DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14697#0331
n66
Appendix N
rank, henceforward he can read a deeper meaning in the old-world wedding-
chant :
' I have fled the bad, I have found the better1.'
It looks as though the primitive mind conceived of death itself as simply due to
the fact that the chthonian deity (whether goddess or god) had claimed another
consort2. The summons has been sent. The call must be obeyed. But—
' Who knows if life be death and death be life3 ?'
In the embrace of Persephone the dead man becomes the chthonian king.
Borne off by Hades the dead woman becomes the chthonian queen. We can
understand now the familiar saying
'Whom the gods love dies young4,'
and find a further significance in the representation of Death as Love5.
wearing of a wreath made from it betokened disease (Artemid. oneirocr. r. 77), that was
due to the fact that the plant in question was recognised as a cure for diseases (Nik.
ther. 896). Greeks called it the garland of Aphrodite, Romans the herb of Venus
(Dioskor. 2. 154 (155) p. 271 Sprengel); and the medical writers enable us to guess the
reason, cp. Dioskor. 2. 154 (155) p. 272 Sprengel 8vvap.iv Se exei OeppavTiK-qv ■ dpp.b'^ei Se
irpbs ffTpayyovpias /ecu Xi#td<reis to enrepfxa avv otvip wcvop-evov, id. 2. 155 (156) p. 272
Sprengel of another variety '£<jti 8e 6epp.avTi.K6v, ovprjriKov, Galen, de simplicium medi-
camentorunt temperamentis ac facultatibus 8. 18. 20 (xii. 124 Ktihn) depp.aivovijr]s Kai
^■qpaivovarjs Kara tt]v rpirriv tcl^lv iari Swdpews re xai Kpdaeus. /cat to aweppa 8' avrov
XewTop-epes re Kai Oeppbv eariv, odev avv o'ivip rives avrr)v diobaai k.t.X., id. ib. 8. 18. 21
(xii. 124 Kiihn) of the other variety orav p.ev £ripbv rj, tt}s rpLrris earl rd^eusrwv tfpcuvbvTWv
re d,ua /ecu deppaivbvrwv, k.t.X. On mint in general see A. de Gubernatis op. cit. ii. 226—
228, H. Friend op. cit. ii. 687 Index s.v. 'Mint,' R. Folkard op. cit. p. 439 f. Supra
i. 257 n. 5.
1 e<pvyov KaKov, evpov frfxeivov (carm. pop. 20 a Miller—Crusius)—an early dactylic line
(cp. supra i. 444) first found in Dem. de cor. 259 (cited supra i. 392 n. 4) as a formula
used by initiates in the rites of Sabdzios, and from him apparently quoted by Hesych. s.v.
It is given as a marriage-rubric by Pausanias the Atticist ap. Eustath. in Od. p. 1726, 19 ff.
Kai irapoip-ia SryXoi irapd Havaaviq Xeyovaa 1 eepvyov KaKov, evpov dfieivov' rjv e\eye, <pr)<jiv,
dp.<f)idaXris irals 'Ad-qvyaLV, £<TTe/j.p.evos aKavdais /xerd dpvtvuv KapwQv, X'ikvov fiavTd'c'wv
■wXripes aprwv, aivurabpLevos tt\v e/c toO 7raXaioO (3Lov ewl to Kpelrrov peTa(3oXrjv = Zenob.
3. 98, Diogeneian. 4. 74, Plout. 1. 16, Apostol. 8. 16, Phot. lex. and Souid. s.v., cp.
Porph. de abst. 1. 1. Probably the so-called proverb was a very ancient charm employed
in the mysteries to facilitate the transition from the lower to the higher life, a transition
culminating in the divine marriage (see Lobeck Aglaophamus i. 646 ff.). Subsequently it
was transferred, with some loss of meaning, to ordinary human marriages.
2 Cp. the Celtic tales of the Otherworld-visit, which I have summarised in Folk-Lore
1906 xvii. 143 ff. {supra i. 239).
3 Eur. Polyeidos frag. 638 Nauck2 [supra p. 868), cp. Eur. Phrixus frag. 833 Nauck'2.
In Aristoph. ran. 1477 f. t'ls oldev ei to £rjv fxev eari Kardavelv, | to irvelv 5e denrve'iv, to 5e
KadevBeiv Kibbiov; the attempts of the editors to extract sense from the latter line are far
from convincing. I fancy Aristophanes is poking fun at the prospect held out to every
pious believer, the hero-feast (deiirveiv) and the poppy-head (for kwBlov read k<Jj8vov, cp.
Theophr. hist.pl. 6. 8. 1 and ap. Athen. 680 e, or Kwdia, cp. Aristoph. frag. 166 Dindorf
ap. Harpokr. s.v. Kwbia). Life hereafter was to be one perpetual banquet in the bridal
chamber of Persephone : if the new immortal tired of it, he had at least the poppy-
capsule to lull him to sleep and to renew his generative powers. Those who retain
Kibbiov in the text should still interpret the word of the initiate's equipment, the ' fleece of
Zeus' {supra i. 422 ff.).
4 Menand. disexapaton frag. 4 {Frag. com. Gr. iv. 105 Meineke). Cp. Kaibel Epigr.
Gr. no. 340. 8 = Cougny Anth, Pal. Append. 2. 585. 8. 5 Supra pp. 309, 1045.
Appendix N
rank, henceforward he can read a deeper meaning in the old-world wedding-
chant :
' I have fled the bad, I have found the better1.'
It looks as though the primitive mind conceived of death itself as simply due to
the fact that the chthonian deity (whether goddess or god) had claimed another
consort2. The summons has been sent. The call must be obeyed. But—
' Who knows if life be death and death be life3 ?'
In the embrace of Persephone the dead man becomes the chthonian king.
Borne off by Hades the dead woman becomes the chthonian queen. We can
understand now the familiar saying
'Whom the gods love dies young4,'
and find a further significance in the representation of Death as Love5.
wearing of a wreath made from it betokened disease (Artemid. oneirocr. r. 77), that was
due to the fact that the plant in question was recognised as a cure for diseases (Nik.
ther. 896). Greeks called it the garland of Aphrodite, Romans the herb of Venus
(Dioskor. 2. 154 (155) p. 271 Sprengel); and the medical writers enable us to guess the
reason, cp. Dioskor. 2. 154 (155) p. 272 Sprengel 8vvap.iv Se exei OeppavTiK-qv ■ dpp.b'^ei Se
irpbs ffTpayyovpias /ecu Xi#td<reis to enrepfxa avv otvip wcvop-evov, id. 2. 155 (156) p. 272
Sprengel of another variety '£<jti 8e 6epp.avTi.K6v, ovprjriKov, Galen, de simplicium medi-
camentorunt temperamentis ac facultatibus 8. 18. 20 (xii. 124 Ktihn) depp.aivovijr]s Kai
^■qpaivovarjs Kara tt]v rpirriv tcl^lv iari Swdpews re xai Kpdaeus. /cat to aweppa 8' avrov
XewTop-epes re Kai Oeppbv eariv, odev avv o'ivip rives avrr)v diobaai k.t.X., id. ib. 8. 18. 21
(xii. 124 Kiihn) of the other variety orav p.ev £ripbv rj, tt}s rpLrris earl rd^eusrwv tfpcuvbvTWv
re d,ua /ecu deppaivbvrwv, k.t.X. On mint in general see A. de Gubernatis op. cit. ii. 226—
228, H. Friend op. cit. ii. 687 Index s.v. 'Mint,' R. Folkard op. cit. p. 439 f. Supra
i. 257 n. 5.
1 e<pvyov KaKov, evpov frfxeivov (carm. pop. 20 a Miller—Crusius)—an early dactylic line
(cp. supra i. 444) first found in Dem. de cor. 259 (cited supra i. 392 n. 4) as a formula
used by initiates in the rites of Sabdzios, and from him apparently quoted by Hesych. s.v.
It is given as a marriage-rubric by Pausanias the Atticist ap. Eustath. in Od. p. 1726, 19 ff.
Kai irapoip-ia SryXoi irapd Havaaviq Xeyovaa 1 eepvyov KaKov, evpov dfieivov' rjv e\eye, <pr)<jiv,
dp.<f)idaXris irals 'Ad-qvyaLV, £<TTe/j.p.evos aKavdais /xerd dpvtvuv KapwQv, X'ikvov fiavTd'c'wv
■wXripes aprwv, aivurabpLevos tt\v e/c toO 7raXaioO (3Lov ewl to Kpelrrov peTa(3oXrjv = Zenob.
3. 98, Diogeneian. 4. 74, Plout. 1. 16, Apostol. 8. 16, Phot. lex. and Souid. s.v., cp.
Porph. de abst. 1. 1. Probably the so-called proverb was a very ancient charm employed
in the mysteries to facilitate the transition from the lower to the higher life, a transition
culminating in the divine marriage (see Lobeck Aglaophamus i. 646 ff.). Subsequently it
was transferred, with some loss of meaning, to ordinary human marriages.
2 Cp. the Celtic tales of the Otherworld-visit, which I have summarised in Folk-Lore
1906 xvii. 143 ff. {supra i. 239).
3 Eur. Polyeidos frag. 638 Nauck2 [supra p. 868), cp. Eur. Phrixus frag. 833 Nauck'2.
In Aristoph. ran. 1477 f. t'ls oldev ei to £rjv fxev eari Kardavelv, | to irvelv 5e denrve'iv, to 5e
KadevBeiv Kibbiov; the attempts of the editors to extract sense from the latter line are far
from convincing. I fancy Aristophanes is poking fun at the prospect held out to every
pious believer, the hero-feast (deiirveiv) and the poppy-head (for kwBlov read k<Jj8vov, cp.
Theophr. hist.pl. 6. 8. 1 and ap. Athen. 680 e, or Kwdia, cp. Aristoph. frag. 166 Dindorf
ap. Harpokr. s.v. Kwbia). Life hereafter was to be one perpetual banquet in the bridal
chamber of Persephone : if the new immortal tired of it, he had at least the poppy-
capsule to lull him to sleep and to renew his generative powers. Those who retain
Kibbiov in the text should still interpret the word of the initiate's equipment, the ' fleece of
Zeus' {supra i. 422 ff.).
4 Menand. disexapaton frag. 4 {Frag. com. Gr. iv. 105 Meineke). Cp. Kaibel Epigr.
Gr. no. 340. 8 = Cougny Anth, Pal. Append. 2. 585. 8. 5 Supra pp. 309, 1045.