It should be
noted, however, that Mommsen, in the fourth edition of his
History, abandons this view, and observes: "Auch der
griechische Herakles ist fruh als Herclus, Hercoles, Hercules
in Italien einheimisch und dort in eigenthumlicher Weise
aufgefasst worden, wie es scheint zunachst als Gott des
gewagten Gewinns und der ausserordentlichen
Vermogensvermehrung." Romische Geschichte, I. 181. One would
gladly learn Mommsen's reasons for recurring to this
apparently less defensible opinion.
[111] For the relations between Sancus and Herakles, see
Preller, Romische Mythologie, p. 635; Vollmer, Mythologie, p.
970.
Thus the significance of the myth becomes apparent. The
three-headed Cacus is seen to be a near kinsman of Geryon's
three-headed dog Orthros, and of the three-headed Kerberos,
the hell-hound who guards the dark regions below the horizon.
He is the original werewolf or Rakshasa, the fiend of the
storm who steals the bright cattle of Helios, and hides them
in the black cavernous rock, from which they are afterwards
rescued by the schamir or lightning-stone of the solar hero.
The physical character of the myth is apparent even in the
description of Virgil, which reads wonderfully like a Vedic
hymn in celebration of the exploits of Indra. But when we turn
to the Veda itself, we find the correctness of the
interpretation demonstrated again and again, with
inexhaustible prodigality of evidence.
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