Chapter III: Part 3

ET. O heaven-frenzied, and great abomination of the gods! Oh! for our race of OEdipus, worthy of all mourning--Alas for me! now verily are the curses of my sire coming to an accomplishment. But it becomes me not to weep or wail, lest birth be given to a lament yet more intolerable. But to Polynices, that well deserves his name, I say, soon shall we know what issue his blazonry will have; whether letters wrought in gold, vainly vaunting on his buckler, along with frenzy of soul will restore him. If indeed Justice, the virgin daughter of Jove, attended on his actions or his thoughts, perchance this might be. But neither when he escape the darkness of the womb, nor in his infancy, nor ever in his boyhood, nor in the gathering of the hair on his chin, did Justice look on him, or deem him worthy her regards: nor truly do I suppose that she will now take her stand near to him, in his ill-omened possession of his father-land. Truly she would then in all reason be falsely called Justice, were she to consort with a man all-daring in his soul. Trusting in this I will go, and face him in person. Who else could do so with better right? Leader against leader, brother against brother, foeman with foeman, shall I take my stand. Bring me with all speed my greaves, my spear, and my armor of defense against the stones.

[_Exit_ MESSENGER.

CH. Do not, O dearest of men, son of OEdipus, become in wrath like to him against whom thou hast most bitterly spoken. Enough it is that Cadmaeans come to the encounter with Argives. For such bloodshed admits of expiation. But the death of own brothers thus mutually wrought by their own hands--of this pollution there is no decay.

ET. If any one receives evil without disgrace, be it so; for the only advantage is among the dead: but of evil and disgraceful things, thou canst not tell me honor.

CH. Why art thou eager, my son? let not Ate, full of wrath, raging with the spear, hurry thee away--but banish the first impulse of [evil] passion.

ET. Since the deity with all power urges on the matter, let the whole race of Laius, abhorred by Phoebus, having received for its portion the wave of Cocytus, drift down with the wind.

CH. So fierce a biting lust for unlawful blood hurries thee on to perpetrate the shedding of a man's blood, of which the fruit is bitter.[151]

ET. Ay, for the hateful curse of my dear father, consummated, sits hard beside me with dry tearless eyes, telling me that profit comes before my after doom.[152]

CH. But do not accelerate it; thou wilt not be called dastardly if thou honorably preservest thy life--and Erinnys,[153] with her murky tempest, enters not the dwelling where the gods receive a sacrifice from the hands [of the inmates].

ET. By the gods, indeed, we have now for some time been in a manner neglected, and the pleasure which arises from our destruction is welcomed by them; why should we any longer fawn[154] upon our deadly doom?

CH. Do so now, while it is in thy power; since the demon, that may alter with a distant shifting of his temper, will perchance come with a gentler air; but now he still rages.

ET. Ay, for the curses of OEdipus have raged beyond all bounds; and too true were my visions of phantoms seen in my slumbers, dividers of my father's wealth.[155]

CH. Yield thee to women, albeit that thou lovest them not.

ET. Say ye then what one may allow you; but it must not be at length.

CH. Go not thou on in this way to the seventh gate.

ET. Whetted as I am, thou wilt not blunt me by argument.

CH. Yet god, at all events, honors an inglorious victory.

ET. It ill becomes a warrior to acquiesce in this advice.

CH. What! wilt thou shed the blood of thine own brother?

ET. By heaven's leave, he shall not elude destruction.

[_Exit_ ETEOCLES.

CH. I shudder with dread that the power that lays waste this house, not like the gods, the all-true, the evil-boding Erinnys summoned by the curses of the father, is bringing to a consummation the wrathful curses of distracted OEdipus.[156] 'Tis this quarrel, fatal to his sons, that arouses her. And the Chalybian stranger, emigrant from Scythia, is apportioning their shares, a fell divider of possessions, the stern-hearted steel,[157] allotting them land to occupy, just as much as it may be theirs to possess when dead, bereft of their large domains.[158] When they shall have fallen, slain by each other's hands in mutual slaughter, and the dust of the ground shall have drunk up the black-clotted blood of murder, who will furnish expiation? who will purify them? Alas for the fresh troubles mingled with the ancient horrors of this family! for I speak of the ancient transgression with its speedy punishment; yet it abides unto the third generation; since Laius, in spite of Apollo, who had thrice declared, in the central oracles of Pytho, that, dying without issue, he would save the state,[159] did, notwithstanding, overcome by his friends, in his infatuation beget his own destruction, the parricide OEdipus, who dared to plant in an unhallowed field, where he had been reared, a bloody root.--'Twas frenzy linked the distracted pair; and as it were, a sea of troubles brings on one billow that subsides, and rears another triply cloven, which too dashes about the stern of our state. But between [it and us] there stretches a fence at a small interval, a tower in width alone.[160] And I fear lest the city should be overcome along with its princes. For the execrations, that were uttered long ago, are finding their accomplishment: bitter is the settlement, and deadly things in their consummation pass not away. The wealth of enterprising merchants,[161] too thickly stowed, brings with it a casting overboard from the stern. For whom of mortals did the gods, and his fellow-inmates in the city, and the many lives of herding men,[162] admire so much as they then honored OEdipus, who had banished from the realm the baneful pest that made men her prey. But when he unhappy was apprised of his wretched marriage, despairing in his sorrow, with frenzied heart, he perpetrated a two-fold horror; he deprived himself with parricidal hand of the eyes that were more precious than his children. And indignant because of his scanty supply of food,[163] he sent upon his sons, alas! alas! a curse horrible in utterance, even that they should some time or other share his substance between them with sword-wielding hand; and now I tremble lest the swift Erinnys should be on the point of fulfilling that prayer.

_Re-enter_ MESSENGER.

Be of good cheer, maidens that have been nurtured by your mothers.[164] This city hath escaped the yoke of servitude; the vauntings of our mighty foes have fallen; and our city is calm, and hath not admitted a leak from the many buffets of the surge; our fortification too stands proof, and we have fenced our gates with champions fighting single-handed, and bringing surety; for the most part, at six of our gates, it is well; but the seventh, the revered lord of the seventh, sovereign Apollo, chose for himself, bringing to a consummation the ancient indiscretions of Laius.

CH. And what new event is happening to our city?

MES. These men have fallen by hands that dealt mutual slaughter.[165]--

CH. Who? What is it thou sayest! I am distracted with terror at thy tidings.

MES. Now be calm and listen, the race of OEdipus--

CH. Alas for me wretched! I am a prophetess of horrors.

MES. Stretched in the dust are they beyond all dispute.

CH. Came they even to that? bitter then are thy tidings, yet speak them.

MES. Even thus [too surely] were they destroyed by brotherly hands.

CH. Even thus was the demon at once impartial to both.

MES. And he himself, to be sure of this, is cutting off the ill-fated race.

CH. Over such events one may both rejoice and weep--[rejoice] at the success of our city--but [mourn because][166] our princes, the two generals, have portioned out the whole possession of their substance with the hammer-wrought Scythian steel, and they will possess of land just as much as they receive at their burial, carried off according to the unhappy imprecations of their sire.

MES. The city is rescued, but earth hath drank the blood of the brother princes through their slaughter of each other.

[_Exit_ MESSENGER.[167]

CH. Oh mighty Jove! and tutelary divinities of our city! ye that do in very deed protect these towers of Cadmus, am I to rejoice and raise a joyous hymn to the savior of our city, the averter of mischief, or shall I bewail the miserable and ill-fated childless[168] commanders, who, in very truth, correctly, according to their name,[169] full of rancor, have perished in impious purpose? Oh dark and fatal curse of the race and of OEdipus, what horrible chill is this that is falling upon my heart?[170] I, like a Thyiad, have framed a dirge for the tomb, hearing of the dead, dabbled in blood, that perished haplessly--verily this meeting of spears was ill-omened. The imprecation of the father hath taken full effect, and hath not failed: and the unbelieving schemes of Laius have lasted even until now; and care is through our city, and the divine declarations lose not their edge--Alas! worthy of many a sigh, ye have accomplished this horror surpassing credence; and lamentable sufferings have come indeed. This is self-evident, the tale of the messenger is before my eyes--Double are our sorrows, double are the horrors of them that have fallen by mutual slaughter; doubly shared are these consummated sufferings. What shall I say? What, but that of a certainty troubles on troubles are constant inmates of this house? But, my friends, ply the speeding stroke of your hands about your heads, before the gale of sighs, which ever wafts on its passage the bark, on which no sighs are heard, with sable sails, the freighted with the dead, untrodden for Apollo, the sunless, across Acheron, and to the invisible all-receiving shore.[171]

But [enough]! for here are coming to this bitter office both Antigone and Ismene. I am assured beyond all doubt that they will send forth a fitting wail from their lovely deep-cinctured bosoms. And right it is that we, before the sound of their wailing reach us, both ejaculate the dismal-sounding chaunt of Erinnys, and sing a hateful paean to Pluto. Alas! ye that are the most hapless in your sisterhood of all women that fling the zone around their robes, I weep, I mourn, and there is no guile about so as not to be truly wailing from my very soul.

SEMI-CHORUS. Alas! alas! ye frantic youths, distrustful of friends, and unsubdued by troubles, have wretched seized on your paternal dwelling with the spear.

SEMI-CH. Wretched in sooth were they who found a wretched death to the bane of their houses.

SEMI-CH. Alas! alas! ye that overthrew the walls of your palace, and having cast an eye on bitter monarchy, how have ye now settled your claims with the steel?

SEMI-CH. And too truly hath awful Erinnys brought [the curses] of their father OEdipus to a consummation.

SEMI-CH. Smitten through your left--Smitten in very truth, and through sides that sprung from a common womb.

SEMI-CH. Alas for them, wretched! Alas! for the imprecations of death which avenged murder by murder.

SEMI-CH. Thou speakest of the stroke that pierced through and through those that were smitten in their houses and in their persons with speechless rage, and the doom of discord brought upon them by the curses of their father.

SEMI-CH. And moreover, sighing pervades the city, the towers sigh, the land that loved her heroes sighs; and for posterity remains the substance by reason of which, by reason of which,[172] contention came upon them whom evil destiny, and the issue of death.

SEMI-CH. In the fierceness of their hearts they divided between them the possessions, so as to have an equal share; but the arbiter[173] escapes not censure from their friends, and joyless was their warfare.

SEMI-CH. Smitten by the steel, here they lie; and smitten by the steel[174] there await them--one may perchance ask what?--the inheritance of the tombs of their fathers.

SEMI-CH. From the house the piercing groan sends forth its sound loudly over them, mourning with a sorrow sufferings as o'er its own, melancholy, a foe to mirth, sincerely weeping from the very soul, which is worn down while I wail for these two princes.

SEMI-CH. We may say too of these happy men that they both wrought many mischiefs to their countrymen, and to the ranks of all the strangers, that perished in great numbers in battle.

SEMI-CH. Ill-fated was she that bare them before all women, as many as are mothers of children. Having taken to herself her own son for a husband, she brought forth these, and they have ended their existence thus by fraternal hands that dealt mutual slaughter.

SEMI-CH. Fraternal in very truth! and utterly undone were they by a severing in no wise amicable, by frenzied strife at the consummation of their feud.

SEMI-CH. But their emnity is terminated; and in the reeking earth is their life-blood mingled, and truly are they of the same blood. A bitter arbiter of strife is the stranger from beyond the sea, the whetted steel that bounded forth from the fire; and bitter is the horrible distributer of their substance, Mars, who hath brought the curse of their father truly to its consummation.

SEMI-CH. Hapless youths! They have obtained their portion of heaven-awarded woes, and beneath their bodies shall be a fathomless wealth of earth.[175] Alas! ye that have made your houses bloom with many troubles! And at its fall these Curses raised the shout of triumph in shrill strain, when the race had been put to flight in total rout; a trophy of Ate has been reared at the gate at which they smote each other, and, having overcome both, the demon rested.

_Enter_ ANTIGONE _and_ ISMENE.

ANT. When wounded thou didst wound again.[176]

ISM. And thou, having dealt death, didst perish.

ANT. With the spear thou didst slay.

ISM. By the spear thou didst fall.

ANT. Wretched in thy deeds!

ISM. Wretched in thy sufferings!

ANT. Let tears arise.

ISM. Let groans resound.

ANT. Having slain, he shall lie prostrate. Alas! alas! my soul is maddening with sighs.

ISM. And my heart mourns within me.

ANT. Alas! thou that art worthy of all lamentation!

ISM. And thou again also utterly wretched.

ANT. By a friend didst thou fall.

ISM. And a friend didst thou slay.

ANT. Double horrors to tell of.

ISM. Double horrors to behold!

ANT. These horrors are near akin to such sorrows.

ISM. And we their sisters here are near to our brothers.

CH. Alas! thou Destiny, awarder of bitterness, wretched! and thou dread shade of OEdipus! and dark Erinnys! verily art thou great in might.

ANT. Alas! alas! sufferings dismal to behold hath he shown to me after his exile.

ANT. And he returned not when he had slain him.

ISM. No--but after being saved he lost his life.

ANT. In very truth he lost it.

ISM. Ay, and he cut off his brother.

ANT. Wretched family!

ISM. That hath endured wretchedness. Woes that are wretched and of one name. Thoroughly steeped in three-fold sufferings.

ANT. Deadly to tell--

ISM. Deadly to look on.

CH. Alas! alas! thou Destiny, awarder of bitterness, wretched! and thou dread shade of OEdipus! and dark Erinnys! verily art thou great in might.

ANT. Thou in sooth knowest this by passing through it.

ISM. And so dost thou, having learned it just as soon as he.

ANT. After that thou didst return to the city.

ISM. An antagonist too to this man here in battle-fray.

ANT. Deadly to tell.

ISM. Deadly to look on.

ANT. Alas! the trouble.

ISM. Alas! the horrors upon our family and our land, and me above all.

ANT. Alas! alas! and me, be sure, more than all.

ISM. Alas! alas! for the wretched horrors! O sovereign Eteocles, our chieftain!

ANT. Alas! ye most miserable of all men.

ISM. Alas! ye possessed by Ate.

ANT. Alas! alas! where in the land shall we place them both? Alas! in the spot that is most honorable. Alas! alas! a woe fit to sleep beside my father.[177]

_Enter_ HERALD.

'Tis my duty to announce the good pleasure and the decree of the senators of the people of this city of Cadmus. It is resolved to bury this body of Eteocles for his attachment to his country, with the dear interment in earth! for in repelling our foes he met death in the city, and being pure in respect to the sacred rites of his country, blameless hath he fallen where 'tis glorious for the young to fall; thus, indeed, hath it been commissioned me to announce concerning this corpse: But [it has been decreed] to cast out unburied, a prey for dogs, this the corpse of his brother Polynices, inasmuch as he would have been the overturner of the land of Cadmus, if some one of the gods had not stood in opposition to his spear: and even now that he is dead, he will lie under the guilt of pollution with the gods of his country, whom he having dishonored was for taking the city by bringing against it a foreign host. So it is resolved that he, having been buried dishonorably by winged fowls, should receive his recompense, and that neither piling up by hands of the mound over his tomb should follow, nor any one honor him with shrill-voiced wailings, but that he be ungraced with a funeral at the hands of his friends. Such is the decree of the magistracy of the Cadmaeans.

ANT. But I say to the rulers of the Cadmaeans, if not another single person is willing to take part with me in burying him, I will bury him, and will expose myself[178] to peril by burying my brother. And I feel no shame at being guilty of this disobedient insubordination against the city. Powerful is the tie of the common womb from which we sprung, from a wretched mother and a hapless sire. Wherefore, my soul, do thou, willing with the willing share in his woes, with the dead, thou living, with sisterly feeling--and nought shall lean-bellied wolves tear his flesh--let no one suppose it. All woman though I be, I will contrive a tomb and a deep-dug grave for him, bearing earth in the bosom-fold of my fine linen robe, and I myself will cover him; let none imagine the contrary: an effective scheme shall aid my boldness.

HER. I bid thee not to act despite the state in this matter.

ANT. I bid thee not announce to me superfluous things.

HER. Yet stern is a people that has just escaped troubles.

ANT. Ay, call it stern[179]--yet this [corpse] shall not lie unburied.

HER. What! wilt thou honor with a tomb him whom our state abhors?[180]

HER. ANT. Heretofore he has not been honored by the gods.[181]

HER. Not so, at least before he put this realm in jeopardy.

ANT. Having suffered injuriously he repaid with injury.

HER. Ay, but this deed of his fell on all instead of one.

ANT. Contention is the last of the gods to finish a dispute,[182] and I will bury him; make no more words.

HER. Well, take thine own way--yet I forbid thee.

[Exit_ HERALD.

CH. Alas! alas! O ye fatal Furies, proudly triumphant, and destructive to this race, ye that have ruined the family of OEdipus from its root. What will become of me? What shall I do? What can I devise? How shall I have the heart neither to bewail thee nor to escort thee to the tomb? But I dread and shrink from the terror of the citizens. Thou, at all events, shalt in sooth have many mourners; but he, wretched one, departs unsighed for, having the solitary-wailing dirge of his sister. Who will agree to this?

SEM. Let the state do or not do aught to those who bewail Polynices. We, on this side will go and join to escort his funeral procession; for both this sorrow is common to the race, and the state at different times sanctions different maxims of justice.

SEM. But we will go with this corpse, as both the city and justice join to sanction. For next to the Immortals and the might of Jove, this man prevented the city of the Cadmaeans from being destroyed, and thoroughly overwhelmed by the surge of foreign enemies.

FOOTNOTES

[1] Lucian, in his dialogue entitled "Prometheus," or
"Caucasus," has given occasional imitations of passages in
this play, not, however, sufficient to amount to a
paraphrase, as Dr. Blomfield asserted. Besides, as Lucian
lays the scene at Caucasus, he would rather seem to have
had the "Prometheus solutus" in mind. (See Schutz, Argum.)
But the ancients commonly made Caucasus the seat of the
punishment of Prometheus, and, as AEschylus is not over
particular in his geography, it is possible that he may be
not altogether consistent with himself. Lucian makes no
mention of Strength and Force, but brings in Mercury at
the beginning of the dialogue. Moreover, Mercury is
represented in an excellent humor, and rallies Prometheus
good-naturedly upon his tortures. Thus, Sec.6, he says,
[Greek: eu echei. kataptesetai de ede kai ho aetos
apokeron to hepar, hos panta echois anti tes kales kai
eumechanou plastikes.] In regard to the place where
Prometheus was bound, the scene doubtless represented a
ravine between two precipices rent from each other, with a
distant prospect of some of the places mentioned in the
wanderings of Io. (See Schutz, _ibid._) But as the whole
mention of Scythia is an anachronism, the less said on
this point the better. Compare, however, the following
remarks of Humboldt, Cosmos, vol. ii. p. 140, "The legend
of Prometheus, and the unbinding of the chains of the
fire-bringing Titan on the Caucasus by Hercules in
journeying eastward--the ascent of Io from the valley of
the Hybrites--[See Griffiths' note on v. 717, on [Greek:
hybristes potamos], which _must_ be a proper name]--toward
the Caucasus; and the myth of Phryxus and Helle--all point
to the same path on which Phoenician navigators had
earlier adventured."

[2] Dindorf, in his note, rightly approves the elegant
reading [Greek: abroton (=apanthropon)] in lieu of the
frigid [Greek: abaton]. See Blomf. and Burges. As far as
this play is concerned, the tract was not actually
_impassable_, but it was so to _mortals_.

[3] [Greek: leorgos = rhadiourgos, panourgos, kakourgos].
Cf. Liddell and Linwood, s. v. The interpretation and
derivation of the etym. magn. [Greek: ho ton anthropon
plastes], is justly rejected by Dindorf, who remarks that
AEschylus paid no attention to the fable respecting
Prometheus being the maker of mankind.

[4] The epithet [Greek: pantechnou], which might perhaps
be rendered "art-full," is explained by v. 110 and 254.

[5] See Jelf. Gk. Gr. Sec.720, 2d.

[6] There seems little doubt that [Greek: euoriazein] is
the right reading. Its ironical force answers to Terence's
"probe curasti."

[7] I have spelled Sire in all places with a capital
letter, as Jove is evidently meant. See my note on v. 49.

[8] This is not a mere zeugma, but is derived from the
supposition that sight was the chief of the senses, and in
a manner included the rest. (Cf. Plato Tim. p. 533, C. D.)
See the examples adduced by the commentators. Schrader on
Musaeus 5, and Boyes, Illustrations to Sept. c. Th. 98.
Shakespeare has burlesqued this idea in his exquisite
buffoonery, Midsummer Night's Dream, Act v. sc. 1.

_Pyramus._ I see a voice: now will I to the chink,
To spy an I can hear my Thisby's face.

[9] Claudian de rapt. Pros. II. 363. "Stellantes nox picta
sinus." See on Soph. Trach. 94.

[10] _I.e._, having no rest. Soph. OEd. Col. 19. [Greek:
kola kampson toud' ep' axestou petrou].

[11] The difficulties of this passage have been increased
by no one of the commentators perceiving the evident
opposition between [Greek: Theoi] and [Greek: Zeus]. As in
the formula [Greek: o Zeu kai Theoi] (cf. Plato Protag.
p. 193, E.; Aristoph. Plut. I. with Bergler's note; Julian
Caes. p. 51, 59, 76; Dionys. Hal. A. R. II. p. 80, 32-81,
20, ed. Sylb.) so, from the time of Homer downward, we
find [Greek: Zeus] constantly mentioned apart from the
other gods (cf. Il. I. 423, 494), and so also with his
epithet [Greek: pater], as in v. 4, 17, 20, etc.
(Eustath, on Il. T. I., p. 111, 30, [Greek: hoti Zeus
allachou men haplos pater elechthe]). There is evidently,
therefore, the opposition expressed in the text: "'Tis not
for the other gods (_i.e._ [Greek: tois allois theois]) to
rule, but for Jove alone." This view was approved, but not
confirmed, by Paley.

[12] See Dindorf.

[13] Paley well observes that there is no objection to
this interpretation, for if Prometheus could endure the
daily gnawing of his entrails by the vulture, the rivets
wouldn't put him to much trouble. Lucian, Sec. 6, is content
with fastening his hands to the two sides of the chasm.

[14] [Greek: tyches] is retained by Dindorf, but [Greek:
technes] is defended by Griffiths and Paley. I think, with
Burges, that it is a gloss upon [Greek: Prometheos].

[15] So Milton, P. L. iv. 165.

Cheer'd with the grateful smell old Ocean _smiles_.

Lord Byron (opening of the Giaour):

There mildly _dimpling_ Ocean's cheek Reflects the tints
of many a peak, Caught by the _laughing_ tides that lave
Those Edens of the eastern wave.

[16] Literally "filling a rod," [Greek: plerotos] here
being active. Cf. Agam. 361, [Greek: ates panalotou].
Choeph. 296, [Greek: pamphtharto moro]. Pers. 105, [Greek:
polemous pyrgodaiktous]. See also Blomfield, and Porson on
Hes. 1117, [Greek: narthex] is "ferula" or "fennel-giant,"
the pith of which makes excellent fuel. Blomfield quotes
Proclus on Hesiod, Op. 1, 52, "the [Greek: narthex]
preserves flame excellently, having a soft pith inside,
that nourishes, but can not extinguish the flame." For a
strange fable connected with this theft, see AElian Hist.
An. VI. 51.

[17] On the preternatural scent supposed to attend the
presence of a deity, cf Eur. Hippol. 1391, with Monk's
note, Virg. AEn. I. 403, and La Cerda. See also Boyes's
Illustrations.

[18] On [Greek: de] cf. Jelf, Gk. Gr. Sec. 723, 2.

[19] Elmsley's reading, [Greek: petra ... tade], is
preferred by Dindorf, and seems more suitable to the
passage. But if we read [Greek: taisde], it will come to
the same thing, retaining [Greek: petrais].

[20] Surely we should read this sentence interrogatively,
as in v. 99, [Greek: pe pote mochthon Chre termata tond'
epiteilai;] although the editions do not agree as to that
passage. So Burges.

[21] Nominativus Pendens. Soph, Antig. 259, [Greek: logoi
d' en alleloisin errothoun kakoi, phylax elenchon
phylaka], where see Wunder, and Elmsley on Eur. Heracl.
40. But it is probably only the [Greek: schema kath' holon
kai meros], on which see Jelf, Gk. Gr. Sec. 478, and the same
thing takes place with the accusative, as in Antig. 21,
sq. 561. See Erfurdt on 21.

[22] See Linwood's Lexicon, s. v. [Greek: ameibo], whose
construing I have followed.

[23] Cf. Virg. AEn. I. 167, "Intus aquae dulces, vivoque
sedilia saxo."

"The rudest habitation, ye might think
That it had sprung from earth self-raised, or grown
Out of the living rock."--Wordsworth's Excursion,
Book vi.

Compare a most picturesque description of Diana's cave, in
Apul. Met. II. p. 116; Elm. Telemachus, Book I.; Undine,
ch. viii.; Lane's Arabian Nights, vol. iii. p. 385.

[24] Although Dindorf has left [Greek: OKEANOS] before the
lines beginning with [Greek: ou deta], yet as he in his
notes, p. 54, approves of the opinion of Elmsley (to which
the majority of critics assent), I have continued them to
Prometheus. Dindorf (after Burges) remarks that the
particles [Greek: ou deta] deceived the copyists, who
thought that they pointed to the commencement of a new
speaker's address. He quotes Soph. OEd. C. 433; Eur.
Alcest. 555; Heracl. 507, sqq., where it is used as a
continuation of a previous argument, as in the present
passage.

[25] It has been remarked that AEschylus had Pindar in
mind, see Pyth. I. 31, and VIII. 20. On this fate of
Enceladus cf. Philostrat. de V. Apoll. V. 6; Apollodorus
I.; Hygin. Fab. 152; and for poetical descriptions,
Cornel. Severus AEtna, 70, "Gurgite Trinacrio morientem
Jupiter AEtna Obruit Enceladum, vasti qui pondere montis
AEstuat, et patulis exspirat faucibus ignes." Virg. AEn.
III. 578; Valer. Flacc. II. 24; Ovid. Met. V. Fab. V. 6;
Claudian, de raptu Pros. I. 155; Orph. Arg. 1256. Strabo,
I. p. 42, makes Hesiod acquainted with these eruptions.
(See Goettling on Theog. 821.) But Prometheus here utters
a prophecy concerning an eruption that really took place
during the life of AEschylus, Ol. 75, 2, B.C. 479. Cf.
Thucydides III. 116; Cluver, Sicil. Antig. p. 104, and
Dindorf's clear and learned note. There can be little
doubt but Enceladus and Typhon are only different names
for the same monster. Burges has well remarked the
resemblance between the Egyptian Typho and the Grecian,
and considers them both as "two outward forms of one
internal idea, representing the destructive principle of
matter opposed to the creative." I shall refer the reader
to Plutarch's entertaining treatise on Isis and Osiris;
but to quote authorities from Herodotus down to the
Apologetic Fathers, would be endless.

[26] I think, notwithstanding the arguments of Dindorf,
that [Greek: orges nosouses] means "a mind distempered,"
and that [Greek: logoi] mean "arguments, reasonings."
Boyes, who always shows a _poetical_ appreciation of his
author, aptly quotes Spenser's Fairy Queen, b. 2, c. 8,
st. 26.

"Words well dispost,
Have secrete powre t' appease inflamed rage."

And Samson Agonistes:

"Apt words have power to swage
The tumors of a troubled mind."

The reading of Plutarch, [Greek: psyches] appears to be a
mere gloss.

[27] Intellige _audaciam prudentia
conjunctam_.--Blomfield.

[28] [Greek: aichma] is rendered "indoles" by Paley (see
on Ag. 467). Linwood by "authority," which is much nearer
the truth, as the spear was anciently used for the
sceptre. Mr. Burges opportunely suggests Pindar's [Greek:
enchos zakoton], which he gives to Jupiter, Nem. vi. 90.

[29] Asia is here personified.

[30] All commentators, from the scholiast downward, are
naturally surprised at this mention of Arabia, when
Prometheus is occupied in describing the countries
bordering on the Euxine. Burges conjectures [Greek:
Abarios], which he supports with considerable learning.
But although the name [Greek: Abarides] (mentioned by
Suidas) might well be given to those who dwelt in unknown
parts of the earth, from the legendary travels of Abaris
with his arrow, yet the epithet [Greek: areion anthos]
seems to point to some really existing nation, while
[Greek: Abaries] would rather seem proverbial. Till, then,
we are more certain, AEschylus must still stand chargeable
with geographical inconsistency.

[31] I have followed Burges and Dindorf, although the
latter retains [Greek: akamantodetois] in his text.

[32] Why Dindorf should have adopted Hermann's frigid
[Greek: hypostegazei], is not easily seen. The reader
will, however, find Griffiths' foot-note well deserving of
inspection.

[33] On [Greek: prouseloumenon], see Dindorf.

[34] Among the mythographi discovered by Maii, and
subsequently edited by Bode, the reader will find some
allegorical explanations of these benefits given by
Prometheus. See Myth. primus I. 1, and tertius 3, 10, 9.
They are, however, little else than compilations from the
commentary of Servius on Virgil, and the silly, but
amusing, mythology of Fulgentius. On the endowment of
speech and reason to men by Prometheus, cf. Themist. Or.
xxxvi. p. 323, C. D. and xxvi. p. 338, C. ed. Hard.; and
for general illustrations, the notes of Wasse on Sallust,
Cat. sub init.

[35] Brick-building is first ascribed to Euryalus and
Hyperbius, two brothers at Athens, by Pliny, H. N. vii.
56, quoted by Stanley. After caves, huts of beams, filled
in with turf-clods, were probably the first dwellings of
men. See Mallet's Northern Antiquities, p. 217, ed. Bohn.
This whole passage has been imitated by Moschion apud
Stob. Ecl. Phys. I. 11, while the early reformation of men
has ever been a favorite theme for poets. Cf. Eurip.
Suppl. 200 sqq.; Manilius I. 41, sqq.; and Bronkhus, on
Tibull. I. 3, 35.

[36] Cf. Apul de Deo Socr. Sec. II. ed. meae, "quos probe
callet, qui signorum ortus et obitus comprehendit,"
Catullus (in a poem imitated from Callimachus) carm. 67,
1. "Omnia qui magni dispexit lumina mundi, Qui stellarum
ortus comperit atque obitus." See on Agam. 7.

[37] On the following discoveries consult the learned and
entertaining notes of Stanley.

[38] [Greek: egagon philenious], i.e. [Greek: hoste
philenious einai].

[39] See the elaborate notes of Blomfield and Burges, from
whence all the other commentators have derived their
information. [Greek: Krasis] is what Scribonius Largus
calls "compositio." Cf. Rhodii Lexicon Scribon, p. 364-5;
Serenus Sammonicus "synthesis." The former writer observes
in his preface, p. 2, "est enim haec pars (compositio,
scilicet) medicinae ut maxime necessaria, ita certe
antiquissima, et ob hoc primum celebrata atque illustrata.
Siquidem verum est, antiquos herbis ac radicibus earum
corporis vitia curasse."

[40] Apul. de Deo Socr. Sec. 20, ed. meae, "ut videmus
plerisque usu venire, qui nimia ominum superstitione, non
suopte corde, sed alterius verbo, reguntur: et per
angiporta reptantes, consilia ex alienis vocibus
colligunt." Such was the voice that appeared to Socrates.
See Plato Theog. p. 11. A. Xenoph. Apol. 12; Proclus in
Alcib. Prim. 13, p. 41. Creuz. See also Stanley's note.

[41] On these augurial terms see Abresch.

[42] Although the Vatican mythologist above quoted
observes of Prometheus, "deprehendit praeterea rationem
fulminum, et hominibus indicavit--" I should nevertheless
follow Stanley and Blomfield, in understanding these words
to apply to the omens derived from the flame and smoke
ascending from the sacrifices.

[43] Cf. Herodot. I. 91, quoted by Blomfield: [Greek: ten
pepromenen moiren adynata esti apophygeein kai to theo].
On this Pythagorean notion of AEschylus see Stanley.

[44] Or, "in pleasure at the nuptials." See Linwood.
Burges: "for the one-ness of marriage."

[45] No clew is given as to the form in which Io was
represented on the stage. In v. 848, the promise [Greek:
entautha de se Zeus tithesin emphrona] does not imply any
bodily change, but that Io labored under a mental
delusion. Still the mythologists are against us, who agree
in making her transformation complete. Perhaps she was
represented with horns, like the Egyptian figures of Isis,
but in other respects as a virgin, which is somewhat
confirmed by v. 592, [Greek: klyeis phthegma tas boukero
parthenou].

[46] "Gad-fly" or "brize." See the commentators.

[47] On the discrepancies of reading, see Dind. With the
whole passage compare Nonnus, Dionys. III. p. 62,2.

[Greek: taurophyes hote portis ameibomenoio prosopou
eis agelen agraulos elauneto synnomos Io.
kai damales agrypnon ethekato boukolon Here
poikilon aplaneessi kekasmenon Argon opopais
Zenos opipeutera bookrairon hymenaion.
Zenos atheetoio kai es nomon eie koure,
ophthalmous tromeousa polyglenoio nomeos.
gyioboro de myopi charassomene demas Io
Ionies [halos] oidma kategraphe phoitadi chele.
elthe kai eis Aigypton]--

This writer, who constantly has the Athenian dramatists in
view, pursues the narrative of Io's wanderings with an
evident reference to AEschylus. See other illustrations
from the poets in Stanley's notes.

[48] The ghost of Argus was doubtless whimsically
represented, but probably without the waste of flour that
is peculiar to modern stage spectres. Perhaps, as Burges
describes, "a mute in a dress resembling a peacock's tail
expanded, and with a Pan's pipe slung to his side, which
ever and anon he seems to sound; and with a goad in his
hand, mounted at one end with a representation of a hornet
or gad-fly." But this phantom, like Macbeth's dagger, is
supposed to be in the mind only. With a similar idea
Apuleius, Apol. p. 315, ed. Elm. invokes upon AEmilianus in
the following mild terms: "At ... semper obvias species
mortuorum, quidquid umbrarum est usquam, quidquid lemurum,
quidquid manium, quidquid larvarum oculis tuis oggerat:
omnia noctium occursacula, omnia bustorum formidamina,
omnia sepulchrorum terriculamenta, a quibus tamen aevo
emerito haud longe abes."

[49] I have followed Dindorf's elegant emendation. See his
note, and Blomf. on Ag. 1.

[50] After the remarks of Dindorf and Paley, it seems that
the above must be the sense, whether we read [Greek: hon]
with Hermann, or take [Greek: hos] for [Greek: e hos] with
the above mentioned editor.

[51] Paley remarks that [Greek: tas pol. tychas] is used in
the same manner as in Pers. 453, [Greek:
phtharentes]="shipwrecked" (see his note), or "wandering."
He renders the present passage "the adventures of her long
wanderings."

[52] With the earlier circumstances of this narrative
compare the beautiful story of Psyche in Apuleius, Met.
IV. p. 157, sqq. Elm.

[53] Cf Ag. 217, [Greek: epei d' anankas edy lepadnon].

[54] [Greek: krenen] is the elegant conjecture of Canter,
approved by Dindorf. In addition to the remarks of the
commentators, the tradition preserved by Pausanias II. 15,
greatly confirms this emendation. He remarks, [Greek:
therous de aua sphisin esti ta rheumata plen ton en
Lerne]. It was probably somewhat proverbial.

[55] I shall not attempt to enter into the much-disputed
geography of Io's wanderings. So much has been said, and
to so little purpose, on this perplexing subject, that to
write additional notes would be only to furnish more
reasons for doubting.

[56] Probably the Kurban. Schutz well observes that the
words [Greek: ou pseudonymon] could not be applied to an
epithet of the poet's own creation. Such, too, was
Humboldt's idea. See my first note on this play.

[57] See Schutz and Griffiths.

[58] Wrapped in mystery as the liberation of Prometheus is
in this drama, it may be amusing to compare the following
extracts from the Short Chronicle prefixed to Sir I.
Newton's Chronology.

"968. B.C. Sesak, having carried on his victories to Mount
Caucasus, leaves his nephew Prometheus there, to guard the
pass, etc.

"937. The Argonautic expedition. Prometheus leaves Mount
Caucasus, being set at liberty by Hercules," etc.--Old
Translator.

[59] Stanley compares Pindar, Isth. vii. 33.

----[Greek: pepromenon en pherteron
gonon [hoi] anakta patros tekein].

And Apoll. Rhod. iv. 201. Also the words of Thetis herself
in Nonnus, Dionys. xxxiii. 356.

[Greek: Zeus me pater edioke kai ethelen es gamon helkein,
ei me min potheonta geron anekopte Prometheus,
thespizon Kronionos areiona paida phyteusai].

[60] "These were; 1. Epaphus; 2. Lybia; 3. Belus; 4.
Danaus; 5. Hypermnestra; 6. Abas; 7. Proetus; 8.
Acrisius; 9. Danae; 10. Perseus; 11. Electryon; 12.
Alcmena; 13. Hercules."--Blomfield.

[61] For two ways of supplying the lacuna in this
description of Io's travels, see Dindorf and Paley.

[62] Being turned into stone. Such was the punishment of
the fire-worshipers in the story of the first Lady of
Baghdad. See Arabian Nights, Vol. I., p. 198. The
mythico-geographical allusions in the following lines have
been so fully and so learnedly illustrated, that I shall
content myself with referring to the commentators.

[63] See Linwood's Lexicon and Griffiths' note.

[64] There is still much doubt about the elision [Greek:
esesth', ei]. Others read the passage interrogatively. See
Griffiths and Dindorf.

[65] This pun upon the name of Epaphus is preserved by
Moschus II. 50.

[Greek: en d' en Zeus, epaphomenos erema cheiri theeie
portios Inachies. ten heptaporo para Neilo
ek boos eukeraoio palin metameibe gynaika.]

and Nonnus, III. p. 62, 20:

[Greek: enth' Epaphon dii tikten akerasion hoti kolpon
Inachies damales epaphesato theios akoites
chersin erosaneessi--]

[66] There is much difficulty in this passage. Dindorf
understands [Greek: ekeinon] (AEgypti filiorum), and so
Paley, referring to his notes on Ag. 938, Suppl. 437. Mr.
Jelf, Gk. Gr., Sec. 696, Obs. 3, appears to take the same
view. There does not, therefore, seem any need of
alteration. On the other interpretation sometimes given to
[Greek: phthonon hixei somaton], see Linwood, v. [Greek:
phthonos].

[67] [Greek: sphagaisi] is rightly rendered "in jugulo" by
Blomfield, after Ruhnk. Ep. Crit. I. p. 71. To the
examples quoted add Apul. Met. I. p. 108, "per jugulum
sinistrum capulotenus gladium totum ei demergit," and p.
110, "jugulo ejus vulnus dehiscit in patorem," The
expression [Greek: nyktiphroureto thrasei] is well
illustrated by the words of Nonnus, I. c. p. 64, 17.

[Greek: kai kryphiois xipheessi siderophoron epi lektron
arsena gymnon Area kateunase thelys Enyo].

[68] See Nonnus I. c. Ovid, ep. xiv. 51, sqq.

"Sed timor, et pietas crudelibus obstitit ausis:
Castaque mandatum dextra refugit opus."

[69] On [Greek: sphakelos] see Ruhnk. Tim. p. 123, and
Blomfield.

[70] See Paley. [Greek: a] is never intensive.

[71] On this admonition, generally attributed to Pittacus,
see Griffiths, and for a modern illustration in the
miseries of Sir John Anvil (or Enville), Knt., the
Spectator, No. 299.

[72] Paley would supply [Greek: potniai] to complete the
metre.

[73] I have followed Griffiths.

[74] Dindorf would throw out [Greek: aphobos], Paley
[Greek: ou dedia], remarking that the sense appears to
require [Greek: hote].

[75] _I.e._ possessing resources even among
impossibilities. Cf. Antig. 360. [Greek: aporos ep' ouden
erchetai], and for the construction, Jelf, Gk. Gr. Sec.
581, 2. obs.

[76] I think Elmsley has settled the question in favor of
[Greek: toion] for [Greek: hoion].

[77] "In AEschylus we seem to read the vehement language of
an old servant of exploded Titanism: with him Jupiter and
the Olympians are but a new dynasty, fresh and exulting,
insolent and capricious, the victory just gained and yet
but imperfectly secured over the mysterious and venerable
beings who had preceded, TIME, HEAVEN, OCEAN, EARTH and
her gigantic progeny: Jupiter is still but half the
monarch of the world; his future fall is not obscurely
predicted, and even while he reigns, a gloomy irresistible
destiny controls his power."--Quart. Rev. xxviii, 416.

[79] Milton, Samson Agon.

_Dalilah._ "I see thou art implacable, more deaf
To prayers than winds or seas."

Merchant of Venice, Act 4, sc. 1.

"You may as well go stand upon the beach
And bid the main flood bate his usual height."

See Schrader on Musaeus, 320.

[80] See Linwood's Lexicon. Cf. Nonnus, Dionys. II. p. 45,
22.

[Greek: desma phygon dolometis homarteseie Prometheus,
hepatos heboontos apheidea daitymonea
ouranies thrasyn ornin echon pompea keleuthou].

[81] I have adopted Dindorf's emendation. See his note.

[82] How the cosmoramic effects here described were
represented on the stage, it is difficult to say, but such
descriptions are by no means rare in the poets. Compare
Musaeus, 314, sqq. Lucan, I. 75 sqq. and a multitude in the
notes of La Cerda on Virgil, AEn. I. 107, and Barthius on
Claudian. Gigant. 31, sqq. Nonnus, Dionys. I. p. 12.

[83] Or, "of which may Jove the Averter be what his name
imports." See Paley and Linwood's Lex.

[84] This interpretation is now fully established, See
Paley. Thus Caesar, B. G. I. 29, "qui arma ferre possent:
et item separatius pueri, senes;" II. 28, Eteocles wishes
even the [Greek: achreioi] to assist in the common
defense.

[85] [Greek: pistoi] is to be supplied with [Greek:
genoisthe].

[86] Although [Greek: boter] may be compared with the
Roman _pullarius_, yet the phrase is here probably only
equivalent to [Greek: despotes manteumaton] soon after.

[87] Paley prefers "nocturno concilio agitari," comparing
Rhes. 88, [Greek: tas sas pros eunas phylakes
elthontes phobo nyktegorousi]. On the authority of
Griffiths, I have supplied [Greek: tous Achaious] before
[Greek: epibouleuein].

[88] See my note on Prom. 863.

[89] See commentators.

[90] Cf. Jelf. Gk. Gr. Sec. 566, 2.

[91] See Linwood, s.v. [Greek: stephein]. Paley compares
v. 267, [Greek: Laphyra daon douriplechth' hagnois domois
Stepso pro naon]. Adrastus alone had been promised a safe
return home.

[92] Cf. Eum. 515, [Greek: oikton oiktisaito], _would
utter cries of pity_. Suppl. 59, [Greek: oikton oiktron
aion], _hearing one mournful piteous cry_. The old
translations rendered it, "no regret was expressed on
their countenance."

[93] Perhaps we might render [Greek: phraxai], _dam_, in
order to keep up the metaphor of the ship. Cf. Hom. Od. V.
346, [Greek: phraxe de min rhipessi diamperes oisyinesi].
The closing the ports of a vessel to keep out the water
will best convey the meaning to modern readers.

[94] This seems the true meaning of [Greek: ephestios],
_indigenous in Greece_, as Blomfield interprets, quoting
Hesych, [Greek: ephestios, autochthon, enoikos], II. B.
125, etc. An Athenian audience, with their political
jealousy of Asiatic influence, and pride of indigenous
origin, would have appreciated this prayer as heartily as
the one below, v. 158, [Greek: polin doriponon me prodoth'
Heterophono strato], which their minds would connect with
more powerful associations than the mere provincial
differences of Boeotia and Argos. How great a stress was
laid upon the ridicule of foreign dialect, may be seen
from the reception of Pseudartabas in the Acharnians.

[95] Cf. Arist. Rhet. II. 17, 6. The same sentiment,
though expressed the contrary way, occurs in Eur. Troad.
26, [Greek: Eremia gar polin hotan labe kake, Nosei ta ton
theon oude timasthai thelei].

[96] The chorus survey the surrounding plains from a high
part of the Acropolis of Thebes, as Antigone from the top
of the palace in the Phoenissae of Euripides, v. 103,
sqq.

[97] [Greek: prodromos]=_so as to be foremost_. Cf. Soph.
Antig. 108, [Greek: phygada prodromon oxytero kinesasa
chalino].

[98] This passage is undoubtedly corrupt, but Dindorf's
conjecture [Greek: hele d' emas phrenas deos; hoplon ktypos
potichrimptetai, dia pedon boa potatai, bremei d']--,
although ingenious, differs too much from the _ductus
literarum_, to be considered safe. Paley from the
interpretation of the Medicean MS. and the reading of
Robortelli, [Greek: eDIDemnas], has conjectured [Greek:
DIA de gas emas pedi' hoploktypou], which seems
preferable. Perhaps we might read [Greek: epi de gas
pedioploktypou osin chrimp. boa], by tmesis, for [Greek:
epichrimptetai]. AEschylus used the compound, [Greek:
enchriptesthai], Suppl. 790, and nothing is more common
than such a tmesis. I doubt whether [Greek:
pedioploktypon] is not one of AEschylus' own "high-crested"
compounds. Mr. Burges has kindly suggested a parallel
passage of an anonymous author, quoted by Suidas, s. v.
[Greek: hyparattomenes: hippon chremetizonton, tes ges
tois posin auton hyparattomenes, oulon synkrouomenon].

[99] Cf. Soph. Antig. 106.

[100] Cf. Virg. _AEn._ I. 479;

"Interea ad templum non aequae Palladis ibant
Crinibus Iliades passis, peplumque ferebant
Suppliciter tristes"--

Statius, Theb. x. 50:

----"et ad patrias fusae Pelopeides aras
Sceptriferae Junonis opem, reditumque suorum
Exposcunt, pictasque fores, et frigida vultu
Saxa terunt, parvosque docent procumbere natos
* * * * *
Peplum etiam dono, cujus mirabile textum," etc.

[101] Here there is a gap in the metre. See Dindorf.

[102] "pro vitanda servitute."--Paley.

[103] Not "at the seven gates," as Valckenaer has clearly
shown.

[104] The paronomasia can only be kept up by rendering,
"do thou, king of wolves, fall with wolf-like fierceness,"
etc. Mueller, Dorians, vol. i. p. 325, considers that
[Greek: Lykeios] is connected with [Greek: lyke], _light_,
not with [Greek: lykos], _a wolf_.

[105] I follow Paley's emendation, [Greek: auetais].

[106] See a judicious note of Paley's.

[107] I have borrowed Griffiths' translation. It seems
impossible that [Greek: hagnon telos] could ever be a
personal appeal, while [Greek: sy te] evidently shows that
the address to Pallas Onca was unconnected with the
preceding line. As there is probably a lacuna after
[Greek: Diothen], it is impossible to arrive at any
certain meaning.

[108] See Stanley. [Greek: Onka] is a Phoenician word,
and epithet of Minerva.

[109] The boys, girls, etc.

[110] Cf. Eur. Hippol. 1219, sqq.

[Greek: kai despotes men hippikois en ethesi
polys xynoikon herpas' henias cheroin,
helkei de kopen hoste naubates aner].

[111] _I.e._ to adore the images placed at the head of the
vessel. See Griffiths.

[112] This far-fetched interpretation of an absurd text is
rightly condemned by W. Dindorf in his note, who elegantly
reads with Lud. Dindorf [Greek: hydasi t' Ismenou]. Paley
has clearly shown the origin of the corruption. Linwood is
equally disinclined to support the common reading.

[113] Blomfield reads [Greek: ego de g' andras], the
change of [Greek: DEG] to [Greek: DEP] being by no means a
difficult one. Linwood agrees with this alteration, and
Dindorf in his notes. But Paley still defends the common
reading, thinking that [Greek: ep' echthrois] is to be
taken from the following line. I do not think the poet
would have hazarded a construction so doubtful, that we
might take [Greek: epi] either with [Greek: andras],
[Greek: echthrois], or by tmesis, with [Greek: axo].

[114] The construction of the exegetical accusative is
well illustrated in Jelf's Gk. Gr. Sec. 580, 3.

[115] I have followed Blomfield, and Dindorf in his notes,
in reading [Greek: kydos toisde politais].

[116] This is perhaps the sense required; but, with
Dindorf, I can not see how it can be elicited from the
common reading. Perhaps Schneider's [Greek: artitrophois]
is right, which is approved by Dindorf, Linwood, and
Paley.

[117] There is the same irregular antithesis between
[Greek: allon agei] and [Greek: ta de (=ta de) pyrphorei];
as in Soph. Ant. 138, [Greek: eiche d' alla ta men, alla d'
ep' allois epenoma--Ares].

[118] See Elmsl. on Eur. Bacch. 611. I follow Griffiths
and Paley.

[119] There is much difficulty in the double participle
[Greek: peson-kyresas]. Dindorf would
altogether omit [Greek: kyresas], as a gloss. But surely
[Greek: peson] was more likely to be added as a gloss,
than [Greek: kyresas]. I think that the fault probably
lies in [Greek: peson].

[120] This passage is scarcely satisfactory, but I have
followed Paley. Perhaps if we place a comma after [Greek:
hyperterou], and treat [Greek: hos andr. d. hyp. eutych.]
as a genitive absolute, there will be less abruptness,
[Greek: elpis esti] standing for [Greek: elpizousi], by a
frequent enallage.

[121] The turgidity of this metaphor is almost too much
even for AEschylus!

[122] The multitude of interpretations of the common
reading are from their uniform absurdity sufficient to
show that it is corrupt. I have chosen the least
offensive, but am still certain that [Greek: apartizei] is
indefensible. Hermann (who, strange to say, is followed by
Wellauer) reads [Greek: katargizei], Blomfield [Greek:
katartizei].

[123] Besides Stanley's illustrations, see Pricaeus on
Apul. Apol. p. 58. Pelagonius in the Geoponica, XVI. 2,
observes [Greek: agathou de hippou kai touto tekmerion,
hotan hestekos me anechetai, alla kroton ten gen hosper
trechein epithyme]. St. Macarius Hom. XXIII. 2, [Greek:
epan de mathe (ho hippos) kai synethisthe eis ton polemon,
hotan osphranthe kai akouse phonen polemou, autos hetoimos
erchetai epi tous echthrous, hoste kai ap' autes tes phones
ptoesin empoiein tois polemiois]. Marmion, Canto V.,

"Marmion, like charger in the stall,
That hears without the trumpet's call,
Began to chafe and swear."

[124] See Boyes' Illustrations, p. 11.

[125] This seems to be the sense of [Greek: mantis
ennoia]. Blomfield would add [Greek: ennoia] to the
dative, which is easier.

[126] So Linwood. Justice is styled the near relation of
Melanippus, because he was [Greek: aischron argos], v.
406. The scholiast however interprets it [Greek: to tes
xyngeneias dikaion].

[127] Dindorf's substitution of [Greek: dikaias] for
[Greek: dikaios] is no improvement. Paley's [Greek:
dikaios] is more elegant, but there seems little reason
for alteration.

[128] Probably nothing more than the lightning is meant,
as Blomfield supposes. Paley quotes Eur. Cycl. 328,
[Greek: peplon krouei, Dios brontaisin eis erin ktypon].
And this agrees with the fate of Capaneus as described in
Soph. Antig. 131, sqq.; Nonnus, XXVIII. p. 480; Eur.
Phoen. 1187, sqq.

[129] Blomfield compares Eur. Bacch. 733, [Greek: thyrsois
dia cheroin hoplismenas]. But the present construction is
harsher.

[130] See Blomfield.

[131] I follow Blomfield and Paley.

[132] "We embrace this opportunity of making a grammatical
observation with respect to the older poets, which, to the
best of our knowledge, has not hitherto been noticed by
any grammarian or critic. Wherever a wish or a prayer is
expressed, either by the single optative mood of the verb,
or with [Greek: me, eithe, ei gar, eithe gar], the verb is
in the second aorist, if it have a distinct second aorist;
otherwise it may be in the present tense, but is more
frequently in the first aorist."--Edinb. Rev. xix. 485.

[133] _I.e._ not bearing a braggart inscription, but
putting confidence in his own valor. [Greek: ou] was
rightly thrown out by Erfurdt. See Paley.

[134] _I.e._ from the dragon's teeth sown by Cadmus.

[135] Eteoclus and the figure on his
shield.

[136] Like a Bacchic devotee. See Virg. AEn. IV. 301, sqq.
So in the Agamemnon, v. 477.

[Greek: martyrei de moi kasis
pelou xynouros, dipsia konis, tade].

[137] Cf. Ag. 174. [Greek: Zena de tis epinikia klazon,
Teuxetai phrenon to pan]. Dindorf would omit all the
following lines. There is some difficulty about the sense
of [Greek: prosphileia], which I think Pauw best explains
as meaning "such is the god that respectively befriends
each of these champions."

[138] Cf. Apollon. Rhod. I. 466, [Greek: Isto nyn dory
thouron hoto periosion allon kydos eni ptolemoisin
aeiromai, oude m' ophellei Zeus toson, hossation per emon
dory]. Statius Theb. ix. 649--"ades o mihi dextera tantum
Tu praesens bellis, et inevitable numen, Te voco, te solam
superum contemptor adoro." See Cerda on Virg. AEn. X. 773.

[139] So Catullus, iii. 4, 5.

Passer, deliciae meae puellae,
Quem plus illa oculis suis amabat.

And Vathek, p. 124 (of the English version), "Nouronihar
loved her cousin more than her own beautiful eyes."--OLD
TRANSLATOR. See Valcken. on Theocrit. xi. 53.

[140] A pun upon the word [Greek: parthenos] in the
composition of Parthenopaeus's name.

[141] The figure on the shield is undoubtedly the one
meant.