THIRD CENTURY B.C.
2. Antigonus of Carystus (born 295-290 B.C., Susemihl Geschichte d. gr. Lit. in der Alexandrinerzeit i. p. 468) “Ἱστοριῶν παραδόξων συναγωγή”, c. vii. (ed. Keller, 1877). “ἴδιον δὲ καὶ τὸ περὶ τὰ ἔντερα τῶν προβάτων: τὰ μὲν γὰρ τῶν κριῶν ἐστιν ἄφωνα, τὰ δὲ τῶν θηλειῶν εὔφωνα, ὅθεν καὶ τὸν ποιητὴν ὑπολάβοι τις εἰρηκέναι, πολυπράγμονα πανταχοῦ καὶ περιττὸν ὄντα ‘ἑπτὰ δὲ θηλυτέρων οἴων ἐτανύσσατο χορδάς’”. = Herm. 51, with the variant “θηλυτέρων” for “συμφώνους”. Antigonus, like every other scientist and antiquarian, seeks a support for his opinion in Homer. He quoted this verse because it contained the word “θηλυτέρων”, and the view1 that he conjectured it is evidently preposterous. The translation of the phrase “ὅθεν κτλ.” will be “and one may suppose this was the reason why Homer said.” Similar expressions in Antigonus are c. xxv. “ὅθεν δὴ καὶ ὁ ποιητὴς τὸ θρυλούμενον ἔγραψεν”, c. xix. “ᾧ καὶ φαίνεται Φιλητᾶς προσέχειν, ἱκανῶς ὢν περίεργος”. It might rather be questioned if “συμφώνους”, which is far the earliest instance of the word, were not an interpretation of “θηλυτέρων”, based upon the same belief which is stated in Antigonus. “θηλύτερος” in Homer is applied only to women or goddesses, except in the curious reading of the “πολιτικαί Φ 454 νήσων θηλυτεράων” for “τηλεδαπάων”.
