Cox, George - Aryan Mythology Vol 2.pdf

276
BOOK
II.
The fleets
of Alkinoos.
MYTHOLOGY OF THE ARYAN NATIONS.
the golden doors, and steps of silver. Nay, who has not
watched the varying* forms and half convinced himself that
the unsubstantial figures before him are the shapes of men
and beasts who people that shadowy kingdom ? Who has
not seen there the dogs of gold and silver who guard the
house of Alkinoos and on whom old age and death can
never lay a finger—the golden youths standing around the
inmost shrine with torches in their hands, whose light never
dies out—the busy maidens plying their golden distaffs as
their fingers run along the filmy threads spread on the bare
ground of the unfading ether ? Who does not understand
the poet at once when he says that their marvellous skill
came from Athene, the goddess of the dawn ? And who does
not see that in the gardens of this beautiful palace must
bloom trees laden always with golden fruits, that here the
soft west wind brings new blossoms before the old have
ripened, that here fountains send their crystal streams to
freshen the meadows which laugh beneath the radiant heaven?
It is certainly possible that in this description the poet may
have introduced some features in the art or civilization of
his own day; but the magnificent imagination even of a
Spanish beggar has never dreamed of a home so splendid as
that of the Scherian chieftain, and assuredly golden statues
and doors, silver stairs and brazen walls formed no part of
the possessions of any king of the east or the west from the
days of the Homeric poets to our own. In truth, there is
nothing of the earth in this exquisite picture. In the Phaiakian
land sorrow and trouble are things unknown. The
house of Alkinoos is the house of feasting, where the dancers
are never weary, and the harp is never silent.
But the poet carries us to the true Phaiakian domain,
when he makes Alkinoos say that though his people are not
good boxers or wrestlers, none can outrun them on land or
and we may well suppose that
rival their skill on shipboard ;
some consciousness of the meaning of his tale must have
been present to the mind of the bard as he recounted the
wonders of the Phaiakian ships. These mysterious vessels
have neither helmsmen nor rudders, rigging nor tackling
but they know the thoughts and the minds of men. There