Of holy rites — ἁγνοτελής

Meaning

Silenos is addressed as ἁγνοτελής beside “venerable” and “leader of the rite” of the pastoral thiasos (LIV.4). These surrounding titles bring holy ritual observance to the foreground. The compound characterizes Silenos’s ritual association; it does not establish a separate human rank of initiation. The apparatus gives ἁγνοτελής, marked “sic,” against uncertain ἁγνοτερής, whereas the verse itself prints vocative ἁγνοτελές. The alternative is not a secure basis for inventing another grade or kind of holiness.