Part 61 (2/2)

AG. Farewell, O house! farewell, O ancestral city! I leave you in misfortune a fugitive from my chamber.

CAD. Go then, my child, to the land of Aristaeus * * * *.

AG. I bemoan thee, O father!

CAD. And I thee, my child; and I lament your sisters.

AG. Terribly indeed has king Bacchus brought this misery upon thy house.

BAC. [Ay,] for I have suffered terrible things from ye, having a name unhonored in Thebes.

AG. Farewell, my father.

CAD. And you farewell, O miserable daughter; yet you can not easily arrive at this.

AG. Lead me, O guides, where I may take my miserable sisters as the companions of my flight; and may I go where neither accursed Cithaeron may see me, nor I may see Cithaeron with my eyes, and where there is no memory of the thyrsus hallowed, but they may be a care to other Bacchae.

CHOR. There are many forms of divine things; and the G.o.ds bring to pa.s.s many in an unexpected manner: both what has been expected has not been accomplished, and G.o.d has found out a means for doing things unthought of.

So, too, has this event turned out.[70]

NOTES ON THE BACCHae

[1] For ill.u.s.trations of the fable of this play, compare Hyginus, Fab.

clx.x.xiv., who evidently has a view to Euripides. Ovid, Metam. iii. fab. v.

Oppian, Cyneg. iv. 241 sqq. Nonnus, 45, p. 765 sq. and 46, p. 783 sqq., some of whose imitations I shall mention in my notes. With the opening speech of this play compare the similar one of Venus in the Hippolytus.

[2] Cf. vs. 176; and for the musical instruments employed in the Baccha.n.a.lian rites, vs. 125 sqq. Oppian, Cyn. iv. 243. ?e??s? d'

afea???t?, ?a? este?a?t? ???????, ?? spe?, ?a? pe?? pa?da t? ?st????

????sa?t?. ??pa?a d' e?t?pe??, ?a? ??a?a ?e?s? ???ta????. Compare Gorius, Monum. Libert. et Serv. ad Tab. vii. p. 15 sq.

[3] Such is the sense of s??a??a?, a??? being understood. See Matthiae.

[4] Drums and cymbals were invented by the G.o.ddess in order to drown the cries of the infant Jupiter. Minutius Felix, xxi. ”Avido patri subtrahitur infans ne voretur, et Corybantum cymbalis, ne pater audiat, vagitus initus eliditur” (read _audiat vagitus, tinnitus illi editur_, from the _vestigia_ of Cod. Reg.). Cf. Lactant. i. 13.

[5] Cf. Homer, Hymn. in Cerer. 485. ?????, ??? tad' ?p?pe? ep????????

a????p??: ??? d' ate???, ??e??? ??st' a????, ??p??' ?????? ??sa? e?e?, f??e??? pe?, ??p? ??f?? e???e?t?. See Ruhnken's note, and Valck. on Eur.

Hippol.

[6] This pa.s.sage is extremely difficult. ????a?? seems decidedly corrupt.

Reiske would read p??ad??, Musgrave ?e???t????? p???a??? a????. Elmsley would subst.i.tute p??at??, ”si p??at?? apud Euripidem exstaret.” This seems the most probable view as yet expressed. The e???stept?? ??ad?? are learnedly explained by Lobeck on Ag. p. 375 sq., quoted by Dindorf. The a???s?? or insertion of spots of party-colored fur upon the plain skin of animals, was a favorite ornament of the wealthy. The spots of ermine similarly used now are the clearest ill.u.s.tration to which I can point.

Lobeck also observes, ”?ata a?????s?a? non bacchari significat, sed coronari.”

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