Cook, Arthur B.: Zeus: a study in ancient religion (Band 3,1): Zeus god of the dark sky (earthquake, clouds, wind, dew, rain, meteorits): Text and notes (Cambridge, 1940)

592 Myths of the Dipolieia: Sopatros

a .whole is unsatisfactory. The circumstances of the original ox-
slaying do not tally with those of the ritual that they ought to
explain. Sopatros slew his ox in a fit of passion, on his own
responsibility, and apparently without witnesses. The occasion, too,
is described in the vaguest of terms, no mention being made o
Zeus Polieus from start to finish. Besides, the burial of the ox 111
the story has no counterpart in the ritual. Again, why did Sopatr°s--
who ex hypothesi was an alien, flee into voluntary exile, thereby
behaving as though he had slain a member of his own tribe °
city1? Finally, is it likely that a sacrilegious metic would be truste
to arrange the ritual of Zeus Polieus, the very god whose service he
had himself profaned ? No doubt strangers as such could clain1
divine protection2, and perhaps special virtues were ascribed 0
foreigners fetched from Crete3. Also, the principle that the doer
a deed is best able to undo the same will assuredly explain rnUC^e
Still, these considerations can hardly be stretched to covei
present case; for Athenian law expressly ordained that the a^ie^'
even if he were made into a citizen by a formal vote of the peop '
should not hold any office as priest, though the embargo wa
removed from his children5. These objections are serious and su
to justify the opinion expressed by J. Toepffer6, P. Stengel ,
L. Deubner8, viz. that the tale of Sopatros as told by Theophrast°^
was a moralising version, which aimed at showing that in the % ^

laboure la terre, que le serviteur de l'homme & le compagnon de ses nobles tiav*1
doit point servir a sa nourriture.'] 41

As to Nikol. Damask, frag. 128 (Frag. hist. Gr. iii. 461 MUller) ap. ^^'/"^rdW
(ed. Gaisford ii. 196 f.) ^ac 5i tis irap avrois (sc. the Phrygians) yewpyfibv (Sovv^ ^ ^p
7j cr/ceuos twv irepi yewpyiav kX^jj, flavdrq fafiiovat = Ail. de nat. an. 12-34 cjlS
Trap aiirois ris dpoTTjpa diroKTelvrj ftovi', 7) £r)[xla. ddvaros at)r4>, P. Stengel Opfer^r(l1i
Griechen Leipzig—Berlin 1910 p. 211 n. 1 says 'Aber das ist doch wohl zti
einem andern den Ochsen totet.' ,jjf.

1 See H. E. Seebohm On the Structure of Greek Tribal Society London i8o5 P"
('The Liability for Bloodshed').

- Supra ii. 1101. and0

3 One thinks of Thaletas invited to Sparta, of Epimenides invited to Athen 1 ^
Phemonoe's advice to the Delphians (Paus. 10. 6. 7): see K. Hoeck Kreta Gottmg

iii- 164, 257- . , Hastings

4 H. Hubert in Daremberg—Saglio Diet. Ant. iii. 1508, K. F. Smith in j- ^t\ye
Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics Edinburgh 1915 viii. 274'', W. Heiligend0'c
Handwbrterbuch des deutschen Mdrchens Berlin—Leipzig 1930—1933 S0^' ^iade
principle is of world-wide application, but has not, so. far as I know, been
theme of a separate article or monograph. . . ^ Lips'ae

s Dem. c. Eubul. 48 (= I. B. Telfy twayayi) t&v 'Kttikwv vbfMV PestiW e
1868 p. 97 no. 392), [Dem.] adv. Neaer. 92.

6 J. Toepffer Attische Geuealogie Berlin 1889 p. 157. Leip2'^'

7 P. Stengel in Hermes 1893 xxviii. 491 ff., id. Opferbrdttche der Griechen
Berlin 1910 p. 2o8f.

8 L. Deubner Attische Feste Berlin 1932 p. 169.