The attributes of Hermes in the vase-painting in fig. 7 are noticeable. In one hand he holds his familiar herald’s staff, the kerykeion. But, and this is the interesting point, he is not using it; it is held in the left hand, inert; it is merely attributive, present out of convention. The real implement of his agency in revoking the souls is held uplifted in the right hand; it is his rhabdos, his magic wand. This _rhabdos_ is, I think, clearly to be distinguished from the kerykeion, though ultimately the two became contaminated. The kerykeion or herald’s staff is in intent a king’s sceptre held by the herald as deputy; it is a staff, a walking-stick, a βάκτρον, by which you are supported; the _rhabdos_ is a simple rod, even a pliable twig, a thing not by which you are supported but with which you sway others. It is in a word the enchanter’s wand. It is with a rhabdos that Circe[95] transforms the comrades of Odysseus into swine; it is as magical as the magic potion they drink: ‘Straight with her rhabdos smote she them and penned them in the sties.’ With the rhabdos Hermes[96] led the ghosts of the slain suitors to Hades. He held in his hand ‘His rhabdos fair and golden wherewith he lulls to rest The eyes of men whoso he will, and others by his hest He wakes from sleep. He stirred the ghosts; they followed to their doom And gibbered like the bats that throng and gibber in the gloom.’ This magic wand became the attribute of all who hold sway over the dead. It is the wand, not the sceptre, that is the token of life or death, as Pindar[97] shows: ‘Nor did Hades the king Forget his wand to wave Whereby he doth bring Shapes of men dying Adown the hollow roadway of the grave.’ The rhabdos as magic wand was πεισίβροτος, _enchanter_ of the dead, before it became as sceptre πεισίβροτος, _ruler_ of mortals.