Note 411 — BOOK THE THIRTEENTH.

Footnote 411: (return) Arrian, Exp. Alex. iv. p. 239, referring to this passage of Homer, observes, οἰκοῦσι δὲ ἐν τῇ Ἀσίᾳ οὗτοι αὐτόνομοι, οὐχ ἥκιστα διὰ πενίαν τε καὶ δικαιότητα. Dionysius, Perieg. 309, seems, as Hill observes, to consider the name ἱππημολγοί as applicable not to one single clan, but to the whole of the Sarmatian nomads, milk being one of the principal articles of their diet, as among the Suevi (Cæsar, B.G. iv. 1), and the ancient Germans (id. vi. 22). Callimachus, Hymn iii., applies the epithet to the Cimmerians. The epithet ἀβίων (or ἀβιῶν=bowless, not living by archery: cf. Alberti on Hesych. t. i. pp. 17, 794) is involved in doubt, and the ancients themselves were uncertain whether to regard it as a proper name or an epithet. (Cf. Steph. Byz. s. v., p. 7, ed. Pined.; Villois on Apoll. Lex. p. 14; Duport, Gnom. Horn. p. 74, sqq.) It seems best to understand with Strabo, vii. p. 460, nations ἀπ' ὀλίγων εὐτελῶς ζὧντας. Knight wished to throw out these verses altogether, alleging that allusion is made in them to the discipline of Zamolxis, with which Homer must have been wholly unacquainted.