Αἴτια Ἑλληνικά

Sections

intro – intro intro – 2 2 – 4 5 – 8 8 – 9 9 – 10 10 – 12 12 – 12 12 – 12 13 – 13 13 – 14 14 – 15 15 – 16 16 – 17 17 – 18 18 – 19 19 – 20 20 – 21 21 – 21 21 – 22 23 – 25 25 – 26 26 – 27 28 – 29 29 – 30 30 – 30 31 – 33 33 – 34 34 – 35 35 – 36 36 – 37 37 – 37 38 – 38 39 – 39 39 – 40 40 – 40 40 – 41 41 – 42 42 – 44 44 – 45 45 – 46 46 – 48 48 – 49 49 – 51 51 – 54 54 – 56 56 – 57 57 – 57 58 – 59 59 – 59

Yunanca Yunanca Yunanca Yunanca

12 Now the Septerion seems to be a representation of Apollo’s fight with the Python and the flight to Tempê and pursuit that followed the battle. Cf.Moralia, 421 c. Some indeed affirm that Apollo fled because he desired purification as a consequence of the slaughter he had done, others that he was following the wounded Python as he fled along the road which we now call the Sacred Way, and was only a little late for the monster’s death; for he overtook him when he had just died from the effects of the wound and had been buried by his son, whose name, as they say, was Aix. The Septerion, then, is a representation of these matters or certain matters of a similar nature. Cf.Moralia, 418 a-b; Aelian, Varia Historia, iii. 1, for this festival.

12 The greater part of the Heroïs has a secret import which the Thyiads Cf.Moralia, 249 e-f. know; but from the portions of the rites that are performed in public one might conjecture that it represents the evocation of Semele.