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The ἐδώλια were seats in the vessel's stern, for the steerer and others in command, on a raised deck, though Torr (Anc. Ships, p. 57 and n.) says this was not always the case.


τοῖσι is subject of ἀναχωρῆσαι, attracted into the dependent clause.

For ὄρθιος νόμος cf. Bergk, P. L. G. iii. 7, and for its familiarity Aristoph. Eq. 1279. It was attributed to Terpander and especially used in the worship of Apollo. Arion's song was an act of worship; it is this religious element in the story that commends it to H. The ὄρθιος νόμος was in solemn and measured rhythm; cf. the fragments of Terpander (u. s.) for its spondaic character.


The story of the dolphin is probably connected with a familiar coin type—a hero riding on a dolphin—e. g. Taras at Tarentum (Hill, G. & R. C. 175, Pl. 11); so too Arion on the later coins of Methymna (Head, H. N. 561). At Corinth also Melicertes was represented on a dolphin. It cannot be accidental that all these places, Tarentum, Lesbos, and Corinth, come in H.'s tale. The story is told at length in Plut. Sept. Sap. Con. 18 seq., where other dolphin stories are told, of Hesiod's murdered body, and of Enalus of Lesbos (cf. Frazer, P. iii. 398, for these stories). H. no doubt heard it at Taenarum, in connexion with the Arion monument (§ 8), which may have been dedicated by the poet; Pausanias (iii. 25. 5) saw it, and supports H.'s account by the story of the dolphin of Poroselene. The Taenarum monument bore the inscription ἀθανάτων πομπαῖσι Ἀρίονα Κυκλέος υἱὸν Ἐκ Σικελοῦ πελάγους σῶσεν ὄχημα τόδε, Ael. H. A. xii. 45. A small figure of this kind was actually found at Taenarum (Frazer, u. s.).

An early inscription found at Thera was restored by Boeckh thus [Κυκλείδας Κ]υκλῆος ἀδελ[φ]ε[ιῶι Ἀρίων]ι τὸν δελφὶς [σῶσε μνημόσυνον τέλεσεν]. Kaibel (Epig. Graec. 1086) says ‘ingeniose haec Boeckh mihi lusisse videbatur’; cf. Roehl, I. G. A. 453, for a different restoration. Even were B.'s restoration accepted, the inscription would only be parallel to H.'s Καδμήια γράμματα (v. 59). It will be noticed that H. does not commit himself (§§ 1, 8) to the story.

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