330 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IV. No. 89. 



name from jSdUw, the far- thro wing rays of 

 the sijn, shows him to be a type of the 

 wide-spread sun-myth, whose rising rays 

 strike down the forms of darkness. 



But the myth of Chimsera is independent 

 of him, and is always localized; there is 

 always the tail of a dragon, the body of a 

 goat and the head of a lion, or the three 

 heads of lion, goat and serpent, and it 

 vomits fire, and ravages in the mountains 

 of woody Lycia. 



The classical prose writers describe the 

 phenomenon with curious accuracy. Sen- 

 eca says: 



' ' In Lycia regio notissima est. 

 Ephestion incolse vocant, 

 Perforatum pluribus locis solum, 

 Quod sine ullo nascentium damno ignii in- 



noxius circuit. 

 Laeta itaque regio est et herbida nil flammis 



adurentibus. ' ' 



(In Lycia is a remarkable region, which 

 the inhabitants call Ephestion.* The 

 ground is perforated in many places ; a fire 

 plays harmlessly without any injury to 

 growing things. It is a pleasant region, 

 therefore, and woody, nothing being injured 

 by the flames.) 



Strabo says, simply : " The neighbor- 

 hood of these mountains is the scene of the 

 fable of the Chimsera, and at no great dis- 

 tance is Chimsera, a sort of ravine, which 

 extends upward from the shore." And 

 Pliny, with his accustomed mingling of 

 truth and fiction, says : ' — et ipsa (Chi- 

 msera ssepe flagrantibus jugis' (and Chi- 

 msera itself with its flaming peaks). And 

 again : '' Flagrat in Phaselide Mons Chi- 

 msera et quidem immortali diebus ac noc- 

 tibus flamma." (Mount Chimsera burns 

 in Phasilis with a certain immortal flame 

 shining by day and by night.) Also : " In 

 the same country of Syria the mountains of 

 Hephsestius, when touched with a flaming 

 torch, burn so violently that even the 



* That is Vulcan. 



stones in the river and the sand burn while 

 actually in the water. This fire is also in- 

 creased by rain. If a person make furrows 

 in the ground with a stick which has been 

 kindled at this fire, it is said that a stream 

 of flame will follow it." 



Servius, the ancient commentator of Vir- 

 gil, explains the myth as follows : " The 

 flames issue from the summit of the moun- 

 tain, and there are lions in the region under 

 the peak, the middle parts of the hill 

 abound with goats, and the lower with 

 serpents." While the modern commenta- 

 tors say : " The origin of this fire-breath- 

 ing monster must be sought probably in the 

 volcano of the name of Chimsera in Pha- 

 selis, in Lycia,"* and the myth did not es- 

 cape the great, but largely wasted, erudi- 

 tion of Knight, who says : ''In the gallery 

 in Florence is a colossal image of the Phal- 

 lus, mounted on the back parts of a lion, 

 and hung round with various animals. By 

 this is represented the cooperation of the 

 creating and destroying powers, which are 

 both blended and united in one figure, be- 

 cause both are derived from one cause. 

 The animals hung round show also that 

 both act to the same purpose, that of re- 

 plenishing the earth, and peopling it with 

 still rising generations of sensitive beings. 

 The Chimsera of Homer, of which the com- 

 mentators have given so many whimsical 

 interpretations, was a symbol of the same 

 kind, which the poet, probably having seen 

 in Asia, and not knowing its meaning 

 (which was only revealed to the initiated), 

 supposed to be a monster that had once in- 

 fested the country. He described it as 

 composed of the forms of the goat, the lion 

 and the serpent, and breathing fire from its 

 mouth, (II. v., 233). These are the sym- 

 bols of the creator, the destroyer and the 

 preserver, united, and animated by the fire, 

 the divine essence of all three. 



" On a gem published in the Memoirs of 

 * Smith's Diet, of Clas. Antiq. Sub. Chimsera. 



