ust be seen with the poetic glance, for they bear with much loss the
heavy translation into thought. How this Eidothea, the Goddess of
Appearance, turns against her own father, and helps to make him reveal
himself in his true shape; how Menelaus and his three comrades put on
the skins of the sea-calves, and deceive the deceiver, applying the
latter's art of transformation to himself, and destroying appearance
with appearance; how the poor mortals almost perish through the odor of
the skins of the sea-calves, thus showing their human weakness and
limitation, till ambrosia, the food of the Immortals, is brought by the
Goddess, which at once relieves them of their mortal ailment--these and
other incidents have their subtle, far-reaching hint of the
supersensible world. The whole story is illumined with one thought, how
to master the material show of things and reach their spiritual
inwardness.

But the chief duty of these people, now disguised to destroy disguise,
is to hold the Old Man fast when they have once caught him, that
shifty, ever-changing Old Man of the Sea. Let him turn to water, to a
snake, to a lion, to a tree--hold him fast; he is the One under them
all and will at last reveal himself. Very necessary, indeed, is it to
hold fast, and never let go in the grand play of Appearances; the
strength of the man is shown by his ability to hold fast, amid the
fleeting shadows of Time.

Menelaus holds the Old Man fast, and asks: What God detains me from my
return? The answer comes home strong: Thou hast neglected the sacrifice
due to Zeus and the other deities; thou hast not recognized the Gods.
Verily the heart of the difficulty; Menelaus has not placed himself in
harmony with the divine order, in which he must act. What then? Go back
to the beginning, back to Egypt, and start aright; commence thy return
again with the new light, recognize Zeus and the Gods by sacrifice
there, and thou shalt see home. Thus the Egyptian estrangement is
removed, the Greek hero of wisdom must reach beyond the experience of
Egypt and be restored to the Greek Gods.

At once Menelaus was ready to obey, though "his heart was broken" at
the thought of recrossing the sea to Egypt, for the "way was long and
difficult." Still he will do it; and next he is given a look into the
Distant and Future, a glance into the soul of things separated from him
by Space and Time. He will know concerning the Returners, in deep
accord with the spirit of the p