Cox, George - Aryan Mythology Vol 2.pdf

II.
MYTHOLOGY OF THE ARYAN NATIONS.
CHAPTEE VI.
THE WATEKS.
Section I.—THE DWELLERS IN THE SEA.
BOOK Between Proteus, the child of Poseidon, and Nereus, the
son of Pontes, there is little distinction beyond that of name.
Both dwell in the waters, and although the name of the
latter points more especially to the sea as his abode, yet the
power which, according to Apollodoros, he possesses of
changing his form at will indicates his affinity to the cloud
deities, unless it be taken as referring to the changing face
of the ocean with its tossed and twisting waves. It must,
however, be noted that, far from giving him this power, the
Hesiodic Theogony seems to exclude it by denying to him
the capricious fickleness of Proteus. He is called the old
man, we are here told, because he is truthful and cannot lie,
because he is trustworthy and kindly, because he forgets not
law but knows all good counsels and just words—a singular
contrast to the being who will yield only to the argument of
force. Like Proteus, he is gifted with mysterious wisdom,
and his advice guides Herakles in the search for the apples
(or flocks) of the Hesperid.es. His wife Doris is naturally
the mother of a goodly offspring, fifty in number, like the
children of Danaos, Aigyptos, Thestios, and Asterodia ; but
the ingenuity of later mythographers was scarcely equal to
the task of inventing for all of them names of decent
mythical semblance. Some few, as Amphitrite and Galateia,
are genuine names for dwellers in the waters ; but most of
them, as Dynamene, Pherousa, Proto, Kymodoke, Nesaia,
Aktaia, are mere epithets denoting their power and strength,
their office or their abode. Of Pontos himself, the father
of Nereus, there is even less to be said. In the Hesiodic