HYMN TO DIONYSUS

The myth in literature and art.The story of Dionysus and the pirates, which is the subject of this hymn, was a favourite theme in classical literature. There is an allusion to the myth in Eur. Cycl.11, where the Tyrrhenians are said to be inspired by Hera. Ovid (Met. iii. 582-691) and Nonnus (Dion. xlv. 105-168) describe the adventure of Dionysus at considerable length; and shorter accounts are given by Apollodorus iii. 5. 3, Hyginus fab.134, poet. astron. ii. 17 (after the Naxica of Aglaosthenes), Seneca Oed.449-466, and Nonnus Dion. xliv. 240-249. Servius on Verg. Aen.i. 67 closely follows Hyginus. Oppian (Hal. i. 650) mentions the transformation of men into dolphins by Dionysus. It cannot be proved that any of these versions depend on the Homeric hymn; Ovid and Nonnus handle the legend after their characteristic methods, and certain similarities of expression (noted in the commentary) are probably due to the choice of subject, the broad outlines of which did not admit much variation of treatment.⁷⁷

On the other hand, the myth has rarely found a place in art. With regard to extant monuments, the metamorphosis of the pirates (the culminating point of the myth) does not appear in any vase-paintings; for, as Miss Harrison shews (after Gerhard), the celebrated cylix of Execias has no connexion with the Tyrrhenians. On this vase Dionysus is depicted as sitting in a ship, from the mast of which springs a vine loaded with grapes. The vacant space round the ship is filled by seven dolphins. But the vine simply indicates the sacred ship which played a part in the cult of Dionysus, while the dolphins are a conventional indication of the sea, as often on coins.⁷⁸ The god of wine, whose cult spread over all the Aegean and its coasts, was early associated with the sea,⁷⁹ and it was his journey from isle to isle that doubtless suggested the possibility of his capture, and the consequent manifestation of his might by sea as well as on land. The dolphins, which Greek sailors often saw sporting round their vessels (see h. Apoll. 496), would readily suggest a metamorphosis of actual sailors who had offended the god.⁸⁰

In painting, there is a record by Philostratus (Imag. i. 19) of a picture in which a Tyrrhenian ship is attacking the sacred vessel of Dionysus and his Maenads. The metamorphosis has begun, and the god's ship is covered with ivy and vines. The introduction of a naval battle is evidently a later invention, when the myth was accommodated to other stories of Dionysus' prowess in war; cf. Lucian dial. mar. 8 (Crusius p. 223).

It appears, therefore, that the well-known choregic monument of Lysicrates (B.C. 334) is the sole extant work of art illustrating the myth. A detailed description of the frieze is unnecessary; it may be sufficient to point out that artistic requirements have considerably modified the myth. The scene is laid, not in a ship, but on the sea-shore; there is thus no place for the pilot or for the vines and ivy. Dionysus sits at ease on a rock playing with a panther, while the Tyrrhenians are punished by a band of Satyrs. Some of the pirates are being beaten with the thyrsus, others are leaping into the sea, half transformed into dolphins.⁸¹

Style of the hymn.Groddeck and Baumeister, followed by Abel, trace the influence of dithyrambic poetry in the theme and treatment of the hymn; but the debt, if any, is not easily estimated. The formula ἀμφί τινα ἀείδειν is not confined to the dithyramb (see on 1), and the harsh transitions, in which Baumeister sees a mark of dithyrambic haste (44, 54), are due rather to unpolished workmanship. For, although the hymn is a valuable and interesting document, it is hard to dissent from Gemoll's judgment that its artistic merits have been generally overrated. Gemoll remarks on the carelessness of the writer in using the particle δέ seven times in 4-10.⁸² Nothing is said about the scene of the event; the description of the bear created by Dionysus (46) is at least clumsy, even if it is partly justified as one of the signs by which the god shews his power. It may be added that there is an obvious improbability in the indifference shewn by all the crew, except the steersman, after the god has miraculously freed himself from his bonds (see on h. Dem. 188). Ovid, more careful of artistic propriety, makes the steersman conjecture the divinity of the captive from his general appearance only; Bacchus performs no miracle until it is too late for repentance.

Date of the hymn.The general uncertainty in dating most of the hymns is strikingly exemplified in the case of the present poem, for the composition of which the critics have suggested various periods down to the third or fourth century A.D. This late date has been advocated by Ludwich, who believes the hymn to be a work of the Orphic school and closely related to the Argonautica, which passed under the name of Orpheus. Ludwich draws attention to the following points of similarity between the two poems: (1) both are characterised by extreme rapidity of diction, and by numerous words expressing haste (e.g. τάχαθοῶστάχααἶψα, Hom. h. 6-9; μάλ' ὦκαθοή ἐπειγομένη, Arg. 268-270. For a full comparison see Ludwich p. 61-67). It may be replied that adverbs, etc., denoting haste or swift transition, are common in epic poetry (e.g. Il. 18.525-532, compared by Crusius), and τάχα, αὐτίκα, αἶψα, and the like are especially frequent in hymnic literature; the hymn to Hermes affords many examples (see on h. Herm. 70). (2) Ludwich remarks on a general resemblance in diction between the hymn and the Argonautica (p. 68, 69). None of these parallels, however, are very striking, and all are Homeric, and may therefore have been modelled independently on epic originals (see further on 2).

(3) The position of the hymn in the collectionnext to the hymn to Aresis thought to be a sign of Orphic origin. The eighth hymn is undoubtedly late, but not necessarily Orphic (see Introd.); in any case the argument is of little value, as it would apply equally to the ninth hymn, which is certainly not Orphic. The style of the hymn to Dionysus, which is a pure narrative poem, is quite foreign to the religious tone of the hymn to Ares. The latter cannot be adduced as evidence for the date or origin of any other hymn.

If there is no strong argument in support of Ludwich's theory, there is equally little reason to follow Gemoll, who places the hymn (doubtfully) in the Alexandrine period. As evidence of lateness he instances αὐτόν (22), the use of ὅδε (19, 27), ἐρεῖ (30), ἐκάθητο (14), the dat. plur. in οις (5, 12, 16, 21), the art. in τῷ ἐμῷ (55). Some of these usages are perfectly regular, at least in the later parts of the genuine epic (see on 22, 55); and there is nothing in the language which need not belong to a date far higher than that of the Alexandrines. The double title Διόνυσος ἢ λησταί (in DELIIT) reminds us of similar alternatives in Theocritus and Herondas; but this title is not given by M, and is probably a later addition. Nor is there any proof that such titles were first adopted by the Alexandrines. In style, the hymn has little in common with the works of Callimachus or the hymnic idylls of Theocritus; its simplicity and directness of expression, which often pass into abruptness, differentiate it from any characteristic product of the Alexandrine age. This will appear from a comparison between the hymn and the idyll of Theocritus, which deals with the fate of Pentheus (xxi); the subjectthe might of Dionysus and the punishment of Pentheusis similar to the theme of the hymn; but the latter is quite free from the affectation of rare or precious words (μαλοπάρηος, ἐθυμάρει, etc.) that mark the Alexandrine work. The hymn-writer's disregard of all superfluous details is in strong contrast to the fuller and more literary compositions from which Ovid drew his inspiration.

The hymn has also been referred to the fifth or fourth century, with no great probability.⁸³ The chief argument for this date, based on the youthful form of Dionysus, is of no value (see on 3). There is, in a word, no reason to separate the hymn from the rest of the collection (the hymn to Ares and possibly one or two others being excepted), or to deny it a place in the literature of the sixth or even the seventh century B.C.

Place of composition.There is no internal evidence pointing to any special country, and the efforts to localise the hymn have not been fruitful. Several scholars, however (Welcker Ep. Cycl. i. p. 367; Baumeister p. 339; Chudiski p. 9; Christ Handbuch der klass. Alt. vii.^{2} p. 63), have argued for an Attic origin, and this view has been upheld with some confidence by Crusius (p. 204 f.). It is suggested that the hymn served as a prelude at the Brauronian festival of Dionysus, in which rhapsodists recited the Iliad (Hesych. s.v. and Clearch. ap. Athen. vii. 275 B=F. H. G. ii. p. 321). Crusius lays stress on the legend that Tyrsenian pirates carried off Attic women from Brauron ( Herod.vi. 138), and he sees in the sole extant representationthe monument of Lysicratesa proof that the myth was peculiarly He Attic. suggests that the bear created by Dionysus is Brauronian, as Attic maidens at the festival were called ἄρκτοι (but see on 46). The arguments may be plausible, but there is really no more reason to attribute the hymn to the Athenians than to almost any other branch of the Hellenic race. The myth itself may have arisen in Naxos; later accounts, at least (Aglaosthenes, Apollodorus, Ovid), connect it with the island; and it is not impossible that the hymn is also Naxian.⁸⁴

a)mfi/: the use with ἀείδειν or similar verbs occurs at the beginning of xix, xxii, xxxiii, and in h. Herm. 57. The formula is found in Od. 8.267 (with genitive), and was stereotyped in dithyrambic verse (cf. Terpand. fr. 2) according to the schol. on Nub. 595, Suid. s.v. ἀμφιανακτίζειν; so in tragedy Troad. 511.