"Argolici clypei aut Phœbæœ lampadis instar."
See Dict. Antiq. _Clypeus_. The kind described in the text finds its
modern counterpart in those hollow Burmese shields often found in our
museums, only larger.
Note 31 (p. 276).
". . . by the god of war
Indwelt."
ἔνθεος δ᾽ Αρει, literally, "ingodded by Mars," or having the god of
war dwelling in him. This phrase shows the meaning of that reproach
cast by the Pharisees in the teeth of Christ--ἔχει δαιμόνιον--_he hath
a devil_, or, as the Greeks would have said, _a god--i.e._ he is
possessed by a moral power {422} so far removed from the common, that
we must attribute it to the indwelling might of a god or devil.
Note 32 (p. 276).
". . . a hostile pair
Well matched by Hermes."
The Greeks ascribed to Hermes every thing that they met with on the
road, and every thing accidentally found, and whatever happens by
chance--and so two adversaries well matched in battle were said to have
been brought together by the happy contrivance of that god."--SCHOL.;
and see Note 59 to the Eumenides, p. 386.
Note 33 (p. 278).
"The sixth a sober man, a seer of might,
Before the Homoloidian gate stands forth."
_i.e._ AMPHIARAUS--see above, Note 23, p. 420. Homer (Odys. XV. 244)
speaks of him as beloved by Jove and Apollo. The Homoloidian gates
were so called either from mount Homole in Thessaly (Pausan. IX. 8),
or from Homolois, a daughter of Niobe and Amphion.--UNGER. p. 324.
Note 34 (p. 278).
"With bitter taunts his evil-omened name,
Making it spell his ugly sin that owns it."
The name Polynices means literally _much strife_; and there can be no
question that the prophet in this place is described as taunting the Son
of Oedipus with the evil omen of his name after the fashion so familiar
with the Greek writers. See _Prometheus_, Note 8, p. 388. The text,
however, is in more places than one extremely corrupt; and, in present
circumstances, I quite agree with WELL. and LIN. that we are not
warranted in introducing the conjectural reading of ὄμμα for ὄνομα,
though there can be no question that the reading ὄμμα admits of a
sufficiently appropriate sense.--See DUNBAR, _Class. Museum_, No.
XII. p. 206.
Note 35 (p. 278).
"The wise man is what fools but seem to be."
"When this tragedy was first acted, ARISTIDES, surnamed the JUST,
was present. At the declamation of these words--
ὀυ γὰρ δοκ(ε)ιν ἄριστος ἀλλ᾽ (ἐ)ίναι θέλει,
the whole audience, by an instantaneous instinct, directed their eyes
to him."--PLUTARCH, _Apoth. Reg. et duc._ SALLUST describes Cato
in the same language--"_Esse quam videri bonus malebat._"--STAN.
Note 36 (p. 280).
"O god-detested! god-bemadded race!"
In modern theological language we are not accustomed to impute mental
infatuation, insanity, or desperate impulses of any kind to the
Supreme Being; but in the olden time such language as that of the text
was familiarly in the mouth of Jew and Gentile. "_The Lord hardened
Pharaoh's heart_," is a sentence which we all remember, perhaps with
a strange sensation of mysterious terror, from our juvenile lessons;
and "_quos Deus vult perdere prius dementat_," is a common maxim in
our mouths, though we scarcely half believe it. In Homer and the
tragedians instances of this kind occur everywhere; and in the
Persians of our author the gods are addressed in a style of the most
unmitigated accusation. In such cases, modern translators are often
inclined {423} to soften down the apparent impiety of the expression
into some polite modern generality; but I have scrupulously retained
the original phraseology. I leave it to the intelligent reader to work
out the philosophy of this matter for himself.
Note 37 (p. 281).
". . . the god will have it so."
This is one of the cases so frequent in the ancient poets (Note 76 to
Choephoræ, p. 372) where θεός is used in the singular without the
article. In the present case the translators seem agreed in supplying
the definite particle, as Phœbus, mentioned in the next line, may
naturally be understood. In modern language, where a man is urged on to
his destruction by a violent unreasoning passion, reference is generally
made to an overruling decree or destiny, rather than directly to the
author of all destiny. "But my ill-fate pushed me on with an obstinacy
that nothing could resist; and, though I had several times loud calls
from my reason and my more composed judgment to go home, yet I had no
power to do it. _I know not what to call this, nor will I urge that it
is a secret overruling decree that hurries us on to be the instruments
of our own destruction, even though it be before us, and that we rush
upon as with our eyes open_. Certainly nothing but some such decreed
unavoidable misery attending, and which it was impossible for me to
escape, could have pushed me forward against the calm reasonings and
persuasions of my most retired thoughts."--_Robinson Crusoe_. On this
subject see my _Homeric Theology_. _Class. Mus._ No. XXVI. Propositions
5, 12, and 18 compared.
Note 38 (p. 281).
"Death is thy only gain, and death to-day
Is better than to-morrow!"
λέγουσα κέρδος πρότερον ὑστερου μόρου--_mentioning to me an advantage_
(viz., in my dying now) _preferable to a death at a later period;_ as
his good genius might have whispered to Napoleon Bonaparte at
Waterloo. In translating thus a confessedly difficult passage I have
WELCKER (Trilog. 363), BUTLER, BLOM., and SCHÜTZ., and E. P.
Oxon., on my side, also the simple comment of Scholiast II.--κερδ(ο)ς,
_i.e._ τὸ νῦν τεθνᾶναι πρότερον, _i.e._ τιμιώτερον. LIN. agreeing with
WELL. translates "urging the glory of the victory which precedes the
death which follows after it." CONZ. is singular, and certainly not
to be imitated in translating with Schol. I.--
"_Wer der erste tödlet gewinnt den Sieg._"
"He who inflicts the first lethal blow gains the victory."
POT. has not grappled with the passage. If LIN.'s interpretation be
preferred, I should render--
"Beside me sits
The Fury with dry tearless eye, and points to
One glimpse of glory heralding black death."
or--
"The glorious gain that shall precede the death."
It will be observed that if πρότερον be taken in the sense of
τιμιώτερον, with the Scholiast, and το νῦν τεθναναι understood to
κέρδος, Wellauer's objection falls that μαλλον or μειζον must be
understood to render the rendering in my text admissible.
Note 39 (p. 282).
". . . goddess most ungodlike."
I have remarked, in a Note above, that the Greeks, so far from having
any objection to the idea that the gods were the authors of evil, rather
{424} encouraged it; and accordingly, in their theology, they had no
need for a devil or devils in any shape. This truth, however, must be
received with the qualification, arising from the general preponderating
character of the Greek deities, which was unquestionably benign, and
coloured more from the sunshine than the cloud; in reference to which
general character, it might well be said that certain deities, whose
function was purely to induce misery, were ὀυ θεοῖς ὅμοιοι--_nothing
like the gods_.
Note 40 (p. 282).
"O son of Scythia, must we ask thine aid?
Chalybian stranger thine."
We see here how loosely the ancients used Certain geographical terms,
and especially this word SCYTHIA; for the CHALYBES or CHALDAEI, as
they were afterwards called, were a people of PONTUS. Their country
produced, in the most ancient times, silver also; but, in the days of
Strabo, iron only.--STRABO, Lib. XII. p. 549.
Note. 41 (p. 284).
". . . for sorry tendance wrathful."
I read ἐπίκοτος τροφᾶς with HEATH., BLOM., and PAL. For the
common reading, ἐπικότους τροφάς, WELL., with his usual conservative
ingenuity, finds a sort of meaning; but the change which the new
reading requires is very slight, and gives a much more obvious sense;
besides that it enables us to understand the allusion to Æschylus in
Schol. Oedip. Col. 1375.--See Introductory Remarks, WELCKER's
_Trilogie_, p. 358, and PAL.'s Note.
Note 42 (p. 284).
". . . (for still in four and three
The god delights)."
These words are a sort of comment on the epithet ἑβδομαγέτας given to
Apollo in the text, of which PAPE, in his Dictionary, gives the
following account: "Surname of Apollo, because sacrifice was offered to
him on the seventh day of every month, or as LOBECK says (Aglaoph. p.
434), because seven boys and seven girls led the procession at his
feasts.--Herod. VI. 57. The ancients were not agreed in the
interpretation of this epithet." It is not _necessary_, however, I must
admit with SCHNEIDER, to suppose any reference to this religious
arithmetic here. Phœbus receives the seventh gate, because, as the
prophet of the doom, it was his special business to see it fulfilled;
and this he could do only there, where the devoted heads of Eteocles and
Polynices stood.
Note 43 (P. 285).
"And I for plaints no less than pæans bring thee."
I see no sufficient case made out for giving these words from τοιᾶυτα
down to φορουμενοι to the Chorus. The Messenger, surely, may be allowed
his moral reflections without stint in the first place, as the Chorus
is to enlarge on the same theme in the chaunt which immediately
follows. It strikes me also, that the tone of the passage is not
sufficiently passionate for the Chorus.
Note 44 (p. 289).
"Ay, drenched in gore, in brothered gore."
In the old editions, and in POT. and GLASG. these words are given to
Ismene; but never was a scenic change made with greater propriety than
that of BRUNCK, when he continued these speeches down to the end of
Antistrophe IV. to the Chorus. Nothing could be more unnatural than that
the {425} afflicted sisters, under such a load of woe, should open their
mouths with long speeches--long, assuredly, in comparison of what they
afterwards say. They are properly silent, till the Chorus has finished
the wail; and then they speak only in short exclamations--articulated
sobs--nothing more. For the same reason, deserting WELL., I have given
the repeated burden Ἰὼ Μοιρα, etc. to the Chorus. The principal mourners
in this dirge should sing only in short and broken cries.
Note 45 (p. 290).
"Moera, baneful gifts dispensing."
The word μοῖρα originally means _lot, portion, part, that which is
dealt or divided out to one_. In this sense it occurs frequently in
Homer, and is there regarded as proceeding from the gods, and specially
from Jove. But with an inconsistency natural enough in popular poetry,
we sometimes find μοῖρα in Homer, like ἀτη, elevated to the rank of a
separate divine personage. "Not I," says Agamemnon, in the Iliad (XIX.
86), "was to blame for the quarrel with Achilles,
_But_ JOVE _and_ MOERA _and the_ FURY, _walking through the darkness
dread_."
The three Fates, CLOTHO, LACHESIS, and ATROPOS, like the three
FURIES, were a post-Homeric birth. We thus see how, under the
influence of the Polytheistic system, new gods were continually created
from what were originally mere functions of the divine mind, or results
of the divine activity.
Note 46 (p. 292).
"Due burial in its friendly bosom."
θάπτειν ἔδοξε γῆς φιλαις κατασκφαῖς. The words here used seem to imply
interment in the modern fashion, without burning, but they may also
refer to the depositing of the urns in subterranean chambers. Ancient
remains, as well as the testimony of classical authors, prove that both
practices existed among the ancients, though cremation was latterly the
more common. The reader will be instructed by the following extract on
this subject from Dr. Smith's admirable Dictionary of Antiquities,
article _Funus_: "The body was either buried or burnt. Lucian, _de
luctu_, says that the Greeks burn, and the Persians bury, their dead;
but modern writers are greatly divided in opinion as to which was the
usual practice. Wachsmuth (_Hell. Alt._ II. 2, p. 79) says that, in
historical times, the dead were always buried; but this statement is not
strictly correct. Thus we find that Socrates (Plut. Phædon) speaks of
his body being either burnt or buried; the body of Timoleon was burnt;
and so was that of Philopæmon (Plutarch). The word θάπτειν is used in
connection with either mode; it is applied to the collection of the
ashes after burning; and accordingly we find the words κάιειν and
θάπτειν used together (Dionys. Archæolog. Rom. V. 48). The proper
expression for interment in the earth is κατορύττειν; whereas we find
Socrates speaking of το σῶμα η καόμενον, ἠ κατορυττόμενον. In Homer,
the bodies of the dead are burnt; but interment was also used in very
ancient times. Cicero (_de leg._ II. 25) says that the dead were buried
at Athens in the time of Cecrops; and we also read of the bones of
Orestes being found in a coffin at Tegea (Herod. I. 68). The dead were
commonly buried among the Spartans (Plut. Lycurg. 27) and the Sicyonians
(Paus. II. 7); and the prevalence of this practice is proved by the
great number of skeletons found in coffins in modern times, which have
evidently not been exposed to the action of fire. Both burning and
burying appear to have been always used, to a greater or less extent, at
different periods; till the spread of Christianity at length put an end
to the former practice."
{426}
Note 47 (p. 293).
"Mighty Furies that triumphant
Ride on ruin's baleful wings."
I have here, by a paraphrase, endeavoured to express the remarkably
pregnant expression of the original κῆρες Εριννύες--combining, as it
does, in grammatical apposition, two terrible divine powers, that the
ancient poets generally keep separate. The κῆρες, or goddesses of
destruction and violent death, occur frequently in Homer. Strictly
speaking, they represent only one of the methods by which the
retributive Furies may operate; but, in a loose way of talking, they
are sometimes identified with them. Schoemann, in a note to the
Eumenides, p. 62, has quoted to this effect, Hesiod v. 217, and Eurip.
Elect, v. 1252:--
"The terrible Kerés, blushless persecutors,
Will chase thee wandering frenzied o'er the earth."