Digitized copy served via HathiTrust.
Buckley's prose, page breaks, speaker turns, stage directions, Greek and Latin quotations, and footnotes are preserved. Speaker turns point explicitly to the Smyth/Perseus Greek edition. Each Smyth card was aligned by direct comparison of its Greek wording with Buckley's literal English; exact turn starts were used where available. Passages absent from Buckley are represented by explicit gaps rather than false English alignments.
This pointer pattern extracts a speaker turn.
ORESTES comes to Delphi, pursued by the Erinnys of his mother Clytemnestra. He is assured of Apollo's protection, and the scene changes to Athens, where he undergoes his trial before the Areopagus, now instituted by Minerva. On his acquittal, the Erinnys at first threaten Athens with their wrath; but, on Minerva assuring them that they shall ever be held in honor, they promise to confer all possible blessings upon the Athenians.
King Apollo thou knowest indeed to be just, and since thou knowest this, learn also not to be unmindful, but your power is an assurance that you will do things well.
Remember, let not fear overcome you in mind. And
do you, my brother, of a common father's blood, Mercury,
guard him; and, being very rightly named, be a conductor,
taking care of this my suppliant. Jove reveres excessively6
this [thine] office, coming to mortals with well-conducting
Seize, seize, seize, seize, take heed1.
Do you rouse, and rouse her, but I [rouse] you.
Dost sleep? arise, and having spurned off sleep, let us see if
any of this prelude is vain.
Royal Apollo, hear our reply in turn. You yourself are not a sharer in these things, but have done them alto gether, being the entire cause.
How now? thus far extend your speech5.
You enjoined by oracles, so that the stranger should slay his mother.
I enjoined by oracles that he should inflict vengeance on account of his father: what then?
And next you promised [to be] an advocate6 of new bloodshed.
And I bade him betake himself to these abodes.
And you revile forsooth these [his] attendants.
For it is not proper that they should come to these abodes.
But this is commanded to us.
What honour is this? boast of a glorious office.
We drive the murderers of their mother from their homes.
But what [of the slayer] of a woman who has deprived her husband of life?
The blood of kindred should not be shed by kindred.
That man never, in any respect, will I abandon.
Do you then pursue, and take to yourself more toil.
Do not you detract from my honours by your words.
I would not receive your honours, so as to possess them.
For, altogether you are called great at the throne of Jove. But I (for a mother's blood brings on punishment) will pursue this man, a huntress Fury.
But I will aid, and deliver the suppliant: for dreadful among mortals and among gods, is the wrath of a suppliant, if willingly I should forsake him.
3 Queen Minerva, by the commands of Apollo I am
Ho! this is the clear sign of the man, but follow the
counsels of the voiceless informer. For as a dog chases the
wounded hind, we trace out him by bloody drops2. But with
many deadly toils my bowels pant; for every place of earth
has been traversed, and over the sea by wingless flight have I
come, pursuing, no way inferior to a ship. And now he is
crouching somewhere here: the smell of human blood delights
me.
You shall hear all things briefly, daughter of Jove; for we are the children of dark night, and we are called Furies in the abodes beneath the earth.
I know indeed your race, and fame according with your name.
You shall quickly for certain now hear my honours.
I would learn them, if some one would give a plain account.
We drive man-slayers from their homes.
And where is the end of flight to him who has slain?
Where to rejoice is by no means usual.
Do you proclaim such flight for this man too?
[Yes.] For he has thought proper to be the murderer of his mother.
Not dreading the wrath of any other necessity?
For where is such an incentive as to slay a mother?
Two parties being present, half the tale is present1.
But he would not receive an oath, nor is willing to give one2.
You wish rather to have the fame of justice than to act according to it.
How so? declare; for you are not deficient in wise words3.
I say, that by oaths, unjust things do not conquer.
But inquire, and adjudge an upright judgment.
Would you commit even to me the decision of the cause?
And how not? as we reverence you worthy of worthy things1.
Queen Minerva, first will I remove the great care, [evident] from your last words. I am not contaminated, nor does pollution adhere to my hand that clasps3 your image. And I will tell you a great proof of these things. It is the law that one whose hands are stained with murder be silent, until by a man who cleanses from the impurity of blood, the slaughter of a young victim have sprinkled him with gore. Long since I have been thus purified at other abodes, both with animals, and flowing streams: therefore, indeed. I dismiss this your care. But what my race is, you shall quickly hear. I am an Argive, and well do you know my father, Agamemnon4, leader of naval heroes; with whom you made the Trojan city of Ilion no city. He perished not gloriously, having come to his home: for my dark-souled mother slew him, having wrapt him in artful toils, [and she herself] bore wit ness to the murder of the bath. And I returning home, having been an exile the time before this, slew her who gave me birth, I will not deny it, with the vengeance of retributory slaughter, on account of my dearest father. And of these things Apollo is in common guilty, declaring sting-like woes to my heart if I should not do some of these things to the murderers. But do you, whether justly, or not, decide the cause; for however I shall have fared with you, I shall assent to your decision.
King Apollo, rule the things that belong to you. What have you to do with this matter, say.
Both to give evidence have I come (for this man is a suppliant of my dwelling3 and a guest of my abodes; and I am the cleanser of this murder) and [I have come] myself to plead the cause4 with him; but I bear the blame of the slaughter of this man's mother. But do thou [Minerva]. open, as you know how, this cause, with a view to deciding it.
It is with you to speak, but I open the cause1: for the accuser, speaking first from the beginning, should be rightly the explainer of the matter.
We are many, indeed, but we will speak briefly: and do you answer word for word, giving it in your turn: say first if you slew your mother.
I slew her: of this there is no denial.
This now, indeed, is one of the three wrestlings2.
You speak these boasting words on me not yet prostrate.
Nevertheless it behoves you to declare how you slew her.
I will tell; with sword-drawing hand having cut her on the neck
But by whom were you persuaded, and by whose counsels?
By the oracles of this god; and he bears witness to me.
Did the prophet advise you to slay your mother?
And so far ever I blame not Fortune.
But if the condemning vote shall seize you, perhaps you will say other things.
I am confident, and my father will send aid from the tomb3.
Put trust now in the dead, having slain your mother!
For she had the concurrence of two pollutions.
How so? inform the judges of these things.
Having slain her husband she murdered my father.
Therefore you, indeed, live, but she is free [from the punishment] of slaughter.
But why did you not drive her out by exile when alive1 ?
She was not the kindred of the man whom she slew.
But am I allied by blood to my mother?
Now do you give testimony. But declare for me. Apollo, if I slew her with justice: for we do not deny that we have done it, as it is done: but if this blood seem to your mind justly or unjustly shed, judge, that I may speak to these.
I will speak justly to you, this great council of Mi nerva, and being a prophet I will not lie. Never at any time have I spoken in my prophetic shrine either concerning man, woman, or city, what Jove father of the Olympians has not commanded. Learn, with respect to this justice, of how great power it is; but I bid you obey the counsel of my father, for an oath by no means is more powerful than Jove.
Jove, as you say, gave this oracle2, that you should tell this Orestes, having avenged the murder of his father by no means to regard the reverence due to his mother.
[Yes.] For it is not the same thing that a noble hero
should die, honoured with Jove-given sceptres, and that, too, by
a woman, not by impetuous far-darting bows, like an Amazon,
but as Pallas shall hear, and they who sit to decide by vote
concerning this matter. For having received him on his re
turn from the expedition, where he had gained the greatest
honours in the best manner according to the opinion of those
well-inclined to him3, in the washing-place as he was passing
O all-hated monsters, abhorred by the gods, from fetters, indeed, (there is a cure for this) even many a liberating device might have released him2. But when the dust has drunk up the blood of a man once dead, there is no raising it up. For these things my father has not made a charm; but he appoints all other things turning them up and down, in no wise panting in his strength.
But see how you [defend] this man contrary to justice, that he may escape. Having poured out on the plain the kindred blood of his mother, shall he then inhabit the house of his father in Argos? using which of the public altars? and what layer of his tribe shall receive him?
This, too, will I declare, and learn how rightly I speak.
She is not the mother who is called the parent of the child,
but nurse of the newly-sown offspring3. But the male is the
generative source, and she like a stranger preserves the plant
for a stranger, for those whom the god may not have injured.
But I will shew you a proof of these words: a father might be
without a mother; the daughter of Olympian Jove is close at
By us now, indeed, every shaft has been shot; and I wait to hear how the contest will be determined.
For why? how giving sentence shall I be unblamed by you?
You have heard what you have heard, but passing a vote with your heart, revere, O strangers, your oath.
You Attic people now hear the law, judging the first
cause of the shedding of blood and moreover this court of
judges shall remain hereafter for ever to the people of Ægeus.
But for2 this hill of Mars, the seat and tents of the Amazons,
when they came waging war through hatred of Theseus, and
then built towers opposite to this new lofty-towered city3; and
they sacrificed to Mars, whence the rock derives its name, and
the hill of Mars—in this [hill], then, the reverence of the
citizens, and its ally, fear shall restrain them from acting unjustly,
both by day and by night alike, if the citizens themselves
do not tamper with4 the laws. But by an evil influx and
And I, for my part, bid you fear both my oracles and those of Jove, nor to render them fruitless.
But you regard matters of bloodshed, not having been allotted such office; and no longer remaining here will you utter pure oracles.
Was my father, too, in any way mistaken in his counsels in the supplication of Ixion, for the first slaughter?
Say on: but I, not having obtained my justice, will heavily again haunt this land.
But both among the young and the old gods you are unhonoured: but I shall prevail.
Such things you did also in the house of Pheres4, and persuaded the Fates to make mortals free from death.
Is it not just to do good to him who reveres you, especially when he may chance to be in need of it?
You indeed having overcome the old deities, deceived with wine, the ancient goddesses.
You indeed presently, not having the end of your cause, shall vomit your poison, by no means hurtful to your enemies.
Since you, a youth, are riding down me in years, I will
This is my business, that I last determine the cause; but I will add this1, my vote, in favour of Orestes: for there is no mother who produced me. But I praise the male in all things, save in obtaining marriage, with all my soul; and I am entirely on my father's side. Thus I will not set higher price on the fate of a woman who slew her husband, the lord of the house. But Orestes prevails, even if he be judged with equal votes. Cast out the lots from the vessel as quickly as possible, you to whom of the judges this office has been assigned.
O black Night, mother, dost thou behold these things?
Now is it for me the moment of the noose, or to see the light.
But for us to perish, or to extend our honours rather.
Count rightly the casting out of the votes, strangers, reverencing justice in the division; for from one suffrage being absent arises great calamity, and one vote cast in, raises up an house.
This man has escaped the doom of blood: for the number of the votes is equal.
O Pallas, O thou who hast preserved my house, and
me deprived of my native land, you in truth have restored me
to my home; and one of the Greeks will say the man again
is2 an Argive, and dwells among his paternal possessions," by
the will of Pallas and of Loxias and of the third preserver Jove
who rules all things, who paying respect to my father's fate
preserves me beholding these defenders of the cause of my
mother. But I to this country and to your people hereafter,
for all time however long having made an oath, now depart
home, that no helmsman of the land having come hither
O Justice
!) rushing on the
plain, shall cast mortal-destroying stains in the country. Shall
I groan? what shall I do? what will become of me? I have
suffered things intolerable to the citizens2. Ah! most wretched
in truth3 are the daughters of Night grieving for their disgrace.
O Justice
!) rushing on the plain,
shall cast mortal-destroying stains in the country. Shall I
groan? what shall I do? what will become of me? I have
suffered things intolerable to the citizens. Ah! most wretched
in truth are the daughters of Night grieving for their disgrace.
Queen Minerva, what seat do you say that I shall possess ?
One free from all misery: and do thou accept it.
Grant I accept it, but what honour then awaits me ?
That no house shall be prosperous without you.
Will you bring this to pass, so that I shall have so great power ?
[Yes.] For we will render events fortunate to him that reveres you.
And will you warrant this to me for all time ?
Yes; for it is unlawful for me to say, what I will not perform.
You seem to soothe me, and I depart from my rage.
Therefore being in this land you shall possess friends.
What then do you bid me wish to this land?
Such things as regard good victory1, and these from the earth, and from the dews of the sea, and from heaven, and the gales of the winds blowing with elear sunshine to come upon this land; and that the fruit of the earth and of flocks flowing plenteously abounding to the citizens fail not with time, and that there be safety of mortal seed. But may you be more inclined to root out the impious: for I cherish free from calamity, like a gardener, this race of just men here. Such be thy care. But with respect to illustrious warlike contests, I will not endure not to honour this city with vic tory among mortals.
τῆς.Burges would read
γῆς.On the mythology of this passage see the notes of Stanley and Blomfield (in Linwood's edition), and Müller, Eumenides, § 91, p. 213, who remarks that
δὴin v. 3, must be taken in close connection with
Τὸ μητρός,"the primeval Prophetess Earth being succeeded in the possession of the sacred seat by her daughter Themis, by a kind of hereditary right; the latter transferred it with good will to her sister Phœbe," etc.
‛Ηφαιστιάδαι
ὦ ζαθέης γεγαῶτες Ἐριχθονίοιο γενέθλης.
Sept. c. Th. 2, 3,with the commentators.
Λοξίας."
Pluto 39;Callim.
Hymn. Apoll. I;Orac. Sybill. 1. c.
Κλῦτε δαΦνηρεΦέων χυμάτων ἀποθέσκελ ὀμΦήν.
Var. Hist. V. 45,and compare Simplicius on Epict. § 39, p. 259, ed. Salmas. Aristot.
Pol, II. 2.
νεοσταγές
μεγίστῳis but a graceless epithet, and the repetition
ἀργῆτι μαλλῶ,far from pleasing. I can not help thinking that the passage is interpolated, and that we should simply read,
ἀργῆτι μαλλῷ σωφρόνως ἐστεμμένον.
λίβα,is unanimously adopted by Dindorf, Linwood, and Paley. Render it "rheum," "venom."
τοι̃σιν ἄλλοιςhas always displeased me. In the first place the ter mination of the article seems to make an unnecessary emphasis, and there is no subject mentioned, to which
ἄλλοιςcan be opposed. The Scholiast says:
πόσῳ μα̃λλον τῶν ἰδίων;which is followed by Schutz, Paley, and Linwood. I have little doubt that Æschylus wrote:
The very word, and with the same construction, is used of Orestes in Agam. 1282.και τοῖς ἀλήταις δωμάτων καθάρσιος
Φυγὰς δ' ἀλήτης τῆσδε γῆς ἀπόξενος Κάτεισιν;and in Choeph. 1042.
Ἐγὼ δ' ἀλήτης τῆσδε γῆς ἀπόξενος;Cf. Soph. Œd. Col. 746. 948.
ὃς οὐκ ἐᾷ Τοιούσδ' ἀλήτας τῇδ' ὁμοῦ ναίειν πόλει;Eur. Hcracl. 51.
Πάσης ἀλῆται γῆς ἀπεστερημένοι;224.
ἱκέτας ἀλήτας συγγενεῖς.Such an
ἀλήτηςwas Adrastus, in
Καὶ νῦνpoints to the fact of the Furies being overcome, as an instance of Apol- lo's previous assertion.
πεσοῦσαιmust, I think, be taken as a nomina- tive absolute. Verses 71, 2, seem to me out of place.
Ekvóμws,
ἔννομον σέβαςwould be better. Το
δαῖτες ἔννομοι,
δίκας ἐν- νόμov,
πρῶτος... τὴν σκηνὴν ἐκόσμησε καὶ τὴν ὄψιν τῶν θεαμάτων κατέψυξε τῇ λαμπρότητι, γραφαῖς καὶ μηχαναῖς βωμοῖς τε καὶ τάφοις σάλπιγξιν εἰδώλοις ἐριννύσι.For the spectre costume of Clytemnestra see
καρδίας.
ὅρα δὲ πληγὰς τάσδε καρδίας ὅθεν,which
cum et somno revo- catus a societate et contagione corporis, tum meminit præteritorum, præ- sentia cernit, futura providet.
μοῖρ᾽ ἀπρόσκοπος,
φρενῶνfor
βροτῶν.
poí.But see
θρόμβονfor
θρόνον,with Din dorf, Linwood, and Paley, to whom I am indebted for the explanation on the passage.
Βροτοῖσι τιμὰς ὤπασας πέρα δίκης
κὰμοί γε
δὲ.... .. καὶ .... καὶ .... τεin these lines. Dindorf says, "notandus transitus ab secunda ad tertiam personam." (Compare my note on Apul. de Deo Socr. § 22. p. 75, note G.) But such a change could not be made with such a clumsiness in the connecting particles. I think we should read:
κἀμοί τε λυπρὸς τοῦτον οὐκ ἐκλυσεται
ἐκείνουmust be incorrect.
ἐκ κείνου
παίδων τε χλοῦνις καὶ κακῶν ἀκρωνία,seems the best yet proposed.
ἐντρίβεσθαι χρ. μύσος,with Schutz.
δέκτωρis a forensic word.
μὴ γενέσθαι μηδ’ ἐποπτεύειν.
τίνεσθαι.
χερῶνto
χρεῶνwith Scaliger, Wakefield, and Linwood. The best interpretation is perhaps that of Paley, who translates,
ὑπόδικος, ὑπεύθυνος, χρεώστης, ἔνοχος δίκης.
κατάδικος.It probably is best understood as I have translated it.
ἀνίποιν’ ώς,with Schutz.
Ran. 146,sqq. ; Virg.
Æn. VI. 543; Tibull.
I. 3, 67.For the general sense compare
ὅσοις δὲ τὸ ζῇν διὰ κακουργημάτων ἄγονται πρὸς Ἐριννύων ἐπ’ ῎Ερεβος καὶ Χάος, διὰ Ταρτάρου·
ἔνθα χῶρος ἀσεβῶν.For the Platonic de scriptions see Wyttenb. on Pluto fragm. p. 137, sq. at the end of his edition of the De Sera Num. Vindicta.
καθαίρειshould be read, with Stanley. Hermann would erase the line. Surges transposes it ingeniously, but with too much alteration of the text. I think its proper place is before v. 276, at the beginning of Orestes' speech, which I would read thus:
The enunciation of a proverb could find no fitter place, and theΧρόνος καθαίρει πάντα γηράσκων ὁμου. κἀγὼ διδαχθεὶς ἐν κακοῖς ἐπίσταμαι πολλοὺς καθαρμούς, κ. τ. λ.
πολλοὶ καθαρμοὶwould be the natural result of Orestes' experience in the puri fying effects of time.
kатwoɛр.But see
Towùvwith
ὄντα περ,with Hermann., and
σπευδο μέναwith Burges. See Dindorf.
σφαλερά περ τανυδρόμοις,referring to Musgr. on Soph. Ant. 779 ; Blomf. on Prom. 939. The common reading he would translate, "exerting in running their stumbling limbs."
αὐδα̃ταιpassively, and
ὰχλὺνas an accusative of consequence, “ quae et ipsa sit caligo tenebrosa.”
ἐσμὲν.Cf.
καταφθατουμένη,not simply =
κατακτωμένη,as Hesychius explains it, but =
φθάνουσα κατακτωμένη.It is well known, that from the time of Phryno and Pittacus the Athenians were engaged in a dispute with the Lesbians respecting the coast of Troas round Sigeium." See the erudite note of Stanley.
Αἰγέως,is very elegant, signifying the Ægean Sea. But see Müller, p. 103. I can not very clearly understand Minerva's mode of conveyance. It was doubtless something very clever.
ὅρκος;namely, the object whereby one takes oath and binding on the conscience of the party taking oath. This object is named to the challenged by the challenging party ; for instance, the head of his child, or such and such gods. This is called giving an
ὅρκος.In the next place it must be kept in view, that an oath of this kind, demanded of, or tendered to one party by the other, forms part of the evidence. For that evidence required a challenge (
πρόκλησις) and the acceptation of it: both parties must be agreed to rest the decision of the suit on the oath of one of the two parties, before the oath could be admitted and stand as substantive evidenceThe meaning then of what the Erinnys say is this: ‘Orestes will scarcely allow us to name the oath which he shall take to attest his innocence, nor will he readily consent to let the verdict depend upon our swearing to his guilt by what ever oath he shall please to propose to us;’ and they are perfectly right in their opinion. But Minerva very properly refuses to admit such a mode of decision in this case, as being a mere show of the right, by which she will not allow the wrong to gain the day." Muller, p. 177, sq. The same elegant critic observes that Æschylus does not allude to the customary oath used in the Court of Areopagus,—(on which the student may compare the following passages of the Greek Orators : Demosth. in Aristocr. p. 642;
πέλει,whence Linwood would read
οὖν πέλει.
ἀξίαν ἐπαξίως(Cf. Soph.
Œd. Tyi. 133) to any of the conjectures yet proposed.
ἐφημένου,with Burges.
κεὶ,i. e.
καὶ εἰ,Paley’s conjecture, seems correct. See his note, and Spitzner's first Excursus on the Iliad.
τυχοῦσαιthe scholiast con siders as put for
τυχουσῶν.With the following words we must understand
ἔσται. There is the same want of a finite verb in Sept. c. Th. 189.
This is not the case in the examples in Jelf’s Gk. Gr. § 707.Κρατοῦσα μὲν γὰρ οὐχ, ὁμιλητὸν θράσος Δείσασα δ', οἴκῳ καὶ πόλει πλέον κακόν πλέον κακόν .
νέμεινis the conjecture of Paley;
μ’ ἑλει̃νof Linwood. Dindorf distinguishes and reads thus:
i. e. "whether they stay, or I send them away." But in such opposed phrases the verbs generally refer to the same person. Perhaps Æschylus wrote, τοιαῦτα μὲνΤοιαῦτα μὲν τάδ’ ἐστιν αμφότερα, μένειν, Πέμπειν τε δυσπήμαντ᾽ ἀμηνίτως ἐμοί
The readingτάδ' ἐστὶν ἀμφότερα νοεῖν· πέμπειν δὲ δυσπήμαντ᾽ ἀμηνίτως ἐμοί.
ἀμηνίτωςis preserved by the scholiast.
ὁρκίους αἱρουμένηwith Pearson and Dindorf. Hence arises the tradition that the Areopagus was founded by Minerva. See the note above.
ὅρκον πόρονταςwith Hermann, and
φράσεινwith Markland. See Dindorf and Paley. On
τὰ βέλτισταsee Müller, p. 179.
I urged him still; Pleading, as I could guess, the devilish wrong, Which prompted your unnatural parent's death. And he replied: " Paolo Santa Croce Murdered his mother yester evening, And he is fled. Parricide grows so rife That soon, for some just cause no doubt, the young Will strangle us all dozing in our chairs."
ἐφήσω.Paley thinks there may possibly be an allusion to
ἔφεσις.But
ἔφεσις;can only mean an appeal from one tribunal to another, or from the senate to the people (see
ἀφήσωmust be the correct reading.
ἐπὶ τοῦ ἐν Ἀρείῳ πάγῳ δικαστηρίου, χρῆσις προοιμίων οὐκ ἦν, κῆρυξ γὰρ προσεφώνει τῷ εἰσιόντι, μήτε προοιμάζου, μήτε ἐπίλεγε εἰσιόντι, μήτε προοιμάζου, μήτε ἐπίλεγε.Cf. Themist. Or. XXVI. p. 311. Hard. The
κῆρυξprobably was originally only employed to call the attention of the people, but afterwards to declare such restraint as the court thought fit to set upon the pleaders. Following the example of Müller, I shall attempt to draw some comparison between the regular process of the Areopagus and the process here described by Æschylus. On the duties of the
κῆρυξ,compare
preeconis ample boatu citatus accusator—exsurgit.”
jussus praeco pronuntiat: PATRES IN CURIAM CONVENIRENT. Qui bus protinus dignitatis jure consueta loca residentibus, rursum praeconis vocatu, primus accusator incidit. Tune demum clamatus inducitur etiam reus: et exemplo legis Atticae, Martiique judicii, causae patronus de nuntiat praeco, neque principia dicere, neque miserationem commovere."
τῶνδε,understanding it of Orestes and the Furies: "
et in omne tempus civi. tatem, et nunc ut horum lis dijudicetur."
νόμῳ.
Σύνδικος, συνδίκη. συνδικάζειν,are generally used of the advocate on the side of the accused. Cf.
σύνδικοιof Clytaemnestra.
εἰσα γωγεύς,as president of the court. (But see Pollux, VIII. 8, p. 398.) "
the parties plead against each other in short and plain sentences; long speeches being against the usage of the Areopagus as well as contrary to the taste of our poet. The only one who speaks at all at length is Apollo, and in his case it is very allowable, since he is not only advocate for Orestes, but also Exegetes .... as such, he expounds the nature of justi fiable homicide as well as the other exculpatory circumstances to the clear comprehension of the judges.”
λέγεις σοι τόνδε,which Dindorf seems to approve. On Apollo's duty as
ἐξηγητὴς,see
ἢ φράσαιfor
εὔφροσιν,which Linwood, in his Lexicon, approves, reading
ἄμεινον(with Aldus), and joining
ἄμεινον ἢ φράσαι δεδεγμένη.He renders the whole passage thus: “receiving him with a bath, more courteously than can be expressed, upon his return from the expedition, where he had gained the ulmost honours—as he was passing through the water and had reached the end (of the vessel, or, when he had ended his ablutions), she threw over him a cloak," etc. But see the notes of the same scholar in his edition. There is doubtless a lacuna.
Πῶς δῆτα δίκης οὔσης ὁ Ζεὺς Οὐκ ἀπόλωλεν τὸν πατέρ' αὐτοῦ Δῆσας;this fable gave great offence to
ἔστι τοῦδ’ ἄκοςparenthetically. This seem: better than supplying
τιςwith
λύσειεν.
ούκ.Dindorf thinks something has been lost.
ἐν δὲ πάγῳ Ἀρείῳ τῷδε—ἐν δὲ τῷ σέβας.
ἀντιπυργοῦν πόλιν,I instance the expression
ἀντιάζειν τινά,
μὴ’
πιχραινόντωνwith Wakefield. With the sense compare
ἴδοιμεν ἂν τοὺς ἐν τοῖς ἄλλοις πράγμασιν οὐκ ἀνεκτοὺς ὄντας, ἔπειδαν εἰς Ἄρειον πάγον ἀναβῶσιν, ὀκνοῦντας τῇ φύσει χρῆσθαι, καὶ μᾶλλον τοῖς ἐκεῖ νομίμοις, ἢ ταῖς αὑτῶν κακίαις ἐμμένοντας. Τοσοῦτον ἐκεῖνοι φόβον τοῖς πονηροῖς ἐναπειργάσαντο, καὶ τοσοῦτον μνημεῖον ἐν τῷ τόπῳ τῆς ἑαυτῶν ἀρετῆς καὶ σωφροσύνης ἐγκατέλιπον.
περιοτέλλουσιis preferred by Dindorf in his notes. The other is due to Porson.
κερδῶν δ’with Schwenk.
νέμων
Alcest. 28,sqq.
μεγάλα τοι.
Æn. I. 46,quoted by Stanley. For the enter tainment of the reader, I will quote a few verses of
Hinc nam tergeminae rutilant de vertice cristae, Quod dux sanguines praesulque corusca duello : Vel tibi quod fulget rapiturque triangulus ignis.
δηναια̃ν,comparing
γέρας παλαιὸνvs 394.
ἐξάγουσ',which is better. But see Dindorf. Paley puts a stop after
μηδ',observing : "
ιδρύης αύτήν,causam belli intes tini. Id vero non potuit facere, nisi ex ipsis avibus prius exsecuisset." Linwood seems to prefer
ἐκζέουσ',Musgrave's conjecture. Paley well remarks that allusion is made to cockfighting, a favourite pastime with the Athenian youth. On the yearly
ἀλεκρυόνων ἀγὼν,see Potter, p. 340, ed. Boyd. The beauty of the following verses will perhaps excuse their being somewhat irrelevant.
Non ea pullastros pax et concordia Gallos Colligat: aeternas exercent unguibus iras; Atque ubi rivales inter majore moventur Pro gregis imperio, duloi pro conjuge bella; Nec dominum nec habere parem cristata volucris Jam patitur; fixumque manet vel sanguine regnum Quaerere, vel claro vitam committere fato; Non sylvas non autra petunt secreta, sed ipsas Inter chortis aves, quarum praesentia vires Extimulat, placet ancipiti contendere bello. Colla rigent hirsuta jubis, palearia mento Dira rubent: pugnae praeludia nulla, sed ambo Partibus adversis facto simul impete duris Pectora pectoribus quatiunt, hostilia rostris Rostra petunt, strictosque repulsant unguibus urgue. Avulsae volitant plumae: cruor irrigat artus; Necdum odiis, iraeque datum satis horrida ; necdum Bella cadunt, domitum victor dum straverit hostem, Ductaque pulset ovans plaudentibus ilia pennis, Et sublime caput circumferat, atque triumphans Occinat, et vacua solus jam regnet in aula.
νεανίδων δ' έπ.
ποινα̃ςwith Pauw. Paley defends the common reading.
φρονοῦσαwith Herm. Dind. Paley.
γῆ καὶ πόλις ὀρθοδίκαίκαιοι-πάντως.