AHAflN 13 



AHAQN {continued). 



oil 6iXa> rrjv Xvttijv roav naXai&v pov avpcpopwv pepvijcrdai, Aes. Fab. IO, 

 cf. Babr. xii. Vox et praeterea nihil, Plut. Apophth. Lacon. 123 A riXas 

 tis drjdova Kail fipax^av ndvv adpKa evpav dne, (pu>va tv tis iaai Kai ovbev 

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

 song, avras, ehrev, ukovko, iroXXaKis, Plut. Mor. 191 B. 



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

 melancholy strain of the Nightingale, cf., int. al., 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 (309, 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. lxv. 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 dhovis or dr]8<av, and 

 to the lament for "Itvs, 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 ' : 'Aficovi' ayopev, Koi top "Aduviv KXdopev ! This conjecture is 

 partially supported by the confusion between drjdovis and ddovrjis, 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 pev iv AavXiq rfjs Qaxidos vvv Ka\ovpevr]S yjjr, 6 Trjpevs 

 <&K(i Tore vtt6 QpaKatv oiKovpevr}?' Kai to epyov to nepl t6u "Itvv al yvvalKes 

 iv rfj yfi ravrrj enpatjav' noXXols de Kai tcov noiijTcov iv drjftovos pvt]prj AavXias 

 f] opvis incovdpao-Tai. (Cf. Hesych. AavXia Kopoivr] ; also Etym. M. 

 p. 250, 8 AavXiav KopoovrjV, dvr\ tov drjdova, ' ApioTocpdvrjs 81a tov p.v6ov' tvioi 

 TTjV daaelav). 



In the above passage from Thucydides the commentators take at 

 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 0X01 dr)8ovi8rj€S def-opevwv eVi divdpoov, k.t.X., with its 

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

 dr)8a>v, Itys or Itylus, and possibly even Thamyras into relation with 



