HEAEIA 131 



riEAEIA {continued'). 

 over the winter, whereas all the Pigeons occur more or less in Greece 

 in winter-time, and it is in summer that the Ring-dove and Stock- 

 dove, which breed elsewhere, are seldom found. The passage can 

 hardly have been written in Attica ; it would appear more consonant 

 with the truth did we suppose it written, for instance, in Macedonia. 

 Except in the doubtful case of Aristotle, neXeia is in no sense a specific 

 term : we have seen it applied in Homer to the Rock-pigeon, and 

 on the other hand the iriXeuu in the Oak-woods of Dodona must have 

 been either Ring-doves or Stock-doves (vide infra). In 0pp. Cyn. i. 

 351, where pigeon-fanciers are said to cause the pigeons by a display of 

 purple stuff to bring forth young of a like colour, ireXqids and also Tpt'jpwu 

 are used of tame pigeons. 



On the Latin usage of columba, palumbes. Sec, cf. W. W. Fowler, 

 A Year with the Birds (3rd ed.), p. 218. 



Various attributes. — Its timidity; Aesch. S. c. T. 292 ncivrpofios [a/. 

 7r«rrpo0o?] TreXfids : Soph. Aj. 1 39 fieyav okvov e;^co Kal ■rTe(p6^r]fxni \ TXT-qvi^s 

 cos- opua neXdas: Antip. Sid. xcii, Gk. Anth. ii. p. ^;i deiXai rot 8eiXo'iaii> 

 f(f)edpi]aovai neXemi : cf. Varro, De R. R. iii. 7 nihil est timidius columba ; 

 Ovid, A. Amat. i. 117, ii. 363, &c., &c. Its swiftness : Soph, Oed. Col. 

 1081 deXXaia TaxvppcodTos rreXeids, cf. also Philoct. 289, II46 ; Eur. Bacch. 

 1090 TteXelns a>KvTr]T ov)( rjcrcrovei. 



The Dove pursued by the Hawk or Eagle, a type of swiftness and of 

 timidity: II. xxi. 493, xxii. 139, Q. Smyrn. xii. 12 ; y\esch. Pr. V. 858 

 KipKoi neXfiav ov finKpav XeXeippevoi \ rj^ovai ; Eurip. Andr. II40 ol 8' oncoi 

 iTfXeiddes | UpaK ISovaai npos 4^vyr]v fvaTiaav : Ovid, Met. i. 507 sic aquilam 

 penna fugiunt trepidante columbae ; cf. ibid. v. 605, Trist. i. i, 75 ; Virg. 

 Eel. ix. II ; Lucret. iii. 751 ; Phaedr. Fab. i. 31, 3, &c. Thus Medea 

 comes to Jason, as a Dove seeking shelter from the Hawk, Val. Flacc. 

 Argon, viii. 32. 



The Dove in the clutches of the Eagle or Hawk, as an omen, Od. xx. 

 243, XV. 525, Sil. Ital. Pun. iv. 104 ; cf. Virg. Aen. xi. 721. 



Hera and Athena, coming to the aid of the Argives, compared to 

 Doves : II. v. yyS al de ^uttjv, Ttirjpaa-L TreXeidaiv Wfiaff ofio'tai. For 

 various interpretations of this simile, see the Scholia, also Ameis and 

 other commentators ; but the allusion is probably neither to swiftness 

 nor to dainty tread, but to the ancient and widespread prefigurement 

 of the deity as a dove (cf. int. al., F. L. W. Schwartze, Urspr. d. 

 Mythologie, p. 218); in the Homeric Delian Hymn, v. 114, Iris and 

 Eileithyia ^av Be noal rpr'jpijoai TreXfLda-tf 'i6p.aff ojiolaL, with which cf. Ar. 

 Av, 575'lpii' 8e y"Op.ripos 'i(pa(TK iKeXrjv fivai rpi^pmvi ireXeir}, and Schol. 



The story of the Dove bound by Achilles to the mast as a mark 

 for the archers, II. xxiii. 850 et seq. : it was shot by Meriones, v\p-i 

 d i'Trai ve(ptaiv ei'Se Tpi'jpMva rriXeiar, | rr;!/ p' oye divtvovaav vno nrepvyos 



K 2 



