Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

2 34
Dionysos at Delphoi
say to us that God, who by nature is imperishable and everlasting, yet owing to
a certain necessity inherent in mind and reason undergoes transformation, and
sometimes kindles his nature to a fire thereby reducing all things to a state of
uniformity, sometimes becomes manifold in shapes and in diverse passions and
powers thereby producing an orderly universe, as at present, and winning for
himself the name that is famous above every name^ Our wiseacres keep this
knowledge from the populace, and call his transformation into fire Apollon by
reason of its unity ^ or Phoibos by reason of its pure and unpolluted character ;
but as to his turning into wind, water, earth, stars, births of plants and animals,
and his ordering of the universe in general, they hint at his suffering and trans-
formation by speaking of a certain rending-asunder and dismemberment :
they
call him Dionysos, Zagreus, Nyktelios, Isodaites, and recount certain destructions
and disappearances followed by rebirths and resurrections—mystifying and
mythical phrases that suit the transformations I have mentioned^. Again, to
the one god they sing dithyrambic songs full of passions and of a transformation
that involves a certain wandering and scattering : as Aischylos puts it
'Tis meet the dithyramb of mingled cry
With Dionysos should go revelling by*.
To the other god they sing a paean, an orderly and discreet form of composition.
Painters and sculptors always represent him as free from old age and youthful,
his partner as taking on a variety of forms and shapes. Generally speaking,
they ascribe to the former similarity, order, pure seriousness, to the latter ups
and downs of sport and violence, seriousness and madness, invoking him as
' Lord of the Loud Cry, Waker of Women, Dionysos flowering forth with
frenzied rites^' In fact they have seized aright the true nature of both trans-
formations. But inasmuch as the periods of time allowed for these transforma-
tions are unequal, the former period which they call "satiety" having the longer
duration, the latter period of " need " the shorter^, they are careful to observe
' Sc. de6s, as Paton points out, d-n-o rrj^ decr€ws = SiaKO(Tnri(reb}i, cp. Cornut. t/ieo/. i
p. 3, T f. Lang rdxa. 5' &v etev deal derijpei Kal Trotrjrai tQv yivofifvuv. So Hdt. 2. 52, ef.
mag. p. 445, 48 ff. = Choirobosk. in psal. p. 99, iff.
2 'k-KoKkiav is here derived from o + ttoXi/s— a favourite whimsy (Chrysippos ap.
Macrob. Sat. i. 17. 7, Flout, de E aptid Delphos 20, de Is. et Os. 10, 76, Clem. Al.
strovi. I. 24 p. 103, 3f. Stahiin, Plotin. enn. 5. 5. 6 p. 213, 20 ff. Volkmann, Hesych.
s.v. 'ATrdWuiv, Lyd. de mens. 2. 4 p. 21, 18 ff. Wiinsch, Q,xz.vc\&x anecd. Paris, i. 315,
34 ff., V. Plat. p. 8 ed. A. H. L. Heeren in the Bibliothek der alien Litteratur und
j^««j/ Gottingen 1789 Stiick v).
* T^s 5' eis TTZ'eO/id re (codd. irvevfjiara corr. Meziriac) Kal iiSwp Kal y^v Kal acTpa Kal
(f>vTwv ^(^wv re yeviaeis rpoTrrji avTOv Kal SiaKoaix-qaew^ rb /xiv Trddr]/j.a Kal ttjv fxera^oXT^v
dia(7Tra(Tn6v riva Kal diafj.6\i