9. Notwithstanding the long digression into which the examination of our subject has led us, we are afraid that the following positions, attempted to be established as the result of the preceding investigation, will by no means carry with them conviction to all readers. We may, however, rest assured, that whatever traces of an elementary religion can be discovered in this fable, they were additions totally at variance with its original structure. The fundamental idea of all the heroic mythology may be pronounced to be a proud consciousness of power innate in man, by which he endeavours to place himself on a level with the gods, not through the influence of a mild and benign destiny, but by labour, misery, and combats. The highest degree of human suffering and courage is attributed to Hercules: his character is as noble as could be conceived in those rude and early times; but he is by no means represented as free from the blemishes of human nature; on the contrary, he is frequently subject to wild, ungovernable passions, when the noble indignation and anger of the suffering hero degenerate into phrensy.[1860] Every crime, however, is atoned for by some new suffering; but nothing breaks his invincible courage, until, purified from earthly corruption, he ascends mount Olympus, and there receives the beauteous Hebe for his [pg 445] bride, while his shade threatens the frightened ghosts in Hades.[1861] As in the fable of Apollo, the godhead descends into the circle of human life, so in Hercules a purely human power is elevated to the gods. Hercules also corresponds to the last-mentioned deity, in his divine attributes, as an averter of evil (ἀλεξίκακος and σωτὴρ);[1862] which the Œtæans carried so far as to worship him as the destroyer of grasshoppers (κορνοπίων), and the Erythræans as the killer of the vine-worm (ἰποκτόνος).[1863] We cannot, however, agree with Herodotus, who derives the deification of Hercules from a combination of the Phœnician or Idæan god, and the hero of Thebes, since Hercules also enjoyed divine honours at places (as Messene and Marathon[1864]) where such an amalgamation can scarcely be imagined. But he is a deity representing the highest perfection of humanity, and therefore the [pg 446] model and aim of human imitation; and the summit of heroic energy was seen where the human passed into the divine nature. His life and actions on earth are in ancient mythology perfectly human; and those fables, which raise him above humanity, for instance, those alluding to the combat with the giants,[1865] betray a later origin.
10. How little the ancient mythology was desirous of divesting Hercules of any feelings of humanity may be collected from various features in his character. Hercules, whether invited or not invited, is a jovial guest, and not backward in enjoying himself. This explains the frequent allusions to him as a great eater (βουθοίνας) and tippler, and also the Herculean goblets and couches. The original source of all these fictions was the ancient tradition of the residence of Hercules with Ceyx and Dexamenus: nay, they may be traced to the ceremonies observed at his worship and festivals.[1866] The Doric,[1867] like the Athenian comic poets and satirists, merely adopted the general outline of the story, filling up the details to suit their own fancy and humour: the latter adding some jokes upon the gluttony of their Bœotian neighbours.[1868] It was Hercules, above all other heroes, whom mythology endeavoured to place in ludicrous situations; and [pg 447] sometimes made the butt of the buffoonery of others. This was the case in the fable of the Cercopes (treated of in a ludicrous epic poem ascribed to Homer),[1869] who are represented as alternately amusing and annoying the hero. In works of art they are often represented as satyrs, who rob the hero of his quiver, bow, and club.[1870] Hercules, annoyed at their insults, binds two of them to a pole, in the manner represented on the bas-relief of Selinus,[1871] and marches off with his prize. Happily for the offenders, the hinder parts of Hercules had become tanned by continued labours and exposure to the atmosphere: which reminded them of an old prophecy, warning them to beware of a person of this complexion;[1872] and the coincidence caused them to burst out into an [pg 448] immoderate fit of laughter. This surprised Hercules, who inquired the reason, and was himself so diverted by it, that he set both his prisoners at liberty. And in general no company better agrees with the character of Hercules, even in his deified state, than that of satyrs and other followers of Bacchus, as might easily be proved by many works of Grecian art. It also seems that mirth and buffoonery were often combined with the festivals of Hercules: thus there was at Athens a society of sixty men, who, on the festival of the Diomean Hercules, attacked and amused themselves and others with sallies of wit.[1873] We shall hereafter show how these exhibitions originated in the propensity of the Doric race to the burlesque and comic.[1874]
Appendix I.
On the settlements, origin, and early history of the Macedonian nation.
General outline of the country.[1875]
1. In the Thermaic bay, the modern gulf of Salonichi, three rivers of considerable size fall into the sea at very short distances from one another, but which meet in this place in very different directions. The largest of the three comes from the north-west, and is now called (as indeed it was in the time of Tzetzes and Anna Comnena) the Bardares (or Vardar), and was in ancient days celebrated under the name of Axius. Its stream is increased by large tributary branches on both sides, and chiefly by the Erigon, which flows from the mountains of Illyria.[1876] The river next in order runs from the west; it is now called in the interior of the country Potova, and on the coast Carasmac: its ancient name, as is evident from passages in Herodotus and Strabo, was Lydias, or Ludias.[1877] And, lastly, after many turnings and windings, [pg 452] the Haliacmon, now called Bichlista, flows from the south-west; in the time of Herodotus it fell into the sea through the same mouth as the Lydias, probably being widened by marshes; and in modern maps the interval between the two rivers is represented as very small.[1878] It may be easily conceived that this whole maritime district must have been low and marshy; and by this means Pella, as Livy remarks, was of all towns in the country best fitted for being the fortress of the Macedonian kings, and the place of deposit for their treasure, since it lay, like an island, in the morasses and swamps formed by the neighbouring lakes and rivers. These marshes were called by the expressive name of βόρβορος, or mud.[1879]
2. Although the mouths of these rivers were so near together, the extent of mountains, valleys, and plains which they encompassed in their course was very considerable, amounting, according to modern maps, to 140 geographical miles from north and south, and more than 60 from east to west. The Axius, together with its minor branches, runs from the great Scardian chain, which further on receives the names of Orbelus, Scomius, and Hæmus; while the course of the Haliacmon is close to the heights of mount Olympus (part of which ridge in later times was called the Cambunian mountains), and therefore to the borders of Thessaly. Both ridges run at right angles from the great mountain-chain which cuts the upper part of Greece in a direction from north-west to south-east, its southern parts bearing the name of Pindus, the ridge towards Thessaly and Epirus of Lacmon,[1880] and further to the north-west it is called [pg 453] the Candavian chain[1881] and mount Barnus.[1882] It stretches behind the whole of the district just named, and forms, as it were, the spine, to which the mountains of Illyria, Epirus, Macedonia, and Thessaly are attached like ribs. From this chain the two lines of mountains proceed, which separate the valleys of the Haliacmon and the Axius. The name of the ridge between the Haliacmon and the Lydias is known by the mention of mount Bermius above Berœa;[1883] and Berœa is certainly the modern Veria, or Cara Veria,[1884] near the northern bank of the Haliacmon. It will be shown presently that Dysorum was the name of the mountain which divided the Lydias and the Axius.[1885] And the ridge, which, stretching southward from the Scardian chain, parted the valley of the Axius from the plains to the east, was called (in one point at least), as we know from Thucydides'[1886] account of the Odrysian king's march, Cercine.