πάρεστι σιγᾶς᾽, ἄτιμος, ἀλόιδοροςἅδιστος 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,πάρεστι σιγὰς (σιγηλος) ἄτιμος ἀλόιδοροςἄληστος 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 byWell.,Peile, andCon., 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 lookingOf 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 “shestands,” appears quite out of place. In my view of this “very difficult and all but desperate passage” (Peile) I am supported bySym. in an able note, which every student ought to read, byMed. andSew.,Buck.,Humb., andDroys. Neither isFr. 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 churchVorwurf, beherrscht die Einsamkeit.”Note 45 (p. 56).“The bolt from on high shall blast his eye.”“Peilegreatly 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 famousspearman, 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 leavingWell. here, much as I generally admire his judicious caution. “Ἀγώνίους in the next line,” saysCon., “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 toPeile, with a writer in the Classical Journal; and was thence adopted byScholefield,Peile,Con., andFranz, 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 standBefore 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 byStan.Note 49 (p. 58).“His pledge is forfeited.”I agree withCon. that the juridical language used in the previous line fixes down the meaning of ρυσίου here beyond dispute; which meaning, indeed—ἐνέχυρον, apledgeorgage, 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 remainAn 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 ofVetustasis 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 landA 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. SoSym.,Con.,Sew.; and I have little doubt as to this being the true meaning—but should we not read χαλκὸςmore than the brass knows dyeing?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 belongsOf 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 ofSym. andMed., which are very good in this place. About the κακὸς ποιμὴν, whether it refer to the whole tempest, asSym. 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 likeCon.’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 fromMed. 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 ashoreWe crawled, escaped from the watery jawsOf 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 byFr.—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 phraseby Divine interposition, or,by the interposition of Divine Providence, or the supreme moral superintendence of Jove.Note 57 (p. 62).“Helen the taker!”There is an etymological allusion in the original here, concerning which see theNotesto 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,” saysSew., who has transmuted the pun into English in no bad fashion thus—“Helen, since as suited wellHell of nations, heroes’ hell,Hell of cities, from the tissuedHarem-chamber veils she issued.”Note 58 (p. 62).“. . . giant Zephyr.”I see no reason why so many translators, fromStan. 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 withCon. that the notion ofstrengthmay 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;”andCon. changesgiantintoTitan, perhaps wisely, to avoid certain ludicrous associations.Note 59 (p. 62).“Kin but not kind.”Another etymological allusion; κῆδος meaning bothkinandcare.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 alsoPotter; but I agree altogether withSew. 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 byWell. 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, fromPot. toCon., 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 bySym. 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 evenFr., 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, andKennedylikewise; but I am happy in having bothCon. andSym. 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 withSym. 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. SoWell. andSym., and this appears the most natural qualification in the circumstances.Note 64 (p. 67).“Thy Phocian spear-guest.”Speaking of the era of the great Doric migration with regard to Megara, BishopThirlwall(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,” whichKen. 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. andKen. take this view. ButPot.,Sym.,Con.,Fr.,Voss., andDroys. 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,necessarilyrefers 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, andutter 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,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, tothrow into, and toput under, orsuggest.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 fromSym.’s note.Note 69 (p. 71).“. . . Were link with linkIn the chain of things not bound together.”ἐι δὲ μὴ τεταγμένα μοῖρα κ. τ. λ. In my opinion,Sym.,Con., andPeile, 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 forbidsThe 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 givenTo 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 theSuppliants, 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 godPollearperform 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.—Sonneratin 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,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.—Seenoteon Prometheus, v. 85. Besides this, there was naturally a peculiar significancy attached to the names of the gods.—Seenote 18,p. 338, above. In the present passage the first pun is on the name Απόλλων, Apollo, and the verb ἀπόλλυμι, which signifies todestroy) so the HebrewAbaddonfromAbad, heperished.—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, likeCon. andSym., leave the play on the words altogether imperceptible to the English reader, or, likeSew., 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 easeAppalled me, and destroyed me.”Note 73 (p. 74).“The blithe blood, that crimson ranIn my veins, runs pale and wan.”With thisSym. 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 veinsParting with natural redness, I discern itChanged 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 spiritFr. givesdunkelroth.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 withDind.,Con.,Linw., andFr., with which single word the fallen warrior disappears, who comes in, even inSym.’s version, rather abruptly.Note 75 (p. 74).“. . . she seizes himBy 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 whatPeileandCon. have judiciously said on the point. As for authority,all the translators, exceptMed. andHumb., fromPot. 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,” asCon. 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 themAs stark as ice?”I read πῆγμα withWell. 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 phraseἄσπονδον ἀρὰν in an author like Æschylus.Franzreceives the emendation ofLobeck, modified into Ἄρη.Note 82 (p. 80).“Bravely thou praisest; but the happy hear notSuch commendations.”I have here, in opposition toFr.,Sym.,Med., and even the cautiousWell., reverted to the original order of this and the next line, as they appear in the MSS., being chiefly moved by what is said byCon. “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,” saysMed. 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 worseOur 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. SoPeileandCon.; 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.
πάρεστι σιγᾶς᾽, ἄτιμος, ἀλόιδοροςἅδιστος ἀφἐμένων ἰδεῖν,
πάρεστι σιγᾶς᾽, ἄτιμος, ἀλόιδοροςἅδιστος ἀφἐμένων ἰδεῖν,
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,
πάρεστι σιγὰς (σιγηλος) ἄτιμος ἀλόιδοροςἄληστος ἀφεμένων ἰδεῖν;
πάρεστι σιγὰς (σιγηλος) ἄτιμος ἀλόιδοροςἄληστος ἀφεμένων ἰδεῖν;
πάρεστι σιγὰς (σιγηλος) ἄτιμος ἀλόιδορος
ἄληστος ἀφεμένων ἰδεῖν;
modified thus by Orelli—
ἄπιστος ἀφεμέναν ἰδεῖν—(See Wellauer).
ἄπιστος ἀφεμέναν ἰδεῖν—(See Wellauer).
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 byWell.,Peile, andCon., 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 lookingOf brides that have from wedlock fled;”
“She stands in silence, scorned, yet unrebuking,Most sweetly sorrowfully lookingOf brides that have from wedlock fled;”
“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 “shestands,” appears quite out of place. In my view of this “very difficult and all but desperate passage” (Peile) I am supported bySym. in an able note, which every student ought to read, byMed. andSew.,Buck.,Humb., andDroys. Neither isFr. against me, because, though following a new reading of Hermann,
πάρεστι σιγὰς ἀτίμους ἀλοιδόρους᾽αισχρῶς ἀφειμενων ιδειν,
πάρεστι σιγὰς ἀτίμους ἀλοιδόρους᾽αισχρῶς ἀφειμενων ιδειν,
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 churchVorwurf, beherrscht die Einsamkeit.”
“Ein Schweigen, sieh! voll von Schmach, nicht gebrochen churchVorwurf, beherrscht die Einsamkeit.”
“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.”
“The bolt from on high shall blast his eye.”
“The bolt from on high shall blast his eye.”
“Peilegreatly admires Klausen’s interpretation”—
“Jacitur oculis a Jove fulmen,”
“Jacitur oculis a Jove fulmen,”
“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.”
“Where women wield the spear.”
“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 famousspearman, 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.”
“. . . our healer from much harm.”
“. . . our healer from much harm.”
παιώνιος. I have no hesitation whatever in leavingWell. here, much as I generally admire his judicious caution. “Ἀγώνίους in the next line,” saysCon., “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 toPeile, with a writer in the Classical Journal; and was thence adopted byScholefield,Peile,Con., andFranz, who names Ahrens as its author.Linw. also calls it “very probable.”
Note 48 (p. 57).“. . . ye sun-fronting gods.”
“. . . ye sun-fronting gods.”
“. . . ye sun-fronting gods.”
δαίμονες ἀντήλιοι.Med. has given the words a special application—
“Ye images of our gods that standBefore the eastern gate.”
“Ye images of our gods that standBefore the eastern gate.”
“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 byStan.
Note 49 (p. 58).“His pledge is forfeited.”
“His pledge is forfeited.”
“His pledge is forfeited.”
I agree withCon. that the juridical language used in the previous line fixes down the meaning of ρυσίου here beyond dispute; which meaning, indeed—ἐνέχυρον, apledgeorgage, 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 remainAn heritage for ever.”
“These spoils, a shining grace, there to remainAn heritage for ever.”
“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 ofVetustasis 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 landA pride and joy.”
“Unto their ancient homes in Hellas landA pride and joy.”
“Unto their ancient homes in Hellas land
A pride and joy.”
Note 51 (p. 60).“No more than dyer’s art can tincture brass.”
“No more than dyer’s art can tincture brass.”
“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. SoSym.,Con.,Sew.; and I have little doubt as to this being the true meaning—but should we not read χαλκὸςmore than the brass knows dyeing?
Note 52 (p. 60).“Far from the honors of the blissful gods.”
“Far from the honors of the blissful gods.”
“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 belongsOf rightful honor,”
“To every god his separate hour belongsOf rightful honor,”
“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.
“Fire and the sea, sworn enemies of old,” etc.
“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 ofSym. andMed., which are very good in this place. About the κακὸς ποιμὴν, whether it refer to the whole tempest, asSym. 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 likeCon.’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.”
“That ocean hell.”
“That ocean hell.”
ἅδην πόντιον, I took this fromMed. 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 ashoreWe crawled, escaped from the watery jawsOf a sea death.”
“O how the day looked lovely, when ashoreWe crawled, escaped from the watery jawsOf a sea death.”
“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.”
“Far-labouring o’er the loosely-driving main.”
“Far-labouring o’er the loosely-driving main.”
There is a fine word in the original here, σποδουμένου, easily and admirably rendered byFr.—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.”
“By Jove’s devising.”
“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 phraseby Divine interposition, or,by the interposition of Divine Providence, or the supreme moral superintendence of Jove.
Note 57 (p. 62).“Helen the taker!”
“Helen the taker!”
“Helen the taker!”
There is an etymological allusion in the original here, concerning which see theNotesto 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,” saysSew., who has transmuted the pun into English in no bad fashion thus—
“Helen, since as suited wellHell of nations, heroes’ hell,Hell of cities, from the tissuedHarem-chamber veils she issued.”
“Helen, since as suited wellHell of nations, heroes’ hell,Hell of cities, from the tissuedHarem-chamber veils she issued.”
“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.”
“. . . giant Zephyr.”
“. . . giant Zephyr.”
I see no reason why so many translators, fromStan. 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 withCon. that the notion ofstrengthmay 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;”
“Fanned by Zephyr’s buxom gales;”
“Fanned by Zephyr’s buxom gales;”
andCon. changesgiantintoTitan, perhaps wisely, to avoid certain ludicrous associations.
Note 59 (p. 62).“Kin but not kind.”
“Kin but not kind.”
“Kin but not kind.”
Another etymological allusion; κῆδος meaning bothkinandcare.Sew. has turned it differently—
“And a marriage truly hight,A marjoy,” etc.
“And a marriage truly hight,A marjoy,” etc.
“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 alsoPotter; but I agree altogether withSew. 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.”
“A servant of Até, a priest of Ruin.”
“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.”
“A haughty heart.”
“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 byWell. 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, fromPot. toCon., 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 bySym. 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.”
“Fawn with watery love.”
“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 evenFr., 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, andKennedylikewise; but I am happy in having bothCon. andSym. 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.”
“He might have boasted of a triple coil.”
“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 withSym. 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. SoWell. andSym., and this appears the most natural qualification in the circumstances.
Note 64 (p. 67).“Thy Phocian spear-guest.”
“Thy Phocian spear-guest.”
“Thy Phocian spear-guest.”
Speaking of the era of the great Doric migration with regard to Megara, BishopThirlwall(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.”
“Come, boy, unbind these sandals.”
“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,” whichKen. aptly adduces, and compares it with Lev. xxx. 19, and Juvenal Sat. VI. 159—
“Observant ubi festa mero pede Sabbata reges,”
“Observant ubi festa mero pede Sabbata reges,”
“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.”
“Jove, Jove the perfecter! perfect thou my vow.”
“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. andKen. take this view. ButPot.,Sym.,Con.,Fr.,Voss., andDroys. 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,necessarilyrefers 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.”
“. . . unbidden and unhired.”
“. . . unbidden and unhired.”
“Poor Louis! With them it is a hollow phantasmagoria, where, like mimes, they mope and mow, andutter 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,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.
“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.
“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, tothrow into, and toput under, orsuggest.
Note 68 (p. 70).“Unloosed their cables from the shore.”
“Unloosed their cables from the shore.”
“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 fromSym.’s note.
Note 69 (p. 71).“. . . Were link with linkIn the chain of things not bound together.”
“. . . Were link with linkIn the chain of things not bound together.”
“. . . 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., andPeile, 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 forbidsThe Fate within to utter more,Else had my heart outrun my tongue,And poured the torrent o’er.”
“I pause. Some Fate from Heaven forbidsThe Fate within to utter more,Else had my heart outrun my tongue,And poured the torrent o’er.”
“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 givenTo drag the secret of the Fates to the day.”
“Nor would I counteract the laws of Heaven;My heart would chain my tongue, e’en were it givenTo drag the secret of the Fates to the day.”
“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.”
“. . . the household altar.”
“. . . 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 theSuppliants, v. 440—my translation.
Note 71 (p. 72).“My way-god, my leader Apollo!”
“My way-god, my leader Apollo!”
“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 godPollearperform 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.—Sonneratin notes to the Curse of Kehama, Canto V.
Note 72 (p. 73).“Apollo, my leader, whither hast thou led me?”
“Apollo, my leader, whither hast thou led me?”
“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,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.—Seenoteon Prometheus, v. 85. Besides this, there was naturally a peculiar significancy attached to the names of the gods.—Seenote 18,p. 338, above. In the present passage the first pun is on the name Απόλλων, Apollo, and the verb ἀπόλλυμι, which signifies todestroy) so the HebrewAbaddonfromAbad, heperished.—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, likeCon. andSym., leave the play on the words altogether imperceptible to the English reader, or, likeSew., 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 easeAppalled me, and destroyed me.”
“Apollo! Apollo!Leader! appaller mine!Yea! for the second time thou hast with easeAppalled me, and destroyed me.”
“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 ranIn my veins, runs pale and wan.”
“The blithe blood, that crimson ranIn my veins, runs pale and wan.”
“The blithe blood, that crimson ran
In my veins, runs pale and wan.”
With thisSym. 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 veinsParting with natural redness, I discern itChanged to a fatal yellow.”
“What an earthquake I feel in me!And on the sudden my whole fabric totters;My blood within me turns, and through my veinsParting with natural redness, I discern itChanged to a fatal yellow.”
“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.”
“The ruddy drop is curdling at my heart.”
“The ruddy drop is curdling at my heart.”
And in the same spiritFr. givesdunkelroth.
Note 74 (p. 74).“As when in the mortal anguish.”
“As when in the mortal anguish.”
“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 withDind.,Con.,Linw., andFr., with which single word the fallen warrior disappears, who comes in, even inSym.’s version, rather abruptly.
Note 75 (p. 74).“. . . she seizes himBy the strong black horn.”
“. . . she seizes himBy the strong black horn.”
“. . . 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?”
“With her black horn she buts him.What is that wrapt round his head?”
“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 whatPeileandCon. have judiciously said on the point. As for authority,all the translators, exceptMed. andHumb., fromPot. 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.”
“Crieth Itys! Itys! aye.”
“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.”
“The thick blossoms of its woe.”
“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.”
“Soon my reeking heart shall cast.”
“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,” asCon. 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.
“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.
“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.”
“Waves shall it dash from the west in the sun’s face.”
“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 themAs stark as ice?”
“. . . though I should wedge themAs stark as ice?”
“. . . though I should wedge them
As stark as ice?”
I read πῆγμα withWell. 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.”
“Implacable breath of curses on her kin.”
“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 phraseἄσπονδον ἀρὰν in an author like Æschylus.Franzreceives the emendation ofLobeck, modified into Ἄρη.
Note 82 (p. 80).“Bravely thou praisest; but the happy hear notSuch commendations.”
“Bravely thou praisest; but the happy hear notSuch commendations.”
“Bravely thou praisest; but the happy hear not
Such commendations.”
I have here, in opposition toFr.,Sym.,Med., and even the cautiousWell., reverted to the original order of this and the next line, as they appear in the MSS., being chiefly moved by what is said byCon. “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.”
“Not with vain screaming, like a fluttering bird.”
“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,” saysMed. 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 worseOur changes run, and with the worst we end.”
“. . . From bad to worseOur changes run, and with the worst we end.”
“. . . 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. SoPeileandCon.; 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.