Cox, George - Aryan Mythology Vol 2.pdf

ODYSSEUS AND HIS COMRADES. 175
none has greater power ; and his cool unimpassioned sobriety CHAP,
stands ont in singular contrast with the fierce impetuosity of » J-—
Aclrilleus. He can also serve, if need be, as a spy, and in
ambush none are more formidable. With him, according to
one tradition, originated that device of the wooden horse
which simply reproduces the Argo on dry land. As the ship
bears the confederated Achaians who contrive to win a
welcome from the Kolchian king, so the wooden horse
carries all the bravest of the Argives on their errand of
death to the Trojans and of rescue to Helen, whose wealth
is the Golden Fleece.
With the fall of Ilion Odysseus at once appears in another Odysseus
aspect.
an
He is now the man who longs to see his wife, who ^®
er
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cannot tarry where he is, and who must go on his way
homewards in spite of all that may oppose him or seek to
weaken the memory of her beauty and her love. On this
thread the poet of the Odyssey has strung together the series
of adventures, most of which we have already sufficiently
examined in the myths under which each naturally falls.
These adventures are interwoven with wonderful skill ; but
they may each be traced to some simple phrase denoting
originally the phenomena of the sun's daily or yearly course
through the heaven. Among the most remarkable features
of the story are the changes in the companions of Odysseus.
He sets out from Ilion with a gallant fleet and a goodly company
: he lands in Ithaka from a beautiful bark with a noble
crew : but of those who had left Troy with him not one remained—
a vivid image of the sun setting among clouds, but
the clouds are not the same as those which surrounded him
at his birth. These must vanish away and die continually,
and a stock of stories to account for each disaster was the
inevitable result. The means by which the misfortunes were
brought about would also be readily suggested by the daily
appearances of the sky. Of all the clouds which are seen in
the heavens the delicate vapours which float like islets
through the blue seas of air would be the friends of the sun
the black clouds which rudely thrust these aside, or blot
them out of sight, would be the enemies who devour his
men. The same phenomena would suggest their features