DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14696#0086
The Elysian Way
37
Again, in an equally arresting fragment Pindar says :
Themis the wise, the heavenly, afar
From Ocean's founts on golden car
Up the dread stair the Fates first bore
Along the gleaming way to Olympos' height,
That Zeus the Saviour might
Have her to wife of yore :
The mother she of the unerring Hours,
Gold-frontleted, gay-fruited powers1.
What was this 'road of Zeus,' this 'gleaming way'? If I am not
mistaken2, it was the broad path of dim and distant splendour that
stretches across the abyss of the midnight sky3. Our forefathers
called it ' Watling Street4' or 'London Road5.' We know it as
the ' Milky Way.' And a collection of names for it such as that
got together by H. Gaidoz and E. Rolland6 proves that all the
world over it has been regarded as a celestial track. Further, as
E. B. Tvlor"7 observed, this track is often held to be the road
traversed by the gods or the souls of men :
1 Pind. frag. 30 Schroeder ap. Clem. Al. strom. 5. 14 p. 418, 23 ff. Stahlin irpuTov
(sic Hephaist. 15. 11 p. 51, 6 Consbruch, irpuira Clem. Al.) fj.ev evfiovXov Qep.iv ovpaviav \
XpvaeaLaiv (xpvffiaicnv Clem. Al., xPx"J^allTLV cj- D. Heinsius) 'Lttitols (ittwomtiv Clem. AL,
lttttois cj. G. Hermann) 'QKeavov irapa waydv (wdyov Clem. AL, waydv cj. A. Boeckh) |
Mcupcu wotl KXifxaKa aeixvdv j ayov (ayov Clem. Al.) 'OXvinrov (QvXvp.irov cj. G. Hermann)
Xnrapdv Kad' 656v (Kadodov Clem. AL, corr. C. G. Heyne) | cnoTrjpos dpx^iav dXoxov Aios
efj.fj.ev (efj.fj.tvaL Clem. AL, corr. C. G. Heyne) | d de rd? (aSerds Clem. AL, d de ras
Schroeder) xPv<J°LtJ-7rvKas dyXaoKapirovs | riKrev dXadeas "i}pas (dyada tjwTrjpas Clem. AL,
dyadd o-wTrjpas <"fi/3as > cj. G. Hermann, aXadeas "Qpas rest. A. Boeckh cp. Hesych. s.v.
aXadeas "Upas).
- The same conclusion was reached by T. Bergk in the fahrb.f. class. Pliilol. i860
vi. 411 ff. and by W. H. Roscher Jtino und Hera Leipzig 1875 P- 83 nn. 257 and 258,
who rightly drew attention to Philon de providejitia 1. 89 (a Latin rendering of the
Armenian version discovered by B. Aucher) Circulus tamen lacteus ad quid est?...Si
quidem nonnulli arbitrantur luminis esse revibrationem ex stellis refulgentibus; quidam
vero commissuram totius caeli, ubi coaptantur hemisphaeria; alii antiquam ab initio viam
solis ; alii Geryonis pecudum viam, per quam eas duxit Hercules ; alii vero ex yaXaKTiKuis,
sc. lacte plenis, Iunonis uberibus; quod etiam Heratosthenes sensit : quare dicit, Miror,
si aggrediar Iovis sacra vestigia pedis, quod cornu appellat hucusque, et circulum festi-
nantis velocisque suffurantis paleas. Bergk loc. cit. p. 412 n. 141 saw that the latter part
of this extract derives from Eratosthenes' astronomical poem 'Ep^s (frag- 16 ed. Hiller
Lipsiae 1872). 3 Y. Kahn Die Milchstrasse Stuttgart 1914.
4 J. Grimm Teutonic Mythology trans. J. S. Stallybrass London 1882 i. 356 f., E. B.
Tylor Primitive Culture* London 1891 i. 360.
5 E. B. Tylor Primitive Culture'6 London 1891 i. 360, The Lady Eveline Camilla
Gurdon County Folk-Lore. Printed Extracts No. 2. Suffolk London 1893 p. 166.
6 H. Gaidoz and E. Rolland ' Noms de la Voie Lactee dans differentes langues ' in
Milusine Paris 1884—§5 LS1 —154. Shorter lists are given by A. Kuhn Sagen,
Gebrduche und Mdrchen aus Westfalen Leipzig 1859 n- ^5 ^ > by J- Grimm Teutonic
Mythology trans. J. S. Stallybrass London 1882—1888 i. 357 n. 1, iv. 1389, 1588, and by
E. H. Meyer Germanische Mythologie Berlin 1891 pp. 89, 241, 281.
7 E. B. Tylor Primitive Czdlure3 London 1891 i. 359 b
37
Again, in an equally arresting fragment Pindar says :
Themis the wise, the heavenly, afar
From Ocean's founts on golden car
Up the dread stair the Fates first bore
Along the gleaming way to Olympos' height,
That Zeus the Saviour might
Have her to wife of yore :
The mother she of the unerring Hours,
Gold-frontleted, gay-fruited powers1.
What was this 'road of Zeus,' this 'gleaming way'? If I am not
mistaken2, it was the broad path of dim and distant splendour that
stretches across the abyss of the midnight sky3. Our forefathers
called it ' Watling Street4' or 'London Road5.' We know it as
the ' Milky Way.' And a collection of names for it such as that
got together by H. Gaidoz and E. Rolland6 proves that all the
world over it has been regarded as a celestial track. Further, as
E. B. Tvlor"7 observed, this track is often held to be the road
traversed by the gods or the souls of men :
1 Pind. frag. 30 Schroeder ap. Clem. Al. strom. 5. 14 p. 418, 23 ff. Stahlin irpuTov
(sic Hephaist. 15. 11 p. 51, 6 Consbruch, irpuira Clem. Al.) fj.ev evfiovXov Qep.iv ovpaviav \
XpvaeaLaiv (xpvffiaicnv Clem. Al., xPx"J^allTLV cj- D. Heinsius) 'Lttitols (ittwomtiv Clem. AL,
lttttois cj. G. Hermann) 'QKeavov irapa waydv (wdyov Clem. AL, waydv cj. A. Boeckh) |
Mcupcu wotl KXifxaKa aeixvdv j ayov (ayov Clem. Al.) 'OXvinrov (QvXvp.irov cj. G. Hermann)
Xnrapdv Kad' 656v (Kadodov Clem. AL, corr. C. G. Heyne) | cnoTrjpos dpx^iav dXoxov Aios
efj.fj.ev (efj.fj.tvaL Clem. AL, corr. C. G. Heyne) | d de rd? (aSerds Clem. AL, d de ras
Schroeder) xPv<J°LtJ-7rvKas dyXaoKapirovs | riKrev dXadeas "i}pas (dyada tjwTrjpas Clem. AL,
dyadd o-wTrjpas <"fi/3as > cj. G. Hermann, aXadeas "Qpas rest. A. Boeckh cp. Hesych. s.v.
aXadeas "Upas).
- The same conclusion was reached by T. Bergk in the fahrb.f. class. Pliilol. i860
vi. 411 ff. and by W. H. Roscher Jtino und Hera Leipzig 1875 P- 83 nn. 257 and 258,
who rightly drew attention to Philon de providejitia 1. 89 (a Latin rendering of the
Armenian version discovered by B. Aucher) Circulus tamen lacteus ad quid est?...Si
quidem nonnulli arbitrantur luminis esse revibrationem ex stellis refulgentibus; quidam
vero commissuram totius caeli, ubi coaptantur hemisphaeria; alii antiquam ab initio viam
solis ; alii Geryonis pecudum viam, per quam eas duxit Hercules ; alii vero ex yaXaKTiKuis,
sc. lacte plenis, Iunonis uberibus; quod etiam Heratosthenes sensit : quare dicit, Miror,
si aggrediar Iovis sacra vestigia pedis, quod cornu appellat hucusque, et circulum festi-
nantis velocisque suffurantis paleas. Bergk loc. cit. p. 412 n. 141 saw that the latter part
of this extract derives from Eratosthenes' astronomical poem 'Ep^s (frag- 16 ed. Hiller
Lipsiae 1872). 3 Y. Kahn Die Milchstrasse Stuttgart 1914.
4 J. Grimm Teutonic Mythology trans. J. S. Stallybrass London 1882 i. 356 f., E. B.
Tylor Primitive Culture* London 1891 i. 360.
5 E. B. Tylor Primitive Culture'6 London 1891 i. 360, The Lady Eveline Camilla
Gurdon County Folk-Lore. Printed Extracts No. 2. Suffolk London 1893 p. 166.
6 H. Gaidoz and E. Rolland ' Noms de la Voie Lactee dans differentes langues ' in
Milusine Paris 1884—§5 LS1 —154. Shorter lists are given by A. Kuhn Sagen,
Gebrduche und Mdrchen aus Westfalen Leipzig 1859 n- ^5 ^ > by J- Grimm Teutonic
Mythology trans. J. S. Stallybrass London 1882—1888 i. 357 n. 1, iv. 1389, 1588, and by
E. H. Meyer Germanische Mythologie Berlin 1891 pp. 89, 241, 281.
7 E. B. Tylor Primitive Czdlure3 London 1891 i. 359 b