Chapter 45

[150]Conon,Narrat.15.[151]Tour through Greece,II.p. 440.[152]Travels in the Morea,III.p. 148.[153]Paus.VIII.42. 1–4, and 25. 5.[154]Schol. in Ar.Ran.441. Aelian,Hist. Anim.X.16.[155]Frazer,Golden Bough,II.44 ff. (2nd edit.).[156]Herod.II.171.[157]Aelian,l.c.[158]Herod.II.47. Plut.Isis et Osiris, 8 (Moral. 354). Aelian,l.c.[159]Märchenetc. Song no. 56.[160]Above, p.53.[161]Schmidt,Märchenetc. no.VII.[162]Paus.VIII.42. 1 ff.[163]Paus.VIII.42. 2.[164]Schuchhardt,Schliemann’s Excavations(tr. Sellers), p. 296.[165]Ibid.[166]Paus.II.22. 1.[167]op. cit.p. 147.[168]op. cit.p. 302.[169]Schuchhardt,op. cit.p. 151, and Leaf’s introduction, p.XXVII.Cf. Frazer inJournal of Philology,XIV.145 ff.[170]Schuchhardt,op. cit.p. 151.[171]op. cit.p. 303.[172]Frazer inJournal of Philology,XIV.pp. 145 ff.[173]Paus.I.18. 3.[174]Id.IX.36.[175]IliadIX.404–5.[176]Griech. und Albanesische Märchen, nos. 63 and 97.[177]‘die Schöne der Erde’ in von Hahn’s translation. Unfortunately the original does not appear in Pio’sΝεοελληνικὰ παραμύθια, for which the MSS. of von Hahn provided the material.[178]Cf. Plut.Vita Thes.31,ad fin.[179]For references see Schmidt,Das Volksleben der Neugr.p. 222.[180]Passow,Popul. Carm. Graeciae recentioris. Carm. no. 408.[181]Χασιώτης, Συλλογὴ τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἤπειρον δημοτικῶν ἀσμάτων, p. 169.[182]Passow,op. cit.no. 423.[183]Πολίτης, Μελέτη ἐπὶ τοῦ βίου τῶν νεωτέρων Ἑλλήνων, p. 290.[184]Bernhard Schmidt,Märchenetc. p. 81.[185]Kindly communicated to me by Mr G. F. Abbott, author ofMacedonian Folklore.[186]B. Schmidt,Märchenetc. Song no. 39.[187]Cf. Passow, no. 428.[188]Ibid.no. 430.[189]Above, p.53.[190]e.g.Passow, no. 427.[191]Cf. Schmidt,Das Volksleben, p. 230.[192]This expression which I have heard several times is not noticed by Schmidt or Polites. They give, however,ἀγγελοκρούεται, ‘he is being stricken by an angel,’ and other phrases meaning to see, to fear, to be carried away by, an angel, all in the same sense. See Schmidt,op. cit.181, andΠολίτης, Μελέτη, κ.τ.λ.308.[193]κουμπάρος.The word expresses the relationship in which a godfather stands to the parents of his godson.[194]This story, as I have told it, is not a literal translation, for I could not take down the original. But notes which I set down after hearing it enable me to reproduce it in a form which certainly contains the whole substance and many actual phrases of the version which I heard.[195]Probably meaning the brigand’s ‘comrades.’ The termξεφτέρι, ‘hawk,’ is commonly so applied.[196]Πολίτης,op. cit.p. 246 (fromΛελέκης, Δημοτ. ἀνθολ.p. 57).[197]e.g.Passow,Popul. Carm.nos. 426–429.[198]Σακελλάριος, Κυπριακά, vol.III.p. 48. Cf.Πολίτης,op. cit.p. 239.[199]The word for ‘black’ includes the sense of ‘grim,’ ‘gloomy,’ ‘sorrowful.’ Tears are commonly described as ‘black,’μαῦρα δάκρυα.[200]Passow,op. cit.distich no. 1155.[201]Cf. Passow, no. 408.[202]Cf. Passow, nos. 414, 415, 417.[203]Passow, no. 424.[204]Aesch.Eum.237.[205]Fauriel,Chants populaires de la Grèce Moderne, Discours préliminaire, p. 85.[206]Schmidt,Märchenetc. Song no. 38.[207]Ibid.no. 37.[208]Schmidt,Märchenetc. Song no. 7.[209]Das Volksleben, p. 237.[210]Märchenetc. Song no. 10.[211]Πολίτης, Μελέτη κ.τ.λ.p. 272.[212]Passow, no. 371.[213]Ἰατρίδης, Συλλογὴ δημοτ. ἀσμάτων, p. 17. Cf. Schmidt,op. cit.p. 236.[214]So in some districts of Macedonia up to the present day; Abbott,Macedonian Folklore, p. 193.[215]Πρωτόδικος, περὶ τῆς παρ’ ἡμῖν ταφῆς, p. 14. The formπερατίκιονwhich the writer gives can hardly be popular. It might be, as Schmidt points out,περατίκινin the local dialect. I have given the form which the word would assume in most districts.[216]Σκορδέληςin the periodicalΠανδώρα,XI.p. 449. Cf. Schmidt,op. cit.p. 238.[217]περὶ πένθους, § 10.[218]For this term see above, p.68, and below, p.283.[219]Below, p.285.[220]See above, p.13.[221]Passow, no. 432.[222]This is shown later to be the first form of the superstition. See below, pp.433-4.[223]Newton,Travels and Discoveries in the Levant,I.p. 289 (cited by Schmidt,das Volksleben, p. 239).[224]The use of the coin, quite apart from any such variation of the custom, was forbidden by several councils of the Church between the 4th and 7th centuries, cf.Πολίτης, Μελέτηetc. p. 269.[225]Cf. Ricaud,Annales des conciles généraux et particuliers(1773), vol.I.p. 654 (fromΠολίτης, Μελέτη, p. 269).[226]According to Bent (Cyclades, p. 363) the object used thus in Naxos is a wax cross with the initial lettersΙ. Χ. Ν.engraved upon it, and it still bears the old nameναῦλον, ‘fare.’[227]Κωνστ. Κανελλάκης, Χιακὰ Ἀνάλεκτα, pp. 335 and 339.[228]Newton,Travels and Discoveries in the Levant,I.p. 212. The exact details of the custom in each place are given below, p.406.[229]See below, pp.433-4.[230]In Rhodes, according to Newton,l.c., the Christian symbolΙ. Χ. Ν. Κ.is combined with that to which I now come, the ‘pentacle.’[231]Cf.Πολίτης, Παραδόσεις,I.573, where it is said that in Myconos the symbol is sometimes carved on house doors to keepvrykolakes(on which see below, cap.IV.) from troubling the inmates at night.[232]Cf. Lucian,ὑπὲρ τοῦ ἐν τῇ προσαγορεύσει πταίσματος, 5.[233]apud Pausan. x. 28. 1.[234]e.g.Eur.Alc.252, 361,Heracl.432, Arist.Ran.184 ff.,Lysistr.606,Plut.278.[235]Suidas s.v.[236]Pollux, 8, 102.[237]Pollux, 4, 132.[238]Strabo, 579.[239]Ibid.636[240]Ibid.649.[241]Plut.Anton.16.[242]Χάρων θάνατος, s.v.[243]Eur.Alc.48, 49.[244]Ibid.74–6.[245]Ibid.1141–2.[246]Ibid.50.[247]Codex Vaticanus, no. 909. Cf. Schmidt,das Volksleben, p. 223, whence the majority of these references are borrowed.[248]VII.603 and 671;XI.133. Cf. Schmidt,l.c.[249]s.v.[250]Gerhard,die Gottheiten der Etrusker, p. 56; Müller,die Etrusker,II.102.[251]Ambrosch,de Charonte Etrusco, pp. 2, 3.[252]Ibid.p. 8.[253]Ibid.pp. 4–7; and Maury inRevue Archéologique,I.665, andIV.791.[254]Annuaire de l’Association pour l’encouragement des études grecques en France, no.VIII.(1874), p. 392 ff.[255]Both fortifications and well are actual features of Acro-Corinth up to the present day.[256]Pausan.I.37,ad fin.; Perrot,l.c.Cf. Frazer,Pausanias,II.497.[257]Märchenetc.Introduction, p. 35.[258]Cf. Bursian,Geographie von Griechenland,II.p. 17.[259]Vréto,Mélange Néo-hellenique.[260]Schmidt,Märchenetc. nos. 16–18.[261]Ibid.p. 113 (note 2).[262]See below, p.165.[263]Orph. Hymns, 57 (58), 2.[264]Orph. Hymns, 55, 8.μήτερ ἐρώτων. For representations in ancient art of manyἔρωτες, cf. Philostr.Eikones, p. 383 (770).[265]See above, p.57.[266]Tzetzes,Schol. on Lycophron, 406.[267]Pausan.I.19. 2. Cf.C. I. G.no. 1444, and Orph. Hymn, 55 (54), 4.[268]Apparently the old subterranean passage by which competitors entered the stadium.[269]Mentioned by Pouqueville,Voyage en Grèce,V.p. 67, and confirmed by many other writers.[270]Pausan.X.38. 6.[271]Pouqueville,op. cit.IV.p. 46.[272]Καμπούρογλου, Ἱστορία τῶν Ἀθηναίων,I.p. 222,III.p. 156.Πολίτης, Μελέτη κ.τ.λ.p. 227.[273]Dodwell,Tour through Greece,I.397.[274]Πολίτης,l.c.[275]l.c.[276]Καμπούρογλου, Ἱστ. τῶν Ἀθην.I.p. 222.[277]Cf.ἦτον γραφτό μου, ‘It was my written lot,’ i.e. destiny, and other similar phrases cited by Schmidt,das Volksleben, p. 212, andΠολίτης, Μελέτη, pp. 218, 219.[278]Choeph.464–5, which the Scholiast annotates thus,πέπηγε μὲν καὶ ὥρισται ὑπὸ Μοιρῶν τὸ τὴν Κλυταιμνήστραν ἀνδροκτονήσασαν ἀναιρεθῆναι κ.τ.λ.[279]I regret to say that I cannot trace the source of this story. I incline to think that I took it from some publication, but it is possible that it was narrated to me personally.[280]Except in Zacynthos, according to Schmidt (Volksleben, p. 211), where they number twelve.[281]Schmidt,Volksleben, p. 220.[282]Chants populaires de la Grèce moderne, Discours préliminaire, p. 83.[283]According to Bent (Cyclades, pp. 292 and 437), the name Erinyes is still applied by the people of Andros and of Kythnos to the evil spirits who cause consumption.[284]So Pouqueville,Voyage de la Grèce,VI.p. 160.[285]Καμπούρογλου, Ἱστ. τῶν Ἀθην.,III.pp. 67, 68.[286]Cf.Πολίτης, Μελέτη κ.τ.λ.p. 218.[287]The visit of the Fate on the day of birth instead of the third day after is unusual.[288]FromΚαμπούρογλου, Ἱστ. τῶν Ἀθην.I.pp. 310, 311.[289]Schmidt,das Volksleben, p. 212.[290]Cf.μόρσιμοςof the ‘destined’ bridegroom, in Hom.Od.XVI.392.[291]Cf. Miss Harrison,Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion, pp. 286 ff.[292]Passow, no. 385.[293]Heuzey,Le mont Olympe, p. 139. I have introduced a few alterations of spelling, mostly suggested by Schmidt,das Volksleben, p. 229 (note),e.g.τοὐρανοῦforτοῦ οὐρανοῦ, in order to restore the rather rough metre.[294]Πολίτης(Μελέτη κ.τ.λ.p. 228, note 1) gives the following references: Wordsworth,Athens and Attica, p. 228;Ἐφημ. Φιλομαθῶν, 1868, p. 1479; Passow,Popul. Carm.p. 431, besides those to which I have referred in other notes.[295]Persae, 659.[296]VII.218.[297]Πιττάκης, who recorded this version inἘφημ. Ἀρχαιολογική, no. 30 (1852), p. 653, spelt the word erroneouslyκόροιβο; the sound ofοιandυbeing identical in modern Greek, I have substituted the latter.[298]Theog.217 and 904.[299]Theog.217.[300]Prom. Vinct.516 ff.[301]Leo Allatius (de quorumdam Graec. opinationibus, cap. xx.) quotes from Mich. Psellus (11th century) the ancient formΝηρηΐδεςas then in use. He himself (ibid.cap. xix.) employs the formΝαραγίδεςwhich was probably the dialectic form of his native Chios. Bern. Schmidt (Das Volksleben der Neugriechen, pp. 98–9) has brought together a large number of variants now in use, in which the accent fluctuates between theαand theι, the first vowel is indifferentlyα,εorη, the two consecutive vowelsαϊare sometimes contracted toᾳ, sometimes more distinctly separated by the faintly pronounced letterγ, and lastly an euphoneticαis occasionally prefixed to the word. Hence forms as widely distinct asἀνερᾷδεςandναραγίδεςoften occur. Du Cange, it may be added, gives the formΝαγαρίδες(with interchange of theρand the insertedγ); but since his information is seemingly drawn entirely from Leo Allatius, there is reason to regard it as merely his own error in transcribingΝαραγίδες.[302]An attempt has been made by one authority on the folk-lore of Athens (Καμπούρογλου, Ἱστορία τῶν Ἀθηναίων,I.pp. 218 and 222), to distinguishκαλοκυρᾶδεςfromνεράϊδες. He maintains that in Athens the latter were never regarded as maleficent beings, and must therefore be distinguished from the dreadκαλοκυρᾶδες, whom he seeks to identify, on no better ground than the euphemistic name, with the Eumenides. A folk-story, however, which he himself records (ibid.p. 319), how aκαλοκυράwas married to a prince, whose eyes she had blinded to all other women, and how after living with him for a while she disappeared finally in a whirlwind, reveals in her all the usual traits of a Nereid, and thus defeats the writer’s previous contention. But apart from this a little enquiry on the subject outside the limits of Athens would have set at rest his doubts as to the identity of the two. It is quite possible that formerly in Athens, as now elsewhere, it was usual to employ the euphemismκαλοκυρᾶδεςin referring to the Nereids in their more mischievous moods; only in that way can I explain his idea that the Nereids were never maleficent.

[150]Conon,Narrat.15.

[151]Tour through Greece,II.p. 440.

[152]Travels in the Morea,III.p. 148.

[153]Paus.VIII.42. 1–4, and 25. 5.

[154]Schol. in Ar.Ran.441. Aelian,Hist. Anim.X.16.

[155]Frazer,Golden Bough,II.44 ff. (2nd edit.).

[156]Herod.II.171.

[157]Aelian,l.c.

[158]Herod.II.47. Plut.Isis et Osiris, 8 (Moral. 354). Aelian,l.c.

[159]Märchenetc. Song no. 56.

[160]Above, p.53.

[161]Schmidt,Märchenetc. no.VII.

[162]Paus.VIII.42. 1 ff.

[163]Paus.VIII.42. 2.

[164]Schuchhardt,Schliemann’s Excavations(tr. Sellers), p. 296.

[165]Ibid.

[166]Paus.II.22. 1.

[167]op. cit.p. 147.

[168]op. cit.p. 302.

[169]Schuchhardt,op. cit.p. 151, and Leaf’s introduction, p.XXVII.Cf. Frazer inJournal of Philology,XIV.145 ff.

[170]Schuchhardt,op. cit.p. 151.

[171]op. cit.p. 303.

[172]Frazer inJournal of Philology,XIV.pp. 145 ff.

[173]Paus.I.18. 3.

[174]Id.IX.36.

[175]IliadIX.404–5.

[176]Griech. und Albanesische Märchen, nos. 63 and 97.

[177]‘die Schöne der Erde’ in von Hahn’s translation. Unfortunately the original does not appear in Pio’sΝεοελληνικὰ παραμύθια, for which the MSS. of von Hahn provided the material.

[178]Cf. Plut.Vita Thes.31,ad fin.

[179]For references see Schmidt,Das Volksleben der Neugr.p. 222.

[180]Passow,Popul. Carm. Graeciae recentioris. Carm. no. 408.

[181]Χασιώτης, Συλλογὴ τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἤπειρον δημοτικῶν ἀσμάτων, p. 169.

[182]Passow,op. cit.no. 423.

[183]Πολίτης, Μελέτη ἐπὶ τοῦ βίου τῶν νεωτέρων Ἑλλήνων, p. 290.

[184]Bernhard Schmidt,Märchenetc. p. 81.

[185]Kindly communicated to me by Mr G. F. Abbott, author ofMacedonian Folklore.

[186]B. Schmidt,Märchenetc. Song no. 39.

[187]Cf. Passow, no. 428.

[188]Ibid.no. 430.

[189]Above, p.53.

[190]e.g.Passow, no. 427.

[191]Cf. Schmidt,Das Volksleben, p. 230.

[192]This expression which I have heard several times is not noticed by Schmidt or Polites. They give, however,ἀγγελοκρούεται, ‘he is being stricken by an angel,’ and other phrases meaning to see, to fear, to be carried away by, an angel, all in the same sense. See Schmidt,op. cit.181, andΠολίτης, Μελέτη, κ.τ.λ.308.

[193]κουμπάρος.The word expresses the relationship in which a godfather stands to the parents of his godson.

[194]This story, as I have told it, is not a literal translation, for I could not take down the original. But notes which I set down after hearing it enable me to reproduce it in a form which certainly contains the whole substance and many actual phrases of the version which I heard.

[195]Probably meaning the brigand’s ‘comrades.’ The termξεφτέρι, ‘hawk,’ is commonly so applied.

[196]Πολίτης,op. cit.p. 246 (fromΛελέκης, Δημοτ. ἀνθολ.p. 57).

[197]e.g.Passow,Popul. Carm.nos. 426–429.

[198]Σακελλάριος, Κυπριακά, vol.III.p. 48. Cf.Πολίτης,op. cit.p. 239.

[199]The word for ‘black’ includes the sense of ‘grim,’ ‘gloomy,’ ‘sorrowful.’ Tears are commonly described as ‘black,’μαῦρα δάκρυα.

[200]Passow,op. cit.distich no. 1155.

[201]Cf. Passow, no. 408.

[202]Cf. Passow, nos. 414, 415, 417.

[203]Passow, no. 424.

[204]Aesch.Eum.237.

[205]Fauriel,Chants populaires de la Grèce Moderne, Discours préliminaire, p. 85.

[206]Schmidt,Märchenetc. Song no. 38.

[207]Ibid.no. 37.

[208]Schmidt,Märchenetc. Song no. 7.

[209]Das Volksleben, p. 237.

[210]Märchenetc. Song no. 10.

[211]Πολίτης, Μελέτη κ.τ.λ.p. 272.

[212]Passow, no. 371.

[213]Ἰατρίδης, Συλλογὴ δημοτ. ἀσμάτων, p. 17. Cf. Schmidt,op. cit.p. 236.

[214]So in some districts of Macedonia up to the present day; Abbott,Macedonian Folklore, p. 193.

[215]Πρωτόδικος, περὶ τῆς παρ’ ἡμῖν ταφῆς, p. 14. The formπερατίκιονwhich the writer gives can hardly be popular. It might be, as Schmidt points out,περατίκινin the local dialect. I have given the form which the word would assume in most districts.

[216]Σκορδέληςin the periodicalΠανδώρα,XI.p. 449. Cf. Schmidt,op. cit.p. 238.

[217]περὶ πένθους, § 10.

[218]For this term see above, p.68, and below, p.283.

[219]Below, p.285.

[220]See above, p.13.

[221]Passow, no. 432.

[222]This is shown later to be the first form of the superstition. See below, pp.433-4.

[223]Newton,Travels and Discoveries in the Levant,I.p. 289 (cited by Schmidt,das Volksleben, p. 239).

[224]The use of the coin, quite apart from any such variation of the custom, was forbidden by several councils of the Church between the 4th and 7th centuries, cf.Πολίτης, Μελέτηetc. p. 269.

[225]Cf. Ricaud,Annales des conciles généraux et particuliers(1773), vol.I.p. 654 (fromΠολίτης, Μελέτη, p. 269).

[226]According to Bent (Cyclades, p. 363) the object used thus in Naxos is a wax cross with the initial lettersΙ. Χ. Ν.engraved upon it, and it still bears the old nameναῦλον, ‘fare.’

[227]Κωνστ. Κανελλάκης, Χιακὰ Ἀνάλεκτα, pp. 335 and 339.

[228]Newton,Travels and Discoveries in the Levant,I.p. 212. The exact details of the custom in each place are given below, p.406.

[229]See below, pp.433-4.

[230]In Rhodes, according to Newton,l.c., the Christian symbolΙ. Χ. Ν. Κ.is combined with that to which I now come, the ‘pentacle.’

[231]Cf.Πολίτης, Παραδόσεις,I.573, where it is said that in Myconos the symbol is sometimes carved on house doors to keepvrykolakes(on which see below, cap.IV.) from troubling the inmates at night.

[232]Cf. Lucian,ὑπὲρ τοῦ ἐν τῇ προσαγορεύσει πταίσματος, 5.

[233]apud Pausan. x. 28. 1.

[234]e.g.Eur.Alc.252, 361,Heracl.432, Arist.Ran.184 ff.,Lysistr.606,Plut.278.

[235]Suidas s.v.

[236]Pollux, 8, 102.

[237]Pollux, 4, 132.

[238]Strabo, 579.

[239]Ibid.636

[240]Ibid.649.

[241]Plut.Anton.16.

[242]Χάρων θάνατος, s.v.

[243]Eur.Alc.48, 49.

[244]Ibid.74–6.

[245]Ibid.1141–2.

[246]Ibid.50.

[247]Codex Vaticanus, no. 909. Cf. Schmidt,das Volksleben, p. 223, whence the majority of these references are borrowed.

[248]VII.603 and 671;XI.133. Cf. Schmidt,l.c.

[249]s.v.

[250]Gerhard,die Gottheiten der Etrusker, p. 56; Müller,die Etrusker,II.102.

[251]Ambrosch,de Charonte Etrusco, pp. 2, 3.

[252]Ibid.p. 8.

[253]Ibid.pp. 4–7; and Maury inRevue Archéologique,I.665, andIV.791.

[254]Annuaire de l’Association pour l’encouragement des études grecques en France, no.VIII.(1874), p. 392 ff.

[255]Both fortifications and well are actual features of Acro-Corinth up to the present day.

[256]Pausan.I.37,ad fin.; Perrot,l.c.Cf. Frazer,Pausanias,II.497.

[257]Märchenetc.Introduction, p. 35.

[258]Cf. Bursian,Geographie von Griechenland,II.p. 17.

[259]Vréto,Mélange Néo-hellenique.

[260]Schmidt,Märchenetc. nos. 16–18.

[261]Ibid.p. 113 (note 2).

[262]See below, p.165.

[263]Orph. Hymns, 57 (58), 2.

[264]Orph. Hymns, 55, 8.μήτερ ἐρώτων. For representations in ancient art of manyἔρωτες, cf. Philostr.Eikones, p. 383 (770).

[265]See above, p.57.

[266]Tzetzes,Schol. on Lycophron, 406.

[267]Pausan.I.19. 2. Cf.C. I. G.no. 1444, and Orph. Hymn, 55 (54), 4.

[268]Apparently the old subterranean passage by which competitors entered the stadium.

[269]Mentioned by Pouqueville,Voyage en Grèce,V.p. 67, and confirmed by many other writers.

[270]Pausan.X.38. 6.

[271]Pouqueville,op. cit.IV.p. 46.

[272]Καμπούρογλου, Ἱστορία τῶν Ἀθηναίων,I.p. 222,III.p. 156.Πολίτης, Μελέτη κ.τ.λ.p. 227.

[273]Dodwell,Tour through Greece,I.397.

[274]Πολίτης,l.c.

[275]l.c.

[276]Καμπούρογλου, Ἱστ. τῶν Ἀθην.I.p. 222.

[277]Cf.ἦτον γραφτό μου, ‘It was my written lot,’ i.e. destiny, and other similar phrases cited by Schmidt,das Volksleben, p. 212, andΠολίτης, Μελέτη, pp. 218, 219.

[278]Choeph.464–5, which the Scholiast annotates thus,πέπηγε μὲν καὶ ὥρισται ὑπὸ Μοιρῶν τὸ τὴν Κλυταιμνήστραν ἀνδροκτονήσασαν ἀναιρεθῆναι κ.τ.λ.

[279]I regret to say that I cannot trace the source of this story. I incline to think that I took it from some publication, but it is possible that it was narrated to me personally.

[280]Except in Zacynthos, according to Schmidt (Volksleben, p. 211), where they number twelve.

[281]Schmidt,Volksleben, p. 220.

[282]Chants populaires de la Grèce moderne, Discours préliminaire, p. 83.

[283]According to Bent (Cyclades, pp. 292 and 437), the name Erinyes is still applied by the people of Andros and of Kythnos to the evil spirits who cause consumption.

[284]So Pouqueville,Voyage de la Grèce,VI.p. 160.

[285]Καμπούρογλου, Ἱστ. τῶν Ἀθην.,III.pp. 67, 68.

[286]Cf.Πολίτης, Μελέτη κ.τ.λ.p. 218.

[287]The visit of the Fate on the day of birth instead of the third day after is unusual.

[288]FromΚαμπούρογλου, Ἱστ. τῶν Ἀθην.I.pp. 310, 311.

[289]Schmidt,das Volksleben, p. 212.

[290]Cf.μόρσιμοςof the ‘destined’ bridegroom, in Hom.Od.XVI.392.

[291]Cf. Miss Harrison,Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion, pp. 286 ff.

[292]Passow, no. 385.

[293]Heuzey,Le mont Olympe, p. 139. I have introduced a few alterations of spelling, mostly suggested by Schmidt,das Volksleben, p. 229 (note),e.g.τοὐρανοῦforτοῦ οὐρανοῦ, in order to restore the rather rough metre.

[294]Πολίτης(Μελέτη κ.τ.λ.p. 228, note 1) gives the following references: Wordsworth,Athens and Attica, p. 228;Ἐφημ. Φιλομαθῶν, 1868, p. 1479; Passow,Popul. Carm.p. 431, besides those to which I have referred in other notes.

[295]Persae, 659.

[296]VII.218.

[297]Πιττάκης, who recorded this version inἘφημ. Ἀρχαιολογική, no. 30 (1852), p. 653, spelt the word erroneouslyκόροιβο; the sound ofοιandυbeing identical in modern Greek, I have substituted the latter.

[298]Theog.217 and 904.

[299]Theog.217.

[300]Prom. Vinct.516 ff.

[301]Leo Allatius (de quorumdam Graec. opinationibus, cap. xx.) quotes from Mich. Psellus (11th century) the ancient formΝηρηΐδεςas then in use. He himself (ibid.cap. xix.) employs the formΝαραγίδεςwhich was probably the dialectic form of his native Chios. Bern. Schmidt (Das Volksleben der Neugriechen, pp. 98–9) has brought together a large number of variants now in use, in which the accent fluctuates between theαand theι, the first vowel is indifferentlyα,εorη, the two consecutive vowelsαϊare sometimes contracted toᾳ, sometimes more distinctly separated by the faintly pronounced letterγ, and lastly an euphoneticαis occasionally prefixed to the word. Hence forms as widely distinct asἀνερᾷδεςandναραγίδεςoften occur. Du Cange, it may be added, gives the formΝαγαρίδες(with interchange of theρand the insertedγ); but since his information is seemingly drawn entirely from Leo Allatius, there is reason to regard it as merely his own error in transcribingΝαραγίδες.

[302]An attempt has been made by one authority on the folk-lore of Athens (Καμπούρογλου, Ἱστορία τῶν Ἀθηναίων,I.pp. 218 and 222), to distinguishκαλοκυρᾶδεςfromνεράϊδες. He maintains that in Athens the latter were never regarded as maleficent beings, and must therefore be distinguished from the dreadκαλοκυρᾶδες, whom he seeks to identify, on no better ground than the euphemistic name, with the Eumenides. A folk-story, however, which he himself records (ibid.p. 319), how aκαλοκυράwas married to a prince, whose eyes she had blinded to all other women, and how after living with him for a while she disappeared finally in a whirlwind, reveals in her all the usual traits of a Nereid, and thus defeats the writer’s previous contention. But apart from this a little enquiry on the subject outside the limits of Athens would have set at rest his doubts as to the identity of the two. It is quite possible that formerly in Athens, as now elsewhere, it was usual to employ the euphemismκαλοκυρᾶδεςin referring to the Nereids in their more mischievous moods; only in that way can I explain his idea that the Nereids were never maleficent.

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