Note 310 — FIRST SECTION. (continued 2)

Natalis Comes, Mythologia p. 392., according to the report of several Scholiasts. The Scholiast on Lucian, Amores ch. 2., writes Ἐπεὶ καὶ ταῖς Λημνίαις γυναιξὶν ἔγκοτος Ἀφροδίτη γενομένη, εἶτα δυσώδεις αὐτὰς ποιήσασα, ἀποκοίτους αὐτὰς ποιῆσαι τοὺς ἄνδρας αὐτῶν ἠνάγκασεν. (When Aphrodité, angered with the women of Lemnos, had then made them malodorous, and so compelled their husbands to expel them from their beds). Similarly the Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius, Argonaut., I. 609., αἱ Λήμνιαι γυναῖκες ... τῶν τῆς Ἀφροδίτης τιμῶν κατολιγωρήσασαι, καθ’ ἑαυτῶν τὴν θεὸν ἐκίνησαν· πάσαις γάρ δυσοσμίαν ἐνέβαλεν, ὡς μηκέτι αὐτὰς τοῖς ἀνδράσιν ἀρέσκειν. (The Lemnian women, by neglecting the honours due to Aphrodité, stirred the goddess’ anger against them. For she inflicted on them all an ill-odour, so that they were no longer pleasing to their husbands). To the same purport the Scholiast on Euripides, Hecuba v. 887., who cites Didymus as authority:

Ἐν Λήμνῳ γυναῖκες ἐτέλουν ἐτήσιον ἑορτὴν Ἀφροδίτῃ· ἐπεὶ οὖν ποτε καταφρονήσασαι τῆς θεοῦ, ἀπέλιπον τὸ ἔθος, ἡ Ἀφροδίτη ἐνέβαλεν αὐταῖς δυσωδίαν, ὡς μὴ δύνασθαι τοὺς ἑαυτῶν ἄνδρας αὐταῖς πλησιάσαι· αἱ δὲ νομίσασαι, ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνδρῶν καταφρονεῖσθαι, τούτους πάντας ἀπέκτειναν. ὁ δέ Δίδυμος οὕτω. (At Lemnos the women used to celebrate a yearly festival in honour of Aphrodité. And so when on one occasion they scorned the goddess and neglected the custom, Aphrodité afflicted them with an ill odour, so that their own husbands could not come near them. And they concluding they were scorned by their husbands, killed them all. Didymus confirms this). The Lesbian Myrtilus or Myrsilus gives a different account of the origin of the evil smell of the Lesbian women, representing it in the First Book of his “Lesbica” as a consequence of the magic arts of Medea, who had landed with Jason at Lemnos. The story was taken from the lost Work of Myrtilus by Antigonus Carystius, Histor. mirab. collect., edit. J. Meursius. Leyden 1629. 4to., ch. 130. p. 97., Τὰς δέ Λημνίας δυσόσμους γενέσθαι, Μηδείας ἀφικομένης μετ’ Ἰάσονος καὶ φάρμακα ἐμβαλλούσης εἰς τὴν νῆσον· κατὰ δέ τινα χρόνον καὶ μάλιστα ἐν ταύταις ταῖς ἡμέραις, ἐν αἷς ἱστοροῦσι τὴν Μήδειαν παραγενέσθαι, δυσώδεις αὐτὰς οὕτως γίνεσθαι ὥστε μηδένα προσϊέναι. (And that the Lemnian women became malodorous, when Medea came thither with Jason and cast poisonous drugs on the island; and that for some length of time and particularly in those days when Medea is related to have been there, they were so ill-smelling that no man could approach them.) Also the Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius, I. 165., says: τῶν ἄλλων ἱστορούντων, ὅτι κατὰ χόλον τῆς Ἀφροδίτης αἱ Λημνιάδες δύσοσμοι ἐγένοντο, Μυρτίλος ἐν πρώτῳ Λεσβικῶν διαφέρεται· καὶ φησὶ τὴν Μήδειαν παραπλέουσαν, διὰ ζηλοτυπίαν ῥίψαι εἰς τὴν Λήμνον φάρμακον, καὶ δυσοσμίαν γενέσθαι ταῖς γυναιξίν, εἶναί τε μέχρι τοῦ νῦν κατ’ ἐνιαυτὸν ἡμέραν τινὰ, ἐν ᾗ διὰ τὴν δυσωδίαν ἀποστρέφονται τὰς γυναῖκας ἄνδρές τε καὶ υἱεῖς. (Whereas others relate that in consequence of the anger of Aphrodité the women of Lemnos became evil-smelling, Myrtilus in the first Book of the “Lesbica” tells a different tale. He says that Medea, sailing past the land, moved by envy cast a poison on the island, and so an ill odour fell on the women; further that there is down to the present time a day once a year, on which owing to this foul odour husbands and sons turn and flee from the women.) Finally there is an Epigram of Lucillius in the Greek Anthology (edit. H. de Bosch, Vol. I. p. 416.) Bk. II. Tit. 14. no. 4., mentioning the evil smell of the Lemnian women:

(Neither the Chimaera of Homer had so ill a smell, nor yet the herd (as the story goes) of fire-breathing bulls, not all Lemnos, not the foulest of the Harpies, nor even Philoctetes’ putrefying foot. So you see, Telesilla, you outdo—the vote is unanimous,—Chimaeras, putrefactions, bulls, birds, Lemnian women!) The stench of Telesilla outdid, we see, all known evil smells, even that of the Lemnian women, etc. Also in Valerius Flaccus, bk. II. 99-241., is found this myth of the Lemnian women.