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

430 From Daimon to Olympian [CH.
followed the heifer, and guided by her came to the fertile Aonian
land, to the fount of Dirke.
There the snake of Ares, savage guard,
O'er the flowing fount kept watch and ward,
There the beast his bloody eyeballs rolled,
Thither on a time came Kadmos bold
Seeking lustral water. By the might
Of maiden Pallas he the snake did smite,
With a rock upon its head
Bloody stained, and straight he shed
All its teeth upon the earth,
Up there sprang an armed birth.
Not for long were they. Bloody strife
Sent them back to earth that gave them life.
The snake, though the chorus regard him as a terrible
monster, is the guardian of the well, is really the genius loci,
the Agathos Daimon of the place. As such he appears on the
vase 1 by Assteas reproduced in Fig. 129. Kadmos has come up
Fig. 129.
to the well, the snake ramps out at him, and in terror he drops
his water-jar and picks up a great stone. With the help of the
stone and the goddess Athene who stands near he will presently
1 Naples Museum, Cat. 3226. From a photograph.