though cognate with Old Irish gáir‘shout’; it is just possibly relevant that
Vis ́varu ̄ pa is described as tuvı ̄rávah
̇
, ‘loud-roaring’ (RV 10. 99. 6).^73
Geryon’s dog has a mythological dignity of his own, for Hesiod lists him as
Typhaon’sfirst offspring, before Cerberus and the Hydra, and he in turn
fathers the Sphinx and the Nemean Lion (Th. 309, 326 f.). Some authors give
him two heads. The name of this noteworthy hound is Orthos or Orthros,
thefirst variant being the better attested.^74 This has been compared with
Vr
̇
tra-, Avestan vərəθra-.^75 We should have expected *Artros as the corre-
sponding Greek form, but if certain allowances are made the equation is not
impossible.
The location of Geryon and his cattle beyond the river that encircles the
earth recalls another Vedic myth. Indra’s cows are stolen by the demons
known as Pan
̇
is and taken and concealed in their stronghold on the far side
of the world-encircling stream Rasa ̄. They are tracked down by Indra’s dog
Sarama ̄; the Pan
̇
is are curious to know how she has managed to cross the
Rasa ̄. They suborn her, and on her return to Indra she denies that she has
found the cows. But he discovers the truth, follows her back to the Pan
̇
is, kills
them, and recovers his cattle.^76 It is doubtful whether the imprisoned beasts
here have anything to do with pent-up waters. The myth perhaps belongs
with another series of texts in which the release of cows by rupturing a rock
barrier represents the dawn (RV 1. 71. 1 f.; 2. 24. 2 f.; 3. 39. 4–7; 4. 1. 13–17, 3.
11; 10. 67. 4, 68. 2–12). We saw in the last chapter that Us
̇
as and Su ̄rya have
their red cows that they drive out each morning.
Roman writers relate that Hercules stopped in Latium on his way back
from Erythea with Geryon’s cattle. A fire-breathing ogre called Ca ̄cus (three-
headed according to Propertius) lived at that time in a cave on the Aventine.
He abducted some of the cattle in the night and concealed them in his cave,
the entrance of which he then blocked up with a massive rock. Hercules
managed after some time to find out where the animals were and to break
into the cave from above. He then clubbed Cacus to death and recovered the
cows.^77
According to the Augustan antiquarian Verrius Flaccus the hero of the
story was not the Greek Heracles but a herdsman of outstanding strength
(^73) Durante (1976), 58. Of the Italic Cacus (see below) it is obscurely mentioned that his
mouth or mouths gave forth a noise (Prop. 4. 9. 10, Ov. Fast. 1. 572).
(^74) See West (1966), 248 f.
(^75) F. Max Müller, Chips from a German Workshop (3rd edn., London 1894–5), iv. 252–4; id.
(1897), 421–5; Pisani (1969), 200 f.
(^76) RV 10. 108; Br
̇
haddevata ̄ 8. 24–36; Oldenberg (1917), 143 f. For the Rasa ̄ cf. RV 9. 41. 6; 10.
(^77) Virg. Aen. 8. 190–272; Livy 1. 7. 3–6; Prop. 4. 9. 1–20; Ov. Fast. 1. 543–82; Dion. Hal. Ant. 1.
39; Verrius Flaccus ap. Serv. auct. Aen. 8. 203.
- Storm and Stream 261