* * * *
[1] The Cyaneæ Petræ, or Symplegades, were two rocks in the mouth of the
Euxine Sea, said to meet together with prodigious violence, and crush the
passing ships. See Pindar. Pyth. iv. 386.
[2] ερετμωσαι signifies to make to row; ερετμησαι, to row. In the same
sense the two verbs derived from πολεμος are used, πολεμοω signifying ad
bellum excito; πολεμεω, bellum gero.
[3] Elmsley reads φυγη in the nominative case, "_a flight indeed
pleasing_," etc.
[4] Literally, _Before we have drained this to the very dregs_. So Virgil,
Æn. iv. 14. _Quæ bella exhausta canebat_!
[5] Ter. And. Act. ii. Sc. 5. _Omnes sibi malle melius esse quam alteri_.
Ac. iv. Sc. 1. _Proximus sum egomet mihi_.
[6] Elmsley reads και for ει, "_And their father_," etc.
[7] In Elms. Dind. το γαρ ειθισθαι, "_for the being accustomed_," etc.
[8] δυναται here signifies ισχυει, σθενει; and in this sense it is
repeatedly used: ουδενα καιρον, in this place, is not to be interpreted
"intempestive", but "immoderate, supra modum." For this signification
consult Stephen's Thesaurus, word καιρος. EMSLEY.
[9] ‛οδε is used in this sense v. 49, 687, 901, of this Play.
[10] μογερα is best taken with Reiske as the accusative plural, though the
Scholiast considers it the nominative singular. ELMSLEY.
[11] γεγωτας need not be translated as νομιζομενους, the sense is [Greek;
ontas]: so αυθαδης γεγως, line 225.
[12] That is, the character of man can not be discovered by the
countenance: so Juvenal,
Fronti nulla fides.
‛οστις, though in the singular number, refers to βροτων in the plural: a
similar construction is met with in Homer, Il. Γ. 279.
ανθρωπους τιννυσθον, ‛ο τις κ' επιορκον ‛ομοσσηι.
[13] Grammarians teach us that γαμειν is applied to the husband, γαμεισθαι
to the wife; and this rule will generally be found to hold good. We must
either then read ‛η τ' εγηματο, which Porson does not object to, and
Elmsley adopts; or understand εγηματο in an ironical sense, in the spirit
of Martial's _Uxori nubere nolo meæ_: in the latter case ‛ηι τ' εγηματο
should be read (not ‛ην τ'), as being the proper syntax.
[14] The primary signification of πλημμελης is _absonus_, _out of tune_:
hence is easily deduced the signification in which it is often found in
Euripides. The word πλημμελησας occurs in the Phœnissæ, l. 1669.
[15] Elmsley approves of the reading adopted by Porson, though he has given
in his text
πονουμεν ‛ημεις, κ' ον πονων κεχρημεθα.
"_We are oppressed with cares, and want not other cares_," as being more
likely to have come from Euripides. So also Dindorf.
[16] ‛ως εοικας; is here used for the more common expression ‛ως εοικεν. So
Herodotus, Clio, clv. ου παυσονται ‛οι Λυδοι, ‛ως οικασι, πραγματα
παρεχοντες, και αυτοι εχοντες. See also Hecuba, 801.
[17] Beck interprets this passage, "Mea quidem vita ut non habeat laudem,
fama obstat." Heath translates it, "Jam in contrariam partem tendens fama
efficit, ut mea quoque vita laudem habeat." We are told by the Scholiast,
that by βιοταν is to be understood φυσιν.
[18] Iolcos was a city of Thessaly, distant about seven stadii from the
sea, where the parents of Jason lived: Pelion was both a mountain and city
of Thessaly, close to Iolcos; whence Iolcos is called Peliotic.
[19] For the same sentiment more fully expressed, see Hippolytus, 616-625.
See also Paradise Lost, x. 890.
Oh, why did God,
Creator wise, that peopled highest heaven
With spirits masculine, create at last
This novelty on earth, this fair defect
Of nature, and not fill the world at once
With men, as angels, without feminine?
[20] Porson rightly reads ταχ' αν πιθοιο with Wyttenbach.
[21] Elmsley has
"‛ως και δοκει μοι ταυτα, και καλως εχειν
γαμους τυραννων, ‛ους προδους ‛ημας εχει,
και ξυμφορ' ειναι, και καλως εγνωσμενα."
"_that these things appear good to me, and that the alliance with the
princes, which he, having forsaken me, has contracted, are both
advantageous and well determined on_." So also Dind. but καλως εχει. Porson
omits the line.
[22] In Elmsley this line is omitted, and instead of it is inserted
"νυμφηι φεροντας, τηνδε μη φευγειν χθονα."
"_offering them to the bride, that they may not be banished from this
country_," which Dindorf retains, and brackets the other.
[23] Although the Scholiast reprobates this interpretation, it seems to be
the best, nor is it any objection, that Μνημοσυνη is elsewhere represented
as the Mother of the Muses; so much at variance is the poetry of Euripides
with the received mythology of the ancients. ELMSLEY.
[24] The construction is πολις ‛ιερων ποταμων; thus Thebes, Phœnis. l. 831,
is called πυργος διδυμων ποταμων. A like expression occurs in 2 Sam. xii.
27. I have fought against Rabbah, and have taken _the city of waters_,
πολιν των ‛υδατων in the Septuagint version.
[25] Elmsley reads παντες, "_we all entreat thee_." So Dindorf.
[26] Elmsley reads ‛η δυνασει with the note of interrogation after θυμωι;
"_or how wilt thou be able,_" etc.
[27] An allusion to that well-known saying in Plato, de Repub. 1. 3. Δωρα
θεους πειθει, δωρ' αιδοιους βασιληας. Ovid. de Arte Am. iii. 635.
Munera, crede mini, capiunt hominesque deosque.
[28] Vertit Portus, _O infelix quantam calamitatem ignoras_. Mihi sensus
videtur esse, _quantum a pristina fortuna excidisti_. ELMSLEY.
[29] Medea here makes use of the ambiguous word καταξω, which may be
understood by the Tutor in the sense of "bringing back to their country,"
but implies also the horrid purpose of destroying her children: τοδε
'καταξω' αντι του πεμψω εις τον Αιδην, as the Scholiast explains it.
[30] It was the custom for mothers to bear lighted torches at their
children's nuptials. See Iphig. Aul. l. 372.
[31] ‛οτωι δε φησιν ουκ ευσεβες φαινεται παρειναι τωι φονωι, και δεχεσθαι
τοιαυτας θυσιας, ‛ουτος αποτω.--τωι δε αυτωι μελησει συναπτεον το μη
παρειναι. SCHOL.
[32] _But there_; that is, in the regions below.
[33] Ovid. Metamorph. vii. 20.
Video meliora proboque,
Deteriora sequor.
[34] Elmsley reads
παυρον δε γενος (μιαν εν πολλαις
‛ευροις αν ισως)
ουκ, κ.τ.λ.
"_But a small number of the race of women (you may perchance find one among
many) not ungifted with the muse_."
[35] A similar expression is found in Iphig. Taur, v. 410. ναϊον οχημα. A
ship is frequently called ‛Ερμα θαλασσης: so Virgil, Æn. vi. Classique
immittit habenas.
[36] Elmsley is of opinion that _the instep_ and not _the neck_ is meant by
τενων.
[37] The ancients attributed all sudden terrors, and sudden sicknesses,
such as epilepsies, for which no cause appeared, to Pan, or to some other
Deity. The anger of the God they endeavored to avert by a hymn, which had
the nature of a charm.
[38] Elmsley has ανθηπτετο, which is the old reading: this makes no
difference in the construing or the construction, as, in the line before,
he reads αν ‛ελκων, where Porson has ανελκων.
[39] The space of time elapsed is meant to be marked by this circumstance.
MUSGRAVE. PORSON. Thus we find in Μ of the Odyssey, l. 439, the time of day
expressed by the rising of the judges; in Δ of the Iliad, l. 86, by the
dining of the woodman. When we recollect that the ancients had not the
inventions that we have whereby to measure their time, we shall cease to
consider the circumlocution as absurd or out of place.
[40] The same expression occurs in the Heraclidæ, l. 168. The Scholiast
explains it thus; τυμβογεροντα, τον πλησιον θανατου ‛οντα: τυμβους δε
καλουσι τους γεροντας, παροσον πλησιον εισι του θανατου και του ταφου.
[41] αυτοφονταις may be taken as an adjective to agree with δομοις, or the
construction may be αχη πιτνοντα αυτοφονταις επι δομοις, in the same manner
as λιθος επεσε μοι επι κεφαληι. ELMSLEY.
[42] μη με τι δρασωσι' had been "lest they do _me_ any injury." Elmsley
conceives that νιν is the true reading, which might easily have been
corrupted into μοι.
[43] Here Medea appears above in a chariot drawn by dragons, bearing with
her the bodies of her slaughtered sons. SCHOL. See Horace, Epod. 3.
Hoc delibutis ulta donis pellicem,
Serpente fugit alite.
[44] λυει may also be interpreted, with the Scholiast, in the sense of
λυσιτελει, "the grief delights me." The translation given in the text is
proposed by Porson, and approved of by Elmsley.
[45] Elmsley has
μενε και γηρας.
"_Stay yet for old age_." So also Dindorf.
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