Page:The Mythology of the Aryan Nations.djvu/561

Rh CHAP. Of these Satyrs the oldest are named the Seilenoi, or children of Seilenos. But although there are between these beings many points of likeness, both in form and character, there is this marked distinc- tion, that while the Satyrs dwell among woods and hills,- the Seilenoi haunt streams, fountains, or marshy grounds. They are thus, like the Naiads, spirits of the waters, with attributes borrowed from, or shared with, the clouds that float above them. The grotesque form which Seilenos is made to assume may be an exaggeration of the western Greeks, who saw in the ass which bore him a mere sign of his folly and absurdity, while it points rather to the high value set on the ass by Eastern nations. It was, in fact, the symbol of his wisdom and his prophetical powers, and not the mere beast of burden which, in western myths, staggered along under the weight of an unwieldy drunkard. The same idea doubtless lay at the root of the story of Midas, to whom the ass's ears were at first not his shame but his glory. This Phrygian king is, in short, only Tantalos under another name, and with Tantalos, as with Sisyphos, the idea of wealth is inseparable from that of wisdom or craft. If, again, Tantalos and Sisyphos have palaces rich in all conceivable treasures, Midas has his beautiful rose-gardens, in which the country folk catch Seilenos, who is brought bound before the king. By him Midas is instructed in the knowledge of all events, whether past or future, as well as in the origin and nature of all things. In return for the kindness with which he is treated, Dionysos promises to grant to Midas any wish which he may express. Midas asks that everything which he touches may be turned into gold, and finds to his dismay that it is as impossible to swallow his food as the dishes on which it is laid. To his prayer for deliverance the answer is that he must go and wash in the stream of Paktolos, which has ever since retained a golden hue. This myth is nothing more than a story framed on a saying, like the German proverb, " Morgenstunde hat Gold im Munde/' " Morning hour has gold in her mouth," ^ and simply expressed the fact that the newly risen sun sheds a glory over all the earth, in other words, turns everything into gold. The sequel, which speaks of the misery of Midas, would be suggested by the literal interpretation of the words, while the command to bathe in the river finds a meaning in the fact that the flaming splendours of the sun are quenched when, like En-

' Max Miiller, Lectures, second series, 378. This proverb has acquired the didactic meaning of the English distich, " Early to bed and early to rise Makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise," which keeps up the same connexion between wealth and wisdom.