Thank you for drawing our ears to the sound, not only of the Greek but to the quivering bow. Swallows haven't returned to the UK yet, but I had them nesting outside my bedroom as a kid and to my ear their vocabulary contains a sound very similar to a bow's quiver. Listen to the unpitched rapid clicking in the first second of this video: https://youtu.be/b_sj1VI6avM?si=qQyKRSltx8ODs6cE That rapid quivering with diminuendo is not the sound of crickets, it is produced by the swallows. When a bow is strung at high tension, the sound it makes when you let fly an arrow has a similar frequency of flutter and duration. I would not describe this quivering sound as "sweet"! Maybe "fine, admirable"? Beauteous because such a sound is associated with an arrow flying straight and far.
And there's one other fascinating feature of this passage for scholars of Greek music: *every single* line of the passage ends with a high tone or circumflex accent at the end of the verse! Coincidence? I think not.
As you say, a Swallow does not make a musical sound so I wonder if this is a memory jog to an earlier myth. Does this evoke the thought of Procne who, by using a disguise, wreaks terrible revenge on Tereus for his treatment of her sister Philomela. It would also give an indication to the audience the ferocity and scale of the action about to take place.
Your translation "pulls around the peg" is spot on! Here is the string-pulling operation familiar to Homer's audience but scarcely known today: https://youtu.be/odwXTIdsYBw?t=2530 . After years struggling to tune harpsichords, I have found kóllopes (historical lever pegs) to be a joy. It is such a good system! Unlike Roman and medieval tuning pegs, which require a key to turn them, Greek and Mesopotamian pegs are levers. This makes it easy to adjust the number of strings and the string spacing. And you can't lose your tuning key!
Thank you for drawing our ears to the sound, not only of the Greek but to the quivering bow. Swallows haven't returned to the UK yet, but I had them nesting outside my bedroom as a kid and to my ear their vocabulary contains a sound very similar to a bow's quiver. Listen to the unpitched rapid clicking in the first second of this video: https://youtu.be/b_sj1VI6avM?si=qQyKRSltx8ODs6cE That rapid quivering with diminuendo is not the sound of crickets, it is produced by the swallows. When a bow is strung at high tension, the sound it makes when you let fly an arrow has a similar frequency of flutter and duration. I would not describe this quivering sound as "sweet"! Maybe "fine, admirable"? Beauteous because such a sound is associated with an arrow flying straight and far.
Thanks Barnaby!
And there's one other fascinating feature of this passage for scholars of Greek music: *every single* line of the passage ends with a high tone or circumflex accent at the end of the verse! Coincidence? I think not.
As you say, a Swallow does not make a musical sound so I wonder if this is a memory jog to an earlier myth. Does this evoke the thought of Procne who, by using a disguise, wreaks terrible revenge on Tereus for his treatment of her sister Philomela. It would also give an indication to the audience the ferocity and scale of the action about to take place.
I forgot to add: and of course she was turned into a Swallow
Lovely suggestion.
Of course there's no evidence Homer knew the Procne myth, but there's no evidence that he didn't either.
Your translation "pulls around the peg" is spot on! Here is the string-pulling operation familiar to Homer's audience but scarcely known today: https://youtu.be/odwXTIdsYBw?t=2530 . After years struggling to tune harpsichords, I have found kóllopes (historical lever pegs) to be a joy. It is such a good system! Unlike Roman and medieval tuning pegs, which require a key to turn them, Greek and Mesopotamian pegs are levers. This makes it easy to adjust the number of strings and the string spacing. And you can't lose your tuning key!