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[570] For λίνον Zen. read “λίνος”, the thread (i.e. the string of the lyre) sang sweetly in unison with (ὑπό) his treble voice. So also some translated the vulgate “λίνον: ὁ δὲ Ἀρίσταρχος βούλεται μὴ τὴν χορδὴν λέγεσθαι, ἀλλὰ γένος τι ὕμνου τὸν λίνον, ὥσπερ εἰ ἔλεγε “παιᾶνα ἦιδεν” ἤ τι τοιοῦτον”, The An.last interpretation is now generally accepted, the boy sang to (“ὑπό”） the harp the sweet Linos-song with delicate voice. The Linos-song was one of the ancient dirges which have been traced to Semitic sources (the wailing for Thammuz, etc.), and apparently were originally laments for the departing summer — so that they would be appropriate at the vintage-feast. The name is probably from the refrain “αἴλινον”, so familiar in the great chorus of the Agamemnon, which was taken to mean woe for Linos. Movers has ingeniously suggested that it is the Phoenician ai lenu, ‘woe to us.’ The loci classici on Linos are Herod.ii. 79（“Λίνος, ὅσπερ ἔν τε Φοινίκηι ἀοίδιμός ἐστι καὶ ἐν Κύπρωι καὶ ἄλληι”, etc.), and Hesiod, fr. 211 (from Schol. T) “Λίνον . . ὅν δὴ ὅσοι βροτοί εἰσιν ἀοιδοὶ καὶ κιθαρισταὶ πάντες μὲν θρηνεῦσιν ἐν εἰλαπίναις τε χοροῖς τε”. Compare also the fragment of a Linos-dirge in Bergk P. L. ^{3} p. 1297 (corrected, from Schol. B). Though this explanation is the most satisfactory, the other is not indefensible; for the metaphor of the string ‘singing’ may be paralleled by Od. 21.411 (of the bowstring) “ἡ δ᾽ ὑπὸ καλὸν ἄεισε, χελιδόνι εἰκέλη αὐδήν”. The use of a flax thread for the string of a lyre, improbable though it seems, is accounted for thus by Schol. A; “οἱ πρῶτοι τοῖς θεοῖς μετὰ ὠιδῆς ὑποκιθαρίζοντες οὐκ ἐξ ἐντέρων κατεσκευάζοντο τὰς κιθάρας, οὐχ ὅσιον οὐδὲ θεοῖς ἀρεστὸν εἶναι ὑπολαμ-” “βάνοντες διὰ τὸ ἐκ νευρῶν πεποιῆσθαι ἀλλ᾽ ἐκ λίνου πεποιημένου”. But it is likely enough that this is a mere conjecture. (The masc. “λίνος” has no authority except in the old glossaries.) Heyne reads “λίνον δ᾽ ὕπο”, ‘sang to the string.’ But Hymn. Merc. 501 clearly shews how the line was taken in early times, “ἡ” (“κίθαρις”) “δ᾽ ὑπένερθε σμερδαλέον κονάβησε: θεὸς δ᾽ ὑπὸ καλὸν ἄεισεν”.

The Iliad, edited, with apparatus criticus, prolegomena, notes, and appendices. Walter Leaf. London. Macmillan. 1900.

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