TEUTONIC MYTHOLOGY. - Centrostudirpinia.it

336 CONDITION OF GODS.
deified saint (as once they were to gods) would have to be specified
too.
The favourite residence of each god is particularly pointed out
in the Grimnismal ; mountains especially were consecrated to the
Teutonic, as to the Greek deities: Sigt^sberg, Himinbib rg, &c.
Olympus was peculiarly the house of Zeus (Jto? SCO/JLO), to which
the other gods assembled (II. 1, 494) ; on the highest peak of the
range he would sit apart (arep a\\wv 1, 498. 5, 753), loving to take
counsel alone (d-TrdvevOe Oe&v 8, 10). He had another seat on Ida
(11, 183. 336), whence he looked down to survey the doings of men,
as 05inn did from HliSscialf. Poseidon sat on a height in the
wooded range of Samos (13, 12). Valholl and Bilskirnir, the
dwellings of OSinn and Thorr, are renowned for their enormous
size ; the one is said to have 540 doors, through any
one of which
800 einheriar can go out at once, and Bilskirnir has likewise 540
golfe [OK golfr, floor] (see SuppL).
If now we take in one view the relations of gods and men, we
find they meet and touch at all points. As the created being is
filled with a childlike sense of its dependence on the creator, and
prayers and offerings implore his favour, so deity too delights in its
creations, and takes in them a fatherly interest. Man s longing
goes forth towards heaven the ; gods fix their gaze on the earth, to
watch and direct the doings of mortals. The blessed gods do
commune with each other in their heavenly abodes, where feasts
and revels go on as in
earthly fashion but ; they are more drawn to
men, whose destinies enlist their liveliest sympathy. It is not true,
what Mart. Cap. says 2, 9 : ipsi dicuntur dii, et caelites alias
perhibentur . . . nee admodum eos mortalium curarum vota
sollicitant, a7ra0eZ?que perhibentur. Not content with making
their will known by signs and messengers, they resolve to come
down themselves and appear to men. Such appearance is in the
Hindu mythology marked by a special name: avatura, i.e., de-
scensus. 1
Under this head come first the solemn car-processions of deities
heralding peace and fruitfulness or war and mischief, which for the
most part recur at stated seasons, and are associated with popular
festivals ; on the fall of heathenism, only motherly wise-women
1
Bopp s gloss, sansk. 21 a .