Part of Sunday’s
scripture reading was Ephesian 2:3 which refers to “children of wrath”. Naturally I retranslated this, probably
inaccurately as paida
Menis. It struck me odd that there were
no children of Menis; divine wrath. Menis
would be a child of Eris (Strife) or Nyx (Night) and that whole crowd is
generally childless.
"And Night bare hateful Doom and black
Fate and Death, and she bare Sleep and the tribe of Dreams. And again the
goddess murky Night, though she lay with none, bare Blame and painful Woe, and
the Hesperides who guard the rich, golden apples and the trees bearing fruit
beyond glorious Ocean. Also she bare the Destinies and ruthless avenging Fates,
Clotho and Lachesis and Atropos,who give men at their birth both evil and good
to have, and they pursue the transgressions of men and of gods: and these
goddesses never cease from their dread anger until they punish the sinner with
a sore penalty. Also deadly Night bare Nemesis (Indignation) to afflict mortal
men, and after her, Deceit and Friendship and hateful Age and hard-hearted
Strife.
But abhorred Strife bare painful Toil and
Forgetfulness and Famine and tearful Sorrows, Fightings also, Battles, Murders,
Manslaughters, Quarrels, Lying Words, Disputes, Lawlessness and Ruin, all of
one nature, and Oath who most troubles men upon earth when anyone wilfully
swears a false oath.” Hesiod
211-231
Of
that whole tribe the only additonal parent is Hypnos; Sleep, the father of
Dreams.
But
did you notice there is no daemon or goddess listed by the name of Menis. (Though there is an unrelated Metis;
Thought, the mother of Athena.) According
Hesiod, the Ancient Greeks did not honor or fear such a divinty. I wondered about other similar emotions. I looked to my old favorite Brewer’s
Dictionary of Phrase and Fable for a list of such. Here’s the list I found; Pride, Wrath, Envy,
Lust, Gluttony, Avarice, and Sloth. Upon
researching this non-Hesiodic list in Theoi.com I discovered that indeed late
Greek sources did name these forces and some Ancient Greek worshipped
them. Like all philosophical
abstractions they were fruitful and bore other abstractions.
But
the ancient poets rarely mention the daemon’s listed above. Likewise they
rarely mention gambling even though the evidence of vases shows Ajax and Achilles
playing at dice nor drunkness except among the Dionysian tales. The men are all handsome, the woman all
beautiful and the woods fuller of friendly nymphs than horrible monsters.
I kind of like their world view.
