[741] According to the Scholiast on Apollonius Rhod., Arg. 5, 917 persons were initiated into the mysteries of the Cabeiri in Samothrace. The Cabeiri were four in number; Axieros, Axiokersa, Axiokersos, and Casmilos. Axieros corresponded to Demeter or Ceres, Axiokersa to Persephone or Proserpine, Axiokersos to Hades or Pluto, and Casmilos to Hermes or Mercury. See Ueber die Gottheiten von Samothrace, T. W. I. Schelling, 1815; and the Classical Journal, vol. xiv. p. 59.
[742] Herod. iii. 37.
[743] Probably a temple of Apollo Smintheus.
[744] Corybissa, Eureïs, and Æthaloeïs are unknown.
[745] They were called Curetes because they were boys, and κουρῆτες μὲν ἀπὸ τοῦ κόρους εἶναι καλούμενοι. Groskurd suspects these or similar words to have followed “Corybantes.”
[746] Od. viii. 250.
[747] i. e. toes.
[748] In a lost play, The Deaf Satyrs.
[749] In hoc quoque dissentio, sapientes fuisse, qui ferri metalla et æris invenerunt, cum incendio silvarum adusta tellus, in summo venas jacentes liquefacta fudisset. Seneca, Epist. 90.
[750] Diodorus Siculus, b. v., says that they obtained the name from being equal in number to the ten fingers or toes (Dactyli).