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Cato OSD
Hodiernus dies est ante diem XI Kalendas Octobris; haec dies
comitialis est.
"And before them [the halls of Haides and Persephone] a dreaded hound
(deinos kunos), on watch, who has no pity, but a vile stratagem: as
people go in he fawns on all, with actions of his tail and both ears,
but he will not let them go back out, but lies in wait for them and
eats them up, when he catches any going back through the gates." -
Hesiod, Theogony 769ff
"Once, they say, the gate-wrecking, unconquerable son [Herakles] of
thunder-flashing Zeus went down to the house of slender-ankled
Persephone to fetch up to the light from Hades the jagged-toothed dog
[Kerberos], son of unapproachable Ekhidna. There he perceived the
spirits of wretched mortals by the waters of Kokytos, like the leaves
buffeted by the wind over the bright sheep-grazed headlands of Ida." -
Bacchylides, Fragment 5 (trans. Campbell)
"Let us beware lest the cursed Kerberos prevent us even from the
nethermost hell from delivering the goddess by his furious howling,
just as he did when on earth." - Aristophanes, "Peace" 315
"'O, you most shameless desperate ruffian, you O, villain, villain,
arrant vilest villain! Who seized our Kerberos by the throat, and
fled, and ran, and rushed, and bolted, haling of the dog, my charge!'"
- Aristophanes, "Frogs" 468
"On the promontory [of Tainaronin Lakonia] is a temple like a cave,
with a statue of Poseidon in front of it. Some of the Greek poets
state that Herakles brought up the Hound of Haides (Haidou kuna) here,
though there is no road that leads underground through the cave, and
it is not easy to believe that the gods possess any underground
dwelling where the souls collect. But Hekataios of Miletos gave a
plausible explanation, stating that a terrible serpent lived on
Tainaron, and was called the Hound of Hades, because any one bitten
was bound to die of the poison at once, and it was this snake, he
said, that was brought by Herakles to Eurystheus. But Homer, who was
the first to call the creature brought by Herakles the Hound of
Haides, did not give it a name or describe it as of manifold form, as
he did the Khimaira. Late poets gave the name Kerberos, and though in
other respects they made him resemble a dog, they say that he had
three heads. Homer, however, does not imply that he was a dog, the
friend of man, any more than if he called a real serpent the Hound of
Hades." - Pausanius, Description of Greece 3.25.5-7
"For that son's [Theseus'] death Medea mixed her poisoned aconite,
brought with her long ago from Scythicae's shores, said to be
slobbered by Cerberus. There is a cavern yawning dark and deep, and
there a falling track where Hero Tirynthius dragged struggling,
blinking, screwing up his eyes against the sunlight and the blinding
day, the hell-hound Cerberus, fast on a chain of adamant. His three
throats filled the air with triple barking, barks of frenzied rage,
and spattered the green meadows with white spume. This, so men think,
congealed and, nourished by the rich rank soil, gained poisonous
properties. And since they grow and thrive on hard bare rocks the farm
folk call them 'flintworts' - aconites. This poison Aegeus, by Medea's
guile, offered to Theseus as his enemy, father to son." - Ovid,
Metamorphoses 7.412
"Cerberus lying on the murky threshold perceived them, and reared up
with all his mouths wide agape, fierce even to entering folk; but now
his black neck swelled up all threatening, now had he torn and
scattered their bones upon the ground, had not the god [Hermes] with
branch Lethaean soothed his bristling frame and quelled with threefold
slumber the steely glare." - Statius, Theibad 2.27
"When you [Psykhe on her journey to the underworld] have crossed the
river [Akheron] and have advanced a little further, some aged women
weaving at the loom will beg you to lend a hand for a short time. But
you are not permitted to touch that either, for all these and many
other distractions are part of the ambush which Venus will set to
induce you to release one of the cakes from your hands. Do not imaging
that the loss of a mere barley cake is a trivial matter, for if you
relinquish either of them, the daylight of this world above will be
totally denied you. Posted there is a massive hound with a huge,
triple-formed head. This monstrous, fearsome brute confronts the dead
with thunderous barking, though his menaces are futile since he can do
them no harm. He keeps constant guard before the very threshold and
the dark hall of Proserpina, protecting that deserted abode of Dis.
You must disarm him by offering him a cake as his spoils. Then you can
easily pass him, and gain immediate access to Proserpina herself . . .
When you have obtained what she gives you, you must make your way
back, using the remaining cake to neutralize the dog's savagery." -
Apuleius, The Golden Ass 6.19
Today begins the International Week of The Dog, so I thought it
appropriate to celebrate that most famous of dogs, Kerberos. Kerberos
(or Cerberus) is the gigantic hound which guards the gates of Hades.
He is posted to prevent ghosts of the dead from leaving the
underworld. Kerberos is described as a three-headed dog with a
serpent's tail, a mane of snakes, and a lion's claws. Some say he has
fifty heads, though this number might have included the heads of his
serpentine mane. Woof!
Valete bene!
Cato
SOURCES
Apuleius, Aristophanes, Pausanius, Statius, Bacchylides, Hesiod, Wikipedia
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