TEUTONIC MYTHOLOGY. - Centrostudirpinia.it

364 HEROES.
3. Speaking of sacrifices in cap. 9, after mentioning Mercurius
first, he immediately adds : Herculem ac Martern concessis animalibus
placant, the demigod being purposely put before even Mars.
Chapter 34 tells us of the ocean on the coast of the Frisians, then
says : Et superesse adhuc Herculis columnas fama vulgavit, sive
adiit Hercules, sen quidquid ubique magnificuin est, in claritatem
ejus referre consensimus. Nee defuit audentia Druso Germanico,
sed obstitit oceanus in se simul atque in Herculem inquiri. Mox
nemo tentavit, sanctiusque ac reverentius visum de actis deorum
credere quam scire. The Annals 2, 12 name a silva Herculi
sacra/ between the Weser and Elbe in the land of the Chernscans ;
while the Peutinger Table puts a *
castra Herculis near Novio-
magus (Nimwegen). All this means something, it all points to
some demigod who is identified, not unadvisedly, with that of the
Romans. Hercules, whose deeds were accomplished in countries
widely remote, is thought to have visited Germany also, and the
Gaditanian pillars at one end of Europe have a counterpart in the
Frisian ocean on another side of it. In the German battle-song
the praise of Hercules is sounded first, victims are slain to him as
to the highest gods, to him a wood is consecrated. Of pillars,
even Widukind still knows something, by his speaking of Hirmin s
effigies columnarum (pi.), not columuae. Was the plural irman-
siili (p. 115) more exact than irmansul, and had the image several
pillars
Herakles and Hercules, whose name bore plainly on its face the
? Did the Eoman in his Hermin and Herminones think of
root r/
Hpa, Hera ? was that why he retained the minones and Hermunduri, and not in Arminius ?
aspirate
An approxima
tion of sound in the names of the two heroes, Roman and German,
may surely be presupposed. The position of Herculis silva and
columnae does not indeed agree with that of the Herminones, but
in Her-
the worship of such a hero was sure to spread far and not to be
confined to the particular race to which he gave his name. In
the German Irman, Irmin, it seems correct for the aspirate to
be wanting, as in Arminius ; in Cherusci it is indispensable, and
therefore the Romans never wrote Herusci.
If in this Hercules we wish to see one of the great gods
themselves, we must apparently exclude Mercury and Mars, from
whom he is distinguished in cap. 9, i.e., Wuotan and Zio. And for
supposing him to mean Donar, i.e., Jupiter (as Zeuss does, p. 25), I