nature. Atreus again, for his murder of Chrysippus,
and his cruelty to Thyestes, is rightly named Atreus, which, to the
eye of the etymologist, is ateros (destructive), ateires (stubborn),
atreotos (fearless); and Pelops is o ta pelas oron (he who sees what
is near only), because in his eagerness to win Hippodamia, he was
unconscious of the remoter consequences which the murder of Myrtilus
would entail upon his race. The name Tantalus, if slightly changed,
offers two etymologies; either apo tes tou lithou talanteias, or apo tou
talantaton einai, signifying at once the hanging of the stone over
his head in the world below, and the misery which he brought upon his
country. And the name of his father, Zeus, Dios, Zenos, has an excellent
meaning, though hard to be understood, because really a sentence which
is divided into two parts (Zeus, Dios). For he, being the lord and king
of all, is the author of our being, and in him all live: this is
implied in the double form, Dios, Zenos, which being put together and
interpreted is di on ze panta. There may, at first sight, appear to be
some irreverence in calling him the son of Cronos, who is a proverb for
stupidity; but the meaning is that Zeus himself is the son of a mighty
intellect; Kronos, quasi koros, not in the sense of a youth, but quasi
to katharon kai akeraton tou nou--the pure and garnished mind, which in
turn is begotten of Uranus, who is so called apo tou oran ta ano, from
looking upwards; which, as philosophers say, is the way to have a pure
mind. The earlier portion of Hesiod's genealogy has escaped my memory,
or I would try more conclusions of the same sort. 'You talk like an
oracle.' I caught the infection from Euthyphro, who gave me a long
lecture which began at dawn, and has not only entered into my ears, but
filled my soul, and my intention is to yield to the inspiration to-day;
and to-morrow I will be exorcised by some priest or sophist. 'Go on;
I am anxious to hear the rest.' Now that we have a general notion,
how shall we proceed? What names will afford the most crucial test of
natural fitness? Those of heroes and ordinary men are often deceptive,
because they are patronymics or expressions of a wish; let us try gods
and demi-gods. Gods are so called, apo tou thein, from the verb 'to
run;' because the sun, moon, and stars run about the heaven; and they
being the original gods of the Hellenes, as they still are of the
Barbarians, their name is given to all God