Pleasant — ἡδύς

Use in the book

Prothyraia is a welcome sight to women in labour at II.2, and Helios is a welcome sight to living beings at VIII.3. In each case pleasantness belongs to a beneficial encounter rather than to physical sweetness. The Sun is then asked to disclose a pleasant life to the initiates. Sleep possesses soothing rest from labours and is himself asked to arrive pleasantly disposed.

Dionysus likewise should breathe upon the petitioners as a welcome presence and come pleasantly to the initiates; the adjective works with verbs of approach or action, not just with a catalogue of attributes. Leto brings a pleasant completion to the rite, while Eros is both desirable and pleasant in his opening invocation. Mnemosyne’s superlative praises the welcome power who recalls things and strengthens reasoning. Together these uses move from sensory attraction toward experienced benefit, but do not dissolve the concrete objects: sight, rest, life, and completion are distinct things.

Places to read

1. Hymn II · Line 2A goddess is a welcome sight in the difficulty of childbirth.
2. Hymn VIII · Line 20Pleasantness qualifies the life requested for initiates.
3. Hymn LXXXV · Line 5Rest from labour is the source of pleasure.
4. Hymn L · Line 10The deity’s arrival is to be welcome to the initiates.
5. Hymn LXXVII · Line 6The superlative praises Mnemosyne.

Translation

The English can appropriately alternate “sweet,” “pleasant,” and “welcome.” At LXXXV.9 ἡδύν agrees with Sleep within the requested arrival; it is not an adverb detached from the god. Reading the adjective beside the difficult κεκραμένον should preserve that grammar without assuming a technical theory of mixed sleep.

Attested forms

ἡδεῖα; ἡδεῖαν; ἡδὺ; ἡδύν; ἡδὺν; ἡδὺς; ἡδυτάτη

Occurrence inventory

10 in total. II.2; VIII.3; VIII.20; XXX.8; XXXV.7; L.10; LVIII.1; LXXVII.6; LXXXV.5; LXXXV.9

Further source

LSJ, ἡδύς. Lexical range and forms, consulted in the official Perseus XML text.