M51 The octennial cycle in relation to the Greek doctrine of rebirth. 166 As to the eight years’ servitude of Apollo and Cadmus for the slaughter of dragons, see below, p. 78. For the nine years’ penance of the man who had tasted human flesh at the festival of Zeus on Mount Lycaeus, see Pliny, _Nat. hist._ viii. 81 _sq._; Augustine, _De civitate Dei_, xviii. 17; Pausanias, viii. 2. 6; compare Plato, _Republic_, viii. p. 565 D E. Any god who forswore himself by the water of Styx was exiled for nine years from the society of his fellow-gods (Hesiod, _Theogony_, 793-804). On this subject see further, E. Rohde, _Psyche_,3 ii. 211 _sq._; W. H. Roscher, “Die enneadischen und hebdomadischen Fristen und Wochen der ältesten Griechen,” _Abhandlungen der philolog.-histor. Klasse der Königl. Sächsischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften_, xxi. No. 4 (1903), pp. 24 _sqq._ 167 Plato, _Meno_, p. 81 A-C; Pindar, ed. Boeckh, vol. iii. pp. 623 _sq._, Frag. 98. M52 The octennial cycle at Cnossus in Crete. King Minos and Zeus. Sacred marriage of the king and queen of Cnossus in the form of bull and cow as symbols of the sun and moon. 168 Homer, _Odyssey_, xix. 178 _sq._, τῇσι δ᾽ ἐνὶ Κνωσός, μεγάλη πόλις, ἔνθα τε Μίνως ἐννέωρος βασίλευε Διὸς μεγάλου ὀαριστής. with the Scholia; Plato, _Laws_, i. I. p. 624 A, B;[_id._] _Minos_, 13 _sq._, pp. 319 _sq._; Strabo, ix. 4. 8, p. 476; Maximus Tyrius, _Dissert._ xxxviii. 2; _Etymologicum magnum_, _s.v._ ἐννέωροι, p. 343, 23 _sqq._; Valerius Maximus, i. 2, ext. I; compare Diodorus Siculus, v. 78. 3. Homer’s expression, ἐννέωρος βασίλευε, has been variously explained. I follow the interpretation which appears to have generally found favour both with the ancients, including Plato, and with modern scholars. See K. Hoeck, _Kreta_, i. 244 _sqq._; K. O. Müller,_Die Dorier_,2 ii. 96; G. F. Unger, “Zeitrechnung der Griechen und Römer,” in Ivan Müller’s _Handbuch der klassischen Altertumswissenschaft_, i. 569; A. Schmidt, _Handbuch der griechischen Chronologie_ (Jena, 1888), p. 65; W. H. Roscher, “Die enneadischen und hebdomadischen Fristen und Wochen der ältesten Griechen,” _Abhandlungen der philolog.-histor. Klasse der Königl. Sächsischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften_, xxi. No. 4 (Leipsic, 1903), pp. 22 _sq._; E. Rohde, _Psyche_,3 i. 128 _sq._ Literally interpreted, ἐννέωρος means “for nine years,” not “for eight years.” But see above, p. 59, note 1. 169 Apollodorus, iii. 1. 3 _sq._, iii. 15. 8; Diodorus Siculus, iv. 77; Schol. on Euripides, _Hippolytus_, 887; J. Tzetzes, _Chiliades_, i. 479 _sqq._; Hyginus, _Fabulae_, 40; Virgil, _Ecl._ vi. 45 _sqq._; Ovid, _Ars amat._ i. 289 _sqq._