HYMN TO DEMETER
THIS cento, as Gemoll calls the short hymn, is formed from the longer hymn to Demeter (1 = h. Dem. 1, 2 = h. Dem. 493) except for the third line, which occurs in Callim., h. Dem. 134, as far as “πόλιν”. But, although obviously a patchwork, the hymn is not necessarily later than Callimachus. The Alexandrine poet might perhaps have disdained to borrow from such a source; but both he and the hymn-writer may have taken the sufficiently commonplace “χαῖρε, θεά, καὶ τήνδε σάου πόλιν” from an older hymn. Guttmann's view, that “ἄρχε δ᾽ ἀοιδῆς” is a mark of late work, is rightly criticised by Gemoll; it is addressed to Demeter herself, who inspires, and so may be said to begin, the recitation; cf. Od. 8.499 “ ὁ δ᾽ ὁρμηθεὶς θεοῦ ἤρχετο”.[2] Περσεφόνειαν: the Homeric form; the aspirated “Φερσεφόνεια” (xp) may be due to the forms “Φερσεφόνα” (“η”), “Φερσέφασσα, Φερ”（“ρ”）“έφαττα”; so in Orph. h. xli. 5. On the various forms see Förster der Raub der Persephone p. 276 f.
[3] σάου: the MS. form here is a variant for “σάω” in Od. 17.595, the sole form Callim. Epigr. 35; on the other hand “σάω” alone is given in Od. 13.230, Callim. h. Dem. 135, Anth. Pal. xxii. 2, Inscr. Graec. metr. ed. Preger 63. 4. “σάου” is supported by Nauck Mélanges iv. 134, Kühner-Blass ii. 545.
