Part 38 (1/2)

27. I have fought against Rabbah, and have taken _the city of waters_, p???? t?? ??dat?? in the Septuagint version.

[25] Elmsley reads pa?te?, ”_we all entreat thee_.” So Dindorf.

[26] Elmsley reads ?? d??ase? with the note of interrogation after ????; ”_or how wilt thou be able,_” etc.

[27] An allusion to that well-known saying in Plato, de Repub. 1. 3. ???a ?e??? pe??e?, d??' a?d????? as???a?. Ovid. de Arte Am. iii. 635.

Munera, crede mini, capiunt hominesque deosque.

[28] Vert.i.t 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 ?ata??, 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: t?de '?ata??' a?t? t?? pe?? e?? t?? ??d??, 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] ??t?? de f?s?? ??? e?see? fa??eta? pa?e??a? t?? f????, ?a? de?es?a?

t??a?ta? ??s?a?, ???t?? ap?t?.--t?? de a?t?? e??se? s??apte?? t? ?

pa?e??a?. SCHOL.

[32] _But there_; that is, in the regions below.

[33] Ovid. Metamorph. vii. 20.

Video meliora proboque, Deteriora sequor.

[34] Elmsley reads

pa???? de ?e??? (?a? e? p???a??

?e????? a? ?s??) ???, ?.t.?.

”_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. ?a??? ???a. A s.h.i.+p is frequently called ???a ?a?a.s.s??: so Virgil, aen. vi. Cla.s.sique immitt.i.t habenas.

[36] Elmsley is of opinion that _the instep_ and not _the neck_ is meant by te???.

[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 G.o.d they endeavored to avert by a hymn, which had the nature of a charm.

[38] Elmsley has a???ptet?, which is the old reading: this makes no difference in the construing or the construction, as, in the line before, he reads a? ?e????, where Porson has a?e????.

[39] The s.p.a.ce of time elapsed is meant to be marked by this circ.u.mstance.

MUSGRAVE. PORSON. Thus we find in ? of the Odyssey, l. 439, the time of day expressed by the rising of the judges; in ? 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 circ.u.mlocution as absurd or out of place.

[40] The same expression occurs in the Heraclidae, l. 168. The Scholiast explains it thus; t???e???ta, t?? p??s??? ?a?at?? ???ta: t???? de ?a???s? t??? ?e???ta?, pa??s?? p??s??? e?s? t?? ?a?at?? ?a? t?? taf??.