Chapter XII: Part 12

δόμων προφῆται. I have retained the original word here, because it appears most appropriate to the passage; but the reader must be warned, by a reference to the familiar example in Epist. Tit. I. 12, that with the ancients the characters of poet and prophet were confounded in a way that belongs not at all to our modern usage of the same words. Epimenides of Crete, in fact, to whom the Apostle Paul alludes, was not only a prophet, but also a physician, like Apollo (ἱατρόμαντις, Eumen. v. 62). In the same way the Hebrew word _Nabah_, prophetess, is applied to Miriam, Exod. xv. 20; and it may well be, that Æschylus, in the true spirit of these old times, and also following the deep religious inspiration of his Muse, alludes here to a character more sacred than the Homeric ἀοιδὸς, _Minstrel_ or _Bard_, and this distinction should, of course, be preserved in the translation. SEW. with great happiness, in my opinion, has given "the bards of fate;" but it were useless to press any such nice matter in this passage, especially when we call to mind the high estimation in which the Homeric ἀοιδὸς stands in the Odyss., and the remarkable passage, III. 267, where a minstrel is represented as appointed by Agamemnon to counsel and control Clytemnestra in his absence, pretty much as a family confessor would do in a modern Roman Catholic family.

Note 44 (p. 54). "He silent stood in sadness, not in wrath."

Here commences one of the most difficult, and at the same time one of the most beautiful passages in the Agamemnon. The words,

πάρεστι σιγᾶς᾽, ἄτιμος, ἀλόιδορος
ἅδιστος ἀφἐμένων ἰδεῖν,

are so corrupt, that a translator is quite justified in striking that sense out of them which is most fit on grounds of taste, and in this view I have little hesitation in adopting Hermann's reading,

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πάρεστι σιγὰς (σιγηλος) ἄτιμος ἀλόιδορος
ἄληστος ἀφεμένων ἰδεῖν;

modified thus by Orelli--

ἄπιστος ἀφεμέναν ἰδεῖν--(_See Wellauer_).

With a reference to Menelaus and not to Helen. In doing so, I am not at all moved by any merely philological consideration; but I may observe that the remark made by WELL., PEILE, and CON., that the words cannot refer to Menelaus, because he has not yet been mentioned, can have little weight in the present chorus, in the first antistrophe of which Paris is first alluded to, by dim indications, and afterwards distinctly by name. This method of merely hinting at a person, before naming him, is common in all poetry, but peculiarly characteristic of Æschylus. Besides, it is impossible to deny that the πόθος in the next line refers to Menelaus, and can refer to no other. CON., who refers the words to Helen, translates thus--

"She stands in silence, scorned, yet unrebuking,
Most sweetly sorrowfully looking
Of brides that have from wedlock fled;"

to which I have this further objection, that it is contrary to the poet's intention and to the moral tone of the piece, to paint the fair fugitive with such an engaging look of reluctance to leave her husband; on the contrary, he blames her in the strongest language, ἄτλητα τλᾶσα, and represents her as leaving Argos with all the hurry of a common elopement, where both parties are equally willing for the amorous flight, ῎Βέβακε ρίμφα διὰ πυλᾶν. After which our fancy has nothing to do but imagine her giving her sails to the wind as swiftly as possible, and bounding gaily over the broad back of ocean with her gay paramour. In this connection, to say "_she_ STANDS," appears quite out of place. In my view of this "very difficult and all but desperate passage" (PEILE) I am supported by SYM. in an able note, which every student ought to read, by MED. and SEW., BUCK., HUMB., and DROYS. Neither is FR. against me, because, though following a new reading of Hermann,

πάρεστι σιγὰς ἀτίμους ἀλοιδόρους
᾽αισχρῶς ἀφειμενων ιδειν,

he avoids all special allusions to Menelaus, it is evident that the picture of solitary desolation given in his translation can have no reference but to the palace of the king of Sparta--

"Ein Schweigen, sieh! voll von Schmach, nicht gebrochen church
Vorwurf, beherrscht die Einsamkeit."

Note 45 (p. 56). "The bolt from on high shall blast his eye."

"PEILE greatly admires Klausen's interpretation"--

"Jacitur oculis a Jove fulmen,"

but the passages which the latter adduce are not to the point. The Greeks do not attribute any governing virtue to the eyes of the gods, further than this, that the immortal beings who are supposed to govern human affairs must see, and take cognizance of them. Jupiter's eye may glare like lightning, but the real lightning is always hurled from his hand. Compare Soph. Antiq. 157. The words βάλλεται ὄσσοις Λιόθεν can bear no other sense naturally than "is flashed in the eyes from Jove."--CON.

Note 46 (p. 57). "Where women wield the spear."

The spear (δόρυ) is with the Greeks the regular emblem of war, as the sword is with us; so a famous warrior in Homer is δουρικλυτὸς, a famous {346} spearman, and a warrior generally ἀιχμητὴς. Further, as in the heroic or semi-civilized age, authority presents itself, not under the form of law and peaceful order, so much as under that of force and war, the spear comes to be a general emblem of authority; so in the present passage. St. Paul's language, Rom. xiii. 4, _the magistrate weareth not the sword_ (μάχαιραν) _in vain_, gives the modern counterpart of the Æschylean phraseology.

Note 47 (p. 57). ". . . our healer from much harm."

παιώνιος. I have no hesitation whatever in leaving WELL. here, much as I generally admire his judicious caution. "Ἀγώνίους in the next line," says CON., "at once convicts the old reading of tautology, and accounts for its introduction." When a clear cause for a corrupt reading is shown by a natural wandering of the eye, I see no wisdom in obstinately adhering to a less appropriate reading. The emendation originated, according to PEILE, with a writer in the Classical Journal; and was thence adopted by SCHOLEFIELD, PEILE, CON., and FRANZ, who names Ahrens as its author. LINW. also calls it "very probable."

Note 48 (p. 57). ". . . ye sun-fronting gods."

δαίμονες ἀντήλιοι. MED. has given the words a special application--

"Ye images of our gods that stand
Before the eastern gate."

But I suppose the reference may be only to the general custom of placing the statues of the gods in open public places, and in positions where they might front the sun.--See Hesychius and Tertullian, quoted by STAN.

Note 49 (p. 58). "His pledge is forfeited."

I agree with CON. that the juridical language used in the previous line fixes down the meaning of ρυσίου here beyond dispute; which meaning, indeed--ἐνέχυρον, a _pledge_ or _gage_, is that given by the Scholiast on Iliad XI. 674. STAN. enounces this clearly in his Notes; only there is no need of supposing, with him, that the gage means Helen, or any one else. 'Tis merely a juridical way of saying that Paris was worsted in battle--he has forfeited his caution-money.

Note 50 (p. 59). "These spoils, a shining grace, there to remain An heritage for ever."

The word ἀρχαῖον in this version seems most naturally to have a prospective reference, to express which a paraphrase seems necessary in English; but a similar use of _Vetustas_ is common in Latin.--Cic. Attic. XIV. 9, pro-Mil. 35. Virgil's Æneid X. 792. SEW. takes it retrospectively; thus

"Unto their ancient homes in Hellas land
A pride and joy."

Note 51 (p. 60). "No more than dyer's art can tincture brass."

χαλκοῦ βαφὰς. One cannot dye a hard impenetrable substance, like copper or brass, by the mere process of steeping, as may be done with a soft substance like cloth. Clytemnestra seems to say that her ears are impenetrable in the same way. So SYM., CON., SEW.; and I have little doubt as to this being the true meaning--but should we not read χαλκὸς _more than the brass knows dyeing?_

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Note 52 (p. 60). "Far from the honors of the blissful gods."

χωρὶς ἡ τιμὴ θεῶν. I translate so, simply because this rendering seems to lie most naturally in the words, when interpreted by the immediately preceding context. The other translation which I originally had here,

"To every god his separate hour belongs
Of rightful honor,"

seems to spring from the contrast of the "pæan to the Furies" mentioned below, with the hymns of joyful thanksgivings to the gods that suit the present occasion. But when the term "gods" is used generally on a joyful occasion, it seems more agreeable to Greek feeling to interpret it as excluding than as including the Furies. The hymns in the Eumenides show that they were considered as a dreadful power in the background, rather than prominent figures in the foreground of Hellenic polytheism. But, however this be, the more obvious key to such a doubtful passage is surely that of the train of thought which immediately precedes.

Note 53 (p. 61). "Fire and the sea, sworn enemies of old," etc.

This passage, in the original, boils with a series of high-sounding words, δυσκύμαντα, κεροτοπούμεναι, ὀμβροκτύπῳ, extremely characteristic both of the general genius of the poet and the special subject of poetic description. I have endeavoured, according to the best of my ability, not to lose a single line of this powerful painting; but, as it is more than likely I may have missed some point, or brought it feebly out, I would refer the reader to the able versions of SYM. and MED., which are very good in this place. About the κακὸς ποιμὴν, whether it refer to the whole tempest, as SYM. makes it, or to a part of it (στρόβος) as in my version, there can be no doubt, I think, that here ποιμὴν can mean nothing but "pilot," as in the Persian ποιμάνωρ means a commander. There can be no objection to retaining the word "shepherd," but I do not like CON.'s "demon-swain" at all. It seems to me to bring in a foreign, and somewhat of a Gothic idea.

Note 54 (p. 61). "That ocean hell."

ἅδην πόντιον, I took this from MED. and give him a thousand thanks for supplying me with so literal, and yet so admirable a translation. SYM. is also excellent here, though, as usual, too fine--

"O how the day looked lovely, when ashore
We crawled, escaped from the watery jaws
Of a sea death."

Note 55 (p. 61). "Far-labouring o'er the loosely-driving main."

There is a fine word in the original here, σποδουμένου, easily and admirably rendered by FR.--zerstaübt--but to express which I have found myself forced to have recourse to a cognate idea. The main idea is dispersion and diffusion, _to drive about like dust_, or, perhaps, the meaning may be, _to rub down to dust_.--See Passow. In the present passage the context makes the former meaning preferable.

Note 56 (p. 61). "By Jove's devising."

The reader will note here the supreme controlling power of Jove, forming, as it were, a sort of monotheistic keystone to the many-stoned arch of Hellenic Polytheism. Μηχαναῖς Διὸς here is just equivalent to our phrase _by Divine interposition_, or, _by the interposition of Divine Providence_, or the supreme moral superintendence of Jove.

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Note 57 (p. 62). "Helen the taker!"

There is an etymological allusion in the original here, concerning which see the Notes to the Prometheus Bound, v. 85. The first syllable of Helen's name in Greek means to take, from ἁιρέω 2 aor (ἑ)ιλον. "No one who understands the deep philosophy of Æschylus and his oriental turn of thought will suspect the play upon the name of Helen to be a frigid exercise of wit," says SEW., who has transmuted the pun into English in no bad fashion thus--

"Helen, since as suited well
Hell of nations, heroes' hell,
Hell of cities, from the tissued
Harem-chamber veils she issued."

Note 58 (p. 62). ". . . giant Zephyr."

I see no reason why so many translators, from STAN. downward, should have been so fond to render γίγαντος "_earth-born_" here, as if there were any proof that any such genealogical idea was hovering before the mind of the poet when he used the word. I entirely agree with CON. that the notion of _strength_ may have been all that was intended (as, indeed, we find in Homer the Zephyr always the strongest wind), and, therefore, I retain the original word. SYM. Anglicising, after his fashion, says, not inaptly--

"Fanned by Zephyr's buxom gales;"

and CON. changes _giant_ into _Titan_, perhaps wisely, to avoid certain ludicrous associations.

Note 59 (p. 62). "Kin but not kind."

Another etymological allusion; κῆδος meaning both _kin_ and _care_. SEW. has turned it differently--

"And a marriage truly hight,
A marjoy," etc.

HARF. does not relish this "absurd punning" at all, and misses it out in this place; so also POTTER; but I agree altogether with SEW. that "there is nothing more fatal to any poet than to generalize his particularities." Shakespere also puts puns into his most serious passages; a peculiarity which we must even tolerate like an affected way of walking or talking in a beautiful woman; though, for the reason stated in the note to the Prometheus, above referred to, the ancient, when he puns upon proper names, is by no means to be considered as an offender against the laws of good taste, in the same way as the modern.

Note 60 (p. 63). "A servant of Até, a priest of Ruin."

Até the goddess of destruction, already mentioned (p. 53), and whose name has been naturalized in English by the authority of Shakespere. In Homer ατη appears (1) as an infatuation of mind leading to perdition; (2) as that perdition effected; (3) as an allegorical personage, eldest born of Jove, the cause of that infatuation of mind and consequent perdition (Il. XIX. v. 91). In the tragedians, Ἄτη is more habitually clothed with a distinct and prominent personality.

Note 61 (p. 64). "A haughty heart."

In a passage hopelessly corrupt, and where no two editors agree in the reading, I have necessarily been reduced to the expedient of translating with a certain degree of looseness from the text of the MSS. as given by {349} WELL. Through this text, broken and disjointed as it is, the meaning glimmers with a light sufficient to guide the reader, who wishes only to arrive at the idea, without aspiring at the reconstitution of the lost grammatical form of the text; and it is a satisfaction to think that all the translators, from POT. to CON., however they may vary in single phrases, give substantially the same idea, and in a great measure the same phrase. This idea, a most important one in the Greek system of morals, is well expressed by SYM. in his note on this place--"The Chorus here moralizes and dwells on the consequences to succeeding generations of the crimes of their predecessors. He traces, as it were, a moral succession, handed down from father to son, where one transgression begets another as its inevitable result. The first parent stock was 'ὕβρις' a spirit of insolence or insubordination, breaking out into acts of outrage, the forerunner of every calamity in a Grecian republic, against which the philosophers and tragedians largely declaimed. They denounced it as well from a principle of policy as a sentiment of religion. In short, the poet treats here of the moral concatenation of cause and effect, the consequence to the descendants of their progenitors' misconduct, operating either by the force of example or of hereditary disposition, which in the mind of the Chorus produces the effect of an irresistible fatality."--I may mention that I have retained the original word δάιμων in its English form "demon," this being, according to my feeling, one of the few places where the one can be used for the other without substituting a modern, and, therefore, a false idea.

Note 62 (p. 65). "Fawn with watery love."

ῦδαρεῖ σάινειν φιλότητι. This is one of those bold dramatic touches which mark the hand of a Shakespere, or an Æschylus, and, by transmuting or diluting which, the translator, in my opinion, commits a capital sin. HARF., with his squeamish sensibility, has slurred over the whole passage, and even FR., like all Germans, an advocate for close translation, gives the rapid generality of "_trügend_;" MED., from carelessness, I hope, and not from principle, has sinned in the same way, and KENNEDY likewise; but I am happy in having both CON. and SYM. for my companions, when I retain a simile which is as characteristic of my author as a crooked beak is of an eagle. This note may serve for not a few similar cases, where the nice critic will do well to consult the Greek author before he blames the English translator.

Note 63 (p. 67). "He might have boasted of a triple coil."

I consider it quite legitimate in a translator, where critical doctors differ, and where decision is difficult or impossible, to embody in his version the ideas of both parties, where that can be done naturally, and without forcing, as in the present instance. It seems to me on the one hand that την κάτω γὰρ ὀυ λέγω has more pregnancy of expression when applied to the dead Geryon, than when interpreted of the earth; and, on the other hand, I cannot think with SYM. that the expression τρίμοιρον χλαῖναν, when applied to the earth, is "rank nonsense." There are many phrases in Æschylus that, if translated literally, sound very like nonsense in English. The parenthetic clause "_of him below I speak not_," is added from a superstitious feeling, to avoid the bad omen of speaking of a living person as dead. So WELL. and SYM., and this appears the most natural qualification in the circumstances.

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Note 64 (p. 67). "Thy Phocian spear-guest."

Speaking of the era of the great Doric migration with regard to Megara, Bishop THIRLWALL (Hist. Greece, c. VII.) writes as follows:--"Megara itself was, at this time, only one, though probably the principal, among five little townships which were independent of each other, and were not unfrequently engaged in hostilities, which, however, were so mitigated and regulated by local usage as to present rather the image than the reality of war. They were never allowed to interrupt the labours of the husbandman. The captive taken in these feuds was entertained as a guest in his enemy's house, and when his ransom was fixed, was dismissed before it was paid. If he discharged his debt of honour he became, under a peculiar name (δορύξενος), the friend of his host; a breach of the compact dishonoured him for life both among the strangers and his neighbours--a picture of society which we could scarcely believe to have been drawn from life, if it did not agree with other institutions which we find described upon the best authority as prevailing at the same period in other parts of Greece."

Note 65 (p. 69). "Come, boy, unbind these sandals."

This passage will at once suggest to the Christian reader the well-known passage in Exod. iii. 5., "take off thy shoes from thy feet, for the ground where thou standest is holy ground," which KEN. aptly adduces, and compares it with Lev. xxx. 19, and Juvenal Sat. VI. 159--

"Observant ubi festa mero pede Sabbata reges,"

and other passages. In the same way the hand held up in attestation before a bench of grave judges, according to our modern usage, must be ungloved.

Note 66 (p. 69). "Jove, Jove the perfecter! perfect thou my vow."

Ζεῦ τέλειε. I see no reason in the connection of this passage to give the epithet of τέλειος a special allusion to Jove, as along with Juno, the patron of marriage. BLOM., PEILE, and among the translators, MED. and KEN. take this view. But POT., SYM., CON., FR., VOSS., and DROYS. content themselves with the more obvious and general meaning. It is not contended, I presume, by any one that the epithet τέλειος, when applied to Jove, _necessarily_ refers to marriage, independently of the context, as for instance in Eumen. 28. The origin of the epithet may be seen in Homer, Il. IV. 160-168, etc.

Note 67 (p. 69). ". . . unbidden and unhired."

"Poor Louis! With them it is a hollow phantasmagoria, where, like mimes, they mope and mow, and _utter false sounds for hire_, but with thee it is frightful earnest."--CARLYLE's French Revolution; the ancient and the modern, with equal felicity, alluding to the custom prevalent in ancient times of hiring women to mourn for the dead. We must also note, however, that there is an example here of that spontaneous prophecy of the heart by god-given presentiment, which is so often mentioned in Homer. The ancients, indeed, were the furthest possible removed from that narrow conception of a certain modern theology, which confines the higher influences of inspiration to a privileged sacerdotal order. In St. Paul's writings, the whole Church prophesies; and so in Homer the fair Helen, {351} who had no pretensions to the character of a professional soothsayer, prefaces her interpretation of an omen by saying,

"Hear my word; as in my heart the immortal gods suggest the thought,
I will read the omen rightly, as the sure event shall show."
ODYS. XV. 172.

The words used by Homer to express this action of the divine on the human mind are βάλλειν ὑποτίθεσθαι, and such like, to _throw into_, and to _put under_, or _suggest_.

Note 68 (p. 70). "Unloosed their cables from the shore."

I have not been curious in rendering this passage, as the word παρήβησεν is hopelessly corrupt; but the general notion of my translation is taken from SYM.'s note.

Note 69 (p. 71). ". . . Were link with link In the chain of things not bound together."

ἐι δὲ μὴ τεταγμένα μοῖρα κ. τ. λ. In my opinion, SYM., CON., and PEILE, are wrong in giving a different meaning to μοῖραν from that which they assign to μοῖρα immediately preceding. In such phrases as "_truditur dies die_" (Horace) and "_Day uttereth speech unto day_," the reader naturally attaches the same idea to the same word immediately repeated. The literal translation of this passage, "if by the ordinance of the gods ordered Fate did not hinder Fate," seems merely to express the concatenation of things by divine decree as given in my version. SYM.'s version is--

"I pause. Some Fate from Heaven forbids
The Fate within to utter more,
Else had my heart outrun my tongue,
And poured the torrent o'er."

MED. gives three lines substantially identical with mine--

"Nor would I counteract the laws of Heaven;
My heart would chain my tongue, e'en were it given
To drag the secret of the Fates to the day."

Note 70 (p. 71). ". . . the household altar."

κτησίου βωμοῦ. Literally, _the altar of our family wealth or possession_. In the same way, Jove, the supreme disposer of all human wealth, is called Ζεὺς κτήσιος, possessory Jove. See the Suppliants, v. 440--my translation.

Note 71 (p. 72). "My way-god, my leader Apollo!"

"Agyieus (from ἀγυιὰ, a way), a surname of Apollo, describing him as the protector of the streets and public places. As such he was worshipped at Acharnæ, Mycenæ, and Tegea."--Dr. SCHMITZ, in the Mythol. Dict. In the same way, by ενοδιον θεὰν (Soph. Antig. 1200), or "the way goddess," is understood Hecate. The Hindoos make their god _Pollear_ perform a similar function, placing his image in all temples, streets, highways, and, in the country, at the foot of some tree, that travellers may make their adorations and offerings to him before they pursue their journey.--SONNERAT in notes to the Curse of Kehama, Canto V.

Note 72 (p. 73). "Apollo, my leader, whither hast thou led me?"

In this Antistrophe, and the preceding Strophe, there is one of those plays on the name of the god addressed, which appear inappropriate to us, {352} but were meant earnestly enough by the ancients, accustomed to deal with an original language from which the significancy of proper names had not been rubbed away.--See note on Prometheus, v. 85. Besides this, there was naturally a peculiar significancy attached to the names of the gods.--See note 18, p. 338, above. In the present passage the first pun is on the name Απόλλων, Apollo, and the verb ἀπόλλυμι, which signifies to _destroy_) so the Hebrew ABADDON from ABAD, he _perished_.--Apoc. ix. 11), a function of the Sun god familiar enough to the Greek mind, from the description of the pestilence in the opening scene of the Iliad. The second pun is on the title ἀγυιεὺς, leader, or way-god, concerning which see previous note. I have here, as in the case of Helen and Prometheus (v. 85), taken the simple plan of explaining the epithet in the text. The translator who will not do this must either, like CON. and SYM., leave the play on the words altogether imperceptible to the English reader, or, like SEW., be driven to the necessity of inventing a new pun, which may not always be happy English, and is certainly not Greek, thus--

"Apollo! Apollo!
Leader! appaller mine!
Yea! for the second time thou hast with ease
Appalled me, and destroyed me."

Note 73 (p. 74). "The blithe blood, that crimson ran In my veins, runs pale and wan."

With this SYM. aptly compares a passage from the speech of Theodosius in Massinger's Emperor of the East--

"What an earthquake I feel in me!
And on the sudden my whole fabric totters;
My blood within me turns, and through my veins
Parting with natural redness, I discern it
Changed to a fatal yellow."

Even more strongly expressed than in our Greek poet, perhaps a little too strongly, the words, _I discern it_, certainly not improving the passage. HARF., as is his fashion, fears to follow the boldness of his author, and translates--

"The ruddy drop is curdling at my heart."

And in the same spirit FR. gives _dunkelroth_.

Note 74 (p. 74). "As when in the mortal anguish."

SYM. takes his stand too confidently on a corrupt text, when he says, "POT. has entirely omitted the fallen warrior bleeding drop by drop, which is, as it were, introduced into the background by the poet to aggravate the gloom of the picture." I read καιρία with DIND., CON., LINW., and FR., with which single word the fallen warrior disappears, who comes in, even in SYM.'s version, rather abruptly.

Note 75 (p. 74). ". . . she seizes him By the strong black horn."

HARF. finds this rough Homeric trait too strong for him. MED. has--

"With her black horn she buts him.
What is that wrapt round his head?"

But, though there is some colour for this translation in the old Scholiast, I think the reader will scarcely judge very favourably of it, after considering what PEILE and CON. have judiciously said on the point. As for authority, {353} all the translators, except MED. and HUMB., from POT. downwards, English and German, are with me. It is scarcely necessary to remark against Harford's squeamishness, that the bull in ancient symbolical language (see poets and coins, _passim_) was an animal in every respect as noble and kingly as the lion and the eagle still remain.

Note 76 (p. 75). "Crieth Itys! Itys! aye."

Procne and Philomele, according to one of the most familiar of old Greek legends, were daughters of Pandion, king of Athens; and one of them having been given in marriage to Tereus, a king of the Thracians, in Daulis, who, after the marriage, offered violence to her sister--the result was, that the wife, in a fit of mad revenge, murdered her own son Itys, and gave his flesh to her husband to eat; and, being afterwards changed into a nightingale, was supposed in her melodious wail continually to repeat the name of this her luckless offspring.

Note 77 (p. 75). "The thick blossoms of its woe."

ἀμφιθαλῆ κακοῖς βίον. I hope this expression will not be considered too strong by those who consider as well the general style of our poet, as the ὁρῶμεν ἀνθουν πέλαγος Ἀιγᾶιον νεκρ(ο)ις, v. 645 of this play (see my translation, _supra_, p. 61), and the μανίας δεινόν ὰποστάζει ἀνθηρόν τε μένος of Sophocles.--Antig. v. 960.

Note 78 (p. 77). "Soon my reeking heart shall cast."

If the reader thinks this a bold phrase, he must bear in mind that it is Cassandra who speaks, and Æschylus who writes. The translation, indeed, is not literal, but the word "θερμόνους," as CON. says, "has all the marks of genuineness," and I was more afraid of weakening it in translation than of exaggerating it. Other translations are--

"And I my warm blood soon on earth shall pour."--SYM.
"But I shall soon press my hot heart to Earth."--CON.
"Ich aber stúrze bald zur Erd im heissen Kampf."--FR.
"Ich aber sinke bald im heissen Todeskampf."--DROYS.

Note 79 (p. 77). "Waves shall it dash from the west in the sun's face."

"The beauty of this image can only be properly appreciated by those who have observed the extraordinary way in which the waves of the sea appear to rush towards the rising sun."--English Prose Tr. Oxon.

Note 80 (p. 77). ". . . though I should wedge them As stark as ice?"

I read πῆγμα with WELL. and the majority of editors and translators. SYM., who is sometimes a little too imperative in his style, calls this to "obtrude an unnecessary piece of frigidity or fustian on Æschylus." The reader, of course, will judge for himself; but there are many things in our poet more worthy of the term "fustian" than the word πῆγμα, applied to ὁρκος.

Note 81 (p. 78). "Implacable breath of curses on her kin."

WELL. forgets his usual caution, when he receives ἄρην into his text, and rejects ἀρὰν, the reading of the MS. It is paltry to object to the phrase {354} ἄσπονδον ἀρὰν in an author like Æschylus. FRANZ receives the emendation of LOBECK, modified into Ἄρη.

Note 82 (p. 80). "Bravely thou praisest; but the happy hear not Such commendations."

I have here, in opposition to FR., SYM., MED., and even the cautious WELL., reverted to the original order of this and the next line, as they appear in the MSS., being chiefly moved by what is said by CON. "The words ὰλλ ἐυκλεῶς τοι κατθαν(ε)ιν χάρις βροτῷ could never have been put by Æschylus into the mouth of Cassandra, who is as far as possible from cherishing the common view of a glorious death, and, indeed, shows in her next speech very plainly what feelings such a thought suggests to her."

Note 83 (p. 80). "Not with vain screaming, like a fluttering bird."

"Fearing a wild beast about its nest," says the Scholiast; fearing the fowler with "its limed wings," says MED. The original is short and obscure; but there is no need of being definite; nothing is more common than to see a bird fruitlessly fluttering about a bush, and uttering piteous cries. A fit image of vain lamentation without purpose or result.

Note 84 (p. 81). ". . . From bad to worse Our changes run, and with the worst we end."

This translation is free, because it did not occur to me that the laconism of the Greek, if literally translated, would be sufficiently intelligible. I have no doubt as to the correctness of this version of a passage which is certainly not a little puzzling at first sight. Two phases of human life are spoken of in the previous lines; one is the change from prosperity to adversity, the other, from adversity down to utter ruin and death. The preference expressed in the line καὶ ταῦτ ἒκέινων κ.τ.λ. can refer to nothing but these two. So PEILE and CON.; and there is a terrible darkness of despair about Cassandra's whole tone and manner, which renders this account of human life peculiarly natural in her parting words.

Note 85 (p. 81). "Who of mortals will not pray."

The line τίς ἀν ἔυξαιτο βροτῶν ἀσιν(ε)ι, being deficient in metre, one may either supply ὄυκ, with CANTER., which gives the meaning expressed in the text, or, retaining the affirmative form, read βροτός, ὤν, with BOTH. and FR., which gives an equally good sense thus--

"Who of mortals then may hope
To live an unharmed life, when he
Fell from such height of honor?"

so POT., MED., HUMB., DROYS., FR., and VOSS.

Note 86 (p. 81). "Weave we counsel now together, and concert a sure design."

I follow MÜLLER here in dividing the Chorus among twelve, not fifteen speakers. The internal evidence plainly points to this; and for any external evidence of scholiasts and others in such matters, even if it were uncontradicted, I must confess that I think it is worth very little.

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Note 87 (p. 82). "So wisely spoken."

Most lame and impotent conclusion!--so the reader has no doubt been all the while exclaiming. Our great poet has here contrived to make one of the most tragic moments of the play consummately ridiculous; and it is in vain to defend him. No doubt, old men are apt enough to be irresolute, and to deliberate, while the decisive moment for action slips through their fingers. So far in character. But why does the poet bring this vacillation so laboriously forward, that it necessarily appears ludicrous? This formal argumentation turns the character of the Chorus into caricature. Nor will it do to say with CON. that this impotent scene was "forced on Æschylus, by the fact of the existence of a Chorus, and the nature of the work he had to do." A short lyrical ode might have covered worthily that irresolution, which a formal argumentation only exposes. No one blames the Chorus for doing nothing; that is all right enough; but every one must blame the poet for making them talk with such a show of solemn gravity and earnest loyalty about doing nothing.

Note 88 (p. 82). "Here, where I struck, I take my rooted stand Upon the finished deed."

The natural attitude of decision. So when Brutus administered the famous oath to the Roman people, "_neminem Romæ regnare passuros_," he and his colleagues are described by Dionysius (V. 1) as σταντες ἐπι των τομίων.

Note 89 (p. 83). "Thou hast cast off: thou hast cut off Thine own husband."

I have endeavoured to express the repetition of the _off_ three times as in the original; but the Greek is far more emphatic, the repetition taking place in the same line, ἀπέδικες, ἀπέταμες ἀπόπολις δ ἕσῃ.

Note 90 (p. 83). "But mark my words."

There is much difficulty in settling the reading and the construction of the Greek here; but having compared all the translations, I find that, from POT. down to MED. and FR., substantially the same sentiment is educed. SYM. who praises BLOM.'s arrangement, gives--

"Threaten away, for I too am prepared
In the like manner. Rule me if thou canst,
Get by thy hand the mastery--rule me then.
But if," etc.

WELL. whom I follow, and who objects to BLOM.'s construction, gives--

"Jubeo antem te, quum et ego ad similes minas paratas sim, victoria vi
reportata, mihi imperare; sin minus, et si contraria Dii perfecerint,
damno edoctus sero sapere disces."

Note 91 (p. 84). "And thine eyes with fatness swell."

I do not know whether I may not have gone too far in retaining the original force of λίπος in this passage. I perceive that few of the translators, not even SEW., so curious in etymological translation, keep me in countenance. However, I am always very loath to smooth down a strong phrase in Æschylus, merely because the modern ear may think it gross. In this case, I am glad to find that I am supported by DROYS.

"Ueber dem Auge glänzt fett Dir das Tropfenblüt,"

though my rendering is a little more free.

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Note 92 (p. 84).

STROPHE I. In the arrangement of the following lyric dialogue, I have followed BUT., BLOM., and PEILE, in opposition to that given by HERM., WELL., and FR., not for any metrical reasons sufficiently strong to influence me either one way or other in constituting the text; but because I find the sense complete and continuous after νῦν δε τελειάν, and this alone is a sufficient reason why I, in my subordinate function of a translator, should not suppose anything to have fallen out of the text in this place. How much, however, we are all in the dark about the matter appears from this, that in the place where BLOM. and PEILE suppose an immense _lacuna_, the sense in the mouth of Clytemnestra νῦν δ᾽ ὤρθωσας runs on with a continuous allusion to the preceding words of the Chorus. For which reason I have not hinted the existence of an omission, nor is it at all likely that the reader has lost much. These are matters which belonged to the ancient symmetrical arrangement of the Chorus before the eyes and ears of the spectators, and which I much fear it it impossible for us, readers of a dry MS., to revive at this time of day.

Note 93 (p. 85). "O god that o'er the doomed Atridan halls."

I am afraid I stand alone, among the translators, in translating δαῖμον in this and similar places, by the English word _god_; but persuaded as I am that the English words _Fiend_ and _Demon_ are steeped in modern partly Gothic, partly Christian associations of a character essentially opposed to the character and genius of the Greek theology, I choose rather to offend the taste than to confound the judgment of my reader in so important a matter. The Greeks habitually attributed to their _gods_ actions and sentiments, which we attribute only to devils and demons. Such beings (in the English sense) were, in fact, altogether unknown to the Greeks. Their gods, as occasion required, performed all the functions of our Devil; so that, to use a familiar illustration, instead of the phrase, _what the devil are you about?_ so familiar to a genuine English ear, the Athenians would have said, _what the god are you about?_ Hence the use of δαιμόνιε in Homer.

Note 94 (p. 86). "The unrelenting old Alastor."

Along with SYM. and CON. I retain the Greek word here, partly from the reason given in the previous note with regard to δαίμων, partly because the word is familiar to many poetical ears from Shelley's poetry, partly, also, because I take care so to explain it in the context, that it cannot be misunderstood by the English reader. The Greek word ἀλάστωρ means an _evil genius_. Clement of Alexandria, in a passage quoted by SYM. (Protrept c. II.) classes the Alastors of the ancient tragedy with the Furies and other terrible ministers of heaven's avenging justice. About the etymology of the word the lexicographers and critics are not agreed. Would there be any harm in connecting it with ἀλαστέω (Il. XII. 163), and ἐπαλαστέω (Odys. I. 252), so that it should signify _an angry or wrathful spirit_.

Note 95 (p. 88). "Falling he fell, and dying died."

I have here taken advantage of a Hebraism familiar, through the pages of the Bible, to the English ear, in order to give somewhat of the force of the fine alliteration in the original κάππεσε, κάτθανε. καὶ καταθάψομεν. In the next three lines I have filled up a blank in the text, by what must obviously have been the import of the lost lines, if, indeed, PALEY, KLAUSEN, and CON. are not rather right in not insisting on an exact response of stanza to stanza in the anapæstic systems of the musical dialogue.

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Note 96 (p. 88). "While great Jove lives."

μίμνοντος ὲν χρόνῳΔιὸς. "The meaning is sufficiently plain, if we do not disturb it by any philosophical notions about the difference between time and eternity."--CON. The reader will note here the grand idea of retributive justice pursuing a devoted family from generation to generation, and, as it were, entailing misery upon them, concerning which see Sewell's remarks above, p. 349. Sophocles strikes the same keynote in the choric chaunt of the Antigone, ἀρχαῖα τα Δαβδακιδᾶν ὄικων ὁρῶμαι.

Note 97 (p. 90). ". . . in a separate dish concealed Were legs and arms, and the fingers' pointed tips."

Editors have a great difficulty in settling the text here; but there is enough of the meaning visible--especially when the passage is compared with Herod. I. 119, referred to by SCHÜTZ--to enable the translator to proceed on the assumption of a text substantially the same as that given by FR., where the second line is supplied--

Τὰ μὲν ποδήρη και χ(ε)ρων ἄκρους κτένας
[Ἔθετο κάτωθεν πὰντα συγκρύψας τὰ δ ἀυ]
Ἔθρυπτ ἄνωθεν ὰνδρακὰς καθημένοις
Ἄσήμ᾽· ὁ δ ἄυτῶν ἀυτικ᾽ αγνόιᾳ λαβὼν.

The reader will observe that in these and such like passages, where, after all the labours of the learned, an uncertainty hangs over the text, I think myself safer in giving only the general undoubted meaning that shines through the passage, without venturing on the slippery ground of translating words of which the proper connection may be lost, or which, perhaps, were not written at all by the poet.

Note 98 (p. 90). ". . . while with his heel he spurned The supper."

I quite agree with CON. that there is not the slightest reason for rejecting the natural meaning of λακτίσμα δείπνου in this passage. Such expressions are quite Æschylean in their character, and the analogy of the feast of Tereus in Ovid, Met. VI. 661,

"Thracius ingenti mensas clamore repellit,"

adduced by CON. is very happy. To push the table away, whether with hand or heel, or with both, in such a case, is the most natural action in the world.

Note 99 (p. 90). "And no diviner vends more potent balms To drug a doting wit."

I have here expanded the text a little, to express the whole force of the Greek word Ἱατρομάντεις, concerning which see Note to the Eumen. v. 62, below.

Note 100 (p. 91). "Ho! my gallant co-mates, rouse ye!"

These two lines in the mouth of the Chorus make a good consecutive sense; but the symmetrical response of line to line, so characteristic of Greek tragedy, has led HERM., WELL., and the other editors of note, to suppose that a line from Ægisthus has fallen out between these lines of the Chorus. Blanks of this kind, however, the translator will wisely overlook, so long as they do not seriously disturb the sense.

NOTES TO THE CHOEPHORÆ

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Note 1 (p. 99). "What power thy father lent."

Jove was regarded as the grand source of the power exercised by all the other gods, even Apollo receiving the gift of prophecy from him. There is a peculiar propriety in the allusion to the father Zeus, as Mercury is requested to perform the same office of σωτήρ or Saviour to Orestes that Jove in a peculiar manner performs to all mankind.--See MÜLLER on _Zeus Soter_. (Eumenides, § 94), whose observations, however, on this particular passage, seem to force an artificial accent on the epithet σώτηρ. The opening lines of this piece are wanting in the MSS. and were supplied by STAN. from the Frogs of Aristophanes.

Note 2 (p. 99). "* * My early growth of hair To Inachus I vowed."

These words will recall to the student of Homer a passage from the twenty-third book of the Iliad, where an account is given of the funeral ceremonies of Patroclus.

"First the horsemen came, and then a cloud of infantry behind,
Tens of thousands; his companions bore Patroclus in the midst,
And the corpse they sadly covered with the locks which grief had shorn."
v. 133-5

And again--

"Then another deed devised Achilles, godlike, swift of foot;
Stationed sad behind the pyre he dipt his locks of yellow hair,
Which, luxuriant shed, he cherished to Spercheius' flowing stream."
v. 140-3.

Compare the beautiful passage on the Greek mythology in Wordsworth's Excursion, Book IV.

Note 3 (p. 99). "O Jove, be thou mine aid."

Of the high functions which belong to the supreme god of the Greeks, that of _avenger_ is not the least notable, and is alluded to with special frequency in the Odyssey, of which poem, _retribution in this life for wicked works_ is the great moral--whence the frequent line--

ἀι κε πόθι Ζεὺς δῶσι παλίντιτα ἔργα γενέσθαι.

Note 4 (p. 99). "And my cheeks, that herald sorrow."

"As these violent manifestations of grief were forbidden by Solon (Plut. 21), we are to look upon them in this place as peculiarly characteristic of the foreign captive maidens who compose the chorus"--KL.; though the epithet of ἄμφιδρυφὴς ἄλοχος applied to the wife of Protesilaus by Homer (Il. ii. 700, xi. 393), shows that, in the heroic times, at least, the expression of sorrow was almost as violent on the west as on the east side of the Hellespont.

Note 5 (p. 101). "And now fear rules."

φοβεῖτας δέ τις. "_People are afraid, and dare not speak out_"--PEILE. abruptness of this passage renders it difficult to see the allusion. PALEY {359} gives it quite a different turn. "_Sunt qui ob commissi sceleris quo adepti sint magnam fortunam_ (το ἐυτυχ(ε)ίν) _conscientiam torqueantur._" But I do not think that this rendering agrees so well with the words that follow. The thought seems to be--_the world judges by results; and men are content, even in fear, to obey a usurper, who shows his right by his success._ This brings out a beautiful contrast to the σέβας, or feeling of loyal reverence that filled the public mind towards Agamemnon, who is alluded to in the first words of the Antistrophe.

Note 6 (p. 101). "So filthy hands with blood bedabbled."

I do not see why WELL. and KL. should object to πόροι being taken, as the Scholiast hints, for an equivalent to ποταμοὶ. The word simply means "_channels_," and in the present connection of purification would naturally explain itself to a Greek ear, as _channels of water_. KL.'s rendering of πόρος, _ratio expiandae caedis_, has no merit but being unpoetical. The ἰοῦσαν ἄτην holds concealed some hopeless blunder; but for the need the κλύσειαν άν μάτην of FR. may be adopted.

Note 7 (p. 101). "What the masters of my fate In their strength decree."

"There is a proverb, Δ(ο)υλε δεσποτῶν ἄκουε καὶ δίκαια καὶ αδικα. _Slave hear thy master whether right or wrong_."--SCHOLIAST.

Note 8 (p. 101). ". . . beneath the veil."

ὑφ (ε)ιμάτων. STAN. quotes the beautiful picture of Telemachus (Odyssey IV. 114), endeavouring to conceal his filial sorrow from the eyes of Menelaus at Sparta--

"From his eye the tear-drop fell when he heard his father's name,
And with both his hands before his eyes he held the purple cloak."

Note 9 (p. 102). ". . . libations pure, Poured on my father's tomb."

These libations are described in various passages of the Classics, of which the following may suffice:--

"Then to all the dead I poured libations, first with honied milk,
Then with sweetest wine, and then with water, and I strewed the grains
Of whitest meal."--ODYSSEY XI. 26.

"Go, my Hermione, without the door,
And these libations take, and take my hair,
And, standing over Clytemnestra's tomb,
Milk-mingled honey and the winy foam
Pour, and thus speak."--EURIP., OREST. 112.

"And with the due libation's triple flow
She crowns the corpse."--SOPH. ANTIG., 429.

The χοᾶισι πρισπόνδαισι, being the _wine_, _water_, and _milk_, particularised in the above extract from Homer. Compare Virgil's Æn. V. 78, and St. Augustine's Confessions vi. 2, with regard to his mother's offering at the tombs of the martyrs--_pultes et panem et merum_.

Note 10 (p. 102). ". . . as who throws lustral ashes."

καθάρματα. "Ashes of lustral offerings"--PEILE. "Alluding to the custom of the Athenians, who, after purifying their houses with incense in an earthen vessel, threw the vessel into the streets, and retired with averted eyes."--SCHOLIAST.

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Note 11 (p. 102). "What other quittance to a foe Than hate repaid with hate, and blow with blow?"

Why not? πῶς δ᾽ ου; how should it be otherwise? Observe, here, how far the Christian rule, _love thine enemies_, was from the Heathen mind. It is very far yet from our practice; though it is difficult to over-estimate the value of having such ideal moral maxims as those of the New Testament to refer to as a generally recognized standard.

Note 12 (p. 103). "Hermes, that swayest underneath the ground."

All the recent editors agree in bringing up the line--

κήρυξ μέγιστε των άνω τε καὶ κάτω,

from v. 162 to this place, where the initial words are plainly wanting. "Hermes is invoked here as the great mediator between the living and the dead."--KL. "_Herald me in this_"--κηύξας ᾽εμοι--_perform a herald's function to me in this;_ the verb chosen with special reference to the name κήρυξ, according to the common practice of the Greek writers. In the second line below, I can have no hesitation in adopting STAN.'s emendation of ὸωμάτων for ομμάτων. AHRENS (in FR.) has tried to make the passage more pregnant by reading ἁιμάτων, but this scarcely seems such an obvious emendation.

Note 13 (p. 103). "These words of evil imprecation dire."

This is said to avoid the bad omen of mingling a curse with a blessing. The ancients were very scrupulous as to the use of evil words in religious services, and, when such were either necessary, or had accidentally crept in, they always made a formal apology. This I have expressed more largely than my text warrants in the next line, where I follow SCHÜTZ in reading καλῆς for κακῆς; a correction which, though not absolutely necessary, is sufficiently plausible to justify BLOM., SCHOL., and PAL. in their adoption of it.

Note 14 (p. 103).

_Chorus_. This chorus seems hopelessly botched in the first half, and all the attempts to mend it are more or less unsatisfactory. If any one think "plashing torrents" a strong phrase, he must know that it is no stronger than καναχὲς in the original, a word familiar to every student of Homer. The ἐρυμα (or ἐρμα--HERM.), I agree with every interpreter, except Klausen, in applying to the tomb of Agamemnon; of the κακῶν κεδνῶν τε, I can make nothing, beyond incorporating the Scholiast's gloss, ἀπότροπον των ἠμετέρων κακῶν.

Note 15 (p. 104).

_Electra_. The reader will find in POT. a somewhat amplified translation of the line here--

κήρυξ μεγιστε των άνω τε καὶ κάτω,

mentioned above as having been thrown back by Hermann to the commencement of Electra's address over the tomb of her father, immediately preceding the short choral ode. It is literally translated by E. P., Oxon.--

"O mightiest herald of the powers above and below,"

but comes in quite awkwardly, and manifestly out of place.

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Note 16 (p. 104). ". . . a low-zoned maid's."

βαθυζώνου. "High-bosomed," POTTER; "hochgeschürzt," DROYSEN; "deep-bosomed," E. P., Oxon.; "Weib im Festgewand," FRANZ. Not having a distinct idea of what is meant by this epithet, I have contented myself with a literal rendering.

Note 17 (p. 104). "If it was dipt From head in Argos, it should be my own."

This passage has given great trouble to commentators, who cannot see how Electra should say that no person but herself could have owned this lock, which yet she knew was not her own. They have, accordingly, at least LIN., PEILE, and PAL., adopted DOBREES' emendation of ἑνος (one person, _i.e._, _Orestes_), instead of ἐμου, mine, which, though ingenious, does not appear to me at all necessary. Electra means to say, _nobody here could have done it but me; and yet it is not mine_ (this implied); _therefore, of course, the conclusion to be made is clear,_ ἐυξύμβολον τὸδ ἐστι δοξάσαι, _it must have been Orestes!_

Note 18 (p. 105). ". . . But lo! a further proof."

Imagine such evidence produced as a step in the chain of circumstantial evidence before a court of justice! Even the perturbed state of Electra's mind may not redeem it from the charge of being grossly ludicrous. WELL. and FR., with that solemn conscientious gravity for which the Germans are notable, have, however, taken it under their wing, followed here, strangely enough, by PEILE. If the circumstance is to be defended at all, we had better suppose that Æschylus has given the details of the recognition exactly as he had received them from the old popular legend in the mouth of some story-teller. But why should not the father of tragedy, as well as the father of Epos, sometimes nod?

Note 19 (p. 105). "Pray that fair end may fair beginning follow."

This seems to have been a sort of proverbial prayer among the Greeks, used for the sake of a good omen, as we find Clytemnestra, in the Agamemnon (p. 57 above), saying the same thing.

῏Ευ γὰρ πρὸς ἐυ φαν(ε)ισι προσθήκη πελοι. v. 486.

Note 20 (p. 106). ". . . behold this web."

"The ladies, in the simplicity of ancient times, valued themselves much, and, indeed, were highly esteemed, for their skill in embroidery; those rich wrought vests made great part of the wealth of noble houses. Andromache, Helen, and Penelope, were celebrated for their fine work, of which Minerva herself was the patroness, and Dido was as excellent as the best of them."--POT. The student will recall a familiar instance from Virgil--

"Munera praetrea Iliacis erepta ruinis
Ferre jubet; pallam signis auroque rigentem
Et circumtextum croceo velamen acantho
Ornatus Argivae Helenæ."--ÆNEID I. 651.

evidently modelled on Odys. xix. 225.

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