Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 9, 1898.djvu/201

Rh In matters of philology Mr. Frazer is not so successful; for though he has occasionally consulted good authorities, he is apt to regard printed matter with too great respect. For example, some one wrote to the Classical Review and said that could could not be connected with   "water;" and this is quoted (iii. 13). But this change of to  before an accent is well attested in modern Greek. What would the writer in the Classical Review say to (=)? Again, is not so "uncertain," but that it is probably akin to, and such other words, "all together;" it means an "assembly." However, there are other good linguistic notes, as in ii. 71.

But for us Pausanias is valuable chiefly because he is a veritable storehouse of myth, ritual, and religion. This, too, is Mr. Frazer's especial hunting-ground, and we turn with lively anticipation to his commentary on such points. In mythology we have the advantage of comparing Mr. Farnell's excellent work, which was not available for Mr. Frazer in the earlier volumes. Mr. Farnell is generally fuller (see ii. 128), as might be expected, because he had nothing else to write about. It is a pity that Aphrodite Pandemos is translated "Vulgar," which assumes a popular error for all cases where the name is used. "Popular," or "of the people," is nearer the truth, and would apply to all ages in different senses. Does Aphrodite really mean "in memory of" Hippolytus (ii. 195)?—rather, we think, "at" the place sacred to Hippolytus. In iii. 53 is given a most interesting account of the religious drama, Apollo slaying the Python, pieced together with much skill from various sources. Something may also be learnt of the mysterious Mysteries (see Index), but we are sorry Mr. Frazer thinks a full discussion "out of place" (ii. 504 ff.) The connection of gods and animals is a most important subject, on which we may find a great deal of information here. We have, for instance, gods associated with animals in worship: Wolf Apollo, Bull Dionysus, Goat Dionysus, Horse Demeter, Horse Poseidon; deities are represented with animal heads, riding upon an animal (as Aphrodite upon a goat) or carrying an animal. Or again, Dionysus is the averter of foxes, Zeus of flies, Apollo of mice and locusts, and the hero Hercules of locusts or worms. Two excellent notes give an account the one of the transition from animal to god (v. 87-90), the other of the way in which a creature may be worshipped as the averter of its species, and so