"_Oceanus_. Atqui Prometheu te hoc, tenere existimo
Mederi posse rationem iracundiæ."
"_Prom_. Si quidem qui tempestivam medicinam admovens
Non ad gravescens vulnus illidat manus."
TUSC. Q., III. 31.
Note 29 (p. 194).
". . . holy Asia weep
For thee, Prometheus."
Here, and in the epithet of the rivers in the Epode (compare Homer's
Odyssey X. 351, ἱερων ποταμων, and _Nägelsbach_, Homer, Theologie, p.
85), the original word is ἁγνος, a term to be particularly noted, both
in the heathen writers and in the Old Testament, as denoting that
religious purity in connection with external objects and outward
ceremonies which the Christian sentiment confines exclusively to the
moral state of the soul. I have thought it important, in all cases, to
retain the Greek phrase, and not by modernizing to dilute it. The
religious sentiment in connection with external nature is what the
moderns generally do not understand, and least of all the English, whose
piety does not readily exhibit itself beyond the precincts of the church
porch. The Germans, in this regard, have a much more profound sympathy
with the Greek mind.
Note 30 (p. 194).
". . . Araby's wandering warriors weep
For thee, Prometheus."
Arabia certainly comes in, to a modern ear, not a little strangely here,
between the Sea of Azof and the Caucasus; but the Greeks, we must
remember, were a people whose notions of _barbarian_ geography (as they
would call it) were anything but distinct; and, in this play, the poet
seems wisely to court vagueness in these matters rather than to study
accuracy.
Note 31 (p 195).
"For, soothly, having eyes to see, they saw not."
With regard to the origin of the human race there are two principal
opinions, which have in all times prevailed. One is, that man was
originally created perfect, or in a state of dignity far transcending
what he now exhibits; that the state in which the earliest historical
records present him is a state of declension and aberration from the
primeval source; and that the {395} whole progress of what is called
civilization is only a series of attempts, for the most part
sufficiently clumsy, and always painful, whereby we endeavour to
reinstate ourselves in our lost position. This philosophy of
history--for so it may most fitly be called--is that which has always
been received in the general Christian world; and, indeed, it seems to
flow necessarily from the reception of the Mosaic records, not merely as
authentic Hebrew documents, but as veritable cosmogony and primeval
history--as containing a historical exposition of the creation of the
world, and the early history of man. The other doctrine is, that man was
originally created in a condition extremely feeble and imperfect; very
little removed from vegetable dulness and brutish stupidity; and that he
gradually raised himself by slow steps to the exercise of the higher
moral and intellectual faculties, by virtue of which he claims
successful mastery over the brute, and affinity with the angel. This
doctrine was very common, I think I may safely say the current and
generally received doctrine, among the educated Greeks and Romans;
though the poets certainly did not omit, as they so often do, to
contradict themselves by their famous tradition of a golden age, which
it was their delight to trick out and embellish. In modern times, this
theory of _progressive development_, as it may be called, has, as might
have been expected, found little favour, except with philosophers of the
French school; and those who have broached it in this country latterly
have met with a most hot reception from scientific men, principally, we
may presume, from the general conviction that such ideas go directly to
undermine the authority of the Mosaic record. It has been thought, also,
that there is something debasing and contrary to the dignity of human
nature in the supposition that the great-grandfather of the primeval
father of our race may have been a monkey, or not far removed from that
species; but, however this be, with regard to ÆSCHYLUS, it is plain
he did not find it inconsistent with the loftiest views of human duty
and destiny to adopt the then commonly received theory of a gradual
development; and, in illustration, I cannot do better than translate a
few sentences from DIODORUS, where the same doctrine is stated in
prose: "Men, as originally generated, lived in a confused and brutish
condition, preserving existence by feeding on herbs and fruits that grew
spontaneously. * * * Their speech was quite indistinct and confused, but
by degrees they invented articulate speech. * * * They lived without any
of the comforts and conveniences of life, without clothing, without
habitations, _without fire_ (Prometheus!), and without cooked victuals;
and not knowing to lay up stores for future need, great numbers of them
died during the winter from the effects of cold and starvation. By which
sad experience taught, they learned to lodge themselves in caves, and
laid up stores there. By-and-by, they discovered fire and other things
pertaining to a comfortable existence. The arts were then invented, and
man became in every respect such as a highly-gifted animal might well
be, having hands and speech, and a devising mind ever present to work
out his purposes." Thus far the Sicilian (I. 8); and the intelligent
reader need not be informed that, to a certain extent, many obvious and
patent facts seemed to give a high probability to his doctrine.
"Dwellers in caves," for instance, or "troglodytes," were well known to
the ancients, and the modern reader will find a historical account of
them in STRABO, and other obvious places. The HORITES (Gen. xiv. 6)
were so called from the Hebrew word HOR, a cave--(see Gesenius and
Jahn, I. 2-26). But it is needless to accumulate learned references in a
matter patent to the most modern observation.--MOFFAT's "African
Missions" will supply instances of human beings in a state as degraded
as anything here described by the poet; and with {396} regard to the
aboriginal Australians, I have preserved in my notes the following
passage from COLLINS: "The Australians dwell in miserable huts of
bark, all huddled together promiscuously (ἔφυρον εικῆ πάντα!) amid much
smoke and dirt. _Some also live in caves._" I do by no means assert,
however, that these creatures are remnants of primeval humanity,
according to the development theory; I only say they afford that theory
a historic analogy; while, on the other hand, they are equally
consistent with the commonly received Christian doctrine, as man is a
creature who degenerates from excellence much more readily in all
circumstances than he attains to it. These Australians and Africans may
be mere imbecile stragglers who have been dropt from the great army of
humanity in its march.
Note 32 (p. 195).
"Numbers, too,
I taught them (a most choice device)."
"The Pythagorean tenets of Æschylus here display themselves. It was one
of the doctrines attributed to this mysterious sect that they professed
to find in numbers, and their combinations, the primordial types of
everything cognisable by the mind, whether of a physical or moral
nature. They even spoke of the soul as a number."--PROW. But, apart
from all Pythagorean notions, we may safely say--from observation of
travellers indeed certainly affirm--that there is nothing in which the
civilized man so remarkably distinguishes himself from the savage, as in
the power to grasp and handle relations of number. The special reference
to Pythagoras in this passage is, I perceive, decidedly rejected by
SCHOE.; BERGK. and HAUPT., according to his statement, admitting
it. Of course, such a reference in the mind of the poet can never be
_proved_; only it does no harm to suppose it.
Note 33 (p. 196).
". . . the fire-faced signs."
(φλογωπὰ σήματα). PROWETT refers this to _lightning_; but surely, in
the present connection, the obvious reference is to the sacrificial
flame, from which, as from most parts of the sacrificial ceremony, omens
were wont to be taken. When the flame burned bright it was a good omen;
when with a smoky and troublous flame, the omen was bad. See a
well-known description of this in Sophocles' Antigone, from the mouth of
the blind old diviner Tiresias, when he first enters the stage, v. 1005;
and another curious passage in Euripides' Phœniss. 1261.
Note 34 (p. 196).
"And who is lord of strong Necessity?"
Necessity (Ἀνάγκη), a favourite power to which reference is made
by the Greek dramatists, is merely an impersonation of the fact patent
to all, that the world is governed by a system of strict and inexorable
law, from the operation of which no man can escape. That the gods
themselves are subject to this Ἀνάγκη. is a method of expression
not seldom used by Heathen writers; but that they had any distinct idea,
or fixed theological notion of NECESSITY or FATE, as a power
separate from and superior to the gods I see no reason to believe.--See
my observations on the Homeric μοῖρα in _Clas. Mus._, No. XXVI.,
p. 437. And in the same way that Homer talks of the _fate from the
gods_, so the tragedians talk of _necessity from or imposed by the
gods_--τὰς γὰρ ἐκ θεῶν ἀνάγκας θνητον ὀντα δεῖ φέρειν. With regard to
Æschylus, certainly one must beware of drawing any hasty inference with
regard to his theological creed from this insulated passage. For here
the poet adopts the notion of the strict subjection of Jove to an
external FATE, {397} principally, one may suppose, from dramatic
propriety; it suits the person and the occasion. Otherwise, the
Æschylean theology is very favourable to the absolute supremacy of
Jove; and, accordingly, in the Eumenides, those very Furies, who are
here called his superiors, though they dispute with Apollo, are careful
not to be provoked into a single expression which shall seem to throw a
doubt on the infallibility of "the Father." For the rest, the Fates and
Furies, both here and in the Eumenides, are aptly coupled, and, in
signification, indeed, are identical; because a man's _fate_ in this
world can never be separated from his _conduct_, nor his conduct from
his _conscience_, of which the Furies are the impersonation.
Note 35 (p. 196).
"No more than others Jove can 'scape his doom."
The idea that the Supreme Ruler of the Universe can ever be dethroned
is foreign to every closely reasoned system of monotheism; but in
polytheistic systems it is not unnatural (for gods who had a beginning
may have an end); and in the Hindoo theology receives an especial
prominence. Southey accordingly makes Indra, the Hindoo Jove, say--
"A stronger hand
May wrest my sceptre, and unparadise
The Swerga."--Curse of Kehama, VII.
We must bear in mind, however, that it is not Æschylus in the present
passage, but Prometheus who says this.
Note 36 (p. 197)
"Plant his high will against my weak opinion!"
The original of these words, "μηδάμ θ(ε)ιτ᾽ εμᾀ γνώμᾶ κράτος ἀντίπαλον
Ζεὺς," has been otherwise translated "_Minime Jupiter indat animo meo
vim rebellem;_" but, apart altogether from theological considerations,
I entirely agree with SCHOE. that this rendering puts a force upon
the word κράτος, which is by no means called for, and which it will not
easily bear.
Note 37 (p. 197)
"Won by rich gifts didst lead."
Observe here the primitive practice according to which the bridegroom
purchased his wife, by rich presents made to the father. In Iliad IX.
288, Agamemnon promises, as a particular favour, to give his daughter
in marriage to Achilles ἀνάεδνον, that is, without any consideration
in the shape of a marriage gift.
Note 38 (p. 197).
_Enter_ IO. Io is one of those mysterious characters on the
borderland between history and fable, concerning which it is difficult
to say whether they are to be looked on as personal realities, or as
impersonated ideas. According to the historical view of ancient legends,
Io is the daughter of Inachus, a primeval king of Argos; and, from this
fact as a root, the extravagant legends about her, sprouting from the
ever active inoculation of human fancy, branched out. Interpreted by the
principles of early theological allegory, however, she is, according to
the witness of Suidas, the MOON, and her wanderings the revolutions of
that satellite. In either view, the immense extent of these wanderings
is well explained by mythological writers (1) from the influence of
Argive colonies at Byzantium and elsewhere; and (2) from the vain desire
of the Greeks to connect their {398} horned virgin Io, with the horned
ISIS of the Egyptians. It need scarcely be remarked that, if Io means
the moon, her horns are as naturally explained as her wanderings. But,
in reading Æschylus, all these considerations are most wisely left out
of view, the Athenians, no doubt, who introduced this play, believing in
the historical reality of the Inachian maid, as firmly as we believe in
that of Adam or Methuselah. As little can I agree with BOTH. that we
are called upon to rationalize away the reality of the persecuting
insect, whether under the name of ᾽(ο)ιστρος or μύωψ. In popular legends
the sublime is ever apt to be associated with circumstances that either
are, or, to the cultivated imagination, necessarily appear to be
ridiculous.
Note 39 (p. 198).
". . . save me, O Earth!"
I have here given the received traditionary rendering of Αλεῦ ὦ δᾶ;
but I must confess the appeal to Earth here in this passage always
appeared to me something unexpected; and it is, accordingly, with
pleasure that I submit the following observations of SCHOE. to the
consideration of the scholar--"Δᾶ is generally looked on as a
dialectic variation of γᾶ; and, in conformity with this opinion,
Theocritus has used the accusation Δᾶν. I consider this erroneous,
and am of opinion that in Δημητηρ we are rather to understand Δεαμητηρ
than Γημητηρ; and δᾶ is to be taken only as an interjection. This is
not the place to discuss this matter fully; but, in the meantime, I
may mention that AHRENS _de dialecta Doricâ_, p. 80, has refuted the
traditionary notion with regard to δᾶ.
Note 40 (p. 198).
_Chorus_. With WELL., and SCHOE., and the MSS., I give this verse to
the Chorus, though certainly it is not to be denied that the
continuation of the lyrical metre of the Strophe pleads strongly in
favour of giving it to Io. It is also certain that, for the sake of
symmetry, the last line of the Antistrophe must also be given to the
Chorus, as SCHOE. has done.
Note 41 (p. 199).
". . . the sisters of thy father, Io."
Inachus, the Argive river, was, like all other rivers, the son of Ocean,
and, of course, the brother of the Ocean-maids, the Chorus of the
present play. Afterwards, according to the historical method of
conception, characteristic of the early legends, the elementary god
became a human person--the river was metamorphosed into a king.
Note 42 (p. 200).
". . . Lerne's bosomed mead."
We most commonly read of the _water_ or _fountain_ of Lerne; this
implies a meadow--and this, again, implies high overhanging grounds, or
cliffs, of which mention is made in the twenty-third line below. In that
place, however, the reading ἄκρην is not at all certain; and, were
I editing the text, I should have no objection to follow PAL. in
reading Λέρνης τε κρήνην, with Canter. In fixing this point, something
will depend upon the actual landscape.
Note 43 (p. 201).
"First to the east."
Here begins the narration of the mythical wanderings of Io--a strange
matter, and of a piece with the whole fable, which, however, with all
its perplexities, Æschylus, no doubt, and his audience, following the
old minstrels, took very lightly. In such matters, the less curious a
man is, {399} the greater chance is there of his not going far wrong;
and to be superficial is safer than to be profound. The following causes
may be stated as presumptive grounds why we ought not to be surprised at
any startling inaccuracy in geographical detail in legends of this
kind:--(1) The Greeks, as stated above, even in their most scientific
days, had the vaguest possible ideas of the geography of the extreme
circumference of the habitable globe and the parts nearest to it which
are spoken of in the passage. (2) The geographical ideas of Æschylus
must be assumed as more kindred to those of Homer than of the best
informed later Greeks. (3) Even supposing Æschylus to have had the most
accurate geographical ideas, he had no reasons in handling a Titanic
myth to make his geographical scenery particularly tangible; on the
contrary, as a skilful artist, the more misty and indefinite he could
keep it the better. (4) He may have taken the wanderings of Io, as
Welcker still suggests (_Trilog._ 137), literally from the old Epic poem
"Aigimius," or some other traditionary lay as old as Homer, leaving to
himself no more discretion in the matter, and caring as little to do so
as Shakespere did about the geographical localities in Macbeth, which he
borrowed from Hollinshed. For all these reasons I am of opinion that any
attempt to explain the geographical difficulties of the following
wanderings would be labour lost to myself no less than to the reader;
and shall, therefore, content myself with noting _seriatim_ the
different points of the progress, and explaining, for the sake of the
general reader, what is or is not known in the learned world about the
matter:--
(1) The starting-point is not from Mount Caucasus, according to the
common representation, but from some indefinite point in the
NORTHERN PARTS OF EUROPE. So the Scholiast on v. 1, arguing
from the present passage, clearly concludes; and with him agree
HER. and SCHOE.; Welcker whimsically, I think, maintaining a
contrary opinion.
(2) The SCYTHIAN NOMADS, _vid._ note on v. 2, _supra._; their
particular customs alluded to here are well known, presenting a
familiar ancient analogy to the gipsy life of the present day. The
reader of Horace will recall the lines--
"Campestres melius Scythae
Quorum plaustra vagas rite trahunt domos."
--Ode III. 24-9.
and the same poet (III. 4-35) mentions the "quiver-bearing Geloni";
for the bow is the most convenient weapon to all wandering and
semi-civilized warriors.
(3) The CHALYBS, or CHALDAEI, are properly a people in Pontus,
at the north-east corner of Asia Minor; but Æschylus, in his primeval
Titanic geography, takes the liberty of planting them to the north of
the Euxine.
(4) The river HUBRISTES. The Araxes, says the Scholiast; the
TANAIS, say others; or the CUBAN (Dr. Schmitz in Smith's Dict.).
The word means _boisterous_ or _outrageous_, and recalls the Virgilian
"_pontem indignatus Araxes._"
(5) The CAUCASUS, as in modern geography.
(6) The AMAZONS; placed here in the country about Colchis to the
northward of their final settlement in Themiscyre, on the Thermodon,
in Pontus, east of the Halys.
(7) SALMYDESSUS, on the Euxine, _west_ of the Symplegades and the
Thracian Bosphorus; of course a violent jump in the geography.
{400}
(8) The CIMMERIAN BOSPHORUS, between the Euxine and the Sea of
Azof. Puzzling enough that this should come in here, and no
mention be made of the Thracian Bosphorus in the whole flight!
The word _Bosporus_ means in Greek the _passage of the Cow_.
(9) The ASIAN CONTINENT; from the beginning a strange wheel! For
the rest see below.
Note 44 (p. 203).
"When generations ten have passed, the third."
This mythical genealogy is thus given by SCHÜTZ from Apollodorus. 1.
Epaphus; 2. Libya; 3. Belus (see Suppliants, p. 228, above); 4. Danaus;
5. Hypermnestra; 6. Abas; 7. Proetus; 8. Acrisias; 9. Danae; 10.
Perseus; 11. Electryon; 12. Alcmena; 13. Heracles.
Note 45 (p. 203).
"When thou hast crossed the narrow stream that parts."
I now proceed with the mythical wanderings of the "ox-horned maid,"
naming the different points, and continuing the numbers, from the
former Note--
(10) The SOUNDING OCEAN.--Before these words, something seems to
have dropt out of the text; what the "sounding sea" (πόντου
φλ(ο)ισβος) is, no man can say; but, as a southward direction is
clearly indicated in what follows, we may suppose the CASPIAN,
with HER.; or the PERSIAN GULF, with SCHOE.
(11) The GORGONIAN PLAINS.--"The Gorgons are conceived by
Hesiod to live in the Western Ocean, in the neighbourhood of
Night, and the Hesperides; but later traditions place them in
Libya."--Dr. SCHMITZ, in Smith's Dict.: but SCHOE., in his note,
quotes a scholiast to Pindar, _Pyth._ X. 72, which places them near
the Red Sea, and in Ethiopia. This latter habitation, of course,
agrees best with the present passage of Æschylus.
With regard to CISTHENE, the same writer (SCHOE.) has an
ingenious conjecture, that it may be a mistake of the old copyists,
for the CISSIANS, a Persian people, mentioned in the opening chorus
to the play of the Persians.
(12) The country of the GRIFFINS, the ARIMASPI, and the river
PLUTO. The Griffins and the Arimaspi are well known from Herodotus
and Strabo, which latter, we have seen above (Note 1), places them to
the north of the Euxine Sea, as a sub-division of the Scythians.
Æschylus, however, either meant to confound all geographical
distinctions, or followed a different tradition, which placed the
Arimaspi in the south, as to which see SCHOE. "The river PLUTO
is easily explained, from the accounts of golden-sanded rivers in the
East which had reached Greece."--SCHOE.
(13) The river Aethiops seems altogether fabulous.
(14) The "Bybline Heights," meaning the κατάδουπα (Herod. II. 17), or
place where the Nile falls from the mountains.--LIN. _in voce_
καταβασμός, which is translated _pass_. No such place as BYBLUS is
mentioned here by the geographers, in want of which POT. has
allowed himself to be led, by the Scholiast, into rather a curious
error. The old annotator, having nothing geographical to say {401}
about this _Byblus_, thought he might try what etymology could do;
so he tells us that the Bybline Mountains were so called from the
_Byblos_ or _Papyrus_ that grew on them. This Potter took up and
gave--
"Where from the _mountains with papyrus crowned_
The venerable Nile impetuous pours,"
overlooking the fact that the papyrus is a sedge, and grows in flat,
moist places.
Note 46 (p. 204).
". . . the sacred Nile
Pours his salubrious flood."
ἔυποτον ρέος, literally, _good for drinking_. The medicinal qualities of
the _Nile_ were famous in ancient times. In the Suppliants, v. 556, our
poet calls the Nile water, νόσοις ἄθικτον, _not to be reached by
diseases;_ and in v. 835, _the nurturing river that makes the blood
flow more buoyantly_. On this subject, the celebrated Venetian
physician, Prosper Alpin, in his _Rerum Ægyptiarum_, Lib. IV. (Lugd.
Bat. 1735) writes as follows: "Nili aqua merito omnibus aliis præfertur
quod ipsa alvum subducat, menses pellat ut propterea raro mensium
suppressio in Ægypti mulieribus reperiatur. Potui suavis est, et
dulcis; sitim promptissime extinguit; frigida tuto bibitur, concoctionem
juvat, ac distributioni auxilio est, minime hypochondriis gravis corpus
firmum et coloratum reddit," etc.--Lib. I. c. 3. If the water of the
Nile really be not only pleasant to drink, but, strictly speaking, of
medicinal virtue, it has a companion in the Ness, at Inverness, the
waters of which are said to possess such a drastic power, that they
cannot be drunk with safety by strangers.
Note 47 (p. 204).
". . . thence with mazy course
Tossed hither."
I quite agree with SCHOE. that, in the word παλιμπλάγκτος, in this
passage, we must understand πάλιν to mean _to and fro_, not
_backwards_. With a backward or reverted course from the Adriatic, Io
could never have been brought northward to Scythia. The maziness of Io's
course arises naturally from the fitful attacks of the persecuting
insect of which she was the victim. A direct course is followed by sane
reason, a zigzag course by insane impulse.
Note 48 (p. 204).
". . . Epaphus, whose name shall tell
The wonder of his birth."
As Io was identified with Isis, so Epaphus seems merely a Greek term for
the famous bull-god Apis.--(Herod. III. 27, and Müller's Prolegom.
myth.) The etymology, like many others given by the ancients, is
ridiculous enough; ἐπαφή, _touch_. This derivation is often alluded to
in the next play, _The Suppliants_. With regard to the idea of a virgin
mother so prominent in this legend of Io, PROW. has remarked that it
occurs in the Hindoo and in the Mexican mythology; but nothing can be
more puerile than the attempt which he mentions as made by FABER to
connect this idea with the "promise respecting the seed of the woman
made to man at the fall." Sound philosophy will never seek a distant
reason for a phenomenon, when a near one is ready. When an object of
worship or admiration is once acknowledged as superhuman, it is the most
natural thing in the world for the imagination to supply a superhuman
birth. A miraculous life flows most fitly from a miraculous generation.
The mother of the great type of Roman {402} warriors is a vestal, and
his father is the god of war. Romans and Greeks will wisely be left to
settle such matters for themselves, without the aid of "patriarchal
traditions" or "the prophecy of Isaiah." The ancient Hellenes were not
so barren, either of fancy or feeling, as that they required to borrow
matters of this kind from the Hebrews. On the idea of "generation by a
god" generally, see the admirable note in GROTE's History of Greece,
P. I. c. 16 (Vol. I. p. 471).
Note 49 (p. 207).
". . . they are wise who worship Adrastéa."
"A surname of Nemesis, derived by some writers from Adrastus, who is
said to have built the first sanctuary of Nemesis on the river Asopus
(Strabo XIII. p. 588), and by others from the verb διδράσκειν,
according to which it would signify the goddess whom none could
escape."--Dr. SCHMITZ. On this subject, STAN. has a long note,
where the student will find various illustrative references.
Note 50 (p. 209).
"For wilful strength that hath no wisdom in it
Is less than nothing."
The word in the original, ἀυθαδιά, literally "self-pleasing," expresses
a state of mind which the Greeks, with no shallow ethical discernment,
were accustomed to denounce as the great source of all those sins whose
consequences are the most fearful to the individual and to society. St.
Paul, in his epistle to Titus (i. 7), uses the same word emphatically
to express what a Christian bishop should _not_ be (ἀυθὰδη,
self-willed). The same word is used by the blind old soothsayer
Tiresias in the ANTIGONE, when preaching repentance to the passionate
and self-willed tyrant of Thebes, ἀυθαδιά τοι σκαιότητ ὀφλισκάνει,
where Donaldson gives the whole passage as follows:--
"Then take these things to heart, my son; for error
Is as the universal lot of man;
But, whensoe'er he errs, that man no longer
Is witless, or unblest, who, having fallen
Into misfortune, seeks to mend his ways,
And is not obstinate: _the stiff-necked temper_
Must oft plead guilty to the charge of folly."
SOPHOCLES, ANTIG. v. 1028.
Note 51 (p. 209).
". . . unless some god endure
Vicarious thy tortures."
The idea of vicarious sacrifice, or punishment by substitution of one
person for another, does not seem to have been very familiar to the
Greek mind; at least, I do not trace it in Homer. It occurs, however,
most distinctly in the well-known case of MENŒCEUS, in Euripides'
play of the PHŒNISSÆ. In this passage, also, it is plainly implied,
though the word διάδοχος, strictly translated, means only a
_successor_, and not a _substitute_. WELCK. (_Trilog_. p. 47) has
pointed out that the person here alluded to is the centaur CHIRON, of
whom Apollodorus (II. 5-11-12) says that "Hercules, after freeing
Prometheus, who had assumed the olive chaplet (WELCK. reads
ἑλόμένον), delivered up Chiron to Jove willing, though immortal, to
die in his room (θνήσκειν ὰντ᾽ ἁυτου). This is literally the Christian
idea of vicarious death. The Druids, according to Cæsar (B.C. VI.
16), held the doctrine strictly--"_pro vita hominis nisi hominis vita
reddatur non posse aliter deorum immortalium numen placari._" Of
existing heathens practising human sacrifice, the religious rites of the
Khonds in Orissa present the idea {403} of vicarious sacrifice in the
most distinct outline. See the interesting memoir of Captain Macpherson
in _Blackwood's Magazine_ for August, 1842.
Note 52 (p. 210).
"Seems he not a willing madman,
Let him reap the fruits he sowed."
I have translated these lines quite freely, as the text is corrupt,
and the emendations proposed do not contain any idea worth the
translator's adopting. SCHOE. reads--
Τί γὰρ ἐλλείπει μὴ παραπάιειν
Ἐι τάδ ἐπαυχεῖ τί χαλᾷ μανιῶν;
and translates
_Was fehlet ihm noch wahnwitzig zo seyn,_
_Wenn also er pocht? Wie zahmt er die Wuth?_