CONNECTION WITH ASTROLOGY, ETC. 161 



exercised a decided influence over the destinies of those they 

 addressed. These inhabitants of the waters were called 

 Stacltia (<?TOi%e7ov). It was considered a great crime to 

 ill-use them, or treat them with contempt. 



The following popular song, given by M. Fauriel in his 

 Chants Populaires de la Grece Moderne, mentions the 

 stoechion of a river 



" Kopdviov sTaayovdrifffv iirdvu ve 

 Kai TO ye^upi pdyrjffe, Kcti TO Trora/u 

 Kal TO ffToixeibv TOV TroTapov K' avTo 'Q rr\v O.KQ' 

 Kopty fjLov, TTOL-^e TOV a%6v, K' eiTre K' aXXo Tpayovdi. 

 *A% ! 7r<3<; VCL 7rd\jju) TOV a^ov, K d\\o va TTUJ Tpayovdi ; 

 "E%a> TOV dvdpa p dppuffTov, K dppuffTiicbv yvp 



" A little girl was singing upon a bridge, 

 And the bridge cracked, and the river stopped, 

 And the stoechion of the river himself came to the bank : 

 * My girl, desist from this (mournful) air, and sing another song.' 

 ' Alas ! how can I desist from this air, and sing another song ? 

 My husband is sick, and I seek a remedy.' " 



In another song in this collection, the strechion appears to 

 a musician, in the form of dragon, ready to devour him 

 for having disturbed its repose. 



The stoechia were often seen playing about the mouths 

 of wells and springs, particularly where the water issued 

 from long ranges of caverns like chambers ; which seems 

 to have been not unfrequently the case in Chios. 



This author, L. Allatius, tells us a long legendary story, 

 taken from Greek MSS., about a monster that was called 



14 



