THEAGAMEMNONOF AESCHYLUS, AND THEAGAMEMNONOF SENECA

Prologue.—Hecuba bewails the fall of Troy, and draws from it a warning to all who are high in power:For of a truth did fortune never showIn plainer wise the frailty of the propThat doth support a king.She graphically describes the mighty power and mighty fall of her husband's kingdom, and portrays the awe with which the Greeks behold even their fallen foe. She asserts that the fire by which her city has been consumed sprang from her, the brand that she had dreamed of in her dream before the birth of Paris. She dwells horribly upon the death of Priam which she had herself witnessed.But still the heavenly powers are not appeased.The captives are to be allotted to the Greek chiefs, and even now the urn stands ready for the lots.Hecuba next calls upon the chorus of Trojan women to join her in lamenting their fallen heroes, Hector and Priam.Parode, or chorus entry.—The chorus with Hecuba indulges in speculation as to the place of their future home, speaking with hope of some Greek lands, and deprecating others.Parode, or chorus entry.—The chorus, under the direction of Hecuba as chorus leader, in true oriental fashion, bewails the downfall of Troy, and in particular the death of Priam and Hector.First episode.—Talthybius, the herald, enters and announces that the lots have been drawn, and reveals to each captive her destined lord: that Cassandra has fallen to Agamemnon, Andromache to Pyrrhus, Hecuba to Ulysses. At news of this her fate, Hecuba is filled with fresh lamentations, counting it an especial hardship that she should fall to the arch-enemy of her race. The herald also darkly alludes to the already accomplished fate of Polyxena,At the tomb raised to Achilles doomed to serve.Hecuba does not as yet catch the import of these words.Cassandra now enters, waving a torch, and celebrates in a mad refrain her approaching union with Agamemnon.Hecuba remonstrates with her for her unseemly joy; whereupon Cassandra declares that she rejoices in the prospect of the vengeance upon Agamemnon which is to be wrought out through this union. She contrasts the lot of the Greeks and Trojans during the past ten years, and finds that the latter have been far happier; and even in her fall, the woes of Troy are far less than those that await the Greek chieftains. She then prophesies in detail the trials that await Ulysses, and the dire result of her union with Agamemnon:Thou shalt bear meA fury, an Erinys from this land.Hecuba here falls in a faint, and, upon being revived, again recounts her former high estate, sadly contrasts with that her present condition, and shudders at the lot of the slave which awaits her:Then deem not of the greatNow flourishing as happy, ere they die.First episode.—Talthybius announces that the shade of Achilles has appeared with the demand that Polyxena be sacrificed upon the hero's tomb.Enter Pyrrhus and Agamemnon, the former demanding that his father's request be carried out, the latter resisting the demand as too barbarous to be entertained. It is finally agreed to leave the decision to Calchas. He is accordingly summoned, and at once declares that only by the death of the maiden can the Greeks be allowed to set sail for home. And not this alone, but Astyanax also must be sacrificed—hurled from the lofty Scaean tower of Troy.First choral interlude.—The chorus graphically describes the wooden horse, its joyful reception by the Trojans into the city, their sense of relief from danger, and their holiday spirit; and at last their horrible awakening to death at the hands of the Greeks within the walls.First choral interlude.—The chorus maintains that all perishes with the body; the soul goes out into nothingness:For when within the tomb we're laid,No soul remains, no hov'ring shade.Like curling smoke, like clouds before the blast,This animating spirit soon has passed.The evident purpose of these considerations is to discount the story that Achilles' shade could have appeared with its demand for the death of Polyxena.Second episode.—The appearance of Andromache with Astyanax in her arms, borne captive on a Grecian car, is a signal for general mourning.She announces her own chief cause of woe:I, with my child, am led away, the spoilOf war; th' illustrious progeny of kings,Oh, fatal change, is sunk to slavery.Her next announcement comes as a still heavier blow to Hecuba:Polyxena, thy daughter, is no more;Devoted to Achilles, on his tomb,An offering to the lifeless dead, she fell.Andromache insists that Polyxena's fate is happier than her own; argues that in death there is no sense of misery:Polyxena is dead, and of her illsKnows nothing;while Andromache still lives to feel the keen contrast between her former and her present lot.Hecuba is so sunk in woe that she can make no protest, but advises Andromache to forget the past andhonor thy present lord,And with thy gentle manners win his soul;this with the hope that she may be the better able to rear up Astyanax to establish once more some day the walls and power of Troy.But the heaviest stroke is yet to fall. Talthybius now enters and announces with much reluctance that Ulysses has prevailed upon the Greeks to demand the death of Astyanax for the very reason that he may grow up to renew the Trojan war. The lad is to be hurled from a still standing tower of Troy. The herald warns Andromache that if she resist this mandate she may be endangering the boy's funeral rites. She yields to fate, passionately caressing the boy, who clings fearfully to her, partly realizing his terrible situation. The emotionalclimax of the play is reached, as she says to the clinging, frightened lad:Why dost thou clasp me with thy hands, why holdMy robes, and shelter thee beneath my wingsLike a young bird?She bitterly upbraids the Greeks for their cruelty, and curses Helen as the cause of all her woe, and then gives the boy up in an abandonment of defiant grief:Here, take him, bear him, hurl him from the height,If ye must hurl him; feast upon his flesh:For from the gods hath ruin fall'n on us.And now what more can happen? Surely the depth of misfortune has been sounded. In the voice of Hecuba:Is there an illWe have not? What is wanting to the woesWhich all the dreadful band of ruin brings?Second episode.—Andromache appears with Astyanax and recounts a vision of Hector which she has had, in which her dead husband has warned her to hide the boy away beyond the reach of threatening danger. After discussion with an old man as to the best place of concealment, she hides Astyanax in Hector's tomb which is in the near background.Enter Ulysses, who reluctantly announces that Calchas has warned the Greeks that they must not allow the son of Hector to grow to manhood; for if they do so, the reopening of the Trojan war will be only a matter of time, and the work will have to be done all over again. He therefore asks Andromache to give up the boy to him. Then ensues a war of wits between the desperate mother and the crafty Greek. She affects not to know where the boy is—he is lost. But if she knew, no power on earth should take him from her. Ulysses threatens death, which she welcomes; he threatens torture, which she scorns. She at last states that her son is "among the dead." Ulysses, taking these words at their face meaning, starts off gladly to tell the news to the Greeks, but suddenly reflects that he has no proof but the mother's word. He therefore begins to watch Andromache more narrowly, and discovers that her bearing is not that of one who has put her grief behind her, but of one who is still in suspense and fear. To test her, he suddenly calls to his attendants to hunt out the boy. Looking beyond her he cries: "Good! he's found! bring him to me." Whereat Andromache's agitation proves that the boy is indeed not dead but in hiding. Where is he hid? Ulysses forces her to choose between the living boy and the dead husband; for, unless her son is forthcoming, Hector's tomb will be invaded and his ashes scattered upon the sea. To her frantic prayer for mercy he says:Bring forth the boy—and pray.Follows acanticum, in which Andromache brings Astyanax out of the tomb and sets him in Ulysses' sight:Here, here's the terror of a thousand ships!and prays him to spare the child. Ulysses refuses, and, after allowing the mother time for a passionate and pathetic farewell to her son, he leads the boy away to his death.Second choral interlude.—The chorus first tells of the former fall of Troy under Hercules and Telamon; and then refers to the high honors that had come to the city through the translation of Ganymede to be the cupbearer of Jove, and through the special grace of Venus. But these have not availed to save the city from its present destruction.Second choral interlude.—The chorus discusses the various places to which it may be its misfortune to be carried into captivity. It professes a willingness to go anywhere but to the homes of Helen, Agamemnon, and Ulysses.Third episode.—Menelaüs appears, announcing that the Greeks have alotted to him Helen, his former wife, the cause of all this strife, to do with as he will. He declares his intention to take her to Greece, and there destroy her as a warning to faithless wives.Hecuba applauds this decision, and thinks that at last heaven has sent justice to the earth:Dark thy waysAnd silent are thy steps to mortal man;Yet thou with justice all things dost ordain.Helen, dragged forth from the tent at the command of Menelaüs, pleads her cause. She lays the blame for all upon Hecuba and Priam:She first, then, to these illsGave birth, when she gave Paris birth; and nextThe agéd Priam ruined Troy and thee,The infant not destroying, at his birthDenounced a baleful firebrand.Blame should also fall upon Venus, since through her influence Helen came into the power of Paris.Hecuba refutes the excuses of Helen. She scouts the idea that Venus brought Paris to Sparta. The only Venus that had influenced Helen was her own passion inflamed by the beauty of Paris:My son was with surpassing beauty graced;And thy fond passion, when he struck thy sight,Became a Venus.As for the excuse that she was borne away by force, no Spartan was aware of that, no cries were heard. Hecuba ends by urging Menelaüs to carry out his threat. This, he repeats, it is his purpose to do.Third episode.—Helen approaches the Trojan women, saying that she has been sent by the Greeks to deck Polyxena for marriage with Pyrrhus, this being a ruse to trick the girl into an unresisting preparation for her death. This news Polyxena, though mute, receives with horror.Andromache bitterly cries out upon Helen and her marriages as the cause of all their woe. But Helen puts the whole matter to this test:Count this true,If 'twas a Spartan vessel brought me here.Under the pointed questions of Andromache she gives up deception, and frankly states the impending doom of Polyxena to be slaughtered on Achilles' tomb, and so to be that hero's spirit bride. At this the girl shows signs of joy, and eagerly submits herself to Helen's hands to be decked for the sacrificial rite.Hecuba cries out at this, and laments her almost utter childlessness; but Andromache envies the doomed girl her fate.Helen then informs the women that the lots have been drawn and their future lords determined; Andromache is to be given to Pyrrhus, Cassandra to Agamemnon, Hecuba to Ulysses.Pyrrhus now appears to conduct Polyxena to her death, and is bitterly scorned and cursed by Hecuba.Third choral interlude.—The chorus sadly recalls the sacred rites in Troy and within the forests of Mount Ida, and grieves that these shall be no more. They lament the untimely death of their warrior husbands, whose bodies have not received proper burial rites, and whose souls are wandering in the spirit-world, while they, the hapless wives, must wander over sea to foreign homes. They pray that storms may come and overwhelm the ships, and especially that Helen may not live to reach the land again.Third choral interlude.—The chorus enlarges upon the comfort of company to those in grief. Hitherto they have had this comfort; but now they are to be scattered, and each must suffer alone. And soon, as they sail away, they must take their last, sad view of Troy, now but a smouldering heap; and mother to child will say, as she points back to the shore:See, there's our Troy, where smoke curls high in air,And thick, dark clouds obscure the distant sky.Exode.—Enter Talthybius, withthe dead body of Astyanax borne upon the shield of Hector. He explains that Pyrrhus has hastened home, summoned by news of insurrection in his own kingdom, and has taken Andromache with him. He delivers Andromache's request to Hecuba that she give the boy proper burial, and use the hollow shield as a casket for the dead.Hecuba and the chorus together weep over the shield, which recalls Hector in his days of might, and over the poor, bruised body of the dead boy, sadly contrasting his former beauty with this mangled form. They then wrap it in such costly wrappings as their state allows, place him upon the shield, and consign him to the tomb.Talthybius then orders bands of men with torches to burn the remaining buildings of Troy; and in the light of its glaring flames and with the crashing sound of its falling walls in their ears, Hecuba and her companions make their way to the waiting ships, while the messenger urges on their lagging steps.Exode.—The messenger relates with much detail to Hecuba, Andromache and the rest, the circumstances of the death of Astyanax and Polyxena: how crowds of Greeks and Trojans witnessed both tragedies, how both sides were moved to tears at the sad sight, and how both victims met their death as became their noble birth.Andromache bewails and denounces the cruel death of her son, and sadly asks that his body be given her for burial; but she is told that this is mangled past recognition.But Hecuba, having now drained her cup of sorrow to the dregs, has no more wild cries to utter; she almost calmly bids the Grecians now set sail, since nothing bars their way. She longs for death, complaining that it ever flees from her, though she has often been so near its grasp.The messenger interrupts, and bids them hasten to the shore and board the ships, which wait only their coming to set sail.THEAGAMEMNONOF AESCHYLUS, AND THEAGAMEMNONOF SENECAPrologue.—A watchman, stationed upon the palace roof at Argos, laments the tedium of his long and solitary task; and prays for the time to come when, through the darkness of the night, he shall see the distant flashing of the beacon fire, and by this sign know that Troy has fallen and that Agamemnon is returning home. And suddenly he sees the gleam for which so long he has been waiting. He springs up with shouts of joy and hastens to tell the queen. At the same timehe makes dark reference to that which has been going on within the palace, and which must now be hushed up.Prologue.—The ghost of Thyestes coming from the lower regions recites themotifof the play: how he had been most foully dealt with by Agamemnon's father, Atreus, and how he had been promised revenge by the oracle of Apollo through his son Aegisthus, begotten of an incestuous union with his daughter. The ghost announces that the time for his revenge is come with the return of Agamemnon from the Trojan war, and urges Aegisthus to perform his fated part.Parode, or chorus entry.—A chorus of twelve Argive elders sings of the Trojan War, describing the omens with which the Greeks started on their mission of vengeance. They dwell especially upon the hard fate which forced Agamemnon to sacrifice his daughter. And in this they unconsciously voice one of the motives which led to the king's own death.Parode, or chorus entry.—The chorus of Argive women complains of the uncertain condition of exalted fortune, and recommends the golden mean in preference to this.First episode.—Clytemnestra appears with a stately procession of torch-bearers, having set the whole city in gala attire, with sacrificial incense burning on all the altars. The chorus asks the meaning of this. Has she had news from Troy? The queen replies that this very night she has had news, and describes at length how the signal fires had gleamed, and thus the news had leaped from height to height, all the long way from Troy to Argos.And this sure proof and token now I tell thee,Seeing that my lord hath sent it me from Troy.She expresses the hope that the victors in their joy will do nothing to offend the gods and so prevent their safe return:May good prevail beyond all doubtful chance!For I have got the blessing of great joy.With these words she covers up the real desires of her own false heart, while at the same time voicing the principle on which doom was to overtake the Greeks.The chorus receives Clytemnestra's news with joy and prepares to sing praises to the gods, as the queen with her train leaves the stage.First episode.—Clytemnestra, conscious of guilt, and fearing that her returning husband will severely punish her on account of her adulterous life with Aegisthus, resolves to add crime to crime and murder Agamemnon as soon as he comes back to his home. She is further impelled to this action by his conduct in the matter of her daughter, Iphigenia, and by his own unfaithfulness to her during his long absence. Throughout this scene the nurse vainly tries to dissuade her.Clytemnestra is either influenced to recede from her purpose by the nurse, or else pretends to be resolved to draw back in order to test Aegisthus who now enters. In the end, the two conspirators withdraw to plan their intended crime.First choral interlude.—The chorus sings in praise of Zeus, who has signally disproved the skeptic's claim thatThe gods deign not to care for mortal menBy whom the grace of things inviolableIs trampled under foot.The shameful guilt of Paris is described, the woe of the wronged Menelaüs, and the response of all Greece to his cry for vengeance. But, after all, the chorus is in doubt as to whether the good news can be true—when a herald enters with fresh news.First choral interlude.—The chorus sings in praise of Apollo for the victory over Troy. To this are added the praises of Juno, Minerva, and Jove. In the end the chorus hails the approach of the herald Eurybates.Second episode.—The herald describes to the chorus the complete downfall of Troy, which came as a punishment for the sin of Paris and of the nation which upheld him in it. At the same time the sufferings of the Greeks during the progress of the war are not forgotten. Clytemnestra, entering, prompted by her own guilty conscience, bids the herald tell Agamemnon to hasten home, and take to him her own protestation of absolute faithfulness to him:who has not brokenOne seal of his in all this length of time.The herald, in response to further questions of the chorus, describes the great storm which wrecked the Greek fleet upon their homeward voyage.Second episode.—Eurybates announces to Clytemnestra the return and approach of Agamemnon, and describes the terrible storm which overtook the Greeks upon their homeward voyage. At the command of the queen victims are prepared for sacrifice to the gods, and a banquet for the victorious Agamemnon. At last the captive Trojan women headed by Cassandra are seen approaching.Second choral interlude.—The chorus sings of Helen as the bane of the Trojans:Dire cause of strife with bloodshed in her train.And nowThe penalty of foul dishonor doneTo friendship's board and Zeushas been paid by Troy, which is likened to a man who fosters a lion's cub,which is harmless while still young, but when full grown "it shows the nature of its sires," and brings destruction to the house that sheltered it.Second choral interlude.—A chorus of captive Trojan women sings the fate and fall of Troy; while Cassandra, seized with fits of prophetic fury, prophesies the doom that hangs over Agamemnon.Third episode.—Agamemnon is seen approaching in his chariot, followed by his train of soldiers and captives. The chorus welcomes him, but with a veiled hint that all is not well in Argos. Agamemnon fittingly thanks the gods for his success and for his safe return, and promises in due time to investigate affairs at home.Clytemnestra, now entering, in a long speech of fulsome welcome, describes the grief which she has endured for her lord's long absence in the midst of perils, and protests her own absolute faithfulness to him. She explains the absence of Orestes by saying that she has intrusted him to Strophius, king of Phocis, to be cared for in the midst of the troublous times. She concludes with the ambiguous prayer:Ah Zeus, work out for meAll that I pray for; let it be thy careTo look to that thou purposest to work.Agamemnon, after briefly referring to Cassandra and bespeaking kindly treatment for her, goes into the palace, accompanied by Clytemnestra.Third episode.—Agamemnon comes upon the scene, and, meeting Cassandra, is warned by her of the fate that hangs over him; but she is not believed.Third choral interlude.—The chorus, though it sees with its own eyes that all is well with Agamemnon, that he is returned in safety to his own home, is filled with sad forebodings of some hovering evil which it cannot dispel.Third choral interlude.—Apropos of the fall of Troy, the chorus of Argive women sings the praises of Hercules whose arrows had been required by fate for the destruction of Troy.Exode.—Clytemnestra returns and bids Cassandra, who still remains standing in her chariot, to join theother slaves in ministering at the altar. But Cassandra stands motionless, paying no heed to the words of the queen, who leaves the scene saying:I will not bear the shame of uttering more.Cassandra now descends from her chariot and bursts into wild and woeful lamentations. By her peculiar clairvoyant power she foresees and declares to the chorus the death of Agamemnon at the hands of Clytemnestra and Aegisthus, as well as the manner of it; she also foretells the vengeance which Orestes is destined to work upon the murderers. Her own fate is as clearly seen and announced, as she passes through the door into the palace.Soon the chorus hears the death cry of Agamemnon, that he is "struck down with deadly stroke." They are faint-heartedly and with a multiplicity of counsel discussing what it is best to do when Clytemnestra, with blood-stained garments and followed by a guard of soldiers, enters to them from the palace. The corpses of Agamemnon and Cassandra are seen through the door within the palace. The queen confesses, describes, and exults in the murder of her husband. The chorus makes elaborate lamentation for Agamemnon, and prophesies that vengeance will light on Clytemnestra. But she scorns their threatening prophecies. In the end Aegisthus enters, avowing that he has plotted this murder and has at last avenged his father, Thyestes, upon the father of Agamemnon, Atreus, who had so foully wronged Thyestes. The chorus curses him and reminds him that Orestes still lives and will surely avenge his father.Exode.—Cassandra, either standing where she can see within the palace, or else by clairvoyant power, reports the murder of Agamemnon, which is being done within.Electra urges Orestes to flee before his mother and Aegisthus shall murder him also. Very opportunely, Strophius comes in his chariot, just returning as victor from the Olympic games. Electra intrusts her brother to his care, and betakes her own self to the altar for protection.Electra, after defying and denouncing her mother and Aegisthus, is dragged away to prison and torture, and Cassandra is led out to her death.INDEXINDEX OF MYTHOLOGICAL SUBJECTS[References are to the lines of the Latin text. If the passage is longer than one line, only the first line is cited. Line citations to passages of especial importance to the subject under discussion are starred. A few historical characters from theOctaviaare included in the Index. The names of the characters appearing in these tragedies are printed in large capitals, with the name of the tragedy in which the character occurs following in parentheses.]Absyrtus, a son of Aeëtes, and brother of Medea. Medea, fleeing with Jason from Colchis, slew her brother and scattered his mangled remains behind her, in order to retard her father's pursuit,Med.121, 125, *131, 452, 473, 911; his dismembered ghost appears to the distracted Medea,ibid.963.Abyla, seeCalpe.Acastus, son of Pelias, king of Thessaly. He demands Jason and Medea from Creon, king of Corinth, for vengeance on account of the murder of his father through the machinations of Medea,Med.257, 415, 521, 526.Achelōus, the river-god of the river of the same name. He fought with Hercules for the possession of Deianira, changing himself into various forms,H. Oet.*299; defeated by Hercules,ibid.*495.Acheron, one of the rivers of hades,Thy.17; described by Theseus,H. Fur.715.Achilles, son of Peleus and Thetis, and one of the celebrated Greek heroes in the Trojan War. He was connected by birth with heaven (Jupiter), the sea (Thetis), and the lower world (Aeacus),Tro.344; educated by Chiron, the centaur,ibid.832 hidden by his mother in the court of Lycomedes, king of Scyros, in the disguise of a girl's garments, in order to keep him from the war,ibid.213; while there, became the father of Pyrrhus by Deïdamia, daughter of the king,ibid.342; his activities in the early period of the Trojan War,ibid.182; wounds and cures Telephus,ibid.*215; overthrows Lyrnessus and Chrysa, taking captive Briseïs and Chryseïs,ibid.220; effect of his anger on account of the loss of Briseïs,ibid.194 318; example of the taming power of love,Oct.814; slays Memnon and trembles at his own victory,Tro.*239; slays Penthesilea, the Amazon,ibid.243; works dire havoc among Trojans in revenge for death of Patroclus,Agam.619; slays Hector and drags his dead body around walls of Troy,Tro.189; is slain by Paris,ibid.347; his ghost appears to the Greeks on the eve of their homeward voyage, and demands the sacrifice of Polyxena upon his tomb,ibid.*170.Actaeon, a grandson of Cadmus, who accidentally saw Diana bathing in a pool near Mt. Cithaeron. For this he was changed by the angry goddess into a stag, and in this form was pursued and slain by his own dogs,Oed.*751;Phoen., 14.Acte, the mistress of Nero who displaced Poppaea,Oct.195.Admētus, seeAlcestis.Adrastus, king of Argos. He received the fugitive Polynices at his court, gave him his daughter in marriage, and headed the expedition of the Seven against Thebes, in order to reinstate his son-in-law upon the throne,Phoen.374.Aeacus, son of Jupiter and Europa, father of Peleus; on account of his just government on earth he wasmade one of the judges of spirits in hades,H. Oet.1558;H. Fur.734. See underJudges in Hades.Aeētes, king of Colchis, son of Phoebus and Persa, and father of Medea,Med.210; grandeur, extent, and situation of kingdom described,ibid.209; wealth of his kingdom,ibid.483; had received a wonderful gold-wrought robe from Phoebus as proof of fatherhood; this Medea anoints with magic poison, and sends to Creüsa,ibid.570; he was despoiled of his realm through the theft of the golden fleece,ibid.913.Aegeus, seeTheseus.AEGISTHUS (Agamemnon), son of an incestuous union between Thyestes and his daughter. His birth was the result of Apollo's advice to Thyestes, that only thus could he secure vengeance upon the house of Atreus,Agam.48, 294; at opening of play he recognizes that the fatal day is come for which he was born,ibid.226; lived in guilty union with Clytemnestra, wife of Agamemnon,ibid. passim.Aegoceros, a poetic expression for the more usualCapricornus, the zodiacal constellation of the Goat,Thy.864.Aegyptus, seeDanaïdes.Aesculapius, son of Apollo and the nymph Coronis; he was versed in the knowledge of medicine, was deified, and had the chief seat of his worship at Epidaurus,Hip.1022.Aetna, a volcano in Sicily,Phoen.314; its fires were used as a type of raging heat,Hip.102;H. Oet.285; considered as the seat of the forge of Vulcan,H. Fur.106; supposed to be heaped upon the buried Titan's breast,Med.410.AGAMEMNON (Troades,Agamemnon), king of Mycenae, son of Atreus, brother of Menelaüs, commander of the Greek forces at Troy. He and Menelaüs used by Atreus to entrap Thyestes,Thy.325; tamed by the power of love,Oct.815; took captive Chryseïs, daughter of the priest of Apollo,Agam.175; compelled to give her up, he took from Achilles by force his maiden Briseïs,ibid.186; attempts to dissuade Pyrrhus from the sacrifice of Polyxena to Achilles' ghost,Tro.*203; inflamed by love for Cassandra,Agam.188, 255; his power magnified as the great king who has come unscathed out of a thousand perils,ibid.204; his homeward voyage and wreck of his fleet described,ibid.*421; returns to Mycenae and hails his native land,ibid.782; his murder described by Cassandra who either beholds it through the palace door, or sees it by clairvoyant power,ibid.*867. SeeCassandra,Clytemnestra,Iphigenia,Pyrrhus.Agāve, a daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia, mother of Pentheus, king of Thebes. She, with her sisters, in a fit of Bacchic frenzy, slew Pentheus on Mt. Cithaeron, rent away his head, and bore it back to Thebes,Oed.1006;Phoen.15, 363; her shade appears from hades, raging still,Oed.616. SeePentheus.Agrippina I, daughter of M. Vipsanius Agrippa and Julia, the daughter of Augustus, mother of the emperor Caligula. She died in exile at Pandataria,Oct.*932.AGRIPPINA II (Octavia), daughter of the preceding, wife of Cn. Domitius Ahenobarbus, and mother of Nero. She married the emperor Claudius, whom she murdered by poison,Oct.26, 45, 165, 340; she was the stepmother of Octavia, and the cause of all her woes,ibid.22; plotted the murder of Silanus, the betrothed lover of Octavia, and forced the latter into marriage with Nero,ibid.150; she sought in all this her own power and world-wide sway,ibid.155, 612; murdered by her own son, Nero,ibid.46, 95, 165; her murder brieflydescribed and attributed to Poppaea's influence,ibid.126; described in full detail,ibid.*310, *600; former high estate and pitiable death contrasted,ibid.952; her ghost appears to curse Nero for his impieties,ibid.*593.Ajax, son of Oïleus, called simply Oïleus; his death described,Med.660; for his blasphemous defiance of the gods he was destroyed by Pallas and Neptune in the great storm which wrecked the Greek fleet on its homeward voyage,Agam.*532.Ajax, son of Telamon, crazed with rage because the armor of the dead Achilles was awarded to Ulysses,Agam.210.Alcestis, wife of Admetus, king of Pherae, for the preservation of whose life she resigned her own,Med.662.ALCĪDES, seeHercules.ALCMĒNA (Hercules Oetaeus), wife of Amphitryon, a Theban prince, beloved of Jupiter, and mother by him of Hercules,H. Fur.22, 490. SeeHercules.Alcyone, seeCeyx.Althaea, wife of Oeneus, king of Calydonia, and mother of Meleager. In revenge for the latter's slaughter of her two brothers, she burned the charmed billet of wood on which her son's life depended, and so brought to pass his death,Med.779; on this account considered as a type of unnatural woman,H. Oet.954.Amalthēa, the goat of Olenus which fed with its milk the infant Jove, and was set as constellation in the sky; not yet known as such in the golden age,Med.313. SeeOlenus.Amazons, a race of warlike women who dwelt on the river Thermodon,Med.215; even they have felt the influence of love,Hip.575; conquered by Bacchus,Oed.479; Clytemnestra compared to them,Agam.736; allies of Troy,Tro.12; their queen, Penthesilea, slain by Achilles,ibid.243; Hercules laments that if he was fated to die by a woman's hand he had not been slain by the Amazon, Hippolyte,H. Oet.1183. SeeAntiope,Penthesilea,Hippolyte.Amphīon, son of Antiope by Jupiter, king of Thebes, and husband of Niobe; renowned for his music; built the walls of Thebes by the magic of his lyre,Phoen.566;H. Fur.262; his hounds are heard baying at the time of the great plague at Thebes,Oed.179; his shade arises from hades holding still in his hand the wonderful lyre,ibid.612.AMPHITRYON (Hercules Furens), a Theban prince, husband of Alcmena, the mother of Hercules,H. Fur.309; he proves that not he but Jupiter is the father of Hercules,ibid.440; welcomes Hercules upon his return from hades,ibid.618.Ancaeus, an Arcadian hero, one of the Argonauts, slain by the Calydonian boar,Med.643.ANDROMACHE (Troades), wife of Hector and mother of Astyanax; attempts to hide and save her son from Ulysses,Tro.*430; given by lot to Pyrrhus,ibid.976. SeeAstyanax.Antaeus, a Libyan giant, son of Neptune and Terra, a famous wrestler, who gained new strength by being thrown to mother earth; strangled by Hercules, who held him aloft in the air,H. Fur.482, 1171;H. Oet.24, 1899; Alcmena fears that a possible son of his may come to vex the earth,H. Oet.1788. SeeHercules.ANTIGONE (Phoenissae), the daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta; she refuses to desert her father in his blindness and exile,Phoen.51; Oedipus wonders that such a pure girl should have sprung from so vile a house,ibid.80; she argues her father's innocence,ibid.203.Antiope, an Amazon, wife of Theseus and slain by him,Hip.226, 927, 1167; mother of Hippolytus by Theseus,ibid.398; her personal appearance and dress described,ibid.*398; her stern and lofty beauty inherited by Hippolytus,ibid.659.Antonius(Marc Antony), a great Roman general, defeated by Octavianus at the battle of Actium; fled with Cleopatra to Egypt,Oct.518.Apollo, son of Jupiter and Latona, born in Delos, a "roving land,"H. Fur.453; twin brother of Diana,Med.87; the laurel his sacred tree,Agam.588; god of the prophetic tripod,Med.86; inspirer of priestess at his oracle,Oed.269; god of the bow, is himself pierced by the arrows of Cupid,Hip.192; killed the dragon Python,H. Fur.455; exiled from heaven and doomed to serve a mortal for killing the Cyclopes, he came to earth and kept the flocks of Admetus, king of Pherae,ibid.451;Hip.296; hymn in praise of,Agam.310; worshiped as the sun, lord of the sky, under the name of Phoebus Apollo. SeePhoebus.Aquarius, the zodiacal constellation, known as the Water-bearer,Thy.865.Arabes, the inhabitants of Arabia, famed for their spice groves,Oed.117; sun-worshipers,H. Oet.793; use poisoned darts,Med.711.Arctophylax, the Bear-keeper, a northern constellation, called also Boötes, according as the two adjacent constellations are called the Bears (Arctos,Ursae), or the Wagons (Plaustra). By a strange mixture of the two conceptions, this constellation is calledArctophylaxandcustos plaustri("the wagon's guardian") in the same connection,Thy.874. SeeBoötes.Arcadians, the most ancient race of men, older than the moon,H. Oet.1883;Hip.786.Arcadian Bears, the constellations of the Great and Little Bears, which wheel round their course in the northern sky, but do not set,H. Fur.129. SeeArctos,Bears, andCallisto.Arcadian Boar, captured by Hercules and brought alive to Eurystheus as his fourth labor,Agam.832;H. Fur.229;H. Oet.1536. SeeHercules.Arcadian Stag, captured by Hercules,H. Fur.222. SeeHercules.Arctos, a name given to the double constellation of the Great and Little Bears,Oed.507; called also Arcadian stars,ibid.478. SeeBearsandCallisto.Argo, the name of the ship in which the Greek heroes under Jason sailed to Colchis in quest of the golden fleece,Med.361; chorus comments upon the rashness of the man who first intrusted his life to a ship, and recalls the adventure of the Argonautic heroes,ibid.*301; this voyage was impious, since it broke the law of the golden age, that the lands should be severed, not connected by the seas,ibid.335; Tiphys was the builder and the pilot of the Argo,ibid.3, 318; he was instructed by Minerva, patron goddess of the arts and crafts,ibid.3, 365; the Argo had its keel made of wood from the talking oak of Dodona,ibid.349; the sailing of the new ship described,ibid.*318; how it escaped the Symplegades,ibid.*341; the roll of the Argonautic heroes, "the bulwark of the Greeks, the offspring of the gods,"ibid.*227; nearly all came to a violent death,ibid.*607.Argos, the capital of Argolis, sacred to Juno, the home of heroes,Agam.808; paid homage to Bacchus, after the favor of Juno had been won by him,Oed.486.Ariadne, daughter of Minos, king of Crete; she fell in love with Theseus, and supplied him with a thread by which to find his way out of thelabyrinth,Hip.662; she fled with Theseus, but was ruined and deserted by him on the island of Naxos,ibid.665; and there found and beloved by Bacchus,Oed.448; who made her his wife and immortalized her by setting her as a constellation in the heavens,ibid.497;H. Fur.18;Hip.663; pardoned by her father for her love of Theseus,ibid.245.Aries, the golden-fleeced ram which bore Phrixus and Helle through the air, and which was afterward set in the heavens as one of the zodiacal constellations,Thy.850.Astraea, the goddess of Justice, who lived among men during the golden age, but finally left the earth because of the sins of man,Oct. 424; she is the zodiacal constellation, Virgo,H. Oet.69; called, incorrectly and perhaps figuratively, the mother of Somnus,H. Fur.1068. SeeJustice.Astyanax(Troades), the young son of Hector and Andromache, pictured as leading his youthful playmates in joyful dance around the wooden horse,Agam.634; compared with his father, Tro. 464; his death demanded by the Greeks, as announced by Calchas,ibid.369; reasons for his death from the standpoint of the Greeks,ibid.526; the doom of Astyanax announced to his mother,ibid.620; she pathetically recounts all the activities into which he would have grown, but which must now be given up,ibid.*770; his death described by messenger,ibid.*1068.Atlantiades, seePleiades.Atlas, a high mountain in the north-west of Libya, conceived as a giant upon whose head the heavens rested,H. Oet.12, 1599; eased awhile of his burden by Hercules,ibid.1905.Atreus(Thyestes), a son of Pelops, father of Agamemnon and Menelaüs, and brother of Thyestes, between whom and himself existed a deadly feud. He plans how he will avenge himself upon his brother,Thy.176; describes his brother's sins against himself,ibid.220; his revenge takes shape and expression,ibid.260; the place and scene of his murder of the sons of Thyestes described at length,ibid.*650; he gloats over the horrible agony of his brother,ibid.1057.Attis, a young Phrygian shepherd, mourned by the priests of Cybele,Agam.686.Auge, an Arcadian maiden, loved by Hercules, and mother by him of Telephus,H. Oet.367.Augēan Stables, the stables of Augeas, king of Elis, containing three thousand head of cattle, and uncleansed for thirty years; they were cleaned by Hercules in a single day,H. Fur.247.Augustus, the first emperor of Rome; his rule cited by Seneca to Nero as a model of strong but merciful sway,Oct.*477; his bloody path to power described by Nero,ibid.*505; deified at death,ibid.528.Aulis, a seaport of Boeotia, the rendezvous of the Greek fleet, whence they sailed to Troy. Here they were stayed by adverse winds until they were appeased by the sacrifice of Iphigenia,Agam.567; Tro. 164; the hostility of Aulis to all ships because her king, Tiphys, had met death on the Argonautic expedition, assigned as a reason for her detention of the Greek fleet,Med.622. SeeIphigenia.BBacchus, son of Jupiter and Semele, the daughter of Cadmus. The unborn infant was saved from his dying mother who had been blasted by the lightnings of her lover,Oed.502;Med.84;H. Fur.457; to escape the wrath of Juno, he was hid in Arabian (or Indian) Nysa, where, disguised as a girl, he was nourished by the nymphs,Oed.418; in childhood captured byTyrian pirates, who, frightened by marvelous manifestations of divine power on board their ship, leaped overboard and were changed into dolphins,ibid.*449; visited India, accompanied by Theban heroes,ibid.*113;H. Fur.903; visited Lydia and sailed on the Pactolus,Oed.467; conquered the Amazons and many other savage peoples,ibid.469; god of the flowing locks, crowned with ivy, carrying the thyrsus,ibid.403;H. Fur.472;Hip.*753; marvelous powers of the thyrsus described,Oed.*491; attended by his foster father Silenus,ibid.429; called Bassareus,Oed.432; Bromius,Hip.760; Ogygian Iacchus,Oed.437; Nyctelius,ibid.492; destroyed Lycurgus, king of Thrace, because of that king's opposition to him,H. Fur.903; inspired his maddened worshipers, the women of Thebes, to rend Pentheus in pieces,Oed.441, 483; helped Jupiter in war against the giants,H. Fur.458; found Ariadne on island of Naxos, where she had been deserted by Theseus, made her his wife, and set her as a constellation in the heavens,Oed.488, 497;Hip.760;H. Fur.18; dithyrambic chorus in his praise, giving numerous incidents in his career,Oed.**403; won the favor of Juno and the homage of her city of Argos,ibid.486; gained a place in heaven,H. Oet.94. SeeAriadne,Bassarides,Bromius,Nyctelius,Ogyges,Pentheus,Proetides,Semele,Silenus.Bassarides, female worshipers of Bacchus, so called because they were clad in fox skins,Oed.432. Hence Bacchus was calledBassareus.Bears, the northern constellations of the Great and Little Bears; they were forbidden by the jealous Juno to bathe in the ocean (an explanation of the fact that these constellations never set),H. Oet.281, 1585;Thy.477;Med.405; have plunged into the sea under the influence of magic,ibid.758; shall some day, by a reversal of nature's laws, plunge beneath the sea,Thy.867; the Great Bear used for steering ships by the Greeks, the Little Bear by the Phoenicians,Med.694. SeeArcadian Bears,Arctos,Callisto.Belias, one of the Belides, or grand-daughters of Belus, the same as the Danaïdes, since Danaüs was the son of Belus,H. Oet.960.Bellona, the bloody goddess of war, conceived of as dwelling in hell,H. Oet.1312; haunts the palace of kings,Agam.82.Boeotia, land named from the heifer which guided Cadmus to the place where he should found his city,Oed.722.Boōtes, the northern constellation of the Wagoner, driving his wagons, under which form also the two Bears are conceived,Oct.233;Agam.70; unable to set beneath the sea,ibid.69; not yet known as a constellation in the golden age,Med.315.Briareus, one of the giants pictured as storming heaven,H. Oet.167.Brisēis, a captive maiden, beloved by her captor, Achilles, from whom she was taken by Agamemnon,Tro.194, 220, 318.Britannicus, son of the emperor Claudius and Messalina, brother of Octavia, and stepbrother of Nero, by whom, at the instigation of Agrippina, the mother of Nero, he was murdered, in order that Nero might have undisputed succession to the throne,Oct.47, 67, *166, 242, 269.Bromius(the "noisy one"), an epithet of Bacchus, on account of the noisy celebration of his festivals,Hip.760.Brutus, the friend of Julius Caesar, and yet the leader of the conspirators against him,Oct.498.Busīris, a king of Egypt who sacrificed strangers upon his altars, and was himself slain by Hercules,Tro.1106,H. Fur.483;H. Oet.26; Alcmena fears that a possible son of his may come to vex the earth now that Hercules is dead,ibid.1787.CCadmeïdes, daughters of Cadmus, e. g., Agave, Autonoë, Ino, who in their madness tore Pentheus in pieces,H. Fur.758.Cadmus, son of Agenor, the king of Phoenicia. Being sent by his father to find his lost sister, Europa, with the command not to return unless successful, he wandered over the earth in vain, and at last founded a land of his own (Boeotia), guided thither by a heifer sent by Apollo. Here he kills the great serpent sacred to Mars, sows its teeth in the earth from which armed men spring up,Oed.**712;H. Fur.917;Phoen.125; he was at last himself changed to a serpent,H. Fur.392; his house was cursed, so that no king of Thebes from Cadmus on held the throne in peace and happiness,Phoen.644.Caesar, Julius, quoted as a mighty general, unconquered in war, but slain by the hands of citizens,Oct.500.Calchas(Troades), a distinguished seer among the Greeks before Troy; his prophetic power described,Tro.*353; he decides that Polyxena must be sacrificed,ibid.360.Callisto, a nymph of Arcadia, beloved of Jove, changed into a bear by Juno, and set in the heavens by her lover as the constellation of the Great Bear, while her son Arcas was made the Little Bear,H. Fur.6; is the constellation by which the Greek sailors guided their ships,ibid.7; called the frozen Bear,ibid.1139. SeeJupiter,Arctos,Bears.Calpe, one side of a rocky passage rent by Hercules, thus letting the Mediterranean Sea into the outer ocean. Calpe was one of the so-called "pillars of Hercules," or Gibraltar, while the opposite mass in Africa from which it was rent was called Abyla,H. Fur.237;H. Oet.1240, 1253, 1569.Cancer, the zodiacal constellation of the Crab, in which the sun is found in the summer solstice,Thy.854;Hip.287;H. Oet.41, 67, 1219, 1573.Caphereus, a cliff on the coast of Euboea, where Nauplius lured the Greek fleet to destruction by displaying false fires,Agam.560. SeeNauplius.Capnomantīa, a method of divining by observation of the smoke of the sacrifice, described,Oed.*325.Cassandra(Agamemnon), beloved by Apollo, but false to him; for this, the gift of prophecy bestowed by him was made of no avail by his decree that she should never be believed,Tro.34;Agam.255, 588; given by lot to Agamemnon in the distribution of the captives,Tro.978; raves in prophetic frenzy and describes the murder of Agamemnon in progress,Agam.*720; is led away to death, rejoicing in the prospect, and predicting the death of Clytemnestra and Aegisthus,ibid.1004.Castor, one of the twin sons of Jupiter and Leda, wife of Tyndarus, king of Sparta; his brother was Pollux,Phoen.128; Castor was the rider of the famous horse, Cyllarus, given to him by Juno,Hip.810; the twins were members of the Argonautic expedition,Med.230; called Tyndaridae, from the name of their reputed father,H. Fur.14; Castor a famous horseman, Pollux, a famous boxer,Med.89; the two were set as constellations in the sky to the grief of Juno,Oct.208.Caucasus, a rough mountain range between the Black and Caspian Seas,Thy.1048; here Prometheus was chained,H. Oet.1378;Med.709. SeePrometheus.Cecrops, the mythical founder and first king of Athens; hence the Athenians were called Cecropians,Med.76;Thy.1049.Cenaeum, a promontory on the north-west point of the island of Euboea; here Hercules sacrificed to Jove, who was called Cenaean Jove from the position of his temple, after his victory over Eurytus,H. Oet.102; while sacrificing here, Hercules donned the poisoned robe sent by Deianira,ibid.782.Centaurs, a race of wild people in Thessaly, half man, half horse,H. Oet.1049, 1195, 1925; fight of, with the Lapithae,H. Fur.778; the centaur, Nessus, killed by Hercules,H. Oet.*503 SeeChiron,Nessus.Cerberus, the monstrous three-headed dog, guardian of hades,Thy.16;H. Oet.23;H. Fur.1107; his existence denied,Tro.404; said to have broken out of hades, and to be wandering abroad in the Theban land,Oed.171; his clanking chains heard on earth,ibid.581; Hercules, in the accomplishment of his twelfth labor, brought the dog in chains to the upper world,H. Oet.1245;Agam.859;H. Fur.*50, 547; Theseus describes the dog in great detail, and how he was brought to the upper world by Hercules,ibid.*760; his actions in the light of day,ibid.*813. SeeHercules.Ceres, the daughter of Saturn, sister of Jupiter, mother of Proserpina, and goddess of agriculture; her vain and anxious search for her daughter,H. Fur.659; taught Triptolemus the science of agriculture,Hip.838; the mystic rites of her worship,H. Fur.845. Her name used frequently by metonymy for grain. SeeEleusin,Proserpina,Triptolemus.Ceyx, king of Trachin who suffered death by shipwreck. His wife Alcyone, mourned him incessantly, until finally both he and she were changed into kingfishers,H. Oet.197;Agam.681;Oct.7.Chaonian Oaks, a sacred grove in Chaonia of Epirus containing a temple and oracle of Jupiter, said to be the oldest oracle in Greece; the oracle was supposed to be given out by the oaks themselves, which were endowed with the miraculous power of speech, or by the doves which resorted there. These great "Chaonian trees" are used as a type of tall trees in general,Oed.728; the "talking oak" of Chaonia,H. Oet.1623. SeeDodona.Charon, the aged man who ferries souls across the river Styx,H. Fur.555; his personal appearance described by Theseus,ibid.*764; forced by Hercules to bear him across the Lethe (not Styx),ibid.*770; overwearied by his toil of transporting such throngs of Theban dead,Oed.166; charmed by the music of Orpheus,H. Oet.1072; Cassandra prophesies that his skiff shall on that day carry two royal souls across the river of death,Agam.752.Charybdis, a whirlpool between Italy and Sicily, opposite to Scylla, alternately sucking in and vomiting up the sea,Med.408;H. Oet. 235;Thy.581. SeeScylla.Chimaera, a monster combining a lion, a dragon, and a goat, which vomited forth fire,Med.828.Chiron, a centaur dwelling in a cavern on Mt. Pelion, famous for his knowledge of plants, medicine, and divination. To his training was intrusted the young Jason, Hercules, Aesculapius, and Achilles,H. Fur.971;Tro.832; set in the sky as the zodiacal constellation of Sagittarius, the "Archer,"Thy.860.Chrysēis, the daughter of Chryses, a priest of Apollo at Chrysa. She was taken captive by the Greeks and fell to the lot of Agamemnon, who, being forced by a pestilence sent by Apollo to give her up, claimed Briseïs, the captive maid of Achilles. Hence arose a deadly strife between the two,Tro.223. SeeAchilles.Cirrha, a very ancient town in Phocis, near Delphi, where were the famous temple and oracle of Apollo,Oed.269;H. Oet.92, 1475.Cithaeron, a mountain near Thebes where the infant Oedipus had been exposed,Phoen.13; the scene of many wild and tragic deeds. SeeActaeon,Agave,Dirce,Pentheus.Claudius, the fourth Roman emperor, father of Octavia, murdered by his second wife, Agrippina,Oct.26, 45, 269.Clotho, one of the three fates or Parcae, supposed to hold the distaff and spin the thread of life,H. Oet.768;Oct.16;Thy.617.CLYTEMNESTRA (Agamemnon), the daughter of Tyndarus and Leda, wife of Agamemnon, mother of Orestes, Iphigenia, and Electra. During the absence of her husband at the Trojan War, she engaged in a guilty conspiracy with Aegisthus to murder Agamemnon. She deliberates whether she shall give up her course of crime or carry it out to the end,Agam.108; tests the courage and determination of Aegisthusibid.239; her murder of Agamemnon prophesied and described by Cassandra,ibid.*734. SeeAgamemnonandAegisthus.Cocȳtus, "the river of lamentation," a gloomy, repulsive river of hades,H. Oet.1963; "sluggish, vile,"H. Fur.686; conceived as the river over which spirits cross to the land of the dead,ibid.870.Colchian Bull, the fire-breathing monster which Jason was set to tame and yoke to the plow; Medea claims to have preserved some of his fiery breath for her magic uses,Med.829.Colchian Woman, SeeMedea.CREON (Medea), king of Corinth, to whose court Jason and Medea fled after they were driven out of Thessaly; father of Creüsa, for whom he selected Jason as a husband, decreeing the banishment of Medea; headstrong and arbitrary, he breaks the most sacred ties to work his own will,Med.143; after a stormy interview with Medea, he finally allows her a single day of respite from exile,ibid.*190; called the son of Sisyphus,ibid.512; his death and that of his daughter by means of magic fire announced and described,ibid.*879.CREON (Oedipus), a Theban prince, brother of Queen Jocasta,Oed.210; sent by Oedipus to consult the oracle as to the cause of the plague at Thebes, he reports that it is because of the unavenged murder of their former king, Laïus,ibid.*210; he returns from necromantic rites which Tiresias had performed, and announces that Oedipus himself is guilty of the murder of Laïus. He is thereupon thrown into prison by Oedipus on the charge of conspiracy with Tiresias,ibid.*509; slain by the usurper, Lycus, as described by his daughter, Megara, who had been given as wife to Hercules,H. Fur.254.Cretan Bull, a wild bull of prodigious size, which laid waste the island of Crete; caught and taken alive to Eurystheus by Hercules as his seventh labor,H. Fur.230;Agam.833; SeeHercules.CREŪSA (Medea), daughter of Creon, king of Corinth, for whom Creon chose Jason as husband,Med.105; Jason's wife, Medea, bitterly protests that Creüsa shall not bear brothers to her children,ibid.509; Jason is charged by his wife with love for Creüsa,ibid.495; Medea prepares a magic robe as apresent for Creüsa by which she shall be burned to death,ibid.*816; Creüsa's death announced and described,ibid.879.Crispīnus, a Roman knight, the husband of Poppaea,Oct.731.Cupid, the god of love, son of Venus; addressed and characterized by Deianira,H. Oet.*541; all powerful over the hearts of gods and men,Hip.*185; hymn recounting his wide sway, with special instances of his irresistible power,ibid.**275; his dire power,Oct.806; there is no such god; he is created by the error of men, who seek to hide their own lustful passions behind such a being,ibid.**557;Hip.**275.Cybele, a goddess worshiped in the Phrygian groves,Hip.1135; the pines of Ida were sacred to her,Tro.72; crowned with a turreted crown, her worship described,Agam.686.Cyclopes, a fabulous race of giants on the coast of Sicily, having each but one eye in the middle of the forehead; they are said to have built the walls of Mycenae,H. Fur.997;Thy.407; Polyphemus, one of the Cyclopes, is pictured as sitting on a crag of Mt. Aetna,ibid.582.Cycnus, a son of Mars, slain by Hercules,H. Fur.485.Cycnus, a son of Neptune, slain by Achilles and changed at the moment of death into a swan,Agam.215;Tro.184.Cyllarus, a famous horse which Juno received from Neptune and presented to Castor,Hip.811.Cynosūra, the constellation of the Lesser Bear,Thy.872.DDaedalus, an Athenian architect, the father of Icarus, in the time of Theseus and Minos. He helped Pasiphaë, wife of Minos, to accomplish her unnatural desires,Hip.120; built the labyrinth for the Minotaur,ibid.122, 1171; story of his escape from Crete on wings which he himself had constructedOed.*822; safe because he pursued a middle course,H. Oet.683.Danaë, daughter of Acrisius, and mother of Perseus by Jupiter who approached her in the form of a golden shower,Oct.207, 772. SeePerseus.Danaïdes, the fifty daughters of Danaüs, brother of Aegyptus. These fifty daughters, being forced to marry the fifty sons of Aegyptus, slew their husbands on their wedding night, with the single exception of Hypermnestra,H. Fur.498; their punishment in hades for this crime was the task of filling a bottomless cistern with water carried in sieves,ibid.757; Medea summons these to her aid in getting vengeance upon her own husband,Med.749; Deianira would fill up the vacant place in their number left by the absence of Hypermnestra,H. Oet.948; called also Belides,ibid.960. SeeBelias,Hypermnestra.Dardanus, the son of Jupiter and Electra, one of the ancestors of the royal house of Troy. He is represented as exulting in hades over the impending doom of Agamemnon, the enemy of his house,Agam.773.Daulian Bird, i. e., Philomela, who was changed into a nightingale after the sad tragedy connected with her name, which was enacted at Daulis, a city of Phocis. She mourns continually, in her bird form, for Itys,H. Oet.192. SeePhilomelaandItys.DEIANĪRA (Hercules Oetaeus), the daughter of Oeneus, king of Calydonia, sister of Meleager, wife of Hercules, and mother of Hyllus, pictured as playing with her maidens on the banks of the Acheloüs,H. Oet.586; relates to her nurse the affair of her abductionby Nessus,ibid.*500; her wild rage when she hears of Hercules' infatuation for Iole,ibid.237; ignorant of its real power, she prepares to send the charmed robe to Hercules,ibid.*535; she gives it to Lichas to bear to his master,ibid.569; makes test of the remnant of the poisoned blood of Nessus after the anointed robe has been sent away and is horrified to discover its terrible power,ibid.*716; later learns from Hyllus the terrible effects of the poison on Hercules,ibid.*742; she prays for death,ibid.842; begs Hyllus to slay her,ibid.984; goes distracted and seems to see the furies approaching,ibid.1002; her death by her own hand reported by Hyllus,ibid.1420.Deïdamīa, daughter of Lycomedes, king of Scyros, and mother of Pyrrhus by Achilles while the latter was hiding in the disguise of maidens' garments at that court,Tro.342.Deïphobus, a son of Priam and Hecuba and husband of Helen after the death of Paris; slain and mangled by the Greeks through the treachery of his wife,Agam.749.Delos, a small island in the Aegean Sea, formerly floating about from place to place, in which condition it became the birthplace of Apollo and Diana,H. Fur.453; made firm at the command of Diana,Agam.384.Delphic Oracle, the famous oracle of Apollo at Delphi in Phocis; expressed in enigmatic form,Oed.214; the giving-out of an oracle described,ibid.*225.Deucalion, son of Prometheus, husband of Pyrrha; this pair were alone saved of all mankind from the flood,Tro.1039. SeePyrrha.Diāna, daughter of Jupiter and Latona; twin sister of Apollo,H. Fur.905; hymn in praise of,Agam.*367; caused her native Delos to be a firm island,ibid.369; punished Niobe for her impiety,ibid.375; conceived as in triple manifestation,LunaorPhoebein heaven,Dianaon earth, andHecatein hades,Hip.412; hence calledTriviaand worshiped where three ways meet,Agam.367; Hippolytus prays to her as goddess of the chase,Hip.54; her wide sway described, ibid. *54; nurse of Phaedra prays that she may turn Hippolytus to love,ibid.406; in form of Luna, an object of attack by Thessalian witchcraft,ibid.421; being slighted by Oeneus, king of Aetolia or Calydon, she sent a huge boar to ravage the country. Hence Pleuron, a city of Aetolia, is said to be hostile to her,Tro.827.Dictynna, "goddess of the nets," an epithet applied to Diana,Med.795; assumed from Britomartys, a Cretan nymph, sometimes called the Cretan Diana, who, to escape from the pursuit of her lover, leaped over a cliff into the sea, where she fell into a fishing-net.Diomēdes, a bloody king of the Bistones, in Thrace, who fed his captives to fierce, man-eating horses which he kept in his stalls,H. Oet.1538;Tro.1108; Hercules, as his eighth labor, captured these horses, having previously fed their master to them,Agam.842;H. Fur.226, 1170; Alomena fears that she may be given to these horses now that Hercules is dead,H. Oet.1790. SeeHercules.Dirce, the wife of Lycus, king of Thebes, who, on account of her cruelty to Antiope, was tied by her sons, Zethus and Amphion, by the hair to a wild bull, and so dragged to death on Mt. Cithaeron,Phoen.19; changed to a fountain of the same name,ibid.126;H. Fur.916; the water of this fountain was said to flow with blood at the time of the great plague at Thebes,Oed.177.Discord, one of the furies, summoned by Juno from hades to drive Hercules to madness,H. Fur.93; her abode described,ibid.*93.Dodōna, a city of Chaonia in Epirus, famous for its ancient oracle of Jupiter, situated in a grove of oaks. The oracle was given in some mysterious way as if by the talking of these sacred oaks,H. Oet.1473; Minerva aided in the construction of the Argo, and set in the prow a piece of timber cut from the speaking oak of Dodona, and this piece had itself the power of giving oracles; hence the "voice" which it is said that the Argo lost through fear of the clashing Symplegades,Med.349. SeeChaonian Oaks.Domitius, the father of Nero,Oct.249.Dragon, (1) the guardian of the apples of the Hesperides, slain by Hercules, and afterward set in the heavens as the constellation, Draco, lying between the two Bears,Thy.870;Med.694; (2) the dragon of Colchis, guardian of the Golden Fleece, put to sleep by the magic of Medea,Med.703; (3) dragon sacred to Mars killed by Cadmus near the site of his destined city of Thebes. The teeth of this dragon were sown in the earth by Cadmus, and from these armed men sprung up,Oed.**725;H. Fur.260; a part of these same teeth were sown by Jason in Colchis with a similar result,Med.469; the brothers who sprang up against Cadmus are described as living in hades,Oed.586.Drusus, Livius, the fate of,Oct.887, 942.Dryads, a race of wood-nymphs,H. Oet.1053;Hip.784.EEcho, a nymph who pined away to a mere voice for unrequited love of Narcissus. She dwells in mountain caves, and repeats the last words of all that is said in her hearing,Tro.109.ELECTRA (Agamemnon), daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, and sister of Orestes; gives her brother to Strophius, king of Phocis, that he may be rescued from death at the hands of Clytemnestra and Aegisthus,Agam.910; defies her mother, and scorns both her threats and those of Aegisthus,ibid.953; is taken away to imprisonment,ibid.1000; Octavia compares her woes with Electra's, to the advantage of the latter,Oct.60.Eleusin, an ancient city of Attica, famous for its mysteries of Ceres,H. Oet.599;Tro.843;H. Fur.300;Hip.838; the celebration of the mysteries described,H. Fur.*842. SeeCeres,Triptolemus.Elysium, the abode of the blest in the spirit world,Tro.159, 944;H. Oet.1916;H. Fur.744; Deianira thinks that she should be expelled from Elysium by all faithful wives,H. Oet.956.Enceladus, one of the giant Titans who attempted to dethrone Jove, overthrown and buried under Sicily,H. Fur.79;H. Oet.1140, 1145, 1159, 1735.Eridanus, the mythical and poetical name of the river Po,H. Oet.186. SeePhaëthontiades.Erinyes, the furies,H. Fur.982;Med.952;Oed.590;Agam.83;Thy.251;H. Oet.609, 671;Oet.23, 161, 263, 619, 913. SeeFuries.Eryx, the son of Butes and Venus, a famous boxer, overcome by Hercules,H. Fur.481; a mountain in Sicily, said to have been named from the preceding,Oed.600.ETEOCLES (Phoenissae), one of the two sons of Oedipus and Jocasta. After Oedipus went into voluntary banishment, abandoning the throne of Thebes (Phoen.104), Eteocles and Polynices agreed to reign alternately, each a year. Eteocles, the elder, first ascended the throne, butwhen his year was up refused to give way to his brother,Phoen.55, 280, 389. SeePolynices.Eumenides("the gracious ones"), a euphemistic name for the furies,H. Fur.87;H. Oet.1002.Eurōpa, daughter of Agenor, king of Tyre, beloved of Jupiter, who, in the form of a bull, carried her away to Crete,Oct.206, 766;H. Oet.550; this episode is immortalized by the constellation of Taurus, which rises in April,H. Fur.9; sought in vain by her brother Cadmus,Oed.715; the continent of Europe named after her,Agam.205, 274;Tro.896.EURYBATES (Agamemnon), a messenger of Agamemnon who announces the victory of the Greeks over Troy, and the near approach of the hero to Mycenae,Agam.392; he relates at great length the sufferings of the Greek fleet by storm and shipwreck on the homeward voyage,ibid.*421.Eurydice, the wife of Orpheus, slain by a serpent's sting on her wedding day; story of Orpheus' quest for her in hades,H. Fur.*569; rescued by Orpheus from the lower world, but lost again,H. Oet.*1084. SeeOrpheus.Eurystheus, the son of Sthenelus and grandson of Perseus, who, by a trick of Juno, was given power over Hercules, and, at Juno's instance, set to Hercules his various labors,H. Oet.403;H. Fur.78, 479, 526, 830; lord of Argos and Mycenae,ibid.1180;H. Oet.1800; his time of punishment will come,ibid.1973.Eurytus, king of Oechalia and father of Iole,H. Oet.1490; he and his house destroyed by Hercules because he refused the latter's suit for Iole,ibid.100, 207, 221;H. Fur.477. SeeHercules.FFescennine, of Fescennia, an ancient town of Etruria, famous for a species of coarse, jeering dialogues in verse which bear its name,Med.113.Fortune, the goddess of fate, ruling over the affairs of men,H. Fur.326, 524;Tro.*1, *259, 269, 697, 735;Phoen.82, 308, 452;Med.159, 176, 287;Hip.979, 1124, 1143;Oed.11, 86, 674, 786, 825, 934;Agam.28, 58, 72, 89, 101, 248, 594, 698;H. Oet.697;Oet.36, 377, 479, 563, 888, 898, 931, 962;Thy.618.Furies, avenging goddesses, dwelling in hades, set to punish and torment men both on earth and in the lower world; described and appealed to for aid in punishment of Jason,Med.13; Juno plots to summon them from hades in order to drive Hercules to madness,H. Fur.86; described as to their horrible physical aspect,ibid.87; described in clairvoyant vision by Cassandra,Agam.*759; moving in bands,Thy.78, 250;Med.958; one of the furies used as a character in dramatic prologue, driving the ghost of Thyestes on to perform his mission,Thy.*23. SeeEumenides,Erinyes,Megaera,Tisiphone.GGemini, the zodiacal constellation of the Twins, Castor and Pollux,Thy.853.Geryon, a mythical king in Spain having three bodies; Hercules slew him and brought his famous cattle to Eurystheus as his tenth labor,H. Fur.231, 487, 1170;Agam.837;H. Oet.26, 1204, 1900. SeeHercules.GHOSTS. The ghost appears as adramatis personain the following plays:Agamemnon, in which the ghost of Thyestes appears in the prologue to urge Aegisthus on to fulfil his mission;Thyestes, in which the ghost of Tantalus similarly appears in the prologue;Octavia, in which the ghost of Agrippina appears. In the following plays the ghostaffects the action though not actually appearing upon the stage:Troades, in which the ghost of Achilles is reported to have appeared to the Greeks and demanded the sacrifice of Polyxena, 168 ff.; Andromache also claims to have seen the ghost of Hector warning her of the impending fate of Astyanax, 443 ff.;Oedipus, in which the ghost of Laïus and other departed spirits are described as set free by the necromancy of Tiresias, 582 ff.;Medea, in which the mangled ghost of Absyrtus seems to appear to the distracted Medea, 963; ghosts appear larger than mortal forms,Oed.175.Giants, monstrous sons of Earth, fabled to have made war upon the gods, scaling heaven by piling mountains (Pelion, Ossa, and Olympus) one on another,Tro.829;Thy.804, 810, 1084;H. Fur.445; they were overthrown by the thunderbolt of Jupiter,H. Oet.1302;Oed.91; with the help of Hercules,H. Oet.1215; buried under Sicily,ibid.1309; seem to the mad Hercules to be again in arms, and to be hurling mountains,H. Fur.976; after death of Hercules there is danger that they will again pile up mountains and scale heaven,H. Oet.1139, *1151. SeeBriareus,Enceladus,Gyas,Mimas,Othrys,Typhoeus,Titans.Golden Age, the first age of mankind, when peace and innocence reigned on the earth; described,Hip.*525;Oet.*395;Med.*329.Golden-Fleeced Ram, (1) the ram on which Phrixus and his sister, Helle, escaped from Boeotia; as they fled through the air Helle fell off into the sea,Tro.1035; on arrival at Colchis Phrixus sacrificed the ram and gave his wonderful fleece to King Aeëtes, who hung it in a tree sacred to Mars. This fleece was the prize sought by the Argonauts under Jason,Med.361, 471. SeePhrixus,Helle,Argonauts. (2) The emblem and pledge of sovereignty in the house of Pelops,Thy.*225.Gorgon, Medusa, one of the three daughters of Phorcys, whose head was covered with snaky locks, and sight of whom had power to turn to stone. She was killed by Perseus, and her head presented to Minerva who fixed it upon her shield,H. Oet.96;Agam.530. SeePerseus.Gracchi, two popular leaders of the Sempronian gens, quoted as examples of men brought to ruin by popular renown,Oet.882.Gradīvus, a surname of Mars,H. Fur.1342.Gyas, one of the giants who sought to dethrone Jove,H. Oet.167, 1139.HHades, the place of departed spirits, situated in the under world; the upper world entrance to, and downward-leading passage,H. Fur.662; description of,ibid.547; Theseus, returned with Hercules from hades, describes in great detail the places and persons of the lower world,ibid.**658; chorus sings of the world of the dead and of the thronging peoples who constantly pour into its all-holding depths,ibid.*830; its torments and personages described by ghost of Tantalus,Thy.1; its regions and inhabitants seen by Creon through the yawning chasm in the earth made by Tiresias' incantations,Oed.*582.Harpies, mythical monsters, half woman and half bird; driven from Phineus by Zetes and Calaïs,Med.782; still torment Phineus in hades as upon earth,H. Fur.759; used as type of winged speed,Phoen.424.Hebe, the daughter of Juno, cupbearer to the gods, and given as bride to the deified Hercules,Oct.211.Hecate, daughter of Perses, presider over enchantments; often identified with Proserpina as the underworldmanifestation of the deity seen in Diana on earth and Luna in heaven,H. Oet.1519;Med.6, 577, 833, 841;Tro.389;Hip.412;Oed.569.Hector, the son of Priam and Hecuba, husband of Andromache, the bravest warrior and chief support of Troy,Tro.125; burns the Greek fleet,ibid.444;Agam.743; slays Patroclus,Tro.446; slain by Achilles and his body dragged around the walls of Troy,ibid.*413;Agam.743; his body ransomed by Priam,ibid.447; lamented by the band of captive Trojan women,Tro.98; his ghost warns Andromache in a dream of the danger of their son Astyanax,ibid.443; she hides the boy in Hector's tomb,ibid.498; she loves Astyanax for the boy's resemblance to his father,ibid.646.HECUBA (Troades), the wife of Priam, unhappily survives Troy; as one of the captive Trojan women, leads them in a lament for Troy's downfall, for Hector and Priam,Tro.*1; before the birth of Paris, dreamed that she had given birth to a firebrand,ibid.36; her once happy estate described, and contrasted with her present wretchedness,ibid.*958; given to Ulysses by lot,ibid.980; having suffered the loss of all her loved ones she is at last changed into a dog,Agam.*705; rejoices for the first time after Hector's death on occasion of wooden horse being taken into Troy,ibid.648.HELEN (Troades), daughter of Jupiter and Leda, sister of Clytemnestra, wife of Menelaüs, reputed the most beautiful woman in Greece; given by Venus to Paris as a reward for his judgment in her favor,Oct.773; fled from her husband for love of Paris,Agam.123; afterward pardoned by Agamemnon and returned home with Menelaüs,ibid.273; sent by Greeks to deceive Polyxena and prepare her for sacrifice on tomb of Achilles,Tro.861; cursed by Andromache as the common scourge of Greeks and Trojans,ibid.*892; bewails and describes her own hard lot,ibid.905; she is not to blame for the woes of Troy,ibid.917.Helle, sister of Phrixus, who fled with him on the golden-fleeced ram, and fell off into the sea which thereafter bore her name (Hellespont),Tro.1034;Thy.851. SeePhrixus.Hercēan Jove, an epithet of Jupiter as the protector of the house; it was at his altar in the courtyard of his own palace that Priam was slain,Tro.140;Agam.448, 793.HERCULES (Hercules Furens,Hercules Oetaeus), the son of Jupiter and Alcmena,H. Fur.20;H. Oet.7 andpassim; night unnaturally prolonged at his conception,Agam.814;H. Fur.24, 1158;H. Oet.147, 1500, 1697, 1864; in his infancy he strangled the two serpents which Juno sent against him in his cradle,H. Fur.*214;H. Oet.1205; by a trick of Juno who hastened the birth of Eurystheus, made subject to Eurystheus who set him various labors,H. Oet.403;H. Fur.78, 524, *830. These twelve labors are as follows: (1) The killing of the Nemean lion,H. Fur.46, 224;H. Oet.16, 411, 1192, 1235, 1885;Agam.829; (2) the destruction of the hydra of Lerna,Agam.835;Med.701;H. Fur.46, 241, 529, 780, 1195;H. Oet.19, 918, 1193, 1534, 1813; (3) the capture alive of the Arcadian stag, famous for its fleetness and its golden antlers,H. Fur.222;H. Oet.17, 1238;Agam.831; (4) the capture of the wild boar of Erymanthus,H. Fur.228;H. Oet.1536, 1888;Agam.832; (5) the cleansing of the Augean stables,H. Fur.247; (6) the killing of the Stymphalian birds,H. Fur.244;H. Oet.17, 1237, 1813, 1889;Agam.850; (7) the capture of the Cretan bull,H. Fur.230;H. Oet.27;Agam.834; (8) the obtaining of the mares of Diomedes which fed on human flesh and the slaying of Diomedes himself,H. Fur.226;H. Oet.20, 1538, 1814, 1894;Agam.842; (9) the securing of the girdle of Hippolyte,H. Fur.245, 542;H. Oet.21, 1183, 1450;Agam.848; (10) the killing of Geryon and the capture of his oxen,H. Fur.231, 487;H. Oet.26, 1204, 1900;Agam.837; (11) the securing of the golden apples of the Hesperides,H. Fur.239, 530; H. Oet. 18;Phoen.316;Agam.*852; (12) the descent to hades and bringing to the upper world of the dog Cerberus,H. Fur.*46, **760;H. Oet.23, 1162, 1244;Agam.859. Other heroic deeds done by Hercules are as follows: he bore up the heavens upon his shoulders in place of Atlas,H. Fur.*69, 528, 1101;H. Oet.282, 1241, 1764, 1905; burst a passage for the river Peneus between Ossa and Olympus,H. Fur.*283; rent Calpe and Abyla (the "Pillars of Hercules") apart and made a passage for the Mediterranean Sea into the ocean,H. Fur.237;H. Oet.1240, 1253, 1569; fought with and overcame the Centaurs,ibid.1195; fought with Acheloüs for the possession of Deianira,ibid.299, 495; slew the centaur Nessus who was carrying off his bride,ibid.*500, 921; overcame Eryx, the famous boxer,H. Fur.481; slew Antaeus,H. Fur.482, 1171;H. Oet.24, 1899; killed Busiris,H. Fur.483;H. Oet.26;Tro.1106; slew Cycnus, son of Mars,H. Fur.485; killed Zetes and Calaïs,Med.634; killed Periclymenus,ibid.635; wounded Pluto, who was going to the aid of the Pylians,H. Fur.560; wrecked off the African coast, he made his way on foot to the shore,ibid.319; assisted the gods in their fight against the giants,ibid.444; capured Troy with aid of Telamon during the reign of Laomedon,Tro.136, 719; his arrows said to be twice fated for the destruction of Troy,ibid.825;Agam.863; forced Charon to bear him across the Lethe (not Styx),H. Fur.*762;H. Oet.1556; rescued Theseus from hades,Hip.843;H. Fur.806;H. Oet.1197, 1768; overcame Eurytus, king of Oechalia,H. Fur.477;H. Oet.422. More or less extended recapitulations of the deeds of Hercules are found in the following passages:Agam.808-866;H. Fur.205-308, 481-487, 524-560;H. Oet.1-98, 410-435, 1161-1206, 1218-1257, 1518-1606, 1810-1830, 1872-1939. The loves of Hercules are as follows: Hesione, daughter of Laomedon, rescued from the sea-monster, and made captive to Hercules with the first fall of Troy; he afterward gave her to Telamon,H. Oet.363; Auge, daughter of Aleus, king of Tegea,ibid.367; the Thespiades, the fifty daughters of Thespius,ibid.369; Omphale, queen of Lydia, to whom Hercules, in expiation of an act of sacrilege, went into voluntary servitude for three years,ibid.*371, 573;H. Fur.*465;Hip.317; Iole, daughter of Eurytus, king of Oechalia, whom Hercules destroyed because Iole was denied to him,H. Oet.100, 207, 221;H. Fur.477. His wives were (1) Megara daughter of Creon, king of Thebes; Hercules, in a fit of madness, brought upon him by Juno's machinations, slew her and his children by her,H. Fur.*987, *1010;H. Oet.429, 903; when his sanity returned, Theseus promised him cleansing for his crime by Mars at Athens,H. Fur.1341; elsewhere said to have been cleansed by washing in the Cinyps, a river in Africa,H. Oet.907; (2) Deianira, daughter of Oeneus, king of Calydonia. SeeDeianiraandAcheloüs. The favorite tree of Hercules was the poplar,H. Fur.894, 912;H. Oet.1641. Hercules himself was destined to come to a tragic end after a life of great deeds,Med.637; his death was in accordance with an oracle which declared that he should die by the hand of one whom he had slain,H. Oet.1473; Deianira, ignorantly seeking to regain her husband's love from Iole, sends hima robe anointed with the poisoned blood of Nessus,ibid.535; Lichas bears the robe to his master,ibid.569; Hercules was worshiping Cenaean Jove in Euboea when the robe was brought to him,ibid.775; his sufferings caused by the terrible burning poison described,ibid.*749, 1218; hurls Lichas, the innocent cause of his pains, over a cliff,ibid.809; after dire suffering, is borne by boat from Euboea to Mt. Oeta where he was to perish,ibid.839; he orders a funeral pyre to be built for him on the top of the mountain,ibid.1483; speculation upon his probable place in heaven after death,ibid.1565; his glorious and triumphant death in the midst of the flames described,ibid.**1610, 1726; his fated bow is presented by the dying hero to his friend Philoctetes,ibid.1648; his ashes are collected into an urn by his mother, Alcmena,ibid.1758; Medea was said to have in her magical store some of the ashes of Oeta's pyre soaked with the dying (poisoned) blood of Hercules,Med.777; the voice of the hero is heard from heaven, declaring that he has been deified,H. Oet.*1940; now received into heaven as a god, in spite of Juno's opposition, he is given Hebe as his wife,Oct.210.Hermione, daughter of Menelaüs and Helen; the Trojans pray that she may suffer the same doom as Polyxena,Tro.1134.Hesione, daughter of Laomedon, exposed to a sea-monster sent by Neptune to punish the perfidy of Laomedon. She was rescued by Hercules and captured by him when he with Telamon's aid took Troy,H. Oet.363.Hesperides, Apples of, golden apples on certain islands far in the west, watched over by three nymphs, and guarded by a sleepless dragon; it was the eleventh labor of Hercules to get these apples and take them to Eurystheus,Agam.852;Phoen.316;H. Fur.239, 530.Hesperus, the evening star, messenger of night,Med.878;Hip.750;H. Fur.883; impatiently awaited by lovers,Med.72; as example of perverted nature, Hesperus will bring in the day,Phoen.87; functions of evening and morning stars interchanged at the conception of Hercules,H. Fur.821;H. Oet.149.Hieroscopïa(extispicium), a method of prophesying by inspecting the viscera of a newly slain sacrificial victim practiced by Tiresias in his effort to discover the murderer of Laius,Oed.*353.Hippodamīa, daughter of Oenomaüs, king of Pisa. SeeMyrtilus.Hippolyte, a queen of the Amazons, possessed of the belt of Mars; Eurystheus imposed upon Hercules as his ninth labor that he should secure and bring this belt, or girdle, to him; this the hero accomplished,Agam.848;H. Fur.245, 542;H. Oet.21, 1183, 1450.HIPPOLYTUS (Hippolytus), son of Theseus and Hippolyte, or, according to others, of Theseus and Antiope; represented as devoted to the hunt, and to Diana, the goddess of the hunt,Hip.1; the object of the guilty love of Phaedra, his father's wife,ibid.*99; he hates and avoids all womankind,ibid.230; his severe life as a recluse described,ibid.435; sings the praises of the simple life in the woods and fields, and contrasts this with city life,ibid.*483; is charged with a criminal attack upon Phaedra,ibid.725; his death caused by a monster sent by Neptune in response to the prayer of Theseus,ibid.1000; his innocence discovered,ibid.1191.Hyades, daughters of Atlas and sisters of the Pleiades; a constellation seemingly borne on the horns of Taurus,Thy.852; a storm-bringing constellation, but not yet recognized as such in the golden age,Med.311;disturbed by the magic power of Medea,ibid.769.Hydra, a monster which infested the marsh of Lerna; it had eight heads, and one besides which was immortal. When any one of the eight heads was severed there sprang forth two in its stead. After a desperate struggle with this creature, Hercules killed it as his second labor assigned by Eurystheus,Agam.835;Med.701;H. Fur.46, 241, 529, 780, 1195;H. Oet.19, 94, 851, 914, 918, 1193, 1534, 1650, 1813, 1927.Hylas, a beautiful youth, beloved by Hercules, who accompanied that hero on the Argonautic expedition; while stopping on the coast of Mysia for water, the boy was seized and kept by the water-nymphs of a stream into which he had dipped his urn,Hip.780,Med.*647.HYLLUS (Hercules Oetaeus), son of Hercules and Deianira; describes to his mother the terrible sufferings of Hercules after putting on the poisoned robe,H. Oet.742; called the grandson of Jove,ibid.1421; Iole is consigned to him as his wife by the dying Hercules,ibid.1490.Hymen, the god of marriage,Tro.861, 895;Med.*66, 110, 116, 300.Hypermnestra, one of the fifty daughters of Danaüs, who refused to murder her husband at her father's command,H. Fur.500; for this act of mercy, she is not suffering among her sisters in hades,H. Oet.948. SeeDanaïdes.IIcarus, the son of Daedalus, who, attempting to escape from Crete on wings which his father had made, melted the wax of his wings by a flight too near the sun, and so fell into the sea which took its name from him,Agam.506;Oed.*892;H. Oet.686. SeeDaedalus.Idmon, son of Apollo and Asteria, one of the Argonauts, with prophetic power; he died from the stroke of a wild boar, not, as Seneca says, from a serpent's bite,Med.652.Ino, daughter of Cadmus, sister of Semele, wife of Athamas, king of Thebes. Her husband, driven mad by Juno, because Ino had nursed the infant Bacchus, attempted to slay her, but she escaped him by leaping off a high cliff into the sea with her son Melicerta. They were both changed into sea-divinities,Phoen.22;Oed.445. SeePalaemon.IOLE (Hercules Oetaeus), daughter of Eurytus, king of Oechalia. She was sought in marriage by Hercules, who destroyed her father and all his house because she was refused to him,H. Oet.221; in captivity to Hercules, she mourns her fate,ibid.173; sent as a captive to Deianira,ibid.224; her reception by Deianira described,ibid.237; is consigned to Hyllus as wife, by the dying Hercules,ibid.1490.Iphigenīa, daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra; taken from her mother to be sacrificed at Aulis, on the pretext that she was to be married to Achilles,Agam.158; sacrificed to appease Diana to the end that the Greek fleet might be allowed to sail from Aulis,ibid.160;Tro.249, 360; her sacrifice described,Agam.*164; rescued by Diana at the last moment and taken to serve in the goddess' temple at Tauris,Oct.972.Iris, the messenger of Juno, and goddess of the rainbow,Oed.315.Itys, son of Tereus, king of Thrace, and Procne, who, to punish her husband for his outrage upon her sister, Philomela, slew the boy Itys and served him as a banquet to his father. The sisters, changed to birds, ever bewail Itys,H. Oet.192;Agam.670.Ixīon, for his insult to Juno fixed to an ever-revolving wheel in hades,Hip.1236;Thy.8;Agam.15;Oct.623;H. Fur.750;H. Oet.945,1011; his wheel stood still at the music of Orpheus,ibid.1068; Medea prays that he may leave his wheel and come to Corinth, and that Creon may take his place upon the wheel,Med.744. SeeNephele.JJASON (Medea), son of Aeson, king of Thessaly, and nephew of the usurping king, Pelias. He waspersuadedby Pelias to undertake the adventure of the Golden Fleece, for which he organized and led the Argonautic expedition. He was able to perform the hard tasks in Colchis which King Aeëtes set, through the aid of Medea: the taming of the fire-breathing bull,Med.121, 241, 466; overcoming of the giants sprung from the sown serpents' teeth,ibid.467; putting to sleep of the ever-watchful dragon,ibid.471; he had had no part in the murder of Pelias for which he and Medea were driven out of Thessaly,ibid.262; but this and all Medea's crimes had been done for his sake,ibid.*275; living in exile in Corinth, he is forced by Creon into a marriage with the king's daughter, Creüsa,ibid.137; Medea imprecates a dreadful curse upon him,ibid.19; he laments the hard dilemma in which he finds himself placed,ibid.431; and at last decides to yield to Creon's demands for the sake of his children,ibid.441.JOCASTA (Oedipus, Phoenissae), wife of Laïus, king of Thebes, mother and afterward wife of Oedipus; on learning that Oedipus is her son, she kills herself in an agony of grief and shame,Oed.1024. According to another version of the story, she is still living after the events leading to the voluntary exile of Oedipus; she bewails the fratricidal strife between her two sons, Eteocles and Polynices, and knows not with which she ought to side,Phoen.377; rushing between the two hosts, she pleads with her sons to be reconciled with each other,ibid.*443.Judges in Hades, Aeacus, Minos, and Rhadamanthus, weep for the first time on hearing Orpheus' plaintive strains,H. Fur.579; Theseus describes at length their persons and their judgments, the moral law under which the souls of men are judged, and the punishments and rewards meted out after judgment,ibid.**727.Julia, daughter of Drusus and Livia Drusilla, exiled and afterward slain,Oct.944.JUNO (Hercules Furens), speaks the prologue, revealing her motive in bringing about the catastrophe of the play; she recounts in order Jove's infidelities with mortals whose constellations she points out, and relates especially her fruitless struggles with Hercules; she cannot overcome him by any toil which she can invent,H. Fur.*1; she looks forward with hatred and dread to the time when Hercules will force his entrance into heaven,ibid.64; she is cited to Octavia by her nurse as a type of wife who, by wise management, finally won a wayward husband's love to herself again,Oct.*201; hymn in praise of,Agam.340; Argos is dear to her,ibid.809.Jupiter, lord of Olympus, ruler of the skies and seasons,Hip.*960; ruler of heaven and earth, to whom victors consecrate their spoils,Agam.*802; his mother, Rhea, brought him forth in Crete and hid him in a cave of Mount Ida, lest his father, Saturn, should discover and destroy him,H. Fur.459; hymn in praise of,Agam.381; his thunderbolts are forged in Aetna,Hip.156; his amours with mortals are as follows: with Leda to whom he appeared in the form of a swan,Hip.301;H. Fur.14; with Europa, in form of a bull,Hip.303;H. Fur.9;H. Oet.550; with Danaë, in form of a golden shower,H. Fur.13; with Callisto,ibid.6; the Pleiades (Electra, Maia, Taÿgete),ibid.10; Latona,ibid.15; Semele,ibid.16;Alcmena,ibid.22. For his ancient oracle in Epirus, seeDodona; see alsoHercean JoveandCenaeum.Justice(Justitia), the goddess Astraea, who once lived on earth during the innocence of man in the golden age of Saturn,Oct.398; she fled the earth when sin became dominant,ibid.424. SeeAstraea.LLabdacidae, a name for the Thebans, derived from Labdacus, king of Thebes, father of Laïus,Oed.710;Phoen.53;H. Fur.495.Lachesis, one of the three fates, or Parcae, who measured out the thread of human life,Oed.985. The other two were Clotho and Atropos. SeeClotho.Laërtes, the father of Ulysses, dwelling in Ithaca,Tro.700; "feels the shock of reeling Ithaca" in a storm,Thy.587.Laïus, king of Thebes, husband of Jocasta, father of Oedipus, whom, fearing an oracle, he had exposed in infancy; at the time of the opening of the play ofOedipus, he had been murdered by an unknown man, and his murder must be avenged before the plague afflicting Thebes can be relieved,Oed.*217; place and supposed manner of his death described to Oedipus by Creon,ibid.*276; time and circumstances of his murder described by Jocasta,ibid.776; his shade is raised by Tiresias and declares that Oedipus is his murderer,ibid.*619; his shade seems to appear to the blind Oedipus in exile and call him to death,Phoen.39.Laomedon, king of Troy, father of Priam; he deceived Apollo and Neptune, who built the walls of Troy, and again cheated Hercules out of his promised reward for delivering Hesione; hence his house is called a "lying house,"Agam.864.Lapithae, a tribe of Thessaly, associated in story with the Centaurs, and both with a great struggle against Hercules in which they were worsted by that hero; in hades they still fear their great enemy when he appears,H. Fur.779.Latōna, beloved of Jupiter, to whom she bore Apollo and Diana; hence these gods are called the children of Latona,Agam.324; the floating island, Delos, was the only spot allowed her by the jealous Juno for the birth of her children,H. Fur.15.Leda, the wife of Tyndarus, king of Sparta; she was beloved by Jupiter in the form of a swan,Oct.205, 764; and became by him the mother of Castor and Pollux, who were falsely called Tyndaridae, and set in the heavens as constellations,H. Fur.14;Oct.208; Clytemnestra was the daughter of Leda and Tyndarus,Agam.125, 234.Lemnos, an island in the Aegean Sea, the seat of fierce fires, as connected with the fall of Vulcan on that island where he established his forges,H. Oet.1362; according to story all the Lemnian women at one time, except Hypsipyle, murdered all their male relatives,Agam.566.Leo, the zodiacal constellation of the Lion, representing the Nemean lion slain by Hercules, and set as a constellation in the sky,H. Fur.69, 945;Thy.855; said to have fallen from the moon, where, according to the opinion of the Pythagoreans, all monsters had their origin,H. Fur.83.Lethe, a river of the lower world whose waters possessed the power of causing those who drank of them to forget the past,H. Oet.936;H. Fur.680;Hip.1202; elsewhere it loses its distinctive meaning and is used as equivalent to Styx or the lower world in general,ibid.147;Oed.560;H. Oet.1162, 1208, 1550, 1985; Charon even plies his boat over this river,H. Fur.777.Libra, the zodiacal constellation of the Scales, marking the autumnal equinox,Hip.839;Thy.858.Lichas, the ill-fated bearer of the poisoned robe from Deianira to Hercules, thrown over a cliff by the agonized hero,H. Oet.567, 570, 809, 814, 978, 1460; he had previously been sent home by Hercules to announce the hero's triumph over Eurytus,ibid.99.Livia, the wife of Drusus; her fate,Oct.942.Lucifer, the morning star, or "light-bringer," the herald of the sun,Hip.752;Oed.507, 741;H. Oet.149.Lucīna, the goddess who presides over child-birth, i.e., Diana or Luna,Agam.385;Med.2; or Juno,ibid.61.Lucretia, daughter of Lucretius, wife of Collatinus, avenged by a bloody war for the outrage committed upon her by Sextus Tarquinius,Oct.300.Luna, the goddess of the moon, identified with Diana upon the earth, called also Phoebe as sister of Phoebus,Oed.44; she reflects her brother's fires,ibid.253; and passes his car in shorter course,Thy.838; in love with Endymion, she seeks the earth,Hip.309, 422, 785; and gives her chariot to her brother to drive,ibid.310; saved by the clashing of vessels from the influence of magic,ibid.790.Lycurgus, a king of Thrace, who, for his opposition to Bacchus, was destroyed by that god,H. Fur.903;Oed.471.LYCUS (Hercules Furens), a usurper, who took advantage of the absence of Hercules in hades, and slew Creon and his sons, and is, at the opening of the play, ruler in Thebes,H. Fur.270; he boasts that, though low born, he has by conquest gained great power and wealth,ibid.332; he desires to repair his fault of birth by a union with Megara, wife of the absent Hercules, and daughter of Creon,ibid.345; proposes marriage to Megara,ibid.360; is scorned by her,ibid.372; is slain by Hercules,ibid.895.Lynceus, one of the Argonautic heroes, renowned for his wonderful keenness of vision,Med.232.MMaeander, a river of Phrygia, celebrated for its exceedingly winding course,Phoen.606; used to illustrate the windings of the river Lethe,H. Fur.684.Maenads, female attendants and worshippers of Bacchus,Oed.436; their bewildered madness while under the inspiration of Bacchus,H. Oet.243; their unconsciousness of pain,Tro.674; they go wildly ranging over the mountain tops,Med.383.Magic Arts, the powers of, as practiced by Medea,Med.670-842; by Tiresias,Oed.548-625; by the nurse of Deianira,H. Oet.452-64.MANTO (Oedipus), the prophetic daughter of the seer Tiresias,Agam.22; she leads her blind old father into the presence of Oedipus,Oed.290; describes the appearance of the sacrifices which he interprets,ibid.303.Mars, the son of Jupiter and Juno, god of war,Tro.185, 783, 1058;Phoen.527, 626, 630;Med.62;Hip.465, 808; Oct. 293;Agam.548; called alsoMavors, Hip.550;Thy.557;Oed.90; used of war or battle itself,ibid.275, 646;Agam.921; the amour of Mars and Venus was discovered by Phoebus, and by him with the aid of Vulcan they two were caught in a cunningly wrought net; for this reason Venus hates the race of Phoebus,Hip.125; Mars, summoned to judgment by Neptune for the murder of his son, was tried and acquitted by the twelve gods sitting in judgment at Athens in the Areopagus (Mars Hill),H. Fur.1342; Mars is here calledGradivus.MEDĒA (Medea), daughter of Aeëtes, king of Colchis, and granddaughter of Sol and Perseïs,Med.28, 210; the grandeur of her estate in her father's kingdom,ibid.*209,483; mistress of magic arts,ibid.*750; by means of these arts she helped Jason perform the deadly tasks set him by her father,ibid.169, 467, 471; helped Jason carry off the golden fleece upon the possession of which her father's kingdom depended,ibid.130; left her father's realm through crime for love of Jason,ibid.119; slew her brother, Absyrtus, and strewed his dismembered body upon the sea to retard her father's pursuit,ibid.121;H. Oet.950; tricked the daughters of Pelias into murdering their father,Med.133, 201, *258; driven out of Thessaly and pursued by Acastus, she with Jason sought and received a place of safety in Corinth,ibid.247, 257; did all her crimes not for her own but for Jason's sake,ibid.275; exiled now by Creon, she obtains one day of respite,ibid.295; prepares a deadly, enchanted robe for her rival, Creüsa,ibid.570; her magic incantations described,ibid.*675; sends the robe to Creüsa,ibid.816; and rejoices in its terrible effect,ibid.893; kills her two sons,ibid.970, 1019; gloats over her husband's misery and vanishes in the air in a chariot drawn by dragons,ibid.1025; goes to Athens and marries Aegeus; is a type of an evil woman,Hip.563; the stepmother of Theseus,ibid.697.Medūsa, one of the three Gorgons, slain by Perseus. He cut off her head which had the power of petrifying whatever looked upon it, and gave it to Minerva who set it upon her aegis,Agam.530; her gall used by Medea in magic,Med.831.Megaera, one of the furies, summoned by Juno to drive Hercules to madness,H. Fur.102; appears to the maddened Medea with scourge of serpents,Med.960; seems to appear to the distracted Deianira,H. Oet.1006, 1014; summoned by Atreus to assist him in his revenge upon his brother,Thy.252. SeeFuries.MEGARA (Hercules Furens), the daughter of Creon, king of Thebes, and wife of Hercules,H. Fur.202; laments the constant toils which hold her husband from his home, and keep her anxious for his life,ibid.*205; scorns the advances of Lycus who has usurped the throne of Thebes,ibid.*372; slain by her husband in his fit of madness brought upon him by the jealous Juno,ibid.1010;H. Oet.429, *903, 1452.Meleāger, son of Oeneus, king of Calydon, and Althaea; his tragic death brought upon him by his mother's wrath because he had killed her brothers,Med.644, 779. SeeAlthaea.Melicerta, seeIno.Memnon, the son of Aurora, slain by Achilles,Tro.239;Agam.212.Menelāus, son of Atreus, brother of Agamemnon, husband of Helen, king of Sparta, employed by his father to trick his uncle, Thyestes,Thy.327; Helen looks forward with fear to his judgment,Tro.923; he pardoned Helen for her desertion of him for Paris,Agam.273.Merope, the wife of Polybus, king of Corinth; she adopted the infant Oedipus and brought him up to manhood as her own child,Oed.272, 661, 802.Messalīna, the wife of Claudius, and mother of Octavia,Oct.10; cursed by Venus with insatiate lust,ibid.258; openly married Silius in the absence of Claudius,ibid.*260; slain for this by the order of her husband,ibid.265; her former proud estate, as the wife of Claudius, contrasted with her wretched fate; her death described,ibid.*974.Mimas, one of the giants,H. Fur.981. SeeGiants.Minos, a son of Jupiter, king of Crete; father of Phaedra,Hip.149; father of Ariadne,ibid.245; widely ruling and powerful monarch,ibid.149; no daughter of Minos loved without sin,ibid.127; because ofhis righteousness on earth made one of the judges in hades,Agam.24;Thy. 23;H. Fur.733. SeeJudges in Hades.Minotaur, a hybrid monster, born of the union of Pasiphaë, the wife of Minos, and a bull; called brother of Phaedra,Hip.174; confined in the labyrinth in Crete,ibid.649, 1171.Mopsus, a Thesalian soothsayer, one of the Argonauts, who died by the bite of a serpent in Libya,Med.655.Mulciber, one of the names of Vulcan. He gave to Medea the hidden fires of sulphur for her magic,Med.824.Mycale, a celebrated witch of Thessaly,H. Oet.525.Mycënae, a city of Argolis, near Argos; its walls were built by the hands of the Cyclopes,Thy.407;H. Fur.997; ruled by the house of Pelops,Thy.188, 561, 1011;Tro.855; the favorite city of Juno,Agam.351; the home of Agamemnon,ibid.121, 251, 757, 871, 967, 998;Tro.156, 245.Myrrha, a daughter of Cinyras, who conceived an unnatural passion for her father. Pursued by him, she was changed into the myrrh tree, whose exuding gum resembles tears,H. Oet.196.Myrtilus, a son of Mercury, charioteer of Oenomaüs. Bribed by Pelops, suitor for the hand of Hippodamia, daughter of Oenomaüs, he secretly withdrew the linch-pins of his master's chariot, thus wrecking his master's car in the race which was to decide the success of Pelop's suit. His sin and fate described,Thy.140; the wrecked chariot preserved as a trophy in the palace of the Pelopidae,ibid.660.NNaïdes, deities, generally conceived as young and beautiful maidens, inhabiting brooks and springs.Hip.780. SeeHylas.Nauplius, a son of Neptune and king of Euboea; to avenge the death of his son, Palamedes, he lured the Greek fleet to destruction by displaying false beacon fires off the rocky coast of Euboea,Agam.*567; when, however, Ulysses, whom he hated most, escaped, he threw himself headlong from the cliff,Med.659. SeePalamedes.Necromantīa, necromancy, a raising of the dead for purposes of consultation; practiced by Tiresias, in his effort to discover the murderer of Laïus,Oed.**530.Nemean Lion, the beast slain by Hercules near Nemea, a city of Argolis, as the first of his twelve labors,Agam.830;H. Fur.224: H. Oet. 1193, 1235, 1665, 1885; set in the heavens as a zodiacal constellation,Oed.40. SeeLeo.Nephele, the cloud form of Juno, devised by Jupiter, upon which Ixion begot the centaur, Nessus, in the belief that it was Juno herself,H. Oet.492.Neptune, son of Saturn, brother of Jupiter and Pluto, with whom, after the dethronement of Saturn, he cast lots for the three great divisions of his father's realm: the second lot, giving him the sovereignty over the sea, fell to Neptune,Med.4, 597;H. Fur.515, 599;Oed.266;Hip.904, 1159; rides over the surface of the deep in his car,Oed.254; sends a monster out of the sea to destroy Hippolytus in answer to the prayer of Theseus,Hip.1015; assists Minerva in the destruction of Ajax, the son of Oïleus, in the great storm which assailed the Greek fleet upon its homeward voyage,Agam.554; bidden by Hercules to hide beneath his waves lest he behold Cerberus,H. Fur.600; is the father of Theseus, to whom he gave three wishes,ibid.942; other sons were Cycnus,Agam.215;Tro.183; and Periclymenus,Med.635.Nereus, a sea-deity, used often, by metonymy, for the sea itself,Oed.450, 508;H. Oet.4;Hip.88; he is the father by Doris of Thetis and the other Nereïds,Tro.882;Oed.446; even they feel the fires of love,Hip.336.Nero(Octavia), the son of Cn. Domitius Ahenobarbus and Agrippina,Oct.249; married his stepsister, Octavia, whom he treated with great cruelty; his character depicted by her,ibid.86; emperor fromA.D.54 until his death in 68; murdered his mother,ibid.46, 95, 243; lauds the beauty of Poppaea and announces her as his next wife,ibid.544; his death prophesied and described by the ghost of Agrippina,ibid.**618; decrees the banishment and death of Octavia,ibid.861.Nessus, a centaur, son of Ixion and Nephele,H. Oet.492; insults Deianira, is slain by Hercules, and while dying gives a portion of his blood, reeking with the poison of the arrow of Hercules, to Deianira as a charm which shall recall to her her husband's wandering affections, ibid. *500; some of this blood is in Medea's collection of charms,Med.775; the terrible power of this poisoned blood tested by Deianira after she has innocently sent the fatal robe to her husband,H. Oet.716; Nessus declared to have been the one who conceived the plot against Hercules, while Deianira was but the innocent instrument,ibid.1468.Niobe, daughter of Tantalus, wife of Amphion, king of Thebes; punished by the loss of her seven sons and seven daughters by Diana for her defiance of Latona, the mother of the goddess,Agam.392; changed to stone, she still sits on the top of Mt. Sipylus and mourns for her lost children, Agam. 394;H. Fur.390;H. Oet.185, 1849; her shade comes up from hades, still proudly counting her children's shades,Oed.613.Nyctelius, an epithet of Bacchus, because his mysteries were celebrated at night,Oed.492.OOctavia(Octavia), the daughter of the Emperor Claudius and Messalina, the latter having been murdered by order of Claudius himself,Oct.10; and the former by his second wife, Agrippina,ibid.26, 45; she became first the stepsister and then the wife of Nero,ibid.47; with whom she led a most wretched life,ibid.*100; she had previously been betrothed to Silanus,ibid.145; but he was murdered to make way for Nero,ibid.154; She was beloved by her people,ibid.183; is compared with Juno in that she is both sister and wife of her husband,ibid.282; doomed by Nero to exile and death,ibid.868; banished to Panditaria,ibid.971.Odrysian House, that is, of the Thracian king, Tereus, whose house was polluted by a horrible banquet in which his own son was served up to him,Thy.273.Oedipus(Oedipus, Phoenissae), the son of Jocasta and of Laïus, king of Thebes. An oracle had declared that Laïus should meet death at the hands of his son. Oedipus was accordingly doomed before birth to be slain, Oed. 34, 235;Phoen.243; at birth he was exposed upon Mt. Cithaeron,ibid.13, *27, with an iron rod through his ankles,ibid.254;Oed.857; carried by a shepherd and given to Merope, wife of the king of Corinth, by whom he was brought up as her own son,ibid.806; grown to young manhood, he fled the kingdom of his supposed parents that he might not fulfil an oracle that had come to him, that he should kill his father and wed his mother,ibid.12, 263; in the course of his flight he met and killed Laïus, his real father,Phoen.166, 260;Oed.768, 782; he answered the riddle of the Sphinx, and so saved Thebes from that pest,Phoen.120;Oed.*92, 216; as a reward for this he gained the throne of Thebes, and Jocasta (his real mother) as his wife,Oed.104;Phoen.50, 262;Oed.386;H. Fur.388; attempts to find out the murderer of King Laïus, and utters a mighty curse upon the unknown criminal,ibid.*257; declared by the ghost of Laïus, which Tiresias had raised, to be his father's murderer and his mother's husband,ibid.*634; he refutes this charge by the assertion that his father and mother are still living in Corinth,ibid.661; learns by messenger that Polybus and Merope are not his true parents,ibid.784; rushes on his fate and forces old Phorbas to reveal the secret of his birth,ibid.*848; in a frenzy of grief, he digs out his eyes,ibid.915; goes forth into exile, thus lifting the curse from Thebes,ibid.1042;Phoen.104; he begs Antigone, who alone had followed him into exile, to leave him, bewailing his fate and longing for death,ibid.1.Ogyges, a mythical founder and king of Thebes; hence—Ogygian, i. e., Theban, an epithet of Bacchus, whose mother was a Theban princess,Oed.437; an epithet of the Thebans,ibid.589.Oīleus, used instead of his son, Ajax,Med.662. SeeAjax.Olenus, a city in Aetolia,Tro.826;Oed.283; hence—Oelenian Goat, so called because it was nurtured in the vicinity of this place. SeeAmalthea.Omphale, a queen of Lydia, to whose service Hercules submitted for three years,H. Oet.*371, 573;H. Fur.465;Hip.317. SeeHercules.Ophīon, one of the companions of Cadmus, sprung from the serpent's teeth; in adjectival form, it means simply Theban,H. Fur.268; referring to Pentheus,Oed.485.Ophiüchus, the northern constellation of the "Serpent Holder," representing a man holding a serpent,Med.698.Orestes (Agamemnon), son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra,Agam.196;Tro.555; saved by his sister, through the agency of Strophius, king of Phocis, from death at the hands of his mother and Aegisthus,Agam.910; avenged his father's murder,Oct.62.Orīon, said to have been miraculously generated by Jupiter, Neptune, and Mercury, out of an ox's hide; set as a constellation in the heavens, where his glittering sword menaces the heavenly ones,H. Fur.12.Orpheus, the son of Apollo and the muse Calliope,Med.625; king of Thrace; one of the Argonauts; a sweet singer and harper, whose music could draw to him the rocks and trees,ibid.228;H. Oet.*1036; dropped his lyre in fear of the Symplegades,Med.348; played so sweetly that the Argonauts were not enchanted by the Sirens,ibid.*355; went to hades in search of his wife, Eurydice, and by the charm of his music persuaded the gods of the lower world to release her; but he lost her again, because he did not keep the condition imposed upon him,H. Fur.**569;H. Oet.*1061;Med.632; he sang that nothing is everlasting,H. Oet.1035, 1100; his tragic death at the hands of the Thracian women,Med.*625.PPactōlus, a river of Lydia, celebrated for its golden sands,Phoen.604;Oed.467.Paean, an appellation given to Apollo, who gained the oracle at Delphi and earned a place in heaven by slaying the Python,H. Oet.92.Palaemon, once a mortal, called Melicerta, son of Athamas and Ino, but changed by Neptune into a sea divinity,Oed.448.See Ino.Palamëdes, son of Nauplius, king of Euboea; he was put to death by the Greeks on false charges brought byUlysses, and was avenged by his father, who displayed false lights to the Greek fleet,Agam.568.Pallas, an appellation given to the goddess Minerva. She was the friend and helper of Hercules in his various labors,H. Fur.900; the bearer of the terrible aegis upon which was set the horrible Medusa's head,ibid.902;Agam.530; the patroness of woman's handicrafts,Hip.103; the patron goddess of the Athenians,ibid.1149; helps to overthrow Troy,Agam.370; stirs up the storm at sea against the Greek ships,ibid.529; wields the thunderbolts of Jove, with which she destroys Ajax, the son of Oïleus,ibid.*532; hymn in praise of,ibid.368-81; helped in the building of the Argo,Med.2, 365.Pandataria, a lonely island off the coast of Italy, used as a place of exile under the Empire,Oct.972.Pandīon, a mythical king of Athens, father of Procne and Philomela, both of whom were changed to birds. These "Pandionian birds" are cited as types of grief-stricken beings,Oct.8.Parcae, the three personified fates ("harsh sisters"), who spin out the threads of human life,H. Fur.181; represented with the distaff in hand,ibid.559.SeeClothoandLachesis.Paris, son of Priam and Hecuba. He was doomed before birth to destroy his native land,Tro.36; exposed to die on Mount Ida, but preserved by shepherds and brought up in ignorance of his true parentage,Agam.733; the famous "judgment of Paris,"Tro.66; from Helen's standpoint,ibid.920; Cassandra, in her inspired ravings, describes this scene,Agam.*730; goes to the court of Menelaüs and abducts Helen,Tro.70; slays Achilles,ibid.347, 956.Parrhasian(i.e., Arcadian) hind, captured by Hercules as his third labor,Agam.831; bear,Hip.288; axis (i. e., Northern),H. Oet.1281.Pasiphaë, a daughter of the Sun and Perseïs, and wife of Minos, king of Crete; conceived an unnatural passion for a bull,Hip.113, 143; mother of the bull-man monster, the Minotaur,ibid.*688.Patrōclus, one of the Grecian chiefs before Troy, beloved friend of Achilles; he fought in disguise in Achilles' armor,Agam.617; was slain by Hector,Tro.446.Pegasus, a winged horse, offspring of Neptune and Medusa; used to illustrate extreme speed,Tro.385.Peleus, son of Aeacus, and king of Thessaly; married the sea-goddess, Thetis,Oct.708;Med.657; father of Achilles,Tro.247, 882;Agam.616; one of the Argonauts, died in exile,Med.657.Pelias, the usurping king of Iolchos in Thessaly, whence he drove the rightful king, Aeson, the father of Jason. It was he who proposed the Argonautic expedition, and for this he was doomed to suffer a violent death,Med.664; tricked by Medea, his daughters slew him, cut him in pieces, and boiled these in a pot in the expectation that through the magic of Medea Pelias would come forth rejuvenated,Med.133, 201, 258, 475. 913.Pelion, a range of mountains in Thessaly whose principal summit rises near Iolchos; the giants piled Pelion, Ossa, and Olympus, one on another, in their attempt to scale the heavens,H. Fur.971;Tro.829;Agam.*346;Thy.812;H. Oet.1152; the home of the Centaur, Chiron, who educated the young Achilles,H. Fur.971;Tro.*830; furnished the timbers for the Argo,Med.609.Pelopīa, a daughter of Thyestes, who became by him the mother of Aegisthus,Agam.30, 294.Pelops, the son of Tantalus; he was slain by his father and served as abanquet to the gods,Thy.*144; restored by the gods to life, and Tantalus punished (seeTantalus); Tantalus and Pelops models for outrageous sin,ibid.242; his house doomed to sin,ibid.22; degenerate and shameful,ibid.625; supposed to have been the settler of the Peloponnesus (whence the name of the land), having come from Phrygia,H. Fur.1165;Tro.855;Agam.563; his palace described at length,Thy.*641.Pelōrus, a promontory in Sicily opposite the coast of Italy; Sicilian Pelorus shall be one land with Italy—stated as type of the last extreme of improbability,H. Oet.81; the sea-monster Scylla was supposed to dwell under this promontory,Med.350.Penthesilēa, a celebrated queen of the Amazons, who came to the aid of Priam; she was armed with battle-axe and moon-shaped shield,Agam.217; her fierce struggles in battle described,Tro.672; slain by Achilles,ibid.243.Pentheus, a king of Thebes, son of Echion and Agave; he opposed the introduction of the worship of Bacchus into his kingdom; while spying on his mother and her sisters who were engaged in the worship of Bacchus on Mt. Cithaeron, he was torn in pieces by them whom Bacchus had driven to madness,Phoen.15, 363;Oed.441, 483; his shade comes up from hades, torn and bleeding still,ibid.618.Periclymenus, a son of Neptune, who had power of changing into various forms; he was one of the Argonauts, and was slain by Hercules,Med.635.Perseus, son of Danaë whom Jove approached in the form of a golden shower,H. Fur.13; earned a place in heaven by slaying the Gorgon,H. Oet.51, 94.PHAEDRA (Hippolytus or Phaedra), daughter of Minos, king of Crete, and Pasiphaë, daughter of the Sun,Hip.155, 156, 678, 688, 888; the Minotaur is her brother,ibid.174; Ariadne was her sister,ibid.760, 245; bewails her exile from Crete, and her marriage to a foreign and a hostile prince (Theseus),ibid.85; confesses to her nurse that she is swayed by an unnatural passion,ibid.113; confesses her love to Hippolytus,ibid.640; is scorned by him,ibid.*671; confesses her sin to her husband and slays herself,ibid.1159.Phaëthon, son of Clymene and Phoebus; desiring to prove his sonship to Phoebus, he claimed the privilege of driving his father's chariot for one day; he was hurled from the car by the runaway steeds,Hip.1090; and smitten to death by a thunderbolt of Jove,H. Oet.854; he is a warning against over-ambition and impious daring,ibid.677;Med.599; gave a magic fire to Medea,ibid.826.Phaëthontiades, the sisters of Phaëthon, who immoderately wept for his death where his charred body fell on the banks of the Po, and were changed into poplar trees,H. Oet.188.Phasis, a river of Colchis, the country of Medea,Med.44, 211, 451, 762;Hip.907;Agam.120; Medea named from the river,H. Oet.950.Pherae, a city in Thessaly, ruled over by Admetus, husband of Alcestis, who died herself that so she might redeem him from death,Med.663; it was here that Apollo, being doomed to serve a mortal for a year, kept the flocks of Admetus,H. Fur.451.PHILOCTĒTES (Hercules Oetaeus), a Thessalian prince, son of Poeas, and a friend of Hercules; he appears upon the scene of the death of Hercules,H. Oet.1604; receives the famous bow and arrows of Hercules,ibid.1648; applies the torch to the pyre of his friend,ibid.1727; describes in detail to the nurse the death of Hercules,ibid.*1610.Philippi, a city of Thrace, celebrated by the victory gained there by Antony and Octavianus over the forces of Brutus and Cassius,Oct.516.Philomēla, a daughter of Pandion, king of Athens, and sister of Procne, who had married Tereus, king of Thrace; she suffered outrage at his hands, and, with her sister, punished him by slaying his son Itys and serving him to the father; she was changed into a nightingale, and ever mourns for Itys,Agam.670;H. Oet.199; described, except for her name (Thracia pellex), purely as a nightingale singing at sunrise and hovering over her young,H. Fur.146.Phineus, king of Salmydessus on the coast of Thrace; blind and tormented by the Harpies,Thy.154; still in hades, as on earth, tormented,H. Fur.759.Phlegethon, a river in the lower world, flowing with streams as of fire,Oed.162;Thy.73, 1018; it encircles the guilty with its fiery streams,Hip.1227; mentioned instead of the Styx, as the river over which Charon rows his boat,Agam.753; connotes hades in general,Hip.848.Phlegra, a vale in Thrace where the giants fought with the gods,Thy.810; Hercules assisted the gods in this struggle,H. Fur.444.Phoebus, one of the names of Apollo as the "shining one." Under this name he is most frequently conceived of as the sun-god, driving his fiery chariot across the sky, seeing all things, darkening his face or withdrawing from the sky at sight of monstrous sin, lord of the changing seasons, etc.,H. Fur.595, 607, 844, 940;Phoen.87;Med.728, 874;Hip.889;Oed.250;Agam.42, 816;Thy.776, 789, 838;H. Oet.2, 680, 792, 1387, 1439, 1442; his sister is Luna, or Phoebe,H. Fur.905;Med.86;Hip.311;Oed.44; the name, Phoebus, is frequently used merely of the sun, its bright light, its burning heat, etc., without personification,H. Fur.25, 940;Tro.1140;Med.298, 768;Oed.122, 540, 545;Agam.463, 577;Thy.602;H. Oet.41, 337, 666, 688, 727, 1022, 1581, 1624, 1699; he is more intimately concerned in the affairs of men, and appears on earth; he is the grandfather of Medea,Med.512; the father of Pasiphaë,Hip.126, 154, 654, 889; the lover and inspirer of Cassandra,Tro.978;Agam.255, 722; he is god of prophesy, giving oracles to mortals,Med.86;Oed.20, 34, 214, 222, 225, 231, 235, 269, 288, 291, 296, 719, 1046;Agam.255, 294, 295; he is god of the lyre,H. Fur.906;Oed.498;Agam.327; and of the bow,H. Fur.454;Hip.192;Agam.327, 549; his tree is the laurel,Oed.228, 453;Agam.588; Cilla is dear to him,Tro.227; he is the beautiful god of the flowing locks,Hip.800; worshiped under the name of Smintheus,Agam.176; hymn in praise of,ibid.310; slew the Python with his arrows,H. Fur.454; exposed the shame of Venus and for this cause Venus' wrath is upon his descendants,Hip.126; he kept the flocks of Admetus, king of Pherae, for a year,ibid.296.Phorbas(Oedipus), an old man, head shepherd of the royal flocks, forced by Oedipus to tell the secret of the king's birth,Oed.867.Phrixus, son of Athamas and Nephele, and brother of Helle; persecuted by his stepmother, Ino, he fled away through the air with his sister upon a golden-fleeced ram obtained from Mercury,Tro.1034; on the way Helle fell into the sea, called Hellespont from this incident,H. Oet.776; for this same reason the Aegean Sea is called Phrixian Sea,Agam.565; Phrixus fared on alone to Colchis, where he sacrificed the ram and presented the golden fleece to Aeëtes; the golden fleece was the object of the quest of the Argonauts,Med.361, 471.Pirithoüs, a son of Ixion,Hip.1235; a close friendship existed between him and Theseus, and they shared all their adventures; when Pirithoüs formed the mad project of stealing Proserpina from hades, Theseus accompanied him thither,ibid.94, 244, 831.Pisa, an ancient city of Elis where the Olympic games, sacred to Jove, were held,H. Fur.840;Thy.123;Agam.938.Pisces, the zodiacal constellation of the Fish,Thy.866.Pleïades, called also Atlantides, the seven daughters of Atlas and Pleione, three of whom, Electra, Maia, and Taÿgete, were beloved of Jove,H. Fur.10; spoken of as a constellation which pales before the moon,Med.96.Plisthenes, a son of Thyestes, slain by Atreus,Thy.726.Pluto, brother of Jupiter and Neptune, and lord of the under world of shades,H. Fur.560, 658;Oed.256, 869;Med.11;Hip.625, 1240;H. Oet.559, 935, 938, 1142, 1369, 1954; he is called the "grim Jove,"H. Fur.608, and the "dark Jove,"H. Oet.1705; he obtained his kingdom by drawing lots with his two brothers,H. Fur.833; his wife is Proserpina,ibid.658; Theseus and Pirithoüs try to steal his wife,Hip.95; they are punished by being placed upon an enchanted rock,ibid.625; he is prevailed upon by Hercules to give up Cerberus to be led to the upper world,H. Fur.805;H. Oet.559; at the same time he gives up Theseus to Hercules,H. Fur.805;Hip.1152; he is the uncle of Hercules,H. Oet.328; and of Pallas,Hip.1152; unmoved by tears,H. Fur.578; conquered by the music of Orpheus,ibid.582; his court and appearance described,ibid.*721.Pollux, seeCastor.Polybus, king of Corinth, who adopted and reared the exposed infant, Oedipus,Oed.12, 270; his peaceful death announced by messenger to Oedipus,ibid.784.POLYNĪCES (Phoenissae), son of Oedipus and Jocasta; wronged by his brother Eteocles in the matter of the kingdom of Thebes, he fled to Adrastus, king of Argos, who gave him refuge and made him his son-in-law. To avenge Polynices, Adrastus marched against Thebes with an army headed by seven famous chiefs of Greece,Phoen.58, 320; Oedipus prophesies this fraternal strife and predicts that the brothers will slay each other,ibid.273, 334, 355; remains in exile at the court of Adrastus three years before returning against Thebes to enforce his rights,ibid.370, *502; the hardships of his exile described,ibid.*586; appears before the walls of Thebes at the head of an army,ibid.387; the battle pauses while Jocasta appeals to her sons,ibid.434. SeeEteocles.Polyxena, a daughter of Priam and Hecuba, one of the captive Trojan women; the ghost of Achilles, who in life had been enamored of her, and with whom both Priam and Hector had had negotiations touching the maiden, appears to the Greeks and demands that she be now sacrificed on the tomb of Achilles,Tro.170; Calchas ratifies her doom,ibid.360; Helen announces this fate to her, and she receives it with joy,ibid.945; her death described in detail by a messenger,ibid.*1117; she is described as gaily leading the Trojan maidens in a dance about the wooden horse, unconscious of the doom so soon to come to her,Agam.641.POPPAEA (Octavia), one of the most beautiful and unscrupulous women of her time; she was first married to Rufus Crispinus, a prefect of pretorian cohorts under Claudius; she abandoned him for Otho, and him, in turn, she left to become themistress of Nero, and the rival of Nero's wife, Octavia,Oct.125; in order to further her schemes she influenced Nero to murder his mother,ibid.126; demanded the death of Octavia,ibid.131; with child by Nero,ibid.188, 591; her rejection by Nero prophesied,ibid.193; her beauty lauded by Nero, who announced her as his next wife,ibid.544; her wedding with Nero cursed by the ghost of Agrippina,ibid.595; her marriage described,ibid.*698; is terrified by strange dream of Agrippina's ghost, and of her former husband, Crispinus,ibid.*712.Priam, king of Troy; in his youth, at the first taking of Troy, he was spared by Hercules and allowed to retain the throne,Tro.719; pictured as viewing the contending hosts from the battlements of Troy in company with his little grandson, Astyanax,ibid.*1068; sues to Achilles for the dead body of Hector,ibid.315, 324; his city destroyed through the baleful power of love,Oct.817; description of his death at the hands of Pyrrhus,Tro.*44;Agam.655; he fell before the altar of Hercean Jove,Agam.448, 792; pathetic contrast of his death with his former greatness,Tro.140.Procne, daughter of Pandion, and wife of Tereus, king of Thrace; she, in revenge for the outrage upon her sister, Philomela, committed by her husband, served to him his own son, Itys,H. Oet.953;Agam.673;Thy.275.Procrustes, a famous robber of Attica, killed by Theseus,Hip.1170;Thy.1050.Proetides, daughters of Proetus, king of Argolis; they counted themselves more beautiful than Juno, and also refused to worship Bacchus. The god drove them to a madness in which they thought themselves cows, and went wandering through the woods. This act won for him the favor of Juno,Oed.486.Promētheus, a son of Iapetus and Clymene; he gave the gift of fire to mortals,Med.821; for this act he was bound by Jove's command to a crag of Mount Caucasus, where an eagle fed upon his ever-renewed vitals,H. Fur.1206;Med.709;H. Oet.1378.Proserpina, daughter of Ceres and Jupiter; stolen away by Pluto and made his queen in hades,Med.12;H. Fur.1105; sought in vain by her mother over the whole world,ibid.659; Pirithoüs and Theseus attempted to steal her away from the lower world,Hip.95.Proteus, son of Oceanus and Tethys, shepherd and guardian of the sea-calves,Hip.1205.Pylades, son of Strophius, king of Phocis, and one of the sisters of Agamemnon; he accompanied his father as charioteer on the occasion of Strophius' visit to Argos just after Agamemnon's murder; they take Orestes away and so save him from death,Agam.940.Pyromantīa, soothsaying by means of fire, practiced by Tiresias in his effort to discover the murderer of Laïus,Oed.*307.Pyrrha, the sister of Deucalion, saved with him from the flood,Tro.1038. SeeDeucalion.PYRRHUS (Troades), a son of the young Achilles and Deïdamia, the daughter of Lycomedes, king of Scyros; born on the island of Scyros,Tro.339; quarreled with Ulysses inside the wooden horse,Agam.635; slew old Priam,Tro.44, 310.Python, a huge serpent or dragon that sprang from the slime of the earth after the flood had subsided; slain by Apollo,H. Oet.93;Med.700.RRhadamanthus, a son of Jupiter and Europa, and brother of Minos; hewas made one of three judges in hades,H. Fur.734.Rhesus, a king of Thrace who came, late in the Trojan War, to the aid of Priam; there was an oracle that Troy could never be taken if the horses of Rhesus should drink the waters of the Xanthus, and feed upon the grass of the Trojan plain; this oracle was frustrated by Ulysses and Diomedes,Agam.216.SSaturn, son of Coelus and Terra, who succeeded to his father's kingdom of the heavens and earth; the golden age was said to have been in his reign,Oct.395; had been dethroned by his three sons, Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto, who divided up his kingdom among themselves; he is conceived of as chained in hades by Pluto,H. Oet.1141; Hercules threatens to unchain him against Jove unless the latter grant him a place in heaven,H. Fur.965.Scales(Libra), the zodiacal constellation marking the autumnal equinox,H. Fur.842.Sciron, a celebrated robber in Attica, who threw his victims over the cliffs into the sea; he was slain by Theseus,Hip.1023, 1225.Scorpion, one of the zodiacal constellations,Thy.859.Scylla, one of the two shipwrecking monsters in the Sicilian Strait,H. Fur.376;H. Oet.235;Med.350, 407;Thy.579. SeeCharybdis.Scythia, a name given by the ancients to a portion of northern Asia of indefinite extent; a description of its nomadic tribes, frozen streams, changing aspect of the country with the changing seasons,H. Fur.*533.Semele, a Theban princess, daughter of Cadmus, beloved of Jove by whom she became the mother of Bacchus,H. Fur.16; she was blasted by a thunderbolt while the child, Bacchus, was still unborn,H. Fur.457;H. Oet.1804. SeeBacchus.SENECA (Octavia), introduced into the play in the character of Nero's counselor,Oct.377; he recalls his life in exile in Corsica, and considers it far happier and safer than his present life,ibid.381; he strives in vain to prevent the marriage of Nero and Poppaea,ibid.695.Seres, a nation of Asia, supposed to be identical with the Chinese; they gather silken threads (spun by the silkworm) from trees,H. Oet.666;Hip.389.Silānus, L. Junius, praetor inA.D.49; he was the betrothed husband of Octavia, but put out of the way by court intriguers that Octavia might marry Nero,Oct.145.Silēnus, a demigod, the foster-father and constant attendant of Bacchus,Oed.429.Sinis, a giant robber of the Isthmus of Corinth, who bent down treetops and, fixing his victims to these, shot them through the air; he was slain by Theseus,H. Oet.1393;Hip., 1169, 1223.Sinon, a Greek warrior, who deceived the Trojans as to the character and purpose of the wooden horse, and so procured the downfall of Troy,Tro.39;Agam.*626.Sipylus, a mountain in Phrygia, on whose top Niobe, changed to stone, was said to sit and weep eternally over her lost children,H. Oet.185;Agam.394;H. Fur.391. SeeNiobe.Sirens, mythical maidens dwelling on an island of the ocean, whose beautiful singing lured sailors to destruction,H. Oet.190; they were passed in safety by the Argonauts because Orpheus played sweeter music,Med.355.Sisyphus, the son of Aeolus, was said to have been the founder of ancient Corinth, and father of Creon,Med.512, 776;Oed.282; for his disobedience to the gods he was set torolling a huge stone up a hill in hades, which ever rolled back again and so renewed his toil,Med.746;Hip.1230;Agam.16;H. Fur.751;Thy.6;Oct.622;H. Oet.942, 1010; the stone followed the magical music of Orpheus,ibid.1081.Smintheus, an epithet of Phoebus Apollo,Agam.176.Sol, the sun personified as the sun-god, used with the same force as Phoebus,H. Fur.37, 61;Med.29, 210;Thy.637, 776, 789, 822, 990, 1035;Hip.124, 1091;H. Oet.150.Somnus, the god of sleep, brother of death,H. Fur.1069; called the son of Astraea,ibid.1068; characteristics, symbols, and powers described at length,ibid.*1065.Sphinx, a fabulous monster with the face of a woman, the breast, feet, and tail of a lion, and the wings of a bird; sent to harass Thebes, slaying everyone who passed her and who could not answer her riddle,Oed.246;Phoen.120, 131; Oedipus' encounter with her described,Oed.*92; slain by Oedipus,ibid.641; seen by Creon among the shapes in hades, called by him the "Ogygian (i. e., Boeotian or Theban) pest,"ibid.589; used as type of winged speed,Phoen.422.STROPHIUS (Agamemnon), seePylades.Stymphalian Birds, monstrous creatures haunting a pool near the town of Stymphalus in Arcadia; they were killed by Hercules as his sixth labor,H. Fur.244;Med.783;Agam.850;H. Oet.1237, 1890; used as type of winged speed,Phoen.422.Styx, a river of hades,H. Fur.780;Oed.162; over which spirits must pass into the world of the dead, the river of death; in Seneca, this conception is not confined to the Styx, but is used of that river in common with the Acheron,H. Fur.*713;Hip.1180;Agam.608; the Lethe,Hip.148;H. Oet.1161, 1550; and the Phlegethon,Agam.*750; it is upon the Styx alone, however, that the gods swear their inviolable oaths,H. Fur.713;Hip.944;Thy.666;H. Oet.1066; from meaning the river of death, it comes to mean death itself,H. Fur.185, 558; in its most frequent use, the river signifies the lower world in general, the land of the dead; so are found Stygian "shades," "homes," "caverns," "ports," "gates," "borders," "torches," "fires," etc.,H. Fur.54, 90, 104, 1131;Tro.430;Med.632, 804;Hip.477, 625, 928, 1151;Oed.396, 401, 621;Agam.493;Thy.1007;H. Oet.77, 560, 1014, 1145, 1198, 1203, 1711, 1766, 1870, 1919, 1983;Oct.24, 79, 135, 162, 263, 594; Cerberus is the "Stygian dog" and "Stygian guardian,"Agam.13;Hip.223;H. Oet.79, 1245; the "deep embrace of Styx" is the pit which Andromache prays may open up beneath Hector's tomb and hide Astyanax,Tro.520; the boat on which Agrippina was to meet her death is called the Stygian boat,Oct.127.Symplegades(the "clashers"), two rocks or crags at the entrance of the Euxine Sea which, according to tradition, clashed together when any object passed between them; escaped by the Argo,Med.341, 456, 610; Hercules prays that he may be crushed to death between these rocks,H. Fur.1210; used as a type of a hard crag,H. Oet.1273, 1380.TTaenarus(also writtenTaenara), a promontory on the southernmost point of the Peloponnesus, near which was a cave, said to be the entrance to the lower world,Tro.402;H. Fur.587, *663, 813;Oed.171;Hip.1203;H. Oet.1061, 1771.Tagus, a river of Spain, celebrated for its golden sands,H. Fur.1325;Thy.354;H. Oet.626.TANTALUS (Thyestes) (1), a king of Lydia, son of Jupiter and the nymph, Pluto, father of Pelops and of Niobe,H. Fur.390;Oed.613;Med.954;Agam.392;H. Oet.198; because of his outrageous sin against the gods (seePelops) he was doomed to suffer in hades endless pangs of hunger and thirst, with fruit and water almost within reach of his lips,H. Fur.*752;Hip.1232;Agam.19;Thy.1011;Oct.621; his sin described and punishment portrayed in detail,Thy.*137; his ghost appears, describes his sufferings in hades, and is incited by a fury to urge on his house to greater crimes,ibid.1; Deianira prays that she may take his punishment upon herself,H. Oet.943; Medea prays that he may come and drink of the waters of Corinth, and that Creon may take his place in hades,Med.745; used as type of outrageous sinner,Thy.242; he forgets his thirst in his grief for the disasters which threaten his house,Agam.769; he forgets his thirst under the influence of Orpheus' music,H. Oet.1075.TANTALUS (Thyestes) (2), one of the sons of Thyestes, great-grandson of Tantalus (1), encourages his father to hope for reconciliation with his brother, Atreus,Thy.421; slain by Atreus,ibid.718.Tartarus(also writtenTartara), in its strict sense, that portion of the lower world devoted to the punishment of the wicked, hell, the abode of the furies and of those like Tantalus, Ixion, etc., who are suffering torments,H. Fur.86;Oed.161;Med.742;Oct.965; in the great majority of cases, however, Tartarus is the lower world in general, whence ghosts come back to earth,Agam.2;Oct.593; to which Orpheus went in search of his wife,Med.632;H. Oet.1064; to which Hercules went to bring thence Cerberus,H. Oet.461;Hip.844; where was the palace of Dis,ibid.951;Agam.751; where Cerberus stands guard,H. Fur.649;H. Oet.1770; where are the "Tartarian pools,"Hip.1179; and so in general,H. Fur.436, 710, 889, 1225;Oed.869;Phoen.144, 145;Thy.1013, 1071;H. Oet.1126, 1119, 1514, 1705, 1779;Oct.223, 644.Taurus, the second zodiacal constellation, the Bull, which poets feign was the bull in the form of which Jupiter bore Europa from Phoenicia to Crete,H. Fur.9, 952;Thy.852.Telephus, a king of Mysia, wounded by Achilles' spear, and afterward cured by application of the rust scraped from its point,Tro.215.Tereus, a king of Thrace, whose barbarous feast upon his own son, Itys, is called the "Thracian crime,"Thy.56. SeePhilomelaandProcne.Tethys, the goddess of the sea, used frequently for the sea itself, in which the sun sets and from which it rises,Hip.571, 1161;H. Fur.887, 1328;Tro.879;Med.378;H. Oet.1252, 1902.Thebes, the capital city of Boeotia, founded by Cadmus,H. Fur.268; its walls built by the magic of Amphion's lyre,ibid.262; famed for frequent visits of the gods, especially of Jove,ibid.265; plague-smitten under Oedipus, who laments the disaster,Oed.*37; plague described at length by the chorus,ibid.*125; a curse fell upon Thebes from the time of Cadmus,ibid.*709; conquered by Lycus, the usurper, who slew King Creon, the father of Megara,H. Fur.270; scene of theHercules Furens,Oedipus, andPhoenissae(in part).THESEUS (Hercules Furens,Hippolytus), king of Athens, son of Aegeus and Aethra, daughter of Pittheus, king of Troezene; according to tradition also reputed the son of Neptune, who had granted him three wishes,Hip.942, 943, 1252; the last of which he used against hisson, Hippolytus,ibid.945; went to Crete to slay the Minotaur; his beautiful appearance described,ibid.*646, 1067; finds his way out of the labyrinth by aid of a thread given him by Ariadne,ibid.650, 662; fled with Ariadne, but deserted her on Naxos,Oed.488; was the cause of his father's death, since he did not display the white sail on his return to Athens from slaying the Minotaur,Hip.1165; married Antiope, the Amazon, who became the mother of Hippolytus, but afterward slew her,ibid.226, 927, 1167; married Phaedra,ibid. passim; went to hades with his bosom friend, Pirithoüs, to assist the latter in carrying away Proserpina,ibid.91, 627; the two were apprehended by Dis and set upon an enchanted rock which held them fast,H. Fur.1339; Theseus was rescued by Hercules,ibid.806;H. Oet.1197, 1768;Hip.843; returns from hades,ibid.829.Thespiades, the fifty daughters of Thespius, loved by Hercules,H. Oet.369.Thetis, a sea-goddess, daughter of Nereus; she was given as wife to Peleus,Med.657;Oct.707; and became by him the mother of Achilles,Tro.346, 880;Agam.616; to keep her son from the Trojan War she hid him disguised in garments of a girl at the court of King Lycomedes,Tro.213; but this ruse was discovered and exposed by Ulysses,ibid.569.Thule, the farthest known land, differing with different stages of development of human knowledge; the time will come when all lands will be known, and there will be noultima Thule,Med.379.THYESTES (Thyestes,Agamemnon), seeAtreus.Tiphys, the pilot of the Argo,Med.3, 318; picture of his management of the vessel,ibid.*318; grew pale at sight of the Symplegades,ibid.346; his tragic death, *617.TIRESIAS (Oedipus), a celebrated prophet of Thebes, father of Manto; blind and old, he is led by his daughter into the presence of Oedipus, where he attempts by various processes to discover the murderer of Laïus,Oed.288; practicespyromantia,capnomantia,hieroscopia, and laternecromantia,ibid.*307; discovers by the last process that Oedipus himself slew Laïus,ibid.*530.Tisiphone, one of the furies who seems to appear to the distracted Deianira,H. Oet.1012; seems to appear to the mad Hercules, guarding the door of hell since Cerberus has been removed,H. Fur.984. SeeFuries.Titans, a name given to the sons of Coelus and Terra, one of whom was Hyperion, identified by Homer with the sun. The Titans warred against one of their own number, Saturn, who had succeeded to the throne of his father. The word is, however, frequently confounded with the Giants, who banded together to dethrone Jove; they piled up mountains in their attempt to scale heaven, but were overthrown by Jove's thunderbolt and buried under Sicily,H. Fur.79, 967;Med.410;Agam.340;H. Oet.144, 1212, 1309; in all other passages in Seneca, Titan means the sun, more or less completely personified as the sun-god, lord and ruler of the day,H. Fur.124, 133, 443, 1060, 1333;Med.5; Tro. 170;Hip.678, 779;Oed.1, 40;Thy.120, 785, 1095;Agam.460, 908;H. Oet.42, 291, 423, 488, 723, 781, 891, 968, 1111, 1131, 1163, 1287, 1512, 1518, 1566, 1575, 1760;Oct.2. SeeGiants,Phoebus.Tityus, a giant, son of Earth, who offered violence to Latona; for this he was punished in hades, where a vulture kept feeding upon his ever-renewed vitals,H. Fur.756, 977;H. Oet.947;Hip.1233;Agam.17;Thy.9, 806;Oct.622;relieved for a while by the music of Orpheus,H. Oet.1070.Tmolus, a mountain in Lydia, a favorite haunt of Bacchus,Phoen.602.Toxeus, a youth slain by Hercules,H. Oet.214.Triptolemus, son of the king of Eleusis, through whom Ceres gave the arts of agriculture to mankind,Hip.838.Tritons, sea-deities; they sung the marriage chorus of Achilles,Tro.202.Trivia, an epithet of Diana, because she presided over places where three roads meet,Agam.382;Oct.978; applied by association to Luna, the heavenly manifestation of Diana,Med.*787.Troïlus, a son of Priam, slain by Achilles,Agam.748.Troy, an ancient city of Troas, whose walls were built by Neptune and Apollo,Tro.7; it was first destroyed under the reign of Laomedon, father of Priam, by Hercules and Telamon, because of the perfidy of Laomedon,Agam.614, 862;Tro.135, *719; its second fall was after ten years of siege by the Greeks,Tro.74; her festal day turned out to be a day of doom,Agam.791; it is not the Greek heroes who destroyed Troy, but the lying traitor, Sinon, who deceived the Trojans about the wooden horse,ibid.615; mourning for the fall of Troy,ibid.589; distant view of the smouldering ruins as seen by the Greek vessels from the sea on their homeward voyage,ibid.456.Tullia, a daughter of Servius Tullius, king of Rome; her impious sin and its punishment,Oct.304.Tyndaridae, Castor and Pollux, the sons of Jupiter and Leda, but falsely named from Tyndarus, the mortal husband of Leda; their stars give help to sailors,H. Fur.14, 552;Oct.208. SeeCastor,Leda.Typhoeus, one of the Giants who fought against Jove,Med.773;Thy.809.Typhon, a giant, apparently the same as Typhoeus,H. Oet.1733;Oct.238.Tyrrhene, an epithet applied to the band of Phoenician pirates who attempted to kidnap Bacchus,Oed.249; to the dolphin, in reference to the story of how these pirates were changed into dolphins by the power of Bacchus,Agam.451; to the Tuscan Sea, because the Etrurians were supposed to have been of Tyrrhenian stock,Oct.311; and to Inarime, an island, possibly to be identified with Ischia, lying in the Tyrrhene sea off the coast of Campania,H. Oet.1156.UUlysses(Troades),Tro. passim.VVenus, a goddess, sprung from the foam of the sea,Hip.274; she is the goddess of love,ibid.417, 576, 910;Oct.545; the mother of Cupid, the god of love,Hip.275;H. Oet.543;Oct.697; called Erycina, because Mt. Eryx in Sicily was sacred to her,Hip.199; she persecuted the stock of Phoebus (i. e., Pasiphaë and Phaedra), because that god had published her amours with Mars,ibid.124; cursed Messalina with insatiate lust,Oct.258; the effect upon the world which the cessation of the power of Venus would produce,Hip.**469; she has no existence, but is feigned by men as a goddess in order to excuse their own lusts,ibid.203; used frequently by metonymy for the passion of love, either lawful or unlawful,ibid.211, 237, 339, 447, 462, 721, 913;Agam.183, 275, 927;Oct.191, 433.Virginia, the daughter of Virginius, slain by her father to save her from the lust of Appius Claudius the decemvir,Oct.296.Virgo, the zodiacal constellation of the Virgin, Astraea, the daughter ofJove and Themis, who left the earth last of all the gods on account of man's sin,Thy.857.Vulcan, the god of fire; forges the thunderbolts of Jove,Hip.190; is pierced by Cupid's darts,ibid.193; is called the father of Cupid and husband of Venus,Oct.560.ZZetes, a winged son of Boreas, who, together with his brother Calaïs, was a member of the Argonautic expedition; they were slain by Hercules,Med.634; they had previously driven away the harpies from Phineus, king of Thrace,ibid.782.Zethus, a Theban prince, son of Antiope, the niece of Lycus, king of Thebes; he and his twin brother, Amphion, were exposed in infancy on Mt. Cithaeron, but were saved and brought up by shepherds. Arrived at manhood they killed Lycus and Dirce, his wife, on account of their cruelties to Antiope, and together reigned in Thebes. Reference is made to their rustic life inH. Fur.916; the shade of Zethus comes up from hades, still holding by the horn the wild bull to which he had tied Dirce,Oed.610. SeeDirce.

Prologue.—Hecuba bewails the fall of Troy, and draws from it a warning to all who are high in power:For of a truth did fortune never showIn plainer wise the frailty of the propThat doth support a king.She graphically describes the mighty power and mighty fall of her husband's kingdom, and portrays the awe with which the Greeks behold even their fallen foe. She asserts that the fire by which her city has been consumed sprang from her, the brand that she had dreamed of in her dream before the birth of Paris. She dwells horribly upon the death of Priam which she had herself witnessed.But still the heavenly powers are not appeased.The captives are to be allotted to the Greek chiefs, and even now the urn stands ready for the lots.Hecuba next calls upon the chorus of Trojan women to join her in lamenting their fallen heroes, Hector and Priam.

Prologue.—Hecuba bewails the fall of Troy, and draws from it a warning to all who are high in power:

For of a truth did fortune never showIn plainer wise the frailty of the propThat doth support a king.

For of a truth did fortune never showIn plainer wise the frailty of the propThat doth support a king.

For of a truth did fortune never showIn plainer wise the frailty of the propThat doth support a king.

For of a truth did fortune never show

In plainer wise the frailty of the prop

That doth support a king.

She graphically describes the mighty power and mighty fall of her husband's kingdom, and portrays the awe with which the Greeks behold even their fallen foe. She asserts that the fire by which her city has been consumed sprang from her, the brand that she had dreamed of in her dream before the birth of Paris. She dwells horribly upon the death of Priam which she had herself witnessed.

But still the heavenly powers are not appeased.

But still the heavenly powers are not appeased.

But still the heavenly powers are not appeased.

But still the heavenly powers are not appeased.

The captives are to be allotted to the Greek chiefs, and even now the urn stands ready for the lots.

Hecuba next calls upon the chorus of Trojan women to join her in lamenting their fallen heroes, Hector and Priam.

Parode, or chorus entry.—The chorus with Hecuba indulges in speculation as to the place of their future home, speaking with hope of some Greek lands, and deprecating others.

Parode, or chorus entry.—The chorus with Hecuba indulges in speculation as to the place of their future home, speaking with hope of some Greek lands, and deprecating others.

Parode, or chorus entry.—The chorus, under the direction of Hecuba as chorus leader, in true oriental fashion, bewails the downfall of Troy, and in particular the death of Priam and Hector.

Parode, or chorus entry.—The chorus, under the direction of Hecuba as chorus leader, in true oriental fashion, bewails the downfall of Troy, and in particular the death of Priam and Hector.

First episode.—Talthybius, the herald, enters and announces that the lots have been drawn, and reveals to each captive her destined lord: that Cassandra has fallen to Agamemnon, Andromache to Pyrrhus, Hecuba to Ulysses. At news of this her fate, Hecuba is filled with fresh lamentations, counting it an especial hardship that she should fall to the arch-enemy of her race. The herald also darkly alludes to the already accomplished fate of Polyxena,At the tomb raised to Achilles doomed to serve.Hecuba does not as yet catch the import of these words.Cassandra now enters, waving a torch, and celebrates in a mad refrain her approaching union with Agamemnon.Hecuba remonstrates with her for her unseemly joy; whereupon Cassandra declares that she rejoices in the prospect of the vengeance upon Agamemnon which is to be wrought out through this union. She contrasts the lot of the Greeks and Trojans during the past ten years, and finds that the latter have been far happier; and even in her fall, the woes of Troy are far less than those that await the Greek chieftains. She then prophesies in detail the trials that await Ulysses, and the dire result of her union with Agamemnon:Thou shalt bear meA fury, an Erinys from this land.Hecuba here falls in a faint, and, upon being revived, again recounts her former high estate, sadly contrasts with that her present condition, and shudders at the lot of the slave which awaits her:Then deem not of the greatNow flourishing as happy, ere they die.

First episode.—Talthybius, the herald, enters and announces that the lots have been drawn, and reveals to each captive her destined lord: that Cassandra has fallen to Agamemnon, Andromache to Pyrrhus, Hecuba to Ulysses. At news of this her fate, Hecuba is filled with fresh lamentations, counting it an especial hardship that she should fall to the arch-enemy of her race. The herald also darkly alludes to the already accomplished fate of Polyxena,

At the tomb raised to Achilles doomed to serve.

At the tomb raised to Achilles doomed to serve.

At the tomb raised to Achilles doomed to serve.

At the tomb raised to Achilles doomed to serve.

Hecuba does not as yet catch the import of these words.

Cassandra now enters, waving a torch, and celebrates in a mad refrain her approaching union with Agamemnon.Hecuba remonstrates with her for her unseemly joy; whereupon Cassandra declares that she rejoices in the prospect of the vengeance upon Agamemnon which is to be wrought out through this union. She contrasts the lot of the Greeks and Trojans during the past ten years, and finds that the latter have been far happier; and even in her fall, the woes of Troy are far less than those that await the Greek chieftains. She then prophesies in detail the trials that await Ulysses, and the dire result of her union with Agamemnon:

Thou shalt bear meA fury, an Erinys from this land.

Thou shalt bear meA fury, an Erinys from this land.

Thou shalt bear meA fury, an Erinys from this land.

Thou shalt bear me

A fury, an Erinys from this land.

Hecuba here falls in a faint, and, upon being revived, again recounts her former high estate, sadly contrasts with that her present condition, and shudders at the lot of the slave which awaits her:

Then deem not of the greatNow flourishing as happy, ere they die.

Then deem not of the greatNow flourishing as happy, ere they die.

Then deem not of the greatNow flourishing as happy, ere they die.

Then deem not of the great

Now flourishing as happy, ere they die.

First episode.—Talthybius announces that the shade of Achilles has appeared with the demand that Polyxena be sacrificed upon the hero's tomb.Enter Pyrrhus and Agamemnon, the former demanding that his father's request be carried out, the latter resisting the demand as too barbarous to be entertained. It is finally agreed to leave the decision to Calchas. He is accordingly summoned, and at once declares that only by the death of the maiden can the Greeks be allowed to set sail for home. And not this alone, but Astyanax also must be sacrificed—hurled from the lofty Scaean tower of Troy.

First episode.—Talthybius announces that the shade of Achilles has appeared with the demand that Polyxena be sacrificed upon the hero's tomb.

Enter Pyrrhus and Agamemnon, the former demanding that his father's request be carried out, the latter resisting the demand as too barbarous to be entertained. It is finally agreed to leave the decision to Calchas. He is accordingly summoned, and at once declares that only by the death of the maiden can the Greeks be allowed to set sail for home. And not this alone, but Astyanax also must be sacrificed—hurled from the lofty Scaean tower of Troy.

First choral interlude.—The chorus graphically describes the wooden horse, its joyful reception by the Trojans into the city, their sense of relief from danger, and their holiday spirit; and at last their horrible awakening to death at the hands of the Greeks within the walls.

First choral interlude.—The chorus graphically describes the wooden horse, its joyful reception by the Trojans into the city, their sense of relief from danger, and their holiday spirit; and at last their horrible awakening to death at the hands of the Greeks within the walls.

First choral interlude.—The chorus maintains that all perishes with the body; the soul goes out into nothingness:For when within the tomb we're laid,No soul remains, no hov'ring shade.Like curling smoke, like clouds before the blast,This animating spirit soon has passed.The evident purpose of these considerations is to discount the story that Achilles' shade could have appeared with its demand for the death of Polyxena.

First choral interlude.—The chorus maintains that all perishes with the body; the soul goes out into nothingness:

For when within the tomb we're laid,No soul remains, no hov'ring shade.Like curling smoke, like clouds before the blast,This animating spirit soon has passed.

For when within the tomb we're laid,No soul remains, no hov'ring shade.Like curling smoke, like clouds before the blast,This animating spirit soon has passed.

For when within the tomb we're laid,No soul remains, no hov'ring shade.Like curling smoke, like clouds before the blast,This animating spirit soon has passed.

For when within the tomb we're laid,

No soul remains, no hov'ring shade.

Like curling smoke, like clouds before the blast,

This animating spirit soon has passed.

The evident purpose of these considerations is to discount the story that Achilles' shade could have appeared with its demand for the death of Polyxena.

Second episode.—The appearance of Andromache with Astyanax in her arms, borne captive on a Grecian car, is a signal for general mourning.She announces her own chief cause of woe:I, with my child, am led away, the spoilOf war; th' illustrious progeny of kings,Oh, fatal change, is sunk to slavery.Her next announcement comes as a still heavier blow to Hecuba:Polyxena, thy daughter, is no more;Devoted to Achilles, on his tomb,An offering to the lifeless dead, she fell.Andromache insists that Polyxena's fate is happier than her own; argues that in death there is no sense of misery:Polyxena is dead, and of her illsKnows nothing;while Andromache still lives to feel the keen contrast between her former and her present lot.Hecuba is so sunk in woe that she can make no protest, but advises Andromache to forget the past andhonor thy present lord,And with thy gentle manners win his soul;this with the hope that she may be the better able to rear up Astyanax to establish once more some day the walls and power of Troy.But the heaviest stroke is yet to fall. Talthybius now enters and announces with much reluctance that Ulysses has prevailed upon the Greeks to demand the death of Astyanax for the very reason that he may grow up to renew the Trojan war. The lad is to be hurled from a still standing tower of Troy. The herald warns Andromache that if she resist this mandate she may be endangering the boy's funeral rites. She yields to fate, passionately caressing the boy, who clings fearfully to her, partly realizing his terrible situation. The emotionalclimax of the play is reached, as she says to the clinging, frightened lad:Why dost thou clasp me with thy hands, why holdMy robes, and shelter thee beneath my wingsLike a young bird?She bitterly upbraids the Greeks for their cruelty, and curses Helen as the cause of all her woe, and then gives the boy up in an abandonment of defiant grief:Here, take him, bear him, hurl him from the height,If ye must hurl him; feast upon his flesh:For from the gods hath ruin fall'n on us.And now what more can happen? Surely the depth of misfortune has been sounded. In the voice of Hecuba:Is there an illWe have not? What is wanting to the woesWhich all the dreadful band of ruin brings?

Second episode.—The appearance of Andromache with Astyanax in her arms, borne captive on a Grecian car, is a signal for general mourning.She announces her own chief cause of woe:

I, with my child, am led away, the spoilOf war; th' illustrious progeny of kings,Oh, fatal change, is sunk to slavery.

I, with my child, am led away, the spoilOf war; th' illustrious progeny of kings,Oh, fatal change, is sunk to slavery.

I, with my child, am led away, the spoilOf war; th' illustrious progeny of kings,Oh, fatal change, is sunk to slavery.

I, with my child, am led away, the spoil

Of war; th' illustrious progeny of kings,

Oh, fatal change, is sunk to slavery.

Her next announcement comes as a still heavier blow to Hecuba:

Polyxena, thy daughter, is no more;Devoted to Achilles, on his tomb,An offering to the lifeless dead, she fell.

Polyxena, thy daughter, is no more;Devoted to Achilles, on his tomb,An offering to the lifeless dead, she fell.

Polyxena, thy daughter, is no more;Devoted to Achilles, on his tomb,An offering to the lifeless dead, she fell.

Polyxena, thy daughter, is no more;

Devoted to Achilles, on his tomb,

An offering to the lifeless dead, she fell.

Andromache insists that Polyxena's fate is happier than her own; argues that in death there is no sense of misery:

Polyxena is dead, and of her illsKnows nothing;

Polyxena is dead, and of her illsKnows nothing;

Polyxena is dead, and of her illsKnows nothing;

Polyxena is dead, and of her ills

Knows nothing;

while Andromache still lives to feel the keen contrast between her former and her present lot.

Hecuba is so sunk in woe that she can make no protest, but advises Andromache to forget the past and

honor thy present lord,And with thy gentle manners win his soul;

honor thy present lord,And with thy gentle manners win his soul;

honor thy present lord,And with thy gentle manners win his soul;

honor thy present lord,

And with thy gentle manners win his soul;

this with the hope that she may be the better able to rear up Astyanax to establish once more some day the walls and power of Troy.

But the heaviest stroke is yet to fall. Talthybius now enters and announces with much reluctance that Ulysses has prevailed upon the Greeks to demand the death of Astyanax for the very reason that he may grow up to renew the Trojan war. The lad is to be hurled from a still standing tower of Troy. The herald warns Andromache that if she resist this mandate she may be endangering the boy's funeral rites. She yields to fate, passionately caressing the boy, who clings fearfully to her, partly realizing his terrible situation. The emotionalclimax of the play is reached, as she says to the clinging, frightened lad:

Why dost thou clasp me with thy hands, why holdMy robes, and shelter thee beneath my wingsLike a young bird?

Why dost thou clasp me with thy hands, why holdMy robes, and shelter thee beneath my wingsLike a young bird?

Why dost thou clasp me with thy hands, why holdMy robes, and shelter thee beneath my wingsLike a young bird?

Why dost thou clasp me with thy hands, why hold

My robes, and shelter thee beneath my wings

Like a young bird?

She bitterly upbraids the Greeks for their cruelty, and curses Helen as the cause of all her woe, and then gives the boy up in an abandonment of defiant grief:

Here, take him, bear him, hurl him from the height,If ye must hurl him; feast upon his flesh:For from the gods hath ruin fall'n on us.

Here, take him, bear him, hurl him from the height,If ye must hurl him; feast upon his flesh:For from the gods hath ruin fall'n on us.

Here, take him, bear him, hurl him from the height,If ye must hurl him; feast upon his flesh:For from the gods hath ruin fall'n on us.

Here, take him, bear him, hurl him from the height,

If ye must hurl him; feast upon his flesh:

For from the gods hath ruin fall'n on us.

And now what more can happen? Surely the depth of misfortune has been sounded. In the voice of Hecuba:

Is there an illWe have not? What is wanting to the woesWhich all the dreadful band of ruin brings?

Is there an illWe have not? What is wanting to the woesWhich all the dreadful band of ruin brings?

Is there an illWe have not? What is wanting to the woesWhich all the dreadful band of ruin brings?

Is there an ill

We have not? What is wanting to the woes

Which all the dreadful band of ruin brings?

Second episode.—Andromache appears with Astyanax and recounts a vision of Hector which she has had, in which her dead husband has warned her to hide the boy away beyond the reach of threatening danger. After discussion with an old man as to the best place of concealment, she hides Astyanax in Hector's tomb which is in the near background.Enter Ulysses, who reluctantly announces that Calchas has warned the Greeks that they must not allow the son of Hector to grow to manhood; for if they do so, the reopening of the Trojan war will be only a matter of time, and the work will have to be done all over again. He therefore asks Andromache to give up the boy to him. Then ensues a war of wits between the desperate mother and the crafty Greek. She affects not to know where the boy is—he is lost. But if she knew, no power on earth should take him from her. Ulysses threatens death, which she welcomes; he threatens torture, which she scorns. She at last states that her son is "among the dead." Ulysses, taking these words at their face meaning, starts off gladly to tell the news to the Greeks, but suddenly reflects that he has no proof but the mother's word. He therefore begins to watch Andromache more narrowly, and discovers that her bearing is not that of one who has put her grief behind her, but of one who is still in suspense and fear. To test her, he suddenly calls to his attendants to hunt out the boy. Looking beyond her he cries: "Good! he's found! bring him to me." Whereat Andromache's agitation proves that the boy is indeed not dead but in hiding. Where is he hid? Ulysses forces her to choose between the living boy and the dead husband; for, unless her son is forthcoming, Hector's tomb will be invaded and his ashes scattered upon the sea. To her frantic prayer for mercy he says:Bring forth the boy—and pray.Follows acanticum, in which Andromache brings Astyanax out of the tomb and sets him in Ulysses' sight:Here, here's the terror of a thousand ships!and prays him to spare the child. Ulysses refuses, and, after allowing the mother time for a passionate and pathetic farewell to her son, he leads the boy away to his death.

Second episode.—Andromache appears with Astyanax and recounts a vision of Hector which she has had, in which her dead husband has warned her to hide the boy away beyond the reach of threatening danger. After discussion with an old man as to the best place of concealment, she hides Astyanax in Hector's tomb which is in the near background.

Enter Ulysses, who reluctantly announces that Calchas has warned the Greeks that they must not allow the son of Hector to grow to manhood; for if they do so, the reopening of the Trojan war will be only a matter of time, and the work will have to be done all over again. He therefore asks Andromache to give up the boy to him. Then ensues a war of wits between the desperate mother and the crafty Greek. She affects not to know where the boy is—he is lost. But if she knew, no power on earth should take him from her. Ulysses threatens death, which she welcomes; he threatens torture, which she scorns. She at last states that her son is "among the dead." Ulysses, taking these words at their face meaning, starts off gladly to tell the news to the Greeks, but suddenly reflects that he has no proof but the mother's word. He therefore begins to watch Andromache more narrowly, and discovers that her bearing is not that of one who has put her grief behind her, but of one who is still in suspense and fear. To test her, he suddenly calls to his attendants to hunt out the boy. Looking beyond her he cries: "Good! he's found! bring him to me." Whereat Andromache's agitation proves that the boy is indeed not dead but in hiding. Where is he hid? Ulysses forces her to choose between the living boy and the dead husband; for, unless her son is forthcoming, Hector's tomb will be invaded and his ashes scattered upon the sea. To her frantic prayer for mercy he says:

Bring forth the boy—and pray.

Bring forth the boy—and pray.

Bring forth the boy—and pray.

Bring forth the boy—and pray.

Follows acanticum, in which Andromache brings Astyanax out of the tomb and sets him in Ulysses' sight:

Here, here's the terror of a thousand ships!

Here, here's the terror of a thousand ships!

Here, here's the terror of a thousand ships!

Here, here's the terror of a thousand ships!

and prays him to spare the child. Ulysses refuses, and, after allowing the mother time for a passionate and pathetic farewell to her son, he leads the boy away to his death.

Second choral interlude.—The chorus first tells of the former fall of Troy under Hercules and Telamon; and then refers to the high honors that had come to the city through the translation of Ganymede to be the cupbearer of Jove, and through the special grace of Venus. But these have not availed to save the city from its present destruction.

Second choral interlude.—The chorus first tells of the former fall of Troy under Hercules and Telamon; and then refers to the high honors that had come to the city through the translation of Ganymede to be the cupbearer of Jove, and through the special grace of Venus. But these have not availed to save the city from its present destruction.

Second choral interlude.—The chorus discusses the various places to which it may be its misfortune to be carried into captivity. It professes a willingness to go anywhere but to the homes of Helen, Agamemnon, and Ulysses.

Second choral interlude.—The chorus discusses the various places to which it may be its misfortune to be carried into captivity. It professes a willingness to go anywhere but to the homes of Helen, Agamemnon, and Ulysses.

Third episode.—Menelaüs appears, announcing that the Greeks have alotted to him Helen, his former wife, the cause of all this strife, to do with as he will. He declares his intention to take her to Greece, and there destroy her as a warning to faithless wives.Hecuba applauds this decision, and thinks that at last heaven has sent justice to the earth:Dark thy waysAnd silent are thy steps to mortal man;Yet thou with justice all things dost ordain.Helen, dragged forth from the tent at the command of Menelaüs, pleads her cause. She lays the blame for all upon Hecuba and Priam:She first, then, to these illsGave birth, when she gave Paris birth; and nextThe agéd Priam ruined Troy and thee,The infant not destroying, at his birthDenounced a baleful firebrand.Blame should also fall upon Venus, since through her influence Helen came into the power of Paris.Hecuba refutes the excuses of Helen. She scouts the idea that Venus brought Paris to Sparta. The only Venus that had influenced Helen was her own passion inflamed by the beauty of Paris:My son was with surpassing beauty graced;And thy fond passion, when he struck thy sight,Became a Venus.As for the excuse that she was borne away by force, no Spartan was aware of that, no cries were heard. Hecuba ends by urging Menelaüs to carry out his threat. This, he repeats, it is his purpose to do.

Third episode.—Menelaüs appears, announcing that the Greeks have alotted to him Helen, his former wife, the cause of all this strife, to do with as he will. He declares his intention to take her to Greece, and there destroy her as a warning to faithless wives.

Hecuba applauds this decision, and thinks that at last heaven has sent justice to the earth:

Dark thy waysAnd silent are thy steps to mortal man;Yet thou with justice all things dost ordain.

Dark thy waysAnd silent are thy steps to mortal man;Yet thou with justice all things dost ordain.

Dark thy waysAnd silent are thy steps to mortal man;Yet thou with justice all things dost ordain.

Dark thy ways

And silent are thy steps to mortal man;

Yet thou with justice all things dost ordain.

Helen, dragged forth from the tent at the command of Menelaüs, pleads her cause. She lays the blame for all upon Hecuba and Priam:

She first, then, to these illsGave birth, when she gave Paris birth; and nextThe agéd Priam ruined Troy and thee,The infant not destroying, at his birthDenounced a baleful firebrand.

She first, then, to these illsGave birth, when she gave Paris birth; and nextThe agéd Priam ruined Troy and thee,The infant not destroying, at his birthDenounced a baleful firebrand.

She first, then, to these illsGave birth, when she gave Paris birth; and nextThe agéd Priam ruined Troy and thee,The infant not destroying, at his birthDenounced a baleful firebrand.

She first, then, to these ills

Gave birth, when she gave Paris birth; and next

The agéd Priam ruined Troy and thee,

The infant not destroying, at his birth

Denounced a baleful firebrand.

Blame should also fall upon Venus, since through her influence Helen came into the power of Paris.

Hecuba refutes the excuses of Helen. She scouts the idea that Venus brought Paris to Sparta. The only Venus that had influenced Helen was her own passion inflamed by the beauty of Paris:

My son was with surpassing beauty graced;And thy fond passion, when he struck thy sight,Became a Venus.

My son was with surpassing beauty graced;And thy fond passion, when he struck thy sight,Became a Venus.

My son was with surpassing beauty graced;And thy fond passion, when he struck thy sight,Became a Venus.

My son was with surpassing beauty graced;

And thy fond passion, when he struck thy sight,

Became a Venus.

As for the excuse that she was borne away by force, no Spartan was aware of that, no cries were heard. Hecuba ends by urging Menelaüs to carry out his threat. This, he repeats, it is his purpose to do.

Third episode.—Helen approaches the Trojan women, saying that she has been sent by the Greeks to deck Polyxena for marriage with Pyrrhus, this being a ruse to trick the girl into an unresisting preparation for her death. This news Polyxena, though mute, receives with horror.Andromache bitterly cries out upon Helen and her marriages as the cause of all their woe. But Helen puts the whole matter to this test:Count this true,If 'twas a Spartan vessel brought me here.Under the pointed questions of Andromache she gives up deception, and frankly states the impending doom of Polyxena to be slaughtered on Achilles' tomb, and so to be that hero's spirit bride. At this the girl shows signs of joy, and eagerly submits herself to Helen's hands to be decked for the sacrificial rite.Hecuba cries out at this, and laments her almost utter childlessness; but Andromache envies the doomed girl her fate.Helen then informs the women that the lots have been drawn and their future lords determined; Andromache is to be given to Pyrrhus, Cassandra to Agamemnon, Hecuba to Ulysses.Pyrrhus now appears to conduct Polyxena to her death, and is bitterly scorned and cursed by Hecuba.

Third episode.—Helen approaches the Trojan women, saying that she has been sent by the Greeks to deck Polyxena for marriage with Pyrrhus, this being a ruse to trick the girl into an unresisting preparation for her death. This news Polyxena, though mute, receives with horror.

Andromache bitterly cries out upon Helen and her marriages as the cause of all their woe. But Helen puts the whole matter to this test:

Count this true,If 'twas a Spartan vessel brought me here.

Count this true,If 'twas a Spartan vessel brought me here.

Count this true,If 'twas a Spartan vessel brought me here.

Count this true,

If 'twas a Spartan vessel brought me here.

Under the pointed questions of Andromache she gives up deception, and frankly states the impending doom of Polyxena to be slaughtered on Achilles' tomb, and so to be that hero's spirit bride. At this the girl shows signs of joy, and eagerly submits herself to Helen's hands to be decked for the sacrificial rite.

Hecuba cries out at this, and laments her almost utter childlessness; but Andromache envies the doomed girl her fate.

Helen then informs the women that the lots have been drawn and their future lords determined; Andromache is to be given to Pyrrhus, Cassandra to Agamemnon, Hecuba to Ulysses.

Pyrrhus now appears to conduct Polyxena to her death, and is bitterly scorned and cursed by Hecuba.

Third choral interlude.—The chorus sadly recalls the sacred rites in Troy and within the forests of Mount Ida, and grieves that these shall be no more. They lament the untimely death of their warrior husbands, whose bodies have not received proper burial rites, and whose souls are wandering in the spirit-world, while they, the hapless wives, must wander over sea to foreign homes. They pray that storms may come and overwhelm the ships, and especially that Helen may not live to reach the land again.

Third choral interlude.—The chorus sadly recalls the sacred rites in Troy and within the forests of Mount Ida, and grieves that these shall be no more. They lament the untimely death of their warrior husbands, whose bodies have not received proper burial rites, and whose souls are wandering in the spirit-world, while they, the hapless wives, must wander over sea to foreign homes. They pray that storms may come and overwhelm the ships, and especially that Helen may not live to reach the land again.

Third choral interlude.—The chorus enlarges upon the comfort of company to those in grief. Hitherto they have had this comfort; but now they are to be scattered, and each must suffer alone. And soon, as they sail away, they must take their last, sad view of Troy, now but a smouldering heap; and mother to child will say, as she points back to the shore:See, there's our Troy, where smoke curls high in air,And thick, dark clouds obscure the distant sky.

Third choral interlude.—The chorus enlarges upon the comfort of company to those in grief. Hitherto they have had this comfort; but now they are to be scattered, and each must suffer alone. And soon, as they sail away, they must take their last, sad view of Troy, now but a smouldering heap; and mother to child will say, as she points back to the shore:

See, there's our Troy, where smoke curls high in air,And thick, dark clouds obscure the distant sky.

See, there's our Troy, where smoke curls high in air,And thick, dark clouds obscure the distant sky.

See, there's our Troy, where smoke curls high in air,And thick, dark clouds obscure the distant sky.

See, there's our Troy, where smoke curls high in air,

And thick, dark clouds obscure the distant sky.

Exode.—Enter Talthybius, withthe dead body of Astyanax borne upon the shield of Hector. He explains that Pyrrhus has hastened home, summoned by news of insurrection in his own kingdom, and has taken Andromache with him. He delivers Andromache's request to Hecuba that she give the boy proper burial, and use the hollow shield as a casket for the dead.Hecuba and the chorus together weep over the shield, which recalls Hector in his days of might, and over the poor, bruised body of the dead boy, sadly contrasting his former beauty with this mangled form. They then wrap it in such costly wrappings as their state allows, place him upon the shield, and consign him to the tomb.Talthybius then orders bands of men with torches to burn the remaining buildings of Troy; and in the light of its glaring flames and with the crashing sound of its falling walls in their ears, Hecuba and her companions make their way to the waiting ships, while the messenger urges on their lagging steps.

Exode.—Enter Talthybius, withthe dead body of Astyanax borne upon the shield of Hector. He explains that Pyrrhus has hastened home, summoned by news of insurrection in his own kingdom, and has taken Andromache with him. He delivers Andromache's request to Hecuba that she give the boy proper burial, and use the hollow shield as a casket for the dead.

Hecuba and the chorus together weep over the shield, which recalls Hector in his days of might, and over the poor, bruised body of the dead boy, sadly contrasting his former beauty with this mangled form. They then wrap it in such costly wrappings as their state allows, place him upon the shield, and consign him to the tomb.

Talthybius then orders bands of men with torches to burn the remaining buildings of Troy; and in the light of its glaring flames and with the crashing sound of its falling walls in their ears, Hecuba and her companions make their way to the waiting ships, while the messenger urges on their lagging steps.

Exode.—The messenger relates with much detail to Hecuba, Andromache and the rest, the circumstances of the death of Astyanax and Polyxena: how crowds of Greeks and Trojans witnessed both tragedies, how both sides were moved to tears at the sad sight, and how both victims met their death as became their noble birth.Andromache bewails and denounces the cruel death of her son, and sadly asks that his body be given her for burial; but she is told that this is mangled past recognition.But Hecuba, having now drained her cup of sorrow to the dregs, has no more wild cries to utter; she almost calmly bids the Grecians now set sail, since nothing bars their way. She longs for death, complaining that it ever flees from her, though she has often been so near its grasp.The messenger interrupts, and bids them hasten to the shore and board the ships, which wait only their coming to set sail.

Exode.—The messenger relates with much detail to Hecuba, Andromache and the rest, the circumstances of the death of Astyanax and Polyxena: how crowds of Greeks and Trojans witnessed both tragedies, how both sides were moved to tears at the sad sight, and how both victims met their death as became their noble birth.

Andromache bewails and denounces the cruel death of her son, and sadly asks that his body be given her for burial; but she is told that this is mangled past recognition.

But Hecuba, having now drained her cup of sorrow to the dregs, has no more wild cries to utter; she almost calmly bids the Grecians now set sail, since nothing bars their way. She longs for death, complaining that it ever flees from her, though she has often been so near its grasp.

The messenger interrupts, and bids them hasten to the shore and board the ships, which wait only their coming to set sail.

Prologue.—A watchman, stationed upon the palace roof at Argos, laments the tedium of his long and solitary task; and prays for the time to come when, through the darkness of the night, he shall see the distant flashing of the beacon fire, and by this sign know that Troy has fallen and that Agamemnon is returning home. And suddenly he sees the gleam for which so long he has been waiting. He springs up with shouts of joy and hastens to tell the queen. At the same timehe makes dark reference to that which has been going on within the palace, and which must now be hushed up.

Prologue.—A watchman, stationed upon the palace roof at Argos, laments the tedium of his long and solitary task; and prays for the time to come when, through the darkness of the night, he shall see the distant flashing of the beacon fire, and by this sign know that Troy has fallen and that Agamemnon is returning home. And suddenly he sees the gleam for which so long he has been waiting. He springs up with shouts of joy and hastens to tell the queen. At the same timehe makes dark reference to that which has been going on within the palace, and which must now be hushed up.

Prologue.—The ghost of Thyestes coming from the lower regions recites themotifof the play: how he had been most foully dealt with by Agamemnon's father, Atreus, and how he had been promised revenge by the oracle of Apollo through his son Aegisthus, begotten of an incestuous union with his daughter. The ghost announces that the time for his revenge is come with the return of Agamemnon from the Trojan war, and urges Aegisthus to perform his fated part.

Prologue.—The ghost of Thyestes coming from the lower regions recites themotifof the play: how he had been most foully dealt with by Agamemnon's father, Atreus, and how he had been promised revenge by the oracle of Apollo through his son Aegisthus, begotten of an incestuous union with his daughter. The ghost announces that the time for his revenge is come with the return of Agamemnon from the Trojan war, and urges Aegisthus to perform his fated part.

Parode, or chorus entry.—A chorus of twelve Argive elders sings of the Trojan War, describing the omens with which the Greeks started on their mission of vengeance. They dwell especially upon the hard fate which forced Agamemnon to sacrifice his daughter. And in this they unconsciously voice one of the motives which led to the king's own death.

Parode, or chorus entry.—A chorus of twelve Argive elders sings of the Trojan War, describing the omens with which the Greeks started on their mission of vengeance. They dwell especially upon the hard fate which forced Agamemnon to sacrifice his daughter. And in this they unconsciously voice one of the motives which led to the king's own death.

Parode, or chorus entry.—The chorus of Argive women complains of the uncertain condition of exalted fortune, and recommends the golden mean in preference to this.

Parode, or chorus entry.—The chorus of Argive women complains of the uncertain condition of exalted fortune, and recommends the golden mean in preference to this.

First episode.—Clytemnestra appears with a stately procession of torch-bearers, having set the whole city in gala attire, with sacrificial incense burning on all the altars. The chorus asks the meaning of this. Has she had news from Troy? The queen replies that this very night she has had news, and describes at length how the signal fires had gleamed, and thus the news had leaped from height to height, all the long way from Troy to Argos.And this sure proof and token now I tell thee,Seeing that my lord hath sent it me from Troy.She expresses the hope that the victors in their joy will do nothing to offend the gods and so prevent their safe return:May good prevail beyond all doubtful chance!For I have got the blessing of great joy.With these words she covers up the real desires of her own false heart, while at the same time voicing the principle on which doom was to overtake the Greeks.The chorus receives Clytemnestra's news with joy and prepares to sing praises to the gods, as the queen with her train leaves the stage.

First episode.—Clytemnestra appears with a stately procession of torch-bearers, having set the whole city in gala attire, with sacrificial incense burning on all the altars. The chorus asks the meaning of this. Has she had news from Troy? The queen replies that this very night she has had news, and describes at length how the signal fires had gleamed, and thus the news had leaped from height to height, all the long way from Troy to Argos.

And this sure proof and token now I tell thee,Seeing that my lord hath sent it me from Troy.

And this sure proof and token now I tell thee,Seeing that my lord hath sent it me from Troy.

And this sure proof and token now I tell thee,Seeing that my lord hath sent it me from Troy.

And this sure proof and token now I tell thee,

Seeing that my lord hath sent it me from Troy.

She expresses the hope that the victors in their joy will do nothing to offend the gods and so prevent their safe return:

May good prevail beyond all doubtful chance!For I have got the blessing of great joy.

May good prevail beyond all doubtful chance!For I have got the blessing of great joy.

May good prevail beyond all doubtful chance!For I have got the blessing of great joy.

May good prevail beyond all doubtful chance!

For I have got the blessing of great joy.

With these words she covers up the real desires of her own false heart, while at the same time voicing the principle on which doom was to overtake the Greeks.

The chorus receives Clytemnestra's news with joy and prepares to sing praises to the gods, as the queen with her train leaves the stage.

First episode.—Clytemnestra, conscious of guilt, and fearing that her returning husband will severely punish her on account of her adulterous life with Aegisthus, resolves to add crime to crime and murder Agamemnon as soon as he comes back to his home. She is further impelled to this action by his conduct in the matter of her daughter, Iphigenia, and by his own unfaithfulness to her during his long absence. Throughout this scene the nurse vainly tries to dissuade her.Clytemnestra is either influenced to recede from her purpose by the nurse, or else pretends to be resolved to draw back in order to test Aegisthus who now enters. In the end, the two conspirators withdraw to plan their intended crime.

First episode.—Clytemnestra, conscious of guilt, and fearing that her returning husband will severely punish her on account of her adulterous life with Aegisthus, resolves to add crime to crime and murder Agamemnon as soon as he comes back to his home. She is further impelled to this action by his conduct in the matter of her daughter, Iphigenia, and by his own unfaithfulness to her during his long absence. Throughout this scene the nurse vainly tries to dissuade her.

Clytemnestra is either influenced to recede from her purpose by the nurse, or else pretends to be resolved to draw back in order to test Aegisthus who now enters. In the end, the two conspirators withdraw to plan their intended crime.

First choral interlude.—The chorus sings in praise of Zeus, who has signally disproved the skeptic's claim thatThe gods deign not to care for mortal menBy whom the grace of things inviolableIs trampled under foot.The shameful guilt of Paris is described, the woe of the wronged Menelaüs, and the response of all Greece to his cry for vengeance. But, after all, the chorus is in doubt as to whether the good news can be true—when a herald enters with fresh news.

First choral interlude.—The chorus sings in praise of Zeus, who has signally disproved the skeptic's claim that

The gods deign not to care for mortal menBy whom the grace of things inviolableIs trampled under foot.

The gods deign not to care for mortal menBy whom the grace of things inviolableIs trampled under foot.

The gods deign not to care for mortal menBy whom the grace of things inviolableIs trampled under foot.

The gods deign not to care for mortal men

By whom the grace of things inviolable

Is trampled under foot.

The shameful guilt of Paris is described, the woe of the wronged Menelaüs, and the response of all Greece to his cry for vengeance. But, after all, the chorus is in doubt as to whether the good news can be true—when a herald enters with fresh news.

First choral interlude.—The chorus sings in praise of Apollo for the victory over Troy. To this are added the praises of Juno, Minerva, and Jove. In the end the chorus hails the approach of the herald Eurybates.

First choral interlude.—The chorus sings in praise of Apollo for the victory over Troy. To this are added the praises of Juno, Minerva, and Jove. In the end the chorus hails the approach of the herald Eurybates.

Second episode.—The herald describes to the chorus the complete downfall of Troy, which came as a punishment for the sin of Paris and of the nation which upheld him in it. At the same time the sufferings of the Greeks during the progress of the war are not forgotten. Clytemnestra, entering, prompted by her own guilty conscience, bids the herald tell Agamemnon to hasten home, and take to him her own protestation of absolute faithfulness to him:who has not brokenOne seal of his in all this length of time.The herald, in response to further questions of the chorus, describes the great storm which wrecked the Greek fleet upon their homeward voyage.

Second episode.—The herald describes to the chorus the complete downfall of Troy, which came as a punishment for the sin of Paris and of the nation which upheld him in it. At the same time the sufferings of the Greeks during the progress of the war are not forgotten. Clytemnestra, entering, prompted by her own guilty conscience, bids the herald tell Agamemnon to hasten home, and take to him her own protestation of absolute faithfulness to him:

who has not brokenOne seal of his in all this length of time.

who has not brokenOne seal of his in all this length of time.

who has not brokenOne seal of his in all this length of time.

who has not broken

One seal of his in all this length of time.

The herald, in response to further questions of the chorus, describes the great storm which wrecked the Greek fleet upon their homeward voyage.

Second episode.—Eurybates announces to Clytemnestra the return and approach of Agamemnon, and describes the terrible storm which overtook the Greeks upon their homeward voyage. At the command of the queen victims are prepared for sacrifice to the gods, and a banquet for the victorious Agamemnon. At last the captive Trojan women headed by Cassandra are seen approaching.

Second episode.—Eurybates announces to Clytemnestra the return and approach of Agamemnon, and describes the terrible storm which overtook the Greeks upon their homeward voyage. At the command of the queen victims are prepared for sacrifice to the gods, and a banquet for the victorious Agamemnon. At last the captive Trojan women headed by Cassandra are seen approaching.

Second choral interlude.—The chorus sings of Helen as the bane of the Trojans:Dire cause of strife with bloodshed in her train.And nowThe penalty of foul dishonor doneTo friendship's board and Zeushas been paid by Troy, which is likened to a man who fosters a lion's cub,which is harmless while still young, but when full grown "it shows the nature of its sires," and brings destruction to the house that sheltered it.

Second choral interlude.—The chorus sings of Helen as the bane of the Trojans:

Dire cause of strife with bloodshed in her train.

Dire cause of strife with bloodshed in her train.

Dire cause of strife with bloodshed in her train.

Dire cause of strife with bloodshed in her train.

And now

The penalty of foul dishonor doneTo friendship's board and Zeus

The penalty of foul dishonor doneTo friendship's board and Zeus

The penalty of foul dishonor doneTo friendship's board and Zeus

The penalty of foul dishonor done

To friendship's board and Zeus

has been paid by Troy, which is likened to a man who fosters a lion's cub,which is harmless while still young, but when full grown "it shows the nature of its sires," and brings destruction to the house that sheltered it.

Second choral interlude.—A chorus of captive Trojan women sings the fate and fall of Troy; while Cassandra, seized with fits of prophetic fury, prophesies the doom that hangs over Agamemnon.

Second choral interlude.—A chorus of captive Trojan women sings the fate and fall of Troy; while Cassandra, seized with fits of prophetic fury, prophesies the doom that hangs over Agamemnon.

Third episode.—Agamemnon is seen approaching in his chariot, followed by his train of soldiers and captives. The chorus welcomes him, but with a veiled hint that all is not well in Argos. Agamemnon fittingly thanks the gods for his success and for his safe return, and promises in due time to investigate affairs at home.Clytemnestra, now entering, in a long speech of fulsome welcome, describes the grief which she has endured for her lord's long absence in the midst of perils, and protests her own absolute faithfulness to him. She explains the absence of Orestes by saying that she has intrusted him to Strophius, king of Phocis, to be cared for in the midst of the troublous times. She concludes with the ambiguous prayer:Ah Zeus, work out for meAll that I pray for; let it be thy careTo look to that thou purposest to work.Agamemnon, after briefly referring to Cassandra and bespeaking kindly treatment for her, goes into the palace, accompanied by Clytemnestra.

Third episode.—Agamemnon is seen approaching in his chariot, followed by his train of soldiers and captives. The chorus welcomes him, but with a veiled hint that all is not well in Argos. Agamemnon fittingly thanks the gods for his success and for his safe return, and promises in due time to investigate affairs at home.

Clytemnestra, now entering, in a long speech of fulsome welcome, describes the grief which she has endured for her lord's long absence in the midst of perils, and protests her own absolute faithfulness to him. She explains the absence of Orestes by saying that she has intrusted him to Strophius, king of Phocis, to be cared for in the midst of the troublous times. She concludes with the ambiguous prayer:

Ah Zeus, work out for meAll that I pray for; let it be thy careTo look to that thou purposest to work.

Ah Zeus, work out for meAll that I pray for; let it be thy careTo look to that thou purposest to work.

Ah Zeus, work out for meAll that I pray for; let it be thy careTo look to that thou purposest to work.

Ah Zeus, work out for me

All that I pray for; let it be thy care

To look to that thou purposest to work.

Agamemnon, after briefly referring to Cassandra and bespeaking kindly treatment for her, goes into the palace, accompanied by Clytemnestra.

Third episode.—Agamemnon comes upon the scene, and, meeting Cassandra, is warned by her of the fate that hangs over him; but she is not believed.

Third episode.—Agamemnon comes upon the scene, and, meeting Cassandra, is warned by her of the fate that hangs over him; but she is not believed.

Third choral interlude.—The chorus, though it sees with its own eyes that all is well with Agamemnon, that he is returned in safety to his own home, is filled with sad forebodings of some hovering evil which it cannot dispel.

Third choral interlude.—The chorus, though it sees with its own eyes that all is well with Agamemnon, that he is returned in safety to his own home, is filled with sad forebodings of some hovering evil which it cannot dispel.

Third choral interlude.—Apropos of the fall of Troy, the chorus of Argive women sings the praises of Hercules whose arrows had been required by fate for the destruction of Troy.

Third choral interlude.—Apropos of the fall of Troy, the chorus of Argive women sings the praises of Hercules whose arrows had been required by fate for the destruction of Troy.

Exode.—Clytemnestra returns and bids Cassandra, who still remains standing in her chariot, to join theother slaves in ministering at the altar. But Cassandra stands motionless, paying no heed to the words of the queen, who leaves the scene saying:I will not bear the shame of uttering more.Cassandra now descends from her chariot and bursts into wild and woeful lamentations. By her peculiar clairvoyant power she foresees and declares to the chorus the death of Agamemnon at the hands of Clytemnestra and Aegisthus, as well as the manner of it; she also foretells the vengeance which Orestes is destined to work upon the murderers. Her own fate is as clearly seen and announced, as she passes through the door into the palace.Soon the chorus hears the death cry of Agamemnon, that he is "struck down with deadly stroke." They are faint-heartedly and with a multiplicity of counsel discussing what it is best to do when Clytemnestra, with blood-stained garments and followed by a guard of soldiers, enters to them from the palace. The corpses of Agamemnon and Cassandra are seen through the door within the palace. The queen confesses, describes, and exults in the murder of her husband. The chorus makes elaborate lamentation for Agamemnon, and prophesies that vengeance will light on Clytemnestra. But she scorns their threatening prophecies. In the end Aegisthus enters, avowing that he has plotted this murder and has at last avenged his father, Thyestes, upon the father of Agamemnon, Atreus, who had so foully wronged Thyestes. The chorus curses him and reminds him that Orestes still lives and will surely avenge his father.

Exode.—Clytemnestra returns and bids Cassandra, who still remains standing in her chariot, to join theother slaves in ministering at the altar. But Cassandra stands motionless, paying no heed to the words of the queen, who leaves the scene saying:

I will not bear the shame of uttering more.

I will not bear the shame of uttering more.

I will not bear the shame of uttering more.

I will not bear the shame of uttering more.

Cassandra now descends from her chariot and bursts into wild and woeful lamentations. By her peculiar clairvoyant power she foresees and declares to the chorus the death of Agamemnon at the hands of Clytemnestra and Aegisthus, as well as the manner of it; she also foretells the vengeance which Orestes is destined to work upon the murderers. Her own fate is as clearly seen and announced, as she passes through the door into the palace.

Soon the chorus hears the death cry of Agamemnon, that he is "struck down with deadly stroke." They are faint-heartedly and with a multiplicity of counsel discussing what it is best to do when Clytemnestra, with blood-stained garments and followed by a guard of soldiers, enters to them from the palace. The corpses of Agamemnon and Cassandra are seen through the door within the palace. The queen confesses, describes, and exults in the murder of her husband. The chorus makes elaborate lamentation for Agamemnon, and prophesies that vengeance will light on Clytemnestra. But she scorns their threatening prophecies. In the end Aegisthus enters, avowing that he has plotted this murder and has at last avenged his father, Thyestes, upon the father of Agamemnon, Atreus, who had so foully wronged Thyestes. The chorus curses him and reminds him that Orestes still lives and will surely avenge his father.

Exode.—Cassandra, either standing where she can see within the palace, or else by clairvoyant power, reports the murder of Agamemnon, which is being done within.Electra urges Orestes to flee before his mother and Aegisthus shall murder him also. Very opportunely, Strophius comes in his chariot, just returning as victor from the Olympic games. Electra intrusts her brother to his care, and betakes her own self to the altar for protection.Electra, after defying and denouncing her mother and Aegisthus, is dragged away to prison and torture, and Cassandra is led out to her death.

Exode.—Cassandra, either standing where she can see within the palace, or else by clairvoyant power, reports the murder of Agamemnon, which is being done within.

Electra urges Orestes to flee before his mother and Aegisthus shall murder him also. Very opportunely, Strophius comes in his chariot, just returning as victor from the Olympic games. Electra intrusts her brother to his care, and betakes her own self to the altar for protection.

Electra, after defying and denouncing her mother and Aegisthus, is dragged away to prison and torture, and Cassandra is led out to her death.

INDEX OF MYTHOLOGICAL SUBJECTS

[References are to the lines of the Latin text. If the passage is longer than one line, only the first line is cited. Line citations to passages of especial importance to the subject under discussion are starred. A few historical characters from theOctaviaare included in the Index. The names of the characters appearing in these tragedies are printed in large capitals, with the name of the tragedy in which the character occurs following in parentheses.]

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