[Meaning] the [sc. piece of] leather which is placed around the mouth of the piper, so that his lip may not be split.
Aristophanes [writes]: "although I have seen many strange things, I have not yet seen a crow wearing a mouth-band."
*fo/rbion: to\ perikei/menon tw=| sto/mati tou= au)lhtou= de/rma, i(/na mh\ sxisqh=| to\ xei=los au)tou=. *)aristofa/nhs: polla\ dh\ kai\ dei=n' i)dw\n ou)/pw ko/rak' ei)=don e)mpeforbiwme/non.
Aristophanes,
Birds 860-1 (web address 1), with scholion. The passage actually employs the verb
e)mforbio/omai, which is related to
forbeia/ (see LSJ s.v. A.II., cf.
phi 585,
phi 586).
On this piece of piper's equipment see M.L. West,
Ancient Greek Music (Oxford 1992) 89: 'the aulete sometimes wore a special kind of strap [...] that went across his mouth (with a hole, ot two holes, for the pipes) and round the back of his head, usually with a second strap going over the top of his head to prevent the first one from slipping down. The device first appears in south Anatolian art about 700 BC, and in Greek not long afterwards. Its purpose was to support the player's lips and cheeks and to take some of the strain involved in blowing. It is worn especially by professionals giving displays'.
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