XEAIAJiN 189 



XEAIAflN {co7itiiiued). 



In Sappho, fr. (52) 88 t/ /if ITai'Stni/if wpava -xiKi-^wv, we have perhaps 

 a fragment of a ' Swallow-song.' This difficult line is variously read 

 and interpreted : Hesychius gives w ^ pavva x^^^^^v opo0^, but the gloss 

 is, in my opinion, fragmentary and meaningless : Bergk, after Is. 

 Vossius, reads h" ^nwa ; I venture to suggest a>pa vka, as in Ar. Eq. 419, 

 which latter line is itself probably a fragment of a Swallow-song. 

 Another fragment of a Swallow-song perhaps exists in Hom. Carm. 

 Min. XV. II viv\i.a[ Toi, vevfxai fvuivaios, uxtt^ ;^eX(S<i)i' | ((tttjk iv irpodvpois 

 ■^tXfj TToSar. In the Rhodian Swallow-song already referred to, two very 

 curious features are the alternate balance or ' parallelism ' of successive 

 lines and the apparent influence of accent on rhythm : the text has 

 been much emended by commentators, in order to obtain a more 

 accurate scansion than the song ever, perhaps, possessed. It is easy to 

 suggest yet other emendations : for instance in 11. 17, 18 av 6?) (peprjs n, | 

 fxfy av Ti 81] (f)e'poio seems better than the common reading pf'ya 8r] n. At 

 the very best some of the lines (in their present state) seem to have little 

 rhythm and not much sense. 



A modern xf^"^('''t'''j"«) Fauriel, Chants de la Grece mod., i. p. xxviii 

 ;^fXi5o»/a epxtTni \ an rfjv t'lcnrpriv da\ncraav' \ Kiidijae kci) XdXrjae. | Maprrj, 

 MdpTT) pov KnXe \ Ka\ (jiXi^dpT) (pXi^epe | k av ;^to»'io-?7S', a' av TTOVTiarjs \ irdXe 

 avoi^iv pvpi^m. 



According to Bent (Cyclades, 1885, p. 434) the Swallow-song is still 

 sung in Kythnos (Thermia) and in Macedonia, on March I. Cf. 

 Grimm, D. Myth. p. 723 ; Swainson, Prov. Names of British Birds, 

 p. 50, &c., &c. Cf. also the Kopwv'KTfxa, supra, s. v. KOpwi'T]. 



A Melancholy Bird. — The myth of Itylus. Agath. xii, Gk. Anth. 

 iv. 8 dp(})i.nepiTpv^ov(ri p^eAiSovfy, es S' f'fie tdnpv | jBdXXovat. . . . dXX 

 "ItvXov KXaloire Kar ovpea, Ka\ yodoire \ fts enonas KpavafjV ai/Xiv ((pe^opfvai. 

 Mnasalc. ix, Gk. Anth. i. 125 rpavXa piwpopiva, Uavbiovi irapOive, ^a)i/g| 

 Trjpeos ov 6ep'iT(i>v d\l/apeva Xe;(€coi'. | riTrre navapfpios yodeis dva 85}pa 

 ;;^6Xi8or/: Anth. Pal. ix. 57 Uavdiovi Kappnpe Kovpa, \ pvpopeval Mosch. iii. 

 39 oufie Toaov Bpijvrjcrfv dv wpea paKpd ;^eXtSd)i'. Nonn. Dlon. paSSUTl, 

 &C., &C. 



The Itylus-myth has been already discussed s. vv. dT]8w»' and 67ro\|/. 

 In the association together of the Swallow and the Nightingale, a curious 

 feature is the similarity of the poetical epithets applied to both. The 

 epithet UavSiovU, and the inclusion of Pandion in the myth, whatever 

 they may exactly mean, seem to me to have something to do with 

 the festival of the llavSia, which took place at Athens perd to. ^.tovvaia 

 (Photius) ; that is to say, at or near the Vernal Equinox, and not far 

 from the time when the x^^^^oviapa is still sung. The statement of 

 Photius that UavSla is a name for the Moon, is also of great interest, 



