found in our Homer, but it is impossible to prove that the poet was unacquainted with them. He makes no reference to some myths, which are at once among the oldest and the most beautiful;