Themis, a study of the social origins of Greek ... - Warburg Institute

388 From Daimon to Olympian [ch.
obvious. It has only lain so long concealed because of a dominant
anthropomorphism. Phoebus is still to-day the Sun 1 .
Hark, hark, the lark at heaven's gate sings,
And Phoebus 'gins arise.
And if Phoibos be the Sun, who is Phoibe but the Moon ?
vEschylus gives no hint of the Moon nature of Phoibe. To
him and to his commentators she seems simply a Titaness, one
of the old order used as a bridge between Gaia and Phoibos-
Apollo. But Latin poets, unconfused by anthropomorphism, never
forget. Vergil 2 writes
Iamque dies caelo concesserat: almaque curru
Noctivago Phoebe medium puisabat Olympum,
and again Ovid 3 with an eye on the mantic Apollo,
Auguribus Phoebus, Phoebe venantibus adsit.
But we are not left to Latin poets for evidence. We have
the direct statement of Plutarch 4—no better authority could be
desired—that, according to Orphic tradition, the oracle at Delphi
was held by Night and the Moon. This point is important for
our sequence and must be clearly established. The statement
occurs in the curious account given of one Thespesios 5—an
oddly magical name—and his spiritual adventures in the under-
world.
Thespesios and his guide arrive at a certain place—the topo-
graphy is necessarily vague, where three daimones are seated at
the angles of a triangle, and then
The guide of the soul of Thespesios told him that Orpheus got as far as
here, when he went to fetch the soul of his wife, and, from not clearly
remembering, he published to mortals a false report that the oracle at Delphi
v:as shared by Apollo and Night, whereas in no respect was there community
between Night and Apollo. 'But this oracle,' said the guide, 'is held in
common by Night and the Moon, not issuing out of the earth at any one
place, nor having one particular seat, but it wanders everywhere among men
in dreams and visions. Hence dreams receive and spread abroad a blend, as
you see, of what is simple and true with what is complex and misleading.'
'But the oracle,' he continued, 'of Apollo you cannot see clearly. For the
1 The sense in which Phoibos may be said to ' be ' the Sun will be explained
later (p. 392). To avoid misunderstanding it may be stated in advance that
equivalence is not meant. Phoibos stands for the Sun-aspect of Apollo ; and
Apollo has other aspects. Hence Phoibos is not the equivalent of Helios, still less
is Apollo. The same applies to Phoibe, Artemis and the Moon.
2 &n. x. 215. 3 Amores, m. 2. 51.
4 De ser. num. vindict. xxn.
5 His real name was Aridaeus. Thespesios was a new name given him. The
whole account reads strongly like the account of an initiation ceremony.