are only faint replicas of the great trinity, and I doubt whether they are believed to have any independent power of their own; they would seem to be mere ministers who carry out the original decrees of the three supreme Fates.
Often in the popular songs it is impossible to tell whether it is the lesser personal Fate or one of the great trio who is addressed. For in such lines as,
[Greek: Parakalô se, Moira mou, na mê me xenitepsês,
Ki' an lachê kai xeniteutô, thanato mê mou dôsês][1],
'I pray thee, good Fate, send me not to a strange land, but if it be my
lot to be sent, let me not die there,'
the form of address [Greek: Moira mou] (literally 'my Fate') implies no
personal possession, but is the same as that employed in praying
to God or the Virgin, [Greek: Thee mou, Panagia mou]. But in definite forms
of incantation, composed for recitation along with propitiatory
offerings, the great Fates and the lesser Fate of the individual
suppliant are coupled in a way which shows the difference in
importance between them. The former are called 'the Fates
over all Fates' ([Greek: hê Moirais tôn Moirôn]), as in the plain prose
formulary quoted above; the latter is merely the Fate of this
or that person.
Whether these inferior Fates were known also in the classical period is a question which I am unable to answer; but that the belief in them is certainly of no recent growth is proved by an incantation more elaborate than those given above and on internal evidence very old:—
[Greek: 'p' ton Olympon, ton kolymbon,
ta tria akra touranou,
hopou hê Moirais tôn Moirôn
kai hê 'dikê mou Moira,
as akousê kai as elthê][2].
'From Olympus, even from the summit, from the three heights of heaven,
where dwell the Fates of all Fates and my own Fate, may she hearken and
come.'
The version of the formula which I have given is only one out
of several which have been recorded from various parts of Greece[3],for [Greek: tou ouranou], in order to restore the rather rough metre.]([Greek: Meletê k.t.l.] p. 228, note 1) gives the following references: Wordsworth,
Athens and Attica, p. 228; [Greek: Ephêm. Philomathôn], 1868, p. 1479; Passow, Popul. Carm. p. 431, besides those to which I have referred in other notes.]
