According to the theogony of Hefiod, Chaos was the anceſtor of Nature; next to him was Gaia: her progeny by Ouranus was numerous, amongſt these were Oceanus and Japetus: by Clymene, daughter of Oceanus, Japetus was the father of Prometheus, with whoſe history the Athenians were well acquainted from the narrative of Hefiod, which was, we may ſuppoſe, the popular creed of the times in which our poet wrote. The Engliſh reader is by this time as well acquainted with this ſtrange ſtory.

Theſe two allegorical perſonages were of high antiquity and illustrious birth, the fons of Pallas and Styx. Coeus, the ſon of Ouranus and Gaia, was the father of Pallas by Eurybia, daughter of Pontus and Gaia: Styx was the daughter of Oceanus and Tethys. When Jupiter aſſembled the gods on Olympus, and declared his gracious intention to reward and honour each that ſhould be auxiliary to him in his wars against the Titans, Styx, by the advice of her father, was the firſt that attended him, leading with her theſe her two ſons; Jupiter received her with great reſpect, appointed her to be the ſacred oath of the gods, and admitted her fons to be conſtant attendants on his own perſon. Hefiod. Theog. v. 400.

. The image is here fo beautifully poetical, that the tranſlator could not give it up for the cool correction of Pauw.

Of the many advantages for which the tranſlator is indebted to Æschylus, the greatest and moſt valuable is the honour which he receives from the acquaintance of ſome perſons of the highest rank, and the moſt diſtinguiſhed eminence in literature; among these he is proud to reckon RICHARD PAUL JODRELL, Esq. This gentleman has been ſo kind as to communicate his own obſervations on one tragedy, the Siege of Thebes, with leave to the compiler of these notes to ſelect from them ſuch as might be found to coincide with his plan; a liberal uſe has been made of these, enough to make the reader regret that the preſſing call for this publication would not admit of a delay, till the ſame learned perſon's obſervations on the other tragedies could be reviſed; but ex pede Herculem.

The tranflator had religiouſly adhered to his original in the δυσκρίτους δύσεις, v. 457. but was totally at a loſs to account for the ſuperior difficulty of marking the ſetting of the ſtars. He took the liberty to communicate his embarraſſment to Mr. Jodrell, and was immediately favoured with this clear and judicious ſolution of the paſſage.

" It is difficult to afcertain the degree of knowledge, which the philofophers contemporary with Æschylus had of the fixed ſtars; for Hipparchus the Rhodian, who flourished only 120 years before Chriſt, which was near 420 years after the birth of Æschylus, was the firſt who dared to undertake a thing, which, ſays Pliny, seemed to ſurpaſs the power of a divinity, that of numbering the ſtars for poſterity, and reducing them to a rule. Because the civil year of the ancients did not correſpond with the apparent annual motion of the ſun, it was impoſſible by the calendar to aſcertain the preciſe times for the purpoſes of agriculture, as the fame day of the month would not happen in the ſame ſeaſon of the year; it was neceſſary therefore to have recourſe to more certain ſtandards and invariable characters to diſtinguiſh times, which the rifings and the ſettings of the ſtars naturally afforded: Prometheus, therefore, with great propriety might boast of this fignal and important diſcovery to mankind: of which Virgil, in his firſt Georgic, when he delivers his poetical precepts for the husbandman, makes a particular injunction, Præterea tam funt Arcturi fidera nobis, Hædorumque dies ſervandi, et lucidus anguis, &c. Hefiod had before given precepts of a fimilar nature. "Now the rifing of a ſtar, as defined by Chryfippus, is its advancement above the earth, and its ſetting the occultation of it under the earth (See Stanley's Hiſtory of Philoſophy, part viii. c. 8.). And aſtronomers have divided the rifings and ſettings of ſtars, according to their technical expreſſions, into Coſmical, Achronical, and Heliacal, which are thus explained by Keil in his 19th lecture, p. 222. "A ſtar is faid to rise or ſet coſmically, which riſes or ſets when the ſun riſes; achronically, when it riſes while the ſun ſets, that is in the evening, when it is in oppoſition to the ſun, and is viſible all night; heliacally, when after it has been in conjunction with the ſun, and on that account inviſible, it comes to be at ſuch a diſtance from him as to be ſeen in the morning before ſunriſing, when the ſun, by his apparent motion, recedes from the ſtar towards the eaſt: but the Heliacal ſetting is, when the ſun approaches ſo near a ſtar, that it hides it with its beams, which keep the fainter light of the ſtar from being perceived." This I conceive to be the meaning of the poet in his epithet of δυσκρίτους, or —an harder ſcience yet, Their ſetting.— For by this philoſophical ſolution the obſervation of the ſettings of the ſtars must be attended with more difficulty than that of the rifings: this appears to me to be the moſt natural explication of this paſſage."

So Ovid ſeems to have understood this paſſage,

In her diſtraction ſhe thought ſhe ſaw the ſpectre of her keeper Argos, ſhe thought she heard the found of the pipe with which Mercury lulled all his hundred eyes to fleep.

There is ſomething ſo very ingenious in Mr. Bryant's analyſis of these daughters of Phorcys, that the moſt rigid exactors of hiſtorical proof will not be offended to see it here laid before the reader. This hiſtory, he ſays, relates to an Amonian temple founded in the extreme parts of Africa, in which there were three prieſteſſes of Canaanitiſh race, who on that account are said to be in the ſhape of ſwans, that bird being the infigne of their nation. The notion of their having but one eye among them took its riſe from an hieroglyphic very common in Egypt, and probably in Canaan: this was the repreſentation of an eye, which was said to be engraved upon the pediment of their temples. This may have been one reaſon, among others, why the Cyclopians and Arimaſpians are repreſented with one eye,

For his account of Medufa, ſee p. 510, &c.

The ancients placed the Ethiopians at the extremities of the carth not only towards the ſouth, but to the east, and alſo to the west; hence they are ſaid to dwell near the fountains of the fun, fo Virgil,

The river Æthiops, Niger, or Nigris, rolls his black ſtream through immense deferts ſcorched with intolerable heat, till it comes to its laſt cataract; thence it falls into Egypt, and aſſumes the name of the Nile. STANLEY.--" Four miles below Cairo it divideth, making of the richest portion of the land a triangular iſland, named Delta, in that it beareth the form of the Greek Δ." SANDYS.

It was uſual for ſupplicants to ſtretch forth in their hands branches of olive bound with wreaths of wool; ſee the Furies, p. 393. v. ult. Euripides expreſſes this by ἰκιῆρι θαλλῷ. So Virgil,

The olive was an emblem of peace, and Servius tells us, that its branches were bound with wool, the lamb being the gentleſt of animals, to ſhow the weak and defenceleſs ſtate of the preſenter.

This ſenſe ariſes from the plain and literal conſtruction of the text; sententia eſt optima, and every attempt to alter it has only tortured it into obfcurity.

This alludes to the ſolemn lamentations, the θρηνωδίαι, chanted by their friends at the funerals of the deceased. Milton, that exact obſerver of ancient manners, makes his Chorus break out into one of these mournful fongs on the news of Sampson's death, till Manoa checks them, thinking it more prudent to bury his ſon with ſilent obfequies.

The ſcholiaſt, following the uſual interpretation of the word, explains ξὺν λακίδι by rending their robes, and, amidſt the ſilence of the other annotators, he has the ſanction of the learned Mr. Heath. This was a deed expreſſive of the laſt deſpair; we have an inſtance of this in the ſiege of Thebes; and in the Perſians, when Xerxes rends his robes, we hear of it enough, it completes the diſtreſs of his mother, and even of his father's ſhade; but in all theſe places the word uſed is either ἐρέικω, or ῥήγνυμι: an author is the beſt commentator on himſelf; wherever λακὶς is uſed by Æſchylus, it ſignifies what the Latin language expreſſes by lacinia, and the Engliſh by lace or fringe: Perſæ, l.837. where this idea of rending the ornaments of dreſs is intended to be conveyed, στημοῤῥαγῶσι is added to λακίδες. The Chorus here are not in a deſperate ſituation, they had eſcaped from their perſecutors, were ſafely landed in Greece, and had hopes of protection from the gods, to whoſe altars they were fled, and from the generous inhabitants of the Apian land, to which they addreſs themſelves for favour, though their voice and dreſs be barbaric, that is, ſhows them to be of a foreign country. Pelaſgus ſpeaks of them as Gorgeouſly veſted in barbaric ſtoles, That float in many a fold; where the word χλίοντα will not admit the idea of this ſuppoſed dilaceration.

There are ſo many allufions in this tragedy to the hiſtory of Cadmus, that it may not be improper to lay it before the reader in one view. When Jupiter, in the form of a bull, had carried off Europa, the daughter of Agenor king of Phœnicia, the diſconfolate father ſent his fon Cadmus in ſearch of her, commanding him not to return unleſs he found her. Cadmus having wandered over the world in vain, con- ſulted the Oracle of Apollo at Delphos; the answer of the God was,

He obeyed. Some of his attendants were ſent to a river nigh the place, to bring living water for a facrifice which he was preparing to Jupiter; an immenſe dragon rufhed from his cave and killed them: Cadmus, to revenge the death of his friends, fought with this dragon and flew him; then, by the admonition of Minerva, he ſowed the teeth of the dragon in the ground, from which an host of men completely armed fud- denly aroſe; theſe furiouſly attacked each other, till only five of the number remained alive: peace was made between them, and Cadmus aſſociated them to his train. The The- bans afterwards were proud of deriving ſome of their best fa- milies from this dragon race. Cadmus now built Thebes, and having eſtabliſhed his colony, married Harmonia, the daughter of Mars and Venus; all the Gods attended at the nuptials, and each honoured the bride with ſome preſent.

Terror had before been perſonified by Homer as the ſon of Mars, Οἷος δὲ βροτολοιγὸς Ἄρης πόλεμον δὲ μέτεισι, Τῷ δὲ Φόβος φίλος ὑιός ἅμα κραθερὸς καὶ ἀταρβὴς Ἐσπετε, ὅστ᾽ ἐφόβησε ταλάφρονά περ πολεμιστήν. Il. 13. v. 198. Terror, his beſt lov'd ſon, attends his courſe, Arm'd with ſtern boldneſs, and enormous force; The pride of haughty warriors to confound, And lay the ſtrength of tyrants on the ground. — POPE.

Virgil has imitated this paſſage, as far as the imperfection of the Latin language would permit, circumque atræ formidinis ora, Iræque, inſidiæque, dei comitatus aguntur. Æn. 12. v. 336.

Wrath, terror, treaſon, tumult, and deſpair, Dire faces and deform'd, ſurround the car, Friends of the god, and followers of the war. — DRYDEN.

I mean that the beauty of the proſopopoeia, or perſonification, is here conſiderably diminiſhed by Formido, Iræ, and Inſidiæ, being of the feminine gender, inſtead of maſculine, as Φόβος, or as terror may be made in Engliſh.—

R. P. JODRELL.

It was the cuſtom of the ancients before a battle, in which they apprehended danger, to ſend home to their friends ſome pledges as remembrances, things of little value in themſelves, but rendered dear by the circumſtance: theſe are placed in the chariot of Adraſtus, becauſe Amphiaraus had declared, that he alone of the confederate chiefs ſhould return to Argos.

Æſchylus is diſtinguiſhed for bold and glowing metaphors: Nothing can be more pictureſque, animated, or more philoſophically exact than the preſent expreſſion, which calls an army approaching, a land-wave advancing with a roaring noiſe: the ſame metaphor occurs afterwards, v. 116. of this play.—R. P. JODRELL.

Stanley rightly obſerves, that the common ſoldiers bore white or plain ſhields, but the generals had devices on theirs. Therefore Euripides (Phœniſſ. v. 116.) calls the Argive army λεύκασπις: and Virgil, ſpeaking of Helenor, who was born of a ſlave, and conſequently ignoble, ſays, parmâ inglorius albâ. Æn. 9. Slight were his arms, a ſword and ſilver ſhield, No marks of honour charg'd its empty field.—DRYDEN. R. P. JODRELL.

In great diſtreſſes it was cuſtomary for the nobleſt dames to go in proceſſion to the temples, carrying in their hands rich robes and crowns, with which they adorned the images of the tutelary gods, whoſe protection they implored: thus Virgil deſcribes the Trojan dames, Interea ad templum non æquæ Palladis ibant Crinibus Iliades paſſis, peplumque ferebant Suppliciter triſtes. Æn. 1. v. 483. Mean time the Trojan dames, oppreſs'd with woe, To Pallas fane in long proceſſion go: They weep, they beat their breaſts, they rend their hair, And rich embroider'd veſts for preſents bear.—DRYDEN. This is taken from the ſixth Iliad, where the augur Helenus aſſigns this office to his mother Hecuba.

Ἔπιδ᾽, ἔπιδε.—The frequent repetitions of the ſame word in this Chorus are extremely natural, and the language of fear in women trembling at the approach of the enemy.— R. P. JODRELL.

The Gods here addreſſed, θεοὶ πολισσοῦχοι χθονός, were thoſe before whoſe images the Chorus now ſtood. Mars and Venus are invoked with peculiar propriety, as the parents of Harmonia, and ſo the great progenitors of the Cadmeian line.

Neptune acquired the title of ἵππιος from being the creator of the horſe, according to the fabulous mythology, and is thus invoked by Virgil in the opening of his Georgicks, Tuque O cui prima frementem Fudit equum magno tellus percuſſa tridente Neptune. And thou, whoſe trident, ſtruck the teeming earth, And made a paſſage for the courſer's birth. —DRYDEN. The ſtory was, that he and Minerva both claimed the honour of giving their name to Athens: Jupiter decreed, that whoever produced the moſt uſeful preſent to mankind ſhould have the preference. Neptune ſtruck the earth with his trident, and gave exiſtence to this animal; Minerva with her ſpear raiſed the olive tree, and conquered.—R. P. JODRELL.

The fire of expreſſion in Æſchylus is often incapable of a literal tranſlation. Here the whole atmoſphere convulſed with the agitation of ſpears is ſaid to be inflamed to madneſs. R. P. JODRELL.

The ſcholiaft tells us, that the Trojans, when their city was ſtormed, ſaw the gods carrying away their images; this he takes from a tragedy of Sophocles on that ſubject, which is loft. There is a ſimilar instance in the Troades of Euripides; hence Virgil, Exceſſere omnes adytis ariſque relictis Dii, quibus imperium hoc ſteterat. Æn. 2. You ſee our hopeleſs ſtate; how every god, Who guarded Troy, has left his old abode.-PITT. The Romans were ſo strongly impreſſed with this idea, that when they besieged a town they anxiously inquired the name of the tutelary god, whom they evoked with much ſolemnity. The reason aſſigned for this deſertion was, that amidſt ſuch scenes of devastation and carnage the reverence and honours due to the gods must be neglected; this ſhows the propriety of Eteocles' addreſs before,

The learned Mr. Jodrell obſerves here, that Jeruſalem, when ſacked, was ſaid to have been

; and that the Shekinah, or divine preſence, was undoubtedly withdrawn from the ark of the firſt temple, before it was deſtroyed by the king of Babylon. He adds, that Tarquin, before he dedicated the temple to

, performed the ceremony of

,

. Liv. 1. 1. c. 55. He further ſays, that this idea and veneration of local divinity was by ſome people carried to ſuch an exceſs of extravagant folly, that they uſed to bind their favourite gods in their temples to prevent ſuch deſertion; which cuſtom ſome Chriſtian writers, whoſe god is not to be confined with mortal fetters, object with great indignation againſt the Gentiles. He refers us to Arnob.

, 1. 6.—to Cyprian.

. p. 191. Ed. Fell.—Petr. c. 89. p. 435. Ed. Burm. and to Diodor. Sic. 1. 17.—Q. Curtius, 1. 4. c. 3.

Thus Sophocles, Γύναι, γυναιξὶ κόσμον ἡ σιγὴ φερει. Ajax. v. 293. This line is quoted to introduce an anecdote, which deſerves to be mentioned. When a learned German paid a viſit to the accomplished and modest M. Dacier, he requested her to infcribe her name and a sentence in his travelling book, or album, according to the arrogant custom of his country, among the names of the moſt eminent ſcholars in Europe: she at first refused, but was at last prevailed upon, and wrote this celebrated verſe of Sophocles, which Dr. Franklin well tranſlates thus,

R. P. JODRELL.

This is a most beautiful and picturesque image: among the horrors of a captive city, which are here ſo finely painted, it was extremely natural for women to deſcribe infants at the breaſt ſhrieking with affright; hence Virgil seems to have borrowed a very pathetic idea,

See alſo Apollonius Rhodius, 1. 4. v. 136.-R. P. JODRELL.

The whole deſcription of Tydeus is in the boldeſt ſtyle and strongest colouring of Æschylus. The ſerpent lying in a torpid ſtate during the winter, is ſuppoſed to have his rage increaſed by heat; hence this glowing deſcription of him by Virgil,

Ovid has with peculiar judgment ſeized this idea, and carried it to the north pole.

The folded ferpent next the frozen pole,

Statius could not omit this circumſtance, though his immenſe dragon was a very quiet animal;

Hefiod tells us here that the ſeventh is a ſacred day, becauſe on that day Latona brought forth Apollo with the golden ſword, M. Court de Gebelin ſays with the golden hair, à chevelure dorée. That the seventh day of each month was facred to Apollo, becauſe he was born on that day, was true only in the allegorical ſenſe: this was taken from the philoſophical ideas of the Egyptians, brought into Greece by Pythagoras, reſpecting the harmony of the univerſe, founded on the ſeven planets and their relations, and in general upon the number ſeven. Nonnus gives the planets the ſame arrangements which they have in the muſical ſyſtem of the Egyptians, where the ſun placed in the fourth rank, or in the middle of the progreſſion, terminates and begins the two quaternions, or fours, that form the ſyſtem.-Gebelin's Allegories orientales, p. 90. Milton knew how to make the finest use of this idea of the harmony of the ſpheres,