Cox, George - Aryan Mythology Vol 2.pdf

40 MYTHOLOGY OF THE ARYAN NATIONS.
BOOK while the thunderstorm, which ended the drought and dis-
II .
v-—^—• comfited Vritra and the Sphinx, dealt also the deathblow to
Phaethon and plunged him into the sea. The tears of the
Heliades, his sisters, like the drops which fell from the eyes
of Zeus on the death of his son Sarpedon, answer to the
down-pouring rain which follows the discharge of the
lightning.
Patroklos Phaethon, then, is strictly a reflection of his father with
machos. a^ n ^ s beauty and all his splendour, but without his dis-
cretion or his strength ; and the charge given to him that he
is not to whip the fiery steeds is of the very essence of the
story. If he would but abstain from this, they would bring
him safely to his journey's end ; but he fails to obey, and is
smitten. The parallel between this legend and that of
Patroklos is singularly exact. Mr. Grote has remarked the
neutral characters and vaguely defined personality both of
Patroklos and of Telemachos, and we are justified in laying
special stress on the fact that just as Phaethon is allowed to
drive the horses of Helios under a strict charge that he shall
not touch them with his whip, so Achilleus suffers Patroklos
to put on his armour and ascend his chariot under the in-
junction that so soon as he has driven the Trojans from the
ships he is not to attempt to pursue them to the city. Pa-
troklos disobeys the command and is slain by Hektor ; but
the sorrow of the Heliades is altogether surpassed by the
fiery agony of Achilleus. It is in truth impossible not to see
the same weakened reflection of a stronger personality in the
Latin Remus the brother of Romulus, in Arjuna the com-
panion of Krishna, in Peirithoos the associate of Theseus,
and in all the other mythical instances cited by Cicero as
examples of genuine friendship. In the folk-lore of the East
these secondaries, represented by faithful John in the Teutonic
story, reappear as Luxman in the legend of Ramah, and
as Butti in the tale of Vicram Maharajah. Nor can we fail to
discern the same idea in the strange story of Absyrtos, the
younger and weaker brother of the wise and unscrupulous
Medeia, who scatters his limbs in the sea to stay the pursuit
of Aietes,— a vivid image of the young sun as torn into pieces
among the vapours that surround him, while the light falling