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 Æschylus 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, §6, he says, εὖ ἔχει. καταπτήσεται δὲ ἤδη καὶ ὁ ἀετὸς ἀποκερῶν τὸ ἧπαρ, ὡς πάντα ἔχοις ἀντὶ τῆς καλῆς καὶ εὐμηχάνου πλαστικῆς. 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 ὑβριστὴς ποταμὸς, which must be a proper name]—toward the Caucasus; and the myth of Phryxus and Helle—all point to the same path on which Phœnician navigators had earlier adventured."
2 Dindorf, in his note, rightly approves the elegant reading ἄβροτον (=ἀπάνθρωπον) in lieu of the frigid ἄβατον. See Blomf. and Burges. As far as this play is concerned, the tract was not actually impassable , but it was so to mortals .
3 λεωργός=ῥᾳδιουργός, πανοῦργος, κακοῦργος. Cf. Liddell and Linwood, s. v. The interpretation and derivation of the etym. magn. ὁ τῶν ἀνθρώπων πλαστής, is justly rejected by Dindorf, who remarks that Æschylus paid no attention to the fable respecting Prometheus being the maker of mankind.
4 The epithet παντέχνου, which might perhaps be rendered "art-full," is explained by v. 110 and 254.
5 See Jelf. Gk. Gr. §720, 2d.
6 There seems little doubt that εὐωριάζειν 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 Musæus 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. Œd. Col. 19. κῶλα κάμψον τοῦδ᾽ ἐπ᾽ ἀξέστου πέτρου.
11 The difficulties of this passage have been increased by no one of the commentators perceiving the evident opposition between Θεοὶ and Ζεύς. As in the formula ὦ Ζεῦ καὶ Θεοὶ (cf. Plato Protag. p. 193, E.; Aristoph. Plut. I. with Bergler's note; Julian Cæs. 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 Ζεὺς constantly mentioned apart from the other gods (cf. Il. I. 423, 494), and so also with his epithet πατὴρ, as in v. 4, 17, 20, etc. (Eustath, on Il. T. I., p. 111, 30, ὅτι Ζεὺς ἀλλαχοῦ μὲν ἁπλῶς πατὴρ ἐλέχθη). There is evidently, therefore, the opposition expressed in the text: "'Tis not for the other gods ( i.e. τοῖς ἄλλοις θεοῖς) 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, § 6, is content with fastening his hands to the two sides of the chasm.
14 τύχης is retained by Dindorf, but τέχνης is defended by Griffiths and Paley. I think, with Burges, that it is a gloss upon Προμηθέως.
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 cheekReflects the tints of many a peak,Caught by the laughing tides that laveThose Edens of the eastern wave.
16 Literally "filling a rod," πλήρωτος here being active. Cf. Agam. 361, ἄτης παναλώτου. Choeph. 296, παμφθάρτῳ μόρῳ. Pers. 105, πολέμους πυργοδαΐκτους. See also Blomfield, and Porson on Hes. 1117, νάρθηξ is "ferula" or "fennel-giant," the pith of which makes excellent fuel. Blomfield quotes Proclus on Hesiod, Op. 1, 52, "the νάρθηξ 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 Ælian 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. Æn. I. 403, and La Cerda. See also Boyes's Illustrations.
18 On δὴ cf. Jelf, Gk. Gr. § 723, 2.
19 Elmsley's reading, πέτρᾳ ... τᾷδε, is preferred by Dindorf, and seems more suitable to the passage. But if we read ταῖσδε, it will come to the same thing, retaining πέτραις.
20 Surely we should read this sentence interrogatively, as in v. 99, πῇ ποτε μόχθων Χρὴ τέρματα τῶνδ᾽ ἐπιτεῖλαι; although the editions do not agree as to that passage. So Burges.
21 Nominativus Pendens. Soph, Antig. 259, λόγοι δ᾽ ἐν ἀλλήλοισιν ἐρρόθουν κακοί, φύλαξ ἐλέγχων φύλακα, where see Wunder, and Elmsley on Eur. Heracl. 40. But it is probably only the σχῆμα καθ᾽ ὅλον καὶ μέρος, on which see Jelf, Gk. Gr. § 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. ἀμείβω, whose construing I have followed.
23 Cf. Virg. Æn. I. 167, "Intus aquæ dulces, vivoque sedilia saxo."
"The rudest habitation, ye might thinkThat it had sprung from earth self-raised, or grownOut 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 ΩΚΕΑΝΟΣ before the lines beginning with οὐ δῆτα, 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 οὐ δῆτα deceived the copyists, who thought that they pointed to the commencement of a new speaker's address. He quotes Soph. Œd. 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 Æschylus 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 Ætna, 70, "Gurgite Trinacrio morientem Jupiter Ætna Obruit Enceladum, vasti qui pondere montis Æstuat, et patulis exspirat faucibus ignes." Virg. Æn. 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 Æschylus, 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 ὀργῆς νοσούσης means "a mind distempered," and that λόγοι 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 swageThe tumors of a troubled mind."
The reading of Plutarch, ψυχῆς appears to be a mere gloss.
27 Intellige audaciam prudentiâ conjunctam .—Blomfield.
28 αἰχμὰ 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 ἔγχος ζάκοτον, 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 ᾽Αβάριος, which he supports with considerable learning. But although the name ᾽Αβάριδες (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 ἄρειον ἄνθος seems to point to some really existing nation, while ᾽Αβάριες would rather seem proverbial. Till, then, we are more certain, Æschylus must still stand chargeable with geographical inconsistency.
31 I have followed Burges and Dindorf, although the latter retains ἀκαμαντοδέτοις in his text.
32 Why Dindorf should have adopted Hermann's frigid ὑποστεγάζει, is not easily seen. The reader will, however, find Griffiths' foot-note well deserving of inspection.
33 On προυσελούμενον, 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. § II. ed. meæ, "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 ἤγαγον φιληνίους, i.e. ὥστε φιληνίους εἶναι.
39 See the elaborate notes of Blomfield and Burges, from whence all the other commentators have derived their information. Κρᾶσις 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 hæc pars (compositio, scilicet) medicinæ 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. § 20, ed. meæ, "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 præterea 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: τὴν πεπρωμένην μοίρην ἀδύνατά ἐστι ἀποφυγέειν καὶ τῷ θεῷ. On this Pythagorean notion of Æschylus 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 ἐνταῦθα δή σε Ζεὺς τίθησιν ἔμφρονα 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, κλύεις φθέγμα τᾶς βούκερω παρθένου.
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.
ταυροφυὴς ὅτε πόρτις ἀμειβομένοιο προσώπουεἰς ἀγέλην ἄγραυλος ἐλαύνετο σύννομος ᾽Ιώ.καὶ δαμάλης ἄγρυπνον ἐθήκατο βουκόλον Ἥρηποικίλον ἀπλανέεσσι κεκασμένον ῎Αργον ὀπωπαῖςΖηνὸς ὀπιπευτῆρα βοοκραίρων ὑμεναίων.Ζηνὸς ἀθηήτοιο καὶ ἐς νομὸν ἤϊε κούρη,ὀφθαλμοὺς τρομέουσα πολυγλήνοιο νομῆος.γυιοβόρῳ δὲ μύωπι χαρασσομένη δέμας ᾽Ιώ᾽Ιονίης [ἁλὸς] οἶδμα κατέγραφε φοιτάδι χηλῇ.ἦλθε καὶ εἰς Αἴγυπτον—
This writer, who constantly has the Athenian dramatists in view, pursues the narrative of Io's wanderings with an evident reference to Æschylus. 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 Æmilianus 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 ævo 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 ὧν with Hermann, or take ὡς for ἢ ὡς with the above mentioned editor.
51 Paley remarks that τὰς πολ. τύχας is used in the same manner as in Pers. 453, φθαρέντες="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, ἐπεὶ δ᾽ ἀνάγκας ἔδυ λέπαδνον
54 κρήνην 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, θέρους δὲ αὖα σφίσιν ἐστὶ τὰ ῥεύματα πλὴν τῶν ἐν Λέρνῃ. 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 οὐ ψευδώνυμον 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.
——πεπρωμένον ἦν φέρτερονγόνον [οἱ] ἄνακτα πατρὸς τεκεῖν
And Apoll. Rhod. iv. 201. Also the words of Thetis herself in Nonnus, Dionys. xxxiii. 356.
Ζεύς με πατὴρ ἐδίωκε καὶ ἤθελεν ἐς γάμον ἕλκειν,εἰ μή μιν ποθέοντα γέρων ἀνέκοπτε Προμηθεύς,θεσπίζων Κρονίωνος ἀρείονα παῖδα φυτεῦσαι.
60 "These were; 1. Epaphus; 2. Lybia; 3. Belus; 4. Danaus; 5. Hypermnestra; 6. Abas; 7. Prœtus; 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 ἔσεσθ᾽, εἰ. Others read the passage interrogatively. See Griffiths and Dindorf.
65 This pun upon the name of Epaphus is preserved by Moschus II. 50.
ἐν δ᾽ ἦν Ζεὺς, ἐπαφώμενος ἠρέμα χειρὶ θεείῃπόρτιος ᾽Ιναχίης. τὴν ἑπταπόρῳ παρὰ Νείλῳἐκ βοὸς εὐκεράοιο πάλιν μετάμειβε γυναῖκα.
and Nonnus, III. p. 62, 20:
ἔνθ᾽ Ἔπαφον διὶ τίκτεν ἀκηρασίων ὅτι κόλπωνἸναχίης δαμάλης ἐπαφήσατο θεῖος ἀκοίτηςχερσὶν ἐρωσανέεσσι—
66 There is much difficulty in this passage. Dindorf understands ἐκείνων (Ã†gypti filiorum), and so Paley, referring to his notes on Ag. 938, Suppl. 437. Mr. Jelf, Gk. Gr., § 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 φθόνον ἵξει σωμάτων, see Linwood, v. φθόνος.
67 σφαγαῖσι 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 νυκτιφρουρήτῳ θράσει is well illustrated by the words of Nonnus, l. c. p. 64, 17.
καὶ κρυφίοις ξιφέεσσι σιδηροφόρων ἐπὶ λέκτρωνἄρσενα γυμνὸν Ἄρηα κατεύνασε θῆλυς Ἐνυώ.
68 See Nonnus I. c. Ovid, ep. xiv. 51, sqq.
"Sed timor, et pietas crudelibus obstitit ausis:Castaque mandatum dextra refugit opus."
69 On σφάκελος see Ruhnk. Tim. p. 123, and Blomfield.
70 See Paley. α 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 πότνιαι to complete the metre.
73 I have followed Griffiths.
74 Dindorf would throw out ἄφοβος, Paley οὐ δέδια, remarking that the sense appears to require ὅτε.
75 I.e. possessing resources even among impossibilities. Cf. Antig. 360. ἄπορος ἐπ᾽ οὐδὲν ἔρχεται, and for the construction, Jelf, Gk. Gr. § 581, 2. obs.
76 I think Elmsley has settled the question in favor of τοῖον for οἷον.
77 "In Æschylus 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.
78 Uranus and Saturn. Cf. Agam. 167 sqq.
79 Milton, Samson Agon.
Dalilah. "I see thou art implacable, more deafTo prayers than winds or seas."
Merchant of Venice, Act 4, sc. 1.
"You may as well go stand upon the beachAnd bid the main flood bate his usual height."
See Schrader on Musæus, 320.
80 See Linwood's Lexicon. Cf. Nonnus, Dionys. II. p. 45, 22.
δεσμὰ φυγὼν δολόμητις ὁμαρτήσειε Προμηθεὺς,ἥπατος ἡβώοντος ἀφειδέα δαιτυμονῆαοὐρανίης θρασὺν ὄρνιν ἔχων πομπῆα κελεύθου.
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 Musæus, 314, sqq. Lucan, I. 75 sqq. and a multitude in the notes of La Cerda on Virgil, Æn. 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 Cæsar, B. G. I. 29, "qui arma ferre possent: et item separatius pueri, senes;" II. 28, Eteocles wishes even the ἀχρεῖοι to assist in the common defense.
85 πιστοὶ is to be supplied with γένοισθε.
86 Although βοτὴρ may be compared with the Roman pullarius , yet the phrase is here probably only equivalent to δεσπότης μαντευμάτων soon after.
87 Paley prefers "nocturno concilio agitari," comparing Rhes. 88, τὰς σὰς πρὸς εὐνὰς φύλακες ἐλθόντες φόβῳ νυκτηγοροῦσι. On the authority of Griffiths, I have supplied τοὺς ᾽Αχαιοὺς before ἐπιβουλεύειν.
88 See my note on Prom. 863.
89 See commentators.
90 Cf. Jelf. Gk. Gr. § 566, 2.
91 See Linwood, s.v. στέφειν. Paley compares v. 267, Λάφυρα δᾴων δουρίπληχθ᾽ ἁγνοῖς δόμοις Στέψω πρὸ ναῶν. Adrastus alone had been promised a safe return home.
92 Cf. Eum. 515, οἶκτον οἰκτίσαιτο, would utter cries of pity . Suppl. 59, οἶκτον οἰκτρὸν ἀΐων, hearing one mournful piteous cry . The old translations rendered it, "no regret was expressed on their countenance."
93 Perhaps we might render φράξαι, dam , in order to keep up the metaphor of the ship. Cf. Hom. Od. V. 346, φράξε δέ μιν ῥίπεσσι διαμπερὲς οἰσυίνῃσι. 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 ἐφέστιος, indigenous in Greece , as Blomfield interprets, quoting Hesych, ἐφέστίος, αὐτόχθων, ἔνοικος, 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, πόλιν δορίπονον μὴ προδῶθ᾽ Ἑτεροφώνῳ στρατῷ, which their minds would connect with more powerful associations than the mere provincial differences of Bœotia 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, Ἐρημία γὰρ πόλιν ὅταν λάβῃ κακὴ, Νοσεῖ τὰ τῶν θεῶν οὐδὲ τιμᾶσθαι θέλει.
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 Phœnissæ of Euripides, v. 103, sqq.
97 πρόδρομος= so as to be foremost . Cf. Soph. Antig. 108, φυγάδα πρόδρομον ὀξυτέρῳ κινήσασα χαλινῷ.
98 This passage is undoubtedly corrupt, but Dindorf's conjecture ἕλε δ᾽ ἐμὰς φρένας δέος· ὅπλων κτύπος ποτιχρίμπτεται, διὰ πέδον βοὰ ποτᾶται, βρέμει δ᾽—, 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, εΔΙΔεμνας, has conjectured ΔΙΑ δὲ γᾶς ἐμᾶς πεδί᾽ ὁπλοκτύπου, which seems preferable. Perhaps we might read ἐπὶ δὲ γᾶς πεδιοπλοκτύπου ὠσὶν χρίμπι βοὰ, by tmesis, for ἐπιχρίμπτεται. Æschylus used the compound, ἐγχρίπτεσθαι, Suppl. 790, and nothing is more common than such a tmesis. I doubt whether πεδιοπλοκτύπον is not one of Æschylus' own "high-crested" compounds. Mr. Burges has kindly suggested a parallel passage of an anonymous author, quoted by Suidas, s. v. ὑπαραττομένης · ἵππων χρεμετιζόντων, τῆς γῆς τοῖς ποσὶν αὐτῶν ὑπαραττομένης, οὔλων συγκρουομένων.
99 Cf. Soph. Antig. 106.
100 Cf. Virg. Æn. I. 479;
"Interea ad templum non æquæ Palladis ibantCrinibus Iliades passis, peplumque ferebantSuppliciter tristes"—
Statius, Theb. x. 50:
——"et ad patrias fusæ Pelopeides arasSceptriferæ Junonis opem, reditumque suorumExposcunt, pictasque fores, et frigida vultuSaxa 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. Müller, Dorians, vol. i. p. 325, considers that Λύκειος is connected with λύκη, light , not with λύκος, a wolf .
105 I follow Paley's emendation, ἀϋταῖς.
106 See a judicious note of Paley's.
107 I have borrowed Griffiths' translation. It seems impossible that ἁγνὸν τέλος could ever be a personal appeal, while σύ τε evidently shows that the address to Pallas Onca was unconnected with the preceding line. As there is probably a lacuna after Διόθεν, it is impossible to arrive at any certain meaning.
108 See Stanley. Ὄγκα is a Phœnician word, and epithet of Minerva.
109 The boys, girls, etc.
110 Cf. Eur. Hippol. 1219, sqq.
καὶ δεσπότης μὲν ἱππικοῖς ἐν ἤθεσιπολὺς ξυνοικῶν ἥρπασ' ἡνίας χεροῖν,ἕλκει δὲ κώπην ὥστε ναυβάτης ἀνήρ.
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 ὕδασί τ᾽ Ἰσμηνοῦ. Paley has clearly shown the origin of the corruption. Linwood is equally disinclined to support the common reading.
113 Blomfield reads ἐγὼ δέ γ᾽ ἄνδρας, the change of ΔΕΓ to ΔΕΠ 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 ἐπ᾽ ἐχθροῖς 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 ἐπὶ either with ἄνδρας, ἐχθροῖς, or by tmesis, with ἄξω.
114 The construction of the exegetical accusative is well illustrated in Jelf's Gk. Gr. § 580, 3.
115 I have followed Blomfield, and Dindorf in his notes, in reading κῦδος τοῖσδε πολίταις.
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 ἀρτιτρόφοις is right, which is approved by Dindorf, Linwood, and Paley.
117 There is the same irregular antithesis between ἄλλον ἄγει and τὰ δὲ (=τᾷ δὲ) πυρφορεῖ; as in Soph. Ant. 138, εἶχε δ᾽ ἄλλᾳ τὰ μὲν, ἄλλα δ' ἐπ᾽ ἄλλοις ἐπενώμα—Ἄρης.
118 See Elmsl. on Eur. Bacch. 611. I follow Griffiths and Paley.
119 There is much difficulty in the double participle πεσὼν-κυρήσας. Dindorf would altogether omit κυρήσας, as a gloss. But surely πεσὼν was more likely to be added as a gloss, than κυρήσας. I think that the fault probably lies in πεσών.
120 This passage is scarcely satisfactory, but I have followed Paley. Perhaps if we place a comma after ὑπερτέρου, and treat ὡς ἀνδρ. δ. ὑπ. εὐτυχ. as a genitive absolute, there will be less abruptness, ἐλπίς ἐστι standing for ἐλπίζουσι, by a frequent enallage.
121 The turgidity of this metaphor is almost too much even for Æschylus!
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 ἀπαρτίζει is indefensible. Hermann (who, strange to say, is followed by Wellauer) reads καταργίζει, Blomfield καταρτίζει.
123 Besides Stanley's illustrations, see Pricæus on Apul. Apol. p. 58. Pelagonius in the Geoponica, XVI. 2, observes ἀγαθοῦ δὲ ἵππου καὶ τοῦτο τεκμήριον, ὅταν ἑστηκὼς μὴ ἀνέχηται, ἀλλὰ κροτῶν τὴν γῆν ὥσπερ τρέχειν ἐπιθυμῇ. St. Macarius Hom. XXIII. 2, ἐπὰν δὲ μαθῇ (ὁ ἵππος) καὶ συνεθισθῇ εἰς τὸν πόλεμον, ὅταν ὀσφρανθῇ καὶ ἀκουσῇ φωνὴν πολέμου, αὐτὸς ἑτοίμως ἔρχεται ἐπὶ τοὺς ἐχθροὺς, ὥστε καὶ ἀπ᾽ αὐτῆς τῆς φωνῆς πτόησιν ἐμποιεῖν τοῖς πολεμίοις. 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 μάντις ἔννοια. Blomfield would add ἔννοια to the dative, which is easier.
126 So Linwood. Justice is styled the near relation of Melanippus, because he was αἰσχρῶν ἀργὸς, v. 406. The scholiast however interprets it τὸ τῆς ξυγγενείας δίκαιον.
127 Dindorf's substitution of δικαίας for δικαίως is no improvement. Paley's δίκαιος is more elegant, but there seems little reason for alteration.
Probably nothing more than the lightning is meant, as Blomfield supposes. Paley quotes Eur. Cycl. 328, πέπλον κρούει, Διὸς βρονταῖσιν εἰς ἔριν κτυπῶν. And this agrees with the fate of Capaneus as described in Soph. Antig. 131, sqq.; Nonnus, XXVIII. p. 480; Eur. Phœn. 1187, sqq.
129 Blomfield compares Eur. Bacch. 733, θύρσοις διὰ χεροῖν ὡπλισμένας. 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 μὴ, εἴθε, εἰ γὰρ, εἴθε γάρ, 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. οὐ 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. Æn. IV. 301, sqq. So in the Agamemnon, v. 477.
μαρτυρεῖ δέ μοι κάσιςπηλοῦ ξύνουρος, διψία κόνις, τάδε.
137 Cf. Ag. 174. Ζῆνα δέ τις ἐπινίκια κλάζων, Τεύξεται φρενῶν τὸ πᾶν. Dindorf would omit all the following lines. There is some difficulty about the sense of προσφίλεια, 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, Ἴστω νῦν δόρυ θοῦρον ὅτῳ περιώσιον ἄλλων κῦδος ἐνὶ πτολέμοισιν ἀείρομαι, οὐδέ μ᾽ ὀφέλλει Ζεὺς τόσον, ὁσσάτιόν περ ἐμὸν δόρυ. Statius Theb. ix. 649—"ades o mihi dextera tantum Tu præsens bellis, et inevitable numen, Te voco, te solam superum contemptor adoro." See Cerda on Virg. Æn. X. 773.
139 So Catullus, iii. 4, 5.
Passer, deliciæ meæ puellæ,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 παρθένος in the composition of Parthenopæus's name.
141 The figure on the shield is undoubtedly the one meant.
142 I.e. "he will fight by wholesale." See comm. Perhaps the English phrase to "deal a blow," to "lend a blow," is the nearest approximation to this curious idiom. Boyes quotes some neat illustrations.
143 This passage is a fair instance of the impossibility of construing certain portions of Æschylus as they are edited. Dindorf in his notes approves of Dobree's emendation, καὶ τὸν σὸν αὖτ᾽ ἀδελφοῦ ἐς πατρὸς μόρον Ἐξυπτιάζων ὄνομα, and so Paley, except that he reads ὄμμα with Schutz, and renders it " oculo in patrio Œdipi fatum religiose sublato ." Blomfield's προσμολὼν ὁμόσπορον seems simpler, and in better taste. ὁμόσπορον was doubtless obliterated by the gloss ἀδελφεόν (an Ionic form ill suited to the senarius), and the ὁμοιοτέλευτον caused the remainder of the error. Burges first proposed ὁμόσπορον in Troad. Append. p. 134, D. As to Paley's idea that Œdipus' death was caused " per contentiorim filii indolem ," I can not find either authority for the fact, or reason for its mention here, and I have therefore followed Blomfield. Dindorf's translation I can not understand. The explanations of ἐξυπτιάζων ὄνομα are amusing, and that is all.
144 I.e. saying Πολυνεῖκες πολυνεῖκες. Paley ingeniously remarks that ἐνδατεῖσθαι is here used in a double sense, both of dividing and reproaching . See his note, and cf. Phœn. 636. ἀληθῶς ὄνομα Πολυνείκη πατὴρ ἔθετό σοι θείᾳ, προνοίᾳ, νεικέων ἐπώνυμον.
145 See Griffiths.
146 Porson, and all the subsequent editors have bracketed this verse, as spurious, but the chief objection to this sense of καρπίζεσθαι seems to be obviated by Paley. See his note.
147 Either with πάλιν or πόλιν there is much difficulty, as without an epithet πόλις seems harshly applied to Hades. Paley thinks that τὴν μακρὰν refers both to πομπὴν and πόλιν. Dindorf adopts his usual plan when a difficulty occurs, and proposes to omit the line. Fritzsche truly said of this learned critic, that if he had the privilege of omitting every thing he could not understand, the plays of the Grecian dramatists would speedily be reduced to a collection of fragments.
148 When the spear was not in use, it was held in the left hand, under the shield. See Blomfield.
149 Sc. king, or victor. Blomfield adopts the former.
150 This passage is not satisfactory. Paley reads ἀνδρηλατῶν, but I am doubtful about τὼς ... τόνδε ... τρόπον.
151 In the original there is, perhaps, a slight mixture of construction, αἵματος partly depending upon καρπός implied in πικρόκαρπον, and partly upon ἀνδροκτασίαν, ἀνδροκτ..αἵμ. being the slaughter of a man, by which his blood is shed .
152 Wellauer: denuntians lucrum, quod prius erit morte posteriore : i.e. victoriam quam sequetur mors. And so Griffiths and Paley.
153 Shakespeare uses this name in the opening speech of King Henry, in part I.:
No more the thirsty Erinnys of this soilShall daub her lips with her own children's blood.
Old Translator.
154 See above, v. 383.
155 Somewhat to the same effect is the dream of Atossa in the Persæ.
156 I prefer Blomfield's transposition to Dindorf's correction, βλαψιφρόνως, which, though repudiated in the notes, is still adopted by Paley.
157 A noble impersonation of the sword.
158 Shakespeare, King John, Act 4, sc. 2:
That blood, which own'd the breadth of all this isle,Three foot of it doth hold.
King Henry IV. part I. Act 5, sc. 5:
Fare thee well, great heart!Ill-weav'd ambition, how much art thou shrunk!When that this body did contain a spirit,A kingdom for it was too small a bound;But now, two paces of the vilest earthIs room enough.
159 Surely the full stop after πόλιν in v. 749 should be removed, and a colon, or mark of hyperbaton substituted. On looking at Paley's edition, I find myself anticipated.
160 This is Griffiths' version of this awkward passage. I should prefer reading ἀλκὰν with Paley, from one MS. So also Burges.
161 See my note on Soph. Philoct. 708, ed. Bohn.
162 This seems the best way of rendering the bold periphrase, ὁ πολύβοτος αἰὼν βροτῶν. See Griffiths.
163 I follow Paley. Dindorf, in his notes, agrees in reading τροφᾶς, but the metre seems to require ἐπίκοτος. Griffiths defends the common reading, but against the ancient authority of the schol. on Œd. Col. 1375. See Blomfield.
164 Blomfield with reason thinks that a verse has been lost.
165 The care which the Messenger takes to show the bright side of the picture first, reminds us of Northumberland's speech, Shakespeare, King Henry IV. part II. Act 1, sc. 1:
This thou would'st say—Your son did thus and thus;Your brother, thus; so fought the noble Douglas;Stopping my greedy ear with their bold deeds;But in the end, to stop mine ear indeed,Thou hast a sigh to blow away this praise,Ending with—brother, son, and all are dead.
—Old Transl.
166 This is a good example of the figure chiasmus, the force of which I have expressed by the bracketed words repeated from the two infinities. See Latin examples in the notes of Arntzenius on Mamertin. Geneth. 8, p. 27; Pang. Vett. t. i.
167 The Messenger retires to dress for the Herald's part.
Horace's rule, "Nec quarta loqui persona laboret," seems to have been drawn from the practice of the Greek stage. Only three actors were allowed to each of the competitor-dramatists, and these were assigned to them by lot. (Hesychius, Νέμησις ὑποκριτῶν.) Thus, for instance, as is remarked by a writer in the Quarterly Review, in the Œdipus at Colonus, v. 509, Ismene goes to offer sacrifice, and, after about forty lines, returns in the character of Theseus. Soon afterward, v. 847, Antigone is carried off by Creon's attendants, and returns as Theseus after about the same interval as before.—Old Translation. The translator had misquoted the gloss of Hesychius.
168 This is the tragic account. See Soph. Antig. 170, sqq.; Eurip. Phæn. 757, sqq. But other authors mention descendants of both.
169 Another pun on Πολυνείκης.
170 Cf. Romeo and Juliet, Act 4, sec. 3:
"I have a faint cold fear thrills through my veins."
171 This passage is confessedly corrupt. Paley seems to have rightly restored ἄστολον from the ἄστολον θεωρίδα in Robertelli's edition. This ship, as he remarks, would truly be ἄστολος, in opposition to the one sent to Delphi, which was properly said στέλλεσθαι ἐπὶ θεωρίαν. The words ἀστιβῆ Ἀπόλλωνι confirm this opinion. In regard to the allusions, see Stanley and Blomfield, also Wyttenbach on Plato Phædon. sub. init.
172 This repetition of δι᾽ ὧν is not altogether otiose. Their contention for estate was the cause both of their being αἰνόμοροι and of the νεῖκος that ensued.
173 I.e. the sword. Cf. v. 885.
174 This epithet applied to their ancestral tombs doubtless alludes to the violent deaths of Laïus and Œdipus.
175 On the enallage σώματι for σώμασι see Griffiths. The poet means to say that this will be all their possession after death. Still Blomfield's reading, χώματι, seems more elegant and satisfactory.
176 Pauw remarks that Polynices is the chief subject of Antigone's mourning, while Ismene bewails Eteocles. This may illustrate much of the following dialogue, as well as explain whence Sophocles derived his master-piece of character, the Theban martyr-heroine, Antigone.
177 Throughout this scene I have followed Dindorf's text, although many improvements have been made in the disposition of the dramatis personæ. Every one will confess that the length of ἰὼ ἰὼ commonplaces in this scene would be much against the play, but for the animated conclusion, a conclusion, however, that must lose all its finest interest to the reader who is unacquainted with the Antigone of Sophocles!
178 Wellauer (not Scholfield, as Griffiths says) defends the common reading from Herodot. V. 49.
179 τράχυνε But T. Burgess' emendation τραχύς γε seems better, and is approved by Blomfield.
180 Soph. Ant. 44. ἢ γὰρ νοεῖς θάπτειν σφ᾽ ἀπόρρητον πόλει.
181 I have taken Griffiths' translation of what Dindorf rightly calls "lectio vitiosa," and of stuff that no sane person can believe came from the hand of Æschylus. Paley, who has often seen the truth where all others have failed, ingeniously supposes that οὐ is a mistaken insertion, and, omitting it, takes διατετίμηται in this sense: " jam hic non amplius a diis honoratur; ergo ego eum honorabo. " See his highly satisfactory note, to which I will only add that the reasoning of the Antigone of Sophocles, vss. 515, sqq. gives ample confirmation to his view of this passage.
182 Blomfield would either omit this verse, or assign it to the chorus.