The Hyperboreans

Athena said, "Yet accepting my gift you take no part and you share no fault for the destruction of your father’s city. One day, in your great old age, you lie down in the forests, near your herd, to rest awhile. Nearby, a hunter, seeing only the color of your skin, mistakes you for a deer. He fires his arrow into your eye, no poison upon it, but you die from the wound, in your sleep, and Oenone, who finds you, cannot revive you. Death comes over you, darkness covers your eyes and you do not awaken.”

Paris said, “So my choice is to be king, to be beloved of the most beautiful woman in the world, or to be a shepherd, which I already am. And in all cases Troy falls whether I am present or I am absent.”

Athena said, “Come with me to the land of the dead and I will explain this mystery to you.” And Athena took Paris’ hand and led him from the grove in which they stood, along a forest path, down a ravine where the sound of flowing water soothed him, to a cavern Paris had never seen before, from which blew a cold draught.

Paris hesitated and said, “I won’t go in.”

Athena smiled patiently upon him, saying, “You are under my protection and no harm will come to you here.” And saying this she drew him into the cave that led deep into the earth. At last, the goddess and her friend entered a great cavern, through which ran five rivers. And in the darkness, as his eyes adjusted to the dim light, Paris saw unnumbered figures, ghostly white and partly transparent, crowding together in the massive cavern, wandering without aim, flitting like phantoms without purpose, with empty eyes.”

Athena said, “Take your sword and dig a trench here, not too deep.”

Paris obeyed and, when he finished, Athena produced wine, milk and honey and poured this into the trench. This work done, Athena then brought him a black sheep, without spot or blemish. She held back its head and Paris cut its throat, creating a pool of blood in the trench. Straight away, the dead, smelling the blood, turned toward Paris and approached the trench, but Athena, glorious to behold in her shining armor stopped them and turned them away, for even the dead, who have nothing left to fear, were cowed by her. And those who came too close, she unveiled the aegis to them, and the gorgon’s head turned them to stone. She called out, her voice ringing in the cavern, both beautiful and awful to hear, “Tiresias! Come forward! This offering is for you.”

Then stepped forward the ghost of Tiresias, grasping a golden scepter. He said, “Why do you call me, Athena? How may I serve you when I am among the dead?”

Athena said, “Drink your fill; we have poured this libation for you.”

Tiresias knelt down on the wet earth and cupped his hands, taking up a little of the bloody offering, drinking a mouthful at a time. At last he stopped and, leaning upon his scepter, stood again before them.

Paris, wearing a look of horror, said, “How is it that you speak and seem sensible when all these others seem feckless and speechless?”

Tiresias said, “I have kept my speech and mind and possess even my powers of prophecy, though I am among the dead. These other mindless ones wander without purpose, troubled but without knowing what troubles them. Knowing only appearance, they are as much dead to themselves as they are to you.”

Paris said, “What do you know of my death? What does your power of prophecy reveal to you about me?”

Tiresias said, “Your death is fixed, but your life is not yet decided.”

Athena said, “Tell him, Tiresias, what will become of him if he accepts my gift.”

Tiresias said, “He will be blessed beyond the blessing I have received. Like me, he shall retain knowledge of himself in the land of the dead, but he will pass beyond the land of the dead to the land of true life, which is known only to a few.”

Paris said, “Is this land a Paradise? A place of heavenly enjoyment and delights?”

Tiresias said, “That you expect it to be such a thing is a barrier to it. The road to that land is blocked even to the immortals if they are not purified of worldly desire and foolish expectation. Give up all knowledge of heaven and earth and cleanse yourself that you may attain that station and may enter the House constructed for you in worlds yet to form, under stars yet unborn, in skies not yet raised. Only then is the road open to you, if you accept Athena’s gift and turn away all other gifts. If not, then join these dead here today, for you already wander among them.” Tiresias then fell silent and slipped, like mist, back into the unnumbered crowd of the dead, disappearing among them altogether. And, at once, Paris was again in the grove, smelling the sweet mountain air, the goddess naked before him.

Paris said, “I have no taste for Hera’s glory, but that vision of death might be forgotten in the arms of Aphrodite’s promise”

Athena said, “You may take some comfort there, but you must at last face death. And when you are dead, Helen will betray all things, even the city in which she found protection, even the king who offered her sanctuary, to save her own precious life. And when you are buried, rejected by Oenone and cast into an earthen pit, Helen will forget her tears for you and remember her affection for Menelaus. In his bed she will gladly lodge again while you roll and couple with dust. Those who speak of 'deathless' love speak in code of something else, or else they have no sense. Mortal love, like martial glory, like all mortal things, has an ending in time. Do not put your faith in such things or exchange one for the other. Unwisely men spend their lives bartering one useless thing for another and consider themselves great negotiators.

“Seek a cunning superior to Odysseus’, a strength greater than Ajax’s, an authority higher than Agamemnon’s, a glory better than Achilles’ and claim your birthright, higher than Hector’s. Follow Tiresias’ prophecy for you and win every battle at my side, not among men in armor, or in hollow ships or on fleet horses upon the plains of Troy, but against yourself. Become my kinsmen, closer even than my father.

”I am truly the daughter of the Thunderer Zeus, that lover of lightening; but he is only display beside the power I serve. Zeus is my father, but he, like me, and like his fathers before him, is but a creature. He is not the font of wisdom nor the source of the cosmos. He is not the highest in heavenly glory, nor the best of his kind. He is king now, as Cronus was king before him, and as another will be king in his place. He is my father, from whom I have sprung. But consider your own father, who would have you murdered in the crib. There is One greater than the king of Troy, and there is One greater than the king of gods. From Zeus I have sprung, but I serve the One beyond singleness, the Man beyond men, the God beyond gods. Become like me, and serve wisdom and let wisdom serve you and what I say will become evident to you. The gods themselves will honor you. You have nothing to fear in life and in death you have nothing to fear nor in the life yet to come. Do not accept Hera’s bribe and resist Aphrodite’s allurements; these are not gifts but springes. To live in service to your desires is a snare; it is not life, nor is abjuring such desires death.

"This calling is for few, and I offer to you, if you judge me the fairest of the three. Have you heard of the race, north beyond north, called the Hyperboreans?"

"Yes, I have heard of them. They live in a land of warmth, of plenty, of eternal sunshine, both day and night. They are worshippers of Helios."

"They do not worship Helios, but Helios worships them, does obeisance to them. 'Neither by land nor sea shall you find the road to the Hyperboreans.' They are 'beyond north, beyond ice, beyond death.' Yet none of that tribe goes a moment without the Muse at his side, without celestial music in his ears, without the warm sun on his skin.

"No wind can parch him, for he is beyond winds. No darkness can blind him, for he wears the warmth of the sun. His eyes are brighter than sun and moon and stars together. Neither hunger nor thirst can reach him, for always he is filled with what sustains him and he drinks deeply of the waters of true knowledge. Though to you, he may seem poor, but beyond your sight he is caparisoned like a god. Though to you, he may seem without friend, the gods vie for his companionship. Though to you, no sun shines upon him, but in his sight the sun shines at all times, in all places. He is beyond worldly riches, for his treasury overflows. He has no need for love's passion, for he loves beyond passion. He has no craving for power; power is powerless before him. The winds of sorrows and joys do not trouble him, for his is beyond all earthly storms. Men say he is from the north, where winds do not rule. Yet he may be in any place. He is unmoved by any earthly power. His life even the gods cannot possess, for he is beyond all gods and goddesses. His mind is stillness, quietude, peace. His goal is not happiness, for contentment rests on his brow. What no living man perceives, the gods envy. Such is your perception!"

At last, Athena said, "Become Hyperborean and rise above all things. Be detached from all that is in heaven and on earth. Abstain from the lures of the world, for the one who desires the world shall always be reborn to desire. Go beyond life and death, beyond all things that have an ending in time. This is what I offer the one who counts me the fairest of the three."