BOOK II.
Action of
the Vedic
and
Achaian
deities.
Still bears his unerring weapons, yet his arrows lie within the quiver until some wickedness of man compels him to draw them forth. The superhuman action of the Iliad and Odyssey, in short, has reference strictly to the deeds and fortunes of men ; the age of con- flicts between the gods has almost passed away. The conspiracy of Here, Poseidon, and Athene to bind Zeus, is 'amongst the latest of those struggles which had culminated in the wars of the Titans, for when in the last great battle of Achilleus the gods turn against each other in the fray, there is still no thought of assailing the great King who sits in his serene ether far above the turmoil raging beneath him.^
The true mythical action of the Achaian deities is thus intermit- tent. In the hymns of the Rig Veda it is continuous, and their action is but remotely concerned with human interests. Like the Hesiodic Zeus, they love the savour of burnt-offerings, and hasten to receive their share of the sacrifice : but as soon as the rites are over, they return to their own proper work as wielding the forces which are manifested in the changing heavens. The Vedic gods are thus, pre- eminently, transparent. Instead of one acknowledged king, each is lord in his own domain; each is addressed as the maker of all visible things, while their features and characteristics are in almost all cases interchangeable. Dyaus and Indra, Varuna and Agni are each in his turn spoken of as knowing no superior, and the objects of their chief care are not the children of men, but the winds, the storms, the clouds, and the thunder, which are constantly rising in rebeUion against them. No sooner is one conflict ended than another is begun, or rather the same conflict is repeated as the days and seasons come round. Whenever the rain is shut up in the clouds, the dark power is in revolt against Dyaus and Indra. In the rumblings of the thunder, while the drought still sucks out the life of the earth, are heard the mutterings of their hateful enemy. In the lightning flashes which precede the outburst of the pent-up waters are seen the irre- sistible spears of the god, who is attacking the throttling serpent in his den : and in the serene heaven which shone out when the delufrino:
- " L'Olympe, dans Hom^re, rcssem-
ble une monarcliie etablie de longue date, oil chaque personnage a, par droit de naissance, son emploi, ses litres in- variables, et son rang dont il ne songe pas 4 se (lepartir. Dans cette sorte de cour que les dicux tiennent autour de Jupiter, ils se sont dcpouilles de leur caractere propre et de leur originalite native . . , Comme ces dignitaires des anciennes monarchies qui conlinuent ^ porter des titres depuis longtcmps vides de sens, ils ont des surnoms dont ils semblent ignorer la valour." — Breal, Hcrciilc et Caciis, Si. The very fact that the mythical attributes of these gods become less and less defined, while tbeir subordination to Zeus be- comes more and more marked, is the strongest evidence of the mythological origin of the whole.
