[393] Cf. also Schol. ad Apoll. Rhod. II. 479, where Mnesimachus is quoted for the same opinion.
[394] O. T. 1099.
[395] Nat. Hist. IX. cap. 5.
[396] Lycophron, 480.
[397] Hom. Hymns, III. 256 sqq.
ἑστᾶσ’ ἠλίβατοι· τεμένη δέ ἑ κικλήσκουσιν
ἀθάνατων· τὰς δ’ οὔτι βροτοὶ κείρουσι σιδήρῳ.
These two lines (267–8) have fallen under suspicion because, it is urged, the word ἀθανάτων is in direct contradiction of what has been said as to the intermediate position of nymphs between mortals and immortals. This criticism is due to careless reading. The lines do not mean that each tree is called the τέμενος of an immortal nymph, but that a number of trees, each inhabited by a nymph, often form together the τέμενος of an immortal god. A sanctuary of Artemis, for example, might well be surrounded by trees which each harboured one of her attendant nymphs.
[399] Hahn, Griech. Märchen, II. no. 84. Cf. also no. 58.