* * * *
[1] Such seems to be the force of εις ανηρ.
[2] But the construction is probably αληται γης, (compare my note on Æsch.
Eum. 63,) and απεστερημενοι is _bereaved, destitute_.
[3] Cf. Æsch. Eum. 973.
[4] i.e. Œnoe, Marathon, Probalinthus, and Tricorythus.
[5] Elmsley compares Med. 1209. τις τον γεροντα τυμβον ορθανον σεθεν
τιθησι; so the Latins used "Silicernium." Cf. Fulgent. Expos. Serm. Ant. p.
171, ed. Munck.
[6] αντλος, sentina, bilge-water. See Elmsley.
[7] See Elmsley's note.
[8] See Dindorf, who repents of the reading in the text, and restores σοι
γαρ τοδ' αισχρον χωρις εν πολει κακον. He, however, condemns this and the
two next lines as spurious.
[9] i.e. if I neglect them.
[10] Cf. Hor. Od. iii. 6, 48. "Ætas parentum, pejor avis, tulit Nos
nequiores, mox daturos Progeniem vitiosiorem."
[11] Cf. Soph. Ant. 127. Ζευς γαρ μεγαλης γλωσσης κομπους ‛Υπερεχθαιρει.
[12] Cf. Æsch. Sept. c. Th. 40 sq., also Soph. Œd. T. 6 sqq.
[13] i.e. μαντεις κατ' αστυ θυηφολουσι. ELMSLEY.
[14] Pausanias, i. 32, states that the oracle expressly required that one
of the descendants of Hercules should be devoted, and that upon this
Macaria, his daughter by Deianira, voluntarily offered herself. Her name
was afterward given to a fountain. Enripides probably omitted this fact, in
order to place the noble-mindedness of Macaria in a stronger light. The
curious reader may compare the similar sacrifices of Codrus, (Pausan. vii.
25. Vell. Patere. i. 4,) Menœceus, (Eur. Phœn. 1009, Statius Theb. x. 751
sqq.,) Chaon (Serv. on Virg. Æn. iii. 335). See also Lomeier de
Lustrationibus, § xxii., where the whole subject is learnedly treated.
[15] Cf. Æsch. Ag. 206 sqq.
[16] I prefer understanding ‛ενεκα εξοδων εμων with Elmsley, to Matthiæ's
forced interpretation. Compare Med. 214 sqq.
[17] The cognate accusative to δρασειεν must be supplied from the context.
[18] There is some awkwardness in the construction. Perhaps if we read
σπερμα, της θειας φρενος! πεφ. the sense will be improved.
[19] The construction is thus laid down by Elmsley: παλαι γαρ ωδινουσα
[περι tôn aphig. ps. et. ei. n. [autôn] genêsetai]. He remarks that νοστος
often means "arrival," in the tragedians.
[20] See Matthiæ. I should, however, prefer παις for που, with Elmsley.
[21] κατα is understood, as in Thucyd. v. 67. ELMSLEY.
[22] See Alcest. 662, Iph. Taur. 245, and Elmsley's note on this passage.
[23] γυμνος, _expeditus_. As in agriculture it is applied to the husbandman
who casts off his upper garment, so also in war it simply denotes being
without armor.
[24] κευθειν.
[25] I have corrected κελευσμασιν Αργους, with Reiske and Dindorf.
[26] I have adopted Dindorf's correction, ‛ησσονες παρ' εμοι θεοι
φανουνται.
[27] i.e. the last, says Brodæus. But Elmsley prefers taking it for the
νουμηνια or Kalends, with Musgrave.
[28] δορος, which is often used to signify _the fight_, is here somewhat
boldly put for the arrangement of the battle.
[29] Cf. Æsch. Soph. c. Th. 14 sqq. Elmsley's notes on the whole of this
spirited passage deserve to be consulted.
[30] κρατουντα can not be used passively. κλαιοντα is the conjecture of
Orelli, approved by Dindorf. I have expressed the sense, not the text.
[31] See Musgrave's note (apud Dindorf). Tyrwhitt considers all the
dramatis personæ wrongly assigned.
[32] Ironically spoken.
[33] There seems to be something wrong here.
[34] See Matthiæ, who explains it: "_me et supplicem_, qui mortem
deprecetur, _et fortem_, qui mortem contemnat, _dicere licet_."
* * * * * *