1. Mnemonics, as a memory aid for modicum which means something in small amounts, bits or, in other
words, moderation, links two terms to muse upon, “mod” and “mode”. Both modicum and moderate have “mod” in
common. Mod is slang for modification, mod a reference to the 1960’s youth culture.
The mod(e) of knowing from within missed spaces such as that space which lies
between two terms is a poetic one. Who,
then, is the poet? the poet here is the one who has bathed in the poetry at
work in the depths. Poetry is a mode of knowing what is otherwise missed. Poetry is a mode of knowing what is otherwise,
mist. Dew and debris; dust and mist, of
such psyche’s stuff, a poetry. Poetry
arises from profound and secret depths. This realization led me to look at the
myth of cloud people. Nephele (gr) means cloud. In a poetic language- making, poetic
words are cloudy words. They are not meant to reveal a certainty or truth but
are remaining faithful to a concealment that is true. Poetics undoes the way
myths are told and retold. It is from such words, words as metaphor, that what
is concealed is made over in unconcealment. And, this would be a bigger
thought, a thought rendering the megalopsychia of the metaphor (the myth within)
and a specific contact with it which reveals-- but not quite, the metaphor’s “soul”. Of the various versions told of the myth of
Nephele *and all classical sources I know of are provided below* I am
specifically caught by one certain line rendered in blue beginning Pindar’s
Pythian Ode. Poetic language arises from profound and secret depths and it
tells a story never told.
2. Myths of Nephele
Pindar, Pythian Ode 2. 32 ff (trans. Conway)
(Greek lyric C5th B.C.)/ "In the profound and secret depths of her own bridal chamber,
he [Ixion] assailed the wife of Zeus. Well is it for a man to take the measure
of each deed by his own stature. Unto the full deep tides of woe loves which
transgress the law casts a man down, who sets foot there. For with a Cloud
(Nephele) he lay, pursuing sweet falsehood, that man of folly. In semblance
like [Hera] the all-high Sovereign daughter of Kronos son of Ouranos, this
phantom came, this guile, proffered him by the hands of Zeus, a beauteous bane.
Thus on the four-spoked wheel he gave his limbs to bondage, his own
destruction. From whence is no escape, he heard the message that he must spread
to all the world. Far were the Kharites (Graces) when the mother [Nephele]
bore--ne'er such a mother, never such a son--her babe of monstrous breed, who
had no honour amongst men nor in the laws of Heaven. She reared him up and
named him Kentauros (Centaurus), and the Magnesian mares knew his as mate by
Pelion's ridges; and that strange race was born [the Kentauroi, Centaurs], like
to both parents, their mother's form below, above their sire's."
Pseudo-Apollodorus,
Bibliotheca E1. 20 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.)/ "Ixion
fell in love with Hera and tried to rape her, and when Hera told Zeus about it,
Zeus wanted to determine if her report was really true. So he fashioned a Cloud
(Nephele) to look like Hera, and laid it by Ixion's side. When Ixion bragged
that he had slept with Hera, Zeus punished him by tying him to a wheel, on which
he was turned by winds up in the air. The Cloud (Nephele) bore Kentauros
(Centaurus) from Ixion’s seed."
Diodorus Siculus,
Library of History 4. 12. 5 4 (trans. Oldfather) (Greek historian C1st B.C.)/
"He [Herakles] had indeed to struggle with beings [the Kentauroi,
Centaurs] who were gods on their mother’s side, who possessed the swiftness of
horses, who had the strength of two bodies, and enjoyed in addition the
experience and wisdom of men . . . The Kentauroi were aided in their struggle
[against Herakles] by Nephele (Cloud), who sent down a heavy rain, by which she
gave no trouble to those which had four legs, but for him who was supported
upon two made the footing slippery."
Diodorus Siculus,
Library of History 4. 69. 4 / "The myths recount, that in the end he
[Ixion] was purified by Zeus [for the murder of his father-in-law], but that he
became enamoured of Hera and had the temerity to make advances to her.
Thereupon, men say, Zeus formed a figure of Hera out of cloud and sent it to
him, and Ixion lying with the cloud (Nephele) begat the Kentauroi (Centaurs),
as they are called, which have the shapes of men . . . others say that it was
the Kentauroi born of Ixion and Nephele who were called Hippokentauroi
(Horse-Centaurs), because they were the first to essay the riding of horses,
and that they were then made into a fictitious myth, to the effect that they
were of double form."
Pseudo-Hyginus,
Fabulae 62 (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.)/ "Ixion, son
of Leonteus, attempted to embrace Juno [Hera]. Juno, by Jove's [Zeus]
instructions, substituted a Cloud (Nubes), which Ixion believed to be the
likeness of Juno. From this the Centauri were born."
Cicero, De Natura Deorum 3. 20 (trans. Rackham) (Roman
rhetorician C1st B.C.)/ "If the Arcus [Iris the Rainbow] is a divinity,
what will you do about the Nubes (Clouds)? The rainbow itself is caused by some
coloration of the clouds; and also a Nubes (Cloud) [i.e. Nephele] is fabled to
have given birth to the Centauri."
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