Plutarch, Quaestiones Graecae, Frank Cole Babbitt (Translator), 36

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[36] Why is it that the women of the Eleans, when they sing hymns to Dionysus, call upon him to come to them with the foot of a bull¹? The hymn² runs as follows:

Come, O hero Dionysus,

To thy Elean holy

Temple, with the Graces,

To thy temple

With thy bull’s foot hasting.

Then they chant twice the refrain: O worthy bull.

Is it because some address the god as kine-born or as bull? Or by ox-foot do they mean with thy mighty foot even as the Poet used ox-eyed³ to signify large-eyed, and bully⁴ for loudmouthed?

Or is it rather because the foot of the bull is harmless, but the part that bears horns is harmful, and thus they call upon the god to come in a gentle and painless manner?

Or is it because many believe that the god was the pioneer in both ploughing and sowing?

Quaestiones Graecae. Plutarch. Frank Cole Babbitt (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1936.

Funding provided by The National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

The Greek Questions (English) (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. IV. Babbitt, Frank Cole, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1936 (printing).)

Editions (2)

Αἴτια Ἑλληνικά Perseus (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. IV. Babbitt, Frank Cole, editor. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1936 (printing).) — 36 focus

[36] διὰ τί τὸν Διόνυσον αἱ τῶν Ἠλείων γυναῖκες ὑμνοῦσαι παρακαλοῦσι βοέῳ ποδὶ παραγίγνεσθαι πρὸς αὐτάς; 299b ἔχει δʼ οὕτως ὁ ὕμνος.

ἐλθεῖν, ἥρω Διόνυσε,

Ἀλεῖον¹ ἐς ναὸν

ἁγνὸν σὺν Χαρίτεσσιν

ἐς ναὸν

τῷ βοέῳ ποδὶ θύων ʼ

εἶτα δὶς ἐπᾴδουσιν ʼἄξιε² ταῦρε.ʼ

πότερον ὅτι καὶ βουγενῆ προσαγορεύουσι καὶ ταῦρον³ ἔνιοι τὸν θεὸν ἢ τῷ μεγάλῳ ποδὶ βοέῳ λέγουσιν, ὡς βοῶπιν ὁ ποιητὴς τὴν μεγαλόφθαλμον καὶ βουγάιον τὸν μεγάλαυχον;

ἤ μᾶλλον, ὅτι τοῦ βοὸς ὁ ποὺς ἀβλαβής ἐστι τὸ δὲ κερασφόρον⁴ ἐπιβλαβές, οὕτω τὸν θεὸν παρακαλοῦσι πρᾶον ἐλθεῖν καὶ ἄλυπον;

ἢ ὅτι καὶ ἀρότου⁵ καὶ σπόρου πολλοὶ τὸν θεὸν ἀρχηγὸν γεγονέναι νομίζουσι;

Κεφαλαίων καταγραφή Ἑλληνικά Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, Vol IΙ. Vernardakēs, Grēgorios N., editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1889.) — 36 focus

[36] διὰ τί τὸν Διόνυσον αἱ τῶν Ἠλείων γυναῖκες ὑμνοῦσαι παρακαλοῦσι βοέῳ ποδὶ παραγίγνεσθαι πρὸς 15 299b αὐτάς (ἔχει δʼ οὕτως ὁ ὕμνος ἐλθεῖν, ¹ ἥρω Διόνυσε, Ἀλείων ² ἐς ναὸν ἁγνὸν σὺν Χαρίτεσσιν ἐς ναὸν τῷ βοέῳ ποδὶ θύων. εἶτα δὶς ἐπᾴδουσιν ἄξιε ταῦρε); πότερον ὅτι καὶ βουγενῆ προσαγορεύουσι καὶ ταῦρον ἔνιοι τὸν θεόν, ἢ τῷ μεγάλῳ ποδὶ βοέῳ 20 λέγουσιν, ὡς βοῶπιν ὁ ποιητὴς τὴν μεγαλόφθαλμον καὶ βουγάιον τὸν μεγάλαυχον; ³ ἢ μᾶλλον, ὅτι τοῦ βοὸς ὁ ποὺς ἀβλαβής ἐστι τὸ δὲ κερασφόρον ⁴ ἐπιβλαβές, οὕτω τὸν θεὸν παρακαλοῦσι πρᾶον ἐλθεῖν καὶ ἄλυπον; ἢ ὅτι καὶ ἀρότου ⁵ καὶ σπόρου πολλοὶ τὸν θεὸν 25 ἀρχηγὸν γεγονέναι νομίζουσι;

Translations (1)

Greek Questions Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals, Vol. II. Goodwin, William W., editor; Chauncy, Isaac translator. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company; Cambridge: Press of John Wilson and Son, 1874.) — 36 focus

[36]

Question 36.

Why do the Eleian women in their hymns beseech Bacchus that he will come to their help with an ox’s foot? The hymns run thus: Come, O hero Bacchus, to thy holy temple placed by the sea; hasten with the Graces to thy temple with a neat’s foot. Then they redouble this, O worthy Bull!

Solution.

Was it because some call Bacchus Bull-begot, and some Bull? Or as some say ox-foot for a great foot; as the poet saith ox-eye for a great eye, and Βουλάϊος for haughty? Or is it rather, because the foot of an ox is innocent and his bearing horns on his head is pernicious, that so they desire the God may come to them mild and harmless? Or is it because many men are of opinion that this God presides over ploughing and sowing?

Notes on the current edition

The Greek Questions

1. For Dionysus as a bull cf. e.g. Athenaeus 35 e, 38 e.

2. The text is uncertain; Hartman has attempted a reconstruction in Mnemosyne, xli. 217; cf. also the other references in E. Diehl, Anthologia Lyrica Graeca, ii. p. 206. cf. also Moralia, 364 f; Pausanias, vi. 26. 1; Bergk, Poet. Lyr. Graec. iii. p. 656, or Edmonds, Lyra Graeca (L.C.L. iii. 510).

3. Homer, Il. i. 551 and often.

4. βουγαίος, Il. xiii. 824: Od. xviii. 79.

Plutarch Quaestiones Graecae 36

Frank Cole Babbitt (Translator)

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