nEAEIA 131 



n E A E I A {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, trekeia is in no sense a specific 

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

 on the other hand the w«\«ai 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, ireXq'ids and also rpfjpwv 

 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 ndprpopos [a/. 

 7rdvTpo(pos] neXeids : Soph. Aj. 139 peyav okvov e^co kcu 7re<p6(3r)p.cu | nTrjvrjS 

 cos opp,a neXeias : Antip. Sid. xcii, Gk. Anth. ii. p. 33 beiXai toi beiXoiaiv 

 ecpebpfjo-ovai neXeicu : 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 deXXaia Taxvppcoaros rreXeuis, cf. also Philoct. 289, II46 ; Eur. Bacch. 

 IO90 neXeia? ooKVTrjr ov% rjcrcrove?. 



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. 85S 

 KipKoi neXeiaiv ov paxpav XeXeippevoi \ rj^ovai ; Eurip. Andr. II40 ol 8' okcos 

 neXe tabes \ lepaK Ibovaai irpbs cpvyrjv evooTtaav : Ovid, Met. i. 507 sic aquilam 

 penna fugiunt trepidante columbae ; cf. ibid. v. 605, Trist. i. 1, 75 ; Virg. 

 Eel. ix. 11 ; 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 : II. V. yj& al be fiaTrjv, rprjpaxTL TTtkeidaiv Wp.aff 6p,olai. 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 fiav de ttoo-i rpr'jpojai neXeidaiv Wpad" opoiai, with which cf. Ar. 

 Av. 575 *\piv be y "Oprjpos e(paa< lueXrjv eivai rpypoovi neXeir], 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\/a 

 b V7ra\ ve<peoov eide Tpi'ipava neXeiav, | ttjv p' oye btuevovaav vno nrepvyos 



K 2 



