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Eba Poon (Theocritus, Id. I. 139, 140).

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

Henry W. Prescott
Henry W. Prescott
Affiliation:
The University of Chicago
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Extract

The mystical part of Reitzenstein′s interpretation of the song in Theocritus′s first idyll has not been generally accepted;it is somewhat surprising to find a new interpretation of the legend of Daphnis, and a new explanation of the genesis of pastoral poetry, introduced by the statement, referring to Reitzenstein: ‘ Nicht zu kiihn war er, sondern noch nicht kiihn genug.’ Starting from Reitzenstein′s contention that the pastoral was developed from a cult-song, Fries elaborates the theory that Daphnis is a Greek Krishna; that the maiden of Theocritus′s first idyll is the counterpart of the heroine of the Song of Songs; that astral mythology, Oriental in origin, supplies the clue to Theocritus′s handling of the legend. On the basis of this and other material Fries constructs further theories affecting the development of other literary types than the pastoral, and leads us ultimately to a novel interpretation of the Phaeacian episode in the Odyssey.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Classical Quarterly , Volume 7 , Issue 3 , July 1913 , pp. 176 - 187
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1913

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References

page 176 note 1 Epigramm und Skolion, 193 sqq.

page 176 note 2 Studien zur Odyssee, von Carl Fries. I. Das Zagmukfest auf Scheria. Mitteilungen der vorder-asiatisckenGesellschaft.XV. (igio),2/4, pp. 261 sqq.

page 177 note 1 The best discussion may be found in Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Encyclopadie, s.u. Daphnis. The article by Stoll in Roscher, Lexih. der Myth. s.u. Daphnis is an undigested mass of material. The theories of the scholiasts are sifted in Class. Rev. XVII. (1903) 107 sqq., but the view in one mass of scholia that Theocritus is modifying the orthodox Sicilian version is perhaps unduly dis-credited. A juvenile essay in Harv. Stud. Class Phil. X. (1899) 121 sqq. is an attempt simply to deduce the formula applied in the legend as was current in Sicily before Theocritus. The only real interpretation of Theocritus′s first idyll is the study by Schwartz, Nachrichten der gotting. Gesell. (1904), 285 sqq.

page 177 note 2 So, essentially, but with mystical implica-tions, Reitzenstein, op. cit. 213; cf. Class. Rev.XVII. (1903) 109, n. 1.

page 179 note 1 Cf. Reitzenstein, Epig. und Skol. 193 sqq.

page 179 note 2 Knaack, in Pauly - Wissowa. Real-Enc. s.u. Daphnis, finds evidence that the tale was originally a Euboean story.

page 180 note 1 The material may be found in Rohde, Der griech. Roman,2 p. 119 and n. 1. To Rohde′s collection may be added Phiiammon (Conon, Narrat. VII.) and Astacides (Callimachus, Epigr. XXII. Wilam.)

page 180 note 2 Cerambus in Nicander ap. Anton. Lib. XXII.; cf. Roscher, Lexik. der Myth. II. 1115. 54. Cf. Schmidt, Das Volksleben der Neugriechen, 110–11; Ross, Inselreisen, III. 45, 1801/7/2009.

page 180 note 3 Cf. Bloch in Roscher, Lexih. der Myth. III. 554, 32; Schmidt, op. cit. 111–112, 119–23, Griech. Mdrchen, 91; scholium on Soph. Phil. 194.

page 180 note 4 Wilamowitz, Textgeschichte der griech. Buko- liker, 233 sqq. I cannot see that this evidence necessitates our supposing a bee to have dropped out of the legend of Daphnis (Wilamowitz, op. cit. 234); but Wilamowitz, so far as I know, has not yet fulfilled his promise to elaborate his interest-ing suggestions.

page 181 note 1 In the plot of Sositheus′s drama (Schol. K ad Theoc. VIII. argumentum, VIII. 93, Ps.-Serv. ad Verg. Bu:. VIII. 68, Reitzenstein, Epig. und Skol. 258 sqq.) the heroine′s name was Thaleia, which is not distinctive. The name Pimplea, given in Ps.-Servius I.e. in connection with the same plot, may be an echo from a form of the legend in which the heroine was a water-sprite (Roscher, Lexih. der Myth. s.u. Pimpleis).

page 181 note 2 One group of catastrophes was studied by J. G. L. Mellmann, De caussis et auctoribus narra- tionum de mutatis formis, Leipzig, 1786. The study of a single legend from this standpoint resulted favourably in the case of the story of Byblis investigated by Rohde, Der griech. Roman 2 IOI, n. 1.

page 181 note 3 Examples of blinding are, in addition to Daphnis, Lycurgus (Iliad, Z 130), Thamyris (Conon, Narrat. VII.), Erymanthus (Ptol. Heph. ap. Westermann, Myth. Gr. p. 183), Rhoecus (cf. above), Stesichorus (Bergk, PLG.4 III. pp. 214–15), Tiresias (Apollod. III. 6. 7), Anchises (cf. Wilamowitz, Textgesch. der griech. Buk. 230 sqq.

page 182 note 1 Ps.-Serv. ad Verg. Buc. VIII. 59:‘... apud Leucaten soliti erant se praecipitare qui...araari ab his desiderabant quos amabant’;cf. ad Verg. Aen. III. 279. Illustrations are Sappho Menander ap. Strabo. X. 452);a long list of perhaps dubious cases in Ptol. Heph. ap. Wester-mann, Myth. Gr. pp. 188–89;Calyce (Stesich. ap. Athen. 619 D); Anacreon (Bergk, PLG 4 frag. 19); Deucalion (Ovid, Her. XV. 166); Cephalus (Strabo X. 452); Menalcas (Hermesianax in argum. schol. ad Theoc. IX. K;Meletus Suidas s.u.)=Timagoras (Paus. I. 30. 1); Byblis (Nicander ap. Anton. Lib. XXX.).

page 182 note 2 Perfidious Battus (Anton. Lib. XXXIX. cf. Ovid, Metam. II. 676–77), like the faithless Daphnis, is so punished. The scorner of love, however, is similarly afflicted in the case of Arsinoe (Hermesianax ap. Anton. Lib. XXXIX.;cf. Anaxarete in Ovid, Metam. XIV. 698–764, and Rohde, Der griech. Roman,2 84 sqq.) The punish- ment seems generalized in such stories as those of Cragaleus (Anton. Lib. IV.), Pandareus (XXXVI.) and the wolf (ibid. XXXVIII.). It is often a debute rock into which the victim is turned as in the story of Daphnis, told in Ps.- Serv. ad Verg. Buc. VIII. 68. So, too, in the story of Battus.

page 182 note 3 ‘... ab irata nympha amatrice luminibus orbatus est deinde (in) lapidem uersus: nam apud Cephaloeditanum oppidum saxum dicitur esse quod formam hominis ostendat.... " This metamorphosis appears without the blinding as the conclusion of Ovid′s story of Daphnis (‘uul gatos... pastoris amores | Daphnidis Idaei quem nympha paelicis ira | contulit in saxum...’ Metam. IV. 276). It is possible that it is properly an independent catastrophe, apart from the blinding. The reference to an Idaean Daphnis in Ovid does not affect the question;for if there was a Cretan legend of Daphnis (and Reitzen stein, Epig. und Skol. 254–56, seems to me to strain the evidence) the nympha, paelex, and ira in Ovid repeat the important features of the Sicilian legend.

page 182 note 4 ai. This catastro independent of the blinding, seems to me to be presupposed by the context of Silius Italicus XIV. 462–64. Silius is referring to the death in a naval battle of a descendant of the heroic Daphnis bearing the same name:.honsinter Daphni deductum ab origine nomen antiqua, fuit infelix, cui linquere saltus et mutare casas infido marmore uisum.There follows a celebration of the heroic Daphnis of pastoral legend. As the poet′s purpose seems to be to parallel closely the fates of the younger naval hero and the heroic herdsman, infidum marmor, though referring primarily to the treacherous sea in which the naval hero met his fate, would also cover the death of the herdsman as described in this scholium on Theocritus.

page 183 note 1 ‘... adamatus a nympha est;qui etiam iure iureiurando adstrictus est ne cum alia con-cumberet. hie dura boues persequitur ad regiam peruenit et ob pulchritudinem appetitus, cum nympha rescisset luminibus eum orbauit. ille in auxilium patrem Mercurium inuocauit: qui eitm in caelum eripuit et in eo loco fontem elicuit qui Daphni uocatur, apud quern quotannh Siculi sacrificant.’ On the sources of the scholium, cf. Reitzenstein, Epig. und Skol. 200. Schwartz (op. cit. 292 and n. 1) does not attach any importance to the addi tions to the Sicilian legend in this comment of Ps.-Servius. He regards the spring as a mere combination by some late writer of ‘ das Melus- inenmotiv des Marchens ’ and ‘ der sentimeniure talische Schluss des theokritischen θρήνος.’ He continues: ‘durch den "Cult" lasse sich niemand tauschen.’ It is true that no trace survives in modern Sicily of a cult of Daphnis (Ciaceri, Culti e Miti nella Storia dell’ antica Sicilia, 296). It should be noted that in the pastoral romance of a conventionalized Daphnis a spring called after his name recurs: Longus, IV. 4. 1

page 184 note 1 Kaibel rejects καί άνακλήσεως as a gloss

page 184 note 2 In general cf. Turk, Breslauer Philolog. Ab-handl. VII. I quote only passages bearing on the details in question: Nicander ap. Antonin. Lib. XXVI ‘Postea cum esset cognitum quod perisset in fonte, ei statuta sunt sacra in quibus mos fuerat ut eius nomen clamaretur in monti- bus ’ (Serv. ad Verg. Buc. VI. 43)... ‘ Prusia- dem urbem et adluit Hylas flumen et perspergit Hylas lacus, in quo resedisse credunt delicias Herculi, Hylam puerum, Nymphis rapinam;in cuius memoriam usque adhuc sollemni cursi- tatione lacum populus circumit et Hylam uoce clamant’ (Solinus′42. 2)... " amnes Hylas et Cios (Pliny, N. H. V. 143).(Hesychius s.u.). According to a plausible emendation of Foerster (JHB- 135- 174) an epi gram of Ausonius represents Hylas as changed into a spring. It is addressed ‘Nymphis quae Hylam merserunt,’ and runs (98 Peiper): ‘ furitis procaces Naides | amore saeuo et irrito; | epheirapii bus iste fons (MSS. flos) erit.’ In the following assage of Valerius Flaccus (Argon. IV. 26), the MSS. read amnes for arces, and Langen is perhaps c. right in following the MSS. and referring to I. 692, but in either case the fontis honores are pertinent: ‘ hoc nemus heu fatis mihi iam domus, improba quo me | nympha rapit saeuae monitu Iunonis;in arces | nunc Iouis accessus et iam mihi lumina caeli | conciliat iungitque toros et fontis honores.’

page 184 note 3 A brief abstract in Proc. Amer. Phil. Assoc. XXXIII. (1903), p. cv, announced the facts that I here elaborate and put in their proper setting, Here, as there, I am indebted to Prof. G. L. Kittredge for calling my attention to the material collected by Prof. Child.

page 185 note 1 For a fuller summary cf. Child I.e. Engel-hardt, Der Ritter von Staufenberg 10–16 discusses the sources of the poem. It once existed in a MS. in the library of Strassburg, but was de- stroyed in the fire of 1870. Editions made prior to its destruction are the sources of the text. I refer to the text of E. Schroeder, Zwei altdeutsc Rittermatren (Berlin, 1894). Schroeder (op. cit p. li) dates the composition of the poem at about 1300.

page 185 note 2 ‘ Aber nimst ein elich wip so stirbet din vil stolzer lip | darnach am dritten tage’ (395–97).

page 185 note 3 The Trilby foot may justify a quotation: ‘ Eins menschen fuoz ez sehen liez | bios in den sal unz an die knie. | uf erden so wart schoener nie | noch minnenclicher fuoz gesehen:| das muostent alle menschen jehen. | der fuoz iiber den sal erschein | wizer denne ie helfenbein ’ (1032–38).

page 186 note 1 ‘ Da gewahrte er am Brunnen eine schnee-weise Frauengestalt in lichter, luftiger Klei-dung’ (p. 107). ‘Ich bin eine Undine oder eine Mummelchen, oder eine Meerfey, wie uns die Menschen zu nennen belieben’ (p. 109). ‘ Wenn ich Eurer Liebe vertrauen soil, so muss ich Euer Leben als Pfand haben. Eine fremde Liebe wiirde Euch den Tod bringen’ (p. 110).

page 185 note 2 I have not found any precise parallel to the legend of Daphnis in L. Gonzenbach, Sidlianische Marchcn aus dem Volhsmund gesammelt. Welcker (Kl. Schrift. I. 192) quotes an Indian parallel from the Hitopadesha ‘ von einem Jungling, welcher eine Meernymphe erblickt, von ihr in Gunst genommen und nach der Weise der Gan- darven mit ihr vermalt wird. Keine andere auch nur im Bilde zu begehren macht sie ihm zum Gesetz. Doch einst da er ein reizendes Gemalde erblickt, enthalt er sich nicht den schonen Busen mit dem Finger zu beruhren und der Fuss im Gemalde stosst ihn weg und er sinkt in sein Nichts wieder zuruck.’

page 186 note 1 That a water-sprite is equally appropriate in Timaeus′s plot with the blinding as punish-ment is suggested by the story in Herod. II. 111, in which a king, angered at the overflow of the Nile, hurls his spear into the river and is punished by being blinded.

page 186 note 2 The general notions that pervade this group of stories recur in tales that do not follow the essential features of the legend of Daphnis or of other nympholept heroes. So, for example, women who are ‘ von Haus aus mit dem Wasser verwandt’ Rohde, Der griech. Roman,2 p. 101 are metamorphosed into springs. Byblis, in various versions, is changed into a spring, or her tears form a spring; the spring is called Byblis; Dryope (Anton. Lib. XXXII.), daughter of a river-god and a Danaid, is carried off by Dryads; a tree grows up where she stood, and near the tree a spring gushes forth; she herself becomes a nymph. But more pertinent than such stories is the ύδατόεις γάμος of Parthenius, frag. 22, Martini, and Nonnus, Dionys. XXVI. 357.[ADDENDUM.—Wilamowitz, in his Reden und Vortrdge (dritte vermehrte Auflage, Berlin, 1913, pp. 298 sqq), adopts the conventional interpre tation in his translation ‘ zur Styx sank er dahin’ (p. 314). My colleague, Prof. Ernest Wilkins, suggests that modern survivals of the folk tale might be found in G. Pitre, Fiabe Siciliane.]