Note 64 — Chapter II · THE ANTHESTERIA. The Ritual of Ghosts and Sprites.
Reading edition
Suidas s.v. θύραζε· ἔξω τῆς θύρας·
θύραζε Κᾶρες, οὐκ ἔτ’ Ἀνθεστήρια,
οἱ μὲν διὰ πλῆθος οἰκετῶν Καρικῶν εἰρῆσθαί φασιν, ὡς ἐν τοῖς Ἀνθεστηρίοις εὐωχουμένων αὐτῶν καὶ οὐκ ἐργαζομένων. τῆς οὖν ἑορτῆς τελεσθείσης λέγειν ἐπὶ τὰ ἔργα ἐκπέμποντας αὐτούς·
θύραζε Κᾶρες, οὐκ ἔτ’ Ἀνθεστήρια.
τινὲς δὲ οὕτω τὴν παροιμίαν φασί·
θύραζε κῆρες, οὐκ ἔνι Ἀνθεστήρια,
ὡς κατὰ τὴν πόλιν τοῖς Ἀνθεστηρίοις τῶν ψυχῶν περιερχομένων.
Photius s.v. substantially identical.
To the information here given Zenobius (Cent. Paroimiogr.) adds: Εἴρηται δὲ ἡ παροιμία ἐπὶ τῶν τὰ αὐτὰ ἐπιζητούντων πάντοτε λαμβάνειν. It is fortunate that Suidas records his second conjecture, as his first is rendered plausible by the fact that we know the household servants were admitted to the Pithoigia. Probably in classical days κῆρες had already become an old fashioned word for souls and the formulary may have been easily misunderstood. Mommsen in his second edition (Feste der Stadt Athen, p. 386) argues that the form κῆρες is impossible because ‘Gespenstern zeigt man nicht die Thür wie einem Bettler,’ a difficulty that will scarcely be felt by any one acquainted with primitive customs.