nEAEIA 131 



nEAEIA (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, Tre'Xeta is in no sense a specific 

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

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

 been either Ring-doves or Stock-doves (vide infra). In Opp. 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, TreX/yYciy and also rprjpwv 

 are used of tame pigeons. 



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

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



Various attributes. Its timidity ; Aesch. S. c. T. 292 Trai/rpop.0? \al. 

 Traj/rpocpos 1 ] TreXeias 1 : Soph. Aj. 139 jwe-yay OKVOV e^co Kai 7re0o'/3///iai TTT^V^S 

 tos op-fj-a TreXfias: Antip. Sid. xcii, Gk. Anth. ii. p. 33 8ei\ai rot 8ei\ol(riv 

 cfadpfjo-ovori Tre'Xeiai i 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. 

 Io8l aeXXcu'a raxyppaxTTos neXeuis, cf. also Philoct. 289, 1146 ; Eur. Bacch. 

 1090 TreXei'a? toKvTrjr* ov% rjaraovei. 



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

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

 7reXeio>i> ov p-nKpav XeXei/zpei/oi | Covert ; Eurip. Andr. 1140 01 d' OTTOIS 

 UpaK idov&ai Trpbs (pvyrjv eVamcrai/ : 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 I II. V. 778 ai fie /Scm;*', rpjypeocri TreXeiao-ti/ Wpaff o/zoteu. 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 /3av 5e TTOO-I rprjpuai 7reXeuz<7ii/ Wp.aff o/noiat, with which cf. Ar. 

 Av. 575 *Ipiv de y "Ofj.r]pos efpaaK iK\rjv flvai rp^paw TreXei'fl, 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\^i 

 d vTral v(pto)v cide Tpfjpcova TreXeiai', | rr\v p" oyc divevovaav inrb irrepwyos 



K 2 



