AHAflN 13 



AHAflN (continued}. 



ov #eXo> TTJV \vm)V raw TraXatav pov (rvfjXpop&v jj.p.v^crdai, Acs. Fab. IO, 

 cf. Babr. xii. Vox et praeterea nihil, Plut. Apophth. Lacon. 123 A ri\as 

 TIS drjoova <al ^pa^elav ndvv crdpKa evpwv eiVe, (fxava TV TIS even KCU ovSev 

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

 song, avras, flnev, CIKOVKO. -rroXXdns, Plut. Mor. 191 B. 



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

 melancholy strain of the Nightingale, cf., int. /., 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 (int. 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 doovis or dr)8vv, and 

 to the lament for^Irvy, 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 ' : 'A5oW ayopev, KOI TOV "Aduvtv KXdopev ! This conjecture is 

 partially supported by the confusion between doovis and afiooi^iV, 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 /uei/ eV Aav\ia rfjs &WKIOOS vvv KuXovp-evrjs yrjs, 6 Trjpevs 

 <pKei rore VTTO QpqK&v oiVou/ieVqs* Kai TO epyov TO irepl TOV *!TVV al 

 ev TTJ yfi TavTfl 7rpaav' TTO\\OIS $e KCU T>V TroirjTwv ev dr)86vos p.vr)fj,rj 

 17 opvts encDvopao-Tai. (Cf. Hesych. AavXt'a Kopa>vr) ; also Etym. M. 

 p. 250, 8 AavXi'av Kopavyv, dvT\ TOV drjdova, 'Aptarot^a'j/T;? Sia TOV pvdov' eviot 



In the above passage from Thucydides the commentators take cu 

 ywalKfs 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 ofoi drjSoviories degonevwv eVi Se'i/Speoi/, K.T.X., with its 

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

 uv, Itys or Itylus, and possibly even Thamyras into relation with 



