Note 32 (p. 195).“Numbers, too,I taught them (a most choice device).”“The Pythagorean tenets of Æschylus here display themselves. It was one of the doctrines attributed to this mysterious sect that they professed to find in numbers, and their combinations, the primordial types of everything cognisable by the mind, whether of a physical or moral nature. They even spoke of the soul as a number.”—Prow. But, apart from all Pythagorean notions, we may safely say—from observation of travellers indeed certainly affirm—that there is nothing in which the civilized man so remarkably distinguishes himself from the savage, as in the power to grasp and handle relations of number. The special reference to Pythagoras in this passage is, I perceive, decidedly rejected bySchoe.;Bergk. andHaupt., according to his statement, admitting it. Of course, such a reference in the mind of the poet can never beproved; only it does no harm to suppose it.Note 33 (p. 196).“. . . the fire-faced signs.”(φλογωπὰ σήματα).Prowettrefers this tolightning; but surely, in the present connection, the obvious reference is to the sacrificial flame, from which, as from most parts of the sacrificial ceremony, omens were wont to be taken. When the flame burned bright it was a good omen; when with a smoky and troublous flame, the omen was bad. See a well-known description of this in Sophocles’ Antigone, from the mouth of the blind old diviner Tiresias, when he first enters the stage, v. 1005; and another curious passage in Euripides’ Phœniss. 1261.Note 34 (p. 196).“And who is lord of strong Necessity?”Necessity (Ἀνάγκη), a favourite power to which reference is made by the Greek dramatists, is merely an impersonation of the fact patent to all, that the world is governed by a system of strict and inexorable law, from the operation of which no man can escape. That the gods themselves are subject to this Ἀνάγκη. is a method of expression not seldom used by Heathen writers; but that they had any distinct idea, or fixed theological notion ofNecessityorFate, as a power separate from and superior to the gods I see no reason to believe.—See my observations on the Homeric μοῖρα inClas. Mus., No. XXVI., p. 437. And in the same way that Homer talks of thefate from the gods, so the tragedians talk ofnecessity from or imposed by the gods—τὰς γὰρ ἐκ θεῶν ἀνάγκας θνητον ὀντα δεῖ φέρειν. With regard to Æschylus, certainly one must beware of drawing any hasty inference with regard to his theological creed from this insulated passage. For here the poet adopts the notion of the strict subjection of Jove to an externalFate,principally, one may suppose, from dramatic propriety; it suits the person and the occasion. Otherwise, the Æschylean theology is very favourable to the absolute supremacy of Jove; and, accordingly, in the Eumenides, those very Furies, who are here called his superiors, though they dispute with Apollo, are careful not to be provoked into a single expression which shall seem to throw a doubt on the infallibility of “the Father.” For the rest, the Fates and Furies, both here and in the Eumenides, are aptly coupled, and, in signification, indeed, are identical; because a man’sfatein this world can never be separated from hisconduct, nor his conduct from hisconscience, of which the Furies are the impersonation.Note 35 (p. 196).“No more than others Jove can ’scape his doom.”The idea that the Supreme Ruler of the Universe can ever be dethroned is foreign to every closely reasoned system of monotheism; but in polytheistic systems it is not unnatural (for gods who had a beginning may have an end); and in the Hindoo theology receives an especial prominence. Southey accordingly makes Indra, the Hindoo Jove, say—“A stronger handMay wrest my sceptre, and unparadiseThe Swerga.”—Curse of Kehama, VII.We must bear in mind, however, that it is not Æschylus in the present passage, but Prometheus who says this.Note 36 (p. 197)“Plant his high will against my weak opinion!”The original of these words, “μηδάμ θ(ε)ιτ᾽ εμᾀ γνώμᾶ κράτος ἀντίπαλον Ζεὺς,” has been otherwise translated “Minime Jupiter indat animo meo vim rebellem;” but, apart altogether from theological considerations, I entirely agree withSchoe. that this rendering puts a force upon the word κράτος, which is by no means called for, and which it will not easily bear.Note 37 (p. 197)“Won by rich gifts didst lead.”Observe here the primitive practice according to which the bridegroom purchased his wife, by rich presents made to the father. In Iliad IX. 288, Agamemnon promises, as a particular favour, to give his daughter in marriage to Achilles ἀνάεδνον, that is, without any consideration in the shape of a marriage gift.Note 38 (p. 197).EnterIo. Io is one of those mysterious characters on the borderland between history and fable, concerning which it is difficult to say whether they are to be looked on as personal realities, or as impersonated ideas. According to the historical view of ancient legends, Io is the daughter of Inachus, a primeval king of Argos; and, from this fact as a root, the extravagant legends about her, sprouting from the ever active inoculation of human fancy, branched out. Interpreted by the principles of early theological allegory, however, she is, according to the witness of Suidas, theMoon, and her wanderings the revolutions of that satellite. In either view, the immense extent of these wanderings is well explained by mythological writers (1) from the influence of Argive colonies at Byzantium and elsewhere; and (2) from the vain desire of the Greeks to connect theirhorned virgin Io, with the hornedIsisof the Egyptians. It need scarcely be remarked that, if Io means the moon, her horns are as naturally explained as her wanderings. But, in reading Æschylus, all these considerations are most wisely left out of view, the Athenians, no doubt, who introduced this play, believing in the historical reality of the Inachian maid, as firmly as we believe in that of Adam or Methuselah. As little can I agree withBoth. that we are called upon to rationalize away the reality of the persecuting insect, whether under the name of ᾽(ο)ιστρος or μύωψ. In popular legends the sublime is ever apt to be associated with circumstances that either are, or, to the cultivated imagination, necessarily appear to be ridiculous.Note 39 (p. 198).“. . . save me, O Earth!”I have here given the received traditionary rendering of Αλεῦ ὦ δᾶ; but I must confess the appeal to Earth here in this passage always appeared to me something unexpected; and it is, accordingly, with pleasure that I submit the following observations ofSchoe. to the consideration of the scholar—“Δᾶ is generally looked on as a dialectic variation of γᾶ; and, in conformity with this opinion, Theocritus has used the accusation Δᾶν. I consider this erroneous, and am of opinion that in Δημητηρ we are rather to understand Δεαμητηρ than Γημητηρ; and δᾶ is to be taken only as an interjection. This is not the place to discuss this matter fully; but, in the meantime, I may mention thatAhrensde dialecta Doricâ, p. 80, has refuted the traditionary notion with regard to δᾶ.Note 40 (p. 198).Chorus. WithWell., andSchoe., and the MSS., I give this verse to the Chorus, though certainly it is not to be denied that the continuation of the lyrical metre of the Strophe pleads strongly in favour of giving it to Io. It is also certain that, for the sake of symmetry, the last line of the Antistrophe must also be given to the Chorus, asSchoe. has done.Note 41 (p. 199).“. . . the sisters of thy father, Io.”Inachus, the Argive river, was, like all other rivers, the son of Ocean, and, of course, the brother of the Ocean-maids, the Chorus of the present play. Afterwards, according to the historical method of conception, characteristic of the early legends, the elementary god became a human person—the river was metamorphosed into a king.Note 42 (p. 200).“. . . Lerne’s bosomed mead.”We most commonly read of thewaterorfountainof Lerne; this implies a meadow—and this, again, implies high overhanging grounds, or cliffs, of which mention is made in the twenty-third line below. In that place, however, the reading ἄκρην is not at all certain; and, were I editing the text, I should have no objection to followPal. in reading Λέρνης τε κρήνην, with Canter. In fixing this point, something will depend upon the actual landscape.Note 43 (p. 201).“First to the east.”Here begins the narration of the mythical wanderings of Io—a strange matter, and of a piece with the whole fable, which, however, with all its perplexities, Æschylus, no doubt, and his audience, following the old minstrels, took very lightly. In such matters, the less curious a man is,the greater chance is there of his not going far wrong; and to be superficial is safer than to be profound. The following causes may be stated as presumptive grounds why we ought not to be surprised at any startling inaccuracy in geographical detail in legends of this kind:—(1) The Greeks, as stated above, even in their most scientific days, had the vaguest possible ideas of the geography of the extreme circumference of the habitable globe and the parts nearest to it which are spoken of in the passage. (2) The geographical ideas of Æschylus must be assumed as more kindred to those of Homer than of the best informed later Greeks. (3) Even supposing Æschylus to have had the most accurate geographical ideas, he had no reasons in handling a Titanic myth to make his geographical scenery particularly tangible; on the contrary, as a skilful artist, the more misty and indefinite he could keep it the better. (4) He may have taken the wanderings of Io, as Welcker still suggests (Trilog.137), literally from the old Epic poem “Aigimius,” or some other traditionary lay as old as Homer, leaving to himself no more discretion in the matter, and caring as little to do so as Shakespere did about the geographical localities in Macbeth, which he borrowed from Hollinshed. For all these reasons I am of opinion that any attempt to explain the geographical difficulties of the following wanderings would be labour lost to myself no less than to the reader; and shall, therefore, content myself with notingseriatimthe different points of the progress, and explaining, for the sake of the general reader, what is or is not known in the learned world about the matter:—(1) The starting-point is not from Mount Caucasus, according to the common representation, but from some indefinite point in thenorthern parts of Europe. So the Scholiast on v. 1, arguing from the present passage, clearly concludes; and with him agreeHer. andSchoe.; Welcker whimsically, I think, maintaining a contrary opinion.(2) TheScythian nomads,vid.note on v. 2,supra.; their particular customs alluded to here are well known, presenting a familiar ancient analogy to the gipsy life of the present day. The reader of Horace will recall the lines—“Campestres melius ScythaeQuorum plaustra vagas rite trahunt domos.”—Ode III. 24-9.and the same poet (III. 4-35) mentions the “quiver-bearing Geloni”; for the bow is the most convenient weapon to all wandering and semi-civilized warriors.(3) TheChalybs, orChaldaei, are properly a people in Pontus, at the north-east corner of Asia Minor; but Æschylus, in his primeval Titanic geography, takes the liberty of planting them to the north of the Euxine.(4) The riverHubristes. The Araxes, says the Scholiast; theTanais, say others; or theCuban(Dr. Schmitz in Smith’s Dict.). The word meansboisterousoroutrageous, and recalls the Virgilian “pontem indignatus Araxes.”(5) TheCaucasus, as in modern geography.(6) TheAmazons; placed here in the country about Colchis to the northward of their final settlement in Themiscyre, on the Thermodon, in Pontus, east of the Halys.(7)Salmydessus, on the Euxine,westof the Symplegades and the Thracian Bosphorus; of course a violent jump in the geography.(8) TheCimmerian Bosphorus, between the Euxine and the Sea of Azof. Puzzling enough that this should come in here, and no mention be made of the Thracian Bosphorus in the whole flight! The wordBosporusmeans in Greek thepassage of the Cow.(9) TheAsian continent; from the beginning a strange wheel! For the rest see below.Note 44 (p. 203).“When generations ten have passed, the third.”This mythical genealogy is thus given bySchützfrom Apollodorus. 1. Epaphus; 2. Libya; 3. Belus (see Suppliants,p. 228, above); 4. Danaus; 5. Hypermnestra; 6. Abas; 7. Proetus; 8. Acrisias; 9. Danae; 10. Perseus; 11. Electryon; 12. Alcmena; 13. Heracles.Note 45 (p. 203).“When thou hast crossed the narrow stream that parts.”I now proceed with the mythical wanderings of the “ox-horned maid,” naming the different points, and continuing the numbers, from the former Note—(10) TheSounding Ocean.—Before these words, something seems to have dropt out of the text; what the “sounding sea” (πόντου φλ(ο)ισβος) is, no man can say; but, as a southward direction is clearly indicated in what follows, we may suppose theCaspian, withHer.; or thePersian Gulf, withSchoe.(11) TheGorgonian Plains.—“The Gorgons are conceived by Hesiod to live in the Western Ocean, in the neighbourhood of Night, and the Hesperides; but later traditions place them in Libya.”—Dr.Schmitz, in Smith’s Dict.: butSchoe., in his note, quotes a scholiast to Pindar,Pyth.X. 72, which places them near the Red Sea, and in Ethiopia. This latter habitation, of course, agrees best with the present passage of Æschylus.With regard toCisthene, the same writer (Schoe.) has an ingenious conjecture, that it may be a mistake of the old copyists, for theCissians, a Persian people, mentioned in the opening chorus to the play of the Persians.(12) The country of theGriffins, theArimaspi, and the riverPluto. The Griffins and the Arimaspi are well known from Herodotus and Strabo, which latter, we have seen above (Note 1), places them to the north of the Euxine Sea, as a sub-division of the Scythians. Æschylus, however, either meant to confound all geographical distinctions, or followed a different tradition, which placed the Arimaspi in the south, as to which seeSchoe. “The riverPlutois easily explained, from the accounts of golden-sanded rivers in the East which had reached Greece.”—Schoe.(13) The river Aethiops seems altogether fabulous.(14) The “Bybline Heights,” meaning the κατάδουπα (Herod. II. 17), or place where the Nile falls from the mountains.—Lin.in voceκαταβασμός, which is translatedpass. No such place asByblusis mentioned here by the geographers, in want of whichPot. has allowed himself to be led, by the Scholiast, into rather a curious error. The old annotator, having nothing geographical to sayabout thisByblus, thought he might try what etymology could do; so he tells us that the Bybline Mountains were so called from theByblosorPapyrusthat grew on them. This Potter took up and gave—“Where from themountains with papyrus crownedThe venerable Nile impetuous pours,”overlooking the fact that the papyrus is a sedge, and grows in flat, moist places.Note 46 (p. 204).“. . . the sacred NilePours his salubrious flood.”ἔυποτον ρέος, literally,good for drinking. The medicinal qualities of theNilewere famous in ancient times. In the Suppliants, v. 556, our poet calls the Nile water, νόσοις ἄθικτον,not to be reached by diseases;and in v. 835,the nurturing river that makes the blood flow more buoyantly. On this subject, the celebrated Venetian physician, Prosper Alpin, in hisRerum Ægyptiarum, Lib. IV. (Lugd. Bat. 1735) writes as follows: “Nili aqua merito omnibus aliis præfertur quod ipsa alvum subducat, menses pellat ut propterea raro mensium suppressio in Ægypti mulieribus reperiatur. Potui suavis est, et dulcis; sitim promptissime extinguit; frigida tuto bibitur, concoctionem juvat, ac distributioni auxilio est, minime hypochondriis gravis corpus firmum et coloratum reddit,” etc.—Lib. I. c. 3. If the water of the Nile really be not only pleasant to drink, but, strictly speaking, of medicinal virtue, it has a companion in the Ness, at Inverness, the waters of which are said to possess such a drastic power, that they cannot be drunk with safety by strangers.Note 47 (p. 204).“. . . thence with mazy courseTossed hither.”I quite agree withSchoe. that, in the word παλιμπλάγκτος, in this passage, we must understand πάλιν to meanto and fro, notbackwards. With a backward or reverted course from the Adriatic, Io could never have been brought northward to Scythia. The maziness of Io’s course arises naturally from the fitful attacks of the persecuting insect of which she was the victim. A direct course is followed by sane reason, a zigzag course by insane impulse.Note 48 (p. 204).“. . . Epaphus, whose name shall tellThe wonder of his birth.”As Io was identified with Isis, so Epaphus seems merely a Greek term for the famous bull-god Apis.—(Herod. III. 27, and Müller’s Prolegom. myth.) The etymology, like many others given by the ancients, is ridiculous enough; ἐπαφή,touch. This derivation is often alluded to in the next play,The Suppliants. With regard to the idea of a virgin mother so prominent in this legend of Io,Prow. has remarked that it occurs in the Hindoo and in the Mexican mythology; but nothing can be more puerile than the attempt which he mentions as made byFaberto connect this idea with the “promise respecting the seed of the woman made to man at the fall.” Sound philosophy will never seek a distant reason for a phenomenon, when a near one is ready. When an object of worship or admiration is once acknowledged as superhuman, it is the most natural thing in the world for the imagination to supply a superhuman birth. A miraculous life flows most fitly from a miraculous generation. The mother of the great type of Romanwarriors is a vestal, and his father is the god of war. Romans and Greeks will wisely be left to settle such matters for themselves, without the aid of “patriarchal traditions” or “the prophecy of Isaiah.” The ancient Hellenes were not so barren, either of fancy or feeling, as that they required to borrow matters of this kind from the Hebrews. On the idea of “generation by a god” generally, see the admirable note inGrote’s History of Greece, P. I. c. 16 (Vol. I. p. 471).Note 49 (p. 207).“. . . they are wise who worship Adrastéa.”“A surname of Nemesis, derived by some writers from Adrastus, who is said to have built the first sanctuary of Nemesis on the river Asopus (Strabo XIII. p. 588), and by others from the verb διδράσκειν, according to which it would signify the goddess whom none could escape.”—Dr.Schmitz. On this subject,Stan. has a long note, where the student will find various illustrative references.Note 50 (p. 209).“For wilful strength that hath no wisdom in itIs less than nothing.”The word in the original, ἀυθαδιά, literally “self-pleasing,” expresses a state of mind which the Greeks, with no shallow ethical discernment, were accustomed to denounce as the great source of all those sins whose consequences are the most fearful to the individual and to society. St. Paul, in his epistle to Titus (i. 7), uses the same word emphatically to express what a Christian bishop shouldnotbe (ἀυθὰδη, self-willed). The same word is used by the blind old soothsayer Tiresias in theAntigone, when preaching repentance to the passionate and self-willed tyrant of Thebes, ἀυθαδιά τοι σκαιότητ ὀφλισκάνει, where Donaldson gives the whole passage as follows:—“Then take these things to heart, my son; for errorIs as the universal lot of man;But, whensoe’er he errs, that man no longerIs witless, or unblest, who, having fallenInto misfortune, seeks to mend his ways,And is not obstinate:the stiff-necked temperMust oft plead guilty to the charge of folly.”Sophocles, Antig. v. 1028.Note 51 (p. 209).“. . . unless some god endureVicarious thy tortures.”The idea of vicarious sacrifice, or punishment by substitution of one person for another, does not seem to have been very familiar to the Greek mind; at least, I do not trace it in Homer. It occurs, however, most distinctly in the well-known case ofMenœceus, in Euripides’ play of thePhœnissæ. In this passage, also, it is plainly implied, though the word διάδοχος, strictly translated, means only asuccessor, and not asubstitute.Welck. (Trilog. p. 47) has pointed out that the person here alluded to is the centaurChiron, of whom Apollodorus (II. 5-11-12) says that “Hercules, after freeing Prometheus, who had assumed the olive chaplet (Welck. reads ἑλόμένον), delivered up Chiron to Jove willing, though immortal, to die in his room (θνήσκειν ὰντ᾽ ἁυτου). This is literally the Christian idea of vicarious death. The Druids, according to Cæsar (b.c.VI. 16), held the doctrine strictly—“pro vita hominis nisi hominis vita reddatur non posse aliter deorum immortalium numen placari.” Of existing heathens practising human sacrifice, the religious rites of the Khonds in Orissa present the ideaof vicarious sacrifice in the most distinct outline. See the interesting memoir of Captain Macpherson inBlackwood’s Magazinefor August, 1842.Note 52 (p. 210).“Seems he not a willing madman,Let him reap the fruits he sowed.”I have translated these lines quite freely, as the text is corrupt, and the emendations proposed do not contain any idea worth the translator’s adopting.Schoe. reads—Τί γὰρ ἐλλείπει μὴ παραπάιεινἘι τάδ ἐπαυχεῖ τί χαλᾷ μανιῶν;and translatesWas fehlet ihm noch wahnwitzig zo seyn,Wenn also er pocht? Wie zahmt er die Wuth?Prow. from a different reading, hasTo thee, if this resolve seems good,Why shouldst thou check thy frenzied mood?NOTES TO THE SUPPLIANTSNote 1 (p. 219).“Jove the suppliant’s high protector.”Ζεὺς ἀφίκτωρ, literallysuppliant Jove, the epithet which properly belongs to the worshipper being transferred to the object of worship. The reader will note here another instance of the monotheistic element in Polytheism, so often alluded to in these Notes. Jove, as the supreme moral governor of the universe, has a general supervision of the whole social system of gods and men; and specially where there is no inferior protector, as in the case of fugitives and suppliants—there he presses with all the weight of his high authority. In such cases, religion presents a generous and truly humanizing aspect, and the “primus in orbe Deos fecit timor” of the philosophers loses its sting.Note 2 (p. 219).“Of the fat fine-sanded Nile!”Wellauer, in his usual over-cautious way, has not receivedPauw’s emendation λεπτοψαμάθων into his text, though he calls itcertissimumin his notes.Pal., whom I follow, acts in these matters with a more manly decision. Even without the authority ofPliny(XXXV. 13), I should adopt so natural an emendation, where the text is plainly corrupt.Note 3 (p. 219).“Gently thrilled the brize-stung heiferWith his procreant touch.”Seep. 204above, andNote 48to Prometheus. There prevails throughout this play a constant allusion to the divine significance of the nameEpaphus, meaning, as it does,touch. To the Greeks, as already remarked (p. 388), this was no mere punning; and the names of the gods (Note 17, p. 391 above) were one of the strongest instruments of Heathen devotion. That there is an allusion to this in Matthew vi. 7, I have no doubt.Note 4 (p. 219).“Ye blissful gods supremely swaying.”I see no necessity here, withPal., for changing ὧν πολις into ὦ πολις—but it is a matter of small importance to the translator. Jove,the third, is a method of designating the supreme power of which we have frequent examples in Æschylus—see the Eumenides,p. 164, whereJove the Saviour all-perfectingis mentioned afterPallasandLoxias, as it were, to crown the invocation with the greatest of all names. In that passage τρίτου occurs in the original, which I was wrong to omit.Note 5 (p. 220).“Marriage beds which right refuses.”In what countries are first cousins forbidden to marry?Welckerdoes not know. “Das Eherecht worauf diese Weigerung beruht ist nicht bekannt.”—Welcker(Trilog.391).Note 6 (p. 221).“With Ionian wailings unstinted.”“PerhapsIonianis put in this place antithetically to Νειλοθερῆ,from the Nile, in the next line, and the sense is, ‘though coming from Egypt,yet, being of Greek extraction, I speak Greek.’”—Paley. This appears to me the simplest and most satisfactory comment on the passage.Note 7 (p. 221).“From the far misty land.”That isEgypt. So called according to the Etymol. M. quoted byStan., from the cloudy appearance which the low-lying Delta district presents to the stranger approaching it from the sea.Note 8 (p. 222).“All godlike power is calm.”It would be unfair not to advertise the English reader that this fine sentiment is a translation from a conjectural reading, πᾶν ἄπονον δαιμονιων, ofWell., which, however, is in beautiful harmony with the context. The text generally in this part of the play is extremely corrupt. In the present stanza,Well.’s correction of δε ἀπιδων into ἐλπίδων deserves to be celebrated as one of the few grand triumphs of verbal criticism that have a genuine poetical value.Note 9 (p. 222).“Ah! well-a-day! ah! well-a-day!”The reader must imagine here a complete change in the style of the music—say from the major to the minor key. In the whole Chorus, the mind of the singer sways fitfully between a hopeful confidence and a dark despair. The faith in the counsel of Jove, and in the sure destruction of the wicked, so finely expressed in the preceding stanzas, supports the sinking soul but weakly in this closing part of the hymn. These alterations of feeling exhibited under such circumstances will appear strange to no one who is acquainted with the human, and especially with the female heart.Note 10 (p. 223).“Ye Apian hills.”“Apia, an old name for Peloponnesus, which remains still a mystery, even after the attempt of Butmann to throw light upon it.”—Grote, Hist, of Greece, Part I. c. 4. Æschylus’ own account of Apis, the supposed originator of the name Apia, will be found in this play a few lines below. I have consulted Butmann, and find nothing but a conglomeration of vague and slippery etymologies.Note 11 (p. 225).“. . . rounded cars.”καμπύλος,with a bendorsweep; alluding to the form of the rim of the ancient chariot, between the charioteer and the horses. See the figure inSmith’sDict. Antiq., Articles ἄντυξ andcurrus.Note 12 (p. 225).“. . . the Agonian gods.”The common meaning that a Greek scholar would naturally give to the phrase θεοῖ ἀγωνιοι is that given byHesych, viz.,gods that preside over public games, or, as I have rendered it in the Agamemnon (p. 57above),gods that rule the chance of combat. For persons who, like the Herald in that play, had just escaped from a great struggle, or, like the fugitive Virgins in this piece, were going through one, there does not appear to be any great impropriety (notwithstandingPal.’s.inepte) in an appeal to the gods of combat. Opposed to this interpretation, however, we have the common practice of Homer, with whom the substantive ἀγών generally means an assembly; and the testimony of Eustathius, who, in his notes tothat poet, Iliad, Ω 1335, 58, says “παρ Αισχύλῳ ἀγώνιοι θεοὶ ὁι ἀγορᾶιοι;”i.e. gods that preside over assemblies.Note 13 (p. 225).“. . . your sistered hands.”διὰ χερων συνωνύμων. I am inclined to think withPal. that ἐυωνύμων may be the true reading;i.e. in your left hands. And yet, so fond is Æschylus of quaint phrases that I do not think myself at liberty to reject the vulgate, so long as it is susceptible of the very appropriate meaning given in the text. “Hands of the same name” may very well be tolerated for “hands of the same race”—“hands of sisters.”Note 14 (p. 225).“Even so; and with benignant eye look down!”I have here departed fromWell.’s arrangement of this short colloquy between Danaus and his daughters, and adoptedPal.’s, which appears to me to satisfy the demands both of sense and metrical symmetry. That there is something wrong in the received textWell. admits.Note 15 (p. 226).“There where his bird the altar decorates.”I have here incorporated into the text the natural and unembarrassed meaning of this passage given byPal. The bird of Jove, of course, is the eagle. What the Scholiast andStan. say about the cock appears to be pure nonsense, which would never have been invented but for the confused order of the dialogue in the received text.Note 16 (p. 226).“Apollo, too, the pure, the exiled once.”“They invoke Apollo to help them, strangers and fugitives, because that god himself had once been banished from heaven by Jove, and kept the herds of Admetus.‘Non ignara mali miseris succurrere disco.’”—Stan.Note 17 (p. 226).“Here, Hermes likewise, as Greece knows the god.”This plainly points out a distinction between the Greek and the famous Egyptian Hermes. So the Scholiast, andStan. who quotes Cic., Nat. Deor. III. 22.Note 18 (p. 226).“Can bird eat bird and be an holy thing?”This seems to have been a common-place among the ancients.Pliny, in the following passage, draws a contrast between man and the inferior animals, not much to the honor of the former:—“Cætera animalia in suo genere probe degunt; congregari videmus et stare contra dissimilia; leonum feritas inter se non dimicat; serpentum morsus non petit serpentes; ne maris quidem belluæ ac pisces nisi in diversa genera sæviunt. At hercule homini plarima ex homine sunt mala.”—Nat. Hist. VII. proem. This custom of blackening human nature (which is bad enough, without being made worse) has been common enough also in modern times, especially among a certain school of theologians, very far, indeed, in other respects, from claiming kindred with the Roman polyhistor; but the fact is, one great general law over-rides both man and the brute, viz. this—Like herdswith like—the only difference being that human beings, with a great outward similarity, are characterized by a more various inward diversity than the lower animals. There are, in fact, men of all various kinds represented in the moral world—all those varieties which different races and species exhibit in the physical. There are lamb-men, tiger-men, serpent-men, pigeon-men, and hawk-men. That such discordant natures should sometimes, nay always in a certain sense, strive, is a necessary consequence of their existing.Note 19 (p. 226).“And of no host the acknowledged guest, unfearingYe tread this land.”ἀπρόξενος, without a πρόξενος, or apublic hostorentertainer—one who occupied the same position on the part of the state towards a stranger that a ξένος or landlord, did to his private guest. In some respects “the office of proxenus bears great resemblance to that of a modern consul or minister resident.”—Dr.Schmitz, in Smith’s Dict., articleHospitium. CompareSouthey, Notes toMadoc. I. 5,The Stranger’s House.Note 20 (p. 227).“Of old earth-born Palæcthon am the son,My name Pelasgus.”Here we have an example of those names of the earliest progenitors of an ancient race that seem to bear fiction on their face;Palaecthonmeaning merely theancient son of the land, andPelasgusbeing the name-father of the famous ante-Homeric wandering Greeks, whom we callPelasgi.
Note 32 (p. 195).“Numbers, too,I taught them (a most choice device).”
“Numbers, too,I taught them (a most choice device).”
“Numbers, too,
I taught them (a most choice device).”
“The Pythagorean tenets of Æschylus here display themselves. It was one of the doctrines attributed to this mysterious sect that they professed to find in numbers, and their combinations, the primordial types of everything cognisable by the mind, whether of a physical or moral nature. They even spoke of the soul as a number.”—Prow. But, apart from all Pythagorean notions, we may safely say—from observation of travellers indeed certainly affirm—that there is nothing in which the civilized man so remarkably distinguishes himself from the savage, as in the power to grasp and handle relations of number. The special reference to Pythagoras in this passage is, I perceive, decidedly rejected bySchoe.;Bergk. andHaupt., according to his statement, admitting it. Of course, such a reference in the mind of the poet can never beproved; only it does no harm to suppose it.
Note 33 (p. 196).“. . . the fire-faced signs.”
“. . . the fire-faced signs.”
“. . . the fire-faced signs.”
(φλογωπὰ σήματα).Prowettrefers this tolightning; but surely, in the present connection, the obvious reference is to the sacrificial flame, from which, as from most parts of the sacrificial ceremony, omens were wont to be taken. When the flame burned bright it was a good omen; when with a smoky and troublous flame, the omen was bad. See a well-known description of this in Sophocles’ Antigone, from the mouth of the blind old diviner Tiresias, when he first enters the stage, v. 1005; and another curious passage in Euripides’ Phœniss. 1261.
Note 34 (p. 196).“And who is lord of strong Necessity?”
“And who is lord of strong Necessity?”
“And who is lord of strong Necessity?”
Necessity (Ἀνάγκη), a favourite power to which reference is made by the Greek dramatists, is merely an impersonation of the fact patent to all, that the world is governed by a system of strict and inexorable law, from the operation of which no man can escape. That the gods themselves are subject to this Ἀνάγκη. is a method of expression not seldom used by Heathen writers; but that they had any distinct idea, or fixed theological notion ofNecessityorFate, as a power separate from and superior to the gods I see no reason to believe.—See my observations on the Homeric μοῖρα inClas. Mus., No. XXVI., p. 437. And in the same way that Homer talks of thefate from the gods, so the tragedians talk ofnecessity from or imposed by the gods—τὰς γὰρ ἐκ θεῶν ἀνάγκας θνητον ὀντα δεῖ φέρειν. With regard to Æschylus, certainly one must beware of drawing any hasty inference with regard to his theological creed from this insulated passage. For here the poet adopts the notion of the strict subjection of Jove to an externalFate,principally, one may suppose, from dramatic propriety; it suits the person and the occasion. Otherwise, the Æschylean theology is very favourable to the absolute supremacy of Jove; and, accordingly, in the Eumenides, those very Furies, who are here called his superiors, though they dispute with Apollo, are careful not to be provoked into a single expression which shall seem to throw a doubt on the infallibility of “the Father.” For the rest, the Fates and Furies, both here and in the Eumenides, are aptly coupled, and, in signification, indeed, are identical; because a man’sfatein this world can never be separated from hisconduct, nor his conduct from hisconscience, of which the Furies are the impersonation.
Note 35 (p. 196).“No more than others Jove can ’scape his doom.”
“No more than others Jove can ’scape his doom.”
“No more than others Jove can ’scape his doom.”
The idea that the Supreme Ruler of the Universe can ever be dethroned is foreign to every closely reasoned system of monotheism; but in polytheistic systems it is not unnatural (for gods who had a beginning may have an end); and in the Hindoo theology receives an especial prominence. Southey accordingly makes Indra, the Hindoo Jove, say—
“A stronger handMay wrest my sceptre, and unparadiseThe Swerga.”—Curse of Kehama, VII.
“A stronger handMay wrest my sceptre, and unparadiseThe Swerga.”—Curse of Kehama, VII.
“A stronger hand
May wrest my sceptre, and unparadise
The Swerga.”—Curse of Kehama, VII.
We must bear in mind, however, that it is not Æschylus in the present passage, but Prometheus who says this.
Note 36 (p. 197)“Plant his high will against my weak opinion!”
“Plant his high will against my weak opinion!”
“Plant his high will against my weak opinion!”
The original of these words, “μηδάμ θ(ε)ιτ᾽ εμᾀ γνώμᾶ κράτος ἀντίπαλον Ζεὺς,” has been otherwise translated “Minime Jupiter indat animo meo vim rebellem;” but, apart altogether from theological considerations, I entirely agree withSchoe. that this rendering puts a force upon the word κράτος, which is by no means called for, and which it will not easily bear.
Note 37 (p. 197)“Won by rich gifts didst lead.”
“Won by rich gifts didst lead.”
“Won by rich gifts didst lead.”
Observe here the primitive practice according to which the bridegroom purchased his wife, by rich presents made to the father. In Iliad IX. 288, Agamemnon promises, as a particular favour, to give his daughter in marriage to Achilles ἀνάεδνον, that is, without any consideration in the shape of a marriage gift.
Note 38 (p. 197).
EnterIo. Io is one of those mysterious characters on the borderland between history and fable, concerning which it is difficult to say whether they are to be looked on as personal realities, or as impersonated ideas. According to the historical view of ancient legends, Io is the daughter of Inachus, a primeval king of Argos; and, from this fact as a root, the extravagant legends about her, sprouting from the ever active inoculation of human fancy, branched out. Interpreted by the principles of early theological allegory, however, she is, according to the witness of Suidas, theMoon, and her wanderings the revolutions of that satellite. In either view, the immense extent of these wanderings is well explained by mythological writers (1) from the influence of Argive colonies at Byzantium and elsewhere; and (2) from the vain desire of the Greeks to connect theirhorned virgin Io, with the hornedIsisof the Egyptians. It need scarcely be remarked that, if Io means the moon, her horns are as naturally explained as her wanderings. But, in reading Æschylus, all these considerations are most wisely left out of view, the Athenians, no doubt, who introduced this play, believing in the historical reality of the Inachian maid, as firmly as we believe in that of Adam or Methuselah. As little can I agree withBoth. that we are called upon to rationalize away the reality of the persecuting insect, whether under the name of ᾽(ο)ιστρος or μύωψ. In popular legends the sublime is ever apt to be associated with circumstances that either are, or, to the cultivated imagination, necessarily appear to be ridiculous.
Note 39 (p. 198).“. . . save me, O Earth!”
“. . . save me, O Earth!”
“. . . save me, O Earth!”
I have here given the received traditionary rendering of Αλεῦ ὦ δᾶ; but I must confess the appeal to Earth here in this passage always appeared to me something unexpected; and it is, accordingly, with pleasure that I submit the following observations ofSchoe. to the consideration of the scholar—“Δᾶ is generally looked on as a dialectic variation of γᾶ; and, in conformity with this opinion, Theocritus has used the accusation Δᾶν. I consider this erroneous, and am of opinion that in Δημητηρ we are rather to understand Δεαμητηρ than Γημητηρ; and δᾶ is to be taken only as an interjection. This is not the place to discuss this matter fully; but, in the meantime, I may mention thatAhrensde dialecta Doricâ, p. 80, has refuted the traditionary notion with regard to δᾶ.
Note 40 (p. 198).
Chorus. WithWell., andSchoe., and the MSS., I give this verse to the Chorus, though certainly it is not to be denied that the continuation of the lyrical metre of the Strophe pleads strongly in favour of giving it to Io. It is also certain that, for the sake of symmetry, the last line of the Antistrophe must also be given to the Chorus, asSchoe. has done.
Note 41 (p. 199).“. . . the sisters of thy father, Io.”
“. . . the sisters of thy father, Io.”
“. . . the sisters of thy father, Io.”
Inachus, the Argive river, was, like all other rivers, the son of Ocean, and, of course, the brother of the Ocean-maids, the Chorus of the present play. Afterwards, according to the historical method of conception, characteristic of the early legends, the elementary god became a human person—the river was metamorphosed into a king.
Note 42 (p. 200).“. . . Lerne’s bosomed mead.”
“. . . Lerne’s bosomed mead.”
“. . . Lerne’s bosomed mead.”
We most commonly read of thewaterorfountainof Lerne; this implies a meadow—and this, again, implies high overhanging grounds, or cliffs, of which mention is made in the twenty-third line below. In that place, however, the reading ἄκρην is not at all certain; and, were I editing the text, I should have no objection to followPal. in reading Λέρνης τε κρήνην, with Canter. In fixing this point, something will depend upon the actual landscape.
Note 43 (p. 201).“First to the east.”
“First to the east.”
“First to the east.”
Here begins the narration of the mythical wanderings of Io—a strange matter, and of a piece with the whole fable, which, however, with all its perplexities, Æschylus, no doubt, and his audience, following the old minstrels, took very lightly. In such matters, the less curious a man is,the greater chance is there of his not going far wrong; and to be superficial is safer than to be profound. The following causes may be stated as presumptive grounds why we ought not to be surprised at any startling inaccuracy in geographical detail in legends of this kind:—(1) The Greeks, as stated above, even in their most scientific days, had the vaguest possible ideas of the geography of the extreme circumference of the habitable globe and the parts nearest to it which are spoken of in the passage. (2) The geographical ideas of Æschylus must be assumed as more kindred to those of Homer than of the best informed later Greeks. (3) Even supposing Æschylus to have had the most accurate geographical ideas, he had no reasons in handling a Titanic myth to make his geographical scenery particularly tangible; on the contrary, as a skilful artist, the more misty and indefinite he could keep it the better. (4) He may have taken the wanderings of Io, as Welcker still suggests (Trilog.137), literally from the old Epic poem “Aigimius,” or some other traditionary lay as old as Homer, leaving to himself no more discretion in the matter, and caring as little to do so as Shakespere did about the geographical localities in Macbeth, which he borrowed from Hollinshed. For all these reasons I am of opinion that any attempt to explain the geographical difficulties of the following wanderings would be labour lost to myself no less than to the reader; and shall, therefore, content myself with notingseriatimthe different points of the progress, and explaining, for the sake of the general reader, what is or is not known in the learned world about the matter:—
(1) The starting-point is not from Mount Caucasus, according to the common representation, but from some indefinite point in thenorthern parts of Europe. So the Scholiast on v. 1, arguing from the present passage, clearly concludes; and with him agreeHer. andSchoe.; Welcker whimsically, I think, maintaining a contrary opinion.
(2) TheScythian nomads,vid.note on v. 2,supra.; their particular customs alluded to here are well known, presenting a familiar ancient analogy to the gipsy life of the present day. The reader of Horace will recall the lines—
“Campestres melius ScythaeQuorum plaustra vagas rite trahunt domos.”—Ode III. 24-9.
“Campestres melius ScythaeQuorum plaustra vagas rite trahunt domos.”—Ode III. 24-9.
“Campestres melius Scythae
Quorum plaustra vagas rite trahunt domos.”
—Ode III. 24-9.
and the same poet (III. 4-35) mentions the “quiver-bearing Geloni”; for the bow is the most convenient weapon to all wandering and semi-civilized warriors.
(3) TheChalybs, orChaldaei, are properly a people in Pontus, at the north-east corner of Asia Minor; but Æschylus, in his primeval Titanic geography, takes the liberty of planting them to the north of the Euxine.
(4) The riverHubristes. The Araxes, says the Scholiast; theTanais, say others; or theCuban(Dr. Schmitz in Smith’s Dict.). The word meansboisterousoroutrageous, and recalls the Virgilian “pontem indignatus Araxes.”
(5) TheCaucasus, as in modern geography.
(6) TheAmazons; placed here in the country about Colchis to the northward of their final settlement in Themiscyre, on the Thermodon, in Pontus, east of the Halys.
(7)Salmydessus, on the Euxine,westof the Symplegades and the Thracian Bosphorus; of course a violent jump in the geography.
(8) TheCimmerian Bosphorus, between the Euxine and the Sea of Azof. Puzzling enough that this should come in here, and no mention be made of the Thracian Bosphorus in the whole flight! The wordBosporusmeans in Greek thepassage of the Cow.
(9) TheAsian continent; from the beginning a strange wheel! For the rest see below.
Note 44 (p. 203).“When generations ten have passed, the third.”
“When generations ten have passed, the third.”
“When generations ten have passed, the third.”
This mythical genealogy is thus given bySchützfrom Apollodorus. 1. Epaphus; 2. Libya; 3. Belus (see Suppliants,p. 228, above); 4. Danaus; 5. Hypermnestra; 6. Abas; 7. Proetus; 8. Acrisias; 9. Danae; 10. Perseus; 11. Electryon; 12. Alcmena; 13. Heracles.
Note 45 (p. 203).“When thou hast crossed the narrow stream that parts.”
“When thou hast crossed the narrow stream that parts.”
“When thou hast crossed the narrow stream that parts.”
I now proceed with the mythical wanderings of the “ox-horned maid,” naming the different points, and continuing the numbers, from the former Note—
(10) TheSounding Ocean.—Before these words, something seems to have dropt out of the text; what the “sounding sea” (πόντου φλ(ο)ισβος) is, no man can say; but, as a southward direction is clearly indicated in what follows, we may suppose theCaspian, withHer.; or thePersian Gulf, withSchoe.
(11) TheGorgonian Plains.—“The Gorgons are conceived by Hesiod to live in the Western Ocean, in the neighbourhood of Night, and the Hesperides; but later traditions place them in Libya.”—Dr.Schmitz, in Smith’s Dict.: butSchoe., in his note, quotes a scholiast to Pindar,Pyth.X. 72, which places them near the Red Sea, and in Ethiopia. This latter habitation, of course, agrees best with the present passage of Æschylus.
With regard toCisthene, the same writer (Schoe.) has an ingenious conjecture, that it may be a mistake of the old copyists, for theCissians, a Persian people, mentioned in the opening chorus to the play of the Persians.
(12) The country of theGriffins, theArimaspi, and the riverPluto. The Griffins and the Arimaspi are well known from Herodotus and Strabo, which latter, we have seen above (Note 1), places them to the north of the Euxine Sea, as a sub-division of the Scythians. Æschylus, however, either meant to confound all geographical distinctions, or followed a different tradition, which placed the Arimaspi in the south, as to which seeSchoe. “The riverPlutois easily explained, from the accounts of golden-sanded rivers in the East which had reached Greece.”—Schoe.
(13) The river Aethiops seems altogether fabulous.
(14) The “Bybline Heights,” meaning the κατάδουπα (Herod. II. 17), or place where the Nile falls from the mountains.—Lin.in voceκαταβασμός, which is translatedpass. No such place asByblusis mentioned here by the geographers, in want of whichPot. has allowed himself to be led, by the Scholiast, into rather a curious error. The old annotator, having nothing geographical to sayabout thisByblus, thought he might try what etymology could do; so he tells us that the Bybline Mountains were so called from theByblosorPapyrusthat grew on them. This Potter took up and gave—
“Where from themountains with papyrus crownedThe venerable Nile impetuous pours,”
“Where from themountains with papyrus crownedThe venerable Nile impetuous pours,”
“Where from themountains with papyrus crowned
The venerable Nile impetuous pours,”
overlooking the fact that the papyrus is a sedge, and grows in flat, moist places.
Note 46 (p. 204).“. . . the sacred NilePours his salubrious flood.”
“. . . the sacred NilePours his salubrious flood.”
“. . . the sacred Nile
Pours his salubrious flood.”
ἔυποτον ρέος, literally,good for drinking. The medicinal qualities of theNilewere famous in ancient times. In the Suppliants, v. 556, our poet calls the Nile water, νόσοις ἄθικτον,not to be reached by diseases;and in v. 835,the nurturing river that makes the blood flow more buoyantly. On this subject, the celebrated Venetian physician, Prosper Alpin, in hisRerum Ægyptiarum, Lib. IV. (Lugd. Bat. 1735) writes as follows: “Nili aqua merito omnibus aliis præfertur quod ipsa alvum subducat, menses pellat ut propterea raro mensium suppressio in Ægypti mulieribus reperiatur. Potui suavis est, et dulcis; sitim promptissime extinguit; frigida tuto bibitur, concoctionem juvat, ac distributioni auxilio est, minime hypochondriis gravis corpus firmum et coloratum reddit,” etc.—Lib. I. c. 3. If the water of the Nile really be not only pleasant to drink, but, strictly speaking, of medicinal virtue, it has a companion in the Ness, at Inverness, the waters of which are said to possess such a drastic power, that they cannot be drunk with safety by strangers.
Note 47 (p. 204).“. . . thence with mazy courseTossed hither.”
“. . . thence with mazy courseTossed hither.”
“. . . thence with mazy course
Tossed hither.”
I quite agree withSchoe. that, in the word παλιμπλάγκτος, in this passage, we must understand πάλιν to meanto and fro, notbackwards. With a backward or reverted course from the Adriatic, Io could never have been brought northward to Scythia. The maziness of Io’s course arises naturally from the fitful attacks of the persecuting insect of which she was the victim. A direct course is followed by sane reason, a zigzag course by insane impulse.
Note 48 (p. 204).“. . . Epaphus, whose name shall tellThe wonder of his birth.”
“. . . Epaphus, whose name shall tellThe wonder of his birth.”
“. . . Epaphus, whose name shall tell
The wonder of his birth.”
As Io was identified with Isis, so Epaphus seems merely a Greek term for the famous bull-god Apis.—(Herod. III. 27, and Müller’s Prolegom. myth.) The etymology, like many others given by the ancients, is ridiculous enough; ἐπαφή,touch. This derivation is often alluded to in the next play,The Suppliants. With regard to the idea of a virgin mother so prominent in this legend of Io,Prow. has remarked that it occurs in the Hindoo and in the Mexican mythology; but nothing can be more puerile than the attempt which he mentions as made byFaberto connect this idea with the “promise respecting the seed of the woman made to man at the fall.” Sound philosophy will never seek a distant reason for a phenomenon, when a near one is ready. When an object of worship or admiration is once acknowledged as superhuman, it is the most natural thing in the world for the imagination to supply a superhuman birth. A miraculous life flows most fitly from a miraculous generation. The mother of the great type of Romanwarriors is a vestal, and his father is the god of war. Romans and Greeks will wisely be left to settle such matters for themselves, without the aid of “patriarchal traditions” or “the prophecy of Isaiah.” The ancient Hellenes were not so barren, either of fancy or feeling, as that they required to borrow matters of this kind from the Hebrews. On the idea of “generation by a god” generally, see the admirable note inGrote’s History of Greece, P. I. c. 16 (Vol. I. p. 471).
Note 49 (p. 207).“. . . they are wise who worship Adrastéa.”
“. . . they are wise who worship Adrastéa.”
“. . . they are wise who worship Adrastéa.”
“A surname of Nemesis, derived by some writers from Adrastus, who is said to have built the first sanctuary of Nemesis on the river Asopus (Strabo XIII. p. 588), and by others from the verb διδράσκειν, according to which it would signify the goddess whom none could escape.”—Dr.Schmitz. On this subject,Stan. has a long note, where the student will find various illustrative references.
Note 50 (p. 209).“For wilful strength that hath no wisdom in itIs less than nothing.”
“For wilful strength that hath no wisdom in itIs less than nothing.”
“For wilful strength that hath no wisdom in it
Is less than nothing.”
The word in the original, ἀυθαδιά, literally “self-pleasing,” expresses a state of mind which the Greeks, with no shallow ethical discernment, were accustomed to denounce as the great source of all those sins whose consequences are the most fearful to the individual and to society. St. Paul, in his epistle to Titus (i. 7), uses the same word emphatically to express what a Christian bishop shouldnotbe (ἀυθὰδη, self-willed). The same word is used by the blind old soothsayer Tiresias in theAntigone, when preaching repentance to the passionate and self-willed tyrant of Thebes, ἀυθαδιά τοι σκαιότητ ὀφλισκάνει, where Donaldson gives the whole passage as follows:—
“Then take these things to heart, my son; for errorIs as the universal lot of man;But, whensoe’er he errs, that man no longerIs witless, or unblest, who, having fallenInto misfortune, seeks to mend his ways,And is not obstinate:the stiff-necked temperMust oft plead guilty to the charge of folly.”Sophocles, Antig. v. 1028.
“Then take these things to heart, my son; for errorIs as the universal lot of man;But, whensoe’er he errs, that man no longerIs witless, or unblest, who, having fallenInto misfortune, seeks to mend his ways,And is not obstinate:the stiff-necked temperMust oft plead guilty to the charge of folly.”Sophocles, Antig. v. 1028.
“Then take these things to heart, my son; for error
Is as the universal lot of man;
But, whensoe’er he errs, that man no longer
Is witless, or unblest, who, having fallen
Into misfortune, seeks to mend his ways,
And is not obstinate:the stiff-necked temper
Must oft plead guilty to the charge of folly.”
Sophocles, Antig. v. 1028.
Note 51 (p. 209).“. . . unless some god endureVicarious thy tortures.”
“. . . unless some god endureVicarious thy tortures.”
“. . . unless some god endure
Vicarious thy tortures.”
The idea of vicarious sacrifice, or punishment by substitution of one person for another, does not seem to have been very familiar to the Greek mind; at least, I do not trace it in Homer. It occurs, however, most distinctly in the well-known case ofMenœceus, in Euripides’ play of thePhœnissæ. In this passage, also, it is plainly implied, though the word διάδοχος, strictly translated, means only asuccessor, and not asubstitute.Welck. (Trilog. p. 47) has pointed out that the person here alluded to is the centaurChiron, of whom Apollodorus (II. 5-11-12) says that “Hercules, after freeing Prometheus, who had assumed the olive chaplet (Welck. reads ἑλόμένον), delivered up Chiron to Jove willing, though immortal, to die in his room (θνήσκειν ὰντ᾽ ἁυτου). This is literally the Christian idea of vicarious death. The Druids, according to Cæsar (b.c.VI. 16), held the doctrine strictly—“pro vita hominis nisi hominis vita reddatur non posse aliter deorum immortalium numen placari.” Of existing heathens practising human sacrifice, the religious rites of the Khonds in Orissa present the ideaof vicarious sacrifice in the most distinct outline. See the interesting memoir of Captain Macpherson inBlackwood’s Magazinefor August, 1842.
Note 52 (p. 210).“Seems he not a willing madman,Let him reap the fruits he sowed.”
“Seems he not a willing madman,Let him reap the fruits he sowed.”
“Seems he not a willing madman,
Let him reap the fruits he sowed.”
I have translated these lines quite freely, as the text is corrupt, and the emendations proposed do not contain any idea worth the translator’s adopting.Schoe. reads—
Τί γὰρ ἐλλείπει μὴ παραπάιεινἘι τάδ ἐπαυχεῖ τί χαλᾷ μανιῶν;
Τί γὰρ ἐλλείπει μὴ παραπάιεινἘι τάδ ἐπαυχεῖ τί χαλᾷ μανιῶν;
Τί γὰρ ἐλλείπει μὴ παραπάιειν
Ἐι τάδ ἐπαυχεῖ τί χαλᾷ μανιῶν;
and translates
Was fehlet ihm noch wahnwitzig zo seyn,Wenn also er pocht? Wie zahmt er die Wuth?
Was fehlet ihm noch wahnwitzig zo seyn,Wenn also er pocht? Wie zahmt er die Wuth?
Was fehlet ihm noch wahnwitzig zo seyn,
Wenn also er pocht? Wie zahmt er die Wuth?
Prow. from a different reading, has
To thee, if this resolve seems good,Why shouldst thou check thy frenzied mood?
To thee, if this resolve seems good,Why shouldst thou check thy frenzied mood?
To thee, if this resolve seems good,
Why shouldst thou check thy frenzied mood?
Note 1 (p. 219).“Jove the suppliant’s high protector.”
“Jove the suppliant’s high protector.”
“Jove the suppliant’s high protector.”
Ζεὺς ἀφίκτωρ, literallysuppliant Jove, the epithet which properly belongs to the worshipper being transferred to the object of worship. The reader will note here another instance of the monotheistic element in Polytheism, so often alluded to in these Notes. Jove, as the supreme moral governor of the universe, has a general supervision of the whole social system of gods and men; and specially where there is no inferior protector, as in the case of fugitives and suppliants—there he presses with all the weight of his high authority. In such cases, religion presents a generous and truly humanizing aspect, and the “primus in orbe Deos fecit timor” of the philosophers loses its sting.
Note 2 (p. 219).“Of the fat fine-sanded Nile!”
“Of the fat fine-sanded Nile!”
“Of the fat fine-sanded Nile!”
Wellauer, in his usual over-cautious way, has not receivedPauw’s emendation λεπτοψαμάθων into his text, though he calls itcertissimumin his notes.Pal., whom I follow, acts in these matters with a more manly decision. Even without the authority ofPliny(XXXV. 13), I should adopt so natural an emendation, where the text is plainly corrupt.
Note 3 (p. 219).“Gently thrilled the brize-stung heiferWith his procreant touch.”
“Gently thrilled the brize-stung heiferWith his procreant touch.”
“Gently thrilled the brize-stung heifer
With his procreant touch.”
Seep. 204above, andNote 48to Prometheus. There prevails throughout this play a constant allusion to the divine significance of the nameEpaphus, meaning, as it does,touch. To the Greeks, as already remarked (p. 388), this was no mere punning; and the names of the gods (Note 17, p. 391 above) were one of the strongest instruments of Heathen devotion. That there is an allusion to this in Matthew vi. 7, I have no doubt.
Note 4 (p. 219).“Ye blissful gods supremely swaying.”
“Ye blissful gods supremely swaying.”
“Ye blissful gods supremely swaying.”
I see no necessity here, withPal., for changing ὧν πολις into ὦ πολις—but it is a matter of small importance to the translator. Jove,the third, is a method of designating the supreme power of which we have frequent examples in Æschylus—see the Eumenides,p. 164, whereJove the Saviour all-perfectingis mentioned afterPallasandLoxias, as it were, to crown the invocation with the greatest of all names. In that passage τρίτου occurs in the original, which I was wrong to omit.
Note 5 (p. 220).“Marriage beds which right refuses.”
“Marriage beds which right refuses.”
“Marriage beds which right refuses.”
In what countries are first cousins forbidden to marry?Welckerdoes not know. “Das Eherecht worauf diese Weigerung beruht ist nicht bekannt.”—Welcker(Trilog.391).
Note 6 (p. 221).“With Ionian wailings unstinted.”
“With Ionian wailings unstinted.”
“With Ionian wailings unstinted.”
“PerhapsIonianis put in this place antithetically to Νειλοθερῆ,from the Nile, in the next line, and the sense is, ‘though coming from Egypt,yet, being of Greek extraction, I speak Greek.’”—Paley. This appears to me the simplest and most satisfactory comment on the passage.
Note 7 (p. 221).“From the far misty land.”
“From the far misty land.”
“From the far misty land.”
That isEgypt. So called according to the Etymol. M. quoted byStan., from the cloudy appearance which the low-lying Delta district presents to the stranger approaching it from the sea.
Note 8 (p. 222).“All godlike power is calm.”
“All godlike power is calm.”
“All godlike power is calm.”
It would be unfair not to advertise the English reader that this fine sentiment is a translation from a conjectural reading, πᾶν ἄπονον δαιμονιων, ofWell., which, however, is in beautiful harmony with the context. The text generally in this part of the play is extremely corrupt. In the present stanza,Well.’s correction of δε ἀπιδων into ἐλπίδων deserves to be celebrated as one of the few grand triumphs of verbal criticism that have a genuine poetical value.
Note 9 (p. 222).“Ah! well-a-day! ah! well-a-day!”
“Ah! well-a-day! ah! well-a-day!”
“Ah! well-a-day! ah! well-a-day!”
The reader must imagine here a complete change in the style of the music—say from the major to the minor key. In the whole Chorus, the mind of the singer sways fitfully between a hopeful confidence and a dark despair. The faith in the counsel of Jove, and in the sure destruction of the wicked, so finely expressed in the preceding stanzas, supports the sinking soul but weakly in this closing part of the hymn. These alterations of feeling exhibited under such circumstances will appear strange to no one who is acquainted with the human, and especially with the female heart.
Note 10 (p. 223).“Ye Apian hills.”
“Ye Apian hills.”
“Ye Apian hills.”
“Apia, an old name for Peloponnesus, which remains still a mystery, even after the attempt of Butmann to throw light upon it.”—Grote, Hist, of Greece, Part I. c. 4. Æschylus’ own account of Apis, the supposed originator of the name Apia, will be found in this play a few lines below. I have consulted Butmann, and find nothing but a conglomeration of vague and slippery etymologies.
Note 11 (p. 225).“. . . rounded cars.”
“. . . rounded cars.”
“. . . rounded cars.”
καμπύλος,with a bendorsweep; alluding to the form of the rim of the ancient chariot, between the charioteer and the horses. See the figure inSmith’sDict. Antiq., Articles ἄντυξ andcurrus.
Note 12 (p. 225).“. . . the Agonian gods.”
“. . . the Agonian gods.”
“. . . the Agonian gods.”
The common meaning that a Greek scholar would naturally give to the phrase θεοῖ ἀγωνιοι is that given byHesych, viz.,gods that preside over public games, or, as I have rendered it in the Agamemnon (p. 57above),gods that rule the chance of combat. For persons who, like the Herald in that play, had just escaped from a great struggle, or, like the fugitive Virgins in this piece, were going through one, there does not appear to be any great impropriety (notwithstandingPal.’s.inepte) in an appeal to the gods of combat. Opposed to this interpretation, however, we have the common practice of Homer, with whom the substantive ἀγών generally means an assembly; and the testimony of Eustathius, who, in his notes tothat poet, Iliad, Ω 1335, 58, says “παρ Αισχύλῳ ἀγώνιοι θεοὶ ὁι ἀγορᾶιοι;”i.e. gods that preside over assemblies.
Note 13 (p. 225).“. . . your sistered hands.”
“. . . your sistered hands.”
“. . . your sistered hands.”
διὰ χερων συνωνύμων. I am inclined to think withPal. that ἐυωνύμων may be the true reading;i.e. in your left hands. And yet, so fond is Æschylus of quaint phrases that I do not think myself at liberty to reject the vulgate, so long as it is susceptible of the very appropriate meaning given in the text. “Hands of the same name” may very well be tolerated for “hands of the same race”—“hands of sisters.”
Note 14 (p. 225).“Even so; and with benignant eye look down!”
“Even so; and with benignant eye look down!”
“Even so; and with benignant eye look down!”
I have here departed fromWell.’s arrangement of this short colloquy between Danaus and his daughters, and adoptedPal.’s, which appears to me to satisfy the demands both of sense and metrical symmetry. That there is something wrong in the received textWell. admits.
Note 15 (p. 226).“There where his bird the altar decorates.”
“There where his bird the altar decorates.”
“There where his bird the altar decorates.”
I have here incorporated into the text the natural and unembarrassed meaning of this passage given byPal. The bird of Jove, of course, is the eagle. What the Scholiast andStan. say about the cock appears to be pure nonsense, which would never have been invented but for the confused order of the dialogue in the received text.
Note 16 (p. 226).“Apollo, too, the pure, the exiled once.”
“Apollo, too, the pure, the exiled once.”
“Apollo, too, the pure, the exiled once.”
“They invoke Apollo to help them, strangers and fugitives, because that god himself had once been banished from heaven by Jove, and kept the herds of Admetus.
‘Non ignara mali miseris succurrere disco.’”—Stan.
‘Non ignara mali miseris succurrere disco.’”—Stan.
‘Non ignara mali miseris succurrere disco.’”—Stan.
Note 17 (p. 226).“Here, Hermes likewise, as Greece knows the god.”
“Here, Hermes likewise, as Greece knows the god.”
“Here, Hermes likewise, as Greece knows the god.”
This plainly points out a distinction between the Greek and the famous Egyptian Hermes. So the Scholiast, andStan. who quotes Cic., Nat. Deor. III. 22.
Note 18 (p. 226).“Can bird eat bird and be an holy thing?”
“Can bird eat bird and be an holy thing?”
“Can bird eat bird and be an holy thing?”
This seems to have been a common-place among the ancients.Pliny, in the following passage, draws a contrast between man and the inferior animals, not much to the honor of the former:—“Cætera animalia in suo genere probe degunt; congregari videmus et stare contra dissimilia; leonum feritas inter se non dimicat; serpentum morsus non petit serpentes; ne maris quidem belluæ ac pisces nisi in diversa genera sæviunt. At hercule homini plarima ex homine sunt mala.”—Nat. Hist. VII. proem. This custom of blackening human nature (which is bad enough, without being made worse) has been common enough also in modern times, especially among a certain school of theologians, very far, indeed, in other respects, from claiming kindred with the Roman polyhistor; but the fact is, one great general law over-rides both man and the brute, viz. this—Like herdswith like—the only difference being that human beings, with a great outward similarity, are characterized by a more various inward diversity than the lower animals. There are, in fact, men of all various kinds represented in the moral world—all those varieties which different races and species exhibit in the physical. There are lamb-men, tiger-men, serpent-men, pigeon-men, and hawk-men. That such discordant natures should sometimes, nay always in a certain sense, strive, is a necessary consequence of their existing.
Note 19 (p. 226).“And of no host the acknowledged guest, unfearingYe tread this land.”
“And of no host the acknowledged guest, unfearingYe tread this land.”
“And of no host the acknowledged guest, unfearing
Ye tread this land.”
ἀπρόξενος, without a πρόξενος, or apublic hostorentertainer—one who occupied the same position on the part of the state towards a stranger that a ξένος or landlord, did to his private guest. In some respects “the office of proxenus bears great resemblance to that of a modern consul or minister resident.”—Dr.Schmitz, in Smith’s Dict., articleHospitium. CompareSouthey, Notes toMadoc. I. 5,The Stranger’s House.
Note 20 (p. 227).“Of old earth-born Palæcthon am the son,My name Pelasgus.”
“Of old earth-born Palæcthon am the son,My name Pelasgus.”
“Of old earth-born Palæcthon am the son,
My name Pelasgus.”
Here we have an example of those names of the earliest progenitors of an ancient race that seem to bear fiction on their face;Palaecthonmeaning merely theancient son of the land, andPelasgusbeing the name-father of the famous ante-Homeric wandering Greeks, whom we callPelasgi.