AHAflN 13 



AHAilN {couiimted'^. 



ov 6e\u) Tt]v XvTT'iu TOiv TTrtXaioJi' fxov avfjLCpopcov fxefivrjcrdni, Aes. Fab. lO, 

 cf. Babr. xii. Vox et praeterea nihil, Plut. Apophth. Lacon. 123 A rtXas 

 Tis aijbovii K(H ^iia)(flnj' uavv crapKa evpcov eirre, (pava tv tIs iacri Koi ovbiv 

 aWo. Story of Agesilaus and one who mimicked the Nightingale's 

 song, avTiis, fiTvev, t'lKovKa noXXuKis, Plut. Mor. I9I B. 



On the myths of Itylus, Philomela, Procne, and in general on the 

 melancholy strain of the Nightingale, cf., m/. a/., Theocr. xv. 121 ; 

 Pherecydes, fr. p, 136 (ed. Sturtz) ; Ar. Av. 203, 665, and Scholia; 

 Paus. i. 41. 8; Boios ap. Ant. Lib. xi ; Hygin. Fab. 45 (209, 212); 

 Apollod. iii. 14. 8; Virg. Georg. iv. 510, Eel. vi. 79; Martial x. 51, 

 xiv. 75 ; Ovid, Met. vi. 424, Am. ii. 6. 7; Catull. Ixv. 14; Carm. de 

 Philomela, &c., &.c. See also (znL al.) Hartung, Relig. und Myth. 

 d. Gr. iii. p. 33 ; Duntzer in Kuhn's Ztschr. xiv. p. 207 ; E, Oder 

 in Rh. Mus. f Philol. (N. S.) xliii. p. 540 et seq. ; Keller op. c. 

 pp. 304-320; Pott in Lazarus and Steinthal's Zeitschrift, xiv. p. 46, 1883 ; 

 J. E. Harrison, J. Hellen. Studies, viii. 439-445, 1887, M. of Anc. 

 Athens, p. Ixxxiv. 



The Nightingale's song, as Coleridge discovered, is not melancholy. 

 It was a spirit of religious mysticism that ' First named these notes 

 a melancholy strain, And many a poet echoes the conceit.' I believe 

 the innumerable references to the melancholy lay of dl^opls or drjdav, and 

 to the lament for "Itvs, to be for the most part veiled allusions to the 

 worship of Adonis or Atys ; that is to say, to the mysterious and 

 melancholy ritual of the departing year, when women ' wept for 

 Tammuz ' : 'Afiwj/t' ayofifv, kcu top ' A8aiviv KXaofxfv I This conjecture is 

 partially supported by the confusion between (IrjdovU and d^iOfTjis, by 

 the mythical relations between the Nightingale and the Swallow, and 

 by the known connexion of both with the rites of Adonis. Compare 

 also Thuc. ii. 29 6 fxiv iv AavXia Trji $ajKi3os fvv /CdAou/xeVrjy -y^f, 6 Trjpevs 

 wKfi t6t( vno QpqK03v olKovnevrfs' Kal to e'pyou to nepi rou Itvv ai yvvaiKes 

 iv rfj yji TavTjf] enpa^dv' noXXols 8e koi tuiv ttoltjtoiv ev arj86vos fJ.vr]p.j] AavXins 



i] opvis eVcovd/ino-Tdt. (Cf. Hesych. AnvXia Kopoivr] ; also Etym. M. 

 p. 250, 8 AavXiav Kopayvrjv, dvTi Tov dr]h6va, ^Api(TTO(f)iivr]S 8ui tov fii6ov' 'Ivioi 

 TrjV Baae'iav). 



In the above passage from Thucydides the commentators take at 

 yvvalKfs to refer to Procne and Philomela ; it seems to me to mean 

 simply that in that spot the women-folk practised the rites of Adonis. 

 It is noteworthy that Dodwell found an archaic village-festival, or 

 feast of tabernacles, taking place at Daulis, when he visited the locality 

 at the season of the vernal equinox (cf. Ezek. viii, &c.). The passage 

 in Theocr. xv. 121 otm ar/Soi^iSr^es de^ofxivaiv inl 8ei'8pa>v, k.t.X., With itS 

 context, is important in this connexion. As I have attempted to bring 

 dr]8^v, Itys or Itylus, and possibly even Thamyras into relation with 



