acter of the myth is apparent even in the description of Virgil,
which reads wonderfully like a Vedic hymn in celebration of the exploits
of Indra. But when we turn to the Veda itself, we find the correctness
of the interpretation demonstrated again and again, with inexhaustible
prodigality of evidence. Here we encounter again the three-headed
Orthros under the identical title of Vritra, "he who shrouds or
envelops," called also Cushna, "he who parches," Pani, "the robber," and
Ahi, "the strangler." In many hymns of the Rig-Veda the story is told
over and over, like a musical theme arranged with variations. Indra,
the god of light, is a herdsman who tends a herd of bright golden or
violet-coloured cattle. Vritra, a snake-like monster with three heads,
steals them and hides them in a cavern, but Indra slays him as Jupiter
slew Caecius, and the cows are recovered. The language of the myth is
so significant, that the Hindu commentators of the Veda have
themselves given explanations of it similar to those proposed by modern
philologists. To them the legend never became devoid of sense, as the
myth of Geryon appeared to Greek scholars like Apollodoros. [112]

These celestial cattle, with their resplendent coats of purple and gold,
are the clouds lit up by the solar rays; but the demon who steals them
is not always the fiend of the storm, acting in that capacity. They are
stolen every night by Vritra the concealer, and Caecius the darkener,
and Indra is obliged to spend hours in looking for them, sending Sarama,
the inconstant twilight, to negotiate for their recovery. Between
the storm-myth and the myth of night and morning the resemblance is
sometimes so close as to confuse the interpretation of the two. Many
legends which Max Muller explains as myths of the victory of day over
night are explained by Dr. Kuhn as storm-myths; and the disagreement
between two such powerful champions would be a standing reproach to what
is rather prematurely called the SCIENCE of comparative mythology,
were it not easy to show that the difference is merely apparent and
non-essential. It is the old story of the shield with two sides; and a
comparison of the ideas fundamental to these myths will show that there
is no valid ground for disagreement in the interpretation of them. The
myths of schamir and the divining-rod, analyzed in a previous paper,
explain the rending of the thunder-cloud and the procuring of water
without especial reference to a