legend ; but in the discomfiture of the Sphinx, who dashes herself
from the rock when her riddle is solved, we have the sudden downfall of the waters when the thundercloud has been pierced by the lance
of Indra. The issue of the Boiotian story was determined by an
explanation given of the name of Oidipous. According to some,
the name denoted the swelling of the child's feet as he lay exposed
on the slopes of Kithairon ; by others who rejected the derivation
from the verb otSew, to swell, it was referred to his wisdom in solving
the enigma of the feet. That the unintelligible muttering of the
thunder should suggest the introduction of some popular riddle into
the old myth, was natural and perhaps inevitable ; and the time at
which it was engrafted into the legend is a matter of little or no
importance. Wisdom is among the most prominent attributes of
the beings who do battle with the powers of darkness. Whether it
be Helios possessed of a knowledge which he cannot impart even to
Hermes, or of a robe which makes Medeia the wonder of all for her
sagacity and her power, or whether it be Tantalos, or Sisyphos, or
Ixion, whose wisdom is no security against their downfall, whether
it be Phoibos endowing his ministers at Delphoi wnth the gift of
prophecy, or Kadmos instructing his people in all art and learning,
we see in one and all the keenness of wit and strength of purpose
which do their work while gods and men think little of the dwarfs
Vishnu and Hari, the halting Hephaistos, or ApoUon wrapped in his
swaddling clothes at Delos. Their career begins in weakness to end
in strength, in defeat to be crowned by victory. Tn three strides the
child Vishnu traverses the heaven; and the despised Oidipous, "who
knows nothing," solves the riddle of the Sphinx as surely as Indra
and Herakles discover the hiding-places of their cattle. It is but
another version of the story of Odysseus flouted as a beggar in his
own hall, or Boots sitting among the ashes while his elders laugh him
to scorn, but each winning a victory which is due rather to their
wisdom than to their power.
But if the riddle was introduced into the story at a comparatively The Voice late stage, the idea which suggested it is essential to the myth. It ^ Thunder. is that of the fatal voice of the thunder,^ the utterances of Typhaon, which even the gods can only sometimes understand,^ and which cease when the cloud has been pierced by the lightning and the rain has fallen upon the earth. Thus, in two or three mythical phrases, we have the framework of the whole myth. The first, " Oidipous is talking with the Sphinx," indicates the struggle of Indra with the Panis, of Zeus with Typhon, of ApoUon with the Delphian dragon ;
' $poyTviatfT'ov<p6eyfia. — Vind. Fj'i A. iv. 350. * lies. Theog. 837.
