DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14697#0334
The flashes come and go ;
All heaven bursts her starry floors,
And straws her lights below,
And deepens on and up I the gates
Roll back, and far within
For me the Heavenly Bridegroom waits,
To make me pure of sin.
The sabbaths of Eternity,
One sabbath deep and wide—
A light upon the shining sea—
The Bridegroom with his bride !1
How much, or how little, of all this is to be found in our relief, it is not easy
to say. The title Epiteleios suggests the mystic marriage, and the stress laid on
PMlios and Philia tends to confirm the suggestion. We must leave it at that.
The matter-of-fact spectator, who cared little for mysteries or mystical
symbolism, saw in Zeus Philios a god of good company, given to feasting in
both this world and the next. Accordingly, Diodoros of Sinope, a poet of the
new comedy, who flourished early in s. iii B.C.2, makes him the discoverer of the
parasite and his ways :
;T\vas Zeus the Friendly, greatest of the gods
Beyond all doubt, that first invented parasites.
For he it is who comes into our houses,
Nor cares a rap whether we're rich or poor.
Wherever he espies a well-strown couch
With a well-appointed table set beside it,
Joining us straightway like a gentleman
He asks himself to breakfast, eats and drinks,
And then goes home again, nor pays his share.
Just what I do myself! When I see couches
Strown and the tables ready, door ajar,
In I come quietly, all in order due—
I don't disturb, not I, my fellow-drinker.
Everything set before me I enjoy,
Drink, and go home again, like Zeus the Friendly3.
The inference to be drawn from the fourth-century reliefs and the third-century
comedy is that at Athens Zeus P/ulios, like Zeus Sote'r*, Zeus Xt/nios5, and other
1 Tennyson St. Agues'1 Eve 25 ff.
2 J. Kirchner in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. v. 660, Liibker Reallex? p. 293.
3 Diod. Sinop. itrLKK^pos frag. 1. 5 ff. {Frag. com. Gr. iii. 543 ff. Meineke) ap. Athen.
239 A ff.
4 Corp. inscr. Att. ii. 1 no. 305, 1 o ff. = Inscr. Gr. ed. min. ii—iii. 1 no. 676, 10 ff.
eireiSr] o[t eTnuekrjTai irdaas] ed[v6v re ras 6\v~\aLas tu[i Ad tuil Swrvjpt Kai t~\ei 'A0rj[vai
ret I 2w]retp[cu /cat twv dWwv f7re/u.e]\??#?7<ra[j' /xerct | ro]0 iep[ews /caXws Kai (pi\oTifj.iij]s,
e7re/j,e\7]0T]\[<ra]v 8e [Kai rrjs arpibcrews rrjs k\i]vr]s Kai rrjs k\[off]fj.'rj[ffeus ttjs rpaTrefrjS' k.t.\.]
in a decree of 277/6 B.C.
5 Pyrgion Kp?;rt/ca vo/xi/xa frag. 1 (Frag. hist. Gr. iv. 486 f. Miiller) ap. Athen. 143
E—F rjcrav de Kai ^eviKoi daKoi Kai rpdirefa rpirr] deltas (I. Casaubon ci. ck 5e£ias or ev oe^ta)
eiaiovToiv eh to. avBpela • fjv ^eviov re Atos fecial re irpoa^yopevov.
a 11. 74
All heaven bursts her starry floors,
And straws her lights below,
And deepens on and up I the gates
Roll back, and far within
For me the Heavenly Bridegroom waits,
To make me pure of sin.
The sabbaths of Eternity,
One sabbath deep and wide—
A light upon the shining sea—
The Bridegroom with his bride !1
How much, or how little, of all this is to be found in our relief, it is not easy
to say. The title Epiteleios suggests the mystic marriage, and the stress laid on
PMlios and Philia tends to confirm the suggestion. We must leave it at that.
The matter-of-fact spectator, who cared little for mysteries or mystical
symbolism, saw in Zeus Philios a god of good company, given to feasting in
both this world and the next. Accordingly, Diodoros of Sinope, a poet of the
new comedy, who flourished early in s. iii B.C.2, makes him the discoverer of the
parasite and his ways :
;T\vas Zeus the Friendly, greatest of the gods
Beyond all doubt, that first invented parasites.
For he it is who comes into our houses,
Nor cares a rap whether we're rich or poor.
Wherever he espies a well-strown couch
With a well-appointed table set beside it,
Joining us straightway like a gentleman
He asks himself to breakfast, eats and drinks,
And then goes home again, nor pays his share.
Just what I do myself! When I see couches
Strown and the tables ready, door ajar,
In I come quietly, all in order due—
I don't disturb, not I, my fellow-drinker.
Everything set before me I enjoy,
Drink, and go home again, like Zeus the Friendly3.
The inference to be drawn from the fourth-century reliefs and the third-century
comedy is that at Athens Zeus P/ulios, like Zeus Sote'r*, Zeus Xt/nios5, and other
1 Tennyson St. Agues'1 Eve 25 ff.
2 J. Kirchner in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. v. 660, Liibker Reallex? p. 293.
3 Diod. Sinop. itrLKK^pos frag. 1. 5 ff. {Frag. com. Gr. iii. 543 ff. Meineke) ap. Athen.
239 A ff.
4 Corp. inscr. Att. ii. 1 no. 305, 1 o ff. = Inscr. Gr. ed. min. ii—iii. 1 no. 676, 10 ff.
eireiSr] o[t eTnuekrjTai irdaas] ed[v6v re ras 6\v~\aLas tu[i Ad tuil Swrvjpt Kai t~\ei 'A0rj[vai
ret I 2w]retp[cu /cat twv dWwv f7re/u.e]\??#?7<ra[j' /xerct | ro]0 iep[ews /caXws Kai (pi\oTifj.iij]s,
e7re/j,e\7]0T]\[<ra]v 8e [Kai rrjs arpibcrews rrjs k\i]vr]s Kai rrjs k\[off]fj.'rj[ffeus ttjs rpaTrefrjS' k.t.\.]
in a decree of 277/6 B.C.
5 Pyrgion Kp?;rt/ca vo/xi/xa frag. 1 (Frag. hist. Gr. iv. 486 f. Miiller) ap. Athen. 143
E—F rjcrav de Kai ^eviKoi daKoi Kai rpdirefa rpirr] deltas (I. Casaubon ci. ck 5e£ias or ev oe^ta)
eiaiovToiv eh to. avBpela • fjv ^eviov re Atos fecial re irpoa^yopevov.
a 11. 74