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or were to say that the dog is an honorable animal, since to be without a dog is most dishonorable. And to say that Hermes is the most sociable of the gods, because he alone is called common;5 and that words are most excellent, since good men are considered worthy, not of riches but of consideration; for λόγου ἄξιος has a double meaning.6
2 Or equivocation, in which a single term has a double meaning.
3 Deriving μυστήρια ( μύειν, to close the lips) from μῦς (mouse).
4 A fragment from the Parthenia (songs sung by maidens to the accompaniment of the flute). Pan is called “the dog of Cybele,” the great nature-goddess of the Greeks, as being always in attendance on her, being himself a nature-god. The fact that Pindar calls Pan “dog” is taken as a glorification of that animal.
5 κοινὸς Ε῾ρμῆς is an expression meaning “halves!” When anyone had a stroke of luck, such as finding a purse full of money in the street, anyone with him expected to go halves. Hermes was the god of luck, and such a find was called ἑρμαῖον. κοινωνικός is taken to mean (1) liberal to others, or (2) sociable.
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