[742] Ἀδαμάντιος Ἰ. Ἀδαμαντίου, Τηνιακά (published first in Δελτίον τῆς Ἱστορ. καὶ Ἐθνολ. Ἑταιρίας τῆς Ἑλλάδος, Vol. V. pp. 277 sqq.).
[744] ἀθάνατο νερό, op. cit. pp. 299 and 315.
[745] e.g. ἀθάνατα μῆλα, ‘immortal apples,’ op. cit. pp. 311 and 316. ἀθάνατο καρποῦζι, ‘immortal water-melon,’ pp. 297 and 315. ἀθάνατο γαροῦφαλο, ‘immortal gilly-flower,’ p. 317. The translation of this last is correctly that which I have given, but the peasants all over Greece will call almost any bright and scented flower by this same name.
[748] Glossar. med. et infim. Graecitatis (p. 1541), s.v. τελώνιον.
[749] Ibid., Damasc. Hierodiac. Serm. 3.
[750] Ibid., Maximus Cythaer. Episc.
[751] Ibid., Georg. Hamartolus.
[752] τελώνας καὶ διαλόγους (for which I read δικολόγους with Bern. Schmidt, das Volksleben, p. 172).
[753] Ibid., Euchologium.
[754] Luke xii. 20.
[755] Du Cange, ibid. τελωνάρχαι, λογοθέται, πρακτοψηφισταί, etc.
[757] Κωνστ. Κανελλάκης, Χιακὰ Ἀνάλεκτα, pp. 362–3.
[758] Ἰ. Σ. Ἀρχέλαος, ἡ Σινασός, p. 81.
[760] Testimony to the same belief is cited by Du Cange (s.v. τελώνιον) from an anonymous astronomical work.
[761] For references see Preller, Griech. Mythol. II. 105–6.
[762] Villoison, Annales des voyages, II. p. 180, cited by B. Schmidt, das Volksleben, p. 174, note 4.
[763] Καμπούρογλου, Ἱστ. τῶν Ἀθην. III. p. 166.
[764] Voyage de la Grèce, VI. p. 154.
[765] Das Volksleben, p. 173.
[766] Griech. Märch. Vol. II. no. 64.
[767] Cf. Καμπούρογλου, Ἱστ. τῶν Ἀθηναίων, III. p. 77.
[770] B. Schmidt, Das Volksleben, p. 180.
[771] Ibid. note 6.
[772] Op. cit. p. 181.
[773] Op. cit. p. 181.
[774] Op. cit. p. 182.
[775] I cannot vouch for the accuracy of this translation. The word might possibly mean ‘he has had his shadow trampled on,’ and has been hurt indirectly through an injury inflicted upon his shadow-genius.
[776] Hom. Il. XXIII. 79.
[777] Il. XVIII. 535–8.
[778] Plato, Phaedo, p. 107 D.
[779] Rep. p. 617 D, E. Cf. 620 D, E.
[780] Meineke, Fragm. Com. Graec. IV. p. 238.
[781] Theocr. IV. 40.
[782] I do not of course wish to imply that in the every-day usage of these words the thought of a guardian-genius was present to men’s minds; but the first formation of them can only have sprung from this belief.
[783] Aen. VI. 743.
[784] Plato, Theag. 128 D.
[785] Ibid. E.
[786] Both Plato (Apol. 40 A) and Xenophon (Mem. I. 1. 2–4), compare Socrates’ converse with his genius with μαντική or ‘inspiration.’
[787] Hesiod, Works and Days, 185, with reading οὐδὲ θεῶν ὄπα εἰδότες.
[788] Βάκχος and Βάκχη, cf. Eur. H. F. 1119.
[789] De divinatione, I. 3.
[790] op. cit. I. 18.
[791] Prom. Vinct. 485–99.
[792] Suid. Lex. s.v. οἰωνιστική.
[793] Cic. de Divin. I. 4.
[794] Ibid. I. 6 and 18.
[796] Cf. Lucian, Philopseudes, 19 and 20.
[798] Nov. 26.
[799] Καμπούρογλου, Ἱστορία τῶν Ἀθηναίων, III. p. 19.
[800] Cf. Cic. de Divinat. I. 18.
[801] The shift of accent is curious. It may be some result of dialect, but is not explained.
[802] e.g. Hom. Od. XVIII. 116.
[803] At midsummer. The name of the custom ὁ κλήδονας is sometimes given as a title to the saint himself; and from his willingness to enlighten enquirers concerning their future lot he is also named sometimes ὁ Φανιστής (the enlightener) and ὁ Ῥιζικάς (from ῥίζικο, ‘lot’ or ‘destiny’), Ἰ. Σ. Ἀρχέλαος, ἡ Σινασός, p. 86.
[804] Sonnini de Magnoncourt, Voyage en Grèce et en Turquie, II. pp. 126–7.
[805] In the Iliad it is not found. Cf. Bouché Leclercq, Hist. de la Divination, I. p. 156.
[806] Hom. Od. XVII. 114 ff. Cf. also Od. XX. 98 ff.
[807] For examples see Herod. V. 72, VIII. 114, IX. 64, 91; Xenoph. Anab. I. 8. 16. Cf. Bouché Leclercq, op. cit. I. p. 157. The word φήμη is in some of these passages used in the sense of κληδών.
[808] Paus. VII. 22. 2, 3.
[809] Le Bas et Waddington, Voyage Archéologique, V. 1724a.
[810] Paus. IX. 11. 7. Cf. Bouché Leclercq, Hist. de la Divin. I. p. 159 and II. p. 400.
[811] Paus. ibid.
[812] The proper precaution is prescribed in the couplet, ’στὸ δρόμο σὰν ἰδῆς παπᾶ, | κράτησ’ τ’ ἀρχίδι̯α σου καλά. Si per viam sacerdoti occurres, testiculos tuos teneto.
[813] γαϊδοῦρι με συμπάθειο, ‘a donkey, with your leave.’ So also often in mentioning the number ‘three,’ and sometimes with ‘five.’
[814] Aristoph. Aves, 720.
[815] Eccles. 792.
[816] Theophr. Char. 16. 1.
[817] Ibid.
[818] op. cit. 16. 3.
[819] Cf. Suidas, s.v. οἰωνιστική.
[820] Bouché Leclercq, op. cit. I. p. 129.
[821] Assuming derivation from οἶος, as υἱωνός from υἱός, κοινωνός from κοινός.
[822] Plutarch, de solertia animalium, cap. 20 (p. 975).
[823] Bouché Leclercq, Hist. de la Divin. I. p. 133–4.
[824] e.g. Hom. Il. XXIV. 310.
[825] Hom. Il. VIII. 247.
[826] Etymol. Magn. p. 619, s.v. οἰωνοπόλος.
[827] Apoll. Rhod. III. 930.
[828] Ovid, Metam. II. 548 sqq.
[829] Hom. Od. XV. 526.
[830] Hom. Il. X. 274.
[831] Plutarch, Pyth. Orac. cap. 22.
[832] Paroemiogr. Graec. I. pp. 228, 231, 352.
[833] περὶ ὠμοπλατοσκοπίας καὶ οἰωνοσκοπίας.
[834] Suid., Lexicon, s.v. οἰωνιστική.
[835] op. cit. § 2.
[836] Cf. Bouché Leclercq, op. cit. I. p. 140, note 2.
[837] Hesiod, Works and Days, 745.
[838] The identification of the birds named by even the more intelligent peasants is necessarily uncertain. The name κουκουβάγια is seemingly onomatopoeic, suggesting the hooting of the owl, but is generally reserved to the brown owl.
[839] op. cit. § 2.
[840] In the dialects of Scyros and other Aegean islands, κ before the sounds of ε and ι is regularly softened to τσ. The ρ has, as often, suffered metathesis.
[841] Hom. Od. XV. 524 ff.
[842] Derivation from χαρά, instead of Χάρος, and πουλί is possible, but less likely. It would then be an euphemistic name, ‘bird of joy.’ An owl named στριγλοποῦλι (on which see above, p. 180) appears to be a semi-mythical bird chiefly found in Hades; it is possibly identical with ‘Charon’s bird.’
[843] Cf. Ἐμαν. Μανωλακάκης, Καρπαθιακά, p. 126.
[844] Il. VII. 184.
[845] Od. XVII. 365.
[846] Il. I. 597.
[847] Βικέντιος Κορνάρος, Ἐρωτόκριτος, p. 320.
[848] Aristot. Hist. An. IX. 1.
[849] Cf. Aesch. Sept. 24, Soph. Antig. 999 sqq.
[850] Origen, contra Cels. IV. 88.
[851] Homeric Hymn to Demeter, 46.
[852] e.g. Passow, Popul. Carm. nos. 122, 123, 213, 232, 234, 235, 251 et passim.
[853] A. Luber in a monograph Die Vögel in den historischen Liedern der Neugriechen, pp. 6 ff., notes the impossibility of determining in many cases whether a real bird or a scout is meant.
[854] Passow, Popul. Carm. no. 415, vv. 5–7. Cf. 413, 414.
[855] Ibid. no. 410.
[856] ξεφτέρι (probably a diminutive from ὀξύπτερος), a ‘falcon,’ is a favourite name for the warrior, just as the humbler πουλί, ‘bird,’ is used for ‘scout.’
[857] With reference to Ibrahim’s Egyptian troops.
[858] Passow, Popul. Carm. no. 256.
[859] Cic. de Divin. I. 52, II. 12, 15, 16, 17. Cf. Bouché Leclercq, Hist. de la Divin. I. p. 167.
[860] Plato, Tim. 71 c.
[861] Philostr. Vit. Apollon. VIII. 7. 49–52. Cf. Bouché Leclercq, op. cit. I. p. 168.
[862] For authorities on this point see Bouché Leclercq, op. cit. I. p. 170.
[863] Cf. ibid. p. 169.
[864] K. O. Müller (die Etrusker, II. p. 187) places the introduction of the custom in the sixth century B.C.
[865] Bybilakis, Neugriechisches Leben, p. 49 (1840).
[866] Περὶ ὠμοπλατοσκοπίας καὶ οἰωνοσκοπίας, § 1.
[867] Λαμπρίδης, Ζαγοριακά, p. 210. No details are given.
[868] Λαμπρίδης, Ζαγοριακά, p. 176.
[869] The writer does not actually mention the two things in connexion. He belongs to that class of modern Greek writers who exhibit their own intellectual emancipation by deploring or deriding popular superstitions, and wastes so much energy therein that he fails to note such points of interest. But, since it is not probable that the peasants of Epirus eat meat more often than other Greek peasants, the connexion of the sacrifice and the divination may, I think, be assumed.
[870] Certain details of the art as practised in Macedonia are given by Abbott, Macedonian Folklore, p. 96. But, as they may in part be due to Albanian influence there, I have not made use of them.
[871] Περὶ ὠμοπλατοσκοπίας κ.τ.λ. l. c.
[872] Reading ἄλλα γὰρ for ἀλλὰ γὰρ of Codex Vindobonensis, as published in Philologus, 1853, p. 166.
[873] The word is ῥάχις. This in relation to the body generally means the ‘spine,’ but can be used of any ridge (as of a hill), and so here, I suppose, of the ridge of bone along the shoulder-blade.
[874] So I understand the somewhat obscure sentence, εἰ μὲν γὰρ μεταξὺ τοῦ ὠμοπλάτου δύο ὑμένες ἐξ ἀμφοτέρων μερῶν τῆς ῥάχεως κ.τ.λ., conjecturing οἱ before μεταξὺ, where Codex Vindob. has corruptly εἰ.
[875] Prom. Vinct. 493.
[876] Pausan. VI. 2. 5.
[877] Tatian, adv. Graecos, I. Cf. Bouché Leclercq, Hist. de la Divin. I. p. 170.
[878] In Zagorion in Epirus, the ram is sacrificed on the entrance of the bride to her new home (cf. the sacrifice of a cock mentioned below). Λαμπρίδης, Ζαγοριακά, p. 183.
[879] Curtius Wachsmuth, Das alte Griechenland im Neuen, p. 86.
[880] In Macedonia the weasel is said on the contrary to be a good omen. Abbott, Macedonian Folklore, p. 108.
[881] Λαμπρίδης, Ζαγοριακά, p. 203.
[882] Theophr. Char. 16.
[883] Theocr. Id. II. 35.
[884] So too in antiquity apparently according to Propertius IV. (V.) 3. 60; Ovid (Heroid. XIX. 151) on the contrary reckons it a good omen.
[885] Theocr. Id. III. 37 ἄλλεται ὀφθαλμός μευ ὁ δεξιός· ἆρά γ’ ἰδησῶ | αὐτάν; the order of the words, it will be seen, justifies the emphasis which I have given to δεξιός and to αὐτάν.
[886] Dialog. Meretric. 9. 2.
[887] The significance of right and left in this case is reversed in Macedonia (cf. Abbott, Macedonian Folklore, p. 112). But in all these instances I am only giving what I have found to be the commonest form of the superstition in Greece as a whole.
[888] Abbott, Macedonian Folklore, p. 111.
[889] The word ψοφῶ is properly used only of the dying of animals.
[890] ἐπέπταρε πᾶσιν ἔπεσσιν.
[891] Hom. Od. XVII. 539 ff. Cf. Xenoph. Anab. III. 2. 9 and Catull. XLV. 9 and 18.
[893] Καμπούρογλου, Ἱστ. τῶν Ἀθηναίων, III. p. 22.