XEAIAflN 189 



XEAIAflN (continued}. 



In Sappho, fr. (52) 88 rl /*e Uav8inv\s wpdva xeXt8o>i>, we have perhaps 

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

 and interpreted : Hesychius gives <u 'pdvva xfXiSo>i>- opocpfj, but the gloss 

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

 Vossius, reads S>"pawa ; I venture to suggest &pa vea, 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 Horn. Carm. 

 Min. XV. 1 1 vevfj-ai rot, i/eu/zcu eViavtnoy, wore ^eXiScov | earrjK ev irpodvpois 

 ^/t\T) Tj-dSay. 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 drj (pepys rt, \ 

 pey av rt drj tpepoio seems better than the common reading p.eya 8rj rt. At 

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

 rhythm and not much sense. 



A modern ^fXefidi/ia-p-a, Fauriel, Chants de la Grece mod., i. p. xxviii 

 ^fXiSoj/a e'p^erai | aV TTJV a&Trprjv 6d\a<T(Tav' | Ka6r)(re /cat XaX?7<re. | Mapr?7, 

 Mdprr) p.ov KaXe | Kai <p\i@dpr] <p\if3fp \ K av ^iort'o-7/y, K av Trovricrrjs TraXe 



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 Kopdmafxa, supra, s. v. 



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

 IV. 8 d/jLCpiTrepiTpv^ovari ^eXiSoyfy, cs 6' e/xe 8d<pv \ jSaXXouo-t. . . . aXX' 

 "\TV\OV K\aioiT Kar oupea, Kal yodoire \ tis enoiras KpavafjV av\iv e'0e^o/nej/at. 

 Mnasalc. ix, Gk. Anth. i. 125 rpavXa purvpoft&a, Havdiovl rrap6(Vf, <pa>vq\ 

 Trjpeos ov QffjiiToov d^apeva Xe^ecav. | TITTTC jrava/iepioj yndeis dva 5ai/>ia 

 X\td6v : Anth. Pal. ix. 57 Uavdiovl xa/z/xope Kovpa, \ p-vpo^fva : Mosch. iii. 

 39 ovde TOCTOV dprjvrjcrfv dv wpea paKpd ^eXiScoi/. Nonn. Dion, passim, 

 &c., &c. 



The Itylus-myth has been already discussed s. vv. drjEwc and eiro\|r. 

 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 Ilavdiovis, 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 Jlai/fita, which took place at Athens /xero ra Aiovvaia 

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

 from the time when the xeXi6cmo>ia is still sung. The statement of 

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





