food--e didousa meter tes edodes. Here is erate tis,
or perhaps the legislator may have been thinking of the weather, and has
merely transposed the letters of the word aer. Pherephatta, that word
of awe, is pheretapha, which is only an euphonious contraction of e tou
pheromenou ephaptomene,--all things are in motion, and she in her wisdom
moves with them, and the wise God Hades consorts with her--there
is nothing very terrible in this, any more than in the her other
appellation Persephone, which is also significant of her wisdom (sophe).
Apollo is another name, which is supposed to have some dreadful meaning,
but is susceptible of at least four perfectly innocent explanations.
First, he is the purifier or purger or absolver (apolouon); secondly,
he is the true diviner, Aplos, as he is called in the Thessalian dialect
(aplos = aplous, sincere); thirdly, he is the archer (aei ballon),
always shooting; or again, supposing alpha to mean ama or omou, Apollo
becomes equivalent to ama polon, which points to both his musical and
his heavenly attributes; for there is a 'moving together' alike in music
and in the harmony of the spheres. The second lambda is inserted in
order to avoid the ill-omened sound of destruction. The Muses are so
called--apo tou mosthai. The gentle Leto or Letho is named from her
willingness (ethelemon), or because she is ready to forgive and forget
(lethe). Artemis is so called from her healthy well-balanced nature,
dia to artemes, or as aretes istor; or as a lover of virginity, aroton
misesasa. One of these explanations is probably true,--perhaps all of
them. Dionysus is o didous ton oinon, and oinos is quasi oionous because
wine makes those think (oiesthai) that they have a mind (nous) who have
none. The established derivation of Aphrodite dia ten tou athrou genesin
may be accepted on the authority of Hesiod. Again, there is the name of
Pallas, or Athene, which we, who are Athenians, must not forget. Pallas
is derived from armed dances--apo tou pallein ta opla. For Athene we
must turn to the allegorical interpreters of Homer, who make the name
equivalent to theonoe, or possibly the word was originally ethonoe and
signified moral intelligence (en ethei noesis). Hephaestus, again, is
the lord of light--o tou phaeos istor. This is a good notion; and, to
prevent any other getting into our heads, let us go on to Ares. He is
the manly one (arren), or the unchangeable one (arratos). Enough of the
Gods; for, by