Note 364 — FIRST SECTION. (continued 2)

Ἀνδρόγυνον κωμῳδεῖν ἔδοξέ τις δρᾶμα· ἐνόσησεν αὐτῷ τὸ αἰδοῖον. Γάλλους ὁρᾶν ἔδοξέ τις· ἐνόσησεν αὐτῷ τὸ αἰδοῖον. Τὸ μὲν πρῶτον διὰ τὸ ὄνομα οὕτως ἀπέβη, τὸ δὲ δεύτερον διὰ τὸ συμβεβηκὸς τοῖς ὁρωμένοις. Καί τοι καὶ τὸ κωμῳδεῖν οἰσθα ὃ σημαίνει, καὶ τὸ Γάλλους ὁρᾶν. Μέμνησο δὲ, ὅτι, εἴτε κωμῳδεῖν, εἴτε τραγῳδεῖν ὑπολάβοι τις, καὶ μνημονεύει, κατά τὴν ὑπόθεσιν τοῦ δράματος κρίνεται καὶ τὰ ἀποτελέσματα. (for translation see text above). The signification of κωμῳδεῖν and τραγῳδεῖν (to represent Comedy, Tragedy) is given by Artemidorus, bk. I. ch. 56. As to the Galli comp. bk. II. 69. In bk. II. ch. 12. we read: Ὕαινα δὲ γυναῖκα σημαίνει ἀνδρόγυνον ἢ φαρμακίδα, καὶ ἄνδρα κίναιδον οὐκ εὐγνώμονα. (Hyaena signifies a woman that is male-female or a sorceress, and a man that is a cinaedus without moderation). It was a widespread belief amongst the Ancients that the hyaena was at one time a male and at another a female (comp. Aelian, Hist. anim., I. 25. Horapollo, Hieroglyph., II. 65. Ovid, Metamorph., Bk. XV. Fab. 38. Tertullian, De Pallio, ch. 3.). As early however as the time of Aristotle it had been declared a fable by him, Hist. anim., Bk. VI. ch. 32., and Clement of Alexandria says the same, Paedagog., II. 9. Yet the idea was still cherished at the beginning of the present Century at the Cape of Good Hope, see Corn. de Jong, “Reise nach dem Vorgebirge der Guten Hoffnung,” (Voyage to the Cape of Good Hope). Hamburg 1803. Pt I. Letter 6. Clement of Alexandria, Paedagog., bk. II. ch. 9., tells a still more remarkable tale of the hare, καὶ τὸν μὲν λαγῶν κατ’ ἔτεος πλεονεκτεῖν φασὶ τὴν ἀφόδευσιν, εἰς ἀριθμοὺς οἱς βεβίωκεν ἔτεσιν ἴσχοντα τρυπάς· ταύτῃ ἄρα τὴν κώλυσιν τῆς ἐδωδῆς τοῦ λαγὼ, παιδεραστίας ἐμφαίνειν ἀποτροπὴν. (Moreover it is said that the hare gets every year fresh means of voiding its excrement, having holes corresponding to the number of years it has lived; and that for this reason the prohibition against eating hare appears to be a dissuasion from paederastia). This is confirmed by St. Barnabas, Epist., ch. 10. and by Pliny, Hist. Nat., VIII. 55. To this fable also we must look for an explanation of the proverbial saying δασύπους κρεῶν ἐπιθυμεῖ (puss longs for flesh-meats), and Lepus tute es, et pulmentum quaeris? (Are you a hare, and look for condiments?) in Terence, Eunuch., III. 36. Possibly too the κύων τεῦτλα οὐ τρώγει (dog does not gnaw pot-herbs) of Diogenes has a connection with the same notion,—Diogenes Laertius, VI. 2. 6. So Strato in the distich (Greek Anthology bk. I. tit. 72. No. 6.):

(A certain youth there is, Draco (serpent) by name, very fair to see; but being a serpent, how comes it he takes another snake into his hole?) Aristophanes, Eccles., 904., κἀπὶ τῆς κλίνης ὄφιν εὕροις, (and on your bed may you find a snake), on which the Scholiast comments ὄφις—λαμβάνεται ἀντὶ τοῦ αἰδοίου οὐ τεταμένου δηλαδὴ, ἀλλ’ ἀνειμένου. (ὄφις—snake: to be taken as meaning the privy member,—not erect that is, but relaxed). So in the Priapeia, LXXXIII. 33., we find: licebit aeger, angue lentior (will be reckoned as sick, slacker than a snake).