The Tragedies of Euripides Part 62

[7] These ladies seem to have been rather undomestic in character, as Agave makes this very fact a boast, vs. 1236.

[8] Cf. Apollodor. l. i., -- 3, interpp. ad Virg. G. iv. 152. Compare Porphyr. de Nymph. Antr. p. 262, ad. Holst. sp??a?a t????? ?a? a?t?a t??

pa?a??tat?? p??? ?a? ?a??? ep????sa? ?e??? af?s????t??. ?a? e? ???t?? e?

?????t??, ??? e? ???ad?a? de, se????? ?a? ?a?? ???e???: ?a? e? ?a???

?????s??. pa?ta??? d' ??p?? t?? ????a? e???sa?, d?a sp??a??? t?? ?e??

???e??e???. Cf. Moll. ad Longi Past. i. 2. p. 22 sq. ed. Boden.

[9] Cf. Virg. aen. iv. 301, and Ritterh. on Oppian, Cyn. i, 24.

[10] Compare the epithet of Bacchus Oad???, Orph. Hymn. x.x.x. 5; l. 7, which has been wrongly explained by Gesner and Hermann. The true interpretation is given by Porphyr. de Abst. ii. 55, who states that human sacrifices were offered ?ad??? ?????s?? the man being torn to pieces (d?aap??te?).

[11] Persius i. 92. "et lynceus Maenas flexura corymbis Evion ingeminat, reparabilis a.s.sonat Echo." Euseb. Pr. Ev. ii. 3, derives the cry from Eve!

[12] I should read this line interrogatively, with Elmsley.

[13] Quoted by Gellius, xiii. 18.

[14] Elmsley would read a???? t? e????. Perhaps the true reading is e??e?? a?a???? = _it is no season for delay_.

[15] The construction is so completely akward, that I almost feel inclined to consider this verse as an interpolation, with Dindorf.

[16] Compare Nonnus, 45. p. 765 4. ?e??es?a? ?a? ?ad?? atas?a??? ?a?e ?e??e??. ?ade, t? a??a??e??, t??? da???? ???? e?e??e??; ?ade, ?a???e??? ap??at?e? ??ss?? e?e????, ?at?e? ?a? ?a??e?a ???p?a?e??

?????s??.... ??p?e ?e??es?a stefa??f??e ?????? a?ta?? S?? p???a?? tade f???a ????? stef??, ?.t.?.

[17] Compare the opinion of Perseus in Cicero de N.D. i. 15, with Minutius Felix, xxi.

[18] Pseud-Orpheus Hymn. l. 6. pa?s?p???? ???t??s? fa?e?? a???.

[19] Dindorf truly says that this pa.s.sage smacks rather of Proclus, than of Euripides, and I agree with him that its spuriousness is more than probable. Had Euripides designed an etymological quibble, he would probably have made some allusion to Merus, a mountain of India, where Bacchus is said to have been brought up. See Curtius, viii. 10. "Sita est sub radicibus montis, quem Meron incolae appellant. Inde Graeci mentiendi traxere licentiam, Jovis femine liberum patrem esse celatum." Cf. Eustath. on Dionys. Perieg. 1159. Lucian. Dial. Deor. ix. and Hermann on Orph. Hymn.

lii. 3.

[20] The gift of a?t??? was supposed to follow initiation, and is often joined with the rites of this deity. Philostratus, Heroic. p. 22, ed.

Boiss. ??te d? ?a? a?t???? s?f?a? ef?????ta?, ?a? t? ???s?de? a?ta??

p??sa??e?e?.

[21] Cf. Hippol. 443. ??p??? ?a? ?? f???t?? ?? p???? ?????.

[22] I have followed Matthiae's interpretation of this pa.s.sage.

[23] See Hermann's note.

[24] The fate of Actaeon is often joined with that of Pentheus.

[25] i.e. over-cunning in regard to religious matters. Cf. 200. ??de?

s?f???es?a t??s? da??s??.

[26] Probably a mere hyperbole to denote great fruitfulness. See Elmsley.

[27] Cf. Hor. Od. iii. 21, 20.

[28] I follow Dindorf in reading s?fa d', but am scarcely satisfied.

[29] Hence his epithet of Bacchus ???te????. See Herm. on Orph. Hymn. xlix.

3.

[30] See my note on aesch. Choeph. 7.

[31] Cf Person Advers. p. 265. Hor. Ep. i. 16. 73 "Vir bonus et sapiens audebit dicere Pentheu, Rector Thebarum, quid me perferre patique Indignum coges? Adima bona, nempe pecus, rem, Lectos, argentum: tollas licet. In manicis et Compedibus saevo te sub custode tenebo. Ipse deus, simul atque volam, me solvet. Opinor, Hoc sent.i.t: moriar. Mors ultima linea rerum est."

[32] Punning on pe????, _grief_. Cf. Arist. Rhet. ii. 23, 29.

[33] i.e. of Parna.s.sus. Elmsley (after Stanl. on aesch. Eum. 22.) remarks that ??????? pet?a means the Corycian cave in Parna.s.sus, ??????a? ????fa?, the heights of Parna.s.sus.

[34] Hermann and Dindorf correct ???d?a? from Herodot. vii. 127.

[35] The earth and buildings were supposed to shake at the presence of a deity. Cf. Callimach. Hymn. Apol. sub init. Virg. aen. iii. 90; vi. 255. For the present instance Nonnus, 45. p. 751.

?d? d' a?t?e???t?? ese?et? ?e??e?? a???, a????e?? sfa???d?? a?a?ss??sa ?ee????, ?a? p??e?? ded???t? ????? e??s?????? pa???

p?at?? ess?e???? p??a??e???.

[36] The madness of Ajax led to a similar delusion. Cf. Soph. Aj. 56 sqq.

[37] Compare a fragment of Didymus apud Macrob. Sat. v. 18, who states ??e???? pa? ??d?? ????p?d?? f?s?? e? ????p????. See also comm. on Virg.

Georg. i. 9.

[38] The reader of Scott will call to mind the fine description of Ireton lunging at the air, in a paroxysm of fanatic raving. See "Woodstock." So also Orestes in Iph. Taur. 296 sqq.

[39] a?e?sa?, _solvuntur, liquesc.u.n.t._ BRODEUS.

[40] Cf. Soph Ant. 243 sqq.

[41] These two cities were in ruins in the time of Pausanias. See ix. 3. p.

714, ed. Kuhn.

[42] Cf. Athenaeus, p. 40. B. Terent. Eun. iv. 5. "Sine Cerere et Libero friget Venus." Apul Met. ii. p. 119, ed. Elm. "Ecce, inquam, Veneris hortator et armiger Liber advenit ultro," where see Pricaeus.

[43] More literally, perhaps, "keep it and be thankful."

[44] Theocrit. i. 40. e?a d??t??? e? ???? ?e??e?.

[45] But e? t?? ape???? conveys a notion of change = _instead of_.

[46] Elmsley remarks that a????p??s? belongs to both members of the sentence. I have therefore supplied. The sense may be ill.u.s.trated from Hippol. 5 sq.

[47] See Matthiae.

[48] i.e. step. This is ridiculed by Aristoph. Ran. 100, where the Scholiast quotes a similar example from our author's Alexandra.