CYNEGETICA, IV. 242-260 



he mighty spouse of Zeus and dreading the t}Tant 

 Pentheus," son of Ecliion, they laid the holy child in 

 a coffer of pine and covered it with fawn-skins and 

 ^^Teathed it Mith clusters of the vine, in a grotto 

 where round the child they danced the mystic dance 

 and beat drums and clashed cymbals in their 

 iiands, to veil the cries ^ of the infant.'' It was around 

 rhat hidden ark that they first showed forth their 

 mysteries, and with them the Aonian** women secretly 

 took part in the rites. And they arrayed a gathering 

 of their faithful companions to journey from that 

 mountain * out of the Boeotian land. For now, now 

 was it fated that a land/ which before was wild, 

 should cultivate the vine at the instance of Dionysus 

 who dehvers from sorrow. Then the holy choir took 

 up the secret coffer and wreathed it and set it on the 

 back of an ass. And they came unto the shores of 

 the Euripus, where they found a seafaring old man 

 with his sons, and all together they besought the 

 fishermen that they might cross the water in their 

 boats. Then the old man had compassion on them 

 and received on board the holy women. And lo ! on 



is generally put in India, Herodotus puts it in Ethiopia : 

 Herod, ii. 146 \L6vv<r6v re Xeyovai oi'EXKTjiffs da avriKa yevdfjeyov 

 is Tov fuijpov iveppailoTO Zei'S Koi ijveiKe es yva-qv rrjv i'-rip 

 AlyiiTTov eovffav iv 7-5 Xidioirlr) ; cf. ibid. iii. 97. Diod. iv. 2 

 puts it iiera^v ^otvi/cT/r »cat "SeLXov; cf, iii. 65 ; Horn. i/. xxxiii. 

 8 ; Steph. Byz. s. NOcrai enumerates ten — on Helicon, in 

 Thrace, in Caria, Arabia, Egypt, Naxos, India, Caucasus, 

 Libya, Euboea. Oppian, we must suppose, is thinking of 

 the Heliconian Nysa : cf. Strabo \05 ypd<poi<Ti 8e Kai tovto 

 {sc. Horn. //. ii. 508 Xr<rdj' re ^a6€T)i>) " ^vadv re ^ad^T/v." Kufirj 

 S' fffTi TOV 'EXiKicyos T] NCffo. Cf. Pans. i. 39. 



' Euboea. Cf. Steph. Byz. *. Nwrot . . . Seedrij er m^olrj 

 fvda 81a. fuas ijfi^pas ttjv AftreXof tpcurw afOeip kuI rbw /Sorpiv 



181 



